VI.
THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY.
It is now a fair number of years back since the loss of the famous StanwayCameo made its sensation, and the only person who had the least interestin keeping the real facts of the case secret has now been dead for sometime, leaving neither relatives nor other representatives. Therefore noharm will be done in making the inner history of the case public; on thecontrary, it will afford an opportunity of vindicating the professionalreputation of Hewitt, who is supposed to have completely failed to makeanything of the mystery surrounding the case. At the present timeconnoisseurs in ancient objects of art are often heard regretfully towonder whether the wonderful cameo, so suddenly discovered and so quicklystolen, will ever again be visible to the public eye. Now this questionneed be asked no longer.
The cameo, as may be remembered from the many descriptions published atthe time, was said to be absolutely the finest extant. It was a sardonyxof three strata--one of those rare sardonyx cameos in which it has beenpossible for the artist to avail himself of three different colors ofsuperimposed stone--the lowest for the ground and the two others for themiddle and high relief of the design. In size it was, for a cameo,immense, measuring seven and a half inches by nearly six. In subject itwas similar to the renowned Gonzaga Cameo--now the property of the Czar ofRussia--a male and a female head with imperial insignia; but in this casesupposed to represent Tiberius Claudius and Messalina. Experts consideredit probably to be the work of Athenion, a famous gem-cutter of the firstChristian century, whose most notable other work now extant is a smallercameo, with a mythological subject, preserved in the Vatican.
The Stanway Cameo had been discovered in an obscure Italian village by oneof those traveling agents who scour all Europe for valuable antiquitiesand objects of art. This man had hurried immediately to London with hisprize, and sold it to Mr. Claridge of St. James Street, eminent as adealer in such objects. Mr. Claridge, recognizing the importance and valueof the article, lost no opportunity of making its existence known, andvery soon the Claudius Cameo, as it was at first usually called, was asfamous as any in the world. Many experts in ancient art examined it, andseveral large bids were made for its purchase.
In the end it was bought by the Marquis of Stanway for five thousandpounds for the purpose of presentation to the British Museum. The marquiskept the cameo at his town house for a few days, showing it to hisfriends, and then returned it to Mr. Claridge to be finally and carefullycleaned before passing into the national collection. Two nights after Mr.Claridge's premises were broken into and the cameo stolen.
Such, in outline, was the generally known history of the Stanway Cameo.The circumstances of the burglary in detail were these: Mr. Claridge hadhimself been the last to leave the premises at about eight in the evening,at dusk, and had locked the small side door as usual. His assistant, Mr.Cutler, had left an hour and a half earlier. When Mr. Claridge left,everything was in order, and the policeman on fixed-point duty justopposite, who bade Mr. Claridge good-evening as he left, saw nothingsuspicious during the rest of his term of duty, nor did his successors atthe point throughout the night.
In the morning, however, Mr. Cutler, the assistant, who arrived first,soon after nine o'clock, at once perceived that something unlooked-for hadhappened. The door, of which he had a key, was still fastened, and had notbeen touched; but in the room behind the shop Mr. Claridge's private deskhad been broken open, and the contents turned out in confusion. The doorleading on to the staircase had also been forced. Proceeding up thestairs, Mr. Cutler found another door open, leading from the top landingto a small room; this door had been opened by the simple expedient ofunscrewing and taking off the lock, which had been on the inside. In theceiling of this room was a trap-door, and this was six or eight inchesopen, the edge resting on the half-wrenched-off bolt, which had been tornaway when the trap was levered open from the outside.
Plainly, then, this was the path of the thief or thieves. Entrance hadbeen made through the trap-door, two more doors had been opened, and thenthe desk had been ransacked. Mr. Cutler afterward explained that at thistime he had no precise idea what had been stolen, and did not know wherethe cameo had been left on the previous evening. Mr. Claridge had himselfundertaken the cleaning, and had been engaged on it, the assistant said,when he left.
There was no doubt, however, after Mr. Claridge's arrival at teno'clock--the cameo was gone. Mr. Claridge, utterly confounded at his loss,explained incoherently, and with curses on his own carelessness, that hehad locked the precious article in his desk on relinquishing work on itthe previous evening, feeling rather tired, and not taking the trouble tocarry it as far as the safe in another part of the house.
The police were sent for at once, of course, and every investigation made,Mr. Claridge offering a reward of five hundred pounds for the recovery ofthe cameo. The affair was scribbled off at large in the earliest editionsof the evening papers, and by noon all the world was aware of theextraordinary theft of the Stanway Cameo, and many people were discussingthe probabilities of the case, with very indistinct ideas of what asardonyx cameo precisely was.
It was in the afternoon of this day that Lord Stanway called on MartinHewitt. The marquis was a tall, upstanding man of spare figure and activehabits, well known as a member of learned societies and a great patron ofart. He hurried into Hewitt's private room as soon as his name had beenannounced, and, as soon as Hewitt had given him a chair, plunged intobusiness.
"Probably you already guess my business with you, Mr. Hewitt--you haveseen the early evening papers? Just so; then I needn't tell you again whatyou already know. My cameo is gone, and I badly want it back. Of coursethe police are hard at work at Claridge's, but I'm not quite satisfied. Ihave been there myself for two or three hours, and can't see that theyknow any more about it than I do myself. Then, of course, the police,naturally and properly enough from their point of view, look first to findthe criminal, regarding the recovery of the property almost as a secondaryconsideration. Now, from _my_ point of view, the chief consideration isthe property. Of course I want the thief caught, if possible, and properlypunished; but still more I want the cameo."
"Certainly it is a considerable loss. Five thousand pounds----"
"Ah, but don't misunderstand me! It isn't the monetary value of the thingthat I regret. As a matter of fact, I am indemnified for that already.Claridge has behaved most honorably--more than honorably. Indeed, thefirst intimation I had of the loss was a check from him for five thousandpounds, with a letter assuring me that the restoration to me of the amountI had paid was the least he could do to repair the result of what hecalled his unpardonable carelessness. Legally, I'm not sure that I coulddemand anything of him, unless I could prove very flagrant neglect indeedto guard against theft."
"Then I take it, Lord Stanway," Hewitt observed, "that you much prefer thecameo to the money?"
"Certainly. Else I should never have been willing to pay the money for thecameo. It was an enormous price--perhaps much above the market value, evenfor such a valuable thing--but I was particularly anxious that it shouldnot go out of the country. Our public collections here are not sofortunate as they should be in the possession of the very finest examplesof that class of work. In short, I had determined on the cameo, and,fortunately, happen to be able to carry out determinations of that sortwithout regarding an extra thousand pounds or so as an obstacle. So that,you see, what I want is not the value, but the thing itself. Indeed, Idon't think I can possibly keep the money Claridge has sent me; the affairis more his misfortune than his fault. But I shall say nothing aboutreturning it for a little while; it may possibly have the effect ofsharpening everybody in the search."
"Just so. Do I understand that you would like me to look into the caseindependently, on your behalf?"
"Exactly. I want you, if you can, to approach the matter entirely from mypoint of view--your sole object being to find the cameo. Of course, if youhappen on the thief as well, so much the better. Perhaps, after all,looking for the
one is the same thing as looking for the other?"
"Not always; but usually it is, or course; even if they are not together,they certainly _have_ been at one time, and to have one is a very longstep toward having the other. Now, to begin with, is anybody suspected?"
"Well, the police are reserved, but I believe the fact is they've nothingto say. Claridge won't admit that he suspects any one, though he believesthat whoever it was must have watched him yesterday evening through theback window of his room, and must have seen him put the cameo away in hisdesk; because the thief would seem to have gone straight to the place. ButI half fancy that, in his inner mind, he is inclined to suspect one of twopeople. You see, a robbery of this sort is different from others. Thatcameo would never be stolen, I imagine, with the view of its beingsold--it is much too famous a thing; a man might as well walk aboutoffering to sell the Tower of London. There are only a very few people whobuy such things, and every one of them knows all about it. No dealer wouldtouch it; he could never even show it, much less sell it, without beingcalled to account. So that it really seems more likely that it has beentaken by somebody who wishes to keep it for mere love of the thing--acollector, in fact--who would then have to keep it secretly at home, andnever let a soul besides himself see it, living in the consciousness thatat his death it must be found and this theft known; unless, indeed, anordinary vulgar burglar has taken it without knowing its value."
"That isn't likely," Hewitt replied. "An ordinary burglar, ignorant of itsvalue, wouldn't have gone straight to the cameo and have taken it inpreference to many other things of more apparent worth, which must belying near in such a place as Claridge's."
"True--I suppose he wouldn't. Although the police seem to think that thebreaking in is clearly the work of a regular criminal--from thejimmy-marks, you know, and so on."
"Well, but what of the two people you think Mr. Claridge suspects?"
"Of course I can't say that he does suspect them--I only fancied from histone that it might be possible; he himself insists that he can't, injustice, suspect anybody. One of these men is Hahn, the traveling agentwho sold him the cameo. This man's character does not appear to beabsolutely irreproachable; no dealer trusts him very far. Of courseClaridge doesn't say what he paid him for the cameo; these dealers arevery reticent about their profits, which I believe are as often somethinglike five hundred per cent as not. But it seems Hahn bargained to havesomething extra, depending on the amount Claridge could sell the carvingfor. According to the appointment he should have turned up this morning,but he hasn't been seen, and nobody seems to know exactly where he is."
"Yes; and the other person?"
"Well, I scarcely like mentioning him, because he is certainly agentleman, and I believe, in the ordinary way, quite incapable of anythingin the least degree dishonorable; although, of course, they say acollector has no conscience in the matter of his own particular hobby, andcertainly Mr. Wollett is as keen a collector as any man alive. He lives inchambers in the next turning past Claridge's premises--can, in fact, lookinto Claridge's back windows if he likes. He examined the cameo severaltimes before I bought it, and made several high offers--appeared, in fact,very anxious indeed to get it. After I had bought it he made, Iunderstand, some rather strong remarks about people like myself 'spoilingthe market' by paying extravagant prices, and altogether cut up 'crusty,'as they say, at losing the specimen." Lord Stanway paused a few seconds,and then went on: "I'm not sure that I ought to mention Mr. Woollett'sname for a moment in connection with such a matter; I am personallyperfectly certain that he is as incapable of anything like theft asmyself. But I am telling you all I know."
"Precisely. I can't know too much in a case like this. It can do no harmif I know all about fifty innocent people, and may save me from the riskof knowing nothing about the thief. Now, let me see: Mr. Wollett's rooms,you say, are near Mr. Claridge's place of business? Is there any means ofcommunication between the roofs?"
"Yes, I am told that it is perfectly possible to get from one place to theother by walking along the leads."
"Very good! Then, unless you can think of any other information that mayhelp me, I think, Lord Stanway, I will go at once and look at the place."
"Do, by all means. I think I'll come back with you. Somehow, I don't liketo feel idle in the matter, though I suppose I can't do much. As to moreinformation, I don't think there is any."
"In regard to Mr. Claridge's assistant, now: Do you know anything of him?"
"Only that he has always seemed a very civil and decent sort of man.Honest, I should say, or Claridge wouldn't have kept him so manyyears--there are a good many valuable things about at Claridge's. Besides,the man has keys of the place himself, and, even if he were a thief, hewouldn't need to go breaking in through the roof."
"So that," said Hewitt, "we have, directly connected with this cameo,besides yourself, these people: Mr. Claridge, the dealer; Mr. Cutler, theassistant in Mr. Claridge's business; Hahn, who sold the article toClaridge, and Mr. Woollett, who made bids for it. These are all?"
"All that I know of. Other gentlemen made bids, I believe, but I don'tknow them."
"Take these people in their order. Mr. Claridge is out of the question, asa dealer with a reputation to keep up would be, even if he hadn'timmediately sent you this five thousand pounds--more than the marketvalue, I understand, of the cameo. The assistant is a reputable man,against whom nothing is known, who would never need to break in, and whomust understand his business well enough to know that he could neverattempt to sell the missing stone without instant detection. Hahn is a manof shady antecedents, probably clever enough to know as well as anybodyhow to dispose of such plunder--if it be possible to dispose of it at all;also, Hahn hasn't been to Claridge's to-day, although he had anappointment to take money. Lastly, Mr. Woollett is a gentleman of the mosthonorable record, but a perfectly rabid collector, who had made everyeffort to secure the cameo before you bought it; who, moreover, could haveseen Mr. Claridge working in his back room, and who has perfectly easyaccess to Mr. Claridge's roof. If we find it can't be none of these, thenwe must look where circumstances indicate."
There was unwonted excitement at Mr. Claridge's place when Hewitt and hisclient arrived. It was a dull old building, and in the windows there wasnever more show than an odd blue china vase or two, or, mayhap, a few oldsilver shoe-buckles and a curious small sword. Nine men out of ten wouldhave passed it without a glance; but the tenth at least would probablyknow it for a place famous through the world for the number and value ofthe old and curious objects of art that had passed through it.
On this day two or three loiterers, having heard of the robbery, extractedwhat gratification they might from staring at nothing between the railingsguarding the windows. Within, Mr. Claridge, a brisk, stout, little oldman, was talking earnestly to a burly police-inspector in uniform, and Mr.Cutler, who had seized the opportunity to attempt amateur detective workon his own account, was groveling perseveringly about the floor, among oldporcelain and loose pieces of armor, in the futile hope of finding anyclue that the thieves might have considerately dropped.
Mr. Claridge came forward eagerly.
"The leather case has been found, I am pleased to be able to tell you,Lord Stanway, since you left."
"Empty, of course?"
"Unfortunately, yes. It had evidently been thrown away by the thief behinda chimney-stack a roof or two away, where the police have found it. But itis a clue, of course."
"Ah, then this gentleman will give me his opinion of it," Lord Stanwaysaid, turning to Hewitt. "This, Mr. Claridge, is Mr. Martin Hewitt, whohas been kind enough to come with me here at a moment's notice. With thepolice on the one hand and Mr. Hewitt on the other we shall certainlyrecover that cameo, if it is to be recovered, I think."
Mr. Claridge bowed, and beamed on Hewitt through his spectacles. "I'm veryglad Mr. Hewitt has come," he said. "Indeed, I had already decided to givethe police till this time to-morrow, and then, if they had found nothing,to call in Mr. H
ewitt myself."
Hewitt bowed in his turn, and then asked: "Will you let me see the variousbreakages? I hope they have not been disturbed."
"Nothing whatever has been disturbed. Do exactly as seems best. I needscarcely say that everything here is perfectly at your disposal. You knowall the circumstances, of course?"
"In general, yes. I suppose I am right in the belief that you have noresident housekeeper?"
"No," Claridge replied, "I haven't. I had one housekeeper who sometimespawned my property in the evening, and then another who used to break mymost valuable china, till I could never sleep or take a moment's ease athome for fear my stock was being ruined here. So I gave up residenthousekeepers. I felt some confidence in doing it because of the policemanwho is always on duty opposite."
"Can I see the broken desk?"
Mr. Claridge led the way into the room behind the shop. The desk wasreally a sort of work-table, with a lifting top and a lock. The top hadbeen forced roughly open by some instrument which had been pushed in belowit and used as a lever, so that the catch of the lock was torn away.Hewitt examined the damaged parts and the marks of the lever, and thenlooked out at the back window.
"There are several windows about here," he remarked, "from which it mightbe possible to see into this room. Do you know any of the people who livebehind them?"
"Two or three I know," Mr. Claridge answered, "but there are twowindows--the pair almost immediately before us--belonging to a room oroffice which is to let. Any stranger might get in there and watch."
"Do the roofs above any of those windows communicate in any way withyours?"
"None of those directly opposite. Those at the left do; you may walk allthe way along the leads."
"And whose windows are they?"
Mr. Claridge hesitated. "Well," he said, "they're Mr. Woollett's, anexcellent customer of mine. But he's a gentleman, and--well, I reallythink it's absurd to suspect him."
"In a case like this," Hewitt answered, "one must disregard nothing butthe impossible. Somebody--whether Mr. Woollett himself or anotherperson--could possibly have seen into this room from those windows, andequally possibly could have reached this room from that one. Therefore wemust not forget Mr. Woollett. Have any of your neighbors been burgledduring the night? I mean that strangers anxious to get at your trap-doorwould probably have to begin by getting into some other house close by, soas to reach your roof."
"No," Mr. Claridge replied; "there has been nothing of that sort. It wasthe first thing the police ascertained."
Hewitt examined the broken door and then made his way up the stairs withthe others. The unscrewed lock of the door of the top back-room requiredlittle examination. In the room below the trap-door was a dusty table onwhich stood a chair, and at the other side of the table satDetective-Inspector Plummer, whom Hewitt knew very well, and who bade him"good-day" and then went on with his docket.
"This chair and table were found as they are now, I take it?" Hewittasked.
"Yes," said Mr. Claridge; "the thieves, I should think, dropped in throughthe trap-door, after breaking it open, and had to place this chair whereit is to be able to climb back."
Hewitt scrambled up through the trap-way and examined it from the top. Thedoor was hung on long external barn-door hinges, and had been forced openin a similar manner to that practiced on the desk. A jimmy had been pushedbetween the frame and the door near the bolt, and the door had been priedopen, the bolt being torn away from the screws in the operation.
Presently Inspector Plummer, having finished his docket, climbed up to theroof after Hewitt, and the two together went to the spot, close under achimney-stack on the next roof but one, where the case had been found.Plummer produced the case, which he had in his coat-tail pocket, forHewitt's inspection.
"I don't see anything particular about it; do you?" he said. "It shows usthe way they went, though, being found just here."
"Well, yes," Hewitt said; "if we kept on in this direction, we should begoing toward Mr. Woollett's house, and _his_ trap-door, shouldn't we!"
The inspector pursed his lips, smiled, and shrugged his shoulders. "Ofcourse we haven't waited till now to find that out," he said.
"No, of course. And, as you say, I didn't think there is much to belearned from this leather case. It is almost new, and there isn't a markon it." And Hewitt handed it back to the inspector.
"Well," said Plummer, as he returned the case to his pocket, "what's youropinion?"
"It's rather an awkward case."
"Yes, it is. Between ourselves--I don't mind telling you--I'm having asharp lookout kept over there"--Plummer jerked his head in the directionof Mr. Woollett's chambers--"because the robbery's an unusual one. There'sonly two possible motives--the sale of the cameo or the keeping of it. Thesale's out of the question, as you know; the thing's only salable to thosewho would collar the thief at once, and who wouldn't have the thing intheir places now for anything. So that it must be taken to keep, andthat's a thing nobody but the maddest of collectors would do, just suchpersons as--" and the inspector nodded again toward Mr. Woollett'squarters. "Take that with the other circumstances," he added, "and I thinkyou'll agree it's worth while looking a little farther that way. Of coursesome of the work--taking off the lock and so on--looks rather like aregular burglar, but it's just possible that any one badly wanting thecameo would like to hire a man who was up to the work."
"Yes, it's possible."
"Do you know anything of Hahn, the agent?" Plummer asked, a moment later.
"No, I don't. Have you found him yet?"
"I haven't yet, but I'm after him. I've found he was at Charing Cross aday or two ago, booking a ticket for the Continent. That and his failingto turn up to-day seem to make it worth while not to miss _him_ if we canhelp it. He isn't the sort of man that lets a chance of drawing a bit ofmoney go for nothing."
They returned to the room. "Well," said Lord Stanway, "what's the resultof the consultation? We've been waiting here very patiently, while you twoclever men have been discussing the matter on the roof."
On the wall just beneath the trap-door a very dusty old tall hat hung on apeg. This Hewitt took down and examined very closely, smearing his fingerswith the dust from the inside lining. "Is this one of your valuable andcrusted old antiques?" he asked, with a smile, of Mr. Claridge.
"That's only an old hat that I used to keep here for use in bad weather,"Mr. Claridge said, with some surprise at the question. "I haven't touchedit for a year or more."
"Oh, then it couldn't have been left here by your last night's visitor,"Hewitt replied, carelessly replacing it on the hook. "You left here ateight last night, I think?"
"Eight exactly--or within a minute or two."
"Just so. I think I'll look at the room on the opposite side of thelanding, if you'll let me."
"Certainly, if you'd like to," Claridge replied; "but they haven't beenthere--it is exactly as it was left. Only a lumber-room, you see," heconcluded, flinging the door open.
A number of partly broken-up packing-cases littered about this room, withmuch other rubbish. Hewitt took the lid of one of the newest-lookingpacking-cases, and glanced at the address label. Then he turned to a rustyold iron box that stood against a wall. "I should like to see behindthis," he said, tugging at it with his hands. "It is heavy and dirty. Isthere a small crowbar about the house, or some similar lever?"
Mr. Claridge shook his head. "Haven't such a thing in the place," he said.
"Never mind," Hewitt replied, "another time will do to shift that old box,and perhaps, after all, there's little reason for moving it. I will justwalk round to the police-station, I think, and speak to the constables whowere on duty opposite during the night. I think, Lord Stanway, I have seenall that is necessary here."
"I suppose," asked Mr. Claridge, "it is too soon yet to ask if you haveformed any theory in the matter?"
"Well--yes, it is," Hewitt answered. "But perhaps I may be able tosurprise you in an hour or two; but that I don't promise.
By the by," headded suddenly, "I suppose you're sure the trap-door was bolted lastnight?"
"Certainly," Mr. Claridge answered, smiling. "Else how could the bolt havebeen broken? As a matter of fact, I believe the trap hasn't been openedfor months. Mr. Cutler, do you remember when the trap-door was lastopened?"
Mr. Cutler shook his head. "Certainly not for six months," he said.
"Ah, very well; it's not very important," Hewitt replied.
As they reached the front shop a fiery-faced old gentleman bounced in atthe street door, stumbling over an umbrella that stood in a dark corner,and kicking it three yards away.
"What the deuce do you mean," he roared at Mr. Claridge, "by sending thesepolice people smelling about my rooms and asking questions of my servants?What do you mean, sir, by treating me as a thief? Can't a gentleman comeinto this place to look at an article without being suspected of stealingit, when it disappears through your wretched carelessness? I'll ask mysolicitor, sir, if there isn't a remedy for this sort of thing. And if Icatch another of your spy fellows on my staircase, or crawling about myroof, I'll--I'll shoot him!"
"Really, Mr. Woollett----" began Mr. Claridge, somewhat abashed, but theangry old man would hear nothing.
"Don't talk to me, sir; you shall talk to my solicitor. And am I tounderstand, my lord"--turning to Lord Stanway--"that these things arebeing done with your approval?"
"Whatever is being done," Lord Stanway answered, "is being done by thepolice on their own responsibility, and entirely without prompting, Ibelieve, by Mr. Claridge--certainly without a suggestion of any sort frommyself. I think that the personal opinion of Mr. Claridge--certainly myown--is that anything like a suspicion of your position in this wretchedmatter is ridiculous. And if you will only consider the matter calmly----"
"Consider it calmly? Imagine yourself considering such a thing calmly,Lord Stanway. I _won't_ consider it calmly. I'll--I'll--I won't have it.And if I find another man on my roof, I'll pitch him off!" And Mr.Woollett bounced into the street again.
"Mr. Woollett is annoyed," Hewitt observed, with a smile. "I'm afraidPlummer has a clumsy assistant somewhere."
Mr. Claridge said nothing, but looked rather glum, for Mr. Woollett was amost excellent customer.
Lord Stanwood and Hewitt walked slowly down the street, Hewitt staring atthe pavement in profound thought. Once or twice Lord Stanway glanced athis face, but refrained from disturbing him. Presently, however, heobserved: "You seem, at least, Mr. Hewitt, to have noticed something thathas set you thinking. Does it look like a clue?"
Hewitt came out of his cogitation at once. "A clue?" he said; "the casebristles with clues. The extraordinary thing to me is that Plummer,usually a smart man, doesn't seem to have seen one of them. He must be outof sorts, I'm afraid. But the case is decidedly a most remarkable one."
"Remarkable in what particular way?"
"In regard to motive. Now it would seem, as Plummer was saying to me justnow on the roof, that there were only two possible motives for such arobbery. Either the man who took all this trouble and risk to break intoClaridge's place must have desired to sell the cameo at a good price, orhe must have desired to keep it for himself, being a lover of such things.But neither of these has been the actual motive."
"Perhaps he thinks he can extort a good sum from me by way of ransom?"
"No, it isn't that. Nor is it jealousy, nor spite, nor anything of thatkind. I know the motive, I _think_--but I wish we could get hold of Hahn.I will shut myself up alone and turn it over in my mind for half an hourpresently."
"Meanwhile, what I want to know is, apart from all your professionalsubtleties--which I confess I can't understand--can you get back thecameo?"
"That," said Hewitt, stopping at the corner of the street, "I am ratherafraid I can not--nor anybody else. But I am pretty sure I know thethief."
"Then surely that will lead you to the cameo?"
"It _may_, of course; but, then, it is just possible that by this eveningyou may not want to have it back, after all."
Lord Stanway stared in amazement.
"Not want to have it back!" he exclaimed. "Why, of course I shall want tohave it back. I don't understand you in the least; you talk in conundrums.Who is the thief you speak of?"
"I think, Lord Stanway," Hewitt said, "that perhaps I had better not sayuntil I have quite finished my inquiries, in case of mistakes. The case isquite an extraordinary one, and of quite a different character from whatone would at first naturally imagine, and I must be very careful to guardagainst the possibility of error. I have very little fear of a mistake,however, and I hope I may wait on you in a few hours at Piccadilly withnews. I have only to see the policemen."
"Certainly, come whenever you please. But why see the policemen? They havealready most positively stated that they saw nothing whatever suspiciousin the house or near it."
"I shall not ask them anything at all about the house," Hewitt responded."I shall just have a little chat with them--about the weather." And with asmiling bow he turned away, while Lord Stanway stood and gazed after him,with an expression that implied a suspicion that his special detective wasmaking a fool of him.
* * * * *
In rather more than an hour Hewitt was back in Mr. Claridge's shop. "Mr.Claridge," he said, "I think I must ask you one or two questions inprivate. May I see you in your own room?"
They went there at once, and Hewitt, pulling a chair before the window,sat down with his back to the light. The dealer shut the door, and satopposite him, with the light full in his face.
"Mr. Claridge," Hewitt proceeded slowly, "_when did you first find thatLord Stanway's cameo was a forgery_?"
Claridge literally bounced in his chair. His face paled, but he managed tostammer sharply: "What--what--what d'you mean? Forgery? Do you mean to sayI sell forgeries? Forgery? It wasn't a forgery!"
"Then," continued Hewitt in the same deliberate tone, watching the other'sface the while, "if it wasn't a forgery, _why did you destroy it and burstyour trap-door and desk to imitate a burglary_?"
The sweat stood thick on the dealer's face, and he gasped. But hestruggled hard to keep his faculties together, and ejaculated hoarsely:"Destroy it? What--what--I didn't--didn't destroy it!"
"Threw it into the river, then--don't prevaricate about details."
"No--no--it's a lie! Who says that? Go away! You're insulting me!"Claridge almost screamed.
"Come, come, Mr. Claridge," Hewitt said more placably, for he had gainedhis point; "don't distress yourself, and don't attempt to deceive me--youcan't, I assure you. I know everything you did before you left here lastnight--everything."
Claridge's face worked painfully. Once or twice he appeared to be on thepoint of returning an indignant reply, but hesitated, and finally brokedown altogether.
"Don't expose me, Mr. Hewitt!" he pleaded; "I beg you won't expose me! Ihaven't harmed a soul but myself. I've paid Lord Stanway every penny back,and I never knew the thing was a forgery till I began to clean it. I'm anold man, Mr. Hewitt, and my professional reputation has been spotlessuntil now. I beg you won't expose me."
Hewitt's voice softened. "Don't make an unnecessary trouble of it," hesaid. "I see a decanter on your sideboard--let me give you a little brandyand water. Come, there's nothing criminal, I believe, in a man's breakingopen his own desk, or his own trap-door, for that matter. Of course I'macting for Lord Stanway in this affair, and I must, in duty, report to himwithout reserve. But Lord Stanway is a gentleman, and I'll undertake he'lldo nothing inconsiderate of your feelings, if you're disposed to be frank.Let us talk the affair over; tell me about it."
"It was that swindler Hahn who deceived me in the beginning," Claridgesaid. "I have never made a mistake with a cameo before, and I neverthought so close an imitation was possible. I examined it most carefully,and was perfectly satisfied, and many experts examined it afterward, andwere all equally deceived. I felt as sure as I possibly could feel that Ihad bought one of the finest, if no
t actually the finest, cameos known toexist. It was not until after it had come back from Lord Stanway's, and Iwas cleaning it the evening before last, that in course of my work itbecame apparent that the thing was nothing but a consummately cleverforgery. It was made of three layers of molded glass, nothing more norless. But the glass was treated in a way I had never before known of, andthe surface had been cunningly worked on till it defied any ordinaryexamination. Some of the glass imitation cameos made in the latter part ofthe last century, I may tell you, are regarded as marvelous pieces ofwork, and, indeed, command very fair prices, but this was something quitebeyond any of those.
"I was amazed and horrified. I put the thing away and went home. All thatnight I lay awake in a state of distraction, quite unable to decide whatto do. To let the cameo go out of my possession was impossible. Sooner orlater the forgery would be discovered, and my reputation--the highest inthese matters in this country, I may safely claim, and the growth ofnearly fifty years of honest application and good judgment--thisreputation would be gone forever. But without considering this, there wasthe fact that I had taken five thousand pounds of Lord Stanway's money fora mere piece of glass, and that money I must, in mere common honesty aswell as for my own sake, return. But how? The name of the Stanway Cameohad become a household word, and to confess that the whole thing was asham would ruin my reputation and destroy all confidence--past, present,and future--in me and in my transactions. Either way spelled ruin. Even ifI confided in Lord Stanway privately, returned his money, and destroyedthe cameo, what then? The sudden disappearance of an article so famouswould excite remark at once. It had been presented to the British Museum,and if it never appeared in that collection, and no news were to be got ofit, people would guess at the truth at once. To make it known that Imyself had been deceived would have availed nothing. It is my business_not_ to be deceived; and to have it known that my most expensivespecimens might be forgeries would equally mean ruin, whether I sold themcunningly as a rogue or ignorantly as a fool. Indeed, my pride, myreputation as a connoisseur, is a thing near to my heart, and it would bean unspeakable humiliation to me to have it known that I had been imposedon by such a forgery. What could I do? Every expedient seemed useless butone--the one I adopted. It was not straightforward, I admit; but, oh! Mr.Hewitt, consider the temptation--and remember that it couldn't do a soulany harm. No matter who might be suspected, I knew there could notpossibly be evidence to make them suffer. All the next day--yesterday--Iwas anxiously worrying out the thing in my mind and carefully devisingthe--the trick, I'm afraid you'll call it, that you by some extraordinarymeans have seen through. It seemed the only thing--what else was there?More I needn't tell you; you know it. I have only now to beg that you willuse your best influence with Lord Stanway to save me from public derisionand exposure. I will do anything--pay anything--anything but exposure, atmy age, and with my position."
"Well, you see," Hewitt replied thoughtfully, "I've no doubt Lord Stanwaywill show you every consideration, and certainly I will do what I can tosave you in the circumstances; though you must remember that you _have_done some harm--you have caused suspicions to rest on at least one honestman. But as to reputation, I've a professional reputation of my own. If Ihelp to conceal your professional failure, I shall appear to have failedin _my_ part of the business."
"But the cases are different, Mr. Hewitt. Consider. You are notexpected--it would be impossible--to succeed invariably; and there areonly two or three who know you have looked into the case. Then your otherconspicuous successes----"
"Well, well, we shall see. One thing I don't know, though--whether youclimbed out of a window to break open the trap-door, or whether you got upthrough the trap-door itself and pulled the bolt with a string through thejamb, so as to bolt it after you."
"There was no available window. I used the string, as you say. My poorlittle cunning must seem very transparent to you, I fear. I spent hours ofthought over the question of the trap-door--how to break it open so as toleave a genuine appearance, and especially how to bolt it inside after Ihad reached the roof. I thought I had succeeded beyond the possibility ofsuspicion; how you penetrated the device surpasses my comprehension. How,to begin with, could you possibly know that the cameo was a forgery? Didyou ever see it?"
"Never. And, if I had seen it, I fear I should never have been able toexpress an opinion on it; I'm not a connoisseur. As a matter of fact, I_didn't_ know that the thing was a forgery in the first place; what I knewin the first place was that it was _you_ who had broken into the house. Itwas from that that I arrived at the conclusion, after a certain amount ofthought, that the cameo must have been forged. Gain was out of thequestion. You, beyond all men, could never sell the Stanway Cameo again,and, besides, you had paid back Lord Stanway's money. I knew enough ofyour reputation to know that you would never incur the scandal of a greattheft at your place for the sake of getting the cameo for yourself, whenyou might have kept it in the beginning, with no trouble and mystery.Consequently I had to look for another motive, and at first another motiveseemed an impossibility. Why should you wish to take all this trouble tolose five thousand pounds? You had nothing to gain; perhaps you hadsomething to save--your professional reputation, for instance. Looking atit so, it was plain that you were _suppressing_ the cameo--burking it;since, once taken as you had taken it, it could never come to light again.That suggested the solution of the mystery at once--you had discovered,after the sale, that the cameo was not genuine."
"Yes, yes--I see; but you say you began with the knowledge that I brokeinto the place myself. How did you know that? I can not imagine atrace----"
"My dear sir, you left traces everywhere. In the first place, it struck meas curious, before I came here, that you had sent off that check for fivethousand pounds to Lord Stanway an hour or so after the robbery wasdiscovered; it looked so much as though you were sure of the cameo nevercoming back, and were in a hurry to avert suspicion. Of course Iunderstood that, so far as I then knew the case, you were the mostunlikely person in the world, and that your eagerness to repay LordStanway might be the most creditable thing possible. But the point wasworth remembering, and I remembered it.
"When I came here, I saw suspicious indications in many directions, butthe conclusive piece of evidence was that old hat hanging below thetrap-door."
"But I never touched it; I assure you, Mr. Hewitt, I never touched thehat; haven't touched it for months----"
"Of course. If you _had_ touched it, I might never have got the clue. Butwe'll deal with the hat presently; that wasn't what struck me at first.The trap-door first took my attention. Consider, now: Here was atrap-door, most insecurely hung on _external_ hinges; the burglar had ascrewdriver, for he took off the door-lock below with it. Why, then,didn't he take this trap off by the hinges, instead of making a noise andtaking longer time and trouble to burst the bolt from its fastenings? Andwhy, if he were a stranger, was he able to plant his jimmy from theoutside just exactly opposite the interior bolt? There was only one markon the frame, and that precisely in the proper place.
"After that I saw the leather case. It had not been thrown away, or somecorner would have shown signs of the fall. It had been put down carefullywhere it was found. These things, however, were of small importancecompared with the hat. The hat, as you know, was exceedingly thick withdust--the accumulation of months. But, on the top side, presented towardthe trap-door, were a score or so of _raindrop marks_. That was all. Theywere new marks, for there was no dust over them; they had merely had timeto dry and cake the dust they had fallen on. _Now, there had been no rainsince a sharp shower just after seven o'clock last night_. At that timeyou, by your own statement, were in the place. You left at eight, and therain was all over at ten minutes or a quarter past seven. The trap-door,you also told me, had not been opened for months. The thing was plain.You, or somebody who was here when you were, had opened that trap-doorduring, or just before, that shower. I said little then, but went, as soonas I had left, to the police-station. There I made p
erfectly certain thatthere had been no rain during the night by questioning the policemen whowere on duty outside all the time. There had been none. I knew everything.
"The only other evidence there was pointed with all the rest. There wereno rain-marks on the leather case; it had been put on the roof as anafter-thought when there was no rain. A very poor after-thought, let metell you, for no thief would throw away a useful case that concealed hisbooty and protected it from breakage, and throw it away just so as toleave a clue as to what direction he had gone in. I also saw, in thelumber-room, a number of packing-cases--one with a label dated two daysback--which had been opened with an iron lever; and yet, when I made anexcuse to ask for it, you said there was no such thing in the place.Inference, you didn't want me to compare it with the marks on the desksand doors. That is all, I think."
Mr. Claridge looked dolorously down at the floor. "I'm afraid," he said,"that I took an unsuitable role when I undertook to rely on my wits todeceive men like you. I thought there wasn't a single vulnerable spot inmy defense, but you walk calmly through it at the first attempt. Why did Inever think of those raindrops?"
"Come," said Hewitt, with a smile, "that sounds unrepentant. I am going,now, to Lord Stanway's. If I were you, I think I should apologize to Mr.Woollett in some way."
Lord Stanway, who, in the hour or two of reflection left him after partingwith Hewitt, had come to the belief that he had employed a man whose mindwas not always in order, received Hewitt's story with naturalastonishment. For some time he was in doubt as to whether he would bedoing right in acquiescing in anything but a straightforward publicstatement of the facts connected with the disappearance of the cameo, butin the end was persuaded to let the affair drop, on receiving an assurancefrom Mr. Woollett that he unreservedly accepted the apology offered him byMr. Claridge.
As for the latter, he was at least sufficiently punished in loss of moneyand personal humiliation for his escapade. But the bitterest and last blowhe sustained when the unblushing Hahn walked smilingly into his office twodays later to demand the extra payment agreed on in consideration of thesale. He had been called suddenly away, he exclaimed, on the day he shouldhave come, and hoped his missing the appointment had occasioned noinconvenience. As to the robbery of the cameo, of course he was verysorry, but "pishness was pishness," and he would be glad of a check forthe sum agreed on. And the unhappy Claridge was obliged to pay it, knowingthat the man had swindled him, but unable to open his mouth to say so.
The reward remained on offer for a long time; indeed, it was neverpublicly withdrawn, I believe, even at the time of Claridge's death. Andseveral intelligent newspapers enlarged upon the fact that an ordinaryburglar had completely baffled and defeated the boasted acumen of Mr.Martin Hewitt, the well-known private detective.
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