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Speaker 1: The Great Ruby Robbery pursus. Ramonette was an American heiress,

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As she justly remarked, this was a commonplace profession for

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a young woman nowadays, for almost everybody of late years

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has been an American and an heiress. A poor Californian indeed,

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would be a charming novelty in London society, But London

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society so far has had to go without one pursus.

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Ramonette was on her way back from the Wilcoxes Ball.

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She was stopping, of course, with Sir Everett and Lady

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mc clure at the house at Hampstead. I say, of

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course advisedly, because if you or I go to see

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New York, we have to put up at our own

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expense by dollars a day without wine or extras at

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the Windsor or the Fifth Avenue. But when the pretty

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American comes to London, and every American girl is ex

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officio pretty in Europe, at least I suppose they keep

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their ugly ones at home for domestic consumption. She is

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invariably the guest either of the two wager duchess or

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of a royal lackeredemicion, like Sir Everett of the first distinction.

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Yankees visit Europe in fact, to see, among other things,

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our art and our old nobility, and by dint of

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native persistence, they get into places that you and I

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could never succeed in penetrating unless we devoted all the

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energies of a long and blameless life to securing an invitation.

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Perces hadn't been to the Wilcoxes with.

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Speaker 2: Lady mc clure.

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Speaker 1: However, the mc clures were really too great to know

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such people as Wilcoxes, who were something tremendous in the

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city but didn't buy pictures, And academicians, you know, don't

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care to cultivate city people unless they are customers patrons

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the academicians most usually call them, but I prefer the

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simple business word myself as being a deal less patronizing.

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So Perss had accepted an invitation from Missus Duncan Harrison,

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the wife of the well known member for the Hackney's

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Division of Elmatshire, to take a seat in her carriage

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to and from the Wilcoxes. Missus Harrison knew the habits

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and manners of American heiresses too well to offer to

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chaperone Perses, and indeed Persis as a free born America

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citizen who was quite as well able to take care

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of herself the wide world over as any three ordinary

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married englishwomen. Now missus Harrison had a brother, an Irish baronet,

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Sir Justin o'byron, late of the Eighth Husses, who had

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been with them to the Wilcoxes, and who accompanied them

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home to Hampstead on the back seat of the carriage.

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Sir Justin was one of those charming, ineffective, elusive irishmen

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whom everybody likes and everybody disapproves of. He had been

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everywhere and done everything except to earn an honest livelihood.

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The total absence of rents during the sixties and seventies

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had never prevented his father, old Sir Terence o'byron, who

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sat so long for Connemara in the Unreformed Parliament, from

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sending his son Justin in the state to Eton and

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afterwards to a fashionable college at Oxford. He gave me

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the education of a gentleman. Sir Justin was wont regretfully

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to observe, but he omitted to give me also the

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income to keep it up with. Nevertheless, society felt o'bien

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was the sort of man who must be kept afloat somehow,

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and it kept him afloat accordingly, in those mysterious ways

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that only society understands, and that you and I, who

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are not society, could never get to the bottom off

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if he tried. For a century. Sir Justin himself had

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essayed Parliament too, where he sat for a while behind

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the great parnel, without put a moment forfeiting society's regard,

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even in those early days when it was held as

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prime article of faith by the world, that no gentleman

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could possibly call himself a home ruler. Twas only of

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o' byron's wild Irish tricts, Society said complacently with that

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single indulgence it always extends to its special favorites, and

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which is in fact the correlative of the unsparing cruelty

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it shows in turn to those who happened to offend

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against its unwritten precepts. If Sir Justin had blown up

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a star or two in a fit of political exuberance,

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society would only have regarded the escapade as one of

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o' byron's eccenticities. He had also held a commission for

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a while in a cavalry regiment, which he left, it

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was understood owing to a difference of opinion about her

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lady with the colonel, and he was now a gentleman

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at large on London society, supposed by those who know

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more about everyone than one knows about oneself, to be

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on the lookout for a nice girl with a little money.

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Sir Justin had paid Perces a great deal of attention

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that particular evening.

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Speaker 2: In point of.

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Speaker 1: Fact, he had paid her a great deal of attention

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from the very first whenever he met her, and on

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the way back home from the dance, he had kept

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his eyes fixed on Perces's face to an extent that

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was almost embarrassing. The pretty Californian leaned back in her

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place in the carriage and surveyed him languidly. She was

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looking at her level best that night, in her pale

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pink dress, with the famous remnete room in a cascade

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of red light setting off the snowy neck of hers

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twas a neck for a painter. Sir Justin let his

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eyes fall regretfully more than once on the glittering groupies

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he liked and admired pursues. Oh quite immensely your society man,

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who had been through seven or eight London seasons, could

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hardly be expected to go quite so far as falling

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in love with any woman. His habit is rather to

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look about him critically among all the nice girls trotted

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out by their mammas for his lordly inspection, and to

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reflect with a faint smile that this, that or the

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other one might perhaps really suit him, if it were

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not for and there comes in the inn inevitable butt

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of all human commendation. Still, Sir Justin admitted, with a

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sigh to himself that he liked Pursis ever so much.

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She was so fresh and original, and she talked so

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cleverly as for purses. She would have given her eyes

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like every other American girl, to be made my lady.

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And she had seen no man yet with that auxiliary

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title in his gift whom she liked half so well

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as this delightful, wild irishman. At the McLear's door, the

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carriage stopped, so Justin jumped out and gave his hand

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to Persis. You know the house well, of course, Sir

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Everett McLear's. It's one of those large artistic mansions in

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red brick and old old oak the top of the hill,

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and it stands a little way back from the road.

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Discreetly retired the big wooden porch, very convenient for leave taking.

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Sir Justin ran up the steps with purses to ring

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the bell for her. He had too much of the

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irrepressible Irish blood in his veins to leave that pleasant

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task to his sister's footman. But he didn't ring at once,

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and the risk of keeping Missus Harrison waiting outside for nothing,

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he stopped and talked a minute or so with the

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pretty American. You look charming tonight, miss Ramonette, he said,

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as she threw back her light opera wrapped for a

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moment in the porch and displayed a single flash of

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the snowy neck with the famous rubies. Those stones become you.

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So she looked at him and smiled. You think so,

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she said, a little tremulous for even your American heiress,

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after all.

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Speaker 2: Is a woman.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you do, but it's good bye tonight,

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Sir Justin, for I go next week to Paris.

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Speaker 2: Even in the gloom of.

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Speaker 1: The porch, just lighted by an artistic red and blue

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lantern in wrought iron, She could see a shade of

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disappointment passed quickly over his handsome face as he answered

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with a little gulp.

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Speaker 2: No, you don't mean that.

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Speaker 1: Oh, mister Romanette, I am so sorry. Then he paused

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and drew back. And yet after all, he continued, perhaps,

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and there he checked himself. Pursus looked up at him hastily.

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Yet after all what she asked with evident interest, The

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young man drew an almost inaudible sigh. Yet after all nothing,

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he answered evasively. That might do for an englishwoman, Pursus

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put in with American frankness, but it.

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Speaker 2: Won't do for me. You must tell me what you

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mean by it.

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Speaker 1: For she reflected sagely that the happiness of two lives

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might depend upon those two minutes. You'll have foolish to

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throw away the chance of a man you really like,

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with a my ladyship to boot all for the sake

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of pure convention. Sir Justin leaned against the woodwork of

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the retiring porch. She was a beautiful girl, he had

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hot Irish blood. Well, yes, just for once he would

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say the plain truth to her, Miss Ramonette. He began

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leaning forward and bringing his face close to hers. Miss Ramonette, Persus,

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shall I tell you the reason why? Because I like

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you so much, I almost think I love you. Persius

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felt the blood cub in her tingling cheeks, how handsome

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he was, and a baronet. And yet you're not altogether sorry,

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she said, reproachfully that I'm going to Paris. No, not

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altogether sorry, he answered, sticking to it. And I'll tell

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you why too, Miss Ramonette, I like you very much,

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and I.

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Speaker 2: Think you like me.

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Speaker 1: For a week or two, I've been saying to myself,

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I really believe I must ask her to marry me.

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The temptations being so strong, I could hardly resist it.

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And why do you want to resist it? Pursus asked,

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all tremulous, So justin hesitated a second, and then, with

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a perfectly natural and instinctive movement, though only a gentleman

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would have ventured to make it, he lifted his hand

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and just touched the tips of his finger the ruby

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pendant on her necklip. This is why, he answered, simply,

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with manly frankness, Persis, you're so rich, I'd never dare

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ask you. Perhaps you don't know what my answer would be,

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Prisius murmured, very low, just to preserve her own dignity.

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Oh yes, I think I do, the young man replied,

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gazing deeply into her dark eyes. It isn't that. If

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it were only that, I wouldn't be so much minded.

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But I think you'd take me. There was moisture in

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her eye. He went on more boldly. I know you

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would take me, Pursis, and that's why I don't ask you.

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You're a great deal too rich, and these make it impossible,

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sir Justin Pursus answered, removing his hand gently, but with

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the moisture growing thicker, for she really liked him. It's

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most unkind of you to say so. Either you ought

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not have told me at all, or else if you did.

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Speaker 2: She stopped short.

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Speaker 1: Humanly, shame overcame her. The man leaned forward and spoke earnestly.

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Oh don't say that, he cried from his heart. I

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couldn't bear to offend you, but I couldn't bear either

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to let you go away well without ever having told you.

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In that case, you might have thought I didn't care

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at all for you, and I was only.

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Speaker 2: Flirting with you. But Purchase, I have cared a great

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deal about.

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Speaker 1: You, a great great deal, and had hard work many

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times to prevent myself from asking you. And I'll tell

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you the plain reason why I haven't asked you. I'm

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a man about town, not much good. I'm afraid for

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anybody or anything when everybody says I am on the

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lookout for an heiress, which happens not to be true.

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And if I married you, everybody would say, ah, there,

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I told you so. Now, I wouldn't mind that for myself.

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I'm a man and I could snap my fingers at them,

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but i'd mind it for you, persis, for I'm enough

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in love with you to be very, very jealous, indeed,

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for your honor. I couldn't bear to think people should say,

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there's that pretty American girl, Persius Ramonette. That was you know,

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she'd thrown herself away upon that good for nothing irishman

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Justin o'byron, a regular fortune hunter, who married her for

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her money. So for your sake, Persus, I'd rather not

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ask you. I'd rather leave you for some better man

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to marry. But I wouldn't, Pursus cried aloud. Oh, sir Justin,

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you must believe me. You must remember, at that precise

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moment Missus Harrison put her head out of the carriage

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window and called out rather loudly, why, Justin, what's keeping you?

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Speaker 2: Though?

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Speaker 1: Horses will catch their deaths of cold, and they were

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clipped this morning. Come back at once, my dear boy. Besides,

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you know lay common answers.

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Speaker 2: All right, Norah, her brother.

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Speaker 1: Answered, I won't be a minute. We can't get them

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to answer this, precious bell. I believe it don't ring,

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but I'll try again anyhow, And half forgetting that his

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own words weren't strictly true, for he hadn't yet tried.

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He pressed the knob with a vengeance. Is that your

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room with the light burning, miss Ramonette, he went on

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in a fairly loud official voice, as a servant came

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to answer the one with the balcony. I mean quite panish,

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isn't it reminds one of Romeo and Juliette. But most

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convenient for a burglary too, such nice low rails. Mind

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you take good care of the remnette rubies. I don't

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want to take care of them, Pursus answered, wiping her

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dim eyes hastily with her lace pocket handkerchief. If they

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make you feel, as you say, said Justin, I don't

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mind if they go, let the burglar take them, And

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even as she spoke, the McLear footman immutable sphinx like

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opened the door for her. Purceus sat long in her

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own room that night. Before she began undressing, her head

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00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,279
was full of Sir Justin and these mysterious hints of his.

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At last, however, she took her rubies off, and a

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00:19:15,599 --> 00:19:20,599
pretty silk bodis I don't care for them at all,

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she thought, with a gulp, if they keep from me

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the love of the man I'd like to marry. It

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was late before she fell asleep, and when she did,

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her rest was troubled. She dreamt the great deal in

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her dreams, Sir Justin and dance music, and the rubies

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and burglars were incongruously mingled. To make up for it,

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00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,640
she slept late next morning, and Lady mc clure let

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her sleep on, thinking she was probably wearied out with

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much dancing the previous evening, as though any amount of

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excitement could ever weary a pretty American. About ten o'clock,

254
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she woke up with a start. A weak feeling oppressed

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her that somebody had come in during the night and

256
00:20:15,319 --> 00:20:20,000
stolen her rubies. She rose hastily and went to her

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00:20:20,079 --> 00:20:23,680
dressing table to look for them. The case was there,

258
00:20:23,759 --> 00:20:28,759
all right. She opened it and looked at it, Oh,

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00:20:28,839 --> 00:20:36,759
prophetic soul. The rubies were gone, and the box was empty. Now,

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Perces had honestly said that night before the burglar might

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take her rubies if he chose, and she wouldn't mind

262
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,839
the loss of them. But that was last night, and

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00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:53,839
the rubies hadn't then as yet been taken. This morning,

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somehow things seemed quite different. It would be rough on

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00:20:59,039 --> 00:21:03,680
us all, especially on politicians, if we must always be

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bound by what we said yesterday. Perces was an American,

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and no American is insensible to the charms of precious stones.

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It is a savage taste which European immigrants seem to

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have inherited obliquely from their red Indian predecessors. She rushed

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over to the bell and rang it with the feminine

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00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:34,000
violence Lady Maclear's made. Answered the summons as usual. She

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was a clever, demure looking girl, this made of Lady McLear's.

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And when Perces cried to her wildly sent for the

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police at once and tell Sir Everett, my jewels are stolen.

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She answered, yes, Miss with such sober acquiescence that Persus,

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who was American and therefore a bundle of nerves, turned

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round and stared her as an incomprehensible mystery.

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00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,640
Speaker 2: No Mahatma could have been more unmoved.

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Speaker 1: She seemed quite to expect those rubies would be stolen,

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and to take no more notice of the incident than

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if Perceus had told her she wanted hot water. Lady

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mc clure indeed greatly prided herself on the cultivated imperturbability

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00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,559
of Bertha's She regarded it as the fine flower of

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English domestic service, where Perces was American and saw things

285
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otherwise to her. The calm repose with which Bertha answered, yes,

286
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:46,559
miss certainly, Miss, I'll go and tell sir, Everard, seemed

287
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nothing short of exasperating. Pertha went off with the news,

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closing the door quite softly, and a few minutes later

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Lady mc clere herself appeared in the Californian's room to

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console her visitor under this severe domestic affliction. She found

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00:23:06,279 --> 00:23:09,319
Percy's sitting up in the bed in a pretty French

292
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dressing jacket pale blue with the reverse of fawn color,

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reading a book of verses. Why my dear Lady mc

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clure exclaimed, then you've found them again. I suppose Twith

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00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,440
had told us you'd lost your lovely rubies, so I have,

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dear Lady mc clure, pursus answered, wiping her eyes, They

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00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,759
are gone. They've been stolen. I've forgot to lock my

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door when I came home last night and the window

299
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was open. Somebody must have come in this way or

300
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:49,200
that and taken them. But whenever I'm in trouble, I'd

301
00:23:49,319 --> 00:23:53,240
try a dose of Browning. He's splendid for the nerves.

302
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,559
He's so consoling, you know. He brings one to anchor.

303
00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:04,119
She breakfasted in bed. She wouldn't leave the room, she declared,

304
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till the police arrived.

305
00:24:06,559 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 2: After breakfast, she rose and put.

306
00:24:09,319 --> 00:24:14,160
Speaker 1: On a dainty Parisian morning wrap. Americans have always such

307
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pretty bedroom things for these informal receptions, and sat up

308
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:23,880
in a state to await the police officer. Sir Everett, himself,

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00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,240
much disturbed that such a mishap should have happened in

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his house, went round in person to fetch the official.

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While he was gone, Lady mc clear made a thorough

312
00:24:34,839 --> 00:24:37,799
search of the room, but couldn't find a trace of

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00:24:37,839 --> 00:24:41,880
the missing rubies. Are you sure you put them in

314
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,200
the case, dear, she asked for the honor of the household,

315
00:24:46,759 --> 00:24:51,640
and Percy's answered quite confident, Lady mc clear, I always

316
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,599
put them the moment I take them off, and when

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I came to look for them this morning, the case

318
00:24:57,279 --> 00:25:02,599
was empty. The they were very valuable, I believe, Lady

319
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:07,920
mc clear said inquiringly. Six thousand pounds was the figure

320
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:12,839
in your money? I guess Persus answered ruefully. I don't

321
00:25:12,839 --> 00:25:14,920
know if you call that a lot of money in England,

322
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,880
but we do in America.

323
00:25:18,519 --> 00:25:19,039
Speaker 2: There was a.

324
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,279
Speaker 1: Moment's pause, and then Percys spoke again. Lady mc clear,

325
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,000
She said, abruptly, do you consider that maid of yours

326
00:25:29,039 --> 00:25:34,599
a Christian woman? Lady mc clear was startled. That was

327
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,920
hardly the light in which she was accustomed to regard

328
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:43,920
the lower classes. Well, I don't know about that, she

329
00:25:44,039 --> 00:25:48,000
said slowly. That's a great deal, you know, dear, to

330
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:54,440
assert about anybody, especially once made. But I should think

331
00:25:54,519 --> 00:26:01,000
she was honest, quite decidedly honest. Well that's the same

332
00:26:01,079 --> 00:26:06,039
thing about, isn't it. Pursus answered, much relieved, I am

333
00:26:06,079 --> 00:26:09,640
glad you think that. So for I was almost half

334
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,880
afraid of her. She's too quite for my taste somehow,

335
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:20,759
so silent, you know, and inscrutable. Oh my dear, her

336
00:26:20,759 --> 00:26:25,440
hostess cried, don't blame her for silence. That's just what

337
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,359
I like about her. It's exactly why I chose her

338
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:34,640
for such a nice, noiseless girl. Moves about the room

339
00:26:34,759 --> 00:26:38,480
like a cat on tiptoe, knows her proper place, and

340
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,440
never dreams of speaking unless she's spoken to.

341
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,359
Speaker 2: Well, you may like them that way in.

342
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,839
Speaker 1: Europe, Pursus responded frankly, But in America we prefer them

343
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:57,240
a little bit more human. Twenty minutes later, the police

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00:26:57,279 --> 00:27:03,200
officer arrived. He wasn't in you uniform. The inspector, feeling

345
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,920
at once the gravity of the case and recognizing that

346
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,480
this was a big thing in which there was glory

347
00:27:10,519 --> 00:27:15,799
to be won and perhaps promotion, sent the detective at once.

348
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,039
Speaker 2: And advised that.

349
00:27:19,039 --> 00:27:22,039
Speaker 1: If possible, nothing should be said to the household on

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00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,160
the subject for the present till the detective had taken

351
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,000
a good look around the premises.

352
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 2: That was useless. Sir Everett feared.

353
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 1: For the lady maid knew, and the lady's maid would

354
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:40,359
sure go down all agog with the news to the

355
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:47,240
servants hall immediately, however, they might try. No harm in trying,

356
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,599
and sooner the detective got round to the house, of course,

357
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:57,960
the better. The detective accompanied him back a keen faced,

358
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:03,240
close shaven, irreproached looking man like a vulgarized copy of

359
00:28:03,279 --> 00:28:08,319
mister John Morley. He was kirk and business like. His

360
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:13,519
first question was have the servants been told about this?

361
00:28:15,599 --> 00:28:20,400
Lady mc clure looked inquiringly across at Bertha. She herself

362
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,119
had been sitting all the time with the bereaved persis

363
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:29,440
to console her with browning under this heavy affliction. No,

364
00:28:29,599 --> 00:28:36,599
my lady Bertha answered, ever calm, invaluable Servant Bertha, I

365
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:41,799
didn't mention it to anybody downstairs, on purpose, thinking perhaps

366
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,200
it might be decided to search the servant's boxes.

367
00:28:47,079 --> 00:28:48,839
Speaker 2: The detective pricked up his ears.

368
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: He was engaged already in glancing casually round the room.

369
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,599
He moved about it now like a conjurer, with quiet

370
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:03,079
steps and slow. He doesn't get on one's nerves. Purses

371
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:07,599
remarked approvingly in an undertone to her friend. Then she

372
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:14,599
added aloud, what's your name, please, mister officer. The detective

373
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,559
was lifting a lace handkerchief on the dressing table at

374
00:29:17,559 --> 00:29:18,599
the side.

375
00:29:19,319 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 2: He turned round softly.

376
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:26,079
Speaker 1: Gregory, madam, he answered, hardly, glancing at the girl and

377
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:31,839
going on with his occupation. The same as the powders persist,

378
00:29:31,839 --> 00:29:35,119
interposed with a shudder. I used to take them when

379
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:40,039
I was a child. I never could bear them. We

380
00:29:40,119 --> 00:29:44,279
are useful as remedies, the detective replied, with a quiet smile,

381
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,559
But nobody likes us, and he relapsed contentedly into his work,

382
00:29:50,599 --> 00:29:55,359
once more, searching round the apartment. The first thing we

383
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,759
have to do, he said, with a calm air of superiority,

384
00:29:59,599 --> 00:30:02,200
standing now by the window with one hand in his pocket,

385
00:30:03,279 --> 00:30:06,920
is to satisfy ourselves whether or not there has really

386
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,480
at all been a robbery. You must look through the

387
00:30:10,559 --> 00:30:13,880
room well and see you haven't left rubies lying about

388
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:14,720
loose somewhere.

389
00:30:16,079 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 2: Such things often happen.

390
00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: We are constantly called in to investigate a case when

391
00:30:22,279 --> 00:30:27,839
it's only a matter of ladies carelessness. At this purse

392
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,839
is flared up. Our daughter of the Great Republic isn't

393
00:30:31,839 --> 00:30:36,640
accustomed to be doubted like a mere European woman. I

394
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,079
am quite sure I took them off, she said, and

395
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,880
put them back in the jewel case of that, I

396
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:50,559
am just confident there isn't a doubt possible. Mister Gregory

397
00:30:50,599 --> 00:30:56,480
redoubled his search in all likely and unlikely places. I

398
00:30:56,519 --> 00:31:01,359
should say that settles the matter, he answered, blandly. Our

399
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:05,799
experience is that whenever a lady's perfectly certain, beyond the

400
00:31:05,839 --> 00:31:10,480
possibility of doubt, she put a thing away safely, it's

401
00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:14,279
absolutely sure to turn up where she says she didn't

402
00:31:14,279 --> 00:31:14,599
put it.

403
00:31:16,559 --> 00:31:18,519
Speaker 2: Perceus answered him, never a word.

404
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,599
Speaker 1: Her manners had not that repourse that stamps the caste

405
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,680
of ver De. Ver So, to prevent an outbreak, she

406
00:31:27,759 --> 00:31:34,480
took refuge in Browning. Mister Greggory, nothing abashed, searched the

407
00:31:34,559 --> 00:31:39,200
room thoroughly, up and down, without the faintest regard to

408
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:44,000
Percys's feelings. He was a detective, he said, and his

409
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:49,200
business was first of all to unmasked crime, irrespective of circumstances.

410
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:56,240
Lady mac clear stood by. Meanwhile, with the imperturbable Bertha,

411
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,839
mister Greggory investigated every hole and cranny. Like a man

412
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,039
who wishes to let the world see for itself, he

413
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:10,519
performs a disagreeable duty with unflinching thoroughness. When he had finished,

414
00:32:11,119 --> 00:32:15,559
he turned to lady mc clure, and now, if you please,

415
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,359
he said, blandly, we will proceed to investigate the servants boxes.

416
00:32:22,759 --> 00:32:26,400
Lady mc clere looked at her maid, Bertha. She said,

417
00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:30,480
go downstairs and see that none of the other servants

418
00:32:30,519 --> 00:32:35,359
come up meanwhile to their bedrooms. Lady mc clure was

419
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:36,200
not quite to.

420
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,359
Speaker 2: The manner born, and had never acquired.

421
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:43,039
Speaker 1: The hateful aristocratic habit of calling women servants by their

422
00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:50,240
surnames only. But the detective interposed, no, no, he said, sharply,

423
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,119
this young woman had better stop here with miss Ramnette

424
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,519
strictly under her eye, till I have searched the boxes,

425
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,480
for if I find nothing there, it may perhaps be

426
00:33:02,559 --> 00:33:06,160
my disagreeable duty by and by to call in a

427
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,440
female detective to search her.

428
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 2: It was Lady McLear's turn to fare up.

429
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 1: Now, why this is my own maid, she said, in

430
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,799
a chilly tone, and I have every confidence in her.

431
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,759
Very sorry about that, my lady, Mister Greggory responded in

432
00:33:26,799 --> 00:33:31,319
a most official voice. But our experience teaches us that

433
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,240
if there's a person in the case whom nobody ever

434
00:33:34,359 --> 00:33:38,680
dreams of suspecting, that's the person one who has committed

435
00:33:38,759 --> 00:33:45,319
the robbery. Why you'll be suspecting myself next, Lady mc

436
00:33:45,359 --> 00:33:47,359
clar cried, with some disgust.

437
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 2: Your ladyship's just.

438
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,799
Speaker 1: The last person in the world I should think of suspecting.

439
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,200
The detective answered with a differential bow, which, after this

440
00:33:58,319 --> 00:34:04,559
previous speech was to say the least of its equivocal pursus,

441
00:34:04,599 --> 00:34:08,079
began to get annoyed. She didn't like half the look

442
00:34:08,119 --> 00:34:11,920
of what the girl Bertha herself, but still she was

443
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,639
there as Lady mc clure's guests, and she couldn't expose

444
00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:19,840
her hostess to discomfort on her own account.

445
00:34:20,559 --> 00:34:23,880
Speaker 2: The girl shall not be searched, she put in, growing hot.

446
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 1: I don't care as cent whether I loose the wretched

447
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,719
stones or not. Compared to human dignity, what are they worth?

448
00:34:32,599 --> 00:34:39,440
Not five minutes consideration? They are worth just seven years.

449
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:44,320
Mister Greggory answered with a professional definiteness. And as to searching,

450
00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:46,840
why that's out of your hands.

451
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,119
Speaker 2: Now this is a criminal case.

452
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:54,039
Speaker 1: I'm here to discharge a public duty.

453
00:34:55,559 --> 00:34:56,639
Speaker 2: I don't mind in the.

454
00:34:56,639 --> 00:35:00,320
Speaker 1: Least being searched, Bertha put in, obligingly, with an air

455
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,960
of indifference. You can search me if you like. When

456
00:35:05,159 --> 00:35:10,239
you've got a warrant for it. The detective looked up sharply,

457
00:35:11,119 --> 00:35:15,719
so also did Perces. This already acquaintance with liberty of

458
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:22,159
the subject in criminal cases impressed her unfavorably. Ah, we

459
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,119
will see about that, mister Gregory answered.

460
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:25,679
Speaker 2: With a cool smile.

461
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,599
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Lady mc clear, I'll have a look at the boxes.

462
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,840
The search, strictly illegal, brought out nothing. Mister Gregory returned

463
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:42,679
to Percis's bedroom disconsolate. You can leave the room, he

464
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,639
said to Bertha, and Bertha glided out. I have set

465
00:35:47,679 --> 00:35:50,360
another man outside to keep a constant eye on her.

466
00:35:50,599 --> 00:35:56,639
He added an explanation. By this time Perces had almost

467
00:35:56,679 --> 00:35:59,519
made her mind up as to who was the culprit,

468
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,400
which she said nothing over it for lady maclaar's sake.

469
00:36:02,639 --> 00:36:08,079
To the detective. As for that immovable official, he began

470
00:36:08,119 --> 00:36:12,480
asking questions, some of them Percy's thought almost bothering on

471
00:36:12,639 --> 00:36:18,199
personal Where had she been last night? Was she sure

472
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,840
she had really worn the rubies? How did she come home?

473
00:36:23,039 --> 00:36:26,159
Was she certain she took them off? Did the maid

474
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:26,519
help her?

475
00:36:26,639 --> 00:36:31,840
Speaker 2: Undress? Who came back with her in the carriage? To

476
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:32,519
all these.

477
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: Questions rapidly fired off with cross examining acuteness. Pursus answered

478
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,000
in the direct American fashion, she was sure she had

479
00:36:42,039 --> 00:36:44,760
the rubies on when she came back home to Hampstead,

480
00:36:45,559 --> 00:36:48,639
because Sir Justin o'beyen, who came back with her in

481
00:36:48,679 --> 00:36:52,559
his sister's carriage, had noticed them the last thing, and

482
00:36:52,639 --> 00:36:57,199
had told her to do care of them. At mention

483
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:02,079
of that name, the detective smiled meaningly. A meaning smile

484
00:37:02,159 --> 00:37:08,719
is a stalking traitor, Detective. Oh, Sir Justin o'beyroen, he repeated,

485
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,960
with quite self constraint. He came back with you in

486
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,239
the carriage then, and did he sit the same side

487
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:24,199
with you? Lady mclere grew indignant, that was mister Gregory's cue. Really, sir,

488
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,119
she said angrily, if you are going to suspect gentlemen

489
00:37:28,159 --> 00:37:31,320
in Sir Justin's position, we shall none of us be

490
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:36,760
safe from you. The law, mister Gregory replied, with an

491
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:43,039
air of profound difference, is no respector of persons, but

492
00:37:43,159 --> 00:37:46,760
it ought to be of characters. Lady mcleure cried warmly.

493
00:37:48,079 --> 00:37:51,440
What's the good of having a blameless character? I should

494
00:37:51,519 --> 00:37:55,719
like you to know if if, if it doesn't allow

495
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,880
you to commit a robbery with impunity, the detective interposed,

496
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:05,119
finishing his sentence in his own way. Well, well, that's true,

497
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:11,760
that's perfectly true. But sir Justin's character, you see, can

498
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:18,280
hardly be called blameless. He's a gentleman, Persus cried, with

499
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:22,400
flashing eyes, turning round upon the officer, And he's quite

500
00:38:22,519 --> 00:38:25,960
incapable of such a mean and despicable crime as you

501
00:38:26,119 --> 00:38:32,360
dare to suspect him of. Oh I see, the officer answered,

502
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:35,639
like one to whom a welcome ray of light breaks

503
00:38:35,679 --> 00:38:40,559
suddenly through a great darkness. Sir Justin's a friend of yours.

504
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:45,920
Did you come into the porch with you? He did,

505
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,199
Persus answered, flushing crimson, And if you have had the

506
00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:54,960
insolence to bring a charge against him, calm yourself, madam,

507
00:38:55,599 --> 00:38:59,239
the detective replied, coolly, I do nothing of the sort.

508
00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:04,679
At this state of the proceedings, it's possible there may

509
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:08,079
have been no robbery in case at all. You must

510
00:39:08,159 --> 00:39:12,119
keep our minds open for the present to every possible alternative.

511
00:39:13,679 --> 00:39:18,519
It's a delicate matter to hint at. But before we

512
00:39:18,559 --> 00:39:22,639
go any further, do you think perhaps Sir Justin may

513
00:39:22,679 --> 00:39:27,440
have carried the rubies away by mistake entangled the misclothes, say,

514
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:33,119
for example, his court sleep. It was a loophole of escape,

515
00:39:33,559 --> 00:39:38,960
but Purss didn't jump at it. He had never the opportunity,

516
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,440
she answered with a flash. And I know quite well

517
00:39:43,159 --> 00:39:44,960
they were there on my neck when he left me.

518
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:48,639
For the last thing he said to me was looking

519
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:53,079
up at this very window. That balconies awfully convenient for

520
00:39:53,119 --> 00:39:56,920
a burglary. Mind, you take good care of the remnant rubies.

521
00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,360
And I remembered what he said when I took them

522
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,400
off last night, and that's what made me so sure

523
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:08,360
I really had them. And you slept with the window open.

524
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:14,400
The detective went on, still smiling to himself, Well here

525
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,679
we have all the materials to be sure for our

526
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:24,039
first class mystery. For some more days, nothing further turned

527
00:40:24,119 --> 00:40:28,000
up of importance about the Great Ruby robbery. It got

528
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,800
into the papers, of course, as everything does nowadays, and

529
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:36,679
all London was talking of it. Purces found herself quite

530
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:40,239
famous as the American lady who had lost her jewels.

531
00:40:41,599 --> 00:40:45,039
People pointed her out in the park, people stared at

532
00:40:45,039 --> 00:40:48,920
her heart through their opera glasses at the theater. Indeed,

533
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,239
the possession of the celebrated remnant rubies had never made

534
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,719
her half so conspicuous in the world as the loss

535
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,519
of them made her. It was almost worth But while

536
00:41:00,559 --> 00:41:03,800
losing them, Perces thought to be so much made off

537
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,400
as she was in society. In consequence, all the world

538
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,400
knows a young lady must be somebody when she can

539
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,679
offer a reward of five hundred pounds for the recovery

540
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:19,679
of jew jaws valued at six thousand.

541
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,599
Speaker 2: Sir Justin met her in the row one day.

542
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 1: Then you don't go to Paris for a while yet,

543
00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:32,119
until you get them back, he inquired, very low, and

544
00:41:32,199 --> 00:41:39,079
Perces answered blushing, No, Sir Justin, not yet, and I'm

545
00:41:39,079 --> 00:41:44,760
almost glad of it. No, you don't mean that, the

546
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:50,480
young man cried with perfect boyish ardor well, I confess,

547
00:41:50,559 --> 00:41:54,039
miss Ramonette, The first thing I thought myself when I

548
00:41:54,119 --> 00:41:58,719
read it in the Times was just the very same. Then,

549
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:03,679
after all, she won't go yet to Paris. Pursus looked

550
00:42:03,679 --> 00:42:07,880
at him from her pony with American frankness, and I,

551
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:13,880
she said, coouring, I found anchor in Browning for what

552
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:14,360
do you think?

553
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:15,039
Speaker 2: I read.

554
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 1: And learned to rate a true man's heart far above Rubi's.

555
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,280
The book opened at the very place, and there I

556
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:31,360
found anchor. But when Sir Justin went round to his

557
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:36,079
rooms that same evening, his servant said to him, a

558
00:42:36,199 --> 00:42:39,679
gentleman was inquiring for you here this afternoon, Sir, A

559
00:42:39,679 --> 00:42:45,199
close shaving gentlemen, not very proposing. And it seemed to

560
00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:47,960
me somehow, Sir, as if fear he was trying to

561
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:53,880
pump me. Sir Justin's face was grave. He went to

562
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,000
his bedroom at once he knew what the man wanted,

563
00:42:58,119 --> 00:43:01,199
and he turned straight to his wardrobe, looking hard at

564
00:43:01,199 --> 00:43:03,559
the dress coat he had worn on the eventful evening.

565
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:08,599
Things may cling to a sleep, don't you know, or

566
00:43:08,599 --> 00:43:12,599
be entangled in a cuff, or get casually into a pocket,

567
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:19,159
or some one may put them there. For the next

568
00:43:19,159 --> 00:43:22,559
ten days or so, mister Gregory was busy, constantly busy.

569
00:43:23,519 --> 00:43:27,960
Without doubt, he was the most active and energetic of detectives.

570
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,400
He carried out so fully his own official principle of

571
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:37,559
suspecting everybody from China to Peru, that at last poor

572
00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:43,360
Purses got fairly mazed with his web of possibilities. Nobody

573
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:47,599
was safe from his cultivated and highly trained suspicion, not

574
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,000
Sir Everett, in his studio, nor Lady mc clear in

575
00:43:51,039 --> 00:43:55,360
a boudoir, nor the butler in his pantry, nor Sir

576
00:43:55,559 --> 00:44:00,719
Justin o'beyen in his rooms. In Saint James's. Gregory kept

577
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:06,840
an open mind against everybody and everything. He even doubted

578
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,320
the parrot, and had views as to the intervention of

579
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:16,280
rats and terriers. Purces got rather tired at last of

580
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:21,559
his perverse ingenity, especially as she had a very shrewd

581
00:44:21,559 --> 00:44:26,719
idea herself who had stolen the rubies. When he suggested

582
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:31,519
various doubts, however, which seemed remotely to implicate Sir Justin's honesty,

583
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,159
the sensitive American girl felt it go on her nerves

584
00:44:37,039 --> 00:44:40,719
and refused to listen to him, though mister Gregory never

585
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:45,920
ceased to enforce upon her by precept an example, his

586
00:44:46,119 --> 00:44:49,440
own pet doctrine that the last person on earth one

587
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:53,280
would likely to suspect is always the one who turns

588
00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:58,280
out to have done it. A morning or two later,

589
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,280
Purces looked out of her window as she was dressing

590
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,480
her hair. She dressed it herself now, though she was

591
00:45:05,519 --> 00:45:09,800
an American heiress and therefore of course the laziest of

592
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:15,280
her kind, for she had taken an unaccountable dislike somehow

593
00:45:15,559 --> 00:45:20,599
to the quiet girl Bertha. On this particular morning, however,

594
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,760
when Perces looked out, she saw Bertha engaged in her

595
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:29,719
clothes and apparently very intimate conversation with the Hamstead postman.

596
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:35,199
This sight disturbed the unstable equilibrium in her equanimity not

597
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:39,159
a little. Why should Bertha go to the door to

598
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,239
the postman at all? Surely it has no part the

599
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,639
duty of Lady McClure's maid to take in the letters,

600
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:49,559
and why should she want to go prying in the

601
00:45:49,679 --> 00:45:55,719
question of who wrote to Miss Ramonette. For Persis intensely

602
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,119
conscious herself that a note from Sir Justin lay on

603
00:45:59,159 --> 00:46:02,880
the top of the posts man's bundle. She recognized it

604
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:07,320
at once, even at that distance below, by the peculiar

605
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:11,400
shape of the broad, rough envelope. Jump to the natural

606
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:16,440
feminine conclusion that Bertha must needs be influenced by some

607
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:22,000
abstrusive motive, of which she herself. Persis was, to say,

608
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:27,039
the very least a component element. We are all prone

609
00:46:27,079 --> 00:46:31,000
to see everything from a personal standpoint. Indeed, the one

610
00:46:31,079 --> 00:46:33,199
quality which makes a man or a woman into a

611
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:38,480
possible novelist, good, bad or indifferent is just the special

612
00:46:38,559 --> 00:46:43,039
power of throwing himself or herself into a great many

613
00:46:43,079 --> 00:46:48,320
people's personalities alternately, and this is a power possessed on

614
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:52,119
average by not one in a thousand men or not

615
00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:57,559
one in ten thousand women. Pursus rang the bell violently.

616
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:05,519
Bertha came up, all smiles. Did you want anything, Miss Persus.

617
00:47:05,119 --> 00:47:06,199
Speaker 2: Could have choked her?

618
00:47:07,199 --> 00:47:11,559
Speaker 1: Yes, she answered, plainly, taking the bull by the hauns.

619
00:47:12,519 --> 00:47:14,800
I want to know what you were doing down there,

620
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:20,760
prying into other people's letter with the postman. Bertha looked

621
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,719
up at her, ever blind, She answered at once, without

622
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:30,480
a second's hesitation. The postman's my young man, miss, and

623
00:47:30,599 --> 00:47:36,400
we hoped before very long now to be married. Odious thing,

624
00:47:36,519 --> 00:47:40,159
Persus thought, a glib lie, always ready on the tip

625
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:45,159
of her tongue for every emergency. But Bertha's full heart

626
00:47:45,199 --> 00:47:51,039
was beating violently, beating with love and hope, and deferred anxiety.

627
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,280
A little later in the day, Persus mentioned the incident

628
00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:59,079
casually to Lady mc clure, mainly in order to satisfy

629
00:47:59,119 --> 00:48:04,519
herself that the girl had been lying. Lady mc clure, however,

630
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:09,840
gave a qualified assent. I believe she is engaged to

631
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:14,519
the postman, she said, I think I have heard so,

632
00:48:14,639 --> 00:48:16,599
though I make it a rule, you see, my dear,

633
00:48:17,199 --> 00:48:19,639
to know as little as I can of these people's

634
00:48:19,679 --> 00:48:25,559
love affairs. We are so very uninteresting. But Bertha certainly

635
00:48:25,599 --> 00:48:28,320
told me she wouldn't leave me to get married for

636
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:33,519
an indefinite period. That was only ten days ago. She

637
00:48:33,639 --> 00:48:36,239
said her young man wasn't yet in a position to

638
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:44,039
make a home for her. Perhaps, Pursus suggested grimly, something

639
00:48:44,119 --> 00:48:49,039
has occurred meanwhile to better hear her position. Such strange

640
00:48:49,079 --> 00:48:54,480
things crop up. She may have come into a fortune,

641
00:48:54,840 --> 00:49:01,480
perhaps so, Lady mc clure replied languidly. The subject bored her. Though,

642
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:06,159
if so, it must really have been very sudden. For

643
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,639
I think it was morning before you lost your jewels,

644
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:14,800
she told me so. Pursus thought that awed, but she

645
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:19,679
made no comment. Before dinner that evening, she burst suddenly

646
00:49:19,679 --> 00:49:23,440
into Lady mc clure's room. For a minute, Bertha was

647
00:49:23,519 --> 00:49:28,360
dressing her lady's hair. Friends were coming to dine. Among them,

648
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:33,159
Sir Justin, how did these pearls go with my complexion?

649
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:38,079
Lady mc clear, Pursus asked rather anxiously, for she specially

650
00:49:38,079 --> 00:49:41,000
wished to look her best that evening, For one of

651
00:49:41,039 --> 00:49:46,840
the party. Oh charming, Her hostess reply answered with a

652
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:54,480
society smile. Never saw anything suit you better pursus except

653
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:58,880
my poor rubies, persus cried rather ruefully for the colored

654
00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,719
gee jaws are dear to say, the savage and the woman.

655
00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:07,840
I wish I could get them back. I wonder that

656
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:13,480
man Gregory hasn't succeeded in finding them. Oh, my dear,

657
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,360
lady mc clear, drawled out, you may be sure by

658
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:21,159
this time they are safe at Amsterdam. That's the only

659
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:26,599
place in Europe now to look for them. Why to Amsterdam,

660
00:50:26,679 --> 00:50:30,840
my lady, Bertha interspersed suddenly with a quick sight glance

661
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:35,360
at purses. Lady mac clear threw her head back in

662
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:41,280
surprise at so unwonted an intrusion. What do you want

663
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:45,079
to know that for child, she asked, somewhat curtly.

664
00:50:46,159 --> 00:50:46,960
Speaker 2: Why to be cut?

665
00:50:47,039 --> 00:50:50,440
Speaker 1: Of course, all the diamond cutters in the world are

666
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:54,480
concentrated in Amsterdam, and the first thing a thief does

667
00:50:54,519 --> 00:50:57,880
when he steals big jewels is to send them across

668
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,079
and have them cut in new shapes so they can't

669
00:51:01,079 --> 00:51:07,519
be identified. I shouldn't have thought, so Bertha put in calmly,

670
00:51:08,599 --> 00:51:13,880
they'd have known who to send them to. Lady mc

671
00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:19,000
clear turned to her sharply. Why these things, she said,

672
00:51:19,039 --> 00:51:22,440
with a calm air of knowledge, are always done by

673
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:26,480
experienced thieves who know the ropes well and are in

674
00:51:26,559 --> 00:51:30,480
league with the receivers the whole world over. But Gregory

675
00:51:30,559 --> 00:51:34,119
has his eye on Amsterdam. I'm sure, and we'll soon

676
00:51:34,199 --> 00:51:40,480
hear something. Yes, my lady, Bertha answered in her acquiscent tone,

677
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:47,519
and relapsed into silence. Four days later, about nine at night,

678
00:51:48,159 --> 00:51:51,440
that hard worked man, the posty on the beat, stood

679
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,760
loitering outside Sir Everett mc clure's house, openly defining the

680
00:51:55,840 --> 00:52:01,440
rules of the department in close conference with Bertha. Well,

681
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:06,719
any news, Bertha asked, trembling over with excitement, for she

682
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:10,039
was a very different person outside with her lover, from

683
00:52:10,039 --> 00:52:14,320
the demure and imperturbable model maid who waited on my lady.

684
00:52:16,159 --> 00:52:20,239
Why yes, the posty answered, with a low laugh of triumph,

685
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,960
A letter from Amsterdam, and I think we have fixed it.

686
00:52:26,239 --> 00:52:31,559
Bertha almost flung herself upon him. Oh harry, she cried

687
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:36,000
all eagerness. This is too good to be true. Then

688
00:52:36,039 --> 00:52:39,280
in just one other month we can really get married.

689
00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:44,800
There was a minute's pause, inarticulately filled by the sounds

690
00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:49,239
of unrepresentable through the art of the type founder. Then

691
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:53,400
Harry spoke again. It's an awful lot of money, he said,

692
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:58,599
musing a regular fortune. And what's more, Bertha, if it

693
00:52:58,679 --> 00:53:01,840
hadn't been for your cleverness, we never should have got it.

694
00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:11,079
Pertha pressed his hand affectionately. Even lady's maid are human. Well,

695
00:53:11,559 --> 00:53:13,800
if I hadn't been so much in love with you,

696
00:53:14,079 --> 00:53:17,360
she answered frankly, I don't think I could have ever

697
00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:21,519
had the wit to manage it. But oh, Harry, love

698
00:53:21,599 --> 00:53:27,800
makes one do or try anything. If Perces had heard

699
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:31,079
those singular words, she would have felt no doubt was

700
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:37,719
any longer possible. Next morning, at ten o'clock, a policeman

701
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:40,440
came round post haste to Sir Everard's.

702
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:43,400
Speaker 2: He asked to say miss Remanette.

703
00:53:44,639 --> 00:53:47,760
Speaker 1: When Perces came down in a morning wrap, he had

704
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,280
put a brief message from the headquarters to give her.

705
00:53:51,800 --> 00:53:54,599
Your jewels have found, miss Will you step round and

706
00:53:54,719 --> 00:54:01,360
identify them? Perss drove back with him, all trembling. Lady

707
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:05,519
mc clure accompanied her at the police station. They left

708
00:54:05,559 --> 00:54:10,599
their cab and entered the anteroom. A little group had

709
00:54:10,639 --> 00:54:17,159
assembled there. The first person Purses distinctly made out in

710
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:22,519
it was Sir Justin. A great terror seized her. Gregory

711
00:54:22,559 --> 00:54:25,960
had so poisoned her mind by this time with suspicion

712
00:54:26,119 --> 00:54:29,960
of everybody and everything she had came across, that she

713
00:54:30,079 --> 00:54:34,079
was afraid of her own shadow. But the next moment

714
00:54:34,639 --> 00:54:38,320
she saw clearly he wasn't there as prisoner or even

715
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:44,079
as witness, merely as spectator. She acknowledged him with a

716
00:54:44,159 --> 00:54:49,559
hasty bow and cast her eye round again. The next

717
00:54:49,599 --> 00:54:54,559
person she definitely distinguished was Bertha, as calm and cool

718
00:54:54,599 --> 00:54:59,320
as ever, but in the very center of the group, occupying,

719
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:03,400
as it were, the place of honor which naturally belongs

720
00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:08,800
to the prisoner on all similar occasions. Perces was not

721
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:13,679
surprised at that she had known it all along. She

722
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:18,559
glanced meaningly at Gregory, who stood a little behind, looking

723
00:55:18,599 --> 00:55:24,360
by no means triumphant. Perceus found his dejection odd, but

724
00:55:24,519 --> 00:55:27,840
he was a proud detective, and perhaps some one else

725
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:33,480
had affected the capture. These are your jewels, I believe,

726
00:55:34,079 --> 00:55:38,119
the inspector said, holding them up, and Perces admitted it.

727
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:43,760
This is a painful case. The inspector bent on a

728
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:47,840
very painful case. We grieved to have discovered such a

729
00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:51,719
clue against one of our own men. But as he

730
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:55,840
owns it to himself and intends to throw himself on

731
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:59,320
the mercy of the court, it's no use talking about it.

732
00:56:00,199 --> 00:56:04,679
He won't tempt to defend it. Indeed, with such evidence,

733
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:08,159
I think he's doing what's best and wisest.

734
00:56:09,840 --> 00:56:11,280
Speaker 2: Pursy stood there all dazed.

735
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:16,159
Speaker 1: I I don't understand, she cried, with a swimming brain.

736
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:18,559
Speaker 2: Who on earth are you talking about?

737
00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:24,639
Speaker 1: The inspector pointed mutely with one hand at Gregory, and

738
00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:29,599
for the first time Perseus saw he was guarded. She

739
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:33,440
clapped her hand to her head. In a moment, it

740
00:56:33,679 --> 00:56:37,159
all broke in upon her when she had called in

741
00:56:37,239 --> 00:56:40,599
the police. The rubies had never been stolen at all.

742
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:46,159
It was Gregory who stole them. She understood it now

743
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:50,400
at once the real facts came back to her. She

744
00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:53,639
had taken her necklet off at night, laid it carelessly

745
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:56,559
down on the dressing table too full of sir Justin,

746
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:01,199
covered it accidentally with her lace, pocket hand kerchief, and

747
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:05,960
straightway forgotten all about it. Next day she missed it

748
00:57:06,679 --> 00:57:11,239
and jumped at conclusions when Gregory came, he spied the

749
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:17,119
rubies as khans under the corner of the handkerchief. Of course,

750
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:21,400
being a woman, she had naturally looked everywhere except in

751
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:24,960
the place where she had laid them, and knowing it

752
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:28,599
was a safe case, he had quickly pocketed them before

753
00:57:28,639 --> 00:57:34,840
her very eyes. All unsuspected. He felt sure nobody could

754
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:38,599
accuse him of a robbery which was committed before he came,

755
00:57:39,599 --> 00:57:42,480
and which he had himself been called in to investigate.

756
00:57:44,239 --> 00:57:48,039
The worst of it is, the inspector went on, he

757
00:57:48,119 --> 00:57:51,599
had bown a very ingenious case against Sir Justin o'byron,

758
00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:54,840
whom we were on the very point of arresting today

759
00:57:55,519 --> 00:57:58,519
if this young woman hadn't come in in the eleventh hower,

760
00:57:59,079 --> 00:58:02,119
in the very nick of time and earned the reward

761
00:58:02,199 --> 00:58:05,199
by giving us the clue that led to the discovery

762
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:09,280
and the recovery of jewels. They were brought over this

763
00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:15,639
morning by an Amsterdam detective. Pursus looked hard at Bertha.

764
00:58:17,039 --> 00:58:22,800
Bertha answered her, Look, my young man was the postman, Miss,

765
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:27,039
she explained quite simply. And after what my lady said,

766
00:58:28,159 --> 00:58:30,760
I put him up to watch mister Gregory's delivery for

767
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:34,880
the letter from Amsterdam. I had suspected him from the

768
00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:38,519
very first, and when the letter came we had him

769
00:58:38,599 --> 00:58:42,639
arrested at once and found out who were the people

770
00:58:42,639 --> 00:58:48,639
in Amsterdam who had the rubies. Pursus gasped with astonishment.

771
00:58:49,639 --> 00:58:53,360
Her brain was reeling, but Gregory, in the background put

772
00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:58,800
in one last word. Well, I was right after all,

773
00:58:59,239 --> 00:59:03,280
he said, with professional pride. I told you the very

774
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:06,519
last person you dream of suspecting was sure to be

775
00:59:06,599 --> 00:59:12,960
the one that actually did it. Lady o'byron's rubies were

776
00:59:13,039 --> 00:59:17,039
very much admired at Monte Carlo last season. Mister Gregory

777
00:59:17,159 --> 00:59:20,639
had found permanent employment for the next seven years at

778
00:59:20,679 --> 00:59:25,760
her Majesty's quarries on the Isle of Portland. Bertha and

779
00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:29,440
her postman have retired to Canada with five hundred pounds

780
00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:33,960
to buy a farm, and everybody says, Sir Justin o'byron

781
00:59:34,559 --> 00:59:38,760
has beaten the record, after all, even for Irish baronets,

782
00:59:39,199 --> 00:59:43,519
by making a marriage at once of money and affection.

783
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:49,719
The End of the Great Ruby Robbery by Grant Allan