Speaker 1: The Great Ruby Robbery pursus. Ramonette was an American heiress,
Speaker 1: As she justly remarked, this was a commonplace profession for
Speaker 1: a young woman nowadays, for almost everybody of late years
Speaker 1: has been an American and an heiress. A poor Californian indeed,
Speaker 1: would be a charming novelty in London society, But London
Speaker 1: society so far has had to go without one pursus.
Speaker 1: Ramonette was on her way back from the Wilcoxes Ball.
Speaker 1: She was stopping, of course, with Sir Everett and Lady
Speaker 1: mc clure at the house at Hampstead. I say, of
Speaker 1: course advisedly, because if you or I go to see
Speaker 1: New York, we have to put up at our own
Speaker 1: expense by dollars a day without wine or extras at
Speaker 1: the Windsor or the Fifth Avenue. But when the pretty
Speaker 1: American comes to London, and every American girl is ex
Speaker 1: officio pretty in Europe, at least I suppose they keep
Speaker 1: their ugly ones at home for domestic consumption. She is
Speaker 1: invariably the guest either of the two wager duchess or
Speaker 1: of a royal lackeredemicion, like Sir Everett of the first distinction.
Speaker 1: Yankees visit Europe in fact, to see, among other things,
Speaker 1: our art and our old nobility, and by dint of
Speaker 1: native persistence, they get into places that you and I
Speaker 1: could never succeed in penetrating unless we devoted all the
Speaker 1: energies of a long and blameless life to securing an invitation.
Speaker 1: Perces hadn't been to the Wilcoxes with.
Speaker 2: Lady mc clure.
Speaker 1: However, the mc clures were really too great to know
Speaker 1: such people as Wilcoxes, who were something tremendous in the
Speaker 1: city but didn't buy pictures, And academicians, you know, don't
Speaker 1: care to cultivate city people unless they are customers patrons
Speaker 1: the academicians most usually call them, but I prefer the
Speaker 1: simple business word myself as being a deal less patronizing.
Speaker 1: So Perss had accepted an invitation from Missus Duncan Harrison,
Speaker 1: the wife of the well known member for the Hackney's
Speaker 1: Division of Elmatshire, to take a seat in her carriage
Speaker 1: to and from the Wilcoxes. Missus Harrison knew the habits
Speaker 1: and manners of American heiresses too well to offer to
Speaker 1: chaperone Perses, and indeed Persis as a free born America
Speaker 1: citizen who was quite as well able to take care
Speaker 1: of herself the wide world over as any three ordinary
Speaker 1: married englishwomen. Now missus Harrison had a brother, an Irish baronet,
Speaker 1: Sir Justin o'byron, late of the Eighth Husses, who had
Speaker 1: been with them to the Wilcoxes, and who accompanied them
Speaker 1: home to Hampstead on the back seat of the carriage.
Speaker 1: Sir Justin was one of those charming, ineffective, elusive irishmen
Speaker 1: whom everybody likes and everybody disapproves of. He had been
Speaker 1: everywhere and done everything except to earn an honest livelihood.
Speaker 1: The total absence of rents during the sixties and seventies
Speaker 1: had never prevented his father, old Sir Terence o'byron, who
Speaker 1: sat so long for Connemara in the Unreformed Parliament, from
Speaker 1: sending his son Justin in the state to Eton and
Speaker 1: afterwards to a fashionable college at Oxford. He gave me
Speaker 1: the education of a gentleman. Sir Justin was wont regretfully
Speaker 1: to observe, but he omitted to give me also the
Speaker 1: income to keep it up with. Nevertheless, society felt o'bien
Speaker 1: was the sort of man who must be kept afloat somehow,
Speaker 1: and it kept him afloat accordingly, in those mysterious ways
Speaker 1: that only society understands, and that you and I, who
Speaker 1: are not society, could never get to the bottom off
Speaker 1: if he tried. For a century. Sir Justin himself had
Speaker 1: essayed Parliament too, where he sat for a while behind
Speaker 1: the great parnel, without put a moment forfeiting society's regard,
Speaker 1: even in those early days when it was held as
Speaker 1: prime article of faith by the world, that no gentleman
Speaker 1: could possibly call himself a home ruler. Twas only of
Speaker 1: o' byron's wild Irish tricts, Society said complacently with that
Speaker 1: single indulgence it always extends to its special favorites, and
Speaker 1: which is in fact the correlative of the unsparing cruelty
Speaker 1: it shows in turn to those who happened to offend
Speaker 1: against its unwritten precepts. If Sir Justin had blown up
Speaker 1: a star or two in a fit of political exuberance,
Speaker 1: society would only have regarded the escapade as one of
Speaker 1: o' byron's eccenticities. He had also held a commission for
Speaker 1: a while in a cavalry regiment, which he left, it
Speaker 1: was understood owing to a difference of opinion about her
Speaker 1: lady with the colonel, and he was now a gentleman
Speaker 1: at large on London society, supposed by those who know
Speaker 1: more about everyone than one knows about oneself, to be
Speaker 1: on the lookout for a nice girl with a little money.
Speaker 1: Sir Justin had paid Perces a great deal of attention
Speaker 1: that particular evening.
Speaker 2: In point of.
Speaker 1: Fact, he had paid her a great deal of attention
Speaker 1: from the very first whenever he met her, and on
Speaker 1: the way back home from the dance, he had kept
Speaker 1: his eyes fixed on Perces's face to an extent that
Speaker 1: was almost embarrassing. The pretty Californian leaned back in her
Speaker 1: place in the carriage and surveyed him languidly. She was
Speaker 1: looking at her level best that night, in her pale
Speaker 1: pink dress, with the famous remnete room in a cascade
Speaker 1: of red light setting off the snowy neck of hers
Speaker 1: twas a neck for a painter. Sir Justin let his
Speaker 1: eyes fall regretfully more than once on the glittering groupies
Speaker 1: he liked and admired pursues. Oh quite immensely your society man,
Speaker 1: who had been through seven or eight London seasons, could
Speaker 1: hardly be expected to go quite so far as falling
Speaker 1: in love with any woman. His habit is rather to
Speaker 1: look about him critically among all the nice girls trotted
Speaker 1: out by their mammas for his lordly inspection, and to
Speaker 1: reflect with a faint smile that this, that or the
Speaker 1: other one might perhaps really suit him, if it were
Speaker 1: not for and there comes in the inn inevitable butt
Speaker 1: of all human commendation. Still, Sir Justin admitted, with a
Speaker 1: sigh to himself that he liked Pursis ever so much.
Speaker 1: She was so fresh and original, and she talked so
Speaker 1: cleverly as for purses. She would have given her eyes
Speaker 1: like every other American girl, to be made my lady.
Speaker 1: And she had seen no man yet with that auxiliary
Speaker 1: title in his gift whom she liked half so well
Speaker 1: as this delightful, wild irishman. At the McLear's door, the
Speaker 1: carriage stopped, so Justin jumped out and gave his hand
Speaker 1: to Persis. You know the house well, of course, Sir
Speaker 1: Everett McLear's. It's one of those large artistic mansions in
Speaker 1: red brick and old old oak the top of the hill,
Speaker 1: and it stands a little way back from the road.
Speaker 1: Discreetly retired the big wooden porch, very convenient for leave taking.
Speaker 1: Sir Justin ran up the steps with purses to ring
Speaker 1: the bell for her. He had too much of the
Speaker 1: irrepressible Irish blood in his veins to leave that pleasant
Speaker 1: task to his sister's footman. But he didn't ring at once,
Speaker 1: and the risk of keeping Missus Harrison waiting outside for nothing,
Speaker 1: he stopped and talked a minute or so with the
Speaker 1: pretty American. You look charming tonight, miss Ramonette, he said,
Speaker 1: as she threw back her light opera wrapped for a
Speaker 1: moment in the porch and displayed a single flash of
Speaker 1: the snowy neck with the famous rubies. Those stones become you.
Speaker 1: So she looked at him and smiled. You think so,
Speaker 1: she said, a little tremulous for even your American heiress,
Speaker 1: after all.
Speaker 2: Is a woman.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you do, but it's good bye tonight,
Speaker 1: Sir Justin, for I go next week to Paris.
Speaker 2: Even in the gloom of.
Speaker 1: The porch, just lighted by an artistic red and blue
Speaker 1: lantern in wrought iron, She could see a shade of
Speaker 1: disappointment passed quickly over his handsome face as he answered
Speaker 1: with a little gulp.
Speaker 2: No, you don't mean that.
Speaker 1: Oh, mister Romanette, I am so sorry. Then he paused
Speaker 1: and drew back. And yet after all, he continued, perhaps,
Speaker 1: and there he checked himself. Pursus looked up at him hastily.
Speaker 1: Yet after all what she asked with evident interest, The
Speaker 1: young man drew an almost inaudible sigh. Yet after all nothing,
Speaker 1: he answered evasively. That might do for an englishwoman, Pursus
Speaker 1: put in with American frankness, but it.
Speaker 2: Won't do for me. You must tell me what you
Speaker 2: mean by it.
Speaker 1: For she reflected sagely that the happiness of two lives
Speaker 1: might depend upon those two minutes. You'll have foolish to
Speaker 1: throw away the chance of a man you really like,
Speaker 1: with a my ladyship to boot all for the sake
Speaker 1: of pure convention. Sir Justin leaned against the woodwork of
Speaker 1: the retiring porch. She was a beautiful girl, he had
Speaker 1: hot Irish blood. Well, yes, just for once he would
Speaker 1: say the plain truth to her, Miss Ramonette. He began
Speaker 1: leaning forward and bringing his face close to hers. Miss Ramonette, Persus,
Speaker 1: shall I tell you the reason why? Because I like
Speaker 1: you so much, I almost think I love you. Persius
Speaker 1: felt the blood cub in her tingling cheeks, how handsome
Speaker 1: he was, and a baronet. And yet you're not altogether sorry,
Speaker 1: she said, reproachfully that I'm going to Paris. No, not
Speaker 1: altogether sorry, he answered, sticking to it. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you why too, Miss Ramonette, I like you very much,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Think you like me.
Speaker 1: For a week or two, I've been saying to myself,
Speaker 1: I really believe I must ask her to marry me.
Speaker 1: The temptations being so strong, I could hardly resist it.
Speaker 1: And why do you want to resist it? Pursus asked,
Speaker 1: all tremulous, So justin hesitated a second, and then, with
Speaker 1: a perfectly natural and instinctive movement, though only a gentleman
Speaker 1: would have ventured to make it, he lifted his hand
Speaker 1: and just touched the tips of his finger the ruby
Speaker 1: pendant on her necklip. This is why, he answered, simply,
Speaker 1: with manly frankness, Persis, you're so rich, I'd never dare
Speaker 1: ask you. Perhaps you don't know what my answer would be,
Speaker 1: Prisius murmured, very low, just to preserve her own dignity.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I think I do, the young man replied,
Speaker 1: gazing deeply into her dark eyes. It isn't that. If
Speaker 1: it were only that, I wouldn't be so much minded.
Speaker 1: But I think you'd take me. There was moisture in
Speaker 1: her eye. He went on more boldly. I know you
Speaker 1: would take me, Pursis, and that's why I don't ask you.
Speaker 1: You're a great deal too rich, and these make it impossible,
Speaker 1: sir Justin Pursus answered, removing his hand gently, but with
Speaker 1: the moisture growing thicker, for she really liked him. It's
Speaker 1: most unkind of you to say so. Either you ought
Speaker 1: not have told me at all, or else if you did.
Speaker 2: She stopped short.
Speaker 1: Humanly, shame overcame her. The man leaned forward and spoke earnestly.
Speaker 1: Oh don't say that, he cried from his heart. I
Speaker 1: couldn't bear to offend you, but I couldn't bear either
Speaker 1: to let you go away well without ever having told you.
Speaker 1: In that case, you might have thought I didn't care
Speaker 1: at all for you, and I was only.
Speaker 2: Flirting with you. But Purchase, I have cared a great
Speaker 2: deal about.
Speaker 1: You, a great great deal, and had hard work many
Speaker 1: times to prevent myself from asking you. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you the plain reason why I haven't asked you. I'm
Speaker 1: a man about town, not much good. I'm afraid for
Speaker 1: anybody or anything when everybody says I am on the
Speaker 1: lookout for an heiress, which happens not to be true.
Speaker 1: And if I married you, everybody would say, ah, there,
Speaker 1: I told you so. Now, I wouldn't mind that for myself.
Speaker 1: I'm a man and I could snap my fingers at them,
Speaker 1: but i'd mind it for you, persis, for I'm enough
Speaker 1: in love with you to be very, very jealous, indeed,
Speaker 1: for your honor. I couldn't bear to think people should say,
Speaker 1: there's that pretty American girl, Persius Ramonette. That was you know,
Speaker 1: she'd thrown herself away upon that good for nothing irishman
Speaker 1: Justin o'byron, a regular fortune hunter, who married her for
Speaker 1: her money. So for your sake, Persus, I'd rather not
Speaker 1: ask you. I'd rather leave you for some better man
Speaker 1: to marry. But I wouldn't, Pursus cried aloud. Oh, sir Justin,
Speaker 1: you must believe me. You must remember, at that precise
Speaker 1: moment Missus Harrison put her head out of the carriage
Speaker 1: window and called out rather loudly, why, Justin, what's keeping you?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 1: Horses will catch their deaths of cold, and they were
Speaker 1: clipped this morning. Come back at once, my dear boy. Besides,
Speaker 1: you know lay common answers.
Speaker 2: All right, Norah, her brother.
Speaker 1: Answered, I won't be a minute. We can't get them
Speaker 1: to answer this, precious bell. I believe it don't ring,
Speaker 1: but I'll try again anyhow, And half forgetting that his
Speaker 1: own words weren't strictly true, for he hadn't yet tried.
Speaker 1: He pressed the knob with a vengeance. Is that your
Speaker 1: room with the light burning, miss Ramonette, he went on
Speaker 1: in a fairly loud official voice, as a servant came
Speaker 1: to answer the one with the balcony. I mean quite panish,
Speaker 1: isn't it reminds one of Romeo and Juliette. But most
Speaker 1: convenient for a burglary too, such nice low rails. Mind
Speaker 1: you take good care of the remnette rubies. I don't
Speaker 1: want to take care of them, Pursus answered, wiping her
Speaker 1: dim eyes hastily with her lace pocket handkerchief. If they
Speaker 1: make you feel, as you say, said Justin, I don't
Speaker 1: mind if they go, let the burglar take them, And
Speaker 1: even as she spoke, the McLear footman immutable sphinx like
Speaker 1: opened the door for her. Purceus sat long in her
Speaker 1: own room that night. Before she began undressing, her head
Speaker 1: was full of Sir Justin and these mysterious hints of his.
Speaker 1: At last, however, she took her rubies off, and a
Speaker 1: pretty silk bodis I don't care for them at all,
Speaker 1: she thought, with a gulp, if they keep from me
Speaker 1: the love of the man I'd like to marry. It
Speaker 1: was late before she fell asleep, and when she did,
Speaker 1: her rest was troubled. She dreamt the great deal in
Speaker 1: her dreams, Sir Justin and dance music, and the rubies
Speaker 1: and burglars were incongruously mingled. To make up for it,
Speaker 1: she slept late next morning, and Lady mc clure let
Speaker 1: her sleep on, thinking she was probably wearied out with
Speaker 1: much dancing the previous evening, as though any amount of
Speaker 1: excitement could ever weary a pretty American. About ten o'clock,
Speaker 1: she woke up with a start. A weak feeling oppressed
Speaker 1: her that somebody had come in during the night and
Speaker 1: stolen her rubies. She rose hastily and went to her
Speaker 1: dressing table to look for them. The case was there,
Speaker 1: all right. She opened it and looked at it, Oh,
Speaker 1: prophetic soul. The rubies were gone, and the box was empty. Now,
Speaker 1: Perces had honestly said that night before the burglar might
Speaker 1: take her rubies if he chose, and she wouldn't mind
Speaker 1: the loss of them. But that was last night, and
Speaker 1: the rubies hadn't then as yet been taken. This morning,
Speaker 1: somehow things seemed quite different. It would be rough on
Speaker 1: us all, especially on politicians, if we must always be
Speaker 1: bound by what we said yesterday. Perces was an American,
Speaker 1: and no American is insensible to the charms of precious stones.
Speaker 1: It is a savage taste which European immigrants seem to
Speaker 1: have inherited obliquely from their red Indian predecessors. She rushed
Speaker 1: over to the bell and rang it with the feminine
Speaker 1: violence Lady Maclear's made. Answered the summons as usual. She
Speaker 1: was a clever, demure looking girl, this made of Lady McLear's.
Speaker 1: And when Perces cried to her wildly sent for the
Speaker 1: police at once and tell Sir Everett, my jewels are stolen.
Speaker 1: She answered, yes, Miss with such sober acquiescence that Persus,
Speaker 1: who was American and therefore a bundle of nerves, turned
Speaker 1: round and stared her as an incomprehensible mystery.
Speaker 2: No Mahatma could have been more unmoved.
Speaker 1: She seemed quite to expect those rubies would be stolen,
Speaker 1: and to take no more notice of the incident than
Speaker 1: if Perceus had told her she wanted hot water. Lady
Speaker 1: mc clure indeed greatly prided herself on the cultivated imperturbability
Speaker 1: of Bertha's She regarded it as the fine flower of
Speaker 1: English domestic service, where Perces was American and saw things
Speaker 1: otherwise to her. The calm repose with which Bertha answered, yes,
Speaker 1: miss certainly, Miss, I'll go and tell sir, Everard, seemed
Speaker 1: nothing short of exasperating. Pertha went off with the news,
Speaker 1: closing the door quite softly, and a few minutes later
Speaker 1: Lady mc clere herself appeared in the Californian's room to
Speaker 1: console her visitor under this severe domestic affliction. She found
Speaker 1: Percy's sitting up in the bed in a pretty French
Speaker 1: dressing jacket pale blue with the reverse of fawn color,
Speaker 1: reading a book of verses. Why my dear Lady mc
Speaker 1: clure exclaimed, then you've found them again. I suppose Twith
Speaker 1: had told us you'd lost your lovely rubies, so I have,
Speaker 1: dear Lady mc clure, pursus answered, wiping her eyes, They
Speaker 1: are gone. They've been stolen. I've forgot to lock my
Speaker 1: door when I came home last night and the window
Speaker 1: was open. Somebody must have come in this way or
Speaker 1: that and taken them. But whenever I'm in trouble, I'd
Speaker 1: try a dose of Browning. He's splendid for the nerves.
Speaker 1: He's so consoling, you know. He brings one to anchor.
Speaker 1: She breakfasted in bed. She wouldn't leave the room, she declared,
Speaker 1: till the police arrived.
Speaker 2: After breakfast, she rose and put.
Speaker 1: On a dainty Parisian morning wrap. Americans have always such
Speaker 1: pretty bedroom things for these informal receptions, and sat up
Speaker 1: in a state to await the police officer. Sir Everett, himself,
Speaker 1: much disturbed that such a mishap should have happened in
Speaker 1: his house, went round in person to fetch the official.
Speaker 1: While he was gone, Lady mc clear made a thorough
Speaker 1: search of the room, but couldn't find a trace of
Speaker 1: the missing rubies. Are you sure you put them in
Speaker 1: the case, dear, she asked for the honor of the household,
Speaker 1: and Percy's answered quite confident, Lady mc clear, I always
Speaker 1: put them the moment I take them off, and when
Speaker 1: I came to look for them this morning, the case
Speaker 1: was empty. The they were very valuable, I believe, Lady
Speaker 1: mc clear said inquiringly. Six thousand pounds was the figure
Speaker 1: in your money? I guess Persus answered ruefully. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you call that a lot of money in England,
Speaker 1: but we do in America.
Speaker 2: There was a.
Speaker 1: Moment's pause, and then Percys spoke again. Lady mc clear,
Speaker 1: She said, abruptly, do you consider that maid of yours
Speaker 1: a Christian woman? Lady mc clear was startled. That was
Speaker 1: hardly the light in which she was accustomed to regard
Speaker 1: the lower classes. Well, I don't know about that, she
Speaker 1: said slowly. That's a great deal, you know, dear, to
Speaker 1: assert about anybody, especially once made. But I should think
Speaker 1: she was honest, quite decidedly honest. Well that's the same
Speaker 1: thing about, isn't it. Pursus answered, much relieved, I am
Speaker 1: glad you think that. So for I was almost half
Speaker 1: afraid of her. She's too quite for my taste somehow,
Speaker 1: so silent, you know, and inscrutable. Oh my dear, her
Speaker 1: hostess cried, don't blame her for silence. That's just what
Speaker 1: I like about her. It's exactly why I chose her
Speaker 1: for such a nice, noiseless girl. Moves about the room
Speaker 1: like a cat on tiptoe, knows her proper place, and
Speaker 1: never dreams of speaking unless she's spoken to.
Speaker 2: Well, you may like them that way in.
Speaker 1: Europe, Pursus responded frankly, But in America we prefer them
Speaker 1: a little bit more human. Twenty minutes later, the police
Speaker 1: officer arrived. He wasn't in you uniform. The inspector, feeling
Speaker 1: at once the gravity of the case and recognizing that
Speaker 1: this was a big thing in which there was glory
Speaker 1: to be won and perhaps promotion, sent the detective at once.
Speaker 2: And advised that.
Speaker 1: If possible, nothing should be said to the household on
Speaker 1: the subject for the present till the detective had taken
Speaker 1: a good look around the premises.
Speaker 2: That was useless. Sir Everett feared.
Speaker 1: For the lady maid knew, and the lady's maid would
Speaker 1: sure go down all agog with the news to the
Speaker 1: servants hall immediately, however, they might try. No harm in trying,
Speaker 1: and sooner the detective got round to the house, of course,
Speaker 1: the better. The detective accompanied him back a keen faced,
Speaker 1: close shaven, irreproached looking man like a vulgarized copy of
Speaker 1: mister John Morley. He was kirk and business like. His
Speaker 1: first question was have the servants been told about this?
Speaker 1: Lady mc clure looked inquiringly across at Bertha. She herself
Speaker 1: had been sitting all the time with the bereaved persis
Speaker 1: to console her with browning under this heavy affliction. No,
Speaker 1: my lady Bertha answered, ever calm, invaluable Servant Bertha, I
Speaker 1: didn't mention it to anybody downstairs, on purpose, thinking perhaps
Speaker 1: it might be decided to search the servant's boxes.
Speaker 2: The detective pricked up his ears.
Speaker 1: He was engaged already in glancing casually round the room.
Speaker 1: He moved about it now like a conjurer, with quiet
Speaker 1: steps and slow. He doesn't get on one's nerves. Purses
Speaker 1: remarked approvingly in an undertone to her friend. Then she
Speaker 1: added aloud, what's your name, please, mister officer. The detective
Speaker 1: was lifting a lace handkerchief on the dressing table at
Speaker 1: the side.
Speaker 2: He turned round softly.
Speaker 1: Gregory, madam, he answered, hardly, glancing at the girl and
Speaker 1: going on with his occupation. The same as the powders persist,
Speaker 1: interposed with a shudder. I used to take them when
Speaker 1: I was a child. I never could bear them. We
Speaker 1: are useful as remedies, the detective replied, with a quiet smile,
Speaker 1: But nobody likes us, and he relapsed contentedly into his work,
Speaker 1: once more, searching round the apartment. The first thing we
Speaker 1: have to do, he said, with a calm air of superiority,
Speaker 1: standing now by the window with one hand in his pocket,
Speaker 1: is to satisfy ourselves whether or not there has really
Speaker 1: at all been a robbery. You must look through the
Speaker 1: room well and see you haven't left rubies lying about
Speaker 1: loose somewhere.
Speaker 2: Such things often happen.
Speaker 1: We are constantly called in to investigate a case when
Speaker 1: it's only a matter of ladies carelessness. At this purse
Speaker 1: is flared up. Our daughter of the Great Republic isn't
Speaker 1: accustomed to be doubted like a mere European woman. I
Speaker 1: am quite sure I took them off, she said, and
Speaker 1: put them back in the jewel case of that, I
Speaker 1: am just confident there isn't a doubt possible. Mister Gregory
Speaker 1: redoubled his search in all likely and unlikely places. I
Speaker 1: should say that settles the matter, he answered, blandly. Our
Speaker 1: experience is that whenever a lady's perfectly certain, beyond the
Speaker 1: possibility of doubt, she put a thing away safely, it's
Speaker 1: absolutely sure to turn up where she says she didn't
Speaker 1: put it.
Speaker 2: Perceus answered him, never a word.
Speaker 1: Her manners had not that repourse that stamps the caste
Speaker 1: of ver De. Ver So, to prevent an outbreak, she
Speaker 1: took refuge in Browning. Mister Greggory, nothing abashed, searched the
Speaker 1: room thoroughly, up and down, without the faintest regard to
Speaker 1: Percys's feelings. He was a detective, he said, and his
Speaker 1: business was first of all to unmasked crime, irrespective of circumstances.
Speaker 1: Lady mac clear stood by. Meanwhile, with the imperturbable Bertha,
Speaker 1: mister Greggory investigated every hole and cranny. Like a man
Speaker 1: who wishes to let the world see for itself, he
Speaker 1: performs a disagreeable duty with unflinching thoroughness. When he had finished,
Speaker 1: he turned to lady mc clure, and now, if you please,
Speaker 1: he said, blandly, we will proceed to investigate the servants boxes.
Speaker 1: Lady mc clere looked at her maid, Bertha. She said,
Speaker 1: go downstairs and see that none of the other servants
Speaker 1: come up meanwhile to their bedrooms. Lady mc clure was
Speaker 1: not quite to.
Speaker 2: The manner born, and had never acquired.
Speaker 1: The hateful aristocratic habit of calling women servants by their
Speaker 1: surnames only. But the detective interposed, no, no, he said, sharply,
Speaker 1: this young woman had better stop here with miss Ramnette
Speaker 1: strictly under her eye, till I have searched the boxes,
Speaker 1: for if I find nothing there, it may perhaps be
Speaker 1: my disagreeable duty by and by to call in a
Speaker 1: female detective to search her.
Speaker 2: It was Lady McLear's turn to fare up.
Speaker 1: Now, why this is my own maid, she said, in
Speaker 1: a chilly tone, and I have every confidence in her.
Speaker 1: Very sorry about that, my lady, Mister Greggory responded in
Speaker 1: a most official voice. But our experience teaches us that
Speaker 1: if there's a person in the case whom nobody ever
Speaker 1: dreams of suspecting, that's the person one who has committed
Speaker 1: the robbery. Why you'll be suspecting myself next, Lady mc
Speaker 1: clar cried, with some disgust.
Speaker 2: Your ladyship's just.
Speaker 1: The last person in the world I should think of suspecting.
Speaker 1: The detective answered with a differential bow, which, after this
Speaker 1: previous speech was to say the least of its equivocal pursus,
Speaker 1: began to get annoyed. She didn't like half the look
Speaker 1: of what the girl Bertha herself, but still she was
Speaker 1: there as Lady mc clure's guests, and she couldn't expose
Speaker 1: her hostess to discomfort on her own account.
Speaker 2: The girl shall not be searched, she put in, growing hot.
Speaker 1: I don't care as cent whether I loose the wretched
Speaker 1: stones or not. Compared to human dignity, what are they worth?
Speaker 1: Not five minutes consideration? They are worth just seven years.
Speaker 1: Mister Greggory answered with a professional definiteness. And as to searching,
Speaker 1: why that's out of your hands.
Speaker 2: Now this is a criminal case.
Speaker 1: I'm here to discharge a public duty.
Speaker 2: I don't mind in the.
Speaker 1: Least being searched, Bertha put in, obligingly, with an air
Speaker 1: of indifference. You can search me if you like. When
Speaker 1: you've got a warrant for it. The detective looked up sharply,
Speaker 1: so also did Perces. This already acquaintance with liberty of
Speaker 1: the subject in criminal cases impressed her unfavorably. Ah, we
Speaker 1: will see about that, mister Gregory answered.
Speaker 2: With a cool smile.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Lady mc clear, I'll have a look at the boxes.
Speaker 1: The search, strictly illegal, brought out nothing. Mister Gregory returned
Speaker 1: to Percis's bedroom disconsolate. You can leave the room, he
Speaker 1: said to Bertha, and Bertha glided out. I have set
Speaker 1: another man outside to keep a constant eye on her.
Speaker 1: He added an explanation. By this time Perces had almost
Speaker 1: made her mind up as to who was the culprit,
Speaker 1: which she said nothing over it for lady maclaar's sake.
Speaker 1: To the detective. As for that immovable official, he began
Speaker 1: asking questions, some of them Percy's thought almost bothering on
Speaker 1: personal Where had she been last night? Was she sure
Speaker 1: she had really worn the rubies? How did she come home?
Speaker 1: Was she certain she took them off? Did the maid
Speaker 1: help her?
Speaker 2: Undress? Who came back with her in the carriage? To
Speaker 2: all these.
Speaker 1: Questions rapidly fired off with cross examining acuteness. Pursus answered
Speaker 1: in the direct American fashion, she was sure she had
Speaker 1: the rubies on when she came back home to Hampstead,
Speaker 1: because Sir Justin o'beyen, who came back with her in
Speaker 1: his sister's carriage, had noticed them the last thing, and
Speaker 1: had told her to do care of them. At mention
Speaker 1: of that name, the detective smiled meaningly. A meaning smile
Speaker 1: is a stalking traitor, Detective. Oh, Sir Justin o'beyroen, he repeated,
Speaker 1: with quite self constraint. He came back with you in
Speaker 1: the carriage then, and did he sit the same side
Speaker 1: with you? Lady mclere grew indignant, that was mister Gregory's cue. Really, sir,
Speaker 1: she said angrily, if you are going to suspect gentlemen
Speaker 1: in Sir Justin's position, we shall none of us be
Speaker 1: safe from you. The law, mister Gregory replied, with an
Speaker 1: air of profound difference, is no respector of persons, but
Speaker 1: it ought to be of characters. Lady mcleure cried warmly.
Speaker 1: What's the good of having a blameless character? I should
Speaker 1: like you to know if if, if it doesn't allow
Speaker 1: you to commit a robbery with impunity, the detective interposed,
Speaker 1: finishing his sentence in his own way. Well, well, that's true,
Speaker 1: that's perfectly true. But sir Justin's character, you see, can
Speaker 1: hardly be called blameless. He's a gentleman, Persus cried, with
Speaker 1: flashing eyes, turning round upon the officer, And he's quite
Speaker 1: incapable of such a mean and despicable crime as you
Speaker 1: dare to suspect him of. Oh I see, the officer answered,
Speaker 1: like one to whom a welcome ray of light breaks
Speaker 1: suddenly through a great darkness. Sir Justin's a friend of yours.
Speaker 1: Did you come into the porch with you? He did,
Speaker 1: Persus answered, flushing crimson, And if you have had the
Speaker 1: insolence to bring a charge against him, calm yourself, madam,
Speaker 1: the detective replied, coolly, I do nothing of the sort.
Speaker 1: At this state of the proceedings, it's possible there may
Speaker 1: have been no robbery in case at all. You must
Speaker 1: keep our minds open for the present to every possible alternative.
Speaker 1: It's a delicate matter to hint at. But before we
Speaker 1: go any further, do you think perhaps Sir Justin may
Speaker 1: have carried the rubies away by mistake entangled the misclothes, say,
Speaker 1: for example, his court sleep. It was a loophole of escape,
Speaker 1: but Purss didn't jump at it. He had never the opportunity,
Speaker 1: she answered with a flash. And I know quite well
Speaker 1: they were there on my neck when he left me.
Speaker 1: For the last thing he said to me was looking
Speaker 1: up at this very window. That balconies awfully convenient for
Speaker 1: a burglary. Mind, you take good care of the remnant rubies.
Speaker 1: And I remembered what he said when I took them
Speaker 1: off last night, and that's what made me so sure
Speaker 1: I really had them. And you slept with the window open.
Speaker 1: The detective went on, still smiling to himself, Well here
Speaker 1: we have all the materials to be sure for our
Speaker 1: first class mystery. For some more days, nothing further turned
Speaker 1: up of importance about the Great Ruby robbery. It got
Speaker 1: into the papers, of course, as everything does nowadays, and
Speaker 1: all London was talking of it. Purces found herself quite
Speaker 1: famous as the American lady who had lost her jewels.
Speaker 1: People pointed her out in the park, people stared at
Speaker 1: her heart through their opera glasses at the theater. Indeed,
Speaker 1: the possession of the celebrated remnant rubies had never made
Speaker 1: her half so conspicuous in the world as the loss
Speaker 1: of them made her. It was almost worth But while
Speaker 1: losing them, Perces thought to be so much made off
Speaker 1: as she was in society. In consequence, all the world
Speaker 1: knows a young lady must be somebody when she can
Speaker 1: offer a reward of five hundred pounds for the recovery
Speaker 1: of jew jaws valued at six thousand.
Speaker 2: Sir Justin met her in the row one day.
Speaker 1: Then you don't go to Paris for a while yet,
Speaker 1: until you get them back, he inquired, very low, and
Speaker 1: Perces answered blushing, No, Sir Justin, not yet, and I'm
Speaker 1: almost glad of it. No, you don't mean that, the
Speaker 1: young man cried with perfect boyish ardor well, I confess,
Speaker 1: miss Ramonette, The first thing I thought myself when I
Speaker 1: read it in the Times was just the very same. Then,
Speaker 1: after all, she won't go yet to Paris. Pursus looked
Speaker 1: at him from her pony with American frankness, and I,
Speaker 1: she said, coouring, I found anchor in Browning for what
Speaker 1: do you think?
Speaker 2: I read.
Speaker 1: And learned to rate a true man's heart far above Rubi's.
Speaker 1: The book opened at the very place, and there I
Speaker 1: found anchor. But when Sir Justin went round to his
Speaker 1: rooms that same evening, his servant said to him, a
Speaker 1: gentleman was inquiring for you here this afternoon, Sir, A
Speaker 1: close shaving gentlemen, not very proposing. And it seemed to
Speaker 1: me somehow, Sir, as if fear he was trying to
Speaker 1: pump me. Sir Justin's face was grave. He went to
Speaker 1: his bedroom at once he knew what the man wanted,
Speaker 1: and he turned straight to his wardrobe, looking hard at
Speaker 1: the dress coat he had worn on the eventful evening.
Speaker 1: Things may cling to a sleep, don't you know, or
Speaker 1: be entangled in a cuff, or get casually into a pocket,
Speaker 1: or some one may put them there. For the next
Speaker 1: ten days or so, mister Gregory was busy, constantly busy.
Speaker 1: Without doubt, he was the most active and energetic of detectives.
Speaker 1: He carried out so fully his own official principle of
Speaker 1: suspecting everybody from China to Peru, that at last poor
Speaker 1: Purses got fairly mazed with his web of possibilities. Nobody
Speaker 1: was safe from his cultivated and highly trained suspicion, not
Speaker 1: Sir Everett, in his studio, nor Lady mc clear in
Speaker 1: a boudoir, nor the butler in his pantry, nor Sir
Speaker 1: Justin o'beyen in his rooms. In Saint James's. Gregory kept
Speaker 1: an open mind against everybody and everything. He even doubted
Speaker 1: the parrot, and had views as to the intervention of
Speaker 1: rats and terriers. Purces got rather tired at last of
Speaker 1: his perverse ingenity, especially as she had a very shrewd
Speaker 1: idea herself who had stolen the rubies. When he suggested
Speaker 1: various doubts, however, which seemed remotely to implicate Sir Justin's honesty,
Speaker 1: the sensitive American girl felt it go on her nerves
Speaker 1: and refused to listen to him, though mister Gregory never
Speaker 1: ceased to enforce upon her by precept an example, his
Speaker 1: own pet doctrine that the last person on earth one
Speaker 1: would likely to suspect is always the one who turns
Speaker 1: out to have done it. A morning or two later,
Speaker 1: Purces looked out of her window as she was dressing
Speaker 1: her hair. She dressed it herself now, though she was
Speaker 1: an American heiress and therefore of course the laziest of
Speaker 1: her kind, for she had taken an unaccountable dislike somehow
Speaker 1: to the quiet girl Bertha. On this particular morning, however,
Speaker 1: when Perces looked out, she saw Bertha engaged in her
Speaker 1: clothes and apparently very intimate conversation with the Hamstead postman.
Speaker 1: This sight disturbed the unstable equilibrium in her equanimity not
Speaker 1: a little. Why should Bertha go to the door to
Speaker 1: the postman at all? Surely it has no part the
Speaker 1: duty of Lady McClure's maid to take in the letters,
Speaker 1: and why should she want to go prying in the
Speaker 1: question of who wrote to Miss Ramonette. For Persis intensely
Speaker 1: conscious herself that a note from Sir Justin lay on
Speaker 1: the top of the posts man's bundle. She recognized it
Speaker 1: at once, even at that distance below, by the peculiar
Speaker 1: shape of the broad, rough envelope. Jump to the natural
Speaker 1: feminine conclusion that Bertha must needs be influenced by some
Speaker 1: abstrusive motive, of which she herself. Persis was, to say,
Speaker 1: the very least a component element. We are all prone
Speaker 1: to see everything from a personal standpoint. Indeed, the one
Speaker 1: quality which makes a man or a woman into a
Speaker 1: possible novelist, good, bad or indifferent is just the special
Speaker 1: power of throwing himself or herself into a great many
Speaker 1: people's personalities alternately, and this is a power possessed on
Speaker 1: average by not one in a thousand men or not
Speaker 1: one in ten thousand women. Pursus rang the bell violently.
Speaker 1: Bertha came up, all smiles. Did you want anything, Miss Persus.
Speaker 2: Could have choked her?
Speaker 1: Yes, she answered, plainly, taking the bull by the hauns.
Speaker 1: I want to know what you were doing down there,
Speaker 1: prying into other people's letter with the postman. Bertha looked
Speaker 1: up at her, ever blind, She answered at once, without
Speaker 1: a second's hesitation. The postman's my young man, miss, and
Speaker 1: we hoped before very long now to be married. Odious thing,
Speaker 1: Persus thought, a glib lie, always ready on the tip
Speaker 1: of her tongue for every emergency. But Bertha's full heart
Speaker 1: was beating violently, beating with love and hope, and deferred anxiety.
Speaker 1: A little later in the day, Persus mentioned the incident
Speaker 1: casually to Lady mc clure, mainly in order to satisfy
Speaker 1: herself that the girl had been lying. Lady mc clure, however,
Speaker 1: gave a qualified assent. I believe she is engaged to
Speaker 1: the postman, she said, I think I have heard so,
Speaker 1: though I make it a rule, you see, my dear,
Speaker 1: to know as little as I can of these people's
Speaker 1: love affairs. We are so very uninteresting. But Bertha certainly
Speaker 1: told me she wouldn't leave me to get married for
Speaker 1: an indefinite period. That was only ten days ago. She
Speaker 1: said her young man wasn't yet in a position to
Speaker 1: make a home for her. Perhaps, Pursus suggested grimly, something
Speaker 1: has occurred meanwhile to better hear her position. Such strange
Speaker 1: things crop up. She may have come into a fortune,
Speaker 1: perhaps so, Lady mc clure replied languidly. The subject bored her. Though,
Speaker 1: if so, it must really have been very sudden. For
Speaker 1: I think it was morning before you lost your jewels,
Speaker 1: she told me so. Pursus thought that awed, but she
Speaker 1: made no comment. Before dinner that evening, she burst suddenly
Speaker 1: into Lady mc clure's room. For a minute, Bertha was
Speaker 1: dressing her lady's hair. Friends were coming to dine. Among them,
Speaker 1: Sir Justin, how did these pearls go with my complexion?
Speaker 1: Lady mc clear, Pursus asked rather anxiously, for she specially
Speaker 1: wished to look her best that evening, For one of
Speaker 1: the party. Oh charming, Her hostess reply answered with a
Speaker 1: society smile. Never saw anything suit you better pursus except
Speaker 1: my poor rubies, persus cried rather ruefully for the colored
Speaker 1: gee jaws are dear to say, the savage and the woman.
Speaker 1: I wish I could get them back. I wonder that
Speaker 1: man Gregory hasn't succeeded in finding them. Oh, my dear,
Speaker 1: lady mc clear, drawled out, you may be sure by
Speaker 1: this time they are safe at Amsterdam. That's the only
Speaker 1: place in Europe now to look for them. Why to Amsterdam,
Speaker 1: my lady, Bertha interspersed suddenly with a quick sight glance
Speaker 1: at purses. Lady mac clear threw her head back in
Speaker 1: surprise at so unwonted an intrusion. What do you want
Speaker 1: to know that for child, she asked, somewhat curtly.
Speaker 2: Why to be cut?
Speaker 1: Of course, all the diamond cutters in the world are
Speaker 1: concentrated in Amsterdam, and the first thing a thief does
Speaker 1: when he steals big jewels is to send them across
Speaker 1: and have them cut in new shapes so they can't
Speaker 1: be identified. I shouldn't have thought, so Bertha put in calmly,
Speaker 1: they'd have known who to send them to. Lady mc
Speaker 1: clear turned to her sharply. Why these things, she said,
Speaker 1: with a calm air of knowledge, are always done by
Speaker 1: experienced thieves who know the ropes well and are in
Speaker 1: league with the receivers the whole world over. But Gregory
Speaker 1: has his eye on Amsterdam. I'm sure, and we'll soon
Speaker 1: hear something. Yes, my lady, Bertha answered in her acquiscent tone,
Speaker 1: and relapsed into silence. Four days later, about nine at night,
Speaker 1: that hard worked man, the posty on the beat, stood
Speaker 1: loitering outside Sir Everett mc clure's house, openly defining the
Speaker 1: rules of the department in close conference with Bertha. Well,
Speaker 1: any news, Bertha asked, trembling over with excitement, for she
Speaker 1: was a very different person outside with her lover, from
Speaker 1: the demure and imperturbable model maid who waited on my lady.
Speaker 1: Why yes, the posty answered, with a low laugh of triumph,
Speaker 1: A letter from Amsterdam, and I think we have fixed it.
Speaker 1: Bertha almost flung herself upon him. Oh harry, she cried
Speaker 1: all eagerness. This is too good to be true. Then
Speaker 1: in just one other month we can really get married.
Speaker 1: There was a minute's pause, inarticulately filled by the sounds
Speaker 1: of unrepresentable through the art of the type founder. Then
Speaker 1: Harry spoke again. It's an awful lot of money, he said,
Speaker 1: musing a regular fortune. And what's more, Bertha, if it
Speaker 1: hadn't been for your cleverness, we never should have got it.
Speaker 1: Pertha pressed his hand affectionately. Even lady's maid are human. Well,
Speaker 1: if I hadn't been so much in love with you,
Speaker 1: she answered frankly, I don't think I could have ever
Speaker 1: had the wit to manage it. But oh, Harry, love
Speaker 1: makes one do or try anything. If Perces had heard
Speaker 1: those singular words, she would have felt no doubt was
Speaker 1: any longer possible. Next morning, at ten o'clock, a policeman
Speaker 1: came round post haste to Sir Everard's.
Speaker 2: He asked to say miss Remanette.
Speaker 1: When Perces came down in a morning wrap, he had
Speaker 1: put a brief message from the headquarters to give her.
Speaker 1: Your jewels have found, miss Will you step round and
Speaker 1: identify them? Perss drove back with him, all trembling. Lady
Speaker 1: mc clure accompanied her at the police station. They left
Speaker 1: their cab and entered the anteroom. A little group had
Speaker 1: assembled there. The first person Purses distinctly made out in
Speaker 1: it was Sir Justin. A great terror seized her. Gregory
Speaker 1: had so poisoned her mind by this time with suspicion
Speaker 1: of everybody and everything she had came across, that she
Speaker 1: was afraid of her own shadow. But the next moment
Speaker 1: she saw clearly he wasn't there as prisoner or even
Speaker 1: as witness, merely as spectator. She acknowledged him with a
Speaker 1: hasty bow and cast her eye round again. The next
Speaker 1: person she definitely distinguished was Bertha, as calm and cool
Speaker 1: as ever, but in the very center of the group, occupying,
Speaker 1: as it were, the place of honor which naturally belongs
Speaker 1: to the prisoner on all similar occasions. Perces was not
Speaker 1: surprised at that she had known it all along. She
Speaker 1: glanced meaningly at Gregory, who stood a little behind, looking
Speaker 1: by no means triumphant. Perceus found his dejection odd, but
Speaker 1: he was a proud detective, and perhaps some one else
Speaker 1: had affected the capture. These are your jewels, I believe,
Speaker 1: the inspector said, holding them up, and Perces admitted it.
Speaker 1: This is a painful case. The inspector bent on a
Speaker 1: very painful case. We grieved to have discovered such a
Speaker 1: clue against one of our own men. But as he
Speaker 1: owns it to himself and intends to throw himself on
Speaker 1: the mercy of the court, it's no use talking about it.
Speaker 1: He won't tempt to defend it. Indeed, with such evidence,
Speaker 1: I think he's doing what's best and wisest.
Speaker 2: Pursy stood there all dazed.
Speaker 1: I I don't understand, she cried, with a swimming brain.
Speaker 2: Who on earth are you talking about?
Speaker 1: The inspector pointed mutely with one hand at Gregory, and
Speaker 1: for the first time Perseus saw he was guarded. She
Speaker 1: clapped her hand to her head. In a moment, it
Speaker 1: all broke in upon her when she had called in
Speaker 1: the police. The rubies had never been stolen at all.
Speaker 1: It was Gregory who stole them. She understood it now
Speaker 1: at once the real facts came back to her. She
Speaker 1: had taken her necklet off at night, laid it carelessly
Speaker 1: down on the dressing table too full of sir Justin,
Speaker 1: covered it accidentally with her lace, pocket hand kerchief, and
Speaker 1: straightway forgotten all about it. Next day she missed it
Speaker 1: and jumped at conclusions when Gregory came, he spied the
Speaker 1: rubies as khans under the corner of the handkerchief. Of course,
Speaker 1: being a woman, she had naturally looked everywhere except in
Speaker 1: the place where she had laid them, and knowing it
Speaker 1: was a safe case, he had quickly pocketed them before
Speaker 1: her very eyes. All unsuspected. He felt sure nobody could
Speaker 1: accuse him of a robbery which was committed before he came,
Speaker 1: and which he had himself been called in to investigate.
Speaker 1: The worst of it is, the inspector went on, he
Speaker 1: had bown a very ingenious case against Sir Justin o'byron,
Speaker 1: whom we were on the very point of arresting today
Speaker 1: if this young woman hadn't come in in the eleventh hower,
Speaker 1: in the very nick of time and earned the reward
Speaker 1: by giving us the clue that led to the discovery
Speaker 1: and the recovery of jewels. They were brought over this
Speaker 1: morning by an Amsterdam detective. Pursus looked hard at Bertha.
Speaker 1: Bertha answered her, Look, my young man was the postman, Miss,
Speaker 1: she explained quite simply. And after what my lady said,
Speaker 1: I put him up to watch mister Gregory's delivery for
Speaker 1: the letter from Amsterdam. I had suspected him from the
Speaker 1: very first, and when the letter came we had him
Speaker 1: arrested at once and found out who were the people
Speaker 1: in Amsterdam who had the rubies. Pursus gasped with astonishment.
Speaker 1: Her brain was reeling, but Gregory, in the background put
Speaker 1: in one last word. Well, I was right after all,
Speaker 1: he said, with professional pride. I told you the very
Speaker 1: last person you dream of suspecting was sure to be
Speaker 1: the one that actually did it. Lady o'byron's rubies were
Speaker 1: very much admired at Monte Carlo last season. Mister Gregory
Speaker 1: had found permanent employment for the next seven years at
Speaker 1: her Majesty's quarries on the Isle of Portland. Bertha and
Speaker 1: her postman have retired to Canada with five hundred pounds
Speaker 1: to buy a farm, and everybody says, Sir Justin o'byron
Speaker 1: has beaten the record, after all, even for Irish baronets,
Speaker 1: by making a marriage at once of money and affection.
Speaker 1: The End of the Great Ruby Robbery by Grant Allan