Arthur George Morrison (1 November 1863 – 4 December 1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London 's East End, and for his detective stories, featuring the detective Martin Hewitt.
He also collected Japanese art
and published several works on the subject. He left a large collection
of paintings and other works of art to the British Museum after his
death in 1945.
Morrison's best known work of fiction is his novel A Child of the Jago (1896).
THE AFFAIR OF SAMUEL'S DIAMONDS
I
I have already recorded many of the adventures of my friend Martin
Hewitt, but among them there have been more of a certain few which were
discovered to be related together in a very extraordinary manner; and it
is to these that I am now at liberty to address myself. There may have
been others cases which gave no indication of their connection with
these; some of them indeed I may have told without a suspicion of their
connection with the Red Triangle; but the first in which that singular
accompaniment became apparent was the matter of Samuel's diamonds. The
case exhibited many interesting features, and I was very anxious to
report it, with perhaps even less delay than I had thought judicious in
other cases; but Hewitt restrained me.
"No, Brett," he said, "there is more to come of this. This particular
case is over, it is true, but there is much behind. I've an idea that I
shall see that Red Triangle again. I may, or, of course, I may not; but
there is deep work going on very deep work, and whether we see more of
it or not, I must keep prepared. I can't afford to throw a single card
upon the table. So, as many notes as you please, Brett, for future
reference; but no publication yet, none of your journalism !"
Hewitt was right. It was not so long before we heard more of the Red
Triangle, and after that more, though the true connection of some of the
cases with the mysterious symbol and the meaning of the symbol itself
remained for a time undiscovered. But at last Hewitt was able to unmask
the hideous secret, and for ever put an end to the evil influence that
gathered about the sign; and now there remains no reason why the full
story should not be told.
I have told elsewhere of my first acquaintance with Martin Hewitt, of
his pleasant and companionable nature, his ordinary height, his
stoutness, his round, smiling face, those characteristics that aided him
so well in his business of investigator, so unlike was his appearance
and manner to that of the private detective of the ordinary person's
imagination. Therefore I need only remind my readers that my bachelor
chambers were, during most of my acquaintance with Hewitt, in the old
building near the Strand, in which Hewitt's office stood at the top of
the first flight of stairs; where the plain ground-glass of the door
bore as inscription the single word "Hewitt," and the sharp lad,
Kerrett, first received visitors in the outer office.
Next door to this old house, at the time I am to speak of, a much newer
building stood, especially built for letting out in offices. It happened
that one day as Hewitt left his office for a late lunch, he became aware
of a pallid and agitated Jew who was pervading the front door of this
adjoining building. The man exhibited every sign of nervous expectancy,
staring this way and that up and down the busy street, and once or twice
rushing aimlessly half-way up the inner stairs, and as often returning
to the door. Apprehension was plain on his pale face, and he was clearly
in a state that blinded his attention to the ordinary matters about him,
just as happens when a man is in momentary and nervous expectation of
some serious event.
Noting these things as he passed, with no more than the observation that
was his professional habit, Hewitt proceeded to his lunch. This done
with, he returned to his office, perceiving, as he passed the next-door
building, that the distracted Jew was no longer visible. It seemed plain
that the person or the event he had awaited with such obvious
nervousness had arrived and passed; one more of the problems, anxieties
or crises that join and unravel moment by moment in the human ant-hill
of London, had perhaps closed for good or ill within the past half-hour;
perhaps it had only begun.
A message awaited Hewitt at his office an urgent message. The
housekeeper had come in from next door, Kerrett reported, with an urgent
request that Mr. Martin Hewitt would go immediately to the offices of
Mr. Denson, on the third floor. The housekeeper seemed to know little or
nothing of the business, except that a Mr. Samuel was alone in Mr.
Denson's office, and had sent the message.
With no delay Hewitt transferred himself to the next-door offices. There
the housekeeper, who inhabited a uniform and a glass box opposite the
foot of the first flight of stairs, directed Hewitt, with the remark
that the gentleman was very impatient and very much upset. "Third floor,
sir, second door on the right; name Denson on the door. There's no
lift."
"W.F. Denson" was the complete name, followed by the line "Foreign and
Commission Agent." This Hewitt read with some little difficulty, for the
door was open, and on the threshold stood that same agitated Jew whom
Hewitt had seen at the front door.
A little less actively perturbed now, he was nevertheless still
nervously pale. "Mr. Martin Hewitt?" he cried, while Hewitt was still
only at the head of the stairs. "Is it Mr. Martin Hewitt ?"
Hewitt came quietly along the corridor, using eyes and ears as he came.
The Jew was a man of middle height, very obviously Jewish, and with a
slight accent that hinted a Continental origin.
"I have just received your message," Hewitt said, "and, as you see, I am
here with no delay. Is Mr. Denson in ?"
"No, good heafens no, I would gif anything if he was, Mr. Hewitt. Come
in, do! I haf been robbed - robbed by Denson himself, wit'out a wort of
doubt. It is terrible, terrible ! Fifteen t'ousant pounds ! It ruins me,
Mr. Hewitt, ruins me ! Unless you can recover it ! If you recover it, I
will pay, pay, oh, I will pay fery well indeed !"
There was a characteristically sudden moderation of the client's
emphasis when he came to the engagement to pay. Hewitt had observed it
in other clients, but it did not disturb him.
"First," he said, "you must tell me your difficulty. You say you have
been robbed of fifteen thousand pounds "
"Tiamonts, Mr. Hewitt, tiamonts ! All from the case, here is the case,
empty"
"Let us be methodical. We will shut the door and sit down." Hewitt
pressed his client into a chair and produced his note-book. "It will be
better to begin at the beginning. First, I should like to know your
name, and a few such particulars as that."
"Lewis Samuel, Hatton Garden - 150, Hatton Garden, tiamont merchant."
"Yes. And what is your connection with Mr. Denson ?"
"Business, just business," Samuel responded. He pronounced it
"pishness," and it seemed his favourite word. "Like this; I will tell
you. I haf known him some time, and did at first small pishness. He
bought a little tiamont and haf it set in pracelet, and he
pay, straightforward pishness. Then he bought some very good paste
stones, all set in gold, and he pay, quite straightforward pishness. At
the same time he says, 'I am pishness man myself, Mr. Samuel,' he says,
'and I like to make a little moneys as well as pay out sometimes. Don't
you want any little agencies done ? I do all foreign commissions, and I
can forwart and receive and clear at dock and custom house. If you send
any tiamonts I can consign and insure, very cheapest rates to you,
special. If you want brokerage or buy and sell for you, confidential, I
can do it with lowest commission. Especially I haf good connection with
America. I haf many rich Americans, principals and customers,' he says,
'and often I could do pishness for you when they come over.'
"By which he meant he might sell them diamonds?" Hewitt queried.
"Just so, Mr. Hewitt, reg'lar pishness. And after that two or three
little parcels of tiamonts he bought for American customers, he says.
But he says he can do bigger pishness soon. Ay, so he has goot heavens,
he has! But I tell you. I do also one or two small pishnesses with him,
and that is all right, he treat me very well and I pay when it suits.
Then he says, 'Samuel,' he says, very friendly now inteet, 'Samuel,
could you get a nice large lot of tiamonts for an American customer I
expect here soon ?' And I say, 'Of course I can.'
'Enough,' he says, 'to fit out a rich man's wife that is, to pegin. He is not long rich, and he will want more soon, ah, she will make him pay ! But to pegin a good fit-out of tiamonts, eh ?'
'Enough,' he says, 'to fit out a rich man's wife that is, to pegin. He is not long rich, and he will want more soon, ah, she will make him pay ! But to pegin a good fit-out of tiamonts, eh ?'
"I tell him yes, and I offer usual commission. But no, says Denson, he
wants no commission; he will make his own profit. That I don't mind so
long as I get mine; so I agree to put the tiamonts in at a price. The
American, he says, is to come over about a big company deal, and when it
is through he will pay well. So last week I pring a peautiful
collection all cut but unset, and I wait out in that room while Denson
shows them to his customer."
"You mean you let them out of your sight ?"
"Yes, that is not so uncommon; reg'lar pishness. You see I was out
here this is the only way out. Denson was in the inner office with the
stones and the American. Neither could get out without passing here. And
I had done pishness with him alretty."
"Well ?"
"You see I wait downstairs with my case - this case, till Denson sends
down. He doesn't want me to show fery natural, you see, in pishness.
When I sell to make a profit, perhaps for somebody else, I don't want
that somebody to know my customer, else he sells direct and I lose my
profit fery natural. See ?"
"Of course, I understand. It's a point of business among you gentlemen
to keep your own customers to yourselves. And often, no doubt, diamonds
pass through several hands before reaching the eventual customer,
leaving a profit in each."
"Always, Mr. Hewitt always, you might say. Well, you see, Denson sends
down that his customer is in, and I come up. Denson comes out from the
inner office, takes my case, and I wait in there."
The case which Samuel showed Hewitt was of black leather, perhaps
eighteen inches long by a foot wide. The arrangement of the office was
simple. In this, the outer room, a small space was partitioned off by
means of a ground glass screen, and it was in there that Samuel meant
that he had waited.
"Well, he took the case in, and I could hear some sound of talking but
not much, you see, the door being shut. After a time the door opens and
I hear Denson say: 'Very well, think over it; but don't be long or
you'll lose the chance. Excuse me while I put them back in the safe.'
Then he shuts the door and brings the case to me and goes back. But of
course I stay till I haf looked very carefully through all the tiamonts,
in the different compartments of the case, in case one might haf dropped
on the floor, or got changed, you know. That is pishness."
"Just so. And they were all right ?"
"All right and same as the list I know well a tiamont that I haf seen
once. So I go away, and afterwards Denson tells me that the American
liked much the stones but wouldn't quite come up to price. That, of
course, is fery usual pishness. 'But he will rise, Samuel,' Denson says.
'I know him quite well, and them tiamonts is as good as sold with a
good profit for me; and a good one for you, too, I bet,' he says. I was
putting the lot to him for fifteen t'ousant pounds, and it would have
been a nice profit in that for me. And then Denson he chaffs me and he
says, 'Ah! Samuel,' he says, 'wasn't you afraid my customer and me would
hook it out o' the window with all your stones ?' I don't like that sort
o' joke in pishness, you see, but I say, 'All right I wasn't afraid o'
that. The window was a mile too high, and besides I could see it from
where I was a-sitting.' And so I could, you see, plain enough to see if
it was opened."
The ground-glass partition, in fact, cut off a part of the window of the
outer office, which, being at an angle with the inner room, gave a side
view of the window that lighted that apartment.
"Denson laughed at that," Samuel went on. "'Ha-ha !' says he, 'I never
thought of that. Then you could see the American's hat hanging up just
by the window rum hat, ain't it ?' And that was quite true, for I had
noticed it a big, grey wideawake, almost white."
Hewitt nodded approvingly. "You are quite right," he said, "to tell me
everything you recollect, even of the most trivial sort; the smallest
thing may be very valuable. So you took your diamonds away the first
time, last week. What next ?"
"Well, I came again, just the same, to-day, by appointment. Just the
same I sat in that place, and just the same Denson took the case into
the inner room. 'He's come to buy this time, I can see,' Denson whispers,
and winks. 'But he'll fight hard over the price. We'll see !' and off he
goes into the other room. Well, I waited. I waited and I waited a long
time. I looked out sideways at the window, and there I see the
American's big wideawake hat hanging up just inside the other window,
same as last time. So I think they are a long time settling the price,
and I wait some more. But it is such a very long time, and I begin to
feel uneasy. Of course, I know you cannot sell fifteen t'ousant wort' of
tiamonts in five minutes that is not reasonable pishness. But I could
hear nothing at all now not a sound. And the boy the boy that came
down to call me up he wasn't come back. But there I could see the big
wideawake hat still hanging inside the window, and of course I knew
there was only one door out of the inner room, right before me, so it
seemed foolish to be uneasy. So I waited longer still, but now it was so
late, I thought they should have come out to lunch before this, and then
I was fery uneasy fery uneasy inteet. So I thought I would pretend to
be a new caller, and I opened the outer office door and banged it, and
walked in very loud and knocked on the boy's table. I thought Denson
would come when he heard that, but no there was not a sound. So I got
more uneasy, and I opened the window and leaned out as far as I could,
to look in at the other window. There I could see nothing but the big
hat and the back of a chair and a bit of the room empty. So I went and
banged the outer door again, and called out, 'Hi! Mr. Denson, you're
wanted ! Hi ! d'y'ear ?' and knocked with my umbrella on the inner door;
and, Mr. Hewitt, you might have knocked me down with half a feather when
I got no answer at all not a sound ! I opened the door, Mr. Hewitt, and
there was nobody there nobody ! There was my leather case on the table,
open and empty ! Fifteen t'ousant pounds in tiamonts, Mr. Hewitt it
ruins me !"
Hewitt rose, and flung wide the inner office door. "This is certainly
the only door," he said, "and that is the only window quite well in
view from where you sat. There is the wideawake hat still hanging
there see, it is quite new; obviously brought for you to look at, it
would seem. The door and the window were not used, and the chimney is
impossible register grate. But there was one other way there."
The inner wall of each of the rooms was the wall of the corridor into
which all the offices opened, and this corridor was lighted and the
offices partly ventilated by a sort of hinged casement or fanlight
close up by the ceiling, oblong, and extending the most of the length of
each room. Plainly an active man, not too stout, might mount a
chair-back, and climb very quietly through the opening. "That's the only
way," said Hewitt, pointing.
"Yes," answered Samuel, nodding and rubbing his knuckles together
nervously. "I saw it, saw it when it was too late. But who'd have
thought o' such a thing beforehand ? And the American either there
wasn't an American at all, or he got out the same way. But, anyway, here
I am, and the tiamonts are gone, and there is nothing here but the
furniture not worth twenty pound !"
"Well," Hewitt said, "so far, I think I understand, though I may have
questions to ask presently. But go on."
"Go on ? But there is no more, Mr. Hewitt ! Quite enough, don't you think ?
There is no more, I am robbed !"
"But when you found the empty room, and the case, what did you do? Send
for the police ?"
The Jew's face clouded slightly. "No, Mr. Hewitt," he said, "not for the
police, but for you. Reason plain enough. The police make a great fuss,
and they want to arrest the criminal. Quite right, I want to arrest him,
and punish him too, plenty. But most I want the tiamonts back, because
if not it ruins me. If it was to make choice between two things for me,
whether to punish Denson or get my tiamonts, then of course I take the
tiamonts, and let Denson go I cannot be ruined. But with the police, if
it is their choice, they catch the thief first, and hold him tight,
whether it loses the property or not; the property is only second with
them with me it is first and second, and all. So I take no more risks
than I can help, Mr. Hewitt. I have sent for you to get first the
stones afterwards the thief if you can. But first my property; you can
perhaps find Denson and make him give it up rather than go to prison.
That would be better than having him taken and imprisoned, and perhaps
the stones put away safe all the time ready for him when he came out."
"Still, the police can do things that I can't," Hewitt interposed; "stop
people leaving or landing at ports, and the like. I think we should see
them."
Samuel was anxiously emphatic. "No, Mr. Hewitt," he said, "certainly not
the police. There are reasons no, not the police, Mr. Hewitt, at any
rate, not till you have tried. I cannot haf the police just yet."
Martin Hewitt shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," he said, "if those
are your instructions, I'll do my best. And so you sent for me at once,
as soon as you discovered the loss ?"
"Yes, at once."
"Without telling anybody else ?"
"I haf tolt nobody."
"Did you look about anywhere for Denson in the street, or what not ?"
"No, what was the good ? He was gone; there was time for him to go
miles."
"Very good. And speaking of time, let me judge how far he may have gone.
How long were you kept waiting ?"
"Two hours and a quarter, very near within five minutes."
"By your watch ?"
"Yes, I looked often, to see if it was so long waiting as it seemed."
"Very good. Do you happen to have a piece of Denson's writing about
you ?"
Samuel looked round him. "There's nothing about here," he said, "but
perhaps we can find, oh here, here's a postcard." He took the card from
his pocket, and gave it to Hewitt.
"There is nothing else to tell me, then ?" queried Hewitt. "Are you sure
that you have forgotten nothing that has happened since you first
arrived - nothing at all ?" There was meaning in the emphasis, and a
sharp look in Hewitt's eyes.
"No, Mr. Hewitt," Samuel answered, hastily; "there is nothing else I can
tell you."
"Then I will think it over at once. You had better go back quietly to
your office, and think it over yourself, in case you have forgotten
something; and I need hardly warn you to keep quiet as to what has
passed between us, unless you tell the police. I think I shall take the
liberty of a glance over Mr. Denson's office, and since his office boy
still stays away, I will lend him my clerk for a little. He will keep
his eyes open if any callers come, and his ears too. Wait while I fetch
him."
II
It was at this point that my humble part in the case began, for Hewitt
hurried first to my rooms.
"Brett," he exclaimed, "are you engaged this afternoon ?"
"No, nothing important."
"Will you do me a small favour ? I have a rather interesting case. I want
a man watched for an hour or so, and I haven't a soul to do it. Kerrett
may be known, and I am known. Besides, there is another job for
Kerrett."
Of course, I expressed myself willing to do what I could.
"Capital," replied Hewitt. "Come along you like these adventures, I
know, or I wouldn't have asked you; and you know the dodges in this sort
of observation. The man is one Samuel, a Jew, of 150 Hatton Garden,
diamond dealer. I'll tell you more afterwards. Kerrett and I are going
into the offices next door, and I want you to wait thereabout. Presently
I will come downstairs with him and he will go away. An hour or so will
be enough, probably."
I followed Hewitt downstairs. He took Kerrett with him and locked his
office door. I saw them both disappear within the large new building,
and I waited near a convenient postal pillar-box, prepared to seem very
busy with a few old letters from my pocket until my man's back was
turned.
In a very few minutes Hewitt reappeared, this time with a man, a Jew,
obviously, whom I remembered having seen already at the door of that
office more than an hour before, as I had passed on the way from the
bookseller's at the corner. The man walked briskly up the street, and I,
on the opposite side, did the same, a little in the rear.
He turned the corner, and at once slackened his pace and looked about
him. He took a peep back along the street he had left, and then hailed a
cab.
For a hundred yards or more I was obliged to trot, till I saw another
cab drop its fare just ahead, and managed to secure it and give the
cabman instructions to follow the cab in front, before it turned a
corner. The chase was difficult, for the horse that drew me was a poor
one, and half a dozen times I thought I had lost sight of the other cab
altogether; but my cabman was better than his animal, and from his high
perch he kept the chase in view, turning corners and picking out the cab
ahead among a dozen others with surprising certainty. We went across
Charing Cross Road by way of Cranborne Street, past Leicester Square,
through Coventry Street and up the Quadrant and Regent Street. At Oxford
Circus the Jew's cab led us to the left, and along Oxford Street we
chased it past Bond Street end. Suddenly my cab pulled up with a jerk,
and the driver spoke through the trapdoor. "That fare's getting down,
sir," he said, "at the corner o' Duke Street."
I thrust a half-crown up through the hole and sprang out. "'E's crossing
the road, sir," the cabman finally reported, and I hurried across the
street accordingly.
The man I was watching was strikingly Jewish enough, and easy to
distinguish in a crowd. I had almost overtaken him before he had gone a
dozen yards up the northern end of Duke Street. He walked on into
Manchester Square.
There a small, neat brougham, with blinds drawn, was being driven slowly round the central garden. I saw Samuel walk hurriedly up to this brougham, which stopped as he approached. He stepped quickly into the carriage and shut the door behind him. The brougham resumed its slow progress, and I loitered, keeping it in view, though the blinds were drawn so close that it was impossible to guess who might be Samuel's companion, if he had one. I think I have said that when the Jew came to the office door with Hewitt I perceived that he was a man I had seen before that day. I was now convinced that I had also seen that same brougham, at the same time; but of this presently.
There a small, neat brougham, with blinds drawn, was being driven slowly round the central garden. I saw Samuel walk hurriedly up to this brougham, which stopped as he approached. He stepped quickly into the carriage and shut the door behind him. The brougham resumed its slow progress, and I loitered, keeping it in view, though the blinds were drawn so close that it was impossible to guess who might be Samuel's companion, if he had one. I think I have said that when the Jew came to the office door with Hewitt I perceived that he was a man I had seen before that day. I was now convinced that I had also seen that same brougham, at the same time; but of this presently.
The carriage made one slow circuit, and then Samuel got out and shut the
door quickly again. I took the precaution of turning my back and letting
him overtake and pass me on his way back through Duke Street. At the end
of the street he mounted an omnibus going east, and I took another seat
in the same vehicle. The rest was uninteresting. He went direct to No.
150 Hatton Garden, and there remained. I read his name on the door-post
among a score of others, and after a twenty-minutes' wait I returned to
my rooms. I had no doubt that it was the meeting in the brougham that
Hewitt wished reported, and I remembered his rule was never to watch a
man a moment after the main object was secured.
Hewitt was out, and he did not return till after dusk. Then he came
straightway to my rooms.
"Well, Brett," he said, "what's the report ? As a matter of fact, Samuel
is my client, as I shall explain presently. I don't like spying on a
client, as a rule, but I was convinced that he was keeping something
back from me, and there was something odd about his whole story. But
what did you see ?"
I told Hewitt the tale of my pursuit as I have told it here. "I came
away," I concluded, "after it seemed that he was settled in his office
for a bit. But there is another thing you should know. When he first
came out with you I recognised him at once as a man I had seen at that
same door a little after two o'clock, say a quarter past."
"Yes ?" answered Hewitt. "I saw him there myself a little
sooner something like two, I should say. What was he doing ?"
"Well," I replied, "he was doing pretty well what he did in Manchester
Square. For as a matter of fact the brougham also was here then, just
outside the next door office. I think I might swear to that same
brougham, though of course I didn't notice it so particularly that first
time."
Hewitt whistled. "Oh !" he said. "Tell me about this. Did he get into the
brougham this time ?"
"Yes. He came out of the office door with a black leather case in his
hand and a very scared look on his face. And he popped into the
brougham, leather case, scared look and all."
"Ho, ho !" said Hewitt, thoughtfully, and whistled again. "A black
leather case, eh ! Come, come, the plot thickens. And what happened ? Did
the carriage go off ?"
"No; I saw nothing more, shouldn't have noticed so much, in fact, if the
whole thing hadn't looked a trifle curious. Nervous, pallid Jew with a
black case as though he thought it was dynamite and might go off at any
moment closed brougham, blinds drawn, Jew skipped in and banged the
door, but brougham didn't move; and I fancied, perhaps only
fancied, that I saw a woman's black veil inside. But then I turned in
here and saw no more."
Hewitt sat thoughtfully silent for a few moments. Then he rose and said,
"Come next door, and I'll tell you how we stand. The housekeeper will let us in, and we'll see if you can identify that black case anywhere."
"Come next door, and I'll tell you how we stand. The housekeeper will let us in, and we'll see if you can identify that black case anywhere."
It seemed that Hewitt had by this established a good understanding with
the housekeeper next door. "Nobody's been, sir," the man said, as he
admitted us and closed the heavy doors. "Office boy not come back, nor
nothing."
We went up to Denson's office on the third floor, the door of which the
housekeeper opened; and having turned on the electric light, he left
us.
"Now, is that anything like the case ?" Hewitt asked, when the
housekeeper was gone; and he lifted from under the table the very black
case I had seen Samuel take into the brougham.
I said that I felt as sure of the case as of the brougham. And then
Hewitt told me the whole tale of Samuel and his loss of fifteen thousand
pounds' worth of diamonds, just as it appears earlier in this narrative.
"Now, see here," said Hewitt, when he had made me acquainted with his
client's tale, "there is something odd about all this. See this
post-card which Samuel gave me. It is from Denson, and it makes this
morning's appointment. See! 'Be down below at eleven sharp' is the
message. He came and he waited just two hours and a quarter, as he tells
me, being certain to the time within five minutes. That brings, us to a
quarter past one, the time when he finds he is robbed; and he came
downstairs in a very agitated state at a quarter-past one, as I have
since ascertained. At two I pass and see him still dancing distractedly
on the front steps certainly very much like a man who has had a serious
misfortune, or expects one. At a quarter past two, that was about it, I
think ?" (I nodded) "At a quarter past two you see him, still agitated,
diving into the brougham with this black case in his hand; and a little
afterward after all this, mind he tells me this story of a robbery of
diamonds from that very case, and assures me that he sent for me the
moment he discovered the loss that is to say, at a quarter past one, a
positive lie and has told nobody else. He further assures me that he
has told me everything that has happened up to the moment he meets me.
Then he goes away to his office, as he tells me. But you find him
posting to Manchester Square in a cab, and there once more plunging into
that same mysterious closed brougham. Now why should he do that? He has
seen the person in that brougham, presumably, an hour before, and there
can be nothing more to communicate, except the result of his interview
with me a thing I warned him to keep to himself. It's odd, isn't it ?"
"It is. What can be his motive ?"
"I want to know his motive. I object to working for a client who
deceives me indeed, it's unsafe. I may be making myself an accomplice
in some criminal scheme. You observe that he never called for the
police a natural impulse in a robbed man. Indeed, he expressly vetoes
all communication with the police."
"Of course he gave reasons."
"But the reasons are not good enough. I can't stop a man leaving this
country anywhere round the coast except by going to the police."
"Can it be," I suggested, "that Samuel and Denson are working in
collusion, and have perhaps insured the stones, and now want your help
to make out a case of loss ?"
"Scarcely that, I think, for more than one reason. First, it isn't a
risk any insurer would take, in the circumstances. Next, the insurer
would certainly want to know why the police were not informed at once.
But there is more. I have not been idle this while, as you would know. I
will tell you some of the things I have ascertained. To begin with,
Samuel is known in Hatton Garden only as a dealer on a very small and
peddling scale. A dabbler in commissions, in fact, rather than a buyer
and seller of diamonds in quantities on his own account. His office is
nothing but a desk in a small room he shares with two others small
dealers like himself. When I spoke to the people most likely to know, of
his offering fifteen thousand pounds' worth of diamonds on his own
account, they laughed. An investment of two or three hundred pounds in
stones was about his limit, they said. Now that fact offers fresh
suggestions, doesn't it ?" Hewitt looked at me significantly.
"You mean," I said after a little consideration, "that Samuel may have
been entrusted with the diamonds to sell by the real owner, and has made
all these arrangements with Denson to get the gems for themselves and
represent them as stolen ?"
Hewitt nodded thoughtfully. "There's that possibility," he said. "Though
even in that case the owner would certainly want to know why the police
had not been told, and I don't know what satisfactory answer Samuel
could make. And more, I find that no such robbery has been reported to
any of the principal dealers in Hatton Garden today; and, so far as I
can ascertain, none of them has entrusted Samuel with anything like so
large a quantity of diamonds as he talks of lately, at any rate."
"Isn't it possible that the diamonds are purely imaginary ?" I suggested.
"Mightn't there be some trick played on that basis ? Perhaps a trick on the American customer if there was one."
"Mightn't there be some trick played on that basis ? Perhaps a trick on the American customer if there was one."
Hewitt was thoughtful. "There are many possibilities," he said, "which I
must consider. The diamonds may even be stolen property to begin with;
that would account for a great deal, though perhaps not all. But the
whole thing is so oddly suspicious, that unless my client is willing to
let me a great deal further into his confidence tomorrow morning I
shall throw up the case."
"Did you direct any inquiries after Denson ?"
"Of course; which brings me to the other things I have ascertained. He
has not been here long a few months. I cannot find that he has been
doing any particular business all the time with anybody except Samuel.
With him, however, he seems to have been very friendly. The housekeeper
speaks of them as being 'very thick together.' The rooms are cheaply
furnished, as you see. And here is another thing to consider. The
housekeeper vows that he never left his glass box at the foot of the
stairs from the time Samuel went upstairs first to the time when he came
down again, vastly agitated, at a quarter-past one, and sent a message;
and during all that time Denson never passed the box ! And the main
door is the only way out."
"But wasn't he there at all ?"
"Yes, he was there, certainly, when Samuel came. But note, now. Observe
the sequence of things as we know them now. First, there is Denson in
his office; I can find nothing of any American visitor, and I am
convinced that he is a total fiction, either of Denson's or Samuel and
Denson together. Denson is in his office. To him comes Samuel. Neither
leaves the place till Samuel comes down at a quarter-past one o'clock. I
told you he sent some sort of message. The housekeeper tells me that he
called a passing commissionaire and gave him something, though whether
it was a telegram or a note he did not see; nor does he know the
commissionaire, nor his number though he could easily be found if it
became necessary, no doubt. Samuel sends the message, and waits on the
steps, watching, in an agitated manner (as would be natural, perhaps, in
a man engaged in an anxious and ticklish piece of illegality) for an
hour, when this mysterious brougham appears. He takes this black case
into the brougham, and he obviously brings it out again, for here it is.
Whatever has happened, he brings it out empty. Then he sends the
housekeeper for me. When at length I arrive, Denson has certainly gone,
but there was an opportunity for that while the housekeeper was absent
on the message to my office after all Samuel's agitation, and after
he had carried his case to and from the brougham."
"The whole thing is odd enough, certainly, and suspicious enough. Have
you found anything else ?"
"Yes. Denson lives, or lived, in a boarding house in Bloomsbury. He has
only been there two months, however, and they know practically nothing
of him. Today he came home at an unusual time, letting himself in with
his latchkey, and went away at once with a bag, but the accounts of the
exact time are contradictory. One servant thought it was before twelve,
and another insisted that it was after one. He has not been back."
"And the office boy can't you get some information out of him ?"
"He hasn't been seen since the morning. I expect Denson told him to take
a whole holiday. I can't find where he lives, at the moment, but no
doubt he will turn up to-morrow. Not that I expect to get much from him.
But I shan't bother. Unless Mr. Samuel will answer satisfactorily some
very plain questions I shall ask and I don't expect he will, I shall
throw up the commission. He called, by the way, not long ago, but I was
out. We shall see him in the morning, I expect."
A look round Denson's office taught me no more than it had taught Hewitt
already. There were two small rooms, one inside the other, with ordinary
and cheap office furniture. It was quite plain that any man of ordinary
activity and size could have got out of the inner room into the corridor
by the means which Samuel suggested through the hinged wall light, near
the ceiling.
Hewitt had meddled with nothing he would do no more till he was satisfied of the bonâ fides of his client; certainly he would not commit himself to breaking open desks or cupboards. And so, the time for my attendance at the office approaching I was working on the Morning Ph[oe]nix then, and ten at night saw my work begin we shut Denson's office, and went away.
Hewitt had meddled with nothing he would do no more till he was satisfied of the bonâ fides of his client; certainly he would not commit himself to breaking open desks or cupboards. And so, the time for my attendance at the office approaching I was working on the Morning Ph[oe]nix then, and ten at night saw my work begin we shut Denson's office, and went away.
III
In the morning I was awakened by an impatient knocking at my bedroom
door. Going to bed at two or three I was naturally a late riser, and
this was about nine. I scrambled sleepily out of bed, and turned the
key. Hewitt was standing in my sitting-room, with a newspaper in his
hand.
"Sorry to break your morning sleep, Brett," he said, "but something
interesting has happened in regard to that business you helped me with
yesterday, and you may like to know. Crawl back into bed if you like."
But I was already in my dressing-gown, and groping for my clothes. "No,
no, come in and tell me," I said. "What is it?"
Hewitt sat on the bed. "I'll tell you in due order," he said. "First, I
saw Samuel again last night after you had gone away. You remember I
went back to my office; I had a letter or two to write which I had set
aside in the afternoon. Well, I wrote the letters, shut up, and went
downstairs. I opened the outer door, and there was Samuel, in the act
of ringing the housekeeper's bell. He said he was very anxious, and
couldn't sleep without coming to hear if I had made any progress; he had
called before, but I was out. I half thought of taking him back to my
office, but decided that it wasn't worth while. So I walked along to the
corner of the Strand, till I got him well under the lights. Then I
stopped and talked to him. 'You ask about the progress in your case, Mr.
Samuel,' I said. 'Now, I have sometimes met people who seem to consider
me a sort of prophet, seer, or diviner. As a matter of fact, I am
nothing but a professional investigator, and even if I were possessed of
such an amazing genius as I lay no claim to, I could never succeed in a
case, nor even make progress in it, if my client started me with false
information, or only told me half the truth. More, when I find that such
is the state of affairs, and that if I am to succeed I must begin by
investigating my client before I proceed with his case, I throw that
case up on the instant invariably. Do you understand that? Now I must
tell you that I have made no progress with your case, none; for that
very reason.'"
"He protested, of course, vowed he had told me the simple truth, and so
forth. I replied by asking him certain definite questions. First, I
asked him whose the diamonds were. He repeated that they were his own.
To that I simply replied, 'Good evening, Mr. Samuel,' and turned away.
He came after me beseechingly, and prevaricated. He said something about
another party having an interest, but the matter being confidential. To
that I responded by asking him with whom he had communicated before
sending for me, and who was the person in the brougham which he had
twice entered. That flabbergasted him. He said that he couldn't answer
those questions without bringing other parties into the matter, to which
I answered that it was just those other parties that I meant to know
about, if I were to move a step in the matter. At this he got into a sad
state imploring, actually imploring, me not to desert him. He said he
should do something desperate something terrible that night if I
didn't relieve his mind, and undertake the case. What he meant he'd do I
didn't know, of course, but it didn't move me. I said finally that I
would deal only with principals, and that until I had the personal
instructions of the actual owner of the diamonds, in addition to a
complete explanation of the brougham incident, I should do nothing, and
I recommended him to go to the police; and with that I left him."
"And you got nothing more from him than that ?"
"Nothing more; but it was something, you see. He admitted, to all
intents, that the diamonds were not his own. And now see here. I suppose
I left him about ten o'clock. Here is a paragraph in one of this
morning's newspapers. It is only in the one paper; the matter seems to
have occurred rather late for press."
Hewitt gave me the paper in his hand, pointing to the following
paragraph:
"Horrible Discovery. A shocking discovery was made just before
midnight last night, near the York column, where a police-constable
found the dead body of a man lying on the stone steps. The body,
which was fully clothed in the ordinary dress of a labouring man,
bore plain marks of strangulation, and it was evident that a brutal
murder had been committed. A singular circumstance was the presence
of a curious reddish mark upon the forehead, at first taken for a
wound, but soon discovered to be a mark apparently drawn or
impressed on the skin. At the time of going to press, no arrest had
been made, and so far the affair appears a mystery."
"Well," I said, "this certainly seems curious, especially in the matter
of the mark on the forehead. But what has it all to do "
"To do with Samuel and his diamonds, you mean ? I'll tell you. That dead
man is Denson !"
"Denson ?" I exclaimed. "Denson ? How ?"
"I get it from the housekeeper next door. It seems that when the police
came to examine the body they found, among other things money and a
watch, and the like a piece of an addressed envelope, used to hold a
few pins the pins stuck in and the paper rolled up, you know. There was
just enough of it to guess the address by that of the office next door;
and it was the only clue they had. So they came along here at once and
knocked up the housekeeper. He went with them and instantly recognised
Denson, disguised in labourer's clothes, but Denson, he says,
unmistakably."
"And the mark on the forehead ?"
"That is very odd. It is an outlined triangle, rather less than an inch
along each side. It is quite red, he says, and seems to be done in a
greasy, sticky sort of ink or colour."
"Was anything found the diamonds ?"
"No. He says there was money, two or three five pound notes, I believe,
some small change, a watch, keys and so forth; but there's not a word
of diamonds."
I paused in my dressing. "Does that mean that the murderer has got
them ?" I asked. Hewitt pursed his lips and shook his head. "It may
mean that," he said, "but does it look altogether like it when
five-pound notes are left ? On the other hand, there is the disguise; the
only reason that we know of for that would be that he was bolting with
the diamonds. But the really puzzling thing is the mark on the forehead.
Why that ? Of course, the picturesque and romantic thing to suppose is
that it is the mark of some criminal club or society. But criminal
associations, such as exist, don't do silly things like that. When
criminals rob and murder, they don't go leaving their tracks behind them
purposely they leave nothing that could possibly draw attention to them
if they can help it; also, they don't leave five-pound notes. But I'm
off to have a look at that mark. Inspector Plummer is in charge of the
case you remember Plummer, don't you, in the Stanway Cameo case, and
two or three others ? Well, Plummer is an old friend of mine, and not
only am I interested in this matter myself, but now that it becomes a
case of murder, I must tell the police all I know, merely as a loyal
citizen. I've an idea they will want to ask our friend Mr. Samuel some
very serious questions."
"Will you go now ?"
"Yes, I must waste no more time. You get your breakfast and look out for
me, or for a message."
Hewitt was off to Vine Street, and I devoted myself to my toilet and my
breakfast, vastly mystified by this tragic turn in a matter already
puzzling enough.
It was not a messenger, but Hewitt himself, who came back in less than an hour. "Come," he said, "Plummer is below, and we are going next door, to Denson's office. I've an idea that we may get at something at last. The police are after Samuel hot-foot. They think he should be made sure of in any case without delay; and I must say they have some reason, on the face of it."
It was not a messenger, but Hewitt himself, who came back in less than an hour. "Come," he said, "Plummer is below, and we are going next door, to Denson's office. I've an idea that we may get at something at last. The police are after Samuel hot-foot. They think he should be made sure of in any case without delay; and I must say they have some reason, on the face of it."
We joined Plummer at once I have already spoken of Plummer in my
accounts of several of Hewitt's cases in which I met him and we all
turned into the office next door. There we found a very frightened and
bewildered office boy, whom Denson had given a holiday yesterday, after
sending him down to Samuel. He had come to his work as usual, only to
meet the housekeeper's tale of the murder of his master and the end of
his business prospects. He had little or no information to impart. He
had only been employed for a month or six weeks, and during that time
his work had been practically nothing.
Plummer nodded at this information, and sniffed comprehensively at the
office furniture. "I know this sort o' stuff," he said. "This is the way
they fit up long firm offices and such. This place was taken for the
job, that's plain, by one or both of 'em."
The boy's address was taken, and he was given a final holiday, and asked
to send up the housekeeper as he went out. Plummer passed Hewitt a bunch
of keys.
The housekeeper entered. "Now, Hutt," said Martin Hewitt, "you were
saying yesterday, I think, that the main front door was the only
entrance and exit for this building ?"
"That's so, sir the only one as anybody can use, except me."
"Oh ! then there is another, then ?"
"Well, not exactly to say an entrance, sir. There's a small private door
at the back into the court behind, but that's only opened to take in
coals and such, and I always have the key. This house isn't like yours,
sir; you have no back way into the court as we have. It's a convenience,
sometimes."
"Ah, I've no doubt. Do you happen to have the key with you ?"
"It's on the bunch hanging up in my box, sir. Shall I fetch it ?"
"I should like to see it, if you will."
The housekeeper disappeared, and presently returned with a large bunch
of keys.
"This is the one, Mr. Hewitt," he explained, lifting it from among the
rest.
Hewitt examined it closely, and then placed beside it one from the bunch
Plummer had given him. "It seems you're not the only person who ever had
a key exactly like that, Hutt," he said. "See here this was found in
Mr. Denson's pocket."
Plummer nodded sagaciously. "All in the plant," he said. "See it's
brand new; clean as a new pin, and file marks still on it."
"Take us to this back door, Hutt," Hewitt pursued. "We'll try this key.
Is there a back staircase ?"
There was a small back staircase, leading to the coal cellars, and
only used by servants. Down this we all went, and on a lower landing we
stopped before a small door. Hewitt slipped the key in the lock and
turned it. The door opened easily, and there before us was the little
courtyard which I think I have mentioned in one of my other
narratives the courtyard with a narrow passage leading into the next
street.
Martin Hewitt seemed singularly excited. "See there," he said, "that is
how Denson left the building without passing the housekeeper's box! And
now I'm going to make another shot. See here. This key on Denson's bunch
attracted my attention because of its noticeable newness compared with
most of the others. Most of the others, I say, because there is one
other just as bright see ! This small one. Now, Hutt, do you happen to
have a key like that also ?"
Hutt turned the key over in his hand and glanced from it to his own
bunch.
"Why, yes, sir !" he said presently. "Yes, sir ! It's the same as the key of the fire-hose cupboards !"
"Why, yes, sir !" he said presently. "Yes, sir ! It's the same as the key of the fire-hose cupboards !"
"Does that key fit them all ? How many firehose cupboards are there ?"
"Two on each floor, sir, one at each end, just against the mains. And
one key fits the lot."
"Show us the nearest to this door."
A short, narrow passage led to the main ground-floor corridor, where a
cupboard lettered "Fire Hose" stood next the main and its fittings. "We
have to keep the hose cupboards locked," the housekeeper explained
apologetically, "'cause o' mischievous boys in the offices."
This key fitted as well as the other. A long coil of brown leather hose
hung within, and in a corner lay a piece of chamois leather evidently
used for polishing the brass fittings. This Hewitt pulled aside, and
there beneath it lay another and cleaner piece of chamois leather,
neatly folded and tied round with cord. Hewitt snatched it up. He
unfastened the cord; he unrolled the leather, which was sewn into a sort
of bag or satchel; and when at last he spread wide the mouth of this
satchel, light seemed to spring from out of it, for there lay a
glittering heap of brilliants !
"What !" cried Plummer, who first got his speech. "Diamonds ! Samuel's
diamonds !"
"Diamonds, at any rate," replied Hewitt, "whether Samuel's or somebody
else's. But they can't have been there long. How often is this cupboard
opened ?"
"Every Saturday reg'lar, sir," replied the housekeeper; "just to dust it
out and see things is right."
"Now, see here !" said Martin Hewitt, "I've had luck in my conjectures as
yet, and I'll try again. Here is what I believe has happened. Every word
that Samuel told me about the theft of those diamonds was true, except
as to their ownership. Denson has planned all along to rob him of as
big a collection of diamonds as he could prompt him to get together,
and he has played up to this for months. His smaller dealings one way
and another were ground bait. Very artfully he let Samuel take the
diamonds safely away once, in order that he should be less watchful and
less suspicious the second time. This second time he does the trick
exactly as we see. He hangs up the imaginary American's hat, he escapes
by the fanlight, and he goes out by the back way to avoid the
housekeeper's observation. He has arranged beforehand for this, too. He
has seized an opportunity when the housekeeper has been out of his box
to get wax impressions of these two keys, and he has made copies of
them. And here we come on a curious thing. It is easy enough to
understand why he should foresee and get himself a key for the back
door, in order to make his escape. But why the key of the hose-cupboard ?
Why, indeed, should he leave the diamonds behind him at all ? It is plain
that he meant to come back for them probably at night. He would have
been wholly free from observation in that quiet courtyard, and he could
let himself in, get the diamonds, and leave again without exciting the
smallest alarm or suspicion. But why take all the trouble ? Why not stick
to the plunder from the beginning ? The plain inference is that he
feared somebody or something. He feared being stopped and searched, or
he feared being waylaid sometime during yesterday. By whom ? There's
the puzzle, and I can't see the bottom of it, I confess. If I could,
perhaps I might know something of last night's murder.
"As to Samuel's prevarications, there is only one explanation that will
fit, now that the rest is made clear. He must have been entrusted with
these diamonds by a private owner, for sale secretly. Some lady of
conspicuous position in difficulties, probably, perhaps unknown to her
husband. Such things occur every day. A common expedient is to sell the
stones and have good paste substituted, in the same settings. Samuel
would be just the man to carry through a transaction of that sort. That
would account for everything. The jewels are en suite, cut, but
unset taken from a set of jewellery, and paste substituted. Samuel
arranges it all for the lady, finds a customer Denson, who treats him
exactly as he has told us. When he realises the loss Samuel doesn't know
what to do. He mustn't call the police, being bound to secrecy on the
lady's behalf. He sends her a hasty message, and remains keeping watch
by Denson's office. She hurries to him with all possible secrecy,
keeping her carriage blinds down; he dashes into the brougham to
describe the disaster, taking his case with him in his frantic desire to
explain things fully. The lady fears publicity, and won't hear of the
police she instructs him to consult me: and consequently, of course,
when I recommend communicating with the police he won't listen to the
suggestion. Samuel has arranged with the lady to hurry off and report
progress as soon as he has consulted me, and this he does, the lady
having appointed Manchester Square for the interview. Perhaps she hints
some suspicion of Samuel's honesty, rather natural, perhaps, in the
circumstances. That terrifies him more than ever, and leads to his
frantic appeals to me when I throw the case up. Come, there's my guess
at the facts of the case, and I'll back it with twopence and a bit more.
Eh, Plummer ?"
"I don't take your bet," answered Plummer. "The thing's plain enough;
except the murder. There's something deeper there."
Hewitt became grave. "That's true," he said, "and something I can see no
way into, as yet. But come, you take this parcel of diamonds, as
representing the law. And here comes one of your men, I think."
We had been approaching the front door during this talk, and now a
police constable appeared, and saluted Plummer. "Samuel's just been
brought in, sir," he reported. "He's half dead with fright, and he's
sent a message to Lady H in P. Square; and he says he wants Mr.
Martin Hewitt to come and speak for him."
"Poor Samuel !" Hewitt commented. "Come, we'll go and make him happy.
Here are the diamonds, and, those safely accounted for, there's no
evidence to connect him with the murder. We'll get him out of the mess
as soon as possible."
And so they did. Hewitt's reading of the case was correct to a tittle,
as it turned out, and with very little delay Samuel was released. But
with the message from the police station, the fat was in the fire as
regarded Lady H.
Her husband necessarily became acquainted with everything, and there was serious domestic trouble.
Her husband necessarily became acquainted with everything, and there was serious domestic trouble.
Samuel was glad enough to get quit of the business with no worse than a
bad fright, as may well be supposed. He showed himself most grateful to
Hewitt in after times, giving him excellent confidential advice and
information more than once in matters connected with the diamond trade.
He is still in business, I believe, in a much larger way, and I have no
doubt he is the wiser for his experience, and for the lesson which
Hewitt did not forget to rub well in: that it is useless and worse to
place a confidential matter in the hands of a man of Hewitt's
profession, and at the same time withhold particulars of the case,
however unessential they may appear to be.
But meantime, on the way to Vine Street I asked Hewitt what led him to suppose that the new key on Denson's bunch fitted a lock in that particular office building.
But meantime, on the way to Vine Street I asked Hewitt what led him to suppose that the new key on Denson's bunch fitted a lock in that particular office building.
"Call it a lucky guess, if you like," Hewitt answered; "but as a matter
of fact it was prompted by pure common sense. Plummer showed me the
things found on the body, and I saw at once that the keys offered the
only chance of immediate information. I went through them one by one.
There was his latchkey the key with which he had gone into his lodgings
to fetch away the disguise. There was another largish key, equally
old probably the key of his office door. There were other smaller keys,
also old plainly belonging to bags and trunks and drawers and so forth.
And then there was the large, perfectly new key. What was that ? It was
not the key of any bag or drawer, clearly it was the key of a door, a
door with a lever lock. What door ? Had Denson some other office ? Perhaps
he had, but first it was best to begin by trying it on places we were
already acquainted with. At once I thought of Denson's disappearance
unobserved by the housekeeper. Could this be the key of some private
exit from the office building ? I resolved to test that conjecture first,
and it turned out to be the right one. Being successful so far, of
course I turned to the other new key and tried that, as you saw."
"But what of that triangular mark on the man's forehead ?"
Martin Hewitt became deeply thoughtful. "That," he said, "is a matter
wholly beyond me at present, as indeed is the whole business of the
murder. Whether we shall ever know more I can't guess, but the matter is
deep, deep and difficult and dark. As to the mark itself, that seems to
have been impressed from an engraved stamp of some sort. It is a plain
equilateral triangle in red outline, measuring about an inch on each
side. It is in a greasy, sticky sort of red ink, which may be smeared,
but is very difficult, if not impossible, to rub away. What it means I
can't at present conjecture. I have told you my reasons for not thinking
it the sign of any gang of criminals. But whose sign is it ? Surely not
that of some selfconstituted punisher of crime ? For such a person, with
no risk to himself, could have handed Denson over to the police, if he
knew of his offence. Can he have been murdered by an accomplice ? But he
used no accomplice; if one thing is plain in all that story of the
stolen diamonds it is that Denson did the thing wholly by himself.
Besides, an accomplice would have taken the keys and have gone and
secured the diamonds for himself; else why the murder at all ? But no
keys were taken, nothing was taken, as far as we can tell. And why was
the body placed in that conspicuous position ? It is pretty certain that
the crime cannot have happened where the body was found somebody must
have heard or seen a struggle in such a place as that. As it is, I
should say, the body was probably brought quietly to the spot in a cab,
or some such conveyance.
"But mystery envelops this crime everywhere. So far as I can see, there
is no clue whatever beyond the Red Triangle, which, as yet, I cannot
understand.
The strangling points to the murder being committed by a powerful man, certainly, and it is a form of crime that may have been perpetrated silently.
But beyond that I can see nothing. The apparent motivelessness of the thing makes the mystery all the darker, and the circumstances we are acquainted with, instead of helping us, seem to complicate the puzzle.
The strangling points to the murder being committed by a powerful man, certainly, and it is a form of crime that may have been perpetrated silently.
But beyond that I can see nothing. The apparent motivelessness of the thing makes the mystery all the darker, and the circumstances we are acquainted with, instead of helping us, seem to complicate the puzzle.
"What was it that Denson feared when he left those diamonds behind him,
when he might have carried them away? And why should he fear it in
daytime and not at night, since it would seem plain that he meant to
have returned for the stones at night ? Where did he go to disguise
himself yesterday we know it was not in his lodgings and where has he
left the clothes he discarded ?"
All these doubts and mysteries were destined to be cleared up, in more
or less degree; but it was not till Hewitt and I had witnessed other
singular adventures that the answer came to the problem, the real
meaning of the Red Triangle was made apparent, and its connection with
the theft of Samuel's diamonds grew clear. For indeed the connection
proved in the end to be very intimate indeed. Once, a little later, we
were allowed to see a shade farther into the mystery, as I shall tell in
the proper place; but even then the real secret remained hidden from us
till the appointed end.
So ended the case of Samuel's diamonds, so far as concerned Samuel
himself and the owner; but the case of the Red Triangle had only begun.