Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1891 — A LOST JEWEL MYSTERY. [ARTICLE]

A LOST JEWEL MYSTERY.

James Blayne was a little out ot temper. For more than a fortnight he had unsuccessfully devoted all the opportunity at his comm and, to discover the whereabouts of Jiady Merton’s jewels, and of the man or woman who had stolen them. James Blayne was a promising young member of the detective force, on the lookout for the lucky-step- that should lift him above the level of his compeers, and when the Merton robbery was intrusted to his care he thought he had got his chance at last. It certainly was rather an interesting case. ■< < •• • •- i About three weeks before the day on which We record Mr. Blayne’s loss of temper, pretty Lady Merton, as might have been gathered subsequently from the newspaper reports, was spending a solitary evening in her house in Brock street. Sir Robert was dining with an old friend some little way out of town, and, not returning till the morning, my lady had intended going to the play with some friends. Bnt late in the afternoon she altered her plaus, dis-

patched a note begging to be excused on account of a severe headache from joining the party, and with a curious feminine idea of comfort and indulgence, told her maid that she would not go down stairs again, hut would have some dinner “on a tiay” in her boudoir at 7:30. At 10 o’clock she rang her bedroom bell, and saying that her head still ached badly and she should go bed, dismissed her maid, requiring nothing more that night. Be ore leaving the maid asked if she should go to the jeweler’s the next morning early, as had been arranged, to take there for repair a diamond brooch of her mistress. “Yes,” adding as her maid opened the jewel case to take out the brooch, “Oh. leave it till the morning.” The box.was relocked and the key put in its usual place in one of the dressing-table drawers. The butler stated that at 10:30 the house was shut up and every one went to bed. The next morning Lady Merton, finding her headache no better, kept her room darkened till after 10 o’clock, when some tea was brought to her by her maid. The latter then went to the jewel-case for the broken brooch, and finding the box unlocked with the key lying near it hastily opened it and cried out the robbery to her mistress. This was the story that in twenty-four hours was known to most newspaper readers in the country, and this was the story that about three weeks later was trying James Blayne's temper. Again and again he reviewed the few heads of the case. On July 25 Lady Merton went to bed between 10 and I0:30p. m. The jewels were then in their places, and she, seeing the box opened, told her maid not to disturb them till morning. The maid locked the box, replaced the key in a drawer, and shortly went to her own room, fastening the door—this last fact being attested by the housemaids, who slept in an outer room. The butler swore to turning out the lights and “shutting” up at 10:30. Lady Merton slept little and restlessly tiil 12:30, when she got np and stirred the fire—this fact attested bv the cook, who slept in an outer room above and was aroused by the sound of the poker. At 10 o’clock the next morning the jewels were missing, and the jewel-cam stood in the dressing-room within, and only approactiable through Lady Merton’s bed-room. from without, Blayne •rejected after due examination as an impossibility. From within, by a man, well-nigh impossible, owiug to the position of the jewel-case and to Lady Merton’s restless state during the night It seemed a case of cherchez ia femme, and Blayne had sought ceaselessly; among the women of the house, of doifrse, though here also the great difficulty of crossing Lady Merton’s bedroom unperceived by her was with him more strongly in their favor than their excellent characters from their employers. The ladv’s maid seemed his only chance, as, of course, she was fully : acquainted with-the situation in all its •eases; and her footfall, which he proved-to be light which, of course. Lady Merton was accustomed, would distui b her less than any of any other visitors. Bnt the lady, while suggesting no other solution of the problem, rejected this la't theory with some indignation, declaring that she had the utmost confidence in her maid, and that she had; scarcely closed her eyes before midnight, after which hour the housemaid pronounced it an impossi-

bility for the lady's maid to have crossed their room unnoticed. So Mr. Blayne was a little out of temper with his lagging luck, and he decided to get two or three days’ leave, and then, having rented his riddle a bit, to start afresh at reading it Thus he found himself on the afternoon of Aug. 13—his request for leave of absence having been granted—talking to a pretty, neat-looking girl in a small semi-detuched villa on the outskirts of the new and fashionable watering place, Stonelav. “So you’ve been getting on pretty well, eh, Nellie?” he asked. “Oh, yes, Jem, very. The air here seems to be quite Betting me up, so I fancy I bad been working a bit too bard, though I always said it was mother’s nonsense. It’s true it's rather dull here, but then I often go into Stonelay and have a look at the smart visitors; so even if Aunt Sarah is snappy at times I don’t mind. She’s kind enough, really." "She couldn’t have got any one ebe to bring her fiere, so she ought to be. I bet the beastly water pats an edge on a temper like her! Yes, I expect it’s prettr dull alone with her. Poor Nelly!” “Oh, I don’t mind; and we’ve got a new neighbor.” “Old Mrs. what’s name —you told me of, gone?” “No. She’s got a new lodger—aman —good looking, rather. She brought him in one day to tea, and we meet him now and then on the road. But he doesn’t go out much. ” “Oh, biding on some account, is he?" asked Jem rather snappishly of the pretty dressmaker. “Nonsense, Jem, he isn’t hiding. He is drinking the waters, he says, and he has a very pretty sister.” “ Sister ? Then they both lodge next door?” “No. She comes to see him. She is a lady’s maid staying at Stonelay. The husband of the lady she is with is drinking the waters.” “Ughl lady’s maid?” said Blayne spitelully, thinking of his recent trials, with which his fiance was acquainted. “Really, Jem, I believe your failing to fix the stealing business on the poor lady’s maid has made you hate the lot. And, talking of your jewel affair, I find while you lose " “How do you mean?” “ Why, yesterday I found such a lovey button on tbe path just outside here. It was sparkling in the sun and I picked it up and brought it in. I went in to old Mrs. Brown to ask Mr. Martin (her lodger) if he knew anything about it; but he was away for two days, she told me, coming back to-night. Auntie says I’ll have to make it known, perhaps advertiso it if no one claims it, for this morning I showed it to Mr. Frazer, the jeweler at Stonelay, and he said it was a very good button, and uncommon, as the stones are beryls.”

“What!” “Dear me! berylp, Are they as ex traordinary as all that?” “That depends. Show us the button. Nellie?” “Here it is,” she said, taking it from the mantle shelf. “Twelve gold filigree buttons jeweled with beryls," Blayne murmured to himself. “I should like to see your neighbor, Nellie, and his sister, the lady’s maid.” “Why, Jem, you don’t think—oh, I remember now, that description yon sent me of the lost jewels! But this can’t be. She is such a dear little thing, and so pretty.” “Yes; what sort?” “Oh, middle height, dark hair, pretty eyes, nice figure " “That’ll do, Nellie. It would fit almost any one. I say, who’s that coming up the path to the house now?” “Why, that’s Mr. Martin,” said Nellie, as Blayne instinctively got behind the muslin window curtain, from which post of vantage he could easily see without being seen. “He’s good-look-ing, isn’t he, Jem? Looks like a gentleman, rather?” “Ye-es, just that last. I think Iv’e got his measure.” “And oh, therein his sister just behind him —see ? Now. that’s not your lady’s maid, is it ?” “That!”exclaimed Blayne, with eyes nearly starting through the lace of the curtains. “Is that your lady’s maid and that man’s—sister?”

“Yes,” answered Nellie, as her neighbor and his sister, nodding and smiling to her, entered the next house. “Does she stay the night there?” inqnired Blayne. “Oh, no, nothing more than an hour. Her lady couldn’t spare her. But what is the matter with you, Jem, laughing in jerks like that?” “Ob, nothing. I say, Nellie, is there a visitor’s list in the paper here ?” “Yes; but Jem—now that wasn’t your lady’s maid, was it? “No, dear; now—the paper.” Blayne wandered steadily on through the list of “fashionable visitors” till he came to “Victoria hotel. Sir Robert atm Lady Merton.” Then he folded up the paper, saying: “Well, Nellie, I’ll go into Stonelay with you to-morrow morning to have a look at the fashions. Here is Aunt Sarah coming to see after us,” as that respectable lady entered the room. “And there goes Mr. Martin’s visitor,” said Nellie as a woman hastily closed the door of the next house and hurried away. “She must be late.” “Rather,” said Blayne. The next day the detective and his intended walked into Stonelay and after a few minutes’ private conversation with the manager of the Victoria he astonished Nellie by insisting on buying her different trash in all' the shops that commanded a view of the hotel. At length, on his offering her a pink glass mug decorated with the ! legend “In Affectionate Remembrance,” in forget-me-nots. she. began protesting- . “All right, dear, we’ll take it to Aunt Sarah,” he said, with his eyes fixed on a gentleman who was mounting a horse that a groom had been leading up aud down in the front of the hotel. As soon as the eject of his attention had ridden out of sight Blayne said to his companion: "Do you minu walking on home, Nellie? I have a little business at tbe Victoria which I must tee to at once:

then rn come oa after yon with the ” “Jewelry ?” “Yes, and the mug.” Blayne walked iuto the hotel and sent a written message to Lady Merton, asking if she would cee him at that somewhat early hour, as he had to catch the next train to town. He was shown into a sittiug-room where a very pretty woman in a soft morning wrapper was lying on the sofa reading tbe paper. She rose as he came in, and he thought of the lady's maid whose description would “fit almost any one.” “Well, Mr. Blayne,” she said, with a smile, “yon came about tbe jewels, of course ?” “Yea, my lady, I do.” “There is no news, I suppose?” “Your ladyship will be plea-od to hear that there is news.” “Ah!” she exclaimed, starting;“what —what news ?” “A small, very small portion of your jewelry is in my hands.” “Indeed!” said Lady Merton more calmly. “Are you sure it is mine?” “I think, my lady, that beryl buttons, such as yours,” pausing to note her pallor, “are extremely rare.” “Ah! and ” “And this button that I hold in my hand”—he showed it to me as he spoke—“was found in a small semi-de-tached villa at some little distance from this town during the absence of—the thief.” He watched the blood, rush to her face, her brow, and, thoughtfully looking elsewhere, said: “The rest of your jewels, my lady, must be recovered by me or by—you.” “Really,” she stammered, “I—l don’t see “I beg your pardon, my lady, but we waste time. I know that in a case of this sort my instructions would be to avoid the chance of scandal and I look to you to help me with this, for your own sake. You must return to that bouse this morning with me.” “I can’t! I can’t” she gasped, clinging to the side of the sofa. “My lady, you must!” answered the detective, “if you go with me I shall find only the jewels, but if I go alone I must find the. thief. Nov. will you come and recover your property, or shall I discover ” Thanks to the exertions of that able officer, James Blayne, Lady Merton is an exception to many less fortunate ladies in having recovered her jewels, “never again,” she declares, “to lose them.” And the detective, now steadily advancing in his profession, nevei forgets that anxious aud trying fortnight, during which he gave too little consideration to latchkeys and headaches.—London World.