Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1907 — Martin Hewitt, Investigator. [ARTICLE]

Martin Hewitt, Investigator.

Ghe Stan way Cameo Mystery.

By ARTHUR. MORRISON.

Published by Arrangement With Harper * Brothers.

They returned to the room. On the wall Jost beneath the trapdoor a very dusty old tall hat hung on a peg. This Hewitt took down and examined very closely, smearing his fingers with the dust from the inside lining. “Is this one of your valuable and crusted old antiques?” he asked, with a smile, of Mr. Claridge. "That’s only an old hat that I used to keep here for use in bad weather,” Mr. Claridge said, with some surprise at the question. "I haven’t touched it for a yeay or more.” “Oh, then it couldn’t have been left here by your last night’s visitor," Hewitt replied, carelessly replacing it on the hook. “You left here at 8 last night, I think.” “Eight exactly or within a minute or two.” “Just so. I think I’ll look at the room on the opposite side of the landing If you'll let me.” ••Certainly If you'd like to,” Claridge replied, “but they haven’t been there. It is only a lumber room.” A ::r . rber of partly broken up packing cases. littered about this room, with ir .ch other rubbish, ; Hewitt took the I'd one of the newest looking packin;' cases and glanced at the address label. Then he turned to a rusty old Iron box that stood against a wall. “I should like to see behind this,” he said, tugging at it with his hands. “It is heavy and dirty. Is there a small crowbar about the house or some similar lever?” Mr. Claridge shook his head. “Haven’t ■uch a thing in the place,” he said. “Never mind,” Hewitt replied. “Another time will do to shift that old box, and perhaps, after all, there’s little reason for moving it I will just walk round to the police station, I think, and speak to the constables who were on duty opposite during the night. I think, Lord Stanway, I have seen all that is necessary here.” - As they reached the front shop a fiery faced old gentleman bounced in at the street door, stumbling over an umbrella that stood in a dark corner and kicking it three yards away. "What the deuce do you mean,” be roared at Mr. Claridge, “by sending these police people smelling about my rooms and asking questions of my servants? What do you mean, sir, by treating me as a thief? Can’t a gentleman come Into this place to look at an article without being suspected of stealing it when It disappears through your wretched carelessness? I’ll ask my solicitor, sir, If there Isn’t a remedy for this sort of thing. And if I catch another of your spy fellows on my staircase or crawling about my roof I’ll—l’ll shoot him!” "Really, Mr. Woollett,” began Mr. Claridge, somewhat abashed, but the angry old man would hear nothing and bounced into the street again. "Mr. Woollett Is annoyed,” Hewitt observed, with a smile. “I’m afraid Plummer has a clumsy assistant somewhere.”

Mr. Claridge said nothing, butdooked lather glum, for Mr. Woollett was a most excellent customer. Lord Stanway and Hewitt walked ■lowly down the street, Hewitt staring at the pavement in profound thought. Once or twice Lord Stanway glanced at his face, but refrained from disturbing him. Presently, however, be observed: “You seem, at least, Mr. Hewitt, to have noticed something that has set you thinking. Does it look like a clew?” Hewitt came out of his cogitation at once. “A clew?" he said. “The case bristles with clews. But it Is decidedly a very remarkable one." “Remarkable in what particular ■way?" "In regard to motive. Now, it would seem, as Plummer was saying to me Just now on the roof, that there were only two possible motives for such a robbery. Either the man who took all this trouble and risk to break into Clarldge’s place must have desired to ■ell the cameo at a good price or he must have desired to keep it for himself, being a lover of such things. But neither of these has been the actual motive.”

“Perhaps he thinks he can extort a good sum from me by way of ransom?’’ “No, It Isn’t that Nor Is It jealousy, nor spite, nor anything of that kind. I know the motive, I think—but I wish we could get hold of Hahn. I will shut myself up alone and turn It over In my mind for half an hour presently.” "Meanwhile, what I want to know is, apart from all your professional subtleties—which I confess fr can’t understand—can you get back the cameo?” “That” said Hewitt, stopping at the corner of the street “I am rather afraid I cannot—nor anybody else. But I am pretty sure I know the thief.” “Then surely that will lead you to the cameo?” “It may, of course, but then It Is just possible that by this evening you may not want to have It back after all.” Lord Stanway stared in amazement. “Not want to have it back!” he exclaimed. “Why, of course I shall want to have It back.” "I think, Lord Stanway,” Hewitt •aid, “that perhaps I had better not ■ay until I have quite finished my Inquiries. I have very little fear of a aniftake, bowevei. and-1 hope I may

waff'on'you sh a few - hours at Piccadilly with news. I have only to see the policemen.” "Certainly, coms whenever you please. But‘why see the; policemen? They have already most positively stated that they saw nothing whatever suspicious in the house or near It.” "I shall not ask them anything at all about the house,” Hewitt responded. "1 shall just have a little chat with them—about the weather.” In rather more than an hour Hewftt was back in Mr. Claridge’s shop. "Mr. Claridge,” he said, “I think I must ask you one or two questions in private. May I see you in your own room ?” They went there at once, and Hewitt, pulling a chair before the window, sat down with his back to the light. The dealer shut the door and sat opposite him, with the light full in his face. "Mr. Claridge,” Hewitt proceeded slowly, “when did you first find that Lord Stanway’s cameo was a forgery?” Claridge literally bounced in his chair. His face paled, but be managed to stammer sharply: “What—what—what d’you meah? Forgery? Do you mean to say I sell forgeries? Forgery? It wasn’t a forgery!” "Then,” continued Hewitt in the same deliberate tone, watching the other’s face the while, "if it wasn’t a forgery, why did you destroy it and burst your trapdoor and desk to imitate a burglary?” The sweat stood thick on the dealer's face, and he gasped, but he struggled bard to keep his faculties together and ejaculated hoarsely: “Destroy it? What -what--I didn’t—didn’t destroy it!” "Threw it Into the river, then. Don’t prevaricate about details.” “No—no—it’s a lie. Who says that? Go away! You’re insulting me!” Claridge almost screamed. "Come, come, Mr. Claridge,” Hewitt said more placably, for he hap gained his point. “Don’t distress yourself, and don’t attempt to deceive me—you can’t, I assure you. I know everything you did before you left here last night —everything.” Claridge’s face worked painfully. Once or twice he appeared to be on the point of returning an indignant reply, but hesitated and finally broke down altogether. “Don’t expose me, Mr. Hewitt!” be pleaded. “I beg you won’t expose me! I haven’t harmed a soul but myself. I've paid Lord Stanway every penny back, and I never knew the thing was a forgery till I began to clean it I’m an old man, Mr. Hewitt, and my professional reputation has been spotless till now. I beg you won’t expose me.” Hewitt’s voice softened. “Let us talk the affair over. Tell me about it” he said. “It was that swindler Hahn who deceived me in the beginning,” Claridge said. “I felt as sure as I possibly could feel that I had bought one of the finest, if not actually the finest, cameo known to exist. It was not until after it had come back from Lord StanWay’s, and I was cleaning it the evening before last that in course of my work It became apparent that the thing was nothing but a consummately clever forgery. It was made of three layers of molded glass, nothing more nor less, but the glass was treated in a way I had never before known of, and the surface had been cunningly worked on till it defied any ordinary examination.

"I was amazed and horrified. I put the thing away and went home. All that night I lay awake in a state of distraction, quite unable to decide what to do. To let the cameo go out of my possession was impossible. Sooner or later the forgety would be discovered. and my reputation, the growth of nearly fifty years of honest application and good judgment, would be gone forever. But without considering this there was the fact that I had taken £5,000 of Lord Stanway’s money for a mere piece of glass, and that money I must, in mere common honesty as well as for my own sake, return. But how? Even if I confided in Lord Stanway privately, returned bls money and destroyed the cameo, what then? The sudden disappearance of an article so famous would excite remark at once. It had been presented to the British museum, and if It never appeared in that collection and no news were to be got of It, people would guess at the truth at once. “What could I do? Every expedient seemed useless but one—the one I adopted. It was not straightforward, I admit; but, oh, Mr. Hewitt, consider the temptation—and remember that It couldn’t do a soql any harm! No matter who might be suspected, I knew there could not possibly be evidence to make them suffer. More I needn’t tell you. You know it. I have only now to beg that you will use your best influence with Lord Stanway to save me from public derision and exposure. I will do anything—pay anything—anything but exposure at my age and with my position.” “Well, you see,” Hewitt replied thoughtfully, “I’ve no doubt Lord Stanway will show you every consideration, and certainly I will do what I can to save you in the circumstances; though you must remember that you have done some harm you have caused suspicions to rest on at least one honest man. But as to reputation, I’ve a professional reputation of my own. If I help to conceal your professional failure, I shall appear to have failed In my part of the business.” “But the cases are different, Mr. Hewitt. Consider. You are not expected—lt would be impossible—tn succeed Invariably, and there are only two or three who know you have looked into the case. Then, your other conspicuous successes”— “Well, well, we shall see. One thing I don’t kno\fi though—whether you climbed out of a window to break logetuthe trapdaorjir whether xqu gpr

up through 'the ffapilbbr TEsel? and pulled, the bolt with a string through the Jamb, so as to bolt it after you.” "There was no available window; 1 used the string, as you say. My poor 'little cunning must seem very transparent to you, I fear. How, to begin with, could you possibly know that Ithe cameo was a forgery? Did yon 'ever see It?" "Never. And if I had seen it I fear ri should never have been able to express an opinion on it; I’m not a connoisseur. As a matter of fact, I didn't know that the thing was a forgery In the first place; what I knew in the first place was that It was you who [had broken Into the house. It was {from that that I arrived at the conclusion, after a certain amount of thought, that the cameo must have been forged. Gain was out of the question. You, beyond all men, could never sell the Stanway cameo again, and, besides, 'you had paid back Lord Stanway’s money. I knew enough of your reputation to know that you would never incur the scandal of a great theft at ,your place for the sake of getting the cameo for yourself, when you might have kept It in the beginning with no trouble and mystery. Consequently I ihad to look for another motive, and at (first another motive seemed an impossibility. Why should you wish to take all this trouble to lose £5,000? You had nothing to gain; perhaps you had Something to save—your professlorfal reputation, for Instance. Looking at it so, It was plain that you were suppressing the cameo—burking it—since once taken, as you bad tyken It, It could never come to light again. That suggested the solution of mystery at once—you had discovered after the sale that the cameo was not genuine.” “Yes, yes, I see. But you say you began with the knowledge that I brbke ;into the place myself. How did you iknow that? I cannot imagine a trace”— "My dear sir, you left traces everywhere- In the first place, It struck me as curious before I came here that you had sent off that check for £5,000 ito Lord Stanway an hour or so after the robbery was discovered. It looked iso much as though you were sure of the cameo never coming back and were in a hurry to avert suspicion. “When I came here I saw suspicious indications in many directions, but the conclusive piece of evidence was that old hat hanging below the trapdoor.” ' “But I never touched it. I assure You, Mr. Hewitt, I never touched the |hat—haven’t touched it for months”— I “Of course. If you had touched It, I might never have got the clew. But we’ll deal with the hat presently. That wasn’t what struck me at first. The trapdoor first took my attention. now: Here was a trapdoor imost Insecurely hung on external hinges. The burglar had a screwdriver, for he took off the door lock below with it. Why, then, didn’t he take this trap off by the hinges instead of making a noise and taking longer time and trouble to burst the bolt from its fastenings? And why, if he were a stranger, was he able to plant his Jimmy from the outside just opposite the interior bolt? There was only one mark on the frame, and that precisely in the proper place. “After that I saw the leather case. It had not been thrown Away or some corner would have shown signs of the ,fall. It had been put down carefully where It was found. These things, were of small Importance compared with the hat. The hat, as you know, was exceedingly thick with dust, the accumulation of months. But on the top side, presented toward the trapdoor, were a score or so of raindrop marks. That was all. They iwere new marks, for there was no dust over them. They had merely had time to dry and cake the dust they had fallen on. Now, there had been no rain since a sharp shower just after 7 o’clock last night, as the police told ,me. At that time you, by your own .statement, .were in the place. You left at 8, and the rain was all over at ten minutes or a quarter past 7. The trapdoor, you also told me. had not been opened for months. The thing was plain. You or somebody who was here when you were had opened that trapdoor during or just before that shower.

“The only other evidence there was pointed with all the rest. There were (no rain marks on the leather case. It lhad been put on the roof as an afterithought when there was no rain. I also saw In the lumber room a number of ,packing cases—one with a label dated two days back—which had been openled with an iron lever, and yet when I |made an excuse to ask for it you said (there was no such thing in the .place. Inference: You didn’t want me to compare It with the marks on the desks and doors. That Is all. I think. I am igolng now to Lord Stanway’s' If I (were you, I think I should apologize to (Mr. Woollett in some way.” ' Lord Stanway, who In the hour or two of reflection left him after parting with Hewitt had come to the belief that he had employed a man whose blind was not always in order, receive*l Hewitt’s story with natural asitonlslnneil. For some time he was in (doubt as to whether he would be doing right In acquiescing In anything but a ;Btraightf>_>rward public statement of : the facts connected with the disappear- ■ ance of the cameo,* but in the end was ( persuaded to let the affair drop on re- > celving an assurance from Mr, Woollett that he unreservedly accepted the apology offered him £y Mr. Claridge. As for the latter, be was at least sufficiently punished In loss of money i and personal humiliation for his es-; ■ .capade. But the bitterest and last blow bp sustained when the unblushing Hahn walked smilingly into ids .office two days later to demand the (extra payment agreed on in consideraj ftlon of the sale. And the unhappy l I Claridge was obliged to pay it, know--I®< -that the mqa-had. swindled. him,

hut tfiiaßle to open fils mouth to say so. The reward remained on offer for a long time—lndeed, it was never publicly withdrawn, I believe, even at the time of Claridge’s death. And several intelligent newspapers enlarged upon the fact that an ordteary burglar had completely baffled and defeated the boasted acumen of Mr. Martin Hfewltt, the well known private detective. [Concluded] ,