Barry Pain

“ He would have tried a surprise entry through the window, calculating on frightening the detective into silence with a revolver or overpowering him before he could call or get at the bell- push. And it would not have answered. I fear he would have made, as he said, a swinging job of it. Personally I hate violence; I hate bloodshed. If diamonds could be obtained only by such means I would leave them alone and take something else. ”

“ The action of a drug depends to some extent on the idiosyncrasy of the person who takes it. With my friend the action was slow, but it came at last. His pipe fell to the floor with a crash and he sprang to his feet. He had actually been to sleep! He was still drowsy. If he had been wise he would have rung the bell at once.
I now crouched low under the ledge of the window, for I knew what would happen. The steel shutter flew up and the man thrust his head out. The cold night air, he thought, would dispel his sleepiness. ”

“ Things were not going well. How- ever, I looked about the place and found an empty cottage standing by itself some distance from the village. It struck me that this would be an ideal spot in which to effect my disguise. The next afternoon I entered that cottage as Constantine Dix, a gentleman from London, interested in geology and on the search for specimens. That was the description I had given of myself at the hotel. The small bag that I carried contained all that I wanted in the way of a disguise. ”

“ The other detective had entered to take his comrade's place the moment after I had left.
I got out of the lane at once into a field. On these occasions it is always supposed that the burglar will be obliging enough to confine himself strictly to streets or roads or other places patrolled by the police. This is not always the case. I got back to my motor in safety, put my diamonds, roughly tied up in a couple of handkerchiefs, under one of the seats and started off. As soon as I was in the road I got on to my third speed at once, and after that I felt perfectly secure. ”

“ I left the hotel at about ten and drove my car easily along in the direction of Withycomb, which is perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five miles from Norwich. The country about here is not very populous and the inhabitants go to bed early. I felt quite secure in running my motor into a field and leaving it hidden behind a couple of stacks. Prom this point I went on foot to Ditton Field, taking with me the apparatus which I have already described.
I could see from the lane that the steel shutter of the window of the billiard-room was not quite closed ”

“ I happen by chance to be tall and broad and of considerable muscular strength. A man like Ikey has a great admiration for that, says so plainly and turns me sick; I feel as if I were being treated as a prize beast. ”

“ Friends have pleaded with me not to waste my efforts and others have ridiculed me, but I have stuck to my man and, after repeated failures, have brought him to a new life. There lies my spiritual triumph ”

“ Then, to my great relief, the. window was shut and the steel shutter, operated from the inside, came slowly down. I went back to my hotel with the comfortable feeling of a man who, after encountering difficulty and disappointment, at last sees his way clear.
The ascent to my bedroom was not easy, but I managed it without noise or mishap of any kind. Before I went to sleep I reviewed the situation. The billiard-room was left in charge of a detective all night. Once at least in the course of the night he opened the window and renewed the air in the room. ”

“ He attempted to make the journey back to London without a ticket in a goods truck, and, owing to a miscalculation on his part, was sent fifty miles in the opposite direction before he had a chance to escape. He has always spoken to me with some bitterness of his Ditton Field experiences. ”

“ The risk is quite out of proportion to the profit. If I get a few hundred pounds' worth of diamonds I am content. In this business, as on the Stock Exchange and elsewhere, people lose money through opening their mouths too wide. ”