Geraldine Bonner

“ She was the kind of woman who hates to be unequal to any social emergency; and I am bound to confess, considering how unprepared she was, she held her own in this one with tact and spirit. She had the copious flow of small talk so many Americans seem to have at command, and it rippled fluently and untiringly on from the soup to the savoury. I added to the impression I had already made by alluding to various titled friends of mine, letting their names drop carelessly from my lips as the pearls and diamonds fell from the mouth of the virtuous princess.
Tom did well, too—excellently well. ”

“ As soon as things simmered down, Tom was to take the stones across to Holland, where they would be distributed. We threw away the settings, and put the diamonds in a small box of chamois skin that I pinned to my corset with a safety-pin.
That was the way things were—untroubled as a summer sea—till ten days after our return, when I began to get restive. I had had what they call in America “a strenuous time” at Burridge's, working like a slave all day, with not a soul to speak to but a parcel of ignorant servant women, and I wanted livening up. ”

“ How my heart leapt when I saw the old, grey, sooty walls looming up through the river haze—I thought it best to sneak in by the back way, because if I go up the front stairs and ring the bell there may be loiterers about who had seen Laura the Lady before, and might become impertinently curious about her future movements.
And then when I saw Tom waiting for me—my own Tom, that I lawfully married in a burst of affection three years ago, at Leamington—I shouted out greetings, and danced on the deck, and waved my handkerchief. ”

“ It was Lord Castlecourt's custom to go to Paris two or three times every year. He had a sister married there of whom he was very fond, and he and her husband would go off shooting boars to a place with a name I can't remember. My lady was always happy to go to Paris. She'd say she loved it, and the theatres, and the shops—though what she could see in it I never understood. A dirty, trashy city, and full of men ready to ogle an honest, Christian woman, as if she was what half the women look like that go prancing along the streets there. ”

“ Maud and Tom raised a clamour of disapproval.
What was the use of running risks? Did I think, because I'd been in Chicago for nearly a year, that I was forgotten? Did I think the men in Scotland Yard who knew me were all dead? Did I think the excitement of the Castlecourt robbery was over and done with? I yawned at them, and then told them, with a gentle smile, that they were a “pusillanimous pair.” There might be many men in Scotland Yard who knew me, and that, as they say in Chicago, “is all the good it would do them.” ”

“ I swept in, Tom on my heels. We came as fast as we could without actually falling in and dashing the servant aside, for the noise of our pursuer was loud in our ears, and we knew we were lost if we were seen entering. As Tom somewhat hastily shut the door, I was conscious of the expression of blank surprise on the face of the solemn butler. He did not say anything, but looked it. I slid out of my cloak, and handed it, languidly, to him. ”

“ After I had been in the hotel for a few days and watched the Castlecourt party, all apprehension left me, and I felt confident and cool. They were an extremely simple lot. Lady Castlecourt was a beauty—a seductive, smiling, white and gold person, without any sense at all. Her husband adored her. Being a man of some brains, that was what might have been expected. ”

“ Besides the marquis and his lady, there were a maid and a valet to be considered. The former was a worthy, dense woman named Sophy Jeffers, close on to forty, and of the unredeemed ugliness of the normal lady's maid. Such being the case, it was but natural to find that she was in love with Chawlmers, the valet, who was twenty-seven and good-looking.
Jeffers was too truthful to tamper with her own age, but she did not feel it necessary to keep up the same rigid standard when it came to Chawlmers. It was less of a lie to make him ten years older than herself ten years younger. ”

“ As if a valet and a lady's maid couldn't stop for a moment to talk! Poor things! we work hard enough most of the time, I'm sure.
And that we weren't long standing there idle can be seen from the fact that I heard half-past six strike. I was for urging Chawlmers to go then, as Lady Castlecourt might be in at any moment; but he hung about, following me into my lady's room, helping me draw the curtains and turn on all the lights, for my lady can't bear to dress by daylight. ”

“ I caught a vanishing glimpse of Handsome Harry leaning far forward to lash the horse as the hansom went bounding off into the fog. As we stood pressed against the door, Tom whispered:
“What the dickens is their name?”
“Kennedy,” I hissed at him—“Cassius P. Kennedy. Came originally from Necropolis City, Ohio; lived in Chicago as a clerk in the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage Company, and then was made manager of the London branch. Their weak point is Society. If any people are there, keep your mouth shut. Be dense and unresponsive.” ”

“ Lord Castlecourt didn't like going to the hotel at all. Chawlmers used to tell me how he'd talk sometimes. Chawlmers has been with my lord ten years, and was born on the estate of Castlecourt Marsh Manor. But my lord generally did what my lady wanted, and she was not at all partial to the country. She'd say to me—she was always full of her jokes:
“Yes, it's an excellent place, the country—an excellent place to get away from, Jeffers. And the further away you get, the more excellent it seems.”
My lady had been born in Ireland, and lived there till she was a woman grown. ”

“ Statement of Lily Bingham, known in England as Laura Bryce, in the United States as Frances Latimer, and to the police of both countries as Laura the Lady, besides having figured as a housemaid at Burridge's Hotel, London, under the alias of Sara Wight. I NEVER was so glad of anything in my life as to get out of that beastly hole, Chicago. I'll certainly never go back again unless there is an inducement big enough to compensate for the elevated railway, the lake, the noise, the winds, the restaurants, the climate, and the people. ”

“ I think my nerves had been shaken by that spectral pursuit in the fog. Anyway, I wasn't going to risk a second edition of it.
We sat over dinner a little longer than an hour. It was not yet ten when Mrs. Kennedy and I rose, and with a reminder to Tom that we were to “go to the opera,” I trailed off in advance of my hostess across the hall into the drawing-room.
Here we sat down by a little gilt table, and disposed ourselves to endure that dreary period when women have to put up with one another's society for ten minutes. It was my opportunity of getting rid of the diamonds, and I knew it. ”

“ When all was ready, Tom and I left for a “business” trip on the Continent. We went away in a four-wheeler, driven by Handsome Harry, the top piled with luggage, my face at the window smiling a last, cautioning good-bye to Maud. Five days later, under the name of Sara Wight, I was installed as housemaid on the third floor of Burridge's Hotel. ”

“ She looked down at her hands, and smiled a little and said:
“Yes, I suppose that's true, Miss Jeffers. I'll try to remember it. It's what every girl ought to feel, I'm sure.”
Sara Wight had the greatest admiration for Lady Castlecourt. She'd manage to be standing about in doorways and on the stairs when my lady passed down to go to dinner and to the opera. Then she'd come back and tell me how beautiful my lady was, and how she envied me being her maid. ”

“ That evening my lady was going to dinner at the Duke of Duxbury's. It was to be a great dinner—a prince and a Prime Minister, and I don't know what else be sides. My lady was to wear a new gown from Paris and the diamonds. She told me when she went out what she would want and when she would be back. ”

“ The leather case of the diamonds stood on the dressing table, not twenty feet from the door. It did not take five minutes to enter, open the case, take the necklace, and leave. Jeffers heard me. She was in the room almost as I closed the door. Before she could have got into the hall I was in the broom-closet hunting for a dust-pan. But she evidently suspected nothing, for the door did not open and there was no indication of disturbance.
Two days later Tom and I returned from our “business trip” to the Continent. I quite prided myself on the way our luggage was labelled. ”

“ I have tried to put down as clearly and as simply as possible. I have gone over them so often, and been forced to be so careful that I think they will be found to be quite correct in every particular. ”

“ It's about the disappearance of the diamonds that I'm to tell, and I'm ready to do it to the best of my ability.
We were up in London, at Burridge's Hotel, for the season. Lord Castlecourt's town house at Grosvenor Gate was let to some rich Americans, and for two years now we had stayed at Burridge's. It was the 3rd of April when we came to town—my lord, my lady, Chawlmers (my lord's man) , and myself. The children had been sent to my lord's aunt, Lady Mary Cranbury. ”

“ Cassius P. Kennedy, the American who received a surprise visit from “Major and Mrs. Thatcher,” and Mr. Gilsey, the detective, will tell what they knew of the robbery. These narratives will prove equally as fascinating as the foregoing. ”