Geraldine Bonner

“ I BELIEVE it is not necessary for me to state how a chamois skin bag containing one hundred and sixty-two diamonds came into my hands on the evening of May 14th. That it did come into my hands was enough for me. I never before thought that the possession of diamonds could make a woman so perfectly miserable.
When I was a young girl in Necropolis City I used to think that to own a diamond—even one small one—would be just about the acme of human joy. ”

“ The heat had given me a headache, and after dinner I lay on the sofa in the sitting-room, feeling quite miserable. Only a few of the lamps were lit, and the house was dim and extremely quiet. Being alone that way in the half-dark got on my nerves, and I decided I'd go upstairs and get to bed early. I always did hate sitting about by myself, and now more than ever, with the diamonds on my conscience. ”

“ I was hurt, and also rather muddled, with all these different accounts—most of which I could not remember—and I made up my mind not to consult Herbert any more, as it only vexed him and made him cross to me, and that I cannot bear. All the world must love me.
If there is a servant-maid in the house who does not like me—and I can feel it in a minute if she doesn't—I must make her, or she must go away. But my husband, the best and finest man in the world, to have him annoyed with me and scolding me over stupid bills! ”

“ That makes a great difference. When a man has broken bread at your table as a respectable fellow creature, it's hard to get your mind round to despising him as a thief. I felt that the only thing to do was to graciously ignore it all, as you do when someone spills the claret on your best table-cloth. At the same time, there were the diamonds! I could not let the chance escape.
“Oh, Major Thatcher!” I said, with an air of suddenly remembering something. “I don't know whether you are aware that your wife left a little package here that evening when you dined with us. It was for Amelia.” ”

“ On one of my first trips to Paris a friend of mine had taken me to the office of a well-known dealer in precious and artificial stones who, without its being generally known, did a sort of pawnbroking business among the upper classes. My friend had gone there to pawn a pearl necklace, and had told me all about it—how much she had obtained on the necklace, and how she hoped to redeem it within the year, and how she was to have it copied in imitation pearls. The idea that came to me was to go to this place and pawn the Castlecourt diamonds, having them duplicated in paste. ”

“ I didn't know how extravagant I was till I married and Lord Castlecourt gave me six hundred pounds a year to dress on. It was a fortune to me. I'd never thought one woman could have so much.
The first two years of our married life I did not exceed it, because we lived most of the time in the country, and I was unused to it, and spent it slowly and carefully. I was still unaccustomed to it when, after my second boy was born, Herbert brought me to town for my first season since our marriage. ”

“ I had had no dealings with Bolkonsky before. A friend told me of the jacket, and took me there. It was a real opportunity. I knew the moment that I saw it that it was one of those chances with which one rarely meets. It fitted me like a charm, and I bought it for a thousand pounds. That miserable Bolkonsky told me the payments might be made in any way I liked and at any time. ”

“ You're as white as death!”
He came towards me, but I motioned him away and rose to my feet. I knew then that the hour had come, and though I expect I was very white, I did not feel so frightened as I had done in the past.
“Those are your diamonds, Herbert,” I said, quietly and distinctly, “or, perhaps, I ought to say those are the substitutes for them. Your diamonds are in Paris, at Barrière's, on the Rue Croix des Petits Champs.”
“Gladys,” he exclaimed, “what do you mean? What are you talking about? You look so white and strange! Sit down, darling, and tell me what you mean.” ”

“ I suppose I ought to have felt myself more guilty. But when one is relieved of a great weight, one's conscience is not so sensitive as it gets when there is really nothing to be sensitive about.
It was after I had grown accustomed to feeling free and unworried that I began to realise what I had done. I had stolen the diamonds. I was a thief! ”

“ I suppose there are fearless, upright people in the world who would have taken those diamonds straight back to the police-station and braved public opinion; It would have been better to have had your word doubted, to have been tried for a thief, put in gaol, and probably complicated the diplomatic relations between England and the United States, than to have concealed in your domicile one hundred and sixty-two precious stones that didn't belong to you. ”

“ But it has the one merit of being entirely truthful, and I have told everything—just how wicked I was, and just why I was so wicked. Nothing has been held back, and nothing has been set down falsely. It is an unprejudiced and accurate account of my share in the Castlecourt Diamond Case. ”

“ Now, in the jewel-box”—I indicated it, and spoke in what I hoped was a most insinuating tone—“there are some things that I think you'd like. If you'd just look at them——”
“You're the most persuasive lady,” said the burglar, “but——”
He moved again towards the window. A feeling of absolute anguish that he was going without the diamonds pierced me. I threw myself in front of him again, and in some way, I can't tell just how, caught the handkerchief that covered his face and pulled it down. There were the handsome visage and long moustache of Major Thatcher. ”

“ And the major replied, in his deepest voice, and with his most abrupt, military air:
“Ethel's very fit. Never was better in her life, thank you. Mr. Kennedy is quite well, I hope?”
“Cassius is enjoying the best of health,” I answered. “He's out to-night, I'm sorry to say.”
“Just fancy,” said Major Thatcher. Then there was a pause, and he added: “How tiresome!”
I could think of nothing more to say, and again we were silent. It was really the most uncomfortable position 1 ever was in. The major was a burglar beyond a doubt, but he looked and talked just like a gentleman. ”

“ We did insert one—“Will Amelia kindly publish her present address, and oblige Major and Mrs; Thatcher?”—which, after all, didn't involve us. And for two weeks we read the papers with beating, hopeful hearts, but there was no reply. I thought “Amelia” never saw it. Cassius thought there was no such person.
A month dragged itself away, and there we were with those horrible gems locked in my jewel-box. I began to look pale and miserable, and Cassius told me he thought the diamonds were becoming a “fixed idea” with me, and he'd have to take me away for a change. ”

“ When I got bills with things written across the bottom in red ink I paid part of them—never all. I never paid all of anything.
Once or twice tradesmen wrote me letters, saying they must have their money, and then I went to see them, and told them how kind it was of them to trust me, and how I would pay them everything soon, and they seemed quite pleased and satisfied. I always intended doing it ”

“ Kennedy, Americans with great social ambitions, passing ourselves off as Major and Mrs. Thatcher.
Towards the end of the evening I took the bag of diamonds out of my dress, and leaning towards Mrs. Kennedy, asked her to give it to a mythical Amelia. Mrs. Kennedy, who I could see was unwilling to acknowledge her ignorance of “Amelia,” acquiesced. I was most relieved to be quit of the jewels, though the connection of our gang with them did not end there.
■ ■ ■
Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy, manager of the London Branch of the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage Co. (Ltd.) ”

“ Several men looked at the diamonds, and I noticed that they looked at me and whispered together. Finally they told me they would give me four thousand pounds on them, at some interest—I've forgotten what it was—and that they would replace them with paste, so that only an expert could tell the difference. ”