Valentine Williams

“ As she turned the corner into the corridor, she paused and looked back.
Head bowed, the man stood as she had left him, a solitary, rather pitiable figure, motionless in the yellow pool of light shed by the ancient lantern.
III.
The real latent force of tragedy is the unusual. When man, born searching for happiness, finds sorrow and disappointment in its stead, it is the shock of the unexpected which really takes him out of himself. The organized monotony of Henry Tibbutts' existence had been absolutely shattered that day by a series of upsetting occurrences. ”

“ That is why I have asked you to trust me; that is why I have asked you to take my word that I did not take the emeralds and to press me no further as to my reasons for being in Studd-Bennett's room. In a little while, I promise you, you shall know the whole truth!”
Henry Tibbutts shook his head firmly. He was a fanatic about convention. Like all fanatics he had an uncommonly large share of obstinacy.
“What you ask is impossible,” he replied briskly. “You can't expect me to stand by and see my host's confidence abused, his guests robbed, and maybe an innocent person arrested. ”

“ Warm, generous thoughts surged through his mind; he would give Merton a pound in the morning; perhaps he had been a bit severe—and certainly nobody cleaned brown shoes as Merton did!
Henry suddenly felt hungry. The prospect of dinner invigorated him. Pleasurably he recalled memories of Ankerville's Pichon Longueville. Even his fellow guests assumed a more agreeable aspect in his sight.
Then Jennie Branksome appeared at the head of the oaken staircase, and Henry Tibbutts ceased, for the moment, to be a greedy and spoiled bachelor and became a very lovesick man. ”

“ But Henry devoted himself exclusively to Jennie and glared furiously when, from time to time, the judge on her other side interposed with a remark.
“How did you know I was here?” Henry asked her.
“My intelligence system is very complete,” Jennie Branksome replied with serious air but laughing eyes. “I am sorry to learn that you are so afflicted by Mr. Merton's shortcomings. He is, I understand, a thoroughly stupid fellow who knows no more about packing a man's bag than a Solomon Islander. ”

“ Henry's bedroom was situated on a short end of corridor which ran off a broader and altogether larger corridor known as the long gallery, from one extremity of which the main staircase descended to the lounge hall. Only four of the guests, as Henry knew, had rooms off Henry's corridor: to wit, Jennie Branksome, the Studd-Bennetts, and himself. Mr. Studd-Bennett's dressing room was opposite Henry's, for, only half an hour earlier, Henry had bidden him good night at the door. Mrs. Studd-Bennett's room, alongside her husband's, was opposite Jennie Branksome's. ”

“ The colonel brought him a cocktail and began to talk about the emeralds at once,
“It appears they are a famous set,” he said. “And they look devilish well on that little lady's neck, don't you think? Nice people, what?”
“Oh, quite,” answered Henry, stifling an inclination to yawn. Instead he sipped his cocktail.
“Who are they?”
“Anita”—this was Mrs. Ankerville—“and I met them at Monte Carlo. They are Australians, and very wealthy. He has large metal or mining interests in Australia—I forget just which it is. This is the first time he has been over since the war. Hang it!” ”

“ You've still got time to put those emeralds back before the police come. If you like to give them to me, I'll find some means of restoring them.”
He eyed her narrowly. The girl stared back at him, a puzzled look in her clear, gray eyes. A flush spread slowly over her face.
“Do you mean to say you think I took Mrs. Studd-Bennett's necklace?” she demanded.
Henry stopped her with a gesture.
“We've no time to lose,” he said, “so don't let us waste any!”
She bit her lip and turned away. The movement softened the man. ”

“ She won't trust anybody else with it. And I don't like the responsibility. I've a bad habit of losing things!”
Susan Lady Stormbridge, a formidable dowager with a scraggy neck, intervened. Mrs. Ankerville wanted her to see the Mohamet Ali emeralds. Sir George Boldering, the judge, followed. Pretty Mrs. Studd-Bennett's gems were obviously destined to be the central topic of conversation over the week-end. Henry drifted away rather despondently. The Studd-Bennetts struck him as being quite ordinary people, and he had a horror of being bored. ”

“ And all the time he was conscious of a little stab of pain, keen enough to assert itself through the wrapping of self-righteous indignation in which he sought to envelop himself. He told himself that he had been blind, that the girl was worthless. ”

“ Studd-Bennett's father bought them at the Mohamet Ali auction in Vienna. By the way, let me introduce you!”
And the pretty blonde allowed the colonel to clasp the collar round her shapely white throat and gave Harry a small warm hand. She was a fluffy little thing with large appealing eyes. Her chic was flawless.
“I'd like you to know my husband,” she said, and a clean-shaven, heavily built man with a square, rather grim jaw and a shock of iron-gray hair shuffled forward.
“Your emeralds are wonderful,” said Henry to the lady. “They must be extremely valuable. ”