Part 36 (2/2)
”The deuce you say!”
”That's right, Colonel. I heard him telling King about it. Larch is going to pay his wife a visit--going to call on her at her father's place in Pompey. And he's going to take her out a present. I believe that's the usual thing after a quarrel.”
”Possibly,” admitted the colonel. ”Oh, I wish I'd never mixed up in this! I'm sorry for young Darcy, and I believe-- Oh, well, what's the use of talking now! I'm in it and I must see it through. So Larch is going to visit his wife?”
”Yes. He's either sent her a present or is going to. I couldn't quite catch which.”
”What sort of present, Jack?”
”A diamond cross.”
”What?” and the colonel had suddenly to modulate his voice or he would have attracted more attention that he cared to. ”A diamond cross? Are you sure about that, Young?”
”Sure! Why not? I don't see anything queer there. He might buy her a diamond cross as a sort of forgiveness gift. Same idea Harry King had you know, but a little higher cla.s.s, that's all.
”You know, Colonel, these things are about alike. The man on Water Street gets drunk and brings his wife home a quart of oysters as a peace offering. The man on the boulevard does the same thing and patches up the break with a pearl pendant. It's all the same, only different.”
”Yes, I suppose so. I didn't know you were a philosopher, Jack.”
”I'm not. It's just common sense.”
”But a diamond cross! And if Larch is losing money--”
”Oh, well, he may have held out some, or maybe the diamond cross isn't so elaborate. You know they take a lot of little diamonds now, set 'em in a cl.u.s.ter and make 'em look as good as a solitaire. Anyhow Larch has been boasting to King that there's to be a diamond cross present.
And there's another angle to it.”
”What's that, Jack?”
”Well, there's been some talk between Larch and King about some big diamonds that have been sold of late. I couldn't catch whether King had sold them or Larch. Anyhow they brought quite a sum of money.
Maybe they were stolen from the jewelry stock.”
”Not unless Mrs. Darcy had some of which James Darcy knew nothing.”
”Well, I saw Larch at one time, and Harry King at another, have one of those white tissue paper packages that jewelers keep diamonds in. I didn't get a glimpse at the stones themselves. I had to be a bit cautious you know, and, even now, I think they're suspicious of me here. If it wasn't that King drinks so much, though he manages to walk and talk straight. I believe he'd try to pump me. Anyhow, I thought I'd better let you know what I'd heard.”
”Jack, I'm glad you did. So Larch has sent, or is going to send, his wife a diamond cross! Well, then, Grafton might be right about that after all. Gad! this thing is getting mixed up! Now, Jack--”
A waiter who knew the colonel, from the fact that the latter was a striking figure and had been in the Homestead more than once, approached the private room occupied by the detective and Jack Young and announced:
”Excuse me, Colonel, but you are wanted at the telephone.”
”All right. Where is it?”
”You can come right in here and have the call transferred from our central,” and the man opened the door of a small booth. The Homestead was honeycombed with private rooms, booths and telephones.
”Yes, this is Colonel Ashley,” announced the detective into the instrument, when his ident.i.ty had been questioned. ”Who are you? Oh, s.h.a.g! Yes, s.h.a.g, what is it? What's that--at the jewelry store you say? Well, will this never end? Yes, I'll go there at once!”
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