Part 38 (2/2)

Mrs. Engledew wished to have them reset. Knowing that Jacob Herapath had great taste and knowledge in that direction, she saw him at his office on the noon of November 12th, showed him the diamonds, and asked his advice.

Jacob Herapath--I am giving you Mrs. Engledew's account--told her to leave the diamonds with him, as he was going to see, that very day, an expert in that line, to whom he would show the stones with the idea of his giving him his opinion on what ought to be done with them. Mrs. Engledew handed him the diamonds in a small case, which he put in his pocket. I hope,”

added Burchill, turning to Mrs. Engledew, ”that I have given all this quite correctly?”

”Quite,” a.s.sented Mrs. Engledew. ”It is perfectly correct.”

”Then,” continued Burchill, ”we pa.s.s on to Mr. Dimambro. Mr. Luigi Dimambro is a dealer in precious stones, who resides in Genoa, but travels widely about Europe in pursuance of his business. Mr. Dimambro had had several dealings with Jacob Herapath during past years, but previous to November 12th last they had not met for something like twelve months. On their last previous meeting Jacob Herapath told Mr. Dimambro that he was collecting pearls of a certain sort and size--specimens of which he showed him--with a view to presenting his niece, Miss Wynne, with a necklace which was to be formed of them. He gave Dimambro a commission to collect such pearls for him. On November 11th last Dimambro arrived in London from the Continent, and wrote to Mr. Herapath to tell him of his arrival, and to notify him that he had brought with him some pearls of the sort he wanted. Mr.

Herapath thereupon made an appointment with Dimambro at the House of Commons on the evening of November 12th at half-past ten o'clock. Dimambro kept that appointment, showed Mr. Herapath the pearls which he had brought, sold them to him, and received from him, in payment for them, a cheque for three thousand guineas. This transaction being conducted, Mr. Herapath drew from his pocket (the same pocket in which he had already placed the pearls, which I understand, were wrapped up in a small bag or case of wash-leather) the diamonds which Mrs. Engledew had entrusted to him, showed them to Dimambro, and asked his opinion as to how they could best be reset. It is not material to this explanation to repeat what Dimambro said on that matter--suffice it to say that Dimambro gave an expert opinion, that Mr.

Herapath once more pocketed the diamonds, and soon afterwards left the House of Commons for his estate offices with both lots of valuable stones in his possession--some ten thousand pounds' worth in all. As for Dimambro, he went home to the hotel at which he was stopping--a little place called the Ravenna, in Soho, an Italian house--next morning, first thing, he cashed his cheque, and before noon he left for the Continent. He had not heard of the murder of Jacob Herapath when he left London, and he did not hear of it until next day. I think I have given Mr. Dimambro's account accurately--his account so far,” concluded Burchill, turning to the Italian. ”If not, he will correct me.”

”Quite right, quite right!” said Dimambro, who had listened eagerly. ”I do not hear of the murder, eh, until I am in Berlin--it is, yes, next day--day after I leave London--that I hear of it, you understand? I then see it in the newspaper--English news, eh?”

”Why did you not come back at once?” asked c.o.x-Raythwaite.

Dimambro spread out his hands.

”Oh, I have my business--very particular,” he said. ”Besides, it has nothing to do with me, eh? I don't see no--no connection between me and that--no! But in time, I do come back, and then--he tell you,” he broke off, pointing to Burchill. ”He tell you better, see?”

”I am taking everything in order,” said Burchill. ”And for the present I have done with Mr. Dimambro. Now I come to myself. I shall have to go into details about myself which I should not give if it were not for these exceptional circ.u.mstances. Mr. Davidge, I am sure, will understand me. Well, about myself--you will all remember that at both the coroner's inquest and at the proceedings before the magistrate at which Barthorpe Herapath was present and I--for reasons well known!--was not, there was mention made of a letter which I had written to Jacob Herapath and was subsequently found in Barthorpe's possession, on his arrest. That letter was taken to be a blackmailing letter--I don't know whether any of you will believe me, and I don't care whether you do or not, but I declare that it was not meant to be a letter of that sort, though its wording might set up that opinion. However, Jacob Herapath resented that letter, and on its receipt he wrote to me showing that it had greatly displeased him. Now, I did not want to displease Jacob Herapath, and on receipt of his letter, I determined to see him personally at once. Being, of course, thoroughly familiar with his habits, I knew that he generally left the House of Commons about a quarter past eleven, every night when the House was sitting. I accordingly walked down to Palace Yard, intending to accost him. I arrived at the entrance to the Hall soon after eleven. A few minutes later Mountain, the coachman, drove up with the coupe brougham. I remained within the shadow of the porch--there were other people about--several Members, and men who were with them. At a quarter past eleven Jacob Herapath came down the Hall, accompanied by Dimambro. I knew Dimambro, though I had not seen him for some time--I used to see him, very occasionally, during my secretarys.h.i.+p to Mr.

Herapath. When I saw these two in conversation, I drew back, and neither of them saw me. I did not want to accost Mr. Herapath in the presence of a second party. I watched him part from Dimambro, and I heard him tell Mountain to drive to the estate office. When both he and Dimambro had gone, I walked out into Parliament Square, and after thinking things over, I hailed a pa.s.sing taxi-cab, and told the driver to go to Kensington High Street, and to pull up by the Metropolitan Station.”

Burchill here paused--to give Davidge a peculiarly knowing look.

”Now I want you all--and particularly Mr. Davidge--to follow closely what I'm going to tell you,” he continued. ”I got out of the cab at the station in the High Street, dismissed it, walked a little way along the street, and then crossed over and made for the Herapath Flats--for the estate office entrance. I think you are all very well acquainted with that entrance. You know that it lies in a covered carriage way which leads from the side-street into the big quadrangle round which the flats are built. As I went up the side-street, on the opposite side, mind, to the entrance, I saw a man come out of the covered carriage way. That man I knew!”

Burchill made a dramatic pause, looking impressively around him amidst a dead silence.

”Knew!” he repeated, shaking his finger at the expectant faces. ”Knew well! But--I am not going to tell you his name at this moment. For the present we will call him Mr. X.”

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

DAVIDGE'S TRUMP CARD

Burchill paused for a moment, to give full effect to this dramatic announcement, which, to tell truth, certainly impressed every member of his audience but one. That one skilfully concealed his real feelings under a show of feigned interest.

”You never say!” exclaimed Davidge, dropping into a favourite colloquialism of his native county. ”Dear me, today! A man that you knew, Mr. Burchill, and that for the present you'll call Mr. X. You knew him well, then?”

”Better than I know you,” replied Burchill. He was beginning to be suspicious of Davidge's tone, and his resentment of it showed in his answer. ”Well enough to know him and not to mistake him, anyhow! And mind you, there was nothing surprising in his being there at that time of night--that's a point that you should bear in mind, Davidge--it's in your line, that. I knew so much of Jacob Herapath's methods and doings that it was quite a reasonable thing for this man to be coming out of the estate offices just before midnight.”

”Exactly, sir--I follow you,” said Davidge. ”Ah!--and what might this Mr. X. do then, Mr. Burchill?”

Burchill, who had addressed his remarks chiefly to the listeners on the other side of the table, and notably to c.o.x-Raythwaite, turned away from the detective and went on.

”This man--Mr. X,” he said, ”came quickly out of the door, turned down the side-street a little, then turned back, pa.s.sed the carriage-entrance, and went away up the street in the opposite direction. He turned on his own tracks so quickly that I was certain he had seen somebody coming whom he did not wish to meet. He----”

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