“The thief was no chance one; he not only knew that your house
contained diamonds, but he knew where to find them and when. Either a
signal was given him when to enter or the diamonds were thrown into his
hand out of the window. Does my conviction coincide with yours?”
He smiled a grim smile and waived the question.
“And who do you think gave the signal or threw the diamonds? Do not be
afraid to speak names; the case is too serious for paltering.”
“Well,” said I, “I have been in the house but a few minutes and have
seen but three persons besides yourself. I had rather not mention any
one as the possible accomplice of so daring a crime till I have seen
and conversed with every one here. But there is a girl up-stairs——you
yourself called my attention to her——about whom I should like to ask a
question or two. I allude to Philippa, Mrs. Winchester’s companion.”
He turned an eye full of expectancy towards me.
“Do you like her? Have you confidence in her? Is she a person to be
trusted?” I inquired.
His glance grew quite bright, and he bowed with almost a gesture of
respect.
“You could not have a better witness,” he remarked.
The answer was so unexpected, I hastily dropped my eyes.
“She will talk, then, if I interrogate her?” said I.
It was now his turn to look disconcerted.
“Then you have not done so?” he asked.
“I have not had the opportunity,” I rejoined.
“Ah,” he exclaimed, “I see.” And with a look and manner hard to
describe, he added, “Mrs. Winchester naturally kept the girl quiet. I
might have expected that.”
Astonished at this new turn, I ventured to speak the thought suggested
by an admission so extraordinary.
“And why should Mrs. Winchester wish to suppress any evidence
calculated to lead to the discovery of a thief who had so heavily
robbed her?”
The gleam of satisfaction which for the last few moments had lighted up
the countenance of the gentleman before me, faded perceptibly.
“I see,” he observed, “that our opinions on this matter are less in
accord than I supposed. But,” he continued more heartily, “you have, as
you very justly remarked just now, been but a few minutes in the house,
and have not had full opportunity to learn the facts. I will wait till
you have talked with Philippa. Shall I call her here?”
“Do,” I urged; “she is below, I think, though possibly she may still
be in the rooms above;” and I explained how she had started away at my
approach, hiding herself in apartments to which I felt I had not the
right of access.
He frowned, and moved hastily toward the door, but paused half-way to
ask me another question.
“Before I go,” said he, “I should like to inquire what word of Mrs.
Winchester led you to the conclusion that the theft was committed by
some one in the house?”
“Wait,” cried I, “you are going too fast; I do not say the theft was
committed by some one in the house. I merely speak of an accomplice.”
“Who flung the diamonds out of the window——”
“Or merely gave the signal that they were accessible, and for the
moment unguarded.”
He waved his hand impatiently.
“Let us not waste time,” he exclaimed. “I want to know what Mrs.
Winchester said——”
“She said nothing,” I interrupted, for my haste was as great as his;
“that is, nothing beyond the necessary relation of the facts——”
“Which were——”
“That the jewels were lying open in their case on the bureau; that
you called her from below; and that she hastened to respond by her
presence; was gone five minutes or so, and, returning, found the window
open and the diamonds gone. As she had left the window shut, she
naturally sprang to it and looked out, in time to see two men hurrying
down the street. Surely these facts you know as well as I.”
“I was curious,” he replied. “So those are the facts you received, and
it is from them alone you gathered the conclusion you have stated?”
“No,” said I, “there was Philippa.”
“But she said nothing.”
“I know, but she did not need to speak. I heard her heart beat, if I
may so express myself, and from its beatings came the conviction I have
given you.”
Mr. Winchester bestowed upon me an approving smile.
“You are all I thought you,” was his comment. “Philippa’s heart did
beat, and with most unwonted emotions, too. Philippa saw the person who
relieved Mrs. Winchester of her jewels.”
“What!” I cried, “and you——”
He did not wait to hear the end of my remonstrance. “I say so,” he went
on, “because while Mrs. Winchester was here, and before she ascended, I
saw Philippa go up. She had just time to reach the head of the stairs,
when the person whose step I had already detected crossing the floor
above, gained the hall——”
“The hall?” I cried.
“Yes. Can it be you really allowed yourself to dream for a moment that
the thief who stole this small fortune came in by the window?”
“Mr. Winchester,” said I, “when I left the police station it was with
some doubt, I confess, as to whether this theft had been committed in
just the way the man who brought your note said it had been. But after
hearing what Mrs. Winchester had to say——”
“Mrs. Winchester’s account of this occurrence is not to be depended
upon,” he broke in calmly, but determinedly. “Shall I give you a fact
or two? The window which my wife declares she found open when she went
up-stairs was not raised while she was down here, but after her return,
for _I heard it_. The step which crossed the floor above us while we
were talking together here, went out, not by any window, but by the
door leading into the hall; so that——”
“Mr. Winchester,” I interrupted, “do you realize that if what you say
is true, the diamonds are probably still in your house?”
“Just where I think they are, Mr. Byrd; just where I think they are.”