I locked the door at once, put the key in my pocket, and then stood
with my back up against it, while Holmes stood in the center of the
room, facing the flushed and uncomfortable Tooter, who remained by the
window, with his left hand clutching the mysterious little package in
his pocket.
"Now then, Tooter, I've got the goods on you, both figuratively and
literally, so you might as well come across with it," urged Holmes. "I
don't want to resort to forcible methods unless I am compelled to."
"I'm sorry, Holmes. I'd like to oblige you, but if this gets out about
me carrying it around with me, I'm a goner."
"I guess you _will_ be a goner. The idea of a man of your standing
stooping to such a trick as that! You can't plead any lack of funds as
an excuse for your regrettable error, either, as you are known to be
well heeled."
"But think of the resulting notoriety, Holmes. I could never again be
received in the best circles of London society, and I'm sure the King
would cut me dead!"
"Well, I suppose it _would_ hurt your standing there, Tooter; but
you've got to take the consequences of your act. You're considerably
old enough to know what you're doing, you know. Come on, now, give it
up peaceably, or I'll forget myself and try jiu-jitsu on you."
But Uncle Tooter still refused to give up the little package, and
Holmes, losing his patience, walked over to him and grabbed his left
arm, while Tooter doggedly tried to wriggle out of his grasp. In a
moment, Holmes, by a quick turn of his wrist, had forced the little
package out of Tooter's hand, and it fell on the floor. Holmes
immediately pounced on it, picked it up, and started to open it, but
suddenly his jaw dropped, his face showed deep disappointment, and he
angrily confronted Tooter.
"Say, what in thunder are you trying to pull off here, anyhow? This is
a sample package of your confounded 'Tooter's Best Teas, Imported From
Ceylon.' It's not one of the diamond cuff-buttons at all!" he cried.
"Well, who said it was, you elongated chump?" shouted the aroused
Tooter. "I don't know anything about the Earl's cuff-buttons. You've
been hanging around here nearly two days now, and you haven't found
any yet; and then you have the nerve to steal my tea sample!"
"Why, I just recovered two of the cuff-buttons a little while ago, one
from Yensen, and one from Thorneycroft, and I supposed I was about to
get back the third one from you," replied Holmes in angry perplexity;
"you certainly talked as if you had one of the stolen gems there in
your hand. What did you mean by agreeing with me that it would
seriously hurt your social standing, when all you were trying to
conceal was a tea-packet, huh?"
"Because I'm not supposed to be 'in trade,' that's why, Mr. Impudence.
Any direct connection between myself and the tea industry, such as my
bringing in this sample package to Teresa, so she could induce Louis
the chef to use it in the castle, would at once bar me from further
consideration as a retired gentleman by the London upper crust, into
whose exclusive circles I have but recently wormed myself with such
untiring pertinacity. Now, do you understand why I didn't want to show
you the little package?"
Holmes scowled at the tea sample, as he turned it over in his hand,
and cursed softly under his breath as he replied:
"I don't quite get you, Tooter. Everybody knows that you were born in
obscurity, gradually worked your way up, and made all your money in
the tea and spice business, so why in the deuce should they care if
you take it into your head to be a salesman for your own teas at your
nephew-in-law's residence?"
Tooter sighed deeply, shrugged his shoulders, answered:
"Well, that's the rigorous lesson I had to learn in the West End,
Holmes. You are evidently not familiar with the customs and mental
viewpoint of society people, or you would know that while it is
permissible to acquire wealth by going out and working your head off
for it, it is a most serious offense and an unforgivable _faux pas_ if
you are caught trying to drum up trade for your establishment after
you have landed at the top of the social heap. You see, I am supposed
to let my managers do that, while I confine myself to spending the
coin that they make for me. I guess that's explaining it about as well
as it could be."
And Tooter contemplated the scene outside the window, where the little
green buds were just beginning to push themselves out on the tree
limbs.
This explanation naturally didn't soothe Holmes to any great extent,
as he had always despised society people and their ways, and the
sudden shock of the disappointment, coming just after he had so
successfully recovered the first two cuff-buttons, made him lose his
temper entirely, particularly as he looked around and noticed me
grinning at his sour expression. As a result, both his paternal
English and his maternal French completely failed him in giving an
outlet to his feelings, and he started to swear in German.
As the longer and heavier words of Teutonic profanity came from his
lips, I quietly unlocked the door, and motioning to Uncle Tooter, we
both tiptoed out of the room and started downstairs, leaving Holmes to
his devotions. As I went down the stairway toward the library the last
thing I heard him say was: "Schweinhund!" which sounds pretty bad.
Tooter and I walked in on the Earl and his secretary, and told them of
the bad break Holmes had just made, which caused the Earl to lie back
in his chair and roar, though Tooter was more concerned about the
social disgrace of having been caught with the tea sample.
The Earl was an easy-going and good-natured cuss, without the narrow
prejudices of his snobbish friends, and readily promised not to tell
anybody about it. He also simply grinned when Tooter told him that
Teresa had just promised to marry him, and said his revered
uncle-in-law would have to assume the job of telling his niece that
she would have to find a new maid.
In a few minutes Holmes rejoined us as if nothing had happened, and we
forbore from kidding him about it.
"Well, the next victim I am going to jump onto is your valet, Your
Lordship, and I think I'm going to strike pay dirt this time," were
his first words. "Where is the rascal now?"
"He's over in my room, sorting out my clothes," said the Earl.
"All right. Come on, Watson, we'll nail him before he gets away from
the scene of his crime."
Whereupon I accompanied Holmes across the corridor to the room back of
the drawing-room, which was the Earl's.
Luigi was in there, engaged in laying out several suits of clothes on
the bed. He looked up in surprise as we entered.
"Ah, Luigi, you haven't got any of the stolen cuff-buttons concealed
up your sleeve there, have you? I would really hate to think that you
had," remarked Holmes, grinning sardonically.
On hearing this thinly-veiled accusation Vermicelli's swarthy face got
even blacker, if possible, than it generally was, and he snarled:
"No. I'm sick of hearing about them!"
"I'm afraid we can't take your unsupported word for that, though,
Luigi. We'll have to frisk you. Now, then, stand still while Doc
Watson goes through your pockets for the gems, or at least for some
incriminating evidence."
And Hemlock pulled out his trusty six-shooter and covered the valet.
The latter got so scared at the sudden gun-play that he fell backward
on the bed, right over one of the Earl's best suits, which made it
easier for me to search him. I went through all his pockets without
finding anything that we were after until I tapped his inside
coat-pocket. Here I got hold of a small crumpled piece of paper, drew
it out and read the following on it:
DEAR LUIGI: Meet me at Wuxley's feed store in the village at
five p. m. to-day, and we'll go in to London and sell the
pair of diamond cuff-buttons. Be on your guard against that
Holmes fellow.
DEMETRIUS.
"Ha, ha! Ha, ha! a couple of times!" chuckled Holmes, grabbing the
note from me and eagerly glancing over it. "I can tell at once that
this note was written by a man who thinks he is going to meet the
Earl's valet, but who is bound to be disappointed."
"Well, will you let me go now? You've got the note," said Vermicelli,
with a scowl at Holmes's gun, with which the detective still covered
him.
"You don't think I'm so soft as all that, do you? Let you go now, and
thereby give you a chance to warn your Greek accomplice in the gardens
that I've got his note? Not so that you could notice it, Luigi,"
scoffed Holmes. "Up into your own room you go, behind lock and key,
until after five o'clock, while I quietly don your light green
clothes, and disguised as yourself, go down to the guilty rendezvous
at Brother Wuxley's feed store, and take the cuff-buttons away from
him. I'll have the cooks send you up something at noontime, so you
won't starve in the meanwhile. Now march."
And Holmes flourished his revolver at the valet again.
Luigi didn't wait to be told a second time, but went up the stairs
with considerable alacrity, while Holmes and I followed close behind.
When we reached the fifth and top floor, we entered Luigi's room
there, and the latter changed clothes with Holmes. As they were both
of the same height and build, and were both of dark complexion, the
second gardener would not recognize my partner that evening until he
got up close to him, so Holmes was playing it rather safe.
"I think I'll just keep these valet's togs on, for the fun of it, and
then I'll be all ready when five o'clock comes," said Holmes after we
had locked Luigi in his room and were descending the stairs. "Gee, but
I wish they'd put in an elevator in this darned old-fashioned castle!
My legs are getting kind of tired running up and down five flights of
stairs."
As we reentered the library, where the Earl, Tooter, and Thorneycroft
looked up with surprise as they saw Holmes come back in Vermicelli's
clothes, Lord Launcelot and Billie Hicks came in. They had been up in
the billiard room for some time, and came down to see whether anything
had developed in their absence. Upon being told that Holmes had
recovered two of the cuff-buttons from Yensen and Thorneycroft, and
was in a fair way to recover a third one from Xanthopoulos, they were
greatly surprised.
"We left Inspector Letstrayed asleep on one of the billiard tables,"
said Launcelot, with a grin; "but I guess Holmes was able to get along
pretty well without him. A little while ago I heard the first
gardener, Blumenroth, swearing something fierce on the second floor.
What was he doing up there, anyhow?"
"How do you know it was Blumenroth?" asked Holmes, as he nudged me.
"Because it was in German, and he's the only German here."
"Do you understand German yourself?"
"No."
"Then how do you know it was swearing?"
"Oh, I could tell by the tone of it."
"Well, if you couldn't understand the words, no harm was done. Say,
fellows, how do I look in the valet's togs?" asked Holmes turning
around as if he was in a tailor shop trying on a new suit.
"It fits you kind of quick under the shoulders, Holmes, but I guess it
will do," said the Earl, with a critical eye.
"What are you wearing those valet's clothes for, anyhow?" exclaimed
Hicks.
Holmes winked his crafty old wink, and replied:
"Along about five-thirty this evening you'll find out, after I return
from a little date I have made down at the village. It's twenty-five
minutes of ten now, and a number of things may happen in between, so
just keep your eyes peeled."
"This detective stuff is just one darned disguise after another, ain't
it, Holmes? A little while ago you were a race-track loafer, now
you're a valet, and Heaven only knows what you'll be to-morrow," said
Launcelot, as he curled up in the window-seat and lit a cigarette.
"Well, I don't mind it," was Holmes's reply. "Now, Watson, I'll
need you again. I've had my eye on a certain party since my
deduction-trance yesterday noon, and was waiting for her sense of
shame to impel her to confess her part in the cuff-button robbery;
but since she has not as yet done so, I shall be forced to resort
to sterner measures. Come with me, and leave these fellows to kill
time any way they like until we return."
And the old sleuth started to lead me out of the room.
"She, did you say? Is one of the women servants guilty also?" queried
the Earl.
"Well, why not?" snapped Holmes. "I don't believe in this doctrine of
feminine impeccability. But don't try to spill the beans by getting me
to reveal my hand before I've played it now. Good-by, George."
We left the room, going upstairs to the second floor, where Holmes
tapped lightly on the door of the Countess's room.