"Come in," called the Countess.
We entered.
"Well, Mr. Holmes, to what am I indebted for the honor of this visit,
and for the privilege of seeing you rigged up in the valet's clothes?"
she asked,--a little coldly, I thought, as she motioned us to chairs,
and laid down the French novel she had been reading.
"Only to my desire for a little information relative to your noble
husband's cigars, Your Ladyship. It would greatly assist me in
clearing up the mystery of the robbery. Never mind the disguise. I've
worn worse," returned Holmes politely.
The Countess frowned.
"Why, have some of the Earl's cigars been stolen, too, as well as the
cuff-buttons?" she asked.
"No; but they have something to do with them, though. Now, when was
the last time that the Earl smoked a Pampango cigar, and where was he
at the time?"
"Those wretched things from the Philippines,--with the terrible odor?
He only smoked one this week, and that was Monday morning, just after
breakfast, in his room. I made Harrigan take the box of them away and
hide it, so he couldn't get any more."
"Ah," said Holmes, a smile gleaming on his eager face, "that was just
the time when some of the diamond cuff-buttons disappeared. Now, where
were you all during Monday morning?"
"Right here in my own room, of course, having Teresa arrange my hair.
I had breakfast served to me in here, and didn't go downstairs till
noontime."
"And when was the Earl's room swept out?" pursued Holmes.
"Really, Mr. Holmes, what funny questions you do ask!" said the
Countess, smiling. "The Earl's room was swept out about half-past
eleven that noon, as soon as I came down and ordered Natalie to do it,
after I saw the mess of cigar-ashes the Earl had left on the carpet."
"It's my business to ask funny questions, also to catch thieves, no
matter how highly placed in society they are," said Holmes, rising
from his chair. "Your Ladyship, you have now unwittingly given
yourself away entirely. You stole at least one of the cuff-buttons, I
am positive. Now, give it up before I publish it from the housetops."
And Holmes stood there, with arms folded, and regarded the Countess in
a very grim and determined manner, while I stood at one side, my mouth
open,--as usual.
The Countess turned white, then red, then pulled out her handkerchief
and began to weep, which was disconcerting to the relentless Holmes.
"To think that I should be insulted so by a perfect stranger in my own
home!" And the Countess wept some more. "What earthly connection is
there between your silly questions about the Earl's cigars and the
diamond-robbery, I should like to know?"
"Simply this," returned Holmes patiently, as the Countess wiped her
tear-stained face with her handkerchief; "with the aid of my powerful
microscope I was enabled to find that the specks of cigar-ashes
adhering to the soles of your shoes that you wore Monday, the ones
that I was compelled to take for evidence last night, and replaced in
your room this morning, were from a Pampango cigar; and as you told me
that the only time recently that the Earl smoked one of that brand was
Monday morning, in his room, and that his room was swept out Monday
noon, that proves conclusively that you were in his room during Monday
morning. The fact that you also claimed to have been up here in your
own room all during Monday morning shows that you had a strong motive
for concealing your presence in the Earl's room at the time some of
the cuff-buttons disappeared, which can only mean that you wished to
cover up your theft. Is that clear enough?"
"I suppose so," remarked the Countess listlessly, rising and going
over to her dresser at one side of the room, where she unlocked one of
the drawers, took out the cuff-button Holmes was after, and handed it
to him. "Here is your horrid old diamond cuff-button! I wish I had
never seen it. I am not the thief, anyhow. That miserable fellow from
Australia is the one that stole it, Billie Budd, and he gave it to me
to hide for him until he could dispose of it safely. I did it for a
joke on George, as I never did like the hideous glaring things, even
if they were a present from King George I to his ancestor. And that's
all I know about it,--so there! Budd only gave me one of the
cuff-buttons, and I don't know where the others are, and I can't say
that I care very much, either. Now are you finished with me?"
"Entirely so, Your Ladyship, except to inform you that since breakfast
this morning I have recovered two other cuff-buttons beside this one,
from Thorneycroft and Yensen, and they both gave me the same song and
dance that you did, about the wicked William Budd having been the
author of their downfall. He seems to have had a whole lot to do with
the robbery, and is also the man who assaulted your husband during
Monday night when he entered his room to steal the last pair of the
cuff-buttons, and was evidently frightened away before he could smouch
the one in his left cuff, having taken the one in his right cuff. I am
satisfied that you had nothing to do with the assault, but your action
in receiving the one stolen gem from Budd, and then striving to throw
the blame for it on your brother-in-law, Lord Launcelot, is
reprehensible enough. I shall see what the Earl has to say about it."
And in a moment Holmes, bowing suavely, motioned me to follow him out
of the room.
We came downstairs again, and Holmes tackled the Earl in the library.
"Well, Your Lordship, here's the third one of your bally
cuff-buttons," he began, as he handed it to him. "And the name of the
person who had it is----"
The voice grew inaudible to me as Holmes bent down and whispered the
name into the Earl's ears.
At the shock of the revelation the Earl slid down in his chair until
he seemed to be sitting on his shoulder-blades, feebly put one hand up
to his brow, and exclaimed:
"What? My wife? Good Heavens! I say there, Harrigan, you may pour me
out a glass of wine,--I mean a stiff bracer of brandy!"
In a moment the butler came running in with a bottle of the
fire-water, and poured out a glass of it for the Earl, who grabbed it,
and downed it at one gulp, then said:
"Now I feel somewhat restored, Holmes. Tell me how on earth you found
out that she took it."
My marvelous partner told the gaping quintette,--composed of the Earl,
Tooter, Thorneycroft, Launcelot, and Hicks,--how he had pried the
third cuff-button out of Her Ladyship, and when he had finished the
Earl rang for Donald MacTavish, the second footman, and sent him after
the Countess. In a few minutes, Scotty had bowed the mistress of the
castle into our presence, and she stood in the doorway, very cold and
reserved.
"Well, Annabelle, what have you got to say for yourself?" demanded the
Earl. "I've been robbed by my coachman, robbed by my secretary, and
now, by thunder, I've even been robbed by my wife! And Holmes says
that you claim that William X. Budd of Australia put you up to it! How
about it, eh?"
"Well, George, you know I never did like those diamond cuff-buttons,
and when Billie Budd came to me Monday morning with one of them, I
thought it would be a good chance to play a trick on you. I didn't
know that the others were going to be stolen too, and I thought you
would have enough left. You have any number of regular pearl
cuff-links, anyhow, that can be worn to society functions, and not as
if you were an end-man in a minstrel show, which is all that those
big, glaring diamond things are fit for! Mr. Holmes told me he had
replaced all the shoes that disappeared last night, as he took them
for the purpose of finding out where the stolen cuff-buttons were by
his peculiar hocus-pocus methods, so you can't accuse me of having
taken them too. I found _my_ pair of shoes in a corner of my room when
I returned there after breakfast. Now will you forgive me? Billie Budd
is gone, so I don't suppose there will be any further trouble," the
Countess concluded, gazing appealingly at her husband.
The others all looked up with surprise as she mentioned the return of
the shoes, and then turned their eyes toward Holmes with mixed
admiration and perplexity, while the Earl replied:
"Well, you may thank your lucky stars, Annabelle, that I am such an
easy-going fellow as I am known to be, or else high life in London
would be aroused by gossip of another divorce. I'll forgive you; but
don't let it happen again."
"All right, George, thank you; but I still think that Launcelot is
responsible for the disappearance of the other eight cuff-buttons."
With which Parthian shot, the Countess of Puddingham left the room.
"Still got it in for Brother Launcie, eh?" grinned Holmes, as the Earl
put the third gem in his vest-pocket. "Look here, I want to know the
reason for this prejudice on her part."
"Well, I don't mind telling you," returned the Earl with a smile, as
the accused Launcelot got very embarrassed. "My brother was greatly
opposed to my marrying Annabelle, for social reasons, because of her
proximity to the tea and spice business,--as I suppose you have become
aware,--so naturally after we were married she hasn't looked on him
with very much favor, to say the least. But _ich kebibble_," he added,
as he straightened up in his chair.
"We've got back three out of the lost eleven gems, anyhow, so we'll
all go down to the wine-cellar, and celebrate a little. Thorneycroft,
I guess we have all those bills audited for payment, and checks made
out for them, so I'll declare a holiday for you, and invite you down
to share the drinks, since you didn't steal the third gem. Come along,
gentlemen."
To which invitation we all responded by following the genial Earl down
the corridor, through the kitchen,--where Louis and Ivan were
quarreling about something or other, as usual,--and down the
cellar-stairs to that mysterious region where Harrigan the butler held
forth.