Datasets:
DarqueDante
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test2

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
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"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to
your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who
may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
"I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart,
and that the two may have planned the robbery."
"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the banker
impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the coronet
in his hands?"
"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this
girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
presume?"
"Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I met
her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
"Do you know him?"
"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round.
His name is Francis Prosper."
"He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to say,
farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
"Yes, he did."
"And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive black
eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you know
that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes' thin,
eager face.
"I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall
probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I
had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the
large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This he
opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his
powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," said he at
last.
The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber,
with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Holmes went to
the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
"Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
"That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the
lumber-room."
"Have you it here?"
"That is it on the dressing-table."
Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
"It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did not
wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must have a
look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem he laid it
upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the jeweller's art,
and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I have ever seen. At
one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, where a corner holding
three gems had been torn away.
"Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which corresponds
to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I beg that you
will break it off."
The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," said
he.
"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but without
result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though I am
exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my time to
break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do you think
would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would be a noise
like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this happened within a
few yards of your bed and that you heard nothing of it?"
"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Miss
Holder?"
"I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
"Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
"He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
"Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary luck
during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault if we do
not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your permission, Mr.
Holder, I shall now continue my investigations outside."