House in Charlton Crescent by Annie Haynes Read Free Book Online Page A

put them somewhere else,” Dorothy cried, while Margaret Balmaine looked on in horrified dismay.
    â€œPut them somewhere else, indeed,” Lady Anne said with a snort of contempt. “Are you a fool, child, or do you take me for one? I tell you, I put the pearls in there myself a month ago with all the usual precautions, and they have been taken away. Not by a burglar or a thief. No lock or spring has been broken. All have been unfastened and fastened again without any sign that a strange hand has touched them. Some one has learned the secret of the safe and used it, and has also got hold of my keys.”
    â€œDid absolutely no one know this secret but yourself, Lady Anne?” Bruce Cardyn questioned in an authoritative tone that made John Daventry look at him in surprise.
    â€œAbsolutely no one,” Lady Anne cried emphatically.
    â€œYour maid?”
    â€œKnows no more than anyone else,” Lady Anne answered, her eyes glancing from the detective to John Daventry, from him again to the group of girls in the doorway.
    â€œCarry your memory back, Lady Anne, and see if you can recall any incident, however slight, that might have given anyone an inkling of the secret spring,” Cardyn said again. “Sometimes a word is dropped that might be interpreted by some one on the look-out, or a letter—”
    â€œNeither written nor spoken word has been dropped by me,” Lady Anne declared with decision. “Still, I suppose there are burglars clever enough to set any precautions at naught.” And as she spoke her keen eyes were watching, searching all the faces around.
    â€œIt would be a clever burglar who found the pearls in their hiding-place without help, and took them away without leaving any trace,” Cardyn said quickly. “The other cases in the escritoire, Lady Anne. Have you looked whether their contents are safe?”
    â€œNo.” Lady Anne leaned forward and opened one. “This is all right. I expect they all are. There is nothing of any value there—there has been nothing but the pearls for some months. Fortunately I moved my diamonds and all my rings, except the one always wear some time ago, to the Bank—rings are out of place on crippled hands and knuckles swollen by arthritis. So they are all safe and the thieves have not had so big a haul as they expected.”
    â€œNevertheless, my dear aunt, in spite of that they have had a remarkably good haul in taking several thousand pounds’ worth of pearls.” John Daventry looked at Cardyn who was searching the hiding-place in the escritoire as though he thought the young man was taking too much upon himself. “Scotland Yard must be called in at once,” he went on. “It is quite useless for amateurs to make suggestions.”
    â€œQuite!” Lady Anne agreed in her clear, crisp tones. “Do not trouble, John, I shall consult the police as soon as possible. Mercy on us! What is this?”
    â€œThis” was a loud wail that was set up from the doorway. Some one appeared to be going into hysterics.
    â€œIt is Pirnie, Lady Anne,” said Margaret Balmaine. The girl looked frightened to death, her make-up standing out in ghastly contrast with the pallor of her face. “She was going by and I told her your pearls were missing.”
    Lady Anne could not suppress an expression of impatience.
    â€œI wish you had held your tongue, Margaret. Don’t be an hysterical fool, Pirnie!” she said, raising her voice. “If I do not weep and lament surely you need not.”
    â€œOh, my lady, my lady! I can’t get over it,” the woman wailed as she pushed herself in front of Dorothy Fyvert.
    Bruce Cardyn looked at her curiously. She was the one member of the household of whom he had hitherto seen the least. She was a tall, rather affected-looking woman evidently verging on middle-age, while clinging with both hands to the last vestige of youth. She still retained