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  The Red Triangle

  BEING SOME FURTHER CHRONICLES OF MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR

  By Arthur Morrison

  _Short Story Index Reprint Series_

  BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES PRESSFREEPORT, NEW YORK

  First Published 1903Reprinted 1970

  STANDARD BOOK NUMBER:8369-3466-0

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER:75-116962

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CONTENTS

  I. The Affair of Samuel's Diamonds

  II. The Case of Mr. Jacob Mason

  III. The Case of the Lever Key

  IV. The Case of the Burnt Barn

  V. The Case of the Admiralty Code

  VI. The Adventure of Channel Marsh

  THE AFFAIR OF SAMUEL'S DIAMONDS

  I

  I have already recorded many of the adventures of my friend MartinHewitt, but among them there have been more of a certain few which werediscovered to be related together in a very extraordinary manner; and itis to these that I am now at liberty to address myself. There may havebeen others--cases which gave no indication of their connection withthese; some of them indeed I may have told without a suspicion of theirconnection with the Red Triangle; but the first in which that singularaccompaniment became apparent was the matter of Samuel's diamonds. Thecase exhibited many interesting features, and I was very anxious toreport it, with perhaps even less delay than I had thought judicious inother cases; but Hewitt restrained me.

  "No, Brett," he said, "there is more to come of this. This particularcase is over, it is true, but there is much behind. I've an idea that Ishall see that Red Triangle again. I may, or, of course, I may not; butthere is deep work going on--very deep work, and whether we see more ofit or not, I must keep prepared. I can't afford to throw a single cardupon the table. So, as many notes as you please, Brett, for futurereference; but no publication yet--none of your journalism!"

  Hewitt was right. It was not so long before we heard more of the RedTriangle, and after that more, though the true connection of some of thecases with the mysterious symbol and the meaning of the symbol itselfremained for a time undiscovered. But at last Hewitt was able to unmaskthe hideous secret, and for ever put an end to the evil influence thatgathered about the sign; and now there remains no reason why the fullstory should not be told.

  I have told elsewhere of my first acquaintance with Martin Hewitt, ofhis pleasant and companionable nature, his ordinary height, hisstoutness, his round, smiling face--those characteristics that aided himso well in his business of investigator, so unlike was his appearanceand manner to that of the private detective of the ordinary person'simagination. Therefore I need only remind my readers that my bachelorchambers were, during most of my acquaintance with Hewitt, in the oldbuilding near the Strand, in which Hewitt's office stood at the top ofthe first flight of stairs; where the plain ground-glass of the doorbore as inscription the single word "Hewitt," and the sharp lad,Kerrett, first received visitors in the outer office.

  Next door to this old house, at the time I am to speak of, a much newerbuilding stood, especially built for letting out in offices. It happenedthat one day as Hewitt left his office for a late lunch, he became awareof a pallid and agitated Jew who was pervading the front door of thisadjoining building. The man exhibited every sign of nervous expectancy,staring this way and that up and down the busy street, and once or twicerushing aimlessly half-way up the inner stairs, and as often returningto the door. Apprehension was plain on his pale face, and he was clearlyin a state that blinded his attention to the ordinary matters about him,just as happens when a man is in momentary and nervous expectation ofsome serious event.

  Noting these things as he passed, with no more than the observation thatwas his professional habit, Hewitt proceeded to his lunch. This donewith, he returned to his office, perceiving, as he passed the next-doorbuilding, that the distracted Jew was no longer visible. It seemed plainthat the person or the event he had awaited with such obviousnervousness had arrived and passed; one more of the problems, anxietiesor crises that join and unravel moment by moment in the human ant-hillof London, had perhaps closed for good or ill within the past half-hour;perhaps it had only begun.

  A message awaited Hewitt at his office--an urgent message. Thehousekeeper had come in from next door, Kerrett reported, with an urgentrequest that Mr. Martin Hewitt would go immediately to the offices ofMr. Denson, on the third floor. The housekeeper seemed to know little ornothing of the business, except that a Mr. Samuel was alone in Mr.Denson's office, and had sent the message.

  With no delay Hewitt transferred himself to the next-door offices. Therethe housekeeper, who inhabited a uniform and a glass box opposite thefoot of the first flight of stairs, directed Hewitt, with the remarkthat the gentleman was very impatient and very much upset. "Third floor,sir, second door on the right; name Denson on the door. There's nolift."

  "W.F. Denson" was the complete name, followed by the line "Foreign andCommission Agent." This Hewitt read with some little difficulty, for thedoor was open, and on the threshold stood that same agitated Jew whomHewitt had seen at the front door.

  A little less actively perturbed now, he was nevertheless stillnervously pale. "Mr. Martin Hewitt?" he cried, while Hewitt was stillonly at the head of the stairs. "Is it Mr. Martin Hewitt?"

  Hewitt came quietly along the corridor, using eyes and ears as he came.The Jew was a man of middle height, very obviously Jewish, and with aslight accent that hinted a Continental origin.

  "I have just received your message," Hewitt said, "and, as you see, I amhere with no delay. Is Mr. Denson in?"

  "No--good heafens no--I would gif anything if he was, Mr. Hewitt. Comein, do! I haf been robbed--robbed by Denson himself, wit'out a wort ofdoubt. It is terrible--terrible! Fifteen t'ousant pounds! It ruins me,Mr. Hewitt, ruins me! Unless you can recover it! If you recover it, Iwill pay--pay--oh, I will pay fery well indeed!"

  There was a characteristically sudden moderation of the client'semphasis when he came to the engagement to pay. Hewitt had observed itin other clients, but it did not disturb him.

  "First," he said, "you must tell me your difficulty. You say you havebeen robbed of fifteen thousand pounds----"

  "Tiamonts, Mr. Hewitt--tiamonts! All from the case--here is the case,empty----"

  "Let us be methodical. We will shut the door and sit down." Hewittpressed his client into a chair and produced his note-book. "It will bebetter to begin at the beginning. First, I should like to know yourname, and a few such particulars as that."

  "Lewis Samuel, Hatton Garden--150, Hatton Garden--tiamont merchant."

  "Yes. And what is your connection with Mr. Denson?"

  "Business--just business," Samuel responded. He pronounced it"pishness," and it seemed his favourite word. "Like this; I will tellyou. I haf known him some time, and did at first small pishness. Hebought a little tiamont and haf it set in pracelet, and hepay--straightforward pishness. Then he bought some very good pastestones, all set in gold, and he pay--quite straightforward pishness. Atthe same time he says, 'I am pishness man myself, Mr. Samuel,' he says,'and I like to make a little moneys as well as pay out sometimes. Don'tyou want any little agencies done? I do all foreign commissions, and Ican forwart and receive and clear at dock and custom house. If you sendany tiamonts I can consign and insure--very cheapest rates to you,special. If you want brokerage or buy and sell for you, confidential, Ican do it with lowest commission. Especially I haf good connection withAmerica. I haf many rich Americans, principals and customers,' he sa
ys,'and often I could do pishness for you when they come over.'"

  "By which he meant he might sell them diamonds?" Hewitt queried.

  "Just so, Mr. Hewitt--reg'lar pishness. And after that two or threelittle parcels of tiamonts he bought--for American customers, he says.But he says he can do bigger pishness soon. Ay, so he has--goot heavens,he has! But I tell you. I do also one or two small pishnesses with him,and that is all right--he treat me very well and I pay when it suits.Then he says, 'Samuel,' he says, very friendly now inteet, 'Samuel,could you get a nice large lot of tiamonts for an American customer Iexpect here soon?' And I say, 'Of course I can.' 'Enough,' he says, 'tofit out a rich man's wife--that is, to pegin. He is not long rich, andhe will want more soon--ah, she will make him pay! But to pegin--a goodfit-out of tiamonts, eh?'

  "I tell him yes, and I offer usual commission. But no, says Denson, hewants no commission; he will make his own profit. That I don't mind solong as I get mine; so I agree to put the tiamonts in at a price. TheAmerican, he says, is to come over about a big company deal, and when itis through he will pay well. So last week I pring a peautifulcollection all cut but unset, and I wait out in that room while Densonshows them to his customer."

  "You mean you let them out of your sight?"

  "Yes--that is not so uncommon; reg'lar pishness. You see I was outhere--this is the only way out. Denson was in the inner office with thestones and the American. Neither could get out without passing here. AndI had done pishness with him alretty."

  "Well?"

  "You see I wait downstairs with my case--this case--till Denson sendsdown. He doesn't want me to show--fery natural, you see, in pishness.When I sell to make a profit, perhaps for somebody else, I don't wantthat somebody to know my customer, else he sells direct and I lose myprofit--fery natural. See?"

  "Of course, I understand. It's a point of business among you gentlemento keep your own customers to yourselves. And often, no doubt, diamondspass through several hands before reaching the eventual customer,leaving a profit in each."

  "Always, Mr. Hewitt--always, you might say. Well, you see, Denson sendsdown that his customer is in, and I come up. Denson comes out from theinner office, takes my case, and I wait in there."

  The case which Samuel showed Hewitt was of black leather, perhapseighteen inches long by a foot wide. The arrangement of the office wassimple. In this, the outer room, a small space was partitioned off bymeans of a ground glass screen, and it was in there that Samuel meantthat he had waited.

  "Well, he took the case in, and I could hear some sound of talking--butnot much, you see, the door being shut. After a time the door opens andI hear Denson say: 'Very well, think over it; but don't be long oryou'll lose the chance. Excuse me while I put them back in the safe.'Then he shuts the door and brings the case to me and goes back. But ofcourse I stay till I haf looked very carefully through all the tiamonts,in the different compartments of the case, in case one might haf droppedon the floor, or got changed, you know. That is pishness."

  "Just so. And they were all right?"

  "All right and same as the list--I know well a tiamont that I haf seenonce. So I go away, and afterwards Denson tells me that the Americanliked much the stones but wouldn't quite come up to price. That, ofcourse, is fery usual pishness. 'But he will rise, Samuel,' Denson says.'I know him quite well, and them tiamonts is as good as sold with agood profit for me; and a good one for you, too, I bet,' he says. I wasputting the lot to him for fifteen t'ousant pounds, and it would havebeen a nice profit in that for me. And then Denson he chaffs me and hesays, 'Ah! Samuel,' he says, 'wasn't you afraid my customer and me wouldhook it out o' the window with all your stones?' I don't like that sorto' joke in pishness, you see, but I say, 'All right--I wasn't afraid o'that. The window was a mile too high, and besides I could see it fromwhere I was a-sitting.' And so I could, you see, plain enough to see ifit was opened."

  The ground-glass partition, in fact, cut off a part of the window of theouter office, which, being at an angle with the inner room, gave a sideview of the window that lighted that apartment.

  "Denson laughed at that," Samuel went on. "'Ha-ha!' says he, 'I neverthought of that. Then you could see the American's hat hanging up justby the window--rum hat, ain't it?' And that was quite true, for I hadnoticed it--a big, grey wideawake, almost white."

  Hewitt nodded approvingly. "You are quite right," he said, "to tell meeverything you recollect, even of the most trivial sort; the smallestthing may be very valuable. So you took your diamonds away the firsttime, last week. What next?"

  "Well, I came again, just the same, to-day, by appointment. Just thesame I sat in that place, and just the same Denson took the case intothe inner room. 'He's come to buy this time, I can see,' Denson whispers,and winks. 'But he'll fight hard over the price. We'll see!' and off hegoes into the other room. Well, I waited. I waited and I waited a longtime. I looked out sideways at the window, and there I see theAmerican's big wideawake hat hanging up just inside the other window,same as last time. So I think they are a long time settling the price,and I wait some more. But it is such a very long time, and I begin tofeel uneasy. Of course, I know you cannot sell fifteen t'ousant wort' oftiamonts in five minutes--that is not reasonable pishness. But I couldhear nothing at all now--not a sound. And the boy--the boy that camedown to call me up--he wasn't come back. But there I could see the bigwideawake hat still hanging inside the window, and of course I knewthere was only one door out of the inner room, right before me, so itseemed foolish to be uneasy. So I waited longer still, but now it was solate, I thought they should have come out to lunch before this, and thenI was fery uneasy--fery uneasy inteet. So I thought I would pretend tobe a new caller, and I opened the outer office door and banged it, andwalked in very loud and knocked on the boy's table. I thought Densonwould come when he heard that, but no--there was not a sound. So I gotmore uneasy, and I opened the window and leaned out as far as I could,to look in at the other window. There I could see nothing but the bighat and the back of a chair and a bit of the room--empty. So I went andbanged the outer door again, and called out, 'Hi! Mr. Denson, you'rewanted! Hi! d'y'ear?' and knocked with my umbrella on the inner door;and, Mr. Hewitt--you might have knocked me down with half a feather whenI got no answer at all--not a sound! I opened the door, Mr. Hewitt, andthere was nobody there--nobody! There was my leather case on the table,open--and empty! Fifteen t'ousant pounds in tiamonts, Mr. Hewitt--itruins me!"

  Hewitt rose, and flung wide the inner office door. "This is certainlythe only door," he said, "and that is the only window--quite well inview from where you sat. There is the wideawake hat still hangingthere--see, it is quite new; obviously brought for you to look at, itwould seem. The door and the window were not used, and the chimney isimpossible--register grate. But there was one other way--there."

  The inner wall of each of the rooms was the wall of the corridor intowhich all the offices opened, and this corridor was lighted--and theoffices partly ventilated--by a sort of hinged casement or fanlightclose up by the ceiling, oblong, and extending the most of the length ofeach room. Plainly an active man, not too stout, might mount achair-back, and climb very quietly through the opening. "That's the onlyway," said Hewitt, pointing.

  "Yes," answered Samuel, nodding and rubbing his knuckles togethernervously. "I saw it--saw it when it was too late. But who'd havethought o' such a thing beforehand? And the American--either therewasn't an American at all, or he got out the same way. But, anyway, hereI am, and the tiamonts are gone, and there is nothing here but thefurniture--not worth twenty pound!"

  "Well," Hewitt said, "so far, I think I understand, though I may havequestions to ask presently. But go on."

  "Go on? But there is no more, Mr. Hewitt! Quite enough, don't you think?There is no more--I am robbed!"

  "But when you found the empty room, and the case, what did you do? Sendfor the police?"

  The Jew's face clouded slightly. "No, Mr. Hewitt," he said, "not for thepolice, but for you. Reason plain enough. The po
lice make a great fuss,and they want to arrest the criminal. Quite right--I want to arrest him,and punish him too, plenty. But most I want the tiamonts back, becauseif not it ruins me. If it was to make choice between two things for me,whether to punish Denson or get my tiamonts, then of course I take thetiamonts, and let Denson go--I cannot be ruined. But with the police, ifit is their choice, they catch the thief first, and hold him tight,whether it loses the property or not; the property is only second withthem--with me it is first and second, and all. So I take no more risksthan I can help, Mr. Hewitt. I have sent for you to get first thestones--afterwards the thief if you can. But first my property; you canperhaps find Denson and make him give it up rather than go to prison.That would be better than having him taken and imprisoned, and perhapsthe stones put away safe all the time ready for him when he came out."

  "Still, the police can do things that I can't," Hewitt interposed; "stoppeople leaving or landing at ports, and the like. I think we should seethem."

  Samuel was anxiously emphatic. "No, Mr. Hewitt," he said, "certainly notthe police. There are reasons--no, _not_ the police, Mr. Hewitt, at anyrate, not till you have tried. I cannot haf the police--just yet."

  Martin Hewitt shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," he said, "if thoseare your instructions, I'll do my best. And so you sent for me at once,as soon as you discovered the loss?"

  "Yes, at once."

  "Without telling anybody else?"

  "I haf tolt nobody."

  "Did you look about anywhere for Denson--in the street, or what not?"

  "No--what was the good? He was gone; there was time for him to gomiles."

  "Very good. And speaking of time, let me judge how far he may have gone.How long were you kept waiting?"

  "Two hours and a quarter, very near--within five minutes."

  "By your watch?"

  "Yes--I looked often, to see if it was so long waiting as it seemed."

  "Very good. Do you happen to have a piece of Denson's writing aboutyou?"

  Samuel looked round him. "There's nothing about here," he said, "butperhaps we can find--oh here--here's a post-card." He took the card fromhis pocket, and gave it to Hewitt.

  "There is nothing else to tell me, then?" queried Hewitt. "Are you surethat you have forgotten nothing that has happened since you firstarrived--_nothing at all_?" There was meaning in the emphasis, and asharp look in Hewitt's eyes.

  "No, Mr. Hewitt," Samuel answered, hastily; "there is nothing else I cantell you."

  "Then I will think it over at once. You had better go back quietly toyour office, and think it over yourself, _in case_ you have forgottensomething; and I need hardly warn you to keep quiet as to what haspassed between us--unless you tell the police. I think I shall take theliberty of a glance over Mr. Denson's office, and since his office boystill stays away, I will lend him my clerk for a little. He will keephis eyes open if any callers come, and his ears too. Wait while I fetchhim."