30 Suspense and Thriller Masterpieces. Гилберт Кит Честертон

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      Chapter 16 THE THEFT OF THE DIAMOND

      Queen Hedwige had had a serious and legitimate reason for bringing her reception to an abrupt conclusion. A Court ball for the high functionaries and dignities of the Kingdom was to take place that evening.

      Furthermore, the Queen was very much exercised over the rumor that the Grand Duchess Alexandra was to be present. This woman, still young and very beautiful, played an important rôle in the small world of the Palace. It was said by the gossips that she accepted the attentions of Prince Gudulfin, in the hope that some day she might share the throne of Hesse-Weimar with him. For many years she had been a great traveler but in recent times she had spent more and more of her time in Glotzbourg, where she continually met the Prince.

      While Juve had experienced no difficulty in being present at the Queen's audience, he found that even Mme. Heberlauf's influence was not sufficient to procure him an invitation to the ball. As a matter of fact, he had no particular wish to appear in the quality of a guest that evening. He had other plans.

      At ten o'clock a long line of carriages and automobiles began to arrive in the gardens of the Palace. Innumerable electric lights shone out along the drive-way and from the windows. A few persons had managed to slip past the guards and had stationed themselves near the awning at the main entrance to watch the arrival of the guests. Beneath their fur cloaks, the women wore their very finest gowns and their richest jewelry.

      The hall of the chancellory had been transformed into a cloakroom and there the crowd was thickest. In contrast to the brilliantly illuminated left wing of the château, the octagonal tower showed dark and silent. Hiding behind pillars, keeping close to the walls, a man was making his way slowly toward that tower.

      The man was Juve.

      From behind a big tree he stood and watched the sky, rubbing his hands with satisfaction.

      "This is a night after my own heart," he murmured, "overcast and dark. I should have been very embarrassed had the moon come out."

      He felt his pockets.

      "Everything I need. My electric lamp and a good, strong, silk ladder."

      Then, surveying the tower, he soliloquized:

      "A fine monument! Solid and strong. They don't build them like that nowadays."

      Juve took a few steps, bent his knees and stretched his arms, tested the suppleness of his body.

      "Ah, in spite of my forty-odd years, I'm still pretty fit for … the work I have to do."

      By the aid of the lightning rod, the gutters and the inequalities in the stones, the detective was enabled to climb without much difficulty to the first floor.

      There he paused to take breath and to examine the shutters of a window.

      "Can't get in that way," he muttered, "they're bolted inside. I'll have to climb higher."

      The same condition met him on the second floor, but when he had finally reached the roof, he espied a large chimney which promised a method of ingress to the apartment below. The descent was anything but easy, and Juve, in spite of his great strength and agility, was used up by the time he had reached the bottom. His clothes were torn and he was covered with the greasy soot he had accumulated on his journey. By dint of brushing and scraping, he succeeded in cleaning off the worst of it, and then looked round to take his bearings.

      He had landed in the large СКАЧАТЬ