Sir Thomas had staggered to a chair.
'So, that was how you knew!' he said.
'That was--' began Jimmy, when a sudden suspicion flashed across his
mind. He scrutinized Sir Thomas' pallid face keenly.
'Did you know?' he asked.
He wondered that the possibility had not occurred to him earlier.
This would account for much that had puzzled him in the other's
reception of the news. He had supposed, vaguely, without troubling
to go far into the probabilities of such a thing, that the necklace
which Spike had brought to him had been substituted for the genuine
diamonds by a thief. Such things happened frequently, he knew. But,
remembering what Molly had told him of the care which Sir Thomas
took of this particular necklace, and the frequency with which Lady
Julia wore it, he did not see how such a substitution could have
been effected. There had been no chance of anybody's obtaining
access to these stones for the necessary length of time.
'By George, I believe you did!' he cried. 'You must have! So, that's
how it happened, is it? I don't wonder it was a shock when I said I
knew about the necklace.'
'Mr. Pitt!'
'Well?'
'I have something to say to you.'
'I'm listening.'
Sir Thomas tried to rally. There was a touch of the old pomposity in
his manner when he spoke.
'Mr. Pitt, I find you in an unpleasant position--'
Jimmy interrupted.
'Don't you worry about my unpleasant position,' he said. 'Fix your
attention exclusively upon your own. Let us be frank with one
another. You're in the cart. What do you propose to do about it?'
Sir Thomas rallied again, with the desperation of one fighting a
lost cause.
'I do not understand you--' he began.
'No?' said Jimmy. 'I'll try and make my meaning clear. Correct me
from time to time, if I am wrong. The way I size the thing up is as
follows: When you married Lady Julia, I gather that it was, so to
speak, up to you to some extent. People knew you were a millionaire,
and they expected something special in the way of gifts from the
bridegroom to the bride. Now, you, being of a prudent and economical
nature, began to wonder if there wasn't some way of getting a
reputation for lavishness without actually unbelting to any great
extent. Am I right?'
Sir Thomas did not answer.
'I am,' said Jimmy. 'Well, it occurred to you, naturally enough,
that a properly-selected gift of jewelry might work the trick. It
only needed a little nerve. When you give a present of diamonds to a
lady, she is not likely to call for polarized light and refracting
liquids and the rest of the circus. In ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred, she will take the things on trust. Very well. You trotted
off to a jeweler, and put the thing to him confidentially. I guess
