The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and AdventureTracy, Louis
General
The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and Adventure
Tracy, Louis
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
Moreover, he had a project dimly outlined in his mind which might become
definite if all went well with him that day. Then the ownership of No.
3, Johnson's Mews, would cease to trouble him, for Philip was quite sure
the whole power of the law would be invoked to prevent him from dealing
with his meteor if once the exact place where it fell became publicly
known.
O'Brien's shop was scarcely open before Philip was there with his
remaining portmanteau.
"Arrah, Phil, me bhoy, where in the name of goodness are ye gatherin'
the bee-utiful, leather thrunks from?" asked the pensioner.
"This is the last one," laughed the boy. "I am off now to find a cab,
and you won't see me again until Monday."
"Faix, he's a wonderful lad entirely," commented the old man. "What sort
of plundher has he in the bags, at all at all?"
In idle curiosity he lifted the last addition to the pile. It was
normal, even light in weight. Then he nodded knowingly.
"A lot of ould duds belongin' to Mrs. Anson, I'll be boun'. Ah, well,
the Lord rest her sowl, 'tis she was the fine woman. I wish I had some
one as cliver as her to write for me to that thafe of the worruld who
thried----"
As there are no signs in the art of literature similar to those which
serve the needs of musicians, whereby thoughts can be expressed _da
capo_, like a musical phrase, without risk of wearying the reader, it
must be understood that Philip had returned from far-away Fenchurch
Street Station with a four-wheeler before O'Brien exhausted the first
tirade of the day against the War Office.
With a cunning that amounted to genius, the boy placed the large, light
portmanteau and the two small, heavy ones on the roof of the vehicle,
where the driver did not notice the least peculiarity in their weight.
The two large, heavy bags he managed to lift into the interior, one of
them needing all his resources to carry it from the shop door to the
cab. Were he not fresh and untired, he could not have done it. As it
was, the effort was a splendid success.
The cabman knew little, and O'Brien less, of the tremendous avoirdupois
of this innocent-looking baggage. A long-suffering horse may have had
his private views, but he did not express them.
Saying good-by to the pensioner in the shop, Philip took good care that
none overheard his direction to the driver. In about three-quarters of
an hour he lumbered into Charing Cross Station without a soul in the
East End being aware of his destination.
"Where to, sir?" asked a porter who opened the door for him.
"I only want these bags to be taken to the luggage room," said Philip.
"You had better get some one to help you with these two. They are very
heavy. They contain specimens of iron ore."
The man took a pull at the solid one.
"By gum," he grinned. "You're right. That would surprise anybody who
tried to pick it up and run away with it."
"Rather," agreed Philip. "I am glad to say it is not going very
far--only to a laboratory for analysis."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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