THE MELODY OF DEATH BY EDGAR WALLACE _Author of “Angel Esquire,” “The Four Just Men,” “The Green Archer,” etc., etc._ LINCOLN MAC VEAGH THE DIAL PRESS NEW YORK - MCMXXVII CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE AMATEUR SAFE SMASHER CHAPTER II. SUNSTAR’S DERBY CHAPTER III. GILBERT LEAVES HURRIEDLY CHAPTER IV. THE “MELODY IN F” CHAPTER V. THE MAN WHO DESIRED WEALTH CHAPTER VI. THE SAFE AGENCY CHAPTER VII. THE BANK SMASHER CHAPTER VIII. THE WIFE WHO DID NOT LOVE CHAPTER IX. EDITH MEETS THE PLAYER CHAPTER X. THE NECKLACE CHAPTER XI. THE FOURTH MAN CHAPTER XII. THE PLACE WHERE THE LOOT WAS STORED CHAPTER XIII. THE MAKER OF WILLS CHAPTER XIV. THE STANDERTON DIAMONDS CHAPTER XV. THE TALE THE DOCTOR TOLD CHAPTER XVI. BRADSHAW The Melody of Death CHAPTER I. THE AMATEUR SAFE SMASHER On the night of May 27th, 1925, the office of Gilderheim, Pascoe and Company, diamond merchants, of Little Hatton Garden, presented no unusual appearance to the patrolling constable who examined the lock and tried the door in the ordinary course of his duty. Until nine o’clock in the evening the office had been occupied by Mr. Gilderheim and his head clerk, and a plain clothes officer, whose duty it was to inquire into unusual happenings had deemed that the light in the window on the first floor fell within his scope, and had gone up to discover the reason for its appearance. The 27th was a Saturday, and it is usual for the offices in Hatton Garden to be clear of clerks and their principals by three at the latest. Mr. Gilderheim, a pleasant gentleman, had been relieved to discover that the knock which brought him to the door, gripping a revolver in his pocket in case of accidents, produced no more startling adventure than a chat with a police officer who was known to him. He explained that he had to-day received a parcel of diamonds from an Amsterdam house, and was classifying the stones before leaving for the night, and with a few jocular remarks on the temptation which sixty thousand pounds’ worth of diamonds offered to the unscrupulous “night of darkness,” the officer left. At nine-forty Mr. Gilderheim locked up the jewels in his big safe, before which an electric light burnt day and night, and accompanied by his clerk, left No. 93 Little Hatton Garden and walked in the direction of Holborn. The constable on point duty bade them good-night, and the plain clothes officer, who was then at the Holborn end of the thoroughfare, exchanged a word or two. “You will be on duty all night?” asked Mr. Gilderheim as his clerk hailed a cab. “Yes, sir,” said the officer. “Good!” said the merchant. “I’d like you to keep a special eye upon my place. I am rather nervous about leaving so large a sum in the safe.” The officer smiled. “I don’t think you need worry, sir,” he said, and after the cab containing Mr. Gilderheim had driven off he walked back to No. 93.