Miss Mephistopheles: A Novel: (Sequel to Madame Midas.) — David Hume — John Shaqi
Miss Mephistopheles: A Novel: (Sequel to Madame Midas.)
David Hume · en
"On Sunday night Caprice entertained a number of friends at a supper
party, and the servants all being downstairs attending to the guests,
the upper part of the house was left entirely uninhabited. It is at
this time, probably between twelve and one o'clock, that the burglary
is supposed to have been perpetrated. The company departed about three
o'clock, and on going up to her room, Caprice found the window wide
open. Knowing that it had been closed, she suspected something was
wrong, and went to the place where she kept her diamonds, only to find
them gone. She sent at once for her servants, and an examination was
made. It was found that the house had evidently been entered from the
outside, as the window was not very far from the ground, and some ivy
growing on the wall made a kind of natural ladder, which any man of
ordinary agility could scale. Curiously enough Caprice's child, aged
seven, was asleep in the room, but appears to have heard nothing. Next
morning another examination was made, and it was found that the ivy
was broken in several places, showing clearly the mode of entrance.
The window had not been latched, as no chance of a burglary was
apprehended, the house always having been looked upon as a remarkably
safe one. The diamonds were usually kept in a small safe, but on
returning from the theatre on Saturday night they had been placed in
the drawer of the looking-glass, where they were judged to be safe, as
it was not thought likely any thief would look in so unlikely a place
for valuable jewellery. Below will be found a plan of the house and
grounds as furnished by our special reporter, and the probable track
of the burglars indicated."
[Illustration: Floor Plan of First and Ground Floor.]
"It will be seen from this plan that the drawing-room and dining-room,
in both of which the guests were assembled, are in the front of the
house, so that the most likely thing is that the burglar or burglars
entered the grounds by the gate, or along the banks of the river, and
climbed up into the house by the window C shown on the plan.
"After securing the plunder, two modes of exit were available, either
as indicated by the dotted line which would take the thief out of the
gate into the road, from whence it would be easy to escape, or along
the banks of the river, as shown by the other lines. In either case
escape was perfectly easy. Of course the danger lay in detection while
in the house, but this was considerably guarded against by the fact
that the noise and laughter going on below effectually drowned all
sounds of any one entering the house.