I
then suspected that Barbara Mackwayte, in collusion with
Nur-el-Din, whom she had visited at the Dyke Inn that evening,
had played this trick on me. But before I escaped from the Mill
House I picked up one of the cigarettes which fell from the box
when I broke the seals. Ah! There you made a slip, Desmond. When
I looked at the cigarette I found it was a 'Dionysus'--your own
particular brand--why, I have smoked dozens of them with you in
France. The sight of the familiar name reminded me of you and
then I remembered your unexpected visit to me at the Nineveh when
I was packing up to go away on leave the evening you were going
back to France. I remembered that I had put the package with the
jewel on my table for a moment when I was changing my tunic. Your
appearance drove it out of my head for the time, and you utilized
the chance to substitute a similar package for mine. It was
clever, Desmond, 'pon my word it was a stroke of genius, a master
coup which in my country would have placed you at the very top of
the tree in the Great General Staff!"
Desmond listened to this story in amazement. He did not attempt
to speculate on the different course events would have taken had
he but known that the mysterious jewel which had cost old
Mackwayte his life, had been in his, Desmond's, possession from
the very day on which he had assumed the guise and habiliments of
Mr.
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