It s more than a precious stone. It is _the_ precious stone.
Not the Countess of Morcar s blue carbuncle! I ejaculated.
Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have
read the advertisement about it in _The Times_ every day lately. It is
absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the
reward offered of 1000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of
the market price.
A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy! The commissionaire plumped
down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the
Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the
gem.
It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan, I
remarked.
Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, a
plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady s
jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has
been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the matter here, I
believe. He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates,
until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the
following paragraph:
Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was
brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., abstracted
from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable gem known as
the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his
evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room
of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he
might solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had
remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been called
away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that the
bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco casket in
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