"
"Aye!" said Mr. Pawle, with a deep sigh. "There's something in all that.
It may be as you say--a conspiracy. If we only knew the real object of
the crime! But it appears to be becoming increasingly difficult to find
it.... What is it?" he asked, as his clerk came into the room with a
card. "I'm engaged."
The clerk came on, however, laid the card before his employer, and
whispered a few words to him.
"A moment, then--I'll ring," said Mr. Pawle. He turned to his two
companions as the clerk retired and closed the door, and smiled as he
held up the card. "Here's another man who wants to tell me something
about the Ashton case!" he exclaimed.
"It's been quite a stroke of luck having that paragraph in the
newspapers, asking for information from anybody who could give it!"
"What's this?" asked Viner.
"Mr. Jan Van Hoeren, Diamond Merchant," read Mr. Pawle from the card,
"583 Hatton Garden--"
"Ah!" Mr. Armitstead exclaimed. "Diamonds!"
"I shouldn't wonder if you're right," remarked Mr. Pawle. "Diamonds, I
believe, are to Hatton Garden what cabbages and carrots are to Covent."
He touched his bell, and the clerk appeared.
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