Unknown (34 page)

"Ah, Watson, you are the
late-abed today."

He sprang to his feet, crossing to
the silver coffee
urn.

"This should still be warm,"
he said, "and a cup will serve you well. Both of us in fact."

Holmes seldom deigned to perform
domestic duties
but
on this day he bustled around, pouring coffee, urging me to be seated
and talking all the while.

"You have ordered breakfast,
no doubt?"

I indicated that this was so.

"Splendid!"

I had not lived with Sherlock
Holmes so long not to
recognize
the signs. He had come upon something and was quite delighted with
himself and anxious to share
his
thoughts with his only confidant, me.

"Of course, I have been
through the book. Badly written, but one section shows a spark of
originality.
The
author, one Pierce by name, devotes a full chapter
to
the plans of Wild that never bore fruit. The schemes
that
the criminal did not or could not take action on. It
is
in this portion of the book that the only markings
appear."

Holmes was at the desk, leafing
through the book
taken
from Barker's dwelling. "Let me read this to you.
'Jonathan
Wild was instrumental in a large number of
jewel
robberies but diamonds were his only passion.' "

Holmes's eyes rose from the page.
"This portion is bracketed. A more specific marking comes
later." He resumed reading: " 'In 1828, Wild spent much
time and a considerable amount of money planning a theft of the Sancy
diamond, one of the crown jewels of France. The stone had come into
the possession of Demindoff and Wild intended to possess it despite
my protestations that the gem was too well-known to be sold and I
knew that Wild would never consider cutting it.' "

As Holmes paused for a moment, I
offered a com
ment.

"The author, Pierce, seems to
have been quite an in
timate
of Jonathan Wild."

"Or attempts to picture
himself as such. His facts
seem
accurate. I do know that the Sancy was sold by Demidoff in 1865 for
twenty thousand pounds. Or, at
least,
that is the story. I wonder if Wild actually did
steal
the stone!"

"Doesn't Pierce make mention
of it?"

"Simply that the robbery did
not go off as planned
and
Wild abandoned the idea. Here's the main point of
interest:
'The one diamond that Wild really coveted
was
the Pasha of Egypt though he was never able to get
his
hands on it.' "

Holmes looked at me, his eyes
alight.

"Barker drew a line through
'Pasha of Egypt.' "

"And when he died, that was
the word that Lindquist
heard:
'Pasha.' "

"Exactly. You can see my
interest was immediately sparked."

"But what has the Pasha of
Egypt diamond to do
with
the Golden Bird?"

"What indeed? At one time I
mentioned that the pur
suit
of the Bird would seem more reasonable if it were
encrusted
with precious gems. Suppose, Watson, instead
of
jewels on the outside, to give the object a far greater
value,
there was one jewel, a world-famous diamond, on
the
inside?"

Holmes's idea was certainly
intriguing. "Then all
these
thefts over a long period of time—they were not
really
after the Golden Bird but a diamond—the Pasha
of
Egypt."

Holmes head was shaking slowly in
a negative fash
ion.

"As I have stated on other
occasions, it is a capital
mistake
to theorize in advance of the facts. One begins
to
twist facts to fit theories, instead of fitting theories to
facts.
We need facts now, 'Watson, and shall have to
seek
them from experts. I have dispatched a note to Or
loff
asking him to arrange a meeting with Edwin Street
er."

"The name is unfamiliar to
me."

"The royal jeweler, ol' chap.
Streeter wrote a book in
'83:
The Great
Diamonds of the World.
I
rather fancy
he
knows the diamond field inside and out and might provide the
information that will crystallize this whole
matter."

Holmes ran into a snag at this
point since the royal jeweler was vacationing in the south of France
at this
time.
However, Wakefield Orloff's intimate knowledge
of
comings and goings between England and the Conti
nent
came to the detective's aid. According to the secu
rity
agent, Dr. Max Bauer of Germany was in England
at
the time and Orloff was able to arrange a meeting between the famous
gem expert and Holmes.*

* It is interesting to note that Dr. Bauer
later, in 1896, published
a book called
Precious Stones.
It
was translated and published
in England
around 1903 and is considered one of the most
comprehensive
studies of gems ever published
.

Happily, the doctor was a follower
of the exploits of my friend and was quite delighted to visit our
chambers on Baker Street which gave me the opportunity of being
present at a most
fascinating exchange of information.

The professor had a round, jolly
face topped with a profusion of unruly hair. He might have modeled
for a character out of
Pickwick
Papers
or
perhaps a Bavarian
toymaker.
Orloff was not present, the doctor having come to our abode alone,
for which Holmes thanked him warmly. Bauer stated that he was most
happy to
visit the
world's greatest detective and to be able to meet the famous Doctor
Watson. I decided that the
doctor
was a splendid chap indeed, and then Bauer and
my
friend got down to business.

"Ach,
Mr.
Holmes, you vill vant to talk about pre
cious
stones. Iss der any p'tickler vun vot intrigues
you?"

"Diamonds, Doctor Bauer."

"A big field. You haf a
p'tikiler von in mind, per
haps?"

"I'm interested in several.
What could you tell me
about
the Sancy diamond?"

"Ach,
von
of ze most vamous. All crown jewels are.
Like
many great diamonds, it came from India. Before
becoming
part of ze crown jewels of Fronce, it vas in
your
country, you know. It vas sold to Queen Elizabet
'round
sixteen hundred und vent to Fronce vid Hen
rietta
Maria, de qveen of Charles, first. Den it vent to
Cardinal
Mazarin as a pledge. The Cardinal vas qvite a
diamond
fancier und left ze Sancy und seventeen other
large
diamonds to Louis Fourteenth. In 1791, der vas
an
inventory of ze French crown jewels und Sancy vas
valued
at one million francs. During ze revolution it vas
stolen
along mitt ze Regent und vas not recovered. Den
ze
beauty showed up as ze property of ze Spanish crown
und
came into ze possession of Demidoff."

"It was not stolen from him
by any chance?" asked
Holmes.

"Nein,
ze
Sancy hass returned to ze land of its birth. It is now ze broberty of
ze Maharajah of Patiala. I saw
ze
stone ven it vas disblayed at ze Paris Exhibition."

"I see," said Holmes and
I could see that he was
writing
off the Sancy diamond in his mind.

"Could you," continued
Holmes, "acquaint me with some diamonds that are less famous?"

"All ze great diamonds are
vamous but I see vat you
are
zearching for. Ze Nassak iss not so vell-known, dough it is better
dan eighty-nine carats. It came from
ze
temple of Siva in India und vas acqvired in 1818 by
der
East India Company."

Holmes appeared interested. "Where
is this stone
now?"

"Right here in England, Mr.
Holmes. Ze Nassak vas
bought
for seventy-two hundred pounds by der London jeweler, Emmanuek, und
vas den sold to ze Duke of
Vesminster
und it has been in his family ever since. The
Nassak
iss large but you know it's not just der carats vat
iss
important. Ze Star of Este is a little less dan twenty-
six
carats but absolutely flawless."

"Is its present whereabouts
known?"

"Indeed. It iss ze broberty
of ze ruling house of
Austrian-Este.
Den der iss ze Pasha of Egypt."

"Ah, have I heard of that
stone?"

"Pozzibly. Forty carats.
Octagonal. It vas bought by Ibraham, Viceroy of Egypt, for
twenty-eight thousand pounds."

"And it is still in Egypt?"
Holmes looked disap
pointed.

"If it vas not, I dink I
vould haf heard."

"Doctor Bauer, can you think
of any of the great dia
monds
that have vanished?"

"Ze truly famous stones don't
get lost. Und dey can
not
be dublicated. Paintings—dot iss somesing else. Paintings iss
manmade. For years, der iss vispers about famous paintings. Are dey
original or a copy? But dia
monds
iss made by nature. Von look und de expert
knows
if dey iss genuine."

"I see," said Holmes,
despondently. "Well, Doctor, I
am
most grateful for your assistance in this matter."

"Somesing vispers to me dot I
vass not so big a help. You know, Mr. Holmes, everybody likes to blay
in ze
ozzer man's
back yard. It vass ze Pasha of Egypt dat
you
vas really interested in,
nicht
var?"

Holmes had the good grace to
smile. "Doctor Bauer,
you
should have been a detective."

"Dot I vill leave in your
cabable hands. Und I shall make inquiries about ze Pasha diamond for
you, Mr. Holmes."

The famous gem expert took his
leave at this point,
allowing
Holmes to regard me with a wry expression.

"You see, ol' chap, the
danger of becoming intrigued
with
a theory."

"But Barker did say
Pasha
before he died.
Jonathan Wild was deeply interested in that one particular stone.
Possibly, Doctor Bauer will uncover some additional in
formation
concerning it."

Holmes brightened up a bit at my
thought and so the matter rested for a time. As he later confessed,
he be
came
convinced that he was following a will-o'-the-wisp with his diamond
idea and he forced himself to concen
trate
on the irritating sifting of information in search of
a
pattern that would provide illumination regarding the
matter
of the Golden Bird. That he had the haunts of
Chu
San Fu watched, I am sure. Wakefield Orloff was
a
frequent visitor, a sure sign that Mycroft Holmes's fin
ger
was still in the pie. Nothing was heard concerning
the
shadowy international financier, Basil Selkirk. The
entire
machinery of plot and counterplot seemed to
grind
to an unwieldy halt. Holmes was in and out of
22IB
Baker Street at all hours and it was obvious that
he
was annoyed with the lack of progress. As was his
custom
at times like this, he became secretive and did
not
communicate his latest theories, if he had any.