I + 

Eight Diamonds + 

It was a diamond all right, shining in the grass half a dozen feet from the blue brick walk. It was small, not more than a quarter of a carat in weight, and unmounted. I put it in my pocket and began searching the lawn as closely as I could without going at it on all fours. + 

I had covered a couple of square yards of sod when the LeggettsтАЩ front door opened. + 

A woman came out on the broad stone top step and looked down at me with good-humored curiosity. + 

She was a woman of about my age, forty, with darkish blond hair, a pleasant plump face, and dimpled pink cheeks. She had on a lavender-flowered white housedress. + 

I stopped poking at the grass and went up to her, asking: тАЬIs Mr.┬аLeggett in?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes.тАЭ Her voice was placid as her face. тАЬYou wish to see him?тАЭ + 

I said I did. + 

She smiled at me and at the lawn. + 

тАЬYouтАЩre another detective, arenтАЩt you?тАЭ + 

I admitted that. + 

She took me up to a green, orange, and chocolate room on the second floor, put me in a brocaded chair, and went to call her husband from his laboratory. While I waited, I looked around the room, deciding that the dull orange rug under my feet was probably both genuinely oriental and genuinely ancient, that the walnut furniture hadnтАЩt been ground out by machinery, and that the Japanese pictures on the wall hadnтАЩt been selected by a prude. + 

Edgar Leggett came in saying: тАЬIтАЩm sorry to have kept you waiting, but I couldnтАЩt break off till now. Have you learned something?тАЭ + 

His voice was unexpectedly harsh, rasping, though his manner was friendly enough. He was a dark-skinned erect man in his middle forties, muscularly slender and of medium height. He would have been handsome if his brown face hadnтАЩt been so deeply marked with sharp, hard lines across the forehead and from nostrils down across mouth-corners. Dark hair, worn rather long, curled above and around the broad, grooved forehead. Red-brown eyes were abnormally bright behind horn-rimmed spectacles. His nose was long, thin, and high-bridged. His lips were thin, sharp, nimble, over a small, bony chin. His black and white clothes were well made and cared for. + 

тАЬNot yet,тАЭ I said to his question. тАЬIтАЩm not a police detectiveтБатАФContinental AgencyтБатАФfor the insurance companyтБатАФand IтАЩm just starting.тАЭ + 

тАЬInsurance company?тАЭ He seemed surprised, raising dark eyebrows above the dark tops of his spectacles. + 

тАЬYeah. DidnтАЩtтБатАФ?тАЭ + 

тАЬSurely,тАЭ he said, smiling, stopping my words with a small flourish of one hand. It was a long, narrow hand with over-developed fingertips, ugly as most trained hands are. тАЬSurely. They would have been insured. I hadnтАЩt thought of that. They werenтАЩt my diamonds, you know; they were HalsteadтАЩs.тАЭ + 

тАЬHalstead and Beauchamp? I didnтАЩt get any details from the insurance company. You had the diamonds on approval?тАЭ + 

тАЬNo. I was using them experimentally. Halstead knew of my work with glassтБатАФcoloring it, staining or dyeing it, after its manufactureтБатАФand he became interested in the possibility of the process being adapted to diamonds, particularly in improving off-color stones, removing yellowish and brownish tinges, emphasizing blues. He asked me to try it and five weeks ago gave me those diamonds to work on. There were eight of them, none especially valuable. The largest weighed only a trifle more than half a carat, some of the others only a quarter, and except for two they were all of poor color. TheyтАЩre the stones the burglar got.тАЭ + 

тАЬThen you hadnтАЩt succeeded?тАЭ I asked. + 

тАЬFrankly,тАЭ he said, тАЬI hadnтАЩt made the slightest progress. This was a more delicate matter, and on more obdurate material.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhereтАЩd you keep them?тАЭ + 

тАЬUsually they were left lying around in the openтБатАФalways in the laboratory, of courseтБатАФbut for several days now they had been locked in the cabinetтБатАФsince my last unsuccessful experiment.тАЭ + 

тАЬWho knew about the experiments?тАЭ + 

тАЬAnyone, everyoneтБатАФthere was no occasion for secrecy.тАЭ + 

тАЬThey were stolen from the cabinet?тАЭ + 

тАЬYes. This morning we found our front door open, the cabinet drawer forced, and the diamonds gone. The police found marks on the kitchen door. They say the burglar came in that way and left by the front door. We heard nothing last night. And nothing else was taken.тАЭ + 

тАЬThe front door was ajar when I came downstairs this morning,тАЭ Mrs.┬аLeggett said from the doorway. тАЬI went upstairs and awakened Edgar, and we searched the house and found the diamonds gone. The police think the man I saw must have been the burglar.тАЭ + 

I asked about the man she had seen. + 

тАЬIt was last night, around midnight, when I opened the bedroom windows before going to bed. I saw a man standing upon the corner. I canтАЩt say, even now, that there was anything very suspicious-looking about him. He was standing there as if waiting for somebody. He was looking down this way, but not in a way to make me think he was watching this house. He was a man past forty, I should say, rather short and broadтБатАФsomewhat of your buildтБатАФbut he had a bristly brown mustache and was pale. He wore a soft hat and overcoatтБатАФdarkтБатАФI think they were brown. The police think thatтАЩs the same man Gabrielle saw.тАЭ + 

тАЬWho?тАЭ + 

тАЬMy daughter Gabrielle,тАЭ she said. тАЬComing home late one nightтБатАФSaturday night, I think it wasтБатАФshe saw a man and thought he had come from our steps; but she wasnтАЩt sure and didnтАЩt think anything more of it until after the burglary.тАЭ + 

тАЬIтАЩd like to talk to her. Is she home?тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аLeggett went out to get her. + 

I asked Leggett: тАЬWere the diamonds loose?тАЭ + 

тАЬThey were unset, of course, and in small manila envelopesтБатАФHalstead and BeauchampтАЩsтБатАФeach in a separate envelope, with a number and the weight of the stone written in pencil. The envelopes are missing too.тАЭ + 

Mrs.┬аLeggett returned with her daughter, a girl of twenty or less in a sleeveless white silk dress. Of medium height, she looked more slender than she actually was. She had hair as curly as her fatherтАЩs, and no longer, but of a much lighter brown. She had a pointed chin and extremely white, smooth skin, and of her features only the green-brown eyes were large: forehead, mouth, and teeth were remarkably small. I stood up to be introduced to her, and asked about the man she had seen. + 

тАЬIтАЩm not positive that he came from the house,тАЭ she said, тАЬor even from the lawn.тАЭ She was sullen, as if she didnтАЩt like being questioned. тАЬI thought he might have, but I only saw him walking up the street.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat sort of looking man was he?тАЭ + 

тАЬI donтАЩt know. It was dark. I was in the car, he was walking up the street. I didnтАЩt examine him closely. He was about your size. It might have been you, for all I know.тАЭ + 

тАЬIt wasnтАЩt. That was Saturday night?тАЭ + 

тАЬYesтБатАФthat is, Sunday morning.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhat time?тАЭ + 

тАЬOh, three oтАЩclock or after,тАЭ she said impatiently. + 

тАЬWere you alone?тАЭ + 

тАЬHardly.тАЭ + 

I asked her who was with her and finally got a name: Eric Collinson had driven her home. I asked where I could find Eric Collinson. She frowned, hesitated, and said he was employed by Spear, Camp and Duffy, stockbrokers. She also said she had a putrid headache and she hoped I would excuse her now, as she knew I couldnтАЩt have any more questions to ask her. Then, without waiting for any reply I might have made to that, she turned and went out of the room. Her ears, I noticed when she turned, had no lobes, and were queerly pointed at the top. + 

тАЬHow about your servants?тАЭ I asked Mrs.┬аLeggett. + 

тАЬWeтАЩve only oneтБатАФMinnie Hershey, a Negress. She doesnтАЩt sleep here, and IтАЩm sure she had nothing to do with it. SheтАЩs been with us for nearly two years and I can vouch for her honesty.тАЭ + 

I said IтАЩd like to talk to Minnie, and Mrs.┬аLeggett called her in. The servant was a small, wiry mulatto girl with the straight black hair and brown features of an Indian. She was very polite and very insistent that she had nothing to do with the theft of the diamonds and had known nothing about the burglary until she arrived at the house that morning. She gave me her home address, in San FranciscoтАЩs darktown. + 

Leggett and his wife took me up to the laboratory, a large room that covered all but a small fifth of the third story. Charts hung between the windows on the whitewashed wall. The wooden floor was uncovered. An X-ray machineтБатАФor something similarтБатАФfour or five smaller machines, a forge, a wide sink, a large zinc table, some smaller porcelain ones, stands, racks of glassware, siphon-shaped metal tanksтБатАФthat sort of stuff filled most of the room. + 

The cabinet the diamonds had been taken from was a green-painted steel affair with six drawers all locking together. The second drawer from the topтБатАФthe one the diamonds had been inтБатАФwas open. Its edge was dented where a jimmy or chisel had been forced between it and the frame. The other drawers were still locked. Leggett said the forcing of the diamond drawer had jammed the locking mechanism so that he would have to get a mechanic to open the others. + 

We went downstairs, through a room where the mulatto was walking around behind a vacuum cleaner, and into the kitchen. The back door and its frame were marked much as the cabinet was, apparently by the same tool. + 

When I had finished looking at the door, I took the diamond out of my pocket and showed it to the Leggetts, asking: тАЬIs this one of them?тАЭ + 

Leggett picked it out of my palm with forefinger and thumb, held it up to the light, turned it from side to side, and said: тАЬYes. It has that cloudy spot down at the culet. Where did you get it?тАЭ + 

тАЬOut front, in the grass.тАЭ + 

тАЬAh, our burglar dropped some of his spoils in his haste.тАЭ + 

I said I doubted it. + 

Leggett pulled his brows together behind his glasses, looked at me with smaller eyes, and asked sharply: тАЬWhat do you think?тАЭ + 

тАЬI think it was planted there. Your burglar knew too much. He knew which drawer to go to. He didnтАЩt waste time on anything else. Detectives always say: тАШInside job,тАЩ because it saves work if they can find a victim right on the scene; but I canтАЩt see anything else here.тАЭ + 

Minnie came to the door, still holding the vacuum cleaner, and began to cry that she was an honest girl, and nobody had any right to accuse her of anything, and they could search her and her home if they wanted to, and just because she was a colored girl was no reason, and so on and so on; and not all of it could be made out, because the vacuum cleaner was still humming in her hand and she sobbed while she talked. Tears ran down her cheeks. + 

Mrs.┬аLeggett went to her, patted her shoulder, and said: тАЬThere, there. DonтАЩt cry, Minnie. I know you hadnтАЩt anything to do with it, and so does everybody else. There, there.тАЭ Presently she got the girlтАЩs tears turned off and sent her upstairs. + 

Leggett sat on a corner of the kitchen table and asked: тАЬYou suspect someone in this house?тАЭ + 

тАЬSomebody whoтАЩs been in it, yeah.тАЭ + 

тАЬWhom?тАЭ + 

тАЬNobody yet.тАЭ + 

тАЬThatтАЭтБатАФhe smiled, showing white teeth almost as small as his daughterтАЩsтБатАФтАЬmeans everybodyтБатАФall of us?тАЭ + 

тАЬLetтАЩs take a look at the lawn,тАЭ I suggested. тАЬIf we find any more diamonds IтАЩll say maybe IтАЩm mistaken about the inside angle.тАЭ + 

Halfway through the house, as we went towards the front door, we met Minnie Hershey in a tan coat and violet hat, coming to say goodbye to her mistress. She wouldnтАЩt, she said tearfully, work anywhere where anybody thought she had stolen anything. She was just as honest as anybody else, and more than some, and just as much entitled to respect, and if she couldnтАЩt get it one place she could another, because she knew places where people wouldnтАЩt accuse her of stealing things after she had worked for them for two long years without ever taking so much as a slice of bread. + 

Mrs.┬аLeggett pleaded with her, reasoned with her, scolded her, and commanded her, but none of it was any good. The brown girlтАЩs mind was made up, and away she went. + 

Mrs.┬аLeggett looked at me, making her pleasant face as severe as she could, and said reprovingly: тАЬNow see what youтАЩve done.тАЭ + 

I said I was sorry, and her husband and I went out to examine the lawn. We didnтАЩt find any more diamonds. + 