A very few minutes sufficed to give us the facts. Mr Rolf had gone out of the hotel at 11.15. At 11.30, a gentleman, so like him in appearance as to pass muster, entered the hotel and demanded the jewel-case from the safe deposit. He duly signed the receipt, remarking carelessly as he did so: 'Looks a bit different from my ordinary one, but I hurt my hand getting out of the taxi.' The clerk merely smiled and remarked that he saw very little difference. Rolf laughed and said: 'Well, don't run me in as a crook this time, anyway. I've been getting threatening letters from a Chinaman, and the worst of it is I look rather like a Chink myself - it's something about the eyes.'
'I looked at him,' said the clerk who was telling us this, 'and I saw at once what he meant. The eyes slanted up at the corners like an Oriental's. I'd never noticed it before.'
'Darn it all, man,' roared Gregory Rolf, leaning forward, 'do you notice it now?'
The man looked up at him and started.
'No, sir,' he said. 'I can't say I do.' And indeed there was nothing even remotely Oriental about the frank brown eyes that looked into ours.
The Scotland Yard man grunted. 'Bold customer. Thought the eyes might be noticed, and took the bull by the horns to disarm suspicion. He must have watched you out of the hotel, sir, and nipped in as soon as you were well away.'
'What about the jewel-case?' I asked.
'It was found in a corridor of the hotel. Only one thing had been taken - "The Western Star."'
We stared at each other - the whole thing was so bizarre, so unreal.
Poirot hopped briskly to his feet. 'I have not been of much use, I fear,' he said regretfully. 'Is it permitted to see Madame?'
'I guess she's prostrated with the shock,' explained Rolf.
'Then perhaps I might have a few words alone with you, monsieur?'
'Certainly.'
In about five minutes Poirot reappeared.
'Now, my friend,' he said gaily. 'To a post office. I have to send a telegram.'
'Who to?'
'Lord Yardly.' He discounted further inquiries by slipping his arm through mine. 'Come, come, mon ami. I know all that you feel about this miserable business. I have not distinguished myself! You, in my place, might have distinguished yourself. Bien! All is admitted. Let us forget it and have lunch.'
It was about four o'clock when we entered Poirot's rooms. A figure rose from a chair by the window. It was Lord Yardly. He looked haggard and distraught.
'I got your wire and came up at once. Look here, I've been round to Hoffberg, and they know nothing about that man of theirs last night, or the wire either. Do you think that - '
Poirot held up his hand.
'My excuses! I sent that wire, and hired the gentleman in question.'
'You - but why? What?' The nobleman spluttered impotently.
'My little idea was to bring things to a head,' explained Poirot placidly.
'Bring things to a head! Oh, my God!' cried Lord Yardly.
'And the ruse succeeded,' said Poirot cheerfully. 'Therefore, milord, I have much pleasure in returning you - this!' With a dramatic gesture he produced a glittering object. It was a great diamond.
'The Star of the East,' gasped Lord Yardly. 'But I don't understand - '
'No?' said Poirot. 'It makes no matter. Believe me, it was necessary for the diamond to be stolen. I promised you that it would be preserved to you, and I have kept my word. You must permit me to keep my little secret. Convey, I beg of you, the assurances of my deepest respect to Lady Yardly, and tell her how pleased I am to be able to restore her jewel to her. What beau temps , is it not? Good day, milord.'
And smiling and talking, the amazing little man conducted the bewildered nobleman to the door. He returned gently rubbing his hands.
'Poirot,' I said. 'Am I quite demented?'
'No, mon ami, but you are, as always, in a mental fog.'
'How did you get the diamond?'
'From Mr Rolf.'
'Rolf?'
'Mais ouis! The warning letters, the Chinaman, the article in Society Gossip , all sprang from the ingenious brain of Mr Rolf! The two diamonds, supposed to be so miraculously alike - bah! they did not exist. There was only one diamond, my friend! Originally in the Yardly collection, for three years it has been in the possession of Mr Rolf. He stole it this morning with the assistance of a touch of grease paint at the corner of each eye! Ah, I must see him on the film, he is indeed an artist, celui-là!'
'But why should he steal his own diamond?' I asked, puzzled.
'For many reasons. To begin with, Lady Yardly was getting restive.'
'Lady Yardly?'
'You comprehend she was left much alone in California. Her husband was amusing himself elsewhere. Mr Rolf was handsome, he had an air about him of romance. But au fond, he is very businesslike, ce monsieur! He made love to Lady Yardly, and then he blackmailed her. I taxed the lady with the truth the other night, and she admitted it. She swore that she had only been indiscreet, and I believe her. But, undoubtedly, Rolf had letters of hers that could be twisted to bear a different interpretation. Terrified by the threat of a divorce, and the prospect of being separated from her children, she agreed to all he wished. She had no money of her own, and she was forced to permit him to substitute a paste replica for the real stone. The coincidence of the date of the appearance of "The Western Star" struck me at once. All goes well. Lord Yardly prepares to range himself - to settle down. And then comes the menace of the possible sale of the diamond. The substitution will be discovered. Without doubt she writes off frantically to Gregory Rolf who has just arrived in England. He soothes her by promising to arrange all - and prepares for a double robbery. In this way he will quiet the lady, who might conceivably tell all to her husband, an affair which would not suit our blackmailer at all, he will have ВЈ50,000 insurance money (aha, you had forgotten that!), and he will still have the diamond! At this point I put my finger in the pie. The arrival of a diamond expert is announced. Lady Yardly, as I felt sure she would, immediately arranges a robbery - and does it very well too! But Hercule Poirot, he sees nothing but facts. What happens in actuality? The lady switches off the light, bangs the door, throws the necklace down the passage, and screams. She has already wrenched out the diamond with pliers upstairs - '
'But we saw the necklace round her neck!' I objected.
'I demand pardon, my friend. Her hand concealed the part of it where the gap would have shown. To place a piece of silk in the door beforehand is child's play! Of course, as soon as Rolf read of the robbery, he arranged his own little comedy. And very well he played it!'
'What did you say to him?' I asked with lively curiosity.
'I said to him that Lady Yardly had told her husband all, that I was empowered to recover the jewel, and that if it were not immediately handed over proceedings would be taken. Also a few more little lies which occurred to me. He was as wax in my hands!'
I pondered the matter.
'It seems a little unfair on Mary Marvell. She has lost her diamond through no fault of her own.'
'Bah!' said Poirot brutally. 'She has a magnificent advertisement.
That is all she cares for, that one ! Now the other, she is different.
Bonne mère, très femme!'
'Yes,' I said doubtfully, hardly sharing Poirot's views on femininity. 'I suppose it was Rolf who sent her the duplicate letters.'
'Pas du tout,' said Poirot briskly. 'She came by the advice of Mary Cavendish to seek my aid in her dilemma. Then she heard that Mary Marvell, whom she knew to be her enemy, had been here, and she changed her mind, jumping at a pretext that you , my friend, offered her. A very few questions sufficed to show me that you told her of the letters, not she you! She jumped at the chance your words offered.'
'I don't believe it,' I cried, stung.
'Si, si, mon ami, it is a pity that you study not the psychology. She told you that the letters were destroyed? Oh, la la, never does a woman destroy a letter if she can avoid it! Not even if it would be more prudent to do so!'