Free SV - 05 - Sergeant Verity and the Swell Mob. by Francis Selwyn Page B

steps to the basement will be kept by the six of you in
the square itself. This scrutiny will be maintained, day and night, on every
day of the week until further notice. Stand easy!'
    The
six men shuffled their feet and eased their shoulders a little. Verity felt a
sense of deep injustice. After all that he had done, the arrest of the
Trafalgar Street gang, Mary Ann, Vicki Hartle and Blind Charley, this was to be
his reward! His round red face grew warmer still with a sense of affront. To
stand like a porter outside the terraces of white mansions which graced the
western end of the promenade! And to what purpose? Banker Lansing's doxy would
hardly flash the heathen clasp about with two stalwart figures standing
permanently outside her front door! The whole idea was what he called 'dead
lead'.
    He
roused himself from indignant self-pity, just as Bunker, the smartly dressed
director of the London Indemnity came along the line, handing each man two
pieces of card with pictures or diagrams upon them.
    In the background Superintendent Gowry was still talking.
    'A
fraud upon an insurance company may seem a lesser crime. Yet it is as grave as
any robbery or assault upon the person. For it attacks the very basis of trust
on which commercial confidence and probity must rest. You will treat this as a
conspiracy of the most serious kind. You will use your best endeavours. . .'
    Verity
looked at the first card. It was a splendid coloured engraving of the Shah
Jehan clasp done at the time of its public display in the Crystal Palace. The
turban sarpesh , shaped like a proud eight-inch feather, seemed to glow
and flash with ruby red and emerald green. The quill was carved of white jade.
The plume was gold, set with a tight-packed galaxy of gleaming gems. It rose
from a diamond the size of a small egg. A pattern of green leaves was carved
from emeralds, whose buds were twenty deep maroon rubies. The crowning glory
was a ruby-flower so large that a man's finger and thumb would not circle it.
    Its value, Verity guessed, was
beyond calculation. The jewels alone were worth far more than the London Indemnity's
compromise settlement of £5,000. The craft and history of the great Mogul
clasp made it unique and without price.
    'We
are confident that the heirloom remains in Brunswick Square,' said Gowry. 'The
young person who lives there was German governess in the Lansing family before
she contracted a — er — closer acquaintance with the late Baron. She has no
associates in the English criminal world. No likely accomplices here. She must
therefore take the clasp out of England, if she chooses to profit by it. And
there she knows the Customs and Waterguard will search her, every stitch. We
seek not revenge but her honest confession. It will come when her position
appears plain to her. You will take over surveillance from the London Indemnity
inspectors this afternoon. The young person will be watched every hour and
every minute, at home and wherever she may travel. Mr Croaker will assign your
duties at two o'clock. Parade! Shun! Dismiss!'
    As the
men turned away Verity glanced at the second photographic card which Bunker had
handed out. His eyes bulged a little and he gave a rich chortle of excitement.
    ‘Don't
prose so!' said Meiklejohn wearily. He and Verity were alone in the room which
served as office for the men of the Private-Clothes Detail during their
Brighton secondment. The noon sunlight, heavy with dust, fell on a pair of
counting-house tables and two high stools.
    'I
tell you I seen her before!' Verity whispered insistently. He glanced back
nervously at the closed door, as if fearing interruption. 'She was one of them
young persons bred up at Miss Lammle's in Cheyne Walk. Bred up to be a
governess. Me and Mr Samson had an eye on the house after a young beauty called
Judith Perry was sent there. German governess this one was. Name o' Cosima
Bremer. She's no more 'n eighteen or nineteen now. Bit flighty but no real harm
in her. Will