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59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For whom this sorrow? he enquired coldly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For the tutor or his charge?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For the boy, Rose declared."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "After all, he was very young."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm sorry for Duncombe, Leonard admitted frankly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Whatever he'd been up to, it was the most horrible death any one could die."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm sorry for both, I insisted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think that somehow we ought to have prevented it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I continually forget, he said coldly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Was Duncombe's story really true?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This one is, at any rate, our host replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Arthur Dompers was the orphan son of a Welsh miner. When he was fourteen years of age, a relative in America died intestate and this boy was discovered to be the heir. Some lawyers in London were entrusted with the charge of him. He was sent to four private schools, from each one of which he was expelled. Three tutors one by one relinquished the task of training him up in the way he should go. Duncombe was the fourth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell us about Mr. Duncombe, please,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Duncombe was one of those criminals who are too clever to come under the ban of the law, Thomson continued."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was also a person against whom I had a very strong grievance. When I heard that the boy, Arthur Dompers, had been committed to his charge, I felt that, if carefully watched, Duncombe's time had come at last. By some irony of fate, the fortune left to Arthur Dompers became trebled and quadrupled in the hands of his trustees. Duncombe's appetite for plunder, already insatiable, must have become a fever. He was clever, though. He bided his time. For three years he had charge of Arthur Dompers, and during that three years he improved him immensely. It was perfectly clear what he was waiting for--for the only period when the boy could be of real service to him--namely after his twenty-first birthday. He made his plans a long way ahead. With great cunning he kept secret the day of the boy's majority. You attended a picnic, I think--a birthday party?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was supposed to be his twentieth birthday,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In reality his twenty-first, Thomson went on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the morning of that day, the boy made his will, leaving the bulk of his estate to Ella Duncombe, and large legacies to the rest of the family. He also left a letter addressed to Ella Duncombe, in which he made clear the relations between them and spoke of their impending marriage. With those documents in his possession, Duncombe had no more use for the boy. There is no doubt, from your report, Lister, that he deliberately made his first attempt upon his life on that very morning. There is no doubt, also, that the boy, half-witted though he was, in his sullen way saw through the whole thing. His hate for Duncombe became a slow-burning passion--and there, I think, is the story of the tragedy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And the will?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was committed to the flames on the morning of the tragedy by Duncombe's sister--also the letter. The estate goes to the Crown."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All that money and no one any better off!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The lawyers to the estate, he told us,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know your attitude towards questions, sir, I said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not welcome questions, he admitted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On whose behalf, then, were we acting, Leonard asked,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That, he replied,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How does one address a duke?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No idea, I replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't suppose we shall see anything of him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I only knew one, Leonard murmured reminiscently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was at Harrow and we used to call him Tubby."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't see that that's going to help us, Rose remarked."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "However----"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very good of you to come down here and help us along, he said, pleasantly ignoring the fact that we were being paid fifty pounds a week and our expenses to help provide his guests with entertainment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope you're quite comfortable?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You're not any relation to the Cotton who started bowling googlies for Harrow in his last term, I suppose?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll play for the Castle this afternoon? he begged."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We're playing the rest of the County, and they're bringing a pretty hot side. Our batting's all right but our bowling's rotten."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I haven't played for two years,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "At three o'clock, the Duke announced, ignoring Leonard's hesitation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll find a couple of pros down at the nets if you want a knock first. Don't give your bowling away too much, as some of the enemy are prowling around."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Maurice, she observed, as the door closed,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose there must be, I admitted,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Exactly what are our instructions?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Vague, I replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The only letter I received from our chief told me to accept the offer through Keith Prowse, to come here, to sit tight and study conditions."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What did he mean by 'conditions'?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just get in touch with our environment, I suppose. For instance, here we are with half a dozen others, brought up to Westmoreland to amuse the Duke's house party. We are being treated royally, the house party seems to comprise some of the best-known names in England, and the whole thing seems to be marvellously done."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But so far no glimmering as to how or where we may come in?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not the slightest, I admitted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, this place is a perfect treasure house. They say that the jewels alone are insured for more than two millions. There may be some robbery scheme on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perhaps, Rose suggested,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't help wishing, I confessed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm not sure that I care,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "When I think of that night at Cromer, he reflected--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And for me,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Begone, dull care, I invoked,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall come and watch,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Have you seen the Lorringham treasures yet?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't even know what they are."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You mean to say that you haven't heard of the Lorringham pearls and the seven tiaras?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've heard of them vaguely, she replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I didn't even know that they were on view."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Lorringham pink pearls, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And they are really on view?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not to the public. Whenever there is a house party here, they are generally shown to the guests."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are immensely valuable, these jewels?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They are insured for two millions,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Has any attempt at robbery ever been made?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are too well guarded,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is interesting, this, Faraday remarked quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are the jewels kept in safes?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The room in which they are is in itself a safe. There are steel shutters to the windows, and steel safes let into the wall. There is a man on guard outside, day and night, and the only key in existence which could unlock the safes is in the possession of the Duke himself."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That fact may do away with some risk, he observed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you mean to say that no one has ever made any attempt to steal them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Once only, twenty-two years ago, in the late Duke's time, Formby admitted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A gang of burglars--they say that Charles Peace was one of them--broke into the Castle, but they never got anywhere near the room. Soon after that these shutters were built, and the safes let into the wall, and quite recently an American expert came over, who designed the lock. Robbery is now an impossibility."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will at least join my personally conducted party, he suggested, turning to Rose,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I heard your Grace inviting Miss Mindel and her companions to inspect the treasure chamber to-night, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "May I be permitted to accompany them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "After that performance of yours, Mr. Faraday, he confessed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I really don't know what to say. I seem to have a horrible vision of watching my tiaras come out through the steel doors, and my pink pearls drop out from the ceiling into your waistcoat pocket."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will undertake to refrain from any extempore performance, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As a matter of fact, your Grace, there are limitations to my magic."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Another time, perhaps, he promised, a little coldly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My party to-night is made up."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is an American idea,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We keep them like this instead of in coffers, the Duke explained,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Supposing you wanted to get at them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is a secret spring, he replied,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he added, turning to one of his guests."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The greatest diamond expert in the world, who was here last year, declared that he had never seen stones to match those in his life."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't wear this platinum affair except when I am down here, he told us."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The rest of the time I leave it at my banker's. Tell me what you are thinking about, Miss Mindel?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was wondering why you wouldn't let Mr. Faraday come with us."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, he admitted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose it was foolish of me. All the same, the man's performance took away my breath. Of course, he went on,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know that it was all illusion, and yet it doesn't seem to me any more wonderful to think of his thrusting his hand through my plate-glass windows and helping himself to my pearls, than to perform some of the feats he achieved this evening. The guardianship of several million pounds' worth of family treasures, he concluded, with an apologetic smile,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said, a little ill-naturedly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose you've seen the treasures?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We have,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are they as wonderful as report says?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm no judge,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By the bye, there's a note for you on the table."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nothing annoying, I hope?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nothing of any importance,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Princess has strange fancies, she remarked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have seen her wearing the Chantilly emeralds at a small dinner party, and afterwards go to a Court function wearing the jewels of an ingénue."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She ought to marry the Duke, I whispered,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She would look better in them than any woman in the world, she agreed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The pity of it is that she would only be able to wear them up here, and for a woman of her cosmopolitan tastes, Westmoreland would seem a little confining."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But if she were Duchess of Lorringham?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The jewels are a very solemn family trust, she told me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I believe I am right in saying that they cannot be taken out of the United Kingdom. One of the famous tiaras was stolen about a hundred years ago in London, and the deed of trust was amended then. I suppose it is quite all right, she went on meditatively,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Formby, I said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't want to seem impertinent but I should like to ask you a question."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go ahead,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is the Duke a rich man?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What on earth makes you ask a question like that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I really haven't any reason, I hastened to assure him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I just wondered, that's all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Duke, he told me impressively,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Maurice, she asked me, as I sank into a chair by her side,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I haven't the faintest idea, I replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The chief has been even less communicative than usual. It seems to have something to do with the jewels and that is all I know."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't think, she went on nervously,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I don't think that, I assured her."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where the chief stands sometimes I can't quite make up my mind, but I don't think a jewel robbery, even on such a scale as this, is quite in his line. If our presence here has anything to do with jewels at all, and I think it has, I added, dropping my voice,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should say that we were here indirectly to aid their guardians."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then why doesn't the Duke mention it to us?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's beyond me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Maurice, she whispered,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go on,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, for one thing, then, what does he want with a ninety horse-power car, concerning which he hasn't said a word to any of us? I saw him driving it in the lower stretches of the park this morning."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, that might be any man's hobby, I replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What else?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I found him poring over a map this afternoon, she continued."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I looked over his shoulder. It was a road map of Westmoreland, and I am perfectly certain that he was tracing out the road from here to the sea. It is only twenty miles."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, I said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Most robberies seem like that until afterwards,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Besides, I argued,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Faraday is, in his way, a famous man. He must earn several thousands a year. Why should he run such appalling risks?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Go and look at the _Era_, which I left on the sitting-room table, she enjoined."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look at the paragraph at the bottom of the sixth page."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What does it mean?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It means that this man isn't Faraday at all, she declared."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was doubtful of him from the first. I saw Faraday at the Coliseum about two years ago, and I am sure that he was a much older man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In that case, I said thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose it is our duty to warn the Duke."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You must do as you think best,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Were you looking for me, Lister?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "In a sense I was, your Grace, I admitted."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I--er--there was a little matter I thought I ought to mention to you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The man Faraday, the illusionist,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, what about him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Some one who saw Faraday perform at the Coliseum two years ago, I continued,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have no doubt that your information is correct, the Duke replied coldly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I come to think of it, I believe the agents told me that they were sending a Faraday man but not Faraday himself. You surely had some reason for bringing me this--information?"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It must sound idiotic, your Grace, I confessed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I never dreamed that you were such an old woman, Lister, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am much obliged to you for your warning, he added, with some return of his old courtesy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "As it happens, however, I was already aware that this man was not Faraday himself, and I fancy that my precautions for guarding the Lorringham treasures are adequate."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do not be too confident, dear host, she murmured."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If women were only made of sterner stuff, a lock has never been fashioned which could keep a pearl lover from your jewel chamber."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nevertheless, he added, turning to me with a friendly gesture of dismissal,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I had no idea that you were going by this early train! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So glad that I did not miss you altogether."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am afraid, our host continued, smiling at me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he went on,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am sure you will agree with me that the neighbourhood of the jewel chamber is rather a dangerous place for a man addicted to nightmares to be wandering about at three o'clock in the morning."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What I saw was no nightmare, I said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I saw some sort of powder dropped into Edwards' glass, and I saw a man pass into the jewel chamber."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "My dear Mr. Lister, he protested,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Perhaps the most satisfactory part of your hallucination, he went on,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he concluded indulgently,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thank you, Duke,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On this occasion, our host remarked tolerantly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I feel that I must be a little more lenient than usual as regards questions. You came away from Lorringham a little puzzled, I have no doubt?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We did indeed, I replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We want to know why the Duke was engaged in a conspiracy to steal his own jewels, and why our mission there seemed to be to prevent it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quite a little romance, our host observed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Duke, as you may have noticed, is very much in love with the Princess of Chantilly. The Princess is one of those women in whom the love of jewels amounts to a passion. The Lorringham pink pearls are, as you may know, priceless. More than anything in the world the Princess desires to wear those pearls."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then why doesn't she acquire them by marrying the Duke?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Because, Mr. Thomson explained,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I had known this, I confessed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm afraid my sympathies would have been with the Duke."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That proves, then, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he added, handing me an oblong strip of paper,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am asked to hand you this cheque for five hundred pounds."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All the same, I observed,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't wonder the Duke thought I was a meddlesome idiot."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "His Grace has probably forgiven you, Mr. Thomson remarked,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In one month, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will not want us again?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Please do not consider that any reflection upon your efforts, he begged."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "During the last ten years I have had assistants in every walk of life. No one has served me more intelligently or on the whole more successfully than you three. The fact of the matter is that I am going to retire."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Retire from what? I asked him impetuously."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who are you? What are you? I have never been able to make up my mind whether we have been on the side of the sheep or the goats. How did you become interested, for instance, in this last affair? Did the insurance companies give you a brief? And if so, did they give it to a master criminal, to police headquarters, or to a private detective?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Shall we call that Conundrum Number Six? Mr. Thomson suggested, watching the ash on his cigar."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You understand, of course, that we are going to have a grand finale. You have a week in which to rest, and I think a study of your banking account will prove that you are justified in taking a holiday if you wish to. On next Thursday evening, at six o'clock, I desire that all three of you will be at the rooms which you are now occupying in Clarges Street. You will there receive a message from me. I shall ask your help once more before I retire into private life--and safety."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I were your age, Lister, he said, turning to me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I should ask Miss Mindel to drift about with me in one of those shadowy boats."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "To think, she murmured, a little tremulously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Or to the beginning,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're Maurice Lister, what, and Mr. Leonard Cotton? he began."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No use telling you my name because you wouldn't know it. I've brought you a message."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Got to be tooting off in a moment, he continued."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have just come from the old man. He's in a nursing home round the corner."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What, Mr. Thomson?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They nearly laid him out last night in Lansdowne Passage, he announced."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Fortunately, I wasn't far away. Number 100, John Street. He'd like you there in a quarter of an hour, Mr. Lister."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But who laid him out? I asked."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is he seriously hurt?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's an account here! he exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Was that really Mr. Thomson?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Less said, less trouble, the young man replied, embracing us all in a common farewell salute."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "So long."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They pretty nearly got me this time, Lister,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Who did?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A little company of men, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are you badly hurt?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am scarcely hurt at all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The newspapers,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Inspired."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are on the side of the law this time, then!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I confess it. The newspapers which speak of my perilous condition exaggerate. Nevertheless, he went on,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have decided to spend a week here. The surroundings are pleasant and the rest is good. During that week you will take my place."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The devil I shall!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One reason, Mr. Thomson condescended to explain,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is princely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you succeed, Mr. Thomson continued,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What on earth are you doing here?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am here, he replied,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A Labour conference?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Something even more than that. These devils have got something up their sleeves. They have some reason for meeting in a small place like this, and meeting privately. There's something brewing."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What sort of a something? I asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is it a secret from two harmless strolling players?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No secret at all that I know of, our friend replied gruffly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Every country, he explained,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you mean Creslin, the Bolshevist? Leonard demanded--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The same,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But how is it that that man is free to walk the streets of any English town? Leonard persisted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I should have thought such a criminal could have been shot anywhere."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't think there is any offence against the English law under which he could be charged, Rastall declared."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Every port was watched, and they did try to keep him out of the country. They hadn't a chance, though. He was far too clever for them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell me what there is against the Government putting a bold front on the matter, arresting Creslin, and deporting him as an undesirable alien?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just this. The whole country just now is in a dangerously inflammatory state. The committees for settling Labour disputes worked well enough at first, but so much of this false, socialistic literature, anarchistic stuff, has made its way into the country during the last few years, that Labour, fat and well-fed and surfeited with pleasure, is more dangerous to-day than it was in the old days of starvation. Wages to-day are an enormous tax upon capital, but you know what the screaming Bolshevist is. He wants all the time to kill the goose that lays the golden egg; he wants to pull down the capitalist and reign in his stead. If ever he succeeded, as he did in Russia, England would be industrially and commercially ruined."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yet even with that certainty before us, you mean to tell me that the Government is going to let Creslin meet the heads of all the trades unions here and pour his filth down their throats?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Seems like it,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can I have a word with you, Mr. Lister?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get right on with it,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wondered if by any chance you could be induced to give up your sitting room? It happens to be the only one I have in the house, and we have a very distinguished visitor from abroad, just arrived, who objects to the public rooms."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sorry, I said firmly,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is on my behalf that the manager is speaking, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have the good or evil fortune to bear a name which in an industrial neighbourhood like this is somewhat too well known. I am Paul Creslin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Success is born of the brain and wrecked by impulse."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am not a politician, I said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are most courteous, he acknowledged."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am going to my room for a few minutes. Afterwards I shall venture to intrude."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What on earth do you mean, Maurice, she exclaimed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The time has come, I said, addressing myself particularly to Rose,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Every man is allowed one extravagance in life, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You and your friend, for instance, drink wine and whisky and soda and smoke cigars. I do neither. My weakness lies elsewhere."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You love flowers, Miss Mindel?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I adore them, she acknowledged,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "she went on, meeting his gaze with a coquetry for which I could never have given her credit,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Miss Mindel does not approve of the coming emancipation of her sex, he observed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose the doctrines of the new world must sound strange at first to those who have counted the hard and fast chastity of the Puritan amongst the virtues."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are the doctrines of the new world?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They include, at any rate, he replied, in his quiet, sibilant voice,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That sounds like Bolshevism, pure and simple,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The actual principles of Bolshevism, Creslin asserted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I should be sorry, I declared,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There was never a race of people in the world, he pronounced,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is your substitute for the marriage laws?"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Union between man and woman, he explained,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I see, Leonard murmured."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And what would become of the children?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They are for the State--children of the State, was the almost wondering reply."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Every household should have its nursery. For every child born, a State grant should be given."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is there any literature, I enquired,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is, Creslin replied, after a moment's pause."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The time is scarcely ripe, however, for its dissemination. If you would care to possess a text book, drawn up by myself and embodying the principles which I desire sooner or later to be accepted by the whole world, I will present you with one."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is nothing Creslin desires so much, he pointed out,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Supposing he were to be arrested?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The police would never get him out of town, Rastall replied."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There are a million of his followers within a radius of twenty miles from here. I think we should see a riot that would approach almost to a revolution. The man is as cunning as a fox. He will preach his idealistic sociology first. The rest will creep in by degrees."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I gather, he said, one morning,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She is nothing to us, I replied,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will not conceal from you, he continued,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have met with no woman, he went on,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then why don't you ask her to marry you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are a little ignorant of the way things are moving in the world, he said quietly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are wrapped up, perhaps--in your art. I am Creslin. To-morrow, if I chose, I could be dictator of Russia or Germany, Hungary or Austria. It pleases me instead to be the spokesman of my class in every country of the world. I do not understand the word 'marriage'."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am afraid you will find some of us a little insular. Miss Mindel is of course free to make her own decisions in life, but it is as well, perhaps, to impress upon you the fact that whilst she is travelling with us we consider ourselves, Mr. Cotton and I, her guardians. We should resent forcibly any offer to her which was not in accordance with the established conventions."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You speak like the hero of one of those melodramas in which I used to revel when I was a youthful student in London. What I choose to say to Miss Mindel I shall say. It will be a strange thing to me if she refuses to listen. Be sensible, my young friend, and remember."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Remember what?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who I am, he answered, with cool and splendid assurance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I carry the burden of the new world upon my shoulders. I am the future dictator of all human Society."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On general principles, Rose agreed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think that Creslin is a detestable person, and I should like to see him publicly disgraced for ever. On the other hand, I don't think, she went on, with a little grimace,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But listen, Leonard interrupted eagerly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I heard him distinctly whispering to you that to-morrow was to be his great day; all that he needed was inspiration, that he must carry with him on to the platform memories and hopes--and a lot of slush of that sort."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Quite right, she assented."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I promised that I would not go to bed to-night until I had seen him. I am sure he will be here presently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very well, then, I decided,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Maurice, she said, and there was a look of trouble in her dear eyes,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't like this. I hate that man near me. I hate the idea that I may have to listen to horrible things from him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I hate the thought of your doing it, I answered firmly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Say the word, Rose, and we'll finish here. The pamphlet's enough. Any reasonable Englishman would be justified in giving him a thrashing for that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The other is better, of course; only swear that you will not leave me alone for five seconds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can promise that,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know that he meant what he said about to-night, she assured us uneasily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Swear that you will be near, Maurice."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are you going to do?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Horsewhip you first, I told him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I added, as he opened his lips."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's the skeleton key still in the door there, and the hotel is full of journalists. Better make up your mind to go through with it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you do me an injury, he cried,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get up, I ordered roughly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We're taking our chance about that."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You three, he said musingly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Helped by the Press,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Helped by the Press, without a doubt, he assented."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Their tone was in every respect admirable. The _Daily Hour_ cartoon of Creslin, the pure-minded idealist, staggering to his feet from the bench in the Town Hall Square, tarred and feathered, a disgraced debauchee, with fragments of his pamphlet sticking in pieces to his body, and another copy of it hung around his neck, was the most wonderful thing in educational journalism. All the same, Lister, you had a narrow escape. It was the women who saved you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The women and again the Press, I reminded him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just as the people themselves were hesitating, the morning papers came out with a humourous recital of the true story and a digest of the pamphlet. Creslin could never again present a heroic picture to any one. The only earthly chance he ever had of posing successfully as a prophet of the new social law would have been the possession of a personal character of unblemished purity."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At the same time, Mr. Thomson observed, a little gravely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I want you to remember this. Creslin has many friends of his own ilk, friends who knew his real character and who were indifferent. I think a short sea voyage would be good for you and Miss Mindel, at any rate. I will speak of that again presently."
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "As this is our last official reunion, our host continued,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am reminded that there are a good many questions which you have asked me at various times during our association, the answers to which I have postponed until this evening. Question me now as much as you will."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let me start, Rose begged."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I asked the first question, remember. When you arrested Mountjoy, for whom were you acting? Were you for the police, or just an ordinary informer?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For neither, was the calm reply."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have been for ten years the head of the Home Secret Service, an institution, I believe, he added,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The jewels which you took from Kinlosti?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They were sold, and the amount stands to the credit of the Secret Service funds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What became of the treasure which was found in the Spens chateau?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was all returned to its various owners. The Baroness sought my aid because she, too, is a member of our Secret Service."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And Naida?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There was one of our complete successes, Mr. Thomson replied."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No court could have tried Kansky. There was no possible way in which he could have been brought to book for his crimes. The Secret Service undertook to dispose of him and it did."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And what about the boy Arthur Dompers and his tutor Duncombe?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A little outside our ordinary course of business, Mr. Thomson admitted."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Some one or other, however, managed to convince Scotland Yard that Duncombe meant mischief, and I took the matter up to oblige them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What about the Duke and the Lorringham jewels?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That affair was passed over to my supervision, our chief explained,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Tell us, Rose begged,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It simply means, he admitted,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You seem to have unlimited powers, Leonard said thoughtfully."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Doesn't it ever occur to you, sir, to make wider use of them? For instance, every Englishman knows Creslin was a terrible danger to the country. He stood for revolution, disorganisation and anarchy. Why didn't you have him secretly put out of the way?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because the men who share with me the responsibilities of my position, Mr. Thomson replied,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What made you first approach us at Cromer? Rose asked, with a touch of feminine curiosity."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What was there about us, I mean, which made you think we might be useful?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The fact, perhaps, that you looked so innocuous, was the smiling reply."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have agents in many walks of life, and the one thing I aim at as much as possible is to select recruits who not only appear simple-minded and innocent, but who actually are. You are none of you intriguers by disposition; you are simple English gentlepeople. You have escaped suspicion many times for this reason and have therefore been able to succeed, when any ordinary agent would have been suspected from the first."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I see,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will gratify me, Mr. Thomson suggested,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have treated you all the same, our benefactor said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I hope that you will never regret this year out of your lives. I have answered all your conundrums. I will now ask you one. What are you going to do with your money?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am going to buy a share in my father's business and go back to the wine trade, Leonard decided."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Half this money will make a new man of him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am going to marry Rose,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But you haven't asked me!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The year's up, I suppose, old fellow, he said, with a sigh."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We both ask you to marry us, Rose."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bolshevists!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I mean we ask you to choose,"
}
]
|
59198 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My friends, he said,"
}
]
|
677242 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Seek the means to satisfy the King."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's a deuce of a night,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is, he agreed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But the way you put it is more like plain Bob Grell of the old days than the polished Mr. Robert Grell, social idol, millionaire and diplomat, and winner of the greatest matrimonial prize in London."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's all right, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is not a meeting of the Royal Society. Here, in my own club, I claim the right of every free-born citizen to condemn the weather--or anything else--in any language I choose. Great Scott, Fairfield! You don't expect me to wear my mantle all the time. I should explode if I didn't have a safety valve."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're a great man, Bob, he said slowly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You take it quite as a matter of course that you should win the prettiest girl in the three kingdoms. His voice became meditative."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wonder how married life will suit you. You know, you're not altogether the type of a man one associates with the domestic hearthstone."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You make a mistake, Fairfield, he laughed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Eileen and I fit each other, and you'll see we'll settle down all right. Care to see the present I'm giving her to-morrow? It's to be a little surprise. Look here!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pretty toy, isn't it? he commented."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I gave Streeters _carte blanche_ to do the best they could."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And you are fool enough to carry the thing around loose in your pocket. Good heavens, man! Do you know that there are people who would not stick at murder to get a thing like that?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't you worry, Fairfield. You're the only person I've shown it to, and I'm not afraid you'll sandbag me. He changed the subject abruptly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By the way, I've got an engagement I want to keep. Do you mind answering the telephone if I'm rung up by any one? Say I'm here, but I'm frightfully busy clearing up some business matters, will you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why--forgive me, Bob--why not say that you are gone out to keep an appointment?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, it's only a fancy of mine, he retorted lightly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shan't be gone long. You'll do it, won't you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's all right, then. Thanks. I'll be back in half an hour."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hello! Is that you, dear? This is Eileen speaking.... I can't hear. What do you say?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is not Mr. Grell, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is Fairfield--Sir Ralph Fairfield--speaking."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh! He could detect the disappointment in her voice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is he there? I am Lady Eileen Meredith."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes--no--yes. He is here, Lady Eileen, but he has a guest whom it is impossible for him to leave. It's a matter of settling up an important diplomatic question, I believe. Can I give him any message?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, thank you, Sir Ralph. The voice had become cold and dignified. He could picture her chagrin, and again anathematised Grell in his thoughts."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Has he been there long? When do you think he will be free?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't say, I'm sure. He met me here for dinner at seven and has been here since."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Queer chap, he murmured to himself, as he lit a fresh cigar and selected a comfortable chair in the deserted smoking-room."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He's certainly in love with her all right, but it's strange that he should have used me to put her off to-night like that. Wonder what it means."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That you, sir? ... The voice at the other end was tremulous and excited."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is the Yard speaking--Flack. Mr. Grell, the American explorer, has been killed--murdered ... yes ... at his house in Grosvenor Gardens. The butler found him...."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Right. I'm coming straight down. I suppose the local division inspector is on it. Send for Chief Inspector Green and Inspector Waverley, and let the finger-print people know. I shall want one of their best men. Let one of our photographers go to the house and wait for me. Send a messenger to Professor Harding, and telephone to the assistant commissioner. Tell any of the people who are at the house not to touch anything and to detain every one there. And Flack--Flack. Not a word to the newspaper men. We don't want any leakage yet."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't worry about speed limits, he said quietly as he stepped in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Refer any one to me who tries to stop you. Get to Grosvenor Gardens as quickly as you can."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're the first to come, sir, he said in a quiet, melancholy tone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's a terrible job, this."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, agreed Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is the butler? He found the body, I'm told. Fetch him into some room where I can talk to him."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sit down, my man, he said, and his voice was silky and smooth."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get him a drink, Bolt. He'll feel better after that. Now, what's your name?--Wills?--Pull yourself together. There's nothing to be alarmed about. Just take your own time and tell us all about it."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was awful, sir--awful, he said shakily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mr. Grell came in shortly before ten, and left word that if a lady came to see him she was to be brought straight into his study. She drove up in a motor-car a few minutes afterwards and went up to him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What was her name? What was she like?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I--I don't know. Ivan, Mr. Grell's valet, let her in. I saw her pass through the hall. She was tall and slim, but she wore a heavy veil, so I didn't see her face. I don't know when she left, but I went up to the study at one o'clock to ask if anything was needed before I went to bed. I could get no answer, although I knocked loudly two or three times; so I opened the door. My God! I..."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, then?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The room was only dimly lit, sir, and I could see that he was lying on the couch, rather awkwardly, his face turned from me. I thought he might have dozed off, and I went into the room and touched him on the shoulder. My hand came away wet! His voice rose to a scream."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was blood--blood everywhere--and he with a knife in his heart."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where's Ivan?--Russian, I suppose, by the name? He must be about the house somewhere."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I haven't seen him since he let the lady in,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ivan has gone--vanished!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "H'm! he said reflectively."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't let's jump to conclusions too quickly, Mr. Bolt. There's a doctor here, I suppose? Take this man to him, and when he's a bit calmer take a statement from him. I'll leave Ivan to you. Get some of the servants to give you a description of him, and 'phone it through to Flack at the Yard. Let him send it out as an 'all station' message, and get in touch with the railway stations. The chap can't have got far. Detain on suspicion. No arrest. Hello, there's the bell. That's some of our people, I expect. All right, I'll answer. You get on with that."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall take charge of this myself, if you do not mind, Sir Hilary, Foyle was saying."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mainland is capable of looking after the routine work of the department, and in the case of a man of Mr. Grell's importance----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is what I should have suggested, said Sir Hilary."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We must get to the bottom of this at all costs. You know Mr. Grell was to have been married to Lady Eileen Meredith at St. Margaret's, Westminster, this morning. It's a bad business. Let's see what Harding's got to say."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very handy for any one to get away, commented Foyle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The stairs lead direct to the hall, and there are only two rooms to pass. This carpet would deaden footsteps too."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's clearly murder, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was probably killed between ten and eleven--stabbed through the heart. Curious weapon used too--look!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Send Mr. Grant to me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've never seen anything like this before, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Queer thing, isn't it?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can't see anything, he grumbled peevishly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, there you are, Grant. I want to see whether we can make anything of this. Let me have a little graphite, will you?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "By Jove, that's good!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get one of your men to photograph those and have them enlarged. At any rate, it's something to go on with. It would be as well to compare 'em with the records, though I doubt whether that will be of much use. He drew his watch from his pocket and glanced at it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, if you will excuse me, gentlemen, I should like to have the room to myself for a little while. And, Grant, send Green and the photographer up, and tell Waverley to act with Bolt in examining the servants."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can do nothing, Mr. Foyle, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "From a medical point of view it is all straightforward. There can be no question about the time and cause of death. Good night,--or rather, good morning."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, Mr. Harding, good morning."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've seen that face before somewhere, mused the superintendent."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Green, there's a 'Who's Who' on the desk behind you. I want Sir Ralph Fairfield."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'd better go round to Fairfield's place, Green. Tell him what's happened and bring him here at once."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I will see you later on, Mr. Lomont. I am too busy to see you now. Mr. Waverley or Mr. Bolt will see to you."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Grell killed! he exclaimed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, he was with me last night. It is incredible--awful. Of course, I'll come at once--though I don't see what use I can be. What time was he murdered?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "About ten o'clock. So far as we know you were the last person to see him alive--except the murderer, said Green."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Believe me, we're sorry to have to trouble you."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why out of so many millions of people should this happen to _me_?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's a horrible thing, this,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, he agreed, stroking his chin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I asked you to come here because Mr. Grell dined with you last night. Do you know if he left you to keep an appointment?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No--that is, it might have been so. He left me, and I understood he would be back. He did not return."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At what time?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I haven't the remotest idea."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know of any woman who was likely to visit him at that time of night?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Great heavens, no, man! Do you suspect a woman? He---- He checked himself, and looked curiously at the detective."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Grell was a friend of mine, he went on more quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Things are bad enough as they are, but you know that he had influential friends both here and in America. They won't thank you, Mr. Foyle, for trying to go into such things."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall do what I consider to be my duty, he said, his voice a little hard."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come, Sir Ralph, you will see I must do my best to bring the murderer of this man to justice. Had Mr. Grell any relations?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't believe there's one in the wide world."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you don't remember what time he left? Try, Sir Ralph. It is important. Before you came I sent a man to the club, and none of the servants recollects seeing either of you go. They say he was with you most of the evening. You can clear up this matter of time."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't remember what time he left me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are lying,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, by the way, Sir Ralph, you might look at this before you go, and say whether you recognise it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By Jove, it's little Lola of Vienna! he exclaimed. Then realised that he had been trapped."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But I shall tell you nothing about her,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, Sir Ralph,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But this I think it right you should know, went on Fairfield, standing with one hand still on the handle of the door:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When Grell was with me last night he showed me a pearl necklace, which he said he had bought as a wedding present for Lady Eileen Meredith. If you have not found it, it may give you some motive for the tragedy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes. Of course, I'll let you know all about it, he protested."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll have the facts typed out for you, and you can embroider them yourselves. There's a description of a man we'd like to get hold of--not necessarily the murderer, but he might be an important witness. Be sure and put that in."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This has been left at the Lost Property Office, he declared unblushingly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's pretty valuable, so they've put it into our hands to find the owner. Any of you boys know the lady?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Reminds me of that Russian princess woman who's been staying at the Palatial, only it's too young for her. What's her name?--Petrovska, I think."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thanks, said Foyle;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get the Palatial Hotel, he ordered."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hello! That the Palatial? Is the Princess Petrovska there? What? Left last night at ten o'clock? Did she say where she was going? No, I see. Good-bye."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Send that to St. Petersburg at once."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Woman you mention formerly Lola Rachael, believed born Paris; formerly on stage, Vienna; married Prince Petrovska, 1898. Husband died suddenly 1900. Travels much. No further particulars known."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Formerly Lola Rachael, he murmured."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And Sir Ralph recognised the miniature as little Lola of Vienna. She's worth looking after. We must find her, Green. What about this man Ivan?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No trace of him yet, sir, but I don't think he can give us the slip. He hadn't much time to get away. By the way, sir, what do you think of Sir Ralph?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know. He's keeping something back for some reason. You'd better have him shadowed, Green. Go yourself, and take a good man with you. He mustn't be let out of sight night or day. I may tackle him again later on."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very good, sir. Waverley's still at Grosvenor Gardens. Will you be going back there?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know. I want to look through the records of the Convict Supervision Office for the last ten years. I have an idea that I may strike something."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it? he demanded, the excitement of the detective communicating itself to him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you carried the case any further?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, replied the detective."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I must see the body again. Come up with me."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What is it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mr. Lomont, replied the detective gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wish I knew. Unless our whole system of identification is wrong--and that is incredible--that man who lies dead there is not Robert Grell."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not Robert Grell!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Inquiries as to career of, and corroboration of statements made by, James Lomont."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look, he said, in a quiet voice,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is not, he whispered with dry lips."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is an old scar across the temple. Mr. Grell's face was not disfigured. He stretched out a hand and clutched the superintendent nervously by the shoulder."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who is this man, Mr. Foyle? What does it all mean? Where is Mr. Grell?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know what it means, he confessed irritably."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know as much as I do now. This man is not Robert Grell, though he is astonishingly like him. Now, Mr. Lomont, I rely on you not to breathe a word of this to a living soul until I give you permission. This secret must remain between our two selves for the time being."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Certainly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You see, sir, he explained to the Assistant Commissioner later,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Isn't this the Goldenburg who engineered the South American gold mine swindle?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's the man, agreed Foyle, not without a note of rueful admiration."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He'd got half-a-dozen of the best-known and richest peers in England to promise support, when we spoilt his game. No one would prosecute. He always had luck, had Goldenburg. He's been at the back of a score of big things, but we could never get legal proof against him. He was a cunning rascal--educated, plausible, reckless. Well, he's gone now, and he's given us as tough a nut to crack as ever he did while he was alive."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How did you get his finger-prints if he was never convicted?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I arrested him myself, on a charge of pocket-picking in Piccadilly, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, he never picked a pocket in his life--he was too big a crook for that. But we got a remand, and that gave us a chance to get his photograph and prints for the records. We offered no evidence on the second hearing. It was perhaps not strictly legal, but---- The superintendent's features relaxed into a smile."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He never brought an action for malicious prosecution."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And about Grell? How do you propose to find him?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You think we shall catch one man by advertising for another?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think it worth trying, sir, retorted the superintendent curtly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The description and the photograph fit like a glove--and we shan't be giving anything away."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm a fool--a fool, he told himself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why should they suspect me? What have I to gain by Grell's death?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lady Eileen Meredith. I must see her at once, he said peremptorily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't stand staring at me, man. You know me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, Sir Ralph. Lady Eileen is not up yet. If it is important I can get a maid to call her. Shall I tell his Grace?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. It is of the utmost importance that I see her personally immediately."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The poor little girl!"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You, Sir Ralph? she cried."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What has brought you here so early? Has Bob repented of his bargain and sent you to call it off at the last moment?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Er--won't you sit down?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Something has happened! she cried apprehensively."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why do you look like that? What is it? Her voice rose and she tried to shake the silent man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Answer--why don't you answer? Is he ill--dead?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was killed last night--murdered."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dead! she whispered at last. There was no trace of unsteadiness in her voice and her eyes were dry. She spoke mechanically."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And it is our wedding-day! Dead! Bob is dead?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How did it happen?"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You say that Bob asked you to lie to me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not to you in particular. To any one who rang up. I couldn't know whether he wished his instructions to apply to you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, no, of course not,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He was killed before eleven, she went on remorselessly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't believe me. He held out his arms to her imploringly, and then dropped them to his side."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I give you my word that everything I have told you is true. Why should I lie now?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You ask me that? she said tensely."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You who thought he was in your way--that what you could not gain while he was living you might take when he was dead. Do you think your smooth-faced hypocrisy deceives me now? You pretended to accept your dismissal, pretended to be still my friend--and his."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't realise what you are saying, he said, speaking calmly with an effort."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Because I once loved you--love you still if you will--before ever Robert Grell came into your life, you hint an unthinkable thing."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We shall see whether the police believe it unthinkable,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Show this person out,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My poor, poor little girl, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is terrible. Fairfield ought to have seen me first. I must telephone for your aunt to come and stay here until we can get away."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't want her, father. She cannot help me. I would rather be here alone with you. It would drive me mad to have sympathy showered on me. I want to see no one. I want to be left to myself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But--my dear, I know it is a shock, but you cannot be allowed to brood----"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I shall not brood, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall work. I am going to Scotland Yard to learn what they know."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, yes, if you wish it, he said soothingly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We will go at once. I will order the car now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I would rather go alone, if you don't mind,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She always was headstrong,"
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Puzzling cases are like a jig-saw puzzle, he had once said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You juggle about with the facts until you find two or three that fit together. They give you the key, and you build the rest up round 'em. But it's no good trying to do it unless you've got your box of pieces complete."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Foyle?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. Won't you sit down, Lady Eileen? You have just missed one of our men. I sent him round to break the news to you. I need not tell you that we recognise how you must feel in these terrible circumstances. We shall trouble you as little as possible after you have answered a few questions."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's very good of you, she said formally. And then broke direct into her mission."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Have you found out anything, Mr. Foyle?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's rather early to say anything yet, he hedged."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Our inquiries are not completed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is no need for further inquiry. I can tell you who the murderer is."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, that will save us a great deal of trouble. Who is it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He is--I believe him to be Sir Ralph Fairfield."
}
]
|
22173 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You realise that you are making a very grave accusation, Lady Eileen? he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What reason should there be?"
}
]
|
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