less degree; but it was not till Hewitt and I had witnessed other
singular adventures that the answer came to the problem, the real
meaning of the Red Triangle was made apparent, and its connection with
the theft of Samuel's diamonds grew clear. For indeed the connection
proved in the end to be very intimate indeed. Once, a little later, we
were allowed to see a shade farther into the mystery, as I shall tell in
the proper place; but even then the real secret remained hidden from us
till the appointed end.

So ended the case of Samuel's diamonds, so far as concerned Samuel
himself and the owner; but the case of the Red Triangle had only begun.

THE CASE OF MR. JACOB MASON

I

The mystery of Denson's death remained a mystery, despite all the police
could do. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of "Murder by some
person or persons unknown"--which, indeed, was all that could be
expected of them; for they had no more before them than the bare fact
that the body, disguised in the clothes of a labourer, had been found on
the steps near the Duke of York's column, just before midnight, by a
police constable. But for the housekeeper's identification, even the
name of the victim would have been unknown. The jury certainly wasted
some time in idle speculation as to the strange triangular mark found on
the forehead, without a speck of evidence to help them; but in the end
they returned their verdict, and went home.

But the police knew a little more than the jury, though that little
rather confused than helped them. They exercised their judgment at the
inquest in withholding all evidence of the theft of diamonds on which
the victim had been engaged, the curious particulars of which I have
already related. In this they followed their usual course in cases where
the evidence withheld could give the jury no help in arriving at their
verdict, and at the same time might easily hamper further investigations
if revealed. For the theft had been frustrated by Martin Hewitt's
exertions, as we have seen, and in any case the thief was now dead and
beyond the reach of human punishment. The one matter now remaining for
the police was inquiry into the murder of this same thief, and the one
object of their exertions the apprehension of the murderer or murderers.

The case, as I have already said, was in the hands of Inspector Plummer,
an intelligent officer and an old friend of Hewitt's. A few days' work
after the inquest yi