ns that I have run the Diamond Coterie to earth. For,
be it known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that Miss Constance Wardour,
like the wise young lady she is, took her jewels to an expert, one fine
day, long ago, and had them all duplicated in paste; and while Jasper
Lamotte and his clique were industriously carrying into safe hiding
these paste diamonds, the real Wardour jewels were reposing safely in
the vaults of a city bank, and they repose there safely still!

"When Jasper Lamotte went to the city, two days before the killing of
Burrill, he went to dispose of some of those paste jewels; and, not
until then, did he learn how the heiress of Wardour had outwitted him.

"Miss Wardour, the career of the Diamond Coterie is at an end.

"Old Ezras has long been under our eye. Last night I sent a telegram,
which will cause his instant arrest; and there are enough charges
against him to insure him a life sentence, had he yet seventy years to
live.

"John Burrill has passed beyond our reach. The news of his murder
frustrated my nicely laid plans for his arrest, and turned my mind for
some time from the Diamond Coterie to the task of clearing Sir Clifford.

"Frank Lamotte, too, with all his sin and selfishness, has passed before
a higher tribunal.

"There remains only Jerry Belknap and Jasper Lamotte.

"To Jerry Belknap, I have promised protection--not because he deserves
the same, but because in no other way could I avail myself of his
services; and, to make my chain of evidence complete, I needed his
testimony. He will go out to the frontier, and never appear again in New
York.

"And now, perhaps, you can comprehend why I brought that charge of
perjury against Jasper Lamotte. For his wife's sake, for his unhappy
daughter's sake, for the sake of Evan Lamotte, who implored me, while
going to give himself up to save another, that I would not let further
disgrace bow his mother's head to the dust. For the sake of these
unfortunate victims, I would let Jasper Lamotte go free, so far as we
are concerned. The charge of perjury is enough for W----. The officers
have chosen not to place him in confinement, so, if Jasper Lamotte is
suddenly missed from among us, who can be questioned or blamed?

"I have acted in this matter solely on my own responsibility.

"I have seen Jasper Lamotte, and I gave him two alternatives to choose
from. He could remain and be arrested as the head and front of the
Diamond Coterie, or he could tak