, of Stepney.
You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the
London police to recover it. I was myself consulted upon the
case; but I was unable to throw any light upon it. Suspicion
fell upon the maid of the Princess, who was an Italian, and it
was proved that she had a brother in London, but we failed to
trace any connection between them. The maid's name was Lucretia
Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this Pietro who
was murdered two nights ago was the brother. I have been
looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find
that the disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before
the arrest of Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which
took place in the factory of Gelder and Co., at the very moment
when these busts were being made. Now you clearly see the
sequence of events, though you see them, of course, in the
inverse order to the way in which they presented themselves to
me. Beppo had the pearl in his possession. He may have stolen
it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's confederate, he may
have been the go-between of Pietro and his sister.
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