The King Diamond by Fred M. White — Read

But though Bly worked unceasingly until his head ached and his eyes began to grow tired, he could not get to the bottom of the cipher. He was puzzled again and again at different points, more especially when figures took the place of words like Ace and King, and then reverted again to numerals. Finally, he gave up the task, and contented himself with a little scheme of his own. He took a couple of packs of unopened patience cards from the pile on the mantelpiece, and put them in his pocket. Then, very carefully, on a sheet of notepaper, he made a list of the cards in exactly the same order as they lay on the table, with the numbers and letters in the corners. Here he had a facsimile of the patience problem for his own private delectation, so that he could go on with his investigations in the quietude of his rooms. He made a note of the date of the two copies of the 'Times' that contained the puzzling cipher with the intention of ordering duplicates from his newsagent.

At any rate, he would disturb absolutely nothing in the room, but it was long odds that the police would attach no significance to the cards on the little table, nor, in all probability, would they trouble to search the files of the 'Times.' It might be necessary later on in the interests of justice to tell the police what he had discovered, but, meanwhile, there was nothing to gain by conveying such scrappy information as he had gathered to the people at Scotland Yard. They might or might not lay their hands eventually upon the man who had murdered Sir Hercules, that is if he was murdered at all, but that would not aid in the finding of the King Diamond. And the discovery of that more or less mythical stone meant such a lot to Bly and the woman be loved. He would put the thing out of his mind till tomorrow. Nothing was to be gained by hurry, and now that he was no longer concerned with Sir Hercules's affairs he had all the time he needed before him. He replaced everything exactly as he had found it, and then, having succeeded in getting hold of Paradine on the flat telephone, and telling that individual that his labours had been in vain--which was no more than the truth--he closed the door of the flat, and went back to his lodgings.