"precisely so, on december 22nd, just five days ago. john horner, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady’s jewel-case. the evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred to the assizes. i have some account of the matter here, i believe." he rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: