"when evening came i felt that it would be an imprudence to leave so precious a thing in the office behind me. bankers’ safes had been forced before now, and why should not mine be? if so, how terrible would be the position in which i should find myself! i determined, therefore, that for the next few days i would always carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might never be really out of my reach. with this intention, i called a cab and drove out to my house at streatham, carrying the jewel with me. i did not breathe freely until i had taken it upstairs and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room.