The little man, who had paused to look up at Holmes, then continued. “His appearance and speech was that of a respectable Englishman, and I saw the violin inside was certainly worth more than the price of the meal, so I agreed to await his return.”
Sherlock Holmes looked up from his minute examination of the violin and said “…and then you met the tall thin man?”
Monsieur Jonquet again looked startled “ how could you…..” he started. “…were you there?”
Sherlock merely smiled, looked back to to the violin and said “Pray, don’t let me interrupt your most illuminating story”
Monsieur Jonquet took a moment or two to regain his composure in which I offered to top up his brandy and again lit another cigarette for him.
He began, “It was just as Mr. Holmes said, some fifteen minutes after Mr. Smith had gone to collect his billfold from his hotel, when a tall thin man came into the restaurant enquiring to my best table for a party of six that forthcoming Saturday. I replied that…..”
“Description please” interjected Holmes, without looking up.
“He was a respectable well spoken gentleman, just over six foot tall and very thin, with short brown neat hair. He was beautifully dressed in a well tailored dark blue Savile Row suit. My first impressions were that he was some sort of diplomat, very charismatic and used to getting his way in life.”
He paused and took a long drink of his Brandy and continued, “At this point, for the first time, the tall man seemed to perceive the violin case placed behind my station.”
He picked the violin case and opened it and said “Oh my, is that what I think it is?”
“I can honestly tell you, Dr. Watson, that I had no idea what he was talking about”.
“He then opened the case, turned the violin over, and murmured appreciatively”
He asked me “do you know what you have here, my good man?”
“No I replied”
“This is a Stradivarius, it is quite rare, and…”, he said, lowering his voice. “…..needless to say, quite valuable. Would you be willing to sell it?”
“He then presented a card to me, which read…”
Holmes reached out a long thin arm for the card, took and examined it underneath his magnifying glass. Holmes said “Best quality paper, no other distinguishing features.” He then handed it to me. I read aloud “Percy Hill, Expert in Antiques and Restoration, 12 Bruton Street, WC”.
Holmes went back to the violin which by this time he had was peering inside the f-holes.
I ushered Monsieur Jonquet to continue his extraordinary narrative and he looked at both myself and Holmes before continuing, “I explained to him that I would gladly sell it to him but it wasn’t mine to sell. I then explained to him about Mr. Smith and of it being left in a will by his uncle. Mr. Hill then told me that he would have waited to buy the violin but he had an urgent appointment and was already running late, with none other than a minor royal who wished to purchase a diamond brooch he owned. He then asked me to give Mr. Smith his card and told me to tell him to bring it around to his shop. He went on to explain that he hadn’t had time to examine the Stradivarius in detail but it was most likely to be the prized Molitor Stradivarius that had once been owned by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte and if substantiated he would offer the owner £4000 for it. He then confirmed his table booking and rushed from the shop.”
Monsieur Jonquet then stopped as Holmes had finished studying the violin and was staring at him intently.
Holmes said “Was that when you first started having thoughts of greed?”
Monsieur Jonquet looked sheepish, “Yes, Mr. Holmes, I admit that I thought if I could get what Mr. Smith thought of as an instrument of low value for a relatively small price and sell it to Mr. Hill, then I could open a second restaurant sooner than I had expected. I do admit a certain guilt which continued until I saw Mr. Smith return about twenty minutes later to pay his bill. I did assuage my guilt by thinking that he would welcome a very good price on something he had gotten for free and didn’t value. I also surmised that he would probably only sell it to someone who would recognise it for what it was and offer a fraction of what I would.”
Droplets of sweat had appeared on his forehead and I repoured his drink for him to which he swallowed half in one gulp before continuing.
“I asked Mr. Smith to come to my office and I told him that I had my granddaughter’s birthday coming up and that I wished her to take up an instrument. I explained that his visit had been perhaps fortunate and perhaps he wished to sell the instrument? He explained that his uncle had had an eye for valuable items and some of his other relatives had been left some valuable items. He admitted he had no use for the violin but to his untrained eye it looked old and he wouldn’t accept less than £300. He had looked at me with such a look of hope, longing and cunning that I would accept such a ridiculously high sum that it led me to negotiate with him for form's sake. We agreed upon the price of £275 and with an exasperated sigh of…my granddaughter must have it.”