The Charing Cross Mystery · Chapter
IV: The Diamond Necklace explained
Hetherwick becomes increasingly obsessed with the photograph of a woman found in Hannaford's pocketbook, convinced it holds the key to the murder.
What happens
Hetherwick becomes increasingly obsessed with the photograph of a woman found in Hannaford's pocketbook, convinced it holds the key to the murder. He visits Rhona Hannaford to trace the newspaper from which the picture was cut, then travels to Sellithwaite with a letter of introduction to solicitor Michael Hollis. Hollis recounts the story of the Honourable Mrs. Whittingham, who ten years earlier had purchased a diamond necklace from jeweller Malladale with a bad cheque and fled, only to be traced by Superintendent Hannaford—but she ultimately escaped prosecution.
Themes in this chapter
Murder and Mystery
Hetherwick's obsession with solving Hannaford's murder deepens as the police investigation stalls and the photograph becomes a central clue.
Secrecy and the Past
The photograph and Hannaford's cryptic note 'Through my hands ten years ago!' point to a hidden history involving a woman and a diamond necklace fraud.
Greed and Materialism
Mrs. Whittingham's fraudulent acquisition of a £3,900 diamond necklace illustrates the theme of greed and the pursuit of luxury through deceit.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Hetherwick
Driven by fascination with the murder mystery, he investigates the photograph and travels to Sellithwaite to uncover the woman's identity.
- Rhona Hannaford
Preparing to leave Malter's Hotel and live with Mrs. Keeley; she reveals the photograph was cut from a newspaper Hannaford received by post the morning of his departure.
- Mr. Kenthwaite
Provides Hetherwick with a letter of introduction to his future brother-in-law, solicitor Michael Hollis in Sellithwaite.
- Mr. Hollis
Sellithwaite solicitor who recounts the story of the Honourable Mrs. Whittingham's fraudulent purchase of a diamond necklace from Malladale and her subsequent escape from Hannaford.
- Mr. Malladale
Principal jeweller in Sellithwaite who sold a diamond necklace to Mrs. Whittingham for £3,900, only to have her cheque bounce.
- Mrs. Whittingham
The Honourable Mrs. Whittingham, who ten years ago bought a diamond necklace with a bad cheque and fled Sellithwaite, though Hannaford traced her.
Key passages
“The conviction that there was more than met the eye in Hannaford’s cutting out and putting away the handsome and distinguished woman’s photograph grew mightily in Hetherwick’s mind during the next few days.”
Hetherwick became increasingly certain that the photograph Hannaford had cut out and kept was more significant than it appeared.
Hetherwick's growing suspicion about the photograph's importance.
“He recalled all that Hannaford had said about it in the train in those few short minutes before his sudden death.”
He remembered everything Hannaford had mentioned about the photograph just before he died.
Hetherwick reflects on Hannaford's final words.
“The only significance Matherfield saw in it was that it seemed to argue that whoever the man who had disappeared was, he and Hannaford had known each other ten years ago.”
Matherfield thought the only important point was that the missing man and Hannaford had known each other a decade earlier.
Matherfield's dismissive interpretation of the train conversation.
“But Hetherwick was becoming absorbed in this affair into which he had been so curiously thrown headfirst.”
Hetherwick was growing deeply engrossed in the mystery he had unexpectedly stumbled into.
Hetherwick's increasing fascination with the case.
“She was indeed through his hands—just as a particularly slippery eel might have been—she got clear away from him.”
Hannaford had caught her, but she escaped him like a slippery eel.
Hollis's description of Mrs. Whittingham's escape from Hannaford.
