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diff --git a/old/1851.txt b/old/1851.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b6342a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1851.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7412 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Woman in the Alcove, by Anna Katharine Green + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Woman in the Alcove + +Author: Anna Katharine Green + +Posting Date: November 23, 2008 [EBook #1851] +Release Date: August, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMAN IN THE ALCOVE *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Crites + + + + + +THE WOMAN IN THE ALCOVE + +By Anna Katharine Green + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE WOMAN WITH THE DIAMOND + II THE GLOVES + II ANSON DURAND + IV EXPLANATIONS + V SUPERSTITION + VI SUSPENSE + VII NIGHT AND A VOICE + VIII ARREST + IX THE MOUSE NIBBLES AT THE NET + X I ASTONISH THE INSPECTOR + XI THE INSPECTOR ASTONISHES ME + XII ALMOST + XIII THE MISSING RECOMMENDATION + XIV TRAPPED + XV SEARS OR WELLGOOD + XVI DOUBT + XVII SWEETWATER IN A NEW ROLE + XVIII THE CLOSED DOOR + XIX THE FACE + XX MOONLIGHT--AND A CLUE + XXI GRIZEL! GRIZEL! + XXII GUILT + XXIII THE GREAT MOGUL + + + + +I. THE WOMAN WITH THE DIAMOND + +I was, perhaps, the plainest girl in the room that night. I was also the +happiest--up to one o'clock. Then my whole world crumbled, or, at least, +suffered an eclipse. Why and how, I am about to relate. + +I was not made for love. This I had often said to myself; very often of +late. In figure I am too diminutive, in face far too unbeautiful, for me +to cherish expectations of this nature. Indeed, love had never entered +into my plan of life, as was evinced by the nurse's diploma I had just +gained after three years of hard study and severe training. + +I was not made for love. But if I had been; had I been gifted with +height, regularity of feature, or even with that eloquence of expression +which redeems all defects save those which savor of deformity, I knew +well whose eye I should have chosen to please, whose heart I should have +felt proud to win. + +This knowledge came with a rush to my heart--(did I say heart? I should +have said understanding, which is something very different)--when, at +the end of the first dance, I looked up from the midst of the bevy +of girls by whom I was surrounded and saw Anson Durand's fine figure +emerging from that quarter of the hall where our host and hostess stood +to receive their guests. His eye was roaming hither and thither and his +manner was both eager and expectant. Whom was he seeking? Some one +of the many bright and vivacious girls about me, for he turned almost +instantly our way. But which one? + +I thought I knew. I remembered at whose house I had met him first, at +whose house I had seen him many times since. She was a lovely girl, +witty and vivacious, and she stood at this very moment at my elbow. In +her beauty lay the lure, the natural lure for a man of his gifts and +striking personality. If I continued to watch, I should soon see his +countenance light up under the recognition she could not fail to give +him. And I was right; in another instant it did, and with a brightness +there was no mistaking. But one feeling common to the human heart lends +such warmth, such expressiveness to the features. How handsome it made +him look, how distinguished, how everything I was not except-- + +But what does this mean? He has passed Miss Sperry--passed her with +a smile and a friendly word--and is speaking to me, singling me out, +offering me his arm! He is smiling, too, not as he smiled on Miss +Sperry, but more warmly, with more that is personal in it. I took his +arm in a daze. The lights were dimmer than I thought; nothing was really +bright except his smile. It seemed to change the world for me. I forgot +that I was plain, forgot that I was small, with nothing to recommend +me to the eye or heart, and let myself be drawn away, asking nothing, +anticipating nothing, till I found myself alone with him in the fragrant +recesses of the conservatory, with only the throb of music in our ears +to link us to the scene we had left. + +Why had he brought me here, into this fairyland of opalescent lights and +intoxicating perfumes? What could he have to say--to show? Ah in another +moment I knew. He had seized my hands, and love, ardent love, came +pouring from his lips. + +Could it be real? Was I the object of all this feeling, I? If so, then +life had changed for me indeed. + +Silent from rush of emotion, I searched his face to see if this +Paradise, whose gates I was thus passionately bidden to enter, was +indeed a verity or only a dream born of the excitement of the dance and +the charm of a scene exceptional in its splendor and picturesqueness +even for so luxurious a city as New York. + +But it was no mere dream. Truth and earnestness were in his manner, and +his words were neither feverish nor forced. + +"I love you I! I need you!" So I heard, and so he soon made me believe. +"You have charmed me from the first. Your tantalizing, trusting, loyal +self, like no other, sweeter than any other, has drawn the heart from my +breast. I have seen many women, admired many women, but you only have I +loved. Will you be my wife?" + +I was dazzled; moved beyond anything I could have conceived. I forgot +all that I had hitherto said to myself--all that I had endeavored +to impress upon my heart when I beheld him approaching, intent, as +I believed, in his search for another woman; and, confiding in his +honesty, trusting entirely to his faith, I allowed the plans and +purposes of years to vanish in the glamour of this new joy, and spoke +the word which linked us together in a bond which half an hour before I +had never dreamed would unite me to any man. + +His impassioned "Mine! mine!" filled my cup to overflowing. Something +of the ecstasy of living entered my soul; which, in spite of all I have +suffered since, recreated the world for me and made all that went before +but the prelude to the new life, the new joy. + +Oh, I was happy, happy, perhaps too happy! As the conservatory filled +and we passed back into the adjoining room, the glimpse I caught of +myself in one of the mirrors startled me into thinking so. For had it +not been for the odd color of my dress and the unique way in which I +wore my hair that night, I should not have recognized the beaming girl +who faced me so naively from the depths of the responsive glass. + +Can one be too happy? I do not know. I know that one can be too +perplexed, too burdened and too sad. + +Thus far I have spoken only of myself in connection with the evening's +elaborate function. But though entitled by my old Dutch blood to a +certain social consideration which I am happy to say never failed me, +I, even in this hour of supreme satisfaction, attracted very little +attention and awoke small comment. There was another woman present +better calculated to do this. A fair woman, large and of a bountiful +presence, accustomed to conquest, and gifted with the power of carrying +off her victories with a certain lazy grace irresistibly fascinating to +the ordinary man; a gorgeously appareled woman, with a diamond on her +breast too vivid for most women, almost too vivid for her. I noticed +this diamond early in the evening, and then I noticed her. She was not +as fine as the diamond, but she was very fine, and, had I been in a less +ecstatic frame of mind, I might have envied the homage she received from +all the men, not excepting him upon whose arm I leaned. Later, there was +no one in the world I envied less. + +The ball was a private and very elegant one. There were some notable +guests. One gentleman in particular was pointed out to me as an +Englishman of great distinction and political importance. I thought +him a very interesting man for his years, but odd and a trifle +self-centered. Though greatly courted, he seemed strangely restless +under the fire of eyes to which he was constantly subjected, and only +happy when free to use his own in contemplation of the scene about him. +Had I been less absorbed in my own happiness I might have noted sooner +than I did that this contemplation was confined to such groups as +gathered about the lady with the diamond. But this I failed to observe +at the time, and consequently was much surprised to come upon him, at +the end of one of the dances, talking With this lady in an animated and +courtly manner totally opposed to the apathy, amounting to boredom, with +which he had hitherto met all advances. + +Yet it was not admiration for her person which he openly displayed. +During the whole time he stood there his eyes seldom rose to her face; +they lingered mainly-and this was what aroused my curiosity--on the +great fan of ostrich plumes which this opulent beauty held against +her breast. Was he desirous of seeing the great diamond she thus +unconsciously (or was it consciously) shielded from his gaze? It was +possible, for, as I continued to note him, he suddenly bent toward +her and as quickly raised himself again with a look which was quite +inexplicable to me. The lady had shifted her fan a moment and his eyes +had fallen on the gem. + +The next thing I recall with any definiteness was a tete-a-tete +conversation which I held with my lover on a certain yellow divan at the +end of one of the halls. + +To the right of this divan rose a curtained recess, highly suggestive of +romance, called "the alcove." As this alcove figures prominently in my +story, I will pause here to describe it. + +It was originally intended to contain a large group of statuary which +our host, Mr. Ramsdell, had ordered from Italy to adorn his new house. +He is a man of original ideas in regard to such matters, and in this +instance had gone so far as to have this end of the house constructed +with a special view to an advantageous display of this promised work +of art. Fearing the ponderous effect of a pedestal large enough to hold +such a considerable group, he had planned to raise it to the level of +the eye by having the alcove floor built a few feet higher than the main +one. A flight of low, wide steps connected the two, which, following the +curve of the wall, added much to the beauty of this portion of the hall. + +The group was a failure and was never shipped; but the alcove remained, +and, possessing as it did all the advantages of a room in the way of +heat and light, had been turned into a miniature retreat of exceptional +beauty. + +The seclusion it offered extended, or so we were happy to think, to the +solitary divan at its base on which Mr. Durand and I were seated. With +possibly an undue confidence in the advantage of our position, we were +discussing a subject interesting only to ourselves, when Mr. Durand +interrupted himself to declare: "You are the woman I want, you and you +only. And I want you soon. When do you think you can marry me? Within a +week--if--" + +Did my look stop him? I was startled. I had heard no incoherent phrase +from him before. + +"A week!" I remonstrated. "We take more time than that to fit ourselves +for a journey or some transient pleasure. I hardly realize my engagement +yet." + +"You have not been thinking of it for these last two months as I have." + +"No," I replied demurely, forgetting everything else in my delight at +this admission. + +"Nor are you a nomad among clubs and restaurants." + +"No, I have a home." + +"Nor do you love me as deeply as I do you." + +This I thought open to argument. + +"The home you speak of is a luxurious one," he continued. "I can not +offer you its equal Do you expect me to?" + +I was indignant. + +"You know that I do not. Shall I, who deliberately chose a nurse's life +when an indulgent uncle's heart and home were open to me, shrink from +braving poverty with the man I love? We will begin as simply as you +please--" + +"No," he peremptorily put in, yet with a certain hesitancy which seemed +to speak of doubts he hardly acknowledged to himself, "I will not marry +you if I must expose you to privation or to the genteel poverty I hate. +I love you more than you realize, and wish to make your life a happy +one. I can not give you all you have been accustomed to in your rich +uncle's house, but if matters prosper with me, if the chance I have +built on succeeds--and it will fail or succeed tonight--you will have +those comforts which love will heighten into luxuries and--and--" + +He was becoming incoherent again, and this time with his eyes fixed +elsewhere than on my face. Following his gaze, I discovered what had +distracted his attention. The lady with the diamond was approaching us +on her way to the alcove. She was accompanied by two gentlemen, both +strangers to me, and her head, sparkling with brilliants, was turning +from one to the other with an indolent grace. I was not surprised that +the man at my side quivered and made a start as if to rise. She was a +gorgeous image. In comparison with her imposing figure in its trailing +robe of rich pink velvet, my diminutive frame in its sea-green gown must +have looked as faded and colorless as a half-obliterated pastel. + +"A striking woman," I remarked as I saw he was not likely to resume the +conversation which her presence had interrupted. "And what a diamond!" + +The glance he cast me was peculiar. + +"Did you notice it particularly?" he asked. + +Astonished, for there was something very uneasy in his manner so that +I half expected to see him rise and join the group he was so eagerly +watching without waiting for my lips to frame a response, I quickly +replied: + +"It would be difficult not to notice what one would naturally expect to +see only on the breast of a queen. But perhaps she is a queen. I should +judge so from the homage which follows her." + +His eyes sought mine. There was inquiry in them, but it was an inquiry I +did not understand. + +"What can you know about diamonds?" he presently demanded. "Nothing but +their glitter, and glitter is not all,--the gem she wears may be a very +tawdry one." + +I flushed with humiliation. He was a dealer in gems--that was his +business--and the check which he had put upon my enthusiasm certainly +made me conscious of my own presumption. Yet I was not disposed to take +back my words. I had had a better opportunity than himself for seeing +this remarkable jewel, and, with the perversity of a somewhat ruffled +mood, I burst forth, as soon as the color had subsided from my cheeks: + +"No, no! It is glorious, magnificent. I never saw its like. I doubt if +you ever have, for all your daily acquaintance with jewels. Its value +must be enormous. Who is she? You seem to know her." + +It was a direct question, but I received no reply. Mr. Durand's eyes had +followed the lady, who had lingered somewhat ostentatiously on the +top step and they did not return to me till she had vanished with +her companions behind the long plush curtain which partly veiled the +entrance. By this time he had forgotten my words, if he had ever heard +them and it was with the forced animation of one whose thoughts are +elsewhere that he finally returned to the old plea: + +When would I marry him? If he could offer me a home in a month--and he +would know by to-morrow if he could do so--would I come to him then? He +would not say in a week; that was perhaps to soon; but in a month? Would +I not promise to be his in a month? + +What I answered I scarcely recall. His eyes had stolen back to the +alcove and mine had followed them. The gentlemen who had accompanied +the lady inside were coming out again, but others were advancing to take +their places, and soon she was engaged in holding a regular court in +this favored retreat. + +Why should this interest me? Why should I notice her or look that way +at all? Because Mr. Durand did? Possibly. I remember that for all his +ardent love-making, I felt a little piqued that he should divide his +attentions in this way. Perhaps I thought that for this evening, at +least, he might have been blind to a mere coquette's fascinations. + +I was thus doubly engaged in listening to my lover's words and in +watching the various gentlemen who went up and down the steps, when a +former partner advanced and reminded me that I had promised him a waltz. +Loath to leave Mr. Durand, yet seeing no way of excusing myself to Mr. +Fox, I cast an appealing glance at the former and was greatly chagrined +to find him already on his feet. + +"Enjoy your dance," he cried; "I have a word to say to Mrs. +Fairbrother," and was gone before my new partner had taken me on his +arm. + +Was Mrs. Fairbrother the lady with the diamond? Yes; as I turned to +enter the parlor with my partner, I caught a glimpse of Mr. Durand's +tall figure just disappearing from the step behind the sage-green +curtains. + +"Who is Mrs. Fairbrother?" I inquired of Mr. Fox at the end of the +dance. + +Mr. Fox, who is one of society's perennial beaux, knows everybody. + +"She is--well, she was Abner Fairbrother's wife. You know Fairbrother, +the millionaire who built that curious structure on Eighty-sixth Street. +At present they are living apart--an amicable understanding, I believe. +Her diamond makes her conspicuous. It is one of the most remarkable +stones in New York, perhaps in the United States. Have you observed it?" + +"Yes--that is, at a distance. Do you think her very handsome?" + +"Mrs. Fairbrother? She's called so, but she's not my style." Here he +gave me a killing glance. "I admire women of mind and heart. They do not +need to wear jewels worth an ordinary man's fortune." + +I looked about for an excuse to leave this none too desirable partner. + +"Let us go back into the long hall," I urged. "The ceaseless whirl of +these dancers is making me dizzy." + +With the ease of a gallant man he took me on his arm and soon we were +promenading again in the direction of the alcove. A passing glimpse of +its interior was afforded me as we turned to retrace our steps in front +of the yellow divan. The lady with the diamond was still there. A fold +of the superb pink velvet she wore protruded across the gap made by the +half-drawn curtains, just as it had done a half-hour before. But it +was impossible to see her face or who was with her. What I could see, +however, and did, was the figure of a man leaning against the wall at +the foot of the steps. At first I thought this person unknown to me, +then I perceived that he was no other than the chief guest of the +evening, the Englishman of whom I have previously spoken. + +His expression had altered. He looked now both anxious and absorbed, +particularly anxious and particularly absorbed; so much so that I was +not surprised that no one ventured to approach him. Again I wondered and +again I asked myself for whom or for what he was waiting. For Mr. Durand +to leave this lady's presence? No, no, I would not believe that. Mr. +Durand could not be there still; yet some women make it difficult for +a man to leave them and, realizing this, I could not forbear casting +a parting glance behind me as, yielding to Mr. Fox's importunities, I +turned toward the supper-room. It showed me the Englishman in the act +of lifting two cups of coffee from a small table standing near the +reception-room door. As his manner plainly betokened whither he was +bound with this refreshment, I felt all my uneasiness vanish, and +was able to take my seat at one of the small tables with which the +supper-room was filled, and for a few minutes, at least, lend an ear +to Mr. Fox's vapid compliments and trite opinions. Then my attention +wandered. + +I had not moved nor had I shifted my gaze from the scene before me the +ordinary scene of a gay and well-filled supper-room, yet I found myself +looking, as if through a mist I had not even seen develop, at something +as strange, unusual and remote as any phantasm, yet distinct enough in +its outlines for me to get a decided impression of a square of light +surrounding the figure of a man in a peculiar pose not easily imagined +and not easily described. It all passed in an instant, and I sat staring +at the window opposite me with the feeling of one who has just seen +a vision. Yet almost immediately I forgot the whole occurrence in my +anxiety as to Mr. Durand's whereabouts. Certainly he was amusing himself +very much elsewhere or he would have found an opportunity of joining +me long before this. He was not even in sight, and I grew weary of the +endless menu and the senseless chit chat of my companion, and, finding +him amenable to my whims, rose from my seat at table and made my way to +a group of acquaintances standing just outside the supper-room door. As +I listened to their greetings some impulse led me to cast another glance +down the hall toward the alcove. A man--a waiter--was issuing from it in +a rush. Bad news was in his face, and as his eyes encountered those of +Mr. Ramsdell, who was advancing hurriedly to meet him, he plunged down +the steps with a cry which drew a crowd about the two in an instant. + +What was it? What had happened? + +Mad with an anxiety I did not stop to define, I rushed toward this group +now swaying from side to side in irrepressible excitement, when suddenly +everything swam before me and I fell in a swoon to the floor. + +Some one had shouted aloud + +"Mrs. Fairbrother has been murdered and her diamond stolen! Lock the +doors!" + + + + +II. THE GLOVES + +I must have remained insensible for many minutes, for when I returned to +full consciousness the supper-room was empty and the two hundred guests +I had left seated at table were gathered in agitated groups about the +hall. This was what I first noted; not till afterward did I realize my +own situation. I was lying on a couch in a remote corner of this same +hall and beside me, but not looking at me, stood my lover, Mr. Durand. + +How he came to know my state and find me in the general disturbance I +did not stop to inquire. It was enough for me at that moment to look up +and see him so near. Indeed, the relief was so great, the sense of his +protection so comforting that I involuntarily stretched out my hand in +gratitude toward him, but, failing to attract his attention, slipped to +the floor and took my stand at his side. This roused him and he gave me +a look which steadied me, in spite of the thrill of surprise with which +I recognized his extreme pallor and a certain peculiar hesitation in his +manner not at all natural to it. + +Meanwhile, some words uttered near us were slowly making their way +into my benumbed brain. The waiter who had raised the first alarm was +endeavoring to describe to an importunate group in advance of us what he +had come upon in that murderous alcove. + +"I was carrying about a tray of ices," he was saying, "and seeing the +lady sitting there, went up. I had expected to find the place full of +gentlemen, but she was all alone, and did not move as I picked my way +over her long train. The next moment I had dropped ices, tray and all. I +bad come face to face with her and seen that she was dead. She had been +stabbed and robbed. There was no diamond on her breast, but there was +blood." + +A hubbub of disordered sentences seasoned with horrified cries followed +this simple description. Then a general movement took place in the +direction of the alcove, during which Mr. Durand stooped to my ear and +whispered: + +"We must get out of this. You are not strong enough to stand such +excitement. Don't you think we can escape by the window over there?" + +"What, without wraps and in such a snowstorm?" I protested. "Besides, +uncle will be looking for me. He came with me, you know." + +An expression of annoyance, or was it perplexity, crossed Mr. Durand's +face, and he made a movement as if to leave me. + +"I must go," he began, but stopped at my glance of surprise and assumed +a different air--one which became him very much better. "Pardon me, +dear, I will take you to your uncle. This--this dreadful tragedy, +interrupting so gay a scene, has quite upset me. I was always sensitive +to the sight, the smell, even to the very mention of the word blood." + +So was I, but not to the point of cowardice. But then I had not just +come from an interview with the murdered woman. Her glances, her +smiles, the lift of her eyebrows were not fresh memories to me. Some +consideration was certainly due him for the shock he must be laboring +under. Yet I did not know how to keep back the vital question. + +"Who did it? You must have heard some one say." + +"I have heard nothing," was his somewhat fierce rejoinder. Then, as I +made a move, "What you do not wish to follow the crowd there?" + +"I wish to find my uncle, and he is in that crowd." + +Mr. Durand said nothing further, and together we passed down the hall. +A strange mood pervaded my mind. Instead of wishing to fly a scene which +under ordinary conditions would have filled me with utter repugnance, +I felt a desire to see and hear everything. Not from curiosity, such +as moved most of the people about me, but because of some strong +instinctive feeling I could not understand; as if it were my heart which +had been struck, and my fate which was trembling in the balance. + +We were consequently among the first to hear such further details as +were allowed to circulate among the now well-nigh frenzied guests. No +one knew the perpetrator of the deed nor did there appear to be any +direct evidence calculated to fix his identity. Indeed, the sudden death +of this beautiful woman in the midst of festivity might have been looked +upon as suicide, if the jewel had not been missing from her breast +and the instrument of death removed from the wound. So far, the casual +search which had been instituted had failed to produce this weapon; but +the police would be here soon and then something would be done. As to +the means of entrance employed by the assassin, there seemed to be but +one opinion. The alcove contained a window opening upon a small balcony. +By this he had doubtless entered and escaped. The long plush curtains +which, during the early part of the evening, had remained looped back +on either side of the casement, were found at the moment of the crime's +discovery closely drawn together. Certainly a suspicious circumstance. +However, the question was one easily settled. If any one had approached +by the balcony there would be marks in the snow to show it. Mr. Ramsdell +had gone out to see. He would be coming back soon. + +"Do you think this a probable explanation of the crime?" I demanded +of Mr. Durand at this juncture. "If I remember rightly this window +overlooks the carriage drive; it must, therefore, be within plain +sight of the door through which some three hundred guests have passed +to-night. How could any one climb to such a height, lift the window and +step in without being seen?" + +"You forget the awning." He spoke quickly and with unexpected vivacity. +"The awning runs up very near this window and quite shuts it off from +the sight of arriving guests. The drivers of departing carriages could +see it if they chanced to glance back. But their eyes are usually on +their horses in such a crowd. The probabilities are against any of them +having looked up." His brow had cleared; a weight seemed removed from +his mind. "When I went into the alcove to see Mrs. Fairbrother, she was +sitting in a chair near this window looking out. I remember the effect +of her splendor against the snow sifting down in a steady stream behind +her. The pink velvet--the soft green of the curtains on either side--her +brilliants--and the snow for a background! Yes, the murderer came in +that way. Her figure would be plain to any one outside, and if she moved +and the diamond shone--Don't you see what a probable theory it is? +There must be ways by which a desperate man might reach that balcony. I +believe--" + +How eager he was and with what a look he turned when the word came +filtering through the crowd that, though footsteps had been found in the +snow pointing directly toward the balcony, there was none on the balcony +itself, proving, as any one could see, that the attack had not come +from without, since no one could enter the alcove by the window without +stepping on the balcony. + +"Mr. Durand has suspicions of his own," I explained determinedly to +myself. "He met some one going in as he stepped out. Shall I ask him to +name this person?" No, I did not have the courage; not while his face +wore so stern a look and was so resolutely turned away. + +The next excitement was a request from Mr. Ramsdell for us all to go +into the drawing-room. This led to various cries from hysterical lips, +such as, "We are going to be searched!" "He believes the thief and +murderer to be still in the house!" "Do you see the diamond on me?" "Why +don't they confine their suspicions to the favored few who were admitted +to the alcove?" + +"They will," remarked some one close to my ear. + +But quickly as I turned I could not guess from whom the comment came. +Possibly from a much beflowered, bejeweled, elderly dame, whose eyes +were fixed on Mr. Durand's averted face. If so, she received a defiant +look from mine, which I do not believe she forgot in a hurry. + +Alas! it was not the only curious, I might say searching glance I +surprised directed against him as we made our way to where I could see +my uncle struggling to reach us from a short side hall. The whisper +seemed to have gone about that Mr. Durand had been the last one to +converse with Mrs. Fairbrother prior to the tragedy. + +In time I had the satisfaction of joining my uncle. He betrayed great +relief at the sight of me, and, encouraged by his kindly smile, +I introduced Mr. Durand. My conscious air must have produced its +impression, for he turned a startled and inquiring look upon my +companion, then took me resolutely on his own arm, saying: + +"There is likely to be some unpleasantness ahead for all of us. I do +not think the police will allow any one to go till that diamond has +been looked for. This is a very serious matter, dear. So many think the +murderer was one of the guests." + +"I think so, too," said I. But why I thought so or why I should say so +with such vehemence, I do not know even now. + +My uncle looked surprised. + +"You had better not advance any opinions," he advised. "A lady like +yourself should have none on a subject so gruesome. I shall never +cease regretting bringing you here tonight. I shall seize on the first +opportunity to take you home. At present we are supposed to await the +action of our host." + +"He can not keep all these people here long," I ventured. + +"No; most of us will be relieved soon. Had you not better get your wraps +so as to be ready to go as soon as he gives the word?" + +"I should prefer to have a peep at the people in the drawing-room +first," was my perverse reply. "I don't know why I want to see them, +but I do; and, uncle, I might as well tell you now that I engaged myself +to Mr. Durand this evening--the gentleman with me when you first came +up." + +"You have engaged yourself to--to this man--to marry him, do you mean?" + +I nodded, with a sly look behind to see if Mr. Durand were near enough +to hear. He was not, and I allowed my enthusiasm to escape in a few +quick words. + +"He has chosen me," I said, "the plainest, most uninteresting puss in +the whole city." My uncle smiled. "And I believe he loves me; at all +events, I know that I love him." + +My uncle sighed, while giving me the most affectionate of glances. + +"It's a pity you should have come to this understanding to-night," said +he. "He's an acquaintance of the murdered woman, and it is only right +for you to know that you will have to leave him behind when you start +for home. All who have been seen entering that alcove this evening will +necessarily be detained here till the coroner arrives." + +My uncle and I strolled toward the drawing-room and as we did so we +passed the library. It held but one occupant, the Englishman. He was +seated before a table, and his appearance was such as precluded any +attempt at intrusion, even if one had been so disposed. There was a +fixity in his gaze and a frown on his powerful forehead which bespoke a +mind greatly agitated. It was not for me to read that mind, much as +it interested me, and I passed on, chatting, as if I had not the least +desire to stop. + +I can not say how much time elapsed before my uncle touched me on the +arm with the remark: + +"The police are here in full force. I saw a detective in plain clothes +look in here a minute ago. He seemed to have his eye on you. There he is +again! What can he want? No, don't turn; he's gone away now." + +Frightened as I had never been in all my life, I managed to keep my head +up and maintain an indifferent aspect. What, as my uncle said, could +a detective want of me? I had nothing to do with the crime; not in the +remotest way could I be said to be connected with it; why, then, had I +caught the attention of the police? Looking about, I sought Mr. Durand. +He had left me on my uncle's coming up, but had remained, as I supposed, +within sight. But at this moment he was nowhere to be seen. Was I afraid +on his account? Impossible; yet-- + +Happily just then the word was passed about that the police had given +orders that, with the exception of such as had been requested to remain +to answer questions, the guests generally should feel themselves at +liberty to depart. + +The time had now come to take a stand and I informed my uncle, to his +evident chagrin, that I should not leave as long as any excuse could be +found for staying. + +He said nothing at the time, but as the noise of departing carriages +gradually lessened and the great hall and drawing-rooms began to wear a +look of desertion he at last ventured on this gentle protest: + +"You have more pluck, Rita, than I supposed. Do you think it wise to +stay on here? Will not people imagine that you have been requested to do +so? Look at those waiters hanging about in the different doorways. Run +up and put on your wraps. Mr. Durand will come to the house fast enough +as soon as he is released. I give you leave to sit up for him if you +will; only let us leave this place before that impertinent little man +dares to come around again," he artfully added. + +But I stood firm, though somewhat moved by his final suggestion; and, +being a small tyrant in my way, at least with him, I carried my point. + +Suddenly my anxiety became poignant. A party of men, among whom I saw +Mr. Durand, appeared at the end of the hall, led by a very small but +self-important personage whom my uncle immediately pointed out as the +detective who had twice come to the door near which I stood. As this +man looked up and saw me still there, a look of relief crossed his face, +and, after a word or two with another stranger of seeming authority, +he detached himself from the group he had ushered upon the scene, and, +approaching me respectfully enough, said with a deprecatory glance at my +uncle whose frown he doubtless understood: + +"Miss Van Arsdale, I believe?" + +I nodded, too choked to speak. + +"I am sorry, Madam, if you were expecting to go. Inspector Dalzell has +arrived and would like to speak to you. Will you step into one of these +rooms? Not the library, but any other. He will come to you as quickly as +he can." + +I tried to carry it off bravely and as if I saw nothing in this summons +which was unique or alarming. But I succeeded only in dividing a +wavering glance between him and the group of men of which he had just +formed a part. In the latter were several gentlemen whom I had noted in +Mrs. Fairbrother's train early in the evening and a few strangers, +two of whom were officials. Mr. Durand was with the former, and his +expression did not encourage me. + +"The affair is very serious," commented the detective on leaving me. +"That's our excuse for any trouble we may be putting you to." I clutched +my uncle's arm. + +"Where shall we go?" I asked. "The drawing-room is too large. In this +hall my eyes are for ever traveling in the direction of the alcove. +Don't you know some little room? Oh, what, what can he want of me?" + +"Nothing serious, nothing important," blustered my good uncle. "Some +triviality such as you can answer in a moment. A little room? Yes, I +know one, there, under the stairs. Come, I will find the door for you. +Why did we ever come to this wretched ball?" + +I had no answer for this. Why, indeed! + +My uncle, who is a very patient man, guided me to the place he had +picked out, without adding a word to the ejaculation in which he had +just allowed his impatience to expend itself. But once seated within, +and out of the range of peering eyes and listening ears, he allowed a +sigh to escape him which expressed the fullness of his agitation. + +"My dear," he began, and stopped. "I feel--" here he again came to a +pause--"that you should know--" + +"What?" I managed to ask. + +"That I do not like Mr. Durand and--that others do not like him." + +"Is it because of something you knew about him before to-night?" + +He made no answer. + +"Or because he was seen, like many other gentlemen, talking with that +woman some time before--a long time before--she was attacked for her +diamond and murdered?" + +"Pardon me, my dear, he was the last one seen talking to her. Some +one may yet be found who went in after he came out, but as yet he is +considered the last. Mr. Ramsdell himself told me so." + +"It makes no difference," I exclaimed, in all the heat of my +long-suppressed agitation. "I am willing to stake my life on his +integrity and honor. No man could talk to me as he did early this +evening with any vile intentions at heart. He was interested, no doubt, +like many others, in one who had the name of being a captivating woman, +but--" + +I paused in sudden alarm. A look had crossed my uncle's face which +assured me that we were no longer alone. Who could have entered so +silently? In some trepidation I turned to see. A gentleman was standing +in the doorway, who smiled as I met his eye. + +"Is this Miss Van Arsdale?" he asked. + +Instantly my courage, which had threatened to leave me, returned and I +smiled. + +"I am," said I. "Are you the inspector?" + +"Inspector Dalzell," he explained with a bow, which included my uncle. + +Then he closed the door. + +"I hope I have not frightened you," he went on, approaching me with a +gentlemanly air. "A little matter has come up concerning which I mean to +be perfectly frank with you. It may prove to be of trivial importance; +if so, you will pardon my disturbing you. Mr. Durand--you know him?" + +"I am engaged to him," I declared before poor uncle could raise his +hand. + +"You are engaged to him. Well, that makes it difficult, and yet, in some +respects, easier for me to ask a certain question." + +It must have made it more difficult than easy, for he did not proceed to +put this question immediately, but went on: + +"You know that Mr. Durand visited Mrs. Fairbrother in the alcove a +little while before her death?" + +"I have been told so." + +"He was seen to go in, but I have not yet found any one who saw him come +out; consequently we have been unable to fix the exact minute when +he did so. What is the matter, Miss Van Arsdale? You want to say +something?" + +"No, no," I protested, reconsidering my first impulse. Then, as I met +his look, "He can probably tell you that himself. I am sure he would not +hesitate." + +"We shall ask him later," was the inspector's response. "Meanwhile, are +you ready to assure me that since that time he has not intrusted you +with a little article to keep--No, no, I do not mean the diamond," +he broke in, in very evident dismay, as I fell back from him in +irrepressible indignation and alarm. "The diamond--well, we shall look +for that later; it is another article we are in search of now, one which +Mr. Durand might very well have taken in his hand without realizing just +what he was doing. As it is important for us to find this article, and +as it is one he might very naturally have passed over to you when he +found himself in the hall with it in his hand, I have ventured to ask +you if this surmise is correct." + +"It is not," I retorted fiercely, glad that I could speak from my very +heart. "He has given me nothing to keep for him. He would not--" + +Why that peculiar look in the inspector's eye? Why did he reach out for +a chair and seat me in it before he took up my interrupted sentence and +finished it? + +"--would not give you anything to hold which had belonged to another +woman? Miss Van Arsdale, you do not know men. They do many things which +a young, trusting girl like yourself would hardly expect from them." + +"Not Mr. Durand," I maintained stoutly. + +"Perhaps not; let us hope not." Then, with a quick change of manner, +he bent toward me, with a sidelong look at uncle, and, pointing to my +gloves, remarked: "You wear gloves. Did you feel the need of two pairs, +that you carry another in that pretty bag hanging from your arm?" + +I started, looked down, and then slowly drew up into my hand the bag he +had mentioned. The white finger of a glove was protruding from the top. +Any one could see it; many probably had. What did it mean? I had brought +no extra pair with me. + +"This is not mine," I began, faltering into silence as I perceived my +uncle turn and walk a step or two away. + +"The article we are looking for," pursued the inspector, "is a pair of +long, white gloves, supposed to have been worn by Mrs. Fairbrother when +she entered the alcove. Do you mind showing me those, a finger of which +I see?" + +I dropped the bag into his hand. The room and everything in it was +whirling around me. But when I noted what trouble it was to his clumsy +fingers to open it, my senses returned and, reaching for the bag, I +pulled it open and snatched out the gloves. They had been hastily rolled +up and some of the fingers were showing. + +"Let me have them," he said. + +With quaking heart and shaking fingers I handed over the gloves. + +"Mrs. Fairbrother's hand was not a small one," he observed as he slowly +unrolled them. "Yours is. We can soon tell--" + +But that sentence was never finished. As the gloves fell open in his +grasp he uttered a sudden, sharp ejaculation and I a smothered shriek. +An object of superlative brilliancy had rolled out from them. The +diamond! the gem which men said was worth a king's ransom, and which we +all knew had just cost a life. + + + + +III. ANSON DURAND + +With benumbed senses and a dismayed heart, I stared at the fallen jewel +as at some hateful thing menacing both my life and honor. + +"I have had nothing to do with it," I vehemently declared. "I did not +put the gloves in my bag, nor did I know the diamond was in them. I +fainted at the first alarm, and--" + +"There! there! I know," interposed the inspector kindly. "I do not doubt +you in the least; not when there is a man to doubt. Miss Van Arsdale, +you had better let your uncle take you home. I will see that the hall +is cleared for you. Tomorrow I may wish to talk to you again, but I will +spare you all further importunity tonight." + +I shook my head. It would require more courage to leave at that moment +than to stay. Meeting the inspector's eye firmly, I quietly declared, + +"If Mr. Durand's good name is to suffer in any way, I will not forsake +him. I have confidence in his integrity, if you have not. It was not his +hand, but one much more guilty, which dropped this jewel into the bag." + +"So! so! do not be too sure of that, little woman. You had better take +your lesson at once. It will be easier for you, and more wholesome for +him." + +Here he picked up the jewel. + +"Well, they said it was a wonder!" he exclaimed, in sudden admiration. +"I am not surprised, now that I have seen a great gem, at the famous +stories I have read of men risking life and honor for their possession. +If only no blood had been shed!" + +"Uncle! uncle!" I wailed aloud in my agony. + +It was all my lips could utter, but to uncle it was enough. Speaking +for the first time, he asked to have a passage made for us, and when the +inspector moved forward to comply, he threw his arm about me, and was +endeavoring to find fitting words with which to fill up the delay, when +a short altercation was heard from the doorway, and Mr. Durand came +rushing in, followed immediately by the inspector. + +His first look was not at myself, but at the bag, which still hung from +my arm. As I noted this action, my whole inner self seemed to collapse, +dragging my happiness down with it. But my countenance remained +unchanged, too much so, it seems; for when his eye finally rose to my +face, he found there what made him recoil and turn with something like +fierceness on his companion. + +"You have been talking to her," he vehemently protested. "Perhaps you +have gone further than that. What has happened here? I think I ought to +know. She is so guileless, Inspector Dalzell; so perfectly free from all +connection with this crime. Why have you shut her up here, and plied her +with questions, and made her look at me with such an expression, when +all you have against me is just what you have against some half-dozen +others,--that I was weak enough, or unfortunate enough, to spend a few +minutes with that unhappy woman in the alcove before she died?" + +"It might be well if Miss Van Arsdale herself would answer you," was the +inspector's quiet retort. "What you have said may constitute all that we +have against you, but it is not all we have against her." + +I gasped, not so much at this seeming accusation, the motive of which +I believed myself to understand, but at the burning blush with which it +was received by Mr. Durand. + +"What do you mean?" he demanded, with certain odd breaks in his voice. +"What can you have against her?" + +"A triviality," returned the inspector, with a look in my direction that +was, I felt, not to be mistaken. + +"I do not call it a triviality," I burst out. "It seems that Mrs. +Fairbrother, for all her elaborate toilet, was found without gloves on +her arms. As she certainly wore them on entering the alcove, the police +have naturally been looking for them. And where do you think they have +found them? Not in the alcove with her, not in the possession of the man +who undoubtedly carried them away with him, but--" + +"I know, I know," Mr. Durand hoarsely put in. "You need not say any +more. Oh, my poor Rita! what have I brought upon you by my weakness?" + +"Weakness!" + +He started; I started; my voice was totally unrecognizable. + +"I should give it another name," I added coldly. + +For a moment he seemed to lose heart, then he lifted his head again, +and looked as handsome as when he pleaded for my hand in the little +conservatory. + +"You have that right," said he; "besides, weakness at such a time, and +under such an exigency, is little short of wrong. It was unmanly in me +to endeavor to secrete these gloves; more than unmanly for me to choose +for their hiding-place the recesses of an article belonging exclusively +to yourself. I acknowledge it, Rita, and shall meet only my just +punishment if you deny me in the future both your sympathy and regard. +But you must let me assure you and these gentlemen also, one of whom can +make it very unpleasant for me, that consideration for you, much more +than any miserable anxiety about myself, lay at the bottom of what must +strike you all as an act of unpardonable cowardice. From the moment I +learned of this woman's murder in the alcove, where I had visited her, +I realized that every one who had been seen to approach her within +a half-hour of her death would be subjected to a more or less rigid +investigation, and I feared, if her gloves were found in my possession, +some special attention might be directed my way which would cause you +unmerited distress. So, yielding to an impulse which I now recognize as +a most unwise, as well as unworthy one, I took advantage of the bustle +about us, and of the insensibility into which you had fallen, to tuck +these miserable gloves into the bag I saw lying on the floor at your +side. I do not ask your pardon. My whole future life shall be devoted to +winning that; I simply wish to state a fact." + +"Very good!" It was the inspector who spoke; I could not have uttered a +word to save my life. "Perhaps you will now feel that you owe it to this +young lady to add how you came to have these gloves in your possession?" + +"Mrs. Fairbrother handed them to me." + +"Handed them to you?" + +"Yes, I hardly know why myself. She asked me to take care of them for +her. I know that this must strike you as a very peculiar statement. +It was my realization of the unfavorable effect it could not fail to +produce upon those who beard it, which made me dread any interrogation +on the subject. But I assure you it was as I say. She put the gloves +into my hand while I was talking to her, saying they incommoded her." + +"And you?" + +"Well, I held them for a few minutes, then I put them in my pocket, but +quite automatically, and without thinking very much about it. She was +a woman accustomed to have her own way. People seldom questioned it, I +judge." + +Here the tension about my throat relaxed, and I opened my lips to speak. +But the inspector, with a glance of some authority, forestalled me. + +"Were the gloves open or rolled up when she offered them to you?" + +"They were rolled up." + +"Did you see her take them off?" + +"Assuredly." + +"And roll them up?" + +"Certainly." + +"After which she passed them over to you?" + +"Not immediately. She let them lie in her lap for a while." + +"While you talked?" + +Mr. Durand bowed. + +"And looked at the diamond?" + +Mr. Durand bowed for the second time. + +"Had you ever seen so fine a diamond before?" + +"No." + +"Yet you deal in precious stones?" + +"That is my business." + +"And are regarded as a judge of them?" + +"I have that reputation." + +"Mr. Durand, would you know this diamond if you saw it?" + +"I certainly should." + +"The setting was an uncommon one, I hear." + +"Quite an unusual one." + +The inspector opened his hand. + +"Is this the article?" + +"Good God! Where--" + +"Don't you know?" + +"I do not." + +The inspector eyed him gravely. + +"Then I have a bit of news for you. It was hidden in the gloves you took +from Mrs. Fairbrother. Miss Van Arsdale was present at their unrolling." + +Do we live, move, breathe at certain moments? It hardly seems so. I know +that I was conscious of but one sense, that of seeing; and of but one +faculty, that of judgment. Would he flinch, break down, betray guilt, or +simply show astonishment? I chose to believe it was the latter feeling +only which informed his slowly whitening and disturbed features. +Certainly it was all his words expressed, as his glances flew from the +stone to the gloves, and back again to the inspector's face. + +"I can not believe it. I can not believe it." And his hand flew wildly +to his forehead. + +"Yet it is the truth, Mr. Durand, and one you have now to face. How will +you do this? By any further explanations, or by what you may consider a +discreet silence?" + +"I have nothing to explain,--the facts are as I have stated." + +The inspector regarded him with an earnestness which made my heart sink. + +"You can fix the time of this visit, I hope; tell us, I mean, just when +you left the alcove. You must have seen some one who can speak for you." + +"I fear not." + +Why did he look so disturbed and uncertain? + +"There were but few persons in the hall just then," he went on to +explain. "No one was sitting on the yellow divan." + +"You know where you went, though? Whom you saw and what you did before +the alarm spread?" + +"Inspector, I am quite confused. I did go somewhere; I did not remain in +that part of the hall. But I can tell you nothing definite, save that +I walked about, mostly among strangers, till the cry rose which sent us +all in one direction and me to the side of my fainting sweetheart." + +"Can you pick out any stranger you talked to, or any one who might have +noted you during this interval? You see, for the sake of this little +woman, I wish to give you every chance." + +"Inspector, I am obliged to throw myself on your mercy. I have no such +witness to my innocence as you call for. Innocent people seldom have. +It is only the guilty who take the trouble to provide for such +contingencies." + +This was all very well, if it had been uttered with a straightforward +air and in a clear tone. But it was not. I who loved him felt that it +was not, and consequently was more or less prepared for the change which +now took place in the inspector's manner. Yet it pierced me to the heart +to observe this change, and I instinctively dropped my face into my +hands when I saw him move toward Mr. Durand with some final order or +word of caution. + +Instantly (and who can account for such phenomena?) there floated into +view before my retina a reproduction of the picture I had seen, or +imagined myself to have seen, in the supper-room; and as at that time +it opened before me an unknown vista quite removed from the surrounding +scene, so it did now, and I beheld again in faint outlines, and yet with +the effect of complete distinctness, a square of light through which +appeared an open passage partly shut off from view by a half-lifted +curtain and the tall figure of a man holding back this curtain and +gazing, or seeming to gaze, at his own breast, on which he had already +laid one quivering finger. + +What did it mean? In the excitement of the horrible occurrence which +had engrossed us all, I had forgotten this curious experience; but on +feeling anew the vague sensation of shock and expectation which seemed +its natural accompaniment, I became conscious of a sudden conviction +that the picture which had opened before me in the supper-room was the +result of a reflection in a glass or mirror of something then going on +in a place not otherwise within the reach of my vision; a reflection, +the importance of which I suddenly realized when I recalled at what a +critical moment it had occurred. A man in a state of dread looking at +his breast, within five minutes of the stir and rush of the dreadful +event which had marked this evening! + +A hope, great as the despair in which I had just been sunk, gave me +courage to drop my hands and advance impetuously toward the inspector. + +"Don't speak, I pray; don't judge any of us further till you have heard +what I have to say." + +In great astonishment and with an aspect of some severity, he asked +me what I had to say now which I had not had the opportunity of saying +before. I replied with all the passion of a forlorn hope that it was +only at this present moment I remembered a fact which might have a very +decided bearing on this case; and, detecting evidences, as I thought, of +relenting on his part, I backed up this statement by an entreaty for a +few words with him apart, as the matter I had to tell was private and +possibly too fanciful for any ear but his own. + +He looked as if he apprehended some loss of valuable time, but, touched +by the involuntary gesture of appeal with which I supplemented my +request, he led me into a corner, where, with just an encouraging glance +toward Mr. Durand, who seemed struck dumb by my action, I told the +inspector of that momentary picture which I had seen reflected in what I +was now sure was some window-pane or mirror. + +"It was at a time coincident, or very nearly coincident, with the +perpetration of the crime you are now investigating," I concluded. +"Within five minutes afterward came the shout which roused us all to +what had happened in the alcove. I do not know what passage I saw or +what door or even what figure; but the latter, I am sure, was that of +the guilty man. Something in the outline (and it was the outline only I +could catch) expressed an emotion incomprehensible to me at the moment, +but which, in my remembrance, impresses me as that of fear and dread. It +was not the entrance to the alcove I beheld--that would have struck me +at once--but some other opening which I might recognize if I saw it. Can +not that opening be found, and may it not give a clue to the man I saw +skulking through it with terror and remorse in his heart?" + +"Was this figure, when you saw it, turned toward you or away?" the +inspector inquired with unexpected interest. + +"Turned partly away. He was going from me." + +"And you sat--where?" + +"Shall I show you?" + +The inspector bowed, then with a low word of caution turned to my uncle. + +"I am going to take this young lady into the hall for a moment, at her +own request. May I ask you and Mr. Durand to await me here?" + +Without pausing for reply, he threw open the door and presently we were +pacing the deserted supper-room, seeking the place where I had sat. +I found it almost by a miracle,--everything being in great disorder. +Guided by my bouquet, which I had left behind me in my escape from the +table, I laid hold of the chair before which it lay, and declared quite +confidently to the inspector: + +"This is where I sat." + +Naturally his glance and mine both flew to the opposite wall. A window +was before us of an unusual size and make. Unlike any which had ever +before come under my observation, it swung on a pivot, and, though shut +at the present moment, might very easily, when opened, present its huge +pane at an angle capable of catching reflections from some of the many +mirrors decorating the reception-room situated diagonally across the +hall. As all the doorways on this lower floor were of unusual width, an +open path was offered, as it were, for these reflections to pass, making +it possible for scenes to be imaged here which, to the persons involved, +would seem as safe from any one's scrutiny as if they were taking place +in the adjoining house. + +As we realized this, a look passed between us of more than ordinary +significance. Pointing to the window, the inspector turned to a group of +waiters watching us from the other side of the room and asked if it had +been opened that evening. + +The answer came quickly. + +"Yes, sir,--just before the--the--" + +"I understand," broke in the inspector; and, leaning over me, he +whispered: "Tell me again exactly what you thought you saw." + +But I could add little to my former description. "Perhaps you can tell +me this," he kindly persisted. "Was the picture, when you saw it, on a +level with your eye, or did you have to lift your head in order to see +it?" + +"It was high up,--in the air, as it were. That seemed its oddest +feature." + +The inspector's mouth took a satisfied curve. "Possibly I might identify +the door and passage, if I saw them," I suggested. + +"Certainly, certainly," was his cheerful rejoinder; and, summoning one +of his men, he was about to give some order, when his impulse changed, +and he asked if I could draw. + +I assured him, in some surprise, that I was far from being an adept +in that direction, but that possibly I might manage a rough sketch; +whereupon he pulled a pad and pencil from his pocket and requested me +to make some sort of attempt to reproduce, on paper, my memory of this +passage and the door. + +My heart was beating violently, and the pencil shook in my hand, but I +knew that it would not do for me to show any hesitation in fixing for +all eyes what, unaccountably to myself, continued to be perfectly plain +to my own. So I endeavored to do as he bade me, and succeeded, to some +extent, for he uttered a slight ejaculation at one of its features, and, +while duly expressing his thanks, honored me with a very sharp look. + +"Is this your first visit to this house?" he asked. + +"No; I have been here before." + +"In the evening, or in the afternoon?" + +"In the afternoon." + +"I am told that the main entrance is not in use to-night." + +"No. A side door is provided for occasions like the present. Guests +entering there find a special hall and staircase, by which they can +reach the upstairs dressing-rooms, without crossing the main hall. Is +that what you mean?" + +"Yes, that is what I mean." + +I stared at him in wonder. What lay back of such questions as these? + +"You came in, as others did, by this side entrance," he now proceeded. +"Did you notice, as you turned to go up stairs, an arch opening into a +small passageway at your left?" + +"I did not," I began, flushing, for I thought I understood him now. "I +was too eager to reach the dressing-room to look about me." + +"Very well," he replied; "I may want to show you that arch." + +The outline of an arch, backing the figure we were endeavoring to +identify, was a marked feature in the sketch I had shown him. + +"Will you take a seat near by while I make a study of this matter?" + +I turned with alacrity to obey. There was something in his air and +manner which made me almost buoyant. Had my fanciful interpretation of +what I had seen reached him with the conviction it had me? If so, there +was hope,--hope for the man I loved, who had gone in and out between +curtains, and not through any arch such as he had mentioned or I had +described. Providence was working for me. I saw it in the way the men +now moved about, swinging the window to and fro, under the instruction +of the inspector, manipulating the lights, opening doors and drawing +back curtains. Providence was working for me, and when, a few minutes +later, I was asked to reseat myself in my old place at the supper-table +and take another look in that slightly deflected glass, I knew that my +effort had met with its reward, and that for the second time I was +to receive the impression of a place now indelibly imprinted on my +consciousness. + +"Is not that it?" asked the inspector, pointing at the glass with a last +look at the imperfect sketch I had made him, and which he still held in +his hand. + +"Yes," I eagerly responded. "All but the man. He whose figure I see +there is another person entirely; I see no remorse, or even fear, in his +looks." + +"Of course not. You are looking at the reflection of one of my men. Miss +Van Arsdale, do you recognize the place now under your eye?" + +"I do not. You spoke of an arch in the hall, at the left of the carriage +entrance, and I see an arch in the window-pane before me, but--" + +"You are looking straight through the alcove,--perhaps you did not +know that another door opened at its back,--into the passage which runs +behind it. Farther on is the arch, and beyond that arch the side hall +and staircase leading to the dressing-rooms. This door, the one in the +rear of the alcove, I mean, is hidden from those entering from the main +hall by draperies which have been hung over it for this occasion, but +it is quite visible from the back passageway, and there can be no doubt +that it was by its means the man, whose reflected image you saw, both +entered and left the alcove. It is an important fact to establish, and +we feel very much obliged to you for the aid you have given us in this +matter." + +Then, as I continued to stare at him in my elation and surprise, he +added, in quick explanation: + +"The lights in the alcove, and in the several parlors, are all hung with +shades, as you must perceive, but the one in the hall, beyond the arch, +is very bright, which accounts for the distinctness of this double +reflection. Another thing,--and it is a very interesting point,--it +would have been impossible for this reflection to be noticeable +from where you sit, if the level of the alcove flooring had not been +considerably higher than that of the main floor. But for this freak of +the architect, the continual passing to and fro of people would have +prevented the reflection in its passage from surface to surface. Miss +Van Arsdale, it would seem that by one of those chances which happen +but once or twice in a lifetime, every condition was propitious at the +moment to make this reflection a possible occurrence, even the location +and width of the several doorways and the exact point at which the +portiere was drawn aside from the entrance to the alcove." + +"It is wonderful," I cried, "wonderful!" Then, to his astonishment, +perhaps, I asked if there was not a small door of communication between +the passageway back of the alcove and the large central hall. + +"Yes," he replied. "It opens just beyond the fireplace. Three small +steps lead to it." + +"I thought so," I murmured, but more to myself than to him. In my mind I +was thinking how a man, if he so wished, could pass from the very heart +of this assemblage into the quiet passageway, and so on into the alcove, +without attracting very much attention from his fellow guests. I forgot +that there was another way of approach even less noticeable that by +the small staircase running up beyond the arch directly to the +dressing-rooms. + +That no confusion may arise in any one's mind in regard to these curious +approaches, I subjoin a plan of this portion of the lower floor as it +afterward appeared in the leading dailies. + +"And Mr. Durand?" I stammered, as I followed the inspector back to the +room where we had left that gentleman. "You will believe his statement +now and look for this second intruder with the guiltily-hanging head and +frightened mien?" + +"Yes," he replied, stopping me on the threshold of the door and taking +my hand kindly in his, "if--(don't start, my dear; life is full of +trouble for young and old, and youth is the best time to face a sad +experience) if he is not himself the man you saw staring in frightened +horror at his breast. Have you not noticed that he is not dressed in +all respects like the other gentlemen present? That, though he has not +donned his overcoat, he has put on, somewhat prematurely, one might say, +the large silk handkerchief lie presumably wears under it? Have you not +noticed this, and asked yourself why?" + +I had noticed it. I had noticed it from the moment I recovered from my +fainting fit, but I had not thought it a matter of sufficient interest +to ask, even of myself, his reason for thus hiding his shirt-front. Now +I could not. My faculties were too confused, my heart too deeply shaken +by the suggestion which the inspector's words conveyed, for me to be +conscious of anything but the devouring question as to what I should do +if, by my own mistaken zeal, I had succeeded in plunging the man I loved +yet deeper into the toils in which he had become enmeshed. + +The inspector left me no time for the settlement of this question. +Ushering me back into the room where Mr. Durand and my uncle awaited +our return in apparently unrelieved silence, he closed the door upon +the curious eyes of the various persons still lingering in the hall, and +abruptly said to Mr. Durand: + +"The explanations you have been pleased to give of the manner in +which this diamond came into your possession are not too fanciful for +credence, if you can satisfy us on another point which has awakened +some doubt in the mind of one of my men. Mr. Durand, you appear to +have prepared yourself for departure somewhat prematurely. Do you mind +removing that handkerchief for a moment? My reason for so peculiar a +request will presently appear." + +Alas, for my last fond hope! Mr. Durand, with a face as white as the +background of snow framed by the uncurtained window against which he +leaned, lifted his hand as if to comply with the inspector's request, +then let it fall again with a grating laugh. + +"I see that I am not likely to escape any of the results of my +imprudence," he cried, and with a quick jerk bared his shirt-front. + +A splash of red defiled its otherwise uniform whiteness! That it was the +red of heart's blood was proved by the shrinking look he unconsciously +cast at it. + + + + +IV. EXPLANATIONS + +My love for Anson Durand died at sight of that crimson splash or I +thought it did. In this spot of blood on the breast of him to whom I had +given my heart I could read but one word--guilt--heinous guilt, guilt +denied and now brought to light in language that could be seen and read +by all men. Why should I stay in such a presence? Had not the inspector +himself advised me to go? + +Yes, but another voice bade me remain. Just as I reached the door, Anson +Durand found his voice and I heard, in the full, sweet tones I loved so +well: + +"Wait I am not to be judged like this. I will explain!" + +But here the inspector interposed. + +"Do you think it wise to make any such attempt without the advice of +counsel, Mr. Durand?" + +The indignation with which Mr. Durand wheeled toward him raised in me a +faint hope. + +"Good God, yes!" he cried. "Would you have me leave Miss Van Arsdale one +minute longer than is necessary to such dreadful doubts? Rita--Miss Van +Arsdale--weakness, and weakness only, has brought me into my present +position. I did not kill Mrs. Fairbrother, nor did I knowingly take +her diamond, though appearances look that way, as I am very ready to +acknowledge. I did go to her in the alcove, not once, but twice, and +these are my reasons for doing so: About three months ago a certain +well-known man of enormous wealth came to me with the request that I +should procure for him a diamond of superior beauty. He wished to give +it to his wife, and he wished it to outshine any which could now be +found in New York. This meant sending abroad--an expense he was quite +willing to incur on the sole condition that the stone should not +disappoint him when he saw it, and that it was to be in his hands on the +eighteenth of March, his wife's birthday. Never before had I had such an +opportunity for a large stroke of business. Naturally elated, I entered +at once into correspondence with the best known dealers on the other +side, and last week a diamond was delivered to me which seemed to fill +all the necessary requirements. I had never seen a finer stone, and was +consequently rejoicing in my success, when some one, I do not remember +who now, chanced to speak in my hearing of the wonderful stone possessed +by a certain Mrs. Fairbrother--a stone so large, so brilliant and so +precious altogether that she seldom wore it, though it was known to +connoisseurs and had a great reputation at Tiffany's, where it had once +been sent for some alteration in the setting. Was this stone larger and +finer than the one I had procured with so much trouble? If so, my labor +had all been in vain, for my patron must have known of this diamond and +would expect to see it surpassed. + +"I was so upset by this possibility that I resolved to see the jewel and +make comparisons for myself. I found a friend who agreed to introduce +me to the lady. She received me very graciously and was amiable enough +until the subject of diamonds was broached, when she immediately +stiffened and left me without an opportunity of proffering my request. +However, on every other subject she was affable, and I found it easy +enough to pursue the acquaintance till we were almost on friendly terms. +But I never saw the diamond, nor would she talk about it, though I +caused her some surprise when one day I drew out before her eyes the one +I had procured for my patron and made her look at it. 'Fine,' she cried, +'fine!' But I failed to detect any envy in her manner, and so knew that +I had not achieved the object set me by my wealthy customer. This was a +woeful disappointment; yet, as Mrs. Fairbrother never wore her diamond, +it was among the possibilities that he might be satisfied with the very +fine gem I had obtained for him, and, influenced by this hope, I sent +him this morning a request to come and see it tomorrow. Tonight I +attended this ball, and almost as soon as I enter the drawing-room I +hear that Mrs. Fairbrother is present and is wearing her famous jewel. +What could you expect of me? Why, that I would make an effort to see it +and so be ready with a reply to my exacting customer when he should ask +me to-morrow if the stone I showed him had its peer in the city. But +was not in the drawing-room then, and later I became interested +elsewhere"--here he cast a look at me--"so that half the evening passed +before I had an opportunity to join her in the so-called alcove, where +I had seen her set up her miniature court. What passed between us in the +short interview we held together you will find me prepared to state, if +necessary. It was chiefly marked by the one short view I succeeded in +obtaining of her marvelous diamond, in spite of the pains she took to +hide it from me by some natural movement whenever she caught my eyes +leaving her face. But in that one short look I had seen enough. This was +a gem for a collector, not to be worn save in a royal presence. How had +she come by it? And could Mr. Smythe expect me to procure him a stone +like that? In my confusion I arose to depart, but the lady showed +a disposition to keep me, and began chatting so vivaciously that I +scarcely noticed that she was all the time engaged in drawing off +her gloves. Indeed, I almost forgot the jewel, possibly because her +movements hid it so completely, and only remembered it when, with a +sudden turn from the window where she had drawn me to watch the falling +flakes, she pressed the gloves into my hand with the coquettish request +that I should take care of them for her. I remember, as I took them, +of striving to catch another glimpse of the stone, whose brilliancy +had dazzled me, but she had opened her fan between us. A moment after, +thinking I heard approaching steps, I quitted the room. This was my +first visit." + +As he stopped, possibly for breath, possibly to judge to what extent I +was impressed by his account, the inspector seized the opportunity to +ask if Mrs. Fairbrother had been standing any of this time with her back +to him. To which he answered yes, while they were in the window. + +"Long enough for her to pluck off the jewel and thrust it into the +gloves, if she had so wished?" + +"Quite long enough." + +"But you did not see her do this?" + +"I did not." + +"And so took the gloves without suspicion?" + +"Entirely so." + +"And carried them away?" + +"Unfortunately, yes." + +"Without thinking that she might want them the next minute?" + +"I doubt if I was thinking seriously of her at all. My thoughts were on +my own disappointment." + +"Did you carry these gloves out in your hand?" + +"No, in my pocket." + +"I see. And you met--" + +"No one. The sound I heard must have come from the rear hall." + +"And there was nobody on the steps?" + +"No. A gentleman was standing at their foot--Mr. Grey, the +Englishman--but his face was turned another way, and he looked as if he +had been in that same position for several minutes." + +"Did this gentleman--Mr. Grey--see you?" + +"I can not say, but I doubt it. He appeared to be in a sort of dream. +There were other people about, but nobody with whom I was acquainted." + +"Very good. Now for the second visit you acknowledge having paid this +unfortunate lady." + +The inspector's voice was hard. I clung a little more tightly to my +uncle, and Mr. Durand, after one agonizing glance my way, drew himself +up as if quite conscious that he had entered upon the most serious part +of the struggle. + +"I had forgotten the gloves in my hurried departure; but presently I +remembered them, and grew very uneasy. I did not like carrying this +woman's property about with me. I had engaged myself, an hour before, to +Miss Van Arsdale, and was very anxious to rejoin her. The gloves worried +me, and finally, after a little aimless wandering through the various +rooms, I determined to go back and restore them to their owner. The +doors of the supper-room had just been flung open, and the end of +the hall near the alcove was comparatively empty, save for a certain +quizzical friend of mine, whom I saw sitting with his partner on the +yellow divan. I did not want to encounter him just then, for he had +already joked me about my admiration for the lady with the diamond, and +so I conceived the idea of approaching her by means of a second entrance +to the alcove, unsuspected by most of those present, but perfectly +well-known to me, who have been a frequent guest in this house. A door, +covered by temporary draperies, connects, as you may know, this alcove +with a passageway communicating directly with the hall of entrance and +the up-stairs dressing-rooms. To go up the main stairs and come down +by the side one, and so on, through a small archway, was a very simple +matter for me. If no early-departing or late arriving guests were in +that hall, I need fear but one encounter, and that was with the servant +stationed at the carriage entrance. But even he was absent at this +propitious instant, and I reached the door I sought without any +unpleasantness. This door opened out instead of in,--this I also knew +when planning this surreptitious intrusion, but, after pulling it open +and reaching for the curtain, which hung completely across it, I found +it not so easy to proceed as I had imagined. The stealthiness of my +action held back my hand; then the faint sounds I heard within advised +me that she was not alone, and that she might very readily regard with +displeasure my unexpected entrance by a door of which she was possibly +ignorant. I tell you all this because, if by any chance I was seen +hesitating in face of that curtain, doubts might have been raised which +I am anxious to dispel." Here his eyes left my face for that of the +inspector. + +"It certainly had a bad look,--that I don't deny; but I did not think +of appearances then. I was too anxious to complete a task which had +suddenly presented unexpected difficulties. That I listened before +entering was very natural, and when I heard no voice, only something +like a great sigh, I ventured to lift the curtain and step in. She was +sitting, not where I had left her, but on a couch at the left of the +usual entrance, her face toward me, and--you know how, Inspector. It was +her last sigh I had heard. Horrified, for I had never looked on death +before, much less crime, I reeled forward, meaning, I presume, to +rush down the steps shouting for help, when, suddenly, something fell +splashing on my shirt-front, and I saw myself marked with a stain of +blood. This both frightened and bewildered me, and it was a minute or +two before I had the courage to look up. When I did do so, I saw whence +this drop had come. Not from her, though the red stream was pouring down +the rich folds of her dress, but from a sharp needle-like instrument +which had been thrust, point downward, in the open work of an antique +lantern hanging near the doorway. What had happened to me might have +happened to any one who chanced to be in that spot at that special +moment, but I did not realize this then. Covering the splash with my +hands, I edged myself back to the door by which I had entered, watching +those deathful eyes and crushing under my feet the remnants of some +broken china with which the carpet was bestrewn. I had no thought of +her, hardly any of myself. To cross the room was all; to escape as +secretly as I came, before the portiere so nearly drawn between me +and the main hall should stir under the hand of some curious person +entering. It was my first sight of blood; my first contact with crime, +and that was what I did,--I fled." + +The last word was uttered with a gasp. Evidently he was greatly affected +by this horrible experience. + +"I am ashamed of myself," he muttered, "but nothing can now undo the +fact. I slid from the presence of this murdered woman as though she had +been the victim of my own rage or cupidity; and, being fortunate enough +to reach the dressing-room before the alarm had spread beyond the +immediate vicinity of the alcove, found and put on the handkerchief, +which made it possible for me to rush down and find Miss Van Arsdale, +who, somebody told me, had fainted. Not till I stood over her in that +remote corner beyond the supper-room did I again think of the gloves. +What I did when I happened to think of them, you already know. I could +have shown no greater cowardice if I had known that the murdered woman's +diamond was hidden inside them. Yet, I did not know this, or even +suspect it. Nor do I understand, now, her reason for placing it there. +Why should Mrs. Fairbrother risk such an invaluable gem to the custody +of one she knew so little? An unconscious custody, too? Was she afraid +of being murdered if she retained this jewel?" + +The inspector thought a moment, and then said: + +"You mention your dread of some one entering by the one door before you +could escape by the other. Do you refer to the friend you left sitting +on the divan opposite?" + +"No, my friend had left that seat. The portiere was sufficiently drawn +for me to detect that. If I had waited a minute longer," he bitterly +added, "I should have found my way open to the regular entrance, and so +escaped all this." + +"Mr. Durand, you are not obliged to answer any of my questions; but, if +you wish, you may tell me whether, at this moment of apprehension, you +thought of the danger you ran of being seen from outside by some one of +the many coachmen passing by on the driveway?" + +"No,--I did not even think of the window,--I don't know why; but, if +any one passing by did see me, I hope they saw enough to substantiate my +story." + +The inspector made no reply. He seemed to be thinking. I heard afterward +that the curtains, looped back in the early evening, had been found +hanging at full length over this window by those who first rushed in +upon the scene of death. Had he hoped to entrap Mr. Durand into some +damaging admission? Or was he merely testing his truth? His expression +afforded no clue to his thoughts, and Mr. Durand, noting this, remarked +with some dignity: + +"I do not expect strangers to accept these explanations, which must +sound strange and inadequate in face of the proof I carry of having been +with that woman after the fatal weapon struck her heart. But, to one who +knows me, and knows me well, I can surely appeal for credence to a tale +which I here declare to be as true as if I had sworn to it in a court of +justice." + +"Anson!" I passionately cried out, loosening my clutch upon my uncle's +arm. My confidence in him had returned. + +And then, as I noted the inspector's businesslike air, and my uncle's +wavering look and unconvinced manner, I felt my heart swell, and, +flinging all discretion to the wind, I bounded eagerly forward. Laying +my hands in those of Mr. Durand, I cried fervently: + +"I believe in you. Nothing but your own words shall ever shake my +confidence in your innocence." + +The sweet, glad look I received was my best reply. I could leave the +room, after that. + +But not the house. Another experience awaited me, awaited us all, before +this full, eventful evening came to a close. + + + + +V. SUPERSTITION + +I had gone up stairs for my wraps--my uncle having insisted on my +withdrawing from a scene where my very presence seemed in some degree to +compromise me. + +Soon prepared for my departure, I was crossing the hall to the small +door communicating with the side staircase where my uncle had promised +to await me, when I felt myself seized by a desire to have another look +below before leaving the place in which were centered all my deepest +interests. + +A wide landing, breaking up the main flight of stairs some few feet from +the top, offered me an admirable point of view. With but little thought +of possible consequences, and no thought at all of my poor, patient +uncle, I slipped down to this landing, and, protected by the unusual +height of its balustrade, allowed myself a parting glance at the scene +with which my most poignant memories were henceforth to be connected. + +Before me lay the large square of the central hall. Opening out from +this was the corridor leading to the front door, and incidentally to the +library. As my glance ran down this corridor, I beheld, approaching from +the room just mentioned, the tall figure of the Englishman. + +He halted as he reached the main hall and stood gazing eagerly at a +group of men and women clustered near the fireplace--a group on which I +no sooner cast my own eye than my attention also became fixed. + +The inspector had come from the room where I had left him with Mr. +Durand and was showing to these people the extraordinary diamond, +which he had just recovered under such remarkable if not suspicious +circumstances. Young heads and old were meeting over it, and I was +straining my ears to hear such comments as were audible above the +general hubbub, when Mr. Grey made a quick move and I looked his way +again in time to mark his air of concern and the uncertainty he showed +whether to advance or retreat. + +Unconscious of my watchful eye, and noting, no doubt, that most of the +persons in the group on which his own eye was leveled stood with their +backs toward him, he made no effort to disguise his profound interest +in the stone. His eye followed its passage from hand to hand with a +covetous eagerness of which he may not have been aware, and I was not +at all surprised when, after a short interval of troubled indecision, he +impulsively stepped forward and begged the privilege of handling the gem +himself. + +Our host, who stood not far from the inspector, said something to that +gentleman which led to this request being complied with. The stone was +passed over to Mr. Grey, and I saw, possibly because my heart was in my +eyes, that the great man's hand trembled as it touched his palm. Indeed, +his whole frame trembled, and I was looking eagerly for the result of +his inspection when, on his turning to hold the jewel up to the light, +something happened so abnormal and so strange that no one who was +fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be present in the house at that +instant will ever forget it. + +This something was a cry, coming from no one knew where, which, +unearthly in its shrillness and the power it had on the imagination, +reverberated through the house and died away in a wail so weird, so +thrilling and so prolonged that it gripped not only my own nerveless and +weakened heart, but those of the ten strong men congregated below me. +The diamond dropped from Mr. Grey's hand, and neither he nor any one +else moved to pick it up. Not till silence had come again--a silence +almost as unendurable to the sensitive ear as the cry which had preceded +it--did any one stir or think of the gem. Then one gentleman after +another bent to look for it, but with no success, till one of the +waiters, who possibly had followed it with his eye or caught sight of +its sparkle on the edge of the rug, whither it had rolled, sprang and +picked it up and handed it back to Mr. Grey. + +Instinctively the Englishman's hand closed on it, but it was very +evident to me, and I think to all, that his interest in it was gone. If +he looked at it he did not see it, for he stood like one stunned all +the time that agitated men and women were running hither and thither in +unavailing efforts to locate the sound yet ringing in their ears. Not +till these various searchers had all come together again, in terror of a +mystery they could not solve, did he let his hand fall and himself awake +to the scene about him. + +The words he at once gave utterance to were as remarkable as all the +rest. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "you must pardon my agitation. This cry--you need +not seek its source--is one to which I am only too well accustomed. I +have been the happy father of six children. Five I have buried, and, +before the death of each, this same cry has echoed in my ears. I have +but one child left, a daughter,--she is ill at the hotel. Do you wonder +that I shrink from this note of warning, and show myself something less +than a man under its influence? I am going home; but, first, one word +about this stone." Here he lifted it and bestowed, or appeared to bestow +on it, an anxious scrutiny, putting on his glasses and examining it +carefully before passing it back to the inspector. + +"I have heard," said he, with a change of tone which must have been +noticeable to every one, "that this stone was a very superior one, and +quite worthy of the fame it bore here in America. But, gentlemen, +you have all been greatly deceived in it; no one more than he who was +willing to commit murder for its possession. The stone, which you have +just been good enough to allow me to inspect, is no diamond, but a +carefully manufactured bit of paste not worth the rich and elaborate +setting which has been given to it. I am sorry to be the one to say +this, but I have made a study of precious stones, and I can not let +this bare-faced imitation pass through my hands without a protest. +Mr. Ramsdell," this to our host, "I beg you will allow me to utter my +excuses, and depart at once. My daughter is worse,--this I know, as +certainly as that I am standing here. The cry you have heard is the one +superstition of our family. Pray God that I find her alive!" + +After this, what could be said? Though no one who had heard him, not +even my own romantic self, showed any belief in this interpretation of +the remarkable sound that had just gone thrilling through the house, +yet, in face of his declared acceptance of it as a warning, and the fact +that all efforts had failed to locate the sound, or even to determine +its source, no other course seemed open but to let this distinguished +man depart with the suddenness his superstitious fears demanded. + +That this was in opposition to the inspector's wishes was evident +enough. Naturally, he would have preferred Mr. Grey to remain, if only +to make clear his surprising conclusions in regard to a diamond which +had passed through the hands of some of the best judges in the country, +without a doubt having been raised as to its genuineness. + +With his departure the inspector's manner changed. He glanced at the +stone in his hand, and slowly shook his head. + +"I doubt if Mr. Grey's judgment can be depended on, to-night," said he, +and pocketed the gem as carefully as if his belief in its real value had +been but little disturbed by the assertions of this renowned foreigner. + +I have no distinct remembrance of how I finally left the house, or of +what passed between my uncle and myself on our way home. I was numb with +the shock, and neither my intelligence nor my feelings were any longer +active. I recall but one impression, and that was the effect made on me +by my old home on our arrival there, as of something new and strange; +so much had happened, and such changes had taken place in myself +since leaving it five hours before. But nothing else is vivid in my +remembrance till that early hour of the dreary morning, when, on waking +to the world with a cry, I beheld my uncle's anxious figure, bending +over me from the foot-board. + +Instantly I found tongue, and question after question leaped from my +lips. He did not answer them; he could not; but when I grew feverish and +insistent, he drew the morning paper from behind his back, and laid it +quietly down within my reach. I felt calmed in an instant, and when, +after a few affectionate words, he left me to myself, I seized on +the sheet and read what so many others were reading at that moment +throughout the city. + +I spare you the account so far as it coincides with what I had myself +seen and heard the night before. A few particulars which had not reached +my ears will interest you. The instrument of death found in the place +designated by Mr. Durand was one of note to such as had any taste or +knowledge of curios. It was a stiletto of the most delicate type, long, +keen and slender. Not an American product, not even of this century's +manufacture, but a relic of the days when deadly thrusts were given in +the corners and by-ways of medieval streets. + +This made the first mystery. + +The second was the as yet unexplainable presence, on the alcove floor, +of two broken coffee-cups, which no waiter nor any other person, in +fact, admitted having carried there. The tray, which had fallen from +Peter Mooney's hand,--the waiter who had been the first to give the +alarm of murder,--had held no cups, only ices. This was a fact, proved. +But the handles of two cups had been found among the debris,--cups which +must have been full, from the size of the coffee stain left on the rug +where they had fallen. + +In reading this I remembered that Mr. Durand had mentioned stepping on +some broken pieces of china in his escape from the fatal scene, and, +struck with this confirmation of a theory which was slowly taking form +in my own mind, I passed on to the next paragraph, with a sense of +expectation. + +The result was a surprise. Others may have been told, I was not, that +Mrs. Fairbrother had received a communication from outside only a few +minutes previous to her death. A Mr. Fullerton, who had preceded Mr. +Durand in his visit to the alcove, owned to having opened the window for +her at some call or signal from outside, and taken in a small piece of +paper which he saw lifted up from below on the end of a whip handle. He +could not see who held the whip, but at Mrs. Fairbrother's entreaty he +unpinned the note and gave it to her. While she was puzzling over it, +for it was apparently far from legible, he took another look out in time +to mark a figure rush from below toward the carriage drive. He did not +recognize the figure nor would he know it again. As to the nature of the +communication itself he could say nothing, save that Mrs. Fairbrother +did not seem to be affected favorably by it. She frowned and was looking +very gloomy when he left the alcove. Asked if he had pulled the curtains +together after closing the window, he said that he had not; that she had +not requested him to do so. + +This story, which was certainly a strange one, had been confirmed by the +testimony of the coachman who had lent his whip for the purpose. This +coachman, who was known to be a man of extreme good nature, had seen no +harm in lending his whip to a poor devil who wished to give a telegram +or some such hasty message to the lady sitting just above them in a +lighted window. The wind was fierce and the snow blinding, and it +was natural that the man should duck his head, but he remembered his +appearance well enough to say that he was either very cold or very much +done up and that he wore a greatcoat with the collar pulled up about his +ears. When he came back with the whip he seemed more cheerful than when +he asked for it, but had no "thank you" for the favor done him, or if he +had, it was lost in his throat and the piercing gale. + +The communication, which was regarded by the police as a matter of the +highest importance, had been found in her hand by the coroner. It was a +mere scrawl written in pencil on a small scrap of paper. The following +facsimile of the scrawl was given to the public in the hope that some +one would recognize the handwriting. + +The first two lines overlapped and were confused, but the last one +was clear enough. Expect trouble if--If what? Hundreds were asking the +question and at this very moment. I should soon be asking it, too, but +first, I must make an effort to understand the situation,--a situation +which up to now appeared to involve Mr. Durand, and Mr. Durand only, as +the suspected party. + +This was no more than I expected, yet it came with a shock under the +broad glare of this wintry morning; so impossible did it seem in the +light of every-day life that guilt could be associated in any one's mind +with a man of such unblemished record and excellent standing. But the +evidence adduced against him was of a kind to appeal to the common +mind--we all know that evidence--nor could I say, after reading the full +account, that I was myself unaffected by its seeming weight. Not that my +faith in his innocence was shaken. I had met his look of love and tender +gratitude and my confidence in him had been restored, but I saw, with +all the clearness of a mind trained by continuous study, how difficult +it was going to be to counteract the prejudice induced, first, by his +own inconsiderate acts, especially by that unfortunate attempt of his to +secrete Mrs. Fairbrother's gloves in another woman's bag, and secondly, +by his peculiar explanations--explanations which to many must seem +forced and unnatural. + +I saw and felt nerved to a superhuman task. I believed him innocent, +and if others failed to prove him so, I would undertake to clear him +myself,--I, the little Rita, with no experience of law or courts or +crime, but with simply an unbounded faith in the man suspected and in +the keenness of my own insight,--an insight which had already served me +so well and would serve me yet better, once I had mastered the details +which must be the prelude to all intelligent action. + +The morning's report stopped with the explanations given by Mr. Durand +of the appearances against him. Consequently no word appeared of the +after events which had made such an impression at the time on all +the persons present. Mr. Grey was mentioned, but simply as one of the +guests, and to no one reading this early morning issue would any doubt +come as to the genuineness of the diamond which, to all appearance, had +been the leading motive in the commission of this great crime. + +The effect on my own mind of this suppression was a curious one. I began +to wonder if the whole event had not been a chimera of my disturbed +brain--a nightmare which had visited me, and me alone, and not a fact to +be reckoned with. But a moment's further thought served to clear my mind +of all such doubts, and I perceived that the police had only exercised +common prudence in withholding Mr. Grey's sensational opinion of the +stone till it could be verified by experts. + +The two columns of gossip devoted to the family differences which had +led to the separation of Mr. and Mrs. Fairbrother, I shall compress into +a few lines. They had been married three years before in the city of +Baltimore. He was a rich man then, but not the multimillionaire he is +to-day. Plain-featured and without manner, lie was no mate for this +sparkling coquette, whose charm was of the kind which grows with +exercise. Though no actual scandal was ever associated with her name, he +grew tired of her caprices, and the conquests which she made no endeavor +to hide either from him or from the world at large; and at some time +during the previous year they had come to a friendly understanding +which led to their living apart, each in grand style and with a certain +deference to the proprieties which retained them their friends and an +enviable place in society. He was not often invited where she was, and +she never appeared in any assemblage where he was expected; but with +this exception, little feeling was shown; matters progressed smoothly, +and to their credit, let it be said, no one ever heard either of them +speak otherwise than considerately of the other. He was at present out +or town, having started some three weeks before for the southwest, but +would probably return on receipt of the telegram which had been sent +him. + +The comments made on the murder were necessarily hurried. It was called +a mystery, but it was evident enough that Mr. Durand's detention was +looked on as the almost certain prelude to his arrest on the charge of +murder. + +I had had some discipline in life. Although a favorite of my wealthy +uncle, I had given up very early the prospects he held out to me of a +continued enjoyment of his bounty, and entered on duties which required +self-denial and hard work. I did this because I enjoy having both my +mind and heart occupied. To be necessary to some one, as a nurse is to +a patient, seemed to me an enviable fate till I came under the influence +of Anson Durand. Then the craving of all women for the common lot of +their sex became my craving also; a craving, however, to which I failed +at first to yield, for I felt that it was unshared, and thus a token of +weakness. Fighting my battle, I succeeded in winning it, as I thought, +just as the nurse's diploma was put in my hands. Then came the great +surprise of my life. Anson Durand expressed his love for me and I awoke +to the fact that all my preparation had been for home joys and a woman's +true existence. One hour of ecstasy in the light of this new hope, then +tragedy and something approaching chaos! Truly I had been through a +schooling. But was it one to make me useful in the only way I could +be useful now? I did not know; I did not care; I was determined on my +course, fit or unfit, and, in the relief brought by this appeal to my +energy, I rose and dressed and went about the duties of the day. + +One of these was to determine whether Mr. Grey, on his return to his +hotel, had found his daughter as ill as his fears had foreboded. A +telephone message or two satisfied me on this point. Miss Grey was +very ill, but not considered dangerously so; indeed, if anything, her +condition was improved, and if nothing happened in the way of fresh +complications, the prospects were that she would be out in a fortnight. + +I was not surprised. It was more than I had expected. The cry of the +banshee in an American house was past belief, even in an atmosphere +surcharged with fear and all the horror surrounding a great crime; and +in the secret reckoning I was making against a person I will not even +name at this juncture, I added it as another suspicious circumstance. + + + + +VI. SUSPENSE + +To relate the full experiences of the next few days would be to encumber +my narrative with unnecessary detail. + +I did not see Mr. Durand again. My uncle, so amenable in most matters, +proved Inexorable on this point. Till Mr. Durand's good name should be +restored by the coroner's verdict, or such evidence brought to light +as should effectually place him beyond all suspicion, I was to hold no +communication with him of any sort whatever. I remember the very words +with which my uncle ended the one exhaustive conversation we had on the +subject. They were these: + +"You have fully expressed to Mr. Durand your entire confidence In his +Innocence. That must suffice him for the present. If he Is the honest +gentleman you think him, It will." + +As uncle seldom asserted himself, and as he is very much in earnest when +he does, I made no attempt to combat this resolution, especially as it +met the approval of my better judgment. But though my power to convey +sympathy fell thus under a yoke, my thoughts and feelings remained +free, and these were all consecrated to the man struggling under an +imputation, the disgrace and humiliation of which he was but poorly +prepared, by his former easy life of social and business prosperity, to +meet. + +For Mr. Durand, in spite of the few facts which came up from time to +time in confirmation of his story, continued to be almost universally +regarded as a suspect. + +This seemed to me very unjust. What if no other clue offered--no other +clue, I mean, recognized as such by police or public! Was he not to +have the benefit of whatever threw a doubt on his own culpability? For +instance, that splash of blood on his shirt-front, which I had seen, and +the shape of which I knew! Why did not the fact that it was a splash +and not a spatter (and spatter it would have been had it spurted there, +instead of falling from above, as he stated), count for more in the +minds of those whose business it was to probe into the very heart of +this crime? To me, it told such a tale of innocence that I wondered how +a man like the inspector could pass over it. But later I understood. A +single word enlightened me. The stain, it was true, was In the form of +a splash and not a spurt, but a splash would have been the result of a +drop falling from the reeking end of the stiletto, whether it dislodged +itself early or late. And what was there to prove that this drop had not +fallen at the instant the stiletto was being thrust Into the lantern, +instead of after the escape of the criminal, and the entrance of another +man? + +But the mystery of the broken coffee-cups! For that no explanation +seemed to be forthcoming. + +And the still unsolved one of the written warning found in the murdered +woman's hand--a warning which had been deciphered to read: "Be warned! He +means to be at the ball! Expect trouble if--" Was that to be looked upon +as directed against a man who, from the nature of his projected attempt, +would take no one into his confidence? + +Then the stiletto--a photographic reproduction of which was in all the +papers--was that the kind of instrument which a plain New York gentleman +would be likely to use In a crime of this nature? It was a marked and +unique article, capable, as one would think, of being easily traced to +its owner. Had it been claimed by Mr. Ramsdell, had it been recognized +as one of the many works of art scattered about the highly-decorated +alcove, its employment as a means of death would have gone only to prove +the possibly unpremeditated nature of the crime, and so been valueless +as the basis of an argument in favor of Mr. Durand's innocence. But Mr. +Ramsdell had disclaimed from the first all knowledge of it, consequently +one could but feel justified in asking whether a man of Mr. Durand's +judgment would choose such an extraordinary weapon in meditating so +startling a crime which from its nature and circumstance could not fail +to attract the attention of the whole civilized world. + +Another argument, advanced by himself and subscribed to by all his +friends, was this: That a dealer in precious stones would be the last +man to seek by any unlawful means to possess so conspicuous a jewel. For +he, better than any one else, would know the impossibility of disposing +of a gem of this distinction in any market short of the Orient. To which +the unanswerable reply was made that no one attributed to him any such +folly; that if he had planned to possess himself of this great diamond, +it was for the purpose of eliminating it from competition with the one +he had procured for Mr. Smythe; an argument, certainly, which drove us +back on the only plea we had at our command--his hitherto unblemished +reputation and the confidence which was felt In him by those who knew +him. + +But the one circumstance which affected me most at the time, and which +undoubtedly was the source of the greatest confusion to all minds, +whether official or otherwise, was the unexpected confirmation by +experts of Mr. Grey's opinion in regard to the diamond. His name was +not used, indeed it had been kept out of the papers with the greatest +unanimity, but the hint he had given the inspector at Mr. Ramsdell's +ball had been acted upon and, the proper tests having been made, the +stone, for which so many believed a life to have been risked and another +taken, was declared to be an imitation, fine and successful beyond all +parallel, but still an imitation, of the great and renowned gem which +had passed through Tiffany's hands a twelve-month before: a decision +which fell like a thunderbolt on all such as had seen the diamond +blazing in unapproachable brilliancy on the breast of the unhappy Mrs. +Fairbrother only an hour or two before her death. + +On me the effect was such that for days I lived in a dream, a condition +that, nevertheless, did not prevent me from starting a certain little +inquiry of my own, of which more hereafter. + +Here let me say that I did not share the general confusion on this +topic. I had my own theory, both as to the cause of this substitution +and the moment when it was made. But the time had not yet come for me to +advance it. I could only stand back and listen to the suppositions aired +by the press, suppositions which fomented so much private discussion +that ere long the one question most frequently heard in this connection +was not who struck the blow which killed Mrs. Fairbrother (this was a +question which some seemed to think settled), but whose juggling hand +had palmed off the paste for the diamond, and how and when and where had +the jugglery taken place? + +Opinions on this point were, as I have said, many and various. Some +fixed upon the moment of exchange as that very critical and hardly +appreciable one elapsing between the murder and Mr. Durand's appearance +upon the scene. This theory, I need not say, was advanced by such as +believed that while he was not guilty of Mrs. Fairbrother's murder, lie +had been guilty of taking advantage of the same to rob the body of what, +in the terror and excitement of the moment, he evidently took to be her +great gem. To others, among whom were many eyewitnesses of the event, +it appeared to be a conceded fact that this substitution had been made +prior to the ball and with Mrs. Fairbrother's full cognizance. The +effectual way in which she had wielded her fan between the glittering +ornament on her breast and the inquisitive glances constantly leveled +upon it might at the time have been due to coquetry, but to them it +looked much more like an expression of fear lest the deception in which +she was indulging should be discovered. No one fixed the time where I +did; but then, no one but myself had watched the scene with the eyes of +love; besides, and this must be remembered, most people, among whom +I ventured to count the police officials, were mainly interested in +proving Mr. Durand guilty, while I, with contrary mind, was bent on +establishing such facts as confirmed the explanations he had been +pleased to give us, explanations which necessitated a conviction, on +Mrs. Fairbrother's part, of the great value of the jewel she wore, and +the consequent advisability of ridding herself of it temporarily, if, +as so many believed, the full letter of the warning should read: "Be +warned, he means to be at the ball. Expect trouble if you are found +wearing the great diamond." + +True, she may herself have been deceived concerning it. Unconsciously to +herself, she may have been the victim of a daring fraud on the part of +some hanger-on who had access to her jewels, but, as no such evidence +had yet come to life, as she had no recognized, or, so far as could be +learned, secret lover or dishonest dependent; and, moreover, as no gem +of such unusual value was known to have been offered within the year, +here or abroad, in public or private market, I could not bring myself to +credit this assumption; possibly because I was so ignorant as to credit +another, and a different one,--one which you have already seen growing in +my mind, and which, presumptuous as it was, kept my courage from failing +through all those dreadful days of enforced waiting and suspense. For I +was determined not to intrude my suggestions, valuable as I considered +them, till all hope was gone of his being righted by the judgment +of those who would not lightly endure the interference of such an +insignificant mote in the great scheme of justice as myself. + +The inquest, which might be trusted to bring out all these doubtful +points, had been delayed in anticipation of Mr. Fairbrother's return. +His testimony could not but prove valuable, if not in fixing the +criminal, at least in settling the moot point as to whether the stone, +which the estranged wife had carried away with her on leaving the +house, had been the genuine one returned to him from Tiffany's or the +well-known imitation now in the hands of the police. He had been located +somewhere in the mountains of lower Colorado, but, strange to say, It +had been found impossible to enter into direct communication with him; +nor was it known whether he was aware as yet of his wife's tragic death. +So affairs went slowly in New York and the case seemed to come to a +standstill, when public opinion was suddenly reawakened and a more +definite turn given to the whole matter by a despatch from Santa Fe +to the Associated Press. This despatch was to the effect that Abner +Fairbrother had passed through that city some three days before on his +way to his new mining camp, the Placide; that he then showed symptoms of +pneumonia, and from advices since received might be regarded as a very +sick man. + +Ill,--well, that explained matters. His silence, which many had taken +for indifference, was that of a man physically disabled and unfit for +exertion of any kind. Ill,--a tragic circumstance which roused endless +conjecture. Was he aware, or was he not aware, of his wife's death? Had +he been taken ill before or after he left Colorado for New Mexico? Was +he suffering mainly from shock, or, as would appear from his complaint, +from a too rapid change of climate? + +The whole country seethed with excitement, and my poor little +unthought-of, insignificant self burned with impatience, which only +those who have been subjected to a like suspense can properly estimate. +Would the proceedings which were awaited with so much anxiety be further +delayed? Would Mr. Durand remain indefinitely in durance and under such +a cloud of disgrace as would kill some men and might kill him? Should I +be called upon to endure still longer the suffering which this entailed +upon me, when I thought I knew? + +But fortune was less obdurate than I feared. Next morning a telegraphic +statement from Santa Fe settled one of the points of this great dispute, +a statement which you will find detailed at more length in the following +communication, which appeared a few days later in one of our most +enterprising journals. + +It was from a resident correspondent in New Mexico, and was written, as +the editor was careful to say, for his own eyes and not for the public. +He had ventured, however, to give It in full, knowing the great interest +which this whole subject had for his readers. + + + + +VII. NIGHT AND A VOICE + +Not to be outdone by the editor, I insert the article here with all its +details, the importance of which I trust I have anticipated. + +SANTA FE, N.M., April--. + +Arrived in Santa Fe, I inquired where Abner Fairbrother could be found. +I was told that he was at his mine, sick. + +Upon inquiring as to the location of the Placide, I was informed that it +was fifteen miles or so distant in the mountains, and upon my expressing +an intention of going there immediately, I was given what I thought very +unnecessary advice and then directed to a certain livery stable, where +I was told I could get the right kind of a horse and such equipment as I +stood in need of. + +I thought I was equipped all right as it was, but I said nothing and +went on to the livery stable. Here I was shown a horse which I took to +at once and was about to mount, when a pair of leggings was brought to +me. + +"You will need these for your journey," said the man. + +"Journey!" I repeated. "Fifteen miles!" + +The livery stable keeper--a half-breed with a peculiarly pleasant +smile--cocked up his shoulders with the remark: + +"Three men as willing but as inexperienced as yourself have attempted +the same journey during the last week and they all came back before they +reached the divide. You will probably come back, too; but I shall give +you as fair a start as if I knew you were going straight through." + +"But a woman has done it," said I; "a nurse from the hospital went up +that very road last week." + +"Oh, women! they can do anything--women who are nurses. But they don't +start off alone. You are going alone." + +"Yes," I remarked grimly. "Newspaper correspondents make their journeys +singly when they can." + +"Oh! you are a newspaper correspondent! Why do so many men from the +papers want to see that sick old man? Because he's so rich?" + +"Don't you know?" I asked. + +He did not seem to. + +I wondered at his ignorance but did not enlighten him. + +"Follow the trail and ask your way from time to time. All the goatherds +know where the Placide mine is." + +Such were his simple instructions as he headed my horse toward the +canyon. But as I drew off, he shouted out: + +"If you get stuck, leave it to the horse. He knows more about it than +you do." + +With a vague gesture toward the northwest, he turned away, leaving me +in contemplation of the grandest scenery I had yet come upon in all my +travels. + +Fifteen miles! but those miles lay through the very heart of the +mountains, ranging anywhere from six to seven thousand feet high. In ten +minutes the city and all signs of city life were out of sight. In five +more I was seemingly as far removed from all civilization as if I had +gone a hundred miles into the wilderness. + +As my horse settled down to work, picking his way, now here and now +there, sometimes over the brown earth, hard and baked as in a thousand +furnaces, and sometimes over the stunted grass whose needle-like stalks +seemed never to have known moisture, I let my eyes roam to such peaks as +were not cut off from view by the nearer hillsides, and wondered whether +the snow which capped them was whiter than any other or the blue of the +sky bluer, that the two together had the effect upon me of cameo work on +a huge and unapproachable scale. + +Certainly the effect of these grand mountains, into which you leap +without any preparation from the streets and market-places of America's +oldest city, is such as is not easily described. + +We struck water now and then,--narrow water--courses which my horse +followed in mid stream, and, more interesting yet, goatherds with their +flocks, Mexicans all, who seemed to understand no English, but were +picturesque enough to look at and a welcome break in the extreme +lonesomeness of the way. + +I had been told that they would serve me as guides if I felt at all +doubtful of the trail, and in one or two instances they proved to be of +decided help. They could gesticulate, if they could not speak English, +and when I tried them with the one word Placide they would nod and point +out which of the many side canyons I was to follow. But they always +looked up as they did so, up, up, till I took to looking up, too, and +when, after miles multiplied indefinitely by the winding of the trail, I +came out upon a ledge from which a full view of the opposite range could +be had, and saw fronting me, from the side of one of its tremendous +peaks, the gap of a vast hole not two hundred feet from the snowline, I +knew that, inaccessible as it looked, I was gazing up at the opening of +Abner Fairbrother's new mine, the Placide. + +The experience was a strange one. The two ranges approached so nearly +that it seemed as if a ball might be tossed from one to the other. But +the chasm between was stupendous. I grew dizzy as I looked downward +and saw the endless zigzags yet to be traversed step by step before the +bottom of the canyon could be reached, and then the equally interminable +zigzags up the acclivity beyond, all of which I must trace, still step +by step, before I could hope to arrive at the camp which, from where I +stood, looked to be almost within hail of my voice. + +I have described the mine as a hole. That was all I saw at first--a +great black hole in the dark brown earth of the mountain-side, from +which ran down a still darker streak into the waste places far below it. +But as I looked longer I saw that it was faced by a ledge cut out of the +friable soil, on which I was now able to descry the pronounced white of +two or three tent-tops and some other signs of life, encouraging +enough to the eye of one whose lot it was to crawl like a fly up that +tremendous mountain-side. + +Truly I could understand why those three men, probably newspaper +correspondents like myself, had turned back to Santa Fe, after a glance +from my present outlook. But though I understood I did not mean to +duplicate their retreat. + +The sight of those tents, the thought of what one of them contained, +inspired me with new courage, and, releasing my grip upon the rein, I +allowed my patient horse to proceed. Shortly after this I passed the +divide--that is where the water sheds both ways--then the descent began. +It was zigzag, just as the climb had been, but I preferred the climb. I +did not have the unfathomable spaces so constantly before me, nor was +my imagination so active. It was fixed on heights to be attained rather +than on valleys to roll into. However, I did not roll. + +The Mexican saddle held me securely at whatever angle I was poised, and +once the bottom was reached I found that I could face, with considerable +equanimity, the corresponding ascent. Only, as I saw how steep the climb +bade fair to be, I did not see how I was ever to come down again. Going +up was possible, but the descent-- + +However, as what goes up must in the course of nature come down, I put +this question aside and gave my horse his head, after encouraging him +with a few blades of grass, which he seemed to find edible enough, +though they had the look and something of the feel of spun glass. + +How we got there you must ask this good animal, who took all the +responsibility and did all the work. I merely clung and balanced, and at +times, when he rounded the end of a zigzag, for instance, I even shut +my eyes, though the prospect was magnificent. At last even his patience +seemed to give out, and he stopped and trembled. But before I could open +my eyes on the abyss beneath he made another effort. I felt the brush of +tree branches across my face, and, looking up, saw before me the ledge +or platform dotted with tents, at which I had looked with such longing +from the opposite hillsides. + +Simultaneously I heard voices, and saw approaching a bronzed and bearded +man with strongly-marked Scotch features and a determined air. + +"The doctor!" I involuntarily exclaimed, with a glance at the small and +curious tent before which he stood guard. + +"Yes, the doctor," he answered in unexpectedly good English. "And who +are you? Have you brought the mail and those medicines I sent for?" + +"No," I replied with as propitiatory a smile as I could muster up in +face of his brusk forbidding expression. "I came on my own errand. I +am a representative of the New York--and I hope you will not deny me a +word with Mr. Fairbrother." + +With a gesture I hardly knew how to interpret he took my horse by the +rein and led us on a few steps toward another large tent, where he +motioned me to descend. Then he laid his hand on my shoulder and, +forcing me to meet his eye, said: + +"You have made this journey--I believe you said from New York--to see +Mr. Fairbrother. Why?" + +"Because Mr. Fairbrother is at present the most sought-for man in +America," I returned boldly. "His wife--you know about his wife--" + +"No. How should I know about his wife? I know what his temperature is +and what his respiration is--but his wife? What about his wife? He don't +know anything about her now himself; he is not allowed to read letters." + +"But you read the papers. You must have known, before you left Santa Fe, +of Mrs. Fairbrother's foul and most mysterious murder in New York. It +has been the theme of two continents for the last ten days." + +He shrugged his shoulders, which might mean anything, and confined his +reply to a repetition of my own words. + +"Mrs. Fairbrother murdered!" he exclaimed, but in a suppressed voice, +to which point was given by the cautious look he cast behind him at the +tent which had drawn my attention. "He must not know it, man. I could +not answer for his life if he received the least shock in his present +critical condition. Murdered? When?" + +"Ten days ago, at a ball in New York. It was after Mr. Fairbrother left +the city. He was expected to return, after hearing the news, but he +seems to have kept straight on to his destination. He was not very fond +of his wife,--that is, they have not been living together for the last +year. But he could not help feeling the shock of her death which he must +have heard of somewhere along the route." + +"He has said nothing in his delirium to show that he knew it. It is +possible, just possible, that he didn't read the papers. He could not +have been well for days before he reached Santa Fe." + +"When were you called in to attend him?" + +"The very night after he reached this place. It was thought he wouldn't +live to reach the camp. But he is a man of great pluck. He held up till +his foot touched this platform. Then he succumbed." + +"If he was as sick as that," I muttered, "why did he leave Santa Fe? He +must have known what it would mean to be sick here." + +"I don't think he did. This is his first visit to the mine. He evidently +knew nothing of the difficulties of the road. But he would not stop. He +was determined to reach the camp, even after he had been given a sight +of it from the opposite mountain. He told them that he had once crossed +the Sierras in midwinter. But he wasn't a sick man then." + +"Doctor, they don't know who killed his wife." + +"He didn't." + +"I know, but under such circumstances every fact bearing on the event is +of immense importance. There is one which Mr. Fairbrother only can make +clear. It can be said in a word--" + +The grim doctor's eye flashed angrily and I stopped. + +"Were you a detective from the district attorney's office in New York, +sent on with special powers to examine him, I should still say what I am +going to say now. While Mr. Fairbrother's temperature and pulse remain +where they now are, no one shall see him and no one shall talk to him +save myself and his nurse." + +I turned with a sick look of disappointment toward the road up which +I had so lately come. "Have I panted, sweltered, trembled, for three +mortal hours on the worst trail a man ever traversed to go back with +nothing for my journey? That seems to me hard lines. Where is the +manager of this mine?" + +The doctor pointed toward a man bending over the edge of the great hole +from which, at that moment, a line of Mexicans was issuing, each with a +sack on his back which he flung down before what looked like a furnace +built of clay. + +"That's he. Mr. Haines, of Philadelphia. What do you want of him?" + +"Permission to stay the night. Mr. Fairbrother may be better to-morrow." + +"I won't allow it and I am master here, so far as my patient is +concerned. You couldn't stay here without talking, and talking makes +excitement, and excitement is just what he can not stand. A week from +now I will see about it--that is, if my patient continues to improve. I +am not sure that he will." + +"Let me spend that week here. I'll not talk any more than the dead. Maybe +the manager will let me carry sacks." + +"Look here," said the doctor, edging me farther and farther away from +the tent he hardly let out of his sight for a moment. "You're a canny +lad, and shall have your bite and something to drink before you take +your way back. But back you go before sunset and with this message: No +man from any paper north or south will be received here till I hang out +a blue flag. I say blue, for that is the color of my bandana. When +my patient is in a condition to discuss murder I'll hoist it from his +tent-top. It can be seen from the divide, and if you want to camp there +on the lookout, well and good. As for the police, that's another matter. +I will see them if they come, but they need not expect to talk to my +patient. You may say so down there. It will save scrambling up this +trail to no purpose." + +"You may count on me," said I; "trust a New York correspondent to do the +right thing at the right time to head off the boys. But I doubt if they +will believe me." + +"In that case I shall have a barricade thrown up fifty feet down the +mountain-side," said he. + +"But the mail and your supplies?" + +"Oh, the burros can make their way up. We shan't suffer." + +"You are certainly master," I remarked. + +All this time I had been using my eyes. There was not much to see, but +what there was was romantically interesting. Aside from the furnace and +what was going on there, there was little else but a sleeping-tent, a +cooking-tent, and the small one I had come on first, which, without the +least doubt, contained the sick man. This last tent was of a peculiar +construction and showed the primitive nature of everything at this +height. It consisted simply of a cloth thrown over a thing like a +trapeze. This cloth did not even come to the ground on either side, but +stopped short a foot or so from the flat mound of adobe which serves as +a base or floor for hut or tent in New Mexico. The rear of the simple +tent abutted on the mountain-side; the opening was toward the valley. +I felt an intense desire to look into this opening,--so intense that I +thought I would venture on an attempt to gratify it. Scrutinizing the +resolute face of the man before me and flattering myself that I detected +signs of humor underlying his professional bruskness, I asked, somewhat +mournfully, if he would let me go away without so much as a glance at +the man I had come so far to see. A glimpse would satisfy me I assured +him, as the hint of a twinkle flashed in his eye. "Surely there will be +no harm in that. I'll take it instead of supper." + +He smiled, but not encouragingly, and I was feeling very despondent, +indeed, when the canvas on which our eyes were fixed suddenly shook and +the calm figure of a woman stepped out before us, clad in the simplest +garb, but showing in every line of face and form a character of mingled +kindness and shrewdness. She was evidently on the lookout for the +doctor, for she made a sign as she saw him and returned instantly into +the tent. + +"Mr. Fairbrother has just fallen asleep," he explained. "It isn't +discipline and I shall have to apologize to Miss Serra, but if you will +promise not to speak nor make the least disturbance I will let you take +the one peep you prefer to supper." + +"I promise," said I. + +Leading the way to the opening, he whispered a word to the nurse, then +motioned me to look in. The sight was a simple one, but to me very +impressive. The owner of palaces, a man to whom millions were as +thousands to such poor devils as myself, lay on an improvised bed of +evergreens, wrapped in a horse blanket and with nothing better than +another of these rolled up under his head. At his side sat his nurse +on what looked like the uneven stump of a tree. Close to her hand was +a tolerably flat stone, on which I saw arranged a number of bottles and +such other comforts as were absolutely necessary to a proper care of the +sufferer. + +That was all. In these few words I have told the whole story. To be +sure, this simple tent, perched seven thousand feet and more above +sea-level, had one advantage which even his great house in New York +could not offer This was the out look. Lying as he did facing the +valley, he had only to open his eyes to catch a full view of the +panorama of sky and mountain stretched out before him. It was glorious; +whether seen at morning, noon or night, glorious. But I doubt if he +would not gladly have exchanged it for a sight of his home walls. + +As I started to go, a stir took place in the blanket wrapped about his +chin, and I caught a glimpse of the iron-gray head and hollow cheeks of +the great financier. He was a very sick man. Even I could see that. Had +I obtained the permission I sought and been allowed to ask him one of +the many questions burning on my tongue, I should have received only +delirium for reply. There was no reaching that clouded intelligence now, +and I felt grateful to the doctor for convincing me of it. + +I told him so and thanked him quite warmly when we were well away from +the tent, and his answer was almost kindly, though he made no effort to +hide his impatience and anxiety to see me go. The looks he cast at the +sun were significant, and, having no wish to antagonize him and every +wish to visit the spot again, I moved toward my horse with the intention +of untying him. + +To my surprise the doctor held me back. + +"You can't go to-night," said he, "your horse has hurt himself." + +It was true. There was something the matter with the animal's left +forefoot. As the doctor lifted it, the manager came up. He agreed with +the doctor. I could not make the descent to Santa Fe on that horse that +night. Did I feel elated? Rather. I had no wish to descend. Yet I was +far from foreseeing what the night was to bring me. + +I was turned over to the manager, but not without a final injunction +from the doctor. "Not a word to any one about your errand! Not a word +about the New York tragedy, as you value Mr. Fairbrother's life." + +"Not a word," said I. + +Then he left me. + +To see the sun go down and the moon come up from a ledge hung, as it +were, in mid air! The experience was novel--but I refrain. I have more +important matters to relate. + +I was given a bunk at the extreme end of the long sleeping-tent, and +turned in with the rest. I expected to sleep, but on finding that +I could catch a sight of the sick tent from under the canvas, I +experienced such fascination in watching this forbidden spot that +midnight came before I had closed my eyes. Then all desire to sleep +left me, for the patient began to moan and presently to talk, and, +the stillness of the solitary height being something abnormal, I could +sometimes catch the very words. Devoid as they were of all rational +meaning, they excited my curiosity to the burning point; for who could +tell if he might not say something bearing on the mystery? + +But that fevered mind had recurred to early scenes and the babble which +came to my ears was all of mining camps in the Rockies and the dicker +of horses. Perhaps the uneasy movement of my horse pulling at the end of +his tether had disturbed him. Perhaps-- + +But at the inner utterance of the second "perhaps" I found myself up +on my elbow listening with all my ears, and staring with wide-stretched +eyes at the thicket of stunted trees where the road debouched on the +platform. Something was astir there besides my horse. I could catch +sounds of an unmistakable nature. A rider was coming up the trail. + +Slipping back into my place, I turned toward the doctor, who lay some +two or three bunks nearer the opening. He had started up, too, and in +a moment was out of the tent. I do not think he had observed my action, +for it was very dark where I lay and his back had been turned toward me. +As for the others, they slept like the dead, only they made more noise. + +Interested--everything is interesting at such a height--I brought my eye +to bear on the ledge, and soon saw by the limpid light of a full moon +the stiff, short branches of the trees, on which my gaze was fixed, give +way to an advancing horse and rider. + +"Halloo!" saluted the doctor in a whisper, which was in itself a +warning. "Easy there! We have sickness in this camp and it's a late hour +for visitors." + +"I know?" + +The answer was subdued, but earnest. + +"I'm the magistrate of this district. I've a question to ask this sick +man, on behalf of the New York Chief of Police, who is a personal friend +of mine. It is connected with--" + +"Hush!" + +The doctor had seized him by the arm and turned his face away from the +sick tent. Then the two heads came together and an argument began. + +I could not hear a word of it, but their motions were eloquent. My +sympathy was with the magistrate, of course, and I watched eagerly while +he passed a letter over to the doctor, who vainly strove to read it by +the light of the moon. Finding this impossible, he was about to return +it, when the other struck a match and lit a lantern hanging from the +horn of his saddle. The two heads came together again, but as quickly +separated with every appearance of irreconcilement, and I was settling +back with sensations of great disappointment, when a sound fell on the +night so unexpected to all concerned that with a common impulse each eye +sought the sick tent. + +"Water! will some one give me water?" a voice had cried, quietly and +with none of the delirium which had hitherto rendered it unnatural. + +The doctor started for the tent. There was the quickness of surprise in +his movement and the gesture he made to the magistrate, as he passed in, +reawakened an expectation in my breast which made me doubly watchful. + +Providence was intervening in our favor, and I was not surprised to see +him presently reissue with the nurse, whom he drew into the shadow of +the trees, where they had a short conference. If she returned alone into +the tent after this conference I should know that the matter was at an +end and that the doctor had decided to maintain his authority against +that of the magistrate. But she remained outside and the magistrate was +invited to join their council; when they again left the shadow of the +trees it was to approach the tent. + +The magistrate, who was in the rear, could not have more than passed the +opening, but I thought him far enough inside not to detect any movement +on my part, so I took advantage of the situation to worm myself out of +my corner and across the ledge to where the tent made a shadow in the +moonlight. + +Crouching close, and laying my ear against the canvas, I listened. + +The nurse was speaking in a gently persuasive tone. I imagined her +kneeling by the head of the patient and breathing words into his ear. +These were what I heard: + +"You love diamonds. I have often noticed that; you look so long at the +ring on your hand. That is why I have let it stay there, though at times +I have feared it would drop off and roll away over the adobe down the +mountain-side. Was I right?" + +"Yes, yes." The words came with difficulty, but they were clear enough. +"It's of small value. I like it because--" + +He appeared to be too weak to finish. + +A pause, during which she seemed to edge nearer to him. + +"We all have some pet keepsake," said she. "But I should never have +supposed this stone of yours an inexpensive one. But I forget that you +are the owner of a very large and remarkable diamond, a diamond that +is spoken of sometimes in the papers. Of course, if you have a gem like +that, this one must appear very small and valueless to you." + +"Yes, this is nothing, nothing." And he appeared to turn away his head. + +"Mr. Fairbrother! Pardon me, but I want to tell you something about that +big diamond of yours. You have been in and have not been able to read +your letters, so do not know that your wife has had some trouble with +that diamond. People have said that it is not a real stone, but a +well-executed imitation. May I write to her that this is a mistake, +that it is all you have ever claimed for it--that is, an unusually large +diamond of the first water?" + +I listened in amazement. Surely, this was an insidious way to get at +the truth,--a woman's way, but who would say it was not a wise one, +the wisest, perhaps, which could be taken under the circumstances? What +would his reply be? Would it show that he was as ignorant of his wife's +death as was generally believed, both by those about him here and those +who knew him well in New York? Or would the question convey nothing +further to him than the doubt--in itself an insult of the genuineness of +that great stone which had been his pride? + +A murmur--that was all it could be called--broke from his fever-dried +lips and died away in an inarticulate gasp. Then, suddenly, sharply, a +cry broke from him, an intelligible cry, and we heard him say: + +"No imitation! no imitation! It was a sun! a glory! No other like it! It +lit the air! it blazed, it burned! I see it now! I see--" + +There the passion succumbed, the strength failed; another murmur, +another, and the great void of night which stretched over--I might +almost say under us--was no more quiet or seemingly impenetrable than +the silence of that moon-enveloped tent. + +Would he speak again? I did not think so. Would she even try to make +him? I did not think this, either. But I did not know the woman. + +Softly her voice rose again. There was a dominating insistence in her +tones, gentle as they were; the insistence of a healthy mind which seeks +to control a weakened one. + +"You do not know of any imitation, then? It was the real stone you gave +her. You are sure of it; you would be ready to swear to it if--say just +yes or no," she finished in gentle urgency. + +Evidently he was sinking again into unconsciousness, and she was just +holding him back long enough for the necessary word. + +It came slowly and with a dragging intonation, but there was no +mistaking the ring of truth with which he spoke. + +"Yes," said he. + +When I heard the doctor's voice and felt a movement in the canvas +against which I leaned, I took the warning and stole back hurriedly to +my quarters. + +I was scarcely settled, when the same group of three I had before +watched silhouetted itself again against the moonlight. There was some +talk, a mingling and separating of shadows; then the nurse glided back +to her duties and the two men went toward the clump of trees where the +horse had been tethered. + +Ten minutes and the doctor was back in his bunk. Was it imagination, +or did I feel his hand on my shoulder before he finally lay down and +composed himself to sleep? I can not say; I only know that I gave no +sign, and that soon all stir ceased in his direction and I was left to +enjoy my triumph and to listen with anxious interest to the strange and +unintelligible sounds which accompanied the descent of the horseman down +the face of the cliff, and finally to watch with a fascination, which +drew me to my knees, the passage of that sparkling star of light hanging +from his saddle. It crept to and fro across the side of the opposite +mountain as he threaded its endless zigzags and finally disappeared over +the brow into the invisible canyons beyond. + +With the disappearance of this beacon came lassitude and sleep, through +whose hazy atmosphere floated wild sentences from the sick tent, which +showed that the patient was back again in Nevada, quarreling over +the price of a horse which was to carry him beyond the reach of some +threatening avalanche. + +When next morning I came to depart, the doctor took me by both hands and +looked me straight in the eyes. + +"You heard," he said. + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +"I can tell a satisfied man when I see him," he growled, throwing +down my hands with that same humorous twinkle in his eyes which had +encouraged me from the first. + +I made no answer, but I shall remember the lesson. + +One detail more. When I stared on my own descent I found why the +leggings, with which I had been provided, were so indispensable. I was +not allowed to ride; indeed, riding down those steep declivities was +impossible. No horse could preserve his balance with a rider on his +back. I slid, so did my horse, and only in the valley beneath did we +come together again. + + + + +VIII. ARREST + +The success of this interview provoked other attempts on the part of the +reporters who now flocked into the Southwest. Ere long particulars began +to pour in of Mr. Fairbrother's painful journey south, after his illness +set in. The clerk of the hotel in El Moro, where the great mine-owner's +name was found registered at the time of the murder, told a story +which made very good reading for those who were more interested in the +sufferings and experiences of the millionaire husband of the murdered +lady than in those of the unhappy but comparatively insignificant man +upon whom public opinion had cast the odium of her death. + +It seems that when the first news came of the great crime which had +taken place in New York, Mr. Fairbrother was absent from the hotel on a +prospecting tour through the adjacent mountains. Couriers had been sent +after him, and it was one of these who finally brought him into town. +He had been found wandering alone on horseback among the defiles of an +untraveled region, sick and almost incoherent from fever. Indeed, his +condition was such that neither the courier nor such others as saw him +had the heart to tell him the dreadful news from New York, or even to +show him the papers. To their great relief, he betrayed no curiosity in +them. All he wanted was a berth in the first train going south, and this +was an easy way for them out of a great responsibility. They listened +to his wishes and saw him safely aboard, with such alacrity and with +so many precautions against his being disturbed that they have never +doubted that he left El Moro in total ignorance, not only of the +circumstances of his great bereavement, but of the bereavement itself. + +This ignorance, which he appeared to have carried with him to the +Placide, was regarded by those who knew him best as proving the truth of +the affirmation elicited from him in the pauses of his delirium of the +genuineness of the stone which had passed from his hands to those of his +wife at the time of their separation; and, further despatches coming in, +some private and some official, but all insisting upon the fact that it +would be weeks before he would be in a condition to submit to any sort +of examination on a subject so painful, the authorities in New York +decided to wait no longer for his testimony, but to proceed at once with +the inquest. + +Great as is the temptation to give a detailed account of proceedings +which were of such moment to myself, and to every word of which I +listened with the eagerness of a novice and the anguish of a woman +who sees her lover's reputation at the mercy of a verdict which may +stigmatize him as a possible criminal, I see no reason for encumbering +my narrative with what, for the most part, would be a mere repetition of +facts already known to you. + +Mr. Durand's intimate and suggestive connection with this crime, the +explanations he had to give of this connection, frequently bizarre and, +I must acknowledge, not always convincing,--nothing could alter these +nor change the fact of the undoubted cowardice he displayed in hiding +Mrs. Fairbrother's gloves in my unfortunate little bag. + +As for the mystery of the warning, it remained as much of a mystery as +ever. Nor did any better success follow an attempt to fix the ownership +of the stiletto, though a half-day was exhausted in an endeavor to show +that the latter might have come into Mr. Durand's possession in some of +the many visits he was shown to have made of late to various curio-shops +in and out of New York City.* + +I had expected all this, just as I had expected Mr. Grey to be absent +from the proceedings and his testimony ignored. But this expectation did +not make the ordeal any easier, and when I noticed the effect of witness +after witness leaving the stand without having improved Mr. Durand's +position by a jot or offering any new clue capable of turning suspicion +into other directions, I felt my spirit harden and my purpose strengthen +till I hardly knew myself. I must have frightened my uncle, for his hand +was always on my arm and his chiding voice in my ear, bidding me beware, +not only for my own sake and his, but for that of Mr. Durand, whose eye +was seldom away from my face. + +The verdict, however, was not the one I had so deeply dreaded. While it +did not exonerate Mr. Durand, it did not openly accuse him, and I was on +the point of giving him a smile of congratulation and renewed hope when +I saw my little detective--the one who had spied the gloves in my bag at +the ball--advance and place his hand upon his arm. + +The police had gone a step further than the coroner's jury, and Mr. +Durand was arrested, before my eyes, on a charge of murder. + + * Mr. Durand's visits to the curio-shops, as explained by + him, were made with a view of finding a casket in which to + place his diamond. This explanation was looked upon with as + much doubt as the others he had offered where the situation + seemed to be of a compromising character. + + + + +IX. THE MOUSE NIBBLES AT THE NET + +The next day saw me at police headquarters begging an interview from the +inspector, with the intention of confiding to him a theory which must +either cost me his sympathy or open the way to a new inquiry, which I +felt sure would lead to Mr. Durand's complete exoneration. + +I chose this gentleman for my confidant, from among all those with whom +I had been brought in contact by my position as witness in a case of +this magnitude, first, because he had been present at the most +tragic moment of my life, and secondly, because I was conscious of +a sympathetic bond between us which would insure me a kind hearing. +However ridiculous my idea might appear to him, I was assured that he +would treat me with consideration and not visit whatever folly I might +be guilty of on the head of him for whom I risked my reputation for good +sense. + +Nor was I disappointed in this. Inspector Dalzell's air was fatherly and +his tone altogether gentle as, in reply to my excuses for troubling him +with my opinions, he told me that in a case of such importance he +was glad to receive the impressions even of such a prejudiced little +partizan as myself. The word fired me, and I spoke. + +"You consider Mr. Durand guilty, and so do many others, I fear, in spite +of his long record for honesty and uprightness. And why? Because you +will not admit the possibility of another person's guilt,--a person +standing so high in private and public estimation that the very idea +seems preposterous and little short of insulting to the country of which +he is an acknowledged ornament." + +"My dear!" + +The inspector had actually risen. His expression and whole attitude +showed shock. But I did not quail; I only subdued my manner and spoke +with quieter conviction. + +"I am aware," said I, "how words so daring must impress you. But listen, +sir; listen to what I have to say before you utterly condemn me. I +acknowledge that it is the frightful position into which I threw Mr. +Durand by my officious attempt to right him which has driven me to +make this second effort to fix the crime on the only other man who had +possible access to Mrs. Fairbrother at the fatal moment. How could I +live in inaction? How could you expect me to weigh for a moment +this foreigner's reputation against that of my own lover? If I have +reasons--" + +"Reasons!" + +"--reasons which would appeal to all; if instead of this person's having +an international reputation at his back he had been a simple gentleman +like Mr. Durand,--would you not consider me entitled to speak?" + +"Certainly, but--" + +"You have no confidence in my reasons, Inspector; they may not weigh +against that splash of blood on Mr. Durand's shirt-front, but such as +they are I must give them. But first, it will be necessary for you to +accept for the nonce Mr. Durand's statements as true. Are you willing to +do this?" + +"I will try." + +"Then, a harder thing yet,--to put some confidence in my judgment. I saw +the man and did not like him long before any intimation of the evening's +tragedy had turned suspicion on any one. I watched him as I watched +others. I saw that he had not come to the ball to please Mr. Ramsdell or +for any pleasure he himself hoped to reap from social intercourse, +but for some purpose much more important, and that this purpose was +connected with Mrs. Fairbrother's diamond. Indifferent, almost morose +before she came upon the scene, he brightened to a surprising extent the +moment he found himself in her presence. Not because she was a beautiful +woman, for he scarcely honored her face or even her superb figure with a +look. All his glances were centered on her large fan, which, in swaying +to and fro, alternately hid and revealed the splendor on her breast; and +when by chance it hung suspended for a moment in her forgetful hand and +he caught a full glimpse of the great gem, I perceived such a change +in his face that, if nothing more had occurred that night to give +prominence to this woman and her diamond, I should have carried home the +conviction that interests of no common import lay behind a feeling so +extraordinarily displayed." + +"Fanciful, my dear Miss Van Arsdale I Interesting, but fanciful." + +"I know. I have not yet touched on fact. But facts are coming, +Inspector." + +He stared. Evidently he was not accustomed to hear the law laid down in +this fashion by a midget of my proportions. + +"Go on," said he; "happily, I have no clerk here to listen." + +"I would not speak if you had. These are words for but one ear as yet. +Not even my uncle suspects the direction of my thoughts." + +"Proceed," he again enjoined. + +Upon which I plunged into my subject. + +"Mrs. Fairbrother wore the real diamond, and no imitation, to the +ball. Of this I feel sure. The bit of glass or paste displayed to the +coroner's jury was bright enough, but it was not the star of light I saw +burning on her breast as she passed me on her way to the alcove." + +"Miss Van Arsdale!" + +"The interest which Mr. Durand displayed in it, the marked excitement +into which he was thrown by his first view of its size and splendor, +confirm in my mind the evidence which he gave on oath (and he is a +well-known diamond expert, you know, and must have been very well aware +that he would injure rather than help his cause by this admission) that +at that time he believed the stone to be real and of immense value. +Wearing such a gem, then, she entered the fatal alcove, and, with +a smile on her face, prepared to employ her fascinations on whoever +chanced to come within their reach. But now something happened. Please +let me tell it my own way. A shout from the driveway, or a bit of snow +thrown against the window, drew her attention to a man standing below, +holding up a note fastened to the end of a whip-handle. I do not know +whether or not you have found that man. If you have--" The inspector +made no sign. "I judge that you have not, so I may go on with my +suppositions. Mrs. Fairbrother took in this note. She may have expected +it and for this reason chose the alcove to sit in, or it may have been a +surprise to her. Probably we shall never know the whole truth about it; +but what we can know and do, if you are still holding to our compact and +viewing this crime in the light of Mr. Durand's explanations, is that it +made a change in her and made her anxious to rid herself of the diamond. +It has been decided that the hurried scrawl should read, 'Take warning. +He means to be at the ball. Expect trouble if you do not give him the +diamond,' or something to that effect. But why was it passed up to her +unfinished? Was the haste too great? I hardly think so. I believe in +another explanation, which points with startling directness to the +possibility that the person referred to in this broken communication was +not Mr. Durand, but one whom I need not name; and that the reason you +have failed to find the messenger, of whose appearance you have received +definite information, is that you have not looked among the servants +of a certain distinguished visitor in town. Oh," I burst forth with +feverish volubility, as I saw the inspector's lips open in what could +not fail to be a sarcastic utterance, "I know what you feel tempted to +reply. Why should a servant deliver a warning against his own master? If +you will be patient with me you will soon see; but first I wish to make +it clear that Mrs. Fairbrother, having received this warning just before +Mr. Durand appeared in the alcove,--reckless, scheming woman that she +was!--sought to rid herself of the object against which it was directed +in the way we have temporarily accepted as true. Relying on her arts, +and possibly misconceiving the nature of Mr. Durand's interest in her, +she hands over the diamond hidden in her rolled-up gloves, which +he, without suspicion, carries away with him, thus linking himself +indissolubly to a great crime of which another was the perpetrator. That +other, or so I believe from my very heart of hearts, was the man I saw +leaning against the wall at the foot of the alcove a few minutes before +I passed into the supper-room." + +I stopped with a gasp, hardly able to meet the stern and forbidding look +with which the inspector sought to restrain what he evidently considered +the senseless ravings of a child. But I had come there to speak, and +I hastily proceeded before the rebuke thus expressed could formulate +itself into words. + +"I have some excuse for a declaration so monstrous. Perhaps I am the +only person who can satisfy you in regard to a certain fact about which +you have expressed some curiosity. Inspector, have you ever solved the +mystery of the two broken coffee-cups found amongst the debris at Mrs. +Fairbrother's feet? It did not come out in the inquest, I noticed." + +"Not yet," he cried, "but--you can not tell me anything about them!" + +"Possibly not. But I can tell you this: When I reached the supper-room +door that evening I looked back and, providentially or otherwise--only +the future can determine that--detected Mr. Grey in the act of lifting +two cups from a tray left by some waiter on a table standing just +outside the reception-room door. I did not see where he carried them; +I only saw his face turned toward the alcove; and as there was no other +lady there, or anywhere near there, I have dared to think--" + +Here the inspector found speech. + +"You saw Mr. Grey lift two cups and turn toward the alcove at a moment +we all know to have been critical? You should have told me this before. +He may be a possible witness." + +I scarcely listened. I was too full of my own argument. + +"There were other people in the hall, especially at my end of it. A +perfect throng was coming from the billiard-room, where the dancing had +been, and it might easily be that he could both enter and leave that +secluded spot without attracting attention. He had shown too early and +much too unmistakably his lack of interest in the general company for +his every movement to be watched as at his first arrival. But this +is simple conjecture; what I have to say next is evidence. The +stiletto--have you studied it, sir? I have, from the pictures. It is +very quaint; and among the devices on the handle is one that especially +attracted my attention. See! This is what I mean." And I handed him +a drawing which I had made with some care in expectation of this very +interview. + +He surveyed it with some astonishment. + +"I understand," I pursued in trembling tones, for I was much affected by +my own daring, "that no one has so far succeeded in tracing this weapon +to its owner. Why didn't your experts study heraldry and the devices +of great houses? They would have found that this one is not unknown in +England. I can tell you on whose blazon it can often be seen, and so +could--Mr. Grey." + + + + +X. I ASTONISH THE INSPECTOR + +I was not the only one to tremble now. This man of infinite experience +and daily contact with crime had turned as pale as ever I myself had +done in face of a threatening calamity. + +"I shall see about this," he muttered, crumpling the paper in his +hand. "But this is a very terrible business you are plunging me into. I +sincerely hope that you are not heedlessly misleading me." + +"I am correct in my facts, if that is what you mean," said I. "The +stiletto is an English heirloom, and bears on its blade, among other +devices, that of Mr. Grey's family on the female side. But that is not +all I want to say. If the blow was struck to obtain the diamond, the +shock of not finding it on his victim must have been terrible. Now Mr. +Grey's heart, if my whole theory is not utterly false, was set upon +obtaining this stone. Your eye was not on him as mine was when you +made your appearance in the hall with the recovered jewel. He showed +astonishment, eagerness, and a determination which finally led him +forward, as you know, with the request to take the diamond in his hand. +Why did he want to take it in his hand? And why, having taken it, did +he drop it--a diamond supposed to be worth an ordinary man's fortune? +Because he was startled by a cry he chose to consider the traditional +one of his family proclaiming death? Is it likely, sir? Is it +conceivable even that any such cry as we heard could, in this day +and generation, ring through such an assemblage, unless it came with +ventriloquial power from his own lips? You observed that he turned his +back; that his face was hidden from us. Discreet and reticent as we have +all been, and careful in our criticisms of so bizarre an event, there +still must be many to question the reality of such superstitious fears, +and some to ask if such a sound could be without human agency, and a +very guilty agency, too. Inspector, I am but a child in your estimation, +and I feel my position in this matter much more keenly than you do, but +I would not be true to the man whom I have unwittingly helped to place +in his present unenviable position if I did not tell you that, in my +judgment, this cry was a spurious one, employed by the gentleman himself +as an excuse for dropping the stone." + +"And why should he wish to drop the stone?" + +"Because of the fraud he meditated. Because it offered him an +opportunity for substituting a false stone for the real. Did you not +notice a change in the aspect of this jewel dating from this very +moment? Did it shine with as much brilliancy in your hand when you +received it back as when you passed it over?" + +"Nonsense! I do not know; it is all too absurd for argument." Yet he did +stop to argue, saying in the next breath: "You forget that the stone +has a setting. Would you claim that this gentleman of family, place and +political distinction had planned this hideous crime with sufficient +premeditation to have provided himself with the exact counterpart of a +brooch which it is highly improbable he ever saw? You would make him out +a Cagliostro or something worse. Miss Van Arsdale, I fear your theory +will topple over of its own weight." + +He was very patient with me; he did not show me the door. + +"Yet such a substitution took place, and took place that evening," I +insisted. "The bit of paste shown us at the inquest was never the gem +Mrs. Fairbrother wore on entering the alcove. Besides, where all is +sensation, why cavil at one more improbability? Mr. Grey may have come +over to America for no other reason. He is known as a collector, and +when a man has a passion for diamond-getting--" + +"He is known as a collector?" + +"In his own country." + +"I was not told that." + +"Nor I. But I found it out." + +"How, my dear child, how?" + +"By a cablegram or so." + +"You--cabled--his name--to England?" + +"No, Inspector; uncle has a code, and I made use of it to ask a friend +in London for a list of the most noted diamond fanciers in the country. +Mr. Grey's name was third on the list." + +He gave me a look in which admiration was strangely blended with doubt +and apprehension. + +"You are making a brave struggle," said he, "but it is a hopeless one." + +"I have one more confidence to repose in you. The nurse who has charge +of Miss Grey was in my class in the hospital. We love each other, and +to her I dared appeal on one point. Inspector--" here my voice +unconsciously fell as he impetuously drew nearer--"a note was sent from +that sick chamber on the night of the ball,--a note surreptitiously +written by Miss Grey, while the nurse was in an adjoining room. The +messenger was Mr. Grey's valet, and its destination the house in which +her father was enjoying his position as chief guest. She says that it +was meant for him, but I have dared to think that the valet would tell +a different story. My friend did not see what her patient wrote, but she +acknowledged that if her patient wrote more than two words the result +must have been an unintelligible scrawl, since she was too weak to hold +a pencil firmly, and so nearly blind that she would have had to feel her +way over the paper." + +The inspector started, and, rising hastily, went to his desk, from which +he presently brought the scrap of paper which had already figured in the +inquest as the mysterious communication taken from Mrs. Fairbrother's +hand by the coroner. Pressing it out flat, he took another look at it, +then glanced up in visible discomposure. + +"It has always looked to us as if written in the dark, by an agitated +hand; but--" + +I said nothing; the broken and unfinished scrawl was sufficiently +eloquent. + +"Did your friend declare Miss Grey to have written with a pencil and on +a small piece of unruled paper?" + +"Yes, the pencil was at her bedside; the paper was torn from a book +which lay there. She did not put the note when written in an envelope, +but gave it to the valet just as it was. He is an old man and had come +to her room for some final orders." + +"The nurse saw all this? Has she that book?" + +"No, it went out next morning, with the scraps. It was some pamphlet, I +believe." + +The inspector turned the morsel of paper over and over in his hand. + +"What is this nurse's name?" + +"Henrietta Pierson." + +"Does she share your doubts?" + +"I can not say." + +"You have seen her often?" + +"No, only the one time." + +"Is she discreet?" + +"Very. On this subject she will be like the grave unless forced by you +to speak." + +"And Miss Grey?" + +"She is still ill, too ill to be disturbed by questions, especially on +so delicate a topic. But she is getting well fast. Her father's fears +as we heard them expressed on one memorable occasion were ill founded, +sir." + +Slowly the inspector inserted this scrap of paper between the folds +of his pocketbook. He did not give me another look, though I stood +trembling before him. Was he in any way convinced or was he simply +seeking for the most considerate way in which to dismiss me and +my abominable theory? I could not gather his intentions from his +expression, and was feeling very faint and heart-sick when he suddenly +turned upon me with the remark: + +"A girl as ill as you say Miss Grey was must have had some very pressing +matter on her mind to attempt to write and send a message under such +difficulties. According to your idea, she had some notion of her +father's designs and wished to warn Mrs. Fairbrother against them. But +don't you see that such conduct as this would be preposterous, nay, +unparalleled in persons of their distinction? You must find some other +explanation for Miss Grey's seemingly mysterious action, and I an agent +of crime other than one of England's most reputable statesmen." + +"So that Mr. Durand is shown the same consideration, I am content," said +I. "It is the truth and the truth only I desire. I am willing to trust +my cause with you." + +He looked none too grateful for this confidence. Indeed, now that I +look back on this scene, I do not wonder that he shrank from the +responsibility thus foisted upon him. + +"What do you want me to do?" he asked. + +"Prove something. Prove that I am altogether wrong or altogether right. +Or if proof is not possible, pray allow me the privilege of doing what I +can myself to clear up the matter." + +"You?" + +There was apprehension, disapprobation, almost menace in his tone. I +bore it with as steady and modest a glance as possible, saying, when I +thought he was about to speak again: + +"I will do nothing without your sanction. I realize the dangers of this +inquiry and the disgrace that would follow if our attempt was suspected +before proof reached a point sufficient to justify it. It is not an open +attack I meditate, but one--" + +Here I whispered in his ear for several minutes, when I had finished he +gave me a prolonged stare, then he laid his hand on my head. + +"You are a little wonder," he declared. "But your ideas are very +quixotic, very. However," he added, suddenly growing grave, "something, +I must admit, may be excused a young girl who finds herself forced to +choose between the guilt of her lover and that of a man esteemed +great by the world, but altogether removed from her and her natural +sympathies." + +"You acknowledge, then, that it lies between these two?" + +"I see no third," said he. + +I drew a breath of relief. + +"Don't deceive yourself, Miss Van Arsdale; it is not among the +possibilities that Mr. Grey has had any connection with this crime. He +is an eccentric man, that's all." + +"But--but--" + +"I shall do my duty. I shall satisfy you and myself on certain points, +and if--" I hardly breathed "--there is the least doubt, I will see you +again and--" + +The change he saw in me frightened away the end of his sentence. Turning +upon me with some severity, he declared: "There are nine hundred and +ninety-nine chances in a thousand that my next word to you will be +to prepare yourself for Mr. Durand's arraignment and trial. But an +infinitesimal chance remains to the contrary. If you choose to trust to +it, I can only admire your pluck and the great confidence you show in +your unfortunate lover." + +And with this half-hearted encouragement I was forced to be content, not +only for that day, but for many days, when-- + + + + +XI. THE INSPECTOR ASTONISHES ME + + +But before I proceed to relate what happened at the end of those two +weeks, I must say a word or two in regard to what happened during them. + +Nothing happened to improve Mr. Durand's position, and nothing openly to +compromise Mr. Grey's. Mr. Fairbrother, from whose testimony many of us +hoped something would yet be gleaned calculated to give a turn to the +suspicion now centered on one man, continued ill in New Mexico; and +all that could be learned from him of any importance was contained in +a short letter dictated from his bed, in which he affirmed that the +diamond, when it left him, was in a unique setting procured by himself +in France; that he knew of no other jewel similarly mounted, and that +if the false gem was set according to his own description, the +probabilities were that the imitation stone had been put in place of the +real one under his wife's direction and in some workshop in New York, +as she was not the woman to take the trouble to send abroad for anything +she could get done in this country. The description followed. It +coincided with the one we all knew. + +This was something of a blow to me. Public opinion would naturally +reflect that of the husband, and it would require very strong evidence +indeed to combat a logical supposition of this kind with one so forced +and seemingly extravagant as that upon which my own theory was based. +Yet truth often transcends imagination, and, having confidence in the +inspector's integrity, I subdued my impatience for a week, almost for +two, when my suspense and rapidly culminating dread of some action being +taken against Mr. Durand were suddenly cut short by a message from the +inspector, followed by his speedy presence in my uncle's house. + +We have a little room on our parlor floor, very snug and secluded, and +in this room I received him. Seldom have I dreaded a meeting more and +seldom have I been met with greater kindness and consideration. He was +so kind that I feared he had only disappointing news to communicate, but +his first words reassured me. He said: + +"I have come to you on a matter of importance. We have found enough +truth in the suppositions you advanced at our last interview to warrant +us in the attempt you yourself proposed for the elucidation of this +mystery. That this is the most risky and altogether the most unpleasant +duty which I have encountered during my several years of service, I am +willing to acknowledge to one so sensible and at the same time of so +much modesty as yourself. This English gentleman has a reputation which +lifts him far above any unworthy suspicion, and were it not for the +favorable impression made upon us by Mr. Durand in a long talk we had +with him last night, I would sooner resign my place than pursue this +matter against him. Success would create a horror on both sides the +water unprecedented during my career, while failure would bring down +ridicule on us which would destroy the prestige of the whole force. Do +you see my difficulty, Miss Van Arsdale? We can not even approach this +haughty and highly reputable Englishman with questions without calling +down on us the wrath of the whole English nation. We must be sure +before we make a move, and for us to be sure where the evidence is all +circumstantial, I know of no better plan than the one you were pleased +to suggest, which, at the time, I was pleased to call quixotic." + +Drawing a long breath I surveyed him timidly. Never had I so realized +my presumption or experienced such a thrill of joy in my frightened yet +elated heart. They believed in Anson's innocence and they trusted me. +Insignificant as I was, it was to my exertions this great result was +due. As I realized this, I felt my heart swell and my throat close. In +despair of speaking I held out my hands. He took them kindly and seemed +to be quite satisfied. + +"Such a little, trembling, tear-filled Amazon!" he cried. "Shall you +have courage to undertake the task before you? If not--" + +"Oh, but I have," said I. "It is your goodness and the surprise of it +all which unnerves me. I can go through what we have planned if you +think the secret of my personality and interest in Mr. Durand can be +kept from the people I go among." + +"It can if you will follow our advice implicitly. You say that you +know the doctor and that he stands ready to recommend you in case Miss +Pierson withdraws her services." + +"Yes, he is eager to give me a chance. He was a college mate of my +father's." + +"How will you explain to him your wish to enter upon your duties under +another name?" + +"Very simply. I have already told him that the publicity given my name +in the late proceedings has made me very uncomfortable; that my first +case of nursing would require all my self-possession and that if he did +not think it wrong I should like to go to it under my mother's name. +He made no dissent and I think I can persuade him that I would do much +better work as Miss Ayers than as the too well-known Miss Van Arsdale." + +"You have great powers of persuasion. But may you not meet people at the +hotel who know you?" + +"I shall try to avoid people; and, if my identity is discovered, its +effect or non-effect upon one we find it difficult to mention will give +us our clue. If he has no guilty interest in the crime, my connection +with it as a witness will not disturb him. Besides, two days of +unsuspicious acceptance of me as Miss Grey's nurse are all I want. +I shall take immediate opportunity, I assure you, to make the test I +mentioned. But how much confidence you will have to repose in me! I +comprehend all the importance of my undertaking, and shall work as if my +honor, as well as yours, were at stake." + +"I am sure you will." Then for the first time in my life I was glad that +I was small and plain rather than tall and fascinating like so many of +my friends, for he said: "If you had been a triumphant beauty, depending +on your charms as a woman to win people to your will, we should never +have listened to your proposition or risked our reputation in your +hands. It is your wit, your earnestness and your quiet determination +which have impressed us. You see I speak plainly. I do so because I +respect you. And now to business." + +Details followed. After these were well understood between us, I +ventured to say: "Do you object--would it be asking too much--if I +requested some enlightenment as to what facts you have discovered +about Mr. Grey which go to substantiate my theory? I might work more +intelligently." + +"No, Miss Van Arsdale, you would not work more intelligently, and you +know it. But you have the natural curiosity of one whose very heart is +bound up in this business. I could deny you what you ask but I won't, +for I want you to work with quiet confidence, which you would not do if +your mind were taken up with doubts and questions. Miss Van Arsdale, one +surmise of yours was correct. A man was sent that night to the Ramsdell +house with a note from Miss Grey. We know this because he boasted of it +to one of the bell-boys before he went out, saying that he was going to +have a glimpse of one of the swellest parties of the season. It is also +true that this man was Mr. Grey's valet, an old servant who came over +with him from England. But what adds weight to all this and makes us +regard the whole affair with suspicion, is the additional fact that this +man received his dismissal the following morning and has not been seen +since by any one we could reach. This looks bad to begin with, like the +suppression of evidence, you know. Then Mr. Grey has not been the same +man since that night. He is full of care and this care is not entirely +in connection with his daughter, who is doing very well and bids fair +to be up in a few days. But all this would be nothing if we had not +received advices from England which prove that Mr. Grey's visit here has +an element of mystery in it. There was every reason for his remaining in +his own country, where a political crisis is approaching, yet he crossed +the water, bringing his sickly daughter with him. The explanation as +volunteered by one who knew him well was this: That only his desire to +see or acquire some precious object for his collection could have taken +him across the ocean at this time, nothing else rivaling his interest in +governmental affairs. Still this would be nothing if a stiletto +similar to the one employed in this crime had not once formed part of a +collection of curios belonging to a cousin of his whom he often visited. +This stiletto has been missing for some time, stolen, as the owner +declared, by some unknown person. All this looks bad enough, but when I +tell you that a week before the fatal ball at Mr. Ramsdell's, Mr. Grey +made a tour of the jewelers on Broadway and, with the pretext of buying +a diamond for his daughter, entered into a talk about famous stones, +ending always with some question about the Fairbrother gem, you will see +that his interest in that stone is established and that it only remains +for us to discover if that interest is a guilty one. I can not believe +this possible, but you have our leave to make your experiment and see. +Only do not count too much on his superstition. If he is the deep-dyed +criminal you imagine, the cry which startled us all at a certain +critical instant was raised by himself and for the purpose you +suggested. None of the sensitiveness often shown by a man who has been +surprised into crime will be his. Relying on his reputation and the +prestige of his great name, he will, if he thinks himself under fire, +face every shock unmoved." + +"I see; I understand. He must believe himself all alone; then, the +natural man may appear. I thank you, Inspector. That idea is +of inestimable value to me, and I shall act on it. I do not say +immediately; not on the first day, and possibly not on the second, but +as soon as opportunity offers for my doing what I have planned with any +chance of success. And now, advise me how to circumvent my uncle and +aunt, who must never know to what an undertaking I have committed +myself." + +Inspector Dalzell spared me another fifteen minutes, and this last +detail was arranged. Then he rose to go. As he turned from me he said: + +"To-morrow?" + +And I answered with a full heart, but a voice clear as my purpose: + +"To-morrow." + + + + +XII. ALMOST + +"This is your patient. Your new nurse, my dear. What did you say your +name is? Miss Ayers?" + +"Yes, Mr. Grey, Alice Ayers." + +"Oh, what a sweet name!" + +This expressive greeting, from the patient herself, was the first +heart-sting I received,--a sting which brought a flush into my cheek +which I would fain have kept down. + +"Since a change of nurses was necessary, I am glad they sent me one +like you," the feeble, but musical voice went on, and I saw a wasted but +eager hand stretched out. + +In a whirl of strong feeling I advanced to take it. I had not counted on +such a reception. I had not expected any bond of congeniality to spring +up between this high-feeling English girl and myself to make my purpose +hateful to me. Yet, as I stood there looking down at her bright if +wasted face, I felt that it would be very easy to love so gentle and +cordial a being, and dreaded raising my eyes to the gentleman at my side +lest I should see something in him to hamper me, and make this attempt, +which I had undertaken in such loyalty of spirit, a misery to myself and +ineffectual to the man I had hoped to save by it. When I did look up and +catch the first beams of Mr. Grey's keen blue eyes fixed inquiringly on +me, I neither knew what to think nor how to act. He was tall and firmly +knit, and had an intellectual aspect altogether. I was conscious of +regarding him with a decided feeling of awe, and found myself forgetting +why I had come there, and what my suspicions were,--suspicions which had +carried hope with them, hope for myself and hope for my lover, who would +never escape the opprobrium, even if he did the punishment, of this +great crime, were this, the only other person who could possibly be +associated with it, found to be the fine, clear-souled man he appeared +to be in this my first interview with him. + +Perceiving very soon that his apprehensions in my regard were limited to +a fear lest I should not feel at ease in my new home under the restraint +of a presence more accustomed to intimidate than attract strangers, I +threw aside all doubts of myself and met the advances of both father and +daughter with that quiet confidence which my position there demanded. + +The result both gratified and grieved me. As a nurse entering on her +first case I was happy; as a woman with an ulterior object in view +verging on the audacious and unspeakable, I was wretched and regretful +and just a little shaken in the conviction which had hitherto upheld me. + +I was therefore but poorly prepared to meet the ordeal which awaited me, +when, a little later in the day, Mr. Grey called me into the adjoining +room, and, after saying that it would afford him great relief to go +out for an hour or so, asked if I were afraid to be left alone with my +patient. + +"O no, sir--" I began, but stopped in secret dismay. I was afraid, but +not on account of her condition; rather on account of my own. What if +I should be led into betraying my feelings on finding myself under no +other eye than her own! What if the temptation to probe her poor sick +mind should prove stronger than my duty toward her as a nurse! + +My tones were hesitating but Mr. Grey paid little heed; his mind was too +fixed on what he wished to say himself. + +"Before I go," said he, "I have a request to make--I may as well say a +caution to give you. Do not, I pray, either now or at any future time, +carry or allow any one else to carry newspapers into Miss Grey's room. +They are just now too alarming. There has been, as you know, a dreadful +murder in this city. If she caught one glimpse of the headlines, or saw +so much as the name of Fairbrother--which--which is a name she knows, +the result might be very hurtful to her. She is not only extremely +sensitive from illness but from temperament. Will you be careful?" + +"I shall be careful." + +It was such an effort for me to say these words, to say anything in the +state of mind into which I had been thrown by his unexpected allusion to +this subject, that I unfortunately drew his attention to myself and it +was with what I felt to be a glance of doubt that he added with decided +emphasis: + +"You must consider this whole subject as a forbidden one in this family. +Only cheerful topics are suitable for the sick-room. If Miss Grey +attempts to introduce any other, stop her. Do not let her talk about +anything which will not be conducive to her speedy recovery. These are +the only instructions I have to give you; all others must come from her +physician." + +I made some reply with as little show of emotion as possible. It seemed +to satisfy him, for his face cleared as he kindly observed: + +"You have a very trustworthy look for one so young. I shall rest easy +while you are with her, and I shall expect you to be always with her +when I am not. Every moment, mind. She is never to be left alone with +gossiping servants. If a word is mentioned in her hearing about this +crime which seems to be in everybody's mouth, I shall feel forced, +greatly as I should regret the fad, to blame you." + +This was a heart-stroke, but I kept up bravely, changing color perhaps, +but not to such a marked degree as to arouse any deeper suspicion in his +mind than that I had been wounded in my amour propre. + +"She shall be well guarded," said I. "You may trust me to keep from her +all avoidable knowledge of this crime." + +He bowed and I was about to leave his presence, when he detained me +by remarking with the air of one who felt that some explanation was +necessary: + +"I was at the ball where this crime took place. Naturally it has made a +deep impression on me and would on her if she heard of it." + +"Assuredly," I murmured, wondering if he would say more and how I should +have the courage to stand there and listen if he did. + +"It is the first time I have ever come in contact with crime," he went +on with what, in one of his reserved nature, seemed a hardly natural +insistence. "I could well have been spared the experience. A tragedy +with which one has been even thus remotely connected produces a lasting +effect upon the mind." + +"Oh yes, oh yes!" I murmured, edging involuntarily toward the door. Did +I not know? Had I not been there, too; I, little I, whom he stood gazing +down upon from such a height, little realizing the fatality which united +us and, what was even a more overwhelming thought to me at the moment, +the fact that of all persons in the world the shrinking little being, +into whose eyes he was then looking, was, perhaps, his greatest enemy +and the one person, great or small, from whom he had the most to fear. + +But I was no enemy to his gentle daughter and the relief I felt at +finding myself thus cut off by my own promise from even the remotest +communication with her on this forbidden subject was genuine and +sincere. + +But the father! What was I to think of the father? Alas! I could have +but one thought, admirable as he appeared in all lights save the one in +which his too evident connection with this crime had placed him. I spent +the hours of the afternoon in alternately watching the sleeping face +of my patient, too sweetly calm in its repose, or so it seemed, for the +mind beneath to harbor such doubts as were shown in the warning I had +ascribed to her, and vain efforts to explain by any other hypothesis +than that of guilt, the extraordinary evidence which linked this man of +great affairs and the loftiest repute to a crime involving both theft +and murder. + +Nor did the struggle end that night. It was renewed with still greater +positiveness the next day, as I witnessed the glances which from time to +time passed between this father and daughter,--glances full of doubt and +question on both sides, but not exactly such doubt or such question as +my suspicions called for. Or so I thought, and spent another day or two +hesitating very much over my duty, when, coming unexpectedly upon +Mr. Grey one evening, I felt all my doubts revive in view of the +extraordinary expression of dread--I might with still greater truth +say fear--which informed his features and made them, to my unaccustomed +eyes, almost unrecognizable. + +He was sitting at his desk in reverie over some papers which he seemed +not to have touched for hours, and when, at some movement I made, he +started up and met my eye, I could swear that his cheek was pale, the +firm carriage of his body shaken, and the whole man a victim to some +strong and secret apprehension he vainly sought to hide, when I +ventured to tell him what I wanted, he made an effort and pulled himself +together, but I had seen him with his mask off, and his usually calm +visage and self-possessed mien could not again deceive me. + +My duties kept me mainly at Miss Grey's bedside, but I had been provided +with a little room across the hall, and to this room I retired very soon +after this, for rest and a necessary understanding with myself. + +For, in spite of this experience and my now settled convictions, +my purpose required whetting. The indescribable charm, the extreme +refinement and nobility of manner observable in both Mr. Grey and +his daughter were producing their effect. I felt guilty; constrained. +whatever my convictions, the impetus to act was leaving me. How could +I recover it? By thinking of Anson Durand and his present disgraceful +position. + +Anson Durand! Oh, how the feeling surged up in my breast as that name +slipped from my lips on crossing the threshold of my little room! Anson +Durand, whom I believed innocent, whom I loved, but whom I was betraying +with every moment of hesitation in which I allowed myself to indulge! +what if the Honorable Mr. Grey is an eminent statesman, a dignified, +scholarly, and to all appearance, high-minded man? what if my patient is +sweet, dove-eyed and affectionate? Had not Anson qualities as excellent +in their way, rights as certain, and a hold upon myself superior to any +claims which another might advance? Drawing a much-crumpled little note +from my pocket, I eagerly read it. It was the only one I had of his +writing, the only letter he had ever written me. I had already re-read +it a hundred times, but as I once more repeated to myself its well-known +lines, I felt my heart grow strong and fixed in the determination which +had brought me into this family. + +Restoring the letter to its place, I opened my gripsack and from its +inmost recesses drew forth an object which I had no sooner in hand than +a natural sense of disquietude led me to glance apprehensively, first at +the door, then at the window, though I had locked the one and shaded the +other. It seemed as if some other eye besides my own must be gazing at +what I held so gingerly in hand; that the walls were watching me, if +nothing else, and the sensation this produced was so exactly like that +of guilt (or what I imagined to be guilt), that I was forced to repeat +once more to myself that it was not a good man's overthrow I sought, or +even a bad man's immunity from punishment, but the truth, the absolute +truth. No shame could equal that which I should feel if, by any +over-delicacy now, I failed to save the man who trusted me. + +The article which I held--have you guessed it?--was the stiletto with +which Mrs. Fairbrother had been killed. It had been intrusted to me by +the police for a definite purpose. The time for testing that purpose +had come, or so nearly come, that I felt I must be thinking about the +necessary ways and means. + +Unwinding the folds of tissue paper in which the stiletto was wrapped, +I scrutinized the weapon very carefully. Hitherto, I had seen only +pictures of it, now, I had the article itself in my hand. It was not +a natural one for a young woman to hold, a woman whose taste ran more +toward healing than inflicting wounds, but I forced myself to forget why +the end of its blade was rusty, and looked mainly at the devices which +ornamented the handle. I had not been mistaken in them. They belonged to +the house of Grey, and to none other. It was a legitimate inquiry I +had undertaken. However the matter ended, I should always have these +historic devices for my excuse. + +My plan was to lay this dagger on Mr. Grey's desk at a moment when +he would be sure to see it and I to see him. If he betrayed a guilty +knowledge of this fatal steel; if, unconscious of my presence, he showed +surprise and apprehension,--then we should know how to proceed; justice +would be loosed from constraint and the police feel at liberty to +approach him. It was a delicate task, this. I realized how delicate, +when I had thrust the stiletto out of sight under my nurse's apron and +started to cross the hall. Should I find the library clear? Would the +opportunity be given me to approach his desk, or should I have to carry +this guilty witness of a world-famous crime on into Miss Grey's room, +and with its unholy outline pressing a semblance of itself upon my +breast, sit at that innocent pillow, meet those innocent eyes, and +answer the gentle inquiries which now and then fell from the sweetest +lips I have ever seen smile into the face of a lonely, preoccupied +stranger? + +The arrangement of the rooms was such as made it necessary for me to +pass through this sitting-room in order to reach my patient's bedroom. + +With careful tread, so timed as not to appear stealthy, I accordingly +advanced and pushed open the door. The room was empty. Mr. Grey was +still with his daughter and I could cross the floor without fear. But +never had I entered upon a task requiring more courage or one more +obnoxious to my natural instincts. I hated each step I took, but I loved +the man for whom I took those steps, and moved resolutely on. Only, as I +reached the chair in which Mr. Grey was accustomed to sit, I found that +it was easier to plan an action than to carry it out. Home life and the +domestic virtues had always appealed to me more than a man's greatness. +The position which this man held in his own country, his usefulness +there, even his prestige as statesman and scholar, were facts, but very +dreamy facts, to me, while his feelings as a father, the place he +held in his daughter's heart--these were real to me, these I could +understand; and it was of these and not of his place as a man, that this +his favorite seat spoke to me. How often had I beheld him sit by the +hour with his eye on the door behind which his one darling lay ill! Even +now, it was easy for me to recall his face as I had sometimes caught a +glimpse of it through the crack of the suddenly opened door, and I felt +my breast heave and my hand falter as I drew forth the stiletto and +moved to place it where his eye would fall upon it on his leaving his +daughter's bedside. + +But my hand returned quickly to my breast and fell hack again empty. A +pile of letters lay before me on the open lid of the desk. The top one +was addressed to me with the word "Important" written in the corner. I +did not know the writing, but I felt that I should open and read this +letter before committing myself or those who stood back of me to this +desperate undertaking. + +Glancing behind me and seeing that the door into Miss Grey's room was +ajar, I caught up this letter and rushed with it back into my own room. +As I surmised, it was from the inspector, and as I read it I realized +that I had received it not one moment too soon. In language purposely +non-committal, but of a meaning not to be mistaken, it advised me +that some unforeseen facts had come to light which altered all former +suspicions and made the little surprise I had planned no longer +necessary. + +There was no allusion to Mr. Durand but the final sentence ran: + +"Drop all care and give your undivided attention to your patient." + + + + +XIII. THE MISSING RECOMMENDATION + +My patient slept that night, but I did not. The shock given by this +sudden cry of Halt! at the very moment I was about to make my great +move, the uncertainty as to what it meant and my doubt of its effect +upon Mr. Durand's position, put me on the anxious seat and kept my +thoughts fully occupied till morning. + +I was very tired and must have shown it, when, with the first rays of a +very meager sun, Miss Grey softly unclosed her eyes and found me looking +at her, for her smile had a sweet compassion in it, and she said as she +pressed my hand: + +"You must have watched me all night. I never saw any one look so +tired,--or so good," she softly finished. + +I had rather she had not uttered that last phrase. It did not fit me +at the moment,--did not fit me, perhaps, at any time. Good! I! when my +thoughts had not been with her, but with Mr. Durand; when the dominating +feeling in my breast was not that of relief, but a vague regret that I +had not been allowed to make my great test and so establish, to my own +satisfaction, at least, the perfect innocence of my lover even at the +cost of untold anguish to this confiding girl upon whose gentle spirit +the very thought of crime would cast a deadly blight. + +I must have flushed; certainly I showed some embarrassment, for her eyes +brightened with shy laughter as she whispered: + +"You do not like to be praised,--another of your virtues. You have too +many. I have only one--I love my friends." + +She did. One could see that love was life to her. + +For an instant I trembled. How near I had been to wrecking this +gentle soul! Was she safe yet? I was not sure. My own doubts were not +satisfied. I awaited the papers with feverish impatience. They should +contain news. News of what? Ah, that was the question! + +"You will let me see my mail this morning, will you not?" she asked, as +I busied myself about her. + +"That is for the doctor to say," I smiled. "You are certainly better +this morning." + +"It is so hard for me not to be able to read his letters, or to write a +word to relieve his anxiety." + +Thus she told me her heart's secret, and unconsciously added another +burden to my already too heavy load. + +I was on my way to give some orders about my patient's breakfast, when +Mr. Grey came into the sitting-room and met me face to face. He had a +newspaper in his hand and my heart stood still as I noted his altered +looks and disturbed manner. Were these due to anything he had found in +those columns? It was with difficulty that I kept my eyes from the paper +which he held in such a manner as to disclose its glaring head-lines. +These I dared not read with his eyes fixed on mine. + +"How is Miss Grey? How is my daughter?" he asked in great haste and +uneasiness. "Is she better this morning, or--worse?" + +"Better," I assured him, and was greatly astonished to see his brow +instantly clear. + +"Really?" he asked. "You really consider her better? The doctors say +so' but I have not very much faith in doctors in a case like this," he +added. + +"I have seen no reason to distrust them," I protested. "Miss Grey's +illness, while severe, does not appear to be of an alarming nature. But +then I have had very little experience out of the hospital. I am young +yet, Mr. Grey." + +He looked as if he quite agreed with me in this estimate of myself, and, +with a brow still clouded, passed into his daughter's room, the paper +in his hand. Before I joined them I found and scanned another journal. +Expecting great things, I was both surprised and disappointed to find +only a small paragraph devoted to the Fairbrother case. In this it was +stated that the authorities hoped for new light on this mystery as soon +as they had located a certain witness, whose connection with the +crime they had just discovered. No more, no less than was contained +in Inspector Dalzell's letter. How could I bear it,--the suspense, the +doubt,--and do my duty to my patient! Happily, I had no choice. I had +been adjudged equal to this business and I must prove myself to be so. +Perhaps my courage would revive after I had had my breakfast; +perhaps then I should be able to fix upon the identity of the new +witness,--something which I found myself incapable of at this moment. + +These thoughts were on my mind as I crossed the rooms on my way back +to Miss Grey's bedside. By the time I reached her door I was outwardly +calm, as her first words showed: + +"Oh, the cheerful smile! It makes me feel better in spite of myself." + +If she could have seen into my heart! + +Mr. Grey, who was leaning over the foot of the bed, cast me a quick +glance which was not without its suspicion. Had he detected me playing a +part, or were such doubts as he displayed the product simply of his own +uneasiness? I was not able to decide, and, with this unanswered question +added to the number already troubling me, I was forced to face the day +which, for aught I knew, might be the precursor of many others equally +trying and unsatisfactory. + +But help was near. Before noon I received a message from my uncle to the +effect that if I could be spared he would be glad to see me at his home +as near three o'clock as possible. What could he want of me? I could +not guess, and it was with great inner perturbation that, having won Mr. +Grey's permission, I responded to his summons. + +I found my uncle awaiting me in a carriage before his own door, and +I took my seat at his side without the least idea of his purpose. +I supposed that he had planned this ride that he might talk to me +unreservedly and without fear of interruption. But I soon saw that he +had some very different object in view, for not only did he start down +town instead of up, but his conversation, such as it was, confined +itself to generalities and studiously avoided the one topic of supreme +interest to us both. + +At last, as we turned into Bleecker Street, I let my astonishment and +perplexity appear. + +"Where are we bound?" I asked. "It can not be that you are taking me to +see Mr. Durand?" + +"No," said he, and said no more. + +"Ah, Police Headquarters!" I faltered as the carriage made another turn +and drew up before a building I had reason to remember. "Uncle, what am +I to do here?" + +"See a friend," he answered, as he helped me to alight. Then as I +followed him in some bewilderment, he whispered in my ear: "Inspector +Dalzell. He wants a few minutes conversation with you." + +Oh, the weight which fell from my shoulders at these words! I was to +hear, then, what had intervened between me and my purpose. The wearing +night I had anticipated was to be lightened with some small spark of +knowledge. I had confidence enough in the kind-hearted inspector to be +sure of that. I caught at my uncle's arm and squeezed it delightedly, +quite oblivious of the curious glances I must have received from the +various officials we passed on our way to the inspector's office. + +We found him waiting for us, and I experienced such pleasure at sight of +his kind and earnest face that I hardly noticed uncle's sly retreat till +the door closed behind him. + +"Oh, Inspector, what has happened?" I impetuously exclaimed in answer +to his greeting. "Something that will help Mr. Durand without disturbing +Mr. Grey--have you as good news for me as that?" + +"Hardly," he answered, moving up a chair and seating me in it with a +fatherly air which, under the circumstances, was more discouraging than +consolatory. "We have simply heard of a new witness, or rather a fact +has come to light which has turned our inquiries into a new direction." + +"And--and--you can not tell me what this fact is?" I faltered as he +showed no intention of adding anything to this very unsatisfactory +explanation. + +"I should not, but you were willing to do so much for us I must set +aside my principles a little and do something for you. After all, it is +only forestalling the reporters by a day. Miss Van Arsdale, this is the +story: Yesterday morning a man was shown into this room, and said that +he had information to give which might possibly prove to have some +bearing on the Fairbrother case. I had seen the man before and +recognized him at the first glance as one of the witnesses who made the +inquest unnecessarily tedious. Do you remember Jones, the caterer, +who had only two or three facts to give and yet who used up the whole +afternoon in trying to state those facts?" + +"I do, indeed," I answered. + +"Well, he was the man, and I own that I was none too delighted to see +him. But he was more at his ease with me than I expected, and I soon +learned what he had to tell. It was this: One of his men had suddenly +left him, one of his very best men, one of those who had been with him +in the capacity of waiter at the Ramsdell ball. It was not uncommon for +his men to leave him, but they usually gave notice. This man gave no +notice; he simply did not show up at the usual hour. This was a week +or two ago. Jones, having a liking for the man, who was an excellent +waiter, sent a messenger to his lodging-house to see if he were ill. +But he had left his lodgings with as little ceremony as he had left the +caterer. + +"This, under ordinary circumstances, would have ended the business, but +there being some great function in prospect, Jones did not feel like +losing so good a man without making an effort to recover him, so he +looked up his references in the hope of obtaining some clue to his +present whereabouts. + +"He kept all such matters in a special book and expected to have no +trouble in finding the man's name, James Wellgood, or that of his former +employer But when he came to consult this book, he was astonished to +find that nothing was recorded against this man's name but the date of +his first employment--March 15. + +"Had he hired him without a recommendation? He would not be likely to, +yet the page was clear of all reference; only the name and the date. +But the date! You have already noted its significance, and later he did, +too. The day of the Ramsdell ball! The day of the great murder! As +he recalled the incidents of that day he understood why the record of +Wellgood's name was unaccompanied by the usual reference. It had been +a difficult day all round. The function was an important one, and the +weather bad. There was, besides, an unusual shortage in his number of +assistants. Two men had that very morning been laid up with sickness, +and when this able-looking, self-confident Wellgood presented himself +for immediate employment, he took him out of hand with the merest +glance at what looked like a very satisfactory reference. Later, he +had intended to look up this reference, which he had been careful to +preserve by sticking it, along with other papers, on his spike-file. But +in the distractions following the untoward events of the evening, he had +neglected to do so, feeling perfectly satisfied with the man's work and +general behavior. Now it was a different thing. The man had left +him summarily, and he felt impelled to hunt up the person who had +recommended him and see whether this was the first time that Wellgood +had repaid good treatment with bad. Running through the papers with +which his file was now full, he found that the one he sought was not +there. This roused him in good earnest, for he was certain that he had +not removed it himself and there was no one else who had the right to do +so. He suspected the culprit,--a young lad who occasionally had access +to his desk. But this boy was no longer in the office. He had dismissed +him for some petty fault the previous week, and it took him several days +to find him again. Meantime his anger grew and when he finally came face +to face with the lad, he accused him of the suspected trick with so much +vehemence that the inevitable happened, and the boy confessed. This is +what he acknowledged. He had taken the reference off the file, but only +to give it to Wellgood himself, who had offered him money for it. When +asked how much money, the boy admitted that the sum was ten dollars,--an +extraordinary amount from a poor man for so simple a service, if the man +merely wished to secure his reference for future use; so extraordinary +that Mr. Jones grew more and more pertinent in his inquiries, eliciting +finally what he surely could not have hoped for in the beginning,--the +exact address of the party referred to in the paper he had stolen, and +which, for some reason, the boy remembered. It was an uptown address, +and, as soon as the caterer could leave his business, he took the +elevated and proceeded to the specified street and number. + +"Miss Van Arsdale, a surprise awaited him, and awaited us when he told +the result of his search. The name attached to the recommendation had +been--'Hiram Sears, Steward.' He did not know of any such man--perhaps +you do--but when he reached the house from which the recommendation was +dated, he saw that it was one of the great houses of New York, though +he could not at the instant remember who lived there. But he soon found +out. The first passer-by told him. Miss Van Arsdale, perhaps you can do +the same. The number was--Eighty-sixth Street." + +"--!" I repeated, quite aghast. "Why, Mr. Fairbrother himself! The +husband of--" + +"Exactly so, and Hiram Sears, whose name you may have heard mentioned at +the inquest, though for a very good reason he was not there in person, +is his steward and general factotum." + +"Oh! and it was he who recommended Wellgood?" + +"Yes." + +"And did Mr. Jones see him?" + +"No. The house, you remember, is closed. Mr. Fairbrother, on leaving +town, gave his servants a vacation. His steward he took with him,--that +is, they started together. But we hear no mention made of him in +our telegrams from Santa Fe. He does not seem to have followed Mr. +Fairbrother into the mountains." + +"You say that in a peculiar way," I remarked. + +"Because it has struck us peculiarly. Where is Sears now? And why did +he not go on with Mr. Fairbrother when he left home with every apparent +intention of accompanying him to the Placide mine? Miss Van Arsdale, we +were impressed with this fact when we heard of Mr. Fairbrother's lonely +trip from where he was taken ill to his mine outside of Santa Fe; but we +have only given it its due importance since hearing what has come to us +to-day. + +"Miss Van Arsdale," continued the inspector, as I looked up quickly, "I +am going to show great confidence in you. I am going to tell you what +our men have learned about this Sears. As I have said before, it is but +forestalling the reporters by a day, and it may help you to understand +why I sent you such peremptory orders to stop, when your whole heart was +fixed on an attempt by which you hoped to right Mr. Durand. We can not +afford to disturb so distinguished a person as the one you have under +your eye, while the least hope remains of fixing this crime elsewhere. +And we have such hope. This man, this Sears, is by no means the simple +character one would expect from his position. Considering the short time +we have had (it was only yesterday that Jones found his way into this +office), we have unearthed some very interesting facts in his regard. +His devotion to Mr. Fairbrother was never any secret, and we knew as +much about that the day after the murder as we do now. But the +feelings with which he regarded Mrs. Fairbrother--well, that is another +thing--and it was not till last night we heard that the attachment which +bound him to her was of the sort which takes no account of youth or age, +fitness or unfitness. He was no Adonis, and old enough, we are told, to +be her father; but for all that we have already found several persons +who can tell strange stories of the persistence with which his eager +old eyes would follow her whenever chance threw them together during the +time she remained under her husband's roof; and others who relate, with +even more avidity, how, after her removal to apartments of her own, he +used to spend hours in the adjoining park just to catch a glimpse of her +figure as she crossed the sidewalk on her way to and from her carriage. +Indeed, his senseless, almost senile passion for this magnificent beauty +became a by-word in some mouths, and it only escaped being mentioned at +the inquest from respect to Mr. Fairbrother, who had never recognized +this weakness in his steward, and from its lack of visible connection +with her horrible death and the stealing of her great jewel. +Nevertheless, we have a witness now--it is astonishing how many +witnesses we can scare up by a little effort, who never thought of +coming forward themselves--who can swear to having seen him one night +shaking his fist at her retreating figure as she stepped haughtily by +him into her apartment house. This witness is sure that the man he +saw thus gesticulating was Sears, and he is sure the woman was Mrs. +Fairbrother. The only thing he is not sure of is how his own wife will +feel when she hears that he was in that particular neighborhood on +that particular evening, when he was evidently supposed to be somewhere +else." And the inspector laughed. + +"Is the steward's disposition a bad one." I asked, "that this display of +feeling should impress you so much?" + +"I don't know what to say about that yet. Opinions differ on this point. +His friends speak of him as the mildest kind of a man who, without +native executive skill, could not manage the great household he has in +charge. His enemies, and we have unearthed a few, say, on the contrary, +that they have never had any confidence in his quiet ways; that these +were not in keeping with the fact or his having been a California miner +in the early fifties. + +"You can see I am putting you very nearly where we are ourselves. Nor +do I see why I should not add that this passion of the seemingly subdued +but really hot-headed steward for a woman, who never showed him anything +but what he might call an insulting indifference, struck us as a clue to +be worked up, especially after we received this answer to a telegram we +sent late last night to the nurse who is caring for Mr. Fairbrother in +New Mexico." + +He handed me a small yellow slip and I read: + +"The steward left Mr. Fairbrother at El Moro. He has not heard from him +since. + +"ANNETTA LA SERRA + +"For Abner Fairbrother." + +"At El Moro?" I cried. "Why, that was long enough ago." + +"For him to have reached New York before the murder. Exactly so, if he +took advantage of every close connection." + + + + +XIV. TRAPPED + +I caught my breath sharply. I did not say anything. I felt that I did +not understand the inspector sufficiently yet to speak. He seemed to be +pleased with my reticence. At all events, his manner grew even kinder as +he said: + +"This Sears is a witness we must have. He is being looked for now, high +and low, and we hope to get some clue to his whereabouts before night. +That is, if he is in this city. Meanwhile, we are all glad--I am sure +you are also--to spare so distinguished a gentleman as Mr. Grey the +slightest annoyance." + +"And Mr. Durand? What of him in this interim?" + +"He will have to await developments. I see no other way, my dear." + +It was kindly said, but my head drooped. This waiting was what was +killing him and killing me. The inspector saw and gently patted my hand. + +"Come," said he, "you have head enough to see that it is never wise +to force matters." Then, possibly with an intention of rousing me, +he remarked: "There is another small fact which may interest you. It +concerns the waiter, Wellgood, recommended, as you will remember, by +this Sears. In my talk with Jones it leaked out as a matter of small +moment, and so it was to him, that this Wellgood was the waiter who ran +and picked up the diamond after it fell from Mr. Grey's hand." + +"Ah!" + +"This may mean nothing--it meant nothing to Jones--but I inform you of +it because there is a question I want to put to you in this connection. +You smile." + +"Did I?" I meekly answered. "I do not know why." + +This was not true. I had been waiting to see why the inspector had so +honored me with all these disclosures, almost with his thoughts. Now I +saw. He desired something in return. + +"You were on the scene at this very moment," he proceeded, after a +brief contemplation of my face, "and you must have seen this man when +he lifted the jewel and handed it back to Mr. Grey. Did you remark his +features?" + +"No, sir; I was too far off; besides, my eyes were on Mr. Grey." "That +is a pity. I was in hopes you could satisfy me on a very important +point." + +"What point is that, Inspector Dalzell?" + +"Whether he answered the following description." And, taking up another +paper, he was about to read it aloud to me, when an interruption +occurred. A man showed himself at the door, whom the inspector no sooner +recognized than he seemed to forget me in his eagerness to interrogate +him. Perhaps the appearance of the latter had something to do with it; +he looked as if he had been running, or had been the victim of some +extraordinary adventure. At all events, the inspector arose as he +entered, and was about to question him when he remembered me, and, +casting about for some means of ridding himself of my presence without +injury to my feelings, he suddenly pushed open the door of an adjoining +room and requested me to step inside while he talked a moment with this +man. + +Of course I went, but I cast him an appealing look as I did so. It +evidently had its effect, for his expression changed as his band fell on +the doorknob. Would he snap the lock tight, and so shut me out from what +concerned me as much as it did any one in the whole world? Or would +he recognize my anxiety--the necessity I was under of knowing just the +ground I was standing on--and let me hear what this man had to report? + +I watched the door. It closed slowly, too slowly to latch. Would he +catch it anew by the knob? No; he left it thus, and, while the crack was +hardly perceptible, I felt confident that the least shake of the floor +would widen it and give me the opportunity I sought. But I did not have +to wait for this. The two men in the office I had just left began to +speak, and to my unbounded relief were sufficiently intelligible, even +now, to warrant me in giving them my fullest attention. + +After some expressions of astonishment on the part of the inspector as +to the plight in which the other presented himself, the latter broke +out: + +"I've just escaped death! I'll tell you about that later. What I want to +tell you now is that the man we want is in town. I saw him last +night, or his shadow, which is the same thing. It was in the house in +Eighty-sixth Street,--the house they all think closed. He came in with a +key and--" + +"Wait! You have him?" + +"No. It's a long story, sir--" + +"Tell it!" + +The tone was dry. The inspector was evidently disappointed. + +"Don't blame me till you hear," said the other. "He is no common crook. +This is how it was: You wanted the suspect's photograph and a specimen +of his writing. I knew no better place to look for them than in his own +room in Mr. Fairbrother's house. I accordingly got the necessary warrant +and late last evening undertook the job. I went alone I was always an +egotistical chap, more's the pity--and with no further precaution than +a passing explanation to the officer I met at the corner, I hastened up +the block to the rear entrance on Eighty-seventh Street. There are +three doors to the Fairbrother house, as you probably know. Two on +Eighty-sixth Street (the large front one and a small one connecting +directly with the turret stairs), and one on Eighty-seventh Street. It +was to the latter I had a key. I do not think any one saw me go in. It +was raining, and such people as went by were more concerned in keeping +their umbrellas properly over their heads than in watching men skulking +about in doorways. + +"I got in, then, all right, and, being careful to close the door behind +me, went up the first short flight of steps to what I knew must be the +main hall. I had been given a plan of the interior, and I had studied it +more or less before starting out, but I knew that I should get lost if +I did not keep to the rear staircase, at the top of which I expected to +find the steward's room. There was a faint light in the house, in spite +of its closed shutters and tightly-drawn shades; and, having a certain +dread of using my torch, knowing my weakness for pretty things and how +hard it would be for me to pass so many fine rooms without looking in, +I made my way up stairs, with no other guide than the hand-rail. When I +had reached what I took to be the third floor I stopped. Finding it very +dark, I first listened--a natural instinct with us--then I lit up and +looked about me. + +"I was in a large hall, empty as a vault and almost as desolate. +Blank doors met my eyes in all directions, with here and there an open +passageway. I felt myself in a maze. I had no idea which was the door I +sought, and it is not pleasant to turn unaccustomed knobs in a shut-up +house at midnight, with the rain pouring in torrents and the wind making +pandemonium in a half-dozen great chimneys. + +"But it had to be done, and I went at it in regular order till I came +to a little narrow one opening on the turret-stair. This gave me my +bearings. Sears' room adjoined the staircase. There was no difficulty in +spotting the exact door now and, merely stopping to close the opening I +had made to this little staircase, I crossed to this door and flung it +open. I had been right in my calculations. It was the steward's room, +and I made at once for the desk." + +"And you found--?" + +"Mostly locked drawers. But a key on my bunch opened some of these and +my knife the rest. Here are the specimens of his handwriting which +I collected. I doubt if you will get much out of them. I saw nothing +compromising in the whole room, but then I hadn't time to go through +his trunks, and one of them looked very interesting,--old as the hills +and--" + +"You hadn't time? Why hadn't you time? What happened to cut it short?" + +"Well, sir, I'll tell you." The tone in which this was said roused me +if it did not the inspector. "I had just come from the desk which had +disappointed me, and was casting a look about the room, which was +as bare as my hand of everything like ornament--I might almost say +comfort--when I heard a noise which was not that of swishing rain or +even gusty wind--these had not been absent from my ears for a moment. I +didn't like that noise; it had a sneakish sound, and I shut my light off +in a hurry. After that I crept hastily out of the room, for I don't like +a set-to in a trap. + +"It was darker than ever now in the hall, or so it seemed, and as I +backed away I came upon a jog in the wall, behind which I crept. For +the sound I had heard was no fancy. Some one besides myself was in the +house, and that some one was coming up the little turret-stair, striking +matches as he approached. Who could it be? A detective from the district +attorney's office? I hardly thought so. He would have been provided with +something better than matches to light his way. A burglar? No, not on +the third floor of a house as rich as this. Some fellow on the force, +then, who had seen me come in and, by some trick of his own, had managed +to follow me? I would see. Meantime I kept my place behind the jog and +watched, not knowing which way the intruder would go. + +"Whoever he was, he was evidently astonished to see the turret door +ajar, for he lit another match as he threw it open and, though I failed +to get a glimpse of his figure, I succeeded in getting a very good one +of his shadow. It was one to arouse a detective's instinct at once. I +did not say to myself, this is the man I want, but I did say, this is +nobody from headquarters, and I steadied myself for whatever might turn +up. + +"The first thing that happened was the sudden going out of the match +which had made this shadow visible. The intruder did not light another. +I heard him move across the floor with the rapid step of one who knows +his way well, and the next minute a gas-jet flared up in the steward's +room, and I knew that the man the whole force was looking for had +trapped himself. + +"You will agree that it was not my duty to take him then and there +without seeing what he was after. He was thought to be in the eastern +states, or south or west, and he was here; but why here? That is what +I knew you would want to know, and it was just what I wanted to know +myself. So I kept my place, which was good enough, and just listened, +for I could not see. + +"What was his errand? What did he want in this empty house at midnight? +Papers first, and then clothes. I heard him at his desk, I heard him +in the closet, and afterward pottering in the old trunk I had been so +anxious to look into myself. He must have brought the key with him, for +it was no time before I heard him throwing out the contents in a wild +search for something he wanted in a great hurry. He found it sooner than +you would believe, and began throwing the things back, when something +happened. Expectedly or unexpectedly, his eye fell on some object which +roused all his passions, and he broke into loud exclamations ending in +groans. Finally he fell to kissing this object with a fervor suggesting +rage, and a rage suggesting tenderness carried to the point of agony. I +have never heard the like; my curiosity was so aroused that I was on the +point of risking everything for a look, when he gave a sudden snarl and +cried out, loud enough for me to hear: 'Kiss what I've hated? That is as +bad as to kill what I've loved.' Those were the words. I am sure he said +kiss and I am sure he said kill." + +"This is very interesting. Go on with your story. Why didn't you collar +him while he was in this mood? You would have won by the surprise. + +"I had no pistol, sir, and he had. I heard him cock it. I thought he +was going to take his own life, and held my breath for the report. But +nothing like that was in his mind. Instead, he laid the pistol down and +deliberately tore in two the object of his anger. Then with a smothered +curse he made for the door and turret staircase. + +"I was for following, but not till I had seen what he had destroyed in +such an excess of feeling. I thought I knew, but I wanted to feel sure. +So, before risking myself in the turret, I crept to the room he had left +and felt about on the floor till I came upon these." + +"A torn photograph! Mrs. Fairbrother's!" + +"Yes. Have you not heard how he loved her? A foolish passion, but +evidently sincere and--" + +"Never mind comments, Sweetwater. Stick to facts." + +"I will, sir. They are interesting enough. After I had picked up these +scraps I stole back to the turret staircase. And here I made my first +break. I stumbled in the darkness, and the man below heard me, for the +pistol clicked again. I did not like this, and had some thoughts of +backing out of my job. But I didn't. I merely waited till I heard his +step again; then I followed. + +"But very warily this time. It was not an agreeable venture. It was like +descending into a well with possible death at the bottom. I could see +nothing and presently could hear nothing but the almost imperceptible +sliding of my own fingers down the curve of the wall, which was all I +had to guide me. Had he stopped midway, and would my first intimation of +his presence be the touch of cold steel or the flinging around me of +two murderous arms? I had met with no break in the smooth surface of +the wall, so could not have reached the second story. When I should get +there the question would be whether to leave the staircase and seek him +in the mazes of its great rooms, or to keep on down to the parlor floor +and so to the street, whither he was possibly bound. I own that I +was almost tempted to turn on my light and have done with it, but I +remembered of how little use I should be to you lying in this well of a +stairway with a bullet in me, and so I managed to compose myself and go +on as I had begun. Next instant my fingers slipped round the edge of an +opening, and I knew that the moment of decision had come. Realizing that +no one can move so softly that he will not give away his presence in +some way, I paused for the sound which I knew must come, and when a +click rose from the depths of the hall before me I plunged into that +hall and thus into the house proper. + +"Here it was not so dark; yet I could make out none of the objects I now +and then ran against. I passed a mirror (I hardly know how I knew it to +be such), and in that mirror I seemed to see the ghost of a ghost flit +by and vanish. It was too much. I muttered a suppressed oath and plunged +forward, when I struck against a closing door. It flew open again and I +rushed in, turning on my light in my extreme desperation, when, instead +of hearing the sharp report of a pistol, as I expected, I saw a second +door fall to before me, this time with a sound like the snap of a spring +lock. Finding that this was so, and that all advance was barred that +way, I wheeled hurriedly back toward the door by which I had entered the +place, to find that that had fallen to simultaneously with the other, +a single spring acting for both. I was trapped--a prisoner in the +strangest sort of passageway or closet; and, as a speedy look about +presently assured me, a prisoner with very little hope of immediate +escape, for the doors were not only immovable, without even locks to +pick or panels to break in, but the place was bare of windows, and the +only communication which it could be said to have with the outside world +at all was a shaft rising from the ceiling almost to the top of the +house. Whether this served as a ventilator, or a means of lighting up +the hole when both doors were shut, it was much too inaccessible to +offer any apparent way of escape. + +"Never was a man more thoroughly boxed in. As I realized how little +chance there was of any outside interference, how my captor, even if he +was seen leaving the house by the officer on duty, would be taken +for myself and so allowed to escape, I own that I felt my position a +hopeless one. But anger is a powerful stimulant, and I was mortally +angry, not only with Sears, but with myself. So when I was done swearing +I took another look around, and, finding that there was no getting +through the walls, turned my attention wholly to the shaft, which would +certainly lead me out of the place if I could only find means to mount +it. + +"And how do you think I managed to do this at last? A look at my +bedraggled, lime-covered clothes may give you some idea. I cut a passage +for myself up those perpendicular walls as the boy did up the face of +the natural bridge in Virginia. Do you remember that old story in the +Reader? It came to me like an inspiration as I stood looking up from +below, and though I knew that I should have to work most of the way in +perfect darkness, I decided that a man's life was worth some risk, and +that I had rather fall and break my neck while doing something than to +spend hours in maddening inactivity, only to face death at last from +slow starvation. + +"I had a knife, an exceedingly good knife, in my pocket--and for the +first few steps I should have the light of my electric torch. The +difficulty (that is, the first difficulty) was to reach the shaft from +the floor where I stood. There was but one article of furniture in the +room, and that was something between a table and a desk. No chairs, +and the desk was not high enough to enable me to reach the mouth of the +shaft. If I could turn it on end there might be some hope. But this did +not look feasible. However, I threw off my coat and went at the thing +with a vengeance, and whether I was given superhuman power or whether +the clumsy thing was not as heavy as it looked, I did finally succeed in +turning it on its end close under the opening from which the shaft rose. +The next thing was to get on its top. That seemed about as impossible +as climbing the bare wall itself, but presently I bethought me of the +drawers, and, though they were locked, I did succeed by the aid of my +keys to get enough of them open to make for myself a very good pair of +stairs. + +"I could now see my way to the mouth of the shaft, but after that! +Taking out my knife, I felt the edge. It was a good one, so was the +point, but was it good enough to work holes in plaster? It depended +somewhat upon the plaster. Had the masons, in finishing that shaft, +any thought of the poor wretch who one day would have to pit his life +against the hardness of the final covering? My first dig at it would +tell. I own I trembled violently at the prospect of what that first test +would mean to me, and wondered if the perspiration which I felt starting +at every pore was the result of the effort I had been engaged in or just +plain fear. + +"Inspector, I do not intend to have you live with me through the five +mortal hours which followed. I was enabled to pierce that plaster with +my knife, and even to penetrate deep enough to afford a place for the +tips of my fingers and afterward for the point of my toes, digging, +prying, sweating, panting, listening, first for a sudden opening of the +doors beneath, then for some shout or wicked interference from above +as I worked my way up inch by inch, foot by foot, to what might not be +safety after it was attained. + +"Five hours--six. Then I struck something which proved to be a window; +and when I realized this and knew that with but one more effort I should +breathe freely again, I came as near falling as I had at any time before +I began this terrible climb. + +"Happily, I had some premonition of my danger, and threw myself into a +position which held me till the dizzy minute passed. Then I went calmly +on with my work, and in another half-hour had reached the window, which, +fortunately for me, not only opened inward, but was off the latch. It +was with a sense of inexpressible relief that I clambered through this +window and for a brief moment breathed in the pungent odor of cedar. +But it could have been only for a moment. It was three o'clock in the +afternoon before I found myself again in the outer air. The only way I +can account for the lapse of time is that the strain to which both body +and nerve had been subjected was too much for even my hardy body and +that I fell to the floor of the cedar closet and from a faint went into +a sleep that lasted until two. I can easily account for the last hour +because it took me that long to cut the thick paneling from the door +of the closet. However, I am here now, sir, and in very much the same +condition in which I left that house. I thought my first duty was to +tell you that I had seen Hiram Sears in that house last night and put +you on his track." + +I drew a long breath,--I think the inspector did. I had been almost +rigid from excitement, and I don't believe he was quite free from it +either. But his voice was calmer than I expected when he finally said: + +"I'll remember this. It was a good night's work." Then the inspector put +to him some questions, which seemed to fix the fact that Sears had left +the house before Sweetwater did, after which he bade him send certain +men to him and then go and fix himself up. + +I believe he had forgotten me. I had almost forgotten myself. + + + + +XV. SEARS OR WELLGOOD + +Not till the inspector had given several orders was I again summoned +into his presence. He smiled as our eyes met, but did not allude, any +more than I did, to what had just passed. Nevertheless, we understood +each other. + +When I was again seated, he took up the conversation where we had left +it. + +"The description I was just about to read to you," he went on; "will you +listen to it now?" + +"Gladly," said I; "it is Wellgood's, I believe." + +He did not answer save by a curious glance from under his brows, but, +taking the paper again from his desk, went on reading: + +"A man of fifty-five looking like one of sixty. Medium height, +insignificant features, head bald save for a ring of scanty dark hair. +No beard, a heavy nose, long mouth and sleepy half-shut eyes capable of +shooting strange glances. Nothing distinctive in face or figure save +the depth of his wrinkles and a scarcely observable stoop in his right +shoulder. Do you see Wellgood in that?" he suddenly asked. + +"I have only the faintest recollection of his appearance," was my +doubtful reply. "But the impression I get from this description is not +exactly the one I received of that waiter in the momentary glimpse I got +of him." + +"So others have told me before;" he remarked, looking very disappointed. +"The description is of Sears given me by a man who knew him well, and if +we could fit the description of the one to that of the other, we should +have it easy. But the few persons who have seen Wellgood differ greatly +in their remembrance of his features, and even of his coloring. It is +astonishing how superficially most people see a man, even when they are +thrown into daily contact with him. Mr. Jones says the man's eyes are +gray, his hair a wig and dark, his nose pudgy, and his face without much +expression. His land-lady, that his eyes are blue, his hair, whether wig +or not, a dusty auburn, and his look quick and piercing,--a look which +always made her afraid. His nose she don't remember. Both agree, or +rather all agree, that he wore no beard--Sears did, but a beard can +be easily taken off--and all of them declare that they would know him +instantly if they saw him. And so the matter stands. Even you can +give me no definite description,--one, I mean, as satisfactory or +unsatisfactory as this of Sears." + +I shook my head. Like the others, I felt that I should know him if I saw +him, but I could go no further than that. There seemed to be so little +that was distinctive about the man. + +The inspector, hoping, perhaps, that all this would serve to rouse my +memory, shrugged his shoulders and put the best face he could on the +matter. + +"Well, well," said he, "we shall have to be patient. A day may make all +the difference possible in our outlook. If we can lay hands on either of +these men--" + +He seemed to realize he had said a word too much, for he instantly +changed the subject by asking if I had succeeded in getting a sample of +Miss Grey's writing. I was forced to say no; that everything had been +very carefully put away. "But I do not know what moment I may come upon +it," I added. "I do not forget its importance in this investigation." + +"Very good. Those lines handed up to Mrs. Fairbrother from the walk +outside are the second most valuable clue we possess." + +I did not ask him what the first was. I knew. It was the stiletto. + +"Strange that no one has testified to that handwriting," I remarked. + +He looked at me in surprise. + +"Fifty persons have sent in samples of writing which they think like +it," he observed. "Often of persons who never heard of the Fairbrothers. +We have been bothered greatly with the business. You know little of the +difficulties the police labor under." + +"I know too much," I sighed. + +He smiled and patted me on the hand. + +"Go back to your patient," he said. "Forget every other duty but that of +your calling until you get some definite word from me. I shall not keep +you in suspense one minute longer than is absolutely necessary." + +He had risen. I rose too. But I was not satisfied. I could not leave the +room with my ideas (I might say with my convictions) in such a turmoil. + +"Inspector," said I, "you will think me very obstinate, but all you +have told me about Sears, all I have heard about him, in fact,"--this +I emphasized,--"does not convince me of the entire folly of my +own suspicions. Indeed, I am afraid that, if anything, they are +strengthened. This steward, who is a doubtful character, I acknowledge, +may have had his reasons for wishing Mrs. Fairbrother's death, may even +have had a hand in the matter; but what evidence have you to show that +he, himself, entered the alcove, struck the blow or stole the diamond? +I have listened eagerly for some such evidence, but I have listened in +vain." + +"I know," he murmured, "I know. But it will come; at least I think so." + +This should have reassured me, no doubt, and sent me away quiet and +happy. But something--the tenacity of a deep conviction, possibly--kept +me lingering before the inspector and finally gave me the courage to +say: + +"I know I ought not to speak another word; that I am putting myself at +a disadvantage in doing so; but I can not help it, Inspector; I can not +help it when I see you laying such stress upon the few indirect clues +connecting the suspicious Sears with this crime, and ignoring the direct +clues we have against one whom we need not name." + +Had I gone too far? Had my presumption transgressed all bounds and would +he show a very natural anger? No, he smiled instead, an enigmatical +smile, no doubt, which I found it difficult to understand, but yet a +smile. + +"You mean," he suggested, "that Sears' possible connection with the +crime can not eliminate Mr. Grey's very positive one; nor can the fact +that Wellgood's hand came in contact with Mr. Grey's, at or near the +time of the exchange of the false stone with the real, make it any less +evident who was the guilty author of this exchange?" + +The inspector's hand was on the door-knob, but he dropped it at this, +and surveying me very quietly said: + +"I thought that a few days spent at the bedside of Miss Grey in the +society of so renowned and cultured a gentleman as her father would +disabuse you of these damaging suspicions." + +"I don't wonder that you thought so," I burst out. "You would think +so all the more, if you knew how kind he can be and what solicitude +he shows for all about him. But I can not get over the facts. They all +point, it seems to me, straight in one direction." + +"All? You heard what was said in this room--I saw it in your eye--how +the man, who surprised the steward in his own room last night, heard him +talking of love and death in connection with Mrs. Fairbrother. 'To +kiss what I hate! It is almost as bad as to kill what I love'--he said +something like that." + +"Yes, I heard that. But did he mean that he had been her actual slayer? +Could you convict him on those words?" + +"Well, we shall find out. Then, as to Wellgood's part in the little +business, you choose to consider that it took place at the time +the stone fell from Mr. Grey's hand. What proof have you that the +substitution you believe in was not made by him? He could easily have +done it while crossing the room to Mr. Grey's side." + +"Inspector!" Then hotly, as the absurdity of the suggestion struck +me with full force: "He do this! A waiter, or as you think, Mr. +Fairbrother's steward, to be provided with so hard-to-come-by an article +as this counterpart of a great stone? Isn't that almost as incredible a +supposition as any I have myself presumed to advance?" + +"Possibly, but the affair is full of incredibilities, the greatest of +which, to my mind, is the persistence with which you, a kind-hearted +enough little woman, persevere in ascribing the deepest guilt to one you +profess to admire and certainly would be glad to find innocent of any +complicity with a great crime." + +I felt that I must justify myself. + +"Mr. Durand has had no such consideration shown him," said I. + +"I know, my child, I know; but the cases differ. Wouldn't it be well for +you to see this and be satisfied with the turn which things have +taken, without continuing to insist upon involving Mr. Grey in your +suspicions?" + +A smile took off the edge of this rebuke, yet I felt it keenly; and +only the confidence I had in his fairness as a man and public official +enabled me to say: + +"But I am talking quite confidentially. And you have been so good to me, +so willing to listen to all I had to say, that I can not help but speak +my whole mind. It is my only safety valve. Remember how I have to sit in +the presence of this man with my thoughts all choked up. It is killing +me. But I think I should go back content if you will listen to one more +suggestion I have to make. It is my last." + +"Say it I am nothing if not indulgent." + +He had spoken the word. Indulgent, that was it. He let me speak, +probably had let me speak from the first, from pure kindness. He did not +believe one little bit in my good sense or logic. But I was not to be +deterred. I would empty my mind of the ugly thing that lay there. I +would leave there no miserable dregs of doubt to ferment and work their +evil way with me in the dead watches of the night, which I had yet to +face. So I took him at his word. + +"I only want to ask this. In case Sears is innocent of the crime, who +wrote the warning and where did the assassin get the stiletto with the +Grey arms chased into its handle? And the diamond? Still the diamond! +You hint that he stole that, too. That with some idea of its proving +useful to him on this gala occasion, he had provided himself with an +imitation stone, setting and all,--he who has never shown, so far as +we have heard, any interest in Mrs. Fairbrother's diamond, only in Mrs. +Fairbrother herself. If Wellgood is Sears and Sears the medium by which +the false stone was exchanged for the real, then he made this exchange +in Mr. Grey's interests and not his own. But I don't believe he had +anything to do with it. I think everything goes to show that the +exchange was made by Mr. Grey himself." + +"A second Daniel," muttered the inspector lightly. "Go on, little +lawyer!" But for all this attempt at banter on his part, I imagined that +I saw the beginning of a very natural anxiety to close the conversation. +I therefore hastened with what I had yet to say, cutting my words short +and almost stammering in my eagerness. + +"Remember the perfection of that imitation stone, a copy so exact that +it extends to the setting. That shows plan--forgive me if I repeat +myself--preparation, a knowledge of stones, a particular knowledge of +this one. Mr. Fairbrother's steward may have had the knowledge, but he +would have been a fool to have used his knowledge to secure for himself +a valuable he could never have found a purchaser for in any market. But +a fancier--one who has his pleasure in the mere possession of a +unique and invaluable gem--ah! that is different! He might risk a +crime--history tells us of several." + +Here I paused to take breath, which gave the inspector chance to say: + +"In other words, this is what you think. The Englishman, desirous of +covering up his tracks, conceived the idea of having this imitation +on hand, in case it might be of use in the daring and disgraceful +undertaking you ascribe to him. Recognizing his own inability to do this +himself, he delegated the task to one who in some way, he had been led +to think, cherished a secret grudge against its present possessor--a +man who had had some opportunity for seeing the stone and studying the +setting. The copy thus procured, Mr. Grey went to the ball, and, relying +on his own seemingly unassailable position, attacked Mrs. Fairbrother +in the alcove and would have carried off the diamond, if he had found +it where he had seen it earlier blazing on her breast. But it was +not there. The warning received by her--a warning you ascribe to his +daughter, a fact which is yet to be proved--had led her to rid herself +of the jewel in the way Mr. Durand describes, and he found himself +burdened with a dastardly crime and with nothing to show for it. Later, +however, to his intense surprise and possible satisfaction, he saw that +diamond in my hands, and, recognizing an opportunity, as he thought, of +yet securing it, he asked to see it, held it for an instant, and then, +making use of an almost incredible expedient for distracting attention, +dropped, not the real stone but the false one, retaining the real one in +his hand. This, in plain English, as I take it, is your present idea of +the situation." + +Astonished at the clearness with which he read my mind, I answered: +"Yes, Inspector, that is what was in my mind." + +"Good! then it is just as well that it is out. Your mind is now free and +you can give it entirely to your duties." Then, as he laid his hand +on the door-knob, he added: "In studying so intently your own point +of view, you seem to have forgotten that the last thing which Mr. Grey +would be likely to do, under those circumstances, would be to call +attention to the falsity of the gem upon whose similarity to the real +stone he was depending. Not even his confidence in his own position, as +an honored and highly-esteemed guest, would lead him to do that." + +"Not if he were a well-known connoisseur," I faltered, "with the pride +of one who has handled the best gems? He would know that the deception +would be soon discovered and that it would not do for him to fail to +recognize it for what it was, when the make-believe was in his hands." + +"Forced, my dear child, forced; and as chimerical as all the rest. It +can not stand putting into words. I will go further,--you are a good +girl and can bear to hear the truth from me. I don't believe in your +theory; I can't. I have not been able to from the first, nor have any +of my men; but if your ideas are true and Mr. Grey is involved in this +matter, you will find that there has been more of a hitch about that +diamond than you, in your simplicity, believe. If Mr. Grey were in +actual possession of this valuable, he would show less care than you say +he does. So would he if it were in Wellgood's hands with his consent and +a good prospect of its coming to him in the near future. But if it is +in Wellgood's hands without his consent, or any near prospect of his +regaining it, then we can easily understand his present apprehensions +and the growing uneasiness he betrays." + +"True," I murmured. + +"If, then," the inspector pursued, giving me a parting glance not +without its humor, probably not without something really serious +underlying its humor, "we should find, in following up our present clue, +that Mr. Grey has had dealings with this Wellgood or this Sears; or if +you, with your advantages for learning the fact, should discover that he +shows any extraordinary interest in either of them, the matter will take +on a different aspect. But we have not got that far yet. At present our +task is to find one or the other of these men. If we are lucky, we shall +discover that the waiter and the steward are identical, in spite of +their seemingly different appearance. A rogue, such as this Sears has +shown himself to be, would be an adept at disguise." + +"You are right," I acknowledged. "He has certainly the heart of a +criminal. If he had no hand in Mrs. Fairbrother's murder, he came near +having one in that of your detective. You know what I mean. I could not +help hearing, Inspector." + +He smiled, looked me steadfastly in the face for a moment, and then +bowed me out. + +The inspector told me afterward that, in spite of the cavalier manner +with which he had treated my suggestions, he spent a very serious +half-hour, head to head with the district attorney. The result was the +following order to Sweetwater, the detective. + +"You are to go to the St. Regis; make yourself solid there, and +gradually, as you can manage it, work yourself into a position for +knowing all that goes on in Room ----. If the gentleman (mind you, the +gentleman; we care nothing about the women) should go out, you are to +follow him if it takes you to--. We want to know his secret; but he must +never know our interest in it and you are to be as silent in this matter +as if possessed of neither ear nor tongue. I will add memory, for if you +find this secret to be one in which we have no lawful interest, you are +to forget it absolutely and for ever. You will understand why when you +consult the St Regis register." + +But they expected nothing from it; absolutely nothing. + + + + +XVI. DOUBT + +I prayed uncle that we might be driven home by the way of Eighty-sixth +Street. I wanted to look at the Fairbrother house. I had seen it many +times, but I felt that I should see it with new eyes after the story +I had just heard in the inspector's office. That an adventure of this +nature could take place in a New York house taxed my credulity. I +might have believed it of Paris, wicked, mysterious Paris, the home of +intrigue and every redoubtable crime, but of our own homely, commonplace +metropolis--the house must be seen for me to be convinced of the fact +related. + +Many of you know the building. It is usually spoken of with a shrug, the +sole reason for which seems to be that there is no other just like it in +the city. I myself have always considered it imposing and majestic; but +to the average man it is too suggestive of Old-World feudal life to +be pleasing. On this afternoon--a dull, depressing one--it looked +undeniably heavy as we approached it; but interesting in a very new +way to me, because of the great turret at one angle, the scene of that +midnight descent of two men, each in deadly fear of the other, yet +quailing not in their purpose,--the one of flight, the other of pursuit. + +There was no railing in front of the house. It may have seemed an +unnecessary safeguard to the audacious owner. Consequently, the small +door in the turret opened directly upon the street, making entrance +and exit easy enough for any one who had the key. But the shaft and the +small room at the bottom--where were they? Naturally in the center of +the great mass, the room being without windows. + +It was, therefore, useless to look for it, and yet my eye ran along the +peaks and pinnacles of the roof, searching for the skylight in which it +undoubtedly ended. At last I espied it, and, my curiosity satisfied on +this score, I let my eyes run over the side and face of the building for +an open window or a lifted shade. But all were tightly closed and +gave no more sign of life than did the boarded-up door. But I was not +deceived by this. As we drove away, I thought how on the morrow there +would be a regular procession passing through this street to see just +the little I had seen to-day. The detective's adventure was like to +make the house notorious. For several minutes after I had left its +neighborhood my imagination pictured room after room shut up from the +light of day, but bearing within them the impalpable aura of those +two shadows flitting through them like the ghosts of ghosts, as the +detective had tellingly put it. + +The heart has its strange surprises. Through my whole ride and the +indulgence in these thoughts I was conscious of a great inner revulsion +against all I had intimated and even honestly felt while talking with +the inspector. Perhaps this is what this wise old official expected. He +had let me talk, and the inevitable reaction followed. I could now see +only Mr. Grey's goodness and claims to respect, and began to hate myself +that I had not been immediately impressed by the inspector's views, and +shown myself more willing to drop every suspicion against the august +personage I had presumed to associate with crime. What had given me the +strength to persist? Loyalty to my lover? His innocence had not been +involved. Indeed, every word uttered in the inspector's office had +gone to prove that he no longer occupied a leading place in police +calculations: that their eyes were turned elsewhere, and that I had only +to be patient to see Mr. Durand quite cleared in their minds. + +But was this really so? Was he as safe as that? What if this new clue +failed? What if they failed to find Sears or lay hands on the doubtful +Wellgood? Would Mr. Durand be released without a trial? Should we hear +nothing more of the strange and to many the suspicious circumstances +which linked him to this crime? It would be expecting too much from +either police or official discrimination. + +No; Mr. Durand would never be completely exonerated till the true +culprit was found and all explanations made. I had therefore been simply +fighting his battles when I pointed out what I thought to be the weak +place in their present theory, and, sore as I felt in contemplation +of my seemingly heartless action, I was not the unimpressionable, +addle-pated nonentity I must have seemed to the inspector. + +Yet my comfort was small and the effort it took to face Mr. Grey and my +young patient was much greater than I had anticipated. I blushed as I +approached to take my place at Miss Grey's bedside, and, had her father +been as suspicious of me at that moment as I was of him, I am sure that +I should have fared badly in his thoughts. + +But he was not on the watch for my emotions. He was simply relieved +to see me back. I noticed this immediately, also that something had +occurred during my absence which absorbed his thought and filled him +with anxiety. + +A Western Union envelope lay at his feet,--proof that he had just +received a telegram. This, under ordinary circumstances, would not have +occasioned me a second thought, such a man being naturally the recipient +of all sorts of communications from all parts of the world; but at this +crisis, with the worm of a half-stifled doubt still gnawing at my heart, +everything that occurred to him took on importance and roused questions. + +When he had left the room, Miss Grey nestled up to me with the seemingly +ingenuous remark: + +"Poor papa! something disturbs him. He will not tell me what. I suppose +he thinks I am not strong enough to share his troubles. But I shall be +soon. Don't you see I am gaining every day?" + +"Indeed I do," was my hearty response. In face of such a sweet +confidence and open affection doubt vanished and I was able to give all +my thoughts to her. + +"I wish papa felt as sure of this as you do," she said. "For some reason +he does not seem to take any comfort from my improvement. When Doctor +Freligh says, 'Well, well! we are getting on finely to-day,' I notice +that he does not look less anxious, nor does he even meet these +encouraging words with a smile. Haven't you noticed it? He looks as +care-worn and troubled about me now as he did the first day I was taken +sick. Why should he? Is it because he has lost so many children he can +not believe in his good fortune at having the most insignificant of all +left to him?" + +"I do not know your father very well," I protested; "and can not judge +what is going on in his mind. But he must see that you are quite a +different girl from what you were a week ago, and that, if nothing +unforeseen happens, your recovery will only be a matter of a week or two +longer." + +"Oh, how I love to hear you say that! To be well again! To read +letters!" she murmured, "and to write them!" And I saw the delicate hand +falter up to pinch the precious packet awaiting that happy hour. I did +not like to discuss her father with her, so took this opportunity +to turn the conversation aside into safer channels. But we had not +proceeded far before Mr. Grey returned and, taking his stand at the +foot of the bed, remarked, after a moment's gloomy contemplation of his +daughter's face: + +"You are better today, the doctor says,--I have just been telephoning +to him. But do you feel well enough for me to leave you for a few days? +There is a man I must see--must go to, if you have no dread of being +left alone with your good nurse and the doctor's constant attendance." + +Miss Grey looked startled. Doubtless she found it difficult to +understand what man in this strange country could interest her father +enough to induce him to leave her while he was yet laboring under such +solicitude. But a smile speedily took the place of her look of surprised +inquiry and she affectionately exclaimed: + +"Oh, I haven't the least dread in the world, not now. See, I can hold up +my arms. Go, papa, go; it will give me a chance to surprise you with my +good looks when you come back." + +He turned abruptly away. He was suffering from an emotion deeper than he +cared to acknowledge. But he gained control over himself speedily and, +coming back, announced with forced decision: + +"I shall have to go to-night. I have no choice. Promise me that you will +not go back in my absence; that you will strive to get well; that you +will put all your mind into striving to get well." + +"Indeed, I will," she answered, a little frightened by the feeling he +showed. "Don't worry so much. I have more than one reason for living, +papa." + +He shook his head and went immediately to make his preparations for +departure. His daughter gave one sob, then caught me by the hand. + +"You look dumfounded," said she. "But never mind, we shall get on very +well together. I have the most perfect confidence in you." + +Was it my duty to let the inspector know that Mr. Grey anticipated +absenting himself from the city for a few days? I decided that I would +only be impressing my own doubts upon him after a rebuke which should +have allayed them. + +Yet, when Mr. Grey came to take his departure I wished that the +inspector might have been a witness to his emotion, if only to give me +one of his very excellent explanations. The parting was more like that +of one who sees no immediate promise of return than of a traveler who +intends to limit his stay to a few days. He looked her in the eyes and +kissed her a dozen times, each time with an air of heartbreak which was +good neither for her nor for himself, and when he finally tore himself +away it was to look back at her from the door with an expression I was +glad she did not see, or it would certainly have interfered with the +promise she had made to concentrate all her energies on getting well. + +What was at the root of his extreme grief at leaving her? Did he fear +the person he was going to meet, or were his plans such as involved a +much longer stay than he had mentioned? Did he even mean to return at +all? + +Ah, that was the question! Did he intend to return, or had I been the +unconscious witness of a flight? + + + + +XVII. SWEETWATER IN A NEW ROLE + +A few days later three men were closeted in the district attorney's +office. Two of them were officials--the district attorney himself, and +our old friend, the inspector. The third was the detective, Sweetwater, +chosen by them to keep watch on Mr. Grey. + +Sweetwater had just come to town,--this was evident from the gripsack +he had set down in a corner on entering, also from a certain tousled +appearance which bespoke hasty rising and but few facilities for proper +attention to his person. These details counted little, however, in the +astonishment created by his manner. For a hardy chap he looked strangely +nervous and indisposed, so much so that, after the first short +greeting, the inspector asked him what was up, and if he had had another +Fairbrother-house experience. + +He replied with a decided no; that it was not his adventure which had +upset him, but the news he had to bring. + +Here he glanced at every door and window; and then, leaning forward over +the table at which the two officials sat, he brought his head as nearly +to them as possible and whispered five words. + +They produced a most unhappy sensation. Both the men, hardened as they +were by duties which soon sap the sensibilities, started and turned as +pale as the speaker himself. Then the district attorney, with one glance +at the inspector, rose and locked the door. + +It was a prelude to this tale which I give, not as it came from his +mouth, but as it was afterward related to me. The language, I fear, is +mostly my own. + +The detective had just been with Mr. Grey to the coast of Maine. +Why there, will presently appear. His task had been to follow this +gentleman, and follow him he did. + +Mr. Grey was a very stately man, difficult of approach, and was +absorbed, besides, by some overwhelming care. But this fellow was one +in a thousand and somehow, during the trip, he managed to do him some +little service, which drew the attention of the great man to himself. +This done, he so improved his opportunity that the two were soon on the +best of terms, and he learned that the Englishman was without a valet, +and, being unaccustomed to move about without one, felt the awkwardness +of his position very much. This gave Sweetwater his cue, and when +he found that the services of such a man were wanted only during the +present trip and for the handling of affairs quite apart from personal +tendance upon the gentleman himself, he showed such an honest desire +to fill the place, and made out to give such a good account of himself, +that he found himself engaged for the work before reaching C--. + +This was a great stroke of luck, he thought, but he little knew how big +a stroke or into what a series of adventures it was going to lead him. + +Once on the platform of the small station at which Mr. Grey had bidden +him to stop, he noticed two things: the utter helplessness of the man in +all practical matters, and his extreme anxiety to see all that was +going on about him without being himself seen. There was method in this +curiosity, too much method. Women did not interest him in the least. +They could pass and repass without arousing his attention, but the +moment a man stepped his way, he shrank from him only to betray the +greatest curiosity concerning him the moment he felt it safe to turn +and observe him. All of which convinced Sweetwater that the Englishman's +errand was in connection with a man whom he equally dreaded and desired +to meet. + +Of this he was made absolutely certain a little later. As they were +leaving the depot with the rest of the arrivals, Mr. Grey said: + +"I want you to get me a room at a very quiet hotel. This done, you are +to hunt up the man whose name you will find written in this paper, and +when you have found him, make up your mind how it will be possible for +me to get a good look at him without his getting any sort of a look at +me. Do this and you will earn a week's salary in one day." + +Sweetwater, with his head in air and his heart on fire--for matters were +looking very promising indeed--took the paper and put it in his pocket; +then he began to hunt for a hotel. Not till he had found what he wished, +and installed the Englishman in his room, did he venture to open the +precious memorandum and read the name he had been speculating over for +an hour. It was not the one he had anticipated, but it came near to it. +It was that of James Wellgood. + +Satisfied now that he had a ticklish matter to handle, he prepared for +it, with his usual enthusiasm and circumspection. + +Sauntering out into the street, he strolled first toward the +post-office. The train on which he had just come had been a mail-train, +and he calculated that he would find half the town there. + +His calculation was a correct one. The store was crowded with people. +Taking his place in the line drawn up before the post-office window, he +awaited his turn, and when it came shouted out the name which was his +one talisman--James Wellgood. + +The man behind the boxes was used to the name and reached out a hand +toward a box unusually well stacked, but stopped half-way there and gave +Sweetwater a sharp look. + +"Who are you?" he asked. + +"A stranger," that young man put in volubly, "looking for James +Wellgood. I thought, perhaps, you could tell me where to find him. I see +that his letters pass through this office." + +"You're taking up another man's time," complained the postmaster. He +probably alluded to the man whose elbow Sweetwater felt boring into his +back. "Ask Dick over there; he knows him." + +The detective was glad enough to escape and ask Dick. But he was better +pleased yet when Dick--a fellow with a squint whose hand was always in +the sugar--told him that Mr. Wellgood would probably be in for his mail +in a few moments. "That is his buggy standing before the drug-store on +the opposite side of the way." + +So! he had netted Jones' quondam waiter at the first cast! "Lucky!" was +what he said to himself, "still lucky!" + +Sauntering to the door, he watched for the owner of that buggy. He had +learned, as such fellows do, that there was a secret hue and cry after +this very man by the New York police; that he was supposed by some to +be Sears himself. In this way he would soon be looking upon the very man +whose steps he had followed through the Fairbrother house a few nights +before, and through whose resolute action he had very nearly run the +risk of a lingering death from starvation. + +"A dangerous customer," thought he. "I wonder if my instinct will go +so far as to make me recognize his presence. I shouldn't wonder. It has +served me almost as well as that many times before." + +It appeared to serve him now, for when the man finally showed himself +on the cross-walk separating the two buildings he experienced a sudden +indecision not unlike that of dread, and there being nothing in the +man's appearance to warrant apprehension, he took it for the instinctive +recognition it undoubtedly was. + +He therefore watched him narrowly and succeeded in getting one glance +from his eye. It was enough. The man was commonplace,--commonplace in +feature, dress and manner, but his eye gave him away. There was nothing +commonplace in that. It was an eye to beware of. + +He had taken in Sweetwater as he passed, but Sweetwater was of a +commonplace type, too, and woke no corresponding dread in the other's +mind; for he went whistling into the store, from which he presently +reissued with a bundle of mail in his hand. The detective's first +instinct was to take him into custody as a suspect much wanted by the +New York police; but reason assured him that he not only had no +warrant for this, but that he would better serve the ends of justice by +following out his present task of bringing this man and the Englishman +together and watching the result. But how, with the conditions laid +on him by Mr. Grey, was this to be done? He knew nothing of the man's +circumstances or of his position in the town. How, then, go to work to +secure his cooperation in a scheme possibly as mysterious to him as it +was to himself? He could stop this stranger in mid-street, with some +plausible excuse, but it did not follow that he would succeed in luring +him to the hotel where Mr. Grey could see him. Wellgood, or, as he +believed, Sears, knew too much of life to be beguiled by any open +clap-trap, and Sweetwater was obliged to see him drive off without +having made the least advance in the purpose engrossing him. + +But that was nothing. He had all the evening before him, and reentering +the store, he took up his stand near the sugar barrel. He had perceived +that in the pauses of weighing and tasting, Dick talked; if he were +guided with suitable discretion, why should he not talk of Wellgood? + +He was guided, and he did talk and to some effect. That is, he gave +information of the man which surprised Sweetwater. If in the past and in +New York he had been known as a waiter, or should I say steward, he was +known here as a manufacturer of patent medicine designed to rejuvenate +the human race. He had not been long in town and was somewhat of a +stranger yet, but he wouldn't be so long. He was going to make things +hum, he was. Money for this, money for that, a horse where another man +would walk, and mail--well, that alone would make this post-office worth +while. Then the drugs ordered by wholesale. Those boxes over there were +his, ready to be carted out to his manufactory. Count them, some one, +and think of the bottles and bottles of stuff they stand for. If it +sells as he says it will--then he will soon be rich: and so on, till +Sweetwater brought the garrulous Dick to a standstill by asking whether +Wellgood had been away for any purpose since he first came to town. He +received the reply that he had just come home from New York, where he +had been for some articles needed in his manufactory. Sweetwater felt +all his convictions confirmed, and ended the colloquy with the final +question: + +"And where is his manufactory? Might be worth visiting, perhaps." + +The other made a gesture, said something about northwest and rushed to +help a customer. Sweetwater took the opportunity to slide away. More +explicit directions could easily be got elsewhere, and he felt anxious +to return to Mr. Grey and discover, if possible, whether it would prove +as much a matter of surprise to him as to Sweetwater himself that the +man who answered to the name of Wellgood was the owner of a manufactory +and a barrel or two of drugs, out of which he proposed to make a +compound that would rob the doctors of their business and make himself +and this little village rich. + +Sweetwater made only one stop on his way to Mr. Grey's hotel rooms, +and that was at the stables. Here he learned whatever else there was to +know, and, armed with definite information, he appeared before Mr. Grey, +who, to his astonishment, was dining in his own room. + +He had dismissed the waiter and was rather brooding than eating. He +looked up eagerly, however, when Sweetwater entered, and asked what +news. + +The detective, with some semblance of respect, answered that he had seen +Wellgood, but that he had been unable to detain him or bring him within +his employer's observation. + +"He is a patent-medicine man," he then explained, "and manufactures +his own concoctions in a house he has rented here on a lonely road some +half-mile out of town." + +"Wellgood does? the man named Wellgood?" Mr. Grey exclaimed with all the +astonishment the other secretly expected. + +"Yes; Wellgood, James Wellgood. There is no other in town." + +"How long has this man been here?" the statesman inquired, after a +moment of apparently great discomfiture. + +"Just twenty-four hours, this time. He was here once before, when he +rented the house and made all his plans." + +"Ah!" + +Mr. Grey rose precipitately. His manner had changed. + +"I must see him. What you tell me makes it all the more necessary for me +to see him. How can you bring it about?" + +"Without his seeing you?" Sweetwater asked. + +"Yes, yes; certainly without his seeing me. Couldn't you rap him up at +his own door, and hold him in talk a minute, while I looked on from the +carriage or whatever vehicle we can get to carry us there? The least +glimpse of his face would satisfy me. That is, to-night." + +"I'll try," said Sweetwater, not very sanguine as to the probable result +of this effort. + +Returning to the stables, he ordered the team. With the last ray of the +sun they set out, the reins in Sweetwater's hands. + +They headed for the coast-road. + + + + +XVIII. THE CLOSED DOOR + +The road was once the highway, but the tide having played so many tricks +with its numberless bridges a new one had been built farther up the +cliff, carrying with it the life and business of the small town. Many +old landmarks still remained--shops, warehouses and even a few scattered +dwellings. But most of these were deserted, and those that were still in +use showed such neglect that it was very evident the whole region +would soon be given up to the encroaching sea and such interests as are +inseparable from it. + +The hour was that mysterious one of late twilight, when outlines lose +their distinctness and sea and shore melt into one mass of uniform gray. +There was no wind and the waves came in with a soft plash, but so near +to the level of the road that it was evident, even to these strangers, +that the tide was at its height and would presently begin to ebb. + +Soon they had passed the last forsaken dwelling, and the town proper lay +behind them. Sand and a few rocks were all that lay between them now and +the open stretch of the ocean, which, at this point, approached the land +in a small bay, well-guarded on either side by embracing rocky heads. +This was what made the harbor at C--. + +It was very still. They passed one team and only one. Sweetwater looked +very sharply at this team and at its driver, but saw nothing to arouse +suspicion. They were now a half-mile from C--, and, seemingly, in a +perfectly desolate region. + +"A manufactory here!" exclaimed Mr. Grey. It was the first word he had +uttered since starting. + +"Not far from here," was Sweetwater's equally laconic reply; and, the +road taking a turn almost at the moment of his speaking, he leaned +forward and pointed out a building standing on the right-hand side +of the road, with its feet in the water. "That's it." said he. "They +described it well enough for me to know it when I see it. Looks like +a robber's hole at this time of night," he laughed; "but what can you +expect from a manufactory of patent medicine?" + +Mr. Grey was silent. He was looking very earnestly at the building. + +"It is larger than I expected," he remarked at last. + +Sweetwater himself was surprised, but as they advanced and their point +of view changed they found it to be really an insignificant structure, +and Mr. Wellgood's portion of it more insignificant still. + +In reality it was a collection of three stores under one roof: two of +them were shut up and evidently unoccupied, the third showed a lighted +window. This was the manufactory. It occupied the middle place and +presented a tolerably decent appearance. It showed, besides the lighted +lamp I have mentioned, such signs of life as a few packing-boxes tumbled +out on the small platform in front, and a whinnying horse attached to an +empty buggy, tied to a post on the opposite side of the road. + +"I'm glad to see the lamp," muttered Sweetwater. "Now, what shall we do? +Is it light enough for you to see his face, if I can manage to bring him +to the door?" + +Mr. Grey seemed startled. + +"It's darker than I thought," said he. "But call the man and if I can +not see him plainly, I'll shout to the horse to stand, which you will +take as a signal to bring this Wellgood nearer. But do not be surprised +if I ride off before he reaches the buggy. I'll come back again and take +you up farther down the road." + +"All right, sir," answered Sweetwater, with a side glance at the +speaker's inscrutable features. "It's a go!" And leaping to the ground +he advanced to the manufactory door and knocked loudly. + +No one appeared. + +He tried the latch; it lifted, but the door did not open; it was +fastened from within. + +"Strange!" he muttered, casting a glance at the waiting horse and buggy, +then at the lighted window, which was on the second floor directly over +his head. "Guess I'll sing out." + +Here he shouted the man's name. "Wellgood! I say, Wellgood!" + +No response to this either. + +"Looks bad!" he acknowledged to himself; and, taking a step back, he +looked up at the window. + +It was closed, but there was neither shade nor curtain to obstruct the +view. + +"Do you see anything?" he inquired of Mr. Grey, who sat with his eye at +the small window in the buggy top. + +"Nothing." + +"No movement in the room above? No shadow at the window?" + +"Nothing." + +"Well, it's confounded strange!" And he went back, still calling +Wellgood. + +The tied-up horse whinnied, and the waves gave a soft splash and that +was all,--if I except Sweetwater's muttered oath. + +Coming back, he looked again at the window, then, with a gesture toward +Mr. Grey, turned the corner of the building and began to edge himself +along its side in an endeavor to reach the rear and see what it offered. +But he came to a sudden standstill. He found himself on the edge of the +bank before he had taken twenty steps. Yet the building projected +on, and he saw why it had looked so large from a certain point of the +approach. Its rear was built out on piles, making its depth even greater +than the united width of the three stores. At low tide this might be +accessible from below, but just now the water was almost on a level with +the top of the piles, making all approach impossible save by boat. + +Disgusted with his failure, Sweetwater returned to the front, and, +finding the situation unchanged, took a new resolve. After measuring +with his eye the height of the first story, he coolly walked over to +the strange horse, and, slipping his bridle, brought it back and cast it +over a projection of the door; by its aid he succeeded in climbing up to +the window, which was the sole eye to the interior. + +Mr. Grey sat far back in his buggy, watching every movement. + +There were no shades at the window, as I have before said, and, once +Sweetwater's eye had reached the level of the sill, he could see the +interior without the least difficulty. There was nobody there. The lamp +burned on a great table littered with papers, but the rude cane-chair +before it was empty, and so was the room. He could see into every corner +of it and there was not even a hiding-place where anybody could remain +concealed. Sweetwater was still looking, when the lamp, which had been +burning with considerable smoke, flared up and went out. Sweetwater +uttered an ejaculation, and, finding himself face to face with utter +darkness, slid from his perch to the ground. + +Approaching Mr. Grey for the second time, he said: + +"I can not understand it. The fellow is either lying low, or he's gone +out, leaving his lamp to go out, too. But whose is the horse--just +excuse me while I tie him up again. It looks like the one he was driving +to-day. It is the one. Well, he won't leave him here all night. Shall +we lie low and wait for him to come and unhitch this animal? Or do you +prefer to return to the hotel?" + +Mr. Grey was slow in answering. Finally he said: + +"The man may suspect our intention. You can never tell anything about +such fellows as he. He may have caught some unexpected glimpse of me +or simply heard that I was in town. If he's the man I think him, he +has reasons for avoiding me which I can very well understand. Let us go +back,--not to the hotel, I must see this adventure through tonight,--but +far enough for him to think we have given up all idea of routing him out +to-night. Perhaps that is all he is waiting for. You can steal back--" + +"Excuse me," said Sweetwater, "but I know a better dodge than that. +We'll circumvent him. We passed a boat-house on our way down here. I'll +just drive you up, procure a boat, and bring you back here by water. +I don't believe that he will expect that, and if he is in the house we +shall see him or his light." + +"Meanwhile he can escape by the road." + +"Escape? Do you think he is planning to escape?" + +The detective spoke with becoming surprise and Mr. Grey answered without +apparent suspicion. + +"It is possible if he suspects my presence in the neighborhood." + +"Do you want to stop him?" + +"I want to see him." + +"Oh, I remember. Well, sir, we will drive on,--that is, after a moment." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Oh, nothing. You said you wanted to see the man before he escaped." + +"Yes, but--" + +"And that he might escape by the road." + +"Yes--" + +"Well, I was just making that a little bit impracticable. A small pebble +in the keyhole and--why, see now, his horse is walking off! Gee! I must +have fastened him badly. I shouldn't wonder if he trotted all the way to +town. But it can't be helped. I can not be supposed to race after him. +Are you ready now, sir? I'll give another shout, then I'll get in." And +once more the lonely region about echoed with the cry: "Wellgood! I say, +Wellgood!" + +There was no answer, and the young detective, masking for the nonce as +Mr. Grey's confidential servant, jumped into the buggy, and turned the +horse's head toward C--. + + + + +XIX. THE FACE + +The moon was well up when the small boat in which our young detective +was seated with Mr. Grey appeared in the bay approaching the so-called +manufactory of Wellgood. The looked-for light on the waterside was not +there. All was dark except where the windows reflected the light of the +moon. + +This was a decided disappointment to Sweetwater, if not to Mr. Grey. +He had expected to detect signs of life in this quarter, and this +additional proof of Wellgood's absence from home made it look as if they +had come out on a fool's errand and might much better have stuck to the +road. + +"No promise there," came in a mutter from his lips. "Shall I row in, +sir, and try to make a landing?" + +"You may row nearer. I should like a closer view. I don't think we shall +attract any attention. There are more boats than ours on the water." + +Sweetwater was startled. Looking round, he saw a launch, or some such +small steamer, riding at anchor not far from the mouth of the bay. But +that was not all. Between it and them was a rowboat like their own, +resting quietly in the wake of the moon. + +"I don't like so much company," he muttered. "Something's brewing; +something in which we may not want to take a part." + +"Very likely," answered Mr. Grey grimly. "But we must not be +deterred--not till I have seen--" the rest Sweetwater did not hear. Mr. +Grey seemed to remember himself. "Row nearer," he now bade. "Get under +the shadow of the rocks if you can. If the boat is for him, he will show +himself. Yet I hardly see how he can board from that bank." + +It did not look feasible. Nevertheless, they waited and watched with +much patience for several long minutes. The boat behind them did not +advance, nor was any movement discernible in the direction of the +manufactory. Another short period, then suddenly a light flashed from +a window high up in the central gable, sparkled for an instant and was +gone. Sweetwater took it for a signal and, with a slight motion of the +wrist, began to work his way in toward shore till they lay almost at the +edge of the piles. + +"Hark!" + +It was Sweetwater who spoke. + +Both listened, Mr. Grey with his head turned toward the launch and +Sweetwater with his eye on the cavernous space, sharply outlined by +the piles, which the falling tide now disclosed under each contiguous +building. Goods had been directly shipped from these stores in the old +days. This he had learned in the village. How shipped he had not been +able to understand from his previous survey of the building. But he +thought he could see now. At low tide, or better, at half-tide, access +could be got to the floor of the extension and, if this floor held +a trap, the mystery would be explainable. So would be the hovering +boat--the signal-light and--yes! this sound overheard of steps on a +rattling planking. + +"I hear nothing," whispered Mr. Grey from the other end. "The boat is +still there, but not a man has dipped an oar." + +"They will soon," returned Sweetwater as a smothered sound of clanking +iron reached his ears from the hollow spaces before him. "Duck your +head, sir; I'm going to row in under this portion of the house." + +Mr. Grey would have protested and with very good reason. There was +scarcely a space of three feet between them and the boards overhead. +But Sweetwater had so immediately suited action to word that he had no +choice. + +They were now in utter darkness, and Mr. Grey's thoughts must have been +peculiar as he crouched over the stern, hardly knowing what to expect or +whether this sudden launch into darkness was for the purpose of flight +or pursuit. But enlightenment came soon. The sound of a man's tread in +the building above was every moment becoming more perceptible, and while +wondering, possibly, at his position, Mr. Grey naturally turned his head +as nearly as he could in the direction of these sounds, and was staring +with blank eyes into the darkness, when Sweetwater, leaning toward him, +whispered: + +"Look up! There's a trap. In a minute he'll open it. Mark him, but don't +breathe a word, and I'll get you out of this all right." + +Mr. Grey attempted some answer, but it was lost in the prolonged creak +of slowly-moving hinges somewhere over their heads. Spaces, which had +looked dark, suddenly looked darker; hearing was satisfied, but not +the eye. A man's breath panting with exertion testified to a near-by +presence; but that man was working without a light in a room with +shuttered windows, and Mr. Grey probably felt that he knew very little +more than before, when suddenly, most unexpectedly, to him at least, a +face started out of that overhead darkness; a face so white, with every +feature made so startlingly distinct by the strong light Sweetwater had +thrown upon it, that it seemed the only thing in the world to the two +men beneath. In another moment it had vanished, or rather the light +which had revealed it. + +"What's that? Are you there?" came down from above in hoarse and none +too encouraging tones. + +There was none to answer; Sweetwater, with a quick pull on the oars, had +already shot the boat out of its dangerous harbor. + + + + +XX. MOONLIGHT--AND A CLUE + +"Are you satisfied? Have you got what you wanted?" asked Sweetwater, +when they were well away from the shore and the voice they had heard +calling at intervals from the chasm they had left. + +"Yes. You're a good fellow. It could not have been better managed." +Then, after a pause too prolonged and thoughtful to please Sweetwater, +who was burning with curiosity if not with some deeper feeling: "What +was that light you burned? A match?" + +Sweetwater did not answer. He dared not. How speak of the electric torch +he as a detective carried in his pocket? That would be to give himself +away. He therefore let this question slip by and put in one of his own. + +"Are you ready to go back now, sir? Are we all done here?" This with +his ear turned and his eye bent forward; for the adventure they had +interrupted was not at an end, whether their part in it was or not. + +Mr. Grey hesitated, his glances following those of Sweetwater. + +"Let us wait," said he, in a tone which surprised Sweetwater. "If he is +meditating an escape, I must speak to him before he reaches the launch. +At all hazards," he added after another moment's thought. + +"All right, sir--How do you propose--" + +His words were interrupted by a shrill whistle from the direction of +the bank. Promptly, and as if awaiting this signal, the two men in the +rowboat before them dipped their oars and pulled for the shore, taking +the direction of the manufactory. + +Sweetwater said nothing, but held himself in readiness. + +Mr. Grey was equally silent, but the lines of his face seemed to deepen +in the moonlight as the boat, gliding rapidly through the water, passed +them within a dozen boat-lengths and slipped into the opening under the +manufactory building. + +"Now row!" he cried. "Make for the launch. We'll intercept them on their +return." + +Sweetwater, glowing with anticipation, bent to his work. The boat +beneath them gave a bound and in a few minutes they were far out on the +waters of the bay. + +"They're coming!" he whispered eagerly, as he saw Mr. Grey looking +anxiously back. "How much farther shall I go?" + +"Just within hailing distance of the launch," was Mr. Grey's reply. + +Sweetwater, gaging the distance with a glance, stopped at the proper +point and rested on his oars. But his thoughts did not rest. He realized +that he was about to witness an interview whose importance he easily +recognized. How much of it would he hear? What would be the upshot and +what was his full duty in the case? He knew that this man Wellgood was +wanted by the New York police, but he was possessed with no authority to +arrest him, even if he had the power. + +"Something more than I bargained for," he inwardly commented. "But I +wanted excitement, and now I have got it. If only I can keep my head +level, I may get something out of this, if not all I could wish." + +Meantime the second boat was very nearly on them. He could mark the +three figures and pick out Wellgood's head from among the rest. It had +a resolute air; the face on which, to his evident discomfiture, the +moon shone, wore a look which convinced the detective that this was no +patent-medicine manufacturer, nor even a caterer's assistant, but a man +of nerve and resources, the same, indeed, whom he had encountered in +Mr. Fairbrother's house, with such disastrous, almost fatal, results to +himself. + +The discovery, though an unexpected one, did not lessen his sense of the +extreme helplessness of his own position. He could witness, but he could +not act; follow Mr. Grey's orders, but indulge in none of his own. The +detective must continue to be lost in the valet, though it came hard and +woke a sense of shame in his ambitious breast. + +Meanwhile Wellgood had seen them and ordered his men to cease rowing. + +"Give way, there," he shouted. "We're for the launch and in a hurry." + +"There's some one here who wants to speak to you, Mr. Wellgood," +Sweetwater called out, as respectfully as he could. "Shall I mention +your name?" he asked of Mr. Grey. + +"No, I will do that myself." And raising his voice, he accosted the +other with these words: "I am the man, Percival Grey, of Darlington +Manor, England. I should like to say a word to you before you embark." + +A change, quick as lightning and almost as dangerous, passed over the +face Sweetwater was watching with such painful anxiety; but as the other +added nothing to his words and seemed to be merely waiting, he shrugged +his shoulders and muttered an order to his rowers to proceed. + +In another moment the sterns of the two small craft swung together, but +in such a way that, by dint of a little skilful manipulation on the part +of Wellgood's men, the latter's back was toward the moon. + +Mr. Grey leaned toward Wellgood, and his face fell into shadow also. + +"Bah!" thought the detective, "I should have managed that myself. But if +I can not see I shall at least hear." + +But he deceived himself in this. The two men spoke in such low whispers +that only their intensity was manifest. Not a word came to Sweetwater's +ears. + +"Bah!" he thought again, "this is bad." + +But he had to swallow his disappointment, and more. For presently the +two men, so different in culture, station and appearance, came, as it +seemed, to an understanding, and Wellgood, taking his hand from his +breast, fumbled in one of his pockets and drew out something which he +handed to Mr. Grey. + +This made Sweetwater start and peer with still greater anxiety at every +movement, when to his surprise both bent forward, each over his own +knee, doing something so mysterious he could get no clue to its nature +till they again stretched forth their hands to each other and he caught +the gleam of paper and realized that they were exchanging memoranda or +notes. + +These must have been important, for each made an immediate endeavor +to read his slip by turning it toward the moon's rays. That both were +satisfied was shown by their after movements. Wellgood put his slip into +his pocket, and without further word to Mr. Grey motioned his men to row +away. They did so with a will, leaving a line of silver in their wake. +Mr. Grey, on the contrary, gave no orders. He still held his slip and +seemed to be dreaming. But his eye was on the shore, and he did not even +turn when sounds from the launch denoted that she was under way. + +Sweetwater; looking at this morsel of paper with greedy eyes, dipped his +oars and began pulling softly toward that portion of the beach where +a small and twinkling light defined the boat-house. He hoped Mr. Grey +would speak, hoped that in some way, by some means, he might obtain a +clue to his patron's thoughts. But the English gentleman sat like +an image and did not move till a slight but sudden breeze, blowing +in-shore, seized the paper in his hand and carried it away, past +Sweetwater, who vainly sought to catch it as it went fluttering by, into +the water ahead, where it shone for a moment, then softly disappeared. + +Sweetwater uttered a cry, so did Mr. Grey. + +"Is it anything you wanted?" called out the former, leaning over the bow +of the boat and making a dive at the paper with his oar. + +"Yes; but if it's gone, it's gone," returned the other with some +feeling. "Careless of me, very careless,--but I was thinking of--" + +He stopped; he was greatly agitated, but he did not encourage Sweetwater +in any further attempts to recover the lost memorandum. Indeed, such +an effort would have been fruitless; the paper was gone, and there was +nothing left for them but to continue their way. As they did so it +would have been hard to tell in which breast chagrin mounted higher. +Sweetwater had lost a clue in a thousand, and Mr. Greywell, no one knew +what he had lost. He said nothing and plainly showed by his changed +manner that he was in haste to land now and be done with this doubtful +adventure. + +When they reached the boat-house Mr. Grey left Sweetwater to pay for the +boat and started at once for the hotel. + +The man in charge had the bow of the boat in hand, preparatory to +pulling it up on the boards. As Sweetwater turned toward him he caught +sight of the side of the boat, shining brightly in the moonlight. He +gave a start and, with a muttered ejaculation, darted forward and picked +off a small piece of paper from the dripping keel. It separated in his +hand and a part of it escaped him, but the rest he managed to keep +by secreting it in his palm, where it still clung, wet and possibly +illegible, when he came upon Mr. Grey again in the hotel office. + +"Here's your pay," said that gentleman, giving him a bill. "I am very +glad I met you. You have served me remarkably well." + +There was an anxiety in his face and a hurry in his movements which +struck Sweetwater. + +"Does this mean that you are through with me?" asked Sweetwater. "That +you have no further call for my services?" + +"Quite so," said the gentleman. "I'm going to take the train to-night. I +find that I still have time." + +Sweetwater began to look alive. + +Uttering hasty thanks, he rushed away to his own room and, turning on +the gas, peeled off the morsel of paper which had begun to dry on his +hand. If it should prove to be the blank end! If the written part were +the one which had floated off! Such disappointments had fallen to his +lot! He was not unused to them. + +But he was destined to better luck this time. The written end had indeed +disappeared, but there was one word left, which he had no sooner read +than he gave a low cry and prepared to leave for New York on the same +train as Mr. Grey. + +The word was--diamond. + + + + +XXI. GRIZEL! GRIZEL! + +I indulged in some very serious thoughts after Mr. Grey's departure. A +fact was borne in upon me to which I had hitherto closed my prejudiced +eyes, but which I could no longer ignore, whatever confusion it brought +or however it caused me to change my mind on a subject which had formed +one of the strongest bases to the argument by which I had sought to save +Mr. Durand. Miss Grey cherished no such distrust of her father as I, in +my ignorance of their relations, had imputed to her in the early hours +of my ministrations. This you have already seen in my account of their +parting. Whatever his dread, fear or remorse, there was no evidence +that she felt toward him anything but love and confidence: but love and +confidence from her to him were in direct contradiction to the doubts +I had believed her to have expressed in the half-written note handed to +Mrs. Fairbrother in the alcove. Had I been wrong, then, in attributing +this scrawl to her? It began to look so. Though forbidden to allow +her to speak on the one tabooed subject, I had wit enough to know that +nothing would keep her from it, if the fate of Mrs. Fairbrother occupied +any real place in her thoughts. + +Yet when the opportunity was given me one morning of settling this fact +beyond all doubt, I own that my main feeling was one of dread. I feared +to see this article in my creed destroyed, lest I should lose confidence +in the whole. Yet conscience bade me face the matter boldly, for had I +not boasted to myself that my one desire was the truth? + +I allude to the disposition which Miss Grey showed on the morning of +the third day to do a little surreptitious writing. You remember that +a specimen of her handwriting had been asked for by the inspector, and +once had been earnestly desired by myself. Now I seemed likely to have +it, if I did not open my eyes too widely to the meaning of her seemingly +chance requests. A little pencil dangled at the end of my watch-chain. +Would I let her see it, let her hold it in her hand for a minute? it was +so like one she used to have. Of course I took it off, of course I let +her retain it a little while in her hand. But the pencil was not enough. +A few minutes later she asked for a book to look at--I sometimes let her +look at pictures. But the book bothered her--she would look at it later; +would I give her something to mark the place--that postal over there. +I gave her the postal. She put it in the book and I, who understood her +thoroughly, wondered what excuse she would now find for sending me into +the other room. She found one very soon, and with a heavily-beating +heart I left her with that pencil and postal. A soft laugh from her lips +drew me back. She was holding up the postal. + +"See! I have written a line to him! Oh, you good, good nurse, to let me! +You needn't look so alarmed. It hasn't hurt me one bit." + +I knew that it had not; knew that such an exertion was likely to be more +beneficial than hurtful to her, or I should have found some excuse for +deterring her. I endeavored to make my face more natural. As she seemed +to want me to take the postal in my hand I drew near and took it. + +"The address looks very shaky," she laughed. "I think you will have to +put it in an envelope." + +I looked at it,--I could not help it,--her eye was on me, and I could +not even prepare my mind for the shock of seeing it like or totally +unlike the writing of the warning. It was totally unlike; so distinctly +unlike that it was no longer possible to attribute those lines to her +which, according to Mr. Durand's story, had caused Mrs. Fairbrother to +take off her diamond. + +"Why, why!" she cried. "You actually look pale. Are you afraid the +doctor will scold us? It hasn't hurt me nearly so much as lying here and +knowing what he would give for one word from me." + +"You are right, and I am foolish," I answered with all the spirit left +in me. "I should be glad--I am glad that you have written these words. I +will copy the address on an envelope and send it out in the first mail." + +"Thank you," she murmured, giving me back my pencil with a sly smile. +"Now I can sleep. I must have roses in my cheeks when papa comes home." + +And she bade fair to have ruddier roses than myself, for conscience was +working havoc in my breast. The theory I had built up with such care, +the theory I had persisted in urging upon the inspector in spite of his +rebuke, was slowly crumbling to pieces in my mind with the falling of +one of its main pillars. With the warning unaccounted for in the manner +I have stated, there was a weakness in my argument which nothing could +make good. How could I tell the inspector, if ever I should be so happy +or so miserable as to meet his eye again? Humiliated to the dust, I +could see no worth now in any of the arguments I had advanced. I flew +from one extreme to the other, and was imputing perfect probity to Mr. +Grey and an honorable if mysterious reason for all his acts, when the +door opened and he came in. Instantly my last doubt vanished. I had not +expected him to return so soon. + +He was glad to be back; that I could see, but there was no other +gladness in him. I had looked for some change in his manner and +appearance,--that is, if he returned at all,--but the one I saw was not +a cheerful one, even after he had approached his daughter's bedside +and found her greatly improved. She noticed this and scrutinized him +strangely. He dropped his eyes and turned to leave the room, but was +stopped by her loving cry; he came back and leaned over her. + +"What is it, father? You are fatigued, worried--" + +"No, no, quite well," he hastily assured her. "But you! are you as well +as you seem?" + +"Indeed, yes. I am gaining every day. See! see! I shall soon be able to +sit up. Yesterday I read a few words." + +He started, with a side glance at me which took in a table near by on +which a little book was lying. + +"Oh, a book?" + +"Yes, and--and Arthur's letters." + +The father flushed, lifted himself, patted her arm tenderly and hastened +into another room. + +Miss Grey's eyes followed him longingly, and I heard her give utterance +to a soft sigh. A few hours before, this would have conveyed to +my suspicious mind deep and mysterious meanings; but I was seeing +everything now in a different light, and I found myself no longer +inclined either to exaggerate or to misinterpret these little marks of +filial solicitude. Trying to rejoice over the present condition of my +mind, I was searching in the hidden depths of my nature for the patience +of which I stood in such need, when every thought and feeling were again +thrown into confusion by the receipt of another communication from the +inspector, in which he stated that something had occurred to bring +the authorities round to my way of thinking and that the test with the +stiletto was to be made at once. + +Could the irony of fate go further! I dropped the letter half read, +querying if it were my duty to let the inspector know of the flaw I had +discovered in my own theory, before I proceeded with the attempt I had +suggested when I believed in its complete soundness. I had not settled +the question when I took the letter up again. Re-reading its opening +sentence, I was caught by the word "something." It was a very indefinite +one, yet was capable of covering a large field. It must cover a large +field, or it could not have produced such a change in the minds of these +men, conservative from principle and in this instance from discretion. I +would be satisfied with that word something and quit further thinking. I +was weary of it. The inspector was now taking the initiative, and I +was satisfied to be his simple instrument and no more. Arrived at this +conclusion, however, I read the rest of the letter. The test was to go +on, but under different conditions. It was no longer to be made at my +own discretion and in the up-stairs room; it was to be made at luncheon +hour and in Mr. Grey's private dining-room, where, if by any chance +Mr. Grey found himself outraged by the placing of this notorious weapon +beside his plate, the blame could be laid on the waiter, who, mistaking +his directions, had placed it on Mr. Grey's table when it was meant for +Inspector Dalzell's, who was lunching in the adjoining room. It was I, +however, who was to do the placing. With what precautions and under what +circumstances will presently appear. + +Fortunately, the hour set was very near. Otherwise I do not know how I +could have endured the continued strain of gazing on my patient's sweet +face, looking up at me from her pillow, with a shadow over its beauty +which had not been there before her father's return. + +And that father! I could hear him pacing the library floor with a +restlessness that struck me as being strangely akin to my own inward +anguish of impatience and doubt. What was he dreading? What was it I +had seen darkening his face and disturbing his manner, when from time +to time he pushed open the communicating door and cast an anxious glance +our way, only to withdraw again without uttering a word. Did he realize +that a crisis was approaching, that danger menaced him, and from me? No, +not the latter, for his glance never strayed to me, but rested solely +on his daughter. I was, therefore, not connected with the disturbance in +his thoughts. As far as that was concerned I could proceed fearlessly; I +had not him to dread, only the event. That I did dread, as any one must +who saw Miss Grey's face during these painful moments and heard that +restless tramp in the room beyond. + +At last the hour struck,--the hour at which Mr. Grey always descended +to lunch. He was punctuality itself, and under ordinary circumstances I +could depend upon his leaving the room within five minutes of the +stroke of one. But would he be as prompt to-day? Was he in the mood +for luncheon? Would he go down stairs at all? Yes, for the tramp, tramp +stopped; I heard him approaching his daughter's door for a last look in +and managed to escape just in time to procure what I wanted and reach +the room below before he came. + +My opportunity was short, but I had time to see two things: first, that +the location of his seat had been changed so that his back was to the +door leading into the adjoining room; secondly, that this door was +ajar. The usual waiter was in the room and showed no surprise at my +appearance, I having been careful to have it understood that hereafter +Miss Grey's appetite was to be encouraged by having her soup served from +her father's table by her father's own hands, and that I should be there +to receive it. + +"Mr. Grey is coming," said I, approaching the waiter and handing him the +stiletto loosely wrapped in tissue paper. "Will you be kind enough to +place this at his plate, just as it is? A man gave it to me for Mr. +Grey; said we were to place it there." + +The waiter, suspecting nothing, did as he was bidden, and I had hardly +time to catch up the tray laden with dishes, which I saw awaiting me on +a side-table, when Mr. Grey came in and was ushered to his seat. + +The soup was not there, but I advanced with my tray and stood waiting; +not too near, lest the violent beating of my heart should betray me. As +I did so the waiter disappeared and the door behind us opened. Though +Mr. Grey's eye had fallen on the package, and I saw him start, I darted +one glance at the room thus disclosed, and saw that it held two tables. +At one, the inspector and some one I did not know sat eating; at the +other a man alone, whose back was to us all, and who seemingly was +entirely disconnected with the interests of this tragic moment. All this +I saw in an instant,--the next my eyes were fixed on Mr. Grey's face. + +He had reached out his hand to the package and his features showed an +emotion I hardly understood. + +"What's this?" he murmured, feeling it with wonder, I should almost say +anger. Suddenly he pulled off the wrapper, and my heart stood still +in expectancy. If he quailed--and how could he help doing so if +guilty--what a doubt would be removed from my own breast, what an +impediment from police action! But he did not quail; he simply uttered +an exclamation of intense anger, and laid the weapon back on the +table without even taking the precaution of covering it up. I think he +muttered an oath, but there was no fear in it, not a particle. + +My disappointment was so great, my humiliation so unbounded, that, +forgetting myself in my dismay, I staggered back and let the tray with +all its contents slip from my hands. The crash that followed stopped +Mr. Grey in the act of rising. But it did something more. It awoke a +cry from the adjoining room which I shall never forget. While we both +started and turned to see from whom this grievous sound had sprung, a +man came stumbling toward us with his hands before his eyes and this +name wild on his lips: + +"Grizel! Grizel!" + +Mrs. Fairbrother's name! and the man-- + + + + +XXII. GUILT + +Was he Wellgood? Sears? Who? A lover of the woman certainly; that was +borne in on us by the passion of his cry: + +"Grizel! Grizel!" + +But how here? and why such fury in Mr. Grey's face and such amazement in +that of the inspector? + +This question was not to be answered offhand. Mr. Grey, advancing, +laid a finger on the man's shoulder. "Come," said he, "we will have our +conversation in another room." + +The man, who, in dress and appearance looked oddly out of place in +those gorgeous rooms, shook off the stupor into which he had fallen and +started to follow the Englishman. A waiter crossed their track with the +soup for our table. Mr. Grey motioned him aside. + +"Take that back," said he. "I have some business to transact with this +gentleman before I eat. I'll ring when I want you." + +Then they entered where I was. As the door closed I caught sight of the +inspector's face turned earnestly toward me. In his eyes I read my duty, +and girded up my heart, as it were, to meet--what? In that moment it was +impossible to tell. + +The next enlightened me. With a total ignoring of my presence, due +probably to his great excitement, Mr. Grey turned on his companion the +moment he had closed the door and, seizing him by the collar, cried: + +"Fairbrother, you villain, why have you called on your wife like this? +Are you murderer as well as thief?" + +Fairbrother! this man? Then who was he who was being nursed back to life +on the mountains beyond Santa Fe? Sears? Anything seemed possible in +that moment. + +Meanwhile, dropping his hand from the other's throat as suddenly as he +had seized it, Mr. Grey caught up the stiletto from the table where he +had flung it, crying: "Do you recognize this?" + +Ah, then I saw guilt! + +In a silence worse than any cry, this so-called husband of the murdered +woman, the man on whom no suspicion had fallen, the man whom all had +thought a thousand miles away at the time of the deed, stared at the +weapon thrust under his eyes, while over his face passed all those +expressions of fear, abhorrence and detected guilt which, fool that I +was, I had expected to see reflected in response to the same test in Mr. +Grey's equable countenance. + +The surprise and wonder of it held me chained to the spot. I was in a +state of stupefaction, so that I scarcely noted the broken fragments +at my feet. But the intruder noticed them. Wrenching his gaze from the +stiletto which Mr. Grey continued to hold out, he pointed to the broken +cup and saucer, muttering: + +"That is what startled me into this betrayal--the noise of breaking +china. I can not bear it since--" + +He stopped, bit his lip and looked around him with an air of sudden +bravado. + +"Since you dropped the cups at your wife's feet in Mr. Ramsdell's +alcove," finished Mr. Grey with admirable self-possession. + +"I see that explanations from myself are not in order," was the grim +retort, launched with the bitterest sarcasm. Then as the full weight of +his position crushed in on him, his face assumed an aspect startling to +my unaccustomed eyes, and, thrusting his hand into his pocket he drew +forth a small box which he placed in Mr. Grey's hands. + +"The Great Mogul," he declared simply. + +It was the first time I had heard this diamond so named. + +Without a word that gentleman opened the box, took one look at the +contents, assumed a satisfied air, and carefully deposited the recovered +gem in his own pocket. As his eyes returned to the man before him, all +the passion of the latter burst forth. + +"It was not for that I killed her!" cried he. "It was because she defied +me and flaunted her disobedience in my very face. I would do it again, +yet--" + +Here his voice broke and it was in a different tone and with a total +change of manner he added: "You stand appalled at my depravity. You have +not lived my life." Then quickly and with a touch of sullenness: "You +suspected me because of the stiletto. It was a mistake, using that +stiletto. Otherwise, the plan was good. I doubt if you know now how I +found my way into the alcove, possibly under your very eyes; certainly, +under the eyes of many who knew me." + +"I do not. It is enough that you entered it; that you confess your +guilt." + +Here Mr. Grey stretched his hand toward the electric button. + +"No, it is not enough." The tone was fierce, authoritative. "Do not ring +the bell, not yet. I have a fancy to tell you how I managed that little +affair." + +Glancing about, he caught up from a near-by table a small brass tray. +Emptying it of its contents, he turned on us with drawn-down features +and an obsequious air so opposed to his natural manner that it was as if +another man stood before us. + +"Pardon my black tie," he muttered, holding out the tray toward Mr. +Grey. + +Wellgood! + +The room turned with me. It was he, then, the great financier, the +multimillionaire, the husband of the magnificent Grizel, who had entered +Mr. Ramsdell's house as a waiter! + +Mr. Grey did not show surprise, but he made a gesture, when instantly +the tray was thrown aside and the man resumed his ordinary aspect. + +"I see you understand me," he cried. "I who have played host at many +a ball, passed myself off that night as one of the waiters. I came and +went and no one noticed me. It is such a natural sight to see a waiter +passing ices that my going in and out of the alcove did not attract the +least attention. I never look at waiters when I attend balls. I never +look higher than their trays. No one looked at me higher than my tray. I +held the stiletto under the tray and when I struck her she threw up her +hands and they hit the tray and the cups fell. I have never been able to +bear the sound of breaking china since. I loved her--" + +A gasp and he recovered himself. + +"That is neither here nor there," he muttered. "You summoned me under +threat to present myself at your door to-day. I have done so. I meant +to restore you your diamond, simply. It has become worthless to me. But +fate exacted more. Surprise forced my secret from me. That young lady +with her damnable awkwardness has put my head in a noose. But do +not think to hold it there. I did not risk this interview without +precautions, I assure you, and when I leave this hotel it will be as a +free man." + +With one of his rapid changes, wonderful and inexplicable to me at the +moment, he turned toward me with a bow, saying courteously enough: + +"We will excuse the young lady." + +Next moment the barrel of a pistol gleamed in his hand. + +The moment was critical. Mr. Grey stood directly in the line of fire, +and the audacious man who thus held him at his mercy was scarcely a foot +from the door leading into the hall. Marking the desperation of his look +and the steadiness of his finger on the trigger, I expected to see Mr. +Grey recoil and the man escape. But Mr. Grey held his own, though he +made no move, and did not venture to speak. Nerved by his courage, I +summoned up all my own. This man must not escape, nor must Mr. Grey +suffer. The pistol directed against him must be diverted to myself. +Such amends were due one whose good name I had so deeply if secretly +insulted. I had but to scream, to call out for the inspector, but a +remembrance of the necessity we were now under of preserving our secret, +of keeping from Mr. Grey the fact that he had been under surveillance, +was even at that moment surrounded by the police, deterred me, and I +threw myself toward the bell instead, crying out that I would raise the +house if he moved, and laid my finger on the button. + +The pistol swerved my way. The face above it smiled. I watched that +smile. Before it broadened to its full extent, I pressed the button. + +Fairbrother stared, dropped his pistol, and burst forth with these two +words: + +"Brave girl!" + +The tone I can never convey. + +Then he made for the door. + +As he laid his hand on the knob, he called back: + +"I have been in worse straits than this!" + +But he never had; when he opened the door, he found himself face to face +with the inspector. + + + + +XXIII. THE GREAT MOGUL + +Later, it was all explained. Mr. Grey, looking like another man, came +into the room where I was endeavoring to soothe his startled daughter +and devour in secret my own joy. Taking the sweet girl in his arms, he +said, with a calm ignoring of my presence, at which I secretly smiled: + +"This is the happiest moment of my existence, Helen. I feel as if I had +recovered you from the brink of the grave." + +"Me? Why, I have never been so ill as that." + +"I know; but I have felt as if you were doomed ever since I heard, or +thought I heard, in this city, and under no ordinary circumstances, the +peculiar cry which haunts our house on the eve of any great misfortune. +I shall not apologize for my fears; you know that I have good cause for +them, but to-day, only to-day, I have heard from the lips of the most +arrant knave I have ever known, that this cry sprang from himself with +intent to deceive me. He knew my weakness; knew the cry; he was in +Darlington Manor when Cecilia died; and, wishing to startle me into +dropping something which I held, made use of his ventriloquial powers +(he had been a mountebank once, poor wretch!) and with such effect, that +I have not been a happy man since, in spite of your daily improvement +and continued promise of recovery. But I am happy now, relieved and +joyful; and this miserable being,--would you like to hear his story? Are +you strong enough for anything so tragic? He is a thief and a murderer, +but he has feelings, and his life has been a curious one, and strangely +interwoven with ours. Do you care to hear about it? He is the man who +stole our diamond." + +My patient uttered a little cry. + +"Oh, tell me," she entreated, excited, but not unhealthfully; while I +was in an anguish of curiosity I could with difficulty conceal. + +Mr. Grey turned with courtesy toward me and asked if a few family +details would bore me. I smiled and assured him to the contrary. At +which he settled himself in the chair he liked best and began a tale +which I will permit myself to present to you complete and from other +points of view than his own. + +Some five years before, one of the great diamonds of the world was +offered for sale in an Eastern market. Mr. Grey, who stopped at no +expense in the gratification of his taste in this direction, immediately +sent his agent to Egypt to examine this stone. If the agent discovered +it to be all that was claimed for it, and within the reach of a wealthy +commoner's purse, he was to buy it. Upon inspection, it was found to be +all that was claimed, with one exception. In the center of one of the +facets was a flaw, but, as this was considered to mark the diamond, and +rather add to than detract from its value as a traditional stone with +many historical associations, it was finally purchased by Mr. Grey +and placed among his treasures in his manor-house in Kent. Never a +suspicious man, he took delight in exhibiting this acquisition to such +of his friends and acquaintances as were likely to feel any interest in +it, and it was not an uncommon thing for him to allow it to pass from +hand to hand while he pottered over his other treasures and displayed +this and that to such as had no eyes for the diamond. + +It was after one such occasion that he found, on taking the stone in +his hand to replace it in the safe he had had built for it in one of +his cabinets, that it did not strike his eye with its usual force and +brilliancy, and, on examining it closely, he discovered the absence of +the telltale flaw. Struck with dismay, he submitted it to a still +more rigid inspection, when he found that what he held was not even a +diamond, but a worthless bit of glass, which had been substituted by +some cunning knave for his invaluable gem. + +For the moment his humiliation almost equaled his sense of loss; he had +been so often warned of the danger he ran in letting so priceless an +object pass around under all eyes but his own. His wife and friends had +prophesied some such loss as this, not once, but many times, and he +had always laughed at their fears, saying that he knew his friends, and +there was not a scamp amongst them. But now he saw it proved that +even the intuition of a man well-versed in human nature is not always +infallible, and, ashamed of his past laxness and more ashamed yet of the +doubts which this experience called up in regard to all his friends, he +shut up the false stone with his usual care and buried his loss in +his own bosom, till he could sift his impressions and recall with some +degree of probability the circumstances under which this exchange could +have been made. + +It had not been made that evening. Of this he was positive. The only +persons present on this occasion were friends of such standing and +repute that suspicion in their regard was simply monstrous. When and +to whom, then, had he shown the diamond last? Alas, it had been a long +month since he had shown the jewel. Cecilia, his youngest daughter, had +died in the interim; therefore his mind had not been on jewels. A month! +time for his precious diamond to have been carried back to the East! +Time for it to have been recut! Surely it was lost to him for ever, +unless he could immediately locate the person who had robbed him of it. + +But this promised difficulties. He could not remember just what persons +he had entertained on that especial day in his little hall of cabinets, +and, when he did succeed in getting a list of them from his butler, he +was by no means sure that it included the full number of his guests. His +own memory was execrable, and, in short, he had but few facts to offer +to the discreet agent sent up from Scotland Yard one morning to hear +his complaint and act secretly in his interests. He could give him carte +blanche to carry on his inquiries in the diamond market, but little +else. And while this seemed to satisfy the agent, it did not lead to any +gratifying result to himself, and he had thoroughly made up his mind to +swallow his loss and say nothing about it, when one day a young cousin +of his, living in great style in an adjoining county, informed him that +in some mysterious way he had lost from his collection of arms a unique +and highly-prized stiletto of Italian workmanship. + +Startled by this coincidence, Mr. Grey ventured upon a question or two, +which led to his cousin's confiding to him the fact that this article +had disappeared after a large supper given by him to a number of friends +and gentlemen from London. This piece of knowledge, still further +coinciding with his own experience, caused Mr. Grey to ask for a list +of his guests, in the hope of finding among them one who had been in his +own house. + +His cousin, quite unsuspicious of the motives underlying this request, +hastened to write out this list, and together they pored over the names, +crossing out such as were absolutely above suspicion. When they had +reached the end of the list, but two names remained uncrossed. One +was that of a rattle-pated youth who had come in the wake of a highly +reputed connection of theirs, and the other that of an American tourist +who gave all the evidences of great wealth and had presented letters +to leading men in London which had insured him attentions not usually +accorded to foreigners. This man's name was Fairbrother, and, the moment +Mr. Grey heard it, he recalled the fact that an American with a peculiar +name, but with a reputation for wealth, had been among his guests on the +suspected evening. + +Hiding the effect produced upon him by this discovery, he placed +his finger on this name and begged his cousin to look up its owner's +antecedents and present reputation in America; but, not content with +this, he sent his own agent over to New York--whither, as he soon +learned, this gentleman had returned. The result was an apparent +vindication of the suspected American. He was found to be a well-known +citizen of the great metropolis, moving in the highest circles and with +a reputation for wealth won by an extraordinary business instinct. + +To be sure, he had not always enjoyed these distinctions. Like many +another self-made man, he had risen from a menial position in a Western +mining camp, to be the owner of a mine himself, and so up through the +various gradations of a successful life to a position among the foremost +business men of New York. In all these changes he had maintained a +name for honest, if not generous, dealing. He lived in great style, had +married and was known to have but one extravagant fancy. This was for +the unique and curious in art,--a taste which, if report spoke true, +cost him many thousands each year. + +This last was the only clause in the report which pointed in any way +toward this man being the possible abstractor of the Great Mogul, as Mr. +Grey's famous diamond was called, and the latter was too just a man and +too much of a fancier in this line himself to let a fact of this kind +weigh against the favorable nature of the rest. So he recalled his +agent, double-locked his cabinets and continued to confine his display +of valuables to articles which did not suggest jewels. Thus three years +passed, when one day he heard mention made of a wonderful diamond which +had been seen in New York. From its description he gathered that it must +be the one surreptitiously abstracted from his cabinet, and when, after +some careful inquiries, he learned that the name of its possessor was +Fairbrother, he awoke to his old suspicions and determined to probe this +matter to the bottom. But secretly. He still had too much consideration +to attack a man in high position without full proof. + +Knowing of no one he could trust with so delicate an inquiry as this +had now become, he decided to undertake it himself, and for this purpose +embraced the first opportunity to cross the water. He took his daughter +with him because he had resolved never to let his one remaining child +out of his sight. But she knew nothing of his plans or reason for +travel. No one did. Indeed, only his lawyer and the police were aware of +the loss of his diamond. + +His first surprise on landing was to learn that Mr. Fairbrother, of +whose marriage he had heard, had quarreled with his wife and that, in +the separation which had occurred, the diamond had fallen to her share +and was consequently in her possession at the present moment. + +This changed matters, and Mr. Grey's only thought now was to surprise +her with the diamond on her person and by one glance assure himself that +it was indeed the Great Mogul. Since Mrs. Fairbrother was reported to +be a beautiful woman and a great society belle, he saw no reason why he +should not meet her publicly, and that very soon. He therefore accepted +invitations and attended theaters and balls, though his daughter had +suffered from her voyage and was not able to accompany him. But alas! he +soon learned that Mrs. Fairbrother was never seen with her diamond and, +one evening after an introduction at the opera, that she never +talked about it. So there he was, balked on the very threshold of his +enterprise, and, recognizing the fact, was preparing to take his now +seriously ailing daughter south, when he received an invitation to a +ball of such a select character that he decided to remain for it, in the +hope that Mrs. Fairbrother would be tempted to put on all her splendor +for so magnificent a function and thus gratify him with a sight of his +own diamond. During the days that intervened he saw her several times +and very soon decided that, in spite of her reticence in regard to this +gem, she was not sufficiently in her husband's confidence to know the +secret of its real ownership. This encouraged him to attempt piquing her +into wearing the diamond on this occasion. He talked of precious stones +and finally of his own, declaring that he had a connoisseur's eye for +a fine diamond, but had seen none as yet in America to compete with a +specimen or two he had in his own cabinets. Her eye flashed at this +and, though she said nothing, he felt sure that her presence at Mr. +Ramsdell's house would be enlivened by her great jewel. + +So much for Mr. Grey's attitude in this matter up to the night of the +ball. It is interesting enough, but that of Abner Fairbrother is more +interesting still and much more serious. + +His was indeed the hand which had abstracted the diamond from Mr. Grey's +collection. Under ordinary conditions he was an honest man. He prized +his good name and would not willingly risk it, but he had little real +conscience, and once his passions were aroused nothing short of the +object desired would content him. At once forceful and subtle, he had at +his command infinite resources which his wandering and eventful life had +heightened almost to the point of genius. He saw this stone, and at +once felt an inordinate desire to possess it. He had coveted other men's +treasures before, but not as he coveted this. What had been longing +in other cases was mania in this. There was a woman in America whom he +loved. She was beautiful and she was splendor-loving. To see her with +this glory on her breast would be worth almost any risk which his +imagination could picture at the moment. Before the diamond had left +his hand he had made up his mind to have it for his own. He knew that it +could not be bought, so he set about obtaining it by an act he did +not hesitate to acknowledge to himself as criminal. But he did not act +without precautions. Having a keen eye and a proper sense or size and +color, he carried away from his first view of it a true image of the +stone, and when he was next admitted to Mr. Grey's cabinet room he +had provided the means for deceiving the owner whose character he had +sounded. + +He might have failed in his daring attempt if he had not been favored +by a circumstance no one could have foreseen. A daughter of the +house, Cecilia by name, lay critically ill at the time, and Mr. Grey's +attention was more or less distracted. Still the probabilities are that +he would have noticed something amiss with the stone when he came to +restore it to its place, if, just as he took it in his hand, there +had not risen in the air outside a weird and wailing cry which at once +seized upon the imagination of the dozen gentlemen present, and so +nearly prostrated their host that he thrust the box he held unopened +into the safe and fell upon his knees, a totally unnerved man, crying: + +"The banshee! the banshee! My daughter will die!" + +Another hand than his locked the safe and dropped the key into the +distracted father's pocket. + +Thus a superhuman daring conjoined with a special intervention of fate +had made the enterprise a successful one; and Fairbrother, believing +more than ever in his star, carried this invaluable jewel back with him +to New York. The stiletto--well, the taking of that was a folly, for +which he had never ceased to blush. He had not stolen it; he would not +steal so inconsiderable an object. He had merely put it in his pocket +when he saw it forgotten, passed over, given to him, as it were. That +the risk, contrary to that involved in the taking of the diamond, +was far in excess of the gratification obtained, he realized almost +immediately, but, having made the break, and acquired the curio, he +spared himself all further thought or the consequences, and presently +resumed his old life in New York, none the worse, to all appearances, +for these escapades from virtue and his usual course of fair and open +dealing. + +But he was soon the worse from jealousy of the wife which his +new possession had possibly won for him. She had answered all his +expectations as mistress of his home and the exponent of his wealth; and +for a year, nay, for two, he had been perfectly happy. Indeed, he +had been more than that; he had been triumphant, especially on that +memorable evening when, after a cautious delay of months, he had dared +to pin that unapproachable sparkler to her breast and present her thus +bedecked to the smart set--her whom his talents, and especially his +far-reaching business talents, had made his own. + +Recalling the old days of barter and sale across the pine counter in +Colorado, he felt that his star rode high, and for a time was +satisfied with his wife's magnificence and the prestige she gave +his establishment. But pride is not all, even to a man of his daring +ambition. Gradually he began to realize, first, that she was indifferent +to him, next, that she despised him, and, lastly, that she hated him. +She had dozens at her feet, any of whom was more agreeable to her than +her own husband; and, though he could not put his finger on any definite +fault, he soon wearied of a beauty that only glowed for others, and made +up his mind to part with her rather than let his heart be eaten out by +unappeasable longing for what his own good sense told him would never be +his. + +Yet, being naturally generous, he was satisfied with a separation, and, +finding it impossible to think of her as other than extravagantly fed, +waited on and clothed, he allowed her a good share of his fortune with +the one proviso, that she should not disgrace him. But the diamond she +stole, or rather carried off in her naturally high-handed manner with +the rest of her jewels. He had never given it to hen She knew the value +he set on it, but not how he came by it, and would have worn it quite +freely if he had not very soon given her to understand that the pleasure +of doing so ceased when she left his house. As she could not be seen +with it without occasioning public remark, she was forced, though +much against her will, to heed his wishes, and enjoy its brilliancy in +private. But once, when he was out of town, she dared to appear with +this fortune on her breast, and again while on a visit West,--and her +husband heard of it. + +Mr. Fairbrother had had the jewel set to suit him, not in Florence, +as Sears had said, but by a skilful workman he had picked up in great +poverty in a remote corner of Williamsburg. Always in dread of some +complication, he had provided himself with a second facsimile in paste, +this time of an astonishing brightness, and this facsimile he had had +set precisely like the true stone. Then he gave the workman a thousand +dollars and sent him back to Switzerland. This imitation in paste he +showed nobody, but he kept it always in his pocket; why, he hardly knew. +Meantime, he had one confidant, not of his crime, but of his sentiments +toward his wife, and the determination he had secretly made to proceed +to extremities if she continued to disobey him. + +This was a man of his own age or older, who had known him in his early +days, and had followed all his fortunes. He had been the master of +Fairbrother then, but he was his servant now, and as devoted to his +interests as if they were his own,--which, in a way, they were. For +eighteen years he had stood at the latter's right hand, satisfied to +look no further, but, for the last three, his glances had strayed a foot +or two beyond his master, and taken in his master's wife. + +The feelings which this man had for Mrs. Fairbrother were peculiar. She +was a mere adjunct to her great lord, but she was a very gorgeous one, +and, while he could not imagine himself doing anything to thwart him +whose bread he ate, and to whose rise he had himself contributed, yet +if he could remain true to him without injuring he; he would account +himself happy. The day came when he had to decide between them, and, +against all chances, against his own preconceived notion of what he +would do under these circumstances, he chose to consider her. + +This day came when, in the midst of growing complacency and an intense +interest in some new scheme which demanded all his powers, Abner +Fairbrother learned from the papers that Mr. Grey, of English +Parliamentary fame, had arrived in New York on an indefinite visit. As +no cause was assigned for the visit beyond a natural desire on the part +of this eminent statesman to see this great country, Mr. Fairbrother's +fears reached a sudden climax, and he saw himself ruined and for ever +disgraced if the diamond now so unhappily out of his hands should fall +under the eyes of its owner, whose seeming quiet under its loss had not +for a moment deceived him. Waiting only long enough to make sure that +the distinguished foreigner was likely to accept social attentions, and +so in all probability would be brought in contact with Mrs. Fairbrother, +he sent her by his devoted servant a peremptory message, in which he +demanded back his diamond; and, upon her refusing to heed this, followed +it up by another, in which he expressly stated that if she took it out +of the safe deposit in which he had been told she was wise enough to +keep it, or wore it so much as once during the next three months, she +would pay for her presumption with her life. + +This was no idle threat, though she chose to regard it as such, laughing +in the old servant's face and declaring that she would run the risk if +the notion seized her. But the notion did not seem to seize her at once, +and her husband was beginning to take heart, when he heard of the great +ball about to be given by the Ramsdells and realized that if she were +going to be tempted to wear the diamond at all, it would be at this +brilliant function given in honor of the one man he had most cause to +fear in the whole world. + +Sears, seeing the emotion he was under, watched him closely. They had +both been on the point of starting for New Mexico to visit a mine in +which Mr. Fairbrother was interested, and he waited with inconceivable +anxiety to see if his master would change his plans. It was while he +was in this condition of mind that he was seen to shake his fist at Mrs. +Fairbrother's passing figure; a menace naturally interpreted as directed +against her, but which, if we know the man, was rather the expression of +his anger against the husband who could rebuke and threaten so beautiful +a creature. Meanwhile, Mr. Fairbrother's preparations went on and, three +weeks before the ball, they started. Mr. Fairbrother had business in +Chicago and business in Denver. It was two weeks and more before he +reached La Junta. Sears counted the days. At La Junta they had a long +conversation; or rather Mr. Fairbrother talked and Sears listened. The +sum of what he said was this: He had made up his mind to have back his +diamond. He was going to New York to get it. He was going alone, and as +he wished no one to know that he had gone or that his plans had been +in any way interrupted, the other was to continue on to El Moro, and, +passing himself off as Fairbrother, hire a room at the hotel and shut +himself up in it for ten days on any plea his ingenuity might suggest. +If at the end of that time Fairbrother should rejoin him, well and good. +They would go on together to Santa Fe. But if for any reason the former +should delay his return, then Sears was to exercise his own judgment as +to the length of time he should retain his borrowed personality; also as +to the advisability of pushing on to the mine and entering on the work +there, as had been planned between them. + +Sears knew what all this meant. He understood what was in his master's +mind, as well as if he had been taken into his full confidence, and +openly accepted his part of the business with seeming alacrity, even to +the point of supplying Fairbrother with suitable references as to the +ability of one James Wellgood to fill a waiter's place at fashionable +functions. It was not the first he had given him. Seventeen years before +he had written the same, minus the last phrase. That was when he was +the master and Fairbrother the man. But he did not mean to play the +part laid out for him, for all his apparent acquiescence. He began by +following the other's instructions. He exchanged clothes with him and +other necessaries, and took the train for La Junta at or near the time +that Fairbrother started east. But once at El Moro--once registered +there as Abner Fairbrother from New York--he took a different course +from the one laid out for him,--a course which finally brought him into +his master's wake and landed him at the same hour in New York. + +This is what he did. Instead of shutting himself up in his room he +expressed an immediate desire to visit some neighboring mines, and, +procuring a good horse, started off at the first available moment. He +rode north, lost himself in the mountains, and wandered till he found a +guide intelligent enough to lend himself to his plans. To this guide he +confided his horse for the few days he intended to be gone, paying +him well and promising him additional money if, during his absence, he +succeeded in circulating the report that he, Abner Fairbrother, had gone +deep into the mountains, bound for such and such a camp. + +Having thus provided an alibi, not only for himself, but for his master, +too, in case he should need it, he took the direct road to the nearest +railway station, and started on his long ride east. He did not expect to +overtake the man he had been personating, but fortune was kinder than is +usual in such cases, and, owing to a delay caused by some accident to +a freight train, he arrived in Chicago within a couple of hours of Mr. +Fairbrother, and started out of that city on the same train. But not on +the same car. Sears had caught a glimpse of Fairbrother on the platform, +and was careful to keep out of his sight. This was easy enough. He +bought a compartment in the sleeper and stayed in it till they arrived +at the Grand Central Station. Then he hastened out and, fortune favoring +him with another glimpse of the man in whose movements he was so +interested, followed him into the streets. + +Fairbrother had shaved off his beard before leaving El Moro. Sears had +shaved his off on the train. Both were changed, the former the more, +owing to a peculiarity of his mouth which up till now he had always +thought best to cover. Sears, therefore, walked behind him without fear, +and was almost at his heels when this owner of one of New York's most +notable mansions, entered, with a spruce air, the doors of a prominent +caterer. + +Understanding the plot now, and having everything to fear for his +mistress, he walked the streets for some hours in a state of great +indecision. Then he went up to her apartment. But he had no sooner come +within sight of it than a sense of disloyalty struck him and he slunk +away, only to come sidling back when it was too late and she had started +for the ball. + +Trembling with apprehension, but still strangely divided in his +impulses, wishing to serve master and mistress both, without disloyalty +to the one or injury to the other, he hesitated and argued with himself, +till his fears for the latter drove him to Mr. Ramsdell's house. + +The night was a stormy one. The heaviest snow of the season was falling +with a high gale blowing down the Sound. As he approached the house, +which, as we know, is one of the modern ones in the Riverside district, +he felt his heart fail him. But as he came nearer and got the full +effect of glancing lights, seductive music, and the cheery bustle of +crowding carriages, he saw in his mind's eye such a picture of his +beautiful mistress, threatened, unknown to herself, in a quarter she +little realized, that he lost all sense of what had hitherto deterred +him. Making then and there his great choice, he looked about for the +entrance, with the full intention of seeing and warning her. + +But this, he presently perceived, was totally impracticable. He could +neither go to her nor expect her to come to him; meanwhile, time was +passing, and if his master was there--The thought made his head dizzy, +and, situated as he was, among the carriages, he might have been run +over in his confusion if his eyes had not suddenly fallen on a lighted +window, the shade of which had been inadvertently left up. + +Within this window, which was only a few feet above his head, stood the +glowing image of a woman clad in pink and sparkling with jewels. Her +face was turned from him, but he recognized her splendor as that of the +one woman who could never be too gorgeous for his taste; and, alive to +this unexpected opportunity, he made for this window with the intention +of shouting up to her and so attracting her attention. + +But this proved futile, and, driven at last to the end of his resources, +he tore out a slip of paper from his note-book and, in the dark and with +the blinding snow in his eyes, wrote the few broken sentences which he +thought would best warn her, without compromising his master. The means +he took to reach her with this note I have already related. As soon as +he saw it in her hands he fled the place and took the first train west. +He was in a pitiable condition, when, three days later, he reached +the small station from which he had originally set out. The haste, the +exposure, the horror of the crime he had failed to avert, had undermined +his hitherto excellent constitution, and the symptoms of a serious +illness were beginning to make themselves manifest. But he, like his +indomitable master, possessed a great fund of energy and willpower. +He saw that if he was to save Abner Fairbrother (and now that Mrs. +Fairbrother was dead, his old master was all the world to him) he must +make Fairbrother's alibi good by carrying on the deception as planned +by the latter, and getting as soon as possible to his camp in the New +Mexico mountains. He knew that he would have strength to do this and he +went about it without sparing himself. + +Making his way into the mountains, he found the guide and his horse at +the place agreed upon and, paying the guide enough for his services to +insure a quiet tongue, rode back toward El Moro where he was met and +sent on to Santa Fe as already related. + +Such is the real explanation of the well-nigh unintelligible scrawl +found in Mrs. Fairbrother's hand after her death. As to the one which +left Miss Grey's bedside for this same house, it was, alike in the +writing and sending, the loving freak of a very sick but tender-hearted +girl. She had noted the look with which Mr. Grey had left her, and, in +her delirious state, thought that a line in her own hand would convince +him of her good condition and make it possible for him to enjoy the +evening. She was, however, too much afraid of her nurse to write it +openly, and though we never found that scrawl, it was doubtless not very +different in appearance from the one with which I had confounded it. The +man to whom it was intrusted stopped for too many warming drinks on his +way for it ever to reach Mr. Ramsdell's house. He did not even return +home that night, and when he did put in an appearance the next morning, +he was dismissed. + +This takes me back to the ball and Mrs. Fairbrother. She had never had +much fear of her husband till she received his old servant's note in the +peculiar manner already mentioned. This, coming through the night and +the wet and with all the marks of hurry upon it, did impress her greatly +and led her to take the first means which offered of ridding herself of +her dangerous ornament. The story of this we know. + +Meanwhile, a burning heart and a scheming brain were keeping up their +deadly work a few paces off under the impassive aspect and active +movements of the caterer's newly-hired waiter. Abner Fairbrother, whose +real character no one had ever been able to sound, unless it was the man +who had known him in his days of struggle, was one of those dangerous +men who can conceal under a still brow and a noiseless manner the most +violent passions and the most desperate resolves. He was angry with his +wife, who was deliberately jeopardizing his good name, and he had come +there to kill her if he found her flaunting the diamond in Mr. Grey's +eyes; and though no one could have detected any change in his look and +manner as he passed through the room where these two were standing, the +doom of that fair woman was struck when he saw the eager scrutiny +and indescribable air of recognition with which this long-defrauded +gentleman eyed his own diamond. + +He had meant to attack her openly, seize the diamond, fling it at Mr. +Grey's feet, and then kill himself. That had been his plan. But when he +found, after a round or two among the guests, that nobody looked at him, +and nobody recognized the well-known millionaire in the automaton-like +figure with the formally-arranged whiskers and sleekly-combed hair, +colder purposes intervened, and he asked himself if it would not be +possible to come upon her alone, strike his blow, possess himself of +the diamond, and make for parts unknown before his identity could be +discovered. He loved life even without the charm cast over it by this +woman. Its struggles and its hard-bought luxuries fascinated him. If +Mr. Grey suspected him, why, Mr. Grey was English, and he a resourceful +American. If it came to an issue, the subtle American would win if Mr. +Grey were not able to point to the flaw which marked this diamond as his +own. And this, Fairbrother had provided against, and would succeed in if +he could hold his passions in check and be ready with all his wit when +matters reached a climax. + +Such were the thoughts and such the plans of the quiet, attentive +man who, with his tray laden with coffee and ices, came and went an +unnoticed unit among twenty other units similarly quiet and similarly +attentive. He waited on lady after lady, and when, on the reissuing of +Mr. Durand from the alcove, he passed in there with his tray and his two +cups of coffee, nobody heeded and nobody remembered. + +It was all over in a minute, and he came out, still unnoted, and went +to the supper-room for more cups of coffee. But that minute had set its +seal on his heart for ever. She was sitting there alone with her side +to the entrance, so that he had to pass around in order to face her. Her +elegance and a certain air she had of remoteness from the scene of which +she was the glowing center when she smiled, awed him and made his hand +loosen a little on the slender stiletto he held close against the bottom +of the tray. But such resolution does not easily yield, and his fingers +soon tightened again, this time with a deadly grip. + +He had expected to meet the flash of the diamond as he bent over her, +and dreaded doing so for fear it would attract his eye from her face and +so cost him the sight of that startled recognition which would give the +desired point to his revenge. But the tray, as he held it, shielded her +breast from view, and when he lowered it to strike his blow, he thought +of nothing but aiming so truly as to need no second blow. He had had +his experience in those old years in a mining camp, and he did not +fear failure in this. What he did fear was her utterance of some +cry,--possibly his name. But she was stunned with horror, and did not +shriek,--horror of him whose eyes she met with her glassy and staring +ones as he slowly drew forth the weapon. + +Why he drew it forth instead of leaving it in her breast he could not +say. Possibly because it gave him his moment of gloating revenge. When +in another instant, her hands flew up, and the tray tipped, and the +china fell, the revulsion came, and his eyes opened to two facts: the +instrument of death was still in his grasp, and the diamond, on whose +possession he counted, was gone from his wife's breast. + +It was a horrible moment. Voices could be heard approaching the +alcove,--laughing voices that in an instant would take on the note of +horror. And the music,--ah! how low it had sunk, as if to give place to +the dying murmur he now heard issuing from her lips. But he was a man of +iron. Thrusting the stiletto into the first place that offered, he drew +the curtains over the staring windows, then slid out with his tray, +calm, speckless and attentive as ever, dead to thought, dead to feeling, +but aware, quite aware in the secret depths of his being that something +besides his wife had been killed that night, and that sleep and peace of +mind and all pleasure in the past were gone for ever. + +It was not he I saw enter the alcove and come out with news of the +crime. He left this role to one whose antecedents could better bear +investigation. His part was to play, with just the proper display of +horror and curiosity, the ordinary menial brought face to face with a +crime in high life. He could do this. He could even sustain his share +in the gossip, and for this purpose kept near the other waiters. The +absence of the diamond was all that troubled him. That brought him at +times to the point of vertigo. Had Mr. Grey recognized and claimed it? +If so, he, Abner Fairbrother, must remain James Wellgood, the waiter, +indefinitely. This would require more belief in his star than ever he +had had yet. But as the moments passed, and no contradiction was given +to the universally-received impression that the same hand which had +struck the blow had taken the diamond, even this cause of anxiety left +his breast and he faced people with more and more courage till the +moment when he suddenly heard that the diamond had been found in the +possession of a man perfectly strange to him, and saw the inspector pass +it over into the hands of Mr. Grey. + +Instantly he realized that the crisis of his fate was on him. If Mr. +Grey were given time to identify this stone, he, Abner Fairbrother, was +lost and the diamond as well. Could he prevent this? There was but one +way, and that way he took. Making use of his ventriloquial powers--he +had spent a year on the public stage in those early days, playing just +such tricks as these--he raised the one cry which he knew would startle +Mr. Grey more than any other in the world, and when the diamond fell +from his hand, as he knew it would, he rushed forward and, in the act of +picking it up, made that exchange which not only baffled the suspicions +of the statesman, but restored to him the diamond, for whose possession +he was now ready to barter half his remaining days. + +Meanwhile Mr. Grey had had his own anxieties. During this whole long +evening, he had been sustained by the conviction that the diamond of +which he had caught but one passing glimpse was the Great Mogul of his +once famous collection. So sure was he of this, that at one moment he +found himself tempted to enter the alcove, demand a closer sight of the +diamond and settle the question then and there. He even went so far as +to take in his hands the two cups of coffee which should serve as his +excuse for this intrusion, but his naturally chivalrous instincts again +intervened, and he set the cups down again--this I did not see--and +turned his steps toward the library with the intention of writing her a +note instead. But though he found paper and pen to hand, he could find +no words for so daring a request, and he came back into the hall, only +to hear that the woman he had contemplated addressing had just been +murdered and her great jewel stolen. + +The shock was too much, and as there was no leaving the house then, +he retreated again to the library where he devoured his anxieties +in silence till hope revived again at sight of the diamond in the +inspector's hand, only to vanish under the machinations of one he did +not even recognize when he took the false jewel from his hand. + +The American had outwitted the Englishman and the triumph of evil was +complete. + +Or so it seemed. But if the Englishman is slow, he is sure. Thrown off +the track for the time being, Mr. Grey had only to see a picture of the +stiletto in the papers, to feel again that, despite all appearances, +Fairbrother was really not only at the bottom of the thefts from which +his cousin and himself had suffered, but of this frightful murder as +well. He made no open move--he was a stranger in a strange land and +much disturbed, besides, by his fears for his daughter--but he started a +secret inquiry through his old valet, whom he ran across in the street, +and whose peculiar adaptability for this kind of work he well knew. + +The aim of these inquiries was to determine if the person, whom two +physicians and three assistants were endeavoring to nurse back to health +on the top of a wild plateau in a remote district of New Mexico, was +the man he had once entertained at his own board in England, and the +adventures thus incurred would make a story in itself. But the result +seemed to justify them. Word came after innumerable delays, very trying +to Mr. Grey, that he was not the same, though he bore the name of +Fairbrother, and was considered by every one around there to be +Fairbrother. Mr. Grey, ignorant of the relations between the millionaire +master and his man which sometimes led to the latter's personifying the +former, was confident of his own mistake and bitterly ashamed of his own +suspicions. + +But a second message set him right. A deception was being practised +down in New Mexico, and this was how his spy had found it out. Certain +letters which went into the sick tent were sent away again, and always +to one address. He had learned the address. It was that of James +Wellgood, C--, Maine. If Mr. Grey would look up this Wellgood he would +doubtless learn something of the man he was so interested in. + +This gave Mr. Grey personally something to do, for he would trust no +second party with a message involving the honor of a possibly innocent +man. As the place was accessible by railroad and his duty clear, he took +the journey involved and succeeded in getting a glimpse in the manner we +know of the man James Wellgood. This time he recognized Fairbrother and, +satisfied from the circumstances of the moment that he would be +making no mistake in accusing him of having taken the Great Mogul, he +intercepted him in his flight, as you have already read, and demanded +the immediate return of his great diamond. + +And Fairbrother? We shall have to go back a little to bring his history +up to this critical instant. + +When he realized the trend of public opinion; when he saw a perfectly +innocent man committed to the Tombs for his crime, he was first +astonished and then amused at what he continued to regard as the triumph +of his star. But he did not start for El Moro, wise as he felt it would +be to do so. Something of the fascination usual with criminals kept +him near the scene of his crime,--that, and an anxiety to see how Sears +would conduct himself in the Southwest. That Sears had followed him to +New York, knew his crime, and was the strongest witness against him, was +as far from his thoughts as that he owed him the warning which had all +but balked him of his revenge. When therefore he read in the papers that +"Abner Fairbrother" had been found sick in his camp at Santa Fe, he felt +that nothing now stood in the way of his entering on the plans he had +framed for ultimate escape. On his departure from El Moro he had taken +the precaution of giving Sears the name of a certain small town on +the coast of Maine where his mail was to be sent in case of a great +emergency. He had chosen this town for two reasons. First, because he +knew all about it, having had a young man from there in his employ; +secondly, because of its neighborhood to the inlet where an old +launch of his had been docked for the winter. Always astute, always +precautionary, he had given orders to have this launch floated and +provisioned, so that now he had only to send word to the captain, to +have at his command the best possible means of escape. + +Meanwhile, he must make good his position in C--. He did it in the way +we know. Satisfied that the only danger he need fear was the discovery +of the fraud practised in New Mexico, he had confidence enough in Sears, +even in his present disabled state, to take his time and make himself +solid with the people of C--while waiting for the ice to disappear from +the harbor. This accomplished and cruising made possible, he took a +flying trip to New York to secure such papers and valuables as he wished +to carry out of the country with him. They were in safe deposit, but +that safe deposit was in his strong room in the center of his house in +Eighty-sixth Street (a room which you will remember in connection with +Sweetwater's adventure). To enter his own door with his own latch-key, +in the security and darkness of a stormy night, seemed to this +self-confident man a matter of no great risk. Nor did he find it so. +He reached his strong room, procured his securities and was leaving +the house, without having suffered an alarm, when some instinct of +self-preservation suggested to him the advisability of arming himself +with a pistol. His own was in Maine, but he remembered where Sears kept +his; he had seen it often enough in that old trunk he had brought with +him from the Sierras. He accordingly went up stairs to the steward's +room, found the pistol and became from that instant invincible. But in +restoring the articles he had pulled out he came across a photograph +of his wife and lost himself over it and went mad, as we have heard the +detective tell. That later, he should succeed in trapping this detective +and should leave the house without a qualm as to his fate shows what +sort of man he was in moments of extreme danger. I doubt, from what I +have heard of him since, if he ever gave two thoughts to the man after +he had sprung the double lock on him; which, considering his extreme +ignorance of who his victim was or what relation he bore to his own +fate, was certainly remarkable. + +Back again in C--, he made his final preparations for departure. He had +already communicated with the captain of the launch, who may or may not +have known his passenger's real name. He says that he supposed him to be +some agent of Mr. Fairbrother's; that among the first orders he received +from that gentleman was one to the effect that he was to follow the +instructions of one Wellgood as if they came from himself; that he had +done so, and not till he had Mr. Fairbrother on board had he known whom +he was expected to carry into other waters. However, there are many +who do not believe the captain. Fairbrother had a genius for rousing +devotion in the men who worked for him, and probably this man was +another Sears. + +To leave speculation, all was in train, then, and freedom but a quarter +of a mile away, when the boat he was in was stopped by another and he +heard Mr. Grey's voice demanding the jewel. + +The shock was severe and he had need of all the nerve which had hitherto +made his career so prosperous, to sustain the encounter with the +calmness which alone could carry off the situation. Declaring that the +diamond was in New York, he promised to restore it if the other would +make the sacrifice worth while by continuing to preserve his hitherto +admirable silence concerning him: Mr. Grey responded by granting him +just twenty-four hours; and when Fairbrother said the time was not +long enough and allowed his hand to steal ominously to his breast, he +repeated still more decisively, "Twenty-four hours." + +The ex-miner honored bravery. Withdrawing his hand from his breast, +he brought out a note-book instead of a pistol and, in a tone fully as +determined, replied: "The diamond is in a place inaccessible to any one +but myself. If you will put your name to a promise not to betray me for +the thirty-six hours I ask, I will sign one to restore you the diamond +before one-thirty o'clock on Friday." + +"I will," said Mr. Grey. + +So the promises were written and duly exchanged. Mr. Grey returned to +New York and Fairbrother boarded his launch. + +The diamond really was in New York, and to him it seemed more politic to +use it as a means of securing Mr. Grey's permanent silence than to fly +the country, leaving a man behind him who knew his secret and could +precipitate his doom with a word. He would, therefore, go to New York, +play his last great card and, if he lost, be no worse off than he was +now. He did not mean to lose. + +But he had not calculated on any inherent weakness in himself,--had not +calculated on Providence. A dish tumbled and with it fell into chaos the +fair structure of his dreams. With the cry of "Grizel! Grizel!" he gave +up his secret, his hopes and his life. There was no retrieval possible +after that. The star of Abner Fairbrother had set. + + +Mr. Grey and his daughter learned very soon of my relations to Mr. +Durand, but through the precautions of the inspector and my own powers +of self-control, no suspicion has ever crossed their minds of the part I +once played in the matter of the stiletto. + +This was amply proved by the invitation Mr. Durand and I have just +received to spend our honeymoon at Darlington Manor. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Woman in the Alcove, by Anna Katharine Green + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMAN IN THE ALCOVE *** + +***** This file should be named 1851.txt or 1851.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/1851/ + +Produced by Steve Crites + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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