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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Affair Next Door, 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: That Affair Next Door
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21617]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+That Affair Next Door
+
+By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+Author of "The House Of The Whispering Pines," "Initials Only," "Dark
+Hollow," Etc.
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
+
+114-120 East Twenty-third Street New York
+
+PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1897
+
+BY
+
+ANNA KATHARINE ROHLFS
+
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved
+to end of chapter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+_BOOK I._
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.
+
+                                                           PAGE
+
+I.--A DISCOVERY                                               1
+
+II.--QUESTIONS                                               14
+
+III.--AMELIA DISCOVERS HERSELF                               23
+
+IV.--SILAS VAN BURNAM                                        36
+
+V.--THIS IS NO ONE I KNOW                                    41
+
+VI.--NEW FACTS                                               51
+
+VII.--MR. GRYCE DISCOVERS MISS AMELIA                        55
+
+VIII.--THE MISSES VAN BURNAM                                 68
+
+IX.--DEVELOPMENTS                                            77
+
+X.--IMPORTANT EVIDENCE                                       88
+
+XI.--THE ORDER CLERK                                         98
+
+XII.--THE KEYS                                              114
+
+XIII.--HOWARD VAN BURNAM                                    126
+
+XIV.--A SERIOUS ADMISSION                                   141
+
+XV.--A RELUCTANT WITNESS                                    155
+
+
+_BOOK II._
+
+THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.
+
+XVI.--COGITATIONS                                           163
+
+XVII.--BUTTERWORTH VERSUS GRYCE                             170
+
+XVIII.--THE LITTLE PINCUSHION                               176
+
+XIX.--A DECIDED STEP FORWARD                                187
+
+XX.--MISS BUTTERWORTH'S THEORY                              201
+
+XXI.--A SHREWD CONJECTURE                                   208
+
+XXII.--A BLANK CARD                                         217
+
+XXIII.--RUTH OLIVER                                         229
+
+XXIV.--A HOUSE OF CARDS                                     244
+
+XXV.--"THE RINGS! WHERE ARE THE RINGS?"                     255
+
+XXVI.--A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE                                260
+
+XXVII.--FOUND                                               266
+
+XXVIII.--TAKEN ABACK                                        272
+
+
+_BOOK III._
+
+THE GIRL IN GRAY.
+
+XXIX.--AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY                            274
+
+XXX.--THE MATTER AS STATED BY MR. GRYCE                     283
+
+XXXI.--SOME FINE WORK                                       296
+
+XXXII.--ICONOCLASM                                          311
+
+XXXIII.--"KNOWN, KNOWN, ALL KNOWN"                          321
+
+XXXIV.--EXACTLY HALF-PAST THREE                             329
+
+XXXV.--A RUSE                                               335
+
+
+_BOOK IV._
+
+THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.
+
+XXXVI.--THE RESULT                                          341
+
+XXXVII.--"TWO WEEKS!"                                       345
+
+XXXVIII.--A WHITE SATIN GOWN                                350
+
+XXXIX.--THE WATCHFUL EYE                                    357
+
+XL.--AS THE CLOCK STRUCK                                    364
+
+XLI.--SECRET HISTORY                                        368
+
+XLII.--WITH MISS BUTTERWORTH'S COMPLIMENTS                  395
+
+
+
+
+THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK I._
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+I am not an inquisitive woman, but when, in the middle of a certain warm
+night in September, I heard a carriage draw up at the adjoining house
+and stop, I could not resist the temptation of leaving my bed and taking
+a peep through the curtains of my window.
+
+First: because the house was empty, or supposed to be so, the family
+still being, as I had every reason to believe, in Europe; and secondly:
+because, not being inquisitive, I often miss in my lonely and single
+life much that it would be both interesting and profitable for me to
+know.
+
+Luckily I made no such mistake this evening. I rose and looked out, and
+though I was far from realizing it at the time, took, by so doing, my
+first step in a course of inquiry which has ended----
+
+But it is too soon to speak of the end. Rather let me tell you what I
+saw when I parted the curtains of my window in Gramercy Park, on the
+night of September 17, 1895.
+
+Not much at first glance, only a common hack drawn up at the neighboring
+curb-stone. The lamp which is supposed to light our part of the block is
+some rods away on the opposite side of the street, so that I obtained
+but a shadowy glimpse of a young man and woman standing below me on the
+pavement. I could see, however, that the woman--and not the man--was
+putting money into the driver's hand. The next moment they were on the
+stoop of this long-closed house, and the coach rolled off.
+
+It was dark, as I have said, and I did not recognize the young
+people,--at least their figures were not familiar to me; but when, in
+another instant, I heard the click of a night-key, and saw them, after a
+rather tedious fumbling at the lock, disappear from the stoop, I took it
+for granted that the gentleman was Mr. Van Burnam's eldest son Franklin,
+and the lady some relative of the family; though why this, its most
+punctilious member, should bring a guest at so late an hour into a house
+devoid of everything necessary to make the least exacting visitor
+comfortable, was a mystery that I retired to bed to meditate upon.
+
+I did not succeed in solving it, however, and after some ten minutes had
+elapsed, I was settling myself again to sleep when I was re-aroused by a
+fresh sound from the quarter mentioned. The door I had so lately heard
+shut, opened again, and though I had to rush for it, I succeeded in
+getting to my window in time to catch a glimpse of the departing figure
+of the young man hurrying away towards Broadway. The young woman was not
+with him, and as I realized that he had left her behind him in the
+great, empty house, without apparent light and certainly without any
+companion, I began to question if this was like Franklin Van Burnam. Was
+it not more in keeping with the recklessness of his more easy-natured
+and less reliable brother, Howard, who, some two or three years back,
+had married a young wife of no very satisfactory antecedents, and who,
+as I had heard, had been ostracized by the family in consequence?
+
+Whichever of the two it was, he had certainly shown but little
+consideration for his companion, and thus thinking, I fell off to sleep
+just as the clock struck the half hour after midnight.
+
+Next morning as soon as modesty would permit me to approach the window,
+I surveyed the neighboring house minutely. Not a blind was open, nor a
+shutter displaced. As I am an early riser, this did not disturb me at
+the time, but when after breakfast I looked again and still failed to
+detect any evidences of life in the great barren front beside me, I
+began to feel uneasy. But I did nothing till noon, when going into my
+rear garden and observing that the back windows of the Van Burnam house
+were as closely shuttered as the front, I became so anxious that I
+stopped the next policeman I saw going by, and telling him my
+suspicions, urged him to ring the bell.
+
+No answer followed the summons.
+
+"There is no one here," said he.
+
+"Ring again!" I begged.
+
+And he rang again but with no better result.
+
+"Don't you see that the house is shut up?" he grumbled. "We have had
+orders to watch the place, but none to take the watch off."
+
+"There is a young woman inside," I insisted. "The more I think over last
+night's occurrence, the more I am convinced that the matter should be
+looked into."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and was moving away when we both observed a
+common-looking woman standing in front looking at us. She had a bundle
+in her hand, and her face, unnaturally ruddy though it was, had a scared
+look which was all the more remarkable from the fact that it was one of
+those wooden-like countenances which under ordinary circumstances are
+capable of but little expression. She was not a stranger to me; that is,
+I had seen her before in or about the house in which we were at that
+moment so interested; and not stopping to put any curb on my excitement,
+I rushed down to the pavement and accosted her.
+
+"Who are you?" I asked. "Do you work for the Van Burnams, and do you
+know who the lady was who came here last night?"
+
+The poor woman, either startled by my sudden address or by my manner
+which may have been a little sharp, gave a quick bound backward, and was
+only deterred by the near presence of the policeman from attempting
+flight. As it was, she stood her ground, though the fiery flush, which
+made her face so noticeable, deepened till her cheeks and brow were
+scarlet.
+
+"I am the scrub-woman," she protested. "I have come to open the windows
+and air the house,"--ignoring my last question.
+
+"Is the family coming home?" the policeman asked.
+
+"I don't know; I think so," was her weak reply.
+
+"Have you the keys?" I now demanded, seeing her fumbling in her pocket.
+
+She did not answer; a sly look displaced the anxious one she had
+hitherto displayed, and she turned away.
+
+"I don't see what business it is of the neighbors," she muttered,
+throwing me a dissatisfied scowl over her shoulder.
+
+"If you've got the keys, we will go in and see that things are all
+right," said the policeman, stopping her with a light touch.
+
+She trembled; I saw that she trembled, and naturally became excited.
+Something was wrong in the Van Burnam mansion, and I was going to be
+present at its discovery. But her next words cut my hopes short.
+
+"I have no objection to _your_ going in," she said to the policeman,
+"but I will not give up my keys to _her_. What right has she in our
+house any way." And I thought I heard her murmur something about a
+meddlesome old maid.
+
+The look which I received from the policeman convinced me that my ears
+had not played me false.
+
+"The lady's right," he declared; and pushing by me quite
+disrespectfully, he led the way to the basement door, into which he and
+the so-called cleaner presently disappeared.
+
+I waited in front. I felt it to be my duty to do so. The various
+passers-by stopped an instant to stare at me before proceeding on their
+way, but I did not flinch from my post. Not till I had heard that the
+young woman whom I had seen enter these doors at midnight was well, and
+that her delay in opening the windows was entirely due to fashionable
+laziness, would I feel justified in returning to my own home and its
+affairs. But it took patience and some courage to remain there. Several
+minutes elapsed before I perceived the shutters in the third story open,
+and a still longer time before a window on the second floor flew up and
+the policeman looked out, only to meet my inquiring gaze and rapidly
+disappear again.
+
+Meantime three or four persons had stopped on the walk near me, the
+nucleus of a crowd which would not be long in collecting, and I was
+beginning to feel I was paying dearly for my virtuous resolution, when
+the front door burst violently open and we caught sight of the trembling
+form and shocked face of the scrub-woman.
+
+"She's dead!" she cried, "she's dead! Murder!" and would have said more
+had not the policeman pulled her back, with a growl which sounded very
+much like a suppressed oath.
+
+He would have shut the door upon me had I not been quicker than
+lightning. As it was, I got in before it slammed, and happily too; for
+just at that moment the house-cleaner, who had grown paler every
+instant, fell in a heap in the entry, and the policeman, who was not the
+man I would want about me in any trouble, seemed somewhat embarrassed by
+this new emergency, and let me lift the poor thing up and drag her
+farther into the hall.
+
+She had fainted, and should have had something done for her, but anxious
+though I always am to be of help where help is needed, I had no sooner
+got within range of the parlor door with my burden, than I beheld a
+sight so terrifying that I involuntarily let the poor woman slip from my
+arms to the floor.
+
+In the darkness of a dim corner (for the room had no light save that
+which came through the doorway where I stood) lay the form of a woman
+under a fallen piece of furniture. Her skirts and distended arms alone
+were visible; but no one who saw the rigid outlines of her limbs could
+doubt for a moment that she was dead.
+
+At a sight so dreadful, and, in spite of all my apprehensions, so
+unexpected, I felt a sensation of sickness which in another moment might
+have ended in my fainting also, if I had not realized that it would
+never do for me to lose my wits in the presence of a man who had none
+too many of his own. So I shook off my momentary weakness, and turning
+to the policeman, who was hesitating between the unconscious figure of
+the woman outside the door and the dead form of the one within I cried
+sharply:
+
+"Come, man, to business! The woman inside there is dead, but this one is
+living. Fetch me a pitcher of water from below if you can, and then go
+for whatever assistance you need. I'll wait here and bring this woman
+to. She is a strong one, and it won't take long."
+
+"You'll stay here alone with that----" he began.
+
+But I stopped him with a look of disdain.
+
+"Of course I will stay here; why not? Is there anything in the dead to
+be afraid of? Save me from the living, and I undertake to save myself
+from the dead."
+
+But his face had grown very suspicious.
+
+"You go for the water," he cried. "And see here! Just call out for some
+one to telephone to Police Headquarters for the Coroner and a
+detective. I don't quit this room till one or the other of them comes."
+
+Smiling at a caution so very ill-timed, but abiding by my invariable
+rule of never arguing with a man unless I see some way of getting the
+better of him, I did what he bade me, though I hated dreadfully to leave
+the spot and its woful mystery, even for so short a time as was
+required.
+
+"Run up to the second story," he called out, as I passed by the
+prostrate figure of the cleaner. "Tell them what you want from the
+window, or we will have the whole street in here."
+
+So I ran up-stairs,--I had always wished to visit this house, but had
+never been encouraged to do so by the Misses Van Burnam,--and making my
+way into the front room, the door of which stood wide open, I rushed to
+the window and hailed the crowd, which by this time extended far out
+beyond the curb-stone.
+
+"An officer!" I called out, "a police officer! An accident has occurred
+and the man in charge here wants the Coroner and a detective from Police
+Headquarters."
+
+"Who's hurt?" "Is it a man?" "Is it a woman?" shouted up one or two; and
+"Let us in!" shouted others; but the sight of a boy rushing off to meet
+an advancing policeman satisfied me that help would soon be forthcoming,
+so I drew in my head and looked about me for the next necessity--water.
+
+I was in a lady's bed-chamber, probably that of the eldest Miss Van
+Burnam; but it was a bed-chamber which had not been occupied for some
+months, and naturally it lacked the very articles which would have been
+of assistance to me in the present emergency. No _eau de Cologne_ on
+the bureau, no camphor on the mantel-shelf. But there was water in the
+pipes (something I had hardly hoped for), and a mug on the wash-stand;
+so I filled the mug and ran with it to the door, stumbling, as I did so,
+over some small object which I presently perceived to be a little round
+pin-cushion. Picking it up, for I hate anything like disorder, I placed
+it on a table near by, and continued on my way.
+
+The woman was still lying at the foot of the stairs. I dashed the water
+in her face and she immediately came to.
+
+Sitting up, she was about to open her lips when she checked herself; a
+fact which struck me as odd, though I did not allow my surprise to
+become apparent.
+
+Meantime I stole a glance into the parlor. The officer was standing
+where I had left him, looking down on the prostrate figure before him.
+
+There was no sign of feeling in his heavy countenance, and he had not
+opened a shutter, nor, so far as I could see, disarranged an object in
+the room.
+
+The mysterious character of the whole affair fascinated me in spite of
+myself, and leaving the now fully aroused woman in the hall, I was
+half-way across the parlor floor when the latter stopped me with a
+shrill cry:
+
+"Don't leave me! I have never seen anything before so horrible. The poor
+dear! The poor dear! Why don't he take those dreadful things off her?"
+
+She alluded not only to the piece of furniture which had fallen upon the
+prostrate woman, and which can best be described as a cabinet with
+closets below and shelves above, but to the various articles of
+_bric-à-brac_ which had tumbled from the shelves, and which now lay in
+broken pieces about her.
+
+"He will do so; they will do so very soon," I replied. "He is waiting
+for some one with more authority than himself; for the Coroner, if you
+know what that means."
+
+"But what if she's alive! Those things will crush her. Let us take them
+off. I'll help. I'm not too weak to help."
+
+"Do you know who this person is?" I asked, for her voice had more
+feeling in it than I thought natural to the occasion, dreadful as it
+was.
+
+"I?" she repeated, her weak eyelids quivering for a moment as she tried
+to sustain my scrutiny. "How should I know? I came in with the policeman
+and haven't been any nearer than I now be. What makes you think I know
+anything about her? I'm only the scrub-woman, and don't even know the
+names of the family."
+
+"I thought you seemed so very anxious," I explained, suspicious of her
+suspiciousness, which was of so sly and emphatic a character that it
+changed her whole bearing from one of fear to one of cunning in a
+moment.
+
+"And who wouldn't feel the like of that for a poor creature lying
+crushed under a heap of broken crockery!"
+
+Crockery! those Japanese vases worth hundreds of dollars! that ormulu
+clock and those Dresden figures which must have been more than a couple
+of centuries old!
+
+"It's a poor sense of duty that keeps a man standing dumb and staring
+like that, when with a lift of his hand he could show us the like of
+her pretty face, and if it's dead she be or alive."
+
+As this burst of indignation was natural enough and not altogether
+uncalled for from the standpoint of humanity, I gave the woman a nod of
+approval, and wished I were a man myself that I might lift the heavy
+cabinet or whatever it was that lay upon the poor creature before us.
+But not being a man, and not judging it wise to irritate the one
+representative of that sex then present, I made no remark, but only took
+a few steps farther into the room, followed, as it afterwards appeared,
+by the scrub-woman.
+
+The Van Burnam parlors are separated by an open arch. It was to the
+right of this arch and in the corner opposite the doorway that the dead
+woman lay. Using my eyes, now that I was somewhat accustomed to the
+semi-darkness enveloping us, I noticed two or three facts which had
+hitherto escaped me. One was, that she lay on her back with her feet
+pointing towards the hall door, and another, that nowhere in the room,
+save in her immediate vicinity, were there to be seen any signs of
+struggle or disorder. All was as set and proper as in my own parlor when
+it has been undisturbed for any length of time by guests; and though I
+could not see far into the rooms beyond, they were to all appearance in
+an equally orderly condition.
+
+Meanwhile the cleaner was trying to account for the overturned cabinet.
+
+"Poor dear! poor dear! she must have pulled it over on herself! But
+however did she get into the house? And what was she doing in this great
+empty place?"
+
+The policeman, to whom these remarks had evidently been addressed,
+growled out some unintelligible reply, and in her perplexity the woman
+turned towards me.
+
+But what could I say to her? I had my own private knowledge of the
+matter, but she was not one to confide in, so I stoically shook my head.
+Doubly disappointed, the poor thing shrank back, after looking first at
+the policeman and then at me in an odd, appealing way, difficult to
+understand. Then her eyes fell again on the dead girl at her feet, and
+being nearer now than before, she evidently saw something that startled
+her, for she sank on her knees with a little cry and began examining the
+girl's skirts.
+
+"What are you looking at there?" growled the policeman. "Get up, can't
+you! No one but the Coroner has right to lay hand on anything here."
+
+"I'm doing no harm," the woman protested, in an odd, shaking voice. "I
+only wanted to see what the poor thing had on. Some blue stuff, isn't
+it?" she asked me.
+
+"Blue serge," I answered; "store-made, but very good; must have come
+from Altman's or Stern's."
+
+"I--I'm not used to sights like this," stammered the scrub-woman,
+stumbling awkwardly to her feet, and looking as if her few remaining
+wits had followed the rest on an endless vacation. "I--I think I shall
+have to go home." But she did not move.
+
+"The poor dear's young, isn't she?" she presently insinuated, with an
+odd catch in her voice that gave to the question an air of hesitation
+and doubt.
+
+"I think she is younger than either you or myself," I deigned to reply.
+"Her narrow pointed shoes show she has not reached the years of
+discretion."
+
+"Yes, yes, so they do!" ejaculated the cleaner, eagerly--too eagerly
+for perfect ingenuousness. "That's why I said 'Poor dear!' and spoke of
+her pretty face. I am sorry for young folks when they get into trouble,
+aint you? You and me might lie here and no one be much the worse for it,
+but a sweet lady like this----"
+
+This was not very flattering to me, but I was prevented from rebuking
+her by a prolonged shout from the stoop without, as a rush was made
+against the front door, followed by a shrill peal of the bell.
+
+"Man from Headquarters," stolidly announced the policeman. "Open the
+door, ma'am; or step back into the further hall if you want me to do
+it."
+
+Such rudeness was uncalled for; but considering myself too important a
+witness to show feeling, I swallowed my indignation and proceeded with
+all my native dignity to the front door.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+
+As I did so, I could catch the murmur of the crowd outside as it seethed
+forward at the first intimation of the door being opened; but my
+attention was not so distracted by it, loud as it sounded after the
+quiet of the shut-up house, that I failed to notice that the door had
+not been locked by the gentleman leaving the night before, and that,
+consequently, only the night latch was on. With a turn of the knob it
+opened, showing me the mob of shouting boys and the forms of two
+gentlemen awaiting admittance on the door-step. I frowned at the mob and
+smiled on the gentlemen, one of whom was portly and easy-going in
+appearance, and the other spare, with a touch of severity in his aspect.
+But for some reason these gentlemen did not seem to appreciate the honor
+I had done them, for they both gave me a displeased glance, which was so
+odd and unsympathetic in its character that I bridled a little, though I
+soon returned to my natural manner. Did they realize at the first glance
+that I was destined to prove a thorn in the sides of every one connected
+with this matter, for days to come?
+
+"Are you the woman who called from the window?" asked the larger of the
+two, whose business here I found it difficult at first to determine.
+
+"I am," was my perfectly self-possessed reply. "I live next door and my
+presence here is due to the anxious interest I always take in my
+neighbors. I had reason to think that all was not as it should be in
+this house, and I was right. Look in the parlor, sirs."
+
+They were already as far as the threshold of that room and needed no
+further encouragement to enter. The heavier man went first and the other
+followed, and you may be sure I was not far behind. The sight meeting
+our eyes was ghastly enough, as you know; but these men were evidently
+accustomed to ghastly sights, for they showed but little emotion.
+
+"I thought this house was empty," observed the second gentleman, who was
+evidently a doctor.
+
+"So it was till last night," I put in; and was about to tell my story,
+when I felt my skirts jerked.
+
+Turning, I found that this warning had come from the cleaner who stood
+close beside me.
+
+"What do you want?" I asked, not understanding her and having nothing to
+conceal.
+
+"I?" she faltered, with a frightened air. "Nothing, ma'am, nothing."
+
+"Then don't interrupt me," I harshly admonished her, annoyed at an
+interference that tended to throw suspicion upon my candor. "This woman
+came here to scrub and clean," I now explained; "it was by means of the
+key she carried that we were enabled to get into the house. I never
+spoke to her till a half hour ago."
+
+At which, with a display of subtlety I was far from expecting in one of
+her appearance, she let her emotions take a fresh direction, and
+pointing towards the dead woman, she impetuously cried:
+
+"But the poor child there! Aint you going to take those things off of
+her? It's wicked to leave her under all that stuff. Suppose there was
+life in her!"
+
+"Oh! there's no hope of that," muttered the doctor, lifting one of the
+hands, and letting it fall again.
+
+"Still--" he cast a side look at his companion, who gave him a meaning
+nod--"it might be well enough to lift this cabinet sufficiently for me
+to lay my hand on her heart."
+
+They accordingly did this; and the doctor, leaning down, placed his hand
+over the poor bruised breast.
+
+"No life," he murmured. "She has been dead some hours. Do you think we
+had better release the head?" he went on, glancing up at the portly man
+at his side.
+
+But the latter, who was rapidly growing serious, made a slight protest
+with his finger, and turning to me, inquired, with sudden authority:
+
+"What did you mean when you said that the house had been empty till last
+night?"
+
+"Just what I said, sir. It was empty till about midnight, when two
+persons----" Again I felt my dress twitched, this time very cautiously.
+What did the woman want? Not daring to give her a look, for these men
+were only too ready to detect harm in everything I did, I gently drew my
+skirt away and took a step aside, going on as if no interruption had
+occurred. "Did I say persons? I should have said a man and a woman drove
+up to the house and entered. I saw them from my window."
+
+"You did?" murmured my interlocutor, whom I had by this time decided to
+be a detective. "And this is the woman, I suppose?" he proceeded,
+pointing to the poor creature lying before us.
+
+"Why, yes, of course. Who else can she be? I did not see the lady's face
+last night, but she was young and light on her feet, and ran up the
+stoop gaily."
+
+"And the man? Where is the man? I don't see him here."
+
+"I am not surprised at that. He went very soon after he came, not ten
+minutes after, I should say. That is what alarmed me and caused me to
+have the house investigated. It did not seem natural or like any of the
+Van Burnams to leave a woman to spend the night in so large a house
+alone."
+
+"You know the Van Burnams?"
+
+"Not well. But that don't signify. I know what report says of them; they
+are gentlemen."
+
+"But Mr. Van Burnam is in Europe."
+
+"He has two sons."
+
+"Living here?"
+
+"No; the unmarried one spends his nights at Long Branch, and the other
+is with his wife somewhere in Connecticut."
+
+"How did the young couple you saw get in last night? Was there any one
+here to admit them?"
+
+"No; the gentleman had a key."
+
+"Ah, he had a key."
+
+The tone in which this was said recurred to me afterwards, but at the
+moment I was much more impressed by a peculiar sound I heard behind me,
+something between a gasp and a click in the throat, which came I knew
+from the scrub-woman, and which, odd and contradictory as it may appear,
+struck me as an expression of satisfaction, though what there was in my
+admission to give satisfaction to this poor creature I could not
+conjecture. Moving so as to get a glimpse of her face, I went on with
+the grim self-possession natural to my character:
+
+"And when he came out he walked briskly away. The carriage had not
+waited for him."
+
+"Ah!" again muttered the gentleman, picking up one of the broken pieces
+of china which lay haphazard about the floor, while I studied the
+cleaner's face, which, to my amazement, gave evidences of a confusion of
+emotions most unaccountable to me.
+
+Mr. Gryce may have noticed this too, for he immediately addressed her,
+though he continued to look at the broken piece of china in his hand.
+
+"And how come you to be cleaning the house?" he asked. "Is the family
+coming home?"
+
+"They are, sir," she answered, hiding her emotion with great skill the
+moment she perceived attention directed to herself, and speaking with a
+sudden volubility that made us all stare. "They are expected any day. I
+didn't know it till yesterday--was it yesterday? No, the day
+before--when young Mr. Franklin--he is the oldest son, sir, and a very
+nice man, a _very_ nice man--sent me word by letter that I was to get
+the house ready. It isn't the first time I have done it for them, sir,
+and as soon as I could get the basement key from the agent, I came here,
+and worked all day yesterday, washing up the floors and dusting. I
+should have been at them again this morning if my husband hadn't been
+sick. But I had to go to the infirmary for medicine, and it was noon
+when I got here, and then I found this lady standing outside with a
+policeman, a very nice lady, a very _nice_ lady indeed, sir, I pay my
+respects to her"--and she actually dropped me a curtsey like a peasant
+woman in a play--"and they took my key from me, and the policeman opens
+the door, and he and me go upstairs and into all the rooms, and when we
+come to this one----"
+
+She was getting so excited as to be hardly intelligible. Stopping
+herself with a jerk, she fumbled nervously with her apron, while I asked
+myself how she could have been at work in this house the day before
+without my knowing it. Suddenly I remembered that I was ill in the
+morning and busy in the afternoon at the Orphan Asylum, and somewhat
+relieved at finding so excellent an excuse for my ignorance, I looked up
+to see if the detective had noticed anything odd in this woman's
+behavior. Presumably he had, but having more experience than myself with
+the susceptibility of ignorant persons in the presence of danger and
+distress, he attached less importance to it than I did, for which I was
+secretly glad, without exactly knowing my reasons for being so.
+
+"You will be wanted as a witness by the Coroner's jury," he now remarked
+to her, looking as if he were addressing the piece of china he was
+turning over in his hand. "Now, no nonsense!" he protested, as she
+commenced to tremble and plead. "You were the first one to see this dead
+woman, and you must be on hand to say so. As I cannot tell you when the
+inquest will be held, you had better stay around till the Coroner comes.
+He'll be here soon. You, and this other woman too."
+
+By other woman he meant _me_, Miss Butterworth, of Colonial ancestry and
+no inconsiderable importance in the social world. But though I did not
+relish this careless association of myself with this poor scrub-woman,
+I was careful to show no displeasure, for I reasoned that as witnesses
+we were equal before the law, and that it was solely in this light he
+regarded us.
+
+There was something in the manner of both these gentlemen which
+convinced me that while my presence was considered desirable in the
+house, it was not especially wanted in the room. I was therefore moving
+reluctantly away, when I felt a slight but peremptory touch on the arm,
+and turning, saw the detective at my side, still studying his piece of
+china.
+
+He was, as I have said, of portly build and benevolent aspect; a
+fatherly-looking man, and not at all the person one would be likely to
+associate with the police. Yet he could take the lead very naturally,
+and when he spoke, I felt bound to answer him.
+
+"Will you be so good, madam, as to relate over again, what you saw from
+your window last night? I am likely to have charge of this matter, and
+would be pleased to hear all you may have to say concerning it."
+
+"My name is Butterworth," I politely intimated.
+
+"And my name is Gryce."
+
+"A detective?"
+
+"The same."
+
+"You must think this matter very serious," I ventured.
+
+"Death by violence is always serious."
+
+"You must regard this death as something more than an accident, I mean."
+
+His smile seemed to say: "You will not know to-day how I regard it."
+
+"And you will not know to-day what I think of it either," was my inward
+rejoinder, but I said nothing aloud, for the man was seventy-five if he
+was a day, and I have been taught respect for age, and have practised
+the same for fifty years and more.
+
+I must have shown what was passing in my mind, and he must have seen it
+reflected on the polished surface of the porcelain he was contemplating,
+for his lips showed the shadow of a smile sufficiently sarcastic for me
+to see that he was far from being as easy-natured as his countenance
+indicated.
+
+"Come, come," said he, "there is the Coroner now. Say what you have to
+say, like the straightforward, honest woman you appear."
+
+"I don't like compliments," I snapped out. Indeed, they have always been
+obnoxious to me. As if there was any merit in being honest and
+straightforward, or any distinction in being told so!
+
+"I am Miss Butterworth, and not in the habit of being spoken to as if I
+were a simple countrywoman," I objected. "But I will repeat what I saw
+last night, as it is no secret, and the telling of it won't hurt me and
+may help you."
+
+Accordingly I went over the whole story, and was much more loquacious
+than I had intended to be, his manner was so insinuating and his
+inquiries so pertinent. But one topic we both failed to broach, and that
+was the peculiar manner of the scrub-woman. Perhaps it had not struck
+him as peculiar and perhaps it should not have struck me so, but in the
+silence which was preserved on the subject I felt I had acquired an
+advantage over him, which might lead to consequences of no small
+importance. Would I have felt thus or congratulated myself quite so much
+upon my fancied superiority, if I had known he was the man who managed
+the Leavenworth case, and who in his early years had experienced that
+very wonderful adventure on the staircase of the Heart's Delight?
+Perhaps I would; for though I have had no adventures, I feel capable of
+them, and as for any peculiar acumen he may have shown in his long and
+eventful career, why that is a quality which others may share with him,
+as I hope to be able to prove before finishing these pages.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+AMELIA DISCOVERS HERSELF.
+
+
+There is a small room at the extremity of the Van Burnam mansion. In
+this I took refuge after my interview with Mr. Gryce. As I picked out
+the chair which best suited me and settled myself for a comfortable
+communion with my own thoughts, I was astonished to find how much I was
+enjoying myself, notwithstanding the thousand and one duties awaiting me
+on the other side of the party-wall.
+
+Even this very solitude was welcome, for it gave me an opportunity to
+consider matters. I had not known up to this very hour that I had any
+special gifts. My father, who was a shrewd man of the old New England
+type, said more times than I am years old (which was not saying it as
+often as some may think) that Araminta (the name I was christened by,
+and the name you will find in the Bible record, though I sign myself
+Amelia, and insist upon being addressed as Amelia, being, as I hope, a
+sensible woman and not the piece of antiquated sentimentality suggested
+by the former cognomen)--that Araminta would live to make her mark;
+though in what capacity he never informed me, being, as I have observed,
+a shrewd man, and thus not likely to thoughtlessly commit himself.
+
+I now know he was right; my pretensions dating from the moment I found
+that this affair, at first glance so simple, and at the next so
+complicated, had aroused in me a fever of investigation which no
+reasoning could allay. Though I had other and more personal matters on
+my mind, my thoughts would rest nowhere but on the details of this
+tragedy; and having, as I thought, noticed some few facts in connection
+with it, from which conclusions might be drawn, I amused myself with
+jotting them down on the back of a disputed grocer's bill I happened to
+find in my pocket.
+
+Valueless as explaining this tragedy, being founded upon insufficient
+evidence, they may be interesting as showing the workings of my mind
+even at this early stage of the matter. They were drawn up under three
+heads.
+
+First, was the death of this young woman an accident?
+
+Second, was it a suicide?
+
+Third, was it a murder?
+
+Under the first head I wrote:
+
+_My reasons for not thinking it an accident._
+
+1. If it had been an accident and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself, she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood.
+
+(But her feet were towards the door and her head under the cabinet.)
+
+2. The decent, even precise, arrangement of the clothing about her feet,
+which precludes any theory involving accident.
+
+Under the second:
+
+_Reason for not thinking it suicide._
+
+She could not have been found in the position observed without having
+lain down on the floor while living and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself.
+
+(A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)
+
+Under the third:
+
+_Reason for not thinking it murder._
+
+She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her; something which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet made appear impossible.
+
+To this I added:
+
+_Reasons for accepting the theory of murder._
+
+1. The fact that she did not go into the house alone; that a man entered
+with her, remained ten minutes, and then came out again and disappeared
+up the street with every appearance of haste and an anxious desire to
+leave the spot.
+
+2. The front door, which he had unlocked on entering, was not locked by
+him on his departure, the catch doing the locking. Yet, though he could
+have re-entered so easily, he had shown no disposition to return.
+
+3. The arrangement of the skirts, which show the touch of a careful hand
+after death.
+
+Nothing clear, you see. I was doubtful of all; and yet my suspicions
+tended most toward murder.
+
+I had eaten my luncheon before interfering in this matter, which was
+fortunate for me, as it was three o'clock before I was summoned to meet
+the Coroner, of whose arrival I had been conscious some time before.
+
+He was in the front parlor where the dead girl lay, and as I took my way
+thither I felt the same sensations of faintness which had so nearly
+overcome me on the previous occasion. But I mastered them, and was
+quite myself before I crossed the threshold.
+
+There were several gentlemen present, but of them all I only noticed
+two, one of whom I took to be the Coroner, while the other was my late
+interlocutor, Mr. Gryce. From the animation observable in the latter, I
+gathered that the case was growing in interest from the detective
+standpoint.
+
+"Ah, and is this the witness?" asked the Coroner, as I stepped into the
+room.
+
+"I am Miss Butterworth," was my calm reply. "_Amelia_ Butterworth.
+Living next door and present at the discovery of this poor murdered
+body."
+
+"Murdered," he repeated. "Why do you say murdered?"
+
+For reply I drew from my pocket the bill on which I had scribbled my
+conclusions in regard to this matter.
+
+"Read this," said I.
+
+Evidently astonished, he took the paper from my hand, and, after some
+curious glances in my direction, condescended to do as I requested. The
+result was an odd but grudging look of admiration directed towards
+myself and a quick passing over of the paper to the detective.
+
+The latter, who had exchanged his bit of broken china for a very much
+used and tooth-marked lead-pencil, frowned with a whimsical air at the
+latter before he put it in his pocket. Then he read my hurried scrawl.
+
+"Two Richmonds in the field!" commented the Coroner, with a sly chuckle.
+"I am afraid I shall have to yield to their allied forces. Miss
+Butterworth, the cabinet is about to be raised; do you feel as if you
+could endure the sight?"
+
+"I can stand anything where the cause of justice is involved," I
+replied.
+
+"Very well, then, sit down, if you please. When the whole body is
+visible I will call you."
+
+And stepping forward he gave orders to have the clock and broken china
+removed from about the body.
+
+As the former was laid away on one end of the mantel some one observed:
+
+"What a valuable witness that clock might have been had it been running
+when the shelves fell!"
+
+But the fact was so patent that it had not been in motion for months
+that no one even answered; and Mr. Gryce did not so much as look towards
+it. But then we had all seen that the hands stood at three minutes to
+five.
+
+I had been asked to sit down, but I found this impossible. Side by side
+with the detective, I viewed the replacing of that heavy piece of
+furniture against the wall, and the slow disclosure of the upper part of
+the body which had so long lain hidden.
+
+That I did not give way is a proof that my father's prophecy was not
+without some reasonable foundation; for the sight was one to try the
+stoutest nerves, as well as to awaken the compassion of the hardest
+heart.
+
+The Coroner, meeting my eye, pointed at the poor creature inquiringly.
+
+"Is this the woman you saw enter here last night?"
+
+I glanced down at her dress, noted the short summer cape tied to the
+neck with an elaborate bow of ribbon, and nodded my head.
+
+"I remember the cape," said I. "But where is her hat? She wore one. Let
+me see if I can describe it." Closing my eyes I endeavored to recall
+the dim silhouette of her figure as she stood passing up the change to
+the driver; and was so far successful that I was ready to announce at
+the next moment that her hat presented the effect of a soft felt with
+one feather or one bow of ribbon standing upright from the side of the
+crown.
+
+"Then the identity of this woman with the one you saw enter here last
+night is established," remarked the detective, stooping down and drawing
+from under the poor girl's body a hat, sufficiently like the one I had
+just described, to satisfy everybody that it was the same.
+
+"As if there could be any doubt," I began.
+
+But the Coroner, explaining that it was a mere formality, motioned me to
+stand aside in favor of the doctor, who seemed anxious to approach
+nearer the spot where the dead woman lay. This I was about to do when a
+sudden thought struck me, and I reached out my hand for the hat.
+
+"Let me look at it for a moment," said I.
+
+Mr. Gryce at once handed it over, and I took a good look at it inside
+and out.
+
+"It is pretty badly crushed," I observed, "and does not present a very
+fresh appearance, but for all that it has been worn but once."
+
+"How do you know?" questioned the Coroner.
+
+"Let the other Richmond inform you," was my grimly uttered reply, as I
+gave it again into the detective's hand.
+
+There was a murmur about me, whether of amusement or displeasure, I made
+no effort to decide. I was finding out something for myself, and I did
+not care what they thought of me.
+
+"Neither has she worn this dress long," I continued; "but that is not
+true of the shoes. They are not old, but they have been acquainted with
+the pavement, and that is more than can be said of the hem of this gown.
+There are no gloves on her hands; a few minutes elapsed then before the
+assault; long enough for her to take them off."
+
+"Smart woman!" whispered a voice in my ear; a half-admiring,
+half-sarcastic voice that I had no difficulty in ascribing to Mr. Gryce.
+"But are you sure she wore any? Did you notice that her hand was gloved
+when she came into the house?"
+
+"No," I answered, frankly; "but so well-dressed a woman would not enter
+a house like this, without gloves."
+
+"It was a warm night," some one suggested.
+
+"I don't care. You will find her gloves as you have her hat; and you
+will find them with the fingers turned inside out, just as she drew them
+from her hand. So much I will concede to the warmth of the weather."
+
+"Like these, for instance," broke in a quiet voice.
+
+Startled, for a hand had appeared over my shoulder dangling a pair of
+gloves before my eyes, I cried out, somewhat too triumphantly I own:
+
+"Yes, yes, just like those! Did you pick them up here? Are they hers?"
+
+"You say that this is the way hers should look."
+
+"And I repeat it."
+
+"Then allow me to pay you my compliments. These were picked up here."
+
+"But where?" I cried. "I thought I had looked this carpet well over."
+
+He smiled, not at me but at the gloves, and the thought crossed me that
+he felt as if something more than the gloves was being turned inside
+out. I therefore pursed my mouth, and determined to stand more on my
+guard.
+
+"It is of no consequence," I assured him; "all such matters will come
+out at the inquest."
+
+Mr. Gryce nodded, and put the gloves back in his pocket. With them he
+seemed to pocket some of his geniality and patience.
+
+"All these facts have been gone over before you came in," said he, which
+statement I beg to consider as open to doubt.
+
+The doctor, who had hardly moved a muscle during all this colloquy, now
+rose from his kneeling position beside the girl's head.
+
+"I shall have to ask the presence of another physician," said he. "Will
+you send for one from your office, Coroner Dahl?"
+
+At which I stepped back and the Coroner stepped forward, saying,
+however, as he passed me:
+
+"The inquest will be held day after to-morrow in my office. Hold
+yourself in readiness to be present. I regard you as one of my chief
+witnesses."
+
+I assured him I would be on hand, and, obeying a gesture of his finger,
+retreated from the room; but I did not yet leave the house. A straight,
+slim man, with a very small head but a very bright eye, was leaning on
+the newel-post in the front hall, and when he saw me, started up so
+alertly I perceived that he had business with me, and so waited for him
+to speak.
+
+"You are Miss Butterworth?" he inquired.
+
+"I am, sir."
+
+"And I am a reporter from the New York _World_. Will you allow me----"
+
+Why did he stop? I had merely looked at him. But he did stop, and that
+is saying considerable for a reporter from the New York _World_.
+
+"I certainly am willing to tell you what I have told every one else," I
+interposed, considering it better not to make an enemy of so judicious a
+young man; and seeing him brighten up at this, I thereupon related all I
+considered desirable for the general public to know.
+
+I was about passing on, when, reflecting that one good turn deserves
+another, I paused and asked him if he thought they would leave the dead
+girl in that house all night.
+
+He answered that he did not think they would. That a telegram had been
+sent some time before to young Mr. Van Burnam, and that they were only
+awaiting his arrival to remove her.
+
+"Do you mean Howard?" I asked.
+
+"Is he the elder one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It is the elder one they have summoned; the one who has been staying at
+Long Branch."
+
+"How can they expect him then so soon?"
+
+"Because he is in the city. It seems the old gentleman is going to
+return on the _New York_, and as she is due here to-day, Franklin Van
+Burnam has come to New York to meet him."
+
+"Humph!" thought I, "lively times are in prospect," and for the first
+time I remembered my dinner and the orders which had not been given
+about some curtains which were to have been hung that day, and all the
+other reasons I had for being at home.
+
+I must have shown my feelings, much as I pride myself upon my
+impassibility upon all occasions, for he immediately held out his arm,
+with an offer to pilot me through the crowd to my own house; and I was
+about to accept it when the door-bell rang so sharply that we
+involuntarily stopped.
+
+"A fresh witness or a telegram for the Coroner," whispered the reporter
+in my ear.
+
+I tried to look indifferent, and doubtless made out pretty well, for he
+added, after a sly look in my face:
+
+"You do not care to stay any longer?"
+
+I made no reply, but I think he was impressed by my dignity. Could he
+not see that it would be the height of ill-manners for me to rush out in
+the face of any one coming in?
+
+An officer opened the door, and when we saw who stood there, I am sure
+that the reporter, as well as myself, was grateful that we listened to
+the dictates of politeness. It was young Mr. Van Burnam--Franklin; I
+mean the older and more respectable of the two sons.
+
+He was flushed and agitated, and looked as if he would like to
+annihilate the crowd pushing him about on his own stoop. He gave an
+angry glance backward as he stepped in, and then I saw that a carriage
+covered with baggage stood on the other side of the street, and gathered
+that he had not returned to his father's house alone.
+
+"What has happened? What does all this mean?" were the words he hurled
+at us as the door closed behind him and he found himself face to face
+with a half dozen strangers, among whom the reporter and myself stood
+conspicuous.
+
+Mr. Gryce, coming suddenly from somewhere, was the one to answer him.
+
+"A painful occurrence, sir. A young girl has been found here, dead,
+crushed under one of your parlor cabinets."
+
+"A young girl!" he repeated. (Oh, how glad I was that I had been brought
+up never to transgress the principles of politeness.) "Here! in this
+shut-up house? What young girl? You mean old woman, do you not? the
+house-cleaner or some one----"
+
+"No, Mr. Van Burnam, we mean what we say, though possibly I should call
+her a young lady. She is dressed quite fashionably."
+
+"The ----" Really I cannot repeat in this public manner the word which
+Mr. Van Burnam used. I excused him at the time, but I will not
+perpetuate his forgetfulness in these pages.
+
+"She is still lying as we found her," Mr. Gryce now proceeded in his
+quiet, almost fatherly way. "Will you not take a look at her? Perhaps
+you can tell us who she is?"
+
+"I?" Mr. Van Burnam seemed quite shocked. "How should I know her! Some
+thief probably, killed while meddling with other people's property."
+
+"Perhaps," quoth Mr. Gryce, laconically; at which I felt so angry, as
+tending to mislead my handsome young neighbor, that I irresistibly did
+what I had fully made up my mind not to do, that is, stepped into view
+and took a part in this conversation.
+
+"How can you say that," I cried, "when her admittance here was due to a
+young man who let her in at midnight with a key, and then left her to
+eat out her heart in this great house all alone."
+
+I have made sensations in my life, but never quite so marked a one as
+this. In an instant every eye was on me, with the exception of the
+detective's. His was on the figure crowning the newel-post, and
+bitterly severe his gaze was too, though it immediately grew wary as the
+young man started towards me and impetuously demanded:
+
+"Who talks like that? Why, it's Miss Butterworth. Madam, I fear I did
+not fully understand what you said."
+
+Whereupon I repeated my words, this time very quietly but clearly, while
+Mr. Gryce continued to frown at the bronze figure he had taken into his
+confidence. When I had finished, Mr. Van Burnam's countenance had
+changed, so had his manner. He held himself as erect as before, but not
+with as much bravado. He showed haste and impatience also, but not the
+same kind of haste and not quite the same kind of impatience. The
+corners of Mr. Gryce's mouth betrayed that he noted this change, but he
+did not turn away from the newel-post.
+
+"This is a remarkable circumstance which you have just told me,"
+observed Mr. Van Burnam, with the first bow I had ever received from
+him. "I don't know what to think of it. But I still hold that it's some
+thief. Killed, did you say? Really dead? Well, I'd have given five
+hundred dollars not to have had it happen in this house."
+
+He had been moving towards the parlor door, and he now entered it.
+Instantly Mr. Gryce was by his side.
+
+"Are they going to close the door?" I whispered to the reporter, who was
+taking this all in equally with myself.
+
+"I'm afraid so," he muttered.
+
+And they did. Mr. Gryce had evidently had enough of my interference, and
+was resolved to shut me out, but I heard one word and caught one
+glimpse of Mr. Van Burnam's face before the heavy door fell to. The word
+was: "Oh, so bad as that! How can any one recognize her----" And the
+glimpse--well, the glimpse proved to me that he was much more profoundly
+agitated than he wished to appear, and any extraordinary agitation on
+his part was certainly in direct contradiction to the very sentence he
+was at that moment uttering.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+SILAS VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+"However much I may be needed at home, I cannot reconcile it with my
+sense of duty to leave just yet," I confided to the reporter, with what
+I meant to be a proper show of reason and self-restraint; "Mr. Van
+Burnam may wish to ask me some questions."
+
+"Of course, of course," acquiesced the other. "You are very right;
+always are very right, I should judge."
+
+As I did not know what he meant by this, I frowned, always a wise thing
+to do in an uncertainty; that is,--if one wishes to maintain an air of
+independence and aversion to flattery.
+
+"Will you not sit down?" he suggested. "There is a chair at the end of
+the hall."
+
+But I had no need to sit. The front door-bell again rang, and
+simultaneously with its opening, the parlor door unclosed and Mr.
+Franklin Van Burnam appeared in the hall, just as Mr. Silas Van Burnam,
+his father, stepped into the vestibule.
+
+"Father!" he remonstrated, with a troubled air; "could you not wait?"
+
+The elder gentleman, who had evidently just been driven up from the
+steamer, wiped his forehead with an irascible air, that I will say I
+had noticed in him before and on much less provocation.
+
+"Wait, with a yelling crowd screaming murder in my ear, and Isabella on
+one side of me calling for salts, and Caroline on the opposite seat
+getting that blue look about the mouth we have learned to dread so in a
+hot day like this? No, sir, when there is anything wrong going on I want
+to know it, and evidently there is something wrong going on here. What
+is it? Some of Howard's----"
+
+But the son, seizing me by the hand and drawing me forward, put a quick
+stop to the old gentleman's sentence. "Miss Butterworth, father! Our
+next-door neighbor, you know."
+
+"Ah! hum! ha! Miss Butterworth. How do you do, ma'am? What the ---- is
+she doing here?" he grumbled, not so low but that I heard both the
+profanity and the none too complimentary allusion to myself.
+
+"If you will come into the parlor, I will tell you," urged the son. "But
+what have you done with Isabella and Caroline? Left them in the carriage
+with that hooting mob about them?"
+
+"I told the coachman to drive on. They are probably half-way around the
+block by this time."
+
+"Then come in here. But don't allow yourself to be too much affected by
+what you will see. A sad accident has occurred here, and you must expect
+the sight of blood."
+
+"Blood! Oh, I can stand that, if Howard----"
+
+The rest was lost in the sound of the closing door.
+
+And now, you will say, I ought to have gone. And you are right, but
+would you have gone yourself, especially as the hall was full of people
+who did not belong there?
+
+If you would, then condemn me for lingering just a few minutes longer.
+
+The voices in the parlor were loud, but they presently subsided; and
+when the owner of the house came out again, he had a subdued look which
+was as great a contrast to his angry aspect on entering, as was the
+change I had observed in his son. He was so absorbed indeed that he did
+not notice me, though I stood directly in his way.
+
+"Don't let Howard come," he was saying in a thick, low voice to his son.
+"Keep Howard away till we are sure----"
+
+I am confident that his son pressed his arm at this point, for he
+stopped short and looked about him in a blind and dazed way.
+
+"Oh!" he ejaculated, in a tone of great displeasure. "This is the woman
+who saw----"
+
+"Miss Butterworth, father," the anxious voice of his son broke in.
+"Don't try to talk; such a sight is enough to unnerve any man."
+
+"Yes, yes," blustered the old gentleman, evidently taking some hint from
+the other's tone or manner. "But where are the girls? They will be dead
+with terror, if we don't relieve their minds. They got the idea it was
+their brother Howard who was hurt; and so did I, but it's only some
+wandering waif--some----"
+
+It seemed as if he was not to be allowed to finish any of his sentences,
+for Franklin interrupted him at this point to ask him what he was going
+to do with the girls. Certainly he could not bring them in here.
+
+"No," answered the father, but in the dreamy, inconsequential way of
+one whose thoughts were elsewhere. "I suppose I shall have to take them
+to some hotel."
+
+Ah, an idea! I flushed as I realized the opportunity which had come to
+me and had to wait a moment not to speak with too much eagerness.
+
+"Let me play the part of a neighbor," I prayed, "and accommodate the
+young ladies for the night. My house is near and quiet."
+
+"But the trouble it will involve," protested Mr. Franklin.
+
+"Is just what I need to allay my excitement," I responded. "I shall be
+glad to offer them rooms for the night. If they are equally glad to
+accept them----"
+
+"They must be!" the old gentleman declared. "I can't go running round
+with them hunting up rooms to-night. Miss Butterworth is very good; go
+find the girls, Franklin; let me have them off my mind, at least."
+
+The young man bowed. I bowed, and was slipping at last from my place by
+the stairs when, for the third time, I felt my dress twitched.
+
+"Are you going to keep to that story?" a voice whispered in my ear.
+"About the young man and woman coming in the night, you know."
+
+"Keep to it!" I whispered back, recognizing the scrub-woman, who had
+sidled up to me from some unknown quarter in the semi-darkness. "Why,
+it's true. Why shouldn't I keep to it."
+
+A chuckle, difficult to describe but full of meaning, shook the arm of
+the woman as she pressed close to my side.
+
+"Oh, you are a good one," she said. "I didn't know they made 'em so
+good!" And with another chuckle full of satisfaction and an odd sort of
+admiration I had certainly not earned, she slid away again into the
+darkness.
+
+Certainly there was something in this woman's attitude towards this
+affair which merited attention.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+"THIS IS NO ONE I KNOW."
+
+
+I welcomed the Misses Van Burnam with just enough good-will to show that
+I had not been influenced by any unworthy motives in asking them to my
+house.
+
+I gave them my guest-chamber, but I invited them to sit in my front room
+as long as there was anything interesting going on in the street. I knew
+they would like to look out, and as this chamber boasts of a bay with
+two windows, we could all be accommodated. From where I sat I could now
+and then hear what they said, and I considered this but just, for if the
+young woman who had suffered so untimely an end was in any way connected
+with them, it was certainly best that the fact should not lie concealed;
+and one of them, that is Isabella, is such a chatterbox.
+
+Mr. Van Burnam and his son had returned next door, and so far as we
+could observe from our vantage-point, preparations were being made for
+the body's removal. As the crowd below, driven away by the policemen one
+minute, only to collect again in another, swayed and grumbled in a
+continual expectation that was as continually disappointed, I heard
+Caroline's voice rise in two or three short sentences.
+
+"They can't find Howard, or he would have been here before now. Did you
+see her that time when we were coming out of Clark's? Fanny Preston did,
+and said she was pretty."
+
+"No, I didn't get a glimpse----" A shout from the street below.
+
+"I can't believe it," were the next words I heard, "but Franklin is
+awfully afraid----"
+
+"Hush! or the ogress----" I am sure I heard her say ogress; but what
+followed was drowned in another loud murmur, and I caught nothing
+further till these sentences were uttered by the trembling and
+over-excited Caroline: "If it is she, pa will never be the same man
+again. To have her die in our house! O, there's Howard now!"
+
+The interruption came quick and sharp, and it was followed by a double
+cry and an anxious rustle, as the two girls sprang to their feet in
+their anxiety to attract their brother's attention or possibly to convey
+him some warning.
+
+But I did not give much heed to them. My eyes were on the carriage in
+which Howard had arrived, and which, owing to the ambulance in front,
+had stopped on the other side of the way. I was anxious to see him
+descend that I might judge if his figure recalled that of the man I had
+seen cross the pavement the night before. But he did not descend. Just
+as his hand was on the carriage door, a half dozen men appeared on the
+adjoining stoop carrying a burden which they hastened to deposit in the
+ambulance. He sank back when he saw it, and when his face became visible
+again, it was so white it seemed to be the only face in the street,
+though fifty people stood about staring at the house, at the ambulance,
+and at him.
+
+Franklin Van Burnam had evidently come to the door with the rest; for
+Howard no sooner showed his face the second time than we saw the former
+dash down the steps and try to part the crowd in a vain attempt to reach
+his brother's side. Mr. Gryce was more successful. He had no difficulty
+in winning his way across the street, and presently I perceived him
+standing near the carriage exchanging a few words with its occupant. A
+moment later he drew back, and addressing the driver, jumped into the
+carriage with Howard, and was speedily driven off. The ambulance
+followed and some of the crowd, and as soon as a hack could be obtained,
+Mr. Van Burnam and his son took the same road, leaving us three women in
+a state of suspense, which as far as one of us was concerned, ended in a
+nervous attack that was not unlike heart failure. I allude, of course,
+to Caroline, and it took Isabella and myself a good half hour to bring
+her back to a normal condition, and when this was done, Isabella thought
+it incumbent upon her to go off into hysterics, which, being but a weak
+simulation of the other's state, I met with severity and cured with a
+frown. When both were in trim again I allowed myself one remark.
+
+"One would think," said I, "that you knew the young woman who has fallen
+victim to her folly next door."
+
+At which Isabella violently shook her head and Caroline observed:
+
+"It is the excitement which has been too much for me. I am never strong,
+and this is such a dreadful home-welcoming. When will father and
+Franklin come back? It was very unkind of them to go off without one
+word of encouragement."
+
+"They probably did not consider the fate of this unknown woman a matter
+of any importance to you."
+
+The Van Burnam girls were unlike in appearance and character, but they
+showed an equal embarrassment at this, casting down their eyes and
+behaving so strangely that I was driven to wonder, without any show of
+hysterics I am happy to say, what would be the upshot of this matter,
+and how far I would become involved in it before the truth came to
+light.
+
+At dinner they displayed what I should call their best society manner.
+Seeing this, I assumed my society manner also. It is formed on a
+different pattern from theirs, but is fully as impressive, I judge.
+
+A most formal meal was the result. My best china was in use, but I had
+added nothing to my usual course of viands. Indeed, I had abstracted
+something. An _entrée_, upon which my cook prides herself, was omitted.
+Was I going to allow these proud young misses to think I had exerted
+myself to please them? No; rather would I have them consider me
+niggardly and an enemy to good living; so the _entrée_ was, as the
+French say, suppressed.
+
+In the evening their father came in. He was looking very dejected, and
+half his bluster was gone. He held a telegram crushed in his hand, and
+he talked very rapidly. But he confided none of his secrets to me, and I
+was obliged to say good-night to these young ladies without knowing much
+more about the matter engrossing us than when I left their house in the
+afternoon.
+
+But others were not as ignorant as myself. A dramatic and highly
+exciting scene had taken place that evening at the undertaker's to which
+the unknown's body had been removed, and as I have more than once heard
+it minutely described, I will endeavor to transcribe it here with all
+the impartiality of an outsider.
+
+When Mr. Gryce entered the carriage in which Howard sat, he noted first,
+that the young man was frightened; and secondly, that he made no effort
+to hide it. He had heard almost nothing from the detective. He knew that
+there had been a hue and cry for him ever since noon, and that he was
+wanted to identify a young woman who had been found dead in his father's
+house, but beyond these facts he had been told little, and yet he seemed
+to have no curiosity nor did he venture to express any surprise. He
+merely accepted the situation and was troubled by it, showing no
+inclination to talk till very near the end of his destination, when he
+suddenly pulled himself together and ventured this question:
+
+"How did she--the young woman as you call her--kill herself?"
+
+The detective, who in his long career among criminals and suspected
+persons, had seen many men and encountered many conditions, roused at
+this query with much of his old spirit. Turning from the man rather than
+toward him, he allowed himself a slight shrug of the shoulders as he
+calmly replied:
+
+"She was found under a heavy piece of furniture; the cabinet with the
+vases on it, which you must remember stood at the left of the
+mantel-piece. It had crushed her head and breast. Quite a remarkable
+means of death, don't you think? There has been but one occurrence like
+it in my long experience."
+
+"I don't believe what you tell me," was the young man's astonishing
+reply. "You are trying to frighten me or to make game of me. No lady
+would make use of any such means of death as that."
+
+"I did not say she was a lady," returned Mr. Gryce, scoring one in his
+mind against his unwary companion.
+
+A quiver passed down the young man's side where he came in contact with
+the detective.
+
+"No," he muttered; "but I gathered from what you said, she was no common
+person; or why," he flashed out in sudden heat, "do you require me to go
+with you to see her? Have I the name of associating with any persons of
+the sex who are not ladies?"
+
+"Pardon me," said Mr. Gryce, in grim delight at the prospect he saw
+slowly unfolding before him of one of those complicated affairs in which
+minds like his unconsciously revel; "I meant no insinuations. We have
+requested you, as we have requested your father and brother, to
+accompany us to the undertaker's, because the identification of the
+corpse is a most important point, and every formality likely to insure
+it must be observed."
+
+"And did not they--my father and brother, I mean--recognize her?"
+
+"It would be difficult for any one to recognize her who was not well
+acquainted with her."
+
+A horrified look crossed the features of Howard Van Burnam, which, if a
+part of his acting, showed him to have genius for his _rôle_. His head
+sank back on the cushions of the carriage, and for a moment he closed
+his eyes. When he opened them again, the carriage had stopped, and Mr.
+Gryce, who had not noticed his emotion, of course, was looking out of
+the window with his hand on the handle of the door.
+
+"Are we there already?" asked the young man, with a shudder. "I wish
+you had not considered it necessary for me to see her. I shall detect
+nothing familiar in her, I know."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed, repeated that it was a mere formality, and followed the
+young gentleman into the building and afterwards into the room where the
+dead body lay. A couple of doctors and one or two officials stood about,
+in whose faces the young man sought for something like encouragement
+before casting his eyes in the direction indicated by the detective. But
+there was little in any of these faces to calm him, and turning shortly
+away, he walked manfully across the room and took his stand by the
+detective.
+
+"I am positive," he began, "that it is not my wife----" At this moment
+the cloth that covered the body was removed, and he gave a great start
+of relief. "I said so," he remarked, coldly. "This is no one I know."
+
+His sigh was echoed in double chorus from the doorway. Glancing that way
+he encountered the faces of his father and elder brother, and moved
+towards them with a relieved air that made quite another man of him in
+appearance.
+
+"I have had my say," he remarked. "Shall I wait outside till you have
+had yours?"
+
+"We have already said all that we had to," Franklin returned. "We
+declared that we did not recognize this person."
+
+"Of course, of course," assented the other. "I don't see why they should
+have expected us to know her. Some common suicide who thought the house
+empty--But how did she get in?"
+
+"Don't you know?" said Mr. Gryce. "Can it be that I forgot to tell you?
+Why, she was let in at night by a young man of medium height"--his eye
+ran up and down the graceful figure of the young _élégant_ before him as
+he spoke--"who left her inside and then went away. A young man who had a
+key----"
+
+"A _key_? Franklin, I----"
+
+Was it a look from Franklin which made him stop? It is possible, for he
+turned on his heel as he reached this point, and tossing his head with
+quite a gay air, exclaimed: "But it is of no consequence! The girl is a
+stranger, and we have satisfied, I believe, all the requirements of the
+law in saying so, and may now drop the matter. Are you going to the
+club, Franklin?"
+
+"Yes, but----" Here the elder brother drew nearer and whispered
+something into the other's ear, who at that whisper turned again towards
+the place where the dead woman lay. Seeing this movement, his anxious
+father wiped the moisture from his forehead. Silas Van Burnam had been
+silent up to this moment and seemed inclined to continue so, but he
+watched his younger son with painful intentness.
+
+"Nonsense!" broke from Howard's lips as his brother ceased his
+communication; but he took a step nearer the body, notwithstanding, and
+then another and another till he was at its side again.
+
+The hands had not been injured, as we have said, and upon these his eyes
+now fell.
+
+"They are like hers! O God! they are like hers!" he muttered, growing
+gloomy at once. "But where are the rings? There are no rings to be seen
+on these fingers, and she wore five, including her wedding-ring."
+
+"Is it of your wife you are speaking?" inquired Mr. Gryce, who had edged
+up close to his side.
+
+The young man was caught unawares.
+
+He flushed deeply, but answered up boldly and with great appearance of
+candor:
+
+"Yes; my wife left Haddam yesterday to come to New York, and I have not
+seen her since. Naturally I have felt some doubts lest this unhappy
+victim should be she. But I do not recognize her clothing; I do not
+recognize her form; only the hands look familiar."
+
+"And the hair?"
+
+"Is of the same color as hers, but it's a very ordinary color. I do not
+dare to say from anything I see that this is my wife."
+
+"We will call you again after the doctor has finished his autopsy," said
+Mr. Gryce. "Perhaps you will hear from Mrs. Van Burnam before then."
+
+But this intimation did not seem to bring comfort with it. Mr. Van
+Burnam walked away, white and sick, for which display of emotion there
+was certainly some cause, and rejoining his father tried to carry off
+the moment with the _aplomb_ of a man of the world.
+
+But that father's eye was fixed too steadily upon him; he faltered as he
+sat down, and finally spoke up, with feverish energy:
+
+"If it is she, so help me, God, her death is a mystery to me! We have
+quarrelled more than once lately, and I have sometimes lost my patience
+with her, but she had no reason to wish for death, and I am ready to
+swear in defiance of those hands, which are certainly like hers, and the
+nameless something which Franklin calls a likeness, that it is a
+stranger who lies there, and that her death in our house is a
+coincidence."
+
+"Well, well, we will wait," was the detective's soothing reply. "Sit
+down in the room opposite there, and give me your orders for supper, and
+I will see that a good meal is served you."
+
+The three gentlemen, seeing no way of refusing, followed the discreet
+official who preceded them, and the door of the doctor's room closed
+upon him and the inquiries he was about to make.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+NEW FACTS.
+
+
+Mr. Van Burnam and his sons had gone through the formality of a supper
+and were conversing in the haphazard way natural to men filled with a
+subject they dare not discuss, when the door opened and Mr. Gryce came
+in.
+
+Advancing very calmly, he addressed himself to the father:
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "to be obliged to inform you that this affair is
+much more serious than we anticipated. This young woman was dead before
+the shelves laden with _bric-à-brac_ fell upon her. It is a case of
+murder; obviously so, or I should not presume to forestall the Coroner's
+jury in their verdict."
+
+Murder! it is a word to shake the stoutest heart!
+
+The older gentleman reeled as he half rose, and Franklin, his son,
+betrayed in his own way an almost equal amount of emotion. But Howard,
+shrugging his shoulders as if relieved of an immense weight, looked
+about with a cheerful air, and briskly cried:
+
+"Then it is not the body of my wife you have there. No one would murder
+Louise. I shall go away and prove the truth of my words by hunting her
+up at once."
+
+The detective opened the door, beckoned in the doctor, who whispered
+two or three words into Howard's ear.
+
+They failed to awake the emotion he evidently expected. Howard looked
+surprised, but answered without any change of voice:
+
+"Yes, Louise had such a scar; and if it is true that this woman is
+similarly marked, then it is a mere coincidence. Nothing will convince
+me that my wife has been the victim of murder."
+
+"Had you not better take a look at the scar just mentioned?"
+
+"No. I am so sure of what I say that I will not even consider the
+possibility of my being mistaken. I have examined the clothing on this
+body you have shown me, and not one article of it came from my wife's
+wardrobe; nor would my wife go, as you have informed me this woman did,
+into a dark house at night with any other man than her husband."
+
+"And so you absolutely refuse to acknowledge her."
+
+"Most certainly."
+
+The detective paused, glanced at the troubled faces of the other two
+gentlemen, faces that had not perceptibly altered during these
+declarations, and suggestively remarked:
+
+"You have not asked by what means she was killed."
+
+"And I don't care," shouted Howard.
+
+"It was by very peculiar means, also new in my experience."
+
+"It does not interest me," the other retorted.
+
+Mr. Gryce turned to his father and brother.
+
+"Does it interest _you_?" he asked.
+
+The old gentleman, ordinarily so testy and so peremptory, silently
+nodded his head, while Franklin cried:
+
+"Speak up quick. You detectives hesitate so over the disagreeables. Was
+she throttled or stabbed with a knife?"
+
+"I have said the means were peculiar. She was stabbed, but not--with a
+knife."
+
+I know Mr. Gryce well enough now to be sure that he did not glance
+towards Howard while saying this, and yet at the same time that he did
+not miss the quiver of a muscle on his part or the motion of an eyelash.
+But Howard's assumed _sang froid_ remained undisturbed and his
+countenance imperturbable.
+
+"The wound was so small," the detective went on, "that it is a miracle
+it did not escape notice. It was made by the thrust of some very slender
+instrument through----"
+
+"The heart?" put in Franklin.
+
+"Of course, of course," assented the detective; "what other spot is
+vulnerable enough to cause death?"
+
+"Is there any reason why we should not go?" demanded Howard, ignoring
+the extreme interest manifested by the other two, with a determination
+that showed great doggedness of character.
+
+The detective ignored _him_.
+
+"A quick stroke, a sure stroke, a fatal stroke. The girl never breathed
+after."
+
+"But what of those things under which she lay crushed?"
+
+"Ah, in them lies the mystery! Her assailant must have been as subtle as
+he was sure."
+
+And still Howard showed no interest.
+
+"I wish to telegraph to Haddam," he declared, as no one answered the
+last remark. Haddam was the place where he and his wife had been
+spending the summer.
+
+"We have already telegraphed there," observed Mr. Gryce. "Your wife has
+not yet returned."
+
+"There are other places," defiantly insisted the other. "I can find her
+if you give me the opportunity."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed.
+
+"I am to give orders, then, for this body to be removed to the Morgue."
+
+It was an unexpected suggestion, and for an instant Howard showed that
+he had feelings with the best. But he quickly recovered himself, and
+avoiding the anxious glances of his father and brother, answered with
+offensive lightness:
+
+"I have nothing to do with that. You must do as you think proper."
+
+And Mr. Gryce felt that he had received a check, and did not know
+whether to admire the young man for his nerve or to execrate him for his
+brutality. That the woman whom he had thus carelessly dismissed to the
+ignominy of the public gaze was his wife, the detective did not doubt.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+MR. GRYCE DISCOVERS MISS AMELIA.
+
+
+To return to my own observations. I was almost as ignorant of what I
+wanted to know at ten o'clock on that memorable night as I was at five,
+but I was determined not to remain so. When the two Misses Van Burnam
+had retired to their room, I slipped away to the neighboring house and
+boldly rang the bell. I had observed Mr. Gryce enter it a few minutes
+before, and I was resolved to have some talk with him.
+
+The hall-lamp was lit, and we could discern each other's faces as he
+opened the door. Mine may have been a study, but I am sure his was. He
+had not expected to be confronted by an elderly lady at that hour of
+night.
+
+"Well!" he dryly ejaculated, "I am sensible of the honor, Miss
+Butterworth." But he did not ask me in.
+
+"I expected no less," said I. "I saw you come in, and I followed as soon
+after as I could. I have something to say to you."
+
+He admitted me then and carefully closed the door. Feeling free to be
+myself, I threw off the veil I had tied under my chin and confronted him
+with what I call the true spirit.
+
+"Mr. Gryce," I began, "let us make an exchange of civilities. Tell me
+what you have done with Howard Van Burnam, and I will tell you what I
+have observed in the course of this afternoon's investigation."
+
+This aged detective is used to women, I have no doubt, but he is not
+used to _me_. I saw it by the way he turned over and over the spectacles
+he held in his hand. I made an effort to help him out.
+
+"I have noted something to-day which I think has escaped _you_. It is so
+slight a clue that most women would not speak of it. But being
+interested in the case, I will mention it, if in return you will
+acquaint me with what will appear in the papers to-morrow."
+
+He seemed to like it. He peered through his glasses and at them with the
+smile of a discoverer. "I am your very humble servant," he declared; and
+I felt as if my father's daughter had received her first recognition.
+
+But he did not overwhelm me with confidences. O, no, he is very sly,
+this old and well-seasoned detective; and while appearing to be very
+communicative, really parted with but little information. He said
+enough, however, for me to gather that matters looked grim for Howard,
+and if this was so, it must have become apparent that the death they
+were investigating was neither an accident nor a suicide.
+
+I hinted as much, and he, for his own ends no doubt, admitted at last
+that a wound had been found on the young woman which could not have been
+inflicted by herself; at which I felt such increased interest in this
+remarkable murder that I must have made some foolish display of it, for
+the wary old gentleman chuckled and ogled his spectacles quite lovingly
+before shutting them up and putting them into his pocket.
+
+"And now what have you to tell me?" he inquired, sliding softly between
+me and the parlor door.
+
+"Nothing but this. Question that queer-acting house-cleaner closely. She
+has something to tell which it is your business to know."
+
+I think he was disappointed. He looked as if he regretted the spectacles
+he had pocketed, and when he spoke there was an edge to his tone I had
+not noticed in it before.
+
+"Do you know what that something is?" he asked.
+
+"No, or I should tell you myself."
+
+"And what makes you think she is hiding anything from us?"
+
+"Her manner. Did you not notice her manner?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It conveyed much to me," I insisted. "If I were a detective I would
+have the secret out of that woman or die in the attempt."
+
+He laughed; this sly, old, almost decrepit man laughed outright. Then he
+looked severely at his old friend on the newel-post, and drawing himself
+up with some show of dignity, made this remark:
+
+"It is my very good fortune to have made your acquaintance, Miss
+Butterworth. You and I ought to be able to work out this case in a way
+that will be satisfactory to all parties."
+
+He meant it for sarcasm, but I took it quite seriously, that is to all
+appearance. I am as sly as he, and though not quite as old--now _I_ am
+sarcastic--have some of his wits, if but little of his experience.
+
+"Then let us to work," said I. "You have your theories about this
+murder, and I have mine; let us see how they compare."
+
+If the image he had under his eye had not been made of bronze, I am sure
+it would have become petrified by the look he now gave it. What to me
+seemed but the natural proposition of an energetic woman with a special
+genius for his particular calling, evidently struck him as audacity of
+the grossest kind. But he confined his display of astonishment to the
+figure he was eying, and returned me nothing but this most gentlemanly
+retort:
+
+"I am sure I am obliged to you, madam, and possibly I may be willing to
+consider your very thoughtful proposition later, but now I am busy, very
+busy, and if you will await my presence in your house for a half
+hour----"
+
+"Why not let me wait here," I interposed. "The atmosphere of the place
+may sharpen my faculties. I already feel that another sharp look into
+that parlor would lead to the forming of some valuable theory."
+
+"You--" Well, he did not say what I was, or rather, what the image he
+was apostrophizing, was. But he must have meant to utter a compliment of
+no common order.
+
+The prim courtesy I made in acknowledgment of his good intention
+satisfied him that I had understood him fully; and changing his whole
+manner to one more in accordance with business, he observed after a
+moment's reflection:
+
+"You came to a conclusion this afternoon, Miss Butterworth, for which I
+should like some explanation. In investigating the hat which had been
+drawn from under the murdered girl's remains, you made the remark that
+it had been worn but once. I had already come to the same conclusion,
+but by other means, doubtless. Will you tell me what it was that gave
+point to your assertion?"
+
+"There was but one prick of a hat-pin in it," I observed. "If you have
+been in the habit of looking into young women's hats, you will
+appreciate the force of my remark."
+
+"The deuce!" was his certainly uncalled for exclamation. "Women's eyes
+for women's matters! I am greatly indebted to you, ma'am. You have
+solved a very important problem for us. A hat-pin! humph!" he muttered
+to himself. "The devil in a man is not easily balked; even such an
+innocent article as that can be made to serve, when all other means are
+lacking."
+
+It is perhaps a proof that Mr. Gryce is getting old, that he allowed
+these words to escape him. But having once given vent to them, he made
+no effort to retract them, but proceeded to take me into his confidence
+so far as to explain:
+
+"The woman who was killed in that room owed her death to the stab of a
+thin, long pin. We had not thought of a hat-pin, but upon your
+mentioning it, I am ready to accept it as the instrument of death. There
+was no pin to be seen in the hat when you looked at it?"
+
+"None. I examined it most carefully."
+
+He shook his head and seemed to be meditating. As I had plenty of time I
+waited, expecting him to speak again. My patience seemed to impress him.
+Alternately raising and lowering his hands like one in the act of
+weighing something, he soon addressed me again, this time in a tone of
+banter:
+
+"This pin--if pin it was--was found broken in the wound. We have been
+searching for the end that was left in the murderer's hand, and we have
+not found it. It is not on the floors of the parlors nor in this
+hallway. What do you think the ingenious user of such an instrument
+would do with it?"
+
+This was said, I am now sure, out of a spirit of sarcasm. He was amusing
+himself with me, but I did not realize it then. I was too full of my
+subject.
+
+"He would not have carried it away," I reasoned shortly, "at least not
+far. He did not throw it aside on reaching the street, for I watched his
+movements so closely that I would have observed him had he done this. It
+is in the house then, and presumably in the parlor, even if you do not
+find it on the floor."
+
+"Would you like to look for it?" he impressively asked. I had no means
+of knowing at that time that when he was impressive he was his least
+candid and trustworthy self.
+
+"Would I," I repeated; and being spare in figure and much more active in
+my movements that one would suppose from my age and dignified
+deportment, I ducked under his arms and was in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor
+before he had recovered from his surprise.
+
+That a man like him could look foolish I would not have you for a moment
+suppose. But he did not look very well satisfied, and I had a chance to
+throw more than one glance around me before he found his tongue again.
+
+"An unfair advantage, ma'am; an unfair advantage! I am old and I am
+rheumatic; you are young and sound as a nut. I acknowledge my folly in
+endeavoring to compete with you and must make the best of the situation.
+And now, madam, where is that pin?"
+
+It was lightly said, but for all that I saw that my opportunity had
+come. If I could find this instrument of murder, what might I not expect
+from his gratitude. Nerving myself for the task thus set me, I peered
+hither and thither, taking in every article in the room before I made a
+step forward. There had been some attempt to rectify its disorder. The
+broken pieces of china had been lifted and laid carefully away on
+newspapers upon the shelves from which they had fallen. The cabinet
+stood upright in its place, and the clock which had tumbled face upward,
+had been placed upon the mantel shelf in the same position. The carpet
+was therefore free, save for the stains which told such a woful story of
+past tragedy and crime.
+
+"You have moved the tables and searched behind the sofas," I suggested.
+
+"Not an inch of the floor has escaped our attention, madam."
+
+My eyes fell on the register, which my skirts half covered. It was
+closed; I stooped and opened it. A square box of tin was visible below,
+at the bottom of which I perceived the round head of a broken hat-pin.
+
+Never in my life had I felt as I did at that minute. Rising up, I
+pointed at the register and let some of my triumph become apparent; but
+not all, for I was by no means sure at that moment, nor am I by any
+means sure now, that he had not made the discovery before I did and was
+simply testing my pretensions.
+
+However that may be, he came forward quickly and after some little
+effort drew out the broken pin and examined it curiously.
+
+"I should say that this is what we want," he declared, and from that
+moment on showed me a suitable deference.
+
+"I account for its being there in this way," I argued. "The room was
+dark; for whether he lighted it or not to commit his crime, he
+certainly did not leave it lighted long. Coming out, his foot came in
+contact with the iron of the register and he was struck by a sudden
+thought. He had not dared to leave the head of the pin lying on the
+floor, for he hoped that he had covered up his crime by pulling the
+heavy cabinet over upon his victim; nor did he wish to carry away such a
+memento of his cruel deed. So he dropped it down the register, where he
+doubtless expected it would fall into the furnace pipes out of sight.
+But the tin box retained it. Is not that plausible, sir?"
+
+"I could not have reasoned better myself, madam. We shall have you on
+the force, yet."
+
+But at the familiarity shown by this suggestion, I bridled angrily. "I
+am Miss Butterworth," was my sharp retort, "and any interest I may take
+in this matter is due to my sense of justice."
+
+Seeing that he had offended me, the astute detective turned the
+conversation back to business.
+
+"By the way," said he, "your woman's knowledge can help me out at
+another point. If you are not afraid to remain in this room alone for a
+moment, I will bring an article in regard to which I should like your
+opinion."
+
+I assured him I was not in the least bit afraid, at which he made me
+another of his anomalous bows and passed into the adjoining parlor. He
+did not stop there. Opening the sliding-doors communicating with the
+dining-room beyond, he disappeared in the latter room, shutting the
+doors behind him. Being now alone for a moment on the scene of crime, I
+crossed over to the mantel-shelf, and lifted the clock that lay there.
+
+Why I did this I scarcely know. I am naturally very orderly (some people
+call me precise) and it probably fretted me to see so valuable an
+object out of its natural position. However that was, I lifted it up and
+set it upright, when to my amazement it began to tick. Had the hands not
+stood as they did when my eyes first fell on the clock lying face up on
+the floor at the dead girl's side, I should have thought the works had
+been started since that time by Mr. Gryce or some other officious
+person. But they pointed now as then to a few minutes before five and
+the only conclusion I could arrive at was, that the clock had been in
+running order when it fell, startling as this fact appeared in a house
+which had not been inhabited for months.
+
+But if it had been in running order and was only stopped by its fall
+upon the floor, why did the hands point at five instead of twelve which
+was the hour at which the accident was supposed to have happened? Here
+was matter for thought, and that I might be undisturbed in my use of it,
+I hastened to lay the clock down again, even taking the precaution to
+restore the hands to the exact position they had occupied before I had
+started up the works. If Mr. Gryce did not know their secret, why so
+much the worse for Mr. Gryce.
+
+I was back in my old place by the register before the folding-doors
+unclosed again. I was conscious of a slight flush on my cheek, so I took
+from my pocket that perplexing grocer-bill and was laboriously going
+down its long line of figures, when Mr. Gryce reappeared.
+
+He had to my surprise a woman's hat in his hand.
+
+"Well!" thought I, "what does this mean!"
+
+It was an elegant specimen of millinery, and was in the latest style. It
+had ribbons and flowers and bird wings upon it, and presented, as it was
+turned about by Mr. Gryce's deft hand, an appearance which some might
+have called charming, but to me was simply grotesque and absurd.
+
+"Is that a last spring's hat?" he inquired.
+
+"I don't know, but I should say it had come fresh from the milliner's."
+
+"I found it lying with a pair of gloves tucked inside it on an otherwise
+empty shelf in the dining-room closet. It struck me as looking too new
+for a discarded hat of either of the Misses Van Burnam. What do you
+think?"
+
+"Let me take it," said I.
+
+"O, it's been worn," he smiled, "several times. And the hat-pin is in
+it, too."
+
+"There is something else I wish to see."
+
+He handed it over.
+
+"I think it belongs to one of them," I declared. "It was made by La Mole
+of Fifth Avenue, whose prices are simply--wicked."
+
+"But the young ladies have been gone--let me see--five months. Could
+this have been bought before then?"
+
+"Possibly, for this is an imported hat. But why should it have been left
+lying about in that careless way? It cost twenty dollars, if not thirty,
+and if for any reason its owner decided not to take it with her, why
+didn't she pack it away properly? I have no patience with the modern
+girl; she is made up of recklessness and extravagance."
+
+"I hear that the young ladies are staying with you," was his suggestive
+remark.
+
+"They are."
+
+"Then you can make some inquiries about this hat; also about the gloves,
+which are an ordinary street pair."
+
+"Of what color?"
+
+"Grey; they are quite fresh, size six."
+
+"Very well; I will ask the young ladies about them."
+
+"This third room is used as a dining-room, and the closet where I found
+them is one in which glass is kept. The presence of this hat there is a
+mystery, but I presume the Misses Van Burnam can solve it. At all
+events, it is very improbable that it has anything to do with the crime
+which has been committed here."
+
+"Very," I coincided.
+
+"So improbable," he went on, "that on second thoughts I advise you not
+to disturb the young ladies with questions concerning it unless further
+reasons for doing so become apparent."
+
+"Very well," I returned. But I was not deceived by his second thoughts.
+
+As he was holding open the parlor door before me in a very significant
+way, I tied my veil under my chin, and was about to leave when he
+stopped me.
+
+"I have another favor to ask," said he, and this time with his most
+benignant smile. "Miss Butterworth, do you object to sitting up for a
+few nights till twelve o'clock?"
+
+"Not at all," I returned, "if there is any good reason for it."
+
+"At twelve o'clock to-night a gentleman will enter this house. If you
+will note him from your window I will be obliged."
+
+"To see whether he is the same one I saw last night? Certainly I will
+take a look, but----"
+
+"To-morrow night," he went on, imperturbably, "the test will be
+repeated, and I should like to have you take another look; without
+prejudice, madam; remember, without prejudice."
+
+"I have no prejudices----" I began.
+
+"The test may not be concluded in two nights," he proceeded, without any
+notice of my words. "So do not be in haste to spot your man, as the
+vulgar expression is. And now good-night--we shall meet again
+to-morrow."
+
+"Wait!" I called peremptorily, for he was on the point of closing the
+door. "I saw the man but faintly; it is an impression only that I
+received. I would not wish a man to hang through any identification I
+could make."
+
+"No man hangs on simple identification. We shall have to prove the
+crime, madam, but identification is important; even such as you can
+make."
+
+There was no more to be said; I uttered a calm good-night and hastened
+away. By a judicious use of my opportunities I had become much less
+ignorant on the all-important topic than when I entered the house.
+
+It was half past eleven when I returned home, a late hour for me to
+enter my respectable front door alone. But circumstances had warranted
+my escapade, and it was with quite an easy conscience and a cheerful
+sense of accomplishment that I went up to my room and prepared to sit
+out the half hour before midnight.
+
+I am a comfortable sort of person when alone, and found no difficulty in
+passing this time profitably. Being very orderly, as you must have
+remarked, I have everything at hand for making myself a cup of tea at
+any time of day or night; so feeling some need of refreshment, I set out
+the little table I reserve for such purposes and made the tea and sat
+down to sip it.
+
+While doing so, I turned over the subject occupying my mind, and
+endeavored to reconcile the story told by the clock with my
+preconceived theory of this murder; but no reconcilement was possible.
+The woman had been killed at twelve, and the clock had fallen at five.
+How could the two be made to agree, and which, since agreement was
+impossible, should be made to give way, the theory or the testimony of
+the clock? Both seemed incontrovertible, and yet one must be false.
+Which?
+
+I was inclined to think that the trouble lay with the clock; that I had
+been deceived in my conclusions, and that it was not running at the time
+of the crime. Mr. Gryce may have ordered it wound, and then have had it
+laid on its back to prevent the hands from shifting past the point where
+they had stood at the time of the crime's discovery. It was an
+unexplainable act, but a possible one; while to suppose that it was
+going when the shelves fell, stretched improbability to the utmost,
+there having been, so far as we could learn, no one in the house for
+months sufficiently dexterous to set so valuable a timepiece; for who
+could imagine the scrub-woman engaging in a task requiring such delicate
+manipulation.
+
+No! some meddlesome official had amused himself by starting up the
+works, and the clue I had thought so important would probably prove
+valueless.
+
+There was humiliation in the thought, and it was a relief to me to hear
+an approaching carriage just as the clock on my mantel struck twelve.
+Springing from my chair, I put out my light and flew to the window.
+
+The coach drew up and stopped next door. I saw a gentleman descend and
+step briskly across the pavement to the neighboring stoop. The figure he
+presented was not that of the man I had seen enter the night before.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE MISSES VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+Late as it was when I retired, I was up betimes in the morning--as soon,
+in fact, as the papers were distributed. The _Tribune_ lay on the stoop.
+Eagerly I seized it; eagerly I read it. From its headlines you may judge
+what it had to say about this murder:
+
+     A STARTLING DISCOVERY IN THE VAN BURNAM MANSION IN GRAMERCY
+     PARK.
+
+     A YOUNG GIRL FOUND THERE, LYING DEAD UNDER AN OVERTURNED
+     CABINET.
+
+     EVIDENCES THAT SHE WAS MURDERED BEFORE IT WAS PULLED DOWN UPON
+     HER.
+
+     THOUGHT BY SOME TO BE MRS. HOWARD VAN BURNAM.
+
+     A FEARFUL CRIME INVOLVED IN AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY.
+
+     WHAT MR. VAN BURNAM SAYS ABOUT IT: HE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE
+     WOMAN AS HIS WIFE.
+
+So, so, it was his wife they were talking about. I had not expected
+that. Well! well! no wonder the girls looked startled and concerned. And
+I paused to recall what I had heard about Howard Van Burnam's marriage.
+
+It had not been a fortunate one. His chosen bride was pretty enough, but
+she had not been bred in the ways of fashionable society, and the other
+members of the family had never recognized her. The father, especially,
+had cut his son dead since his marriage, and had even gone so far as to
+threaten to dissolve the partnership in which they were all involved.
+Worse than this, there had been rumors of a disagreement between Howard
+and his wife. They were not always on good terms, and opinions differed
+as to which was most in fault. So much for what I knew of these two
+mentioned parties.
+
+Reading the article at length, I learned that Mrs. Van Burnam was
+missing; that she had left Haddam for New York the day before her
+husband, and had not since been heard from. Howard was confident,
+however, that the publicity given to her disappearance by the papers
+would bring immediate news of her.
+
+The effect of the whole article was to raise grave doubts as to the
+candor of Mr. Van Burnam's assertions, and I am told that in some of the
+less scrupulous papers these doubts were not only expressed, but actual
+surmises ventured upon as to the identity between the person whom I had
+seen enter the house with the young girl. As for my own name, it was
+blazoned forth in anything but a gratifying manner. I was spoken of in
+one paper--a kind friend told me this--as the prying Miss Amelia. As if
+my prying had not given the police their only clue to the identification
+of the criminal.
+
+The New York _World_ was the only paper that treated me with any
+consideration. That young man with the small head and beady eyes was not
+awed by me for nothing. He mentioned me as the clever Miss Butterworth
+whose testimony is likely to be of so much value in this very
+interesting case.
+
+It was the _World_ I handed the Misses Van Burnam when they came
+down-stairs to breakfast. It did justice to me and not too much
+injustice to him. They read it together, their two heads plunged deeply
+into the paper so that I could not watch their faces. But I could see
+the sheet shake, and I noticed that their social veneer was not as yet
+laid on so thickly that they could hide their real terror and heart-ache
+when they finally confronted me again.
+
+"Did you read--have you seen this horrible account?" quavered Caroline,
+as she met my eye.
+
+"Yes, and I now understand why you felt such anxiety yesterday. Did you
+know your sister-in-law, and do you think she could have been beguiled
+into your father's house in that way?"
+
+It was Isabella who answered.
+
+"We never have seen her and know little of her, but there is no telling
+what such an uncultivated person as she might do. But that our good
+brother Howard ever went in there with her is a lie, isn't it,
+Caroline?--a base and malicious lie?"
+
+"Of course it is, of course, of course. You don't think the man you saw
+was Howard, do you, dear Miss Butterworth?"
+
+_Dear?_ O dear!
+
+"I am not acquainted with your brother," I returned. "I have never seen
+him but a few times in my life. You know he has not been a very frequent
+visitor at your father's house lately."
+
+They looked at me wistfully, _so_ wistfully.
+
+"Say it was not Howard," whispered Caroline, stealing up a little nearer
+to my side.
+
+"And we will never forget it," murmured Isabella, in what I am obliged
+to say was not her society manner.
+
+"I hope to be able to say it," was my short rejoinder, made difficult by
+the prejudices I had formed. "When I see your brother, I may be able to
+decide at a glance that the person I saw entering your house was not
+he."
+
+"Yes, oh, yes. Do you hear that, Isabella? Miss Butterworth will save
+Howard yet. O you dear old soul. I could almost love you!"
+
+This was not agreeable to me. I a dear old soul! A term to be applied to
+a butter-woman not to a Butterworth. I drew back and their
+sentimentalities came to an end. I hope their brother Howard is not the
+guilty man the papers make him out to be, but if he is, the Misses Van
+Burnam's fine phrase, _We could almost love you_, will not deter me from
+being honest in the matter.
+
+Mr. Gryce called early, and I was glad to be able to tell him that the
+gentleman who visited him the night before did not recall the impression
+made upon me by the other. He received the communication quietly, and
+from his manner I judged that it was more or less expected. But who can
+be a correct judge of a detective's manner, especially one so foxy and
+imperturbable as this one? I longed to ask who his visitor was, but I
+did not dare, or rather--to be candid in little things that you may
+believe me in great--I was confident he would not tell me, so I would
+not compromise my dignity by a useless question.
+
+He went after a five minutes' stay, and I was about to turn my attention
+to household affairs, when Franklin came in.
+
+His sisters jumped like puppets to meet him.
+
+"O," they cried, for once thinking and speaking alike, "have you found
+her?"
+
+His silence was so eloquent that he did not need to shake his head.
+
+"But you will before the day is out?" protested Caroline.
+
+"It is too early yet," added Isabella.
+
+"I never thought I would be glad to see that woman under any
+circumstances," continued the former, "but I believe now that if I saw
+her coming up the street on Howard's arm, I should be happy enough to
+rush out and--and----"
+
+"Give her a hug," finished the more impetuous Isabella.
+
+It was not what Caroline meant to say, but she accepted the emendation,
+with just the slightest air of deprecation. They were both evidently
+much attached to Howard, and ready in his trouble to forget and forgive
+everything. I began to like them again.
+
+"Have you read the horrid papers?" and "How is papa this morning?" and
+"What shall we do to save Howard?" now flew in rapid questions from
+their lips; and feeling that it was but natural they should have their
+little say, I sat down in my most uncomfortable chair and waited for
+these first ebullitions to exhaust themselves.
+
+Instantly Mr. Van Burnam took them by the arm, and led them away to a
+distant sofa.
+
+"Are you happy here?" he asked, in what he meant for a very confidential
+tone. But I can hear as readily as a deaf person anything which is not
+meant for my ears.
+
+"O she's kind enough," whispered Caroline, "but so stingy. Do take us
+where we can get something to eat."
+
+"She puts all her money into china! Such plates!--_and so little on
+them!_"
+
+At these expressions, uttered with all the emphasis a whisper will
+allow, I just hugged myself in my quiet corner. The dear, giddy things!
+But they should see, they should see.
+
+"I fear"--it was Mr. Van Burnam who now spoke--"I shall have to take my
+sisters from under your kind care to-day. Their father needs them, and
+has, I believe, already engaged rooms for them at the Plaza."
+
+"I am sorry," I replied, "but surely they will not leave till they have
+had another meal with me. Postpone your departure, young ladies, till
+after luncheon, and you will greatly oblige me. We may never meet so
+agreeably again."
+
+They fidgeted (which I had expected), and cast secret looks of almost
+comic appeal at their brother, but he pretended not to see them, being
+disposed for some reason to grant my request. Taking advantage of the
+momentary hesitation that ensued, I made them all three my most
+conciliatory bow, and said as I retreated behind the portière:
+
+"I shall give my orders for luncheon now. Meanwhile, I hope the young
+ladies will feel perfectly free in my house. All that I have is at their
+command." And was gone before they could protest.
+
+When I next saw them, they were upstairs in my front room. They were
+seated together in the window and looked miserable enough to have a
+little diversion. Going to my closet, I brought out a band-box. It
+contained my best bonnet.
+
+"Young ladies, what do you think of this?" I inquired, taking the bonnet
+out and carefully placing it on my head.
+
+I myself consider it a very becoming article of headgear, but their
+eyebrows went up in a scarcely complimentary fashion.
+
+"You don't like it?" I remarked. "Well, I think a great deal of young
+girls' taste; I shall send it back to Madame More's to-morrow."
+
+"I don't think much of Madame More," observed Isabella, "and after
+Paris----"
+
+"Do you like La Mole better?" I inquired, bobbing my head to and fro
+before the mirror, the better to conceal my interest in the venture I
+was making.
+
+"I don't like any of them but D'Aubigny," returned Isabella. "She
+charges twice what La Mole does----"
+
+Twice! What are these girls' purses made of, or rather their father's!
+
+"But she has the _chic_ we are accustomed to see in French millinery. I
+shall _never_ go anywhere else."
+
+"We were recommended to her in Paris," put in Caroline, more languidly.
+Her interest was only half engaged by this frivolous topic.
+
+"But did you never have one of La Mole's hats?" I pursued, taking down
+a hand-mirror, ostensibly to get the effect of my bonnet in the back,
+but really to hide my interest in their unconscious faces.
+
+"Never!" retorted Isabella. "I would not patronize the thing."
+
+"Nor you?" I urged, carelessly, turning towards Caroline.
+
+"No; I have never been inside her shop."
+
+"Then whose is----" I began and stopped. A detective doing the work I
+was, would not give away the object of his questions so recklessly.
+
+"Then who is," I corrected, "the best person after D'Aubigny? I never
+can pay _her_ prices. I should think it wicked."
+
+"O don't ask us," protested Isabella. "We have never made a study of the
+best bonnet-maker. At present we wear hats."
+
+And having thus thrown their youth in my face, they turned away to the
+window again, not realizing that the middle-aged lady they regarded with
+such disdain had just succeeded in making them dance to her music most
+successfully.
+
+The luncheon I ordered was elaborate, for I was determined that the
+Misses Van Burnam should see that I knew how to serve a fine meal, and
+that my plates were not always better than my viands.
+
+I had invited in a couple of other guests so that I should not seem to
+have put myself out for two young girls, and as they were quiet people
+like myself, the meal passed most decorously. When it was finished, the
+Misses Caroline and Isabella had lost some of their consequential airs,
+and I really think the deference they have since showed me is due more
+to the surprise they felt at the perfection of this dainty luncheon,
+than to any considerate appreciation of my character and abilities.
+
+They left at three o'clock, still without news of Mrs. Van Burnam; and
+being positive by this time that the shadows were thickening about this
+family, I saw them depart with some regret and a positive feeling of
+commiseration. Had they been reared to a proper reverence for their
+elders, how much more easy it would have been to see earnestness in
+Caroline and affectionate impulses in Isabella.
+
+The evening papers added but little to my knowledge. Great disclosures
+were promised, but no hint given of their nature. The body at the Morgue
+had not been identified by any of the hundreds who had viewed it, and
+Howard still refused to acknowledge it as that of his wife. The morrow
+was awaited with anxiety.
+
+So much for the public press!
+
+At twelve o'clock at night, I was again seated in my window. The house
+next door had been lighted since ten, and I was in momentary expectation
+of its nocturnal visitor. He came promptly at the hour set, alighted
+from the carriage with a bound, shut the carriage-door with a slam, and
+crossed the pavement with cheerful celerity. His figure was not so
+positively like, nor yet so positively unlike, that of the supposed
+murderer that I could definitely say, "This is he," or, "This is not
+he," and I went to bed puzzled, and not a little burdened by a sense of
+the responsibility imposed upon me in this matter.
+
+And so passed the day between the murder and the inquest.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+DEVELOPMENTS.
+
+
+Mr. Gryce called about nine o'clock next morning.
+
+"Well," said he, "what about the visitor who came to see me last night?"
+
+"Like and unlike," I answered. "Nothing could induce me to say he is the
+man we want, and yet I would not dare to swear he was not."
+
+"You are in doubt, then, concerning him?"
+
+"I am."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed, reminded me of the inquest, and left. Nothing was said
+about the hat.
+
+At ten o'clock I prepared to go to the place designated by him. I had
+never attended an inquest in my life, and felt a little flurried in
+consequence, but by the time I had tied the strings of my bonnet (the
+despised bonnet, which, by the way, I did not return to More's), I had
+conquered this weakness, and acquired a demeanor more in keeping with my
+very important position as chief witness in a serious police
+investigation.
+
+I had sent for a carriage to take me, and I rode away from my house amid
+the shouts of some half dozen boys collected on the curb-stone. But I
+did not allow myself to feel dashed by this publicity. On the contrary,
+I held my head as erect as nature intended, and my back kept the line
+my good health warrants. The path of duty has its thorny passages, but
+it is for strong minds like mine to ignore them.
+
+Promptly at ten o'clock I entered the room reserved for the inquest, and
+was ushered to the seat appointed me. Though never a self-conscious
+woman, I could not but be aware of the many eyes that followed me, and
+endeavored so to demean myself that there should be no question as to my
+respectable standing in the community. This I considered due to the
+memory of my father, who was very much in my thoughts that day.
+
+The Coroner was already in his seat when I entered, and though I did not
+perceive the good face of Mr. Gryce anywhere in his vicinity, I had no
+doubt he was within ear-shot. Of the other people I took small note,
+save of the honest scrub-woman, of whose red face and anxious eyes under
+a preposterous bonnet (which did _not come_ from La Mole's), I caught
+vague glimpses as the crowd between us surged to and fro.
+
+None of the Van Burnams were visible, but this did not necessarily mean
+that they were absent. Indeed, I was very sure, from certain
+indications, that more than one member of the family could be seen in
+the small room connecting with the large one in which we witnesses sat
+with the jury.
+
+The policeman, Carroll, was the first man to talk. He told of my
+stopping him on his beat and of his entrance into Mr. Van Burnam's house
+with the scrub-woman. He gave the details of his discovery of the dead
+woman's body on the parlor floor, and insisted that no one--here he
+looked very hard at me--had been allowed to touch the body till relief
+had come to him from Headquarters.
+
+Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman, followed him; and if she was watched by
+no one else in that room, she was watched by me. Her manner before the
+Coroner was no more satisfactory, according to my notion, than it had
+been in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor. She gave a very perceptible start when
+they spoke her name, and looked quite scared when the Bible was held out
+towards her. But she took the oath notwithstanding, and with her
+testimony the inquiry began in earnest.
+
+"What is your name?" asked the Coroner.
+
+As this was something she could not help knowing, she uttered the
+necessary words glibly, though in a way that showed she resented his
+impertinence in asking her what he already knew.
+
+"Where do you live? And what do you do for a living?" rapidly followed.
+
+She replied that she was a scrub-woman and cleaned people's houses, and
+having said this, she assumed a very dogged air, which I thought strange
+enough to raise a question in the minds of those who watched her. But no
+one else seemed to regard it as anything but the embarrassment of
+ignorance.
+
+"How long have you known the Van Burnam family?" the Coroner went on.
+
+"Two years, sir, come next Christmas."
+
+"Have you often done work for them?"
+
+"I clean the house twice a year, fall and spring."
+
+"Why were you at this house two days ago?"
+
+"To scrub the kitchen floors, sir, and put the pantries in order."
+
+"Had you received notice to do so?"
+
+"Yes, sir, through Mr. Franklin Van Burnam."
+
+"And was that the first day of your work there?"
+
+"No, sir; I had been there all the day before."
+
+"You don't speak loud enough," objected the Coroner; "remember that
+every one in this room wants to hear you."
+
+She looked up, and with a frightened air surveyed the crowd about her.
+Publicity evidently made her most uncomfortable, and her voice sank
+rather than rose.
+
+"Where did you get the key of the house, and by what door did you
+enter?"
+
+"I went in at the basement, sir, and I got the key at Mr. Van Burnam's
+agent in Dey Street. I had to go for it; sometimes they send it to me;
+but not this time."
+
+"And now relate your meeting with the policeman on Wednesday morning, in
+front of Mr. Van Burnam's house."
+
+She tried to tell her story, but she made awkward work of it, and they
+had to ply her with questions to get at the smallest fact. But finally
+she managed to repeat what we already knew, how she went with the
+policeman into the house, and how they stumbled upon the dead woman in
+the parlor.
+
+Further than this they did not question her, and I, Amelia Butterworth,
+had to sit in silence and see her go back to her seat, redder than
+before, but with a strangely satisfied air that told me she had escaped
+more easily than she had expected. And yet Mr. Gryce had been warned
+that she knew more than appeared, and by one in whom he seemed to have
+placed some confidence!
+
+The doctor was called next. His testimony was most important, and
+contained a surprise for me and more than one surprise for the others.
+After a short preliminary examination, he was requested to state how
+long the woman had been dead when he was called in to examine her.
+
+"More than twelve and less than eighteen hours," was his quiet reply.
+
+"Had the rigor mortis set in?"
+
+"No; but it began very soon after."
+
+"Did you examine the wounds made by the falling shelves and the vases
+that tumbled with them?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Will you describe them?"
+
+He did so.
+
+"And now"--there was a pause in the Coroner's question which roused us
+all to its importance, "which of these many serious wounds was in your
+opinion the cause of her death?"
+
+The witness was accustomed to such scenes, and was perfectly at home in
+them. Surveying the Coroner with a respectful air, he turned slowly
+towards the jury and answered in a slow and impressive manner:
+
+"I feel ready to declare, sirs, that none of them did. She was not
+killed by the falling of the cabinet upon her."
+
+"Not killed by the falling shelves! Why not? Were they not sufficiently
+heavy, or did they not strike her in a vital place?"
+
+"They were heavy enough, and they struck her in a way to kill her if she
+had not been already dead when they fell upon her. As it was, they
+simply bruised a body from which life had already departed."
+
+As this was putting it very plainly, many of the crowd who had not been
+acquainted with these facts previously, showed their interest in a very
+unmistakable manner; but the Coroner, ignoring these symptoms of growing
+excitement, hastened to say:
+
+"This is a very serious statement you are making, doctor. If she did not
+die from the wounds inflicted by the objects which fell upon her, from
+what cause did she die? Can you say that her death was a natural one,
+and that the falling of the shelves was merely an unhappy accident
+following it?"
+
+"No, sir; her death was not natural. She was killed, but not by the
+falling cabinet."
+
+"Killed, and not by the cabinet? How then? Was there any other wound
+upon her which you regard as mortal?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Suspecting that she had perished from other means than
+appeared, I made a most rigid examination of her body, when I discovered
+under the hair in the nape of the neck, a minute spot, which, upon
+probing, I found to be the end of a small, thin point of steel. It had
+been thrust by a careful hand into the most vulnerable part of the body,
+and death must have ensued at once."
+
+This was too much for certain excitable persons present, and a momentary
+disturbance arose, which, however, was nothing to that in my own breast.
+
+So! so! it was her neck that had been pierced, and not her heart. Mr.
+Gryce had allowed us to think it was the latter, but it was not this
+fact which stupefied me, but the skill and diabolical coolness of the
+man who had inflicted this death-thrust.
+
+After order had been restored, which I will say was very soon, the
+Coroner, with an added gravity of tone, went on with his questions:
+
+"Did you recognize this bit of steel as belonging to any instrument in
+the medical profession?"
+
+"No; it was of too untempered steel to have been manufactured for any
+thrusting or cutting purposes. It was of the commonest kind, and had
+broken short off in the wound. It was the end only that I found."
+
+"Have you this end with you,--the point, I mean, which you found
+imbedded at the base of the dead woman's brain?"
+
+"I have, sir"; and he handed it over to the jury. As they passed it
+along, the Coroner remarked:
+
+"Later we will show you the remaining portion of this instrument of
+death," which did not tend to allay the general excitement. Seeing this,
+the Coroner humored the growing interest by pushing on his inquiries.
+
+"Doctor," he asked, "are you prepared to say how long a time elapsed
+between the infliction of this fatal wound and those which disfigured
+her?"
+
+"No, sir, not exactly; but some little time."
+
+Some little time, when the murderer was in the house only ten minutes!
+All looked their surprise, and, as if the Coroner had divined this
+feeling of general curiosity, he leaned forward and emphatically
+repeated:
+
+"More than ten minutes?"
+
+The doctor, who had every appearance of realizing the importance of his
+reply, did not hesitate. Evidently his mind was quite made up.
+
+"_Yes; more than ten minutes_."
+
+This was the shock _I_ received from his testimony.
+
+I remembered what the clock had revealed to me, but I did not move a
+muscle of my face. I was learning self-control under these repeated
+surprises.
+
+"This is an unexpected statement," remarked the Coroner. "What reasons
+have you to urge in explanation of it?"
+
+"Very simple and very well known ones; at least, among the profession.
+There was too little blood seen, for the wounds to have been inflicted
+before death or within a few minutes after it. Had the woman been living
+when they were made, or even had she been but a short time dead, the
+floor would have been deluged with the blood gushing from so many and
+such serious injuries. But the effusion was slight, so slight that I
+noticed it at once, and came to the conclusions mentioned before I found
+the mark of the stab that occasioned death."
+
+"I see, I see! And was that the reason you called in two neighboring
+physicians to view the body before it was removed from the house?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in so important a matter, I wished to have my judgment
+confirmed."
+
+"And these physicians were----"
+
+"Dr. Campbell, of 110 East ---- Street, and Dr. Jacobs, of ----
+Lexington Avenue."
+
+"Are these gentlemen here?" inquired the Coroner of an officer who stood
+near.
+
+"They are, sir."
+
+"Very good; we will now proceed to ask one or two more questions of this
+witness. You told us that even had the woman been but a few minutes dead
+when she received these contusions, the floor would have been more or
+less deluged by her blood. What reason have you for this statement?"
+
+"This; that in a few minutes, let us say ten, since that number has been
+used, the body has not had time to cool, nor have the blood-vessels had
+sufficient opportunity to stiffen so as to prevent the free effusion of
+blood."
+
+"Is a body still warm at ten minutes after death?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"So that your conclusions are logical deductions from well-known facts?"
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+A pause of some duration followed.
+
+When the Coroner again proceeded, it was to remark:
+
+"The case is complicated by these discoveries; but we must not allow
+ourselves to be daunted by them. Let me ask you, if you found any marks
+upon this body which might aid in its identification?"
+
+"One; a slight scar on the left ankle."
+
+"What kind of a scar? Describe it."
+
+"It was such as a burn might leave. In shape it was long and narrow, and
+it ran up the limb from the ankle-bone."
+
+"Was it on the right foot?"
+
+"No; on the left."
+
+"Did you call the attention of any one to this mark during or after your
+examination?"
+
+"Yes; I showed it to Mr. Gryce the detective, and to my two coadjutors;
+and I spoke of it to Mr. Howard Van Burnam, son of the gentleman in
+whose house the body was found."
+
+It was the first time this young gentleman's name had been mentioned,
+and it made my blood run cold to see how many side-long looks and
+expressive shrugs it caused in the motley assemblage. But I had no time
+for sentiment; the inquiry was growing too interesting.
+
+"And why," asked the Coroner, "did you mention it to this young man in
+preference to others?"
+
+"Because Mr. Gryce requested me to. Because the family as well as the
+young man himself had evinced some apprehension lest the deceased might
+prove to be his missing wife, and this seemed a likely way to settle the
+question."
+
+"And did it? Did he acknowledge it to be a mark he remembered to have
+seen on his wife?"
+
+"He said she had such a scar, but he would not acknowledge the deceased
+to be his wife."
+
+"Did he see the scar?"
+
+"No; he would not look at it."
+
+"Did you invite him to?"
+
+"I did; but he showed no curiosity."
+
+Doubtless thinking that silence would best emphasize this fact, which
+certainly was an astonishing one, the Coroner waited a minute. But there
+was no silence. An indescribable murmur from a great many lips filled up
+the gap. I felt a movement of pity for the proud family whose good name
+was thus threatened in the person of this young gentleman.
+
+"Doctor," continued the Coroner, as soon as the murmur had subsided,
+"did you notice the color of the woman's hair?"
+
+"It was a light brown."
+
+"Did you sever a lock? Have you a sample of this hair here to show us?"
+
+"I have, sir. At Mr. Gryce's suggestion I cut off two small locks. One I
+gave him and the other I brought here."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+The doctor passed it up, and in sight of every one present the Coroner
+tied a string around it and attached a ticket to it.
+
+"That is to prevent all mistake," explained this very methodical
+functionary, laying the lock aside on the table in front of him. Then he
+turned again to the witness.
+
+"Doctor, we are indebted to you for your valuable testimony, and as you
+are a busy man, we will now excuse you. Let Dr. Jacobs be called."
+
+As this gentleman, as well as the witness who followed him, merely
+corroborated the statements of the other, and made it an accepted fact
+that the shelves had fallen upon the body of the girl some time after
+the first wound had been inflicted, I will not attempt to repeat their
+testimony. The question now agitating me was whether they would endeavor
+to fix the time at which the shelves fell by the evidence furnished by
+the clock.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+IMPORTANT EVIDENCE.
+
+
+Evidently not; for the next words I heard were: "Miss Amelia
+Butterworth!"
+
+I had not expected to be called so soon, and was somewhat flustered by
+the suddenness of the summons, for I am only human. But I rose with
+suitable composure, and passed to the place indicated by the Coroner, in
+my usual straightforward manner, heightened only by a sense of the
+importance of my position, both as a witness and a woman whom the once
+famous Mr. Gryce had taken more or less into his confidence.
+
+My appearance seemed to awaken an interest for which I was not prepared.
+I was just thinking how well my name had sounded uttered in the sonorous
+tones of the Coroner, and how grateful I ought to be for the courage I
+had displayed in substituting the genteel name of Amelia for the weak
+and sentimental one of Araminta, when I became conscious that the eyes
+directed towards me were filled with an expression not easy to
+understand. I should not like to call it admiration and will not call it
+amusement, and yet it seemed to be made up of both. While I was puzzling
+myself over it, the first question came.
+
+As my examination before the Coroner only brought out the facts already
+related, I will not burden you with a detailed account of it. One
+portion alone may be of interest. I was being questioned in regard to
+the appearance of the couple I had seen entering the Van Burnam mansion,
+when the Coroner asked if the young woman's step was light, or if it
+betrayed hesitation.
+
+I replied: "No hesitation; she moved quickly, almost gaily."
+
+"And he?"
+
+"Was more moderate; but there is no signification in that; he may have
+been older."
+
+"No theories, Miss Butterworth; it is facts we are after. Now, do you
+know that he was older?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did you get any idea as to his age?"
+
+"The impression he made was that of being a young man."
+
+"And his height?"
+
+"Was medium, and his figure slight and elegant. He moved as a gentleman
+moves; of this I can speak with great positiveness."
+
+"Do you think you could identify him, Miss Butterworth, if you should
+see him?"
+
+I hesitated, as I perceived that the whole swaying mass eagerly awaited
+my reply. I even turned my head because I saw others doing so; but I
+regretted this when I found that I, as well as others, was glancing
+towards the door beyond which the Van Burnams were supposed to sit. To
+cover up the false move I had made--for I had no wish as yet to centre
+suspicion upon anybody--I turned my face quickly back to the crowd and
+declared in as emphatic a tone as I could command:
+
+"I have thought I could do so if I saw him under the same circumstances
+as those in which my first impression was made. But lately I have begun
+to doubt even that. I should never dare trust to my memory in this
+regard."
+
+The Coroner looked disappointed, and so did the people around me.
+
+"It is a pity," remarked the Coroner, "that you did not see more
+plainly. And, now, how did these persons gain an entrance into the
+house?"
+
+I answered in the most succinct way possible.
+
+I told them how he had used a door-key in entering, of the length of
+time the man stayed inside, and of his appearance on going away. I also
+related how I came to call a policeman to investigate the matter next
+day, and corroborated the statements of this official as to the
+appearance of the deceased at time of discovery.
+
+And there my examination stopped. I was not asked any questions tending
+to bring out the cause of the suspicion I entertained against the
+scrub-woman, nor were the discoveries I had made in conjunction with Mr.
+Gryce inquired into. It was just as well, perhaps, but I would never
+approve of a piece of work done for me in this slipshod fashion.
+
+A recess now followed. Why it was thought necessary, I cannot imagine,
+unless the gentlemen wished to smoke. Had they felt as much interest in
+this murder as I did, they would not have wanted bite or sup till the
+dreadful question was settled. There being a recess, I improved the
+opportunity by going into a restaurant near by where one can get very
+good buns and coffee at a reasonable price. But I could have done
+without them.
+
+The next witness, to my astonishment, was Mr. Gryce. As he stepped
+forward, heads were craned and many women rose in their seats to get a
+glimpse of the noted detective. I showed no curiosity myself, for by
+this time I knew his features well, but I did feel a great satisfaction
+in seeing him before the Coroner, for now, thought I, we shall hear
+something worth our attention.
+
+But his examination, though interesting, was not complete. The Coroner,
+remembering his promise to show us the other end of the steel point
+which had been broken off in the dead girl's brain, limited himself to
+such inquiries as brought out the discovery of the broken hat-pin in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlor register. No mention was made by the witness of any
+assistance which he may have received in making this discovery; a fact
+which caused me to smile: men are so jealous of any interference in
+their affairs.
+
+The end found in the register and the end which the Coroner's physician
+had drawn from the poor woman's head were both handed to the jury, and
+it was interesting to note how each man made his little effort to fit
+the two ends together, and the looks they interchanged as they found
+themselves successful. Without doubt, and in the eyes of all, the
+instrument of death had been found. But what an instrument!
+
+The felt hat which had been discovered under the body was now produced
+and the one hole made by a similar pin examined. Then Mr. Gryce was
+asked if any other pin had been picked up from the floor of the room,
+and he replied, no; and the fact was established in the minds of all
+present that the young woman had been killed by a pin taken from her own
+hat.
+
+"A subtle and cruel crime; the work of a calculating intellect," was the
+Coroner's comment as he allowed the detective to sit down. Which
+expression of opinion I thought reprehensible, as tending to prejudice
+the jury against the only person at present suspected.
+
+The inquiry now took a turn. The name of Miss Ferguson was called. Who
+was Miss Ferguson? It was a new name to most of us, and her face when
+she rose only added to the general curiosity. It was the plainest face
+imaginable, yet it was neither a bad nor unintelligent one. As I studied
+it and noted the nervous contraction that disfigured her lip, I could
+not but be sensible of my blessings. I am not handsome myself, though
+there have been persons who have called me so, but neither am I ugly,
+and in contrast to this woman--well, I will say nothing. I only know
+that, after seeing her, I felt profoundly grateful to a kind Providence.
+
+As for the poor woman herself, she knew she was no beauty, but she had
+become so accustomed to seeing the eyes of other people turn away from
+her face, that beyond the nervous twitching of which I have spoken, she
+showed no feeling.
+
+"What is your full name, and where do you live?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"My name is Susan Ferguson, and I live in Haddam, Connecticut," was her
+reply, uttered in such soft and beautiful tones that every one was
+astonished. It was like a stream of limpid water flowing from a most
+unsightly-looking rock. Excuse the metaphor; I do not often indulge.
+
+"Do you keep boarders?"
+
+"I do; a few, sir; such as my house will accommodate."
+
+"Whom have you had with you this summer?"
+
+I knew what her answer would be before she uttered it; so did a hundred
+others, but they showed their knowledge in different ways. I did not
+show mine at all.
+
+"I have had with me," said she, "a Mr. and Mrs. Van Burnam from New
+York. Mr. Howard Van Burnam is his full name, if you wish me to be
+explicit."
+
+"Any one else?"
+
+"A Mr. Hull, also from New York, and a young couple from Hartford. My
+house accommodates no more."
+
+"How long have the first mentioned couple been with you?"
+
+"Three months. They came in June."
+
+"Are they with you still?"
+
+"Virtually, sir. They have not moved their trunks; but neither of them
+is in Haddam at present. Mrs. Van Burnam came to New York last Monday
+morning, and in the afternoon her husband also left, presumably for New
+York. I have seen nothing of either of them since."
+
+(It was on Tuesday night the murder occurred.)
+
+"Did either of them take a trunk?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"A hand-bag?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Van Burnam carried a bag, but it was a very small one."
+
+"Large enough to hold a dress?"
+
+"O no, sir."
+
+"And Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"He carried an umbrella; I saw nothing else."
+
+"Why did they not leave together? Did you hear any one say?"
+
+"Yes; I heard them say Mrs. Van Burnam came against her husband's
+wishes. He did not want her to leave Haddam, but she would, and he was
+none too pleased at it. Indeed they had words about it, and as both our
+rooms overlook the same veranda, I could not help hearing some of their
+talk."
+
+"Will you tell us what you heard?"
+
+"It does not seem right" (thus this honest woman spoke), "but if it's
+the law, I must not go against it. I heard him say these words: 'I have
+changed my mind, Louise. The more I think of it, the more disinclined I
+am to have you meddle in the matter. Besides, it will do no good. You
+will only add to the prejudice against you, and our life will become
+more unbearable than it is now.'"
+
+"Of what were they speaking?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"And what did she reply?"
+
+"O, she uttered a torrent of words that had less sense in them than
+feeling. She wanted to go, she would go, _she_ had not changed _her_
+mind, and considered that her impulses were as well worth following as
+his cool judgment. She was not happy, had never been happy, and meant
+there should be a change, even if it were for the worse. But she did not
+believe it would be for the worse. Was she not pretty? Was she not very
+pretty when in distress and looking up thus? And I heard her fall on her
+knees, a movement which called out a grunt from her husband, but whether
+this was an expression of approval or disapproval I cannot say. A
+silence followed, during which I caught the sound of his steady tramping
+up and down the room. Then she spoke again in a petulant way. 'It may
+seem foolish to _you_' she cried, 'knowing me as you do, and being used
+to seeing me in all my moods. But to him it will be a surprise, and I
+will so manage it that it will effect all we want, and more, too,
+perhaps. I--I have a genius for some things, Howard; and my better angel
+tells me I shall succeed.'"
+
+"And what did he reply to that?"
+
+"That the name of her better angel was Vanity; that his father would see
+through her blandishments; that he forbade her to prosecute her schemes;
+and much more to the same effect. To all of which she answered by a
+vigorous stamp of her foot, and the declaration that she was going to do
+what she thought best in spite of all opposition; that it was a lover,
+and not a tyrant that she had married, and that if he did not know what
+was good for himself, she did, and that when he received an intimation
+from his father that the breach in the family was closed, then he would
+acknowledge that if she had no fortune and no connections, she had at
+least a plentiful supply of wit. Upon which he remarked: 'A poor
+qualification when it verges upon folly!' which seemed to close the
+conversation, for I heard no more till the sound of her skirts rustling
+past my door assured me she had carried her point and was leaving the
+house. But this was not done without great discomfiture to her husband,
+if one may judge from the few brief but emphatic words that escaped him
+before he closed his own door and followed her down the hall."
+
+"Do you remember those words?"
+
+"They were swear words, sir; I am sorry to say it, but he certainly
+cursed her and his own folly. Yet I always thought he loved her."
+
+"Did you see her after she passed your door?"
+
+"Yes, sir, on the walk outside."
+
+"Was she then on the way to the train?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Carrying the bag of which you have spoken?"
+
+"Yes, sir; another proof of the state of feeling between them, for he
+was very considerate in his treatment of ladies, and I never saw him do
+anything ungallant before."
+
+"You say you watched her as she went down the walk?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it is human nature, sir; I have no other excuse to offer."
+
+It was an apology I myself might have made. I conceived a liking for
+this homely matter-of-fact woman.
+
+"Did you note her dress?"
+
+"Yes, sir; that is human nature also, or, rather, woman's nature."
+
+"Particularly, madam; so that you can describe it to the jury before
+you?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Will you, then, be good enough to tell us what sort of a dress Mrs. Van
+Burnam wore when she left your house for the city?"
+
+"It was a black and white plaid silk, very rich----"
+
+Why, what did this mean? We had all expected a very different
+description.
+
+"It was made fashionably, and the sleeves--well, it is impossible to
+describe the sleeves. She wore no wrap, which seemed foolish to me, for
+we have very sudden changes sometimes in September."
+
+"A plaid dress! And did you notice her hat?"
+
+"O, I have seen the hat often. It was of every conceivable color. It
+would have been called bad taste at one time, but now-a-days----"
+
+The pause was significant. More than one man in the room chuckled, but
+the women kept a discreet silence.
+
+"Would you know that hat if you saw it?"
+
+"I should think I would!"
+
+The emphasis was that of a countrywoman, and amused some people
+notwithstanding the melodious tone in which it was uttered. But it did
+not amuse me; my thoughts had flown to the hat which Mr. Gryce had found
+in the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house, and which was of every
+color of the rainbow.
+
+The Coroner asked two other questions, one in regard to the gloves worn
+by Mrs. Van Burnam, and the other in regard to her shoes. To the first,
+Miss Ferguson replied that she did not notice her gloves, and to the
+other, that Mrs. Van Burnam was very fashionable, and as pointed shoes
+were the fashion, in cities at least, she probably wore pointed shoes.
+
+The discovery that Mrs. Van Burnam had been differently dressed on that
+day from the young woman found dead in the Van Burnam parlors, had acted
+as a shock upon most of the spectators. They were just beginning to
+recover from it when Miss Ferguson sat down. The Coroner was the only
+one who had not seemed at a loss. Why, we were soon destined to know.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+THE ORDER CLERK.
+
+
+A lady well known in New York society was the next person summoned. She
+was a friend of the Van Burnam family, and had known Howard from
+childhood. She had not liked his marriage; indeed, she rather
+participated in the family feeling against it, but when young Mrs. Van
+Burnam came to her house on the preceding Monday, and begged the
+privilege of remaining with her for one night, she had not had the heart
+to refuse her. Mrs. Van Burnam had therefore slept in her house on
+Monday night.
+
+Questioned in regard to that lady's appearance and manner, she answered
+that her guest was unnaturally cheerful, laughing much and showing a
+great vivacity; that she gave no reason for her good spirits, nor did
+she mention her own affairs in any way,--rather took pains not to do so.
+
+"How long did she stay?"
+
+"Till the next morning."
+
+"And how was she dressed?"
+
+"Just as Miss Ferguson has described."
+
+"Did she bring her hand-bag to your house?"
+
+"Yes, and left it there. We found it in her room after she was gone."
+
+"Indeed! And how do you account for that?"
+
+"She was preoccupied. I saw it in her cheerfulness, which was forced and
+not always well timed."
+
+"And where is that bag now?"
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam has it. We kept it for a day and as she did not call for
+it, sent it down to the office on Wednesday morning."
+
+"Before you had heard of the murder?"
+
+"O yes, before I had heard anything about the murder."
+
+"As she was your guest, you probably accompanied her to the door?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you notice her hands? Can you say what was the color of her
+gloves?"
+
+"I do not think she wore any gloves on leaving; it was very warm, and
+she held them in her hand. I remembered this, for I noticed the sparkle
+of her rings as she turned to say good-bye."
+
+"Ah, you saw her rings!"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+"So that when she left you she was dressed in a black and white plaid
+silk, had a large hat covered with flowers on her head, and wore rings?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+And with these words ringing in the ears of the jury, the witness sat
+down.
+
+What was coming? Something important, or the Coroner would not look so
+satisfied, or the faces of the officials about him so expectant. I
+waited with great but subdued eagerness for the testimony of the next
+witness, who was a young man by the name of Callahan.
+
+I don't like young men in general. They are either over-suave and
+polite, as if they condescended to remember that you are elderly and
+that it is their duty to make you forget it, or else they are pert and
+shallow and disgust you with their egotism. But this young man looked
+sensible and business-like, and I took to him at once, though what
+connection he could have with this affair I could not imagine.
+
+His first words, however, settled all questions as to his personality:
+He was the order clerk at Altman's.
+
+As he acknowledged this, I seemed to have some faint premonition of what
+was coming. Perhaps I had not been without some vague idea of the truth
+ever since I had put my mind to work on this matter; perhaps my wits
+only received their real spur then; but certainly I knew what he was
+going to say as soon as he opened his lips, which gave me quite a good
+opinion of myself, whether rightfully or not, I leave you to judge.
+
+His evidence was short, but very much to the point. On the seventeenth
+of September, as could be verified by the books, the firm had received
+an order for a woman's complete outfit, to be sent, C.O.D., to Mrs.
+James Pope at the Hotel D----, on Broadway. Sizes and measures and some
+particulars were stated, and as the order bore the words _In haste_
+underlined upon it, several clerks had assisted him in filling this
+order, which when filled had been sent by special messenger to the place
+designated.
+
+Had he this order with him?
+
+He had.
+
+And could he identify the articles sent to fill it?
+
+He could.
+
+At which the Coroner motioned to an officer and a pile of clothing was
+brought forward from some mysterious corner and laid before the witness.
+
+Immediately expectation rose to a high pitch, for every one recognized,
+or thought he did, the apparel which had been taken from the victim.
+
+The young man, who was of the alert, nervous type, took up the articles
+one by one and examined them closely.
+
+As he did so, the whole assembled crowd surged forward and
+lightning-like glances from a hundred eyes followed his every movement
+and expression.
+
+"Are they the same?" inquired the Coroner.
+
+The witness did not hesitate. With one quick glance at the blue serge
+dress, black cape, and battered hat, he answered in a firm tone:
+
+"They are."
+
+And a clue was given at last to the dreadful mystery absorbing us.
+
+The deep-drawn sigh which swept through the room testified to the
+universal satisfaction; then our attention became fixed again, for the
+Coroner, pointing to the undergarments accompanying the articles already
+mentioned, demanded if they had been included in the order.
+
+There was as little hesitation in the reply given to this question as to
+the former. He recognized each piece as having come from his
+establishment. "You will note," said he, "that they have never been
+washed, and that the pencil marks are still on them."
+
+"Very good," observed the Coroner, "and you will note that one article
+there is torn down the back. Was it in that condition when sent?"
+
+"It was not, sir."
+
+"All were in perfect order?"
+
+"Most assuredly, sir."
+
+"Very good, again. The jury will take cognizance of this fact, which may
+be useful to them in their future conclusions. And now, Mr. Callahan, do
+you notice anything lacking here from the list of articles forwarded by
+you?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Yet there is one very necessary adjunct to a woman's outfit which is
+not to be found here."
+
+"Yes, sir, the shoes; but I am not surprised at that. We sent shoes, but
+they were not satisfactory, and they were returned."
+
+"Ah, I see. Officer, show the witness the shoes that were taken from the
+deceased."
+
+This was done, and when Mr. Callahan had examined them, the Coroner
+inquired if they came from his store. He replied no.
+
+Whereupon they were held up to the jury, and attention called to the
+fact that, while rather new than old, they gave signs of having been
+worn more than once; which was not true of anything else taken from the
+victim.
+
+This matter settled, the Coroner proceeded with his questions.
+
+"Who carried the articles ordered, to the address given?"
+
+"A man in our employ, named Clapp."
+
+"Did he bring back the amount of the bill?"
+
+"Yes, sir; less the five dollars charged for the shoes."
+
+"What was the amount, may I ask?"
+
+"Here is our cash-book, sir. The amount received from Mrs. James Pope,
+Hotel D----, on the seventeenth of September, is, as you see,
+seventy-five dollars and fifty-eight cents."
+
+"Let the jury see the book; also the order."
+
+They were both handed to the jury, and if ever I wished myself in any
+one's shoes, save my own very substantial ones, it was at that moment. I
+did so want a peep at that order.
+
+It seemed to interest the jury also, for their heads drew together very
+eagerly over it, and some whispers and a few knowing looks passed
+between them. Finally one of them spoke:
+
+"It is written in a very odd hand. Do you call this a woman's writing or
+a man's?"
+
+"I have no opinion to give on the subject," rejoined the witness. "It is
+intelligible writing, and that is all that comes within my province."
+
+The twelve men shifted on their seats and surveyed the Coroner eagerly.
+Why did he not proceed? Evidently he was not quick enough to suit them.
+
+"Have you any further questions for this witness?" asked that gentleman
+after a short delay.
+
+Their nervousness increased, but no one ventured to follow the Coroner's
+suggestion. A poor lot, I call them, a very poor lot! I would have found
+plenty of questions to put to him.
+
+I expected to see the man Clapp called next, but I was disappointed in
+this. The name uttered was Henshaw, and the person who rose in answer to
+it was a tall, burly man with a shock of curly black hair. He was the
+clerk of the Hotel D----, and we all forgot Clapp in our eagerness to
+hear what this man had to say.
+
+His testimony amounted to this:
+
+That a person by the name of Pope was registered on his books. That she
+came to his house on the seventeenth of September, some time near noon.
+That she was not alone; that a person she called her husband accompanied
+her, and that they had been given a room, at her request, on the second
+floor overlooking Broadway.
+
+"Did you see the husband? Was it his handwriting we see in your
+register?"
+
+"No, sir. He came into the office, but he did not approach the desk. It
+was she who registered for them both, and who did all the business in
+fact. I thought it queer, but took it for granted he was ill, for he
+held his head very much down, and acted as if he felt disturbed or
+anxious."
+
+"Did you notice him closely? Would you be able to identify him on
+sight?"
+
+"No, sir, I should not. He looked like a hundred other men I see every
+day: medium in height and build, with brown hair and brown moustache.
+Not noticeable in any way, sir, except for his hang-dog air and evident
+desire not to be noticed."
+
+"But you saw him later?"
+
+"No, sir. After he went to his room he stayed there, and no one saw him.
+I did not even see him when he left the house. His wife paid the bill
+and he did not come into the office."
+
+"But you saw her well; you would know her again?"
+
+"Perhaps, sir; but I doubt it. She wore a thick veil when she came in,
+and though I might remember her voice, I have no recollection of her
+features for I did not see them."
+
+"You can give a description of her dress, though; surely you must have
+looked long enough at a woman who wrote her own and her husband's name
+in your register, for you to remember her clothes."
+
+"Yes, for they were very simple. She had on what is called a gossamer,
+which covered her from neck to toe, and on her head a hat wrapped all
+about with a blue veil."
+
+"So that she might have worn any dress under that gossamer?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And any hat under that veil?"
+
+"Any one that was large enough, sir."
+
+"_Very_ good. Now, did you see her hands?"
+
+"Not to remember them."
+
+"Did she have gloves on?"
+
+"I cannot say. I did not stand and watch her, sir."
+
+"That is a pity. But you say you heard her voice."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Was it a lady's voice? Was her tone refined and her language good?"
+
+"They were, sir."
+
+"When did they leave? How long did they remain in your house?"
+
+"They left in the evening; after tea, I should say."
+
+"How? On foot or in a carriage?"
+
+"In a carriage; one of the hacks that stand in front of the door."
+
+"Did they bring any baggage with them?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did they take any away?"
+
+"The lady carried a parcel."
+
+"What kind of a parcel?"
+
+"A brown-paper parcel, like clothing done up."
+
+"And the gentleman?"
+
+"I did not see him."
+
+"Was she dressed the same in going as in coming?"
+
+"To all appearance, except her hat. That was smaller."
+
+"She had the gossamer on still, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And a veil?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Only that the hat it covered was smaller?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And now, how did you account to yourself for the parcel and the change
+of hat?"
+
+"I didn't account for them. I didn't think anything about them at the
+time; but, since I have had the subject brought to my mind, I find it
+easy enough. She had a package delivered to her while she was in our
+house, or rather packages; they were quite numerous, I believe."
+
+"Can you recall the circumstances of their delivery?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the man who brought the packages said that they had not been
+paid for, so I allowed him to carry them to Mrs. James Pope's room. When
+he went away, he had but one small parcel with him; the rest he had
+left."
+
+"And this is all you can tell us about this singular couple? Had they no
+meals in your house?"
+
+"No, sir; the gentleman--or I suppose I should say the lady, sir, for
+the order was given in her voice--sent for two dozen oysters and a
+bottle of ale, which were furnished to them in their rooms; but they
+didn't come to the dining-room."
+
+"Is the boy here who carried up those articles?"
+
+"He is, sir."
+
+"And the chambermaid who attended to their rooms?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then you may answer this question, and we will excuse you. How was the
+gentleman dressed when you saw him?"
+
+"In a linen duster and a felt hat."
+
+"Let the jury remember that. And now let us hear from Richard Clapp. Is
+Richard Clapp in the room?"
+
+"I am, sir," answered a cheery voice; and a lively young man with a
+shrewd eye and a wide-awake manner popped up from behind a portly woman
+on a side seat and rapidly came forward.
+
+He was asked several questions before the leading one which we all
+expected; but I will not record them here. The question which brought
+the reply most eagerly anticipated was this:
+
+"Do you remember being sent to the Hotel D----with several packages for
+a Mrs. James Pope?"
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"Did you deliver them in person? Did you see the lady?"
+
+A peculiar look crossed his face and we all leaned forward. But his
+answer brought a shock of disappointment with it.
+
+"No, I didn't, sir. She wouldn't let me in. She bade me lay the things
+down by the door and wait in the rear hall till she called me."
+
+"And you did this?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"But you kept your eye on the door, of course?"
+
+"Naturally, sir."
+
+"And saw----"
+
+"A hand steal out and take in the things."
+
+"A woman's hand?"
+
+"No; a man's. I saw the white cuff."
+
+"And how long was it before they called you?"
+
+"Fifteen minutes, I should say. I heard a voice cry 'Here!' and seeing
+their door open, I went toward it. But by the time I reached it, it was
+shut again, and I only heard the lady say that all the articles but the
+shoes were satisfactory, and would I thrust the bill in under the door.
+I did so, and they were some minutes counting out the change, but
+presently the door opened slightly, and I saw a man's hand holding out
+the money, which was correct to the cent. 'You need not receipt the
+bill,' cried the lady from somewhere in the room. 'Give him the shoes
+and let him go.' So I received the shoes in the same mysterious way I
+had the money, and seeing no reason for waiting longer, pocketed the
+bills and returned to the store."
+
+"Has the jury any further questions to ask the witness?"
+
+Of course not. They were ninnies, all of them, and----But, contrary to
+my expectation, one of them did perk up courage, and, wriggling very
+much on his seat, ventured to ask if the cuff he had seen on the man's
+hand when it was thrust through the doorway had a button in it.
+
+The answer was disappointing. The witness had not noticed any.
+
+The juror, somewhat abashed, sank into silence, at which another of the
+precious twelve, inspired no doubt by the other's example, blurted out:
+
+"Then what was the color of the coat sleeve? You surely can remember
+that."
+
+But another disappointment awaited us.
+
+"He did not wear any coat. It was a shirt sleeve I saw."
+
+A shirt sleeve! There was no clue in that. A visible look of dejection
+spread through the room, which was not dissipated till another witness
+stood up.
+
+This time it was the bell-boy of the hotel who had been on duty that
+day. His testimony was brief, and added but little to the general
+knowledge. He had been summoned more than once by these mysterious
+parties, but only to receive his orders through a closed door. He had
+not entered the room at all.
+
+He was followed by the chambermaid, who testified that she was in the
+room once while they were there; that she saw them both then, but did
+not catch a glimpse of their faces; Mr. Pope was standing in the window
+almost entirely shielded by the curtains, and Mrs. Pope was busy hanging
+up something in the wardrobe. The gentleman had on his duster and the
+lady her gossamer; it was but a few minutes after their arrival.
+
+Questioned in regard to the state of the room after they left it, she
+said that there was a lot of brown paper lying about, marked B. Altman,
+but nothing else that did not belong there.
+
+"Not a tag, nor a hat-pin, nor a bit of memorandum, lying on bureau or
+table?"
+
+"Nothing, sir, so far as I mind. I wasn't on the look-out for anything,
+sir. They were a queer couple, but we have lots of queer couples at our
+house, and the most I notices, sir, is those what remember the
+chambermaid and those what don't. This couple was of the kind what
+don't."
+
+"Did you sweep the room after their departure?"
+
+"I always does. They went late, so I swept the room the next morning."
+
+"And threw the sweepings away, of course?"
+
+"Of course; would you have me keep them for treasures?"
+
+"It might have been well if you had," muttered the Coroner. "The
+combings from the lady's hair might have been very useful in
+establishing her identity."
+
+The porter who has charge of the lady's entrance was the last witness
+from this house. He had been on duty on the evening in question and had
+noticed this couple leaving. They both carried packages, and had
+attracted his attention first, by the long, old-fashioned duster which
+the gentleman wore, and secondly, by the pains they both took not to be
+observed by any one. The woman was veiled, as had already been said, and
+the man held his package in such a way as to shield his face entirely
+from observation.
+
+"So that you would not know him if you saw him again?" asked the
+Coroner.
+
+"Exactly, sir," was the uncomprising answer.
+
+As he sat down, the Coroner observed: "You will note from this
+testimony, gentlemen, that this couple, signing themselves Mr. and Mrs.
+James Pope of Philadelphia, left this house dressed each in a long
+garment eminently fitted for purposes of concealment,--he in a linen
+duster, and she in a gossamer. Let us now follow this couple a little
+farther and see what became of these disguising articles of apparel. Is
+Seth Brown here?"
+
+A man, who was so evidently a hackman that it seemed superfluous to ask
+him what his occupation was, shuffled forward at this.
+
+It was in his hack that this couple had left the D----. He remembered
+them very well as he had good reason to. First, because the man paid him
+before entering the carriage, saying that he was to let them out at the
+northwest corner of Madison Square, and secondly----But here the Coroner
+interrupted him to ask if he had seen the gentleman's face when he paid
+him. The answer was, as might have been expected, No. It was dark, and
+he had not turned his head.
+
+"Didn't you think it queer to be paid before you reached your
+destination?"
+
+"Yes, but the rest was queerer. After I had taken the money--I never
+refuses money, sir--and was expecting him to get into the hack, he steps
+up to me again and says in a lower tone than before: 'My wife is very
+nervous. Drive slow, if you please, and when you reach the place I have
+named, watch your horses carefully, for if they should move while she is
+getting out, the shock would throw her into a spasm.' As she had looked
+very pert and lively, I thought this mighty queer, and I tried to get a
+peep at his face, but he was too smart for me, and was in the carriage
+before I could clap my eye on him."
+
+"But you were more fortunate when they got out? You surely saw one or
+both of them then?"
+
+"No, sir, I didn't. I had to watch the horses' heads, you know. I
+shouldn't like to be the cause of a young lady having a spasm."
+
+"Do you know in what direction they went?"
+
+"East, I should say. I heard them laughing long after I had whipped up
+my horses. A queer couple, sir, that puzzled me some, though I should
+not have thought of them twice if I had not found next day----"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"The gentleman's linen duster and the neat brown gossamer which the lady
+had worn, lying folded under the two back cushions of my hack; a present
+for which I was very much obliged to them, but which I was not long
+allowed to enjoy, for yesterday the police----"
+
+"Well, well, no matter about that. Here is a duster and here is a brown
+gossamer. Are these the articles you found under your cushions?"
+
+"If you will examine the neck of the lady's gossamer, you can soon tell,
+sir. There was a small hole in the one I found, as if something had been
+snipped out of it; the owner's name, most likely."
+
+"Or the name of the place where it was bought," suggested the Coroner,
+holding the garment up to view so as to reveal a square hole under the
+collar.
+
+"That's it!" cried the hackman. "That's the very one. Shame, I say, to
+spoil a new garment that way."
+
+"Why do you call it new?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Because it hasn't a mud spot or even a mark of dust upon it. We looked
+it all over, my wife and I, and decided it had not been long off the
+shelf. A pretty good haul for a poor man like me, and if the police----"
+
+But here he was cut short again by an important question:
+
+"There is a clock but a short distance from the place where you
+stopped. Did you notice what time it was when you drove away?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I don't know why I remember it, but I do. As I turned to go
+back to the hotel, I looked up at this clock. It was half-past eleven."
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE KEYS.
+
+
+We were all by this time greatly interested in the proceedings; and when
+another hackman was called we recognized at once that an effort was
+about to be made to connect this couple with the one who had alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's door.
+
+The witness, who was a melancholy chap, kept his stand on the east side
+of the Square. At about twenty minutes to twelve, he was awakened from a
+nap he had been taking on the top of his coach, by a sharp rap on his
+whip arm, and looking down, he saw a lady and gentleman standing at the
+door of his vehicle.
+
+"We want to go to Gramercy Park," said the lady. "Drive us there at
+once."
+
+"I nodded, for what is the use of wasting words when it can be avoided;
+and they stepped at once into the coach."
+
+"Can you describe them--tell us how they looked?"
+
+"I never notice people; besides, it was dark; but he had a swell air,
+and she was pert and merry, for she laughed as she closed the door."
+
+"Can't you remember how they were dressed?"
+
+"No, sir; she had on something that flapped about her shoulders, and he
+had a dark hat on his head, but that was all I saw."
+
+"Didn't you see his face?"
+
+"Not a bit of it; he kept it turned away. He didn't want nobody looking
+at _him_. She did all the business."
+
+"Then you saw _her_ face?"
+
+"Yes, for a minute. But I wouldn't know it again. She was young and
+purty, and her hand which dropped the money into mine was small, but I
+couldn't say no more, not if you was to give me the town."
+
+"Did you know that the house you stopped at was Mr. Van Burnam's, and
+that it was supposed to be empty?"
+
+"No, sir, I'm not one of the swell ones. My acquaintances live in
+another part of the town."
+
+"But you noticed that the house was dark?"
+
+"I may have. I don't know."
+
+"And that is all you have to tell us about them?"
+
+"No, sir; the next morning, which was yesterday, sir, as I was a-dusting
+out the coach I found under the cushions a large blue veil, folded and
+lying very flat. But it had been slit with a knife and could not be
+worn."
+
+This was strange too, and while more than one person about me ventured
+an opinion, I muttered to myself, "James Pope, his mark!" astonished at
+a coincidence which so completely connected the occupants of the two
+coaches.
+
+But the Coroner was able to produce a witness whose evidence carried the
+matter on still farther. A policeman in full uniform testified next, and
+after explaining that his beat led him from Madison Avenue to Third on
+Twenty-seventh Street, went on to say that as he was coming up this
+street on Tuesday evening some few minutes before midnight, he
+encountered, somewhere between Lexington Avenue and Third, a man and
+woman walking rapidly towards the latter avenue, each carrying a parcel
+of some dimensions; that he noted them because they seemed so merry, but
+would have thought nothing of it, if he had not presently perceived them
+coming back without the parcels. They were chatting more gaily than
+ever. The lady wore a short cape, and the gentleman a dark coat, but he
+could give no other description of their appearance, for they went by
+rapidly, and he was more interested in wondering what they had done with
+such large parcels in such a short time at that hour of night, than in
+noting how they looked or whither they were going. He did observe,
+however, that they proceeded towards Madison Square, and remembers now
+that he heard a carriage suddenly drive away from that direction.
+
+The Coroner asked him but one question:
+
+"Had the lady no parcel when you saw her last?"
+
+"I saw none."
+
+"Could she not have carried one under her cape?"
+
+"Perhaps, if it was small enough."
+
+"As small as a lady's hat, say?"
+
+"Well, it would have to be smaller than some of them are now, sir."
+
+And so terminated this portion of the inquiry.
+
+A short delay followed the withdrawal of this witness. The Coroner, who
+was a somewhat portly man, and who had felt the heat of the day very
+much, leaned back and looked anxious, while the jury, always restless,
+moved in their seats like a set of school-boys, and seemed to long for
+the hour of adjournment, notwithstanding the interest which everybody
+but themselves seemed to take in this exciting investigation.
+
+Finally an officer, who had been sent into the adjoining room, came back
+with a gentleman, who was no sooner recognized as Mr. Franklin Van
+Burnam than a great change took place in the countenances of all
+present. The Coroner sat forward and dropped the large palm-leaf fan he
+had been industriously using for the last few minutes, the jury settled
+down, and the whispering of the many curious ones about me grew less
+audible and finally ceased altogether. A gentleman of the family was
+about to be interrogated, and such a gentleman!
+
+I have purposely refrained from describing this best known and best
+reputed member of the Van Burnam family, foreseeing this hour when he
+would attract the attention of a hundred eyes and when his appearance
+would require our special notice. I will therefore endeavor to picture
+him to you as he looked on this memorable morning, with just the simple
+warning that you must not expect me to see with the eyes of a young girl
+or even with those of a fashionable society woman. I know a man when I
+see him, and I had always regarded Mr. Franklin as an exceptionally
+fine-looking and prepossessing gentleman, but I shall not go into
+raptures, as I heard a girl behind me doing, nor do I feel like
+acknowledging him as a paragon of all the virtues--as Mrs. Cunningham
+did that evening in my parlor.
+
+He is a medium-sized man, with a shape not unlike his brother's. His
+hair is dark and so are his eyes, but his moustache is brown and his
+complexion quite fair. He carries himself with distinction, and though
+his countenance in repose has a precise air that is not perfectly
+agreeable, it has, when he speaks or smiles, an expression at once keen
+and amiable.
+
+On this occasion he failed to smile, and though his elegance was
+sufficiently apparent, his worth was not so much so. Yet the impression
+generally made was favorable, as one could perceive from the air of
+respect with which his testimony was received.
+
+He was asked many questions. Some were germane to the matter in hand and
+some seemed to strike wide of all mark. He answered them all
+courteously, showing a manly composure in doing so, that served to calm
+the fever-heat into which many had been thrown by the stories of the two
+hackmen. But as his evidence up to this point related merely to minor
+concerns, this was neither strange nor conclusive. The real test began
+when the Coroner, with a certain bluster, which may have been meant to
+attract the attention of the jury, now visibly waning, or, as was more
+likely, may have been the unconscious expression of a secret if hitherto
+well concealed embarrassment, asked the witness whether the keys to his
+father's front door had any duplicates.
+
+The answer came in a decidedly changed tone. "No. The key used by our
+agent opens the basement door only."
+
+The Coroner showed his satisfaction. "No duplicates," he repeated; "then
+you will have no difficulty in telling us where the keys to your
+father's front door were kept during the family's absence."
+
+Did the young man hesitate, or was it but imagination on my part--"They
+were usually in my possession."
+
+"Usually!" There was irony in the tone; evidently the Coroner was
+getting the better of his embarrassment, if he had felt any. "And where
+were they on the seventeenth of this month? Were they in your possession
+then?"
+
+"No, sir." The young man tried to look calm and at his ease, but the
+difficulty he felt in doing so was apparent. "On the morning of that
+day," he continued, "I passed them over to my brother."
+
+Ah! here was something tangible as well as important. I began to fear
+the police understood themselves only too well; and so did the whole
+crowd of persons there assembled. A groan in one direction was answered
+by a sigh in another, and it needed all the Coroner's authority to
+prevent an outbreak.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Van Burnam stood erect and unwavering, though his eye
+showed the suffering which these demonstrations awakened. He did not
+turn in the direction of the room where we felt sure his family was
+gathered, but it was evident that his thoughts did, and that most
+painfully. The Coroner, on the contrary, showed little or no feeling; he
+had brought the investigation up to this critical point and felt fully
+competent to carry it farther.
+
+"May I ask," said he, "where the transference of these keys took place?"
+
+"I gave them to him in our office last Tuesday morning. He said he might
+want to go into the house before his father came home."
+
+"Did he say why he wanted to go into the house?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was he in the habit of going into it alone and during the family's
+absence?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Had he any clothes there? or any articles belonging to himself or his
+wife which he would be likely to wish to carry away?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Yet he wanted to go in?"
+
+"He said so."
+
+"And you gave him the keys without question?"
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+"Was that not opposed to your usual principles--to your way of doing
+things, I should say?"
+
+"Perhaps; but principles, by which I suppose you mean my usual business
+methods, do not govern me in my relations with my brother. He asked me a
+favor, and I granted it. It would have to have been a much larger one
+for me to have asked an explanation from him before doing so."
+
+"Yet you are not on good terms with your brother; at least you have not
+had the name of being, for some time?"
+
+"We have had no quarrel."
+
+"Did he return the keys you lent him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Have you seen them since?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Would you know them if they were shown you?"
+
+"I would know them if they unlocked our front door."
+
+"But you would not know them on sight?"
+
+"I don't think so."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, it is disagreeable for me to go into family matters,
+but if you have had no quarrel with your brother, how comes it that you
+and he have had so little intercourse of late?"
+
+"He has been in Connecticut and I at Long Branch. Is not that a good
+answer, sir?"
+
+"Good, but not good enough. You have a common office in New York, have
+you not?"
+
+"Certainly, the firm's office."
+
+"And you sometimes meet there, even while residing in different
+localities?"
+
+"Yes, our business calls us in at times and then we meet, of course."
+
+"Do you talk when you meet?"
+
+"Talk?"
+
+"Of other matters besides business, I mean. Are your relations friendly?
+Do you show the same spirit towards each other as you did three years
+ago, say?"
+
+"We are older; perhaps we are not quite so voluble."
+
+"But do you feel the same?"
+
+"No. I see you will have it, and so I will no longer hold back the
+truth. We are not as brotherly in our intercourse as we used to be; but
+there is no animosity between us. I have a decided regard for my
+brother."
+
+This was said quite nobly, and I liked him for it, but I began to feel
+that perhaps it had been for the best after all that I had never been
+intimate with the family. But I must not forestall either events or my
+opinions.
+
+"Is there any reason"--it is the Coroner, of course, who is
+speaking--"why there should be any falling off in your mutual
+confidence? Has your brother done anything to displease you?"
+
+"We did not like his marriage."
+
+"Was it an unhappy one?"
+
+"It was not a suitable one."
+
+"Did you know Mrs. Van Burnam well, that you say this?"
+
+"Yes, I knew her, but the rest of the family did not."
+
+"Yet they shared in your disapprobation?"
+
+"They felt the marriage more than I did. The lady--excuse me, I never
+like to speak ill of the sex--was not lacking in good sense or virtue,
+but she was not the person we had a right to expect Howard to marry."
+
+"And you let him see that you thought so?"
+
+"How could we do otherwise?"
+
+"Even after she had been his wife for some months?"
+
+"We could not like her."
+
+"Did your brother--I am sorry to press this matter--ever show that he
+felt your change of conduct towards him?"
+
+"I find it equally hard to answer," was the quick reply. "My brother is
+of an affectionate nature, and he has some, if not all, of the family's
+pride. I think he did feel it, though he never said so. He is not
+without loyalty to his wife."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, of whom does the firm doing business under the name of
+Van Burnam & Sons consist?"
+
+"Of the three persons mentioned."
+
+"No others?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Has there ever been in your hearing any threat made by the senior
+partner of dissolving this firm as it stands?"
+
+"I have heard"--I felt sorry for this strong but far from heartless man,
+but I would not have stopped the inquiry at this point if I could; I
+was far too curious--"I have heard my father say that he would withdraw
+if Howard did not. Whether he would have done so, I consider open to
+doubt. My father is a just man and never fails to do the right thing,
+though he sometimes speaks with unnecessary harshness."
+
+"He made the threat, however?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And Howard heard it?"
+
+"Or of it; I cannot say which."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, have you noticed any change in your brother since this
+threat was uttered?"
+
+"How, sir; what change?"
+
+"In his treatment of his wife, or in his attitude towards yourself?"
+
+"I have not seen him in the company of his wife since they went to
+Haddam. As for his conduct towards myself, I can say no more than I have
+already. We have never forgotten that we are children of one mother."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, how many times have you seen Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"Several. More frequently before they were married than since."
+
+"You were in your brother's confidence, then, at that time; knew he was
+contemplating marriage?"
+
+"It was in my endeavors to prevent the match that I saw so much of Miss
+Louise Stapleton."
+
+"Ah! I am glad of the explanation! I was just going to inquire why you,
+of all members of the family, were the only one to know your brother's
+wife by sight."
+
+The witness, considering this question answered, made no reply. But the
+next suggestion could not be passed over.
+
+"If you saw Mrs. Van Burnam so often, you are acquainted with her
+personal appearance?"
+
+"Sufficiently so; as well as I know that of my ordinary
+calling-acquaintance."
+
+"Was she light or dark?"
+
+"She had brown hair."
+
+"Similar to this?"
+
+The lock held up was the one which had been cut from the head of the
+dead girl.
+
+"Yes, somewhat similar to that." The tone was cold; but he could not
+hide his distress.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, have you looked well at the woman who was found
+murdered in your father's house?"
+
+"I have, sir."
+
+"Is there anything in her general outline or in such features as have
+escaped disfigurement to remind you of Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"I may have thought so--at first glance," he replied, with decided
+effort.
+
+"And did you change your mind at the second?"
+
+He looked troubled, but answered firmly: "No, I cannot say that I did.
+But you must not regard my opinion as conclusive," he hastily added. "My
+knowledge of the lady was comparatively slight."
+
+"The jury will take that into account. All we want to know now is
+whether you can assert from any knowledge you have or from anything to
+be noted in the body itself, that it is not Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"I cannot."
+
+And with this solemn assertion his examination closed.
+
+The remainder of the day was taken up in trying to prove a similarity
+between Mrs. Van Burnam's handwriting and that of Mrs. James Pope as
+seen in the register of the Hotel D---- and on the order sent to
+Altman's. But the only conclusion reached was that the latter might be
+the former disguised, and even on this point the experts differed.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+HOWARD VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+The gentleman who stepped from the carriage and entered Mr. Van Burnam's
+house at twelve o'clock that night produced so little impression upon me
+that I went to bed satisfied that no result would follow these efforts
+at identification.
+
+And so I told Mr. Gryce when he arrived next morning. But he seemed by
+no means disconcerted, and merely requested that I would submit to one
+more trial. To which I gave my consent, and he departed.
+
+I could have asked him a string of questions, but his manner did not
+invite them, and for some reason I was too wary to show an interest in
+this tragedy superior to that felt by every right-thinking person
+connected with it.
+
+At ten o'clock I was in my old seat in the court-room. The same crowd
+with different faces confronted me, amid which the twelve stolid
+countenances of the jury looked like old friends. Howard Van Burnam was
+the witness called, and as he came forward and stood in full view of us
+all, the interest of the occasion reached its climax.
+
+His countenance wore a reckless look that did not serve to prepossess
+him with the people at whose mercy he stood. But he did not seem to
+care, and waited for the Coroner's questions with an air of ease which
+was in direct contrast to the drawn and troubled faces of his father and
+brother just visible in the background.
+
+Coroner Dahl surveyed him a few minutes before speaking, then he quietly
+asked if he had seen the dead body of the woman who had been found lying
+under a fallen piece of furniture in his father's house.
+
+He replied that he had.
+
+"Before she was removed from the house or after it?"
+
+"After."
+
+"Did you recognize it? Was it the body of any one you know?"
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"Has your wife, who was missing yesterday, been heard from yet, Mr. Van
+Burnam?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge, sir."
+
+"Had she not--that is, your wife--a complexion similar to that of the
+dead woman just alluded to?"
+
+"She had a fair skin and brown hair, if that is what you mean. But these
+attributes are common to too many women for me to give them any weight
+in an attempted identification of this importance."
+
+"Had they no other similar points of a less general character? Was not
+your wife of a slight and graceful build, such as is attributed to the
+subject of this inquiry?"
+
+"My wife was slight and she was graceful, common attributes also."
+
+"And your wife had a scar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"On the left ankle?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Which the deceased also has?"
+
+"That I do not know. They say so, but I had no interest in looking."
+
+"Why, may I ask? Did you not think it a remarkable coincidence?"
+
+The young man frowned. It was the first token of feeling he had given.
+
+"I was not on the look-out for coincidences," was his cold reply. "I had
+no reason to think this unhappy victim of an unknown man's brutality my
+wife, and so did not allow myself to be moved by even such a fact as
+this."
+
+"You had no reason," repeated the Coroner, "to think this woman your
+wife. Had you any reason to think she was not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will you give us that reason?"
+
+"I had more than one. First, my wife would never wear the clothes I saw
+on the girl whose dead body was shown to me. Secondly, she would never
+go to any house alone with a man at the hour testified to by one of your
+witnesses."[A]
+
+"Not with any man?"
+
+"I did not mean to include her husband in my remark, of course. But as I
+did not take her to Gramercy Park, the fact that the deceased woman
+entered an empty house accompanied by a man, is proof enough to me that
+she was not Louise Van Burnam."
+
+"When did you part with your wife?"
+
+"On Monday morning at the depot in Haddam."
+
+"Did you know where she was going?"
+
+"I knew where she said she was going."
+
+"And where was that, may I ask?"
+
+"To New York, to interview my father."
+
+"But your father was not in New York?"
+
+"He was daily expected here. The steamer on which he had sailed from
+Southampton was due on Tuesday."
+
+"Had she an interest in seeing your father? Was there any special reason
+why she should leave you for doing so?"
+
+"She thought so; she thought he would become reconciled to her entrance
+into our family if he should see her suddenly and without prejudiced
+persons standing by."
+
+"And did you fear to mar the effect of this meeting if you accompanied
+her?"
+
+"No, for I doubted if the meeting would ever take place. I had no
+sympathy with her schemes, and did not wish to give her the sanction of
+my presence."
+
+"Was that the reason you let her go to New York alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Had you no other?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why did you follow her, then, in less than five hours?"
+
+"Because I was uneasy; because I also wanted to see my father; because I
+am a man accustomed to carry out every impulse; and impulse led me that
+day in the direction of my somewhat headstrong wife."
+
+"Did you know where your wife intended to spend the night?"
+
+"I did not. She has many friends, or at least I have, in the city, and I
+concluded she would go to one of them--as she did."
+
+"When did you arrive in the city? before ten o'clock?"
+
+"Yes, a few minutes before."
+
+"Did you try to find your wife?"
+
+"No. I went directly to the club."
+
+"Did you try to find her the next morning?"
+
+"No; I had heard that the steamer had not yet been sighted off Fire
+Island, so considered the effort unnecessary."
+
+"Why? What connection is there between this fact and an endeavor on your
+part to find your wife?"
+
+"A very close one. She had come to New York to throw herself at my
+father's feet. Now she could only do this at the steamer or in----"
+
+"Why do you not proceed, Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"I will. I do not know why I stopped,--or in his own house."
+
+"In his own house? In the house in Gramercy Park, do you mean?"
+
+"Yes, he has no other."
+
+"The house in which this dead girl was found?"
+
+"Yes,"--impatiently.
+
+"Did you think she might throw herself at his feet there?"
+
+"She said she might; and as she is romantic, foolishly romantic, I
+thought her fully capable of doing so."
+
+"And so you did not seek her in the morning?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"How about the afternoon?"
+
+This was a close question; we saw that he was affected by it though he
+tried to carry it off bravely.
+
+"I did not see her in the afternoon. I was in a restless frame of mind,
+and did not remain in the city."
+
+"Ah! indeed! and where did you go?"
+
+"Unless necessary, I prefer not to say."
+
+"It is necessary."
+
+"I went to Coney Island."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you see anybody there you know?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And when did you return?"
+
+"At midnight."
+
+"When did you reach your rooms?"
+
+"Later."
+
+"How much later?"
+
+"Two or three hours."
+
+"And where were you during those hours?"
+
+"I was walking the streets."
+
+The ease, the quietness with which he made these acknowledgments were
+remarkable. The jury to a man honored him with a prolonged stare, and
+the awe-struck crowd scarcely breathed during their utterance. At the
+last sentence a murmur broke out, at which he raised his head and with
+an air of surprise surveyed the people before him. Though he must have
+known what their astonishment meant, he neither quailed nor blanched,
+and while not in reality a handsome man, he certainly looked handsome at
+this moment.
+
+I did not know what to think; so forbore to think anything. Meanwhile
+the examination went on.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that the locket I see there dangling
+from your watch-chain contains a lock of your wife's hair. Is it so?"
+
+"I have a lock of her hair in this; yes."
+
+"Here is a lock clipped from the head of the unknown woman whose
+identity we seek. Have you any objection to comparing the two?"
+
+"It is not an agreeable task you have set me," was the imperturbable
+response; "but I have no objection to doing what you ask." And calmly
+lifting the chain, he took off the locket, opened it, and held it out
+courteously toward the Coroner. "May I ask you to make the first
+comparison," he said.
+
+The Coroner, taking the locket, laid the two locks of brown hair
+together, and after a moment's contemplation of them both, surveyed the
+young man seriously, and remarked:
+
+"They are of the same shade. Shall I pass them down to the jury?"
+
+Howard bowed. You would have thought he was in a drawing-room, and in
+the act of bestowing a favor. But his brother Franklin showed a very
+different countenance, and as for their father, one could not even see
+his face, he so persistently held up his hand before it.
+
+The jury, wide-awake now, passed the locket along, with many sly nods
+and a few whispered words. When it came back to the Coroner, he took it
+and handed it to Mr. Van Burnam, saying:
+
+"I wish you would observe the similarity for yourself. I can hardly
+detect any difference between them."
+
+"Thank you! I am willing to take your word for it," replied the young
+man, with most astonishing _aplomb_. And Coroner and jury for a moment
+looked baffled, and even Mr. Gryce, of whose face I caught a passing
+glimpse at this instant, stared at the head of his cane, as if it were
+of thicker wood than he expected and had more knotty points on it than
+even his accustomed hand liked to encounter.
+
+Another effort was not out of place, however; and the Coroner, summoning
+up some of the pompous severity he found useful at times, asked the
+witness if his attention had been drawn to the dead woman's hands.
+
+He acknowledged that it had. "The physician who made the autopsy urged
+me to look at them, and I did; they were certainly very like my wife's."
+
+"Only like."
+
+"I cannot say that they were my wife's. Do you wish me to perjure
+myself?"
+
+"A man should know his wife's hands as well as he knows her face."
+
+"Very likely."
+
+"And you are ready to swear these were not the hands of your wife?"
+
+"I am ready to swear I did not so consider them."
+
+"And that is all?"
+
+"That is all."
+
+The Coroner frowned and cast a glance at the jury. They needed prodding
+now and then, and this is the way he prodded them. As soon as they gave
+signs of recognizing the hint he gave them, he turned back, and renewed
+his examination in these words:
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, did your brother at your request hand you the keys of
+your father's house on the morning of the day on which this tragedy
+occurred?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Have you those keys now?"
+
+"I have not."
+
+"What have you done with them? Did you return them to your brother?"
+
+"No; I see where your inquiries are tending, and I do not suppose you
+will believe my simple word; but I lost the keys on the day I received
+them; that is why----"
+
+"Well, you may continue, Mr. Van Burnam."
+
+"I have no more to say; my sentence was not worth completing."
+
+The murmur which rose about him seemed to show dissatisfaction; but he
+remained imperturbable, or rather like a man who did not hear. I began
+to feel a most painful interest in the inquiry, and dreaded, while I
+anxiously anticipated, his further examination.
+
+"You lost the keys; may I ask when and where?"
+
+"That I do not know; they were missing when I searched for them; missing
+from my pocket, I mean."
+
+"Ah! and when did you search for them?"
+
+"The next day--after I had heard--of--of what had taken place in my
+father's house."
+
+The hesitations were those of a man weighing his reply. They told on the
+jury, as all such hesitations do; and made the Coroner lose an atom of
+the respect he had hitherto shown this easy-going witness.
+
+"And you do not know what became of them?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Or into whose hands they fell?"
+
+"No, but probably into the hands of the wretch----"
+
+To the astonishment of everybody he was on the verge of vehemence; but
+becoming sensible of it, he controlled himself with a suddenness that
+was almost shocking.
+
+"Find the murderer of this poor girl," said he, with a quiet air that
+was more thrilling than any display of passion, "and ask _him_ where he
+got the keys with which he opened the door of my father's house at
+midnight."
+
+Was this a challenge, or just the natural outburst of an innocent man.
+Neither the jury nor the Coroner seemed to know, the former looking
+startled and the latter nonplussed. But Mr. Gryce, who had moved now
+into view, smoothed the head of his cane with quite a loving touch, and
+did not seem at this moment to feel its inequalities objectionable.
+
+"We will certainly try to follow your advice," the Coroner assured him.
+"Meanwhile we must ask how many rings your wife is in the habit of
+wearing?"
+
+"Five. Two on the left hand and three on the right."
+
+"Do you know these rings?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Better than you know her hands?"
+
+"As well, sir."
+
+"Were they on her hands when you parted from her in Haddam?"
+
+"They were."
+
+"Did she always wear them?"
+
+"Almost always. Indeed I do not ever remember seeing her take off more
+than one of them."
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"The ruby with the diamond setting."
+
+"Had the dead girl any rings on when you saw her?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did you look to see?"
+
+"I think I did in the first shock of the discovery."
+
+"And you saw none?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"And from this you concluded she was not your wife?"
+
+"From this and other things."
+
+"Yet you must have seen that the woman was in the habit of wearing
+rings, even if they were not on her hands at that moment?"
+
+"Why, sir? What should I know about her habits?"
+
+"Is not that a ring I see now on your little finger?"
+
+"It is; my seal ring which I always wear."
+
+"Will you pull it off?"
+
+"Pull it off!"
+
+"If you please; it is a simple test I am requiring of you, sir."
+
+The witness looked astonished, but pulled off the ring at once.
+
+"Here it is," said he.
+
+"Thank you, but I do not want it. I merely want you to look at your
+finger."
+
+The witness complied, evidently more nonplussed than disturbed by this
+command.
+
+"Do you see any difference between that finger and the one next it?"
+
+"Yes; there is a mark about my little finger showing where the ring has
+pressed."
+
+"Very good; there were such marks on the fingers of the dead girl, who,
+as you say, had no rings on. I saw them, and perhaps you did yourself?"
+
+"I did not; I did not look closely enough."
+
+"They were on the little finger of the right hand, on the marriage
+finger of the left, and on the forefinger of the same. On which fingers
+did your wife wear rings?"
+
+"On those same fingers, sir, but I will not accept this fact as proving
+her identity with the deceased. Most women do wear rings, and on those
+very fingers."
+
+The Coroner was nettled, but he was not discouraged. He exchanged looks
+with Mr. Gryce, but nothing further passed between them and we were left
+to conjecture what this interchange of glances meant.
+
+The witness, who did not seem to be affected either by the character of
+this examination or by the conjectures to which it gave rise, preserved
+his _sang-froid_, and eyed the Coroner as he might any other questioner,
+with suitable respect, but with no fear and but little impatience. And
+yet he must have known the horrible suspicion darkening the minds of
+many people present, and suspected, even if against his will, that this
+examination, significant as it was, was but the forerunner of another
+and yet more serious one.
+
+"You are very determined," remarked the Coroner in beginning again, "not
+to accept the very substantial proofs presented you of the identity
+between the object of this inquiry and your missing wife. But we are not
+yet ready to give up the struggle, and so I must ask if you heard the
+description given by Miss Ferguson of the manner in which your wife was
+dressed on leaving Haddam?
+
+"I have."
+
+"Was it a correct account? Did she wear a black and white plaid silk and
+a hat trimmed with various colored ribbons and flowers?"
+
+"She did."
+
+"Do you remember the hat? Were you with her when she bought it, or did
+you ever have your attention drawn to it in any particular way?"
+
+"I remember the hat."
+
+"Is this it, Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+I was watching Howard, and the start he gave was so pronounced and the
+emotion he displayed was in such violent contrast to the self-possession
+he had maintained up to this point, that I was held spell-bound by the
+shock I received, and forebore to look at the object which the Coroner
+had suddenly held up for inspection. But when I did turn my head towards
+it, I recognized at once the multi-colored hat which Mr. Gryce had
+brought in from the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house on the evening
+I was there, and realized almost in the same breath that great as this
+mystery had hitherto seemed it was likely to prove yet greater before
+its proper elucidation was arrived at.
+
+"Was that found in my father's house? Where--where was that hat found?"
+stammered the witness, so far forgetting himself as to point towards the
+object in question.
+
+"It was found by Mr. Gryce in a closet off your father's dining-room, a
+short time after the dead girl was carried out."
+
+"I don't believe it," vociferated the young man, paling with something
+more than anger, and shaking from head to foot.
+
+"Shall I put Mr. Gryce on his oath again?" asked the Coroner, mildly.
+
+The young man stared; evidently these words failed to reach his
+understanding.
+
+"_Is_ it your wife's hat?" persisted the Coroner with very little
+mercy. "Do you recognize it for the one in which she left Haddam?"
+
+"Would to God I did not!" burst in vehement distress from the witness,
+who at the next moment broke down altogether and looked about for the
+support of his brother's arm.
+
+Franklin came forward, and the two brothers stood for a moment in the
+face of the whole surging mass of curiosity-mongers before them, arm in
+arm, but with very different expressions on their two proud faces.
+Howard was the first to speak.
+
+"If that was found in the parlors of my father's house," he cried, "then
+the woman who was killed there was my wife." And he started away with a
+wild air towards the door.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked the Coroner, quietly, while an officer
+stepped softly before him, and his brother compassionately drew him back
+by the arm.
+
+"I am going to take her from that horrible place; she is my wife.
+Father, you would not wish her to remain in that spot for another
+moment, would you, while we have a house we call our own?"
+
+Mr. Van Burnam the senior, who had shrunk as far from sight as possible
+through these painful demonstrations, rose up at these words from his
+agonized son, and making him an encouraging gesture, walked hastily out
+of the room; seeing which, the young man became calmer, and though he
+did not cease to shudder, tried to restrain his first grief, which to
+those who looked closely at him was evidently very sincere.
+
+"I would not believe it was she," he cried, in total disregard of the
+presence he was in, "I _would not_ believe it; but now----" A certain
+pitiful gesture finished the sentence, and neither Coroner nor jury
+seemed to know just how to proceed, the conduct of the young man being
+so markedly different from what they had expected. After a short pause,
+painful enough to all concerned, the Coroner, perceiving that very
+little could be done with the witness under the circumstances, adjourned
+the sitting till afternoon.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote A: Why could he not have said Miss Butterworth? These Van
+Burnams are proud, most vilely proud as the poet has it.--A. B.]
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+A SERIOUS ADMISSION.
+
+
+I went at once to a restaurant. I ate because it was time to eat, and
+because any occupation was welcome that would pass away the hours of
+waiting. I was troubled; and I did not know what to make of myself. I
+was no friend to the Van Burnams; I did not like them, and certainly had
+never approved of any of them but Mr. Franklin, and yet I found myself
+altogether disturbed over the morning's developments, Howard's emotion
+having appealed to me in spite of my prejudices. I could not but think
+ill of him, his conduct not being such as I could honestly commend. But
+I found myself more ready to listen to the involuntary pleadings of my
+own heart in his behalf than I had been prior to his testimony and its
+somewhat startling termination.
+
+But they were not through with him yet, and after the longest three
+hours I ever passed, we were again convened before the Coroner.
+
+I saw Howard as soon as anybody did. He came in, arm in arm as before,
+with his faithful brother, and sat down in a retired corner behind the
+Coroner. But he was soon called forward.
+
+His face when the light fell on it was startling to most of us. It was
+as much changed as if years, instead of hours, had elapsed since last
+we saw it. No longer reckless in its expression, nor easy, nor politely
+patient, it showed in its every lineament that he had not only passed
+through a hurricane of passion, but that the bitterness, which had been
+its worst feature, had not passed with the storm, but had settled into
+the core of his nature, disturbing its equilibrium forever. My emotions
+were not allayed by the sight; but I kept all expression of them out of
+view. I must be sure of his integrity before giving rein to my
+sympathies.
+
+The jury moved and sat up quite alert when they saw him. I think that if
+these especial twelve men could have a murder case to investigate every
+day, they would grow quite wide-awake in time. Mr. Van Burnam made no
+demonstration. Evidently there was not likely to be a repetition of the
+morning's display of passion. He had been iron in his impassibility at
+that time, but he was steel now, and steel which had been through the
+fiercest of fires.
+
+The opening question of the Coroner showed by what experience these
+fires had been kindled.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that you have visited the Morgue in
+the interim which has elapsed since I last questioned you. Is that
+true?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Did you, in the opportunity thus afforded, examine the remains of the
+woman whose death we are investigating, attentively enough to enable you
+to say now whether they are those of your missing wife?"
+
+"I have. The body is that of Louise Van Burnam; I crave your pardon and
+that of the jury for my former obstinacy in refusing to recognize it. I
+thought myself fully justified in the stand I took. I see now that I
+was not."
+
+The Coroner made no answer. There was no sympathy between him and this
+young man. Yet he did not fail in a decent show of respect; perhaps
+because he did feel some sympathy for the witness's unhappy father and
+brother.
+
+"You then acknowledge the victim to have been your wife?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"It is a point gained, and I compliment the jury upon it. We can now
+proceed to settle, if possible, the identity of the person who
+accompanied Mrs. Van Burnam into your father's house."
+
+"Wait," cried Mr. Van Burnam, with a strange air, "_I acknowledge I was
+that person_."
+
+It was coolly, almost fiercely said, but it was an admission that
+wellnigh created a hubbub. Even the Coroner seemed moved, and cast a
+glance at Mr. Gryce which showed his surprise to be greater than his
+discretion.
+
+"You acknowledge," he began--but the witness did not let him finish.
+
+"I acknowledge that I was the person who accompanied her into that empty
+house; but I do not acknowledge that I killed her. She was alive and
+well when I left her, difficult as it is for me to prove it. It was the
+realization of this difficulty which made me perjure myself this
+morning."
+
+"So," murmured the Coroner, with another glance at Mr. Gryce, "you
+acknowledge that you perjured yourself. Will the room be quiet!"
+
+But the lull came slowly. The contrast between the appearance of this
+elegant young man and the significant admissions he had just made
+(admissions which to three quarters of the persons there meant more,
+much more, than he acknowledged), was certainly such as to provoke
+interest of the deepest kind. I felt like giving rein to my own
+feelings, and was not surprised at the patience shown by the Coroner.
+But order was restored at last, and the inquiry proceeded.
+
+"We are then to consider the testimony given by you this morning as null
+and void?"
+
+"Yes, so far as it contradicts what I have just stated."
+
+"Ah, then you will no doubt be willing to give us your evidence again?"
+
+"Certainly, if you will be so kind as to question me."
+
+"Very well; where did your wife and yourself first meet after your
+arrival in New York?"
+
+"In the street near my office. She was coming to see me, but I prevailed
+upon her to go uptown."
+
+"What time was this?"
+
+"After ten and before noon. I cannot give the exact hour."
+
+"And where did you go?"
+
+"To a hotel on Broadway; you have already heard of our visit there."
+
+"You are, then, the Mr. James Pope, whose wife registered in the books
+of the Hotel D---- on the seventeenth of this month?"
+
+"I have said so."
+
+"And may I ask for what purpose you used this disguise, and allowed your
+wife to sign a wrong name?"
+
+"To satisfy a freak. She considered it the best way of covering up a
+scheme she had formed; which was to awaken the interest of my father
+under the name and appearance of a stranger, and not to inform him who
+she was till he had given some evidence of partiality for her."
+
+"Ah, but for such an end was it necessary for her to assume a strange
+name before she saw your father, and for you both to conduct yourselves
+in the mysterious way you did all that day and evening?"
+
+"I do not know. She thought so, and I humored her. I was tired of
+working against her, and was willing she should have her own way for a
+time."
+
+"And for this reason you let her fit herself out with clothes down to
+her very undergarments?"
+
+"Yes; strange as it may seem, I was just such a fool. I had entered into
+her scheme, and the means she took to change her personality only amused
+me. She wished to present herself to my father as a girl obliged to work
+for her living, and was too shrewd to excite suspicion in the minds of
+any of the family by any undue luxury in her apparel. At least that was
+the excuse she gave me for the precautions she took, though I think the
+delight she experienced in anything romantic and unusual had as much to
+do with it as anything else. She enjoyed the game she was playing, and
+wished to make as much of it as possible."
+
+"Were her own garments much richer than those she ordered from
+Altman's?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. Mrs. Van Burnam wore nothing made by American
+seamstresses. Fine clothes were her weakness."
+
+"I see, I see; but why such an attempt on your part to keep yourself in
+the background? Why let your wife write your assumed names in the hotel
+register, for instance, instead of doing it yourself?"
+
+"It was easier for her; I know no other reason. She did not mind putting
+down the name Pope. I did."
+
+It was an ungracious reflection upon his wife, and he seemed to feel it
+so; for he almost immediately added: "A man will sometimes lend himself
+to a scheme of which the details are obnoxious. It was so in this case;
+but she was too interested in her plans to be affected by so small a
+matter as this."
+
+This explained more than one mysterious action on the part of this pair
+while they were at the Hotel D----. The Coroner evidently considered it
+in this light, for he dwelt but little longer on this phase of the case,
+passing at once to a fact concerning which curiosity had hitherto been
+roused without receiving any satisfaction.
+
+"In leaving the hotel," said he, "you and your wife were seen carrying
+certain packages, which were missing from your arms when you alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. What was in those packages, and where did you
+dispose of them before you entered the second carriage?"
+
+Howard made no demur in answering.
+
+"My wife's clothes were in them," said he, "and we dropped them
+somewhere on Twenty-seventh Street near Third Avenue, just as we saw an
+old woman coming along the sidewalk. We knew that she would stop and
+pick them up, and she did, for we slid into a dark shadow made by a
+projecting stoop and watched her. Is that too simple a method for
+disposing of certain encumbering bundles, to be believed, sir?"
+
+"That is for the jury to decide," answered the Coroner, stiffly. "But
+why were you so anxious to dispose of these articles? Were they not
+worth some money, and would it not have been simpler and much more
+natural to have left them at the hotel till you chose to send for them?
+That is, if you were simply engaged in playing, as you say, a game upon
+your father, and not upon the whole community?"
+
+"Yes," Mr. Van Burnam acknowledged, "that would have been the natural
+thing, no doubt; but we were not following natural instincts at the
+time, but a woman's _bizarre_ caprices. We did as I said; and laughed
+long, I assure you, over its unqualified success; for the old woman not
+only grabbed the packages with avidity, but turned and fled away with
+them, just as if she had expected this opportunity and had prepared
+herself to make the most of it."
+
+"It was very laughable, certainly," observed the Coroner, in a hard
+voice. "_You_ must have found it very ridiculous"; and after giving the
+witness a look full of something deeper than sarcasm, he turned towards
+the jury as if to ask them what they thought of these very forced and
+suspicious explanations.
+
+But they evidently did not know what to think, and the Coroner's looks
+flew back to the witness who of all the persons present seemed the least
+impressed by the position in which he stood.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam," said he, "you showed a great deal of feeling this
+morning at being confronted with your wife's hat. Why was this, and why
+did you wait till you saw this evidence of her presence on the scene of
+death to acknowledge the facts you have been good enough to give us this
+afternoon?"
+
+"If I had a lawyer by my side, you would not ask me that question, or if
+you did, I would not be allowed to answer it. But I have no lawyer here,
+and so I will say that I was greatly shocked by the catastrophe which
+had happened to my wife, and under the stress of my first overpowering
+emotions had the impulse to hide the fact that the victim of so dreadful
+a mischance was my wife. I thought that if no connection was found
+between myself and this dead woman, I would stand in no danger of the
+suspicion which must cling to the man who came into the house with her.
+But like most first impulses, it was a foolish one and gave way under
+the strain of investigation. I, however, persisted in it as long as
+possible, partially because my disposition is an obstinate one, and
+partially because I hated to acknowledge myself a fool; but when I saw
+the hat, and recognized it as an indisputable proof of her presence in
+the Van Burnam house that night, my confidence in the attempt I was
+making broke down all at once. I could deny her shape, her hands, and
+even the scar, which she might have had in common with other women, but
+I could not deny her hat. Too many persons had seen her wear it."
+
+But the Coroner was not to be so readily imposed upon.
+
+"I see, I see," he repeated with great dryness, "and I hope the jury
+will be satisfied. And they probably will, unless they remember the
+anxiety which, according to your story, was displayed by your wife to
+have her whole outfit in keeping with her appearance as a working girl.
+If she was so particular as to think it necessary to dress herself in
+store-made undergarments, why make all these precautions void by
+carrying into the house a hat with the name of an expensive milliner
+inside it?"
+
+"Women are inconsistent, sir. She liked the hat and hated to part with
+it. She thought she could hide it somewhere in the great house, at least
+that was what she said to me when she tucked it under her cape."
+
+The Coroner, who evidently did not believe one word of this, stared at
+the witness as if curiosity was fast taking the place of indignation.
+And I did not wonder. Howard Van Burnam, as thus presented to our notice
+by his own testimony, was an anomaly, whether we were to believe what he
+was saying at the present time or what he had said during the morning
+session. But I wished I had had the questioning of him.
+
+His next answer, however, opened up one dark place into which I had been
+peering for some time without any enlightenment. It was in reply to the
+following query:
+
+"All this," said the Coroner, "is very interesting; but what explanation
+have you to give for taking your wife into your father's empty house at
+an hour so late, and then leaving her to spend the best part of the dark
+night alone?"
+
+"None," said he, "that will strike you as sensible and judicious. But we
+were not sensible that night, neither were we judicious, or I would not
+be standing here trying to explain what is not explainable by any of the
+ordinary rules of conduct. She was set upon being the first to greet my
+father on his entrance into his own home, and her first plan had been to
+do so in her own proper character as my wife, but afterwards the freak
+took her, as I have said, to personify the housekeeper whom my father
+had cabled us to have in waiting at his house,--a cablegram which had
+reached us too late for any practical use, and which we had therefore
+ignored,--and fearing he might come early in the morning, before she
+could be on hand to make the favorable impression she intended, she
+wished to be left in the house that night; and I humored her. I did not
+foresee the suffering that my departure might cause her, or the fears
+that were likely to spring from her lonely position in so large and
+empty a dwelling. Or rather, I should say, _she_ did not foresee them;
+for she begged me not to stay with her, when I hinted at the darkness
+and dreariness of the place, saying that she was too jolly to feel fear
+or think of anything but the surprise my father and sisters would
+experience in discovering that their very agreeable young housekeeper
+was the woman they had so long despised."
+
+"And why," persisted the Coroner, edging forward in his interest and so
+allowing me to catch a glimpse of Mr. Gryce's face as he too leaned
+forward in his anxiety to hear every word that fell from this remarkable
+witness,--"why do you speak of her fear? What reason have you to think
+she suffered apprehension after your departure?"
+
+"Why?" echoed the witness, as if astounded by the other's lack of
+perspicacity. "Did she not kill herself in a moment of terror and
+discouragement? Leaving her, as I did, in a condition of health and good
+spirits, can you expect me to attribute her death to any other cause
+than a sudden attack of frenzy caused by terror?"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the Coroner in a suspicious tone, which no doubt voiced
+the feelings of most people present; "then you think your wife committed
+suicide?"
+
+"Most certainly," replied the witness, avoiding but two pairs of eyes in
+the whole crowd, those of his father and brother.
+
+"_With_ a hat-pin," continued the Coroner, letting his hitherto scarcely
+suppressed irony become fully visible in voice and manner, "thrust into
+the back of her neck at a spot young ladies surely would have but little
+reason to know is peculiarly fatal! Suicide! when she was found crushed
+under a pile of _bric-à-brac_, which was thrown down or fell upon her
+hours after she received the fatal thrust!"
+
+"I do not know how else she could have died," persisted the witness,
+calmly, "unless she opened the door to some burglar. And what burglar
+would kill a woman in that way, when he could pound her with his fists?
+No; she was frenzied and stabbed herself in desperation; or the thing
+was done by accident, God knows how! And as for the testimony of the
+experts--we all know how easily the wisest of them can be mistaken even
+in matters of as serious import as these. _If all the experts in the
+world_"--here his voice rose and his nostrils dilated till his aspect
+was actually commanding and impressed us all like a sudden
+transformation--"_If all the experts in the world were to swear that
+those shelves were thrown upon her after she had lain therefor four
+hours dead, I would not believe them. Appearances or no appearances,
+blood or no blood, I here declare that she pulled that cabinet over in
+her death-struggle; and upon the truth of this fact I am ready to rest
+my honor as a man and my integrity as her husband_."
+
+An uproar immediately followed, amid which could be heard cries of "He
+lies!" "He's a fool!" The attitude taken by the witness was so
+unexpected that the most callous person present could not fail to be
+affected by it. But curiosity is as potent a passion as surprise, and in
+a few minutes all was still again and everybody intent to hear how the
+Coroner would answer these asseverations.
+
+"I have heard of a blind man denying the existence of light," said that
+gentleman, "but never before of a sensible being like yourself urging
+the most untenable theories in face of such evidence as has been brought
+before us during this inquiry. If your wife committed suicide, or if the
+entrance of the point of a hat-pin into her spine was effected by
+accident, how comes the head of the pin to have been found so many feet
+away from her and in such a place as the parlor register?"
+
+"It may have flown there when it broke, or, what is much more probable,
+been kicked there by some of the many people who passed in and out of
+the room between the time of her death and that of its discovery."
+
+"But the register was found closed," urged the Coroner. "Was it not, Mr.
+Gryce?"
+
+That person thus appealed to, rose for an instant.
+
+"It was," said he, and deliberately sat down again.
+
+The face of the witness, which had been singularly free from expression
+since his last vehement outbreak, clouded over for an instant and his
+eye fell as if he felt himself engaged in an unequal struggle. But he
+recovered his courage speedily, and quietly observed:
+
+"The register may have been closed by a passing foot. I have known of
+stranger coincidences than that."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam," asked the Coroner, as if weary of subterfuges and
+argument, "have you considered the effect which this highly
+contradictory evidence of yours is likely to have on your reputation?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"And are you ready to accept the consequences?"
+
+"If any especial consequences follow, I must accept them, sir."
+
+"When did you lose the keys which you say you have not now in your
+possession? This morning you asserted that you did not know; but perhaps
+this afternoon you may like to modify that statement."
+
+"I lost them after I left my wife shut up in my father's house."
+
+"Soon?"
+
+"Very soon."
+
+"How soon?"
+
+"Within an hour, I should judge."
+
+"How do you know it was so soon?"
+
+"I missed them at once."
+
+"Where were you when you missed them?"
+
+"I don't know; somewhere. I was walking the streets, as I have said. I
+don't remember just where I was when I thrust my hands into my pocket
+and found the keys gone."
+
+"You do not?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But it was within an hour after leaving the house?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very good; the keys have been found."
+
+The witness started, started so violently that his teeth came together
+with a click loud enough to be heard over the whole room.
+
+"Have they?" said he, with an effort at nonchalance which, however,
+failed to deceive any one who noticed his change of color. "_You_ can
+tell me, then, where I lost them."
+
+"They were found," said the Coroner, "in their usual place above your
+brother's desk in Duane Street."
+
+"Oh!" murmured the witness, utterly taken aback or appearing so. "I
+cannot account for their being found in the office. I was so sure I
+dropped them in the street."
+
+"I did not think you could account for it," quietly observed the
+Coroner. And without another word he dismissed the witness, who
+staggered to a seat as remote as possible from the one where he had
+previously been sitting between his father and brother.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+A RELUCTANT WITNESS.
+
+
+A pause of decided duration now followed; an exasperating pause which
+tried even me, much as I pride myself upon my patience. There seemed to
+be some hitch in regard to the next witness. The Coroner sent Mr. Gryce
+into the neighboring room more than once, and finally, when the general
+uneasiness seemed on the point of expressing itself by a loud murmur, a
+gentleman stepped forth, whose appearance, instead of allaying the
+excitement, renewed it in quite an unprecedented and remarkable way.
+
+I did not know the person thus introduced.
+
+He was a handsome man, a very handsome man, if the truth must be told,
+but it did not seem to be this fact which made half the people there
+crane their heads to catch a glimpse of him. Something else, something
+entirely disconnected with his appearance there as a witness, appeared
+to hold the people enthralled and waken a subdued enthusiasm which
+showed itself not only in smiles, but in whispers and significant
+nudges, chiefly among the women, though I noticed that the jurymen
+stared when somebody obliged them with the name of this new witness. At
+last it reached my ears, and though it awakened in me also a decided
+curiosity, I restrained all expression of it, being unwilling to add
+one jot to this ridiculous display of human weakness.
+
+Randolph Stone, as the intended husband of the rich Miss Althorpe, was a
+figure of some importance in the city, and while I was very glad of this
+opportunity of seeing him, I did not propose to lose my head or forget,
+in the marked interest his person invoked, the very serious cause which
+had brought him before us. And yet I suppose no one in the room observed
+his figure more minutely.
+
+He was elegantly made and possessed, as I have said, a face of peculiar
+beauty. But these were not his only claims to admiration. He was a man
+of undoubted intelligence and great distinction of manner. The
+intelligence did not surprise me, knowing, as I did, how he had raised
+himself to his present enviable position in society in the short space
+of five years. But the perfection of his manner astonished me, though
+how I could have expected anything less in a man honored by Miss
+Althorpe's regard, I cannot say. He had that clear pallor of complexion
+which in a smooth-shaven face is so impressive, and his voice when he
+spoke had that music in it which only comes from great cultivation and a
+deliberate intent to please.
+
+He was a friend of Howard's, that I saw by the short look that passed
+between them when he first entered the room; but that it was not as a
+friend he stood there was apparent from the state of amazement with
+which the former recognized him, as well as from the regret to be seen
+underlying the polished manner of the witness himself. Though perfectly
+self-possessed and perfectly respectful, he showed by every means
+possible the pain he felt in adding one feather-weight to the evidence
+against a man with whom he was on terms of more or less intimacy.
+
+But let me give his testimony. Having acknowledged that he knew the Van
+Burnam family well, and Howard in particular, he went on to state that
+on the night of the seventeenth he had been detained at his office by
+business of a more than usual pressing nature, and finding that he could
+expect no rest for that night, humored himself by getting off the cars
+at Twenty-first Street instead of proceeding on to Thirty-third Street,
+where his apartments were.
+
+The smile which these words caused (Miss Althorpe lives in Twenty-first
+Street) woke no corresponding light on his face. Indeed, he frowned at
+it, as if he felt that the gravity of the situation admitted of nothing
+frivolous or humorsome. And this feeling was shared by Howard, for he
+started when the witness mentioned Twenty-first Street, and cast him a
+haggard look of dismay which happily no one saw but myself, for every
+one else was concerned with the witness. Or should I except Mr. Gryce?
+
+"I had of course no intentions beyond a short stroll through this street
+previous to returning to my home," continued the witness, gravely; "and
+am sorry to be obliged to mention this freak of mine, but find it
+necessary in order to account for my presence there at so unusual an
+hour."
+
+"You need make no apologies," returned the Coroner. "Will you state on
+what line of cars you came from your office?"
+
+"I came up Third Avenue."
+
+"Ah! and walked towards Broadway?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"So that you necessarily passed very near the Van Burnam mansion?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"At what time was this, can you say?"
+
+"At four, or nearly four. It was half-past three when I left my office."
+
+"Was it light at that hour? Could you distinguish objects readily?"
+
+"I had no difficulty in seeing."
+
+"And what did you see? Anything amiss at the Van Burnam mansion?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing amiss. I merely saw Howard Van Burnam coming down the
+stoop as I went by the corner."
+
+"You made no mistake. It was the gentleman you name, and no other whom
+you saw on this stoop at this hour?"
+
+"I am very sure that it was he. I am sorry----"
+
+But the Coroner gave him no opportunity to finish.
+
+"You and Mr. Van Burnam are friends, you say, and it was light enough
+for you to recognize each other; then you probably spoke?"
+
+"No, we did not. I was thinking--well of other, things," and here he
+allowed the ghost of a smile to flit suggestively across his firm-set
+lips. "And Mr. Van Burnam seemed preoccupied also, for, as far as I
+know, he did not even look my way."
+
+"And you did not stop?"
+
+"No, he did not look like a man to be disturbed."
+
+"And this was at four on the morning of the eighteenth?"
+
+"At four."
+
+"You are certain of the hour and of the day?"
+
+"I am certain. I should not be standing here if I were not very sure of
+my memory. I am sorry," he began again, but he was stopped as
+peremptorily as before by the Coroner.
+
+"Feeling has no place in an inquiry like this." And the witness was
+dismissed.
+
+Mr. Stone, who had manifestly given his evidence under compulsion,
+looked relieved at its termination. As he passed back to the room from
+which he had come, many only noticed the extreme elegance of his form
+and the proud cast of his head, but I saw more than these. I saw the
+look of regret he cast at his friend Howard.
+
+A painful silence followed his withdrawal, then the Coroner spoke to the
+jury:
+
+"Gentlemen, I leave you to judge of the importance of this testimony.
+Mr. Stone is a well-known man of unquestionable integrity, but perhaps
+Mr. Van Burnam can explain how he came to visit his father's house at
+four o'clock in the morning on that memorable night, when according to
+his latest testimony he left his wife there at twelve. We will give him
+the opportunity."
+
+"There is no use," began the young man from the place where he sat. But
+gathering courage even while speaking, he came rapidly forward, and
+facing Coroner and jury once more, said with a false kind of energy that
+imposed upon no one:
+
+"I can explain this fact, but I doubt if you will accept my explanation.
+I was at my father's house at that hour, but not in it. My restlessness
+drove me back to my wife, but not finding the keys in my pocket, I came
+down the stoop again and went away."
+
+"Ah, I see now why you prevaricated this morning in regard to the time
+when you missed those keys."
+
+"I know that my testimony is full of contradictions."
+
+"You feared to have it known that you were on the stoop of your father's
+house for the second time that night?"
+
+"Naturally, in face of the suspicion I perceived everywhere about me."
+
+"And this time you did not go in?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor ring the bell?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not, if you left your wife within, alive and well?"
+
+"I did not wish to disturb her. My purpose was not strong enough to
+surmount the least difficulty. I was easily deterred from going where I
+had little wish to be."
+
+"So that you merely went up the stoop and down again at the time Mr.
+Stone saw you?"
+
+"Yes, and if he had passed a minute sooner he would have seen this: seen
+me go up, I mean, as well as seen me come down. I did not linger long in
+the doorway."
+
+"But you did linger there a moment?"
+
+"Yes; long enough to hunt for the keys and get over my astonishment at
+not finding them."
+
+"Did you notice Mr. Stone going by on Twenty-first Street?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was it as light as Mr. Stone has said?"
+
+"Yes, it was light."
+
+"And you did not notice him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Yet you must have followed very closely behind him?"
+
+"Not necessarily. I went by the way of Twentieth Street, sir. Why, I do
+not know, for my rooms are uptown. I do not know why I did half the
+things I did that night."
+
+"I can readily believe it," remarked the Coroner.
+
+Mr. Van Burnam's indignation rose.
+
+"You are trying," said he, "to connect me with the fearful death of my
+wife in my father's lonely house. You cannot do it, for I am as innocent
+of that death as you are, or any other person in this assemblage. Nor
+did I pull those shelves down upon her as you would have this jury
+think, in my last thoughtless visit to my father's door. She died
+according to God's will by her own hand or by means of some strange and
+unaccountable accident known only to Him. And so you will find, if
+justice has any place in these investigations and a manly intelligence
+be allowed to take the place of prejudice in the breasts of the twelve
+men now sitting before me."
+
+And bowing to the Coroner, he waited for his dismissal, and receiving
+it, walked back not to his lonely corner, but to his former place
+between his father and brother, who received him with a wistful air and
+strange looks of mingled hope and disbelief.
+
+"The jury will render their verdict on Monday morning," announced the
+Coroner, and adjourned the inquiry.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK II._
+
+THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+COGITATIONS.
+
+
+My cook had prepared for me a most excellent dinner, thinking that I
+needed all the comfort possible after a day of such trying experiences.
+But I ate little of it; my thoughts were too busy, my mind too much
+exercised. What would be the verdict of the jury, and could this
+especial jury be relied upon to give a just verdict?
+
+At seven I had left the table and was shut up in my own room. I could
+not rest till I had fathomed my own mind in regard to the events of the
+day.
+
+The question--the great question, of course, now--was how much of
+Howard's testimony was to be believed, and whether he was,
+notwithstanding his asseverations to the contrary, the murderer of his
+wife. To most persons the answer seemed easy. From the expression of
+such people as I had jostled in leaving the court-room, I judged that
+his sentence had already been passed in the minds of most there present.
+But these hasty judgments did not influence me. I hope I look deeper
+than the surface, and my mind would not subscribe to his guilt,
+notwithstanding the bad impression made upon me by his falsehoods and
+contradictions.
+
+Now why would not my mind subscribe to it? Had sentiment got the better
+of me, Amelia Butterworth, and was I no longer capable of looking a
+thing squarely in the face? Had the Van Burnams, of all people in the
+world, awakened my sympathies at the cost of my good sense, and was I
+disposed to see virtue in a man in whom every circumstance as it came to
+light revealed little but folly and weakness? The lies he had told--for
+there is no other word to describe his contradictions--would have been
+sufficient under most circumstances to condemn a man in my estimation.
+Why, then, did I secretly look for excuses to his conduct?
+
+Probing the matter to the bottom, I reasoned in this way: The latter
+half of his evidence was a complete contradiction of the first,
+purposely so. In the first, he made himself out a cold-hearted egotist
+with not enough interest in his wife to make an effort to determine
+whether she and the murdered woman were identical; in the latter, he
+showed himself in the light of a man influenced to the point of folly by
+a woman to whom he had been utterly unyielding a few hours before.
+
+Now, knowing human nature to be full of contradictions, I could not
+satisfy myself that I should be justified in accepting either half of
+his testimony as absolutely true. The man who is all firmness one minute
+may be all weakness the next, and in face of the calm assertions made by
+this one when driven to bay by the unexpected discoveries of the police,
+I dared not decide that his final assurances were altogether false, and
+that he was not the man I had seen enter the adjoining house with his
+wife.
+
+Why, then, not carry the conclusion farther and admit, as reason and
+probability suggested, that he was also her murderer; that he had killed
+her during his first visit and drawn the shelves down upon her in the
+second? Would not this account for all the phenomena to be observed in
+connection with this otherwise unexplainable affair? Certainly, all but
+one--one that was perhaps known to nobody but myself, and that was the
+testimony given by the clock. _It_ said that the shelves fell at five,
+whereas, according to Mr. Stone's evidence, it was four, or thereabouts,
+when Mr. Van Burnam left his father's house. But the clock might not
+have been a reliable witness. It might have been set wrong, or it might
+not have been running at all at the time of the accident. No, it would
+not do for me to rely too much upon anything so doubtful, nor did I; yet
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that Howard spoke the truth
+when he declared in face of Coroner and jury that they could not connect
+him with this crime; and whether this conclusion sprang from
+sentimentality or intuition, I was resolved to stick to it for the
+present night at least. The morrow might show its futility, but the
+morrow had not come.
+
+Meanwhile, with this theory accepted, what explanation could be given of
+the very peculiar facts surrounding this woman's death? Could the
+supposition of suicide advanced by Howard before the Coroner be
+entertained for a moment, or that equally improbable suggestion of
+accident?
+
+Going to my bureau drawer, I drew out the old grocer-bill which has
+already figured in these pages, and re-read the notes I had scribbled
+on its back early in the history of this affair. They related, if you
+will remember, to this very question, and seemed even now to answer it
+in a more or less convincing way. Will you pardon me if I transcribe
+these notes again, as I cannot imagine my first deliberations on this
+subject to have made a deep enough impression for you to recall them
+without help from me.
+
+The question raised in these notes was threefold, and the answers, as
+you will recollect, were transcribed before the cause of death had been
+determined by the discovery of the broken pin in the dead woman's brain.
+
+These are the queries:
+
+First: was her death due to accident?
+
+Second: was it effected by her own hand?
+
+Third: was it a murder?
+
+The replies given are in the form of reasons, as witness:
+
+_My reasons for not thinking it an accident._
+
+1. If it had been an accident, and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself,[B] she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood. But her feet were towards the door and
+her head under the cabinet.
+
+2. The precise arrangement of the clothing about her feet, which
+precluded any theory involving accident.
+
+_My reason for not thinking it a suicide._
+
+She could not have been found in the position observed without having
+lain down on the floor while living, and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself. (A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)
+
+_My reason for not thinking it murder._
+
+She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her, a thing which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet make appear impossible. (Very good, but we know now that she
+was dead when the shelves fell over, so that my one excuse for not
+thinking it a murder is rendered null.)
+
+_My reasons for thinking it a murder._
+
+----But I will not repeat these. My reasons for not thinking it an
+accident or a suicide remained as good as when they were written, and if
+her death had not been due to either of these causes, then it must have
+been due to some murderous hand. Was that hand the hand of her husband?
+I have already given it as my opinion that it was not.
+
+Now, how to make that opinion good, and reconcile me again to myself;
+for I am not accustomed to have my instincts at war with my judgment. Is
+there any reason for my thinking as I do? Yes, the manliness of man. He
+only looked well when he was repelling the suspicion he saw in the
+surrounding faces. But that might have been assumed, just as his
+careless manner was assumed during the early part of the inquiry. I must
+have some stronger reason than this for my belief. The two hats? Well,
+he had explained how there came to be two hats on the scene of crime,
+but his explanation had not been very satisfactory. _I_ had seen no hat
+in her hand when she crossed the pavement to her father's house. But
+then she might have carried it under her cape without my seeing
+it--perhaps. The discovery of two hats and of two pairs of gloves in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlors was a fact worth further investigation, and
+mentally I made a note of it, though at the moment I saw no prospect of
+engaging in this matter further than my duties as a witness required.
+
+And now what other clue was offered me, save the one I have already
+mentioned as being given by the clock? None that I could seize upon; and
+feeling the weakness of the cause I had so obstinately embraced, I rose
+from my seat at the tea-table and began making such alterations in my
+toilet as would prepare me for the evening and my inevitable callers.
+
+"Amelia," said I to myself, as I encountered my anything but satisfied
+reflection in the glass, "can it be that you ought, after all, to have
+been called Araminta? Is a momentary display of spirit on the part of a
+young man of doubtful principles, enough to make you forget the dictates
+of good sense which have always governed you up to this time?"
+
+The stern image which confronted me from the mirror made me no reply,
+and smitten with sudden disgust, I left the glass and went below to
+greet some friends who had just ridden up in their carriage.
+
+They remained one hour, and they discussed one subject: Howard Van
+Burnam and his probable connection with the crime which had taken place
+next door. But though I talked some and listened more, as is proper for
+a woman in her own house, I said nothing and heard nothing which had not
+been already said and heard in numberless homes that night. Whatever
+thoughts I had which in any way differed from those generally expressed,
+I kept to myself,--whether guided by discretion or pride, I cannot say;
+probably by both, for I am not deficient in either quality.
+
+Arrangements had already been made for the burial of Mrs. Van Burnam
+that night, and as the funeral ceremony was to take place next door,
+many of my guests came just to sit in my windows and watch the coming
+and going of the few people invited to the ceremony.
+
+But I discouraged this. I have no patience with idle curiosity.
+Consequently by nine I was left alone to give the affair such real
+attention as it demanded; something which, of course, I could not have
+done with a half dozen gossiping friends leaning over my shoulder.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote B: _As was asserted by her husband in his sworn examination._]
+
+
+
+
+XVII.
+
+BUTTERWORTH VERSUS GRYCE.
+
+
+The result of this attention can be best learned from the conversation I
+held with Mr. Gryce the next morning.
+
+He came earlier than usual, but he found me up and stirring.
+
+"Well," he cried, accosting me with a smile as I entered the parlor
+where he was seated, "it is all right this time, is it not? No trouble
+in identifying the gentleman who entered your neighbor's house last
+night at a quarter to twelve?"
+
+Resolved to probe this man's mind to the bottom, I put on my sternest
+air.
+
+"I had not expected any one to enter there so late last night," said I.
+"Mr. Van Burnam declared so positively at the inquest that he was the
+person we have been endeavoring to identify, that I did not suppose you
+would consider it necessary to bring him to the house for me to see."
+
+"And so you were not in the window?"
+
+"I did not say that; I am always where I have promised to be, Mr.
+Gryce."
+
+"Well, then?" he inquired sharply.
+
+I was purposely slow in answering him--I had all the longer time to
+search his face. But its calmness was impenetrable, and finally I
+declared:
+
+"The man you brought with you last night--you were the person who
+accompanied him, were you not--was _not_ the man I saw alight there four
+nights ago."
+
+He may have expected it; it may have been the very assertion he desired
+from me, but his manner showed displeasure, and the quick "How?" he
+uttered was sharp and peremptory.
+
+"I do not ask who it was," I went on, with a quiet wave of my hand that
+immediately restored him to himself, "for I know you will not tell me.
+But what I do hope to know is the name of the man who entered that same
+house at just ten minutes after nine. He was one of the funeral guests,
+and he arrived in a carriage that was immediately preceded by a coach
+from which four persons alighted, two ladies and two gentlemen."
+
+"I do not know the gentleman, ma'am," was the detective's half-surprised
+and half-amused retort. "I did not keep track of every guest that
+attended the funeral."
+
+"Then you didn't do your work as well as I did mine," was my rather dry
+reply. "For I noted every one who went in; and that gentleman, whoever
+he was, was more like the person I have been trying to identify than any
+one I have seen enter there during my four midnight vigils."
+
+Mr. Gryce smiled, uttered a short "_Indeed!_" and looked more than ever
+like a sphinx. I began quietly to hate him, under my calm exterior.
+
+"Was Howard at his wife's funeral?" I asked.
+
+"He was, ma'am."
+
+"And did he come in a carriage?"
+
+"He did, ma'am."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"He thought he was alone; yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then may it not have been he?"
+
+"I can't say, ma'am."
+
+Mr. Gryce was so obviously out of his element under this
+cross-examination that I could not suppress a smile even while I
+experienced a very lively indignation at his reticence. He may have seen
+me smile and he may not, for his eyes, as I have intimated, were always
+busy with some object entirely removed from the person he addressed; but
+at all events he rose, leaving me no alternative but to do the same.
+
+"And so you didn't recognize the gentleman I brought to the neighboring
+house just before twelve o'clock," he quietly remarked, with a calm
+ignoring of my last question which was a trifle exasperating.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then, ma'am," he declared, with a quick change of manner, meant, I
+should judge, to put me in my proper place, "I do not think we can
+depend upon the accuracy of your memory;" and he made a motion as if to
+leave.
+
+As I did not know whether his apparent disappointment was real or not, I
+let him move to the door without a reply. But once there I stopped him.
+
+"Mr. Gryce," said I, "I don't know what you think about this matter, nor
+whether you even wish my opinion upon it. But I am going to express it,
+for all that. _I_ do not believe that Howard killed his wife with a
+hat-pin."
+
+"No?" retorted the old gentleman, peering into his hat, with an ironical
+smile which that inoffensive article of attire had certainly not
+merited. "And why, Miss Butterworth, why? You must have substantial
+reasons for any opinion you would form."
+
+"I have an intuition," I responded, "backed by certain reasons. The
+intuition won't impress you very deeply, but the reasons may not be
+without some weight, and I am going to confide them to you."
+
+"Do," he entreated in a jocose manner which struck me as inappropriate,
+but which I was willing to overlook on account of his age and very
+fatherly manner.
+
+"Well, then," said I, "this is one. If the crime was a premeditated one,
+if he hated his wife and felt it for his interest to have her out of the
+way, a man of Mr. Van Burnam's good sense would have chosen any other
+spot than his father's house to kill her in, knowing that her identity
+could not be hidden if once she was associated with the Van Burnam name.
+If, on the contrary, he took her there in good faith, and her death was
+the unexpected result of a quarrel between them, then the means employed
+would have been simpler. An angry man does not stop to perform a
+delicate surgical operation when moved to the point of murder, but uses
+his hands or his fists, just as Mr. Van Burnam himself suggested."
+
+"Humph!" grunted the detective, staring very hard indeed into his hat.
+
+"You must not think me this young man's friend," I went on, with a well
+meant desire to impress him with the impartiality of my attitude. "I
+never have spoken to him nor he to me, but I am the friend of justice,
+and I must declare that there was a note of surprise in the emotion he
+showed at sight of his wife's hat, that was far too natural to be
+assumed."
+
+The detective failed to be impressed. I might have expected this,
+knowing his sex and the reliance such a man is apt to place upon his own
+powers.
+
+"Acting, ma'am, acting!" was his laconic comment. "A very uncommon
+character, that of Mr. Howard Van Burnam. I do not think you do it full
+justice."
+
+"Perhaps not, but see that you don't slight mine. I do not expect you to
+heed these suggestions any more than you did those I offered you in
+connection with Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman; but my conscience is
+eased by my communication, and that is much to a solitary woman like
+myself who is obliged to spend many a long hour alone with no other
+companion."
+
+"Something has been accomplished, then, by this delay," he observed.
+Then, as if ashamed of this momentary display of irritation, he added in
+the genial tones more natural to him: "I don't blame you for your good
+opinion of this interesting, but by no means reliable, young man, Miss
+Butterworth. A woman's kind heart stands in the way of her proper
+judgment of criminals."
+
+"You will not find its instincts fail even if you do its judgment."
+
+His bow was as full of politeness as it was lacking in conviction.
+
+"I hope you won't let your instincts lead you into any unnecessary
+detective work," he quietly suggested.
+
+"That I cannot promise. If you arrest Howard Van Burnam for murder, I
+may be tempted to meddle with matters which don't concern me."
+
+An amused smile broke through his simulated seriousness.
+
+"Pray accept my congratulations, then, in advance, ma'am. My health has
+been such that I have long anticipated giving up my profession; but if I
+am to have such assistants as you in my work, I shall be inclined to
+remain in it some time longer."
+
+"When a man as busy as you stops to indulge in sarcasm, he is in more or
+less good spirits. Such a condition, I am told, only prevails with
+detectives when they have come to a positive conclusion concerning the
+case they are engaged upon."
+
+"I see you already understand the members of your future profession."
+
+"As much as is necessary at this juncture," I retorted. Then seeing him
+about to repeat his bow, I added sharply: "You need not trouble yourself
+to show me too much politeness. If I meddle in this matter at all it
+will not be as your coadjutor, but as your rival."
+
+"My rival?"
+
+"Yes, your rival; and rivals are never good friends until one of them is
+hopelessly defeated."
+
+"Miss Butterworth, I see myself already at your feet."
+
+And with this sally and a short chuckle which did more than anything he
+had said towards settling me in my half-formed determination to do as I
+had threatened, he opened the door and quietly disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII.
+
+THE LITTLE PINCUSHION.
+
+
+The verdict rendered by the Coroner's jury showed it to be a more
+discriminating set of men than I had calculated upon. It was murder
+inflicted by a hand unknown.
+
+I was so gratified by this that I left the court-room in quite an
+agitated frame of mind, so agitated, indeed, that I walked through one
+door instead of another, and thus came unexpectedly upon a group formed
+almost exclusively of the Van Burnam family.
+
+Starting back, for I dislike anything that looks like intrusion,
+especially when no great end is to be gained by it, I was about to
+retrace my steps when I felt two soft arms about my neck.
+
+"Oh, Miss Butterworth, isn't it a mercy that this dreadful thing is
+over! I don't know when I have ever felt anything so keenly."
+
+It was Isabella Van Burnam.
+
+Startled, for the embraces bestowed on me are few, I gave a subdued sort
+of grunt, which nevertheless did not displease this young lady, for her
+arms tightened, and she murmured in my ear: "You dear old soul! I like
+you _so_ much."
+
+"We are going to be very good neighbors," cooed a still sweeter voice in
+my other ear. "Papa says we must call on you soon." And Caroline's
+demure face looked around into mine in a manner some would have thought
+exceedingly bewitching.
+
+"Thank you, pretty poppets!" I returned, freeing myself as speedily as
+possible from embraces the sincerity of which I felt open to question.
+"My house is always open to you." And with little ceremony, I walked
+steadily out and betook myself to the carriage awaiting me.
+
+I looked upon this display of feeling as the mere gush of two
+over-excited young women, and was therefore somewhat astonished when I
+was interrupted in my afternoon nap by an announcement that the two
+Misses Van Burnam awaited me in the parlor.
+
+Going down, I saw them standing there hand in hand and both as white as
+a sheet.
+
+"O Miss Butterworth!" they cried, springing towards me, "Howard has been
+arrested, and we have no one to say a word of comfort to us."
+
+"Arrested!" I repeated, greatly surprised, for I had not expected it to
+happen so soon, if it happened at all.
+
+"Yes, and father is just about prostrated. Franklin, too, but he keeps
+up, while father has shut himself into his room and won't see anybody,
+not even us. O, I don't know how we are to bear it! Such a disgrace, and
+such a wicked, wicked shame! For Howard never had anything to do with
+his wife's death, had he, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"No," I returned, taking my ground at once, and vigorously, for I really
+believed what I said. "He is innocent of her death, and I would like the
+chance of proving it."
+
+They evidently had not expected such an unqualified assertion from me,
+for they almost smothered me with kisses, and called me _their only
+friend_! and indeed showed so much real feeling this time that I neither
+pushed them away nor tried to withdraw myself from their embraces.
+
+When their emotions were a little exhausted I led them to a sofa and sat
+down before them. They were motherless girls, and my heart, if hard, is
+not made of adamant or entirely unsusceptible to the calls of pity and
+friendship.
+
+"Girls," said I, "if you will be calm, I should like to ask you a few
+questions."
+
+"Ask us anything," returned Isabella; "nobody has more right to our
+confidence than you."
+
+This was another of their exaggerated expressions, but I was so anxious
+to hear what they had to tell, I let it pass. So instead of rebuking
+them, I asked where their brother had been arrested, and found it had
+been at his rooms and in presence of themselves and Franklin. So I
+inquired further and learned that, so far as they knew, nothing had been
+discovered beyond what had come out at the inquest except that Howard's
+trunks had been found packed, as if he had been making preparations for
+a journey when interrupted by the dreadful event which had put him into
+the hands of the police. As there was a certain significance in this,
+the girls seemed almost as much impressed by it as I was, but we did not
+discuss it long, for I suddenly changed my manner, and taking them both
+by the hand, asked if they could keep a secret.
+
+"Secret?" they gasped.
+
+"Yes, a secret. You are not the girls I should confide in ordinarily;
+but this trouble has sobered you."
+
+"O, we can do anything," began Isabella; and "Only try us," murmured
+Caroline.
+
+But knowing the volubility of the one and the weakness of the other, I
+shook my head at their promises, and merely tried to impress them with
+the fact that their brother's safety depended upon their discretion. At
+which they looked very determined for poppets, and squeezed my hands so
+tightly that I wished I had left off some of my rings before engaging in
+this interview.
+
+When they were quiet again and ready to listen I told them my plans.
+They were surprised, of course, and wondered how I could do anything
+towards finding out the real murderer of their sister-in-law; but seeing
+how resolved I looked, changed their tone and avowed with much feeling
+their perfect confidence in me and in the success of anything I might
+undertake.
+
+This was encouraging, and ignoring their momentary distrust, I proceeded
+to say:
+
+"But for me to be successful in this matter, no one must know my
+interest in it. You must pay me no visits, give me no confidences, nor,
+if you can help it, mention my name before _any one_, not even before
+your father and brother. So much for precautionary measures, my dears;
+and now for the active ones. I have no curiosity, as I think you must
+see, but I shall have to ask you a few questions which under other
+circumstances would savor more or less of impertinence. Had your
+sister-in-law any special admirers among the other sex?"
+
+"Oh," protested Caroline, shrinking back, while Isabella's eyes grew
+round as a frightened child's. "None that we ever heard of. She wasn't
+that kind of a woman, was she, Belle? It wasn't for any such reason
+papa didn't like her."
+
+"No, no, _that_ would have been too dreadful. It was her family we
+objected to, that's all."
+
+"Well, well," I apologized, tapping their hands reassuringly, "I only
+asked--let me now say--from curiosity, though I have not a particle of
+that quality, I assure you."
+
+"Did you think--did you have any idea--" faltered Caroline, "that----"
+
+"Never mind," I interrupted. "You must let my words go in one ear and
+out of the other after you have answered them. I wish"--here I assumed a
+brisk air--"that I could go through your parlors again before every
+trace of the crime perpetrated there has been removed."
+
+"Why, you can," replied Isabella.
+
+"There is no one in them now," added Caroline, "Franklin went out just
+before we left."
+
+At which I blandly rose, and following their leadership, soon found
+myself once again in the Van Burnam mansion.
+
+My first glance upon re-entering the parlors was naturally directed
+towards the spot where the tragedy had taken place. The cabinet had been
+replaced and the shelves set back upon it; but the latter were empty,
+and neither on them nor on the adjacent mantel-piece did I see the
+clock. This set me thinking, and I made up my mind to have another look
+at that clock. By dint of judicious questions I found that it had been
+carried into the third room, where we soon found it lying on a shelf of
+the same closet where the hat had been discovered by Mr. Gryce. Franklin
+had put it there, fearing that the sight of it might affect Howard, and
+from the fact that the hands stood as I had left them, I gathered that
+neither he nor any of the family had discovered that it was in running
+condition.
+
+Assured of this, I astonished them by requesting to have it taken down
+and set up on the table, which they had no sooner done than it started
+to tick just as it had done under my hand a few nights before.
+
+The girls, greatly startled, surveyed each other wonderingly.
+
+"Why, it's going!" cried Caroline.
+
+"Who could have wound it!" marvelled Isabella.
+
+"Hark!" I cried. The clock had begun to strike.
+
+It gave forth five clear notes.
+
+"Well, it's a mystery!" Isabella exclaimed. Then seeing no astonishment
+in my face, she added: "Did you know about this, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"My dear girls," I hastened to say, with all the impressiveness
+characteristic of me in my more serious moments. "I do not expect you to
+ask me for any information I do not volunteer. This is hard, I know; but
+some day I will be perfectly frank with you. Are you willing to accept
+my aid on these terms?"
+
+"O yes," they gasped, but they looked not a little disappointed.
+
+"And now," said I, "leave the clock where it is, and when your brother
+comes home, show it to him, and say that having the curiosity to examine
+it you were surprised to find it going, and that you had left it there
+for him to see. He will be surprised also, and as a consequence will
+question first you and then the police to find out who wound it. If they
+acknowledge having done it, you must notify me at once, for that's what
+I want to know. Do you understand, Caroline? And, Isabella, do you feel
+that you can go through all this without dropping a word concerning me
+and my interest in this matter?"
+
+Of course they answered yes, and of course it was with so much
+effusiveness that I was obliged to remind them that they must keep a
+check on their enthusiasm, and also to suggest that they should not come
+to my house or send me any notes, but simply a blank card, signifying:
+"No one knows who wound the clock."
+
+"How delightfully mysterious!" cried Isabella. And with this girlish
+exclamation our talk in regard to the clock closed.
+
+The next object that attracted our attention was a paper-covered novel I
+discovered on a side-table in the same room.
+
+"Whose is this?" I asked.
+
+"Not mine."
+
+"Not mine."
+
+"Yet it was published this summer," I remarked.
+
+They stared at me astonished, and Isabella caught up the book. It was
+one of those summer publications intended mainly for railroad
+distribution, and while neither ragged nor soiled, bore evidence of
+having been read.
+
+"Let me take it," said I.
+
+Isabella at once passed it into my hands.
+
+"Does your brother smoke?" I asked.
+
+"Which brother?"
+
+"Either of them."
+
+"Franklin sometimes, but Howard, never. It disagrees with him, I
+believe."
+
+"There is a faint odor of tobacco about these pages. Can it have been
+brought here by Franklin?"
+
+"O no, he never reads novels, not such novels as this, at all events. He
+loses a lot of pleasure, we think."
+
+I turned the pages over. The latter ones were so fresh I could almost
+put my finger on the spot where the reader had left off. Feeling like a
+bloodhound who has just run upon a trail, I returned the book to
+Caroline, with the injunction to put it away; adding, as I saw her air
+of hesitation: "If your brother Franklin misses it, it will show that he
+brought it here, and then I shall have no further interest in it." Which
+seemed to satisfy her, for she put it away at once on a high shelf.
+
+Perceiving nothing else in these rooms of a suggestive character, I led
+the way into the hall. There I had a new idea.
+
+"Which of you was the first to go through the rooms upstairs?" I
+inquired.
+
+"Both of us," answered Isabella. "We came together. Why do you ask, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+"I was wondering if you found everything in order there?"
+
+"We did not notice anything wrong, did we, Caroline? Do you think that
+the--the person who committed that awful crime went _up-stairs_? I
+couldn't sleep a wink if I thought so."
+
+"Nor I," Caroline put in. "O, don't say that he went up-stairs, Miss
+Butterworth!"
+
+"I do not know it," I rejoined.
+
+"But you asked----"
+
+"And I ask again. Wasn't there some little thing out of its usual
+place? I was up in your front chamber after water for a minute, but I
+didn't touch anything but the mug."
+
+"We missed the mug, but--O Caroline, the pin-cushion! Do you suppose
+Miss Butterworth means the pin-cushion?"
+
+I started. Did she refer to the one I had picked up from the floor and
+placed on a side-table?
+
+"What about the pin-cushion?" I asked.
+
+"O nothing, but we did not know what to make of its being on the table.
+You see, we had a little pin-cushion shaped like a tomato which always
+hung at the side of our bureau. It was tied to one of the brackets and
+was never taken off; Caroline having a fancy for it because it kept her
+favorite black pins out of the reach of the neighbor's children when
+they came here. Well, this cushion, this sacred cushion which none of us
+dared touch, was found by us on a little table by the door, with the
+ribbon hanging from it by which it had been tied to the bureau. Some one
+had pulled it off, and very roughly too, for the ribbon was all ragged
+and torn. But there is nothing in a little thing like that to interest
+you, is there, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"No," said I, not relating my part in the affair; "not if our neighbor's
+children were the marauders."
+
+"But none of them came in for days before we left."
+
+"Are there pins in the cushion?"
+
+"When we found it, do you mean? No."
+
+I did not remember seeing any, but one cannot always trust to one's
+memory.
+
+"But you had left pins in it?"
+
+"Possibly, I don't remember. Why should I remember such a thing as
+that?"
+
+I thought to myself, "I would know whether I left pins on my pin-cushion
+or not," but every one is not as methodical as I am, more's the pity.
+
+"Have you anywhere about you a pin like those you keep on that cushion?"
+I inquired of Caroline.
+
+She felt at her belt and neck and shook her head.
+
+"I may have upstairs," she replied.
+
+"Then get me one." But before she could start, I pulled her back. "Did
+either of you sleep in that room last night?"
+
+"No, we were going to," answered Isabella, "but afterwards Caroline took
+a freak to sleep in one of the rooms on the third floor. She said she
+wanted to get away from the parlors as far as possible."
+
+"Then I should like a peep at the one overhead."
+
+The wrenching of the pin-cushion from its place had given me an idea.
+
+They looked at me wistfully as they turned to mount the stairs, but I
+did not enlighten them further. What would an idea be worth shared by
+them!
+
+Their father undoubtedly lay in the back room, for they moved very
+softly around the head of the stairs, but once in front they let their
+tongues run loose again. I, who cared nothing for their babble when it
+contained no information, walked slowly about the room and finally
+stopped before the bed.
+
+It had a fresh look, and I at once asked them if it had been lately made
+up. They assured me that it had not, saying that they always kept their
+beds spread during their absence, as they did so hate to enter a room
+disfigured by bare mattresses.
+
+I could have read them a lecture on the niceties of housekeeping, but I
+refrained; instead of that I pointed to a little dent in the smooth
+surface of the bed nearest the door.
+
+"Did either of you two make that?" I asked.
+
+They shook their heads in amazement.
+
+"What is there in that?" began Caroline; but I motioned her to bring me
+the little cushion, which she no sooner did than I laid it in the little
+dent, which it fitted to a nicety.
+
+"You wonderful old thing!" exclaimed Caroline. "How ever did you
+think----"
+
+But I stopped her enthusiasm with a look. I may be wonderful, but I am
+not old, and it is time they knew it.
+
+"Mr. _Gryce_ is _old_," said I; and lifting the cushion, I placed it on
+a perfectly smooth portion of the bed. "Now take it up," said I, when,
+lo! a second dent similar to the first.
+
+"You see where that cushion has lain before being placed on the table,"
+I remarked, and reminding Caroline of the pin I wanted, I took my leave
+and returned to my own house, leaving behind me two girls as much filled
+with astonishment as the giddiness of their pates would allow.
+
+
+
+
+XIX.
+
+A DECIDED STEP FORWARD.
+
+
+I felt that I had made an advance. It was a small one, no doubt, but it
+was an advance. It would not do to rest there, however, or to draw
+definite conclusions from what I had seen without further facts to guide
+me. Mrs. Boppert could supply these facts, or so I believed. Accordingly
+I decided to visit Mrs. Boppert.
+
+Not knowing whether Mr. Gryce had thought it best to put a watch over my
+movements, but taking it for granted that it would be like him to do so,
+I made a couple of formal calls on the avenue before I started eastward.
+I had learned Mrs. Boppert's address before leaving home, but I did not
+ride directly to the tenement where she lived. I chose, instead, to get
+out at a little fancy store I saw in the neighborhood.
+
+It was a curious place. I never saw so many or such variety of things in
+one small spot in my life, but I did not waste any time upon this quaint
+interior, but stepped immediately up to the good woman I saw leaning
+over the counter.
+
+"Do you know a Mrs. Boppert who lives at 803?" I asked.
+
+The woman's look was too quick and suspicious for denial; but she was
+about to attempt it, when I cut her short by saying:
+
+"I wish to see Mrs. Boppert very much, but not in her own rooms. I will
+pay any one well who will assist me to five minutes' conversation with
+her in such a place, say, as that I see behind the glass door at the end
+of this very shop."
+
+The woman, startled by so unexpected a proposition, drew back a step,
+and was about to shake her head, when I laid on the counter before her
+(shall I say how much? Yes, for it was not thrown away) a five-dollar
+bill, which she no sooner saw than she gave a gasp of delight.
+
+"Will you give me _that_?" she cried.
+
+For answer I pushed it towards her, but before her fingers could clutch
+it, I resolutely said:
+
+"Mrs. Boppert must not know there is anybody waiting here to see her, or
+she will not come. I have no ill-will towards her, and mean her only
+good, but she's a timid sort of person, and----"
+
+"I know she's timid," broke in the good woman, eagerly. "And she's had
+enough to make her so! What with policemen drumming her up at night, and
+innocent-looking girls and boys luring her into corners to tell them
+what she saw in that grand house where the murder took place, she's
+grown that feared of her shadow you can hardly get her out after
+sundown. But I think I can get her here; and if you mean her no harm,
+why, ma'am----" Her fingers were on the bill, and charmed with the feel
+of it, she forgot to finish her sentence.
+
+"Is there any one in the room back there?" I asked, anxious to recall
+her to herself.
+
+"No, ma'am, no one at all. I am a poor widder, and not used to such
+company as you; but if you will sit down, I will make myself look more
+fit and have Mrs. Boppert over here in a minute." And calling to some
+one of the name of Susie to look after the shop, she led the way towards
+the glass door I have mentioned.
+
+Relieved to find everything working so smoothly and determined to get
+the worth of my money out of Mrs. Boppert when I saw her, I followed the
+woman into the most crowded room I ever entered. The shop was nothing to
+it; there you could move without hitting anything; here you could not.
+There were tables against every wall, and chairs where there were no
+tables. Opposite me was a window-ledge filled with flowering plants, and
+at my right a grate and mantel-piece covered, that is the latter, with
+innumerable small articles which had evidently passed a long and forlorn
+probation on the shop shelves before being brought in here. While I was
+looking at them and marvelling at the small quantity of dust I found,
+the woman herself disappeared behind a stack of boxes, for which there
+was undoubtedly no room in the shop. Could she have gone for Mrs.
+Boppert already, or had she slipped into another room to hide the money
+which had come so unexpectedly into her hands?
+
+I was not long left in doubt, for in another moment she returned with a
+flower-bedecked cap on her smooth gray head, that transformed her into a
+figure at once so complacent and so ridiculous that, had my nerves not
+been made of iron, I should certainly have betrayed my amusement. With
+it she had also put on her company manner, and what with the smiles she
+bestowed upon me and her perfect satisfaction with her own appearance, I
+had all I could do to hold my own and keep her to the matter in hand.
+Finally she managed to take in my anxiety and her own duty, and saying
+that Mrs. Boppert could never refuse a cup of tea, offered to send her
+an invitation to supper. As this struck me favorably, I nodded, at which
+she cocked her head on one side and insinuatingly whispered:
+
+"And would you pay for the tea, ma'am?"
+
+I uttered an indignant "No!" which seemed to surprise her. Immediately
+becoming humble again, she replied it was no matter, that she had tea
+enough and that the shop would supply cakes and crackers; to all of
+which I responded with a look which awed her so completely that she
+almost dropped the dishes with which she was endeavoring to set one of
+the tables.
+
+"She does so hate to talk about the murder that it will be a perfect
+godsend to her to drop into good company like this with no prying
+neighbors about. Shall I set a chair for you, ma'am?"
+
+I declined the honor, saying that I would remain seated where I was,
+adding, as I saw her about to go:
+
+"Let her walk straight in, and she will be in the middle of the room
+before she sees me. That will suit her and me too; for after she has
+once seen me, she won't be frightened. _But you are not to listen at the
+door._"
+
+This I said with great severity, for I saw the woman was becoming very
+curious, and having said it, I waved her peremptorily away.
+
+She didn't like it, but a thought of the five dollars comforted her.
+Casting one final look at the table, which was far from uninvitingly
+set, she slipped out and I was left to contemplate the dozen or so
+photographs that covered the walls. I found them so atrocious and their
+arrangement so distracting to my bump of order, which is of a pronounced
+character, that I finally shut my eyes on the whole scene, and in this
+attitude began to piece my thoughts together. But before I had proceeded
+far, steps were heard in the shop, and the next moment the door flew
+open and in popped Mrs. Boppert, with a face like a peony in full
+blossom. She stopped when she saw me and stared.
+
+"Why, if it isn't the lady----"
+
+"Hush! Shut the door. I have something very particular to say to you."
+
+"O," she began, looking as if she wanted to back out. But I was too
+quick for her. I shut the door myself and, taking her by the arm, seated
+her in the corner.
+
+"You don't show much gratitude," I remarked.
+
+I did not know what she had to be grateful to me for, but she had so
+plainly intimated at our first interview that she regarded me as having
+done her some favor, that I was disposed to make what use of it I could,
+to gain her confidence.
+
+"I know, ma'am, but if you could see how I've been harried, ma'am. It's
+the murder, and nothing but the murder all the time; and it was to get
+away from the talk about it that I came here, ma'am, and now it's you I
+see, and you'll be talking about it too, or why be in such a place as
+this, ma'am?"
+
+"And what if I do talk about it? You know I'm your friend, or I never
+would have done you that good turn the morning we came upon the poor
+girl's body."
+
+"I know, ma'am, and grateful I am for it, too; but I've never understood
+it, ma'am. Was it to save me from being blamed by the wicked police, or
+was it a dream you had, and the gentleman had, for I've heard what he
+said at the inquest, and it's muddled my head till I don't know where
+I'm standing."
+
+What I had said and what the gentleman had said! What did the poor thing
+mean? As I did not dare to show my ignorance, I merely shook my head.
+
+"Never mind what caused us to speak as we did, as long as we helped
+_you_. And we did help you? The police never found out what you had to
+do with this woman's death, did they?"
+
+"No, ma'am, O no, ma'am. When such a respectable lady as you said that
+you saw the young lady come into the house in the middle of the night,
+how was they to disbelieve it. They never asked me if I knew any
+different."
+
+"No," said I, almost struck dumb by my success, but letting no hint of
+my complacency escape me. "And I did not mean they should. You are a
+decent woman, Mrs. Boppert, and should not be troubled."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am. But how did you know she had come to the house before
+I left. Did you see her?"
+
+I hate a lie as I do poison, but I had to exercise all my Christian
+principles not to tell one then.
+
+"No," said I, "I didn't see her, but I don't always have to use my eyes
+to know what is going on in my neighbor's houses." Which is true enough,
+if it is somewhat humiliating to confess it.
+
+"O ma'am, how smart you are, ma'am! I wish I had some smartness in me.
+But my husband had all that. He was a man--O what's that?"
+
+"Nothing but the tea-caddy; I knocked it over with my elbow."
+
+"How I do jump at everything! I'm afraid of my own shadow ever since I
+saw that poor thing lying under that heap of crockery."
+
+"I don't wonder."
+
+"She must have pulled those things over herself, don't you think so,
+ma'am? No one went in there to murder her. But how came she to have
+those clothes on. She was dressed quite different when I let her in. I
+say it's all a muddle, ma'am, and it will be a smart man as can explain
+it."
+
+"Or a smart woman," I thought.
+
+"Did I do wrong, ma'am? That's what plagues me. She begged so hard to
+come in, I didn't know how to shut the door on her. Besides her name was
+Van Burnam, or so she told me."
+
+Here was a coil. Subduing my surprise, I remarked:
+
+"If she asked you to let her in, I do not see how you could refuse her.
+Was it in the morning or late in the afternoon she came?"
+
+"Don't you know, ma'am? I thought you knew all about it from the way you
+talked."
+
+Had I been indiscreet? Could she not bear questioning? Eying her with
+some severity, I declared in a less familiar tone than any I had yet
+used:
+
+"Nobody knows more about it than I do, but I do not know just the hour
+at which this lady came to the house. But I do not ask you to tell me if
+you do not want to."
+
+"O ma'am," she humbly remonstrated, "I am sure I am willing to tell you
+everything. It was in the afternoon while I was doing the front basement
+floor."
+
+"And she came to the basement door?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"And asked to be let in?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Young Mrs. Van Burnam?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Dressed in a black and white plaid silk, and wearing a hat covered with
+flowers?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, or something like that. I know it was very bright and
+becoming."
+
+"And why did she come to the basement door--a lady dressed like that?"
+
+"Because she knew I couldn't open the front door; that I hadn't the key.
+O she talked beautiful, ma'am, and wasn't proud with me a bit. She made
+me let her stay in the house, and when I said it would be dark after a
+while and that I hadn't done nothing to the rooms upstairs, she laughed
+and said she didn't care, that she wasn't afraid of the dark and had
+just as lieve as not stay in the big house alone all night, for she had
+a book--Did you say anything, ma'am?"
+
+"No, no, go on, she had a book."
+
+"Which she could read till she got sleepy. I never thought anything
+would happen to her."
+
+"Of course not, why should you? And so you let her into the house and
+left her there when you went out of it? Well, I don't wonder you were
+shocked to see her lying dead on the floor next morning."
+
+"Awful, ma'am. I was afraid they would blame me for what had happened.
+But I didn't do nothing to make her die. I only let her stay in the
+house. Do you think they will do anything to me if they know it?"
+
+"No," said I, trying to understand this woman's ignorant fears, "they
+don't punish such things. More's the pity!"--this in confidence to
+myself. "How could you know that a piece of furniture would fall on her
+before morning. Did you lock her in when you left the house?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. She told me to."
+
+Then she was a prisoner.
+
+Confounded by the mystery of the whole affair, I sat so still the woman
+looked up in wonder, and I saw I had better continue my questions.
+
+"What reason did she give for wanting to stay in the house all night?"
+
+"What reason, ma'am? I don't know. Something about her having to be
+there when Mr. Van Burnam came home. I didn't make it out, and I didn't
+try to. I was too busy wondering what she would have to eat."
+
+"And what did she have?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am. She said she had something, but I didn't see it."
+
+"Perhaps you were blinded by the money she gave you. She gave you some,
+of course?"
+
+"O, not much, ma'am, not much. And I wouldn't have taken a cent if it
+had not seemed to make her so happy to give it. The pretty, pretty
+thing! A real lady, whatever they say about her!"
+
+"And happy? You said she was happy, cheerful-looking, and pretty."
+
+"O yes, ma'am; _she_ didn't know what was going to happen. I even heard
+her sing after she went up-stairs."
+
+I wished that my ears had been attending to their duty that day, and I
+might have heard her sing too. But the walls between my house and that
+of the Van Burnams are very thick, as I have had occasion to observe
+more than once.
+
+"Then she went up-stairs before you left?"
+
+"To be sure, ma'am; what would she do in the kitchen?"
+
+"And you didn't see her again?"
+
+"No, ma'am; but I heard her walking around."
+
+"In the parlors, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, in the parlors."
+
+"You did not go up yourself?"
+
+"No, ma'am, I had enough to do below."
+
+"Didn't you go up when you went away?"
+
+"No, ma'am; I didn't like to."
+
+"When did you go?"
+
+"At five, ma'am; I always go at five."
+
+"How did you know it was five?"
+
+"The kitchen clock told me; I wound it, ma'am and set it when the
+whistles blew at twelve."
+
+"Was that the only clock you wound?"
+
+"Only clock? Do you think I'd be going around the house winding any
+others?"
+
+Her face showed such surprise, and her eyes met mine so frankly, that I
+was convinced she spoke the truth. Gratified--I don't know why,--I
+bestowed upon her my first smile, which seemed to affect her, for her
+face softened, and she looked at me quite eagerly for a minute before
+she said:
+
+"You don't think so very bad of me, do you, ma'am?"
+
+But I had been struck by a thought which made me for the moment
+oblivious to her question. _She_ had wound the clock in the kitchen for
+her own uses, and why may not the lady above have wound the one in the
+parlor for hers? Filled with this startling idea, I remarked:
+
+"The young lady wore a watch, of course?"
+
+But the suggestion passed unheeded. Mrs. Boppert was as much absorbed in
+her own thoughts as I was.
+
+"Did young Mrs. Van Burnam wear a watch?" I persisted.
+
+Mrs. Boppert's face remained a blank.
+
+Provoked at her impassibility, I shook her with an angry hand,
+imperatively demanding:
+
+"What are you thinking of? Why don't you answer my questions?"
+
+She was herself again in an instant.
+
+"O ma'am, I beg your pardon. I was wondering if you meant the parlor
+clock."
+
+I calmed myself, looked severe to hide my more than eager interest, and
+sharply cried:
+
+"Of course I mean the parlor clock. Did you wind it?"
+
+"O no, no, no, I would as soon think of touching gold or silver. But the
+young lady did, I'm sure, ma'am, for I heard it strike when she was
+setting of it."
+
+Ah! If my nature had not been an undemonstrative one, and if I had not
+been bred to a strong sense of social distinctions, I might have
+betrayed my satisfaction at this announcement in a way that would have
+made this homely German woman start. As it was I sat stock-still, and
+even made her think I had not heard her. Venturing to rouse _me_ a bit,
+she spoke again after a minute's silence.
+
+"She might have been lonely, you know, ma'am; and the ticking of a clock
+is such company."
+
+"Yes," I answered with more than my accustomed vivacity, for she jumped
+as if I had struck her. "You have hit the nail on the head, Mrs.
+Boppert, and are a much smarter woman than I thought. But when did she
+wind the clock?"
+
+"At five o'clock, ma'am; just before I left the house."
+
+"O, and did she know you were going?"
+
+"I think so, ma'am, for I called up, just before I put on my bonnet,
+that it was five o'clock and that I was going."
+
+"O, you did. And did she answer back?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. I heard her step in the hall and then her voice. She asked
+if I was sure it was five, and I told her yes, because I had set the
+kitchen clock at twelve. She didn't say any more, but just after that I
+heard the parlor clock begin to strike."
+
+O, thought I, what cannot be got out of the most stupid and unwilling
+witness by patience and a judicious use of questions. To know that this
+clock was started after five o'clock, that is, after the hour at which
+the hands pointed when it fell, and that it was set correctly in
+starting, and so would give indisputable testimony of the hour when the
+shelves fell, were points of the greatest importance. I was so pleased I
+gave the woman another smile.
+
+Instantly she cried:
+
+"But you won't say anything about it, will you, ma'am? They might make
+me pay for all the things that were broke."
+
+My smile this time was not one of encouragement simply. But it might
+have been anything for all effect it had on her. The intricacies of the
+affair had disturbed her poor brain again, and all her powers of mind
+were given up to lament.
+
+"O," she bemoaned, "I wish I had never seen her! My head wouldn't ache
+so with the muddle of it. Why, ma'am, her husband said he came to the
+house at midnight with his wife! How could he when she was inside of it
+all the time. But then perhaps he said that, just as you did, to save me
+blame. But why should a gentleman like him do that?"
+
+"It isn't worth while for you to bother your head about it," I
+expostulated. "It is enough that _my_ head aches over it."
+
+I don't suppose she understood me or tried to. Her wits had been sorely
+tried and my rather severe questioning had not tended to clear them. At
+all events she went on in another moment as if I had not spoken:
+
+"But what became of her pretty dress? I was never so astonished in my
+life as when I saw that dark skirt on her."
+
+"She might have left her fine gown upstairs," I ventured, not wishing to
+go into the niceties of evidence with this woman.
+
+"So she might, so she might, and that may have been her petticoat we
+saw." But in another moment she saw the impossibility of this, for she
+added: "But I saw her petticoat, and it was a brown silk one. She showed
+it when she lifted her skirt to get at her purse. I don't understand it,
+ma'am."
+
+As her face by this time was almost purple, I thought it a mercy to
+close the interview; so I uttered some few words of a soothing and
+encouraging nature, and then seeing that something more tangible was
+necessary to restore her to any proper condition of spirits, I took out
+my pocket-book and bestowed on her some of my loose silver.
+
+This was something she _could_ understand. She brightened immediately,
+and before she was well through her expressions of delight, I had
+quitted the room and in a few minutes later the shop.
+
+I hope the two women had their cup of tea after that.
+
+
+
+
+XX.
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S THEORY.
+
+
+I was so excited when I entered my carriage that I rode all the way home
+with my bonnet askew and never knew it. When I reached my room and saw
+myself in the glass, I was shocked, and stole a glance at Lena, who was
+setting out my little tea-table, to see if she noticed what a ridiculous
+figure I cut. But she is discretion itself, and for a girl with two
+undeniable dimples in her cheeks, smiles seldom--at least when I am
+looking at her. She was not smiling now, and though, for the reason
+given above, this was not as comforting as it may appear, I chose not to
+worry myself any longer about such a trifle when I had matters of so
+much importance on my mind.
+
+Taking off my bonnet, whose rakish appearance had given me such a shock,
+I sat down, and for half an hour neither moved nor spoke. I was
+thinking. A theory which had faintly suggested itself to me at the
+inquest was taking on body with these later developments. Two hats had
+been found on the scene of the tragedy, and two pairs of gloves, and now
+I had learned that there had been two women there, the one whom Mrs.
+Boppert had locked into the house on leaving it, and the one whom I had
+seen enter at midnight with Mr. Van Burnam. Which of the two had
+perished? We had been led to think, and Mr. Van Burnam had himself
+acknowledged, that it was his wife; but his wife had been dressed quite
+differently from the murdered woman, and was, as I soon began to see,
+much more likely to have been the assassin than the victim. Would you
+like to know my reasons for this extraordinary statement? If so, they
+are these:
+
+I had always seen a woman's hand in this work, but having no reason to
+believe in the presence of any other woman on the scene of crime than
+the victim, I had put this suspicion aside as untenable. But now that I
+had found the second woman, I returned to it.
+
+But how connect her with the murder? It seemed easy enough to do so if
+this other woman was her rival. We have heard of no rival, but she may
+have known of one, and this knowledge may have been at the bottom of her
+disagreement with her husband and the half-crazy determination she
+evinced to win his family over to her side. Let us say, then, that the
+second woman was Mrs. Van Burnam's rival. That he brought her there not
+knowing that his wife had effected an entrance into the house; brought
+her there after an afternoon spent at the Hotel D----, during which he
+had furnished her with a new outfit of less pronounced type, perhaps,
+than that she had previously worn. The use of the two carriages and the
+care they took to throw suspicion off their track, may have been part of
+a scheme of future elopement, for I had no idea they meant to remain in
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. For what purpose, then, did they go there? To
+meet Mrs. Van Burnam and kill her, that their way might be clearer for
+flight? No; I had rather think that they went to the house without a
+thought of whom they would encounter, and that only after they had
+entered the parlors did he realize that the two women he least wished to
+see together had been brought by his folly face to face.
+
+The presence in the third room of Mrs. Van Burnam's hat, gloves, and
+novel seemed to argue that she had spent the evening in reading by the
+dining-room table, but whether this was so or not, the stopping of a
+carriage in front and the opening of the door by an accustomed hand
+undoubtedly assured her that either the old gentleman or some other
+member of the family had unexpectedly arrived. She was, therefore, in or
+near the parlor-door when they entered, and the shock of meeting her
+hated rival in company with her husband, under the very roof where she
+had hoped to lay the foundations of her future happiness, must have been
+great, if not maddening. Accusations, recriminations even, did not
+satisfy her. She wanted to kill; but she had no weapon. Suddenly her
+eyes fell on the hat-pin which her more self-possessed rival had drawn
+from her hat, possibly before their encounter, and she conceived a plan
+which seemed to promise her the very revenge she sought. How she carried
+it out; by what means she was enabled to approach her victim and inflict
+with such certainty the fatal stab which laid her enemy at her feet, can
+be left to the imagination. But that she, a woman, and not Howard, a
+man, drove this woman's weapon into the stranger's spine, I will yet
+prove, or lose all faith in my own intuitions.
+
+But if this theory is true, how about the shelves that fell at daybreak,
+and how about her escape from the house without detection? A little
+thought will explain all that. The man, horrified, no doubt, at the
+result of his imprudence, and execrating the crime to which it had led,
+left the house almost immediately. But the woman remained there,
+possibly because she had fainted, possibly because he would have nothing
+to do with her; and coming to herself, saw her victim's face staring up
+at her with an accusing beauty she found it impossible to meet. What
+should she do to escape it? Where should she go? She hated it so she
+could have trampled on it, but she restrained her passions till
+daybreak, when in one wild burst of fury and hatred she drew down the
+cabinet upon it, and then fled the scene of horror she had herself
+caused. This was at five, or, to be exact, three minutes before that
+hour, as shown by the clock she had carelessly set in her lighter
+moments.
+
+She escaped by the front door, which her husband had mercifully forborne
+to lock; and she had not been discovered by the police, because her
+appearance did not tally with the description which had been given them.
+How did I know this? Remember the discoveries I had made in Miss Van
+Burnam's room, and allow them to assist you in understanding my
+conclusions.
+
+Some one had gone into that room; some one who wanted pins; and keeping
+this fact before my eyes, I saw through the motive and actions of the
+escaping woman. She had on a dress separated at the waist, and finding,
+perhaps, a spot of blood on the skirt, she conceived the plan of
+covering it with her petticoat, which was also of silk and undoubtedly
+as well made as many women's dresses. But the skirt of the gown was
+longer than the petticoat and she was obliged to pin it up. Having no
+pins herself, and finding none on the parlor floor, she went up-stairs
+to get some. The door at the head of the stairs was locked, but the
+front room was open, so she entered there. Groping her way to the
+bureau, for the place was very dark, she found a pin-cushion hanging
+from a bracket. Feeling it to be full of pins, and knowing that she
+could see nothing where she was, she tore it away and carried it towards
+the door. Here there was some light from the skylight over the stairs,
+so setting the cushion down on the bed, she pinned up the skirt of her
+gown.
+
+When this was done she started away, brushing the cushion off the bed in
+her excitement, and fearing to be traced by her many-colored hat, or
+having no courage remaining for facing again the horror in the parlor,
+she slid out without one and went, God knows whither, in her terror and
+remorse.
+
+So much for my theory; now for the facts standing in the way of its
+complete acceptance. They were two: the scar on the ankle of the dead
+girl, which was a peculiarity of Louise Van Burnam, and the mark of the
+rings on her fingers. But who had identified the scar? Her husband. No
+one else. And if the other woman had, by some strange freak of chance, a
+scar also on her left foot, then the otherwise unaccountable apathy he
+had shown at being told of this distinctive mark, as well as his
+temerity in afterwards taking it as a basis for his false
+identification, becomes equally consistent and natural; and as for the
+marks of the rings, it would be strange if such a woman did not wear
+rings and plenty of them.
+
+Howard's conduct under examination and the contradiction between his
+first assertions and those that followed, all become clear in the light
+of this new theory. He had seen his wife kill a defenceless woman
+before his eyes, and whether influenced by his old affection for her or
+by his pride in her good name, he could not but be anxious to conceal
+her guilt even at the cost of his own truthfulness. As long then as
+circumstances permitted, he preserved his indifferent attitude, and
+denied that the dead woman was his wife. But when driven to the wall by
+the indisputable proof which was brought forth of his wife having been
+in the place of murder, he saw, or thought he did, that a continued
+denial on his part of Louise Van Burnam being the victim might lead
+sooner or later to the suspicion of her being the murderer, and
+influenced by this fear, took the sudden resolution of profiting by all
+the points which the two women had in common by acknowledging, what
+everybody had expected him to acknowledge from the first, that the woman
+at the Morgue was his wife. This would exonerate her, rid him of any
+apprehension he may have entertained of her ever returning to be a
+disgrace to him, and would (and perhaps this thought influenced him
+most, for who can understand such men or the passions that sway them)
+insure the object of his late devotion a decent burial in a Christian
+cemetery. To be sure, the risk he ran was great, but the emergency was
+great, and he may not have stopped to count the cost. At all events, the
+fact is certain that he perjured himself when he said that it was his
+wife he brought to the house from the Hotel D----, and if he perjured
+himself in this regard, he probably perjured himself in others, and his
+testimony is not at all to be relied upon.
+
+Convinced though I was in my own mind that I had struck a truth which
+would bear the closest investigation, I was not satisfied to act upon
+it till I had put it to the test. The means I took to do this were
+daring, and quite in keeping with the whole desperate affair. They
+promised, however, a result important enough to make Mr. Gryce blush for
+the disdain with which he had met my threats of interference.
+
+
+
+
+XXI.
+
+A SHREWD CONJECTURE.
+
+
+The test of which I speak was as follows:
+
+I would advertise for a person dressed as I believed Mrs. Van Burnam to
+have been when she left the scene of crime. If I received news of such a
+person, I might safely consider my theory established.
+
+I accordingly wrote the following advertisement:
+
+     "Information wanted of a woman who applied for lodgings on the
+     morning of the eighteenth inst., dressed in a brown silk skirt
+     and a black and white plaid blouse of fashionable cut. She was
+     without a hat, or if a person so dressed wore a hat, then it
+     was bought early in the morning at some store, in which case
+     let shopkeepers take notice. The person answering this
+     description is eagerly sought for by her relatives, and to any
+     one giving positive information of the same, a liberal reward
+     will be paid. Please address, T. W. Alvord, ---- Liberty
+     Street."
+
+I purposely did not mention her personal appearance, for fear of
+attracting the attention of the police.
+
+This done, I wrote the following letter:
+
+     "DEAR MISS FERGUSON:
+
+     "One clever woman recognizes another. I am clever and am not
+     ashamed to own it. You are clever and should not be ashamed to
+     be told so. I was a witness at the inquest in which you so
+     notably distinguished yourself, and I said then, 'There is a
+     woman after my own heart!' But a truce to compliments! What I
+     want and ask of you to procure for me is a photograph of Mrs.
+     Van Burnam. I am a friend of the family, and consider them to
+     be in more trouble than they deserve. If I had her picture I
+     would show it to the Misses Van Burnam, who feel great remorse
+     at their treatment of her, and who want to see how she looked.
+     Cannot you find one in their rooms? The one in Mr. Howard's
+     room here has been confiscated by the police.[C]
+
+     "Hoping that you will feel disposed to oblige me in this--and I
+     assure you that my motives in making this request are most
+     excellent--I remain,
+
+     "Cordially yours,
+
+     "AMELIA BUTTERWORTH.
+
+     "P. S.--Address me, if you please, at 564 ---- Avenue. Care of
+     J. H. Denham."
+
+This was my grocer, with whom I left word the next morning to deliver
+this package in the next bushel of potatoes he sent me.
+
+My smart little maid, Lena, carried these two communications to the east
+side, where she posted the letter herself and entrusted the
+advertisement to a lover of hers who carried it to the _Herald_ office.
+While she was gone I tried to rest by exercising my mind in other
+directions. But I could not. I kept going over Howard's testimony in the
+light of my own theory, and remarking how the difficulty he experienced
+in maintaining the position he had taken, forced him into
+inconsistencies and far-fetched explanations. With his wife for a
+companion at the Hotel D----, his conduct both there and on the road to
+his father's house was that of a much weaker man than his words and
+appearance led one to believe; but if, on the contrary, he had with him
+a woman with whom he was about to elope (and what did the packing up of
+all his effects mean, if not that?), all the precautions they took
+seemed reasonable.
+
+Later, my mind fixed itself on one point. If it was his wife who was
+with him, as he said, then the bundle they dropped at the old woman's
+feet contained the much-talked of plaid silk. If it was not, then it was
+a gown of some different material. Now, could this bundle be found? If
+it could, then why had not Mr. Gryce produced it? The sight of Mrs. Van
+Burnam's plaid silk spread out on the Coroner's table would have had a
+great effect in clinching the suspicion against her husband. But no
+plaid silk had been found (because it was not dropped in the bundle, but
+worn away on the murderess's back), and no old woman. I thought I knew
+the reason of this too. There was no old woman to be found, and the
+bundle they carried had been got rid of some other way. What way? I
+would take a walk down that same block and see, and I would take it at
+the midnight hour too, for only so could I judge of the possibilities
+there offered for concealing or destroying such an article.
+
+Having made this decision, I cast about to see how I could carry it into
+effect. I am not a coward, but I have a respectability to maintain, and
+what errand could Miss Butterworth be supposed to have in the streets at
+twelve o'clock at night! Fortunately, I remembered that my cook had
+complained of toothache when I gave her my orders for breakfast, and
+going down at once into the kitchen, where she sat with her cheek
+propped up in her hand waiting for Lena, I said with an asperity which
+admitted of no reply:
+
+"You have a dreadful tooth, Sarah, and you must have something done for
+it at once. When Lena comes home, send her to me. I am going to the
+drug-store for some drops, and I want Lena to accompany me."
+
+She looked astounded, of course, but I would not let her answer me.
+"Don't speak a word," I cried, "it will only make your toothache worse;
+and don't look as if some hobgoblin had jumped up on the kitchen table.
+I guess I know my duty, and just what kind of a breakfast I will have in
+the morning, if you sit up all night groaning with the toothache." And I
+was out of the room before she had more than begun to say that it was
+not so bad, and that I needn't trouble, and all that, which was true
+enough, no doubt, but not what I wanted to hear at that moment.
+
+When Lena came in, I saw by the brightness of her face that she had
+accomplished her double errand. I therefore signified to her that I was
+satisfied, and asked if she was too tired to go out again, saying quite
+peremptorily that Sarah was ill, and that I was going to the drug-store
+for some medicine, and did not wish to go alone.
+
+Lena's round-eyed wonder was amusing; but she is very discreet, as I
+have said before, and she ventured nothing save a meek, "It's very late,
+Miss Butterworth," which was an unnecessary remark, as she soon saw.
+
+I do not like to obtrude my aristocratic tendencies too much into this
+narrative, but when I found myself in the streets alone with Lena, I
+could not help feeling some secret qualms lest my conduct savored of
+impropriety. But the thought that I was working in the cause of truth
+and justice came to sustain me, and before I had gone two blocks, I felt
+as much at home under the midnight skies as if I were walking home from
+church on a Sunday afternoon.
+
+There is a certain drug-store on Third Avenue where I like to deal, and
+towards this I ostensibly directed my steps. But I took pains to go by
+the way of Lexington Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, and upon reaching
+the block where this mysterious couple were seen, gave all my attention
+to the possible hiding-places it offered.
+
+Lena, who had followed me like my shadow, and who was evidently too
+dumfounded at my freak to speak, drew up to my side as we were half-way
+down it and seized me tremblingly by the arm.
+
+"Two men are coming," said she.
+
+"I am not afraid of men," was my sharp rejoinder. But I told a most
+abominable lie; for I am afraid of them in such places and under such
+circumstances, though not under ordinary conditions, and never where the
+tongue is likely to be the only weapon employed.
+
+The couple who were approaching us now seemed to be in a merry mood. But
+when they saw us keep to our own side of the way, they stopped their
+chaffing and allowed us to go by, with just a mocking word or two.
+
+"Sarah ought to be very much obliged to you," whispered Lena.
+
+At the corner of Third Avenue I paused. I had seen nothing so far but
+bare stoops and dark area-ways. Nothing to suggest a place for the
+disposal of such cumbersome articles as these persons had made way with.
+Had the avenue anything better to offer? I stopped under the gas-lamp at
+the corner to consider, notwithstanding Lena's gentle pull towards the
+drug-store. Looking to left and right and over the muddy crossings, I
+sought for inspiration. An almost obstinate belief in my own theory led
+me to insist in my own mind that they had encountered no old woman, and
+consequently had not dropped their bundles in the open street. I even
+entered into an argument about it, standing there with the cable cars
+whistling by me and Lena tugging away at my arm. "If," said I to myself,
+"the woman with him had been his wife and the whole thing nothing more
+than a foolish escapade, they might have done this; but she was not his
+wife, and the game they were playing was serious, if they did laugh over
+it, and so their disposal of these tell-tale articles would be serious
+and such as would protect their secret. Where, then, could they have
+thrust them?"
+
+My eyes, as I muttered this, were on the one shop in my line of vision
+that was still open and lighted. It was the den of a Chinese laundryman,
+and through the windows in front I could see him still at work, ironing.
+
+"Ah!" thought I, and made such a start across the street that Lena
+gasped in dismay and almost fell to the ground in her frightened attempt
+to follow me.
+
+"Not that way!" she called. "Miss Butterworth, you are going wrong."
+
+But I kept right on, and only stopped when I reached the laundry.
+
+"I have an errand here," I explained. "Wait in the doorway, Lena, and
+don't act as if you thought me crazy, for I was never saner in my life."
+
+I don't think this reassured her much, lunatics not being supposed to be
+very good judges of their own mental condition, but she was so
+accustomed to obey, that she drew back as I opened the door before me
+and entered. The surprise on the face of the poor Chinaman when he
+turned and saw before him a lady of years and no ordinary appearance,
+daunted me for an instant. But another look only showed me that his very
+surprise was inoffensive, and gathering courage from the unexpectedness
+of my own position, I inquired with all the politeness I could show one
+of his abominable nationality:
+
+"Didn't a gentleman and a heavily veiled lady leave a package with you a
+few days ago at about the same hour of night as this?"
+
+"Some lalee clo' washee? Yes, ma'am. No done. She tellee me no callee
+for one week."
+
+"Then that's all right; the lady has died very suddenly, and the
+gentleman gone away; you will have to keep the clothes a long time."
+
+"Me wantee money, no wantee clo'!"
+
+"I'll pay you for them; I don't care about them being ironed."
+
+"Givee tickee, givee clo'! No givee tickee, no givee clo'!"
+
+This was a poser! But as I did not want the clothes so much as a look at
+them, I soon got the better of this difficulty.
+
+"I don't want them to-night," said I. "I only wanted to make sure you
+had them. What night were these people here?"
+
+"Tuesday night, velly late; nicee man, nicee lalee. She wantee talk.
+Nicee man he pullee she; I no hear if muchee stasch. All washee, see!"
+he went on, dragging a basket out of the corner, "him no ilon."
+
+I was in such a quiver; so struck with amazement at my own perspicacity
+in surmising that here was a place where a bundle of underclothing could
+be lost indefinitely, that I just stared while he turned over the
+clothes in the basket. For by means of the quality of the articles he
+was preparing to show me, the question which had been agitating me for
+hours could be definitely decided. If they proved to be fine and of
+foreign manufacture, then Howard's story was true and all my fine-spun
+theories must fall to the ground. But if, on the contrary, they were
+such as are usually worn by American women, then my own idea as to the
+identity of the woman who left them here was established, and I could
+safely consider her as the victim and Louise Van Burnam as the
+murderess, unless further facts came to prove that he was the guilty
+one, after all.
+
+The sight of Lena's eyes staring at me with great anxiety through the
+panes of the door distracted my attention for a moment, and when I
+looked again, he was holding up two or three garments before me. The
+articles thus revealed told their story in a moment. They were far from
+fine, and had even less embroidery on them than I expected.
+
+"Are there any marks on them?" I asked.
+
+He showed me two letters stamped in indelible ink on the band of a
+skirt. I did not have my glasses with me, but the ink was black, and I
+read O. R. "The minx's initials," thought I.
+
+When I left the place my complacency was such that Lena did not know
+what to make of me. She has since informed me that I looked as if I
+wanted to shout Hurrah! but I cannot believe I so far forgot myself as
+that. But pleased as I was, I had only discovered how one bundle had
+been disposed of. The dress and outside fixings still had to be
+accounted for, and I was the woman to do it.
+
+We had mechanically moved in the direction of the drug-store and were
+near the curb-stone when I reached this point in my meditations. It had
+rained a little while before, and a small stream was running down the
+gutter and emptying itself into the sewer opening. The sight of it
+sharpened my wits.
+
+If I wanted to get rid of anything of a damaging character, I would drop
+it at the mouth of one of these holes and gently thrust it into the
+sewer with my foot, thought I. And never doubting that I had found an
+explanation of the disappearance of the second bundle, I walked on,
+deciding that if I had the police at my command I would have the sewer
+searched at those four corners.
+
+We rode home after visiting the drug-store. I was not going to subject
+Lena or myself to another midnight walk through Twenty-seventh Street.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote C: This was _so_ probable, it cannot be considered an
+untruth.--A. B.]
+
+
+
+
+XXII.
+
+A BLANK CARD.
+
+
+The next day at noon Lena brought me up a card on her tray. It was a
+perfectly blank one.
+
+"Miss Van Burnam's maid said you sent for this," was her demure
+announcement.
+
+"Miss Van Burnam's maid is right," said I, taking the card and with it a
+fresh installment of courage.
+
+Nothing happened for two days, then there came word from the kitchen
+that a bushel of potatoes had arrived. Going down to see them, I drew
+from their midst a large square envelope, which I immediately carried to
+my room. It failed to contain a photograph; but there was a letter in it
+couched in these terms:
+
+     "DEAR MISS BUTTERWORTH:
+
+     "The esteem which you are good enough to express for me is
+     returned. I regret that I cannot oblige you. There are no
+     photographs to be found in Mrs. Van Burnam's rooms. Perhaps
+     this fact may be accounted for by the curiosity shown in those
+     apartments by a very spruce new boarder we have had from New
+     York. His taste for that particular quarter of the house was
+     such that I could not keep him away from it except by lock and
+     key. If there was a picture there of Mrs. Van Burnam, he took
+     it, for he departed very suddenly one night. I am glad he took
+     nothing more with him. The talks he had with my servant-girl
+     have almost led to my dismissing her.
+
+     "Praying your pardon for the disappointment I am forced to give
+     you, I remain,
+
+     "Yours sincerely,
+
+     "SUSAN FERGUSON."
+
+So! so! balked by an emissary of Mr. Gryce. Well, well, we would do
+without the photograph! Mr. Gryce might need it, but not Amelia
+Butterworth.
+
+This was on a Thursday, and on the evening of Saturday the long-desired
+clue was given me. It came in the shape of a letter brought me by Mr.
+Alvord.
+
+Our interview was not an agreeable one. Mr. Alvord is a clever man and
+an adroit one, or I should not persist in employing him as my lawyer;
+but he never understood _me_. At this time, and with this letter in his
+hand, he understood me less than ever, which naturally called out my
+powers of self-assertion and led to some lively conversation between us.
+But that is neither here nor there. He had brought me an answer to my
+advertisement and I was presently engrossed by it. It was an uneducated
+woman's epistle and its chirography and spelling were dreadful; so I
+will just mention its contents, which were highly interesting in
+themselves, as I think you will acknowledge.
+
+She, that is, the writer, whose name, as nearly as I could make out, was
+Bertha Desberger, knew such a person as I described, and could give me
+news of her if I would come to her house in West Ninth Street at four
+o'clock Sunday afternoon.
+
+If I would! I think my face must have shown my satisfaction, for Mr.
+Alvord, who was watching me, sarcastically remarked:
+
+"You don't seem to find any difficulties in that communication. Now,
+what do you think of this one?"
+
+He held out another letter which had been directed to him, and which he
+had opened. Its contents called up a shade of color to my cheek, for I
+did not want to go through the annoyance of explaining myself again:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:
+
+     "From a strange advertisement which has lately appeared in the
+     _Herald_, I gather that information is wanted of a young woman
+     who on the morning of the eighteenth inst. entered my store
+     without any bonnet on her head, and saying she had met with an
+     accident, bought a hat which she immediately put on. She was
+     pale as a girl could be and looked so ill that I asked her if
+     she was well enough to be out alone; but she gave me no reply
+     and left the store as soon as possible. That is all I can tell
+     you about her."
+
+With this was enclosed his card:
+
+     PHINEAS COX,
+
+     _Millinery_,
+
+     _Trimmed and Untrimmed Hats_,
+
+     ---- Sixth Avenue.
+
+"Now, what does this mean?" asked Mr. Alvord. "The morning of the
+eighteenth was the morning when the murder was discovered in which you
+have shown such interest."
+
+"It means," I retorted with some spirit, for simple dignity was thrown
+away on this man, "that I made a mistake in choosing your office as a
+medium for my business communications."
+
+This was to the point and he said no more, though he eyed the letter in
+my hand very curiously, and seemed more than tempted to renew the
+hostilities with which we had opened our interview.
+
+Had it not been Saturday, and late in the day at that, I would have
+visited Mr. Cox's store before I slept, but as it was I felt obliged to
+wait till Monday. Meanwhile I had before me the still more important
+interview with Mrs. Desberger.
+
+As I had no reason to think that my visiting any number in Ninth Street
+would arouse suspicion in the police, I rode there quite boldly the next
+day, and with Lena at my side, entered the house of Mrs. Bertha
+Desberger.
+
+For this trip I had dressed myself plainly, and drawn over my eyes--and
+the puffs which I still think it becoming in a woman of my age to
+wear--a dotted veil, thick enough to conceal my features, without
+robbing me of that aspect of benignity necessary to the success of my
+mission. Lena wore her usual neat gray dress, and looked the picture of
+all the virtues.
+
+A large brass door-plate, well rubbed, was the first sign vouchsafed us
+of the respectability of the house we were about to enter; and the
+parlor, when we were ushered into it, fully carried out the promise thus
+held forth on the door-step. It was respectable, but in wretched taste
+as regards colors. I, who have the nicest taste in such matters, looked
+about me in dismay as I encountered the greens and blues, the crimsons
+and the purples which everywhere surrounded me.
+
+But I was not on a visit to a temple of art, and resolutely shutting my
+eyes to the offending splendor about me--worsted splendor, you
+understand,--I waited with subdued expectation for the lady of the
+house.
+
+She came in presently, bedecked in a flowered gown that was an epitome
+of the blaze of colors everywhere surrounding us; but her face was a
+good one, and I saw that I had neither guile nor over-much shrewdness to
+contend with.
+
+She had seen the coach at the door, and she was all smiles and flutter.
+
+"You have come for the poor girl who stopped here a few days ago," she
+began, glancing from my face to Lena's with an equally inquiring air,
+which in itself would have shown her utter ignorance of social
+distinctions if I had not bidden Lena to keep at my side and hold her
+head up as if she had business there as well as myself.
+
+"Yes," returned I, "we have. Lena here, has lost a relative (which was
+true), and knowing no other way of finding her, I suggested the
+insertion of an advertisement in the paper. You read the description
+given, of course. Has the person answering it been in this house?"
+
+"Yes; she came on the morning of the eighteenth. I remember it because
+that was the very day my cook left, and I have not got another one yet."
+She sighed and went on. "I took a great interest in that unhappy young
+woman--Was she your sister?" This, somewhat doubtfully, to Lena, who
+perhaps had too few colors on to suit her.
+
+"No," answered Lena, "she wasn't my sister, but----"
+
+I immediately took the words out of her mouth.
+
+"At what time did she come here, and how long did she stay? We want to
+find her very much. Did she give you any name, or tell where she was
+going?"
+
+"She said her name was Oliver." (I thought of the O. R. on the clothes
+at the laundry.) "But I knew this wasn't so; and if she had not looked
+so very modest, I might have hesitated to take her in. But, lor! I can't
+resist a girl in trouble, and she was in trouble, if ever a girl was.
+And then she had money--Do you know what her trouble was?" This again to
+Lena, and with an air at once suspicious and curious. But Lena has a
+good face, too, and her frank eyes at once disarmed the weak and
+good-natured woman before us.
+
+"I thought"--she went on before Lena could answer--"that whatever it
+was, _you_ had nothing to do with it, nor this lady either."
+
+"No," answered Lena, seeing that I wished her to do the talking. "And we
+don't know" (which was true enough so far as Lena went) "just what her
+trouble was. Didn't she tell you?"
+
+"She told nothing. When she came she said she wanted to stay with me a
+little while. I sometimes take boarders----" She had twenty in the house
+at that minute, if she had one. Did she think I couldn't see the length
+of her dining-room table through the crack of the parlor door? "'I can
+pay,' she said, which I had not doubted, for her blouse was a very
+expensive one; though I thought her skirt looked queer, and her hat--Did
+I say she had a hat on? You seemed to doubt that fact in your
+advertisement. Goodness me! if she had had no hat on, she wouldn't have
+got as far as my parlor mat. But her blouse showed her to be a
+lady--and then her face--it was as white as your handkerchief there,
+madam, but so sweet--I thought of the Madonna faces I had seen in
+Catholic churches."
+
+I started; inwardly commenting: "Madonna-like, _that_ woman!" But a
+glance at the room about me reassured me. The owner of such hideous
+sofas and chairs and of the many pictures effacing or rather defacing
+the paper on the walls, could not be a judge of Madonna faces.
+
+"You admire everything that is good and lovely," I suggested, for Mrs.
+Desberger had paused at the movement I made.
+
+"Yes, it is my nature to do so, ma'am. I love the beautiful," and she
+cast a half-apologetic, half-proud look about her. "So I listened to the
+girl and let her sit down in my parlor. She had had nothing to eat that
+morning, and though she didn't ask for it, I went to order her a cup of
+tea, for I knew she couldn't get up-stairs without it. Her eyes followed
+me when I went out of the room in a way that haunted me, and when I came
+back--I shall never forget it, ma'am--there she lay stretched out on the
+floor with her face on the ground and her hands thrown out. Wasn't it
+horrible, ma'am? I don't wonder you shudder."
+
+Did I shudder? If I did, it was because I was thinking of that other
+woman, the victim of this one, whom I had seen, with her face turned
+upward and her arms outstretched, in the gloom of Mr. Van Burnam's
+half-closed parlor.
+
+"She looked as if she was dead," the good woman continued, "but just as
+I was about to call for help, her fingers moved and I rushed to lift
+her. She was neither dead nor had she fainted; she was simply dumb with
+misery. What could have happened to her? I have asked myself a hundred
+times."
+
+My mouth was shut very tight, but I shut it still tighter, for the
+temptation was great to cry: "She had just committed murder!" As it was,
+no sound whatever left my lips, and the good woman doubtless thought me
+no better than a stone, for she turned with a shrug to Lena, repeating
+still more wistfully than before:
+
+"_Don't_ you know what her trouble was?"
+
+But, of course, poor Lena had nothing to say, and the woman went on with
+a sigh:
+
+"Well, I suppose I shall never know what had used that poor creature up
+so completely. But whatever it was, it gave me enough trouble, though I
+do not want to complain of it, for why are we here, if not to help and
+comfort the miserable. It was an hour, ma'am; it was an hour, miss,
+before I could get that poor girl to speak; but when I did succeed, and
+had got her to drink the tea and eat a bit of toast, then I felt quite
+repaid by the look of gratitude she gave me and the way she clung to my
+sleeve when I tried to leave her for a minute. It was this sleeve,
+ma'am," she explained, lifting a cluster of rainbow flounces and ribbons
+which but a minute before had looked little short of ridiculous in my
+eyes, but which in the light of the wearer's kind-heartedness had lost
+some of their offensive appearance.
+
+"Poor Mary!" murmured Lena, with what I considered most admirable
+presence of mind.
+
+"What name did you say?" cried Mrs. Desberger, eager enough to learn all
+she could of her late mysterious lodger.
+
+"I had rather not tell her name," protested Lena, with a timid air that
+admirably fitted her rather doll-like prettiness. "_She_ didn't tell you
+what it was, and _I_ don't think I ought to."
+
+Good for little Lena! And she did not even know for whom or what she was
+playing the _rôle_ I had set her.
+
+"I thought you said Mary. But I won't be inquisitive with you. I wasn't
+so with her. But where was I in my story? Oh, I got her so she could
+speak, and afterwards I helped her up-stairs; but she didn't stay there
+long. When I came back at lunch time--I have to do my marketing no
+matter what happens--I found her sitting before a table with her head on
+her hands. She had been weeping, but her face was quite composed now and
+almost hard.
+
+"'O you good woman!' she cried as I came in. 'I want to thank you.' But
+I wouldn't let her go on wasting words like that, and presently she was
+saying quite wildly: 'I want to begin a new life. I want to act as if I
+had never had a yesterday. I have had trouble, overwhelming trouble, but
+I will get something out of existence yet. I _will_ live, and in order
+to do so, I will work. Have you a paper, Mrs. Desberger, I want to look
+at the advertisements?' I brought her a _Herald_ and went to preside at
+my lunch table. When I saw her again she looked almost cheerful. 'I have
+found just what I want,' she cried, 'a companion's place. But I cannot
+apply in this dress,' and she looked at the great puffs of her silk
+blouse as if they gave her the horrors, though why, I cannot imagine,
+for they were in the latest style and rich enough for a millionaire's
+daughter, though as to colors I like brighter ones myself. 'Would
+you'--she was very timid about it--'buy me some things if I gave you the
+money?'
+
+"If there is one thing more than another that I like, it is to shop, so
+I expressed my willingness to oblige her, and that afternoon I set out
+with a nice little sum of money to buy her some clothes. I should have
+enjoyed it more if she had let me do my own choosing--I saw the
+loveliest pink and green blouse--but she was very set about what she
+wanted, and so I just got her some plain things which I think even you,
+ma'am, would have approved of. I brought them home myself, for she
+wanted to apply immediately for the place she had seen advertised, but,
+O dear, when I went up to her room----"
+
+"Was she gone?" burst in Lena.
+
+"O no, but there was such a smudge in it, and--and I could cry when I
+think of it--there in the grate were the remains of her beautiful silk
+blouse, all smoking and ruined. She had tried to burn it, and she had
+succeeded too. I could not get a piece out as big as my hand."
+
+"But you got some of it!" blurted out Lena, guided by a look which I
+gave her.
+
+"Yes, scraps, it was so handsome. I think I have a bit in my work-basket
+now."
+
+"O get it for me," urged Lena. "I want it to remember her by."
+
+"My work-basket is here." And going to a sort of _etagère_ covered with
+a thousand knick-knacks picked up at bargain counters, she opened a
+little cupboard and brought out a basket, from which she presently
+pulled a small square of silk. It was, as she said, of the richest
+weaving, and was, as I had not the least doubt, a portion of the dress
+worn by Mrs. Van Burnam from Haddam.
+
+"Yes, it was hers," said Lena, reading the expression of my face, and
+putting the scrap away very carefully in her pocket.
+
+"Well, I would have given her five dollars for that blouse," murmured
+Mrs. Desberger, regretfully. "But girls like her are so improvident."
+
+"And did she leave that day?" I asked, seeing that it was hard for this
+woman to tear her thoughts away from this coveted article.
+
+"Yes, ma'am. It was late, and I had but little hopes of her getting the
+situation she was after. But she promised to come back if she didn't;
+and as she did not come back I decided that she was more successful than
+I had anticipated."
+
+"And don't you know where she went? Didn't she confide in you at all?"
+
+"No; but as there were but three advertisements for a lady-companion in
+the _Herald_ that day, it will be easy to find her. Would you like to
+see those advertisements? I saved them out of curiosity."
+
+I assented, as you may believe, and she brought us the clippings at
+once. Two of them I read without emotion, but the third almost took my
+breath away. It was an advertisement for a lady-companion accustomed to
+the typewriter and of some taste in dressmaking, and the address given
+was that of Miss Althorpe.
+
+If this woman, steeped in misery and darkened by crime, should be there!
+
+As I shall not mention Mrs. Desberger again for some time, I will here
+say that at the first opportunity which presented itself I sent Lena to
+the shops with orders to buy and have sent to Mrs. Desberger the ugliest
+and most flaunting of silk blouses that could be found on Sixth Avenue;
+and as Lena's dimples were more than usually pronounced on her return, I
+have no doubt she chose one to suit the taste and warm the body of the
+estimable woman, whose kindly nature had made such a favorable
+impression upon me.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII.
+
+RUTH OLIVER.
+
+
+From Mrs. Desberger's I rode immediately to Miss Althorpe's, for the
+purpose of satisfying myself at once as to the presence there of the
+unhappy fugitive I was tracing.
+
+Six o'clock Sunday night is not a favorable hour for calling at a young
+lady's house, especially when that lady has a lover who is in the habit
+of taking tea with the family. But I was in a mood to transgress all
+rules and even to forget the rights of lovers. Besides, much is forgiven
+a woman of my stamp, especially by a person of the good sense and
+amiability of Miss Althorpe.
+
+That I was not mistaken in my calculations was evident from the greeting
+I received. Miss Althorpe came forward as graciously and with as little
+surprise in her manner as any one could expect under the circumstances,
+and for a moment I was so touched by her beauty and the unaffected charm
+of her manners that I forgot my errand and only thought of the pleasure
+of meeting a lady who fairly comes up to the standard one has secretly
+set for one's self. Of course she is much younger than I--some say she
+is only twenty-three; but a lady is a lady at any age, and Ella
+Althorpe might be a model for a much older woman than myself.
+
+The room in which we were seated was a large one, and though I could
+hear Mr. Stone's voice in the adjoining apartment, I did not fear to
+broach the subject I had come to discuss.
+
+"You may think this intrusion an odd one," I began, "but I believe you
+advertised a few days ago for a young lady-companion. Have you been
+suited, Miss Althorpe?"
+
+"O yes; I have a young person with me whom I like very much."
+
+"Ah, you are supplied! Is she any one you know?"
+
+"No, she is a stranger, and what is more, she brought no recommendations
+with her. But her appearance is so attractive and her desire for the
+place was so great, that I consented to try her. And she is very
+satisfactory, poor girl! very satisfactory indeed!"
+
+Ah, here was an opportunity for questions. Without showing too much
+eagerness and yet with a proper show of interest, I smilingly remarked:
+
+"No one can be called poor long who remains under your roof, Miss
+Althorpe. But perhaps she has lost friends; so many nice girls are
+thrown upon their own resources by the death of relatives?"
+
+"She does not wear mourning; but she is in some great trouble for all
+that. But this cannot interest you, Miss Butterworth; have you some
+_protégé_ whom you wished to recommend for the position?"
+
+I heard her, but did not answer at once. In fact, I was thinking how to
+proceed. Should I take her into my confidence, or should I continue in
+the ambiguous manner in which I had begun. Seeing her smile, I became
+conscious of the awkward silence.
+
+"Pardon me," said I, resuming my best manner, "but there is something I
+want to say which may strike you as peculiar."
+
+"O no," said she.
+
+"I _am_ interested in the girl you have befriended, and for very
+different reasons from those you suppose. I fear--I have great reason to
+fear--that she is not just the person you would like to harbor under
+your roof."
+
+"Indeed! Why, what do you know about her? Anything bad, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+I shook my head, and prayed her first to tell me how the girl looked and
+under what circumstances she came to her; for I was desirous of making
+no mistake concerning her identity with the person of whom I was in
+search.
+
+"She is a sweet-looking girl," was the answer I received; "not
+beautiful, but interesting in expression and manner. She has brown
+hair,"--I shuddered,--"brown eyes, and a mouth that would be lovely if
+it ever smiled. In fact, she is very attractive and so lady-like that I
+have desired to make a companion of her. But while attentive to all her
+duties, and manifestly grateful to me for the home I have given her, she
+shows so little desire for company or conversation that I have desisted
+for the last day or so from urging her to speak at all. But you asked me
+under what circumstances she came to me?"
+
+"Yes, on what day, and at what time of day? Was she dressed well, or did
+her clothes look shabby?"
+
+"She came on the very day I advertised; the eighteenth--yes, it was the
+eighteenth of this month; and she was dressed, so far as I noticed, very
+neatly. Indeed, her clothes appeared to be new. They needed to have
+been, for she brought nothing with her save what was contained in a
+small hand-bag."
+
+"Also new?" I suggested.
+
+"Very likely; I did not observe."
+
+"O Miss Althorpe!" I exclaimed, this time with considerable vehemence,
+"I fear, or rather I hope, she is the woman I want."
+
+"_You_ want!"
+
+"Yes, _I_; but I cannot tell you for what just yet. I must be sure, for
+I would not subject an innocent person to suspicion any more than you
+would."
+
+"Suspicion! She is not honest, then? That would worry me, Miss
+Butterworth, for the house is full now, as you know, of wedding
+presents, and--But I cannot believe such a thing of _her_. It is some
+other fault she has, less despicable and degrading."
+
+"I do not say she has any faults; I only said I feared. What name does
+she go by?"
+
+"Oliver; Ruth Oliver."
+
+Again I thought of the O. R. on the clothes at the laundry.
+
+"I wish I could see her," I ventured. "I would give anything for a peep
+at her face unobserved."
+
+"I don't know how I can manage _that_; she is very shy, and never shows
+herself in the front of the house. She even dines in her own room,
+having begged for that privilege till after I was married and the
+household settled on a new basis. But you can go to her room with me. If
+she is all right, she can have no objection to a visitor; and if she is
+_not_, it would be well for me to know it at once."
+
+"Certainly," said I, and rose to follow her, turning over in my mind how
+I should account to this young woman for my intrusion. I had just
+arrived at what I considered a sensible conclusion, when Miss Althorpe,
+leaning towards me, said with a whole-souled impetuosity for which I
+could not but admire her:
+
+"The girl is very nervous, she looks and acts like a person who has had
+some frightful shock. Don't alarm her, Miss Butterworth, and don't
+accuse her of anything wrong too suddenly. Perhaps she is innocent, and
+perhaps if she is not innocent, she has been driven into evil by very
+great temptations. I am sorry for her, whether she is simply unhappy or
+deeply remorseful. For I never saw a sweeter face, or eyes with such
+boundless depths of misery in them."
+
+Just what Mrs. Desberger had said! Strange, but I began to feel a
+certain sort of sympathy for the wretched being I was hunting down.
+
+"I will be careful," said I. "I merely want to satisfy myself that she
+is the same girl I heard of last from a Mrs. Desberger."
+
+Miss Althorpe, who was now half-way up the rich staircase which makes
+her house one of the most remarkable in the city, turned and gave me a
+quick look over her shoulder.
+
+"I don't know Mrs. Desberger," she remarked.
+
+At which I smiled. Did she think Mrs. Desberger in society?
+
+At the end of an upper passage-way we paused.
+
+"This is the door," whispered Miss Althorpe. "Perhaps I had better go in
+first and see if she is at all prepared for company."
+
+I was glad to have her do so, for I felt as if I needed to prepare
+myself for encountering this young girl, over whom, in my mind, hung
+the dreadful suspicion of murder.
+
+But the time between Miss Althorpe's knock and her entrance, short as it
+was, was longer than that which elapsed between her going in and her
+hasty reappearance.
+
+"You can have your wish," said she. "She is lying on her bed asleep, and
+you can see her without being observed. But," she entreated, with a
+passionate grip of my arm, which proclaimed her warm nature, "doesn't it
+seem a little like taking advantage of her?"
+
+"Circumstances justify it in this case," I replied, admiring the
+consideration of my hostess, but not thinking it worth while to emulate
+it. And with very little ceremony I pushed open the door and entered the
+room of the so-called Ruth Oliver.
+
+The hush and quiet which met me, though nothing more than I had reason
+to expect, gave me my first shock, and the young figure outstretched on
+a bed of dainty whiteness, my second. Everything about me was so
+peaceful, and the delicate blue and white of the room so expressive of
+innocence and repose, that my feet instinctively moved more softly over
+the polished floor and paused, when they did pause, before that dimly
+shrouded bed, with something like hesitation in their usually emphatic
+tread.
+
+The face of that bed's occupant, which I could now plainly see, may have
+had an influence in producing this effect. It was so rounded with
+health, and yet so haggard with trouble. Not knowing whether Miss
+Althorpe was behind me or not, but too intent upon the sleeping girl to
+care, I bent over the half-averted features and studied them carefully.
+
+They were indeed Madonna-like, something which I had not expected,
+notwithstanding the assurances I had received to that effect, and while
+distorted with suffering, amply accounted for the interest shown in her
+by the good-hearted Mrs. Desberger and the cultured Miss Althorpe.
+
+Resenting this beauty, which so poorly accommodated itself to the
+character of the woman who possessed it, I leaned nearer, searching for
+some defect in her loveliness, when I saw that the struggle and anguish
+visible in her expression were due to some dream she was having.
+
+Moved, even against my will, by the touching sight of her trembling
+eyelids and working mouth, I was about to wake her when I was stopped by
+the gentle touch of Miss Althorpe on my shoulder.
+
+"Is she the girl you are looking for?"
+
+I gave one quick glance around the room, and my eyes lighted on the
+little blue pin-cushion on the satin-wood bureau.
+
+"Did you put those pins there?" I asked, pointing to a dozen or more
+black pins grouped in one corner.
+
+"_I_ did not, no; and I doubt if Crescenze did. Why?"
+
+I drew a small black pin from my belt where I had securely fastened it,
+and carrying it over to the cushion, compared it with those I saw. They
+were identical.
+
+"A small matter," I inwardly decided, "but it points in the right
+direction"; then, in answer to Miss Althorpe, added aloud: "I fear she
+is. At least I have seen no reason yet for doubting it. But I must make
+sure. Will you allow me to wake her?"
+
+"O it seems cruel! She is suffering enough already. See how she twists
+and turns!"
+
+"It will be a mercy, it seems to me, to rouse her from dreams so full of
+pain and trouble."
+
+"Perhaps, but I will leave you alone to do it. What will you say to her?
+How account for your intrusion?"
+
+"O I will find means, and they won't be too cruel either. You had better
+stand back by the bureau and listen. I think I had rather not have the
+responsibility of doing this thing alone."
+
+Miss Althorpe, not understanding my hesitation, and only half
+comprehending my errand, gave me a doubtful look but retreated to the
+spot I had mentioned, and whether it was the rustle of her silk dress or
+whether the dream of the girl we were watching had reached its climax, a
+momentary stir took place in the outstretched form before me, and next
+moment she was flinging up her hands with a cry.
+
+"O how can I touch her! She is dead, and I have never touched a dead
+body."
+
+I fell back breathing hard, and Miss Althorpe's eyes, meeting mine, grew
+dark with horror. Indeed she was about to utter a cry herself, but I
+made an imperative motion, and she merely shrank farther away towards
+the door.
+
+Meantime I had bent forward and laid my hand on the trembling figure
+before me.
+
+"Miss Oliver," I said, "rouse yourself, I pray. I have a message for you
+from Mrs. Desberger."
+
+She turned her head, looked at me like a person in a daze, then slowly
+moved and sat up.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, surveying me and the space about her with
+eyes which seemed to take in nothing till they lit upon Miss Althorpe's
+figure standing in an attitude of mingled shame and sympathy by the
+half-open door.
+
+"Oh, Miss Althorpe!" she entreated, "I pray you to excuse me. I did not
+know you wanted me. I have been asleep."
+
+"It is this lady who wants you," answered Miss Althorpe. "She is a
+friend of mine and one in whom you can confide."
+
+"Confide!" This was a word to rouse her. She turned livid, and in her
+eyes as she looked my way both terror and surprise were visible. "Why
+should you think I had anything to confide? If I had, I should not pass
+by you, Miss Althorpe, for another."
+
+There were tears in her voice, and I had to remember the victim just
+laid away in Woodlawn, not to bestow much more compassion on this woman
+than she rightfully deserved. She had a magnetic voice and a magnetic
+presence, but that was no reason why I should forget what she had done.
+
+"No one asks for your confidence," I protested, "though it might not
+hurt you to accept a friend whenever you can get one. I merely wish, as
+I said before, to give you a message from Mrs. Desberger, under whose
+roof you stayed before coming here."
+
+"I am obliged to you," she responded, rising to her feet, and trembling
+very much. "Mrs. Desberger is a kind woman; what does she want of me?"
+
+So I was on the right track; she acknowledged Mrs. Desberger.
+
+"Nothing but to return you this. It fell out of your pocket while you
+were dressing." And I handed her the little red pin-cushion I had taken
+from the Van Burnams' front room.
+
+She looked at it, shrunk violently back, and with difficulty prevented
+herself from showing the full depth of her feelings.
+
+"I don't know anything about it. It is not mine, I don't know it!" And
+her hair stirred on her forehead as she gazed at the small object lying
+in the palm of my hand, proving to me that she saw again before her all
+the horrors of the house from which it had been taken.
+
+"Who are _you_?" she suddenly demanded, tearing her eyes from this
+simple little cushion and fixing them wildly on my face. "Mrs. Desberger
+never sent me this. I----"
+
+"You are right to stop there," I interposed, and then paused, feeling
+that I had forced a situation which I hardly knew how to handle.
+
+The instant's pause she had given herself seemed to restore her
+self-possession. Leaving me, she moved towards Miss Althorpe.
+
+"I don't know who this lady is," said she, "or what her errand here with
+me may mean. But I hope that it is nothing that will force me to leave
+this house which is my only refuge."
+
+Miss Althorpe, too greatly prejudiced in favor of this girl to hear this
+appeal unmoved, notwithstanding the show of guilt with which she had met
+my attack, smiled faintly as she answered:
+
+"Nothing short of the best reasons would make me part from you now. If
+there are such reasons, you will spare me the pain of making use of
+them. I think I can so far trust you, Miss Oliver."
+
+No answer; the young girl looked as if she could not speak.
+
+"Are there any reasons why I should not retain you in my house, Miss
+Oliver?" the gentle mistress of many millions went on. "If there are,
+you will not wish to stay, I know, when you consider how near my
+marriage day is, and how undisturbed my mind should be by any cares
+unattending my wedding."
+
+And still the girl was silent, though her lips moved slightly as if she
+would have spoken if she could.
+
+"But perhaps you are only unfortunate," suggested Miss Althorpe, with an
+almost angelic look of pity--I don't often see angels in women. "If that
+is so, God forbid that you should leave my protection or my house. What
+do you say, Miss Oliver?"
+
+"That you are God's messenger to me," burst from the other, as if her
+tongue had been suddenly loosed. "That misfortune, and not wickedness,
+has driven me to your doors; and that there is no reason why I should
+leave you unless my secret sufferings make my presence unwelcome to
+you."
+
+Was this the talk of a frivolous woman caught unawares in the meshes of
+a fearful crime? If so, she was a more accomplished actress than we had
+been led to expect even from her own words to her disgusted husband.
+
+"You look like one accustomed to tell the truth," proceeded Miss
+Althorpe. "Do you not think you have made some mistake, Miss
+Butterworth?" she asked, approaching me with an ingenuous smile.
+
+I had forgotten to caution her not to make use of my name, and when it
+fell from her lips I looked to see her unhappy companion recoil from me
+with a scream.
+
+But strange to say she evinced no emotion, and seeing this, I became
+more distrustful of her than ever; for, for her to hear without apparent
+interest the name of the chief witness in the inquest which had been
+held over the remains of the woman with whose death she had been more or
+less intimately concerned, argued powers of duplicity such as are only
+associated with guilt or an extreme simplicity of character. And she was
+not simple, as the least glance from her deep eyes amply showed.
+
+Recognizing, therefore, that open measures would not do with this woman,
+I changed my manner at once, and responding to Miss Althorpe, with a
+gracious smile, remarked with an air of sudden conviction:
+
+"Perhaps I have made some mistake. Miss Oliver's words sound very
+ingenuous, and I am disposed, if you are, to take her at her word. It is
+so easy to draw false conclusions in this world." And I put back the
+pin-cushion into my pocket with an air of being through with the matter,
+which seemed to impose upon the young woman, for she smiled faintly,
+showing a row of splendid teeth as she did so.
+
+"Let me apologize," I went on, "if I have intruded upon Miss Oliver
+against her wishes." And with one comprehensive look about the room
+which took in all that was visible of her simple wardrobe and humble
+belongings, I led the way out. Miss Althorpe immediately followed.
+
+"This is a much more serious affair than I have led you to suppose," I
+confided to her as soon as we were at a suitable distance from Miss
+Oliver's door. "If she is the person I think her, she is amenable to
+law, and the police will have to be notified of her whereabouts."
+
+"She _has_ stolen, then?"
+
+"Her fault is a very grave one," I returned.
+
+Miss Althorpe, deeply troubled, looked about her as if for guidance. I,
+who could have given it to her, made no movement to attract her
+attention to myself, but waited calmly for her own decision in this
+matter.
+
+"I wish you would let me consult Mr. Stone," she ventured at last. "I
+think his judgment might help us."
+
+"I had rather take no one into our confidence,--especially no man. He
+would consider your welfare only and not hers."
+
+I did not consider myself obliged to acknowledge that the work upon
+which I was engaged could not be shared by one of the male sex without
+lessening my triumph over Mr. Gryce.
+
+"Mr. Stone is very just," she remarked, "but he might be biased in a
+matter of this kind. What way do you see out of the difficulty?"
+
+"Only this. To settle at once and unmistakably, whether she is the
+person who carried certain articles from the house of a friend of mine.
+If she is, there will be some evidence of the fact visible in her room
+or on her person. She has not been out, I believe?"
+
+"Not since she came into the house."
+
+"And has remained for the most part in her own apartment?"
+
+"Always, except when I have summoned her to my assistance."
+
+"Then what I want to know I can learn there. But how can I make my
+investigations without offence?"
+
+"What do you want to know, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Whether she has in her keeping some half dozen rings of considerable
+value."
+
+"Oh! she could conceal rings so easily."
+
+"She does conceal them; I have no more doubt of it than I have of my
+standing here; but I must know it before I shall feel ready to call the
+attention of the police to her."
+
+"Yes, we should both know it. Poor girl! poor girl! to be suspected of a
+crime! How great must have been her temptation!"
+
+"_I_ can manage this matter, Miss Althorpe, if you will entrust it to
+me."
+
+"How, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"The girl is ill; let me take care of her."
+
+"Really ill?"
+
+"Yes, or will be so before morning. There is fever in her veins; she has
+worried herself ill. Oh, I will be good to her."
+
+This in answer to a doubtful look from Miss Althorpe.
+
+"This is a difficult problem you have set me," that lady remarked after
+a moment's thought. "But anything seems better than sending her away, or
+sending for the police. But do you suppose she will allow you in her
+room?"
+
+"I think so; if her fever increases she will not notice much that goes
+on about her, and I think it will increase; I have seen enough of
+sickness to be something of a judge."
+
+"And you will search her while she is unconscious?"
+
+"Don't look so horrified, Miss Althorpe. I have promised you I will not
+worry her. She may need assistance in getting to bed. While I am giving
+it to her I can judge if there is anything concealed upon her person."
+
+"Yes, perhaps."
+
+"At all events, we shall know more than we do now. Shall I venture, Miss
+Althorpe?"
+
+"I cannot say no," was the hesitating answer; "you seem so very much in
+earnest."
+
+"And I am in earnest. I have reasons for being; consideration for you is
+one of them."
+
+"I do not doubt it. And now will you come down to supper, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+"No," I replied. "My duty is here. Only send word to Lena that she is to
+drive home and take care of my house in my absence. I shall want
+nothing, so do not worry about me. Join your lover now, dear; and do not
+bestow another thought upon this self-styled Miss Oliver or what I am
+about to do in her room."
+
+
+
+
+XXIV.
+
+A HOUSE OF CARDS.
+
+
+I did not return immediately to my patient. I waited till her supper
+came up. Then I took the tray, and assured by the face of the girl who
+brought it that Miss Althorpe had explained my presence in her house
+sufficiently for me to feel at my ease before her servants, I carried in
+the dainty repast she had provided and set it down on the table.
+
+The poor woman was standing where we had left her; but her whole figure
+showed languor, and she more than leaned against the bedpost behind her.
+As I looked up from the tray and met her eyes, she shuddered and seemed
+to be endeavoring to understand who I was and what I was doing in her
+room. My premonitions in regard to her were well based. She was in a
+raging fever, and was already more than half oblivious to her
+surroundings.
+
+Approaching her, I spoke as gently as I could, for her hapless condition
+appealed to me in spite of my well founded prejudices against her; and
+seeing she was growing incapable of response, I drew her up on the bed
+and began to undress her.
+
+I half expected her to recoil at this, or at least to make some show of
+alarm, but she submitted to my ministrations almost gratefully, and
+neither shrank nor questioned me till I laid my hands upon her shoes.
+Then indeed she quivered, and drew her feet away with such an appearance
+of terror that I was forced to desist from my efforts or drive her into
+violent delirium.
+
+This satisfied me that Louise Van Burnam lay before me. The scar
+concerning which so much had been said in the papers would be ever
+present in the thoughts of this woman as the tell-tale mark by which she
+might be known, and though at this moment she was on the borders of
+unconsciousness, the instinct of self-preservation still remained in
+sufficient force to prompt her to make this effort to protect herself
+from discovery.
+
+I had told Miss Althorpe that my chief reason for intruding upon Miss
+Oliver, was to determine if she had in her possession certain rings
+supposed to have been taken from a friend of mine; and while this was in
+a measure true--the rings being an important factor in the proof I was
+accumulating against her,--I was not so anxious to search for them at
+this time as to find the scar which would settle at once the question of
+her identity.
+
+When she drew her foot away from me then, so violently, I saw that I
+needed to search no farther for the evidence required, and could give
+myself up to making her comfortable. So I bathed her temples, now
+throbbing with heat, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing her fall
+into a deep and uneasy slumber. Then I tried again to draw off her
+shoes, but the start she gave and the smothered cry which escaped her
+warned me that I must wait yet longer before satisfying my curiosity; so
+I desisted at once, and out of pure compassion left her to get what good
+she might from the lethargy into which she had fallen.
+
+Being hungry, or at least feeling the necessity of some slight aliment
+to help me sustain the fatigues of the night, I sat down now at the
+table and partook of some of the dainties with which Miss Althorpe had
+kindly provided me. After which I made out a list of such articles as
+were necessary to my proper care of the patient who had so strangely
+fallen into my hands, and then, feeling that I had a right at last to
+indulge in pure curiosity, I turned my attention to the clothing I had
+taken from the self-styled Miss Oliver.
+
+The dress was a simple gray one, and the skirts and underclothing all
+white. But the latter was of the finest texture, and convinced me,
+before I had given them more than a glance, that they were the property
+of Howard Van Burnam's wife. For, besides the exquisite quality of the
+material, there were to be seen, on the edges of the bands and sleeves,
+the marks of stitches and clinging threads of lace, where the trimming
+had been torn off, and in one article especially, there were tucks such
+as you see come from the hands of French needlewomen only.
+
+This, taken with what had gone before, was proof enough to satisfy me
+that I was on the right track, and after Crescenze had come and gone
+with the tray and all was quiet in this remote part of the house, I
+ventured to open a closet door at the foot of the bed. A brown silk
+skirt was hanging within, and in the pocket of that skirt I found a
+purse so gay and costly that all doubt vanished as to its being the
+property of Howard's luxurious wife.
+
+There were several bills in this purse, amounting to about fifteen
+dollars in money, but no change and no memoranda, which latter seemed a
+pity. Restoring the purse to its place and the skirt to its peg, I came
+softly back to the bedside and examined my patient still more carefully
+than I had done before. She was asleep and breathing heavily, but even
+with this disadvantage her face had its own attraction, an attraction
+which evidently had more or less influenced men, and which, for the
+reason perhaps that I have something masculine in my nature, I
+discovered to be more or less influencing me, notwithstanding my hatred
+of an intriguing character.
+
+However, it was not her beauty I came to study, but her hair, her
+complexion, and her hands. The former was brown, the brown of that same
+lock I remembered to have seen in the jury's hands at the inquest; and
+her skin, where fever had not flushed it, was white and smooth. So were
+her hands, and yet they were not a lady's hands. That I noticed when I
+first saw her. The marks of the rings she no longer wore, were not
+enough to blind me to the fact that her fingers lacked the distinctive
+shape and nicety of Miss Althorpe's, say, or even of the Misses Van
+Burnam; and though I do not object to this, for I like strong-looking,
+capable hands myself, they served to help me understand the face, which
+otherwise would have looked too spiritual for a woman of the peevish and
+self-satisfied character of Louise Van Burnam. On this innocent and
+appealing expression she had traded in her short and none too happy
+career. And as I noted it, I recalled a sentence in Miss Ferguson's
+testimony, in which she alluded to Mrs. Van Burnam's confidential remark
+to her husband upon the power she exercised over people when she raised
+her eyes in entreaty towards them. "Am I not pretty," she had said,
+"when I am in distress and looking up in this way?" It was the
+suggestion of a scheming woman, but from what I had seen and was seeing
+of the woman before me, I could imagine the picture she would thus make,
+and I do not think she overrated its effects.
+
+Withdrawing from her side once more, I made a tour of the room. Nothing
+escaped my eyes; nothing was too small to engage my attention. But while
+I failed to see anything calculated to shake my confidence in the
+conclusions I had come to, I saw but little to confirm them. This was
+not strange; for, apart from a few toilet articles and some
+knitting-work on a shelf, she appeared to have no belongings; everything
+else in sight being manifestly the property of Miss Althorpe. Even the
+bureau drawers were empty, and her bag, found under a small table, had
+not so much in it as a hair-pin, though I searched it inside and out for
+her rings, which I was positive she had with her, even if she dared not
+wear them.
+
+When every spot was exhausted I sat down and began to brood over what
+lay before this poor being, whose flight and the great efforts she made
+at concealment proved only too conclusively the fatal part she had
+played in the crime for which her husband had been arrested. I had
+reached her arraignment before a magistrate, and was already imagining
+her face with the appeal in it which such an occasion would call forth,
+when there came a low knock at the door, and Miss Althorpe re-entered.
+
+She had just said good-night to her lover, and her face recalled to me a
+time when my own cheek was round and my eye was bright and--Well! what
+is the use of dwelling on matters so long buried in oblivion! A
+maiden-woman, as independent as myself, need not envy any girl the
+doubtful blessing of a husband. I chose to be independent, and I am, and
+what more is there to be said about it? Pardon the digression.
+
+"Is Miss Oliver any better?" asked Miss Althorpe; "and have you
+found----"
+
+I put up my finger in warning. Of all things, it was most necessary that
+the sick woman should not know my real reason for being there.
+
+"She is asleep," I answered quietly, "and I _think_ I have found out
+what is the matter with her."
+
+Miss Althorpe seemed to understand. She cast a look of solicitude
+towards the bed and then turned towards me.
+
+"I cannot rest," said she, "and will sit with you for a little while, if
+you don't mind."
+
+I felt the implied compliment keenly.
+
+"You can do me no greater favor," I returned.
+
+She drew up an easy-chair. "That is for you," she smiled, and sat down
+in a little low rocker at my side.
+
+But she did not talk. Her thoughts seemed to have recurred to some very
+near and sweet memory, for she smiled softly to herself and looked so
+deeply happy that I could not resist saying:
+
+"These are delightful days for you, Miss Althorpe."
+
+She sighed softly--how much a sigh can reveal!--and looked up at me
+brightly. I think she was glad I spoke. Even such reserved natures as
+hers have their moments of weakness, and she had no mother or sister to
+appeal to.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I am very happy; happier than most girls are, I
+think, just before marriage. It is such a revelation to me--this
+devotion and admiration from one I love. I have had so little of it in
+my life. My father----"
+
+She stopped; I knew why she stopped. I gave her a look of encouragement.
+
+"People have always been anxious for my happiness, and have warned me
+against matrimony since I was old enough to know the difference between
+poverty and wealth. Before I was out of short dresses I was warned
+against fortune-seekers. It was not good advice; it has stood in the way
+of my happiness all my life, made me distrustful and unnaturally
+reserved. But now--ah, Miss Butterworth, Mr. Stone is so estimable a
+man, so brilliant and so universally admired, that all my doubts of
+manly worth and disinterestedness have disappeared as if by magic. I
+trust him implicitly, and--Do I talk too freely? Do you object to such
+confidences as these?"
+
+"On the contrary," I answered. I liked Miss Althorpe so much and agreed
+with her so thoroughly in her opinion of this man, that it was a real
+pleasure to me to hear her speak so unreservedly.
+
+"We are not a foolish couple," she went on, warming with the charm of
+her topic till she looked beautiful in the half light thrown upon her by
+the shaded lamp. "We are interested in people and things, and get half
+our delight from the perfect congeniality of our natures. Mr. Stone has
+given up his club and all his bachelor pursuits since he knew me,
+and----"
+
+O love, if at any time in my life I have despised thee, I did not
+despise thee then! The look with which she finished this sentence would
+have moved a cynic.
+
+"Forgive me," she prayed. "It is the first time I have poured out my
+heart to any one of my own sex. It must sound strange to you, but it
+seemed natural while I was doing it, for you looked as if you could
+understand."
+
+This to me, to _me_, Amelia Butterworth, of whom men have said I had no
+more sentiment than a wooden image. I looked my appreciation, and she,
+blushing slightly, whispered in a delicious tone of mingled shyness and
+pride:
+
+"Only two weeks now, and I shall have some one to stand between me and
+the world. _You_ have never needed any one, Miss Butterworth, for you do
+not fear the world, but it awes and troubles me, and my whole heart
+glows with the thought that I shall be no longer alone in my sorrows or
+my joys, my perplexities or my doubts. Am I to blame for anticipating
+this with so much happiness?"
+
+I sighed. It was a less eloquent sigh than hers, but it was a distinct
+one and it had a distinct echo. Lifting my eyes, for I sat so as to face
+the bed, I was startled to observe my patient leaning towards us from
+her pillows, and staring upon us with eyes too hollow for tears but
+filled with unfathomable grief and yearning.
+
+She had heard this talk of love, she, the forsaken and crime-stained
+one. I shuddered and laid my hand on Miss Althorpe's.
+
+But I did not seek to stop the conversation, for as our looks met, the
+sick woman fell back and lapsed, or seemed to lapse, into immediate
+insensibility again.
+
+"Is Miss Oliver worse?" inquired Miss Althorpe.
+
+I rose and went to the bedside, renewed the bandages on my patient's
+head, and forced a drop or two of medicine between her half-shut lips.
+
+"No," I returned, "I think her fever is abating." And it was, though
+the suffering on her face was yet heart-rendingly apparent.
+
+"Is she asleep?"
+
+"She seems to be."
+
+Miss Althorpe made an effort.
+
+"I am not going to talk any more about myself." Then as I came back and
+sat down by her side, she quietly asked:
+
+"What do you think of the Van Burnam murder?"
+
+Dismayed at the introduction of this topic, I was about to put my hand
+over her mouth, when I noticed that her words had made no evident
+impression upon my patient, who lay quietly and with a more composed
+expression than when I left her bedside. This assured me, as nothing
+else could have done, that she was really asleep, or in that lethargic
+state which closes the eyes and ears to what is going on.
+
+"I think," said I, "that the young man Howard stands in a very
+unfortunate position. Circumstances certainly do look very black against
+him."
+
+"It is dreadful, unprecedently dreadful. I do not know what to think of
+it all. The Van Burnams have borne so good a name, and Franklin
+especially is held in such high esteem. I don't think anything more
+shocking has ever happened in this city, do you, Miss Butterworth? You
+saw it all, and should know. Poor, poor Mrs. Van Burnam!"
+
+"She is to be pitied!" I remarked, my eyes fixed on the immovable face
+of my patient.
+
+"When I heard that a young woman had been found dead in the Van Burnam
+mansion," Miss Althorpe pursued with such evident interest in this new
+theme that I did not care to interrupt her unless driven to it by some
+token of consciousness on the part of my patient, "my thoughts flew
+instinctively to Howard's wife. Though why, I cannot say, for I never
+had any reason to expect so tragic a termination to their marriage
+relations. And I cannot believe now that he killed her, can you, Miss
+Butterworth? Howard has too much of the gentleman in him to do a brutal
+thing, and there was brutality as well as adroitness in the perpetration
+of this crime. Have you thought of that, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Yes," I nodded, "I have looked at the crime on all sides."
+
+"Mr. Stone," said she, "feels dreadfully over the part he was forced to
+play at the inquest. But he had no choice, the police would have his
+testimony."
+
+"That was right," I declared.
+
+"It has made us doubly anxious to have Howard free himself. But he does
+not seem able to do so. If his wife had only known----"
+
+Was there a quiver in the lids I was watching? I half raised my hand and
+then I let it drop again, convinced that I had been mistaken. Miss
+Althorpe at once continued:
+
+"She was not a bad-hearted woman, only vain and frivolous. She had set
+her heart on ruling in the great leather-merchant's house, and she did
+not know how to bear her disappointment. I have sympathy for her myself.
+When I saw her----"
+
+Saw her! I started, upsetting a small work-basket at my side which for
+once I did not stop to pick up.
+
+"You have seen her!" I repeated, dropping my eyes from the patient to
+fix them in my unbounded astonishment on Miss Althorpe's face.
+
+"Yes, more than once. She was--if she were living I would not repeat
+this--a nursery governess in a family where I once visited. That was
+before her marriage; before she had met either Howard or Franklin Van
+Burnam."
+
+I was so overwhelmed, that for once I found difficulty in speaking. I
+glanced from her to the white form in the shrouded bed, and back again
+in ever-growing astonishment and dismay.
+
+"You have seen her!" I at last reiterated in what I meant to be a
+whisper, but which fell little short of being a cry, "and you took in
+this girl?"
+
+Her surprise at this burst was almost equal to mine.
+
+"Yes, why not; what have they in common?"
+
+I sank back, my house of cards was trembling to its foundations.
+
+"Do they--do they not look alike?" I gasped. "I thought--I imagined----"
+
+"Louise Van Burnam look like that girl! O no, they were very different
+sort of women. What made you think there was any resemblance between
+them?"
+
+I did not answer her; the structure I had reared with such care and
+circumspection had fallen about my ears and I lay gasping under the
+ruins.
+
+
+
+
+XXV.
+
+"THE RINGS! WHERE ARE THE RINGS?"
+
+
+Had Mr. Gryce been present, I would have instantly triumphed over my
+disappointment, bottled up my chagrin, and been the inscrutable Amelia
+Butterworth before he could say, "Something has gone wrong with this
+woman!" But Mr. Gryce was not present, and though I did not betray the
+half I felt. I yet showed enough emotion for Miss Althorpe to remark:
+
+"You seemed surprised by what I have told you. Has any one said that
+these two women were alike?"
+
+Having to speak, I became myself again in a trice, and nodded
+vigorously.
+
+"Some one was so foolish," I remarked.
+
+Miss Althorpe looked thoughtful. While she was interested she was not so
+interested as to take the subject in fully. Her own concerns made her
+abstracted, and I was very glad of it.
+
+"Louise Van Burnam had a sharp chin and a very cold blue eye. Yet her
+face was a fascinating one to some."
+
+"Well, it was a dreadful tragedy!" I observed, and tried to turn the
+subject aside, which fortunately I was able to do after a short effort.
+
+Then I picked the basket up, and perceiving the sick woman's lips
+faintly moving, I went over to her and found her murmuring to herself.
+
+As Miss Althorpe had risen when I did, I did not dare to listen to these
+murmurs, but when my charming hostess had bidden me good-night, with
+many injunctions not to tire myself, and to be sure and remember that a
+decanter and a plate of biscuits stood on a table outside, I hastened
+back to the bedside, and leaning over my patient, endeavored to catch
+the words as they fell from her lips.
+
+As they were simple and but the echo of those running at that very
+moment through my own brain, I had no difficulty in distinguishing them.
+
+"Van Burnam!" she was saying, "Van Burnam!" varied by a short "Howard!"
+and once by a doubtful "Franklin!"
+
+"Ah," thought I, with a sudden reaction, "she is the woman I seek, if
+she is not Louise Van Burnam." And unheeding the start she gave, I
+pulled off the blanket I had spread over her, and willy-nilly drew off
+her left shoe and stocking.
+
+Her bare ankle showed no scar, and covering it quickly up I took up her
+shoe. Immediately the trepidation she had shown at the approach of a
+stranger's hand towards that article of clothing was explained. In the
+lining around the top were sewn bills of no ordinary amount, and as the
+other shoe was probably used as a like depository, she naturally felt
+concern at any approach which might lead to a discovery of her little
+fortune.
+
+Amazed at a mystery possessing so many points of interest, I tucked the
+shoe in under the bedclothes and sat down to review the situation.
+
+The mistake I had made was in concluding that because the fugitive whose
+traces I had followed had worn the clothes of Louise Van Burnam, she
+must necessarily be that unfortunate lady. Now I saw that the murdered
+woman was Howard's wife after all, and this patient of mine her probable
+rival.
+
+But this necessitated an entire change in my whole line of reasoning. If
+the rival and not the wife lay before me, then which of the two
+accompanied him to the scene of tragedy? He had said it was his wife; I
+had proven to myself that it was the rival; was he right, or was I
+right, or were neither of us right?
+
+Not being able to decide, I fixed my mind upon another query. When did
+the two women exchange clothes, or rather, when did this woman procure
+the silk habiliments and elaborate adornments of her more opulent rival?
+Was it before either of them entered Mr. Van Burnam's house? Or was it
+after their encounter there?
+
+Running over in my mind certain little facts of which I had hitherto
+attempted no explanation, I grouped them together and sought amongst
+them for inspiration.
+
+These are the facts:
+
+1. One of the garments found on the murdered woman had been torn down
+the back. As it was a new one, it had evidently been subjected to some
+quick strain, not explainable by any appearance of struggle.
+
+2. The shoes and stockings found on the victim were the only articles
+she wore which could not be traced back to Altman's. In the re-dressing
+of the so-called Mrs. James Pope, these articles had not been changed.
+Could not that fact be explained by the presence of a considerable sum
+of money in her shoes?
+
+3. The going out bareheaded of a fugitive, anxious to avoid observation,
+leaving hat and gloves behind her in a dining-room closet.
+
+I had endeavored to explain this last anomalous action by her fear of
+being traced by so conspicuous an article as this hat; but it was not a
+satisfactory explanation to me then and much less so now.
+
+4. And last, and most vital of all, the words which I had heard fall
+from this half-conscious girl: "_O how can I touch her! She is dead, and
+I have never touched a dead body!_"
+
+Could inspiration fail me before such a list? Was it not evident that
+the change had been made after death, and by this seemingly sensitive
+girl's own hands?
+
+It was a horrible thought and led to others more horrible. For the very
+commission of such a revolting act argued a desire for concealment only
+to be explained by great guilt. She had been the offender and the wife
+the victim; and Howard--Well, his actions continued to be a mystery, but
+I would not admit his guilt even now. On the contrary, I saw his
+innocence in a still stronger light. For if he had openly or even
+covertly connived at his wife's death, would he have so immediately
+forsaken the accomplice of his guilt, to say nothing of leaving to her
+the dreadful task of concealing the crime? No, I would rather think that
+the tragedy took place after his departure, and that his action in
+denying his wife's identity, as long as it was possible to do so, was to
+be explained by the fact of his ignorance in regard to his wife's
+presence in the house where he had supposed himself to have simply left
+her rival. As the exchange made in the clothing worn by the two women
+could only have taken place later, and as he naturally judged the
+victim by her clothing, perhaps he was really deceived himself as to her
+identity. It was certainly not an improbable supposition, and accounted
+for much that was otherwise inexplicable in Mr. Van Burnam's conduct.
+
+But the rings? Why could I not find the rings? If my present reasoning
+were correct, this woman should have those evidences of guilt about her.
+But had I not searched for them in every available place without
+success? Annoyed at my failure to fix this one irrefutable proof of
+guilt upon her, I took up the knitting-work I saw in Miss Oliver's
+basket, and began to ply the needles by way of relief to my thoughts.
+But I had no sooner got well under way than some movement on the part of
+my patient drew my attention again to the bed, and I was startled by
+beholding her sitting up again, but this time with a look of fear rather
+than of suffering on her features.
+
+"Don't!" she gasped, pointing with an unsteady hand at the work in my
+hand. "The click, click of the needles is more than I can stand. Put
+them down, pray; put them down!"
+
+Her agitation was so great and her nervousness so apparent that I
+complied at once. However much I might be affected by her guilt, I was
+not willing to do the slightest thing to worry her nerves even at the
+expense of my own. As the needles fell from my hand, she sank back and a
+quick, short sigh escaped her lips. Then she was again quiet, and I
+allowed my thoughts to return to the old theme. The rings! the rings!
+Where were the rings, and was it impossible for me to find them?
+
+
+
+
+XXVI.
+
+A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE.
+
+
+At seven o'clock the next morning my patient was resting so quietly that
+I considered it safe to leave her for a short time. So I informed Miss
+Althorpe that I was obliged to go down-town on an important errand, and
+requested Crescenze to watch over the sick girl in my absence. As she
+agreed to this, I left the house as soon as breakfast was over and went
+immediately in search of Mr. Gryce. I wished to make sure that he knew
+nothing about the rings.
+
+It was eleven o'clock before I succeeded in finding him. As I was
+certain that a direct question would bring no answer, I dissembled my
+real intention as much as my principles would allow, and accosted him
+with the eager look of one who has great news to impart.
+
+"O, Mr. Gryce!" I impetuously cried, just as if I were really the weak
+woman he thought me, "I have found something; something in connection
+with the Van Burnam murder. You know I promised to busy myself about it
+if you arrested Howard Van Burnam."
+
+His smile was tantalizing in the extreme. "Found something?" he
+repeated. "And may I ask if you have been so good as to bring it with
+you?"
+
+He was playing with me, this aged and reputable detective. I subdued my
+anger, subdued my indignation even, and smiling much in his own way,
+answered briefly:
+
+"I never carry valuables on my person. A half-dozen expensive rings
+stand for too much money for me to run any undue risk with them."
+
+He was caressing his watch-chain as I spoke, and I noticed that he
+paused in this action for just an infinitesimal length of time as I said
+the word rings. Then he went on as before, but I knew I had caught his
+attention.
+
+"Of what rings do you speak, madam? Of those missing from Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hands?"
+
+I took a leaf from his book, and allowed myself to indulge in a little
+banter.
+
+"O, no," I remonstrated, "not those rings, of course. The Queen of
+Siam's rings, any rings but those in which we are specially interested."
+
+This meeting him on his own ground evidently puzzled him.
+
+"You are facetious, madam. What am I to gather from such levity? That
+success has crowned your efforts, and that you have found a guiltier
+party than the one now in custody?"
+
+"Possibly," I returned, limiting my advance by his. "But it would be
+going too fast to mention that yet. What I want to know is whether _you_
+have found the rings belonging to Mrs. Van Burnam?"
+
+My triumphant tone, the almost mocking accent I purposely gave to the
+word _you_, accomplished its purpose. He never dreamed I was playing
+with him; he thought I was bursting with pride; and casting me a sharp
+glance (the first, by the way, I had received from him), he inquired
+with perceptible interest:
+
+"Have _you?_"
+
+Instantly convinced that the whereabouts of these jewels was as little
+known to him as to me, I rose and prepared to leave. But seeing that he
+was not satisfied, and that he expected an answer, I assumed a
+mysterious air and quietly remarked:
+
+"If you will come to my house to-morrow I will explain myself. I am not
+prepared to more than intimate my discoveries to-day."
+
+But he was not the man to let one off so easily.
+
+"Excuse me," said he, "but matters of this kind do not admit of delay.
+The grand jury sits within the week, and any evidence worth presenting
+them must be collected at once. I must ask you to be frank with me, Miss
+Butterworth."
+
+"And I will be, to-morrow."
+
+"To-day," he insisted, "to-day."
+
+Seeing that I should gain nothing by my present course, I reseated
+myself, bestowing upon him a decidedly ambiguous smile as I did so.
+
+"You acknowledge then," said I, "that the old maid can tell you
+something after all. I thought you regarded all my efforts in the light
+of a jest. What has made you change your mind?"
+
+"Madam, I decline to bandy words. Have you found those rings, or have
+you not?"
+
+"I have _not_," said I, "but neither have you, and as that is what I
+wanted to make sure of, I will now take my leave without further
+ceremony."
+
+Mr. Gryce is not a profane man, but he allowed a word to slip from him
+which was not entirely one of blessing. He made amends for it next
+moment, however, by remarking:
+
+"Madam, I once said, as you will doubtless remember, that the day would
+come when I should find myself at your feet. That day has arrived. And
+now is there any other little cherished fact known to the police which
+you would like to have imparted to you?"
+
+I took his humiliation seriously.
+
+"You are very good," I rejoined, "but I will not trouble you for any
+_facts_,--_those_ I am enabled to glean for myself; but what I should
+like you to tell me is this: Whether if you came upon those rings in the
+possession of a person known to have been on the scene of crime at the
+time of its perpetration, you would not consider them as an
+incontrovertible proof of guilt?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," said he, with a sudden alteration in his manner which
+warned me that I must muster up all my strength if I would keep my
+secret till I was quite ready to part with it.
+
+"Then," said I, with a resolute movement towards the door, "that's the
+whole of my business for to-day. Good-morning, Mr. Gryce; to-morrow I
+shall expect you."
+
+He made me stop though my foot had crossed the threshold; not by word or
+look but simply by his fatherly manner.
+
+"Miss Butterworth," he observed, "the suspicions which you have
+entertained from the first have within the last few days assumed a
+definite form. In what direction do they point?--tell me."
+
+Some men and most women would have yielded to that imperative _tell me_!
+But there was no yielding in Amelia Butterworth. Instead of that I
+treated him to a touch of irony.
+
+"Is it possible," I asked, "that you think it worth while to consult
+_me_? I thought your eyes were too keen to seek assistance from mine.
+You are as confident as I am that Howard Van Burnam is innocent of the
+crime for which you have arrested him."
+
+A look that was dangerously insinuating crossed his face at this. He
+came forward rapidly and, joining me where I stood, said smilingly:
+
+"Let us join forces, Miss Butterworth. You have from the first refused
+to consider the younger son of Silas Van Burnam as guilty. Your reasons
+then were slight and hardly worth communicating. Have you any better
+ones to advance now? It is not too late to mention them, if you have."
+
+"It will not be too late to-morrow," I retorted.
+
+Convinced that I was not to be moved from my position, he gave me one of
+his low bows.
+
+"I forgot," said he, "that it was as a rival and not as a coadjutor you
+meddled in this matter." And he bowed again, this time with a sarcastic
+air I felt too self-satisfied to resent.
+
+"To-morrow, then?" said I.
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+At that I left him.
+
+I did not return immediately to Miss Althorpe. I visited Cox's millinery
+store, Mrs. Desberger's house, and the offices of the various city
+railways. But I got no clue to the rings; and finally satisfied that
+Miss Oliver, as I must now call her, had not lost or disposed of them on
+her way from Gramercy Park to her present place of refuge, I returned to
+Miss Althorpe's with even a greater determination than before to search
+that luxurious home till I found them.
+
+But a decided surprise awaited me. As the door opened I caught a
+glimpse of the butler's face, and noticing its embarrassed expression, I
+at once asked what had happened.
+
+His answer showed a strange mixture of hesitation and bravado.
+
+"Not much, ma'am; only Miss Althorpe is afraid you may not be pleased.
+Miss Oliver is gone, ma'am; she ran away while Crescenze was out of the
+room."
+
+
+
+
+XXVII.
+
+FOUND.
+
+
+I gave a low cry and rushed down the steps.
+
+"Don't go!" I called out to the driver. "I shall want you in ten
+minutes." And hurrying back, I ran up-stairs in a condition of mind such
+as I have no reason to be proud of. Happily Mr. Gryce was not there to
+see me.
+
+"Gone? Miss Oliver gone?" I cried to the maid whom I found trembling in
+a corner of the hall.
+
+"Yes, ma'am; it was my fault, ma'am. She was in bed so quiet, I thought
+I might step out for a minute, but when I came back her clothes were
+missing and she was gone. She must have slipped out at the front door
+while Dan was in the back hall. I don't see how ever she had the
+strength to do it."
+
+Nor did I. But I did not stop to reason about it; there was too much to
+be done. Rushing on, I entered the room I had left in such high hopes a
+few hours before. Emptiness was before me, and I realized what it was to
+be baffled at the moment of success. But I did not waste an instant in
+inactivity. I searched the closets and pulled open the drawers; found
+her coat and hat gone, but not Mrs. Van Burnam's brown skirt, though the
+purse had been taken out of the pocket.
+
+"Is her bag here?" I asked.
+
+Yes, it was in its old place under the table; and on the wash-stand and
+bureau were the simple toilet articles I had been told she had brought
+there. In what haste she must have fled to leave these necessities
+behind her!
+
+But the greatest shock I received was the sight of the knitting-work,
+with which I had so inconsiderately meddled the evening before, lying in
+ravelled heaps on the table, as if torn to bits in a frenzy. This was a
+proof that the fever was yet on her; and as I contemplated this fact I
+took courage, thinking that one in her condition would not be allowed to
+run the streets long, but would be picked up and put in some hospital.
+
+In this hope I began my search. Miss Althorpe, who came in just as I was
+about to leave the house, consented to telephone to Police Headquarters
+a description of the girl, with a request to be notified if such a
+person should be found in the streets or on the docks or at any of the
+station-houses that night. "Not," I assured her, as we left the
+telephone and I prepared to say good-bye for the day, "that you need
+expect her to be brought back to this house, for I do not mean that she
+shall ever darken your doors again. So let me know if they find her, and
+I will relieve you of all further responsibility in the matter."
+
+Then I started out.
+
+To name the streets I traversed or the places I visited that day, would
+take more space than I would like to devote to the subject. Dusk came,
+and I had failed in obtaining the least clue to her whereabouts; evening
+followed, and still no trace of the fugitive. What was I to do? Take Mr.
+Gryce into my confidence after all? That would be galling to my pride,
+but I began to fear I should have to submit to this humiliation when I
+happened to think of the Chinaman. To think of him once was to think of
+him twice, and to think of him twice was to be conscious of an
+irresistible desire to visit his place and find out if any one but
+myself had been there to inquire after the lost one's clothes.
+
+Accompanied by Lena, I hurried away to Third Avenue. The laundry was
+near Twenty-seventh Street. As we approached I grew troubled and
+unaccountably expectant. When we reached it I understood my excitement
+and instantly became calm. For there stood Miss Oliver, gazing like one
+under a spell through the lighted window-panes into the narrow shop
+where the owner bent over his ironing. She had evidently stood there
+some time, for a small group of half-grown lads were watching her with
+every symptom of being about to break into a mischievous display of
+curiosity. Her hands, which were without gloves, were pressed against
+the glass, and her whole attitude showed an intensity of fatigue which
+would have laid her on the ground had she not been sustained by an equal
+intensity of purpose.
+
+Sending Lena for a carriage, I approached the poor creature and drew her
+forcibly from the window.
+
+"Do you want anything here?" I asked. "I will go in with you if you do."
+
+She surveyed me with strange apathy, and yet with a certain sort of
+relief too. Then she slowly shook her head.
+
+"I don't know anything about it. My head swims and everything looks
+queer, but some one or something sent me to this place."
+
+"Come in," I urged, "come in for a minute." And half supporting her,
+half dragging her, I managed to get her across the threshold and into
+the Chinaman's shop.
+
+Immediately a dozen faces were pressed where hers had been.
+
+The Chinaman, a stolid being, turned as he heard the little bell tinkle
+which announced a customer.
+
+"Is this the lady who left the clothes here a few nights ago?" I asked.
+
+He stopped and stared, recognizing me slowly, and remembering by degrees
+what had passed between us at our last interview.
+
+"You tellee me lalee die; how him lalee when lalee die?"
+
+"The lady is not dead; I made a mistake. Is this the lady?"
+
+"Lalee talk; I no see face, I hear speak."
+
+"Have you seen this man before?" I inquired of my nearly insensible
+companion.
+
+"I think so in a dream," she murmured, trying to recall her poor
+wandering wits back from some region into which they had strayed.
+
+"Him lalee!" cried the Chinaman, overjoyed at the prospect of getting
+his money. "Pletty speak, I knowee him. Lalee want clo?"
+
+"Not to-night. The lady is sick; see, she can hardly stand." And
+overjoyed at this seeming evidence that the police had failed to get
+wind of my interest in this place, I slipped a coin into the Chinaman's
+hand, and drew Miss Oliver away towards the carriage I now saw drawing
+up before the shop.
+
+Lena's eyes when she came up to help me were a sight to see. They
+seemed to ask who this girl was and what I was going to do with her. I
+answered the look by a very brief and evidently wholly unexpected
+explanation.
+
+"This is your cousin who ran away," I remarked. "Don't you recognize
+her?"
+
+Lena gave me up then and there; but she accepted my explanation, and
+even lied in her desire to carry out my whim.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said she, "and glad I am to see her again." And with a
+deft push here and a gentle pull there, she succeeded in getting the
+sick woman into the carriage.
+
+The crowd, which had considerably increased by this time, was beginning
+to flock about us with shouts of no little derision. Escaping it as best
+I could, I took my seat by the poor girl's side, and bade Lena give the
+order for home. When we left the curb-stone behind, I felt that the last
+page in my adventures as an amateur detective had closed.
+
+But I counted without my cost. Miss Oliver, who was in an advanced stage
+of fever, lay like a dead weight on my shoulder during the drive down
+the avenue, but when we entered the Park and drew near my house, she
+began to show such signs of violent agitation that it was with
+difficulty that the united efforts of Lena and myself could prevent her
+from throwing herself out of the carriage door which she had somehow
+managed to open.
+
+As the carriage stopped she grew worse, and though she made no further
+efforts to leave it, I found her present impulses even harder to contend
+with than the former. For now she would not be pushed out or dragged
+out, but crouched back moaning and struggling, her eyes fixed on the
+stoop, which is not unlike that of the adjoining house; till with a
+sudden realization that the cause of her terror lay in her fear of
+re-entering the scene of her late terrifying experiences, I bade the
+coachman drive on, and reluctantly, I own, carried her back to the house
+she had left in the morning.
+
+And this is how I came to spend a second night in Miss Althorpe's
+hospitable mansion.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII.
+
+TAKEN ABACK.
+
+
+One incident more and this portion of my story is at an end. My poor
+patient, sicker than she had been the night before, left me but little
+leisure for thought or action disconnected with my care for her. But
+towards morning she grew quieter, and finding in an open drawer those
+tangled threads of yarn of which I have spoken, I began to rewind them,
+out of a natural desire to see everything neat and orderly about me. I
+had nearly finished my task when I heard a strange noise from the bed.
+It was a sort of gurgling cry which I found hard to interpret, but which
+only stopped when I laid my work down again. Manifestly this sick girl
+had very nervous fancies.
+
+When I went down to breakfast the next morning, I was in that complacent
+state of mind natural to a woman who feels that her abilities have
+asserted themselves and that she would soon receive a recognition of the
+same at the hands of the one person for whose commendation she had
+chiefly been working. The identification of Miss Oliver by the Chinaman
+was the last link in the chain connecting her with the Mrs. James Pope
+who had accompanied Mr. Van Burnam to his father's house in Gramercy
+Park, and though I would fain have had the murdered woman's rings to
+show, I was contented enough with the discoveries I had made to wish for
+the hour which would bring me face to face with the detective.
+
+But a surprise awaited me at the breakfast table in the shape of a
+communication from that gentleman. It had just been brought from my
+house by Lena, and it ran thus:
+
+     "DEAR MISS BUTTERWORTH:
+
+     "Pardon our interference. _We_ have found the rings which you
+     think so conclusive an evidence of guilt against the person
+     secreting them; and, _with your permission_ [this was basely
+     underlined], Mr. Franklin Van Burnam will be in custody to-day.
+
+     "I will wait upon you at ten.
+
+     "Respectfully yours,
+
+     "EBENEZAR GRYCE."
+
+_Franklin Van Burnam!_ Was I dreaming? _Franklin_ Van Burnam accused of
+this crime and in custody! What did it mean? I had found no evidence
+against Franklin Van Burnam.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK III_.
+
+THE GIRL IN GRAY.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX.
+
+AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY.
+
+
+"Madam, I hope I see you satisfied?"
+
+This was Mr. Gryce's greeting as he entered my parlor on that memorable
+morning.
+
+"Satisfied?" I repeated, rising and facing him with what he afterwards
+described as a stony glare.
+
+"Pardon me! I suppose you would have been still more satisfied if we had
+waited for _you_ to point out the guilty man to _us_. But you must make
+some allowances for professional egotism, Miss Butterworth. We really
+could not allow you to take the initiatory step in a matter of such
+importance."
+
+"Oh!" was my sole response; but he has since told me that there was a
+great deal in that _oh_; so much, that even he was startled by it.
+
+"You set to-day for a talk with me," he went on; "probably relying upon
+what you intended to assure yourself of yesterday. But our discovery at
+the same time as yourself of the rings in Mr. Van Burnam's office, need
+not interfere with your giving us your full confidence. The work you
+have done has been excellent, and we are disposed to give you
+considerable credit for it."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+I had no choice but to thus indulge in ejaculations. The communication
+he had just made was so startling, and his assumption of my complete
+understanding of and participation in the discovery he professed to have
+made, so puzzling, that I dared not venture beyond these simple
+exclamations, lest he should see the state of mind into which he had
+thrown me, and shut up like an oyster.
+
+"We have kept counsel over what we have found," the wary old detective
+continued, with a smile, which I wish I could imitate, but which
+unhappily belongs to him alone. "I hope that you, or your maid, I should
+say, have been equally discreet."
+
+My maid!
+
+"I see you are touched; but women find it so hard to keep a secret. But
+it does not matter. To-night the whole town will know that the older and
+not the younger brother has had these rings in his keeping."
+
+"It will be nuts for the papers," I commented; then making an effort, I
+remarked: "You are a most judicious man, Mr. Gryce, and must have other
+reasons than the discovery of these rings for your threatened arrest of
+a man of such excellent repute as Silas Van Burnam's eldest son. I
+should like to hear them, Mr. Gryce. I should like to hear them very
+much."
+
+My attempt to seem at ease under these embarrassing conditions must have
+given a certain sharpness to my tone; for, instead of replying, he
+remarked, with well simulated concern and a fatherly humoring of my
+folly peculiarly exasperating to one of my temperament: "You are
+displeased, Miss Butterworth, because we did not let _you_ find the
+rings."
+
+"Perhaps; but we were engaged in an open field. I could not expect the
+police to stand aside for me."
+
+"Exactly! Especially when you have the secret satisfaction of having put
+the police on the track of these jewels."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We were simply fortunate in laying our hands on them first. You, or
+your maid rather, showed us where to look for them."
+
+Lena again.
+
+I was so dumfounded by this last assertion, I did not attempt to reply.
+Fortunately, he misinterpreted my silence and the "stony glare" with
+which it was accompanied.
+
+"I know that it must seem to you altogether too bad, to be tripped up at
+the moment of your anticipated triumph. But if apologies will suffice to
+express our sense of presumption, then I pray you to accept them, Miss
+Butterworth, both on my own part and on that of the Superintendent of
+Police."
+
+I did not understand in the least what he was talking about, but I
+recognized the sarcasm of his final expression, and had spirit enough to
+reply:
+
+"The subject is too important for any more nonsense. Whereabouts in
+Franklin Van Burnam's desk were these rings found, and how do you know
+that his brother did not put them there?"
+
+"Your ignorance is refreshing, Miss Butterworth. If you will ask a
+certain young girl dressed in gray, upon what object connected with Mr.
+Van Burnam's desk she laid her hands yesterday morning, you will have
+an answer to your first question. The second one is still more easily
+answered. Mr. Howard Van Burnam did not conceal the rings in the Duane
+Street office for the reason that he has not been in that office since
+his wife was killed. Regarding this fact we are as well advised as
+yourself. Now you change color, Miss Butterworth. But there is no
+necessity. For an amateur you have made less trouble and fewer mistakes
+than were to be expected."
+
+Worse and worse! He was patronizing me now, and for results I had done
+nothing to bring about. I surveyed him in absolute amazement. Was he
+amusing himself with me, or was he himself deceived as to the nature and
+trend of my late investigations. This was a question to settle, and at
+once; and as duplicity had hitherto proved my best weapon in dealing
+with Mr. Gryce, I concluded to resort to it in this emergency. Clearing
+my brow, I regarded with a more amenable air the little Hungarian vase
+he had taken up on entering the room, and into which he had been talking
+ever since he thought it worth while to compliment its owner.
+
+"I do not wish," said I, "to be published to the world as the discoverer
+of Franklin Van Burnam's guilt. But I do want credit with the police, if
+only because one of their number has chosen to look upon my efforts with
+disdain. I mean you, Mr. Gryce; so, if you are in earnest"--he smiled at
+the vase most genially--"I will accept your apologies just so far as you
+honor me with your confidence. I know you are anxious to hear what
+evidence I have collected, or you would not be wasting time on me this
+busy morning."
+
+"Shrewd!" was the short ejaculation he shot into the mouth of the vase
+he was handling.
+
+"If that term of admiration is intended for me," I remarked, "I am sure
+I am only too sensible of the honor. But flattery has never succeeded in
+making me talk against my better judgment. I may be shrewd, but a fool
+could see what you are after this morning. Compliment me when I have
+deserved it. I can wait."
+
+"I begin to think that what you withhold so resolutely has more than
+common value, Miss Butterworth. If this is so, I must not be the only
+one to listen to your explanations. Is not that a carriage I hear
+stopping? I am expecting Inspector Z----. If that is he you have been
+wise to delay your communications till he came."
+
+A carriage _was_ stopping, and it was the Inspector who alighted from
+it. I began to feel my importance in a way that was truly gratifying,
+and cast my eyes up at the portrait of my father with a secret longing
+that its original stood by to witness the verification of his prophecy.
+
+But I was not so distracted by these thoughts as not to make one attempt
+to get something from Mr. Gryce before the Inspector joined us.
+
+"Why do you speak to me of my maid in one breath and of a girl in gray
+in another? Did you think Lena----"
+
+"Hush!" he enjoined, "we will have ample opportunities to discuss this
+subject later."
+
+"Will we?" thought I. "We will discuss nothing till I know more
+positively what you are aiming at."
+
+But I showed nothing of this determination in my face. On the contrary,
+I became all affability as the Inspector entered, and I did the honors
+of the house in a way I hope my father would have approved of, had he
+been alive and present.
+
+Mr. Gryce continued to stare into the vase.
+
+"Miss Butterworth,"--it was the Inspector who was speaking,--"I have
+been told that you take great interest in the Van Burnam murder, and
+that you have even gone so far as to collect some facts in connection
+with it which you have not as yet given to the police."
+
+"You have heard correctly," I returned. "I have taken a deep interest in
+this tragedy, and have come into possession of some facts in reference
+to it which as yet I have imparted to no living soul."
+
+Mr. Gryce's interest in my poor little vase increased marvellously.
+Seeing this, I complacently continued:
+
+"I could not have accomplished so much had I indulged in a confidant.
+Such work as I have attempted depends for its success upon the secrecy
+with which it is carried on. That is why amateur work is sometimes more
+effective than professional. No one suspected me of making inquiries,
+unless it was this gentleman, and he was forewarned of my possible
+interference. I told him that in case Howard Van Burnam was put under
+arrest, I should take it upon myself to stir up matters; and I have."
+
+"Then you do not believe in Mr. Van Burnam's guilt? Not even in his
+complicity, I suppose?" ventured the Inspector.
+
+"I do not know anything about his complicity; but I do not believe the
+stroke given to his wife came from his hand."
+
+"I see, I see. You believe it the work of his brother."
+
+I stole a look at Mr. Gryce before replying. He had turned the vase
+upside down, and was intently studying its label; but he could not
+conceal his expectation of an affirmative answer. Greatly relieved, I
+immediately took the position I had resolved upon, and calmly but
+vigorously observed:
+
+"What I believe, and what I have learned in support of my belief, will
+sound as well in your ears ten minutes hence as now. Before I give you
+the result of such inquiries as I have been enabled to make, I require
+to know what evidence you have yourself collected against the gentleman
+you have just named, and in what respect it is as criminating as that
+against his brother?"
+
+"Is not that peremptory, Miss Butterworth? And do you think us called
+upon to part with all or any of the secrets of our office? We have
+informed you that we have new and startling evidence against the older
+brother; should not that be sufficient for you?"
+
+"Perhaps so if I were an assistant of yours, or even in your employ. But
+I am neither; I stand alone, and although I am a woman and unused to
+this business, I have earned, as I think you will acknowledge later, the
+right to some consideration on your part. I cannot present the facts I
+have to relate in a proper manner till I know just how the case stands."
+
+"It is not curiosity that troubles Miss Butterworth--Madam, I said it
+was not curiosity--but a laudable desire to have the whole matter
+arranged with precision," dropped now in his dryest tones from the
+detective's lips.
+
+"Mr. Gryce has a most excellent understanding of my character," I
+gravely observed.
+
+The Inspector looked nonplussed. He glanced at Mr. Gryce and he glanced
+at me, but the smile of the former was inscrutable, and my expression,
+if I showed any, must have betrayed but little relenting.
+
+"If called as a witness, Miss Butterworth,"--this was how he sought to
+manage me,--"you will have no choice in the matter. You will be
+compelled to speak or show contempt of court."
+
+"That is true," I acknowledged. "But it is not what I might feel myself
+called upon to say then, but what I can say now, that is of interest to
+you at this present moment. So be generous, gentlemen, and satisfy my
+curiosity, for such Mr. Gryce considers it, in spite of his assertions
+to the contrary. Will it not all come out in the papers a few hours
+hence, and have I not earned as much at your hands as the reporters?"
+
+"The reporters are our bane. Do not liken yourself to the reporters."
+
+"Yet they sometimes give you a valuable clue."
+
+Mr. Gryce looked as if he would like to disclaim this, but he was a
+judicious soul, and merely gave a twist to the vase which I thought
+would cost me that small article of vertu.
+
+"Shall we humor Miss Butterworth?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"We will do better," answered Mr. Gryce, setting the vase down with a
+precision that made me jump; for I am a worshipper of _bric-à-brac_, and
+prize the few articles I own, possibly beyond their real value. "We will
+treat her as a coadjutor, which, by the way, she says she is not, and by
+the trust we place in her, secure that discretionary use of our
+confidence which she shows with so much spirit in regard to her own."
+
+"Begin then," said I.
+
+"I will," said he, "but first allow me to acknowledge that you are the
+person who first put us on the track of Franklin Van Burnam."
+
+
+
+
+XXX.
+
+THE MATTER AS STATED BY MR. GRYCE.
+
+
+I had exhausted my wonder, so I accepted this statement with no more
+display of surprise than a grim smile.
+
+"When you failed to identify Howard Van Burnam as the man who
+accompanied his wife into the adjacent house, I realized that I must
+look elsewhere for the murderer of Louise Van Burnam. You see I had more
+confidence in the excellence of your memory than you had yourself, so
+much indeed that I gave you more than one chance to exercise it, having,
+by certain little methods I sometimes employ, induced different moods in
+Mr. Van Burnam at the time of his several visits, so that his bearing
+might vary, and you have every opportunity to recognize him for the man
+you had seen on that fatal night."
+
+"Then it was he you brought here each time?" I broke in.
+
+"It was he."
+
+"Well!" I ejaculated.
+
+"The Superintendent and some others whom I need not mention,"--here Mr.
+Gryce took up another small object from the table,--"believed implicitly
+in his guilt; conjugal murder is so common and the causes which lead to
+it so frequently puerile. Therefore I had to work alone. But this did
+not cause me any concern. _Your_ doubts emphasized mine, and when you
+confided to me that you had seen a figure similar to the one we were
+trying to identify, enter the adjoining house on the evening of the
+funeral, I made immediate inquiries and discovered that the gentleman
+who had entered the house right after the four persons described by you
+was _Franklin Van Burnam_. This gave me a definite clue, and this is why
+I say that it was you who gave me my first start in this matter."
+
+"Humph!" thought I to myself, as with a sudden shock I remembered that
+one of the words which had fallen from Miss Oliver's lips during her
+delirium had been this very name of Franklin.
+
+"I had had my doubts of this gentleman before," continued the detective,
+warming gradually with his subject. "A man of my experience doubts every
+one in a case of this kind, and I had formed at odd times a sort of side
+theory, so to speak, into which some little matters which came up during
+the inquest seemed to fit with more or less nicety; but I had no real
+justification for suspicion till the event of which I speak. That you
+had evidently formed the same theory as myself and were bound to enter
+into the lists with me, put me on my mettle, madam, and with your
+knowledge or without it, the struggle between us began."
+
+"So your disdain of me," I here put in with a triumphant air I could not
+subdue, "was only simulated? I shall know what to think of you
+hereafter. But don't stop, go on, this is all deeply interesting to me."
+
+"I can understand that. To proceed then; my first duty, of course, was
+to watch _you_. You had reasons of your own for suspecting this man, so
+by watching you I hoped to surprise them."
+
+"Good!" I cried, unable to entirely conceal the astonishment and grim
+amusement into which his continued misconception of the trend of my
+suspicions threw me.
+
+"But you led us a chase, madam; I must acknowledge that you led us a
+chase. Your being an amateur led me to anticipate your using an
+amateur's methods, but you showed skill, madam, and the man I sent to
+keep watch over Mrs. Boppert against your looked-for visit there, was
+foiled by the very simple strategy you used in meeting her at a
+neighboring shop."
+
+"Good!" I again cried, in my relief that the discovery made at that
+meeting had not been shared by him.
+
+"We had sounded Mrs. Boppert ourselves, but she had seemed a very
+hopeless job, and I do not yet see how you got any water out of that
+stone--if you did."
+
+"No?" I retorted ambiguously, enjoying the Inspector's manifest delight
+in this scene as much as I did my own secret thoughts and the prospect
+of the surprise I was holding in store for them.
+
+"But your interference with the clock and the discovery you made that it
+had been going at the time the shelves fell, was not unknown to us, and
+we have made use of it, good use as you will hereafter see."
+
+"So! those girls could not keep a secret after all," I muttered; and
+waited with some anxiety to hear him mention the pin-cushion; but he did
+not, greatly to my relief.
+
+"Don't blame the girls!" he put in (his ears evidently are as sharp as
+mine); "the inquiries having proceeded from Franklin, it was only
+natural for me to suspect that he was trying to mislead us by some
+hocus-pocus story. So _I_ visited the girls. That I had difficulty in
+getting to the root of the matter is to their credit, Miss Butterworth,
+seeing that you had made them promise secrecy."
+
+"You are right," I nodded, and forgave them on the spot. If I could not
+withstand Mr. Gryce's eloquence--and it affected me at times--how could
+I expect these girls to. Besides, they had not revealed the more
+important secret I had confided to them, and in consideration of this I
+was ready to pardon them most anything.
+
+"That the clock was going at the time the shelves fell, and that he
+should be the one to draw our attention to it would seem to the
+superficial mind proof positive that he was innocent of the deed with
+which it was so closely associated," the detective proceeded. "But to
+one skilled in the subterfuges of criminals, this seemingly conclusive
+fact in his favor was capable of an explanation so in keeping with the
+subtlety shown in every other feature of this remarkable crime, that I
+began to regard it as a point against him rather than in his favor. Of
+which more hereafter.
+
+"Not allowing myself to be deterred, then, by this momentary set-back,
+and rejoicing in an affair considered as settled by my superiors, I
+proceeded to establish Franklin Van Burnam's connection with the crime
+which had been laid with so much apparent reason at his brother's door.
+
+"The first fact to be settled was, of course, whether your
+identification of him as the gentleman who accompanied his victim into
+Mr. Van Burnam's house could be corroborated by any of the many persons
+who had seen the so-called Mr. James Pope at the Hotel D----.
+
+"As none of the witnesses who attended the inquest had presumed to
+recognize in either of these sleek and haughty gentlemen the shrinking
+person just mentioned, I knew that any open attempt on my part to bring
+about an identification would result disastrously. So I employed
+strategy--like my betters, Miss Butterworth" (here his bow was
+overpowering in its mock humility); "and rightly considering that for a
+person to be satisfactorily identified with another, he must be seen
+under the same circumstances and in nearly the same place, I sought out
+Franklin Van Burnam, and with specious promises of some great benefit to
+be done his brother, induced him to accompany me to the Hotel D----.
+
+"Whether he saw through my plans and thought that a brave front and an
+assumption of candor would best serve him in this unexpected dilemma, or
+whether he felt so entrenched behind the precautions he had taken as not
+to fear discovery under any circumstances, he made but one demur before
+preparing to accompany me. This demur was significant, however, for it
+was occasioned by my advice to change his dress for one less
+conspicuously fashionable, or to hide it under an ulster or mackintosh.
+And as a proof of his hardihood--remember, madam, that his connection
+with this crime has been established--he actually did put on the ulster,
+though he must have known what a difference it would make in his
+appearance.
+
+"The result was all I could desire. As we entered the hotel, I saw a
+certain hackman start and lean forward to look after him. It was the one
+who had driven Mr. and Mrs. Pope away from the hotel. And when we passed
+the porter, the wink which I gave him was met by a lift of his eyelids
+which he afterwards interpreted into 'Like! very like!'
+
+"But it was from the clerk I received the most unequivocal proof of his
+identity. On entering the office I had left Mr. Van Burnam as near as
+possible to the spot where Mr. Pope had stood while his so-called wife
+was inscribing their names in the register, and bidding him to remain in
+the background while I had a few words at the desk, all in his brother's
+interests of course, I succeeded in secretly directing Mr. Henshaw's
+attention towards him. The start which he gave and the exclamation he
+uttered were unequivocal. 'Why, there's the man now!' he cried, happily
+in a whisper. 'Anxious look, drooping head, brown moustache, everything
+but the duster.' 'Bah!' said I; 'that's Mr. _Franklin_ Van Burnam you
+are looking at! What are you thinking of?' 'Can't help it,' said he; 'I
+saw both of the brothers at the inquest, and saw nothing in them then to
+remind me of our late mysterious guest. But as he stands there, he's a
+---- sight more like James Pope than the other one is, and don't you
+forget it.' I shrugged my shoulders, told him he was a fool, and that
+fools had better keep their follies to themselves, and came away with my
+man, outwardly disgusted but inwardly in most excellent trim for
+pursuing an investigation which had opened so auspiciously.
+
+"Whether this man possessed any motive for a crime so seemingly out of
+accordance with his life and disposition was, of course, the next point
+to settle. His conduct at the inquest certainly showed no decided
+animosity toward his brother's wife, nor was there on the surface of
+affairs any token of the mortal hatred which alone could account for a
+crime at once so deliberate and so brutal. But we detectives plunge
+below the surface, and after settling the question of Franklin's
+identity with the so-called Mr. Pope of the Hotel D----, I left New York
+and its interests--among which I reckoned your efforts at detective
+work, Miss Butterworth--to a young man in my office, who, I am afraid,
+did not quite understand the persistence of your character; for he had
+nothing to tell me concerning you on my return, save that you had been
+cultivating Miss Althorpe, which, of course, was such a natural thing
+for you to do, I wonder he thought it necessary to mention it.
+
+"My destination was Four Corners, the place where Howard first met his
+future wife. In relating what I learned there, I shall doubtless repeat
+facts with which you are acquainted, Miss Butterworth."
+
+"That is of no consequence," I returned, with almost brazen duplicity;
+for I not only was ignorant of what he was going to say, but had every
+reason to believe that it would bear as remote a connection as possible
+to the secret then laboring in my breast. "A statement of the case from
+your lips," I pursued, "will emphasize what I know. Do not stint any of
+your disclosures, then, I beg. I have an ear for all." This was truer
+than my rather sarcastic tone would convey, for might not his story
+after all prove to have some unexpected relation with the facts I had
+myself gathered together.
+
+"It is a pleasure," said he, "to think I am capable of giving any
+information to Miss Butterworth, and as I did not run across you or your
+very nimble and pert little maid during my stay at Four Corners, I shall
+take it for granted that you confined your inquiries to the city and the
+society of which you are such a shining light."
+
+This in reference to my double visit at Miss Althorpe's, no doubt.
+
+"Four Corners is a charming town in Southern Vermont, and here, three
+years ago, Howard Van Burnam first met Miss Stapleton. She was living in
+a gentleman's family at that time as travelling companion to his invalid
+daughter."
+
+Ah, now I could see what explanation this wary old detective gave
+himself of my visits to Miss Althorpe, and began to hug myself in
+anticipation of my coming triumph over him.
+
+"The place did not fit her, for Miss Stapleton only shone in the society
+of men; but Mr. Harrison had not yet discovered this special
+idiosyncrasy of hers, and as his daughter was able to see a few friends,
+and in fact needed some diversion, the way was open to her companion for
+that acquaintance with Mr. Van Burnam which has led to such disastrous
+results.
+
+"The house at which their meeting took place was a private one, and I
+soon found out many facts not widely known in this city. First, that she
+was not so much in love with Howard as he was with her. _He_ succumbed
+to her fascinations at once, and proposed, I believe, within two weeks
+after seeing her; but though she accepted him, few of those who saw them
+together thought her affections very much engaged till Franklin suddenly
+appeared in town, when her whole manner underwent a change, and she
+became so sparklingly and irresistibly beautiful that her avowed lover
+became doubly enslaved, and Franklin--Well, there is evidence to prove
+that he was not insensible to her charms either; that, in spite of her
+engagement to his brother and the attitude which honor bade him hold
+towards his prospective sister-in-law, he lost his head for a short
+time at least, and under her seductions I do not doubt, for she was a
+double-faced woman according to general repute, went so far as to
+express his passion in a letter of which I heard much before I was so
+fortunate as to obtain a sight of it. This was three years ago, and I
+think Miss Stapleton would have been willing to have broken with Howard
+and married Franklin if the latter had had the courage to meet his
+brother's reproaches. But he evidently was deficient in this quality.
+His very letter, which is a warm one, but which holds out no hope to her
+of any closer bond between them than that offered by her prospective
+union with his brother, shows that he still retained some sense of
+honor, and as he presently left Four Corners and did not appear again
+where they were till just before their marriage, it is probable that all
+would have gone well if the woman had shared this sentiment with him.
+But she was made up of mean materials, and while willing to marry Howard
+for what he could give her or what she thought he could give her, she
+yet cherished an implacable grudge against Franklin for his weakness, as
+she called it, in not following the dictates of his heart. Being sly as
+well as passionate, she hid her feelings from every one but a venial,
+though apparently devoted confidante, a young girl named----"
+
+"Oliver," I finished in my own mind.
+
+But the name he mentioned was quite different.
+
+"Pigot," he said, looking at the filigree basket he held in his hand as
+if he picked this word out from one of its many interstices. "She was
+French, and after once finding her, I had but little difficulty in
+learning all she had to tell. She had been Miss Harrison's maid, but
+she was not above serving Miss Stapleton in many secret and dishonorable
+ways. As a consequence, she could give me the details of an interview
+which that lady had held with Franklin Van Burnam on the evening of her
+wedding. It took place in Mr. Harrison's garden, and was supposed to be
+a secret one, but the woman who arranged the meeting was not the person
+to keep away from it when it occurred, and consequently I have been
+enabled to learn with more or less accuracy what took place between
+them. It was not to Miss Stapleton's credit. Mr. Van Burnam merely
+wanted his letter back, but she refused to return it unless he would
+promise her a complete recognition by his family of her marriage and
+ensure her a reception in his father's house as Howard's wife. This was
+more than he could engage himself to perform. He had already, according
+to his own story, made every effort possible to influence the old
+gentleman in her favor, but had only succeeded in irritating him against
+himself. It was an acknowledgment which would have satisfied most women,
+but it did not satisfy her. She declared her intention of keeping the
+letter for fear he would cease his exertions; and heedless of the effect
+produced upon him by the barefaced threat, proceeded to inveigh against
+his brother for the very love which made her union with him possible;
+and as if this was not bad enough, showed at the same time such a
+disposition to profit by whatever worldly good the match promised, that
+Franklin lost all regard for her, and began to hate her.
+
+"As he made no effort to conceal his feelings, she must have become
+immediately aware of the change which had taken place in them. But
+however affected by this, she gave no sign of relenting in her purpose.
+On the contrary, she persisted in her determination to retain his
+letter, and when he remonstrated with her and threatened to leave town
+before her marriage, she retorted by saying that, if he did so, she
+would show his letter to his brother as soon as the minister had made
+them one. This threat seemed to affect Franklin deeply, and while it
+intensified his feeling of animosity towards her, subjected him for the
+moment to her whim. He stayed in Four Corners till the ceremony was
+performed, but was such a gloomy guest that all united in saying that he
+did the occasion no credit.
+
+"So much for my work in Four Corners."
+
+I had by this time become aware that Mr. Gryce was addressing himself
+chiefly to the Inspector, being gratified no doubt at this opportunity
+of presenting his case at length before that gentleman. But true to his
+special habits, he looked at neither of us, but rather at the fretted
+basket, upon the handle of which he tapped out his arguments as he
+quickly proceeded:
+
+"The young couple spent the first months of their married life in
+Yonkers; so to Yonkers I went next. There I learned that Franklin had
+visited the place twice; both times, as I judge, upon a peremptory
+summons from her. The result was mutual fret and heartburning, for she
+had made no progress in her endeavors to win recognition from the Van
+Burnams; and even had had occasion to perceive that her husband's love,
+based as it was upon her physical attributes, had begun to feel the
+stress of her uneasiness and dissatisfaction. She became more anxious
+than ever for social recognition and distinction, and when the family
+went to Europe, consented to accompany her husband into the quiet
+retreat he thought best calculated to win the approbation of his father,
+only upon the assurance of better times in the fall and a possible visit
+to Washington in the winter. But the quiet to which she was subjected
+had a bad effect upon her. Under it she grew more and more restless, and
+as the time approached for the family's return, conceived so many plans
+for conciliating them that her husband could not restrain his disgust.
+But the worst plan of all and the one which undoubtedly led to her
+death, he never knew. This was to surprise Franklin at his office and,
+by renewed threats of showing this old love-letter to his brother, win
+an absolute promise from him to support her in a fresh endeavor to win
+his father's favor. You see she did not understand Silas Van Burnam's
+real character, and persisted in holding the most extravagant views
+concerning Franklin's ascendancy over him as well as over the rest of
+the family. She even went so far as to insist in the interview, which
+Jane Pigot overheard, that it was Franklin himself who stood in the way
+of her desires, and that if he chose he could obtain for her an
+invitation to take up her abode with the rest of them in Gramercy Park.
+To Duane Street she therefore went before making her appearance at Mrs.
+Parker's; a fact which was not brought out at the inquest; Franklin not
+disclosing it of course, and the clerk not recognizing her under the
+false name she chose to give. Of the details of this interview I am
+ignorant, but as she was closeted with him some time, it is only natural
+to suppose that conversation of some importance took place between them.
+The clerk who works in the outer office did not, as I have said, know
+who she was at the time, but he noticed her face when she came out, and
+he declares that it was insolent with triumph, while Mr. Franklin, who
+was polite enough or calculating enough to bow her out of the room, was
+pale with rage, and acted so unlike himself that everybody observed it.
+She held his letter in her hand, a letter easily distinguishable by the
+violet-colored seal on the back, and she filliped with it in a most
+aggravating way as she crossed the floor, pretending to lay it down on
+Howard's desk as she went by and then taking it up again with an arch
+look at Franklin, pretty enough to see but hateful in its effect on him.
+As he went back to his own room his face was full of anger, and such was
+the effect of this visit on him that he declined to see any one else
+that day. She had probably shown such determination to reveal his past
+perfidy to her husband, that his fears were fully aroused at last, and
+he saw he was not only likely to lose his good name but the esteem with
+which he was accustomed to be regarded by this younger and evidently
+much-loved brother.
+
+"And now, considering his intense pride, as well as his affection for
+Howard, do you not see the motive which this seemingly good man had for
+putting his troublesome sister-in-law out of existence? He wanted that
+letter back, and to obtain it had to resort to crime. Or such is my
+present theory of this murder, Miss Butterworth. Does it correspond with
+yours?"
+
+
+
+
+XXXI.
+
+SOME FINE WORK.
+
+
+"O perfectly!" I assented, with just the shade of irony necessary to rob
+the assertion of its mendacity. "But go on, go on. You have not begun to
+satisfy me yet. You did not stop with finding a motive for the crime I
+am sure."
+
+"Madam, you are a female Shylock; you will have the whole of the bond or
+none."
+
+"We are not here to draw comparisons," I retorted. "Keep to the subject,
+Mr. Gryce; keep to the subject."
+
+He laughed; laid down the little basket he held, took it up again, and
+finally resumed:
+
+"Madam, you are right; we did not stop at finding a motive. Our next
+step was to collect evidence directly connecting him with the crime."
+
+"And you succeeded in this?"
+
+My tone was unnecessarily eager, this was all so unaccountable to me;
+but he did not appear to notice it.
+
+"We did. Indeed the evidence against him is stronger than that against
+his brother. For if we ignore the latter part of Howard's testimony,
+which was evidently a tissue of lies, what remains against him? Three
+things: his dogged persistency in not recognizing his wife in the
+murdered woman; the receiving of the house keys from his brother; and
+the fact that he was seen on the stoop of his father's house at an
+unusual hour in the morning following this murder. Now what have we
+against Franklin? Many things.
+
+"First:
+
+"That he can no more account for the hours between half-past eleven on
+Tuesday morning and five o'clock on the following Wednesday morning than
+his brother can. In one breath he declares that he was shut up in his
+rooms at the hotel, for which no corroborative evidence is forthcoming;
+and in another that he was on a tramp after his brother, which seems
+equally improbable and incapable of proof.
+
+"Second:
+
+"That he and not Howard was the man in a linen duster, and that he and
+not Howard was in possession of the keys that night. As these are
+serious statements to make, I will give you my reasons for them. They
+are distinct from the recognition of his person by the inmates of the
+Hotel D----, and added to that recognition, form a strong case against
+him. The janitor who has charge of the offices in Duane Street,
+happening to have a leisure moment on the morning of the day on which
+Mrs. Van Burnam was murdered, was making the most of it by watching the
+unloading of a huge boiler some four doors below the Van Burnam
+warehouse. He was consequently looking intently in that direction when
+Howard passed him, coming from the interview with his brother in which
+he had been given the keys. Mr. Van Burnam was walking briskly, but
+finding the sidewalk blocked by the boiler to which I have alluded,
+paused for a moment to let it pass, and being greatly heated, took out
+his handkerchief to wipe his forehead. This done, he moved on, just as a
+man dressed in a long duster came up behind him, stopping where he
+stopped and picking up from the ground something which the first
+gentleman had evidently dropped. This last man's figure looked more or
+less familiar to the janitor, so did the duster, and later he discovered
+that the latter was the one which he had seen hanging for so long a time
+in the little disused closet under the warehouse stairs. Its wearer was
+Franklin Van Burnam, who, as I took pains to learn, had left the office
+immediately in the wake of his brother, and the object he picked up was
+the bunch of keys which the latter had inadvertently dropped. He may
+have thought he lost them later, but it was then and there they slipped
+from his pocket. I will here add that the duster found by the hackman in
+his coach has been identified as the one missing from the closet just
+mentioned.
+
+"Third:
+
+"The keys with which Mr. Van Burnam's house was unlocked were found
+hanging in their usual place by noon of the next day. They could not
+have been taken there by Howard, for he was not seen at the office after
+the murder. By whom then were they returned, if not by Franklin?
+
+"Fourth:
+
+"The letter, for the possession of which I believe this crime to have
+been perpetrated, was found by us in a supposedly secret drawer of this
+gentleman's desk. It was much crumpled, and bore evidences of having
+been rather rudely dealt with since it was last seen in Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hand in that very office.
+
+"But the fact which is most convincing, and which will tell most heavily
+against him, is the unexpected discovery of the murdered lady's rings,
+also in this same desk. How _you_ became aware that anything of such
+importance could be found there, knowing even the exact place in which
+they were secreted, I will not stop to ask at this moment. Enough that
+when your maid entered the Van Burnam offices and insisted with so much
+ingenuousness that she was expected by Mr. Van Burnam and would wait for
+his return, the clerk most devoted to my interests became distrustful of
+her intentions, having been told to be on the look-out for a girl in
+gray or a lady in black with puffs on each side of two very sharp eyes.
+You will pardon me, Miss Butterworth. He therefore kept his eyes on the
+girl and presently espied her stretching out her hand towards a hook at
+the side of Mr. Franklin Van Burnam's desk. As it is upon this hook this
+gentleman strings his unanswered letters, the clerk rose from his place
+as quickly as possible, and coming forward with every appearance of
+polite solicitude,--did she not say he was polite, Miss
+Butterworth?--inquired what she wished, thinking she was after some
+letter, or possibly anxious for a specimen of some one's handwriting.
+But she gave him no other reply than a blush and a confused look, for
+which you must rebuke her, Miss Butterworth, if you are going to
+continue to employ her as your agent in these very delicate affairs. And
+she made another mistake. She should not have left so abruptly upon
+detection, for that gave the clerk an opportunity to telephone for me,
+which he immediately did. I was at liberty, and I came at once, and,
+after hearing his story, decided that what was of interest to you must
+be of interest to me, and so took a look at the letters she had handled,
+and discovered, what she also must have discovered before she let them
+slip from her hand, that the five missing rings we were all in search of
+were hanging on this same hook amid the sheets of Franklin's
+correspondence. You can imagine, madam, my satisfaction, and the
+gratitude which I felt towards my agent, who by his quickness had
+retained to me the honors of a discovery which it would have been
+injurious to my pride to have had confined entirely to yourself."
+
+"I can understand," I repeated, and trusted myself to say no more, hot
+as my secret felt upon my lips.
+
+"You have read Poe's story of the filigree basket?" he now suggested,
+running his finger up and down the filigree work he himself held.
+
+I nodded. I saw what he meant at once.
+
+"Well, the principle involved in that story explains the presence of the
+rings in the midst of this stack of letters. Franklin Van Burnam, if he
+is the murderer of his sister-in-law, is one of the subtlest villains
+this city has ever produced, and knowing that, if once suspected, every
+secret drawer and professed hiding-place within his reach would be
+searched, he put these dangerous evidences of his guilt in a place so
+conspicuous, and yet so little likely to attract attention, that even so
+old a hand as myself did not think of looking for them there."
+
+He had finished, and the look he gave me was for myself alone.
+
+"And now, madam," said he, "that I have stated the facts of the case
+against Franklin Van Burnam, has not the moment come for you to show
+your appreciation of my good nature by a corresponding show of
+confidence on your part?"
+
+I answered with a distinct negative. "There is too much that is
+unexplained as yet in your case against Franklin," I objected. "You have
+shown that he had motive for the murder and that he was connected more
+or less intimately with the crime we are considering, but you have by no
+means explained all the phenomena accompanying this tragedy. How, for
+instance, do you account for Mrs. Van Burnam's whim in changing her
+clothing, if her brother-in-law, instead of her husband, was her
+companion at the Hotel D----?"
+
+You see I was determined to know the whole story before introducing Miss
+Oliver's name into this complication.
+
+He who had seen through the devices of so many women in his day did not
+see through mine, perhaps because he took a certain professional
+pleasure in making his views on this subject clear to the attentive
+Inspector. At all events, this is the way he responded to my
+half-curious, half-ironical question:
+
+"A crime planned and perpetrated for the purpose I have just mentioned,
+Miss Butterworth, could not have been a simple one under any
+circumstances. But conceived as this one was by a man of more than
+ordinary intelligence, and carried out with a skill and precaution
+little short of marvellous, the features which it presents are of such a
+varying and subtle character that only by the exercise of a certain
+amount of imagination can they be understood at all. Such an imagination
+I possess, but how can I be sure that you do?"
+
+"By testing it," I suggested.
+
+"Very good, madam, I will. Not from actual knowledge, then, but from a
+certain insight I have acquired in my long dealing with such matters, I
+have come to the conclusion that Franklin Van Burnam did not in the
+beginning plan to kill this woman in his father's house.
+
+"On the contrary, he had fixed upon a hotel room as the scene of the
+conflict he foresaw between them, and that he might carry it on without
+endangering their good names, had urged her to meet him the next morning
+in the semi-disguise of a gossamer over her fine dress and a heavy veil
+over her striking features; making the pretence, no doubt, of this being
+the more appropriate costume for her to appear in before the old
+gentleman should he so far concede to her demands as to take her to the
+steamer. For himself he had planned the adoption of a disfiguring duster
+which had been hanging for a long time in a closet on the ground-floor
+of the building in Duane Street. All this promised well, but when the
+time came and he was about to leave his office, his brother unexpectedly
+appeared and asked for the key to their father's house. Disconcerted no
+doubt by the appearance of the very person he least wished to see, and
+astonished by a request so out of keeping with all that had hitherto
+passed between them, he nevertheless was in too much haste to question
+him, so gave him what he wanted and Howard went away. As soon after as
+he could lock his desk and don his hat, Franklin followed, and merely
+stopping to cover his coat with the old duster, he went out and hastened
+towards the place of meeting. Under most circumstances all this might
+have happened without the brothers encountering each other again, but a
+temporary obstruction on the sidewalk having, as we know, detained
+Howard, Franklin was enabled to approach him sufficiently close to see
+him draw his pocket-handkerchief out of his pocket, and with it the keys
+which he had just given him. The latter fell, and as there was a great
+pounding of iron going on in the building just over their heads, Howard
+did not perceive his loss but went quickly on. Franklin coming up behind
+him picked up the keys, and with a thought, or perhaps as yet with no
+thought, of the use to which they might be applied, put them in his own
+pocket before proceeding on his way.
+
+"New York is a large place, and much can take place in it without
+comment. Franklin Van Burnam and his sister-in-law met and went together
+to the Hotel D---- without being either recognized or suspected till
+later developments drew attention to them. That _she_ should consent to
+accompany him to this place, and that after she was there should submit,
+as she did, to taking all the business of the scheme upon herself, would
+be inconceivable in a woman of a self-respecting character; but Louise
+Van Burnam cared for little save her own aggrandisement, and rather
+enjoyed, so far as we can see, this very doubtful escapade, whose real
+meaning and murderous purpose she was so far from understanding.
+
+"As the steamer, contrary to all expectation, had not yet been sighted
+off Fire Island, they took a room and prepared to wait for it. That is,
+_she_ prepared to wait. He had no intention of waiting for its arrival
+or of going to it when it came; he only wanted his letter. But Louise
+Van Burnam was not the woman to relinquish it till she had obtained the
+price she had put on it, and he becoming very soon aware of this fact,
+began to ask himself if he should not be obliged to resort to extreme
+measures in order to regain it. One chance only remained for avoiding
+these. He would seem to embrace her later and probably much-talked-of
+scheme of presenting herself before his father in his own house rather
+than at the steamer; and by urging her to make its success more certain
+by a different style of dress from that she wore, induce a change of
+clothing, during which he might come upon the letter he was more than
+confident she carried about her person. Had this plan worked; had he
+been able to seize upon this compromising bit of paper, even at the cost
+of a scratch or two from her vigorous fingers, we should not be sitting
+here at this moment trying to account for the most complicated crime on
+record. But Louise Van Burnam, while weak and volatile enough to enjoy
+the romantic features of this transformation scene, even going so far as
+to write out the order herself with the same effort at disguise she had
+used in registering their assumed names at the desk, was not entirely
+his dupe, and having hidden the letter in her shoe----"
+
+"What!" I cried.
+
+"_Having hidden the letter in her shoe_," repeated Mr. Gryce, with his
+finest smile, "she had but to signify that the boots sent by Altman were
+a size too small, for her to retain her secret and keep the one article
+she traded upon from his envious clutch. You seem struck dumb by this,
+Miss Butterworth. Have I enlightened you on a point that has hitherto
+troubled you?"
+
+"Don't ask me; don't look at me." As if he ever looked at any one! "Your
+perspicacity is amazing, but I will try and not show my sense of it, if
+it is going to make you stop."
+
+He smiled; the Inspector smiled: neither understood me.
+
+"Very well then, I will go on; but the non-change of shoes had to be
+accounted for, Miss Butterworth."
+
+"You are right; and it _has_ been, of course."
+
+"Have you any better explanation to give?"
+
+I had, or thought I had, and the words trembled on my tongue. But I
+restrained myself under an air of great impatience. "Time is flying!" I
+urged, with as near a simulation of his own manner in saying the words
+as I could affect. "Go on, Mr. Gryce."
+
+And he did, though my manner evidently puzzled him.
+
+"Being foiled in this his last attempt, this smooth and diabolical
+villain hesitated no longer in carrying out the scheme which had
+doubtless been maturing in his mind ever since he dropped the key of his
+father's house into his own pocket. His brother's wife must die, but not
+in a hotel room with him for a companion. Though scorned, detested, and
+a stumbling-block in the way of the whole family's future happiness and
+prosperity, she still was a Van Burnam, and no shadow must fall upon her
+reputation. Further than this, for he loved life and his own reputation
+also, and did not mean to endanger either by this act of
+self-preservation, she must perish as if from accident, or by some blow
+so undiscoverable that it would be laid to natural causes. He thought he
+knew how this might be brought about. He had seen her put on her hat
+with a very thin and sharp pin, and he had heard how one thrust into a
+certain spot in the spine would effect death without a struggle. A wound
+like that would be small; almost indiscernible. True it would take skill
+to inflict it, and it would require dissimulation to bring her into the
+proper position for the contemplated thrust; but he was not lacking in
+either of these characteristics; and so he set himself to the task he
+had promised himself, and with such success that ere long the two left
+the hotel and proceeded to the house in Gramercy Park with all the
+caution necessary for preserving a secret which meant reputation to the
+one, and liberty, if not life, to the other. That he and not she felt
+the greater need of secrecy, witness their whole conduct, and when,
+their goal reached, she and not he put the money into the driver's hand,
+the last act of this curious drama of opposing motives was reached, and
+only the final catastrophe was wanting.
+
+"With what arts he procured her hat-pin, and by what show of simulated
+passion he was able to approach near enough to her to inflict that cool
+and calculating thrust which resulted in her immediate death, I leave to
+_your_ imagination. Enough that he compassed his ends, killing her and
+regaining the letter for the possession of which he had been willing to
+take a life. Afterwards----"
+
+"Well, afterwards?"
+
+"The deed he had thought so complete began to assume a different aspect.
+The pin had broken in the wound, and, knowing the scrutiny which the
+body would receive at the hands of a Coroner's jury, he began to see
+what consequences might follow its discovery. So to hide that wound and
+give to her death the wished-for appearance of accident, he went back
+and drew down the cabinet under which she was found. Had he done this at
+once his hand in the tragedy might have escaped detection, but he
+waited, and by waiting allowed the blood-vessels to stiffen and all
+that phenomena to become apparent by means of which the eyes of the
+physicians were opened to the fact that they must search deeper for the
+cause of death than the bruises she had received. Thus it is that
+Justice opens loop-holes in the finest web a criminal can weave."
+
+"A just remark, Mr. Gryce, but in this fine-spun web of _your_ weaving,
+you have not explained how the clock came to be running and to stop at
+five."
+
+"Cannot you see? A man capable of such a crime would not forget to
+provide himself with an alibi. He expected to be in his rooms at five,
+so before pulling down the shelves at three or four, he wound the clock
+and set it at an hour when he could bring forward testimony to his being
+in another place. Is not such a theory consistent with his character and
+with the skill he has displayed from the beginning to the end of this
+woful affair?"
+
+Aghast at the deftness with which this able detective explained every
+detail of this crime by means of a theory necessarily hypothetical if
+the discoveries I had made in the matter were true, and for the moment
+subjected to the overwhelming influence of his enthusiasm, I sat in a
+maze, asking myself if all the seemingly irrefutable evidence upon which
+men had been convicted in times gone by was as false as this. To relieve
+myself and to gain renewed confidence in my own views and the
+discoveries I had made in this matter, I repeated the name of Howard,
+and asked how, in case the whole crime was conceived and perpetrated by
+his brother, he came to utter such equivocations and to assume that
+position of guilt which had led to his own arrest.
+
+"Do you think," I inquired, "that he was aware of his brother's part in
+this affair, and that out of compassion for him he endeavored to take
+the crime upon his own shoulders?"
+
+"No, madam. Men of the world do not carry their disinterestedness so
+far. He not only did not know the part his brother took in this crime,
+but did not even suspect it, or why acknowledge that he lost the key by
+which the house was entered?"
+
+"I do not understand Howard's actions, even under these circumstances.
+They seem totally inconsistent to me."
+
+"Madam, they are easily explainable to one who knows the character of
+his mind. He prizes his honor above every consideration, and regarded it
+as threatened by the suggestion that his wife had entered his father's
+empty house at midnight with another man. To save himself that shame, he
+was willing not only to perjure himself, but to take upon himself the
+consequences of his perjury. Quixotic, certainly, but some men are
+constituted that way, and he, for all his amiable characteristics, is
+the most dogged man I ever encountered. That he ran against snags in his
+attempted explanations, seemed to make no difference to him. He was
+bound that no one should accuse him of marrying a false woman, even if
+he must bear the opprobrium of her death. It is hard to understand such
+a nature, but re-read his testimony, and see if this explanation of his
+conduct is not correct."
+
+And still I mechanically repeated: "I do not understand."
+
+Mr. Gryce may not have been a patient man under all circumstances, but
+he was patient with me that day.
+
+"It was his ignorance, Miss Butterworth, his total ignorance of the
+whole affair that led him into the inconsistencies he manifested. Let me
+present his case as I already have his brother's. He knew that his wife
+had come to New York to appeal to his father, and he gathered from what
+she said that she intended to do this either in his house or on the
+dock. To cut short any opportunity she might have for committing the
+first folly, he begged the key of the house from his brother, and,
+supposing that he had it all right, went to his rooms, not to Coney
+Island as he said, and began to pack up his trunks. For he meant to flee
+the country if his wife disgraced him. He was tired of her caprices and
+meant to cut them short as far as he was himself concerned. But the
+striking of the midnight hour brought better counsel. He began to wonder
+what she had been doing in his absence. Going out, he haunted the region
+of Gramercy Park for the better part of the night, and at daybreak
+actually mounted the steps of his father's house and prepared to enter
+it by means of the key he had obtained from his brother. But the key was
+not in his pocket, so he came down again and walked away, attracting the
+attention of Mr. Stone as he did so. The next day he heard of the
+tragedy which had taken place within those very walls; and though his
+first fears led him to believe that the victim was his wife, a sight of
+her clothes naturally dispelled this apprehension, for he knew nothing
+of her visit to the Hotel D---- or of the change in her habiliments
+which had taken place there. His father's persistent fears and the quiet
+pressure brought to bear upon him by the police only irritated him, and
+not until confronted by the hat found on the scene of death, an article
+only too well known as his wife's, did he yield to the accumulated
+evidence in support of her identity. Immediately he felt the full force
+of his unkindness towards her, and rushing to the Morgue had her poor
+body taken to that father's house and afterwards given a decent burial.
+But he could not accept the shame which this acknowledgment naturally
+brought with it, and, blind to all consequences, insisted, when brought
+up again for examination, that he was the man with whom she came to that
+lonely house. The difficulties into which this plunged him were partly
+foreseen and partly prepared for, and he showed some skill in
+surmounting them. But falsehoods never fit like truths, and we all felt
+the strain on our credulity as he met and attempted to parry the
+Coroner's questions.
+
+"And now, Miss Butterworth, let me again ask if your turn has not come
+at last for adding the sum of your evidence to ours against Franklin Van
+Burnam?"
+
+It had; I could not deny it, and as I realized that with it had also
+come the opportunity for justifying the pretensions I had made, I raised
+my head with suitable spirit and, after a momentary pause for the
+purpose of making my words the more impressive, I asked:
+
+"And what has made you think that _I_ was interested in fixing the guilt
+on Franklin Van Burnam?"
+
+
+
+
+XXXII.
+
+ICONOCLASM.
+
+
+The surprise which this very simple question occasioned, showed itself
+differently in the two men who heard it. The Inspector, who had never
+seen me before, simply stared, while Mr. Gryce, with that admirable
+command over himself which has helped to make him the most successful
+man on the force, retained his impassibility, though I noticed a small
+corner drop from my filigree basket as if crushed off by an inadvertent
+pressure of his hand.
+
+"I judged," was his calm reply, as he laid down the injured toy with an
+apologetic grunt, "that the clearing of Howard from suspicion meant the
+establishment of another man's guilt; and so far as we can see there has
+been no other party in the case besides these two brothers."
+
+"No? Then I fear a great surprise awaits you, Mr. Gryce. This crime,
+which you have fixed with such care and seeming probability upon
+Franklin Van Burnam, was not, in my judgment, perpetrated either by him
+or any other man. It was the act of a woman."
+
+"A WOMAN?"
+
+Both men spoke: the Inspector, as if he thought me demented; Mr. Gryce,
+as if he would like to have considered me a fool but dared not.
+
+"Yes, a _woman_," I repeated, dropping a quiet curtsey. It was a proper
+expression of respect when I was young, and I see no reason why it
+should not be a proper expression of respect now, except that we have
+lost our manners in gaining our independence, something which is to be
+regretted perhaps. "A woman whom I know; a woman whom I can lay my hands
+on at a half-hour's notice; a young woman, sirs; a pretty woman, the
+owner of one of the two hats found in the Van Burnam parlors."
+
+Had I exploded a bomb-shell the Inspector could not have looked more
+astounded. The detective, who was a man of greater self-command, did not
+betray his feelings so plainly, though he was not entirely without them,
+for, as I made this statement, he turned and looked at me; _Mr. Gryce_
+looked at me.
+
+"Both of those hats belonged to Mrs. Van Burnam," he protested; "the one
+she wore from Haddam; the other was in the order from Altman's."
+
+"She never ordered anything from Altman's," was my uncompromising reply.
+"The woman whom I saw enter next door, and who was the same who left the
+Hotel D---- with the man in the linen duster, was not Louise Van Burnam.
+She was that lady's rival, and let me say it, for I dare to think it,
+not only her rival but the prospective taker of her life. O you need not
+shake your heads at each other so significantly, gentlemen. I have been
+collecting evidence as well as yourselves, and what I have learned is
+very much to the point; very much, indeed."
+
+"The deuce you have!" muttered the Inspector, turning away from me; but
+Mr. Gryce continued to eye me like a man fascinated.
+
+"Upon what," said he, "do you base these extraordinary assertions? I
+should like to hear what that evidence is."
+
+"But first," said I, "I must take a few exceptions to certain points you
+consider yourself to have made against Franklin Van Burnam. You believe
+him to have committed this crime because you found in a secret drawer of
+his desk a letter known to have been in Mrs. Van Burnam's hands the day
+she was murdered, and which you, naturally enough, I acknowledge,
+conceive he could only have regained by murdering her. But have you not
+thought of another way in which he could have obtained it, a perfectly
+harmless way, involving no one either in deceit or crime? May it not
+have been in the little hand-bag returned by Mrs. Parker on the morning
+of the discovery, and may not its crumpled condition be accounted for by
+the haste with which Franklin might have thrust it into his secret
+drawer at the untoward entrance of some one into his office?"
+
+"I acknowledge that I have not thought of such a possibility," growled
+the detective, below his breath, but I saw that his self-satisfaction
+had been shaken.
+
+"As for any proof of complicity being given by the presence of the rings
+on the hook attached to his desk, I grieve for your sake to be obliged
+to dispel that illusion also. Those rings, Mr. Gryce and Mr. Inspector,
+were not discovered there by the girl in gray, but taken there; and hung
+there at the very moment your spy saw her hand fumbling with the
+papers."
+
+"Taken there, and hung there by your maid! By the girl Lena, who has so
+evidently been working in _your_ interests! What sort of a confession
+are you making, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Ah, Mr. Gryce," I gently remonstrated, for I actually pitied the old
+man in his hour of humiliation, "other girls wear gray besides Lena. It
+was the woman of the Hotel D---- who played this trick in Mr. Van
+Burnam's office. Lena was not out of my house that day."
+
+I had never thought Mr. Gryce feeble, though I knew he was over seventy
+if not very near the octogenarian age. But he drew up a chair at this
+and hastily sat down.
+
+"Tell me about this other girl," said he.
+
+But before I repeat what I said to him, I must explain by what reasoning
+I had arrived at the conclusion I have just mentioned. That Ruth Oliver
+was the visitor in Mr. Van Burnam's office there was but little reason
+to doubt; that her errand was one in connection with the rings was
+equally plain. What else would have driven her from her bed when she was
+hardly able to stand, and sent her in a state of fever, if not delirium,
+down town to this office?
+
+She feared having these rings found in her possession, and she also
+cherished a desire to throw whatever suspicion was attached to them upon
+the man who was already compromised. She may have thought it was
+Howard's desk she approached, and she may have known it to be
+Franklin's. On that point I was in doubt, but the rest was clear to me
+from the moment Mr. Gryce mentioned the girl in gray; and even the spot
+where she had kept them in the interim since the murder was no longer an
+unsolved mystery to me. Her emotion when I touched her knitting-work
+and the shreds of unravelled wool I had found lying about after her
+departure, had set my wits working, and I comprehended now _that they
+had been wound up in the ball of yarn I had so carelessly handled_.
+
+But what had I to say to Mr. Gryce in answer to his question. Much; and
+seeing that further delay was injudicious, I began my story then and
+there. Prefacing my tale with the suspicions I had always had of Mrs.
+Boppert, I told them of my interview with that woman and of the valuable
+clue she had given me by confessing that she had let Mrs. Van Burnam
+into the house prior to the visit of the couple who entered there at
+midnight. Knowing what an effect this must produce upon Mr. Gryce,
+utterly unprepared for it as he was, I looked for some burst of anger on
+his part, or at least some expression of self-reproach. But he only
+broke a second piece off my little filigree basket, and, totally
+unconscious of the demolition he was causing, cried out with true
+professional delight:
+
+"Well! well! I've always said this was a remarkable case, a very
+remarkable case; but if we don't look out it will go ahead of that one
+at Sibley. _Two_ women in the affair, and one of them in the house
+before the arrival of the so-called victim and her murderer! What do you
+think of that, Inspector? Rather late for us to find out so important a
+detail, eh?"
+
+"Rather," was the dry reply. At which Mr. Gryce's face grew long and he
+exclaimed, half shamefacedly, half jocularly:
+
+"Outwitted by a woman! Well, it's a new experience for me, Inspector,
+and you must not be surprised if it takes me a minute or so to get
+accustomed to it. A scrub-woman too! It cuts, Inspector, it cuts."
+
+But as I went on, and he learned how I had obtained definite proof of
+the clock having been not only wound by the lady thus admitted to the
+house, but set also and that correctly, his face grew even longer, and
+he gazed quite dolefully at the small figure in the carpet to which he
+had transferred his attention.
+
+"So! so!" came in almost indistinguishable murmur from his lips. "All my
+pretty theory in regard to its being set by the criminal for the purpose
+of confirming his attempt at a false alibi was but a figment of my
+imagination, eh? Sad! sad! But it was neat enough to have been true, was
+it not, Inspector?"
+
+"Quite," that gentleman good-humoredly admitted, yet with a shade of
+irony in his tone that made me suspect that, for all his confidence in
+and evident admiration for this brilliant old detective, he felt a
+certain amount of pleasure at seeing him for once at fault. Perhaps it
+gave him more confidence in his own judgment, seeing that their ideas on
+this case had been opposed from the start.
+
+"Well! well! I'm getting old; that's what they'll say at Headquarters
+to-morrow. But go on, Miss Butterworth; let us hear what followed; for I
+am sure your investigations did not stop there."
+
+I complied with his request with as much modesty as possible. But it was
+hard to suppress all triumph in face of the unrestrained enthusiasm with
+which he received my communication. When I told him of the doubts I had
+formed in regard to the disposal of the packages brought from the Hotel
+D----, and how to settle those doubts I had taken that midnight walk
+down Twenty-seventh Street, he looked astonished, his lips worked, and I
+really expected to see him try to pluck that flower up from the carpet,
+he ogled it so lovingly. But when I mentioned the lighted laundry and my
+discoveries there, his admiration burst all bounds, and he cried out,
+seemingly to the rose in the carpet, really to the Inspector:
+
+"Didn't I tell you she was a woman in a thousand? See now! we ought to
+have thought of that laundry ourselves; but we didn't, none of us did;
+we were too credulous and too easily satisfied with the evidence given
+at the inquest. Well, I'm seventy-seven, but I'm not too old to learn.
+Proceed, Miss Butterworth."
+
+I admired him and I was sorry for him, but I never enjoyed myself so
+much in my whole life. How could I help it, or how could I prevent
+myself from throwing a glance now and then at the picture of my father
+smiling upon me from the opposite wall?
+
+It was my task now to mention the advertisement I had inserted in the
+newspapers, and the reflections which had led to my rather daring
+description of the wandering woman as one dressed thus and so, and
+_without a hat_. This seemed to strike him--as I had expected it
+would,--and he interrupted me with a quick slap of his leg, for which
+only that leg was prepared.
+
+"Good!" he ejaculated; "a fine stroke! The work of a woman of genius! I
+could not have done better myself, Miss Butterworth. And what came of
+it? Something, I hope; talent like yours should not go unrewarded."
+
+"Two letters came of it," said I. "One from Cox, the milliner, saying
+that a bareheaded girl had bought a hat in his shop early on the morning
+designated; and another from a Mrs. Desberger appointing a meeting at
+which I obtained a definite clue to this girl, who, notwithstanding she
+wore Mrs. Van Burnam's clothes from the scene of tragedy, is not Mrs.
+Van Burnam herself, but a person by the name of Oliver, now to be found
+at Miss Althorpe's house in Twenty-first Street."
+
+As this was in a measure putting the matter into their hands, I saw them
+both grow impatient in their anxiety to see this girl for themselves.
+But I kept them for a few minutes longer while I related my discovery of
+the money in her shoes, and hinted at the explanation it afforded for
+her not changing those articles under the influence of the man who
+accompanied her.
+
+This was the last blow I dealt to the pride of Mr. Gryce. He quivered
+under it, but soon recovered, and was able to enjoy what he called
+another fine point in this remarkable case.
+
+But the acme of his delight was reached when I informed him of my
+ineffectual search for the rings, and my final conclusion that they had
+been wound up in the ball of yarn attached to her knitting-work.
+
+Whether his pleasure lay chiefly in the talent shown by Miss Oliver in
+her choice of a hiding-place for these jewels, or in the acumen
+displayed by myself in discovering it, I do not know; but he evinced an
+unbounded satisfaction in my words, crying aloud:
+
+"Beautiful! I don't know of anything more interesting! We have not seen
+the like in years! I can almost congratulate myself upon my mistakes,
+the features of the case they have brought out are so fine!"
+
+But his satisfaction, great as it was, soon gave way to his anxiety to
+see this girl who, if not the criminal herself, was so important a
+factor in this great crime.
+
+I was anxious myself to have him see her, though I feared her condition
+was not such as to promise him any immediate enlightenment on the
+doubtful portions of this far from thoroughly mastered problem. And I
+bade him interview the Chinaman also, and Mrs. Desberger, and even Mrs.
+Boppert, for I did not wish him to take for granted anything I had said,
+though I saw he had lost his attitude of disdain and was inclined to
+accept my opinions quite seriously.
+
+He answered in quite an off-hand manner while the Inspector stood by,
+but when that gentleman had withdrawn towards the door, Mr. Gryce
+remarked with more earnestness than he had yet used:
+
+"You have saved me from committing a folly, Miss Butterworth. If I had
+arrested Franklin Van Burnam to-day, and to-morrow all these facts had
+come to light, I should never have held up my head again. As it is,
+there will be numerous insinuations uttered by men on the force, and
+many a whisper will go about that Gryce is getting old, that Gryce has
+seen his best days."
+
+"Nonsense!" was my vigorous rejoinder. "You didn't have the clue, that
+is all. Nor did I get it through any keenness on my part, but from the
+force of circumstances. Mrs. Boppert thought herself indebted to me, and
+so gave me her confidence. Your laurels are very safe yet. Besides,
+there is enough work left on this case to keep more than one great
+detective like you busy. While the Van Burnams have not been proved
+guilty, they are not so freed from suspicion that you can regard your
+task as completed. If Ruth Oliver committed this crime, which of these
+two brothers was involved in it with her? The facts seem to point
+towards Franklin, but not so unerringly that no doubt is possible on the
+subject."
+
+"True, true. The mystery has deepened rather than cleared. Miss
+Butterworth, you will accompany me to Miss Althorpe's."
+
+
+
+
+XXXIII.
+
+"KNOWN, KNOWN, ALL KNOWN."
+
+
+Mr. Gryce possesses one faculty for which I envy him, and that is his
+skill in the management of people. He had not been in Miss Althorpe's
+house five minutes before he had won her confidence and had everything
+he wished at his command. _I_ had to talk some time before getting so
+far, but _he_--a word and a look did it.
+
+Miss Oliver, for whom I hesitated to inquire, lest I should again find
+her gone or in a worse condition than when I left, was in reality
+better, and as we went up-stairs I allowed myself to hope that the
+questions which had so troubled us would soon be answered and the
+mystery ended.
+
+But Mr. Gryce evidently knew better, for when we reached her door he
+turned and said:
+
+"Our task will not be an easy one. Go in first and attract her attention
+so that I can enter unobserved. I wish to study her before addressing
+her; but, mind, no words about the murder; leave that to me."
+
+I nodded, feeling that I was falling back into my own place; and
+knocking softly entered the room.
+
+A maid was sitting with her. Seeing me, she rose and advanced, saying:
+
+"Miss Oliver is sleeping."
+
+"Then I will relieve you," I returned, beckoning Mr. Gryce to come in.
+
+The girl left us and we two contemplated the sick woman silently.
+Presently I saw Mr. Gryce shake his head. But he did not tell me what he
+meant by it.
+
+Following the direction of his finger, I sat down in a chair at the head
+of the bed; he took his station at the side of it in a large arm-chair
+he saw there. As he did so I saw how fatherly and kind he really looked,
+and wondered if he was in the habit of so preparing himself to meet the
+eye of all the suspected criminals he encountered. The thought made me
+glance again her way. She lay like a statue, and her face, naturally
+round but now thinned out and hollow, looked up from the pillow in
+pitiful quiet, the long lashes accentuating the dark places under her
+eyes.
+
+A sad face, the saddest I ever saw and one of the most haunting.
+
+He seemed to find it so also, for his expression of benevolent interest
+deepened with every passing moment, till suddenly she stirred; then he
+gave me a warning glance, and stooping, took her by the wrist and pulled
+out his watch.
+
+She was deceived by the action. Opening her eyes, she surveyed him
+languidly for a moment, then heaving a great sigh, turned aside her
+head.
+
+"Don't tell me I am better, doctor. I do not want to live."
+
+The plaintive tone, the refined accent, seemed to astonish him. Laying
+down her hand, he answered gently:
+
+"I do not like to hear that from such young lips, but it assures me that
+I was correct in my first surmise, that it is not medicine you need but
+a friend. And I can be that friend if you will but allow me."
+
+Moved, encouraged for the instant, she turned her head from side to
+side, probably to see if they were alone, and not observing me, answered
+softly:
+
+"You are very good, very thoughtful, doctor, but"--and here her despair
+returned again--"it is useless; you can do nothing for me."
+
+"You think so," remonstrated the old detective, "but you do not know me,
+child. Let me show you that I can be of benefit to you." And he drew
+from his pocket a little package which he opened before her astonished
+eyes. "Yesterday, in your delirium, you left these rings in an office
+down-town. As they are valuable, I have brought them back to you. Wasn't
+I right, my child?"
+
+"No! no!" She started up, and her accents betrayed terror and anguish,
+"I do not want them; I cannot bear to see them; they do not belong to
+_me_; they belong to _them_."
+
+"To _them_? Whom do you mean by them?" queried Mr. Gryce, insinuatingly.
+
+"The--the Van Burnams. Is not that the name? Oh, do not make me talk; I
+am so weak! Only take the rings back."
+
+"I will, child, I will." Mr. Gryce's voice was more than fatherly now,
+it was tender, really and sincerely tender. "I will take them back; but
+to which of the brothers shall I return them? To"--he hesitated
+softly--"to Franklin or to Howard?"
+
+I expected to hear her respond, his manner was so gentle and apparently
+sincere. But though feverish and on the verge of wildness, she had still
+some command over herself, and after giving him a look, the intensity
+of which called out a corresponding expression on his face, she faltered
+out:
+
+"I--I don't care; I don't know either of the gentlemen; but to the one
+you call Howard, I think."
+
+The pause which followed was filled by the tap-tap of Mr. Gryce's
+fingers on his knee.
+
+"That is the one who is in custody," he observed at last. "The other,
+that is Franklin, has gone scot-free thus far, I hear."
+
+No answer from her close-shut lips.
+
+He waited.
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"If you do not know either of these gentlemen," he insinuated at last,
+"how did you come to leave the rings at their office?"
+
+"I knew their names--I inquired my way--It is all a dream now. Please,
+please do not ask me questions. O doctor! do you not see I cannot bear
+it?"
+
+He smiled--I never could smile like that under any circumstances--and
+softly patted her hand.
+
+"I see it makes you suffer," he acknowledged, "but I must make you
+suffer in order to do you any good. If you would tell me all you know
+about these rings----"
+
+She passionately turned away her head.
+
+"I might hope to restore you to health and happiness. You know with what
+they are associated?"
+
+She made a slight motion.
+
+"And that they are an invaluable clue to the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam?"
+
+Another motion.
+
+"How then, my child, did _you_ come to have them?"
+
+Her head, which was rolling to and fro on the pillow, stopped and she
+gasped, rather than uttered:
+
+"I was _there_."
+
+He knew this, yet it was terrible to hear it from her lips; she was so
+young and had such an air of purity and innocence. But more heartrending
+yet was the groan with which she burst forth in another moment, as if
+impelled by conscience to unburden herself from some overwhelming load:
+
+"I took them; I could not help it; but I did not keep them; you know
+that I did not keep them. I am no thief, doctor; whatever I am, I am no
+thief."
+
+"Yes, yes, I see that. But why take them, child? What were you doing in
+that house, and whom were you with?"
+
+She threw up her arms, but made no reply.
+
+"Will you not tell?" he urged.
+
+A short silence, then a low "No," evidently wrung from her by the
+deepest anguish.
+
+Mr. Gryce heaved a sigh; the struggle was likely to be a more serious
+one than he had anticipated.
+
+"Miss Oliver," said he, "more facts are known in relation to this affair
+than you imagine. Though unsuspected at first, it has secretly been
+proven that the man who accompanied the woman into the house where the
+crime took place, was _Franklin_ Van Burnam."
+
+A low gasp from the bed, and that was all.
+
+"You know this to be correct, don't you, Miss Oliver?"
+
+"O must you ask?" She was writhing now, and I thought he must desist out
+of pure compassion. But detectives are made out of very stern stuff, and
+though he looked sorry he went inexorably on.
+
+"Justice and a sincere desire to help you, force me, my child. Were you
+not the woman who entered Mr. Van Burnam's house at midnight with this
+man?"
+
+"I entered the house."
+
+"At midnight?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And with this man?"
+
+Silence.
+
+"You do not speak, Miss Oliver."
+
+Again silence.
+
+"It was Franklin who was with you at the Hotel D----?"
+
+She uttered a cry.
+
+"And it was Franklin who connived at your change of clothing there, and
+advised or allowed you to dress yourself in a new suit from Altman's?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried again.
+
+"Then why should it not have been he who accompanied you to the
+Chinaman's, and afterwards took you in a second hack to the house in
+Gramercy Park?"
+
+"Known, known, all known!" was her moan.
+
+"Sin and crime cannot long remain hidden in this world, Miss Oliver. The
+police are acquainted with all your movements from the moment you left
+the Hotel D----. That is why I have compassion on you. I wish to save
+you from the consequences of a crime you saw committed, but in which you
+took no hand."
+
+"O," she exclaimed in one involuntary burst, as she half rose to her
+knees, "if you could save me from appearing in the matter at all! If you
+would let me run away----"
+
+But Mr. Gryce was not the man to give her hope on any such score.
+
+"Impossible, Miss Oliver. You are the only person who can witness for
+the guilty. If _I_ should let you go, the police would not. Then why not
+tell at once whose hand drew the hat-pin from your hat and----"
+
+"Stop!" she shrieked; "stop! you kill me! I cannot bear it! If you bring
+that moment back to my mind I shall go mad! I feel the horror of it
+rising in me now! Be still! I pray you, for God's sake, to be still!"
+
+This was mortal anguish; there was no acting in this. Even he was
+startled by the emotion he had raised, and sat for a moment without
+speaking. Then the necessity of providing against all further mistakes
+by fixing the guilt where it belonged, drove him on again, and he said:
+
+"Like many another woman before you, you are trying to shield a guilty
+man at your own expense. But it is useless, Miss Oliver; the truth
+always comes to light. Be advised, then, and make a confidant of one who
+understands you better than you think."
+
+But she would not listen to this.
+
+"No one understands me. I do not understand myself. I only know that I
+shall make a confidant of no one; that I shall never speak." And turning
+from him, she buried her head in the bedclothes.
+
+To most men her tone and the action which accompanied it would have been
+final. But Mr. Gryce possessed great patience. Waiting for just a moment
+till she seemed more composed, he murmured gently:
+
+"Not if you must suffer more from your silence than from speaking? Not
+if men--I do not mean myself, child, for I am your friend--will think
+that _you_ are to blame for the death of the woman whom you saw fall
+under a cruel stab, and whose rings you have?"
+
+"_I!_" Her horror was unmistakable; so were her surprise, her terror,
+and her shame, but she added nothing to the word she had uttered, and he
+was forced to say again:
+
+"The world, and by that I mean both good people and bad, will believe
+all this. _He_ will let them believe all this. Men have not the devotion
+of women."
+
+"Alas! alas!" It was a murmur rather than a cry, and she trembled so the
+bed shook visibly under her. But she made no response to the entreaty in
+his look and gesture, and he was compelled to draw back unsatisfied.
+
+When a few heavy minutes had passed, he spoke again, this time in a tone
+of sadness.
+
+"Few men are worth such sacrifices, Miss Oliver, and a criminal never.
+But a woman is not moved by that thought. She should be moved by this,
+however. If either of these brothers is to blame in this matter,
+consideration for the guiltless one should lead you to mention the name
+of the guilty."
+
+But even this did not visibly affect her.
+
+"I shall mention no names," said she.
+
+"A sign will answer."
+
+"I shall make no sign."
+
+"Then Howard must go to his trial?"
+
+A gasp, but no words.
+
+"And Franklin proceed on his way undisturbed?"
+
+She tried not to answer, but the words would come. Pray God! I may never
+see such a struggle again.
+
+"That is as God wills. I can do nothing in the matter." And she sank
+back crushed and wellnigh insensible.
+
+Mr. Gryce made no further effort to influence her.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIV.
+
+EXACTLY HALF-PAST THREE.
+
+
+"She is more unfortunate than wicked," was Mr. Gryce's comment as we
+stepped into the hall. "Nevertheless, watch her closely, for she is in
+just the mood to do herself a mischief. In an hour, or at the most two,
+I shall have a woman here to help you. You can stay till then?"
+
+"All night, if you say so."
+
+"That you must settle with Miss Althorpe. As soon as Miss Oliver is up I
+shall have a little scheme to propose, by means of which I hope to
+arrive at the truth of this affair. I must know which of these two men
+she is shielding."
+
+"Then you think she did not kill Mrs. Van Burnam herself?"
+
+"I think the whole matter one of the most puzzling mysteries that has
+ever come to the notice of the New York police. We are sure that the
+murdered woman was Mrs. Van Burnam, that this girl was present at her
+death, and that she availed herself of the opportunity afforded by that
+death to make the exchange of clothing which has given such a
+complicated twist to the whole affair. But beyond these facts, we know
+little more than that it was Franklin Van Burnam who took her to the
+Gramercy Park house, and Howard who was seen in that same vicinity some
+two or four hours later. But on which of these two to fix the
+responsibility of Mrs. Van Burnam's death, is the question."
+
+"She had a hand in it herself," I persisted; "though it may have been
+without evil intent. No man ever carried that thing through without
+feminine help. To this opinion I shall stick, much as this girl draws
+upon my sympathies."
+
+"I shall not try to persuade you to the contrary. But the point is to
+find out how much help, and to whom it was given."
+
+"And your scheme for doing this?"
+
+"Cannot be carried out till she is on her feet again. So cure her, Miss
+Butterworth, cure her. When she can go down-stairs, Ebenezer Gryce will
+be on the scene to test his little scheme."
+
+I promised to do what I could, and when he was gone, I set diligently to
+work to soothe the child, as he had called her, and get her in trim for
+the delicate meal which had been sent up. And whether it was owing to a
+change in my own feelings, or whether the talk with Mr. Gryce had so
+unnerved her that any womanly ministration was welcome, she responded
+much more readily to my efforts than ever before, and in a little while
+lay in so calm and grateful a mood that I was actually sorry to see the
+nurse when she came. Hoping that something might spring from an
+interview with Miss Althorpe whereby my departure from the house might
+be delayed, I descended to the library, and was fortunate enough to find
+the mistress of the house there. She was sorting invitations, and looked
+anxious and worried.
+
+"You see me in a difficulty, Miss Butterworth. I had relied on Miss
+Oliver to oversee this work, as well as to assist me in a great many
+other details, and I don't know of any one whom I can get on short
+notice to take her place. My own engagements are many and----"
+
+"Let me help you," I put in, with that cheerfulness her presence
+invariably inspires. "I have nothing pressing calling me home, and for
+once in my life I should like to take an active part in wedding
+festivities. It would make me feel quite young again."
+
+"But----" she began.
+
+"Oh," I hastened to say, "you think I would be more of a hindrance to
+you than a help; that I would do the work, perhaps, but in my own way
+rather than in yours. Well, that would doubtless have been true of me a
+month since, but I have learned a great deal in the last few weeks,--you
+will not ask me how,--and now I stand ready to do your work in your way,
+and to take a great deal of pleasure in it too."
+
+"Ah, Miss Butterworth," she exclaimed, with a burst of genuine feeling
+which I would not have lost for the world, "I always knew that you had a
+kind heart; and I am going to accept your offer in the same spirit in
+which it is made."
+
+So that was settled, and with it the possibility of my spending another
+night in this house.
+
+At ten o'clock I stole away from the library and the delightful company
+of Mr. Stone, who had insisted upon sharing my labors, and went up to
+Miss Oliver's room. I met the nurse at the door.
+
+"You want to see her," said she. "She's asleep, but does not rest very
+easily. I don't think I ever saw so pitiful a case. She moans
+continually, but not with physical pain. Yet she seems to have courage
+too; for now and then she starts up with a loud cry. Listen."
+
+I did so, and this is what I heard:
+
+"I do not want to live; doctor, I do not want to live; why do you try to
+make me better?"
+
+"That is what she is saying all the time. Sad, isn't it?"
+
+I acknowledged it to be so, but at the same time wondered if the girl
+were not right in wishing for death as a relief from her troubles.
+
+Early the next morning I inquired at her door again. Miss Oliver was
+better. Her fever had left her, and she wore a more natural look than at
+any time since I had seen her. But it was not an untroubled one, and it
+was with difficulty I met her eyes when she asked if they were coming
+for her that day, and if she could see Miss Althorpe before she left. As
+she was not yet able to leave her bed I could easily answer her first
+question, but I knew too little of Mr. Gryce's intentions to be able to
+reply to the second. But I was easy with this suffering woman, very
+easy, more easy than I ever supposed I could be with any one so
+intimately associated with crime.
+
+She seemed to accept my explanations as readily as she already had my
+presence, and I was struck again with surprise as I considered that my
+name had never aroused in her the least emotion.
+
+"Miss Althorpe has been so good to me I should like to thank her; from
+my despairing heart, I should like to thank her," she said to me as I
+stood by her side before leaving. "Do you know"--she went on, catching
+me by the dress as I was turning away--"what kind of a man she is going
+to marry? She has such a loving heart, and marriage is such a fearful
+risk."
+
+"Fearful?" I repeated.
+
+"Is it not fearful? To give one's whole soul to a man and be met by--I
+must not talk of it; I must not think of it--But is he a good man? Does
+he love Miss Althorpe? Will she be happy? I have no right to ask,
+perhaps, but my gratitude towards her is such that I wish her every joy
+and pleasure."
+
+"Miss Althorpe has chosen well," I rejoined. "Mr. Stone is a man in ten
+thousand."
+
+The sigh that answered me went to my heart.
+
+"I will pray for her," she murmured; "that will be something to live
+for."
+
+I did not know what reply to make to this. Everything which this girl
+said and did was so unexpected and so convincing in its sincerity, I
+felt moved by her even against my better judgment. I pitied her and yet
+I dared not urge her on to speak, lest I should fail in my task of
+making her well. I therefore confined myself to a few haphazard
+expressions of sympathy and encouragement, and left her in the hands of
+the nurse.
+
+Next day Mr. Gryce called.
+
+"Your patient is better," said he.
+
+"Much better," was my cheerful reply. "This afternoon she will be able
+to leave the house."
+
+"Very good; have her down at half-past three and I will be in front with
+a carriage."
+
+"I dread it," I cried; "but I will have her there."
+
+"You are beginning to like her, Miss Butterworth. Take care! You will
+lose your head if your sympathies become engaged."
+
+"It sits pretty firmly on my shoulders yet," I retorted; "and as for
+sympathies, you are full of them yourself. I saw how you looked at her
+yesterday."
+
+"Bah, _my_ looks!"
+
+"You cannot deceive me, Mr. Gryce; you are as sorry for the girl as you
+can be; and so am I too. By the way, I do not think I should speak of
+her as a girl. From something she said yesterday I am convinced she is a
+married woman; and that her husband----"
+
+"Well, madam?"
+
+"I will not give him a name, at least not before your scheme has been
+carried out. Are you ready for the undertaking?"
+
+"I will be this afternoon. At half-past three she is to leave the house.
+Not a minute before and not a minute later. Remember."
+
+
+
+
+XXXV.
+
+A RUSE.
+
+
+It was a new thing for me to enter into any scheme blindfold. But the
+past few weeks had taught me many lessons and among them to trust a
+little in the judgment of others.
+
+Accordingly I was on hand with my patient at the hour designated, and,
+as I supported her trembling steps down the stairs, I endeavored not to
+betray the intense interest agitating me, or to awaken by my curiosity
+any further dread in her mind than that involved by her departure from
+this home of bounty and good feeling, and her entrance upon an unknown
+and possibly much to be apprehended future.
+
+Mr. Gryce was awaiting us in the lower hall, and as he caught sight of
+her slender figure and anxious face his whole attitude became at once so
+protecting and so sympathetic, I did not wonder at her failure to
+associate him with the police.
+
+As she stepped down to his side he gave her a genial nod.
+
+"I am glad to see you so far on the road to recovery," he remarked. "It
+shows me that my prophecy is correct and that in a few days you will be
+quite yourself again."
+
+She looked at him wistfully.
+
+"You seem to know so much about me, doctor, perhaps you can tell me
+where they are going to take me."
+
+He lifted a tassel from a curtain near by, looked at it, shook his head
+at it, and inquired quite irrelevantly:
+
+"Have you bidden good-bye to Miss Althorpe?"
+
+Her eyes stole towards the parlors and she whispered as if half in awe
+of the splendor everywhere surrounding her:
+
+"I have not had the opportunity. But I should be sorry to go without a
+word of thanks for her goodness. Is she at home?"
+
+The tassel slipped from his hand.
+
+"You will find her in a carriage at the door. She has an engagement out
+this afternoon, but wishes to say good-bye to you before leaving."
+
+"Oh, how kind she is!" burst from the girl's white lips; and with a
+hurried gesture she was making for the door when Mr. Gryce stepped
+before her and opened it.
+
+Two carriages were drawn up in front, neither of which seemed to possess
+the elegance of so rich a woman's equipage. But Mr. Gryce appeared
+satisfied, and pointing to the nearest one, observed quietly:
+
+"You are expected. If she does not open the carriage door for you, do
+not hesitate to do it yourself. She has something of importance to say
+to you."
+
+Miss Oliver looked surprised, but prepared to obey him. Steadying
+herself by the stone balustrade, she slowly descended the steps and
+advanced towards the carriage. I watched her from the doorway and Mr.
+Gryce from the vestibule. It seemed an ordinary situation, but
+something in the latter's face convinced me that interests of no small
+moment depended upon the interview about to take place.
+
+But before I could decide upon their nature or satisfy myself as to the
+full meaning of Mr. Gryce's manner, she had started back from the
+carriage door and was saying to him in a tone of modest embarrassment:
+
+"There is a gentleman in the carriage; you must have made some mistake."
+
+Mr. Gryce, who had evidently expected a different result from his
+stratagem, hesitated for a moment, during which I felt that he read her
+through and through; then he responded lightly:
+
+"I made a mistake, eh? Oh, possibly. Look in the other carriage, my
+child."
+
+With an unaffected air of confidence she turned to do so, and I turned
+to watch her, for I began to understand the "scheme" at which I was
+assisting, and foresaw that the emotion she had failed to betray at the
+door of the first carriage might not necessarily be lacking on the
+opening of the second.
+
+I was all the more assured of this from the fact that Miss Althorpe's
+stately figure was very plainly to be seen at that moment, not in the
+coach Miss Oliver was approaching, but in an elegant victoria just
+turning the corner.
+
+My expectations were realized; for no sooner had the poor girl swung
+open the door of the second hack, than her whole body succumbed to a
+shock so great that I expected to see her fall in a heap on the
+pavement. But she steadied herself up with a determined effort, and with
+a sudden movement full of subdued fury, jumped into the carriage and
+violently shut the door just as the first carriage drove off to give
+place to Miss Althorpe's turn-out.
+
+"Humph!" sprang from Mr. Gryce's lips in a tone so full of varied
+emotions that it was with difficulty I refrained from rushing down the
+stoop to see for myself who was the occupant of the coach into which my
+late patient had so passionately precipitated herself. But the sight of
+Miss Althorpe being helped to the ground by her attendant lover,
+recalled me so suddenly to my own anomalous position on her stoop, that
+I let my first impulse pass and concerned myself instead with the
+formation of those apologies I thought necessary to the occasion. But
+those apologies were never uttered. Mr. Gryce, with the infinite tact he
+displays in all serious emergencies, came to my rescue, and so
+distracted Miss Althorpe's attention that she failed to observe that she
+had interrupted a situation of no small moment.
+
+Meanwhile the coach containing Miss Oliver had, at a signal from the
+wary detective, drawn off in the wake of the first one, and I had the
+doubtful satisfaction of seeing them both roll down the street without
+my having penetrated the secret of either.
+
+A glance from Mr. Stone, who had followed Miss Althorpe up the stoop,
+interrupted Mr. Gryce's flow of eloquence, and a few minutes later I
+found myself making those adieux which I had hoped to avoid by departing
+in Miss Althorpe's absence. Another instant and I was hastening down the
+street in the direction taken by the two carriages, one of which had
+paused at the corner a few rods off.
+
+But, spry as I am for one of my settled habits and sedate character, I
+found myself passed by Mr. Gryce; and when I would have accelerated my
+steps, he darted forward quite like a boy and, without a word of
+explanation or any acknowledgment of the mutual understanding which
+certainly existed between us, leaped into the carriage I was endeavoring
+to reach, and was driven away. But not before I caught a glimpse of Miss
+Oliver's gray dress inside.
+
+Determined not to be baffled by this man, I turned about and followed
+the other carriage. It was approaching a crowded part of the avenue, and
+in a few minutes I had the gratification of seeing it come to a
+standstill only a few feet from the curb-stone. The opportunity thus
+afforded me of satisfying my curiosity was not to be slighted. Without
+pausing to consider consequences or to question the propriety of my
+conduct, I stepped boldly up in front of its half-lowered window and
+looked in. There was but one person inside, and that person was Franklin
+Van Burnam.
+
+What was I to conclude from this? That the occupant of the other
+carriage was Howard, and that Mr. Gryce now knew with which of the two
+brothers Miss Oliver's memories were associated.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK IV._
+
+THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.
+
+
+
+
+XXXVI.
+
+THE RESULT.
+
+
+I was as much surprised at this result of Mr. Gryce's scheme as he was,
+and possibly I was more chagrined. But I shall not enter into my
+feelings on the subject, or weary you any further with my conjectures.
+You will be much more interested, I know, in learning what occurred to
+Mr. Gryce upon entering the carriage holding Miss Oliver.
+
+He had expected, from the intense emotion she displayed at the sight of
+Howard Van Burnam (for I was not mistaken as to the identity of the
+person occupying the carriage with her), to find her flushed with the
+passions incident upon this meeting, and her companion in a condition of
+mind which would make it no longer possible for him to deny his
+connection with this woman and his consequently guilty complicity in a
+murder to which both were linked by so many incriminating circumstances.
+
+But for all his experience, the detective was disappointed in this
+expectation, as he had been in so many others connected with this case.
+There was nothing in Miss Oliver's attitude to indicate that she had
+unburdened herself of any of the emotions with which she was so
+grievously agitated, nor was there on Mr. Van Burnam's part any deeper
+manifestation of feeling than a slight glow on his cheek, and even that
+disappeared under the detective's scrutiny, leaving him as composed and
+imperturbable as he had been in his memorable inquisition before the
+Coroner.
+
+Disappointed, and yet in a measure exhilarated by this sudden check in
+plans he had thought too well laid for failure, Mr. Gryce surveyed the
+young girl more carefully, and saw that he had not been mistaken in
+regard to the force or extent of the feelings which had driven her into
+Mr. Van Burnam's presence; and turning back to that gentleman, was about
+to give utterance to some very pertinent remarks, when he was
+forestalled by Mr. Van Burnam inquiring, in his old calm way, which
+nothing seemed able to disturb:
+
+"Who is this crazy girl you have forced upon me? If I had known I was to
+be subjected to such companionship I should not have regarded my outing
+so favorably."
+
+Mr. Gryce, who never allowed himself to be surprised by anything a
+suspected criminal might do or say, surveyed him quietly for a moment,
+then turned towards Miss Oliver.
+
+"You hear what this gentleman calls you?" said he.
+
+Her face was hidden by her hands, but she dropped them as the detective
+addressed her, showing a countenance so distorted by passion that it
+stopped the current of his thoughts, and made him question whether the
+epithet bestowed upon her by their somewhat callous companion was
+entirely unjustified. But soon the something else which was in her face
+restored his confidence in her sanity, and he saw that while her reason
+might be shaken it was not yet dethroned, and that he had good cause to
+expect sooner or later some action from a woman whose misery could wear
+an aspect of such desperate resolution.
+
+That he was not the only one affected by the force and desperate
+character of her glance became presently apparent, for Mr. Van Burnam,
+with a more kindly tone than he had previously used, observed quietly:
+
+"I see the lady is suffering. I beg pardon for my inconsiderate words. I
+have no wish to insult the unhappy."
+
+Never was Mr. Gryce so nonplussed. There was a mingled courtesy and
+composure in the speaker's manner which was as far removed as possible
+from that strained effort at self-possession which marks suppressed
+passion or secret fear; while in the vacant look with which she met
+these words there was neither anger nor scorn nor indeed any of the
+passions one would expect to see there. The detective consequently did
+not force the situation, but only watched her more and more attentively
+till her eyes fell and she crouched away from them both. Then he said:
+
+"You can name this gentleman, can you not, Miss Oliver, even if he does
+not choose to recognize _you_?"
+
+But her answer, if she made one, was inaudible, and the sole result
+which Mr. Gryce obtained from this venture was a quick look from Mr. Van
+Burnam and the following uncompromising words from his lips:
+
+"If you think this young girl knows me, or that I know her, you are
+greatly mistaken. She is as much of a stranger to me as I am to her,
+and I take this opportunity of saying so. I hope my liberty and good
+name are not to be made dependent upon the word of a miserable waif like
+this."
+
+"Your liberty and your good name will depend upon your innocence,"
+retorted Mr. Gryce, and said no more, feeling himself at a disadvantage
+before the imperturbability of this man and the silent, non-accusing
+attitude of this woman, from the shock of whose passions he had
+anticipated so much and obtained so little.
+
+Meantime they were moving rapidly towards Police Headquarters, and
+fearing that the sight of that place might alarm Miss Oliver more than
+was well for her, he strove again to rouse her by a kindly word or so.
+But it was useless. She evidently tried to pay attention and follow the
+words he used, but her thoughts were too busy over the one great subject
+that engrossed her.
+
+"A bad case!" murmured Mr. Van Burnam, and with the phrase seemed to
+dismiss all thought of her.
+
+"A bad case!" echoed Mr. Gryce, "but," seeing how fast the look of
+resolution was replacing her previous aspect of frenzy, "one that will
+do mischief yet to the man who has deceived her."
+
+The stopping of the carriage roused her. Looking up, she spoke for the
+first time.
+
+"I want a police officer," she said.
+
+Mr. Gryce, with all his assurance restored, leaped to the ground and
+held out his hand.
+
+"I will take you into the presence of one," said he; and she, without a
+glance at Mr. Van Burnam, whose knee she brushed in passing, leaped to
+the ground, and turned her face towards Police Headquarters.
+
+
+
+
+XXXVII.
+
+"TWO WEEKS!"
+
+
+But before she was well in, her countenance changed.
+
+"No," said she, "I want to think first. Give me time to think. I dare
+not say a word without thinking."
+
+"Truth needs no consideration. If you wish to denounce this man----"
+
+Her look said she did.
+
+"Then now is the time."
+
+She gave him a sharp glance; the first she had bestowed upon him since
+leaving Miss Althorpe's.
+
+"You are no doctor," she declared. "Are you a police-officer?"
+
+"I am a detective."
+
+"Oh!" and she hesitated for a moment, shrinking from him with very
+natural distrust and aversion. "I have been in the toils then without
+knowing it; no wonder I am caught. But I am no criminal, sir; and if you
+are the one most in authority here, I beg the privilege of a few words
+with you before I am put into confinement."
+
+"I will take you before the Superintendent," said Mr. Gryce. "But do you
+wish to go alone? Shall not Mr. Van Burnam accompany you?"
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"Is it not he you wish to denounce?"
+
+"I do not wish to denounce any one to-day."
+
+"What do you wish?" asked Mr. Gryce.
+
+"Let me see the man who has power to hold me here or let me go, and I
+will tell him."
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Gryce, and led her into the presence of the
+Superintendent.
+
+She was at this moment quite a different person from what she had been
+in the carriage. All that was girlish in her aspect or appealing in her
+bearing had faded away, evidently forever, and left in its place
+something at once so desperate and so deadly, that she seemed not only a
+woman but one of a very determined and dangerous nature. Her manner,
+however, was quiet, and it was only in her eye that one could see how
+near she was to frenzy.
+
+She spoke before the Superintendent could address her.
+
+"Sir," said she, "I have been brought here on account of a fearful crime
+I was unhappy enough to witness. I myself am innocent of that crime,
+but, so far as I know, there is no other person living save the guilty
+man who committed it, who can tell you how or why or by whom it was
+done. One man has been arrested for it and another has not. If you will
+give me two weeks of complete freedom, I will point out to you which is
+the veritable man of blood, and may Heaven have mercy on his soul!"
+
+"She is mad," signified the Superintendent in by-play to Mr. Gryce.
+
+But the latter shook his head; she was not mad yet.
+
+"I know," she continued, without a hint of the timidity which seemed
+natural to her under other circumstances, "that this must seem a
+presumptuous request from one like me, but it is only by granting it
+that you will ever be able to lay your hand on the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam. For I will never speak if I cannot speak in my own way and at my
+own time. The agonies I have suffered must have some compensation.
+Otherwise I should die of horror and my grief."
+
+"And how do you hope to gain compensation by this delay?" expostulated
+the Superintendent. "Would you not meet with more satisfaction in
+denouncing him here and now before he can pass another night in fancied
+security?"
+
+But she only repeated: "I have said two weeks, and two weeks I must
+have. Two weeks in which to come and go as I please. Two weeks!" And no
+argument they could advance succeeded in eliciting from her any other
+response or in altering in any way her air of quiet determination with
+its underlying suggestion of frenzy.
+
+Acknowledging their mutual defeat by a look, the Superintendent and
+detective drew off to one side, and something like the following
+conversation took place between them.
+
+"You think she's sane?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"And will remain so two weeks?"
+
+"If humored."
+
+"You are sure she is implicated in this crime?"
+
+"She was a witness to it."
+
+"And that she speaks the truth when she declares that she is the only
+person who can point out the criminal?"
+
+"Yes; that is, she is the only one who will do it. The attitude taken by
+the Van Burnams, especially by Howard just now in the presence of this
+girl, shows how little we have to expect from them."
+
+"Yet you think they know as much as she does about it?"
+
+"I do not know what to think. For once I am baffled, Superintendent.
+Every passion which this woman possesses was roused by her unexpected
+meeting with Howard Van Burnam, and yet their indifference when
+confronted, as well as her present action, seems to argue a lack of
+connection between them which overthrows at once the theory of his
+guilt. Was it the sight of Franklin, then, which really affected her?
+and was her apparent indifference at meeting him only an evidence of her
+self-control? It seems an impossible conclusion to draw, and indeed
+there are nothing but hitches and improbable features in this case.
+Nothing fits; nothing jibes. I get just so far in it and then I run up
+against a wall. Either there is a superhuman power of duplicity in the
+persons who contrived this murder or we are on the wrong tack
+altogether."
+
+"In other words, you have tried every means known to you to get at the
+truth of this matter, and failed."
+
+"I have, sir; sorry as I may be to acknowledge it."
+
+"Then we must accept her terms. She can be shadowed?"
+
+"Every moment."
+
+"Very well, then. Extreme cases must be met by extreme measures. We will
+let her have her swing, and see what comes of it. Revenge is a great
+weapon in the hands of a determined woman, and from her look I think she
+will make the most of it."
+
+And returning to where the young girl stood, the Superintendent asked
+her whether she felt sure the murderer would not escape in the time that
+must elapse before his apprehension.
+
+Instantly her cheek, which had looked as if it could never show color
+again, flushed a deep and painful scarlet, and she cried vehemently:
+
+"If any hint of what is here passing should reach him I should be
+powerless to prevent his flight. Swear, then, that my very existence
+shall be kept a secret between you two, or I will do nothing towards his
+apprehension,--no, not even to save the innocent."
+
+"We will not swear, but we will promise," returned the Superintendent.
+"And now, when may we expect to hear from you again?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-night as the clock strikes eight. Be wherever I may
+chance to be at that hour, and see on whose arm I lay my hand. It will
+be that of the man who killed Mrs. Van Burnam."
+
+
+
+
+XXXVIII.
+
+A WHITE SATIN GOWN.
+
+
+The events just related did not come to my knowledge for some days after
+they occurred, but I have recorded them at this time that I might in
+some way prepare you for an interview which shortly after took place
+between myself and Mr. Gryce.
+
+I had not seen him since our rather unsatisfactory parting in front of
+Miss Althorpe's house, and the suspense which I had endured in the
+interim made my greeting unnecessarily warm. But he took it all very
+naturally.
+
+"You are glad to see me," said he; "been wondering what has become of
+Miss Oliver. Well, she is in good hands; with Mrs. Desberger, in short;
+a woman whom I believe you know."
+
+"With Mrs. Desberger?" I _was_ surprised. "Why, I have been looking
+every day in the papers for an account of her arrest."
+
+"No doubt," he answered. "But we police are slow; we are not ready to
+arrest her yet. Meanwhile you can do us a favor. She wants to see you;
+are you willing to visit her?"
+
+My answer contained but little of the curiosity and eagerness I really
+felt.
+
+"I am always at your command. Do you wish me to go now?"
+
+"Miss Oliver is impatient," he admitted. "Her fever is better, but she
+is in an excited condition of mind which makes her a little
+unreasonable. To be plain, she is not quite herself, and while we still
+hope something from her testimony, we are leaving her very much to her
+own devices, and do not cross her in anything. You will therefore listen
+to what she says, and, if possible, aid her in anything she may
+undertake, unless it points directly towards self-destruction. My
+opinion is that she will surprise you. But you are becoming accustomed
+to surprises, are you not?"
+
+"Thanks to you, I am."
+
+"Very well, then, I have but one more suggestion to make. You are
+working for the police now, madam, and nothing that you see or learn in
+connection with this girl is to be kept back from us. Am I understood?"
+
+"Perfectly; but it is only proper for me to retort that I am not
+entirely pleased with the part you assign me. Could you not have left
+thus much to my good sense, and not put it into so many words?"
+
+"Ah, madam, the case at present is too serious for risks of that kind.
+Mr. Van Burnam's reputation, to say nothing of his life, depends upon
+our knowledge of this girl's secret; surely you can stretch a point in a
+matter of so much moment?"
+
+"I have already stretched several, and I can stretch one more, but I
+hope the girl won't look at me too often with those miserable appealing
+eyes of hers; they make me feel like a traitor."
+
+"You will not be troubled by any appeal in them. The appeal has
+vanished; something harder and even more difficult to meet is to be
+found in them now: wrath, purpose, and a desire for vengeance. She is
+not the same woman, I assure you."
+
+"Well," I sighed, "I am sorry; there is something about the girl that
+lays hold of me, and I hate to see such a change in her. Did she ask for
+me by name?"
+
+"I believe so."
+
+"I cannot understand her wanting me, but I will go; and I won't leave
+her either till she shows me she is tired of me. I am as anxious to see
+the end of this matter as you are." Then, with some vague idea that I
+had earned a right to some show of confidence on his part, I added
+insinuatingly: "I supposed you would feel the case settled when she
+almost fainted at the sight of the younger Mr. Van Burnam."
+
+The old ambiguous smile I remembered so well came to modify his brusque
+rejoinder.
+
+"If she had been a woman like you, I should; but she is a deep one, Miss
+Butterworth; too deep for the success of a little ruse like mine. Are
+you ready?"
+
+I was not, but it did not take me long to be so, and before an hour had
+elapsed I was seated in Mrs. Desberger's parlor in Ninth Street. Miss
+Oliver was in, and ere long made her appearance. She was dressed in
+street costume.
+
+I was prepared for a change in her, and yet the shock I felt when I
+first saw her face must have been apparent, for she immediately
+remarked:
+
+"You find me quite well, Miss Butterworth. For this I am partially
+indebted to you. You were very good to nurse me so carefully. Will you
+be still kinder, and help me in a new matter which I feel quite
+incompetent to undertake alone?"
+
+Her face was flushed, her manner nervous, but her eyes had an
+extraordinary look in them which affected me most painfully,
+notwithstanding the additional effect it gave to her beauty.
+
+"Certainly," said I. "What can I do for you?"
+
+"I wish to buy me a dress," was her unexpected reply. "A handsome dress.
+Do you object to showing me the best shops? I am a stranger in New
+York."
+
+More astonished than I can express, but carefully concealing it in
+remembrance of the caution received from Mr. Gryce, I replied that I
+would be only too happy to accompany her on such an errand. Upon which
+she lost her nervousness and prepared at once to go out with me.
+
+"I would have asked Mrs. Desberger," she observed while fitting on her
+gloves, "but her taste"--here she cast a significant look about the
+room--"is not quiet enough for me."
+
+"I should think not!" I cried.
+
+"I shall be a trouble to you," the girl went on, with a gleam in her eye
+that spoke of the restless spirit within. "I have many things to buy,
+and they must all be rich and handsome."
+
+"If you have money enough, there will be no trouble about that."
+
+"Oh, I have money." She spoke like a millionaire's daughter. "Shall we
+go to Arnold's?"
+
+As I always traded at Arnold's, I readily acquiesced, and we left the
+house. But not before she had tied a very thick veil over her face.
+
+"If we meet any one, do not introduce me," she begged. "I cannot talk to
+people."
+
+"You may rest easy," I assured her.
+
+At the corner she stopped. "Is there any way of getting a carriage?" she
+asked.
+
+"Do you want one?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I signalled a hack.
+
+"Now for the dress!" she cried.
+
+We rode at once to Arnold's.
+
+"What kind of a dress do you want?" I inquired as we entered the store.
+
+"An evening one; a white satin, I think."
+
+I could not help the exclamation which escaped me; but I covered it up
+as quickly as possible by a hurried remark in favor of white, and we
+proceeded at once to the silk counter.
+
+"I will trust it all to you," she whispered in an odd, choked tone as
+the clerk approached us. "Get what you would for your daughter--no, no!
+for Mr. Van Burnam's daughter, if he has one, and do not spare expense.
+I have five hundred dollars in my pocket."
+
+Mr. Van Burnam's daughter! Well, well! A tragedy of some kind was
+portending! But I bought the dress.
+
+"Now," said she, "lace, and whatever else I need to make it up suitably.
+And I must have slippers and gloves. You know what a young girl requires
+to make her look like a lady. I want to look so well that the most
+critical eye will detect no fault in my appearance. It can be done, can
+it not, Miss Butterworth? My face and figure will not spoil the effect,
+will they?"
+
+"No," said I; "you have a good face and a beautiful figure. You ought to
+look well. Are you going to a ball, my dear?"
+
+"I am going to a ball," she answered; but her tone was so strange the
+people passing us turned to look at her.
+
+"Let us have everything sent to the carriage," said she, and went with
+me from counter to counter with her ready purse in her hand, but not
+once lifting her veil to look at what was offered us, saying over and
+over as I sought to consult her in regard to some article: "Buy the
+richest; I leave it all to you."
+
+Had Mr. Gryce not told me she must be humored, I could never have gone
+through this ordeal. To see a girl thus expend her hoarded savings on
+such frivolities was absolutely painful to me, and more than once I was
+tempted to decline any further participation in such extravagance. But a
+thought of my obligations to Mr. Gryce restrained me, and I went on
+spending the poor girl's dollars with more pain to myself than if I had
+taken them out of my own pocket.
+
+Having purchased all the articles we thought necessary, we were turning
+towards the door when Miss Oliver whispered:
+
+"Wait for me in the carriage for just a few minutes. I have one more
+thing to buy, and I must do it alone."
+
+"But----" I began.
+
+"I will do it, and I will not be followed," she insisted, in a shrill
+tone that made me jump.
+
+And seeing no other way of preventing a scene, I let her leave me,
+though it cost me an anxious fifteen minutes.
+
+When she rejoined me, as she did at the expiration of that time, I eyed
+the bundle she held with decided curiosity. But I could make no guess at
+its contents.
+
+"Now," she cried, as she reseated herself and closed the carriage door,
+"where shall I find a dressmaker able and willing to make up this satin
+in five days?"
+
+I could not tell her. But after some little search we succeeded in
+finding a woman who engaged to make an elegant costume in the time given
+her. The first measurements were taken, and we drove back to Ninth
+Street with a lasting memory in my mind of the cold and rigid form of
+Miss Oliver standing up in Madame's triangular parlor, submitting to the
+mechanical touches of the modiste with an outward composure, but with a
+brooding horror in her eyes that bespoke an inward torment.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIX.
+
+THE WATCHFUL EYE.
+
+
+As I parted with Miss Oliver on Mrs. Desberger's stoop and did not visit
+her again in that house, I will introduce the report of a person better
+situated than myself to observe the girl during the next few days. That
+the person thus alluded to was a woman in the service of the police is
+evident, and as such may not meet with your approval, but her words are
+of interest, as witness:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Friday P.M.
+
+"Party went out to-day in company with an elderly female of respectable
+appearance. Said elderly female wears puffs, and moves with great
+precision. I say this in case her identification should prove necessary.
+
+"I had been warned that Miss O. would probably go out, and as the man
+set to watch the front door was on duty, I occupied myself during her
+absence in making a neat little hole in the partitions between our two
+rooms, so that I should not be obliged to offend my next-door neighbor
+by too frequent visits to her apartment. This done, I awaited her
+return, which was delayed till it was almost dark. When she did come in,
+her arms were full of bundles. These she thrust into a bureau-drawer,
+with the exception of one, which she laid with great care under her
+pillow. I wondered what this one could be, but could get no inkling from
+its size or shape. Her manner when she took off her hat was fiercer than
+before, and a strange smile, which I had not previously observed on her
+lips, added force to her expression. But it paled after supper-time, and
+she had a restless night. I could hear her walk the floor long after I
+thought it prudent on my part to retire, and at intervals through the
+night I was disturbed by her moaning, which was not that of a sick
+person but of one very much afflicted in mind.
+
+"Saturday.
+
+"Party quiet. Sits most of the time with hands clasped on her knee
+before the fire. Given to quick starts as if suddenly awakened from an
+absorbing train of thought. A pitiful object, especially when seized by
+terror as she is at odd times. No walks, no visitors to-day. Once I
+heard her speak some words in a strange language, and once she drew
+herself up before the mirror in an attitude of so much dignity I was
+surprised at the fine appearance she made. The fire of her eyes at this
+moment was remarkable. I should not be surprised at any move she might
+make.
+
+"Sunday.
+
+"She has been writing to-day. But when she had filled several pages of
+letter paper she suddenly tore them all up and threw them into the fire.
+Time seems to drag with her, for she goes every few minutes to the
+window from which a distant church clock is visible, and sighs as she
+turns away. More writing in the evening and some tears. But the writing
+was burned as before, and the tears stopped by a laugh that augurs
+little good to the person who called it up. The package has been taken
+from under her pillow and put in some place not visible from my
+spy-hole.
+
+"Monday.
+
+"Party out again to-day, gone some two hours or more. When she returned
+she sat down before the mirror and began dressing her hair. She has fine
+hair, and she tried arranging it in several ways. None seemed to satisfy
+her, and she tore it down again and let it hang till supper-time, when
+she wound it up in its usual simple knot. Mrs. Desberger spent some
+minutes with her, but their talk was far from confidential, and
+therefore uninteresting. I wish people would speak louder when they talk
+to themselves.
+
+"Tuesday.
+
+"Great restlessness on the part of the young person I am watching. No
+quiet for her, no quiet for me, yet she accomplishes nothing, and as yet
+has furnished me no clue to her thoughts.
+
+"A huge box was brought into the room to-night. It seemed to cause her
+dread rather than pleasure, for she shrank at sight of it, and has not
+yet attempted to open it. But her eyes have never left it since it was
+set down on the floor. It looks like a dressmaker's box, but why such
+emotion over a gown?
+
+"Wednesday.
+
+"This morning she opened the box but did not display its contents. I
+caught one glimpse of a mass of tissue paper, and then she put the cover
+on again, and for a good half hour sat crouching down beside it,
+shuddering like one in an ague-fit. I began to feel there was something
+deadly in the box, her eyes wandered towards it so frequently and with
+such contradictory looks of dread and savage determination. When she
+got up it was to see how many more minutes of the wretched day had
+passed.
+
+"Thursday.
+
+"Party sick; did not try to leave her bed. Breakfast brought up by Mrs.
+Desberger, who showed her every attention, but could not prevail upon
+her to eat. Yet she would not let the tray be taken away, and when she
+was alone again or thought herself alone, she let her eyes rest so long
+on the knife lying across her plate, that I grew nervous and could
+hardly restrain myself from rushing into the room. But I remembered my
+instructions, and kept still even when I saw her hand steal towards this
+possible weapon, though I kept my own on the bell-rope which fortunately
+hung at my side. She looked quite capable of wounding herself with the
+knife, but after balancing it a moment in her hand, she laid it down
+again and turned with a low moan to the wall. She will not attempt death
+till she has accomplished what is in her mind.
+
+"Friday.
+
+"All is right in the next room; that is, the young lady is up; but there
+is another change in her appearance since last night. She has grown
+contemptuous of herself and indulges less in brooding. But her
+impatience at the slow passage of time continues, and her interest in
+the box is even greater than before. She does not open it, however, only
+looks at it and lays her trembling hand now and then on the cover.
+
+"Saturday.
+
+"A blank day. Party dull and very quiet. Her eyes begin to look like
+ghastly hollows in her pale face. She talks to herself continually, but
+in a low mechanical way exceedingly wearing to the listener, especially
+as no word can be distinguished. Tried to see her in her own room
+to-day, but she would not admit me.
+
+"Sunday.
+
+"I have noticed from the first a Bible lying on one end of her
+mantel-shelf. To-day she noticed it also, and impulsively reached out
+her hand to take it down. But at the first word she read she gave a low
+cry and hastily closed the book and put it back. Later, however, she
+took it again and read several chapters. The result was a softening in
+her manner, but she went to bed as flushed and determined as ever.
+
+"Monday.
+
+"She has walked the floor all day. She has seen no one, and seems
+scarcely able to contain her impatience. She cannot stand this long.
+
+"Tuesday.
+
+"My surprises began in the morning. As soon as her room had been put in
+order, Miss O. locked the door and began to open her bundles. First she
+unrolled a pair of white silk stockings, which she carefully, but
+without any show of interest, laid on the bed; then she opened a package
+containing gloves. They were white also, and evidently of the finest
+quality. Then a lace handkerchief was brought to light, slippers, an
+evening fan, and a pair of fancy pins, and lastly she opened the
+mysterious box and took out a dress so rich in quality and of such
+simple elegance, it almost took my breath away. It was white, and made
+of the heaviest satin, and it looked as much out of place in that shabby
+room as its owner did in the moments of exaltation of which I have
+spoken.
+
+"Though her face was flushed when she lifted out the gown, it became
+pale again when she saw it lying across her bed. Indeed, a look of
+passionate abhorrence characterized her features as she contemplated it,
+and her hands went up before her eyes and she reeled back uttering the
+first words I have been able to distinguish since I have been on duty.
+They were violent in character, and seemed to tear their way through her
+lips almost without her volition. 'It is hate I feel, nothing but hate.
+Ah, if it were only duty that animated me!'
+
+"Later she grew calmer, and covering up the whole paraphernalia with a
+stray sheet she had evidently laid by for the purpose, she sent for Mrs.
+Desberger. When that lady came in she met her with a wan but by no means
+dubious smile, and ignoring with quiet dignity the very evident
+curiosity with which that good woman surveyed the bed, she said
+appealingly:
+
+"'You have been so kind to me, Mrs. Desberger, that I am going to tell
+you a secret. Will it continue to remain a secret, or shall I see it in
+the faces of all my fellow-boarders to-morrow?' You can imagine Mrs.
+Desberger's reply, also the manner in which it was delivered, but not
+Miss Oliver's secret. She uttered it in these words: 'I am going out
+to-night, Mrs. Desberger. I am going into great society. I am going to
+attend Miss Althorpe's wedding.' Then, as the good woman stammered out
+some words of surprise and pleasure, she went on to say: 'I do not want
+any one to know it, and I would be so glad if I could slip out of the
+house without any one seeing me. I shall need a carriage, but you will
+get one for me, will you not, and let me know the moment it comes. I am
+shy of what folks say, and besides, as you know, I am neither happy nor
+well, if I do go to weddings, and have new dresses, and----' She nearly
+broke down but collected herself with wonderful promptitude, and with a
+coaxing look that made her almost ghastly, so much it seemed out of
+accord with her strained and unnatural manner, she raised a corner of
+the sheet, saying, 'I will show you my gown, if you will promise to help
+me quietly out of the house,' which, of course, produced the desired
+effect upon Mrs. Desberger, that woman's greatest weakness being her
+love of dress.
+
+"So from that hour I knew what to expect, and after sending
+precautionary advices to Police Headquarters, I set myself to watch her
+prepare for the evening. I saw her arrange her hair and put on her
+elegant gown, and was as much startled by the result as if I had not had
+the least premonition that she only needed rich clothes to look both
+beautiful and distinguished. The square parcel she had once hidden under
+her pillow was brought out and laid on the bed, and when Mrs.
+Desberger's low knock announced the arrival of the carriage, she caught
+it up and hid it under the cloak she hastily threw about her. Mrs.
+Desberger came in and put out the light, but before the room sank into
+darkness I caught one glimpse of Miss Oliver's face. Its expression was
+terrible beyond anything I had ever seen on any human countenance."
+
+
+
+
+XL.
+
+AS THE CLOCK STRUCK.
+
+
+I do not attend weddings in general, but great as my suspense was in
+reference to Miss Oliver, I felt that I could not miss seeing Miss
+Althorpe married.
+
+I had ordered a new dress for the occasion, and was in the best of
+spirits as I rode to the church in which the ceremony was to be
+performed. The excitement of a great social occasion was for once not
+disagreeable to me, nor did I mind the crowd, though it pushed me about
+rather uncomfortably till an usher came to my assistance and seated me
+in a pew, which I was happy to see commanded a fine view of the chancel.
+
+I was early, but then I always am early, and having ample opportunity
+for observation, I noted every fine detail of ornamentation with
+approval, Miss Althorpe's taste being of that fine order which always
+falls short of ostentation. Her friends are in very many instances my
+friends, and it was no small part of my pleasure to note their
+well-known faces among the crowd of those that were strange to me. That
+the scene was brilliant, and that silks, satins, and diamonds abounded,
+goes without saying.
+
+At last the church was full, and the hush which usually precedes the
+coming of the bride was settling over the whole assemblage, when I
+suddenly observed, in the person of a respectable-looking gentleman
+seated in a side pew, the form and features of Mr. Gryce, the detective.
+This was a shock to me, yet what was there in his presence there to
+alarm me? Might not Miss Althorpe have accorded him this pleasure out of
+the pure goodness of her heart? I did not look at anybody else, however,
+after once my eyes fell upon him, but continued to watch his expression,
+which was non-commital, though a little anxious for one engaged in a
+purely social function.
+
+The entrance of the clergyman and the sudden peal of the organ in the
+well-known wedding march recalled my attention to the occasion itself,
+and as at that moment the bridegroom stepped from the vestry to await
+his bride at the altar, I was absorbed by his fine appearance and the
+air of mingled pride and happiness with which he watched the stately
+approach of the bridal procession.
+
+But suddenly there was a stir through the whole glittering assemblage,
+and the clergyman made a move and the bridegroom gave a start, and the
+sound, slight as it was, of moving feet grew still, and I saw advancing
+from the door on the opposite side of the altar a second bride, clad in
+white and surrounded by a long veil which completely hid her face. A
+second bride! and the first was half-way up the aisle, and only one
+bridegroom stood ready!
+
+The clergyman, who seemed to have as little command of his faculties as
+the rest of us, tried to speak; but the approaching woman, upon whom
+every regard was fixed, forestalled him by an authoritative gesture.
+
+Advancing towards the chancel, she took her place on the spot reserved
+for Miss Althorpe.
+
+Silence had filled the church up to this moment; but at this audacious
+move, a solitary wailing cry of mingled astonishment and despair went up
+behind us; but before any of us could turn, and while my own heart stood
+still, for I thought I recognized this veiled figure, the woman at the
+altar raised her hand and pointed towards the bridegroom.
+
+"Why does he hesitate?" she cried. "Does he not recognize the only woman
+with whom he dare face God and man at the altar? Because I am already
+his wedded wife, and have been so for five long years, does that make my
+wearing of this veil amiss when he a husband, unreleased by the law,
+dares enter this sacred place with the hope and expectation of a
+bridegroom?"
+
+It was Ruth Oliver who spoke. I recognized her voice as I had recognized
+her apparel; but the emotions aroused in me by her presence and the
+almost incredible claims she advanced were lost in the horror inspired
+by the man she thus vehemently accused. No lost spirit from the pit
+could have shown a more hideous commingling of the most terrible
+passions known to man than he did in the face of this terrible
+arraignment; and if Ella Althorpe, cowering in her shame and misery
+half-way up the aisle, saw him in all his depravity at that instant as I
+did, nothing could have saved her long-cherished love from immediate
+death.
+
+Yet he tried to speak.
+
+"It is false!" he cried; "all false! The woman I once called wife is
+dead."
+
+"Dead, Olive Randolph? Murderer!" she exclaimed. "The blow struck in the
+dark found another victim!" And pulling the veil from her face, Ruth
+Oliver advanced to his side and laid her trembling hand with a firm and
+decisive movement on his arm.
+
+Was it her words, her touch, or the sound of the clock striking eight in
+the great tower over our heads, which so totally overwhelmed him? As the
+last stroke of the hour which was to have seen him united with Miss
+Althorpe died out in the awed spaces above him, he gave a cry such as I
+am sure never resounded between those sacred walls before, and sank in a
+heap on the spot where but a few minutes previous he had lifted his head
+in all the glow and pride of a prospective bridegroom.
+
+
+
+
+XLI.
+
+SECRET HISTORY.
+
+
+It was hours before I found myself able to realize that the scene I had
+just witnessed had a deeper and much more dreadful significance than
+appeared to the general eye, and that Ruth Oliver, in her desperate
+interruption of these treacherous nuptials, had not only made good her
+prior claim to Randolph Stone as her husband, but had pointed him out to
+all the world as the villainous author of that crime which for so long a
+time had occupied my own and the public's attention.
+
+Thinking that you may find the same difficulty in grasping this terrible
+fact, and being anxious to save you from the suspense under which I
+myself labored for so many hours, I here subjoin a written statement
+made by this woman some weeks later, in which the whole mystery is
+explained. It is signed Olive Randolph; the name to which she evidently
+feels herself best entitled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The man known in New York City as Randolph Stone was first seen by me
+in Michigan five years ago. His name then was John Randolph, and how he
+has since come to add to this the further appellation of Stone, I must
+leave to himself to explain.
+
+"I was born in Michigan myself, and till my eighteenth year I lived
+with my father, who was a widower without any other child, in a little
+low cottage amid the sand mounds that border the eastern side of the
+lake.
+
+"I was not pretty, but every man who passed me on the beach or in the
+streets of the little town where we went to market and to church,
+stopped to look at me, and this I noticed, and from this perhaps my
+unhappiness arose.
+
+"For before I was old enough to know the difference between poverty and
+riches, I began to lose all interest in my simple home duties, and to
+cast longing looks at the great school building where girls like myself
+learned to speak like ladies and play the piano. Yet these ambitious
+promptings might have come to nothing if I had never met _him_. I might
+have settled down in my own sphere and lived a useful if unsatisfied
+life like my mother and my mother's mother before her.
+
+"But fate had reserved me for wretchedness, and one day just as I was on
+the verge of my eighteenth year, I saw John Randolph.
+
+"I was coming out of church when our eyes first met, and I noticed after
+the first shock my simple heart received from his handsome face and
+elegant appearance, that he was surveying me with that strange look of
+admiration I had seen before on so many faces; and the joy this gave me,
+and the certainty which came with it of my seeing him again, made that
+moment quite unlike any other in my whole life, and was the beginning of
+that passion which has undone me, ruined him, and brought death and
+sorrow to many others of more worth than either of us.
+
+"He was not a resident of the town, but a passing visitor; and his
+intention had been, as he has since told me, to leave the place on the
+following day. But the dart which had pierced my breast had not glanced
+entirely aside from his, and he remained, as he declared, to see what
+there was in this little country-girl's face to make it so
+unforgettable. We met first on the beach and afterwards under the strip
+of pines which separate our cottage from the sand mounds, and though I
+have no reason to believe he came to these interviews with any honest
+purpose or deep sincerity of feeling, it is certain he exerted all his
+powers to make them memorable to me, and that, in doing so, he awoke
+some of the fire in his own breast which he took such wicked pleasure in
+arousing in mine.
+
+"In fact he soon showed that this was so, for I could take no step from
+the house without encountering him; and the one indelible impression
+remaining to me from those days is the expression his face wore as, one
+sunny afternoon, he laid my hand on his arm and drew me away to have a
+look at the lake booming on the beach below us. There was no love in it
+as I understand love now, but the passion which informed it almost
+amounted to intoxication, and if such a passion can be understood
+between a man already cultivated and a girl who hardly knew how to read,
+it may, in a measure, account for what followed.
+
+"My father, who was no fool, and who saw the selfish quality in this
+attractive lover of mine, was alarmed by our growing intimacy. Taking an
+opportunity when we were both in a more sensible mood than common, he
+put the case before Mr. Randolph in a very decided way. He told him that
+either he must marry me at once or quit seeing me altogether. No delay
+was to be considered and no compromise allowed.
+
+"As my father was a man with whom no one ever disputed, John Randolph
+prepared to leave the town, declaring that he could marry no one at that
+stage of his career. But before he could carry out his intention, the
+old intoxication returned, and he came back in a fever of love and
+impatience to marry me.
+
+"Had I been older or more experienced in the ways of the world, I would
+have known that such passion as this evinced was short-lived; that there
+is no witchery in a smile lasting enough to make men like him forget the
+lack of those social graces to which they are accustomed. But I was mad
+with happiness, and was unconscious of any cloud lowering upon our
+future till the day of our first separation came, when an event occurred
+which showed me what I might expect if I could not speedily raise myself
+to his level.
+
+"We were out walking, and we met a lady who had known Mr. Randolph
+elsewhere. She was well dressed, which I was not, though I had not
+realized it till I saw how attractive she looked in quiet colors and
+with only a simple ribbon on her hat; and she had, besides, a way of
+speaking which made my tones sound harsh, and robbed me of that feeling
+of superiority with which I had hitherto regarded all the girls of my
+acquaintance.
+
+"But it was not her possession of these advantages, keenly as I felt
+them, which awakened me to the sense of my position. It was the surprise
+she showed (a surprise the source of which was not to be mistaken) when
+he introduced me to her as his wife; and though she recovered herself in
+a moment, and tried to be kind and gracious, I felt the sting of it and
+saw that he felt it too, and consequently was not at all astonished
+when, after she had passed us, he turned and looked at me critically for
+the first time.
+
+"But his way of showing his dissatisfaction gave me a shock it took me
+years to recover from. 'Take off that hat,' he cried, and when I had
+obeyed him, he tore out the spray which to my eyes had been its chief
+adornment, and threw it into some bushes near by; then he gave me back
+the hat and asked for the silk neckerchief which I had regarded as the
+glory of my bridal costume. Giving it to him I saw him put it in his
+pocket, and understanding now that he was trying to make me look more
+like the lady we had passed, I cried out passionately: 'It is not these
+things that make the difference, John, but my voice and way of walking
+and speaking. Give me money and let me be educated, and then we will see
+if any other woman can draw your eyes away from me.'
+
+"But he had received a shock that made him cruel. 'You cannot make a
+silk purse out of a sow's ear,' he sneered, and was silent all the rest
+of the way home. I was silent too, for I never talk when I am angry, but
+when we arrived in our own little room I confronted him.
+
+"'Are you going to say any more such cruel things to me?' I asked, 'for
+if you are, I should like you to say them now and be done with it.'
+
+"He looked desperately angry, but there was yet a little love left in
+his heart for me, for he laughed after he had looked at me for a minute,
+and took me in his arms and said some of the fine things with which he
+had previously won my heart, but not with the old fire and not with the
+old effect upon me. Yet my love had not grown cold, it had only changed
+from the unthinking stage to the thinking one, and I was quite in
+earnest when I said: 'I know I am not as pretty or as nice as the ladies
+you are accustomed to. But I have a heart that has never known any other
+passion than its love for you, and from such a heart you ought to expect
+a lady to grow, and there will. Only give me the chance, John; only let
+me learn to read and write.'
+
+"But he was in an incredulous state of mind, and it ended in his going
+away without making any arrangements for my education. He was bound for
+San Francisco, where he had business to transact, and he promised to be
+back in four weeks, but before the four weeks elapsed, he wrote me that
+it would be five, and later on that it would be six, and afterwards that
+it would be when he had finished a big piece of work he was engaged
+upon, and which would bring him a large amount of money. I believed him
+and I doubted him at the same time, but I was not altogether sorry he
+delayed his return for I had begun school on my own account and was fast
+laying the foundation of a solid education.
+
+"My means came from my father, who, now it was too late, saw the
+necessity of my improving myself. The amount of studying I did that
+first year was amazing, but it was nothing to what I went through the
+second, for my husband's letters had begun to fail me, and I was forced
+to work in order to drown grief and keep myself from despair. Finally no
+letters came at all, and when the second year was over, and I could at
+least express myself correctly, I woke to the realization that, so far
+as my husband was concerned, I had gone through all this labor for
+nothing, and that unless by some fortunate chance I could light upon
+some clue to his whereabouts in the great world beyond our little town,
+I would be likely to pass the remainder of my days in widowhood and
+desolation.
+
+"My father dying at this time and leaving me a thousand dollars, I knew
+no better way of spending it than in the hopeless search I have just
+mentioned. Accordingly after his burial I started out on my travels,
+gaining experience with every mile. I had not been away a week before I
+realized what a folly I had indulged in in ever hoping to see John
+Randolph back at my side. I saw the homes in which such men as he lived,
+and met in cars and on steamboats the kind of people with whom he must
+associate to be happy, and a gulf seemed to open between us which even
+such love as mine would be powerless to bridge.
+
+"But though hope thus sank in my breast, I did not lose my old ambition
+of making myself as worthy of him as circumstances would permit. I read
+only the best books and I allowed myself to become acquainted with only
+the best people, and as I saw myself liked by such the awkwardness of my
+manner gradually disappeared, and I began to feel that the day would
+come when I should be universally recognized as a lady.
+
+"Meantime I did not advance an iota in the object of my journey; and at
+last, with every expectation gone of ever seeing my husband again, I
+made my way to Toledo. Here I speedily found employment, and what was
+better still to one of my ambitious tendencies, an opportunity to add to
+the sum of my accomplishments a knowledge of French and music. The
+French I learned from the family I lived with, and the music from a
+professor in the same house whose love for his pet art was so great that
+he found it simple happiness to impart it to one so greedy for
+improvement as myself.
+
+"Here, in course of time, I also learned type-writing, and it was for
+the purpose of seeking employment in this capacity that I finally came
+to New York. This was three months ago.
+
+"I was in complete ignorance of the city when I entered it, and for a
+day or two I wandered to and fro, searching for a suitable
+lodging-house. It was while I was on my way to Mrs. Desberger's that I
+saw advancing towards me a gentleman in whose air and manner I detected
+a resemblance to the husband who some five years since had deserted me.
+The shock was too much for my self-control. Quaking in every limb, I
+stood awaiting his approach, and when he came up to me, and I saw by his
+startled recognition of me that it was indeed he, I gave a loud cry and
+threw myself upon his arm. The start he gave was nothing to the
+frightful expression which crossed his face at this encounter, but I
+thought both due to his surprise, though now I am convinced they had
+their origin in the deepest and worst emotions of which a man is
+capable.
+
+"'John! John!' I cried, and could say no more, for the agitations of
+five solitary, despairing years were choking me; but he was entirely
+voiceless, stricken, I have no doubt, beyond any power of mine to
+realize. How could I dream that in consideration, power, and prestige he
+had advanced even more rapidly than myself, and that at this very moment
+he was not only the idol of society, but on the verge of uniting himself
+to a woman--I will not say of marrying her, for marry her he could not
+while I lived--who would make him the envied possessor of millions. Such
+fortune, such daring, yes and such depravity, were beyond the reach of
+my imagination, and while I thought his pleasure less than mine, I did
+not dream that my existence was a menace to all his hopes, and that
+during this moment of speechlessness he was sounding his nature for
+means to rid himself of me even at the cost of my life.
+
+"His first movement was to push me away, but I clung to him all the
+harder; at which his whole manner changed and he began to make futile
+efforts to calm me and lead me away from the spot. Seeing that these
+attempts were unavailing, he turned pale and raised his arm up
+passionately, but speedily dropped it again, and casting glances this
+way and that, broke suddenly into a loud laugh and became, as by the
+touch of a magician's wand, my old lover again.
+
+"'Why, Olive!' he cried; 'why, Olive! is it you? (Did I say my name was
+Olive?) Happily met, my dear! I did not know what I had been missing all
+these years, but now I know it was you. Will you come with me, or shall
+I go home with you?'
+
+"'I have no home,' said I, 'I have just come into town.'
+
+"'Then I see but one alternative.' He smiled, and what a power there was
+in his smile when he chose to exert it! 'You must come to my apartments;
+are you willing?'
+
+"'I am your wife,' I answered.
+
+"He had taken me on his arm by this time and the recoil he made at these
+words was quite perceptible; but his face still smiled, and I was too
+mad with joy to be critical.
+
+"'And a very pretty and charming wife you have become,' said he, drawing
+me on for a few steps. Suddenly he paused, and I felt the old shadow
+fall between us again. 'But your dress is very shabby,' he remarked.
+
+"It was not; it was not near as shabby as the linen duster he himself
+wore.
+
+"'Is that rain?' he inquired, looking up as a drop or two fell.
+
+"'Yes, it is raining.'
+
+"'Very well, let us go into this store we are coming to and buy a
+gossamer. That will cover up your gown. I cannot take you to my house
+dressed as you are now.'
+
+"Surprised, for I had thought my dress very neat and lady-like, but
+never dreaming of questioning his taste any more than in the old days in
+Michigan, I went with him into the shop he had pointed out and bought me
+a gossamer, for which he paid. When he had helped me to put it on and
+had tied my veil well over my face, he seemed more at his ease and gave
+me his arm quite cheerfully.
+
+"'Now,' said he, 'you look well, but how about the time when you will
+have to take the gossamer off? I tell you what it is, my dear, you will
+have to refit yourself entirely before I shall be satisfied.' And again
+I saw him cast about him that furtive and inquiring look which would
+have awakened more surprise in me than it did had I known that we were
+in a part of the city where he ran but little chance of meeting any one
+he knew.
+
+"'This old duster I have on,' he suddenly laughed, 'is a very
+appropriate companion to your gossamer,' and though I did not agree with
+him, for my clothes were new, and his old and shabby, I laughed also and
+never dreamed of evil.
+
+"As this garment which so disfigured him that morning has been the
+occasion of much false speculation on the part of those whose business
+it was to inquire into the crime with which it is in a most unhappy way
+connected, I may as well explain here and now why so fastidious a
+gentleman as Randolph Stone came to wear it. The gentleman called Howard
+Van Burnam was not the only person who visited the Van Burnam offices on
+the morning preceding the murder. Randolph Stone was there also, but he
+did not see the brothers, for finding them closeted together, he decided
+not to interrupt them. As he was a frequent visitor there, his presence
+created no remark nor was his departure noted. Descending the stairs
+separating the offices from the street, he was about to leave the
+building, when he noticed that the clouds looked ominous. Being dressed
+for a luncheon with Miss Althorpe, he felt averse to getting wet, so he
+stepped back into the adjoining hall and began groping for an umbrella
+in a little closet under the stairs where he had once before found such
+an article. While doing this he heard the younger Van Burnam descend and
+go out, and realizing that he could now see Franklin without difficulty,
+he was about to return up-stairs when he heard that gentleman also come
+down and follow his brother into the street.
+
+"His first impulse was to join him, but finding nothing but an old
+duster in the closet, he gave up this intention, and putting on this
+shabby but protecting garment, started for his apartments, little
+realizing into what a course of duplicity and crime it was destined to
+lead him. For to the wearing of this old duster on this especial
+morning, innocent as the occasion was, I attribute John Randolph's
+temptation to murder. Had he gone out without it, he would have taken
+his usual course up Broadway and never met _me_; or even if he had taken
+the same roundabout way to his apartments as that which led to our
+encounter, he would never have dared, in his ordinary fine dress,
+conspicuous as it made him, to have entered upon those measures, which,
+as he is clever enough to know, lead to disgrace, if they do not end in
+a felon's cell. It was John Randolph, then, or Randolph Stone, as he is
+pleased to call himself in New York, and not Franklin Van Burnam (who
+had doubtless proceeded in another direction) who came up to where
+Howard had stood, saw the keys he had dropped, and put them in his own
+pocket. It was as innocent an action as the donning of the duster, and
+yet it was fraught with the worst consequences to himself and others.
+
+"Being of the same height and complexion as Franklin Van Burnam, and
+both gentlemen wearing at that time a moustache (my husband shaved his
+off after the murder), the mistakes which arose out of this strange
+equipment were but natural. Seen from the rear or in the semi-darkness
+of a hotel-office they might look alike, though to me or to any one
+studying them well, their faces are really very different.
+
+"But to return. Leading me through streets of which I knew nothing, he
+presently stopped before the entrance of a large hotel.
+
+"'I tell you what, Olive,' said he, 'we had better go in here, take a
+room, and send for such things as you require to make you look like a
+lady.'
+
+"As I had no objection to anything which kept me at his side, I told him
+that whatever suited him suited me, and followed him quite eagerly into
+the office. I did not know then that this hotel was a second-rate one,
+not having had experience with the best, but if I had, I should not have
+wondered at his choice, for there was nothing in his appearance, as I
+have already intimated, or in his manners up to this point, to lead me
+to think he was one of the city's great swells, and that it was only in
+such an unfashionable house as this he would be likely to pass
+unrecognized. How with his markedly handsome features and distinguished
+bearing he managed so to carry himself as to look like a man of inferior
+breeding, I can no more explain than I can the singular change which
+took place in him when once he found himself in the midst of the crowd
+which lounged about this office.
+
+"From a man to attract all eyes he became at once a man to attract none,
+and slouched and looked so ordinary that I stared at him in
+astonishment, little thinking that he had assumed this manner as a
+disguise. Seeing me at a loss, he spoke up quite peremptorily:
+
+"'Let us keep our secret, Olive, till you can appear in the world
+full-fledged. And look here, darling, won't you go to the desk and ask
+for a room? I am no hand at any such business.'
+
+"Confounded at a proposition so unexpected, but too much under the spell
+of my feelings to dispute his wishes, I faltered out:
+
+"'But supposing they ask me to register?'
+
+"At which he gave me a look which recalled the old days in Michigan, and
+quietly sneered:
+
+"'Give them a fictitious name. You have learned to write by this time,
+have you not?'
+
+"Stung by his taunt, but more in love with him than ever, for his
+momentary display of passion had made him look both masterful and
+handsome, I went up to the desk to do his bidding.
+
+"'A room!' said I; and when asked to write our names in the book that
+lay before me, I put down the first that suggested itself. I wrote with
+my gloves on, which was why the writing looked so queer that it was
+taken for a disguised hand.
+
+"This done, he rejoined me, and we went up-stairs, and I was too happy
+to be in his company again to wonder at his peculiarities or weigh the
+consequences of the implicit confidence I accorded him. I was
+desperately in love once more, and entered into every plan he proposed
+without a thought beyond the joyous present. He was so handsome without
+his hat; and when after some short delay he threw aside the duster, I
+felt myself for the first time in my life in the presence of a finished
+gentleman. Then his manner was so changed. He was so like his oldest and
+best self, so dangerously like what he was in those long vanished hours
+under the pines in my sand-swept home on the shores of Lake Michigan.
+That he faltered at times and sank into strange spells of silence which
+had something in them that made my breath come fitfully, did not awaken
+my apprehension or rouse in me more than a passing curiosity. I thought
+he regretted the past, and when, after one such pause in our
+conversation, he drew out of his pocket a couple of keys tied together
+with a string, and surveyed the card attached to them with a strange
+look, easily enough to be understood by me now, I only laughed at his
+abstraction, and indulged in a fresh caress to make him more mindful of
+my presence.
+
+"These keys were the ones which Mrs. Van Burnam's husband had dropped,
+and which he had picked up before meeting me; and after he had put them
+back into his pocket he became more talkative than before, and more
+systematically lover-like. I think he had not seen his way clearly till
+this moment, the dark and dreadful way which was to end, as he supposed,
+in my death.
+
+"But I feared nothing, suspected nothing. Such deep and desperate
+wickedness as he was planning was beyond the wildest flight of my
+imagination. When he insisted upon sending for a complete set of
+clothing for me, and when at his dictation I wrote a list of the
+articles I wanted, I thought he was influenced by his wish as my husband
+to see me dressed in articles of his own buying. That it was all a plot
+to rob me of my identity could not strike such a mind as mine, and when
+the packages came and were received by him in the sly way already known
+to the public, I saw nothing in his caution but a playful display of
+mystery that was to end in my romantic establishment in a home of love
+and luxury.
+
+"Or rather it is thus that I account for my conduct now, and yet the
+precaution I took not to change the shoes in which my money was hidden,
+may argue that I was not without some underlying doubt of his complete
+sincerity. But if so, I hid it from myself, and, as I have every reason
+to believe, from him also, doubtless excusing my action to myself by
+considering that I would be none the worse off for a few dollars of my
+own, even if he was my husband, and had promised me no end of pleasure
+and comfort.
+
+"That he did intend to make me happy, he had assured me more than once.
+Indeed, before we had been long in this hotel room, he informed me that
+great experiences lay before me; that he had prospered much in the last
+five years and had now a house of his own to offer me and a large circle
+of friends to make our life in it agreeable.
+
+"'We will go to our house to-night,' said he. 'I have not been living in
+it lately, and you may find it a little uncomfortable, but we will
+remedy that to-morrow. Anything is better than staying here under a
+false name and I cannot take you to my bachelor apartment.'
+
+"I had doubted some of his previous statements, but this one I
+implicitly believed. Why should not so elegant a man have a house of his
+own; and if he had told me it was built of marble and hung with
+Florentine tapestries, I should still have credited it all. I was in
+fairy-land and he was my knight of romance, even when he again hung his
+head in leaving the hotel and looked at once so ordinary and
+uninteresting.
+
+"The ruse he made use of to cut off all connection between ourselves and
+the Mr. and Mrs. James Pope who had registered at the Hotel D---- was
+accepted by me with the same lack of suspicion. That he should wish to
+carry no remembrance of our old life into our new home I thought a
+delightful piece of folly, and when he proposed that we should bequeath
+my gossamer and his own disfiguring duster to the coachman in whose hack
+we were then riding, I laughed gleefully and helped him fold them up and
+place them under the cushions, though I did wonder why he cut a piece
+out of the neck of the former, and pouted with the happy freedom of a
+self-confident woman when he said:
+
+"'It is the first thing I ever bought for you, and I am just foolish
+enough to wish to preserve this much of it for a keepsake. Do you
+object, my dear?'
+
+"As I was conscious of cherishing a similar folly in his regard, and
+could have pressed even that old duster of his to my heart, I offered
+him a kiss and said 'No,' and he put the scrap away in his pocket. That
+it was the portion on which was stamped the name of the firm from which
+it was bought did not occur to me.
+
+"When the coach stopped, he urged me away on foot in a direction
+entirely strange to me, saying we would take another hack as soon as we
+had disposed of the bundles we were carrying. How he intended to do
+this, I did not know. But presently he drew me towards a Chinese
+laundry, where he bade me leave one of them as washing, and the other he
+dropped before the opening of a sewer as we stepped up a neighboring
+curb-stone.
+
+"And still I did not suspect.
+
+"Our ride to Gramercy Park was short, but during it he had time to put a
+bill in my hand and tell me I was to pay the driver. He had also time to
+secure the weapon upon which he had probably had his eye fixed from the
+first. His manner of doing this I can never forgive, for it was a
+lover's manner, and as such intended to deceive and cajole me. Drawing
+my head down on his shoulder, he drew off my veil, saying that it was
+the only article left of my own buying, and that we would leave it
+behind us in this coach as we had left the gossamer in the other. 'Only
+I will make sure that no other woman ever wears it,' he laughed,
+slitting it up and down with his knife. When this was done he kissed me,
+and then while my heart was tender and the warm tears stood in my eyes,
+he drew out the pin from my hat, meeting my remonstrances with the
+assurance that he hated to see my head covered, and that no hat was as
+pretty as my own brown hair.
+
+"As this was nonsense, and as the coach was beginning to stop, I shook
+my head at him and put my hat on again, but he had dropped the pin, or
+so he said, and I had to alight without it.
+
+"When I had paid the driver and the coach had driven off, I had a chance
+to look up at the house before which we had stopped. Its height and
+imposing appearance daunted me in spite of the great expectations I had
+formed, and I ran up the stoop after him in a condition of mingled awe
+and wild delight that was the poorest preparation possible for what lay
+before me in the dark interior we were entering.
+
+"He was fumbling nervously in the keyhole with his key, and I heard a
+whispered oath escape him. But presently the door fell back, and we
+stepped in to what looked to me like a cavern of darkness.
+
+"'Do not be frightened!' he admonished me. 'I will strike a light in a
+moment.' And after carefully closing the street door behind us, he
+stretched out his hand to take mine, or so I judge, for I heard him
+whisper impatiently, 'Where are you?'
+
+"I was on the threshold of the parlor, to which I had groped my way
+while he was closing the front door, so I whispered back, 'Here!' but
+found voice for nothing further, for at that instant I heard a sound
+proceeding from the depths of darkness in front of me, and was so struck
+with terror that I fell back against the staircase, just as he passed me
+and entered the room from which that stealthy noise had issued.
+
+"'Darling!' he whispered, 'darling!' and went stumbling on in the void
+of darkness before me, till suddenly by some power I cannot explain I
+seemed to see, faintly but distinctly, and as if with my mind's eye
+rather than with my bodily one.
+
+"I perceived the shadowy form of a woman standing in the space before
+him, and beheld him suddenly grasp her with what he meant to be a loving
+cry, but which to my ears at that moment sounded strangely ferocious,
+and after holding her a moment suddenly release her, at which she
+uttered one low, curdling moan and sank at his feet. At the same instant
+I heard a click, which I did not understand then, but which I now know
+to have been the head of the hat-pin striking the register.
+
+"Horrified past all power of speech and action, for I saw that he had
+intended this blow for me, I cowered against the stairs, waiting for him
+to pass out. This he did not do at once, though the delay must have been
+short. He stopped long enough by the prostrate form to stir it with his
+foot, probably to see if life was extinct, but no longer, yet it seemed
+an eternity before I perceived him groping his way over the threshold;
+an eternity in which every act of my life passed before me, and every
+word and every expression with which he had beguiled me came to rack my
+soul and made the horror of this mad awakening greater.
+
+"No thought of her, or of the guilt with which he had forever damned his
+soul, came to me in that first moment of misery. _My_ loss, _my_ escape,
+and the danger in which I still stood if the least hint reached him of
+the mistake he had made, filled my mind too entirely for me to dwell on
+any less impersonal theme. His words, for he muttered several in that
+short passage out, showed me in what a fools' paradise I had been
+revelling, and how certainly I had turned his every thought towards
+murder when I seized him in the street and proclaimed myself his wife.
+The satisfaction with which he uttered, 'Well struck!' gave little hint
+of remorse; and the gloating delight with which he added something about
+the devil having assisted him to make it a safe blow as well as a deadly
+one, was proof not only of his having used all his cunning in planning
+this crime, but of his pleasure in its apparent success.
+
+"That he continued in this frame of mind, and that he never lost
+confidence in the precautions he had taken and in the mystery with which
+the deed was surrounded, is apparent from the fact that he revisited the
+Van Burnam office on the following morning, and hung again on its
+accustomed nail the keys of the Gramercy Park house.
+
+"When the front door had closed, and I knew that he had gone away in the
+full belief that it was my form he had left lying behind him on that
+midnight floor, all the accumulated terrors of the situation came to me
+in full force, and I began to think of her as well as of myself, and
+longed for courage to approach her or even the daring to call out for
+help. But the thought that it was my husband who had committed this
+crime held me tongue-tied, and though I soon began to move inch by inch
+in her direction, it was some time before I could so far overcome my
+terror as to enter the room where she lay.
+
+"I had supposed, and still supposed (as was natural after seeing him
+open the door with the keys he took from his pocket), that the house was
+his, and the victim a member of his own household. But when, after
+innumerable hesitations and a bodily shrinking that was little short of
+torment, I managed to drag myself into the room and light a match which
+I found on a farther mantel-shelf, I saw enough in the general
+appearance of the rooms and of the figure at my feet to make me doubt
+the truth of both these suppositions. Yet no other explanation came to
+lighten the mystery of the occasion, and dazed as I was by the horror of
+my position and the mortal dread I felt of the man who in one instant
+had turned the heaven of my love into a hell of fathomless horrors, I
+soon had eyes for the one fact only, that the woman lying before me was
+sufficiently like myself to inspire me with the hope of preserving my
+secret and keeping from my would-be slayer the knowledge of my having
+escaped the doom he had prepared for me.
+
+"For ascribe it to what motive you will, that was the one idea now
+dominating my mind. I wanted him to believe me dead. I wanted to feel
+that all connection between us was severed forever. He _had_ killed me.
+By killing my love and faith in him he had murdered the better part of
+myself, and I shrank with inconceivable horror from anything that would
+bring me again under his eye, or force me to assert claims that it would
+be the future business of my life to forget.
+
+"When the first match went out I had not courage to light another, so I
+crept away in the darkness to listen at the foot of the stairs. There
+was no sound from above, and a terrifying sense began to pervade me that
+I was in that house alone. Yet there was safety in the thought, and
+opportunity for what I was planning, and finally, under the stress of
+the purpose that was every moment developing within me, I went softly
+up-stairs and listened at all the doors till I was certain that the
+house was unoccupied. Then I came down and walked resolutely back into
+the parlor, for I knew if I allowed any time to pass I could never again
+summon up strength to cross its grisly threshold. Yet I did nothing for
+hours but crouch in one of its dismal corners, waiting for morning. That
+I did not go mad in that awful interval is a wonder. I must have been
+near it more than once.
+
+"I have been asked, and Miss Butterworth has been asked, how in the
+light of what we now know concerning this poor victim's presence there,
+we account for her being in the darkness and showing so little terror at
+our entrance and Mr. Stone's approach. _I_ account for it in this way:
+Two half-burned matches were found in the parlor grate. One I flung
+there; the other had probably been used by her to light the dining-room
+gas. If this was still lighted when we drove up, as it may have been,
+then, alarmed by the sound of the stopping coach, she had put it out,
+with a vague idea of hiding herself till she knew whether it was the old
+gentleman who was coming or only her suspicious and unreasonable
+husband. If it was not lighted then, she was probably aroused from a
+sleep on the parlor sofa, and was for the moment too dazed to cry out or
+resent an embrace she had not time to understand before she succumbed to
+the cruel stab that killed her. Miss Butterworth, however, thinks that
+the poor creature took the intruder for Franklin till she heard my
+voice, when she probably became so amazed that she was in a measure
+paralyzed and found it impossible to move or cry out. As Miss
+Butterworth is a woman of great discretion I should think her
+explanation the truest, if I did not consider her a little prejudiced
+against Mrs. Van Burnam.
+
+"But to return to myself.
+
+"With the first glimmer of light that came through the closed shutters I
+rose and began my dreadful task. Upheld by a purpose as relentless as
+that which drove the author of this horror into murder, I stripped the
+body and put upon it my own clothing, with the one exception of the
+shoes. Then, when I had re-dressed myself in hers, I steadied up my
+heart and with one wild pull dragged down the cabinet upon her so that
+her face might lose its traits and her identification become impossible.
+
+"How I had strength to do this, and how I could contemplate the result
+without shrieking, I cannot now imagine. Perhaps I was hardly human at
+this crisis; perhaps something of the demon which had informed him in
+his awful work had entered into my breast, making this thing possible. I
+only know that I did what I have said and did it calmly. More than that,
+that I had mind and judgment left to give to my own appearance.
+Observing that the dress I had put on was of a conspicuous plaid, I
+exchanged the skirt portion with the brown silk petticoat under it, and
+when I observed that it hung below the other, as of course it would, I
+went through the house till I came upon some pins with which I pinned it
+up out of sight. Thus equipped, I was still a person to attract
+attention, especially as I had no hat to put on; my own having fallen
+from my head and been covered by the dead woman's body, which nothing
+would induce me to move again.
+
+"But I had confidence in my own powers to escape question, toned up as
+I was in every nerve by the dreadfulness of my situation, and as soon as
+I was in decent shape for flight, I opened the front door and prepared
+to slip out.
+
+"But here the intense dread I felt of my husband, a dread which had
+actuated all my movements and sustained me in as harrowing a task as
+ever woman performed, seized me with renewed force, and I quailed at the
+prospect of entering the streets alone. Supposing he should be on the
+stoop! Supposing he should be in an opposite window even! Could I
+encounter him again and live? He was not far away, or so I felt. A
+murderer, it is said, cannot help haunting the scene of his crime, and
+if he should see me alive and well, what might I not expect from his
+astonishment and alarm? I did not dare go out. But neither did I dare
+remain, so after quaking for a good five minutes on the threshold, I
+made one wild dash through the door.
+
+"There was no one in sight, and I reached Broadway before I ran across
+man or woman. Even then I got by without any one speaking to me, and,
+favored by Providence, found a nook at the end of an alley-way, where I
+remained undiscovered till it was late enough in the morning for me to
+enter a shop and buy a hat.
+
+"The rest of my movements are known. I found my way to Mrs. Desberger's,
+this time without interruption; and from that place sought and found a
+situation with Miss Althorpe.
+
+"That her fate was in any way connected with mine, or that the Randolph
+Stone she was engaged to marry was the John Randolph from whose clutches
+I had just escaped, was, of course, unsuspected by me, and, incredible
+as it may seem, continued to be unsuspected as long as I remained in the
+house. There was reason for this. My duties were such as I could well
+attend to in my own room, and feeling a horror of the world and
+everything in it, I kept my room as much as possible, and never went out
+of it when I knew that he was in the house. The very thought of love
+awakened intolerable emotions in me, and much as I admired and revered
+Miss Althorpe, I could not bring myself to meet or even talk of the man
+to whom she was in expectation of being so soon united. There was
+another thing of which I was ignorant, and that was the circumstances
+which had invested with so much interest the crime of which I had been
+witness. I did not know that the victim had been recognized, or that an
+innocent man had been arrested for her murder. In fact I knew nothing
+concerning the affair save what I had seen with my own eyes, no one
+having mentioned the murder in my presence, and I having religiously
+avoided the very sight of a paper for fear that I should see some
+account of the horrible affair, and so lose what small remnants of
+courage I still possessed.
+
+"This apathy concerning a matter so important to myself, or rather this
+almost frenzied determination to cut myself loose from my dreadful past,
+may seem strange and unnatural; but it will seem stranger yet when I say
+that for all these efforts I was haunted night and day by one small fact
+connected with this past, which made forgetfulness impossible. I had
+taken the rings from the hands of the dead woman as I had taken away her
+clothes, and the possession of these valuables, probably because they
+represented so much money, weighed on my conscience and made me feel
+like a thief. The purse which I found in a pocket of the skirt I had put
+on was a trouble to me, but the rings were a source of constant terror
+and disturbance. I hid them finally in a ball of yarn I was using, but
+even then I experienced but little peace, for they were not mine, and I
+lacked the courage to avow it or seek out the person to whom they now
+rightfully belonged.
+
+"When, therefore, in the intervals of fever which attacked me in Miss
+Althorpe's house, I overheard enough of a conversation between her and
+Miss Butterworth to learn that the murdered woman had been a Mrs. Van
+Burnam, and that her husband or relatives had an office somewhere
+downtown, I was so seized by the instinct of restitution, that I took
+the first opportunity that offered to leave my bed and hunt up these
+people.
+
+"That I would injure them in any way by secretly restoring these jewels,
+I never dreamed. Indeed, I did not exercise my mind at all on the
+subject, but only followed the instincts of my delirium; and while to
+all appearance I showed all the cunning of an insane person, in the
+pursuit of my purpose, I fail to remember now how I found my way to
+Duane Street, or by what suggestion of my diseased brain I was induced
+to slip these rings upon the hook attached to Mr. Van Burnam's desk.
+Probably the mere utterance of this well-known name into the ears of the
+passers-by was enough to obtain for me such directions as I needed, but
+however that may be, the result was misapprehension, and the
+complications which followed, serious.
+
+"Of the emotion caused in me by the unaccountable discovery of my
+connection with this crime I need not speak. The love which I at one
+time felt for John Randolph had turned to gall and bitterness, but
+enough sense of duty remained in my bruised and broken heart to keep me
+from denouncing him to the police, till by a sudden stroke of fate or
+Providence, I saw him in the carriage with Miss Althorpe, and realized
+that he was not only the man with whom she was upon the point of allying
+herself, but that it was to preserve his place in her regard and to
+attain the lofty position promised by this union, he had attempted to
+murder me, and had murdered another woman only less unfortunate and
+miserable than myself.
+
+"It was the last and bitterest blow that could come from his hand; and
+though instinct led me to throw myself into the carriage before which I
+stood, and thus escape a meeting which I felt I could never survive, I
+was determined from that moment not only to save Miss Althorpe from an
+alliance with this villain, but to revenge myself upon him in some
+never-to-be-forgotten manner.
+
+"That this revenge involved her in a public shame from which her angelic
+goodness to me should have saved her, I regret now as deeply as even she
+can wish. But the madness that was upon me made me blind to every other
+consideration than that of the boundless hatred I bore him; and while I
+can look for no forgiveness from her on that account, I still hope the
+day will come when she will see that in spite of my momentary disregard
+of her feelings, I cherish for her an affection that nothing can efface
+or make other than the ruling passion of my life."
+
+
+
+
+XLII.
+
+WITH MISS BUTTERWORTH'S COMPLIMENTS.
+
+
+They tell me that Mr. Gryce has never been quite the same man since the
+clearing up of this mystery; that his confidence in his own powers is
+shaken, and that he hints, more often than is agreeable to his
+superiors, that when a man has passed his seventy-seventh year it is
+time for him to give up active connection with police matters. _I_ do
+not agree with him. His mistakes, if we may call them such, were not
+those of failing faculties, but of a man made oversecure in his own
+conclusions by a series of old successes. Had he listened to _me_--But I
+will not pursue this suggestion. You will accuse me of egotism, an
+imputation I cannot bear with equanimity and will not risk; modest
+depreciation of myself being one of the chief attributes of my
+character.[D]
+
+Howard Van Burnam bore his release, as he had his arrest, with great
+outward composure. Mr. Gryce's explanation of his motives in perjuring
+himself before the Coroner was correct, and while the mass of people
+wondered at that instinct of pride which led him to risk the imputation
+of murder sooner than have the world accuse his wife of an unwomanly
+action, there were others who understood his peculiarities, and thought
+his conduct quite in keeping with what they knew of his warped and
+over-sensitive nature.
+
+That he has been greatly moved by the unmerited fate of his weak but
+unfortunate wife, is evident from the sincerity with which he still
+mourns her.
+
+I had always understood that Franklin had never been told of the peril
+in which his good name had stood for a few short hours. But since a
+certain confidential conversation which took place between us one
+evening, I have come to the conclusion that the police were not so
+reticent as they made themselves out to be. In that conversation he
+professed to thank me for certain good offices I had done him and his,
+and waxing warm in his gratitude, confessed that without my interference
+he would have found himself in a strait of no ordinary seriousness;
+"For," said he, "there has been no over-statement of the feelings I
+cherished toward my sister-in-law, nor was there any mistake made in
+thinking that she uttered some very desperate threats against me during
+the visit she paid me at my office on Monday. But I never thought of
+ridding myself of her in any way. I only thought of keeping her and my
+brother apart till I could escape the country. When therefore he came
+into the office on Tuesday morning for the keys of our father's house, I
+felt such a dread of the two meeting there, that I left immediately
+after my brother for the place where she had told me she would await a
+final message from me. I hoped to move her by one final plea, for I love
+my brother sincerely, notwithstanding the wrong I once did him. I was
+therefore with her in another place at the very time I was thought to be
+with her at the Hotel D----, a fact which greatly hampered me, as you
+can see, when I was requested by the police to give an account of how I
+spent that day. When I left her it was to seek my brother. She had told
+me of her deliberate intention of spending the night in the Gramercy
+Park house; and as I saw no way of her doing this without my brother's
+connivance, I started in search of him, meaning to stick to him when I
+found him, and keep him away from her till that night was over. I was
+not successful in my undertaking. He was locked in his rooms it seems,
+packing up his effects for flight,--we always had the same instincts
+even when boys,--and receiving no answer to my knock, I hastened away to
+Gramercy Park to keep a watch over the house against my brother coming
+there. This was early in the evening, and for hours afterwards I
+wandered like a restless spirit in and out of those streets, meeting no
+one I knew, not even my brother, though he was wandering about in very
+much the same manner, and with very much the same apprehensions.
+
+"The duplicity of the woman became very evident to me the next morning.
+In my last interview with her she had shown no relenting in her purpose
+towards me, but when I entered my office after this restless night in
+the streets, I found lying on my desk her little hand-bag, which had
+been sent down from Mrs. Parker's. In it was _the letter_, just as you
+divined, Miss Butterworth. I had hardly got over the shock of this most
+unexpected good fortune when the news came that a woman had been found
+dead in my father's house. What was I to think? That it was she, of
+course, and that my brother had been the man to let her in there. Miss
+Butterworth," this is how he ended, "I make no demands upon you, as I
+have made no demands upon the police, to keep the secret contained in
+that letter from my much-abused brother. Or, rather, it is too late now
+to keep it, for I have told him all there was to tell, myself, and he
+has seen fit to overlook my fault, and to regard me with even more
+affection than he did before this dreadful tragedy came to harrow up our
+lives."
+
+Do you wonder I like Franklin Van Burnam?
+
+The Misses Van Burnam call upon me regularly, and when they say "_Dear
+old thing!_" now, they mean it.
+
+Of Miss Althorpe I cannot trust myself to speak. She was, and is, the
+finest woman I know, and when the great shadow now hanging over her has
+lost some of its impenetrability, she will be a useful one again, or I
+do not rightly read the patient smile which makes her face so beautiful
+in its sadness.
+
+Olive Randolph has, at my request, taken up her abode in my house. The
+charm which she seems to have exerted over others she has exerted over
+me, and I doubt if I shall ever wish to part with her again. In return
+she gives me an affection which I am now getting old enough to
+appreciate. Her feeling for me and her gratitude to Miss Althorpe are
+the only treasures left her out of the wreck of her life, and it shall
+be my business to make them lasting ones.
+
+The fate of Randolph Stone is too well known for me to enlarge upon it.
+But before I bid farewell to his name, I must say that after that curt
+confession of his, "Yes, I did it, in the way and for the motive she
+alleged," I have often tried to imagine the contradictory feelings with
+which he must have listened to the facts as they came out at the
+inquest, and convinced, as he had every reason to be, that the victim
+was his wife, heard his friend Howard not only accept her for his, but
+insist that he was the man who accompanied her to that house of death.
+He has never lifted the veil from those hours, and he never will, but I
+would give much of the peace of mind which has lately come to me, to
+know what his sensations were, not only at that time, but when, on the
+evening, after the murder, he opened the papers and read that the woman
+whom he had left for dead with her brain pierced by a hat-pin, had been
+found on that same floor crushed under a fallen cabinet; and what
+explanation he was ever able to make to himself for a fact so
+inexplicable.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote D: My attention has been called to the fact that I have not
+confessed whether it was owing to a mistake made by Mr. Gryce or myself,
+that Franklin Van Burnam was identified as the man who had entered the
+adjoining house on the night of the murder. Well, the truth is, neither
+of us was to blame for that. The man I identified (it was while watching
+the guests who attended Mrs. Van Burnam's funeral, you remember) was
+really Mr. Stone; but owing to the fact that this latter gentleman had
+lingered in the vestibule till he was joined by Franklin and that they
+had finally entered together, some confusion was created in the mind of
+the man on duty in the hall, so that when Mr. Gryce asked him who it was
+that came in immediately after the four who arrived together, he
+answered Mr. Franklin Van Burnam; being anxious to win his superior's
+applause and considering that person much more likely to merit the
+detective's attention than a mere friend of the family like Mr. Stone.
+In punishment for this momentary display of egotism, he has been
+discharged from the force, I believe.--A. B.]
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's That Affair Next Door, by Anna Katharine Green
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of That Affair Next Door, by Anna Katharine Green.
+    </title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Affair Next Door, 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: That Affair Next Door
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21617]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>That</h1>
+
+<h1>Affair Next Door</h1>
+
+<h2>By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN</h2>
+
+<h4>Author of "The House Of The Whispering Pines," "Initials Only," "Dark
+Hollow," Etc.</h4>
+
+<p class="center">A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS</p>
+
+<p class="center">114-120 East Twenty-third Street New York</p>
+
+<p class="center">PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1897<br />
+<br />
+BY<br />
+<br />
+ANNA KATHARINE ROHLFS<br />
+<br />
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London<br />
+<br />
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Transcriber's note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved
+to end of chapter.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<p>
+<i><a href="#BOOK_I">BOOK I.</a></i><br />
+<br />
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="linenum">PAGE</span><br />
+<br />
+I.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Discovery</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></span><br />
+<br />
+II.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Questions</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<br />
+III.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Amelia Discovers Herself</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></span><br />
+<br />
+IV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Silas Van Burnam</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<br />
+V.&mdash;<span class="smcap">This Is No One I Know</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">New Facts</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Mr. Gryce Discovers Miss Amelia</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></span><br />
+<br />
+VIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Misses Van Burnam</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br />
+<br />
+IX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Developments</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></span><br />
+<br />
+X.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Important Evidence</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Order Clerk</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Keys</span>   <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Howard Van Burnam</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Serious Admission</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Reluctant Witness</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i><a href="#BOOK_II">BOOK II.</a></i><br />
+<br />
+THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.<br />
+<br />
+XVI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Cogitations</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XVII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Butterworth Versus Gryce</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XVIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Little Pincushion</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XIX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Decided Step Forward</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Miss Butterworth's Theory</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Shrewd Conjecture</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Blank Card</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ruth Oliver</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXIV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A House of Cards</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXV.&mdash;"<span class="smcap">The Rings! Where Are the Rings</span>?"  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXVI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Tilt with Mr. Gryce</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXVII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Found</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXVIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Taken Aback</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i><a href="#BOOK_III">BOOK III.</a></i><br />
+<br />
+THE GIRL IN GRAY.<br />
+<br />
+XXIX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Amelia Becomes Peremptory</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Matter as Stated by Mr. Gryce</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Some Fine Work</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Iconoclasm</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXIII.&mdash;"<span class="smcap">Known, Known, All Known</span>" <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_321">321</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXIV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Exactly Half-Past Three</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_329">329</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Ruse</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<i><a href="#BOOK_IV">BOOK IV.</a></i><br />
+<br />
+THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.<br />
+<br />
+XXXVI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Result</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXVII.&mdash;"<span class="smcap">Two Weeks</span>!"  <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_345">345</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXVIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A White Satin Gown</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XXXIX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Watchful Eye</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_357">357</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XL.&mdash;<span class="smcap">As the Clock Struck</span><span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XLI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Secret History</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_368">368</a></span><br />
+<br />
+XLII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">With Miss Butterworth's Compliments</span> <span class="linenum"><a href="#Page_395">395</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THAT_AFFAIR_NEXT_DOOR" id="THAT_AFFAIR_NEXT_DOOR"></a>THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a><i>BOOK I.</i></h2>
+
+<h2>MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>I.</h2>
+
+<h3>A DISCOVERY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I am not an inquisitive woman, but when, in the middle of a certain warm
+night in September, I heard a carriage draw up at the adjoining house
+and stop, I could not resist the temptation of leaving my bed and taking
+a peep through the curtains of my window.</p>
+
+<p>First: because the house was empty, or supposed to be so, the family
+still being, as I had every reason to believe, in Europe; and secondly:
+because, not being inquisitive, I often miss in my lonely and single
+life much that it would be both interesting and profitable for me to
+know.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily I made no such mistake this evening. I rose and looked out, and
+though I was far from realizing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> it at the time, took, by so doing, my
+first step in a course of inquiry which has ended&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>But it is too soon to speak of the end. Rather let me tell you what I
+saw when I parted the curtains of my window in Gramercy Park, on the
+night of September 17, 1895.</p>
+
+<p>Not much at first glance, only a common hack drawn up at the neighboring
+curb-stone. The lamp which is supposed to light our part of the block is
+some rods away on the opposite side of the street, so that I obtained
+but a shadowy glimpse of a young man and woman standing below me on the
+pavement. I could see, however, that the woman&mdash;and not the man&mdash;was
+putting money into the driver's hand. The next moment they were on the
+stoop of this long-closed house, and the coach rolled off.</p>
+
+<p>It was dark, as I have said, and I did not recognize the young
+people,&mdash;at least their figures were not familiar to me; but when, in
+another instant, I heard the click of a night-key, and saw them, after a
+rather tedious fumbling at the lock, disappear from the stoop, I took it
+for granted that the gentleman was Mr. Van Burnam's eldest son Franklin,
+and the lady some relative of the family; though why this, its most
+punctilious member, should bring a guest at so late an hour into a house
+devoid of everything necessary to make the least exacting visitor
+comfortable, was a mystery that I retired to bed to meditate upon.</p>
+
+<p>I did not succeed in solving it, however, and after some ten minutes had
+elapsed, I was settling myself again to sleep when I was re-aroused by a
+fresh sound from the quarter mentioned. The door I had so lately heard
+shut, opened again, and though I had to rush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> for it, I succeeded in
+getting to my window in time to catch a glimpse of the departing figure
+of the young man hurrying away towards Broadway. The young woman was not
+with him, and as I realized that he had left her behind him in the
+great, empty house, without apparent light and certainly without any
+companion, I began to question if this was like Franklin Van Burnam. Was
+it not more in keeping with the recklessness of his more easy-natured
+and less reliable brother, Howard, who, some two or three years back,
+had married a young wife of no very satisfactory antecedents, and who,
+as I had heard, had been ostracized by the family in consequence?</p>
+
+<p>Whichever of the two it was, he had certainly shown but little
+consideration for his companion, and thus thinking, I fell off to sleep
+just as the clock struck the half hour after midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning as soon as modesty would permit me to approach the window,
+I surveyed the neighboring house minutely. Not a blind was open, nor a
+shutter displaced. As I am an early riser, this did not disturb me at
+the time, but when after breakfast I looked again and still failed to
+detect any evidences of life in the great barren front beside me, I
+began to feel uneasy. But I did nothing till noon, when going into my
+rear garden and observing that the back windows of the Van Burnam house
+were as closely shuttered as the front, I became so anxious that I
+stopped the next policeman I saw going by, and telling him my
+suspicions, urged him to ring the bell.</p>
+
+<p>No answer followed the summons.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no one here," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Ring again!" I begged.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And he rang again but with no better result.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you see that the house is shut up?" he grumbled. "We have had
+orders to watch the place, but none to take the watch off."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a young woman inside," I insisted. "The more I think over last
+night's occurrence, the more I am convinced that the matter should be
+looked into."</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders and was moving away when we both observed a
+common-looking woman standing in front looking at us. She had a bundle
+in her hand, and her face, unnaturally ruddy though it was, had a scared
+look which was all the more remarkable from the fact that it was one of
+those wooden-like countenances which under ordinary circumstances are
+capable of but little expression. She was not a stranger to me; that is,
+I had seen her before in or about the house in which we were at that
+moment so interested; and not stopping to put any curb on my excitement,
+I rushed down to the pavement and accosted her.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" I asked. "Do you work for the Van Burnams, and do you
+know who the lady was who came here last night?"</p>
+
+<p>The poor woman, either startled by my sudden address or by my manner
+which may have been a little sharp, gave a quick bound backward, and was
+only deterred by the near presence of the policeman from attempting
+flight. As it was, she stood her ground, though the fiery flush, which
+made her face so noticeable, deepened till her cheeks and brow were
+scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>"I am the scrub-woman," she protested. "I have come to open the windows
+and air the house,"&mdash;ignoring my last question.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Is the family coming home?" the policeman asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; I think so," was her weak reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the keys?" I now demanded, seeing her fumbling in her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer; a sly look displaced the anxious one she had
+hitherto displayed, and she turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see what business it is of the neighbors," she muttered,
+throwing me a dissatisfied scowl over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"If you've got the keys, we will go in and see that things are all
+right," said the policeman, stopping her with a light touch.</p>
+
+<p>She trembled; I saw that she trembled, and naturally became excited.
+Something was wrong in the Van Burnam mansion, and I was going to be
+present at its discovery. But her next words cut my hopes short.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no objection to <i>your</i> going in," she said to the policeman,
+"but I will not give up my keys to <i>her</i>. What right has she in our
+house any way." And I thought I heard her murmur something about a
+meddlesome old maid.</p>
+
+<p>The look which I received from the policeman convinced me that my ears
+had not played me false.</p>
+
+<p>"The lady's right," he declared; and pushing by me quite
+disrespectfully, he led the way to the basement door, into which he and
+the so-called cleaner presently disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>I waited in front. I felt it to be my duty to do so. The various
+passers-by stopped an instant to stare at me before proceeding on their
+way, but I did not flinch from my post. Not till I had heard that the
+young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> woman whom I had seen enter these doors at midnight was well, and
+that her delay in opening the windows was entirely due to fashionable
+laziness, would I feel justified in returning to my own home and its
+affairs. But it took patience and some courage to remain there. Several
+minutes elapsed before I perceived the shutters in the third story open,
+and a still longer time before a window on the second floor flew up and
+the policeman looked out, only to meet my inquiring gaze and rapidly
+disappear again.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime three or four persons had stopped on the walk near me, the
+nucleus of a crowd which would not be long in collecting, and I was
+beginning to feel I was paying dearly for my virtuous resolution, when
+the front door burst violently open and we caught sight of the trembling
+form and shocked face of the scrub-woman.</p>
+
+<p>"She's dead!" she cried, "she's dead! Murder!" and would have said more
+had not the policeman pulled her back, with a growl which sounded very
+much like a suppressed oath.</p>
+
+<p>He would have shut the door upon me had I not been quicker than
+lightning. As it was, I got in before it slammed, and happily too; for
+just at that moment the house-cleaner, who had grown paler every
+instant, fell in a heap in the entry, and the policeman, who was not the
+man I would want about me in any trouble, seemed somewhat embarrassed by
+this new emergency, and let me lift the poor thing up and drag her
+farther into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>She had fainted, and should have had something done for her, but anxious
+though I always am to be of help where help is needed, I had no sooner
+got within range of the parlor door with my burden, than I beheld<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> a
+sight so terrifying that I involuntarily let the poor woman slip from my
+arms to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>In the darkness of a dim corner (for the room had no light save that
+which came through the doorway where I stood) lay the form of a woman
+under a fallen piece of furniture. Her skirts and distended arms alone
+were visible; but no one who saw the rigid outlines of her limbs could
+doubt for a moment that she was dead.</p>
+
+<p>At a sight so dreadful, and, in spite of all my apprehensions, so
+unexpected, I felt a sensation of sickness which in another moment might
+have ended in my fainting also, if I had not realized that it would
+never do for me to lose my wits in the presence of a man who had none
+too many of his own. So I shook off my momentary weakness, and turning
+to the policeman, who was hesitating between the unconscious figure of
+the woman outside the door and the dead form of the one within I cried
+sharply:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, man, to business! The woman inside there is dead, but this one is
+living. Fetch me a pitcher of water from below if you can, and then go
+for whatever assistance you need. I'll wait here and bring this woman
+to. She is a strong one, and it won't take long."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll stay here alone with that&mdash;&mdash;" he began.</p>
+
+<p>But I stopped him with a look of disdain.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I will stay here; why not? Is there anything in the dead to
+be afraid of? Save me from the living, and I undertake to save myself
+from the dead."</p>
+
+<p>But his face had grown very suspicious.</p>
+
+<p>"You go for the water," he cried. "And see here! Just call out for some
+one to telephone to Police Headquarters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> for the Coroner and a
+detective. I don't quit this room till one or the other of them comes."</p>
+
+<p>Smiling at a caution so very ill-timed, but abiding by my invariable
+rule of never arguing with a man unless I see some way of getting the
+better of him, I did what he bade me, though I hated dreadfully to leave
+the spot and its woful mystery, even for so short a time as was
+required.</p>
+
+<p>"Run up to the second story," he called out, as I passed by the
+prostrate figure of the cleaner. "Tell them what you want from the
+window, or we will have the whole street in here."</p>
+
+<p>So I ran up-stairs,&mdash;I had always wished to visit this house, but had
+never been encouraged to do so by the Misses Van Burnam,&mdash;and making my
+way into the front room, the door of which stood wide open, I rushed to
+the window and hailed the crowd, which by this time extended far out
+beyond the curb-stone.</p>
+
+<p>"An officer!" I called out, "a police officer! An accident has occurred
+and the man in charge here wants the Coroner and a detective from Police
+Headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's hurt?" "Is it a man?" "Is it a woman?" shouted up one or two; and
+"Let us in!" shouted others; but the sight of a boy rushing off to meet
+an advancing policeman satisfied me that help would soon be forthcoming,
+so I drew in my head and looked about me for the next necessity&mdash;water.</p>
+
+<p>I was in a lady's bed-chamber, probably that of the eldest Miss Van
+Burnam; but it was a bed-chamber which had not been occupied for some
+months, and naturally it lacked the very articles which would have been
+of assistance to me in the present emergency. No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> <i>eau de Cologne</i> on
+the bureau, no camphor on the mantel-shelf. But there was water in the
+pipes (something I had hardly hoped for), and a mug on the wash-stand;
+so I filled the mug and ran with it to the door, stumbling, as I did so,
+over some small object which I presently perceived to be a little round
+pin-cushion. Picking it up, for I hate anything like disorder, I placed
+it on a table near by, and continued on my way.</p>
+
+<p>The woman was still lying at the foot of the stairs. I dashed the water
+in her face and she immediately came to.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting up, she was about to open her lips when she checked herself; a
+fact which struck me as odd, though I did not allow my surprise to
+become apparent.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime I stole a glance into the parlor. The officer was standing
+where I had left him, looking down on the prostrate figure before him.</p>
+
+<p>There was no sign of feeling in his heavy countenance, and he had not
+opened a shutter, nor, so far as I could see, disarranged an object in
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>The mysterious character of the whole affair fascinated me in spite of
+myself, and leaving the now fully aroused woman in the hall, I was
+half-way across the parlor floor when the latter stopped me with a
+shrill cry:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't leave me! I have never seen anything before so horrible. The poor
+dear! The poor dear! Why don't he take those dreadful things off her?"</p>
+
+<p>She alluded not only to the piece of furniture which had fallen upon the
+prostrate woman, and which can best be described as a cabinet with
+closets below and shelves above, but to the various articles of
+<i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> which had tumbled from the shelves, and which now lay in
+broken pieces about her.</p>
+
+<p>"He will do so; they will do so very soon," I replied. "He is waiting
+for some one with more authority than himself; for the Coroner, if you
+know what that means."</p>
+
+<p>"But what if she's alive! Those things will crush her. Let us take them
+off. I'll help. I'm not too weak to help."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know who this person is?" I asked, for her voice had more
+feeling in it than I thought natural to the occasion, dreadful as it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>"I?" she repeated, her weak eyelids quivering for a moment as she tried
+to sustain my scrutiny. "How should I know? I came in with the policeman
+and haven't been any nearer than I now be. What makes you think I know
+anything about her? I'm only the scrub-woman, and don't even know the
+names of the family."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you seemed so very anxious," I explained, suspicious of her
+suspiciousness, which was of so sly and emphatic a character that it
+changed her whole bearing from one of fear to one of cunning in a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"And who wouldn't feel the like of that for a poor creature lying
+crushed under a heap of broken crockery!"</p>
+
+<p>Crockery! those Japanese vases worth hundreds of dollars! that ormulu
+clock and those Dresden figures which must have been more than a couple
+of centuries old!</p>
+
+<p>"It's a poor sense of duty that keeps a man standing dumb and staring
+like that, when with a lift<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> of his hand he could show us the like of
+her pretty face, and if it's dead she be or alive."</p>
+
+<p>As this burst of indignation was natural enough and not altogether
+uncalled for from the standpoint of humanity, I gave the woman a nod of
+approval, and wished I were a man myself that I might lift the heavy
+cabinet or whatever it was that lay upon the poor creature before us.
+But not being a man, and not judging it wise to irritate the one
+representative of that sex then present, I made no remark, but only took
+a few steps farther into the room, followed, as it afterwards appeared,
+by the scrub-woman.</p>
+
+<p>The Van Burnam parlors are separated by an open arch. It was to the
+right of this arch and in the corner opposite the doorway that the dead
+woman lay. Using my eyes, now that I was somewhat accustomed to the
+semi-darkness enveloping us, I noticed two or three facts which had
+hitherto escaped me. One was, that she lay on her back with her feet
+pointing towards the hall door, and another, that nowhere in the room,
+save in her immediate vicinity, were there to be seen any signs of
+struggle or disorder. All was as set and proper as in my own parlor when
+it has been undisturbed for any length of time by guests; and though I
+could not see far into the rooms beyond, they were to all appearance in
+an equally orderly condition.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the cleaner was trying to account for the overturned cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor dear! poor dear! she must have pulled it over on herself! But
+however did she get into the house? And what was she doing in this great
+empty place?"</p>
+
+<p>The policeman, to whom these remarks had evidently been addressed,
+growled out some unintelligible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> reply, and in her perplexity the woman
+turned towards me.</p>
+
+<p>But what could I say to her? I had my own private knowledge of the
+matter, but she was not one to confide in, so I stoically shook my head.
+Doubly disappointed, the poor thing shrank back, after looking first at
+the policeman and then at me in an odd, appealing way, difficult to
+understand. Then her eyes fell again on the dead girl at her feet, and
+being nearer now than before, she evidently saw something that startled
+her, for she sank on her knees with a little cry and began examining the
+girl's skirts.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you looking at there?" growled the policeman. "Get up, can't
+you! No one but the Coroner has right to lay hand on anything here."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm doing no harm," the woman protested, in an odd, shaking voice. "I
+only wanted to see what the poor thing had on. Some blue stuff, isn't
+it?" she asked me.</p>
+
+<p>"Blue serge," I answered; "store-made, but very good; must have come
+from Altman's or Stern's."</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I'm not used to sights like this," stammered the scrub-woman,
+stumbling awkwardly to her feet, and looking as if her few remaining
+wits had followed the rest on an endless vacation. "I&mdash;I think I shall
+have to go home." But she did not move.</p>
+
+<p>"The poor dear's young, isn't she?" she presently insinuated, with an
+odd catch in her voice that gave to the question an air of hesitation
+and doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she is younger than either you or myself," I deigned to reply.
+"Her narrow pointed shoes show she has not reached the years of
+discretion."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, so they do!" ejaculated the cleaner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> eagerly&mdash;too eagerly
+for perfect ingenuousness. "That's why I said 'Poor dear!' and spoke of
+her pretty face. I am sorry for young folks when they get into trouble,
+aint you? You and me might lie here and no one be much the worse for it,
+but a sweet lady like this&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>This was not very flattering to me, but I was prevented from rebuking
+her by a prolonged shout from the stoop without, as a rush was made
+against the front door, followed by a shrill peal of the bell.</p>
+
+<p>"Man from Headquarters," stolidly announced the policeman. "Open the
+door, ma'am; or step back into the further hall if you want me to do
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Such rudeness was uncalled for; but considering myself too important a
+witness to show feeling, I swallowed my indignation and proceeded with
+all my native dignity to the front door.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2>
+
+<h3>QUESTIONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I did so, I could catch the murmur of the crowd outside as it seethed
+forward at the first intimation of the door being opened; but my
+attention was not so distracted by it, loud as it sounded after the
+quiet of the shut-up house, that I failed to notice that the door had
+not been locked by the gentleman leaving the night before, and that,
+consequently, only the night latch was on. With a turn of the knob it
+opened, showing me the mob of shouting boys and the forms of two
+gentlemen awaiting admittance on the door-step. I frowned at the mob and
+smiled on the gentlemen, one of whom was portly and easy-going in
+appearance, and the other spare, with a touch of severity in his aspect.
+But for some reason these gentlemen did not seem to appreciate the honor
+I had done them, for they both gave me a displeased glance, which was so
+odd and unsympathetic in its character that I bridled a little, though I
+soon returned to my natural manner. Did they realize at the first glance
+that I was destined to prove a thorn in the sides of every one connected
+with this matter, for days to come?</p>
+
+<p>"Are you the woman who called from the window?" asked the larger of the
+two, whose business here I found it difficult at first to determine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am," was my perfectly self-possessed reply. "I live next door and my
+presence here is due to the anxious interest I always take in my
+neighbors. I had reason to think that all was not as it should be in
+this house, and I was right. Look in the parlor, sirs."</p>
+
+<p>They were already as far as the threshold of that room and needed no
+further encouragement to enter. The heavier man went first and the other
+followed, and you may be sure I was not far behind. The sight meeting
+our eyes was ghastly enough, as you know; but these men were evidently
+accustomed to ghastly sights, for they showed but little emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought this house was empty," observed the second gentleman, who was
+evidently a doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"So it was till last night," I put in; and was about to tell my story,
+when I felt my skirts jerked.</p>
+
+<p>Turning, I found that this warning had come from the cleaner who stood
+close beside me.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" I asked, not understanding her and having nothing to
+conceal.</p>
+
+<p>"I?" she faltered, with a frightened air. "Nothing, ma'am, nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Then don't interrupt me," I harshly admonished her, annoyed at an
+interference that tended to throw suspicion upon my candor. "This woman
+came here to scrub and clean," I now explained; "it was by means of the
+key she carried that we were enabled to get into the house. I never
+spoke to her till a half hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>At which, with a display of subtlety I was far from expecting in one of
+her appearance, she let her emotions take a fresh direction, and
+pointing towards the dead woman, she impetuously cried:</p>
+
+<p>"But the poor child there! Aint you going to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> take those things off of
+her? It's wicked to leave her under all that stuff. Suppose there was
+life in her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! there's no hope of that," muttered the doctor, lifting one of the
+hands, and letting it fall again.</p>
+
+<p>"Still&mdash;" he cast a side look at his companion, who gave him a meaning
+nod&mdash;"it might be well enough to lift this cabinet sufficiently for me
+to lay my hand on her heart."</p>
+
+<p>They accordingly did this; and the doctor, leaning down, placed his hand
+over the poor bruised breast.</p>
+
+<p>"No life," he murmured. "She has been dead some hours. Do you think we
+had better release the head?" he went on, glancing up at the portly man
+at his side.</p>
+
+<p>But the latter, who was rapidly growing serious, made a slight protest
+with his finger, and turning to me, inquired, with sudden authority:</p>
+
+<p>"What did you mean when you said that the house had been empty till last
+night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I said, sir. It was empty till about midnight, when two
+persons&mdash;&mdash;" Again I felt my dress twitched, this time very cautiously.
+What did the woman want? Not daring to give her a look, for these men
+were only too ready to detect harm in everything I did, I gently drew my
+skirt away and took a step aside, going on as if no interruption had
+occurred. "Did I say persons? I should have said a man and a woman drove
+up to the house and entered. I saw them from my window."</p>
+
+<p>"You did?" murmured my interlocutor, whom I had by this time decided to
+be a detective. "And this is the woman, I suppose?" he proceeded,
+pointing to the poor creature lying before us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, of course. Who else can she be? I did not see the lady's face
+last night, but she was young and light on her feet, and ran up the
+stoop gaily."</p>
+
+<p>"And the man? Where is the man? I don't see him here."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not surprised at that. He went very soon after he came, not ten
+minutes after, I should say. That is what alarmed me and caused me to
+have the house investigated. It did not seem natural or like any of the
+Van Burnams to leave a woman to spend the night in so large a house
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>"You know the Van Burnams?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not well. But that don't signify. I know what report says of them; they
+are gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"But Mr. Van Burnam is in Europe."</p>
+
+<p>"He has two sons."</p>
+
+<p>"Living here?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; the unmarried one spends his nights at Long Branch, and the other
+is with his wife somewhere in Connecticut."</p>
+
+<p>"How did the young couple you saw get in last night? Was there any one
+here to admit them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; the gentleman had a key."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he had a key."</p>
+
+<p>The tone in which this was said recurred to me afterwards, but at the
+moment I was much more impressed by a peculiar sound I heard behind me,
+something between a gasp and a click in the throat, which came I knew
+from the scrub-woman, and which, odd and contradictory as it may appear,
+struck me as an expression of satisfaction, though what there was in my
+admission to give satisfaction to this poor creature I could not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+conjecture. Moving so as to get a glimpse of her face, I went on with
+the grim self-possession natural to my character:</p>
+
+<p>"And when he came out he walked briskly away. The carriage had not
+waited for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" again muttered the gentleman, picking up one of the broken pieces
+of china which lay haphazard about the floor, while I studied the
+cleaner's face, which, to my amazement, gave evidences of a confusion of
+emotions most unaccountable to me.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce may have noticed this too, for he immediately addressed her,
+though he continued to look at the broken piece of china in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And how come you to be cleaning the house?" he asked. "Is the family
+coming home?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are, sir," she answered, hiding her emotion with great skill the
+moment she perceived attention directed to herself, and speaking with a
+sudden volubility that made us all stare. "They are expected any day. I
+didn't know it till yesterday&mdash;was it yesterday? No, the day
+before&mdash;when young Mr. Franklin&mdash;he is the oldest son, sir, and a very
+nice man, a <i>very</i> nice man&mdash;sent me word by letter that I was to get
+the house ready. It isn't the first time I have done it for them, sir,
+and as soon as I could get the basement key from the agent, I came here,
+and worked all day yesterday, washing up the floors and dusting. I
+should have been at them again this morning if my husband hadn't been
+sick. But I had to go to the infirmary for medicine, and it was noon
+when I got here, and then I found this lady standing outside with a
+policeman, a very nice lady, a very <i>nice</i> lady indeed, sir, I pay my
+respects to her"&mdash;and she actually dropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> me a curtsey like a peasant
+woman in a play&mdash;"and they took my key from me, and the policeman opens
+the door, and he and me go upstairs and into all the rooms, and when we
+come to this one&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was getting so excited as to be hardly intelligible. Stopping
+herself with a jerk, she fumbled nervously with her apron, while I asked
+myself how she could have been at work in this house the day before
+without my knowing it. Suddenly I remembered that I was ill in the
+morning and busy in the afternoon at the Orphan Asylum, and somewhat
+relieved at finding so excellent an excuse for my ignorance, I looked up
+to see if the detective had noticed anything odd in this woman's
+behavior. Presumably he had, but having more experience than myself with
+the susceptibility of ignorant persons in the presence of danger and
+distress, he attached less importance to it than I did, for which I was
+secretly glad, without exactly knowing my reasons for being so.</p>
+
+<p>"You will be wanted as a witness by the Coroner's jury," he now remarked
+to her, looking as if he were addressing the piece of china he was
+turning over in his hand. "Now, no nonsense!" he protested, as she
+commenced to tremble and plead. "You were the first one to see this dead
+woman, and you must be on hand to say so. As I cannot tell you when the
+inquest will be held, you had better stay around till the Coroner comes.
+He'll be here soon. You, and this other woman too."</p>
+
+<p>By other woman he meant <i>me</i>, Miss Butterworth, of Colonial ancestry and
+no inconsiderable importance in the social world. But though I did not
+relish this careless association of myself with this poor scrub-woman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+I was careful to show no displeasure, for I reasoned that as witnesses
+we were equal before the law, and that it was solely in this light he
+regarded us.</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the manner of both these gentlemen which
+convinced me that while my presence was considered desirable in the
+house, it was not especially wanted in the room. I was therefore moving
+reluctantly away, when I felt a slight but peremptory touch on the arm,
+and turning, saw the detective at my side, still studying his piece of
+china.</p>
+
+<p>He was, as I have said, of portly build and benevolent aspect; a
+fatherly-looking man, and not at all the person one would be likely to
+associate with the police. Yet he could take the lead very naturally,
+and when he spoke, I felt bound to answer him.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you be so good, madam, as to relate over again, what you saw from
+your window last night? I am likely to have charge of this matter, and
+would be pleased to hear all you may have to say concerning it."</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Butterworth," I politely intimated.</p>
+
+<p>"And my name is Gryce."</p>
+
+<p>"A detective?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same."</p>
+
+<p>"You must think this matter very serious," I ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"Death by violence is always serious."</p>
+
+<p>"You must regard this death as something more than an accident, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>His smile seemed to say: "You will not know to-day how I regard it."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not know to-day what I think of it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> either," was my inward
+rejoinder, but I said nothing aloud, for the man was seventy-five if he
+was a day, and I have been taught respect for age, and have practised
+the same for fifty years and more.</p>
+
+<p>I must have shown what was passing in my mind, and he must have seen it
+reflected on the polished surface of the porcelain he was contemplating,
+for his lips showed the shadow of a smile sufficiently sarcastic for me
+to see that he was far from being as easy-natured as his countenance
+indicated.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come," said he, "there is the Coroner now. Say what you have to
+say, like the straightforward, honest woman you appear."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like compliments," I snapped out. Indeed, they have always been
+obnoxious to me. As if there was any merit in being honest and
+straightforward, or any distinction in being told so!</p>
+
+<p>"I am Miss Butterworth, and not in the habit of being spoken to as if I
+were a simple countrywoman," I objected. "But I will repeat what I saw
+last night, as it is no secret, and the telling of it won't hurt me and
+may help you."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly I went over the whole story, and was much more loquacious
+than I had intended to be, his manner was so insinuating and his
+inquiries so pertinent. But one topic we both failed to broach, and that
+was the peculiar manner of the scrub-woman. Perhaps it had not struck
+him as peculiar and perhaps it should not have struck me so, but in the
+silence which was preserved on the subject I felt I had acquired an
+advantage over him, which might lead to consequences of no small
+importance. Would I have felt thus or congratulated myself quite so much
+upon my fancied superiority,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> if I had known he was the man who managed
+the Leavenworth case, and who in his early years had experienced that
+very wonderful adventure on the staircase of the Heart's Delight?
+Perhaps I would; for though I have had no adventures, I feel capable of
+them, and as for any peculiar acumen he may have shown in his long and
+eventful career, why that is a quality which others may share with him,
+as I hope to be able to prove before finishing these pages.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2>
+
+<h3>AMELIA DISCOVERS HERSELF.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is a small room at the extremity of the Van Burnam mansion. In
+this I took refuge after my interview with Mr. Gryce. As I picked out
+the chair which best suited me and settled myself for a comfortable
+communion with my own thoughts, I was astonished to find how much I was
+enjoying myself, notwithstanding the thousand and one duties awaiting me
+on the other side of the party-wall.</p>
+
+<p>Even this very solitude was welcome, for it gave me an opportunity to
+consider matters. I had not known up to this very hour that I had any
+special gifts. My father, who was a shrewd man of the old New England
+type, said more times than I am years old (which was not saying it as
+often as some may think) that Araminta (the name I was christened by,
+and the name you will find in the Bible record, though I sign myself
+Amelia, and insist upon being addressed as Amelia, being, as I hope, a
+sensible woman and not the piece of antiquated sentimentality suggested
+by the former cognomen)&mdash;that Araminta would live to make her mark;
+though in what capacity he never informed me, being, as I have observed,
+a shrewd man, and thus not likely to thoughtlessly commit himself.</p>
+
+<p>I now know he was right; my pretensions dating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> from the moment I found
+that this affair, at first glance so simple, and at the next so
+complicated, had aroused in me a fever of investigation which no
+reasoning could allay. Though I had other and more personal matters on
+my mind, my thoughts would rest nowhere but on the details of this
+tragedy; and having, as I thought, noticed some few facts in connection
+with it, from which conclusions might be drawn, I amused myself with
+jotting them down on the back of a disputed grocer's bill I happened to
+find in my pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Valueless as explaining this tragedy, being founded upon insufficient
+evidence, they may be interesting as showing the workings of my mind
+even at this early stage of the matter. They were drawn up under three
+heads.</p>
+
+<p>First, was the death of this young woman an accident?</p>
+
+<p>Second, was it a suicide?</p>
+
+<p>Third, was it a murder?</p>
+
+<p>Under the first head I wrote:</p>
+
+<p><i>My reasons for not thinking it an accident.</i></p>
+
+<p>1. If it had been an accident and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself, she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood.</p>
+
+<p>(But her feet were towards the door and her head under the cabinet.)</p>
+
+<p>2. The decent, even precise, arrangement of the clothing about her feet,
+which precludes any theory involving accident.</p>
+
+<p>Under the second:</p>
+
+<p><i>Reason for not thinking it suicide.</i></p>
+
+<p>She could not have been found in the position observed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> without having
+lain down on the floor while living and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself.</p>
+
+<p>(A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)</p>
+
+<p>Under the third:</p>
+
+<p><i>Reason for not thinking it murder.</i></p>
+
+<p>She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her; something which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet made appear impossible.</p>
+
+<p>To this I added:</p>
+
+<p><i>Reasons for accepting the theory of murder.</i></p>
+
+<p>1. The fact that she did not go into the house alone; that a man entered
+with her, remained ten minutes, and then came out again and disappeared
+up the street with every appearance of haste and an anxious desire to
+leave the spot.</p>
+
+<p>2. The front door, which he had unlocked on entering, was not locked by
+him on his departure, the catch doing the locking. Yet, though he could
+have re-entered so easily, he had shown no disposition to return.</p>
+
+<p>3. The arrangement of the skirts, which show the touch of a careful hand
+after death.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing clear, you see. I was doubtful of all; and yet my suspicions
+tended most toward murder.</p>
+
+<p>I had eaten my luncheon before interfering in this matter, which was
+fortunate for me, as it was three o'clock before I was summoned to meet
+the Coroner, of whose arrival I had been conscious some time before.</p>
+
+<p>He was in the front parlor where the dead girl lay, and as I took my way
+thither I felt the same sensations of faintness which had so nearly
+overcome me on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> previous occasion. But I mastered them, and was
+quite myself before I crossed the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>There were several gentlemen present, but of them all I only noticed
+two, one of whom I took to be the Coroner, while the other was my late
+interlocutor, Mr. Gryce. From the animation observable in the latter, I
+gathered that the case was growing in interest from the detective
+standpoint.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, and is this the witness?" asked the Coroner, as I stepped into the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Miss Butterworth," was my calm reply. "<i>Amelia</i> Butterworth.
+Living next door and present at the discovery of this poor murdered
+body."</p>
+
+<p>"Murdered," he repeated. "Why do you say murdered?"</p>
+
+<p>For reply I drew from my pocket the bill on which I had scribbled my
+conclusions in regard to this matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Read this," said I.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently astonished, he took the paper from my hand, and, after some
+curious glances in my direction, condescended to do as I requested. The
+result was an odd but grudging look of admiration directed towards
+myself and a quick passing over of the paper to the detective.</p>
+
+<p>The latter, who had exchanged his bit of broken china for a very much
+used and tooth-marked lead-pencil, frowned with a whimsical air at the
+latter before he put it in his pocket. Then he read my hurried scrawl.</p>
+
+<p>"Two Richmonds in the field!" commented the Coroner, with a sly chuckle.
+"I am afraid I shall have to yield to their allied forces. Miss
+Butterworth, the cabinet is about to be raised; do you feel as if you
+could endure the sight?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can stand anything where the cause of justice is involved," I
+replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then, sit down, if you please. When the whole body is
+visible I will call you."</p>
+
+<p>And stepping forward he gave orders to have the clock and broken china
+removed from about the body.</p>
+
+<p>As the former was laid away on one end of the mantel some one observed:</p>
+
+<p>"What a valuable witness that clock might have been had it been running
+when the shelves fell!"</p>
+
+<p>But the fact was so patent that it had not been in motion for months
+that no one even answered; and Mr. Gryce did not so much as look towards
+it. But then we had all seen that the hands stood at three minutes to
+five.</p>
+
+<p>I had been asked to sit down, but I found this impossible. Side by side
+with the detective, I viewed the replacing of that heavy piece of
+furniture against the wall, and the slow disclosure of the upper part of
+the body which had so long lain hidden.</p>
+
+<p>That I did not give way is a proof that my father's prophecy was not
+without some reasonable foundation; for the sight was one to try the
+stoutest nerves, as well as to awaken the compassion of the hardest
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner, meeting my eye, pointed at the poor creature inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the woman you saw enter here last night?"</p>
+
+<p>I glanced down at her dress, noted the short summer cape tied to the
+neck with an elaborate bow of ribbon, and nodded my head.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember the cape," said I. "But where is her hat? She wore one. Let
+me see if I can describe it." Closing my eyes I endeavored to recall
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> dim silhouette of her figure as she stood passing up the change to
+the driver; and was so far successful that I was ready to announce at
+the next moment that her hat presented the effect of a soft felt with
+one feather or one bow of ribbon standing upright from the side of the
+crown.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the identity of this woman with the one you saw enter here last
+night is established," remarked the detective, stooping down and drawing
+from under the poor girl's body a hat, sufficiently like the one I had
+just described, to satisfy everybody that it was the same.</p>
+
+<p>"As if there could be any doubt," I began.</p>
+
+<p>But the Coroner, explaining that it was a mere formality, motioned me to
+stand aside in favor of the doctor, who seemed anxious to approach
+nearer the spot where the dead woman lay. This I was about to do when a
+sudden thought struck me, and I reached out my hand for the hat.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me look at it for a moment," said I.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce at once handed it over, and I took a good look at it inside
+and out.</p>
+
+<p>"It is pretty badly crushed," I observed, "and does not present a very
+fresh appearance, but for all that it has been worn but once."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?" questioned the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the other Richmond inform you," was my grimly uttered reply, as I
+gave it again into the detective's hand.</p>
+
+<p>There was a murmur about me, whether of amusement or displeasure, I made
+no effort to decide. I was finding out something for myself, and I did
+not care what they thought of me.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither has she worn this dress long," I continued;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> "but that is not
+true of the shoes. They are not old, but they have been acquainted with
+the pavement, and that is more than can be said of the hem of this gown.
+There are no gloves on her hands; a few minutes elapsed then before the
+assault; long enough for her to take them off."</p>
+
+<p>"Smart woman!" whispered a voice in my ear; a half-admiring,
+half-sarcastic voice that I had no difficulty in ascribing to Mr. Gryce.
+"But are you sure she wore any? Did you notice that her hand was gloved
+when she came into the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," I answered, frankly; "but so well-dressed a woman would not enter
+a house like this, without gloves."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a warm night," some one suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care. You will find her gloves as you have her hat; and you
+will find them with the fingers turned inside out, just as she drew them
+from her hand. So much I will concede to the warmth of the weather."</p>
+
+<p>"Like these, for instance," broke in a quiet voice.</p>
+
+<p>Startled, for a hand had appeared over my shoulder dangling a pair of
+gloves before my eyes, I cried out, somewhat too triumphantly I own:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, just like those! Did you pick them up here? Are they hers?"</p>
+
+<p>"You say that this is the way hers should look."</p>
+
+<p>"And I repeat it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then allow me to pay you my compliments. These were picked up here."</p>
+
+<p>"But where?" I cried. "I thought I had looked this carpet well over."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled, not at me but at the gloves, and the thought crossed me that
+he felt as if something more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> than the gloves was being turned inside
+out. I therefore pursed my mouth, and determined to stand more on my
+guard.</p>
+
+<p>"It is of no consequence," I assured him; "all such matters will come
+out at the inquest."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce nodded, and put the gloves back in his pocket. With them he
+seemed to pocket some of his geniality and patience.</p>
+
+<p>"All these facts have been gone over before you came in," said he, which
+statement I beg to consider as open to doubt.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor, who had hardly moved a muscle during all this colloquy, now
+rose from his kneeling position beside the girl's head.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to ask the presence of another physician," said he. "Will
+you send for one from your office, Coroner Dahl?"</p>
+
+<p>At which I stepped back and the Coroner stepped forward, saying,
+however, as he passed me:</p>
+
+<p>"The inquest will be held day after to-morrow in my office. Hold
+yourself in readiness to be present. I regard you as one of my chief
+witnesses."</p>
+
+<p>I assured him I would be on hand, and, obeying a gesture of his finger,
+retreated from the room; but I did not yet leave the house. A straight,
+slim man, with a very small head but a very bright eye, was leaning on
+the newel-post in the front hall, and when he saw me, started up so
+alertly I perceived that he had business with me, and so waited for him
+to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"You are Miss Butterworth?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And I am a reporter from the New York <i>World</i>. Will you allow me&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Why did he stop? I had merely looked at him. But he did stop, and that
+is saying considerable for a reporter from the New York <i>World</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly am willing to tell you what I have told every one else," I
+interposed, considering it better not to make an enemy of so judicious a
+young man; and seeing him brighten up at this, I thereupon related all I
+considered desirable for the general public to know.</p>
+
+<p>I was about passing on, when, reflecting that one good turn deserves
+another, I paused and asked him if he thought they would leave the dead
+girl in that house all night.</p>
+
+<p>He answered that he did not think they would. That a telegram had been
+sent some time before to young Mr. Van Burnam, and that they were only
+awaiting his arrival to remove her.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean Howard?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he the elder one?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the elder one they have summoned; the one who has been staying at
+Long Branch."</p>
+
+<p>"How can they expect him then so soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he is in the city. It seems the old gentleman is going to
+return on the <i>New York</i>, and as she is due here to-day, Franklin Van
+Burnam has come to New York to meet him."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" thought I, "lively times are in prospect," and for the first
+time I remembered my dinner and the orders which had not been given
+about some curtains which were to have been hung that day, and all the
+other reasons I had for being at home.</p>
+
+<p>I must have shown my feelings, much as I pride myself upon my
+impassibility upon all occasions, for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> immediately held out his arm,
+with an offer to pilot me through the crowd to my own house; and I was
+about to accept it when the door-bell rang so sharply that we
+involuntarily stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"A fresh witness or a telegram for the Coroner," whispered the reporter
+in my ear.</p>
+
+<p>I tried to look indifferent, and doubtless made out pretty well, for he
+added, after a sly look in my face:</p>
+
+<p>"You do not care to stay any longer?"</p>
+
+<p>I made no reply, but I think he was impressed by my dignity. Could he
+not see that it would be the height of ill-manners for me to rush out in
+the face of any one coming in?</p>
+
+<p>An officer opened the door, and when we saw who stood there, I am sure
+that the reporter, as well as myself, was grateful that we listened to
+the dictates of politeness. It was young Mr. Van Burnam&mdash;Franklin; I
+mean the older and more respectable of the two sons.</p>
+
+<p>He was flushed and agitated, and looked as if he would like to
+annihilate the crowd pushing him about on his own stoop. He gave an
+angry glance backward as he stepped in, and then I saw that a carriage
+covered with baggage stood on the other side of the street, and gathered
+that he had not returned to his father's house alone.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened? What does all this mean?" were the words he hurled
+at us as the door closed behind him and he found himself face to face
+with a half dozen strangers, among whom the reporter and myself stood
+conspicuous.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce, coming suddenly from somewhere, was the one to answer him.</p>
+
+<p>"A painful occurrence, sir. A young girl has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> found here, dead,
+crushed under one of your parlor cabinets."</p>
+
+<p>"A young girl!" he repeated. (Oh, how glad I was that I had been brought
+up never to transgress the principles of politeness.) "Here! in this
+shut-up house? What young girl? You mean old woman, do you not? the
+house-cleaner or some one&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Van Burnam, we mean what we say, though possibly I should call
+her a young lady. She is dressed quite fashionably."</p>
+
+<p>"The &mdash;&mdash;" Really I cannot repeat in this public manner the word which
+Mr. Van Burnam used. I excused him at the time, but I will not
+perpetuate his forgetfulness in these pages.</p>
+
+<p>"She is still lying as we found her," Mr. Gryce now proceeded in his
+quiet, almost fatherly way. "Will you not take a look at her? Perhaps
+you can tell us who she is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I?" Mr. Van Burnam seemed quite shocked. "How should I know her! Some
+thief probably, killed while meddling with other people's property."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," quoth Mr. Gryce, laconically; at which I felt so angry, as
+tending to mislead my handsome young neighbor, that I irresistibly did
+what I had fully made up my mind not to do, that is, stepped into view
+and took a part in this conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you say that," I cried, "when her admittance here was due to a
+young man who let her in at midnight with a key, and then left her to
+eat out her heart in this great house all alone."</p>
+
+<p>I have made sensations in my life, but never quite so marked a one as
+this. In an instant every eye was on me, with the exception of the
+detective's. His was on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> the figure crowning the newel-post, and
+bitterly severe his gaze was too, though it immediately grew wary as the
+young man started towards me and impetuously demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"Who talks like that? Why, it's Miss Butterworth. Madam, I fear I did
+not fully understand what you said."</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon I repeated my words, this time very quietly but clearly, while
+Mr. Gryce continued to frown at the bronze figure he had taken into his
+confidence. When I had finished, Mr. Van Burnam's countenance had
+changed, so had his manner. He held himself as erect as before, but not
+with as much bravado. He showed haste and impatience also, but not the
+same kind of haste and not quite the same kind of impatience. The
+corners of Mr. Gryce's mouth betrayed that he noted this change, but he
+did not turn away from the newel-post.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a remarkable circumstance which you have just told me,"
+observed Mr. Van Burnam, with the first bow I had ever received from
+him. "I don't know what to think of it. But I still hold that it's some
+thief. Killed, did you say? Really dead? Well, I'd have given five
+hundred dollars not to have had it happen in this house."</p>
+
+<p>He had been moving towards the parlor door, and he now entered it.
+Instantly Mr. Gryce was by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they going to close the door?" I whispered to the reporter, who was
+taking this all in equally with myself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid so," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>And they did. Mr. Gryce had evidently had enough of my interference, and
+was resolved to shut me out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> but I heard one word and caught one
+glimpse of Mr. Van Burnam's face before the heavy door fell to. The word
+was: "Oh, so bad as that! How can any one recognize her&mdash;&mdash;" And the
+glimpse&mdash;well, the glimpse proved to me that he was much more profoundly
+agitated than he wished to appear, and any extraordinary agitation on
+his part was certainly in direct contradiction to the very sentence he
+was at that moment uttering.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>SILAS VAN BURNAM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"However much I may be needed at home, I cannot reconcile it with my
+sense of duty to leave just yet," I confided to the reporter, with what
+I meant to be a proper show of reason and self-restraint; "Mr. Van
+Burnam may wish to ask me some questions."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, of course," acquiesced the other. "You are very right;
+always are very right, I should judge."</p>
+
+<p>As I did not know what he meant by this, I frowned, always a wise thing
+to do in an uncertainty; that is,&mdash;if one wishes to maintain an air of
+independence and aversion to flattery.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you not sit down?" he suggested. "There is a chair at the end of
+the hall."</p>
+
+<p>But I had no need to sit. The front door-bell again rang, and
+simultaneously with its opening, the parlor door unclosed and Mr.
+Franklin Van Burnam appeared in the hall, just as Mr. Silas Van Burnam,
+his father, stepped into the vestibule.</p>
+
+<p>"Father!" he remonstrated, with a troubled air; "could you not wait?"</p>
+
+<p>The elder gentleman, who had evidently just been driven up from the
+steamer, wiped his forehead with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> irascible air, that I will say I
+had noticed in him before and on much less provocation.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, with a yelling crowd screaming murder in my ear, and Isabella on
+one side of me calling for salts, and Caroline on the opposite seat
+getting that blue look about the mouth we have learned to dread so in a
+hot day like this? No, sir, when there is anything wrong going on I want
+to know it, and evidently there is something wrong going on here. What
+is it? Some of Howard's&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the son, seizing me by the hand and drawing me forward, put a quick
+stop to the old gentleman's sentence. "Miss Butterworth, father! Our
+next-door neighbor, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! hum! ha! Miss Butterworth. How do you do, ma'am? What the &mdash;&mdash; is
+she doing here?" he grumbled, not so low but that I heard both the
+profanity and the none too complimentary allusion to myself.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will come into the parlor, I will tell you," urged the son. "But
+what have you done with Isabella and Caroline? Left them in the carriage
+with that hooting mob about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told the coachman to drive on. They are probably half-way around the
+block by this time."</p>
+
+<p>"Then come in here. But don't allow yourself to be too much affected by
+what you will see. A sad accident has occurred here, and you must expect
+the sight of blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Blood! Oh, I can stand that, if Howard&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The rest was lost in the sound of the closing door.</p>
+
+<p>And now, you will say, I ought to have gone. And you are right, but
+would you have gone yourself, especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> as the hall was full of people
+who did not belong there?</p>
+
+<p>If you would, then condemn me for lingering just a few minutes longer.</p>
+
+<p>The voices in the parlor were loud, but they presently subsided; and
+when the owner of the house came out again, he had a subdued look which
+was as great a contrast to his angry aspect on entering, as was the
+change I had observed in his son. He was so absorbed indeed that he did
+not notice me, though I stood directly in his way.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let Howard come," he was saying in a thick, low voice to his son.
+"Keep Howard away till we are sure&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I am confident that his son pressed his arm at this point, for he
+stopped short and looked about him in a blind and dazed way.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" he ejaculated, in a tone of great displeasure. "This is the woman
+who saw&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Butterworth, father," the anxious voice of his son broke in.
+"Don't try to talk; such a sight is enough to unnerve any man."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," blustered the old gentleman, evidently taking some hint from
+the other's tone or manner. "But where are the girls? They will be dead
+with terror, if we don't relieve their minds. They got the idea it was
+their brother Howard who was hurt; and so did I, but it's only some
+wandering waif&mdash;some&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if he was not to be allowed to finish any of his sentences,
+for Franklin interrupted him at this point to ask him what he was going
+to do with the girls. Certainly he could not bring them in here.</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered the father, but in the dreamy, inconsequential<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> way of
+one whose thoughts were elsewhere. "I suppose I shall have to take them
+to some hotel."</p>
+
+<p>Ah, an idea! I flushed as I realized the opportunity which had come to
+me and had to wait a moment not to speak with too much eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me play the part of a neighbor," I prayed, "and accommodate the
+young ladies for the night. My house is near and quiet."</p>
+
+<p>"But the trouble it will involve," protested Mr. Franklin.</p>
+
+<p>"Is just what I need to allay my excitement," I responded. "I shall be
+glad to offer them rooms for the night. If they are equally glad to
+accept them&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They must be!" the old gentleman declared. "I can't go running round
+with them hunting up rooms to-night. Miss Butterworth is very good; go
+find the girls, Franklin; let me have them off my mind, at least."</p>
+
+<p>The young man bowed. I bowed, and was slipping at last from my place by
+the stairs when, for the third time, I felt my dress twitched.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to keep to that story?" a voice whispered in my ear.
+"About the young man and woman coming in the night, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep to it!" I whispered back, recognizing the scrub-woman, who had
+sidled up to me from some unknown quarter in the semi-darkness. "Why,
+it's true. Why shouldn't I keep to it."</p>
+
+<p>A chuckle, difficult to describe but full of meaning, shook the arm of
+the woman as she pressed close to my side.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are a good one," she said. "I didn't know they made 'em so
+good!" And with another chuckle full of satisfaction and an odd sort of
+admiration I had certainly not earned, she slid away again into the
+darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly there was something in this woman's attitude towards this
+affair which merited attention.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THIS IS NO ONE I KNOW."</h3>
+
+
+<p>I welcomed the Misses Van Burnam with just enough good-will to show that
+I had not been influenced by any unworthy motives in asking them to my
+house.</p>
+
+<p>I gave them my guest-chamber, but I invited them to sit in my front room
+as long as there was anything interesting going on in the street. I knew
+they would like to look out, and as this chamber boasts of a bay with
+two windows, we could all be accommodated. From where I sat I could now
+and then hear what they said, and I considered this but just, for if the
+young woman who had suffered so untimely an end was in any way connected
+with them, it was certainly best that the fact should not lie concealed;
+and one of them, that is Isabella, is such a chatterbox.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Burnam and his son had returned next door, and so far as we
+could observe from our vantage-point, preparations were being made for
+the body's removal. As the crowd below, driven away by the policemen one
+minute, only to collect again in another, swayed and grumbled in a
+continual expectation that was as continually disappointed, I heard
+Caroline's voice rise in two or three short sentences.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't find Howard, or he would have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> here before now. Did you
+see her that time when we were coming out of Clark's? Fanny Preston did,
+and said she was pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't get a glimpse&mdash;&mdash;" A shout from the street below.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't believe it," were the next words I heard, "but Franklin is
+awfully afraid&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! or the ogress&mdash;&mdash;" I am sure I heard her say ogress; but what
+followed was drowned in another loud murmur, and I caught nothing
+further till these sentences were uttered by the trembling and
+over-excited Caroline: "If it is she, pa will never be the same man
+again. To have her die in our house! O, there's Howard now!"</p>
+
+<p>The interruption came quick and sharp, and it was followed by a double
+cry and an anxious rustle, as the two girls sprang to their feet in
+their anxiety to attract their brother's attention or possibly to convey
+him some warning.</p>
+
+<p>But I did not give much heed to them. My eyes were on the carriage in
+which Howard had arrived, and which, owing to the ambulance in front,
+had stopped on the other side of the way. I was anxious to see him
+descend that I might judge if his figure recalled that of the man I had
+seen cross the pavement the night before. But he did not descend. Just
+as his hand was on the carriage door, a half dozen men appeared on the
+adjoining stoop carrying a burden which they hastened to deposit in the
+ambulance. He sank back when he saw it, and when his face became visible
+again, it was so white it seemed to be the only face in the street,
+though fifty people stood about staring at the house, at the ambulance,
+and at him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Franklin Van Burnam had evidently come to the door with the rest; for
+Howard no sooner showed his face the second time than we saw the former
+dash down the steps and try to part the crowd in a vain attempt to reach
+his brother's side. Mr. Gryce was more successful. He had no difficulty
+in winning his way across the street, and presently I perceived him
+standing near the carriage exchanging a few words with its occupant. A
+moment later he drew back, and addressing the driver, jumped into the
+carriage with Howard, and was speedily driven off. The ambulance
+followed and some of the crowd, and as soon as a hack could be obtained,
+Mr. Van Burnam and his son took the same road, leaving us three women in
+a state of suspense, which as far as one of us was concerned, ended in a
+nervous attack that was not unlike heart failure. I allude, of course,
+to Caroline, and it took Isabella and myself a good half hour to bring
+her back to a normal condition, and when this was done, Isabella thought
+it incumbent upon her to go off into hysterics, which, being but a weak
+simulation of the other's state, I met with severity and cured with a
+frown. When both were in trim again I allowed myself one remark.</p>
+
+<p>"One would think," said I, "that you knew the young woman who has fallen
+victim to her folly next door."</p>
+
+<p>At which Isabella violently shook her head and Caroline observed:</p>
+
+<p>"It is the excitement which has been too much for me. I am never strong,
+and this is such a dreadful home-welcoming. When will father and
+Franklin come back? It was very unkind of them to go off without one
+word of encouragement."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They probably did not consider the fate of this unknown woman a matter
+of any importance to you."</p>
+
+<p>The Van Burnam girls were unlike in appearance and character, but they
+showed an equal embarrassment at this, casting down their eyes and
+behaving so strangely that I was driven to wonder, without any show of
+hysterics I am happy to say, what would be the upshot of this matter,
+and how far I would become involved in it before the truth came to
+light.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner they displayed what I should call their best society manner.
+Seeing this, I assumed my society manner also. It is formed on a
+different pattern from theirs, but is fully as impressive, I judge.</p>
+
+<p>A most formal meal was the result. My best china was in use, but I had
+added nothing to my usual course of viands. Indeed, I had abstracted
+something. An <i>entr&eacute;e</i>, upon which my cook prides herself, was omitted.
+Was I going to allow these proud young misses to think I had exerted
+myself to please them? No; rather would I have them consider me
+niggardly and an enemy to good living; so the <i>entr&eacute;e</i> was, as the
+French say, suppressed.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening their father came in. He was looking very dejected, and
+half his bluster was gone. He held a telegram crushed in his hand, and
+he talked very rapidly. But he confided none of his secrets to me, and I
+was obliged to say good-night to these young ladies without knowing much
+more about the matter engrossing us than when I left their house in the
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>But others were not as ignorant as myself. A dramatic and highly
+exciting scene had taken place that evening at the undertaker's to which
+the unknown's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> body had been removed, and as I have more than once heard
+it minutely described, I will endeavor to transcribe it here with all
+the impartiality of an outsider.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Gryce entered the carriage in which Howard sat, he noted first,
+that the young man was frightened; and secondly, that he made no effort
+to hide it. He had heard almost nothing from the detective. He knew that
+there had been a hue and cry for him ever since noon, and that he was
+wanted to identify a young woman who had been found dead in his father's
+house, but beyond these facts he had been told little, and yet he seemed
+to have no curiosity nor did he venture to express any surprise. He
+merely accepted the situation and was troubled by it, showing no
+inclination to talk till very near the end of his destination, when he
+suddenly pulled himself together and ventured this question:</p>
+
+<p>"How did she&mdash;the young woman as you call her&mdash;kill herself?"</p>
+
+<p>The detective, who in his long career among criminals and suspected
+persons, had seen many men and encountered many conditions, roused at
+this query with much of his old spirit. Turning from the man rather than
+toward him, he allowed himself a slight shrug of the shoulders as he
+calmly replied:</p>
+
+<p>"She was found under a heavy piece of furniture; the cabinet with the
+vases on it, which you must remember stood at the left of the
+mantel-piece. It had crushed her head and breast. Quite a remarkable
+means of death, don't you think? There has been but one occurrence like
+it in my long experience."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe what you tell me," was the young man's astonishing
+reply. "You are trying to frighten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> me or to make game of me. No lady
+would make use of any such means of death as that."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say she was a lady," returned Mr. Gryce, scoring one in his
+mind against his unwary companion.</p>
+
+<p>A quiver passed down the young man's side where he came in contact with
+the detective.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he muttered; "but I gathered from what you said, she was no common
+person; or why," he flashed out in sudden heat, "do you require me to go
+with you to see her? Have I the name of associating with any persons of
+the sex who are not ladies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said Mr. Gryce, in grim delight at the prospect he saw
+slowly unfolding before him of one of those complicated affairs in which
+minds like his unconsciously revel; "I meant no insinuations. We have
+requested you, as we have requested your father and brother, to
+accompany us to the undertaker's, because the identification of the
+corpse is a most important point, and every formality likely to insure
+it must be observed."</p>
+
+<p>"And did not they&mdash;my father and brother, I mean&mdash;recognize her?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be difficult for any one to recognize her who was not well
+acquainted with her."</p>
+
+<p>A horrified look crossed the features of Howard Van Burnam, which, if a
+part of his acting, showed him to have genius for his <i>r&ocirc;le</i>. His head
+sank back on the cushions of the carriage, and for a moment he closed
+his eyes. When he opened them again, the carriage had stopped, and Mr.
+Gryce, who had not noticed his emotion, of course, was looking out of
+the window with his hand on the handle of the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we there already?" asked the young man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> with a shudder. "I wish
+you had not considered it necessary for me to see her. I shall detect
+nothing familiar in her, I know."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce bowed, repeated that it was a mere formality, and followed the
+young gentleman into the building and afterwards into the room where the
+dead body lay. A couple of doctors and one or two officials stood about,
+in whose faces the young man sought for something like encouragement
+before casting his eyes in the direction indicated by the detective. But
+there was little in any of these faces to calm him, and turning shortly
+away, he walked manfully across the room and took his stand by the
+detective.</p>
+
+<p>"I am positive," he began, "that it is not my wife&mdash;&mdash;" At this moment
+the cloth that covered the body was removed, and he gave a great start
+of relief. "I said so," he remarked, coldly. "This is no one I know."</p>
+
+<p>His sigh was echoed in double chorus from the doorway. Glancing that way
+he encountered the faces of his father and elder brother, and moved
+towards them with a relieved air that made quite another man of him in
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had my say," he remarked. "Shall I wait outside till you have
+had yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have already said all that we had to," Franklin returned. "We
+declared that we did not recognize this person."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, of course," assented the other. "I don't see why they should
+have expected us to know her. Some common suicide who thought the house
+empty&mdash;But how did she get in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know?" said Mr. Gryce. "Can it be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> that I forgot to tell you?
+Why, she was let in at night by a young man of medium height"&mdash;his eye
+ran up and down the graceful figure of the young <i>&eacute;l&eacute;gant</i> before him as
+he spoke&mdash;"who left her inside and then went away. A young man who had a
+key&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A <i>key</i>? Franklin, I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Was it a look from Franklin which made him stop? It is possible, for he
+turned on his heel as he reached this point, and tossing his head with
+quite a gay air, exclaimed: "But it is of no consequence! The girl is a
+stranger, and we have satisfied, I believe, all the requirements of the
+law in saying so, and may now drop the matter. Are you going to the
+club, Franklin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but&mdash;&mdash;" Here the elder brother drew nearer and whispered
+something into the other's ear, who at that whisper turned again towards
+the place where the dead woman lay. Seeing this movement, his anxious
+father wiped the moisture from his forehead. Silas Van Burnam had been
+silent up to this moment and seemed inclined to continue so, but he
+watched his younger son with painful intentness.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" broke from Howard's lips as his brother ceased his
+communication; but he took a step nearer the body, notwithstanding, and
+then another and another till he was at its side again.</p>
+
+<p>The hands had not been injured, as we have said, and upon these his eyes
+now fell.</p>
+
+<p>"They are like hers! O God! they are like hers!" he muttered, growing
+gloomy at once. "But where are the rings? There are no rings to be seen
+on these fingers, and she wore five, including her wedding-ring."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Is it of your wife you are speaking?" inquired Mr. Gryce, who had edged
+up close to his side.</p>
+
+<p>The young man was caught unawares.</p>
+
+<p>He flushed deeply, but answered up boldly and with great appearance of
+candor:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; my wife left Haddam yesterday to come to New York, and I have not
+seen her since. Naturally I have felt some doubts lest this unhappy
+victim should be she. But I do not recognize her clothing; I do not
+recognize her form; only the hands look familiar."</p>
+
+<p>"And the hair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is of the same color as hers, but it's a very ordinary color. I do not
+dare to say from anything I see that this is my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"We will call you again after the doctor has finished his autopsy," said
+Mr. Gryce. "Perhaps you will hear from Mrs. Van Burnam before then."</p>
+
+<p>But this intimation did not seem to bring comfort with it. Mr. Van
+Burnam walked away, white and sick, for which display of emotion there
+was certainly some cause, and rejoining his father tried to carry off
+the moment with the <i>aplomb</i> of a man of the world.</p>
+
+<p>But that father's eye was fixed too steadily upon him; he faltered as he
+sat down, and finally spoke up, with feverish energy:</p>
+
+<p>"If it is she, so help me, God, her death is a mystery to me! We have
+quarrelled more than once lately, and I have sometimes lost my patience
+with her, but she had no reason to wish for death, and I am ready to
+swear in defiance of those hands, which are certainly like hers, and the
+nameless something which Franklin calls a likeness, that it is a
+stranger who lies there, and that her death in our house is a
+coincidence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, we will wait," was the detective's soothing reply. "Sit
+down in the room opposite there, and give me your orders for supper, and
+I will see that a good meal is served you."</p>
+
+<p>The three gentlemen, seeing no way of refusing, followed the discreet
+official who preceded them, and the door of the doctor's room closed
+upon him and the inquiries he was about to make.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>NEW FACTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Van Burnam and his sons had gone through the formality of a supper
+and were conversing in the haphazard way natural to men filled with a
+subject they dare not discuss, when the door opened and Mr. Gryce came
+in.</p>
+
+<p>Advancing very calmly, he addressed himself to the father:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry," said he, "to be obliged to inform you that this affair is
+much more serious than we anticipated. This young woman was dead before
+the shelves laden with <i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i> fell upon her. It is a case of
+murder; obviously so, or I should not presume to forestall the Coroner's
+jury in their verdict."</p>
+
+<p>Murder! it is a word to shake the stoutest heart!</p>
+
+<p>The older gentleman reeled as he half rose, and Franklin, his son,
+betrayed in his own way an almost equal amount of emotion. But Howard,
+shrugging his shoulders as if relieved of an immense weight, looked
+about with a cheerful air, and briskly cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is not the body of my wife you have there. No one would murder
+Louise. I shall go away and prove the truth of my words by hunting her
+up at once."</p>
+
+<p>The detective opened the door, beckoned in the doctor,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> who whispered
+two or three words into Howard's ear.</p>
+
+<p>They failed to awake the emotion he evidently expected. Howard looked
+surprised, but answered without any change of voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Louise had such a scar; and if it is true that this woman is
+similarly marked, then it is a mere coincidence. Nothing will convince
+me that my wife has been the victim of murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you not better take a look at the scar just mentioned?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I am so sure of what I say that I will not even consider the
+possibility of my being mistaken. I have examined the clothing on this
+body you have shown me, and not one article of it came from my wife's
+wardrobe; nor would my wife go, as you have informed me this woman did,
+into a dark house at night with any other man than her husband."</p>
+
+<p>"And so you absolutely refuse to acknowledge her."</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly."</p>
+
+<p>The detective paused, glanced at the troubled faces of the other two
+gentlemen, faces that had not perceptibly altered during these
+declarations, and suggestively remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"You have not asked by what means she was killed."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't care," shouted Howard.</p>
+
+<p>"It was by very peculiar means, also new in my experience."</p>
+
+<p>"It does not interest me," the other retorted.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce turned to his father and brother.</p>
+
+<p>"Does it interest <i>you</i>?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman, ordinarily so testy and so peremptory,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> silently
+nodded his head, while Franklin cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Speak up quick. You detectives hesitate so over the disagreeables. Was
+she throttled or stabbed with a knife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have said the means were peculiar. She was stabbed, but not&mdash;with a
+knife."</p>
+
+<p>I know Mr. Gryce well enough now to be sure that he did not glance
+towards Howard while saying this, and yet at the same time that he did
+not miss the quiver of a muscle on his part or the motion of an eyelash.
+But Howard's assumed <i>sang froid</i> remained undisturbed and his
+countenance imperturbable.</p>
+
+<p>"The wound was so small," the detective went on, "that it is a miracle
+it did not escape notice. It was made by the thrust of some very slender
+instrument through&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The heart?" put in Franklin.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, of course," assented the detective; "what other spot is
+vulnerable enough to cause death?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any reason why we should not go?" demanded Howard, ignoring
+the extreme interest manifested by the other two, with a determination
+that showed great doggedness of character.</p>
+
+<p>The detective ignored <i>him</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"A quick stroke, a sure stroke, a fatal stroke. The girl never breathed
+after."</p>
+
+<p>"But what of those things under which she lay crushed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, in them lies the mystery! Her assailant must have been as subtle as
+he was sure."</p>
+
+<p>And still Howard showed no interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish to telegraph to Haddam," he declared, as no one answered the
+last remark. Haddam was the place where he and his wife had been
+spending the summer.</p>
+
+<p>"We have already telegraphed there," observed Mr. Gryce. "Your wife has
+not yet returned."</p>
+
+<p>"There are other places," defiantly insisted the other. "I can find her
+if you give me the opportunity."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"I am to give orders, then, for this body to be removed to the Morgue."</p>
+
+<p>It was an unexpected suggestion, and for an instant Howard showed that
+he had feelings with the best. But he quickly recovered himself, and
+avoiding the anxious glances of his father and brother, answered with
+offensive lightness:</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing to do with that. You must do as you think proper."</p>
+
+<p>And Mr. Gryce felt that he had received a check, and did not know
+whether to admire the young man for his nerve or to execrate him for his
+brutality. That the woman whom he had thus carelessly dismissed to the
+ignominy of the public gaze was his wife, the detective did not doubt.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>MR. GRYCE DISCOVERS MISS AMELIA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>To return to my own observations. I was almost as ignorant of what I
+wanted to know at ten o'clock on that memorable night as I was at five,
+but I was determined not to remain so. When the two Misses Van Burnam
+had retired to their room, I slipped away to the neighboring house and
+boldly rang the bell. I had observed Mr. Gryce enter it a few minutes
+before, and I was resolved to have some talk with him.</p>
+
+<p>The hall-lamp was lit, and we could discern each other's faces as he
+opened the door. Mine may have been a study, but I am sure his was. He
+had not expected to be confronted by an elderly lady at that hour of
+night.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" he dryly ejaculated, "I am sensible of the honor, Miss
+Butterworth." But he did not ask me in.</p>
+
+<p>"I expected no less," said I. "I saw you come in, and I followed as soon
+after as I could. I have something to say to you."</p>
+
+<p>He admitted me then and carefully closed the door. Feeling free to be
+myself, I threw off the veil I had tied under my chin and confronted him
+with what I call the true spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Gryce," I began, "let us make an exchange of civilities. Tell me
+what you have done with Howard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> Van Burnam, and I will tell you what I
+have observed in the course of this afternoon's investigation."</p>
+
+<p>This aged detective is used to women, I have no doubt, but he is not
+used to <i>me</i>. I saw it by the way he turned over and over the spectacles
+he held in his hand. I made an effort to help him out.</p>
+
+<p>"I have noted something to-day which I think has escaped <i>you</i>. It is so
+slight a clue that most women would not speak of it. But being
+interested in the case, I will mention it, if in return you will
+acquaint me with what will appear in the papers to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to like it. He peered through his glasses and at them with the
+smile of a discoverer. "I am your very humble servant," he declared; and
+I felt as if my father's daughter had received her first recognition.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not overwhelm me with confidences. O, no, he is very sly,
+this old and well-seasoned detective; and while appearing to be very
+communicative, really parted with but little information. He said
+enough, however, for me to gather that matters looked grim for Howard,
+and if this was so, it must have become apparent that the death they
+were investigating was neither an accident nor a suicide.</p>
+
+<p>I hinted as much, and he, for his own ends no doubt, admitted at last
+that a wound had been found on the young woman which could not have been
+inflicted by herself; at which I felt such increased interest in this
+remarkable murder that I must have made some foolish display of it, for
+the wary old gentleman chuckled and ogled his spectacles quite lovingly
+before shutting them up and putting them into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"And now what have you to tell me?" he inquired, sliding softly between
+me and the parlor door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but this. Question that queer-acting house-cleaner closely. She
+has something to tell which it is your business to know."</p>
+
+<p>I think he was disappointed. He looked as if he regretted the spectacles
+he had pocketed, and when he spoke there was an edge to his tone I had
+not noticed in it before.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what that something is?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, or I should tell you myself."</p>
+
+<p>"And what makes you think she is hiding anything from us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Her manner. Did you not notice her manner?"</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"It conveyed much to me," I insisted. "If I were a detective I would
+have the secret out of that woman or die in the attempt."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed; this sly, old, almost decrepit man laughed outright. Then he
+looked severely at his old friend on the newel-post, and drawing himself
+up with some show of dignity, made this remark:</p>
+
+<p>"It is my very good fortune to have made your acquaintance, Miss
+Butterworth. You and I ought to be able to work out this case in a way
+that will be satisfactory to all parties."</p>
+
+<p>He meant it for sarcasm, but I took it quite seriously, that is to all
+appearance. I am as sly as he, and though not quite as old&mdash;now <i>I</i> am
+sarcastic&mdash;have some of his wits, if but little of his experience.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us to work," said I. "You have your theories about this
+murder, and I have mine; let us see how they compare."</p>
+
+<p>If the image he had under his eye had not been made of bronze, I am sure
+it would have become petrified by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the look he now gave it. What to me
+seemed but the natural proposition of an energetic woman with a special
+genius for his particular calling, evidently struck him as audacity of
+the grossest kind. But he confined his display of astonishment to the
+figure he was eying, and returned me nothing but this most gentlemanly
+retort:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I am obliged to you, madam, and possibly I may be willing to
+consider your very thoughtful proposition later, but now I am busy, very
+busy, and if you will await my presence in your house for a half
+hour&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not let me wait here," I interposed. "The atmosphere of the place
+may sharpen my faculties. I already feel that another sharp look into
+that parlor would lead to the forming of some valuable theory."</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;" Well, he did not say what I was, or rather, what the image he
+was apostrophizing, was. But he must have meant to utter a compliment of
+no common order.</p>
+
+<p>The prim courtesy I made in acknowledgment of his good intention
+satisfied him that I had understood him fully; and changing his whole
+manner to one more in accordance with business, he observed after a
+moment's reflection:</p>
+
+<p>"You came to a conclusion this afternoon, Miss Butterworth, for which I
+should like some explanation. In investigating the hat which had been
+drawn from under the murdered girl's remains, you made the remark that
+it had been worn but once. I had already come to the same conclusion,
+but by other means, doubtless. Will you tell me what it was that gave
+point to your assertion?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There was but one prick of a hat-pin in it," I observed. "If you have
+been in the habit of looking into young women's hats, you will
+appreciate the force of my remark."</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce!" was his certainly uncalled for exclamation. "Women's eyes
+for women's matters! I am greatly indebted to you, ma'am. You have
+solved a very important problem for us. A hat-pin! humph!" he muttered
+to himself. "The devil in a man is not easily balked; even such an
+innocent article as that can be made to serve, when all other means are
+lacking."</p>
+
+<p>It is perhaps a proof that Mr. Gryce is getting old, that he allowed
+these words to escape him. But having once given vent to them, he made
+no effort to retract them, but proceeded to take me into his confidence
+so far as to explain:</p>
+
+<p>"The woman who was killed in that room owed her death to the stab of a
+thin, long pin. We had not thought of a hat-pin, but upon your
+mentioning it, I am ready to accept it as the instrument of death. There
+was no pin to be seen in the hat when you looked at it?"</p>
+
+<p>"None. I examined it most carefully."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head and seemed to be meditating. As I had plenty of time I
+waited, expecting him to speak again. My patience seemed to impress him.
+Alternately raising and lowering his hands like one in the act of
+weighing something, he soon addressed me again, this time in a tone of
+banter:</p>
+
+<p>"This pin&mdash;if pin it was&mdash;was found broken in the wound. We have been
+searching for the end that was left in the murderer's hand, and we have
+not found it. It is not on the floors of the parlors nor in this
+hallway.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> What do you think the ingenious user of such an instrument
+would do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>This was said, I am now sure, out of a spirit of sarcasm. He was amusing
+himself with me, but I did not realize it then. I was too full of my
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>"He would not have carried it away," I reasoned shortly, "at least not
+far. He did not throw it aside on reaching the street, for I watched his
+movements so closely that I would have observed him had he done this. It
+is in the house then, and presumably in the parlor, even if you do not
+find it on the floor."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to look for it?" he impressively asked. I had no means
+of knowing at that time that when he was impressive he was his least
+candid and trustworthy self.</p>
+
+<p>"Would I," I repeated; and being spare in figure and much more active in
+my movements that one would suppose from my age and dignified
+deportment, I ducked under his arms and was in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor
+before he had recovered from his surprise.</p>
+
+<p>That a man like him could look foolish I would not have you for a moment
+suppose. But he did not look very well satisfied, and I had a chance to
+throw more than one glance around me before he found his tongue again.</p>
+
+<p>"An unfair advantage, ma'am; an unfair advantage! I am old and I am
+rheumatic; you are young and sound as a nut. I acknowledge my folly in
+endeavoring to compete with you and must make the best of the situation.
+And now, madam, where is that pin?"</p>
+
+<p>It was lightly said, but for all that I saw that my opportunity had
+come. If I could find this instrument of murder, what might I not expect
+from his gratitude.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> Nerving myself for the task thus set me, I peered
+hither and thither, taking in every article in the room before I made a
+step forward. There had been some attempt to rectify its disorder. The
+broken pieces of china had been lifted and laid carefully away on
+newspapers upon the shelves from which they had fallen. The cabinet
+stood upright in its place, and the clock which had tumbled face upward,
+had been placed upon the mantel shelf in the same position. The carpet
+was therefore free, save for the stains which told such a woful story of
+past tragedy and crime.</p>
+
+<p>"You have moved the tables and searched behind the sofas," I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Not an inch of the floor has escaped our attention, madam."</p>
+
+<p>My eyes fell on the register, which my skirts half covered. It was
+closed; I stooped and opened it. A square box of tin was visible below,
+at the bottom of which I perceived the round head of a broken hat-pin.</p>
+
+<p>Never in my life had I felt as I did at that minute. Rising up, I
+pointed at the register and let some of my triumph become apparent; but
+not all, for I was by no means sure at that moment, nor am I by any
+means sure now, that he had not made the discovery before I did and was
+simply testing my pretensions.</p>
+
+<p>However that may be, he came forward quickly and after some little
+effort drew out the broken pin and examined it curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that this is what we want," he declared, and from that
+moment on showed me a suitable deference.</p>
+
+<p>"I account for its being there in this way," I argued. "The room was
+dark; for whether he lighted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> it or not to commit his crime, he
+certainly did not leave it lighted long. Coming out, his foot came in
+contact with the iron of the register and he was struck by a sudden
+thought. He had not dared to leave the head of the pin lying on the
+floor, for he hoped that he had covered up his crime by pulling the
+heavy cabinet over upon his victim; nor did he wish to carry away such a
+memento of his cruel deed. So he dropped it down the register, where he
+doubtless expected it would fall into the furnace pipes out of sight.
+But the tin box retained it. Is not that plausible, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could not have reasoned better myself, madam. We shall have you on
+the force, yet."</p>
+
+<p>But at the familiarity shown by this suggestion, I bridled angrily. "I
+am Miss Butterworth," was my sharp retort, "and any interest I may take
+in this matter is due to my sense of justice."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that he had offended me, the astute detective turned the
+conversation back to business.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," said he, "your woman's knowledge can help me out at
+another point. If you are not afraid to remain in this room alone for a
+moment, I will bring an article in regard to which I should like your
+opinion."</p>
+
+<p>I assured him I was not in the least bit afraid, at which he made me
+another of his anomalous bows and passed into the adjoining parlor. He
+did not stop there. Opening the sliding-doors communicating with the
+dining-room beyond, he disappeared in the latter room, shutting the
+doors behind him. Being now alone for a moment on the scene of crime, I
+crossed over to the mantel-shelf, and lifted the clock that lay there.</p>
+
+<p>Why I did this I scarcely know. I am naturally very orderly (some people
+call me precise) and it probably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> fretted me to see so valuable an
+object out of its natural position. However that was, I lifted it up and
+set it upright, when to my amazement it began to tick. Had the hands not
+stood as they did when my eyes first fell on the clock lying face up on
+the floor at the dead girl's side, I should have thought the works had
+been started since that time by Mr. Gryce or some other officious
+person. But they pointed now as then to a few minutes before five and
+the only conclusion I could arrive at was, that the clock had been in
+running order when it fell, startling as this fact appeared in a house
+which had not been inhabited for months.</p>
+
+<p>But if it had been in running order and was only stopped by its fall
+upon the floor, why did the hands point at five instead of twelve which
+was the hour at which the accident was supposed to have happened? Here
+was matter for thought, and that I might be undisturbed in my use of it,
+I hastened to lay the clock down again, even taking the precaution to
+restore the hands to the exact position they had occupied before I had
+started up the works. If Mr. Gryce did not know their secret, why so
+much the worse for Mr. Gryce.</p>
+
+<p>I was back in my old place by the register before the folding-doors
+unclosed again. I was conscious of a slight flush on my cheek, so I took
+from my pocket that perplexing grocer-bill and was laboriously going
+down its long line of figures, when Mr. Gryce reappeared.</p>
+
+<p>He had to my surprise a woman's hat in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" thought I, "what does this mean!"</p>
+
+<p>It was an elegant specimen of millinery, and was in the latest style. It
+had ribbons and flowers and bird wings upon it, and presented, as it was
+turned about by Mr. Gryce's deft hand, an appearance which some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> might
+have called charming, but to me was simply grotesque and absurd.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that a last spring's hat?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but I should say it had come fresh from the milliner's."</p>
+
+<p>"I found it lying with a pair of gloves tucked inside it on an otherwise
+empty shelf in the dining-room closet. It struck me as looking too new
+for a discarded hat of either of the Misses Van Burnam. What do you
+think?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me take it," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"O, it's been worn," he smiled, "several times. And the hat-pin is in
+it, too."</p>
+
+<p>"There is something else I wish to see."</p>
+
+<p>He handed it over.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it belongs to one of them," I declared. "It was made by La Mole
+of Fifth Avenue, whose prices are simply&mdash;wicked."</p>
+
+<p>"But the young ladies have been gone&mdash;let me see&mdash;five months. Could
+this have been bought before then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly, for this is an imported hat. But why should it have been left
+lying about in that careless way? It cost twenty dollars, if not thirty,
+and if for any reason its owner decided not to take it with her, why
+didn't she pack it away properly? I have no patience with the modern
+girl; she is made up of recklessness and extravagance."</p>
+
+<p>"I hear that the young ladies are staying with you," was his suggestive
+remark.</p>
+
+<p>"They are."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you can make some inquiries about this hat; also about the gloves,
+which are an ordinary street pair."</p>
+
+<p>"Of what color?"</p>
+
+<p>"Grey; they are quite fresh, size six."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very well; I will ask the young ladies about them."</p>
+
+<p>"This third room is used as a dining-room, and the closet where I found
+them is one in which glass is kept. The presence of this hat there is a
+mystery, but I presume the Misses Van Burnam can solve it. At all
+events, it is very improbable that it has anything to do with the crime
+which has been committed here."</p>
+
+<p>"Very," I coincided.</p>
+
+<p>"So improbable," he went on, "that on second thoughts I advise you not
+to disturb the young ladies with questions concerning it unless further
+reasons for doing so become apparent."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," I returned. But I was not deceived by his second thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>As he was holding open the parlor door before me in a very significant
+way, I tied my veil under my chin, and was about to leave when he
+stopped me.</p>
+
+<p>"I have another favor to ask," said he, and this time with his most
+benignant smile. "Miss Butterworth, do you object to sitting up for a
+few nights till twelve o'clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," I returned, "if there is any good reason for it."</p>
+
+<p>"At twelve o'clock to-night a gentleman will enter this house. If you
+will note him from your window I will be obliged."</p>
+
+<p>"To see whether he is the same one I saw last night? Certainly I will
+take a look, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow night," he went on, imperturbably, "the test will be
+repeated, and I should like to have you take another look; without
+prejudice, madam; remember, without prejudice."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have no prejudices&mdash;&mdash;" I began.</p>
+
+<p>"The test may not be concluded in two nights," he proceeded, without any
+notice of my words. "So do not be in haste to spot your man, as the
+vulgar expression is. And now good-night&mdash;we shall meet again
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" I called peremptorily, for he was on the point of closing the
+door. "I saw the man but faintly; it is an impression only that I
+received. I would not wish a man to hang through any identification I
+could make."</p>
+
+<p>"No man hangs on simple identification. We shall have to prove the
+crime, madam, but identification is important; even such as you can
+make."</p>
+
+<p>There was no more to be said; I uttered a calm good-night and hastened
+away. By a judicious use of my opportunities I had become much less
+ignorant on the all-important topic than when I entered the house.</p>
+
+<p>It was half past eleven when I returned home, a late hour for me to
+enter my respectable front door alone. But circumstances had warranted
+my escapade, and it was with quite an easy conscience and a cheerful
+sense of accomplishment that I went up to my room and prepared to sit
+out the half hour before midnight.</p>
+
+<p>I am a comfortable sort of person when alone, and found no difficulty in
+passing this time profitably. Being very orderly, as you must have
+remarked, I have everything at hand for making myself a cup of tea at
+any time of day or night; so feeling some need of refreshment, I set out
+the little table I reserve for such purposes and made the tea and sat
+down to sip it.</p>
+
+<p>While doing so, I turned over the subject occupying my mind, and
+endeavored to reconcile the story told by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> the clock with my
+preconceived theory of this murder; but no reconcilement was possible.
+The woman had been killed at twelve, and the clock had fallen at five.
+How could the two be made to agree, and which, since agreement was
+impossible, should be made to give way, the theory or the testimony of
+the clock? Both seemed incontrovertible, and yet one must be false.
+Which?</p>
+
+<p>I was inclined to think that the trouble lay with the clock; that I had
+been deceived in my conclusions, and that it was not running at the time
+of the crime. Mr. Gryce may have ordered it wound, and then have had it
+laid on its back to prevent the hands from shifting past the point where
+they had stood at the time of the crime's discovery. It was an
+unexplainable act, but a possible one; while to suppose that it was
+going when the shelves fell, stretched improbability to the utmost,
+there having been, so far as we could learn, no one in the house for
+months sufficiently dexterous to set so valuable a timepiece; for who
+could imagine the scrub-woman engaging in a task requiring such delicate
+manipulation.</p>
+
+<p>No! some meddlesome official had amused himself by starting up the
+works, and the clue I had thought so important would probably prove
+valueless.</p>
+
+<p>There was humiliation in the thought, and it was a relief to me to hear
+an approaching carriage just as the clock on my mantel struck twelve.
+Springing from my chair, I put out my light and flew to the window.</p>
+
+<p>The coach drew up and stopped next door. I saw a gentleman descend and
+step briskly across the pavement to the neighboring stoop. The figure he
+presented was not that of the man I had seen enter the night before.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MISSES VAN BURNAM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Late as it was when I retired, I was up betimes in the morning&mdash;as soon,
+in fact, as the papers were distributed. The <i>Tribune</i> lay on the stoop.
+Eagerly I seized it; eagerly I read it. From its headlines you may judge
+what it had to say about this murder:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>A STARTLING DISCOVERY IN THE VAN BURNAM MANSION IN GRAMERCY
+PARK.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Young Girl Found there, Lying Dead under an Overturned
+Cabinet</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Evidences that she was Murdered before it was Pulled down upon
+her</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Thought by Some to be Mrs. Howard Van Burnam</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Fearful Crime Involved in an Impenetrable Mystery</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">What Mr. Van Burnam Says about it: He does not Recognize the
+Woman as his Wife</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So, so, it was his wife they were talking about. I had not expected
+that. Well! well! no wonder the girls looked startled and concerned. And
+I paused to recall what I had heard about Howard Van Burnam's marriage.</p>
+
+<p>It had not been a fortunate one. His chosen bride was pretty enough, but
+she had not been bred in the ways of fashionable society, and the other
+members of the family had never recognized her. The father, especially,
+had cut his son dead since his marriage, and had even gone so far as to
+threaten to dissolve the partnership in which they were all involved.
+Worse than this, there had been rumors of a disagreement between Howard
+and his wife. They were not always on good terms, and opinions differed
+as to which was most in fault. So much for what I knew of these two
+mentioned parties.</p>
+
+<p>Reading the article at length, I learned that Mrs. Van Burnam was
+missing; that she had left Haddam for New York the day before her
+husband, and had not since been heard from. Howard was confident,
+however, that the publicity given to her disappearance by the papers
+would bring immediate news of her.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of the whole article was to raise grave doubts as to the
+candor of Mr. Van Burnam's assertions, and I am told that in some of the
+less scrupulous papers these doubts were not only expressed, but actual
+surmises ventured upon as to the identity between the person whom I had
+seen enter the house with the young girl. As for my own name, it was
+blazoned forth in anything but a gratifying manner. I was spoken of in
+one paper&mdash;a kind friend told me this&mdash;as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the prying Miss Amelia. As if
+my prying had not given the police their only clue to the identification
+of the criminal.</p>
+
+<p>The New York <i>World</i> was the only paper that treated me with any
+consideration. That young man with the small head and beady eyes was not
+awed by me for nothing. He mentioned me as the clever Miss Butterworth
+whose testimony is likely to be of so much value in this very
+interesting case.</p>
+
+<p>It was the <i>World</i> I handed the Misses Van Burnam when they came
+down-stairs to breakfast. It did justice to me and not too much
+injustice to him. They read it together, their two heads plunged deeply
+into the paper so that I could not watch their faces. But I could see
+the sheet shake, and I noticed that their social veneer was not as yet
+laid on so thickly that they could hide their real terror and heart-ache
+when they finally confronted me again.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you read&mdash;have you seen this horrible account?" quavered Caroline,
+as she met my eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I now understand why you felt such anxiety yesterday. Did you
+know your sister-in-law, and do you think she could have been beguiled
+into your father's house in that way?"</p>
+
+<p>It was Isabella who answered.</p>
+
+<p>"We never have seen her and know little of her, but there is no telling
+what such an uncultivated person as she might do. But that our good
+brother Howard ever went in there with her is a lie, isn't it,
+Caroline?&mdash;a base and malicious lie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is, of course, of course. You don't think the man you saw
+was Howard, do you, dear Miss Butterworth?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Dear?</i> O dear!</p>
+
+<p>"I am not acquainted with your brother," I returned. "I have never seen
+him but a few times in my life. You know he has not been a very frequent
+visitor at your father's house lately."</p>
+
+<p>They looked at me wistfully, <i>so</i> wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Say it was not Howard," whispered Caroline, stealing up a little nearer
+to my side.</p>
+
+<p>"And we will never forget it," murmured Isabella, in what I am obliged
+to say was not her society manner.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope to be able to say it," was my short rejoinder, made difficult by
+the prejudices I had formed. "When I see your brother, I may be able to
+decide at a glance that the person I saw entering your house was not
+he."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, oh, yes. Do you hear that, Isabella? Miss Butterworth will save
+Howard yet. O you dear old soul. I could almost love you!"</p>
+
+<p>This was not agreeable to me. I a dear old soul! A term to be applied to
+a butter-woman not to a Butterworth. I drew back and their
+sentimentalities came to an end. I hope their brother Howard is not the
+guilty man the papers make him out to be, but if he is, the Misses Van
+Burnam's fine phrase, <i>We could almost love you</i>, will not deter me from
+being honest in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce called early, and I was glad to be able to tell him that the
+gentleman who visited him the night before did not recall the impression
+made upon me by the other. He received the communication quietly, and
+from his manner I judged that it was more or less expected. But who can
+be a correct judge of a detective's manner, especially one so foxy and
+imperturbable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> as this one? I longed to ask who his visitor was, but I
+did not dare, or rather&mdash;to be candid in little things that you may
+believe me in great&mdash;I was confident he would not tell me, so I would
+not compromise my dignity by a useless question.</p>
+
+<p>He went after a five minutes' stay, and I was about to turn my attention
+to household affairs, when Franklin came in.</p>
+
+<p>His sisters jumped like puppets to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>"O," they cried, for once thinking and speaking alike, "have you found
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>His silence was so eloquent that he did not need to shake his head.</p>
+
+<p>"But you will before the day is out?" protested Caroline.</p>
+
+<p>"It is too early yet," added Isabella.</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought I would be glad to see that woman under any
+circumstances," continued the former, "but I believe now that if I saw
+her coming up the street on Howard's arm, I should be happy enough to
+rush out and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Give her a hug," finished the more impetuous Isabella.</p>
+
+<p>It was not what Caroline meant to say, but she accepted the emendation,
+with just the slightest air of deprecation. They were both evidently
+much attached to Howard, and ready in his trouble to forget and forgive
+everything. I began to like them again.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you read the horrid papers?" and "How is papa this morning?" and
+"What shall we do to save Howard?" now flew in rapid questions from
+their lips; and feeling that it was but natural they should have their
+little say, I sat down in my most uncomfortable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> chair and waited for
+these first ebullitions to exhaust themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly Mr. Van Burnam took them by the arm, and led them away to a
+distant sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you happy here?" he asked, in what he meant for a very confidential
+tone. But I can hear as readily as a deaf person anything which is not
+meant for my ears.</p>
+
+<p>"O she's kind enough," whispered Caroline, "but so stingy. Do take us
+where we can get something to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"She puts all her money into china! Such plates!&mdash;<i>and so little on
+them!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>At these expressions, uttered with all the emphasis a whisper will
+allow, I just hugged myself in my quiet corner. The dear, giddy things!
+But they should see, they should see.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear"&mdash;it was Mr. Van Burnam who now spoke&mdash;"I shall have to take my
+sisters from under your kind care to-day. Their father needs them, and
+has, I believe, already engaged rooms for them at the Plaza."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry," I replied, "but surely they will not leave till they have
+had another meal with me. Postpone your departure, young ladies, till
+after luncheon, and you will greatly oblige me. We may never meet so
+agreeably again."</p>
+
+<p>They fidgeted (which I had expected), and cast secret looks of almost
+comic appeal at their brother, but he pretended not to see them, being
+disposed for some reason to grant my request. Taking advantage of the
+momentary hesitation that ensued, I made them all three my most
+conciliatory bow, and said as I retreated behind the porti&egrave;re:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shall give my orders for luncheon now. Meanwhile, I hope the young
+ladies will feel perfectly free in my house. All that I have is at their
+command." And was gone before they could protest.</p>
+
+<p>When I next saw them, they were upstairs in my front room. They were
+seated together in the window and looked miserable enough to have a
+little diversion. Going to my closet, I brought out a band-box. It
+contained my best bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>"Young ladies, what do you think of this?" I inquired, taking the bonnet
+out and carefully placing it on my head.</p>
+
+<p>I myself consider it a very becoming article of headgear, but their
+eyebrows went up in a scarcely complimentary fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't like it?" I remarked. "Well, I think a great deal of young
+girls' taste; I shall send it back to Madame More's to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think much of Madame More," observed Isabella, "and after
+Paris&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like La Mole better?" I inquired, bobbing my head to and fro
+before the mirror, the better to conceal my interest in the venture I
+was making.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like any of them but D'Aubigny," returned Isabella. "She
+charges twice what La Mole does&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Twice! What are these girls' purses made of, or rather their father's!</p>
+
+<p>"But she has the <i>chic</i> we are accustomed to see in French millinery. I
+shall <i>never</i> go anywhere else."</p>
+
+<p>"We were recommended to her in Paris," put in Caroline, more languidly.
+Her interest was only half engaged by this frivolous topic.</p>
+
+<p>"But did you never have one of La Mole's hats?" I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> pursued, taking down
+a hand-mirror, ostensibly to get the effect of my bonnet in the back,
+but really to hide my interest in their unconscious faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Never!" retorted Isabella. "I would not patronize the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor you?" I urged, carelessly, turning towards Caroline.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I have never been inside her shop."</p>
+
+<p>"Then whose is&mdash;&mdash;" I began and stopped. A detective doing the work I
+was, would not give away the object of his questions so recklessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then who is," I corrected, "the best person after D'Aubigny? I never
+can pay <i>her</i> prices. I should think it wicked."</p>
+
+<p>"O don't ask us," protested Isabella. "We have never made a study of the
+best bonnet-maker. At present we wear hats."</p>
+
+<p>And having thus thrown their youth in my face, they turned away to the
+window again, not realizing that the middle-aged lady they regarded with
+such disdain had just succeeded in making them dance to her music most
+successfully.</p>
+
+<p>The luncheon I ordered was elaborate, for I was determined that the
+Misses Van Burnam should see that I knew how to serve a fine meal, and
+that my plates were not always better than my viands.</p>
+
+<p>I had invited in a couple of other guests so that I should not seem to
+have put myself out for two young girls, and as they were quiet people
+like myself, the meal passed most decorously. When it was finished, the
+Misses Caroline and Isabella had lost some of their consequential airs,
+and I really think the deference they have since showed me is due more
+to the surprise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> they felt at the perfection of this dainty luncheon,
+than to any considerate appreciation of my character and abilities.</p>
+
+<p>They left at three o'clock, still without news of Mrs. Van Burnam; and
+being positive by this time that the shadows were thickening about this
+family, I saw them depart with some regret and a positive feeling of
+commiseration. Had they been reared to a proper reverence for their
+elders, how much more easy it would have been to see earnestness in
+Caroline and affectionate impulses in Isabella.</p>
+
+<p>The evening papers added but little to my knowledge. Great disclosures
+were promised, but no hint given of their nature. The body at the Morgue
+had not been identified by any of the hundreds who had viewed it, and
+Howard still refused to acknowledge it as that of his wife. The morrow
+was awaited with anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the public press!</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o'clock at night, I was again seated in my window. The house
+next door had been lighted since ten, and I was in momentary expectation
+of its nocturnal visitor. He came promptly at the hour set, alighted
+from the carriage with a bound, shut the carriage-door with a slam, and
+crossed the pavement with cheerful celerity. His figure was not so
+positively like, nor yet so positively unlike, that of the supposed
+murderer that I could definitely say, "This is he," or, "This is not
+he," and I went to bed puzzled, and not a little burdened by a sense of
+the responsibility imposed upon me in this matter.</p>
+
+<p>And so passed the day between the murder and the inquest.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>DEVELOPMENTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce called about nine o'clock next morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "what about the visitor who came to see me last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Like and unlike," I answered. "Nothing could induce me to say he is the
+man we want, and yet I would not dare to swear he was not."</p>
+
+<p>"You are in doubt, then, concerning him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce bowed, reminded me of the inquest, and left. Nothing was said
+about the hat.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock I prepared to go to the place designated by him. I had
+never attended an inquest in my life, and felt a little flurried in
+consequence, but by the time I had tied the strings of my bonnet (the
+despised bonnet, which, by the way, I did not return to More's), I had
+conquered this weakness, and acquired a demeanor more in keeping with my
+very important position as chief witness in a serious police
+investigation.</p>
+
+<p>I had sent for a carriage to take me, and I rode away from my house amid
+the shouts of some half dozen boys collected on the curb-stone. But I
+did not allow myself to feel dashed by this publicity. On the contrary,
+I held my head as erect as nature intended, and my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> back kept the line
+my good health warrants. The path of duty has its thorny passages, but
+it is for strong minds like mine to ignore them.</p>
+
+<p>Promptly at ten o'clock I entered the room reserved for the inquest, and
+was ushered to the seat appointed me. Though never a self-conscious
+woman, I could not but be aware of the many eyes that followed me, and
+endeavored so to demean myself that there should be no question as to my
+respectable standing in the community. This I considered due to the
+memory of my father, who was very much in my thoughts that day.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner was already in his seat when I entered, and though I did not
+perceive the good face of Mr. Gryce anywhere in his vicinity, I had no
+doubt he was within ear-shot. Of the other people I took small note,
+save of the honest scrub-woman, of whose red face and anxious eyes under
+a preposterous bonnet (which did <i>not come</i> from La Mole's), I caught
+vague glimpses as the crowd between us surged to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>None of the Van Burnams were visible, but this did not necessarily mean
+that they were absent. Indeed, I was very sure, from certain
+indications, that more than one member of the family could be seen in
+the small room connecting with the large one in which we witnesses sat
+with the jury.</p>
+
+<p>The policeman, Carroll, was the first man to talk. He told of my
+stopping him on his beat and of his entrance into Mr. Van Burnam's house
+with the scrub-woman. He gave the details of his discovery of the dead
+woman's body on the parlor floor, and insisted that no one&mdash;here he
+looked very hard at me&mdash;had been allowed to touch the body till relief
+had come to him from Headquarters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman, followed him; and if she was watched by
+no one else in that room, she was watched by me. Her manner before the
+Coroner was no more satisfactory, according to my notion, than it had
+been in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor. She gave a very perceptible start when
+they spoke her name, and looked quite scared when the Bible was held out
+towards her. But she took the oath notwithstanding, and with her
+testimony the inquiry began in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?" asked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>As this was something she could not help knowing, she uttered the
+necessary words glibly, though in a way that showed she resented his
+impertinence in asking her what he already knew.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you live? And what do you do for a living?" rapidly followed.</p>
+
+<p>She replied that she was a scrub-woman and cleaned people's houses, and
+having said this, she assumed a very dogged air, which I thought strange
+enough to raise a question in the minds of those who watched her. But no
+one else seemed to regard it as anything but the embarrassment of
+ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you known the Van Burnam family?" the Coroner went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Two years, sir, come next Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you often done work for them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I clean the house twice a year, fall and spring."</p>
+
+<p>"Why were you at this house two days ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"To scrub the kitchen floors, sir, and put the pantries in order."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you received notice to do so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, through Mr. Franklin Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>"And was that the first day of your work there?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; I had been there all the day before."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't speak loud enough," objected the Coroner; "remember that
+every one in this room wants to hear you."</p>
+
+<p>She looked up, and with a frightened air surveyed the crowd about her.
+Publicity evidently made her most uncomfortable, and her voice sank
+rather than rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get the key of the house, and by what door did you
+enter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I went in at the basement, sir, and I got the key at Mr. Van Burnam's
+agent in Dey Street. I had to go for it; sometimes they send it to me;
+but not this time."</p>
+
+<p>"And now relate your meeting with the policeman on Wednesday morning, in
+front of Mr. Van Burnam's house."</p>
+
+<p>She tried to tell her story, but she made awkward work of it, and they
+had to ply her with questions to get at the smallest fact. But finally
+she managed to repeat what we already knew, how she went with the
+policeman into the house, and how they stumbled upon the dead woman in
+the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>Further than this they did not question her, and I, Amelia Butterworth,
+had to sit in silence and see her go back to her seat, redder than
+before, but with a strangely satisfied air that told me she had escaped
+more easily than she had expected. And yet Mr. Gryce had been warned
+that she knew more than appeared, and by one in whom he seemed to have
+placed some confidence!</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was called next. His testimony was most important, and
+contained a surprise for me and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> more than one surprise for the others.
+After a short preliminary examination, he was requested to state how
+long the woman had been dead when he was called in to examine her.</p>
+
+<p>"More than twelve and less than eighteen hours," was his quiet reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Had the rigor mortis set in?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but it began very soon after."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you examine the wounds made by the falling shelves and the vases
+that tumbled with them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you describe them?"</p>
+
+<p>He did so.</p>
+
+<p>"And now"&mdash;there was a pause in the Coroner's question which roused us
+all to its importance, "which of these many serious wounds was in your
+opinion the cause of her death?"</p>
+
+<p>The witness was accustomed to such scenes, and was perfectly at home in
+them. Surveying the Coroner with a respectful air, he turned slowly
+towards the jury and answered in a slow and impressive manner:</p>
+
+<p>"I feel ready to declare, sirs, that none of them did. She was not
+killed by the falling of the cabinet upon her."</p>
+
+<p>"Not killed by the falling shelves! Why not? Were they not sufficiently
+heavy, or did they not strike her in a vital place?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were heavy enough, and they struck her in a way to kill her if she
+had not been already dead when they fell upon her. As it was, they
+simply bruised a body from which life had already departed."</p>
+
+<p>As this was putting it very plainly, many of the crowd who had not been
+acquainted with these facts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> previously, showed their interest in a very
+unmistakable manner; but the Coroner, ignoring these symptoms of growing
+excitement, hastened to say:</p>
+
+<p>"This is a very serious statement you are making, doctor. If she did not
+die from the wounds inflicted by the objects which fell upon her, from
+what cause did she die? Can you say that her death was a natural one,
+and that the falling of the shelves was merely an unhappy accident
+following it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; her death was not natural. She was killed, but not by the
+falling cabinet."</p>
+
+<p>"Killed, and not by the cabinet? How then? Was there any other wound
+upon her which you regard as mortal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Suspecting that she had perished from other means than
+appeared, I made a most rigid examination of her body, when I discovered
+under the hair in the nape of the neck, a minute spot, which, upon
+probing, I found to be the end of a small, thin point of steel. It had
+been thrust by a careful hand into the most vulnerable part of the body,
+and death must have ensued at once."</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for certain excitable persons present, and a momentary
+disturbance arose, which, however, was nothing to that in my own breast.</p>
+
+<p>So! so! it was her neck that had been pierced, and not her heart. Mr.
+Gryce had allowed us to think it was the latter, but it was not this
+fact which stupefied me, but the skill and diabolical coolness of the
+man who had inflicted this death-thrust.</p>
+
+<p>After order had been restored, which I will say was very soon, the
+Coroner, with an added gravity of tone, went on with his questions:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did you recognize this bit of steel as belonging to any instrument in
+the medical profession?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; it was of too untempered steel to have been manufactured for any
+thrusting or cutting purposes. It was of the commonest kind, and had
+broken short off in the wound. It was the end only that I found."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you this end with you,&mdash;the point, I mean, which you found
+imbedded at the base of the dead woman's brain?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, sir"; and he handed it over to the jury. As they passed it
+along, the Coroner remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Later we will show you the remaining portion of this instrument of
+death," which did not tend to allay the general excitement. Seeing this,
+the Coroner humored the growing interest by pushing on his inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," he asked, "are you prepared to say how long a time elapsed
+between the infliction of this fatal wound and those which disfigured
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, not exactly; but some little time."</p>
+
+<p>Some little time, when the murderer was in the house only ten minutes!
+All looked their surprise, and, as if the Coroner had divined this
+feeling of general curiosity, he leaned forward and emphatically
+repeated:</p>
+
+<p>"More than ten minutes?"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor, who had every appearance of realizing the importance of his
+reply, did not hesitate. Evidently his mind was quite made up.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Yes; more than ten minutes</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This was the shock <i>I</i> received from his testimony.</p>
+
+<p>I remembered what the clock had revealed to me, but I did not move a
+muscle of my face. I was learning self-control under these repeated
+surprises.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is an unexpected statement," remarked the Coroner. "What reasons
+have you to urge in explanation of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very simple and very well known ones; at least, among the profession.
+There was too little blood seen, for the wounds to have been inflicted
+before death or within a few minutes after it. Had the woman been living
+when they were made, or even had she been but a short time dead, the
+floor would have been deluged with the blood gushing from so many and
+such serious injuries. But the effusion was slight, so slight that I
+noticed it at once, and came to the conclusions mentioned before I found
+the mark of the stab that occasioned death."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, I see! And was that the reason you called in two neighboring
+physicians to view the body before it was removed from the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; in so important a matter, I wished to have my judgment
+confirmed."</p>
+
+<p>"And these physicians were&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Campbell, of 110 East &mdash;&mdash; Street, and Dr. Jacobs, of &mdash;&mdash;
+Lexington Avenue."</p>
+
+<p>"Are these gentlemen here?" inquired the Coroner of an officer who stood
+near.</p>
+
+<p>"They are, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; we will now proceed to ask one or two more questions of this
+witness. You told us that even had the woman been but a few minutes dead
+when she received these contusions, the floor would have been more or
+less deluged by her blood. What reason have you for this statement?"</p>
+
+<p>"This; that in a few minutes, let us say ten, since that number has been
+used, the body has not had time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> to cool, nor have the blood-vessels had
+sufficient opportunity to stiffen so as to prevent the free effusion of
+blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Is a body still warm at ten minutes after death?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is."</p>
+
+<p>"So that your conclusions are logical deductions from well-known facts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir."</p>
+
+<p>A pause of some duration followed.</p>
+
+<p>When the Coroner again proceeded, it was to remark:</p>
+
+<p>"The case is complicated by these discoveries; but we must not allow
+ourselves to be daunted by them. Let me ask you, if you found any marks
+upon this body which might aid in its identification?"</p>
+
+<p>"One; a slight scar on the left ankle."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a scar? Describe it."</p>
+
+<p>"It was such as a burn might leave. In shape it was long and narrow, and
+it ran up the limb from the ankle-bone."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it on the right foot?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; on the left."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you call the attention of any one to this mark during or after your
+examination?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I showed it to Mr. Gryce the detective, and to my two coadjutors;
+and I spoke of it to Mr. Howard Van Burnam, son of the gentleman in
+whose house the body was found."</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time this young gentleman's name had been mentioned,
+and it made my blood run cold to see how many side-long looks and
+expressive shrugs it caused in the motley assemblage. But I had no time
+for sentiment; the inquiry was growing too interesting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And why," asked the Coroner, "did you mention it to this young man in
+preference to others?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because Mr. Gryce requested me to. Because the family as well as the
+young man himself had evinced some apprehension lest the deceased might
+prove to be his missing wife, and this seemed a likely way to settle the
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"And did it? Did he acknowledge it to be a mark he remembered to have
+seen on his wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said she had such a scar, but he would not acknowledge the deceased
+to be his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he see the scar?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he would not look at it."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you invite him to?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did; but he showed no curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless thinking that silence would best emphasize this fact, which
+certainly was an astonishing one, the Coroner waited a minute. But there
+was no silence. An indescribable murmur from a great many lips filled up
+the gap. I felt a movement of pity for the proud family whose good name
+was thus threatened in the person of this young gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," continued the Coroner, as soon as the murmur had subsided,
+"did you notice the color of the woman's hair?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a light brown."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you sever a lock? Have you a sample of this hair here to show us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, sir. At Mr. Gryce's suggestion I cut off two small locks. One I
+gave him and the other I brought here."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see it."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor passed it up, and in sight of every one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> present the Coroner
+tied a string around it and attached a ticket to it.</p>
+
+<p>"That is to prevent all mistake," explained this very methodical
+functionary, laying the lock aside on the table in front of him. Then he
+turned again to the witness.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor, we are indebted to you for your valuable testimony, and as you
+are a busy man, we will now excuse you. Let Dr. Jacobs be called."</p>
+
+<p>As this gentleman, as well as the witness who followed him, merely
+corroborated the statements of the other, and made it an accepted fact
+that the shelves had fallen upon the body of the girl some time after
+the first wound had been inflicted, I will not attempt to repeat their
+testimony. The question now agitating me was whether they would endeavor
+to fix the time at which the shelves fell by the evidence furnished by
+the clock.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2>
+
+<h3>IMPORTANT EVIDENCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Evidently not; for the next words I heard were: "Miss Amelia
+Butterworth!"</p>
+
+<p>I had not expected to be called so soon, and was somewhat flustered by
+the suddenness of the summons, for I am only human. But I rose with
+suitable composure, and passed to the place indicated by the Coroner, in
+my usual straightforward manner, heightened only by a sense of the
+importance of my position, both as a witness and a woman whom the once
+famous Mr. Gryce had taken more or less into his confidence.</p>
+
+<p>My appearance seemed to awaken an interest for which I was not prepared.
+I was just thinking how well my name had sounded uttered in the sonorous
+tones of the Coroner, and how grateful I ought to be for the courage I
+had displayed in substituting the genteel name of Amelia for the weak
+and sentimental one of Araminta, when I became conscious that the eyes
+directed towards me were filled with an expression not easy to
+understand. I should not like to call it admiration and will not call it
+amusement, and yet it seemed to be made up of both. While I was puzzling
+myself over it, the first question came.</p>
+
+<p>As my examination before the Coroner only brought out the facts already
+related, I will not burden you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> with a detailed account of it. One
+portion alone may be of interest. I was being questioned in regard to
+the appearance of the couple I had seen entering the Van Burnam mansion,
+when the Coroner asked if the young woman's step was light, or if it
+betrayed hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>I replied: "No hesitation; she moved quickly, almost gaily."</p>
+
+<p>"And he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Was more moderate; but there is no signification in that; he may have
+been older."</p>
+
+<p>"No theories, Miss Butterworth; it is facts we are after. Now, do you
+know that he was older?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you get any idea as to his age?"</p>
+
+<p>"The impression he made was that of being a young man."</p>
+
+<p>"And his height?"</p>
+
+<p>"Was medium, and his figure slight and elegant. He moved as a gentleman
+moves; of this I can speak with great positiveness."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you could identify him, Miss Butterworth, if you should
+see him?"</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated, as I perceived that the whole swaying mass eagerly awaited
+my reply. I even turned my head because I saw others doing so; but I
+regretted this when I found that I, as well as others, was glancing
+towards the door beyond which the Van Burnams were supposed to sit. To
+cover up the false move I had made&mdash;for I had no wish as yet to centre
+suspicion upon anybody&mdash;I turned my face quickly back to the crowd and
+declared in as emphatic a tone as I could command:</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought I could do so if I saw him under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> the same circumstances
+as those in which my first impression was made. But lately I have begun
+to doubt even that. I should never dare trust to my memory in this
+regard."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner looked disappointed, and so did the people around me.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity," remarked the Coroner, "that you did not see more
+plainly. And, now, how did these persons gain an entrance into the
+house?"</p>
+
+<p>I answered in the most succinct way possible.</p>
+
+<p>I told them how he had used a door-key in entering, of the length of
+time the man stayed inside, and of his appearance on going away. I also
+related how I came to call a policeman to investigate the matter next
+day, and corroborated the statements of this official as to the
+appearance of the deceased at time of discovery.</p>
+
+<p>And there my examination stopped. I was not asked any questions tending
+to bring out the cause of the suspicion I entertained against the
+scrub-woman, nor were the discoveries I had made in conjunction with Mr.
+Gryce inquired into. It was just as well, perhaps, but I would never
+approve of a piece of work done for me in this slipshod fashion.</p>
+
+<p>A recess now followed. Why it was thought necessary, I cannot imagine,
+unless the gentlemen wished to smoke. Had they felt as much interest in
+this murder as I did, they would not have wanted bite or sup till the
+dreadful question was settled. There being a recess, I improved the
+opportunity by going into a restaurant near by where one can get very
+good buns and coffee at a reasonable price. But I could have done
+without them.</p>
+
+<p>The next witness, to my astonishment, was Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> Gryce. As he stepped
+forward, heads were craned and many women rose in their seats to get a
+glimpse of the noted detective. I showed no curiosity myself, for by
+this time I knew his features well, but I did feel a great satisfaction
+in seeing him before the Coroner, for now, thought I, we shall hear
+something worth our attention.</p>
+
+<p>But his examination, though interesting, was not complete. The Coroner,
+remembering his promise to show us the other end of the steel point
+which had been broken off in the dead girl's brain, limited himself to
+such inquiries as brought out the discovery of the broken hat-pin in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlor register. No mention was made by the witness of any
+assistance which he may have received in making this discovery; a fact
+which caused me to smile: men are so jealous of any interference in
+their affairs.</p>
+
+<p>The end found in the register and the end which the Coroner's physician
+had drawn from the poor woman's head were both handed to the jury, and
+it was interesting to note how each man made his little effort to fit
+the two ends together, and the looks they interchanged as they found
+themselves successful. Without doubt, and in the eyes of all, the
+instrument of death had been found. But what an instrument!</p>
+
+<p>The felt hat which had been discovered under the body was now produced
+and the one hole made by a similar pin examined. Then Mr. Gryce was
+asked if any other pin had been picked up from the floor of the room,
+and he replied, no; and the fact was established in the minds of all
+present that the young woman had been killed by a pin taken from her own
+hat.</p>
+
+<p>"A subtle and cruel crime; the work of a calculating intellect," was the
+Coroner's comment as he allowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> the detective to sit down. Which
+expression of opinion I thought reprehensible, as tending to prejudice
+the jury against the only person at present suspected.</p>
+
+<p>The inquiry now took a turn. The name of Miss Ferguson was called. Who
+was Miss Ferguson? It was a new name to most of us, and her face when
+she rose only added to the general curiosity. It was the plainest face
+imaginable, yet it was neither a bad nor unintelligent one. As I studied
+it and noted the nervous contraction that disfigured her lip, I could
+not but be sensible of my blessings. I am not handsome myself, though
+there have been persons who have called me so, but neither am I ugly,
+and in contrast to this woman&mdash;well, I will say nothing. I only know
+that, after seeing her, I felt profoundly grateful to a kind Providence.</p>
+
+<p>As for the poor woman herself, she knew she was no beauty, but she had
+become so accustomed to seeing the eyes of other people turn away from
+her face, that beyond the nervous twitching of which I have spoken, she
+showed no feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your full name, and where do you live?" asked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Susan Ferguson, and I live in Haddam, Connecticut," was her
+reply, uttered in such soft and beautiful tones that every one was
+astonished. It was like a stream of limpid water flowing from a most
+unsightly-looking rock. Excuse the metaphor; I do not often indulge.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you keep boarders?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do; a few, sir; such as my house will accommodate."</p>
+
+<p>"Whom have you had with you this summer?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I knew what her answer would be before she uttered it; so did a hundred
+others, but they showed their knowledge in different ways. I did not
+show mine at all.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had with me," said she, "a Mr. and Mrs. Van Burnam from New
+York. Mr. Howard Van Burnam is his full name, if you wish me to be
+explicit."</p>
+
+<p>"Any one else?"</p>
+
+<p>"A Mr. Hull, also from New York, and a young couple from Hartford. My
+house accommodates no more."</p>
+
+<p>"How long have the first mentioned couple been with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three months. They came in June."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they with you still?"</p>
+
+<p>"Virtually, sir. They have not moved their trunks; but neither of them
+is in Haddam at present. Mrs. Van Burnam came to New York last Monday
+morning, and in the afternoon her husband also left, presumably for New
+York. I have seen nothing of either of them since."</p>
+
+<p>(It was on Tuesday night the murder occurred.)</p>
+
+<p>"Did either of them take a trunk?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"A hand-bag?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; Mrs. Van Burnam carried a bag, but it was a very small one."</p>
+
+<p>"Large enough to hold a dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mr. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"He carried an umbrella; I saw nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did they not leave together? Did you hear any one say?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I heard them say Mrs. Van Burnam came against her husband's
+wishes. He did not want her to leave Haddam, but she would, and he was
+none too pleased at it. Indeed they had words about it, and as both our
+rooms overlook the same veranda, I could not help hearing some of their
+talk."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you tell us what you heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"It does not seem right" (thus this honest woman spoke), "but if it's
+the law, I must not go against it. I heard him say these words: 'I have
+changed my mind, Louise. The more I think of it, the more disinclined I
+am to have you meddle in the matter. Besides, it will do no good. You
+will only add to the prejudice against you, and our life will become
+more unbearable than it is now.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Of what were they speaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she reply?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, she uttered a torrent of words that had less sense in them than
+feeling. She wanted to go, she would go, <i>she</i> had not changed <i>her</i>
+mind, and considered that her impulses were as well worth following as
+his cool judgment. She was not happy, had never been happy, and meant
+there should be a change, even if it were for the worse. But she did not
+believe it would be for the worse. Was she not pretty? Was she not very
+pretty when in distress and looking up thus? And I heard her fall on her
+knees, a movement which called out a grunt from her husband, but whether
+this was an expression of approval or disapproval I cannot say. A
+silence followed, during which I caught the sound of his steady tramping
+up and down the room. Then she spoke again in a petulant way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> 'It may
+seem foolish to <i>you</i>' she cried, 'knowing me as you do, and being used
+to seeing me in all my moods. But to him it will be a surprise, and I
+will so manage it that it will effect all we want, and more, too,
+perhaps. I&mdash;I have a genius for some things, Howard; and my better angel
+tells me I shall succeed.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And what did he reply to that?"</p>
+
+<p>"That the name of her better angel was Vanity; that his father would see
+through her blandishments; that he forbade her to prosecute her schemes;
+and much more to the same effect. To all of which she answered by a
+vigorous stamp of her foot, and the declaration that she was going to do
+what she thought best in spite of all opposition; that it was a lover,
+and not a tyrant that she had married, and that if he did not know what
+was good for himself, she did, and that when he received an intimation
+from his father that the breach in the family was closed, then he would
+acknowledge that if she had no fortune and no connections, she had at
+least a plentiful supply of wit. Upon which he remarked: 'A poor
+qualification when it verges upon folly!' which seemed to close the
+conversation, for I heard no more till the sound of her skirts rustling
+past my door assured me she had carried her point and was leaving the
+house. But this was not done without great discomfiture to her husband,
+if one may judge from the few brief but emphatic words that escaped him
+before he closed his own door and followed her down the hall."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember those words?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were swear words, sir; I am sorry to say it, but he certainly
+cursed her and his own folly. Yet I always thought he loved her."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see her after she passed your door?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, on the walk outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she then on the way to the train?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Carrying the bag of which you have spoken?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; another proof of the state of feeling between them, for he
+was very considerate in his treatment of ladies, and I never saw him do
+anything ungallant before."</p>
+
+<p>"You say you watched her as she went down the walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; it is human nature, sir; I have no other excuse to offer."</p>
+
+<p>It was an apology I myself might have made. I conceived a liking for
+this homely matter-of-fact woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you note her dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; that is human nature also, or, rather, woman's nature."</p>
+
+<p>"Particularly, madam; so that you can describe it to the jury before
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you, then, be good enough to tell us what sort of a dress Mrs. Van
+Burnam wore when she left your house for the city?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was a black and white plaid silk, very rich&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Why, what did this mean? We had all expected a very different
+description.</p>
+
+<p>"It was made fashionably, and the sleeves&mdash;well, it is impossible to
+describe the sleeves. She wore no wrap, which seemed foolish to me, for
+we have very sudden changes sometimes in September."</p>
+
+<p>"A plaid dress! And did you notice her hat?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, I have seen the hat often. It was of every conceivable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> color. It
+would have been called bad taste at one time, but now-a-days&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The pause was significant. More than one man in the room chuckled, but
+the women kept a discreet silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you know that hat if you saw it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think I would!"</p>
+
+<p>The emphasis was that of a countrywoman, and amused some people
+notwithstanding the melodious tone in which it was uttered. But it did
+not amuse me; my thoughts had flown to the hat which Mr. Gryce had found
+in the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house, and which was of every
+color of the rainbow.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner asked two other questions, one in regard to the gloves worn
+by Mrs. Van Burnam, and the other in regard to her shoes. To the first,
+Miss Ferguson replied that she did not notice her gloves, and to the
+other, that Mrs. Van Burnam was very fashionable, and as pointed shoes
+were the fashion, in cities at least, she probably wore pointed shoes.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery that Mrs. Van Burnam had been differently dressed on that
+day from the young woman found dead in the Van Burnam parlors, had acted
+as a shock upon most of the spectators. They were just beginning to
+recover from it when Miss Ferguson sat down. The Coroner was the only
+one who had not seemed at a loss. Why, we were soon destined to know.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ORDER CLERK.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady well known in New York society was the next person summoned. She
+was a friend of the Van Burnam family, and had known Howard from
+childhood. She had not liked his marriage; indeed, she rather
+participated in the family feeling against it, but when young Mrs. Van
+Burnam came to her house on the preceding Monday, and begged the
+privilege of remaining with her for one night, she had not had the heart
+to refuse her. Mrs. Van Burnam had therefore slept in her house on
+Monday night.</p>
+
+<p>Questioned in regard to that lady's appearance and manner, she answered
+that her guest was unnaturally cheerful, laughing much and showing a
+great vivacity; that she gave no reason for her good spirits, nor did
+she mention her own affairs in any way,&mdash;rather took pains not to do so.</p>
+
+<p>"How long did she stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Till the next morning."</p>
+
+<p>"And how was she dressed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just as Miss Ferguson has described."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she bring her hand-bag to your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and left it there. We found it in her room after she was gone."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! And how do you account for that?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was preoccupied. I saw it in her cheerfulness, which was forced and
+not always well timed."</p>
+
+<p>"And where is that bag now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam has it. We kept it for a day and as she did not call for
+it, sent it down to the office on Wednesday morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Before you had heard of the murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, before I had heard anything about the murder."</p>
+
+<p>"As she was your guest, you probably accompanied her to the door?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you notice her hands? Can you say what was the color of her
+gloves?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think she wore any gloves on leaving; it was very warm, and
+she held them in her hand. I remembered this, for I noticed the sparkle
+of her rings as she turned to say good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you saw her rings!"</p>
+
+<p>"Distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>"So that when she left you she was dressed in a black and white plaid
+silk, had a large hat covered with flowers on her head, and wore rings?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And with these words ringing in the ears of the jury, the witness sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p>What was coming? Something important, or the Coroner would not look so
+satisfied, or the faces of the officials about him so expectant. I
+waited with great but subdued eagerness for the testimony of the next
+witness, who was a young man by the name of Callahan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I don't like young men in general. They are either over-suave and
+polite, as if they condescended to remember that you are elderly and
+that it is their duty to make you forget it, or else they are pert and
+shallow and disgust you with their egotism. But this young man looked
+sensible and business-like, and I took to him at once, though what
+connection he could have with this affair I could not imagine.</p>
+
+<p>His first words, however, settled all questions as to his personality:
+He was the order clerk at Altman's.</p>
+
+<p>As he acknowledged this, I seemed to have some faint premonition of what
+was coming. Perhaps I had not been without some vague idea of the truth
+ever since I had put my mind to work on this matter; perhaps my wits
+only received their real spur then; but certainly I knew what he was
+going to say as soon as he opened his lips, which gave me quite a good
+opinion of myself, whether rightfully or not, I leave you to judge.</p>
+
+<p>His evidence was short, but very much to the point. On the seventeenth
+of September, as could be verified by the books, the firm had received
+an order for a woman's complete outfit, to be sent, C.O.D., to Mrs.
+James Pope at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, on Broadway. Sizes and measures and some
+particulars were stated, and as the order bore the words <i>In haste</i>
+underlined upon it, several clerks had assisted him in filling this
+order, which when filled had been sent by special messenger to the place
+designated.</p>
+
+<p>Had he this order with him?</p>
+
+<p>He had.</p>
+
+<p>And could he identify the articles sent to fill it?</p>
+
+<p>He could.</p>
+
+<p>At which the Coroner motioned to an officer and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> a pile of clothing was
+brought forward from some mysterious corner and laid before the witness.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately expectation rose to a high pitch, for every one recognized,
+or thought he did, the apparel which had been taken from the victim.</p>
+
+<p>The young man, who was of the alert, nervous type, took up the articles
+one by one and examined them closely.</p>
+
+<p>As he did so, the whole assembled crowd surged forward and
+lightning-like glances from a hundred eyes followed his every movement
+and expression.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they the same?" inquired the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>The witness did not hesitate. With one quick glance at the blue serge
+dress, black cape, and battered hat, he answered in a firm tone:</p>
+
+<p>"They are."</p>
+
+<p>And a clue was given at last to the dreadful mystery absorbing us.</p>
+
+<p>The deep-drawn sigh which swept through the room testified to the
+universal satisfaction; then our attention became fixed again, for the
+Coroner, pointing to the undergarments accompanying the articles already
+mentioned, demanded if they had been included in the order.</p>
+
+<p>There was as little hesitation in the reply given to this question as to
+the former. He recognized each piece as having come from his
+establishment. "You will note," said he, "that they have never been
+washed, and that the pencil marks are still on them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good," observed the Coroner, "and you will note that one article
+there is torn down the back. Was it in that condition when sent?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was not, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All were in perfect order?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, again. The jury will take cognizance of this fact, which may
+be useful to them in their future conclusions. And now, Mr. Callahan, do
+you notice anything lacking here from the list of articles forwarded by
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet there is one very necessary adjunct to a woman's outfit which is
+not to be found here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, the shoes; but I am not surprised at that. We sent shoes, but
+they were not satisfactory, and they were returned."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see. Officer, show the witness the shoes that were taken from the
+deceased."</p>
+
+<p>This was done, and when Mr. Callahan had examined them, the Coroner
+inquired if they came from his store. He replied no.</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon they were held up to the jury, and attention called to the
+fact that, while rather new than old, they gave signs of having been
+worn more than once; which was not true of anything else taken from the
+victim.</p>
+
+<p>This matter settled, the Coroner proceeded with his questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Who carried the articles ordered, to the address given?"</p>
+
+<p>"A man in our employ, named Clapp."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he bring back the amount of the bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; less the five dollars charged for the shoes."</p>
+
+<p>"What was the amount, may I ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here is our cash-book, sir. The amount received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> from Mrs. James Pope,
+Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, on the seventeenth of September, is, as you see,
+seventy-five dollars and fifty-eight cents."</p>
+
+<p>"Let the jury see the book; also the order."</p>
+
+<p>They were both handed to the jury, and if ever I wished myself in any
+one's shoes, save my own very substantial ones, it was at that moment. I
+did so want a peep at that order.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to interest the jury also, for their heads drew together very
+eagerly over it, and some whispers and a few knowing looks passed
+between them. Finally one of them spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"It is written in a very odd hand. Do you call this a woman's writing or
+a man's?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no opinion to give on the subject," rejoined the witness. "It is
+intelligible writing, and that is all that comes within my province."</p>
+
+<p>The twelve men shifted on their seats and surveyed the Coroner eagerly.
+Why did he not proceed? Evidently he was not quick enough to suit them.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any further questions for this witness?" asked that gentleman
+after a short delay.</p>
+
+<p>Their nervousness increased, but no one ventured to follow the Coroner's
+suggestion. A poor lot, I call them, a very poor lot! I would have found
+plenty of questions to put to him.</p>
+
+<p>I expected to see the man Clapp called next, but I was disappointed in
+this. The name uttered was Henshaw, and the person who rose in answer to
+it was a tall, burly man with a shock of curly black hair. He was the
+clerk of the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, and we all forgot Clapp in our eagerness to
+hear what this man had to say.</p>
+
+<p>His testimony amounted to this:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>That a person by the name of Pope was registered on his books. That she
+came to his house on the seventeenth of September, some time near noon.
+That she was not alone; that a person she called her husband accompanied
+her, and that they had been given a room, at her request, on the second
+floor overlooking Broadway.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see the husband? Was it his handwriting we see in your
+register?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. He came into the office, but he did not approach the desk. It
+was she who registered for them both, and who did all the business in
+fact. I thought it queer, but took it for granted he was ill, for he
+held his head very much down, and acted as if he felt disturbed or
+anxious."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you notice him closely? Would you be able to identify him on
+sight?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I should not. He looked like a hundred other men I see every
+day: medium in height and build, with brown hair and brown moustache.
+Not noticeable in any way, sir, except for his hang-dog air and evident
+desire not to be noticed."</p>
+
+<p>"But you saw him later?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. After he went to his room he stayed there, and no one saw him.
+I did not even see him when he left the house. His wife paid the bill
+and he did not come into the office."</p>
+
+<p>"But you saw her well; you would know her again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, sir; but I doubt it. She wore a thick veil when she came in,
+and though I might remember her voice, I have no recollection of her
+features for I did not see them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You can give a description of her dress, though; surely you must have
+looked long enough at a woman who wrote her own and her husband's name
+in your register, for you to remember her clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for they were very simple. She had on what is called a gossamer,
+which covered her from neck to toe, and on her head a hat wrapped all
+about with a blue veil."</p>
+
+<p>"So that she might have worn any dress under that gossamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And any hat under that veil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any one that was large enough, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Very</i> good. Now, did you see her hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to remember them."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she have gloves on?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say. I did not stand and watch her, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a pity. But you say you heard her voice."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it a lady's voice? Was her tone refined and her language good?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"When did they leave? How long did they remain in your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"They left in the evening; after tea, I should say."</p>
+
+<p>"How? On foot or in a carriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a carriage; one of the hacks that stand in front of the door."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they bring any baggage with them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they take any away?"</p>
+
+<p>"The lady carried a parcel."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a parcel?"</p>
+
+<p>"A brown-paper parcel, like clothing done up."</p>
+
+<p>"And the gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see him."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she dressed the same in going as in coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"To all appearance, except her hat. That was smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"She had the gossamer on still, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And a veil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Only that the hat it covered was smaller?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And now, how did you account to yourself for the parcel and the change
+of hat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't account for them. I didn't think anything about them at the
+time; but, since I have had the subject brought to my mind, I find it
+easy enough. She had a package delivered to her while she was in our
+house, or rather packages; they were quite numerous, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you recall the circumstances of their delivery?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; the man who brought the packages said that they had not been
+paid for, so I allowed him to carry them to Mrs. James Pope's room. When
+he went away, he had but one small parcel with him; the rest he had
+left."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is all you can tell us about this singular couple? Had they no
+meals in your house?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; the gentleman&mdash;or I suppose I should say the lady, sir, for
+the order was given in her voice&mdash;sent for two dozen oysters and a
+bottle of ale, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> were furnished to them in their rooms; but they
+didn't come to the dining-room."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the boy here who carried up those articles?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And the chambermaid who attended to their rooms?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you may answer this question, and we will excuse you. How was the
+gentleman dressed when you saw him?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a linen duster and a felt hat."</p>
+
+<p>"Let the jury remember that. And now let us hear from Richard Clapp. Is
+Richard Clapp in the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am, sir," answered a cheery voice; and a lively young man with a
+shrewd eye and a wide-awake manner popped up from behind a portly woman
+on a side seat and rapidly came forward.</p>
+
+<p>He was asked several questions before the leading one which we all
+expected; but I will not record them here. The question which brought
+the reply most eagerly anticipated was this:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember being sent to the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;with several packages for
+a Mrs. James Pope?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you deliver them in person? Did you see the lady?"</p>
+
+<p>A peculiar look crossed his face and we all leaned forward. But his
+answer brought a shock of disappointment with it.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't, sir. She wouldn't let me in. She bade me lay the things
+down by the door and wait in the rear hall till she called me."</p>
+
+<p>"And you did this?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But you kept your eye on the door, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And saw&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A hand steal out and take in the things."</p>
+
+<p>"A woman's hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; a man's. I saw the white cuff."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long was it before they called you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fifteen minutes, I should say. I heard a voice cry 'Here!' and seeing
+their door open, I went toward it. But by the time I reached it, it was
+shut again, and I only heard the lady say that all the articles but the
+shoes were satisfactory, and would I thrust the bill in under the door.
+I did so, and they were some minutes counting out the change, but
+presently the door opened slightly, and I saw a man's hand holding out
+the money, which was correct to the cent. 'You need not receipt the
+bill,' cried the lady from somewhere in the room. 'Give him the shoes
+and let him go.' So I received the shoes in the same mysterious way I
+had the money, and seeing no reason for waiting longer, pocketed the
+bills and returned to the store."</p>
+
+<p>"Has the jury any further questions to ask the witness?"</p>
+
+<p>Of course not. They were ninnies, all of them, and&mdash;&mdash;But, contrary to
+my expectation, one of them did perk up courage, and, wriggling very
+much on his seat, ventured to ask if the cuff he had seen on the man's
+hand when it was thrust through the doorway had a button in it.</p>
+
+<p>The answer was disappointing. The witness had not noticed any.</p>
+
+<p>The juror, somewhat abashed, sank into silence, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> which another of the
+precious twelve, inspired no doubt by the other's example, blurted out:</p>
+
+<p>"Then what was the color of the coat sleeve? You surely can remember
+that."</p>
+
+<p>But another disappointment awaited us.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not wear any coat. It was a shirt sleeve I saw."</p>
+
+<p>A shirt sleeve! There was no clue in that. A visible look of dejection
+spread through the room, which was not dissipated till another witness
+stood up.</p>
+
+<p>This time it was the bell-boy of the hotel who had been on duty that
+day. His testimony was brief, and added but little to the general
+knowledge. He had been summoned more than once by these mysterious
+parties, but only to receive his orders through a closed door. He had
+not entered the room at all.</p>
+
+<p>He was followed by the chambermaid, who testified that she was in the
+room once while they were there; that she saw them both then, but did
+not catch a glimpse of their faces; Mr. Pope was standing in the window
+almost entirely shielded by the curtains, and Mrs. Pope was busy hanging
+up something in the wardrobe. The gentleman had on his duster and the
+lady her gossamer; it was but a few minutes after their arrival.</p>
+
+<p>Questioned in regard to the state of the room after they left it, she
+said that there was a lot of brown paper lying about, marked B. Altman,
+but nothing else that did not belong there.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a tag, nor a hat-pin, nor a bit of memorandum, lying on bureau or
+table?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sir, so far as I mind. I wasn't on the look-out for anything,
+sir. They were a queer couple,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> but we have lots of queer couples at our
+house, and the most I notices, sir, is those what remember the
+chambermaid and those what don't. This couple was of the kind what
+don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you sweep the room after their departure?"</p>
+
+<p>"I always does. They went late, so I swept the room the next morning."</p>
+
+<p>"And threw the sweepings away, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course; would you have me keep them for treasures?"</p>
+
+<p>"It might have been well if you had," muttered the Coroner. "The
+combings from the lady's hair might have been very useful in
+establishing her identity."</p>
+
+<p>The porter who has charge of the lady's entrance was the last witness
+from this house. He had been on duty on the evening in question and had
+noticed this couple leaving. They both carried packages, and had
+attracted his attention first, by the long, old-fashioned duster which
+the gentleman wore, and secondly, by the pains they both took not to be
+observed by any one. The woman was veiled, as had already been said, and
+the man held his package in such a way as to shield his face entirely
+from observation.</p>
+
+<p>"So that you would not know him if you saw him again?" asked the
+Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly, sir," was the uncomprising answer.</p>
+
+<p>As he sat down, the Coroner observed: "You will note from this
+testimony, gentlemen, that this couple, signing themselves Mr. and Mrs.
+James Pope of Philadelphia, left this house dressed each in a long
+garment eminently fitted for purposes of concealment,&mdash;he in a linen
+duster, and she in a gossamer. Let us now follow this couple a little
+farther and see what became of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> these disguising articles of apparel. Is
+Seth Brown here?"</p>
+
+<p>A man, who was so evidently a hackman that it seemed superfluous to ask
+him what his occupation was, shuffled forward at this.</p>
+
+<p>It was in his hack that this couple had left the D&mdash;&mdash;. He remembered
+them very well as he had good reason to. First, because the man paid him
+before entering the carriage, saying that he was to let them out at the
+northwest corner of Madison Square, and secondly&mdash;&mdash;But here the Coroner
+interrupted him to ask if he had seen the gentleman's face when he paid
+him. The answer was, as might have been expected, No. It was dark, and
+he had not turned his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you think it queer to be paid before you reached your
+destination?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the rest was queerer. After I had taken the money&mdash;I never
+refuses money, sir&mdash;and was expecting him to get into the hack, he steps
+up to me again and says in a lower tone than before: 'My wife is very
+nervous. Drive slow, if you please, and when you reach the place I have
+named, watch your horses carefully, for if they should move while she is
+getting out, the shock would throw her into a spasm.' As she had looked
+very pert and lively, I thought this mighty queer, and I tried to get a
+peep at his face, but he was too smart for me, and was in the carriage
+before I could clap my eye on him."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were more fortunate when they got out? You surely saw one or
+both of them then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I didn't. I had to watch the horses' heads, you know. I
+shouldn't like to be the cause of a young lady having a spasm."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you know in what direction they went?"</p>
+
+<p>"East, I should say. I heard them laughing long after I had whipped up
+my horses. A queer couple, sir, that puzzled me some, though I should
+not have thought of them twice if I had not found next day&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"The gentleman's linen duster and the neat brown gossamer which the lady
+had worn, lying folded under the two back cushions of my hack; a present
+for which I was very much obliged to them, but which I was not long
+allowed to enjoy, for yesterday the police&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, no matter about that. Here is a duster and here is a brown
+gossamer. Are these the articles you found under your cushions?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will examine the neck of the lady's gossamer, you can soon tell,
+sir. There was a small hole in the one I found, as if something had been
+snipped out of it; the owner's name, most likely."</p>
+
+<p>"Or the name of the place where it was bought," suggested the Coroner,
+holding the garment up to view so as to reveal a square hole under the
+collar.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it!" cried the hackman. "That's the very one. Shame, I say, to
+spoil a new garment that way."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you call it new?" asked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"Because it hasn't a mud spot or even a mark of dust upon it. We looked
+it all over, my wife and I, and decided it had not been long off the
+shelf. A pretty good haul for a poor man like me, and if the police&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But here he was cut short again by an important question:</p>
+
+<p>"There is a clock but a short distance from the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> where you
+stopped. Did you notice what time it was when you drove away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I don't know why I remember it, but I do. As I turned to go
+back to the hotel, I looked up at this clock. It was half-past eleven."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KEYS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We were all by this time greatly interested in the proceedings; and when
+another hackman was called we recognized at once that an effort was
+about to be made to connect this couple with the one who had alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's door.</p>
+
+<p>The witness, who was a melancholy chap, kept his stand on the east side
+of the Square. At about twenty minutes to twelve, he was awakened from a
+nap he had been taking on the top of his coach, by a sharp rap on his
+whip arm, and looking down, he saw a lady and gentleman standing at the
+door of his vehicle.</p>
+
+<p>"We want to go to Gramercy Park," said the lady. "Drive us there at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>"I nodded, for what is the use of wasting words when it can be avoided;
+and they stepped at once into the coach."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you describe them&mdash;tell us how they looked?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never notice people; besides, it was dark; but he had a swell air,
+and she was pert and merry, for she laughed as she closed the door."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you remember how they were dressed?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; she had on something that flapped about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> her shoulders, and he
+had a dark hat on his head, but that was all I saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you see his face?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it; he kept it turned away. He didn't want nobody looking
+at <i>him</i>. She did all the business."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you saw <i>her</i> face?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, for a minute. But I wouldn't know it again. She was young and
+purty, and her hand which dropped the money into mine was small, but I
+couldn't say no more, not if you was to give me the town."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know that the house you stopped at was Mr. Van Burnam's, and
+that it was supposed to be empty?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I'm not one of the swell ones. My acquaintances live in
+another part of the town."</p>
+
+<p>"But you noticed that the house was dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may have. I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is all you have to tell us about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; the next morning, which was yesterday, sir, as I was a-dusting
+out the coach I found under the cushions a large blue veil, folded and
+lying very flat. But it had been slit with a knife and could not be
+worn."</p>
+
+<p>This was strange too, and while more than one person about me ventured
+an opinion, I muttered to myself, "James Pope, his mark!" astonished at
+a coincidence which so completely connected the occupants of the two
+coaches.</p>
+
+<p>But the Coroner was able to produce a witness whose evidence carried the
+matter on still farther. A policeman in full uniform testified next, and
+after explaining that his beat led him from Madison Avenue to Third on
+Twenty-seventh Street, went on to say that as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> was coming up this
+street on Tuesday evening some few minutes before midnight, he
+encountered, somewhere between Lexington Avenue and Third, a man and
+woman walking rapidly towards the latter avenue, each carrying a parcel
+of some dimensions; that he noted them because they seemed so merry, but
+would have thought nothing of it, if he had not presently perceived them
+coming back without the parcels. They were chatting more gaily than
+ever. The lady wore a short cape, and the gentleman a dark coat, but he
+could give no other description of their appearance, for they went by
+rapidly, and he was more interested in wondering what they had done with
+such large parcels in such a short time at that hour of night, than in
+noting how they looked or whither they were going. He did observe,
+however, that they proceeded towards Madison Square, and remembers now
+that he heard a carriage suddenly drive away from that direction.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner asked him but one question:</p>
+
+<p>"Had the lady no parcel when you saw her last?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw none."</p>
+
+<p>"Could she not have carried one under her cape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, if it was small enough."</p>
+
+<p>"As small as a lady's hat, say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it would have to be smaller than some of them are now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And so terminated this portion of the inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>A short delay followed the withdrawal of this witness. The Coroner, who
+was a somewhat portly man, and who had felt the heat of the day very
+much, leaned back and looked anxious, while the jury, always restless,
+moved in their seats like a set of school-boys, and seemed to long for
+the hour of adjournment, notwithstanding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> the interest which everybody
+but themselves seemed to take in this exciting investigation.</p>
+
+<p>Finally an officer, who had been sent into the adjoining room, came back
+with a gentleman, who was no sooner recognized as Mr. Franklin Van
+Burnam than a great change took place in the countenances of all
+present. The Coroner sat forward and dropped the large palm-leaf fan he
+had been industriously using for the last few minutes, the jury settled
+down, and the whispering of the many curious ones about me grew less
+audible and finally ceased altogether. A gentleman of the family was
+about to be interrogated, and such a gentleman!</p>
+
+<p>I have purposely refrained from describing this best known and best
+reputed member of the Van Burnam family, foreseeing this hour when he
+would attract the attention of a hundred eyes and when his appearance
+would require our special notice. I will therefore endeavor to picture
+him to you as he looked on this memorable morning, with just the simple
+warning that you must not expect me to see with the eyes of a young girl
+or even with those of a fashionable society woman. I know a man when I
+see him, and I had always regarded Mr. Franklin as an exceptionally
+fine-looking and prepossessing gentleman, but I shall not go into
+raptures, as I heard a girl behind me doing, nor do I feel like
+acknowledging him as a paragon of all the virtues&mdash;as Mrs. Cunningham
+did that evening in my parlor.</p>
+
+<p>He is a medium-sized man, with a shape not unlike his brother's. His
+hair is dark and so are his eyes, but his moustache is brown and his
+complexion quite fair. He carries himself with distinction, and though
+his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> countenance in repose has a precise air that is not perfectly
+agreeable, it has, when he speaks or smiles, an expression at once keen
+and amiable.</p>
+
+<p>On this occasion he failed to smile, and though his elegance was
+sufficiently apparent, his worth was not so much so. Yet the impression
+generally made was favorable, as one could perceive from the air of
+respect with which his testimony was received.</p>
+
+<p>He was asked many questions. Some were germane to the matter in hand and
+some seemed to strike wide of all mark. He answered them all
+courteously, showing a manly composure in doing so, that served to calm
+the fever-heat into which many had been thrown by the stories of the two
+hackmen. But as his evidence up to this point related merely to minor
+concerns, this was neither strange nor conclusive. The real test began
+when the Coroner, with a certain bluster, which may have been meant to
+attract the attention of the jury, now visibly waning, or, as was more
+likely, may have been the unconscious expression of a secret if hitherto
+well concealed embarrassment, asked the witness whether the keys to his
+father's front door had any duplicates.</p>
+
+<p>The answer came in a decidedly changed tone. "No. The key used by our
+agent opens the basement door only."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner showed his satisfaction. "No duplicates," he repeated; "then
+you will have no difficulty in telling us where the keys to your
+father's front door were kept during the family's absence."</p>
+
+<p>Did the young man hesitate, or was it but imagination on my part&mdash;"They
+were usually in my possession."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Usually!" There was irony in the tone; evidently the Coroner was
+getting the better of his embarrassment, if he had felt any. "And where
+were they on the seventeenth of this month? Were they in your possession
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir." The young man tried to look calm and at his ease, but the
+difficulty he felt in doing so was apparent. "On the morning of that
+day," he continued, "I passed them over to my brother."</p>
+
+<p>Ah! here was something tangible as well as important. I began to fear
+the police understood themselves only too well; and so did the whole
+crowd of persons there assembled. A groan in one direction was answered
+by a sigh in another, and it needed all the Coroner's authority to
+prevent an outbreak.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Mr. Van Burnam stood erect and unwavering, though his eye
+showed the suffering which these demonstrations awakened. He did not
+turn in the direction of the room where we felt sure his family was
+gathered, but it was evident that his thoughts did, and that most
+painfully. The Coroner, on the contrary, showed little or no feeling; he
+had brought the investigation up to this critical point and felt fully
+competent to carry it farther.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask," said he, "where the transference of these keys took place?"</p>
+
+<p>"I gave them to him in our office last Tuesday morning. He said he might
+want to go into the house before his father came home."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he say why he wanted to go into the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he in the habit of going into it alone and during the family's
+absence?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Had he any clothes there? or any articles belonging to himself or his
+wife which he would be likely to wish to carry away?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet he wanted to go in?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said so."</p>
+
+<p>"And you gave him the keys without question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that not opposed to your usual principles&mdash;to your way of doing
+things, I should say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but principles, by which I suppose you mean my usual business
+methods, do not govern me in my relations with my brother. He asked me a
+favor, and I granted it. It would have to have been a much larger one
+for me to have asked an explanation from him before doing so."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you are not on good terms with your brother; at least you have not
+had the name of being, for some time?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have had no quarrel."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he return the keys you lent him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen them since?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you know them if they were shown you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would know them if they unlocked our front door."</p>
+
+<p>"But you would not know them on sight?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, it is disagreeable for me to go into family matters,
+but if you have had no quarrel with your brother, how comes it that you
+and he have had so little intercourse of late?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He has been in Connecticut and I at Long Branch. Is not that a good
+answer, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good, but not good enough. You have a common office in New York, have
+you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, the firm's office."</p>
+
+<p>"And you sometimes meet there, even while residing in different
+localities?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, our business calls us in at times and then we meet, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you talk when you meet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Talk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of other matters besides business, I mean. Are your relations friendly?
+Do you show the same spirit towards each other as you did three years
+ago, say?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are older; perhaps we are not quite so voluble."</p>
+
+<p>"But do you feel the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I see you will have it, and so I will no longer hold back the
+truth. We are not as brotherly in our intercourse as we used to be; but
+there is no animosity between us. I have a decided regard for my
+brother."</p>
+
+<p>This was said quite nobly, and I liked him for it, but I began to feel
+that perhaps it had been for the best after all that I had never been
+intimate with the family. But I must not forestall either events or my
+opinions.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any reason"&mdash;it is the Coroner, of course, who is
+speaking&mdash;"why there should be any falling off in your mutual
+confidence? Has your brother done anything to displease you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We did not like his marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it an unhappy one?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was not a suitable one."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did you know Mrs. Van Burnam well, that you say this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I knew her, but the rest of the family did not."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet they shared in your disapprobation?"</p>
+
+<p>"They felt the marriage more than I did. The lady&mdash;excuse me, I never
+like to speak ill of the sex&mdash;was not lacking in good sense or virtue,
+but she was not the person we had a right to expect Howard to marry."</p>
+
+<p>"And you let him see that you thought so?"</p>
+
+<p>"How could we do otherwise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even after she had been his wife for some months?"</p>
+
+<p>"We could not like her."</p>
+
+<p>"Did your brother&mdash;I am sorry to press this matter&mdash;ever show that he
+felt your change of conduct towards him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I find it equally hard to answer," was the quick reply. "My brother is
+of an affectionate nature, and he has some, if not all, of the family's
+pride. I think he did feel it, though he never said so. He is not
+without loyalty to his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, of whom does the firm doing business under the name of
+Van Burnam &amp; Sons consist?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of the three persons mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>"No others?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Has there ever been in your hearing any threat made by the senior
+partner of dissolving this firm as it stands?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard"&mdash;I felt sorry for this strong but far from heartless man,
+but I would not have stopped the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> inquiry at this point if I could; I
+was far too curious&mdash;"I have heard my father say that he would withdraw
+if Howard did not. Whether he would have done so, I consider open to
+doubt. My father is a just man and never fails to do the right thing,
+though he sometimes speaks with unnecessary harshness."</p>
+
+<p>"He made the threat, however?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And Howard heard it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or of it; I cannot say which."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, have you noticed any change in your brother since this
+threat was uttered?"</p>
+
+<p>"How, sir; what change?"</p>
+
+<p>"In his treatment of his wife, or in his attitude towards yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not seen him in the company of his wife since they went to
+Haddam. As for his conduct towards myself, I can say no more than I have
+already. We have never forgotten that we are children of one mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, how many times have you seen Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Several. More frequently before they were married than since."</p>
+
+<p>"You were in your brother's confidence, then, at that time; knew he was
+contemplating marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was in my endeavors to prevent the match that I saw so much of Miss
+Louise Stapleton."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I am glad of the explanation! I was just going to inquire why you,
+of all members of the family, were the only one to know your brother's
+wife by sight."</p>
+
+<p>The witness, considering this question answered,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> made no reply. But the
+next suggestion could not be passed over.</p>
+
+<p>"If you saw Mrs. Van Burnam so often, you are acquainted with her
+personal appearance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sufficiently so; as well as I know that of my ordinary
+calling-acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>"Was she light or dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"She had brown hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Similar to this?"</p>
+
+<p>The lock held up was the one which had been cut from the head of the
+dead girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, somewhat similar to that." The tone was cold; but he could not
+hide his distress.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, have you looked well at the woman who was found
+murdered in your father's house?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there anything in her general outline or in such features as have
+escaped disfigurement to remind you of Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may have thought so&mdash;at first glance," he replied, with decided
+effort.</p>
+
+<p>"And did you change your mind at the second?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked troubled, but answered firmly: "No, I cannot say that I did.
+But you must not regard my opinion as conclusive," he hastily added. "My
+knowledge of the lady was comparatively slight."</p>
+
+<p>"The jury will take that into account. All we want to know now is
+whether you can assert from any knowledge you have or from anything to
+be noted in the body itself, that it is not Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And with this solemn assertion his examination closed.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the day was taken up in trying to prove a similarity
+between Mrs. Van Burnam's handwriting and that of Mrs. James Pope as
+seen in the register of the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; and on the order sent to
+Altman's. But the only conclusion reached was that the latter might be
+the former disguised, and even on this point the experts differed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOWARD VAN BURNAM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The gentleman who stepped from the carriage and entered Mr. Van Burnam's
+house at twelve o'clock that night produced so little impression upon me
+that I went to bed satisfied that no result would follow these efforts
+at identification.</p>
+
+<p>And so I told Mr. Gryce when he arrived next morning. But he seemed by
+no means disconcerted, and merely requested that I would submit to one
+more trial. To which I gave my consent, and he departed.</p>
+
+<p>I could have asked him a string of questions, but his manner did not
+invite them, and for some reason I was too wary to show an interest in
+this tragedy superior to that felt by every right-thinking person
+connected with it.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock I was in my old seat in the court-room. The same crowd
+with different faces confronted me, amid which the twelve stolid
+countenances of the jury looked like old friends. Howard Van Burnam was
+the witness called, and as he came forward and stood in full view of us
+all, the interest of the occasion reached its climax.</p>
+
+<p>His countenance wore a reckless look that did not serve to prepossess
+him with the people at whose mercy he stood. But he did not seem to
+care, and waited for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> the Coroner's questions with an air of ease which
+was in direct contrast to the drawn and troubled faces of his father and
+brother just visible in the background.</p>
+
+<p>Coroner Dahl surveyed him a few minutes before speaking, then he quietly
+asked if he had seen the dead body of the woman who had been found lying
+under a fallen piece of furniture in his father's house.</p>
+
+<p>He replied that he had.</p>
+
+<p>"Before she was removed from the house or after it?"</p>
+
+<p>"After."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you recognize it? Was it the body of any one you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Has your wife, who was missing yesterday, been heard from yet, Mr. Van
+Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to my knowledge, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Had she not&mdash;that is, your wife&mdash;a complexion similar to that of the
+dead woman just alluded to?"</p>
+
+<p>"She had a fair skin and brown hair, if that is what you mean. But these
+attributes are common to too many women for me to give them any weight
+in an attempted identification of this importance."</p>
+
+<p>"Had they no other similar points of a less general character? Was not
+your wife of a slight and graceful build, such as is attributed to the
+subject of this inquiry?"</p>
+
+<p>"My wife was slight and she was graceful, common attributes also."</p>
+
+<p>"And your wife had a scar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"On the left ankle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Which the deceased also has?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I do not know. They say so, but I had no interest in looking."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, may I ask? Did you not think it a remarkable coincidence?"</p>
+
+<p>The young man frowned. It was the first token of feeling he had given.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not on the look-out for coincidences," was his cold reply. "I had
+no reason to think this unhappy victim of an unknown man's brutality my
+wife, and so did not allow myself to be moved by even such a fact as
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"You had no reason," repeated the Coroner, "to think this woman your
+wife. Had you any reason to think she was not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give us that reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had more than one. First, my wife would never wear the clothes I saw
+on the girl whose dead body was shown to me. Secondly, she would never
+go to any house alone with a man at the hour testified to by one of your
+witnesses."<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Not with any man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not mean to include her husband in my remark, of course. But as I
+did not take her to Gramercy Park, the fact that the deceased woman
+entered an empty house accompanied by a man, is proof enough to me that
+she was not Louise Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you part with your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"On Monday morning at the depot in Haddam."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did you know where she was going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I knew where she said she was going."</p>
+
+<p>"And where was that, may I ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"To New York, to interview my father."</p>
+
+<p>"But your father was not in New York?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was daily expected here. The steamer on which he had sailed from
+Southampton was due on Tuesday."</p>
+
+<p>"Had she an interest in seeing your father? Was there any special reason
+why she should leave you for doing so?"</p>
+
+<p>"She thought so; she thought he would become reconciled to her entrance
+into our family if he should see her suddenly and without prejudiced
+persons standing by."</p>
+
+<p>"And did you fear to mar the effect of this meeting if you accompanied
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, for I doubted if the meeting would ever take place. I had no
+sympathy with her schemes, and did not wish to give her the sanction of
+my presence."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that the reason you let her go to New York alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you no other?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you follow her, then, in less than five hours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I was uneasy; because I also wanted to see my father; because I
+am a man accustomed to carry out every impulse; and impulse led me that
+day in the direction of my somewhat headstrong wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know where your wife intended to spend the night?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I did not. She has many friends, or at least I have, in the city, and I
+concluded she would go to one of them&mdash;as she did."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you arrive in the city? before ten o'clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a few minutes before."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you try to find your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I went directly to the club."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you try to find her the next morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I had heard that the steamer had not yet been sighted off Fire
+Island, so considered the effort unnecessary."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? What connection is there between this fact and an endeavor on your
+part to find your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very close one. She had come to New York to throw herself at my
+father's feet. Now she could only do this at the steamer or in&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you not proceed, Mr. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will. I do not know why I stopped,&mdash;or in his own house."</p>
+
+<p>"In his own house? In the house in Gramercy Park, do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he has no other."</p>
+
+<p>"The house in which this dead girl was found?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes,"&mdash;impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think she might throw herself at his feet there?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said she might; and as she is romantic, foolishly romantic, I
+thought her fully capable of doing so."</p>
+
+<p>"And so you did not seek her in the morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the afternoon?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was a close question; we saw that he was affected by it though he
+tried to carry it off bravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see her in the afternoon. I was in a restless frame of mind,
+and did not remain in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! indeed! and where did you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless necessary, I prefer not to say."</p>
+
+<p>"It is necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"I went to Coney Island."</p>
+
+<p>"Alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see anybody there you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"And when did you return?"</p>
+
+<p>"At midnight."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you reach your rooms?"</p>
+
+<p>"Later."</p>
+
+<p>"How much later?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two or three hours."</p>
+
+<p>"And where were you during those hours?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was walking the streets."</p>
+
+<p>The ease, the quietness with which he made these acknowledgments were
+remarkable. The jury to a man honored him with a prolonged stare, and
+the awe-struck crowd scarcely breathed during their utterance. At the
+last sentence a murmur broke out, at which he raised his head and with
+an air of surprise surveyed the people before him. Though he must have
+known what their astonishment meant, he neither quailed nor blanched,
+and while not in reality a handsome man, he certainly looked handsome at
+this moment.</p>
+
+<p>I did not know what to think; so forbore to think anything. Meanwhile
+the examination went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that the locket<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> I see there dangling
+from your watch-chain contains a lock of your wife's hair. Is it so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a lock of her hair in this; yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a lock clipped from the head of the unknown woman whose
+identity we seek. Have you any objection to comparing the two?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not an agreeable task you have set me," was the imperturbable
+response; "but I have no objection to doing what you ask." And calmly
+lifting the chain, he took off the locket, opened it, and held it out
+courteously toward the Coroner. "May I ask you to make the first
+comparison," he said.</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner, taking the locket, laid the two locks of brown hair
+together, and after a moment's contemplation of them both, surveyed the
+young man seriously, and remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"They are of the same shade. Shall I pass them down to the jury?"</p>
+
+<p>Howard bowed. You would have thought he was in a drawing-room, and in
+the act of bestowing a favor. But his brother Franklin showed a very
+different countenance, and as for their father, one could not even see
+his face, he so persistently held up his hand before it.</p>
+
+<p>The jury, wide-awake now, passed the locket along, with many sly nods
+and a few whispered words. When it came back to the Coroner, he took it
+and handed it to Mr. Van Burnam, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would observe the similarity for yourself. I can hardly
+detect any difference between them."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you! I am willing to take your word for it," replied the young
+man, with most astonishing <i>aplomb</i>. And Coroner and jury for a moment
+looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> baffled, and even Mr. Gryce, of whose face I caught a passing
+glimpse at this instant, stared at the head of his cane, as if it were
+of thicker wood than he expected and had more knotty points on it than
+even his accustomed hand liked to encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Another effort was not out of place, however; and the Coroner, summoning
+up some of the pompous severity he found useful at times, asked the
+witness if his attention had been drawn to the dead woman's hands.</p>
+
+<p>He acknowledged that it had. "The physician who made the autopsy urged
+me to look at them, and I did; they were certainly very like my wife's."</p>
+
+<p>"Only like."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say that they were my wife's. Do you wish me to perjure
+myself?"</p>
+
+<p>"A man should know his wife's hands as well as he knows her face."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are ready to swear these were not the hands of your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to swear I did not so consider them."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is all?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is all."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner frowned and cast a glance at the jury. They needed prodding
+now and then, and this is the way he prodded them. As soon as they gave
+signs of recognizing the hint he gave them, he turned back, and renewed
+his examination in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, did your brother at your request hand you the keys of
+your father's house on the morning of the day on which this tragedy
+occurred?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you those keys now?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have not."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you done with them? Did you return them to your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I see where your inquiries are tending, and I do not suppose you
+will believe my simple word; but I lost the keys on the day I received
+them; that is why&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you may continue, Mr. Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no more to say; my sentence was not worth completing."</p>
+
+<p>The murmur which rose about him seemed to show dissatisfaction; but he
+remained imperturbable, or rather like a man who did not hear. I began
+to feel a most painful interest in the inquiry, and dreaded, while I
+anxiously anticipated, his further examination.</p>
+
+<p>"You lost the keys; may I ask when and where?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I do not know; they were missing when I searched for them; missing
+from my pocket, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! and when did you search for them?"</p>
+
+<p>"The next day&mdash;after I had heard&mdash;of&mdash;of what had taken place in my
+father's house."</p>
+
+<p>The hesitations were those of a man weighing his reply. They told on the
+jury, as all such hesitations do; and made the Coroner lose an atom of
+the respect he had hitherto shown this easy-going witness.</p>
+
+<p>"And you do not know what became of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Or into whose hands they fell?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but probably into the hands of the wretch&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>To the astonishment of everybody he was on the verge of vehemence; but
+becoming sensible of it, he controlled himself with a suddenness that
+was almost shocking.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Find the murderer of this poor girl," said he, with a quiet air that
+was more thrilling than any display of passion, "and ask <i>him</i> where he
+got the keys with which he opened the door of my father's house at
+midnight."</p>
+
+<p>Was this a challenge, or just the natural outburst of an innocent man.
+Neither the jury nor the Coroner seemed to know, the former looking
+startled and the latter nonplussed. But Mr. Gryce, who had moved now
+into view, smoothed the head of his cane with quite a loving touch, and
+did not seem at this moment to feel its inequalities objectionable.</p>
+
+<p>"We will certainly try to follow your advice," the Coroner assured him.
+"Meanwhile we must ask how many rings your wife is in the habit of
+wearing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five. Two on the left hand and three on the right."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know these rings?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Better than you know her hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"As well, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Were they on her hands when you parted from her in Haddam?"</p>
+
+<p>"They were."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she always wear them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost always. Indeed I do not ever remember seeing her take off more
+than one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Which one?"</p>
+
+<p>"The ruby with the diamond setting."</p>
+
+<p>"Had the dead girl any rings on when you saw her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you look to see?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think I did in the first shock of the discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"And you saw none?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"And from this you concluded she was not your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"From this and other things."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you must have seen that the woman was in the habit of wearing
+rings, even if they were not on her hands at that moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir? What should I know about her habits?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is not that a ring I see now on your little finger?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is; my seal ring which I always wear."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you pull it off?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pull it off!"</p>
+
+<p>"If you please; it is a simple test I am requiring of you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>The witness looked astonished, but pulled off the ring at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Here it is," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, but I do not want it. I merely want you to look at your
+finger."</p>
+
+<p>The witness complied, evidently more nonplussed than disturbed by this
+command.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you see any difference between that finger and the one next it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there is a mark about my little finger showing where the ring has
+pressed."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; there were such marks on the fingers of the dead girl, who,
+as you say, had no rings on. I saw them, and perhaps you did yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not; I did not look closely enough."</p>
+
+<p>"They were on the little finger of the right hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> on the marriage
+finger of the left, and on the forefinger of the same. On which fingers
+did your wife wear rings?"</p>
+
+<p>"On those same fingers, sir, but I will not accept this fact as proving
+her identity with the deceased. Most women do wear rings, and on those
+very fingers."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner was nettled, but he was not discouraged. He exchanged looks
+with Mr. Gryce, but nothing further passed between them and we were left
+to conjecture what this interchange of glances meant.</p>
+
+<p>The witness, who did not seem to be affected either by the character of
+this examination or by the conjectures to which it gave rise, preserved
+his <i>sang-froid</i>, and eyed the Coroner as he might any other questioner,
+with suitable respect, but with no fear and but little impatience. And
+yet he must have known the horrible suspicion darkening the minds of
+many people present, and suspected, even if against his will, that this
+examination, significant as it was, was but the forerunner of another
+and yet more serious one.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very determined," remarked the Coroner in beginning again, "not
+to accept the very substantial proofs presented you of the identity
+between the object of this inquiry and your missing wife. But we are not
+yet ready to give up the struggle, and so I must ask if you heard the
+description given by Miss Ferguson of the manner in which your wife was
+dressed on leaving Haddam?</p>
+
+<p>"I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it a correct account? Did she wear a black and white plaid silk and
+a hat trimmed with various colored ribbons and flowers?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember the hat? Were you with her when she bought it, or did
+you ever have your attention drawn to it in any particular way?"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember the hat."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this it, Mr. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>I was watching Howard, and the start he gave was so pronounced and the
+emotion he displayed was in such violent contrast to the self-possession
+he had maintained up to this point, that I was held spell-bound by the
+shock I received, and forebore to look at the object which the Coroner
+had suddenly held up for inspection. But when I did turn my head towards
+it, I recognized at once the multi-colored hat which Mr. Gryce had
+brought in from the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house on the evening
+I was there, and realized almost in the same breath that great as this
+mystery had hitherto seemed it was likely to prove yet greater before
+its proper elucidation was arrived at.</p>
+
+<p>"Was that found in my father's house? Where&mdash;where was that hat found?"
+stammered the witness, so far forgetting himself as to point towards the
+object in question.</p>
+
+<p>"It was found by Mr. Gryce in a closet off your father's dining-room, a
+short time after the dead girl was carried out."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it," vociferated the young man, paling with something
+more than anger, and shaking from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I put Mr. Gryce on his oath again?" asked the Coroner, mildly.</p>
+
+<p>The young man stared; evidently these words failed to reach his
+understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Is</i> it your wife's hat?" persisted the Coroner with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> very little
+mercy. "Do you recognize it for the one in which she left Haddam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would to God I did not!" burst in vehement distress from the witness,
+who at the next moment broke down altogether and looked about for the
+support of his brother's arm.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin came forward, and the two brothers stood for a moment in the
+face of the whole surging mass of curiosity-mongers before them, arm in
+arm, but with very different expressions on their two proud faces.
+Howard was the first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"If that was found in the parlors of my father's house," he cried, "then
+the woman who was killed there was my wife." And he started away with a
+wild air towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?" asked the Coroner, quietly, while an officer
+stepped softly before him, and his brother compassionately drew him back
+by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to take her from that horrible place; she is my wife.
+Father, you would not wish her to remain in that spot for another
+moment, would you, while we have a house we call our own?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Burnam the senior, who had shrunk as far from sight as possible
+through these painful demonstrations, rose up at these words from his
+agonized son, and making him an encouraging gesture, walked hastily out
+of the room; seeing which, the young man became calmer, and though he
+did not cease to shudder, tried to restrain his first grief, which to
+those who looked closely at him was evidently very sincere.</p>
+
+<p>"I would not believe it was she," he cried, in total disregard of the
+presence he was in, "I <i>would not</i> believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> it; but now&mdash;&mdash;" A certain
+pitiful gesture finished the sentence, and neither Coroner nor jury
+seemed to know just how to proceed, the conduct of the young man being
+so markedly different from what they had expected. After a short pause,
+painful enough to all concerned, the Coroner, perceiving that very
+little could be done with the witness under the circumstances, adjourned
+the sitting till afternoon.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Why could he not have said Miss Butterworth? These Van
+Burnams are proud, most vilely proud as the poet has it.&mdash;A. B.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SERIOUS ADMISSION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I went at once to a restaurant. I ate because it was time to eat, and
+because any occupation was welcome that would pass away the hours of
+waiting. I was troubled; and I did not know what to make of myself. I
+was no friend to the Van Burnams; I did not like them, and certainly had
+never approved of any of them but Mr. Franklin, and yet I found myself
+altogether disturbed over the morning's developments, Howard's emotion
+having appealed to me in spite of my prejudices. I could not but think
+ill of him, his conduct not being such as I could honestly commend. But
+I found myself more ready to listen to the involuntary pleadings of my
+own heart in his behalf than I had been prior to his testimony and its
+somewhat startling termination.</p>
+
+<p>But they were not through with him yet, and after the longest three
+hours I ever passed, we were again convened before the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Howard as soon as anybody did. He came in, arm in arm as before,
+with his faithful brother, and sat down in a retired corner behind the
+Coroner. But he was soon called forward.</p>
+
+<p>His face when the light fell on it was startling to most of us. It was
+as much changed as if years,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> instead of hours, had elapsed since last
+we saw it. No longer reckless in its expression, nor easy, nor politely
+patient, it showed in its every lineament that he had not only passed
+through a hurricane of passion, but that the bitterness, which had been
+its worst feature, had not passed with the storm, but had settled into
+the core of his nature, disturbing its equilibrium forever. My emotions
+were not allayed by the sight; but I kept all expression of them out of
+view. I must be sure of his integrity before giving rein to my
+sympathies.</p>
+
+<p>The jury moved and sat up quite alert when they saw him. I think that if
+these especial twelve men could have a murder case to investigate every
+day, they would grow quite wide-awake in time. Mr. Van Burnam made no
+demonstration. Evidently there was not likely to be a repetition of the
+morning's display of passion. He had been iron in his impassibility at
+that time, but he was steel now, and steel which had been through the
+fiercest of fires.</p>
+
+<p>The opening question of the Coroner showed by what experience these
+fires had been kindled.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that you have visited the Morgue in
+the interim which has elapsed since I last questioned you. Is that
+true?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you, in the opportunity thus afforded, examine the remains of the
+woman whose death we are investigating, attentively enough to enable you
+to say now whether they are those of your missing wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have. The body is that of Louise Van Burnam; I crave your pardon and
+that of the jury for my former obstinacy in refusing to recognize it. I
+thought myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> fully justified in the stand I took. I see now that I
+was not."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner made no answer. There was no sympathy between him and this
+young man. Yet he did not fail in a decent show of respect; perhaps
+because he did feel some sympathy for the witness's unhappy father and
+brother.</p>
+
+<p>"You then acknowledge the victim to have been your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a point gained, and I compliment the jury upon it. We can now
+proceed to settle, if possible, the identity of the person who
+accompanied Mrs. Van Burnam into your father's house."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," cried Mr. Van Burnam, with a strange air, "<i>I acknowledge I was
+that person</i>."</p>
+
+<p>It was coolly, almost fiercely said, but it was an admission that
+wellnigh created a hubbub. Even the Coroner seemed moved, and cast a
+glance at Mr. Gryce which showed his surprise to be greater than his
+discretion.</p>
+
+<p>"You acknowledge," he began&mdash;but the witness did not let him finish.</p>
+
+<p>"I acknowledge that I was the person who accompanied her into that empty
+house; but I do not acknowledge that I killed her. She was alive and
+well when I left her, difficult as it is for me to prove it. It was the
+realization of this difficulty which made me perjure myself this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"So," murmured the Coroner, with another glance at Mr. Gryce, "you
+acknowledge that you perjured yourself. Will the room be quiet!"</p>
+
+<p>But the lull came slowly. The contrast between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> appearance of this
+elegant young man and the significant admissions he had just made
+(admissions which to three quarters of the persons there meant more,
+much more, than he acknowledged), was certainly such as to provoke
+interest of the deepest kind. I felt like giving rein to my own
+feelings, and was not surprised at the patience shown by the Coroner.
+But order was restored at last, and the inquiry proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"We are then to consider the testimony given by you this morning as null
+and void?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so far as it contradicts what I have just stated."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, then you will no doubt be willing to give us your evidence again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, if you will be so kind as to question me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; where did your wife and yourself first meet after your
+arrival in New York?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the street near my office. She was coming to see me, but I prevailed
+upon her to go uptown."</p>
+
+<p>"What time was this?"</p>
+
+<p>"After ten and before noon. I cannot give the exact hour."</p>
+
+<p>"And where did you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"To a hotel on Broadway; you have already heard of our visit there."</p>
+
+<p>"You are, then, the Mr. James Pope, whose wife registered in the books
+of the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; on the seventeenth of this month?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have said so."</p>
+
+<p>"And may I ask for what purpose you used this disguise, and allowed your
+wife to sign a wrong name?"</p>
+
+<p>"To satisfy a freak. She considered it the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> way of covering up a
+scheme she had formed; which was to awaken the interest of my father
+under the name and appearance of a stranger, and not to inform him who
+she was till he had given some evidence of partiality for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but for such an end was it necessary for her to assume a strange
+name before she saw your father, and for you both to conduct yourselves
+in the mysterious way you did all that day and evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. She thought so, and I humored her. I was tired of
+working against her, and was willing she should have her own way for a
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"And for this reason you let her fit herself out with clothes down to
+her very undergarments?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; strange as it may seem, I was just such a fool. I had entered into
+her scheme, and the means she took to change her personality only amused
+me. She wished to present herself to my father as a girl obliged to work
+for her living, and was too shrewd to excite suspicion in the minds of
+any of the family by any undue luxury in her apparel. At least that was
+the excuse she gave me for the precautions she took, though I think the
+delight she experienced in anything romantic and unusual had as much to
+do with it as anything else. She enjoyed the game she was playing, and
+wished to make as much of it as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Were her own garments much richer than those she ordered from
+Altman's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly. Mrs. Van Burnam wore nothing made by American
+seamstresses. Fine clothes were her weakness."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, I see; but why such an attempt on your part to keep yourself in
+the background? Why let your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> wife write your assumed names in the hotel
+register, for instance, instead of doing it yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was easier for her; I know no other reason. She did not mind putting
+down the name Pope. I did."</p>
+
+<p>It was an ungracious reflection upon his wife, and he seemed to feel it
+so; for he almost immediately added: "A man will sometimes lend himself
+to a scheme of which the details are obnoxious. It was so in this case;
+but she was too interested in her plans to be affected by so small a
+matter as this."</p>
+
+<p>This explained more than one mysterious action on the part of this pair
+while they were at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;. The Coroner evidently considered it
+in this light, for he dwelt but little longer on this phase of the case,
+passing at once to a fact concerning which curiosity had hitherto been
+roused without receiving any satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"In leaving the hotel," said he, "you and your wife were seen carrying
+certain packages, which were missing from your arms when you alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. What was in those packages, and where did you
+dispose of them before you entered the second carriage?"</p>
+
+<p>Howard made no demur in answering.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife's clothes were in them," said he, "and we dropped them
+somewhere on Twenty-seventh Street near Third Avenue, just as we saw an
+old woman coming along the sidewalk. We knew that she would stop and
+pick them up, and she did, for we slid into a dark shadow made by a
+projecting stoop and watched her. Is that too simple a method for
+disposing of certain encumbering bundles, to be believed, sir?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That is for the jury to decide," answered the Coroner, stiffly. "But
+why were you so anxious to dispose of these articles? Were they not
+worth some money, and would it not have been simpler and much more
+natural to have left them at the hotel till you chose to send for them?
+That is, if you were simply engaged in playing, as you say, a game upon
+your father, and not upon the whole community?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Mr. Van Burnam acknowledged, "that would have been the natural
+thing, no doubt; but we were not following natural instincts at the
+time, but a woman's <i>bizarre</i> caprices. We did as I said; and laughed
+long, I assure you, over its unqualified success; for the old woman not
+only grabbed the packages with avidity, but turned and fled away with
+them, just as if she had expected this opportunity and had prepared
+herself to make the most of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It was very laughable, certainly," observed the Coroner, in a hard
+voice. "<i>You</i> must have found it very ridiculous"; and after giving the
+witness a look full of something deeper than sarcasm, he turned towards
+the jury as if to ask them what they thought of these very forced and
+suspicious explanations.</p>
+
+<p>But they evidently did not know what to think, and the Coroner's looks
+flew back to the witness who of all the persons present seemed the least
+impressed by the position in which he stood.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam," said he, "you showed a great deal of feeling this
+morning at being confronted with your wife's hat. Why was this, and why
+did you wait till you saw this evidence of her presence on the scene of
+death to acknowledge the facts you have been good enough to give us this
+afternoon?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If I had a lawyer by my side, you would not ask me that question, or if
+you did, I would not be allowed to answer it. But I have no lawyer here,
+and so I will say that I was greatly shocked by the catastrophe which
+had happened to my wife, and under the stress of my first overpowering
+emotions had the impulse to hide the fact that the victim of so dreadful
+a mischance was my wife. I thought that if no connection was found
+between myself and this dead woman, I would stand in no danger of the
+suspicion which must cling to the man who came into the house with her.
+But like most first impulses, it was a foolish one and gave way under
+the strain of investigation. I, however, persisted in it as long as
+possible, partially because my disposition is an obstinate one, and
+partially because I hated to acknowledge myself a fool; but when I saw
+the hat, and recognized it as an indisputable proof of her presence in
+the Van Burnam house that night, my confidence in the attempt I was
+making broke down all at once. I could deny her shape, her hands, and
+even the scar, which she might have had in common with other women, but
+I could not deny her hat. Too many persons had seen her wear it."</p>
+
+<p>But the Coroner was not to be so readily imposed upon.</p>
+
+<p>"I see, I see," he repeated with great dryness, "and I hope the jury
+will be satisfied. And they probably will, unless they remember the
+anxiety which, according to your story, was displayed by your wife to
+have her whole outfit in keeping with her appearance as a working girl.
+If she was so particular as to think it necessary to dress herself in
+store-made undergarments, why make all these precautions void by
+carrying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> into the house a hat with the name of an expensive milliner
+inside it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Women are inconsistent, sir. She liked the hat and hated to part with
+it. She thought she could hide it somewhere in the great house, at least
+that was what she said to me when she tucked it under her cape."</p>
+
+<p>The Coroner, who evidently did not believe one word of this, stared at
+the witness as if curiosity was fast taking the place of indignation.
+And I did not wonder. Howard Van Burnam, as thus presented to our notice
+by his own testimony, was an anomaly, whether we were to believe what he
+was saying at the present time or what he had said during the morning
+session. But I wished I had had the questioning of him.</p>
+
+<p>His next answer, however, opened up one dark place into which I had been
+peering for some time without any enlightenment. It was in reply to the
+following query:</p>
+
+<p>"All this," said the Coroner, "is very interesting; but what explanation
+have you to give for taking your wife into your father's empty house at
+an hour so late, and then leaving her to spend the best part of the dark
+night alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"None," said he, "that will strike you as sensible and judicious. But we
+were not sensible that night, neither were we judicious, or I would not
+be standing here trying to explain what is not explainable by any of the
+ordinary rules of conduct. She was set upon being the first to greet my
+father on his entrance into his own home, and her first plan had been to
+do so in her own proper character as my wife, but afterwards the freak
+took her, as I have said, to personify the housekeeper whom my father
+had cabled us to have in waiting at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> his house,&mdash;a cablegram which had
+reached us too late for any practical use, and which we had therefore
+ignored,&mdash;and fearing he might come early in the morning, before she
+could be on hand to make the favorable impression she intended, she
+wished to be left in the house that night; and I humored her. I did not
+foresee the suffering that my departure might cause her, or the fears
+that were likely to spring from her lonely position in so large and
+empty a dwelling. Or rather, I should say, <i>she</i> did not foresee them;
+for she begged me not to stay with her, when I hinted at the darkness
+and dreariness of the place, saying that she was too jolly to feel fear
+or think of anything but the surprise my father and sisters would
+experience in discovering that their very agreeable young housekeeper
+was the woman they had so long despised."</p>
+
+<p>"And why," persisted the Coroner, edging forward in his interest and so
+allowing me to catch a glimpse of Mr. Gryce's face as he too leaned
+forward in his anxiety to hear every word that fell from this remarkable
+witness,&mdash;"why do you speak of her fear? What reason have you to think
+she suffered apprehension after your departure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" echoed the witness, as if astounded by the other's lack of
+perspicacity. "Did she not kill herself in a moment of terror and
+discouragement? Leaving her, as I did, in a condition of health and good
+spirits, can you expect me to attribute her death to any other cause
+than a sudden attack of frenzy caused by terror?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" exclaimed the Coroner in a suspicious tone, which no doubt voiced
+the feelings of most people present; "then you think your wife committed
+suicide?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly," replied the witness, avoiding but two pairs of eyes in
+the whole crowd, those of his father and brother.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>With</i> a hat-pin," continued the Coroner, letting his hitherto scarcely
+suppressed irony become fully visible in voice and manner, "thrust into
+the back of her neck at a spot young ladies surely would have but little
+reason to know is peculiarly fatal! Suicide! when she was found crushed
+under a pile of <i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i>, which was thrown down or fell upon her
+hours after she received the fatal thrust!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know how else she could have died," persisted the witness,
+calmly, "unless she opened the door to some burglar. And what burglar
+would kill a woman in that way, when he could pound her with his fists?
+No; she was frenzied and stabbed herself in desperation; or the thing
+was done by accident, God knows how! And as for the testimony of the
+experts&mdash;we all know how easily the wisest of them can be mistaken even
+in matters of as serious import as these. <i>If all the experts in the
+world</i>"&mdash;here his voice rose and his nostrils dilated till his aspect
+was actually commanding and impressed us all like a sudden
+transformation&mdash;"<i>If all the experts in the world were to swear that
+those shelves were thrown upon her after she had lain therefor four
+hours dead, I would not believe them. Appearances or no appearances,
+blood or no blood, I here declare that she pulled that cabinet over in
+her death-struggle; and upon the truth of this fact I am ready to rest
+my honor as a man and my integrity as her husband</i>."</p>
+
+<p>An uproar immediately followed, amid which could be heard cries of "He
+lies!" "He's a fool!" The attitude taken by the witness was so
+unexpected that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> the most callous person present could not fail to be
+affected by it. But curiosity is as potent a passion as surprise, and in
+a few minutes all was still again and everybody intent to hear how the
+Coroner would answer these asseverations.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of a blind man denying the existence of light," said that
+gentleman, "but never before of a sensible being like yourself urging
+the most untenable theories in face of such evidence as has been brought
+before us during this inquiry. If your wife committed suicide, or if the
+entrance of the point of a hat-pin into her spine was effected by
+accident, how comes the head of the pin to have been found so many feet
+away from her and in such a place as the parlor register?"</p>
+
+<p>"It may have flown there when it broke, or, what is much more probable,
+been kicked there by some of the many people who passed in and out of
+the room between the time of her death and that of its discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"But the register was found closed," urged the Coroner. "Was it not, Mr.
+Gryce?"</p>
+
+<p>That person thus appealed to, rose for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"It was," said he, and deliberately sat down again.</p>
+
+<p>The face of the witness, which had been singularly free from expression
+since his last vehement outbreak, clouded over for an instant and his
+eye fell as if he felt himself engaged in an unequal struggle. But he
+recovered his courage speedily, and quietly observed:</p>
+
+<p>"The register may have been closed by a passing foot. I have known of
+stranger coincidences than that."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam," asked the Coroner, as if weary of subterfuges and
+argument, "have you considered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> the effect which this highly
+contradictory evidence of yours is likely to have on your reputation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have."</p>
+
+<p>"And are you ready to accept the consequences?"</p>
+
+<p>"If any especial consequences follow, I must accept them, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you lose the keys which you say you have not now in your
+possession? This morning you asserted that you did not know; but perhaps
+this afternoon you may like to modify that statement."</p>
+
+<p>"I lost them after I left my wife shut up in my father's house."</p>
+
+<p>"Soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very soon."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Within an hour, I should judge."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know it was so soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I missed them at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Where were you when you missed them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; somewhere. I was walking the streets, as I have said. I
+don't remember just where I was when I thrust my hands into my pocket
+and found the keys gone."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was within an hour after leaving the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; the keys have been found."</p>
+
+<p>The witness started, started so violently that his teeth came together
+with a click loud enough to be heard over the whole room.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they?" said he, with an effort at nonchalance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> which, however,
+failed to deceive any one who noticed his change of color. "<i>You</i> can
+tell me, then, where I lost them."</p>
+
+<p>"They were found," said the Coroner, "in their usual place above your
+brother's desk in Duane Street."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" murmured the witness, utterly taken aback or appearing so. "I
+cannot account for their being found in the office. I was so sure I
+dropped them in the street."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not think you could account for it," quietly observed the
+Coroner. And without another word he dismissed the witness, who
+staggered to a seat as remote as possible from the one where he had
+previously been sitting between his father and brother.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A RELUCTANT WITNESS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A pause of decided duration now followed; an exasperating pause which
+tried even me, much as I pride myself upon my patience. There seemed to
+be some hitch in regard to the next witness. The Coroner sent Mr. Gryce
+into the neighboring room more than once, and finally, when the general
+uneasiness seemed on the point of expressing itself by a loud murmur, a
+gentleman stepped forth, whose appearance, instead of allaying the
+excitement, renewed it in quite an unprecedented and remarkable way.</p>
+
+<p>I did not know the person thus introduced.</p>
+
+<p>He was a handsome man, a very handsome man, if the truth must be told,
+but it did not seem to be this fact which made half the people there
+crane their heads to catch a glimpse of him. Something else, something
+entirely disconnected with his appearance there as a witness, appeared
+to hold the people enthralled and waken a subdued enthusiasm which
+showed itself not only in smiles, but in whispers and significant
+nudges, chiefly among the women, though I noticed that the jurymen
+stared when somebody obliged them with the name of this new witness. At
+last it reached my ears, and though it awakened in me also a decided
+curiosity, I restrained all expression of it, being unwilling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> to add
+one jot to this ridiculous display of human weakness.</p>
+
+<p>Randolph Stone, as the intended husband of the rich Miss Althorpe, was a
+figure of some importance in the city, and while I was very glad of this
+opportunity of seeing him, I did not propose to lose my head or forget,
+in the marked interest his person invoked, the very serious cause which
+had brought him before us. And yet I suppose no one in the room observed
+his figure more minutely.</p>
+
+<p>He was elegantly made and possessed, as I have said, a face of peculiar
+beauty. But these were not his only claims to admiration. He was a man
+of undoubted intelligence and great distinction of manner. The
+intelligence did not surprise me, knowing, as I did, how he had raised
+himself to his present enviable position in society in the short space
+of five years. But the perfection of his manner astonished me, though
+how I could have expected anything less in a man honored by Miss
+Althorpe's regard, I cannot say. He had that clear pallor of complexion
+which in a smooth-shaven face is so impressive, and his voice when he
+spoke had that music in it which only comes from great cultivation and a
+deliberate intent to please.</p>
+
+<p>He was a friend of Howard's, that I saw by the short look that passed
+between them when he first entered the room; but that it was not as a
+friend he stood there was apparent from the state of amazement with
+which the former recognized him, as well as from the regret to be seen
+underlying the polished manner of the witness himself. Though perfectly
+self-possessed and perfectly respectful, he showed by every means
+possible the pain he felt in adding one feather-weight to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> evidence
+against a man with whom he was on terms of more or less intimacy.</p>
+
+<p>But let me give his testimony. Having acknowledged that he knew the Van
+Burnam family well, and Howard in particular, he went on to state that
+on the night of the seventeenth he had been detained at his office by
+business of a more than usual pressing nature, and finding that he could
+expect no rest for that night, humored himself by getting off the cars
+at Twenty-first Street instead of proceeding on to Thirty-third Street,
+where his apartments were.</p>
+
+<p>The smile which these words caused (Miss Althorpe lives in Twenty-first
+Street) woke no corresponding light on his face. Indeed, he frowned at
+it, as if he felt that the gravity of the situation admitted of nothing
+frivolous or humorsome. And this feeling was shared by Howard, for he
+started when the witness mentioned Twenty-first Street, and cast him a
+haggard look of dismay which happily no one saw but myself, for every
+one else was concerned with the witness. Or should I except Mr. Gryce?</p>
+
+<p>"I had of course no intentions beyond a short stroll through this street
+previous to returning to my home," continued the witness, gravely; "and
+am sorry to be obliged to mention this freak of mine, but find it
+necessary in order to account for my presence there at so unusual an
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>"You need make no apologies," returned the Coroner. "Will you state on
+what line of cars you came from your office?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came up Third Avenue."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! and walked towards Broadway?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"So that you necessarily passed very near the Van Burnam mansion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"At what time was this, can you say?"</p>
+
+<p>"At four, or nearly four. It was half-past three when I left my office."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it light at that hour? Could you distinguish objects readily?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had no difficulty in seeing."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you see? Anything amiss at the Van Burnam mansion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, nothing amiss. I merely saw Howard Van Burnam coming down the
+stoop as I went by the corner."</p>
+
+<p>"You made no mistake. It was the gentleman you name, and no other whom
+you saw on this stoop at this hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sure that it was he. I am sorry&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the Coroner gave him no opportunity to finish.</p>
+
+<p>"You and Mr. Van Burnam are friends, you say, and it was light enough
+for you to recognize each other; then you probably spoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we did not. I was thinking&mdash;well of other, things," and here he
+allowed the ghost of a smile to flit suggestively across his firm-set
+lips. "And Mr. Van Burnam seemed preoccupied also, for, as far as I
+know, he did not even look my way."</p>
+
+<p>"And you did not stop?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he did not look like a man to be disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"And this was at four on the morning of the eighteenth?"</p>
+
+<p>"At four."</p>
+
+<p>"You are certain of the hour and of the day?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am certain. I should not be standing here if I were not very sure of
+my memory. I am sorry," he began again, but he was stopped as
+peremptorily as before by the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"Feeling has no place in an inquiry like this." And the witness was
+dismissed.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stone, who had manifestly given his evidence under compulsion,
+looked relieved at its termination. As he passed back to the room from
+which he had come, many only noticed the extreme elegance of his form
+and the proud cast of his head, but I saw more than these. I saw the
+look of regret he cast at his friend Howard.</p>
+
+<p>A painful silence followed his withdrawal, then the Coroner spoke to the
+jury:</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, I leave you to judge of the importance of this testimony.
+Mr. Stone is a well-known man of unquestionable integrity, but perhaps
+Mr. Van Burnam can explain how he came to visit his father's house at
+four o'clock in the morning on that memorable night, when according to
+his latest testimony he left his wife there at twelve. We will give him
+the opportunity."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use," began the young man from the place where he sat. But
+gathering courage even while speaking, he came rapidly forward, and
+facing Coroner and jury once more, said with a false kind of energy that
+imposed upon no one:</p>
+
+<p>"I can explain this fact, but I doubt if you will accept my explanation.
+I was at my father's house at that hour, but not in it. My restlessness
+drove me back to my wife, but not finding the keys in my pocket, I came
+down the stoop again and went away."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see now why you prevaricated this morning in regard to the time
+when you missed those keys."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that my testimony is full of contradictions."</p>
+
+<p>"You feared to have it known that you were on the stoop of your father's
+house for the second time that night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally, in face of the suspicion I perceived everywhere about me."</p>
+
+<p>"And this time you did not go in?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor ring the bell?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, if you left your wife within, alive and well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not wish to disturb her. My purpose was not strong enough to
+surmount the least difficulty. I was easily deterred from going where I
+had little wish to be."</p>
+
+<p>"So that you merely went up the stoop and down again at the time Mr.
+Stone saw you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and if he had passed a minute sooner he would have seen this: seen
+me go up, I mean, as well as seen me come down. I did not linger long in
+the doorway."</p>
+
+<p>"But you did linger there a moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; long enough to hunt for the keys and get over my astonishment at
+not finding them."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you notice Mr. Stone going by on Twenty-first Street?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it as light as Mr. Stone has said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was light."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And you did not notice him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you must have followed very closely behind him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily. I went by the way of Twentieth Street, sir. Why, I do
+not know, for my rooms are uptown. I do not know why I did half the
+things I did that night."</p>
+
+<p>"I can readily believe it," remarked the Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Burnam's indignation rose.</p>
+
+<p>"You are trying," said he, "to connect me with the fearful death of my
+wife in my father's lonely house. You cannot do it, for I am as innocent
+of that death as you are, or any other person in this assemblage. Nor
+did I pull those shelves down upon her as you would have this jury
+think, in my last thoughtless visit to my father's door. She died
+according to God's will by her own hand or by means of some strange and
+unaccountable accident known only to Him. And so you will find, if
+justice has any place in these investigations and a manly intelligence
+be allowed to take the place of prejudice in the breasts of the twelve
+men now sitting before me."</p>
+
+<p>And bowing to the Coroner, he waited for his dismissal, and receiving
+it, walked back not to his lonely corner, but to his former place
+between his father and brother, who received him with a wistful air and
+strange looks of mingled hope and disbelief.</p>
+
+<p>"The jury will render their verdict on Monday morning," announced the
+Coroner, and adjourned the inquiry.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a><i>BOOK II.</i></h2>
+
+<h2>THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>COGITATIONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>My cook had prepared for me a most excellent dinner, thinking that I
+needed all the comfort possible after a day of such trying experiences.
+But I ate little of it; my thoughts were too busy, my mind too much
+exercised. What would be the verdict of the jury, and could this
+especial jury be relied upon to give a just verdict?</p>
+
+<p>At seven I had left the table and was shut up in my own room. I could
+not rest till I had fathomed my own mind in regard to the events of the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>The question&mdash;the great question, of course, now&mdash;was how much of
+Howard's testimony was to be believed, and whether he was,
+notwithstanding his asseverations to the contrary, the murderer of his
+wife. To most persons the answer seemed easy. From the expression of
+such people as I had jostled in leaving the court-room, I judged that
+his sentence had already been passed in the minds of most there present.
+But these hasty judgments did not influence me. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> hope I look deeper
+than the surface, and my mind would not subscribe to his guilt,
+notwithstanding the bad impression made upon me by his falsehoods and
+contradictions.</p>
+
+<p>Now why would not my mind subscribe to it? Had sentiment got the better
+of me, Amelia Butterworth, and was I no longer capable of looking a
+thing squarely in the face? Had the Van Burnams, of all people in the
+world, awakened my sympathies at the cost of my good sense, and was I
+disposed to see virtue in a man in whom every circumstance as it came to
+light revealed little but folly and weakness? The lies he had told&mdash;for
+there is no other word to describe his contradictions&mdash;would have been
+sufficient under most circumstances to condemn a man in my estimation.
+Why, then, did I secretly look for excuses to his conduct?</p>
+
+<p>Probing the matter to the bottom, I reasoned in this way: The latter
+half of his evidence was a complete contradiction of the first,
+purposely so. In the first, he made himself out a cold-hearted egotist
+with not enough interest in his wife to make an effort to determine
+whether she and the murdered woman were identical; in the latter, he
+showed himself in the light of a man influenced to the point of folly by
+a woman to whom he had been utterly unyielding a few hours before.</p>
+
+<p>Now, knowing human nature to be full of contradictions, I could not
+satisfy myself that I should be justified in accepting either half of
+his testimony as absolutely true. The man who is all firmness one minute
+may be all weakness the next, and in face of the calm assertions made by
+this one when driven to bay by the unexpected discoveries of the police,
+I dared not decide that his final assurances were altogether false, and
+that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> not the man I had seen enter the adjoining house with his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>Why, then, not carry the conclusion farther and admit, as reason and
+probability suggested, that he was also her murderer; that he had killed
+her during his first visit and drawn the shelves down upon her in the
+second? Would not this account for all the phenomena to be observed in
+connection with this otherwise unexplainable affair? Certainly, all but
+one&mdash;one that was perhaps known to nobody but myself, and that was the
+testimony given by the clock. <i>It</i> said that the shelves fell at five,
+whereas, according to Mr. Stone's evidence, it was four, or thereabouts,
+when Mr. Van Burnam left his father's house. But the clock might not
+have been a reliable witness. It might have been set wrong, or it might
+not have been running at all at the time of the accident. No, it would
+not do for me to rely too much upon anything so doubtful, nor did I; yet
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that Howard spoke the truth
+when he declared in face of Coroner and jury that they could not connect
+him with this crime; and whether this conclusion sprang from
+sentimentality or intuition, I was resolved to stick to it for the
+present night at least. The morrow might show its futility, but the
+morrow had not come.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, with this theory accepted, what explanation could be given of
+the very peculiar facts surrounding this woman's death? Could the
+supposition of suicide advanced by Howard before the Coroner be
+entertained for a moment, or that equally improbable suggestion of
+accident?</p>
+
+<p>Going to my bureau drawer, I drew out the old grocer-bill which has
+already figured in these pages,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> and re-read the notes I had scribbled
+on its back early in the history of this affair. They related, if you
+will remember, to this very question, and seemed even now to answer it
+in a more or less convincing way. Will you pardon me if I transcribe
+these notes again, as I cannot imagine my first deliberations on this
+subject to have made a deep enough impression for you to recall them
+without help from me.</p>
+
+<p>The question raised in these notes was threefold, and the answers, as
+you will recollect, were transcribed before the cause of death had been
+determined by the discovery of the broken pin in the dead woman's brain.</p>
+
+<p>These are the queries:</p>
+
+<p>First: was her death due to accident?</p>
+
+<p>Second: was it effected by her own hand?</p>
+
+<p>Third: was it a murder?</p>
+
+<p>The replies given are in the form of reasons, as witness:</p>
+
+<p><i>My reasons for not thinking it an accident.</i></p>
+
+<p>1. If it had been an accident, and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself,<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood. But her feet were towards the door and
+her head under the cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>2. The precise arrangement of the clothing about her feet, which
+precluded any theory involving accident.</p>
+
+<p><i>My reason for not thinking it a suicide.</i></p>
+
+<p>She could not have been found in the position observed without having
+lain down on the floor while living, and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself. (A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)</p>
+
+<p><i>My reason for not thinking it murder.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her, a thing which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet make appear impossible. (Very good, but we know now that she
+was dead when the shelves fell over, so that my one excuse for not
+thinking it a murder is rendered null.)</p>
+
+<p><i>My reasons for thinking it a murder.</i></p>
+
+<p>----But I will not repeat these. My reasons for not thinking it an
+accident or a suicide remained as good as when they were written, and if
+her death had not been due to either of these causes, then it must have
+been due to some murderous hand. Was that hand the hand of her husband?
+I have already given it as my opinion that it was not.</p>
+
+<p>Now, how to make that opinion good, and reconcile me again to myself;
+for I am not accustomed to have my instincts at war with my judgment. Is
+there any reason for my thinking as I do? Yes, the manliness of man. He
+only looked well when he was repelling the suspicion he saw in the
+surrounding faces. But that might have been assumed, just as his
+careless manner was assumed during the early part of the inquiry. I must
+have some stronger reason than this for my belief. The two hats? Well,
+he had explained how there came to be two hats on the scene of crime,
+but his explanation had not been very satisfactory. <i>I</i> had seen no hat
+in her hand when she crossed the pavement to her father's house. But
+then she might have carried it under her cape without my seeing
+it&mdash;perhaps. The discovery of two hats and of two pairs of gloves in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlors was a fact worth further investigation, and
+mentally I made a note of it, though at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> moment I saw no prospect of
+engaging in this matter further than my duties as a witness required.</p>
+
+<p>And now what other clue was offered me, save the one I have already
+mentioned as being given by the clock? None that I could seize upon; and
+feeling the weakness of the cause I had so obstinately embraced, I rose
+from my seat at the tea-table and began making such alterations in my
+toilet as would prepare me for the evening and my inevitable callers.</p>
+
+<p>"Amelia," said I to myself, as I encountered my anything but satisfied
+reflection in the glass, "can it be that you ought, after all, to have
+been called Araminta? Is a momentary display of spirit on the part of a
+young man of doubtful principles, enough to make you forget the dictates
+of good sense which have always governed you up to this time?"</p>
+
+<p>The stern image which confronted me from the mirror made me no reply,
+and smitten with sudden disgust, I left the glass and went below to
+greet some friends who had just ridden up in their carriage.</p>
+
+<p>They remained one hour, and they discussed one subject: Howard Van
+Burnam and his probable connection with the crime which had taken place
+next door. But though I talked some and listened more, as is proper for
+a woman in her own house, I said nothing and heard nothing which had not
+been already said and heard in numberless homes that night. Whatever
+thoughts I had which in any way differed from those generally expressed,
+I kept to myself,&mdash;whether guided by discretion or pride, I cannot say;
+probably by both, for I am not deficient in either quality.</p>
+
+<p>Arrangements had already been made for the burial of Mrs. Van Burnam
+that night, and as the funeral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> ceremony was to take place next door,
+many of my guests came just to sit in my windows and watch the coming
+and going of the few people invited to the ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>But I discouraged this. I have no patience with idle curiosity.
+Consequently by nine I was left alone to give the affair such real
+attention as it demanded; something which, of course, I could not have
+done with a half dozen gossiping friends leaning over my shoulder.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> <i>As was asserted by her husband in his sworn examination.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BUTTERWORTH VERSUS GRYCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The result of this attention can be best learned from the conversation I
+held with Mr. Gryce the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>He came earlier than usual, but he found me up and stirring.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he cried, accosting me with a smile as I entered the parlor
+where he was seated, "it is all right this time, is it not? No trouble
+in identifying the gentleman who entered your neighbor's house last
+night at a quarter to twelve?"</p>
+
+<p>Resolved to probe this man's mind to the bottom, I put on my sternest
+air.</p>
+
+<p>"I had not expected any one to enter there so late last night," said I.
+"Mr. Van Burnam declared so positively at the inquest that he was the
+person we have been endeavoring to identify, that I did not suppose you
+would consider it necessary to bring him to the house for me to see."</p>
+
+<p>"And so you were not in the window?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not say that; I am always where I have promised to be, Mr.
+Gryce."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then?" he inquired sharply.</p>
+
+<p>I was purposely slow in answering him&mdash;I had all the longer time to
+search his face. But its calmness was impenetrable, and finally I
+declared:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The man you brought with you last night&mdash;you were the person who
+accompanied him, were you not&mdash;was <i>not</i> the man I saw alight there four
+nights ago."</p>
+
+<p>He may have expected it; it may have been the very assertion he desired
+from me, but his manner showed displeasure, and the quick "How?" he
+uttered was sharp and peremptory.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not ask who it was," I went on, with a quiet wave of my hand that
+immediately restored him to himself, "for I know you will not tell me.
+But what I do hope to know is the name of the man who entered that same
+house at just ten minutes after nine. He was one of the funeral guests,
+and he arrived in a carriage that was immediately preceded by a coach
+from which four persons alighted, two ladies and two gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know the gentleman, ma'am," was the detective's half-surprised
+and half-amused retort. "I did not keep track of every guest that
+attended the funeral."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you didn't do your work as well as I did mine," was my rather dry
+reply. "For I noted every one who went in; and that gentleman, whoever
+he was, was more like the person I have been trying to identify than any
+one I have seen enter there during my four midnight vigils."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce smiled, uttered a short "<i>Indeed!</i>" and looked more than ever
+like a sphinx. I began quietly to hate him, under my calm exterior.</p>
+
+<p>"Was Howard at his wife's funeral?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"He was, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"And did he come in a carriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did, ma'am."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"He thought he was alone; yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Then may it not have been he?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't say, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce was so obviously out of his element under this
+cross-examination that I could not suppress a smile even while I
+experienced a very lively indignation at his reticence. He may have seen
+me smile and he may not, for his eyes, as I have intimated, were always
+busy with some object entirely removed from the person he addressed; but
+at all events he rose, leaving me no alternative but to do the same.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you didn't recognize the gentleman I brought to the neighboring
+house just before twelve o'clock," he quietly remarked, with a calm
+ignoring of my last question which was a trifle exasperating.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, ma'am," he declared, with a quick change of manner, meant, I
+should judge, to put me in my proper place, "I do not think we can
+depend upon the accuracy of your memory;" and he made a motion as if to
+leave.</p>
+
+<p>As I did not know whether his apparent disappointment was real or not, I
+let him move to the door without a reply. But once there I stopped him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Gryce," said I, "I don't know what you think about this matter, nor
+whether you even wish my opinion upon it. But I am going to express it,
+for all that. <i>I</i> do not believe that Howard killed his wife with a
+hat-pin."</p>
+
+<p>"No?" retorted the old gentleman, peering into his hat, with an ironical
+smile which that inoffensive article of attire had certainly not
+merited. "And why, Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> Butterworth, why? You must have substantial
+reasons for any opinion you would form."</p>
+
+<p>"I have an intuition," I responded, "backed by certain reasons. The
+intuition won't impress you very deeply, but the reasons may not be
+without some weight, and I am going to confide them to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do," he entreated in a jocose manner which struck me as inappropriate,
+but which I was willing to overlook on account of his age and very
+fatherly manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said I, "this is one. If the crime was a premeditated one,
+if he hated his wife and felt it for his interest to have her out of the
+way, a man of Mr. Van Burnam's good sense would have chosen any other
+spot than his father's house to kill her in, knowing that her identity
+could not be hidden if once she was associated with the Van Burnam name.
+If, on the contrary, he took her there in good faith, and her death was
+the unexpected result of a quarrel between them, then the means employed
+would have been simpler. An angry man does not stop to perform a
+delicate surgical operation when moved to the point of murder, but uses
+his hands or his fists, just as Mr. Van Burnam himself suggested."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" grunted the detective, staring very hard indeed into his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not think me this young man's friend," I went on, with a well
+meant desire to impress him with the impartiality of my attitude. "I
+never have spoken to him nor he to me, but I am the friend of justice,
+and I must declare that there was a note of surprise in the emotion he
+showed at sight of his wife's hat, that was far too natural to be
+assumed."</p>
+
+<p>The detective failed to be impressed. I might have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> expected this,
+knowing his sex and the reliance such a man is apt to place upon his own
+powers.</p>
+
+<p>"Acting, ma'am, acting!" was his laconic comment. "A very uncommon
+character, that of Mr. Howard Van Burnam. I do not think you do it full
+justice."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not, but see that you don't slight mine. I do not expect you to
+heed these suggestions any more than you did those I offered you in
+connection with Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman; but my conscience is
+eased by my communication, and that is much to a solitary woman like
+myself who is obliged to spend many a long hour alone with no other
+companion."</p>
+
+<p>"Something has been accomplished, then, by this delay," he observed.
+Then, as if ashamed of this momentary display of irritation, he added in
+the genial tones more natural to him: "I don't blame you for your good
+opinion of this interesting, but by no means reliable, young man, Miss
+Butterworth. A woman's kind heart stands in the way of her proper
+judgment of criminals."</p>
+
+<p>"You will not find its instincts fail even if you do its judgment."</p>
+
+<p>His bow was as full of politeness as it was lacking in conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you won't let your instincts lead you into any unnecessary
+detective work," he quietly suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"That I cannot promise. If you arrest Howard Van Burnam for murder, I
+may be tempted to meddle with matters which don't concern me."</p>
+
+<p>An amused smile broke through his simulated seriousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Pray accept my congratulations, then, in advance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> ma'am. My health has
+been such that I have long anticipated giving up my profession; but if I
+am to have such assistants as you in my work, I shall be inclined to
+remain in it some time longer."</p>
+
+<p>"When a man as busy as you stops to indulge in sarcasm, he is in more or
+less good spirits. Such a condition, I am told, only prevails with
+detectives when they have come to a positive conclusion concerning the
+case they are engaged upon."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you already understand the members of your future profession."</p>
+
+<p>"As much as is necessary at this juncture," I retorted. Then seeing him
+about to repeat his bow, I added sharply: "You need not trouble yourself
+to show me too much politeness. If I meddle in this matter at all it
+will not be as your coadjutor, but as your rival."</p>
+
+<p>"My rival?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, your rival; and rivals are never good friends until one of them is
+hopelessly defeated."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Butterworth, I see myself already at your feet."</p>
+
+<p>And with this sally and a short chuckle which did more than anything he
+had said towards settling me in my half-formed determination to do as I
+had threatened, he opened the door and quietly disappeared.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LITTLE PINCUSHION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The verdict rendered by the Coroner's jury showed it to be a more
+discriminating set of men than I had calculated upon. It was murder
+inflicted by a hand unknown.</p>
+
+<p>I was so gratified by this that I left the court-room in quite an
+agitated frame of mind, so agitated, indeed, that I walked through one
+door instead of another, and thus came unexpectedly upon a group formed
+almost exclusively of the Van Burnam family.</p>
+
+<p>Starting back, for I dislike anything that looks like intrusion,
+especially when no great end is to be gained by it, I was about to
+retrace my steps when I felt two soft arms about my neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Butterworth, isn't it a mercy that this dreadful thing is
+over! I don't know when I have ever felt anything so keenly."</p>
+
+<p>It was Isabella Van Burnam.</p>
+
+<p>Startled, for the embraces bestowed on me are few, I gave a subdued sort
+of grunt, which nevertheless did not displease this young lady, for her
+arms tightened, and she murmured in my ear: "You dear old soul! I like
+you <i>so</i> much."</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to be very good neighbors," cooed a still sweeter voice in
+my other ear. "Papa says we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> must call on you soon." And Caroline's
+demure face looked around into mine in a manner some would have thought
+exceedingly bewitching.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, pretty poppets!" I returned, freeing myself as speedily as
+possible from embraces the sincerity of which I felt open to question.
+"My house is always open to you." And with little ceremony, I walked
+steadily out and betook myself to the carriage awaiting me.</p>
+
+<p>I looked upon this display of feeling as the mere gush of two
+over-excited young women, and was therefore somewhat astonished when I
+was interrupted in my afternoon nap by an announcement that the two
+Misses Van Burnam awaited me in the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>Going down, I saw them standing there hand in hand and both as white as
+a sheet.</p>
+
+<p>"O Miss Butterworth!" they cried, springing towards me, "Howard has been
+arrested, and we have no one to say a word of comfort to us."</p>
+
+<p>"Arrested!" I repeated, greatly surprised, for I had not expected it to
+happen so soon, if it happened at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and father is just about prostrated. Franklin, too, but he keeps
+up, while father has shut himself into his room and won't see anybody,
+not even us. O, I don't know how we are to bear it! Such a disgrace, and
+such a wicked, wicked shame! For Howard never had anything to do with
+his wife's death, had he, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," I returned, taking my ground at once, and vigorously, for I really
+believed what I said. "He is innocent of her death, and I would like the
+chance of proving it."</p>
+
+<p>They evidently had not expected such an unqualified<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> assertion from me,
+for they almost smothered me with kisses, and called me <i>their only
+friend</i>! and indeed showed so much real feeling this time that I neither
+pushed them away nor tried to withdraw myself from their embraces.</p>
+
+<p>When their emotions were a little exhausted I led them to a sofa and sat
+down before them. They were motherless girls, and my heart, if hard, is
+not made of adamant or entirely unsusceptible to the calls of pity and
+friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," said I, "if you will be calm, I should like to ask you a few
+questions."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask us anything," returned Isabella; "nobody has more right to our
+confidence than you."</p>
+
+<p>This was another of their exaggerated expressions, but I was so anxious
+to hear what they had to tell, I let it pass. So instead of rebuking
+them, I asked where their brother had been arrested, and found it had
+been at his rooms and in presence of themselves and Franklin. So I
+inquired further and learned that, so far as they knew, nothing had been
+discovered beyond what had come out at the inquest except that Howard's
+trunks had been found packed, as if he had been making preparations for
+a journey when interrupted by the dreadful event which had put him into
+the hands of the police. As there was a certain significance in this,
+the girls seemed almost as much impressed by it as I was, but we did not
+discuss it long, for I suddenly changed my manner, and taking them both
+by the hand, asked if they could keep a secret.</p>
+
+<p>"Secret?" they gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a secret. You are not the girls I should confide in ordinarily;
+but this trouble has sobered you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"O, we can do anything," began Isabella; and "Only try us," murmured
+Caroline.</p>
+
+<p>But knowing the volubility of the one and the weakness of the other, I
+shook my head at their promises, and merely tried to impress them with
+the fact that their brother's safety depended upon their discretion. At
+which they looked very determined for poppets, and squeezed my hands so
+tightly that I wished I had left off some of my rings before engaging in
+this interview.</p>
+
+<p>When they were quiet again and ready to listen I told them my plans.
+They were surprised, of course, and wondered how I could do anything
+towards finding out the real murderer of their sister-in-law; but seeing
+how resolved I looked, changed their tone and avowed with much feeling
+their perfect confidence in me and in the success of anything I might
+undertake.</p>
+
+<p>This was encouraging, and ignoring their momentary distrust, I proceeded
+to say:</p>
+
+<p>"But for me to be successful in this matter, no one must know my
+interest in it. You must pay me no visits, give me no confidences, nor,
+if you can help it, mention my name before <i>any one</i>, not even before
+your father and brother. So much for precautionary measures, my dears;
+and now for the active ones. I have no curiosity, as I think you must
+see, but I shall have to ask you a few questions which under other
+circumstances would savor more or less of impertinence. Had your
+sister-in-law any special admirers among the other sex?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," protested Caroline, shrinking back, while Isabella's eyes grew
+round as a frightened child's. "None that we ever heard of. She wasn't
+that kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> of a woman, was she, Belle? It wasn't for any such reason
+papa didn't like her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, <i>that</i> would have been too dreadful. It was her family we
+objected to, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," I apologized, tapping their hands reassuringly, "I only
+asked&mdash;let me now say&mdash;from curiosity, though I have not a particle of
+that quality, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think&mdash;did you have any idea&mdash;" faltered Caroline, "that&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," I interrupted. "You must let my words go in one ear and
+out of the other after you have answered them. I wish"&mdash;here I assumed a
+brisk air&mdash;"that I could go through your parlors again before every
+trace of the crime perpetrated there has been removed."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you can," replied Isabella.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no one in them now," added Caroline, "Franklin went out just
+before we left."</p>
+
+<p>At which I blandly rose, and following their leadership, soon found
+myself once again in the Van Burnam mansion.</p>
+
+<p>My first glance upon re-entering the parlors was naturally directed
+towards the spot where the tragedy had taken place. The cabinet had been
+replaced and the shelves set back upon it; but the latter were empty,
+and neither on them nor on the adjacent mantel-piece did I see the
+clock. This set me thinking, and I made up my mind to have another look
+at that clock. By dint of judicious questions I found that it had been
+carried into the third room, where we soon found it lying on a shelf of
+the same closet where the hat had been discovered by Mr. Gryce. Franklin
+had put it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> there, fearing that the sight of it might affect Howard, and
+from the fact that the hands stood as I had left them, I gathered that
+neither he nor any of the family had discovered that it was in running
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>Assured of this, I astonished them by requesting to have it taken down
+and set up on the table, which they had no sooner done than it started
+to tick just as it had done under my hand a few nights before.</p>
+
+<p>The girls, greatly startled, surveyed each other wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it's going!" cried Caroline.</p>
+
+<p>"Who could have wound it!" marvelled Isabella.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark!" I cried. The clock had begun to strike.</p>
+
+<p>It gave forth five clear notes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's a mystery!" Isabella exclaimed. Then seeing no astonishment
+in my face, she added: "Did you know about this, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear girls," I hastened to say, with all the impressiveness
+characteristic of me in my more serious moments. "I do not expect you to
+ask me for any information I do not volunteer. This is hard, I know; but
+some day I will be perfectly frank with you. Are you willing to accept
+my aid on these terms?"</p>
+
+<p>"O yes," they gasped, but they looked not a little disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said I, "leave the clock where it is, and when your brother
+comes home, show it to him, and say that having the curiosity to examine
+it you were surprised to find it going, and that you had left it there
+for him to see. He will be surprised also, and as a consequence will
+question first you and then the police to find out who wound it. If they
+acknowledge having done it, you must notify me at once, for that's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> what
+I want to know. Do you understand, Caroline? And, Isabella, do you feel
+that you can go through all this without dropping a word concerning me
+and my interest in this matter?"</p>
+
+<p>Of course they answered yes, and of course it was with so much
+effusiveness that I was obliged to remind them that they must keep a
+check on their enthusiasm, and also to suggest that they should not come
+to my house or send me any notes, but simply a blank card, signifying:
+"No one knows who wound the clock."</p>
+
+<p>"How delightfully mysterious!" cried Isabella. And with this girlish
+exclamation our talk in regard to the clock closed.</p>
+
+<p>The next object that attracted our attention was a paper-covered novel I
+discovered on a side-table in the same room.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is this?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Not mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet it was published this summer," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>They stared at me astonished, and Isabella caught up the book. It was
+one of those summer publications intended mainly for railroad
+distribution, and while neither ragged nor soiled, bore evidence of
+having been read.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me take it," said I.</p>
+
+<p>Isabella at once passed it into my hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Does your brother smoke?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Which brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Either of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Franklin sometimes, but Howard, never. It disagrees with him, I
+believe."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"There is a faint odor of tobacco about these pages. Can it have been
+brought here by Franklin?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no, he never reads novels, not such novels as this, at all events. He
+loses a lot of pleasure, we think."</p>
+
+<p>I turned the pages over. The latter ones were so fresh I could almost
+put my finger on the spot where the reader had left off. Feeling like a
+bloodhound who has just run upon a trail, I returned the book to
+Caroline, with the injunction to put it away; adding, as I saw her air
+of hesitation: "If your brother Franklin misses it, it will show that he
+brought it here, and then I shall have no further interest in it." Which
+seemed to satisfy her, for she put it away at once on a high shelf.</p>
+
+<p>Perceiving nothing else in these rooms of a suggestive character, I led
+the way into the hall. There I had a new idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Which of you was the first to go through the rooms upstairs?" I
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Both of us," answered Isabella. "We came together. Why do you ask, Miss
+Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was wondering if you found everything in order there?"</p>
+
+<p>"We did not notice anything wrong, did we, Caroline? Do you think that
+the&mdash;the person who committed that awful crime went <i>up-stairs</i>? I
+couldn't sleep a wink if I thought so."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I," Caroline put in. "O, don't say that he went up-stairs, Miss
+Butterworth!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know it," I rejoined.</p>
+
+<p>"But you asked&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And I ask again. Wasn't there some little thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> out of its usual
+place? I was up in your front chamber after water for a minute, but I
+didn't touch anything but the mug."</p>
+
+<p>"We missed the mug, but&mdash;O Caroline, the pin-cushion! Do you suppose
+Miss Butterworth means the pin-cushion?"</p>
+
+<p>I started. Did she refer to the one I had picked up from the floor and
+placed on a side-table?</p>
+
+<p>"What about the pin-cushion?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"O nothing, but we did not know what to make of its being on the table.
+You see, we had a little pin-cushion shaped like a tomato which always
+hung at the side of our bureau. It was tied to one of the brackets and
+was never taken off; Caroline having a fancy for it because it kept her
+favorite black pins out of the reach of the neighbor's children when
+they came here. Well, this cushion, this sacred cushion which none of us
+dared touch, was found by us on a little table by the door, with the
+ribbon hanging from it by which it had been tied to the bureau. Some one
+had pulled it off, and very roughly too, for the ribbon was all ragged
+and torn. But there is nothing in a little thing like that to interest
+you, is there, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I, not relating my part in the affair; "not if our neighbor's
+children were the marauders."</p>
+
+<p>"But none of them came in for days before we left."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there pins in the cushion?"</p>
+
+<p>"When we found it, do you mean? No."</p>
+
+<p>I did not remember seeing any, but one cannot always trust to one's
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>"But you had left pins in it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly, I don't remember. Why should I remember such a thing as
+that?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I thought to myself, "I would know whether I left pins on my pin-cushion
+or not," but every one is not as methodical as I am, more's the pity.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you anywhere about you a pin like those you keep on that cushion?"
+I inquired of Caroline.</p>
+
+<p>She felt at her belt and neck and shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I may have upstairs," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then get me one." But before she could start, I pulled her back. "Did
+either of you sleep in that room last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we were going to," answered Isabella, "but afterwards Caroline took
+a freak to sleep in one of the rooms on the third floor. She said she
+wanted to get away from the parlors as far as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I should like a peep at the one overhead."</p>
+
+<p>The wrenching of the pin-cushion from its place had given me an idea.</p>
+
+<p>They looked at me wistfully as they turned to mount the stairs, but I
+did not enlighten them further. What would an idea be worth shared by
+them!</p>
+
+<p>Their father undoubtedly lay in the back room, for they moved very
+softly around the head of the stairs, but once in front they let their
+tongues run loose again. I, who cared nothing for their babble when it
+contained no information, walked slowly about the room and finally
+stopped before the bed.</p>
+
+<p>It had a fresh look, and I at once asked them if it had been lately made
+up. They assured me that it had not, saying that they always kept their
+beds spread during their absence, as they did so hate to enter a room
+disfigured by bare mattresses.</p>
+
+<p>I could have read them a lecture on the niceties of housekeeping, but I
+refrained; instead of that I pointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> to a little dent in the smooth
+surface of the bed nearest the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Did either of you two make that?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>They shook their heads in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"What is there in that?" began Caroline; but I motioned her to bring me
+the little cushion, which she no sooner did than I laid it in the little
+dent, which it fitted to a nicety.</p>
+
+<p>"You wonderful old thing!" exclaimed Caroline. "How ever did you
+think&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But I stopped her enthusiasm with a look. I may be wonderful, but I am
+not old, and it is time they knew it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. <i>Gryce</i> is <i>old</i>," said I; and lifting the cushion, I placed it on
+a perfectly smooth portion of the bed. "Now take it up," said I, when,
+lo! a second dent similar to the first.</p>
+
+<p>"You see where that cushion has lain before being placed on the table,"
+I remarked, and reminding Caroline of the pin I wanted, I took my leave
+and returned to my own house, leaving behind me two girls as much filled
+with astonishment as the giddiness of their pates would allow.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A DECIDED STEP FORWARD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I felt that I had made an advance. It was a small one, no doubt, but it
+was an advance. It would not do to rest there, however, or to draw
+definite conclusions from what I had seen without further facts to guide
+me. Mrs. Boppert could supply these facts, or so I believed. Accordingly
+I decided to visit Mrs. Boppert.</p>
+
+<p>Not knowing whether Mr. Gryce had thought it best to put a watch over my
+movements, but taking it for granted that it would be like him to do so,
+I made a couple of formal calls on the avenue before I started eastward.
+I had learned Mrs. Boppert's address before leaving home, but I did not
+ride directly to the tenement where she lived. I chose, instead, to get
+out at a little fancy store I saw in the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>It was a curious place. I never saw so many or such variety of things in
+one small spot in my life, but I did not waste any time upon this quaint
+interior, but stepped immediately up to the good woman I saw leaning
+over the counter.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know a Mrs. Boppert who lives at 803?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>The woman's look was too quick and suspicious for denial; but she was
+about to attempt it, when I cut her short by saying:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wish to see Mrs. Boppert very much, but not in her own rooms. I will
+pay any one well who will assist me to five minutes' conversation with
+her in such a place, say, as that I see behind the glass door at the end
+of this very shop."</p>
+
+<p>The woman, startled by so unexpected a proposition, drew back a step,
+and was about to shake her head, when I laid on the counter before her
+(shall I say how much? Yes, for it was not thrown away) a five-dollar
+bill, which she no sooner saw than she gave a gasp of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give me <i>that</i>?" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>For answer I pushed it towards her, but before her fingers could clutch
+it, I resolutely said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Boppert must not know there is anybody waiting here to see her, or
+she will not come. I have no ill-will towards her, and mean her only
+good, but she's a timid sort of person, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know she's timid," broke in the good woman, eagerly. "And she's had
+enough to make her so! What with policemen drumming her up at night, and
+innocent-looking girls and boys luring her into corners to tell them
+what she saw in that grand house where the murder took place, she's
+grown that feared of her shadow you can hardly get her out after
+sundown. But I think I can get her here; and if you mean her no harm,
+why, ma'am&mdash;&mdash;" Her fingers were on the bill, and charmed with the feel
+of it, she forgot to finish her sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any one in the room back there?" I asked, anxious to recall
+her to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, no one at all. I am a poor widder, and not used to such
+company as you; but if you will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> sit down, I will make myself look more
+fit and have Mrs. Boppert over here in a minute." And calling to some
+one of the name of Susie to look after the shop, she led the way towards
+the glass door I have mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>Relieved to find everything working so smoothly and determined to get
+the worth of my money out of Mrs. Boppert when I saw her, I followed the
+woman into the most crowded room I ever entered. The shop was nothing to
+it; there you could move without hitting anything; here you could not.
+There were tables against every wall, and chairs where there were no
+tables. Opposite me was a window-ledge filled with flowering plants, and
+at my right a grate and mantel-piece covered, that is the latter, with
+innumerable small articles which had evidently passed a long and forlorn
+probation on the shop shelves before being brought in here. While I was
+looking at them and marvelling at the small quantity of dust I found,
+the woman herself disappeared behind a stack of boxes, for which there
+was undoubtedly no room in the shop. Could she have gone for Mrs.
+Boppert already, or had she slipped into another room to hide the money
+which had come so unexpectedly into her hands?</p>
+
+<p>I was not long left in doubt, for in another moment she returned with a
+flower-bedecked cap on her smooth gray head, that transformed her into a
+figure at once so complacent and so ridiculous that, had my nerves not
+been made of iron, I should certainly have betrayed my amusement. With
+it she had also put on her company manner, and what with the smiles she
+bestowed upon me and her perfect satisfaction with her own appearance, I
+had all I could do to hold my own and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> keep her to the matter in hand.
+Finally she managed to take in my anxiety and her own duty, and saying
+that Mrs. Boppert could never refuse a cup of tea, offered to send her
+an invitation to supper. As this struck me favorably, I nodded, at which
+she cocked her head on one side and insinuatingly whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"And would you pay for the tea, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>I uttered an indignant "No!" which seemed to surprise her. Immediately
+becoming humble again, she replied it was no matter, that she had tea
+enough and that the shop would supply cakes and crackers; to all of
+which I responded with a look which awed her so completely that she
+almost dropped the dishes with which she was endeavoring to set one of
+the tables.</p>
+
+<p>"She does so hate to talk about the murder that it will be a perfect
+godsend to her to drop into good company like this with no prying
+neighbors about. Shall I set a chair for you, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>I declined the honor, saying that I would remain seated where I was,
+adding, as I saw her about to go:</p>
+
+<p>"Let her walk straight in, and she will be in the middle of the room
+before she sees me. That will suit her and me too; for after she has
+once seen me, she won't be frightened. <i>But you are not to listen at the
+door.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>This I said with great severity, for I saw the woman was becoming very
+curious, and having said it, I waved her peremptorily away.</p>
+
+<p>She didn't like it, but a thought of the five dollars comforted her.
+Casting one final look at the table, which was far from uninvitingly
+set, she slipped out and I was left to contemplate the dozen or so
+photographs that covered the walls. I found them so atrocious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> and their
+arrangement so distracting to my bump of order, which is of a pronounced
+character, that I finally shut my eyes on the whole scene, and in this
+attitude began to piece my thoughts together. But before I had proceeded
+far, steps were heard in the shop, and the next moment the door flew
+open and in popped Mrs. Boppert, with a face like a peony in full
+blossom. She stopped when she saw me and stared.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, if it isn't the lady&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! Shut the door. I have something very particular to say to you."</p>
+
+<p>"O," she began, looking as if she wanted to back out. But I was too
+quick for her. I shut the door myself and, taking her by the arm, seated
+her in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't show much gratitude," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>I did not know what she had to be grateful to me for, but she had so
+plainly intimated at our first interview that she regarded me as having
+done her some favor, that I was disposed to make what use of it I could,
+to gain her confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, ma'am, but if you could see how I've been harried, ma'am. It's
+the murder, and nothing but the murder all the time; and it was to get
+away from the talk about it that I came here, ma'am, and now it's you I
+see, and you'll be talking about it too, or why be in such a place as
+this, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"And what if I do talk about it? You know I'm your friend, or I never
+would have done you that good turn the morning we came upon the poor
+girl's body."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, ma'am, and grateful I am for it, too; but I've never understood
+it, ma'am. Was it to save me from being blamed by the wicked police, or
+was it a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> dream you had, and the gentleman had, for I've heard what he
+said at the inquest, and it's muddled my head till I don't know where
+I'm standing."</p>
+
+<p>What I had said and what the gentleman had said! What did the poor thing
+mean? As I did not dare to show my ignorance, I merely shook my head.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind what caused us to speak as we did, as long as we helped
+<i>you</i>. And we did help you? The police never found out what you had to
+do with this woman's death, did they?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, O no, ma'am. When such a respectable lady as you said that
+you saw the young lady come into the house in the middle of the night,
+how was they to disbelieve it. They never asked me if I knew any
+different."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I, almost struck dumb by my success, but letting no hint of
+my complacency escape me. "And I did not mean they should. You are a
+decent woman, Mrs. Boppert, and should not be troubled."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am. But how did you know she had come to the house before
+I left. Did you see her?"</p>
+
+<p>I hate a lie as I do poison, but I had to exercise all my Christian
+principles not to tell one then.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I, "I didn't see her, but I don't always have to use my eyes
+to know what is going on in my neighbor's houses." Which is true enough,
+if it is somewhat humiliating to confess it.</p>
+
+<p>"O ma'am, how smart you are, ma'am! I wish I had some smartness in me.
+But my husband had all that. He was a man&mdash;O what's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but the tea-caddy; I knocked it over with my elbow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How I do jump at everything! I'm afraid of my own shadow ever since I
+saw that poor thing lying under that heap of crockery."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder."</p>
+
+<p>"She must have pulled those things over herself, don't you think so,
+ma'am? No one went in there to murder her. But how came she to have
+those clothes on. She was dressed quite different when I let her in. I
+say it's all a muddle, ma'am, and it will be a smart man as can explain
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Or a smart woman," I thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Did I do wrong, ma'am? That's what plagues me. She begged so hard to
+come in, I didn't know how to shut the door on her. Besides her name was
+Van Burnam, or so she told me."</p>
+
+<p>Here was a coil. Subduing my surprise, I remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"If she asked you to let her in, I do not see how you could refuse her.
+Was it in the morning or late in the afternoon she came?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know, ma'am? I thought you knew all about it from the way you
+talked."</p>
+
+<p>Had I been indiscreet? Could she not bear questioning? Eying her with
+some severity, I declared in a less familiar tone than any I had yet
+used:</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody knows more about it than I do, but I do not know just the hour
+at which this lady came to the house. But I do not ask you to tell me if
+you do not want to."</p>
+
+<p>"O ma'am," she humbly remonstrated, "I am sure I am willing to tell you
+everything. It was in the afternoon while I was doing the front basement
+floor."</p>
+
+<p>"And she came to the basement door?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And asked to be let in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Young Mrs. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Dressed in a black and white plaid silk, and wearing a hat covered with
+flowers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, or something like that. I know it was very bright and
+becoming."</p>
+
+<p>"And why did she come to the basement door&mdash;a lady dressed like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because she knew I couldn't open the front door; that I hadn't the key.
+O she talked beautiful, ma'am, and wasn't proud with me a bit. She made
+me let her stay in the house, and when I said it would be dark after a
+while and that I hadn't done nothing to the rooms upstairs, she laughed
+and said she didn't care, that she wasn't afraid of the dark and had
+just as lieve as not stay in the big house alone all night, for she had
+a book&mdash;Did you say anything, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, go on, she had a book."</p>
+
+<p>"Which she could read till she got sleepy. I never thought anything
+would happen to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not, why should you? And so you let her into the house and
+left her there when you went out of it? Well, I don't wonder you were
+shocked to see her lying dead on the floor next morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Awful, ma'am. I was afraid they would blame me for what had happened.
+But I didn't do nothing to make her die. I only let her stay in the
+house. Do you think they will do anything to me if they know it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I, trying to understand this woman's ignorant fears, "they
+don't punish such things.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> More's the pity!"&mdash;this in confidence to
+myself. "How could you know that a piece of furniture would fall on her
+before morning. Did you lock her in when you left the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am. She told me to."</p>
+
+<p>Then she was a prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>Confounded by the mystery of the whole affair, I sat so still the woman
+looked up in wonder, and I saw I had better continue my questions.</p>
+
+<p>"What reason did she give for wanting to stay in the house all night?"</p>
+
+<p>"What reason, ma'am? I don't know. Something about her having to be
+there when Mr. Van Burnam came home. I didn't make it out, and I didn't
+try to. I was too busy wondering what she would have to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she have?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, ma'am. She said she had something, but I didn't see it."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you were blinded by the money she gave you. She gave you some,
+of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, not much, ma'am, not much. And I wouldn't have taken a cent if it
+had not seemed to make her so happy to give it. The pretty, pretty
+thing! A real lady, whatever they say about her!"</p>
+
+<p>"And happy? You said she was happy, cheerful-looking, and pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, ma'am; <i>she</i> didn't know what was going to happen. I even heard
+her sing after she went up-stairs."</p>
+
+<p>I wished that my ears had been attending to their duty that day, and I
+might have heard her sing too. But the walls between my house and that
+of the Van<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> Burnams are very thick, as I have had occasion to observe
+more than once.</p>
+
+<p>"Then she went up-stairs before you left?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, ma'am; what would she do in the kitchen?"</p>
+
+<p>"And you didn't see her again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; but I heard her walking around."</p>
+
+<p>"In the parlors, you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am, in the parlors."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not go up yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am, I had enough to do below."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you go up when you went away?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; I didn't like to."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"At five, ma'am; I always go at five."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you know it was five?"</p>
+
+<p>"The kitchen clock told me; I wound it, ma'am and set it when the
+whistles blew at twelve."</p>
+
+<p>"Was that the only clock you wound?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only clock? Do you think I'd be going around the house winding any
+others?"</p>
+
+<p>Her face showed such surprise, and her eyes met mine so frankly, that I
+was convinced she spoke the truth. Gratified&mdash;I don't know why,&mdash;I
+bestowed upon her my first smile, which seemed to affect her, for her
+face softened, and she looked at me quite eagerly for a minute before
+she said:</p>
+
+<p>"You don't think so very bad of me, do you, ma'am?"</p>
+
+<p>But I had been struck by a thought which made me for the moment
+oblivious to her question. <i>She</i> had wound the clock in the kitchen for
+her own uses, and why may not the lady above have wound the one in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> the
+parlor for hers? Filled with this startling idea, I remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"The young lady wore a watch, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>But the suggestion passed unheeded. Mrs. Boppert was as much absorbed in
+her own thoughts as I was.</p>
+
+<p>"Did young Mrs. Van Burnam wear a watch?" I persisted.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Boppert's face remained a blank.</p>
+
+<p>Provoked at her impassibility, I shook her with an angry hand,
+imperatively demanding:</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking of? Why don't you answer my questions?"</p>
+
+<p>She was herself again in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"O ma'am, I beg your pardon. I was wondering if you meant the parlor
+clock."</p>
+
+<p>I calmed myself, looked severe to hide my more than eager interest, and
+sharply cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I mean the parlor clock. Did you wind it?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no, no, no, I would as soon think of touching gold or silver. But the
+young lady did, I'm sure, ma'am, for I heard it strike when she was
+setting of it."</p>
+
+<p>Ah! If my nature had not been an undemonstrative one, and if I had not
+been bred to a strong sense of social distinctions, I might have
+betrayed my satisfaction at this announcement in a way that would have
+made this homely German woman start. As it was I sat stock-still, and
+even made her think I had not heard her. Venturing to rouse <i>me</i> a bit,
+she spoke again after a minute's silence.</p>
+
+<p>"She might have been lonely, you know, ma'am; and the ticking of a clock
+is such company."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I answered with more than my accustomed vivacity, for she jumped
+as if I had struck her. "You have hit the nail on the head, Mrs.
+Boppert, and are a much smarter woman than I thought. But when did she
+wind the clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"At five o'clock, ma'am; just before I left the house."</p>
+
+<p>"O, and did she know you were going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, ma'am, for I called up, just before I put on my bonnet,
+that it was five o'clock and that I was going."</p>
+
+<p>"O, you did. And did she answer back?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am. I heard her step in the hall and then her voice. She asked
+if I was sure it was five, and I told her yes, because I had set the
+kitchen clock at twelve. She didn't say any more, but just after that I
+heard the parlor clock begin to strike."</p>
+
+<p>O, thought I, what cannot be got out of the most stupid and unwilling
+witness by patience and a judicious use of questions. To know that this
+clock was started after five o'clock, that is, after the hour at which
+the hands pointed when it fell, and that it was set correctly in
+starting, and so would give indisputable testimony of the hour when the
+shelves fell, were points of the greatest importance. I was so pleased I
+gave the woman another smile.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly she cried:</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't say anything about it, will you, ma'am? They might make
+me pay for all the things that were broke."</p>
+
+<p>My smile this time was not one of encouragement simply. But it might
+have been anything for all effect it had on her. The intricacies of the
+affair had disturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> her poor brain again, and all her powers of mind
+were given up to lament.</p>
+
+<p>"O," she bemoaned, "I wish I had never seen her! My head wouldn't ache
+so with the muddle of it. Why, ma'am, her husband said he came to the
+house at midnight with his wife! How could he when she was inside of it
+all the time. But then perhaps he said that, just as you did, to save me
+blame. But why should a gentleman like him do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't worth while for you to bother your head about it," I
+expostulated. "It is enough that <i>my</i> head aches over it."</p>
+
+<p>I don't suppose she understood me or tried to. Her wits had been sorely
+tried and my rather severe questioning had not tended to clear them. At
+all events she went on in another moment as if I had not spoken:</p>
+
+<p>"But what became of her pretty dress? I was never so astonished in my
+life as when I saw that dark skirt on her."</p>
+
+<p>"She might have left her fine gown upstairs," I ventured, not wishing to
+go into the niceties of evidence with this woman.</p>
+
+<p>"So she might, so she might, and that may have been her petticoat we
+saw." But in another moment she saw the impossibility of this, for she
+added: "But I saw her petticoat, and it was a brown silk one. She showed
+it when she lifted her skirt to get at her purse. I don't understand it,
+ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>As her face by this time was almost purple, I thought it a mercy to
+close the interview; so I uttered some few words of a soothing and
+encouraging nature, and then seeing that something more tangible was
+necessary to restore her to any proper condition of spirits, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> took out
+my pocket-book and bestowed on her some of my loose silver.</p>
+
+<p>This was something she <i>could</i> understand. She brightened immediately,
+and before she was well through her expressions of delight, I had
+quitted the room and in a few minutes later the shop.</p>
+
+<p>I hope the two women had their cup of tea after that.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>MISS BUTTERWORTH'S THEORY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was so excited when I entered my carriage that I rode all the way home
+with my bonnet askew and never knew it. When I reached my room and saw
+myself in the glass, I was shocked, and stole a glance at Lena, who was
+setting out my little tea-table, to see if she noticed what a ridiculous
+figure I cut. But she is discretion itself, and for a girl with two
+undeniable dimples in her cheeks, smiles seldom&mdash;at least when I am
+looking at her. She was not smiling now, and though, for the reason
+given above, this was not as comforting as it may appear, I chose not to
+worry myself any longer about such a trifle when I had matters of so
+much importance on my mind.</p>
+
+<p>Taking off my bonnet, whose rakish appearance had given me such a shock,
+I sat down, and for half an hour neither moved nor spoke. I was
+thinking. A theory which had faintly suggested itself to me at the
+inquest was taking on body with these later developments. Two hats had
+been found on the scene of the tragedy, and two pairs of gloves, and now
+I had learned that there had been two women there, the one whom Mrs.
+Boppert had locked into the house on leaving it, and the one whom I had
+seen enter at midnight with Mr. Van Burnam. Which of the two had
+perished?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> We had been led to think, and Mr. Van Burnam had himself
+acknowledged, that it was his wife; but his wife had been dressed quite
+differently from the murdered woman, and was, as I soon began to see,
+much more likely to have been the assassin than the victim. Would you
+like to know my reasons for this extraordinary statement? If so, they
+are these:</p>
+
+<p>I had always seen a woman's hand in this work, but having no reason to
+believe in the presence of any other woman on the scene of crime than
+the victim, I had put this suspicion aside as untenable. But now that I
+had found the second woman, I returned to it.</p>
+
+<p>But how connect her with the murder? It seemed easy enough to do so if
+this other woman was her rival. We have heard of no rival, but she may
+have known of one, and this knowledge may have been at the bottom of her
+disagreement with her husband and the half-crazy determination she
+evinced to win his family over to her side. Let us say, then, that the
+second woman was Mrs. Van Burnam's rival. That he brought her there not
+knowing that his wife had effected an entrance into the house; brought
+her there after an afternoon spent at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, during which he
+had furnished her with a new outfit of less pronounced type, perhaps,
+than that she had previously worn. The use of the two carriages and the
+care they took to throw suspicion off their track, may have been part of
+a scheme of future elopement, for I had no idea they meant to remain in
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. For what purpose, then, did they go there? To
+meet Mrs. Van Burnam and kill her, that their way might be clearer for
+flight? No; I had rather think that they went to the house without a
+thought of whom they would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> encounter, and that only after they had
+entered the parlors did he realize that the two women he least wished to
+see together had been brought by his folly face to face.</p>
+
+<p>The presence in the third room of Mrs. Van Burnam's hat, gloves, and
+novel seemed to argue that she had spent the evening in reading by the
+dining-room table, but whether this was so or not, the stopping of a
+carriage in front and the opening of the door by an accustomed hand
+undoubtedly assured her that either the old gentleman or some other
+member of the family had unexpectedly arrived. She was, therefore, in or
+near the parlor-door when they entered, and the shock of meeting her
+hated rival in company with her husband, under the very roof where she
+had hoped to lay the foundations of her future happiness, must have been
+great, if not maddening. Accusations, recriminations even, did not
+satisfy her. She wanted to kill; but she had no weapon. Suddenly her
+eyes fell on the hat-pin which her more self-possessed rival had drawn
+from her hat, possibly before their encounter, and she conceived a plan
+which seemed to promise her the very revenge she sought. How she carried
+it out; by what means she was enabled to approach her victim and inflict
+with such certainty the fatal stab which laid her enemy at her feet, can
+be left to the imagination. But that she, a woman, and not Howard, a
+man, drove this woman's weapon into the stranger's spine, I will yet
+prove, or lose all faith in my own intuitions.</p>
+
+<p>But if this theory is true, how about the shelves that fell at daybreak,
+and how about her escape from the house without detection? A little
+thought will explain all that. The man, horrified, no doubt, at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+result of his imprudence, and execrating the crime to which it had led,
+left the house almost immediately. But the woman remained there,
+possibly because she had fainted, possibly because he would have nothing
+to do with her; and coming to herself, saw her victim's face staring up
+at her with an accusing beauty she found it impossible to meet. What
+should she do to escape it? Where should she go? She hated it so she
+could have trampled on it, but she restrained her passions till
+daybreak, when in one wild burst of fury and hatred she drew down the
+cabinet upon it, and then fled the scene of horror she had herself
+caused. This was at five, or, to be exact, three minutes before that
+hour, as shown by the clock she had carelessly set in her lighter
+moments.</p>
+
+<p>She escaped by the front door, which her husband had mercifully forborne
+to lock; and she had not been discovered by the police, because her
+appearance did not tally with the description which had been given them.
+How did I know this? Remember the discoveries I had made in Miss Van
+Burnam's room, and allow them to assist you in understanding my
+conclusions.</p>
+
+<p>Some one had gone into that room; some one who wanted pins; and keeping
+this fact before my eyes, I saw through the motive and actions of the
+escaping woman. She had on a dress separated at the waist, and finding,
+perhaps, a spot of blood on the skirt, she conceived the plan of
+covering it with her petticoat, which was also of silk and undoubtedly
+as well made as many women's dresses. But the skirt of the gown was
+longer than the petticoat and she was obliged to pin it up. Having no
+pins herself, and finding none<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> on the parlor floor, she went up-stairs
+to get some. The door at the head of the stairs was locked, but the
+front room was open, so she entered there. Groping her way to the
+bureau, for the place was very dark, she found a pin-cushion hanging
+from a bracket. Feeling it to be full of pins, and knowing that she
+could see nothing where she was, she tore it away and carried it towards
+the door. Here there was some light from the skylight over the stairs,
+so setting the cushion down on the bed, she pinned up the skirt of her
+gown.</p>
+
+<p>When this was done she started away, brushing the cushion off the bed in
+her excitement, and fearing to be traced by her many-colored hat, or
+having no courage remaining for facing again the horror in the parlor,
+she slid out without one and went, God knows whither, in her terror and
+remorse.</p>
+
+<p>So much for my theory; now for the facts standing in the way of its
+complete acceptance. They were two: the scar on the ankle of the dead
+girl, which was a peculiarity of Louise Van Burnam, and the mark of the
+rings on her fingers. But who had identified the scar? Her husband. No
+one else. And if the other woman had, by some strange freak of chance, a
+scar also on her left foot, then the otherwise unaccountable apathy he
+had shown at being told of this distinctive mark, as well as his
+temerity in afterwards taking it as a basis for his false
+identification, becomes equally consistent and natural; and as for the
+marks of the rings, it would be strange if such a woman did not wear
+rings and plenty of them.</p>
+
+<p>Howard's conduct under examination and the contradiction between his
+first assertions and those that followed, all become clear in the light
+of this new theory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> He had seen his wife kill a defenceless woman
+before his eyes, and whether influenced by his old affection for her or
+by his pride in her good name, he could not but be anxious to conceal
+her guilt even at the cost of his own truthfulness. As long then as
+circumstances permitted, he preserved his indifferent attitude, and
+denied that the dead woman was his wife. But when driven to the wall by
+the indisputable proof which was brought forth of his wife having been
+in the place of murder, he saw, or thought he did, that a continued
+denial on his part of Louise Van Burnam being the victim might lead
+sooner or later to the suspicion of her being the murderer, and
+influenced by this fear, took the sudden resolution of profiting by all
+the points which the two women had in common by acknowledging, what
+everybody had expected him to acknowledge from the first, that the woman
+at the Morgue was his wife. This would exonerate her, rid him of any
+apprehension he may have entertained of her ever returning to be a
+disgrace to him, and would (and perhaps this thought influenced him
+most, for who can understand such men or the passions that sway them)
+insure the object of his late devotion a decent burial in a Christian
+cemetery. To be sure, the risk he ran was great, but the emergency was
+great, and he may not have stopped to count the cost. At all events, the
+fact is certain that he perjured himself when he said that it was his
+wife he brought to the house from the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, and if he perjured
+himself in this regard, he probably perjured himself in others, and his
+testimony is not at all to be relied upon.</p>
+
+<p>Convinced though I was in my own mind that I had struck a truth which
+would bear the closest investigation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> I was not satisfied to act upon
+it till I had put it to the test. The means I took to do this were
+daring, and quite in keeping with the whole desperate affair. They
+promised, however, a result important enough to make Mr. Gryce blush for
+the disdain with which he had met my threats of interference.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SHREWD CONJECTURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The test of which I speak was as follows:</p>
+
+<p>I would advertise for a person dressed as I believed Mrs. Van Burnam to
+have been when she left the scene of crime. If I received news of such a
+person, I might safely consider my theory established.</p>
+
+<p>I accordingly wrote the following advertisement:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Information wanted of a woman who applied for lodgings on the
+morning of the eighteenth inst., dressed in a brown silk skirt
+and a black and white plaid blouse of fashionable cut. She was
+without a hat, or if a person so dressed wore a hat, then it
+was bought early in the morning at some store, in which case
+let shopkeepers take notice. The person answering this
+description is eagerly sought for by her relatives, and to any
+one giving positive information of the same, a liberal reward
+will be paid. Please address, T. W. Alvord, &mdash;&mdash; Liberty
+Street."</p></div>
+
+<p>I purposely did not mention her personal appearance, for fear of
+attracting the attention of the police.</p>
+
+<p>This done, I wrote the following letter:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Ferguson:</span></p>
+
+<p>"One clever woman recognizes another. I am clever and am not
+ashamed to own it. You are clever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> and should not be ashamed to
+be told so. I was a witness at the inquest in which you so
+notably distinguished yourself, and I said then, 'There is a
+woman after my own heart!' But a truce to compliments! What I
+want and ask of you to procure for me is a photograph of Mrs.
+Van Burnam. I am a friend of the family, and consider them to
+be in more trouble than they deserve. If I had her picture I
+would show it to the Misses Van Burnam, who feel great remorse
+at their treatment of her, and who want to see how she looked.
+Cannot you find one in their rooms? The one in Mr. Howard's
+room here has been confiscated by the police.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Hoping that you will feel disposed to oblige me in this&mdash;and I
+assure you that my motives in making this request are most
+excellent&mdash;I remain,</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Cordially yours,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">Amelia Butterworth</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"P. S.&mdash;Address me, if you please, at 564 &mdash;&mdash; Avenue. Care of
+J. H. Denham."</p></div>
+
+<p>This was my grocer, with whom I left word the next morning to deliver
+this package in the next bushel of potatoes he sent me.</p>
+
+<p>My smart little maid, Lena, carried these two communications to the east
+side, where she posted the letter herself and entrusted the
+advertisement to a lover of hers who carried it to the <i>Herald</i> office.
+While she was gone I tried to rest by exercising my mind in other
+directions. But I could not. I kept going over Howard's testimony in the
+light of my own theory, and remarking how the difficulty he experienced
+in maintaining the position he had taken, forced him into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+inconsistencies and far-fetched explanations. With his wife for a
+companion at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, his conduct both there and on the road to
+his father's house was that of a much weaker man than his words and
+appearance led one to believe; but if, on the contrary, he had with him
+a woman with whom he was about to elope (and what did the packing up of
+all his effects mean, if not that?), all the precautions they took
+seemed reasonable.</p>
+
+<p>Later, my mind fixed itself on one point. If it was his wife who was
+with him, as he said, then the bundle they dropped at the old woman's
+feet contained the much-talked of plaid silk. If it was not, then it was
+a gown of some different material. Now, could this bundle be found? If
+it could, then why had not Mr. Gryce produced it? The sight of Mrs. Van
+Burnam's plaid silk spread out on the Coroner's table would have had a
+great effect in clinching the suspicion against her husband. But no
+plaid silk had been found (because it was not dropped in the bundle, but
+worn away on the murderess's back), and no old woman. I thought I knew
+the reason of this too. There was no old woman to be found, and the
+bundle they carried had been got rid of some other way. What way? I
+would take a walk down that same block and see, and I would take it at
+the midnight hour too, for only so could I judge of the possibilities
+there offered for concealing or destroying such an article.</p>
+
+<p>Having made this decision, I cast about to see how I could carry it into
+effect. I am not a coward, but I have a respectability to maintain, and
+what errand could Miss Butterworth be supposed to have in the streets at
+twelve o'clock at night! Fortunately, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> remembered that my cook had
+complained of toothache when I gave her my orders for breakfast, and
+going down at once into the kitchen, where she sat with her cheek
+propped up in her hand waiting for Lena, I said with an asperity which
+admitted of no reply:</p>
+
+<p>"You have a dreadful tooth, Sarah, and you must have something done for
+it at once. When Lena comes home, send her to me. I am going to the
+drug-store for some drops, and I want Lena to accompany me."</p>
+
+<p>She looked astounded, of course, but I would not let her answer me.
+"Don't speak a word," I cried, "it will only make your toothache worse;
+and don't look as if some hobgoblin had jumped up on the kitchen table.
+I guess I know my duty, and just what kind of a breakfast I will have in
+the morning, if you sit up all night groaning with the toothache." And I
+was out of the room before she had more than begun to say that it was
+not so bad, and that I needn't trouble, and all that, which was true
+enough, no doubt, but not what I wanted to hear at that moment.</p>
+
+<p>When Lena came in, I saw by the brightness of her face that she had
+accomplished her double errand. I therefore signified to her that I was
+satisfied, and asked if she was too tired to go out again, saying quite
+peremptorily that Sarah was ill, and that I was going to the drug-store
+for some medicine, and did not wish to go alone.</p>
+
+<p>Lena's round-eyed wonder was amusing; but she is very discreet, as I
+have said before, and she ventured nothing save a meek, "It's very late,
+Miss Butterworth," which was an unnecessary remark, as she soon saw.</p>
+
+<p>I do not like to obtrude my aristocratic tendencies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> too much into this
+narrative, but when I found myself in the streets alone with Lena, I
+could not help feeling some secret qualms lest my conduct savored of
+impropriety. But the thought that I was working in the cause of truth
+and justice came to sustain me, and before I had gone two blocks, I felt
+as much at home under the midnight skies as if I were walking home from
+church on a Sunday afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>There is a certain drug-store on Third Avenue where I like to deal, and
+towards this I ostensibly directed my steps. But I took pains to go by
+the way of Lexington Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, and upon reaching
+the block where this mysterious couple were seen, gave all my attention
+to the possible hiding-places it offered.</p>
+
+<p>Lena, who had followed me like my shadow, and who was evidently too
+dumfounded at my freak to speak, drew up to my side as we were half-way
+down it and seized me tremblingly by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Two men are coming," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not afraid of men," was my sharp rejoinder. But I told a most
+abominable lie; for I am afraid of them in such places and under such
+circumstances, though not under ordinary conditions, and never where the
+tongue is likely to be the only weapon employed.</p>
+
+<p>The couple who were approaching us now seemed to be in a merry mood. But
+when they saw us keep to our own side of the way, they stopped their
+chaffing and allowed us to go by, with just a mocking word or two.</p>
+
+<p>"Sarah ought to be very much obliged to you," whispered Lena.</p>
+
+<p>At the corner of Third Avenue I paused. I had seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> nothing so far but
+bare stoops and dark area-ways. Nothing to suggest a place for the
+disposal of such cumbersome articles as these persons had made way with.
+Had the avenue anything better to offer? I stopped under the gas-lamp at
+the corner to consider, notwithstanding Lena's gentle pull towards the
+drug-store. Looking to left and right and over the muddy crossings, I
+sought for inspiration. An almost obstinate belief in my own theory led
+me to insist in my own mind that they had encountered no old woman, and
+consequently had not dropped their bundles in the open street. I even
+entered into an argument about it, standing there with the cable cars
+whistling by me and Lena tugging away at my arm. "If," said I to myself,
+"the woman with him had been his wife and the whole thing nothing more
+than a foolish escapade, they might have done this; but she was not his
+wife, and the game they were playing was serious, if they did laugh over
+it, and so their disposal of these tell-tale articles would be serious
+and such as would protect their secret. Where, then, could they have
+thrust them?"</p>
+
+<p>My eyes, as I muttered this, were on the one shop in my line of vision
+that was still open and lighted. It was the den of a Chinese laundryman,
+and through the windows in front I could see him still at work, ironing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" thought I, and made such a start across the street that Lena
+gasped in dismay and almost fell to the ground in her frightened attempt
+to follow me.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that way!" she called. "Miss Butterworth, you are going wrong."</p>
+
+<p>But I kept right on, and only stopped when I reached the laundry.</p>
+
+<p>"I have an errand here," I explained. "Wait in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> the doorway, Lena, and
+don't act as if you thought me crazy, for I was never saner in my life."</p>
+
+<p>I don't think this reassured her much, lunatics not being supposed to be
+very good judges of their own mental condition, but she was so
+accustomed to obey, that she drew back as I opened the door before me
+and entered. The surprise on the face of the poor Chinaman when he
+turned and saw before him a lady of years and no ordinary appearance,
+daunted me for an instant. But another look only showed me that his very
+surprise was inoffensive, and gathering courage from the unexpectedness
+of my own position, I inquired with all the politeness I could show one
+of his abominable nationality:</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't a gentleman and a heavily veiled lady leave a package with you a
+few days ago at about the same hour of night as this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some lalee clo' washee? Yes, ma'am. No done. She tellee me no callee
+for one week."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that's all right; the lady has died very suddenly, and the
+gentleman gone away; you will have to keep the clothes a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"Me wantee money, no wantee clo'!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll pay you for them; I don't care about them being ironed."</p>
+
+<p>"Givee tickee, givee clo'! No givee tickee, no givee clo'!"</p>
+
+<p>This was a poser! But as I did not want the clothes so much as a look at
+them, I soon got the better of this difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want them to-night," said I. "I only wanted to make sure you
+had them. What night were these people here?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday night, velly late; nicee man, nicee lalee. She wantee talk.
+Nicee man he pullee she; I no hear if muchee stasch. All washee, see!"
+he went on, dragging a basket out of the corner, "him no ilon."</p>
+
+<p>I was in such a quiver; so struck with amazement at my own perspicacity
+in surmising that here was a place where a bundle of underclothing could
+be lost indefinitely, that I just stared while he turned over the
+clothes in the basket. For by means of the quality of the articles he
+was preparing to show me, the question which had been agitating me for
+hours could be definitely decided. If they proved to be fine and of
+foreign manufacture, then Howard's story was true and all my fine-spun
+theories must fall to the ground. But if, on the contrary, they were
+such as are usually worn by American women, then my own idea as to the
+identity of the woman who left them here was established, and I could
+safely consider her as the victim and Louise Van Burnam as the
+murderess, unless further facts came to prove that he was the guilty
+one, after all.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of Lena's eyes staring at me with great anxiety through the
+panes of the door distracted my attention for a moment, and when I
+looked again, he was holding up two or three garments before me. The
+articles thus revealed told their story in a moment. They were far from
+fine, and had even less embroidery on them than I expected.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any marks on them?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He showed me two letters stamped in indelible ink on the band of a
+skirt. I did not have my glasses with me, but the ink was black, and I
+read O. R. "The minx's initials," thought I.</p>
+
+<p>When I left the place my complacency was such that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Lena did not know
+what to make of me. She has since informed me that I looked as if I
+wanted to shout Hurrah! but I cannot believe I so far forgot myself as
+that. But pleased as I was, I had only discovered how one bundle had
+been disposed of. The dress and outside fixings still had to be
+accounted for, and I was the woman to do it.</p>
+
+<p>We had mechanically moved in the direction of the drug-store and were
+near the curb-stone when I reached this point in my meditations. It had
+rained a little while before, and a small stream was running down the
+gutter and emptying itself into the sewer opening. The sight of it
+sharpened my wits.</p>
+
+<p>If I wanted to get rid of anything of a damaging character, I would drop
+it at the mouth of one of these holes and gently thrust it into the
+sewer with my foot, thought I. And never doubting that I had found an
+explanation of the disappearance of the second bundle, I walked on,
+deciding that if I had the police at my command I would have the sewer
+searched at those four corners.</p>
+
+<p>We rode home after visiting the drug-store. I was not going to subject
+Lena or myself to another midnight walk through Twenty-seventh Street.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> This was <i>so</i> probable, it cannot be considered an
+untruth.&mdash;A. B.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A BLANK CARD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next day at noon Lena brought me up a card on her tray. It was a
+perfectly blank one.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Van Burnam's maid said you sent for this," was her demure
+announcement.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Van Burnam's maid is right," said I, taking the card and with it a
+fresh installment of courage.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing happened for two days, then there came word from the kitchen
+that a bushel of potatoes had arrived. Going down to see them, I drew
+from their midst a large square envelope, which I immediately carried to
+my room. It failed to contain a photograph; but there was a letter in it
+couched in these terms:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Butterworth</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"The esteem which you are good enough to express for me is
+returned. I regret that I cannot oblige you. There are no
+photographs to be found in Mrs. Van Burnam's rooms. Perhaps
+this fact may be accounted for by the curiosity shown in those
+apartments by a very spruce new boarder we have had from New
+York. His taste for that particular quarter of the house was
+such that I could not keep him away from it except by lock and
+key. If there was a picture there of Mrs. Van Burnam, he took
+it, for he departed very suddenly one night. I am glad he took
+nothing more with him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> The talks he had with my servant-girl
+have almost led to my dismissing her.</p>
+
+<p>"Praying your pardon for the disappointment I am forced to give
+you, I remain,</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Yours sincerely,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">Susan Ferguson</span>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>So! so! balked by an emissary of Mr. Gryce. Well, well, we would do
+without the photograph! Mr. Gryce might need it, but not Amelia
+Butterworth.</p>
+
+<p>This was on a Thursday, and on the evening of Saturday the long-desired
+clue was given me. It came in the shape of a letter brought me by Mr.
+Alvord.</p>
+
+<p>Our interview was not an agreeable one. Mr. Alvord is a clever man and
+an adroit one, or I should not persist in employing him as my lawyer;
+but he never understood <i>me</i>. At this time, and with this letter in his
+hand, he understood me less than ever, which naturally called out my
+powers of self-assertion and led to some lively conversation between us.
+But that is neither here nor there. He had brought me an answer to my
+advertisement and I was presently engrossed by it. It was an uneducated
+woman's epistle and its chirography and spelling were dreadful; so I
+will just mention its contents, which were highly interesting in
+themselves, as I think you will acknowledge.</p>
+
+<p>She, that is, the writer, whose name, as nearly as I could make out, was
+Bertha Desberger, knew such a person as I described, and could give me
+news of her if I would come to her house in West Ninth Street at four
+o'clock Sunday afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>If I would! I think my face must have shown my satisfaction, for Mr.
+Alvord, who was watching me, sarcastically remarked:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem to find any difficulties in that communication. Now,
+what do you think of this one?"</p>
+
+<p>He held out another letter which had been directed to him, and which he
+had opened. Its contents called up a shade of color to my cheek, for I
+did not want to go through the annoyance of explaining myself again:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"From a strange advertisement which has lately appeared in the
+<i>Herald</i>, I gather that information is wanted of a young woman
+who on the morning of the eighteenth inst. entered my store
+without any bonnet on her head, and saying she had met with an
+accident, bought a hat which she immediately put on. She was
+pale as a girl could be and looked so ill that I asked her if
+she was well enough to be out alone; but she gave me no reply
+and left the store as soon as possible. That is all I can tell
+you about her."</p></div>
+
+<p>With this was enclosed his card:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">PHINEAS COX,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Millinery</i>,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Trimmed and Untrimmed Hats</i>,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">&mdash;&mdash; Sixth Avenue.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Now, what does this mean?" asked Mr. Alvord. "The morning of the
+eighteenth was the morning when the murder was discovered in which you
+have shown such interest."</p>
+
+<p>"It means," I retorted with some spirit, for simple<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> dignity was thrown
+away on this man, "that I made a mistake in choosing your office as a
+medium for my business communications."</p>
+
+<p>This was to the point and he said no more, though he eyed the letter in
+my hand very curiously, and seemed more than tempted to renew the
+hostilities with which we had opened our interview.</p>
+
+<p>Had it not been Saturday, and late in the day at that, I would have
+visited Mr. Cox's store before I slept, but as it was I felt obliged to
+wait till Monday. Meanwhile I had before me the still more important
+interview with Mrs. Desberger.</p>
+
+<p>As I had no reason to think that my visiting any number in Ninth Street
+would arouse suspicion in the police, I rode there quite boldly the next
+day, and with Lena at my side, entered the house of Mrs. Bertha
+Desberger.</p>
+
+<p>For this trip I had dressed myself plainly, and drawn over my eyes&mdash;and
+the puffs which I still think it becoming in a woman of my age to
+wear&mdash;a dotted veil, thick enough to conceal my features, without
+robbing me of that aspect of benignity necessary to the success of my
+mission. Lena wore her usual neat gray dress, and looked the picture of
+all the virtues.</p>
+
+<p>A large brass door-plate, well rubbed, was the first sign vouchsafed us
+of the respectability of the house we were about to enter; and the
+parlor, when we were ushered into it, fully carried out the promise thus
+held forth on the door-step. It was respectable, but in wretched taste
+as regards colors. I, who have the nicest taste in such matters, looked
+about me in dismay as I encountered the greens and blues, the crimsons
+and the purples which everywhere surrounded me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But I was not on a visit to a temple of art, and resolutely shutting my
+eyes to the offending splendor about me&mdash;worsted splendor, you
+understand,&mdash;I waited with subdued expectation for the lady of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>She came in presently, bedecked in a flowered gown that was an epitome
+of the blaze of colors everywhere surrounding us; but her face was a
+good one, and I saw that I had neither guile nor over-much shrewdness to
+contend with.</p>
+
+<p>She had seen the coach at the door, and she was all smiles and flutter.</p>
+
+<p>"You have come for the poor girl who stopped here a few days ago," she
+began, glancing from my face to Lena's with an equally inquiring air,
+which in itself would have shown her utter ignorance of social
+distinctions if I had not bidden Lena to keep at my side and hold her
+head up as if she had business there as well as myself.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," returned I, "we have. Lena here, has lost a relative (which was
+true), and knowing no other way of finding her, I suggested the
+insertion of an advertisement in the paper. You read the description
+given, of course. Has the person answering it been in this house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she came on the morning of the eighteenth. I remember it because
+that was the very day my cook left, and I have not got another one yet."
+She sighed and went on. "I took a great interest in that unhappy young
+woman&mdash;Was she your sister?" This, somewhat doubtfully, to Lena, who
+perhaps had too few colors on to suit her.</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Lena, "she wasn't my sister, but&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I immediately took the words out of her mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"At what time did she come here, and how long did she stay? We want to
+find her very much. Did she give you any name, or tell where she was
+going?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said her name was Oliver." (I thought of the O. R. on the clothes
+at the laundry.) "But I knew this wasn't so; and if she had not looked
+so very modest, I might have hesitated to take her in. But, lor! I can't
+resist a girl in trouble, and she was in trouble, if ever a girl was.
+And then she had money&mdash;Do you know what her trouble was?" This again to
+Lena, and with an air at once suspicious and curious. But Lena has a
+good face, too, and her frank eyes at once disarmed the weak and
+good-natured woman before us.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought"&mdash;she went on before Lena could answer&mdash;"that whatever it
+was, <i>you</i> had nothing to do with it, nor this lady either."</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Lena, seeing that I wished her to do the talking. "And we
+don't know" (which was true enough so far as Lena went) "just what her
+trouble was. Didn't she tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>"She told nothing. When she came she said she wanted to stay with me a
+little while. I sometimes take boarders&mdash;&mdash;" She had twenty in the house
+at that minute, if she had one. Did she think I couldn't see the length
+of her dining-room table through the crack of the parlor door? "'I can
+pay,' she said, which I had not doubted, for her blouse was a very
+expensive one; though I thought her skirt looked queer, and her hat&mdash;Did
+I say she had a hat on? You seemed to doubt that fact in your
+advertisement. Goodness me! if she had had no hat on, she wouldn't have
+got as far as my parlor mat. But her blouse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> showed her to be a
+lady&mdash;and then her face&mdash;it was as white as your handkerchief there,
+madam, but so sweet&mdash;I thought of the Madonna faces I had seen in
+Catholic churches."</p>
+
+<p>I started; inwardly commenting: "Madonna-like, <i>that</i> woman!" But a
+glance at the room about me reassured me. The owner of such hideous
+sofas and chairs and of the many pictures effacing or rather defacing
+the paper on the walls, could not be a judge of Madonna faces.</p>
+
+<p>"You admire everything that is good and lovely," I suggested, for Mrs.
+Desberger had paused at the movement I made.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is my nature to do so, ma'am. I love the beautiful," and she
+cast a half-apologetic, half-proud look about her. "So I listened to the
+girl and let her sit down in my parlor. She had had nothing to eat that
+morning, and though she didn't ask for it, I went to order her a cup of
+tea, for I knew she couldn't get up-stairs without it. Her eyes followed
+me when I went out of the room in a way that haunted me, and when I came
+back&mdash;I shall never forget it, ma'am&mdash;there she lay stretched out on the
+floor with her face on the ground and her hands thrown out. Wasn't it
+horrible, ma'am? I don't wonder you shudder."</p>
+
+<p>Did I shudder? If I did, it was because I was thinking of that other
+woman, the victim of this one, whom I had seen, with her face turned
+upward and her arms outstretched, in the gloom of Mr. Van Burnam's
+half-closed parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"She looked as if she was dead," the good woman continued, "but just as
+I was about to call for help, her fingers moved and I rushed to lift
+her. She was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> neither dead nor had she fainted; she was simply dumb with
+misery. What could have happened to her? I have asked myself a hundred
+times."</p>
+
+<p>My mouth was shut very tight, but I shut it still tighter, for the
+temptation was great to cry: "She had just committed murder!" As it was,
+no sound whatever left my lips, and the good woman doubtless thought me
+no better than a stone, for she turned with a shrug to Lena, repeating
+still more wistfully than before:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Don't</i> you know what her trouble was?"</p>
+
+<p>But, of course, poor Lena had nothing to say, and the woman went on with
+a sigh:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I shall never know what had used that poor creature up
+so completely. But whatever it was, it gave me enough trouble, though I
+do not want to complain of it, for why are we here, if not to help and
+comfort the miserable. It was an hour, ma'am; it was an hour, miss,
+before I could get that poor girl to speak; but when I did succeed, and
+had got her to drink the tea and eat a bit of toast, then I felt quite
+repaid by the look of gratitude she gave me and the way she clung to my
+sleeve when I tried to leave her for a minute. It was this sleeve,
+ma'am," she explained, lifting a cluster of rainbow flounces and ribbons
+which but a minute before had looked little short of ridiculous in my
+eyes, but which in the light of the wearer's kind-heartedness had lost
+some of their offensive appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mary!" murmured Lena, with what I considered most admirable
+presence of mind.</p>
+
+<p>"What name did you say?" cried Mrs. Desberger, eager enough to learn all
+she could of her late mysterious lodger.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I had rather not tell her name," protested Lena, with a timid air that
+admirably fitted her rather doll-like prettiness. "<i>She</i> didn't tell you
+what it was, and <i>I</i> don't think I ought to."</p>
+
+<p>Good for little Lena! And she did not even know for whom or what she was
+playing the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> I had set her.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you said Mary. But I won't be inquisitive with you. I wasn't
+so with her. But where was I in my story? Oh, I got her so she could
+speak, and afterwards I helped her up-stairs; but she didn't stay there
+long. When I came back at lunch time&mdash;I have to do my marketing no
+matter what happens&mdash;I found her sitting before a table with her head on
+her hands. She had been weeping, but her face was quite composed now and
+almost hard.</p>
+
+<p>"'O you good woman!' she cried as I came in. 'I want to thank you.' But
+I wouldn't let her go on wasting words like that, and presently she was
+saying quite wildly: 'I want to begin a new life. I want to act as if I
+had never had a yesterday. I have had trouble, overwhelming trouble, but
+I will get something out of existence yet. I <i>will</i> live, and in order
+to do so, I will work. Have you a paper, Mrs. Desberger, I want to look
+at the advertisements?' I brought her a <i>Herald</i> and went to preside at
+my lunch table. When I saw her again she looked almost cheerful. 'I have
+found just what I want,' she cried, 'a companion's place. But I cannot
+apply in this dress,' and she looked at the great puffs of her silk
+blouse as if they gave her the horrors, though why, I cannot imagine,
+for they were in the latest style and rich enough for a millionaire's
+daughter, though as to colors I like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> brighter ones myself. 'Would
+you'&mdash;she was very timid about it&mdash;'buy me some things if I gave you the
+money?'</p>
+
+<p>"If there is one thing more than another that I like, it is to shop, so
+I expressed my willingness to oblige her, and that afternoon I set out
+with a nice little sum of money to buy her some clothes. I should have
+enjoyed it more if she had let me do my own choosing&mdash;I saw the
+loveliest pink and green blouse&mdash;but she was very set about what she
+wanted, and so I just got her some plain things which I think even you,
+ma'am, would have approved of. I brought them home myself, for she
+wanted to apply immediately for the place she had seen advertised, but,
+O dear, when I went up to her room&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Was she gone?" burst in Lena.</p>
+
+<p>"O no, but there was such a smudge in it, and&mdash;and I could cry when I
+think of it&mdash;there in the grate were the remains of her beautiful silk
+blouse, all smoking and ruined. She had tried to burn it, and she had
+succeeded too. I could not get a piece out as big as my hand."</p>
+
+<p>"But you got some of it!" blurted out Lena, guided by a look which I
+gave her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, scraps, it was so handsome. I think I have a bit in my work-basket
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"O get it for me," urged Lena. "I want it to remember her by."</p>
+
+<p>"My work-basket is here." And going to a sort of <i>etag&egrave;re</i> covered with
+a thousand knick-knacks picked up at bargain counters, she opened a
+little cupboard and brought out a basket, from which she presently
+pulled a small square of silk. It was, as she said, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> the richest
+weaving, and was, as I had not the least doubt, a portion of the dress
+worn by Mrs. Van Burnam from Haddam.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was hers," said Lena, reading the expression of my face, and
+putting the scrap away very carefully in her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I would have given her five dollars for that blouse," murmured
+Mrs. Desberger, regretfully. "But girls like her are so improvident."</p>
+
+<p>"And did she leave that day?" I asked, seeing that it was hard for this
+woman to tear her thoughts away from this coveted article.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am. It was late, and I had but little hopes of her getting the
+situation she was after. But she promised to come back if she didn't;
+and as she did not come back I decided that she was more successful than
+I had anticipated."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you know where she went? Didn't she confide in you at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but as there were but three advertisements for a lady-companion in
+the <i>Herald</i> that day, it will be easy to find her. Would you like to
+see those advertisements? I saved them out of curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>I assented, as you may believe, and she brought us the clippings at
+once. Two of them I read without emotion, but the third almost took my
+breath away. It was an advertisement for a lady-companion accustomed to
+the typewriter and of some taste in dressmaking, and the address given
+was that of Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>If this woman, steeped in misery and darkened by crime, should be there!</p>
+
+<p>As I shall not mention Mrs. Desberger again for some time, I will here
+say that at the first opportunity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> which presented itself I sent Lena to
+the shops with orders to buy and have sent to Mrs. Desberger the ugliest
+and most flaunting of silk blouses that could be found on Sixth Avenue;
+and as Lena's dimples were more than usually pronounced on her return, I
+have no doubt she chose one to suit the taste and warm the body of the
+estimable woman, whose kindly nature had made such a favorable
+impression upon me.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>RUTH OLIVER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>From Mrs. Desberger's I rode immediately to Miss Althorpe's, for the
+purpose of satisfying myself at once as to the presence there of the
+unhappy fugitive I was tracing.</p>
+
+<p>Six o'clock Sunday night is not a favorable hour for calling at a young
+lady's house, especially when that lady has a lover who is in the habit
+of taking tea with the family. But I was in a mood to transgress all
+rules and even to forget the rights of lovers. Besides, much is forgiven
+a woman of my stamp, especially by a person of the good sense and
+amiability of Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>That I was not mistaken in my calculations was evident from the greeting
+I received. Miss Althorpe came forward as graciously and with as little
+surprise in her manner as any one could expect under the circumstances,
+and for a moment I was so touched by her beauty and the unaffected charm
+of her manners that I forgot my errand and only thought of the pleasure
+of meeting a lady who fairly comes up to the standard one has secretly
+set for one's self. Of course she is much younger than I&mdash;some say she
+is only twenty-three; but a lady is a lady at any age, and Ella
+Althorpe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> might be a model for a much older woman than myself.</p>
+
+<p>The room in which we were seated was a large one, and though I could
+hear Mr. Stone's voice in the adjoining apartment, I did not fear to
+broach the subject I had come to discuss.</p>
+
+<p>"You may think this intrusion an odd one," I began, "but I believe you
+advertised a few days ago for a young lady-companion. Have you been
+suited, Miss Althorpe?"</p>
+
+<p>"O yes; I have a young person with me whom I like very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you are supplied! Is she any one you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, she is a stranger, and what is more, she brought no recommendations
+with her. But her appearance is so attractive and her desire for the
+place was so great, that I consented to try her. And she is very
+satisfactory, poor girl! very satisfactory indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>Ah, here was an opportunity for questions. Without showing too much
+eagerness and yet with a proper show of interest, I smilingly remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"No one can be called poor long who remains under your roof, Miss
+Althorpe. But perhaps she has lost friends; so many nice girls are
+thrown upon their own resources by the death of relatives?"</p>
+
+<p>"She does not wear mourning; but she is in some great trouble for all
+that. But this cannot interest you, Miss Butterworth; have you some
+<i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;</i> whom you wished to recommend for the position?"</p>
+
+<p>I heard her, but did not answer at once. In fact, I was thinking how to
+proceed. Should I take her into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> my confidence, or should I continue in
+the ambiguous manner in which I had begun. Seeing her smile, I became
+conscious of the awkward silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said I, resuming my best manner, "but there is something I
+want to say which may strike you as peculiar."</p>
+
+<p>"O no," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>am</i> interested in the girl you have befriended, and for very
+different reasons from those you suppose. I fear&mdash;I have great reason to
+fear&mdash;that she is not just the person you would like to harbor under
+your roof."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Why, what do you know about her? Anything bad, Miss
+Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head, and prayed her first to tell me how the girl looked and
+under what circumstances she came to her; for I was desirous of making
+no mistake concerning her identity with the person of whom I was in
+search.</p>
+
+<p>"She is a sweet-looking girl," was the answer I received; "not
+beautiful, but interesting in expression and manner. She has brown
+hair,"&mdash;I shuddered,&mdash;"brown eyes, and a mouth that would be lovely if
+it ever smiled. In fact, she is very attractive and so lady-like that I
+have desired to make a companion of her. But while attentive to all her
+duties, and manifestly grateful to me for the home I have given her, she
+shows so little desire for company or conversation that I have desisted
+for the last day or so from urging her to speak at all. But you asked me
+under what circumstances she came to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, on what day, and at what time of day? Was she dressed well, or did
+her clothes look shabby?"</p>
+
+<p>"She came on the very day I advertised; the eighteenth&mdash;yes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> it was the
+eighteenth of this month; and she was dressed, so far as I noticed, very
+neatly. Indeed, her clothes appeared to be new. They needed to have
+been, for she brought nothing with her save what was contained in a
+small hand-bag."</p>
+
+<p>"Also new?" I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely; I did not observe."</p>
+
+<p>"O Miss Althorpe!" I exclaimed, this time with considerable vehemence,
+"I fear, or rather I hope, she is the woman I want."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> want!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, <i>I</i>; but I cannot tell you for what just yet. I must be sure, for
+I would not subject an innocent person to suspicion any more than you
+would."</p>
+
+<p>"Suspicion! She is not honest, then? That would worry me, Miss
+Butterworth, for the house is full now, as you know, of wedding
+presents, and&mdash;But I cannot believe such a thing of <i>her</i>. It is some
+other fault she has, less despicable and degrading."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say she has any faults; I only said I feared. What name does
+she go by?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oliver; Ruth Oliver."</p>
+
+<p>Again I thought of the O. R. on the clothes at the laundry.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could see her," I ventured. "I would give anything for a peep
+at her face unobserved."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how I can manage <i>that</i>; she is very shy, and never shows
+herself in the front of the house. She even dines in her own room,
+having begged for that privilege till after I was married and the
+household settled on a new basis. But you can go to her room with me. If
+she is all right, she can have no objection to a visitor; and if she is
+<i>not</i>, it would be well for me to know it at once."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," said I, and rose to follow her, turning over in my mind how
+I should account to this young woman for my intrusion. I had just
+arrived at what I considered a sensible conclusion, when Miss Althorpe,
+leaning towards me, said with a whole-souled impetuosity for which I
+could not but admire her:</p>
+
+<p>"The girl is very nervous, she looks and acts like a person who has had
+some frightful shock. Don't alarm her, Miss Butterworth, and don't
+accuse her of anything wrong too suddenly. Perhaps she is innocent, and
+perhaps if she is not innocent, she has been driven into evil by very
+great temptations. I am sorry for her, whether she is simply unhappy or
+deeply remorseful. For I never saw a sweeter face, or eyes with such
+boundless depths of misery in them."</p>
+
+<p>Just what Mrs. Desberger had said! Strange, but I began to feel a
+certain sort of sympathy for the wretched being I was hunting down.</p>
+
+<p>"I will be careful," said I. "I merely want to satisfy myself that she
+is the same girl I heard of last from a Mrs. Desberger."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe, who was now half-way up the rich staircase which makes
+her house one of the most remarkable in the city, turned and gave me a
+quick look over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know Mrs. Desberger," she remarked.</p>
+
+<p>At which I smiled. Did she think Mrs. Desberger in society?</p>
+
+<p>At the end of an upper passage-way we paused.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the door," whispered Miss Althorpe. "Perhaps I had better go in
+first and see if she is at all prepared for company."</p>
+
+<p>I was glad to have her do so, for I felt as if I needed to prepare
+myself for encountering this young girl,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> over whom, in my mind, hung
+the dreadful suspicion of murder.</p>
+
+<p>But the time between Miss Althorpe's knock and her entrance, short as it
+was, was longer than that which elapsed between her going in and her
+hasty reappearance.</p>
+
+<p>"You can have your wish," said she. "She is lying on her bed asleep, and
+you can see her without being observed. But," she entreated, with a
+passionate grip of my arm, which proclaimed her warm nature, "doesn't it
+seem a little like taking advantage of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Circumstances justify it in this case," I replied, admiring the
+consideration of my hostess, but not thinking it worth while to emulate
+it. And with very little ceremony I pushed open the door and entered the
+room of the so-called Ruth Oliver.</p>
+
+<p>The hush and quiet which met me, though nothing more than I had reason
+to expect, gave me my first shock, and the young figure outstretched on
+a bed of dainty whiteness, my second. Everything about me was so
+peaceful, and the delicate blue and white of the room so expressive of
+innocence and repose, that my feet instinctively moved more softly over
+the polished floor and paused, when they did pause, before that dimly
+shrouded bed, with something like hesitation in their usually emphatic
+tread.</p>
+
+<p>The face of that bed's occupant, which I could now plainly see, may have
+had an influence in producing this effect. It was so rounded with
+health, and yet so haggard with trouble. Not knowing whether Miss
+Althorpe was behind me or not, but too intent upon the sleeping girl to
+care, I bent over the half-averted features and studied them carefully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were indeed Madonna-like, something which I had not expected,
+notwithstanding the assurances I had received to that effect, and while
+distorted with suffering, amply accounted for the interest shown in her
+by the good-hearted Mrs. Desberger and the cultured Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>Resenting this beauty, which so poorly accommodated itself to the
+character of the woman who possessed it, I leaned nearer, searching for
+some defect in her loveliness, when I saw that the struggle and anguish
+visible in her expression were due to some dream she was having.</p>
+
+<p>Moved, even against my will, by the touching sight of her trembling
+eyelids and working mouth, I was about to wake her when I was stopped by
+the gentle touch of Miss Althorpe on my shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she the girl you are looking for?"</p>
+
+<p>I gave one quick glance around the room, and my eyes lighted on the
+little blue pin-cushion on the satin-wood bureau.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you put those pins there?" I asked, pointing to a dozen or more
+black pins grouped in one corner.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> did not, no; and I doubt if Crescenze did. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>I drew a small black pin from my belt where I had securely fastened it,
+and carrying it over to the cushion, compared it with those I saw. They
+were identical.</p>
+
+<p>"A small matter," I inwardly decided, "but it points in the right
+direction"; then, in answer to Miss Althorpe, added aloud: "I fear she
+is. At least I have seen no reason yet for doubting it. But I must make
+sure. Will you allow me to wake her?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"O it seems cruel! She is suffering enough already. See how she twists
+and turns!"</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a mercy, it seems to me, to rouse her from dreams so full of
+pain and trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, but I will leave you alone to do it. What will you say to her?
+How account for your intrusion?"</p>
+
+<p>"O I will find means, and they won't be too cruel either. You had better
+stand back by the bureau and listen. I think I had rather not have the
+responsibility of doing this thing alone."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe, not understanding my hesitation, and only half
+comprehending my errand, gave me a doubtful look but retreated to the
+spot I had mentioned, and whether it was the rustle of her silk dress or
+whether the dream of the girl we were watching had reached its climax, a
+momentary stir took place in the outstretched form before me, and next
+moment she was flinging up her hands with a cry.</p>
+
+<p>"O how can I touch her! She is dead, and I have never touched a dead
+body."</p>
+
+<p>I fell back breathing hard, and Miss Althorpe's eyes, meeting mine, grew
+dark with horror. Indeed she was about to utter a cry herself, but I
+made an imperative motion, and she merely shrank farther away towards
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime I had bent forward and laid my hand on the trembling figure
+before me.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Oliver," I said, "rouse yourself, I pray. I have a message for you
+from Mrs. Desberger."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her head, looked at me like a person in a daze, then slowly
+moved and sat up.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" she asked, surveying me and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> space about her with
+eyes which seemed to take in nothing till they lit upon Miss Althorpe's
+figure standing in an attitude of mingled shame and sympathy by the
+half-open door.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Althorpe!" she entreated, "I pray you to excuse me. I did not
+know you wanted me. I have been asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"It is this lady who wants you," answered Miss Althorpe. "She is a
+friend of mine and one in whom you can confide."</p>
+
+<p>"Confide!" This was a word to rouse her. She turned livid, and in her
+eyes as she looked my way both terror and surprise were visible. "Why
+should you think I had anything to confide? If I had, I should not pass
+by you, Miss Althorpe, for another."</p>
+
+<p>There were tears in her voice, and I had to remember the victim just
+laid away in Woodlawn, not to bestow much more compassion on this woman
+than she rightfully deserved. She had a magnetic voice and a magnetic
+presence, but that was no reason why I should forget what she had done.</p>
+
+<p>"No one asks for your confidence," I protested, "though it might not
+hurt you to accept a friend whenever you can get one. I merely wish, as
+I said before, to give you a message from Mrs. Desberger, under whose
+roof you stayed before coming here."</p>
+
+<p>"I am obliged to you," she responded, rising to her feet, and trembling
+very much. "Mrs. Desberger is a kind woman; what does she want of me?"</p>
+
+<p>So I was on the right track; she acknowledged Mrs. Desberger.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but to return you this. It fell out of your pocket while you
+were dressing." And I handed her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> the little red pin-cushion I had taken
+from the Van Burnams' front room.</p>
+
+<p>She looked at it, shrunk violently back, and with difficulty prevented
+herself from showing the full depth of her feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about it. It is not mine, I don't know it!" And
+her hair stirred on her forehead as she gazed at the small object lying
+in the palm of my hand, proving to me that she saw again before her all
+the horrors of the house from which it had been taken.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are <i>you</i>?" she suddenly demanded, tearing her eyes from this
+simple little cushion and fixing them wildly on my face. "Mrs. Desberger
+never sent me this. I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You are right to stop there," I interposed, and then paused, feeling
+that I had forced a situation which I hardly knew how to handle.</p>
+
+<p>The instant's pause she had given herself seemed to restore her
+self-possession. Leaving me, she moved towards Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who this lady is," said she, "or what her errand here with
+me may mean. But I hope that it is nothing that will force me to leave
+this house which is my only refuge."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe, too greatly prejudiced in favor of this girl to hear this
+appeal unmoved, notwithstanding the show of guilt with which she had met
+my attack, smiled faintly as she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing short of the best reasons would make me part from you now. If
+there are such reasons, you will spare me the pain of making use of
+them. I think I can so far trust you, Miss Oliver."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No answer; the young girl looked as if she could not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there any reasons why I should not retain you in my house, Miss
+Oliver?" the gentle mistress of many millions went on. "If there are,
+you will not wish to stay, I know, when you consider how near my
+marriage day is, and how undisturbed my mind should be by any cares
+unattending my wedding."</p>
+
+<p>And still the girl was silent, though her lips moved slightly as if she
+would have spoken if she could.</p>
+
+<p>"But perhaps you are only unfortunate," suggested Miss Althorpe, with an
+almost angelic look of pity&mdash;I don't often see angels in women. "If that
+is so, God forbid that you should leave my protection or my house. What
+do you say, Miss Oliver?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you are God's messenger to me," burst from the other, as if her
+tongue had been suddenly loosed. "That misfortune, and not wickedness,
+has driven me to your doors; and that there is no reason why I should
+leave you unless my secret sufferings make my presence unwelcome to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Was this the talk of a frivolous woman caught unawares in the meshes of
+a fearful crime? If so, she was a more accomplished actress than we had
+been led to expect even from her own words to her disgusted husband.</p>
+
+<p>"You look like one accustomed to tell the truth," proceeded Miss
+Althorpe. "Do you not think you have made some mistake, Miss
+Butterworth?" she asked, approaching me with an ingenuous smile.</p>
+
+<p>I had forgotten to caution her not to make use of my name, and when it
+fell from her lips I looked to see her unhappy companion recoil from me
+with a scream.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But strange to say she evinced no emotion, and seeing this, I became
+more distrustful of her than ever; for, for her to hear without apparent
+interest the name of the chief witness in the inquest which had been
+held over the remains of the woman with whose death she had been more or
+less intimately concerned, argued powers of duplicity such as are only
+associated with guilt or an extreme simplicity of character. And she was
+not simple, as the least glance from her deep eyes amply showed.</p>
+
+<p>Recognizing, therefore, that open measures would not do with this woman,
+I changed my manner at once, and responding to Miss Althorpe, with a
+gracious smile, remarked with an air of sudden conviction:</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I have made some mistake. Miss Oliver's words sound very
+ingenuous, and I am disposed, if you are, to take her at her word. It is
+so easy to draw false conclusions in this world." And I put back the
+pin-cushion into my pocket with an air of being through with the matter,
+which seemed to impose upon the young woman, for she smiled faintly,
+showing a row of splendid teeth as she did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me apologize," I went on, "if I have intruded upon Miss Oliver
+against her wishes." And with one comprehensive look about the room
+which took in all that was visible of her simple wardrobe and humble
+belongings, I led the way out. Miss Althorpe immediately followed.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a much more serious affair than I have led you to suppose," I
+confided to her as soon as we were at a suitable distance from Miss
+Oliver's door. "If she is the person I think her, she is amenable to
+law, and the police will have to be notified of her whereabouts."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She <i>has</i> stolen, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Her fault is a very grave one," I returned.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe, deeply troubled, looked about her as if for guidance. I,
+who could have given it to her, made no movement to attract her
+attention to myself, but waited calmly for her own decision in this
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would let me consult Mr. Stone," she ventured at last. "I
+think his judgment might help us."</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather take no one into our confidence,&mdash;especially no man. He
+would consider your welfare only and not hers."</p>
+
+<p>I did not consider myself obliged to acknowledge that the work upon
+which I was engaged could not be shared by one of the male sex without
+lessening my triumph over Mr. Gryce.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stone is very just," she remarked, "but he might be biased in a
+matter of this kind. What way do you see out of the difficulty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only this. To settle at once and unmistakably, whether she is the
+person who carried certain articles from the house of a friend of mine.
+If she is, there will be some evidence of the fact visible in her room
+or on her person. She has not been out, I believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not since she came into the house."</p>
+
+<p>"And has remained for the most part in her own apartment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Always, except when I have summoned her to my assistance."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what I want to know I can learn there. But how can I make my
+investigations without offence?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want to know, Miss Butterworth?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Whether she has in her keeping some half dozen rings of considerable
+value."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! she could conceal rings so easily."</p>
+
+<p>"She does conceal them; I have no more doubt of it than I have of my
+standing here; but I must know it before I shall feel ready to call the
+attention of the police to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we should both know it. Poor girl! poor girl! to be suspected of a
+crime! How great must have been her temptation!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> can manage this matter, Miss Althorpe, if you will entrust it to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"How, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"The girl is ill; let me take care of her."</p>
+
+<p>"Really ill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, or will be so before morning. There is fever in her veins; she has
+worried herself ill. Oh, I will be good to her."</p>
+
+<p>This in answer to a doubtful look from Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a difficult problem you have set me," that lady remarked after
+a moment's thought. "But anything seems better than sending her away, or
+sending for the police. But do you suppose she will allow you in her
+room?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so; if her fever increases she will not notice much that goes
+on about her, and I think it will increase; I have seen enough of
+sickness to be something of a judge."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will search her while she is unconscious?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't look so horrified, Miss Althorpe. I have promised you I will not
+worry her. She may need<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> assistance in getting to bed. While I am giving
+it to her I can judge if there is anything concealed upon her person."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"At all events, we shall know more than we do now. Shall I venture, Miss
+Althorpe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say no," was the hesitating answer; "you seem so very much in
+earnest."</p>
+
+<p>"And I am in earnest. I have reasons for being; consideration for you is
+one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not doubt it. And now will you come down to supper, Miss
+Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," I replied. "My duty is here. Only send word to Lena that she is to
+drive home and take care of my house in my absence. I shall want
+nothing, so do not worry about me. Join your lover now, dear; and do not
+bestow another thought upon this self-styled Miss Oliver or what I am
+about to do in her room."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A HOUSE OF CARDS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I did not return immediately to my patient. I waited till her supper
+came up. Then I took the tray, and assured by the face of the girl who
+brought it that Miss Althorpe had explained my presence in her house
+sufficiently for me to feel at my ease before her servants, I carried in
+the dainty repast she had provided and set it down on the table.</p>
+
+<p>The poor woman was standing where we had left her; but her whole figure
+showed languor, and she more than leaned against the bedpost behind her.
+As I looked up from the tray and met her eyes, she shuddered and seemed
+to be endeavoring to understand who I was and what I was doing in her
+room. My premonitions in regard to her were well based. She was in a
+raging fever, and was already more than half oblivious to her
+surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching her, I spoke as gently as I could, for her hapless condition
+appealed to me in spite of my well founded prejudices against her; and
+seeing she was growing incapable of response, I drew her up on the bed
+and began to undress her.</p>
+
+<p>I half expected her to recoil at this, or at least to make some show of
+alarm, but she submitted to my ministrations almost gratefully, and
+neither shrank nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> questioned me till I laid my hands upon her shoes.
+Then indeed she quivered, and drew her feet away with such an appearance
+of terror that I was forced to desist from my efforts or drive her into
+violent delirium.</p>
+
+<p>This satisfied me that Louise Van Burnam lay before me. The scar
+concerning which so much had been said in the papers would be ever
+present in the thoughts of this woman as the tell-tale mark by which she
+might be known, and though at this moment she was on the borders of
+unconsciousness, the instinct of self-preservation still remained in
+sufficient force to prompt her to make this effort to protect herself
+from discovery.</p>
+
+<p>I had told Miss Althorpe that my chief reason for intruding upon Miss
+Oliver, was to determine if she had in her possession certain rings
+supposed to have been taken from a friend of mine; and while this was in
+a measure true&mdash;the rings being an important factor in the proof I was
+accumulating against her,&mdash;I was not so anxious to search for them at
+this time as to find the scar which would settle at once the question of
+her identity.</p>
+
+<p>When she drew her foot away from me then, so violently, I saw that I
+needed to search no farther for the evidence required, and could give
+myself up to making her comfortable. So I bathed her temples, now
+throbbing with heat, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing her fall
+into a deep and uneasy slumber. Then I tried again to draw off her
+shoes, but the start she gave and the smothered cry which escaped her
+warned me that I must wait yet longer before satisfying my curiosity; so
+I desisted at once, and out of pure compassion left her to get what good
+she might from the lethargy into which she had fallen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Being hungry, or at least feeling the necessity of some slight aliment
+to help me sustain the fatigues of the night, I sat down now at the
+table and partook of some of the dainties with which Miss Althorpe had
+kindly provided me. After which I made out a list of such articles as
+were necessary to my proper care of the patient who had so strangely
+fallen into my hands, and then, feeling that I had a right at last to
+indulge in pure curiosity, I turned my attention to the clothing I had
+taken from the self-styled Miss Oliver.</p>
+
+<p>The dress was a simple gray one, and the skirts and underclothing all
+white. But the latter was of the finest texture, and convinced me,
+before I had given them more than a glance, that they were the property
+of Howard Van Burnam's wife. For, besides the exquisite quality of the
+material, there were to be seen, on the edges of the bands and sleeves,
+the marks of stitches and clinging threads of lace, where the trimming
+had been torn off, and in one article especially, there were tucks such
+as you see come from the hands of French needlewomen only.</p>
+
+<p>This, taken with what had gone before, was proof enough to satisfy me
+that I was on the right track, and after Crescenze had come and gone
+with the tray and all was quiet in this remote part of the house, I
+ventured to open a closet door at the foot of the bed. A brown silk
+skirt was hanging within, and in the pocket of that skirt I found a
+purse so gay and costly that all doubt vanished as to its being the
+property of Howard's luxurious wife.</p>
+
+<p>There were several bills in this purse, amounting to about fifteen
+dollars in money, but no change and no memoranda, which latter seemed a
+pity. Restoring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> the purse to its place and the skirt to its peg, I came
+softly back to the bedside and examined my patient still more carefully
+than I had done before. She was asleep and breathing heavily, but even
+with this disadvantage her face had its own attraction, an attraction
+which evidently had more or less influenced men, and which, for the
+reason perhaps that I have something masculine in my nature, I
+discovered to be more or less influencing me, notwithstanding my hatred
+of an intriguing character.</p>
+
+<p>However, it was not her beauty I came to study, but her hair, her
+complexion, and her hands. The former was brown, the brown of that same
+lock I remembered to have seen in the jury's hands at the inquest; and
+her skin, where fever had not flushed it, was white and smooth. So were
+her hands, and yet they were not a lady's hands. That I noticed when I
+first saw her. The marks of the rings she no longer wore, were not
+enough to blind me to the fact that her fingers lacked the distinctive
+shape and nicety of Miss Althorpe's, say, or even of the Misses Van
+Burnam; and though I do not object to this, for I like strong-looking,
+capable hands myself, they served to help me understand the face, which
+otherwise would have looked too spiritual for a woman of the peevish and
+self-satisfied character of Louise Van Burnam. On this innocent and
+appealing expression she had traded in her short and none too happy
+career. And as I noted it, I recalled a sentence in Miss Ferguson's
+testimony, in which she alluded to Mrs. Van Burnam's confidential remark
+to her husband upon the power she exercised over people when she raised
+her eyes in entreaty towards them. "Am I not pretty," she had said,
+"when I am in distress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> and looking up in this way?" It was the
+suggestion of a scheming woman, but from what I had seen and was seeing
+of the woman before me, I could imagine the picture she would thus make,
+and I do not think she overrated its effects.</p>
+
+<p>Withdrawing from her side once more, I made a tour of the room. Nothing
+escaped my eyes; nothing was too small to engage my attention. But while
+I failed to see anything calculated to shake my confidence in the
+conclusions I had come to, I saw but little to confirm them. This was
+not strange; for, apart from a few toilet articles and some
+knitting-work on a shelf, she appeared to have no belongings; everything
+else in sight being manifestly the property of Miss Althorpe. Even the
+bureau drawers were empty, and her bag, found under a small table, had
+not so much in it as a hair-pin, though I searched it inside and out for
+her rings, which I was positive she had with her, even if she dared not
+wear them.</p>
+
+<p>When every spot was exhausted I sat down and began to brood over what
+lay before this poor being, whose flight and the great efforts she made
+at concealment proved only too conclusively the fatal part she had
+played in the crime for which her husband had been arrested. I had
+reached her arraignment before a magistrate, and was already imagining
+her face with the appeal in it which such an occasion would call forth,
+when there came a low knock at the door, and Miss Althorpe re-entered.</p>
+
+<p>She had just said good-night to her lover, and her face recalled to me a
+time when my own cheek was round and my eye was bright and&mdash;Well! what
+is the use of dwelling on matters so long buried in oblivion!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> A
+maiden-woman, as independent as myself, need not envy any girl the
+doubtful blessing of a husband. I chose to be independent, and I am, and
+what more is there to be said about it? Pardon the digression.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Oliver any better?" asked Miss Althorpe; "and have you
+found&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I put up my finger in warning. Of all things, it was most necessary that
+the sick woman should not know my real reason for being there.</p>
+
+<p>"She is asleep," I answered quietly, "and I <i>think</i> I have found out
+what is the matter with her."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe seemed to understand. She cast a look of solicitude
+towards the bed and then turned towards me.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot rest," said she, "and will sit with you for a little while, if
+you don't mind."</p>
+
+<p>I felt the implied compliment keenly.</p>
+
+<p>"You can do me no greater favor," I returned.</p>
+
+<p>She drew up an easy-chair. "That is for you," she smiled, and sat down
+in a little low rocker at my side.</p>
+
+<p>But she did not talk. Her thoughts seemed to have recurred to some very
+near and sweet memory, for she smiled softly to herself and looked so
+deeply happy that I could not resist saying:</p>
+
+<p>"These are delightful days for you, Miss Althorpe."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed softly&mdash;how much a sigh can reveal!&mdash;and looked up at me
+brightly. I think she was glad I spoke. Even such reserved natures as
+hers have their moments of weakness, and she had no mother or sister to
+appeal to.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied, "I am very happy; happier than most girls are, I
+think, just before marriage. It is such a revelation to me&mdash;this
+devotion and admiration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> from one I love. I have had so little of it in
+my life. My father&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She stopped; I knew why she stopped. I gave her a look of encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>"People have always been anxious for my happiness, and have warned me
+against matrimony since I was old enough to know the difference between
+poverty and wealth. Before I was out of short dresses I was warned
+against fortune-seekers. It was not good advice; it has stood in the way
+of my happiness all my life, made me distrustful and unnaturally
+reserved. But now&mdash;ah, Miss Butterworth, Mr. Stone is so estimable a
+man, so brilliant and so universally admired, that all my doubts of
+manly worth and disinterestedness have disappeared as if by magic. I
+trust him implicitly, and&mdash;Do I talk too freely? Do you object to such
+confidences as these?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary," I answered. I liked Miss Althorpe so much and agreed
+with her so thoroughly in her opinion of this man, that it was a real
+pleasure to me to hear her speak so unreservedly.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not a foolish couple," she went on, warming with the charm of
+her topic till she looked beautiful in the half light thrown upon her by
+the shaded lamp. "We are interested in people and things, and get half
+our delight from the perfect congeniality of our natures. Mr. Stone has
+given up his club and all his bachelor pursuits since he knew me,
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>O love, if at any time in my life I have despised thee, I did not
+despise thee then! The look with which she finished this sentence would
+have moved a cynic.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," she prayed. "It is the first time I have poured out my
+heart to any one of my own sex.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> It must sound strange to you, but it
+seemed natural while I was doing it, for you looked as if you could
+understand."</p>
+
+<p>This to me, to <i>me</i>, Amelia Butterworth, of whom men have said I had no
+more sentiment than a wooden image. I looked my appreciation, and she,
+blushing slightly, whispered in a delicious tone of mingled shyness and
+pride:</p>
+
+<p>"Only two weeks now, and I shall have some one to stand between me and
+the world. <i>You</i> have never needed any one, Miss Butterworth, for you do
+not fear the world, but it awes and troubles me, and my whole heart
+glows with the thought that I shall be no longer alone in my sorrows or
+my joys, my perplexities or my doubts. Am I to blame for anticipating
+this with so much happiness?"</p>
+
+<p>I sighed. It was a less eloquent sigh than hers, but it was a distinct
+one and it had a distinct echo. Lifting my eyes, for I sat so as to face
+the bed, I was startled to observe my patient leaning towards us from
+her pillows, and staring upon us with eyes too hollow for tears but
+filled with unfathomable grief and yearning.</p>
+
+<p>She had heard this talk of love, she, the forsaken and crime-stained
+one. I shuddered and laid my hand on Miss Althorpe's.</p>
+
+<p>But I did not seek to stop the conversation, for as our looks met, the
+sick woman fell back and lapsed, or seemed to lapse, into immediate
+insensibility again.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Oliver worse?" inquired Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>I rose and went to the bedside, renewed the bandages on my patient's
+head, and forced a drop or two of medicine between her half-shut lips.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I returned, "I think her fever is abating."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> And it was, though
+the suffering on her face was yet heart-rendingly apparent.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she asleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"She seems to be."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe made an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to talk any more about myself." Then as I came back and
+sat down by her side, she quietly asked:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of the Van Burnam murder?"</p>
+
+<p>Dismayed at the introduction of this topic, I was about to put my hand
+over her mouth, when I noticed that her words had made no evident
+impression upon my patient, who lay quietly and with a more composed
+expression than when I left her bedside. This assured me, as nothing
+else could have done, that she was really asleep, or in that lethargic
+state which closes the eyes and ears to what is going on.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said I, "that the young man Howard stands in a very
+unfortunate position. Circumstances certainly do look very black against
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"It is dreadful, unprecedently dreadful. I do not know what to think of
+it all. The Van Burnams have borne so good a name, and Franklin
+especially is held in such high esteem. I don't think anything more
+shocking has ever happened in this city, do you, Miss Butterworth? You
+saw it all, and should know. Poor, poor Mrs. Van Burnam!"</p>
+
+<p>"She is to be pitied!" I remarked, my eyes fixed on the immovable face
+of my patient.</p>
+
+<p>"When I heard that a young woman had been found dead in the Van Burnam
+mansion," Miss Althorpe pursued with such evident interest in this new
+theme that I did not care to interrupt her unless driven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> to it by some
+token of consciousness on the part of my patient, "my thoughts flew
+instinctively to Howard's wife. Though why, I cannot say, for I never
+had any reason to expect so tragic a termination to their marriage
+relations. And I cannot believe now that he killed her, can you, Miss
+Butterworth? Howard has too much of the gentleman in him to do a brutal
+thing, and there was brutality as well as adroitness in the perpetration
+of this crime. Have you thought of that, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I nodded, "I have looked at the crime on all sides."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stone," said she, "feels dreadfully over the part he was forced to
+play at the inquest. But he had no choice, the police would have his
+testimony."</p>
+
+<p>"That was right," I declared.</p>
+
+<p>"It has made us doubly anxious to have Howard free himself. But he does
+not seem able to do so. If his wife had only known&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Was there a quiver in the lids I was watching? I half raised my hand and
+then I let it drop again, convinced that I had been mistaken. Miss
+Althorpe at once continued:</p>
+
+<p>"She was not a bad-hearted woman, only vain and frivolous. She had set
+her heart on ruling in the great leather-merchant's house, and she did
+not know how to bear her disappointment. I have sympathy for her myself.
+When I saw her&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Saw her! I started, upsetting a small work-basket at my side which for
+once I did not stop to pick up.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen her!" I repeated, dropping my eyes from the patient to
+fix them in my unbounded astonishment on Miss Althorpe's face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, more than once. She was&mdash;if she were living I would not repeat
+this&mdash;a nursery governess in a family where I once visited. That was
+before her marriage; before she had met either Howard or Franklin Van
+Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>I was so overwhelmed, that for once I found difficulty in speaking. I
+glanced from her to the white form in the shrouded bed, and back again
+in ever-growing astonishment and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen her!" I at last reiterated in what I meant to be a
+whisper, but which fell little short of being a cry, "and you took in
+this girl?"</p>
+
+<p>Her surprise at this burst was almost equal to mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, why not; what have they in common?"</p>
+
+<p>I sank back, my house of cards was trembling to its foundations.</p>
+
+<p>"Do they&mdash;do they not look alike?" I gasped. "I thought&mdash;I imagined&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Louise Van Burnam look like that girl! O no, they were very different
+sort of women. What made you think there was any resemblance between
+them?"</p>
+
+<p>I did not answer her; the structure I had reared with such care and
+circumspection had fallen about my ears and I lay gasping under the
+ruins.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THE RINGS! WHERE ARE THE RINGS?"</h3>
+
+
+<p>Had Mr. Gryce been present, I would have instantly triumphed over my
+disappointment, bottled up my chagrin, and been the inscrutable Amelia
+Butterworth before he could say, "Something has gone wrong with this
+woman!" But Mr. Gryce was not present, and though I did not betray the
+half I felt. I yet showed enough emotion for Miss Althorpe to remark:</p>
+
+<p>"You seemed surprised by what I have told you. Has any one said that
+these two women were alike?"</p>
+
+<p>Having to speak, I became myself again in a trice, and nodded
+vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Some one was so foolish," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Althorpe looked thoughtful. While she was interested she was not so
+interested as to take the subject in fully. Her own concerns made her
+abstracted, and I was very glad of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Louise Van Burnam had a sharp chin and a very cold blue eye. Yet her
+face was a fascinating one to some."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it was a dreadful tragedy!" I observed, and tried to turn the
+subject aside, which fortunately I was able to do after a short effort.</p>
+
+<p>Then I picked the basket up, and perceiving the sick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> woman's lips
+faintly moving, I went over to her and found her murmuring to herself.</p>
+
+<p>As Miss Althorpe had risen when I did, I did not dare to listen to these
+murmurs, but when my charming hostess had bidden me good-night, with
+many injunctions not to tire myself, and to be sure and remember that a
+decanter and a plate of biscuits stood on a table outside, I hastened
+back to the bedside, and leaning over my patient, endeavored to catch
+the words as they fell from her lips.</p>
+
+<p>As they were simple and but the echo of those running at that very
+moment through my own brain, I had no difficulty in distinguishing them.</p>
+
+<p>"Van Burnam!" she was saying, "Van Burnam!" varied by a short "Howard!"
+and once by a doubtful "Franklin!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," thought I, with a sudden reaction, "she is the woman I seek, if
+she is not Louise Van Burnam." And unheeding the start she gave, I
+pulled off the blanket I had spread over her, and willy-nilly drew off
+her left shoe and stocking.</p>
+
+<p>Her bare ankle showed no scar, and covering it quickly up I took up her
+shoe. Immediately the trepidation she had shown at the approach of a
+stranger's hand towards that article of clothing was explained. In the
+lining around the top were sewn bills of no ordinary amount, and as the
+other shoe was probably used as a like depository, she naturally felt
+concern at any approach which might lead to a discovery of her little
+fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Amazed at a mystery possessing so many points of interest, I tucked the
+shoe in under the bedclothes and sat down to review the situation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The mistake I had made was in concluding that because the fugitive whose
+traces I had followed had worn the clothes of Louise Van Burnam, she
+must necessarily be that unfortunate lady. Now I saw that the murdered
+woman was Howard's wife after all, and this patient of mine her probable
+rival.</p>
+
+<p>But this necessitated an entire change in my whole line of reasoning. If
+the rival and not the wife lay before me, then which of the two
+accompanied him to the scene of tragedy? He had said it was his wife; I
+had proven to myself that it was the rival; was he right, or was I
+right, or were neither of us right?</p>
+
+<p>Not being able to decide, I fixed my mind upon another query. When did
+the two women exchange clothes, or rather, when did this woman procure
+the silk habiliments and elaborate adornments of her more opulent rival?
+Was it before either of them entered Mr. Van Burnam's house? Or was it
+after their encounter there?</p>
+
+<p>Running over in my mind certain little facts of which I had hitherto
+attempted no explanation, I grouped them together and sought amongst
+them for inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>These are the facts:</p>
+
+<p>1. One of the garments found on the murdered woman had been torn down
+the back. As it was a new one, it had evidently been subjected to some
+quick strain, not explainable by any appearance of struggle.</p>
+
+<p>2. The shoes and stockings found on the victim were the only articles
+she wore which could not be traced back to Altman's. In the re-dressing
+of the so-called Mrs. James Pope, these articles had not been changed.
+Could not that fact be explained by the presence of a considerable sum
+of money in her shoes?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>3. The going out bareheaded of a fugitive, anxious to avoid observation,
+leaving hat and gloves behind her in a dining-room closet.</p>
+
+<p>I had endeavored to explain this last anomalous action by her fear of
+being traced by so conspicuous an article as this hat; but it was not a
+satisfactory explanation to me then and much less so now.</p>
+
+<p>4. And last, and most vital of all, the words which I had heard fall
+from this half-conscious girl: "<i>O how can I touch her! She is dead, and
+I have never touched a dead body!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Could inspiration fail me before such a list? Was it not evident that
+the change had been made after death, and by this seemingly sensitive
+girl's own hands?</p>
+
+<p>It was a horrible thought and led to others more horrible. For the very
+commission of such a revolting act argued a desire for concealment only
+to be explained by great guilt. She had been the offender and the wife
+the victim; and Howard&mdash;Well, his actions continued to be a mystery, but
+I would not admit his guilt even now. On the contrary, I saw his
+innocence in a still stronger light. For if he had openly or even
+covertly connived at his wife's death, would he have so immediately
+forsaken the accomplice of his guilt, to say nothing of leaving to her
+the dreadful task of concealing the crime? No, I would rather think that
+the tragedy took place after his departure, and that his action in
+denying his wife's identity, as long as it was possible to do so, was to
+be explained by the fact of his ignorance in regard to his wife's
+presence in the house where he had supposed himself to have simply left
+her rival. As the exchange made in the clothing worn by the two women
+could only have taken place later, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> as he naturally judged the
+victim by her clothing, perhaps he was really deceived himself as to her
+identity. It was certainly not an improbable supposition, and accounted
+for much that was otherwise inexplicable in Mr. Van Burnam's conduct.</p>
+
+<p>But the rings? Why could I not find the rings? If my present reasoning
+were correct, this woman should have those evidences of guilt about her.
+But had I not searched for them in every available place without
+success? Annoyed at my failure to fix this one irrefutable proof of
+guilt upon her, I took up the knitting-work I saw in Miss Oliver's
+basket, and began to ply the needles by way of relief to my thoughts.
+But I had no sooner got well under way than some movement on the part of
+my patient drew my attention again to the bed, and I was startled by
+beholding her sitting up again, but this time with a look of fear rather
+than of suffering on her features.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't!" she gasped, pointing with an unsteady hand at the work in my
+hand. "The click, click of the needles is more than I can stand. Put
+them down, pray; put them down!"</p>
+
+<p>Her agitation was so great and her nervousness so apparent that I
+complied at once. However much I might be affected by her guilt, I was
+not willing to do the slightest thing to worry her nerves even at the
+expense of my own. As the needles fell from my hand, she sank back and a
+quick, short sigh escaped her lips. Then she was again quiet, and I
+allowed my thoughts to return to the old theme. The rings! the rings!
+Where were the rings, and was it impossible for me to find them?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At seven o'clock the next morning my patient was resting so quietly that
+I considered it safe to leave her for a short time. So I informed Miss
+Althorpe that I was obliged to go down-town on an important errand, and
+requested Crescenze to watch over the sick girl in my absence. As she
+agreed to this, I left the house as soon as breakfast was over and went
+immediately in search of Mr. Gryce. I wished to make sure that he knew
+nothing about the rings.</p>
+
+<p>It was eleven o'clock before I succeeded in finding him. As I was
+certain that a direct question would bring no answer, I dissembled my
+real intention as much as my principles would allow, and accosted him
+with the eager look of one who has great news to impart.</p>
+
+<p>"O, Mr. Gryce!" I impetuously cried, just as if I were really the weak
+woman he thought me, "I have found something; something in connection
+with the Van Burnam murder. You know I promised to busy myself about it
+if you arrested Howard Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>His smile was tantalizing in the extreme. "Found something?" he
+repeated. "And may I ask if you have been so good as to bring it with
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>He was playing with me, this aged and reputable detective. I subdued my
+anger, subdued my indignation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> even, and smiling much in his own way,
+answered briefly:</p>
+
+<p>"I never carry valuables on my person. A half-dozen expensive rings
+stand for too much money for me to run any undue risk with them."</p>
+
+<p>He was caressing his watch-chain as I spoke, and I noticed that he
+paused in this action for just an infinitesimal length of time as I said
+the word rings. Then he went on as before, but I knew I had caught his
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what rings do you speak, madam? Of those missing from Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hands?"</p>
+
+<p>I took a leaf from his book, and allowed myself to indulge in a little
+banter.</p>
+
+<p>"O, no," I remonstrated, "not those rings, of course. The Queen of
+Siam's rings, any rings but those in which we are specially interested."</p>
+
+<p>This meeting him on his own ground evidently puzzled him.</p>
+
+<p>"You are facetious, madam. What am I to gather from such levity? That
+success has crowned your efforts, and that you have found a guiltier
+party than the one now in custody?"</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly," I returned, limiting my advance by his. "But it would be
+going too fast to mention that yet. What I want to know is whether <i>you</i>
+have found the rings belonging to Mrs. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>My triumphant tone, the almost mocking accent I purposely gave to the
+word <i>you</i>, accomplished its purpose. He never dreamed I was playing
+with him; he thought I was bursting with pride; and casting me a sharp
+glance (the first, by the way, I had received from him), he inquired
+with perceptible interest:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Have <i>you?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Instantly convinced that the whereabouts of these jewels was as little
+known to him as to me, I rose and prepared to leave. But seeing that he
+was not satisfied, and that he expected an answer, I assumed a
+mysterious air and quietly remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"If you will come to my house to-morrow I will explain myself. I am not
+prepared to more than intimate my discoveries to-day."</p>
+
+<p>But he was not the man to let one off so easily.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," said he, "but matters of this kind do not admit of delay.
+The grand jury sits within the week, and any evidence worth presenting
+them must be collected at once. I must ask you to be frank with me, Miss
+Butterworth."</p>
+
+<p>"And I will be, to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"To-day," he insisted, "to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that I should gain nothing by my present course, I reseated
+myself, bestowing upon him a decidedly ambiguous smile as I did so.</p>
+
+<p>"You acknowledge then," said I, "that the old maid can tell you
+something after all. I thought you regarded all my efforts in the light
+of a jest. What has made you change your mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I decline to bandy words. Have you found those rings, or have
+you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have <i>not</i>," said I, "but neither have you, and as that is what I
+wanted to make sure of, I will now take my leave without further
+ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce is not a profane man, but he allowed a word to slip from him
+which was not entirely one of blessing. He made amends for it next
+moment, however, by remarking:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I once said, as you will doubtless remember, that the day would
+come when I should find myself at your feet. That day has arrived. And
+now is there any other little cherished fact known to the police which
+you would like to have imparted to you?"</p>
+
+<p>I took his humiliation seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good," I rejoined, "but I will not trouble you for any
+<i>facts</i>,&mdash;<i>those</i> I am enabled to glean for myself; but what I should
+like you to tell me is this: Whether if you came upon those rings in the
+possession of a person known to have been on the scene of crime at the
+time of its perpetration, you would not consider them as an
+incontrovertible proof of guilt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly," said he, with a sudden alteration in his manner which
+warned me that I must muster up all my strength if I would keep my
+secret till I was quite ready to part with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said I, with a resolute movement towards the door, "that's the
+whole of my business for to-day. Good-morning, Mr. Gryce; to-morrow I
+shall expect you."</p>
+
+<p>He made me stop though my foot had crossed the threshold; not by word or
+look but simply by his fatherly manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Butterworth," he observed, "the suspicions which you have
+entertained from the first have within the last few days assumed a
+definite form. In what direction do they point?&mdash;tell me."</p>
+
+<p>Some men and most women would have yielded to that imperative <i>tell me</i>!
+But there was no yielding in Amelia Butterworth. Instead of that I
+treated him to a touch of irony.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible," I asked, "that you think it worth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> while to consult
+<i>me</i>? I thought your eyes were too keen to seek assistance from mine.
+You are as confident as I am that Howard Van Burnam is innocent of the
+crime for which you have arrested him."</p>
+
+<p>A look that was dangerously insinuating crossed his face at this. He
+came forward rapidly and, joining me where I stood, said smilingly:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us join forces, Miss Butterworth. You have from the first refused
+to consider the younger son of Silas Van Burnam as guilty. Your reasons
+then were slight and hardly worth communicating. Have you any better
+ones to advance now? It is not too late to mention them, if you have."</p>
+
+<p>"It will not be too late to-morrow," I retorted.</p>
+
+<p>Convinced that I was not to be moved from my position, he gave me one of
+his low bows.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot," said he, "that it was as a rival and not as a coadjutor you
+meddled in this matter." And he bowed again, this time with a sarcastic
+air I felt too self-satisfied to resent.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow, then?" said I.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>At that I left him.</p>
+
+<p>I did not return immediately to Miss Althorpe. I visited Cox's millinery
+store, Mrs. Desberger's house, and the offices of the various city
+railways. But I got no clue to the rings; and finally satisfied that
+Miss Oliver, as I must now call her, had not lost or disposed of them on
+her way from Gramercy Park to her present place of refuge, I returned to
+Miss Althorpe's with even a greater determination than before to search
+that luxurious home till I found them.</p>
+
+<p>But a decided surprise awaited me. As the door<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> opened I caught a
+glimpse of the butler's face, and noticing its embarrassed expression, I
+at once asked what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>His answer showed a strange mixture of hesitation and bravado.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much, ma'am; only Miss Althorpe is afraid you may not be pleased.
+Miss Oliver is gone, ma'am; she ran away while Crescenze was out of the
+room."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FOUND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I gave a low cry and rushed down the steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go!" I called out to the driver. "I shall want you in ten
+minutes." And hurrying back, I ran up-stairs in a condition of mind such
+as I have no reason to be proud of. Happily Mr. Gryce was not there to
+see me.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone? Miss Oliver gone?" I cried to the maid whom I found trembling in
+a corner of the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am; it was my fault, ma'am. She was in bed so quiet, I thought
+I might step out for a minute, but when I came back her clothes were
+missing and she was gone. She must have slipped out at the front door
+while Dan was in the back hall. I don't see how ever she had the
+strength to do it."</p>
+
+<p>Nor did I. But I did not stop to reason about it; there was too much to
+be done. Rushing on, I entered the room I had left in such high hopes a
+few hours before. Emptiness was before me, and I realized what it was to
+be baffled at the moment of success. But I did not waste an instant in
+inactivity. I searched the closets and pulled open the drawers; found
+her coat and hat gone, but not Mrs. Van Burnam's brown skirt, though the
+purse had been taken out of the pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Is her bag here?" I asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was in its old place under the table; and on the wash-stand and
+bureau were the simple toilet articles I had been told she had brought
+there. In what haste she must have fled to leave these necessities
+behind her!</p>
+
+<p>But the greatest shock I received was the sight of the knitting-work,
+with which I had so inconsiderately meddled the evening before, lying in
+ravelled heaps on the table, as if torn to bits in a frenzy. This was a
+proof that the fever was yet on her; and as I contemplated this fact I
+took courage, thinking that one in her condition would not be allowed to
+run the streets long, but would be picked up and put in some hospital.</p>
+
+<p>In this hope I began my search. Miss Althorpe, who came in just as I was
+about to leave the house, consented to telephone to Police Headquarters
+a description of the girl, with a request to be notified if such a
+person should be found in the streets or on the docks or at any of the
+station-houses that night. "Not," I assured her, as we left the
+telephone and I prepared to say good-bye for the day, "that you need
+expect her to be brought back to this house, for I do not mean that she
+shall ever darken your doors again. So let me know if they find her, and
+I will relieve you of all further responsibility in the matter."</p>
+
+<p>Then I started out.</p>
+
+<p>To name the streets I traversed or the places I visited that day, would
+take more space than I would like to devote to the subject. Dusk came,
+and I had failed in obtaining the least clue to her whereabouts; evening
+followed, and still no trace of the fugitive. What was I to do? Take Mr.
+Gryce into my confidence after all? That would be galling to my pride,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+but I began to fear I should have to submit to this humiliation when I
+happened to think of the Chinaman. To think of him once was to think of
+him twice, and to think of him twice was to be conscious of an
+irresistible desire to visit his place and find out if any one but
+myself had been there to inquire after the lost one's clothes.</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by Lena, I hurried away to Third Avenue. The laundry was
+near Twenty-seventh Street. As we approached I grew troubled and
+unaccountably expectant. When we reached it I understood my excitement
+and instantly became calm. For there stood Miss Oliver, gazing like one
+under a spell through the lighted window-panes into the narrow shop
+where the owner bent over his ironing. She had evidently stood there
+some time, for a small group of half-grown lads were watching her with
+every symptom of being about to break into a mischievous display of
+curiosity. Her hands, which were without gloves, were pressed against
+the glass, and her whole attitude showed an intensity of fatigue which
+would have laid her on the ground had she not been sustained by an equal
+intensity of purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Sending Lena for a carriage, I approached the poor creature and drew her
+forcibly from the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want anything here?" I asked. "I will go in with you if you do."</p>
+
+<p>She surveyed me with strange apathy, and yet with a certain sort of
+relief too. Then she slowly shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about it. My head swims and everything looks
+queer, but some one or something sent me to this place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Come in," I urged, "come in for a minute." And half supporting her,
+half dragging her, I managed to get her across the threshold and into
+the Chinaman's shop.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately a dozen faces were pressed where hers had been.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinaman, a stolid being, turned as he heard the little bell tinkle
+which announced a customer.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the lady who left the clothes here a few nights ago?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped and stared, recognizing me slowly, and remembering by degrees
+what had passed between us at our last interview.</p>
+
+<p>"You tellee me lalee die; how him lalee when lalee die?"</p>
+
+<p>"The lady is not dead; I made a mistake. Is this the lady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lalee talk; I no see face, I hear speak."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen this man before?" I inquired of my nearly insensible
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so in a dream," she murmured, trying to recall her poor
+wandering wits back from some region into which they had strayed.</p>
+
+<p>"Him lalee!" cried the Chinaman, overjoyed at the prospect of getting
+his money. "Pletty speak, I knowee him. Lalee want clo?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to-night. The lady is sick; see, she can hardly stand." And
+overjoyed at this seeming evidence that the police had failed to get
+wind of my interest in this place, I slipped a coin into the Chinaman's
+hand, and drew Miss Oliver away towards the carriage I now saw drawing
+up before the shop.</p>
+
+<p>Lena's eyes when she came up to help me were a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> sight to see. They
+seemed to ask who this girl was and what I was going to do with her. I
+answered the look by a very brief and evidently wholly unexpected
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"This is your cousin who ran away," I remarked. "Don't you recognize
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>Lena gave me up then and there; but she accepted my explanation, and
+even lied in her desire to carry out my whim.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am," said she, "and glad I am to see her again." And with a
+deft push here and a gentle pull there, she succeeded in getting the
+sick woman into the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd, which had considerably increased by this time, was beginning
+to flock about us with shouts of no little derision. Escaping it as best
+I could, I took my seat by the poor girl's side, and bade Lena give the
+order for home. When we left the curb-stone behind, I felt that the last
+page in my adventures as an amateur detective had closed.</p>
+
+<p>But I counted without my cost. Miss Oliver, who was in an advanced stage
+of fever, lay like a dead weight on my shoulder during the drive down
+the avenue, but when we entered the Park and drew near my house, she
+began to show such signs of violent agitation that it was with
+difficulty that the united efforts of Lena and myself could prevent her
+from throwing herself out of the carriage door which she had somehow
+managed to open.</p>
+
+<p>As the carriage stopped she grew worse, and though she made no further
+efforts to leave it, I found her present impulses even harder to contend
+with than the former. For now she would not be pushed out or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> dragged
+out, but crouched back moaning and struggling, her eyes fixed on the
+stoop, which is not unlike that of the adjoining house; till with a
+sudden realization that the cause of her terror lay in her fear of
+re-entering the scene of her late terrifying experiences, I bade the
+coachman drive on, and reluctantly, I own, carried her back to the house
+she had left in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>And this is how I came to spend a second night in Miss Althorpe's
+hospitable mansion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>TAKEN ABACK.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One incident more and this portion of my story is at an end. My poor
+patient, sicker than she had been the night before, left me but little
+leisure for thought or action disconnected with my care for her. But
+towards morning she grew quieter, and finding in an open drawer those
+tangled threads of yarn of which I have spoken, I began to rewind them,
+out of a natural desire to see everything neat and orderly about me. I
+had nearly finished my task when I heard a strange noise from the bed.
+It was a sort of gurgling cry which I found hard to interpret, but which
+only stopped when I laid my work down again. Manifestly this sick girl
+had very nervous fancies.</p>
+
+<p>When I went down to breakfast the next morning, I was in that complacent
+state of mind natural to a woman who feels that her abilities have
+asserted themselves and that she would soon receive a recognition of the
+same at the hands of the one person for whose commendation she had
+chiefly been working. The identification of Miss Oliver by the Chinaman
+was the last link in the chain connecting her with the Mrs. James Pope
+who had accompanied Mr. Van Burnam to his father's house in Gramercy
+Park, and though I would fain have had the murdered woman's rings to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+show, I was contented enough with the discoveries I had made to wish for
+the hour which would bring me face to face with the detective.</p>
+
+<p>But a surprise awaited me at the breakfast table in the shape of a
+communication from that gentleman. It had just been brought from my
+house by Lena, and it ran thus:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Butterworth</span>:</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon our interference. <i>We</i> have found the rings which you
+think so conclusive an evidence of guilt against the person
+secreting them; and, <i>with your permission</i> [this was basely
+underlined], Mr. Franklin Van Burnam will be in custody to-day.</p>
+
+<p>"I will wait upon you at ten.</p></div>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Respectfully yours,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"<span class="smcap">Ebenezar Gryce</span>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><i>Franklin Van Burnam!</i> Was I dreaming? <i>Franklin</i> Van Burnam accused of
+this crime and in custody! What did it mean? I had found no evidence
+against Franklin Van Burnam.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="BOOK_III" id="BOOK_III"></a><i>BOOK III</i>.</h2>
+
+<h2>THE GIRL IN GRAY.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Madam, I hope I see you satisfied?"</p>
+
+<p>This was Mr. Gryce's greeting as he entered my parlor on that memorable
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Satisfied?" I repeated, rising and facing him with what he afterwards
+described as a stony glare.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me! I suppose you would have been still more satisfied if we had
+waited for <i>you</i> to point out the guilty man to <i>us</i>. But you must make
+some allowances for professional egotism, Miss Butterworth. We really
+could not allow you to take the initiatory step in a matter of such
+importance."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" was my sole response; but he has since told me that there was a
+great deal in that <i>oh</i>; so much, that even he was startled by it.</p>
+
+<p>"You set to-day for a talk with me," he went on; "probably relying upon
+what you intended to assure yourself of yesterday. But our discovery at
+the same time as yourself of the rings in Mr. Van Burnam's office, need
+not interfere with your giving us your full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> confidence. The work you
+have done has been excellent, and we are disposed to give you
+considerable credit for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>I had no choice but to thus indulge in ejaculations. The communication
+he had just made was so startling, and his assumption of my complete
+understanding of and participation in the discovery he professed to have
+made, so puzzling, that I dared not venture beyond these simple
+exclamations, lest he should see the state of mind into which he had
+thrown me, and shut up like an oyster.</p>
+
+<p>"We have kept counsel over what we have found," the wary old detective
+continued, with a smile, which I wish I could imitate, but which
+unhappily belongs to him alone. "I hope that you, or your maid, I should
+say, have been equally discreet."</p>
+
+<p>My maid!</p>
+
+<p>"I see you are touched; but women find it so hard to keep a secret. But
+it does not matter. To-night the whole town will know that the older and
+not the younger brother has had these rings in his keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be nuts for the papers," I commented; then making an effort, I
+remarked: "You are a most judicious man, Mr. Gryce, and must have other
+reasons than the discovery of these rings for your threatened arrest of
+a man of such excellent repute as Silas Van Burnam's eldest son. I
+should like to hear them, Mr. Gryce. I should like to hear them very
+much."</p>
+
+<p>My attempt to seem at ease under these embarrassing conditions must have
+given a certain sharpness to my tone; for, instead of replying, he
+remarked, with well simulated concern and a fatherly humoring of my
+folly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> peculiarly exasperating to one of my temperament: "You are
+displeased, Miss Butterworth, because we did not let <i>you</i> find the
+rings."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but we were engaged in an open field. I could not expect the
+police to stand aside for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly! Especially when you have the secret satisfaction of having put
+the police on the track of these jewels."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"We were simply fortunate in laying our hands on them first. You, or
+your maid rather, showed us where to look for them."</p>
+
+<p>Lena again.</p>
+
+<p>I was so dumfounded by this last assertion, I did not attempt to reply.
+Fortunately, he misinterpreted my silence and the "stony glare" with
+which it was accompanied.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that it must seem to you altogether too bad, to be tripped up at
+the moment of your anticipated triumph. But if apologies will suffice to
+express our sense of presumption, then I pray you to accept them, Miss
+Butterworth, both on my own part and on that of the Superintendent of
+Police."</p>
+
+<p>I did not understand in the least what he was talking about, but I
+recognized the sarcasm of his final expression, and had spirit enough to
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"The subject is too important for any more nonsense. Whereabouts in
+Franklin Van Burnam's desk were these rings found, and how do you know
+that his brother did not put them there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your ignorance is refreshing, Miss Butterworth. If you will ask a
+certain young girl dressed in gray, upon what object connected with Mr.
+Van Burnam's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> desk she laid her hands yesterday morning, you will have
+an answer to your first question. The second one is still more easily
+answered. Mr. Howard Van Burnam did not conceal the rings in the Duane
+Street office for the reason that he has not been in that office since
+his wife was killed. Regarding this fact we are as well advised as
+yourself. Now you change color, Miss Butterworth. But there is no
+necessity. For an amateur you have made less trouble and fewer mistakes
+than were to be expected."</p>
+
+<p>Worse and worse! He was patronizing me now, and for results I had done
+nothing to bring about. I surveyed him in absolute amazement. Was he
+amusing himself with me, or was he himself deceived as to the nature and
+trend of my late investigations. This was a question to settle, and at
+once; and as duplicity had hitherto proved my best weapon in dealing
+with Mr. Gryce, I concluded to resort to it in this emergency. Clearing
+my brow, I regarded with a more amenable air the little Hungarian vase
+he had taken up on entering the room, and into which he had been talking
+ever since he thought it worth while to compliment its owner.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish," said I, "to be published to the world as the discoverer
+of Franklin Van Burnam's guilt. But I do want credit with the police, if
+only because one of their number has chosen to look upon my efforts with
+disdain. I mean you, Mr. Gryce; so, if you are in earnest"&mdash;he smiled at
+the vase most genially&mdash;"I will accept your apologies just so far as you
+honor me with your confidence. I know you are anxious to hear what
+evidence I have collected, or you would not be wasting time on me this
+busy morning."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Shrewd!" was the short ejaculation he shot into the mouth of the vase
+he was handling.</p>
+
+<p>"If that term of admiration is intended for me," I remarked, "I am sure
+I am only too sensible of the honor. But flattery has never succeeded in
+making me talk against my better judgment. I may be shrewd, but a fool
+could see what you are after this morning. Compliment me when I have
+deserved it. I can wait."</p>
+
+<p>"I begin to think that what you withhold so resolutely has more than
+common value, Miss Butterworth. If this is so, I must not be the only
+one to listen to your explanations. Is not that a carriage I hear
+stopping? I am expecting Inspector Z&mdash;&mdash;. If that is he you have been
+wise to delay your communications till he came."</p>
+
+<p>A carriage <i>was</i> stopping, and it was the Inspector who alighted from
+it. I began to feel my importance in a way that was truly gratifying,
+and cast my eyes up at the portrait of my father with a secret longing
+that its original stood by to witness the verification of his prophecy.</p>
+
+<p>But I was not so distracted by these thoughts as not to make one attempt
+to get something from Mr. Gryce before the Inspector joined us.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you speak to me of my maid in one breath and of a girl in gray
+in another? Did you think Lena&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" he enjoined, "we will have ample opportunities to discuss this
+subject later."</p>
+
+<p>"Will we?" thought I. "We will discuss nothing till I know more
+positively what you are aiming at."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But I showed nothing of this determination in my face. On the contrary,
+I became all affability as the Inspector entered, and I did the honors
+of the house in a way I hope my father would have approved of, had he
+been alive and present.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce continued to stare into the vase.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Butterworth,"&mdash;it was the Inspector who was speaking,&mdash;"I have
+been told that you take great interest in the Van Burnam murder, and
+that you have even gone so far as to collect some facts in connection
+with it which you have not as yet given to the police."</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard correctly," I returned. "I have taken a deep interest in
+this tragedy, and have come into possession of some facts in reference
+to it which as yet I have imparted to no living soul."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce's interest in my poor little vase increased marvellously.
+Seeing this, I complacently continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I could not have accomplished so much had I indulged in a confidant.
+Such work as I have attempted depends for its success upon the secrecy
+with which it is carried on. That is why amateur work is sometimes more
+effective than professional. No one suspected me of making inquiries,
+unless it was this gentleman, and he was forewarned of my possible
+interference. I told him that in case Howard Van Burnam was put under
+arrest, I should take it upon myself to stir up matters; and I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not believe in Mr. Van Burnam's guilt? Not even in his
+complicity, I suppose?" ventured the Inspector.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know anything about his complicity; but I do not believe the
+stroke given to his wife came from his hand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I see, I see. You believe it the work of his brother."</p>
+
+<p>I stole a look at Mr. Gryce before replying. He had turned the vase
+upside down, and was intently studying its label; but he could not
+conceal his expectation of an affirmative answer. Greatly relieved, I
+immediately took the position I had resolved upon, and calmly but
+vigorously observed:</p>
+
+<p>"What I believe, and what I have learned in support of my belief, will
+sound as well in your ears ten minutes hence as now. Before I give you
+the result of such inquiries as I have been enabled to make, I require
+to know what evidence you have yourself collected against the gentleman
+you have just named, and in what respect it is as criminating as that
+against his brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is not that peremptory, Miss Butterworth? And do you think us called
+upon to part with all or any of the secrets of our office? We have
+informed you that we have new and startling evidence against the older
+brother; should not that be sufficient for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so if I were an assistant of yours, or even in your employ. But
+I am neither; I stand alone, and although I am a woman and unused to
+this business, I have earned, as I think you will acknowledge later, the
+right to some consideration on your part. I cannot present the facts I
+have to relate in a proper manner till I know just how the case stands."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not curiosity that troubles Miss Butterworth&mdash;Madam, I said it
+was not curiosity&mdash;but a laudable desire to have the whole matter
+arranged with precision," dropped now in his dryest tones from the
+detective's lips.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Gryce has a most excellent understanding of my character," I
+gravely observed.</p>
+
+<p>The Inspector looked nonplussed. He glanced at Mr. Gryce and he glanced
+at me, but the smile of the former was inscrutable, and my expression,
+if I showed any, must have betrayed but little relenting.</p>
+
+<p>"If called as a witness, Miss Butterworth,"&mdash;this was how he sought to
+manage me,&mdash;"you will have no choice in the matter. You will be
+compelled to speak or show contempt of court."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true," I acknowledged. "But it is not what I might feel myself
+called upon to say then, but what I can say now, that is of interest to
+you at this present moment. So be generous, gentlemen, and satisfy my
+curiosity, for such Mr. Gryce considers it, in spite of his assertions
+to the contrary. Will it not all come out in the papers a few hours
+hence, and have I not earned as much at your hands as the reporters?"</p>
+
+<p>"The reporters are our bane. Do not liken yourself to the reporters."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet they sometimes give you a valuable clue."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce looked as if he would like to disclaim this, but he was a
+judicious soul, and merely gave a twist to the vase which I thought
+would cost me that small article of vertu.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we humor Miss Butterworth?" asked the Inspector.</p>
+
+<p>"We will do better," answered Mr. Gryce, setting the vase down with a
+precision that made me jump; for I am a worshipper of <i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i>, and
+prize the few articles I own, possibly beyond their real value. "We will
+treat her as a coadjutor, which, by the way, she says she is not, and by
+the trust we place in her, secure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> that discretionary use of our
+confidence which she shows with so much spirit in regard to her own."</p>
+
+<p>"Begin then," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"I will," said he, "but first allow me to acknowledge that you are the
+person who first put us on the track of Franklin Van Burnam."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MATTER AS STATED BY MR. GRYCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I had exhausted my wonder, so I accepted this statement with no more
+display of surprise than a grim smile.</p>
+
+<p>"When you failed to identify Howard Van Burnam as the man who
+accompanied his wife into the adjacent house, I realized that I must
+look elsewhere for the murderer of Louise Van Burnam. You see I had more
+confidence in the excellence of your memory than you had yourself, so
+much indeed that I gave you more than one chance to exercise it, having,
+by certain little methods I sometimes employ, induced different moods in
+Mr. Van Burnam at the time of his several visits, so that his bearing
+might vary, and you have every opportunity to recognize him for the man
+you had seen on that fatal night."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it was he you brought here each time?" I broke in.</p>
+
+<p>"It was he."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" I ejaculated.</p>
+
+<p>"The Superintendent and some others whom I need not mention,"&mdash;here Mr.
+Gryce took up another small object from the table,&mdash;"believed implicitly
+in his guilt; conjugal murder is so common and the causes which lead to
+it so frequently puerile. Therefore I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> to work alone. But this did
+not cause me any concern. <i>Your</i> doubts emphasized mine, and when you
+confided to me that you had seen a figure similar to the one we were
+trying to identify, enter the adjoining house on the evening of the
+funeral, I made immediate inquiries and discovered that the gentleman
+who had entered the house right after the four persons described by you
+was <i>Franklin Van Burnam</i>. This gave me a definite clue, and this is why
+I say that it was you who gave me my first start in this matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" thought I to myself, as with a sudden shock I remembered that
+one of the words which had fallen from Miss Oliver's lips during her
+delirium had been this very name of Franklin.</p>
+
+<p>"I had had my doubts of this gentleman before," continued the detective,
+warming gradually with his subject. "A man of my experience doubts every
+one in a case of this kind, and I had formed at odd times a sort of side
+theory, so to speak, into which some little matters which came up during
+the inquest seemed to fit with more or less nicety; but I had no real
+justification for suspicion till the event of which I speak. That you
+had evidently formed the same theory as myself and were bound to enter
+into the lists with me, put me on my mettle, madam, and with your
+knowledge or without it, the struggle between us began."</p>
+
+<p>"So your disdain of me," I here put in with a triumphant air I could not
+subdue, "was only simulated? I shall know what to think of you
+hereafter. But don't stop, go on, this is all deeply interesting to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I can understand that. To proceed then; my first duty, of course, was
+to watch <i>you</i>. You had reasons<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> of your own for suspecting this man, so
+by watching you I hoped to surprise them."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" I cried, unable to entirely conceal the astonishment and grim
+amusement into which his continued misconception of the trend of my
+suspicions threw me.</p>
+
+<p>"But you led us a chase, madam; I must acknowledge that you led us a
+chase. Your being an amateur led me to anticipate your using an
+amateur's methods, but you showed skill, madam, and the man I sent to
+keep watch over Mrs. Boppert against your looked-for visit there, was
+foiled by the very simple strategy you used in meeting her at a
+neighboring shop."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" I again cried, in my relief that the discovery made at that
+meeting had not been shared by him.</p>
+
+<p>"We had sounded Mrs. Boppert ourselves, but she had seemed a very
+hopeless job, and I do not yet see how you got any water out of that
+stone&mdash;if you did."</p>
+
+<p>"No?" I retorted ambiguously, enjoying the Inspector's manifest delight
+in this scene as much as I did my own secret thoughts and the prospect
+of the surprise I was holding in store for them.</p>
+
+<p>"But your interference with the clock and the discovery you made that it
+had been going at the time the shelves fell, was not unknown to us, and
+we have made use of it, good use as you will hereafter see."</p>
+
+<p>"So! those girls could not keep a secret after all," I muttered; and
+waited with some anxiety to hear him mention the pin-cushion; but he did
+not, greatly to my relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't blame the girls!" he put in (his ears evidently are as sharp as
+mine); "the inquiries having proceeded from Franklin, it was only
+natural for me to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> suspect that he was trying to mislead us by some
+hocus-pocus story. So <i>I</i> visited the girls. That I had difficulty in
+getting to the root of the matter is to their credit, Miss Butterworth,
+seeing that you had made them promise secrecy."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," I nodded, and forgave them on the spot. If I could not
+withstand Mr. Gryce's eloquence&mdash;and it affected me at times&mdash;how could
+I expect these girls to. Besides, they had not revealed the more
+important secret I had confided to them, and in consideration of this I
+was ready to pardon them most anything.</p>
+
+<p>"That the clock was going at the time the shelves fell, and that he
+should be the one to draw our attention to it would seem to the
+superficial mind proof positive that he was innocent of the deed with
+which it was so closely associated," the detective proceeded. "But to
+one skilled in the subterfuges of criminals, this seemingly conclusive
+fact in his favor was capable of an explanation so in keeping with the
+subtlety shown in every other feature of this remarkable crime, that I
+began to regard it as a point against him rather than in his favor. Of
+which more hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>"Not allowing myself to be deterred, then, by this momentary set-back,
+and rejoicing in an affair considered as settled by my superiors, I
+proceeded to establish Franklin Van Burnam's connection with the crime
+which had been laid with so much apparent reason at his brother's door.</p>
+
+<p>"The first fact to be settled was, of course, whether your
+identification of him as the gentleman who accompanied his victim into
+Mr. Van Burnam's house could be corroborated by any of the many persons
+who had seen the so-called Mr. James Pope at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As none of the witnesses who attended the inquest had presumed to
+recognize in either of these sleek and haughty gentlemen the shrinking
+person just mentioned, I knew that any open attempt on my part to bring
+about an identification would result disastrously. So I employed
+strategy&mdash;like my betters, Miss Butterworth" (here his bow was
+overpowering in its mock humility); "and rightly considering that for a
+person to be satisfactorily identified with another, he must be seen
+under the same circumstances and in nearly the same place, I sought out
+Franklin Van Burnam, and with specious promises of some great benefit to
+be done his brother, induced him to accompany me to the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>"Whether he saw through my plans and thought that a brave front and an
+assumption of candor would best serve him in this unexpected dilemma, or
+whether he felt so entrenched behind the precautions he had taken as not
+to fear discovery under any circumstances, he made but one demur before
+preparing to accompany me. This demur was significant, however, for it
+was occasioned by my advice to change his dress for one less
+conspicuously fashionable, or to hide it under an ulster or mackintosh.
+And as a proof of his hardihood&mdash;remember, madam, that his connection
+with this crime has been established&mdash;he actually did put on the ulster,
+though he must have known what a difference it would make in his
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"The result was all I could desire. As we entered the hotel, I saw a
+certain hackman start and lean forward to look after him. It was the one
+who had driven Mr. and Mrs. Pope away from the hotel. And when we passed
+the porter, the wink which I gave him was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> met by a lift of his eyelids
+which he afterwards interpreted into 'Like! very like!'</p>
+
+<p>"But it was from the clerk I received the most unequivocal proof of his
+identity. On entering the office I had left Mr. Van Burnam as near as
+possible to the spot where Mr. Pope had stood while his so-called wife
+was inscribing their names in the register, and bidding him to remain in
+the background while I had a few words at the desk, all in his brother's
+interests of course, I succeeded in secretly directing Mr. Henshaw's
+attention towards him. The start which he gave and the exclamation he
+uttered were unequivocal. 'Why, there's the man now!' he cried, happily
+in a whisper. 'Anxious look, drooping head, brown moustache, everything
+but the duster.' 'Bah!' said I; 'that's Mr. <i>Franklin</i> Van Burnam you
+are looking at! What are you thinking of?' 'Can't help it,' said he; 'I
+saw both of the brothers at the inquest, and saw nothing in them then to
+remind me of our late mysterious guest. But as he stands there, he's a
+---- sight more like James Pope than the other one is, and don't you
+forget it.' I shrugged my shoulders, told him he was a fool, and that
+fools had better keep their follies to themselves, and came away with my
+man, outwardly disgusted but inwardly in most excellent trim for
+pursuing an investigation which had opened so auspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Whether this man possessed any motive for a crime so seemingly out of
+accordance with his life and disposition was, of course, the next point
+to settle. His conduct at the inquest certainly showed no decided
+animosity toward his brother's wife, nor was there on the surface of
+affairs any token of the mortal hatred which alone could account for a
+crime at once so deliberate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> and so brutal. But we detectives plunge
+below the surface, and after settling the question of Franklin's
+identity with the so-called Mr. Pope of the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, I left New York
+and its interests&mdash;among which I reckoned your efforts at detective
+work, Miss Butterworth&mdash;to a young man in my office, who, I am afraid,
+did not quite understand the persistence of your character; for he had
+nothing to tell me concerning you on my return, save that you had been
+cultivating Miss Althorpe, which, of course, was such a natural thing
+for you to do, I wonder he thought it necessary to mention it.</p>
+
+<p>"My destination was Four Corners, the place where Howard first met his
+future wife. In relating what I learned there, I shall doubtless repeat
+facts with which you are acquainted, Miss Butterworth."</p>
+
+<p>"That is of no consequence," I returned, with almost brazen duplicity;
+for I not only was ignorant of what he was going to say, but had every
+reason to believe that it would bear as remote a connection as possible
+to the secret then laboring in my breast. "A statement of the case from
+your lips," I pursued, "will emphasize what I know. Do not stint any of
+your disclosures, then, I beg. I have an ear for all." This was truer
+than my rather sarcastic tone would convey, for might not his story
+after all prove to have some unexpected relation with the facts I had
+myself gathered together.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pleasure," said he, "to think I am capable of giving any
+information to Miss Butterworth, and as I did not run across you or your
+very nimble and pert little maid during my stay at Four Corners, I shall
+take it for granted that you confined your inquiries to the city and the
+society of which you are such a shining light."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This in reference to my double visit at Miss Althorpe's, no doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"Four Corners is a charming town in Southern Vermont, and here, three
+years ago, Howard Van Burnam first met Miss Stapleton. She was living in
+a gentleman's family at that time as travelling companion to his invalid
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Ah, now I could see what explanation this wary old detective gave
+himself of my visits to Miss Althorpe, and began to hug myself in
+anticipation of my coming triumph over him.</p>
+
+<p>"The place did not fit her, for Miss Stapleton only shone in the society
+of men; but Mr. Harrison had not yet discovered this special
+idiosyncrasy of hers, and as his daughter was able to see a few friends,
+and in fact needed some diversion, the way was open to her companion for
+that acquaintance with Mr. Van Burnam which has led to such disastrous
+results.</p>
+
+<p>"The house at which their meeting took place was a private one, and I
+soon found out many facts not widely known in this city. First, that she
+was not so much in love with Howard as he was with her. <i>He</i> succumbed
+to her fascinations at once, and proposed, I believe, within two weeks
+after seeing her; but though she accepted him, few of those who saw them
+together thought her affections very much engaged till Franklin suddenly
+appeared in town, when her whole manner underwent a change, and she
+became so sparklingly and irresistibly beautiful that her avowed lover
+became doubly enslaved, and Franklin&mdash;Well, there is evidence to prove
+that he was not insensible to her charms either; that, in spite of her
+engagement to his brother and the attitude which honor bade him hold
+towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> his prospective sister-in-law, he lost his head for a short
+time at least, and under her seductions I do not doubt, for she was a
+double-faced woman according to general repute, went so far as to
+express his passion in a letter of which I heard much before I was so
+fortunate as to obtain a sight of it. This was three years ago, and I
+think Miss Stapleton would have been willing to have broken with Howard
+and married Franklin if the latter had had the courage to meet his
+brother's reproaches. But he evidently was deficient in this quality.
+His very letter, which is a warm one, but which holds out no hope to her
+of any closer bond between them than that offered by her prospective
+union with his brother, shows that he still retained some sense of
+honor, and as he presently left Four Corners and did not appear again
+where they were till just before their marriage, it is probable that all
+would have gone well if the woman had shared this sentiment with him.
+But she was made up of mean materials, and while willing to marry Howard
+for what he could give her or what she thought he could give her, she
+yet cherished an implacable grudge against Franklin for his weakness, as
+she called it, in not following the dictates of his heart. Being sly as
+well as passionate, she hid her feelings from every one but a venial,
+though apparently devoted confidante, a young girl named&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oliver," I finished in my own mind.</p>
+
+<p>But the name he mentioned was quite different.</p>
+
+<p>"Pigot," he said, looking at the filigree basket he held in his hand as
+if he picked this word out from one of its many interstices. "She was
+French, and after once finding her, I had but little difficulty in
+learning all she had to tell. She had been Miss Harrison's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> maid, but
+she was not above serving Miss Stapleton in many secret and dishonorable
+ways. As a consequence, she could give me the details of an interview
+which that lady had held with Franklin Van Burnam on the evening of her
+wedding. It took place in Mr. Harrison's garden, and was supposed to be
+a secret one, but the woman who arranged the meeting was not the person
+to keep away from it when it occurred, and consequently I have been
+enabled to learn with more or less accuracy what took place between
+them. It was not to Miss Stapleton's credit. Mr. Van Burnam merely
+wanted his letter back, but she refused to return it unless he would
+promise her a complete recognition by his family of her marriage and
+ensure her a reception in his father's house as Howard's wife. This was
+more than he could engage himself to perform. He had already, according
+to his own story, made every effort possible to influence the old
+gentleman in her favor, but had only succeeded in irritating him against
+himself. It was an acknowledgment which would have satisfied most women,
+but it did not satisfy her. She declared her intention of keeping the
+letter for fear he would cease his exertions; and heedless of the effect
+produced upon him by the barefaced threat, proceeded to inveigh against
+his brother for the very love which made her union with him possible;
+and as if this was not bad enough, showed at the same time such a
+disposition to profit by whatever worldly good the match promised, that
+Franklin lost all regard for her, and began to hate her.</p>
+
+<p>"As he made no effort to conceal his feelings, she must have become
+immediately aware of the change which had taken place in them. But
+however affected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> by this, she gave no sign of relenting in her purpose.
+On the contrary, she persisted in her determination to retain his
+letter, and when he remonstrated with her and threatened to leave town
+before her marriage, she retorted by saying that, if he did so, she
+would show his letter to his brother as soon as the minister had made
+them one. This threat seemed to affect Franklin deeply, and while it
+intensified his feeling of animosity towards her, subjected him for the
+moment to her whim. He stayed in Four Corners till the ceremony was
+performed, but was such a gloomy guest that all united in saying that he
+did the occasion no credit.</p>
+
+<p>"So much for my work in Four Corners."</p>
+
+<p>I had by this time become aware that Mr. Gryce was addressing himself
+chiefly to the Inspector, being gratified no doubt at this opportunity
+of presenting his case at length before that gentleman. But true to his
+special habits, he looked at neither of us, but rather at the fretted
+basket, upon the handle of which he tapped out his arguments as he
+quickly proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"The young couple spent the first months of their married life in
+Yonkers; so to Yonkers I went next. There I learned that Franklin had
+visited the place twice; both times, as I judge, upon a peremptory
+summons from her. The result was mutual fret and heartburning, for she
+had made no progress in her endeavors to win recognition from the Van
+Burnams; and even had had occasion to perceive that her husband's love,
+based as it was upon her physical attributes, had begun to feel the
+stress of her uneasiness and dissatisfaction. She became more anxious
+than ever for social recognition and distinction, and when the family
+went to Europe, consented to accompany her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> husband into the quiet
+retreat he thought best calculated to win the approbation of his father,
+only upon the assurance of better times in the fall and a possible visit
+to Washington in the winter. But the quiet to which she was subjected
+had a bad effect upon her. Under it she grew more and more restless, and
+as the time approached for the family's return, conceived so many plans
+for conciliating them that her husband could not restrain his disgust.
+But the worst plan of all and the one which undoubtedly led to her
+death, he never knew. This was to surprise Franklin at his office and,
+by renewed threats of showing this old love-letter to his brother, win
+an absolute promise from him to support her in a fresh endeavor to win
+his father's favor. You see she did not understand Silas Van Burnam's
+real character, and persisted in holding the most extravagant views
+concerning Franklin's ascendancy over him as well as over the rest of
+the family. She even went so far as to insist in the interview, which
+Jane Pigot overheard, that it was Franklin himself who stood in the way
+of her desires, and that if he chose he could obtain for her an
+invitation to take up her abode with the rest of them in Gramercy Park.
+To Duane Street she therefore went before making her appearance at Mrs.
+Parker's; a fact which was not brought out at the inquest; Franklin not
+disclosing it of course, and the clerk not recognizing her under the
+false name she chose to give. Of the details of this interview I am
+ignorant, but as she was closeted with him some time, it is only natural
+to suppose that conversation of some importance took place between them.
+The clerk who works in the outer office did not, as I have said, know
+who she was at the time, but he noticed her face when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> she came out, and
+he declares that it was insolent with triumph, while Mr. Franklin, who
+was polite enough or calculating enough to bow her out of the room, was
+pale with rage, and acted so unlike himself that everybody observed it.
+She held his letter in her hand, a letter easily distinguishable by the
+violet-colored seal on the back, and she filliped with it in a most
+aggravating way as she crossed the floor, pretending to lay it down on
+Howard's desk as she went by and then taking it up again with an arch
+look at Franklin, pretty enough to see but hateful in its effect on him.
+As he went back to his own room his face was full of anger, and such was
+the effect of this visit on him that he declined to see any one else
+that day. She had probably shown such determination to reveal his past
+perfidy to her husband, that his fears were fully aroused at last, and
+he saw he was not only likely to lose his good name but the esteem with
+which he was accustomed to be regarded by this younger and evidently
+much-loved brother.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, considering his intense pride, as well as his affection for
+Howard, do you not see the motive which this seemingly good man had for
+putting his troublesome sister-in-law out of existence? He wanted that
+letter back, and to obtain it had to resort to crime. Or such is my
+present theory of this murder, Miss Butterworth. Does it correspond with
+yours?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME FINE WORK.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"O perfectly!" I assented, with just the shade of irony necessary to rob
+the assertion of its mendacity. "But go on, go on. You have not begun to
+satisfy me yet. You did not stop with finding a motive for the crime I
+am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, you are a female Shylock; you will have the whole of the bond or
+none."</p>
+
+<p>"We are not here to draw comparisons," I retorted. "Keep to the subject,
+Mr. Gryce; keep to the subject."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed; laid down the little basket he held, took it up again, and
+finally resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, you are right; we did not stop at finding a motive. Our next
+step was to collect evidence directly connecting him with the crime."</p>
+
+<p>"And you succeeded in this?"</p>
+
+<p>My tone was unnecessarily eager, this was all so unaccountable to me;
+but he did not appear to notice it.</p>
+
+<p>"We did. Indeed the evidence against him is stronger than that against
+his brother. For if we ignore the latter part of Howard's testimony,
+which was evidently a tissue of lies, what remains against him? Three
+things: his dogged persistency in not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> recognizing his wife in the
+murdered woman; the receiving of the house keys from his brother; and
+the fact that he was seen on the stoop of his father's house at an
+unusual hour in the morning following this murder. Now what have we
+against Franklin? Many things.</p>
+
+<p>"First:</p>
+
+<p>"That he can no more account for the hours between half-past eleven on
+Tuesday morning and five o'clock on the following Wednesday morning than
+his brother can. In one breath he declares that he was shut up in his
+rooms at the hotel, for which no corroborative evidence is forthcoming;
+and in another that he was on a tramp after his brother, which seems
+equally improbable and incapable of proof.</p>
+
+<p>"Second:</p>
+
+<p>"That he and not Howard was the man in a linen duster, and that he and
+not Howard was in possession of the keys that night. As these are
+serious statements to make, I will give you my reasons for them. They
+are distinct from the recognition of his person by the inmates of the
+Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, and added to that recognition, form a strong case against
+him. The janitor who has charge of the offices in Duane Street,
+happening to have a leisure moment on the morning of the day on which
+Mrs. Van Burnam was murdered, was making the most of it by watching the
+unloading of a huge boiler some four doors below the Van Burnam
+warehouse. He was consequently looking intently in that direction when
+Howard passed him, coming from the interview with his brother in which
+he had been given the keys. Mr. Van Burnam was walking briskly, but
+finding the sidewalk blocked by the boiler to which I have alluded,
+paused for a moment to let it pass, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> being greatly heated, took out
+his handkerchief to wipe his forehead. This done, he moved on, just as a
+man dressed in a long duster came up behind him, stopping where he
+stopped and picking up from the ground something which the first
+gentleman had evidently dropped. This last man's figure looked more or
+less familiar to the janitor, so did the duster, and later he discovered
+that the latter was the one which he had seen hanging for so long a time
+in the little disused closet under the warehouse stairs. Its wearer was
+Franklin Van Burnam, who, as I took pains to learn, had left the office
+immediately in the wake of his brother, and the object he picked up was
+the bunch of keys which the latter had inadvertently dropped. He may
+have thought he lost them later, but it was then and there they slipped
+from his pocket. I will here add that the duster found by the hackman in
+his coach has been identified as the one missing from the closet just
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>"Third:</p>
+
+<p>"The keys with which Mr. Van Burnam's house was unlocked were found
+hanging in their usual place by noon of the next day. They could not
+have been taken there by Howard, for he was not seen at the office after
+the murder. By whom then were they returned, if not by Franklin?</p>
+
+<p>"Fourth:</p>
+
+<p>"The letter, for the possession of which I believe this crime to have
+been perpetrated, was found by us in a supposedly secret drawer of this
+gentleman's desk. It was much crumpled, and bore evidences of having
+been rather rudely dealt with since it was last seen in Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hand in that very office.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But the fact which is most convincing, and which will tell most heavily
+against him, is the unexpected discovery of the murdered lady's rings,
+also in this same desk. How <i>you</i> became aware that anything of such
+importance could be found there, knowing even the exact place in which
+they were secreted, I will not stop to ask at this moment. Enough that
+when your maid entered the Van Burnam offices and insisted with so much
+ingenuousness that she was expected by Mr. Van Burnam and would wait for
+his return, the clerk most devoted to my interests became distrustful of
+her intentions, having been told to be on the look-out for a girl in
+gray or a lady in black with puffs on each side of two very sharp eyes.
+You will pardon me, Miss Butterworth. He therefore kept his eyes on the
+girl and presently espied her stretching out her hand towards a hook at
+the side of Mr. Franklin Van Burnam's desk. As it is upon this hook this
+gentleman strings his unanswered letters, the clerk rose from his place
+as quickly as possible, and coming forward with every appearance of
+polite solicitude,&mdash;did she not say he was polite, Miss
+Butterworth?&mdash;inquired what she wished, thinking she was after some
+letter, or possibly anxious for a specimen of some one's handwriting.
+But she gave him no other reply than a blush and a confused look, for
+which you must rebuke her, Miss Butterworth, if you are going to
+continue to employ her as your agent in these very delicate affairs. And
+she made another mistake. She should not have left so abruptly upon
+detection, for that gave the clerk an opportunity to telephone for me,
+which he immediately did. I was at liberty, and I came at once, and,
+after hearing his story, decided that what was of interest to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> you must
+be of interest to me, and so took a look at the letters she had handled,
+and discovered, what she also must have discovered before she let them
+slip from her hand, that the five missing rings we were all in search of
+were hanging on this same hook amid the sheets of Franklin's
+correspondence. You can imagine, madam, my satisfaction, and the
+gratitude which I felt towards my agent, who by his quickness had
+retained to me the honors of a discovery which it would have been
+injurious to my pride to have had confined entirely to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I can understand," I repeated, and trusted myself to say no more, hot
+as my secret felt upon my lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You have read Poe's story of the filigree basket?" he now suggested,
+running his finger up and down the filigree work he himself held.</p>
+
+<p>I nodded. I saw what he meant at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the principle involved in that story explains the presence of the
+rings in the midst of this stack of letters. Franklin Van Burnam, if he
+is the murderer of his sister-in-law, is one of the subtlest villains
+this city has ever produced, and knowing that, if once suspected, every
+secret drawer and professed hiding-place within his reach would be
+searched, he put these dangerous evidences of his guilt in a place so
+conspicuous, and yet so little likely to attract attention, that even so
+old a hand as myself did not think of looking for them there."</p>
+
+<p>He had finished, and the look he gave me was for myself alone.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, madam," said he, "that I have stated the facts of the case
+against Franklin Van Burnam, has not the moment come for you to show
+your appreciation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> of my good nature by a corresponding show of
+confidence on your part?"</p>
+
+<p>I answered with a distinct negative. "There is too much that is
+unexplained as yet in your case against Franklin," I objected. "You have
+shown that he had motive for the murder and that he was connected more
+or less intimately with the crime we are considering, but you have by no
+means explained all the phenomena accompanying this tragedy. How, for
+instance, do you account for Mrs. Van Burnam's whim in changing her
+clothing, if her brother-in-law, instead of her husband, was her
+companion at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>You see I was determined to know the whole story before introducing Miss
+Oliver's name into this complication.</p>
+
+<p>He who had seen through the devices of so many women in his day did not
+see through mine, perhaps because he took a certain professional
+pleasure in making his views on this subject clear to the attentive
+Inspector. At all events, this is the way he responded to my
+half-curious, half-ironical question:</p>
+
+<p>"A crime planned and perpetrated for the purpose I have just mentioned,
+Miss Butterworth, could not have been a simple one under any
+circumstances. But conceived as this one was by a man of more than
+ordinary intelligence, and carried out with a skill and precaution
+little short of marvellous, the features which it presents are of such a
+varying and subtle character that only by the exercise of a certain
+amount of imagination can they be understood at all. Such an imagination
+I possess, but how can I be sure that you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"By testing it," I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, madam, I will. Not from actual knowledge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> then, but from a
+certain insight I have acquired in my long dealing with such matters, I
+have come to the conclusion that Franklin Van Burnam did not in the
+beginning plan to kill this woman in his father's house.</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, he had fixed upon a hotel room as the scene of the
+conflict he foresaw between them, and that he might carry it on without
+endangering their good names, had urged her to meet him the next morning
+in the semi-disguise of a gossamer over her fine dress and a heavy veil
+over her striking features; making the pretence, no doubt, of this being
+the more appropriate costume for her to appear in before the old
+gentleman should he so far concede to her demands as to take her to the
+steamer. For himself he had planned the adoption of a disfiguring duster
+which had been hanging for a long time in a closet on the ground-floor
+of the building in Duane Street. All this promised well, but when the
+time came and he was about to leave his office, his brother unexpectedly
+appeared and asked for the key to their father's house. Disconcerted no
+doubt by the appearance of the very person he least wished to see, and
+astonished by a request so out of keeping with all that had hitherto
+passed between them, he nevertheless was in too much haste to question
+him, so gave him what he wanted and Howard went away. As soon after as
+he could lock his desk and don his hat, Franklin followed, and merely
+stopping to cover his coat with the old duster, he went out and hastened
+towards the place of meeting. Under most circumstances all this might
+have happened without the brothers encountering each other again, but a
+temporary obstruction on the sidewalk having, as we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> know, detained
+Howard, Franklin was enabled to approach him sufficiently close to see
+him draw his pocket-handkerchief out of his pocket, and with it the keys
+which he had just given him. The latter fell, and as there was a great
+pounding of iron going on in the building just over their heads, Howard
+did not perceive his loss but went quickly on. Franklin coming up behind
+him picked up the keys, and with a thought, or perhaps as yet with no
+thought, of the use to which they might be applied, put them in his own
+pocket before proceeding on his way.</p>
+
+<p>"New York is a large place, and much can take place in it without
+comment. Franklin Van Burnam and his sister-in-law met and went together
+to the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; without being either recognized or suspected till
+later developments drew attention to them. That <i>she</i> should consent to
+accompany him to this place, and that after she was there should submit,
+as she did, to taking all the business of the scheme upon herself, would
+be inconceivable in a woman of a self-respecting character; but Louise
+Van Burnam cared for little save her own aggrandisement, and rather
+enjoyed, so far as we can see, this very doubtful escapade, whose real
+meaning and murderous purpose she was so far from understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"As the steamer, contrary to all expectation, had not yet been sighted
+off Fire Island, they took a room and prepared to wait for it. That is,
+<i>she</i> prepared to wait. He had no intention of waiting for its arrival
+or of going to it when it came; he only wanted his letter. But Louise
+Van Burnam was not the woman to relinquish it till she had obtained the
+price she had put on it, and he becoming very soon aware of this fact,
+began<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> to ask himself if he should not be obliged to resort to extreme
+measures in order to regain it. One chance only remained for avoiding
+these. He would seem to embrace her later and probably much-talked-of
+scheme of presenting herself before his father in his own house rather
+than at the steamer; and by urging her to make its success more certain
+by a different style of dress from that she wore, induce a change of
+clothing, during which he might come upon the letter he was more than
+confident she carried about her person. Had this plan worked; had he
+been able to seize upon this compromising bit of paper, even at the cost
+of a scratch or two from her vigorous fingers, we should not be sitting
+here at this moment trying to account for the most complicated crime on
+record. But Louise Van Burnam, while weak and volatile enough to enjoy
+the romantic features of this transformation scene, even going so far as
+to write out the order herself with the same effort at disguise she had
+used in registering their assumed names at the desk, was not entirely
+his dupe, and having hidden the letter in her shoe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What!" I cried.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Having hidden the letter in her shoe</i>," repeated Mr. Gryce, with his
+finest smile, "she had but to signify that the boots sent by Altman were
+a size too small, for her to retain her secret and keep the one article
+she traded upon from his envious clutch. You seem struck dumb by this,
+Miss Butterworth. Have I enlightened you on a point that has hitherto
+troubled you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me; don't look at me." As if he ever looked at any one! "Your
+perspicacity is amazing, but I will try and not show my sense of it, if
+it is going to make you stop."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He smiled; the Inspector smiled: neither understood me.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well then, I will go on; but the non-change of shoes had to be
+accounted for, Miss Butterworth."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right; and it <i>has</i> been, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any better explanation to give?"</p>
+
+<p>I had, or thought I had, and the words trembled on my tongue. But I
+restrained myself under an air of great impatience. "Time is flying!" I
+urged, with as near a simulation of his own manner in saying the words
+as I could affect. "Go on, Mr. Gryce."</p>
+
+<p>And he did, though my manner evidently puzzled him.</p>
+
+<p>"Being foiled in this his last attempt, this smooth and diabolical
+villain hesitated no longer in carrying out the scheme which had
+doubtless been maturing in his mind ever since he dropped the key of his
+father's house into his own pocket. His brother's wife must die, but not
+in a hotel room with him for a companion. Though scorned, detested, and
+a stumbling-block in the way of the whole family's future happiness and
+prosperity, she still was a Van Burnam, and no shadow must fall upon her
+reputation. Further than this, for he loved life and his own reputation
+also, and did not mean to endanger either by this act of
+self-preservation, she must perish as if from accident, or by some blow
+so undiscoverable that it would be laid to natural causes. He thought he
+knew how this might be brought about. He had seen her put on her hat
+with a very thin and sharp pin, and he had heard how one thrust into a
+certain spot in the spine would effect death without a struggle. A wound
+like that would be small; almost indiscernible. True it would take skill
+to inflict it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> and it would require dissimulation to bring her into the
+proper position for the contemplated thrust; but he was not lacking in
+either of these characteristics; and so he set himself to the task he
+had promised himself, and with such success that ere long the two left
+the hotel and proceeded to the house in Gramercy Park with all the
+caution necessary for preserving a secret which meant reputation to the
+one, and liberty, if not life, to the other. That he and not she felt
+the greater need of secrecy, witness their whole conduct, and when,
+their goal reached, she and not he put the money into the driver's hand,
+the last act of this curious drama of opposing motives was reached, and
+only the final catastrophe was wanting.</p>
+
+<p>"With what arts he procured her hat-pin, and by what show of simulated
+passion he was able to approach near enough to her to inflict that cool
+and calculating thrust which resulted in her immediate death, I leave to
+<i>your</i> imagination. Enough that he compassed his ends, killing her and
+regaining the letter for the possession of which he had been willing to
+take a life. Afterwards&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, afterwards?"</p>
+
+<p>"The deed he had thought so complete began to assume a different aspect.
+The pin had broken in the wound, and, knowing the scrutiny which the
+body would receive at the hands of a Coroner's jury, he began to see
+what consequences might follow its discovery. So to hide that wound and
+give to her death the wished-for appearance of accident, he went back
+and drew down the cabinet under which she was found. Had he done this at
+once his hand in the tragedy might have escaped detection, but he
+waited, and by waiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> allowed the blood-vessels to stiffen and all
+that phenomena to become apparent by means of which the eyes of the
+physicians were opened to the fact that they must search deeper for the
+cause of death than the bruises she had received. Thus it is that
+Justice opens loop-holes in the finest web a criminal can weave."</p>
+
+<p>"A just remark, Mr. Gryce, but in this fine-spun web of <i>your</i> weaving,
+you have not explained how the clock came to be running and to stop at
+five."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot you see? A man capable of such a crime would not forget to
+provide himself with an alibi. He expected to be in his rooms at five,
+so before pulling down the shelves at three or four, he wound the clock
+and set it at an hour when he could bring forward testimony to his being
+in another place. Is not such a theory consistent with his character and
+with the skill he has displayed from the beginning to the end of this
+woful affair?"</p>
+
+<p>Aghast at the deftness with which this able detective explained every
+detail of this crime by means of a theory necessarily hypothetical if
+the discoveries I had made in the matter were true, and for the moment
+subjected to the overwhelming influence of his enthusiasm, I sat in a
+maze, asking myself if all the seemingly irrefutable evidence upon which
+men had been convicted in times gone by was as false as this. To relieve
+myself and to gain renewed confidence in my own views and the
+discoveries I had made in this matter, I repeated the name of Howard,
+and asked how, in case the whole crime was conceived and perpetrated by
+his brother, he came to utter such equivocations and to assume that
+position of guilt which had led to his own arrest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you think," I inquired, "that he was aware of his brother's part in
+this affair, and that out of compassion for him he endeavored to take
+the crime upon his own shoulders?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, madam. Men of the world do not carry their disinterestedness so
+far. He not only did not know the part his brother took in this crime,
+but did not even suspect it, or why acknowledge that he lost the key by
+which the house was entered?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand Howard's actions, even under these circumstances.
+They seem totally inconsistent to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, they are easily explainable to one who knows the character of
+his mind. He prizes his honor above every consideration, and regarded it
+as threatened by the suggestion that his wife had entered his father's
+empty house at midnight with another man. To save himself that shame, he
+was willing not only to perjure himself, but to take upon himself the
+consequences of his perjury. Quixotic, certainly, but some men are
+constituted that way, and he, for all his amiable characteristics, is
+the most dogged man I ever encountered. That he ran against snags in his
+attempted explanations, seemed to make no difference to him. He was
+bound that no one should accuse him of marrying a false woman, even if
+he must bear the opprobrium of her death. It is hard to understand such
+a nature, but re-read his testimony, and see if this explanation of his
+conduct is not correct."</p>
+
+<p>And still I mechanically repeated: "I do not understand."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce may not have been a patient man under all circumstances, but
+he was patient with me that day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It was his ignorance, Miss Butterworth, his total ignorance of the
+whole affair that led him into the inconsistencies he manifested. Let me
+present his case as I already have his brother's. He knew that his wife
+had come to New York to appeal to his father, and he gathered from what
+she said that she intended to do this either in his house or on the
+dock. To cut short any opportunity she might have for committing the
+first folly, he begged the key of the house from his brother, and,
+supposing that he had it all right, went to his rooms, not to Coney
+Island as he said, and began to pack up his trunks. For he meant to flee
+the country if his wife disgraced him. He was tired of her caprices and
+meant to cut them short as far as he was himself concerned. But the
+striking of the midnight hour brought better counsel. He began to wonder
+what she had been doing in his absence. Going out, he haunted the region
+of Gramercy Park for the better part of the night, and at daybreak
+actually mounted the steps of his father's house and prepared to enter
+it by means of the key he had obtained from his brother. But the key was
+not in his pocket, so he came down again and walked away, attracting the
+attention of Mr. Stone as he did so. The next day he heard of the
+tragedy which had taken place within those very walls; and though his
+first fears led him to believe that the victim was his wife, a sight of
+her clothes naturally dispelled this apprehension, for he knew nothing
+of her visit to the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; or of the change in her habiliments
+which had taken place there. His father's persistent fears and the quiet
+pressure brought to bear upon him by the police only irritated him, and
+not until confronted by the hat found on the scene of death, an article<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>
+only too well known as his wife's, did he yield to the accumulated
+evidence in support of her identity. Immediately he felt the full force
+of his unkindness towards her, and rushing to the Morgue had her poor
+body taken to that father's house and afterwards given a decent burial.
+But he could not accept the shame which this acknowledgment naturally
+brought with it, and, blind to all consequences, insisted, when brought
+up again for examination, that he was the man with whom she came to that
+lonely house. The difficulties into which this plunged him were partly
+foreseen and partly prepared for, and he showed some skill in
+surmounting them. But falsehoods never fit like truths, and we all felt
+the strain on our credulity as he met and attempted to parry the
+Coroner's questions.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Miss Butterworth, let me again ask if your turn has not come
+at last for adding the sum of your evidence to ours against Franklin Van
+Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>It had; I could not deny it, and as I realized that with it had also
+come the opportunity for justifying the pretensions I had made, I raised
+my head with suitable spirit and, after a momentary pause for the
+purpose of making my words the more impressive, I asked:</p>
+
+<p>"And what has made you think that <i>I</i> was interested in fixing the guilt
+on Franklin Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ICONOCLASM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The surprise which this very simple question occasioned, showed itself
+differently in the two men who heard it. The Inspector, who had never
+seen me before, simply stared, while Mr. Gryce, with that admirable
+command over himself which has helped to make him the most successful
+man on the force, retained his impassibility, though I noticed a small
+corner drop from my filigree basket as if crushed off by an inadvertent
+pressure of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I judged," was his calm reply, as he laid down the injured toy with an
+apologetic grunt, "that the clearing of Howard from suspicion meant the
+establishment of another man's guilt; and so far as we can see there has
+been no other party in the case besides these two brothers."</p>
+
+<p>"No? Then I fear a great surprise awaits you, Mr. Gryce. This crime,
+which you have fixed with such care and seeming probability upon
+Franklin Van Burnam, was not, in my judgment, perpetrated either by him
+or any other man. It was the act of a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">A woman</span>?"</p>
+
+<p>Both men spoke: the Inspector, as if he thought me demented; Mr. Gryce,
+as if he would like to have considered me a fool but dared not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a <i>woman</i>," I repeated, dropping a quiet curtsey. It was a proper
+expression of respect when I was young, and I see no reason why it
+should not be a proper expression of respect now, except that we have
+lost our manners in gaining our independence, something which is to be
+regretted perhaps. "A woman whom I know; a woman whom I can lay my hands
+on at a half-hour's notice; a young woman, sirs; a pretty woman, the
+owner of one of the two hats found in the Van Burnam parlors."</p>
+
+<p>Had I exploded a bomb-shell the Inspector could not have looked more
+astounded. The detective, who was a man of greater self-command, did not
+betray his feelings so plainly, though he was not entirely without them,
+for, as I made this statement, he turned and looked at me; <i>Mr. Gryce</i>
+looked at me.</p>
+
+<p>"Both of those hats belonged to Mrs. Van Burnam," he protested; "the one
+she wore from Haddam; the other was in the order from Altman's."</p>
+
+<p>"She never ordered anything from Altman's," was my uncompromising reply.
+"The woman whom I saw enter next door, and who was the same who left the
+Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; with the man in the linen duster, was not Louise Van Burnam.
+She was that lady's rival, and let me say it, for I dare to think it,
+not only her rival but the prospective taker of her life. O you need not
+shake your heads at each other so significantly, gentlemen. I have been
+collecting evidence as well as yourselves, and what I have learned is
+very much to the point; very much, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce you have!" muttered the Inspector, turning away from me; but
+Mr. Gryce continued to eye me like a man fascinated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Upon what," said he, "do you base these extraordinary assertions? I
+should like to hear what that evidence is."</p>
+
+<p>"But first," said I, "I must take a few exceptions to certain points you
+consider yourself to have made against Franklin Van Burnam. You believe
+him to have committed this crime because you found in a secret drawer of
+his desk a letter known to have been in Mrs. Van Burnam's hands the day
+she was murdered, and which you, naturally enough, I acknowledge,
+conceive he could only have regained by murdering her. But have you not
+thought of another way in which he could have obtained it, a perfectly
+harmless way, involving no one either in deceit or crime? May it not
+have been in the little hand-bag returned by Mrs. Parker on the morning
+of the discovery, and may not its crumpled condition be accounted for by
+the haste with which Franklin might have thrust it into his secret
+drawer at the untoward entrance of some one into his office?"</p>
+
+<p>"I acknowledge that I have not thought of such a possibility," growled
+the detective, below his breath, but I saw that his self-satisfaction
+had been shaken.</p>
+
+<p>"As for any proof of complicity being given by the presence of the rings
+on the hook attached to his desk, I grieve for your sake to be obliged
+to dispel that illusion also. Those rings, Mr. Gryce and Mr. Inspector,
+were not discovered there by the girl in gray, but taken there; and hung
+there at the very moment your spy saw her hand fumbling with the
+papers."</p>
+
+<p>"Taken there, and hung there by your maid! By the girl Lena, who has so
+evidently been working in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> <i>your</i> interests! What sort of a confession
+are you making, Miss Butterworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Mr. Gryce," I gently remonstrated, for I actually pitied the old
+man in his hour of humiliation, "other girls wear gray besides Lena. It
+was the woman of the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; who played this trick in Mr. Van
+Burnam's office. Lena was not out of my house that day."</p>
+
+<p>I had never thought Mr. Gryce feeble, though I knew he was over seventy
+if not very near the octogenarian age. But he drew up a chair at this
+and hastily sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about this other girl," said he.</p>
+
+<p>But before I repeat what I said to him, I must explain by what reasoning
+I had arrived at the conclusion I have just mentioned. That Ruth Oliver
+was the visitor in Mr. Van Burnam's office there was but little reason
+to doubt; that her errand was one in connection with the rings was
+equally plain. What else would have driven her from her bed when she was
+hardly able to stand, and sent her in a state of fever, if not delirium,
+down town to this office?</p>
+
+<p>She feared having these rings found in her possession, and she also
+cherished a desire to throw whatever suspicion was attached to them upon
+the man who was already compromised. She may have thought it was
+Howard's desk she approached, and she may have known it to be
+Franklin's. On that point I was in doubt, but the rest was clear to me
+from the moment Mr. Gryce mentioned the girl in gray; and even the spot
+where she had kept them in the interim since the murder was no longer an
+unsolved mystery to me. Her emotion when I touched her knitting-work
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> the shreds of unravelled wool I had found lying about after her
+departure, had set my wits working, and I comprehended now <i>that they
+had been wound up in the ball of yarn I had so carelessly handled</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But what had I to say to Mr. Gryce in answer to his question. Much; and
+seeing that further delay was injudicious, I began my story then and
+there. Prefacing my tale with the suspicions I had always had of Mrs.
+Boppert, I told them of my interview with that woman and of the valuable
+clue she had given me by confessing that she had let Mrs. Van Burnam
+into the house prior to the visit of the couple who entered there at
+midnight. Knowing what an effect this must produce upon Mr. Gryce,
+utterly unprepared for it as he was, I looked for some burst of anger on
+his part, or at least some expression of self-reproach. But he only
+broke a second piece off my little filigree basket, and, totally
+unconscious of the demolition he was causing, cried out with true
+professional delight:</p>
+
+<p>"Well! well! I've always said this was a remarkable case, a very
+remarkable case; but if we don't look out it will go ahead of that one
+at Sibley. <i>Two</i> women in the affair, and one of them in the house
+before the arrival of the so-called victim and her murderer! What do you
+think of that, Inspector? Rather late for us to find out so important a
+detail, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather," was the dry reply. At which Mr. Gryce's face grew long and he
+exclaimed, half shamefacedly, half jocularly:</p>
+
+<p>"Outwitted by a woman! Well, it's a new experience for me, Inspector,
+and you must not be surprised if it takes me a minute or so to get
+accustomed to it. A scrub-woman too! It cuts, Inspector, it cuts."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But as I went on, and he learned how I had obtained definite proof of
+the clock having been not only wound by the lady thus admitted to the
+house, but set also and that correctly, his face grew even longer, and
+he gazed quite dolefully at the small figure in the carpet to which he
+had transferred his attention.</p>
+
+<p>"So! so!" came in almost indistinguishable murmur from his lips. "All my
+pretty theory in regard to its being set by the criminal for the purpose
+of confirming his attempt at a false alibi was but a figment of my
+imagination, eh? Sad! sad! But it was neat enough to have been true, was
+it not, Inspector?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," that gentleman good-humoredly admitted, yet with a shade of
+irony in his tone that made me suspect that, for all his confidence in
+and evident admiration for this brilliant old detective, he felt a
+certain amount of pleasure at seeing him for once at fault. Perhaps it
+gave him more confidence in his own judgment, seeing that their ideas on
+this case had been opposed from the start.</p>
+
+<p>"Well! well! I'm getting old; that's what they'll say at Headquarters
+to-morrow. But go on, Miss Butterworth; let us hear what followed; for I
+am sure your investigations did not stop there."</p>
+
+<p>I complied with his request with as much modesty as possible. But it was
+hard to suppress all triumph in face of the unrestrained enthusiasm with
+which he received my communication. When I told him of the doubts I had
+formed in regard to the disposal of the packages brought from the Hotel
+D&mdash;&mdash;, and how to settle those doubts I had taken that midnight walk
+down Twenty-seventh Street, he looked astonished, his lips worked, and I
+really expected to see him try to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> pluck that flower up from the carpet,
+he ogled it so lovingly. But when I mentioned the lighted laundry and my
+discoveries there, his admiration burst all bounds, and he cried out,
+seemingly to the rose in the carpet, really to the Inspector:</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I tell you she was a woman in a thousand? See now! we ought to
+have thought of that laundry ourselves; but we didn't, none of us did;
+we were too credulous and too easily satisfied with the evidence given
+at the inquest. Well, I'm seventy-seven, but I'm not too old to learn.
+Proceed, Miss Butterworth."</p>
+
+<p>I admired him and I was sorry for him, but I never enjoyed myself so
+much in my whole life. How could I help it, or how could I prevent
+myself from throwing a glance now and then at the picture of my father
+smiling upon me from the opposite wall?</p>
+
+<p>It was my task now to mention the advertisement I had inserted in the
+newspapers, and the reflections which had led to my rather daring
+description of the wandering woman as one dressed thus and so, and
+<i>without a hat</i>. This seemed to strike him&mdash;as I had expected it
+would,&mdash;and he interrupted me with a quick slap of his leg, for which
+only that leg was prepared.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" he ejaculated; "a fine stroke! The work of a woman of genius! I
+could not have done better myself, Miss Butterworth. And what came of
+it? Something, I hope; talent like yours should not go unrewarded."</p>
+
+<p>"Two letters came of it," said I. "One from Cox, the milliner, saying
+that a bareheaded girl had bought a hat in his shop early on the morning
+designated; and another from a Mrs. Desberger appointing a meeting at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>
+which I obtained a definite clue to this girl, who, notwithstanding she
+wore Mrs. Van Burnam's clothes from the scene of tragedy, is not Mrs.
+Van Burnam herself, but a person by the name of Oliver, now to be found
+at Miss Althorpe's house in Twenty-first Street."</p>
+
+<p>As this was in a measure putting the matter into their hands, I saw them
+both grow impatient in their anxiety to see this girl for themselves.
+But I kept them for a few minutes longer while I related my discovery of
+the money in her shoes, and hinted at the explanation it afforded for
+her not changing those articles under the influence of the man who
+accompanied her.</p>
+
+<p>This was the last blow I dealt to the pride of Mr. Gryce. He quivered
+under it, but soon recovered, and was able to enjoy what he called
+another fine point in this remarkable case.</p>
+
+<p>But the acme of his delight was reached when I informed him of my
+ineffectual search for the rings, and my final conclusion that they had
+been wound up in the ball of yarn attached to her knitting-work.</p>
+
+<p>Whether his pleasure lay chiefly in the talent shown by Miss Oliver in
+her choice of a hiding-place for these jewels, or in the acumen
+displayed by myself in discovering it, I do not know; but he evinced an
+unbounded satisfaction in my words, crying aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful! I don't know of anything more interesting! We have not seen
+the like in years! I can almost congratulate myself upon my mistakes,
+the features of the case they have brought out are so fine!"</p>
+
+<p>But his satisfaction, great as it was, soon gave way to his anxiety to
+see this girl who, if not the criminal herself, was so important a
+factor in this great crime.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I was anxious myself to have him see her, though I feared her condition
+was not such as to promise him any immediate enlightenment on the
+doubtful portions of this far from thoroughly mastered problem. And I
+bade him interview the Chinaman also, and Mrs. Desberger, and even Mrs.
+Boppert, for I did not wish him to take for granted anything I had said,
+though I saw he had lost his attitude of disdain and was inclined to
+accept my opinions quite seriously.</p>
+
+<p>He answered in quite an off-hand manner while the Inspector stood by,
+but when that gentleman had withdrawn towards the door, Mr. Gryce
+remarked with more earnestness than he had yet used:</p>
+
+<p>"You have saved me from committing a folly, Miss Butterworth. If I had
+arrested Franklin Van Burnam to-day, and to-morrow all these facts had
+come to light, I should never have held up my head again. As it is,
+there will be numerous insinuations uttered by men on the force, and
+many a whisper will go about that Gryce is getting old, that Gryce has
+seen his best days."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" was my vigorous rejoinder. "You didn't have the clue, that
+is all. Nor did I get it through any keenness on my part, but from the
+force of circumstances. Mrs. Boppert thought herself indebted to me, and
+so gave me her confidence. Your laurels are very safe yet. Besides,
+there is enough work left on this case to keep more than one great
+detective like you busy. While the Van Burnams have not been proved
+guilty, they are not so freed from suspicion that you can regard your
+task as completed. If Ruth Oliver committed this crime, which of these
+two brothers was involved in it with her? The facts seem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> to point
+towards Franklin, but not so unerringly that no doubt is possible on the
+subject."</p>
+
+<p>"True, true. The mystery has deepened rather than cleared. Miss
+Butterworth, you will accompany me to Miss Althorpe's."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXIII" id="XXXIII"></a>XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>"KNOWN, KNOWN, ALL KNOWN."</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce possesses one faculty for which I envy him, and that is his
+skill in the management of people. He had not been in Miss Althorpe's
+house five minutes before he had won her confidence and had everything
+he wished at his command. <i>I</i> had to talk some time before getting so
+far, but <i>he</i>&mdash;a word and a look did it.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Oliver, for whom I hesitated to inquire, lest I should again find
+her gone or in a worse condition than when I left, was in reality
+better, and as we went up-stairs I allowed myself to hope that the
+questions which had so troubled us would soon be answered and the
+mystery ended.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Gryce evidently knew better, for when we reached her door he
+turned and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Our task will not be an easy one. Go in first and attract her attention
+so that I can enter unobserved. I wish to study her before addressing
+her; but, mind, no words about the murder; leave that to me."</p>
+
+<p>I nodded, feeling that I was falling back into my own place; and
+knocking softly entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>A maid was sitting with her. Seeing me, she rose and advanced, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Oliver is sleeping."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then I will relieve you," I returned, beckoning Mr. Gryce to come in.</p>
+
+<p>The girl left us and we two contemplated the sick woman silently.
+Presently I saw Mr. Gryce shake his head. But he did not tell me what he
+meant by it.</p>
+
+<p>Following the direction of his finger, I sat down in a chair at the head
+of the bed; he took his station at the side of it in a large arm-chair
+he saw there. As he did so I saw how fatherly and kind he really looked,
+and wondered if he was in the habit of so preparing himself to meet the
+eye of all the suspected criminals he encountered. The thought made me
+glance again her way. She lay like a statue, and her face, naturally
+round but now thinned out and hollow, looked up from the pillow in
+pitiful quiet, the long lashes accentuating the dark places under her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>A sad face, the saddest I ever saw and one of the most haunting.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to find it so also, for his expression of benevolent interest
+deepened with every passing moment, till suddenly she stirred; then he
+gave me a warning glance, and stooping, took her by the wrist and pulled
+out his watch.</p>
+
+<p>She was deceived by the action. Opening her eyes, she surveyed him
+languidly for a moment, then heaving a great sigh, turned aside her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't tell me I am better, doctor. I do not want to live."</p>
+
+<p>The plaintive tone, the refined accent, seemed to astonish him. Laying
+down her hand, he answered gently:</p>
+
+<p>"I do not like to hear that from such young lips, but it assures me that
+I was correct in my first surmise,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> that it is not medicine you need but
+a friend. And I can be that friend if you will but allow me."</p>
+
+<p>Moved, encouraged for the instant, she turned her head from side to
+side, probably to see if they were alone, and not observing me, answered
+softly:</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, very thoughtful, doctor, but"&mdash;and here her despair
+returned again&mdash;"it is useless; you can do nothing for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so," remonstrated the old detective, "but you do not know me,
+child. Let me show you that I can be of benefit to you." And he drew
+from his pocket a little package which he opened before her astonished
+eyes. "Yesterday, in your delirium, you left these rings in an office
+down-town. As they are valuable, I have brought them back to you. Wasn't
+I right, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! no!" She started up, and her accents betrayed terror and anguish,
+"I do not want them; I cannot bear to see them; they do not belong to
+<i>me</i>; they belong to <i>them</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"To <i>them</i>? Whom do you mean by them?" queried Mr. Gryce, insinuatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"The&mdash;the Van Burnams. Is not that the name? Oh, do not make me talk; I
+am so weak! Only take the rings back."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, child, I will." Mr. Gryce's voice was more than fatherly now,
+it was tender, really and sincerely tender. "I will take them back; but
+to which of the brothers shall I return them? To"&mdash;he hesitated
+softly&mdash;"to Franklin or to Howard?"</p>
+
+<p>I expected to hear her respond, his manner was so gentle and apparently
+sincere. But though feverish and on the verge of wildness, she had still
+some command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> over herself, and after giving him a look, the intensity
+of which called out a corresponding expression on his face, she faltered
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I don't care; I don't know either of the gentlemen; but to the one
+you call Howard, I think."</p>
+
+<p>The pause which followed was filled by the tap-tap of Mr. Gryce's
+fingers on his knee.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the one who is in custody," he observed at last. "The other,
+that is Franklin, has gone scot-free thus far, I hear."</p>
+
+<p>No answer from her close-shut lips.</p>
+
+<p>He waited.</p>
+
+<p>Still no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"If you do not know either of these gentlemen," he insinuated at last,
+"how did you come to leave the rings at their office?"</p>
+
+<p>"I knew their names&mdash;I inquired my way&mdash;It is all a dream now. Please,
+please do not ask me questions. O doctor! do you not see I cannot bear
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled&mdash;I never could smile like that under any circumstances&mdash;and
+softly patted her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I see it makes you suffer," he acknowledged, "but I must make you
+suffer in order to do you any good. If you would tell me all you know
+about these rings&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She passionately turned away her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I might hope to restore you to health and happiness. You know with what
+they are associated?"</p>
+
+<p>She made a slight motion.</p>
+
+<p>"And that they are an invaluable clue to the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>Another motion.</p>
+
+<p>"How then, my child, did <i>you</i> come to have them?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her head, which was rolling to and fro on the pillow, stopped and she
+gasped, rather than uttered:</p>
+
+<p>"I was <i>there</i>."</p>
+
+<p>He knew this, yet it was terrible to hear it from her lips; she was so
+young and had such an air of purity and innocence. But more heartrending
+yet was the groan with which she burst forth in another moment, as if
+impelled by conscience to unburden herself from some overwhelming load:</p>
+
+<p>"I took them; I could not help it; but I did not keep them; you know
+that I did not keep them. I am no thief, doctor; whatever I am, I am no
+thief."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I see that. But why take them, child? What were you doing in
+that house, and whom were you with?"</p>
+
+<p>She threw up her arms, but made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you not tell?" he urged.</p>
+
+<p>A short silence, then a low "No," evidently wrung from her by the
+deepest anguish.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce heaved a sigh; the struggle was likely to be a more serious
+one than he had anticipated.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Oliver," said he, "more facts are known in relation to this affair
+than you imagine. Though unsuspected at first, it has secretly been
+proven that the man who accompanied the woman into the house where the
+crime took place, was <i>Franklin</i> Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>A low gasp from the bed, and that was all.</p>
+
+<p>"You know this to be correct, don't you, Miss Oliver?"</p>
+
+<p>"O must you ask?" She was writhing now, and I thought he must desist out
+of pure compassion. But detectives are made out of very stern stuff, and
+though he looked sorry he went inexorably on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Justice and a sincere desire to help you, force me, my child. Were you
+not the woman who entered Mr. Van Burnam's house at midnight with this
+man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I entered the house."</p>
+
+<p>"At midnight?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And with this man?"</p>
+
+<p>Silence.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not speak, Miss Oliver."</p>
+
+<p>Again silence.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Franklin who was with you at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>She uttered a cry.</p>
+
+<p>"And it was Franklin who connived at your change of clothing there, and
+advised or allowed you to dress yourself in a new suit from Altman's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she cried again.</p>
+
+<p>"Then why should it not have been he who accompanied you to the
+Chinaman's, and afterwards took you in a second hack to the house in
+Gramercy Park?"</p>
+
+<p>"Known, known, all known!" was her moan.</p>
+
+<p>"Sin and crime cannot long remain hidden in this world, Miss Oliver. The
+police are acquainted with all your movements from the moment you left
+the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;. That is why I have compassion on you. I wish to save
+you from the consequences of a crime you saw committed, but in which you
+took no hand."</p>
+
+<p>"O," she exclaimed in one involuntary burst, as she half rose to her
+knees, "if you could save me from appearing in the matter at all! If you
+would let me run away&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Gryce was not the man to give her hope on any such score.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, Miss Oliver. You are the only person who can witness for
+the guilty. If <i>I</i> should let you go, the police would not. Then why not
+tell at once whose hand drew the hat-pin from your hat and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" she shrieked; "stop! you kill me! I cannot bear it! If you bring
+that moment back to my mind I shall go mad! I feel the horror of it
+rising in me now! Be still! I pray you, for God's sake, to be still!"</p>
+
+<p>This was mortal anguish; there was no acting in this. Even he was
+startled by the emotion he had raised, and sat for a moment without
+speaking. Then the necessity of providing against all further mistakes
+by fixing the guilt where it belonged, drove him on again, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Like many another woman before you, you are trying to shield a guilty
+man at your own expense. But it is useless, Miss Oliver; the truth
+always comes to light. Be advised, then, and make a confidant of one who
+understands you better than you think."</p>
+
+<p>But she would not listen to this.</p>
+
+<p>"No one understands me. I do not understand myself. I only know that I
+shall make a confidant of no one; that I shall never speak." And turning
+from him, she buried her head in the bedclothes.</p>
+
+<p>To most men her tone and the action which accompanied it would have been
+final. But Mr. Gryce possessed great patience. Waiting for just a moment
+till she seemed more composed, he murmured gently:</p>
+
+<p>"Not if you must suffer more from your silence than from speaking? Not
+if men&mdash;I do not mean myself, child, for I am your friend&mdash;will think
+that <i>you</i> are to blame for the death of the woman whom you saw fall
+under a cruel stab, and whose rings you have?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>I!</i>" Her horror was unmistakable; so were her surprise, her terror,
+and her shame, but she added nothing to the word she had uttered, and he
+was forced to say again:</p>
+
+<p>"The world, and by that I mean both good people and bad, will believe
+all this. <i>He</i> will let them believe all this. Men have not the devotion
+of women."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! alas!" It was a murmur rather than a cry, and she trembled so the
+bed shook visibly under her. But she made no response to the entreaty in
+his look and gesture, and he was compelled to draw back unsatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>When a few heavy minutes had passed, he spoke again, this time in a tone
+of sadness.</p>
+
+<p>"Few men are worth such sacrifices, Miss Oliver, and a criminal never.
+But a woman is not moved by that thought. She should be moved by this,
+however. If either of these brothers is to blame in this matter,
+consideration for the guiltless one should lead you to mention the name
+of the guilty."</p>
+
+<p>But even this did not visibly affect her.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall mention no names," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"A sign will answer."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall make no sign."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Howard must go to his trial?"</p>
+
+<p>A gasp, but no words.</p>
+
+<p>"And Franklin proceed on his way undisturbed?"</p>
+
+<p>She tried not to answer, but the words would come. Pray God! I may never
+see such a struggle again.</p>
+
+<p>"That is as God wills. I can do nothing in the matter." And she sank
+back crushed and wellnigh insensible.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce made no further effort to influence her.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXIV" id="XXXIV"></a>XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>EXACTLY HALF-PAST THREE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"She is more unfortunate than wicked," was Mr. Gryce's comment as we
+stepped into the hall. "Nevertheless, watch her closely, for she is in
+just the mood to do herself a mischief. In an hour, or at the most two,
+I shall have a woman here to help you. You can stay till then?"</p>
+
+<p>"All night, if you say so."</p>
+
+<p>"That you must settle with Miss Althorpe. As soon as Miss Oliver is up I
+shall have a little scheme to propose, by means of which I hope to
+arrive at the truth of this affair. I must know which of these two men
+she is shielding."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think she did not kill Mrs. Van Burnam herself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think the whole matter one of the most puzzling mysteries that has
+ever come to the notice of the New York police. We are sure that the
+murdered woman was Mrs. Van Burnam, that this girl was present at her
+death, and that she availed herself of the opportunity afforded by that
+death to make the exchange of clothing which has given such a
+complicated twist to the whole affair. But beyond these facts, we know
+little more than that it was Franklin Van Burnam who took her to the
+Gramercy Park house, and Howard who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> was seen in that same vicinity some
+two or four hours later. But on which of these two to fix the
+responsibility of Mrs. Van Burnam's death, is the question."</p>
+
+<p>"She had a hand in it herself," I persisted; "though it may have been
+without evil intent. No man ever carried that thing through without
+feminine help. To this opinion I shall stick, much as this girl draws
+upon my sympathies."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not try to persuade you to the contrary. But the point is to
+find out how much help, and to whom it was given."</p>
+
+<p>"And your scheme for doing this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot be carried out till she is on her feet again. So cure her, Miss
+Butterworth, cure her. When she can go down-stairs, Ebenezer Gryce will
+be on the scene to test his little scheme."</p>
+
+<p>I promised to do what I could, and when he was gone, I set diligently to
+work to soothe the child, as he had called her, and get her in trim for
+the delicate meal which had been sent up. And whether it was owing to a
+change in my own feelings, or whether the talk with Mr. Gryce had so
+unnerved her that any womanly ministration was welcome, she responded
+much more readily to my efforts than ever before, and in a little while
+lay in so calm and grateful a mood that I was actually sorry to see the
+nurse when she came. Hoping that something might spring from an
+interview with Miss Althorpe whereby my departure from the house might
+be delayed, I descended to the library, and was fortunate enough to find
+the mistress of the house there. She was sorting invitations, and looked
+anxious and worried.</p>
+
+<p>"You see me in a difficulty, Miss Butterworth. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> had relied on Miss
+Oliver to oversee this work, as well as to assist me in a great many
+other details, and I don't know of any one whom I can get on short
+notice to take her place. My own engagements are many and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me help you," I put in, with that cheerfulness her presence
+invariably inspires. "I have nothing pressing calling me home, and for
+once in my life I should like to take an active part in wedding
+festivities. It would make me feel quite young again."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;" she began.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," I hastened to say, "you think I would be more of a hindrance to
+you than a help; that I would do the work, perhaps, but in my own way
+rather than in yours. Well, that would doubtless have been true of me a
+month since, but I have learned a great deal in the last few weeks,&mdash;you
+will not ask me how,&mdash;and now I stand ready to do your work in your way,
+and to take a great deal of pleasure in it too."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Miss Butterworth," she exclaimed, with a burst of genuine feeling
+which I would not have lost for the world, "I always knew that you had a
+kind heart; and I am going to accept your offer in the same spirit in
+which it is made."</p>
+
+<p>So that was settled, and with it the possibility of my spending another
+night in this house.</p>
+
+<p>At ten o'clock I stole away from the library and the delightful company
+of Mr. Stone, who had insisted upon sharing my labors, and went up to
+Miss Oliver's room. I met the nurse at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"You want to see her," said she. "She's asleep, but does not rest very
+easily. I don't think I ever saw so pitiful a case. She moans
+continually, but not with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> physical pain. Yet she seems to have courage
+too; for now and then she starts up with a loud cry. Listen."</p>
+
+<p>I did so, and this is what I heard:</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want to live; doctor, I do not want to live; why do you try to
+make me better?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what she is saying all the time. Sad, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>I acknowledged it to be so, but at the same time wondered if the girl
+were not right in wishing for death as a relief from her troubles.</p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning I inquired at her door again. Miss Oliver was
+better. Her fever had left her, and she wore a more natural look than at
+any time since I had seen her. But it was not an untroubled one, and it
+was with difficulty I met her eyes when she asked if they were coming
+for her that day, and if she could see Miss Althorpe before she left. As
+she was not yet able to leave her bed I could easily answer her first
+question, but I knew too little of Mr. Gryce's intentions to be able to
+reply to the second. But I was easy with this suffering woman, very
+easy, more easy than I ever supposed I could be with any one so
+intimately associated with crime.</p>
+
+<p>She seemed to accept my explanations as readily as she already had my
+presence, and I was struck again with surprise as I considered that my
+name had never aroused in her the least emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Althorpe has been so good to me I should like to thank her; from
+my despairing heart, I should like to thank her," she said to me as I
+stood by her side before leaving. "Do you know"&mdash;she went on, catching
+me by the dress as I was turning away&mdash;"what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> kind of a man she is going
+to marry? She has such a loving heart, and marriage is such a fearful
+risk."</p>
+
+<p>"Fearful?" I repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not fearful? To give one's whole soul to a man and be met by&mdash;I
+must not talk of it; I must not think of it&mdash;But is he a good man? Does
+he love Miss Althorpe? Will she be happy? I have no right to ask,
+perhaps, but my gratitude towards her is such that I wish her every joy
+and pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Althorpe has chosen well," I rejoined. "Mr. Stone is a man in ten
+thousand."</p>
+
+<p>The sigh that answered me went to my heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I will pray for her," she murmured; "that will be something to live
+for."</p>
+
+<p>I did not know what reply to make to this. Everything which this girl
+said and did was so unexpected and so convincing in its sincerity, I
+felt moved by her even against my better judgment. I pitied her and yet
+I dared not urge her on to speak, lest I should fail in my task of
+making her well. I therefore confined myself to a few haphazard
+expressions of sympathy and encouragement, and left her in the hands of
+the nurse.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Mr. Gryce called.</p>
+
+<p>"Your patient is better," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Much better," was my cheerful reply. "This afternoon she will be able
+to leave the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; have her down at half-past three and I will be in front with
+a carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"I dread it," I cried; "but I will have her there."</p>
+
+<p>"You are beginning to like her, Miss Butterworth. Take care! You will
+lose your head if your sympathies become engaged."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It sits pretty firmly on my shoulders yet," I retorted; "and as for
+sympathies, you are full of them yourself. I saw how you looked at her
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah, <i>my</i> looks!"</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot deceive me, Mr. Gryce; you are as sorry for the girl as you
+can be; and so am I too. By the way, I do not think I should speak of
+her as a girl. From something she said yesterday I am convinced she is a
+married woman; and that her husband&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, madam?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not give him a name, at least not before your scheme has been
+carried out. Are you ready for the undertaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will be this afternoon. At half-past three she is to leave the house.
+Not a minute before and not a minute later. Remember."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXV" id="XXXV"></a>XXXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A RUSE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a new thing for me to enter into any scheme blindfold. But the
+past few weeks had taught me many lessons and among them to trust a
+little in the judgment of others.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly I was on hand with my patient at the hour designated, and,
+as I supported her trembling steps down the stairs, I endeavored not to
+betray the intense interest agitating me, or to awaken by my curiosity
+any further dread in her mind than that involved by her departure from
+this home of bounty and good feeling, and her entrance upon an unknown
+and possibly much to be apprehended future.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce was awaiting us in the lower hall, and as he caught sight of
+her slender figure and anxious face his whole attitude became at once so
+protecting and so sympathetic, I did not wonder at her failure to
+associate him with the police.</p>
+
+<p>As she stepped down to his side he gave her a genial nod.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you so far on the road to recovery," he remarked. "It
+shows me that my prophecy is correct and that in a few days you will be
+quite yourself again."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him wistfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You seem to know so much about me, doctor, perhaps you can tell me
+where they are going to take me."</p>
+
+<p>He lifted a tassel from a curtain near by, looked at it, shook his head
+at it, and inquired quite irrelevantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you bidden good-bye to Miss Althorpe?"</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes stole towards the parlors and she whispered as if half in awe
+of the splendor everywhere surrounding her:</p>
+
+<p>"I have not had the opportunity. But I should be sorry to go without a
+word of thanks for her goodness. Is she at home?"</p>
+
+<p>The tassel slipped from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You will find her in a carriage at the door. She has an engagement out
+this afternoon, but wishes to say good-bye to you before leaving."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how kind she is!" burst from the girl's white lips; and with a
+hurried gesture she was making for the door when Mr. Gryce stepped
+before her and opened it.</p>
+
+<p>Two carriages were drawn up in front, neither of which seemed to possess
+the elegance of so rich a woman's equipage. But Mr. Gryce appeared
+satisfied, and pointing to the nearest one, observed quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"You are expected. If she does not open the carriage door for you, do
+not hesitate to do it yourself. She has something of importance to say
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Oliver looked surprised, but prepared to obey him. Steadying
+herself by the stone balustrade, she slowly descended the steps and
+advanced towards the carriage. I watched her from the doorway and Mr.
+Gryce from the vestibule. It seemed an ordinary situation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> but
+something in the latter's face convinced me that interests of no small
+moment depended upon the interview about to take place.</p>
+
+<p>But before I could decide upon their nature or satisfy myself as to the
+full meaning of Mr. Gryce's manner, she had started back from the
+carriage door and was saying to him in a tone of modest embarrassment:</p>
+
+<p>"There is a gentleman in the carriage; you must have made some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce, who had evidently expected a different result from his
+stratagem, hesitated for a moment, during which I felt that he read her
+through and through; then he responded lightly:</p>
+
+<p>"I made a mistake, eh? Oh, possibly. Look in the other carriage, my
+child."</p>
+
+<p>With an unaffected air of confidence she turned to do so, and I turned
+to watch her, for I began to understand the "scheme" at which I was
+assisting, and foresaw that the emotion she had failed to betray at the
+door of the first carriage might not necessarily be lacking on the
+opening of the second.</p>
+
+<p>I was all the more assured of this from the fact that Miss Althorpe's
+stately figure was very plainly to be seen at that moment, not in the
+coach Miss Oliver was approaching, but in an elegant victoria just
+turning the corner.</p>
+
+<p>My expectations were realized; for no sooner had the poor girl swung
+open the door of the second hack, than her whole body succumbed to a
+shock so great that I expected to see her fall in a heap on the
+pavement. But she steadied herself up with a determined effort, and with
+a sudden movement full of subdued fury, jumped into the carriage and
+violently shut the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> door just as the first carriage drove off to give
+place to Miss Althorpe's turn-out.</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" sprang from Mr. Gryce's lips in a tone so full of varied
+emotions that it was with difficulty I refrained from rushing down the
+stoop to see for myself who was the occupant of the coach into which my
+late patient had so passionately precipitated herself. But the sight of
+Miss Althorpe being helped to the ground by her attendant lover,
+recalled me so suddenly to my own anomalous position on her stoop, that
+I let my first impulse pass and concerned myself instead with the
+formation of those apologies I thought necessary to the occasion. But
+those apologies were never uttered. Mr. Gryce, with the infinite tact he
+displays in all serious emergencies, came to my rescue, and so
+distracted Miss Althorpe's attention that she failed to observe that she
+had interrupted a situation of no small moment.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the coach containing Miss Oliver had, at a signal from the
+wary detective, drawn off in the wake of the first one, and I had the
+doubtful satisfaction of seeing them both roll down the street without
+my having penetrated the secret of either.</p>
+
+<p>A glance from Mr. Stone, who had followed Miss Althorpe up the stoop,
+interrupted Mr. Gryce's flow of eloquence, and a few minutes later I
+found myself making those adieux which I had hoped to avoid by departing
+in Miss Althorpe's absence. Another instant and I was hastening down the
+street in the direction taken by the two carriages, one of which had
+paused at the corner a few rods off.</p>
+
+<p>But, spry as I am for one of my settled habits and sedate character, I
+found myself passed by Mr. Gryce;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> and when I would have accelerated my
+steps, he darted forward quite like a boy and, without a word of
+explanation or any acknowledgment of the mutual understanding which
+certainly existed between us, leaped into the carriage I was endeavoring
+to reach, and was driven away. But not before I caught a glimpse of Miss
+Oliver's gray dress inside.</p>
+
+<p>Determined not to be baffled by this man, I turned about and followed
+the other carriage. It was approaching a crowded part of the avenue, and
+in a few minutes I had the gratification of seeing it come to a
+standstill only a few feet from the curb-stone. The opportunity thus
+afforded me of satisfying my curiosity was not to be slighted. Without
+pausing to consider consequences or to question the propriety of my
+conduct, I stepped boldly up in front of its half-lowered window and
+looked in. There was but one person inside, and that person was Franklin
+Van Burnam.</p>
+
+<p>What was I to conclude from this? That the occupant of the other
+carriage was Howard, and that Mr. Gryce now knew with which of the two
+brothers Miss Oliver's memories were associated.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="BOOK_IV" id="BOOK_IV"></a><i>BOOK IV.</i></h2>
+
+<h2>THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XXXVI" id="XXXVI"></a>XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RESULT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was as much surprised at this result of Mr. Gryce's scheme as he was,
+and possibly I was more chagrined. But I shall not enter into my
+feelings on the subject, or weary you any further with my conjectures.
+You will be much more interested, I know, in learning what occurred to
+Mr. Gryce upon entering the carriage holding Miss Oliver.</p>
+
+<p>He had expected, from the intense emotion she displayed at the sight of
+Howard Van Burnam (for I was not mistaken as to the identity of the
+person occupying the carriage with her), to find her flushed with the
+passions incident upon this meeting, and her companion in a condition of
+mind which would make it no longer possible for him to deny his
+connection with this woman and his consequently guilty complicity in a
+murder to which both were linked by so many incriminating circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>But for all his experience, the detective was disappointed in this
+expectation, as he had been in so many others connected with this case.
+There was nothing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> Miss Oliver's attitude to indicate that she had
+unburdened herself of any of the emotions with which she was so
+grievously agitated, nor was there on Mr. Van Burnam's part any deeper
+manifestation of feeling than a slight glow on his cheek, and even that
+disappeared under the detective's scrutiny, leaving him as composed and
+imperturbable as he had been in his memorable inquisition before the
+Coroner.</p>
+
+<p>Disappointed, and yet in a measure exhilarated by this sudden check in
+plans he had thought too well laid for failure, Mr. Gryce surveyed the
+young girl more carefully, and saw that he had not been mistaken in
+regard to the force or extent of the feelings which had driven her into
+Mr. Van Burnam's presence; and turning back to that gentleman, was about
+to give utterance to some very pertinent remarks, when he was
+forestalled by Mr. Van Burnam inquiring, in his old calm way, which
+nothing seemed able to disturb:</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this crazy girl you have forced upon me? If I had known I was to
+be subjected to such companionship I should not have regarded my outing
+so favorably."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce, who never allowed himself to be surprised by anything a
+suspected criminal might do or say, surveyed him quietly for a moment,
+then turned towards Miss Oliver.</p>
+
+<p>"You hear what this gentleman calls you?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>Her face was hidden by her hands, but she dropped them as the detective
+addressed her, showing a countenance so distorted by passion that it
+stopped the current of his thoughts, and made him question whether the
+epithet bestowed upon her by their somewhat callous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> companion was
+entirely unjustified. But soon the something else which was in her face
+restored his confidence in her sanity, and he saw that while her reason
+might be shaken it was not yet dethroned, and that he had good cause to
+expect sooner or later some action from a woman whose misery could wear
+an aspect of such desperate resolution.</p>
+
+<p>That he was not the only one affected by the force and desperate
+character of her glance became presently apparent, for Mr. Van Burnam,
+with a more kindly tone than he had previously used, observed quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"I see the lady is suffering. I beg pardon for my inconsiderate words. I
+have no wish to insult the unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>Never was Mr. Gryce so nonplussed. There was a mingled courtesy and
+composure in the speaker's manner which was as far removed as possible
+from that strained effort at self-possession which marks suppressed
+passion or secret fear; while in the vacant look with which she met
+these words there was neither anger nor scorn nor indeed any of the
+passions one would expect to see there. The detective consequently did
+not force the situation, but only watched her more and more attentively
+till her eyes fell and she crouched away from them both. Then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"You can name this gentleman, can you not, Miss Oliver, even if he does
+not choose to recognize <i>you</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>But her answer, if she made one, was inaudible, and the sole result
+which Mr. Gryce obtained from this venture was a quick look from Mr. Van
+Burnam and the following uncompromising words from his lips:</p>
+
+<p>"If you think this young girl knows me, or that I know her, you are
+greatly mistaken. She is as much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> of a stranger to me as I am to her,
+and I take this opportunity of saying so. I hope my liberty and good
+name are not to be made dependent upon the word of a miserable waif like
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"Your liberty and your good name will depend upon your innocence,"
+retorted Mr. Gryce, and said no more, feeling himself at a disadvantage
+before the imperturbability of this man and the silent, non-accusing
+attitude of this woman, from the shock of whose passions he had
+anticipated so much and obtained so little.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime they were moving rapidly towards Police Headquarters, and
+fearing that the sight of that place might alarm Miss Oliver more than
+was well for her, he strove again to rouse her by a kindly word or so.
+But it was useless. She evidently tried to pay attention and follow the
+words he used, but her thoughts were too busy over the one great subject
+that engrossed her.</p>
+
+<p>"A bad case!" murmured Mr. Van Burnam, and with the phrase seemed to
+dismiss all thought of her.</p>
+
+<p>"A bad case!" echoed Mr. Gryce, "but," seeing how fast the look of
+resolution was replacing her previous aspect of frenzy, "one that will
+do mischief yet to the man who has deceived her."</p>
+
+<p>The stopping of the carriage roused her. Looking up, she spoke for the
+first time.</p>
+
+<p>"I want a police officer," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gryce, with all his assurance restored, leaped to the ground and
+held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I will take you into the presence of one," said he; and she, without a
+glance at Mr. Van Burnam, whose knee she brushed in passing, leaped to
+the ground, and turned her face towards Police Headquarters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXVII" id="XXXVII"></a>XXXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>"TWO WEEKS!"</h3>
+
+
+<p>But before she was well in, her countenance changed.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said she, "I want to think first. Give me time to think. I dare
+not say a word without thinking."</p>
+
+<p>"Truth needs no consideration. If you wish to denounce this man&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Her look said she did.</p>
+
+<p>"Then now is the time."</p>
+
+<p>She gave him a sharp glance; the first she had bestowed upon him since
+leaving Miss Althorpe's.</p>
+
+<p>"You are no doctor," she declared. "Are you a police-officer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a detective."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" and she hesitated for a moment, shrinking from him with very
+natural distrust and aversion. "I have been in the toils then without
+knowing it; no wonder I am caught. But I am no criminal, sir; and if you
+are the one most in authority here, I beg the privilege of a few words
+with you before I am put into confinement."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take you before the Superintendent," said Mr. Gryce. "But do you
+wish to go alone? Shall not Mr. Van Burnam accompany you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Van Burnam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not he you wish to denounce?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish to denounce any one to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish?" asked Mr. Gryce.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see the man who has power to hold me here or let me go, and I
+will tell him."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Mr. Gryce, and led her into the presence of the
+Superintendent.</p>
+
+<p>She was at this moment quite a different person from what she had been
+in the carriage. All that was girlish in her aspect or appealing in her
+bearing had faded away, evidently forever, and left in its place
+something at once so desperate and so deadly, that she seemed not only a
+woman but one of a very determined and dangerous nature. Her manner,
+however, was quiet, and it was only in her eye that one could see how
+near she was to frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke before the Superintendent could address her.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said she, "I have been brought here on account of a fearful crime
+I was unhappy enough to witness. I myself am innocent of that crime,
+but, so far as I know, there is no other person living save the guilty
+man who committed it, who can tell you how or why or by whom it was
+done. One man has been arrested for it and another has not. If you will
+give me two weeks of complete freedom, I will point out to you which is
+the veritable man of blood, and may Heaven have mercy on his soul!"</p>
+
+<p>"She is mad," signified the Superintendent in by-play to Mr. Gryce.</p>
+
+<p>But the latter shook his head; she was not mad yet.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," she continued, without a hint of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> timidity which seemed
+natural to her under other circumstances, "that this must seem a
+presumptuous request from one like me, but it is only by granting it
+that you will ever be able to lay your hand on the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam. For I will never speak if I cannot speak in my own way and at my
+own time. The agonies I have suffered must have some compensation.
+Otherwise I should die of horror and my grief."</p>
+
+<p>"And how do you hope to gain compensation by this delay?" expostulated
+the Superintendent. "Would you not meet with more satisfaction in
+denouncing him here and now before he can pass another night in fancied
+security?"</p>
+
+<p>But she only repeated: "I have said two weeks, and two weeks I must
+have. Two weeks in which to come and go as I please. Two weeks!" And no
+argument they could advance succeeded in eliciting from her any other
+response or in altering in any way her air of quiet determination with
+its underlying suggestion of frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>Acknowledging their mutual defeat by a look, the Superintendent and
+detective drew off to one side, and something like the following
+conversation took place between them.</p>
+
+<p>"You think she's sane?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"And will remain so two weeks?"</p>
+
+<p>"If humored."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure she is implicated in this crime?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was a witness to it."</p>
+
+<p>"And that she speaks the truth when she declares that she is the only
+person who can point out the criminal?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that is, she is the only one who will do it. The attitude taken by
+the Van Burnams, especially by Howard just now in the presence of this
+girl, shows how little we have to expect from them."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you think they know as much as she does about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know what to think. For once I am baffled, Superintendent.
+Every passion which this woman possesses was roused by her unexpected
+meeting with Howard Van Burnam, and yet their indifference when
+confronted, as well as her present action, seems to argue a lack of
+connection between them which overthrows at once the theory of his
+guilt. Was it the sight of Franklin, then, which really affected her?
+and was her apparent indifference at meeting him only an evidence of her
+self-control? It seems an impossible conclusion to draw, and indeed
+there are nothing but hitches and improbable features in this case.
+Nothing fits; nothing jibes. I get just so far in it and then I run up
+against a wall. Either there is a superhuman power of duplicity in the
+persons who contrived this murder or we are on the wrong tack
+altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"In other words, you have tried every means known to you to get at the
+truth of this matter, and failed."</p>
+
+<p>"I have, sir; sorry as I may be to acknowledge it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we must accept her terms. She can be shadowed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then. Extreme cases must be met by extreme measures. We will
+let her have her swing, and see what comes of it. Revenge is a great
+weapon in the hands of a determined woman, and from her look I think she
+will make the most of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And returning to where the young girl stood, the Superintendent asked
+her whether she felt sure the murderer would not escape in the time that
+must elapse before his apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly her cheek, which had looked as if it could never show color
+again, flushed a deep and painful scarlet, and she cried vehemently:</p>
+
+<p>"If any hint of what is here passing should reach him I should be
+powerless to prevent his flight. Swear, then, that my very existence
+shall be kept a secret between you two, or I will do nothing towards his
+apprehension,&mdash;no, not even to save the innocent."</p>
+
+<p>"We will not swear, but we will promise," returned the Superintendent.
+"And now, when may we expect to hear from you again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two weeks from to-night as the clock strikes eight. Be wherever I may
+chance to be at that hour, and see on whose arm I lay my hand. It will
+be that of the man who killed Mrs. Van Burnam."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXVIII" id="XXXVIII"></a>XXXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A WHITE SATIN GOWN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The events just related did not come to my knowledge for some days after
+they occurred, but I have recorded them at this time that I might in
+some way prepare you for an interview which shortly after took place
+between myself and Mr. Gryce.</p>
+
+<p>I had not seen him since our rather unsatisfactory parting in front of
+Miss Althorpe's house, and the suspense which I had endured in the
+interim made my greeting unnecessarily warm. But he took it all very
+naturally.</p>
+
+<p>"You are glad to see me," said he; "been wondering what has become of
+Miss Oliver. Well, she is in good hands; with Mrs. Desberger, in short;
+a woman whom I believe you know."</p>
+
+<p>"With Mrs. Desberger?" I <i>was</i> surprised. "Why, I have been looking
+every day in the papers for an account of her arrest."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt," he answered. "But we police are slow; we are not ready to
+arrest her yet. Meanwhile you can do us a favor. She wants to see you;
+are you willing to visit her?"</p>
+
+<p>My answer contained but little of the curiosity and eagerness I really
+felt.</p>
+
+<p>"I am always at your command. Do you wish me to go now?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Miss Oliver is impatient," he admitted. "Her fever is better, but she
+is in an excited condition of mind which makes her a little
+unreasonable. To be plain, she is not quite herself, and while we still
+hope something from her testimony, we are leaving her very much to her
+own devices, and do not cross her in anything. You will therefore listen
+to what she says, and, if possible, aid her in anything she may
+undertake, unless it points directly towards self-destruction. My
+opinion is that she will surprise you. But you are becoming accustomed
+to surprises, are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to you, I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then, I have but one more suggestion to make. You are
+working for the police now, madam, and nothing that you see or learn in
+connection with this girl is to be kept back from us. Am I understood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly; but it is only proper for me to retort that I am not
+entirely pleased with the part you assign me. Could you not have left
+thus much to my good sense, and not put it into so many words?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, madam, the case at present is too serious for risks of that kind.
+Mr. Van Burnam's reputation, to say nothing of his life, depends upon
+our knowledge of this girl's secret; surely you can stretch a point in a
+matter of so much moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have already stretched several, and I can stretch one more, but I
+hope the girl won't look at me too often with those miserable appealing
+eyes of hers; they make me feel like a traitor."</p>
+
+<p>"You will not be troubled by any appeal in them. The appeal has
+vanished; something harder and even more difficult to meet is to be
+found in them now:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> wrath, purpose, and a desire for vengeance. She is
+not the same woman, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," I sighed, "I am sorry; there is something about the girl that
+lays hold of me, and I hate to see such a change in her. Did she ask for
+me by name?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot understand her wanting me, but I will go; and I won't leave
+her either till she shows me she is tired of me. I am as anxious to see
+the end of this matter as you are." Then, with some vague idea that I
+had earned a right to some show of confidence on his part, I added
+insinuatingly: "I supposed you would feel the case settled when she
+almost fainted at the sight of the younger Mr. Van Burnam."</p>
+
+<p>The old ambiguous smile I remembered so well came to modify his brusque
+rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>"If she had been a woman like you, I should; but she is a deep one, Miss
+Butterworth; too deep for the success of a little ruse like mine. Are
+you ready?"</p>
+
+<p>I was not, but it did not take me long to be so, and before an hour had
+elapsed I was seated in Mrs. Desberger's parlor in Ninth Street. Miss
+Oliver was in, and ere long made her appearance. She was dressed in
+street costume.</p>
+
+<p>I was prepared for a change in her, and yet the shock I felt when I
+first saw her face must have been apparent, for she immediately
+remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"You find me quite well, Miss Butterworth. For this I am partially
+indebted to you. You were very good to nurse me so carefully. Will you
+be still kinder, and help me in a new matter which I feel quite
+incompetent to undertake alone?"</p>
+
+<p>Her face was flushed, her manner nervous, but her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> eyes had an
+extraordinary look in them which affected me most painfully,
+notwithstanding the additional effect it gave to her beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," said I. "What can I do for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to buy me a dress," was her unexpected reply. "A handsome dress.
+Do you object to showing me the best shops? I am a stranger in New
+York."</p>
+
+<p>More astonished than I can express, but carefully concealing it in
+remembrance of the caution received from Mr. Gryce, I replied that I
+would be only too happy to accompany her on such an errand. Upon which
+she lost her nervousness and prepared at once to go out with me.</p>
+
+<p>"I would have asked Mrs. Desberger," she observed while fitting on her
+gloves, "but her taste"&mdash;here she cast a significant look about the
+room&mdash;"is not quiet enough for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think not!" I cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be a trouble to you," the girl went on, with a gleam in her eye
+that spoke of the restless spirit within. "I have many things to buy,
+and they must all be rich and handsome."</p>
+
+<p>"If you have money enough, there will be no trouble about that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have money." She spoke like a millionaire's daughter. "Shall we
+go to Arnold's?"</p>
+
+<p>As I always traded at Arnold's, I readily acquiesced, and we left the
+house. But not before she had tied a very thick veil over her face.</p>
+
+<p>"If we meet any one, do not introduce me," she begged. "I cannot talk to
+people."</p>
+
+<p>"You may rest easy," I assured her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the corner she stopped. "Is there any way of getting a carriage?" she
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>I signalled a hack.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for the dress!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>We rode at once to Arnold's.</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a dress do you want?" I inquired as we entered the store.</p>
+
+<p>"An evening one; a white satin, I think."</p>
+
+<p>I could not help the exclamation which escaped me; but I covered it up
+as quickly as possible by a hurried remark in favor of white, and we
+proceeded at once to the silk counter.</p>
+
+<p>"I will trust it all to you," she whispered in an odd, choked tone as
+the clerk approached us. "Get what you would for your daughter&mdash;no, no!
+for Mr. Van Burnam's daughter, if he has one, and do not spare expense.
+I have five hundred dollars in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Van Burnam's daughter! Well, well! A tragedy of some kind was
+portending! But I bought the dress.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said she, "lace, and whatever else I need to make it up suitably.
+And I must have slippers and gloves. You know what a young girl requires
+to make her look like a lady. I want to look so well that the most
+critical eye will detect no fault in my appearance. It can be done, can
+it not, Miss Butterworth? My face and figure will not spoil the effect,
+will they?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I; "you have a good face and a beautiful figure. You ought to
+look well. Are you going to a ball, my dear?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am going to a ball," she answered; but her tone was so strange the
+people passing us turned to look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us have everything sent to the carriage," said she, and went with
+me from counter to counter with her ready purse in her hand, but not
+once lifting her veil to look at what was offered us, saying over and
+over as I sought to consult her in regard to some article: "Buy the
+richest; I leave it all to you."</p>
+
+<p>Had Mr. Gryce not told me she must be humored, I could never have gone
+through this ordeal. To see a girl thus expend her hoarded savings on
+such frivolities was absolutely painful to me, and more than once I was
+tempted to decline any further participation in such extravagance. But a
+thought of my obligations to Mr. Gryce restrained me, and I went on
+spending the poor girl's dollars with more pain to myself than if I had
+taken them out of my own pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Having purchased all the articles we thought necessary, we were turning
+towards the door when Miss Oliver whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Wait for me in the carriage for just a few minutes. I have one more
+thing to buy, and I must do it alone."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;" I began.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do it, and I will not be followed," she insisted, in a shrill
+tone that made me jump.</p>
+
+<p>And seeing no other way of preventing a scene, I let her leave me,
+though it cost me an anxious fifteen minutes.</p>
+
+<p>When she rejoined me, as she did at the expiration of that time, I eyed
+the bundle she held with decided curiosity. But I could make no guess at
+its contents.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she cried, as she reseated herself and closed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> the carriage door,
+"where shall I find a dressmaker able and willing to make up this satin
+in five days?"</p>
+
+<p>I could not tell her. But after some little search we succeeded in
+finding a woman who engaged to make an elegant costume in the time given
+her. The first measurements were taken, and we drove back to Ninth
+Street with a lasting memory in my mind of the cold and rigid form of
+Miss Oliver standing up in Madame's triangular parlor, submitting to the
+mechanical touches of the modiste with an outward composure, but with a
+brooding horror in her eyes that bespoke an inward torment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXXIX" id="XXXIX"></a>XXXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WATCHFUL EYE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As I parted with Miss Oliver on Mrs. Desberger's stoop and did not visit
+her again in that house, I will introduce the report of a person better
+situated than myself to observe the girl during the next few days. That
+the person thus alluded to was a woman in the service of the police is
+evident, and as such may not meet with your approval, but her words are
+of interest, as witness:</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Friday <span class="smcap">p.m.</span></p>
+
+<p>"Party went out to-day in company with an elderly female of respectable
+appearance. Said elderly female wears puffs, and moves with great
+precision. I say this in case her identification should prove necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"I had been warned that Miss O. would probably go out, and as the man
+set to watch the front door was on duty, I occupied myself during her
+absence in making a neat little hole in the partitions between our two
+rooms, so that I should not be obliged to offend my next-door neighbor
+by too frequent visits to her apartment. This done, I awaited her
+return, which was delayed till it was almost dark. When she did come in,
+her arms were full of bundles. These she thrust into a bureau-drawer,
+with the exception of one, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> she laid with great care under her
+pillow. I wondered what this one could be, but could get no inkling from
+its size or shape. Her manner when she took off her hat was fiercer than
+before, and a strange smile, which I had not previously observed on her
+lips, added force to her expression. But it paled after supper-time, and
+she had a restless night. I could hear her walk the floor long after I
+thought it prudent on my part to retire, and at intervals through the
+night I was disturbed by her moaning, which was not that of a sick
+person but of one very much afflicted in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday.</p>
+
+<p>"Party quiet. Sits most of the time with hands clasped on her knee
+before the fire. Given to quick starts as if suddenly awakened from an
+absorbing train of thought. A pitiful object, especially when seized by
+terror as she is at odd times. No walks, no visitors to-day. Once I
+heard her speak some words in a strange language, and once she drew
+herself up before the mirror in an attitude of so much dignity I was
+surprised at the fine appearance she made. The fire of her eyes at this
+moment was remarkable. I should not be surprised at any move she might
+make.</p>
+
+<p>"Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>"She has been writing to-day. But when she had filled several pages of
+letter paper she suddenly tore them all up and threw them into the fire.
+Time seems to drag with her, for she goes every few minutes to the
+window from which a distant church clock is visible, and sighs as she
+turns away. More writing in the evening and some tears. But the writing
+was burned as before, and the tears stopped by a laugh that augurs
+little good to the person who called it up. The package<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> has been taken
+from under her pillow and put in some place not visible from my
+spy-hole.</p>
+
+<p>"Monday.</p>
+
+<p>"Party out again to-day, gone some two hours or more. When she returned
+she sat down before the mirror and began dressing her hair. She has fine
+hair, and she tried arranging it in several ways. None seemed to satisfy
+her, and she tore it down again and let it hang till supper-time, when
+she wound it up in its usual simple knot. Mrs. Desberger spent some
+minutes with her, but their talk was far from confidential, and
+therefore uninteresting. I wish people would speak louder when they talk
+to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday.</p>
+
+<p>"Great restlessness on the part of the young person I am watching. No
+quiet for her, no quiet for me, yet she accomplishes nothing, and as yet
+has furnished me no clue to her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"A huge box was brought into the room to-night. It seemed to cause her
+dread rather than pleasure, for she shrank at sight of it, and has not
+yet attempted to open it. But her eyes have never left it since it was
+set down on the floor. It looks like a dressmaker's box, but why such
+emotion over a gown?</p>
+
+<p>"Wednesday.</p>
+
+<p>"This morning she opened the box but did not display its contents. I
+caught one glimpse of a mass of tissue paper, and then she put the cover
+on again, and for a good half hour sat crouching down beside it,
+shuddering like one in an ague-fit. I began to feel there was something
+deadly in the box, her eyes wandered towards it so frequently and with
+such contradictory looks of dread and savage determination. When she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+got up it was to see how many more minutes of the wretched day had
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>"Thursday.</p>
+
+<p>"Party sick; did not try to leave her bed. Breakfast brought up by Mrs.
+Desberger, who showed her every attention, but could not prevail upon
+her to eat. Yet she would not let the tray be taken away, and when she
+was alone again or thought herself alone, she let her eyes rest so long
+on the knife lying across her plate, that I grew nervous and could
+hardly restrain myself from rushing into the room. But I remembered my
+instructions, and kept still even when I saw her hand steal towards this
+possible weapon, though I kept my own on the bell-rope which fortunately
+hung at my side. She looked quite capable of wounding herself with the
+knife, but after balancing it a moment in her hand, she laid it down
+again and turned with a low moan to the wall. She will not attempt death
+till she has accomplished what is in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Friday.</p>
+
+<p>"All is right in the next room; that is, the young lady is up; but there
+is another change in her appearance since last night. She has grown
+contemptuous of herself and indulges less in brooding. But her
+impatience at the slow passage of time continues, and her interest in
+the box is even greater than before. She does not open it, however, only
+looks at it and lays her trembling hand now and then on the cover.</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday.</p>
+
+<p>"A blank day. Party dull and very quiet. Her eyes begin to look like
+ghastly hollows in her pale face. She talks to herself continually, but
+in a low mechanical way exceedingly wearing to the listener, especially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
+as no word can be distinguished. Tried to see her in her own room
+to-day, but she would not admit me.</p>
+
+<p>"Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>"I have noticed from the first a Bible lying on one end of her
+mantel-shelf. To-day she noticed it also, and impulsively reached out
+her hand to take it down. But at the first word she read she gave a low
+cry and hastily closed the book and put it back. Later, however, she
+took it again and read several chapters. The result was a softening in
+her manner, but she went to bed as flushed and determined as ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Monday.</p>
+
+<p>"She has walked the floor all day. She has seen no one, and seems
+scarcely able to contain her impatience. She cannot stand this long.</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday.</p>
+
+<p>"My surprises began in the morning. As soon as her room had been put in
+order, Miss O. locked the door and began to open her bundles. First she
+unrolled a pair of white silk stockings, which she carefully, but
+without any show of interest, laid on the bed; then she opened a package
+containing gloves. They were white also, and evidently of the finest
+quality. Then a lace handkerchief was brought to light, slippers, an
+evening fan, and a pair of fancy pins, and lastly she opened the
+mysterious box and took out a dress so rich in quality and of such
+simple elegance, it almost took my breath away. It was white, and made
+of the heaviest satin, and it looked as much out of place in that shabby
+room as its owner did in the moments of exaltation of which I have
+spoken.</p>
+
+<p>"Though her face was flushed when she lifted out the gown, it became
+pale again when she saw it lying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> across her bed. Indeed, a look of
+passionate abhorrence characterized her features as she contemplated it,
+and her hands went up before her eyes and she reeled back uttering the
+first words I have been able to distinguish since I have been on duty.
+They were violent in character, and seemed to tear their way through her
+lips almost without her volition. 'It is hate I feel, nothing but hate.
+Ah, if it were only duty that animated me!'</p>
+
+<p>"Later she grew calmer, and covering up the whole paraphernalia with a
+stray sheet she had evidently laid by for the purpose, she sent for Mrs.
+Desberger. When that lady came in she met her with a wan but by no means
+dubious smile, and ignoring with quiet dignity the very evident
+curiosity with which that good woman surveyed the bed, she said
+appealingly:</p>
+
+<p>"'You have been so kind to me, Mrs. Desberger, that I am going to tell
+you a secret. Will it continue to remain a secret, or shall I see it in
+the faces of all my fellow-boarders to-morrow?' You can imagine Mrs.
+Desberger's reply, also the manner in which it was delivered, but not
+Miss Oliver's secret. She uttered it in these words: 'I am going out
+to-night, Mrs. Desberger. I am going into great society. I am going to
+attend Miss Althorpe's wedding.' Then, as the good woman stammered out
+some words of surprise and pleasure, she went on to say: 'I do not want
+any one to know it, and I would be so glad if I could slip out of the
+house without any one seeing me. I shall need a carriage, but you will
+get one for me, will you not, and let me know the moment it comes. I am
+shy of what folks say, and besides, as you know, I am neither happy nor
+well, if I do go to weddings, and have new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> dresses, and&mdash;&mdash;' She nearly
+broke down but collected herself with wonderful promptitude, and with a
+coaxing look that made her almost ghastly, so much it seemed out of
+accord with her strained and unnatural manner, she raised a corner of
+the sheet, saying, 'I will show you my gown, if you will promise to help
+me quietly out of the house,' which, of course, produced the desired
+effect upon Mrs. Desberger, that woman's greatest weakness being her
+love of dress.</p>
+
+<p>"So from that hour I knew what to expect, and after sending
+precautionary advices to Police Headquarters, I set myself to watch her
+prepare for the evening. I saw her arrange her hair and put on her
+elegant gown, and was as much startled by the result as if I had not had
+the least premonition that she only needed rich clothes to look both
+beautiful and distinguished. The square parcel she had once hidden under
+her pillow was brought out and laid on the bed, and when Mrs.
+Desberger's low knock announced the arrival of the carriage, she caught
+it up and hid it under the cloak she hastily threw about her. Mrs.
+Desberger came in and put out the light, but before the room sank into
+darkness I caught one glimpse of Miss Oliver's face. Its expression was
+terrible beyond anything I had ever seen on any human countenance."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XL" id="XL"></a>XL.</h2>
+
+<h3>AS THE CLOCK STRUCK.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I do not attend weddings in general, but great as my suspense was in
+reference to Miss Oliver, I felt that I could not miss seeing Miss
+Althorpe married.</p>
+
+<p>I had ordered a new dress for the occasion, and was in the best of
+spirits as I rode to the church in which the ceremony was to be
+performed. The excitement of a great social occasion was for once not
+disagreeable to me, nor did I mind the crowd, though it pushed me about
+rather uncomfortably till an usher came to my assistance and seated me
+in a pew, which I was happy to see commanded a fine view of the chancel.</p>
+
+<p>I was early, but then I always am early, and having ample opportunity
+for observation, I noted every fine detail of ornamentation with
+approval, Miss Althorpe's taste being of that fine order which always
+falls short of ostentation. Her friends are in very many instances my
+friends, and it was no small part of my pleasure to note their
+well-known faces among the crowd of those that were strange to me. That
+the scene was brilliant, and that silks, satins, and diamonds abounded,
+goes without saying.</p>
+
+<p>At last the church was full, and the hush which usually precedes the
+coming of the bride was settling over the whole assemblage, when I
+suddenly observed, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> the person of a respectable-looking gentleman
+seated in a side pew, the form and features of Mr. Gryce, the detective.
+This was a shock to me, yet what was there in his presence there to
+alarm me? Might not Miss Althorpe have accorded him this pleasure out of
+the pure goodness of her heart? I did not look at anybody else, however,
+after once my eyes fell upon him, but continued to watch his expression,
+which was non-commital, though a little anxious for one engaged in a
+purely social function.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance of the clergyman and the sudden peal of the organ in the
+well-known wedding march recalled my attention to the occasion itself,
+and as at that moment the bridegroom stepped from the vestry to await
+his bride at the altar, I was absorbed by his fine appearance and the
+air of mingled pride and happiness with which he watched the stately
+approach of the bridal procession.</p>
+
+<p>But suddenly there was a stir through the whole glittering assemblage,
+and the clergyman made a move and the bridegroom gave a start, and the
+sound, slight as it was, of moving feet grew still, and I saw advancing
+from the door on the opposite side of the altar a second bride, clad in
+white and surrounded by a long veil which completely hid her face. A
+second bride! and the first was half-way up the aisle, and only one
+bridegroom stood ready!</p>
+
+<p>The clergyman, who seemed to have as little command of his faculties as
+the rest of us, tried to speak; but the approaching woman, upon whom
+every regard was fixed, forestalled him by an authoritative gesture.</p>
+
+<p>Advancing towards the chancel, she took her place on the spot reserved
+for Miss Althorpe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Silence had filled the church up to this moment; but at this audacious
+move, a solitary wailing cry of mingled astonishment and despair went up
+behind us; but before any of us could turn, and while my own heart stood
+still, for I thought I recognized this veiled figure, the woman at the
+altar raised her hand and pointed towards the bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he hesitate?" she cried. "Does he not recognize the only woman
+with whom he dare face God and man at the altar? Because I am already
+his wedded wife, and have been so for five long years, does that make my
+wearing of this veil amiss when he a husband, unreleased by the law,
+dares enter this sacred place with the hope and expectation of a
+bridegroom?"</p>
+
+<p>It was Ruth Oliver who spoke. I recognized her voice as I had recognized
+her apparel; but the emotions aroused in me by her presence and the
+almost incredible claims she advanced were lost in the horror inspired
+by the man she thus vehemently accused. No lost spirit from the pit
+could have shown a more hideous commingling of the most terrible
+passions known to man than he did in the face of this terrible
+arraignment; and if Ella Althorpe, cowering in her shame and misery
+half-way up the aisle, saw him in all his depravity at that instant as I
+did, nothing could have saved her long-cherished love from immediate
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he tried to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"It is false!" he cried; "all false! The woman I once called wife is
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Dead, Olive Randolph? Murderer!" she exclaimed. "The blow struck in the
+dark found another victim!" And pulling the veil from her face, Ruth
+Oliver advanced to his side and laid her trembling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> hand with a firm and
+decisive movement on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>Was it her words, her touch, or the sound of the clock striking eight in
+the great tower over our heads, which so totally overwhelmed him? As the
+last stroke of the hour which was to have seen him united with Miss
+Althorpe died out in the awed spaces above him, he gave a cry such as I
+am sure never resounded between those sacred walls before, and sank in a
+heap on the spot where but a few minutes previous he had lifted his head
+in all the glow and pride of a prospective bridegroom.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XLI" id="XLI"></a>XLI.</h2>
+
+<h3>SECRET HISTORY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was hours before I found myself able to realize that the scene I had
+just witnessed had a deeper and much more dreadful significance than
+appeared to the general eye, and that Ruth Oliver, in her desperate
+interruption of these treacherous nuptials, had not only made good her
+prior claim to Randolph Stone as her husband, but had pointed him out to
+all the world as the villainous author of that crime which for so long a
+time had occupied my own and the public's attention.</p>
+
+<p>Thinking that you may find the same difficulty in grasping this terrible
+fact, and being anxious to save you from the suspense under which I
+myself labored for so many hours, I here subjoin a written statement
+made by this woman some weeks later, in which the whole mystery is
+explained. It is signed Olive Randolph; the name to which she evidently
+feels herself best entitled.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"The man known in New York City as Randolph Stone was first seen by me
+in Michigan five years ago. His name then was John Randolph, and how he
+has since come to add to this the further appellation of Stone, I must
+leave to himself to explain.</p>
+
+<p>"I was born in Michigan myself, and till my eighteenth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> year I lived
+with my father, who was a widower without any other child, in a little
+low cottage amid the sand mounds that border the eastern side of the
+lake.</p>
+
+<p>"I was not pretty, but every man who passed me on the beach or in the
+streets of the little town where we went to market and to church,
+stopped to look at me, and this I noticed, and from this perhaps my
+unhappiness arose.</p>
+
+<p>"For before I was old enough to know the difference between poverty and
+riches, I began to lose all interest in my simple home duties, and to
+cast longing looks at the great school building where girls like myself
+learned to speak like ladies and play the piano. Yet these ambitious
+promptings might have come to nothing if I had never met <i>him</i>. I might
+have settled down in my own sphere and lived a useful if unsatisfied
+life like my mother and my mother's mother before her.</p>
+
+<p>"But fate had reserved me for wretchedness, and one day just as I was on
+the verge of my eighteenth year, I saw John Randolph.</p>
+
+<p>"I was coming out of church when our eyes first met, and I noticed after
+the first shock my simple heart received from his handsome face and
+elegant appearance, that he was surveying me with that strange look of
+admiration I had seen before on so many faces; and the joy this gave me,
+and the certainty which came with it of my seeing him again, made that
+moment quite unlike any other in my whole life, and was the beginning of
+that passion which has undone me, ruined him, and brought death and
+sorrow to many others of more worth than either of us.</p>
+
+<p>"He was not a resident of the town, but a passing visitor; and his
+intention had been, as he has since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> told me, to leave the place on the
+following day. But the dart which had pierced my breast had not glanced
+entirely aside from his, and he remained, as he declared, to see what
+there was in this little country-girl's face to make it so
+unforgettable. We met first on the beach and afterwards under the strip
+of pines which separate our cottage from the sand mounds, and though I
+have no reason to believe he came to these interviews with any honest
+purpose or deep sincerity of feeling, it is certain he exerted all his
+powers to make them memorable to me, and that, in doing so, he awoke
+some of the fire in his own breast which he took such wicked pleasure in
+arousing in mine.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact he soon showed that this was so, for I could take no step from
+the house without encountering him; and the one indelible impression
+remaining to me from those days is the expression his face wore as, one
+sunny afternoon, he laid my hand on his arm and drew me away to have a
+look at the lake booming on the beach below us. There was no love in it
+as I understand love now, but the passion which informed it almost
+amounted to intoxication, and if such a passion can be understood
+between a man already cultivated and a girl who hardly knew how to read,
+it may, in a measure, account for what followed.</p>
+
+<p>"My father, who was no fool, and who saw the selfish quality in this
+attractive lover of mine, was alarmed by our growing intimacy. Taking an
+opportunity when we were both in a more sensible mood than common, he
+put the case before Mr. Randolph in a very decided way. He told him that
+either he must marry me at once or quit seeing me altogether. No delay
+was to be considered and no compromise allowed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As my father was a man with whom no one ever disputed, John Randolph
+prepared to leave the town, declaring that he could marry no one at that
+stage of his career. But before he could carry out his intention, the
+old intoxication returned, and he came back in a fever of love and
+impatience to marry me.</p>
+
+<p>"Had I been older or more experienced in the ways of the world, I would
+have known that such passion as this evinced was short-lived; that there
+is no witchery in a smile lasting enough to make men like him forget the
+lack of those social graces to which they are accustomed. But I was mad
+with happiness, and was unconscious of any cloud lowering upon our
+future till the day of our first separation came, when an event occurred
+which showed me what I might expect if I could not speedily raise myself
+to his level.</p>
+
+<p>"We were out walking, and we met a lady who had known Mr. Randolph
+elsewhere. She was well dressed, which I was not, though I had not
+realized it till I saw how attractive she looked in quiet colors and
+with only a simple ribbon on her hat; and she had, besides, a way of
+speaking which made my tones sound harsh, and robbed me of that feeling
+of superiority with which I had hitherto regarded all the girls of my
+acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>"But it was not her possession of these advantages, keenly as I felt
+them, which awakened me to the sense of my position. It was the surprise
+she showed (a surprise the source of which was not to be mistaken) when
+he introduced me to her as his wife; and though she recovered herself in
+a moment, and tried to be kind and gracious, I felt the sting of it and
+saw that he felt it too, and consequently was not at all astonished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>
+when, after she had passed us, he turned and looked at me critically for
+the first time.</p>
+
+<p>"But his way of showing his dissatisfaction gave me a shock it took me
+years to recover from. 'Take off that hat,' he cried, and when I had
+obeyed him, he tore out the spray which to my eyes had been its chief
+adornment, and threw it into some bushes near by; then he gave me back
+the hat and asked for the silk neckerchief which I had regarded as the
+glory of my bridal costume. Giving it to him I saw him put it in his
+pocket, and understanding now that he was trying to make me look more
+like the lady we had passed, I cried out passionately: 'It is not these
+things that make the difference, John, but my voice and way of walking
+and speaking. Give me money and let me be educated, and then we will see
+if any other woman can draw your eyes away from me.'</p>
+
+<p>"But he had received a shock that made him cruel. 'You cannot make a
+silk purse out of a sow's ear,' he sneered, and was silent all the rest
+of the way home. I was silent too, for I never talk when I am angry, but
+when we arrived in our own little room I confronted him.</p>
+
+<p>"'Are you going to say any more such cruel things to me?' I asked, 'for
+if you are, I should like you to say them now and be done with it.'</p>
+
+<p>"He looked desperately angry, but there was yet a little love left in
+his heart for me, for he laughed after he had looked at me for a minute,
+and took me in his arms and said some of the fine things with which he
+had previously won my heart, but not with the old fire and not with the
+old effect upon me. Yet my love had not grown cold, it had only changed
+from the unthinking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> stage to the thinking one, and I was quite in
+earnest when I said: 'I know I am not as pretty or as nice as the ladies
+you are accustomed to. But I have a heart that has never known any other
+passion than its love for you, and from such a heart you ought to expect
+a lady to grow, and there will. Only give me the chance, John; only let
+me learn to read and write.'</p>
+
+<p>"But he was in an incredulous state of mind, and it ended in his going
+away without making any arrangements for my education. He was bound for
+San Francisco, where he had business to transact, and he promised to be
+back in four weeks, but before the four weeks elapsed, he wrote me that
+it would be five, and later on that it would be six, and afterwards that
+it would be when he had finished a big piece of work he was engaged
+upon, and which would bring him a large amount of money. I believed him
+and I doubted him at the same time, but I was not altogether sorry he
+delayed his return for I had begun school on my own account and was fast
+laying the foundation of a solid education.</p>
+
+<p>"My means came from my father, who, now it was too late, saw the
+necessity of my improving myself. The amount of studying I did that
+first year was amazing, but it was nothing to what I went through the
+second, for my husband's letters had begun to fail me, and I was forced
+to work in order to drown grief and keep myself from despair. Finally no
+letters came at all, and when the second year was over, and I could at
+least express myself correctly, I woke to the realization that, so far
+as my husband was concerned, I had gone through all this labor for
+nothing, and that unless by some fortunate chance I could light upon
+some clue to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> his whereabouts in the great world beyond our little town,
+I would be likely to pass the remainder of my days in widowhood and
+desolation.</p>
+
+<p>"My father dying at this time and leaving me a thousand dollars, I knew
+no better way of spending it than in the hopeless search I have just
+mentioned. Accordingly after his burial I started out on my travels,
+gaining experience with every mile. I had not been away a week before I
+realized what a folly I had indulged in in ever hoping to see John
+Randolph back at my side. I saw the homes in which such men as he lived,
+and met in cars and on steamboats the kind of people with whom he must
+associate to be happy, and a gulf seemed to open between us which even
+such love as mine would be powerless to bridge.</p>
+
+<p>"But though hope thus sank in my breast, I did not lose my old ambition
+of making myself as worthy of him as circumstances would permit. I read
+only the best books and I allowed myself to become acquainted with only
+the best people, and as I saw myself liked by such the awkwardness of my
+manner gradually disappeared, and I began to feel that the day would
+come when I should be universally recognized as a lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Meantime I did not advance an iota in the object of my journey; and at
+last, with every expectation gone of ever seeing my husband again, I
+made my way to Toledo. Here I speedily found employment, and what was
+better still to one of my ambitious tendencies, an opportunity to add to
+the sum of my accomplishments a knowledge of French and music. The
+French I learned from the family I lived with, and the music from a
+professor in the same house whose love for his pet art was so great that
+he found it simple happiness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> to impart it to one so greedy for
+improvement as myself.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, in course of time, I also learned type-writing, and it was for
+the purpose of seeking employment in this capacity that I finally came
+to New York. This was three months ago.</p>
+
+<p>"I was in complete ignorance of the city when I entered it, and for a
+day or two I wandered to and fro, searching for a suitable
+lodging-house. It was while I was on my way to Mrs. Desberger's that I
+saw advancing towards me a gentleman in whose air and manner I detected
+a resemblance to the husband who some five years since had deserted me.
+The shock was too much for my self-control. Quaking in every limb, I
+stood awaiting his approach, and when he came up to me, and I saw by his
+startled recognition of me that it was indeed he, I gave a loud cry and
+threw myself upon his arm. The start he gave was nothing to the
+frightful expression which crossed his face at this encounter, but I
+thought both due to his surprise, though now I am convinced they had
+their origin in the deepest and worst emotions of which a man is
+capable.</p>
+
+<p>"'John! John!' I cried, and could say no more, for the agitations of
+five solitary, despairing years were choking me; but he was entirely
+voiceless, stricken, I have no doubt, beyond any power of mine to
+realize. How could I dream that in consideration, power, and prestige he
+had advanced even more rapidly than myself, and that at this very moment
+he was not only the idol of society, but on the verge of uniting himself
+to a woman&mdash;I will not say of marrying her, for marry her he could not
+while I lived&mdash;who would make him the envied possessor of millions. Such
+fortune, such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> daring, yes and such depravity, were beyond the reach of
+my imagination, and while I thought his pleasure less than mine, I did
+not dream that my existence was a menace to all his hopes, and that
+during this moment of speechlessness he was sounding his nature for
+means to rid himself of me even at the cost of my life.</p>
+
+<p>"His first movement was to push me away, but I clung to him all the
+harder; at which his whole manner changed and he began to make futile
+efforts to calm me and lead me away from the spot. Seeing that these
+attempts were unavailing, he turned pale and raised his arm up
+passionately, but speedily dropped it again, and casting glances this
+way and that, broke suddenly into a loud laugh and became, as by the
+touch of a magician's wand, my old lover again.</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, Olive!' he cried; 'why, Olive! is it you? (Did I say my name was
+Olive?) Happily met, my dear! I did not know what I had been missing all
+these years, but now I know it was you. Will you come with me, or shall
+I go home with you?'</p>
+
+<p>"'I have no home,' said I, 'I have just come into town.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Then I see but one alternative.' He smiled, and what a power there was
+in his smile when he chose to exert it! 'You must come to my apartments;
+are you willing?'</p>
+
+<p>"'I am your wife,' I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"He had taken me on his arm by this time and the recoil he made at these
+words was quite perceptible; but his face still smiled, and I was too
+mad with joy to be critical.</p>
+
+<p>"'And a very pretty and charming wife you have become,' said he, drawing
+me on for a few steps. Suddenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> he paused, and I felt the old shadow
+fall between us again. 'But your dress is very shabby,' he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not; it was not near as shabby as the linen duster he himself
+wore.</p>
+
+<p>"'Is that rain?' he inquired, looking up as a drop or two fell.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, it is raining.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Very well, let us go into this store we are coming to and buy a
+gossamer. That will cover up your gown. I cannot take you to my house
+dressed as you are now.'</p>
+
+<p>"Surprised, for I had thought my dress very neat and lady-like, but
+never dreaming of questioning his taste any more than in the old days in
+Michigan, I went with him into the shop he had pointed out and bought me
+a gossamer, for which he paid. When he had helped me to put it on and
+had tied my veil well over my face, he seemed more at his ease and gave
+me his arm quite cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"'Now,' said he, 'you look well, but how about the time when you will
+have to take the gossamer off? I tell you what it is, my dear, you will
+have to refit yourself entirely before I shall be satisfied.' And again
+I saw him cast about him that furtive and inquiring look which would
+have awakened more surprise in me than it did had I known that we were
+in a part of the city where he ran but little chance of meeting any one
+he knew.</p>
+
+<p>"'This old duster I have on,' he suddenly laughed, 'is a very
+appropriate companion to your gossamer,' and though I did not agree with
+him, for my clothes were new, and his old and shabby, I laughed also and
+never dreamed of evil.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As this garment which so disfigured him that morning has been the
+occasion of much false speculation on the part of those whose business
+it was to inquire into the crime with which it is in a most unhappy way
+connected, I may as well explain here and now why so fastidious a
+gentleman as Randolph Stone came to wear it. The gentleman called Howard
+Van Burnam was not the only person who visited the Van Burnam offices on
+the morning preceding the murder. Randolph Stone was there also, but he
+did not see the brothers, for finding them closeted together, he decided
+not to interrupt them. As he was a frequent visitor there, his presence
+created no remark nor was his departure noted. Descending the stairs
+separating the offices from the street, he was about to leave the
+building, when he noticed that the clouds looked ominous. Being dressed
+for a luncheon with Miss Althorpe, he felt averse to getting wet, so he
+stepped back into the adjoining hall and began groping for an umbrella
+in a little closet under the stairs where he had once before found such
+an article. While doing this he heard the younger Van Burnam descend and
+go out, and realizing that he could now see Franklin without difficulty,
+he was about to return up-stairs when he heard that gentleman also come
+down and follow his brother into the street.</p>
+
+<p>"His first impulse was to join him, but finding nothing but an old
+duster in the closet, he gave up this intention, and putting on this
+shabby but protecting garment, started for his apartments, little
+realizing into what a course of duplicity and crime it was destined to
+lead him. For to the wearing of this old duster on this especial
+morning, innocent as the occasion was, I attribute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> John Randolph's
+temptation to murder. Had he gone out without it, he would have taken
+his usual course up Broadway and never met <i>me</i>; or even if he had taken
+the same roundabout way to his apartments as that which led to our
+encounter, he would never have dared, in his ordinary fine dress,
+conspicuous as it made him, to have entered upon those measures, which,
+as he is clever enough to know, lead to disgrace, if they do not end in
+a felon's cell. It was John Randolph, then, or Randolph Stone, as he is
+pleased to call himself in New York, and not Franklin Van Burnam (who
+had doubtless proceeded in another direction) who came up to where
+Howard had stood, saw the keys he had dropped, and put them in his own
+pocket. It was as innocent an action as the donning of the duster, and
+yet it was fraught with the worst consequences to himself and others.</p>
+
+<p>"Being of the same height and complexion as Franklin Van Burnam, and
+both gentlemen wearing at that time a moustache (my husband shaved his
+off after the murder), the mistakes which arose out of this strange
+equipment were but natural. Seen from the rear or in the semi-darkness
+of a hotel-office they might look alike, though to me or to any one
+studying them well, their faces are really very different.</p>
+
+<p>"But to return. Leading me through streets of which I knew nothing, he
+presently stopped before the entrance of a large hotel.</p>
+
+<p>"'I tell you what, Olive,' said he, 'we had better go in here, take a
+room, and send for such things as you require to make you look like a
+lady.'</p>
+
+<p>"As I had no objection to anything which kept me at his side, I told him
+that whatever suited him suited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> me, and followed him quite eagerly into
+the office. I did not know then that this hotel was a second-rate one,
+not having had experience with the best, but if I had, I should not have
+wondered at his choice, for there was nothing in his appearance, as I
+have already intimated, or in his manners up to this point, to lead me
+to think he was one of the city's great swells, and that it was only in
+such an unfashionable house as this he would be likely to pass
+unrecognized. How with his markedly handsome features and distinguished
+bearing he managed so to carry himself as to look like a man of inferior
+breeding, I can no more explain than I can the singular change which
+took place in him when once he found himself in the midst of the crowd
+which lounged about this office.</p>
+
+<p>"From a man to attract all eyes he became at once a man to attract none,
+and slouched and looked so ordinary that I stared at him in
+astonishment, little thinking that he had assumed this manner as a
+disguise. Seeing me at a loss, he spoke up quite peremptorily:</p>
+
+<p>"'Let us keep our secret, Olive, till you can appear in the world
+full-fledged. And look here, darling, won't you go to the desk and ask
+for a room? I am no hand at any such business.'</p>
+
+<p>"Confounded at a proposition so unexpected, but too much under the spell
+of my feelings to dispute his wishes, I faltered out:</p>
+
+<p>"'But supposing they ask me to register?'</p>
+
+<p>"At which he gave me a look which recalled the old days in Michigan, and
+quietly sneered:</p>
+
+<p>"'Give them a fictitious name. You have learned to write by this time,
+have you not?'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Stung by his taunt, but more in love with him than ever, for his
+momentary display of passion had made him look both masterful and
+handsome, I went up to the desk to do his bidding.</p>
+
+<p>"'A room!' said I; and when asked to write our names in the book that
+lay before me, I put down the first that suggested itself. I wrote with
+my gloves on, which was why the writing looked so queer that it was
+taken for a disguised hand.</p>
+
+<p>"This done, he rejoined me, and we went up-stairs, and I was too happy
+to be in his company again to wonder at his peculiarities or weigh the
+consequences of the implicit confidence I accorded him. I was
+desperately in love once more, and entered into every plan he proposed
+without a thought beyond the joyous present. He was so handsome without
+his hat; and when after some short delay he threw aside the duster, I
+felt myself for the first time in my life in the presence of a finished
+gentleman. Then his manner was so changed. He was so like his oldest and
+best self, so dangerously like what he was in those long vanished hours
+under the pines in my sand-swept home on the shores of Lake Michigan.
+That he faltered at times and sank into strange spells of silence which
+had something in them that made my breath come fitfully, did not awaken
+my apprehension or rouse in me more than a passing curiosity. I thought
+he regretted the past, and when, after one such pause in our
+conversation, he drew out of his pocket a couple of keys tied together
+with a string, and surveyed the card attached to them with a strange
+look, easily enough to be understood by me now, I only laughed at his
+abstraction, and indulged in a fresh caress to make him more mindful of
+my presence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"These keys were the ones which Mrs. Van Burnam's husband had dropped,
+and which he had picked up before meeting me; and after he had put them
+back into his pocket he became more talkative than before, and more
+systematically lover-like. I think he had not seen his way clearly till
+this moment, the dark and dreadful way which was to end, as he supposed,
+in my death.</p>
+
+<p>"But I feared nothing, suspected nothing. Such deep and desperate
+wickedness as he was planning was beyond the wildest flight of my
+imagination. When he insisted upon sending for a complete set of
+clothing for me, and when at his dictation I wrote a list of the
+articles I wanted, I thought he was influenced by his wish as my husband
+to see me dressed in articles of his own buying. That it was all a plot
+to rob me of my identity could not strike such a mind as mine, and when
+the packages came and were received by him in the sly way already known
+to the public, I saw nothing in his caution but a playful display of
+mystery that was to end in my romantic establishment in a home of love
+and luxury.</p>
+
+<p>"Or rather it is thus that I account for my conduct now, and yet the
+precaution I took not to change the shoes in which my money was hidden,
+may argue that I was not without some underlying doubt of his complete
+sincerity. But if so, I hid it from myself, and, as I have every reason
+to believe, from him also, doubtless excusing my action to myself by
+considering that I would be none the worse off for a few dollars of my
+own, even if he was my husband, and had promised me no end of pleasure
+and comfort.</p>
+
+<p>"That he did intend to make me happy, he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> assured me more than once.
+Indeed, before we had been long in this hotel room, he informed me that
+great experiences lay before me; that he had prospered much in the last
+five years and had now a house of his own to offer me and a large circle
+of friends to make our life in it agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>"'We will go to our house to-night,' said he. 'I have not been living in
+it lately, and you may find it a little uncomfortable, but we will
+remedy that to-morrow. Anything is better than staying here under a
+false name and I cannot take you to my bachelor apartment.'</p>
+
+<p>"I had doubted some of his previous statements, but this one I
+implicitly believed. Why should not so elegant a man have a house of his
+own; and if he had told me it was built of marble and hung with
+Florentine tapestries, I should still have credited it all. I was in
+fairy-land and he was my knight of romance, even when he again hung his
+head in leaving the hotel and looked at once so ordinary and
+uninteresting.</p>
+
+<p>"The ruse he made use of to cut off all connection between ourselves and
+the Mr. and Mrs. James Pope who had registered at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash; was
+accepted by me with the same lack of suspicion. That he should wish to
+carry no remembrance of our old life into our new home I thought a
+delightful piece of folly, and when he proposed that we should bequeath
+my gossamer and his own disfiguring duster to the coachman in whose hack
+we were then riding, I laughed gleefully and helped him fold them up and
+place them under the cushions, though I did wonder why he cut a piece
+out of the neck of the former, and pouted with the happy freedom of a
+self-confident woman when he said:</p>
+
+<p>"'It is the first thing I ever bought for you, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> am just foolish
+enough to wish to preserve this much of it for a keepsake. Do you
+object, my dear?'</p>
+
+<p>"As I was conscious of cherishing a similar folly in his regard, and
+could have pressed even that old duster of his to my heart, I offered
+him a kiss and said 'No,' and he put the scrap away in his pocket. That
+it was the portion on which was stamped the name of the firm from which
+it was bought did not occur to me.</p>
+
+<p>"When the coach stopped, he urged me away on foot in a direction
+entirely strange to me, saying we would take another hack as soon as we
+had disposed of the bundles we were carrying. How he intended to do
+this, I did not know. But presently he drew me towards a Chinese
+laundry, where he bade me leave one of them as washing, and the other he
+dropped before the opening of a sewer as we stepped up a neighboring
+curb-stone.</p>
+
+<p>"And still I did not suspect.</p>
+
+<p>"Our ride to Gramercy Park was short, but during it he had time to put a
+bill in my hand and tell me I was to pay the driver. He had also time to
+secure the weapon upon which he had probably had his eye fixed from the
+first. His manner of doing this I can never forgive, for it was a
+lover's manner, and as such intended to deceive and cajole me. Drawing
+my head down on his shoulder, he drew off my veil, saying that it was
+the only article left of my own buying, and that we would leave it
+behind us in this coach as we had left the gossamer in the other. 'Only
+I will make sure that no other woman ever wears it,' he laughed,
+slitting it up and down with his knife. When this was done he kissed me,
+and then while my heart was tender and the warm tears stood in my eyes,
+he drew out the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> pin from my hat, meeting my remonstrances with the
+assurance that he hated to see my head covered, and that no hat was as
+pretty as my own brown hair.</p>
+
+<p>"As this was nonsense, and as the coach was beginning to stop, I shook
+my head at him and put my hat on again, but he had dropped the pin, or
+so he said, and I had to alight without it.</p>
+
+<p>"When I had paid the driver and the coach had driven off, I had a chance
+to look up at the house before which we had stopped. Its height and
+imposing appearance daunted me in spite of the great expectations I had
+formed, and I ran up the stoop after him in a condition of mingled awe
+and wild delight that was the poorest preparation possible for what lay
+before me in the dark interior we were entering.</p>
+
+<p>"He was fumbling nervously in the keyhole with his key, and I heard a
+whispered oath escape him. But presently the door fell back, and we
+stepped in to what looked to me like a cavern of darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"'Do not be frightened!' he admonished me. 'I will strike a light in a
+moment.' And after carefully closing the street door behind us, he
+stretched out his hand to take mine, or so I judge, for I heard him
+whisper impatiently, 'Where are you?'</p>
+
+<p>"I was on the threshold of the parlor, to which I had groped my way
+while he was closing the front door, so I whispered back, 'Here!' but
+found voice for nothing further, for at that instant I heard a sound
+proceeding from the depths of darkness in front of me, and was so struck
+with terror that I fell back against the staircase, just as he passed me
+and entered the room from which that stealthy noise had issued.</p>
+
+<p>"'Darling!' he whispered, 'darling!' and went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> stumbling on in the void
+of darkness before me, till suddenly by some power I cannot explain I
+seemed to see, faintly but distinctly, and as if with my mind's eye
+rather than with my bodily one.</p>
+
+<p>"I perceived the shadowy form of a woman standing in the space before
+him, and beheld him suddenly grasp her with what he meant to be a loving
+cry, but which to my ears at that moment sounded strangely ferocious,
+and after holding her a moment suddenly release her, at which she
+uttered one low, curdling moan and sank at his feet. At the same instant
+I heard a click, which I did not understand then, but which I now know
+to have been the head of the hat-pin striking the register.</p>
+
+<p>"Horrified past all power of speech and action, for I saw that he had
+intended this blow for me, I cowered against the stairs, waiting for him
+to pass out. This he did not do at once, though the delay must have been
+short. He stopped long enough by the prostrate form to stir it with his
+foot, probably to see if life was extinct, but no longer, yet it seemed
+an eternity before I perceived him groping his way over the threshold;
+an eternity in which every act of my life passed before me, and every
+word and every expression with which he had beguiled me came to rack my
+soul and made the horror of this mad awakening greater.</p>
+
+<p>"No thought of her, or of the guilt with which he had forever damned his
+soul, came to me in that first moment of misery. <i>My</i> loss, <i>my</i> escape,
+and the danger in which I still stood if the least hint reached him of
+the mistake he had made, filled my mind too entirely for me to dwell on
+any less impersonal theme. His words, for he muttered several in that
+short passage out, showed me in what a fools' paradise I had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span>
+revelling, and how certainly I had turned his every thought towards
+murder when I seized him in the street and proclaimed myself his wife.
+The satisfaction with which he uttered, 'Well struck!' gave little hint
+of remorse; and the gloating delight with which he added something about
+the devil having assisted him to make it a safe blow as well as a deadly
+one, was proof not only of his having used all his cunning in planning
+this crime, but of his pleasure in its apparent success.</p>
+
+<p>"That he continued in this frame of mind, and that he never lost
+confidence in the precautions he had taken and in the mystery with which
+the deed was surrounded, is apparent from the fact that he revisited the
+Van Burnam office on the following morning, and hung again on its
+accustomed nail the keys of the Gramercy Park house.</p>
+
+<p>"When the front door had closed, and I knew that he had gone away in the
+full belief that it was my form he had left lying behind him on that
+midnight floor, all the accumulated terrors of the situation came to me
+in full force, and I began to think of her as well as of myself, and
+longed for courage to approach her or even the daring to call out for
+help. But the thought that it was my husband who had committed this
+crime held me tongue-tied, and though I soon began to move inch by inch
+in her direction, it was some time before I could so far overcome my
+terror as to enter the room where she lay.</p>
+
+<p>"I had supposed, and still supposed (as was natural after seeing him
+open the door with the keys he took from his pocket), that the house was
+his, and the victim a member of his own household. But when, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>
+innumerable hesitations and a bodily shrinking that was little short of
+torment, I managed to drag myself into the room and light a match which
+I found on a farther mantel-shelf, I saw enough in the general
+appearance of the rooms and of the figure at my feet to make me doubt
+the truth of both these suppositions. Yet no other explanation came to
+lighten the mystery of the occasion, and dazed as I was by the horror of
+my position and the mortal dread I felt of the man who in one instant
+had turned the heaven of my love into a hell of fathomless horrors, I
+soon had eyes for the one fact only, that the woman lying before me was
+sufficiently like myself to inspire me with the hope of preserving my
+secret and keeping from my would-be slayer the knowledge of my having
+escaped the doom he had prepared for me.</p>
+
+<p>"For ascribe it to what motive you will, that was the one idea now
+dominating my mind. I wanted him to believe me dead. I wanted to feel
+that all connection between us was severed forever. He <i>had</i> killed me.
+By killing my love and faith in him he had murdered the better part of
+myself, and I shrank with inconceivable horror from anything that would
+bring me again under his eye, or force me to assert claims that it would
+be the future business of my life to forget.</p>
+
+<p>"When the first match went out I had not courage to light another, so I
+crept away in the darkness to listen at the foot of the stairs. There
+was no sound from above, and a terrifying sense began to pervade me that
+I was in that house alone. Yet there was safety in the thought, and
+opportunity for what I was planning, and finally, under the stress of
+the purpose that was every moment developing within me, I went softly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>
+up-stairs and listened at all the doors till I was certain that the
+house was unoccupied. Then I came down and walked resolutely back into
+the parlor, for I knew if I allowed any time to pass I could never again
+summon up strength to cross its grisly threshold. Yet I did nothing for
+hours but crouch in one of its dismal corners, waiting for morning. That
+I did not go mad in that awful interval is a wonder. I must have been
+near it more than once.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been asked, and Miss Butterworth has been asked, how in the
+light of what we now know concerning this poor victim's presence there,
+we account for her being in the darkness and showing so little terror at
+our entrance and Mr. Stone's approach. <i>I</i> account for it in this way:
+Two half-burned matches were found in the parlor grate. One I flung
+there; the other had probably been used by her to light the dining-room
+gas. If this was still lighted when we drove up, as it may have been,
+then, alarmed by the sound of the stopping coach, she had put it out,
+with a vague idea of hiding herself till she knew whether it was the old
+gentleman who was coming or only her suspicious and unreasonable
+husband. If it was not lighted then, she was probably aroused from a
+sleep on the parlor sofa, and was for the moment too dazed to cry out or
+resent an embrace she had not time to understand before she succumbed to
+the cruel stab that killed her. Miss Butterworth, however, thinks that
+the poor creature took the intruder for Franklin till she heard my
+voice, when she probably became so amazed that she was in a measure
+paralyzed and found it impossible to move or cry out. As Miss
+Butterworth is a woman of great discretion I should think her
+explanation the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> truest, if I did not consider her a little prejudiced
+against Mrs. Van Burnam.</p>
+
+<p>"But to return to myself.</p>
+
+<p>"With the first glimmer of light that came through the closed shutters I
+rose and began my dreadful task. Upheld by a purpose as relentless as
+that which drove the author of this horror into murder, I stripped the
+body and put upon it my own clothing, with the one exception of the
+shoes. Then, when I had re-dressed myself in hers, I steadied up my
+heart and with one wild pull dragged down the cabinet upon her so that
+her face might lose its traits and her identification become impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"How I had strength to do this, and how I could contemplate the result
+without shrieking, I cannot now imagine. Perhaps I was hardly human at
+this crisis; perhaps something of the demon which had informed him in
+his awful work had entered into my breast, making this thing possible. I
+only know that I did what I have said and did it calmly. More than that,
+that I had mind and judgment left to give to my own appearance.
+Observing that the dress I had put on was of a conspicuous plaid, I
+exchanged the skirt portion with the brown silk petticoat under it, and
+when I observed that it hung below the other, as of course it would, I
+went through the house till I came upon some pins with which I pinned it
+up out of sight. Thus equipped, I was still a person to attract
+attention, especially as I had no hat to put on; my own having fallen
+from my head and been covered by the dead woman's body, which nothing
+would induce me to move again.</p>
+
+<p>"But I had confidence in my own powers to escape<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> question, toned up as
+I was in every nerve by the dreadfulness of my situation, and as soon as
+I was in decent shape for flight, I opened the front door and prepared
+to slip out.</p>
+
+<p>"But here the intense dread I felt of my husband, a dread which had
+actuated all my movements and sustained me in as harrowing a task as
+ever woman performed, seized me with renewed force, and I quailed at the
+prospect of entering the streets alone. Supposing he should be on the
+stoop! Supposing he should be in an opposite window even! Could I
+encounter him again and live? He was not far away, or so I felt. A
+murderer, it is said, cannot help haunting the scene of his crime, and
+if he should see me alive and well, what might I not expect from his
+astonishment and alarm? I did not dare go out. But neither did I dare
+remain, so after quaking for a good five minutes on the threshold, I
+made one wild dash through the door.</p>
+
+<p>"There was no one in sight, and I reached Broadway before I ran across
+man or woman. Even then I got by without any one speaking to me, and,
+favored by Providence, found a nook at the end of an alley-way, where I
+remained undiscovered till it was late enough in the morning for me to
+enter a shop and buy a hat.</p>
+
+<p>"The rest of my movements are known. I found my way to Mrs. Desberger's,
+this time without interruption; and from that place sought and found a
+situation with Miss Althorpe.</p>
+
+<p>"That her fate was in any way connected with mine, or that the Randolph
+Stone she was engaged to marry was the John Randolph from whose clutches
+I had just escaped, was, of course, unsuspected by me, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> incredible
+as it may seem, continued to be unsuspected as long as I remained in the
+house. There was reason for this. My duties were such as I could well
+attend to in my own room, and feeling a horror of the world and
+everything in it, I kept my room as much as possible, and never went out
+of it when I knew that he was in the house. The very thought of love
+awakened intolerable emotions in me, and much as I admired and revered
+Miss Althorpe, I could not bring myself to meet or even talk of the man
+to whom she was in expectation of being so soon united. There was
+another thing of which I was ignorant, and that was the circumstances
+which had invested with so much interest the crime of which I had been
+witness. I did not know that the victim had been recognized, or that an
+innocent man had been arrested for her murder. In fact I knew nothing
+concerning the affair save what I had seen with my own eyes, no one
+having mentioned the murder in my presence, and I having religiously
+avoided the very sight of a paper for fear that I should see some
+account of the horrible affair, and so lose what small remnants of
+courage I still possessed.</p>
+
+<p>"This apathy concerning a matter so important to myself, or rather this
+almost frenzied determination to cut myself loose from my dreadful past,
+may seem strange and unnatural; but it will seem stranger yet when I say
+that for all these efforts I was haunted night and day by one small fact
+connected with this past, which made forgetfulness impossible. I had
+taken the rings from the hands of the dead woman as I had taken away her
+clothes, and the possession of these valuables, probably because they
+represented so much money, weighed on my conscience and made me feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>
+like a thief. The purse which I found in a pocket of the skirt I had put
+on was a trouble to me, but the rings were a source of constant terror
+and disturbance. I hid them finally in a ball of yarn I was using, but
+even then I experienced but little peace, for they were not mine, and I
+lacked the courage to avow it or seek out the person to whom they now
+rightfully belonged.</p>
+
+<p>"When, therefore, in the intervals of fever which attacked me in Miss
+Althorpe's house, I overheard enough of a conversation between her and
+Miss Butterworth to learn that the murdered woman had been a Mrs. Van
+Burnam, and that her husband or relatives had an office somewhere
+downtown, I was so seized by the instinct of restitution, that I took
+the first opportunity that offered to leave my bed and hunt up these
+people.</p>
+
+<p>"That I would injure them in any way by secretly restoring these jewels,
+I never dreamed. Indeed, I did not exercise my mind at all on the
+subject, but only followed the instincts of my delirium; and while to
+all appearance I showed all the cunning of an insane person, in the
+pursuit of my purpose, I fail to remember now how I found my way to
+Duane Street, or by what suggestion of my diseased brain I was induced
+to slip these rings upon the hook attached to Mr. Van Burnam's desk.
+Probably the mere utterance of this well-known name into the ears of the
+passers-by was enough to obtain for me such directions as I needed, but
+however that may be, the result was misapprehension, and the
+complications which followed, serious.</p>
+
+<p>"Of the emotion caused in me by the unaccountable discovery of my
+connection with this crime I need not speak. The love which I at one
+time felt for John<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> Randolph had turned to gall and bitterness, but
+enough sense of duty remained in my bruised and broken heart to keep me
+from denouncing him to the police, till by a sudden stroke of fate or
+Providence, I saw him in the carriage with Miss Althorpe, and realized
+that he was not only the man with whom she was upon the point of allying
+herself, but that it was to preserve his place in her regard and to
+attain the lofty position promised by this union, he had attempted to
+murder me, and had murdered another woman only less unfortunate and
+miserable than myself.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the last and bitterest blow that could come from his hand; and
+though instinct led me to throw myself into the carriage before which I
+stood, and thus escape a meeting which I felt I could never survive, I
+was determined from that moment not only to save Miss Althorpe from an
+alliance with this villain, but to revenge myself upon him in some
+never-to-be-forgotten manner.</p>
+
+<p>"That this revenge involved her in a public shame from which her angelic
+goodness to me should have saved her, I regret now as deeply as even she
+can wish. But the madness that was upon me made me blind to every other
+consideration than that of the boundless hatred I bore him; and while I
+can look for no forgiveness from her on that account, I still hope the
+day will come when she will see that in spite of my momentary disregard
+of her feelings, I cherish for her an affection that nothing can efface
+or make other than the ruling passion of my life."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XLII" id="XLII"></a>XLII.</h2>
+
+<h3>WITH MISS BUTTERWORTH'S COMPLIMENTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>They tell me that Mr. Gryce has never been quite the same man since the
+clearing up of this mystery; that his confidence in his own powers is
+shaken, and that he hints, more often than is agreeable to his
+superiors, that when a man has passed his seventy-seventh year it is
+time for him to give up active connection with police matters. <i>I</i> do
+not agree with him. His mistakes, if we may call them such, were not
+those of failing faculties, but of a man made oversecure in his own
+conclusions by a series of old successes. Had he listened to <i>me</i>&mdash;But I
+will not pursue this suggestion. You will accuse me of egotism, an
+imputation I cannot bear with equanimity and will not risk; modest
+depreciation of myself being one of the chief attributes of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>
+character.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p>
+
+<p>Howard Van Burnam bore his release, as he had his arrest, with great
+outward composure. Mr. Gryce's explanation of his motives in perjuring
+himself before the Coroner was correct, and while the mass of people
+wondered at that instinct of pride which led him to risk the imputation
+of murder sooner than have the world accuse his wife of an unwomanly
+action, there were others who understood his peculiarities, and thought
+his conduct quite in keeping with what they knew of his warped and
+over-sensitive nature.</p>
+
+<p>That he has been greatly moved by the unmerited fate of his weak but
+unfortunate wife, is evident from the sincerity with which he still
+mourns her.</p>
+
+<p>I had always understood that Franklin had never been told of the peril
+in which his good name had stood for a few short hours. But since a
+certain confidential conversation which took place between us one
+evening, I have come to the conclusion that the police were not so
+reticent as they made themselves out to be. In that conversation he
+professed to thank me for certain good offices I had done him and his,
+and waxing warm in his gratitude, confessed that without my interference
+he would have found himself in a strait of no ordinary seriousness;
+"For," said he, "there has been no over-statement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> of the feelings I
+cherished toward my sister-in-law, nor was there any mistake made in
+thinking that she uttered some very desperate threats against me during
+the visit she paid me at my office on Monday. But I never thought of
+ridding myself of her in any way. I only thought of keeping her and my
+brother apart till I could escape the country. When therefore he came
+into the office on Tuesday morning for the keys of our father's house, I
+felt such a dread of the two meeting there, that I left immediately
+after my brother for the place where she had told me she would await a
+final message from me. I hoped to move her by one final plea, for I love
+my brother sincerely, notwithstanding the wrong I once did him. I was
+therefore with her in another place at the very time I was thought to be
+with her at the Hotel D&mdash;&mdash;, a fact which greatly hampered me, as you
+can see, when I was requested by the police to give an account of how I
+spent that day. When I left her it was to seek my brother. She had told
+me of her deliberate intention of spending the night in the Gramercy
+Park house; and as I saw no way of her doing this without my brother's
+connivance, I started in search of him, meaning to stick to him when I
+found him, and keep him away from her till that night was over. I was
+not successful in my undertaking. He was locked in his rooms it seems,
+packing up his effects for flight,&mdash;we always had the same instincts
+even when boys,&mdash;and receiving no answer to my knock, I hastened away to
+Gramercy Park to keep a watch over the house against my brother coming
+there. This was early in the evening, and for hours afterwards I
+wandered like a restless spirit in and out of those streets, meeting no
+one I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> knew, not even my brother, though he was wandering about in very
+much the same manner, and with very much the same apprehensions.</p>
+
+<p>"The duplicity of the woman became very evident to me the next morning.
+In my last interview with her she had shown no relenting in her purpose
+towards me, but when I entered my office after this restless night in
+the streets, I found lying on my desk her little hand-bag, which had
+been sent down from Mrs. Parker's. In it was <i>the letter</i>, just as you
+divined, Miss Butterworth. I had hardly got over the shock of this most
+unexpected good fortune when the news came that a woman had been found
+dead in my father's house. What was I to think? That it was she, of
+course, and that my brother had been the man to let her in there. Miss
+Butterworth," this is how he ended, "I make no demands upon you, as I
+have made no demands upon the police, to keep the secret contained in
+that letter from my much-abused brother. Or, rather, it is too late now
+to keep it, for I have told him all there was to tell, myself, and he
+has seen fit to overlook my fault, and to regard me with even more
+affection than he did before this dreadful tragedy came to harrow up our
+lives."</p>
+
+<p>Do you wonder I like Franklin Van Burnam?</p>
+
+<p>The Misses Van Burnam call upon me regularly, and when they say "<i>Dear
+old thing!</i>" now, they mean it.</p>
+
+<p>Of Miss Althorpe I cannot trust myself to speak. She was, and is, the
+finest woman I know, and when the great shadow now hanging over her has
+lost some of its impenetrability, she will be a useful one again, or I
+do not rightly read the patient smile which makes her face so beautiful
+in its sadness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Olive Randolph has, at my request, taken up her abode in my house. The
+charm which she seems to have exerted over others she has exerted over
+me, and I doubt if I shall ever wish to part with her again. In return
+she gives me an affection which I am now getting old enough to
+appreciate. Her feeling for me and her gratitude to Miss Althorpe are
+the only treasures left her out of the wreck of her life, and it shall
+be my business to make them lasting ones.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of Randolph Stone is too well known for me to enlarge upon it.
+But before I bid farewell to his name, I must say that after that curt
+confession of his, "Yes, I did it, in the way and for the motive she
+alleged," I have often tried to imagine the contradictory feelings with
+which he must have listened to the facts as they came out at the
+inquest, and convinced, as he had every reason to be, that the victim
+was his wife, heard his friend Howard not only accept her for his, but
+insist that he was the man who accompanied her to that house of death.
+He has never lifted the veil from those hours, and he never will, but I
+would give much of the peace of mind which has lately come to me, to
+know what his sensations were, not only at that time, but when, on the
+evening, after the murder, he opened the papers and read that the woman
+whom he had left for dead with her brain pierced by a hat-pin, had been
+found on that same floor crushed under a fallen cabinet; and what
+explanation he was ever able to make to himself for a fact so
+inexplicable.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> My attention has been called to the fact that I have not
+confessed whether it was owing to a mistake made by Mr. Gryce or myself,
+that Franklin Van Burnam was identified as the man who had entered the
+adjoining house on the night of the murder. Well, the truth is, neither
+of us was to blame for that. The man I identified (it was while watching
+the guests who attended Mrs. Van Burnam's funeral, you remember) was
+really Mr. Stone; but owing to the fact that this latter gentleman had
+lingered in the vestibule till he was joined by Franklin and that they
+had finally entered together, some confusion was created in the mind of
+the man on duty in the hall, so that when Mr. Gryce asked him who it was
+that came in immediately after the four who arrived together, he
+answered Mr. Franklin Van Burnam; being anxious to win his superior's
+applause and considering that person much more likely to merit the
+detective's attention than a mere friend of the family like Mr. Stone.
+In punishment for this momentary display of egotism, he has been
+discharged from the force, I believe.&mdash;A. B.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's That Affair Next Door, by Anna Katharine Green
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@@ -0,0 +1,13128 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Affair Next Door, 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: That Affair Next Door
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21617]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+That Affair Next Door
+
+By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+Author of "The House Of The Whispering Pines," "Initials Only," "Dark
+Hollow," Etc.
+
+A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
+
+114-120 East Twenty-third Street New York
+
+PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1897
+
+BY
+
+ANNA KATHARINE ROHLFS
+
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved
+to end of chapter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+_BOOK I._
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.
+
+                                                           PAGE
+
+I.--A DISCOVERY                                               1
+
+II.--QUESTIONS                                               14
+
+III.--AMELIA DISCOVERS HERSELF                               23
+
+IV.--SILAS VAN BURNAM                                        36
+
+V.--THIS IS NO ONE I KNOW                                    41
+
+VI.--NEW FACTS                                               51
+
+VII.--MR. GRYCE DISCOVERS MISS AMELIA                        55
+
+VIII.--THE MISSES VAN BURNAM                                 68
+
+IX.--DEVELOPMENTS                                            77
+
+X.--IMPORTANT EVIDENCE                                       88
+
+XI.--THE ORDER CLERK                                         98
+
+XII.--THE KEYS                                              114
+
+XIII.--HOWARD VAN BURNAM                                    126
+
+XIV.--A SERIOUS ADMISSION                                   141
+
+XV.--A RELUCTANT WITNESS                                    155
+
+
+_BOOK II._
+
+THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.
+
+XVI.--COGITATIONS                                           163
+
+XVII.--BUTTERWORTH VERSUS GRYCE                             170
+
+XVIII.--THE LITTLE PINCUSHION                               176
+
+XIX.--A DECIDED STEP FORWARD                                187
+
+XX.--MISS BUTTERWORTH'S THEORY                              201
+
+XXI.--A SHREWD CONJECTURE                                   208
+
+XXII.--A BLANK CARD                                         217
+
+XXIII.--RUTH OLIVER                                         229
+
+XXIV.--A HOUSE OF CARDS                                     244
+
+XXV.--"THE RINGS! WHERE ARE THE RINGS?"                     255
+
+XXVI.--A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE                                260
+
+XXVII.--FOUND                                               266
+
+XXVIII.--TAKEN ABACK                                        272
+
+
+_BOOK III._
+
+THE GIRL IN GRAY.
+
+XXIX.--AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY                            274
+
+XXX.--THE MATTER AS STATED BY MR. GRYCE                     283
+
+XXXI.--SOME FINE WORK                                       296
+
+XXXII.--ICONOCLASM                                          311
+
+XXXIII.--"KNOWN, KNOWN, ALL KNOWN"                          321
+
+XXXIV.--EXACTLY HALF-PAST THREE                             329
+
+XXXV.--A RUSE                                               335
+
+
+_BOOK IV._
+
+THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.
+
+XXXVI.--THE RESULT                                          341
+
+XXXVII.--"TWO WEEKS!"                                       345
+
+XXXVIII.--A WHITE SATIN GOWN                                350
+
+XXXIX.--THE WATCHFUL EYE                                    357
+
+XL.--AS THE CLOCK STRUCK                                    364
+
+XLI.--SECRET HISTORY                                        368
+
+XLII.--WITH MISS BUTTERWORTH'S COMPLIMENTS                  395
+
+
+
+
+THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK I._
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S WINDOW.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+I am not an inquisitive woman, but when, in the middle of a certain warm
+night in September, I heard a carriage draw up at the adjoining house
+and stop, I could not resist the temptation of leaving my bed and taking
+a peep through the curtains of my window.
+
+First: because the house was empty, or supposed to be so, the family
+still being, as I had every reason to believe, in Europe; and secondly:
+because, not being inquisitive, I often miss in my lonely and single
+life much that it would be both interesting and profitable for me to
+know.
+
+Luckily I made no such mistake this evening. I rose and looked out, and
+though I was far from realizing it at the time, took, by so doing, my
+first step in a course of inquiry which has ended----
+
+But it is too soon to speak of the end. Rather let me tell you what I
+saw when I parted the curtains of my window in Gramercy Park, on the
+night of September 17, 1895.
+
+Not much at first glance, only a common hack drawn up at the neighboring
+curb-stone. The lamp which is supposed to light our part of the block is
+some rods away on the opposite side of the street, so that I obtained
+but a shadowy glimpse of a young man and woman standing below me on the
+pavement. I could see, however, that the woman--and not the man--was
+putting money into the driver's hand. The next moment they were on the
+stoop of this long-closed house, and the coach rolled off.
+
+It was dark, as I have said, and I did not recognize the young
+people,--at least their figures were not familiar to me; but when, in
+another instant, I heard the click of a night-key, and saw them, after a
+rather tedious fumbling at the lock, disappear from the stoop, I took it
+for granted that the gentleman was Mr. Van Burnam's eldest son Franklin,
+and the lady some relative of the family; though why this, its most
+punctilious member, should bring a guest at so late an hour into a house
+devoid of everything necessary to make the least exacting visitor
+comfortable, was a mystery that I retired to bed to meditate upon.
+
+I did not succeed in solving it, however, and after some ten minutes had
+elapsed, I was settling myself again to sleep when I was re-aroused by a
+fresh sound from the quarter mentioned. The door I had so lately heard
+shut, opened again, and though I had to rush for it, I succeeded in
+getting to my window in time to catch a glimpse of the departing figure
+of the young man hurrying away towards Broadway. The young woman was not
+with him, and as I realized that he had left her behind him in the
+great, empty house, without apparent light and certainly without any
+companion, I began to question if this was like Franklin Van Burnam. Was
+it not more in keeping with the recklessness of his more easy-natured
+and less reliable brother, Howard, who, some two or three years back,
+had married a young wife of no very satisfactory antecedents, and who,
+as I had heard, had been ostracized by the family in consequence?
+
+Whichever of the two it was, he had certainly shown but little
+consideration for his companion, and thus thinking, I fell off to sleep
+just as the clock struck the half hour after midnight.
+
+Next morning as soon as modesty would permit me to approach the window,
+I surveyed the neighboring house minutely. Not a blind was open, nor a
+shutter displaced. As I am an early riser, this did not disturb me at
+the time, but when after breakfast I looked again and still failed to
+detect any evidences of life in the great barren front beside me, I
+began to feel uneasy. But I did nothing till noon, when going into my
+rear garden and observing that the back windows of the Van Burnam house
+were as closely shuttered as the front, I became so anxious that I
+stopped the next policeman I saw going by, and telling him my
+suspicions, urged him to ring the bell.
+
+No answer followed the summons.
+
+"There is no one here," said he.
+
+"Ring again!" I begged.
+
+And he rang again but with no better result.
+
+"Don't you see that the house is shut up?" he grumbled. "We have had
+orders to watch the place, but none to take the watch off."
+
+"There is a young woman inside," I insisted. "The more I think over last
+night's occurrence, the more I am convinced that the matter should be
+looked into."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders and was moving away when we both observed a
+common-looking woman standing in front looking at us. She had a bundle
+in her hand, and her face, unnaturally ruddy though it was, had a scared
+look which was all the more remarkable from the fact that it was one of
+those wooden-like countenances which under ordinary circumstances are
+capable of but little expression. She was not a stranger to me; that is,
+I had seen her before in or about the house in which we were at that
+moment so interested; and not stopping to put any curb on my excitement,
+I rushed down to the pavement and accosted her.
+
+"Who are you?" I asked. "Do you work for the Van Burnams, and do you
+know who the lady was who came here last night?"
+
+The poor woman, either startled by my sudden address or by my manner
+which may have been a little sharp, gave a quick bound backward, and was
+only deterred by the near presence of the policeman from attempting
+flight. As it was, she stood her ground, though the fiery flush, which
+made her face so noticeable, deepened till her cheeks and brow were
+scarlet.
+
+"I am the scrub-woman," she protested. "I have come to open the windows
+and air the house,"--ignoring my last question.
+
+"Is the family coming home?" the policeman asked.
+
+"I don't know; I think so," was her weak reply.
+
+"Have you the keys?" I now demanded, seeing her fumbling in her pocket.
+
+She did not answer; a sly look displaced the anxious one she had
+hitherto displayed, and she turned away.
+
+"I don't see what business it is of the neighbors," she muttered,
+throwing me a dissatisfied scowl over her shoulder.
+
+"If you've got the keys, we will go in and see that things are all
+right," said the policeman, stopping her with a light touch.
+
+She trembled; I saw that she trembled, and naturally became excited.
+Something was wrong in the Van Burnam mansion, and I was going to be
+present at its discovery. But her next words cut my hopes short.
+
+"I have no objection to _your_ going in," she said to the policeman,
+"but I will not give up my keys to _her_. What right has she in our
+house any way." And I thought I heard her murmur something about a
+meddlesome old maid.
+
+The look which I received from the policeman convinced me that my ears
+had not played me false.
+
+"The lady's right," he declared; and pushing by me quite
+disrespectfully, he led the way to the basement door, into which he and
+the so-called cleaner presently disappeared.
+
+I waited in front. I felt it to be my duty to do so. The various
+passers-by stopped an instant to stare at me before proceeding on their
+way, but I did not flinch from my post. Not till I had heard that the
+young woman whom I had seen enter these doors at midnight was well, and
+that her delay in opening the windows was entirely due to fashionable
+laziness, would I feel justified in returning to my own home and its
+affairs. But it took patience and some courage to remain there. Several
+minutes elapsed before I perceived the shutters in the third story open,
+and a still longer time before a window on the second floor flew up and
+the policeman looked out, only to meet my inquiring gaze and rapidly
+disappear again.
+
+Meantime three or four persons had stopped on the walk near me, the
+nucleus of a crowd which would not be long in collecting, and I was
+beginning to feel I was paying dearly for my virtuous resolution, when
+the front door burst violently open and we caught sight of the trembling
+form and shocked face of the scrub-woman.
+
+"She's dead!" she cried, "she's dead! Murder!" and would have said more
+had not the policeman pulled her back, with a growl which sounded very
+much like a suppressed oath.
+
+He would have shut the door upon me had I not been quicker than
+lightning. As it was, I got in before it slammed, and happily too; for
+just at that moment the house-cleaner, who had grown paler every
+instant, fell in a heap in the entry, and the policeman, who was not the
+man I would want about me in any trouble, seemed somewhat embarrassed by
+this new emergency, and let me lift the poor thing up and drag her
+farther into the hall.
+
+She had fainted, and should have had something done for her, but anxious
+though I always am to be of help where help is needed, I had no sooner
+got within range of the parlor door with my burden, than I beheld a
+sight so terrifying that I involuntarily let the poor woman slip from my
+arms to the floor.
+
+In the darkness of a dim corner (for the room had no light save that
+which came through the doorway where I stood) lay the form of a woman
+under a fallen piece of furniture. Her skirts and distended arms alone
+were visible; but no one who saw the rigid outlines of her limbs could
+doubt for a moment that she was dead.
+
+At a sight so dreadful, and, in spite of all my apprehensions, so
+unexpected, I felt a sensation of sickness which in another moment might
+have ended in my fainting also, if I had not realized that it would
+never do for me to lose my wits in the presence of a man who had none
+too many of his own. So I shook off my momentary weakness, and turning
+to the policeman, who was hesitating between the unconscious figure of
+the woman outside the door and the dead form of the one within I cried
+sharply:
+
+"Come, man, to business! The woman inside there is dead, but this one is
+living. Fetch me a pitcher of water from below if you can, and then go
+for whatever assistance you need. I'll wait here and bring this woman
+to. She is a strong one, and it won't take long."
+
+"You'll stay here alone with that----" he began.
+
+But I stopped him with a look of disdain.
+
+"Of course I will stay here; why not? Is there anything in the dead to
+be afraid of? Save me from the living, and I undertake to save myself
+from the dead."
+
+But his face had grown very suspicious.
+
+"You go for the water," he cried. "And see here! Just call out for some
+one to telephone to Police Headquarters for the Coroner and a
+detective. I don't quit this room till one or the other of them comes."
+
+Smiling at a caution so very ill-timed, but abiding by my invariable
+rule of never arguing with a man unless I see some way of getting the
+better of him, I did what he bade me, though I hated dreadfully to leave
+the spot and its woful mystery, even for so short a time as was
+required.
+
+"Run up to the second story," he called out, as I passed by the
+prostrate figure of the cleaner. "Tell them what you want from the
+window, or we will have the whole street in here."
+
+So I ran up-stairs,--I had always wished to visit this house, but had
+never been encouraged to do so by the Misses Van Burnam,--and making my
+way into the front room, the door of which stood wide open, I rushed to
+the window and hailed the crowd, which by this time extended far out
+beyond the curb-stone.
+
+"An officer!" I called out, "a police officer! An accident has occurred
+and the man in charge here wants the Coroner and a detective from Police
+Headquarters."
+
+"Who's hurt?" "Is it a man?" "Is it a woman?" shouted up one or two; and
+"Let us in!" shouted others; but the sight of a boy rushing off to meet
+an advancing policeman satisfied me that help would soon be forthcoming,
+so I drew in my head and looked about me for the next necessity--water.
+
+I was in a lady's bed-chamber, probably that of the eldest Miss Van
+Burnam; but it was a bed-chamber which had not been occupied for some
+months, and naturally it lacked the very articles which would have been
+of assistance to me in the present emergency. No _eau de Cologne_ on
+the bureau, no camphor on the mantel-shelf. But there was water in the
+pipes (something I had hardly hoped for), and a mug on the wash-stand;
+so I filled the mug and ran with it to the door, stumbling, as I did so,
+over some small object which I presently perceived to be a little round
+pin-cushion. Picking it up, for I hate anything like disorder, I placed
+it on a table near by, and continued on my way.
+
+The woman was still lying at the foot of the stairs. I dashed the water
+in her face and she immediately came to.
+
+Sitting up, she was about to open her lips when she checked herself; a
+fact which struck me as odd, though I did not allow my surprise to
+become apparent.
+
+Meantime I stole a glance into the parlor. The officer was standing
+where I had left him, looking down on the prostrate figure before him.
+
+There was no sign of feeling in his heavy countenance, and he had not
+opened a shutter, nor, so far as I could see, disarranged an object in
+the room.
+
+The mysterious character of the whole affair fascinated me in spite of
+myself, and leaving the now fully aroused woman in the hall, I was
+half-way across the parlor floor when the latter stopped me with a
+shrill cry:
+
+"Don't leave me! I have never seen anything before so horrible. The poor
+dear! The poor dear! Why don't he take those dreadful things off her?"
+
+She alluded not only to the piece of furniture which had fallen upon the
+prostrate woman, and which can best be described as a cabinet with
+closets below and shelves above, but to the various articles of
+_bric-a-brac_ which had tumbled from the shelves, and which now lay in
+broken pieces about her.
+
+"He will do so; they will do so very soon," I replied. "He is waiting
+for some one with more authority than himself; for the Coroner, if you
+know what that means."
+
+"But what if she's alive! Those things will crush her. Let us take them
+off. I'll help. I'm not too weak to help."
+
+"Do you know who this person is?" I asked, for her voice had more
+feeling in it than I thought natural to the occasion, dreadful as it
+was.
+
+"I?" she repeated, her weak eyelids quivering for a moment as she tried
+to sustain my scrutiny. "How should I know? I came in with the policeman
+and haven't been any nearer than I now be. What makes you think I know
+anything about her? I'm only the scrub-woman, and don't even know the
+names of the family."
+
+"I thought you seemed so very anxious," I explained, suspicious of her
+suspiciousness, which was of so sly and emphatic a character that it
+changed her whole bearing from one of fear to one of cunning in a
+moment.
+
+"And who wouldn't feel the like of that for a poor creature lying
+crushed under a heap of broken crockery!"
+
+Crockery! those Japanese vases worth hundreds of dollars! that ormulu
+clock and those Dresden figures which must have been more than a couple
+of centuries old!
+
+"It's a poor sense of duty that keeps a man standing dumb and staring
+like that, when with a lift of his hand he could show us the like of
+her pretty face, and if it's dead she be or alive."
+
+As this burst of indignation was natural enough and not altogether
+uncalled for from the standpoint of humanity, I gave the woman a nod of
+approval, and wished I were a man myself that I might lift the heavy
+cabinet or whatever it was that lay upon the poor creature before us.
+But not being a man, and not judging it wise to irritate the one
+representative of that sex then present, I made no remark, but only took
+a few steps farther into the room, followed, as it afterwards appeared,
+by the scrub-woman.
+
+The Van Burnam parlors are separated by an open arch. It was to the
+right of this arch and in the corner opposite the doorway that the dead
+woman lay. Using my eyes, now that I was somewhat accustomed to the
+semi-darkness enveloping us, I noticed two or three facts which had
+hitherto escaped me. One was, that she lay on her back with her feet
+pointing towards the hall door, and another, that nowhere in the room,
+save in her immediate vicinity, were there to be seen any signs of
+struggle or disorder. All was as set and proper as in my own parlor when
+it has been undisturbed for any length of time by guests; and though I
+could not see far into the rooms beyond, they were to all appearance in
+an equally orderly condition.
+
+Meanwhile the cleaner was trying to account for the overturned cabinet.
+
+"Poor dear! poor dear! she must have pulled it over on herself! But
+however did she get into the house? And what was she doing in this great
+empty place?"
+
+The policeman, to whom these remarks had evidently been addressed,
+growled out some unintelligible reply, and in her perplexity the woman
+turned towards me.
+
+But what could I say to her? I had my own private knowledge of the
+matter, but she was not one to confide in, so I stoically shook my head.
+Doubly disappointed, the poor thing shrank back, after looking first at
+the policeman and then at me in an odd, appealing way, difficult to
+understand. Then her eyes fell again on the dead girl at her feet, and
+being nearer now than before, she evidently saw something that startled
+her, for she sank on her knees with a little cry and began examining the
+girl's skirts.
+
+"What are you looking at there?" growled the policeman. "Get up, can't
+you! No one but the Coroner has right to lay hand on anything here."
+
+"I'm doing no harm," the woman protested, in an odd, shaking voice. "I
+only wanted to see what the poor thing had on. Some blue stuff, isn't
+it?" she asked me.
+
+"Blue serge," I answered; "store-made, but very good; must have come
+from Altman's or Stern's."
+
+"I--I'm not used to sights like this," stammered the scrub-woman,
+stumbling awkwardly to her feet, and looking as if her few remaining
+wits had followed the rest on an endless vacation. "I--I think I shall
+have to go home." But she did not move.
+
+"The poor dear's young, isn't she?" she presently insinuated, with an
+odd catch in her voice that gave to the question an air of hesitation
+and doubt.
+
+"I think she is younger than either you or myself," I deigned to reply.
+"Her narrow pointed shoes show she has not reached the years of
+discretion."
+
+"Yes, yes, so they do!" ejaculated the cleaner, eagerly--too eagerly
+for perfect ingenuousness. "That's why I said 'Poor dear!' and spoke of
+her pretty face. I am sorry for young folks when they get into trouble,
+aint you? You and me might lie here and no one be much the worse for it,
+but a sweet lady like this----"
+
+This was not very flattering to me, but I was prevented from rebuking
+her by a prolonged shout from the stoop without, as a rush was made
+against the front door, followed by a shrill peal of the bell.
+
+"Man from Headquarters," stolidly announced the policeman. "Open the
+door, ma'am; or step back into the further hall if you want me to do
+it."
+
+Such rudeness was uncalled for; but considering myself too important a
+witness to show feeling, I swallowed my indignation and proceeded with
+all my native dignity to the front door.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+QUESTIONS.
+
+
+As I did so, I could catch the murmur of the crowd outside as it seethed
+forward at the first intimation of the door being opened; but my
+attention was not so distracted by it, loud as it sounded after the
+quiet of the shut-up house, that I failed to notice that the door had
+not been locked by the gentleman leaving the night before, and that,
+consequently, only the night latch was on. With a turn of the knob it
+opened, showing me the mob of shouting boys and the forms of two
+gentlemen awaiting admittance on the door-step. I frowned at the mob and
+smiled on the gentlemen, one of whom was portly and easy-going in
+appearance, and the other spare, with a touch of severity in his aspect.
+But for some reason these gentlemen did not seem to appreciate the honor
+I had done them, for they both gave me a displeased glance, which was so
+odd and unsympathetic in its character that I bridled a little, though I
+soon returned to my natural manner. Did they realize at the first glance
+that I was destined to prove a thorn in the sides of every one connected
+with this matter, for days to come?
+
+"Are you the woman who called from the window?" asked the larger of the
+two, whose business here I found it difficult at first to determine.
+
+"I am," was my perfectly self-possessed reply. "I live next door and my
+presence here is due to the anxious interest I always take in my
+neighbors. I had reason to think that all was not as it should be in
+this house, and I was right. Look in the parlor, sirs."
+
+They were already as far as the threshold of that room and needed no
+further encouragement to enter. The heavier man went first and the other
+followed, and you may be sure I was not far behind. The sight meeting
+our eyes was ghastly enough, as you know; but these men were evidently
+accustomed to ghastly sights, for they showed but little emotion.
+
+"I thought this house was empty," observed the second gentleman, who was
+evidently a doctor.
+
+"So it was till last night," I put in; and was about to tell my story,
+when I felt my skirts jerked.
+
+Turning, I found that this warning had come from the cleaner who stood
+close beside me.
+
+"What do you want?" I asked, not understanding her and having nothing to
+conceal.
+
+"I?" she faltered, with a frightened air. "Nothing, ma'am, nothing."
+
+"Then don't interrupt me," I harshly admonished her, annoyed at an
+interference that tended to throw suspicion upon my candor. "This woman
+came here to scrub and clean," I now explained; "it was by means of the
+key she carried that we were enabled to get into the house. I never
+spoke to her till a half hour ago."
+
+At which, with a display of subtlety I was far from expecting in one of
+her appearance, she let her emotions take a fresh direction, and
+pointing towards the dead woman, she impetuously cried:
+
+"But the poor child there! Aint you going to take those things off of
+her? It's wicked to leave her under all that stuff. Suppose there was
+life in her!"
+
+"Oh! there's no hope of that," muttered the doctor, lifting one of the
+hands, and letting it fall again.
+
+"Still--" he cast a side look at his companion, who gave him a meaning
+nod--"it might be well enough to lift this cabinet sufficiently for me
+to lay my hand on her heart."
+
+They accordingly did this; and the doctor, leaning down, placed his hand
+over the poor bruised breast.
+
+"No life," he murmured. "She has been dead some hours. Do you think we
+had better release the head?" he went on, glancing up at the portly man
+at his side.
+
+But the latter, who was rapidly growing serious, made a slight protest
+with his finger, and turning to me, inquired, with sudden authority:
+
+"What did you mean when you said that the house had been empty till last
+night?"
+
+"Just what I said, sir. It was empty till about midnight, when two
+persons----" Again I felt my dress twitched, this time very cautiously.
+What did the woman want? Not daring to give her a look, for these men
+were only too ready to detect harm in everything I did, I gently drew my
+skirt away and took a step aside, going on as if no interruption had
+occurred. "Did I say persons? I should have said a man and a woman drove
+up to the house and entered. I saw them from my window."
+
+"You did?" murmured my interlocutor, whom I had by this time decided to
+be a detective. "And this is the woman, I suppose?" he proceeded,
+pointing to the poor creature lying before us.
+
+"Why, yes, of course. Who else can she be? I did not see the lady's face
+last night, but she was young and light on her feet, and ran up the
+stoop gaily."
+
+"And the man? Where is the man? I don't see him here."
+
+"I am not surprised at that. He went very soon after he came, not ten
+minutes after, I should say. That is what alarmed me and caused me to
+have the house investigated. It did not seem natural or like any of the
+Van Burnams to leave a woman to spend the night in so large a house
+alone."
+
+"You know the Van Burnams?"
+
+"Not well. But that don't signify. I know what report says of them; they
+are gentlemen."
+
+"But Mr. Van Burnam is in Europe."
+
+"He has two sons."
+
+"Living here?"
+
+"No; the unmarried one spends his nights at Long Branch, and the other
+is with his wife somewhere in Connecticut."
+
+"How did the young couple you saw get in last night? Was there any one
+here to admit them?"
+
+"No; the gentleman had a key."
+
+"Ah, he had a key."
+
+The tone in which this was said recurred to me afterwards, but at the
+moment I was much more impressed by a peculiar sound I heard behind me,
+something between a gasp and a click in the throat, which came I knew
+from the scrub-woman, and which, odd and contradictory as it may appear,
+struck me as an expression of satisfaction, though what there was in my
+admission to give satisfaction to this poor creature I could not
+conjecture. Moving so as to get a glimpse of her face, I went on with
+the grim self-possession natural to my character:
+
+"And when he came out he walked briskly away. The carriage had not
+waited for him."
+
+"Ah!" again muttered the gentleman, picking up one of the broken pieces
+of china which lay haphazard about the floor, while I studied the
+cleaner's face, which, to my amazement, gave evidences of a confusion of
+emotions most unaccountable to me.
+
+Mr. Gryce may have noticed this too, for he immediately addressed her,
+though he continued to look at the broken piece of china in his hand.
+
+"And how come you to be cleaning the house?" he asked. "Is the family
+coming home?"
+
+"They are, sir," she answered, hiding her emotion with great skill the
+moment she perceived attention directed to herself, and speaking with a
+sudden volubility that made us all stare. "They are expected any day. I
+didn't know it till yesterday--was it yesterday? No, the day
+before--when young Mr. Franklin--he is the oldest son, sir, and a very
+nice man, a _very_ nice man--sent me word by letter that I was to get
+the house ready. It isn't the first time I have done it for them, sir,
+and as soon as I could get the basement key from the agent, I came here,
+and worked all day yesterday, washing up the floors and dusting. I
+should have been at them again this morning if my husband hadn't been
+sick. But I had to go to the infirmary for medicine, and it was noon
+when I got here, and then I found this lady standing outside with a
+policeman, a very nice lady, a very _nice_ lady indeed, sir, I pay my
+respects to her"--and she actually dropped me a curtsey like a peasant
+woman in a play--"and they took my key from me, and the policeman opens
+the door, and he and me go upstairs and into all the rooms, and when we
+come to this one----"
+
+She was getting so excited as to be hardly intelligible. Stopping
+herself with a jerk, she fumbled nervously with her apron, while I asked
+myself how she could have been at work in this house the day before
+without my knowing it. Suddenly I remembered that I was ill in the
+morning and busy in the afternoon at the Orphan Asylum, and somewhat
+relieved at finding so excellent an excuse for my ignorance, I looked up
+to see if the detective had noticed anything odd in this woman's
+behavior. Presumably he had, but having more experience than myself with
+the susceptibility of ignorant persons in the presence of danger and
+distress, he attached less importance to it than I did, for which I was
+secretly glad, without exactly knowing my reasons for being so.
+
+"You will be wanted as a witness by the Coroner's jury," he now remarked
+to her, looking as if he were addressing the piece of china he was
+turning over in his hand. "Now, no nonsense!" he protested, as she
+commenced to tremble and plead. "You were the first one to see this dead
+woman, and you must be on hand to say so. As I cannot tell you when the
+inquest will be held, you had better stay around till the Coroner comes.
+He'll be here soon. You, and this other woman too."
+
+By other woman he meant _me_, Miss Butterworth, of Colonial ancestry and
+no inconsiderable importance in the social world. But though I did not
+relish this careless association of myself with this poor scrub-woman,
+I was careful to show no displeasure, for I reasoned that as witnesses
+we were equal before the law, and that it was solely in this light he
+regarded us.
+
+There was something in the manner of both these gentlemen which
+convinced me that while my presence was considered desirable in the
+house, it was not especially wanted in the room. I was therefore moving
+reluctantly away, when I felt a slight but peremptory touch on the arm,
+and turning, saw the detective at my side, still studying his piece of
+china.
+
+He was, as I have said, of portly build and benevolent aspect; a
+fatherly-looking man, and not at all the person one would be likely to
+associate with the police. Yet he could take the lead very naturally,
+and when he spoke, I felt bound to answer him.
+
+"Will you be so good, madam, as to relate over again, what you saw from
+your window last night? I am likely to have charge of this matter, and
+would be pleased to hear all you may have to say concerning it."
+
+"My name is Butterworth," I politely intimated.
+
+"And my name is Gryce."
+
+"A detective?"
+
+"The same."
+
+"You must think this matter very serious," I ventured.
+
+"Death by violence is always serious."
+
+"You must regard this death as something more than an accident, I mean."
+
+His smile seemed to say: "You will not know to-day how I regard it."
+
+"And you will not know to-day what I think of it either," was my inward
+rejoinder, but I said nothing aloud, for the man was seventy-five if he
+was a day, and I have been taught respect for age, and have practised
+the same for fifty years and more.
+
+I must have shown what was passing in my mind, and he must have seen it
+reflected on the polished surface of the porcelain he was contemplating,
+for his lips showed the shadow of a smile sufficiently sarcastic for me
+to see that he was far from being as easy-natured as his countenance
+indicated.
+
+"Come, come," said he, "there is the Coroner now. Say what you have to
+say, like the straightforward, honest woman you appear."
+
+"I don't like compliments," I snapped out. Indeed, they have always been
+obnoxious to me. As if there was any merit in being honest and
+straightforward, or any distinction in being told so!
+
+"I am Miss Butterworth, and not in the habit of being spoken to as if I
+were a simple countrywoman," I objected. "But I will repeat what I saw
+last night, as it is no secret, and the telling of it won't hurt me and
+may help you."
+
+Accordingly I went over the whole story, and was much more loquacious
+than I had intended to be, his manner was so insinuating and his
+inquiries so pertinent. But one topic we both failed to broach, and that
+was the peculiar manner of the scrub-woman. Perhaps it had not struck
+him as peculiar and perhaps it should not have struck me so, but in the
+silence which was preserved on the subject I felt I had acquired an
+advantage over him, which might lead to consequences of no small
+importance. Would I have felt thus or congratulated myself quite so much
+upon my fancied superiority, if I had known he was the man who managed
+the Leavenworth case, and who in his early years had experienced that
+very wonderful adventure on the staircase of the Heart's Delight?
+Perhaps I would; for though I have had no adventures, I feel capable of
+them, and as for any peculiar acumen he may have shown in his long and
+eventful career, why that is a quality which others may share with him,
+as I hope to be able to prove before finishing these pages.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+AMELIA DISCOVERS HERSELF.
+
+
+There is a small room at the extremity of the Van Burnam mansion. In
+this I took refuge after my interview with Mr. Gryce. As I picked out
+the chair which best suited me and settled myself for a comfortable
+communion with my own thoughts, I was astonished to find how much I was
+enjoying myself, notwithstanding the thousand and one duties awaiting me
+on the other side of the party-wall.
+
+Even this very solitude was welcome, for it gave me an opportunity to
+consider matters. I had not known up to this very hour that I had any
+special gifts. My father, who was a shrewd man of the old New England
+type, said more times than I am years old (which was not saying it as
+often as some may think) that Araminta (the name I was christened by,
+and the name you will find in the Bible record, though I sign myself
+Amelia, and insist upon being addressed as Amelia, being, as I hope, a
+sensible woman and not the piece of antiquated sentimentality suggested
+by the former cognomen)--that Araminta would live to make her mark;
+though in what capacity he never informed me, being, as I have observed,
+a shrewd man, and thus not likely to thoughtlessly commit himself.
+
+I now know he was right; my pretensions dating from the moment I found
+that this affair, at first glance so simple, and at the next so
+complicated, had aroused in me a fever of investigation which no
+reasoning could allay. Though I had other and more personal matters on
+my mind, my thoughts would rest nowhere but on the details of this
+tragedy; and having, as I thought, noticed some few facts in connection
+with it, from which conclusions might be drawn, I amused myself with
+jotting them down on the back of a disputed grocer's bill I happened to
+find in my pocket.
+
+Valueless as explaining this tragedy, being founded upon insufficient
+evidence, they may be interesting as showing the workings of my mind
+even at this early stage of the matter. They were drawn up under three
+heads.
+
+First, was the death of this young woman an accident?
+
+Second, was it a suicide?
+
+Third, was it a murder?
+
+Under the first head I wrote:
+
+_My reasons for not thinking it an accident._
+
+1. If it had been an accident and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself, she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood.
+
+(But her feet were towards the door and her head under the cabinet.)
+
+2. The decent, even precise, arrangement of the clothing about her feet,
+which precludes any theory involving accident.
+
+Under the second:
+
+_Reason for not thinking it suicide._
+
+She could not have been found in the position observed without having
+lain down on the floor while living and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself.
+
+(A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)
+
+Under the third:
+
+_Reason for not thinking it murder._
+
+She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her; something which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet made appear impossible.
+
+To this I added:
+
+_Reasons for accepting the theory of murder._
+
+1. The fact that she did not go into the house alone; that a man entered
+with her, remained ten minutes, and then came out again and disappeared
+up the street with every appearance of haste and an anxious desire to
+leave the spot.
+
+2. The front door, which he had unlocked on entering, was not locked by
+him on his departure, the catch doing the locking. Yet, though he could
+have re-entered so easily, he had shown no disposition to return.
+
+3. The arrangement of the skirts, which show the touch of a careful hand
+after death.
+
+Nothing clear, you see. I was doubtful of all; and yet my suspicions
+tended most toward murder.
+
+I had eaten my luncheon before interfering in this matter, which was
+fortunate for me, as it was three o'clock before I was summoned to meet
+the Coroner, of whose arrival I had been conscious some time before.
+
+He was in the front parlor where the dead girl lay, and as I took my way
+thither I felt the same sensations of faintness which had so nearly
+overcome me on the previous occasion. But I mastered them, and was
+quite myself before I crossed the threshold.
+
+There were several gentlemen present, but of them all I only noticed
+two, one of whom I took to be the Coroner, while the other was my late
+interlocutor, Mr. Gryce. From the animation observable in the latter, I
+gathered that the case was growing in interest from the detective
+standpoint.
+
+"Ah, and is this the witness?" asked the Coroner, as I stepped into the
+room.
+
+"I am Miss Butterworth," was my calm reply. "_Amelia_ Butterworth.
+Living next door and present at the discovery of this poor murdered
+body."
+
+"Murdered," he repeated. "Why do you say murdered?"
+
+For reply I drew from my pocket the bill on which I had scribbled my
+conclusions in regard to this matter.
+
+"Read this," said I.
+
+Evidently astonished, he took the paper from my hand, and, after some
+curious glances in my direction, condescended to do as I requested. The
+result was an odd but grudging look of admiration directed towards
+myself and a quick passing over of the paper to the detective.
+
+The latter, who had exchanged his bit of broken china for a very much
+used and tooth-marked lead-pencil, frowned with a whimsical air at the
+latter before he put it in his pocket. Then he read my hurried scrawl.
+
+"Two Richmonds in the field!" commented the Coroner, with a sly chuckle.
+"I am afraid I shall have to yield to their allied forces. Miss
+Butterworth, the cabinet is about to be raised; do you feel as if you
+could endure the sight?"
+
+"I can stand anything where the cause of justice is involved," I
+replied.
+
+"Very well, then, sit down, if you please. When the whole body is
+visible I will call you."
+
+And stepping forward he gave orders to have the clock and broken china
+removed from about the body.
+
+As the former was laid away on one end of the mantel some one observed:
+
+"What a valuable witness that clock might have been had it been running
+when the shelves fell!"
+
+But the fact was so patent that it had not been in motion for months
+that no one even answered; and Mr. Gryce did not so much as look towards
+it. But then we had all seen that the hands stood at three minutes to
+five.
+
+I had been asked to sit down, but I found this impossible. Side by side
+with the detective, I viewed the replacing of that heavy piece of
+furniture against the wall, and the slow disclosure of the upper part of
+the body which had so long lain hidden.
+
+That I did not give way is a proof that my father's prophecy was not
+without some reasonable foundation; for the sight was one to try the
+stoutest nerves, as well as to awaken the compassion of the hardest
+heart.
+
+The Coroner, meeting my eye, pointed at the poor creature inquiringly.
+
+"Is this the woman you saw enter here last night?"
+
+I glanced down at her dress, noted the short summer cape tied to the
+neck with an elaborate bow of ribbon, and nodded my head.
+
+"I remember the cape," said I. "But where is her hat? She wore one. Let
+me see if I can describe it." Closing my eyes I endeavored to recall
+the dim silhouette of her figure as she stood passing up the change to
+the driver; and was so far successful that I was ready to announce at
+the next moment that her hat presented the effect of a soft felt with
+one feather or one bow of ribbon standing upright from the side of the
+crown.
+
+"Then the identity of this woman with the one you saw enter here last
+night is established," remarked the detective, stooping down and drawing
+from under the poor girl's body a hat, sufficiently like the one I had
+just described, to satisfy everybody that it was the same.
+
+"As if there could be any doubt," I began.
+
+But the Coroner, explaining that it was a mere formality, motioned me to
+stand aside in favor of the doctor, who seemed anxious to approach
+nearer the spot where the dead woman lay. This I was about to do when a
+sudden thought struck me, and I reached out my hand for the hat.
+
+"Let me look at it for a moment," said I.
+
+Mr. Gryce at once handed it over, and I took a good look at it inside
+and out.
+
+"It is pretty badly crushed," I observed, "and does not present a very
+fresh appearance, but for all that it has been worn but once."
+
+"How do you know?" questioned the Coroner.
+
+"Let the other Richmond inform you," was my grimly uttered reply, as I
+gave it again into the detective's hand.
+
+There was a murmur about me, whether of amusement or displeasure, I made
+no effort to decide. I was finding out something for myself, and I did
+not care what they thought of me.
+
+"Neither has she worn this dress long," I continued; "but that is not
+true of the shoes. They are not old, but they have been acquainted with
+the pavement, and that is more than can be said of the hem of this gown.
+There are no gloves on her hands; a few minutes elapsed then before the
+assault; long enough for her to take them off."
+
+"Smart woman!" whispered a voice in my ear; a half-admiring,
+half-sarcastic voice that I had no difficulty in ascribing to Mr. Gryce.
+"But are you sure she wore any? Did you notice that her hand was gloved
+when she came into the house?"
+
+"No," I answered, frankly; "but so well-dressed a woman would not enter
+a house like this, without gloves."
+
+"It was a warm night," some one suggested.
+
+"I don't care. You will find her gloves as you have her hat; and you
+will find them with the fingers turned inside out, just as she drew them
+from her hand. So much I will concede to the warmth of the weather."
+
+"Like these, for instance," broke in a quiet voice.
+
+Startled, for a hand had appeared over my shoulder dangling a pair of
+gloves before my eyes, I cried out, somewhat too triumphantly I own:
+
+"Yes, yes, just like those! Did you pick them up here? Are they hers?"
+
+"You say that this is the way hers should look."
+
+"And I repeat it."
+
+"Then allow me to pay you my compliments. These were picked up here."
+
+"But where?" I cried. "I thought I had looked this carpet well over."
+
+He smiled, not at me but at the gloves, and the thought crossed me that
+he felt as if something more than the gloves was being turned inside
+out. I therefore pursed my mouth, and determined to stand more on my
+guard.
+
+"It is of no consequence," I assured him; "all such matters will come
+out at the inquest."
+
+Mr. Gryce nodded, and put the gloves back in his pocket. With them he
+seemed to pocket some of his geniality and patience.
+
+"All these facts have been gone over before you came in," said he, which
+statement I beg to consider as open to doubt.
+
+The doctor, who had hardly moved a muscle during all this colloquy, now
+rose from his kneeling position beside the girl's head.
+
+"I shall have to ask the presence of another physician," said he. "Will
+you send for one from your office, Coroner Dahl?"
+
+At which I stepped back and the Coroner stepped forward, saying,
+however, as he passed me:
+
+"The inquest will be held day after to-morrow in my office. Hold
+yourself in readiness to be present. I regard you as one of my chief
+witnesses."
+
+I assured him I would be on hand, and, obeying a gesture of his finger,
+retreated from the room; but I did not yet leave the house. A straight,
+slim man, with a very small head but a very bright eye, was leaning on
+the newel-post in the front hall, and when he saw me, started up so
+alertly I perceived that he had business with me, and so waited for him
+to speak.
+
+"You are Miss Butterworth?" he inquired.
+
+"I am, sir."
+
+"And I am a reporter from the New York _World_. Will you allow me----"
+
+Why did he stop? I had merely looked at him. But he did stop, and that
+is saying considerable for a reporter from the New York _World_.
+
+"I certainly am willing to tell you what I have told every one else," I
+interposed, considering it better not to make an enemy of so judicious a
+young man; and seeing him brighten up at this, I thereupon related all I
+considered desirable for the general public to know.
+
+I was about passing on, when, reflecting that one good turn deserves
+another, I paused and asked him if he thought they would leave the dead
+girl in that house all night.
+
+He answered that he did not think they would. That a telegram had been
+sent some time before to young Mr. Van Burnam, and that they were only
+awaiting his arrival to remove her.
+
+"Do you mean Howard?" I asked.
+
+"Is he the elder one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"It is the elder one they have summoned; the one who has been staying at
+Long Branch."
+
+"How can they expect him then so soon?"
+
+"Because he is in the city. It seems the old gentleman is going to
+return on the _New York_, and as she is due here to-day, Franklin Van
+Burnam has come to New York to meet him."
+
+"Humph!" thought I, "lively times are in prospect," and for the first
+time I remembered my dinner and the orders which had not been given
+about some curtains which were to have been hung that day, and all the
+other reasons I had for being at home.
+
+I must have shown my feelings, much as I pride myself upon my
+impassibility upon all occasions, for he immediately held out his arm,
+with an offer to pilot me through the crowd to my own house; and I was
+about to accept it when the door-bell rang so sharply that we
+involuntarily stopped.
+
+"A fresh witness or a telegram for the Coroner," whispered the reporter
+in my ear.
+
+I tried to look indifferent, and doubtless made out pretty well, for he
+added, after a sly look in my face:
+
+"You do not care to stay any longer?"
+
+I made no reply, but I think he was impressed by my dignity. Could he
+not see that it would be the height of ill-manners for me to rush out in
+the face of any one coming in?
+
+An officer opened the door, and when we saw who stood there, I am sure
+that the reporter, as well as myself, was grateful that we listened to
+the dictates of politeness. It was young Mr. Van Burnam--Franklin; I
+mean the older and more respectable of the two sons.
+
+He was flushed and agitated, and looked as if he would like to
+annihilate the crowd pushing him about on his own stoop. He gave an
+angry glance backward as he stepped in, and then I saw that a carriage
+covered with baggage stood on the other side of the street, and gathered
+that he had not returned to his father's house alone.
+
+"What has happened? What does all this mean?" were the words he hurled
+at us as the door closed behind him and he found himself face to face
+with a half dozen strangers, among whom the reporter and myself stood
+conspicuous.
+
+Mr. Gryce, coming suddenly from somewhere, was the one to answer him.
+
+"A painful occurrence, sir. A young girl has been found here, dead,
+crushed under one of your parlor cabinets."
+
+"A young girl!" he repeated. (Oh, how glad I was that I had been brought
+up never to transgress the principles of politeness.) "Here! in this
+shut-up house? What young girl? You mean old woman, do you not? the
+house-cleaner or some one----"
+
+"No, Mr. Van Burnam, we mean what we say, though possibly I should call
+her a young lady. She is dressed quite fashionably."
+
+"The ----" Really I cannot repeat in this public manner the word which
+Mr. Van Burnam used. I excused him at the time, but I will not
+perpetuate his forgetfulness in these pages.
+
+"She is still lying as we found her," Mr. Gryce now proceeded in his
+quiet, almost fatherly way. "Will you not take a look at her? Perhaps
+you can tell us who she is?"
+
+"I?" Mr. Van Burnam seemed quite shocked. "How should I know her! Some
+thief probably, killed while meddling with other people's property."
+
+"Perhaps," quoth Mr. Gryce, laconically; at which I felt so angry, as
+tending to mislead my handsome young neighbor, that I irresistibly did
+what I had fully made up my mind not to do, that is, stepped into view
+and took a part in this conversation.
+
+"How can you say that," I cried, "when her admittance here was due to a
+young man who let her in at midnight with a key, and then left her to
+eat out her heart in this great house all alone."
+
+I have made sensations in my life, but never quite so marked a one as
+this. In an instant every eye was on me, with the exception of the
+detective's. His was on the figure crowning the newel-post, and
+bitterly severe his gaze was too, though it immediately grew wary as the
+young man started towards me and impetuously demanded:
+
+"Who talks like that? Why, it's Miss Butterworth. Madam, I fear I did
+not fully understand what you said."
+
+Whereupon I repeated my words, this time very quietly but clearly, while
+Mr. Gryce continued to frown at the bronze figure he had taken into his
+confidence. When I had finished, Mr. Van Burnam's countenance had
+changed, so had his manner. He held himself as erect as before, but not
+with as much bravado. He showed haste and impatience also, but not the
+same kind of haste and not quite the same kind of impatience. The
+corners of Mr. Gryce's mouth betrayed that he noted this change, but he
+did not turn away from the newel-post.
+
+"This is a remarkable circumstance which you have just told me,"
+observed Mr. Van Burnam, with the first bow I had ever received from
+him. "I don't know what to think of it. But I still hold that it's some
+thief. Killed, did you say? Really dead? Well, I'd have given five
+hundred dollars not to have had it happen in this house."
+
+He had been moving towards the parlor door, and he now entered it.
+Instantly Mr. Gryce was by his side.
+
+"Are they going to close the door?" I whispered to the reporter, who was
+taking this all in equally with myself.
+
+"I'm afraid so," he muttered.
+
+And they did. Mr. Gryce had evidently had enough of my interference, and
+was resolved to shut me out, but I heard one word and caught one
+glimpse of Mr. Van Burnam's face before the heavy door fell to. The word
+was: "Oh, so bad as that! How can any one recognize her----" And the
+glimpse--well, the glimpse proved to me that he was much more profoundly
+agitated than he wished to appear, and any extraordinary agitation on
+his part was certainly in direct contradiction to the very sentence he
+was at that moment uttering.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+SILAS VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+"However much I may be needed at home, I cannot reconcile it with my
+sense of duty to leave just yet," I confided to the reporter, with what
+I meant to be a proper show of reason and self-restraint; "Mr. Van
+Burnam may wish to ask me some questions."
+
+"Of course, of course," acquiesced the other. "You are very right;
+always are very right, I should judge."
+
+As I did not know what he meant by this, I frowned, always a wise thing
+to do in an uncertainty; that is,--if one wishes to maintain an air of
+independence and aversion to flattery.
+
+"Will you not sit down?" he suggested. "There is a chair at the end of
+the hall."
+
+But I had no need to sit. The front door-bell again rang, and
+simultaneously with its opening, the parlor door unclosed and Mr.
+Franklin Van Burnam appeared in the hall, just as Mr. Silas Van Burnam,
+his father, stepped into the vestibule.
+
+"Father!" he remonstrated, with a troubled air; "could you not wait?"
+
+The elder gentleman, who had evidently just been driven up from the
+steamer, wiped his forehead with an irascible air, that I will say I
+had noticed in him before and on much less provocation.
+
+"Wait, with a yelling crowd screaming murder in my ear, and Isabella on
+one side of me calling for salts, and Caroline on the opposite seat
+getting that blue look about the mouth we have learned to dread so in a
+hot day like this? No, sir, when there is anything wrong going on I want
+to know it, and evidently there is something wrong going on here. What
+is it? Some of Howard's----"
+
+But the son, seizing me by the hand and drawing me forward, put a quick
+stop to the old gentleman's sentence. "Miss Butterworth, father! Our
+next-door neighbor, you know."
+
+"Ah! hum! ha! Miss Butterworth. How do you do, ma'am? What the ---- is
+she doing here?" he grumbled, not so low but that I heard both the
+profanity and the none too complimentary allusion to myself.
+
+"If you will come into the parlor, I will tell you," urged the son. "But
+what have you done with Isabella and Caroline? Left them in the carriage
+with that hooting mob about them?"
+
+"I told the coachman to drive on. They are probably half-way around the
+block by this time."
+
+"Then come in here. But don't allow yourself to be too much affected by
+what you will see. A sad accident has occurred here, and you must expect
+the sight of blood."
+
+"Blood! Oh, I can stand that, if Howard----"
+
+The rest was lost in the sound of the closing door.
+
+And now, you will say, I ought to have gone. And you are right, but
+would you have gone yourself, especially as the hall was full of people
+who did not belong there?
+
+If you would, then condemn me for lingering just a few minutes longer.
+
+The voices in the parlor were loud, but they presently subsided; and
+when the owner of the house came out again, he had a subdued look which
+was as great a contrast to his angry aspect on entering, as was the
+change I had observed in his son. He was so absorbed indeed that he did
+not notice me, though I stood directly in his way.
+
+"Don't let Howard come," he was saying in a thick, low voice to his son.
+"Keep Howard away till we are sure----"
+
+I am confident that his son pressed his arm at this point, for he
+stopped short and looked about him in a blind and dazed way.
+
+"Oh!" he ejaculated, in a tone of great displeasure. "This is the woman
+who saw----"
+
+"Miss Butterworth, father," the anxious voice of his son broke in.
+"Don't try to talk; such a sight is enough to unnerve any man."
+
+"Yes, yes," blustered the old gentleman, evidently taking some hint from
+the other's tone or manner. "But where are the girls? They will be dead
+with terror, if we don't relieve their minds. They got the idea it was
+their brother Howard who was hurt; and so did I, but it's only some
+wandering waif--some----"
+
+It seemed as if he was not to be allowed to finish any of his sentences,
+for Franklin interrupted him at this point to ask him what he was going
+to do with the girls. Certainly he could not bring them in here.
+
+"No," answered the father, but in the dreamy, inconsequential way of
+one whose thoughts were elsewhere. "I suppose I shall have to take them
+to some hotel."
+
+Ah, an idea! I flushed as I realized the opportunity which had come to
+me and had to wait a moment not to speak with too much eagerness.
+
+"Let me play the part of a neighbor," I prayed, "and accommodate the
+young ladies for the night. My house is near and quiet."
+
+"But the trouble it will involve," protested Mr. Franklin.
+
+"Is just what I need to allay my excitement," I responded. "I shall be
+glad to offer them rooms for the night. If they are equally glad to
+accept them----"
+
+"They must be!" the old gentleman declared. "I can't go running round
+with them hunting up rooms to-night. Miss Butterworth is very good; go
+find the girls, Franklin; let me have them off my mind, at least."
+
+The young man bowed. I bowed, and was slipping at last from my place by
+the stairs when, for the third time, I felt my dress twitched.
+
+"Are you going to keep to that story?" a voice whispered in my ear.
+"About the young man and woman coming in the night, you know."
+
+"Keep to it!" I whispered back, recognizing the scrub-woman, who had
+sidled up to me from some unknown quarter in the semi-darkness. "Why,
+it's true. Why shouldn't I keep to it."
+
+A chuckle, difficult to describe but full of meaning, shook the arm of
+the woman as she pressed close to my side.
+
+"Oh, you are a good one," she said. "I didn't know they made 'em so
+good!" And with another chuckle full of satisfaction and an odd sort of
+admiration I had certainly not earned, she slid away again into the
+darkness.
+
+Certainly there was something in this woman's attitude towards this
+affair which merited attention.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+"THIS IS NO ONE I KNOW."
+
+
+I welcomed the Misses Van Burnam with just enough good-will to show that
+I had not been influenced by any unworthy motives in asking them to my
+house.
+
+I gave them my guest-chamber, but I invited them to sit in my front room
+as long as there was anything interesting going on in the street. I knew
+they would like to look out, and as this chamber boasts of a bay with
+two windows, we could all be accommodated. From where I sat I could now
+and then hear what they said, and I considered this but just, for if the
+young woman who had suffered so untimely an end was in any way connected
+with them, it was certainly best that the fact should not lie concealed;
+and one of them, that is Isabella, is such a chatterbox.
+
+Mr. Van Burnam and his son had returned next door, and so far as we
+could observe from our vantage-point, preparations were being made for
+the body's removal. As the crowd below, driven away by the policemen one
+minute, only to collect again in another, swayed and grumbled in a
+continual expectation that was as continually disappointed, I heard
+Caroline's voice rise in two or three short sentences.
+
+"They can't find Howard, or he would have been here before now. Did you
+see her that time when we were coming out of Clark's? Fanny Preston did,
+and said she was pretty."
+
+"No, I didn't get a glimpse----" A shout from the street below.
+
+"I can't believe it," were the next words I heard, "but Franklin is
+awfully afraid----"
+
+"Hush! or the ogress----" I am sure I heard her say ogress; but what
+followed was drowned in another loud murmur, and I caught nothing
+further till these sentences were uttered by the trembling and
+over-excited Caroline: "If it is she, pa will never be the same man
+again. To have her die in our house! O, there's Howard now!"
+
+The interruption came quick and sharp, and it was followed by a double
+cry and an anxious rustle, as the two girls sprang to their feet in
+their anxiety to attract their brother's attention or possibly to convey
+him some warning.
+
+But I did not give much heed to them. My eyes were on the carriage in
+which Howard had arrived, and which, owing to the ambulance in front,
+had stopped on the other side of the way. I was anxious to see him
+descend that I might judge if his figure recalled that of the man I had
+seen cross the pavement the night before. But he did not descend. Just
+as his hand was on the carriage door, a half dozen men appeared on the
+adjoining stoop carrying a burden which they hastened to deposit in the
+ambulance. He sank back when he saw it, and when his face became visible
+again, it was so white it seemed to be the only face in the street,
+though fifty people stood about staring at the house, at the ambulance,
+and at him.
+
+Franklin Van Burnam had evidently come to the door with the rest; for
+Howard no sooner showed his face the second time than we saw the former
+dash down the steps and try to part the crowd in a vain attempt to reach
+his brother's side. Mr. Gryce was more successful. He had no difficulty
+in winning his way across the street, and presently I perceived him
+standing near the carriage exchanging a few words with its occupant. A
+moment later he drew back, and addressing the driver, jumped into the
+carriage with Howard, and was speedily driven off. The ambulance
+followed and some of the crowd, and as soon as a hack could be obtained,
+Mr. Van Burnam and his son took the same road, leaving us three women in
+a state of suspense, which as far as one of us was concerned, ended in a
+nervous attack that was not unlike heart failure. I allude, of course,
+to Caroline, and it took Isabella and myself a good half hour to bring
+her back to a normal condition, and when this was done, Isabella thought
+it incumbent upon her to go off into hysterics, which, being but a weak
+simulation of the other's state, I met with severity and cured with a
+frown. When both were in trim again I allowed myself one remark.
+
+"One would think," said I, "that you knew the young woman who has fallen
+victim to her folly next door."
+
+At which Isabella violently shook her head and Caroline observed:
+
+"It is the excitement which has been too much for me. I am never strong,
+and this is such a dreadful home-welcoming. When will father and
+Franklin come back? It was very unkind of them to go off without one
+word of encouragement."
+
+"They probably did not consider the fate of this unknown woman a matter
+of any importance to you."
+
+The Van Burnam girls were unlike in appearance and character, but they
+showed an equal embarrassment at this, casting down their eyes and
+behaving so strangely that I was driven to wonder, without any show of
+hysterics I am happy to say, what would be the upshot of this matter,
+and how far I would become involved in it before the truth came to
+light.
+
+At dinner they displayed what I should call their best society manner.
+Seeing this, I assumed my society manner also. It is formed on a
+different pattern from theirs, but is fully as impressive, I judge.
+
+A most formal meal was the result. My best china was in use, but I had
+added nothing to my usual course of viands. Indeed, I had abstracted
+something. An _entree_, upon which my cook prides herself, was omitted.
+Was I going to allow these proud young misses to think I had exerted
+myself to please them? No; rather would I have them consider me
+niggardly and an enemy to good living; so the _entree_ was, as the
+French say, suppressed.
+
+In the evening their father came in. He was looking very dejected, and
+half his bluster was gone. He held a telegram crushed in his hand, and
+he talked very rapidly. But he confided none of his secrets to me, and I
+was obliged to say good-night to these young ladies without knowing much
+more about the matter engrossing us than when I left their house in the
+afternoon.
+
+But others were not as ignorant as myself. A dramatic and highly
+exciting scene had taken place that evening at the undertaker's to which
+the unknown's body had been removed, and as I have more than once heard
+it minutely described, I will endeavor to transcribe it here with all
+the impartiality of an outsider.
+
+When Mr. Gryce entered the carriage in which Howard sat, he noted first,
+that the young man was frightened; and secondly, that he made no effort
+to hide it. He had heard almost nothing from the detective. He knew that
+there had been a hue and cry for him ever since noon, and that he was
+wanted to identify a young woman who had been found dead in his father's
+house, but beyond these facts he had been told little, and yet he seemed
+to have no curiosity nor did he venture to express any surprise. He
+merely accepted the situation and was troubled by it, showing no
+inclination to talk till very near the end of his destination, when he
+suddenly pulled himself together and ventured this question:
+
+"How did she--the young woman as you call her--kill herself?"
+
+The detective, who in his long career among criminals and suspected
+persons, had seen many men and encountered many conditions, roused at
+this query with much of his old spirit. Turning from the man rather than
+toward him, he allowed himself a slight shrug of the shoulders as he
+calmly replied:
+
+"She was found under a heavy piece of furniture; the cabinet with the
+vases on it, which you must remember stood at the left of the
+mantel-piece. It had crushed her head and breast. Quite a remarkable
+means of death, don't you think? There has been but one occurrence like
+it in my long experience."
+
+"I don't believe what you tell me," was the young man's astonishing
+reply. "You are trying to frighten me or to make game of me. No lady
+would make use of any such means of death as that."
+
+"I did not say she was a lady," returned Mr. Gryce, scoring one in his
+mind against his unwary companion.
+
+A quiver passed down the young man's side where he came in contact with
+the detective.
+
+"No," he muttered; "but I gathered from what you said, she was no common
+person; or why," he flashed out in sudden heat, "do you require me to go
+with you to see her? Have I the name of associating with any persons of
+the sex who are not ladies?"
+
+"Pardon me," said Mr. Gryce, in grim delight at the prospect he saw
+slowly unfolding before him of one of those complicated affairs in which
+minds like his unconsciously revel; "I meant no insinuations. We have
+requested you, as we have requested your father and brother, to
+accompany us to the undertaker's, because the identification of the
+corpse is a most important point, and every formality likely to insure
+it must be observed."
+
+"And did not they--my father and brother, I mean--recognize her?"
+
+"It would be difficult for any one to recognize her who was not well
+acquainted with her."
+
+A horrified look crossed the features of Howard Van Burnam, which, if a
+part of his acting, showed him to have genius for his _role_. His head
+sank back on the cushions of the carriage, and for a moment he closed
+his eyes. When he opened them again, the carriage had stopped, and Mr.
+Gryce, who had not noticed his emotion, of course, was looking out of
+the window with his hand on the handle of the door.
+
+"Are we there already?" asked the young man, with a shudder. "I wish
+you had not considered it necessary for me to see her. I shall detect
+nothing familiar in her, I know."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed, repeated that it was a mere formality, and followed the
+young gentleman into the building and afterwards into the room where the
+dead body lay. A couple of doctors and one or two officials stood about,
+in whose faces the young man sought for something like encouragement
+before casting his eyes in the direction indicated by the detective. But
+there was little in any of these faces to calm him, and turning shortly
+away, he walked manfully across the room and took his stand by the
+detective.
+
+"I am positive," he began, "that it is not my wife----" At this moment
+the cloth that covered the body was removed, and he gave a great start
+of relief. "I said so," he remarked, coldly. "This is no one I know."
+
+His sigh was echoed in double chorus from the doorway. Glancing that way
+he encountered the faces of his father and elder brother, and moved
+towards them with a relieved air that made quite another man of him in
+appearance.
+
+"I have had my say," he remarked. "Shall I wait outside till you have
+had yours?"
+
+"We have already said all that we had to," Franklin returned. "We
+declared that we did not recognize this person."
+
+"Of course, of course," assented the other. "I don't see why they should
+have expected us to know her. Some common suicide who thought the house
+empty--But how did she get in?"
+
+"Don't you know?" said Mr. Gryce. "Can it be that I forgot to tell you?
+Why, she was let in at night by a young man of medium height"--his eye
+ran up and down the graceful figure of the young _elegant_ before him as
+he spoke--"who left her inside and then went away. A young man who had a
+key----"
+
+"A _key_? Franklin, I----"
+
+Was it a look from Franklin which made him stop? It is possible, for he
+turned on his heel as he reached this point, and tossing his head with
+quite a gay air, exclaimed: "But it is of no consequence! The girl is a
+stranger, and we have satisfied, I believe, all the requirements of the
+law in saying so, and may now drop the matter. Are you going to the
+club, Franklin?"
+
+"Yes, but----" Here the elder brother drew nearer and whispered
+something into the other's ear, who at that whisper turned again towards
+the place where the dead woman lay. Seeing this movement, his anxious
+father wiped the moisture from his forehead. Silas Van Burnam had been
+silent up to this moment and seemed inclined to continue so, but he
+watched his younger son with painful intentness.
+
+"Nonsense!" broke from Howard's lips as his brother ceased his
+communication; but he took a step nearer the body, notwithstanding, and
+then another and another till he was at its side again.
+
+The hands had not been injured, as we have said, and upon these his eyes
+now fell.
+
+"They are like hers! O God! they are like hers!" he muttered, growing
+gloomy at once. "But where are the rings? There are no rings to be seen
+on these fingers, and she wore five, including her wedding-ring."
+
+"Is it of your wife you are speaking?" inquired Mr. Gryce, who had edged
+up close to his side.
+
+The young man was caught unawares.
+
+He flushed deeply, but answered up boldly and with great appearance of
+candor:
+
+"Yes; my wife left Haddam yesterday to come to New York, and I have not
+seen her since. Naturally I have felt some doubts lest this unhappy
+victim should be she. But I do not recognize her clothing; I do not
+recognize her form; only the hands look familiar."
+
+"And the hair?"
+
+"Is of the same color as hers, but it's a very ordinary color. I do not
+dare to say from anything I see that this is my wife."
+
+"We will call you again after the doctor has finished his autopsy," said
+Mr. Gryce. "Perhaps you will hear from Mrs. Van Burnam before then."
+
+But this intimation did not seem to bring comfort with it. Mr. Van
+Burnam walked away, white and sick, for which display of emotion there
+was certainly some cause, and rejoining his father tried to carry off
+the moment with the _aplomb_ of a man of the world.
+
+But that father's eye was fixed too steadily upon him; he faltered as he
+sat down, and finally spoke up, with feverish energy:
+
+"If it is she, so help me, God, her death is a mystery to me! We have
+quarrelled more than once lately, and I have sometimes lost my patience
+with her, but she had no reason to wish for death, and I am ready to
+swear in defiance of those hands, which are certainly like hers, and the
+nameless something which Franklin calls a likeness, that it is a
+stranger who lies there, and that her death in our house is a
+coincidence."
+
+"Well, well, we will wait," was the detective's soothing reply. "Sit
+down in the room opposite there, and give me your orders for supper, and
+I will see that a good meal is served you."
+
+The three gentlemen, seeing no way of refusing, followed the discreet
+official who preceded them, and the door of the doctor's room closed
+upon him and the inquiries he was about to make.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+NEW FACTS.
+
+
+Mr. Van Burnam and his sons had gone through the formality of a supper
+and were conversing in the haphazard way natural to men filled with a
+subject they dare not discuss, when the door opened and Mr. Gryce came
+in.
+
+Advancing very calmly, he addressed himself to the father:
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "to be obliged to inform you that this affair is
+much more serious than we anticipated. This young woman was dead before
+the shelves laden with _bric-a-brac_ fell upon her. It is a case of
+murder; obviously so, or I should not presume to forestall the Coroner's
+jury in their verdict."
+
+Murder! it is a word to shake the stoutest heart!
+
+The older gentleman reeled as he half rose, and Franklin, his son,
+betrayed in his own way an almost equal amount of emotion. But Howard,
+shrugging his shoulders as if relieved of an immense weight, looked
+about with a cheerful air, and briskly cried:
+
+"Then it is not the body of my wife you have there. No one would murder
+Louise. I shall go away and prove the truth of my words by hunting her
+up at once."
+
+The detective opened the door, beckoned in the doctor, who whispered
+two or three words into Howard's ear.
+
+They failed to awake the emotion he evidently expected. Howard looked
+surprised, but answered without any change of voice:
+
+"Yes, Louise had such a scar; and if it is true that this woman is
+similarly marked, then it is a mere coincidence. Nothing will convince
+me that my wife has been the victim of murder."
+
+"Had you not better take a look at the scar just mentioned?"
+
+"No. I am so sure of what I say that I will not even consider the
+possibility of my being mistaken. I have examined the clothing on this
+body you have shown me, and not one article of it came from my wife's
+wardrobe; nor would my wife go, as you have informed me this woman did,
+into a dark house at night with any other man than her husband."
+
+"And so you absolutely refuse to acknowledge her."
+
+"Most certainly."
+
+The detective paused, glanced at the troubled faces of the other two
+gentlemen, faces that had not perceptibly altered during these
+declarations, and suggestively remarked:
+
+"You have not asked by what means she was killed."
+
+"And I don't care," shouted Howard.
+
+"It was by very peculiar means, also new in my experience."
+
+"It does not interest me," the other retorted.
+
+Mr. Gryce turned to his father and brother.
+
+"Does it interest _you_?" he asked.
+
+The old gentleman, ordinarily so testy and so peremptory, silently
+nodded his head, while Franklin cried:
+
+"Speak up quick. You detectives hesitate so over the disagreeables. Was
+she throttled or stabbed with a knife?"
+
+"I have said the means were peculiar. She was stabbed, but not--with a
+knife."
+
+I know Mr. Gryce well enough now to be sure that he did not glance
+towards Howard while saying this, and yet at the same time that he did
+not miss the quiver of a muscle on his part or the motion of an eyelash.
+But Howard's assumed _sang froid_ remained undisturbed and his
+countenance imperturbable.
+
+"The wound was so small," the detective went on, "that it is a miracle
+it did not escape notice. It was made by the thrust of some very slender
+instrument through----"
+
+"The heart?" put in Franklin.
+
+"Of course, of course," assented the detective; "what other spot is
+vulnerable enough to cause death?"
+
+"Is there any reason why we should not go?" demanded Howard, ignoring
+the extreme interest manifested by the other two, with a determination
+that showed great doggedness of character.
+
+The detective ignored _him_.
+
+"A quick stroke, a sure stroke, a fatal stroke. The girl never breathed
+after."
+
+"But what of those things under which she lay crushed?"
+
+"Ah, in them lies the mystery! Her assailant must have been as subtle as
+he was sure."
+
+And still Howard showed no interest.
+
+"I wish to telegraph to Haddam," he declared, as no one answered the
+last remark. Haddam was the place where he and his wife had been
+spending the summer.
+
+"We have already telegraphed there," observed Mr. Gryce. "Your wife has
+not yet returned."
+
+"There are other places," defiantly insisted the other. "I can find her
+if you give me the opportunity."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed.
+
+"I am to give orders, then, for this body to be removed to the Morgue."
+
+It was an unexpected suggestion, and for an instant Howard showed that
+he had feelings with the best. But he quickly recovered himself, and
+avoiding the anxious glances of his father and brother, answered with
+offensive lightness:
+
+"I have nothing to do with that. You must do as you think proper."
+
+And Mr. Gryce felt that he had received a check, and did not know
+whether to admire the young man for his nerve or to execrate him for his
+brutality. That the woman whom he had thus carelessly dismissed to the
+ignominy of the public gaze was his wife, the detective did not doubt.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+MR. GRYCE DISCOVERS MISS AMELIA.
+
+
+To return to my own observations. I was almost as ignorant of what I
+wanted to know at ten o'clock on that memorable night as I was at five,
+but I was determined not to remain so. When the two Misses Van Burnam
+had retired to their room, I slipped away to the neighboring house and
+boldly rang the bell. I had observed Mr. Gryce enter it a few minutes
+before, and I was resolved to have some talk with him.
+
+The hall-lamp was lit, and we could discern each other's faces as he
+opened the door. Mine may have been a study, but I am sure his was. He
+had not expected to be confronted by an elderly lady at that hour of
+night.
+
+"Well!" he dryly ejaculated, "I am sensible of the honor, Miss
+Butterworth." But he did not ask me in.
+
+"I expected no less," said I. "I saw you come in, and I followed as soon
+after as I could. I have something to say to you."
+
+He admitted me then and carefully closed the door. Feeling free to be
+myself, I threw off the veil I had tied under my chin and confronted him
+with what I call the true spirit.
+
+"Mr. Gryce," I began, "let us make an exchange of civilities. Tell me
+what you have done with Howard Van Burnam, and I will tell you what I
+have observed in the course of this afternoon's investigation."
+
+This aged detective is used to women, I have no doubt, but he is not
+used to _me_. I saw it by the way he turned over and over the spectacles
+he held in his hand. I made an effort to help him out.
+
+"I have noted something to-day which I think has escaped _you_. It is so
+slight a clue that most women would not speak of it. But being
+interested in the case, I will mention it, if in return you will
+acquaint me with what will appear in the papers to-morrow."
+
+He seemed to like it. He peered through his glasses and at them with the
+smile of a discoverer. "I am your very humble servant," he declared; and
+I felt as if my father's daughter had received her first recognition.
+
+But he did not overwhelm me with confidences. O, no, he is very sly,
+this old and well-seasoned detective; and while appearing to be very
+communicative, really parted with but little information. He said
+enough, however, for me to gather that matters looked grim for Howard,
+and if this was so, it must have become apparent that the death they
+were investigating was neither an accident nor a suicide.
+
+I hinted as much, and he, for his own ends no doubt, admitted at last
+that a wound had been found on the young woman which could not have been
+inflicted by herself; at which I felt such increased interest in this
+remarkable murder that I must have made some foolish display of it, for
+the wary old gentleman chuckled and ogled his spectacles quite lovingly
+before shutting them up and putting them into his pocket.
+
+"And now what have you to tell me?" he inquired, sliding softly between
+me and the parlor door.
+
+"Nothing but this. Question that queer-acting house-cleaner closely. She
+has something to tell which it is your business to know."
+
+I think he was disappointed. He looked as if he regretted the spectacles
+he had pocketed, and when he spoke there was an edge to his tone I had
+not noticed in it before.
+
+"Do you know what that something is?" he asked.
+
+"No, or I should tell you myself."
+
+"And what makes you think she is hiding anything from us?"
+
+"Her manner. Did you not notice her manner?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"It conveyed much to me," I insisted. "If I were a detective I would
+have the secret out of that woman or die in the attempt."
+
+He laughed; this sly, old, almost decrepit man laughed outright. Then he
+looked severely at his old friend on the newel-post, and drawing himself
+up with some show of dignity, made this remark:
+
+"It is my very good fortune to have made your acquaintance, Miss
+Butterworth. You and I ought to be able to work out this case in a way
+that will be satisfactory to all parties."
+
+He meant it for sarcasm, but I took it quite seriously, that is to all
+appearance. I am as sly as he, and though not quite as old--now _I_ am
+sarcastic--have some of his wits, if but little of his experience.
+
+"Then let us to work," said I. "You have your theories about this
+murder, and I have mine; let us see how they compare."
+
+If the image he had under his eye had not been made of bronze, I am sure
+it would have become petrified by the look he now gave it. What to me
+seemed but the natural proposition of an energetic woman with a special
+genius for his particular calling, evidently struck him as audacity of
+the grossest kind. But he confined his display of astonishment to the
+figure he was eying, and returned me nothing but this most gentlemanly
+retort:
+
+"I am sure I am obliged to you, madam, and possibly I may be willing to
+consider your very thoughtful proposition later, but now I am busy, very
+busy, and if you will await my presence in your house for a half
+hour----"
+
+"Why not let me wait here," I interposed. "The atmosphere of the place
+may sharpen my faculties. I already feel that another sharp look into
+that parlor would lead to the forming of some valuable theory."
+
+"You--" Well, he did not say what I was, or rather, what the image he
+was apostrophizing, was. But he must have meant to utter a compliment of
+no common order.
+
+The prim courtesy I made in acknowledgment of his good intention
+satisfied him that I had understood him fully; and changing his whole
+manner to one more in accordance with business, he observed after a
+moment's reflection:
+
+"You came to a conclusion this afternoon, Miss Butterworth, for which I
+should like some explanation. In investigating the hat which had been
+drawn from under the murdered girl's remains, you made the remark that
+it had been worn but once. I had already come to the same conclusion,
+but by other means, doubtless. Will you tell me what it was that gave
+point to your assertion?"
+
+"There was but one prick of a hat-pin in it," I observed. "If you have
+been in the habit of looking into young women's hats, you will
+appreciate the force of my remark."
+
+"The deuce!" was his certainly uncalled for exclamation. "Women's eyes
+for women's matters! I am greatly indebted to you, ma'am. You have
+solved a very important problem for us. A hat-pin! humph!" he muttered
+to himself. "The devil in a man is not easily balked; even such an
+innocent article as that can be made to serve, when all other means are
+lacking."
+
+It is perhaps a proof that Mr. Gryce is getting old, that he allowed
+these words to escape him. But having once given vent to them, he made
+no effort to retract them, but proceeded to take me into his confidence
+so far as to explain:
+
+"The woman who was killed in that room owed her death to the stab of a
+thin, long pin. We had not thought of a hat-pin, but upon your
+mentioning it, I am ready to accept it as the instrument of death. There
+was no pin to be seen in the hat when you looked at it?"
+
+"None. I examined it most carefully."
+
+He shook his head and seemed to be meditating. As I had plenty of time I
+waited, expecting him to speak again. My patience seemed to impress him.
+Alternately raising and lowering his hands like one in the act of
+weighing something, he soon addressed me again, this time in a tone of
+banter:
+
+"This pin--if pin it was--was found broken in the wound. We have been
+searching for the end that was left in the murderer's hand, and we have
+not found it. It is not on the floors of the parlors nor in this
+hallway. What do you think the ingenious user of such an instrument
+would do with it?"
+
+This was said, I am now sure, out of a spirit of sarcasm. He was amusing
+himself with me, but I did not realize it then. I was too full of my
+subject.
+
+"He would not have carried it away," I reasoned shortly, "at least not
+far. He did not throw it aside on reaching the street, for I watched his
+movements so closely that I would have observed him had he done this. It
+is in the house then, and presumably in the parlor, even if you do not
+find it on the floor."
+
+"Would you like to look for it?" he impressively asked. I had no means
+of knowing at that time that when he was impressive he was his least
+candid and trustworthy self.
+
+"Would I," I repeated; and being spare in figure and much more active in
+my movements that one would suppose from my age and dignified
+deportment, I ducked under his arms and was in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor
+before he had recovered from his surprise.
+
+That a man like him could look foolish I would not have you for a moment
+suppose. But he did not look very well satisfied, and I had a chance to
+throw more than one glance around me before he found his tongue again.
+
+"An unfair advantage, ma'am; an unfair advantage! I am old and I am
+rheumatic; you are young and sound as a nut. I acknowledge my folly in
+endeavoring to compete with you and must make the best of the situation.
+And now, madam, where is that pin?"
+
+It was lightly said, but for all that I saw that my opportunity had
+come. If I could find this instrument of murder, what might I not expect
+from his gratitude. Nerving myself for the task thus set me, I peered
+hither and thither, taking in every article in the room before I made a
+step forward. There had been some attempt to rectify its disorder. The
+broken pieces of china had been lifted and laid carefully away on
+newspapers upon the shelves from which they had fallen. The cabinet
+stood upright in its place, and the clock which had tumbled face upward,
+had been placed upon the mantel shelf in the same position. The carpet
+was therefore free, save for the stains which told such a woful story of
+past tragedy and crime.
+
+"You have moved the tables and searched behind the sofas," I suggested.
+
+"Not an inch of the floor has escaped our attention, madam."
+
+My eyes fell on the register, which my skirts half covered. It was
+closed; I stooped and opened it. A square box of tin was visible below,
+at the bottom of which I perceived the round head of a broken hat-pin.
+
+Never in my life had I felt as I did at that minute. Rising up, I
+pointed at the register and let some of my triumph become apparent; but
+not all, for I was by no means sure at that moment, nor am I by any
+means sure now, that he had not made the discovery before I did and was
+simply testing my pretensions.
+
+However that may be, he came forward quickly and after some little
+effort drew out the broken pin and examined it curiously.
+
+"I should say that this is what we want," he declared, and from that
+moment on showed me a suitable deference.
+
+"I account for its being there in this way," I argued. "The room was
+dark; for whether he lighted it or not to commit his crime, he
+certainly did not leave it lighted long. Coming out, his foot came in
+contact with the iron of the register and he was struck by a sudden
+thought. He had not dared to leave the head of the pin lying on the
+floor, for he hoped that he had covered up his crime by pulling the
+heavy cabinet over upon his victim; nor did he wish to carry away such a
+memento of his cruel deed. So he dropped it down the register, where he
+doubtless expected it would fall into the furnace pipes out of sight.
+But the tin box retained it. Is not that plausible, sir?"
+
+"I could not have reasoned better myself, madam. We shall have you on
+the force, yet."
+
+But at the familiarity shown by this suggestion, I bridled angrily. "I
+am Miss Butterworth," was my sharp retort, "and any interest I may take
+in this matter is due to my sense of justice."
+
+Seeing that he had offended me, the astute detective turned the
+conversation back to business.
+
+"By the way," said he, "your woman's knowledge can help me out at
+another point. If you are not afraid to remain in this room alone for a
+moment, I will bring an article in regard to which I should like your
+opinion."
+
+I assured him I was not in the least bit afraid, at which he made me
+another of his anomalous bows and passed into the adjoining parlor. He
+did not stop there. Opening the sliding-doors communicating with the
+dining-room beyond, he disappeared in the latter room, shutting the
+doors behind him. Being now alone for a moment on the scene of crime, I
+crossed over to the mantel-shelf, and lifted the clock that lay there.
+
+Why I did this I scarcely know. I am naturally very orderly (some people
+call me precise) and it probably fretted me to see so valuable an
+object out of its natural position. However that was, I lifted it up and
+set it upright, when to my amazement it began to tick. Had the hands not
+stood as they did when my eyes first fell on the clock lying face up on
+the floor at the dead girl's side, I should have thought the works had
+been started since that time by Mr. Gryce or some other officious
+person. But they pointed now as then to a few minutes before five and
+the only conclusion I could arrive at was, that the clock had been in
+running order when it fell, startling as this fact appeared in a house
+which had not been inhabited for months.
+
+But if it had been in running order and was only stopped by its fall
+upon the floor, why did the hands point at five instead of twelve which
+was the hour at which the accident was supposed to have happened? Here
+was matter for thought, and that I might be undisturbed in my use of it,
+I hastened to lay the clock down again, even taking the precaution to
+restore the hands to the exact position they had occupied before I had
+started up the works. If Mr. Gryce did not know their secret, why so
+much the worse for Mr. Gryce.
+
+I was back in my old place by the register before the folding-doors
+unclosed again. I was conscious of a slight flush on my cheek, so I took
+from my pocket that perplexing grocer-bill and was laboriously going
+down its long line of figures, when Mr. Gryce reappeared.
+
+He had to my surprise a woman's hat in his hand.
+
+"Well!" thought I, "what does this mean!"
+
+It was an elegant specimen of millinery, and was in the latest style. It
+had ribbons and flowers and bird wings upon it, and presented, as it was
+turned about by Mr. Gryce's deft hand, an appearance which some might
+have called charming, but to me was simply grotesque and absurd.
+
+"Is that a last spring's hat?" he inquired.
+
+"I don't know, but I should say it had come fresh from the milliner's."
+
+"I found it lying with a pair of gloves tucked inside it on an otherwise
+empty shelf in the dining-room closet. It struck me as looking too new
+for a discarded hat of either of the Misses Van Burnam. What do you
+think?"
+
+"Let me take it," said I.
+
+"O, it's been worn," he smiled, "several times. And the hat-pin is in
+it, too."
+
+"There is something else I wish to see."
+
+He handed it over.
+
+"I think it belongs to one of them," I declared. "It was made by La Mole
+of Fifth Avenue, whose prices are simply--wicked."
+
+"But the young ladies have been gone--let me see--five months. Could
+this have been bought before then?"
+
+"Possibly, for this is an imported hat. But why should it have been left
+lying about in that careless way? It cost twenty dollars, if not thirty,
+and if for any reason its owner decided not to take it with her, why
+didn't she pack it away properly? I have no patience with the modern
+girl; she is made up of recklessness and extravagance."
+
+"I hear that the young ladies are staying with you," was his suggestive
+remark.
+
+"They are."
+
+"Then you can make some inquiries about this hat; also about the gloves,
+which are an ordinary street pair."
+
+"Of what color?"
+
+"Grey; they are quite fresh, size six."
+
+"Very well; I will ask the young ladies about them."
+
+"This third room is used as a dining-room, and the closet where I found
+them is one in which glass is kept. The presence of this hat there is a
+mystery, but I presume the Misses Van Burnam can solve it. At all
+events, it is very improbable that it has anything to do with the crime
+which has been committed here."
+
+"Very," I coincided.
+
+"So improbable," he went on, "that on second thoughts I advise you not
+to disturb the young ladies with questions concerning it unless further
+reasons for doing so become apparent."
+
+"Very well," I returned. But I was not deceived by his second thoughts.
+
+As he was holding open the parlor door before me in a very significant
+way, I tied my veil under my chin, and was about to leave when he
+stopped me.
+
+"I have another favor to ask," said he, and this time with his most
+benignant smile. "Miss Butterworth, do you object to sitting up for a
+few nights till twelve o'clock?"
+
+"Not at all," I returned, "if there is any good reason for it."
+
+"At twelve o'clock to-night a gentleman will enter this house. If you
+will note him from your window I will be obliged."
+
+"To see whether he is the same one I saw last night? Certainly I will
+take a look, but----"
+
+"To-morrow night," he went on, imperturbably, "the test will be
+repeated, and I should like to have you take another look; without
+prejudice, madam; remember, without prejudice."
+
+"I have no prejudices----" I began.
+
+"The test may not be concluded in two nights," he proceeded, without any
+notice of my words. "So do not be in haste to spot your man, as the
+vulgar expression is. And now good-night--we shall meet again
+to-morrow."
+
+"Wait!" I called peremptorily, for he was on the point of closing the
+door. "I saw the man but faintly; it is an impression only that I
+received. I would not wish a man to hang through any identification I
+could make."
+
+"No man hangs on simple identification. We shall have to prove the
+crime, madam, but identification is important; even such as you can
+make."
+
+There was no more to be said; I uttered a calm good-night and hastened
+away. By a judicious use of my opportunities I had become much less
+ignorant on the all-important topic than when I entered the house.
+
+It was half past eleven when I returned home, a late hour for me to
+enter my respectable front door alone. But circumstances had warranted
+my escapade, and it was with quite an easy conscience and a cheerful
+sense of accomplishment that I went up to my room and prepared to sit
+out the half hour before midnight.
+
+I am a comfortable sort of person when alone, and found no difficulty in
+passing this time profitably. Being very orderly, as you must have
+remarked, I have everything at hand for making myself a cup of tea at
+any time of day or night; so feeling some need of refreshment, I set out
+the little table I reserve for such purposes and made the tea and sat
+down to sip it.
+
+While doing so, I turned over the subject occupying my mind, and
+endeavored to reconcile the story told by the clock with my
+preconceived theory of this murder; but no reconcilement was possible.
+The woman had been killed at twelve, and the clock had fallen at five.
+How could the two be made to agree, and which, since agreement was
+impossible, should be made to give way, the theory or the testimony of
+the clock? Both seemed incontrovertible, and yet one must be false.
+Which?
+
+I was inclined to think that the trouble lay with the clock; that I had
+been deceived in my conclusions, and that it was not running at the time
+of the crime. Mr. Gryce may have ordered it wound, and then have had it
+laid on its back to prevent the hands from shifting past the point where
+they had stood at the time of the crime's discovery. It was an
+unexplainable act, but a possible one; while to suppose that it was
+going when the shelves fell, stretched improbability to the utmost,
+there having been, so far as we could learn, no one in the house for
+months sufficiently dexterous to set so valuable a timepiece; for who
+could imagine the scrub-woman engaging in a task requiring such delicate
+manipulation.
+
+No! some meddlesome official had amused himself by starting up the
+works, and the clue I had thought so important would probably prove
+valueless.
+
+There was humiliation in the thought, and it was a relief to me to hear
+an approaching carriage just as the clock on my mantel struck twelve.
+Springing from my chair, I put out my light and flew to the window.
+
+The coach drew up and stopped next door. I saw a gentleman descend and
+step briskly across the pavement to the neighboring stoop. The figure he
+presented was not that of the man I had seen enter the night before.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE MISSES VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+Late as it was when I retired, I was up betimes in the morning--as soon,
+in fact, as the papers were distributed. The _Tribune_ lay on the stoop.
+Eagerly I seized it; eagerly I read it. From its headlines you may judge
+what it had to say about this murder:
+
+     A STARTLING DISCOVERY IN THE VAN BURNAM MANSION IN GRAMERCY
+     PARK.
+
+     A YOUNG GIRL FOUND THERE, LYING DEAD UNDER AN OVERTURNED
+     CABINET.
+
+     EVIDENCES THAT SHE WAS MURDERED BEFORE IT WAS PULLED DOWN UPON
+     HER.
+
+     THOUGHT BY SOME TO BE MRS. HOWARD VAN BURNAM.
+
+     A FEARFUL CRIME INVOLVED IN AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY.
+
+     WHAT MR. VAN BURNAM SAYS ABOUT IT: HE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE
+     WOMAN AS HIS WIFE.
+
+So, so, it was his wife they were talking about. I had not expected
+that. Well! well! no wonder the girls looked startled and concerned. And
+I paused to recall what I had heard about Howard Van Burnam's marriage.
+
+It had not been a fortunate one. His chosen bride was pretty enough, but
+she had not been bred in the ways of fashionable society, and the other
+members of the family had never recognized her. The father, especially,
+had cut his son dead since his marriage, and had even gone so far as to
+threaten to dissolve the partnership in which they were all involved.
+Worse than this, there had been rumors of a disagreement between Howard
+and his wife. They were not always on good terms, and opinions differed
+as to which was most in fault. So much for what I knew of these two
+mentioned parties.
+
+Reading the article at length, I learned that Mrs. Van Burnam was
+missing; that she had left Haddam for New York the day before her
+husband, and had not since been heard from. Howard was confident,
+however, that the publicity given to her disappearance by the papers
+would bring immediate news of her.
+
+The effect of the whole article was to raise grave doubts as to the
+candor of Mr. Van Burnam's assertions, and I am told that in some of the
+less scrupulous papers these doubts were not only expressed, but actual
+surmises ventured upon as to the identity between the person whom I had
+seen enter the house with the young girl. As for my own name, it was
+blazoned forth in anything but a gratifying manner. I was spoken of in
+one paper--a kind friend told me this--as the prying Miss Amelia. As if
+my prying had not given the police their only clue to the identification
+of the criminal.
+
+The New York _World_ was the only paper that treated me with any
+consideration. That young man with the small head and beady eyes was not
+awed by me for nothing. He mentioned me as the clever Miss Butterworth
+whose testimony is likely to be of so much value in this very
+interesting case.
+
+It was the _World_ I handed the Misses Van Burnam when they came
+down-stairs to breakfast. It did justice to me and not too much
+injustice to him. They read it together, their two heads plunged deeply
+into the paper so that I could not watch their faces. But I could see
+the sheet shake, and I noticed that their social veneer was not as yet
+laid on so thickly that they could hide their real terror and heart-ache
+when they finally confronted me again.
+
+"Did you read--have you seen this horrible account?" quavered Caroline,
+as she met my eye.
+
+"Yes, and I now understand why you felt such anxiety yesterday. Did you
+know your sister-in-law, and do you think she could have been beguiled
+into your father's house in that way?"
+
+It was Isabella who answered.
+
+"We never have seen her and know little of her, but there is no telling
+what such an uncultivated person as she might do. But that our good
+brother Howard ever went in there with her is a lie, isn't it,
+Caroline?--a base and malicious lie?"
+
+"Of course it is, of course, of course. You don't think the man you saw
+was Howard, do you, dear Miss Butterworth?"
+
+_Dear?_ O dear!
+
+"I am not acquainted with your brother," I returned. "I have never seen
+him but a few times in my life. You know he has not been a very frequent
+visitor at your father's house lately."
+
+They looked at me wistfully, _so_ wistfully.
+
+"Say it was not Howard," whispered Caroline, stealing up a little nearer
+to my side.
+
+"And we will never forget it," murmured Isabella, in what I am obliged
+to say was not her society manner.
+
+"I hope to be able to say it," was my short rejoinder, made difficult by
+the prejudices I had formed. "When I see your brother, I may be able to
+decide at a glance that the person I saw entering your house was not
+he."
+
+"Yes, oh, yes. Do you hear that, Isabella? Miss Butterworth will save
+Howard yet. O you dear old soul. I could almost love you!"
+
+This was not agreeable to me. I a dear old soul! A term to be applied to
+a butter-woman not to a Butterworth. I drew back and their
+sentimentalities came to an end. I hope their brother Howard is not the
+guilty man the papers make him out to be, but if he is, the Misses Van
+Burnam's fine phrase, _We could almost love you_, will not deter me from
+being honest in the matter.
+
+Mr. Gryce called early, and I was glad to be able to tell him that the
+gentleman who visited him the night before did not recall the impression
+made upon me by the other. He received the communication quietly, and
+from his manner I judged that it was more or less expected. But who can
+be a correct judge of a detective's manner, especially one so foxy and
+imperturbable as this one? I longed to ask who his visitor was, but I
+did not dare, or rather--to be candid in little things that you may
+believe me in great--I was confident he would not tell me, so I would
+not compromise my dignity by a useless question.
+
+He went after a five minutes' stay, and I was about to turn my attention
+to household affairs, when Franklin came in.
+
+His sisters jumped like puppets to meet him.
+
+"O," they cried, for once thinking and speaking alike, "have you found
+her?"
+
+His silence was so eloquent that he did not need to shake his head.
+
+"But you will before the day is out?" protested Caroline.
+
+"It is too early yet," added Isabella.
+
+"I never thought I would be glad to see that woman under any
+circumstances," continued the former, "but I believe now that if I saw
+her coming up the street on Howard's arm, I should be happy enough to
+rush out and--and----"
+
+"Give her a hug," finished the more impetuous Isabella.
+
+It was not what Caroline meant to say, but she accepted the emendation,
+with just the slightest air of deprecation. They were both evidently
+much attached to Howard, and ready in his trouble to forget and forgive
+everything. I began to like them again.
+
+"Have you read the horrid papers?" and "How is papa this morning?" and
+"What shall we do to save Howard?" now flew in rapid questions from
+their lips; and feeling that it was but natural they should have their
+little say, I sat down in my most uncomfortable chair and waited for
+these first ebullitions to exhaust themselves.
+
+Instantly Mr. Van Burnam took them by the arm, and led them away to a
+distant sofa.
+
+"Are you happy here?" he asked, in what he meant for a very confidential
+tone. But I can hear as readily as a deaf person anything which is not
+meant for my ears.
+
+"O she's kind enough," whispered Caroline, "but so stingy. Do take us
+where we can get something to eat."
+
+"She puts all her money into china! Such plates!--_and so little on
+them!_"
+
+At these expressions, uttered with all the emphasis a whisper will
+allow, I just hugged myself in my quiet corner. The dear, giddy things!
+But they should see, they should see.
+
+"I fear"--it was Mr. Van Burnam who now spoke--"I shall have to take my
+sisters from under your kind care to-day. Their father needs them, and
+has, I believe, already engaged rooms for them at the Plaza."
+
+"I am sorry," I replied, "but surely they will not leave till they have
+had another meal with me. Postpone your departure, young ladies, till
+after luncheon, and you will greatly oblige me. We may never meet so
+agreeably again."
+
+They fidgeted (which I had expected), and cast secret looks of almost
+comic appeal at their brother, but he pretended not to see them, being
+disposed for some reason to grant my request. Taking advantage of the
+momentary hesitation that ensued, I made them all three my most
+conciliatory bow, and said as I retreated behind the portiere:
+
+"I shall give my orders for luncheon now. Meanwhile, I hope the young
+ladies will feel perfectly free in my house. All that I have is at their
+command." And was gone before they could protest.
+
+When I next saw them, they were upstairs in my front room. They were
+seated together in the window and looked miserable enough to have a
+little diversion. Going to my closet, I brought out a band-box. It
+contained my best bonnet.
+
+"Young ladies, what do you think of this?" I inquired, taking the bonnet
+out and carefully placing it on my head.
+
+I myself consider it a very becoming article of headgear, but their
+eyebrows went up in a scarcely complimentary fashion.
+
+"You don't like it?" I remarked. "Well, I think a great deal of young
+girls' taste; I shall send it back to Madame More's to-morrow."
+
+"I don't think much of Madame More," observed Isabella, "and after
+Paris----"
+
+"Do you like La Mole better?" I inquired, bobbing my head to and fro
+before the mirror, the better to conceal my interest in the venture I
+was making.
+
+"I don't like any of them but D'Aubigny," returned Isabella. "She
+charges twice what La Mole does----"
+
+Twice! What are these girls' purses made of, or rather their father's!
+
+"But she has the _chic_ we are accustomed to see in French millinery. I
+shall _never_ go anywhere else."
+
+"We were recommended to her in Paris," put in Caroline, more languidly.
+Her interest was only half engaged by this frivolous topic.
+
+"But did you never have one of La Mole's hats?" I pursued, taking down
+a hand-mirror, ostensibly to get the effect of my bonnet in the back,
+but really to hide my interest in their unconscious faces.
+
+"Never!" retorted Isabella. "I would not patronize the thing."
+
+"Nor you?" I urged, carelessly, turning towards Caroline.
+
+"No; I have never been inside her shop."
+
+"Then whose is----" I began and stopped. A detective doing the work I
+was, would not give away the object of his questions so recklessly.
+
+"Then who is," I corrected, "the best person after D'Aubigny? I never
+can pay _her_ prices. I should think it wicked."
+
+"O don't ask us," protested Isabella. "We have never made a study of the
+best bonnet-maker. At present we wear hats."
+
+And having thus thrown their youth in my face, they turned away to the
+window again, not realizing that the middle-aged lady they regarded with
+such disdain had just succeeded in making them dance to her music most
+successfully.
+
+The luncheon I ordered was elaborate, for I was determined that the
+Misses Van Burnam should see that I knew how to serve a fine meal, and
+that my plates were not always better than my viands.
+
+I had invited in a couple of other guests so that I should not seem to
+have put myself out for two young girls, and as they were quiet people
+like myself, the meal passed most decorously. When it was finished, the
+Misses Caroline and Isabella had lost some of their consequential airs,
+and I really think the deference they have since showed me is due more
+to the surprise they felt at the perfection of this dainty luncheon,
+than to any considerate appreciation of my character and abilities.
+
+They left at three o'clock, still without news of Mrs. Van Burnam; and
+being positive by this time that the shadows were thickening about this
+family, I saw them depart with some regret and a positive feeling of
+commiseration. Had they been reared to a proper reverence for their
+elders, how much more easy it would have been to see earnestness in
+Caroline and affectionate impulses in Isabella.
+
+The evening papers added but little to my knowledge. Great disclosures
+were promised, but no hint given of their nature. The body at the Morgue
+had not been identified by any of the hundreds who had viewed it, and
+Howard still refused to acknowledge it as that of his wife. The morrow
+was awaited with anxiety.
+
+So much for the public press!
+
+At twelve o'clock at night, I was again seated in my window. The house
+next door had been lighted since ten, and I was in momentary expectation
+of its nocturnal visitor. He came promptly at the hour set, alighted
+from the carriage with a bound, shut the carriage-door with a slam, and
+crossed the pavement with cheerful celerity. His figure was not so
+positively like, nor yet so positively unlike, that of the supposed
+murderer that I could definitely say, "This is he," or, "This is not
+he," and I went to bed puzzled, and not a little burdened by a sense of
+the responsibility imposed upon me in this matter.
+
+And so passed the day between the murder and the inquest.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+DEVELOPMENTS.
+
+
+Mr. Gryce called about nine o'clock next morning.
+
+"Well," said he, "what about the visitor who came to see me last night?"
+
+"Like and unlike," I answered. "Nothing could induce me to say he is the
+man we want, and yet I would not dare to swear he was not."
+
+"You are in doubt, then, concerning him?"
+
+"I am."
+
+Mr. Gryce bowed, reminded me of the inquest, and left. Nothing was said
+about the hat.
+
+At ten o'clock I prepared to go to the place designated by him. I had
+never attended an inquest in my life, and felt a little flurried in
+consequence, but by the time I had tied the strings of my bonnet (the
+despised bonnet, which, by the way, I did not return to More's), I had
+conquered this weakness, and acquired a demeanor more in keeping with my
+very important position as chief witness in a serious police
+investigation.
+
+I had sent for a carriage to take me, and I rode away from my house amid
+the shouts of some half dozen boys collected on the curb-stone. But I
+did not allow myself to feel dashed by this publicity. On the contrary,
+I held my head as erect as nature intended, and my back kept the line
+my good health warrants. The path of duty has its thorny passages, but
+it is for strong minds like mine to ignore them.
+
+Promptly at ten o'clock I entered the room reserved for the inquest, and
+was ushered to the seat appointed me. Though never a self-conscious
+woman, I could not but be aware of the many eyes that followed me, and
+endeavored so to demean myself that there should be no question as to my
+respectable standing in the community. This I considered due to the
+memory of my father, who was very much in my thoughts that day.
+
+The Coroner was already in his seat when I entered, and though I did not
+perceive the good face of Mr. Gryce anywhere in his vicinity, I had no
+doubt he was within ear-shot. Of the other people I took small note,
+save of the honest scrub-woman, of whose red face and anxious eyes under
+a preposterous bonnet (which did _not come_ from La Mole's), I caught
+vague glimpses as the crowd between us surged to and fro.
+
+None of the Van Burnams were visible, but this did not necessarily mean
+that they were absent. Indeed, I was very sure, from certain
+indications, that more than one member of the family could be seen in
+the small room connecting with the large one in which we witnesses sat
+with the jury.
+
+The policeman, Carroll, was the first man to talk. He told of my
+stopping him on his beat and of his entrance into Mr. Van Burnam's house
+with the scrub-woman. He gave the details of his discovery of the dead
+woman's body on the parlor floor, and insisted that no one--here he
+looked very hard at me--had been allowed to touch the body till relief
+had come to him from Headquarters.
+
+Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman, followed him; and if she was watched by
+no one else in that room, she was watched by me. Her manner before the
+Coroner was no more satisfactory, according to my notion, than it had
+been in Mr. Van Burnam's parlor. She gave a very perceptible start when
+they spoke her name, and looked quite scared when the Bible was held out
+towards her. But she took the oath notwithstanding, and with her
+testimony the inquiry began in earnest.
+
+"What is your name?" asked the Coroner.
+
+As this was something she could not help knowing, she uttered the
+necessary words glibly, though in a way that showed she resented his
+impertinence in asking her what he already knew.
+
+"Where do you live? And what do you do for a living?" rapidly followed.
+
+She replied that she was a scrub-woman and cleaned people's houses, and
+having said this, she assumed a very dogged air, which I thought strange
+enough to raise a question in the minds of those who watched her. But no
+one else seemed to regard it as anything but the embarrassment of
+ignorance.
+
+"How long have you known the Van Burnam family?" the Coroner went on.
+
+"Two years, sir, come next Christmas."
+
+"Have you often done work for them?"
+
+"I clean the house twice a year, fall and spring."
+
+"Why were you at this house two days ago?"
+
+"To scrub the kitchen floors, sir, and put the pantries in order."
+
+"Had you received notice to do so?"
+
+"Yes, sir, through Mr. Franklin Van Burnam."
+
+"And was that the first day of your work there?"
+
+"No, sir; I had been there all the day before."
+
+"You don't speak loud enough," objected the Coroner; "remember that
+every one in this room wants to hear you."
+
+She looked up, and with a frightened air surveyed the crowd about her.
+Publicity evidently made her most uncomfortable, and her voice sank
+rather than rose.
+
+"Where did you get the key of the house, and by what door did you
+enter?"
+
+"I went in at the basement, sir, and I got the key at Mr. Van Burnam's
+agent in Dey Street. I had to go for it; sometimes they send it to me;
+but not this time."
+
+"And now relate your meeting with the policeman on Wednesday morning, in
+front of Mr. Van Burnam's house."
+
+She tried to tell her story, but she made awkward work of it, and they
+had to ply her with questions to get at the smallest fact. But finally
+she managed to repeat what we already knew, how she went with the
+policeman into the house, and how they stumbled upon the dead woman in
+the parlor.
+
+Further than this they did not question her, and I, Amelia Butterworth,
+had to sit in silence and see her go back to her seat, redder than
+before, but with a strangely satisfied air that told me she had escaped
+more easily than she had expected. And yet Mr. Gryce had been warned
+that she knew more than appeared, and by one in whom he seemed to have
+placed some confidence!
+
+The doctor was called next. His testimony was most important, and
+contained a surprise for me and more than one surprise for the others.
+After a short preliminary examination, he was requested to state how
+long the woman had been dead when he was called in to examine her.
+
+"More than twelve and less than eighteen hours," was his quiet reply.
+
+"Had the rigor mortis set in?"
+
+"No; but it began very soon after."
+
+"Did you examine the wounds made by the falling shelves and the vases
+that tumbled with them?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Will you describe them?"
+
+He did so.
+
+"And now"--there was a pause in the Coroner's question which roused us
+all to its importance, "which of these many serious wounds was in your
+opinion the cause of her death?"
+
+The witness was accustomed to such scenes, and was perfectly at home in
+them. Surveying the Coroner with a respectful air, he turned slowly
+towards the jury and answered in a slow and impressive manner:
+
+"I feel ready to declare, sirs, that none of them did. She was not
+killed by the falling of the cabinet upon her."
+
+"Not killed by the falling shelves! Why not? Were they not sufficiently
+heavy, or did they not strike her in a vital place?"
+
+"They were heavy enough, and they struck her in a way to kill her if she
+had not been already dead when they fell upon her. As it was, they
+simply bruised a body from which life had already departed."
+
+As this was putting it very plainly, many of the crowd who had not been
+acquainted with these facts previously, showed their interest in a very
+unmistakable manner; but the Coroner, ignoring these symptoms of growing
+excitement, hastened to say:
+
+"This is a very serious statement you are making, doctor. If she did not
+die from the wounds inflicted by the objects which fell upon her, from
+what cause did she die? Can you say that her death was a natural one,
+and that the falling of the shelves was merely an unhappy accident
+following it?"
+
+"No, sir; her death was not natural. She was killed, but not by the
+falling cabinet."
+
+"Killed, and not by the cabinet? How then? Was there any other wound
+upon her which you regard as mortal?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Suspecting that she had perished from other means than
+appeared, I made a most rigid examination of her body, when I discovered
+under the hair in the nape of the neck, a minute spot, which, upon
+probing, I found to be the end of a small, thin point of steel. It had
+been thrust by a careful hand into the most vulnerable part of the body,
+and death must have ensued at once."
+
+This was too much for certain excitable persons present, and a momentary
+disturbance arose, which, however, was nothing to that in my own breast.
+
+So! so! it was her neck that had been pierced, and not her heart. Mr.
+Gryce had allowed us to think it was the latter, but it was not this
+fact which stupefied me, but the skill and diabolical coolness of the
+man who had inflicted this death-thrust.
+
+After order had been restored, which I will say was very soon, the
+Coroner, with an added gravity of tone, went on with his questions:
+
+"Did you recognize this bit of steel as belonging to any instrument in
+the medical profession?"
+
+"No; it was of too untempered steel to have been manufactured for any
+thrusting or cutting purposes. It was of the commonest kind, and had
+broken short off in the wound. It was the end only that I found."
+
+"Have you this end with you,--the point, I mean, which you found
+imbedded at the base of the dead woman's brain?"
+
+"I have, sir"; and he handed it over to the jury. As they passed it
+along, the Coroner remarked:
+
+"Later we will show you the remaining portion of this instrument of
+death," which did not tend to allay the general excitement. Seeing this,
+the Coroner humored the growing interest by pushing on his inquiries.
+
+"Doctor," he asked, "are you prepared to say how long a time elapsed
+between the infliction of this fatal wound and those which disfigured
+her?"
+
+"No, sir, not exactly; but some little time."
+
+Some little time, when the murderer was in the house only ten minutes!
+All looked their surprise, and, as if the Coroner had divined this
+feeling of general curiosity, he leaned forward and emphatically
+repeated:
+
+"More than ten minutes?"
+
+The doctor, who had every appearance of realizing the importance of his
+reply, did not hesitate. Evidently his mind was quite made up.
+
+"_Yes; more than ten minutes_."
+
+This was the shock _I_ received from his testimony.
+
+I remembered what the clock had revealed to me, but I did not move a
+muscle of my face. I was learning self-control under these repeated
+surprises.
+
+"This is an unexpected statement," remarked the Coroner. "What reasons
+have you to urge in explanation of it?"
+
+"Very simple and very well known ones; at least, among the profession.
+There was too little blood seen, for the wounds to have been inflicted
+before death or within a few minutes after it. Had the woman been living
+when they were made, or even had she been but a short time dead, the
+floor would have been deluged with the blood gushing from so many and
+such serious injuries. But the effusion was slight, so slight that I
+noticed it at once, and came to the conclusions mentioned before I found
+the mark of the stab that occasioned death."
+
+"I see, I see! And was that the reason you called in two neighboring
+physicians to view the body before it was removed from the house?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in so important a matter, I wished to have my judgment
+confirmed."
+
+"And these physicians were----"
+
+"Dr. Campbell, of 110 East ---- Street, and Dr. Jacobs, of ----
+Lexington Avenue."
+
+"Are these gentlemen here?" inquired the Coroner of an officer who stood
+near.
+
+"They are, sir."
+
+"Very good; we will now proceed to ask one or two more questions of this
+witness. You told us that even had the woman been but a few minutes dead
+when she received these contusions, the floor would have been more or
+less deluged by her blood. What reason have you for this statement?"
+
+"This; that in a few minutes, let us say ten, since that number has been
+used, the body has not had time to cool, nor have the blood-vessels had
+sufficient opportunity to stiffen so as to prevent the free effusion of
+blood."
+
+"Is a body still warm at ten minutes after death?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"So that your conclusions are logical deductions from well-known facts?"
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+A pause of some duration followed.
+
+When the Coroner again proceeded, it was to remark:
+
+"The case is complicated by these discoveries; but we must not allow
+ourselves to be daunted by them. Let me ask you, if you found any marks
+upon this body which might aid in its identification?"
+
+"One; a slight scar on the left ankle."
+
+"What kind of a scar? Describe it."
+
+"It was such as a burn might leave. In shape it was long and narrow, and
+it ran up the limb from the ankle-bone."
+
+"Was it on the right foot?"
+
+"No; on the left."
+
+"Did you call the attention of any one to this mark during or after your
+examination?"
+
+"Yes; I showed it to Mr. Gryce the detective, and to my two coadjutors;
+and I spoke of it to Mr. Howard Van Burnam, son of the gentleman in
+whose house the body was found."
+
+It was the first time this young gentleman's name had been mentioned,
+and it made my blood run cold to see how many side-long looks and
+expressive shrugs it caused in the motley assemblage. But I had no time
+for sentiment; the inquiry was growing too interesting.
+
+"And why," asked the Coroner, "did you mention it to this young man in
+preference to others?"
+
+"Because Mr. Gryce requested me to. Because the family as well as the
+young man himself had evinced some apprehension lest the deceased might
+prove to be his missing wife, and this seemed a likely way to settle the
+question."
+
+"And did it? Did he acknowledge it to be a mark he remembered to have
+seen on his wife?"
+
+"He said she had such a scar, but he would not acknowledge the deceased
+to be his wife."
+
+"Did he see the scar?"
+
+"No; he would not look at it."
+
+"Did you invite him to?"
+
+"I did; but he showed no curiosity."
+
+Doubtless thinking that silence would best emphasize this fact, which
+certainly was an astonishing one, the Coroner waited a minute. But there
+was no silence. An indescribable murmur from a great many lips filled up
+the gap. I felt a movement of pity for the proud family whose good name
+was thus threatened in the person of this young gentleman.
+
+"Doctor," continued the Coroner, as soon as the murmur had subsided,
+"did you notice the color of the woman's hair?"
+
+"It was a light brown."
+
+"Did you sever a lock? Have you a sample of this hair here to show us?"
+
+"I have, sir. At Mr. Gryce's suggestion I cut off two small locks. One I
+gave him and the other I brought here."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+The doctor passed it up, and in sight of every one present the Coroner
+tied a string around it and attached a ticket to it.
+
+"That is to prevent all mistake," explained this very methodical
+functionary, laying the lock aside on the table in front of him. Then he
+turned again to the witness.
+
+"Doctor, we are indebted to you for your valuable testimony, and as you
+are a busy man, we will now excuse you. Let Dr. Jacobs be called."
+
+As this gentleman, as well as the witness who followed him, merely
+corroborated the statements of the other, and made it an accepted fact
+that the shelves had fallen upon the body of the girl some time after
+the first wound had been inflicted, I will not attempt to repeat their
+testimony. The question now agitating me was whether they would endeavor
+to fix the time at which the shelves fell by the evidence furnished by
+the clock.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+IMPORTANT EVIDENCE.
+
+
+Evidently not; for the next words I heard were: "Miss Amelia
+Butterworth!"
+
+I had not expected to be called so soon, and was somewhat flustered by
+the suddenness of the summons, for I am only human. But I rose with
+suitable composure, and passed to the place indicated by the Coroner, in
+my usual straightforward manner, heightened only by a sense of the
+importance of my position, both as a witness and a woman whom the once
+famous Mr. Gryce had taken more or less into his confidence.
+
+My appearance seemed to awaken an interest for which I was not prepared.
+I was just thinking how well my name had sounded uttered in the sonorous
+tones of the Coroner, and how grateful I ought to be for the courage I
+had displayed in substituting the genteel name of Amelia for the weak
+and sentimental one of Araminta, when I became conscious that the eyes
+directed towards me were filled with an expression not easy to
+understand. I should not like to call it admiration and will not call it
+amusement, and yet it seemed to be made up of both. While I was puzzling
+myself over it, the first question came.
+
+As my examination before the Coroner only brought out the facts already
+related, I will not burden you with a detailed account of it. One
+portion alone may be of interest. I was being questioned in regard to
+the appearance of the couple I had seen entering the Van Burnam mansion,
+when the Coroner asked if the young woman's step was light, or if it
+betrayed hesitation.
+
+I replied: "No hesitation; she moved quickly, almost gaily."
+
+"And he?"
+
+"Was more moderate; but there is no signification in that; he may have
+been older."
+
+"No theories, Miss Butterworth; it is facts we are after. Now, do you
+know that he was older?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did you get any idea as to his age?"
+
+"The impression he made was that of being a young man."
+
+"And his height?"
+
+"Was medium, and his figure slight and elegant. He moved as a gentleman
+moves; of this I can speak with great positiveness."
+
+"Do you think you could identify him, Miss Butterworth, if you should
+see him?"
+
+I hesitated, as I perceived that the whole swaying mass eagerly awaited
+my reply. I even turned my head because I saw others doing so; but I
+regretted this when I found that I, as well as others, was glancing
+towards the door beyond which the Van Burnams were supposed to sit. To
+cover up the false move I had made--for I had no wish as yet to centre
+suspicion upon anybody--I turned my face quickly back to the crowd and
+declared in as emphatic a tone as I could command:
+
+"I have thought I could do so if I saw him under the same circumstances
+as those in which my first impression was made. But lately I have begun
+to doubt even that. I should never dare trust to my memory in this
+regard."
+
+The Coroner looked disappointed, and so did the people around me.
+
+"It is a pity," remarked the Coroner, "that you did not see more
+plainly. And, now, how did these persons gain an entrance into the
+house?"
+
+I answered in the most succinct way possible.
+
+I told them how he had used a door-key in entering, of the length of
+time the man stayed inside, and of his appearance on going away. I also
+related how I came to call a policeman to investigate the matter next
+day, and corroborated the statements of this official as to the
+appearance of the deceased at time of discovery.
+
+And there my examination stopped. I was not asked any questions tending
+to bring out the cause of the suspicion I entertained against the
+scrub-woman, nor were the discoveries I had made in conjunction with Mr.
+Gryce inquired into. It was just as well, perhaps, but I would never
+approve of a piece of work done for me in this slipshod fashion.
+
+A recess now followed. Why it was thought necessary, I cannot imagine,
+unless the gentlemen wished to smoke. Had they felt as much interest in
+this murder as I did, they would not have wanted bite or sup till the
+dreadful question was settled. There being a recess, I improved the
+opportunity by going into a restaurant near by where one can get very
+good buns and coffee at a reasonable price. But I could have done
+without them.
+
+The next witness, to my astonishment, was Mr. Gryce. As he stepped
+forward, heads were craned and many women rose in their seats to get a
+glimpse of the noted detective. I showed no curiosity myself, for by
+this time I knew his features well, but I did feel a great satisfaction
+in seeing him before the Coroner, for now, thought I, we shall hear
+something worth our attention.
+
+But his examination, though interesting, was not complete. The Coroner,
+remembering his promise to show us the other end of the steel point
+which had been broken off in the dead girl's brain, limited himself to
+such inquiries as brought out the discovery of the broken hat-pin in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlor register. No mention was made by the witness of any
+assistance which he may have received in making this discovery; a fact
+which caused me to smile: men are so jealous of any interference in
+their affairs.
+
+The end found in the register and the end which the Coroner's physician
+had drawn from the poor woman's head were both handed to the jury, and
+it was interesting to note how each man made his little effort to fit
+the two ends together, and the looks they interchanged as they found
+themselves successful. Without doubt, and in the eyes of all, the
+instrument of death had been found. But what an instrument!
+
+The felt hat which had been discovered under the body was now produced
+and the one hole made by a similar pin examined. Then Mr. Gryce was
+asked if any other pin had been picked up from the floor of the room,
+and he replied, no; and the fact was established in the minds of all
+present that the young woman had been killed by a pin taken from her own
+hat.
+
+"A subtle and cruel crime; the work of a calculating intellect," was the
+Coroner's comment as he allowed the detective to sit down. Which
+expression of opinion I thought reprehensible, as tending to prejudice
+the jury against the only person at present suspected.
+
+The inquiry now took a turn. The name of Miss Ferguson was called. Who
+was Miss Ferguson? It was a new name to most of us, and her face when
+she rose only added to the general curiosity. It was the plainest face
+imaginable, yet it was neither a bad nor unintelligent one. As I studied
+it and noted the nervous contraction that disfigured her lip, I could
+not but be sensible of my blessings. I am not handsome myself, though
+there have been persons who have called me so, but neither am I ugly,
+and in contrast to this woman--well, I will say nothing. I only know
+that, after seeing her, I felt profoundly grateful to a kind Providence.
+
+As for the poor woman herself, she knew she was no beauty, but she had
+become so accustomed to seeing the eyes of other people turn away from
+her face, that beyond the nervous twitching of which I have spoken, she
+showed no feeling.
+
+"What is your full name, and where do you live?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"My name is Susan Ferguson, and I live in Haddam, Connecticut," was her
+reply, uttered in such soft and beautiful tones that every one was
+astonished. It was like a stream of limpid water flowing from a most
+unsightly-looking rock. Excuse the metaphor; I do not often indulge.
+
+"Do you keep boarders?"
+
+"I do; a few, sir; such as my house will accommodate."
+
+"Whom have you had with you this summer?"
+
+I knew what her answer would be before she uttered it; so did a hundred
+others, but they showed their knowledge in different ways. I did not
+show mine at all.
+
+"I have had with me," said she, "a Mr. and Mrs. Van Burnam from New
+York. Mr. Howard Van Burnam is his full name, if you wish me to be
+explicit."
+
+"Any one else?"
+
+"A Mr. Hull, also from New York, and a young couple from Hartford. My
+house accommodates no more."
+
+"How long have the first mentioned couple been with you?"
+
+"Three months. They came in June."
+
+"Are they with you still?"
+
+"Virtually, sir. They have not moved their trunks; but neither of them
+is in Haddam at present. Mrs. Van Burnam came to New York last Monday
+morning, and in the afternoon her husband also left, presumably for New
+York. I have seen nothing of either of them since."
+
+(It was on Tuesday night the murder occurred.)
+
+"Did either of them take a trunk?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"A hand-bag?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Van Burnam carried a bag, but it was a very small one."
+
+"Large enough to hold a dress?"
+
+"O no, sir."
+
+"And Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"He carried an umbrella; I saw nothing else."
+
+"Why did they not leave together? Did you hear any one say?"
+
+"Yes; I heard them say Mrs. Van Burnam came against her husband's
+wishes. He did not want her to leave Haddam, but she would, and he was
+none too pleased at it. Indeed they had words about it, and as both our
+rooms overlook the same veranda, I could not help hearing some of their
+talk."
+
+"Will you tell us what you heard?"
+
+"It does not seem right" (thus this honest woman spoke), "but if it's
+the law, I must not go against it. I heard him say these words: 'I have
+changed my mind, Louise. The more I think of it, the more disinclined I
+am to have you meddle in the matter. Besides, it will do no good. You
+will only add to the prejudice against you, and our life will become
+more unbearable than it is now.'"
+
+"Of what were they speaking?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"And what did she reply?"
+
+"O, she uttered a torrent of words that had less sense in them than
+feeling. She wanted to go, she would go, _she_ had not changed _her_
+mind, and considered that her impulses were as well worth following as
+his cool judgment. She was not happy, had never been happy, and meant
+there should be a change, even if it were for the worse. But she did not
+believe it would be for the worse. Was she not pretty? Was she not very
+pretty when in distress and looking up thus? And I heard her fall on her
+knees, a movement which called out a grunt from her husband, but whether
+this was an expression of approval or disapproval I cannot say. A
+silence followed, during which I caught the sound of his steady tramping
+up and down the room. Then she spoke again in a petulant way. 'It may
+seem foolish to _you_' she cried, 'knowing me as you do, and being used
+to seeing me in all my moods. But to him it will be a surprise, and I
+will so manage it that it will effect all we want, and more, too,
+perhaps. I--I have a genius for some things, Howard; and my better angel
+tells me I shall succeed.'"
+
+"And what did he reply to that?"
+
+"That the name of her better angel was Vanity; that his father would see
+through her blandishments; that he forbade her to prosecute her schemes;
+and much more to the same effect. To all of which she answered by a
+vigorous stamp of her foot, and the declaration that she was going to do
+what she thought best in spite of all opposition; that it was a lover,
+and not a tyrant that she had married, and that if he did not know what
+was good for himself, she did, and that when he received an intimation
+from his father that the breach in the family was closed, then he would
+acknowledge that if she had no fortune and no connections, she had at
+least a plentiful supply of wit. Upon which he remarked: 'A poor
+qualification when it verges upon folly!' which seemed to close the
+conversation, for I heard no more till the sound of her skirts rustling
+past my door assured me she had carried her point and was leaving the
+house. But this was not done without great discomfiture to her husband,
+if one may judge from the few brief but emphatic words that escaped him
+before he closed his own door and followed her down the hall."
+
+"Do you remember those words?"
+
+"They were swear words, sir; I am sorry to say it, but he certainly
+cursed her and his own folly. Yet I always thought he loved her."
+
+"Did you see her after she passed your door?"
+
+"Yes, sir, on the walk outside."
+
+"Was she then on the way to the train?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Carrying the bag of which you have spoken?"
+
+"Yes, sir; another proof of the state of feeling between them, for he
+was very considerate in his treatment of ladies, and I never saw him do
+anything ungallant before."
+
+"You say you watched her as she went down the walk?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it is human nature, sir; I have no other excuse to offer."
+
+It was an apology I myself might have made. I conceived a liking for
+this homely matter-of-fact woman.
+
+"Did you note her dress?"
+
+"Yes, sir; that is human nature also, or, rather, woman's nature."
+
+"Particularly, madam; so that you can describe it to the jury before
+you?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Will you, then, be good enough to tell us what sort of a dress Mrs. Van
+Burnam wore when she left your house for the city?"
+
+"It was a black and white plaid silk, very rich----"
+
+Why, what did this mean? We had all expected a very different
+description.
+
+"It was made fashionably, and the sleeves--well, it is impossible to
+describe the sleeves. She wore no wrap, which seemed foolish to me, for
+we have very sudden changes sometimes in September."
+
+"A plaid dress! And did you notice her hat?"
+
+"O, I have seen the hat often. It was of every conceivable color. It
+would have been called bad taste at one time, but now-a-days----"
+
+The pause was significant. More than one man in the room chuckled, but
+the women kept a discreet silence.
+
+"Would you know that hat if you saw it?"
+
+"I should think I would!"
+
+The emphasis was that of a countrywoman, and amused some people
+notwithstanding the melodious tone in which it was uttered. But it did
+not amuse me; my thoughts had flown to the hat which Mr. Gryce had found
+in the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house, and which was of every
+color of the rainbow.
+
+The Coroner asked two other questions, one in regard to the gloves worn
+by Mrs. Van Burnam, and the other in regard to her shoes. To the first,
+Miss Ferguson replied that she did not notice her gloves, and to the
+other, that Mrs. Van Burnam was very fashionable, and as pointed shoes
+were the fashion, in cities at least, she probably wore pointed shoes.
+
+The discovery that Mrs. Van Burnam had been differently dressed on that
+day from the young woman found dead in the Van Burnam parlors, had acted
+as a shock upon most of the spectators. They were just beginning to
+recover from it when Miss Ferguson sat down. The Coroner was the only
+one who had not seemed at a loss. Why, we were soon destined to know.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+THE ORDER CLERK.
+
+
+A lady well known in New York society was the next person summoned. She
+was a friend of the Van Burnam family, and had known Howard from
+childhood. She had not liked his marriage; indeed, she rather
+participated in the family feeling against it, but when young Mrs. Van
+Burnam came to her house on the preceding Monday, and begged the
+privilege of remaining with her for one night, she had not had the heart
+to refuse her. Mrs. Van Burnam had therefore slept in her house on
+Monday night.
+
+Questioned in regard to that lady's appearance and manner, she answered
+that her guest was unnaturally cheerful, laughing much and showing a
+great vivacity; that she gave no reason for her good spirits, nor did
+she mention her own affairs in any way,--rather took pains not to do so.
+
+"How long did she stay?"
+
+"Till the next morning."
+
+"And how was she dressed?"
+
+"Just as Miss Ferguson has described."
+
+"Did she bring her hand-bag to your house?"
+
+"Yes, and left it there. We found it in her room after she was gone."
+
+"Indeed! And how do you account for that?"
+
+"She was preoccupied. I saw it in her cheerfulness, which was forced and
+not always well timed."
+
+"And where is that bag now?"
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam has it. We kept it for a day and as she did not call for
+it, sent it down to the office on Wednesday morning."
+
+"Before you had heard of the murder?"
+
+"O yes, before I had heard anything about the murder."
+
+"As she was your guest, you probably accompanied her to the door?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you notice her hands? Can you say what was the color of her
+gloves?"
+
+"I do not think she wore any gloves on leaving; it was very warm, and
+she held them in her hand. I remembered this, for I noticed the sparkle
+of her rings as she turned to say good-bye."
+
+"Ah, you saw her rings!"
+
+"Distinctly."
+
+"So that when she left you she was dressed in a black and white plaid
+silk, had a large hat covered with flowers on her head, and wore rings?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+And with these words ringing in the ears of the jury, the witness sat
+down.
+
+What was coming? Something important, or the Coroner would not look so
+satisfied, or the faces of the officials about him so expectant. I
+waited with great but subdued eagerness for the testimony of the next
+witness, who was a young man by the name of Callahan.
+
+I don't like young men in general. They are either over-suave and
+polite, as if they condescended to remember that you are elderly and
+that it is their duty to make you forget it, or else they are pert and
+shallow and disgust you with their egotism. But this young man looked
+sensible and business-like, and I took to him at once, though what
+connection he could have with this affair I could not imagine.
+
+His first words, however, settled all questions as to his personality:
+He was the order clerk at Altman's.
+
+As he acknowledged this, I seemed to have some faint premonition of what
+was coming. Perhaps I had not been without some vague idea of the truth
+ever since I had put my mind to work on this matter; perhaps my wits
+only received their real spur then; but certainly I knew what he was
+going to say as soon as he opened his lips, which gave me quite a good
+opinion of myself, whether rightfully or not, I leave you to judge.
+
+His evidence was short, but very much to the point. On the seventeenth
+of September, as could be verified by the books, the firm had received
+an order for a woman's complete outfit, to be sent, C.O.D., to Mrs.
+James Pope at the Hotel D----, on Broadway. Sizes and measures and some
+particulars were stated, and as the order bore the words _In haste_
+underlined upon it, several clerks had assisted him in filling this
+order, which when filled had been sent by special messenger to the place
+designated.
+
+Had he this order with him?
+
+He had.
+
+And could he identify the articles sent to fill it?
+
+He could.
+
+At which the Coroner motioned to an officer and a pile of clothing was
+brought forward from some mysterious corner and laid before the witness.
+
+Immediately expectation rose to a high pitch, for every one recognized,
+or thought he did, the apparel which had been taken from the victim.
+
+The young man, who was of the alert, nervous type, took up the articles
+one by one and examined them closely.
+
+As he did so, the whole assembled crowd surged forward and
+lightning-like glances from a hundred eyes followed his every movement
+and expression.
+
+"Are they the same?" inquired the Coroner.
+
+The witness did not hesitate. With one quick glance at the blue serge
+dress, black cape, and battered hat, he answered in a firm tone:
+
+"They are."
+
+And a clue was given at last to the dreadful mystery absorbing us.
+
+The deep-drawn sigh which swept through the room testified to the
+universal satisfaction; then our attention became fixed again, for the
+Coroner, pointing to the undergarments accompanying the articles already
+mentioned, demanded if they had been included in the order.
+
+There was as little hesitation in the reply given to this question as to
+the former. He recognized each piece as having come from his
+establishment. "You will note," said he, "that they have never been
+washed, and that the pencil marks are still on them."
+
+"Very good," observed the Coroner, "and you will note that one article
+there is torn down the back. Was it in that condition when sent?"
+
+"It was not, sir."
+
+"All were in perfect order?"
+
+"Most assuredly, sir."
+
+"Very good, again. The jury will take cognizance of this fact, which may
+be useful to them in their future conclusions. And now, Mr. Callahan, do
+you notice anything lacking here from the list of articles forwarded by
+you?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Yet there is one very necessary adjunct to a woman's outfit which is
+not to be found here."
+
+"Yes, sir, the shoes; but I am not surprised at that. We sent shoes, but
+they were not satisfactory, and they were returned."
+
+"Ah, I see. Officer, show the witness the shoes that were taken from the
+deceased."
+
+This was done, and when Mr. Callahan had examined them, the Coroner
+inquired if they came from his store. He replied no.
+
+Whereupon they were held up to the jury, and attention called to the
+fact that, while rather new than old, they gave signs of having been
+worn more than once; which was not true of anything else taken from the
+victim.
+
+This matter settled, the Coroner proceeded with his questions.
+
+"Who carried the articles ordered, to the address given?"
+
+"A man in our employ, named Clapp."
+
+"Did he bring back the amount of the bill?"
+
+"Yes, sir; less the five dollars charged for the shoes."
+
+"What was the amount, may I ask?"
+
+"Here is our cash-book, sir. The amount received from Mrs. James Pope,
+Hotel D----, on the seventeenth of September, is, as you see,
+seventy-five dollars and fifty-eight cents."
+
+"Let the jury see the book; also the order."
+
+They were both handed to the jury, and if ever I wished myself in any
+one's shoes, save my own very substantial ones, it was at that moment. I
+did so want a peep at that order.
+
+It seemed to interest the jury also, for their heads drew together very
+eagerly over it, and some whispers and a few knowing looks passed
+between them. Finally one of them spoke:
+
+"It is written in a very odd hand. Do you call this a woman's writing or
+a man's?"
+
+"I have no opinion to give on the subject," rejoined the witness. "It is
+intelligible writing, and that is all that comes within my province."
+
+The twelve men shifted on their seats and surveyed the Coroner eagerly.
+Why did he not proceed? Evidently he was not quick enough to suit them.
+
+"Have you any further questions for this witness?" asked that gentleman
+after a short delay.
+
+Their nervousness increased, but no one ventured to follow the Coroner's
+suggestion. A poor lot, I call them, a very poor lot! I would have found
+plenty of questions to put to him.
+
+I expected to see the man Clapp called next, but I was disappointed in
+this. The name uttered was Henshaw, and the person who rose in answer to
+it was a tall, burly man with a shock of curly black hair. He was the
+clerk of the Hotel D----, and we all forgot Clapp in our eagerness to
+hear what this man had to say.
+
+His testimony amounted to this:
+
+That a person by the name of Pope was registered on his books. That she
+came to his house on the seventeenth of September, some time near noon.
+That she was not alone; that a person she called her husband accompanied
+her, and that they had been given a room, at her request, on the second
+floor overlooking Broadway.
+
+"Did you see the husband? Was it his handwriting we see in your
+register?"
+
+"No, sir. He came into the office, but he did not approach the desk. It
+was she who registered for them both, and who did all the business in
+fact. I thought it queer, but took it for granted he was ill, for he
+held his head very much down, and acted as if he felt disturbed or
+anxious."
+
+"Did you notice him closely? Would you be able to identify him on
+sight?"
+
+"No, sir, I should not. He looked like a hundred other men I see every
+day: medium in height and build, with brown hair and brown moustache.
+Not noticeable in any way, sir, except for his hang-dog air and evident
+desire not to be noticed."
+
+"But you saw him later?"
+
+"No, sir. After he went to his room he stayed there, and no one saw him.
+I did not even see him when he left the house. His wife paid the bill
+and he did not come into the office."
+
+"But you saw her well; you would know her again?"
+
+"Perhaps, sir; but I doubt it. She wore a thick veil when she came in,
+and though I might remember her voice, I have no recollection of her
+features for I did not see them."
+
+"You can give a description of her dress, though; surely you must have
+looked long enough at a woman who wrote her own and her husband's name
+in your register, for you to remember her clothes."
+
+"Yes, for they were very simple. She had on what is called a gossamer,
+which covered her from neck to toe, and on her head a hat wrapped all
+about with a blue veil."
+
+"So that she might have worn any dress under that gossamer?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And any hat under that veil?"
+
+"Any one that was large enough, sir."
+
+"_Very_ good. Now, did you see her hands?"
+
+"Not to remember them."
+
+"Did she have gloves on?"
+
+"I cannot say. I did not stand and watch her, sir."
+
+"That is a pity. But you say you heard her voice."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Was it a lady's voice? Was her tone refined and her language good?"
+
+"They were, sir."
+
+"When did they leave? How long did they remain in your house?"
+
+"They left in the evening; after tea, I should say."
+
+"How? On foot or in a carriage?"
+
+"In a carriage; one of the hacks that stand in front of the door."
+
+"Did they bring any baggage with them?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did they take any away?"
+
+"The lady carried a parcel."
+
+"What kind of a parcel?"
+
+"A brown-paper parcel, like clothing done up."
+
+"And the gentleman?"
+
+"I did not see him."
+
+"Was she dressed the same in going as in coming?"
+
+"To all appearance, except her hat. That was smaller."
+
+"She had the gossamer on still, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And a veil?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Only that the hat it covered was smaller?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And now, how did you account to yourself for the parcel and the change
+of hat?"
+
+"I didn't account for them. I didn't think anything about them at the
+time; but, since I have had the subject brought to my mind, I find it
+easy enough. She had a package delivered to her while she was in our
+house, or rather packages; they were quite numerous, I believe."
+
+"Can you recall the circumstances of their delivery?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the man who brought the packages said that they had not been
+paid for, so I allowed him to carry them to Mrs. James Pope's room. When
+he went away, he had but one small parcel with him; the rest he had
+left."
+
+"And this is all you can tell us about this singular couple? Had they no
+meals in your house?"
+
+"No, sir; the gentleman--or I suppose I should say the lady, sir, for
+the order was given in her voice--sent for two dozen oysters and a
+bottle of ale, which were furnished to them in their rooms; but they
+didn't come to the dining-room."
+
+"Is the boy here who carried up those articles?"
+
+"He is, sir."
+
+"And the chambermaid who attended to their rooms?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then you may answer this question, and we will excuse you. How was the
+gentleman dressed when you saw him?"
+
+"In a linen duster and a felt hat."
+
+"Let the jury remember that. And now let us hear from Richard Clapp. Is
+Richard Clapp in the room?"
+
+"I am, sir," answered a cheery voice; and a lively young man with a
+shrewd eye and a wide-awake manner popped up from behind a portly woman
+on a side seat and rapidly came forward.
+
+He was asked several questions before the leading one which we all
+expected; but I will not record them here. The question which brought
+the reply most eagerly anticipated was this:
+
+"Do you remember being sent to the Hotel D----with several packages for
+a Mrs. James Pope?"
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"Did you deliver them in person? Did you see the lady?"
+
+A peculiar look crossed his face and we all leaned forward. But his
+answer brought a shock of disappointment with it.
+
+"No, I didn't, sir. She wouldn't let me in. She bade me lay the things
+down by the door and wait in the rear hall till she called me."
+
+"And you did this?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"But you kept your eye on the door, of course?"
+
+"Naturally, sir."
+
+"And saw----"
+
+"A hand steal out and take in the things."
+
+"A woman's hand?"
+
+"No; a man's. I saw the white cuff."
+
+"And how long was it before they called you?"
+
+"Fifteen minutes, I should say. I heard a voice cry 'Here!' and seeing
+their door open, I went toward it. But by the time I reached it, it was
+shut again, and I only heard the lady say that all the articles but the
+shoes were satisfactory, and would I thrust the bill in under the door.
+I did so, and they were some minutes counting out the change, but
+presently the door opened slightly, and I saw a man's hand holding out
+the money, which was correct to the cent. 'You need not receipt the
+bill,' cried the lady from somewhere in the room. 'Give him the shoes
+and let him go.' So I received the shoes in the same mysterious way I
+had the money, and seeing no reason for waiting longer, pocketed the
+bills and returned to the store."
+
+"Has the jury any further questions to ask the witness?"
+
+Of course not. They were ninnies, all of them, and----But, contrary to
+my expectation, one of them did perk up courage, and, wriggling very
+much on his seat, ventured to ask if the cuff he had seen on the man's
+hand when it was thrust through the doorway had a button in it.
+
+The answer was disappointing. The witness had not noticed any.
+
+The juror, somewhat abashed, sank into silence, at which another of the
+precious twelve, inspired no doubt by the other's example, blurted out:
+
+"Then what was the color of the coat sleeve? You surely can remember
+that."
+
+But another disappointment awaited us.
+
+"He did not wear any coat. It was a shirt sleeve I saw."
+
+A shirt sleeve! There was no clue in that. A visible look of dejection
+spread through the room, which was not dissipated till another witness
+stood up.
+
+This time it was the bell-boy of the hotel who had been on duty that
+day. His testimony was brief, and added but little to the general
+knowledge. He had been summoned more than once by these mysterious
+parties, but only to receive his orders through a closed door. He had
+not entered the room at all.
+
+He was followed by the chambermaid, who testified that she was in the
+room once while they were there; that she saw them both then, but did
+not catch a glimpse of their faces; Mr. Pope was standing in the window
+almost entirely shielded by the curtains, and Mrs. Pope was busy hanging
+up something in the wardrobe. The gentleman had on his duster and the
+lady her gossamer; it was but a few minutes after their arrival.
+
+Questioned in regard to the state of the room after they left it, she
+said that there was a lot of brown paper lying about, marked B. Altman,
+but nothing else that did not belong there.
+
+"Not a tag, nor a hat-pin, nor a bit of memorandum, lying on bureau or
+table?"
+
+"Nothing, sir, so far as I mind. I wasn't on the look-out for anything,
+sir. They were a queer couple, but we have lots of queer couples at our
+house, and the most I notices, sir, is those what remember the
+chambermaid and those what don't. This couple was of the kind what
+don't."
+
+"Did you sweep the room after their departure?"
+
+"I always does. They went late, so I swept the room the next morning."
+
+"And threw the sweepings away, of course?"
+
+"Of course; would you have me keep them for treasures?"
+
+"It might have been well if you had," muttered the Coroner. "The
+combings from the lady's hair might have been very useful in
+establishing her identity."
+
+The porter who has charge of the lady's entrance was the last witness
+from this house. He had been on duty on the evening in question and had
+noticed this couple leaving. They both carried packages, and had
+attracted his attention first, by the long, old-fashioned duster which
+the gentleman wore, and secondly, by the pains they both took not to be
+observed by any one. The woman was veiled, as had already been said, and
+the man held his package in such a way as to shield his face entirely
+from observation.
+
+"So that you would not know him if you saw him again?" asked the
+Coroner.
+
+"Exactly, sir," was the uncomprising answer.
+
+As he sat down, the Coroner observed: "You will note from this
+testimony, gentlemen, that this couple, signing themselves Mr. and Mrs.
+James Pope of Philadelphia, left this house dressed each in a long
+garment eminently fitted for purposes of concealment,--he in a linen
+duster, and she in a gossamer. Let us now follow this couple a little
+farther and see what became of these disguising articles of apparel. Is
+Seth Brown here?"
+
+A man, who was so evidently a hackman that it seemed superfluous to ask
+him what his occupation was, shuffled forward at this.
+
+It was in his hack that this couple had left the D----. He remembered
+them very well as he had good reason to. First, because the man paid him
+before entering the carriage, saying that he was to let them out at the
+northwest corner of Madison Square, and secondly----But here the Coroner
+interrupted him to ask if he had seen the gentleman's face when he paid
+him. The answer was, as might have been expected, No. It was dark, and
+he had not turned his head.
+
+"Didn't you think it queer to be paid before you reached your
+destination?"
+
+"Yes, but the rest was queerer. After I had taken the money--I never
+refuses money, sir--and was expecting him to get into the hack, he steps
+up to me again and says in a lower tone than before: 'My wife is very
+nervous. Drive slow, if you please, and when you reach the place I have
+named, watch your horses carefully, for if they should move while she is
+getting out, the shock would throw her into a spasm.' As she had looked
+very pert and lively, I thought this mighty queer, and I tried to get a
+peep at his face, but he was too smart for me, and was in the carriage
+before I could clap my eye on him."
+
+"But you were more fortunate when they got out? You surely saw one or
+both of them then?"
+
+"No, sir, I didn't. I had to watch the horses' heads, you know. I
+shouldn't like to be the cause of a young lady having a spasm."
+
+"Do you know in what direction they went?"
+
+"East, I should say. I heard them laughing long after I had whipped up
+my horses. A queer couple, sir, that puzzled me some, though I should
+not have thought of them twice if I had not found next day----"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"The gentleman's linen duster and the neat brown gossamer which the lady
+had worn, lying folded under the two back cushions of my hack; a present
+for which I was very much obliged to them, but which I was not long
+allowed to enjoy, for yesterday the police----"
+
+"Well, well, no matter about that. Here is a duster and here is a brown
+gossamer. Are these the articles you found under your cushions?"
+
+"If you will examine the neck of the lady's gossamer, you can soon tell,
+sir. There was a small hole in the one I found, as if something had been
+snipped out of it; the owner's name, most likely."
+
+"Or the name of the place where it was bought," suggested the Coroner,
+holding the garment up to view so as to reveal a square hole under the
+collar.
+
+"That's it!" cried the hackman. "That's the very one. Shame, I say, to
+spoil a new garment that way."
+
+"Why do you call it new?" asked the Coroner.
+
+"Because it hasn't a mud spot or even a mark of dust upon it. We looked
+it all over, my wife and I, and decided it had not been long off the
+shelf. A pretty good haul for a poor man like me, and if the police----"
+
+But here he was cut short again by an important question:
+
+"There is a clock but a short distance from the place where you
+stopped. Did you notice what time it was when you drove away?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I don't know why I remember it, but I do. As I turned to go
+back to the hotel, I looked up at this clock. It was half-past eleven."
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE KEYS.
+
+
+We were all by this time greatly interested in the proceedings; and when
+another hackman was called we recognized at once that an effort was
+about to be made to connect this couple with the one who had alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's door.
+
+The witness, who was a melancholy chap, kept his stand on the east side
+of the Square. At about twenty minutes to twelve, he was awakened from a
+nap he had been taking on the top of his coach, by a sharp rap on his
+whip arm, and looking down, he saw a lady and gentleman standing at the
+door of his vehicle.
+
+"We want to go to Gramercy Park," said the lady. "Drive us there at
+once."
+
+"I nodded, for what is the use of wasting words when it can be avoided;
+and they stepped at once into the coach."
+
+"Can you describe them--tell us how they looked?"
+
+"I never notice people; besides, it was dark; but he had a swell air,
+and she was pert and merry, for she laughed as she closed the door."
+
+"Can't you remember how they were dressed?"
+
+"No, sir; she had on something that flapped about her shoulders, and he
+had a dark hat on his head, but that was all I saw."
+
+"Didn't you see his face?"
+
+"Not a bit of it; he kept it turned away. He didn't want nobody looking
+at _him_. She did all the business."
+
+"Then you saw _her_ face?"
+
+"Yes, for a minute. But I wouldn't know it again. She was young and
+purty, and her hand which dropped the money into mine was small, but I
+couldn't say no more, not if you was to give me the town."
+
+"Did you know that the house you stopped at was Mr. Van Burnam's, and
+that it was supposed to be empty?"
+
+"No, sir, I'm not one of the swell ones. My acquaintances live in
+another part of the town."
+
+"But you noticed that the house was dark?"
+
+"I may have. I don't know."
+
+"And that is all you have to tell us about them?"
+
+"No, sir; the next morning, which was yesterday, sir, as I was a-dusting
+out the coach I found under the cushions a large blue veil, folded and
+lying very flat. But it had been slit with a knife and could not be
+worn."
+
+This was strange too, and while more than one person about me ventured
+an opinion, I muttered to myself, "James Pope, his mark!" astonished at
+a coincidence which so completely connected the occupants of the two
+coaches.
+
+But the Coroner was able to produce a witness whose evidence carried the
+matter on still farther. A policeman in full uniform testified next, and
+after explaining that his beat led him from Madison Avenue to Third on
+Twenty-seventh Street, went on to say that as he was coming up this
+street on Tuesday evening some few minutes before midnight, he
+encountered, somewhere between Lexington Avenue and Third, a man and
+woman walking rapidly towards the latter avenue, each carrying a parcel
+of some dimensions; that he noted them because they seemed so merry, but
+would have thought nothing of it, if he had not presently perceived them
+coming back without the parcels. They were chatting more gaily than
+ever. The lady wore a short cape, and the gentleman a dark coat, but he
+could give no other description of their appearance, for they went by
+rapidly, and he was more interested in wondering what they had done with
+such large parcels in such a short time at that hour of night, than in
+noting how they looked or whither they were going. He did observe,
+however, that they proceeded towards Madison Square, and remembers now
+that he heard a carriage suddenly drive away from that direction.
+
+The Coroner asked him but one question:
+
+"Had the lady no parcel when you saw her last?"
+
+"I saw none."
+
+"Could she not have carried one under her cape?"
+
+"Perhaps, if it was small enough."
+
+"As small as a lady's hat, say?"
+
+"Well, it would have to be smaller than some of them are now, sir."
+
+And so terminated this portion of the inquiry.
+
+A short delay followed the withdrawal of this witness. The Coroner, who
+was a somewhat portly man, and who had felt the heat of the day very
+much, leaned back and looked anxious, while the jury, always restless,
+moved in their seats like a set of school-boys, and seemed to long for
+the hour of adjournment, notwithstanding the interest which everybody
+but themselves seemed to take in this exciting investigation.
+
+Finally an officer, who had been sent into the adjoining room, came back
+with a gentleman, who was no sooner recognized as Mr. Franklin Van
+Burnam than a great change took place in the countenances of all
+present. The Coroner sat forward and dropped the large palm-leaf fan he
+had been industriously using for the last few minutes, the jury settled
+down, and the whispering of the many curious ones about me grew less
+audible and finally ceased altogether. A gentleman of the family was
+about to be interrogated, and such a gentleman!
+
+I have purposely refrained from describing this best known and best
+reputed member of the Van Burnam family, foreseeing this hour when he
+would attract the attention of a hundred eyes and when his appearance
+would require our special notice. I will therefore endeavor to picture
+him to you as he looked on this memorable morning, with just the simple
+warning that you must not expect me to see with the eyes of a young girl
+or even with those of a fashionable society woman. I know a man when I
+see him, and I had always regarded Mr. Franklin as an exceptionally
+fine-looking and prepossessing gentleman, but I shall not go into
+raptures, as I heard a girl behind me doing, nor do I feel like
+acknowledging him as a paragon of all the virtues--as Mrs. Cunningham
+did that evening in my parlor.
+
+He is a medium-sized man, with a shape not unlike his brother's. His
+hair is dark and so are his eyes, but his moustache is brown and his
+complexion quite fair. He carries himself with distinction, and though
+his countenance in repose has a precise air that is not perfectly
+agreeable, it has, when he speaks or smiles, an expression at once keen
+and amiable.
+
+On this occasion he failed to smile, and though his elegance was
+sufficiently apparent, his worth was not so much so. Yet the impression
+generally made was favorable, as one could perceive from the air of
+respect with which his testimony was received.
+
+He was asked many questions. Some were germane to the matter in hand and
+some seemed to strike wide of all mark. He answered them all
+courteously, showing a manly composure in doing so, that served to calm
+the fever-heat into which many had been thrown by the stories of the two
+hackmen. But as his evidence up to this point related merely to minor
+concerns, this was neither strange nor conclusive. The real test began
+when the Coroner, with a certain bluster, which may have been meant to
+attract the attention of the jury, now visibly waning, or, as was more
+likely, may have been the unconscious expression of a secret if hitherto
+well concealed embarrassment, asked the witness whether the keys to his
+father's front door had any duplicates.
+
+The answer came in a decidedly changed tone. "No. The key used by our
+agent opens the basement door only."
+
+The Coroner showed his satisfaction. "No duplicates," he repeated; "then
+you will have no difficulty in telling us where the keys to your
+father's front door were kept during the family's absence."
+
+Did the young man hesitate, or was it but imagination on my part--"They
+were usually in my possession."
+
+"Usually!" There was irony in the tone; evidently the Coroner was
+getting the better of his embarrassment, if he had felt any. "And where
+were they on the seventeenth of this month? Were they in your possession
+then?"
+
+"No, sir." The young man tried to look calm and at his ease, but the
+difficulty he felt in doing so was apparent. "On the morning of that
+day," he continued, "I passed them over to my brother."
+
+Ah! here was something tangible as well as important. I began to fear
+the police understood themselves only too well; and so did the whole
+crowd of persons there assembled. A groan in one direction was answered
+by a sigh in another, and it needed all the Coroner's authority to
+prevent an outbreak.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Van Burnam stood erect and unwavering, though his eye
+showed the suffering which these demonstrations awakened. He did not
+turn in the direction of the room where we felt sure his family was
+gathered, but it was evident that his thoughts did, and that most
+painfully. The Coroner, on the contrary, showed little or no feeling; he
+had brought the investigation up to this critical point and felt fully
+competent to carry it farther.
+
+"May I ask," said he, "where the transference of these keys took place?"
+
+"I gave them to him in our office last Tuesday morning. He said he might
+want to go into the house before his father came home."
+
+"Did he say why he wanted to go into the house?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was he in the habit of going into it alone and during the family's
+absence?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Had he any clothes there? or any articles belonging to himself or his
+wife which he would be likely to wish to carry away?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Yet he wanted to go in?"
+
+"He said so."
+
+"And you gave him the keys without question?"
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+"Was that not opposed to your usual principles--to your way of doing
+things, I should say?"
+
+"Perhaps; but principles, by which I suppose you mean my usual business
+methods, do not govern me in my relations with my brother. He asked me a
+favor, and I granted it. It would have to have been a much larger one
+for me to have asked an explanation from him before doing so."
+
+"Yet you are not on good terms with your brother; at least you have not
+had the name of being, for some time?"
+
+"We have had no quarrel."
+
+"Did he return the keys you lent him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Have you seen them since?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Would you know them if they were shown you?"
+
+"I would know them if they unlocked our front door."
+
+"But you would not know them on sight?"
+
+"I don't think so."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, it is disagreeable for me to go into family matters,
+but if you have had no quarrel with your brother, how comes it that you
+and he have had so little intercourse of late?"
+
+"He has been in Connecticut and I at Long Branch. Is not that a good
+answer, sir?"
+
+"Good, but not good enough. You have a common office in New York, have
+you not?"
+
+"Certainly, the firm's office."
+
+"And you sometimes meet there, even while residing in different
+localities?"
+
+"Yes, our business calls us in at times and then we meet, of course."
+
+"Do you talk when you meet?"
+
+"Talk?"
+
+"Of other matters besides business, I mean. Are your relations friendly?
+Do you show the same spirit towards each other as you did three years
+ago, say?"
+
+"We are older; perhaps we are not quite so voluble."
+
+"But do you feel the same?"
+
+"No. I see you will have it, and so I will no longer hold back the
+truth. We are not as brotherly in our intercourse as we used to be; but
+there is no animosity between us. I have a decided regard for my
+brother."
+
+This was said quite nobly, and I liked him for it, but I began to feel
+that perhaps it had been for the best after all that I had never been
+intimate with the family. But I must not forestall either events or my
+opinions.
+
+"Is there any reason"--it is the Coroner, of course, who is
+speaking--"why there should be any falling off in your mutual
+confidence? Has your brother done anything to displease you?"
+
+"We did not like his marriage."
+
+"Was it an unhappy one?"
+
+"It was not a suitable one."
+
+"Did you know Mrs. Van Burnam well, that you say this?"
+
+"Yes, I knew her, but the rest of the family did not."
+
+"Yet they shared in your disapprobation?"
+
+"They felt the marriage more than I did. The lady--excuse me, I never
+like to speak ill of the sex--was not lacking in good sense or virtue,
+but she was not the person we had a right to expect Howard to marry."
+
+"And you let him see that you thought so?"
+
+"How could we do otherwise?"
+
+"Even after she had been his wife for some months?"
+
+"We could not like her."
+
+"Did your brother--I am sorry to press this matter--ever show that he
+felt your change of conduct towards him?"
+
+"I find it equally hard to answer," was the quick reply. "My brother is
+of an affectionate nature, and he has some, if not all, of the family's
+pride. I think he did feel it, though he never said so. He is not
+without loyalty to his wife."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, of whom does the firm doing business under the name of
+Van Burnam & Sons consist?"
+
+"Of the three persons mentioned."
+
+"No others?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Has there ever been in your hearing any threat made by the senior
+partner of dissolving this firm as it stands?"
+
+"I have heard"--I felt sorry for this strong but far from heartless man,
+but I would not have stopped the inquiry at this point if I could; I
+was far too curious--"I have heard my father say that he would withdraw
+if Howard did not. Whether he would have done so, I consider open to
+doubt. My father is a just man and never fails to do the right thing,
+though he sometimes speaks with unnecessary harshness."
+
+"He made the threat, however?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And Howard heard it?"
+
+"Or of it; I cannot say which."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, have you noticed any change in your brother since this
+threat was uttered?"
+
+"How, sir; what change?"
+
+"In his treatment of his wife, or in his attitude towards yourself?"
+
+"I have not seen him in the company of his wife since they went to
+Haddam. As for his conduct towards myself, I can say no more than I have
+already. We have never forgotten that we are children of one mother."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, how many times have you seen Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"Several. More frequently before they were married than since."
+
+"You were in your brother's confidence, then, at that time; knew he was
+contemplating marriage?"
+
+"It was in my endeavors to prevent the match that I saw so much of Miss
+Louise Stapleton."
+
+"Ah! I am glad of the explanation! I was just going to inquire why you,
+of all members of the family, were the only one to know your brother's
+wife by sight."
+
+The witness, considering this question answered, made no reply. But the
+next suggestion could not be passed over.
+
+"If you saw Mrs. Van Burnam so often, you are acquainted with her
+personal appearance?"
+
+"Sufficiently so; as well as I know that of my ordinary
+calling-acquaintance."
+
+"Was she light or dark?"
+
+"She had brown hair."
+
+"Similar to this?"
+
+The lock held up was the one which had been cut from the head of the
+dead girl.
+
+"Yes, somewhat similar to that." The tone was cold; but he could not
+hide his distress.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, have you looked well at the woman who was found
+murdered in your father's house?"
+
+"I have, sir."
+
+"Is there anything in her general outline or in such features as have
+escaped disfigurement to remind you of Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"I may have thought so--at first glance," he replied, with decided
+effort.
+
+"And did you change your mind at the second?"
+
+He looked troubled, but answered firmly: "No, I cannot say that I did.
+But you must not regard my opinion as conclusive," he hastily added. "My
+knowledge of the lady was comparatively slight."
+
+"The jury will take that into account. All we want to know now is
+whether you can assert from any knowledge you have or from anything to
+be noted in the body itself, that it is not Mrs. Howard Van Burnam?"
+
+"I cannot."
+
+And with this solemn assertion his examination closed.
+
+The remainder of the day was taken up in trying to prove a similarity
+between Mrs. Van Burnam's handwriting and that of Mrs. James Pope as
+seen in the register of the Hotel D---- and on the order sent to
+Altman's. But the only conclusion reached was that the latter might be
+the former disguised, and even on this point the experts differed.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+HOWARD VAN BURNAM.
+
+
+The gentleman who stepped from the carriage and entered Mr. Van Burnam's
+house at twelve o'clock that night produced so little impression upon me
+that I went to bed satisfied that no result would follow these efforts
+at identification.
+
+And so I told Mr. Gryce when he arrived next morning. But he seemed by
+no means disconcerted, and merely requested that I would submit to one
+more trial. To which I gave my consent, and he departed.
+
+I could have asked him a string of questions, but his manner did not
+invite them, and for some reason I was too wary to show an interest in
+this tragedy superior to that felt by every right-thinking person
+connected with it.
+
+At ten o'clock I was in my old seat in the court-room. The same crowd
+with different faces confronted me, amid which the twelve stolid
+countenances of the jury looked like old friends. Howard Van Burnam was
+the witness called, and as he came forward and stood in full view of us
+all, the interest of the occasion reached its climax.
+
+His countenance wore a reckless look that did not serve to prepossess
+him with the people at whose mercy he stood. But he did not seem to
+care, and waited for the Coroner's questions with an air of ease which
+was in direct contrast to the drawn and troubled faces of his father and
+brother just visible in the background.
+
+Coroner Dahl surveyed him a few minutes before speaking, then he quietly
+asked if he had seen the dead body of the woman who had been found lying
+under a fallen piece of furniture in his father's house.
+
+He replied that he had.
+
+"Before she was removed from the house or after it?"
+
+"After."
+
+"Did you recognize it? Was it the body of any one you know?"
+
+"I do not think so."
+
+"Has your wife, who was missing yesterday, been heard from yet, Mr. Van
+Burnam?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge, sir."
+
+"Had she not--that is, your wife--a complexion similar to that of the
+dead woman just alluded to?"
+
+"She had a fair skin and brown hair, if that is what you mean. But these
+attributes are common to too many women for me to give them any weight
+in an attempted identification of this importance."
+
+"Had they no other similar points of a less general character? Was not
+your wife of a slight and graceful build, such as is attributed to the
+subject of this inquiry?"
+
+"My wife was slight and she was graceful, common attributes also."
+
+"And your wife had a scar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"On the left ankle?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Which the deceased also has?"
+
+"That I do not know. They say so, but I had no interest in looking."
+
+"Why, may I ask? Did you not think it a remarkable coincidence?"
+
+The young man frowned. It was the first token of feeling he had given.
+
+"I was not on the look-out for coincidences," was his cold reply. "I had
+no reason to think this unhappy victim of an unknown man's brutality my
+wife, and so did not allow myself to be moved by even such a fact as
+this."
+
+"You had no reason," repeated the Coroner, "to think this woman your
+wife. Had you any reason to think she was not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will you give us that reason?"
+
+"I had more than one. First, my wife would never wear the clothes I saw
+on the girl whose dead body was shown to me. Secondly, she would never
+go to any house alone with a man at the hour testified to by one of your
+witnesses."[A]
+
+"Not with any man?"
+
+"I did not mean to include her husband in my remark, of course. But as I
+did not take her to Gramercy Park, the fact that the deceased woman
+entered an empty house accompanied by a man, is proof enough to me that
+she was not Louise Van Burnam."
+
+"When did you part with your wife?"
+
+"On Monday morning at the depot in Haddam."
+
+"Did you know where she was going?"
+
+"I knew where she said she was going."
+
+"And where was that, may I ask?"
+
+"To New York, to interview my father."
+
+"But your father was not in New York?"
+
+"He was daily expected here. The steamer on which he had sailed from
+Southampton was due on Tuesday."
+
+"Had she an interest in seeing your father? Was there any special reason
+why she should leave you for doing so?"
+
+"She thought so; she thought he would become reconciled to her entrance
+into our family if he should see her suddenly and without prejudiced
+persons standing by."
+
+"And did you fear to mar the effect of this meeting if you accompanied
+her?"
+
+"No, for I doubted if the meeting would ever take place. I had no
+sympathy with her schemes, and did not wish to give her the sanction of
+my presence."
+
+"Was that the reason you let her go to New York alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Had you no other?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why did you follow her, then, in less than five hours?"
+
+"Because I was uneasy; because I also wanted to see my father; because I
+am a man accustomed to carry out every impulse; and impulse led me that
+day in the direction of my somewhat headstrong wife."
+
+"Did you know where your wife intended to spend the night?"
+
+"I did not. She has many friends, or at least I have, in the city, and I
+concluded she would go to one of them--as she did."
+
+"When did you arrive in the city? before ten o'clock?"
+
+"Yes, a few minutes before."
+
+"Did you try to find your wife?"
+
+"No. I went directly to the club."
+
+"Did you try to find her the next morning?"
+
+"No; I had heard that the steamer had not yet been sighted off Fire
+Island, so considered the effort unnecessary."
+
+"Why? What connection is there between this fact and an endeavor on your
+part to find your wife?"
+
+"A very close one. She had come to New York to throw herself at my
+father's feet. Now she could only do this at the steamer or in----"
+
+"Why do you not proceed, Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"I will. I do not know why I stopped,--or in his own house."
+
+"In his own house? In the house in Gramercy Park, do you mean?"
+
+"Yes, he has no other."
+
+"The house in which this dead girl was found?"
+
+"Yes,"--impatiently.
+
+"Did you think she might throw herself at his feet there?"
+
+"She said she might; and as she is romantic, foolishly romantic, I
+thought her fully capable of doing so."
+
+"And so you did not seek her in the morning?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"How about the afternoon?"
+
+This was a close question; we saw that he was affected by it though he
+tried to carry it off bravely.
+
+"I did not see her in the afternoon. I was in a restless frame of mind,
+and did not remain in the city."
+
+"Ah! indeed! and where did you go?"
+
+"Unless necessary, I prefer not to say."
+
+"It is necessary."
+
+"I went to Coney Island."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you see anybody there you know?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And when did you return?"
+
+"At midnight."
+
+"When did you reach your rooms?"
+
+"Later."
+
+"How much later?"
+
+"Two or three hours."
+
+"And where were you during those hours?"
+
+"I was walking the streets."
+
+The ease, the quietness with which he made these acknowledgments were
+remarkable. The jury to a man honored him with a prolonged stare, and
+the awe-struck crowd scarcely breathed during their utterance. At the
+last sentence a murmur broke out, at which he raised his head and with
+an air of surprise surveyed the people before him. Though he must have
+known what their astonishment meant, he neither quailed nor blanched,
+and while not in reality a handsome man, he certainly looked handsome at
+this moment.
+
+I did not know what to think; so forbore to think anything. Meanwhile
+the examination went on.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that the locket I see there dangling
+from your watch-chain contains a lock of your wife's hair. Is it so?"
+
+"I have a lock of her hair in this; yes."
+
+"Here is a lock clipped from the head of the unknown woman whose
+identity we seek. Have you any objection to comparing the two?"
+
+"It is not an agreeable task you have set me," was the imperturbable
+response; "but I have no objection to doing what you ask." And calmly
+lifting the chain, he took off the locket, opened it, and held it out
+courteously toward the Coroner. "May I ask you to make the first
+comparison," he said.
+
+The Coroner, taking the locket, laid the two locks of brown hair
+together, and after a moment's contemplation of them both, surveyed the
+young man seriously, and remarked:
+
+"They are of the same shade. Shall I pass them down to the jury?"
+
+Howard bowed. You would have thought he was in a drawing-room, and in
+the act of bestowing a favor. But his brother Franklin showed a very
+different countenance, and as for their father, one could not even see
+his face, he so persistently held up his hand before it.
+
+The jury, wide-awake now, passed the locket along, with many sly nods
+and a few whispered words. When it came back to the Coroner, he took it
+and handed it to Mr. Van Burnam, saying:
+
+"I wish you would observe the similarity for yourself. I can hardly
+detect any difference between them."
+
+"Thank you! I am willing to take your word for it," replied the young
+man, with most astonishing _aplomb_. And Coroner and jury for a moment
+looked baffled, and even Mr. Gryce, of whose face I caught a passing
+glimpse at this instant, stared at the head of his cane, as if it were
+of thicker wood than he expected and had more knotty points on it than
+even his accustomed hand liked to encounter.
+
+Another effort was not out of place, however; and the Coroner, summoning
+up some of the pompous severity he found useful at times, asked the
+witness if his attention had been drawn to the dead woman's hands.
+
+He acknowledged that it had. "The physician who made the autopsy urged
+me to look at them, and I did; they were certainly very like my wife's."
+
+"Only like."
+
+"I cannot say that they were my wife's. Do you wish me to perjure
+myself?"
+
+"A man should know his wife's hands as well as he knows her face."
+
+"Very likely."
+
+"And you are ready to swear these were not the hands of your wife?"
+
+"I am ready to swear I did not so consider them."
+
+"And that is all?"
+
+"That is all."
+
+The Coroner frowned and cast a glance at the jury. They needed prodding
+now and then, and this is the way he prodded them. As soon as they gave
+signs of recognizing the hint he gave them, he turned back, and renewed
+his examination in these words:
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, did your brother at your request hand you the keys of
+your father's house on the morning of the day on which this tragedy
+occurred?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Have you those keys now?"
+
+"I have not."
+
+"What have you done with them? Did you return them to your brother?"
+
+"No; I see where your inquiries are tending, and I do not suppose you
+will believe my simple word; but I lost the keys on the day I received
+them; that is why----"
+
+"Well, you may continue, Mr. Van Burnam."
+
+"I have no more to say; my sentence was not worth completing."
+
+The murmur which rose about him seemed to show dissatisfaction; but he
+remained imperturbable, or rather like a man who did not hear. I began
+to feel a most painful interest in the inquiry, and dreaded, while I
+anxiously anticipated, his further examination.
+
+"You lost the keys; may I ask when and where?"
+
+"That I do not know; they were missing when I searched for them; missing
+from my pocket, I mean."
+
+"Ah! and when did you search for them?"
+
+"The next day--after I had heard--of--of what had taken place in my
+father's house."
+
+The hesitations were those of a man weighing his reply. They told on the
+jury, as all such hesitations do; and made the Coroner lose an atom of
+the respect he had hitherto shown this easy-going witness.
+
+"And you do not know what became of them?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Or into whose hands they fell?"
+
+"No, but probably into the hands of the wretch----"
+
+To the astonishment of everybody he was on the verge of vehemence; but
+becoming sensible of it, he controlled himself with a suddenness that
+was almost shocking.
+
+"Find the murderer of this poor girl," said he, with a quiet air that
+was more thrilling than any display of passion, "and ask _him_ where he
+got the keys with which he opened the door of my father's house at
+midnight."
+
+Was this a challenge, or just the natural outburst of an innocent man.
+Neither the jury nor the Coroner seemed to know, the former looking
+startled and the latter nonplussed. But Mr. Gryce, who had moved now
+into view, smoothed the head of his cane with quite a loving touch, and
+did not seem at this moment to feel its inequalities objectionable.
+
+"We will certainly try to follow your advice," the Coroner assured him.
+"Meanwhile we must ask how many rings your wife is in the habit of
+wearing?"
+
+"Five. Two on the left hand and three on the right."
+
+"Do you know these rings?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Better than you know her hands?"
+
+"As well, sir."
+
+"Were they on her hands when you parted from her in Haddam?"
+
+"They were."
+
+"Did she always wear them?"
+
+"Almost always. Indeed I do not ever remember seeing her take off more
+than one of them."
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"The ruby with the diamond setting."
+
+"Had the dead girl any rings on when you saw her?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Did you look to see?"
+
+"I think I did in the first shock of the discovery."
+
+"And you saw none?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"And from this you concluded she was not your wife?"
+
+"From this and other things."
+
+"Yet you must have seen that the woman was in the habit of wearing
+rings, even if they were not on her hands at that moment?"
+
+"Why, sir? What should I know about her habits?"
+
+"Is not that a ring I see now on your little finger?"
+
+"It is; my seal ring which I always wear."
+
+"Will you pull it off?"
+
+"Pull it off!"
+
+"If you please; it is a simple test I am requiring of you, sir."
+
+The witness looked astonished, but pulled off the ring at once.
+
+"Here it is," said he.
+
+"Thank you, but I do not want it. I merely want you to look at your
+finger."
+
+The witness complied, evidently more nonplussed than disturbed by this
+command.
+
+"Do you see any difference between that finger and the one next it?"
+
+"Yes; there is a mark about my little finger showing where the ring has
+pressed."
+
+"Very good; there were such marks on the fingers of the dead girl, who,
+as you say, had no rings on. I saw them, and perhaps you did yourself?"
+
+"I did not; I did not look closely enough."
+
+"They were on the little finger of the right hand, on the marriage
+finger of the left, and on the forefinger of the same. On which fingers
+did your wife wear rings?"
+
+"On those same fingers, sir, but I will not accept this fact as proving
+her identity with the deceased. Most women do wear rings, and on those
+very fingers."
+
+The Coroner was nettled, but he was not discouraged. He exchanged looks
+with Mr. Gryce, but nothing further passed between them and we were left
+to conjecture what this interchange of glances meant.
+
+The witness, who did not seem to be affected either by the character of
+this examination or by the conjectures to which it gave rise, preserved
+his _sang-froid_, and eyed the Coroner as he might any other questioner,
+with suitable respect, but with no fear and but little impatience. And
+yet he must have known the horrible suspicion darkening the minds of
+many people present, and suspected, even if against his will, that this
+examination, significant as it was, was but the forerunner of another
+and yet more serious one.
+
+"You are very determined," remarked the Coroner in beginning again, "not
+to accept the very substantial proofs presented you of the identity
+between the object of this inquiry and your missing wife. But we are not
+yet ready to give up the struggle, and so I must ask if you heard the
+description given by Miss Ferguson of the manner in which your wife was
+dressed on leaving Haddam?
+
+"I have."
+
+"Was it a correct account? Did she wear a black and white plaid silk and
+a hat trimmed with various colored ribbons and flowers?"
+
+"She did."
+
+"Do you remember the hat? Were you with her when she bought it, or did
+you ever have your attention drawn to it in any particular way?"
+
+"I remember the hat."
+
+"Is this it, Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+I was watching Howard, and the start he gave was so pronounced and the
+emotion he displayed was in such violent contrast to the self-possession
+he had maintained up to this point, that I was held spell-bound by the
+shock I received, and forebore to look at the object which the Coroner
+had suddenly held up for inspection. But when I did turn my head towards
+it, I recognized at once the multi-colored hat which Mr. Gryce had
+brought in from the third room of Mr. Van Burnam's house on the evening
+I was there, and realized almost in the same breath that great as this
+mystery had hitherto seemed it was likely to prove yet greater before
+its proper elucidation was arrived at.
+
+"Was that found in my father's house? Where--where was that hat found?"
+stammered the witness, so far forgetting himself as to point towards the
+object in question.
+
+"It was found by Mr. Gryce in a closet off your father's dining-room, a
+short time after the dead girl was carried out."
+
+"I don't believe it," vociferated the young man, paling with something
+more than anger, and shaking from head to foot.
+
+"Shall I put Mr. Gryce on his oath again?" asked the Coroner, mildly.
+
+The young man stared; evidently these words failed to reach his
+understanding.
+
+"_Is_ it your wife's hat?" persisted the Coroner with very little
+mercy. "Do you recognize it for the one in which she left Haddam?"
+
+"Would to God I did not!" burst in vehement distress from the witness,
+who at the next moment broke down altogether and looked about for the
+support of his brother's arm.
+
+Franklin came forward, and the two brothers stood for a moment in the
+face of the whole surging mass of curiosity-mongers before them, arm in
+arm, but with very different expressions on their two proud faces.
+Howard was the first to speak.
+
+"If that was found in the parlors of my father's house," he cried, "then
+the woman who was killed there was my wife." And he started away with a
+wild air towards the door.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked the Coroner, quietly, while an officer
+stepped softly before him, and his brother compassionately drew him back
+by the arm.
+
+"I am going to take her from that horrible place; she is my wife.
+Father, you would not wish her to remain in that spot for another
+moment, would you, while we have a house we call our own?"
+
+Mr. Van Burnam the senior, who had shrunk as far from sight as possible
+through these painful demonstrations, rose up at these words from his
+agonized son, and making him an encouraging gesture, walked hastily out
+of the room; seeing which, the young man became calmer, and though he
+did not cease to shudder, tried to restrain his first grief, which to
+those who looked closely at him was evidently very sincere.
+
+"I would not believe it was she," he cried, in total disregard of the
+presence he was in, "I _would not_ believe it; but now----" A certain
+pitiful gesture finished the sentence, and neither Coroner nor jury
+seemed to know just how to proceed, the conduct of the young man being
+so markedly different from what they had expected. After a short pause,
+painful enough to all concerned, the Coroner, perceiving that very
+little could be done with the witness under the circumstances, adjourned
+the sitting till afternoon.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote A: Why could he not have said Miss Butterworth? These Van
+Burnams are proud, most vilely proud as the poet has it.--A. B.]
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+A SERIOUS ADMISSION.
+
+
+I went at once to a restaurant. I ate because it was time to eat, and
+because any occupation was welcome that would pass away the hours of
+waiting. I was troubled; and I did not know what to make of myself. I
+was no friend to the Van Burnams; I did not like them, and certainly had
+never approved of any of them but Mr. Franklin, and yet I found myself
+altogether disturbed over the morning's developments, Howard's emotion
+having appealed to me in spite of my prejudices. I could not but think
+ill of him, his conduct not being such as I could honestly commend. But
+I found myself more ready to listen to the involuntary pleadings of my
+own heart in his behalf than I had been prior to his testimony and its
+somewhat startling termination.
+
+But they were not through with him yet, and after the longest three
+hours I ever passed, we were again convened before the Coroner.
+
+I saw Howard as soon as anybody did. He came in, arm in arm as before,
+with his faithful brother, and sat down in a retired corner behind the
+Coroner. But he was soon called forward.
+
+His face when the light fell on it was startling to most of us. It was
+as much changed as if years, instead of hours, had elapsed since last
+we saw it. No longer reckless in its expression, nor easy, nor politely
+patient, it showed in its every lineament that he had not only passed
+through a hurricane of passion, but that the bitterness, which had been
+its worst feature, had not passed with the storm, but had settled into
+the core of his nature, disturbing its equilibrium forever. My emotions
+were not allayed by the sight; but I kept all expression of them out of
+view. I must be sure of his integrity before giving rein to my
+sympathies.
+
+The jury moved and sat up quite alert when they saw him. I think that if
+these especial twelve men could have a murder case to investigate every
+day, they would grow quite wide-awake in time. Mr. Van Burnam made no
+demonstration. Evidently there was not likely to be a repetition of the
+morning's display of passion. He had been iron in his impassibility at
+that time, but he was steel now, and steel which had been through the
+fiercest of fires.
+
+The opening question of the Coroner showed by what experience these
+fires had been kindled.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam, I have been told that you have visited the Morgue in
+the interim which has elapsed since I last questioned you. Is that
+true?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Did you, in the opportunity thus afforded, examine the remains of the
+woman whose death we are investigating, attentively enough to enable you
+to say now whether they are those of your missing wife?"
+
+"I have. The body is that of Louise Van Burnam; I crave your pardon and
+that of the jury for my former obstinacy in refusing to recognize it. I
+thought myself fully justified in the stand I took. I see now that I
+was not."
+
+The Coroner made no answer. There was no sympathy between him and this
+young man. Yet he did not fail in a decent show of respect; perhaps
+because he did feel some sympathy for the witness's unhappy father and
+brother.
+
+"You then acknowledge the victim to have been your wife?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"It is a point gained, and I compliment the jury upon it. We can now
+proceed to settle, if possible, the identity of the person who
+accompanied Mrs. Van Burnam into your father's house."
+
+"Wait," cried Mr. Van Burnam, with a strange air, "_I acknowledge I was
+that person_."
+
+It was coolly, almost fiercely said, but it was an admission that
+wellnigh created a hubbub. Even the Coroner seemed moved, and cast a
+glance at Mr. Gryce which showed his surprise to be greater than his
+discretion.
+
+"You acknowledge," he began--but the witness did not let him finish.
+
+"I acknowledge that I was the person who accompanied her into that empty
+house; but I do not acknowledge that I killed her. She was alive and
+well when I left her, difficult as it is for me to prove it. It was the
+realization of this difficulty which made me perjure myself this
+morning."
+
+"So," murmured the Coroner, with another glance at Mr. Gryce, "you
+acknowledge that you perjured yourself. Will the room be quiet!"
+
+But the lull came slowly. The contrast between the appearance of this
+elegant young man and the significant admissions he had just made
+(admissions which to three quarters of the persons there meant more,
+much more, than he acknowledged), was certainly such as to provoke
+interest of the deepest kind. I felt like giving rein to my own
+feelings, and was not surprised at the patience shown by the Coroner.
+But order was restored at last, and the inquiry proceeded.
+
+"We are then to consider the testimony given by you this morning as null
+and void?"
+
+"Yes, so far as it contradicts what I have just stated."
+
+"Ah, then you will no doubt be willing to give us your evidence again?"
+
+"Certainly, if you will be so kind as to question me."
+
+"Very well; where did your wife and yourself first meet after your
+arrival in New York?"
+
+"In the street near my office. She was coming to see me, but I prevailed
+upon her to go uptown."
+
+"What time was this?"
+
+"After ten and before noon. I cannot give the exact hour."
+
+"And where did you go?"
+
+"To a hotel on Broadway; you have already heard of our visit there."
+
+"You are, then, the Mr. James Pope, whose wife registered in the books
+of the Hotel D---- on the seventeenth of this month?"
+
+"I have said so."
+
+"And may I ask for what purpose you used this disguise, and allowed your
+wife to sign a wrong name?"
+
+"To satisfy a freak. She considered it the best way of covering up a
+scheme she had formed; which was to awaken the interest of my father
+under the name and appearance of a stranger, and not to inform him who
+she was till he had given some evidence of partiality for her."
+
+"Ah, but for such an end was it necessary for her to assume a strange
+name before she saw your father, and for you both to conduct yourselves
+in the mysterious way you did all that day and evening?"
+
+"I do not know. She thought so, and I humored her. I was tired of
+working against her, and was willing she should have her own way for a
+time."
+
+"And for this reason you let her fit herself out with clothes down to
+her very undergarments?"
+
+"Yes; strange as it may seem, I was just such a fool. I had entered into
+her scheme, and the means she took to change her personality only amused
+me. She wished to present herself to my father as a girl obliged to work
+for her living, and was too shrewd to excite suspicion in the minds of
+any of the family by any undue luxury in her apparel. At least that was
+the excuse she gave me for the precautions she took, though I think the
+delight she experienced in anything romantic and unusual had as much to
+do with it as anything else. She enjoyed the game she was playing, and
+wished to make as much of it as possible."
+
+"Were her own garments much richer than those she ordered from
+Altman's?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. Mrs. Van Burnam wore nothing made by American
+seamstresses. Fine clothes were her weakness."
+
+"I see, I see; but why such an attempt on your part to keep yourself in
+the background? Why let your wife write your assumed names in the hotel
+register, for instance, instead of doing it yourself?"
+
+"It was easier for her; I know no other reason. She did not mind putting
+down the name Pope. I did."
+
+It was an ungracious reflection upon his wife, and he seemed to feel it
+so; for he almost immediately added: "A man will sometimes lend himself
+to a scheme of which the details are obnoxious. It was so in this case;
+but she was too interested in her plans to be affected by so small a
+matter as this."
+
+This explained more than one mysterious action on the part of this pair
+while they were at the Hotel D----. The Coroner evidently considered it
+in this light, for he dwelt but little longer on this phase of the case,
+passing at once to a fact concerning which curiosity had hitherto been
+roused without receiving any satisfaction.
+
+"In leaving the hotel," said he, "you and your wife were seen carrying
+certain packages, which were missing from your arms when you alighted at
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. What was in those packages, and where did you
+dispose of them before you entered the second carriage?"
+
+Howard made no demur in answering.
+
+"My wife's clothes were in them," said he, "and we dropped them
+somewhere on Twenty-seventh Street near Third Avenue, just as we saw an
+old woman coming along the sidewalk. We knew that she would stop and
+pick them up, and she did, for we slid into a dark shadow made by a
+projecting stoop and watched her. Is that too simple a method for
+disposing of certain encumbering bundles, to be believed, sir?"
+
+"That is for the jury to decide," answered the Coroner, stiffly. "But
+why were you so anxious to dispose of these articles? Were they not
+worth some money, and would it not have been simpler and much more
+natural to have left them at the hotel till you chose to send for them?
+That is, if you were simply engaged in playing, as you say, a game upon
+your father, and not upon the whole community?"
+
+"Yes," Mr. Van Burnam acknowledged, "that would have been the natural
+thing, no doubt; but we were not following natural instincts at the
+time, but a woman's _bizarre_ caprices. We did as I said; and laughed
+long, I assure you, over its unqualified success; for the old woman not
+only grabbed the packages with avidity, but turned and fled away with
+them, just as if she had expected this opportunity and had prepared
+herself to make the most of it."
+
+"It was very laughable, certainly," observed the Coroner, in a hard
+voice. "_You_ must have found it very ridiculous"; and after giving the
+witness a look full of something deeper than sarcasm, he turned towards
+the jury as if to ask them what they thought of these very forced and
+suspicious explanations.
+
+But they evidently did not know what to think, and the Coroner's looks
+flew back to the witness who of all the persons present seemed the least
+impressed by the position in which he stood.
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam," said he, "you showed a great deal of feeling this
+morning at being confronted with your wife's hat. Why was this, and why
+did you wait till you saw this evidence of her presence on the scene of
+death to acknowledge the facts you have been good enough to give us this
+afternoon?"
+
+"If I had a lawyer by my side, you would not ask me that question, or if
+you did, I would not be allowed to answer it. But I have no lawyer here,
+and so I will say that I was greatly shocked by the catastrophe which
+had happened to my wife, and under the stress of my first overpowering
+emotions had the impulse to hide the fact that the victim of so dreadful
+a mischance was my wife. I thought that if no connection was found
+between myself and this dead woman, I would stand in no danger of the
+suspicion which must cling to the man who came into the house with her.
+But like most first impulses, it was a foolish one and gave way under
+the strain of investigation. I, however, persisted in it as long as
+possible, partially because my disposition is an obstinate one, and
+partially because I hated to acknowledge myself a fool; but when I saw
+the hat, and recognized it as an indisputable proof of her presence in
+the Van Burnam house that night, my confidence in the attempt I was
+making broke down all at once. I could deny her shape, her hands, and
+even the scar, which she might have had in common with other women, but
+I could not deny her hat. Too many persons had seen her wear it."
+
+But the Coroner was not to be so readily imposed upon.
+
+"I see, I see," he repeated with great dryness, "and I hope the jury
+will be satisfied. And they probably will, unless they remember the
+anxiety which, according to your story, was displayed by your wife to
+have her whole outfit in keeping with her appearance as a working girl.
+If she was so particular as to think it necessary to dress herself in
+store-made undergarments, why make all these precautions void by
+carrying into the house a hat with the name of an expensive milliner
+inside it?"
+
+"Women are inconsistent, sir. She liked the hat and hated to part with
+it. She thought she could hide it somewhere in the great house, at least
+that was what she said to me when she tucked it under her cape."
+
+The Coroner, who evidently did not believe one word of this, stared at
+the witness as if curiosity was fast taking the place of indignation.
+And I did not wonder. Howard Van Burnam, as thus presented to our notice
+by his own testimony, was an anomaly, whether we were to believe what he
+was saying at the present time or what he had said during the morning
+session. But I wished I had had the questioning of him.
+
+His next answer, however, opened up one dark place into which I had been
+peering for some time without any enlightenment. It was in reply to the
+following query:
+
+"All this," said the Coroner, "is very interesting; but what explanation
+have you to give for taking your wife into your father's empty house at
+an hour so late, and then leaving her to spend the best part of the dark
+night alone?"
+
+"None," said he, "that will strike you as sensible and judicious. But we
+were not sensible that night, neither were we judicious, or I would not
+be standing here trying to explain what is not explainable by any of the
+ordinary rules of conduct. She was set upon being the first to greet my
+father on his entrance into his own home, and her first plan had been to
+do so in her own proper character as my wife, but afterwards the freak
+took her, as I have said, to personify the housekeeper whom my father
+had cabled us to have in waiting at his house,--a cablegram which had
+reached us too late for any practical use, and which we had therefore
+ignored,--and fearing he might come early in the morning, before she
+could be on hand to make the favorable impression she intended, she
+wished to be left in the house that night; and I humored her. I did not
+foresee the suffering that my departure might cause her, or the fears
+that were likely to spring from her lonely position in so large and
+empty a dwelling. Or rather, I should say, _she_ did not foresee them;
+for she begged me not to stay with her, when I hinted at the darkness
+and dreariness of the place, saying that she was too jolly to feel fear
+or think of anything but the surprise my father and sisters would
+experience in discovering that their very agreeable young housekeeper
+was the woman they had so long despised."
+
+"And why," persisted the Coroner, edging forward in his interest and so
+allowing me to catch a glimpse of Mr. Gryce's face as he too leaned
+forward in his anxiety to hear every word that fell from this remarkable
+witness,--"why do you speak of her fear? What reason have you to think
+she suffered apprehension after your departure?"
+
+"Why?" echoed the witness, as if astounded by the other's lack of
+perspicacity. "Did she not kill herself in a moment of terror and
+discouragement? Leaving her, as I did, in a condition of health and good
+spirits, can you expect me to attribute her death to any other cause
+than a sudden attack of frenzy caused by terror?"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the Coroner in a suspicious tone, which no doubt voiced
+the feelings of most people present; "then you think your wife committed
+suicide?"
+
+"Most certainly," replied the witness, avoiding but two pairs of eyes in
+the whole crowd, those of his father and brother.
+
+"_With_ a hat-pin," continued the Coroner, letting his hitherto scarcely
+suppressed irony become fully visible in voice and manner, "thrust into
+the back of her neck at a spot young ladies surely would have but little
+reason to know is peculiarly fatal! Suicide! when she was found crushed
+under a pile of _bric-a-brac_, which was thrown down or fell upon her
+hours after she received the fatal thrust!"
+
+"I do not know how else she could have died," persisted the witness,
+calmly, "unless she opened the door to some burglar. And what burglar
+would kill a woman in that way, when he could pound her with his fists?
+No; she was frenzied and stabbed herself in desperation; or the thing
+was done by accident, God knows how! And as for the testimony of the
+experts--we all know how easily the wisest of them can be mistaken even
+in matters of as serious import as these. _If all the experts in the
+world_"--here his voice rose and his nostrils dilated till his aspect
+was actually commanding and impressed us all like a sudden
+transformation--"_If all the experts in the world were to swear that
+those shelves were thrown upon her after she had lain therefor four
+hours dead, I would not believe them. Appearances or no appearances,
+blood or no blood, I here declare that she pulled that cabinet over in
+her death-struggle; and upon the truth of this fact I am ready to rest
+my honor as a man and my integrity as her husband_."
+
+An uproar immediately followed, amid which could be heard cries of "He
+lies!" "He's a fool!" The attitude taken by the witness was so
+unexpected that the most callous person present could not fail to be
+affected by it. But curiosity is as potent a passion as surprise, and in
+a few minutes all was still again and everybody intent to hear how the
+Coroner would answer these asseverations.
+
+"I have heard of a blind man denying the existence of light," said that
+gentleman, "but never before of a sensible being like yourself urging
+the most untenable theories in face of such evidence as has been brought
+before us during this inquiry. If your wife committed suicide, or if the
+entrance of the point of a hat-pin into her spine was effected by
+accident, how comes the head of the pin to have been found so many feet
+away from her and in such a place as the parlor register?"
+
+"It may have flown there when it broke, or, what is much more probable,
+been kicked there by some of the many people who passed in and out of
+the room between the time of her death and that of its discovery."
+
+"But the register was found closed," urged the Coroner. "Was it not, Mr.
+Gryce?"
+
+That person thus appealed to, rose for an instant.
+
+"It was," said he, and deliberately sat down again.
+
+The face of the witness, which had been singularly free from expression
+since his last vehement outbreak, clouded over for an instant and his
+eye fell as if he felt himself engaged in an unequal struggle. But he
+recovered his courage speedily, and quietly observed:
+
+"The register may have been closed by a passing foot. I have known of
+stranger coincidences than that."
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam," asked the Coroner, as if weary of subterfuges and
+argument, "have you considered the effect which this highly
+contradictory evidence of yours is likely to have on your reputation?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"And are you ready to accept the consequences?"
+
+"If any especial consequences follow, I must accept them, sir."
+
+"When did you lose the keys which you say you have not now in your
+possession? This morning you asserted that you did not know; but perhaps
+this afternoon you may like to modify that statement."
+
+"I lost them after I left my wife shut up in my father's house."
+
+"Soon?"
+
+"Very soon."
+
+"How soon?"
+
+"Within an hour, I should judge."
+
+"How do you know it was so soon?"
+
+"I missed them at once."
+
+"Where were you when you missed them?"
+
+"I don't know; somewhere. I was walking the streets, as I have said. I
+don't remember just where I was when I thrust my hands into my pocket
+and found the keys gone."
+
+"You do not?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But it was within an hour after leaving the house?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very good; the keys have been found."
+
+The witness started, started so violently that his teeth came together
+with a click loud enough to be heard over the whole room.
+
+"Have they?" said he, with an effort at nonchalance which, however,
+failed to deceive any one who noticed his change of color. "_You_ can
+tell me, then, where I lost them."
+
+"They were found," said the Coroner, "in their usual place above your
+brother's desk in Duane Street."
+
+"Oh!" murmured the witness, utterly taken aback or appearing so. "I
+cannot account for their being found in the office. I was so sure I
+dropped them in the street."
+
+"I did not think you could account for it," quietly observed the
+Coroner. And without another word he dismissed the witness, who
+staggered to a seat as remote as possible from the one where he had
+previously been sitting between his father and brother.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+A RELUCTANT WITNESS.
+
+
+A pause of decided duration now followed; an exasperating pause which
+tried even me, much as I pride myself upon my patience. There seemed to
+be some hitch in regard to the next witness. The Coroner sent Mr. Gryce
+into the neighboring room more than once, and finally, when the general
+uneasiness seemed on the point of expressing itself by a loud murmur, a
+gentleman stepped forth, whose appearance, instead of allaying the
+excitement, renewed it in quite an unprecedented and remarkable way.
+
+I did not know the person thus introduced.
+
+He was a handsome man, a very handsome man, if the truth must be told,
+but it did not seem to be this fact which made half the people there
+crane their heads to catch a glimpse of him. Something else, something
+entirely disconnected with his appearance there as a witness, appeared
+to hold the people enthralled and waken a subdued enthusiasm which
+showed itself not only in smiles, but in whispers and significant
+nudges, chiefly among the women, though I noticed that the jurymen
+stared when somebody obliged them with the name of this new witness. At
+last it reached my ears, and though it awakened in me also a decided
+curiosity, I restrained all expression of it, being unwilling to add
+one jot to this ridiculous display of human weakness.
+
+Randolph Stone, as the intended husband of the rich Miss Althorpe, was a
+figure of some importance in the city, and while I was very glad of this
+opportunity of seeing him, I did not propose to lose my head or forget,
+in the marked interest his person invoked, the very serious cause which
+had brought him before us. And yet I suppose no one in the room observed
+his figure more minutely.
+
+He was elegantly made and possessed, as I have said, a face of peculiar
+beauty. But these were not his only claims to admiration. He was a man
+of undoubted intelligence and great distinction of manner. The
+intelligence did not surprise me, knowing, as I did, how he had raised
+himself to his present enviable position in society in the short space
+of five years. But the perfection of his manner astonished me, though
+how I could have expected anything less in a man honored by Miss
+Althorpe's regard, I cannot say. He had that clear pallor of complexion
+which in a smooth-shaven face is so impressive, and his voice when he
+spoke had that music in it which only comes from great cultivation and a
+deliberate intent to please.
+
+He was a friend of Howard's, that I saw by the short look that passed
+between them when he first entered the room; but that it was not as a
+friend he stood there was apparent from the state of amazement with
+which the former recognized him, as well as from the regret to be seen
+underlying the polished manner of the witness himself. Though perfectly
+self-possessed and perfectly respectful, he showed by every means
+possible the pain he felt in adding one feather-weight to the evidence
+against a man with whom he was on terms of more or less intimacy.
+
+But let me give his testimony. Having acknowledged that he knew the Van
+Burnam family well, and Howard in particular, he went on to state that
+on the night of the seventeenth he had been detained at his office by
+business of a more than usual pressing nature, and finding that he could
+expect no rest for that night, humored himself by getting off the cars
+at Twenty-first Street instead of proceeding on to Thirty-third Street,
+where his apartments were.
+
+The smile which these words caused (Miss Althorpe lives in Twenty-first
+Street) woke no corresponding light on his face. Indeed, he frowned at
+it, as if he felt that the gravity of the situation admitted of nothing
+frivolous or humorsome. And this feeling was shared by Howard, for he
+started when the witness mentioned Twenty-first Street, and cast him a
+haggard look of dismay which happily no one saw but myself, for every
+one else was concerned with the witness. Or should I except Mr. Gryce?
+
+"I had of course no intentions beyond a short stroll through this street
+previous to returning to my home," continued the witness, gravely; "and
+am sorry to be obliged to mention this freak of mine, but find it
+necessary in order to account for my presence there at so unusual an
+hour."
+
+"You need make no apologies," returned the Coroner. "Will you state on
+what line of cars you came from your office?"
+
+"I came up Third Avenue."
+
+"Ah! and walked towards Broadway?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"So that you necessarily passed very near the Van Burnam mansion?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"At what time was this, can you say?"
+
+"At four, or nearly four. It was half-past three when I left my office."
+
+"Was it light at that hour? Could you distinguish objects readily?"
+
+"I had no difficulty in seeing."
+
+"And what did you see? Anything amiss at the Van Burnam mansion?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing amiss. I merely saw Howard Van Burnam coming down the
+stoop as I went by the corner."
+
+"You made no mistake. It was the gentleman you name, and no other whom
+you saw on this stoop at this hour?"
+
+"I am very sure that it was he. I am sorry----"
+
+But the Coroner gave him no opportunity to finish.
+
+"You and Mr. Van Burnam are friends, you say, and it was light enough
+for you to recognize each other; then you probably spoke?"
+
+"No, we did not. I was thinking--well of other, things," and here he
+allowed the ghost of a smile to flit suggestively across his firm-set
+lips. "And Mr. Van Burnam seemed preoccupied also, for, as far as I
+know, he did not even look my way."
+
+"And you did not stop?"
+
+"No, he did not look like a man to be disturbed."
+
+"And this was at four on the morning of the eighteenth?"
+
+"At four."
+
+"You are certain of the hour and of the day?"
+
+"I am certain. I should not be standing here if I were not very sure of
+my memory. I am sorry," he began again, but he was stopped as
+peremptorily as before by the Coroner.
+
+"Feeling has no place in an inquiry like this." And the witness was
+dismissed.
+
+Mr. Stone, who had manifestly given his evidence under compulsion,
+looked relieved at its termination. As he passed back to the room from
+which he had come, many only noticed the extreme elegance of his form
+and the proud cast of his head, but I saw more than these. I saw the
+look of regret he cast at his friend Howard.
+
+A painful silence followed his withdrawal, then the Coroner spoke to the
+jury:
+
+"Gentlemen, I leave you to judge of the importance of this testimony.
+Mr. Stone is a well-known man of unquestionable integrity, but perhaps
+Mr. Van Burnam can explain how he came to visit his father's house at
+four o'clock in the morning on that memorable night, when according to
+his latest testimony he left his wife there at twelve. We will give him
+the opportunity."
+
+"There is no use," began the young man from the place where he sat. But
+gathering courage even while speaking, he came rapidly forward, and
+facing Coroner and jury once more, said with a false kind of energy that
+imposed upon no one:
+
+"I can explain this fact, but I doubt if you will accept my explanation.
+I was at my father's house at that hour, but not in it. My restlessness
+drove me back to my wife, but not finding the keys in my pocket, I came
+down the stoop again and went away."
+
+"Ah, I see now why you prevaricated this morning in regard to the time
+when you missed those keys."
+
+"I know that my testimony is full of contradictions."
+
+"You feared to have it known that you were on the stoop of your father's
+house for the second time that night?"
+
+"Naturally, in face of the suspicion I perceived everywhere about me."
+
+"And this time you did not go in?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor ring the bell?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not, if you left your wife within, alive and well?"
+
+"I did not wish to disturb her. My purpose was not strong enough to
+surmount the least difficulty. I was easily deterred from going where I
+had little wish to be."
+
+"So that you merely went up the stoop and down again at the time Mr.
+Stone saw you?"
+
+"Yes, and if he had passed a minute sooner he would have seen this: seen
+me go up, I mean, as well as seen me come down. I did not linger long in
+the doorway."
+
+"But you did linger there a moment?"
+
+"Yes; long enough to hunt for the keys and get over my astonishment at
+not finding them."
+
+"Did you notice Mr. Stone going by on Twenty-first Street?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was it as light as Mr. Stone has said?"
+
+"Yes, it was light."
+
+"And you did not notice him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Yet you must have followed very closely behind him?"
+
+"Not necessarily. I went by the way of Twentieth Street, sir. Why, I do
+not know, for my rooms are uptown. I do not know why I did half the
+things I did that night."
+
+"I can readily believe it," remarked the Coroner.
+
+Mr. Van Burnam's indignation rose.
+
+"You are trying," said he, "to connect me with the fearful death of my
+wife in my father's lonely house. You cannot do it, for I am as innocent
+of that death as you are, or any other person in this assemblage. Nor
+did I pull those shelves down upon her as you would have this jury
+think, in my last thoughtless visit to my father's door. She died
+according to God's will by her own hand or by means of some strange and
+unaccountable accident known only to Him. And so you will find, if
+justice has any place in these investigations and a manly intelligence
+be allowed to take the place of prejudice in the breasts of the twelve
+men now sitting before me."
+
+And bowing to the Coroner, he waited for his dismissal, and receiving
+it, walked back not to his lonely corner, but to his former place
+between his father and brother, who received him with a wistful air and
+strange looks of mingled hope and disbelief.
+
+"The jury will render their verdict on Monday morning," announced the
+Coroner, and adjourned the inquiry.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK II._
+
+THE WINDINGS OF A LABYRINTH.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+COGITATIONS.
+
+
+My cook had prepared for me a most excellent dinner, thinking that I
+needed all the comfort possible after a day of such trying experiences.
+But I ate little of it; my thoughts were too busy, my mind too much
+exercised. What would be the verdict of the jury, and could this
+especial jury be relied upon to give a just verdict?
+
+At seven I had left the table and was shut up in my own room. I could
+not rest till I had fathomed my own mind in regard to the events of the
+day.
+
+The question--the great question, of course, now--was how much of
+Howard's testimony was to be believed, and whether he was,
+notwithstanding his asseverations to the contrary, the murderer of his
+wife. To most persons the answer seemed easy. From the expression of
+such people as I had jostled in leaving the court-room, I judged that
+his sentence had already been passed in the minds of most there present.
+But these hasty judgments did not influence me. I hope I look deeper
+than the surface, and my mind would not subscribe to his guilt,
+notwithstanding the bad impression made upon me by his falsehoods and
+contradictions.
+
+Now why would not my mind subscribe to it? Had sentiment got the better
+of me, Amelia Butterworth, and was I no longer capable of looking a
+thing squarely in the face? Had the Van Burnams, of all people in the
+world, awakened my sympathies at the cost of my good sense, and was I
+disposed to see virtue in a man in whom every circumstance as it came to
+light revealed little but folly and weakness? The lies he had told--for
+there is no other word to describe his contradictions--would have been
+sufficient under most circumstances to condemn a man in my estimation.
+Why, then, did I secretly look for excuses to his conduct?
+
+Probing the matter to the bottom, I reasoned in this way: The latter
+half of his evidence was a complete contradiction of the first,
+purposely so. In the first, he made himself out a cold-hearted egotist
+with not enough interest in his wife to make an effort to determine
+whether she and the murdered woman were identical; in the latter, he
+showed himself in the light of a man influenced to the point of folly by
+a woman to whom he had been utterly unyielding a few hours before.
+
+Now, knowing human nature to be full of contradictions, I could not
+satisfy myself that I should be justified in accepting either half of
+his testimony as absolutely true. The man who is all firmness one minute
+may be all weakness the next, and in face of the calm assertions made by
+this one when driven to bay by the unexpected discoveries of the police,
+I dared not decide that his final assurances were altogether false, and
+that he was not the man I had seen enter the adjoining house with his
+wife.
+
+Why, then, not carry the conclusion farther and admit, as reason and
+probability suggested, that he was also her murderer; that he had killed
+her during his first visit and drawn the shelves down upon her in the
+second? Would not this account for all the phenomena to be observed in
+connection with this otherwise unexplainable affair? Certainly, all but
+one--one that was perhaps known to nobody but myself, and that was the
+testimony given by the clock. _It_ said that the shelves fell at five,
+whereas, according to Mr. Stone's evidence, it was four, or thereabouts,
+when Mr. Van Burnam left his father's house. But the clock might not
+have been a reliable witness. It might have been set wrong, or it might
+not have been running at all at the time of the accident. No, it would
+not do for me to rely too much upon anything so doubtful, nor did I; yet
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that Howard spoke the truth
+when he declared in face of Coroner and jury that they could not connect
+him with this crime; and whether this conclusion sprang from
+sentimentality or intuition, I was resolved to stick to it for the
+present night at least. The morrow might show its futility, but the
+morrow had not come.
+
+Meanwhile, with this theory accepted, what explanation could be given of
+the very peculiar facts surrounding this woman's death? Could the
+supposition of suicide advanced by Howard before the Coroner be
+entertained for a moment, or that equally improbable suggestion of
+accident?
+
+Going to my bureau drawer, I drew out the old grocer-bill which has
+already figured in these pages, and re-read the notes I had scribbled
+on its back early in the history of this affair. They related, if you
+will remember, to this very question, and seemed even now to answer it
+in a more or less convincing way. Will you pardon me if I transcribe
+these notes again, as I cannot imagine my first deliberations on this
+subject to have made a deep enough impression for you to recall them
+without help from me.
+
+The question raised in these notes was threefold, and the answers, as
+you will recollect, were transcribed before the cause of death had been
+determined by the discovery of the broken pin in the dead woman's brain.
+
+These are the queries:
+
+First: was her death due to accident?
+
+Second: was it effected by her own hand?
+
+Third: was it a murder?
+
+The replies given are in the form of reasons, as witness:
+
+_My reasons for not thinking it an accident._
+
+1. If it had been an accident, and she had pulled the cabinet over upon
+herself,[B] she would have been found with her feet pointing towards the
+wall where the cabinet had stood. But her feet were towards the door and
+her head under the cabinet.
+
+2. The precise arrangement of the clothing about her feet, which
+precluded any theory involving accident.
+
+_My reason for not thinking it a suicide._
+
+She could not have been found in the position observed without having
+lain down on the floor while living, and then pulled the shelves down
+upon herself. (A theory obviously too improbable to be considered.)
+
+_My reason for not thinking it murder._
+
+She would need to have been held down on the floor while the cabinet was
+being pulled over on her, a thing which the quiet aspect of the hands
+and feet make appear impossible. (Very good, but we know now that she
+was dead when the shelves fell over, so that my one excuse for not
+thinking it a murder is rendered null.)
+
+_My reasons for thinking it a murder._
+
+----But I will not repeat these. My reasons for not thinking it an
+accident or a suicide remained as good as when they were written, and if
+her death had not been due to either of these causes, then it must have
+been due to some murderous hand. Was that hand the hand of her husband?
+I have already given it as my opinion that it was not.
+
+Now, how to make that opinion good, and reconcile me again to myself;
+for I am not accustomed to have my instincts at war with my judgment. Is
+there any reason for my thinking as I do? Yes, the manliness of man. He
+only looked well when he was repelling the suspicion he saw in the
+surrounding faces. But that might have been assumed, just as his
+careless manner was assumed during the early part of the inquiry. I must
+have some stronger reason than this for my belief. The two hats? Well,
+he had explained how there came to be two hats on the scene of crime,
+but his explanation had not been very satisfactory. _I_ had seen no hat
+in her hand when she crossed the pavement to her father's house. But
+then she might have carried it under her cape without my seeing
+it--perhaps. The discovery of two hats and of two pairs of gloves in Mr.
+Van Burnam's parlors was a fact worth further investigation, and
+mentally I made a note of it, though at the moment I saw no prospect of
+engaging in this matter further than my duties as a witness required.
+
+And now what other clue was offered me, save the one I have already
+mentioned as being given by the clock? None that I could seize upon; and
+feeling the weakness of the cause I had so obstinately embraced, I rose
+from my seat at the tea-table and began making such alterations in my
+toilet as would prepare me for the evening and my inevitable callers.
+
+"Amelia," said I to myself, as I encountered my anything but satisfied
+reflection in the glass, "can it be that you ought, after all, to have
+been called Araminta? Is a momentary display of spirit on the part of a
+young man of doubtful principles, enough to make you forget the dictates
+of good sense which have always governed you up to this time?"
+
+The stern image which confronted me from the mirror made me no reply,
+and smitten with sudden disgust, I left the glass and went below to
+greet some friends who had just ridden up in their carriage.
+
+They remained one hour, and they discussed one subject: Howard Van
+Burnam and his probable connection with the crime which had taken place
+next door. But though I talked some and listened more, as is proper for
+a woman in her own house, I said nothing and heard nothing which had not
+been already said and heard in numberless homes that night. Whatever
+thoughts I had which in any way differed from those generally expressed,
+I kept to myself,--whether guided by discretion or pride, I cannot say;
+probably by both, for I am not deficient in either quality.
+
+Arrangements had already been made for the burial of Mrs. Van Burnam
+that night, and as the funeral ceremony was to take place next door,
+many of my guests came just to sit in my windows and watch the coming
+and going of the few people invited to the ceremony.
+
+But I discouraged this. I have no patience with idle curiosity.
+Consequently by nine I was left alone to give the affair such real
+attention as it demanded; something which, of course, I could not have
+done with a half dozen gossiping friends leaning over my shoulder.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote B: _As was asserted by her husband in his sworn examination._]
+
+
+
+
+XVII.
+
+BUTTERWORTH VERSUS GRYCE.
+
+
+The result of this attention can be best learned from the conversation I
+held with Mr. Gryce the next morning.
+
+He came earlier than usual, but he found me up and stirring.
+
+"Well," he cried, accosting me with a smile as I entered the parlor
+where he was seated, "it is all right this time, is it not? No trouble
+in identifying the gentleman who entered your neighbor's house last
+night at a quarter to twelve?"
+
+Resolved to probe this man's mind to the bottom, I put on my sternest
+air.
+
+"I had not expected any one to enter there so late last night," said I.
+"Mr. Van Burnam declared so positively at the inquest that he was the
+person we have been endeavoring to identify, that I did not suppose you
+would consider it necessary to bring him to the house for me to see."
+
+"And so you were not in the window?"
+
+"I did not say that; I am always where I have promised to be, Mr.
+Gryce."
+
+"Well, then?" he inquired sharply.
+
+I was purposely slow in answering him--I had all the longer time to
+search his face. But its calmness was impenetrable, and finally I
+declared:
+
+"The man you brought with you last night--you were the person who
+accompanied him, were you not--was _not_ the man I saw alight there four
+nights ago."
+
+He may have expected it; it may have been the very assertion he desired
+from me, but his manner showed displeasure, and the quick "How?" he
+uttered was sharp and peremptory.
+
+"I do not ask who it was," I went on, with a quiet wave of my hand that
+immediately restored him to himself, "for I know you will not tell me.
+But what I do hope to know is the name of the man who entered that same
+house at just ten minutes after nine. He was one of the funeral guests,
+and he arrived in a carriage that was immediately preceded by a coach
+from which four persons alighted, two ladies and two gentlemen."
+
+"I do not know the gentleman, ma'am," was the detective's half-surprised
+and half-amused retort. "I did not keep track of every guest that
+attended the funeral."
+
+"Then you didn't do your work as well as I did mine," was my rather dry
+reply. "For I noted every one who went in; and that gentleman, whoever
+he was, was more like the person I have been trying to identify than any
+one I have seen enter there during my four midnight vigils."
+
+Mr. Gryce smiled, uttered a short "_Indeed!_" and looked more than ever
+like a sphinx. I began quietly to hate him, under my calm exterior.
+
+"Was Howard at his wife's funeral?" I asked.
+
+"He was, ma'am."
+
+"And did he come in a carriage?"
+
+"He did, ma'am."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"He thought he was alone; yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then may it not have been he?"
+
+"I can't say, ma'am."
+
+Mr. Gryce was so obviously out of his element under this
+cross-examination that I could not suppress a smile even while I
+experienced a very lively indignation at his reticence. He may have seen
+me smile and he may not, for his eyes, as I have intimated, were always
+busy with some object entirely removed from the person he addressed; but
+at all events he rose, leaving me no alternative but to do the same.
+
+"And so you didn't recognize the gentleman I brought to the neighboring
+house just before twelve o'clock," he quietly remarked, with a calm
+ignoring of my last question which was a trifle exasperating.
+
+"No."
+
+"Then, ma'am," he declared, with a quick change of manner, meant, I
+should judge, to put me in my proper place, "I do not think we can
+depend upon the accuracy of your memory;" and he made a motion as if to
+leave.
+
+As I did not know whether his apparent disappointment was real or not, I
+let him move to the door without a reply. But once there I stopped him.
+
+"Mr. Gryce," said I, "I don't know what you think about this matter, nor
+whether you even wish my opinion upon it. But I am going to express it,
+for all that. _I_ do not believe that Howard killed his wife with a
+hat-pin."
+
+"No?" retorted the old gentleman, peering into his hat, with an ironical
+smile which that inoffensive article of attire had certainly not
+merited. "And why, Miss Butterworth, why? You must have substantial
+reasons for any opinion you would form."
+
+"I have an intuition," I responded, "backed by certain reasons. The
+intuition won't impress you very deeply, but the reasons may not be
+without some weight, and I am going to confide them to you."
+
+"Do," he entreated in a jocose manner which struck me as inappropriate,
+but which I was willing to overlook on account of his age and very
+fatherly manner.
+
+"Well, then," said I, "this is one. If the crime was a premeditated one,
+if he hated his wife and felt it for his interest to have her out of the
+way, a man of Mr. Van Burnam's good sense would have chosen any other
+spot than his father's house to kill her in, knowing that her identity
+could not be hidden if once she was associated with the Van Burnam name.
+If, on the contrary, he took her there in good faith, and her death was
+the unexpected result of a quarrel between them, then the means employed
+would have been simpler. An angry man does not stop to perform a
+delicate surgical operation when moved to the point of murder, but uses
+his hands or his fists, just as Mr. Van Burnam himself suggested."
+
+"Humph!" grunted the detective, staring very hard indeed into his hat.
+
+"You must not think me this young man's friend," I went on, with a well
+meant desire to impress him with the impartiality of my attitude. "I
+never have spoken to him nor he to me, but I am the friend of justice,
+and I must declare that there was a note of surprise in the emotion he
+showed at sight of his wife's hat, that was far too natural to be
+assumed."
+
+The detective failed to be impressed. I might have expected this,
+knowing his sex and the reliance such a man is apt to place upon his own
+powers.
+
+"Acting, ma'am, acting!" was his laconic comment. "A very uncommon
+character, that of Mr. Howard Van Burnam. I do not think you do it full
+justice."
+
+"Perhaps not, but see that you don't slight mine. I do not expect you to
+heed these suggestions any more than you did those I offered you in
+connection with Mrs. Boppert, the scrub-woman; but my conscience is
+eased by my communication, and that is much to a solitary woman like
+myself who is obliged to spend many a long hour alone with no other
+companion."
+
+"Something has been accomplished, then, by this delay," he observed.
+Then, as if ashamed of this momentary display of irritation, he added in
+the genial tones more natural to him: "I don't blame you for your good
+opinion of this interesting, but by no means reliable, young man, Miss
+Butterworth. A woman's kind heart stands in the way of her proper
+judgment of criminals."
+
+"You will not find its instincts fail even if you do its judgment."
+
+His bow was as full of politeness as it was lacking in conviction.
+
+"I hope you won't let your instincts lead you into any unnecessary
+detective work," he quietly suggested.
+
+"That I cannot promise. If you arrest Howard Van Burnam for murder, I
+may be tempted to meddle with matters which don't concern me."
+
+An amused smile broke through his simulated seriousness.
+
+"Pray accept my congratulations, then, in advance, ma'am. My health has
+been such that I have long anticipated giving up my profession; but if I
+am to have such assistants as you in my work, I shall be inclined to
+remain in it some time longer."
+
+"When a man as busy as you stops to indulge in sarcasm, he is in more or
+less good spirits. Such a condition, I am told, only prevails with
+detectives when they have come to a positive conclusion concerning the
+case they are engaged upon."
+
+"I see you already understand the members of your future profession."
+
+"As much as is necessary at this juncture," I retorted. Then seeing him
+about to repeat his bow, I added sharply: "You need not trouble yourself
+to show me too much politeness. If I meddle in this matter at all it
+will not be as your coadjutor, but as your rival."
+
+"My rival?"
+
+"Yes, your rival; and rivals are never good friends until one of them is
+hopelessly defeated."
+
+"Miss Butterworth, I see myself already at your feet."
+
+And with this sally and a short chuckle which did more than anything he
+had said towards settling me in my half-formed determination to do as I
+had threatened, he opened the door and quietly disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII.
+
+THE LITTLE PINCUSHION.
+
+
+The verdict rendered by the Coroner's jury showed it to be a more
+discriminating set of men than I had calculated upon. It was murder
+inflicted by a hand unknown.
+
+I was so gratified by this that I left the court-room in quite an
+agitated frame of mind, so agitated, indeed, that I walked through one
+door instead of another, and thus came unexpectedly upon a group formed
+almost exclusively of the Van Burnam family.
+
+Starting back, for I dislike anything that looks like intrusion,
+especially when no great end is to be gained by it, I was about to
+retrace my steps when I felt two soft arms about my neck.
+
+"Oh, Miss Butterworth, isn't it a mercy that this dreadful thing is
+over! I don't know when I have ever felt anything so keenly."
+
+It was Isabella Van Burnam.
+
+Startled, for the embraces bestowed on me are few, I gave a subdued sort
+of grunt, which nevertheless did not displease this young lady, for her
+arms tightened, and she murmured in my ear: "You dear old soul! I like
+you _so_ much."
+
+"We are going to be very good neighbors," cooed a still sweeter voice in
+my other ear. "Papa says we must call on you soon." And Caroline's
+demure face looked around into mine in a manner some would have thought
+exceedingly bewitching.
+
+"Thank you, pretty poppets!" I returned, freeing myself as speedily as
+possible from embraces the sincerity of which I felt open to question.
+"My house is always open to you." And with little ceremony, I walked
+steadily out and betook myself to the carriage awaiting me.
+
+I looked upon this display of feeling as the mere gush of two
+over-excited young women, and was therefore somewhat astonished when I
+was interrupted in my afternoon nap by an announcement that the two
+Misses Van Burnam awaited me in the parlor.
+
+Going down, I saw them standing there hand in hand and both as white as
+a sheet.
+
+"O Miss Butterworth!" they cried, springing towards me, "Howard has been
+arrested, and we have no one to say a word of comfort to us."
+
+"Arrested!" I repeated, greatly surprised, for I had not expected it to
+happen so soon, if it happened at all.
+
+"Yes, and father is just about prostrated. Franklin, too, but he keeps
+up, while father has shut himself into his room and won't see anybody,
+not even us. O, I don't know how we are to bear it! Such a disgrace, and
+such a wicked, wicked shame! For Howard never had anything to do with
+his wife's death, had he, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"No," I returned, taking my ground at once, and vigorously, for I really
+believed what I said. "He is innocent of her death, and I would like the
+chance of proving it."
+
+They evidently had not expected such an unqualified assertion from me,
+for they almost smothered me with kisses, and called me _their only
+friend_! and indeed showed so much real feeling this time that I neither
+pushed them away nor tried to withdraw myself from their embraces.
+
+When their emotions were a little exhausted I led them to a sofa and sat
+down before them. They were motherless girls, and my heart, if hard, is
+not made of adamant or entirely unsusceptible to the calls of pity and
+friendship.
+
+"Girls," said I, "if you will be calm, I should like to ask you a few
+questions."
+
+"Ask us anything," returned Isabella; "nobody has more right to our
+confidence than you."
+
+This was another of their exaggerated expressions, but I was so anxious
+to hear what they had to tell, I let it pass. So instead of rebuking
+them, I asked where their brother had been arrested, and found it had
+been at his rooms and in presence of themselves and Franklin. So I
+inquired further and learned that, so far as they knew, nothing had been
+discovered beyond what had come out at the inquest except that Howard's
+trunks had been found packed, as if he had been making preparations for
+a journey when interrupted by the dreadful event which had put him into
+the hands of the police. As there was a certain significance in this,
+the girls seemed almost as much impressed by it as I was, but we did not
+discuss it long, for I suddenly changed my manner, and taking them both
+by the hand, asked if they could keep a secret.
+
+"Secret?" they gasped.
+
+"Yes, a secret. You are not the girls I should confide in ordinarily;
+but this trouble has sobered you."
+
+"O, we can do anything," began Isabella; and "Only try us," murmured
+Caroline.
+
+But knowing the volubility of the one and the weakness of the other, I
+shook my head at their promises, and merely tried to impress them with
+the fact that their brother's safety depended upon their discretion. At
+which they looked very determined for poppets, and squeezed my hands so
+tightly that I wished I had left off some of my rings before engaging in
+this interview.
+
+When they were quiet again and ready to listen I told them my plans.
+They were surprised, of course, and wondered how I could do anything
+towards finding out the real murderer of their sister-in-law; but seeing
+how resolved I looked, changed their tone and avowed with much feeling
+their perfect confidence in me and in the success of anything I might
+undertake.
+
+This was encouraging, and ignoring their momentary distrust, I proceeded
+to say:
+
+"But for me to be successful in this matter, no one must know my
+interest in it. You must pay me no visits, give me no confidences, nor,
+if you can help it, mention my name before _any one_, not even before
+your father and brother. So much for precautionary measures, my dears;
+and now for the active ones. I have no curiosity, as I think you must
+see, but I shall have to ask you a few questions which under other
+circumstances would savor more or less of impertinence. Had your
+sister-in-law any special admirers among the other sex?"
+
+"Oh," protested Caroline, shrinking back, while Isabella's eyes grew
+round as a frightened child's. "None that we ever heard of. She wasn't
+that kind of a woman, was she, Belle? It wasn't for any such reason
+papa didn't like her."
+
+"No, no, _that_ would have been too dreadful. It was her family we
+objected to, that's all."
+
+"Well, well," I apologized, tapping their hands reassuringly, "I only
+asked--let me now say--from curiosity, though I have not a particle of
+that quality, I assure you."
+
+"Did you think--did you have any idea--" faltered Caroline, "that----"
+
+"Never mind," I interrupted. "You must let my words go in one ear and
+out of the other after you have answered them. I wish"--here I assumed a
+brisk air--"that I could go through your parlors again before every
+trace of the crime perpetrated there has been removed."
+
+"Why, you can," replied Isabella.
+
+"There is no one in them now," added Caroline, "Franklin went out just
+before we left."
+
+At which I blandly rose, and following their leadership, soon found
+myself once again in the Van Burnam mansion.
+
+My first glance upon re-entering the parlors was naturally directed
+towards the spot where the tragedy had taken place. The cabinet had been
+replaced and the shelves set back upon it; but the latter were empty,
+and neither on them nor on the adjacent mantel-piece did I see the
+clock. This set me thinking, and I made up my mind to have another look
+at that clock. By dint of judicious questions I found that it had been
+carried into the third room, where we soon found it lying on a shelf of
+the same closet where the hat had been discovered by Mr. Gryce. Franklin
+had put it there, fearing that the sight of it might affect Howard, and
+from the fact that the hands stood as I had left them, I gathered that
+neither he nor any of the family had discovered that it was in running
+condition.
+
+Assured of this, I astonished them by requesting to have it taken down
+and set up on the table, which they had no sooner done than it started
+to tick just as it had done under my hand a few nights before.
+
+The girls, greatly startled, surveyed each other wonderingly.
+
+"Why, it's going!" cried Caroline.
+
+"Who could have wound it!" marvelled Isabella.
+
+"Hark!" I cried. The clock had begun to strike.
+
+It gave forth five clear notes.
+
+"Well, it's a mystery!" Isabella exclaimed. Then seeing no astonishment
+in my face, she added: "Did you know about this, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"My dear girls," I hastened to say, with all the impressiveness
+characteristic of me in my more serious moments. "I do not expect you to
+ask me for any information I do not volunteer. This is hard, I know; but
+some day I will be perfectly frank with you. Are you willing to accept
+my aid on these terms?"
+
+"O yes," they gasped, but they looked not a little disappointed.
+
+"And now," said I, "leave the clock where it is, and when your brother
+comes home, show it to him, and say that having the curiosity to examine
+it you were surprised to find it going, and that you had left it there
+for him to see. He will be surprised also, and as a consequence will
+question first you and then the police to find out who wound it. If they
+acknowledge having done it, you must notify me at once, for that's what
+I want to know. Do you understand, Caroline? And, Isabella, do you feel
+that you can go through all this without dropping a word concerning me
+and my interest in this matter?"
+
+Of course they answered yes, and of course it was with so much
+effusiveness that I was obliged to remind them that they must keep a
+check on their enthusiasm, and also to suggest that they should not come
+to my house or send me any notes, but simply a blank card, signifying:
+"No one knows who wound the clock."
+
+"How delightfully mysterious!" cried Isabella. And with this girlish
+exclamation our talk in regard to the clock closed.
+
+The next object that attracted our attention was a paper-covered novel I
+discovered on a side-table in the same room.
+
+"Whose is this?" I asked.
+
+"Not mine."
+
+"Not mine."
+
+"Yet it was published this summer," I remarked.
+
+They stared at me astonished, and Isabella caught up the book. It was
+one of those summer publications intended mainly for railroad
+distribution, and while neither ragged nor soiled, bore evidence of
+having been read.
+
+"Let me take it," said I.
+
+Isabella at once passed it into my hands.
+
+"Does your brother smoke?" I asked.
+
+"Which brother?"
+
+"Either of them."
+
+"Franklin sometimes, but Howard, never. It disagrees with him, I
+believe."
+
+"There is a faint odor of tobacco about these pages. Can it have been
+brought here by Franklin?"
+
+"O no, he never reads novels, not such novels as this, at all events. He
+loses a lot of pleasure, we think."
+
+I turned the pages over. The latter ones were so fresh I could almost
+put my finger on the spot where the reader had left off. Feeling like a
+bloodhound who has just run upon a trail, I returned the book to
+Caroline, with the injunction to put it away; adding, as I saw her air
+of hesitation: "If your brother Franklin misses it, it will show that he
+brought it here, and then I shall have no further interest in it." Which
+seemed to satisfy her, for she put it away at once on a high shelf.
+
+Perceiving nothing else in these rooms of a suggestive character, I led
+the way into the hall. There I had a new idea.
+
+"Which of you was the first to go through the rooms upstairs?" I
+inquired.
+
+"Both of us," answered Isabella. "We came together. Why do you ask, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+"I was wondering if you found everything in order there?"
+
+"We did not notice anything wrong, did we, Caroline? Do you think that
+the--the person who committed that awful crime went _up-stairs_? I
+couldn't sleep a wink if I thought so."
+
+"Nor I," Caroline put in. "O, don't say that he went up-stairs, Miss
+Butterworth!"
+
+"I do not know it," I rejoined.
+
+"But you asked----"
+
+"And I ask again. Wasn't there some little thing out of its usual
+place? I was up in your front chamber after water for a minute, but I
+didn't touch anything but the mug."
+
+"We missed the mug, but--O Caroline, the pin-cushion! Do you suppose
+Miss Butterworth means the pin-cushion?"
+
+I started. Did she refer to the one I had picked up from the floor and
+placed on a side-table?
+
+"What about the pin-cushion?" I asked.
+
+"O nothing, but we did not know what to make of its being on the table.
+You see, we had a little pin-cushion shaped like a tomato which always
+hung at the side of our bureau. It was tied to one of the brackets and
+was never taken off; Caroline having a fancy for it because it kept her
+favorite black pins out of the reach of the neighbor's children when
+they came here. Well, this cushion, this sacred cushion which none of us
+dared touch, was found by us on a little table by the door, with the
+ribbon hanging from it by which it had been tied to the bureau. Some one
+had pulled it off, and very roughly too, for the ribbon was all ragged
+and torn. But there is nothing in a little thing like that to interest
+you, is there, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"No," said I, not relating my part in the affair; "not if our neighbor's
+children were the marauders."
+
+"But none of them came in for days before we left."
+
+"Are there pins in the cushion?"
+
+"When we found it, do you mean? No."
+
+I did not remember seeing any, but one cannot always trust to one's
+memory.
+
+"But you had left pins in it?"
+
+"Possibly, I don't remember. Why should I remember such a thing as
+that?"
+
+I thought to myself, "I would know whether I left pins on my pin-cushion
+or not," but every one is not as methodical as I am, more's the pity.
+
+"Have you anywhere about you a pin like those you keep on that cushion?"
+I inquired of Caroline.
+
+She felt at her belt and neck and shook her head.
+
+"I may have upstairs," she replied.
+
+"Then get me one." But before she could start, I pulled her back. "Did
+either of you sleep in that room last night?"
+
+"No, we were going to," answered Isabella, "but afterwards Caroline took
+a freak to sleep in one of the rooms on the third floor. She said she
+wanted to get away from the parlors as far as possible."
+
+"Then I should like a peep at the one overhead."
+
+The wrenching of the pin-cushion from its place had given me an idea.
+
+They looked at me wistfully as they turned to mount the stairs, but I
+did not enlighten them further. What would an idea be worth shared by
+them!
+
+Their father undoubtedly lay in the back room, for they moved very
+softly around the head of the stairs, but once in front they let their
+tongues run loose again. I, who cared nothing for their babble when it
+contained no information, walked slowly about the room and finally
+stopped before the bed.
+
+It had a fresh look, and I at once asked them if it had been lately made
+up. They assured me that it had not, saying that they always kept their
+beds spread during their absence, as they did so hate to enter a room
+disfigured by bare mattresses.
+
+I could have read them a lecture on the niceties of housekeeping, but I
+refrained; instead of that I pointed to a little dent in the smooth
+surface of the bed nearest the door.
+
+"Did either of you two make that?" I asked.
+
+They shook their heads in amazement.
+
+"What is there in that?" began Caroline; but I motioned her to bring me
+the little cushion, which she no sooner did than I laid it in the little
+dent, which it fitted to a nicety.
+
+"You wonderful old thing!" exclaimed Caroline. "How ever did you
+think----"
+
+But I stopped her enthusiasm with a look. I may be wonderful, but I am
+not old, and it is time they knew it.
+
+"Mr. _Gryce_ is _old_," said I; and lifting the cushion, I placed it on
+a perfectly smooth portion of the bed. "Now take it up," said I, when,
+lo! a second dent similar to the first.
+
+"You see where that cushion has lain before being placed on the table,"
+I remarked, and reminding Caroline of the pin I wanted, I took my leave
+and returned to my own house, leaving behind me two girls as much filled
+with astonishment as the giddiness of their pates would allow.
+
+
+
+
+XIX.
+
+A DECIDED STEP FORWARD.
+
+
+I felt that I had made an advance. It was a small one, no doubt, but it
+was an advance. It would not do to rest there, however, or to draw
+definite conclusions from what I had seen without further facts to guide
+me. Mrs. Boppert could supply these facts, or so I believed. Accordingly
+I decided to visit Mrs. Boppert.
+
+Not knowing whether Mr. Gryce had thought it best to put a watch over my
+movements, but taking it for granted that it would be like him to do so,
+I made a couple of formal calls on the avenue before I started eastward.
+I had learned Mrs. Boppert's address before leaving home, but I did not
+ride directly to the tenement where she lived. I chose, instead, to get
+out at a little fancy store I saw in the neighborhood.
+
+It was a curious place. I never saw so many or such variety of things in
+one small spot in my life, but I did not waste any time upon this quaint
+interior, but stepped immediately up to the good woman I saw leaning
+over the counter.
+
+"Do you know a Mrs. Boppert who lives at 803?" I asked.
+
+The woman's look was too quick and suspicious for denial; but she was
+about to attempt it, when I cut her short by saying:
+
+"I wish to see Mrs. Boppert very much, but not in her own rooms. I will
+pay any one well who will assist me to five minutes' conversation with
+her in such a place, say, as that I see behind the glass door at the end
+of this very shop."
+
+The woman, startled by so unexpected a proposition, drew back a step,
+and was about to shake her head, when I laid on the counter before her
+(shall I say how much? Yes, for it was not thrown away) a five-dollar
+bill, which she no sooner saw than she gave a gasp of delight.
+
+"Will you give me _that_?" she cried.
+
+For answer I pushed it towards her, but before her fingers could clutch
+it, I resolutely said:
+
+"Mrs. Boppert must not know there is anybody waiting here to see her, or
+she will not come. I have no ill-will towards her, and mean her only
+good, but she's a timid sort of person, and----"
+
+"I know she's timid," broke in the good woman, eagerly. "And she's had
+enough to make her so! What with policemen drumming her up at night, and
+innocent-looking girls and boys luring her into corners to tell them
+what she saw in that grand house where the murder took place, she's
+grown that feared of her shadow you can hardly get her out after
+sundown. But I think I can get her here; and if you mean her no harm,
+why, ma'am----" Her fingers were on the bill, and charmed with the feel
+of it, she forgot to finish her sentence.
+
+"Is there any one in the room back there?" I asked, anxious to recall
+her to herself.
+
+"No, ma'am, no one at all. I am a poor widder, and not used to such
+company as you; but if you will sit down, I will make myself look more
+fit and have Mrs. Boppert over here in a minute." And calling to some
+one of the name of Susie to look after the shop, she led the way towards
+the glass door I have mentioned.
+
+Relieved to find everything working so smoothly and determined to get
+the worth of my money out of Mrs. Boppert when I saw her, I followed the
+woman into the most crowded room I ever entered. The shop was nothing to
+it; there you could move without hitting anything; here you could not.
+There were tables against every wall, and chairs where there were no
+tables. Opposite me was a window-ledge filled with flowering plants, and
+at my right a grate and mantel-piece covered, that is the latter, with
+innumerable small articles which had evidently passed a long and forlorn
+probation on the shop shelves before being brought in here. While I was
+looking at them and marvelling at the small quantity of dust I found,
+the woman herself disappeared behind a stack of boxes, for which there
+was undoubtedly no room in the shop. Could she have gone for Mrs.
+Boppert already, or had she slipped into another room to hide the money
+which had come so unexpectedly into her hands?
+
+I was not long left in doubt, for in another moment she returned with a
+flower-bedecked cap on her smooth gray head, that transformed her into a
+figure at once so complacent and so ridiculous that, had my nerves not
+been made of iron, I should certainly have betrayed my amusement. With
+it she had also put on her company manner, and what with the smiles she
+bestowed upon me and her perfect satisfaction with her own appearance, I
+had all I could do to hold my own and keep her to the matter in hand.
+Finally she managed to take in my anxiety and her own duty, and saying
+that Mrs. Boppert could never refuse a cup of tea, offered to send her
+an invitation to supper. As this struck me favorably, I nodded, at which
+she cocked her head on one side and insinuatingly whispered:
+
+"And would you pay for the tea, ma'am?"
+
+I uttered an indignant "No!" which seemed to surprise her. Immediately
+becoming humble again, she replied it was no matter, that she had tea
+enough and that the shop would supply cakes and crackers; to all of
+which I responded with a look which awed her so completely that she
+almost dropped the dishes with which she was endeavoring to set one of
+the tables.
+
+"She does so hate to talk about the murder that it will be a perfect
+godsend to her to drop into good company like this with no prying
+neighbors about. Shall I set a chair for you, ma'am?"
+
+I declined the honor, saying that I would remain seated where I was,
+adding, as I saw her about to go:
+
+"Let her walk straight in, and she will be in the middle of the room
+before she sees me. That will suit her and me too; for after she has
+once seen me, she won't be frightened. _But you are not to listen at the
+door._"
+
+This I said with great severity, for I saw the woman was becoming very
+curious, and having said it, I waved her peremptorily away.
+
+She didn't like it, but a thought of the five dollars comforted her.
+Casting one final look at the table, which was far from uninvitingly
+set, she slipped out and I was left to contemplate the dozen or so
+photographs that covered the walls. I found them so atrocious and their
+arrangement so distracting to my bump of order, which is of a pronounced
+character, that I finally shut my eyes on the whole scene, and in this
+attitude began to piece my thoughts together. But before I had proceeded
+far, steps were heard in the shop, and the next moment the door flew
+open and in popped Mrs. Boppert, with a face like a peony in full
+blossom. She stopped when she saw me and stared.
+
+"Why, if it isn't the lady----"
+
+"Hush! Shut the door. I have something very particular to say to you."
+
+"O," she began, looking as if she wanted to back out. But I was too
+quick for her. I shut the door myself and, taking her by the arm, seated
+her in the corner.
+
+"You don't show much gratitude," I remarked.
+
+I did not know what she had to be grateful to me for, but she had so
+plainly intimated at our first interview that she regarded me as having
+done her some favor, that I was disposed to make what use of it I could,
+to gain her confidence.
+
+"I know, ma'am, but if you could see how I've been harried, ma'am. It's
+the murder, and nothing but the murder all the time; and it was to get
+away from the talk about it that I came here, ma'am, and now it's you I
+see, and you'll be talking about it too, or why be in such a place as
+this, ma'am?"
+
+"And what if I do talk about it? You know I'm your friend, or I never
+would have done you that good turn the morning we came upon the poor
+girl's body."
+
+"I know, ma'am, and grateful I am for it, too; but I've never understood
+it, ma'am. Was it to save me from being blamed by the wicked police, or
+was it a dream you had, and the gentleman had, for I've heard what he
+said at the inquest, and it's muddled my head till I don't know where
+I'm standing."
+
+What I had said and what the gentleman had said! What did the poor thing
+mean? As I did not dare to show my ignorance, I merely shook my head.
+
+"Never mind what caused us to speak as we did, as long as we helped
+_you_. And we did help you? The police never found out what you had to
+do with this woman's death, did they?"
+
+"No, ma'am, O no, ma'am. When such a respectable lady as you said that
+you saw the young lady come into the house in the middle of the night,
+how was they to disbelieve it. They never asked me if I knew any
+different."
+
+"No," said I, almost struck dumb by my success, but letting no hint of
+my complacency escape me. "And I did not mean they should. You are a
+decent woman, Mrs. Boppert, and should not be troubled."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am. But how did you know she had come to the house before
+I left. Did you see her?"
+
+I hate a lie as I do poison, but I had to exercise all my Christian
+principles not to tell one then.
+
+"No," said I, "I didn't see her, but I don't always have to use my eyes
+to know what is going on in my neighbor's houses." Which is true enough,
+if it is somewhat humiliating to confess it.
+
+"O ma'am, how smart you are, ma'am! I wish I had some smartness in me.
+But my husband had all that. He was a man--O what's that?"
+
+"Nothing but the tea-caddy; I knocked it over with my elbow."
+
+"How I do jump at everything! I'm afraid of my own shadow ever since I
+saw that poor thing lying under that heap of crockery."
+
+"I don't wonder."
+
+"She must have pulled those things over herself, don't you think so,
+ma'am? No one went in there to murder her. But how came she to have
+those clothes on. She was dressed quite different when I let her in. I
+say it's all a muddle, ma'am, and it will be a smart man as can explain
+it."
+
+"Or a smart woman," I thought.
+
+"Did I do wrong, ma'am? That's what plagues me. She begged so hard to
+come in, I didn't know how to shut the door on her. Besides her name was
+Van Burnam, or so she told me."
+
+Here was a coil. Subduing my surprise, I remarked:
+
+"If she asked you to let her in, I do not see how you could refuse her.
+Was it in the morning or late in the afternoon she came?"
+
+"Don't you know, ma'am? I thought you knew all about it from the way you
+talked."
+
+Had I been indiscreet? Could she not bear questioning? Eying her with
+some severity, I declared in a less familiar tone than any I had yet
+used:
+
+"Nobody knows more about it than I do, but I do not know just the hour
+at which this lady came to the house. But I do not ask you to tell me if
+you do not want to."
+
+"O ma'am," she humbly remonstrated, "I am sure I am willing to tell you
+everything. It was in the afternoon while I was doing the front basement
+floor."
+
+"And she came to the basement door?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"And asked to be let in?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Young Mrs. Van Burnam?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Dressed in a black and white plaid silk, and wearing a hat covered with
+flowers?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, or something like that. I know it was very bright and
+becoming."
+
+"And why did she come to the basement door--a lady dressed like that?"
+
+"Because she knew I couldn't open the front door; that I hadn't the key.
+O she talked beautiful, ma'am, and wasn't proud with me a bit. She made
+me let her stay in the house, and when I said it would be dark after a
+while and that I hadn't done nothing to the rooms upstairs, she laughed
+and said she didn't care, that she wasn't afraid of the dark and had
+just as lieve as not stay in the big house alone all night, for she had
+a book--Did you say anything, ma'am?"
+
+"No, no, go on, she had a book."
+
+"Which she could read till she got sleepy. I never thought anything
+would happen to her."
+
+"Of course not, why should you? And so you let her into the house and
+left her there when you went out of it? Well, I don't wonder you were
+shocked to see her lying dead on the floor next morning."
+
+"Awful, ma'am. I was afraid they would blame me for what had happened.
+But I didn't do nothing to make her die. I only let her stay in the
+house. Do you think they will do anything to me if they know it?"
+
+"No," said I, trying to understand this woman's ignorant fears, "they
+don't punish such things. More's the pity!"--this in confidence to
+myself. "How could you know that a piece of furniture would fall on her
+before morning. Did you lock her in when you left the house?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. She told me to."
+
+Then she was a prisoner.
+
+Confounded by the mystery of the whole affair, I sat so still the woman
+looked up in wonder, and I saw I had better continue my questions.
+
+"What reason did she give for wanting to stay in the house all night?"
+
+"What reason, ma'am? I don't know. Something about her having to be
+there when Mr. Van Burnam came home. I didn't make it out, and I didn't
+try to. I was too busy wondering what she would have to eat."
+
+"And what did she have?"
+
+"I don't know, ma'am. She said she had something, but I didn't see it."
+
+"Perhaps you were blinded by the money she gave you. She gave you some,
+of course?"
+
+"O, not much, ma'am, not much. And I wouldn't have taken a cent if it
+had not seemed to make her so happy to give it. The pretty, pretty
+thing! A real lady, whatever they say about her!"
+
+"And happy? You said she was happy, cheerful-looking, and pretty."
+
+"O yes, ma'am; _she_ didn't know what was going to happen. I even heard
+her sing after she went up-stairs."
+
+I wished that my ears had been attending to their duty that day, and I
+might have heard her sing too. But the walls between my house and that
+of the Van Burnams are very thick, as I have had occasion to observe
+more than once.
+
+"Then she went up-stairs before you left?"
+
+"To be sure, ma'am; what would she do in the kitchen?"
+
+"And you didn't see her again?"
+
+"No, ma'am; but I heard her walking around."
+
+"In the parlors, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, in the parlors."
+
+"You did not go up yourself?"
+
+"No, ma'am, I had enough to do below."
+
+"Didn't you go up when you went away?"
+
+"No, ma'am; I didn't like to."
+
+"When did you go?"
+
+"At five, ma'am; I always go at five."
+
+"How did you know it was five?"
+
+"The kitchen clock told me; I wound it, ma'am and set it when the
+whistles blew at twelve."
+
+"Was that the only clock you wound?"
+
+"Only clock? Do you think I'd be going around the house winding any
+others?"
+
+Her face showed such surprise, and her eyes met mine so frankly, that I
+was convinced she spoke the truth. Gratified--I don't know why,--I
+bestowed upon her my first smile, which seemed to affect her, for her
+face softened, and she looked at me quite eagerly for a minute before
+she said:
+
+"You don't think so very bad of me, do you, ma'am?"
+
+But I had been struck by a thought which made me for the moment
+oblivious to her question. _She_ had wound the clock in the kitchen for
+her own uses, and why may not the lady above have wound the one in the
+parlor for hers? Filled with this startling idea, I remarked:
+
+"The young lady wore a watch, of course?"
+
+But the suggestion passed unheeded. Mrs. Boppert was as much absorbed in
+her own thoughts as I was.
+
+"Did young Mrs. Van Burnam wear a watch?" I persisted.
+
+Mrs. Boppert's face remained a blank.
+
+Provoked at her impassibility, I shook her with an angry hand,
+imperatively demanding:
+
+"What are you thinking of? Why don't you answer my questions?"
+
+She was herself again in an instant.
+
+"O ma'am, I beg your pardon. I was wondering if you meant the parlor
+clock."
+
+I calmed myself, looked severe to hide my more than eager interest, and
+sharply cried:
+
+"Of course I mean the parlor clock. Did you wind it?"
+
+"O no, no, no, I would as soon think of touching gold or silver. But the
+young lady did, I'm sure, ma'am, for I heard it strike when she was
+setting of it."
+
+Ah! If my nature had not been an undemonstrative one, and if I had not
+been bred to a strong sense of social distinctions, I might have
+betrayed my satisfaction at this announcement in a way that would have
+made this homely German woman start. As it was I sat stock-still, and
+even made her think I had not heard her. Venturing to rouse _me_ a bit,
+she spoke again after a minute's silence.
+
+"She might have been lonely, you know, ma'am; and the ticking of a clock
+is such company."
+
+"Yes," I answered with more than my accustomed vivacity, for she jumped
+as if I had struck her. "You have hit the nail on the head, Mrs.
+Boppert, and are a much smarter woman than I thought. But when did she
+wind the clock?"
+
+"At five o'clock, ma'am; just before I left the house."
+
+"O, and did she know you were going?"
+
+"I think so, ma'am, for I called up, just before I put on my bonnet,
+that it was five o'clock and that I was going."
+
+"O, you did. And did she answer back?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. I heard her step in the hall and then her voice. She asked
+if I was sure it was five, and I told her yes, because I had set the
+kitchen clock at twelve. She didn't say any more, but just after that I
+heard the parlor clock begin to strike."
+
+O, thought I, what cannot be got out of the most stupid and unwilling
+witness by patience and a judicious use of questions. To know that this
+clock was started after five o'clock, that is, after the hour at which
+the hands pointed when it fell, and that it was set correctly in
+starting, and so would give indisputable testimony of the hour when the
+shelves fell, were points of the greatest importance. I was so pleased I
+gave the woman another smile.
+
+Instantly she cried:
+
+"But you won't say anything about it, will you, ma'am? They might make
+me pay for all the things that were broke."
+
+My smile this time was not one of encouragement simply. But it might
+have been anything for all effect it had on her. The intricacies of the
+affair had disturbed her poor brain again, and all her powers of mind
+were given up to lament.
+
+"O," she bemoaned, "I wish I had never seen her! My head wouldn't ache
+so with the muddle of it. Why, ma'am, her husband said he came to the
+house at midnight with his wife! How could he when she was inside of it
+all the time. But then perhaps he said that, just as you did, to save me
+blame. But why should a gentleman like him do that?"
+
+"It isn't worth while for you to bother your head about it," I
+expostulated. "It is enough that _my_ head aches over it."
+
+I don't suppose she understood me or tried to. Her wits had been sorely
+tried and my rather severe questioning had not tended to clear them. At
+all events she went on in another moment as if I had not spoken:
+
+"But what became of her pretty dress? I was never so astonished in my
+life as when I saw that dark skirt on her."
+
+"She might have left her fine gown upstairs," I ventured, not wishing to
+go into the niceties of evidence with this woman.
+
+"So she might, so she might, and that may have been her petticoat we
+saw." But in another moment she saw the impossibility of this, for she
+added: "But I saw her petticoat, and it was a brown silk one. She showed
+it when she lifted her skirt to get at her purse. I don't understand it,
+ma'am."
+
+As her face by this time was almost purple, I thought it a mercy to
+close the interview; so I uttered some few words of a soothing and
+encouraging nature, and then seeing that something more tangible was
+necessary to restore her to any proper condition of spirits, I took out
+my pocket-book and bestowed on her some of my loose silver.
+
+This was something she _could_ understand. She brightened immediately,
+and before she was well through her expressions of delight, I had
+quitted the room and in a few minutes later the shop.
+
+I hope the two women had their cup of tea after that.
+
+
+
+
+XX.
+
+MISS BUTTERWORTH'S THEORY.
+
+
+I was so excited when I entered my carriage that I rode all the way home
+with my bonnet askew and never knew it. When I reached my room and saw
+myself in the glass, I was shocked, and stole a glance at Lena, who was
+setting out my little tea-table, to see if she noticed what a ridiculous
+figure I cut. But she is discretion itself, and for a girl with two
+undeniable dimples in her cheeks, smiles seldom--at least when I am
+looking at her. She was not smiling now, and though, for the reason
+given above, this was not as comforting as it may appear, I chose not to
+worry myself any longer about such a trifle when I had matters of so
+much importance on my mind.
+
+Taking off my bonnet, whose rakish appearance had given me such a shock,
+I sat down, and for half an hour neither moved nor spoke. I was
+thinking. A theory which had faintly suggested itself to me at the
+inquest was taking on body with these later developments. Two hats had
+been found on the scene of the tragedy, and two pairs of gloves, and now
+I had learned that there had been two women there, the one whom Mrs.
+Boppert had locked into the house on leaving it, and the one whom I had
+seen enter at midnight with Mr. Van Burnam. Which of the two had
+perished? We had been led to think, and Mr. Van Burnam had himself
+acknowledged, that it was his wife; but his wife had been dressed quite
+differently from the murdered woman, and was, as I soon began to see,
+much more likely to have been the assassin than the victim. Would you
+like to know my reasons for this extraordinary statement? If so, they
+are these:
+
+I had always seen a woman's hand in this work, but having no reason to
+believe in the presence of any other woman on the scene of crime than
+the victim, I had put this suspicion aside as untenable. But now that I
+had found the second woman, I returned to it.
+
+But how connect her with the murder? It seemed easy enough to do so if
+this other woman was her rival. We have heard of no rival, but she may
+have known of one, and this knowledge may have been at the bottom of her
+disagreement with her husband and the half-crazy determination she
+evinced to win his family over to her side. Let us say, then, that the
+second woman was Mrs. Van Burnam's rival. That he brought her there not
+knowing that his wife had effected an entrance into the house; brought
+her there after an afternoon spent at the Hotel D----, during which he
+had furnished her with a new outfit of less pronounced type, perhaps,
+than that she had previously worn. The use of the two carriages and the
+care they took to throw suspicion off their track, may have been part of
+a scheme of future elopement, for I had no idea they meant to remain in
+Mr. Van Burnam's house. For what purpose, then, did they go there? To
+meet Mrs. Van Burnam and kill her, that their way might be clearer for
+flight? No; I had rather think that they went to the house without a
+thought of whom they would encounter, and that only after they had
+entered the parlors did he realize that the two women he least wished to
+see together had been brought by his folly face to face.
+
+The presence in the third room of Mrs. Van Burnam's hat, gloves, and
+novel seemed to argue that she had spent the evening in reading by the
+dining-room table, but whether this was so or not, the stopping of a
+carriage in front and the opening of the door by an accustomed hand
+undoubtedly assured her that either the old gentleman or some other
+member of the family had unexpectedly arrived. She was, therefore, in or
+near the parlor-door when they entered, and the shock of meeting her
+hated rival in company with her husband, under the very roof where she
+had hoped to lay the foundations of her future happiness, must have been
+great, if not maddening. Accusations, recriminations even, did not
+satisfy her. She wanted to kill; but she had no weapon. Suddenly her
+eyes fell on the hat-pin which her more self-possessed rival had drawn
+from her hat, possibly before their encounter, and she conceived a plan
+which seemed to promise her the very revenge she sought. How she carried
+it out; by what means she was enabled to approach her victim and inflict
+with such certainty the fatal stab which laid her enemy at her feet, can
+be left to the imagination. But that she, a woman, and not Howard, a
+man, drove this woman's weapon into the stranger's spine, I will yet
+prove, or lose all faith in my own intuitions.
+
+But if this theory is true, how about the shelves that fell at daybreak,
+and how about her escape from the house without detection? A little
+thought will explain all that. The man, horrified, no doubt, at the
+result of his imprudence, and execrating the crime to which it had led,
+left the house almost immediately. But the woman remained there,
+possibly because she had fainted, possibly because he would have nothing
+to do with her; and coming to herself, saw her victim's face staring up
+at her with an accusing beauty she found it impossible to meet. What
+should she do to escape it? Where should she go? She hated it so she
+could have trampled on it, but she restrained her passions till
+daybreak, when in one wild burst of fury and hatred she drew down the
+cabinet upon it, and then fled the scene of horror she had herself
+caused. This was at five, or, to be exact, three minutes before that
+hour, as shown by the clock she had carelessly set in her lighter
+moments.
+
+She escaped by the front door, which her husband had mercifully forborne
+to lock; and she had not been discovered by the police, because her
+appearance did not tally with the description which had been given them.
+How did I know this? Remember the discoveries I had made in Miss Van
+Burnam's room, and allow them to assist you in understanding my
+conclusions.
+
+Some one had gone into that room; some one who wanted pins; and keeping
+this fact before my eyes, I saw through the motive and actions of the
+escaping woman. She had on a dress separated at the waist, and finding,
+perhaps, a spot of blood on the skirt, she conceived the plan of
+covering it with her petticoat, which was also of silk and undoubtedly
+as well made as many women's dresses. But the skirt of the gown was
+longer than the petticoat and she was obliged to pin it up. Having no
+pins herself, and finding none on the parlor floor, she went up-stairs
+to get some. The door at the head of the stairs was locked, but the
+front room was open, so she entered there. Groping her way to the
+bureau, for the place was very dark, she found a pin-cushion hanging
+from a bracket. Feeling it to be full of pins, and knowing that she
+could see nothing where she was, she tore it away and carried it towards
+the door. Here there was some light from the skylight over the stairs,
+so setting the cushion down on the bed, she pinned up the skirt of her
+gown.
+
+When this was done she started away, brushing the cushion off the bed in
+her excitement, and fearing to be traced by her many-colored hat, or
+having no courage remaining for facing again the horror in the parlor,
+she slid out without one and went, God knows whither, in her terror and
+remorse.
+
+So much for my theory; now for the facts standing in the way of its
+complete acceptance. They were two: the scar on the ankle of the dead
+girl, which was a peculiarity of Louise Van Burnam, and the mark of the
+rings on her fingers. But who had identified the scar? Her husband. No
+one else. And if the other woman had, by some strange freak of chance, a
+scar also on her left foot, then the otherwise unaccountable apathy he
+had shown at being told of this distinctive mark, as well as his
+temerity in afterwards taking it as a basis for his false
+identification, becomes equally consistent and natural; and as for the
+marks of the rings, it would be strange if such a woman did not wear
+rings and plenty of them.
+
+Howard's conduct under examination and the contradiction between his
+first assertions and those that followed, all become clear in the light
+of this new theory. He had seen his wife kill a defenceless woman
+before his eyes, and whether influenced by his old affection for her or
+by his pride in her good name, he could not but be anxious to conceal
+her guilt even at the cost of his own truthfulness. As long then as
+circumstances permitted, he preserved his indifferent attitude, and
+denied that the dead woman was his wife. But when driven to the wall by
+the indisputable proof which was brought forth of his wife having been
+in the place of murder, he saw, or thought he did, that a continued
+denial on his part of Louise Van Burnam being the victim might lead
+sooner or later to the suspicion of her being the murderer, and
+influenced by this fear, took the sudden resolution of profiting by all
+the points which the two women had in common by acknowledging, what
+everybody had expected him to acknowledge from the first, that the woman
+at the Morgue was his wife. This would exonerate her, rid him of any
+apprehension he may have entertained of her ever returning to be a
+disgrace to him, and would (and perhaps this thought influenced him
+most, for who can understand such men or the passions that sway them)
+insure the object of his late devotion a decent burial in a Christian
+cemetery. To be sure, the risk he ran was great, but the emergency was
+great, and he may not have stopped to count the cost. At all events, the
+fact is certain that he perjured himself when he said that it was his
+wife he brought to the house from the Hotel D----, and if he perjured
+himself in this regard, he probably perjured himself in others, and his
+testimony is not at all to be relied upon.
+
+Convinced though I was in my own mind that I had struck a truth which
+would bear the closest investigation, I was not satisfied to act upon
+it till I had put it to the test. The means I took to do this were
+daring, and quite in keeping with the whole desperate affair. They
+promised, however, a result important enough to make Mr. Gryce blush for
+the disdain with which he had met my threats of interference.
+
+
+
+
+XXI.
+
+A SHREWD CONJECTURE.
+
+
+The test of which I speak was as follows:
+
+I would advertise for a person dressed as I believed Mrs. Van Burnam to
+have been when she left the scene of crime. If I received news of such a
+person, I might safely consider my theory established.
+
+I accordingly wrote the following advertisement:
+
+     "Information wanted of a woman who applied for lodgings on the
+     morning of the eighteenth inst., dressed in a brown silk skirt
+     and a black and white plaid blouse of fashionable cut. She was
+     without a hat, or if a person so dressed wore a hat, then it
+     was bought early in the morning at some store, in which case
+     let shopkeepers take notice. The person answering this
+     description is eagerly sought for by her relatives, and to any
+     one giving positive information of the same, a liberal reward
+     will be paid. Please address, T. W. Alvord, ---- Liberty
+     Street."
+
+I purposely did not mention her personal appearance, for fear of
+attracting the attention of the police.
+
+This done, I wrote the following letter:
+
+     "DEAR MISS FERGUSON:
+
+     "One clever woman recognizes another. I am clever and am not
+     ashamed to own it. You are clever and should not be ashamed to
+     be told so. I was a witness at the inquest in which you so
+     notably distinguished yourself, and I said then, 'There is a
+     woman after my own heart!' But a truce to compliments! What I
+     want and ask of you to procure for me is a photograph of Mrs.
+     Van Burnam. I am a friend of the family, and consider them to
+     be in more trouble than they deserve. If I had her picture I
+     would show it to the Misses Van Burnam, who feel great remorse
+     at their treatment of her, and who want to see how she looked.
+     Cannot you find one in their rooms? The one in Mr. Howard's
+     room here has been confiscated by the police.[C]
+
+     "Hoping that you will feel disposed to oblige me in this--and I
+     assure you that my motives in making this request are most
+     excellent--I remain,
+
+     "Cordially yours,
+
+     "AMELIA BUTTERWORTH.
+
+     "P. S.--Address me, if you please, at 564 ---- Avenue. Care of
+     J. H. Denham."
+
+This was my grocer, with whom I left word the next morning to deliver
+this package in the next bushel of potatoes he sent me.
+
+My smart little maid, Lena, carried these two communications to the east
+side, where she posted the letter herself and entrusted the
+advertisement to a lover of hers who carried it to the _Herald_ office.
+While she was gone I tried to rest by exercising my mind in other
+directions. But I could not. I kept going over Howard's testimony in the
+light of my own theory, and remarking how the difficulty he experienced
+in maintaining the position he had taken, forced him into
+inconsistencies and far-fetched explanations. With his wife for a
+companion at the Hotel D----, his conduct both there and on the road to
+his father's house was that of a much weaker man than his words and
+appearance led one to believe; but if, on the contrary, he had with him
+a woman with whom he was about to elope (and what did the packing up of
+all his effects mean, if not that?), all the precautions they took
+seemed reasonable.
+
+Later, my mind fixed itself on one point. If it was his wife who was
+with him, as he said, then the bundle they dropped at the old woman's
+feet contained the much-talked of plaid silk. If it was not, then it was
+a gown of some different material. Now, could this bundle be found? If
+it could, then why had not Mr. Gryce produced it? The sight of Mrs. Van
+Burnam's plaid silk spread out on the Coroner's table would have had a
+great effect in clinching the suspicion against her husband. But no
+plaid silk had been found (because it was not dropped in the bundle, but
+worn away on the murderess's back), and no old woman. I thought I knew
+the reason of this too. There was no old woman to be found, and the
+bundle they carried had been got rid of some other way. What way? I
+would take a walk down that same block and see, and I would take it at
+the midnight hour too, for only so could I judge of the possibilities
+there offered for concealing or destroying such an article.
+
+Having made this decision, I cast about to see how I could carry it into
+effect. I am not a coward, but I have a respectability to maintain, and
+what errand could Miss Butterworth be supposed to have in the streets at
+twelve o'clock at night! Fortunately, I remembered that my cook had
+complained of toothache when I gave her my orders for breakfast, and
+going down at once into the kitchen, where she sat with her cheek
+propped up in her hand waiting for Lena, I said with an asperity which
+admitted of no reply:
+
+"You have a dreadful tooth, Sarah, and you must have something done for
+it at once. When Lena comes home, send her to me. I am going to the
+drug-store for some drops, and I want Lena to accompany me."
+
+She looked astounded, of course, but I would not let her answer me.
+"Don't speak a word," I cried, "it will only make your toothache worse;
+and don't look as if some hobgoblin had jumped up on the kitchen table.
+I guess I know my duty, and just what kind of a breakfast I will have in
+the morning, if you sit up all night groaning with the toothache." And I
+was out of the room before she had more than begun to say that it was
+not so bad, and that I needn't trouble, and all that, which was true
+enough, no doubt, but not what I wanted to hear at that moment.
+
+When Lena came in, I saw by the brightness of her face that she had
+accomplished her double errand. I therefore signified to her that I was
+satisfied, and asked if she was too tired to go out again, saying quite
+peremptorily that Sarah was ill, and that I was going to the drug-store
+for some medicine, and did not wish to go alone.
+
+Lena's round-eyed wonder was amusing; but she is very discreet, as I
+have said before, and she ventured nothing save a meek, "It's very late,
+Miss Butterworth," which was an unnecessary remark, as she soon saw.
+
+I do not like to obtrude my aristocratic tendencies too much into this
+narrative, but when I found myself in the streets alone with Lena, I
+could not help feeling some secret qualms lest my conduct savored of
+impropriety. But the thought that I was working in the cause of truth
+and justice came to sustain me, and before I had gone two blocks, I felt
+as much at home under the midnight skies as if I were walking home from
+church on a Sunday afternoon.
+
+There is a certain drug-store on Third Avenue where I like to deal, and
+towards this I ostensibly directed my steps. But I took pains to go by
+the way of Lexington Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street, and upon reaching
+the block where this mysterious couple were seen, gave all my attention
+to the possible hiding-places it offered.
+
+Lena, who had followed me like my shadow, and who was evidently too
+dumfounded at my freak to speak, drew up to my side as we were half-way
+down it and seized me tremblingly by the arm.
+
+"Two men are coming," said she.
+
+"I am not afraid of men," was my sharp rejoinder. But I told a most
+abominable lie; for I am afraid of them in such places and under such
+circumstances, though not under ordinary conditions, and never where the
+tongue is likely to be the only weapon employed.
+
+The couple who were approaching us now seemed to be in a merry mood. But
+when they saw us keep to our own side of the way, they stopped their
+chaffing and allowed us to go by, with just a mocking word or two.
+
+"Sarah ought to be very much obliged to you," whispered Lena.
+
+At the corner of Third Avenue I paused. I had seen nothing so far but
+bare stoops and dark area-ways. Nothing to suggest a place for the
+disposal of such cumbersome articles as these persons had made way with.
+Had the avenue anything better to offer? I stopped under the gas-lamp at
+the corner to consider, notwithstanding Lena's gentle pull towards the
+drug-store. Looking to left and right and over the muddy crossings, I
+sought for inspiration. An almost obstinate belief in my own theory led
+me to insist in my own mind that they had encountered no old woman, and
+consequently had not dropped their bundles in the open street. I even
+entered into an argument about it, standing there with the cable cars
+whistling by me and Lena tugging away at my arm. "If," said I to myself,
+"the woman with him had been his wife and the whole thing nothing more
+than a foolish escapade, they might have done this; but she was not his
+wife, and the game they were playing was serious, if they did laugh over
+it, and so their disposal of these tell-tale articles would be serious
+and such as would protect their secret. Where, then, could they have
+thrust them?"
+
+My eyes, as I muttered this, were on the one shop in my line of vision
+that was still open and lighted. It was the den of a Chinese laundryman,
+and through the windows in front I could see him still at work, ironing.
+
+"Ah!" thought I, and made such a start across the street that Lena
+gasped in dismay and almost fell to the ground in her frightened attempt
+to follow me.
+
+"Not that way!" she called. "Miss Butterworth, you are going wrong."
+
+But I kept right on, and only stopped when I reached the laundry.
+
+"I have an errand here," I explained. "Wait in the doorway, Lena, and
+don't act as if you thought me crazy, for I was never saner in my life."
+
+I don't think this reassured her much, lunatics not being supposed to be
+very good judges of their own mental condition, but she was so
+accustomed to obey, that she drew back as I opened the door before me
+and entered. The surprise on the face of the poor Chinaman when he
+turned and saw before him a lady of years and no ordinary appearance,
+daunted me for an instant. But another look only showed me that his very
+surprise was inoffensive, and gathering courage from the unexpectedness
+of my own position, I inquired with all the politeness I could show one
+of his abominable nationality:
+
+"Didn't a gentleman and a heavily veiled lady leave a package with you a
+few days ago at about the same hour of night as this?"
+
+"Some lalee clo' washee? Yes, ma'am. No done. She tellee me no callee
+for one week."
+
+"Then that's all right; the lady has died very suddenly, and the
+gentleman gone away; you will have to keep the clothes a long time."
+
+"Me wantee money, no wantee clo'!"
+
+"I'll pay you for them; I don't care about them being ironed."
+
+"Givee tickee, givee clo'! No givee tickee, no givee clo'!"
+
+This was a poser! But as I did not want the clothes so much as a look at
+them, I soon got the better of this difficulty.
+
+"I don't want them to-night," said I. "I only wanted to make sure you
+had them. What night were these people here?"
+
+"Tuesday night, velly late; nicee man, nicee lalee. She wantee talk.
+Nicee man he pullee she; I no hear if muchee stasch. All washee, see!"
+he went on, dragging a basket out of the corner, "him no ilon."
+
+I was in such a quiver; so struck with amazement at my own perspicacity
+in surmising that here was a place where a bundle of underclothing could
+be lost indefinitely, that I just stared while he turned over the
+clothes in the basket. For by means of the quality of the articles he
+was preparing to show me, the question which had been agitating me for
+hours could be definitely decided. If they proved to be fine and of
+foreign manufacture, then Howard's story was true and all my fine-spun
+theories must fall to the ground. But if, on the contrary, they were
+such as are usually worn by American women, then my own idea as to the
+identity of the woman who left them here was established, and I could
+safely consider her as the victim and Louise Van Burnam as the
+murderess, unless further facts came to prove that he was the guilty
+one, after all.
+
+The sight of Lena's eyes staring at me with great anxiety through the
+panes of the door distracted my attention for a moment, and when I
+looked again, he was holding up two or three garments before me. The
+articles thus revealed told their story in a moment. They were far from
+fine, and had even less embroidery on them than I expected.
+
+"Are there any marks on them?" I asked.
+
+He showed me two letters stamped in indelible ink on the band of a
+skirt. I did not have my glasses with me, but the ink was black, and I
+read O. R. "The minx's initials," thought I.
+
+When I left the place my complacency was such that Lena did not know
+what to make of me. She has since informed me that I looked as if I
+wanted to shout Hurrah! but I cannot believe I so far forgot myself as
+that. But pleased as I was, I had only discovered how one bundle had
+been disposed of. The dress and outside fixings still had to be
+accounted for, and I was the woman to do it.
+
+We had mechanically moved in the direction of the drug-store and were
+near the curb-stone when I reached this point in my meditations. It had
+rained a little while before, and a small stream was running down the
+gutter and emptying itself into the sewer opening. The sight of it
+sharpened my wits.
+
+If I wanted to get rid of anything of a damaging character, I would drop
+it at the mouth of one of these holes and gently thrust it into the
+sewer with my foot, thought I. And never doubting that I had found an
+explanation of the disappearance of the second bundle, I walked on,
+deciding that if I had the police at my command I would have the sewer
+searched at those four corners.
+
+We rode home after visiting the drug-store. I was not going to subject
+Lena or myself to another midnight walk through Twenty-seventh Street.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote C: This was _so_ probable, it cannot be considered an
+untruth.--A. B.]
+
+
+
+
+XXII.
+
+A BLANK CARD.
+
+
+The next day at noon Lena brought me up a card on her tray. It was a
+perfectly blank one.
+
+"Miss Van Burnam's maid said you sent for this," was her demure
+announcement.
+
+"Miss Van Burnam's maid is right," said I, taking the card and with it a
+fresh installment of courage.
+
+Nothing happened for two days, then there came word from the kitchen
+that a bushel of potatoes had arrived. Going down to see them, I drew
+from their midst a large square envelope, which I immediately carried to
+my room. It failed to contain a photograph; but there was a letter in it
+couched in these terms:
+
+     "DEAR MISS BUTTERWORTH:
+
+     "The esteem which you are good enough to express for me is
+     returned. I regret that I cannot oblige you. There are no
+     photographs to be found in Mrs. Van Burnam's rooms. Perhaps
+     this fact may be accounted for by the curiosity shown in those
+     apartments by a very spruce new boarder we have had from New
+     York. His taste for that particular quarter of the house was
+     such that I could not keep him away from it except by lock and
+     key. If there was a picture there of Mrs. Van Burnam, he took
+     it, for he departed very suddenly one night. I am glad he took
+     nothing more with him. The talks he had with my servant-girl
+     have almost led to my dismissing her.
+
+     "Praying your pardon for the disappointment I am forced to give
+     you, I remain,
+
+     "Yours sincerely,
+
+     "SUSAN FERGUSON."
+
+So! so! balked by an emissary of Mr. Gryce. Well, well, we would do
+without the photograph! Mr. Gryce might need it, but not Amelia
+Butterworth.
+
+This was on a Thursday, and on the evening of Saturday the long-desired
+clue was given me. It came in the shape of a letter brought me by Mr.
+Alvord.
+
+Our interview was not an agreeable one. Mr. Alvord is a clever man and
+an adroit one, or I should not persist in employing him as my lawyer;
+but he never understood _me_. At this time, and with this letter in his
+hand, he understood me less than ever, which naturally called out my
+powers of self-assertion and led to some lively conversation between us.
+But that is neither here nor there. He had brought me an answer to my
+advertisement and I was presently engrossed by it. It was an uneducated
+woman's epistle and its chirography and spelling were dreadful; so I
+will just mention its contents, which were highly interesting in
+themselves, as I think you will acknowledge.
+
+She, that is, the writer, whose name, as nearly as I could make out, was
+Bertha Desberger, knew such a person as I described, and could give me
+news of her if I would come to her house in West Ninth Street at four
+o'clock Sunday afternoon.
+
+If I would! I think my face must have shown my satisfaction, for Mr.
+Alvord, who was watching me, sarcastically remarked:
+
+"You don't seem to find any difficulties in that communication. Now,
+what do you think of this one?"
+
+He held out another letter which had been directed to him, and which he
+had opened. Its contents called up a shade of color to my cheek, for I
+did not want to go through the annoyance of explaining myself again:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:
+
+     "From a strange advertisement which has lately appeared in the
+     _Herald_, I gather that information is wanted of a young woman
+     who on the morning of the eighteenth inst. entered my store
+     without any bonnet on her head, and saying she had met with an
+     accident, bought a hat which she immediately put on. She was
+     pale as a girl could be and looked so ill that I asked her if
+     she was well enough to be out alone; but she gave me no reply
+     and left the store as soon as possible. That is all I can tell
+     you about her."
+
+With this was enclosed his card:
+
+     PHINEAS COX,
+
+     _Millinery_,
+
+     _Trimmed and Untrimmed Hats_,
+
+     ---- Sixth Avenue.
+
+"Now, what does this mean?" asked Mr. Alvord. "The morning of the
+eighteenth was the morning when the murder was discovered in which you
+have shown such interest."
+
+"It means," I retorted with some spirit, for simple dignity was thrown
+away on this man, "that I made a mistake in choosing your office as a
+medium for my business communications."
+
+This was to the point and he said no more, though he eyed the letter in
+my hand very curiously, and seemed more than tempted to renew the
+hostilities with which we had opened our interview.
+
+Had it not been Saturday, and late in the day at that, I would have
+visited Mr. Cox's store before I slept, but as it was I felt obliged to
+wait till Monday. Meanwhile I had before me the still more important
+interview with Mrs. Desberger.
+
+As I had no reason to think that my visiting any number in Ninth Street
+would arouse suspicion in the police, I rode there quite boldly the next
+day, and with Lena at my side, entered the house of Mrs. Bertha
+Desberger.
+
+For this trip I had dressed myself plainly, and drawn over my eyes--and
+the puffs which I still think it becoming in a woman of my age to
+wear--a dotted veil, thick enough to conceal my features, without
+robbing me of that aspect of benignity necessary to the success of my
+mission. Lena wore her usual neat gray dress, and looked the picture of
+all the virtues.
+
+A large brass door-plate, well rubbed, was the first sign vouchsafed us
+of the respectability of the house we were about to enter; and the
+parlor, when we were ushered into it, fully carried out the promise thus
+held forth on the door-step. It was respectable, but in wretched taste
+as regards colors. I, who have the nicest taste in such matters, looked
+about me in dismay as I encountered the greens and blues, the crimsons
+and the purples which everywhere surrounded me.
+
+But I was not on a visit to a temple of art, and resolutely shutting my
+eyes to the offending splendor about me--worsted splendor, you
+understand,--I waited with subdued expectation for the lady of the
+house.
+
+She came in presently, bedecked in a flowered gown that was an epitome
+of the blaze of colors everywhere surrounding us; but her face was a
+good one, and I saw that I had neither guile nor over-much shrewdness to
+contend with.
+
+She had seen the coach at the door, and she was all smiles and flutter.
+
+"You have come for the poor girl who stopped here a few days ago," she
+began, glancing from my face to Lena's with an equally inquiring air,
+which in itself would have shown her utter ignorance of social
+distinctions if I had not bidden Lena to keep at my side and hold her
+head up as if she had business there as well as myself.
+
+"Yes," returned I, "we have. Lena here, has lost a relative (which was
+true), and knowing no other way of finding her, I suggested the
+insertion of an advertisement in the paper. You read the description
+given, of course. Has the person answering it been in this house?"
+
+"Yes; she came on the morning of the eighteenth. I remember it because
+that was the very day my cook left, and I have not got another one yet."
+She sighed and went on. "I took a great interest in that unhappy young
+woman--Was she your sister?" This, somewhat doubtfully, to Lena, who
+perhaps had too few colors on to suit her.
+
+"No," answered Lena, "she wasn't my sister, but----"
+
+I immediately took the words out of her mouth.
+
+"At what time did she come here, and how long did she stay? We want to
+find her very much. Did she give you any name, or tell where she was
+going?"
+
+"She said her name was Oliver." (I thought of the O. R. on the clothes
+at the laundry.) "But I knew this wasn't so; and if she had not looked
+so very modest, I might have hesitated to take her in. But, lor! I can't
+resist a girl in trouble, and she was in trouble, if ever a girl was.
+And then she had money--Do you know what her trouble was?" This again to
+Lena, and with an air at once suspicious and curious. But Lena has a
+good face, too, and her frank eyes at once disarmed the weak and
+good-natured woman before us.
+
+"I thought"--she went on before Lena could answer--"that whatever it
+was, _you_ had nothing to do with it, nor this lady either."
+
+"No," answered Lena, seeing that I wished her to do the talking. "And we
+don't know" (which was true enough so far as Lena went) "just what her
+trouble was. Didn't she tell you?"
+
+"She told nothing. When she came she said she wanted to stay with me a
+little while. I sometimes take boarders----" She had twenty in the house
+at that minute, if she had one. Did she think I couldn't see the length
+of her dining-room table through the crack of the parlor door? "'I can
+pay,' she said, which I had not doubted, for her blouse was a very
+expensive one; though I thought her skirt looked queer, and her hat--Did
+I say she had a hat on? You seemed to doubt that fact in your
+advertisement. Goodness me! if she had had no hat on, she wouldn't have
+got as far as my parlor mat. But her blouse showed her to be a
+lady--and then her face--it was as white as your handkerchief there,
+madam, but so sweet--I thought of the Madonna faces I had seen in
+Catholic churches."
+
+I started; inwardly commenting: "Madonna-like, _that_ woman!" But a
+glance at the room about me reassured me. The owner of such hideous
+sofas and chairs and of the many pictures effacing or rather defacing
+the paper on the walls, could not be a judge of Madonna faces.
+
+"You admire everything that is good and lovely," I suggested, for Mrs.
+Desberger had paused at the movement I made.
+
+"Yes, it is my nature to do so, ma'am. I love the beautiful," and she
+cast a half-apologetic, half-proud look about her. "So I listened to the
+girl and let her sit down in my parlor. She had had nothing to eat that
+morning, and though she didn't ask for it, I went to order her a cup of
+tea, for I knew she couldn't get up-stairs without it. Her eyes followed
+me when I went out of the room in a way that haunted me, and when I came
+back--I shall never forget it, ma'am--there she lay stretched out on the
+floor with her face on the ground and her hands thrown out. Wasn't it
+horrible, ma'am? I don't wonder you shudder."
+
+Did I shudder? If I did, it was because I was thinking of that other
+woman, the victim of this one, whom I had seen, with her face turned
+upward and her arms outstretched, in the gloom of Mr. Van Burnam's
+half-closed parlor.
+
+"She looked as if she was dead," the good woman continued, "but just as
+I was about to call for help, her fingers moved and I rushed to lift
+her. She was neither dead nor had she fainted; she was simply dumb with
+misery. What could have happened to her? I have asked myself a hundred
+times."
+
+My mouth was shut very tight, but I shut it still tighter, for the
+temptation was great to cry: "She had just committed murder!" As it was,
+no sound whatever left my lips, and the good woman doubtless thought me
+no better than a stone, for she turned with a shrug to Lena, repeating
+still more wistfully than before:
+
+"_Don't_ you know what her trouble was?"
+
+But, of course, poor Lena had nothing to say, and the woman went on with
+a sigh:
+
+"Well, I suppose I shall never know what had used that poor creature up
+so completely. But whatever it was, it gave me enough trouble, though I
+do not want to complain of it, for why are we here, if not to help and
+comfort the miserable. It was an hour, ma'am; it was an hour, miss,
+before I could get that poor girl to speak; but when I did succeed, and
+had got her to drink the tea and eat a bit of toast, then I felt quite
+repaid by the look of gratitude she gave me and the way she clung to my
+sleeve when I tried to leave her for a minute. It was this sleeve,
+ma'am," she explained, lifting a cluster of rainbow flounces and ribbons
+which but a minute before had looked little short of ridiculous in my
+eyes, but which in the light of the wearer's kind-heartedness had lost
+some of their offensive appearance.
+
+"Poor Mary!" murmured Lena, with what I considered most admirable
+presence of mind.
+
+"What name did you say?" cried Mrs. Desberger, eager enough to learn all
+she could of her late mysterious lodger.
+
+"I had rather not tell her name," protested Lena, with a timid air that
+admirably fitted her rather doll-like prettiness. "_She_ didn't tell you
+what it was, and _I_ don't think I ought to."
+
+Good for little Lena! And she did not even know for whom or what she was
+playing the _role_ I had set her.
+
+"I thought you said Mary. But I won't be inquisitive with you. I wasn't
+so with her. But where was I in my story? Oh, I got her so she could
+speak, and afterwards I helped her up-stairs; but she didn't stay there
+long. When I came back at lunch time--I have to do my marketing no
+matter what happens--I found her sitting before a table with her head on
+her hands. She had been weeping, but her face was quite composed now and
+almost hard.
+
+"'O you good woman!' she cried as I came in. 'I want to thank you.' But
+I wouldn't let her go on wasting words like that, and presently she was
+saying quite wildly: 'I want to begin a new life. I want to act as if I
+had never had a yesterday. I have had trouble, overwhelming trouble, but
+I will get something out of existence yet. I _will_ live, and in order
+to do so, I will work. Have you a paper, Mrs. Desberger, I want to look
+at the advertisements?' I brought her a _Herald_ and went to preside at
+my lunch table. When I saw her again she looked almost cheerful. 'I have
+found just what I want,' she cried, 'a companion's place. But I cannot
+apply in this dress,' and she looked at the great puffs of her silk
+blouse as if they gave her the horrors, though why, I cannot imagine,
+for they were in the latest style and rich enough for a millionaire's
+daughter, though as to colors I like brighter ones myself. 'Would
+you'--she was very timid about it--'buy me some things if I gave you the
+money?'
+
+"If there is one thing more than another that I like, it is to shop, so
+I expressed my willingness to oblige her, and that afternoon I set out
+with a nice little sum of money to buy her some clothes. I should have
+enjoyed it more if she had let me do my own choosing--I saw the
+loveliest pink and green blouse--but she was very set about what she
+wanted, and so I just got her some plain things which I think even you,
+ma'am, would have approved of. I brought them home myself, for she
+wanted to apply immediately for the place she had seen advertised, but,
+O dear, when I went up to her room----"
+
+"Was she gone?" burst in Lena.
+
+"O no, but there was such a smudge in it, and--and I could cry when I
+think of it--there in the grate were the remains of her beautiful silk
+blouse, all smoking and ruined. She had tried to burn it, and she had
+succeeded too. I could not get a piece out as big as my hand."
+
+"But you got some of it!" blurted out Lena, guided by a look which I
+gave her.
+
+"Yes, scraps, it was so handsome. I think I have a bit in my work-basket
+now."
+
+"O get it for me," urged Lena. "I want it to remember her by."
+
+"My work-basket is here." And going to a sort of _etagere_ covered with
+a thousand knick-knacks picked up at bargain counters, she opened a
+little cupboard and brought out a basket, from which she presently
+pulled a small square of silk. It was, as she said, of the richest
+weaving, and was, as I had not the least doubt, a portion of the dress
+worn by Mrs. Van Burnam from Haddam.
+
+"Yes, it was hers," said Lena, reading the expression of my face, and
+putting the scrap away very carefully in her pocket.
+
+"Well, I would have given her five dollars for that blouse," murmured
+Mrs. Desberger, regretfully. "But girls like her are so improvident."
+
+"And did she leave that day?" I asked, seeing that it was hard for this
+woman to tear her thoughts away from this coveted article.
+
+"Yes, ma'am. It was late, and I had but little hopes of her getting the
+situation she was after. But she promised to come back if she didn't;
+and as she did not come back I decided that she was more successful than
+I had anticipated."
+
+"And don't you know where she went? Didn't she confide in you at all?"
+
+"No; but as there were but three advertisements for a lady-companion in
+the _Herald_ that day, it will be easy to find her. Would you like to
+see those advertisements? I saved them out of curiosity."
+
+I assented, as you may believe, and she brought us the clippings at
+once. Two of them I read without emotion, but the third almost took my
+breath away. It was an advertisement for a lady-companion accustomed to
+the typewriter and of some taste in dressmaking, and the address given
+was that of Miss Althorpe.
+
+If this woman, steeped in misery and darkened by crime, should be there!
+
+As I shall not mention Mrs. Desberger again for some time, I will here
+say that at the first opportunity which presented itself I sent Lena to
+the shops with orders to buy and have sent to Mrs. Desberger the ugliest
+and most flaunting of silk blouses that could be found on Sixth Avenue;
+and as Lena's dimples were more than usually pronounced on her return, I
+have no doubt she chose one to suit the taste and warm the body of the
+estimable woman, whose kindly nature had made such a favorable
+impression upon me.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII.
+
+RUTH OLIVER.
+
+
+From Mrs. Desberger's I rode immediately to Miss Althorpe's, for the
+purpose of satisfying myself at once as to the presence there of the
+unhappy fugitive I was tracing.
+
+Six o'clock Sunday night is not a favorable hour for calling at a young
+lady's house, especially when that lady has a lover who is in the habit
+of taking tea with the family. But I was in a mood to transgress all
+rules and even to forget the rights of lovers. Besides, much is forgiven
+a woman of my stamp, especially by a person of the good sense and
+amiability of Miss Althorpe.
+
+That I was not mistaken in my calculations was evident from the greeting
+I received. Miss Althorpe came forward as graciously and with as little
+surprise in her manner as any one could expect under the circumstances,
+and for a moment I was so touched by her beauty and the unaffected charm
+of her manners that I forgot my errand and only thought of the pleasure
+of meeting a lady who fairly comes up to the standard one has secretly
+set for one's self. Of course she is much younger than I--some say she
+is only twenty-three; but a lady is a lady at any age, and Ella
+Althorpe might be a model for a much older woman than myself.
+
+The room in which we were seated was a large one, and though I could
+hear Mr. Stone's voice in the adjoining apartment, I did not fear to
+broach the subject I had come to discuss.
+
+"You may think this intrusion an odd one," I began, "but I believe you
+advertised a few days ago for a young lady-companion. Have you been
+suited, Miss Althorpe?"
+
+"O yes; I have a young person with me whom I like very much."
+
+"Ah, you are supplied! Is she any one you know?"
+
+"No, she is a stranger, and what is more, she brought no recommendations
+with her. But her appearance is so attractive and her desire for the
+place was so great, that I consented to try her. And she is very
+satisfactory, poor girl! very satisfactory indeed!"
+
+Ah, here was an opportunity for questions. Without showing too much
+eagerness and yet with a proper show of interest, I smilingly remarked:
+
+"No one can be called poor long who remains under your roof, Miss
+Althorpe. But perhaps she has lost friends; so many nice girls are
+thrown upon their own resources by the death of relatives?"
+
+"She does not wear mourning; but she is in some great trouble for all
+that. But this cannot interest you, Miss Butterworth; have you some
+_protege_ whom you wished to recommend for the position?"
+
+I heard her, but did not answer at once. In fact, I was thinking how to
+proceed. Should I take her into my confidence, or should I continue in
+the ambiguous manner in which I had begun. Seeing her smile, I became
+conscious of the awkward silence.
+
+"Pardon me," said I, resuming my best manner, "but there is something I
+want to say which may strike you as peculiar."
+
+"O no," said she.
+
+"I _am_ interested in the girl you have befriended, and for very
+different reasons from those you suppose. I fear--I have great reason to
+fear--that she is not just the person you would like to harbor under
+your roof."
+
+"Indeed! Why, what do you know about her? Anything bad, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+I shook my head, and prayed her first to tell me how the girl looked and
+under what circumstances she came to her; for I was desirous of making
+no mistake concerning her identity with the person of whom I was in
+search.
+
+"She is a sweet-looking girl," was the answer I received; "not
+beautiful, but interesting in expression and manner. She has brown
+hair,"--I shuddered,--"brown eyes, and a mouth that would be lovely if
+it ever smiled. In fact, she is very attractive and so lady-like that I
+have desired to make a companion of her. But while attentive to all her
+duties, and manifestly grateful to me for the home I have given her, she
+shows so little desire for company or conversation that I have desisted
+for the last day or so from urging her to speak at all. But you asked me
+under what circumstances she came to me?"
+
+"Yes, on what day, and at what time of day? Was she dressed well, or did
+her clothes look shabby?"
+
+"She came on the very day I advertised; the eighteenth--yes, it was the
+eighteenth of this month; and she was dressed, so far as I noticed, very
+neatly. Indeed, her clothes appeared to be new. They needed to have
+been, for she brought nothing with her save what was contained in a
+small hand-bag."
+
+"Also new?" I suggested.
+
+"Very likely; I did not observe."
+
+"O Miss Althorpe!" I exclaimed, this time with considerable vehemence,
+"I fear, or rather I hope, she is the woman I want."
+
+"_You_ want!"
+
+"Yes, _I_; but I cannot tell you for what just yet. I must be sure, for
+I would not subject an innocent person to suspicion any more than you
+would."
+
+"Suspicion! She is not honest, then? That would worry me, Miss
+Butterworth, for the house is full now, as you know, of wedding
+presents, and--But I cannot believe such a thing of _her_. It is some
+other fault she has, less despicable and degrading."
+
+"I do not say she has any faults; I only said I feared. What name does
+she go by?"
+
+"Oliver; Ruth Oliver."
+
+Again I thought of the O. R. on the clothes at the laundry.
+
+"I wish I could see her," I ventured. "I would give anything for a peep
+at her face unobserved."
+
+"I don't know how I can manage _that_; she is very shy, and never shows
+herself in the front of the house. She even dines in her own room,
+having begged for that privilege till after I was married and the
+household settled on a new basis. But you can go to her room with me. If
+she is all right, she can have no objection to a visitor; and if she is
+_not_, it would be well for me to know it at once."
+
+"Certainly," said I, and rose to follow her, turning over in my mind how
+I should account to this young woman for my intrusion. I had just
+arrived at what I considered a sensible conclusion, when Miss Althorpe,
+leaning towards me, said with a whole-souled impetuosity for which I
+could not but admire her:
+
+"The girl is very nervous, she looks and acts like a person who has had
+some frightful shock. Don't alarm her, Miss Butterworth, and don't
+accuse her of anything wrong too suddenly. Perhaps she is innocent, and
+perhaps if she is not innocent, she has been driven into evil by very
+great temptations. I am sorry for her, whether she is simply unhappy or
+deeply remorseful. For I never saw a sweeter face, or eyes with such
+boundless depths of misery in them."
+
+Just what Mrs. Desberger had said! Strange, but I began to feel a
+certain sort of sympathy for the wretched being I was hunting down.
+
+"I will be careful," said I. "I merely want to satisfy myself that she
+is the same girl I heard of last from a Mrs. Desberger."
+
+Miss Althorpe, who was now half-way up the rich staircase which makes
+her house one of the most remarkable in the city, turned and gave me a
+quick look over her shoulder.
+
+"I don't know Mrs. Desberger," she remarked.
+
+At which I smiled. Did she think Mrs. Desberger in society?
+
+At the end of an upper passage-way we paused.
+
+"This is the door," whispered Miss Althorpe. "Perhaps I had better go in
+first and see if she is at all prepared for company."
+
+I was glad to have her do so, for I felt as if I needed to prepare
+myself for encountering this young girl, over whom, in my mind, hung
+the dreadful suspicion of murder.
+
+But the time between Miss Althorpe's knock and her entrance, short as it
+was, was longer than that which elapsed between her going in and her
+hasty reappearance.
+
+"You can have your wish," said she. "She is lying on her bed asleep, and
+you can see her without being observed. But," she entreated, with a
+passionate grip of my arm, which proclaimed her warm nature, "doesn't it
+seem a little like taking advantage of her?"
+
+"Circumstances justify it in this case," I replied, admiring the
+consideration of my hostess, but not thinking it worth while to emulate
+it. And with very little ceremony I pushed open the door and entered the
+room of the so-called Ruth Oliver.
+
+The hush and quiet which met me, though nothing more than I had reason
+to expect, gave me my first shock, and the young figure outstretched on
+a bed of dainty whiteness, my second. Everything about me was so
+peaceful, and the delicate blue and white of the room so expressive of
+innocence and repose, that my feet instinctively moved more softly over
+the polished floor and paused, when they did pause, before that dimly
+shrouded bed, with something like hesitation in their usually emphatic
+tread.
+
+The face of that bed's occupant, which I could now plainly see, may have
+had an influence in producing this effect. It was so rounded with
+health, and yet so haggard with trouble. Not knowing whether Miss
+Althorpe was behind me or not, but too intent upon the sleeping girl to
+care, I bent over the half-averted features and studied them carefully.
+
+They were indeed Madonna-like, something which I had not expected,
+notwithstanding the assurances I had received to that effect, and while
+distorted with suffering, amply accounted for the interest shown in her
+by the good-hearted Mrs. Desberger and the cultured Miss Althorpe.
+
+Resenting this beauty, which so poorly accommodated itself to the
+character of the woman who possessed it, I leaned nearer, searching for
+some defect in her loveliness, when I saw that the struggle and anguish
+visible in her expression were due to some dream she was having.
+
+Moved, even against my will, by the touching sight of her trembling
+eyelids and working mouth, I was about to wake her when I was stopped by
+the gentle touch of Miss Althorpe on my shoulder.
+
+"Is she the girl you are looking for?"
+
+I gave one quick glance around the room, and my eyes lighted on the
+little blue pin-cushion on the satin-wood bureau.
+
+"Did you put those pins there?" I asked, pointing to a dozen or more
+black pins grouped in one corner.
+
+"_I_ did not, no; and I doubt if Crescenze did. Why?"
+
+I drew a small black pin from my belt where I had securely fastened it,
+and carrying it over to the cushion, compared it with those I saw. They
+were identical.
+
+"A small matter," I inwardly decided, "but it points in the right
+direction"; then, in answer to Miss Althorpe, added aloud: "I fear she
+is. At least I have seen no reason yet for doubting it. But I must make
+sure. Will you allow me to wake her?"
+
+"O it seems cruel! She is suffering enough already. See how she twists
+and turns!"
+
+"It will be a mercy, it seems to me, to rouse her from dreams so full of
+pain and trouble."
+
+"Perhaps, but I will leave you alone to do it. What will you say to her?
+How account for your intrusion?"
+
+"O I will find means, and they won't be too cruel either. You had better
+stand back by the bureau and listen. I think I had rather not have the
+responsibility of doing this thing alone."
+
+Miss Althorpe, not understanding my hesitation, and only half
+comprehending my errand, gave me a doubtful look but retreated to the
+spot I had mentioned, and whether it was the rustle of her silk dress or
+whether the dream of the girl we were watching had reached its climax, a
+momentary stir took place in the outstretched form before me, and next
+moment she was flinging up her hands with a cry.
+
+"O how can I touch her! She is dead, and I have never touched a dead
+body."
+
+I fell back breathing hard, and Miss Althorpe's eyes, meeting mine, grew
+dark with horror. Indeed she was about to utter a cry herself, but I
+made an imperative motion, and she merely shrank farther away towards
+the door.
+
+Meantime I had bent forward and laid my hand on the trembling figure
+before me.
+
+"Miss Oliver," I said, "rouse yourself, I pray. I have a message for you
+from Mrs. Desberger."
+
+She turned her head, looked at me like a person in a daze, then slowly
+moved and sat up.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked, surveying me and the space about her with
+eyes which seemed to take in nothing till they lit upon Miss Althorpe's
+figure standing in an attitude of mingled shame and sympathy by the
+half-open door.
+
+"Oh, Miss Althorpe!" she entreated, "I pray you to excuse me. I did not
+know you wanted me. I have been asleep."
+
+"It is this lady who wants you," answered Miss Althorpe. "She is a
+friend of mine and one in whom you can confide."
+
+"Confide!" This was a word to rouse her. She turned livid, and in her
+eyes as she looked my way both terror and surprise were visible. "Why
+should you think I had anything to confide? If I had, I should not pass
+by you, Miss Althorpe, for another."
+
+There were tears in her voice, and I had to remember the victim just
+laid away in Woodlawn, not to bestow much more compassion on this woman
+than she rightfully deserved. She had a magnetic voice and a magnetic
+presence, but that was no reason why I should forget what she had done.
+
+"No one asks for your confidence," I protested, "though it might not
+hurt you to accept a friend whenever you can get one. I merely wish, as
+I said before, to give you a message from Mrs. Desberger, under whose
+roof you stayed before coming here."
+
+"I am obliged to you," she responded, rising to her feet, and trembling
+very much. "Mrs. Desberger is a kind woman; what does she want of me?"
+
+So I was on the right track; she acknowledged Mrs. Desberger.
+
+"Nothing but to return you this. It fell out of your pocket while you
+were dressing." And I handed her the little red pin-cushion I had taken
+from the Van Burnams' front room.
+
+She looked at it, shrunk violently back, and with difficulty prevented
+herself from showing the full depth of her feelings.
+
+"I don't know anything about it. It is not mine, I don't know it!" And
+her hair stirred on her forehead as she gazed at the small object lying
+in the palm of my hand, proving to me that she saw again before her all
+the horrors of the house from which it had been taken.
+
+"Who are _you_?" she suddenly demanded, tearing her eyes from this
+simple little cushion and fixing them wildly on my face. "Mrs. Desberger
+never sent me this. I----"
+
+"You are right to stop there," I interposed, and then paused, feeling
+that I had forced a situation which I hardly knew how to handle.
+
+The instant's pause she had given herself seemed to restore her
+self-possession. Leaving me, she moved towards Miss Althorpe.
+
+"I don't know who this lady is," said she, "or what her errand here with
+me may mean. But I hope that it is nothing that will force me to leave
+this house which is my only refuge."
+
+Miss Althorpe, too greatly prejudiced in favor of this girl to hear this
+appeal unmoved, notwithstanding the show of guilt with which she had met
+my attack, smiled faintly as she answered:
+
+"Nothing short of the best reasons would make me part from you now. If
+there are such reasons, you will spare me the pain of making use of
+them. I think I can so far trust you, Miss Oliver."
+
+No answer; the young girl looked as if she could not speak.
+
+"Are there any reasons why I should not retain you in my house, Miss
+Oliver?" the gentle mistress of many millions went on. "If there are,
+you will not wish to stay, I know, when you consider how near my
+marriage day is, and how undisturbed my mind should be by any cares
+unattending my wedding."
+
+And still the girl was silent, though her lips moved slightly as if she
+would have spoken if she could.
+
+"But perhaps you are only unfortunate," suggested Miss Althorpe, with an
+almost angelic look of pity--I don't often see angels in women. "If that
+is so, God forbid that you should leave my protection or my house. What
+do you say, Miss Oliver?"
+
+"That you are God's messenger to me," burst from the other, as if her
+tongue had been suddenly loosed. "That misfortune, and not wickedness,
+has driven me to your doors; and that there is no reason why I should
+leave you unless my secret sufferings make my presence unwelcome to
+you."
+
+Was this the talk of a frivolous woman caught unawares in the meshes of
+a fearful crime? If so, she was a more accomplished actress than we had
+been led to expect even from her own words to her disgusted husband.
+
+"You look like one accustomed to tell the truth," proceeded Miss
+Althorpe. "Do you not think you have made some mistake, Miss
+Butterworth?" she asked, approaching me with an ingenuous smile.
+
+I had forgotten to caution her not to make use of my name, and when it
+fell from her lips I looked to see her unhappy companion recoil from me
+with a scream.
+
+But strange to say she evinced no emotion, and seeing this, I became
+more distrustful of her than ever; for, for her to hear without apparent
+interest the name of the chief witness in the inquest which had been
+held over the remains of the woman with whose death she had been more or
+less intimately concerned, argued powers of duplicity such as are only
+associated with guilt or an extreme simplicity of character. And she was
+not simple, as the least glance from her deep eyes amply showed.
+
+Recognizing, therefore, that open measures would not do with this woman,
+I changed my manner at once, and responding to Miss Althorpe, with a
+gracious smile, remarked with an air of sudden conviction:
+
+"Perhaps I have made some mistake. Miss Oliver's words sound very
+ingenuous, and I am disposed, if you are, to take her at her word. It is
+so easy to draw false conclusions in this world." And I put back the
+pin-cushion into my pocket with an air of being through with the matter,
+which seemed to impose upon the young woman, for she smiled faintly,
+showing a row of splendid teeth as she did so.
+
+"Let me apologize," I went on, "if I have intruded upon Miss Oliver
+against her wishes." And with one comprehensive look about the room
+which took in all that was visible of her simple wardrobe and humble
+belongings, I led the way out. Miss Althorpe immediately followed.
+
+"This is a much more serious affair than I have led you to suppose," I
+confided to her as soon as we were at a suitable distance from Miss
+Oliver's door. "If she is the person I think her, she is amenable to
+law, and the police will have to be notified of her whereabouts."
+
+"She _has_ stolen, then?"
+
+"Her fault is a very grave one," I returned.
+
+Miss Althorpe, deeply troubled, looked about her as if for guidance. I,
+who could have given it to her, made no movement to attract her
+attention to myself, but waited calmly for her own decision in this
+matter.
+
+"I wish you would let me consult Mr. Stone," she ventured at last. "I
+think his judgment might help us."
+
+"I had rather take no one into our confidence,--especially no man. He
+would consider your welfare only and not hers."
+
+I did not consider myself obliged to acknowledge that the work upon
+which I was engaged could not be shared by one of the male sex without
+lessening my triumph over Mr. Gryce.
+
+"Mr. Stone is very just," she remarked, "but he might be biased in a
+matter of this kind. What way do you see out of the difficulty?"
+
+"Only this. To settle at once and unmistakably, whether she is the
+person who carried certain articles from the house of a friend of mine.
+If she is, there will be some evidence of the fact visible in her room
+or on her person. She has not been out, I believe?"
+
+"Not since she came into the house."
+
+"And has remained for the most part in her own apartment?"
+
+"Always, except when I have summoned her to my assistance."
+
+"Then what I want to know I can learn there. But how can I make my
+investigations without offence?"
+
+"What do you want to know, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Whether she has in her keeping some half dozen rings of considerable
+value."
+
+"Oh! she could conceal rings so easily."
+
+"She does conceal them; I have no more doubt of it than I have of my
+standing here; but I must know it before I shall feel ready to call the
+attention of the police to her."
+
+"Yes, we should both know it. Poor girl! poor girl! to be suspected of a
+crime! How great must have been her temptation!"
+
+"_I_ can manage this matter, Miss Althorpe, if you will entrust it to
+me."
+
+"How, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"The girl is ill; let me take care of her."
+
+"Really ill?"
+
+"Yes, or will be so before morning. There is fever in her veins; she has
+worried herself ill. Oh, I will be good to her."
+
+This in answer to a doubtful look from Miss Althorpe.
+
+"This is a difficult problem you have set me," that lady remarked after
+a moment's thought. "But anything seems better than sending her away, or
+sending for the police. But do you suppose she will allow you in her
+room?"
+
+"I think so; if her fever increases she will not notice much that goes
+on about her, and I think it will increase; I have seen enough of
+sickness to be something of a judge."
+
+"And you will search her while she is unconscious?"
+
+"Don't look so horrified, Miss Althorpe. I have promised you I will not
+worry her. She may need assistance in getting to bed. While I am giving
+it to her I can judge if there is anything concealed upon her person."
+
+"Yes, perhaps."
+
+"At all events, we shall know more than we do now. Shall I venture, Miss
+Althorpe?"
+
+"I cannot say no," was the hesitating answer; "you seem so very much in
+earnest."
+
+"And I am in earnest. I have reasons for being; consideration for you is
+one of them."
+
+"I do not doubt it. And now will you come down to supper, Miss
+Butterworth?"
+
+"No," I replied. "My duty is here. Only send word to Lena that she is to
+drive home and take care of my house in my absence. I shall want
+nothing, so do not worry about me. Join your lover now, dear; and do not
+bestow another thought upon this self-styled Miss Oliver or what I am
+about to do in her room."
+
+
+
+
+XXIV.
+
+A HOUSE OF CARDS.
+
+
+I did not return immediately to my patient. I waited till her supper
+came up. Then I took the tray, and assured by the face of the girl who
+brought it that Miss Althorpe had explained my presence in her house
+sufficiently for me to feel at my ease before her servants, I carried in
+the dainty repast she had provided and set it down on the table.
+
+The poor woman was standing where we had left her; but her whole figure
+showed languor, and she more than leaned against the bedpost behind her.
+As I looked up from the tray and met her eyes, she shuddered and seemed
+to be endeavoring to understand who I was and what I was doing in her
+room. My premonitions in regard to her were well based. She was in a
+raging fever, and was already more than half oblivious to her
+surroundings.
+
+Approaching her, I spoke as gently as I could, for her hapless condition
+appealed to me in spite of my well founded prejudices against her; and
+seeing she was growing incapable of response, I drew her up on the bed
+and began to undress her.
+
+I half expected her to recoil at this, or at least to make some show of
+alarm, but she submitted to my ministrations almost gratefully, and
+neither shrank nor questioned me till I laid my hands upon her shoes.
+Then indeed she quivered, and drew her feet away with such an appearance
+of terror that I was forced to desist from my efforts or drive her into
+violent delirium.
+
+This satisfied me that Louise Van Burnam lay before me. The scar
+concerning which so much had been said in the papers would be ever
+present in the thoughts of this woman as the tell-tale mark by which she
+might be known, and though at this moment she was on the borders of
+unconsciousness, the instinct of self-preservation still remained in
+sufficient force to prompt her to make this effort to protect herself
+from discovery.
+
+I had told Miss Althorpe that my chief reason for intruding upon Miss
+Oliver, was to determine if she had in her possession certain rings
+supposed to have been taken from a friend of mine; and while this was in
+a measure true--the rings being an important factor in the proof I was
+accumulating against her,--I was not so anxious to search for them at
+this time as to find the scar which would settle at once the question of
+her identity.
+
+When she drew her foot away from me then, so violently, I saw that I
+needed to search no farther for the evidence required, and could give
+myself up to making her comfortable. So I bathed her temples, now
+throbbing with heat, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing her fall
+into a deep and uneasy slumber. Then I tried again to draw off her
+shoes, but the start she gave and the smothered cry which escaped her
+warned me that I must wait yet longer before satisfying my curiosity; so
+I desisted at once, and out of pure compassion left her to get what good
+she might from the lethargy into which she had fallen.
+
+Being hungry, or at least feeling the necessity of some slight aliment
+to help me sustain the fatigues of the night, I sat down now at the
+table and partook of some of the dainties with which Miss Althorpe had
+kindly provided me. After which I made out a list of such articles as
+were necessary to my proper care of the patient who had so strangely
+fallen into my hands, and then, feeling that I had a right at last to
+indulge in pure curiosity, I turned my attention to the clothing I had
+taken from the self-styled Miss Oliver.
+
+The dress was a simple gray one, and the skirts and underclothing all
+white. But the latter was of the finest texture, and convinced me,
+before I had given them more than a glance, that they were the property
+of Howard Van Burnam's wife. For, besides the exquisite quality of the
+material, there were to be seen, on the edges of the bands and sleeves,
+the marks of stitches and clinging threads of lace, where the trimming
+had been torn off, and in one article especially, there were tucks such
+as you see come from the hands of French needlewomen only.
+
+This, taken with what had gone before, was proof enough to satisfy me
+that I was on the right track, and after Crescenze had come and gone
+with the tray and all was quiet in this remote part of the house, I
+ventured to open a closet door at the foot of the bed. A brown silk
+skirt was hanging within, and in the pocket of that skirt I found a
+purse so gay and costly that all doubt vanished as to its being the
+property of Howard's luxurious wife.
+
+There were several bills in this purse, amounting to about fifteen
+dollars in money, but no change and no memoranda, which latter seemed a
+pity. Restoring the purse to its place and the skirt to its peg, I came
+softly back to the bedside and examined my patient still more carefully
+than I had done before. She was asleep and breathing heavily, but even
+with this disadvantage her face had its own attraction, an attraction
+which evidently had more or less influenced men, and which, for the
+reason perhaps that I have something masculine in my nature, I
+discovered to be more or less influencing me, notwithstanding my hatred
+of an intriguing character.
+
+However, it was not her beauty I came to study, but her hair, her
+complexion, and her hands. The former was brown, the brown of that same
+lock I remembered to have seen in the jury's hands at the inquest; and
+her skin, where fever had not flushed it, was white and smooth. So were
+her hands, and yet they were not a lady's hands. That I noticed when I
+first saw her. The marks of the rings she no longer wore, were not
+enough to blind me to the fact that her fingers lacked the distinctive
+shape and nicety of Miss Althorpe's, say, or even of the Misses Van
+Burnam; and though I do not object to this, for I like strong-looking,
+capable hands myself, they served to help me understand the face, which
+otherwise would have looked too spiritual for a woman of the peevish and
+self-satisfied character of Louise Van Burnam. On this innocent and
+appealing expression she had traded in her short and none too happy
+career. And as I noted it, I recalled a sentence in Miss Ferguson's
+testimony, in which she alluded to Mrs. Van Burnam's confidential remark
+to her husband upon the power she exercised over people when she raised
+her eyes in entreaty towards them. "Am I not pretty," she had said,
+"when I am in distress and looking up in this way?" It was the
+suggestion of a scheming woman, but from what I had seen and was seeing
+of the woman before me, I could imagine the picture she would thus make,
+and I do not think she overrated its effects.
+
+Withdrawing from her side once more, I made a tour of the room. Nothing
+escaped my eyes; nothing was too small to engage my attention. But while
+I failed to see anything calculated to shake my confidence in the
+conclusions I had come to, I saw but little to confirm them. This was
+not strange; for, apart from a few toilet articles and some
+knitting-work on a shelf, she appeared to have no belongings; everything
+else in sight being manifestly the property of Miss Althorpe. Even the
+bureau drawers were empty, and her bag, found under a small table, had
+not so much in it as a hair-pin, though I searched it inside and out for
+her rings, which I was positive she had with her, even if she dared not
+wear them.
+
+When every spot was exhausted I sat down and began to brood over what
+lay before this poor being, whose flight and the great efforts she made
+at concealment proved only too conclusively the fatal part she had
+played in the crime for which her husband had been arrested. I had
+reached her arraignment before a magistrate, and was already imagining
+her face with the appeal in it which such an occasion would call forth,
+when there came a low knock at the door, and Miss Althorpe re-entered.
+
+She had just said good-night to her lover, and her face recalled to me a
+time when my own cheek was round and my eye was bright and--Well! what
+is the use of dwelling on matters so long buried in oblivion! A
+maiden-woman, as independent as myself, need not envy any girl the
+doubtful blessing of a husband. I chose to be independent, and I am, and
+what more is there to be said about it? Pardon the digression.
+
+"Is Miss Oliver any better?" asked Miss Althorpe; "and have you
+found----"
+
+I put up my finger in warning. Of all things, it was most necessary that
+the sick woman should not know my real reason for being there.
+
+"She is asleep," I answered quietly, "and I _think_ I have found out
+what is the matter with her."
+
+Miss Althorpe seemed to understand. She cast a look of solicitude
+towards the bed and then turned towards me.
+
+"I cannot rest," said she, "and will sit with you for a little while, if
+you don't mind."
+
+I felt the implied compliment keenly.
+
+"You can do me no greater favor," I returned.
+
+She drew up an easy-chair. "That is for you," she smiled, and sat down
+in a little low rocker at my side.
+
+But she did not talk. Her thoughts seemed to have recurred to some very
+near and sweet memory, for she smiled softly to herself and looked so
+deeply happy that I could not resist saying:
+
+"These are delightful days for you, Miss Althorpe."
+
+She sighed softly--how much a sigh can reveal!--and looked up at me
+brightly. I think she was glad I spoke. Even such reserved natures as
+hers have their moments of weakness, and she had no mother or sister to
+appeal to.
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I am very happy; happier than most girls are, I
+think, just before marriage. It is such a revelation to me--this
+devotion and admiration from one I love. I have had so little of it in
+my life. My father----"
+
+She stopped; I knew why she stopped. I gave her a look of encouragement.
+
+"People have always been anxious for my happiness, and have warned me
+against matrimony since I was old enough to know the difference between
+poverty and wealth. Before I was out of short dresses I was warned
+against fortune-seekers. It was not good advice; it has stood in the way
+of my happiness all my life, made me distrustful and unnaturally
+reserved. But now--ah, Miss Butterworth, Mr. Stone is so estimable a
+man, so brilliant and so universally admired, that all my doubts of
+manly worth and disinterestedness have disappeared as if by magic. I
+trust him implicitly, and--Do I talk too freely? Do you object to such
+confidences as these?"
+
+"On the contrary," I answered. I liked Miss Althorpe so much and agreed
+with her so thoroughly in her opinion of this man, that it was a real
+pleasure to me to hear her speak so unreservedly.
+
+"We are not a foolish couple," she went on, warming with the charm of
+her topic till she looked beautiful in the half light thrown upon her by
+the shaded lamp. "We are interested in people and things, and get half
+our delight from the perfect congeniality of our natures. Mr. Stone has
+given up his club and all his bachelor pursuits since he knew me,
+and----"
+
+O love, if at any time in my life I have despised thee, I did not
+despise thee then! The look with which she finished this sentence would
+have moved a cynic.
+
+"Forgive me," she prayed. "It is the first time I have poured out my
+heart to any one of my own sex. It must sound strange to you, but it
+seemed natural while I was doing it, for you looked as if you could
+understand."
+
+This to me, to _me_, Amelia Butterworth, of whom men have said I had no
+more sentiment than a wooden image. I looked my appreciation, and she,
+blushing slightly, whispered in a delicious tone of mingled shyness and
+pride:
+
+"Only two weeks now, and I shall have some one to stand between me and
+the world. _You_ have never needed any one, Miss Butterworth, for you do
+not fear the world, but it awes and troubles me, and my whole heart
+glows with the thought that I shall be no longer alone in my sorrows or
+my joys, my perplexities or my doubts. Am I to blame for anticipating
+this with so much happiness?"
+
+I sighed. It was a less eloquent sigh than hers, but it was a distinct
+one and it had a distinct echo. Lifting my eyes, for I sat so as to face
+the bed, I was startled to observe my patient leaning towards us from
+her pillows, and staring upon us with eyes too hollow for tears but
+filled with unfathomable grief and yearning.
+
+She had heard this talk of love, she, the forsaken and crime-stained
+one. I shuddered and laid my hand on Miss Althorpe's.
+
+But I did not seek to stop the conversation, for as our looks met, the
+sick woman fell back and lapsed, or seemed to lapse, into immediate
+insensibility again.
+
+"Is Miss Oliver worse?" inquired Miss Althorpe.
+
+I rose and went to the bedside, renewed the bandages on my patient's
+head, and forced a drop or two of medicine between her half-shut lips.
+
+"No," I returned, "I think her fever is abating." And it was, though
+the suffering on her face was yet heart-rendingly apparent.
+
+"Is she asleep?"
+
+"She seems to be."
+
+Miss Althorpe made an effort.
+
+"I am not going to talk any more about myself." Then as I came back and
+sat down by her side, she quietly asked:
+
+"What do you think of the Van Burnam murder?"
+
+Dismayed at the introduction of this topic, I was about to put my hand
+over her mouth, when I noticed that her words had made no evident
+impression upon my patient, who lay quietly and with a more composed
+expression than when I left her bedside. This assured me, as nothing
+else could have done, that she was really asleep, or in that lethargic
+state which closes the eyes and ears to what is going on.
+
+"I think," said I, "that the young man Howard stands in a very
+unfortunate position. Circumstances certainly do look very black against
+him."
+
+"It is dreadful, unprecedently dreadful. I do not know what to think of
+it all. The Van Burnams have borne so good a name, and Franklin
+especially is held in such high esteem. I don't think anything more
+shocking has ever happened in this city, do you, Miss Butterworth? You
+saw it all, and should know. Poor, poor Mrs. Van Burnam!"
+
+"She is to be pitied!" I remarked, my eyes fixed on the immovable face
+of my patient.
+
+"When I heard that a young woman had been found dead in the Van Burnam
+mansion," Miss Althorpe pursued with such evident interest in this new
+theme that I did not care to interrupt her unless driven to it by some
+token of consciousness on the part of my patient, "my thoughts flew
+instinctively to Howard's wife. Though why, I cannot say, for I never
+had any reason to expect so tragic a termination to their marriage
+relations. And I cannot believe now that he killed her, can you, Miss
+Butterworth? Howard has too much of the gentleman in him to do a brutal
+thing, and there was brutality as well as adroitness in the perpetration
+of this crime. Have you thought of that, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Yes," I nodded, "I have looked at the crime on all sides."
+
+"Mr. Stone," said she, "feels dreadfully over the part he was forced to
+play at the inquest. But he had no choice, the police would have his
+testimony."
+
+"That was right," I declared.
+
+"It has made us doubly anxious to have Howard free himself. But he does
+not seem able to do so. If his wife had only known----"
+
+Was there a quiver in the lids I was watching? I half raised my hand and
+then I let it drop again, convinced that I had been mistaken. Miss
+Althorpe at once continued:
+
+"She was not a bad-hearted woman, only vain and frivolous. She had set
+her heart on ruling in the great leather-merchant's house, and she did
+not know how to bear her disappointment. I have sympathy for her myself.
+When I saw her----"
+
+Saw her! I started, upsetting a small work-basket at my side which for
+once I did not stop to pick up.
+
+"You have seen her!" I repeated, dropping my eyes from the patient to
+fix them in my unbounded astonishment on Miss Althorpe's face.
+
+"Yes, more than once. She was--if she were living I would not repeat
+this--a nursery governess in a family where I once visited. That was
+before her marriage; before she had met either Howard or Franklin Van
+Burnam."
+
+I was so overwhelmed, that for once I found difficulty in speaking. I
+glanced from her to the white form in the shrouded bed, and back again
+in ever-growing astonishment and dismay.
+
+"You have seen her!" I at last reiterated in what I meant to be a
+whisper, but which fell little short of being a cry, "and you took in
+this girl?"
+
+Her surprise at this burst was almost equal to mine.
+
+"Yes, why not; what have they in common?"
+
+I sank back, my house of cards was trembling to its foundations.
+
+"Do they--do they not look alike?" I gasped. "I thought--I imagined----"
+
+"Louise Van Burnam look like that girl! O no, they were very different
+sort of women. What made you think there was any resemblance between
+them?"
+
+I did not answer her; the structure I had reared with such care and
+circumspection had fallen about my ears and I lay gasping under the
+ruins.
+
+
+
+
+XXV.
+
+"THE RINGS! WHERE ARE THE RINGS?"
+
+
+Had Mr. Gryce been present, I would have instantly triumphed over my
+disappointment, bottled up my chagrin, and been the inscrutable Amelia
+Butterworth before he could say, "Something has gone wrong with this
+woman!" But Mr. Gryce was not present, and though I did not betray the
+half I felt. I yet showed enough emotion for Miss Althorpe to remark:
+
+"You seemed surprised by what I have told you. Has any one said that
+these two women were alike?"
+
+Having to speak, I became myself again in a trice, and nodded
+vigorously.
+
+"Some one was so foolish," I remarked.
+
+Miss Althorpe looked thoughtful. While she was interested she was not so
+interested as to take the subject in fully. Her own concerns made her
+abstracted, and I was very glad of it.
+
+"Louise Van Burnam had a sharp chin and a very cold blue eye. Yet her
+face was a fascinating one to some."
+
+"Well, it was a dreadful tragedy!" I observed, and tried to turn the
+subject aside, which fortunately I was able to do after a short effort.
+
+Then I picked the basket up, and perceiving the sick woman's lips
+faintly moving, I went over to her and found her murmuring to herself.
+
+As Miss Althorpe had risen when I did, I did not dare to listen to these
+murmurs, but when my charming hostess had bidden me good-night, with
+many injunctions not to tire myself, and to be sure and remember that a
+decanter and a plate of biscuits stood on a table outside, I hastened
+back to the bedside, and leaning over my patient, endeavored to catch
+the words as they fell from her lips.
+
+As they were simple and but the echo of those running at that very
+moment through my own brain, I had no difficulty in distinguishing them.
+
+"Van Burnam!" she was saying, "Van Burnam!" varied by a short "Howard!"
+and once by a doubtful "Franklin!"
+
+"Ah," thought I, with a sudden reaction, "she is the woman I seek, if
+she is not Louise Van Burnam." And unheeding the start she gave, I
+pulled off the blanket I had spread over her, and willy-nilly drew off
+her left shoe and stocking.
+
+Her bare ankle showed no scar, and covering it quickly up I took up her
+shoe. Immediately the trepidation she had shown at the approach of a
+stranger's hand towards that article of clothing was explained. In the
+lining around the top were sewn bills of no ordinary amount, and as the
+other shoe was probably used as a like depository, she naturally felt
+concern at any approach which might lead to a discovery of her little
+fortune.
+
+Amazed at a mystery possessing so many points of interest, I tucked the
+shoe in under the bedclothes and sat down to review the situation.
+
+The mistake I had made was in concluding that because the fugitive whose
+traces I had followed had worn the clothes of Louise Van Burnam, she
+must necessarily be that unfortunate lady. Now I saw that the murdered
+woman was Howard's wife after all, and this patient of mine her probable
+rival.
+
+But this necessitated an entire change in my whole line of reasoning. If
+the rival and not the wife lay before me, then which of the two
+accompanied him to the scene of tragedy? He had said it was his wife; I
+had proven to myself that it was the rival; was he right, or was I
+right, or were neither of us right?
+
+Not being able to decide, I fixed my mind upon another query. When did
+the two women exchange clothes, or rather, when did this woman procure
+the silk habiliments and elaborate adornments of her more opulent rival?
+Was it before either of them entered Mr. Van Burnam's house? Or was it
+after their encounter there?
+
+Running over in my mind certain little facts of which I had hitherto
+attempted no explanation, I grouped them together and sought amongst
+them for inspiration.
+
+These are the facts:
+
+1. One of the garments found on the murdered woman had been torn down
+the back. As it was a new one, it had evidently been subjected to some
+quick strain, not explainable by any appearance of struggle.
+
+2. The shoes and stockings found on the victim were the only articles
+she wore which could not be traced back to Altman's. In the re-dressing
+of the so-called Mrs. James Pope, these articles had not been changed.
+Could not that fact be explained by the presence of a considerable sum
+of money in her shoes?
+
+3. The going out bareheaded of a fugitive, anxious to avoid observation,
+leaving hat and gloves behind her in a dining-room closet.
+
+I had endeavored to explain this last anomalous action by her fear of
+being traced by so conspicuous an article as this hat; but it was not a
+satisfactory explanation to me then and much less so now.
+
+4. And last, and most vital of all, the words which I had heard fall
+from this half-conscious girl: "_O how can I touch her! She is dead, and
+I have never touched a dead body!_"
+
+Could inspiration fail me before such a list? Was it not evident that
+the change had been made after death, and by this seemingly sensitive
+girl's own hands?
+
+It was a horrible thought and led to others more horrible. For the very
+commission of such a revolting act argued a desire for concealment only
+to be explained by great guilt. She had been the offender and the wife
+the victim; and Howard--Well, his actions continued to be a mystery, but
+I would not admit his guilt even now. On the contrary, I saw his
+innocence in a still stronger light. For if he had openly or even
+covertly connived at his wife's death, would he have so immediately
+forsaken the accomplice of his guilt, to say nothing of leaving to her
+the dreadful task of concealing the crime? No, I would rather think that
+the tragedy took place after his departure, and that his action in
+denying his wife's identity, as long as it was possible to do so, was to
+be explained by the fact of his ignorance in regard to his wife's
+presence in the house where he had supposed himself to have simply left
+her rival. As the exchange made in the clothing worn by the two women
+could only have taken place later, and as he naturally judged the
+victim by her clothing, perhaps he was really deceived himself as to her
+identity. It was certainly not an improbable supposition, and accounted
+for much that was otherwise inexplicable in Mr. Van Burnam's conduct.
+
+But the rings? Why could I not find the rings? If my present reasoning
+were correct, this woman should have those evidences of guilt about her.
+But had I not searched for them in every available place without
+success? Annoyed at my failure to fix this one irrefutable proof of
+guilt upon her, I took up the knitting-work I saw in Miss Oliver's
+basket, and began to ply the needles by way of relief to my thoughts.
+But I had no sooner got well under way than some movement on the part of
+my patient drew my attention again to the bed, and I was startled by
+beholding her sitting up again, but this time with a look of fear rather
+than of suffering on her features.
+
+"Don't!" she gasped, pointing with an unsteady hand at the work in my
+hand. "The click, click of the needles is more than I can stand. Put
+them down, pray; put them down!"
+
+Her agitation was so great and her nervousness so apparent that I
+complied at once. However much I might be affected by her guilt, I was
+not willing to do the slightest thing to worry her nerves even at the
+expense of my own. As the needles fell from my hand, she sank back and a
+quick, short sigh escaped her lips. Then she was again quiet, and I
+allowed my thoughts to return to the old theme. The rings! the rings!
+Where were the rings, and was it impossible for me to find them?
+
+
+
+
+XXVI.
+
+A TILT WITH MR. GRYCE.
+
+
+At seven o'clock the next morning my patient was resting so quietly that
+I considered it safe to leave her for a short time. So I informed Miss
+Althorpe that I was obliged to go down-town on an important errand, and
+requested Crescenze to watch over the sick girl in my absence. As she
+agreed to this, I left the house as soon as breakfast was over and went
+immediately in search of Mr. Gryce. I wished to make sure that he knew
+nothing about the rings.
+
+It was eleven o'clock before I succeeded in finding him. As I was
+certain that a direct question would bring no answer, I dissembled my
+real intention as much as my principles would allow, and accosted him
+with the eager look of one who has great news to impart.
+
+"O, Mr. Gryce!" I impetuously cried, just as if I were really the weak
+woman he thought me, "I have found something; something in connection
+with the Van Burnam murder. You know I promised to busy myself about it
+if you arrested Howard Van Burnam."
+
+His smile was tantalizing in the extreme. "Found something?" he
+repeated. "And may I ask if you have been so good as to bring it with
+you?"
+
+He was playing with me, this aged and reputable detective. I subdued my
+anger, subdued my indignation even, and smiling much in his own way,
+answered briefly:
+
+"I never carry valuables on my person. A half-dozen expensive rings
+stand for too much money for me to run any undue risk with them."
+
+He was caressing his watch-chain as I spoke, and I noticed that he
+paused in this action for just an infinitesimal length of time as I said
+the word rings. Then he went on as before, but I knew I had caught his
+attention.
+
+"Of what rings do you speak, madam? Of those missing from Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hands?"
+
+I took a leaf from his book, and allowed myself to indulge in a little
+banter.
+
+"O, no," I remonstrated, "not those rings, of course. The Queen of
+Siam's rings, any rings but those in which we are specially interested."
+
+This meeting him on his own ground evidently puzzled him.
+
+"You are facetious, madam. What am I to gather from such levity? That
+success has crowned your efforts, and that you have found a guiltier
+party than the one now in custody?"
+
+"Possibly," I returned, limiting my advance by his. "But it would be
+going too fast to mention that yet. What I want to know is whether _you_
+have found the rings belonging to Mrs. Van Burnam?"
+
+My triumphant tone, the almost mocking accent I purposely gave to the
+word _you_, accomplished its purpose. He never dreamed I was playing
+with him; he thought I was bursting with pride; and casting me a sharp
+glance (the first, by the way, I had received from him), he inquired
+with perceptible interest:
+
+"Have _you?_"
+
+Instantly convinced that the whereabouts of these jewels was as little
+known to him as to me, I rose and prepared to leave. But seeing that he
+was not satisfied, and that he expected an answer, I assumed a
+mysterious air and quietly remarked:
+
+"If you will come to my house to-morrow I will explain myself. I am not
+prepared to more than intimate my discoveries to-day."
+
+But he was not the man to let one off so easily.
+
+"Excuse me," said he, "but matters of this kind do not admit of delay.
+The grand jury sits within the week, and any evidence worth presenting
+them must be collected at once. I must ask you to be frank with me, Miss
+Butterworth."
+
+"And I will be, to-morrow."
+
+"To-day," he insisted, "to-day."
+
+Seeing that I should gain nothing by my present course, I reseated
+myself, bestowing upon him a decidedly ambiguous smile as I did so.
+
+"You acknowledge then," said I, "that the old maid can tell you
+something after all. I thought you regarded all my efforts in the light
+of a jest. What has made you change your mind?"
+
+"Madam, I decline to bandy words. Have you found those rings, or have
+you not?"
+
+"I have _not_," said I, "but neither have you, and as that is what I
+wanted to make sure of, I will now take my leave without further
+ceremony."
+
+Mr. Gryce is not a profane man, but he allowed a word to slip from him
+which was not entirely one of blessing. He made amends for it next
+moment, however, by remarking:
+
+"Madam, I once said, as you will doubtless remember, that the day would
+come when I should find myself at your feet. That day has arrived. And
+now is there any other little cherished fact known to the police which
+you would like to have imparted to you?"
+
+I took his humiliation seriously.
+
+"You are very good," I rejoined, "but I will not trouble you for any
+_facts_,--_those_ I am enabled to glean for myself; but what I should
+like you to tell me is this: Whether if you came upon those rings in the
+possession of a person known to have been on the scene of crime at the
+time of its perpetration, you would not consider them as an
+incontrovertible proof of guilt?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," said he, with a sudden alteration in his manner which
+warned me that I must muster up all my strength if I would keep my
+secret till I was quite ready to part with it.
+
+"Then," said I, with a resolute movement towards the door, "that's the
+whole of my business for to-day. Good-morning, Mr. Gryce; to-morrow I
+shall expect you."
+
+He made me stop though my foot had crossed the threshold; not by word or
+look but simply by his fatherly manner.
+
+"Miss Butterworth," he observed, "the suspicions which you have
+entertained from the first have within the last few days assumed a
+definite form. In what direction do they point?--tell me."
+
+Some men and most women would have yielded to that imperative _tell me_!
+But there was no yielding in Amelia Butterworth. Instead of that I
+treated him to a touch of irony.
+
+"Is it possible," I asked, "that you think it worth while to consult
+_me_? I thought your eyes were too keen to seek assistance from mine.
+You are as confident as I am that Howard Van Burnam is innocent of the
+crime for which you have arrested him."
+
+A look that was dangerously insinuating crossed his face at this. He
+came forward rapidly and, joining me where I stood, said smilingly:
+
+"Let us join forces, Miss Butterworth. You have from the first refused
+to consider the younger son of Silas Van Burnam as guilty. Your reasons
+then were slight and hardly worth communicating. Have you any better
+ones to advance now? It is not too late to mention them, if you have."
+
+"It will not be too late to-morrow," I retorted.
+
+Convinced that I was not to be moved from my position, he gave me one of
+his low bows.
+
+"I forgot," said he, "that it was as a rival and not as a coadjutor you
+meddled in this matter." And he bowed again, this time with a sarcastic
+air I felt too self-satisfied to resent.
+
+"To-morrow, then?" said I.
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+At that I left him.
+
+I did not return immediately to Miss Althorpe. I visited Cox's millinery
+store, Mrs. Desberger's house, and the offices of the various city
+railways. But I got no clue to the rings; and finally satisfied that
+Miss Oliver, as I must now call her, had not lost or disposed of them on
+her way from Gramercy Park to her present place of refuge, I returned to
+Miss Althorpe's with even a greater determination than before to search
+that luxurious home till I found them.
+
+But a decided surprise awaited me. As the door opened I caught a
+glimpse of the butler's face, and noticing its embarrassed expression, I
+at once asked what had happened.
+
+His answer showed a strange mixture of hesitation and bravado.
+
+"Not much, ma'am; only Miss Althorpe is afraid you may not be pleased.
+Miss Oliver is gone, ma'am; she ran away while Crescenze was out of the
+room."
+
+
+
+
+XXVII.
+
+FOUND.
+
+
+I gave a low cry and rushed down the steps.
+
+"Don't go!" I called out to the driver. "I shall want you in ten
+minutes." And hurrying back, I ran up-stairs in a condition of mind such
+as I have no reason to be proud of. Happily Mr. Gryce was not there to
+see me.
+
+"Gone? Miss Oliver gone?" I cried to the maid whom I found trembling in
+a corner of the hall.
+
+"Yes, ma'am; it was my fault, ma'am. She was in bed so quiet, I thought
+I might step out for a minute, but when I came back her clothes were
+missing and she was gone. She must have slipped out at the front door
+while Dan was in the back hall. I don't see how ever she had the
+strength to do it."
+
+Nor did I. But I did not stop to reason about it; there was too much to
+be done. Rushing on, I entered the room I had left in such high hopes a
+few hours before. Emptiness was before me, and I realized what it was to
+be baffled at the moment of success. But I did not waste an instant in
+inactivity. I searched the closets and pulled open the drawers; found
+her coat and hat gone, but not Mrs. Van Burnam's brown skirt, though the
+purse had been taken out of the pocket.
+
+"Is her bag here?" I asked.
+
+Yes, it was in its old place under the table; and on the wash-stand and
+bureau were the simple toilet articles I had been told she had brought
+there. In what haste she must have fled to leave these necessities
+behind her!
+
+But the greatest shock I received was the sight of the knitting-work,
+with which I had so inconsiderately meddled the evening before, lying in
+ravelled heaps on the table, as if torn to bits in a frenzy. This was a
+proof that the fever was yet on her; and as I contemplated this fact I
+took courage, thinking that one in her condition would not be allowed to
+run the streets long, but would be picked up and put in some hospital.
+
+In this hope I began my search. Miss Althorpe, who came in just as I was
+about to leave the house, consented to telephone to Police Headquarters
+a description of the girl, with a request to be notified if such a
+person should be found in the streets or on the docks or at any of the
+station-houses that night. "Not," I assured her, as we left the
+telephone and I prepared to say good-bye for the day, "that you need
+expect her to be brought back to this house, for I do not mean that she
+shall ever darken your doors again. So let me know if they find her, and
+I will relieve you of all further responsibility in the matter."
+
+Then I started out.
+
+To name the streets I traversed or the places I visited that day, would
+take more space than I would like to devote to the subject. Dusk came,
+and I had failed in obtaining the least clue to her whereabouts; evening
+followed, and still no trace of the fugitive. What was I to do? Take Mr.
+Gryce into my confidence after all? That would be galling to my pride,
+but I began to fear I should have to submit to this humiliation when I
+happened to think of the Chinaman. To think of him once was to think of
+him twice, and to think of him twice was to be conscious of an
+irresistible desire to visit his place and find out if any one but
+myself had been there to inquire after the lost one's clothes.
+
+Accompanied by Lena, I hurried away to Third Avenue. The laundry was
+near Twenty-seventh Street. As we approached I grew troubled and
+unaccountably expectant. When we reached it I understood my excitement
+and instantly became calm. For there stood Miss Oliver, gazing like one
+under a spell through the lighted window-panes into the narrow shop
+where the owner bent over his ironing. She had evidently stood there
+some time, for a small group of half-grown lads were watching her with
+every symptom of being about to break into a mischievous display of
+curiosity. Her hands, which were without gloves, were pressed against
+the glass, and her whole attitude showed an intensity of fatigue which
+would have laid her on the ground had she not been sustained by an equal
+intensity of purpose.
+
+Sending Lena for a carriage, I approached the poor creature and drew her
+forcibly from the window.
+
+"Do you want anything here?" I asked. "I will go in with you if you do."
+
+She surveyed me with strange apathy, and yet with a certain sort of
+relief too. Then she slowly shook her head.
+
+"I don't know anything about it. My head swims and everything looks
+queer, but some one or something sent me to this place."
+
+"Come in," I urged, "come in for a minute." And half supporting her,
+half dragging her, I managed to get her across the threshold and into
+the Chinaman's shop.
+
+Immediately a dozen faces were pressed where hers had been.
+
+The Chinaman, a stolid being, turned as he heard the little bell tinkle
+which announced a customer.
+
+"Is this the lady who left the clothes here a few nights ago?" I asked.
+
+He stopped and stared, recognizing me slowly, and remembering by degrees
+what had passed between us at our last interview.
+
+"You tellee me lalee die; how him lalee when lalee die?"
+
+"The lady is not dead; I made a mistake. Is this the lady?"
+
+"Lalee talk; I no see face, I hear speak."
+
+"Have you seen this man before?" I inquired of my nearly insensible
+companion.
+
+"I think so in a dream," she murmured, trying to recall her poor
+wandering wits back from some region into which they had strayed.
+
+"Him lalee!" cried the Chinaman, overjoyed at the prospect of getting
+his money. "Pletty speak, I knowee him. Lalee want clo?"
+
+"Not to-night. The lady is sick; see, she can hardly stand." And
+overjoyed at this seeming evidence that the police had failed to get
+wind of my interest in this place, I slipped a coin into the Chinaman's
+hand, and drew Miss Oliver away towards the carriage I now saw drawing
+up before the shop.
+
+Lena's eyes when she came up to help me were a sight to see. They
+seemed to ask who this girl was and what I was going to do with her. I
+answered the look by a very brief and evidently wholly unexpected
+explanation.
+
+"This is your cousin who ran away," I remarked. "Don't you recognize
+her?"
+
+Lena gave me up then and there; but she accepted my explanation, and
+even lied in her desire to carry out my whim.
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said she, "and glad I am to see her again." And with a
+deft push here and a gentle pull there, she succeeded in getting the
+sick woman into the carriage.
+
+The crowd, which had considerably increased by this time, was beginning
+to flock about us with shouts of no little derision. Escaping it as best
+I could, I took my seat by the poor girl's side, and bade Lena give the
+order for home. When we left the curb-stone behind, I felt that the last
+page in my adventures as an amateur detective had closed.
+
+But I counted without my cost. Miss Oliver, who was in an advanced stage
+of fever, lay like a dead weight on my shoulder during the drive down
+the avenue, but when we entered the Park and drew near my house, she
+began to show such signs of violent agitation that it was with
+difficulty that the united efforts of Lena and myself could prevent her
+from throwing herself out of the carriage door which she had somehow
+managed to open.
+
+As the carriage stopped she grew worse, and though she made no further
+efforts to leave it, I found her present impulses even harder to contend
+with than the former. For now she would not be pushed out or dragged
+out, but crouched back moaning and struggling, her eyes fixed on the
+stoop, which is not unlike that of the adjoining house; till with a
+sudden realization that the cause of her terror lay in her fear of
+re-entering the scene of her late terrifying experiences, I bade the
+coachman drive on, and reluctantly, I own, carried her back to the house
+she had left in the morning.
+
+And this is how I came to spend a second night in Miss Althorpe's
+hospitable mansion.
+
+
+
+
+XXVIII.
+
+TAKEN ABACK.
+
+
+One incident more and this portion of my story is at an end. My poor
+patient, sicker than she had been the night before, left me but little
+leisure for thought or action disconnected with my care for her. But
+towards morning she grew quieter, and finding in an open drawer those
+tangled threads of yarn of which I have spoken, I began to rewind them,
+out of a natural desire to see everything neat and orderly about me. I
+had nearly finished my task when I heard a strange noise from the bed.
+It was a sort of gurgling cry which I found hard to interpret, but which
+only stopped when I laid my work down again. Manifestly this sick girl
+had very nervous fancies.
+
+When I went down to breakfast the next morning, I was in that complacent
+state of mind natural to a woman who feels that her abilities have
+asserted themselves and that she would soon receive a recognition of the
+same at the hands of the one person for whose commendation she had
+chiefly been working. The identification of Miss Oliver by the Chinaman
+was the last link in the chain connecting her with the Mrs. James Pope
+who had accompanied Mr. Van Burnam to his father's house in Gramercy
+Park, and though I would fain have had the murdered woman's rings to
+show, I was contented enough with the discoveries I had made to wish for
+the hour which would bring me face to face with the detective.
+
+But a surprise awaited me at the breakfast table in the shape of a
+communication from that gentleman. It had just been brought from my
+house by Lena, and it ran thus:
+
+     "DEAR MISS BUTTERWORTH:
+
+     "Pardon our interference. _We_ have found the rings which you
+     think so conclusive an evidence of guilt against the person
+     secreting them; and, _with your permission_ [this was basely
+     underlined], Mr. Franklin Van Burnam will be in custody to-day.
+
+     "I will wait upon you at ten.
+
+     "Respectfully yours,
+
+     "EBENEZAR GRYCE."
+
+_Franklin Van Burnam!_ Was I dreaming? _Franklin_ Van Burnam accused of
+this crime and in custody! What did it mean? I had found no evidence
+against Franklin Van Burnam.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK III_.
+
+THE GIRL IN GRAY.
+
+
+
+
+XXIX.
+
+AMELIA BECOMES PEREMPTORY.
+
+
+"Madam, I hope I see you satisfied?"
+
+This was Mr. Gryce's greeting as he entered my parlor on that memorable
+morning.
+
+"Satisfied?" I repeated, rising and facing him with what he afterwards
+described as a stony glare.
+
+"Pardon me! I suppose you would have been still more satisfied if we had
+waited for _you_ to point out the guilty man to _us_. But you must make
+some allowances for professional egotism, Miss Butterworth. We really
+could not allow you to take the initiatory step in a matter of such
+importance."
+
+"Oh!" was my sole response; but he has since told me that there was a
+great deal in that _oh_; so much, that even he was startled by it.
+
+"You set to-day for a talk with me," he went on; "probably relying upon
+what you intended to assure yourself of yesterday. But our discovery at
+the same time as yourself of the rings in Mr. Van Burnam's office, need
+not interfere with your giving us your full confidence. The work you
+have done has been excellent, and we are disposed to give you
+considerable credit for it."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+I had no choice but to thus indulge in ejaculations. The communication
+he had just made was so startling, and his assumption of my complete
+understanding of and participation in the discovery he professed to have
+made, so puzzling, that I dared not venture beyond these simple
+exclamations, lest he should see the state of mind into which he had
+thrown me, and shut up like an oyster.
+
+"We have kept counsel over what we have found," the wary old detective
+continued, with a smile, which I wish I could imitate, but which
+unhappily belongs to him alone. "I hope that you, or your maid, I should
+say, have been equally discreet."
+
+My maid!
+
+"I see you are touched; but women find it so hard to keep a secret. But
+it does not matter. To-night the whole town will know that the older and
+not the younger brother has had these rings in his keeping."
+
+"It will be nuts for the papers," I commented; then making an effort, I
+remarked: "You are a most judicious man, Mr. Gryce, and must have other
+reasons than the discovery of these rings for your threatened arrest of
+a man of such excellent repute as Silas Van Burnam's eldest son. I
+should like to hear them, Mr. Gryce. I should like to hear them very
+much."
+
+My attempt to seem at ease under these embarrassing conditions must have
+given a certain sharpness to my tone; for, instead of replying, he
+remarked, with well simulated concern and a fatherly humoring of my
+folly peculiarly exasperating to one of my temperament: "You are
+displeased, Miss Butterworth, because we did not let _you_ find the
+rings."
+
+"Perhaps; but we were engaged in an open field. I could not expect the
+police to stand aside for me."
+
+"Exactly! Especially when you have the secret satisfaction of having put
+the police on the track of these jewels."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We were simply fortunate in laying our hands on them first. You, or
+your maid rather, showed us where to look for them."
+
+Lena again.
+
+I was so dumfounded by this last assertion, I did not attempt to reply.
+Fortunately, he misinterpreted my silence and the "stony glare" with
+which it was accompanied.
+
+"I know that it must seem to you altogether too bad, to be tripped up at
+the moment of your anticipated triumph. But if apologies will suffice to
+express our sense of presumption, then I pray you to accept them, Miss
+Butterworth, both on my own part and on that of the Superintendent of
+Police."
+
+I did not understand in the least what he was talking about, but I
+recognized the sarcasm of his final expression, and had spirit enough to
+reply:
+
+"The subject is too important for any more nonsense. Whereabouts in
+Franklin Van Burnam's desk were these rings found, and how do you know
+that his brother did not put them there?"
+
+"Your ignorance is refreshing, Miss Butterworth. If you will ask a
+certain young girl dressed in gray, upon what object connected with Mr.
+Van Burnam's desk she laid her hands yesterday morning, you will have
+an answer to your first question. The second one is still more easily
+answered. Mr. Howard Van Burnam did not conceal the rings in the Duane
+Street office for the reason that he has not been in that office since
+his wife was killed. Regarding this fact we are as well advised as
+yourself. Now you change color, Miss Butterworth. But there is no
+necessity. For an amateur you have made less trouble and fewer mistakes
+than were to be expected."
+
+Worse and worse! He was patronizing me now, and for results I had done
+nothing to bring about. I surveyed him in absolute amazement. Was he
+amusing himself with me, or was he himself deceived as to the nature and
+trend of my late investigations. This was a question to settle, and at
+once; and as duplicity had hitherto proved my best weapon in dealing
+with Mr. Gryce, I concluded to resort to it in this emergency. Clearing
+my brow, I regarded with a more amenable air the little Hungarian vase
+he had taken up on entering the room, and into which he had been talking
+ever since he thought it worth while to compliment its owner.
+
+"I do not wish," said I, "to be published to the world as the discoverer
+of Franklin Van Burnam's guilt. But I do want credit with the police, if
+only because one of their number has chosen to look upon my efforts with
+disdain. I mean you, Mr. Gryce; so, if you are in earnest"--he smiled at
+the vase most genially--"I will accept your apologies just so far as you
+honor me with your confidence. I know you are anxious to hear what
+evidence I have collected, or you would not be wasting time on me this
+busy morning."
+
+"Shrewd!" was the short ejaculation he shot into the mouth of the vase
+he was handling.
+
+"If that term of admiration is intended for me," I remarked, "I am sure
+I am only too sensible of the honor. But flattery has never succeeded in
+making me talk against my better judgment. I may be shrewd, but a fool
+could see what you are after this morning. Compliment me when I have
+deserved it. I can wait."
+
+"I begin to think that what you withhold so resolutely has more than
+common value, Miss Butterworth. If this is so, I must not be the only
+one to listen to your explanations. Is not that a carriage I hear
+stopping? I am expecting Inspector Z----. If that is he you have been
+wise to delay your communications till he came."
+
+A carriage _was_ stopping, and it was the Inspector who alighted from
+it. I began to feel my importance in a way that was truly gratifying,
+and cast my eyes up at the portrait of my father with a secret longing
+that its original stood by to witness the verification of his prophecy.
+
+But I was not so distracted by these thoughts as not to make one attempt
+to get something from Mr. Gryce before the Inspector joined us.
+
+"Why do you speak to me of my maid in one breath and of a girl in gray
+in another? Did you think Lena----"
+
+"Hush!" he enjoined, "we will have ample opportunities to discuss this
+subject later."
+
+"Will we?" thought I. "We will discuss nothing till I know more
+positively what you are aiming at."
+
+But I showed nothing of this determination in my face. On the contrary,
+I became all affability as the Inspector entered, and I did the honors
+of the house in a way I hope my father would have approved of, had he
+been alive and present.
+
+Mr. Gryce continued to stare into the vase.
+
+"Miss Butterworth,"--it was the Inspector who was speaking,--"I have
+been told that you take great interest in the Van Burnam murder, and
+that you have even gone so far as to collect some facts in connection
+with it which you have not as yet given to the police."
+
+"You have heard correctly," I returned. "I have taken a deep interest in
+this tragedy, and have come into possession of some facts in reference
+to it which as yet I have imparted to no living soul."
+
+Mr. Gryce's interest in my poor little vase increased marvellously.
+Seeing this, I complacently continued:
+
+"I could not have accomplished so much had I indulged in a confidant.
+Such work as I have attempted depends for its success upon the secrecy
+with which it is carried on. That is why amateur work is sometimes more
+effective than professional. No one suspected me of making inquiries,
+unless it was this gentleman, and he was forewarned of my possible
+interference. I told him that in case Howard Van Burnam was put under
+arrest, I should take it upon myself to stir up matters; and I have."
+
+"Then you do not believe in Mr. Van Burnam's guilt? Not even in his
+complicity, I suppose?" ventured the Inspector.
+
+"I do not know anything about his complicity; but I do not believe the
+stroke given to his wife came from his hand."
+
+"I see, I see. You believe it the work of his brother."
+
+I stole a look at Mr. Gryce before replying. He had turned the vase
+upside down, and was intently studying its label; but he could not
+conceal his expectation of an affirmative answer. Greatly relieved, I
+immediately took the position I had resolved upon, and calmly but
+vigorously observed:
+
+"What I believe, and what I have learned in support of my belief, will
+sound as well in your ears ten minutes hence as now. Before I give you
+the result of such inquiries as I have been enabled to make, I require
+to know what evidence you have yourself collected against the gentleman
+you have just named, and in what respect it is as criminating as that
+against his brother?"
+
+"Is not that peremptory, Miss Butterworth? And do you think us called
+upon to part with all or any of the secrets of our office? We have
+informed you that we have new and startling evidence against the older
+brother; should not that be sufficient for you?"
+
+"Perhaps so if I were an assistant of yours, or even in your employ. But
+I am neither; I stand alone, and although I am a woman and unused to
+this business, I have earned, as I think you will acknowledge later, the
+right to some consideration on your part. I cannot present the facts I
+have to relate in a proper manner till I know just how the case stands."
+
+"It is not curiosity that troubles Miss Butterworth--Madam, I said it
+was not curiosity--but a laudable desire to have the whole matter
+arranged with precision," dropped now in his dryest tones from the
+detective's lips.
+
+"Mr. Gryce has a most excellent understanding of my character," I
+gravely observed.
+
+The Inspector looked nonplussed. He glanced at Mr. Gryce and he glanced
+at me, but the smile of the former was inscrutable, and my expression,
+if I showed any, must have betrayed but little relenting.
+
+"If called as a witness, Miss Butterworth,"--this was how he sought to
+manage me,--"you will have no choice in the matter. You will be
+compelled to speak or show contempt of court."
+
+"That is true," I acknowledged. "But it is not what I might feel myself
+called upon to say then, but what I can say now, that is of interest to
+you at this present moment. So be generous, gentlemen, and satisfy my
+curiosity, for such Mr. Gryce considers it, in spite of his assertions
+to the contrary. Will it not all come out in the papers a few hours
+hence, and have I not earned as much at your hands as the reporters?"
+
+"The reporters are our bane. Do not liken yourself to the reporters."
+
+"Yet they sometimes give you a valuable clue."
+
+Mr. Gryce looked as if he would like to disclaim this, but he was a
+judicious soul, and merely gave a twist to the vase which I thought
+would cost me that small article of vertu.
+
+"Shall we humor Miss Butterworth?" asked the Inspector.
+
+"We will do better," answered Mr. Gryce, setting the vase down with a
+precision that made me jump; for I am a worshipper of _bric-a-brac_, and
+prize the few articles I own, possibly beyond their real value. "We will
+treat her as a coadjutor, which, by the way, she says she is not, and by
+the trust we place in her, secure that discretionary use of our
+confidence which she shows with so much spirit in regard to her own."
+
+"Begin then," said I.
+
+"I will," said he, "but first allow me to acknowledge that you are the
+person who first put us on the track of Franklin Van Burnam."
+
+
+
+
+XXX.
+
+THE MATTER AS STATED BY MR. GRYCE.
+
+
+I had exhausted my wonder, so I accepted this statement with no more
+display of surprise than a grim smile.
+
+"When you failed to identify Howard Van Burnam as the man who
+accompanied his wife into the adjacent house, I realized that I must
+look elsewhere for the murderer of Louise Van Burnam. You see I had more
+confidence in the excellence of your memory than you had yourself, so
+much indeed that I gave you more than one chance to exercise it, having,
+by certain little methods I sometimes employ, induced different moods in
+Mr. Van Burnam at the time of his several visits, so that his bearing
+might vary, and you have every opportunity to recognize him for the man
+you had seen on that fatal night."
+
+"Then it was he you brought here each time?" I broke in.
+
+"It was he."
+
+"Well!" I ejaculated.
+
+"The Superintendent and some others whom I need not mention,"--here Mr.
+Gryce took up another small object from the table,--"believed implicitly
+in his guilt; conjugal murder is so common and the causes which lead to
+it so frequently puerile. Therefore I had to work alone. But this did
+not cause me any concern. _Your_ doubts emphasized mine, and when you
+confided to me that you had seen a figure similar to the one we were
+trying to identify, enter the adjoining house on the evening of the
+funeral, I made immediate inquiries and discovered that the gentleman
+who had entered the house right after the four persons described by you
+was _Franklin Van Burnam_. This gave me a definite clue, and this is why
+I say that it was you who gave me my first start in this matter."
+
+"Humph!" thought I to myself, as with a sudden shock I remembered that
+one of the words which had fallen from Miss Oliver's lips during her
+delirium had been this very name of Franklin.
+
+"I had had my doubts of this gentleman before," continued the detective,
+warming gradually with his subject. "A man of my experience doubts every
+one in a case of this kind, and I had formed at odd times a sort of side
+theory, so to speak, into which some little matters which came up during
+the inquest seemed to fit with more or less nicety; but I had no real
+justification for suspicion till the event of which I speak. That you
+had evidently formed the same theory as myself and were bound to enter
+into the lists with me, put me on my mettle, madam, and with your
+knowledge or without it, the struggle between us began."
+
+"So your disdain of me," I here put in with a triumphant air I could not
+subdue, "was only simulated? I shall know what to think of you
+hereafter. But don't stop, go on, this is all deeply interesting to me."
+
+"I can understand that. To proceed then; my first duty, of course, was
+to watch _you_. You had reasons of your own for suspecting this man, so
+by watching you I hoped to surprise them."
+
+"Good!" I cried, unable to entirely conceal the astonishment and grim
+amusement into which his continued misconception of the trend of my
+suspicions threw me.
+
+"But you led us a chase, madam; I must acknowledge that you led us a
+chase. Your being an amateur led me to anticipate your using an
+amateur's methods, but you showed skill, madam, and the man I sent to
+keep watch over Mrs. Boppert against your looked-for visit there, was
+foiled by the very simple strategy you used in meeting her at a
+neighboring shop."
+
+"Good!" I again cried, in my relief that the discovery made at that
+meeting had not been shared by him.
+
+"We had sounded Mrs. Boppert ourselves, but she had seemed a very
+hopeless job, and I do not yet see how you got any water out of that
+stone--if you did."
+
+"No?" I retorted ambiguously, enjoying the Inspector's manifest delight
+in this scene as much as I did my own secret thoughts and the prospect
+of the surprise I was holding in store for them.
+
+"But your interference with the clock and the discovery you made that it
+had been going at the time the shelves fell, was not unknown to us, and
+we have made use of it, good use as you will hereafter see."
+
+"So! those girls could not keep a secret after all," I muttered; and
+waited with some anxiety to hear him mention the pin-cushion; but he did
+not, greatly to my relief.
+
+"Don't blame the girls!" he put in (his ears evidently are as sharp as
+mine); "the inquiries having proceeded from Franklin, it was only
+natural for me to suspect that he was trying to mislead us by some
+hocus-pocus story. So _I_ visited the girls. That I had difficulty in
+getting to the root of the matter is to their credit, Miss Butterworth,
+seeing that you had made them promise secrecy."
+
+"You are right," I nodded, and forgave them on the spot. If I could not
+withstand Mr. Gryce's eloquence--and it affected me at times--how could
+I expect these girls to. Besides, they had not revealed the more
+important secret I had confided to them, and in consideration of this I
+was ready to pardon them most anything.
+
+"That the clock was going at the time the shelves fell, and that he
+should be the one to draw our attention to it would seem to the
+superficial mind proof positive that he was innocent of the deed with
+which it was so closely associated," the detective proceeded. "But to
+one skilled in the subterfuges of criminals, this seemingly conclusive
+fact in his favor was capable of an explanation so in keeping with the
+subtlety shown in every other feature of this remarkable crime, that I
+began to regard it as a point against him rather than in his favor. Of
+which more hereafter.
+
+"Not allowing myself to be deterred, then, by this momentary set-back,
+and rejoicing in an affair considered as settled by my superiors, I
+proceeded to establish Franklin Van Burnam's connection with the crime
+which had been laid with so much apparent reason at his brother's door.
+
+"The first fact to be settled was, of course, whether your
+identification of him as the gentleman who accompanied his victim into
+Mr. Van Burnam's house could be corroborated by any of the many persons
+who had seen the so-called Mr. James Pope at the Hotel D----.
+
+"As none of the witnesses who attended the inquest had presumed to
+recognize in either of these sleek and haughty gentlemen the shrinking
+person just mentioned, I knew that any open attempt on my part to bring
+about an identification would result disastrously. So I employed
+strategy--like my betters, Miss Butterworth" (here his bow was
+overpowering in its mock humility); "and rightly considering that for a
+person to be satisfactorily identified with another, he must be seen
+under the same circumstances and in nearly the same place, I sought out
+Franklin Van Burnam, and with specious promises of some great benefit to
+be done his brother, induced him to accompany me to the Hotel D----.
+
+"Whether he saw through my plans and thought that a brave front and an
+assumption of candor would best serve him in this unexpected dilemma, or
+whether he felt so entrenched behind the precautions he had taken as not
+to fear discovery under any circumstances, he made but one demur before
+preparing to accompany me. This demur was significant, however, for it
+was occasioned by my advice to change his dress for one less
+conspicuously fashionable, or to hide it under an ulster or mackintosh.
+And as a proof of his hardihood--remember, madam, that his connection
+with this crime has been established--he actually did put on the ulster,
+though he must have known what a difference it would make in his
+appearance.
+
+"The result was all I could desire. As we entered the hotel, I saw a
+certain hackman start and lean forward to look after him. It was the one
+who had driven Mr. and Mrs. Pope away from the hotel. And when we passed
+the porter, the wink which I gave him was met by a lift of his eyelids
+which he afterwards interpreted into 'Like! very like!'
+
+"But it was from the clerk I received the most unequivocal proof of his
+identity. On entering the office I had left Mr. Van Burnam as near as
+possible to the spot where Mr. Pope had stood while his so-called wife
+was inscribing their names in the register, and bidding him to remain in
+the background while I had a few words at the desk, all in his brother's
+interests of course, I succeeded in secretly directing Mr. Henshaw's
+attention towards him. The start which he gave and the exclamation he
+uttered were unequivocal. 'Why, there's the man now!' he cried, happily
+in a whisper. 'Anxious look, drooping head, brown moustache, everything
+but the duster.' 'Bah!' said I; 'that's Mr. _Franklin_ Van Burnam you
+are looking at! What are you thinking of?' 'Can't help it,' said he; 'I
+saw both of the brothers at the inquest, and saw nothing in them then to
+remind me of our late mysterious guest. But as he stands there, he's a
+---- sight more like James Pope than the other one is, and don't you
+forget it.' I shrugged my shoulders, told him he was a fool, and that
+fools had better keep their follies to themselves, and came away with my
+man, outwardly disgusted but inwardly in most excellent trim for
+pursuing an investigation which had opened so auspiciously.
+
+"Whether this man possessed any motive for a crime so seemingly out of
+accordance with his life and disposition was, of course, the next point
+to settle. His conduct at the inquest certainly showed no decided
+animosity toward his brother's wife, nor was there on the surface of
+affairs any token of the mortal hatred which alone could account for a
+crime at once so deliberate and so brutal. But we detectives plunge
+below the surface, and after settling the question of Franklin's
+identity with the so-called Mr. Pope of the Hotel D----, I left New York
+and its interests--among which I reckoned your efforts at detective
+work, Miss Butterworth--to a young man in my office, who, I am afraid,
+did not quite understand the persistence of your character; for he had
+nothing to tell me concerning you on my return, save that you had been
+cultivating Miss Althorpe, which, of course, was such a natural thing
+for you to do, I wonder he thought it necessary to mention it.
+
+"My destination was Four Corners, the place where Howard first met his
+future wife. In relating what I learned there, I shall doubtless repeat
+facts with which you are acquainted, Miss Butterworth."
+
+"That is of no consequence," I returned, with almost brazen duplicity;
+for I not only was ignorant of what he was going to say, but had every
+reason to believe that it would bear as remote a connection as possible
+to the secret then laboring in my breast. "A statement of the case from
+your lips," I pursued, "will emphasize what I know. Do not stint any of
+your disclosures, then, I beg. I have an ear for all." This was truer
+than my rather sarcastic tone would convey, for might not his story
+after all prove to have some unexpected relation with the facts I had
+myself gathered together.
+
+"It is a pleasure," said he, "to think I am capable of giving any
+information to Miss Butterworth, and as I did not run across you or your
+very nimble and pert little maid during my stay at Four Corners, I shall
+take it for granted that you confined your inquiries to the city and the
+society of which you are such a shining light."
+
+This in reference to my double visit at Miss Althorpe's, no doubt.
+
+"Four Corners is a charming town in Southern Vermont, and here, three
+years ago, Howard Van Burnam first met Miss Stapleton. She was living in
+a gentleman's family at that time as travelling companion to his invalid
+daughter."
+
+Ah, now I could see what explanation this wary old detective gave
+himself of my visits to Miss Althorpe, and began to hug myself in
+anticipation of my coming triumph over him.
+
+"The place did not fit her, for Miss Stapleton only shone in the society
+of men; but Mr. Harrison had not yet discovered this special
+idiosyncrasy of hers, and as his daughter was able to see a few friends,
+and in fact needed some diversion, the way was open to her companion for
+that acquaintance with Mr. Van Burnam which has led to such disastrous
+results.
+
+"The house at which their meeting took place was a private one, and I
+soon found out many facts not widely known in this city. First, that she
+was not so much in love with Howard as he was with her. _He_ succumbed
+to her fascinations at once, and proposed, I believe, within two weeks
+after seeing her; but though she accepted him, few of those who saw them
+together thought her affections very much engaged till Franklin suddenly
+appeared in town, when her whole manner underwent a change, and she
+became so sparklingly and irresistibly beautiful that her avowed lover
+became doubly enslaved, and Franklin--Well, there is evidence to prove
+that he was not insensible to her charms either; that, in spite of her
+engagement to his brother and the attitude which honor bade him hold
+towards his prospective sister-in-law, he lost his head for a short
+time at least, and under her seductions I do not doubt, for she was a
+double-faced woman according to general repute, went so far as to
+express his passion in a letter of which I heard much before I was so
+fortunate as to obtain a sight of it. This was three years ago, and I
+think Miss Stapleton would have been willing to have broken with Howard
+and married Franklin if the latter had had the courage to meet his
+brother's reproaches. But he evidently was deficient in this quality.
+His very letter, which is a warm one, but which holds out no hope to her
+of any closer bond between them than that offered by her prospective
+union with his brother, shows that he still retained some sense of
+honor, and as he presently left Four Corners and did not appear again
+where they were till just before their marriage, it is probable that all
+would have gone well if the woman had shared this sentiment with him.
+But she was made up of mean materials, and while willing to marry Howard
+for what he could give her or what she thought he could give her, she
+yet cherished an implacable grudge against Franklin for his weakness, as
+she called it, in not following the dictates of his heart. Being sly as
+well as passionate, she hid her feelings from every one but a venial,
+though apparently devoted confidante, a young girl named----"
+
+"Oliver," I finished in my own mind.
+
+But the name he mentioned was quite different.
+
+"Pigot," he said, looking at the filigree basket he held in his hand as
+if he picked this word out from one of its many interstices. "She was
+French, and after once finding her, I had but little difficulty in
+learning all she had to tell. She had been Miss Harrison's maid, but
+she was not above serving Miss Stapleton in many secret and dishonorable
+ways. As a consequence, she could give me the details of an interview
+which that lady had held with Franklin Van Burnam on the evening of her
+wedding. It took place in Mr. Harrison's garden, and was supposed to be
+a secret one, but the woman who arranged the meeting was not the person
+to keep away from it when it occurred, and consequently I have been
+enabled to learn with more or less accuracy what took place between
+them. It was not to Miss Stapleton's credit. Mr. Van Burnam merely
+wanted his letter back, but she refused to return it unless he would
+promise her a complete recognition by his family of her marriage and
+ensure her a reception in his father's house as Howard's wife. This was
+more than he could engage himself to perform. He had already, according
+to his own story, made every effort possible to influence the old
+gentleman in her favor, but had only succeeded in irritating him against
+himself. It was an acknowledgment which would have satisfied most women,
+but it did not satisfy her. She declared her intention of keeping the
+letter for fear he would cease his exertions; and heedless of the effect
+produced upon him by the barefaced threat, proceeded to inveigh against
+his brother for the very love which made her union with him possible;
+and as if this was not bad enough, showed at the same time such a
+disposition to profit by whatever worldly good the match promised, that
+Franklin lost all regard for her, and began to hate her.
+
+"As he made no effort to conceal his feelings, she must have become
+immediately aware of the change which had taken place in them. But
+however affected by this, she gave no sign of relenting in her purpose.
+On the contrary, she persisted in her determination to retain his
+letter, and when he remonstrated with her and threatened to leave town
+before her marriage, she retorted by saying that, if he did so, she
+would show his letter to his brother as soon as the minister had made
+them one. This threat seemed to affect Franklin deeply, and while it
+intensified his feeling of animosity towards her, subjected him for the
+moment to her whim. He stayed in Four Corners till the ceremony was
+performed, but was such a gloomy guest that all united in saying that he
+did the occasion no credit.
+
+"So much for my work in Four Corners."
+
+I had by this time become aware that Mr. Gryce was addressing himself
+chiefly to the Inspector, being gratified no doubt at this opportunity
+of presenting his case at length before that gentleman. But true to his
+special habits, he looked at neither of us, but rather at the fretted
+basket, upon the handle of which he tapped out his arguments as he
+quickly proceeded:
+
+"The young couple spent the first months of their married life in
+Yonkers; so to Yonkers I went next. There I learned that Franklin had
+visited the place twice; both times, as I judge, upon a peremptory
+summons from her. The result was mutual fret and heartburning, for she
+had made no progress in her endeavors to win recognition from the Van
+Burnams; and even had had occasion to perceive that her husband's love,
+based as it was upon her physical attributes, had begun to feel the
+stress of her uneasiness and dissatisfaction. She became more anxious
+than ever for social recognition and distinction, and when the family
+went to Europe, consented to accompany her husband into the quiet
+retreat he thought best calculated to win the approbation of his father,
+only upon the assurance of better times in the fall and a possible visit
+to Washington in the winter. But the quiet to which she was subjected
+had a bad effect upon her. Under it she grew more and more restless, and
+as the time approached for the family's return, conceived so many plans
+for conciliating them that her husband could not restrain his disgust.
+But the worst plan of all and the one which undoubtedly led to her
+death, he never knew. This was to surprise Franklin at his office and,
+by renewed threats of showing this old love-letter to his brother, win
+an absolute promise from him to support her in a fresh endeavor to win
+his father's favor. You see she did not understand Silas Van Burnam's
+real character, and persisted in holding the most extravagant views
+concerning Franklin's ascendancy over him as well as over the rest of
+the family. She even went so far as to insist in the interview, which
+Jane Pigot overheard, that it was Franklin himself who stood in the way
+of her desires, and that if he chose he could obtain for her an
+invitation to take up her abode with the rest of them in Gramercy Park.
+To Duane Street she therefore went before making her appearance at Mrs.
+Parker's; a fact which was not brought out at the inquest; Franklin not
+disclosing it of course, and the clerk not recognizing her under the
+false name she chose to give. Of the details of this interview I am
+ignorant, but as she was closeted with him some time, it is only natural
+to suppose that conversation of some importance took place between them.
+The clerk who works in the outer office did not, as I have said, know
+who she was at the time, but he noticed her face when she came out, and
+he declares that it was insolent with triumph, while Mr. Franklin, who
+was polite enough or calculating enough to bow her out of the room, was
+pale with rage, and acted so unlike himself that everybody observed it.
+She held his letter in her hand, a letter easily distinguishable by the
+violet-colored seal on the back, and she filliped with it in a most
+aggravating way as she crossed the floor, pretending to lay it down on
+Howard's desk as she went by and then taking it up again with an arch
+look at Franklin, pretty enough to see but hateful in its effect on him.
+As he went back to his own room his face was full of anger, and such was
+the effect of this visit on him that he declined to see any one else
+that day. She had probably shown such determination to reveal his past
+perfidy to her husband, that his fears were fully aroused at last, and
+he saw he was not only likely to lose his good name but the esteem with
+which he was accustomed to be regarded by this younger and evidently
+much-loved brother.
+
+"And now, considering his intense pride, as well as his affection for
+Howard, do you not see the motive which this seemingly good man had for
+putting his troublesome sister-in-law out of existence? He wanted that
+letter back, and to obtain it had to resort to crime. Or such is my
+present theory of this murder, Miss Butterworth. Does it correspond with
+yours?"
+
+
+
+
+XXXI.
+
+SOME FINE WORK.
+
+
+"O perfectly!" I assented, with just the shade of irony necessary to rob
+the assertion of its mendacity. "But go on, go on. You have not begun to
+satisfy me yet. You did not stop with finding a motive for the crime I
+am sure."
+
+"Madam, you are a female Shylock; you will have the whole of the bond or
+none."
+
+"We are not here to draw comparisons," I retorted. "Keep to the subject,
+Mr. Gryce; keep to the subject."
+
+He laughed; laid down the little basket he held, took it up again, and
+finally resumed:
+
+"Madam, you are right; we did not stop at finding a motive. Our next
+step was to collect evidence directly connecting him with the crime."
+
+"And you succeeded in this?"
+
+My tone was unnecessarily eager, this was all so unaccountable to me;
+but he did not appear to notice it.
+
+"We did. Indeed the evidence against him is stronger than that against
+his brother. For if we ignore the latter part of Howard's testimony,
+which was evidently a tissue of lies, what remains against him? Three
+things: his dogged persistency in not recognizing his wife in the
+murdered woman; the receiving of the house keys from his brother; and
+the fact that he was seen on the stoop of his father's house at an
+unusual hour in the morning following this murder. Now what have we
+against Franklin? Many things.
+
+"First:
+
+"That he can no more account for the hours between half-past eleven on
+Tuesday morning and five o'clock on the following Wednesday morning than
+his brother can. In one breath he declares that he was shut up in his
+rooms at the hotel, for which no corroborative evidence is forthcoming;
+and in another that he was on a tramp after his brother, which seems
+equally improbable and incapable of proof.
+
+"Second:
+
+"That he and not Howard was the man in a linen duster, and that he and
+not Howard was in possession of the keys that night. As these are
+serious statements to make, I will give you my reasons for them. They
+are distinct from the recognition of his person by the inmates of the
+Hotel D----, and added to that recognition, form a strong case against
+him. The janitor who has charge of the offices in Duane Street,
+happening to have a leisure moment on the morning of the day on which
+Mrs. Van Burnam was murdered, was making the most of it by watching the
+unloading of a huge boiler some four doors below the Van Burnam
+warehouse. He was consequently looking intently in that direction when
+Howard passed him, coming from the interview with his brother in which
+he had been given the keys. Mr. Van Burnam was walking briskly, but
+finding the sidewalk blocked by the boiler to which I have alluded,
+paused for a moment to let it pass, and being greatly heated, took out
+his handkerchief to wipe his forehead. This done, he moved on, just as a
+man dressed in a long duster came up behind him, stopping where he
+stopped and picking up from the ground something which the first
+gentleman had evidently dropped. This last man's figure looked more or
+less familiar to the janitor, so did the duster, and later he discovered
+that the latter was the one which he had seen hanging for so long a time
+in the little disused closet under the warehouse stairs. Its wearer was
+Franklin Van Burnam, who, as I took pains to learn, had left the office
+immediately in the wake of his brother, and the object he picked up was
+the bunch of keys which the latter had inadvertently dropped. He may
+have thought he lost them later, but it was then and there they slipped
+from his pocket. I will here add that the duster found by the hackman in
+his coach has been identified as the one missing from the closet just
+mentioned.
+
+"Third:
+
+"The keys with which Mr. Van Burnam's house was unlocked were found
+hanging in their usual place by noon of the next day. They could not
+have been taken there by Howard, for he was not seen at the office after
+the murder. By whom then were they returned, if not by Franklin?
+
+"Fourth:
+
+"The letter, for the possession of which I believe this crime to have
+been perpetrated, was found by us in a supposedly secret drawer of this
+gentleman's desk. It was much crumpled, and bore evidences of having
+been rather rudely dealt with since it was last seen in Mrs. Van
+Burnam's hand in that very office.
+
+"But the fact which is most convincing, and which will tell most heavily
+against him, is the unexpected discovery of the murdered lady's rings,
+also in this same desk. How _you_ became aware that anything of such
+importance could be found there, knowing even the exact place in which
+they were secreted, I will not stop to ask at this moment. Enough that
+when your maid entered the Van Burnam offices and insisted with so much
+ingenuousness that she was expected by Mr. Van Burnam and would wait for
+his return, the clerk most devoted to my interests became distrustful of
+her intentions, having been told to be on the look-out for a girl in
+gray or a lady in black with puffs on each side of two very sharp eyes.
+You will pardon me, Miss Butterworth. He therefore kept his eyes on the
+girl and presently espied her stretching out her hand towards a hook at
+the side of Mr. Franklin Van Burnam's desk. As it is upon this hook this
+gentleman strings his unanswered letters, the clerk rose from his place
+as quickly as possible, and coming forward with every appearance of
+polite solicitude,--did she not say he was polite, Miss
+Butterworth?--inquired what she wished, thinking she was after some
+letter, or possibly anxious for a specimen of some one's handwriting.
+But she gave him no other reply than a blush and a confused look, for
+which you must rebuke her, Miss Butterworth, if you are going to
+continue to employ her as your agent in these very delicate affairs. And
+she made another mistake. She should not have left so abruptly upon
+detection, for that gave the clerk an opportunity to telephone for me,
+which he immediately did. I was at liberty, and I came at once, and,
+after hearing his story, decided that what was of interest to you must
+be of interest to me, and so took a look at the letters she had handled,
+and discovered, what she also must have discovered before she let them
+slip from her hand, that the five missing rings we were all in search of
+were hanging on this same hook amid the sheets of Franklin's
+correspondence. You can imagine, madam, my satisfaction, and the
+gratitude which I felt towards my agent, who by his quickness had
+retained to me the honors of a discovery which it would have been
+injurious to my pride to have had confined entirely to yourself."
+
+"I can understand," I repeated, and trusted myself to say no more, hot
+as my secret felt upon my lips.
+
+"You have read Poe's story of the filigree basket?" he now suggested,
+running his finger up and down the filigree work he himself held.
+
+I nodded. I saw what he meant at once.
+
+"Well, the principle involved in that story explains the presence of the
+rings in the midst of this stack of letters. Franklin Van Burnam, if he
+is the murderer of his sister-in-law, is one of the subtlest villains
+this city has ever produced, and knowing that, if once suspected, every
+secret drawer and professed hiding-place within his reach would be
+searched, he put these dangerous evidences of his guilt in a place so
+conspicuous, and yet so little likely to attract attention, that even so
+old a hand as myself did not think of looking for them there."
+
+He had finished, and the look he gave me was for myself alone.
+
+"And now, madam," said he, "that I have stated the facts of the case
+against Franklin Van Burnam, has not the moment come for you to show
+your appreciation of my good nature by a corresponding show of
+confidence on your part?"
+
+I answered with a distinct negative. "There is too much that is
+unexplained as yet in your case against Franklin," I objected. "You have
+shown that he had motive for the murder and that he was connected more
+or less intimately with the crime we are considering, but you have by no
+means explained all the phenomena accompanying this tragedy. How, for
+instance, do you account for Mrs. Van Burnam's whim in changing her
+clothing, if her brother-in-law, instead of her husband, was her
+companion at the Hotel D----?"
+
+You see I was determined to know the whole story before introducing Miss
+Oliver's name into this complication.
+
+He who had seen through the devices of so many women in his day did not
+see through mine, perhaps because he took a certain professional
+pleasure in making his views on this subject clear to the attentive
+Inspector. At all events, this is the way he responded to my
+half-curious, half-ironical question:
+
+"A crime planned and perpetrated for the purpose I have just mentioned,
+Miss Butterworth, could not have been a simple one under any
+circumstances. But conceived as this one was by a man of more than
+ordinary intelligence, and carried out with a skill and precaution
+little short of marvellous, the features which it presents are of such a
+varying and subtle character that only by the exercise of a certain
+amount of imagination can they be understood at all. Such an imagination
+I possess, but how can I be sure that you do?"
+
+"By testing it," I suggested.
+
+"Very good, madam, I will. Not from actual knowledge, then, but from a
+certain insight I have acquired in my long dealing with such matters, I
+have come to the conclusion that Franklin Van Burnam did not in the
+beginning plan to kill this woman in his father's house.
+
+"On the contrary, he had fixed upon a hotel room as the scene of the
+conflict he foresaw between them, and that he might carry it on without
+endangering their good names, had urged her to meet him the next morning
+in the semi-disguise of a gossamer over her fine dress and a heavy veil
+over her striking features; making the pretence, no doubt, of this being
+the more appropriate costume for her to appear in before the old
+gentleman should he so far concede to her demands as to take her to the
+steamer. For himself he had planned the adoption of a disfiguring duster
+which had been hanging for a long time in a closet on the ground-floor
+of the building in Duane Street. All this promised well, but when the
+time came and he was about to leave his office, his brother unexpectedly
+appeared and asked for the key to their father's house. Disconcerted no
+doubt by the appearance of the very person he least wished to see, and
+astonished by a request so out of keeping with all that had hitherto
+passed between them, he nevertheless was in too much haste to question
+him, so gave him what he wanted and Howard went away. As soon after as
+he could lock his desk and don his hat, Franklin followed, and merely
+stopping to cover his coat with the old duster, he went out and hastened
+towards the place of meeting. Under most circumstances all this might
+have happened without the brothers encountering each other again, but a
+temporary obstruction on the sidewalk having, as we know, detained
+Howard, Franklin was enabled to approach him sufficiently close to see
+him draw his pocket-handkerchief out of his pocket, and with it the keys
+which he had just given him. The latter fell, and as there was a great
+pounding of iron going on in the building just over their heads, Howard
+did not perceive his loss but went quickly on. Franklin coming up behind
+him picked up the keys, and with a thought, or perhaps as yet with no
+thought, of the use to which they might be applied, put them in his own
+pocket before proceeding on his way.
+
+"New York is a large place, and much can take place in it without
+comment. Franklin Van Burnam and his sister-in-law met and went together
+to the Hotel D---- without being either recognized or suspected till
+later developments drew attention to them. That _she_ should consent to
+accompany him to this place, and that after she was there should submit,
+as she did, to taking all the business of the scheme upon herself, would
+be inconceivable in a woman of a self-respecting character; but Louise
+Van Burnam cared for little save her own aggrandisement, and rather
+enjoyed, so far as we can see, this very doubtful escapade, whose real
+meaning and murderous purpose she was so far from understanding.
+
+"As the steamer, contrary to all expectation, had not yet been sighted
+off Fire Island, they took a room and prepared to wait for it. That is,
+_she_ prepared to wait. He had no intention of waiting for its arrival
+or of going to it when it came; he only wanted his letter. But Louise
+Van Burnam was not the woman to relinquish it till she had obtained the
+price she had put on it, and he becoming very soon aware of this fact,
+began to ask himself if he should not be obliged to resort to extreme
+measures in order to regain it. One chance only remained for avoiding
+these. He would seem to embrace her later and probably much-talked-of
+scheme of presenting herself before his father in his own house rather
+than at the steamer; and by urging her to make its success more certain
+by a different style of dress from that she wore, induce a change of
+clothing, during which he might come upon the letter he was more than
+confident she carried about her person. Had this plan worked; had he
+been able to seize upon this compromising bit of paper, even at the cost
+of a scratch or two from her vigorous fingers, we should not be sitting
+here at this moment trying to account for the most complicated crime on
+record. But Louise Van Burnam, while weak and volatile enough to enjoy
+the romantic features of this transformation scene, even going so far as
+to write out the order herself with the same effort at disguise she had
+used in registering their assumed names at the desk, was not entirely
+his dupe, and having hidden the letter in her shoe----"
+
+"What!" I cried.
+
+"_Having hidden the letter in her shoe_," repeated Mr. Gryce, with his
+finest smile, "she had but to signify that the boots sent by Altman were
+a size too small, for her to retain her secret and keep the one article
+she traded upon from his envious clutch. You seem struck dumb by this,
+Miss Butterworth. Have I enlightened you on a point that has hitherto
+troubled you?"
+
+"Don't ask me; don't look at me." As if he ever looked at any one! "Your
+perspicacity is amazing, but I will try and not show my sense of it, if
+it is going to make you stop."
+
+He smiled; the Inspector smiled: neither understood me.
+
+"Very well then, I will go on; but the non-change of shoes had to be
+accounted for, Miss Butterworth."
+
+"You are right; and it _has_ been, of course."
+
+"Have you any better explanation to give?"
+
+I had, or thought I had, and the words trembled on my tongue. But I
+restrained myself under an air of great impatience. "Time is flying!" I
+urged, with as near a simulation of his own manner in saying the words
+as I could affect. "Go on, Mr. Gryce."
+
+And he did, though my manner evidently puzzled him.
+
+"Being foiled in this his last attempt, this smooth and diabolical
+villain hesitated no longer in carrying out the scheme which had
+doubtless been maturing in his mind ever since he dropped the key of his
+father's house into his own pocket. His brother's wife must die, but not
+in a hotel room with him for a companion. Though scorned, detested, and
+a stumbling-block in the way of the whole family's future happiness and
+prosperity, she still was a Van Burnam, and no shadow must fall upon her
+reputation. Further than this, for he loved life and his own reputation
+also, and did not mean to endanger either by this act of
+self-preservation, she must perish as if from accident, or by some blow
+so undiscoverable that it would be laid to natural causes. He thought he
+knew how this might be brought about. He had seen her put on her hat
+with a very thin and sharp pin, and he had heard how one thrust into a
+certain spot in the spine would effect death without a struggle. A wound
+like that would be small; almost indiscernible. True it would take skill
+to inflict it, and it would require dissimulation to bring her into the
+proper position for the contemplated thrust; but he was not lacking in
+either of these characteristics; and so he set himself to the task he
+had promised himself, and with such success that ere long the two left
+the hotel and proceeded to the house in Gramercy Park with all the
+caution necessary for preserving a secret which meant reputation to the
+one, and liberty, if not life, to the other. That he and not she felt
+the greater need of secrecy, witness their whole conduct, and when,
+their goal reached, she and not he put the money into the driver's hand,
+the last act of this curious drama of opposing motives was reached, and
+only the final catastrophe was wanting.
+
+"With what arts he procured her hat-pin, and by what show of simulated
+passion he was able to approach near enough to her to inflict that cool
+and calculating thrust which resulted in her immediate death, I leave to
+_your_ imagination. Enough that he compassed his ends, killing her and
+regaining the letter for the possession of which he had been willing to
+take a life. Afterwards----"
+
+"Well, afterwards?"
+
+"The deed he had thought so complete began to assume a different aspect.
+The pin had broken in the wound, and, knowing the scrutiny which the
+body would receive at the hands of a Coroner's jury, he began to see
+what consequences might follow its discovery. So to hide that wound and
+give to her death the wished-for appearance of accident, he went back
+and drew down the cabinet under which she was found. Had he done this at
+once his hand in the tragedy might have escaped detection, but he
+waited, and by waiting allowed the blood-vessels to stiffen and all
+that phenomena to become apparent by means of which the eyes of the
+physicians were opened to the fact that they must search deeper for the
+cause of death than the bruises she had received. Thus it is that
+Justice opens loop-holes in the finest web a criminal can weave."
+
+"A just remark, Mr. Gryce, but in this fine-spun web of _your_ weaving,
+you have not explained how the clock came to be running and to stop at
+five."
+
+"Cannot you see? A man capable of such a crime would not forget to
+provide himself with an alibi. He expected to be in his rooms at five,
+so before pulling down the shelves at three or four, he wound the clock
+and set it at an hour when he could bring forward testimony to his being
+in another place. Is not such a theory consistent with his character and
+with the skill he has displayed from the beginning to the end of this
+woful affair?"
+
+Aghast at the deftness with which this able detective explained every
+detail of this crime by means of a theory necessarily hypothetical if
+the discoveries I had made in the matter were true, and for the moment
+subjected to the overwhelming influence of his enthusiasm, I sat in a
+maze, asking myself if all the seemingly irrefutable evidence upon which
+men had been convicted in times gone by was as false as this. To relieve
+myself and to gain renewed confidence in my own views and the
+discoveries I had made in this matter, I repeated the name of Howard,
+and asked how, in case the whole crime was conceived and perpetrated by
+his brother, he came to utter such equivocations and to assume that
+position of guilt which had led to his own arrest.
+
+"Do you think," I inquired, "that he was aware of his brother's part in
+this affair, and that out of compassion for him he endeavored to take
+the crime upon his own shoulders?"
+
+"No, madam. Men of the world do not carry their disinterestedness so
+far. He not only did not know the part his brother took in this crime,
+but did not even suspect it, or why acknowledge that he lost the key by
+which the house was entered?"
+
+"I do not understand Howard's actions, even under these circumstances.
+They seem totally inconsistent to me."
+
+"Madam, they are easily explainable to one who knows the character of
+his mind. He prizes his honor above every consideration, and regarded it
+as threatened by the suggestion that his wife had entered his father's
+empty house at midnight with another man. To save himself that shame, he
+was willing not only to perjure himself, but to take upon himself the
+consequences of his perjury. Quixotic, certainly, but some men are
+constituted that way, and he, for all his amiable characteristics, is
+the most dogged man I ever encountered. That he ran against snags in his
+attempted explanations, seemed to make no difference to him. He was
+bound that no one should accuse him of marrying a false woman, even if
+he must bear the opprobrium of her death. It is hard to understand such
+a nature, but re-read his testimony, and see if this explanation of his
+conduct is not correct."
+
+And still I mechanically repeated: "I do not understand."
+
+Mr. Gryce may not have been a patient man under all circumstances, but
+he was patient with me that day.
+
+"It was his ignorance, Miss Butterworth, his total ignorance of the
+whole affair that led him into the inconsistencies he manifested. Let me
+present his case as I already have his brother's. He knew that his wife
+had come to New York to appeal to his father, and he gathered from what
+she said that she intended to do this either in his house or on the
+dock. To cut short any opportunity she might have for committing the
+first folly, he begged the key of the house from his brother, and,
+supposing that he had it all right, went to his rooms, not to Coney
+Island as he said, and began to pack up his trunks. For he meant to flee
+the country if his wife disgraced him. He was tired of her caprices and
+meant to cut them short as far as he was himself concerned. But the
+striking of the midnight hour brought better counsel. He began to wonder
+what she had been doing in his absence. Going out, he haunted the region
+of Gramercy Park for the better part of the night, and at daybreak
+actually mounted the steps of his father's house and prepared to enter
+it by means of the key he had obtained from his brother. But the key was
+not in his pocket, so he came down again and walked away, attracting the
+attention of Mr. Stone as he did so. The next day he heard of the
+tragedy which had taken place within those very walls; and though his
+first fears led him to believe that the victim was his wife, a sight of
+her clothes naturally dispelled this apprehension, for he knew nothing
+of her visit to the Hotel D---- or of the change in her habiliments
+which had taken place there. His father's persistent fears and the quiet
+pressure brought to bear upon him by the police only irritated him, and
+not until confronted by the hat found on the scene of death, an article
+only too well known as his wife's, did he yield to the accumulated
+evidence in support of her identity. Immediately he felt the full force
+of his unkindness towards her, and rushing to the Morgue had her poor
+body taken to that father's house and afterwards given a decent burial.
+But he could not accept the shame which this acknowledgment naturally
+brought with it, and, blind to all consequences, insisted, when brought
+up again for examination, that he was the man with whom she came to that
+lonely house. The difficulties into which this plunged him were partly
+foreseen and partly prepared for, and he showed some skill in
+surmounting them. But falsehoods never fit like truths, and we all felt
+the strain on our credulity as he met and attempted to parry the
+Coroner's questions.
+
+"And now, Miss Butterworth, let me again ask if your turn has not come
+at last for adding the sum of your evidence to ours against Franklin Van
+Burnam?"
+
+It had; I could not deny it, and as I realized that with it had also
+come the opportunity for justifying the pretensions I had made, I raised
+my head with suitable spirit and, after a momentary pause for the
+purpose of making my words the more impressive, I asked:
+
+"And what has made you think that _I_ was interested in fixing the guilt
+on Franklin Van Burnam?"
+
+
+
+
+XXXII.
+
+ICONOCLASM.
+
+
+The surprise which this very simple question occasioned, showed itself
+differently in the two men who heard it. The Inspector, who had never
+seen me before, simply stared, while Mr. Gryce, with that admirable
+command over himself which has helped to make him the most successful
+man on the force, retained his impassibility, though I noticed a small
+corner drop from my filigree basket as if crushed off by an inadvertent
+pressure of his hand.
+
+"I judged," was his calm reply, as he laid down the injured toy with an
+apologetic grunt, "that the clearing of Howard from suspicion meant the
+establishment of another man's guilt; and so far as we can see there has
+been no other party in the case besides these two brothers."
+
+"No? Then I fear a great surprise awaits you, Mr. Gryce. This crime,
+which you have fixed with such care and seeming probability upon
+Franklin Van Burnam, was not, in my judgment, perpetrated either by him
+or any other man. It was the act of a woman."
+
+"A WOMAN?"
+
+Both men spoke: the Inspector, as if he thought me demented; Mr. Gryce,
+as if he would like to have considered me a fool but dared not.
+
+"Yes, a _woman_," I repeated, dropping a quiet curtsey. It was a proper
+expression of respect when I was young, and I see no reason why it
+should not be a proper expression of respect now, except that we have
+lost our manners in gaining our independence, something which is to be
+regretted perhaps. "A woman whom I know; a woman whom I can lay my hands
+on at a half-hour's notice; a young woman, sirs; a pretty woman, the
+owner of one of the two hats found in the Van Burnam parlors."
+
+Had I exploded a bomb-shell the Inspector could not have looked more
+astounded. The detective, who was a man of greater self-command, did not
+betray his feelings so plainly, though he was not entirely without them,
+for, as I made this statement, he turned and looked at me; _Mr. Gryce_
+looked at me.
+
+"Both of those hats belonged to Mrs. Van Burnam," he protested; "the one
+she wore from Haddam; the other was in the order from Altman's."
+
+"She never ordered anything from Altman's," was my uncompromising reply.
+"The woman whom I saw enter next door, and who was the same who left the
+Hotel D---- with the man in the linen duster, was not Louise Van Burnam.
+She was that lady's rival, and let me say it, for I dare to think it,
+not only her rival but the prospective taker of her life. O you need not
+shake your heads at each other so significantly, gentlemen. I have been
+collecting evidence as well as yourselves, and what I have learned is
+very much to the point; very much, indeed."
+
+"The deuce you have!" muttered the Inspector, turning away from me; but
+Mr. Gryce continued to eye me like a man fascinated.
+
+"Upon what," said he, "do you base these extraordinary assertions? I
+should like to hear what that evidence is."
+
+"But first," said I, "I must take a few exceptions to certain points you
+consider yourself to have made against Franklin Van Burnam. You believe
+him to have committed this crime because you found in a secret drawer of
+his desk a letter known to have been in Mrs. Van Burnam's hands the day
+she was murdered, and which you, naturally enough, I acknowledge,
+conceive he could only have regained by murdering her. But have you not
+thought of another way in which he could have obtained it, a perfectly
+harmless way, involving no one either in deceit or crime? May it not
+have been in the little hand-bag returned by Mrs. Parker on the morning
+of the discovery, and may not its crumpled condition be accounted for by
+the haste with which Franklin might have thrust it into his secret
+drawer at the untoward entrance of some one into his office?"
+
+"I acknowledge that I have not thought of such a possibility," growled
+the detective, below his breath, but I saw that his self-satisfaction
+had been shaken.
+
+"As for any proof of complicity being given by the presence of the rings
+on the hook attached to his desk, I grieve for your sake to be obliged
+to dispel that illusion also. Those rings, Mr. Gryce and Mr. Inspector,
+were not discovered there by the girl in gray, but taken there; and hung
+there at the very moment your spy saw her hand fumbling with the
+papers."
+
+"Taken there, and hung there by your maid! By the girl Lena, who has so
+evidently been working in _your_ interests! What sort of a confession
+are you making, Miss Butterworth?"
+
+"Ah, Mr. Gryce," I gently remonstrated, for I actually pitied the old
+man in his hour of humiliation, "other girls wear gray besides Lena. It
+was the woman of the Hotel D---- who played this trick in Mr. Van
+Burnam's office. Lena was not out of my house that day."
+
+I had never thought Mr. Gryce feeble, though I knew he was over seventy
+if not very near the octogenarian age. But he drew up a chair at this
+and hastily sat down.
+
+"Tell me about this other girl," said he.
+
+But before I repeat what I said to him, I must explain by what reasoning
+I had arrived at the conclusion I have just mentioned. That Ruth Oliver
+was the visitor in Mr. Van Burnam's office there was but little reason
+to doubt; that her errand was one in connection with the rings was
+equally plain. What else would have driven her from her bed when she was
+hardly able to stand, and sent her in a state of fever, if not delirium,
+down town to this office?
+
+She feared having these rings found in her possession, and she also
+cherished a desire to throw whatever suspicion was attached to them upon
+the man who was already compromised. She may have thought it was
+Howard's desk she approached, and she may have known it to be
+Franklin's. On that point I was in doubt, but the rest was clear to me
+from the moment Mr. Gryce mentioned the girl in gray; and even the spot
+where she had kept them in the interim since the murder was no longer an
+unsolved mystery to me. Her emotion when I touched her knitting-work
+and the shreds of unravelled wool I had found lying about after her
+departure, had set my wits working, and I comprehended now _that they
+had been wound up in the ball of yarn I had so carelessly handled_.
+
+But what had I to say to Mr. Gryce in answer to his question. Much; and
+seeing that further delay was injudicious, I began my story then and
+there. Prefacing my tale with the suspicions I had always had of Mrs.
+Boppert, I told them of my interview with that woman and of the valuable
+clue she had given me by confessing that she had let Mrs. Van Burnam
+into the house prior to the visit of the couple who entered there at
+midnight. Knowing what an effect this must produce upon Mr. Gryce,
+utterly unprepared for it as he was, I looked for some burst of anger on
+his part, or at least some expression of self-reproach. But he only
+broke a second piece off my little filigree basket, and, totally
+unconscious of the demolition he was causing, cried out with true
+professional delight:
+
+"Well! well! I've always said this was a remarkable case, a very
+remarkable case; but if we don't look out it will go ahead of that one
+at Sibley. _Two_ women in the affair, and one of them in the house
+before the arrival of the so-called victim and her murderer! What do you
+think of that, Inspector? Rather late for us to find out so important a
+detail, eh?"
+
+"Rather," was the dry reply. At which Mr. Gryce's face grew long and he
+exclaimed, half shamefacedly, half jocularly:
+
+"Outwitted by a woman! Well, it's a new experience for me, Inspector,
+and you must not be surprised if it takes me a minute or so to get
+accustomed to it. A scrub-woman too! It cuts, Inspector, it cuts."
+
+But as I went on, and he learned how I had obtained definite proof of
+the clock having been not only wound by the lady thus admitted to the
+house, but set also and that correctly, his face grew even longer, and
+he gazed quite dolefully at the small figure in the carpet to which he
+had transferred his attention.
+
+"So! so!" came in almost indistinguishable murmur from his lips. "All my
+pretty theory in regard to its being set by the criminal for the purpose
+of confirming his attempt at a false alibi was but a figment of my
+imagination, eh? Sad! sad! But it was neat enough to have been true, was
+it not, Inspector?"
+
+"Quite," that gentleman good-humoredly admitted, yet with a shade of
+irony in his tone that made me suspect that, for all his confidence in
+and evident admiration for this brilliant old detective, he felt a
+certain amount of pleasure at seeing him for once at fault. Perhaps it
+gave him more confidence in his own judgment, seeing that their ideas on
+this case had been opposed from the start.
+
+"Well! well! I'm getting old; that's what they'll say at Headquarters
+to-morrow. But go on, Miss Butterworth; let us hear what followed; for I
+am sure your investigations did not stop there."
+
+I complied with his request with as much modesty as possible. But it was
+hard to suppress all triumph in face of the unrestrained enthusiasm with
+which he received my communication. When I told him of the doubts I had
+formed in regard to the disposal of the packages brought from the Hotel
+D----, and how to settle those doubts I had taken that midnight walk
+down Twenty-seventh Street, he looked astonished, his lips worked, and I
+really expected to see him try to pluck that flower up from the carpet,
+he ogled it so lovingly. But when I mentioned the lighted laundry and my
+discoveries there, his admiration burst all bounds, and he cried out,
+seemingly to the rose in the carpet, really to the Inspector:
+
+"Didn't I tell you she was a woman in a thousand? See now! we ought to
+have thought of that laundry ourselves; but we didn't, none of us did;
+we were too credulous and too easily satisfied with the evidence given
+at the inquest. Well, I'm seventy-seven, but I'm not too old to learn.
+Proceed, Miss Butterworth."
+
+I admired him and I was sorry for him, but I never enjoyed myself so
+much in my whole life. How could I help it, or how could I prevent
+myself from throwing a glance now and then at the picture of my father
+smiling upon me from the opposite wall?
+
+It was my task now to mention the advertisement I had inserted in the
+newspapers, and the reflections which had led to my rather daring
+description of the wandering woman as one dressed thus and so, and
+_without a hat_. This seemed to strike him--as I had expected it
+would,--and he interrupted me with a quick slap of his leg, for which
+only that leg was prepared.
+
+"Good!" he ejaculated; "a fine stroke! The work of a woman of genius! I
+could not have done better myself, Miss Butterworth. And what came of
+it? Something, I hope; talent like yours should not go unrewarded."
+
+"Two letters came of it," said I. "One from Cox, the milliner, saying
+that a bareheaded girl had bought a hat in his shop early on the morning
+designated; and another from a Mrs. Desberger appointing a meeting at
+which I obtained a definite clue to this girl, who, notwithstanding she
+wore Mrs. Van Burnam's clothes from the scene of tragedy, is not Mrs.
+Van Burnam herself, but a person by the name of Oliver, now to be found
+at Miss Althorpe's house in Twenty-first Street."
+
+As this was in a measure putting the matter into their hands, I saw them
+both grow impatient in their anxiety to see this girl for themselves.
+But I kept them for a few minutes longer while I related my discovery of
+the money in her shoes, and hinted at the explanation it afforded for
+her not changing those articles under the influence of the man who
+accompanied her.
+
+This was the last blow I dealt to the pride of Mr. Gryce. He quivered
+under it, but soon recovered, and was able to enjoy what he called
+another fine point in this remarkable case.
+
+But the acme of his delight was reached when I informed him of my
+ineffectual search for the rings, and my final conclusion that they had
+been wound up in the ball of yarn attached to her knitting-work.
+
+Whether his pleasure lay chiefly in the talent shown by Miss Oliver in
+her choice of a hiding-place for these jewels, or in the acumen
+displayed by myself in discovering it, I do not know; but he evinced an
+unbounded satisfaction in my words, crying aloud:
+
+"Beautiful! I don't know of anything more interesting! We have not seen
+the like in years! I can almost congratulate myself upon my mistakes,
+the features of the case they have brought out are so fine!"
+
+But his satisfaction, great as it was, soon gave way to his anxiety to
+see this girl who, if not the criminal herself, was so important a
+factor in this great crime.
+
+I was anxious myself to have him see her, though I feared her condition
+was not such as to promise him any immediate enlightenment on the
+doubtful portions of this far from thoroughly mastered problem. And I
+bade him interview the Chinaman also, and Mrs. Desberger, and even Mrs.
+Boppert, for I did not wish him to take for granted anything I had said,
+though I saw he had lost his attitude of disdain and was inclined to
+accept my opinions quite seriously.
+
+He answered in quite an off-hand manner while the Inspector stood by,
+but when that gentleman had withdrawn towards the door, Mr. Gryce
+remarked with more earnestness than he had yet used:
+
+"You have saved me from committing a folly, Miss Butterworth. If I had
+arrested Franklin Van Burnam to-day, and to-morrow all these facts had
+come to light, I should never have held up my head again. As it is,
+there will be numerous insinuations uttered by men on the force, and
+many a whisper will go about that Gryce is getting old, that Gryce has
+seen his best days."
+
+"Nonsense!" was my vigorous rejoinder. "You didn't have the clue, that
+is all. Nor did I get it through any keenness on my part, but from the
+force of circumstances. Mrs. Boppert thought herself indebted to me, and
+so gave me her confidence. Your laurels are very safe yet. Besides,
+there is enough work left on this case to keep more than one great
+detective like you busy. While the Van Burnams have not been proved
+guilty, they are not so freed from suspicion that you can regard your
+task as completed. If Ruth Oliver committed this crime, which of these
+two brothers was involved in it with her? The facts seem to point
+towards Franklin, but not so unerringly that no doubt is possible on the
+subject."
+
+"True, true. The mystery has deepened rather than cleared. Miss
+Butterworth, you will accompany me to Miss Althorpe's."
+
+
+
+
+XXXIII.
+
+"KNOWN, KNOWN, ALL KNOWN."
+
+
+Mr. Gryce possesses one faculty for which I envy him, and that is his
+skill in the management of people. He had not been in Miss Althorpe's
+house five minutes before he had won her confidence and had everything
+he wished at his command. _I_ had to talk some time before getting so
+far, but _he_--a word and a look did it.
+
+Miss Oliver, for whom I hesitated to inquire, lest I should again find
+her gone or in a worse condition than when I left, was in reality
+better, and as we went up-stairs I allowed myself to hope that the
+questions which had so troubled us would soon be answered and the
+mystery ended.
+
+But Mr. Gryce evidently knew better, for when we reached her door he
+turned and said:
+
+"Our task will not be an easy one. Go in first and attract her attention
+so that I can enter unobserved. I wish to study her before addressing
+her; but, mind, no words about the murder; leave that to me."
+
+I nodded, feeling that I was falling back into my own place; and
+knocking softly entered the room.
+
+A maid was sitting with her. Seeing me, she rose and advanced, saying:
+
+"Miss Oliver is sleeping."
+
+"Then I will relieve you," I returned, beckoning Mr. Gryce to come in.
+
+The girl left us and we two contemplated the sick woman silently.
+Presently I saw Mr. Gryce shake his head. But he did not tell me what he
+meant by it.
+
+Following the direction of his finger, I sat down in a chair at the head
+of the bed; he took his station at the side of it in a large arm-chair
+he saw there. As he did so I saw how fatherly and kind he really looked,
+and wondered if he was in the habit of so preparing himself to meet the
+eye of all the suspected criminals he encountered. The thought made me
+glance again her way. She lay like a statue, and her face, naturally
+round but now thinned out and hollow, looked up from the pillow in
+pitiful quiet, the long lashes accentuating the dark places under her
+eyes.
+
+A sad face, the saddest I ever saw and one of the most haunting.
+
+He seemed to find it so also, for his expression of benevolent interest
+deepened with every passing moment, till suddenly she stirred; then he
+gave me a warning glance, and stooping, took her by the wrist and pulled
+out his watch.
+
+She was deceived by the action. Opening her eyes, she surveyed him
+languidly for a moment, then heaving a great sigh, turned aside her
+head.
+
+"Don't tell me I am better, doctor. I do not want to live."
+
+The plaintive tone, the refined accent, seemed to astonish him. Laying
+down her hand, he answered gently:
+
+"I do not like to hear that from such young lips, but it assures me that
+I was correct in my first surmise, that it is not medicine you need but
+a friend. And I can be that friend if you will but allow me."
+
+Moved, encouraged for the instant, she turned her head from side to
+side, probably to see if they were alone, and not observing me, answered
+softly:
+
+"You are very good, very thoughtful, doctor, but"--and here her despair
+returned again--"it is useless; you can do nothing for me."
+
+"You think so," remonstrated the old detective, "but you do not know me,
+child. Let me show you that I can be of benefit to you." And he drew
+from his pocket a little package which he opened before her astonished
+eyes. "Yesterday, in your delirium, you left these rings in an office
+down-town. As they are valuable, I have brought them back to you. Wasn't
+I right, my child?"
+
+"No! no!" She started up, and her accents betrayed terror and anguish,
+"I do not want them; I cannot bear to see them; they do not belong to
+_me_; they belong to _them_."
+
+"To _them_? Whom do you mean by them?" queried Mr. Gryce, insinuatingly.
+
+"The--the Van Burnams. Is not that the name? Oh, do not make me talk; I
+am so weak! Only take the rings back."
+
+"I will, child, I will." Mr. Gryce's voice was more than fatherly now,
+it was tender, really and sincerely tender. "I will take them back; but
+to which of the brothers shall I return them? To"--he hesitated
+softly--"to Franklin or to Howard?"
+
+I expected to hear her respond, his manner was so gentle and apparently
+sincere. But though feverish and on the verge of wildness, she had still
+some command over herself, and after giving him a look, the intensity
+of which called out a corresponding expression on his face, she faltered
+out:
+
+"I--I don't care; I don't know either of the gentlemen; but to the one
+you call Howard, I think."
+
+The pause which followed was filled by the tap-tap of Mr. Gryce's
+fingers on his knee.
+
+"That is the one who is in custody," he observed at last. "The other,
+that is Franklin, has gone scot-free thus far, I hear."
+
+No answer from her close-shut lips.
+
+He waited.
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"If you do not know either of these gentlemen," he insinuated at last,
+"how did you come to leave the rings at their office?"
+
+"I knew their names--I inquired my way--It is all a dream now. Please,
+please do not ask me questions. O doctor! do you not see I cannot bear
+it?"
+
+He smiled--I never could smile like that under any circumstances--and
+softly patted her hand.
+
+"I see it makes you suffer," he acknowledged, "but I must make you
+suffer in order to do you any good. If you would tell me all you know
+about these rings----"
+
+She passionately turned away her head.
+
+"I might hope to restore you to health and happiness. You know with what
+they are associated?"
+
+She made a slight motion.
+
+"And that they are an invaluable clue to the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam?"
+
+Another motion.
+
+"How then, my child, did _you_ come to have them?"
+
+Her head, which was rolling to and fro on the pillow, stopped and she
+gasped, rather than uttered:
+
+"I was _there_."
+
+He knew this, yet it was terrible to hear it from her lips; she was so
+young and had such an air of purity and innocence. But more heartrending
+yet was the groan with which she burst forth in another moment, as if
+impelled by conscience to unburden herself from some overwhelming load:
+
+"I took them; I could not help it; but I did not keep them; you know
+that I did not keep them. I am no thief, doctor; whatever I am, I am no
+thief."
+
+"Yes, yes, I see that. But why take them, child? What were you doing in
+that house, and whom were you with?"
+
+She threw up her arms, but made no reply.
+
+"Will you not tell?" he urged.
+
+A short silence, then a low "No," evidently wrung from her by the
+deepest anguish.
+
+Mr. Gryce heaved a sigh; the struggle was likely to be a more serious
+one than he had anticipated.
+
+"Miss Oliver," said he, "more facts are known in relation to this affair
+than you imagine. Though unsuspected at first, it has secretly been
+proven that the man who accompanied the woman into the house where the
+crime took place, was _Franklin_ Van Burnam."
+
+A low gasp from the bed, and that was all.
+
+"You know this to be correct, don't you, Miss Oliver?"
+
+"O must you ask?" She was writhing now, and I thought he must desist out
+of pure compassion. But detectives are made out of very stern stuff, and
+though he looked sorry he went inexorably on.
+
+"Justice and a sincere desire to help you, force me, my child. Were you
+not the woman who entered Mr. Van Burnam's house at midnight with this
+man?"
+
+"I entered the house."
+
+"At midnight?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And with this man?"
+
+Silence.
+
+"You do not speak, Miss Oliver."
+
+Again silence.
+
+"It was Franklin who was with you at the Hotel D----?"
+
+She uttered a cry.
+
+"And it was Franklin who connived at your change of clothing there, and
+advised or allowed you to dress yourself in a new suit from Altman's?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried again.
+
+"Then why should it not have been he who accompanied you to the
+Chinaman's, and afterwards took you in a second hack to the house in
+Gramercy Park?"
+
+"Known, known, all known!" was her moan.
+
+"Sin and crime cannot long remain hidden in this world, Miss Oliver. The
+police are acquainted with all your movements from the moment you left
+the Hotel D----. That is why I have compassion on you. I wish to save
+you from the consequences of a crime you saw committed, but in which you
+took no hand."
+
+"O," she exclaimed in one involuntary burst, as she half rose to her
+knees, "if you could save me from appearing in the matter at all! If you
+would let me run away----"
+
+But Mr. Gryce was not the man to give her hope on any such score.
+
+"Impossible, Miss Oliver. You are the only person who can witness for
+the guilty. If _I_ should let you go, the police would not. Then why not
+tell at once whose hand drew the hat-pin from your hat and----"
+
+"Stop!" she shrieked; "stop! you kill me! I cannot bear it! If you bring
+that moment back to my mind I shall go mad! I feel the horror of it
+rising in me now! Be still! I pray you, for God's sake, to be still!"
+
+This was mortal anguish; there was no acting in this. Even he was
+startled by the emotion he had raised, and sat for a moment without
+speaking. Then the necessity of providing against all further mistakes
+by fixing the guilt where it belonged, drove him on again, and he said:
+
+"Like many another woman before you, you are trying to shield a guilty
+man at your own expense. But it is useless, Miss Oliver; the truth
+always comes to light. Be advised, then, and make a confidant of one who
+understands you better than you think."
+
+But she would not listen to this.
+
+"No one understands me. I do not understand myself. I only know that I
+shall make a confidant of no one; that I shall never speak." And turning
+from him, she buried her head in the bedclothes.
+
+To most men her tone and the action which accompanied it would have been
+final. But Mr. Gryce possessed great patience. Waiting for just a moment
+till she seemed more composed, he murmured gently:
+
+"Not if you must suffer more from your silence than from speaking? Not
+if men--I do not mean myself, child, for I am your friend--will think
+that _you_ are to blame for the death of the woman whom you saw fall
+under a cruel stab, and whose rings you have?"
+
+"_I!_" Her horror was unmistakable; so were her surprise, her terror,
+and her shame, but she added nothing to the word she had uttered, and he
+was forced to say again:
+
+"The world, and by that I mean both good people and bad, will believe
+all this. _He_ will let them believe all this. Men have not the devotion
+of women."
+
+"Alas! alas!" It was a murmur rather than a cry, and she trembled so the
+bed shook visibly under her. But she made no response to the entreaty in
+his look and gesture, and he was compelled to draw back unsatisfied.
+
+When a few heavy minutes had passed, he spoke again, this time in a tone
+of sadness.
+
+"Few men are worth such sacrifices, Miss Oliver, and a criminal never.
+But a woman is not moved by that thought. She should be moved by this,
+however. If either of these brothers is to blame in this matter,
+consideration for the guiltless one should lead you to mention the name
+of the guilty."
+
+But even this did not visibly affect her.
+
+"I shall mention no names," said she.
+
+"A sign will answer."
+
+"I shall make no sign."
+
+"Then Howard must go to his trial?"
+
+A gasp, but no words.
+
+"And Franklin proceed on his way undisturbed?"
+
+She tried not to answer, but the words would come. Pray God! I may never
+see such a struggle again.
+
+"That is as God wills. I can do nothing in the matter." And she sank
+back crushed and wellnigh insensible.
+
+Mr. Gryce made no further effort to influence her.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIV.
+
+EXACTLY HALF-PAST THREE.
+
+
+"She is more unfortunate than wicked," was Mr. Gryce's comment as we
+stepped into the hall. "Nevertheless, watch her closely, for she is in
+just the mood to do herself a mischief. In an hour, or at the most two,
+I shall have a woman here to help you. You can stay till then?"
+
+"All night, if you say so."
+
+"That you must settle with Miss Althorpe. As soon as Miss Oliver is up I
+shall have a little scheme to propose, by means of which I hope to
+arrive at the truth of this affair. I must know which of these two men
+she is shielding."
+
+"Then you think she did not kill Mrs. Van Burnam herself?"
+
+"I think the whole matter one of the most puzzling mysteries that has
+ever come to the notice of the New York police. We are sure that the
+murdered woman was Mrs. Van Burnam, that this girl was present at her
+death, and that she availed herself of the opportunity afforded by that
+death to make the exchange of clothing which has given such a
+complicated twist to the whole affair. But beyond these facts, we know
+little more than that it was Franklin Van Burnam who took her to the
+Gramercy Park house, and Howard who was seen in that same vicinity some
+two or four hours later. But on which of these two to fix the
+responsibility of Mrs. Van Burnam's death, is the question."
+
+"She had a hand in it herself," I persisted; "though it may have been
+without evil intent. No man ever carried that thing through without
+feminine help. To this opinion I shall stick, much as this girl draws
+upon my sympathies."
+
+"I shall not try to persuade you to the contrary. But the point is to
+find out how much help, and to whom it was given."
+
+"And your scheme for doing this?"
+
+"Cannot be carried out till she is on her feet again. So cure her, Miss
+Butterworth, cure her. When she can go down-stairs, Ebenezer Gryce will
+be on the scene to test his little scheme."
+
+I promised to do what I could, and when he was gone, I set diligently to
+work to soothe the child, as he had called her, and get her in trim for
+the delicate meal which had been sent up. And whether it was owing to a
+change in my own feelings, or whether the talk with Mr. Gryce had so
+unnerved her that any womanly ministration was welcome, she responded
+much more readily to my efforts than ever before, and in a little while
+lay in so calm and grateful a mood that I was actually sorry to see the
+nurse when she came. Hoping that something might spring from an
+interview with Miss Althorpe whereby my departure from the house might
+be delayed, I descended to the library, and was fortunate enough to find
+the mistress of the house there. She was sorting invitations, and looked
+anxious and worried.
+
+"You see me in a difficulty, Miss Butterworth. I had relied on Miss
+Oliver to oversee this work, as well as to assist me in a great many
+other details, and I don't know of any one whom I can get on short
+notice to take her place. My own engagements are many and----"
+
+"Let me help you," I put in, with that cheerfulness her presence
+invariably inspires. "I have nothing pressing calling me home, and for
+once in my life I should like to take an active part in wedding
+festivities. It would make me feel quite young again."
+
+"But----" she began.
+
+"Oh," I hastened to say, "you think I would be more of a hindrance to
+you than a help; that I would do the work, perhaps, but in my own way
+rather than in yours. Well, that would doubtless have been true of me a
+month since, but I have learned a great deal in the last few weeks,--you
+will not ask me how,--and now I stand ready to do your work in your way,
+and to take a great deal of pleasure in it too."
+
+"Ah, Miss Butterworth," she exclaimed, with a burst of genuine feeling
+which I would not have lost for the world, "I always knew that you had a
+kind heart; and I am going to accept your offer in the same spirit in
+which it is made."
+
+So that was settled, and with it the possibility of my spending another
+night in this house.
+
+At ten o'clock I stole away from the library and the delightful company
+of Mr. Stone, who had insisted upon sharing my labors, and went up to
+Miss Oliver's room. I met the nurse at the door.
+
+"You want to see her," said she. "She's asleep, but does not rest very
+easily. I don't think I ever saw so pitiful a case. She moans
+continually, but not with physical pain. Yet she seems to have courage
+too; for now and then she starts up with a loud cry. Listen."
+
+I did so, and this is what I heard:
+
+"I do not want to live; doctor, I do not want to live; why do you try to
+make me better?"
+
+"That is what she is saying all the time. Sad, isn't it?"
+
+I acknowledged it to be so, but at the same time wondered if the girl
+were not right in wishing for death as a relief from her troubles.
+
+Early the next morning I inquired at her door again. Miss Oliver was
+better. Her fever had left her, and she wore a more natural look than at
+any time since I had seen her. But it was not an untroubled one, and it
+was with difficulty I met her eyes when she asked if they were coming
+for her that day, and if she could see Miss Althorpe before she left. As
+she was not yet able to leave her bed I could easily answer her first
+question, but I knew too little of Mr. Gryce's intentions to be able to
+reply to the second. But I was easy with this suffering woman, very
+easy, more easy than I ever supposed I could be with any one so
+intimately associated with crime.
+
+She seemed to accept my explanations as readily as she already had my
+presence, and I was struck again with surprise as I considered that my
+name had never aroused in her the least emotion.
+
+"Miss Althorpe has been so good to me I should like to thank her; from
+my despairing heart, I should like to thank her," she said to me as I
+stood by her side before leaving. "Do you know"--she went on, catching
+me by the dress as I was turning away--"what kind of a man she is going
+to marry? She has such a loving heart, and marriage is such a fearful
+risk."
+
+"Fearful?" I repeated.
+
+"Is it not fearful? To give one's whole soul to a man and be met by--I
+must not talk of it; I must not think of it--But is he a good man? Does
+he love Miss Althorpe? Will she be happy? I have no right to ask,
+perhaps, but my gratitude towards her is such that I wish her every joy
+and pleasure."
+
+"Miss Althorpe has chosen well," I rejoined. "Mr. Stone is a man in ten
+thousand."
+
+The sigh that answered me went to my heart.
+
+"I will pray for her," she murmured; "that will be something to live
+for."
+
+I did not know what reply to make to this. Everything which this girl
+said and did was so unexpected and so convincing in its sincerity, I
+felt moved by her even against my better judgment. I pitied her and yet
+I dared not urge her on to speak, lest I should fail in my task of
+making her well. I therefore confined myself to a few haphazard
+expressions of sympathy and encouragement, and left her in the hands of
+the nurse.
+
+Next day Mr. Gryce called.
+
+"Your patient is better," said he.
+
+"Much better," was my cheerful reply. "This afternoon she will be able
+to leave the house."
+
+"Very good; have her down at half-past three and I will be in front with
+a carriage."
+
+"I dread it," I cried; "but I will have her there."
+
+"You are beginning to like her, Miss Butterworth. Take care! You will
+lose your head if your sympathies become engaged."
+
+"It sits pretty firmly on my shoulders yet," I retorted; "and as for
+sympathies, you are full of them yourself. I saw how you looked at her
+yesterday."
+
+"Bah, _my_ looks!"
+
+"You cannot deceive me, Mr. Gryce; you are as sorry for the girl as you
+can be; and so am I too. By the way, I do not think I should speak of
+her as a girl. From something she said yesterday I am convinced she is a
+married woman; and that her husband----"
+
+"Well, madam?"
+
+"I will not give him a name, at least not before your scheme has been
+carried out. Are you ready for the undertaking?"
+
+"I will be this afternoon. At half-past three she is to leave the house.
+Not a minute before and not a minute later. Remember."
+
+
+
+
+XXXV.
+
+A RUSE.
+
+
+It was a new thing for me to enter into any scheme blindfold. But the
+past few weeks had taught me many lessons and among them to trust a
+little in the judgment of others.
+
+Accordingly I was on hand with my patient at the hour designated, and,
+as I supported her trembling steps down the stairs, I endeavored not to
+betray the intense interest agitating me, or to awaken by my curiosity
+any further dread in her mind than that involved by her departure from
+this home of bounty and good feeling, and her entrance upon an unknown
+and possibly much to be apprehended future.
+
+Mr. Gryce was awaiting us in the lower hall, and as he caught sight of
+her slender figure and anxious face his whole attitude became at once so
+protecting and so sympathetic, I did not wonder at her failure to
+associate him with the police.
+
+As she stepped down to his side he gave her a genial nod.
+
+"I am glad to see you so far on the road to recovery," he remarked. "It
+shows me that my prophecy is correct and that in a few days you will be
+quite yourself again."
+
+She looked at him wistfully.
+
+"You seem to know so much about me, doctor, perhaps you can tell me
+where they are going to take me."
+
+He lifted a tassel from a curtain near by, looked at it, shook his head
+at it, and inquired quite irrelevantly:
+
+"Have you bidden good-bye to Miss Althorpe?"
+
+Her eyes stole towards the parlors and she whispered as if half in awe
+of the splendor everywhere surrounding her:
+
+"I have not had the opportunity. But I should be sorry to go without a
+word of thanks for her goodness. Is she at home?"
+
+The tassel slipped from his hand.
+
+"You will find her in a carriage at the door. She has an engagement out
+this afternoon, but wishes to say good-bye to you before leaving."
+
+"Oh, how kind she is!" burst from the girl's white lips; and with a
+hurried gesture she was making for the door when Mr. Gryce stepped
+before her and opened it.
+
+Two carriages were drawn up in front, neither of which seemed to possess
+the elegance of so rich a woman's equipage. But Mr. Gryce appeared
+satisfied, and pointing to the nearest one, observed quietly:
+
+"You are expected. If she does not open the carriage door for you, do
+not hesitate to do it yourself. She has something of importance to say
+to you."
+
+Miss Oliver looked surprised, but prepared to obey him. Steadying
+herself by the stone balustrade, she slowly descended the steps and
+advanced towards the carriage. I watched her from the doorway and Mr.
+Gryce from the vestibule. It seemed an ordinary situation, but
+something in the latter's face convinced me that interests of no small
+moment depended upon the interview about to take place.
+
+But before I could decide upon their nature or satisfy myself as to the
+full meaning of Mr. Gryce's manner, she had started back from the
+carriage door and was saying to him in a tone of modest embarrassment:
+
+"There is a gentleman in the carriage; you must have made some mistake."
+
+Mr. Gryce, who had evidently expected a different result from his
+stratagem, hesitated for a moment, during which I felt that he read her
+through and through; then he responded lightly:
+
+"I made a mistake, eh? Oh, possibly. Look in the other carriage, my
+child."
+
+With an unaffected air of confidence she turned to do so, and I turned
+to watch her, for I began to understand the "scheme" at which I was
+assisting, and foresaw that the emotion she had failed to betray at the
+door of the first carriage might not necessarily be lacking on the
+opening of the second.
+
+I was all the more assured of this from the fact that Miss Althorpe's
+stately figure was very plainly to be seen at that moment, not in the
+coach Miss Oliver was approaching, but in an elegant victoria just
+turning the corner.
+
+My expectations were realized; for no sooner had the poor girl swung
+open the door of the second hack, than her whole body succumbed to a
+shock so great that I expected to see her fall in a heap on the
+pavement. But she steadied herself up with a determined effort, and with
+a sudden movement full of subdued fury, jumped into the carriage and
+violently shut the door just as the first carriage drove off to give
+place to Miss Althorpe's turn-out.
+
+"Humph!" sprang from Mr. Gryce's lips in a tone so full of varied
+emotions that it was with difficulty I refrained from rushing down the
+stoop to see for myself who was the occupant of the coach into which my
+late patient had so passionately precipitated herself. But the sight of
+Miss Althorpe being helped to the ground by her attendant lover,
+recalled me so suddenly to my own anomalous position on her stoop, that
+I let my first impulse pass and concerned myself instead with the
+formation of those apologies I thought necessary to the occasion. But
+those apologies were never uttered. Mr. Gryce, with the infinite tact he
+displays in all serious emergencies, came to my rescue, and so
+distracted Miss Althorpe's attention that she failed to observe that she
+had interrupted a situation of no small moment.
+
+Meanwhile the coach containing Miss Oliver had, at a signal from the
+wary detective, drawn off in the wake of the first one, and I had the
+doubtful satisfaction of seeing them both roll down the street without
+my having penetrated the secret of either.
+
+A glance from Mr. Stone, who had followed Miss Althorpe up the stoop,
+interrupted Mr. Gryce's flow of eloquence, and a few minutes later I
+found myself making those adieux which I had hoped to avoid by departing
+in Miss Althorpe's absence. Another instant and I was hastening down the
+street in the direction taken by the two carriages, one of which had
+paused at the corner a few rods off.
+
+But, spry as I am for one of my settled habits and sedate character, I
+found myself passed by Mr. Gryce; and when I would have accelerated my
+steps, he darted forward quite like a boy and, without a word of
+explanation or any acknowledgment of the mutual understanding which
+certainly existed between us, leaped into the carriage I was endeavoring
+to reach, and was driven away. But not before I caught a glimpse of Miss
+Oliver's gray dress inside.
+
+Determined not to be baffled by this man, I turned about and followed
+the other carriage. It was approaching a crowded part of the avenue, and
+in a few minutes I had the gratification of seeing it come to a
+standstill only a few feet from the curb-stone. The opportunity thus
+afforded me of satisfying my curiosity was not to be slighted. Without
+pausing to consider consequences or to question the propriety of my
+conduct, I stepped boldly up in front of its half-lowered window and
+looked in. There was but one person inside, and that person was Franklin
+Van Burnam.
+
+What was I to conclude from this? That the occupant of the other
+carriage was Howard, and that Mr. Gryce now knew with which of the two
+brothers Miss Oliver's memories were associated.
+
+
+
+
+_BOOK IV._
+
+THE END OF A GREAT MYSTERY.
+
+
+
+
+XXXVI.
+
+THE RESULT.
+
+
+I was as much surprised at this result of Mr. Gryce's scheme as he was,
+and possibly I was more chagrined. But I shall not enter into my
+feelings on the subject, or weary you any further with my conjectures.
+You will be much more interested, I know, in learning what occurred to
+Mr. Gryce upon entering the carriage holding Miss Oliver.
+
+He had expected, from the intense emotion she displayed at the sight of
+Howard Van Burnam (for I was not mistaken as to the identity of the
+person occupying the carriage with her), to find her flushed with the
+passions incident upon this meeting, and her companion in a condition of
+mind which would make it no longer possible for him to deny his
+connection with this woman and his consequently guilty complicity in a
+murder to which both were linked by so many incriminating circumstances.
+
+But for all his experience, the detective was disappointed in this
+expectation, as he had been in so many others connected with this case.
+There was nothing in Miss Oliver's attitude to indicate that she had
+unburdened herself of any of the emotions with which she was so
+grievously agitated, nor was there on Mr. Van Burnam's part any deeper
+manifestation of feeling than a slight glow on his cheek, and even that
+disappeared under the detective's scrutiny, leaving him as composed and
+imperturbable as he had been in his memorable inquisition before the
+Coroner.
+
+Disappointed, and yet in a measure exhilarated by this sudden check in
+plans he had thought too well laid for failure, Mr. Gryce surveyed the
+young girl more carefully, and saw that he had not been mistaken in
+regard to the force or extent of the feelings which had driven her into
+Mr. Van Burnam's presence; and turning back to that gentleman, was about
+to give utterance to some very pertinent remarks, when he was
+forestalled by Mr. Van Burnam inquiring, in his old calm way, which
+nothing seemed able to disturb:
+
+"Who is this crazy girl you have forced upon me? If I had known I was to
+be subjected to such companionship I should not have regarded my outing
+so favorably."
+
+Mr. Gryce, who never allowed himself to be surprised by anything a
+suspected criminal might do or say, surveyed him quietly for a moment,
+then turned towards Miss Oliver.
+
+"You hear what this gentleman calls you?" said he.
+
+Her face was hidden by her hands, but she dropped them as the detective
+addressed her, showing a countenance so distorted by passion that it
+stopped the current of his thoughts, and made him question whether the
+epithet bestowed upon her by their somewhat callous companion was
+entirely unjustified. But soon the something else which was in her face
+restored his confidence in her sanity, and he saw that while her reason
+might be shaken it was not yet dethroned, and that he had good cause to
+expect sooner or later some action from a woman whose misery could wear
+an aspect of such desperate resolution.
+
+That he was not the only one affected by the force and desperate
+character of her glance became presently apparent, for Mr. Van Burnam,
+with a more kindly tone than he had previously used, observed quietly:
+
+"I see the lady is suffering. I beg pardon for my inconsiderate words. I
+have no wish to insult the unhappy."
+
+Never was Mr. Gryce so nonplussed. There was a mingled courtesy and
+composure in the speaker's manner which was as far removed as possible
+from that strained effort at self-possession which marks suppressed
+passion or secret fear; while in the vacant look with which she met
+these words there was neither anger nor scorn nor indeed any of the
+passions one would expect to see there. The detective consequently did
+not force the situation, but only watched her more and more attentively
+till her eyes fell and she crouched away from them both. Then he said:
+
+"You can name this gentleman, can you not, Miss Oliver, even if he does
+not choose to recognize _you_?"
+
+But her answer, if she made one, was inaudible, and the sole result
+which Mr. Gryce obtained from this venture was a quick look from Mr. Van
+Burnam and the following uncompromising words from his lips:
+
+"If you think this young girl knows me, or that I know her, you are
+greatly mistaken. She is as much of a stranger to me as I am to her,
+and I take this opportunity of saying so. I hope my liberty and good
+name are not to be made dependent upon the word of a miserable waif like
+this."
+
+"Your liberty and your good name will depend upon your innocence,"
+retorted Mr. Gryce, and said no more, feeling himself at a disadvantage
+before the imperturbability of this man and the silent, non-accusing
+attitude of this woman, from the shock of whose passions he had
+anticipated so much and obtained so little.
+
+Meantime they were moving rapidly towards Police Headquarters, and
+fearing that the sight of that place might alarm Miss Oliver more than
+was well for her, he strove again to rouse her by a kindly word or so.
+But it was useless. She evidently tried to pay attention and follow the
+words he used, but her thoughts were too busy over the one great subject
+that engrossed her.
+
+"A bad case!" murmured Mr. Van Burnam, and with the phrase seemed to
+dismiss all thought of her.
+
+"A bad case!" echoed Mr. Gryce, "but," seeing how fast the look of
+resolution was replacing her previous aspect of frenzy, "one that will
+do mischief yet to the man who has deceived her."
+
+The stopping of the carriage roused her. Looking up, she spoke for the
+first time.
+
+"I want a police officer," she said.
+
+Mr. Gryce, with all his assurance restored, leaped to the ground and
+held out his hand.
+
+"I will take you into the presence of one," said he; and she, without a
+glance at Mr. Van Burnam, whose knee she brushed in passing, leaped to
+the ground, and turned her face towards Police Headquarters.
+
+
+
+
+XXXVII.
+
+"TWO WEEKS!"
+
+
+But before she was well in, her countenance changed.
+
+"No," said she, "I want to think first. Give me time to think. I dare
+not say a word without thinking."
+
+"Truth needs no consideration. If you wish to denounce this man----"
+
+Her look said she did.
+
+"Then now is the time."
+
+She gave him a sharp glance; the first she had bestowed upon him since
+leaving Miss Althorpe's.
+
+"You are no doctor," she declared. "Are you a police-officer?"
+
+"I am a detective."
+
+"Oh!" and she hesitated for a moment, shrinking from him with very
+natural distrust and aversion. "I have been in the toils then without
+knowing it; no wonder I am caught. But I am no criminal, sir; and if you
+are the one most in authority here, I beg the privilege of a few words
+with you before I am put into confinement."
+
+"I will take you before the Superintendent," said Mr. Gryce. "But do you
+wish to go alone? Shall not Mr. Van Burnam accompany you?"
+
+"Mr. Van Burnam?"
+
+"Is it not he you wish to denounce?"
+
+"I do not wish to denounce any one to-day."
+
+"What do you wish?" asked Mr. Gryce.
+
+"Let me see the man who has power to hold me here or let me go, and I
+will tell him."
+
+"Very well," said Mr. Gryce, and led her into the presence of the
+Superintendent.
+
+She was at this moment quite a different person from what she had been
+in the carriage. All that was girlish in her aspect or appealing in her
+bearing had faded away, evidently forever, and left in its place
+something at once so desperate and so deadly, that she seemed not only a
+woman but one of a very determined and dangerous nature. Her manner,
+however, was quiet, and it was only in her eye that one could see how
+near she was to frenzy.
+
+She spoke before the Superintendent could address her.
+
+"Sir," said she, "I have been brought here on account of a fearful crime
+I was unhappy enough to witness. I myself am innocent of that crime,
+but, so far as I know, there is no other person living save the guilty
+man who committed it, who can tell you how or why or by whom it was
+done. One man has been arrested for it and another has not. If you will
+give me two weeks of complete freedom, I will point out to you which is
+the veritable man of blood, and may Heaven have mercy on his soul!"
+
+"She is mad," signified the Superintendent in by-play to Mr. Gryce.
+
+But the latter shook his head; she was not mad yet.
+
+"I know," she continued, without a hint of the timidity which seemed
+natural to her under other circumstances, "that this must seem a
+presumptuous request from one like me, but it is only by granting it
+that you will ever be able to lay your hand on the murderer of Mrs. Van
+Burnam. For I will never speak if I cannot speak in my own way and at my
+own time. The agonies I have suffered must have some compensation.
+Otherwise I should die of horror and my grief."
+
+"And how do you hope to gain compensation by this delay?" expostulated
+the Superintendent. "Would you not meet with more satisfaction in
+denouncing him here and now before he can pass another night in fancied
+security?"
+
+But she only repeated: "I have said two weeks, and two weeks I must
+have. Two weeks in which to come and go as I please. Two weeks!" And no
+argument they could advance succeeded in eliciting from her any other
+response or in altering in any way her air of quiet determination with
+its underlying suggestion of frenzy.
+
+Acknowledging their mutual defeat by a look, the Superintendent and
+detective drew off to one side, and something like the following
+conversation took place between them.
+
+"You think she's sane?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"And will remain so two weeks?"
+
+"If humored."
+
+"You are sure she is implicated in this crime?"
+
+"She was a witness to it."
+
+"And that she speaks the truth when she declares that she is the only
+person who can point out the criminal?"
+
+"Yes; that is, she is the only one who will do it. The attitude taken by
+the Van Burnams, especially by Howard just now in the presence of this
+girl, shows how little we have to expect from them."
+
+"Yet you think they know as much as she does about it?"
+
+"I do not know what to think. For once I am baffled, Superintendent.
+Every passion which this woman possesses was roused by her unexpected
+meeting with Howard Van Burnam, and yet their indifference when
+confronted, as well as her present action, seems to argue a lack of
+connection between them which overthrows at once the theory of his
+guilt. Was it the sight of Franklin, then, which really affected her?
+and was her apparent indifference at meeting him only an evidence of her
+self-control? It seems an impossible conclusion to draw, and indeed
+there are nothing but hitches and improbable features in this case.
+Nothing fits; nothing jibes. I get just so far in it and then I run up
+against a wall. Either there is a superhuman power of duplicity in the
+persons who contrived this murder or we are on the wrong tack
+altogether."
+
+"In other words, you have tried every means known to you to get at the
+truth of this matter, and failed."
+
+"I have, sir; sorry as I may be to acknowledge it."
+
+"Then we must accept her terms. She can be shadowed?"
+
+"Every moment."
+
+"Very well, then. Extreme cases must be met by extreme measures. We will
+let her have her swing, and see what comes of it. Revenge is a great
+weapon in the hands of a determined woman, and from her look I think she
+will make the most of it."
+
+And returning to where the young girl stood, the Superintendent asked
+her whether she felt sure the murderer would not escape in the time that
+must elapse before his apprehension.
+
+Instantly her cheek, which had looked as if it could never show color
+again, flushed a deep and painful scarlet, and she cried vehemently:
+
+"If any hint of what is here passing should reach him I should be
+powerless to prevent his flight. Swear, then, that my very existence
+shall be kept a secret between you two, or I will do nothing towards his
+apprehension,--no, not even to save the innocent."
+
+"We will not swear, but we will promise," returned the Superintendent.
+"And now, when may we expect to hear from you again?"
+
+"Two weeks from to-night as the clock strikes eight. Be wherever I may
+chance to be at that hour, and see on whose arm I lay my hand. It will
+be that of the man who killed Mrs. Van Burnam."
+
+
+
+
+XXXVIII.
+
+A WHITE SATIN GOWN.
+
+
+The events just related did not come to my knowledge for some days after
+they occurred, but I have recorded them at this time that I might in
+some way prepare you for an interview which shortly after took place
+between myself and Mr. Gryce.
+
+I had not seen him since our rather unsatisfactory parting in front of
+Miss Althorpe's house, and the suspense which I had endured in the
+interim made my greeting unnecessarily warm. But he took it all very
+naturally.
+
+"You are glad to see me," said he; "been wondering what has become of
+Miss Oliver. Well, she is in good hands; with Mrs. Desberger, in short;
+a woman whom I believe you know."
+
+"With Mrs. Desberger?" I _was_ surprised. "Why, I have been looking
+every day in the papers for an account of her arrest."
+
+"No doubt," he answered. "But we police are slow; we are not ready to
+arrest her yet. Meanwhile you can do us a favor. She wants to see you;
+are you willing to visit her?"
+
+My answer contained but little of the curiosity and eagerness I really
+felt.
+
+"I am always at your command. Do you wish me to go now?"
+
+"Miss Oliver is impatient," he admitted. "Her fever is better, but she
+is in an excited condition of mind which makes her a little
+unreasonable. To be plain, she is not quite herself, and while we still
+hope something from her testimony, we are leaving her very much to her
+own devices, and do not cross her in anything. You will therefore listen
+to what she says, and, if possible, aid her in anything she may
+undertake, unless it points directly towards self-destruction. My
+opinion is that she will surprise you. But you are becoming accustomed
+to surprises, are you not?"
+
+"Thanks to you, I am."
+
+"Very well, then, I have but one more suggestion to make. You are
+working for the police now, madam, and nothing that you see or learn in
+connection with this girl is to be kept back from us. Am I understood?"
+
+"Perfectly; but it is only proper for me to retort that I am not
+entirely pleased with the part you assign me. Could you not have left
+thus much to my good sense, and not put it into so many words?"
+
+"Ah, madam, the case at present is too serious for risks of that kind.
+Mr. Van Burnam's reputation, to say nothing of his life, depends upon
+our knowledge of this girl's secret; surely you can stretch a point in a
+matter of so much moment?"
+
+"I have already stretched several, and I can stretch one more, but I
+hope the girl won't look at me too often with those miserable appealing
+eyes of hers; they make me feel like a traitor."
+
+"You will not be troubled by any appeal in them. The appeal has
+vanished; something harder and even more difficult to meet is to be
+found in them now: wrath, purpose, and a desire for vengeance. She is
+not the same woman, I assure you."
+
+"Well," I sighed, "I am sorry; there is something about the girl that
+lays hold of me, and I hate to see such a change in her. Did she ask for
+me by name?"
+
+"I believe so."
+
+"I cannot understand her wanting me, but I will go; and I won't leave
+her either till she shows me she is tired of me. I am as anxious to see
+the end of this matter as you are." Then, with some vague idea that I
+had earned a right to some show of confidence on his part, I added
+insinuatingly: "I supposed you would feel the case settled when she
+almost fainted at the sight of the younger Mr. Van Burnam."
+
+The old ambiguous smile I remembered so well came to modify his brusque
+rejoinder.
+
+"If she had been a woman like you, I should; but she is a deep one, Miss
+Butterworth; too deep for the success of a little ruse like mine. Are
+you ready?"
+
+I was not, but it did not take me long to be so, and before an hour had
+elapsed I was seated in Mrs. Desberger's parlor in Ninth Street. Miss
+Oliver was in, and ere long made her appearance. She was dressed in
+street costume.
+
+I was prepared for a change in her, and yet the shock I felt when I
+first saw her face must have been apparent, for she immediately
+remarked:
+
+"You find me quite well, Miss Butterworth. For this I am partially
+indebted to you. You were very good to nurse me so carefully. Will you
+be still kinder, and help me in a new matter which I feel quite
+incompetent to undertake alone?"
+
+Her face was flushed, her manner nervous, but her eyes had an
+extraordinary look in them which affected me most painfully,
+notwithstanding the additional effect it gave to her beauty.
+
+"Certainly," said I. "What can I do for you?"
+
+"I wish to buy me a dress," was her unexpected reply. "A handsome dress.
+Do you object to showing me the best shops? I am a stranger in New
+York."
+
+More astonished than I can express, but carefully concealing it in
+remembrance of the caution received from Mr. Gryce, I replied that I
+would be only too happy to accompany her on such an errand. Upon which
+she lost her nervousness and prepared at once to go out with me.
+
+"I would have asked Mrs. Desberger," she observed while fitting on her
+gloves, "but her taste"--here she cast a significant look about the
+room--"is not quiet enough for me."
+
+"I should think not!" I cried.
+
+"I shall be a trouble to you," the girl went on, with a gleam in her eye
+that spoke of the restless spirit within. "I have many things to buy,
+and they must all be rich and handsome."
+
+"If you have money enough, there will be no trouble about that."
+
+"Oh, I have money." She spoke like a millionaire's daughter. "Shall we
+go to Arnold's?"
+
+As I always traded at Arnold's, I readily acquiesced, and we left the
+house. But not before she had tied a very thick veil over her face.
+
+"If we meet any one, do not introduce me," she begged. "I cannot talk to
+people."
+
+"You may rest easy," I assured her.
+
+At the corner she stopped. "Is there any way of getting a carriage?" she
+asked.
+
+"Do you want one?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+I signalled a hack.
+
+"Now for the dress!" she cried.
+
+We rode at once to Arnold's.
+
+"What kind of a dress do you want?" I inquired as we entered the store.
+
+"An evening one; a white satin, I think."
+
+I could not help the exclamation which escaped me; but I covered it up
+as quickly as possible by a hurried remark in favor of white, and we
+proceeded at once to the silk counter.
+
+"I will trust it all to you," she whispered in an odd, choked tone as
+the clerk approached us. "Get what you would for your daughter--no, no!
+for Mr. Van Burnam's daughter, if he has one, and do not spare expense.
+I have five hundred dollars in my pocket."
+
+Mr. Van Burnam's daughter! Well, well! A tragedy of some kind was
+portending! But I bought the dress.
+
+"Now," said she, "lace, and whatever else I need to make it up suitably.
+And I must have slippers and gloves. You know what a young girl requires
+to make her look like a lady. I want to look so well that the most
+critical eye will detect no fault in my appearance. It can be done, can
+it not, Miss Butterworth? My face and figure will not spoil the effect,
+will they?"
+
+"No," said I; "you have a good face and a beautiful figure. You ought to
+look well. Are you going to a ball, my dear?"
+
+"I am going to a ball," she answered; but her tone was so strange the
+people passing us turned to look at her.
+
+"Let us have everything sent to the carriage," said she, and went with
+me from counter to counter with her ready purse in her hand, but not
+once lifting her veil to look at what was offered us, saying over and
+over as I sought to consult her in regard to some article: "Buy the
+richest; I leave it all to you."
+
+Had Mr. Gryce not told me she must be humored, I could never have gone
+through this ordeal. To see a girl thus expend her hoarded savings on
+such frivolities was absolutely painful to me, and more than once I was
+tempted to decline any further participation in such extravagance. But a
+thought of my obligations to Mr. Gryce restrained me, and I went on
+spending the poor girl's dollars with more pain to myself than if I had
+taken them out of my own pocket.
+
+Having purchased all the articles we thought necessary, we were turning
+towards the door when Miss Oliver whispered:
+
+"Wait for me in the carriage for just a few minutes. I have one more
+thing to buy, and I must do it alone."
+
+"But----" I began.
+
+"I will do it, and I will not be followed," she insisted, in a shrill
+tone that made me jump.
+
+And seeing no other way of preventing a scene, I let her leave me,
+though it cost me an anxious fifteen minutes.
+
+When she rejoined me, as she did at the expiration of that time, I eyed
+the bundle she held with decided curiosity. But I could make no guess at
+its contents.
+
+"Now," she cried, as she reseated herself and closed the carriage door,
+"where shall I find a dressmaker able and willing to make up this satin
+in five days?"
+
+I could not tell her. But after some little search we succeeded in
+finding a woman who engaged to make an elegant costume in the time given
+her. The first measurements were taken, and we drove back to Ninth
+Street with a lasting memory in my mind of the cold and rigid form of
+Miss Oliver standing up in Madame's triangular parlor, submitting to the
+mechanical touches of the modiste with an outward composure, but with a
+brooding horror in her eyes that bespoke an inward torment.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIX.
+
+THE WATCHFUL EYE.
+
+
+As I parted with Miss Oliver on Mrs. Desberger's stoop and did not visit
+her again in that house, I will introduce the report of a person better
+situated than myself to observe the girl during the next few days. That
+the person thus alluded to was a woman in the service of the police is
+evident, and as such may not meet with your approval, but her words are
+of interest, as witness:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Friday P.M.
+
+"Party went out to-day in company with an elderly female of respectable
+appearance. Said elderly female wears puffs, and moves with great
+precision. I say this in case her identification should prove necessary.
+
+"I had been warned that Miss O. would probably go out, and as the man
+set to watch the front door was on duty, I occupied myself during her
+absence in making a neat little hole in the partitions between our two
+rooms, so that I should not be obliged to offend my next-door neighbor
+by too frequent visits to her apartment. This done, I awaited her
+return, which was delayed till it was almost dark. When she did come in,
+her arms were full of bundles. These she thrust into a bureau-drawer,
+with the exception of one, which she laid with great care under her
+pillow. I wondered what this one could be, but could get no inkling from
+its size or shape. Her manner when she took off her hat was fiercer than
+before, and a strange smile, which I had not previously observed on her
+lips, added force to her expression. But it paled after supper-time, and
+she had a restless night. I could hear her walk the floor long after I
+thought it prudent on my part to retire, and at intervals through the
+night I was disturbed by her moaning, which was not that of a sick
+person but of one very much afflicted in mind.
+
+"Saturday.
+
+"Party quiet. Sits most of the time with hands clasped on her knee
+before the fire. Given to quick starts as if suddenly awakened from an
+absorbing train of thought. A pitiful object, especially when seized by
+terror as she is at odd times. No walks, no visitors to-day. Once I
+heard her speak some words in a strange language, and once she drew
+herself up before the mirror in an attitude of so much dignity I was
+surprised at the fine appearance she made. The fire of her eyes at this
+moment was remarkable. I should not be surprised at any move she might
+make.
+
+"Sunday.
+
+"She has been writing to-day. But when she had filled several pages of
+letter paper she suddenly tore them all up and threw them into the fire.
+Time seems to drag with her, for she goes every few minutes to the
+window from which a distant church clock is visible, and sighs as she
+turns away. More writing in the evening and some tears. But the writing
+was burned as before, and the tears stopped by a laugh that augurs
+little good to the person who called it up. The package has been taken
+from under her pillow and put in some place not visible from my
+spy-hole.
+
+"Monday.
+
+"Party out again to-day, gone some two hours or more. When she returned
+she sat down before the mirror and began dressing her hair. She has fine
+hair, and she tried arranging it in several ways. None seemed to satisfy
+her, and she tore it down again and let it hang till supper-time, when
+she wound it up in its usual simple knot. Mrs. Desberger spent some
+minutes with her, but their talk was far from confidential, and
+therefore uninteresting. I wish people would speak louder when they talk
+to themselves.
+
+"Tuesday.
+
+"Great restlessness on the part of the young person I am watching. No
+quiet for her, no quiet for me, yet she accomplishes nothing, and as yet
+has furnished me no clue to her thoughts.
+
+"A huge box was brought into the room to-night. It seemed to cause her
+dread rather than pleasure, for she shrank at sight of it, and has not
+yet attempted to open it. But her eyes have never left it since it was
+set down on the floor. It looks like a dressmaker's box, but why such
+emotion over a gown?
+
+"Wednesday.
+
+"This morning she opened the box but did not display its contents. I
+caught one glimpse of a mass of tissue paper, and then she put the cover
+on again, and for a good half hour sat crouching down beside it,
+shuddering like one in an ague-fit. I began to feel there was something
+deadly in the box, her eyes wandered towards it so frequently and with
+such contradictory looks of dread and savage determination. When she
+got up it was to see how many more minutes of the wretched day had
+passed.
+
+"Thursday.
+
+"Party sick; did not try to leave her bed. Breakfast brought up by Mrs.
+Desberger, who showed her every attention, but could not prevail upon
+her to eat. Yet she would not let the tray be taken away, and when she
+was alone again or thought herself alone, she let her eyes rest so long
+on the knife lying across her plate, that I grew nervous and could
+hardly restrain myself from rushing into the room. But I remembered my
+instructions, and kept still even when I saw her hand steal towards this
+possible weapon, though I kept my own on the bell-rope which fortunately
+hung at my side. She looked quite capable of wounding herself with the
+knife, but after balancing it a moment in her hand, she laid it down
+again and turned with a low moan to the wall. She will not attempt death
+till she has accomplished what is in her mind.
+
+"Friday.
+
+"All is right in the next room; that is, the young lady is up; but there
+is another change in her appearance since last night. She has grown
+contemptuous of herself and indulges less in brooding. But her
+impatience at the slow passage of time continues, and her interest in
+the box is even greater than before. She does not open it, however, only
+looks at it and lays her trembling hand now and then on the cover.
+
+"Saturday.
+
+"A blank day. Party dull and very quiet. Her eyes begin to look like
+ghastly hollows in her pale face. She talks to herself continually, but
+in a low mechanical way exceedingly wearing to the listener, especially
+as no word can be distinguished. Tried to see her in her own room
+to-day, but she would not admit me.
+
+"Sunday.
+
+"I have noticed from the first a Bible lying on one end of her
+mantel-shelf. To-day she noticed it also, and impulsively reached out
+her hand to take it down. But at the first word she read she gave a low
+cry and hastily closed the book and put it back. Later, however, she
+took it again and read several chapters. The result was a softening in
+her manner, but she went to bed as flushed and determined as ever.
+
+"Monday.
+
+"She has walked the floor all day. She has seen no one, and seems
+scarcely able to contain her impatience. She cannot stand this long.
+
+"Tuesday.
+
+"My surprises began in the morning. As soon as her room had been put in
+order, Miss O. locked the door and began to open her bundles. First she
+unrolled a pair of white silk stockings, which she carefully, but
+without any show of interest, laid on the bed; then she opened a package
+containing gloves. They were white also, and evidently of the finest
+quality. Then a lace handkerchief was brought to light, slippers, an
+evening fan, and a pair of fancy pins, and lastly she opened the
+mysterious box and took out a dress so rich in quality and of such
+simple elegance, it almost took my breath away. It was white, and made
+of the heaviest satin, and it looked as much out of place in that shabby
+room as its owner did in the moments of exaltation of which I have
+spoken.
+
+"Though her face was flushed when she lifted out the gown, it became
+pale again when she saw it lying across her bed. Indeed, a look of
+passionate abhorrence characterized her features as she contemplated it,
+and her hands went up before her eyes and she reeled back uttering the
+first words I have been able to distinguish since I have been on duty.
+They were violent in character, and seemed to tear their way through her
+lips almost without her volition. 'It is hate I feel, nothing but hate.
+Ah, if it were only duty that animated me!'
+
+"Later she grew calmer, and covering up the whole paraphernalia with a
+stray sheet she had evidently laid by for the purpose, she sent for Mrs.
+Desberger. When that lady came in she met her with a wan but by no means
+dubious smile, and ignoring with quiet dignity the very evident
+curiosity with which that good woman surveyed the bed, she said
+appealingly:
+
+"'You have been so kind to me, Mrs. Desberger, that I am going to tell
+you a secret. Will it continue to remain a secret, or shall I see it in
+the faces of all my fellow-boarders to-morrow?' You can imagine Mrs.
+Desberger's reply, also the manner in which it was delivered, but not
+Miss Oliver's secret. She uttered it in these words: 'I am going out
+to-night, Mrs. Desberger. I am going into great society. I am going to
+attend Miss Althorpe's wedding.' Then, as the good woman stammered out
+some words of surprise and pleasure, she went on to say: 'I do not want
+any one to know it, and I would be so glad if I could slip out of the
+house without any one seeing me. I shall need a carriage, but you will
+get one for me, will you not, and let me know the moment it comes. I am
+shy of what folks say, and besides, as you know, I am neither happy nor
+well, if I do go to weddings, and have new dresses, and----' She nearly
+broke down but collected herself with wonderful promptitude, and with a
+coaxing look that made her almost ghastly, so much it seemed out of
+accord with her strained and unnatural manner, she raised a corner of
+the sheet, saying, 'I will show you my gown, if you will promise to help
+me quietly out of the house,' which, of course, produced the desired
+effect upon Mrs. Desberger, that woman's greatest weakness being her
+love of dress.
+
+"So from that hour I knew what to expect, and after sending
+precautionary advices to Police Headquarters, I set myself to watch her
+prepare for the evening. I saw her arrange her hair and put on her
+elegant gown, and was as much startled by the result as if I had not had
+the least premonition that she only needed rich clothes to look both
+beautiful and distinguished. The square parcel she had once hidden under
+her pillow was brought out and laid on the bed, and when Mrs.
+Desberger's low knock announced the arrival of the carriage, she caught
+it up and hid it under the cloak she hastily threw about her. Mrs.
+Desberger came in and put out the light, but before the room sank into
+darkness I caught one glimpse of Miss Oliver's face. Its expression was
+terrible beyond anything I had ever seen on any human countenance."
+
+
+
+
+XL.
+
+AS THE CLOCK STRUCK.
+
+
+I do not attend weddings in general, but great as my suspense was in
+reference to Miss Oliver, I felt that I could not miss seeing Miss
+Althorpe married.
+
+I had ordered a new dress for the occasion, and was in the best of
+spirits as I rode to the church in which the ceremony was to be
+performed. The excitement of a great social occasion was for once not
+disagreeable to me, nor did I mind the crowd, though it pushed me about
+rather uncomfortably till an usher came to my assistance and seated me
+in a pew, which I was happy to see commanded a fine view of the chancel.
+
+I was early, but then I always am early, and having ample opportunity
+for observation, I noted every fine detail of ornamentation with
+approval, Miss Althorpe's taste being of that fine order which always
+falls short of ostentation. Her friends are in very many instances my
+friends, and it was no small part of my pleasure to note their
+well-known faces among the crowd of those that were strange to me. That
+the scene was brilliant, and that silks, satins, and diamonds abounded,
+goes without saying.
+
+At last the church was full, and the hush which usually precedes the
+coming of the bride was settling over the whole assemblage, when I
+suddenly observed, in the person of a respectable-looking gentleman
+seated in a side pew, the form and features of Mr. Gryce, the detective.
+This was a shock to me, yet what was there in his presence there to
+alarm me? Might not Miss Althorpe have accorded him this pleasure out of
+the pure goodness of her heart? I did not look at anybody else, however,
+after once my eyes fell upon him, but continued to watch his expression,
+which was non-commital, though a little anxious for one engaged in a
+purely social function.
+
+The entrance of the clergyman and the sudden peal of the organ in the
+well-known wedding march recalled my attention to the occasion itself,
+and as at that moment the bridegroom stepped from the vestry to await
+his bride at the altar, I was absorbed by his fine appearance and the
+air of mingled pride and happiness with which he watched the stately
+approach of the bridal procession.
+
+But suddenly there was a stir through the whole glittering assemblage,
+and the clergyman made a move and the bridegroom gave a start, and the
+sound, slight as it was, of moving feet grew still, and I saw advancing
+from the door on the opposite side of the altar a second bride, clad in
+white and surrounded by a long veil which completely hid her face. A
+second bride! and the first was half-way up the aisle, and only one
+bridegroom stood ready!
+
+The clergyman, who seemed to have as little command of his faculties as
+the rest of us, tried to speak; but the approaching woman, upon whom
+every regard was fixed, forestalled him by an authoritative gesture.
+
+Advancing towards the chancel, she took her place on the spot reserved
+for Miss Althorpe.
+
+Silence had filled the church up to this moment; but at this audacious
+move, a solitary wailing cry of mingled astonishment and despair went up
+behind us; but before any of us could turn, and while my own heart stood
+still, for I thought I recognized this veiled figure, the woman at the
+altar raised her hand and pointed towards the bridegroom.
+
+"Why does he hesitate?" she cried. "Does he not recognize the only woman
+with whom he dare face God and man at the altar? Because I am already
+his wedded wife, and have been so for five long years, does that make my
+wearing of this veil amiss when he a husband, unreleased by the law,
+dares enter this sacred place with the hope and expectation of a
+bridegroom?"
+
+It was Ruth Oliver who spoke. I recognized her voice as I had recognized
+her apparel; but the emotions aroused in me by her presence and the
+almost incredible claims she advanced were lost in the horror inspired
+by the man she thus vehemently accused. No lost spirit from the pit
+could have shown a more hideous commingling of the most terrible
+passions known to man than he did in the face of this terrible
+arraignment; and if Ella Althorpe, cowering in her shame and misery
+half-way up the aisle, saw him in all his depravity at that instant as I
+did, nothing could have saved her long-cherished love from immediate
+death.
+
+Yet he tried to speak.
+
+"It is false!" he cried; "all false! The woman I once called wife is
+dead."
+
+"Dead, Olive Randolph? Murderer!" she exclaimed. "The blow struck in the
+dark found another victim!" And pulling the veil from her face, Ruth
+Oliver advanced to his side and laid her trembling hand with a firm and
+decisive movement on his arm.
+
+Was it her words, her touch, or the sound of the clock striking eight in
+the great tower over our heads, which so totally overwhelmed him? As the
+last stroke of the hour which was to have seen him united with Miss
+Althorpe died out in the awed spaces above him, he gave a cry such as I
+am sure never resounded between those sacred walls before, and sank in a
+heap on the spot where but a few minutes previous he had lifted his head
+in all the glow and pride of a prospective bridegroom.
+
+
+
+
+XLI.
+
+SECRET HISTORY.
+
+
+It was hours before I found myself able to realize that the scene I had
+just witnessed had a deeper and much more dreadful significance than
+appeared to the general eye, and that Ruth Oliver, in her desperate
+interruption of these treacherous nuptials, had not only made good her
+prior claim to Randolph Stone as her husband, but had pointed him out to
+all the world as the villainous author of that crime which for so long a
+time had occupied my own and the public's attention.
+
+Thinking that you may find the same difficulty in grasping this terrible
+fact, and being anxious to save you from the suspense under which I
+myself labored for so many hours, I here subjoin a written statement
+made by this woman some weeks later, in which the whole mystery is
+explained. It is signed Olive Randolph; the name to which she evidently
+feels herself best entitled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The man known in New York City as Randolph Stone was first seen by me
+in Michigan five years ago. His name then was John Randolph, and how he
+has since come to add to this the further appellation of Stone, I must
+leave to himself to explain.
+
+"I was born in Michigan myself, and till my eighteenth year I lived
+with my father, who was a widower without any other child, in a little
+low cottage amid the sand mounds that border the eastern side of the
+lake.
+
+"I was not pretty, but every man who passed me on the beach or in the
+streets of the little town where we went to market and to church,
+stopped to look at me, and this I noticed, and from this perhaps my
+unhappiness arose.
+
+"For before I was old enough to know the difference between poverty and
+riches, I began to lose all interest in my simple home duties, and to
+cast longing looks at the great school building where girls like myself
+learned to speak like ladies and play the piano. Yet these ambitious
+promptings might have come to nothing if I had never met _him_. I might
+have settled down in my own sphere and lived a useful if unsatisfied
+life like my mother and my mother's mother before her.
+
+"But fate had reserved me for wretchedness, and one day just as I was on
+the verge of my eighteenth year, I saw John Randolph.
+
+"I was coming out of church when our eyes first met, and I noticed after
+the first shock my simple heart received from his handsome face and
+elegant appearance, that he was surveying me with that strange look of
+admiration I had seen before on so many faces; and the joy this gave me,
+and the certainty which came with it of my seeing him again, made that
+moment quite unlike any other in my whole life, and was the beginning of
+that passion which has undone me, ruined him, and brought death and
+sorrow to many others of more worth than either of us.
+
+"He was not a resident of the town, but a passing visitor; and his
+intention had been, as he has since told me, to leave the place on the
+following day. But the dart which had pierced my breast had not glanced
+entirely aside from his, and he remained, as he declared, to see what
+there was in this little country-girl's face to make it so
+unforgettable. We met first on the beach and afterwards under the strip
+of pines which separate our cottage from the sand mounds, and though I
+have no reason to believe he came to these interviews with any honest
+purpose or deep sincerity of feeling, it is certain he exerted all his
+powers to make them memorable to me, and that, in doing so, he awoke
+some of the fire in his own breast which he took such wicked pleasure in
+arousing in mine.
+
+"In fact he soon showed that this was so, for I could take no step from
+the house without encountering him; and the one indelible impression
+remaining to me from those days is the expression his face wore as, one
+sunny afternoon, he laid my hand on his arm and drew me away to have a
+look at the lake booming on the beach below us. There was no love in it
+as I understand love now, but the passion which informed it almost
+amounted to intoxication, and if such a passion can be understood
+between a man already cultivated and a girl who hardly knew how to read,
+it may, in a measure, account for what followed.
+
+"My father, who was no fool, and who saw the selfish quality in this
+attractive lover of mine, was alarmed by our growing intimacy. Taking an
+opportunity when we were both in a more sensible mood than common, he
+put the case before Mr. Randolph in a very decided way. He told him that
+either he must marry me at once or quit seeing me altogether. No delay
+was to be considered and no compromise allowed.
+
+"As my father was a man with whom no one ever disputed, John Randolph
+prepared to leave the town, declaring that he could marry no one at that
+stage of his career. But before he could carry out his intention, the
+old intoxication returned, and he came back in a fever of love and
+impatience to marry me.
+
+"Had I been older or more experienced in the ways of the world, I would
+have known that such passion as this evinced was short-lived; that there
+is no witchery in a smile lasting enough to make men like him forget the
+lack of those social graces to which they are accustomed. But I was mad
+with happiness, and was unconscious of any cloud lowering upon our
+future till the day of our first separation came, when an event occurred
+which showed me what I might expect if I could not speedily raise myself
+to his level.
+
+"We were out walking, and we met a lady who had known Mr. Randolph
+elsewhere. She was well dressed, which I was not, though I had not
+realized it till I saw how attractive she looked in quiet colors and
+with only a simple ribbon on her hat; and she had, besides, a way of
+speaking which made my tones sound harsh, and robbed me of that feeling
+of superiority with which I had hitherto regarded all the girls of my
+acquaintance.
+
+"But it was not her possession of these advantages, keenly as I felt
+them, which awakened me to the sense of my position. It was the surprise
+she showed (a surprise the source of which was not to be mistaken) when
+he introduced me to her as his wife; and though she recovered herself in
+a moment, and tried to be kind and gracious, I felt the sting of it and
+saw that he felt it too, and consequently was not at all astonished
+when, after she had passed us, he turned and looked at me critically for
+the first time.
+
+"But his way of showing his dissatisfaction gave me a shock it took me
+years to recover from. 'Take off that hat,' he cried, and when I had
+obeyed him, he tore out the spray which to my eyes had been its chief
+adornment, and threw it into some bushes near by; then he gave me back
+the hat and asked for the silk neckerchief which I had regarded as the
+glory of my bridal costume. Giving it to him I saw him put it in his
+pocket, and understanding now that he was trying to make me look more
+like the lady we had passed, I cried out passionately: 'It is not these
+things that make the difference, John, but my voice and way of walking
+and speaking. Give me money and let me be educated, and then we will see
+if any other woman can draw your eyes away from me.'
+
+"But he had received a shock that made him cruel. 'You cannot make a
+silk purse out of a sow's ear,' he sneered, and was silent all the rest
+of the way home. I was silent too, for I never talk when I am angry, but
+when we arrived in our own little room I confronted him.
+
+"'Are you going to say any more such cruel things to me?' I asked, 'for
+if you are, I should like you to say them now and be done with it.'
+
+"He looked desperately angry, but there was yet a little love left in
+his heart for me, for he laughed after he had looked at me for a minute,
+and took me in his arms and said some of the fine things with which he
+had previously won my heart, but not with the old fire and not with the
+old effect upon me. Yet my love had not grown cold, it had only changed
+from the unthinking stage to the thinking one, and I was quite in
+earnest when I said: 'I know I am not as pretty or as nice as the ladies
+you are accustomed to. But I have a heart that has never known any other
+passion than its love for you, and from such a heart you ought to expect
+a lady to grow, and there will. Only give me the chance, John; only let
+me learn to read and write.'
+
+"But he was in an incredulous state of mind, and it ended in his going
+away without making any arrangements for my education. He was bound for
+San Francisco, where he had business to transact, and he promised to be
+back in four weeks, but before the four weeks elapsed, he wrote me that
+it would be five, and later on that it would be six, and afterwards that
+it would be when he had finished a big piece of work he was engaged
+upon, and which would bring him a large amount of money. I believed him
+and I doubted him at the same time, but I was not altogether sorry he
+delayed his return for I had begun school on my own account and was fast
+laying the foundation of a solid education.
+
+"My means came from my father, who, now it was too late, saw the
+necessity of my improving myself. The amount of studying I did that
+first year was amazing, but it was nothing to what I went through the
+second, for my husband's letters had begun to fail me, and I was forced
+to work in order to drown grief and keep myself from despair. Finally no
+letters came at all, and when the second year was over, and I could at
+least express myself correctly, I woke to the realization that, so far
+as my husband was concerned, I had gone through all this labor for
+nothing, and that unless by some fortunate chance I could light upon
+some clue to his whereabouts in the great world beyond our little town,
+I would be likely to pass the remainder of my days in widowhood and
+desolation.
+
+"My father dying at this time and leaving me a thousand dollars, I knew
+no better way of spending it than in the hopeless search I have just
+mentioned. Accordingly after his burial I started out on my travels,
+gaining experience with every mile. I had not been away a week before I
+realized what a folly I had indulged in in ever hoping to see John
+Randolph back at my side. I saw the homes in which such men as he lived,
+and met in cars and on steamboats the kind of people with whom he must
+associate to be happy, and a gulf seemed to open between us which even
+such love as mine would be powerless to bridge.
+
+"But though hope thus sank in my breast, I did not lose my old ambition
+of making myself as worthy of him as circumstances would permit. I read
+only the best books and I allowed myself to become acquainted with only
+the best people, and as I saw myself liked by such the awkwardness of my
+manner gradually disappeared, and I began to feel that the day would
+come when I should be universally recognized as a lady.
+
+"Meantime I did not advance an iota in the object of my journey; and at
+last, with every expectation gone of ever seeing my husband again, I
+made my way to Toledo. Here I speedily found employment, and what was
+better still to one of my ambitious tendencies, an opportunity to add to
+the sum of my accomplishments a knowledge of French and music. The
+French I learned from the family I lived with, and the music from a
+professor in the same house whose love for his pet art was so great that
+he found it simple happiness to impart it to one so greedy for
+improvement as myself.
+
+"Here, in course of time, I also learned type-writing, and it was for
+the purpose of seeking employment in this capacity that I finally came
+to New York. This was three months ago.
+
+"I was in complete ignorance of the city when I entered it, and for a
+day or two I wandered to and fro, searching for a suitable
+lodging-house. It was while I was on my way to Mrs. Desberger's that I
+saw advancing towards me a gentleman in whose air and manner I detected
+a resemblance to the husband who some five years since had deserted me.
+The shock was too much for my self-control. Quaking in every limb, I
+stood awaiting his approach, and when he came up to me, and I saw by his
+startled recognition of me that it was indeed he, I gave a loud cry and
+threw myself upon his arm. The start he gave was nothing to the
+frightful expression which crossed his face at this encounter, but I
+thought both due to his surprise, though now I am convinced they had
+their origin in the deepest and worst emotions of which a man is
+capable.
+
+"'John! John!' I cried, and could say no more, for the agitations of
+five solitary, despairing years were choking me; but he was entirely
+voiceless, stricken, I have no doubt, beyond any power of mine to
+realize. How could I dream that in consideration, power, and prestige he
+had advanced even more rapidly than myself, and that at this very moment
+he was not only the idol of society, but on the verge of uniting himself
+to a woman--I will not say of marrying her, for marry her he could not
+while I lived--who would make him the envied possessor of millions. Such
+fortune, such daring, yes and such depravity, were beyond the reach of
+my imagination, and while I thought his pleasure less than mine, I did
+not dream that my existence was a menace to all his hopes, and that
+during this moment of speechlessness he was sounding his nature for
+means to rid himself of me even at the cost of my life.
+
+"His first movement was to push me away, but I clung to him all the
+harder; at which his whole manner changed and he began to make futile
+efforts to calm me and lead me away from the spot. Seeing that these
+attempts were unavailing, he turned pale and raised his arm up
+passionately, but speedily dropped it again, and casting glances this
+way and that, broke suddenly into a loud laugh and became, as by the
+touch of a magician's wand, my old lover again.
+
+"'Why, Olive!' he cried; 'why, Olive! is it you? (Did I say my name was
+Olive?) Happily met, my dear! I did not know what I had been missing all
+these years, but now I know it was you. Will you come with me, or shall
+I go home with you?'
+
+"'I have no home,' said I, 'I have just come into town.'
+
+"'Then I see but one alternative.' He smiled, and what a power there was
+in his smile when he chose to exert it! 'You must come to my apartments;
+are you willing?'
+
+"'I am your wife,' I answered.
+
+"He had taken me on his arm by this time and the recoil he made at these
+words was quite perceptible; but his face still smiled, and I was too
+mad with joy to be critical.
+
+"'And a very pretty and charming wife you have become,' said he, drawing
+me on for a few steps. Suddenly he paused, and I felt the old shadow
+fall between us again. 'But your dress is very shabby,' he remarked.
+
+"It was not; it was not near as shabby as the linen duster he himself
+wore.
+
+"'Is that rain?' he inquired, looking up as a drop or two fell.
+
+"'Yes, it is raining.'
+
+"'Very well, let us go into this store we are coming to and buy a
+gossamer. That will cover up your gown. I cannot take you to my house
+dressed as you are now.'
+
+"Surprised, for I had thought my dress very neat and lady-like, but
+never dreaming of questioning his taste any more than in the old days in
+Michigan, I went with him into the shop he had pointed out and bought me
+a gossamer, for which he paid. When he had helped me to put it on and
+had tied my veil well over my face, he seemed more at his ease and gave
+me his arm quite cheerfully.
+
+"'Now,' said he, 'you look well, but how about the time when you will
+have to take the gossamer off? I tell you what it is, my dear, you will
+have to refit yourself entirely before I shall be satisfied.' And again
+I saw him cast about him that furtive and inquiring look which would
+have awakened more surprise in me than it did had I known that we were
+in a part of the city where he ran but little chance of meeting any one
+he knew.
+
+"'This old duster I have on,' he suddenly laughed, 'is a very
+appropriate companion to your gossamer,' and though I did not agree with
+him, for my clothes were new, and his old and shabby, I laughed also and
+never dreamed of evil.
+
+"As this garment which so disfigured him that morning has been the
+occasion of much false speculation on the part of those whose business
+it was to inquire into the crime with which it is in a most unhappy way
+connected, I may as well explain here and now why so fastidious a
+gentleman as Randolph Stone came to wear it. The gentleman called Howard
+Van Burnam was not the only person who visited the Van Burnam offices on
+the morning preceding the murder. Randolph Stone was there also, but he
+did not see the brothers, for finding them closeted together, he decided
+not to interrupt them. As he was a frequent visitor there, his presence
+created no remark nor was his departure noted. Descending the stairs
+separating the offices from the street, he was about to leave the
+building, when he noticed that the clouds looked ominous. Being dressed
+for a luncheon with Miss Althorpe, he felt averse to getting wet, so he
+stepped back into the adjoining hall and began groping for an umbrella
+in a little closet under the stairs where he had once before found such
+an article. While doing this he heard the younger Van Burnam descend and
+go out, and realizing that he could now see Franklin without difficulty,
+he was about to return up-stairs when he heard that gentleman also come
+down and follow his brother into the street.
+
+"His first impulse was to join him, but finding nothing but an old
+duster in the closet, he gave up this intention, and putting on this
+shabby but protecting garment, started for his apartments, little
+realizing into what a course of duplicity and crime it was destined to
+lead him. For to the wearing of this old duster on this especial
+morning, innocent as the occasion was, I attribute John Randolph's
+temptation to murder. Had he gone out without it, he would have taken
+his usual course up Broadway and never met _me_; or even if he had taken
+the same roundabout way to his apartments as that which led to our
+encounter, he would never have dared, in his ordinary fine dress,
+conspicuous as it made him, to have entered upon those measures, which,
+as he is clever enough to know, lead to disgrace, if they do not end in
+a felon's cell. It was John Randolph, then, or Randolph Stone, as he is
+pleased to call himself in New York, and not Franklin Van Burnam (who
+had doubtless proceeded in another direction) who came up to where
+Howard had stood, saw the keys he had dropped, and put them in his own
+pocket. It was as innocent an action as the donning of the duster, and
+yet it was fraught with the worst consequences to himself and others.
+
+"Being of the same height and complexion as Franklin Van Burnam, and
+both gentlemen wearing at that time a moustache (my husband shaved his
+off after the murder), the mistakes which arose out of this strange
+equipment were but natural. Seen from the rear or in the semi-darkness
+of a hotel-office they might look alike, though to me or to any one
+studying them well, their faces are really very different.
+
+"But to return. Leading me through streets of which I knew nothing, he
+presently stopped before the entrance of a large hotel.
+
+"'I tell you what, Olive,' said he, 'we had better go in here, take a
+room, and send for such things as you require to make you look like a
+lady.'
+
+"As I had no objection to anything which kept me at his side, I told him
+that whatever suited him suited me, and followed him quite eagerly into
+the office. I did not know then that this hotel was a second-rate one,
+not having had experience with the best, but if I had, I should not have
+wondered at his choice, for there was nothing in his appearance, as I
+have already intimated, or in his manners up to this point, to lead me
+to think he was one of the city's great swells, and that it was only in
+such an unfashionable house as this he would be likely to pass
+unrecognized. How with his markedly handsome features and distinguished
+bearing he managed so to carry himself as to look like a man of inferior
+breeding, I can no more explain than I can the singular change which
+took place in him when once he found himself in the midst of the crowd
+which lounged about this office.
+
+"From a man to attract all eyes he became at once a man to attract none,
+and slouched and looked so ordinary that I stared at him in
+astonishment, little thinking that he had assumed this manner as a
+disguise. Seeing me at a loss, he spoke up quite peremptorily:
+
+"'Let us keep our secret, Olive, till you can appear in the world
+full-fledged. And look here, darling, won't you go to the desk and ask
+for a room? I am no hand at any such business.'
+
+"Confounded at a proposition so unexpected, but too much under the spell
+of my feelings to dispute his wishes, I faltered out:
+
+"'But supposing they ask me to register?'
+
+"At which he gave me a look which recalled the old days in Michigan, and
+quietly sneered:
+
+"'Give them a fictitious name. You have learned to write by this time,
+have you not?'
+
+"Stung by his taunt, but more in love with him than ever, for his
+momentary display of passion had made him look both masterful and
+handsome, I went up to the desk to do his bidding.
+
+"'A room!' said I; and when asked to write our names in the book that
+lay before me, I put down the first that suggested itself. I wrote with
+my gloves on, which was why the writing looked so queer that it was
+taken for a disguised hand.
+
+"This done, he rejoined me, and we went up-stairs, and I was too happy
+to be in his company again to wonder at his peculiarities or weigh the
+consequences of the implicit confidence I accorded him. I was
+desperately in love once more, and entered into every plan he proposed
+without a thought beyond the joyous present. He was so handsome without
+his hat; and when after some short delay he threw aside the duster, I
+felt myself for the first time in my life in the presence of a finished
+gentleman. Then his manner was so changed. He was so like his oldest and
+best self, so dangerously like what he was in those long vanished hours
+under the pines in my sand-swept home on the shores of Lake Michigan.
+That he faltered at times and sank into strange spells of silence which
+had something in them that made my breath come fitfully, did not awaken
+my apprehension or rouse in me more than a passing curiosity. I thought
+he regretted the past, and when, after one such pause in our
+conversation, he drew out of his pocket a couple of keys tied together
+with a string, and surveyed the card attached to them with a strange
+look, easily enough to be understood by me now, I only laughed at his
+abstraction, and indulged in a fresh caress to make him more mindful of
+my presence.
+
+"These keys were the ones which Mrs. Van Burnam's husband had dropped,
+and which he had picked up before meeting me; and after he had put them
+back into his pocket he became more talkative than before, and more
+systematically lover-like. I think he had not seen his way clearly till
+this moment, the dark and dreadful way which was to end, as he supposed,
+in my death.
+
+"But I feared nothing, suspected nothing. Such deep and desperate
+wickedness as he was planning was beyond the wildest flight of my
+imagination. When he insisted upon sending for a complete set of
+clothing for me, and when at his dictation I wrote a list of the
+articles I wanted, I thought he was influenced by his wish as my husband
+to see me dressed in articles of his own buying. That it was all a plot
+to rob me of my identity could not strike such a mind as mine, and when
+the packages came and were received by him in the sly way already known
+to the public, I saw nothing in his caution but a playful display of
+mystery that was to end in my romantic establishment in a home of love
+and luxury.
+
+"Or rather it is thus that I account for my conduct now, and yet the
+precaution I took not to change the shoes in which my money was hidden,
+may argue that I was not without some underlying doubt of his complete
+sincerity. But if so, I hid it from myself, and, as I have every reason
+to believe, from him also, doubtless excusing my action to myself by
+considering that I would be none the worse off for a few dollars of my
+own, even if he was my husband, and had promised me no end of pleasure
+and comfort.
+
+"That he did intend to make me happy, he had assured me more than once.
+Indeed, before we had been long in this hotel room, he informed me that
+great experiences lay before me; that he had prospered much in the last
+five years and had now a house of his own to offer me and a large circle
+of friends to make our life in it agreeable.
+
+"'We will go to our house to-night,' said he. 'I have not been living in
+it lately, and you may find it a little uncomfortable, but we will
+remedy that to-morrow. Anything is better than staying here under a
+false name and I cannot take you to my bachelor apartment.'
+
+"I had doubted some of his previous statements, but this one I
+implicitly believed. Why should not so elegant a man have a house of his
+own; and if he had told me it was built of marble and hung with
+Florentine tapestries, I should still have credited it all. I was in
+fairy-land and he was my knight of romance, even when he again hung his
+head in leaving the hotel and looked at once so ordinary and
+uninteresting.
+
+"The ruse he made use of to cut off all connection between ourselves and
+the Mr. and Mrs. James Pope who had registered at the Hotel D---- was
+accepted by me with the same lack of suspicion. That he should wish to
+carry no remembrance of our old life into our new home I thought a
+delightful piece of folly, and when he proposed that we should bequeath
+my gossamer and his own disfiguring duster to the coachman in whose hack
+we were then riding, I laughed gleefully and helped him fold them up and
+place them under the cushions, though I did wonder why he cut a piece
+out of the neck of the former, and pouted with the happy freedom of a
+self-confident woman when he said:
+
+"'It is the first thing I ever bought for you, and I am just foolish
+enough to wish to preserve this much of it for a keepsake. Do you
+object, my dear?'
+
+"As I was conscious of cherishing a similar folly in his regard, and
+could have pressed even that old duster of his to my heart, I offered
+him a kiss and said 'No,' and he put the scrap away in his pocket. That
+it was the portion on which was stamped the name of the firm from which
+it was bought did not occur to me.
+
+"When the coach stopped, he urged me away on foot in a direction
+entirely strange to me, saying we would take another hack as soon as we
+had disposed of the bundles we were carrying. How he intended to do
+this, I did not know. But presently he drew me towards a Chinese
+laundry, where he bade me leave one of them as washing, and the other he
+dropped before the opening of a sewer as we stepped up a neighboring
+curb-stone.
+
+"And still I did not suspect.
+
+"Our ride to Gramercy Park was short, but during it he had time to put a
+bill in my hand and tell me I was to pay the driver. He had also time to
+secure the weapon upon which he had probably had his eye fixed from the
+first. His manner of doing this I can never forgive, for it was a
+lover's manner, and as such intended to deceive and cajole me. Drawing
+my head down on his shoulder, he drew off my veil, saying that it was
+the only article left of my own buying, and that we would leave it
+behind us in this coach as we had left the gossamer in the other. 'Only
+I will make sure that no other woman ever wears it,' he laughed,
+slitting it up and down with his knife. When this was done he kissed me,
+and then while my heart was tender and the warm tears stood in my eyes,
+he drew out the pin from my hat, meeting my remonstrances with the
+assurance that he hated to see my head covered, and that no hat was as
+pretty as my own brown hair.
+
+"As this was nonsense, and as the coach was beginning to stop, I shook
+my head at him and put my hat on again, but he had dropped the pin, or
+so he said, and I had to alight without it.
+
+"When I had paid the driver and the coach had driven off, I had a chance
+to look up at the house before which we had stopped. Its height and
+imposing appearance daunted me in spite of the great expectations I had
+formed, and I ran up the stoop after him in a condition of mingled awe
+and wild delight that was the poorest preparation possible for what lay
+before me in the dark interior we were entering.
+
+"He was fumbling nervously in the keyhole with his key, and I heard a
+whispered oath escape him. But presently the door fell back, and we
+stepped in to what looked to me like a cavern of darkness.
+
+"'Do not be frightened!' he admonished me. 'I will strike a light in a
+moment.' And after carefully closing the street door behind us, he
+stretched out his hand to take mine, or so I judge, for I heard him
+whisper impatiently, 'Where are you?'
+
+"I was on the threshold of the parlor, to which I had groped my way
+while he was closing the front door, so I whispered back, 'Here!' but
+found voice for nothing further, for at that instant I heard a sound
+proceeding from the depths of darkness in front of me, and was so struck
+with terror that I fell back against the staircase, just as he passed me
+and entered the room from which that stealthy noise had issued.
+
+"'Darling!' he whispered, 'darling!' and went stumbling on in the void
+of darkness before me, till suddenly by some power I cannot explain I
+seemed to see, faintly but distinctly, and as if with my mind's eye
+rather than with my bodily one.
+
+"I perceived the shadowy form of a woman standing in the space before
+him, and beheld him suddenly grasp her with what he meant to be a loving
+cry, but which to my ears at that moment sounded strangely ferocious,
+and after holding her a moment suddenly release her, at which she
+uttered one low, curdling moan and sank at his feet. At the same instant
+I heard a click, which I did not understand then, but which I now know
+to have been the head of the hat-pin striking the register.
+
+"Horrified past all power of speech and action, for I saw that he had
+intended this blow for me, I cowered against the stairs, waiting for him
+to pass out. This he did not do at once, though the delay must have been
+short. He stopped long enough by the prostrate form to stir it with his
+foot, probably to see if life was extinct, but no longer, yet it seemed
+an eternity before I perceived him groping his way over the threshold;
+an eternity in which every act of my life passed before me, and every
+word and every expression with which he had beguiled me came to rack my
+soul and made the horror of this mad awakening greater.
+
+"No thought of her, or of the guilt with which he had forever damned his
+soul, came to me in that first moment of misery. _My_ loss, _my_ escape,
+and the danger in which I still stood if the least hint reached him of
+the mistake he had made, filled my mind too entirely for me to dwell on
+any less impersonal theme. His words, for he muttered several in that
+short passage out, showed me in what a fools' paradise I had been
+revelling, and how certainly I had turned his every thought towards
+murder when I seized him in the street and proclaimed myself his wife.
+The satisfaction with which he uttered, 'Well struck!' gave little hint
+of remorse; and the gloating delight with which he added something about
+the devil having assisted him to make it a safe blow as well as a deadly
+one, was proof not only of his having used all his cunning in planning
+this crime, but of his pleasure in its apparent success.
+
+"That he continued in this frame of mind, and that he never lost
+confidence in the precautions he had taken and in the mystery with which
+the deed was surrounded, is apparent from the fact that he revisited the
+Van Burnam office on the following morning, and hung again on its
+accustomed nail the keys of the Gramercy Park house.
+
+"When the front door had closed, and I knew that he had gone away in the
+full belief that it was my form he had left lying behind him on that
+midnight floor, all the accumulated terrors of the situation came to me
+in full force, and I began to think of her as well as of myself, and
+longed for courage to approach her or even the daring to call out for
+help. But the thought that it was my husband who had committed this
+crime held me tongue-tied, and though I soon began to move inch by inch
+in her direction, it was some time before I could so far overcome my
+terror as to enter the room where she lay.
+
+"I had supposed, and still supposed (as was natural after seeing him
+open the door with the keys he took from his pocket), that the house was
+his, and the victim a member of his own household. But when, after
+innumerable hesitations and a bodily shrinking that was little short of
+torment, I managed to drag myself into the room and light a match which
+I found on a farther mantel-shelf, I saw enough in the general
+appearance of the rooms and of the figure at my feet to make me doubt
+the truth of both these suppositions. Yet no other explanation came to
+lighten the mystery of the occasion, and dazed as I was by the horror of
+my position and the mortal dread I felt of the man who in one instant
+had turned the heaven of my love into a hell of fathomless horrors, I
+soon had eyes for the one fact only, that the woman lying before me was
+sufficiently like myself to inspire me with the hope of preserving my
+secret and keeping from my would-be slayer the knowledge of my having
+escaped the doom he had prepared for me.
+
+"For ascribe it to what motive you will, that was the one idea now
+dominating my mind. I wanted him to believe me dead. I wanted to feel
+that all connection between us was severed forever. He _had_ killed me.
+By killing my love and faith in him he had murdered the better part of
+myself, and I shrank with inconceivable horror from anything that would
+bring me again under his eye, or force me to assert claims that it would
+be the future business of my life to forget.
+
+"When the first match went out I had not courage to light another, so I
+crept away in the darkness to listen at the foot of the stairs. There
+was no sound from above, and a terrifying sense began to pervade me that
+I was in that house alone. Yet there was safety in the thought, and
+opportunity for what I was planning, and finally, under the stress of
+the purpose that was every moment developing within me, I went softly
+up-stairs and listened at all the doors till I was certain that the
+house was unoccupied. Then I came down and walked resolutely back into
+the parlor, for I knew if I allowed any time to pass I could never again
+summon up strength to cross its grisly threshold. Yet I did nothing for
+hours but crouch in one of its dismal corners, waiting for morning. That
+I did not go mad in that awful interval is a wonder. I must have been
+near it more than once.
+
+"I have been asked, and Miss Butterworth has been asked, how in the
+light of what we now know concerning this poor victim's presence there,
+we account for her being in the darkness and showing so little terror at
+our entrance and Mr. Stone's approach. _I_ account for it in this way:
+Two half-burned matches were found in the parlor grate. One I flung
+there; the other had probably been used by her to light the dining-room
+gas. If this was still lighted when we drove up, as it may have been,
+then, alarmed by the sound of the stopping coach, she had put it out,
+with a vague idea of hiding herself till she knew whether it was the old
+gentleman who was coming or only her suspicious and unreasonable
+husband. If it was not lighted then, she was probably aroused from a
+sleep on the parlor sofa, and was for the moment too dazed to cry out or
+resent an embrace she had not time to understand before she succumbed to
+the cruel stab that killed her. Miss Butterworth, however, thinks that
+the poor creature took the intruder for Franklin till she heard my
+voice, when she probably became so amazed that she was in a measure
+paralyzed and found it impossible to move or cry out. As Miss
+Butterworth is a woman of great discretion I should think her
+explanation the truest, if I did not consider her a little prejudiced
+against Mrs. Van Burnam.
+
+"But to return to myself.
+
+"With the first glimmer of light that came through the closed shutters I
+rose and began my dreadful task. Upheld by a purpose as relentless as
+that which drove the author of this horror into murder, I stripped the
+body and put upon it my own clothing, with the one exception of the
+shoes. Then, when I had re-dressed myself in hers, I steadied up my
+heart and with one wild pull dragged down the cabinet upon her so that
+her face might lose its traits and her identification become impossible.
+
+"How I had strength to do this, and how I could contemplate the result
+without shrieking, I cannot now imagine. Perhaps I was hardly human at
+this crisis; perhaps something of the demon which had informed him in
+his awful work had entered into my breast, making this thing possible. I
+only know that I did what I have said and did it calmly. More than that,
+that I had mind and judgment left to give to my own appearance.
+Observing that the dress I had put on was of a conspicuous plaid, I
+exchanged the skirt portion with the brown silk petticoat under it, and
+when I observed that it hung below the other, as of course it would, I
+went through the house till I came upon some pins with which I pinned it
+up out of sight. Thus equipped, I was still a person to attract
+attention, especially as I had no hat to put on; my own having fallen
+from my head and been covered by the dead woman's body, which nothing
+would induce me to move again.
+
+"But I had confidence in my own powers to escape question, toned up as
+I was in every nerve by the dreadfulness of my situation, and as soon as
+I was in decent shape for flight, I opened the front door and prepared
+to slip out.
+
+"But here the intense dread I felt of my husband, a dread which had
+actuated all my movements and sustained me in as harrowing a task as
+ever woman performed, seized me with renewed force, and I quailed at the
+prospect of entering the streets alone. Supposing he should be on the
+stoop! Supposing he should be in an opposite window even! Could I
+encounter him again and live? He was not far away, or so I felt. A
+murderer, it is said, cannot help haunting the scene of his crime, and
+if he should see me alive and well, what might I not expect from his
+astonishment and alarm? I did not dare go out. But neither did I dare
+remain, so after quaking for a good five minutes on the threshold, I
+made one wild dash through the door.
+
+"There was no one in sight, and I reached Broadway before I ran across
+man or woman. Even then I got by without any one speaking to me, and,
+favored by Providence, found a nook at the end of an alley-way, where I
+remained undiscovered till it was late enough in the morning for me to
+enter a shop and buy a hat.
+
+"The rest of my movements are known. I found my way to Mrs. Desberger's,
+this time without interruption; and from that place sought and found a
+situation with Miss Althorpe.
+
+"That her fate was in any way connected with mine, or that the Randolph
+Stone she was engaged to marry was the John Randolph from whose clutches
+I had just escaped, was, of course, unsuspected by me, and, incredible
+as it may seem, continued to be unsuspected as long as I remained in the
+house. There was reason for this. My duties were such as I could well
+attend to in my own room, and feeling a horror of the world and
+everything in it, I kept my room as much as possible, and never went out
+of it when I knew that he was in the house. The very thought of love
+awakened intolerable emotions in me, and much as I admired and revered
+Miss Althorpe, I could not bring myself to meet or even talk of the man
+to whom she was in expectation of being so soon united. There was
+another thing of which I was ignorant, and that was the circumstances
+which had invested with so much interest the crime of which I had been
+witness. I did not know that the victim had been recognized, or that an
+innocent man had been arrested for her murder. In fact I knew nothing
+concerning the affair save what I had seen with my own eyes, no one
+having mentioned the murder in my presence, and I having religiously
+avoided the very sight of a paper for fear that I should see some
+account of the horrible affair, and so lose what small remnants of
+courage I still possessed.
+
+"This apathy concerning a matter so important to myself, or rather this
+almost frenzied determination to cut myself loose from my dreadful past,
+may seem strange and unnatural; but it will seem stranger yet when I say
+that for all these efforts I was haunted night and day by one small fact
+connected with this past, which made forgetfulness impossible. I had
+taken the rings from the hands of the dead woman as I had taken away her
+clothes, and the possession of these valuables, probably because they
+represented so much money, weighed on my conscience and made me feel
+like a thief. The purse which I found in a pocket of the skirt I had put
+on was a trouble to me, but the rings were a source of constant terror
+and disturbance. I hid them finally in a ball of yarn I was using, but
+even then I experienced but little peace, for they were not mine, and I
+lacked the courage to avow it or seek out the person to whom they now
+rightfully belonged.
+
+"When, therefore, in the intervals of fever which attacked me in Miss
+Althorpe's house, I overheard enough of a conversation between her and
+Miss Butterworth to learn that the murdered woman had been a Mrs. Van
+Burnam, and that her husband or relatives had an office somewhere
+downtown, I was so seized by the instinct of restitution, that I took
+the first opportunity that offered to leave my bed and hunt up these
+people.
+
+"That I would injure them in any way by secretly restoring these jewels,
+I never dreamed. Indeed, I did not exercise my mind at all on the
+subject, but only followed the instincts of my delirium; and while to
+all appearance I showed all the cunning of an insane person, in the
+pursuit of my purpose, I fail to remember now how I found my way to
+Duane Street, or by what suggestion of my diseased brain I was induced
+to slip these rings upon the hook attached to Mr. Van Burnam's desk.
+Probably the mere utterance of this well-known name into the ears of the
+passers-by was enough to obtain for me such directions as I needed, but
+however that may be, the result was misapprehension, and the
+complications which followed, serious.
+
+"Of the emotion caused in me by the unaccountable discovery of my
+connection with this crime I need not speak. The love which I at one
+time felt for John Randolph had turned to gall and bitterness, but
+enough sense of duty remained in my bruised and broken heart to keep me
+from denouncing him to the police, till by a sudden stroke of fate or
+Providence, I saw him in the carriage with Miss Althorpe, and realized
+that he was not only the man with whom she was upon the point of allying
+herself, but that it was to preserve his place in her regard and to
+attain the lofty position promised by this union, he had attempted to
+murder me, and had murdered another woman only less unfortunate and
+miserable than myself.
+
+"It was the last and bitterest blow that could come from his hand; and
+though instinct led me to throw myself into the carriage before which I
+stood, and thus escape a meeting which I felt I could never survive, I
+was determined from that moment not only to save Miss Althorpe from an
+alliance with this villain, but to revenge myself upon him in some
+never-to-be-forgotten manner.
+
+"That this revenge involved her in a public shame from which her angelic
+goodness to me should have saved her, I regret now as deeply as even she
+can wish. But the madness that was upon me made me blind to every other
+consideration than that of the boundless hatred I bore him; and while I
+can look for no forgiveness from her on that account, I still hope the
+day will come when she will see that in spite of my momentary disregard
+of her feelings, I cherish for her an affection that nothing can efface
+or make other than the ruling passion of my life."
+
+
+
+
+XLII.
+
+WITH MISS BUTTERWORTH'S COMPLIMENTS.
+
+
+They tell me that Mr. Gryce has never been quite the same man since the
+clearing up of this mystery; that his confidence in his own powers is
+shaken, and that he hints, more often than is agreeable to his
+superiors, that when a man has passed his seventy-seventh year it is
+time for him to give up active connection with police matters. _I_ do
+not agree with him. His mistakes, if we may call them such, were not
+those of failing faculties, but of a man made oversecure in his own
+conclusions by a series of old successes. Had he listened to _me_--But I
+will not pursue this suggestion. You will accuse me of egotism, an
+imputation I cannot bear with equanimity and will not risk; modest
+depreciation of myself being one of the chief attributes of my
+character.[D]
+
+Howard Van Burnam bore his release, as he had his arrest, with great
+outward composure. Mr. Gryce's explanation of his motives in perjuring
+himself before the Coroner was correct, and while the mass of people
+wondered at that instinct of pride which led him to risk the imputation
+of murder sooner than have the world accuse his wife of an unwomanly
+action, there were others who understood his peculiarities, and thought
+his conduct quite in keeping with what they knew of his warped and
+over-sensitive nature.
+
+That he has been greatly moved by the unmerited fate of his weak but
+unfortunate wife, is evident from the sincerity with which he still
+mourns her.
+
+I had always understood that Franklin had never been told of the peril
+in which his good name had stood for a few short hours. But since a
+certain confidential conversation which took place between us one
+evening, I have come to the conclusion that the police were not so
+reticent as they made themselves out to be. In that conversation he
+professed to thank me for certain good offices I had done him and his,
+and waxing warm in his gratitude, confessed that without my interference
+he would have found himself in a strait of no ordinary seriousness;
+"For," said he, "there has been no over-statement of the feelings I
+cherished toward my sister-in-law, nor was there any mistake made in
+thinking that she uttered some very desperate threats against me during
+the visit she paid me at my office on Monday. But I never thought of
+ridding myself of her in any way. I only thought of keeping her and my
+brother apart till I could escape the country. When therefore he came
+into the office on Tuesday morning for the keys of our father's house, I
+felt such a dread of the two meeting there, that I left immediately
+after my brother for the place where she had told me she would await a
+final message from me. I hoped to move her by one final plea, for I love
+my brother sincerely, notwithstanding the wrong I once did him. I was
+therefore with her in another place at the very time I was thought to be
+with her at the Hotel D----, a fact which greatly hampered me, as you
+can see, when I was requested by the police to give an account of how I
+spent that day. When I left her it was to seek my brother. She had told
+me of her deliberate intention of spending the night in the Gramercy
+Park house; and as I saw no way of her doing this without my brother's
+connivance, I started in search of him, meaning to stick to him when I
+found him, and keep him away from her till that night was over. I was
+not successful in my undertaking. He was locked in his rooms it seems,
+packing up his effects for flight,--we always had the same instincts
+even when boys,--and receiving no answer to my knock, I hastened away to
+Gramercy Park to keep a watch over the house against my brother coming
+there. This was early in the evening, and for hours afterwards I
+wandered like a restless spirit in and out of those streets, meeting no
+one I knew, not even my brother, though he was wandering about in very
+much the same manner, and with very much the same apprehensions.
+
+"The duplicity of the woman became very evident to me the next morning.
+In my last interview with her she had shown no relenting in her purpose
+towards me, but when I entered my office after this restless night in
+the streets, I found lying on my desk her little hand-bag, which had
+been sent down from Mrs. Parker's. In it was _the letter_, just as you
+divined, Miss Butterworth. I had hardly got over the shock of this most
+unexpected good fortune when the news came that a woman had been found
+dead in my father's house. What was I to think? That it was she, of
+course, and that my brother had been the man to let her in there. Miss
+Butterworth," this is how he ended, "I make no demands upon you, as I
+have made no demands upon the police, to keep the secret contained in
+that letter from my much-abused brother. Or, rather, it is too late now
+to keep it, for I have told him all there was to tell, myself, and he
+has seen fit to overlook my fault, and to regard me with even more
+affection than he did before this dreadful tragedy came to harrow up our
+lives."
+
+Do you wonder I like Franklin Van Burnam?
+
+The Misses Van Burnam call upon me regularly, and when they say "_Dear
+old thing!_" now, they mean it.
+
+Of Miss Althorpe I cannot trust myself to speak. She was, and is, the
+finest woman I know, and when the great shadow now hanging over her has
+lost some of its impenetrability, she will be a useful one again, or I
+do not rightly read the patient smile which makes her face so beautiful
+in its sadness.
+
+Olive Randolph has, at my request, taken up her abode in my house. The
+charm which she seems to have exerted over others she has exerted over
+me, and I doubt if I shall ever wish to part with her again. In return
+she gives me an affection which I am now getting old enough to
+appreciate. Her feeling for me and her gratitude to Miss Althorpe are
+the only treasures left her out of the wreck of her life, and it shall
+be my business to make them lasting ones.
+
+The fate of Randolph Stone is too well known for me to enlarge upon it.
+But before I bid farewell to his name, I must say that after that curt
+confession of his, "Yes, I did it, in the way and for the motive she
+alleged," I have often tried to imagine the contradictory feelings with
+which he must have listened to the facts as they came out at the
+inquest, and convinced, as he had every reason to be, that the victim
+was his wife, heard his friend Howard not only accept her for his, but
+insist that he was the man who accompanied her to that house of death.
+He has never lifted the veil from those hours, and he never will, but I
+would give much of the peace of mind which has lately come to me, to
+know what his sensations were, not only at that time, but when, on the
+evening, after the murder, he opened the papers and read that the woman
+whom he had left for dead with her brain pierced by a hat-pin, had been
+found on that same floor crushed under a fallen cabinet; and what
+explanation he was ever able to make to himself for a fact so
+inexplicable.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote D: My attention has been called to the fact that I have not
+confessed whether it was owing to a mistake made by Mr. Gryce or myself,
+that Franklin Van Burnam was identified as the man who had entered the
+adjoining house on the night of the murder. Well, the truth is, neither
+of us was to blame for that. The man I identified (it was while watching
+the guests who attended Mrs. Van Burnam's funeral, you remember) was
+really Mr. Stone; but owing to the fact that this latter gentleman had
+lingered in the vestibule till he was joined by Franklin and that they
+had finally entered together, some confusion was created in the mind of
+the man on duty in the hall, so that when Mr. Gryce asked him who it was
+that came in immediately after the four who arrived together, he
+answered Mr. Franklin Van Burnam; being anxious to win his superior's
+applause and considering that person much more likely to merit the
+detective's attention than a mere friend of the family like Mr. Stone.
+In punishment for this momentary display of egotism, he has been
+discharged from the force, I believe.--A. B.]
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's That Affair Next Door, by Anna Katharine Green
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