diff options
Diffstat (limited to '17763-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/17763-h.htm | 11024 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 56341 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/diag-044.png | bin | 0 -> 73787 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/diag-059.png | bin | 0 -> 66412 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/diag-061.png | bin | 0 -> 46162 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 42341 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17763-h/images/label-327.png | bin | 0 -> 45234 bytes |
7 files changed, 11024 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/17763-h/17763-h.htm b/17763-h/17763-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b8e025 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/17763-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11024 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, by Anna Katharine Green</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, by Anna +Katharine Green, Illustrated by H. R. Ballinger</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow</p> +<p>Author: Anna Katharine Green</p> +<p>Release Date: February 12, 2006 [eBook #17763]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF THE HASTY ARROW***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> +<h1>THE MYSTERY OF THE HASTY ARROW</h1> + +<h2>By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN</h2> + +<h3>Author of "The Chief Legatee," "That Affair Next Door," "A Strange +Disappearance," Etc.</h3> + +<h4>WITH FRONTISPIECE<br /> +By H. R. BALLINGER</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h4>A. L. BURT COMPANY<br /> +Publishers New York</h4> + +<h4>Published by Arrangement with Dodd, Mead & Company<br /> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1917,<br /> +By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, <span class="smcap">Inc</span>.</h4> + +<h4>MADE IN U.S.A.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<h4>"Do not by any show of curiosity endanger her recovery. I would not have her body or mind sacrificed on any account."</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + +<h3>BOOK I—A PROBLEM OF THE FIRST ORDER</h3> +<p> +<a href="#I">I--"<span class="smcap">Let Some One Speak!</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#II">II--<span class="smcap">In Room B</span></a><br /> +<a href="#III">III--"<span class="smcap">I Have Something to Show You</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#IV">IV--<span class="smcap">A Strategic Move</span></a><br /> +<a href="#V">V--<span class="smcap">Three Where Two Should Be</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VI">VI--<span class="smcap">The Man in the Gallery</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VII">VII--"<span class="smcap">You Think that of Me!</span>"</a><br /> +</p> + +<h3>BOOK II—MR. X</h3> + +<p> +<a href="#VIII">VIII--<span class="smcap">On the Search</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IX">IX--<span class="smcap">While the City Slept</span></a><br /> +<a href="#X">X--"<span class="smcap">And He Stood Here?</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XI--<span class="smcap">Footsteps</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XII">XII--"<span class="smcap">Spare Nobody! I Say, Spare Nobody!</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#XIII">XIII--"<span class="smcap">Write Me His Name</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#XIV">XIV--<span class="smcap">A Loop of Silk</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XV">XV--<span class="smcap">News from France</span></a><br /> +</p> + +<h3>BOOK III—STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS</h3> + +<p> +<a href="#XVI">XVI--<span class="smcap">Friends</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XVII">XVII--<span class="smcap">The Cuckoo-Clock</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XVIII">XVIII--<span class="smcap">Mrs. Davis' Strange Lodger</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XIX">XIX--<span class="smcap">Mr. Gryce and the Timid Child</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XX">XX--<span class="smcap">Mr. Gryce and the Unwary Woman</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXI">XXI--<span class="smcap">Perplexed</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXII">XXII--<span class="smcap">He Remembers</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXIII">XXIII--<span class="smcap">Girls, Girls! Nothing but Girls!</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXIV">XXIV--<span class="smcap">Flight</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXV">XXV--<span class="smcap">Terror</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXVI">XXVI--<span class="smcap">The Face in the Window</span></a><br /> +</p> + +<h3>BOOK IV—NEMESIS</h3> + +<p> +<a href="#XXVII">XXVII--<span class="smcap">From Lips Long Silent</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXVIII">XXVIII--"<span class="smcap">Romantic! Too Romantic!</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIX">XXIX--<span class="smcap">A Strong Man</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXX">XXX--<span class="smcap">The Creeping Shadow</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXI">XXXI--<span class="smcap">Confronted</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXII">XXXII--"<span class="smcap">Why Is that Here?</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#XXXIII">XXXIII--<span class="smcap">Again the Cuckoo-Clock</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXIV">XXXIV--<span class="smcap">The Bud—Then the Deadly Flower</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK I</h2> + +<h3>A PROBLEM OF THE FIRST ORDER</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>"LET SOME ONE SPEAK!"</h3> + + +<p>The hour of noon had just struck, and the few visitors still lingering +among the curiosities of the great museum were suddenly startled by the +sight of one of the attendants running down the broad, central staircase, +loudly shouting:</p> + +<p>"Close the doors! Let no one out! An accident has occurred, and nobody's +to leave the building."</p> + +<p>There was but one person near either of the doors, and as he chanced to +be a man closely connected with the museum,—being, in fact, one of its +most active directors,—he immediately turned about and in obedience to a +gesture made by the attendant, ran up the marble steps, followed by some +dozen others.</p> + +<p>At the top they all turned, as by common consent, toward the left-hand +gallery, where in the section marked II, a tableau greeted them which few +of them will ever forget.</p> + +<p>I say "tableau" because the few persons concerned in it stood as in a +picture, absolutely motionless and silent as the dead. Sense, if not +feeling, was benumbed in them all, as in another moment it was benumbed +in the breasts of these new arrivals. Tragedy was there in its most +terrible, its most pathetic, aspect. The pathos was given by the +victim,—a young and pretty girl lying face upward on the tessellated +floor with an arrow in her breast and death stamped unmistakably on every +feature,—the terror by the look and attitude of the woman they saw +kneeling over her—a remarkable woman, no longer young, but of a presence +to hold the attention, even if the circumstances had been of a far less +tragic nature. Her hand was on the arrow but she had made no movement to +withdraw it, and her eyes, fixed upon space, showed depths of horror +hardly to be explained even by the suddenness and startling character +of the untoward fatality of which she had just been made the unhappy +witness.</p> + +<p>The director, whose name was Roberts, thought as he paused on the edge of +the crowd that he had never seen a countenance upon which woe had stamped +so deep a mark; and greatly moved by it, he was about to seek some +explanation of a scene to which appearances gave so little clue, when the +tall but stooping figure of the Curator entered, and he found himself +relieved from a task whose seriousness he had no difficulty in measuring.</p> + +<p>To those who knew William Jewett well, it was evident that he had been +called from some task which still occupied his thoughts and for the +moment somewhat bewildered his understanding. But as he was a +conscientious man and quite capable of taking the lead when once roused +to the exigencies of an occasion, Mr. Roberts felt a certain interest in +watching the slow awakening of this self-absorbed man to the awful +circumstances which in one instant had clouded the museum in an +atmosphere of mysterious horror.</p> + +<p>When the full realization came,—which was not till a way had been made +for him to the side of the stricken woman crouching over the dead +child,—the energy which transformed his countenance and gave character +to his usually bent and inconspicuous figure was all if not more than the +anxious director expected.</p> + +<p>Finding that his attempts to meet the older woman's eye only prolonged +the suspense, the Curator addressed her quietly, and in sympathetic tones +inquired whose child this was and how so dreadful a thing had happened.</p> + +<p>She did not answer. She did not even look his way. With a rapid glance +into the faces about him, ending in one of deep compassion directed +toward herself, he repeated his question.</p> + +<p>Still no response—still that heavy silence, that absolute immobility of +face and limb. If her faculty of hearing was dulled, possibly she would +yield to that of touch. Stooping, he laid his hand on her arm.</p> + +<p>This roused her. Slowly her eyes lost their fixed stare and took on a +more human light. A shudder shook her frame, and gazing down into the +countenance of the young girl lying at her feet, she broke into moans of +such fathomless despair as wrung the hearts of all about her.</p> + +<p>It was a scene to test the nerve of any man. To one of the Curator's +sympathetic temperament it was well-nigh unendurable. Turning to those +nearest, he begged for an explanation of what they saw before them:</p> + +<p>"Some one here must be able to tell me. Let that some one speak."</p> + +<p>At this the quietest and least conspicuous person present, a young man +heavily spectacled and of student-like appearance, advanced a step and +said:</p> + +<p>"I was the first person to come in here after this poor young lady fell. +I was looking at coins just beyond the partition there, when I heard a +gasping cry. I had not heard her fall—I fear I was very much preoccupied +in my search for an especial coin I had been told I should find here—but +I did hear the cry she gave, and startled by the sound, left the section +where I was and entered this one, only to see just what you are seeing +now."</p> + +<p>The Curator pointed at the two women.</p> + +<p>"This? The one woman kneeling over the other with her hand on the arrow?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>A change took place in the Curator's expression. Involuntarily his eyes +rose to the walls hung closely with Indian relics, among which was a +quiver in which all could see arrows similar to the one now in the breast +of the young girl lying dead before them.</p> + +<p>"This woman must be made to speak," he said in answer to the low murmur +which followed this discovery. "If there is a doctor present——"</p> + +<p>Waiting, but receiving no response, he withdrew his hand from the woman's +arm and laid it on the arrow.</p> + +<p>This roused her completely. Loosing her own grasp upon the shaft, she +cried, with sudden realization of the people pressing about her:</p> + +<p>"I could not draw it. That causes death, they say. Wait! she may still be +alive. She may have a word to speak."</p> + +<p>She was bending to listen. It was hardly a favorable moment for further +questioning, but the Curator in his anxiety could not refrain from +saying:</p> + +<p>"Who is she? What is her name and what is yours?"</p> + +<p>"Her name?" repeated the woman, rising to face him again. "How should I +know? I was passing through this gallery and had just stopped to take a +look into the court when this young girl bounded by me from behind and +flinging up her arms, fell with a deep sigh to the floor. I saw an arrow +in her breast, and——"</p> + +<p>Emotion choked her, and when some one asked if the girl was a stranger to +her, she simply bowed her head; then, letting her gaze pass from face to +face till it had completed the circle of those about her, she said in her +former mechanical way:</p> + +<p>"My name is Ermentrude Taylor. I came to look at the bronzes. I should +like to go now."</p> + +<p>But the crowd which had formed about her was too compact to allow her to +pass. Besides, the director, Mr. Roberts, had something to say first. +Working his way forward, he waited till he had attracted her attention +and then remarked in his most considerate manner:</p> + +<p>"You will pardon these importunities, Mrs. Taylor. I am a director of +this museum, and if Mr. Jewett will excuse me,"—here he bowed to the +Curator,—"I should like to inquire from what direction the arrow came +which ended this young girl's life?"</p> + +<p>For a moment she stood aghast, fixing him with her eye as though to ask +whither this inquiry tended. Then with an air of intention which was not +without some strange element of fear, she allowed her glance to travel +across the court till it rested upon the row of connected arches facing +them from the opposite gallery.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, putting her look into words, "you think the arrow came +from the other side of the building. Did you see anyone over there,—in +the gallery, I mean,—at or before the instant of this young girl's +fall?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Did any of <i>you</i>?" he urged, with his eyes on the crowd. "Some one must +have been looking that way."</p> + +<p>But no answer came, and the silence was fast becoming oppressive when +these words, whispered by one woman to another, roused them anew and +sent every glance again to the walls—even hers for whose benefit this +remark had possibly been made:</p> + +<p>"But there are no arrows over there. All the arrows are here."</p> + +<p>She was right. They were here, quiver after quiver of them; nor were they +all beyond reach. As the woman thus significantly assailed noted this and +saw with what suspicion others noted it also, a decided change took place +in her aspect.</p> + +<p>"I should like to sit down," she murmured. Possibly she was afraid she +might fall.</p> + +<p>As some one brought a chair, she spoke, but very tremulously, to the +director:</p> + +<p>"Are there no arrows in the rooms over there?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite sure not."</p> + +<p>"And no bows?"</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"If—if anyone had been seen in the gallery——"</p> + +<p>"No one was."</p> + +<p>"You are sure of that?"</p> + +<p>"You heard the question asked. It brought no answer."</p> + +<p>"But—but these galleries are visible from below. Some one may have been +looking up from the court and——"</p> + +<p>"If there was any such person in the building, he would have been here by +this time. People don't hold back such information."</p> + +<p>"Then—then—" she stammered, her eyes taking on a hunted look, "you +conclude—these people conclude <i>what</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Madam,"—the word came coldly, stinging her into drawing herself to her +full height,—"it is not for me to conclude in a case like this. That is +the business of the police."</p> + +<p>At this word, with its suggestion of crime, her air of conscious power +vanished in sudden collapse. Possibly she had seen the significant +gesture with which the Curator pointed out a quiver from which one of the +arrows was missing. That this was so, was shown by her next question:</p> + +<p>"But where is the bow? Look about on the floor. You will find none. How +can an arrow be shot without a bow?"</p> + +<p>"It cannot be," came from some one at her back. "But it can be driven +home like a dagger if the hand wielding it is sufficiently powerful."</p> + +<p>A cry left her lips; she seemed to listen as for some echo; then in a +wild abandonment which ignored person and place she flung herself again +at the dead girl's side, and before the astonished people surrounding her +could intervene, she had caught up the body in her arms, and bending over +it, whispered word after word into the poor child's closed ear.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>IN ROOM B</h3> + + +<p>Five minutes later the Curator was at the 'phone calling up Police +Headquarters. A death had occurred at the museum. Would they send over +a capable detective?</p> + +<p>"What kind of death?" was the harsh reply. "We don't send detectives in +cases of heart-failure or simple accident. Is it an accident?"</p> + +<p>"No—no—hardly. It looks more like an insane woman's attack upon a +harmless stranger. It's the oddest sort of an affair, and we feel very +helpless. No common officer will do. We have one of that kind in the +building. What we want is a man of brains; he will need them."</p> + +<p>A muffled sound at the other end—then a different voice asking some +half-dozen comprehensive questions—which, having been answered to the +best of the Curator's ability, were followed by the welcome assurance +that a man on whose experience he could rely would be at the museum doors +within five minutes.</p> + +<p>With an air of relief Mr. Jewett stepped again into the court, and +repelling with hasty gestures the importunities of the small group of men +and women who had lacked the courage to follow the more adventurous ones +upstairs, crossed to where the door-man stood on guard over the main +entrance.</p> + +<p>"Locked?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Such were the orders. Didn't you give them?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I should have done so, had I known. No one's to go out, and no +one's to come in but the detective whom I am expecting any moment."</p> + +<p>They had not long to wait. Before their suspense had reached fever-point, +a tap was heard on the great door. It was opened, and a young man stepped +in.</p> + +<p>"Coast clear?" he sang out with a humorous twist of his jaw as he noted +the Curator's evident chagrin at his meager and unsatisfactory +appearance. "Oh, I'm not your man," he added as his eye ran over the +whole place with a look which seemed to take in every detail in an +instant. "Mr. Gryce is in the automobile. Wait till I help him up."</p> + +<p>He was gone before the Curator could utter a word, only to reappear in a +few minutes with a man in his wake whom the former at first blush thought +to be as much past the age where experience makes for efficiency as the +other seemed to be short of it.</p> + +<p>But this impression, if impression it were, was of short duration. No +sooner had this physically weak but extremely wise old man entered upon +the scene than his mental power became evident to every person there. +Timorous hearts regained their composure, and the Curator—who in his ten +years of service had never felt the burden of his position so acutely as +in the last ten minutes—showed his relief by a volubility quite +unnatural to him under ordinary conditions. As he conducted the +detectives across the court, he talked not of the victim, as might +reasonably be expected, but of the woman who had been found leaning over +her with her hand on the arrow.</p> + +<p>"We think her some escaped lunatic," he remarked. "Only a demented woman +would act as she does. First she denied all knowledge of the girl. Then +when she was made to see that the arrow sticking in the girl's breast had +been taken from a quiver hanging within arm's reach on the wall and used +as lances are used, she fell a-moaning and crying, and began to whisper +in the poor child's senseless ear."</p> + +<p>"A common woman? One of a low-down type?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. A lady, and an impressive one, at that. You seldom see her +equal. That's what has upset us so. The crime and the criminal do not +seem to fit."</p> + +<p>The detective blinked. Then suddenly he seemed to grow an inch taller.</p> + +<p>"Where is she now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"In Room B, away from the crowd. She is not alone. A young lady detained +with the rest of the people here is keeping her company, to say nothing +of an officer we have put on guard."</p> + +<p>"And the victim?"</p> + +<p>"Lies where she fell, in Section II on the upper floor. There was no call +to move her. She was dead when we came upon the scene. She does not look +to be more than sixteen years old."</p> + +<p>"Let's go up. But wait—can we see that section from here?"</p> + +<p>They were standing at the foot of the great staircase connecting the two +floors. Above them, stretching away on either side, ran the two famous, +highly ornamented galleries, with their row of long, low arches +indicating the five compartments into which they were severally divided. +Pointing to the second one on the southern side, the Curator replied:</p> + +<p>"That's it—the one where you see the Apache relics hanging high on the +rear wall. We shall have to shift those to some other place just as soon +as we can recover from this horror. I don't want the finest spot in the +whole museum made a Mecca for the morbid and the curious."</p> + +<p>The remark fell upon unheeding ears. Detective Gryce was looking, not in +the direction named, but in the one directly opposite to it.</p> + +<p>"I see," he quietly observed, "that there is a clear view across. Was +there no one in the right-hand gallery to see what went on in the left?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I have heard of. It's the dullest hour of the day, and not only +this gallery but many of the rooms were entirely empty."</p> + +<p>"I see. And now, what about the persons who were here? How many of them +have you let go?"</p> + +<p>"Not one; the doors have been opened twice only—once to admit the +officer you will find on guard, and the other to let in yourself."</p> + +<p>"Good! And how many have you here, all told?"</p> + +<p>"I have not had time to count them, but I should say less than thirty. +This includes myself, as well as two attendants."</p> + +<p>With a thoughtful air Mr. Gryce turned in the direction of the few +persons he could see huddled together around one of the central statues.</p> + +<p>"Where are the others?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Upstairs—in and about the place where the poor child lies."</p> + +<p>"They must be got out of there. Sweetwater!"</p> + +<p>The young man who had entered with him was at his side in an instant.</p> + +<p>"Clear the galleries. Then take down the name and address of every person +in the building."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>Before the last word had left his lips, the busy fellow was halfway up +the marble steps. "Lightning," some of his pals called him, perhaps +because he was as noiseless as he was quick. Meanwhile the senior +detective had drawn the Curator to one side.</p> + +<p>"We'll take a look at these people as they come down. I have been said to +be able to spot a witness with my eyes shut. Let's see what I can do with +my eyes open."</p> + +<p>"Young and old, rich and poor," murmured the Curator as some dozen +persons appeared at the top of the staircase.</p> + +<p>"Yes," sighed the detective, noting each one carefully as he or she filed +down, "we sha'n't make much out of this experiment. Not one of them +avoids our looks. Emotion enough, but not of the right sort. Well, we'll +leave them to Sweetwater. Our business is above."</p> + +<p>The Curator offered his arm. The old man made a move to take it—then +drew himself up with an air of quiet confidence.</p> + +<p>"Many thanks," said he, "but I can go alone. Rheumatism is my trouble, +but these mild days loosen its grip upon my poor old muscles." He did +not say that the prospect of an interesting inquiry had much the same +effect, but the Curator suspected it, possibly because he was feeling +just a little bit spry himself.</p> + +<p>Steeled as such experienced officers necessarily are to death in all its +phases, it was with no common emotion that the aged detective entered the +presence of the dead girl and took his first look at this latest victim +of mental or moral aberration. So young! so innocent! so fair! A +schoolgirl, or little more, of a class certainly above the average, +whether judged from the contour of her features or the niceties of her +dress. With no evidences of great wealth about her, there was yet +something in the cut of her garments and the careful attention to each +detail which bespoke not only natural but cultivated taste. On her breast +just above the spot where the cruel dart had entered, a fresh and +blooming nosegay still exhaled its perfume—a tragic detail accentuating +the pathos of a death so sudden that the joy with which she had pinned on +this simple adornment seemed to linger about her yet.</p> + +<p>The detective, with no words for this touching spectacle, stretched out +his hand and with a reverent and fatherly touch pressed down the lids +over the unseeing eyes. This office done to the innocent dead, he asked +if anything had been found to establish the young girl's identity.</p> + +<p>"Surely," he observed, "she was not without a purse or handbag. All young +ladies carry them."</p> + +<p>For answer the officer on guard thrust his hand into one of his capacious +pockets, and drawing out a neat little bag of knitted beads, passed it +over to the detective with the laconic remark:</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing."</p> + +<p>And so it proved. It held only a pocket handkerchief—embroidered but +without a monogram—and a memorandum-book without an entry.</p> + +<p>"A blind alley, if ever there was one," muttered Mr. Gryce; and ordering +the policeman to replace the bag as nearly as possible on the spot from +which it had been taken, he proceeded with the Curator to Room B.</p> + +<p>Prepared to encounter a woman of disordered mind, the appearance +presented by Mrs. Taylor at his entrance greatly astonished Mr. Gryce. +There was a calmness in her attitude which one would scarcely expect to +see in a woman whom mania had just driven into crime. Surely lunacy does +not show such self-restraint; nor does lunacy awaken any such feelings of +awe as followed a prolonged scrutiny of her set but determined features. +Only grief of the most intense and sacred character could account for the +aspect she presented, and as the man to whom the tragedies of life were +of daily occurrence took in this mystery with all its incongruities, he +realized, not without a sense of professional pleasure, no doubt, that he +had before him an affair calling for the old-time judgment which, for +forty or more years, had made his record famous in the police annals of +the metropolis.</p> + +<p>She was seated with no one near her but a young lady whom sympathetic +interest had drawn to her side. Mr. Roberts stood in one of the windows, +and not far from him a man in the museum uniform.</p> + +<p>At the authoritative advance of the old detective, the woman, whose eye +he had caught, attempted to struggle to her feet, but desisted after a +moment of hopeless effort, and sank back in her chair. There was no +pretense in this. Though gifted with a strong frame, emotion had so +weakened her that she was simply unable to stand. Quite convinced of +this, and affected in spite of himself by her look of lofty patience, Mr. +Gryce prefaced his questions with an apology—quite an unusual proceeding +for him.</p> + +<p>Whether or no she heard it, he could not tell; but she was quite ready to +answer when he asked her name and then her place of residence—saying in +response to the latter query:</p> + +<p>"I live at the Calderon, a family hotel in Sixty-seventh Street. +My name"—here she paused for a second to moisten her lips—"is +Taylor—Ermentrude Taylor.... Nothing else," she speedily added in +a tone which drew every eye her way. Then more evenly: "You will find +the name on the hotel's books."</p> + +<p>"Wife or widow?"</p> + +<p>"Widow."</p> + +<p>What a voice! how it reached every heart, waking strange sympathies +there! As the word fell, not a person in the room but stirred uneasily. +Even she herself started at its sound; and moved, perhaps, by the depth +of silence which followed, she added in suppressed tones:</p> + +<p>"A widow within the hour. That's why you see me still in colors, but +crushed as you behold—killed! killed!"</p> + +<p>That settled it. There was no mistaking her condition after an expression +of this kind. The Curator and Mr. Gryce exchanged glances, and Mr. +Roberts, stepping from his corner, betrayed the effect which her words +had produced on him, by whispering in the detective's ear:</p> + +<p>"What you need is an alienist."</p> + +<p>Had she heard? It would seem so from the quick way she roused and +exclaimed with indignant emphasis:</p> + +<p>"You do not understand me! I see that I must drink my bitter cup to the +dregs. This is what I mean: My husband was living this morning—living +up to the hour when the clock in this building struck twelve. I knew it +from the joyous hopes with which my breast was filled. But with the +stroke of noon the blow fell. I was bending above the poor child who had +fallen so suddenly at my feet, when the vision came, and I saw him gazing +at me from a distance so remote—across a desert so immeasurable—that +nothing but death could create such a removal or make of him the ghastly +silhouette I saw. He is dead. At that moment I felt his soul pass; and so +I say that I am a widow."</p> + +<p>Ravings? No, the calm certainty of her tone, the grief, touching depths +so profound it had no need of words, showed the confidence she felt in +the warning she believed herself to have received. Though probably not +a single person present put any faith in occultism in any of its forms, +there was a general movement of sympathy which led Mr. Gryce to pass the +matter by without any attempt at controversy, and return to the question +in hand. With a decided modification of manner, he therefore asked her to +relate how she came to be kneeling over the injured girl with her hand +upon the arrow.</p> + +<p>"Let me have a moment in which to recover myself," she prayed, covering +her eyes with her hand. Then, while all waited, she gave a low cry, "I +suffer; I suffer!" and leaped to her feet, only to sink back again inert +and powerless. But only for an instant: with that one burst of extreme +feeling she recovered her self-control, answering with apparent calmness +the detective's question:</p> + +<p>"I was passing through the gallery as any other visitor might, when a +young lady rushed by me—stopped short—threw up her arms and fell +backward to the floor, pierced to the heart by an arrow. In a moment +I was on my knees at her side with hand outstretched to withdraw this +dreadful arrow. But I was afraid—I had heard that this sometimes causes +death, and while I was hesitating, that vision came, engulfing +everything. I could think of nothing else."</p> + +<p>She was near collapsing again; but being a woman of great nerve, she +fought her weakness and waited patiently for the next question. It was +different, without doubt, from any she had expected.</p> + +<p>"Then you positively deny any active connection with the strange death of +this young girl?"</p> + +<p>A pause, as if to take in what he meant. Then slowly, impressively, came +the answer:</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"Did you see the person who shot the arrow?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"From what direction would it have had to come to strike her as it did?"</p> + +<p>"From the opposite balcony."</p> + +<p>"Did you see anyone there?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"But you heard the arrow?"</p> + +<p>"Heard?"</p> + +<p>"An arrow shot from a bow makes a whizzing sound as it flies. Didn't you +hear that?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know." She looked troubled and uncertain. "I don't remember. I +was expecting no such thing—I was not prepared. The sight of an arrow—a +killing arrow—in that innocent breast overcame me with inexpressible +grief and horror. If the vision of my husband had not followed, I might +remember more. As it is, I have told all I can. Won't you excuse me? I +should like to go. I am not fit to remain. I want to return home—to +hear from my husband—to learn by letter or telegram whether he is indeed +dead."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce had let her finish. An inquiry so unofficial might easily await +the moods of such a witness. Not till the last word had been followed by +what some there afterward called a hungry silence, did he make use of his +prerogative to say:</p> + +<p>"I shall be pleased to release you and will do so just as soon as I can. +But I must put one or two more questions. Were you interested in the +Indian relics you had come among? Did you handle any of them in passing?"</p> + +<p>"No. I had no interest. I like glass, bronzes, china—I hate weapons. I +shall hate them eternally after this." And she began to shudder.</p> + +<p>The detective, with a quick bend of his head, approached her ear with the +whispered remark:</p> + +<p>"I am told that when your attention was drawn to these weapons, you fell +on your knees and murmured something into the dead girl's ears. How do +you explain that?"</p> + +<p>"I was giving her messages to my husband. I felt—strange as it may seem +to you—that they had fled the earth together—and I wanted him to know +that I would be constant, and other foolish things you will not wish me +to repeat here. Is that all you wish to know?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce bowed, and cast a quizzical glance in the direction of the +Curator. Certainly for oddity this case transcended any he had had in +years. With this woman eliminated from the situation, what explanation +was there of the curious death he was there to investigate? As he was +meditating how he could best convey to her the necessity of detaining +her further, he heard a muttered exclamation from the young woman +standing near her, and following the direction of her pointing finger, +saw that the strange silence which had fallen upon the room had a cause. +Mrs. Taylor had fainted away in her chair.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>"I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU"</h3> + + +<p>Mr. Gryce took advantage of the momentary disturbance to slip from the +room. He was followed by the Curator, who seemed more than ever anxious +to talk.</p> + +<p>"You see! Mad as a March hare!" was his hurried exclamation as the door +closed behind them. "I declare I do not know which I pity more, her +victim or herself. The one is freed from all her troubles; the other—Do +you think we ought to have a doctor to look after her? Shall I +telephone?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. We have much to learn before taking any decided steps." Then as +he caught the look of amazement with which this unexpected suggestion of +difficulties was met, he paused on his way to the stair-head to ask in a +tentative way peculiarly his own: "Then you still think the girl died +from a thrust given by this woman?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. What else is there to think? You saw where the arrow came +from. You saw that the only bow the place contained was hanging high and +unstrung upon the wall, and you are witness to this woman's irresponsible +condition of mind. The sight of those arrows well within her reach +evidently aroused the homicidal mania often latent in one of her highly +emotional nature; and when this fresh young girl came by, the natural +result followed. I only hope I shall not be called upon to face the poor +child's parents. What can I say to them? What can anybody say? Yet I do +not see how we can be held responsible for so unprecedented an attack as +this, do you?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce made no answer. He had turned his back toward the stair-head +and was wondering if this easy explanation of a tragedy so peculiar as to +have no prototype in all of the hundreds of cases he had been called upon +to investigate in a long life of detective activity would satisfy all the +other persons then in the building. It was his present business to find +out—to search and probe among the dozen or two people he saw collected +below, for the witness who had seen or had heard some slight thing as yet +unrevealed which would throw a different light upon this matter. For his +mind—or shall we say the almost unerring instinct of this ancient delver +into human hearts?—would not accept without question this theory of +sudden madness in one of Mrs. Taylor's appearance, strange and +inexplicable as her conduct seemed. Though it was quite among the +possibilities that she had struck the fatal blow and in the manner +mentioned, it was equally clear to his mind that she had not done it in +an access of frenzy. He knew a mad eye and he knew a despairing one. +Fantastic as her story certainly was, he found himself more ready to +believe it than to accept any explanation of this crime which ascribed +its peculiar features to the irresponsibilities of lunacy.</p> + +<p>However, he kept his impressions to himself and in his anxiety to pursue +his inquiries among the people below, was on the point of descending +thither, when he found his attention arrested, and that of the Curator's +as well, by the sight of a young man hastening toward them through the +northern gallery. (The tragedy, as you will remember, had occurred in the +southern one.) He was dressed in the uniform of the museum, and moved so +quickly and in such an evident flurry of spirits that the detective +instinctively asked:</p> + +<p>"Who's that? One of your own men?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's Correy, our best-informed and most-trusted attendant. Looks +as if he had something to tell us. Well, Correy, what is it?" he queried +as the man emerged upon the landing where they stood. "Anything new? If +there is, speak out plainly. Mr. Gryce is anxious for all the evidence he +can get."</p> + +<p>With an ingenuousness rather pleasing than otherwise to the man thus +presented to his notice, the young fellow stopped short and subjected the +famous detective to a keen and close scrutiny before venturing to give +the required information.</p> + +<p>Was it because of the importance of what he had to communicate? It would +seem so, from the suppressed excitement of his tone, as after his brief +but exceedingly satisfactory survey, he jerked his finger over his +shoulder in the direction from which he had come, with the short remark:</p> + +<p>"I have something to show you."</p> + +<p>Something! Mr. Gryce had been asking for this something only a moment +before. We can imagine, then, the celerity with which he followed this +new guide into the one spot of all others which possessed for him the +greatest interest. For if by any chance the arrow which had done such +deadly work had been sped from a bow instead of having been used as a +dart, then it was from this gallery and from no other quarter of the +building that it had been so sped. Any proof of this could have but the +one effect of exonerating from all blame the woman who had so impressed +him. He had traversed the first section and had entered the second, when +the Curator joined him; together they passed into the third.</p> + +<p>For those who have not visited this museum, a more detailed description +of these galleries may be welcome. Acting as a means of communication +between the row of front rooms and those at the back, they also serve to +exhibit certain choice articles which call for little space, and are of a +nature more or less ornamental. For this purpose they are each divided +into five sections connected by arches narrower but not less decorative +than those which open in a direct row upon the court. Of these sections +the middle one on either side is much larger than the rest; otherwise +they do not differ.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of this larger section that Correy now stood, +awaiting their approach. There had been show-cases filled with rare +exhibits in the two through which they had just passed, but in this one +there was nothing to be seen but a gorgeous hanging, covering very nearly +the whole wall, flanked at either end by a pedestal upholding a vase of +inestimable value and corresponding ugliness. A highly decorative +arrangement, it is true, but in what lay its interest for the criminal +investigator?</p> + +<p>Correy was soon to show them. With a significant gesture toward the +tapestry, he eagerly exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"You see that? I've run by it several times since the accident sent me +flying all over the building at everybody's call. But only just now, when +I had a moment to myself, did I remember the door hid behind it. It's a +door we no longer use, and I'd no reason for thinking it had anything to +do with the killing of the young lady in the opposite gallery. But for +all that I felt it would do no harm to give it a look, and running from +the front, where I happened to be, I pulled out the tapestry and saw—but +supposing I wait and let you see for yourselves. That will be better."</p> + +<p>Leaving them where they stood face to face with the great hanging, he +made a dive for the pedestal towering aloft at the farther end, and +edging himself in behind it, drew out the tapestry from the wall, calling +on them as he did so to come and look behind it. The Curator did not +hesitate. He was there almost as soon as the young man himself.</p> + +<p>But the detective was not so hasty. With a thousand things in mind, he +stopped to peer along the gallery and down into the court before giving +himself away to any prying eye. Satisfied that he might make the desired +move with impunity, Mr. Gryce was about to turn in the desired direction +when, struck by a new fact, he again stopped short.</p> + +<p>He had noticed how the heavy tapestry shivered under Correy's clutch. Had +this been observed by anyone besides himself? If by chance some person +wandering about the court had been looking up—but no, the few people +gathered there stood too far forward to see what was going on in this +part of the gallery; and relieved from all further anxiety on this score, +he joined Correy at the pedestal and at a word from him succeeded in +squeezing himself around it into the small space they had left for him +between the pushed-out hanging and the wall. An exclamation from the +Curator, who had only waited for his coming to take his first look, added +zest to his own scrutiny. It would take something more than the sight of +a well-known door to give it such a tone of astonished discovery. What? +Even he, with the accumulated surprises of years to give wings to his +imagination, did not succeed in guessing. But when his eyes, once +accustomed to the semi-darkness of the narrow space which Correy had thus +opened out before him, saw not the door but what lay within its recess, +he acknowledged to himself that he should have guessed—and that a dozen +years before, he certainly would have done so.</p> + +<p>It was a <i>bow</i>—not like the one hanging high in the Apache exhibit, but +yet a bow strong of make and strung for use.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Here was a discovery as important as it was unexpected, eliminating Mrs. +Taylor at once from the case and raising it into a mystery of the first +order. By dint of long custom, Mr. Gryce succeeded in hiding his extreme +satisfaction, but not the perplexity into which he was thrown by this +complete change of base. The Curator appeared to be impressed in much the +same way, and shook his head in a doubtful fashion when Correy asked him +if he recognized the bow as belonging to the museum.</p> + +<p>"I should have to see it nearer to answer that question with any sort of +confidence," he demurred. "From such glimpses as I can get of it from +here I should say that it has not been taken from any of our exhibits."</p> + +<p>"I am sure it has not," muttered Correy. Then with a side glance at Mr. +Gryce, he added: "Shall I slip in behind and get it?"</p> + +<p>The detective, thus appealed to, hesitated a moment; then with an +irrelevance perhaps natural to the occasion, he inquired where this door +so conveniently hidden from the general view led to. It was the Curator +who answered.</p> + +<p>"To a twisting, breakneck staircase opening directly into my office. But +this door has not been used in years. See! Here is the key to it on my +own ring. There is no other. I lost the mate to it myself not long after +my installation here."</p> + +<p>The detective, working his way back around the pedestal, cast another +glance up and down the gallery and over into the court. Still no spying +eye, save that of the officer opposite.</p> + +<p>"We will leave that bow where it is for the present," he decided, "a +secret between us three." And motioning for Correy to let the tapestry +fall, he stood watching it settle into place, till it hung quite straight +again, with its one edge close to the wall and the other sweeping the +floor. Had its weight been great enough to push the bow back again into +its former place close against the door? Yes. No eye, however trained, +would, from any bulge in the heavy tapestry, detect its presence there. +He could leave the spot without fear; their secret would remain theirs +until such time as they chose to disclose it.</p> + +<p>As the three walked back the way they had come, the Curator glanced +earnestly at the detective, who seemed to have fallen into a kind of +anxious dream. Would it do to interrupt him with questions? Would he +obtain a straight answer if he did? The old man moved heavily but the now +fully alert Curator could not fail to see that it was with the heaviness +of absorbed thought. Dare he disturb that thought? They had both reached +the broad corridor separating the two galleries at the western end before +he ventured to remark:</p> + +<p>"This discovery alters matters, does it not? May I ask what you propose +to do now? Anything in which we can help you?"</p> + + + + +<p>The detective may have heard him and he may not; at all events he made no +reply though he continued to advance with a mechanical step until he +stood again at the top of the marble steps leading down into the court. +Here some of the uncertainty pervading his mind seemed to leave him, +though he still looked very old and very troubled, or so the Curator +thought, as pausing there, he allowed his glance to wander from the +marble recesses below to the galleries on either side of him, and from +these on to the seemingly empty spaces back of the high, carved railing +guarding the great well. Would a younger man have served them better? It +began to look so; then without warning and in a flash, as it were, the +whole appearance of the octogenarian detective changed, and turning with +a smile to the two men so anxiously watching him, he exclaimed with an +air of quiet triumph:</p> + +<p>"I have it. Follow and see how my plan works."</p> + +<p>Amazed, for he looked and moved like another man,—a man in whom the +almost extinguished spark of early genius had suddenly flared again into +full blaze,—they hastily joined him in anticipation of they knew not +what. But their enthusiasm received a check when at the moment of descent +Mr. Gryce again turned back with the remark:</p> + +<p>"I had forgotten. I have something to do first. If you will kindly see +that the people down there are kept from growing too impatient, I will +soon join you with Mrs. Taylor, who must not be left on this floor after +we have gone below."</p> + +<p>And with no further explanation of his purpose, he turned and proceeded +without delay to Room B.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>A STRATEGIC MOVE</h3> + + +<p>He found the unhappy woman quite recovered from her fainting spell, but +still greatly depressed and not a little incoherent. He set himself to +work to soothe her, for he had a request to make which called for an +intelligent answer. Relieved from all suspicion of her having been an +active agent in the deplorable deed he was here to investigate, he was +lavish in his promises of speedy release, and seeing how much this +steadied her, he turned to Mr. Roberts, who was still in the room, and +then to the young lady who had been giving her a woman's care, and +signified that their attentions were no longer required and that he would +be glad to have them join the people below.</p> + +<p>When the door had closed and Mr. Gryce found himself for the first time +alone with Mrs. Taylor, he drew up a chair to her side and remarked in +his old benevolent way:</p> + +<p>"I feel guilty of cruelty, madam, in repeating a question you have +already answered. But the conditions are such that I must, and do it now. +When this young lady fell so unexpectedly at your feet, was your first +look at her or at the opposite gallery?"</p> + +<p>For an instant her eyes held his—something which did not often happen to +him.</p> + +<p>"At her," she vehemently declared. "I never thought of looking anywhere +else. I saw her at my feet, and fell on my knees at her side. Who +wouldn't have done so! Who would have seen anything but that arrow—<i>that +arrow</i>! Oh, it was terrible! Do not make me recall it. I have sorrows +enough——"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Taylor, you have my utmost sympathy. But you must realize how +important it is for me to make sure that you saw nothing in the place +from which that arrow was sent which would help us to locate the author +of this accident. The flitting of an escaping figure up or down the +opposite gallery, even a stir in the great tapestry confronting you from +that far-away wall, might give us a clue."</p> + +<p>"I saw nothing," she replied coldly but with extreme firmness, "nothing +but that lifeless child and the picture of desolation which rose in my +own mind. Do not, I pray, make me speak again of that. It would sound +like delirium, and it is my wish to impress you with my sanity, so that +you will allow me to go home."</p> + +<p>"You shall go, after the Coroner has had an opportunity to see you. We +expect him any moment. Meanwhile, you will facilitate your release and +greatly help us in what we have to do, if you will carry your fortitude +to the point of showing me in your own person just where you were +standing when this young girl dashed by you to her death."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean for me to go back to that—that——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Taylor. Surely you can do so if you will. When you have time +to think, you will be as anxious as ourselves to know through whose +carelessness (to call it nothing worse) this child came to her death. +Though it may prove to be quite immaterial whether you stood in one place +or another at that fatal moment, it is a question which will be sure to +come up at the inquest. That you may be able to answer correctly I urge +you to return with me to the exact spot, before your recollection of the +same has had time to fade. After that we will go below and I will see +that you are taken to some quiet place where you can remain undisturbed +till the Coroner comes."</p> + +<p>Had she been a weak woman she would have succumbed again at this. But +she was a strong one, and after the first moment of recoil she rose +tremulously to her feet and signified her willingness to follow him to +the scene of death.</p> + +<p>"Is—is she there alone?" was her sole question as they crossed the +corridor separating the room they had been in from the galleries.</p> + +<p>"No—you will find an officer there. We could not leave the place quite +unguarded."</p> + +<p>If she shuddered he did not observe it. Having summoned up all her +forces to meet this ordeal, she followed him without further word, and +re-entering the spot she had so lately left in great agony of mind, +stopped for one look and for one look only at the sweet face of the dead +girl smiling up at her from the cold floor, then she showed Mr. Gryce as +nearly as she could just where she had paused in shock and horror when +the poor child smitten by the fatal arrow fell back almost into her arms.</p> + +<p>The detective, with a glance at the opposite gallery, turned and spoke to +the officer who had stepped aside into the neighboring section.</p> + +<p>"Take the place just occupied by this lady," he said, "and hold it till +you hear from me again." Then offering his arm to Mrs. Taylor, he led her +out.</p> + +<p>"I see that you were approaching the railing overlooking the court when +you were stopped in this fearful manner," he remarked when well down the +gallery toward its lower exit. "What did you have in mind? A nearer +glimpse of the tapestry over there and the two great vases?"</p> + +<p>"No, no." She was wrought up by now to a tension almost unendurable. "It +was the court—what I might see in the court. Oh!" she impulsively cried: +"the child! the child! that innocent, beautiful child!" And breaking away +from his arm, she threw herself against the wall in a burst of +uncontrollable weeping.</p> + +<p>He allowed her a moment of unrestrained grief, then he took her on his +arm again and led her down into the court where he gave her into the +charge of Correy. He had gone as far as he dared in her present +hysterical condition. Besides, he could no longer defer the great +experiment by means of which he hoped to reach the heart of this mystery.</p> + +<p>Taking the slip of paper handed him by Sweetwater, he crossed the court +to where the various visitors, detained, some against their will and some +quite in accordance with it, stood about in groups or sat side by side on +the long benches placed along the front for their comfort. As he +confronted them, his face beamed with that benevolent smile which had +done so much for him in days gone by. Raising his hand he called +attention to himself; then, when he was quite sure of being heard by them +all, he addressed them with a quiet emphasis which could not fail to gain +and hold their attention:</p> + +<p>"I am Detective Gryce, sent here from Police Headquarters to look into +this very serious matter. Till the Coroner arrives, I am in authority +here, and being so, will have to ask your indulgence for any discomfort +you may experience in helping me with my investigation. A young girl, +full of life an hour ago, lies dead in the gallery above. We do not know +her name; we do not know who killed her. But there is some one here who +does. The man or woman who, wittingly or unwittingly, launched that fatal +shaft, is present with us in this building. This person has not spoken. +If he will do so now, he will save us and himself, too, no end of +trouble. Let him speak, then. I will give him five minutes in which to +make this acknowledgment. Five minutes! If that man is wise—or can it +be a woman?—he will not keep us waiting."</p> + +<p>Silence. Heads moving, eyes peering, excitement visible in every face, +but not a word from anybody. Mr. Gryce turned and pointed up at the +clock. All looked—but still no word from man or woman.</p> + +<p>One minute gone!</p> + +<p>Two minutes!</p> + +<p>Three!</p> + +<p>The silence had become portentous. The movement, involuntary and +simultaneous, which had run through the crowd at first had stopped. They +were waiting—each and all—waiting with eyes on the minute-hand creeping +forward over the dial toward which the detective's glance was still +turned.</p> + +<p>The fourth minute passed—then the fifth—and no one had spoken.</p> + +<p>With a sigh Mr. Gryce wheeled himself back and faced the crowd again.</p> + +<p>"You see," he quietly announced, "the case is serious. Twenty-two of you, +and not one to speak the half-dozen words which would release the rest +from their present embarrassing position! What remains for us to do under +circumstances like these? My experience suggests but one course: to +narrow down this inquiry to those—you will not find them many—who from +their nearness to the place of tragedy or from some other cause equally +pertinent may be looked upon as possible witnesses for the Coroner's +jury. That this may be done speedily and surely, I am going to ask you, +every one of you, to retake the exact place in the building which you +were occupying when you heard the first alarm. I will begin with the +Curator himself. Mr. Jewett, will you be so good as to return to the +room, and if possible to the precise spot, you were occupying when you +first learned what had occurred here?"</p> + +<p>The Curator, who stood at his elbow, made a quick bow and turned in the +direction of the marble steps, which he hastily remounted. A murmur from +the crowd followed this action and continued till he disappeared in the +recesses of the right-hand gallery. Then, at a gesture from Mr. Gryce, it +suddenly ceased, and with a breathless interest easy to comprehend, they +one and all waited for his next word. It was a simple one.</p> + +<p>"We are all obliged to Mr. Jewett for his speedy compliance with so +unusual a request. He has made my task a comparatively easy one."</p> + +<p>Then, glancing at the list of names and addresses which had been compiled +for him by Sweetwater, he added:</p> + +<p>"I will read off your names as recorded here. If each person, on hearing +his own, will move quickly to his place and remain there till my young +man can make a note of the same, we shall get through this matter in +short order. And let me add"—as he perceived here and there a shoulder +shrugged, or an eye turned askance—"that once the name is called, no +excuse of non-recollection will be accepted. You must know, every one of +you, just where you were standing when the cry of death rang out, and any +attempt to mislead me or others in this matter will only subject the +person making it to a suspicion he must wish to avoid. Remember that +there are enough persons here for no one to be sure that his whereabouts +at so exciting a moment escaped notice. Listen, then, and when your own +name is spoken, step quickly into place, whether that place be on this +floor or in the rooms or galleries above.—Mrs. Alice Lee!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/diag-044.png"><img src="images/diag-044.png" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1—Ephraim Short.<br /> +2—Mrs. Lynch.<br /> +3—Director Roberts.<br /> +4—Door-man.<br /> +5—Copyist.<br /> +6—Mrs. Alice Lee.<br /> +7-8—Mr. and Mrs. Draper.<br /> +9—Mr. Coit.<br /> +10—Mr. Simpson.<br /> +11—Prof. Turnbull.<br /> +12—Second Door-man.<br /> +13—Miss Hunsicker.<br /> +14—Attendant.<br /> +15—Miss Blake.<br /> +16—Officer.</p> +</div> + + +<p>You can imagine the flurry, the excitement and the blank looks of the +average men and women he addressed. But not one hesitated to obey. Mrs. +Lee was on the farther side of one of the statues before her name had +more than left his lips. Her example set the pace for those who followed. +Like soldiers at roll-call, each one responded to the summons, going now +in one direction and now in another until on reaching the proper spot he +or she stopped.</p> + +<p>Only six persons followed the Curator upstairs—an old woman who shook +her head violently as she plodded slowly up the marble steps; Correy; a +man with a packet of books under his arm (the same who had been studying +coins in Section II); a young couple whose movements showed such a marked +reluctance that more than one eye followed them as they went hesitatingly +up, clinging together with interlocking hands and stopping now on one +step and now on another to stare at each other in visible consternation; +and a boy of fourteen who grinned from ear to ear as he bounded gayly +up three steps at a time and took his position on the threshold of one +of the upper doors with all the precision of a soldier called to +sentry-duty—a boy scout if ever there was one.</p> + +<p>There were twenty-two names on the list, and with the calling out of the +twenty-second, Mr. Gryce perceived the space before him entirely cleared +of its odd assortment of people. As he turned to take a look at the +result, a gleam of satisfaction crossed his time-worn face. By this +scheme, which he may be pardoned for looking upon as a stroke of genius +worthy of his brilliant prime, he had set back time a full hour, +restoring as by a magician's wand the conditions of that fatal moment of +initial alarm. Surely, with the knowledge of that hidden bow in his mind, +he should be able now to place his hand upon the person who had made use +of it to launch the fatal arrow. No one, however sly of foot and quick of +action, could have gone far from the gallery where that bow lay in the +few minutes which were all that could have elapsed between the shooting +of the arrow and the gasping cry which had brought all within hearing to +the Apache section. The man or woman whom he should find nearest to that +concealed door in the northern gallery would have to give a very good +account of himself. Not even the Curator would escape suspicion under +those circumstances.</p> + +<p>However, it is only fair to add that Mr. Gryce had no fear of any such +embarrassing end to his inquisition as that. He had noticed the young +couple who had betrayed their alarm so ingenuously to every eye, and had +already decided within himself that the man was just such a fool as might +in a moment of vacuity pick up a bow and arrow to test his skill at a +given mark. Such things had been and such results had followed. The man +was a gawk and the woman a ninny; a few questions and their guiltiness +would appear—that is, if they should be found near enough the tapestry +to warrant his suspicion. If not—the alternative held an interest all +its own, and sent him in haste toward the stairway.</p> + +<p>To reach it Mr. Gryce had to pass several persons standing where fate had +fixed them among the statuary grouped about the court, and had his +attention been less engrossed by what he expected to discover above, he +would have been deeply interested in noting how these persons, or most of +them at least, had so thoroughly accepted the situation that they had +taken the exact position and the exact attitude of the moment preceding +the alarm. Those who were admiring the great torsos or carved chariots of +the ancients, made a show of admiring them still. The man or woman who +had been going in an easterly direction, faced east; and those who had +been on the point of entering certain rooms, stood halting in the +doorways with their backs to the court.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, he did not take note of all this, or give the poor pawns +thus parading for his purpose more than a cursory glance. When he did +think, which was when he was halfway up the staircase, it was to look +back upon a changed scene. For with his going, interest had flagged and +the tableau lost its pointedness. No one had ventured as yet to leave his +place, but all had turned their faces his way, and on many of these faces +could be seen signs of fatigue if not of absolute impatience. He had +ordered them to stand and they had stood, but to be left there while he +went above was certainly trying. The one spot which held the interest was +in the southern gallery. If they could only follow him there——</p> + +<p>All this was to be seen in their faces, and possibly the cunning old man +read it there; but if he did, it was to ask himself if their conclusions +were quite correct. The locale of interest had shifted in the last half +hour; and while most of these people believed him to be searching for the +witness who could tell him what had occurred in the death gallery, he +really was hunting for one who could add to his knowledge of what had +happened in the opposite one. And this witness might not be found in the +gallery, or even on the upper floor. It was well among the probabilities +that there might be among the various persons he saw posing in the court +below some who by an upward look might take in a part of if not the whole +broad sweep of that huge square of tapestry upon which his thoughts were +centered. It was for him to make a note of these persons. A diagram of +the court as it looked to him at that moment is shown for your +enlightenment.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/diag-059.png"><img src="images/diag-059.png" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1—Ephraim Short.<br /> +2—Mrs. Lynch.<br /> +3—Director Roberts.<br /> +4—Door-man.<br /> +5—Copyist.<br /> +6—Mrs. Alice Lee.<br /> +7-8—Mr. and Mrs. Draper.<br /> +9—Mr. Coit.<br /> +10—Mr. Simpson.<br /> +11—Prof. Turnbull.<br /> +12—Second Door-man.<br /> +13—Miss Hunsicker.<br /> +14—Attendant.<br /> +15—Miss Blake.<br /> +16—Officer.</p> +</div> + +<p>Sixteen persons! Ten in view from the steps and six not. Of the sixteen, +only the following seemed to afford any excuse for future interrogation: +Numbers Two, Six, Ten, Seven, Eight and Thirteen. Making a mental note of +these, during which operation the poor unfortunates who had just been +considering themselves as quite out of the game revived in a startling +manner under his eye, he proceeded on his way.</p> + +<p>As the action has now shifted to the upper floor, a diagram of this +second story is now in order.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/diag-061.png"><img src="images/diag-061.png" alt=""/></a> +</div> + + +<p>As you will see, a straight glimpse is given down either gallery from the +arches opening into the broad corridor into which Mr. Gryce had stepped +on leaving the central staircase. He had therefore only to choose which +of the two would better repay his immediate investigation.</p> + +<p>He decided upon the northern one, which you will remember was the one +holding the tapestry; since, to find anybody there, no matter whom, would +certainly settle the identity of the person responsible for that flying +arrow. For, as all conceded, too little time had elapsed between its +delivery and the discovery of the victim for the quickest possible +attempt at escape to have carried the concealer of the bow very far from +the spot where he had thrown it. It was possible—just possible—that he +might have got as far as one of the four large rooms opening into the +corridor stretching across the front, but that he was not in the gallery +itself Mr. Gryce soon convinced himself by a rapid walk through its +entire length.</p> + +<p>That he did not follow up this move by an immediate searching of the +rooms I have mentioned was owing to a wish he had to satisfy himself on +another point first.</p> + +<p>What was this point?</p> + +<p>In passing along the rear on his way to this gallery, he had noticed the +narrow staircase opening not a dozen feet away to his left. This +undoubtedly led down to the side-entrance. If by any chance the user of +the bow had fled to the rear instead of to the front, he would be found +somewhere on this staircase, for he never could have got to the bottom +before the cry of "Close the doors! Let no man out!" rendered this chance +of immediate exit unavailable. So Mr. Gryce retraced his steps, and +barely stopping to note the boy eying him with eager glances from the +doorway of Room A, he approached the iron balustrade guarding the small +staircase, and cautiously looked over.</p> + +<p>A man was there! A man going down—no, coming up; and this man, as he +soon saw from his face and uniform, was Correy the attendant.</p> + +<p>"So that is where <i>you</i> were," he called down as he beckoned the man up.</p> + +<p>"As near as I can remember. I was on my way in search of Mr. Jewett, for +whom I had a message, and had got as far as you saw me, when I heard a +cry of pain from somewhere in the gallery. This naturally quickened my +steps and I was up and on this floor in a jiffy."</p> + +<p>"Did you notice, as you stepped from the landing, whether the boy staring +at us from the doorway over there was facing just as we see him now?"</p> + +<p>"He was. I remember his attitude perfectly."</p> + +<p>"Coming out of the door—not going in?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. He was on the run. He had heard the cry too."</p> + +<p>"And followed you into the gallery?"</p> + +<p>"Preceded me. He was on the scene almost as soon as the man who stepped +in from the adjoining section."</p> + +<p>"I see. And this man?"</p> + +<p>"Was well within my view from the minute I entered the first arch. +He seemed more bewildered than frightened till he had passed the +communicating arch and nearly stumbled over the body of the girl shot +down almost at his elbow."</p> + +<p>"And yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I knew by his look that something dreadful had happened, and when I saw +what it was, I didn't think of anything better to do than to order the +doors shut."</p> + +<p>"On your own initiative? Where was the Curator?"</p> + +<p>"Not far, it seems. But he gets awfully absorbed in whatever he is doing, +and there was no time to lose. Some one had shot that arrow, some one who +might escape."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce never allowed himself—or very rarely—to look at anyone full +and square in the face; yet he always seemed to form an instant opinion +of whomever he talked with. Perhaps he had already gauged this man and +not unfavorably, for he showed not the slightest distrust as he remarked +quite frankly:</p> + +<p>"You must have had some suspicion of foul play even then, to act in so +expeditious a manner."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what my suspicions were. I simply followed my first +impulse. I don't think it was a bad one. Do you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Far from it. But enough of that. Do you think"—here he drew Correy into +the gallery out of earshot of the boy, who was watching them with all the +curiosity of his fourteen years—"that this lad could have stolen from +where we are standing now to the door where you first saw him, during the +time you were making your rush up the stairs? Boys of his age are mighty +quick, and——"</p> + +<p>"I know it, sir; and I see what you mean. But even if he had been able to +do this,—which I very much doubt,—no boy of his age could have strung +that bow, or had he found it strung, have shot an arrow from it with +force enough to kill. Only a hand accustomed to its use could handle a +bow like that with any success."</p> + +<p>"You know the bow, then? Saw it nearer than you said—possibly handled +it?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; but I know its kind and have handled many of them."</p> + +<p>"In this building?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, and in other museums where I have been. I have arranged and +rearranged Indian exhibits for years."</p> + +<p>"Then you think that the bow we saw behind the tapestry is an Indian +one?"</p> + +<p>"Without question."</p> + +<p>The detective nodded and left him. One word with the boy, and he would +feel free to go elsewhere.</p> + +<p>It proved to be an amusing one. The boy, for all his enthusiasm as a +scout, proved to be so hungry that he was actually doleful. More than +that, he had a ticket for that afternoon's ball game in his pocket and +feared that he would not be let out in time to see it. He therefore was +quick with his answers, which certainly were ingenuous enough. He had +been looking at the model of a ship (which could be seen through an open +door), when he heard a woman cry out as if hurt, from somewhere down the +gallery. He was running to see what it meant when a man came along who +seemed in as great a hurry as himself. But he got there first—and so on +and on, corroborating Correy's story in every particular. He was so +honest (Mr. Gryce had been at great pains to trip him up in one of his +statements and had openly failed) and yet so anxious for the detective to +notice the ticket to the ball game which he held in one hand, that the +old man took pity on him and calling an officer, ordered him to let the +boy out—a concession to youth and innocence he was almost ready to +regret when a woman of uncertain years and irate mien attacked him from +the doorway he had just left, with the loud remark:</p> + +<p>"If you let him go, you can let me go too. I was in this room at the same +time he was and know no more about what happened over there than the +dead. I have an appointment downtown of great importance. I shall miss it +if you don't let me go at once."</p> + +<p>"Is it of greater importance than the right which this dead girl's +friends have to know by whose careless hands the arrow killing her +was shot?" And without waiting for a reply, which was not readily +forthcoming, Mr. Gryce handed her over to Correy with an injunction to +see that she was given a comfortable seat below and proceeded to finish +up this portion of the building by a search through the three great rooms +extending along the rear.</p> + +<p>He found them all empty and without clue of any kind, and satisfied that +his real work lay in front, he returned thither with as much expedition +as old age and rheumatism would admit. Why, in doing so, he went for the +third time through the gallery instead of through rooms J, H and I, he +did not stop to inquire, though afterward he asked that question of +himself more than once. Had he taken this latter course, he might not +have missed—</p> + +<p>But that will come later. What we have to do now is to accompany him to +the front of the building, where matters of importance undoubtedly await +him. He had noted, in his previous passage to and fro, that the young man +who had been nearest to the tragedy was in his place before the case of +coins in Section I. This time he noted something more. The young man was +in the selfsame spot, but during this brief interval of waiting, the +passion he evidently cherished for numismatics had reasserted itself, and +he now stood with his eyes bent as eagerly upon the display of coins over +which he hung, as if no shaft of death had crossed the space without and +no young body lay in piteous quiet beyond the separating partition.</p> + +<p>It was an exhibition of one of the most curious traits of human nature, +and Mr. Gryce would undoubtedly have expended a few cynical thoughts upon +it if, upon entering the broad front corridor which he had hitherto +avoided, he had not run upon Sweetwater pointing in a meaning way toward +two huge cases which, stacked with medieval arms, occupied one of the +corners.</p> + +<p>"Odd couple over there," he whispered as the older detective paused to +listen. "Been watching them for the last five minutes. They pretend to be +looking at some old armor, but they are mighty uneasy and keep glancing +up at the window overhead as if they would like to jump out."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce indulged in one of his characteristic exclamations. This was +the couple whose queer actions he had noticed on the staircase. "I'll +have a talk with them presently. Anyone in the rooms opposite?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Curator. He's in Room A, where there are a lot of engravings +waiting to be hung. I guess he was pretty well up to his neck in business +when that fellow Correy set up his shout. And have you noticed that he's +a bit deaf, which is the reason, perhaps, why he was not sooner on the +scene?"</p> + +<p>"No, I hadn't noticed. Anyone else at this end?"</p> + +<p>"Only the young couple I speak of."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce gave them a second look. They were by many paces farther from +the pedestal from behind which the bow had been flung back of the +tapestry than would quite fit in with the theory he had formed, and by +means of which he hoped to single out the person who had sent the deadly +arrow. But then, under the stress of fear, people can move very swiftly; +and besides, what guarantee did he have that these poor, frightened +creatures had located themselves with all the honesty the occasion +demanded? According to Sweetwater there was nobody sufficiently near to +notice where they had been at the critical instant, or where they were +now. The student's back was toward them, and the Curator quite out of +sight behind a close-shut door.</p> + +<p>With this doubt in his mind, Mr. Gryce started to approach the couple. As +he did so, he observed another curious fact concerning them. They were +neither of them in the place natural to people interested in the contents +of the great cases which they had crossed the hall to examine. Instead of +standing where a full view of these cases could be had, they had +withdrawn so far behind them that they presented the appearance of +persons in hiding. Yet as he drew nearer and noted their youth and +countrified appearance, Mr. Gryce was careful to assume his most benign +deportment and so to modulate his voice as to call up the pink into the +young woman's cheek and the deep red into the man's. What Mr. Gryce said +was this: "You are interested I see in this show of old armor? I don't +wonder. It is very curious. Is this your first visit to the museum?"</p> + +<p>The man nodded; the woman lowered her head. Both were self-conscious to a +point painful to see.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity your first visit should be spoiled by anything so dreadful +as the accidental death of this young girl. It seems to have frightened +you both very much."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," muttered the man. "We never saw anybody hurt before."</p> + +<p>"Did you know the young lady?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; oh, no!" they both hastened to cry out in a confused jumble, +after which the man added:</p> + +<p>"We—we're from up the river. We don't know anybody in this big town."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he began to edge away from the wall, the girl following.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" smiled the detective. "You are getting out of place. You were +looking at the armor when you first heard the hubbub over there?"</p> + +<p>Both were silent.</p> + +<p>"What were you looking at?"</p> + +<p>"I was looking at her, and her was looking at me," stammered the man. "We +were—were talking together here—we didn't notice——"</p> + +<p>"Just married, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yesterday noon, sir. How—how did you know?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know; I only guessed. And I think I can guess something +else—what your reason was for stealing into this dark corner."</p> + +<p>It was the man who now looked down, and the woman who looked up. In a +pinch of this kind, it is the woman who is the more courageous.</p> + +<p>"He was a-kissin' of me, sir," she whispered in a frank but shamefaced +way. "There was no harm in that, was there? We're so fond of one another, +and how could we know that anyone was dying so near?"</p> + +<p>"No, there was no harm," Mr. Gryce reluctantly admitted. Caught in an +absurdity amusing enough in its way, he would certainly under less +strenuous circumstances have rather enjoyed his own humiliation. But the +occasion was too serious and his part in it too pronounced for him to +take any pleasure in this misadventure. In the prosecution of so daring +a scheme for locating witnesses if not of discovering the actual user of +the bow, it would not do to fail. He <i>must</i> find the man he sought. If +the Curator—but one glance into the room where that gentleman stood amid +a litter of prints satisfied him that Sweetwater was right as to the +impossibility of getting any information from this quarter. Nor could he +hope, remembering what he had himself seen, that he would succeed any +better with the last person now remaining on this floor—the young man +busy with the coins in No. I.</p> + +<p>That he was to be so fortunate as to lay an immediate hand on the person +who had shot the fatal arrow was no longer regarded by him as among the +possibilities. Whoever this person was, he had found a way of escape +which rendered him for the time being safe from discovery. But there was +another possible miscalculation which he felt it his duty to recognize +before he proceeded further in his difficult task. The bow found back of +the tapestry had every appearance of being the one used for the delivery +of the arrow. But was it? Might it not, in some strange and unaccountable +way, have been flung there previous to the present event and by some hand +no longer in the building? Such coincidences have been known, and while +as a rule this old and experienced detective put little confidence in +coincidences of any kind, he had but one thought in mind in approaching +this final witness, which was to get from him some acknowledgment of +having seen, on or about the time of the accident, a movement in the +tapestry behind which this bow lay concealed. If once this fact could +be established, there could be no further question as to the direct +connection between the bow there found and the present crime.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Gryce might have spared his pains, so far as this young man was +concerned. He had been so engrossed in his search for a particularly rare +coin, that he had had no eyes for anything beyond. Besides, he was +abnormally nearsighted, not being able, even with his glasses, to +distinguish faces at any distance, much less a movement in a piece of +tapestry.</p> + +<p>All of this was discouraging, even if anticipated; but there were still +the people below, some one of whom might have seen what this man had not. +He would go down to them now, but by a course which would incidentally +enlighten him in regard to another matter about which he had some doubts.</p> + +<p>In his goings to and fro through the hall, he had passed the open door of +Room H and noted how easily a direct flight could be made through it and +Rooms I and J to the small staircase running down at the rear. Whether or +not this explained the absence of anyone on this floor who by the utmost +stretch of imagination could be held responsible for the accident which +had occurred there, he felt it incumbent upon him to see in how short a +time the escape he still believed in could be made through these rooms.</p> + +<p>Timing his steps from the pedestal nearest this end, he found that even +at his slow pace it took but three minutes for him to reach the arcade +leading into the court from the foot of the staircase. A man conscious of +wrong and eager to escape would do it in less; and if, as possibly +happened, he had to wait in the doorway of Room J till Correy and the boy +had cleared the way for him by their joint run into the farther gallery, +he would still have time to be well on his way to the lower floor before +the cry went up which shut off all further egress. Relieved, if not +contented with the prospect this gave of a new clue to his problem, he +reëntered the court and was preparing to renew his investigations when +the arrival of the Coroner put a temporary end to his efforts as well as +to the impatience of the so-called pawns, who were now allowed, one and +all, to leave their posts.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THREE WHERE TWO SHOULD BE</h3> + + +<p>It was a good half-hour before Mr. Gryce again found himself in a +position to pursue the line of investigation thus summarily interrupted. +The condition of Mrs. Taylor, which had not been improved by delay, +demanded attention, and it was with a sense of great relief that Mr. +Gryce finally saw her put into a taxi. Her hurried examination by Coroner +Price had elicited nothing new, and of all who had noticed her distraught +air on leaving the building, there was not one, if we except the +detective, but felt convinced that if she had not been of unsound mind +previous to this accident, she certainly had become so since. He still +held to his theory that her story, fantastic and out of character as it +seemed, was true in all its essentials, and that it was the warning she +believed herself to have received of her husband's death, rather than +what had taken place under her eyes, which had caused her such extreme +suffering and temporarily laid her reason low.</p> + +<p>With the full approbation of the Coroner, to whom he had explained his +idea, Mr. Gryce began the sifting process by which he hoped to discover +the one witness he wanted.</p> + +<p>To subject to further durance such persons as from their position at the +moment of tragedy could have no information to give bearing in any way +upon their investigation was manifestly unfair. The old woman who had +been found in Room A was of this class, and accordingly was allowed to +go, together with such others as had been within twenty feet or more of +the main entrance. These eliminated (it was curious to see how loath +these few chosen ones were to depart, now that the opportunity was given +them), Mr. Gryce settled down to business by asking Mrs. Lynch to come +forward.</p> + +<p>She, as you will see by consulting the chart, answered to the person +marked "2." A little, dried-up, eager woman rose from the bench on which +were collected the few people still remaining, and met his inquiring look +with a nervous smile. She, of all the persons moving about on the main +floor at the moment of alarm, had been in the best position for seeing +the flight of the arrow and the fall of the victim in Section II. Had she +seen them? The continued jigging of the small, wiry curls hanging out +from either side of her old-fashioned bonnet would seem to betray an +inner perturbation indicative of some hitherto suppressed information. At +all events Mr. Gryce allowed himself this hope and was most bland and +encouraging in his manner as he showed her the place which had been +assigned her on the chart drawn up by Sweetwater, and asked if the +position given her was correct.</p> + +<p>Perhaps a ready reply was too much to expect—women of her stamp not +knowing, as a rule, very much about charts. But when he saw her hasten +to the very spot assigned her by Sweetwater, he took heart and with a +suggestive glance at the gallery intimated that he would be very glad to +hear what she had seen there. Her surprise was evident, much too evident +for his satisfaction. The little curls jigged about more than ever, and +her cheeks grew quite pink as she answered hastily:</p> + +<p>"I didn't see anything. I wasn't looking. Did you think I saw anything?"</p> + +<p>"I hoped you had," he smiled. "If your eyes had chanced to be turned +toward that end of the gallery——"</p> + +<p>"But I was going the other way. My back was to it, not my face—like +this." And wheeling herself about, she showed him that she had been +walking toward the rear of the building rather than advancing toward the +front.</p> + +<p>His disappointment was great; but it would have been greater if he had +not realized that under these conditions she was in the precise position +to meet face to face any person emerging into the court from the foot of +the small staircase. If she could tell him of having seen any such +person, and closely enough to be able to give a description of this +person's appearance, then she might prove to be his prime witness, after +all. But she could not satisfy him on this point. She had been on her way +out, and was too busy searching in her bag for her umbrella check to +notice whether there were people about her or not. She had not found it +when the great shout came.</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>Oh, then she was so frightened and so shocked that everything swam before +her eyes and she nearly fell! Her heart was not a strong one and +sometimes missed a beat or two, and she thought it must have done so +then, for when her head steadied again, she found herself clinging to the +balustrade of the great staircase.</p> + +<p>"Then you have nothing whatever to add to what the others have told?"</p> + +<p>Her "no," if a shaky one, was decisive, and seeing no reason for +detaining her further, he gave her permission to depart.</p> + +<p>Disturbed in his calculations, but not disheartened, Mr. Gryce next +proceeded to interrogate the door-man at this end of the building. From +his position, facing as he did the approach from the small staircase, he +should be able to say, if the old lady could not, whether anyone had +crossed the open strip of court toward which she had been advancing. But +Mr. Gryce found him no more clear-headed on this point than she. He was +the oldest man connected with the museum, and had been very much shaken +up by what had occurred. Really, he could not say whether anyone had +passed across his line of vision at that time or not. All he could be +sure of was that no attempt had been made by anyone to reach the door +after he had been bidden to close it.</p> + +<p>So this clue ended like the rest in no thoroughfare. Would he have any +better luck with the subject of his next inquiry? The young lady +tabulated as No. 13 was where she could have seen the upper edge of the +tapestry shake if she had been looking that way; but she was not. She +also was going from instead of toward the point of interest—in other +words, entering and not leaving the room on whose threshold she stood.</p> + +<p>Only two men were left from whom he could hope to obtain the important +testimony he was so anxiously seeking: Nos. 10 and 11. He had turned back +toward the bench where they should be awaiting his attention and was +debating whether he would gain more by attacking them singly or together, +when he suddenly became aware of a fact which drove all these small +considerations out of his mind.</p> + +<p>According to every calculation and according to the chart, there should +be only these two men on that bench. But he saw <i>three</i>. Who was this +third man, and where had he come from?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE MAN IN THE GALLERY</h3> + + +<p>Beckoning to Sweetwater, Mr. Gryce pointed out this extra man and asked +him if he recognized him as one of the twenty-two he had tabulated.</p> + +<p>The answer was a vigorous no. "It's a new face to me. He must have +dropped from the roof or come up through the flooring. He certainly +wasn't anywhere about when I made out my list. He looks a trifle hipped, +eh?"</p> + +<p>"Troubled—decidedly troubled."</p> + +<p>"You might go a little further and say done up."</p> + +<p>"Good-looking, though. Appears to be of foreign birth."</p> + +<p>"English, I should say, and just over."</p> + +<p>"English, without a doubt. I'll go speak to him; you wait here, but watch +out for the Coroner, and send him my way as soon as he's at leisure."</p> + +<p>Then he reapproached the bench, and observing, with the keenness with +which he observed everything without a direct look, that with each step +he took the stranger's confusion increased, he decided to wait till after +he had finished with the others, before he entered upon an inquiry which +might prove not only lengthy but of the first importance.</p> + +<p>He was soon very glad that he had done this. He got nothing from Mr. +Simpson; but the questions put to Mr. Turnbull were more productive. +Almost at the first word, this gentleman acknowledged that he had seen +a movement in the great square of tapestry to which Mr. Gryce drew his +attention. He did not know when, or just where he stood at the time, +but he certainly had noticed it shake.</p> + +<p>"Can you describe the movement?" asked the gratified detective.</p> + +<p>"It swayed out——"</p> + +<p>"As if blown by some wind?"</p> + +<p>"No, more as if pushed forward by a steady hand."</p> + +<p>"Good! And what then?"</p> + +<p>"It settled back almost without a quiver."</p> + +<p>"Instantly?"</p> + +<p>"No, not instantly. A moment or two passed before it fell back into +place."</p> + +<p>"This was before the attendant Correy called out his alarm, of course?"</p> + +<p>Yes, of course it was before; but how long before, he couldn't say. A +minute—two minutes—five minutes—how could he tell! He had no watch in +hand.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce thought possibly he might assist the man's memory on this point +but forbore to do so at the time. It was enough for his present purpose +that the necessary link to the establishment of his theory had been +found. No more doubt now that the bow lying in the niche of the doorway +overhead had been the one made use of in this desperate tragedy; and the +way thus cleared for him, he could confidently proceed in his search for +the man who had flung it there. He believed him to be within his reach at +that very moment, but his countenance gave no index to his thought as +reapproaching the young man now sitting all alone on the bench, he halted +before him and pleasantly inquired:</p> + +<p>"Do I see you for the first time? I thought we had listed the name of +every person in the building. How is it that we did not get yours?"</p> + +<p>The tide of color which instantly flooded the young man's countenance +astonished Mr. Gryce both by its warmth and fullness. If he were as +thin-skinned as this betokened, one should experience but little +difficulty in reaching the heart of his trouble.</p> + +<p>With an air of quiet interest Mr. Gryce sat down by the young man's side. +Would this display of friendliness have the effect of restoring some of +his self-possession and giving him the confidence he evidently lacked? +No, the red fled from his cheek, and a ghastly white took its place; but +he showed no other change.</p> + +<p>Meantime the detective studied his countenance. It was a good one, but +just now so distorted by suffering that only such as were familiar with +his every look could read his character from his present expression. +Would a more direct question rouse him? Possibly. At all events, Mr. +Gryce decided to make the experiment.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me your name?" he asked, "—your name and residence?"</p> + +<p>The man he addressed gave a quick start, pulled himself together and made +an attempt to reply.</p> + +<p>"My name is Travis. I am an Englishman just off the steamer from +Southampton. My home is in the county of Hertfordshire. I have no +residence here."</p> + +<p>"Your hotel, then?"</p> + +<p>Another flush—then quickly: "I have not yet chosen one."</p> + +<p>This was too surprising for belief. A stranger in town without rooms or +hotel accommodations, making use of the morning hours to visit a museum!</p> + +<p>"You must be very much interested in art!" observed his inquisitor a +little dryly.</p> + +<p>Again that flush and again the quick-recurring pallor.</p> + +<p>"I—I am interested in all things beautiful," he replied at last in +broken tones.</p> + +<p>"I see. May I ask where you were when that arrow flew which killed a +young lady visitor? Not in this part of the court, I take it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Travis gave a quick shudder and that was all. The detective waited, +but no other answer came.</p> + +<p>"I am told that as she fell she uttered one cry. Did you hear it, Mr. +Travis?"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a cry," was his quick reply. "It was something quite +different, but dreadful, dreadful!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce's manner changed.</p> + +<p>"Then you did hear it. You were near enough to distinguish between a +scream and a gasp. Where were you, and why weren't you seen by my man +when he went through the building?"</p> + +<p>"I—I was kneeling out of sight—too shocked to move. But I grew tired of +that and wanted to go; but on reaching the court, I found the doors +closed. So I came here."</p> + +<p>"Kneeling! Where were you kneeling?"</p> + +<p>He made a quick gesture in the direction of the galleries.</p> + +<p>The detective frowned, perhaps to hide his secret satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Won't you be a little more definite?" he asked; then as the man +continued to hesitate he added, but as yet without any appreciable loss +of kindliness: "Every other person here has been good enough to show us +the exact place he was occupying at that serious moment. I must ask you +to do the same; it is only just."</p> + +<p>Was the look this called up one of fear or of simple repugnance? It might +be either; but the detective was disposed to consider it fear.</p> + +<p>"Will you lead the way?" he pursued. "I shall be glad to follow."</p> + +<p>A glance of extreme reproach; then these words, uttered with painful +intensity:</p> + +<p>"You want me to go back there—where I saw—where I can see again—<i>I +cannot</i>. I'm not well. I suffer. You will excuse me. You will allow me to +say what I have to say, <i>here</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that. The others have gone without question +to their places; why should not you?"</p> + +<p>"Because——" The word came brokenly and was followed by silence. Then, +seeing the hopelessness of contending with police authority, he cast +another glance of strong repulsion in the direction of the gallery and +started to his feet. Mr. Gryce did the same, and together they crossed +the court. But they got no further at this time than the foot of the +staircase. Coroner Price, by an extra effort which seemed to be called +for by the circumstances, had succeeded in picking up a jury from the +people collected on the street, and entering at this moment, created a +diversion which effectively postponed the detective's examination of his +new witness.</p> + +<p>When the opportunity came for resuming it, so much time had elapsed that +Mr. Gryce looked for some decided change in the manner or bearing of the +man who, unfortunately for his purposes, had thus been given a quiet hour +in which to think. Better, much better, for the cause of justice, if he +could have pushed him to the point at once, harried him, as it were, in +hot blood. Now he might find him more difficult.</p> + +<p>But when, in company with the Coroner, who now found himself free to +assist him in his hunt for witnesses, he reapproached the Englishman +sitting as before alone on his bench, it was to find him to all +appearance in the same mind in which he had left him. He wore the same +look and followed with the same reluctance when he was made to understand +that the time had now come for him to show just where he was standing +when that arrow was sped on its death-course. And greatly impressed by +this fact, which in a way contradicted all his expectations, Mr. Gryce +trod slowly after, watching with the keenest interest to see whether, on +reaching the top of the steps, this man upon whose testimony so much +depended would turn toward the southern gallery where the girl had +fallen, or toward the northern one, where Correy had found the bow.</p> + +<p>It looked as if he were going to the left, for his head turned that way +as he cleared the final step. But his body soon swayed aside in the other +direction, and by the time the old detective had himself reached the +landing, Travis, closely accompanied by the Coroner, had passed through +the first of the three arches leading to that especial section of the +gallery where the concealing tapestry hung.</p> + +<p>"The man is honest," was Mr. Gryce's first thought. "He is going to show +us the bow and confess to what was undoubtedly an accident." But Mr. +Gryce felt more or less ready to modify this impromptu conclusion when, +on passing through the arch himself he came upon the young man still +standing in Section VI, with his eyes on the opposite gallery and his +whole frame trembling with emotion.</p> + +<p>"Is she—the young lady who was shot—still lying on those cold stones +alone, forsaken and——"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce knew misery when he saw it. This man had not overstated the +case when he had said "I suffer." But the cause! To what could this +excess of sensibility be attributed? To remorse or to an exaggerated +personal repulsion? It looked like remorse, but that there might be no +doubt as to this, Mr. Gryce hastened to assure the Englishman that on the +departure of the jury the body had been removed to one of the inner +rooms. The relief which this gave to Mr. Travis was evident. He showed no +further reluctance to proceed and was indeed the first of the three to +enter where the great drapery hung, flanked by the two immense vases. +Would he pause before it or hurry by into the broad corridor in front? If +he hurried by, what would become of their now secretly accepted theory?</p> + +<p>But he did not hurry by; that is, he did not pass beyond the upper end, +but stopped when he got there and looked back with an air of extreme +deprecation at the two officials.</p> + +<p>"Have we arrived?" asked Mr. Gryce, his suspicions all returning, for the +man had stepped aside from the drapery and was standing in a spot +conspicuously open to view even from the lower court.</p> + +<p>The Englishman nodded; whereupon Mr. Gryce, approaching to his side, +exclaimed in evident doubt:</p> + +<p>"You were standing <i>here</i>? When? Not at the moment the young girl fell, +or you would have been seen by some one, if not by everyone, in the +building. I want you to take the exact place you occupied when you first +learned that something had gone wrong in the opposite gallery."</p> + +<p>The stranger's distress grew. With a show of indecision scarcely +calculated to inspire confidence in either of the two men watching him, +he moved now here and now there till he finally came to a standstill +close by the pedestal—so close, indeed, to its inner corner that he was +almost in a line with its rear.</p> + +<p>"It was here," he declared with a gulp of real feeling. "I am sure I am +right now. I had just stepped out——"</p> + +<p>"From behind the tapestry?"</p> + +<p>"No." His blank astonishment at the quickness with which he had been +caught up left him staring for a moment at the speaker, before he +added:</p> + +<p>"From behind the pedestal. The—the vase, as you see, is a very curious +one. I wanted to look at it from all sides."</p> + +<p>Without a word the Coroner slipped past him and entering the narrow space +behind the pedestal took a look up at the vase from his present cramped +position.</p> + +<p>As he did this, two things happened: first Sweetwater, who had stolen +upon the scene, possibly at some intimation from Mr. Gryce, took a step +toward them which brought him in alignment with the Englishman, of whose +height in comparison with his own he seemed to take careful note; and +secondly, the sensitive skin of the foreigner flushed red again as he +noticed the Coroner's sarcastic smile, and heard his dry remark:</p> + +<p>"One gets a better view here of the opposite gallery than of the vase +perched so high overhead. Had you wished to look at those ladies, without +being seen by them, you could hardly have found a better loophole than +the one made by the curving in of this great vase toward its base." Then +quickly: "You surely took one look their way; that would be only +natural."</p> + +<p>The answer Mr. Travis gave was certainly unexpected.</p> + +<p>"It was after I came out that I saw them," he stammered. "There were two +ladies, one tall and one very young and slight. The older lady was +stepping toward the front, the other entering from behind. As I looked, +the younger made a dash and ran by the first lady. Then——"</p> + +<p>"Proceed, Mr. Travis. Your emotion is very natural; but it is imperative +that we hear all you have to tell us. She ran by the older lady, and +then?"</p> + +<p>Still silence. The Englishman appeared to be looking at Coroner Price, +who in speaking emerged from behind the pedestal; but it is doubtful if +he saw him. A tear was in his eye—a tear!</p> + +<p>Seeing it, Mr. Gryce felt a movement of compassion, and thinking to help +him, said kindly enough:</p> + +<p>"Was it so very dreadful?"</p> + +<p>The answer came with great simplicity:</p> + +<p>"Yes. One minute she was all life and gaiety; the next she was lying +outstretched on the hard floor."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>Again that look of ingenuous surprise.</p> + +<p>"I don't remember about myself," he said. "I was thinking too much about +her. I never saw anyone killed before."</p> + +<p>"Killed? Why do you say killed? You say you saw her fall, but how did you +know she was killed?"</p> + +<p>"I saw the arrow in her breast. As she fell backward, I saw the arrow."</p> + +<p>As he uttered these words, the three men watching him perceived the sweat +start out on his forehead, and his eyes take on a glassy stare. It was as +if he were again in gaze upon that image of youthful loveliness falling +to the ground with the arrow of death in her heart. The effect was +strangely moving. To see this event reflected as it were in horror from +this man's consciousness made it appear more real and much more +impressive than when contemplated directly. Why? Had remorse given it its +poignancy? Had it been his own hand which had directed this arrow from +behind the pedestal? If not, why this ghastly display of an emotion so +far beyond what might be expected from the most sentimental of onlookers?</p> + +<p>In an endeavor to clear the situation, the Coroner intervened with the +following question:</p> + +<p>"Have you ever seen a shot made by a bow and arrow before, Mr. Travis? +Archery-practice, I mean. Or—well, the shooting of wild animals in +India, Africa or elsewhere?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. I come from a country where the bow and arrow are used. But I +never shoot. I can only speak of what I have seen others do."</p> + +<p>"That is sufficient. You ought to be able to tell, then, from what +direction this arrow came."</p> + +<p>"It—it must have come from this side of the gallery. Not from this +section, as you call it, but from some one of the other open places along +here."</p> + +<p>"Why not from this one?"</p> + +<p>"Because there was nobody here but me," was the simple and seemingly +ingenuous answer.</p> + +<p>It gave them an unexpected surprise. Innocence would speak in this +fashion. But then the bow—the bow which was lying not a dozen feet from +where they stood! Nothing could eliminate that bow.</p> + +<p>After a short consultation between themselves, which the Englishman +seemed not to notice, the Coroner addressed him with the soothing remark:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Travis, you must not misunderstand me. The accident which has +occurred (we will not yet say crime) is of so serious a nature that it is +imperative for us to get at the exact facts. Only yourself and one other +person whom we know can supply them. I allude to the lady you saw, first +in front of and then behind the girl who was shot. Her story has been +told. Yours will doubtless coincide with it. May I ask you, then, to +satisfy us on a point you were in a better position than herself to take +note of. It is this: When the young girl gave that bound forward of which +you both speak, did she make straight for the railing in front, or did +she approach it in a diagonal direction?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. You distress me very much. I was not thinking of anything +like that. Why should I think of anything so immaterial. She came—I saw +her smiling, beaming with joy, a picture of lovely youth—then her arms +went suddenly up and she fell—backward—the arrow showing in her breast. +If I told the story a hundred times, I could not tell it differently."</p> + +<p>"We do not wish you to, Mr. Travis. Only there must be somewhere in your +mind a recollection of the angle which her body presented to the railing +as she came forward."</p> + +<p>The unhappy man shook his head, at which token of helplessness Mr. Gryce +beckoned to Sweetwater and whispered a few words in his ear. The man +nodded and withdrew, going the length of the gallery, where he +disappeared among the arches, to reappear shortly after in the gallery +opposite. When he reached Section II, Mr. Gryce again addressed the +witness, who, to his surprise and to that of the Coroner as well, had +become reabsorbed in his own thoughts to the entire disregard of what +this movement might portend. It took a sharp word to rouse him.</p> + +<p>"I am going to ask you to watch the young man who has just shown himself +on the other side, and tell us to what extent his movements agree with +those made by the young lady prior to her collapse and fall to the +floor."</p> + +<p>For an instant indignation robbed the stranger of all utterance. Then he +burst forth:</p> + +<p>"You would make a farce of what is so sad and dreadful, and she scarcely +cold! It is dishonoring to the young lady. I cannot look at that young +man—that hideous young man—and think of her and of how she looked and +walked the instant before her death."</p> + +<p>The two officials smiled; they could not help it. Sweetwater was +certainly no beauty, and to associate him in any kind of physical +comparison with the dead girl was certainly incongruous. Yet they both +felt that the point just advanced by them should be settled and settled +now while the requisite remembrance was fresh in the mind of this +invaluable witness. But in order to get at what they wanted, some show +of consideration for his feelings was evidently necessary. Police +persistence often defeats its own ends. If he was to be made to do what +they wished, it would have to be through the persuasion of some one +outside the Force. To whom should they appeal? The question answered +itself. Mr. Roberts was approaching from the front, and to him they +turned. Would he use his influence with this stranger?</p> + +<p>"He may listen to you," urged the Coroner in the whispered conference +which now followed, "if you explain to him how much patience you and all +the rest of the people in the building have had to exercise in this +unhappy crisis. He seems a good enough fellow, but not in line with our +ideas."</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts, who saw the man for the first time, surveyed him in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Where was he standing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Just where you see him now—or so he says."</p> + +<p>"He couldn't have been. Some one would have observed him—the woman who +was in the compartment with the stricken girl, or the man studying coins +in the one next to it."</p> + +<p>"So it would seem," admitted the Coroner. "But if he were behind the +pedestal——"</p> + +<p>"Behind the pedestal!"</p> + +<p>"That's where we think he was. But no matter about that now!—we can +explain that to you later. At present all we want is for you to reassure +him."</p> + +<p>Not altogether pleased with his task, but seeing no good reason for +declining it, the affable director approached the Englishman, who, +recognizing one of his own social status, seemed to take heart and turn +a willing ear to Mr. Roberts' persuasions. The result was satisfactory.</p> + +<p>When the Coroner again called Mr. Travis' attention to Sweetwater +awaiting orders in the opposite gallery he did not refuse to look, though +his whole manner showed how much he was affected by this forced +acquiescence in their plans.</p> + +<p>"You will watch the movements of the young man we have placed over +there," the Coroner had said; "and when he strikes a position +corresponding to that taken by the young lady at the moment she was shot, +lift up your hand, thus. I will not ask you to speak."</p> + +<p>"But you forget that there is blood on that floor. That man will step in +it. I cannot lend myself to such sacrilege. It is wrong. Let the lady be +buried first."</p> + +<p>The outburst was so natural, the horror so unfeigned, that not only the +men he addressed but all within hearing showed the astonishment it +caused.</p> + +<p>"One would think you knew the victim of this random shot!" the Coroner +intimated with a fresh and close scrutiny of this very reluctant witness. +"Did you? Was she a friend of yours?"</p> + +<p>"No, no!" came in quick disavowal. "No friend. I have never exchanged a +word with her—never."</p> + +<p>"Then we will proceed. One cannot consider sensibilities in a case like +this." And he made a signal to Sweetwater, who turned his body this way +and that.</p> + +<p>The distressed Englishman watched these movements with slowly dilating +eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's the angle we want—the angle at which she presented her body to the +gallery front," explained the relentless official.</p> + +<p>A shudder, then the rigidity of fixed attention, broken in another +moment, however, by an impulsive movement and the unexpected question:</p> + +<p>"Is it to find the man who did it that you are enacting this horrible +farce?"</p> + +<p>Somewhat startled, the Coroner retorted:</p> + +<p>"If you object on that account——"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Travis as vehemently exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"But I don't! I want the man caught. One should not shoot arrows about in +a place where there are beautiful young women. I want him caught and +punished."</p> + +<p>As they were all digesting this unexpected avowal, they saw his hand go +up. The Coroner gave a low whistle, and the detective in obedience to it +stood for one instant stock-still—then bent quickly to the floor.</p> + +<p>"What is he doing?" cried Mr. Travis.</p> + +<p>"Yes, what is he doing?" echoed Mr. Roberts.</p> + +<p>"Running a mark about his shoes to fix their exact location," was the +grim response.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>"YOU THINK THAT OF ME!"</h3> + + +<p>"We're certainly up against it this time," were the words with which Dr. +Price led the detective down the gallery. "What sort of an opinion can a +man form of a fellow like that? Is he fool or knave?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce showed no great alacrity in answering. When he did speak it was +to say:</p> + +<p>"We shall have to go into the matter a little more deeply before we can +trust our judgment as to his complete sincerity. But if you want to know +whether I believe him to have loosed the arrow which killed that innocent +child, I am ready from present appearances to say yes. Who else was there +to do it? He and he only was on the spot. But it was a chance action, +without intention or wish to murder. No man, even if he were a fool, +would choose such a place or such a means for murder."</p> + +<p>"That's true; but how does it help to call it accident? Accident calls +for a bow in hand, an arrow within reach, an impulse to try one's skill +at a fancied target. Now the arrow—whatever may be said of the bow—was +not within the reach of anyone standing in this gallery. The arrow came +from the wall at the base of which this young woman died. It had to be +brought from there here. That does not look like accident, but crime."</p> + +<p>Yet as the Coroner uttered this acknowledgment, he realized as plainly as +Mr. Gryce how many incongruous elements lay in the way of any such +solution of the mystery. If they accepted the foreigner's account of +himself,—which for some reason neither seemed ready to dispute,—into +what a maze of improbabilities it at once led them! A stranger just +off ship! The victim a mere schoolgirl! The weapon such an unusual one as +to be <i>outré</i> beyond belief. Only a madman—But there! Travis had less +the appearance of a lunatic than Mrs. Taylor. It must have been an +accident as Gryce said; and yet—</p> + +<p>If there is much virtue in an <i>if</i>, there is certainly a modicum +of the same in a <i>yet</i>, and the Coroner, in full recognition of this +stumbling-block, remarked with unusual dryness:</p> + +<p>"I agree with you that some half-dozen questions are necessary before we +wade deeper into this quagmire. Where shall we go to have it out?"</p> + +<p>"The Curator will allow us to use his office. I will see that Mr. Travis +joins us there."</p> + +<p>"See that he comes before he has a chance to fall into one of his +reveries."</p> + +<p>But quickly as Mr. Gryce worked, he was not speedy enough to prevent the +result mentioned. The man upon whose testimony so much hinged did not +even lift his eyes when brought again into their presence.</p> + +<p>The Coroner, in his determination to be satisfied on this point, made +short work of rousing him from his abstraction. With a few leading +questions he secured his attention and then without preamble or apology +asked him with what purpose he had come to America and why he had been so +anxious to visit the museum that he hastened directly to it from the +steamer without making an effort to locate himself in some hotel.</p> + +<p>The ease with which this apparently ingenuous stranger had managed to +meet the opening queries of this rough-and-ready official was suddenly +broken. He stammered and turned red and made so many abortive attempts to +reply that the latter grew impatient and finally remarked:</p> + +<p>"If the truth will incriminate you, you are quite justified in holding it +back!"</p> + +<p>"Incriminate me!" With the repetition of this alarming word, a change of +the most marked character took place in young Travis' manner. "What does +that mean?" he asked. "I am not sure that I understand your use of that +word <i>incriminate</i>."</p> + +<p>Dr. Price explained himself, to the seeming horror of the startled +Englishman.</p> + +<p>"You think that of me!" he cried, "of me, who——"</p> + +<p>But here indignation made him speechless, till some feeling stronger +than the one subduing him to silence forced him again into speech, and +he supplemented in broken tones: "I am only a stranger to you and +consequently am willing to pardon your misconception of my character and +the principles by which I regulate my life. I have a horror of crime and +all violence; besides, the young lady—she awakened my deepest admiration +and reverence. I,"—again he stopped; again he burst forth,—"I would +sooner have died myself than seen such angel graces laid low. Let my +emotion be proof of what I say. It was a man of the hardest heart who +killed her."</p> + +<p>"It would seem so."</p> + +<p>It was the Coroner who spoke. He was nonplussed; and Mr. Gryce no less +so. Never had either of them been confronted by a blinder or more +bewildering case. An incomprehensible crime and a suspect it was +impossible to associate with a deed of blood! There must be some other +explanation of the mournful circumstance they were considering. There had +been twenty or more people in the building, but—and here was the rub—if +the chart which they had drawn up was correct and the calculations which +they had drawn from it were to be depended upon, this man was the only +person who had been in this gallery when the arrow was shot.</p> + +<p>With a side glance at Mr. Gryce, who seemed content to remain silent in +the background, Dr. Price turned again to Mr. Travis.</p> + +<p>"Your admiration of the young lady must have been as sudden as it was +strong. Or possibly you had seen her before you hid behind the pedestal. +Had you, Mr. Travis? She was a charming child; perhaps you had been +attracted by her beauty before you even entered the galleries."</p> + +<p>Instantly the man was another being.</p> + +<p>"You are right," he acquiesced with undue alacrity. "I had seen her +crossing the court. Her beauty was heavenly. I am a gentleman, but I +followed her. When she moved, I moved; and when she went upstairs, I +followed her. But I would not offend. I kept behind,—far behind +her,—and when she entered the gallery on one side, I took pains to enter +it on the other. This is how I came to be looking in her direction when +she was struck down. You see, I speak with candor; I open my whole +heart."</p> + +<p>Dr. Price, stroking his long beard, eyed the man with a thoughtful air +which changed to one of renewed inquiry. Instead of being convinced by +this outburst, he was conscious of a new and deepening distrust. The +transition from a low state of feeling to one so feverishly eager had +been too sudden. The avidity with which this man just off ship had made +a grasp at the offered explanation had been too marked; it lacked +sincerity and could impose on no one. Of this he seemed himself aware, +for again the ready flush ran from forehead to neck, and with a +deprecatory glance which included the silent detective he vehemently +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"I am poor at a lie. I see that you will have the whole truth. It was on +her account I crossed the ocean. It was by dogging her innocent steps +that I came to the museum this morning. I am a man of means, and I can do +as I please. When I said that I had never exchanged a word with her, I +spoke the truth. I never have; yet my interest in her was profound. I +have never seen any other girl or woman whom I was anxious to make my +wife. I hoped to meet and woo her in this country. I had no opportunity +for doing so in my own. I did not see her till a night or so before she +sailed, and then it was at the theater, where she sat with some friends +in an adjoining box. She talked, and I heard what she said. She was +leaving England. She was going to America to live; and she mentioned the +steamer on which she expected to sail. It may strike you as impetuous, +unnatural in an Englishman, and all that, but next morning I secured my +passage on that same ship. As I have just said, I am my own master and +can do as I please, and I pleased to do that. But for all the opportunity +which a voyage sometimes gives, I did not succeed in making her +acquaintance on shipboard, much as I desired it. I was ill for the first +three days and timorous the rest. I could only watch her moving about the +decks and wait for the happy moment in which I might be able to do her +some service. But that moment never came, and now it never will come."</p> + +<p>The mournfulness with which this was uttered seemed genuine. The Coroner +was silenced by it, and it was left to Mr. Gryce to take up the +conversation. This he did with the same show of respect evinced by Dr. +Price.</p> + +<p>"We are obliged to you for your confidence," said he. "Of course you can +tell us this young girl's name."</p> + +<p>"Angeline—Angeline Willetts. I saw it in the list of passengers."</p> + +<p>"What ship?"</p> + +<p>"The <i>Castania</i>, from Southampton."</p> + +<p>"We are greatly obliged to you for this information. It gives us the +much-wanted clue to her identity. Angeline Willetts! Whom was she with?"</p> + +<p>"A Madame Duclos, a French lady. I once spoke to <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p>"You did? And what did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I bade her good morning as we were passing on the main-deck stairs. But +she did not answer, and I was not guilty of the impertinence again."</p> + +<p>"I see. Such, then, was the situation up to this morning. But since? How +did it happen that a young girl, six hours after landing in this country, +should come to a place like this without a chaperon?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what brought her here; I can only tell you why I came. When +she left the dock, I was standing near enough to hear the orders Madame +Duclos gave on entering a cab. Naturally, mine were the same. I have been +in New York before, and I knew the hotel. If you will consult the +Universal's register for the day, you will find my name in it under hers. +You will understand why I shrank from confessing to this fact before. I +held her in such honor—I was and am so anxious that no shadow should +fall upon her innocence from my poor story of secret and unrecognized +devotion. She knew nothing of what led me to follow every step she took. +I was a witness of her fate, but that is all the connection between us. +I hope you believe me."</p> + +<p>It would be difficult not to, in face of his direct gaze, from which all +faltering had now vanished. Yet the matter not being completely thrashed +out, Mr. Gryce felt himself obliged to say in answer to this last:</p> + +<p>"We see no reason to doubt your word or your story, Mr. Travis. All that +you have said is possible. But how about your following the young girl +here? How did that come about?"</p> + +<p>"That was occasioned by my anxiety for her—an anxiety which seems to +have been only too well-founded."</p> + +<p>"How? What?" Both of the officials showed a greatly increased interest. +"Please explain yourself, Mr. Travis. What reason had you for any such +feeling in regard to a person with whom you had held no conversation? +Anything which you saw or heard at the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was sitting in the foyer. I knew that the ladies were in the +house, but I had not seen them. I was anxious to do so (see, I am telling +all) and was watching the door of the lift from behind my journal, when +they both stepped out. Miss Willetts was dressed for the street, but +Madame Duclos was not, which seemed very strange to me. But I felt no +concern till I caught some fragments of what Madame said in passing me. +She spoke in French, a language I understand, and she was exclaiming +over her misfortune at not being allowed to accompany her young charge to +whatever place she was going. It was bad, bad, she cried, and she would +not have a moment's peace till her dear Angeline got back. Anxiety of +this kind was natural in a Frenchwoman not accustomed to see a young lady +enter the streets alone; but the force with which she expressed it +betrayed a real alarm—an alarm which communicated itself to me. Where +could this unprotected girl be going, alone and in a hotel cab?</p> + +<p>"I could not imagine, and when I saw Madame stop in the middle of her +talk to buy some fresh flowers and pin them to Miss Willetts' corsage, I +got a queer feeling, and flinging my newspaper aside, I strolled to the +door and so out in time to hear Madame's orders to the chauffeur. The +young lady was to be taken to a museum. To a museum, at this early hour! +and alone, alone! Such a proceeding is not at all in accord with French +ideas, and I feared a plot. Though it was far from being my affair, I +determined to make it so; and as soon as I dared, I followed her just as +I had followed her from the dock. But fruitlessly! Not knowing the +danger, how could I avert it? I was in one gallery, she in the other. It +was my evil fate to see her fall, but by whose hand I am as ignorant as +yourselves. <i>Now</i> I have told it all. Will you let me go?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," interposed the Coroner. "There are one or two questions more +which you will undoubtedly answer with the same frankness. Were you +standing in front of the pedestal or behind it when you saw Miss Willetts +fall?"</p> + +<p>"I was standing just where I said, somewhere near it in the open +gallery."</p> + +<p>This seemed so open to question that the Coroner paused a moment to +recall the exact situation and see if it were possible for a man as +conspicuous in figure as Mr. Travis to have stood thus in full view of +gallery and court, without attracting the attention of anyone in either +place. He found, after a moment's consideration, that it was possible. +Mr. Gryce, for all his efforts and systematic inquiry into the position +which each person had held at or near this time, had been able to find +but one who chanced to be looking in the direction of this gallery, and +he with a limited view which took in only the upper part of the tapestry.</p> + +<p>A probe in a fresh direction might reach a more vulnerable spot.</p> + +<p>"But you had been behind the pedestal?" Dr. Price suggested.</p> + +<p>"Yes"—the quick flush coming again. "My old timidity led me to conceal +myself where I could watch undetected her bright young figure pass from +arch to arch along the opposite gallery. Not till she had got past my +line of view did I step out, and then—then it was to see what I have +already told you—her rush toward the front—the start she gave—the +fall—that cruel arrow! I own that I shrank back into my narrow +hiding-place when I realized that all was at an end—that she was dead."</p> + +<p>"Why? You had been witness to a deed of blood—a deed which must have +recalled to you the anxiety expressed by the woman whom you regarded +as the young girl's guardian; and yet you shrank back—out of sight—away +from those who had the right to make inquiries! How do you explain that, +Mr. Travis?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot, except that I was so dazed, so stricken, that I was hardly +conscious of what I did. And, sirs, believe me or not, had it not been +for the refuge afforded by that narrow space behind the pedestal, I think +I should have fallen headlong to the floor. When I came again to myself, +which was after some of the confusion had abated, I had only one thought +in mind: to suppress myself and my story lest some shadow should fall +across her sweet purity. Waiting till the attention of the man you had +placed on guard over her body was attracted another way, I slid out and +hastened to the front, where I managed to find a quiet room in which to +sit down and brood again over my misfortune. Forewarned, as you have +said, and on the spot, with every wish to protect her, I had failed to do +so. I fear it will make me mad some day."</p> + +<p>Had it made him insane already? Was his story to be trusted? It was full +of incongruities; were they those of a disordered mind? Such had been the +excuse made for Mrs. Taylor when she had been thought guilty of this +attack; why should it not be applied to this man who certainly had given +evidences of not being of the usual type of young Englishman? With a +sidelong look at Mr. Gryce, which that individual perfectly understood, +Dr. Price thanked Mr. Travis for his candor and asked if he could point +out the room in which he had sat while their young man had gone through +the building checking off the position of everybody in it.</p> + +<p>To his surprise, the Englishman answered quite simply, "I will try," and +rose when they rose.</p> + +<p>The glances exchanged between the other two men were eloquent. Where was +he about to take them? Sweetwater was no fool; how had this man of +marked appearance and generous proportions managed to elude him?</p> + +<p>As has happened before, it proved to be easily explainable when once the +conditions were known. The room to which he led them was that on the +upper story marked H on Chart Two. It was devoted, like one or two others +near it, to a line of famous paintings at once the hope and despair of +young girl copyists. The one most favored for this purpose hung just +behind the door "X," which, half-open as they found it, made with the +easel, the canvas upon it and an apron hanging carelessly over all, an +impromptu screen behind which a man crouched in misery on the copyist's +stool might easily remain unnoticed by anyone passing hurriedly by him.</p> + +<p>And thus vanished one hindrance to a full belief in young Travis' story.</p> + +<p>But a greater one remained. The bow! the bow found behind the tapestry at +the edge of which he had stood in timorous hiding! In the hope that a +shock might startle him into some admission which would give a different +aspect to the case, they now led him back to this place of first +concealment. He was showing strain by this time, and no delay was made to +press their point. Giving the tapestry a pull, the Coroner bade him tell +what he saw behind it.</p> + +<p>The answer came with much emotion.</p> + +<p>"The bow! The bow which sped the arrow which killed Miss Willetts. I do +not want to see it. It hurts me—hurts me physically. Let me go, I +entreat."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Travis," urged the Coroner as they again emerged upon the open +gallery, "you have said that there was no one with you in the section +where you stood. If that was so, how came this bow to be where you have +just seen it?"</p> + +<p>A bewildered look, a slow shake of the head and nothing more.</p> + +<p>"Did you know it was there? Did you see it thrown there?"</p> + +<p>"No, I saw nothing. I am an honest man. You may believe me."</p> + +<p>The Coroner scrutinized him closely but not unkindly.</p> + +<p>"We shall know before night who handled that bow, Mr. Travis. It carries +its own clue with it."</p> + +<p>A gleam of unmistakable joy lighted up the Englishman's features.</p> + +<p>"I am glad," he cried. "I am glad."</p> + +<p>Coroner Price was a man of experience. He recognized the ring of truth in +the Englishman's tones, and saying no more, led the way from the gallery.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later he was on the lower floor. He had a short +conversation with the two doormen; then he proceeded to the telephone and +called up the Universal.</p> + +<p>The result was startling.</p> + +<p>Asked if the name of Rupert Henry Travis, Hertfordshire, England, was on +their register, the answer was yes.</p> + +<p>"The date of his arrival?"</p> + +<p>"Early this morning."</p> + +<p>"Any other arrivals to-day from the other side?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a Madame Duclos and a Miss Willetts."</p> + +<p>The Coroner's tone altered. So much of the stranger's story was true, +then.</p> + +<p>"Will you connect me with Madame Duclos. I have important news to give +her. Some woman had better be with her when she receives it."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, but I cannot do this. Madame Duclos has left."</p> + +<p>"Left? Gone out, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"No, left the hotel. She's been gone about half an hour. The young lady +who came with her has gone out too, but we expect her back."</p> + +<p>"You do. And what took the older woman away? What excuse did she give, +and where has she gone?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you where she has gone. She left after receiving a +telephone message from some one in town. Came down to the desk looking +extremely distressed, said that she had had bad news and must go at once. +I made out her bill and, at her request, that of the young lady, whom she +said would be called for by a friend on her return to the hotel. These +bills she paid; after that she left the hotel on foot, carrying her own +bag. The young lady has not returned——"</p> + +<p>"Enough. The young lady is dead, killed by chance here at the museum. A +plain-clothes man will be with you shortly from Headquarters. Meanwhile +keep your eyes and ears open. If a message comes for either Madame Duclos +or Miss Willetts, notify me here; and if anyone calls, detain the party +at all hazards. That's all; no time to talk."</p> + +<p>And now Gryce entered the room. He was accompanied by an inspector. This +was a welcome addition to their force. Coroner Price greeted him with +cordiality:</p> + +<p>"You've come in good time, Inspector. The death of this young girl +struck down by an arrow shot by an unknown hand from the opposite side +of the building bids fair to make a greater call on your resources than +on mine. The woman who appears to have acted as companion to Miss +Willetts has fled the hotel where they both took rooms immediately upon +leaving the steamer. Either she has heard of the accident which has +occurred here—and if so, how?—or she's but carrying out some deep-laid +plan which it is highly important for us to know. It looks now like a +premeditated crime."</p> + +<p>"With this Englishman involved?"</p> + +<p>"I doubt that; I seriously doubt that—don't you, Gryce? A more subtle +head than his planned this strange crime."</p> + +<p>"Yes; there can be little doubt about that. Shall I set the boys to work, +Inspector? This Frenchwoman must be found."</p> + +<p>"At once—a general alarm. You can get a description of her from the +clerk at the Universal. She must not be allowed to leave town."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce sat down before the telephone. Coroner Price proceeded to +acquaint the Inspector with such details of the affair as were now known. +The Curator moved restlessly about. Gloom had settled upon the museum. On +only one face was there a smile to be seen, but that was a heavenly one, +irradiating the countenance of her who had passed from the lesser to the +larger world with the joy of earth still warm in her innocent heart.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a>BOOK II</h2> + +<h3>MR. X</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>ON THE SEARCH</h3> + + +<p>It was late in the afternoon. The Inspector's office had hummed for hours +with messages and reports, and the lull which had finally come seemed +grateful to him. With relaxed brow and a fresh cigar, he sat in quiet +contemplation of the facts brought out by the afternoon's inquiries. He +was on the point of dismissing even these from his mind, when the door +opened and Gryce came in.</p> + +<p>Instantly his responsibilities returned upon him in full force. He did +not wait for the expected report, but questioned the detective at once.</p> + +<p>"You have been to the hotel," he said, pointing out a chair into which +the old man dropped with a sigh as eloquent of anxiety as of fatigue. +"What more did you learn there?"</p> + +<p>"Very little. No message has come; no persons called. For them and for us +these two women, Madame Duclos and Miss Willetts, are still an unknown +quantity. Their baggage, which arrived while I was there, supplied the +only information I was able to obtain."</p> + +<p>"Their baggage! But that should tell us everything."</p> + +<p>"It may if you think best to go through it. It is not heavy—a trunk for +each, besides the one they brought with them from the steamer. From the +pasters to be seen on them, they have come from the Continental Hotel, +Paris, by way of the Ritz, London. At this latter place their stay was +short. This is proved by the fact that only the steamer-trunk is pasted +with the Ritz label. And this trunk was the one I found in their room at +the Universal. From it Miss Willetts had taken the dress she wore to the +museum. Her other clothes—I mean those she wore on arriving—lay in +disorder on the bed and chairs. I should say that they had been tossed +about by a careless if not hasty hand, while the trunk——"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Stood open on the floor."</p> + +<p>"Stood open?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I went through it, of course."</p> + +<p>"And found nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing to help us to-day. No letters—no cards. Some clothing—some +little trifles (bought in Paris, by the way) and one little book."</p> + +<p>"A name in it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—<i>Angeline</i>; and one line of writing from some poem, I judge. I put +it back where I found it. When we know more, it may help us to find her +friends."</p> + +<p>"And is that all?"</p> + +<p>"Almost, but not quite. The young girl had a bag too. It stood on a +table——"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Empty. Everything had been tumbled out—turned upside down and the +contents scattered. I looked them carefully over. Nothing, positively +nothing, but what you would be likely to find in any young girl's +traveling-bag. There's but one conclusion to be drawn."</p> + +<p>"And what is that?"</p> + +<p>"That all these things, such as they were, had been pushed hastily about +after being emptied out on the table. That was not the young girl's +work."</p> + +<p>"Madame Duclos'!"</p> + +<p>"You've hit it. She was in search of some one thing she wanted, and she +took the quickest way of finding it. And——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Gryce?"</p> + +<p>"She was in a desperate hurry, or she wouldn't have left the trunk open +or all those dainty things lying about. Frenchwomen are methodical and +very careful of their belongings. One other thing I noted. There was a +loose nail in the lock of the trunk. Sticking to this nail was a raveling +of brown wool. Here it is, sir. The woman—Madame Duclos—wore a dress of +brown serge. If my calculations are not wrong and we succeed in getting a +glimpse of that dress, we shall find a tear in the skirt—and what is +more, one very near the hem."</p> + +<p>"Made to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—another token of haste. She probably jerked at the skirt when +she found herself caught. She could not have been herself to have done +this—for which we may be glad."</p> + +<p>"You mean that by this thoughtless action she has left a clue in our +hands?"</p> + +<p>"That and something more. That tear in her decent skirt will bother her. +She will either make an immediate attempt to mend it, or else do the +other obvious thing—buy a new one. In either case it gives us something +by which to trace her. I have put Sweetwater on that job. He never tires, +never wearies, never lets go. No report in yet from the terminals?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word. But she will not get far. Sooner or later we shall find her +if she does not come forward herself after reading the evening papers."</p> + +<p>"She will never come forward."</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure. Something not a little peculiar happened at the +museum after you left. We had Reynolds up, and he made a most careful +examination of that bow for finger-prints. He did not find any. But +fortune favored us in another way almost as good."</p> + +<p>"Now you interest <i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>"We had brought the bow into the Curator's office, and it lay on the long +table in the middle of the room. I had been looking it over (this was +after Reynolds had gone, of course) and had already noted a certain +defect in it, when on chancing to look up, my eyes fell on a mirror +hanging in a closet the door of which stood wide open. A face was visible +in it—a very white face which altered under my scrutiny into a semblance +more natural. It was that of Correy—you remember Correy, one of the +assistants, and an honest fellow enough, but more troubled at this moment +than I had ever seen him. What could have happened?</p> + +<p>"Wheeling quickly about, I caught him just as he started to go. He had +openly declared that he did not know this bow; but it was evident that he +did, and I did not hesitate to say so. Taken unawares, he could not hide +his distress, which he proceeded to explain thus: He did remember the +bow, now that he had the opportunity of seeing it closer. He pointed to +the nick I had myself noticed and said that owing to this defect the bow +had been cast aside, and the last time he had handled it——Here he +caught his breath and stopped. Another memory had evidently returned to +embarrass him."</p> + +<p>"Did you succeed in getting him to acknowledge what it was?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, after I had worked with him for some time. He didn't want to talk. +In a moment you will see why. Going back to the time he had seen it +before, he said that he had found it in the cellar in an old box, the +contents of which he had been pulling over in a search for something very +different. Amazed to find it there, he had taken it out, examined it +carefully, noted the nick I mentioned and tossed it back again into the +box. This he told, but reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Why reluctantly, I was soon to find out. He was not alone in the cellar. +The shadow of some person at his back had fallen across the lid of the +box as he was closing it. He did not recognize the shadow and had not +given it at the time a second thought, but the remembrance of it came +back vividly when he saw the bow lying before him and realized the part +it had played in the morning's tragedy. Was it because he knew that only +a person actively connected with the museum would have access to that +part of the cellar? I asked. I did not expect an answer, and I did not +get it. We looked at each other for a moment, then I let him go."</p> + +<p>A momentary silence, which the Inspector broke by saying:</p> + +<p>"Later I called the Curator in, and he also recognized the bow as +belonging to the museum. But he volunteered no explanations and in fact +had little to say on the subject. He was evidently too much startled by +the direct connection which had thus been made between the crime (or +accident, if you will) and the personnel of the museum."</p> + +<p>"That was natural. He should be the first to see that the bow which shot +the arrow must of necessity have been brought into the building by some +other door than those at which the doormen stood guard. I had a talk +with those men, and they both declared that no sticks or umbrellas or +anything of that nature ever went by them or would be allowed to go by +them, no matter how concealed or wrapped up. But to revert to the matter +in hand. So Correy made absolutely no attempt to explain how this weapon +had been carried from cellar to gallery without his knowledge?"</p> + +<p>"No. He for one will have a sleepless night."</p> + +<p>"Not he alone. I must and will see a way through this maze. To-morrow may +bring luck. Ah, I forgot to say that I spent an hour of the three you +allowed me with the captain of the steamer which brought over these two +women. As might be expected, he had no information of any significance to +give me; nor could I obtain much from such members of the crew as I could +get hold of. One steward remembered the Englishman, chiefly because he +never showed himself unless the young lady was on deck. But he never saw +them speak."</p> + +<p>"Which bears out Travis' story to the last detail."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. I think we can depend upon <i>him</i>; otherwise we <i>should</i> be at +sea."</p> + +<p>"Yet his story is a very strange one."</p> + +<p>"The whole affair is strange—the strangest I ever knew. But that isn't +against it. It's the commonplace case which baffles. We shall get the key +to the whole mystery yet."</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt. Is Mr. Travis to be detained?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, as witness."</p> + +<p>"Does he object?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Having spoken—told his whole story, as he says—he is +rather glad than otherwise to be relieved from the common curiosity of +strangers. He's a rare bird, Gryce. If he stops to think, he must see +that he stands in a more or less ticklish position. But he does not +betray by look or action any doubt of our entire belief in the truth of +all his statements. His only trouble seems to be that he has lost, by +these inhuman means, the girl upon whom he had set his heart. To-morrow +we will confront him with Mrs. Taylor. She should be able to say whether +he did or did not stand out in the open gallery at the moment Miss +Willetts fell."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Gryce had no encouragement to give him on this head.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Taylor is ill—very ill, as I take it. I stopped at her hotel to +inquire. I was anxious about her for more than one reason and the report +I got of her condition was far from favorable. She is suffering cruelly +from shock. How occasioned, whether by the peculiar and startling death +to which she was a witness or by the strangely coincident fancy to which +she herself attributes her deep emotion, will have to be decided by +further developments. Nothing which I was able to learn from doctor or +nurse settled this interesting question. Meanwhile, no one is allowed to +see her—or will be till she is on the direct road to recovery. Let us +hope that this may be soon, or the inquest may be delayed indefinitely."</p> + +<p>"I don't know as that is to be deplored. I imagine we shall find enough +to fill in our time.... Any communications made by her before she +collapsed? Did she send out or receive messages of any kind since her +return from the museum?"</p> + +<p>"She received none; but it is impossible to say whether or not she sent +any out. There is a letter-chute very near her door. She may have dropped +a letter in that any time before a watch was put upon her. You are +thinking, of course, of the anxiety she expressed about her husband, and +whether she took any measures for ascertaining if her fears for him had +any foundation in fact?"</p> + +<p>"I was, yes; but I presume this fancy had passed, or else she is too ill +to remember her own aberrations. Were you able to effect an understanding +with her nurse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; that's fixed. I had a short talk, too, with the proprietor of the +hotel. He thinks very highly of Mrs. Taylor. She has lived in the one +apartment for years, and he cannot say enough of her discreet and uniform +life. Though she made no secret of the fact that she does not live with +her husband, her conduct has always been such as to insure universal +respect. He did not even make mention of eccentricities. If she is crazy, +it is a late development. She seemed to have been all right up to this +morning. Whichever way you turn, you encounter mystery and a closed +door."</p> + +<p>"The papers may spring the lock of that door at any moment. Publication +does much in a case of this kind. To-morrow we may be in a much more +favorable position. Meantime, let us recount the facts it is our business +to clear up."</p> + +<p>"On what hypothesis?"</p> + +<p>"On all hypotheses. We are not sure enough of our premises, as yet, to +confine ourselves to one."</p> + +<p>"Very good, these are the ones which seem to me to be of the greatest +importance:</p> + +<p>"Whose hand carried the bow from cellar to gallery?</p> + +<p>"Was it the same which carried the arrow from one gallery to the other?</p> + +<p>"Is it possible for an arrow, shot through the loophole made by the +curving-in of the vase, to reach the mark set for it by Mr. Travis' +testimony?</p> + +<p>"Which one of the men or women known to be in the museum when this arrow +was released has enough knowledge of archery to string a bow? A mark can +be reached by chance; but only an accustomed hand can string a bow as +unyielding as this one.</p> + +<p>"Who telephoned to Madame Duclos; and of what nature was the message +which sent her from the hotel so precipitately that she not only left the +most important part of her baggage behind but went away without making +adequate provision for the young girl confided to her charge?</p> + +<p>"Does this mean that she had been made acquainted with the fate of the +young girl; and if so, by whom?"</p> + +<p>"Business enough for us all," was the Inspector's comment as Gryce paused +in this enumeration. "As you put it, I am more and more convinced that +the key you spoke of a short time ago will be found in this missing +woman's tightly shut hand."</p> + +<p>"Which brings us round full-circle to our first conclusion: that Miss +Willetts' death is not only a crime, but a premeditated one."</p> + +<p>"Carried out, not by the one benefited, but by an agent selected for the +purpose."</p> + +<p>"An agent, moreover, who knew the ways and possibilities of the place."</p> + +<p>"A logical conclusion; but still too incredible for belief. I find it +hard to trust to appearances in this case."</p> + +<p>"And I also. But as we have both said, time may clear away some of its +incongruities. Meanwhile I have an experiment to propose." And leaning +close to the Inspector, notwithstanding the fact that there was nobody +within hearing and he knew it, he whispered a few words in his ear.</p> + +<p>The Inspector stared.</p> + +<p>"To-night?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The detective nodded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>WHILE THE CITY SLEPT</h3> + + +<p>Night—the night of a great city with its myriad of garish lights and its +many curious and incongruous activities.</p> + +<p>Who has not felt his imagination stirred by the contrasts thus +offered—contrasts never more apparent than at these hours of supposed +rest? Grim walls, with dimpled children sleeping behind them! Places of +merrymaking athrob with music and dazzling with jets of incandescent +light, with grief in the heart of the dancer and despair making raucous +the enforced laugh!</p> + +<p>But nowhere in the great city of which we write on this night of May 23, +1913, was there to be found a scene of greater contradictions than in the +court and galleries of its famous museum.</p> + +<p>Lighted as for a reception, the architectural beauties of its Moorish +arcades and carven balustrades flashed in full splendor. Gems of antique +art, casts in which genius had stored its soul and caused to live before +us the story of the ancients, pillars from desert sands, friezes from the +Parthenon and bas-reliefs from Nineveh and Heliopolis, filled every +corner, commanding the eye to satisfy itself in forms of deathless grace +or superhuman power. And no one to heed! Not an eye to note that the +Venus in one corner seemed to smile in the soft light with more than its +accustomed allurement, or that the armor in which kings had fought wore a +menacing sparkle exceeding that of other times and quieter days. Ghosts +of vanished ages might parade at will among the chattels of their time or +drain the iridescent beaker to their unknown gods—no one would have +noticed or turned aside to see. For there was something else within these +walls to-night for the men assembled there to look upon, and a story to +be read which shut the imagination upon the past by amply filling it with +the present.</p> + +<p>What is this something? Let us follow the gaze of the half-dozen persons +grouped in front of the tapestry hanging in the northern gallery, and +see.</p> + +<p>But first, of whom is this small and mystic group composed? Who are these +men who in the middle of the night, in the security of a completely +shuttered building, busy themselves, not with the inestimable treasures +surrounding them, but with an odd and seemingly mountebank adventure +totally out of keeping with the place and their absorbed demeanor? We +will name them:</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts and a second director seen here for the first time, Inspector +Jackson, Mr. Gryce, two lesser detectives, and a strange young man of +undoubted Indian extraction who kept much in the background and yet stood +always at attention like one awaiting orders.</p> + +<p>Are these all? Yes, in the one gallery; but in the other, shadowy figures +are visible among the arches at one end, with whose identity we shall +probably soon be made acquainted.</p> + +<p>At what are these various persons, in the one gallery as in the other, +looking so intently that all are turned one way—the way of greatest +interest—the way the fatal arrow had flown some fourteen hours before, +carrying death to the innocent girl smiling upon life in youthful +exuberance? Is it at some image of herself they see restored to hope and +joy? An image is there, but alas! it is but a dummy taken from one of the +exhibits and so set up as to present the same angle to the gallery-front +as her young body had done, according to Mr. Travis' reluctant +declaration.</p> + +<p>Why so placed, and why regarded with such concentrated interest by the +men confronting it from the opposite gallery, will become apparent when, +upon the Indian's being summoned from his place of modest retirement, it +can be seen that the bow he carries in one hand is offset by the arrow he +holds in the other. A test is to be made which will settle, or so they +hope, the truth of Mr. Travis' story. If an arrow launched from before +the pedestal or even from behind it through the loophole made by the +curving-in of the vase toward its base can be made to reach its mark in +the breast of this dummy, then they would feel some justification in +doubting his statement that the arrow, whatever the appearances, was not +shot from this gallery. If it could not, belief in his statements would +be confirmed and their minds be cleared of a doubt which must hamper all +their future movements.</p> + +<p>The second director, whose name was Clayton, stood at the left of the +Inspector and close against the tapestry. To him that official now turned +with this explanation:</p> + +<p>"The bow you see in Mr. La Flèche's hand is similar in length and weight +to the one found lying strung for use in the doorway back of where you +are now standing. The arrow is from the same quiver as the one which +entered Miss Willetts' breast.... Did you speak?"</p> + +<p>No, Mr. Clayton had not spoken; yet for some reason a thrill had passed +through the small group surrounding him, which had heightened the +consciousness of them all. Eyes and ears became alert; only the Indian +showed stolidity.</p> + +<p>"Mr. La Flèche, you will first stand here," continued the Inspector, +pointing to the spot which Mr. Travis had finally settled upon as the one +where he had been standing at the moment he saw Miss Willetts fall.</p> + +<p>The Indian took the place, sighted the figure diagonally opposite and +laid his finger on the string.</p> + +<p>"An inch to the left of the bunch of flowers pinned on the dummy's +breast," murmured Mr. Gryce almost in his ear.</p> + +<p>It was a breathless moment; even the two detectives showed excitement.</p> + +<p>But the Indian failed to shoot. Instead, he looked around at the +Inspector and quietly remarked:</p> + +<p>"I will shoot standing, since you so request, but I think you will find +that the arrow which caused death was delivered by a man kneeling."</p> + +<p>A flash of the eye between the two detectives, which only one man saw! +All the others were watching the lightning flight of the arrow. It struck +the dummy full and square. Everyone shuddered, even the Inspector; it +brought the real tragedy so vividly to mind.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a movement had taken place in the small group of men watching +from the other side. One of them stepped fully into view and approaching +the figure thus attacked, drew out the arrow and made close examination +of the hole it had made and shook his head. It was Coroner Price.</p> + +<p>"Try again, and from behind the pedestal this time," he called out across +the intervening space as he stepped back into his former place of +observation.</p> + +<p>The Inspector motioned his wishes to the Indian, who with a subtle twist +of his body slipped behind the pedestal.</p> + +<p>"That's better," was the Inspector's quick comment. "Can you handle the +bow easily from where you now stand?"</p> + +<p>"There is plenty of room."</p> + +<p>"Very well. But wait! Before we proceed further, there is a matter to +which I wish to call the attention of these gentlemen. It must have been +apparent to you all that a person standing where Mr. La Flèche did a +moment ago would be easily visible to anyone looking up from the court or +across from the opposite gallery, or even from the broad corridors at +either end of the building. But would the same hold true if instead of +being in front he had been behind the pedestal, as Mr. La Flèche is now? +Run below, Barney; and, gentlemen, disperse yourselves in different +directions and give me your opinion. Now!" he demanded after a few +minutes' wait, during which there had been a scattering to right and left +along the galleries, "what do you say?"</p> + +<p>"If anyone chanced to be looking directly there, yes," was shouted up +from below.</p> + +<p>"What do you say, Coroner Price?"</p> + +<p>"Ask the man to kneel."</p> + +<p>The Inspector gave the word.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's different! The bulge of the vase hides the upper part of his +head, and the pedestal itself the lower. He might shoot from his present +position with impunity."</p> + +<p>"Do you all agree?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" came from different parts of the building.</p> + +<p>"Then, Mr. La Flèche, here's another arrow from the same quiver. Take +fresh aim and shoot."</p> + +<p>Another breathless moment—more breathless than the other; then a second +arrow flew across the court and hung quivering in the breast of the +dummy.</p> + +<p>From both ends of the gallery men came running, and leaning eagerly over +the gallery-rail they watched the Coroner as he stepped again into view +to make a second examination.</p> + +<p>This time he kept them several minutes in suspense, and when he had drawn +out the arrow, he looked long at the hole it had made. Then, instead of +shouting his decision across the court, he could be seen leaving the +gallery and coming around their way.</p> + +<p>What had he to say? As they waited, a clock struck from some neighboring +steeple—three sonorous peals! The two directors glanced at each other. +Doubtless they felt the weirdness of the hour as well as of the occasion. +It was a new experience for these amateurs in police procedure.</p> + +<p>Arrived on their side, the Coroner advanced quickly. When close upon the +reassembled group, he remarked quickly but with great decision:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Travis seems to have been correct in denying that the arrow flew +either from before or behind this pedestal. The first arrow sent by Mr. +La Flèche entered the dummy almost at a right angle; the last departed +but a little from this same line. But the real wound which I probed and +located to a hair was a decidedly slanting one. It must have been sent +from a place further off."</p> + +<p>"From behind the other pedestal!" spoke up Mr. Gryce, all fire and +interest at once. "Either the Englishman deceived us, or each pedestal +had its man."</p> + +<p>"We'll see! Another shot, and from behind the further pedestal, Mr. La +Flèche!"</p> + +<p>The Indian glided into view and started for the other end of the +tapestry, followed by the Inspector, his detectives and the two +directors. As they passed one by one across the face of the great +hanging, they had the appearance not of living men but of a parade of +specters, so silent their step and so somber their air. The dread of some +development hitherto unacknowledged made their movements slow instead of +hasty. The upper pedestal instead of the lower! Why should this possible +fact make any difference in their feelings. Yet it did—perhaps because +it meant deception on the part of one they had instinctively believed +trustworthy, or—</p> + +<p>But why pursue conjecture when actuality only is of moment? Let us +proceed with our relation and await the result.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the upper pedestal, Mr. La Flèche took his place, received the +third arrow and presently delivered it. The Coroner, who had already +started for the other side, hastily approached the dummy, made his +examination and threw up his hand with the loud shout:</p> + +<p>"The shot was made from there; the matter is settled!"</p> + +<p>Question: Had Mr. Travis wilfully misled them, or had the presumption in +his favor been strengthened by this proof that it had been shown possible +for another hand than his to have shot the arrow from this same section +of the gallery, without disturbing his belief that he was the only person +in it at the time?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>"AND HE STOOD <i>HERE</i>?"</h3> + + +<p>The Inspector, finding himself very much disturbed by the doubt just +mentioned, felt inclined to question whether any perceptible advancement +had been made by this freak business of his canny subordinate. He was +hardly ready to say yes, and was not a little surprised when on his way +toward the head of the staircase he heard the exultant voice of Mr. Gryce +whisper in his ear:</p> + +<p>"That's all right. We've gained a point. We know now the exact place from +which the arrow was shot."</p> + +<p>"But not who shot it."</p> + +<p>"No—except that it was not the man Travis."</p> + +<p>"How can you be sure of that?"</p> + +<p>"For two reasons. This is the first one: If it is difficult to understand +how a man could slip from behind the eastern pedestal and make his way +along the open gallery to Room H, without attracting the attention of the +officer posted opposite, how next to impossible we should find it, if +thirty feet were added to his course—which is the distance between the +two pedestals!"</p> + +<p>"What was that fellow doing, that he shouldn't have seen this effort at +escape, whether it involved a short flight or a long one?"</p> + +<p>"He says he was not given detective-duty—that he was placed there to +keep watch over the body of the young girl;—that at a certain moment he +imagined himself to hear a stealthy footstep approaching from the farther +end of the gallery, and anxious to spot the man yielding to so doubtful a +curiosity, he approached the arch separating his section from the +adjoining one, and stopping just inside, stood for a moment or so, +listening. As this involved the turning of his back upon the court and +consequently upon the opposite gallery, it gave Travis just the +opportunity he needed for an unobserved escape. But I see you are not +very much impressed by the reason I have advanced for believing his story +and placing him where he says he was placed, behind the eastern pedestal. +You doubtless think that if the officer opposite had stood long enough +with his back to the court, Travis might have taken those extra thirty +steps as easily as the twenty he had confessed to. Listen, then, to my +second reason, or rather, step this way."</p> + +<p>Leading his superior toward Room B, the door of which stood wide open, he +paused just outside the threshold to note the effect produced upon the +Inspector by what he saw inside. Evidently it was as marked with surprise +as the detective had calculated upon, for with an air of great +astonishment the Inspector turned upon him with the whispered +exclamation:</p> + +<p>"Travis here! where he could listen—see——"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Take a good look at him, Inspector. It won't trouble him any. I +doubt if he would notice us if we stepped into the room."</p> + +<p>And such was the opinion of the Inspector himself, as he remarked the +extreme excitement under which the Englishman was laboring. Absorbed in +thoughts of his own, he was pacing the room with long strides, turning +mechanically as he met some impediment, but otherwise oblivious to his +surroundings, even to the point of not noting the presence of Sweetwater, +who stood quietly watching him from one of the corners.</p> + +<p>This display of feeling was certainly eloquent enough to attract anyone's +attention, but what gave it impressiveness to the official mind was this: +his excitement was that of triumph, not fear, of hope without any trace +of confusion.</p> + +<p>"It is not of himself he is thinking," muttered Gryce.</p> + +<p>"And he stood <i>here</i>?"</p> + +<p>"No—we left him free to move about at will, and his will carried him +into full view of the whole performance."</p> + +<p>"And Sweetwater?"</p> + +<p>"Was near enough to note his every move, but of course kept himself well +out of sight."</p> + +<p>Then as they both stepped back from the doorway: "Mr. Travis didn't know +he was being watched. He thought himself alone; and having an expressive +countenance,—very expressive for an Englishman,—it was easy enough for +Sweetwater to read his thoughts."</p> + +<p>"And those thoughts?"</p> + +<p>"Relief to find an explanation of the phenomenon he had doubtless been +puzzling over for hours. The moments he had spent in hiding behind one +pedestal had evidently failed to suggest that another man might have been +in hiding behind the other."</p> + +<p>"I am not surprised. Coincidences of this astonishing kind are not often +met with even by us," was the Inspector's dry retort.</p> + +<p>During the interchange of these hurried sentences, they had withdrawn +still farther out of sight and hearing of the man discussed. But at this +point Inspector Jackson reapproached the doorway, and entering in a +manner to intercept Mr. Travis in his nervous goings to and fro, remarked +in an off-hand way:</p> + +<p>"I see that you have met with a surprise, Mr. Travis. Like ourselves, you +gave little thought to what that upper pedestal might conceal."</p> + +<p>"You are right. I never even glanced that way. But if I had, I should +have seen nothing. He was well hid, exceedingly well hid, whoever he was. +But he cannot escape now; you'll get him, won't you, Inspector? He could +not have left the building—all say that this was impossible. He was one, +then, of the people I saw moving about when I went down into the court. +Find him! Find this murderer of innocence! of the sweetest, purest +child——"</p> + +<p>He turned away; grief was taking the place of indignation and revenge. +At this sight the two men left him. The Inspector was at last convinced, +both of the man's probity and of one stern, disconcerting fact: that the +real culprit—the man whose guilty fingers had launched the fatal +arrow—had been, as Travis said, one of the twenty-two persons who had +been moving about for hours not only under his eyes but under those of +the famous detective posted there.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>FOOTSTEPS</h3> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>WANTED—A WOMAN CALLING HERSELF ANTOINETTE Duclos, just arrived from +Europe on the steamer <i>Castania</i>, who after taking rooms at the +Universal for herself and her steamer companion, Angeline Willetts, +left the hotel in great haste late in the afternoon of May twenty-third +and has not been heard of since.</p> + +<p>In person she is of medium height, but stocky for a Frenchwoman. Dark +hair, black eyes, with an affection of the lid which causes the left +one to droop. Her dress consisted of skirt and jacket of a soft shade +of brown. Hat indistinguishable. She carried, on leaving the hotel, a +dark brown leather bag of medium size, long and narrow in shape. Her +only peculiarity, saving the one drooping eyelid, is a hesitating walk. +This is particularly obvious when she attempts to hasten.</p> + +<p>It is to be hoped that this person on hearing of Miss Willetts' death, +will communicate at once with the clerk of the hotel.</p> + +<p>If in two days this does not occur, a reward of five hundred dollars +will be given to the man or woman who can give definite news of this +Frenchwoman's whereabouts.</p> + +<p>Police Headquarters, Mulberry St.</p></div> + +<p>This notice, appended to such particulars of the tragedy as appeared in +all the morning papers, roused the city—I may even say the country—to +even greater wonder and excitement than had followed the first details +given in the journals of the evening before.</p> + +<p>Would anything come of it?</p> + +<p>Morning passed; no news of Antoinette Duclos.</p> + +<p>Afternoon: messages of all kinds leading to much work, but bringing no +result.</p> + +<p>Five o'clock: a missive from the directors of the museum to the effect +that under the peculiar circumstances and the seeming absence of any +friends of the deceased, they would be glad to furnish the means +necessary to the proper care and burial of the young woman killed in such +an unhappy manner within their walls.</p> + +<p>A half-hour later, Gryce, for whose appearance the Inspector had been +anxiously waiting, came in with his report. A chair was pushed up for +him, for he was an old man and had had a sleepless night, as we know, +besides two days of continued work. But he did not drop into it, as the +Inspector expected, or give any other signs of exceptional fatigue; yet +when he had seated himself and they were left alone, he did not hasten to +speak, though he evidently had much to say, but remained quiet, holding +counsel, as it were, in his old way, with some small object he had picked +up from the desk before him.</p> + +<p>At last the Inspector spoke:</p> + +<p>"You have been on the hunt; what did you find?"</p> + +<p>"Not much, Inspector—and yet enough to disturb me in a way I was not +looking for. Of course, in studying the situation carefully, you have +asked yourself how the man who shot the arrow from behind the upper +pedestal got away. He did not wait as Travis did till the first +excitement had abated and the way was, in a manner, cleared for an escape +into the court. For X, as we will call him, was certainly among those I +saw lined up before me at the moment I bade them one and all to return +and stand until released, in the exact spot occupied by them when the +first alarm rang out. After the surprise Travis gave us we had the +building searched from roof to cellar. Not another soul was found in it +whose name was not registered on the chart. As I have already said, the +guilty one had managed to escape immediately upon the flight of the +arrow, though how, even then, he could have got below in the time he did +is a mystery which trips me up every time I think of it. But letting that +go for the present, he did get there and get there unnoticed. How? Now, +there are three ways of escape from behind either of those pedestals. The +way Travis took, that is, toward the front, and round through the suite +of rooms headed by the one marked H, to the rear staircase; the more +direct one of an immediate exit from the gallery through Sections VI and +VII to this same staircase; and (the only one worth considering) a +straight plunge for the door behind the tapestry and so down by the +winding staircase beyond, into the Curator's office. The unknown never +went Travis' way, and he couldn't have gone the other without running +into the arms of Correy; so he must have made use of the hidden door. So +convinced was I of this, after last night's discovery eliminated Travis +as a suspect, that I made it my first duty this morning to examine this +door and the mysterious little passageway back of it. When first notified +of this door, we had been assured that it had not been opened in years, +that the only key remaining to it was the one the Curator showed us +hanging from the ring he drew from his own pocket; and acting upon these +statements, which I would not allow myself to doubt for a moment, we +decided to open the door in our own way, which we immediately did. The +result was the instant discovery that some one had passed through this +door and down these stairs very much later than years ago. We could see, +without taking a step beyond the doorway, traces of a well-shod foot in +the dust lying thickly on every tread. These traces were so many and so +confused that I left them for Stevens' experienced eye and deft +manipulation to separate and make plain to us. He is making an +examination of them now, and will be able to report to you before night."</p> + +<p>The Inspector was a man of little pretense. He felt startled and showed +it.</p> + +<p>"But this is a serious matter, Gryce."</p> + +<p>"Very serious."</p> + +<p>"No mere visitor to the museum would have presumed upon this venture."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Which means——"</p> + +<p>"That some one actively connected with it had a guilty hand in this +deplorable affair."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid so."</p> + +<p>"Some one well acquainted with the existence of this door and who had +means of opening it. The question is—who?"</p> + +<p>In saying this, Mr. Gryce studiously avoided the Inspector's eye; while +the Inspector in his turn looked up, then down—anywhere but in the +detective's direction. It was a moment of mutual embarrassment, broken, +when it was broken, by a remark which manifestly avoided the issue.</p> + +<p>"Possibly those traces you speak of were not made at the time you +specify. They may have been made since, or they may have been made +before. Perhaps the Curator was curious and tried his hand at a little +detective work on his own account."</p> + +<p>"He hadn't the chance. Every portion of the building has been very +thoroughly guarded since first we entered it. He may have gone up prior +to the shooting. That is open to dispute; but if he had done so, why did +he not inform us of the fact when he showed us the key? The Curator is +the soul of honor. He would hardly deceive us in so important a matter."</p> + +<p>The quick glance which this elicited from the Inspector awoke no +corresponding flash in the eye of the imperturbable detective. He +continued to shake his head over the small object he was twirling +thoughtfully about between his thumb and finger, and only from his +general seriousness could the Inspector gather that his mind was no more +at rest than his fingers. Was this why his remark took the form of a +question?</p> + +<p>"Where was the Curator when you forced open that door behind the +tapestry? Was he anywhere in the building?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; he has not been there to-day. He was ill last night, and he is +ill to-day. He sent us his excuses. If he had been in the building, I +doubt whether I would have given the order to burst open the door. I +would simply have requested him to use his key. And he would have done so +and kept his own counsel. I do not know as I can say as much for any of +his subordinates. Happily, no spying eye was about at that time; and +Stevens will be sure to see that he is not watched at his work if he +has to lock the door upon the whole bunch of directors."</p> + +<p>"This is to be a secret investigation, then?"</p> + +<p>"I would so advise."</p> + +<p>"With every reporter headed off, and anyone likely to report to a +reporter headed off also?"</p> + +<p>"Do not <i>you</i> advise this?"</p> + +<p>"I do. Anything more?"</p> + +<p>"Not till we hear from Stevens."</p> + +<p>They had not long to wait. Sooner than they expected the expert mentioned +came in. He held a batch of papers in his hand, which at a gesture from +the Inspector he spread out before them. Then he spoke:</p> + +<p>"One man and one man only has passed down those stairs. But that man has +passed down them twice—once with rubbers on and once without. There are +signs equally plain of his having gone up them, but only once, and at the +time he wore the rubbers. I took every pains possible to preserve and +photograph the prints, but as you see, great confusion was caused by the +second line of steps falling half on and half off the other. All I dare +read there is this: A quick run up and a quick run down by a man in +rubbers, and then a second run down by the same man in shoes. That's the +whole story. These other scraps of paper," he went on as he saw the +Inspector's eye travel to some small bits lying on the side, "are what I +have to show as the result of my search on and about the western pedestal +for finger-prints. A gloved hand drew that bow. See here: this is an +impression I obtained from the inner edge of the pedestal in question."</p> + +<p>He pulled forward a small square of paper; the sewing of a kid glove was +plainly indicated there.</p> + +<p>When Stevens had gone, the Inspector exclaimed meaningly:</p> + +<p>"Gryce! Name your man; we shall get on faster."</p> + +<p>The aged detective rose.</p> + +<p>"I dare not," he said. "Give me one—two days. I must have time to +think—to collect my evidence. A name once mentioned leaves an echo. When +my echo rings, it must carry no false sound. Remember, I did not sleep +last night. When I present this case to you as I see it, I must be at my +best. I am not at my best to-day."</p> + +<p>This was doubtless true, but the Inspector had not discovered it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>"SPARE NOBODY! I SAY, SPARE NOBODY!"</h3> + + +<p>On his way home Mr. Gryce stopped at the Calderon to inquire how Mrs. +Taylor was doing, and what his prospects were for a limited interview +with her.</p> + +<p>He was told that no such interview could be considered for days—that she +still lay in a stupor, with brief flashes of acute consciousness, during +which she would scream "No! no!"—that brain fever was feared and that +increased excitement might be fatal.</p> + +<p>Another bar to progress! He had hoped to help her memory into supplying +him with a fact which would greatly simplify a task whose anomalies +secretly alarmed him. She had been in a fair state of mind before her +nerve was attacked by the event which robbed the little Angeline of life +and herself of reason, and if carefully approached, might possibly recall +some of the impressions made upon her previous to that moment. If, for +instance, she could describe even in a general way the appearance of any +person she may have seen advancing in the direction of the northern +gallery at the moment she herself turned to enter the southern one, what +a stability it would give to his theory, and what certainty to his future +procedure!</p> + +<p>But he must wait for this, as he must wait for Angeline's story from +Madame Duclos. Meantime, a word with Sweetwater—after which, rest.</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Gryce's custom, especially when engaged upon a case of marked +importance, to receive this, his recognized factotum, in his own home. No +prying ears, no watchful eyes, were to be feared there. He was the +absolute master of everything, even of Sweetwater, he sometimes thought. +For this young fellow loved him—had reason to; and when Sweetwater +played the violin, as he sometimes did after one of their long talks, the +aged detective came as near happiness as he ever did, now that his little +grandchild was married and had gone with her husband to the other side of +the world.</p> + +<p>To-night he was not anticipating any such relaxation as this, yet to +Sweetwater, arriving later than he wished, he had never looked more in +need of it, as, sitting in his old and somewhat dingy library, he mused +over some little object he held in his half-closed palm, with an intent, +care-worn gaze which it distressed his young subordinate to see. +Uncertainty incites the young and fires them to action; but it wearies +the old and saps what little strength they have; and Sweetwater detected +uncertainty in his patron's troubled brow and prolonged stare at the +insignificant article absorbing his attention.</p> + +<p>However, Gryce roused quickly at the young detective's cheery greeting, +and looking up with an answering welcome, plunged at once into business.</p> + +<p>"So you have seen Turnbull! What did the man say?"</p> + +<p>"That it was the left-hand upper corner of the tapestry he saw shaking, +and not the right-hand one as we had blindly supposed."</p> + +<p>"Good! Then we can take it for granted that our new theory is well +founded. Certain things have come to light in your absence. That tapestry +was pulled aside not merely for the purpose of flinging in the bow, but +to let the flinger pass through the door at its back down to the +Curator's office and so out into the court."</p> + +<p>"Whew! And who...."</p> + +<p>"If this fact had been made known to me sooner, you would have had a +different day's work; not getting it until late this afternoon, we have +perhaps wasted some valuable hours. But we won't fret about that. Mrs. +Taylor being no better, we are likely to have all the time we want for +substantiating my idea. It cannot take long if we succeed either in +tracing the Duclos woman or in drawing the net I am quietly +manufacturing, so closely about—well, I've decided to call him X—that +it will hold against all opposition. I have hopes of finding the woman, +but great doubts as to the efficacy of the net I have mentioned; it will +have to be so wide and deep, and so absolutely without a single weak +strand."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater sat astonished, and what was more, silent—he who had a word +for everything. Accustomed as he was to the varying moods of his +remarkable friend, he had never before been met with a reticence so +absolute. It made him think; but for once in his life did not make him +loquacious.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce seemed to be gratified by this, though he made no remark to +that effect and continued to preserve his abstracted look and quiet +demeanor. So Sweetwater waited, and while waiting managed to steal a +glimpse at the small object to which his professional friend still paid +his undivided attention.</p> + +<p>It looked like a narrow bit of dingy black cloth—just that and nothing +more—a thing as trivial as the band which clips a closed umbrella. Was +it such a band, and would he presently be asked to find the umbrella from +which it had fallen or been twisted away? No. Umbrellas are not carried +about museum buildings. Besides, this strip of cloth had no ring on the +end of it. Consequently it could not have served the purpose he had just +ascribed to it. It must have had some other use.</p> + +<p>But when, after an impatient flinging aside of this nondescript article, +Mr. Gryce spoke, it was to say:</p> + +<p>"I had a long talk with Correy to-day. It seems that he goes through both +galleries every morning before the museum opens. Though he will not swear +to it, he is of the opinion that the quiver holding the Apache arrows had +its full complement when he passed it that morning. He has a way of +running things over with his eye which has never yet failed to draw his +attention to anything defective or in the least out of order."</p> + +<p>"I see, sir," acquiesced Sweetwater in an odd tone, Mr. Gryce's attitude +showing that he awaited some expression of interest on his part.</p> + +<p>The elder detective either did not notice the curious note in the younger +one's voice, or noticing it, chose to ignore it, for with no change of +manner he proceeded to say:</p> + +<p>"I wish you would exercise your wits, Sweetwater, on the following +troublesome question: if the arrow which slew this young girl was in one +gallery at ten o'clock, how did it get into the other at twelve? The +bow"—here he purposely hesitated—"might have been brought up the iron +staircase. But the arrow——"</p> + +<p>His eyes were on Sweetwater (a direct glance was a rare thing with Mr. +Gryce), and he waited—waited patiently for the word which did not come; +then he remarked dryly:</p> + +<p>"We are both dull; you are tired with your day's work and I with mine: +we will let difficult questions rest until our brains are clearer. +But"—here he reached for the strip of dingy cloth he had cast aside, and +tossing it over to Sweetwater, added with some suggestion of humor,—"if +you want a subject to dream upon to-night, there it is. If you have no +desire to dream, and want work for to-morrow, make an effort to discover +from whose clothing that fell and what was its use. It was picked up in +Room B on the second floor, the one where Mrs. Taylor was detained before +going downstairs."</p> + +<p>"Ah, something tangible at last!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that; I honestly don't know. But we cannot afford to +let anything go by us. Little things like that have not infrequently +opened up a fresh trail which otherwise might have been missed."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater nodded, and laying the little strip along his palm, examined +it closely. It was made of silk, doubled, and stitched together except at +the ends. These were loose, but rough with bits of severed thread, as if +the thing had been hastily cut from some article of clothing to which it +had been attached by some half-dozen very clumsy stitches.</p> + +<p>"I think I understand you, Mr. Gryce," observed Sweetwater, rising slowly +to his feet. "But a dream may help me out; we will see."</p> + +<p>"I shall not leave here till ten to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir. If you don't mind, I'll take this with me."</p> + +<p>"Take it, by all means."</p> + +<p>As Sweetwater turned to go, he was induced by the silence of his patron +to cast a backward glance. Mr. Gryce had risen to his feet and was +leaning toward him with an evident desire to speak.</p> + +<p>"My boy," said he, "if your dreams lead you to undertake the search I +have mentioned, spare nobody; I say, spare <i>nobody</i>."</p> + +<p>Then he sat down; and the memory which Sweetwater carried away with him +of the old detective at the moment he uttered this final injunction was +far from being a cheerful one.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>"WRITE ME HIS NAME"</h3> + + +<p>Refreshed by a good night's rest and quite ready to take up his task +again, Mr. Gryce sat at the same table in the early morning, awaiting the +expected message from Sweetwater. Meanwhile he studied, with a fuller +attention than he had been able to give it the evening before, the +memorandum which this young fellow had handed him of his day's work. A +portion of this may be interesting to the reader. Against the list of +people registered on his chart as present in the museum at the moment of +tragedy, he had inscribed such details concerning them as he could gather +in the short time allotted him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I—Ephraim Short. A sturdy New Englander visiting New York for the first +time. Has a big story to take back. Don't care much for broken marbles +and pictures so dingy you cannot tell what you are looking at; but the +sight of a lot of folks standing up like scarecrows in a field, here and +there all over a great building, because something had happened to +somebody, will make a story the children will listen to for years.</p> + +<p>Address taken, and account of himself verified by telegraph.</p> + +<p>II—Mrs. Lynch. Widow, with a small house in Jersey and money to support +it. No children. Interested in church work. Honest and of reliable +character. Only fault a physical one—extreme nervousness.</p> + +<p>III—Mr. Carleton Roberts, director; active in his work, member of the +Union League and an aspirant for the high office of U. S. Senator. Lives +in bachelor apartment, 67 W. —— Street. A universally respected man of +unquestioned integrity and decided importance. Close friend of Curator +Jewett.</p> + +<p>IV—Eben Clarke, door-man. Been long in the employ of museum. Considered +entirely trustworthy. Home in decent quarter of West 80th Street. Wife +and nine children, mostly grown. Never been abroad. Has no foreign +correspondence.</p> + +<p>V—Emma Sutton, an art enthusiast, gaining her living by copying old +masters. Is at museum six days in the week. It was behind her easel +Travis found a hiding-place in Room H.</p> + +<p>VI—Mrs. Alice Lee, widowed sister of Edward Cronk Tailor, —— Sixth +Ave. Lives with brother. Kindly in disposition, much liked and truthful +to a fault. No acquaintance abroad.</p> + +<p>VII-VIII—John and Mary Draper, husband and wife, living in East Orange, +N. J. Decent, respectable folk with no foreign connections.</p> + +<p>IX—Hetty Armstrong, young girl, none too bright but honest to the core. +Impossible to connect her with this affair.</p> + +<p>X—Charles Simpson, resident of Minneapolis. In town on business, stopping +at Hotel St. Denis. Eager to return home, but willing to remain if +requested to do so. Hates foreigners; thinks the United States the +greatest country on earth.</p> + +<p>XI—John Turnbull, college professor; one of the new type, alert, +observant and extremely precise. Not apt to make a misstatement.</p> + +<p>XII—James Hunter, door-man, a little old for his work, but straight as +a string and methodical to a fault. No wife, no child. Bank account more +than sufficient for his small wants.</p> + +<p>XIII—Miss Charlotte Hunsicker, one of last season's débutantes. Given to +tennis and all outdoor sports generally. Offhand but stanch. It was she +who gave a woman's care to Mrs. Taylor when the latter fainted in Room B.</p> + +<p>XIV—Museum attendant coming up from basement.</p> + +<p>XV—Eliza Blake a school-teacher, convalescing after a long illness.</p> + +<p>XVI—Officer Rudd.</p> + +<p>XVII—Tommy Evans, boy scout. Did not lose his game. Went to the field +after lunching on pie at a bakery.</p> + +<p>XVIII—Mrs. Nathaniel Lord, wealthy widow, living at the St. Regis.</p> + +<p>XIX—Mrs. Ermentrude Taylor. (Nothing to add to what is already known.)</p> + +<p>XX—Henry Abbott, Columbia student, good-hearted and reliable, but living +in a world of his own to such an extent as to make him the butt of his +fellow students.</p> + +<p>XXI-XXII—Young couple from Haverstraw. Just married. He a drug-clerk, +she a farmer's daughter. Both regarded in their home town as harmless.</p> + +<p>XXIII—James Correy, attendant. Bachelor, living with widowed mother. +Fair record on the whole. Reprimanded once, not for negligence, but for +some foolish act unbecoming his position. Thorough acquaintance with the +museum and its exhibits. A valuable man, well liked, notwithstanding the +one lapse alluded to. At home and among his friends regarded as the best +fellow going. A little free, perhaps, when unduly excited, but not given +to drink and very fond of games. A member once of a club devoted to +contests with foils and target-shooting. Always champion. Visits a +certain young lady three times a week.</p> + + + +<p>XXIV—Curator Jewett. A widower with two grandchildren—a daughter +married to an Englishman and living in Ringold, Hants, and a son, owner +of a large ranch in California. Lives, when in city, at Hotel Gorham. +Known too well for any description of himself or character to be +necessary here. If he has a fault, or rather a weakness, it is his +extreme pride in the museum and his own conduct of its many affairs.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As on the evening before, Mr. Gryce lingered longest over one name. He +was still brooding anxiously over it when the telephone rang at his +elbow and he was called up from Headquarters. Cablegrams had been +received from London and Paris in acknowledgment of those sent, and in +both these cablegrams promises were made of a full examination into the +antecedents of Madame Duclos and her companion, Miss Willetts.</p> + +<p>That was all. No further news regarding them from any quarter. Mr. Gryce +hung up the receiver with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"It is likely to be a long road full of unexpected turns and perilously +near the precipice's edge," he muttered in weary comment to himself. +"Nothing to start from but——"</p> + +<p>Here Sweetwater walked in.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce showed surprise. He had not expected to see the young man +himself. Perhaps he was not quite ready to, for he seemed to shrink, for +one brief instant, as from an unwelcome presence.</p> + +<p>But the cheer which always entered with Sweetwater was contagious, +and the old detective smiled as the newcomer approached, saying +significantly:</p> + +<p>"I had those dreams you spoke of last night, Mr. Gryce, and found them +too weighty for the telephone."</p> + +<p>"I see, I see! Sit down, Sweetwater, and tell me how they ran. I haven't +as much confidence in my own dreams as I hope to have in yours. Speak +up! Mention names, if you want to. No echo follows confidences uttered in +this room."</p> + +<p>"I know that; but for the present perhaps it will be best for me to +follow your lead, and when I have to speak of a certain person, say X as +you do. X, Mr. Gryce, is the man who for reasons we do not yet understand +brought up the discarded bow from the cellar and stored it somewhere +within reach on the floor above. X is also the man who for the same +unknown reason robbed the quiver hanging in the southern gallery of one +of its arrows and kept the same on hand or in hiding, till he could mate +it with the bow. My dreams showed me this picture:</p> + +<p>"A man with a predominating interest in sport, but otherwise active in +business, correct in his dealings and respectable in private life, sees +and frequently handles weapons of ancient and modern make which rouse his +interest and awaken the longing, common to such men, to test his skill in +their use. Sometimes it is a sword, which he twirls vigorously in sly +corners. Again, it is a bow calling for a yeoman's strength to pull. He +is a man of sense and for a long time goes no further than the play I +have just indicated. Perhaps he has no temptation to go further until one +unfortunate day he comes upon an idle bow, rotting away in the cellar."</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Gryce looked sharply up—a proof of awakened interest which +Sweetwater did not heed. Possibly he was not expected to. At all events +he continued rapidly:</p> + +<p>"It was a fine, strong bow, a typical one from the plains. He took it +up—examined it closely—noted a slight defect in it somewhere—and put +it back. But he did not forget it. Before many days had passed, he goes +down cellar again and brings it up and stands it on end in—where do you +think, sir?—in the closet of the Curator's office!"</p> + +<p>"How did you learn that?"</p> + +<p>"From the woman who comes every day to wipe up the floors. I happened to +think she might have something worth while to tell us, so I hunted her +up——"</p> + +<p>"Go on, boy. Another long mark in your favor."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir. I'm relating a dream, you know. He stands it on end then +in this closet into which nobody is supposed to go but the Curator <i>and</i> +the scrubwoman, and there he leaves it, possibly as yet with no definite +intention. How long it stood there I cannot say. It was well hidden, it +seems, by something or other hanging over it. Nor am I altogether sure +that it might not be standing there yet if the impulse swaying X had not +been strengthened by seeing daily over his head a quiver full of arrows +admirably fitted for this bow. Time has no place in dreams, or I might be +able to state the day and the hour when he stood looking at the ring of +keys lying on the Curator's desk, and struck with what it might do for +him, singled out one of the keys which he placed in the keyhole of a door +opening upon a certain little iron staircase. He was alone, but he +stopped to listen before turning that key. I can see him, can't you? His +air is a guilty one; but it is the guilt of folly, not of premeditated +crime. He wants a try at that bow and recognizes his weakness and laughs.</p> + +<p>"But his longing holds, and running up the little staircase to a second +door, he unlocks this also and after another moment of hesitation pulls +it open. He has brought the bow with him, but he does not take it past +the drapery hanging straight down before his eyes. He simply drops it in +the doorway and leaves it there within easy reach from the gallery if +ever his impulse should be strong enough to lead him to make an attempt +at striking a feather from the Indian headdress on the other side of the +court. You think him mad. So do I, but dreams are filled with that kind +of madness; and when I see him shut the door upon this bow, and steal +back without relocking it or the one below, I have no other excuse than +this to give in answer to your criticisms."</p> + +<p>"I do not criticise; I listen, Sweetwater."</p> + +<p>"You will criticise now. As Bunyan says in his 'Pilgrim's Progress': 'I +dreamed again!' This time I saw the museum proper. It was filled with +visitors. The morning of May twenty-second was a busy one, I am told, and +a whole lot of people, singly and in groups, were continually passing up +and down the marble steps and along the two galleries. Partaking of the +feelings of the one whose odd impulses I am endeavoring to describe, I +was very uneasy and very restless until these crowds had thinned and most +of the guests vanished from the building. The hands of the clock were +stealing toward twelve—the hour of greatest quiet and fewest visitors. +As it reached the quarter mark, I saw what I was looking for, the man X +reaching for one of those arrows hanging in the southern gallery, and +slipping it inside his coat.—Did you speak, sir?"</p> + +<p>No, Mr. Gryce had not spoken; and Sweetwater, after an interval of +uncertainty, went quietly on:</p> + +<p>"As I saw both of his hands quite free the next minute, I judge that +something had been attached to the lining of that coat to hold the arrow +by its feathered head. But this is a deduction rather than a fact."</p> + +<p>He stopped abruptly. An exclamation—one of Mr. Gryce's very own—had +left that gentleman's lips, and Sweetwater felt that he must pause if +only for an instant, to enjoy his small triumph. But the delay was short.</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Mr. Gryce; and Sweetwater obeyed, but in lowered tones as +though the vision he was describing was actually before his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Next, I see a sweep of tapestry, and an eager, peering figure passing +slowly across it. It is that of the love-lorn Travis watching his +inamorata tripping up the marble staircase and turning at its top in the +direction of the opposite gallery. His is a timid soul, and anxious as he +is to watch her, he is not at all anxious to be detected in the act of +doing so. So he slips behind the huge pedestal towering near him, thus +causing the whole gallery to appear empty to the eyes of X, now entering +it at the other end. This latter has come there with but one idea in his +head—to shoot an arrow across the court at the mark I have mentioned. It +may have been on a dare—sometimes I think it was; but shoot it he means +to, before a fresh crowd collects.</p> + +<p>"He already has, as you will remember, the arrow hidden somewhere about +his person, and it is only a few steps to the edge of the tapestry behind +which he has secreted the bow. If he takes a look opposite, it is at the +moment when both Mrs. Taylor and Miss Willetts are screened from his view +by one of the partitions separating the various sections. For unless he +felt the way to be free for his arrow, he would never have proceeded to +slip behind his chosen pedestal, secure the bow, pause to string it, then +crouch for his aim in such apparent confidence. For after he has left the +open gallery and limited his outlook to what is visible beyond the +loophole through which he intends to shoot, he can see—as we know from +Mr. La Flèche—little more than the spot where the cap hangs and the one +narrow line between. Unhappily, it was across this line the young girl +leaped just as the arrow left the bow. Don't you see it, sir? I do; and I +see what follows, too."</p> + +<p>"The escape of X?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Inadvertently, as you see, he has committed a horrible crime; he +can never recall it. Whatever his remorse or shame, nothing will ever +restore the victim of his folly to life, while he himself has many days +before him—days which would be ruined if his part in this tragedy were +known. Shall he confess to it, then, or shall he fly (the way is so +easy), and leave it to fate to play his game—fate, whose well-known +kindness to fools would surely favor him? It does not take long for such +thoughts to pass through a man's head, and before the dying cry of his +innocent victim had ceased to echo through those galleries, he is behind +the tapestry and on his way toward the court. Beyond that, my dream does +not go. How about yours, sir?"</p> + +<p>"My dream was of a crime, not of an accident. No man could be such a fool +as you have made out this X of yours to be. Only an extraordinary purpose +or some imperious necessity could drive a man to shoot an arrow across an +open court where people were passing hither and yon, even if he didn't +see anyone in the gallery."</p> + +<p>"By which you mean——"</p> + +<p>"That he had already marked the approach of his victim and was ready with +his weapon."</p> + +<p>"You are undoubtedly right, and I only wish to say this: that the purpose +in my relation was merely to show the method and manner of this shooting, +leaving <i>you</i> to put on the emphasis of crime if you saw fit."</p> + +<p>The gravity with which Mr. Gryce received this suggestion had the effect +of slightly embarrassing Sweetwater. Yet he presently ventured to add +after a moment of respectful waiting:</p> + +<p>"Did you know that after I woke from my dream I had a moment's doubt as +to its accuracy on one point? The bow was undoubtedly flung behind the +curtain, but the man——"</p> + +<p>He paused abruptly. A morsel of clean white paper had just been pushed +across the table under his eyes, and a peremptory voice was saying:</p> + +<p>"Write me his name. I will do the same for you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>A LOOP OF SILK</h3> + + +<p>Sweetwater hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I am very fond of the one of your own choosing," he smiled, "but if you +insist——"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce was already writing.</p> + +<p>In another moment the two slips were passed in exchange across the table.</p> + +<p>Instantly, a simultaneous exclamation left the lips of both.</p> + +<p>Each read a name he was in no wise prepared to see. They had been +following diverging lines instead of parallel ones; and it took some few +minutes for them to adjust themselves to this new condition.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Gryce spoke:</p> + +<p>"What led you into loading up Correy with an act which to accept as true +would oblige us to deny every premise we have been at such pains to +establish?"</p> + +<p>"Because—and I hope you will pardon me, Mr. Gryce, since our conclusions +are so different—I found it easier to attribute this deed of folly—or +crime, if we can prove it such—to a man young in years than to one old +enough to know better."</p> + +<p>"Very good; that is undoubtedly an excellent reason."</p> + +<p>As this was said with an accent we will for want of a better word call +<i>dry</i>, Sweetwater, hardy as he was, flushed to his ears. But then any +prick from Mr. Gryce went very deep with him.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," he ventured, "you will give even less indulgence to what I +have to add in way of further excuse."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to hear it first."</p> + +<p>"Correy is a sport, an incorrigible one; it is his only weakness. He +bets like an Englishman—not for the money, for the sums he risks are +small, but for the love of it—the fun—the transient excitement It +might be"—here Sweetwater's words came slowly and with shamefaced +pauses—"that the shooting of that arrow—I believe I said something like +this before—was the result of a dare."</p> + +<p>A halt took place in the quick tattoo which Mr. Gryce's fingers were +drumming out on the table-top. It was infinitesimal in length, but it +gave Sweetwater courage to add:</p> + +<p>"Then, I hear that he wishes to marry a rich girl and shrinks from +proposing to her on account of his small salary."</p> + +<p>"What has that got to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing so far as I can see. I am only elaborating the meager report +lying there under your hand. But I recognize my folly. You ordered me +to dream, and I did so. Cannot we forget my unworthy vaporings and enter +upon the consideration of what may prove more profitable?"</p> + +<p>Here he glanced down at the slip of paper he himself held—the slip which +Mr. Gryce had handed him with a single word written on it, and that word +a name.</p> + +<p>"In a moment," was Mr. Gryce's answer. "First explain to me how, with the +facts all in mind, and your chart before your eyes, you reconciled +Correy's position on the side staircase two minutes after the shooting +with your theory of a quick escape to the court by means of the door back +of the tapestry? Haven't you hurried matters to get him so far in such a +short space of time?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Gryce, I have heard you say yourself that this question of time has +been, from the first, our greatest difficulty. Even with these three +means of escape in our minds, it is difficult to see how it was possible +for anyone to get from the gallery to the court in the minute or so +elapsing between the cry of the dying girl and the appearance at her side +of the man studying coins in the adjoining section."</p> + +<p>"You are right. There was a delay somewhere, as we shall find later on. +But granting this delay, a man would have to move fast to go the full +length of the court from the Curator's room even in the time which this +small delay might afford him. But perhaps you cut this inextricable knot +by locating Correy somewhere else than where he placed himself at the +making of the chart."</p> + +<p>"No, I cut it in another way. You remember my starting to tell you just +now how, in my dissatisfaction with a certain portion of my dream, I +refused to believe in the escape of my Mr. X by the way of the Curator's +office. The tapestry was lifted, the bow flung behind, but the man +stepped back instead of forward. An open flight along the gallery +commended itself more to him than the doubtful one previously arranged +for. If you will accept that for fact, which of course you will not, it +is easy to see how Correy might have been somewhere on that staircase +when the inspiration came to turn the appearance of flight into a show +of his own innocence, by a quick rush back into the further gallery +and a consequent loud-mouthed alarm. But I see that I am but getting +deeper and deeper in the quagmire of a bad theory badly stated. I am +forgetting——"</p> + +<p>"Many things, Sweetwater. I will only mention a very simple one. The +man who shot the arrow wore gloves. You wouldn't attribute any such +extraordinary precaution as that to a fellow shooting an arrow across +the court on a dare?"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't expect it, sir. But in going about the museum that +afternoon, I came upon Correy's coat hanging on its peg. In one of its +pockets was a pair of kid gloves."</p> + +<p>"You say the fellow is courting a rich girl," suggested Mr. Gryce. "Under +those circumstances some show of vanity is excusable. Certainly he would +not carry his folly so far as to put on gloves for the shooting match +with which you credit him, unless there was criminal intent back of his +folly—which, of course, would be as hard for you as for me to believe."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater winced, but noting the kindly twinkle with which Mr. Gryce +softened the bitterness of this lesson, he brightened again and listened +with becoming patience as the old man went on to say:</p> + +<p>"To discuss probabilities in connection with this other name seems futile +this morning. The ease with which one can twist the appearances of things +to fit a preconceived theory as exemplified by the effort you have just +made warns us to be chary of pushing one's idea too far without the +firmest of bases to support it. If you find a man's coat showing +somewhere on its lining evidences that there had once been sewed to it a +loop of the exact dimensions of the one I passed over to you last night, +I should consider it a much more telling clue to the personality of X +than a pair of gloves in the pocket of a man who in all probability +intends to finish up the day with a call on the girl he admires."</p> + +<p>"I understand." Sweetwater was quite himself again. "But do you know that +this is no easy task you are giving me, Mr. Gryce. Where a man has but +two coats, or three at best, it might not be so hard, perhaps, to get at +them. But some men have a dozen, and if I don't mistake——"</p> + +<p>"Sweetwater, I meant to give you a task of no little difficulty. It will +keep you out of mischief."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>NEWS FROM FRANCE</h3> + + +<p>For the next three days the impatience of the public met with nothing +but disappointment. The police were reticent,—more reticent far than +usual,—and the papers, powerless to add to the facts already published, +had little but conjectures to offer.</p> + +<p>The hunt for Madame Duclos continued, joined in now by the general +public. But for all the efforts made, aided by a careful search through +her entire baggage, there was as little known concerning her as on the +morning of her disappearance.</p> + +<p>Nor did any better success follow the exhibition at the morgue of the +poor little victim's innocent body. The mystery covering the whole affair +seemed to be impenetrable, and the rush made on the museum upon its first +reopening to the public was such as to lead to its being closed again +till some limit could be put upon the attendance.</p> + +<p>And thus matters stood when one morning the country was startled, and +the keenest interest again aroused in this remarkable case, by an +announcement received from France to the effect that the young lady so +unfortunately killed in one of the public buildings in New York City was, +from the description sent, not the ward of the woman Antoinette Duclos, +but her own child, Angeline Duclos. That the two were well known in St. +Pierre sur Loire, where they had lived for many years in the relationship +mentioned. At the convent where she was educated, she had been registered +under the name of Duclos—also at the hotel where she and her mother had +spent a few days before leaving for England. Though of pure French +descent, the father being a Breton, they could not furnish her +birth-certificate, as she had not been born in France. According to the +records to be seen at the convent, the father, Achille Duclos, was a +professor of languages, whom her mother had met in England and married in +France before going to the States. So far as known, their story was a +simple one, affording no reason, so far as could be learned, for any +change of name on the part of the young woman, in her visit to America.</p> + +<p>This was supplemented by a word from Scotland Yard, England, received a +few hours after the other, to the effect that Madame Duclos and Miss +Willetts arrived at the Ritz from Dover, on the morning of May 16th, and +left the next morning for Southampton. They spent the evening at the +theater with friends who called for them in a public automobile. These +people had not been found, but they had been advertised for and might yet +show up. Nothing more could be learned of either of them.</p> + +<p>Now here was an astonishing discovery! That two women known and +recognized as mother and daughter in France should pass for unrelated +companions on leaving that country to enter ours. What were we Americans +to think of this, especially in the light of the tragic event which so +soon terminated this companionship.</p> + +<p>That the French records, imperfect as they were, were to be relied upon +as stating the truth as to the exact nature of the connection between +these two, there could be no doubt. But granting this, what fresh +complexities were thus brought into an affair already teeming with +incongruities—nay, absolute contradictions.</p> + +<p>Madame Duclos' conduct, as shown toward her young charge, had seemed +sufficiently strange and inconsistent when looked upon as that of +governess or guardian. But for a mother, and a French mother at that, to +allow a young and inexperienced girl to go alone to a strange museum on +the very day of their arrival, and then, with or without knowledge of +what had happened to her there, to efface herself by flight without +promise of return, was inconceivable to anyone acquainted with the most +ordinary of French conventions.</p> + +<p>Some sinister secret, despite the seeming harmlessness of their lives, +must hide behind such unnatural conduct! Was it one connected with or +entirely dissociated from the tragedy which had terminated the poor +child's existence? This was the great question. This was what gave new +zest to the search for the dark-skinned Frenchwoman, with her drooping +eyelid and hesitating walk, and led Sweetwater to whisper into Gryce's +ear, as they stepped out that same day from Headquarters:</p> + +<p>"No more nonsense now. We must find that woman or her dead body before +the next twenty-four hours have elapsed. With our fingers on that end of +the string——"</p> + +<p>"We will get hold of some family secret, but not of the immediate one +which especially concerns us. Madame Duclos sent her daughter unattended +to the museum, but she did not direct the shaft which killed her. That +was the work of our friend X. Let us then make sure that we fit the right +man to this algebraic symbol, and trust to her testimony to convict him."</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached the taxi which was to convey Mr. Gryce +home. But though Sweetwater lent his arm to help the old man in, he did +it with such an air of hesitation that it caused the other to remark:</p> + +<p>"You have not ended your argument. There is something more you want to +say. What is it? Speak up."</p> + +<p>"No, no. I am quite satisfied, so far as the Duclos matter is concerned. +It is only—would you mind stepping aside for a moment till I tell you a +bit of gossip which has just come to my ears? Thank you, sir. Forbes is +all right" (Forbes was the chauffeur), "but confidences are sacred and +this thing was told me in confidence."</p> + +<p>The humorous twist of his features as he said this quite transformed his +very plain countenance. Mr. Gryce, noting it, began to stare at the first +isolated object handy, which in this case happened to be the crooked end +of his umbrella—a sign, to those who knew him well, of awakened +interest.</p> + +<p>"Well? Let's hear," he said.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't sound like much; but it will probably be news to you, as it +certainly was to me. It's this, Mr. Gryce: A certain gentleman we know +has been contemplating matrimony; but since this accident happened at the +museum,—that is, within the last two days,—the engagement has been +broken off."</p> + +<p>"So! But I thought he had not got so far as an engagement. You mean young +Correy——"</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Gryce, I do not. I mean—<i>the other</i>."</p> + +<p>"The other! Well, that's worth listening to. Engaged, eh, and now all of +a sudden free again? At whose instance, Sweetwater, his or hers? Did you +hear?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly, but—it's quite a story, sir. I had it from his chauffeur +and will tell it to you later if you are in a hurry to go home."</p> + +<p>"Home! Come back with me into Headquarters. I've got to sleep to-night."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater laughed, and together they retraced their steps.</p> + +<p>"You see, sir," the young detective began as they drew their chairs +together in an unoccupied corner, "you gave me a task the other day which +called for the help of a friend—one at court, I mean, a fellow who not +only knows the gentleman but has access to his person <i>and</i> his wardrobe. +X does not keep a man-servant—men of his intellectual type seldom +do—but does own a limousine and consequently employs a chauffeur. To +meet and make this chauffeur mine took me just two days. I don't know how +I did it. I never know how I do it," he added with a sheepish smile as +Mr. Gryce gave utterance to his old-fashioned "Umph!" "I don't flatter +and I don't bring out my pocketbook or offer drinks or even cigars, but +I get 'em, as you know, and get 'em strong, perhaps because I don't make +any great effort.</p> + +<p>"After an evening spent in the garage with this man, he was ready to +talk, and this is what slipped out, among a lot of nonsensical gossip. +Mr. X, the real Mr. X this time, has, besides his apartment in New +York, a place on Long Island. The latter has been recently bought and, +though fine enough, is being added to and refitted as no man at his age +would take the trouble of doing, if he hadn't a woman in mind. The +chauffeur—Holmes is his name—is no fool, and has seen for some time +that Mr. X, for all his goings to and fro and the many calls he is in the +habit of making on a certain young lady, did not expect him—that is, +Holmes—to notice anything beyond the limits of his work, or to recognize +in any way his employer's secret intentions. But fortunately for us, this +man Holmes is just one of those singularly meddlesome people whose +curiosity grows with every attempt at repression; and when, coincident +with that disastrous happening at the museum, all these loverlike +attentions ceased and no calls were made and no presents sent, and gloom +instead of cheer marked his employer's manner, he made up his mind to +sacrifice a portion of his dignity rather than endure the fret of a +mystery he did not understand. This meant not only keeping his eyes +open,—this he had always done,—but his ears as well.</p> + +<p>"The young lady, whose name he never mentioned, lives not in the city but +in that same Long Island village where Mr. X's country-house is in the +process of renovation. If he, Holmes, should ever be so fortunate as to +be ordered to drive there again, he knew of a gravel walk running under +the balcony where the two often sat. He would make the acquaintance of +that gravel walk instead of sitting out the hour somewhere in the rear, +as he had hitherto been accustomed to do. What's the use of having ears +if you don't use them? Nobody would be any the worse, and his mind would +be at rest.</p> + +<p>"And do you know, sir, that he did actually carry this cowardly +resolution through. There came a night—I think it was Tuesday—when the +order came, and they took the road to Belport. Not a word did his +employer utter the whole way. Solemn and still he sat, and when they +arrived he descended without a word, rang the bell and entered the house. +It was very warm, that night, Holmes said, and before long he heard the +glass doors open onto the balcony, and knew that his wished-for chance +had come. Leaving the limousine, he crept around to secure a place among +the bushes, and what he heard while there seemed to compensate him for +what he called his loss of dignity. The young girl was crying, and the +man was talking to her kindly enough but in a way to end whatever hopes +she may have had.</p> + +<p>"Holmes heard him say: 'It cannot be, now. Circumstances have changed for +me lately, and much as I regret it I must ask you to be so good as to +forgive me for giving up our plans.' Then he offered her money,—an +annuity, I believe they call it,—but she cried out at that, saying it +was love she wanted, to be petted and cared for—money she could do +without. When he showed himself again in front, he was stiffer and more +solemn than ever, and said 'Home,' in a dreary way which made the +chauffeur feel decidedly uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"Of course Holmes is quite blind to what this all means, but you may +possibly see some connection between this sudden act of sacrifice on X's +part and the work of the arrow. At all events, I thought you ought to +know that Mr. X's closet holds a skeleton which he will doubtless take +every pains to keep securely locked from general view. Holmes says that +his last word to the disappointed girl was in the way of warning. No +mention of this break in their plans was to be made without his +sanction."</p> + +<p>"Good work, Sweetwater! You have strengthened my hands wonderfully. Does +this fellow Holmes know you for a police-detective?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed not, sir. That would be fatal to our friendship, I am sure. I +haven't even let him discover that what he was burning to tell had any +especial interest for me. I let him ramble on with just a word here and +there to show I wasn't bored. He hasn't an idea——"</p> + +<p>"Very good. Now, what do you propose to do next?"</p> + +<p>"To take up my residence in Belport."</p> + +<p>"Why Belport?"</p> + +<p>"Because X proposes to move there, bag and baggage, this very week."</p> + +<p>"Before his house is done?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He hates the city. Wants to have an eye to the changes being made. +Perhaps he thinks a little work of this kind may distract him."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"Was a master carpenter once, you know."</p> + +<p>"I see."</p> + +<p>"And have a friend on the spot who promises to recommend me."</p> + +<p>"Are workmen wanted there?"</p> + +<p>"A good one, very much."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you'll fill the bill."</p> + +<p>"I shall try to, sir."</p> + +<p>"But for the risk you run of being recognized, I should bet on you, +Sweetwater."</p> + +<p>"I know; people will not forget the unfortunate shape of my nose."</p> + +<p>"You were up and down the museum for hours. He must know your face like a +book."</p> + +<p>"It can't be helped, I shall keep out of sight as much as possible +whenever he is around. I am an expert workman in the line wanted. I +understand my trade, and he will see that I do and doubt his eyes rather +than stretch probabilities to the point of connecting me with the Force. +Besides, I get quite another expression when my hands get in touch with +the wood; and I can look a man in the eye, if I have to, without a quiver +of self-consciousness. His will drop before mine will."</p> + +<p>"Your name as carpenter?"</p> + +<p>"Jacob Shott. It's the name by which Holmes already knows me."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, the game may be worth the candle. You can soon tell. I will +keep you posted."</p> + +<p>The rest was business with which we need not concern ourselves.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_III" id="BOOK_III"></a>BOOK III</h2> + +<h3>STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>FRIENDS</h3> + + +<p>A shaded walk, with a glimpse of sea beyond, embowering trees, a stretch +of lawn on one side, and on the other the dormer windows of a fine old +house half hidden by scaffolding, from which there came now and then the +quick strokes of a workman's hammer.</p> + +<p>It was half-past four, if the sharp little note of a cuckoo-clock, +snapping out one, told the time correctly.</p> + +<p>Two men are pacing this leafy retreat, both of whom we have seen before, +but under circumstances so distracting that we took little note of their +appearance, fine as it undoubtedly was in either case. However, we are +more at leisure now, and will pause for an instant to give you some idea +of these two prominent men, with one of whom our story will henceforth +have very much to do.</p> + +<p>One of them—the Curator of our famous museum—lacks comeliness of +figure, though at moments he can be very impressive. We can therefore +recognize him at a distance by means of a certain ungainliness of +stride sometimes seen in a man wholly given over to intellectual +pursuits. But when he turns and you get a glimpse of his face, you +experience at once the scope of mind and charm of spirit which make his +countenance a marked one in the metropolis. A little gray about the +temples, a tendency—growing upon him, alas!—to raise his hand to his +ear when called upon to listen, show that he has already passed the +meridian of life; but in his quick glance, and clear and rapid speech, +youth still lingers, making of him a companion delightful to many and +admirable to all.</p> + +<p>The other—Carleton Roberts, his bosom friend, and the museum's chief +director—is of a different type, but no less striking to the eye. For +him, personality has done much toward raising him to his present status +among the leading men of New York. While not tall, he is tall enough +never to look short, owing to the trim elegance of his figure and the +quiet dignity of his carriage. He does not need to turn his face to +impress you with the idea that he is handsome; but when he does so, you +find that your expectations are more than met by the reality. For though +he may not have the strictly regular features we naturally associate with +one of his poise and matchless outline, there is enough of that quality, +and more than enough of that additional elusive something which is an +attraction in itself, to make for handsomeness in a marked degree. He, +like his friend, has passed his fortieth year, but nowhere save in his +abundant locks can one see any sign of approaching age. They are quite +white—cut close, but quite white, so white they attracted the notice of +his companion, who stole more than one look at them as he chatted on in +what had become almost a monologue, so little did Roberts join in the +conversation.</p> + +<p>Finally the Curator paused, and stealing another look at that white head, +remarked anxiously:</p> + +<p>"Have you not grown gray very suddenly? I don't remember your being +whiter than myself the day I dined with you just preceding the horrible +occurrence at the museum."</p> + +<p>"I have been growing gray for a year," rejoined the other. "My father was +white at forty; I am just forty-three."</p> + +<p>"It becomes you, and yet—Roberts, you have taken this matter too much +to heart. We were not to blame in any way, unless it was in having such +deadly weapons within reach. How could one suppose——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, how could one suppose!" echoed the director. "And the mystery of +it! The police seem no nearer solving the problem now than on the night +they practised archery in the galleries. It does wear on me, possibly +because I live so much alone. I see——"</p> + +<p>Here he stopped abruptly. They had been strolling in the direction of the +house, and at this moment were not many paces from it.</p> + +<p>"See what?" urged the Curator with an accent one might almost call +tender—would have been called tender, if used in addressing a woman.</p> + +<p>"See <i>her</i>, that dead girl!—constantly—at night when my eyes are +shut—in the daytime while I go about my affairs, here, there and +everywhere. The young, young face! so white, so still, so strangely and +so unaccountably familiar! Do you feel the same? Did she remind you of +anyone we know? I grow old trying to place her. I can say this to you; +but not to another soul could I speak of what has become to me a sort of +blind obsession. She was a stranger. I know of no Madame Duclos and am +sure that I never saw her young daughter before; and yet I have started +up in my bed more than once during these past few nights, confident that +in another moment memory would supply the clue which will rid my mind of +the eternal question as to where I have seen a face like hers before? But +memory fails to answer; and the struggle, momentarily interrupted, begins +again, to the destruction of my peace and comfort."</p> + +<p>"Odd! but you must rid yourself of what unnerves you so completely. It +does no good and only adds to regrets which are poignant enough in +themselves."</p> + +<p>"That is true; but—stop a minute. I see it now—her face, I mean. It +comes between me and the house there. Even your presence does not dispel +it. It is—no, it's gone again. Let us go back once more and take another +look at the sea. It is the one thing which draws me away from this +pursuing vision."</p> + +<p>They resumed their stroll, this time away from the house and toward the +oval cut in the trees for a straight view out to the sea. Across this +oval a ship was now sailing which attracted the eyes of both; not till it +had passed, did the Curator say:</p> + +<p>"You live too lonely a life. You should seek change—recreation—possibly +something more absorbing than either."</p> + +<p>"You mean marriage?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Roberts, I do. Pardon me; I want to see your eye beam again with +contentment. The loss of your late companion has left you desolate, more +desolate than you have been willing to acknowledge. You cannot replace +her——"</p> + +<p>"I am wedded to politics."</p> + +<p>"An untrustworthy jade. When did politics ever make a man happy?"</p> + +<p>"Happy!" They were turned toward the house again. When near, Roberts +capped his exclamation with the remark:</p> + +<p>"You ask a great deal for me, more than you ask for yourself. You have +not married again."</p> + +<p>"But my mistress is not a jade. I find joy in my work. I have not had +time to woo a woman as she should be wooed if she's to be a happy second +wife. I should have so much to explain to her. When I get looking over +prints, the dinner-bell might ring a dozen times without my hearing it. A +letter from an agent telling of some wonderful find in Mesopotamia would +make me forget whether my wife's hair were brown or black. I don't need +diversion, Roberts."</p> + +<p>"Yet you enjoy a couple of hours in the country, a whiff of fresh +air——"</p> + +<p>"And a chat with a friend. Yes, I do; but if the museum were open——"</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts smiled.</p> + +<p>"I see that you are incorrigible." Then, with a gesture toward the house: +"Come and see my new veranda. Its outlook will surprise you."</p> + +<p>As you have already surmised, he was the owner of this place; and the man +for whose better understanding Sweetwater had again taken up the plane +and the hammer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE CUCKOO-CLOCK</h3> + + +<p>As they made their way through scattered timber and the litter of fresh +carpentry-work, the man who was busy there and who certainly had +outstayed his time took up his kit and disappeared around the corner of +the house. Neither noted him. The cuckoo-clock was chirping out its five +small notes from the cheerful interior, and the Curator was remarking +upon it.</p> + +<p>"That's a merry sound both sweet and stimulating; and what is still +better, I can hear it without effort. I believe I should like to have +a clock of that kind."</p> + +<p>"It goes where I go," muttered its strange owner with what seemed an +involuntary emphasis. Then as the Curator turned upon him in some +surprise, he added with studied indifference: "I brought it from +Switzerland when I was younger than I am now—a silly memento, but +I fancy it."</p> + +<p>A commonplace explanation surely; why, then, did that same workman, who +had stopped short after rounding the corner to pick up something which he +as quickly threw down, turn a quick head and listen eagerly for what +might be said next. Nothing came of it, for the veranda door was near and +the two gentlemen had stepped in; but to one who knew Sweetwater, the +smile with which he resumed his work had an element in it which, if seen, +would have darkened still further the gloom in the troubled eye of the +speaker.</p> + +<p>Switzerland! He had said Switzerland.</p> + +<p>It was not long after this that the Curator and his host left for New +York.</p> + +<p>The house was not quite ready for occupancy, but was in the process of +being made so by the woman who had done duty as housekeeper for Mr. +Roberts both before his marriage and since his wife's death. During the +fifteen years which had intervened, she had been simply the cook.</p> + +<p>This woman, Huldah Weston by name, did not accompany them. She was in +Belport to stay, and as it behooves us to remain there for a while longer +ourselves, we will join her in the quiet rest she is taking on the +kitchen steps before shutting up the house for the night.</p> + +<p>She is not alone. A young man is with her—one to whom she is giving +temporary board and lodging in exchange for the protection of his +presence and such slight help as he can afford her in the heavy task +of distributing and arranging the furniture.</p> + +<p>We know this man. It is the one we have just seen halting at the corner +of the house, on quitting his work on the new veranda—Sweetwater.</p> + +<p>He is a genial soul; she, though very old for the responsibilities she +still insists upon carrying, enjoys a good laugh. Nor is she averse to +the numberless little kindly attentions with which he shows his respect +for her age if not a personal liking for herself. In short, they are +almost friends, and she trusts him as she has never trusted any young man +yet, save the boy she lost when she was still a comely widow.</p> + +<p>Perhaps this is why, on this night when we find the two together, he +ventures to turn the talk upon the man she had so devotedly served during +the better part of her life.</p> + +<p>He began with the cuckoo-clock. Where did it come from? How long had they +had it? What a jolly little customer the wee bird was, darting out and +darting in with his hurry-call to anyone who would listen! It made a +fellow feel ashamed to dawdle at his work. It wouldn't do to let any mere +bird get ahead of him—a wooden bird at that!</p> + +<p>He got her talking. She had known Mr. Roberts' mother, and she had been +in the house (a young girl then) when he went away to Europe. He had not +wanted to go. He was in love, or thought he was, with a woman older than +himself. But the mother did not approve of the match, though the lady had +a mint of money and everything in her favor but those seven years. She +afterward became his wife and for all his mother's fears they lived +together very happily. Since her death which occurred about a year ago +he's been a different man; very sad and much given to sitting alone. +Anyone can see the effect it has had upon him if they look at him +closely.</p> + +<p>"She was a good woman, then?"</p> + +<p>"Very good."</p> + +<p>"Well, life must be lonesome for a widower, especially if he has no +children. But perhaps he has some married or at school?"</p> + +<p>"No, he has no children, and no relations, to speak of."</p> + +<p>"And he brought that clock from Switzerland? Did he ever say from what +part of Switzerland?"</p> + +<p>"If he did, I don't remember; I've no memory for foreign names."</p> + +<p>This sent Sweetwater off on another tack. He knew such a good story, +which, having told, he seemed to have forgotten all about the clock, for +he said nothing more about it, and not much more about Mr. Roberts.</p> + +<p>But when, a little later, he followed her into that gentleman's room for +the purpose of unlocking a trunk which had been delivered that day, he +took advantage of her momentary absence in search of the key to pull out +that cuckoo-clock from the wall where it hung and read the small slip of +paper pasted across its back. As he hoped, it gave both the name and +address of the merchant from whom it had been bought. But that was not +all. Running in diagonal lines across this label, he saw some faded +lines in fine handwriting, which proved to be a couplet signed with +five initials. The latter were not quite legible, but the couplet he +could read without the least difficulty. It was highly sentimental, and +might mean much and might mean nothing. If the handwriting should prove +to be Mr. Roberts', the probabilities were in favor of the former +supposition—or so he said to himself, as he swung the clock back into +place.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Weston returned, he was standing as patiently as possible in +the middle of the room, saying over and over to himself to insure +remembrance till he could jot the lines down in his notebook: <i>Bossberg, +Lucerne.... I love but thee—and thee will I love to eternity.</i></p> + +<p>His interest in this slight and doubtful clue, however, sank into +insignificance when, having unlocked and unstrapped the trunk which Mrs. +Weston pointed out, he saw to his infinite satisfaction that it held Mr. +Roberts' clothing—the one thing in the world toward which at this exact +moment his curiosity mainly pointed. If only he might help her handle the +heavy coats which lay so temptingly on top! Should he propose to do so? +Looking at her firm chin and steady eye, he felt that he did not dare. To +rouse the faintest suspicion in this woman's intelligent mind would be +fatal to all further procedure, and so he stood indifferent, while she +lifted garment after garment and laid them carefully on the bed. He +counted five coats and as many vests—and was racking his brains for some +plausible excuse for a nearer inspection, when she stopped in the midst +of her work, with the cheery remark:</p> + +<p>"That will do for to-night. To-morrow I will look them all over for moths +before hanging them away in the closet."</p> + +<p>And he had to go, leaving them lying there within reach of his hand, when +one glance at the lining of a certain coat which had especially attracted +his eye might have given him the one clue he most needed.</p> + +<p>The room which had been allotted to him in this house was in the rear and +at the top of a steep flight of stairs. As he sought it that night, he +cast a quick glance through the narrow passageway opening just beyond his +own door. Would it be possible for him to thread those devious ways and +reach Mr. Roberts' room without rousing Mrs. Weston, who in spite of her +years had the alertness of a watchdog with eye and ear ever open? To be +found strolling through quarters where he had no business would be worse +than being suspected of taking a personal interest in the owner's +garments. He was of an adventurous turn, and ever ready to risk something +on the turn of a die, but not too much. A false move might hazard all; +besides, he remembered the airing these clothes were to get and the +nearness of the clothes-yard to the pump he so frequently patronized, +and all the chances which this gave for an inspection which would carry +little danger to one of his ready wit.</p> + +<p>So he gave up the midnight search he might have attempted under other +circumstances, and shut his room from the moon and his eyes to sleep, and +dreamed. Was it of the great museum, with its hidden mystery enshrouding +its many wonders of high art, or of a far-off time and a far-off scene, +where in the stress of some great emotion the trembling hand of Carleton +Roberts had written on the back of this foolish clock for which he still +retained so great a fancy the couplet which he himself had so faithfully +memorized:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">I love but thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thee will I love to eternity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At eight o'clock on the following morning the quick strokes of the +workman's hammer reawakened the echoes at the end of the building where +the big enclosed veranda was going up.</p> + +<p>As the clock struck nine Mrs. Weston could be seen hanging up her +master's coats and trousers on a long line stretched across the +clothes-yard. They remained there two hours, viewed from afar by +Sweetwater, but not approached till he saw the old woman disappear +from one of the gates with a basket on her arm. Then he developed thirst +and went rearward to the pump. While there, he took a look at the sea. +A brisk wind was springing up. It gave him an idea.</p> + +<p>Making sure that his fellow workmen were all busy, he loosened one end of +the line holding the fluttering garments and then went back to his work. +As the wind increased, the strain on the line became too great, and soon +he had the satisfaction of seeing the whole thing fall in one wild flap +to the ground. With an exclamation calculated to draw the attention of +the men about him to what had happened, he rushed to the rescue, lifted +the line and rearranged the clothes. Then refastening—this time +securely—the end of the line which had slipped loose, he returned to his +post, with just one quick and disappointed look thrown back at the now +safe if wildly fluttering garments.</p> + +<p>He had improved his opportunity to examine the inside of every coat and +had found nothing to reward his scrutiny. But it was not this which had +given him his chief annoyance. It was the fact that the one coat from +which he had expected the anticipated clue—the coat which Mr. Roberts +had certainly worn on that tragic day at the museum—was not there. A +summer overcoat had filled out the number, and his investigation was +incomplete.</p> + +<p>Why was that one coat lacking? He was sure he had seen it the night +before lying on the bed with the others. Was it still there, or had it +been stowed away in drawer or closet, irrespective of its danger from +moths, for a reason he would give his eyeteeth to know but dared not +inquire into till he had clinched his friendship with this old woman so +thoroughly that he could ask her anything—which certainly was not the +case as yet.</p> + +<p>The absence of the one coat he wanted most to see afflicted him sorely. +He told Mrs. Weston, on her return, how the line had fallen and how he +had replaced it, but for all his wits, he could not get any further. With +the close of the day's work and the reappearance of Mr. Roberts, he +slipped away to the village, to avoid an encounter of the results of +which he felt very doubtful. His dinner would not be ready till after Mr. +Roberts had been served, and the three hours which must necessarily +elapse before that happy moment looked very long and very unproductive to +him, especially as he had found no answer as yet to the question which so +grievously perplexed him.</p> + +<p>He had paced the main street twice and had turned into a narrow lane +ending in the smallest of gardens and the most infinitesimal of houses, +when the door of this same house opened and a man came out whose +appearance held him speechless for a moment—then sent him forward with +a quickly beating heart. It was not the man himself that produced this +somewhat startling effect; it was his clothes. So far as his hat and +nether garments went, they were, if not tattered, not very far from it; +but the coat he wore was not only trim but made of the finest cloth and +without the smallest sign of wear. It was so conspicuously fine, and +looked so grotesquely out of place on the man wearing it, that he could +pass no one without rousing curiosity, and he probably had all he wanted +to do for the next few days in explaining how a fine gentleman's coat had +fallen to his lot.</p> + +<p>But to Sweetwater its interest lay in something more important than the +amusing incongruity it offered to the eye. It looked exactly like the one +belonging to Mr. Roberts which had escaped his scrutiny in so remarkable +a way. Should it prove to be that same, how fortunate he was to have it +brought thus easily within his reach and under circumstances so natural +it was not necessary for him to think twice how best to take advantage of +them.</p> + +<p>Father Dobbins—for that is the name by which this old codger was +known to the boys—was, as might be expected, very proud of his new +acquisition and quite blind to the contrast it offered to his fringed-out +trouser-legs. He had a smile on his face which broadened as he caught +Sweetwater's sympathetic glance.</p> + +<p>"Fine day," he mumbled. "Are ye wantin' somethin' of me that ye're comin' +this way?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps and perhaps," answered Sweetwater, "—if that fine coat I see +you wearing is the one given you by Mrs. Weston up the road."</p> + +<p>"'Deed, sir, and what's amiss? She gave it to me, yes. Came all the way +into the village to find me and give it to me. Too small for her master, +she said; and would I take it to oblige him. Does she want it back?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no—not she. She's not that kind. It's only that she has since +remembered that one of the pockets has a hole in it—an inside one, I +believe. She's afraid it might lose you a dime some day. Will you let me +see if she is right? If so, I was to take you to the tailor's and have it +fixed immediately. I am to pay for it."</p> + +<p>The old man stared in slow comprehension; then with the deliberation +which evidently marked all his movements, he slowly put down his basket.</p> + +<p>"I warrant ye it's all right," he said. "But look, an ye will. I don't +want to lose no dimes."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater threw back one side of the coat, then the other, felt in the +pockets and smiled. But Gryce, and not ignorant Father Dobbins, should +have seen that smile. There was comedy in it, and there was the deepest +tragedy also; for the marks of stitches forcibly cut were to be seen +under one of the pockets—stitches which must have held something as +narrow as an umbrella-band and no longer than the little strip at which +Mr. Gryce had been looking one night in a melancholy little short of +prophetic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>MRS. DAVIS' STRANGE LODGER</h3> + + +<p>"If you will look carefully at this chart, and note where the various +persons then in the museum were standing at the moment Correy shouted his +alarm, you will see that of all upon whom suspicion can with any +probability be attached there is but one who could have fulfilled the +conditions of escape as just explained to you."</p> + +<p>Stretching forth an impressive finger, Mr. Gryce pointed to a certain +number on the chart outspread between him and the Chief Inspector.</p> + +<p>He looked—saw the number "3" and glanced anxiously down at the name it +prefigured.</p> + +<p>"Roberts—the director! Impossible! Not to be considered for a moment. +I'm afraid you're getting old, Gryce." And he looked about to be sure +that the door was quite shut.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce smiled, a little drearily perhaps, as he acknowledged this +self-evident fact.</p> + +<p>"You are right, Chief: I am getting old—but not so old as to venture +upon so shocking an insinuation against a man of Mr. Roberts' repute and +seeming honor, if I had not some very substantial proofs to offer in its +support."</p> + +<p>"No doubt, no doubt; but it won't do. I tell you, Gryce, it won't do. +There cannot be any such far-fetched and ridiculous explanation to the +crime you talk about. Why, he's next to being the Republican nominee for +Senator. An attack upon him, especially of this monstrous character, +would be looked upon as a clear case of political persecution. And such +it would be, and nothing less; and it would be all to no purpose, I am +sure. I hope you are alone in these conclusions—that you have not seen +fit to share your ideas on this subject with any of the boys?"</p> + +<p>"Only with Sweetwater, who did some of the work for me."</p> + +<p>"And Joyce? How about him?"</p> + +<p>"He had the same opportunities as myself, but we have not reached the +point of mentioning names. I thought it best to consult with you first."</p> + +<p>"Good! Then we'll drop it."</p> + +<p>It was decisively said, but Gryce gave no signs of yielding.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that's impossible," said he. Then with the dignity of long +experience, he added with quiet impressiveness:</p> + +<p>"I have, as you know, faced crime these many years in all its aspects. +I have tracked the ignorant, almost imbecile, murderer of the slums, and +laid my hand in arrest on the shoulder of so-called gentlemen hiding +their criminal instincts under a show of culture and sometimes of wide +education. Human nature is not so very different in high and low; and +what may lead an irresponsible dago into unsheathing his knife against +his fellow may work a like effect upon his high-bred brother if +circumstances lend their aid to make discovery appear impossible.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Roberts is the friend of many a good man who would swear to his +integrity with a clear conscience. I would have sworn to it myself, a +month ago, had I heard it questioned in the slightest manner; and I may +live to swear to it again, notwithstanding the doubts which have been +raised in my mind by certain strange discoveries which link him to this +unhappy affair by what we are pleased to call circumstantial evidence. +For, as I am obliged to acknowledge, the one great thing we rely upon, in +accusations of this kind, is so far lacking in his case: I mean, the +motive.</p> + +<p>"I know of none—can, in fact, conceive of none—which would cause a +gentleman of even life and ambitious projects to turn a deadly weapon +upon an innocent child with whom he is not, so far as we can discover, +even acquainted. Dementia only can account for such a freak, and to +dementia we must ascribe this crime, if it is necessary for us to find +cause before proceeding to lay our evidence before the District Attorney. +All I propose to do at present is to show you my reasons for thinking +that the arrow which slew Angeline Willetts—or, as we have been assured +by unimpeachable authority, Angeline Duclos masquerading under the name +of Angeline Willetts—was set to bow and loosed across the court by the +gentleman we have just mentioned."</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Gryce stopped for a look of encouragement from the severely +silent man he was endeavoring to impress. But he did not get it. With +a full sense of his years weighing upon him as never before, he sighed, +but continued with little change of tone:</p> + +<p>"In the first day or two of keen surprise following an event of so many +complicated mysteries, I drew up in my own mind a list of questions which +I felt should be properly answered before I would consider it my duty to +submit to you a report to the disadvantage of any one suspect. This was +Question One:</p> + +<p>"'Whose was the hand to bring up into the museum gallery the bow +recognized by Correy as the one which had been lying by for an indefinite +length of time in the cellar?'</p> + +<p>"Not till yesterday did I get any really definite answer to this. Correy +would not talk; nor would the Curator; and I dared not press either of +them beyond a certain point, for equally with yourself, I felt it most +undesirable to allow anyone to suspect the nature of my theory or whom it +especially involved.</p> + +<p>"The Curator had nothing to hide on this or any other point connected +with the tragedy. But it was different with Correy. He had some very +strong ideas about that visit to the cellar—only he would not +acknowledge them. So yesterday, after the satisfactory settlement of +another puzzling question, I made up my mind to trap him—which I did +after this manner. He has, as most men have, in fact, a great love for +the Curator. In discussing with him the mysterious fetching up of the bow +and its subsequent concealment in the Curator's office, I remarked, with +a smile I did not mean to have him take as real, that only the Curator +himself would do such a thing and then forget it; that it must have been +his shadow he saw; and I begged him, in a way half jocose, half earnest, +to say so and have done with it.</p> + +<p>"It worked, sir. He flushed like a man who had been struck; then he grew +white with indignation and blurted forth that it was no more his shadow +than it was Mr. Roberts'—that indeed it was much more like Mr. Roberts' +than the Curator's. At which I simply remarked: 'You think so, Correy?' +To which he replied: 'I do not think anything. But I know that Curator +Jewett never brought up that bow from the cellar, or he would have said +so the minute he saw it. There's no better man in the world than he.' +'Nor than Mr. Roberts either,' I put in, and left him comforted if not +quite reassured.</p> + +<p>"So much for Question One—</p> + +<p>"Number Two is of a similar nature. 'Was the transference of the arrow +from one gallery to the other due to the same person who brought up the +bow?' Now, in answer to that, I have a curious thing to show you." And +lifting into view a bundle of goodly size, wrapped in heavy brown paper, +he opened it up and disclosed a gentleman's coat. Spreading this out +between them lining side out, and pointing out two marks an inch or so +apart showing the remains of stitches for which there seemed to have been +no practical use, he took from his own vest-pocket what looked like a bit +of narrow black tape. This he laid down on the upturned lining in the +space bounded by the two lines of marks I have mentioned, and drawing the +Chief's attention to it, observed in quiet explanation:</p> + +<p>"The one fits the other—stitch for stitch. Look closely at them both, I +beg, and tell me if in your judgment it is not evident that this strap or +loop, or whatever we may call it, has been cut away from this coat to +which it had been previously sewed—and by no woman either."</p> + +<p>Anyone could see that this had been so. There could be but one reply:</p> + +<p>"This coat I bought from an old man to whom it had been given by Mr. +Roberts' housekeeper on their arrival at his new home on Long Island. The +strip was picked up at the museum in the room where Mrs. Taylor spent an +hour or so immediately upon leaving the scene of crime. With her at the +time was the young lady who had kindly offered to look after her and two +or three men directly associated with the museum, of whom Mr. Roberts was +one. These and these only. Now, this strap or let us say loop, since we +are beginning to see for what purpose it was used, was not on the floor +previous to the entrance of these few persons into this room—or, indeed, +for some little time afterward. Otherwise this young lady, who was the +one to open my eyes to this clue, surely would have seen it in the +half-hour she stood at Mrs. Taylor's side with no one to talk to and +quite free to look about her. But it <i>was</i> there after that lady had +revived from her fainting-fit—dropped, as you see—cut from its owner's +coat and dropped! Chief, let me ask why this should have been done in a +time of such suspense if it had had nothing to do with the crime then +occupying everybody's attention—a good coat too, almost new, as you will +observe?"</p> + +<p>The Chief, possibly with a shade less of irony in his manner, answered +this direct question with one equally direct:</p> + +<p>"And what connection have you succeeded in establishing between this +abominable crime and the coat with or without a loop worn by the museum's +leading director? One as straight and indisputable, no doubt, as that you +have just attempted to make between this same gentleman and the museum +bow," he added with biting incredulity.</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned the other in calm disregard of the sarcasm, "straighter +and more indisputable, if anything. We are asking, as you will remember, +how an arrow could have been carried from the southern to the northern +gallery without attracting anyone's attention. I will show you how."</p> + +<p>With a rap on the table which brought Sweetwater into the room, he +proceeded to pin again into its old place on the lining of Mr. Roberts' +coat the so-called tag. Then, taking the arrow which Sweetwater proceeded +to hand him, he slipped it into the loop thus made and showed how +securely it could be held there by its feather end.</p> + +<p>"A man of Mr. Roberts' upright carriage might, with his coat well +buttoned up, walk the length of Broadway without disclosing the presence +of this stick," remarked Mr. Gryce as, at his look, Sweetwater doffed his +own coat and put on the one thus discreetly weighted.</p> + +<p>The Chief stared, paling slightly as he noted the result. Mr. Gryce, +who never overemphasised his effects, motioned Sweetwater to leave and +proceeded to the next question.</p> + +<p>"Number Three," he now observed, "should have come first, as it has +already been answered. It asks if it is possible to hit the mark in +Section II of the museum's gallery, from behind the pedestal in Section +VIII. From the pedestal nearest the front, <i>no</i>; but from the one further +back—upon which, by the way, Stevens found the print of a gloved +finger—<i>yes</i>.</p> + +<p>"Who wore gloves that day—kid gloves, mind you, for the mark of the +stitching is exact, as you can see in this print of the same made by +Stevens? All the ladies, except a young copyist who was leaving in a +hurry and had not stopped to put hers on. But of the men, only one—Mr. +Roberts, the careful dresser, who was never known to enter the street +without this last touch to his toilet. How do I know this? Look at the +chart, Chief—this one which shows the court and the persons in it at the +precise minute of first alarm. You see how near the exit Mr. Roberts was, +and who was closest to him. I had a little talk—the most guarded one +imaginable—with this lady, who was the very one of whom I have just said +that she had omitted to put on her gloves; and she gave me the fact I +have just passed on to you. She noted Mr. Roberts' hands, because they +shamed hers, and she was just stopping to pull her gloves from her +coat-pocket when Correy's voice rang out and everything else was +forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Corroborative, only corroborative, sir? I am quite aware of that. But +what I have now to add may give it weight. The stringing of a bow is no +easy task for an amateur; nor is the discharge of an arrow, under such +dangerous circumstances as marked the delivery of the one we are +discussing, one which would be lightly attempted by a person altogether +ignorant of archery. However strong the evidence might be against a man +who was not an utter fool, I would never have presumed to lay it out +before you if I had not verified the fact that the director, whatever his +life now, was once greatly addicted to sports, and thoroughly acquainted +with the management of a bow and arrow. It has taken time. Many +cablegrams were necessary, but I have at last received this copy of a +report made sixteen years ago by a club in Lucerne, Switzerland, in +which mention is made of a prize given to one Carleton Roberts, an +American, for twelve piercings of the bull's-eye in as many shots, in +an archery-contest which included all nationalities.</p> + +<p>"Nor is that all. In a study of himself,—his home, his life, his secret +interests,—we come upon things which call for closer inspection. For +instance, not a day has passed since that poor child has been in the +morgue that he has not been one on the line to see her. He dreams of her, +he says; he cannot get her face out of his mind—you notice that he has +been growing gray.</p> + +<p>"But I will stop here. I do not wonder that you look upon all this as the +ravings of a man on the verge of senility. If I were in your place, I +should undoubtedly do the same. But ungracious as the task has proved, I +owed it to myself to rid my mind of its secret burden. It is for you to +say whether, all things considered, I am to drop the matter here or +proceed blindly in search of the motive lying back of every premeditated +crime. I can imagine none in this case, as I have frankly stated, save +the very weak and improbable one already advanced by young Sweetwater in +connection with another party upon whom he had fixed his eye—that of the +irresistible desire of an expert to test his skill with a bow which comes +unexpectedly into his hands."</p> + +<p>"That wouldn't apply to Roberts—not in the least," affirmed the Chief +with the emphasis of strong conviction. "Even if we should allow +ourselves to regard these stray bits of circumstantial evidence as in any +way conclusive of the extraordinary theory you have advanced, he's much +too able and cautious a man to yield to any such fool temptation as that. +But to let that matter pass for the present: why have you paid such close +attention to one end of your string, and quite ignored the other? Madame +Duclos' hasty flight and continued absence, in face of circumstances +which would lead a natural mother to break through every obstacle put +in the way of her return, offers a field of inquiry more promising, it +appears to me, than the one upon which you have expended your best +energies. You say nothing of her."</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to say. I am glad to leave that particular line of +investigation to you, and more than glad if it has proved or is likely to +prove fruitful. Have you heard——"</p> + +<p>"Read that."</p> + +<p>He tossed a letter within the detective's grasp and leaned back while +Gryce laboriously perused it.</p> + +<p>It was illy written, but well worth the pains he gave to it—as witness:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>To the Chief of Police:</i></p> + +<p>Dear Sir:—I am told that there is a reward out for a certain woman by +the name of Duclos. I do not know any such person, but there is a woman +who has been lodging in my house for the last two weeks who has acted +so strangely at odd times that I have become very suspicious of her, +and think it right for you to know what she did here one night.</p> + +<p>It's about a fortnight since she came to my house in search of +lodgings. Had she been young, I would not have opened my doors to her, +decent as she was in her dress and ways; for she was a foreign woman +and I don't like foreigners. But being middle-aged and ready with her +money in advance, I not only allowed her to come in but gave her my +very best room. This is not saying much, because the elevated road runs +by my door, darkening my whole front, besides making an awful clatter. +But she did not seem to mind this, and I took little notice of her, +till one of the other lodgers—a woman with a busy tongue—began to ask +why this strange woman, who was so very dark and plain, went out only +at night? Did she sew or write for a living? If not, what did she do +with herself all day?</p> + +<p>As the last was a question I could easily answer, I said that she spent +most of her time in reading the newspapers; and this was true, because +she always came in with her arms full of them. But there I stopped, as +I never discuss my lodgers. Yet I must acknowledge that my curiosity +had been roused by all this talk, and I began to watch the woman, who I +soon saw was in what I would call a flustered state of mind, and as +unhappy as anyone could be who hadn't suffered some great bereavement. +But still I wasn't really alarmed, being misled by the name she gave, +which was Clery.</p> + +<p>Night before last I went to bed early. I am a heavy sleeper, as I need +to be with those cars pounding by the house every few minutes. But +there are certain noises which wake me, and I found myself all of a +sudden sitting up in bed and listening with all my ears. Everything +was quiet, even on the elevated road; but when the next train came +thundering along, I heard, piercing shrilly through the rumble and +roar, that same sharp <i>ping</i> which had wakened me. What was it? It +seemed to come from somewhere in the house. But how could that be! I +was startled enough, however, to get up and slip on some of my clothes +and stand with ears astretch for the next train.</p> + +<p>It came and passed, and right in the middle of the noise it made I +heard again that quick, sharp sound. This time I was sure it came from +somewhere near, and opening my door, I slid out into the hall. All +my lodgers were in but one, a young gentleman who has a night-key. And +most of the rooms were dark, as I can very well tell from the fact that +none of the doors fit as they ought to and there is sure to be a streak +of light showing somewhere about them if the gas is burning inside. +Everything looked so natural, and the house was so still, that I was +going back again when another train swept by and that sound was +repeated. This time I was sure it came from somewhere on the lower +floor, and mindful of Mrs. Clery's queer ways, I stole downstairs to +her door. She was up—that was plainly enough to be seen. But what was +she doing? I was just a little frightened, or I would have knocked on +the door and asked.</p> + +<p>As I was waiting for the passing by of the next train, my last lodger +came in and caught me standing there before Mrs. Clery's door. I know +him pretty well; so I put my finger to my lips and then beckoned him to +join me. As the train approached, I seized him by the arm and pointed +toward Mrs. Clery's door. He didn't know what I meant, of course, but +he looked and listened, and when the train had gone by, I drew him down +the hall and said, "You heard it!" and then asked him what it was. He +answered that it was a pistol-shot, and he wanted to go back to see if +any dreadful thing had happened. But I shook my head and told him it +was one of five, each one taking place when the roar of the trains +going by was at the loudest. Then he said that this woman was +practising at a mark, and bade me look out or we should have a house +full of anarchists. At that, I loudly declared she should go the first +thing in the morning and so got rid of him. But I did not keep my word, +and for this reason: When I went to do her room-work as I always do +immediately after breakfast, I was all smiles and full of talk till I +had taken a good look at the walls for the bullet-holes I expected to +see there. But I didn't find any, and was puzzled enough you may be +sure, for those bullets must have gone somewhere and I was quite +certain that they had not been fired out of the window. I hardly +dared to look at the ceiling, for she was watching me and kept me +chatting and wondering till all of a sudden I noticed that one of the +sofa-pillows was missing from its place. This set me thinking, and I +was about to ask her what she had done with it when my attention was +drawn away by seeing among the scraps in the wastebasket I had lifted +to carry out the end and corner of what looked like a partly destroyed +photograph.</p> + +<p>This was something too strange not to rouse any woman's curiosity, but +I was careful not to give it another glance till I was well out of the +room. Then, as you may believe, I drew it quickly out, to find that all +the middle part was gone—shot to pieces by those tearing bullets. Not +a particle of the face was to be seen, and only enough of the neck and +shoulders to show that it had been the portrait of a man. I enclose it +for you to see; and if you want to talk to the woman, she is still +here, though I only keep her in the hope of her being that Madame +Duclos for whom money is offered. I will tell you why I think this: Not +because of a torn skirt,—you see I have been looking over the +advertisement printed in the papers,—but because she is foreign and +dark and has a decidedly drooping eyelid. Then too, she halts a little +on one foot, as I noticed when I called her hurriedly to the window to +see something. If you want to have a look at her, come after five and +before seven; we are both in then.</p> + +<p>Yours respectfully,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caroline Davis.</span></p></div> + +<p>"No doubt that's the woman," commented Gryce. "We are fortunate in +hitting her trail at this critical moment."</p> + +<p>He had already glanced at the mutilated photograph lying before him, but +now he took it up.</p> + +<p>"Very little here," he remarked as he examined first the face of it and +then the back. "But if you will let me take it, I may find that its place +is in our incompleted chain."</p> + +<p>"Take it, and if you would like to have a talk with the woman +herself——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Chief; I would like that above all things."</p> + +<p>"Very good. I'm expecting her here any minute, but—Well, what now? +What's up?"</p> + +<p>An officer had entered hurriedly after one quick knock.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Davis' lodger is gone," said he. "Left without a word to anybody. +When they went to her room they found it empty, with a five-dollar bill +pinned to the riddled cushion. As nobody saw her go, we are as much at +sea as ever."</p> + +<p>A smile, both curious and fine, crossed Mr. Gryce's lips as he listened +to this, and turning earnestly to the Chief, he begged for the job of +looking her up.</p> + +<p>"I think with the little start we now have that I can find her," said he. +"At all events, I should like to try."</p> + +<p>"And let the other matter rest quiescent meanwhile?"</p> + +<p>"If it will."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know myself, Chief. All is hazy yet, but skies clear, and so do +most of our problems. If the two ends of my string should chance to come +together——"</p> + +<p>But here a look from his Chief stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Let us pray that they won't. But if they do, we shall not shirk our +duty, Gryce."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>MR. GRYCE AND THE TIMID CHILD</h3> + + +<p>"Assurance does it, sir—a great deal of assurance. Not that I have +much——"</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Gryce laughed, with the result that Sweetwater laughed also. A +moment of fun was a welcome relief, and they both made the most of it.</p> + +<p>"Not that I lack it entirely," Sweetwater hastened to say. Then they +laughed again—after which their talk proceeded on serious lines.</p> + +<p>"Sweetwater, what is that you once told me about a family named Duclos?"</p> + +<p>"Why, this, sir: There is one such family in town, as Peters discovered +in looking up the name in the directory a day or two after Madame's +disappearance. But there's nothing to be learned from them. Mr. and Mrs. +Edward Duclos are a most respectable couple and have but one answer to +every question. They know no one of their name outside their own family. +Though the man of the house is Breton born, he has lived many years in +this country, and in all that time has never met another Duclos."</p> + +<p>"And Peters let it go at that?"</p> + +<p>"Had to. What else could he do? However, he did make this admission—that +there was a child in the room who betrayed a nervousness under his +questions which was not observable in her elders, a girl of twelve or so +who put her hands behind her when she found she could not control their +twitching. And I've an idea that if he could have got this child by +herself, he might have heard something quite different from the plain +denial he got from the mother. I've always thought so; but I've had too +many other things to do to make an effort in this direction.</p> + +<p>"Now, if you approve, I'll see what I can do with this girl, for it +stands to reason there must be some place in town where this woman, just +off ship, found an immediate refuge and a change of clothing and effects. +Nor should I be much surprised if we should discover that she is an +inmate of this very house. What do you think, Mr. Gryce? Is it worth +looking into?"</p> + +<p>"It is worth my looking into. I have other work for you. Where does this +Duclos family live?"</p> + +<p>Sweetwater told him. It was in one of the Eighties, not a quarter of a +mile from the Hotel Universal.</p> + +<p>This settled, Mr. Gryce took from his pocket the mutilated photograph +which had served as a target to the woman in Fifty-third Street.</p> + +<p>"You see this," said he. "The face is all gone; only a sweep of the hair +on one side, and a bit of collar and the tip of a shoulder on the other, +remain to act as a clue. Yet I expect you to find the negative from which +this photograph was printed. It should not be so difficult,—that is, if +in the course of time it has not been destroyed,—for look here." And +turning over what remained of the mutilated photograph he displayed the +following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cor. 9th Street<br /></span> +<span class="i0">w York)<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"New York! The portrait was made here and—at Fredericks'. His studio was +on the corner of Ninth Street up to a few years ago. It's a trail after +my own mind. If that negative is in existence, I'll find it, if I have to +ransack half the photograph-studios in town. About how old do you think +this picture is?"</p> + +<p>"Old enough to give you trouble. But that you're used to. What we want to +know—what we must know—is this: The name of the man who has incurred +Madame's enmity to such a degree that she spends the small hours of the +night in knocking out his features from a fifteen-year-old photograph. If +it should prove to be that of a public man, rich or otherwise, we might +consistently lay it to social hatred; but if, on the contrary, it turns +out to be that of a private individual—well, in that case, I shall have +a task for you which may call for a little of that assurance of which we +have just acknowledged you possess a limited share."</p> + +<p>That evening, just at dusk, a taxicab which had been wandering up and +down a well-kept block in Eighty-seventh Street stopped suddenly in front +of a certain drug-store to let an old man out. He seemed very feeble and +leaned heavily on his cane while crossing the sidewalk toward the store. +But his face was kindly, and his whole aspect that of one who takes the +ills of life without bitterness or complaint. When halfway to his +goal,—for twenty steps are a journey to one who has to balance himself +carefully with every one,—he slipped or stumbled, and his cane flew out +of his hand. Happily—because he seemed unable to reach it himself—a +young girl just emerging from the drug-store saw his plight and stooping +for the stick, handed it to him. He received it with a smile, and while +it was yet in both of their hands, said in the most matter-of-fact way in +the world:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, little Miss Duclos." Then suddenly: "Where's your aunt?"</p> + +<p>She did not stop to think. She did not stop to ask herself what this +question meant or whether this old gentleman who seemed to know so much +about her and the family's secrets had a right to ask it, but blurted out +in nervous haste as if she knew of nothing else to do, "She's gone," and +then started to run away.</p> + +<p>"Come back, little one." His tone was very imperative, but for all that +of a nature to win upon a frightened child. "I know she's gone," he added +soothingly as she looked back, hesitating. "And I'm sorry, for I have +something for her. I recognized you the moment you stepped out of the +store; but I see that you don't remember me. But why should you? Little +girls don't remember old men."</p> + +<p>Again that benevolent smile as he poked about in one of his pockets and +finally drew out a little parcel which he held out toward her.</p> + +<p>"This belongs to your aunt. See, it has her name on it, Madame Antoinette +Duclos. It came to the lodging-house in Fifty-third Street just after she +left, and I was asked to bring it to her. I was going to your house as +soon as I had done my little errand at this store, but now that I have +met you, I will ask you to see that she gets it."</p> + +<p>The girl looked down at the parcel, then up at him, and reaching out her +hand, took it.</p> + +<p>His old heart, which had almost stopped, beat again naturally and with +renewed strength. He was on the correct trail. When Mrs. Duclos and the +rest of them had said that they knew of no one of their name in this +country but themselves, it was because the Madame of the Hotel Universal +was of their family—the widow of their brother, as this child's +acknowledgment showed.</p> + +<p>He was turning back to his taxi when the child, still trembling very +much, took a step toward him and said:</p> + +<p>"I don't know where to find my aunt. She didn't tell us where she was +going; and—and I had rather not take this parcel back with me. Mother +don't like us to speak of Aunt Nettie; and—and I don't believe Aunt +Nettie would care to have this now. Won't—won't you forget about it, +sir, if I promise to tell her some day that it was brought back and I +wouldn't take it?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce felt a qualm of conscience. The child really was too simple to +be made game of. Besides, he felt sure that she had spoken the truth, so +far as she herself was concerned. She didn't know where her erratic aunt +had gone; and any further questioning would only frighten her without +winning him the knowledge he sought. He therefore took the parcel back, +said some soothing words and made his way across the walk to his taxi. +But the number he gave the chauffeur was that of the house where this +little girl lived.</p> + +<p>He arrived there first. To him, waiting in the parlor and very near the +window, her shrinking little figure looked pathetic enough, as glancing +in at the taxi, and finding it empty, she realized who might be awaiting +her under her mother's eye. He remembered his grandchild, and made up his +mind, as she slid nervously in, that no matter what happened he would +keep this innocent child out of trouble.</p> + +<p>The lady who presently came in to receive him was one who called him +instinctively to his feet in respect and admiration. She was an American +and of the best type, a woman who, if she told a lie, would not tell it +for her own comfort or gain, but to help some one else to whom she owed +fealty or love. But would she lie for anyone? As he studied her longer, +taking in, in his own way, the candid expression of her eye and the sweet +but firm set of her lips, he began to think she would not, and the +interest with which he proceeded to address her was as much due to +herself as to the knowledge he hoped to gain from her.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Duclos?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. And you?"</p> + +<p>"I am a member of the New York police. My errand is one which you can +probably guess. You have a sister-in-law, the widow of your husband's +brother. As her testimony is of the utmost importance in the inquiry +which is to be made into the cause and manner of her daughter's death, I +should be very glad to have a few minutes' talk with her if, as we have +every reason to believe, she is in this house at the present moment."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Edward Duclos was a strong and upright woman, but this direct +address, this open attack, was too much for her. However, before +replying, she had a question of her own to put, and she proceeded to ask +it firmly, quietly and apparently with every expectation of its being +answered:</p> + +<p>"How did you learn that Mr. Duclos had a brother and that this brother +had left a widow?"</p> + +<p>"Not from you, madam," he smiled. "Nor from your husband. I very much +wish we had. We have been waiting for some such word ever since our +advertisement appeared. It has not come."</p> + +<p>She gave him a quick interrogating glance, folded her hands and answered +without further hesitation:</p> + +<p>"We had our reasons for silence, reasons which we thought quite +justifiable. But they don't hold good if we are to be brought into +conflict with the police. Mr. Duclos told me this morning that if we were +driven to speak we must do so with complete honesty and without quibble. +What do you want to know?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. First, your sister-in-law's story, then her reasons for +sending her child alone to the museum, as well as the cause of her flight +before she could have heard of that poor child's fate. More hangs upon an +understanding of these facts than I am at liberty to tell you. She +herself would agree with me in this if I could have a few minutes' +conversation with her."</p> + +<p>"She is not in the house. She left us late last night without giving us +the least hint as to where she was going. She is, as you can very well +see, as little anxious to talk of her great trouble as you are to have +her, and recognizing that attempts were being made to find her and make +her speak, she fled before it was too late. I am sorry she did so, sorry +for her and sorry for ourselves. We do not approve her course, whatever +reasons she may have for it. At the same time, I feel bound to assure +you that to her they are all-sufficient. She is a conscientious woman, +with many fine qualities, and when she says as she did to us, 'It is my +duty to flee,' and again as she bade us a final adieu, 'I will die rather +than speak a word of what is on my mind,' I know that it is no small +matter which sends her wandering about like this."</p> + +<p>"I should think not. A mother to leave her daughter to be exposed at the +morgue, and never intervene to protect her from this ignominy or to see +that she has proper burial after that dread display is over!"</p> + +<p>"I know—it was dreadful—and we! Do you not think we felt the horror of +this also?"</p> + +<p>"Your own flesh and blood—that is, your husband's. I wonder you could +stand it."</p> + +<p>"We had promised. She made us promise the first day she came that we +would keep still and make no move, whatever happened."</p> + +<p>"It was here she came then, directly from the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"I am obliged to admit it."</p> + +<p>"With her torn dress and her little bag?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you procured her different clothes and the suit-case in which she +now lugs about her effects?"</p> + +<p>"You seem to know it all."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Duclos, I hope you will answer my next question as honestly as you +have the previous ones. Had Madame Duclos heard of her daughter's death +when she first presented herself to you?"</p> + +<p>"Since you ask me this, I must answer. She was in great distress, but did +not tell me why, till I asked her where Angeline was. Then she broke down +utterly and flinging herself face down on the sofa, sobbed and wailed and +finally confided to us that a terrible accident had happened to the child +and that she was lying dead in one of the city's great museums."</p> + +<p>"Did she say what accident?"</p> + +<p>"No; she was almost delirious with grief, and we couldn't question her. +After the papers came and we had read the dreadful news, we tried to get +from her some explanation of what it all meant, but now she wouldn't +answer; before, she couldn't."</p> + +<p>"Did you ask her how she came to know that Angeline was dead, before the +news was circulated outside the museum?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but she did not answer, only looked at us. It was the most +despairing look I ever saw in my life. It made it easier for us to +promise her all she wanted, though we regretted having done this when +we came to think the matter over."</p> + +<p>"So you positively do not know any more than this of what she has so +religiously held secret?"</p> + +<p>"No; and I have got to the point where I do not wish to."</p> + +<p>"Did you know she was coming to this country?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—but not her reasons for doing so. She has been a little mysterious +of late."</p> + +<p>"Did she say she was going to bring her daughter with her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she mentioned Angeline. Also the name of the ship on which they +expected to sail."</p> + +<p>"Was this letter mailed from Paris or London?"</p> + +<p>"It came from Paris."</p> + +<p>"Did you understand that she was leaving France for good?"</p> + +<p>"I got that idea, certainly."</p> + +<p>"But not her reasons for it?"</p> + +<p>"No. The letter was very short and not very explicit. I really have given +you all the information I have on this subject."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Duclos, it is my duty to inform you that your sister-in-law had a +deep and intense hatred for a man to us at present unknown. Can you name +him? Is there anything in her early history or in what you know of her +later life, here and abroad, to enlighten you as to his identity?"</p> + +<p>With a steady look and a slow shake of her head, Mrs. Duclos denied any +such knowledge, even showing a marked surprise at what was evidently a +new development to her.</p> + +<p>"Antoinette has had little to do with the men since our brother's death," +she said. "I can hardly conceive of her being greatly interested either +in favor of or against any of the opposite sex."</p> + +<p>"Yet she is—even to the point of wishing him dead."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Duclos rose quickly to her feet, but instantly sat again.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Should he tell her? At first he thought not; then he reconsidered his +decision and spoke out plainly.</p> + +<p>"Madam," said he, "some day you will hear what I had rather you heard now +and from me. Madame Duclos left the lodging-house where she was so safe +because she was detected, or was suspicious of having been detected, +shooting the face from a photograph she had set up before her as a target +in the small hours of the night."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" The woman thus exclaiming was quite sincere. "I cannot +imagine Antoinette doing that."</p> + +<p>"Yet she did. We have the remains of the photograph."</p> + +<p>"And who was the man?"</p> + +<p>"When we know that, we shall know all, or be in the way of knowing all."</p> + +<p>"You alarm me!" She certainly looked alarmed.</p> + +<p>"Why, madam? Do you not think it better for the truth to be known in such +a case?"</p> + +<p>"You forget what I told you. Antoinette will not survive the betrayal of +her secret. She said she would not, and she is a woman who weighs her +words. There is a firm edge to her resolves. It has always worked for +good till now. I cannot bear to think of its working in any way for +evil."</p> + +<p>"Has she socialistic ideas? Can her hatred be for some of our plutocrats +or supposed oppressors of the people?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; she is of aristocratic descent and proud of her order. The +Duclos are bourgeois, but Antoinette is a De Montfort."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce suppressed all token of his instinctive amazement. This fine +American woman was not without a sense of reflected glory given by this +fact. Her sister-in-law was a De Montfort! Expressing his thanks for her +candor, he rose to depart.</p> + +<p>"For all that," said he, "she may be at heart a <i>révolutionnaire</i>." Then, +as he noticed the negation in her look, he added softly: "The least clue +as to her present refuge would make me greatly your debtor."</p> + +<p>"I cannot give it; I do not know it."</p> + +<p>And somehow he believed her as absolutely as even she could desire. If he +should yet be fortunate enough to find this elusive Madame, it would have +to be through some other agency than these relatives of hers by marriage.</p> + +<p>As he passed out, he heard a frightened gasp from somewhere back in the +hall. Turning, he asked in the most natural manner whether there were +children in the house.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Duclos answered with some dignity that she had three daughters.</p> + +<p>"You are fortunate, madame," he remarked with his old-fashioned bow. "I +live alone. My last grandchild left me a year ago for a man many years +my junior."</p> + +<p>This brought the little one into his view. She was smiling, and he went +away in a state of relief marred by but one regret:</p> + +<p>He was as ignorant as ever where to look for the mother of Angeline.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>MR. GRYCE AND THE UNWARY WOMAN</h3> + + +<p>Nevertheless Mr. Gryce was proud of the gain he had made in his talk with +Mrs. Duclos, and he smiled as he thought of his next interview with +Sweetwater. Assurance will often accomplish much, it is true, but it +sometimes needs age to make it effective. He could not imagine either +Mrs. Duclos or her daughter yielding to the blandishments of one even as +gifted in this special direction as Sweetwater. Authority was needed as +well—the authority of long experience and an ineradicable sympathy with +human nature.</p> + +<p>Thus he gratified himself with a few complacent thoughts. But when he +stopped to think what a great haystack New York was, and how elusive was +the needle which had escaped them now these three times, his spirits sank +a trifle, and by the time he had ridden a half-block on his way back to +Headquarters, he was at that low ebb of disheartenment from which only +some happy inspiration can effectually lift one. He was glad to be able +to report that he had learned a few important facts in regard to Madame +Duclos, but he equally hated to admit that for all his haste in following +up the clue given him, he knew as little as ever of her present +whereabouts; and hated even worse to have to give the cue which would +lead to a surveillance, however secret, over a house which held a child +of so sensitive and tremulous a nature as that of the little friend who +had picked up his stick in front of the drug-store.</p> + +<p>He was recalling to mind the pathetic spectacle presented by her agitated +little figure, when his eyes chanced to fall upon a small shop he was +then passing. It was devoted to ladies' furnishings, and as he took in +the contents of the window and such articles as could be seen on the +shelves beyond, a happy thought came to him.</p> + +<p>Madame Duclos had left her hotel in a hurry, carrying but few of her +belongings with her. A lady of cultivated taste, she must have missed +many articles necessary to her comfort; and having money would naturally +buy them. Prevented by her fears from going downtown, or even from going +anywhere in the daytime, what was left for her to do but to patronize +some such small shop as this. Its nearness to her late refuge, as well as +its neat and attractive appearance, made this seem all the more likely. +A question or two would suffice to settle his mind on this point and +perhaps lead to results which might prove invaluable in his present +emergency.</p> + +<p>Signaling to the chauffeur to stop, he got out in front of this little +shop, toward which he immediately proceeded, with an uncertainty of step +not altogether assumed. He did have some rheumatic twinges that day.</p> + +<p>Entering, Mr. Gryce first cast a comprehensive glance at the shelves and +counters, to make sure that he would find here the line of dress-goods in +which he had decided to invest; then, approaching the middle-aged woman +who seemed to be in charge, he engaged her in a tedious display of the +goods, which led on to talk and finally to a casual remark from him, +quite in keeping with the anxiety he had been careful to show.</p> + +<p>"I am buying this for a woman to whom you have probably sold many odd +little things within the past few days. Perhaps you knew her taste, and +can help me choose what will please her. She lives down the street and +buys always in the evening—a dark, genteel appearing Frenchwoman, with +a strange way of looking down even when other people would be likely to +look up. Do you remember her?"</p> + +<p>Yes, she remembered her and recognized her perfectly from this +description. He saw this at once, but he kept right on talking as he +handled first one piece of goods and then another, seeming to hesitate +between the gray and the brown.</p> + +<p>"She went out of town yesterday, and wanted this material sent after +her. Do you think you could do that for me, or shall I have to see to +expressing it myself? I'll do it if I must—only I've forgotten her exact +address." This he muttered self-reproachfully, "I've a shocking bad +memory, and it's growing worse every day. You don't happen to know where +she's gone to, do you?"</p> + +<p>The innocence of this appeal from one of his years and benevolent aspect +did not appear to raise the woman's suspicion; yet she limited her reply +to this short statement:</p> + +<p>"I'll send the goods, if you will make your choice." And it was not till +long after that he learned that Madame Duclos, being very anxious for her +mail and such newspapers as she wanted, had made arrangements with this +woman to forward them.</p> + +<p>Disappointed, but still hoping for some acknowledgment that would give +him what he wanted, he continued to putter with the goods, when she broke +in with harsh decision:</p> + +<p>"I think she would prefer the gray."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you?" said he, with just a hint of disapproval at the suggestion. +"I like brown best, myself; but let it be the gray. Ten yards," he +ordered. "She was particular to say that she wanted ten yards, and +that I was to be sure and purchase the dress at the shop adjoining the +drug-store. You see I have obeyed her," he added with a touch of senility +in his quiet chuckle which threw the busy woman off her guard.</p> + +<p>"I fear," said she, "that the dress I sold her before will not prove very +becoming. But gray is always good. That's why I advised it."</p> + +<p>"I see, I see," chattered away the old man, not without some slight +compunction. "But in my opinion she's too dark for such somber dresses. +I've told her so a score of times." Then as he watched the woman before +him rolling up the goods he proceeded to ask with fussy importunity what +she thought the express charges were likely to be, for he wanted to pay +the whole bill and be done with it.</p> + +<p>She was caught—caught fairly this time, though I doubt if she ever knew +it.</p> + +<p>"We don't often send up the river," said she. "But I should say that for +a package of this size and weight the charges would be about forty cents. +But that you can leave her to pay. She will be quite willing to do so, I +am sure."</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course—I didn't think of that. She'll pay for it, of +course she'll pay for it." And he continued to fuss and chat, with that +curious mixture of native shrewdness and senile interest in little things +which he thought most likely to impress the woman attending him, and trap +her into giving him the complete address.</p> + +<p>But she was too wary, or too much preoccupied with her own affairs, to +let the cat any farther out of the bag, and he had to be content with her +promise, that the package should be given to the expressman as early as +possible the next morning.</p> + +<p>The feebleness he showed while leaving the shop was in marked contrast, +however, to the vigor with which he took down the telephone-receiver in +the booth of the neighboring drug-store. But she was not there to see; +nor anyone else who had the least interest in his movements. He could, +therefore, give all the emphasis he desired to the demand he made upon +Headquarters for a close watch to be set on the adjoining dry-goods shop, +for the purpose of intercepting and obtaining the address of a certain +package, on the point of being expressed from there to some place up the +river.</p> + +<p>Then he went home; for by now he was fully as tired as his years +demanded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>PERPLEXED</h3> + + +<p>"Elvira Brown."</p> + +<p>"Elvira Brown? That the name on the package?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And the address?"</p> + +<p>The name of a small town in the Catskills was given him.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Very good work." And Mr. Gryce hung up the receiver. Then he +stood thinking.</p> + +<p>"Elvira Brown! A very fair alias—that is, the <i>Brown</i> end. But what am I +to think of <i>Elvira</i>? And what am I to think of the <i>Brown</i>, now that I +remember that the woman who has chosen to hide her identity under another +name is a Frenchwoman. Something queer! Let me see if I can call up the +station-master at the place she's gone."</p> + +<p>A long-distance connection proving practicable, he found himself after a +little while in communication with the man he wanted.</p> + +<p>"I'm Gryce, of the New York police. A woman in whom we're greatly +interested has just entered your town under the name of Elvira Brown."</p> + +<p><i>"Elvira Brown!"</i></p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce was startled at the tone in which this was repeated, even +making due allowance for the medium through which it came.</p> + +<p>"Yes. What's there strange about that?"</p> + +<p>"Only this: That's the name of a woman who has lived in these mountains +for forty years, and who died here three days ago. To-day we're going +to bury her."</p> + +<p>This <i>was</i> a blow to the detective's expectations. What awful mistake had +he made? Or had it been made by the man detailed to steal the name from +the package—or by the woman in the shop, or by all these combined? He +could not stop to ask; but he caught at the first loose end which +presented itself.</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't she we're after, that's certain. The one we want is +middle-aged, and plain in looks and dress. If she came into your town, it +was yesterday or possibly the night before. You wouldn't be apt to notice +her, unless your attention was caught by her lameness. Do you remember +any such person?"</p> + +<p>"No, and I don't think anyone like that passed through my station. We're +off the main road, and our travelers are few. I would have noticed the +arrival of a woman like that."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce, with an exclamation of chagrin, hung up the receiver. He felt +completely balked.</p> + +<p>But old as he was, he still had some of the tenacity of youth. He was not +willing to accept defeat without one more effort. Going downtown as +usual, he wandered again into the little dry-goods shop to see if the +package had been sent.</p> + +<p>Yes, it had gone, but the expressman had had some trouble with a drunken +man who actually took the package out of his hands and didn't give it +back without a squabble. Strange how men can drink till they can't see, +and so early in the morning, at that!</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce's vigorous hunch dismissed summarily this expression of opinion +as altogether feminine. But he had something to say about the package +itself, which kept the good woman waiting, though a customer or two +demanded her attention.</p> + +<p>"You'll think me a fussy old man," said he, "but I've worried about that +package all night. She needs a new dress so much, and I'm afraid you +didn't have the right address. I remember it now—it was—was——"</p> + +<p>"Barford on the Hudson," she finished promptly. Evidently she begrudged +the time she was wasting on his imbecilities.</p> + +<p>"That's it; that's it. 'Way up in the Catskills, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Those people are waiting, sir. I shall really——"</p> + +<p>"One moment! I want to buy something more for her. But I'll send it +myself this time; I won't bother you again. Another dress, something +bright and prettier than anything she has. She'll forgive me. She'll be +glad to have it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, sir." The woman was really very much embarrassed. She was +honest to the core, and though she enjoyed seeing her goods disappear +from the shelves, it wasn't in her heart to take advantage of a man so +old as this. "I'm afraid she wouldn't be pleased. You see, it isn't a +fortnight since she bought and made up the one I sold her first, and she +thought that a great extravagance. Now with the gray——"</p> + +<p>"Are you speaking of the blue one?"</p> + +<p>"No, it wasn't blue."</p> + +<p>"What color was it? Haven't you a bit left to show me? I should know +better what to do, then."</p> + +<p>She pointed to a bolt of striped wool—a little gaudy for a woman whose +taste they had both been speaking of as inclined to the plain and somber.</p> + +<p>"That? But that's bright enough. I've never seen her in that."</p> + +<p>"She didn't like it. But something made her take it. She wore it when she +came in last."</p> + +<p>"She did! Then I'm satisfied. Thankee all the same. Just give me a pair +of gloves for her, and I'll be getting on."</p> + +<p>She picked out a pair for him, and he trotted away, mumbling cheerily to +himself as he passed between the counters. But once in his taxi again, +he concentrated all his thought on that bolt of striped dress-goods. The +colors were crimson and black, with a dot here and there of some lighter +shade! He took pains to fix it in his mind, for this was undoubtedly the +dress she fled in—an important clue to him, if this hunt should resolve +itself into a chase with doubling and redoubling of the escaping quarry.</p> + +<p>He spent the next two hours in acquainting himself with the location and +some of the conditions of the town he now meant to visit. Though he could +not understand Madame Duclos' reason for taking the name of a woman so +well known as this Elvira Brown, there was something in this circumstance +and the fact that the person so styled had been at that moment at the +point of death, which called, as he felt, for personal investigation. He +hardly felt fit for any such purely speculative expedition as this; +especially as he must do without the companionship, to say nothing of the +assistance, of Sweetwater, whom he hardly felt justified in withdrawing +from the task he had given him. So he picked out a fellow named Perry; +and together they took the West Shore into Greene County, where they +stopped at a station from which a branch road ran to the small town +whither the package addressed to Elvira Brown had preceded them.</p> + +<p>Accidents frequently determine our course, as well as turn us from the +one we had mapped out for ourselves. By accident I mean, in this case, an +actual one which had occurred on the branch road I have mentioned, by +which the trains were held up and further progress in that direction made +impossible. When this came to the knowledge of Mr. Gryce, he found it +necessary to choose between trusting himself to an automobile for the +rest of the journey, or of remaining all night in the town where the +train had stopped. A glance at the hills towering up between him and his +goal decided him to wait for the running of the trains next day; and +after an inquiry or two, he left the station on foot for the hotel to +which he had been recommended.</p> + +<p>A philosopher, in many regards, Mr. Gryce quieted himself, under the +irritation of this annoyance, with the thought that in this world we do +not always know just what is best for us; and that the few hours of rest +thus forced upon him by the seemingly unfortunate break in his plans +might prove in the end to be the best thing that could happen to him. He +accordingly took a good room, enjoyed a good dinner and then sat down in +the lobby to have an equally good smoke. He chose a chair which gave him +a prospect of the river, and for a long time, while vaguely listening to +the talk about him, he feasted his eyes on the view and allowed some of +its calm to enter his perturbed spirit. But gradually, as he looked and +smoked, he found his attention caught, first by what a man was saying in +his rear, and secondly by something he saw intervening between himself +and the flow of shining river which had hitherto filled his eye.</p> + +<p>The sentence which had roused him was one quite foreign to his thoughts +and seemingly of little importance to him or to anyone about. It was in +connection with a factory on the other side of the river, which was +running overtime, and had not help enough to fill its orders.</p> + +<p>"It's women we want," he heard shouted out. "Young women, middle-aged +women, any sort of women who are anxious for steady work and good wages."</p> + +<p>The emphasis with which this announcement was made perhaps gave it point; +at all events this one brief sentence sank into Mr. Gryce's ear just as +he began to notice a woman who sat with her back to him on the hotel +piazza.</p> + +<p>He was not thinking of Madame Duclos at that moment; nor was there the +least thing about this woman to recall his secret quarry to mind. Yet +once his eyes had fallen on her, they remained there for several minutes.</p> + +<p>Why?</p> + +<p>Perhaps because she sat so unnaturally still. In all the time he stared +at her simple bonnet and decently clothed shoulders, the silhouette she +made against the silver band of the river did not change by an iota. He +had been agaze upon the landscape too, but he was sure that he had not +sat as still as this, and when, after an interval during which he had +turned to see what kind of man it was who had spoken so vigorously, he +wheeled back into place and glanced out again through his window, she was +there yet, hat, shoulders and all, immovable as an image and almost as +rigid.</p> + +<p>Well, and what of it? There was surely nothing very remarkable in so +commonplace a fact; yet during the ensuing half-hour, during which he +gave, or tried to give, the greater part of his attention to the +political talk which followed the statements he had heard made in regard +to the needs of a certain factory, his eye would turn riverward from time +to time and always with a view to see if this woman had moved. And not +once did he detect the least change in her attitude.</p> + +<p>"She will sit there all night," he muttered to himself; and after a while +his curiosity mounted to such a pitch that he got up and went out on the +piazza for one of his short strolls.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h3>HE REMEMBERS</h3> + + +<p>Just an ordinary woman, lost in a dream of some kind while awaiting her +departure on an out-going train!—or such was Detective Gryce's +conclusion as he hobbled slowly past her.</p> + +<p>Why should he give her a moment's thought? Yet he did. He noticed her +dress and the way she held her hands, and the fact, not suspected before, +that she was not looking out at the landscape outspread before her eyes, +but down into her lap at her own hands clasped together in an unnaturally +tight grip. Then he straightway forgot her in the thought of that other +woman whose track he was following with such poor promise of success. +Madame Duclos' image was in his mind as plainly as if she sat before him +in place of this chance passenger. He knew the sort of hat she would wear +(or thought he did). He also knew the color of her dress. Had he not been +shown the piece of goods from which it had been taken? And had he not +understood her choice, bizarre as it was, and for this very reason, that +it was bizarre? Being a woman of subtle mind, she would reason that +since the police were seeking one of plain exterior and simple dress, a +gaudy frock would throw them off their guard and insure her immunity from +any close inspection. Therefore this striped material rather than the +plain black she so much preferred. Then her eyes! She would try to hide +the defect which particularized them, by the use of glasses or, at least, +by a very heavy veil. While her walk—well! she might successfully +conceal her halting step if she were not hurried. But he promised himself +that he would be very careful to see that any woman rousing his suspicion +should be given some reason for hurrying.</p> + +<p>While thus musing, he had reached the farther end of the piazza. In +wheeling about to come back, the woman whose profile he now faced +attracted his eye again, in spite of himself, and he gave her another +idle thought. How absorbing was the subject upon which she was brooding, +and how deeply it affected her!</p> + +<p>It struck him as he quietly repassed her that he had never seen a sadder +face. Then that impression passed from his mind, for he saw Perry coming +toward him with a pencil and telegram-blank in hand. He had decided to +let Sweetwater know where he could be reached that night, and Perry had +come for the message.</p> + +<p>It must have been fully two hours later that Mr. Gryce, sitting down in +his former chair, looked up and found his view unobstructed to the river. +The woman had gone.</p> + +<p>Just for the sake of saying something to Perry, who had drawn up beside +him, he remarked upon the fact, adding in explanation of his interest in +so small a matter:</p> + +<p>"It's the thoughts and feelings of people which take hold of my curiosity +now. Human nature is a big book, a great book. I have only begun to +thumb it, and I'm an old man. Some people betray their emotions in one +way, some in another. Some are loudest when most troubled, and some are +so quiet one would think them dead. The woman I was watching there was +one of the quiet ones; her trouble was deep; that was apparent from her +outline—an outline which never varied."</p> + +<p>"Yes, she's a queer duck. I saw her: I even did an errand for her—that +was before you sat down here."</p> + +<p>"You did an errand for her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; she wanted a newspaper. Of course I was glad to get it for her, as +she said she was lame."</p> + +<p>"Lame?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I suppose she spoke the truth. I didn't think of her being in any +special trouble, but I did think her an odd one. She seemed to be wearing +two dresses."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce started and turned sharply toward him.</p> + +<p>"What's that you say? What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"Why, this: when she stopped to get her money out of some hidden pocket, +she pulled up the skirt of her dress, and I saw another one under it. +Perhaps she thought that was the easiest way of carrying it. I noticed +that her suit-case was a small one."</p> + +<p>"Describe that under-frock to me." Mr. Gryce's air and tone were +unaccountably earnest. "What was its color?"</p> + +<p>"Why, reddish, I think. No, it had stripes in it and something like +spots. Do you suppose it was her petticoat?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce brought his hand down on his lame knee and did not seem to feel +it. "Find out where she's gone!" he cried. "No, I will do it myself." +And before the other could recover from his astonishment, he had started +for the piazza where he had just seen the proprietor of the hotel take +his seat.</p> + +<p>"This comes from an old man's folly in thinking he could manage an affair +of this kind without help," he mumbled to himself as he went stumping +along. "Had I told Perry whom we were after and how he was to recognize +her, I should have spent my time talking with this woman instead of +staring at her. Two dresses! with the bright one under! Well, she's even +more subtle than I thought."</p> + +<p>And by this time, having reached the man he sought, he put his question:</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me anything about the woman who was sitting here? Who she +is and where she has gone?"</p> + +<p>"The woman who was sitting here? Why, I should say she was a factory hand +and has gone to her work on the other side of the river."</p> + +<p>"Her name? Do you know her name? I'm a detective from New York—one of +the regular police force. I'm in search of a woman not unlike the one +I saw here, though not, I am bound to state, a factory worker except on +compulsion."</p> + +<p>"You are! A police detective, eh, and at your age! It must be a healthy +employment. But about this woman! I'm sorry, but I can't tell you +anything except that she came on the same train you did and wanted a boat +right away to take her across the river. You see, we've no ferry here, +and I told her so, and the only way she could get across was to wait for +Phil Jenkins, who was going over at five. She said she would wait, and +sat down here, refusing dinner, or even to enter the house. Perhaps she +wasn't hungry, and perhaps she didn't wish to register, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Had her speech an accent? Did you take her for a foreign woman?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did and I didn't. She spoke very well. She's not young, you +know?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not looking for a young woman."</p> + +<p>"Well, she's gone and you can't reach her to-night. There they are now, +see! about a quarter of the way across. That small boat just slipping +across the wake of the big one."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce looked and saw that she was in the way of escape for to-night.</p> + +<p>"When can I get over?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not till Phil crosses again to-morrow noon."</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile, she may go anywhere. I shall certainly lose her."</p> + +<p>"Hardly. She's bound for the factory; you can just see the roof of +it above the trees a little to the right. She asked me all sorts of +questions about the work over there, and whether there were decent places +to live in within walking distance of the factory."</p> + +<p>"Then she isn't lame? My woman is a trifle lame."</p> + +<p>"So may this woman be, for all I know. I didn't see her on her feet, but +she carried no crutch—only a bag and an umbrella."</p> + +<p>"A brown bag, neat like herself in appearance?"</p> + +<p>"No. It was light in color and old. She herself was neat enough."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce's brows came together. He was in a quandary. He felt convinced, +with a positiveness which surprised him, that in watching the withdrawal +of this small boat farther and farther toward the opposite shore, he was +watching the escape of Antoinette Duclos from his immediate interference.</p> + +<p>Yet, circumstantial as were the proofs which had led him to this +conclusion, he felt that he would gladly welcome some further +corroboration of those proofs before risking the time and opportunity he +might lose in following the person of two skirts to her destination on +the other side of the Hudson. There were more reasons than one why he +could not afford to lose one unnecessary minute. An extra twinge or two +of rheumatism warned him that he was approaching the point of +disablement.</p> + +<p>Moreover, of Mr. Gryce's secret fears there was one which loomed larger +than the others and held an impulsive, unconsidered movement in check. +He must have proof of her identity—which nevertheless he did not +question—before hazarding himself and the success of his undertaking +by a delay of so many additional hours. But what proof could he hope +to obtain under the circumstances in which he found himself placed? +Any appeal to Mrs. Edouard Duclos, by telephone or telegram, would +certainly fail of its purpose. Even if the neat black dress in which her +sister-in-law now traveled was one from her own wardrobe, he would find +it impossible to establish the fact in time to make his own decision. The +child—yes, he might worm that fact out of the child if he were where he +could reach her; but he was miles away; and besides, something within him +revolted from involving this child further in schemes honest enough from +his standpoint, but certainly not helpful to her. No, he would have to +trust his intuition, or—</p> + +<p>He had thrown himself into a chair at the side of his host, but he rose +quickly as his musings reached this point. The proof he had been looking +for was his. In recalling the child to mind there had flashed upon his +inner vision an instantaneous picture of her appearance as she stooped to +pick up his stick in front of the drug-store. He saw again the bending +figure, the flushed cheeks and the flaxen locks surmounted by a little +hat. Ah! it was that little hat! The impression it had made upon him was +greater than he thought. He found that he remembered not only its +ribbons, but the bunches of curiously tinted flowers hanging down in +front. And these bunches, or some precisely like them, had been the +sole trimming of the hat he had been contemplating so long from the other +side of the window. The woman was Madame Duclos. These flowers had been +taken from the child's hat and pinned upon the aunt's; and it was their +familiar look which had given him, without any recognition of the reason, +his surety as to the latter's identity.</p> + +<p>Calmed immensely by this assurance, he turned back to have another word +with the proprietor, now busily engaged with his newspaper.</p> + +<p>"Will you be obliging enough to see that I'm given an opportunity for a +few words with this Phil Jenkins on his return?" he asked. "And if you +will be so good, respect my confidence till I am sure I have made no +mistake in thinking what I have of his passenger."</p> + +<p>The proprietor nodded, and Mr. Gryce settled himself again inside to +watch for the rowboat's return.</p> + +<p>What he learned that night from this man Jenkins calmed him still +further. The woman had acknowledged, on leaving him, that she was going +to seek work at the factory. "A little old for the job," the man +volunteered, "but spry. How she did clamber up that bank!"</p> + +<p>It was enough; Mr. Gryce was satisfied, and engaged a seat in his small +boat for the following day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h3>GIRLS, GIRLS! NOTHING BUT GIRLS!</h3> + + +<p>The superintendent was puzzled and showed it. He listened to Mr. Gryce +with a shrug, saying that so many women had been taken on that day, that +he really couldn't remember whether any one of them answered to the given +description.</p> + +<p>"There's the time-keeper's book. Look it over. All the names are there," +he said.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce did as he advised, but of course without finding there the name +of Antoinette Duclos or of anyone else of whom he had ever heard.</p> + +<p>The next thing was for him to go through the factory itself and see if he +could pick her out from those already at work. This he was greatly averse +to doing; it would be too long and painful an effort for him, and he +could not trust Perry with any such piece of nice discrimination. How he +missed Sweetwater! How tempted he was to send for him! It was finally +decided that when the hour came for the departure of the whole dayshift, +he should take his stand where he could mark each employee as she +filed out.</p> + +<p>A sorry attempt followed by as sorry a failure! He did not see one among +them who was over twenty-five years of age. But this did not mean the +end of all hope. There was the nightshift. Might she not be put on that? +A different man had charge at night. He would wait for this man's +appearance, present his cause to him and see what could be done.</p> + +<p>Not much, he found, when the night superintendent finally entered the +office and he had the chance of introducing himself. Newer to authority +than the superintendent of the dayshift, he was also of a more active +temperament and much more self-assertive. He was not impressed by the +detective's years or even by his errand. It was a busy night, a very busy +night—new hands in every department. To take him through the building at +present was quite out of the question. Perhaps later it might be done; +but not now, not now.</p> + +<p>With that the night superintendent bustled out. This was not very +encouraging, but Mr. Gryce did not despair. He had seen with what ease he +could look from the broad, rear window near which he stood, into the +rooms where rows upon rows of girls were already at work. Only a narrow +court divided him from these girls, and as the three stories of which the +factory was composed were all brilliantly lighted, he should have little +difficulty in picking out from among them the middle-aged woman who held +in her closed and mysterious hand the key to that formidable affair +threatening the honor of one of New York's most prominent men.</p> + +<p>Before doing this, Mr. Gryce stopped to locate himself and recall if +possible the entire plan of the building. He was in what was called the +outer office. The inner one, used only by the president of the concern, +opened on his left. There was no one in the latter room at present, the +president seldom showing up at night. Another door led to the platform +outside, and a third one, located in the middle of the right-hand +partition, to a large vestibule or locker-room belonging exclusively to +the girls, which in its turn communicated with the work-rooms of the +factory running in unbroken continuity around a narrow central court.</p> + +<p>He had been through this locker-room in the late afternoon. It was here +he had stood to watch the girls file out at the close of their day's +work. The exit for all employees was in one of the corners and out of +this Antoinette Duclos would have to pass when it came her turn to leave +the building—that is, if she were really in it, as he had every +reason to believe.</p> + +<p>However, certainty on this point would relieve him from much of his +present impatience, and with this end in view he prepared to enter the +room again in the hope of spying among the various hats with which the +walls were hung the one with whose shape and trimming he was so well +acquainted.</p> + +<p>But promising as this attempt looked, it was destined to immediate +failure. The room was not empty. He could hear girls whispering not a +dozen steps away, and anxious as he always was not to attract any +unnecessary attention to himself, he turned his back upon this door and +returned to the window from the broad view of which he anticipated so +much.</p> + +<p>A brilliant scene awaited him. This building, built originally for other +purposes, had been hastily reconstructed for its present use in a manner +possibly open to criticism but which certainly gave those who worked in +it an abundance of light and air. The narrow columns supporting its three +stories were so inconspicuous at night when a blaze of electricity +dominated the whole, that it presented the appearance of being made +entirely of windows. One break and one only he observed in the double row +of lights encircling the courtyard. This was in a spot diagonally +opposite, where a space of several feet showed a dimness he failed to +understand. But as no workers appeared to be there, he passed the matter +over as one of no importance.</p> + +<p>The task before him looked hopeless. In the first place there were the +three floors, with no faces visible above the first one. Then of the long +rectangle stretching out before him he could see but two sides, which +fact was further complicated by there being as many of the workers' faces +turned toward the outside of the building as toward the court. Yet having +determined upon his course, he was bound to see it through.</p> + +<p>His position near the corner of the huge rectangle precluded his seeing +anyone working at his own end. He was obliged to pass them over. But of +those opposite, especially those directly so, he could take easy count. +They were all girls of fifteen or so, and could be passed over also +without more than a cursory glance. Further on he saw a row of older +women, and student as he was of human nature, there were faces among them +at which he was tempted to look twice, though once answered his purpose. +There was no Madame there.</p> + +<p>Continuing his examination, he next encountered the space so +unaccountably darkened, and having skipped this, came upon a stretch of +benches displaying great activity. Only old hands seemed to be at work in +this section. Their method and despatch showed a training which made it +useless to look among them for one who had probably never worked before +amid the hum of machinery.</p> + +<p>In the corner beyond he saw nobody, but when he came to look along the +end connecting the opposite rooms with those on his side, a different +scene awaited him. There every bench seemed occupied both back and front, +and mostly by newcomers, as was apparent from the anxious way the +superintendent moved about among them, explaining the work and directing +them with a zeal which not only attested his interest in the task but +showed how completely he had forgotten the man he had left behind him in +his office. Well, well, such is the way of the world! The old man saw +that he would have to depend upon himself, and realizing this, bent all +his energies to his present far-off inspection of these women, hoping +against hope that he would be able at least to tell the young from the +old.</p> + +<p>Yes, he could do that, but the older women seemed to be in the majority; +and this perplexed him. It was all too distant for him to see clearly, +but he took heart of grace as he observed how the faces and figures he +was studying so closely were resolving themselves into mere silhouettes +under his gaze. For as I have already said, he had a quick eye for +outline, and felt sure that he could sufficiently recall that of the +woman whose head and shoulders had been so long under his eye that day, +to recognize it even among fifty others. But not one of them—not one of +them all—had the precise narrowness and rigidity of Madame Duclos'; and +after many painful minutes of renewed effort followed by renewed +disappointment he moved back from the window and sat down. There was one +thing you could always count on in Mr. Gryce, and that was his patience.</p> + +<p>But it was a patience not without its breaks. Once he rose to look out +front to make sure he had not miscalculated the distance of this factory +from the river. Then after another period of waiting, he got thinking how +much he might discover if he could get one glimpse into that far corner +contiguous to that end of the rectangle where he had seen so many raw +workers receiving the assistance of the night superintendent. There was a +way of doing this of which he had not thought before. He had but to step +outside, walk the length of the platform where the loading of shipments +was going on, and look in at one of the great windows at the further end. +But when he came to make the attempt, he found himself plunged into such +a turmoil and the way so blocked by the loading of boxes and the backing +up and driving off of horses that he retreated precipitately. Rather than +encounter all this, he would await events from the inside. So he took his +old seat again and for another half-hour listened to the thump of +machinery and the squeak of a rusty elevator-brake which almost robbed +him of thought. He was even inclined to doze, when he suddenly became +aware of some change either in himself or in what lay about him.</p> + +<p>Had the machinery stopped? No, it was not that.</p> + +<p>The place seemed darker, yet it was still very light.</p> + +<p>With a restless move, he rose heavily and peered again into the court. +Immediately it was evident what had occurred. The whole string of lights +in the third story had been shut off, and now those of the middle story +were following suit. Only the ground floor remained active with all its +lights at the maximum, and every belt moving.</p> + +<p>At this unexpected narrowing down of his field of operations he felt +greatly relieved. He had dreaded those long walks through innumerable +rooms. He could manage circling the building once, but three times would +have been too much. In a mood of increased contentment, he started to +return to his seat, but found himself stayed by something he saw in what +had been but a dimly lighted space when he looked there last. It was now +as bright as the rest and showed him the figure of the superintendent +stooping over a woman, explaining to her some intricate manipulation of +the work in hand which was evidently quite new to her. He could see him +very plainly, but her figure was more or less hidden. Not for long +though. The superintendent passed on and she came into full view. It was +Antoinette Duclos. He was confident of this even before he noted her +dress. When his eyes fell on that, he was sure; there was no mistaking +the stripes and the dots. Antoinette Duclos! and she was where he could +reach her in five minutes—in fact as soon as the superintendent +returned. As he stood and watched her working quite assiduously but in +something like isolation, he felt as though ten years had slipped from +his age, and trifled with his pleasure as the rest of us do when we +behold a despaired-of goal loom suddenly in sight. Was she the woman he +had pictured in his mind's eye? Hardly. Yet there was an admirable +directness in her movements. From the way she went about things, he could +plainly see that she would master her duties in no time if Fate did not +interpose to prevent. It certainly was hard to interrupt her in her work +just when she was on the way to safety and competence. But there could be +no question of his duty, or of the claims of Mr. Roberts to whatever help +might accrue from an understanding of the relation of this woman to +events threatening his reputation with such utter destruction. Her story +might free him from all suspicion or it might actually determine his +guilt. Therefore her story must be had, and at once—if possible, this +very night.</p> + +<p>But he must wait—wait for the coming of the superintendent. He felt safe +to do this. Meanwhile he was determined not to let this woman out of his +sight; so, drawing up a chair, he settled down within view of her active +figure, from which all rigidity had vanished in the interest she was +rapidly developing in her work. If he could have seen her countenance +more clearly, he would have been glad. There seemed to be a veil between +him and it, a hazy indistinctness which he found it difficult to +understand; but remembering that he was looking through two windows and +on a long diagonal, he accepted this slight drawback with equanimity and +was about to indulge in the comfort of a cigar when he saw the scene he +still held in view change, and change vividly, to the excitation of a +fresh interest and a still more careful watch.</p> + +<p>A girl had approached Madame Duclos from some place quite out of sight, +and in passing her by, had slipped a note into her hand. The Frenchwoman +had taken it, but in a way indicating shock. The ease which had given +suppleness to her form and surety to all her movements was gone in an +instant, and from the furtive way in which she sought to read the +communication thus handed her Mr. Gryce saw that his own powers would +soon be taxed to keep him even with a situation changing thus from moment +to moment under his eye.</p> + +<p>What did that note contain, and who could have taken advantage of the +arrival of some late-comer to slip it into her hand? Mr. Gryce found this +a very formidable question, and watched with ever-increasing anxiety to +see what effect these unknown words would have upon their recipient when +her opportunity came for reading them.</p> + +<p>A startling one—of that he was presently a witness; for no sooner had +she taken in their import than she cast a hurried look about her and left +her place without fuss or flurry, but with an air of quiet determination +which Mr. Gryce felt confident covered a resolution which nothing could +balk.</p> + +<p>She had not only left her bench but seemingly was in the act of leaving +the building. This, of course, it was for him to prevent, and he rose to +do so. It might be interesting to wait and watch her hurrying figure +threading its way to the locker-room through the double row of girls on +the opposite side of the court; but there were reasons why he wished to +reach that last mentioned room before she did; reasons which seemed good +enough to send him there without any further delay. If he could but +discover her hat among the many he had seen hanging on pegs in one of the +corners, how easy it would be for him to hold her back till he could make +her listen to the few words which must be said before he could allow her +to leave the building.</p> + +<p>Quick of eye, if not of step, he had run in review the varying headgear +depending from those isolated pegs, before he had half-circled the +lockers. But hers he did not see. Could she have been given a locker on +this her first night? He did not think so; and approaching closer, he +looked again. The hat was there, but lying on the floor. Somebody had +knocked it down; perhaps the late-comer who had given her the letter.</p> + +<p>Greatly gratified by the advantage he now indisputably held over her, he +picked up the hat and approached the door through which she must in +another minute emerge.</p> + +<p>She did not come.</p> + +<p>He waited and waited, and still she did not come. At last, driven by +impatience, he ventured to open the door he had previously hesitated to +touch and took a quick look in. Girls, girls! nothing but girls! No +Madame Duclos anywhere.</p> + +<p>Something must have happened to interrupt her escape. Either she had been +caught in the attempt by the superintendent or by some one else of equal +authority. This, if bad for her, was also bad for him, as a quiet hold-up +in the manner he had planned was certainly better than the public one +which must now follow.</p> + +<p>Sorry for her and sorry for himself, Mr. Gryce returned to the office +just as the superintendent entered from the opposite door. He thought the +latter looked a little queer, and in an instant he learned why.</p> + +<p>"Was the woman you wanted a staid, elderly person, apparently a +foreigner?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—of French birth, I am told."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess you were all right in distrusting her. She's gone—took a +notion that night work didn't agree with her and left without so much as +a 'By your leave!' She must have smelt you out in some uncanny way. Too +bad! She bade fair to be just the woman we wanted for a very nice part of +the work."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean she's really out of the building—that you didn't stop +her——"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know what she was up to, till she was gone. I——"</p> + +<p>"But how did she get out? She didn't go by the employees' door for I +stood there on the watch. I had seen her receive a note——"</p> + +<p>"A note? How? Who gave it to her?"</p> + +<p>"Some girl."</p> + +<p>"And you saw this? How could you? Been through the work-rooms?"</p> + +<p>"No. I saw her from this window, as I was looking diagonally across the +court. She was in one of the opposite rooms over there——"</p> + +<p>The superintendent broke into a hearty laugh.</p> + +<p>"Fooled!" he cried. "You police detectives are a smart crowd, but our old +factory with its string of useless windows has led you astray for once. +You weren't looking into any one of the rooms over there. You were +looking at a reflection in that useless old window behind which the +elevator runs. That happens when the elevator running on that side is +down. I've seen it often and laughed in my sleeve at the chance it gives +me to observe on the sly how things are going on at certain benches. Many +a girl has got her discharge—But no matter about that. Come here.</p> + +<p>"The room you think you see over there—you will notice that nobody is at +work in it now—is on this side of the building, and the woman you have +in chase escaped by the south delivery-door. We are loading cars to-night +from this side of the building, and she took a flying advantage of it. +Men give way to a woman. Though there's an order against any such use of +that door, you can't get one of them to hold onto a woman when she once +gets it into her head to skip the premises. But she can't have gone far. +This is a place of few houses and no big buildings besides the factory. +If you take pains to head her off at the station, you'll be safe for +to-night, and in the morning you can easily find her. Now I must go; but +first, what was her offense? Theft, eh?"</p> + +<p>"No. This woman whom we have let slip through our fingers is Madame +Duclos, the mother of the girl shot in a New York museum. There is a big +reward out for her recovery and detention, and——"</p> + +<p>The superintendent stood aghast.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you say so? Why didn't you say so at once? I'd have had the +whole troop file out before you. I'd have had——"</p> + +<p>The detective caught at his hat.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't aware that I had reached an age when I couldn't tell the +difference between a reflection and a reality," he growled, and hurried +out.</p> + +<p>The town was a small one; and Perry would see that she didn't escape from +the station. Besides, she had fled without her hat. Surely, with all this +in his favor, he would soon be able to lay his hand upon her, if not +to-night, certainly before another day was at an end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h3>FLIGHT</h3> + + +<p>In leaving the building Mr. Gryce almost ran into the arms of Perry. In +his anxiety to be within call, the young detective had seated himself on +the steps outside and now stood ready for any emergency.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce's spirits rose as he saw him there. The great door leading to +the elevator opened not twenty feet to the left of him. Perhaps Perry had +seen the woman and could tell which way she ran. Questions followed, +rapid and to the purpose. Perry had seen a woman flash by. But she seemed +to be in company with a man. He had not been able to see either clearly.</p> + +<p>"Which way were they heading?" asked Mr. Gryce.</p> + +<p>Perry told him.</p> + +<p>It would look as though they were making for the station. Alarmed at the +idea, Mr. Gryce stepped down into the road and endeavored to pierce the +darkness in that direction. All he could see were the station lights. +Everything else was in shadow. The night hung over all, and had it not +been for the grinding of machinery in their rear, the silence would have +been just as marked.</p> + +<p>"Perry, is the way rough between here and the station—I mean, rough for +me?"</p> + +<p>"Not very, if you keep in the road."</p> + +<p>"Run ahead, then, and learn how soon the next train is due—any train, +going north or going south—I don't care which. If it is soon, look +for a middle-aged woman in a striped dress, and if you can't prevent +her getting on, without a fracas, follow her yourself and never quit +her—telegraphing me at the first opportunity. Run."</p> + +<p>Perry gave a leap and was soon swallowed up in the darkness which was +intense as soon as he had passed beyond the glare from the factory. Mr. +Gryce followed after, moving as quickly as he dared. It was not far to +the station platform, but in his anxiety it seemed a mile; nor did he +breathe with ease till he saw a flying shadow come between him and the +station lights and knew that Perry had reached the platform.</p> + +<p>It was just at the hour when the fewest trains pass, and Mr. Gryce was +himself across the tracks and on the platform before a far-off whistle +warned him that one was approaching. Looking hastily around, he saw Perry +hurrying up behind him.</p> + +<p>"No one," said he. "No such person around."</p> + +<p>They waited. The train came in, stopped, took on two unimportant +passengers and rushed away north.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I shall have to ask you to stay here, Perry. It would be so +easy for her to board one of these night trains and buy a ticket from the +conductor."</p> + +<p>But as he spoke he paused, and gripping Perry's arm, turned his ear to +listen.</p> + +<p>"A boat," said he. "A small boat leaving shore."</p> + +<p>It was so. They could hear the dip of the oars distinctly in the quiet +which had followed the departure of the train. No other sound but that +was in the air, and it struck cold upon one old heart.</p> + +<p>"It is she! I'm sure of it," muttered Gryce.</p> + +<p>"The man across the river has warned her—sent a boat for her, perhaps. +Run down to the point and see if there is anyone there who saw her go."</p> + +<p>Perry slid into the night, and Mr. Gryce stood listening. The quiet dip +of the oars was growing fainter every instant. The boat was rapidly +withdrawing, carrying with it all hope of securing off-hand this +desirable witness.</p> + +<p>To be sure, there was nothing very serious in this. He had only to +telephone across the river to have the woman detained till he could reach +her himself in the early morning. Yet he felt unaccountably disturbed and +anxious. For all his many experiences and a record which should have made +him immune from the ordinary disappointments of life, he had never, or so +it seemed to him, felt more thoroughly depressed or weary of the work +which had given him occupation for more years than he liked to number, +than in the few minutes of solitary waiting, with his face toward the +river and the sense of some impending doom settling slowly over his aged +heart.</p> + +<p>But he was still too much the successful detective to allow his +disheartenment to be seen by his admiring subordinate. As the latter +approached, the old man's countenance brightened, and nothing could +have been more deceptive than the calmness he displayed when the fellow +reported that he had just been talking to a man who had recognized the +boat and the oarsman. It was the same boat and the same oarsman that had +brought them over earlier in the day. He had made an extra trip at this +most unusual hour, for the express purpose of taking this woman back.</p> + +<p>"I suppose there is no possibility of your drumming up anyone to row us +over in time to catch them?"</p> + +<p>"None in the least. I have inquired."</p> + +<p>"Then follow me into the station. I have a few messages to send."</p> + +<p>Among these messages was a peremptory one to Sweetwater.</p> + +<p>Morning! and an early crossing to the other side. Here a surprise awaited +them. They found, on inquiry, that the man responsible for Madame's +flitting was not, as they had supposed, the hotel proprietor, but Phil +himself, the good-natured, easily-imposed-upon ferryman, on whose +sympathies she had worked during their first short passage from one shore +to the other. Perhaps a little money had helped to deepen this +impression; one never knows.</p> + +<p>But this was not all. The woman was gone. She had fled the town on foot +before they were able to locate Phil, who had not made shore at his usual +place but at some point up the river about which they knew nothing. When +he finally showed up, it was almost daybreak.</p> + +<p>"Where is he now?"</p> + +<p>"At home, or ought to be."</p> + +<p>"Show me the house."</p> + +<p>In ten minutes the two were face to face.</p> + +<p>The result was not altogether satisfactory to the detective. Though he +used all his skill in his manipulation of this kind-hearted ferryman, he +got very little from him but the plain fact that the woman insisted upon +taking to the road when she heard that the train-service had stopped; +that he could not persuade her to wait till daylight or to listen for a +moment to what he had to say of the danger and terrors awaiting her in +the darkness, and the awful loneliness of the hills. She didn't fear +nature even at its worst, and she knew these hills better than many who +had lived among them for years. She was bound to go, and she went.</p> + +<p>This was six hours ago. Asked to explain the interest he had shown in +her, it soon became evident that he was in complete ignorance of her +identity. He had simply, on their first trip over, seen that she was +middle-aged, suffering and much too good and kind to be followed up by +enemies and wicked police officials. True, he had rowed them over in her +pursuit in the early part of the day, but that was because he had not +known their business. When on returning he had learned it, he made up +his mind to help her out with a warning even if it kept him up all night. +He had not expected to bring her back with him, but she had insisted upon +his doing so, saying that she had friends in the mountains who would look +after her. He saw that she was dreadfully in earnest, for she had not +stopped to get her hat and would not have had so much as an extra stitch +with her if she had not taken the precaution to hide a bag of things +somewhere in the bushes near the factory, in anticipation of some such +emergency. And he couldn't resist her. She made him think of a sister of +his who had had a dreadful time of it in the world and was now well out +of it, thank God!</p> + +<p>When the ferryman heard that a reward of hundreds of dollars was waiting +for the man who succeeded in bringing her before the police officials in +New York, he betrayed some chagrin, but even this did not last. He was +soon declaring with heartfelt earnestness that he didn't care anything +about that. It was peace of mind he wanted, and not money.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Gryce left him, it was with an even slower step than usual. +Peace of mind! How about his own peace of mind? Was he trailing this +poor unfortunate from pillar to post, for the reward it would bring him? +No. With his advancing years money had lost much of its attraction. Nor, +if he knew himself, was he particularly affected by the glory which +attends success. Duty, and duty only, drove him on—to elucidate his +problem and merit the confidence put in him by his superiors. If +suffering followed, that was not his fault; his business was to go ahead.</p> + +<p>It was in this frame of mind that he prepared himself for the automobile +trip he saw before him.</p> + +<p>There was no question in Mr. Gryce's mind now, as to this woman's +destination or whither he should be obliged to go in order to find her. +As he now saw into her mind, she had left New York with the intention of +hiding herself in the remote village to which she had ordered her mail +sent under the name of Elvira Brown, whom she evidently knew; but +hearing, either on the car or in the hotel, where she was detained, the +plea which was being made for workers in the factory on the east side of +the river, she had modified her plans to the extent already known, only +to return to her original intention as soon as the attempt to provide for +herself in this independent way had proved a failure.</p> + +<p>He would proceed then in her wake, conscious of the fresh disappointment +which awaited her in the loss, through Miss Brown's sudden death, of the +asylum she counted upon. Could he have gone on foot like herself, he +might have been tempted to do so, for a trail is best followed slowly and +with ear and eye very close to the ground. But as this was beyond his +strength, he must wait till an automobile could be procured, and possibly +till Sweetwater should arrive—for Perry was no man for this job. There +were no automobiles in this small town, and it might be necessary to send +up or down the river some distance before one could be found capable of +carrying them over the precipitous road they would be obliged to take in +order to avoid the washout which had driven them to this extremity.</p> + +<p>But all would come right in time; and with Sweetwater at his elbow, the +journey would be made and the woman caught, soon enough for him no doubt, +hard as he felt it to wait. Why so hard, he might have found it difficult +to say, since hitherto he had found it easy enough when the goal seemed +sure and it was only with time he had to reckon!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h3>TERROR</h3> + + +<p>A woman fleeing from publicity as one flies from death—a refined woman, +too, whose life had hitherto been passed in the open!</p> + +<p>When Antoinette Duclos, after a night and morning of unprecedented +fatigue and extraordinary fears, with little to upbear her in the way of +food, stepped from the train which brought a few local passengers into +the quiet village of Rexam, she hardly would have been recognized by her +best friend, such marks may a few hours leave upon one battling with +untoward Fate in one supreme effort.</p> + +<p>She seemed to realize this, for meeting more than one eye fixed +inquiringly upon her she drew down the veil wound about a sort of cap she +wore till it concealed not only her features but her throat which a +restless pulse had tightened almost to the exclusion of her breath. Ready +to drop, she yet made use of the little energy left her, to approach with +faltering steps a lumbering old vehicle waiting in the dust and smoke for +such passengers as might wish to be taken up Long Hill.</p> + +<p>There was no driver in sight, but she did not hesitate to take her seat +inside. There was extra business at the station, for this was the first +train to come in for two days; and if anyone noticed her in the shadowy +recesses of the cumbrous old coach, nobody approached her; nor was she in +any way disturbed. When the driver did show himself, she was almost +asleep, but she woke up quickly enough when his good-natured face peered +in at her and she heard him ask where she wanted to go and whether she +had any baggage.</p> + +<p>"I want to go up Long Hill and be set down at the first cross-road," she +said. "My baggage is here." And she pointed to the space at her feet. +But that space was empty; she had no baggage. She had dropped both bag +and umbrella at the side of the road after one of her long climbs under a +fitful moon and had not so much as thought of them since.</p> + +<p>Now she remembered and flushed as she met the eyes of the man looking in +at her with his hand on his whiskers, smoothing them thoughtfully down +but saying nothing, though his countenance and expression showed him to +be one of the loquacious sort. If any smiles remained to her from the old +days, now was the time for one; but before she could twist her dry lips +into any such attempt, he had uttered a cheerful "All right" and turned +away to clamber up into his seat.</p> + +<p>The relief was great, and she settled back, rejoicing in the fact that +they would soon be moving and that she was likely to be the sole +passenger. But she soon came to rue this fact, for the driver wanted to +talk and even made many abortive attempts that way. But she could not +fall in with his mood, and seeing this, he soon withheld all remarks +and bent his full energies to the task of urging his horses up the +interminable incline.</p> + +<p>Houses, at which she scarcely looked, disappeared gradually from view, +and groups of spreading trees and patches of upland took their places, +deepening into the forest as they advanced. When halfway up, the farther +mountains, which had hitherto been hidden by nearer hills, burst into +view. Behind them the sun was setting, and the scene was glorious. If +she saw it at all, she gave no sign of pleasure or even of admiration. +Her head, which she had held straight up for the first quarter of a mile, +sank lower and lower as they clambered on; yet she gave no signs of +drowsiness—only of a mortal weariness which seemed to attack the very +springs of life. The pomp and pageantry of the heavens, burning with +all the pigments of the rainbow, failed to appeal to a soul shut within +dungeon bars. Rocks and mighty gorges darkling to the eye and stirring to +the imagination held no story for her; she looked neither to the right +nor to the left while the beauty lasted, much less when the last gleam +had faded from the mountain tops and a troop of leaden clouds, coming up +from the east, added their shadows to those of premature night.</p> + +<p>The driver, who had been eying these clouds for some little time, felt +that he ought to speak if she did not. Pulling up his horses as though to +give them a breathing spell, he remarked over his shoulder with a strain +of anxiety in his voice:</p> + +<p>"I hope your friends live near the top of the hill, missus. A storm is +coming up, and it's getting very dark. Will you have to walk far?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," she assured him with a quick glance up and around her. "A +little way, a very little way!" Then she became quiet and absorbed again.</p> + +<p>"I've got to go on," he broke in again as the top of the hill came in +sight. "I've a passenger for the eight-fifty train waiting for me more +than a mile along the road. I shall have to leave you after I set you +down."</p> + +<p>"That's right; I expect that. I can take care of myself—don't worry. Not +but what you're very kind," she added after a moment, in her cultured +voice, with just enough trace of accent to make it linger sweetly in the +ear.</p> + +<p>"Then here we are," he called back a moment later, jerking his horses to +a standstill and jumping down into the road. "Goin' east or goin' west?" +he asked as he took another glance at her frail and poorly protected +figure.</p> + +<p>"This way," she answered, pointing east.</p> + +<p>He stopped and stared at her.</p> + +<p>"Nobody lives that way," he said, "—that is, nobody near enough for you +to reach shelter before the storm bursts."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken," she said, cringing involuntarily as the first big +clap of thunder rolled in endless echoes among the mountains. And turning +about, she started hurriedly into the shadows of the narrow cross-road.</p> + +<p>He gave one glance back at his horses, the twitching of whose ears showed +nervousness, uttered some familiar word and launched out after the woman. +"Pardon me, missus," he cried, "but is it Miss Brown's you mean?"</p> + +<p>The widow stopped, glanced back at him over her shoulder, made a quick, +protesting gesture and dashed on.</p> + +<p>With a shake of his head and a muttered, "Well, women do beat the devil!" +he retraced his steps; and she proceeded on alone.</p> + +<p>As the last sound of his horses' hoof-beats died out on the road, a +second clap of thunder seemed to bring heaven and earth together. She +scarcely looked up. She was approaching a little weather-beaten house +nestled among trees on the edge of a deep gorge. As her eyes fell on it, +her footsteps quickened, and lifting a hasty hand, she pulled off her +veil. A change quite indescribable, but real for all that, had taken +place in her worn and waxen features. Not joy, but a soft expectancy +relieved them from their extreme tension. If a friend awaited her, that +friend would have no difficulty in recognizing her now. But alas!</p> + +<p>A few steps more, and she stood before the door. It had a desolate look; +the whole house had a desolate look, possibly because every shade was +drawn. But she did not notice this; she was too sure of her welcome. +Raising her hand to the knocker, she gave two sharp raps. Then she +waited. No answer from within—no sound of hurrying steps—only another +rumble in the sky and a quick rustling of the trees on either side of her +as if the wind which made the horizon black had sent an <i>avant-courieur</i> +over the hilltops.</p> + +<p>"Elvira is out—gone to some church meeting or social gathering down in +the village. She will be back. But I won't wait. I will try and get in in +the old way. The storm may delay her indefinitely."</p> + +<p>Leaving the door, which was raised only two steps above the road, she +walked to the corner of the house and stooping down, felt behind a +projecting stone for what she had certainly expected to find there—a key +to the front door.</p> + +<p>But her hand came away empty.</p> + +<p>Surprised, for this was not her first visit to this house (she had once +spent weeks there and knew the habits of its mistress well), she felt +again in the place where the key should be, and where she had so often +found it when her friend was out. But all to no avail. It was not there, +and presently she was in the road again staring at the closed-up front.</p> + +<p>As she did so, these words left her lips:</p> + +<p>"And she knew I might come at any minute!"</p> + +<p>Tottering from fatigue, she caught at the trunk of a great tree which +held roof and wall in its embrace.</p> + +<p>Why did it quiver? Why did the ground beneath her feet seem to rock and +all nature darken as with the falling of a pall. The storm was upon her. +It had rolled up with incredible swiftness and was about to break over +her head. With a shock she realized her position. No shelter, and the +storm of the season upon her! What should she do? There was no way of +getting into the house at the rear, for the bushes were too thick. She +must accept her fate, be drenched to the skin, perhaps smitten by the +next thunderbolt. But Antoinette Duclos was no coward, so far as physical +ills were concerned. She drew herself up straight against the trunk of +the tree, thinking that this, bad as it was, was better than shelter with +the enemy at the door. She would be calm, and she was fast growing so +when she suddenly became aware of a man standing very near and hunting +her out through the dusk.</p> + +<p>She never knew why the scream which rose in her throat did not pass her +lips. Her terror was unspeakable, for she had heard no advance; indeed, +there was too much noise about her for that. But it was the silent terror +of despair, for she thought it was the man from whom she had made this +great effort at escape. But he soon proved to her he was not. It was just +the driver of the stagecoach, returned to see what had become of her. He +had feared to find her stricken down in the road, and when he saw her +clinging alone and in a maddened way to this tree, he made no bones of +speaking to her with all necessary plainness.</p> + +<p>"I asked you if it was Missus Brown you had come to see," he called to +her through the din. "And you wouldn't answer."</p> + +<p>"Why should I?" she shouted back. "Why do you speak like that? Has +anything happened to her?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you know?"</p> + +<p>"No, no—she was well when I heard from her last, and expecting me, or so +she wrote. Is she—she—"</p> + +<p>"Dead, missus. We buried her last Tuesday. I'm sorry, but—"</p> + +<p>Why finish? She was lying out before him, straight and stark in the road. +A bolt of lightning which at that moment tore its way through the heavens +brought into startling view her face, white with distraction, framed in a +mass of iron-gray locks released by her fall.</p> + +<p>"Good heaven!" burst from the lips of the frightened man as he stooped to +lift her. "What am I going to do now?"</p> + +<p>The thunder answered him, or rather it robbed him for the moment of all +thought. Peal after peal rattled over the neighboring peaks, rocking the +air on the uplands and filling his soul with dismay. But when quiet had +come again, hope returned with it. She was not only standing upright but +was crying in his ear:</p> + +<p>"Can I get into the house? If I could stay there to-night, I could go +back to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I'll see that you get in, if I have to break in a window," he answered. +"But you're sure that you will not be afraid to stay out this terrible +storm in a house with no neighbors within half a mile?"</p> + +<p>"I know the house. I have been here before, and if Elvira Brown could +face the storms of forty years from her solitary home, I can surely face +a single one, without losing my courage."</p> + +<p>He said no more, but approaching the house, began to test such windows as +he could reach. He finally broke in a pane and released the latch; after +that, entrance was easy.</p> + +<p>Yet after he had opened the way for her and she had stepped into the dim +interior, he felt loth to leave her. Duty called him away. The passenger +awaiting him up the road was a man he could not afford to disappoint; yet +he stood there longer than the occasion warranted, with the knob of the +door in hand, watching her struggle with the lamp, which she at last +succeeded in lighting. As the walls of the hall and her anxiously bending +figure burst into view, he uttered a quick "Good-by!"</p> + +<p>She turned, smiled and tried to thank him, but the words failed to leave +her lips. A nearer and fiercer bolt had shot to earth at that instant, +striking a tree so near that the noise of its fall mingled with the crash +of the heavens. When it had ceased, he had gone. He could not face the +look with which she met this new catastrophe.</p> + +<p>That look never again left her. When she saw herself in a glass, as she +presently did, on entering one of the rooms lamp in hand, she was +startled and muttered:</p> + +<p>"My own mother would pass me by if she saw me now. I could go anywhere I +wished without fear or dread. Why did I leave New York?" And setting the +lamp down, she covered her face and wept.</p> + +<p>The storm abated; a few minutes of fiercely pouring rain, and all was +over. She was left in ghastly quiet—a quiet which was almost worse than +the turmoil which had preceded it—to face her memories and accustom +herself to the thought that the solitary woman with whose life everything +she looked upon was so intimately connected was gone, never to pass +through these doors again or touch with deft and careful fingers the +infinite number of little belongings with which the house was filled.</p> + +<p>For as yet nothing had been changed, nothing had been moved. How fitting +this was, Antoinette knew better than anybody else, perhaps, for she was +the only person whom Elvira Brown had ever allowed to spend any length of +time with her, and she could remember—alas! how vividly, in spite of the +one great fear forever gnawing at her heart—that an article, no matter +how small, when once given place in this house, held that place always +till broken or in some other way robbed of its usefulness. She looked at +her friend's pet chair standing just in the one spot where she had seen +it eight years before, and her heart swelled, and a tear rose in her eye. +But there was not time for another. A sense of the straits in which she +found herself placed by the death of this dependable friend returned upon +her in full force; the past retired into its old place, and the present, +with its maddening problems, seized upon her nerve and quelled her once +indomitable spirit.</p> + +<p>The fate which had pursued her ever since she had left her happy home +in France had not spared her at this crisis. The storm, of so little +consequence to her, had roused the driver's sympathy. This had not only +fixed her image in his mind but given away her destination. All hope of +hiding herself among the mountains was therefore gone. She would have to +move on; but where? If she were but able to leave now, she might before +morning find some covert from which help might be given her for further +escape. But the condition of the roads, as well as her own weakness, +forbade that. She needed food: she needed sleep. Of food she would find +plenty, she was sure; but sleep! How could she sleep, with the promise +of the morrow before her? Yet she must; everything depended upon her +strength. How could she win that rest which alone would secure it.</p> + +<p>Pausing in the midst of the hall whither her restless thought had driven +her, she stared in a fruitless inquiry at the wall confronting her. Her +mind, like her feet, was at a standstill. She could neither think nor +act. In fact, she was at the point of a nervous collapse, when slowly +from out the void there rose to her view and pierced its way into her +mind the outline of the door upon which she had been steadily looking but +without seeing it till now. Why did she start as it thus took on shape +before her? There was nothing strange or mysterious about it. It led +nowhere; it hid nothing, unless it was the yard upon which it directly +opened.</p> + +<p>But that yard! She remembered it well. It was unlike any other she had +ever seen in this country or her own. It was small and semicircular; it +was shut in by a high board fence except at the extreme end, where it was +met by a swinging bridge topping a forty-foot chasm. That bridge led +through a sparsely wooded forest to a road running in a quite different +direction from the one by which the house was approached. As she strove +to recall her memories of it, she became more and more assured that her +one and only opportunity for a successful flight lay that way. Moved to +joy at the thought, she bowed her head for one wild moment in heartfelt +thankfulness and then quickly drew the bolts of the door which offered +her this happy deliverance.</p> + +<p>She did not mean to seek escape to-night, but an irresistible impulse, +which quite robbed her of her judgment, drove her to take a look into the +yard and make sure for herself that the bridge was still there and +everything as she had last seen it.</p> + +<p>But when with the help of the wind she pulled open the heavy door and +stood, throbbing under the force of the gale, on the shallow step +outside, she found herself confronted by a darkness so hollow and so +absolute that she felt as though she had stumbled into a pit. But instead +of retreating, if only to procure a lantern, she took the one step down +to the narrow walk which led through grass and flowers to the edge of the +plateau from which the bridge extended. Would she be satisfied now? No, +she must see the bridge, or if she could not see it, must feel it with +her foot or touch it with her hand. Once sure of its presence there, she +would return, take off her clothing and seek refreshment.</p> + +<p>But how was she to find her way in such absolute darkness? Alone with the +dying tempest, now moaning in fitful gusts, now shrieking a last protest +in her ear, she stood peering helplessly before her. Already her arms had +gone out like those of a blind person loosed upon an unknown road. She +was conscious of a great fear. All the solitude of her position had +rushed upon her. She felt herself lost, forsaken; yet she had no idea of +turning back. If she could but find some support—something upon which +to lay her fingers. She thought of the fence, and her courage revived. If +she could but reach and follow that!</p> + +<p>There were obstacles in her way. She was sure of this, for she remembered +some of them, and Elvira no more changed her garden than her house. But +with care she succeeded in getting around these, and soon she knew by the +lessened force of the wind that she was near, if not directly under, the +high fence upon which she depended for guidance. A few bushes—another +unexpected obstacle, followed by a bad stumble—separated her from the +contact for which she had reached; then by a final effort her fingers +found the boards and she went eagerly on, dragging herself through the +wet without knowing it, and only stopping with a sense of shock, when her +hand, sliding from the boards, fell groping about in midair with nothing +to grasp at. She had come to the end of the fence and was within a foot +of the bridge—if the bridge was still there.</p> + +<p>But her fears on this score were few, and she felt about with hand and +foot till the former struck the rail at her side, and the latter the +narrow planking spanning the gorge.</p> + +<p>She hesitated now. Who would not? But the impulse which had led her thus +far continued to urge her on. She stepped upon the bridge and proceeded +to cross it, clinging to the rail with a feverish clutch, and feeling +every board with her foot before venturing to trust her full weight upon +it. She found them seemingly firm, and when about halfway across she +stopped to listen for the roar of the mountain stream which she knew to +be rushing over its rocky bed some forty awesome feet below her.</p> + +<p>She heard it, but the swish of the trees lining the gorge was in her +straining ears and half drowned its sullen sound. With feelings +impossible to describe, she tossed up her arms to the skies, where a +single brilliant star was looking through the mass of quickly flying, +quickly disintegrating clouds. Then she sought again the safety of the +guiding rail, and clinging desperately to it, took one more step and +stopped with a smothered shriek. The rail had snapped under her hand and +had gone tumbling down into the abyss. She heard it as it struck, or +thought she did, and for a moment stood breathless and fearing to move, +the world and all it held vanishing in semi-unconsciousness from heart +and mind. What was she but a trembling atom floating in an unknown void +on the fathomless sea of eternity! Then, as her mind steadied, she began +to feel once more the boards under her feet, and to hear the smiting +together of the great limbs wrestling in the depths of the forest. She +even caught such a homely sound as the violent slamming of the door she +had left unlatched behind her; and summoning up all her courage, which +was not small when she was released from her first surprise, she stepped +firmly backward till she felt the rail strong again under her clutch. +Then she turned resolutely and retraced her steps along the bridge and so +across the plateau to the house whose light had acted as a beacon to her +whenever the door blew wide enough to let the one inner beam be seen.</p> + +<p>When she was inside again, she lingered for a long time in the darkening +hall, her slight form and whitened head leaning against the wall in a +desolation such as few hearts know. Then something within the woman +flared up in a rekindled flame, and she passed quickly into the room +where she had left her lamp burning; and blowing it out, she threw +herself down on a couch and tried to sleep.</p> + +<p>An hour later the moon shone in upon her pale features and wild, staring +eyes upturned to meet it. Then it vanished, and she and the whole house +were given up again to darkness.</p> + +<p>She had forgotten to eat, though the cupboards, in this well-stored +house, were quite full.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE FACE IN THE WINDOW</h3> + + +<p>"Is this the place?"</p> + +<p>"According to our instructions, yes. The first house after the first +turn to the right. We took the first turn, and this is the first house. +Romantic situation, eh? But a bit lonesome for a city chap? Shall I help +you down?"</p> + +<p>While talking, Sweetwater, who was already in the road, held up his elbow +to Mr. Gryce, who slowly descended. It was early morning, and the glory +of sunshine was everywhere misleading the eye from the ravages of the +night before; yet neither of these two men wore an air in keeping with +the freshness of renewed life and the joyous aspect of exultant nature. +There seemed to be an oppression upon them both—a hesitation not common +to either, and to all appearance without cause.</p> + +<p>To end what he probably considered a weakness, Sweetwater approached +the door staring somewhat blankly from the flat front of the primitive +old house whose privacy they were about to invade, and rapped on its +weather-beaten panels, first gently and then with quick insistence.</p> + +<p>There was no response from within; no sound of movement; no token that he +had been so much as heard. Sweetwater turned and consulted his companion +before making another attempt.</p> + +<p>"It's early. Perhaps she's not up yet," rejoined the old detective as he +painfully advanced. The storm of the preceding night had got into his +bones.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. There's something uncanny about this silence. She ought to +be here; but I'm afraid she isn't." Sweetwater rapped again, this time +with decided vehemence.</p> + +<p>Suddenly in one of the uncurtained windows a face appeared. They saw it, +and both drew a deep breath. The eyes were looking their way, but they +were like ghost's eyes. Without sight or speculation in them, they simply +looked; then the face slowly withdrew, growing ghastlier every minute, +and the window stared on, but the woman was gone. Yet the door did not +open.</p> + +<p>"I hate to use force," objected Sweetwater.</p> + +<p>Before answering, Mr. Gryce stepped to one side and cast a glance around +the corner of the house in the direction of the gorge opening in the +rear.</p> + +<p>"There is something like a yard at the back," he announced, "but the +fence which shut it in is so high and so protected by means of prickly +underbrush that you would have difficulty in climbing it."</p> + +<p>"Just so at this end," called out Sweetwater after a short run to the +left. "If we get in at all," he remarked on coming back, "it will have to +be by the window you see there with one pane knocked out."</p> + +<p>"I don't like that; I don't like any of it. But we can't stay out here +any longer. The looks of the woman herself forbid it. We sha'n't forget +that hollow stare."</p> + +<p>"They said the woman who lived here was dead."</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's a bad business, Sweetwater. Rap once more, and then if she +doesn't come, throw up the window and climb in."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater did as he was bid, and meeting with no more response than +before, thrust his hand through the hole made by the broken pane; and +finding the window had been left unlocked, he pushed it up and entered. +In another moment he appeared at the front door, where Mr. Gryce joined +him, and together they took their first look at the small but +surprisingly well-furnished interior.</p> + +<p>The hall in which they stood was without staircase and had many of the +appointments of a room. Doors opened here and there along its length, and +in the rear they saw a closed one evidently leading into the yard. There +was no one within sight. One would have said that with the death and +carrying out of the owner of this little dwelling, all life had departed +from it. Yet these two men knew that life was there; and raising his +voice, Mr. Gryce called out in the least alarming way possible:</p> + +<p>"Madame Duclos!" following this utterance of her name with an apology for +the intrusion and a prayer for one minute's interview.</p> + +<p>Silence was his answer—no stir anywhere.</p> + +<p>Apprehensive of they knew not what, the two detectives started +simultaneously, one for the door on their right, the other for that on +the left. When they met again in the ill-lighted hall, Mr. Gryce was +shaking his head, but Sweetwater had lifted a beckoning finger. +Unconsciously moderating his step, Mr. Gryce followed him through one +room to the door of another which he saw standing partly open.</p> + +<p>Through the crack thus made between the hinges, they could get a very +fair glimpse of what was going on inside. They saw a bed, and a woman +kneeling beside this bed, her eyes upraised in prayer. The look which had +awed them at the window was gone, and in its place was one so high and so +full of religious faith that for an instant they were conscious of the +reversal of all their ideas.</p> + +<p>But only for an instant; for while they waited, hesitating to break in +upon her evidently sincere devotions, she started to her feet and with a +half-insane look about her, disappeared from their view in the direction +of the hall.</p> + +<p>Sweetwater was after her in a twinkling; but by the time he and Mr. +Gryce, each going his separate way, had themselves reached the hall, it +was to see the end door—the one giving upon the plateau—closing behind +her.</p> + +<p>"Madame!" called out Sweetwater, bounding briskly in her wake.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce said nothing but approached with hastening steps the door which +Sweetwater had left open behind him, and took a quick survey of the +fenced-in plateau, the bridge and the towering trees beyond, toward which +she seemed to be making.</p> + +<p>"She cannot escape," was his ready conclusion; and he shouted to +Sweetwater to go easy.</p> + +<p>Sweetwater, who was in the act of setting foot upon the bridge down which +she was running, slacked up at this command and presently stopped, for +she had stopped herself and was looking back from a spot about halfway +across, with the air of one willing, at last, to hear what they had to +say.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" she cried. "And what do you want of me?"</p> + +<p>"Are you not Madame Duclos?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am Antoinette Duclos."</p> + +<p>"Then you must know why you are wanted by the police authorities of New +York. Your daughter—"</p> + +<p>Her hand went up.</p> + +<p>"I've nothing to say—nothing. Will you take that for your answer and let +me go?"</p> + +<p>"Alas, madam, we cannot!" spoke up Mr. Gryce in his calm, benevolent way. +"Miss Duclos' death was of a nature demanding an inquest. Your testimony, +hard as it may be for you to give it, is necessary for a righteous +verdict. That is all we want—"</p> + +<p>"It is too much!" she cried. And with a quick glance upward she took +another step or two along the bridge till she had reached the broken +rail; and before Sweetwater in his dismay could more than give a +horrified bound in her direction, she had made the fatal leap and was +gone from their sight into the gorge below.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_IV" id="BOOK_IV"></a>BOOK IV</h2> + +<h3>NEMESIS</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h3>FROM LIPS LONG SILENT</h3> + + +<p>"This finishes my usefulness as a detective. I have had my fill of +horrors; all, in fact, that my old age can stand."</p> + +<p>Thus, Mr. Gryce, as hours afterward he and Sweetwater turned their faces +back toward New York.</p> + +<p>"I appreciate your feelings," responded the latter, who had been +strangely silent all day, speaking only when directly addressed. "I can +assure you that in my way I'm as much cut up as you are. I wish now that +I had made an attempt from the rear to head off this distracted woman, +even if I had been obliged to scratch my hands to pieces tearing a board +from the fence."</p> + +<p>"It would have done no good. She was determined to die rather than give +up her secret. I remember the look with which her sister-in-law warned +me that she would never survive a capture. But I thought that mere +exaggeration."</p> + +<p>Then after a moment of conscious silence on the part of both, the weary +old man added with bitter emphasis, "Her testimony might—I do not say +would—have cleared away our suspicions of Director Roberts."</p> + +<p>Sweetwater, who was acting as chauffeur, slowed down his machine till it +came to a standstill at the side of the road. Then wheeling quietly about +till he faced his surprised companion, he remarked very gravely:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Gryce, I hadn't the heart to tell you this before, but the time +has come for you to know that Mr. Roberts' cause is not so favorably +affected, as you seem to think, by this suicidal death of one who without +doubt would have proved to be a leading witness against him. I am sure +you will agree with me in this when I inform you that in pursuing the +task you set me, I came upon <i>this</i>."</p> + +<p>Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a large envelope from +which he proceeded to draw forth first the tattered square of what had +once been a cabinet portrait, and then a freshly printed proof of the +same. Holding them both up, he waited for the word that was sure to +follow.</p> + +<p>It came with all the emphasis he expected.</p> + +<p>"Roberts! Director Roberts!"</p> + +<p>"The same, sir"; and the eyes of the two detectives met in what was +certainly one of the most solemn moments of their lives.</p> + +<p>They had paused for this short conference at a point where the road +running for a few yards on a level gave them a view of slope on slope of +varying verdure, with glimpses of the Hudson between. Glancing up, with a +gesture of manifest shrinking from the portrait which Sweetwater still +held, Mr. Gryce allowed his glance to run over the wonderful landscape +laid out to his view, and said with breaks and halts bespeaking his deep +emotion:</p> + +<p>"If my death here and now, following fast upon that of this unhappy +Frenchwoman, would avail to wipe out the evidence I have so laboriously +collected against this man, I should welcome it with gratitude. I shrink +from ending my career with the shattering of so fine an image, in the +public eye. What lies back of this crime—what past memories or present +miseries have led to an act which would be called dastardly in the most +uninstructed and basest of our sex, I lack the imagination to conceive. +Would to God I had never tried to find out! But no man standing where +Roberts does to-day among the leaders of a great party can fall into such +a pit of shame without weakening the faith of the young and making a +travesty of virtue and honor."</p> + +<p>"Yet, if he is guilty——"</p> + +<p>"It is our business to pursue him to the end. Only, I like the man, +Sweetwater. I had a long talk with him yesterday on indifferent matters +and I came away liking him."</p> + +<p>This was certainly something Sweetwater had not expected to hear, and +it threw him again into silence as he started up the machine and they +pursued their course home.</p> + +<p>Hard as the day had been for Mr. Gryce, its trials were not yet over. He +had left it to Sweetwater to report the case to the New York authorities +and had gone home to rest from the shock of the occurrence and to prepare +for that interview with the Chief Inspector which he was satisfied would +now lead to an even more exacting one with the District Attorney.</p> + +<p>He was met by a messenger from downtown who handed him a letter. He +opened it abstractedly and read the following:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Taylor is talking."</p> + +<p>He had forgotten Mrs. Taylor. To have her thus brought forcibly back to +mind was a shock heightened, rather than diminished, by a perusal of the +few connected words which the careful nurse had transcribed as falling +from her delirious patient's lips.</p> + +<p>They were these:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I love but thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thee will I love to eternity.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The exact lines, no more, no less, which Sweetwater had found written on +the back of the Swiss clock cherished by Mr. Roberts.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>"ROMANTIC! TOO ROMANTIC!"</h3> + + +<p>Next morning Mr. Gryce left his home an hour earlier than usual. He +wished to have a talk with Mrs. Taylor's nurse before encountering the +Inspector.</p> + +<p>It was an inconvenient time for a nurse to leave the sick-bed; but the +matter being so important, she was prevailed upon to give him a few +moments, in the little reception room where he had seated himself. The +result was meagre—that is, from her standpoint. All she had to add to +what she had written him the day before was the fact that the two lines +of verse quoted in the note she had sent him were Mrs. Taylor's first +coherent utterance, and that they had been spoken not only once but many +times, in every kind of tone, and with ever-varying emphasis. That and a +dreamy request for "The papers! the papers!" which had followed some +action of her own this very morning comprised all she had to give in +fulfillment of the promise she had made him at the beginning of this +illness.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce believed her and rose reluctantly to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Then she is still very ill?"</p> + +<p>"Very ill, but mending daily; or so the doctor says."</p> + +<p>"If she talks again, as she is liable to do at any moment, do not check +her, but remember every word. The importance of this I cannot impress +upon you too fully. But do not by any show of curiosity endanger her +recovery. She seems to be one of the very best sort; I would not have her +body or mind sacrificed on any account."</p> + +<p>"You may trust me, sir."</p> + +<p>He nodded, giving her his hand.</p> + +<p>But as he was turning away, he looked back with the quiet remark: "I +should like to ask a final question. You have been in constant attendance +on this lady for some time and must have seen many of her friends, as +well as taken charge of her mail and of any messages which may have been +left for her. Has there been anything in this experience to settle the +doubt as to whether her talk of a vision in which she saw her absent +husband stricken simultaneously with the poor child lying at that very +moment dead at her feet simply delirium or a striking instance of +telepathy recording an accomplished fact? In other words, do you believe +her husband to be living or not living at the present time?"</p> + +<p>"That is a subject upon which I have not been able to form any opinion. +I have heard nothing, seen nothing to influence my mind either way. Some +other people have asked me this same question. If her mail contains any +news, it is still in the hands of the proprietor of the hotel. He has +refrained from sending it up. She has lived here, as you know, for a long +while."</p> + +<p>"Has she no relative to share your watch or take such things in charge?"</p> + +<p>"I have seen none. Friends she has in plenty, but no one who claims +relationship with her, or who raises the least objection to anything I +do."</p> + +<p>He seemed about to ask another question, but refrained and allowed her to +depart after some final injunction as to what she should do in case of +certain emergencies. Then he had a talk with the proprietor, which added +little or nothing to his present knowledge; and these duties off his +mind, he went downtown.</p> + +<p>As he expected, he found the Chief Inspector awaiting him. The death of +Madame Duclos had added still another serious complication to the many +with which this difficult affair was already encumbered, and he was +anxious to talk over the matter with one who had been on the spot and +upon whose impressions he consequently could rely.</p> + +<p>But when he heard all that Mr. Gryce had to say on the subject, he grew +as serious as the detective himself could wish, even going so far as to +propose an immediate ride over to the District Attorney's office.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, they found that gentleman in and ready to listen, though +it was evident he expected little from the conference. But his temper +changed as Mr. Gryce opened up his theory and began to substantiate it +with facts. The looks which he exchanged with the Chief Inspector grew +more and more earnest and inquiring, and when Mr. Gryce reached that +portion of his report which connected Mr. Roberts so indisputably with +the arrow, he called in his assistant and together they listened to what +Mr. Gryce had further to say.</p> + +<p>With this addition to his audience, the old man's manner changed and +became a trifle more formal. He related the fact, not generally known, of +Mr. Roberts' engagement to a young girl residing on Long Island, and how +this was broken off immediately after the occurrence at the museum, +seemingly from no other reason than the unhappy condition of mind in +which he found himself, a condition added to if not explained by the +pertinacity with which he had haunted the morgue and dwelt upon the image +of the young girl who had perished under no random shot.</p> + +<p>Here the old man paused, shrinking as much from what he had yet to say as +they from the hearing of it. It was not till the Chief Inspector had made +him an encouraging gesture that he found the requisite courage to +proceed. He did so, in these words:</p> + +<p>"I know that the evidence I have thus far advanced is of a purely +circumstantial nature, capable, perhaps, of a more or less satisfactory +explanation. But what I have to add cannot be so easily disposed of. +Connections have developed between persons we thought strangers which +have opened up a field of inquiry which brings the doubts and surmises +of an old detective within the scope of this office. I do not know what +to make of them; perhaps their full meaning can only be found out here. +Of this only I am assured. The gentleman whom it seems presumptuous on my +part to connect even in a casual way with crime has not gained but lost +by what I have to tell of Madame Duclos' suicidal death. To those who see +no association between the two, it looks like the opening of a new lead, +but when I tell you that they knew each other, or at all events that she +knew him and in the way of actual hatred, it looks more like a deepening +of the old one. See here, gentlemen."</p> + +<p>Opening a package he had hitherto held in hand, he showed them +Fredericks' fifteen-year-old photograph of Mr. Roberts, together with its +mutilated counterpart, and explained how the latter came to be in its +present mutilated condition.</p> + +<p>"But this is not all," he continued, as the remarks incident upon this +proof of deadly hatred on the part of the mother of the victim for the +man whom circumstances seemed to point out as her slayer subsided under +the pressure of their interest in what he had further to impart. "As you +will see after a moment's consideration, this token of animosity does not +explain Madame Duclos' flight, and certainly not her death, which, as the +unhappy witness of it, I am ready to declare was not the death of one +driven to extremity from personal fear, but by some exalted feeling which +we have yet to understand. All that I now wish to point out in its +connection is the proof offered by this shattered photograph, that Mr. +Roberts was in some manner and from some cause a party to this crime from +which a superficial observation would completely dissociate him.</p> + +<p>"Where is the connecting link? How can we hope to establish it? That is +what it has now become my unfortunate duty to make plain to you. Carleton +Roberts drawing a bow to shoot an innocent schoolgirl is incredible. In +spite of all I have said and shown you, I do not believe him guilty of so +inhuman an act. He drew the bow, he shot the arrow, but——Here allow me +to pause a moment to present another aspect of the case as surprising as +any you have yet heard. You are aware—we all are aware—that the inquest +we await has been held back for the purpose of giving Mrs. Taylor an +opportunity to recover from the illness into which she has been thrown by +what she saw and suffered that day. Gentlemen, this Mrs. Taylor whom we +all—I will not even exclude myself from this category—regarded not only +as a casual visitor to the museum, but a stranger to all concerned, is, +on the contrary, as I think you will soon see, more closely allied to the +seemingly dispassionate director than even Madame Duclos. The shock which +laid her low was not that usually ascribed to her, or even the one she so +fantastically offered to our acceptance; but the recognition of Carleton +Roberts as the author of this tragedy,—Carleton Roberts whom she not +only knew well but had loved in days gone by, as sincerely as he had +loved her. This I now propose to prove to you by what I cannot but regard +as incontestable evidence."</p> + +<p>Taking from a small portfolio which he carried another photograph, +unmounted this time and evidently the work of an amateur, he laid it out +before them. The silence with which his last statement had been received, +the kind of silence which covers emotions too deep for audible +expression, remained unbroken save for an involuntary murmur or so, as +the District Attorney and his assistant bent over this crude presentation +of something—they hardly knew what—which this old but long trusted +detective was offering them in substantiation of the well-nigh +unbelievable statement he had just made.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/label-327.png"><img src="images/label-327.png" alt=""/></a> +</div> + +<p>"This, gentlemen," he went on, as he pointed to the following, "is the +copy of a label pasted on the back of a certain Swiss clock to be seen at +this very moment on the wall of Mr. Roberts' own bedroom in his home in +Belport, Long Island. He prizes this clock. He has been heard to say that +it goes where he goes and stays where he stays, and as it is far from a +valuable one either from intrinsic worth or from any accuracy it displays +in keeping time, the reason for this partiality must lie in old +associations and the memories they invoke. A love token. Can you not see +that it is such from the couplet scrawled across it? If not, just take a +look at the initials appended to that couplet. May I ask you to read +them?"</p> + +<p>The District Attorney stooped, adjusted his glasses and slowly read out:</p> + +<p>"C. C. R."</p> + +<p>"Carleton Clifton Roberts," explained Mr. Gryce. Then slowly, "The other +two if you will be so good."</p> + +<p>"E. T."</p> + +<p>"Ermentrude Taylor," declared the inexorable voice. "And written by +herself. Here is her signature which I have obtained; and here is his. +Compare them at your leisure with their initials inscribed according to +the date there, sixteen years or more ago. Now where were these two—this +man and this woman—at the time just designated? Alone, or together? Let +us see if we can find out," pursued the detective with a quiet ignoring +of the effect he had produced, which revealed him as the master of a +situation probably as difficult and disconcerting as the three officials +hanging in manifest anxiety upon his words had ever been called upon to +face. "Mr. Roberts was in Switzerland, as his housekeeper will be obliged +to admit on oath, she being an honest woman and a domestic in his +mother's house at the time. And Ermentrude Taylor! I have a witness to +prove where she was also! A witness I should be glad to have you +interrogate. Here is her name and address." And he slipped a small scrap +of paper into the District Attorney's hand. "What she will say is this, +for I think I have very thoroughly sounded her: First, that she is Mrs. +Taylor's most intimate friend. This is conceded by all who know her. +Secondly, that while her intimacy does not extend back to their girlhood +days—Mrs. Taylor being an Englishwoman by birth and remarkably reticent +as to her former life and experiences—she has one story to tell of that +time which answers the question I have given you. She got it from Mrs. +Taylor herself, and in this manner. They were engaged in talking one day +about our Western mountains and the grandeur of scenery generally, when +Mrs. Taylor let fall some remark about the Alps, which led this friend of +hers to ask if she had ever seen them. Mrs. Taylor answered in the +affirmative, but with such embarrassment and abrupt change of subject +that it was plainly apparent she had no wish to discuss it. Indeed, her +abruptness was so marked and her show of trouble so great, she was +herself disturbed by what might very easily give offense, and being of a +kindly, even loving disposition, took occasion when next they met to +explain that it was as a girl she had visited Switzerland, and that her +experiences there had been so unfortunate that any allusion which +recalled those days distressed her. This is all that ever passed between +these two on this subject, but is it not enough when we read this +couplet, and mark the combined initials, and recognize them as those of +Carleton Roberts and Ermentrude Taylor? But lest you should doubt even +this evidence of an old-time friendship so intimate that it has almost +the look of a betrothal, I must add one more item of corroborative fact +which came to me as late as last night. In a moment of partial +consciousness, while the nurse hung over her bed, Mrs. Taylor spoke her +first coherent sentence since she fell into a state demanding medical +assistance. And what was that sentence? A repetition of this couplet, +gentlemen, spoken not once but over and over again, till even the nurse +grew tired of listening to it.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">'I love but thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thee will I love to eternity.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As the last word fell from Mr. Gryce's lips, the District Attorney +muttered a quick exclamation, and sat down heavily in his chair.</p> + +<p>"No coincidence that," he cried, with forced vivacity. "The couplet is +too little known."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," came from Mr. Gryce in dry confirmation. "Mrs. Taylor, as well +as her friends can judge, is a woman of thirty-five or thirty-eight. If +she went to Switzerland as a girl, this would make her visit coincident, +so far as we can calculate from our present knowledge, with that of +Carleton Roberts. For the surer advancement of our argument, let us say +that it was. What follows? Let the inscription of this label speak for +us. They met; they loved—as was natural when we remember the youth and +good looks of both, and—<i>they parted</i>. This we must concede, or how +could the experience have been one she could not recall without a +heart-break. They parted, and he returned home, to marry within the year, +while she—I do not think she married—though I have no doubt she looks +upon herself as a wife and forever bound to the man who deserted her. +Women of her kind think in this way of such matters, and act upon them +too as is shown by the fact that, on following him here, she passed +herself off as a woman separated from her husband. Changing the Miss +before her name to Mrs., she lived under this assumption for twelve years +at her present hotel. In all that time, so far as I can learn, she has +never been visited by anyone of an appearance answering to that of her +former lover; nor have I any reason to think she ever intruded herself on +him, or made herself in any way obnoxious. He was married and settled, +and contrary to the usual course of men who step with one stride into +affluence, was living a life of usefulness which was rapidly making +him a marked man in public esteem. Perhaps she had no right to meddle +with what no longer concerned her. At all events, there is no evidence +of her having done so in all these fourteen years. Even after Mrs. +Roberts' death, all went on as usual; <i>but</i>—" Here Mr. Gryce became +emphatic—"when he turned his attention to a second marriage and that +with a very young girl—(I can name her to you, gentlemen, if you wish) +her patient soul may have been roused; she may have troubled him with +importunities; may have threatened him with a scandal which would have +interfered greatly with his political hopes if it had not ended them at +once. I can conceive such an end to her long patience, can't you, +gentlemen? And what is more, if this were so, and the gentleman found the +situation intolerable, it might account for the flight of that arrow as +nothing else ever will."</p> + +<p>Both men had started to their feet.</p> + +<p>"How! It was not <i>she</i>——"</p> + +<p>"It was not she who was struck, <i>but it was she who was aimed at</i>. The +young girl merely got in the way. But before I enlarge upon this point," +he continued in lower tones as the two officials slowly reseated +themselves, "allow me to admit that any proof of correspondence between +these old-time lovers would have added much to my present argument. But +while I have no doubt that such an interchange of letters took place, and +that in all probability some one or more of them still exist, Mrs. +Taylor's illness and Mr. Roberts' high position prevent any +substantiation of the same on our part. I must therefore ask you to +assume that it was in obedience to some definite agreement between them +that she came to the museum on that fatal morning and made her appearance +in that especial section of the gallery marked II. If this strikes you as +inconceivable and too presumptuous for belief, you must at least concede +that we have ample proof of his entire readiness for her coming. The bow +brought up so many days before from the cellar was within reach; the +arrow under his coat; and his place of concealment so chosen as to make +his escape feasible the moment that arrow flew from the bow. Had she +entered that section alone—had the arrow found lodgment in her breast +instead of in that of another—nay, I will go even further and say that +had no cry followed his act, an expectation he had every right to count +upon from the lightning-like character of the attack,—he would have +reached the Curator's office and been out of the building before quick +discovery of the deed made his completion of this attempt impossible."</p> + +<p>"But the girl did cry out," remarked the Assistant District Attorney. +"How do you account for that, since, as you say, it was not natural for +one pierced to the heart without warning?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, you see the big mistake we made,—Correy and all the rest of us. Had +Miss Willetts, or I should say, Mademoiselle Duclos, been the one to let +out that dolorous cry, the man just behind the partition would have been +there almost in time to see her fall. Correy, who started up the stairs +at the first sound, would have been at the gallery entrance before the +man of the arrow could have dropped the hanging over his retreating +figure. But it was not from her lips, poor girl, that this gasping shriek +went up, but from those of the woman who saw the deed and knew from whom +the arrow came and for whom it was meant. How do I know this? Because of +the time which elapsed, the few precious minutes which allowed Mr. +Roberts to get as far away as the court. For she did not voice her agony +immediately. Even she, with her own unwounded heart keeping up its +functions, stood benumbed before this horror. Not till the full meaning +of it all had penetrated her reluctant brain did she move or cry out. How +long this interval was; whether three minutes were consumed by it, or +five, we have no means of telling. She, in her despair, would take no +note of time, nor would Mr. Travis, reeling in the opposite gallery under +the shock of seeing all that he loved taken from him in one awful +minute."</p> + +<p>Here the detective turned with great earnestness toward the two +officials.</p> + +<p>"This question of time has been, as I have repeatedly said, the greatest +stumbling-block we have encountered in our consideration of this crime. +How could the assassin, by any means possible, have got so far away from +the pedestal, in the infinitesimal lapse of time between the cry that was +heard and the quick alarm which followed. Now we know. Have you anything +to say against this conclusion? Any other explanation to give which will +account for every fact as this does?"</p> + +<p>His answer came in a dubious gesture from the District Attorney and a +half-hearted "No" from his Assistant. They were both either too awed by +the circumstance or too fearful of mistake, to accept without a struggle +an accusation of this grave and momentous character against one of Mr. +Roberts' stamp and consequence.</p> + +<p>This was no more than Mr. Gryce had expected, and while he realized that +his reputation as a detective of extraordinary insight in cases of an +unusually baffling nature trembled in the balance, he experienced a +sudden distaste of his work which almost drove him into renouncing the +whole affair. But the habits of a lifetime are not parted with so +easily; and when the Chief Inspector observed—evidently with the idea of +goading him on—"This seems to be mainly a matter of conjecture, Gryce," +his old self reasserted itself, and he answered boldly:</p> + +<p>"I acknowledge that; but conjecture is what in nine cases out of ten +smoothes out many of our difficulties. I have here a short statement made +by myself, after the most careful inquiries, of all that Mrs. Taylor and +the untrapped director did and said in the few difficult moments when +they met face to face over the body of his unfortunate victim. I will ask +you to listen to a portion of it.</p> + +<p>"'She had not moved. After her one cry of horror which had brought a rush +of witnesses upon the scene, she remained fixed on her knees in the +absorbed introspection common to those brought suddenly face to face with +a life and death crisis. He, finding that his own safety demanded action +suitable to his position as a director, had entered with the crowd and +now stood in her presence, in face of his own diabolical work, in an +attitude of cold courage such as certain strong natures are able to +assume under the pressure of great emergencies.</p> + +<p>"'So long as she was deaf to all appeal to rouse and explain the +situation, he stood back, watchful and silent; but when she finally +roused and showed a disposition to speak, his desperation drove him +into questioning her in order to see how much she understood of an attack +which had killed a harmless stranger and let herself go free.</p> + +<p>"'He asked her first if she could tell them from which direction came the +arrow which ended this young girl's life.</p> + +<p>"'She made no reply in words; but glanced significantly at the opposite +gallery.</p> + +<p>"'This called from him the direct inquiry, "Did you see anyone over there +at the moment this young girl fell?"</p> + +<p>"'She shook her head. Afterward she explained the denial by saying that +she had been looking down into the court.</p> + +<p>"'But he did not cease his inquiries. Turning to the people crowding +about him, he put the like question to them; but receiving no answer, a +silence followed, during which a woman suggested in tones loud enough for +all to hear, that there were no arrows on the other side of the court, +but that the gallery where they stood was full of them.</p> + +<p>"'This seemed to alarm Mrs. Taylor. Turning to the director, she asked +whether he was sure that the opposite gallery held no arrows and no bows; +and when he replied that nothing of the kind was to be found along its +entire length, she proceeded to inquire whether any such deed could be +committed in a place so open to view, without attracting the observation +of some one wandering in court or gallery.</p> + +<p>"'This, undoubtedly, to ascertain the full extent of his danger, before +bestowing a thought upon herself. But at his answer, given with the cold +precision of a thoroughly selfish man, that if anyone in the whole +building had seen so much as a movement in a spot so under suspicion, +that person would have been heard from by this time, she faltered and was +heard to ask what he had in mind and why the people about her looked at +her so. He did not respond directly, but made some remark about the +police, which increased her alarm to the point of an attempted +justification. She said that it was true about the arrows, as anyone +could see by looking up at the walls. But where was the bow? No one could +shoot an arrow without a bow, and when some one shouted that if an arrow +was used as a dagger, one wouldn't need a bow, a sort of frenzy seized +her and she acted quite insane, falling at the young girl's side and +whispering sentence after sentence in her ear.</p> + +<p>"'What more was needed to stamp her as a mad woman in the eyes of the +ordinary observer? Nothing. But to you and me, with the cue just given, +it has another look. She had just seen the man whom she had herself +spared from an accusation which would have been his ruin accept in the +coldest fashion an explanation which left her own innocence in doubt. +What wonder she succumbed to temporary aberration! As will be remembered, +she soon became comparatively calm again, and so remained until in an +interview I had with her a half hour or so later I urged her, possibly +with too much insistence, for some explanation of the extreme agitation +she had shown at the time, when she broke forth with the remarkable +statement that it was not the child, but her husband, she was mourning, +stricken to death, as she would have us believe, simultaneously with the +young and innocent victim then lying dead at her feet.</p> + +<p>"'Of course, such a coincidence was much too startling not to be regarded +by us all as the ravings of delirium; nor has anything occurred since in +the way of communication from, or in regard to the absent one, to show +that this so-called warning of death has been followed up by fact. But, +if you test her action by the theory I have just advanced, viz., that the +man she called husband was at that moment in the room with us and that +these words were a plea to him—the last appeal of a broken-hearted woman +for the support she felt to be her due—how the atmosphere of unreason +and mystery clears itself. His suggestion that what was needed there was +an alienist, and the pitiful efforts she made to exonerate herself +without implicating him in the murderous event, fall naturally into +place, as the action of a guilty man and the self-denying conduct of a +devoted woman.'"</p> + +<p>"Romantic! too romantic!" objected the District Attorney. "I should think +we were listening to one of Dumas' tales."</p> + +<p>"Dumas got his greatest effects from life, or so I have been told," +remarked the Chief Inspector.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gryce sat silent.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, the District Attorney observed with the slightest tinge of +irony edging his tone:</p> + +<p>"I presume you would find a like explanation for the messages she +professed to be sending to her husband, when engaged in babbling fool +words into the dead girl's ear."</p> + +<p>"Certainly. He was there, mark you! He stood where he could both see and +hear her. All she said and all she did was by way of appeal to him for +some token of regret, some sign that he appreciated her reticence; and +when she found that it was bringing her nothing, she fainted away."</p> + +<p>"Ingenious, very ingenious, Gryce. Had you failed to give us proofs +connecting this idol of the Republican party with the actual shooting, +it would have been simply ingenious and a quite useless expenditure +of talent. But we have these proofs, and while they are mainly +circumstantial, they undoubtedly call upon us for some recognition, and +so we will hear you out whatever action we may take afterward."</p> + +<p>"But first I should like to ask Mr. Gryce one question," interposed his +assistant. Then addressing the detective: "Two mysteries are involved in +this matter. You have given us a clever explanation of one of them, but +how about the other? Will you, before going further, tell us what +connection you find between the theory just advanced and the flight and +ultimate suicide of Madame Duclos under circumstances which point to a +desire to suppress evidence even at the cost of her life? It was not +from consideration for Mr. Roberts, whom you have shown she hated. What +was it then? Have you an equally ingenious explanation for that too?"</p> + +<p>"I have an explanation, but I cannot say that it is altogether +satisfactory. She died but yesterday, and my opportunities have been +small for any work since. What I have learned was from her sister-in-law, +whom I saw this morning. Realizing that she will be obliged to give full +testimony at the inevitable inquest, she is at last ready to acknowledge +that she has been aware for a long time of a secret in Madame's life. +That while she knew nothing of its nature, she had always thought that it +was in some manner connected with her prolonged residence abroad. Whether +it would also explain the meaning of her return at this time and the +seemingly inexplicable change made in her daughter's name while <i>en +route</i>, must be left to our judgment. Madame had told her nothing. She +had simply made use of their home, coming and going, not once, but twice, +without giving them the least excuse for her inexplicable conduct. A +hundred questions could not elicit more. But to one who like myself has +had the opportunity of observing this wretched woman at the moment of her +supreme distress an insight is given into her character, which suggests +the only plausible explanation of her action. Her sacrifice was one of +devotion! She perished in an exaltation of feeling. Love drove her to +this desperate act. Not the love of woman for a man, but the love which +women of her profound nature sometimes feel for one of their own sex. +Mrs. Taylor was her friend—wait, I hope to prove it—and to save her +from experiencing the extreme misery of seeing the man who was the joy +as well as bane of her life suffer from the consequences of his own +misdeeds, Antoinette Duclos felt willing to die and did. You smile, +gentlemen. You think the old man is approaching senility. Perhaps I am, +but if the contention is raised that no connection has been shown to +exist between Mrs. Taylor and this foreign Madame, save such as was made +by the death of Madame's child, I must retort by asking who warned Madame +Duclos of the fatal occurrence at the museum in time for her to flee +before even our telephone messages reached her hotel? Gentlemen, there is +but one person who could have done this—our chief witness, Ermentrude +Taylor. She alone had not only the incentive, but the necessary +opportunity. Coroner Price as well as myself made a great mistake when we +allowed Mrs. Taylor to go home alone that day."</p> + +<p>"Very likely." This from the Chief Inspector. "But if the information I +have received on this point is correct, she seemed at that time to be so +entirely dissociated with a deed whose origin had just been located in +the opposite gallery, that you have no real cause to blame yourselves in +this regard."</p> + +<p>"True; our minds were diverted. But you are waiting for me to explain +what I mean by opportunity. Since my attention has been drawn to Mrs. +Taylor again, I have been making inquiries. The chauffeur who drove her +to her hotel has been found, and he admits that she stopped once on her +way home, to buy some coffee. He watched her as she went into the store +and he watched her as she came out; and he smelled the coffee. Happily, +the interest he took in her as a sick woman intrusted to his care was +strong enough for him to remember the store. It was one with two +entrances, front and back; and next door to it there is a public building +with a long row of telephone booths on the ground floor. If I read the +incident aright, she bought her coffee, ordered it ground, slipped out at +the rear door and into the adjoining building, where, unnoticed and +unheard, she called up the Universal and got into communication with +Madame Duclos. When she returned it was by the same route. She did not +forget her coffee nor give way under the great strain to which she had +subjected herself till she reached her own apartment."</p> + +<p>"Clever."</p> + +<p>"And true, gentlemen; I will stake my reputation on it, unable as I am to +explain every circumstance, and close up every gap. Have you any further +questions to ask or shall I leave you to your deliberations?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h3>A STRONG MAN</h3> + + +<p>An hour later when the Chief Inspector rose to depart, it was with the +understanding that until their way cleared and their duty in this matter +had become inevitable, no word of this business should reach the press, +or even pass beyond the three officials interested.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, they were able to keep this compact, and days elapsed +without any public recognition of the new factor which had entered into +the consideration of this complicated crime.</p> + +<p>Then a hint of what was seething in the official mind was allowed to +carry its own shock to the person most interested. Mr. Roberts was +summoned to an interview with Coroner Price. No reason was given for this +act, but the time was set with an exactness which gave importance to a +request which they all felt the director would not venture to disregard.</p> + +<p>Nor did he. He came at the time appointed, and Coroner Price in welcoming +him with becoming deference could not but notice the great change which +had taken place in him since that night they stood together in the museum +and saw the Indian make the trial with bow and arrow which located the +point of delivery as that of the upper pedestal. In just what this change +lay, the Coroner hardly knew, unless it was in the increased grayness of +his hair. Mr. Roberts' face, handsome as it was, was not an expressive +one. Slight emotions made no impression there; nor did he to-day present +anything but a calm and dignified appearance. Yet he was changed; and +anyone who had not seen him since that night must certainly observe it.</p> + +<p>The Coroner, who was also a man of a somewhat stolid cut, proffered him a +seat and at once opened fire.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon me any inconvenience I may have put you to, Mr. Roberts, +when I tell you that Coroner D—— of Greene County, is anxious to have a +few words with you. He would have visited you at your home; but I induced +him to see you here."</p> + +<p>"Coroner D—— of Greene County!" Mr. Roberts was entirely surprised. +"And what business can he have with me?"</p> + +<p>"It is in regard to the suicide of Madame Antoinette Duclos, committed, +as you know, a week since in the Catskills."</p> + +<p>"Ah! an extraordinarily sad affair, and of considerable moment I should +judge, from its seeming connection with the one previously occurring at +our museum. The girls' mother, was she not? Grief evidently unseated her +brain. But—" here he changed his position quietly but with evident +effort:—"in what manner am I supposed to be in a position to help the +Coroner in his inquiry into this case? I was a witness, together with +many others, of what happened after the accident which took place at the +museum; but I know nothing of Madame Duclos or of her self-inflicted +death, beyond what has appeared in the papers."</p> + +<p>"The papers! An uncertain guide, Mr. Roberts. You may not believe it," +Coroner Price remarked with a strange sort of smile, "but there are +secrets known to this office, as well as to Police Headquarters, which +never get into the most enterprising journals."</p> + +<p>Was this meant to startle the director, and did it succeed in doing so?</p> + +<p>It may have startled him, but if so, he made no betrayal of the fact. His +manner continued to be perfectly natural and his voice under full control +as he replied that it would be strange if in a case like this they should +give out all the extraneous facts and possible clues which might be +gathered in by their detectives.</p> + +<p>This was carrying the offense into the enemy's camp with a vengeance. But +the Coroner was saved replying by Mr. Roberts remarking:</p> + +<p>"But this is not an answer to my question. Why should the Coroner of +Greene County want to see <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>Coroner Price proffered him a cigar, during the lighting of which the +former remarked:</p> + +<p>"It's certainly very odd. You say that you didn't know Madame Duclos."</p> + +<p>"No; how should I? She was a foreigner, was she not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; a Frenchwoman, both by birth and marriage. Her husband, a professor +of languages, was located some sixteen years ago, in New Orleans."</p> + +<p>"I never knew him. Indeed, I find it hard to understand why I should be +expected to show any interest in him or his wife."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will tell you. You may not have known the Madame; but it is very +certain that she knew you."</p> + +<p>"She?" This certainly unexpected blow seemed to make some impression. +"Will you give me your reasons for such an assertion? Was the name +Duclos a false one? Was her name like that of her daughter, Willetts? If +so, allow me to assure you that I never heard of a Willetts any more than +I have of a Duclos. That a woman of whatever name and nationality should +desert her child fills me with horror. I cannot speak of her, dead though +she be, with any equanimity. A mother and act as she did! She herself was +to blame, and only she for what happened to that beautiful girl—so +young—so sweet—so innocent. I have a weakness for youth. To me a girl +of that type is sacred. Had I been blessed with such a child——But +there, I am straying again from our point. What makes you say Madame +Duclos knew me?"</p> + +<p>Before replying, the Coroner rose, and taking a small package from +his desk, opened it, and laid out before the astonished eyes of Mr. +Roberts the freshly printed photograph of himself with which we are +so well acquainted, and then the half-demolished one which for all its +imperfections showed that it had been originally struck off from the same +negative.</p> + +<p>"Do you recognize this portrait of yourself as one taken by Fredericks +some dozen years ago?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. But this other? This end and corner of what must have been my +picture too, where was <i>it</i> found?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is what I have called you here to learn. This remnant of what +you have just admitted to have been your photograph also was found in the +very condition in which you see it now, in the wastebasket of the room +where Madame Duclos lodged previous to her flight to the Catskills."</p> + +<p>"This! with the face——"</p> + +<p>"Just that! With the face riddled out of it by bullets! She shot six into +it at intervals; waiting for the passing of an elevated train by her +windows, in the hope that the bigger noise would drown the lesser."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing," was Mr. Roberts' indignant comment, as he brushed the +picture aside. "That was never my picture, or she wanted a target for her +skill and didn't care what she took. That is all I have to say to you or +to the Coroner of Greene County, on a matter in which I have no concern. +I am sorry to disappoint both of you, but it is so."</p> + +<p>He rose, and the Coroner did not seek to detain him. He merely observed, +as the director turned to go:</p> + +<p>"Have you heard the latest news about Mrs. Taylor?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"She is improving rapidly. Soon she will be able to appear before the +jury already chosen to inquire into the cause and manner of Miss +Willetts' death."</p> + +<p>"A fine woman!" came in a burst from the director's lips as he faced +about for a good-bye nod. "I don't know when I have seen one I admired +more."</p> + +<p>And Coroner Price had nothing to say, he was stupefied.</p> + +<p>But it was not so with Mr. Gryce, who entered immediately upon Mr. +Roberts' departure.</p> + +<p>"Not a jarring note," he remarked. Evidently he had heard the whole +conversation. "I never for a moment imagined that he knew Madame Duclos. +Any knowledge we gain of her will have to come from Mrs. Taylor."</p> + +<p>"He's a strong man. We shall find it difficult to hold our own against +him if we are brought to an actual struggle."</p> + +<p>"Why did he run the forefinger of his right hand so continuously into his +right-hand vest pocket?" was Mr. Gryce's sole comment.</p> + +<p>By which it looks as if he had seen as well as heard.</p> + +<p>"I didn't notice it. Is the District Attorney prepared to make the next +move? Mine has failed."</p> + +<p>"Not yet. The game is too hazardous. We should only make ourselves +ridiculous in the eyes of the whole world if we should fail in an attack +upon a man of such national importance. After the two inquests and a +letter I hope to receive from Switzerland, we may be in a position to +launch our first bomb. I don't anticipate the act with any pleasure; +the explosion will be something frightful."</p> + +<p>"If half you think is true, the unexpected confronting of him with Mrs. +Taylor should produce some result. That's what I reckon on now, if the +business falls first to me."</p> + +<p>"I reckon on nothing. Chance is going to take this thing out of our +hands."</p> + +<p>"Chance! I don't understand you."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand myself; but this is a case which will never come into +court."</p> + +<p>"I differ with you. I almost saw confession in his face when he turned +upon me at last with that extravagant expression of admiration for the +woman you say he meant to kill."</p> + +<p>"Why did his finger go so continuously to his vest pocket? When you +answer that, I will give a name to what I just called <i>chance</i>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h3>THE CREEPING SHADOW</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Taylor suffered a relapse, and the inquest which had been held back +in anticipation of her recovery was again delayed. This led to a like +postponement of an inquiry into the death of Madame Duclos; and a +consequent let-up in public interest which thus found itself, for the +nonce, deprived of further food on which to batten.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mr. Gryce was not idle. Anxious to determine just how and +where Madame Duclos' story fitted into the deeper and broader one of the +museum crime, he made use of his fast waning strength to probe its +mysteries and master such of its details as bore upon the serious +investigation to which he was so unhappily committed. When he had done +this,—when he had penetrated, as it were, into the very heart of the +matter to the elimination of all doubt and the full establishment of his +own theory, it was felt that the time had come for some sort of positive +action on the part of those interested in the cause of justice.</p> + +<p>This they decided should take the form of a personal interview between +certain officials and Mr. Roberts himself. A lesser man would have been +asked to meet the District Attorney in his office; but in a case of such +moment where the honor of one so prominent in many ways was involved it +was thought best for them to visit him in his own home. To do this +without exciting his apprehension while still making sure of his presence +required some management. Various plans were discussed with the result +that a political exigency was brought into play. The District Attorney +asked Mr. Roberts for an interview for the purpose of introducing to him +a man whose influence could not fail to play an important part in his +future candidacy.</p> + +<p>He did not name this man; but we will name him. It was the Chief +Inspector.</p> + +<p>The appointment was made and the day set. It was the following Monday. On +Tuesday, Coroner Price was to open his inquest.</p> + +<p>Did Carleton Roberts see any connection between these two events?</p> + +<p>Who can tell? The secrets of such a brain are not to be read lightly. If +we possessed Sweetwater's interest, and were to follow in secret fashion +every action of the director on the evening preceding this date, what +conclusion should we draw in this regard? How would we characterize his +anticipations, or measure in our own mind the possibilities of the +future as felt by him?</p> + +<p>He was very quiet. He ate his meal with seeming appetite. Then he took a +look over his whole house. From the carefulness with which he noted +everything, the changes which he had caused to be made in it were not +without their interest for him. Not a young man's interest, but yet an +interest as critical and acute as though he had expected it to be shared +by one whose comfort he sought and in whose happiness he would fain take +part.</p> + +<p>This, to Sweetwater, had he our vision, would have been incomprehensible +from any point of view; especially, had he seen what followed when the +owner of all this luxury returned to his library.</p> + +<p>There was a picture there; a small framed photograph which occupied the +post of honor on his desk.</p> + +<p>It showed a young and pretty face, untouched, as yet, by the cares or +troubles of this world. He spent a minute or so in looking at it; then he +slowly lifted it, and taking the picture from the frame, gave it another +look, during which a smile almost derisive gathered slowly on his lips. +Before this smile had altogether vanished, he had torn the picture in two +and thrown the fragments into the fire he had kindled early in the +evening with his own hands.</p> + +<p>If he stopped to watch these fragments burn, it was from abstraction +rather than from interest; for his step grew lighter as he left the +fireplace. Whatever this young girl's face had meant to him in days +gone by was now as completely dissipated as the little puff of smoke +which had marked the end of her picture.</p> + +<p>If he read the papers afterward it was mechanically. Night, and the one +great planet sinking in the West, appeared to appeal to him much more +strongly than his books or the more than usually stirring news of the +day.</p> + +<p>He must have stood an hour in his unlighted window, gazing out at the +tumbling waves lapping the shore.</p> + +<p>But of his thoughts, God wot, he gave no sign.</p> + +<p>Later, he slept.</p> + +<p>Slept! with his hand under his pillow! Slept, though there were others in +the house awake!—or why this creeping shadow of a man outlined upon the +wall wherever the moon shone in, and disappearing from sight whenever the +way led through darkness.</p> + +<p>It came from above; no noise accompanied it. Where the great window +opened upon the sea, lighting up the main staircase, it halted,—halted +for several minutes; then passed stealthily down, a shadowy silhouette, +descending now quickly, now slowly, as tread after tread is left behind +and the great hall is reached.</p> + +<p>Here there is no darkness. Open doors admit the light from many windows. +A semi-obscurity is all, and through this the figure passes, but +hesitatingly still, and with pause after pause, till a certain door +is reached—a closed door—the only door which is closed in this part +of the house.</p> + +<p>Here it stands—stands with profile to the panels, one ear against the +wood. One minute—two minutes—five minutes pass. Then a hand goes out +and touches the knob. It yields; yields without a sound—and a small gap +is seen between the door and its casing. This gap grows. Still no sound +to disturb the tragic silence. Stop! What was that? A moan? Yes, from +within. Another? Yes. Then all is quiet again. The dream has passed. +Sleep has resumed its sway. The gap can safely be made wider. This is +done, and the figure halting without, passes in.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + +<h3>CONFRONTED</h3> + + +<p>Late in the afternoon of the following day, the expected car entered Mr. +Roberts' spacious grounds. It contained, besides the chauffeur, just +two persons, the District Attorney and the Chief Inspector. But it was +followed by another in which could be seen Mr. Gryce and a stenographer +from the District Attorney's office.</p> + +<p>The house was finished by this time, and to one approaching through the +driveway presented a very attractive appearance. As the last turn was +made, the sea burst upon the view—a somewhat tumultuous sea, for the +wind was keen that day and whipped the waves into foam and froth from the +horizon to the immediate shore-line. To add to the scene, a low black +cloud with coppery edges hovered at the meeting of sea and sky, between +which and themselves one taut sail could be seen trailing its boom in the +water.</p> + +<p>To one of them—to Mr. Gryce, in fact, upon whose age Fancy had begun to +work, this battling craft presented an ominous appearance. It was doomed. +The gale was too much for it. Did he see in this obvious fact a prophecy +of what lay before the man upon whose privacy they were on the point of +intruding?</p> + +<p>The house was so arranged that to reach the main entrance it was +necessary to pass a certain window. As they did so, the figure of Mr. +Roberts could be seen in the room beyond moving about in an interested +survey of its new furnishings and present comfortable arrangement. To +these men bent on an errand as far as possible removed from interests of +this kind, this evidence of Mr. Roberts' pleasure in the promise of +future domesticity gave a painful shock, and raised in the minds of more +than one of them a doubt—perhaps the first in days—whether a man so +heavily weighted with a burden of unacknowledged guilt could show this +pleasurable absorption in his new surroundings.</p> + +<p>However, when they came to see him nearer, and marked the stiffening of +his body and the slight toss-up of his head, as he noted the number and +the exact character of his guests, their spirits fell again, for he was +certainly a broken man, however much he might seek to disguise it. Yet +there was something in this extraordinary man's personality—a force or +a charm wholly dissociated it may be from worth or the sterling qualities +which insure respect—which appealed to them in spite of their new-found +prejudice, and prevented any dallying with his suspense or the use of any +of the common methods usually employed in an encounter of this kind.</p> + +<p>The Chief Inspector to whom the first say had been given faced the +director squarely, as he saw how the hand which had just welcomed the +District Attorney fell at his approach.</p> + +<p>"You are surprised, Mr. Roberts, and rightly, to see me here not only in +connection with the Prosecuting Attorney of the City of New York, but +with a member of my own force. This, you will say, is no political +delegation such as you have been led to expect. Nor is it, Mr. Roberts. +But let us hope you will pardon this subterfuge when you learn that it +was resorted to for the sole purpose of sparing you all unnecessary +unpleasantness in an interview which can no longer be avoided or +delayed."</p> + +<p>"Let us sit."</p> + +<p>It was his only answer.</p> + +<p>When they had all complied, the District Attorney took the lead by +saying:</p> + +<p>"I am disposed to omit all preliminaries, Mr. Roberts. We have but one +object in this visit and that is to clear up to your satisfaction, as +well as to our own, certain difficulties of an unexpected nature which +have met us in our investigation into the crime in which you, as a +director of the museum in which it occurred, and ourselves as protectors +of the public peace, are all vitally concerned."</p> + +<p>"Granted," came in the most courteous manner from their involuntary +host. "Yet I fail to understand why so many are needed for a purpose +so laudable."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps this will no longer surprise you, if you will allow me to draw +your attention to this chart," was the answer made to this by the +District Attorney.</p> + +<p>Here he took from a portfolio which he carried a square of paper which he +proceeded to lay out on a table standing conveniently near.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts threw a glance at it and straightened again.</p> + +<p>"Explain yourself," said he. "I am quite at your service."</p> + +<p>The District Attorney made, perhaps, one of the greatest efforts of his +life.</p> + +<p>"I see that you recognize this chart, Mr. Roberts. You know when it was +made and why. But what you may not know is this: that in serving its +original purpose, it has proved to be our guide in another of equal, if +not greater, importance. For instance, it shows us quite plainly who of +all the persons present at the time of first alarm were near enough to +the Curator's office to be in the line of escape from the particularly +secluded spot from which the arrow was delivered. Of these persons, only +one fulfills all other necessary conditions with an exactness which +excuses any special interest we may feel in him. It is he who is +tabulated here as number 3."</p> + +<p>It was said. Mr. Roberts was well acquainted with his own number. He did +not have to follow with his eye the point of the District Attorney's +finger to know upon whose name it had settled; and for a moment, +surprise, shock,—the greatest which can befall a man,—struggled with +countless other emotions in his usually impassive countenance. Then he +regained his poise, and with a curiously sarcastic smile such as his lips +had seldom shown, he coldly asked:</p> + +<p>"And by what stretch of probability do you pick me out for this attack? +There were other men and women in this court, some very near me if I +remember rightly. In what are their characters superior, or their claims +to respect greater, that you should thus single me out as the fool or +knave who could not only commit so wild and despicable an act, but go so +far in folly—let alone knavery—as to conceal it afterward?"</p> + +<p>"No evidence has been found against the others you have named which could +in any way connect them with this folly—or shall we say knavery, since +you yourself have made use of the word. But hard as it is for me to say +this, in a presence so highly esteemed, this is not true of you, Mr. +Roberts, however high are our hopes that you will have such explanations +ready as will relieve our minds from further doubts, and send us home +rejoicing. Shall I be frank in stating the precise reasons which seem +to justify our present presumption?"</p> + +<p>The director bowed, the same curious smile giving an unnatural expression +to his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Let me begin then," the other continued, "by reading to you a list of +questions made out at Headquarters, as a test by which suspicion might be +conscientiously held or summarily dismissed. They are few in number," he +added, as he unfolded a slip of paper taken from his vest pocket. "But +they are very vital, Mr. Roberts. Here is the first:</p> + +<p>"'Whose hand carried the bow from cellar to gallery?'"</p> + +<p>The director remained silent; but the oppression of that silence was +difficult for them all to endure.</p> + +<p>"This the second:</p> + +<p>"'Was it the same that carried the arrow from one gallery to another?'"</p> + +<p>Still no word; but Mr. Gryce, who was watching Mr. Roberts' every move +without apparently looking up from the knob of his own cane, turned +resolutely aside; the strain was too great. How long could such +superhuman composure endure? And which word of all that were to come +would break it?</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the District Attorney was reading the third question.</p> + +<p>"'Is it possible for an arrow, shot through the loophole made by the +curving in of the vase, to reach the mark set for it by Mr. Travis' +testimony?'</p> + +<p>"That question was answered when Mr. La Flèche made his experiments from +behind the two pedestals. It could not have been done from the one behind +which Mr. Travis crouched, but was entirely possible from the rear of the +other."</p> + +<p>With a wave of his hand, Mr. Roberts dismissed this, and the District +Attorney proceeded.</p> + +<p>"'Which of the men and women known to be in the museum when this arrow +was delivered has enough knowledge of archery to string a bow? A mark can +be reached by chance, but only an accustomed hand can string a bow as +unyielding as this one.'</p> + +<p>"I will pause there, Mr. Roberts. You may judge by our presence here to +whose hand and to whose skill we have felt forced to ascribe this wanton +shooting of a young and lovely girl. We wish to be undeceived, and stand +ready to listen to anything you may have to say in contradiction of these +conclusions. That is, if you wish to speak. You know that you will be +well within your rights to remain silent. Likewise that if you decide to +speak, it will be our painful duty to make record of your words for any +use our duty may hereafter suggest."</p> + +<p>"I will speak." The words came with difficulty,—but they came. "Ask what +you will. Satisfy my curiosity, as well as your own."</p> + +<p>"First then, the bow. It was brought up from the cellar a fortnight or +more before it was used, and placed on end in the Curator's office, where +it was seen more than once by the woman who wipes up the floors. The +person who did this cast a shadow on the cellar wall,—that shadow was +seen. Need I say more? A man's shadow is himself—sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I brought up the bow; but I do not see how that implicates me in the +use which was afterward made of it. My reasons for bringing it up were +innocent enough——"</p> + +<p>He stopped—not even knowing that he stopped. His eyes had been drawn to +a small article which the District Attorney had dropped from his hand +onto the table. It looked like an end of black tape; but whether it was +this or something quite different, it held the gaze of the man who was +speaking, so completely that he forgot to go on.</p> + +<p>The hush which followed paled the cheeks of more than one man there. +To release the tension, the District Attorney resumed his argument, +observing quietly, and as if no interruption had occurred:</p> + +<p>"As to the arrow and its means of secret transfer from one side of the +building to the other in the face of a large crowd, let me direct your +attention to this little strip of folded silk. You have seen it before. +Surely, I am quite justified in asking whether indeed you have not +handled it both before and after the lamentable occurrence we are +discussing?"</p> + +<p>"I see it for the first time," came from lips so stiff that the words +were with difficulty articulated. "What is its purpose?" he asked after +a short pause.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think it necessary to tell you," came in chilling response from +the now thoroughly disenchanted official. "It looks like a loop, and +notwithstanding your assertion that you see it now for the first time, +we have ample evidence that it was once attached to the coat you wore on +that fatal day and later carefully severed from it and dropped on the +museum floor."</p> + +<p>The District Attorney waited, they all waited with eyes on the subject of +this attack, for some token of shame or indignation at this scarcely +veiled insinuation. But beyond a certain stillness of expression, still +further masking a countenance naturally cold and irresponsive, no hint +was given that any effect had been produced upon him by these words. +The coal before it falls apart into ash holds itself intact though its +heart of flame has departed; so he—or such was Mr. Gryce's thought as he +waited for the District Attorney's next move.</p> + +<p>It was of a sort which recalls that soul-harrowing legend of the man hung +up in an iron cage above a yawning precipice, from under whose madly +shifting feet one plank after another is withdrawn from the cage's +bottom, till no spot is left for him to stand on; and he falls.</p> + +<p>"I hear that you are an expert with the bow and arrow, Mr. Roberts, or +rather were at an earlier stage of your career. You have even taken a +prize for the same from an Alpine Club."</p> + +<p>Ah! that told. It was such an unexpected blow; and it showed so much +knowledge. But the man who thus beheld his own youth brought up in +accusation against him quickly recovered; and with an entire change of +demeanor, faced them all and spoke up at last quickly and defiantly:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, I have shown patience up till now, because I saw that you had +something on your minds which it might be better for you and possibly for +me to be rid of. This affair of Miss Willett's death is, as all must +acknowledge, baffling enough to strain even to the point of folly any +effort made to explain it. I had sympathy with your difficulties, and +have still enough of that sympathy left, not to express too much +indignation at what you are pleased to call your suspicions. I will +merely halt for the moment your attempts in my direction, by asking, +what have you or anybody else ever seen in me to think I would practise +my old-time skill on a young and beautiful stranger enjoying herself in +a place so dear to my heart as the museum of which I have been a director +now these many years? Am I a madman, or a destroyer of youth? I love the +young. This inhuman death of one so fair and innocent has whitened my +locks and seared my very heart-strings. I shall never get over it; and +whatever evidence you may have or think you have, of my having handled +bow and arrow in that museum gallery, it must fall before the fact of my +natural incapability to do the thing with which you have charged me. No +act possible to man is more in contradiction to my instincts, than the +wanton or even casual killing of a young girl."</p> + +<p>"I believe you."</p> + +<p>It was the Inspector who spoke, and the emphasis which he gave to his +words lifted the director's head again into its old self-reliant poise. +But the silence which followed was so weighted with possibilities of +something yet to be said by this portentous holder of secrets, that it +caused the nobly lifted head slowly to droop again and the lips which had +opened impulsively to close.</p> + +<p>Were the words coming—the words which might at a stroke pull down the +whole fabric of his life, past, present and to come?</p> + +<p>In his excited state of mind he seemed already to hear them. Doom was +in their sound, and the world, once so bright, was growing dark about +him—dark!</p> + +<p>Yet how could these men know? And if they did why did they not speak? And +they did not; they did not. There was silence in the air, not words; and +life for him was taking on once more its ancient colors, when sharp and +merry through the heavy quiet there rang out the five clear calls of a +cuckoo clock from some near-by room. One, two, three, four, five! Jolly +reminder of old days! But to the men who listened, the voice of doom +spoke in its gladsome peal, whether the ears which caught it were those +of accuser or accused. Old days were not the days to be rejoiced in at +a moment so perilous to the one and so painful to the others.</p> + +<p>With the cessation of the last shrill cry, the Inspector repeated the +phrase:</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Mr. Roberts. But how about the woman who was troubling +you with demands you had no wish to grant? Miss Willetts, as you choose +to call her, though you must know that her name is Duclos, was not the +only person in the line of the arrow shot on that day from one gallery to +the other. Perhaps this weapon of destruction was meant for one it failed +to reach. Perhaps—but I have gone far enough. I should not have gone so +far if it had not been my wish to avoid any misunderstanding with one of +such undoubted claims to consideration as yourself. If you have +explanations to offer—if you can in any way relieve our minds from the +responsibilities which are weighing upon us, pray believe in our honest +desire to have you do so. There may be something back of appearances +which has escaped our penetration; but it will have to be something +startlingly clear, for we know facts in your life which are not open to +the world at large, I may even say to your most intimate friends."</p> + +<p>"As, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"That Mrs. Taylor is no stranger to you, even if Mademoiselle Duclos +was. We have evidence you will find it hard to dispute that you knew +and—liked each other, fifteen years or so ago."</p> + +<p>"Evidence?"</p> + +<p>"Incontrovertible, Mr. Roberts."</p> + +<p>"Attested to by her? I do not believe it. I never shall believe it, and +I deny the charge. The ravings of a sick woman,—if it is such you have +listened to——"</p> + +<p>"I advise you to stop there, Mr. Roberts," interjected the District +Attorney. "Mrs. Taylor has said nothing. Neither has Madame Duclos. What +the former may say under oath I do not know. We shall both have an +opportunity to hear to-morrow, when Coroner Price opens his inquest. She +is in sufficiently good health now, I believe, to give her testimony. +Pray, say nothing." Mr. Roberts had started to his feet. "Do nothing. You +will be one of the witnesses called——"</p> + +<p>There he stopped, meeting with steady gaze the wild eyes of the man who +was staring at him, staring at them all in an effort to hold them back, +while his finger crept stealthily and ever more stealthily toward his +right-hand vest-pocket.</p> + +<p>"You would dare," he shouted, then suddenly dropped his hand and broke +into a low, inarticulate murmur, harrowing and dreadful to hear. To some +it sounded like a presage to absolute confession, but presently this +murmur took on a distinctness, and they heard him say:</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to have five minutes' talk with Mrs. Taylor before that +time. In your presence, gentlemen, or in anybody's presence, I do not +care whose."</p> + +<p>Did he know—had he felt whose step was in the hall, whose form was at +the door? If he did, then the agitation which in another moment shook his +self-possession into ashes was that of hope realized, not of fear +surprised. Ermentrude Taylor entered the room and at the sight of her he +rose and his arms went out; then he sank back weak and stricken into his +chair, gazing as if he could never have his fill at her noble countenance +luminous with a boundless pity if not with the tenderness of an +unforgotten love.</p> + +<p>When she was near enough to speak without effort and had thanked the +gentlemen who had made way for her with every evidence of respect, she +addressed him in quite a natural tone but with strange depths of feeling +in her voice:</p> + +<p>"What is it you want to say to me? As I stood at the door, I heard you +tell these gentlemen that you would like to have a few minutes' talk with +me. I was glad to hear that; and I am ready to listen to—<i>anything</i>."</p> + +<p>The pause she made before uttering the last word caused it to ring with +double force when it fell. All heads drooped at the sound and the lines +came out on Mr. Gryce's face till he looked his eighty-five years and +more. But what Carleton Roberts had to say at this critical moment of his +double life was not at all what they expected to hear.</p> + +<p>Rising, for her eyes seemed to draw him to his feet, he cried in the +indescribable tone of suppressed feeling:</p> + +<p>"Shadows are falling upon me. My interview with these gentlemen may end +in a way I cannot now foresee. In my uncertainty as to how and when we +may meet again, I should like to make you such amends as opportunity +allows me. Ermentrude, will you marry me—now—to-night, before leaving +this house?"</p> + +<p>A low cry escaped her. She was no more prepared for this astounding offer +than were these others. "Carleton!" came in a groan from her lips. +"Carleton! Carleton!" the word rising in intensity as thought followed +thought and her spirits ran the full gamut of what this proposal on his +part meant in past, present and future. Then she fell silent and they saw +the great soul of the woman illumine a countenance always noble, with the +light of a purpose altogether lofty. When she spoke it was to say:</p> + +<p>"I recognize your kindness and the impulse which led to this offer. But +I do not wish to add so much as a feather's weight to your difficulties. +Let matters remain as they are till after——"</p> + +<p>He took a quick step toward her.</p> + +<p>"Not if my heart is full of regret?" he cried. "Not if I recognize in +you now the one influence left in this world which can help me bear the +burden of my own past and the threatening collapse of my whole future?"</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, with an access of emotion of so elevated a type it +added to rather than detracted from her dignity. "It is too much or it is +not enough."</p> + +<p>His head drooped and he fell back, throwing a glance to right and left +at the two officials who had drawn up on either side of him. It was an +expressive glance; it was as if he said, "You see! she knows as well as +you for whom the arrow was intended—yet she is kind."</p> + +<p>But in an instant later he was before her again, with an aspect so +changed that they all marveled.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped," he began, then stopped. Passion had supplanted duty in his +disturbed mind; a passion so great it swept everything before it and he +stood bare to the soul before the woman he had wronged and under the eyes +of these men who knew it. "Life is over for us two," said he, "whether +your presence here is a trap in which I have been caught and from which +it is hopeless for me to extricate myself; or whether it is by chance or +an act of Providence that we should meet again with eager ears listening +and eager eyes watching for such tokens of guilt as will make their own +course clear, true it is that they have got what they sought; and +whatever the result, nothing of real comfort or honor is left for either +you or me. Our lives have gone down in shipwreck; but before we yield +utterly to our fate, will you not grant me my prayer if I precede it by +an appeal for forgiveness not only for old wrongs but for my latest and +gravest one? Ermentrude, I entreat."</p> + +<p>Ah, then, they were witness to the fascination of the man, hidden +heretofore, but now visible even to the schooled spectators of this +tragedy of human souls. The tone permeated with pathos and charm, the +look, the attitude from which all formality had fled and only the natural +grace remained, all were of the sort which sways without virtue and +rouses in both weak and strong an answering chord of sympathy.</p> + +<p>The woman in whom it probably awakened a thousand memories trembled under +it. She drew back, but her whole countenance had softened, revealing +whatever of native charm she also possessed. Would she heed his prayer? +If she did not, they could well be silent. If she did——</p> + +<p>But the woman gave no sign of yielding.</p> + +<p>"Cease, Carleton," came in stern reply—stern for all the approach to +concession in her manner. "If your life and my life are both over, let us +talk of other things than marriage. When one faces death, whether of body +or spirit, one clings to higher hopes than those of earth or its +remaining interests. If my forgiveness will help you to this end, you +have it. I have had but one aim in life since we parted, and that was to +see your higher self triumph over the material one. If that hour has come +or is coming, my life needs no other consolation. In having that, I +possess all."</p> + +<p>The man who listened—the men who listened—stood for a moment in awe of +the nobility with which she thus expressed herself. Then the only person +present whom she seemed to see burst forth with a low cry, saying:</p> + +<p>"You shall not be disappointed. I——"</p> + +<p>But there she hushed him. "No," said she. And he seemed to understand and +was silent.</p> + +<p>What did this mean?</p> + +<p>The District Attorney betrayed his doubt; the Chief his, each in a +characteristic way. The former frowned, the latter tapped his breast +absently with his forefinger while looking askance at Mr. Gryce, who in +his turn took up some little object from the desk beside which he was +standing and to it confided whatever surprise he felt at this proof of +some uncommunicated secret shared by these two, of which he had not yet +become possessed. Then he again looked up and the glances of the three +men met. Should they attempt to sound this new mystery of mutual +understanding to which as yet they had received no clue? No, the inquest +would do that. Neither this man nor this woman could stand a close +examination. He would weaken from despair, she from the candor of her +soul. They would wait. But ah, the tragedy of it! Even these men hardened +by years of contact with every species of human suffering and crime were +openly moved. If they needed an excuse, surely they could find it in the +superior abilities and attainment of the man upon whom justice was about +to wreak its vengeance. And yet, what more despicable crime had they ever +encountered in the long line of their duty. The youth and innocence of +the real victim and the worth of the intended one only added to its +wickedness and shame. It was this thought which again steeled their +hearts.</p> + +<p>Meantime the two upon whom they now redirected their attention had +attempted no further speech and made no further move. She had said No +to something he was willing to concede, and he had accepted that no as +final. Had this brought him any relief? Possibly. And she? Had it had +a like effect on her? Hardly. Though her aspect was one of calm +resignation, her physical powers were perceptibly failing. This in +itself was alarming, and determined them not to subject her any longer +to an interview which might rob her of all strength for the morrow. +Accordingly, the District Attorney, addressing Mr. Roberts, suggestively +remarked:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Taylor is showing fatigue. Would it not be better for you to say at +once while she is yet in a condition to remain with us, whether you +prefer to make a public statement of your case or leave it to unfold +itself in the ordinary manner through the two impending inquests and the +busy pen of the reporter?"</p> + +<p>"First, am I under arrest? Am I to leave this house——?"</p> + +<p>"Not to-night. An officer will remain here with you. To-morrow—after the +inquest, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"I will make a statement. I will make it now. I wish to be left in peace +to-night, to think and to regret." Then turning to her, "Ermentrude, a +woman who has served me and my family for twenty-five years is at this +very moment in the rear of the house. Go to her and let her care for you. +I have business here,—business of which I am sure you approve."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Carleton. And remember that I shall be put upon my oath to-morrow. +The questions I am asked I must answer—and truthfully," she added, +with a look as full of anguish as inquiry.</p> + +<p>"I shall be truthful myself," he assured her, and again their eyes met.</p> + +<p>After a while she gave a stumble backward, which Mr. Gryce perceiving, +held out his arm and assisted her from the room.</p> + +<p>But once in the hall he felt the clinch of her fingers digging into his +arm.</p> + +<p>"Is there no hope?" she whispered. "Must I live——"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he interrupted kindly, but with the authority given him by his +relations to this case. "You have won his heart at last, and he speaks +truly when he says that to you and to you alone can he look for comfort, +wherever the action of the law may leave him."</p> + +<p>She shivered; then glowed again with renewed fire.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said; and they passed on.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII</h2> + +<h3>"WHY IS THAT HERE?"</h3> + + +<p>They waited while he wrote. A sinister calm quite unlike that which the +victim of his ambition had shown under the stress of equal suffering if +not equal guilt had subdued his expression to one of unmoved gloom, never +to be broken again.</p> + +<p>As word after word flowed from the point of his pen upon the paper spread +out before him, the two officials sitting aside in the shadow watched for +the flicker of an eyelash, or a trembling of the fingers so busy over +their task. But no such sign of weakening did they see. Once only did he +pause to look away—was it into the past or into futurity?—with a +steady, self-forgetful gaze which seemed to make a man of him again. Then +he went on with his task with the grimness of one who takes his last step +into ignominy.</p> + +<p>We will follow his words as he writes, leaving them for the others to +read on their completion.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I, Carleton Roberts, in face of an inquiry which is about to be held +on the death of her who called herself Angeline Willetts, but whose +real name is as I have since been told Angeline Duclos, wish to make +this statement in connection with the same.</p> + +<p>"It was at my hand she died. I strung the bow and let fly the arrow +which killed this unfortunate child. Not with the intention of finding +my mark in her innocent bosom. She simply got in the way of the woman +for whom it was intended—if I really was governed by intent, of which +I here declare before God I am by no means sure.</p> + +<p>"The child was a stranger to me, but the woman in whose stead she +inadvertently perished I had known long and well. My wrongs to her had +been great, but she had kept silence during my whole married life and +in my blind confidence in the exemption this seemed to afford me, I put +no curb upon my ambition which had already carried me far beyond my +deserts. Those who read these lines may know how majestic were my +hopes, how imminent the honor, to attain which I have employed my best +energies for years. Life was bright, the future dazzling. Though I had +neither wife nor child, the promise of activity on the lines which +appeal to every man of political instinct gave me all I seemed to need +in the way of compensation. I was happy, arrogantly so, perhaps, when +without warning the woman I had not seen in years, who,—if I thought +of her at all, I honestly believed to be dead—wrote me a letter +recalling her claims and proposing a speedy interview, with a view to +their immediate settlement. Though couched in courteous terms, the +whole letter was instinct with a confidence which staggered me. She +meant to reënter my life, and if I knew her, openly. Nothing short of +bearing my name and being introduced to the world as my wife would +satisfy her; and this not only threatened a scandal destructive of my +hopes, but involved the breaking of a fresh matrimonial engagement into +which I had lately entered with more ardor I fear than judgment. What +was I to do? Let her have her way—this woman I had not seen in fifteen +years,—who if at the age of twenty had seemed to my enthusiastic youth +little short of a poet's dream, must be far short of any such +perfection now? I rebelled at the very thought. Yet to deny her meant +the possible facing of consequences such as the strongest may well +shrink from. And the time for choice was short. She had limited her +patience to a fortnight, and one day of that fortnight had already +passed.</p> + +<p>"I have in my arrogant manhood sometimes credited myself with the +possession of a mind of more or less superiority; but I have never +deceived myself as to the meretricious quality of the goodness with +which many have thoughtlessly endowed me. I have always known it was +not even up to that of men whose standards fall far short of the +highest integrity. But never, till that hour came, had I realized +to what depths of evil my nature could sink under a disappointment +threatening the fulfillment of my ambitious projects. Had there been +any prospect of escape from the impending scandal by means usually +employed by men in my position, I might have given my thoughts less +rein and been saved at least from crime. But these were not available +in my case. She was not a woman who could be bought. She was not even +one I could cajole. Death only would rid me of her; kindly death which +does not come at call. This is as far as my thoughts went at first. I +was a gentleman and had some of a gentleman's feelings. But when my +sleep began to be disturbed by dreams, and this was very soon, I could +not hide from myself toward what fatal goal my thoughts were tending. +To be freed from her! To be freed from her! dinned itself in my ears, +sleeping or waking, at home or abroad. But I saw no plain road to this +freedom, for our paths never crossed and my honor as well as safety +demanded that the coveted result should be without any possible danger +to myself. Cold, heartless villain! you say. Well, so I was; no colder +nor more heartless villain lives to-day than I was between the +inception of my purpose and its diabolical fulfillment in the manner +publicly known.</p> + +<p>"So true is this that, as time went on, my ideas cleared and the plan +for which I was seeking unfolded itself before me from the day I came +upon a discarded bow lying open to view in the museum cellar. The +dreams of which I have spoken had prepared me for this sudden +knowledge. The woman who blocked my way and against whom I meditated +this crime was connected in my mind with Alpine scenery and Alpine +events. It was at Lucerne I had first met her, young and fresh, but +giving no promise of the woman she has since become; and in the visions +which came and went before my eyes, it was not herself I saw so much as +the surroundings of those days, and the feats of prowess by which I had +hoped to win her approbation. Among these was the shooting at a small +target with a bow and arrow. I became very proficient in this line. I +shot as by instinct. I could never tell whether I really took aim or +not, but the arrow infallibly hit the mark. In my dreams I always saw +it flying, and when this bow came to hand a thought of what the two +might accomplish came with it. Yet even then I had no real idea of +putting into practice this fancy of a distempered brain. I brought the +bow up from the cellar and hid it unstrung in the Curator's closet, +more from idle impulse I fondly thought, than from any definite +purpose. Another day I saw the Curator's keys lying on his desk and +took them to open a passage to the upper floor. But for all that, I +felt sure that I would never use the bow even after I had thrust it +near to hand behind the tapestry masking the secret entrance to this +passage. One dreams of such things but they do not perpetrate them. I +might approach the deed, I might even make every preparation for its +accomplishment, but that did not mean that the day would ever come +when I should actually loose an arrow from this bow against a human +breast. More than once I laughed at the mere idea.</p> + +<p>"But the devil knew me better than I knew myself. Impelled by these +same instincts, I answered the letter sent me with the assurance that I +would surely see her, but I did not name any day, intuitively knowing +that what I dreamed of doing but certainly should not do required a +certain set of circumstances not easily to be met with. Instead, I bade +her show herself in the second section of the southern gallery, every +Tuesday and Friday at the exact hour of noon. If at the moment the two +hands of the clock came together, she saw me on the lower step of the +main staircase, she was to know that I was free to talk and would soon +join her. If she did not see me there, she was to return home and come +another day. She answered that she would come but once, and set the +day. This was startling to my pride, but in a way it brought me a sense +of relief. To wait till all was propitious might mean continual delays. +The very fact of my uncertainty as to whether or not I should have the +courage of my wishes at the critical moment made an indefinite +prolongation of my present condition undesirable. Better one straight +risk and be done with it.</p> + +<p>"I was to wait two weeks. Why she exacted so long and seemingly +unnecessary a delay, I do not know. Before I saw her, I thought it was +from a sheer desire to make me suffer; now I know it was not for that. +However, it did make me suffer, from the alternate weakening and +strengthening of my resolve. When the day came, the most trivial of +circumstances would have deterred me from what still had the nature of +a dream to me. Unhappily, everything worked for its fulfillment. There +had never been fewer persons in the building at the noon hour; nor had +there been a time during the past two weeks when the Curator was more +completely occupied in a spot quite remote from his office. As I tried +the door leading up the little winding staircase to the one back of the +tapestry where the bow lay, and found it, just as I had left it, +unlocked, I had a sense for the first time that the courage concerning +which I had had so many doubts would hold. At that moment I was a +murderer in heart and purpose, whatever I was after or have been since. +As I recognized this fact, I felt my face go pale and my limbs shake +from sheer horror of myself. But this weakness was short-lived and I +felt my blood flowing evenly again when having slipped into my place +behind the upper pedestal I peered through my peep-hole in a search for +her figure in the spot where I had bidden her await me.</p> + +<p>"She was not there, but then it was not quite twelve, though the noon +hour was so near she must be somewhere in the gallery and liable at any +minute to cross my line of vision.</p> + +<p>"It was fifteen years, as I have already said, since I had seen her; +and I had no other picture of her in my mind than the appearance she +had made as a girl, coarsened by time and disappointment. Why I should +have looked for just this sort of change in her, God knows, but I did +expect it and probably would not have recognized her if I had passed +her in the court. But I was not worrying about any mistake I might make +of this kind. All I seemed to fear was that at the critical moment some +one would pass between us on my side of the gallery. I never thought of +anyone passing in front of her.</p> + +<p>"I had picked out Section II as the place where she was to show +herself, because it was in a direct line with the course an arrow would +take from a sight behind the vase. I had bade her to look for me in the +court, and that would bring her forward to the balustrade in front. A +knot of scarlet ribbon at her breast was to distinguish her. But the +spot I had thus chosen for her, and the spot I had chosen for myself +had this disadvantage; that while I could see straight to my mark from +the peep-hole I have mentioned, I could see nothing to right or left of +that one line of vision. Why I did not realize the hazard involved in +this fact I do not know. Enough that my whole thought was centered on +the lookout I was keeping and it was with a shock of surprise I +suddenly saw the whole scene blotted from my view by the passing by of +some one on my own side of the gallery. This must have been the +Englishman who found his vantage-point from behind the other pedestal. +He went by quickly, and as the opening cleared once more, I beheld the +woman for whom I was waiting appear in the spot selected. For an +instant I was dazzled. I had not expected to see so noble a figure; and +in that instant a cloud came before my eyes, my resolution failed,—I +was almost saved—she was almost saved—when instinct got the better of +my judgment, and the arrow flew just as that young creature bounded +forward in her delight at seeing her steamer admirer watching her from +my side of the court.</p> + +<p>"The shock of thus beholding a perfect stranger fall under my hand +benumbed me, but only for an instant. In the two weeks of intolerable +waiting through which I had just passed, I had so forcibly impressed +upon my consciousness the exact course I was to pursue from the instant +the arrow left the bow that I went about the same automatically. +Pulling out the edge of the tapestry, I slipped behind it, dropping my +bow in the doorway left open for my passage. This caused me no thought +and awakened no fears. But what took all the nerve I possessed, and +gave me in one awful moment a foretaste of the terror and despair +awaiting me in days to come, was the opening of the second door—the +one leading into the Curator's office.</p> + +<p>"What might I not be forced to encounter when the knob to this was +turned! Some strolling guest—Correy the attendant—or even the guard +who was never where he was needed and always where he was not! For +anyone to be there of sufficient intelligence to note my face and the +place from which I came meant the end of all things to me. It was not +necessary for this imaginary person to be in the room. To be within +sight of it was enough. But this fear—this horror of impending +retribution—did not make me hesitate or delay my advance a single +instant. Everything depended upon my being one of the crowd when the +first alarm was raised. So with the daring of one who in escaping a +present danger hurls himself knowingly into another equally perilous, +I pushed open the door and entered the office.</p> + +<p>"It was empty! Fortune had favored me thus far. Nor was there anyone in +the court beyond, near enough or interested enough to note my presence +or observe any effort I might make at immediate departure. With the +hope riding high within my breast that I should yet reach the street +before my crime was discovered, I made for the nearest exit. But I was +not destined to reach it. When I was only some half a dozen paces from +the great door, Correy's cry rang loudly through the building, with the +result that all egress was shut off, and I was left, with no other aid +than my own assurance, to face my hideous deed with all its appalling +consequences.</p> + +<p>"How it served me, you have seen. Steeled by a sense of my own danger, +I was able to confront the woman whom I had so deeply wronged,—whom +I had even endeavored to kill,—and ply her with those questions upon +whose answers depended not only my honor, but my very life.</p> + +<p>"My cold-blooded absorption in my own security, and her almost +superhuman devotedness, must have given the Powers cognizant of mortal +lives a new lesson in human nature. Never has a greater contrast been +shown between self-seeking man and self-forgetful woman. But deeply as +I was impressed by the steadfastness and magnanimity of her spirit, nay +by the woman herself, I have been less oppressed by the great debt I +owed her than by the thought, growing more intolerable every day, that +in my frenzied struggle against fate I had cut short the existence of a +young and lovely girl whose right to live was beyond all comparison +superior to my own.</p> + +<p>"But now, as the shadows fall thickly about me and the last page of my +dishonorable existence awaits to be turned, my mortal wound is this: +that I must leave to loneliness and unspeakable grief the great-souled +woman who has seen into the heart of my crime and yet has forgiven me. +All else of anguish or dread is swallowed up in this one over-mastering +sorrow. To her my heart's thanks are here given; to her my last word is +due. May she find in it all that her soul calls for in this hour of +supreme disaster: repentance equal to my sin, and a recognition of her +worth, which, late as it is for her comfort, may lead to her acceptance +of the consolation yet to be meted out to her from eternal sources."</p></div> + +<p>That was all. The pen dropped from his hand and he sat inert, almost +pulseless, in the desolation of a despair known only to those who, at a +blow, have sunk from the height of public applause into the depths of +irretrievable ignominy.</p> + +<p>The District Attorney, who was a man of more feeling than was usually +supposed, contemplated him in compassionate silence for a moment, then +gently—very gently for him—leaned forward and drew from under the +unresisting hands the scattered sheets which lay in disorder before him, +and passed them on to his stenographer.</p> + +<p>"Read," said he; but immediately changed his mind and took them back. "I +will read them myself. Mr. Roberts, I must ask you to listen. It is right +for you to know exactly what you have written before you affix your +signature to it."</p> + +<p>Mr. Roberts bowed mechanically, but he looked very weary.</p> + +<p>The District Attorney began to read. It is a matter of doubt whether Mr. +Roberts so much as heard him. Yet the reading went on, and when the last +word was reached, the District Attorney, after a pause during which his +eye had consulted that of the Chief Inspector, remarked in a kindly tone +and yet with an emphasis impossible to disregard:</p> + +<p>"I see that you have made no mention of Madame Duclos in this relation of +the cause and manner of her young daughter's death. Is it possible that +you are ignorant of the part she played in your affairs or the reasons +she had for the suicide with which she terminated her life?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of the woman but that she was the mother of the girl +who——" he hesitated, then added with a gesture of despair, "fell under +my hand."</p> + +<p>The District Attorney said nothing in reply, he simply waited. But no +denial or further admission came.</p> + +<p>"She was a friend of Mrs. Taylor," suggested the Chief Inspector as the +silence grew somewhat oppressive. "An old friend; a friend of her early +days; do you not remember?"</p> + +<p>"I do not."</p> + +<p>His tormentors went no further. Why harass him for an item of knowledge +which the morrow would certainly bring to light. Instead, they hurried +through the remaining formalities, adding to the reading already made a +capitulation of such answers as he had given to their questions, and +witnessing, while he signed both papers.</p> + +<p>This done, he was left for a moment in peace, while the two officials +drew aside into the embrasure of the window for a momentary conference.</p> + +<p>He seemed to notice the hush, for he roused from the torpor into which +he was again about to sink, and glanced cautiously about him. The +stenographer was busy with his papers, and the other two stood with their +backs to him. If help was to come it must come now. This he realized, +with a sudden graying of his face which took from it the last vestige +of that youthfulness which had been its distinguishing feature; and the +finger which had fumbled from time to time in his vest-pocket stole +thither once more, bringing forth a little vial which in another moment +he raised to his lips.</p> + +<p>Was there no one to see? No one to stop him?</p> + +<p>No, the stenographer was closing up his bag; and the two officials deep +in conversation. He could drain the last drop unseen.</p> + +<p>But the sound of the little vial crashing upon the hearthstone whither he +had flung it broke the quiet and startled the District Attorney forward +in a doubt bordering upon terror.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the fragments that had just missed +the ash heap.</p> + +<p>"It contained oblivion," was the answer given him in steady tones. "Do +you wonder that I sought it? Nothing can save me. I have two minutes +before me. I would dedicate them to <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p>His head fell forward on his hands. The clock on the mantel struck. Could +it be that when the second hand had circled its small disc twice—</p> + +<p>This was the thought of the District Attorney, but not of the Chief +Inspector. He had advanced to the desk where Mr. Roberts was still +sitting, and remarked with a gravity exceeding any he had hitherto shown:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Roberts, I have a great disappointment for you. This little vial +of yours which held poison yesterday contained nothing but a few drops +of harmless liquid to-day. The change was made in the night, by one +suspicious of your intention. You will have to face the full consequences +of your crime."</p> + +<p>Carleton Roberts' arms collapsed and his face fell forward upon them, and +they heard a groan. Then in the short silence which followed, another and +a very different sound broke upon their ears. Seven clear calls from the +cuckoo-clock rang out from the room beyond, followed by a woman's +smothered cry.</p> + +<p>It was the one ironic touch the situation had lacked. It pierced the +heart of Carleton Roberts and started him in anguish to his feet.</p> + +<p>"O God!" he cried, "that I should have let that thing of evil shriek +out the wicked hours from day to day, only to torment her now with old +remembrances! Why did I not crush it to atoms long ago? Why did I leave +it hanging on my wall——"</p> + +<p>With a dash he was in the hall. In another instant he was at the door of +his bedroom, followed by the two officials crowding closely up behind +him.</p> + +<p>Would they find her there? Yes; where else should she be, she whom this +call from the past might almost draw from the grave! She was there, but +not in the spot where they had expected to see her, nor in that state of +collapse of which her former weakness had given promise. Apart from Mr. +Gryce, with her form drawn up to its full height she stood, with her +finger pointing not at the cuckoo-clock as would seem most natural, but +at a small newspaper print of the dead girl's face pinned up on another +wall.</p> + +<p>"Why is that here?" she cried in a passionate inquiry which ignored every +other presence than that of him who must heed and answer her. "Carleton, +Carleton, why have you pinned that young girl's face up opposite your bed +where you can see it on waking, where it can look at you and you at +it—Or——" here checked by a sudden thought she broke off, and her tone +changed to one of doubt, "perhaps you did not put it there yourself? +Perhaps its presence on your wall is a trick of the police to startle you +into betrayal. Was it? Was it?"</p> + +<p>"No, Ermentrude." The words came slowly but firmly. "I put it there +myself. I thought it would haunt me less than if left to my imagination."</p> + +<p>Then in a low tone which perhaps reached no other ears than hers:</p> + +<p>"I do not know what it does to me; or what I see in it. Something besides +youth and beauty. Something——"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" She had him by the arm. "Forget it; these men are listening——"</p> + +<p>But with a convulsive movement, he broke from her hold, and in so doing +his eyes fell on a mirror confronting him from the opposite side of the +room. Two faces were visible in it, his own and that of his young victim +pictured in the print hanging on the wall behind him. They seemed alive. +Both of them seemed alive, and as he saw them thus in conjunction, the +sweet, pure countenance of the child he had instinctively mourned, +peering at him over his guilty shoulder—the sweat started on his +forehead and he uttered a great cry. Then he stood still, swaying from +side to side, the eyes starting from his head in a horror transcending +all that had gone before.</p> + +<p>"Take him away!" she cried. "Out of the room! Let him remain anywhere but +here. I pray you; I entreat."</p> + +<p>But he was not to be moved.</p> + +<p>"Ermentrude," he whispered; "they say her name was Duclos. She gave her +name as Willetts. What <i>was</i> her name? You know the truth and can tell +me."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXIII" id="XXXIII"></a>XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>AGAIN THE CUCKOO-CLOCK</h3> + + +<p>Then to the wonder and admiration of all, this extraordinary woman showed +her full strength and the inexhaustible power she possessed over her own +emotions. With a smile piteous in its triumph over a suffering the depths +of which they were just beginning to sound, she held his gaze in hers and +quietly said:</p> + +<p>"You have driven me to the wall, Carleton. If I answer, nothing remains +to us of hope or honor; nothing upon which to stay our souls but a +consciousness of truth. Shall we let all go and meet our fate as people +should who stand on a desolate shore and see the whole world roll away +from before them?"</p> + +<p><i>"What was her name?"</i></p> + +<p>At his look, at this repetition of his question, she straightened up, and +addressed herself to Mr. Gryce.</p> + +<p>"You were astonished and regarded me curiously when at the sound of that +foolish little clock I entered this room. That little clock means +everything to me, gentlemen." Here she surveyed them one after the other +with her proud and candid eye. "It is the one witness I have—is it not, +Carleton?" she asked, turning quickly upon him. "You have not failed me +in this?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"A witness to what I am still ready to ignore, if such is your will, +Carleton."</p> + +<p>Terror! terror far beyond anything they had seen in him yet, paled his +cheek and made his face almost unrecognizable; but he could still speak, +and in the murmur he let fall she heard no word of protest.</p> + +<p>"May I ask one of you to take down that clock?"</p> + +<p>In a few minutes it lay on the table to which she had pointed. Mr. Gryce +who had at that moment in his pocket a copy of the inscription pasted on +its back, expected her to turn it over and show them the token of Mr. +Roberts' and her united initials.</p> + +<p>But it was not this she had in mind. Though she took up the clock, she +did not turn it round, only looked at it steadily, her trembling lips and +a tear—the first they had seen—testifying to the rush of old memories +which this simple little object brought back to her long suffering heart. +Then she laid it down again and seemed to hesitate.</p> + +<p>"I want to get at the works inside," she appealed to them with a helpless +accent. "Can you tear off the back? That would be the quickest way. But +no, I know a quicker," and lifting the clock again she turned it upside +down and shook it.</p> + +<p>They heard—what did they hear? No one could say, but when she again +reversed it, there fell out upon the table and rolled to the floor a +small gold circlet. Lifting it, Mr. Gryce held it out to her. Taking it, +she carried it over to the District Attorney and placed it in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Read the inscription inside."</p> + +<p>He did so, and looking quickly up, said:</p> + +<p>"This is a wedding ring! Yours! You believe yourself to have been married +to him."</p> + +<p>"I <i>was</i> married to him in Switzerland. The marriage was legal; he knows +it, he acknowledges it, or why should he keep this ring. I have endured +seeing him put another woman in my place. I have kept silence for years; +but when he asks the right name of the child shot down in the museum, and +asks it in a way which compels answer, then I must make known my rightful +claims. For that child was not only mine, but <i>his</i>; born after he left +me, and reared without his knowledge, first in this country and then in +France."</p> + +<p>And breaking down now utterly, she fell on her knees sobbing out her soul +at the feet of him from whose honor she had torn the last poor, pitiful +shred.</p> + +<p>As for him, he said nothing; even his lips refused the smallest cry. Only +his hand which had hung at his side went to his heart; and thus he stood +swaying—swaying, till he finally fell forward into the arms she suddenly +threw out to receive him.</p> + +<p>"Carleton! Carleton!" she wailed, searching for consciousness in his fast +glazing eye. "It was to show you your child that I made the appointment +at the museum. Not for myself. Oh, not for myself, but for your sake, +that you might have——"</p> + +<p>Useless; all useless.</p> + +<p>He was dead.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Would she have had it otherwise? Would any of them? When they were quite +sure of the fact, she placed the ring in his still warm hand; then she +solemnly put it on her finger, and turning, faced them all.</p> + +<p>"Do not blame me too much for this final blow I gave him. He had already +seen the truth in that mirror over there. His face—look at it and then +at this picture of her taken after death, and see the resemblance! It is +showing plainer every minute. It was the something which had worried and +eluded him. Nothing could have kept back the truth from him after that +one glimpse he caught of himself and her in the mirror. I loved him. Mine +is the grief; you will let me stay here with him to-night. To-morrow I +will answer all questions."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXIV" id="XXXIV"></a>XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE BUD—THEN THE DEADLY FLOWER</h3> + + +<p>You who have read thus far will care little for the legalities which +followed the events just related, but you may wish to know to a fuller +extent some of the facts in Ermentrude Taylor's life which led to this +tragic end of all her hopes.</p> + +<p>Her story is twofold, the portion connecting her with Carleton Roberts +being entirely dissociated from that which made her the debtor of +Antoinette Duclos. Let me tell the latter first, as it preceded the +other, and tell it in episodes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Two girls stood at one end of a long walk of immemorial yews. At +the other could be seen the advancing figure of a man, young, alert, +English-clad but unmistakably foreign. They were school girls and bosom +friends; he their instructor in French; the walk one attached to a +well-known seminary. When they had entered this walk, it had been empty. +Now it held for one of them—and possibly for the other, too—a world of +joy and promise;—the world of seventeen. Innocent and unthinking, +neither of them had known her own heart, much less that of her fellow. +But when in face of that approach, eye met eye with an askance look of +eager question, revelation came, crimsoning the cheeks of both, and +marking an epoch in either life.</p> + +<p>Noble of heart and tender each toward the other, they were yet human. Arm +fell from arm, and with an equally spontaneous movement, they turned to +search each the other's countenance, not for betrayal,—for that had +already been made—but for those physical charms or marks of mental +superiority which might attract the eye or win the heart of a man of the +ideality of this one.</p> + +<p>Alas! these gifts, for gifts they are, were much too unequally +distributed between these two to render the balance at all even.</p> + +<p>Ermentrude was handsome; Antoinette was not.</p> + +<p>Ermentrude had besides, what even without beauty would have made her +conspicuous to the eye, the figure of a goddess and the air of a queen. +But Antoinette was small and had to feel secure and in a happy mood to +show the excellence of her mind and the airy quality of her wit.</p> + +<p>Then, Ermentrude had money and could dress, while Antoinette, who was +dependent upon an English uncle for everything she possessed, wore +clothes so plain that but for their exquisite neatness, one would never +dream that she came from French ancestry, and that ancestry noble.</p> + +<p>Yes, she had that advantage; rank was hers, but not the graces which +should accompany it. More than that, she had nothing with which to +support it. Better be of the yeoman class like Ermentrude, and smile like +a duchess granting favors. Or so she thought, poor girl, as her meek +regard passed from the friend whose attractions she had thus acknowledged +to the man whose approbation would make a goddess of her too.</p> + +<p>He was coming—not with his usual indifferent swing, but eagerly, +joyously, as though this moment meant something to him too. She knew it +did. Small memories rushing upon her, made no doubt of that. But why? +Because of Ermentrude or because of herself? Alas! she could recall +nothing which would answer that. They were much together; he had scarcely +ever seen them separate. It might be either——Hardly alive from +suspense, she watched him coming—coming. In a moment he would be upon +them. On which would his eyes linger?</p> + +<p>That would tell the tale.</p> + +<p>In an anguish of ungovernable shyness, she slipped behind the ample +figure of her friend till only her fluttering skirt betrayed her +presence. Perhaps she was saved something by this move; perhaps not. +She did not see the beam of joy sparkling in his eye as he greeted +Ermentrude; but she could not but mark the heaviness of his step as he +passed them by and wandered away into the shadows.</p> + +<p>And that she understood. Ermentrude had not smiled upon him. To him, the +moment had brought pain.</p> + +<p>It was enough. Now she knew.</p> + +<p>But why had not Ermentrude smiled?</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A dormitory lighted only by the moon! Two beds close together; in one a +form of noble proportions, and in the other the meagre figure of a girl +almost buried from sight among pillows and huddled-up blankets. Both are +quiet save for an occasional shudder which shakes the bed of the latter. +Ermentrude lies like the dead, though the moonlight falls full upon her +face blanching it to the aspect of marble. Even her lashes rest moveless +on her cheek.</p> + +<p>But she is not sleeping; she is listening—listening to the sobs, almost +inaudible, which now and then escape from the beloved one at her side. As +they grow fainter and fainter and gradually die away altogether till +stillness reigns through the whole dormitory, she rouses and bending +forward on her elbow, looks long and lovingly at the wet brow of her +sleeping mate. She then sinks back again into rigidity, with a low moan, +ending in the whispered words:</p> + +<p>"He does not love,—not yet. A slight thing will turn him. Did I not see +him glance back twice, and both times at her? The look with which she +greeted him was so wonderful."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A village street in Britanny; a parish church in the distance; two women +bidding each other farewell amid a group of wedding-guests, gay as the +heavens are blue.</p> + +<p>"<i>Au revoir!</i>" was the whisper breathed by the bride into the ear of +the other. "<i>Au revoir</i>, my Ermentrude. May you have a happy year in +Switzerland!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Au revoir</i>! little Madame. <i>You</i> will be happy I know in those United +States to which you are going."</p> + +<p>And the tears stood in the eyes of both.</p> + +<p>"You will write?"</p> + +<p>"I will write."</p> + +<p>But the bride did not seem quite satisfied. Glancing about and finding +her young husband busy with his adieux, she drew her friend apart and +softly murmured:</p> + +<p>"There is something I must say,—something I must know, before the sea +divides us. You remember the day we all left school and you went home +and I came to Britanny? Ermentrude, Achille tells me that on that day he +sought the whole house over for you till he came upon you in one of the +classrooms; and that you whom I had sometimes seen so sad were very gay +and told him between laughing and crying that you were bidding a solemn +farewell to all the nooks and corners of the old seminary, because your +fiancé awaited you at home, and there would be no coming back."</p> + +<p>"I meant my music."</p> + +<p>"He did not know that, Ermentrude," and here she laid her hands upon the +other's shoulders, drawing back as she did so to look earnestly up into +her face. "Was that done for me?"</p> + +<p>They were too near for anything but the truth to pass from eye to eye. +Ermentrude tried to laugh and utter a quick <i>No, no!</i> but the little +bride was not deceived. Again upon her face there appeared that wonderful +look of hers, which made her face for the moment verily beautiful, and +unclasping her hands, she threw them about the other's neck, whispering +in awed tones:</p> + +<p>"Yet you loved him! loved him too!"</p> + +<p>Then after a moment of silence dear to both their hearts, she drew back +to give her friend one other look, and quietly said:</p> + +<p>"His heart is mine now, Ermentrude, wholly and truly mine. And so you +would have it be, I am sure. Life looks fair to me and very sweet; but +however fair, however sweet, that life is yours if ever you want it and +when you want it. The time may come—one never knows—when I can pay you +back this debt. Till then, let there be perfect trust and perfect love +between us. Give me your hand upon it—not just your lips—for I speak as +men speak when they mean to keep their word."</p> + +<p>Their eyes met, their hands clasped; then the bridegroom drew away his +bride, and Ermentrude turned with bowed head and glistening eyes, to +enter upon the new life awaiting her in ways she had yet to tread.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The second series of episodes opens with the meeting of a man and woman +on a rustic bridge spanning a Swiss chasm. They are strangers to each +other, yet both instinctively pause and a flush of intuitive feeling dyes +the cheek of each.</p> + +<p>The eternal, ever-recurring miracle has happened. He sees Woman for the +first time, though he had thought himself in love before and had wandered +thus far in an effort to forget. So, likewise, with her. She had had her +fancies, or rather her one fancy; but when in strolling along this road +ahead of her party she saw rising between her and the glorious landscape +which had hitherto filled her eye the fine masculine head and perfect +figure of Carleton Roberts, this fancy floated from her mind like the +veriest thistledown, leaving it free to expand in fuller hopes and deeper +joys than visit many women even when they think they love.</p> + +<p>Alas! why in that instant of mutual revelation had not the further grace +been given them of quick catastrophe shutting the door upon a future of +which neither could then dream or sense the coming doom.</p> + +<p>It was not to be.</p> + +<p>He passed, she passed, and for the time the look they gave each other was +all; but the world had been glorified for them both—and Destiny waited.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Good looks? Yes; but nothing else; very ordinary connections, very. A +little money, true. Her uncle, whom by the way I judge you have not seen, +will leave her a few thousands; but meanwhile he is a fixture—will not +leave her or let her leave him, which is a misfortune since in a social +way he is simply impossible. No sort of match for you, Roberts. Cut and +run while there is time; that's my advice to you, given in the most +friendly spirit."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. As I have but just met Miss Taylor, don't you think such +advice is a little premature?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't. She is a woman who must be loved or left; that's all. +You've heard me."</p> + +<p>Did Carleton Roberts heed these words? No. What man in the thrall of his +first romance ever did.</p> + +<p>"You love me, Ermentrude?"</p> + +<p>"I love you, Carleton."</p> + +<p>"For a day, for a month or for a year?" he smiled.</p> + +<p>"Forever," she answered.</p> + +<p>"That's a long time," he murmured, with his eyes on a little clock +hanging in the shop window before which they had stopped in one of their +infrequent walks together. "A long time! That foolish little clock will +beat out the hours of its short life and go the way of all things, before +we shall hardly have entered upon the soul's 'forever.'"</p> + +<p>"That clock will last our lifetime, Carleton. Afterward, love will not be +counted by hours."</p> + +<p>As she said this she turned her face his way and he saw it in its full +flower with the light of heaven upon it. In later years he may have +forgotten the emotions of that moment, but they were the purest, the +freest from earthly stain that he was ever destined to know.</p> + +<p>"I will love you <i>forever</i>," he whispered. "That little clock shall be my +witness." And he drew her into the shop.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Cuckoo!"</p> + +<p>Ermentrude glanced up; the clock hung on her wall.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she murmured, "each hour it will speak to me of him and his words," +then softly, like one adream in Paradise:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"I love but thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thee will I love to eternity."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Such was the event to her. What was it to him? Let us see:</p> + +<p>A hotel room—a view of Pilatus, but with its top lost in enveloping +clouds.</p> + +<p>Seated before it with pen in hand above a sheet of paper, Carleton +Roberts eyes these clouds but does not see them; he is hunting in his +brain for words and they do not come. Why? His mother's name is on the +page and he has only to write that she has been quite correct in her +judgment as to the unfitness of the marriage he had had in mind:—that +youth should mate with youth and that if she could see the glorious young +girl whose acquaintance he had made here, she would be satisfied with +his new choice which promised him the fullest happiness. Why then a sheet +yet blank and a hesitating hand, when all it had to do was to write?</p> + +<p>Who can tell? Man knows little of himself or of the conflicting passions +which sway him this way or that, even when to the outward eye, and +possibly to the inner one as well, action looks easy.</p> + +<p>Did he feel, without its reaching the point of knowledge, that this +mother of keenest expectation and highest hope would not be satisfied +with what this charming but undeveloped girl of middle class parentage +would bring him? Or was there, deep down in his own undeveloped nature, a +secret nerve alive to ambitions yet unnamed, to hopes not yet formulated, +which warned him to think well before he spoke the irrevocable word +linking a chain which, though twined with roses, was nevertheless a chain +which nothing on earth should have power to break.</p> + +<p>He never sounded his soul for an answer to this question; but when he +rose, the paper was still blank. The letter had not been written.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I do not like secrecy."</p> + +<p>"Only for a little while, Ermentrude. My mother is difficult. I would +prepare her."</p> + +<p>"And Uncle!"</p> + +<p>"What of Uncle?"</p> + +<p>"He made me take an oath to-day."</p> + +<p>"An oath?"</p> + +<p>"That I would not leave him while he lived."</p> + +<p>"And you could do that?"</p> + +<p>"I could do nothing else. He's a sick man, Carleton. The doctors shake +their heads when they leave him. He will not live a year."</p> + +<p>"A year? But that's an eternity! Can you wait, can I wait a year?"</p> + +<p>"He loves me and I owe everything to him. Next week we go to Nice. These +are days of parting for you and me, Carleton."</p> + +<p>Parting! What word more cruel. She saw that it shook him, and held her +breath for his promise that she should not be long alone. But it did not +come. He was taking time to think. She hardly understood his doing this. +Surely, his mother must be very difficult and he a most considerate son. +She knew he loved her; perhaps never with a more controlling passion than +at this moment of palpitating silence.</p> + +<p>As she smiled, he caught her to his breast.</p> + +<p>"We have yet a week," he cried, and left her hurriedly, precipitately.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was their last ride and they had gone far—too far, Ermentrude +thought, for a day so chilly and a sky so threatening. They had entered +gorges; they had skirted mountain streams, had passed a village, left a +ruined tower behind, and were still facing eastward, as if Lucerne had no +further claims upon them and the world was all their own.</p> + +<p>As the snows of the higher peaks burst upon their view, she made an +attempt to stop this seeming flight.</p> + +<p>"My uncle," she said. "He will be counting the hours. Let us go back."</p> + +<p>Then Carleton Roberts spoke.</p> + +<p>"Another mile," he whispered, not because he feared being overheard by +their driver, but because Love's note is instinctively low. "You are +cold; we shall find there a fire, and dinner—and—Listen, Ermentrude,—a +minister ready to unite us. We are going back, man and wife."</p> + +<p>"Carleton!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, it is quite understood. Letters are urging my return to New +York. Your uncle is holding you here. I cannot face an uncertain +separation. I must feel that you are mine beyond all peradventure—must +be able to think of you as my wife, and that will hold us both and make +it proper for you to come to me if I cannot come to you, the moment +you are free to go where you will."</p> + +<p>"But why this long ride, this far-away spot? Why couldn't a minister be +found in Lucerne? Is our marriage to be as secret as our engagement? +Is that what you wish, Carleton?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear; for a little while, just for a little while, till I have seen +my mother, and rid our way of every obstacle to complete happiness. It +will be better. When one has promised to love <i>forever</i>, what are a few +weeks or months. Make me happy, dear. You have it in your power to do so. +Happy! When once I can whisper 'wife,' the world will not hold a happier +man than I."</p> + +<p>Did she yield because of her own great longing? No, it was by that phrase +he caught her: <i>The world will not hold a happier man than I</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mountains! Icy peaks, with sides heavy with snow! And so near! Almost +they seemed to meet across the narrow valley. She gave them one quick +glance, then her eyes and her heart became absorbed in what she could see +of this Alpine village, holding up its head in the eternal snows like an +edelweiss on the edge of a glacier.</p> + +<p>It was to be the scene of her one great act in life; the spot she was +entering as a maiden and would leave as a wife. What other spot would +ever be so interesting! To note its every detail of house and church +would not take long—it was such a little village, and the streets were +so few; and the people—why she could count them.</p> + +<p>Afterward, she found that the exact number and the difference in color of +the short line of timbered houses stretching between them and the church +were imprinted on her brain; but she did not know it at the time for her +attention was mainly fixed upon the people when once she had seen them, +for there was a strangeness in their looks and actions she did not +understand, all the more that it seemed to have nothing to do either with +Carleton or herself.</p> + +<p>It was not fear they showed, not exactly, though consternation was not +lacking in their aspect, so strangely similar in all, whether they were +men or women, or whether they stood in groups in the street or came out +singly on the doorstep to glance about and listen, though there seemed to +be nothing to listen to, for the air was preternaturally still.</p> + +<p>"Carleton, Carleton," she asked as he came to lift her to the ground, +"see those people how oddly they act. The whole town is in the street. +What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, except that if we do not hasten we shall have to return +unmarried. The minister is waiting for us."</p> + +<p>"What, in the church?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear. We are a little late."</p> + +<p>She took his arm, and though they were a fine couple and the event was +almost an unprecedented one in that remote village, only a few followed +them; the rest hung round their homes or gazed with indecision at the +mountains or up and down along the empty roads.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Wilt thou have this woman...."</p> + +<p>The ceremony had proceeded thus far and all seemed well, when with a rush +and a cry a dozen people burst into the building.</p> + +<p>"The snows are moving!" rang up the aisles in accents of mad terror. +"Save yourselves!"</p> + +<p>Then came the silence of emptiness. Every soul had left the church save +the three before the pulpit.</p> + +<p>An avalanche! and the ceremony was as yet incomplete! Ermentrude never +forgot Carleton Roberts' look. Doubtless he never forgot hers. Meanwhile +the minister spoke.</p> + +<p>"There is a chance for escape. Take it; the good God will pardon you."</p> + +<p>But the bridegroom stood firm and the bride shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Not till the words are said which make us man and wife," declared +Carleton Roberts. "Unless"—and here his perfect courtesy manifested +itself even in this crisis of life and death—"you feel it your duty to +carry what assistance you can to the saving of your frightened flock."</p> + +<p>"God must save my flock," said the minister with a solemn glance upward. +"I am where my duty places me." And calmly as though the pews were +filled with guests and joy attended the ceremony instead of apprehended +doom, he proceeded with the rite.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou have this man...."</p> + +<p>The glad "I will" leaped bravely from Ermentrude's lips; but it was lost +in loud calls and shrieks from without, mingled with that sound—terrible +to all who hear—impossible to describe—of the might of the hills made +audible in this down-rushing mass, now halting, now gathering fresh +momentum, but coming—always coming, till its voice, but now a threat, +swells into thunder in which all human cries are lost, and only from the +movement of the minister's lips can this couple see that the words which +make them one are being spoken.</p> + +<p>Then comes the benediction, and with the falling of those holy hands, a +headlong rush into the open air—a vision of flying forms here, there, +and everywhere—men staggering under foolish burdens—women on their +knees with arms lifted to heaven or flung around their babes—hope lost +under the bowing mountain; and in the midst of it all, plain to the view +of all, the stranger's horse and carriage which, standing there, stamped +with undying honor these terrified villagers, who had seen and not +touched them though Death had them by the hair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Quick! quick! You mother there with the child, get in, get in; there is +room here for one more."</p> + +<p>But another got the place. The driver, reeling as he ran, sprang for the +empty seat and hung there between the wheels as the horses plunged and +tore away to safety just as the great mass with its weight of gathered +boulders and uprooted forests crashed in final doom upon that devoted +village, burying it from sight as though it had never been.</p> + +<p>To safety? Yes, for two of them; the other, struck by a flying stone, +fell in the road and was covered in a trice. So close were they to +destruction's edge at this moment of headlong flight.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Not till the painted towers encircling Lucerne had come again into sight +did the newly wedded pair find words or make the least attempt to speak. +Then Carleton kissed his bride and for a moment love was triumphant. Was +it triumphant enough to lead him to acknowledge their marriage? She +looked anxiously in his face to see and finally she asked:</p> + +<p>"How much of this are we to tell, Carleton?"</p> + +<p>"All about the catastrophe; but nothing more," he answered.</p> + +<p>And while her heart retained its homage, the light in her eyes was +veiled.</p> + +<p>Married but not acknowledged! Would it not have been better if the +avalanche had overwhelmed them? She almost thought so, till bending, he +murmured in her ear:</p> + +<p>"I shall follow you soon. Did you think I could go on living without +you?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Why so thoughtful, Ermentrude? You are not quite yourself to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Uncle is very ill. The doctors say that he may not live a month."</p> + +<p>"And does that grieve you?"</p> + +<p>A yes was on her lips, but she did not utter it. Instead, she drew a +little ribbon from her breast, on which hung a plain gold ring, and +gazing earnestly at this token she remarked very quietly:</p> + +<p>"Carleton, have you ever thought that but for this ring no proof remains +in all this world of our ever having been married?"</p> + +<p>"But our hearts know it. Is that not enough?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"For to-day, yes. But when uncle goes...."</p> + +<p>His kisses finished the sentence for her, and love resumed its sway; but +when alone and wakeful on her pillow, she recalled his look, the sting of +her first doubt darted through her uneasy heart, and feeling eagerly +after the ring she tore it from its ribbon and put it on her finger.</p> + +<p>"It is my right," she whispered. "Henceforth I shall wear it. He loves me +too well to quarrel with my decision. Now am I really his wife."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Did she see a change in him? Did he come less frequently? Did he stay +less long? Was there uneasiness in his eye—coolness—languor? No, no. +It was her exacting heart which thus interpreted his look—which counted +the days—forgot his many engagements—saw impatience in the quickness +with which he corrected her faults in manner or language instead of the +old indulgence which met each error with a smile. Love cannot always keep +at fever-heat. He, the cynosure of the whole foreign element, had the +world at his feet here as in Lucerne. It needed no jealous eye to see +this; while she—well, she had her attractions too, as had been often +proved, and with God's help she would yet be a fit mate for him. What she +now lacked, she would acquire. She would watch these fine ladies who +blushed with pleasure at his approach, and when her time of mourning was +over she would astonish him with her graces and her appearance. For she +knew how to dress, yes, with the best of them, and hold her head and walk +like the queen she would feel herself to be when once she bore his name. +Patience then, till she had stored her mind and learned the ways he was +accustomed to in others. She had money enough now that her uncle was +dead, and she could do things....</p> + +<p>Yes, but something had gone out of her face, and the ring hung loose on +her finger.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>And he? Had her fears read him aright? Had he grown indifferent or was +he simply perplexed? Let us watch him as he paces his hotel room one +glorious afternoon, now stopping to re-read a letter he held in his hand, +and now to gaze out with unseeing eyes to where the blue of the sea melts +into the blue of the sky on the far horizon.</p> + +<p>Love had been sweet; but man has other passions, and he is in the grip of +the one mightiest in men of his stamp—the all-engrossing, all-demanding +one of personal ambition.</p> + +<p>Without solicitation, without expectation even, a hand had been held out +to him whose least grasp meant success in the one field most to his +mind,—a political career under auspices which had never been known to +fail. But there were conditions attached—conditions which a year before +would have filled him with joy, but which now stood like a barrier +between him and his goal, unless.... But he was not yet ready to disavow +his wife, trample upon her heart, nay on his own as well;—that is, +without a struggle.</p> + +<p>For the third time he read the letter which you will see was from his +mother.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>My Son:—I have an apology to make and a bit of news to give you. When +I urged you to give up Lucie and to seek distraction abroad, I felt +that I was doing justice to your immaturity and saving you from ties +which might very easily jeopardize your future happiness.</p> + +<p>But I have lately changed my mind. In seeing more of her I have not +only learned her worth but the advantage such a woman would be to one +of your tastes and promise. And she loves you more devotedly, perhaps, +than you have loved her. How do I know this? Let me tell you of an +interview I had with a certain relative of hers last night. I allude to +her brother, and for a recognized boss buried out of sight in politics, +he has more heart in his breast than I have ever given him credit for. +Not having children of his own, he has centered his affections on this +choice little sister of his, and finding her far from happy, came to +see me yesterday evening with this proposition: If I would consent to +your union with Lucie, and withdraw my opposition to your immediate +marriage, he would take your future in charge and put you in the way of +political advancement only to be limited, as he says, by your talents, +which he is good enough to rate very high.</p> + +<p>After this, how can I do otherwise than bid you follow your impulses +and marry Lucie in spite of the disparity of years to which I have +hitherto taken exception. Were she as poor as she is accounted rich, +I should say the same, now that I have sounded the depths of her lovely +disposition and the rare culture of a mind which those seven years have +enriched beyond what is usual even in women of intellect. Her money +does not influence me in her favor, nor does it weigh with me in my +present opinion of her complete fitness for the position you are so +eager to give her. That this will make you happy I know. Let it hasten +your return which cannot be too speedy.</p></div> + +<p>This was the bombshell which had disturbed Carleton Roberts' complacency, +bared his own soul to his horrified view, and revealed to him the +weakness of his moral nature which he had hitherto considered strong. For +his first impulse was one of recoil, not only from the secret marriage +which shut him off from these new hopes, but from his youthful bride as +well. He found himself weary of his flowery bonds and eager for a man's +life in his native city. Oh, why had he urged this immature girl to take +the ride which had led him into slavery to one who could not advance him +in life, however queen-like she moved and talked and smiled upon the +world from the heights of her physical perfections. It was brain that was +needed—an understanding like Lucie's, tempered, like hers, by years, not +months, of culture and refined association.</p> + +<p>It was at this point he paused in his restless walk and looked for +inspiration to the far-off waters of the bluest of all seas.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he resumed his walk; then quickly stopping again sat down at his +desk and with an air of desperate haste began a letter to his mother with +the announcement:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is too late. Unfortunately for your scheme, I am already....</p></div> + +<p>He never got any further. A fresh impulse drove him into the street. He +could not thus summarily settle his future fate. It meant too much to +him. He must take time to think. His heart clamors loudly for its rights; +he is only twenty-six—and in a rush of feeling which should have been +his salvation, he turned toward that nest among the flowers where help +was to be had if help was to come at all in this crisis of conflicting +passions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The hour was noon, one which he had never chosen before for a visit to +Ermentrude. Would he find her in? Would she be in spirits to meet him? +Would she look beautiful—worthy of his name, worthy of the greatest +sacrifice a man can make for a woman? He half hoped that she would; +that he would find his chains riveted and secure beyond the power of any +force to break.</p> + +<p>As his musings faltered, he turned the knob of the little side door and +went in. As he did so a shower of rose-leaves fell upon him from the +vines enveloping the balcony.</p> + +<p>He shuddered slightly and passed down the hall. Everything was very +still.</p> + +<p>She was asleep. Lying on a couch in utter weariness or pain, she had +drifted off into the land of dreams, and he felt that he had a moment of +respite. He could look and weigh the question: Love or a quick success? A +weakling's paradise or the goal of the strong man?</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, she was not as beautiful as he thought. But she was more +touching—less robust, less bounteous of aspect, more child-like, more +appealing,—a woman who, if he were no more of a man than he appeared to +be in this hurly-burly of pleasure and fashion, might in time do him +credit and hold him back from follies.</p> + +<p>But he was not just the man these casual friends and admirers considered +him. There was much more to him than that. He knew this better than Lucie +did or her powerful brother, or even his adoring mother. Great +opportunities awaited him and a large space in the affairs of men if not +of nations. Such confidence did he feel in himself at this fevered moment +that he never doubted that eventually he would gain all this, even with +the handicap of a good-looking but unsophisticated wife.</p> + +<p>But not quickly;... step by step perhaps ... and he was longing to take +it all at a bound.</p> + +<p>Poor girl! and she lay there under his eyes all unmindful of his conflict +or of the fact that her fate as well as his was trembling in the balance; +unmindful, though her dreams were far from joyous—or why the tear +welling from between her lashes as he gazed.</p> + +<p>She was alone in the house; he knew it by the complete silence. He could +look and look and study her every feature, without fear of interruption; +wait for her waking and be ready to meet her first glance of tender +astonishment which might restore him to his better self.</p> + +<p>Drawing up a chair, he sat down; then started upright again with dilating +eyes and a strange shadow on his brow. One of her arms lay uppermost +and on the hand—almost as fine as Lucie's, but not quite,—he saw the +ring—his ring, and it hung loosely. The poor child was growing thin, +very thin. "If she were to hold her hand downward," he muttered to +himself, "I believe that ring would fall off." Did some stray glimpse of +his own features, wearing a look never seen on them before, confront him +from some near-by mirror that he started so guiltily as this heart murmur +rose to his lips? Or was it at a thought, hideous but tempting, which +held him, gained upon him and soon absolutely possessed him, till his own +hand went out stealthily and with hesitations toward those helpless +fingers of hers, now approaching, now withdrawing, and now approaching +them again but not touching them, great as his impulse was to do so, +for fear she should wake, while yet the devil gripped his arm and lit up +baleful fires in his eyes.</p> + +<p>He had remembered those words of hers: "Have you ever thought that with +the exception of this ring no proof exists in all the world of our ever +having been married?" Remember them? He had not remembered them; he had +heard them, sounding and resounding in his ears till the whole room +seemed to palpitate with them. Then the devil made his final move. +Ermentrude shuddered, and her position changing, the hand which had +been uppermost fell down at her side and the ring slipped—left her +finger—paused on the edge of the couch—then came to rest in his palm +held out to receive it.</p> + +<p>He had not drawn it from her hand. Fate had restored it. As he forced +himself to look at it lying in his grasp, a faintness as of death seized +and held him for a moment; then this passed and he slowly rose and step +by step with sidelong looks and hair starting upright on his forehead, +like one who has walked in blood and sees the trail of guilt following +him along the floor, he left her side—he left the room—he left the +house—and the rose-leaves fell about him once more, maddening him with +their color, maddening him with the memories inseparable from their +sweetness—a sweetness which spoke of her, of love, and the attachment +of a true heart destined to grieve for a little while at least, for he +was never going back, never, never.</p> + +<p>There was no eye to see, and no tongue to tell him that the seed, +destined to flower into awful crime some dozen or more years later, put +forth its first bud at this fatal hour.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>He wrote her a letter. He had the grace to do that. Addressing her simply +as Ermentrude, he told her that he had been called home to enter upon the +serious business of life. That he was not likely to come back, and as she +was not really his wife, however pleasing the fiction had been in which +they had both indulged, it seemed to him wiser to end their happy romance +thus suddenly and while much of its glamour remained, than to linger on +and see it decay day by day before their eyes till nothing but bitterness +remained. He loved her and felt the wrench more than she did, but duty +and his obligations as a man, etc., etc., till it ended in his signature +limited to initials like his love.</p> + +<p>Despicable! the work of a man without conscience or heart! Yes, and he +knew it, and for weeks his sleep was broken by visions and his waking +hours rendered dreadful by fears. How had she taken this cool assumption +that the ceremony performed in the path of the snow was voided by lack of +proof? To whom had she ascribed the loss of her ring, and what must she +think of him? He had left Nice almost immediately, but wherever he went, +in whatever hotel he stayed, or through whatever street he passed, he was +always expecting to see her figure rise up before him in the majesty of +innocence and outraged love.</p> + +<p>Thus several weeks passed, and seeing nothing of her, hearing nothing +from her, a different apprehension darkened his days and despoiled him of +rest at night. Grief if not shame had killed her; and the weight of her +fancied doom lay heavy on his heart. At last he could bear it no longer, +and stealing back to Nice he entered it one dark night and prepared to +learn for himself what he feared to trust to the discretion of another. +Alone, with hidden face and heavily throbbing heart, he trod the familiar +ways and encircled the familiar walls. Had she been there——</p> + +<p>But the windows were blank and the place desolate, and he fled the spot +and the town, with his questions unasked and his fears unallayed. In two +days he had sailed for home. With the ocean between them he might forget; +and in time he did. As week followed week, and the silence he had half +trusted, half feared, remained unbroken, his equanimity gradually +returned, and he prepared to face the prospect of his new marriage much +as a man who watches for a dreaded door to open moves with restored +confidence about his affairs, when at last convinced that the door is +padlocked and the key lost.</p> + +<p>One precaution and one only he was wise enough to take. He told his story +to Lucie's brother, and left it to him to say whether or not he should +marry his sister. And the answer was yes; that if trouble came he would +see him through it. A marriage which could not be proved was no marriage, +and as for anything else, Lucie's happiness must not be sacrificed to a +boy's peccadillos. What were a few wild oats sown by a man of his +promise?</p> + +<p>And was this the end? Did Ermentrude accept her doom without a struggle?</p> + +<p>Let us see.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>One afternoon in June, there entered the parlor of the old-fashioned +mansion of the Roberts family a lady who had asked to see Mrs. Roberts on +business of an important nature. Though plainly clad, her appearance +possessed an elegance which insured respect; but when alone and seated in +the darkest corner of the great drawing room she put up a trembling hand +to thrust back her veil, the countenance thus revealed betrayed an +emotion hardly in keeping with the quiet bearing with which she had +advanced under the servant's eye.</p> + +<p>His home! and these the surroundings amid which he had grown to manhood! +Why should the sight of all this rouse emotions she believed eliminated +by a treachery most cruel in face of promises most sacred? Why, as she +looked about, and noted object after object which must have been there +previous to his birth, did she see him as a child and boy and not as the +man who had first won and then deserted her? She would not have had it so +at this hour when strength was needed rather than tenderness. But she +could not help her nature, or still the wild surging of her rebellious +heart, as his portrait seen upon the wall challenged her constancy and +whispered of the hour when his "forever" echoed her "forever" and the +compact for eternity was sealed.</p> + +<p>He had broken this compact—broken it soon—broken it before the +honeymoon had passed. But she! Was she to show no firmer spirit whose +love was of the soul and took no note of time? She was his wife, and +acknowledged or unacknowledged, must yet prove to be his blessing though +he—he——</p> + +<p>But this would not do. The interview before her called for calmness. She +would not add to the turbulence of her spirits by another glance at what +brought back too much of the past to fortify her for the impending +struggle. She had to do credit to his choice, to impress a difficult +woman with her dignity as a wife. She must not shake nor weep.</p> + +<p>Yet when she heard a step at the door, instinct told her to pull down her +veil till the first greetings were over—a precaution for which she was +deeply grateful when in another moment a young woman entered instead of +her husband's mother for whom she had asked and whom she naturally +expected to see.</p> + +<p>In the humiliation of the moment, her disappointment took words and she +muttered within herself:</p> + +<p>"A companion or possibly a relative. I am to be put off with kindly +excuses; begged to state my errand—rehearse my claims and my hopes to +some gentle go-between! I have not strength for that. I must see the +mother—the mother. God give me wisdom and keep me calm—calm."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the young woman she had instinctively called gentle advanced +into the center of the room. Mechanically, Ermentrude rose to meet her, +and thus stepped into a better light. Tragedy came with her. This it was +impossible not to see—not to feel. But the warning which her aspect gave +passed as she spoke and said in tones a little tremulous, perhaps, but +with an air of perfect courtesy:</p> + +<p>"I had hoped to see Mrs. Roberts herself."</p> + +<p>The smile with which this was greeted, the flush of pride and the joy of +possession which lit the other's pleasing features as she replied, "I am +Mrs. Roberts," should have carried the truth to Ermentrude.</p> + +<p>But they did not. She looked surprised—baffled, and after the briefest +hesitation, observed:</p> + +<p>"I am a stranger in this city and have doubtless made some mistake. The +Mrs. Roberts I have called to see—and I was told she lived here—is the +mother of a gentleman of the name of——"</p> + +<p>She could not speak it.</p> + +<p>But the other could.</p> + +<p>"Carleton?" she asked; and at Ermentrude's agitated nod, added with +friendly interest: "This is her home; but she has left it for a while to +us. I am Mr. Carleton Roberts' wife."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There are blows which prostrate; there are others which sear but leave +the body intact—feet still supporting it—eyes still gazing ahead +unmoved—lips moving with mechanical exactness and sometimes still +retaining their smile. Only the soul which gave life to all of this is +dead. The image is there but the spirit is gone; and if sufficiently +preoccupied, the one who struck the blow sees no change. So was it with +Ermentrude and Lucie.</p> + +<p>"We are looking for mother to return next week," added the latter as +Ermentrude stood stark and silent before her. "Would you like to leave a +message for her?"</p> + +<p>At these words uttered with the sweetness of a rich and sympathetic +nature, the soul returned to Ermentrude's body. With a long and earnest +look which took in the full measure of the other's personality, radiant +with happiness and the consciousness of an assured wifedom, she answered +softly:</p> + +<p>"No, I will leave no message," and turned as if to go.</p> + +<p>"Nor any name?" queried Lucie, eying with admiration the noble lines of +a figure with whose perfect proportions her own could never hope to +compete.</p> + +<p>"Nor any name," came back in indescribable accents from the doorway.</p> + +<p>Lucie paused, and gazing in vague trouble after her rapidly disappearing +visitor, murmured to herself, "Who is she?"</p> + +<p>But the one who could have answered her was gone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Carleton, you seldom see such a woman. Younger than I, she had the poise +of a woman of thirty. Who could she have been?"</p> + +<p>"Describe her."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could; I hardly saw her face; it was her figure, her voice, her +way of moving and holding herself. I felt as small and quiet as a little +mouse beside her. Only I was happy and she was not. That much I feel now +that I recall her look in leaving."</p> + +<p>"Was she American or—or foreign?" he asked, hiding his trouble, for a +great fear had seized him.</p> + +<p>"She had an English accent which added very much to her charm."</p> + +<p>"Forget her." For a moment his accent was almost fierce, then he laughed +the matter off, assuring this bride of a month that she made him cross +with her self-depreciation, that there was no one of finer mien and +manner than herself, the chosen of his heart upon whom he always looked +with pride. Which subtle tribute to what was her greatest charm +accomplished its end; she did forget the stranger.</p> + +<p>But he did not; he knew what was before him and prepared himself for the +inevitable meeting which would be followed by—what?</p> + +<p>Not by what he had every right to expect and evidently did. Ermentrude +had learned all she would both of this marriage and of the woman who had +supplanted her, and had made her resolve. This he saw as they came +together in the isolation of a quiet corner of the Park, and so was not +greatly surprised, though a little moved, as after the first few words, +and with an earnest look, she said:</p> + +<p>"I am your wife, I, Ermentrude Roberts, married to you in the sight of +God and man. I cannot prove it, but as you once said, our hearts know it +and will continue to know it as long as either of us lives. But I am not +going to obtrude my claims upon you, Carleton, or stand like a specter in +your path. Had this woman you have deceived been weak or foolish or +unloving, or indeed anything but what she is, I might have held to my +rights and insisted upon a recognition which would have profited you in +the end. But I cannot shame that woman—I can neither shame her nor bring +her to grief. You have broken one heart, but you shall be saved the +remorse of breaking two. I had rather suffer myself. I am alone in the +world. I have means. I can ultimately be useful and face good men and +women without fear. Why then should I drag down to the dust one as +innocent as myself, or take from you what may make you the man I once +thought you and hope to see you again. But that I may have strength for +this and for all the sacrifices it involves, you must declare here, now, +in this open park where we stand, with no one within sight much less +within hearing, that I am your wife."</p> + +<p>"You are my wife."</p> + +<p>"It is enough. Now I can say what otherwise could never have left my +lips. I love you, Carleton, love you to eternity as I promised; but I +shall never seek you again, and you can go on your way unperturbed. I +have consolations here," laying her hand on her breast. "It will no +longer be my portion to watch your face for signs of a failing regard. +What I have is mine, and that is the undying memory of two months of +perfect happiness."</p> + +<p>She would have said more, but she saw that he had been greatly shaken. +She feared the renewal of a flame not yet altogether extinct in a heart +which once beat for her alone, and so contenting herself with a low +farewell, she was turning swiftly away, when one last thought made her +pause and say:</p> + +<p>"I cannot return you your ring. It is lost. I was careless with it and it +fell unnoticed from my hand. But to-night I will send you back the little +clock which unites our initials. Destroy it if you will, but if some +sentiment bids you keep it, let it be this one and no other: 'I recall +Ermentrude only that I may be faithful to Lucie.'"</p> + +<p>With a low cry his head fell upon his breast in extreme self-abasement, +then he slowly lifted his eyes and seeing in her face a full knowledge of +his sin, murmured in overwhelming shame and contrition:</p> + +<p>"You know me for the wretch I am. I have the ring; it fell from your hand +into mine one day while you lay asleep. I do not ask for forgiveness, +but this I promise you, Ermentrude:—if the little clock comes back, I +will make a place in it for this ring, and neither clock nor ring shall +leave me again while I live."</p> + +<p>Instinctively her hands went out to him, then they fell back on her +breast.</p> + +<p>"God will hold you to that promise," she said; and melted away from his +sight in the mist which had been gradually enveloping them without being +seen by either.</p> + +<p>Thus the struggle ended for him, which for her had simply begun.</p> + +<p>Not till she found herself in the South with her girl friend, Antoinette +Duclos, did she discover that the closest bond which can unite man and +woman held her in spite of her late compact with Carleton Roberts. Should +she reassert her rights and demand that the father should recognize his +child? Her generous heart said No. The old arguments held good. She +appealed to Antoinette for advice.</p> + +<p>The result we know. When Antoinette's own child died at birth, she took +Ermentrude's to her heart and brought it up as her own. There was little +difficulty in this, as the Professor had already yielded to a Southern +fever and lay at rest in a New Orleans cemetery.</p> + +<p>And this brings us to another episode.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The widow in fact and the widow in heart stood face to face above a +sleeping infant. They were both dressed for traveling and so was the +babe. The dismantled rooms showed why. Young still, for the years of +either's romance had been few, each face, as the other contemplated it, +told the story of sorrow which Time, for all its kindliness, would +never efface. But the charm of either remained—perceptible at this hour +as perhaps it would never be again to the same extent. Antoinette basked +in the light of Ermentrude's beauty ennobled by renunciation, and +Ermentrude in that wonderful look in her friend's plain face which came +at great crises and made her for the moment the equal of the best.</p> + +<p>They had said little; and they said little now, as is the way of the +strong amongst us when an act is to be performed which wrings the heart +but satisfies the conscience.</p> + +<p>The child was legitimate. It must not grow up under a shadow. To insure +its welfare and raise no doubt in its own mind as it grew in knowledge +and feeling, the two women must separate. No paltering with this duty, +and no delay. A month of baby cries and baby touches might weaken the +real mother. It should be now. It should be to-day.</p> + +<p>But first, a final word—a parting question. It was uttered by +Ermentrude.</p> + +<p>"You will go back to France?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I can easily live there. And you, Ermentrude?"</p> + +<p>"To New York. I shall never go far from him. But he and I will never +meet. My world will not be his world. I shall make my own place."</p> + +<p>"As Ermentrude Taylor?"</p> + +<p>"As Mrs. Ermentrude Taylor. I am a wife. I shall never forget that fact."</p> + +<p>"And the child? Will you never come to see it?"</p> + +<p>Ermentrude's head fell and she stood a long time without answering. Then +with a steady look she calmly said:</p> + +<p>"I can think of but one contingency which might shake my resolution +to leave her yours without the least interruption from me. If +<i>he</i>—Antoinette, if he were left alone and childless, I might see +my duty differently from now. You must be prepared for that."</p> + +<p>"Ermentrude, when you send me this little shoe—See, I will leave one on +and give you the other, I shall know that you are coming, or that you +want the child. My life is yours as I once promised, and do you think I +would hold back the child?"</p> + +<p>And again their hands met as once before, in that strong clasp, which +means:</p> + +<p>"Trust me to the death and beyond it."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>With Antoinette it was to the death, as we have seen. Warned by +Ermentrude of the appalling results of their plan to bring father and +child together, and entreated to fly lest her story should imperil +the secret upon the preservation of which his very life now hung, she +answered to the call as she had promised, and thus acquitted her debt +though she failed to save him.</p> + +<p>Of her previous act in disfiguring his photograph in her temporary +lodging-place, we shall never know the full story. The picture had been +hers for years, given her by Ermentrude on their parting, so that the +child should not be without some semblance of her father even if she +should not know him as such, and it was to secure this clue to their now +doubly dangerous secret that Madame Duclos ransacked her baggage previous +to her flight from the New York hotel. But whether its destruction in the +peculiar manner we know was the result of simple precaution, or of a +feeling of antagonism so strong against this destroyer of her beloved's +peace, that it had to be expended in some way before she felt strong +enough for that supreme sacrifice in his favor toward which events seemed +hurrying her, may be known in <i>Eternity</i> but will never be told in +<i>Time</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>And Ermentrude? What of her? Alone, robbed of husband and child and +friend—where shall we look for her in this world of extreme tribulation? +Search the hospitals of France where they press closest to the trenches. +There will you find the woman who losing all has found much. Blessing +and blest! the angel of the battlefield whom the bullets spare since her +work on earth is not yet accomplished!</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF THE HASTY ARROW***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17763-h.txt or 17763-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/7/6/17763">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/6/17763</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17763-h/images/cover.jpg b/17763-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8b13c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/17763-h/images/diag-044.png b/17763-h/images/diag-044.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3d93c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/diag-044.png diff --git a/17763-h/images/diag-059.png b/17763-h/images/diag-059.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..900ae6d --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/diag-059.png diff --git a/17763-h/images/diag-061.png b/17763-h/images/diag-061.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..371dab2 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/diag-061.png diff --git a/17763-h/images/frontis.jpg b/17763-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..002b4c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/17763-h/images/label-327.png b/17763-h/images/label-327.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9aebe39 --- /dev/null +++ b/17763-h/images/label-327.png |
