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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lamp That Went Out, by Augusta Groner
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lamp That Went Out
+
+Author: Augusta Groner
+
+Translator: Grace Isabel Colbron
+
+Posting Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #1832]
+Release Date: July, 1999
+Last Updated: March 17, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAMP THAT WENT OUT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CASE OF THE LAMP THAT WENT OUT
+
+By Augusta Groner
+
+
+Translated by  Grace Isabel Colbron
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO JOE MULLER
+
+Joseph Muller, Secret Service detective of the Imperial Austrian police,
+is one of the great experts in his profession. In personality he differs
+greatly from other famous detectives. He has neither the impressive
+authority of Sherlock Holmes, nor the keen brilliancy of Monsieur Lecoq.
+Muller is a small, slight, plain-looking man, of indefinite age, and of
+much humbleness of mien. A naturally retiring, modest disposition, and
+two external causes are the reasons for Muller's humbleness of manner,
+which is his chief characteristic. One cause is the fact that in early
+youth a miscarriage of justice gave him several years in prison, an
+experience which cast a stigma on his name and which made it impossible
+for him, for many years after, to obtain honest employment. But the
+world is richer, and safer, by Muller's early misfortune. For it was
+this experience which threw him back on his own peculiar talents for
+a livelihood, and drove him into the police force. Had he been able to
+enter any other profession, his genius might have been stunted to a mere
+pastime, instead of being, as now, utilised for the public good.
+
+Then, the red tape and bureaucratic etiquette which attaches to every
+governmental department, puts the secret service men of the Imperial
+police on a par with the lower ranks of the subordinates. Muller's
+official rank is scarcely much higher than that of a policeman, although
+kings and councillors consult him and the Police Department realises to
+the full what a treasure it has in him. But official red tape, and his
+early misfortune... prevent the giving of any higher official standing
+to even such a genius. Born and bred to such conditions, Muller
+understands them, and his natural modesty of disposition asks for no
+outward honours, asks for nothing but an income sufficient for his
+simple needs, and for aid and opportunity to occupy himself in the way
+he most enjoys.
+
+Joseph Muller's character is a strange mixture. The kindest-hearted man
+in the world, he is a human bloodhound when once the lure of the trail
+has caught him. He scarcely eats or sleeps when the chase is on, he does
+not seem to know human weakness nor fatigue, in spite of his frail body.
+Once put on a case his mind delves and delves until it finds a clue,
+then something awakes within him, a spirit akin to that which holds
+the bloodhound nose to trail, and he will accomplish the apparently
+impossible, he will track down his victim when the entire machinery of
+a great police department seems helpless to discover anything. The high
+chiefs and commissioners grant a condescending permission when Muller
+asks, "May I do this? ... or may I handle this case this way?"
+both parties knowing all the while that it is a farce, and that the
+department waits helpless until this humble little man saves its honour
+by solving some problem before which its intricate machinery has stood
+dazed and puzzled.
+
+This call of the trail is something that is stronger than anything else
+in Muller's mentality, and now and then it brings him into conflict with
+the department,... or with his own better nature. Sometimes his unerring
+instinct discovers secrets in high places, secrets which the Police
+Department is bidden to hush up and leave untouched. Muller is then
+taken off the case, and left idle for a while if he persists in his
+opinion as to the true facts. And at other times, Muller's own warm
+heart gets him into trouble. He will track down his victim, driven by
+the power in his soul which is stronger than all volition; but when he
+has this victim in the net, he will sometimes discover him to be a
+much finer, better man than the other individual, whose wrong at this
+particular criminal's hand set in motion the machinery of justice.
+Several times that has happened to Muller, and each time his heart got
+the better of his professional instincts, of his practical common-sense,
+too, perhaps,... at least as far as his own advancement was concerned,
+and he warned the victim, defeating his own work. This peculiarity of
+Muller's character caused his undoing at last, his official undoing that
+is, and compelled his retirement from the force. But his advice is often
+sought unofficially by the Department, and to those who know, Muller's
+hand can be seen in the unravelling of many a famous case.
+
+The following stories are but a few of the many interesting cases that
+have come within the experience of this great detective. But they give
+a fair portrayal of Muller's peculiar method of working, his looking on
+himself as merely an humble member of the Department, and the comedy
+of his acting under "official orders" when the Department is in reality
+following out his directions.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CASE OF THE LAMP THAT WENT OUT
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE DISCOVERY
+
+
+The radiance of a clear September morning lay over Vienna. The air was
+so pure that the sky shone in brightest azure even where the city's
+buildings clustered thickest. On the outskirts of the town the rays
+of the awakening sun danced in crystalline ether and struck answering
+gleams from the dew on grass and shrub in the myriad gardens of the
+suburban streets.
+
+It was still very early. The old-fashioned steeple clock on the church
+of the Holy Virgin in Hietzing had boomed out six slow strokes but a
+short time back. Anna, the pretty blonde girl who carried out the milk
+for the dwellers in several streets of this aristocratic residential
+suburb, was just coming around the corner of the main street into a
+quiet lane. This lane could hardly be dignified by the name of street as
+yet, it was so very quiet. It had been opened and named scarcely a year
+back and it was bordered mostly by open gardens or fenced-in building
+lots. There were four houses in this street, two by two opposite each
+other, and another, an old-fashioned manor house, lying almost hidden in
+its great garden. But the quiet street could not presume to ownership of
+this last house, for the front of it opened on a parallel street, which
+gave it its number. Only the garden had a gate as outlet onto our quiet
+lane.
+
+Anna stopped in front of this gate and pulled the bell. She had to wait
+for some little time until the gardener's wife, who acted as janitress,
+could open the door. But Anna was not impatient, for she knew that it
+was quite a distance from the gardener's house in the centre of the
+great stretch of park to the little gate where she waited. In a few
+moments, however, the door was opened and a pleasant-faced woman
+exchanged a friendly greeting with the girl and took the cans from her.
+
+Anna hastened onward with her usual energetic step. The four houses in
+that street were already served and she was now bound for the homes of
+customers several squares away. Then her step slowed just a bit. She
+was a quiet, thoughtful girl and the lovely peace of this bright morning
+sank into her heart and made her rejoice in its beauty. All around her
+the foliage was turning gently to its autumn glory of colouring and the
+dewdrops on the rich-hued leaves sparkled with an unusual radiance. A
+thrush looked down at her from a bough and began its morning song. Anna
+smiled up at the little bird and began herself to sing a merry tune.
+
+But suddenly her voice died away, the colour faded from her flushed
+cheeks, her eyes opened wide and she stood as if riveted to the ground.
+With a deep breath as of unconscious terror she let the burden of the
+milk cans drop gently from her shoulder to the ground. In following the
+bird's flight her eyes had wandered to the side of the street, to the
+edge of one of the vacant lots, there where a shallow ditch separated
+it from the roadway. An elder-tree, the great size of which attested its
+age, hung its berry-laden branches over the ditch. And in front of this
+tree the bird had stopped suddenly, then fluttered off with the quick
+movement of the wild creature surprised by fright. What the bird
+had seen was the same vision that halted the song on Anna's lips and
+arrested her foot. It was the body of a man--a young and well-dressed
+man, who lay there with his face turned toward the street. And his face
+was the white frozen face of a corpse.
+
+Anna stood still, looking down at him for a few moments, in wide-eyed
+terror: then she walked on slowly as if trying to pull herself together
+again. A few steps and then she turned and broke into a run. When she
+reached the end of the street, breathless from haste and excitement, she
+found herself in one of the main arteries of traffic of the suburb, but
+owing to the early hour this street was almost as quiet as the lane she
+had just left. Finally the frightened girl's eyes caught sight of the
+figure of a policeman coming around the next corner. She flew to meet
+him and recognised him as the officer of that beat.
+
+"Why, what is the matter?" he asked. "Why are you so excited?"
+
+"Down there--in the lane, there's a dead man," answered the girl, gasping
+for breath.
+
+"A dead man?" repeated the policeman gravely, looking at the girl. "Are
+you sure he's dead?"
+
+Anna nodded. "His eyes are all glassy and I saw blood on his back."
+
+"Well, you're evidently very much frightened, and I suppose you don't
+want to go down there again. I'll look into the matter, if you will go
+to the police station and make the announcement. Will you do it?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"All right, then, that will gain time for us. Good-bye, Miss Anna."
+
+The man walked quickly down the street, while the girl hurried off in
+the opposite direction, to the nearest police station, where she told
+what she had seen.
+
+The policeman reached his goal even earlier. The first glance told him
+that the man lying there by the wayside was indeed lifeless. And the icy
+stiffness of the hand which he touched showed him that life must have
+fled many hours back. Anna had been right about the blood also. The dead
+man lay on the farther side of the ditch, half down into it. His right
+arm was bent under his body, his left arm was stretched out, and the
+stiffened fingers... they were slender white fingers... had sought for
+something to break his fall. All they had found was a tall stem of wild
+aster with its purple blossoms, which they were holding fast in the
+death grip. On the dead man's back was a small bullet-wound and around
+the edges of it his light grey coat was stained with blood. His face was
+distorted in pain and terror. It was a nice face, or would have been,
+did it not show all too plainly the marks of dissipation in spite of the
+fact that the man could not have been much past thirty years old. He was
+a stranger to the policeman, although the latter had been on this beat
+for over three years.
+
+When the guardian of the law had convinced himself that there was
+nothing more to do for the man who lay there, he rose from his stooping
+position and stepped back. His gaze wandered up and down the quiet lane,
+which was still absolutely empty of human life. He stood there quietly
+waiting, watching over the ghastly discovery. In about ten minutes the
+police commissioner and the coroner, followed by two roundsmen with a
+litter, joined the solitary watcher, and the latter could return to his
+post.
+
+The policemen set down their litter and waited for orders, while the
+coroner and the commissioner bent over the corpse. There was nothing
+for the physician to do but to declare that the unfortunate man had been
+dead for many hours. The bullet which struck him in the back had killed
+him at once. The commissioner examined the ground immediately around
+the corpse, but could find nothing that pointed to a struggle. There
+remained only to prove whether there had been a robbery as well as a
+murder.
+
+"Judging from the man's position the bullet must have come from that
+direction," said the commissioner, pointing towards the cottages down
+the lane.
+
+"People who are killed by bullets may turn several times before they
+fall," said a gentle voice behind the police officer. The voice seemed
+to suit the thin little man who stood there meekly, his hat in his hand.
+
+The commissioner turned quickly. "Ah, are you there already, Muller?"
+he said, as if greatly pleased, while the physician broke in with the
+remark:
+
+"That's just what I was about to observe. This man did not die so
+quickly that he could not have made a voluntary or involuntary movement
+before life fled. The shot that killed him might have come from any
+direction."
+
+The commissioner nodded thoughtfully and there was silence for a
+few moments. Muller--for the little thin man was none other than the
+celebrated Joseph Muller, one of the most brilliant detectives in the
+service of the Austrian police--looked down at the corpse carefully.
+He took plenty of time to do it and nobody hurried him. For nobody ever
+hurried Muller; his well-known and almost laughable thoroughness and
+pedantry were too valuable in their results. It was a tradition in the
+police that Muller was to have all the time he wanted for everything. It
+paid in the end, for Muller made few mistakes. Therefore, his superior
+the police commissioner, and the coroner waited quietly while the little
+man made his inspection of the corpse.
+
+"Thank you," said Muller finally, with a polite bow to the commissioner,
+before he bent to brush away the dust on his knees.
+
+"Well?" asked Commissioner Holzer.
+
+Muller smiled an embarrassed smile as he replied:
+
+"Well... I haven't found out anything yet except that he is dead, and
+that he has been shot in the back. His pockets may tell us something
+more."
+
+"Yes, we can examine them at once," said the commissioner. "I have been
+delaying that for I wanted you here; but I had no idea that you would
+come so soon. I told them to fetch you if you were awake, but doubted
+you would be, for I know you have had no sleep for forty-eight hours."
+
+"Oh, I can sleep, at least with one eye, when I'm on the chase,"
+answered the detective. "So it's really only twenty-four hours, you
+see." Muller had just returned from tracking down an aristocratic
+swindler whom he had found finally in a little French city and had
+brought back to a Viennese prison. He had returned well along in the
+past night and Holzer knew that the tired man would need his rest.
+Still he had sent for Muller, who lived near the police station, for
+the girl's report had warned him that this was a serious case. And in
+serious cases the police did not like to do without Muller's help.
+
+And as usual when his work called him, Muller was as wide awake as if
+he had had a good night's sleep behind him. The interest of a new
+case robbed him of every trace of fatigue. It was he alone--at his own
+request--who raised the body and laid it on its back before he stepped
+aside to make way for the doctor.
+
+The physician opened the dead man's vest to see whether the bullet had
+passed completely through the body. But it had not; there was not the
+slightest trace of blood upon the shirt.
+
+"There's nothing more for me to do here, Muller," said the physician, as
+he bowed to the commissioner and left the place.
+
+Muller examined the pockets of the dead man.
+
+"It's probably a case of robbery, too," remarked the commissioner. "A
+man as well-dressed as this one is would be likely to have a watch."
+
+"And a purse," added the detective. "But this man has neither--or at
+least he has them no longer."
+
+In the various pockets of the dead man's clothes Muller found the
+following articles: a handkerchief, several tramway tickets, a penknife,
+a tiny mirror, and comb, and a little book, a cheap novel. He wrapped
+them all in the handkerchief and put them in his own pocket. The dead
+man's coat had fallen back from his body during the examination, and as
+Muller turned the stiffened limbs a little he saw the opening of another
+pocket high up over the right hip of the trousers. The detective passed
+his hand over the pocket and heard something rattle. Then he put his
+hand in the pocket and drew out a thin narrow envelope which he handed
+to the commissioner. Holzer looked at it carefully. It was made of very
+thin expensive paper and bore no address. But it was sealed, although
+not very carefully, for the gummed edges were open in spots. It must
+have been hastily closed and was slightly crushed as if it had been
+carried in a clenched hand. The commissioner cut open the envelope with
+his penknife. He gave an exclamation of surprise as he showed Muller the
+contents. In the envelope there were three hundred-gulden notes.
+
+The commissioner looked at Muller without a word, but the detective
+understood and shook his head. "No," he said calmly, "it may be a case
+of robbery just the same. This pocket was not very easy to find, and the
+money in it was safer than the dead man's watch and purse would be. That
+is, if he had a watch and purse--and he very probably had a watch," he
+added more quickly.
+
+For Muller had made a little discovery. On the lower hem of the left
+side of the dead man's waistcoat he saw a little lump, and feeling of it
+he discovered that it was a watch key which had slipped down out of
+the torn pocket between the lining and the material of the vest. A sure
+proof that the dead man had had a watch, which in all probability had
+been taken from him by his murderer. There was no loose change or small
+bills to be found in any of the pockets, so that it was more than likely
+that the dead man had had his money in a purse. It seemed to be a case
+of murder for the sake of robbery. At least Muller and the commissioner
+believed it to be one, from what they had discovered thus far.
+
+The police officer gave his men orders to raise the body and to take
+it to the morgue. An hour later the unknown man lay in the bare room in
+which the only spot of brightness were the rays of the sun that crept
+through the high barred windows and touched his cold face and stiffened
+form as with a pitying caress. But no, there was one other little spot
+of brightness in the silent place. It was the wild aster which the dead
+man's hand still held tightly clasped. The little purple flowers were
+quite fresh yet, and the dewdrops clinging to them greeted the kiss of
+the sun's rays with an answering smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE BROKEN WILLOW TWIG
+
+
+As soon as the corpse had been taken away, the police commissioner
+returned to the station. But Muller remained there all alone to make a
+thorough examination of the entire vicinity.
+
+It was not a very attractive spot, this particular part of the street.
+There must have been a nursery there at one time, for there were still
+several ordered rows of small trees to be seen. There were traces of
+flower cultivation as well, for several trailing vines and overgrown
+bushes showed where shrubs had been grown which do not usually grow
+without man's assistance. Immediately back of the old elder tree Muller
+found several fine examples of rare flowers, or rather he found the
+shrubs which his experienced eye recognised as having once borne these
+unusual blossoms. One or two blooms still hung to the bushes and the
+detective, who was a great lover of flowers, picked them and put them in
+his buttonhole. While he did this, his keen eyes were darting about the
+place taking in all the details. This vacant lot had evidently been used
+as an unlicensed dumping ground for some time, for all sorts of odds and
+ends, old boots, bits of stuff, silk and rags, broken bottles and empty
+tin cans, lay about between the bushes or half buried in the earth. What
+had once been an orderly garden was now an untidy receptacle for waste.
+The pedantically neat detective looked about him in disgust, then
+suddenly he forgot his displeasure and a gleam shot up in his eye. It
+was very little, the thing this man had seen, this man who saw so much
+more than others.
+
+About ten paces from where he stood a high wooden fence hemmed in the
+lot. The fence belonged to the neighbouring property, as the lot in
+which he stood was not protected in any way. To the back it was closed
+off by a corn field where the tall stalks rustled gently in the faint
+morning breeze. All this could be seen by anybody and Muller had seen it
+all at his first glance. But now he had seen something else. Something
+that excited him because it might possibly have some connection with
+the newly discovered crime. His keen eyes, in glancing along the wooden
+fence at his right hand, had caught sight of a little twig which had
+worked its way through the fence. This twig belonged to a willow tree
+which grew on the other side, and which spread its grey-green foliage
+over the fence or through its wide openings. One of the little twigs
+which had crept in between the planks was broken, and it had been broken
+very recently, for the leaves were still fresh and the sap was oozing
+from the crushed stem. Muller walked over to the fence and examined the
+twig carefully. He soon saw how it came to be broken. The broken part
+was about the height of a man's knee from the ground. And just at this
+height there was quite a space between two of the planks of the fence,
+heavy planks which were laid cross-ways and nailed to thick posts. It
+would have been very easy for anybody to get a foothold in this open
+space between the planks.
+
+It was very evidently some foot thrust in between the planks which had
+broken the little willow twig, and its soft rind had left a green
+mark on the lower plank. "I wonder if that has anything to do with the
+murder," thought Muller, looking over the fence into the lot on the
+other side.
+
+This neighbouring plot was evidently a neglected garden. It had once
+worn an aristocratic air, with stone statues and artistic arrangement
+of flower beds and shrubs. It was still attractive even in its neglected
+condition. Beyond it, through the foliage of its heavy trees, glass
+windows caught the sunlight. Muller remembered that there was a
+handsome old house in this direction, a house with a mansard roof and
+wide-reaching wings. He did not now know to whom this handsome old
+house belonged, a house that must have been built in the time of Maria
+Theresa,... but he was sure of one thing, and that was that he would
+soon find out to whom it belonged. At present it was the garden which
+interested him, and he was anxious to see where it ended. A few moments'
+further inspection showed him what he wanted to know. The garden
+extended to the beginning of the park-like grounds which surrounded
+the old house with the mansard roof. A tall iron railing separated the
+garden from the park, but this railing did not extend down as far as the
+quiet lane. Where it ended there was a light, well-built wooden fence.
+Along the street side of the fence there was a high thick hedge. Muller
+walked along this hedge until he came to a little gate. Then crossing
+the street, he saw that the house whose windows glistened in the
+sunlight was a house which he knew well from its other side, its front
+facade.
+
+Now he went back to the elder tree and then walked slowly away from this
+to the spot where he found the broken willow twig. He examined every
+foot of the ground, but there was nothing to be seen that was of any
+interest to him--not a footprint, or anything to prove that some one
+else had passed that way a short time before. And yet it would have been
+impossible to pass that way without leaving some trace, for the ground
+was cut up in all directions by mole hills.
+
+Next the detective scrutinised as much of the surroundings as would come
+into immediate connection with the spot where the corpse had been found.
+There was nothing to be seen there either, and Muller was obliged
+to acknowledge that he had discovered nothing that would lead to an
+understanding of the crime, unless, indeed, the broken willow twig
+should prove to be a clue. He sprang back across the ditch, turned up
+the edges of his trousers where they had been moistened by the dew and
+walked slowly along the dusty street. He was no longer alone in the
+lane. An old man, accompanied by a large dog, came out from one of the
+new houses and walked towards the detective, he was very evidently going
+in the direction of the elder-tree, which had already been such a
+centre of interest that morning. When he met Muller, the old man halted,
+touched his cap and asked in a confidential tone: "I suppose you've been
+to see the place already?"
+
+"Which place?" was Muller's reserved answer.
+
+"Why, I mean the place where they found the man who was murdered. They
+found him under that elder-tree. My wife just heard of it and told me. I
+suppose everybody round here will know it soon."
+
+"Was there a man murdered here?" asked Muller, as if surprised by the
+news.
+
+"Yes, he was shot last night. Only I don't understand why I didn't hear
+the shot. I couldn't sleep a wink all night for the pain in my bones."
+
+"You live near here, then?"
+
+"Yes, I live in No.1. Didn't you see me coming out?"
+
+"I didn't notice it. I came across the wet meadows and I stooped to turn
+up my trousers so that they wouldn't get dusty--it must have been then
+you came out."
+
+"Why, then you must have been right near the place I was talking about.
+Do you see that elder tree there? It's the only one in the street, and
+the girl who brings the milk found the man under it. The police have
+been here already and have taken him away. They discovered him about six
+o'clock and now it's just seven."
+
+"And you hadn't any suspicion that this dreadful thing was happening so
+near you?" asked the detective casually.
+
+"I didn't know a thing, sir, not a thing. There couldn't have been a
+fight or I would have heard it. But I don't know why I didn't hear the
+shot."
+
+"Why, then you must have been asleep after all, in spite of your pain,"
+said Muller with a smile, as he walked along beside the man back to the
+place from which he had just come.
+
+The old man shook his head. "No, I tell you I didn't close an eye all
+night. I went to bed at half-past nine and I smoked two pipes before I
+put out the light, and then I heard every hour strike all night long
+and it wasn't until nearly five o'clock, when it was almost dawn, that I
+dozed off a bit."
+
+"Then it is astonishing that you didn't hear anything!"
+
+"Sure it's astonishing! But it's still more astonishing that my dog
+Sultan didn't hear anything. Sultan is a famous watchdog, I'd have you
+know. He'll growl if anybody passes through the street after dark, and I
+don't see why he didn't notice what was going on over there last night.
+If a man's attacked, he generally calls for help; it's a queer business
+all right."
+
+"Well, Sultan, why didn't you make a noise?" asked Muller, patting the
+dog's broad head. Sultan growled and walked on indifferently, after he
+had shaken off the strange hand.
+
+"He must have slept more soundly than usual. He went off into the
+country with me yesterday. We had an errand to do there and on the
+way back we stopped in for a drink. Sultan takes a drop or two himself
+occasionally, and that usually makes him sleep. I had hard work to bring
+him home. We got here just a few minutes before half-past nine and I
+tell you we were both good and tired."
+
+By this time they had come to the elder-tree and the old man's stream of
+talk ceased as he stood before the spot where the mysterious crime had
+occurred. He looked down thoughtfully at the grass, now trampled by many
+feet. "Who could have done it?" he murmured finally, with a sigh that
+expressed his pity for the victim.
+
+"Hietzing is known to be one of the safest spots in Vienna," remarked
+Muller.
+
+"Indeed it is, sir; indeed it is. As it would well have to be with the
+royal castles right here in the neighbourhood! Indeed it would have to
+be safe with the Court coming here all the time."
+
+"Why, yes, you see more police here than anywhere else in the city."
+
+"Yes, they're always sticking their nose in where they're not
+necessary," remarked the old man, not realising to whom he was speaking.
+"They fuss about everything you do or don't do, and yet a man can be
+shot down right under our very noses here and the police can't help it."
+
+"But, my dear sir, it isn't always possible for the police to prevent a
+criminal carrying out his evil intention," said Muller good-naturedly.
+
+"Well, why not? if they watch out sharp enough?"
+
+"The police watch out sharper than most people think. But they can't
+catch a man until he has committed his crime, can they?"
+
+"No, I suppose not," said the old man, with another glance at the
+elder-tree. He bowed to Muller and turned and walked away.
+
+Muller followed him slowly, very much pleased with this meeting, for
+it had given him a new clue. There was no reason to doubt the old man's
+story. And if this story was true, then the crime had been committed
+before half-past nine of the evening previous. For the old man--he was
+evidently the janitor in No.1--had not heard the shot.
+
+Muller left the scene of the crime and walked towards the four houses.
+Before he reached them he had to pass the garden which belonged to the
+house with the mansard roof. Right and left of this garden were vacant
+lots, as well as on the opposite side of the street. Then came to the
+right and left the four new houses which stood at the beginning of the
+quiet lane. Muller passed them, turned up a cross street and then
+down again, into the street running parallel, to the lane, a quiet
+aristocratic street on which fronted the house with the mansard roof.
+
+A carriage stood in front of this house, two great trunks piled up on
+the box beside the driver. A young girl and an old man in livery were
+placing bags and bundles of rugs inside the carriage. Muller walked
+slowly toward the carriage. Just as he reached the open gate of the
+garden he was obliged to halt, to his own great satisfaction. For at
+this moment a group of people came out from the house, the owners of it
+evidently, prepared for a journey and surrounded by their servants.
+
+Beside the old man and the young girl, there were two other women, one
+evidently the housekeeper, the other possibly the cook. The latter
+was weeping openly and devoutly kissing the hand of her mistress. The
+housekeeper discovered that a rug was missing and sent the maid back for
+it, while the old servant helped the lady into the carriage. The door
+of the carriage was wide open and Muller had a good glimpse of the pale,
+sweet-faced and delicate-looking young woman who leaned back in her
+corner, shivering and evidently ill. The servants bustled about, making
+her comfortable, while her husband superintended the work with anxious
+tenderness. He was a tall, fine-looking man with deep-set grey eyes and
+a rich, sympathetic voice. He gave his orders to his servants with calm
+authority, but he also was evidently suffering from the disease of
+our century--nervousness, for Muller saw that the man's hands clenched
+feverishly and that his lips were trembling under his drooping
+moustache.
+
+The maid hastened down with the rug and spread it over her mistress's
+knees, as the gentleman exclaimed nervously: "Do hurry with that! Do you
+want us to miss the train?"
+
+The butler closed the door of the carriage, the coachman gathered up the
+reins and raised his whip. The housekeeper bowed low and murmured a few
+words in farewell and the other servants followed her example with tears
+in their eyes. "You'll see us again in six weeks," the lady called
+out and her husband added: "If all goes well." Then he motioned to the
+waiting driver and the carriage moved off swiftly, turning the corner in
+a few moments.
+
+The little group of servants returned to the courtyard behind the high
+gates. Muller, whom they had not noticed, was about to resume his walk,
+when he halted again. The courtyard of the house led back through a
+flagged walk to the park-like garden that surrounded it on the sides and
+rear. Down this walk came a young woman. She came so quickly that one
+might almost call it running. She was evidently excited about something.
+Muller imagined what this something might be, and he remained to
+hear what she had to say. He was not mistaken. The woman, it was Mrs.
+Schmiedler, the gardener's wife, began her story at once. "Haven't you
+heard yet?" she said breathlessly. "No, you can't have heard it yet or
+you wouldn't stand there so quietly, Mrs. Bernauer."
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the woman whom Muller took to be the
+housekeeper.
+
+"They killed a man last night out here! They found his body just now
+in the lane back of our garden. The janitor from No.1 told me as I was
+going to the store, so I went right back to look at the place, and I
+came to tell you, as I didn't think you'd heard it yet."
+
+Mrs. Bernauer was evidently a woman of strong constitution and of an
+equable mind. The other three servants broke out into an excited hubbub
+of talk while she remained quite indifferent and calm. "One more poor
+fellow who had to leave the world before he was ready," she remarked
+calmly, with just the natural touch of pity in her voice that would come
+to any warm-hearted human being upon hearing of such an occurrence. She
+did not seem at all excited or alarmed to think that the scene of the
+crime had been so near.
+
+The other servants were very much more excited and had already rushed
+off, under the guidance of the gardener's wife, to look at the dreadful
+spot. Franz, the butler, had quite forgotten to close the front gate in
+his excitement, and the housekeeper turned to do it now.
+
+"The fools, see them run," she exclaimed half aloud. "As if there was
+anything for them to do there."
+
+The gate closed, Mrs. Bernauer turned and walked slowly to the house.
+Muller walked on also, going first to the police station to report what
+he had discovered. Then he went to his own rooms and slept until nearly
+noon. On his return to the police station he found that notices of the
+occurrence had already been sent out to the papers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE EVENING PAPER
+
+
+The autopsy proved beyond a doubt that the murdered man had been dead
+for many hours before the discovery of his body. The bullet which had
+struck him in the back had pierced the trachea and death had occurred
+within a few minutes. The only marks for identification of the body were
+the initials L. W. on his underwear. The evening paper printed an exact
+description of the man's appearance and his clothing.
+
+It was about ten o'clock next morning when Mrs. Klingmayer, a widow
+living in a quiet street at the opposite end of the city from Hietzing,
+returned from her morning marketing. It was only a few little bundles
+that she brought with her and she set about preparing her simple dinner.
+Her packages were wrapped in newspapers, which she carefully smoothed
+out and laid on the dresser.
+
+Mrs. Klingmayer was the widow of a street-car conductor and the little
+pension which she received from the company, as well as the money she
+could earn for herself, did not permit of the indulgence in a daily
+newspaper. And yet the reading of the papers was the one luxury for
+which the simple woman longed. Her grocer, who was a friend of years,
+knew this and would wrap up her purchases in papers of recent date,
+knowing that she could then enjoy them in her few moments of leisure.
+To-day this leisure came unexpectedly early, for Mrs. Klingmayer had
+less work than usual to attend to.
+
+Her little flat consisted of two rooms and a kitchen with a large closet
+opening out from it. She lived in the kitchen and rented the front
+rooms. Her tenants were a middle-aged man, inspector in a factory,
+who had the larger room; and a younger man who was bookkeeper in an
+importing house in the city. But this young man had not been at home
+for forty-eight hours, a fact, however, which did not greatly worry his
+landlady. The gentleman in question lived a rather dissipated life
+and it was not the first time that he had remained away from home over
+night. It is true that it was the first time that he had not been home
+for two successive nights. But as Mrs. Klingmayer thought, everything
+has to happen the first time sometime. "It's not likely to be the last
+time," the worthy woman thought.
+
+At all events she was rather glad of it to-day, for she suffered from
+rheumatism and it was difficult for her to get about. The young man's
+absence saved her the work of fixing up his room that morning and
+allowed her to get to her reading earlier than usual. When she had put
+the pot of soup on the fire, she sat down by the window, adjusted her
+big spectacles and began to read. To her great delight she discovered
+that the paper she held in her hand bore the date of the previous
+afternoon. In spite of the good intentions of her friend the grocer,
+it was not always that she could get a paper of so recent date, and she
+began to read with doubled anticipation of pleasure.
+
+She did not waste time on the leading articles, for she understood
+little about politics. The serial stories were a great delight to
+her, or would have been, if she had ever been able to follow them
+consecutively. But her principal joy were the everyday happenings of
+varied interest which she found in the news columns. To-day she was so
+absorbed in the reading of them that the soup pot began to boil over
+and send out rivulets down onto the stove. Ordinarily this would have
+shocked Mrs. Klingmayer, for the neatness of her pots and pans was the
+one great care of her life. But now, strange to relate, she paid no
+attention to the soup, nor to the smell and the smoke that arose from
+the stove. She had just come upon a notice in the paper which took her
+entire attention. She read it through three times, and each time with
+growing excitement. This is what she read:
+
+                       MURDER IN HIETZING
+
+  This morning at six o'clock the body of a man about 30 years
+  old was discovered in a lane in Hietzing.  The man must have
+  been dead many hours.  He had been shot from behind.  The dead
+  man was tall and thin, with brown eyes, brown hair and moustache.
+  The letters L. W. were embroidered in his underwear.  There was
+  nothing else discovered on him that could reveal his identity.
+  His watch and purse were not in his pockets: presumably they had
+  been taken by the murderer.  A strange fact is that in one of
+  his pockets--a hidden pocket it is true--there was the sum of
+  300 guldens in bills.
+
+
+This was the notice which made Mrs. Klingmayer neglect the soup pot.
+
+Finally the old woman stood up very slowly, threw a glance at the stove
+and opened the window mechanically. Then she lifted the pots from the
+fire and set them on the outer edge of the range. And then she did
+something that ordinarily would have shocked her economical soul--she
+poured water on the fire to put it out.
+
+When she saw that there was not a spark left in the stove, she went into
+her own little room and prepared to go out. Her excitement caused her to
+forget her rheumatism entirely. One more look around her little kitchen,
+then she locked it up and set out for the centre of the city.
+
+She went to the office of the importing house where her tenant, Leopold
+Winkler, was employed as bookkeeper. The clerk at the door noticed the
+woman's excitement and asked her kindly what the trouble was.
+
+"I'd like to speak to Mr. Winkler," she said eagerly.
+
+"Mr. Winkler hasn't come in yet," answered the young man. "Is anything
+the matter? You look so white! Winkler will probably show up soon, he's
+never very punctual. But it's after eleven o'clock now and he's never
+been as late as this before."
+
+"I don't believe he'll ever come again," said the old woman, sinking
+down on a bench beside the door.
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" asked the clerk. "Why shouldn't he come again?"
+
+"Is the head of the firm here?" asked Mrs. Klingmayer, wiping her
+forehead with her handkerchief. The clerk nodded and hurried away to
+tell his employer about the woman with the white face who came to ask
+for a man who, as she expressed it, "would never come there again."
+
+"I don't think she's quite right in the head," he volunteered. The head
+of the firm told him to bring the woman into the inner office.
+
+"Who are you, my good woman?" he asked kindly, softened by the evident
+agitation of this poorly though neatly dressed woman.
+
+"I am Mr. Winkler's landlady," she answered.
+
+"Ah! and he wants you to tell me that he's sick? I'm afraid I can't
+believe all that this gentleman says. I hope he's not asking your help
+to lie to me. Are you sure that his illness is anything else but a case
+of being up late?"
+
+"I don't think that he'll ever be sick again--I didn't come with any
+message from him, sir; please read this, sir." And she handed him the
+newspaper, showing him the notice. While the gentleman was reading she
+added: "Mr. Winkler didn't come home last night either."
+
+Winkler's employer read the few lines, then laid the paper aside with a
+very serious face. "When did you see him last?" he asked of the woman.
+
+"Day before yesterday in the morning. He went away about half-past eight
+as he usually does," she replied. And then she added a question of her
+own: "Was he here day before yesterday?"
+
+The merchant nodded and pressed an electric bell. Then he rose from his
+seat and pulled up a chair for his visitor. "Sit down here. This thing
+has frightened you and you are no longer young." When the servant
+entered, the merchant told him to ask the head bookkeeper to come to the
+inner office.
+
+When this official appeared, his employer inquired: "When did Winkler
+leave here day before yesterday?"
+
+"At six o'clock, sir, as usual."
+
+"He was here all day without interruption?"
+
+"Yes, sir, with the exception of the usual luncheon hour."
+
+"Did he have the handling of any money Monday?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Pokorny," said the merchant, handing his employee the
+evening paper and pointing to the notice which had so interested him.
+
+Pokorny read it, his face, like his employer's, growing more serious.
+"It looks almost as if it must be Winkler, sir," he said, in a few
+moments.
+
+"We will soon find that out. I should like to go to the police station
+myself with this woman; she is Winkler's landlady--but I think it will
+be better for you to accompany her. They will ask questions about the
+man which you will be better able to answer than I."
+
+Pokorny bowed and left the room. Mrs. Klingmayer rose and was about
+to follow, when the merchant asked her to wait a moment and inquired
+whether Winkler owed her anything. "I am sorry that you should have had
+this shock and the annoyances and trouble which will come of it, but I
+don't want you to be out of pocket by it."
+
+"No, he doesn't owe me anything," replied the honest old woman, shaking
+her head. A few big tears rolled down over her withered cheeks, possibly
+the only tears that were shed for the dead man under the elder-tree. But
+even this sympathetic soul could find nothing to say in his praise. She
+could feel pity for his dreadful death, but she could not assert that
+the world had lost anything by his going out of it. As if saddened by
+the impossibility of finding a single good word to say about the dead
+man, she left the office with drooping head and lagging step.
+
+Pokorny helped her into the cab that was already waiting before the
+door. The office force had got wind of the fact that something unusual
+had occurred and were all at the windows to see them drive off. The
+three clerks who worked in the department to which Winkler belonged
+gathered together to talk the matter over. They were none of them
+particularly hit by it, but naturally they were interested in the
+discovery in Hietzing, and equally naturally, they tried to find a few
+good words to say about the man whose life had ended so suddenly.
+
+The youngest of them, Fritz Bormann, said some kind words and was about
+to wax more enthusiastic, when Degenhart, the eldest clerk, cut in with
+the words: "Oh, don't trouble yourself. Nobody ever liked Winkler here.
+He was not a good man--he was not even a good worker. This is the first
+time that he has a reasonable excuse for neglecting his duties."
+
+"Oh, come, see here! how can you talk about the poor man that way when
+he's scarcely cold in death yet," said Fritz indignantly.
+
+Degenhart laughed harshly.
+
+"Did I ever say anything else about him while he was warm and alive?
+Death is no reason for changing one's opinion about a man who was
+good-for-nothing in life. And his death was a stroke of good luck that
+he scarcely deserved. He died without a moment's pain, with a merry
+thought in his head, perhaps, while many another better man has to
+linger in torture for weeks. No, Bormann, the best I can say about
+Winkler is that his death makes one nonentity the less on earth."
+
+The older man turned to his desk again and the two younger clerks
+continued the conversation: "Degenhart appears to be a hard man," said
+Fritz, "but he's the best and kindest person I know, and he's dead right
+in what he says. It was simply a case of conventional superstition. I
+never did like that Winkler."
+
+"No, you're right," said the other. "Neither did I and I don't know why,
+for the matter of that. He seemed just like a thousand others. I never
+heard of anything particularly wrong that he did."
+
+"No, no more did I," continued Bormann, "but I never heard of anything
+good about him either. And don't you think that it's worse for a man
+to seem to repel people by his very personality, rather than by any
+particular bad thing that he does?"
+
+"Yes. I don't know how to explain it, but that's just how I feel about
+it. I had an instinctive feeling that there was something wrong about
+Winkler, the sort of a creepy, crawly feeling that a snake gives you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. SPEAK WELL OF THE DEAD
+
+
+Meanwhile Pokorny and Mrs. Klingmayer had reached the police station and
+were going upstairs to the rooms of the commissioner on service for the
+day. Like all people of her class, Mrs. Klingmayer stood in great awe
+and terror of anything connected with the police or the law generally.
+She crept slowly and tremblingly up the stairs behind the head
+bookkeeper and was very glad when she was left alone for a few minutes
+while Pokorny went in to see the commissioner. But as soon as his errand
+was known, both the bookkeeper and his companion were led into the
+office of Head Commissioner Dr. von Riedau, who had charge of the
+Hietzing murder case.
+
+When Dr. von Riedau heard the reason of their coming, his interest was
+immediately aroused, and he pulled a chair to his side for the little
+thin man with whom he had been talking when the two strangers were
+ushered in.
+
+"Then you believe you could identify the murdered man?" asked the
+commissioner.
+
+"From the general description and the initials on his linen, I believe
+it must be Leopold Winkler," answered Pokorny. "Mrs. Klingmayer has not
+seen him since Monday morning, nor has she had any message from him. He
+left the office Monday afternoon at 6 o'clock and that was the last time
+that we saw him. The only thing that makes me doubt his identity is that
+the paper reports that three hundred gulden were found in his pocket.
+Winkler never seemed to have money, and I do not understand how he
+should have been in possession of such a sum."
+
+"The money was found in the dead man's pockets," said the commissioner.
+"And yet it may be Winkler, the man you know. Muller, will you order a
+cab, please?"
+
+"I have a cab waiting for me. But it only holds two," volunteered
+Pokorny.
+
+"That doesn't matter, I'll sit on the box," answered the man addressed
+as Muller.
+
+"You are going with us?" asked Pokorny.
+
+"Yes, he will accompany you," replied the commissioner. "This is
+detective Muller, sir. By a mere chance, he happened to be on hand to
+take charge of this case and he will remain in charge, although it may
+be wasting his talents which we need for more difficult problems. If you
+or any one else have anything to tell us, it must be told only to me
+or to Muller. And before you leave to look at the body, I would like
+to know whether the dead man owned a watch, or rather whether he had it
+with him on the day of the murder."
+
+"Yes, sir; he did have a watch, a gold watch," answered Mrs. Klingmayer.
+
+Riedau looked at the bookkeeper, who nodded and said: "Yes, sir; Winkler
+had a watch, a gold watch with a double case. It was a large watch, very
+thick. I happen to have noticed it by chance and also I happen to know
+that he had not had the watch for very long."
+
+"Can you tell us anything more about the watch?" asked the commissioner
+of the landlady.
+
+"Yes, sir; there was engraving on the outside cover, initials, and a
+crown on the other side."
+
+"What were the initials?"
+
+"I don't know that, sir; at least I'm not sure about it. There were so
+many twists and curves to them that I couldn't make them out. I think
+one of them was a W though, sir."
+
+"The other was probably an L then."
+
+"That might be, sir."
+
+"The younger clerks in the office may be able to tell something more
+about the watch," said Pokorny, "for they were quite interested in it
+for a while. It was a handsome watch and they were envious of Winkler's
+possession of it. But he was so tactless in his boasting about it that
+they paid no further attention to him after the first excitement."
+
+"You say he didn't have the watch long?"
+
+"Since spring I think, sir."
+
+"He brought it home on the 19th of March," interrupted Mrs. Klingmayer.
+"I remember the day because it was my birthday. I pretended that he had
+brought it home to me for a present."
+
+"Was he in the habit of making you presents?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir; he was very close with his money, sir.
+
+"Well, perhaps he didn't have much money to be generous with. Now tell
+me about his watch chain. I suppose he had a watch chain?"
+
+Both the bookkeeper and the landlady nodded and the latter exclaimed:
+"Oh, yes, sir; I could recognise it in a minute."
+
+"How?"
+
+"It was broken once and Mr. Winkler mended it himself. I lent him my
+pliers and he bent the two links together with them. It didn't look very
+nice after that, but it was strong again. You could see the mark of the
+pliers easily."
+
+"Why didn't he take the chain to the jeweler's to be fixed?" asked the
+commissioner.
+
+The woman smiled. "It wouldn't have been worth the money, sir; the chain
+wasn't real gold."
+
+"But the watch was real, wasn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; that was real gold. I pawned it once for Mr. Winkler and
+they gave me 24 gulden for it."
+
+"One question more, did he have a purse? And did he have it with him on
+the day of the murder?"
+
+"Yes, sir; he had a purse, and he must have taken it with him because he
+didn't leave it in his room."
+
+"What sort of a purse was it?"
+
+"A brown leather purse, sir."
+
+"Was it a new one?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir; it was well worn."
+
+"How big was it? About like mine?" Riedau took out his own pocketbook.
+
+"No, sir; it was a little smaller. It had three pockets in it. I mended
+it for him once, so I know it well. I didn't have any brown thread so I
+mended it with yellow."
+
+Dr. von Riedau nodded to Muller. The latter had been sitting at a little
+side-table writing down the questions and answers. When Riedau saw this
+he did not send for a clerk to do the work, for Muller preferred to
+attend to such matters himself as much as possible. The facts gained in
+the examination were impressed upon his mind while he was writing them,
+and he did not have to wade through pages of manuscript to get at what
+he needed. Now he handed his superior officer the paper.
+
+"Thank you," said Riedau, "I'll send it out to the other police
+stations. I will attend to this myself. You go on with these people to
+see whether they can identify the corpse."
+
+Fifteen minutes later the three stood before the body in the morgue and
+both the bookkeeper and his companion identified the dead man positively
+as Leopold Winkler.
+
+When the identification was made, a notice was sent out to all Austrian
+police stations and to all pawnshops with an exact description of the
+stolen watch and purse.
+
+Muller led his companions back to the commissioner's office and they
+made their report to Dr. von Riedau. Upon being questioned further,
+Pokorny stated: "I had very little to do with Winkler. We met only when
+he had a report to make to me or to show me his books, and we never met
+outside the office. The clerks who worked in the same room with him, may
+know him better. I know only that he was a very reserved man and very
+little liked."
+
+"Then I do not need to detain you any longer, nor to trouble you further
+in this affair. I thank you for coming to us so promptly. It has been of
+great assistance."
+
+The bookkeeper left the station, but Mrs. Klingmayer, who was now quite
+reassured as to the harmlessness of the police, was asked to remain
+and to tell what she knew of the private life of the murdered man. Her
+answers to the various questions put to her proved that she knew very
+little about her tenant. But this much was learned from her: that he
+was very close with his money at times, but that again at other times
+he seemed to have all he wanted to spend. At such times he paid all his
+debts, and when he stayed home for supper, he would send her out for
+all sorts of expensive delicacies. These extravagant days seemed to have
+nothing whatever to do with Winkler's business pay day, but came at odd
+times.
+
+Mrs. Klingmayer remembered two separate times when he had received a
+postal money order. But she did not know from whom the letters came,
+nor even whether they were sent from the city or from some other town.
+Winkler received other letters now and then, but his landlady was not of
+the prying kind, and she had paid very little attention to them.
+
+He seemed to have few friends or even acquaintances. She did not know
+of any love affair, at least of nothing "regular." He had remained
+away over night two or three times during the year that he had been
+her tenant. This was about all that Mrs. Klingmayer could say, and she
+returned to her home in a cab furnished her by the kind commissioner.
+
+About two hours later, a police attendant announced that a gentleman
+would like to see Dr. von Riedan on business concerning the murder in
+Hietzing. "Friedrich Bormann" was the name on the card.
+
+"Ask him to step in here," said the commissioner. "And please ask Mr.
+Muller to join us."
+
+The good-looking young clerk entered the office bashfully and Muller
+slipped in behind him, seating himself inconspicuously by the door. At a
+sign from the commissioner the visitor began. "I am an employee of Braun
+& Co. I have the desk next to Leopold Winkler, during the year that he
+has been with us--the year and a quarter to be exact--"
+
+"Ah, then you know him rather well?"
+
+"Why, yes. At least we were together all day, although I never met him
+outside the office."
+
+"Then you cannot tell us much about his private life?"
+
+"No, sir, but there was something happened on Monday, and in talking it
+over with Mr. Braun, he suggested that I should come to you and tell you
+about it. It wasn't really very important, and it doesn't seem as if it
+could have anything to do with this murder and robbery; still it may be
+of some use."
+
+"Everything that would throw light on the dead man's life could be of
+use," said Dr. von Riedau. "Please tell us what it is you know."
+
+Fritz Bormann began: "Winkler came to the office as usual on Monday
+morning and worked steadily at his desk. But I happened to notice that
+he spoiled several letters and had to rewrite them, which showed me
+that his thoughts were not on his work, a frequent occurrence with him.
+However, everything went along as usual until 11 o'clock. Then Winkler
+became very uneasy. He looked constantly toward the door, compared his
+watch with the office clock, and sprang up impatiently as the special
+letter carrier, who usually comes about 11 with money orders, finally
+appeared."
+
+"Then he was expecting money you think?"
+
+"It must have been so. For as the letter carrier passed him, he called
+out: 'Haven't you anything for me?' and as the man shook his head
+Winkler seemed greatly disappointed and depressed. Before he left to go
+to lunch, he wrote a hasty letter, which he put in his pocket.
+
+"He came in half an hour later than the rest of us. He had often been
+reprimanded for his lack of punctuality, but it seemed to do no good. He
+was almost always late. Monday was no exception, although he was later
+than usual that day."
+
+"And what sort of a mood was he in when he came back?"
+
+"He was irritable and depressed. He seemed to be awaiting a message
+which did not come. His excitement hindered him from working, he
+scarcely did anything the entire afternoon. Finally at five o'clock a
+messenger boy came with a letter for him. I saw that Winkler turned
+pale as he took the note in his hand. It seemed to be only a few words
+written hastily on a card, thrust into an envelope. Winkler's teeth were
+set as he opened the letter. The messenger had already gone away."
+
+"Did you notice his number?" asked Dr. von Riedau.
+
+"No, I scarcely noticed the man at all. I was looking at Winkler, whose
+behaviour was so peculiar. When he read the card his face brightened.
+He read it through once more, then he tore both card and envelope into
+little bits and threw the pieces out of the open window.
+
+"Then he evidently did not want anybody to see the contents of this
+note," said a voice from the corner of the room.
+
+Fritz Bormann looked around astonished and rather doubtful at the little
+man who had risen from his chair and now came forward. Without waiting
+for an answer from the clerk, the other continued: "Did Winkler have
+money sent him frequently?"
+
+Bormann looked inquiringly at the commissioner, who replied with a
+smile: "You may answer. Answer anything that Mr. Muller has to ask of
+you, as he is in charge of this case."
+
+"As far as I can remember, it happened three times," was Bormann's
+answer.
+
+"How close together?"
+
+"Why--about once in every three or four months, I think."
+
+"That looks almost like a regular income," exclaimed Riedau. His eyes
+met Muller's, which were lit up in sudden fire. "Well, what are you
+thinking of?" asked the commissioner.
+
+"A woman," answered Muller; and continued more as if thinking aloud than
+as if addressing the others: "Winkler was a good-looking man. Might he
+not have had a rich love somewhere? Might not the money have come from
+her, the money that was found in his pocket?" Muller's voice trailed
+off into indistinctness at the last words, and the fire died out of his
+eyes. Then he laughed aloud.
+
+The commissioner smiled also, a good-natured smile, such as one would
+give to a child who has been over-eager. "It doesn't matter to us where
+the money came from. All that matters here is where the bullet came
+from--the bullet which prevented his enjoying this money. And it is
+of more interest to us to find out who robbed him of his life and his
+property, rather than the source from which this property came."
+
+The commissioner's tone was friendly, but Muller's face flushed red, and
+his head dropped. Riedau turned to Bormann and continued: "And because
+it is of no interest to us where his money came from--for it can
+have nothing whatever to do with his murder and the subsequent
+robbery--therefore what you noticed of his behaviour cannot be of any
+importance or bearing in the case in any way. Unless, indeed, you should
+find out anything more. But we appreciate the thoughtfulness of yourself
+and your employer and your readiness to help us."
+
+Bormann rose to leave, but the commissioner put out a hand to stop him.
+"A few moments more, please; you may know of something else that will
+be of assistance to us. We have heard that Winkler boasted of his
+belongings--did he talk about his private affairs in any way?"
+
+"No, sir, I do not think he did."
+
+"You say that he destroyed the note at once, evidently realising that no
+one must see it--this note may have been a promise for the money which
+had not yet come. Did he, however, tell any one later that he expected a
+certain sum? Do you think he would have been likely to tell any one?"
+
+"No, I do not think that he would tell any one. He never mentioned
+to any of us that he had received money, or even that he expected to
+receive it. None of us knew what outside resources he might have, or
+whence they came. If it had not been that the money was paid him by the
+carrier in the office two or three times--so, that we could see it--we
+would none of us have known of this income, except for the fact that he
+was freer in spending after the money came. He would dine at expensive
+restaurants, and this fact he would mention to us, whereas at other
+times he would go to the cheap cafe."
+
+"Do you know anything about the people he was acquainted with outside
+the office?"
+
+"No, sir. I seldom met him outside of the office. One evening it did
+happen that I saw him at Ronacher's. He was there with a lady--that is,
+a so-called 'lady'--and it must have been one of the times that he had
+money, for they were enjoying an expensive supper. At other times, some
+of the other clerks met him at various resorts, always with the same
+sort of woman. But not always with the same woman, for they were
+different in appearance."
+
+"He was never seen anywhere with other men?"
+
+"No, sir; at least not by any of us."
+
+"He was not liked in the office?"
+
+"No." Bormann's answer was sharp.
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"I don't know; we just didn't like him. We had very little to do with
+him at first because of this, and soon we noticed that he seemed just as
+anxious to avoid us as we were to avoid him."
+
+The commissioner rose and Bormann followed his example. "I am very
+sorry, sir, if I have taken up your time to no purpose," said the latter
+modestly, as he took up his hat.
+
+"I am not so sure that what you have said may not be of great value to
+us," said a voice behind them. Muller stood there, looking at Riedau
+with a glance almost of defiance. His eyes were again lit up with
+the strange fire that shone in them when he was on the trail. The
+commissioner shrugged his shoulders, bowed to the departing visitor, and
+then turned without an answer to some documents on his desk. There was
+silence in the room for a few moments. Finally a gentle voice came from
+Muller's corner again: "Dr. von Riedau?"
+
+The commissioner raised his head and looked around. "Oh, are you still
+there?" he asked with a drawl.
+
+Muller knew what this drawl meant. It was the manner adopted by the
+amiable commissioner when he was in a mood which was not amiable. And
+Muller knew also the cause of the mood. It was his own last remark, the
+words he addressed to Bormann. Muller himself recognised the fact
+that this remark was out of place, that it was almost an impertinence,
+because it was in direct contradiction to a statement made a few moments
+before by his superior officer. Also he realised that his remark had
+been quite unnecessary, because it was a matter of indifference to the
+young man, who was only obeying his employer's orders in reporting what
+he had seen, whether his report was of value or not. Muller had simply
+uttered aloud the thought that came into his mind, a habit of his which
+years of official training had not yet succeeded in breaking. It was
+annoying to himself sometimes, for these half-formed thoughts were mere
+instinct--they were the workings of his own genius that made him catch
+a suspicion of the truth long before his conscious mind could reason it
+out or appreciate its value. But that sort of thing was not popular in
+official police life.
+
+"Well," asked the commissioner, as Muller did not continue, "your tongue
+is not usually so slow--as you have proved just a few moments back--what
+were you going to say now?"
+
+"I was about to ask your pardon for my interruption. It was unnecessary,
+I should not have said it."
+
+"Well, I realise that you know better yourself," said Riedau, now quite
+friendly again, "and now what else have you to say? Do you really think
+that what the young man has just told us is of any value at all for this
+case?"
+
+"It seems to me as if it might be of value to us."
+
+"Oh, it seems to you, eh? Your imagination is working overtime again,
+Muller," said the commissioner with a laugh. But the laugh turned to
+seriousness as he realised how many times Muller's imagination
+had helped the clumsy official mind to its proudest triumphs. The
+commissioner was an intelligent man, as far as his lights went, and he
+was a good-hearted man. He rose from his chair and walked over to where
+the detective stood. "You needn't look so embarrassed, Muller," he said.
+"There is no cause for you to feel bad about it. And--I am quite willing
+to admit that my remark just now was unnecessary. You may give your
+imagination full rein, we can trust to your intelligence and your
+devotion to duty to keep it from unnecessary flights. So curbed, I know
+it will be of as much assistance to us this time as it always has been."
+
+Muller's quiet face lit up, and his eyes shone in a happiness that made
+him appear ten years younger. That was one of the strange things about
+Joseph Muller. This genius in his profession was in all other ways a
+man of such simplicity of heart and bearing, that the slightest word of
+approval from one of the officials for whom he worked could make him as
+happy as praise from the teacher will make a schoolboy. The moments when
+he was in command of any difficult case, when these same superiors would
+wait for a word from him, when high officials would take his orders or
+would be obliged to acknowledge that without him they were helpless,
+these moments were forgotten as soon as the problem was solved and
+Muller became again the simple subordinate and the obscure member of the
+Imperial police force.
+
+When Muller left the commissioner's room and walked through the
+outer office, one of the clerks looked after him and whispered to his
+companion: "Do you think he's found the Hietzing murderer yet?" The
+other answered: "I don't think so, but he looks as if he had found a
+clue. He'll find him sooner or later. He always does."
+
+Muller did not hear these words, although they also would have pleased
+him. He walked slowly down the stairs murmuring to himself: "I think I
+was right just the same. We are following a false trail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. BY A THREAD
+
+
+It was on Monday, the 27th of September, that Leopold Winkler was
+murdered and robbed, and early on Tuesday, the 28th, his body was found.
+That day the evening papers printed the report of the murder and the
+description of the dead man, and on Wednesday, the 29th, Mrs. Klingmayer
+read the news and went to see Winkler's employer. By noon of that day
+the body was identified and a description of the stolen purse and watch
+telegraphed to police headquarters in various cities. A few hours later,
+these police stations had sent out notices by messenger to all pawnshops
+and dealers in second-hand clothing, and now the machinery of the
+law sat waiting for some news of an attempt on the part of the
+robber-and-murderer to get rid of his plunder.
+
+On this same Wednesday, about the twilight hour, David Goldstamm, dealer
+in second-hand clothing, stood before the door of his shop in a side
+street of the old Hungarian city of Pressburg and watched his assistant
+take down the clothes which were hanging outside and carry them into the
+store. The old man's eyes glanced carelessly up and down the street and
+caught sight of a man who turned the corner and came hurrying towards
+him. This man was a very seedy-looking individual. An old faded overcoat
+hung about his thin figure, and a torn and dusty hat fell over his left
+eye. He seemed also to be much the worse for liquor and very wobbly
+on his feet. And yet he seemed anxious to hurry onward in spite of the
+unevenness of his walk.
+
+Then he slowed up suddenly, glanced across the street to Goldstamm's
+store, and crossed over.
+
+"Have you any boots for me?" he asked, sticking out his right foot that
+the dealer might see whether he had anything the requisite size.
+
+"I think there's something there," answered the old man in his usual
+businesslike tone, leading the way into the store.
+
+The stranger followed. Goldstamm lit the one light in the little place
+and groped about in an untidy heap of shoes of all kinds and sizes until
+he found several pairs that he thought might fit. These he brought out
+and put them in front of his customer. But in spite of his bleary eyes,
+the man caught sight of some patches on the uppers of one pair, and
+pushed them away from him.
+
+"Give me something better than that. I can pay for it. I don't have to
+wear patched shoes," he grunted.
+
+Goldstamm didn't like the looks of the man, but he felt that he had
+better be careful and not make him angry. "Have patience, sir, I'll find
+you something better," he said gently, tossing the heap about again, but
+now keeping his face turned towards his customer.
+
+"I want a coat also and a warm pair of trousers," said the stranger in a
+rough voice. He bent down to loosen the shabby boot from his right
+foot, and as he did so something fell out of the pocket of his coat. An
+unconscious motion of his own raised foot struck this small object and
+tossed it into the middle of the heap of shoes close by Goldstamm's
+hand. The old man reached out after it and caught it. It was just an
+ordinary brown leather pocketbook, of medium size, old and shabby, like
+a thousand others. But the eyes of the little old man widened as if in
+terror, his face turned pale and his hands trembled. For he had seen,
+hanging from one side of this worn brown leather pocketbook, the end of
+a yellow thread, the loosened end of the thread with which one side of
+the purse was mended. The thread told David Goldstamm who it was that
+had come into his shop.
+
+He regained his control with a desperate effort of the will. It took him
+but a few seconds to do so, and, thanks to his partial intoxication,
+the customer had not noticed the shopkeeper's start of alarm. But he
+appeared anxious and impatient to regain possession of his purse.
+
+"Haven't you found it yet?" he exclaimed.
+
+Goldstamm hastened to give it back. The tramp put the purse in his
+pocket with a sigh of relief. Goldstamm had regained his calm and his
+mind was working eagerly. He put several pairs of shoes before his
+customer, with the remark: "You must try them on. We'll find something
+to suit you. And meanwhile I will bring in several pairs of trousers
+from those outside. I have some fine coats to show you too."
+
+Goldstamm went out to the door, almost colliding there with his
+assistant who was coming in with his arm full of garments. The old man
+motioned to the boy, who retreated until they were both hidden from the
+view of the man within the store.
+
+"Give me those blue trousers there," said Goldstamm in a loud voice.
+Then in a whisper he said to the boy: "Run to the police station. The
+man with the watch and the purse is in there."
+
+The boy understood and set off at once at a fast pace, while the old man
+returned to his store with a heavy heart. He wondered whether he would
+be able to keep the murderer there until the police could come. And he
+also wondered what it might cost him, an old and feeble man, who would
+be as a weak reed in the hands of the strong tramp in there. But he knew
+it was his duty to do whatever he could to help in the arrest of one who
+had just taken the life of a fellow creature. The realisation of this
+gave the old man strength and calmness.
+
+"A nice sort of an eye for size you have," cried the tramp as the old
+man came up to him. "I suppose you've brought me in a boy's suit? What
+do you take me for? Any girl could go to a ball in the shoes you brought
+me to try on here."
+
+"Are they so much too small?" asked the dealer in an innocent tone.
+"Well, there's plenty more there. And perhaps you had better be trying
+on this suit behind the curtain here while I'm hunting up the shoes."
+
+This suggestion seemed to please the stranger, as he was evidently in a
+hurry. He passed in behind the curtain and began to undress. Goldstamm's
+keen eyes watched him through a crack. There was not much to be seen
+except that the tramp seemed anxious to keep his overcoat within reach
+of his hand. He had carefully put the purse in one of its pockets.
+
+"We'll get the things all together pretty soon," said the dealer. "I've
+found a pair of boots here, fine boots of good quality, and sure to
+fit."
+
+"Stop your talk," growled the other, "and come here and help me so that
+I can get away."
+
+Goldstamm came forward, and though his heart was very heavy within
+him, he aided this man, this man about whom so many hundreds were now
+thinking in terror, as calmly as he had aided his other poor but honest
+customers.
+
+With hands that did not tremble, the dealer busied himself about his
+customer, listening all the while to sounds in the street in the hope
+that his tete-e-tete with the murderer would soon be over. But in spite
+of all his natural anxiety, the old man's sharp eyes took cognizance
+of various things, one of which was that the man whom he was helping to
+dress in his new clothes did not have the watch which was described in
+the police notice. This fact, however, did not make the old man's heart
+any lighter, for the purse mended with yellow thread was too clearly the
+one stolen from the murdered man found in the quiet street in Hietzing.
+
+"What's the matter with you, you're so slow? I can get along better
+myself," growled the tramp, pushing the old man away from him. Goldstamm
+had really begun to tremble now in spite of his control, in the fear
+that the man would get away from him before the police came.
+
+The tramp was already dressed in the new suit, into a pocket of which he
+put the old purse.
+
+"There, now the boots and then we're finished," said the dealer with an
+attempt at a smile. In his heart he prayed that the pair he now held in
+his hand might not fit, that he might gain a few minutes more. But the
+shoes did fit. A little pushing and stamping and the man was ready to
+leave the store. He was evidently in a hurry, for he paid what was asked
+without any attempt to bargain. Had Goldstamm not known whom he had
+before him now, he would have been very much astonished at this, and
+might perhaps have been sorry that he had not named a higher sum. But
+under the circumstances he understood only too well the man's desire to
+get away, and would much rather have had some talk as to the payment,
+anything that would keep his customer a little longer in his store.
+
+"There, now we're ready. I'll pack up your old things for you. Or
+perhaps we can make a deal for them. I pay the highest prices in the
+city," said Goldstamm, with an apparent eagerness which he hoped would
+deceive the customer.
+
+But the man had already turned towards the door, and called hack over
+his shoulder: "You can keep the old things, I don't want them."
+
+As he spoke he opened the door of the store and stood face to face with
+a policeman holding a revolver. He turned, with a curse, back into the
+room, but the dealer was nowhere to be seen. David Goldstamm had done
+his duty to the public, in spite of his fear. Now, seeing that the
+police had arrived, he could think of his duty to his family. This duty
+was plainly to save his own life, and when the tramp turned again to
+look for him, he had disappeared out of the back door.
+
+"Not a move or I will shoot," cried the policeman, and now two others
+appeared behind him, and came into the store. But the tramp made no
+attempt to escape. He stood pale and trembling while they put the
+handcuffs on him, and let them take him away without any resistance.
+He was put on the evening express for Vienna, and taken to Police
+Headquarters in that city. He made no protest nor any attempt to escape,
+but he refused to utter a word on the entire journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. ALMOST CONVICTED
+
+
+The evening was already far gone when Muller entered Riedau's office.
+
+"You're in time, the man isn't here yet. The train is evidently late,"
+said the commissioner. "We're working this case off quickly. We will
+have the murderer here in half an hour at the latest. He did not have
+much time to enjoy the stolen property. He was here in Vienna this
+morning, and was arrested in Pressburg this afternoon. Here is the
+telegram, read it."
+
+Dr. von Riedau handed Muller the message. The commissioner was evidently
+pleased and excited. The telegram read as follows: "Man arrested here in
+possession of described purse containing four ten gulden notes and
+four guldens in silver. Arrested in store of second-hand clothes dealer
+Goldstamm. Will arrive this evening in Vienna under guard."
+
+The message was signed by the Chief of the Pressburg police.
+
+Muller laid the paper on the desk without a word. There was a watch on
+this desk already; it was a heavy gold watch, unusually thick, with the
+initials L. W. on the cover. Just as Muller laid down the telegram, a
+door outside was opened and the commissioner covered the watch hastily.
+There was a loud knock at his own door and an attendant entered to
+announce that the party from Pressburg had arrived He was followed by
+one of the Pressburg police force, who brought the official report.
+
+"Did you have any difficulty with him?" asked the commissioner.
+
+"Oh, no, sir; it was a very easy job. He made no resistance at all,
+and he seems to be quite sober now. But he hasn't said a word since we
+arrested him."
+
+Then followed the detailed report of the arrest, and the delivery of the
+described pocketbook to the commissioner.
+
+"Is that all?" asked Dr. von Riedau.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then you may go home now, we will take charge of the man."
+
+The policeman bowed and left the room. A few moments later the tramp was
+brought in, guarded by two armed roundsmen. His guards remained at the
+door, while the prisoner himself walked forward to the middle of the
+room. Commissioner von Riedau sat at his desk, his clerk beside him
+ready to take down the evidence. Muller sat near a window with a paper
+on his lap, looking the least interested of anybody in the proceedings.
+
+For a moment there was complete silence in the room, which was broken
+in a rather unusual manner. A deep voice, more like a growl, although
+it had a queer strain of comic good-nature in it, began the proceedings
+with the remark: "Well now, say, what do you want of me, anyway?"
+
+The commissioner looked at the man in astonishment, then turned aside
+that the prisoner might not notice his smile. But he might have spared
+himself the trouble, for Muller, the clerk, and the two policemen at the
+door were all on a broad grin.
+
+Then the commissioner pulled himself together again, and began with his
+usual official gravity: "It is I who ask questions here. Is it possible
+that you do not know this? You look to me as if you had had experience
+in police courts before." The commissioner gazed at the prisoner with
+eyes that were not altogether friendly. The tramp seemed to feel this,
+and his own eyes dropped, while the good-natured impertinence in
+his bearing disappeared. It was evidently the last remains of his
+intoxication. He was now quite sober.
+
+"What is your name?" asked the commissioner.
+
+"Johann Knoll."
+
+"Where were you born?"
+
+"Near Brunn."
+
+"Your age?"
+
+"I'm--I'll be forty next Christmas."
+
+"Your religion?"
+
+"Well, you can see I'm no Jew, can't you?"
+
+"You will please answer my questions in a proper manner. This
+impertinence will not make things easier for you."
+
+"All right, sir," said the tramp humbly. "I am a Catholic."
+
+"You have been in prison before?" This was scarcely a question.
+
+"No, sir," said Knoll firmly.
+
+"What is your business?"
+
+"I don't know what to say, sir," answered Knoll, shrugging his
+shoulders. "I've done a lot of things in my life. I'm a cattle drover
+and a lumber man, and I--"
+
+"Did you learn any trade?"
+
+"No, sir, I never learned anything."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that without having learned any trade you've
+gotten through life thus far honestly?"
+
+"Oh, I've worked hard enough--I've worked good and hard sometimes."
+
+"The last few days particularly, eh?"
+
+"Why, no, sir, not these last days--I was drover on a transport of pigs;
+we brought 'em down from Hungary, 200 of 'em, to the slaughter house
+here."
+
+"When was that?"
+
+"That was--that was Monday."
+
+"This last Monday?"
+
+"Yes, sir.
+
+"And then you went to Hietzing?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's right."
+
+"Why did you go to Hietzing?"
+
+"Why, see here, sir, if I had gone to Ottakring, then I suppose you
+would have asked why did I go to Ottakring. I just went to Hietzing.
+A fellow has to go somewhere. You don't stay in the same spot all the
+time, do you?"
+
+Again the commissioner turned his head and another smile went through
+the room. This Hietzing murderer had a sense of humour.
+
+"Well, then, we'll go to Hietzing again, in our minds at least," said
+the commissioner, turning back to Knoll when he had controlled his
+merriment. "You went there on Monday, then--and the day was coming to an
+end. What did you do when you reached Hietzing?"
+
+"I looked about for a place to sleep."
+
+"Where did you look for a place to sleep?"
+
+"Why, in Hietzing."
+
+"That is not definite enough."
+
+"Well, in a garden."
+
+"You were trespassing, you mean?"
+
+"Why, yes, sir. There wasn't anybody that seemed to want to invite me
+to dinner or to give me a place to sleep. I just had to look out for
+myself."
+
+"You evidently know how to look out for yourself at the cost of others,
+a heavy cost." The commissioner's easy tone had changed to sternness.
+Knoll felt this, and a sharp gleam shot out from his dull little eyes,
+while the tone of his voice was gruff and impertinent again as he asked:
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"You know well enough. You had better not waste any more time, but tell
+us at once how you came into possession of this purse."
+
+"It's my purse," Knoll answered with calm impertinence. "I got it the
+way most people get it. I bought it."
+
+"This purse?" the commissioner emphasised both words distinctly.
+
+"This purse--yes," answered the tramp with a perfect imitation of
+Riedau's voice. "Why shouldn't I have bought this purse just like any
+other?"
+
+"Because you stole this purse from the man whom you--murdered," was the
+commissioner's reply.
+
+There was another moment of dead silence in the room. The commissioner
+and Muller watched intently for any change of expression in the face
+of the man who had just had such an accusation hurled at him. Even the
+clerk and the two policemen at the door were interested to see what
+would happen.
+
+Knoll's calm impertinence vanished, a deadly pallor spread over his
+face, and he seemed frozen to stone. He attempted to speak, but was not
+able to control his voice. His hands were clenched and tremors shook his
+gaunt but strong-muscled frame.
+
+"When did I murder anybody?" he gasped finally in a hoarse croak.
+"You'll have to prove it to me that I am a murderer."
+
+"That is easily proved. Here is one of the proofs," said Riedan coldly,
+pointing to the purse. "The purse and the watch of the murdered man are
+fatal witnesses against you."
+
+"The watch? I haven't any watch. Where should I get a watch?"
+
+"You didn't have one until Monday, possibly; I can believe that. But you
+were in possession of a watch between the evening of Monday, the 27th,
+and the morning of Wednesday, the 29th."
+
+Knoll's eyes dropped again and he did not trust himself to speak.
+
+"Well, you do not deny this statement?"
+
+"No, I can't," said Knoll, still trying to control his voice. "You must
+have the watch yourself now, or else you wouldn't be so certain about
+it."
+
+"Ah, you see, I thought you'd had experience with police courts before,"
+said the commissioner amiably. "Of course I have the watch already.
+The man whom you sold it to this morning knew by three o'clock this
+afternoon where this watch came from. He brought it here at once and
+gave us your description. A very exact description. The man will be
+brought here to identify you to-morrow. We must send for him anyway, to
+return his money to him. He paid you fifty-two gulden for the watch. And
+how much money was in the purse that you took from the murdered man?"
+
+"Three gulden eighty-five."
+
+"That was a very small sum for which to commit a murder."
+
+Knoll groaned and bit his lips until they bled.
+
+Commissioner von Riedau raised the paper that covered the watch and
+continued: "You presumably recognised that the chain on which this watch
+hung was valueless, also that it could easily be recognised. Did you
+throw it away, or have you it still?"
+
+"I threw it in the river."
+
+"That will not make any difference. We do not need the chain, we have
+quite enough evidence without it. The purse, for instance: you thought,
+I suppose, that it was just a purse like a thousand others, but it is
+not. This purse is absolutely individual and easily recognised, because
+it is mended in one spot with yellow thread. The thread has become
+loosened and hangs down in a very noticeable manner. It was this yellow
+thread on the purse, which he happened to see by chance, that showed the
+dealer Goldstamm who it was that had entered his store."
+
+Knoll stood quite silent, staring at the floor. Drops of perspiration
+stood out on his forehead, some of them rolling like tears down his
+cheek.
+
+The commissioner rose from his seat and walked slowly to where the
+prisoner stood. He laid one hand on the man's shoulder and said in a
+voice that was quite gentle and kind again: "Johann Knoll, do not
+waste your time, or ours, in thinking up useless lies. You are almost
+convicted of this crime now. You have already acknowledged so much, that
+there is but little more for you to say. If you make an open confession,
+it will be greatly to your advantage."
+
+Again the room was quiet while the others waited for what would happen.
+For a moment the tramp stood silent, with the commissioner's right hand
+resting on his shoulder. Then there was a sudden movement, a struggle
+and a shout, and the two policemen had overpowered the prisoner and held
+him firmly. Muller rose quickly and sprang to his chief's side. Riedau
+had not even changed colour, and he said calmly: "Oh, never mind,
+Muller; sit down again. The man had handcuffs on and he is quite quiet
+now. I think he has sense enough to see that he is only harming himself
+by his violence."
+
+The commissioner returned to his desk and Muller went back to his chair
+by the window. The prisoner was quiet again, although his face wore a
+dark flush and the veins on throat and forehead were swollen thick. He
+trembled noticeably and the heavy drops besprinkled his brow.
+
+"I--I have something to say, sir," he began, "but first I want to beg
+your pardon--"
+
+"Oh, never mind that. I am not angry when a man is fighting for his
+life, even if he doesn't choose quite the right way," answered the
+commissioner calmly, playing with a lead pencil.
+
+Knoll's expression was defiant now. He laughed harshly and began again:
+"What I'm tellin' you now is the truth whether you believe it or not. I
+didn't kill the man. I took the watch and purse from him. I thought he
+was drunk. If he was killed, I didn't do it."
+
+"He was killed by a shot."
+
+"A shot? Why, yes, I heard a shot, but I didn't think any more about it,
+I didn't think there was anythin' doing, I thought somebody was shootin'
+a cat, or else-"
+
+"Oh, don't bother to invent things. It was a man who was shot at, the
+man whom you robbed. But go on, go on. I am anxious to hear what you
+will tell me."
+
+Knoll's hands, clenched to fists and his eyes glowed in hate and
+defiance. Then he dropped them to the floor again and began to talk
+slowly in a monotonous tone that sounded as if he were repeating a
+lesson. His manner was rather unfortunate and did not tend to induce
+belief in the truth of his story. The gist of what he said was as
+follows:
+
+He had reached Hietzing on Monday evening about 8 o'clock. He was
+thirsty, as usual, and had about two gulden in his possession, his wages
+for the last day's work. He turned into a tavern in Hietzing and ate and
+drank until his money was all gone, and he had not even enough left to
+pay for a night's lodging. But Knoll was not worried about that. He was
+accustomed to sleeping out of doors, and as this was a particularly fine
+evening, there was nothing in the prospect to alarm him. He set
+about finding a suitable place where he would not be disturbed by the
+guardians of the law. His search led him by chance into a newly opened
+street. This suited him exactly. The fences were easy to climb, and
+there were several little summer houses in sight which made much more
+agreeable lodgings than the ground under a bush. And above all, the
+street was so quiet and deserted that he knew it was just the place for
+him. He had never been in the street before, and did not know its name.
+He passed the four houses at the end of the street--he was on the
+left sidewalk--and then he came to two fenced-in building lots. These
+interested him. He was very agile, raised himself up on the fences
+easily and took stock of the situation. One of the lots did not appeal
+to him particularly, but the second one did. It bordered on a large
+garden, in the middle of which he could see a little house of some kind.
+It was after sunset but he could see things quite plainly yet for the
+air was clear and the moon was just rising. He saw also that in the
+vacant lot adjoining the garden, a lot which appeared to have been
+a garden itself once, there was a sort of shed. It looked very much
+damaged but appeared to offer shelter sufficient for a fine night.
+
+The shed stood on a little raise of the ground near the high iron fence
+that protected the large garden. Knoll decided that the shed would make
+a good place to spend the night. He climbed the fence easily and walked
+across the lot. When he was just settling himself for his nap, he heard
+the clock on a near-by church strike nine. The various drinks he had had
+for supper put him in a mood that would not allow him to get to sleep
+at once. The bench in the old shed was decidedly rickety and very
+uncomfortable, and as he was tossing about to find a good position, a
+thought came into his mind which he acknowledged was not a commendable
+one. It occurred to him that if he pursued his investigations in the
+neighbourhood a little further, he might be able to pick up something
+that would be of advantage to him on his wanderings. His eyes and his
+thoughts were directed towards the handsome house which he could see
+beyond the trees of the old garden.
+
+The moon was now well up in the sky and it shone brightly on the
+mansard roof of the fine old mansion. The windows of the long wing which
+stretched out towards the garden glistened in the moonbeams, and the
+light coloured wall of the house made a bright background for the dark
+mask of trees waving gently in the night breeze. Knoll's little shed was
+sufficiently raised on its hillock for him to have a good view of the
+garden. There was no door to the shed and he could see the neighbouring
+property clearly from where he lay on his bench. While he lay there
+watching, he saw a woman walking through the garden. He could see her
+only when she passed back of or between the lower shrubs and bushes.
+As far as he could see, she came from the main building and was walking
+towards a pretty little house which lay in the centre of the garden.
+Knoll had imagined this house to be the gardener's dwelling and as it
+lay quite dark he supposed the inmates were either asleep or out for the
+evening. It had been this house which he was intending to honour by a
+visit. But seeing the woman walking towards it, he decided it would not
+be safe to carry out his plan just yet awhile.
+
+A few moments later he was certain that this last decision had been a
+wise one, for he saw a man come from the main building and walk along
+the path the woman had taken. "No, nothing doing there," thought Knoll,
+and concluded he had better go to sleep. He could not remember just how
+long he may have dozed but it seemed to him that during that time he
+had heard a shot. It did not interest him much. He supposed some one
+was shooting at a thieving cat or at some small night animal. He did
+not even remember whether he had been really sound asleep, before he was
+aroused by the breaking down of the bench on which he lay. The noise of
+it more than the shock of the short fall, awoke him and he sprang up in
+alarm and listened intently to hear whether any one had been attracted
+by it. His first glance was towards the building behind the garden.
+There was no sound nor no light in the garden house but there was a
+light in the main building. While the tramp was wondering what hour it
+might be, the church clock answered him by ten loud strokes.
+
+His head was already aching from the wine and he did not feel
+comfortable in the drafty old building. He came out from it, crept along
+to the spot where he had climbed the fence before, and after listening
+carefully and hearing nothing on either side, he climbed back to the
+road. The Street lay silent and empty, which was just what he was hoping
+for. He held carefully to the shadow thrown by the high board fence over
+which he had climbed until he came to its end. Then he remembered that
+he hadn't done anything wrong and stepped out boldly into the moonlight.
+The moon was well up now and the street was almost as light as day.
+Knoll was attracted by the queer shadows thrown by a big elder tree,
+waving its long branches in the wind. As he came nearer he saw that part
+of the shadow was no shadow at all but was the body of a man lying in
+the street near the bush. "I thought sure he was drunk" was the way
+Knoll described it. "I've been like that myself often until somebody
+came along and found me."
+
+When he came to this spot in his story, he halted and drew a long
+breath. Commissioner von Riedau had begun to make some figures on the
+paper in front of him, then changed the lines until the head of a pretty
+woman in a fur hat took shape under his fingers.
+
+"Well, go on," he said, looking with interest at his drawing and
+improving it with several quick strokes.
+
+Johann Knoll continued:
+
+"Then the devil came over me and I thought I better take this good
+opportunity--well--I did. The man was lying on his back and I saw a
+watch chain on his dark vest. I bent over him and took his watch
+and chain. Then I felt around in his pocket and found his purse. And
+then--well then I felt sorry for him lying out in the open road like
+that, and I thought I'd lift him up and put him somewhere where he could
+sleep it off more convenient. But I didn't see there was a little ditch
+there and I stumbled over it and dropped him. 'It's a good thing he's so
+drunk that even this don't wake him up,' I thought, and ran off. Then I
+thought I heard something moving and I was scared stiff, but there was
+nothing in the street at all. I thought I had better take to the fields
+though and I crossed through some corn and then out onto another street.
+Finally I walked into the city, stayed there till this morning, sold the
+watch, then went to Pressburg."
+
+"So that was the way it was," said the commissioner, pushing his drawing
+away from him and motioning to the policemen at the door. "You may take
+this man away now," he added in a voice of cool indifference, without
+looking at the prisoner.
+
+Knoll's head drooped and he walked out quietly between his two guards.
+The clock on the office wall struck eleven.
+
+"Dear me! what a lot of time the man wasted," said the commissioner,
+putting the report of the proceedings, the watch and the purse in a
+drawer of his desk. "When anybody has been almost convicted of a crime,
+it's really quite unnecessary to invent such a long story."
+
+A few minutes later, the room was empty and Muller, as the last of the
+group, walked slowly down the stairs. He was in such a brown study that
+he scarcely heard the commissioner's friendly "goodnight," nor did he
+notice that he was walking down the quiet street under a star-gilded
+sky. "Almost convicted--almost. Almost?" Muller's lips murmured while
+his head was full of a chaotic rush of thought, dim pictures that came
+and went, something that seemed to be on the point of bringing light
+into the darkness, then vanishing again. "Almost--but not quite. There
+is something here I must find out first. What is it? I must know--"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE FACE AT THE GATE
+
+
+The second examination of the prisoner brought nothing new. Johann
+Knoll refused to speak at all, or else simply repeated what he had said
+before. This second examination took place early the next morning, but
+Muller was not present. He was taking a walk in Hietzing.
+
+When they took Johann Knoll in the police wagon to the City Prison,
+Muller was just sauntering slowly through the street where the murder
+had been committed. And as the door of the cell shut clangingly behind
+the man whose face was distorted in impotent rage and despair, Joseph
+Muller was standing in deep thought before the broken willow twig, which
+now hung brown and dry across the planks of the fence. He looked at it
+for a long time. That is, he seemed to be looking at it, but in reality
+his eyes were looking out and beyond the willow twig, out into the
+unknown, where the unknown murderer was still at large. Leopold
+Winkler's body had already been committed to the earth. How long will
+it be before his death is avenged? Or perhaps how long may it even be
+before it is discovered from what motive this murder was committed. Was
+it a murder for robbery, or a murder for personal revenge perhaps? Were
+the two crimes committed here by one and the same person, or were there
+two people concerned? And if two, did they work as accomplices? Or is it
+possible that Knoll's story was true? Did he really only rob the body,
+not realising that it was a dead man and not merely an intoxicated
+sleeper as he had supposed? These and many more thoughts rushed
+tumultuously through Muller's brain until he sighed despairingly under
+the pressure. Then he smiled in amusement at the wish that had crossed
+his brain, the wish that this case might seem as simple to him as it
+apparently did to the commissioner. It would certainly have saved him a
+lot of work and trouble if he could believe the obvious as most people
+did. What was this devil that rode him and spurred him on to delve
+into the hidden facts concerning matters that seemed so simple on the
+surface? The devil that spurred him on to understand that there always
+was some hidden side to every case? Then the sigh and the smile passed,
+and Muller raised his head in one of the rare moments of pride in his
+own gifts that this shy unassuming little man ever allowed himself. This
+was the work that he was intended by Providence to do or he wouldn't
+have been fitted for it, and it was work for the common good, for the
+public safety. Thinking back over the troubles of his early youth,
+Muller's heart rejoiced and he was glad in his own genius. Then the
+moment of unwonted elation passed and he bent his mind again to the
+problem before him.
+
+He sauntered slowly through the quiet street in the direction of the
+four houses. To reach them he passed the fence that enclosed this end of
+the Thorne property. Muller had already known, for the last twenty-four
+hours at least, that the owner of the fine old estate was an artist by
+the name of Herbert Thorne. His own landlady had informed him of
+this. He himself was new to the neighbourhood, having moved out there
+recently, and he had verified her statements by the city directory. As
+he was now passing the Thorne property, in his slow, sauntering walk,
+he had just come within a dozen paces of the little wooden gate in the
+fence when this gate opened. Muller's naturally soft tread was made
+still more noiseless by the fact that he wore wide soft shoes. Years
+before he had acquired a bad case of chilblains, in fact had been in
+imminent danger of having his feet frozen by standing for five hours
+in the snow in front of a house, to intercept several aristocratic
+gentlemen who sooner or later would be obliged to leave that house. The
+police had long suspected the existence of this high-class gambling den;
+but it was not until they had put Muller in charge of the case, that
+there were any results attained. The arrests were made at the risk of
+permanent injury to the celebrated detective. Since then, Muller's step
+was more noiseless than usual, and now the woman who opened the gate
+and peered out cautiously did not hear his approach nor did she see him
+standing in the shadow of the fence. She looked towards the other end
+of the street, then turned and spoke to somebody behind her. "There's
+nobody coming from that direction," he said. Then she turned her head
+the other way and saw Muller. She looked at him for a moment and slammed
+the gate shut, disappearing behind it. Muller heard the lock click and
+heard the beat of running feet hastening rapidly over the gravel path
+through the garden.
+
+The detective stood immediately in front of the gate, shaking his head.
+"What was the matter with the woman? What was it that she wanted to see
+or do in the street? Why should she run away when she saw me?" These
+were his thoughts. But he didn't waste time in merely thinking. Muller
+never did. Action followed thought with him very quickly. He saw a
+knot-hole in the fence just beside the gate and he applied his eyes
+to this knot-hole. And through the knot-hole he saw something that
+interested and surprised him.
+
+The woman whose face had appeared so suddenly at the gate, and
+disappeared still more suddenly, was the same woman whom he had seen
+bidding farewell to Mr. Thorne and his wife on the Tuesday morning
+previous, the woman whom he took to be the housekeeper. The old butler
+stood beside her. It was undoubtedly the same man, although he had worn
+a livery then and was now dressed in a comfortable old house coat.
+He stood beside the woman, shaking his head and asking her just the
+questions that Muller was asking himself at the moment.
+
+"Why, what is the matter with you, Mrs. Bernauer? You're so nervous
+since yesterday. Are you ill? Everything seems to frighten you? Why did
+you run away from that gate so suddenly? I thought you wanted me to show
+you the place?"
+
+Mrs. Bernauer raised her head and Muller saw that her face looked pale
+and haggard and that her eyes shone with an uneasy feverish light. She
+did not answer the old man's questions, but made a gesture of farewell
+and then turned and walked slowly towards the house. She realised,
+apparently, and feared, perhaps, that the man who was passing the gate
+might have noticed her sudden change of demeanour and that he was
+listening to what she might say. She did not think of the knot-hole
+in the board fence, or she might have been more careful in hiding her
+distraught face from possible observers.
+
+Muller stood watching through this knot-hole for some little time. He
+took a careful observation of the garden, and from his point of vantage
+he could easily see the little house which was apparently the dwelling
+of the gardener, as well as the mansard roof of the main building. There
+was considerable distance between the two houses. The detective decided
+that it might interest him to know something more about this garden,
+this house and the people who lived there. And when Muller made such a
+decision it was usually not very long before he carried it out.
+
+The other street, upon which the main front of the mansard house opened,
+contained a few isolated dwellings surrounded by gardens and a number of
+newly built apartment houses. On the ground floor of these latter houses
+were a number of stores and immediately opposite the Thorne mansion was
+a little cafe. This suited Muller exactly, for he had been there before
+and he remembered that from one of the windows there was an excellent
+view of the gate and the front entrance of the mansion opposite. It was
+a very modest little cafe, but there was a fairly good wine to be had
+there and the detective made it an excuse to sit down by the window,
+as if enjoying his bottle while admiring the changing colours of the
+foliage in the gardens opposite.
+
+Another rather good chance, he discovered, was the fact that the
+landlord belonged to the talkative sort, and believed that the
+refreshments he had to sell were rendered doubly agreeable when spiced
+by conversation. In this case the good man was not mistaken. It was
+scarcely ten o'clock in the forenoon and there were very few people in
+the cafe. The landlord was quite at leisure to devote himself to this
+stranger in the window seat, whom he did not remember to have seen
+before, and who was therefore doubly interesting to him. Several
+subjects of conversation usual in such cases, such as politics and
+the weather, seemed to arouse no particular enthusiasm in his patron's
+manner. Finally the portly landlord decided that he would touch upon the
+theme which was still absorbing all Hietzing.
+
+"Oh, by the way, sir, do you know that you are in the immediate vicinity
+of the place where the murder of Monday evening was committed? People
+are still talking about it around here. And I see by the papers that the
+murderer was arrested in Pressburg yesterday and brought to Vienna last
+night."
+
+"Indeed, is that so? I haven't seen a paper to-day," replied Muller,
+awakening from his apparent indifference.
+
+The landlord was flattered by the success of the new subject, and stood
+ready to unloose the floodgates of his eloquence. His customer sat up
+and asked the question for which the landlord was waiting.
+
+"So it was around here that the man was shot?"
+
+"Yes. His name was Leopold Winkler, that was in the papers to-day too.
+You see that pretty house opposite? Well, right behind this house is the
+garden that belongs to it and back of that, an old garden which has
+been neglected for some time. It was at the end of this garden where
+it touches the other street, that they found the man under a big
+elder-tree, early Tuesday morning, day before yesterday."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" said. Muller, greatly interested, as if this was the first
+he had heard of it. The landlord took a deep breath and was about to
+begin again when his customer, who decided to keep the talkative man
+to a certain phase of the subject, now took command of the conversation
+himself.
+
+"I should think that the people opposite, who live so near the place
+where the murder was committed, wouldn't be very much pleased," he said.
+"I shouldn't care to look out on such a spot every time I went to my
+window."
+
+"There aren't any windows there," exclaimed the landlord, "for there
+aren't any houses there. There's only the old garden, and then the large
+garden and the park belonging to Mr. Thorne's house, that fine old house
+you see just opposite here. It's a good thing that Mr. Thorne and his
+wife went away before the murder became known. The lady hasn't been well
+for some weeks, she's very nervous and frail, and it probably would have
+frightened her to think that such things were happening right close to
+her home."
+
+"The lady is sick? What's the matter with her?"
+
+"Goodness knows, nerves, heart trouble, something like that. The things
+these fine ladies are always having. But she wasn't always that way, not
+until about a year ago. She was fresh and blooming and very pretty to
+look at before that."
+
+"She is a young lady then?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir; she's very young still and very pretty. It makes you
+feel sorry to see her so miserable, and you feel sorry for her husband.
+Now there's a young couple with everything in the world to make them
+happy and so fond of each other, and the poor little lady has to be so
+sick."
+
+"They are very happy, you say?" asked Muller carelessly. He had no
+particular set purpose in following up this inquiry, none but his usual
+understanding of the fact that a man in his business can never amass too
+much knowledge, and that it will sometimes happen that a chance bit of
+information comes in very handy.
+
+The landlord was pleased at the encouragement and continued: "Indeed
+they are very happy. They've only been married two years. The lady comes
+from a distance, from Graz. Her father is an army officer I believe, and
+I don't think she was over-rich. But she's a very sweet-looking lady and
+her rich husband is very fond of her, any one can see that."
+
+"You said just now that they had gone away, where have they gone to?"
+
+"They've gone to Italy, sir. Mrs. Thorne was one of the few people who
+do not know Venice. Franz, that's the butler, sir, told me yesterday
+evening that he had received a telegram saying that the lady and
+gentleman had arrived safely and were very comfortably fixed in the
+Hotel Danieli. You know Danieli's?"
+
+"Yes, I do. I also was one of the few people who did not know Venice,
+that is I was until two years ago. Then, however, I had the pleasure of
+riding over the Bridge of Mestre," answered Muller. He did not add that
+he was not alone at the time, but had ridden across the long bridge in
+company with a pale haggard-faced man who did not dare to look to the
+right or to the left because of the revolver which he knew was held in
+the detective's hand under his loose overcoat. Muller's visit to Venice,
+like most of his journeyings, had been one of business. This time to
+capture and bring home a notorious and long sought embezzler. He did
+not volunteer any of this information, however, but merely asked in
+a politely interested manner whether the landlord himself had been to
+Venice.
+
+"Yes, indeed," replied the latter proudly. "I was head waiter at Baner's
+for two years."
+
+"Then you must make me some Italian dishes soon," said Muller. Further
+conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Franz, the old butler of
+the house opposite.
+
+"Excuse me, sir; I must get him his glass of wine," said the landlord,
+hurrying away to the bar. He returned in a moment with a small bottle
+and a glass and set it down on Muller's table.
+
+"You don't mind, sir, if he sits down here?" he asked. "He usually sits
+here at this table because then he can see if he is needed over at the
+house."
+
+"Oh, please let him come here. He has prior rights to this table
+undoubtedly," said the stranger politely. The old butler sat down
+with an embarrassed murmur, as the voluble landlord explained that the
+stranger had no objection. Then the boniface hurried off to attend to
+some newly entered customers and the detective, greatly pleased at the
+prospect, found himself alone with the old servant.
+
+"You come here frequently?" he began, to open the conversation.
+
+"Yes, sir, since my master and myself have settled down here--we
+travelled most of the time until several years ago--I find this place
+very convenient. It's a cosy little room, the wine is good and not
+expensive, I'm near home and yet I can see some new faces occasionally."
+
+"I hope the faces that you see about you at home are not so unpleasant
+that you are glad to get away from them?" asked Muller with a smile.
+
+The old man gave a start of alarm. "Oh, dear, no, sir," he exclaimed
+eagerly; "that wasn't what I meant. Indeed I'm fond of everybody in the
+house from our dear lady down to the poor little dog."
+
+Here Muller gained another little bit of knowledge, the fact that the
+lady of the house was the favourite of her servants, or that she seemed
+to them even more an object of adoration than the master.
+
+"Then you evidently have a very good place, since you seem so fond of
+every one."
+
+"Indeed I have a good place, sir."
+
+"You've had this place a long time?"
+
+"More than twenty years. My master was only eleven years old when I took
+service with the family."
+
+"Ah, indeed! then you must be a person of importance in the house if you
+have been there so long?"
+
+"Well more or less I might say I am," the old man smiled and looked
+flattered, then added: "But the housekeeper, Mrs. Bernauer, is even more
+important than I am, to tell you the truth. She was nurse to our present
+young master, and she's been in the house ever since. When his
+parents died, it's some years ago now, she took entire charge of the
+housekeeping. She was a fine active woman then, and now the young master
+and mistress couldn't get along without her. They treat her as if she
+was one of the family."
+
+"And she is ill also? I say also," explained Muller, "because the
+landlord has just been telling me that your mistress is ill."
+
+"Yes, indeed, more's the pity! our poor dear young lady has been
+miserable for nearly a year now. It's a shame to see such a sweet angel
+as she is suffer like that and the master's quite heart-broken over it.
+But there's nothing the matter with Mrs. Bernauer. How did you come to
+think that she was sick?"
+
+Muller did not intend to explain that the change in the housekeeper's
+appearance, a change which had come about between Tuesday morning and
+Thursday morning, might easily have made any one think that she was
+ill. He gave as excuse for his question the old man's own words: "Why,
+I thought that she might be ill also because you said yourself that the
+housekeeper--what did you say her name was?"
+
+"Bernauer, Mrs. Adele Bernauer. She was a widow when she came to take
+care of the master. Her husband was a sergeant of artillery."
+
+"Well, I mean," continued Muller, "you said yourself that when the
+gentleman's parents died, Mrs. Bernauer was a fine active woman,
+therefore I supposed she was no longer so."
+
+Franz thought the matter over for a while. "I don't know just why I put
+it that way. Indeed she's still as active as ever and always fresh and
+well. It's true that for the last two or three days she's been very
+nervous and since yesterday it is as if she was a changed woman. She
+must be ill, I don't know how to explain it otherwise."
+
+"What seems to be the matter with her?" asked Muller and then to explain
+his interest in the housekeeper's health, he fabricated a story: "I
+studied medicine at one time and although I didn't finish my course
+or get a diploma, I've always had a great interest in such things, and
+every now and then I'll take a case, particularly nervous diseases. That
+was my specialty." Muller took up his glass and turned away from the
+window, for he felt a slow flush rising to his cheeks. It was another
+of Muller's peculiarities that he always felt an inward embarrassment at
+the lies he was obliged to tell in his profession.
+
+The butler did not seem to have noticed it however, and appeared eager
+to tell of what concerned him in the housekeeper's appearance and
+demeanour. "Why, yesterday at dinner time was the first that we began
+to notice anything wrong with Mrs. Bernauer. The rest of us, that is,
+Lizzie the upstairs girl, the cook and myself. She began to eat her
+dinner with a good appetite, then suddenly, when we got as far as the
+pudding, she let her fork fall and turned deathly white. She got up
+without saying a word and left the room. Lizzie ran after her to ask if
+anything was the matter, but she said no, it was nothing of importance.
+After dinner, she went right out, saying she was doing some errands.
+She brought in a lot of newspapers, which was quite unusual, for she
+sometimes does not look at a newspaper once a week even. I wouldn't have
+noticed it but Lizzie's the kind that sees and hears everything and
+she told us about it." Franz stopped to take a drink, and Muller said
+indifferently, "I suppose Mrs. Bernauer was interested in the murder
+case. The whole neighbourhood seems to be aroused about it."
+
+"No, I don't think that was it," answered the old servant, "because then
+she would have sent for a paper this morning too."
+
+"And she didn't do that?"
+
+"No, unless she might have gone out for it herself. There's a news stand
+right next door here. But I don't think she did because I would have
+seen the paper around the house then."
+
+"And is that all that's the matter with her?" asked Muller in a tone of
+disappointment. "Why, I thought you'd have something really interesting
+to tell me."
+
+"Oh, no, that isn't all, sir," exclaimed the old man eagerly.
+
+Muller leaned forward, really interested now, while Franz continued:
+"She was uneasy all the afternoon yesterday. She walked up and down
+stairs and through the halls--I remember Lizzie making some joke about
+it--and then in the evening to our surprise she suddenly began a great
+rummaging in the first story."
+
+"Is that where she lives?"
+
+"Oh, no; her room is in the wing out towards the garden. The rooms on
+the first floor all belong to the master and mistress. This morning we
+found out that Mrs. Bernauer's cleaning up of the evening before had
+been done because she remembered that the master wanted to take some
+papers with him but couldn't find them and had asked her to look for
+them and send them right on."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't call that a sign of any particular nervousness, but
+rather an evidence of Mrs. Bernauer's devotion to her duty."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir--but it certainly is queer that she should go into
+the garden at four o'clock this morning and appear to be looking for
+something along the paths and under the bushes. Even if a few of the
+papers blew out of the window, or blew away from the summer house, where
+the master writes sometimes, they couldn't have scattered all over the
+garden like that."
+
+Muller didn't follow up this subject any longer. There might come a
+time when he would be interested in finding out the reason for the
+housekeeper's search in the garden, but just at present he wanted
+something else. He remembered some remark of the old man's about the
+"poor little dog," and on this he built his plan.
+
+"Oh, well," he said carelessly, "almost everybody is nervous and
+impatient now-a-days. I suppose Mrs. Bernauer felt uneasy because
+she couldn't find the paper right away. There's nothing particularly
+interesting or noticeable about that. Anyway, I've been occupying myself
+much more these last years with sick animals rather than with sick
+people. I've had some very successful cures there."
+
+"No, really, have you? Then you could do us a great favour," exclaimed
+Franz in apparent eagerness. Muller's heart rejoiced. He had apparently
+hit it right this time. He knew that in a house like that "a poor dog"
+could only mean a "sick dog." But his voice was quite calm as he asked:
+"How can I do you a favour?"
+
+"Why, you see, sir, we've got a little terrier," explained the old man,
+who had quite forgotten the fact that he had mentioned the dog before.
+"And there's been something the matter with the poor little chap for
+several days. He won't eat or drink, he bites at the grass and rolls
+around on his stomach and cries--it's a pity to see him. If you're fond
+of animals and know how to take care of them, you may be able to help us
+there."
+
+"You want me to look at the little dog? Why, yes, I suppose I can."
+
+"We'll appreciate it," said the old man with an embarrassed smile. But
+Muller shook his head and continued: "No, never mind the payment, I
+wouldn't take any money for it. But I'll tell you what you can do
+for me. I'm very fond of flowers. If you think you can take the
+responsibility of letting me walk around in the garden for a little
+while, and pick a rose or two, I will be greatly pleased."
+
+"Why, of course you may," said Franz. "Take any of the roses you see
+there that please you. They're nearly over for the season now and it's
+better they should be picked rather than left to fade on the bush.
+We don't use so many flowers in the house now when the family are not
+there."
+
+"All right, then, it's a bargain," laughed Muller, signalling to the
+landlord. "Are you, going already?" asked the old servant.
+
+"Yes, I must be going if I am to spend any time with the little dog."
+
+"I suppose I ought to be at home myself," said Franz. "Something's the
+matter with the electric wiring in our place. The bell in the master's
+room keeps ringing. I wrote to Siemens & Halske to send us a man out
+to fix it. He's likely to come any minute now." The two men rose, paid
+their checks, and went out together. Outside the cafe Muller hesitated
+a moment. "You go on ahead," he said to Franz. "I want to go in here and
+get a cigar."
+
+While buying his cigar and lighting it, he asked for several newspapers,
+choosing those which his quick eye had told him were no longer among the
+piles on the counter. "I'm very sorry, sir," said the clerk; "we have
+only a few of those papers, just two or three more than we need for our
+regular customers, and this morning they are all sold. The housekeeper
+from the Thorne mansion took the very last ones."
+
+This was exactly what Muller wanted to know. He left the store and
+caught up with the old butler as the latter was opening the handsome
+iron gate that led from the Thorne property out onto the street.
+
+"Well, where's our little patient?" asked the detective as he walked
+through the courtyard with Franz.
+
+"You'll see him in a minute," answered the old servant. He led the way
+through a light roomy corridor furnished with handsome old pieces in
+empire style, and opened a door at its further end.
+
+"This is my room."
+
+It was a large light room with two windows opening on the garden. Muller
+was not at all pleased that the journey through the hall had been such a
+short one. However he was in the house, that was something, and he could
+afford to trust to chance for the rest. Meanwhile he would look at the
+dog. The little terrier lay in a corner by the stove and it did not take
+Muller more than two or three minutes to discover that there was nothing
+the matter with the small patient but a simple case of over-eating.
+But he put on a very wise expression as he handled the little dog and
+looking up, asked if he could get some chamomile tea.
+
+"I'll go for it, I think there's some in the house. Do you want it made
+fresh?" said Franz.
+
+"Yes, that will be better, about a cupful will do," was Muller's answer.
+He knew that this harmless remedy would be likely to do the dog good and
+at the present moment he wanted to be left alone in the room. As soon
+as Franz had gone, the detective hastened to the window, placing himself
+behind the curtain so that he could not be seen from outside. He himself
+could see first a wide courtyard lying between the two wings of the
+house, then beyond it the garden, an immense square plot of ground
+beautifully cultivated. The left wing of the house was about six windows
+longer than the other, and from the first story of it it would be quite
+easy to look out over the vacant lot where the old shed stood which had
+served as a night's lodging for Johann Knoll.
+
+There was not the slightest doubt in Muller's mind that this part of the
+tramp's story was true, for by a natural process of elimination he knew
+there was nothing to be gained by inventing any such tale. Besides
+which the detective himself had been to look at the shed. His well-known
+pedantic thoroughness would not permit him to take any one's word for
+anything that he might find out for himself. In his investigations on
+Tuesday morning he had already seen the half-ruined shed, now he knew
+that it contained a broken bench.
+
+Thus far, therefore, Knoll's story was proved to be true--but there was
+something that didn't quite hitch in another way. The tramp had said
+that he had seen first a woman and then a man come from the main house
+and go in the direction of the smaller house which he took to be the
+gardener's dwelling. This Muller discovered now was quite impossible.
+A tall hedge, fully seven or eight feet high and very thick, stretched
+from the courtyard far down into the garden past the gardener's little
+house. There was a broad path on the right and the left of this green
+wall. From his position in the shed, Knoll could have seen people
+passing only when they were on the right side of the hedge. But to reach
+the gardener's house from the main dwelling, the shortest way would be
+on the left side of the hedge. This much Muller saw, then he heard the
+butler's steps along the hall and he went back to the corner where the
+dog lay.
+
+Franz was not alone. There was some one else with him, the housekeeper,
+Mrs. Bernauer. Just as they opened the door, Muller heard her say:
+"If the gentleman is a veterinary, then we'd better ask him about the
+parrot--"
+
+The sentence was never finished. Muller never found out what was the
+matter with the parrot, for as he looked up with a polite smile of
+interest, he looked into a pale face, into a pair of eyes that opened
+wide in terror, and heard trembling lips frame the words: "There he is
+again!"
+
+A moment later Mrs. Bernauer would have been glad to have recalled her
+exclamation, but it was too late.
+
+Muller bowed before her and asked: "'There he is again,' you said; have
+you ever seen me before?"
+
+The woman looked at him as if hypnotised and answered almost in a
+whisper: "I saw you Tuesday morning for the first time, Tuesday morning
+when the family were going away. Then I saw you pass through our street
+twice again that same day. This morning you went past the garden gate
+and now I find you here. What-what is it you want of us?"
+
+"I will tell you what I want, Mrs. Bernauer, but first I want to speak
+to you alone. Mr. Franz doesn't mind leaving us for a while, does he?"
+
+"But why?" said the old man hesitatingly. He didn't understand at all
+what was going on and he would much rather have remained.
+
+"Because I came here for the special purpose of speaking to Mrs.
+Bernauer," replied Muller calmly.
+
+"Then you didn't come on account of the dog?"
+
+"No, I didn't come on account of the dog."
+
+"Then you--you lied to me?"
+
+"Partly."
+
+"And you're no veterinary?"
+
+"No--I can help your dog, but I am not a veterinary and never have
+been."
+
+"What are you then?"
+
+"I will tell Mrs. Bernauer who and what I am when you are
+outside--outside in the courtyard there. You can walk about in the
+garden if you want to, or else go and get some simple purgative for this
+dog. That is all he needs; he has been over-fed."
+
+Franz was quite bewildered. These new developments promised to be
+interesting and he was torn between his desire to know more, and his
+doubts as to the propriety of leaving the housekeeper with this queer
+stranger. He hesitated until the woman herself motioned to him to go. He
+went out into the hall, then into the courtyard, watched by the two in
+the room who stood silently in the window until they saw the butler pass
+down into the garden. Then they looked at each other.
+
+"You belong to the police?" asked Adele Bernauer finally with a deep
+sigh.
+
+"That was a good guess," replied Muller with an ironic smile, adding:
+"All who have any reason to fear us are very quick in recognising us."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" she exclaimed with a start. "What are you
+thinking of?"
+
+"I am thinking about the same thing that you are thinking of--that I
+have proved you are thinking of--the same thing that drove you out into
+the street yesterday and this morning to buy the papers. These papers
+print news which is interesting many people just now, and some people a
+great deal. I am thinking of the same thing that was evidently in your
+thoughts as you peered out of the garden gate this morning, although you
+would not come out into the street. I know that you do not read even one
+newspaper regularly. I know also that yesterday and today you bought
+a great many papers, apparently to get every possible detail about a
+certain subject. Do you deny this?"
+
+She did not deny it, she did not answer at all. She sank down on
+a chair, her wide staring eyes looking straight ahead of her, and
+trembling so that the old chair cracked underneath her weight. But this
+condition did not last long. The woman had herself well under control.
+Muller's coming, or something else, perhaps, may have overwhelmed her
+for a moment, but she soon regained her usual self-possession.
+
+"Still you have not told me what you want here," she began coldly,
+and as he did not answer she continued: "I have a feeling that you
+are watching us. I had this feeling when I saw you the first time and
+noticed then--pardon my frankness--that you stared at us sharply while
+we were saying goodbye to our master and mistress. Then I saw you pass
+twice again through the street and look up at our windows. This morning
+I find you at our garden gate and now--you will pardon me if I tell the
+exact truth--now you have wormed yourself in here under false pretenses
+because you have no right whatever to force an entrance into this house.
+And I ask you again, what do you want here?"
+
+Muller was embarrassed. That did not happen very often. Also it did not
+happen very often that he was in the wrong as he was now. The woman
+was absolutely right. He had wormed himself into the house under false
+pretenses to follow up the new clue which almost unconsciously as yet
+was leading him on with a stronger and stronger attraction. He could not
+have explained it and he certainly was not ready to say anything about
+it at police headquarters, even at the risk of being obliged to continue
+to enter this mysterious house under false pretenses and to be told
+that he was doing so. Of course this sort of thing was necessary in his
+business, it was the only way in which he could follow up the criminals.
+
+But there was something in this woman's words that cut into a sensitive
+spot and drove the blood to his cheeks. There was something in the
+bearing and manner of this one-time nurse that impressed him, although
+he was not a man to be lightly impressed. He had a feeling that he had
+made a fool of himself and it bothered him. For a moment he did not know
+what he should say to this woman who stood before him with so much quiet
+energy in her bearing. But the something in his brain, the something
+that made him what he was, whispered to him that he had done right, and
+that he must follow up the trail he had found. That gave him back his
+usual calm.
+
+He took up his hat, and standing before the pale-faced woman, looking
+her firmly in the eyes, he said: "It is true that I have no right as yet
+to force my way into your house, therefore I have been obliged to enter
+it as best I could. I have done this often in my work, but I do it
+for the safety of society. And those who reproach me for doing it are
+generally those whom I have been obliged to persecute in the name of
+the law. Mrs. Bernauer, I will confess that there are moments in which I
+feel ashamed that I have chosen this profession that compels me to
+hunt down human beings. But I do not believe that this is one of those
+moments. You have read this morning's papers; you must know, therefore,
+that a man has been arrested and accused of the murder which interests
+you so much; you must be able to realise the terror and anxiety which
+are now filling this man's heart. For to-day's papers--I have read them
+myself--expressed the public sentiment that the police may succeed in
+convicting this man of the crime, that the death may be avenged and
+justice have her due. Several of these papers, the papers I know you
+have bought and presumably read, do not doubt that Johann Knoll is the
+murderer of Leopold Winkler.
+
+"Now there are at least two people who do not believe that Knoll is the
+murderer. I am one of them, and you, Mrs. Bernauer, you are the other.
+I am going now and when I come again, as I doubtless will come again,
+I will come with full right to enter this house. I acknowledge frankly
+that I have no justification in causing your arrest as yet, but you are
+quite clever enough to know that if I had the faintest justification I
+would not leave here alone. And one thing more I have to say. You may
+not know that I have had the most extraordinary luck in my profession,
+that in more than a hundred cases there have been but two where the
+criminal I was hunting escaped me. And now, Mrs. Bernauer, I will bid
+you good day."
+
+Muller stepped towards the window and motioned to Franz, who was walking
+up and down outside. The old man ran to the door and met the detective
+in the hall.
+
+"You'd better go in and look after Mrs. Bernauer," said the latter, "I
+can find my way out alone."
+
+Franz looked after him, shaking his head in bewilderment and then
+entered his own room. "Merciful God!" he exclaimed, bending down in
+terror over the housekeeper, who lay on the floor. In his shock and
+bewilderment he imagined that she too had been murdered, until he
+realised that it was only a swoon from which she recovered in a moment.
+He helped her regain her feet and she looked about as if still dazed,
+stammering: "Has he gone?"
+
+"The strange man? ... Yes, he went some time ago. But what happened to
+you? Did he give you something to make you faint? Do you think he was a
+thief?"
+
+Mrs. Bernauer shook her head and murmured: "Oh, no, quite the contrary."
+A remark which did not enlighten Franz particularly as to the status
+of the man who had just left them. There was a note of fear in the
+housekeepers's voice and she added hastily: "Does any one besides
+ourselves know that he was here?"
+
+"No, Lizzie and the cook are in the kitchen talking about the murder."
+
+Mrs. Bernauer shivered again and went slowly out of the room and up the
+stairs.
+
+If Franz believed that the stranger had left the house by the front
+entrance he was very much mistaken. When Muller found himself alone in
+the corridor he turned quickly and hurried out into the garden. None
+of the servants had seen him. Lizzie and the cook were engaged in an
+earnest conversation in the kitchen and Franz was fully occupied with
+Mrs. Bernauer. The gardener was away and his wife busy at her wash
+tubs. No one was aware, therefore, that Muller spent about ten minutes
+wandering about the garden, and ten minutes were quite sufficient for
+him to become so well acquainted with the place that he could have drawn
+a map of it. He left the garden through the rear gate, the latch of
+which he was obliged to leave open. The gardener's wife found it that
+way several hours later and was rather surprised thereat. Muller walked
+down the street rapidly and caught a passing tramway. His mood was
+not of the best, for he could not make up his mind whether or no this
+morning had been a lost one. His mind sorted and rearranged all that
+he knew or could imagine concerning Mrs. Bernauer. But there was hardly
+enough of these facts to reassure him that he was not on a false trail,
+that he had not allowed himself to waste precious hours all because he
+had seen a woman's haggard face appear for a moment at the little gate
+in the quiet street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. JOHANN KNOLL REMEMBERS SOMETHING ELSE
+
+
+Muller's goal was the prison where Johann Knoll was awaiting his fate.
+The detective had permission to see the man as often as he wished to.
+Knoll had been proven a thief, but the accusation of murder against
+him had not been strengthened by anything but the most superficial
+circumstantial evidence, therefore it was necessary that Muller should
+talk with him in the hope of discovering something more definite.
+
+Knoll lay asleep on his cot as the detective and the warder entered the
+cell. Muller motioned the attendant to leave him alone with the prisoner
+and he stood beside the cot looking down at the man. The face on
+the hard pillow was not a very pleasant one to look at. The skin was
+roughened and swollen and had that brown-purple tinge which comes
+from being constantly in the open air, and from habitual drinking. The
+weather-beaten look may be seen often in the faces of men whose honest
+work keeps them out of doors; but this man had not earned his colouring
+honestly, for he was one of the sort who worked only from time to time
+when it was absolutely necessary and there was no other way of getting
+a penny. His hands proved this, for although soiled and grimy they had
+soft, slender fingers which showed no signs of a life of toil. But even
+a man who has spent forty years in useless idling need not be all bad.
+There must have been some good left in this man or he could not have
+lain there so quietly, breathing easily, wrapped in a slumber as
+undisturbed as that of a child. It did not seem possible that any man
+could lie there like that with the guilt of murder on his conscience, or
+even with the knowledge in his soul that he had plundered a corpse.
+
+Muller had never believed the first to be the case, but he had thought
+it possible that Knoll knew perfectly well that it was a lifeless body
+he was robbing. He had believed it at least until the moment when he
+stood looking down at the sleeping tramp. Now, with the deep knowledge
+of the human heart which was his by instinct and which his profession
+had increased a thousand-fold, Muller knew that this man before him
+had no heavy crime upon his conscience--that it was really as he had
+said--that he had taken the watch and purse from one whom he believed
+to be intoxicated only. Of course it was not a very commendable deed for
+which the tramp was now in prison, but it was slight in comparison to
+the crimes of which he was suspected.
+
+Muller bent lower over the unconscious form and was surprised to see a
+gentle smile spread over the face before him. It brightened and
+changed the coarse rough face and gave it for a moment a look of almost
+child-like innocence. Somewhere within the coarsened soul there must be
+a spot of brightness from which such a smile could come.
+
+But the face grew ugly again as Knoll opened his eyes and looked up. He
+shook off the clouds of slumber as he felt Muller's hand on his shoulder
+and raised himself to a sitting position, grumbling: "Can't I have any
+rest? Are they going to question me again? I'm getting tired of this.
+I've said everything I know anyhow."
+
+"Perhaps not everything. Perhaps you will answer a few of my questions
+when I tell you that I believe the story you told us yesterday, and that
+I want to be your friend and help you."
+
+Knoll's little eyes glanced up without embarrassment at the man
+who spoke to him. They were sharp eyes and had a certain spark of
+intelligence in them. Muller had noticed that yesterday, and he saw
+it again now. But he saw also the gleam of distrust in these eyes, a
+distrust which found expression in Knoll's next words. "You think you
+can catch me with your good words, but you're makin' a mistake. I've got
+nothin' new to say. And you needn't think that you can blind me, I know
+you're one of the police, and I'm not going to say anything at all."
+
+"Just as you like. I was trying to help you, I believe I really could
+help you. I have just come from Hietzing--but of course if you don't
+want to talk to me--" Muller shrugged his shoulders and turned toward
+the door.
+
+But before he reached it Knoll stood at his side. "You really mean to
+help me?" he gasped.
+
+"I do," said the detective calmly.
+
+"Then swear, on your mother's soul--or is your mother still alive?"
+
+"No, she has been dead some time."
+
+"Well, then, will you swear it?"
+
+"Would you believe an oath like that?"
+
+"Why shouldn't I?"
+
+"With the life you've been leading?"
+
+"My life's no worse than a lot of others. Stealing those things on
+Monday was the worst thing I've done yet. Will you swear?"
+
+"Is it something so very important you have to tell me?"
+
+"No, I ain't got nothin' at all new to tell you. But I'd just like
+to know--in this black hole I've got into--I'd just like to know that
+there's one human being who means well with me--I'd like to know
+that there's one man in the world who don't think I'm quite
+good-for-nothin'."
+
+The tramp covered his face with his hands and gave a heart-rending sob.
+Deep pity moved the detective's breast. He led Knoll back to his cot,
+and put both hands on his shoulders, saying gravely: "I believe that
+this theft was the worst thing you have done. By my mother's salvation,
+Knoll, I believe your words and I will try to help you."
+
+Knoll raised his head, looking up at Muller with a glance of unspeakable
+gratitude. With trembling lips he kissed the hand which a moment before
+had pressed kindly on his shoulder, clinging fast to it as if he could
+not bear to let it go. Muller was almost embarrassed. "Oh, come now,
+Knoll, don't be foolish. Pull yourself together and answer my questions
+carefully, for I am asking you these questions more for your own sake
+than for anything else."
+
+The tramp nodded and wiped the tears from his face. He looked almost
+happy again, and there was a softness in his eyes that showed there was
+something in the man which might be saved and which was worth saving.
+
+Muller sat beside him on the cot and began: "There was one mistake in
+your story yesterday. I want you to think it over carefully. You said
+that you saw first a woman and then a man going through the neighbouring
+garden. I believe that one or both of these people is the criminal
+for whom we are looking. Therefore, I want you to try and remember
+everything that you can connect with them, every slightest detail.
+Anything that you can tell us may be of the greatest importance.
+Therefore, think very carefully."
+
+Knoll sat still a few moments, evidently trying hard to put his hazy
+recollections into useful form and shape. But it was also evident that
+orderly thinking was an unusual work for him, and he found it almost too
+difficult. "I guess you better ask me questions, maybe that'll go," he
+said after a pause.
+
+Then Muller began to question. With his usual thoroughness he began at
+the very beginning: "When was it that you climbed the fence to get into
+the shed?"
+
+"It just struck nine o'clock when I put my foot on the lowest bar."
+
+"Are you sure of that?"
+
+"Quite sure. I counted every stroke. You see, I wanted to know how long
+the night was going to be, seein' I'd have to sleep in that shed. I was
+in the garden just exactly an hour. I came out of the shed as it struck
+ten and it wasn't but a few minutes before I was in the street again."
+
+"And when was it that you saw the woman in the garden next door?"
+
+"H'm, I don't just know when that was. I'd been in on the bench quite a
+while."
+
+"And the man? When did you see the man?"
+
+"He came past a few minutes after the woman had gone towards the little
+house in the garden."
+
+"Ah! there you see, that's where you made your mistake. It is more than
+likely that these two did not go to the little house, but that they went
+somewhere else. Did they walk slowly and quietly?"
+
+"Not a bit of it. They ran almost... Went past as quick as a bat in the
+night."
+
+"Then they both appeared to be in a hurry?"
+
+"Yes indeed they did."
+
+"Ah, ha, you see! Now when any one's in a hurry he doesn't go the
+longest way round, as a rule. And it would have been the longest way
+round for these two people to go from the big house to the gardener's
+cottage--for the little house you saw was the gardener's cottage. There
+is tall thick hedge that starts from the main building and goes right
+down through the garden, quite a distance past the gardener's cottage.
+The vegetable garden is on the left side of this hedge and in the middle
+of the vegetable garden is the gardener's cottage. But you could have
+seen the man and the woman only because they passed down the right side
+of the hedge, and this would have given them a detour of fifty paces or
+more to reach the gardener's house. Nov do you think that two people
+who were very much in a hurry would have gone down the right side of the
+hedge, to reach a place which they could have gotten to much quicker on
+the left side?"
+
+"No, that would have been a fool thing to do."
+
+"And you are quite sure that these people were in a hurry?"
+
+"That's dead sure. I scarcely saw them before they'd gone again."
+
+"And you didn't see them come back?"
+
+"No, at least I didn't pay any further attention to them. When I thought
+it wouldn't be any good to look about in there I turned around and dozed
+off."
+
+"And it was during this dozing that you thought you heard the shot?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's right."
+
+"And you didn't notice anything else? You didn't hear anything else."
+
+"No, nothin' at all, there was so much noise anyway. There was a high
+wind that night and the trees were rattling and creaking."
+
+"And you didn't see anything else, anything that attracted your
+attention?"
+
+"No, nothing--" Knoll did not finish his sentence, but began another
+instead. He had suddenly remembered something which had seemed to him of
+no importance before. "There was a light that went out suddenly."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In the side of the house that I could see from my place. There was a
+lamp in the last window of the second story, a lamp with a red shade.
+That lamp went out all at once."
+
+"Was the window open?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There was a strong wind that night, might not the wind have blown the
+lamp out?"
+
+"No, that wasn't it," said Knoll, rising hastily.
+
+"Well, how was it?" asked Muller calmly.
+
+"A hand put out the lamp."
+
+"Whose hand?"
+
+"I couldn't see that. The light was so low on account of the shade that
+I couldn't see the person who stood there."
+
+"And you don't know whether it was a man or a woman?"
+
+"No, I just saw a hand, more like a shadow it was."
+
+"Well, it doesn't matter much anyway. It was after nine o'clock and many
+people go to bed about that time," said Muller, who did not see much
+value in this incident.
+
+But Knoll shook his head. "The person who put out that light didn't go
+to bed, at least not right away," he said eagerly. "I looked over after
+a while to the place where the red light was and I saw something else."
+
+"Well, what was it you saw?"
+
+"The window had been closed."
+
+"Who closed it? Didn't you see the person that time? The moonlight lay
+full on the house."
+
+"Yes, when there weren't any clouds. But there was a heavy cloud over
+the moon just then and when it came out again the window was shut and
+there was a white curtain drawn in front of it."
+
+"How could you see that?"
+
+"I could see it when the lamp was lit again."
+
+"Then the lamp was lit again?"
+
+"Yes, I could see the red light behind the curtain."
+
+"And what happened then?"
+
+"Nothing more then, except that the man went through the garden."
+
+Muller rose now and took up his hat. He was evidently excited and Knoll
+looked at him uneasily. "You're goin' already?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, I have a great deal to do to-day," replied the detective and
+nodded to the prisoner as he knocked on the door. "I am glad you
+remembered that," he added, "it will be of use to us, I think."
+
+The warder opened the door, let Muller out, and the heavy iron portal
+clanged again between Knoll and freedom.
+
+Muller was quite satisfied with the result of his visit to the accused.
+He hurried to the nearest cab stand and entered one of the carriages
+waiting there. He gave the driver Mrs. Klingmayer's address. It was
+about two o'clock in the afternoon now and Muller had had nothing to eat
+yet. But he was quite unaware of the fact as his mind was so busy that
+no mere physical sensation could divert his attention for a moment.
+Muller never seemed to need sleep or food when he was on the trail,
+particularly not in the fascinating first stages of the case when it
+was his imagination alone, catching at trifles unnoticed by others,
+combining them in masterly fashion to an ordered whole, that first led
+the seekers to the truth. Now he went over once more all the little
+apparently trivial incidents that had caused him first to watch the
+Thorne household and then had drawn his attention, and his suspicion, to
+Adele Bernauer. It was the broken willow twig that had first drawn his
+attention to the old garden next the Thorne property. This twig, this
+garden, and perhaps some one who could reach his home again, unseen and
+unendangered through this garden--might not this have something to do
+with the murder?
+
+The breaking of the twig was already explained. It was Johann Knoll
+who had stepped on it. But he had not climbed the wall at all, had
+only crept along it looking for a night's shelter. And there was no
+connection between Knoll and the people who lived in the Thorne house.
+Muller had not the slightest doubt that the tramp had told the entire
+truth that day and the day preceding.
+
+Then the detective's mind went back to the happenings of Tuesday
+morning. The little twig had first drawn his attention to the Thorne
+estate and the people who lived there. He had seen the departure of
+the young couple and had passed the house again that afternoon and the
+following day, drawn to it as if by a magnet. He had not been able
+then to explain what it was that attracted him; there had been nothing
+definite in his mind as he strolled past the old mansion. But his
+repeated appearance had been noticed by some one--by one person
+only--the housekeeper. Why should she have noticed it? Had she any
+reason for believing that she might be watched? People with an uneasy
+conscience are very apt to connect even perfectly natural trivial
+circumstances with their own doings. Adele Bernauer had evidently
+connected Muller's repeated passing with something that concerned
+herself even before the detective had thought of her at all.
+
+Muller had not noticed her until he had seen her peculiar conduct that
+very morning. When he heard Franz's words and saw how disturbed the
+woman was, he asked himself: "Why did this woman want to be shown the
+spot of the murder? Didn't she know that place, living so near it, as
+well as any of the many who stood there staring in morbid curiosity?
+Did she ask to have it shown her that the others might believe she had
+nothing whatever to do with the occurrences that had happened there? Or
+was she drawn thither by that queer attraction that brings the criminal
+back to the scene of his crime?"
+
+The sudden vision of Mrs. Bernauer's head at the garden gate, and its
+equally sudden disappearance had attracted Muller's attention and his
+thoughts to the woman. What he had been able to learn about her had
+increased his suspicions and her involuntary exclamation when she met
+him face to face in the house had proved beyond a doubt that there was
+something on her mind. His open accusation, her demeanour, and finally
+her swoon, were all links in the chain of evidence that this woman knew
+something about the murder in the quiet lane.
+
+With this suspicion in his mind what Muller had learned from Knoll
+was of great value to him, at all events of great interest. Was it the
+housekeeper who had put out the light? For now Muller did not doubt for
+a moment that this sudden extinguishing of the lamp was a signal. He
+believed that Knoll had seen clearly and that he had told truly what he
+had seen. A lamp that is blown out by the wind flickers uneasily before
+going out. A sudden extinguishing of the light means human agency. And
+the lamp was lit again a few moments afterward and burned on steadily
+as before. A short time after the lamp had been put out the man had been
+seen going through the garden. And it could not have been much later
+before the shot was heard. This shot had been fired between the hours
+of nine and ten, for it was during this hour only that Knoll was in the
+garden house and heard the shot. But it was not necessary to depend upon
+the tramp's evidence alone to determine the exact hour of the shot. It
+must have been before half past nine, or otherwise the janitor of No.1,
+who came home at that hour and lay awake so long, would undoubtedly
+have heard a shot fired so near his domicile, in spite of the noise
+occasioned by the high wind. There would have been sufficient time
+for Mrs. Bernauer to have reached the place of the murder between the
+putting out of the lamp and the firing of the shot. But perhaps she may
+have rested quietly in her room; she may have been only the inciter or
+the accomplice of the deed. But at all events, she knew something about
+it, she was in some way connected with it.
+
+Muller drew a deep breath. He felt much easier now that he had arranged
+his thoughts and marshalled in orderly array all the facts he had
+already gathered. There was nothing to do now but to follow up a given
+path step by step and he could no longer reproach himself that he might
+have cast suspicion on an innocent soul. No, his bearing towards Mrs.
+Bernauer had not been sheer brutality. His instinct, which had led him
+so unerringly so many times, had again shown him the right way when he
+had thrust the accusation in her face.
+
+Now that his mind was easier he realised that he was very hungry. He
+drove to a restaurant and ordered a hasty meal.
+
+"Beer, sir?" asked the waiter for the third time.
+
+"No," answered Muller, also for the third time.
+
+"Then you'll take wine, sir?" asked the insistent Ganymede.
+
+"Oh, go to the devil! When I want anything I'll ask for it," growled the
+detective, this time effectively scaring the waiter. It did not often
+happen that a customer refused drinks, but then there were not many
+customers who needed as clear a head as Muller knew he would have to
+have to-day. Always a light drinker, it was one of his rules never to
+touch a drop of liquor during this first stage of the mental working out
+of any new problem which presented itself. But soft-hearted as he was,
+he repented of his irritation a moment later and soothed the waiter's
+wounded feelings by a rich tip. The boy ran out to open the cab door for
+his strange customer and looked after him, wondering whether the man was
+a cranky millionaire or merely a poet. For Joseph Muller, by name and by
+reputation one of the best known men in Vienna, was by sight unknown
+to all except the few with whom he had to do on the police force. His
+appearance, in every way inconspicuous, and the fact that he never
+sought acquaintance with any one, was indeed of the greatest possible
+assistance to him in his work. Many of those who saw him several times
+in a day would pass him or look him full in the face without recognising
+him. It was only, as in the case of Mrs. Bernauer, the guilty conscience
+that remembered face and figure of this quiet-looking man who was one of
+the most-feared servants of the law in Austria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE ELECTRICIAN
+
+
+When Muller reached the house where Mrs. Klingmayer lived he ordered the
+cabman to wait and hurried up to the widow's little apartment. He had
+the key to Leopold Winkler's room in his own pocket, for Mrs. Klingmayer
+had given this key to Commissioner von Riedau at the latter's request
+and the commissioner had given it to Muller. The detective told the good
+woman not to bother about him as he wanted to make an examination of the
+place alone. Left to himself in the little room, Muller made a thorough
+search of it, opening the cupboard, the bureau drawers, every possible
+receptacle where any article could be kept or hidden. What he wanted
+to find was some letter, some bit of paper, some memoranda perhaps,
+anything that would show any connection existing between the murdered
+man and Mrs. Bernauer, who lived so near the place where this man had
+died and who was so greatly interested in his murder.
+
+The detective's search was not quite in vain, although he could not tell
+yet whether what he had found would be of any value. Leopold Winkler had
+had very little correspondence, or else he had had no reason to keep
+the letters he received. Muller found only about a half dozen letters in
+all. Three of them were from women of the half-world, giving dates for
+meetings. Another was written by a man and signed "Theo." This "Theo"
+appeared to be the same sort of a cheap rounder that Winkler was. And he
+seemed to have sunk one grade deeper than the dead man, in spite of the
+latter's bad reputation. For this other addressed Winkler as his
+"Dear Friend" and pleaded with him for "greater discretion," alluding
+evidently to something which made this discretion necessary.
+
+"I wonder what rascality it was that made these two friends?" murmured
+Muller, putting Theo's letter with the three he had already read.
+But before he slipped it in his pocket he glanced at the postmark. The
+letters of the three women had all been posted from different quarters
+of the city some months ago. Theo's letter was postmarked "Marburg," and
+dated on the 1st of September of the present year.
+
+Then Muller looked at the postmark of the two remaining letters which
+he had not yet read, and whistled softly to himself. Both these letters
+were posted from a certain station in Hietzing, the station which was
+nearest his own lodgings and also nearest the Thorne house. He looked at
+the postmark more sharply. They both bore the dates of the present year,
+one of them being stamped "March 17th," the other "September 24th." This
+last letter interested the detective most.
+
+Muller was not of a nervous disposition, but his hand trembled slightly
+as he took the letter from its envelope. It was clear that this letter
+had been torn open hastily, for the edges of the opening were jagged and
+uneven.
+
+When the detective had read the letter--it contained but a few lines and
+bore neither address nor signature--he glanced over it once more as if
+to memorise the words. They were as follows: "Do not come again. In a
+day or two I will be able to do what I have to do. I will send you later
+news to your office. Impatience will not help you."--These words were
+written hastily on a piece of paper that looked as if it had been torn
+from a pad. In spite of the haste the writer had been at some pains to
+disguise the handwriting. But it was a clumsy disguise, done by one not
+accustomed to such tricks, and it was evidently done by a woman. All she
+had known how to do to disguise her writing had been to twist and turn
+the paper while writing, so that every letter had a different position.
+The letters were also made unusually long. This peculiarity of the
+writing was seen on both letters and both envelopes. The earlier letter
+was still shorter and seemed to have been written with the same haste,
+and with the same disgust, or perhaps even hatred, for the man to whom
+it was written.
+
+"Come to-morrow, but not before eight o'clock. He has gone away. God
+forgive him and you." This was the contents of the letter of the 17th of
+March. That is, the writer had penned the letter this way. But the last
+two words, "and you," had evidently not come from her heart, for she had
+annulled them by a heavy stroke of the pen. A stroke that seemed like a
+knife thrust, so full of rage and hate it was.
+
+"So he was called to a rendezvous in Hietzing, too," murmured Muller,
+then he added after a few moments: "But this rendezvous had nothing
+whatever to do with love."
+
+There was nothing else in Winkler's room which could be of any value to
+Muller in the problem that was now before him. And yet he was very well
+satisfied with the result of his errand.
+
+He entered his cab again, ordering the driver to take him to Hietzing.
+Just before he had reached the corner where he had told the man to stop,
+another cab passed them, a coupe, in which was a solitary woman. Muller
+had just time enough to recognise this woman as Adele Bernauer, and to
+see that she looked even more haggard and miserable than she had that
+morning. She did not look up as the other cab passed her carriage,
+therefore she did not see Muller. The detective looked at his watch and
+saw that it was almost half-past four. The unexpected meeting changed,
+his plans for the afternoon. He had decided that he must enter the
+Thorne mansion again that very day, for he must find out the meaning of
+the red-shaded lamp. And now that the housekeeper was away it would be
+easier for him to get into the house, therefore it must be done at once.
+His excuse was all ready, for he had been weighing possibilities.
+He dismissed his cab a block from his own home and entered his house
+cautiously.
+
+Muller's lodgings consisted of two large rooms, really much too large
+for a lone man who was at home so little. But Muller had engaged them
+at first sight, for the apartment possessed one qualification which was
+absolutely necessary for him. Its situation and the arrangement of its
+doors made it possible for him to enter and leave his rooms without
+being seen either by his own landlady or by the other lodgers in the
+house. The little apartment was on the ground floor, and Muller's own
+rooms had a separate entrance opening on to the main corridor almost
+immediately behind the door. Nine times out of ten, he could come and go
+without being seen by any one in the house. To-day was the first
+time, however, that Muller had had occasion to try this particular
+qualification of his new lodgings.
+
+He opened the street door and slipped into his own room without having
+seen or been seen by any one.
+
+Fifteen minutes later he left the apartment again, but left it such a
+changed man that nobody who had seen him go in would have recognised
+him. Before he came out, however, he looked about carefully to see
+whether there was any one in sight He came out unseen and was just
+closing the main door behind him, when he met the janitress.
+
+"Were you looking for anybody in the house?" said the woman, glancing
+sharply at the stranger, who answered in a slightly veiled voice: "No,
+I made a mistake in the number. The place I am looking for is two houses
+further down."
+
+He walked down the street and the woman looked after him until she saw
+him turn into the doorway of the second house. Then she went into her
+own rooms. The house Muller entered happened to be a corner house with
+an entrance on the other street, through which the detective passed
+and went on his way. He was quite satisfied with the security of his
+disguise, for the woman who knew him well had not recognised him at all.
+If his own janitress did not know him, the people in the Thorne house
+would never imagine it was he.
+
+And indeed Muller was entirely changed. In actuality small and thin,
+with sparse brown hair and smooth shaven face, he was now an inch or two
+taller and very much stouter. He wore thick curly blond hair, a little
+pointed blond beard and moustache. His eyes were hidden by heavy-rimmed
+spectacles.
+
+It was just half-past five when he rang the bell at the entrance gate to
+the Thorne property. He had spent the intervening time in the cafe,
+as he was in no hurry to enter the house. Franz came down the path and
+opened the door. "'What do you want?" he asked.
+
+"I come from Siemens & Halske; I was to ask whether the other man--"
+
+"Has been here already?" interrupted Franz, adding in an irritated tone,
+"No, he hasn't been here at all."
+
+"Well, I guess he didn't get through at the other place in time. I'll
+see what the trouble is," said the stranger, whom Franz naturally
+supposed to be the electrician, he opened the gate and asked the other
+to come in, leading him into the house. Under a cloudy sky the day
+was fading rapidly. Muller knew that it would not occur to the real
+electrician to begin any work as late as this, and that he was perfectly
+safe in the examination he wanted to make.
+
+"Well, what's the trouble here? Why did you write to our firm?" asked
+the supposed electrician.
+
+"The wires must cross somewhere, or there's something wrong with the
+bells. When the housekeeper touches the button in her room to ring for
+the cook or the upstairs girl, the bell rings in Mr. Thorne's room. It
+starts ringing and it keeps up with a deuce of a noise. Fortunately the
+family are away."
+
+"Well, we'll fix it all right for you. First of all I want to look at
+the button in the housekeeper's room."
+
+"I'll take you up there," said Franz.
+
+They walked through the wide corridor, then turned into a shorter,
+darker hall and went up a narrow winding stairway. Franz halted before
+a door in the second story. It was the last of the three doors in
+the hall. Muller took off his hat as the door opened and murmured a
+"good-evening."
+
+"There's no one there; Mrs. Bernauer's out."
+
+"Has she gone away, too?" asked the electrician hastily.
+
+Franz did not notice that there was a slight change in the stranger's
+voice at this question, and he answered calmly as ever: "Oh, no; she's
+just driven to town. I think she went to see the doctor who lives quite
+a distance away. She hasn't been feeling at all well. She took a cab
+to-day. I told her she ought to, as she wasn't well enough to go by the
+tram. She ought to be home any moment now."
+
+"Well, I'll hurry up with the job so that I'll be out of the way when
+the lady comes," said Muller, as Franz led him to the misbehaving bell.
+
+It was in the wall immediately above a large table which filled the
+window niche so completely that there was but scant space left for the
+comfortable armchair that stood in front of it. The window was open and
+Muller leaned out, looking down at the garden below.
+
+"What a fine old garden!" he exclaimed aloud. To himself he said: "This
+is the last window in the left wing. It is the window where Johann Knoll
+saw the red light."
+
+And when he turned back into the room again he found the source of this
+light right at his hand on the handsome old table at which Mrs. Bernauer
+evidently spent many of her hours. A row of books stood against the
+wall, framing the back of the table. Well-worn volumes of the classics
+among them gave proof that the one-time nurse was a woman of education.
+A sewing basket and neat piles of house linen, awaiting repairs, covered
+a large part of the table-top, and beside them stood a gracefully shaped
+lamp, covered by a shade of soft red silk.
+
+It took Muller but a few seconds to see all this. Then he set about
+his investigation of the electric button. He unscrewed the plate and
+examined the wires meeting under it. While doing so he cast another
+glance at the table and saw a letter lying there, an open letter half
+out of its envelope. This envelope was of unusual shape, long and
+narrow, and the paper was heavy and high-glossed.
+
+"Your housekeeper evidently has no secrets from the rest of you," Muller
+remarked with a laugh, still busy at the wires, "or she wouldn't leave
+her letters lying about like that."
+
+"Oh, we've all heard what's in that letter," replied Franz. "She read it
+to us when it came this morning. It's from the Madam. She sent messages
+to all of us and orders, so Mrs. Bernauer read us the whole letter.
+There's no secrets in that."
+
+"The button has been pressed in too far and caught down. That seems to
+be the main trouble," said Muller, readjusting the little knob. "I'd
+like a candle here if I may have one."
+
+"I'll get you a light at once," said Franz. But his intentions, however
+excellent, seemed difficult of fulfilment. It was rapidly growing dark,
+and the old butler peered about uncertainly. "Stupid," he muttered. "I
+don't know where she keeps the matches. I can't find them anywhere. I'm
+not a smoker, so I haven't any in my pocket."
+
+"Nor I," said Muller calmly, letting his hand close protectingly over a
+new full box of them in his own pocket.
+
+"I'll get you some from my own room," and Franz hurried away, his loose
+slippers clattering down the stairs. He was no sooner well out of the
+room than Muller had the letter in his hand and was standing close by
+the window to catch the fading light. But on the old servant's return
+the supposed electrician stood calmly awaiting the coming of the light,
+and the letter was back on the table half hidden by a piece of linen.
+Franz did not notice that the envelope was missing. And the housekeeper,
+whose mind was so upset by the events of the day, and whose thoughts
+were on other more absorbing matters, would hardly be likely to remember
+whether she had returned this quite unimportant letter to its envelope
+or not.
+
+Franz brought a lighted candle with him, and Muller, who really did
+possess a creditable knowledge of electricity, saw that the wires in
+the room were all in good condition. As he had seen at first, there was
+really nothing the matter except with the position of the button. But it
+did not suit his purpose to enlighten Franz on the matter just yet.
+
+"Now I'd better look at the wires in the gentleman's room," he said,
+when he had returned plate and button to their place.
+
+"Just as you say," replied Franz, taking up his candle and leading the
+way out into the hall and down the winding stair. They crossed the lower
+corridor, mounted another staircase and entered a large, handsomely
+furnished room, half studio, half library. The wall was covered with
+pictures and sketches, several easels stood piled up in the corner, and
+a broad table beside them held paint boxes, colour tubes, brushes, all
+the paraphernalia of the painter, now carefully ordered and covered for
+a term of idleness. Great bookcases towered to the ceiling, and a huge
+flat top desk, a costly piece of furniture, was covered with books and
+papers. It was the room of a man of brains and breeding, a man of talent
+and ability, possessing, furthermore, the means to indulge his tastes
+freely. Even now, with its master absent, the handsome apartment bore
+the impress of his personality. The detective's quick imagination called
+up the attractive, sympathetic figure of the man he had seen at the
+gate, as his quick eye took in the details of the room. All the charm of
+Herbert Thorne's personality, which the keen-sensed Muller had felt so
+strongly even in that fleeting glimpse of him, came back again here
+in the room which was his own little kingdom and the expression of his
+mentality.
+
+"Well, what's the trouble here? Where are the wires?" asked the
+detective, after the momentary pause which had followed his entrance
+into the room. Franz led him to a spot on the wall hidden by a marquetry
+cabinet. "Here's the bell, it rings for several minutes before it
+stops."
+
+The light of the candle which the butler held fell upon a portrait
+hanging above the cabinet. It was a sketch in water-colours, the
+life-sized head of a man who may have been about thirty years old,
+perhaps, but who had none of the freshness and vigour of youth. The
+scanty hair, the sunken temples, and the faded skin, emphasised the look
+of dissipation given by the lines about the sensual mouth and the shifty
+eyes.
+
+"Well, say, can't your master find anything better to paint than a face
+like that?" Muller asked with a laugh.
+
+"Goodness me! you mustn't say such things!" exclaimed Franz in alarm;
+"that's the Madam's brother. He's an officer, I'd have you know. It's
+true, he doesn't look like much there, but that's because he's not in
+uniform. It makes such a difference."
+
+"Is the lady anything like her brother?" asked the detective
+indifferently, bending to examine the wiring.
+
+"Oh, dear, no, not a bit; they're as different as day and night. He's
+only her half-brother anyway. She was the daughter of the Colonel's
+second wife. Our Madam is the sweetest, gentlest lady you can imagine,
+an angel of goodness. But the Lieutenant here has always been a care
+to his family, they say. I guess he's quieted down a bit now, for his
+father--he's Colonel Leining, retired--made him get exchanged from the
+city to a small garrison town. There's nothing much to do in Marburg,
+I dare say--well! you are a merry sort, aren't you?" These last words,
+spoken in a tone of surprise, were called forth by a sudden sharp
+whistle from the detective, a whistle which went off into a few merry
+bars.
+
+A sudden whistle like that from Muller's lips was something that made
+the Imperial Police Force sit up and take notice, for it meant that
+things were happening, and that the happenings were likely to become
+exciting. It was a habit he could control only by the severest effort of
+the will, an effort which he kept for occasions when it was absolutely
+necessary. Here, alone with the harmless old man, he was not so much
+on his guard, and the sudden vibrating of every nerve at the word
+"Marburg," found vent in the whistle which surprised old Franz. One
+young police commissioner with a fancy for metaphor had likened this
+sudden involuntary whistle of Muller's to the bay of the hound when he
+strikes the trail; which was about what it was.
+
+"Yes, I am merry sometimes," he said with a laugh. "It's a habit I have.
+Something occurred to me just then, something I had forgotten. Hope you
+don't mind."
+
+"Oh, no, there's no one here now, whistle all you like."
+
+But Muller's whistle was not a continuous performance, and he had now
+completely mastered the excitation of his nerves which had called it
+forth. He threw another sharp look at the picture of the man who lived
+in Marburg, and then asked: "And now where is the button?"
+
+"By the window there, beside the desk." Franz led the way with his
+candle.
+
+"Why, how funny! What are those mirrors there for?" asked the
+electrician in a tone of surprise, pointing to two small mirrors hanging
+in the window niche. They were placed at a height and at such a peculiar
+angle that no one could possibly see his face in them.
+
+"Something the master is experimenting with, I guess. He's always making
+queer experiments; he knows a lot about scientific things."
+
+Muller shook his head as if in wonderment, and bent to investigate the
+button which was fastened into the wall beneath the window sill. His
+quick ear heard a carriage stopping in front of the house, and heard the
+closing of the front door a moment later. To facilitate his examination
+of the button, the detective had seated himself in the armchair which
+stood beside the desk. He half raised himself now to let the light
+of the candle fall more clearly on the wiring--then he started up
+altogether and threw a hasty glance at the mirrors above his head. A ray
+of light had suddenly flashed down upon him--a ray of red light, and it
+came reflected from the mirrors. Muller bit his lips to keep back the
+betraying whistle.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the butler. "Did you drop anything?"
+
+"Yes, the wooden rim of the button," replied Muller, telling the truth
+this time. For he had held the little wooden circlet in his hands at the
+moment when the red light, reflected down from the mirrors, struck full
+upon his eyes. He had dropped it in his surprise and excitement. Franz
+found the little ring in the centre of the room where it had rolled,
+and the supposed electrician replaced it and rose to his feet, saying:
+"There, I've finished now."
+
+Franz did not recognise the double meaning in the words. "Yes, it's all
+right! I've finished here now," Muller repeated to himself. For now he
+knew beyond a doubt that the red light was a signal--and he knew
+also for whom this signal was intended. It was a signal for Herbert
+Thorne!--Herbert Thorne, whom no single thought or suspicion of Muller's
+had yet connected with the murder of Leopold Winkler.
+
+The detective was very much surprised and greatly excited. But Franz did
+not notice it, and indeed a far keener observer than the slow-witted old
+butler might have failed to see the sudden gleam which shot up in the
+grey eyes behind the heavy spectacles, might have failed to notice the
+tightening of the lips beneath the blond moustache, or the tenseness of
+the slight frame under the assumed embonpoint. Muller's every nerve was
+tingling, but he had himself completely in hand.
+
+"What do we owe you?" asked Franz.
+
+"They'll send you a bill from the office. It won't amount to much. I
+must be getting on now."
+
+Muller hastened out of the door and down the street to the nearest cab
+stand. There were not very many cab stands in this vicinity, and the
+detective reasoned that Mrs. Bernauer would naturally have taken her
+cab from the nearest station. He had heard her return in her carriage,
+presumably the same in which she had started out.
+
+There was but one cab at the stand. Muller walked to it and laid his
+hand on the door.
+
+"Oh, Jimmy! must I go out again?" asked the driver hoarsely. "Can't you
+see the poor beast is all wet from the last ride? We've just come in."
+He pointed with his whip to the tired-looking animal under his blanket.
+
+"Why, he does look warm. You must have been making a tour out into the
+country," said the blond gentleman in a friendly tone.
+
+"No, sir, not quite so far as that. I've just taken a woman to the main
+telegraph office in the city and back again. But she was in a hurry and
+he's not a young horse, sir."
+
+"Well, never mind, then; I can get another cab across the bridge,"
+replied the stout blond man, turning away and strolling off leisurely
+in the direction of the bridge. It was now quite dark, and a few
+steps further on Muller could safely turn and take the road to his own
+lodging. No one saw him go in, and in a few moments the real Muller,
+slight, smooth-shaven, sat down at his desk, looking at the papers that
+lay before him. They were three letters and an empty envelope.
+
+He took up the last, and compared it carefully with the envelope of one
+of the letters found in Winkler's room--the unsigned letter postmarked
+Hietzing, September 24th. The two envelopes were exactly alike. They
+were of the same size and shape, made of the same cream-tinted, heavy,
+glossy paper, and the address was written by the same hand. This any
+keen observer, who need not necessarily be an expert, could see. The
+same hand which had addressed the envelope to Mrs. Adele Bernauer on
+the letter which was postmarked "Venice," about thirty-six hours
+previous--this hand had, in an awkward and childish attempt at disguise,
+written Winkler's address on the envelope which bore the date of
+September 24th.
+
+The writer of the harmless letter to Mrs. Bernauer, a letter which
+chatted of household topics and touched lightly on the beauties of
+Venice, was Mrs. Thorne. It was Mrs. Thorne, therefore, who, reluctantly
+and in anger and distaste, had called Leopold Winkler to Hietzing, to
+his death.
+
+And whose hand had fired the shot that caused his death? The question,
+at this stage in Muller's meditation, could hardly be called a question
+any more. It was all too sadly clear to him now. Winkler met his death
+at the hand of the husband, who, discovering the planned rendezvous, had
+misunderstood its motive.
+
+For truly this had been no lovers' meeting. It had been a meeting to
+which the woman was driven by fear and hate; the man by greed of gain.
+This was clearly proved by the 300 guldens found in the dead man's
+pocket, money enclosed in a delicate little envelope, sealed hastily,
+and crumpled as if it had been carried in a hot and trembling hand.
+
+It was already known that Winkler never had any money except at certain
+irregular intervals, when he appeared to have come into possession
+of considerable sums. During these days he indulged in extravagant
+pleasures and spent his money with a recklessness which proved that he
+had not earned it by honest work.
+
+Leopold Winkler was a blackmailer.
+
+Colonel Leining, retired, the father of two such widely different
+children, was doubtless a man of stern principles, and an army officer
+as well, therefore a man with a doubly sensitive code of honour and a
+social position to maintain; and this man, morbidly sensitive probably,
+had a daughter who had inherited his sensitiveness and his high ideals
+of honour, a daughter married to a rich husband. But he had another
+child, a son without any sense of honour at all, who, although also an
+officer, failed to live in a manner worthy his position. This son was
+now in Marburg, where there were no expensive pleasures, no all-night
+cafes and gambling dens, for a man to lose his time in, his money, and
+his honour also.
+
+For such must have been the case with Colonel Leining's son before his
+exile to Marburg. The old butler had hinted at the truth. The portrait
+drawn by Herbert Thorne, a picture of such technical excellence that it
+was doubtless a good likeness also, had given an ugly illustration to
+Franz's remarks. And there was something even more tangible to prove it:
+"Theo's" letter from Marburg pleading with Winkler for "discretion and
+silence," not knowing ("let us hope he did not know!" murmured Muller
+between set teeth) that the man who held him in his power because of
+some rascality, was being paid for his silence by the Lieutenant's
+sister.
+
+It is easy to frighten a sensitive woman, so easy to make her believe
+the worst! And there is little such a tender-hearted woman will not do
+to save her aging father from pain and sorrow, perhaps even disgrace!
+
+It must have been in this way that Mrs. Thorne came into the power of
+the scoundrel who paid with his life for his last attempt at blackmail.
+
+When Muller reached this point in his chain of thought, he closed his
+eyes and covered his face with his hands, letting two pictures stand out
+clear before his mental vision.
+
+He saw the little anxious group around the carriage in front of the
+Thorne mansion. He saw the pale, frail woman leaning back on the
+cushions, and the husband bending over her in tender care. And then he
+saw Johann Knoll in his cell, a man with little manhood left in him, a
+man sunk to the level of the brutes, a man who had already committed
+one crime against society, and who could never rise to the mental or
+spiritual standard of even the most mediocre of decent citizens.
+
+If Herbert Thorne were to suffer the just punishment for his deed of
+doubly blind jealousy, then it was not only his own life, a life full
+of gracious promise, that would be ruined, but the happiness of his
+delicate, sweet-faced wife, who was doubtless still in blessed ignorance
+of what had happened. And still one other would be dragged down by this
+tragedy; a respected, upright man would bow his white hairs in disgrace.
+Thorne's father-in-law could not escape the scandal and his own share
+in the responsibility for it. And to a veteran officer, bred in the
+exaggerated social ethics of his profession, such a disgrace means ruin,
+sometimes even voluntary death.
+
+"Oh, dear, if it had only been Knoll who did it," said Muller with a
+sigh that was almost a groan.
+
+Then he rose slowly and heavily, and slowly and heavily, as if borne
+down by the weight of great weariness, he reached for his hat and coat
+and left the house.
+
+Whether he wished it or not, he knew it was his duty to go on to the
+bitter end on this trail he had followed up all day from the moment that
+he caught that fleeting glimpse of Mrs. Bernauer's haggard face at the
+garden gate. He was almost angry with the woman, because she chanced to
+look out of the gate at just that moment, showing him her face distorted
+with anxiety. For it was her face that had drawn Muller to the trail, a
+trail at the end of which misery awaited those for whom this woman had
+worked for years, those whom she loved and who treated her as one of the
+family.
+
+Muller knew now that the one-time nurse was in league with her former
+charge; that Thorne and Adele Bernauer were in each other's confidence;
+that the man sat waiting for the signal which she was to give him, a
+signal bringing so much disgrace and sorrow in its train.
+
+If the woman had not spied upon and betrayed her mistress, this terrible
+event, which now weighed upon her own soul, would not have happened.
+
+"A faithful servant, indeed," said Muller, with a harsh laugh.
+
+Then maturer consideration came and forced him to acknowledge that it
+was indeed devotion that had swayed Adele Bernauer, devotion to her
+master more than to her mistress. This was hardly to be wondered at. But
+she had not thought what might come from her revelations, what had come
+of them. For now her pet, the baby who had once lain in her arms, the
+handsome, gifted man whom she adored with more than the love of many a
+mother for the child of her own blood, was under the shadow of hideous
+disgrace and doom, was the just prey of the law for open trial and
+condemnation as a murderer.
+
+Muller sighed deeply once more and then came one of those moments
+which he had spoken of to the unhappy woman that very day. He felt like
+cursing the fatal gift that was his, the gift to see what was hidden
+from others, this something within him that forced him relentlessly
+onward until he had uncovered the truth, and brought misery to many.
+
+Muller need not do anything, he need simply do nothing. Not a soul
+besides himself suspected the dwellers in the Thorne mansion of any
+connection with the murder. If he were silent, nothing could be proven
+against Knoll after all, except the robbery which he himself had
+confessed. Then the memory of the terror in the tramp's little reddened
+eyes came back to the detective's mind.
+
+"A human soul after all, and a soul trembling in the shadow of a great
+fear. And even he's a better man than the blackmailer who was killed. A
+miscarriage of justice will often make a criminal of a poor fellow whose
+worst fault is idleness." Muller's face darkened as the things of the
+past, shut down in the depths of his own soul, rose up again. "No;
+that's why I took up this work. Justice must be done--but it's bitter
+hard sometimes. I could almost wish now that I hadn't seen that face at
+the gate."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. MULLER RETURNS TO THE THORNE MANSION
+
+
+It was striking eight as Muller came out of a cafe in the heart of the
+city. He had been in there but a few moments, for his purpose was merely
+to look through the Army lists of the current year. The result of his
+search proved the correctness of his conclusions.
+
+There was a Lieutenant Theobald Leining in the single infantry regiment
+stationed at Marburg.
+
+Muller took a cab and drove to the main telegraph office. He asked for
+the original of the telegram which had been sent that afternoon to the
+address; "Herbert Thorne, Hotel Danieli, Venice." This closed the circle
+of the chain.
+
+The detective re-entered his waiting cab and drove back to Hietzing. He
+told the driver to halt at the corner of the street on which fronted the
+Thorne mansion and to wait for him there. He himself walked slowly down
+the quiet Street and rang the bell at the iron gate.
+
+"You come to this house again?" asked Franz, starting back in alarm when
+he saw who it was that had called him to the door.
+
+"Yes, my good friend; I want to get into this house again. But not on
+false pretenses this time. And before you let me in you can go upstairs
+and ask Mrs. Bernauer if she will receive me in her own room--in her own
+room, mind. But make haste; I am in a hurry." The detective's tone was
+calm and he strolled slowly up and down in front of the gate when he had
+finished speaking.
+
+The old butler hesitated a moment, then walked into the house. When he
+returned, rather more quickly, he looked alarmed and his tone was very
+humble as he asked Muller to follow him.
+
+When the detective entered Mrs. Bernauer's room the housekeeper rose
+slowly from the large armchair in front of her table. She was very pale
+and her eyes were full of terror. She made no move to speak, so Muller
+began the conversation. He put down his hat, brought up a chair and
+placed it near the window at which the housekeeper had been sitting.
+Then he sat down and motioned to her to do the same.
+
+"You are a faithful servant, all too faithful," he began. "But you are
+faithful only to your master. You have no devotion for his wife."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied the woman in a low tone.
+
+"Perhaps, but I do not think so. One does not betray the people to whom
+one is devoted."
+
+Mrs. Bernauer looked up in surprise. "What--what do you know?" she
+stammered.
+
+Muller did not answer the question directly, but continued: "Mrs.
+Thorne had a meeting recently with a strange man. It was not their first
+meeting, and somehow you discovered it. But before this last meeting
+occurred you spoke to the lady's husband about it, and it was arranged
+between you that you should give him a signal which would mean to him,
+'Your wife is going to the meeting.' Mrs. Thorne did go to the meeting.
+This happened on Monday evening at about quarter past nine. Some one,
+who was in the neighbourhood by chance, saw a woman's figure hurrying
+through the garden, down to the other street, and a moment after this,
+the light of this lamp in your window was seen to go out. A hand had
+turned down the wick--it was your hand.
+
+"This was the signal to Mr. Thorne. The mirrors over his desk reflected
+in his eyes the light he could not otherwise have seen as he sat by his
+own window. The signal, therefore, told him that the time had come to
+act. This same chance watcher, who had seen the woman going through the
+garden, had seen the lamp go out, and now saw a man's figure hurrying
+down the path the woman had taken. The man as well as the woman came
+from this house and went in the direction of the lower end of the
+garden.
+
+"A little while later a shot was heard, and the next morning Leopold
+Winkler was found with a bullet in his back. The crime was generally
+taken to be a murder for the sake of robbery. But you and I, and Mr.
+Herbert Thorne, know very well that it was not.
+
+"You know this since Wednesday noon. Then it was that the idea suddenly
+came to you, falling like a heavy weight on your soul, the idea that
+Winkler might not have been killed for the sake of robbery, but because
+of the hatred that some one bore him. Then it was that you lost your
+appetite suddenly, that you drove into the city with the excuse of
+errands to do, in order to read the papers without being seen by any
+one who knew you. When you came home you searched everywhere in your
+master's room: you made an excuse for this search, but what you wanted
+to find out was whether he had left anything that could betray him. Your
+fright had already confused your mind. You were searching probably for
+the weapon from which he had fired the bullet. You did not realise that
+he would naturally have taken it with him and thrown it somewhere into
+a ravine or river beside the railway track between here and Venice. How
+could you think for a moment that he would leave it behind him, here in
+his room, or dropped in the garden? But this was doubtless due to the
+confusion owing to your sudden alarm and anxiety--a confusion which
+prevented you from realising the danger of the two peculiarly hung
+mirrors in Mr. Thorne's room. These should have been taken away at once.
+This morning my sudden appearance at the garden gate prevented you from
+making an examination of the place of the murder. Your swoon, after I
+had spoken to you in the butler's room, showed me that you were carrying
+a burden too heavy for your strength. Finally, this afternoon, you drove
+to the main telegraph office in the city, as you thought that it would
+be safer to telegraph Mr. Thorne from there. Your telegram was very
+cleverly written. But you might have spared the last sentence, the
+request that Mr. Thorne should get the Viennese papers of these last
+days. Believe me, he has already read these papers. Who could be more
+interested in what they have to tell than he?"
+
+The housekeeper had sat as if frozen to stone during Muller's long
+speech. Her face was ashen and her eyes wild with horror. When the
+detective ceased speaking, there was dead silence in the room for some
+time. Finally Muller asked: "Is this what happened?" His voice was
+cutting and the glance of his eyes keen and sharp.
+
+Mrs. Bernauer trembled. Her head sank on her breast. Muller waited a
+moment more and then he said quietly: "Then it is true."
+
+"Yes, it is true," came the answer in a low hoarse tone.
+
+Again there was silence for an appreciable interval.
+
+"If you had been faithful to your mistress as well, if you had not
+spied upon her and betrayed her to her husband, all this might not have
+happened," continued the detective pitilessly, adding with a bitter
+smile: "And it was not even a case of sinful love. Your mistress had
+no such relations with this Winkler as you--I say this to excuse
+you--seemed to believe."
+
+Adele Bernauer sprang up. "I do not need this excuse," she cried,
+trembling in excitement. "I do not need any excuse. What I have done
+I did after due consideration and in the realisation that it was
+absolutely necessary to do it. Never for one moment did I believe that
+my mistress was untrue to her husband. Never for one moment could I
+believe such an evil thing of her, for I knew her to be an angel of
+goodness. A woman who is deceiving her husband is not as unhappy as this
+poor lady has been for months. A woman does not write to a successful
+lover with so much sorrow, with so many tears. I had long suspected
+these meetings before I discovered them, but I knew that these meetings
+had nothing whatever to do with love. Because I knew this, and only
+because I knew it, did I tell my master about them. I wanted him to
+protect his wife, to free her from the wretch who had obtained some
+power over her, I knew not how."
+
+"Ah! then that was it?" exclaimed Muller, and his eyes softened as he
+looked at the sobbing woman who had sunk back into her chair. He laid
+his hand on her cold fingers and continued gently: "Then you have really
+done right, you have done only what was your duty. I pity you deeply
+that you--"
+
+"That I have brought suspicion upon my master by my own foolishness?"
+she finished the sentence with a pitifully sad smile. "If I could have
+controlled myself, could have kept calm, nobody would have had a thought
+or a suspicion that he--my pet, my darling--that it was he who was
+forced, through some terrible circumstance of which I do not know, to
+free his wife, in this manner, from the wretch who persecuted her."
+
+Mrs. Bernauer wrung her hands and gazed with despairing eyes at the man
+who sat before her, himself deeply moved.
+
+Again there was a long silence. Muller could not find a word to comfort
+the weeping woman. There was no longer anger in his heart, nothing but
+the deepest pity. He took out his handkerchief and wiped away the drops
+that were dimming his own eyes.
+
+"You know that I will have to go to Venice?" he asked.
+
+Mrs. Bernauer sprang up. "Officially?" she gasped, pale to her lips.
+
+He nodded. "Yes, officially of course. I must make a report at once to
+headquarters about what I have learned. You can imagine yourself what
+the next steps will be."
+
+Her deep sigh showed him that she knew as well as he. In the same
+second, however, a thought shot through her brain, changing her whole
+being. Her pale face glowed, her dulled eyes shot fire, and the fingers
+with which she held Muller's hand tightly clasped, were suddenly
+feverishly hot.
+
+"And you--you are still the only person who knows the truth?" she gasped
+in his ear.
+
+The detective nodded. "And you thought you might silence me?" he asked
+calmly. "That will not be easy--for you can imagine that I did not come
+unarmed."
+
+Adele Bernauer smiled sadly. "I would take even this way to save Herbert
+Thorne from disgrace, if I thought that it could be successful, and if
+I had not thought of a milder way to silence a man who cannot be a
+millionaire. I have served in this house for thirty-two years, I have
+been treated with such generosity that I have been able to save almost
+every cent of my wages for my old age. With the interest that has rolled
+up, my little fortune must amount to nearly eight thousand gulden. I
+will gladly give it to you, if you will but keep silence, if you will
+not tell what you have discovered." She spoke gaspingly and sank down on
+her knees before she had finished.
+
+"And Mr. Thorne also--" she continued hastily, as she saw no sign of
+interest in Muller's calm face. Then her voice failed her.
+
+The detective looked down kindly on her grey hairs and answered: "No,
+no, my good woman; that won't do. One cannot conceal one crime by
+committing another. I myself would naturally not listen to your
+suggestion for a moment, but I am also convinced that Mr. Thorne, to
+whom you are so devoted, and who, I acknowledge, pleased me the very
+first sight I had of him--I am convinced that he would not agree for a
+moment to any such solution of the problem."
+
+"Then I can only hope that you will not find him in Venice," replied
+Mrs. Bernauer, with utter despair in her voice and eyes.
+
+"I am not at all certain that I will find him in Venice when I leave
+here to-morrow morning," said Muller calmly.
+
+"Oh! then you don't want to find him! Oh God! how good, how
+inexpressibly good you are," stammered the woman, seizing at some vague
+hope in her distraught heart.
+
+"No, you are mistaken again, Mrs. Bernauer. I will find Mr. Thorne
+wherever he may be. But I may arrive in Venice too late to meet him
+there. He may already be on his way home."
+
+"On his way home?" cried the housekeeper in terror, staggering where she
+stood.
+
+Muller led her gently to a chair. "Sit down here and listen to me
+calmly. This is what I mean. If Mr. Thorne has seen in the papers that a
+man has been arrested and accused of the murder of Leopold Winkler, then
+he will take the next train back and give himself up to the authorities.
+That he makes no such move as long as he thinks there is no suspicion
+on any one else, no possibility that any one else could suffer the
+consequences of his deed--is quite comprehensible--it is only natural
+and human."
+
+Adele Bernauer sighed deeply again and heavy tears ran down her cheeks,
+in strange contrast to the ghost of a smile that parted her lips and
+shone in her dimmed eyes.
+
+"You know him better than I do," she murmured almost inaudibly, "you
+know him better than I do, and I have known him for so long."
+
+A moment later Muller had parted from the housekeeper with a warm,
+sincere pressure of the hand.
+
+"Lieutenant Theobald Leining was here on a visit to his sister last
+March, wasn't he?" the detective asked as Franz led him out of the gate.
+
+"Yes, sir; the Lieutenant was here just about that time," answered the
+old man.
+
+"And he left here on the 16th of March?"
+
+"On the 16th? Why, it may have been--yes, it was the 16th--that is our
+lady's birthday. He went away that day." Franz bowed a farewell to this
+stranger who began to appear uncanny in his eyes, and shutting the gate
+carefully he returned to the house.
+
+"What does the man want anyway?" he murmured to himself, shivering
+involuntarily. Without knowing why he turned his steps towards Mrs.
+Bernauer's room. He opened the door hesitatingly as if afraid of what he
+might see there. He would not have been at all surprised if he had found
+the housekeeper fainting on the floor as before.
+
+But she was not fainting this time. She was very much alive, for, to
+Franz's great astonishment, she was busied at the packing of a valise.
+
+"Are you going away too?" asked Franz. Mrs. Bernauer answered in a voice
+that was dull with weariness: "Yes, Franz, I am going away. Will you
+please look up the time-tables of the Southern railroad and let me know
+when the morning express leaves? And please order a cab in time for it.
+I will depend upon you to look after the house in my absence. You
+can imagine that it must be something very important that takes me to
+Venice."
+
+"To Venice? Why, what are you going to Venice for?"
+
+"Never mind about that, Franz, but help me to pray that I may get there
+in time."
+
+She almost pushed the old man out of the door with these last words and
+shut and locked it behind him.
+
+She wanted to be alone with this hideous fear that was clutching at her
+heart. For it was not to Franz that she could tell the thoughts that
+came to her lips now as she sank down, wringing her hands, before a
+picture of the Madonna: "Oh Holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord, plead for
+me! let me be with my dear mistress when the terrible time comes
+and they take her husband away from her, or, if preferring death to
+disgrace, he ends his life by his own hand!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. IN THE POLICE COURT
+
+
+Commissioner Von Riedau sat at his desk late that evening, finishing
+up some important papers. The quiet of an undisturbed night watch had
+settled down on the busy police station. An occasional low murmur of
+whispering voices floated up from the guardroom below, but otherwise the
+stillness was broken only by the scratching of the commissioner's pen
+and the rustle of the paper as he turned the leaves. It was a silence so
+complete that a light step on the stair outside and the gentle turning
+of the doorknob was heard distinctly and the commissioner looked up with
+almost a start to see who was coming to his room so late. Joseph Muller
+stood in the open door, awaiting his chief's official recognition.
+
+"Oh! it's you, Muller. So late? Come in. Anything new?" asked the
+commissioner. "Have you succeeded in drawing a confession from that
+stubborn tramp yet? You've been interviewing him, I take it?"
+
+"Yes, I had a long talk with Johann Knoll to-day."
+
+"Well, that ought to help matters along. Has he confessed? What could
+you get out of him?"
+
+"Nothing, or almost nothing more than he told us here in the station,
+sir.
+
+"The man's incredibly stubborn," said the commissioner. "If he could
+only be made to understand that a free confession would benefit him more
+than any one else! Well, don't look so down-cast about it, Muller. This
+thing is going to take longer than we thought at first for such a simple
+affair. But it's only a question of time until the man comes to his
+senses. You'll get him to talk soon. You always do. And even if you
+should fail here, this matter is not so very important, when we think of
+all the other things you have done." Muller, standing front of the desk,
+shook his head sadly.
+
+"But I haven't failed here, sir. More's the pity, I had almost said."
+
+"What!" The commissioner looked up in surprise. "I thought you just said
+that you couldn't get anything more out of the accused."
+
+"Knoll has told us all he knows, sir. He did not murder Leopold
+Winkler."
+
+"Hmph!" The commissioner's exclamation had a touch of acidity in it.
+"Then, if he didn't murder him, who did?"
+
+"Herbert Thorne, painter, living in the Thorne mansion in B. Street,
+Hietzing, now in Venice, Hotel Danieli. I ask for a warrant for his
+arrest, sir, and orders to start for Venice on the early morning express
+to-morrow."
+
+"Muller!... what the deuce does all this mean?" The commissioner sprang
+up, his face flushing deeply as he leaned over the desk staring at the
+sad quiet face of the little man opposite. "What are you talking about?
+What does all this mean?"
+
+"It means, sir, that we now know who committed the murder in Hietzing.
+Johann Knoll is innocent of anything more than the theft confessed by
+himself. He took the purse and watch from the senseless form of the just
+murdered man. The body was warm and still supple and the tramp supposed
+the victim to be merely intoxicated. His story was in every respect
+true, sir."
+
+The commissioner flushed still deeper. "And who do you say murdered this
+man?"
+
+"Herbert Thorne, sir.
+
+"But Thorne! I know of him... have even a slight personal acquaintance
+with him. Thorne is a rich man, of excellent family. Why should he
+murder and rob an obscure clerk like this Winkler?"
+
+"He did not rob him sir, Knoll did that."
+
+"Oh, yes. But why should Thorne commit murder on this man who scarcely
+touched his life at any point... It's incredible! Muller! Muller! are
+you sure you are not letting your imagination run away with you again?
+It is a serious thing to make such an accusation against any man, much
+less against a man in Thorne's position. Are you sure of what you are
+saying?" The commissioner's excitement rendered him almost inarticulate.
+The shock of the surprise occasioned by the detective's words produced a
+feeling of irritation... a phenomenon not unusual in the minds of worthy
+but pedantic men of affairs when confronted by a startling new thought.
+
+"I am quite sure of what I am saying, sir. I have just heard the
+confession of one who might be called an accomplice of the murderer."
+
+"It is incredible... incredible! An accomplice you say?... who is
+this accomplice? Might it not be some one who has a grudge against
+Thorne--some one who is trying to purposely mislead you?"
+
+"I am not so easily deceived or misled, sir. Every evidence points to
+Thorne, and the confession I have just heard was made by a woman who
+loves him, who has loved and cared for him from his babyhood. There is
+not the slightest doubt of it, sir."
+
+Muller moved a step nearer the desk, gazing firmly in the eyes of the
+excited commissioner. The sadness on the detective's face had given way
+to a gleam of pride that flushed his sallow cheek and brightened his
+grey eyes. It was one of those rare moments when Muller allowed
+himself a feeling of triumph in his own power, in spite of official
+subordination and years of habit. His slight frame seemed to grow taller
+and broader as he faced the Chief with an air of quiet determination
+that made him at once master of the situation. His voice was as low as
+ever but it took on a keen incisive note that compelled attention, as he
+continued: "Herbert Thorne is the murderer of Leopold Winkler. Now that
+he knows an innocent man is under accusation for his deed it is only
+a question of time before he will come himself to confess. He will
+doubtless make this confession to me, if I go to Venice to see him, and
+to bring him back to trial."
+
+The commissioner could doubt no longer. Pedantic though he was,
+Commissioner von Riedau possessed sufficient insight to know the truth
+when it was presented to him with such conviction, and also sufficient
+insight to have recognised the gifts of the man before him. "But why...
+why?" he murmured, sinking back into his chair, and shaking his head in
+bewilderment.
+
+"Winkler was a miserable scoundrel, sir, a blackmailer. Thorne did only
+what any decent man would have felt like doing in his place. But justice
+must be done."
+
+Muller's elation vanished and a deep sigh welled up from his heart. The
+commissioner nodded slowly, and glanced across the desk almost timidly.
+This case had appeared to be so simple, and suddenly the hidden deeps
+of a dark mystery had opened before him, deeps already sounded by
+the little man here who had gone so quietly about his work while the
+official police, represented in this case by Commissioner von Riedau
+himself, had sat calmly waiting for an innocent man to confess to a
+crime he had not committed! It was humiliating. The commissioner flushed
+again and his eyes sank to the floor.
+
+"Tell me what you know, Muller," he said finally.
+
+Muller told the story of his experiences in the Thorne mansion, told of
+the slight clues which led him to take an interest in the house and its
+inmates, until finally the truth began to glimmer up out of the depths.
+The commissioner listened with eager interest. "Then you believed this
+elaborate yarn told by the tramp?" he interrupted once, at the beginning
+of the narrative.
+
+"Why, yes, sir, just because it was so elaborate. A man like Knoll would
+not have had the mind to invent such a story. It must have been true, on
+the face of it."
+
+The commissioner's eyes sank again, and he did not speak until the
+detective had reached the end of his story. Then he opened a drawer in
+his desk and took out a bundle of official blank-forms.
+
+"It is wonderful! Wonderful! Muller, this case will go on record as one
+of your finest achievements--and we thought it was so simple."
+
+"Oh, indeed, sir, chance favoured me at every turn," replied Muller
+modestly.
+
+"There is no such thing as chance," said the commissioner. "We might as
+well be honest with ourselves. Any one might have seen, doubtless
+did see, all the things you saw, but no one else had the insight
+to recognise their value, nor the skill to follow them up to such a
+conclusion. But it's a sad case, a sad case. I never wrote a warrant
+with a heavier heart. Thorne is a true-hearted gentleman, while the
+scoundrel he killed..."
+
+"Yes, sir, I feel that way about it myself. I can confess now that there
+was one moment when I was ready to--well, just to say nothing.
+
+"And let us blunder on in our official stupidity and blindness?"
+interrupted the commissioner, a faint smile breaking the gravity of his
+face. "We certainly gave you every opportunity."
+
+"But there's an innocent man accused--suffering fear of death--justice
+must be done. But, sir," Muller took the warrant the commissioner handed
+across the table to him. "May I not make it as easy as I can for Mr.
+Thorne--I mean, bring him here with as little publicity as possible? His
+wife is with him in Venice."
+
+"Poor little woman, it's terrible! Do whatever you think best, Muller.
+You're a queer mixture. Here you've hounded this man down, followed hot
+on his trail when not a soul but yourself connected him in any way with
+the murder. And now you're sorry for him! A soft heart like yours is a
+dangerous possession for a police detective, Muller. It's no aid to our
+business."
+
+"No, sir, I know that."
+
+"Well take care it doesn't run away with you this time. Don't let
+Herbert Thorne escape, however much pity you may feel for him."
+
+"I doubt if he'll want to sir, as long as another is in prison for his
+crime.
+
+"But he may make his confession and then try to escape the disgrace."
+
+"Yes, sir, I've thought of that. That's why I want to go to Venice
+myself. And then, there's the poor young wife, he must think of her when
+the desire comes to end his own life..."
+
+"Yes! Yes! This terrible thing has shaken us both up more than a little.
+I feel exhausted. You look tired yourself, Muller. Go home now, and get
+some rest for your early start. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, sir."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. ON THE LIDO
+
+
+A wonderfully beautiful night lay over the fair old city of Venice
+when the Northern Express thundered over the long bridge to the railway
+station. A passenger who was alone in a second-class compartment stood
+up to collect his few belongings. Suddenly he looked up as he heard a
+voice, a voice which he had learned to know only very recently, calling
+to him from the door of the compartment.
+
+"Why! you were in the train too? You have come to Venice?" exclaimed
+Joseph Muller in astonishment as he saw Mrs. Bernauer standing there
+before him.
+
+"Yes, I have come to Venice too. I must be with my dear lady--when--when
+Herbert--" She had begun quite calmly, but she did not finish her
+sentence, for loud sobs drowned the words.
+
+"You were in the next compartment? Why didn't you come in here with me?
+It would have made this journey shorter for both of us."
+
+"I had to be alone," said the pale woman and then she added: "I only
+came to you now to ask you where I must go."
+
+"I think we two had better go to the Hotel Bauer. Let me arrange things
+for you. Mrs. Thorne must not see you until she has been prepared for
+your coming. I will arrange that with her husband."
+
+The two took each other's hands. They had won respect and sympathy for
+each other, this quiet man who went so relentlessly and yet so pityingly
+about his duty in the interest of justice--and the devoted woman whose
+faithfulness had brought about such a tragedy.
+
+The train had now entered the railway station. Muller and Mrs. Bernauer
+stood a few minutes later on the banks of the Grand Canal and entered
+one of the many gondolas waiting there. The moon glanced back from
+the surface of the water broken into ripples under the oars of the
+gondoliers; it shone with a magic charm on the old palaces that stood
+knee-deep in the lagoons, and threw heavy shadows over the narrow
+water-roads on which the little dark boats glided silently forward.
+In most of the gondolas coming from the station excited voices and
+exclamations of delight broke the calm of the moonlit evening as the
+tourists rejoiced in the beauty that is Venice.
+
+But in the gondola in which Muller and Mrs. Bernauer sat there was deep
+silence, silence broken only by a sobbing sigh that now and then burst
+from the heart of the haggard woman. There were few travellers entering
+Venice on one of its world-famous moonlit nights who were so sad at
+heart as were these two.
+
+And there were few travellers in Venice as heavy hearted as was the man
+who next morning took one of the earliest boats out to the Lido.
+
+Muller and Mrs. Bernauer were on the same boat watching him from a
+hidden corner. The woman's sad eyes gazed yearningly at the haggard
+face of the tall man who stood looking over the railing of the little
+steamer. Her own tears came as she saw the gloom in the once shining
+grey eyes she loved so well.
+
+Muller stood beside Mrs. Bernauer. His eyes too, keen and quick,
+followed Herbert Thorne as he stood by the rail or paced restlessly up
+and down; his face too showed pity and concern. He also saw that Thorne
+held in his hand a bundle of newspapers which were still enclosed in
+their mailing wrappers. The papers were pressed in a convulsive grip of
+the artist's long slender fingers.
+
+Muller knew then that Thorne had not yet learned of the arrest of Johann
+Knoll. At the very earliest, Thursday's papers, which brought the news,
+could not reach him before Friday morning. But these newspapers (Muller
+saw that they were German papers) were still in their wrappings. They
+were probably Viennese papers for which he had telegraphed and which
+had just arrived. His anxiety had not allowed him to read them in the
+presence of his wife. He had sought the solitude of early morning on the
+Lido, that he might learn, unobserved, what terrors fate had in store
+for him.
+
+It was doubtless Mrs. Bernauer's telegram which caused his present
+anxiety, a telegram which had reached him only the night before when he
+returned with his wife from an excursion to Torcello. It had caused him
+a sleepless night, for it had brought the realisation that his faithful
+nurse suspected the truth about the murder in the quiet lane. The
+telegram had read as follows: "Have drawn money and send it at once.
+Further journey probably necessary, visitor in house to-day. Connected
+with occurrence in -- Street. Please read Viennese papers. News and
+orders for me please send to address A.B. General Postoffice."
+
+This telegram told Herbert Thorne the truth. And the papers which
+arrived this morning were to tell him more--what he did not yet know.
+But his heart was drawn with terrors which threw lines in his face and
+made him look ten years older than on that Tuesday morning when the
+detective saw him setting out on his journey with his wife.
+
+When the boat landed at the Lido, Thorne walked off down the road which
+led to the ocean side. Muller and Mrs. Bernauer entered the waiting
+tramway that took them in the same direction. They dismounted in front
+of the bathing establishment, stepped behind a group of bushes and
+waited there for Thorne. In about ten minutes they saw his tall figure
+passing on the other side of the road. He was walking down to the beach,
+holding the still unopened papers in his hand.
+
+A narrow strip of park runs along parallel to the beach in the direction
+towards Mala Mocco. Muller and Mrs Bernauer walked along through this
+park on the path which was nearest the water. The detective watched the
+rapidly moving figure ahead of them, while the woman's tear-dimmed eyes
+veiled everything else to her but the path along which her weary feet
+hastened. Thorne halted about half way between the bathing establishment
+and the customs barracks, looked around to see if he were alone and
+threw himself down on the sand.
+
+He had chosen a good place. To the right and to the left were high sand
+dunes, before him was the broad surface of the ocean, and at his back
+was rising ground, bare sand with here and there a scraggly bush or
+a group of high thistles. Herbert Thorne believed himself to be alone
+here... as far as a man can be alone over whom hangs the shadow of a
+crime. He groaned aloud and hid his pale face in his hands.
+
+In his own distress he did not hear the deep sigh--which, just above
+him on the edge of the knoll, broke from the breast of a woman who was
+suffering scarcely less than he; he did not know that two pair of sad
+eyes looked down upon him. And now into the eyes of the watching woman
+there shot a gleam of terror. For Herbert Thorne had taken a revolver
+from his pocket and laid it quietly beside him. Then he took out a
+notebook and a pencil and placed them beside the weapon. Then slowly,
+reluctantly, he opened one of the papers.
+
+A light breeze from the shining sea before him carried off the wrapping.
+The paper which he opened shook in his trembling hands, as his eyes
+sought the reports of the murder. He gave a sudden start and a tremor
+ran through his frame. He had come to the spot which told of the arrest
+of another man, who was under shadow of punishment for the crime which
+he himself had committed. When he had read this report through, he
+turned to the other papers. He was quite calm now, outwardly calm at
+least.
+
+When he had finished reading the papers he laid them in a heap beside
+him and reached out for his notebook. As he opened it the two watchers
+saw that between its first pages there was a sealed and addressed
+letter. Two other envelopes were contained in the notebook, envelopes
+which were also addressed although still open. Muller's sharp eyes could
+read the addresses as Thorne took them up in turn, looking long at each
+of them. One envelope was addressed in Italian to the Chief of Police of
+Venice, the other to the Chief of Police in Vienna.
+
+The two watchers leaned forward, scarcely three yards above the man in
+whom they were interested. Thorne tore out two leaves of his notebook
+and wrote several lines on each of them. One note, he placed in the
+envelope addressed to the Viennese police and sealed it carefully. Then
+he put the sealed letter with the second note in the other envelope, the
+one addressed to the Italian police. He put all the letters back in his
+notebook, holding it together with a rubber strap, and replaced it in
+his pocket.
+
+Then he stretched out his hand toward the revolver.
+
+The sand came rattling down upon him, the thistles bent over creakingly
+and two figures appeared beside him.
+
+"There's time enough for that yet, Mr. Thorne," said the man at whom the
+painter gazed up in bewilderment. And then this man took the revolver
+quietly from his hand and hid it in his own pocket.
+
+Thorne pressed his teeth down on his lips until the blood came. He
+could not speak; he looked first at the stranger who had mastered him so
+completely, and then, in dazed astonishment, at the woman who had sunk
+down beside him in the sand, clasping his hand in both of hers.
+
+"Adele! Adele! Why are you here?" he stammered finally.
+
+"I want to be with you--in this hour," she answered, looking at him with
+eyes of worship. "I want to be with my dear lady--to comfort her--to
+protect her when--when--"
+
+"When they arrest me?" Thorne finished the sentence himself. Then
+turning to Muller he continued: "And that is why you are here?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Thorne. I have a warrant for your arrest in my pocket. But I
+think it will be unnecessary to make use of it in the customary official
+way through the authorities here. I see that you have written to both
+police stations--confessing your deed. This will amount to a voluntary
+giving up of yourself to the authorities, therefore all that is
+necessary is that I return with you in the same train which takes you to
+Vienna. But I must ask you for those two letters, for until you yourself
+give them to the police authorities in my presence, it is my duty to
+keep them."
+
+Muller had seldom found his official duty as difficult as it was now.
+His words came haltingly and great drops stood out on his forehead.
+
+The painter rose from the sand and he too wiped his face, which was
+drawn in agony.
+
+"Herbert, Herbert!" cried Adele Bernauer suddenly. "Oh, Herbert, you
+will live, you will! Promise me, you will not think of suicide, it would
+kill your wife--"
+
+She lay on her knees before him in the sand. He looked down at her
+gently and with a gesture which seemed to be a familiar one of days long
+past, he stroked the face that had grown old and worn in these hours of
+fear for him.
+
+"Yes, you dear good soul, I will live on, I will take upon myself my
+punishment for killing a scoundrel. The poor man whom they have arrested
+in my place must not linger in the fear of death. I am ready, sir.
+
+"My name is Muller--detective Muller."
+
+"Joseph Muller, the famous detective Muller?" asked Thorne with a sad
+smile. "I have had little to do with the police but by chance I have
+heard of your fame. I might have known; they tell me you are one from
+whom the truth can never remain hidden."
+
+"My duty is not always an easy one," said Muller.
+
+"Thank you. Dispose of me as you will. I do not wish any privileges that
+others would not have, Mr. Muller. Here is my written confession and
+here am I myself. Shall we go now?" Herbert Thorne handed the detective
+his notebook with its important contents and then walked slowly back
+along the road he had come.
+
+Muller walked a little behind him, while Mrs. Bernauer was at his side.
+As in days long past, they walked hand in hand.
+
+With eyes full of pity Muller watched them, and he heard Thorne give his
+old nurse orders for the care of his wife. She was to take Mrs. Thorne
+to Graz to her father, then to return herself to Vienna and take care of
+the house as usual, until his attorney could settle up his affairs and
+sell the property. For Thorne said that neither he nor his wife would
+ever want to set foot in the house again. He spoke calmly, he thought of
+everything--he thought even of the possibility that he might have to pay
+the death penalty for his deed.
+
+For who could tell how the authorities would judge this murder?
+
+It had indeed been a murder by merest chance only. Thorne told his old
+nurse all about it. When she had given him the signal he had hurried
+down into the garden, and walking quietly along the path, he had
+found his wife at the garden gate in conversation with a man who was
+a stranger to him. That part of their talk which he overheard told him
+that the man was a blackmailer, and that he was making money on the fact
+that he had caught Theobald Leining cheating at cards.
+
+This chance had put the officer into Winkler's power. The clerk knew
+that he could get nothing from the guilty man himself, so he had turned
+to the latter's sister, who was rich, and had threatened to bring about
+a disgraceful scandal if she did not pay for his silence. For more than
+a year he had been getting money from her by means of these threats.
+All this was clear from the conversation. The man spoke in tones of
+impertinence, or sneering obsequiousness, the woman's voice showed
+contempt and hatred.
+
+Thorne's blood began to boil. His fingers tightened about the revolver
+which he had brought with him to be ready for any emergency, and he
+stepped designedly upon a twig which broke under his feet with a noise.
+He wanted to frighten his wife and send her back to the house. This was
+what did occur. But the blackmailer was alarmed as well and fled hastily
+from the garden when he realised that he was not alone with his victim.
+Thorne followed the man's disappearing figure, calling him to halt. He
+did not call loudly for he too wanted to avoid a scandal. His intention
+was to force the man to follow him into the house, to get his written
+confession of blackmail--then to finish him off with a large sum once
+for all and kick him out of the place.
+
+In this manner Herbert Thorne thought to free himself and his wife from
+the persecutions of the rascal. His heart was filled with hatred towards
+the man. For since Mrs. Bernauer had told him what she had discovered,
+he knew that it was because of this wretch that his once so happy wife
+was losing her strength, her health and her peace of mind.
+
+He followed the fleeing man and called to him several times to halt.
+Finally Winkler half turned and called out over his shoulder: "You'd
+better leave me alone! Do you want all Vienna to know that your
+brother-in-law ought to be in jail?"
+
+These words robbed Thorne of all control. He pressed the trigger under
+his finger and the bullet struck the man before him, who had turned
+to continue his flight, full in the back. "And that is how I became a
+murderer." With these words Herbert Thorne concluded his narrative. He
+appeared quite calm now. He was really calmer, for the strain of
+the deed, which was justified in his eyes, was not so great upon his
+conscience as had been the strain of the secret of it.
+
+In his own eyes he had only killed a beast who chanced to bear the form
+of a man. But of course in the eyes of the world this was a murder like
+any other, and the man who had committed it knew that he was under the
+ban of the law, that it was only a chance that the arm of justice had
+not yet reached out for him. And now this arm had reached out for him,
+although it was no longer necessary. For Herbert Thorne was not the man
+to allow another to suffer in his stead.
+
+As soon as he knew that another had been arrested and was under
+suspicion of the murder, he knew that there was nothing more for him but
+open confession. But he wished to avoid a scandal even now. If he
+died by his own hand, then the first cause of all this trouble, his
+brother-in-law's rascality, could still be hidden.
+
+But now his care was all in vain and Herbert Thorne knew that he must
+submit to the inevitable. Side by side with his old friend he sat on the
+deck of the boat that took them back to the Riva dei Schiavoni. Muller
+sat at some distance from them. The pale sad-faced woman, and the pale
+sad-faced man had much to say to each other that a stranger might not
+hear.
+
+When the little boat reached the landing stage, there were but a few
+steps more to the door of the Hotel Danieli. From a balcony on the first
+floor a young woman stood looking down onto the canal. She too was pale
+and her eyes were heavy with anxiety. She had been pale and anxious even
+then, the day when she left the beautiful old house in the quiet street,
+to start on this pleasure trip to Venice.
+
+It had been no pleasure trip to her. She had seen the change in her
+husband, a change that struck deep into his very being and altered him
+in everything except in his love and tender care for her. "Oh, why is
+it? what is the matter?" she asked her self a thousand times a day.
+Could it be possible that he had discovered the secret which tortured
+her, the only secret she had ever had from him, the secret she had
+longed to confess to him a hundred times but had lacked courage to do
+it.
+
+For she had sinned deeply against her husband, she knew. Her fear and
+her confusion had driven her deeper and deeper into the waters of
+deceit until it was impossible for her to find the words that would have
+brought help and comfort from the man whom she loved more than anything
+else in the world. In the very earliest stages of Winkler's persecution
+she had lost her head completely and instead of confessing to her
+husband and asking for his aid and protection, she had pawned the rich
+jewels which had been his wedding present to get the money demanded
+by the blackmailer. In her ignorance she had thought that this one sum
+would satisfy him.
+
+But he came again and again, demanding money which she saved from
+her pin money, from her household allowance, thus taking what she had
+intended to use to redeem her jewels. The pledge was lost, and her
+jewels gone forever. From now on, Mrs. Thorne lived in a terror which
+sapped her strength and drank her life blood drop by drop. Any hour
+might bring discovery, a discovery which she feared would shake her
+husband's love for her. The poor weak little woman grew pale and ill.
+She wrote finally to her step-brother, but he could think of no way
+out; he wrote only that if the matter came to a scandal there would be
+nothing for him to do but to kill himself. This was one reason more for
+her silence, and Mrs. Thorne faded to a wan shadow of her former sunny
+self.
+
+As she looked down from the balcony, she was like a woman suffering
+from a deathly illness. A new terror had come to her heart because her
+husband had gone away so early without telling her why or whither he had
+gone. When she saw him coming towards the door of the hotel, pale and
+drooping, and when she saw Mrs. Bernauer beside him, her heart seemed to
+stand still. She crept back from the window and stood in the middle of
+the room as Herbert Thorne and his former nurse entered.
+
+"What has happened?" This was all she could say as she looked into the
+distraught face of the housekeeper, into her husband's sad eyes.
+
+He led her to a chair, then knelt beside her and told her all.
+
+"Outside the door stands the man who will take me back to Vienna--and
+you, my dearest, you must go to your father." He concluded his story
+with these words.
+
+She bent down over him and kissed him. "'No, I am going with you," she
+said softly, strangely calm; "why should I leave you now? Is it not I
+who am the cause of this dreadful thing?"
+
+And then she made her confession, much too late. And she went with him,
+back to the city of their home. It seemed to them both quite natural
+that she should do so.
+
+When the Northern Express rolled out of Venice that afternoon, three
+people sat together in a compartment, the curtains of which were drawn
+close. They were the unhappy couple and their faithful servant. And
+outside in the corridor of the railway carriage, a small, slight man
+walked up and down--up and down. He had pressed a gold coin into the
+conductor's hand, with the words: "The party in there do not wish to be
+disturbed; the lady is ill."
+
+Herbert Thorne's trial took place several weeks later. Every possible
+extenuating circumstance was brought to bear upon his sentence. Five
+years only was to be the term of his imprisonment, his punishment for
+the crime of a single moment of anger.
+
+His wife waited for him in patient love. She did not go to Graz, but
+continued to live in the old mansion with the mansard roof. Her father
+was with her. The brother Theobald, the cause of all this suffering to
+those who had shielded him at the expense of their own happiness, had at
+last done the only good deed of his life--had put an end to his useless
+existence with his own hand.
+
+Father and daughter waited patiently for the return of the man who had
+sinned and suffered for their sake. They spoke of him only in terms of
+the tenderest affection and respect.
+
+And indeed, seldom has any condemned murderer met with the respect of
+the entire community as Herbert Thorne did. The tone of the newspapers,
+and public opinion, evinced by hundreds of letters from friends,
+acquaintances, and from strangers, was a great boon to the solitary man
+in his cell, and to the three loving hearts in the old house. And at
+the end of two years the clemency of the Monarch ended his term of
+imprisonment, and Herbert Thorne was set free, a step which met with the
+approval of the entire city.
+
+He returned to the home where love and affection awaited him, ready to
+make him forget what he had suffered. But the silver threads in his dark
+hair and a certain quiet seriousness in his manner, and in the hearts of
+all the dwellers in the old mansion, showed that the occurrence of that
+fatal 27th of September had thrown a shadow over them all which was not
+to be shaken off.
+
+Joseph Muller brought many other cases to a successful solution. But for
+years after this particular case had been won, he was followed, as by
+a shadow, by a man who watched over him, and who, whenever danger
+threatened, stood over the frail detective as if to take the blow upon
+himself. He is a clever assistant, too, and no one who had seen Johann
+Knoll the day that he was put into the cell on suspicion of murder
+would have believed that the idle tramp could become again such a useful
+member of society. These are the victories that Joseph Muller considers
+his greatest.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lamp That Went Out, by Augusta Groner
+
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