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diff --git a/old/pbips10.txt b/old/pbips10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75766e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pbips10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2435 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext: The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Joe Muller Detective Story: +#1 in our series by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner + +Being the Account of Some Adventures in the Professional +Experience of a Member of the Imperial Austrian Police + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. + + + + + +The Case of The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study + +by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner + + + + +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. + + + + +JOE MULLER: DETECTIVE + + + + + +THE CASE OF THE POOL OF BLOOD IN THE PASTOR'S STUDY + +by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner + + + +I + +The sun rose slowly over the great bulk of the Carpathian mountains +lying along the horizon, weird giant shapes in the early morning +mist. It was still very quiet in the village. A cock crowed here +and there, and swallows flew chirping close to the ground, darting +swiftly about preparing for their higher flight. Janci the shepherd, +apparently the only human being already up, stood beside the brook +at the point where the old bridge spans the streamlet, still +turbulent from the mountain floods. Janci was cutting willows to +make his Margit a new basket. + +Once the shepherd raised his head from his work, for he thought he +heard a loud laugh somewhere in the near distance. But all seemed +silent and he turned back to his willows. The beauty of the +landscape about him was much too familiar a thing that he should +have felt or seen its charm. The violet hue of the distant woods, +the red gleaming of the heather-strewn moor, with its patches of +swamp from which the slow mist arose, the pretty little village with +its handsome old church and attractive rectory--Janci had known it +so long that he never stopped to realise how very charming, in its +gentle melancholy, it all was. + +Also, Janci did not know that this little village of his home had +once been a flourishing city, and that an invasion of the Turks +had razed it to the ground leaving, as by a miracle, only the church +to tell of former glories. + +The sun rose higher and higher. And now the village awoke to its +daily life. Voices of cattle and noises of poultry were heard +about the houses, and men and women began their accustomed round of +tasks. Janci found that he had gathered enough willow twigs by +this time. He tied them in a loose bundle and started on his +homeward way. + +His path led through wide-stretching fields and vineyards past a +little hill, some distance from the village, on which stood a large +house. It was not a pleasant house to look at, not a house one +would care to live in, even if one did not know its use, for it +looked bare and repellant, covered with its ugly yellow paint, and +with all the windows secured with heavy iron bars. The trees that +surrounded it were tall and thick-foliaged, casting an added gloom +over the forbidding appearance of the house. At the foot of the +hill was a high iron fence, cutting off what lay behind it from +all the rest of the world. For this ugly yellow house enclosed +in its walls a goodly sum of hopeless human misery and misfortune. +It was an insane asylum. + +For twenty years now, the asylum had stood on its hill, a source of +superstitious terror to the villagers, but at the same time a source +of added income. It meant money for them, for it afforded a +constant and ever-open market for their farm products and the output +of their home industry. But every now and then a scream or a harsh +laugh would ring out from behind those barred windows, and those in +the village who could hear, would shiver and cross themselves. +Shepherd Janci had little fear of the big house. His little hut +cowered close by the high iron gates, and he had a personal +acquaintance with most of the patients, with all of the attendants, +and most of all, with the kind elderly physician who was the head +of the establishment. Janci knew them all, and had a kind word +equally for all. But otherwise he was a silent man, living much +within himself. + +When the shepherd reached his little home, his wife came to meet +him with a call to breakfast. As they sat down at the table a +shadow moved past the little window. Janci looked up. "Who was +that?" asked Margit, looking up from her folded hands. She had +just finished her murmured prayer. + +"Pastor's Liska," replied Janci indifferently, beginning his meal. +(Liska was the local abbreviation for Elizabeth.)' + +"In such a hurry?" thought the shepherd's wife. Her curiosity would +not let her rest. "I hope His Reverence isn't ill again," she +remarked after a while. Janci did not hear her, for he was very +busy picking a fly out of his milk cup. + +"Do you think Liska was going for the old man?" began Margit again +after a few minutes. + +The "old man" was the name given by the people of the village, more +as a term of endearment than anything else, to the generally loved +and respected physician who was the head of the insane asylum. He +had become general mentor and oracle of all the village and was +known and loved by man, woman and child. + +"It's possible," answered Janci. + +"His Reverence didn't look very well yesterday, or maybe the old +housekeeper has the gout again." + +Janci gave a grunt which might have meant anything. The shepherd +was a silent man. Being alone so much had taught him to find his +own thoughts sufficient company. Ten minutes passed in silence +since Margit's last question, then some one went past the window. +There were two people this time, Liska and the old doctor. They +were walking very fast, running almost. Margit sprang up and +hurried to the door to look after them. + +Janci sat still in his place, but he had laid aside his spoon and +with wide eyes was staring ahead of him, murmuring, "It's the pastor +this time; I saw him--just as I did the others." + +"Shepherd, the inn-keeper wants to see you, there's something the +matter with his cow." Count ---- a young man, coming from the other +direction and pushing in at the door past Margit, who stood there +staring up the road. + +Janci was so deep in his own thoughts that he apparently did not +hear the boy's words. At all events he did not answer them, but +himself asked an unexpected question--a question that was not +addressed to the others in the room, but to something out and +beyond them. It was a strange question and it came from the lips +of a man whose mind was not with his body at that moment--whose +mind saw what others did not see. + +"Who will be the next to go? And who will be our pastor now?" + +These were Janci's words. + +"What are you talking about, shepherd? Is it another one of your +visions?" exclaimed the young fellow who stood there before him. +Janci rubbed his hands over his eyes and seemed to come down to +earth with a start. + +"Oh, is that you, Ferenz? What do you want of me?" + +The boy gave his message again, and Janci nodded good-humouredly +and followed him out of the house. But both he and his young +companion were very thoughtful as they plodded along the way. The +boy did not dare to ask any questions, for he knew that the shepherd +was not likely to answer. There was a silent understanding among +the villagers that no one should annoy Janci in any way, for they +stood in a strange awe of him, although he was the most +good-natured mortal under the sun. + +While the shepherd and the boy walked toward the inn, the old +doctor and Liska had hurried onward to the rectory. They were met +at the door by the aged housekeeper, who staggered down the path +wringing her hands, unable to give voice to anything but +inarticulate expressions of grief and terror. The rest of the +household and the farm hands were gathered in a frightened group +in the great courtyard of the stately rectory which had once been +a convent building. The physician hurried up the stairs into the +pastor's apartments. These were high sunny and airy rooms with +arched ceilings, deep window seats, great heavy doors and +handsomely ornamented stoves. The simple modern furniture appeared +still more plain and common-place by contrast with the huge spaces +of the building. + +In one of the rooms a gendarme was standing beside the window. The +man saluted the physician, then shrugged his shoulders with an +expression of hopelessness. The doctor returned a silent greeting +and passed through into the next apartment. The old man was paler +than usual and his face bore an expression of pain and surprise, +the same expression that showed in the faces of those gathered +downstairs. The room he now entered was large like the others, the +walls handsomely decorated, and every corner of it was flooded with +sunshine. There were two men in this room, the village magistrate +and the notary. Their expression, as they held out their hands +to the doctor, showed that his coming brought great relief. And +there was something else in the room, something that drew the eyes +of all three of the men immediately after their silent greeting. + +This was a great pool of blood which lay as a hideous stain on the +otherwise clean yellow-painted floor. The blood must have flowed +from a dreadful wound, from a severed artery even, the doctor +thought, there was such a quantity of it. It had already dried and +darkened, making its terrifying ugliness the more apparent. + +"This is the third murder in two years," said the magistrate in a +low voice. + +"And the most mysterious of all of them," added the clerk. + +"Yes, it is," said the doctor. "And there is not a trace of the +body, you say?--or a clue as to where they might have taken the +dead--or dying man?" + +With these words he looked carefully around the room, but there +was no more blood to be seen anywhere. Any spot would have been +clearly visible on the light-coloured floor. There was nothing +else to tell of the horrible crime that had been committed here, +nothing but the great, hideous, brown-red spot in the middle of +the room. + +"Have you made a thorough search for the body?" asked the doctor. + +The magistrate shook his head. "No, I have done nothing to speak +of yet. We have been waiting for you. There is a gendarme at the +gate; no one can go in or out without being seen." + +"Very well, then, let us begin our search now." + +The magistrate and his companion turned towards the door of the +room but the doctor motioned them to come back. "I see you do not +know the house as well as I do," he said, and led the way towards +a niche in the side of the wall, which was partially filled by a +high bookcase. + +"Ah--that is the entrance of the passage to the church?" asked +the magistrate in surprise. + +"Yes, this is it. The door is not locked." + +"You mean you believe--" + +"That the murderers came in from the church? Why not? It is +quite possible." + +"To think of such a thing!" exclaimed the notary with a shake of +his head. + +The doctor laughed bitterly. "To those who are planning a murder, +a church is no more than any other place. There is a bolt here as +you see. I will close this bolt now. Then we can leave the room +knowing that no one can enter it without being seen." + +The simple furniture of the study, a desk, a sofa, a couple of +chairs and several bookcases, gave no chance of any hiding place +either for the body of the victim or for the murderers. When the +men left the room the magistrate locked the door and put the key +in his own pocket. The gendarme in the neighbouring apartment was +sent down to stand in the courtyard at the entrance to the house. +The sexton, a little hunchback, was ordered to remain in the vestry +at the other end of the passage from the church to the house. + +Then the thorough search of the house began. Every room in both +stories, every corner of the attic and the cellar, was looked over +thoroughly. The stable, the barns, the garden and even the well +underwent a close examination. There was no trace of a body +anywhere, not even a trail of blood, nothing which would give the +slightest clue as to how the murderers had entered, how they had +fled, or what they had done with their victim. + +The great gate of the courtyard was closed. The men, reinforced by +the farm hands, entered the church, while Liska and the dairy-maids +huddled in the servants' dining-room in a trembling group around +the old housekeeper. The search in the church as well as in the +vestry was equally in vain. There was no trace to be found there +any more than in the house. + +Meanwhile, during these hours of anxious seeking, the rumour of +another terrible crime had spread through the village, and a crowd +that grew from minute to minute gathered in front of the closed +gates to the rectory, in front of the church, the closed doors of +which did not open although it was a high feast day. The utter +silence from the steeple, where the bells hung mute, added to the +spreading terror. Finally the doctor came out from the rectory, +accompanied by the magistrate, and announced to the waiting +villagers that their venerable pastor had disappeared under +circumstances which left no doubt that he had met his death at +the hand of a murderer. The peasants listened in shuddering silence, +the men pale-faced, the women sobbing aloud with frightened children +hanging to their skirts. Then at the magistrate's order, the crowd +dispersed slowly, going to their homes, while a messenger set off +to the near-by county seat. + +It was a weird, sad Easter Monday. Even nature seemed to feel the +pressure of the brooding horror, for heavy clouds piled up towards +noon and a chill wind blew fitfully from the north, bending the +young corn and the creaking tree-tops, and moaning about the +straw-covered roofs. Then an icy cold rain descended on the village, +sending the children, the only humans still unconscious of the fear +that had come on them all, into the houses to play quietly in the +corner by the hearth. + +There was nothing else spoken of wherever two or three met together +throughout the village except this dreadful, unexplainable thing +that had happened in the rectory. The little village inn was full +to overflowing and the hum of voices within was like the noise of +an excited beehive. Everyone had some new explanation, some new +guess, and it was not until the notary arrived, looking even more +important than usual, that silence fell upon the excited throng. +But the expectations aroused by his coming were not fulfilled. The +notary knew no more than the others although he had been one of the +searchers in the rectory. But he was in no haste to disclose his +ignorance, and sat wrapped in a dignified silence until some one +found courage to question him. + +"Was there nothing stolen?" he was asked. + +"No, nothing as far as we can tell yet. But if it was the gypsies +--as may be likely--they are content with so little that it would +not be noticed." + +"Gypsies?" exclaimed one man scornfully. "It doesn't have to be +gypsies, we've got enough tramps and vagabonds of our own. Didn't +they kill the pedlar for the sake of a bag of tobacco, and old +Katiza for a couple of hens?" + +"Why do you rake up things that happened twenty years ago?" cried +another over the table. "You'd better tell us rather who killed Red +Betty, and pulled Janos, the smith's farm hand, down into the swamp?" + +"Yes, or who cut the bridge supports, when the brook was in flood, +so that two good cows broke through and drowned?" + +"Yes, indeed, if we only knew what band of robbers and villains it +is that is ravaging our village." + +"And they haven't stopped yet, evidently." + +"This is the worst misfortune of all! What will our poor do now +that they have murdered our good pastor, who cared for us all like +a father?" + +"He gave all he had to the poor, he kept nothing for himself." + +"Yes, indeed, that's how it was. And now we can't even give this +good man Christian burial." + +"Shepherd Janci knew this morning early that we were going to have +a new pastor," whispered the landlord in the notary's ear. The +latter looked up astonished. "Who said so?" he asked. + +"My boy Ferenz, who went to fetch him about seven o'clock. One of +my cows was sick." + +Ferenz was sent for and told his story. The men listened with +great interest, and the smith, a broad-shouldered elderly man, +was particularly eager to hear, as he had always believed in the +shepherd's power of second sight. The tailor, who was more +modern-minded, laughed and made his jokes at this. But the smith +laid one mighty hand on the other's shoulder, almost crushing the +tailor's slight form under its weight, and said gravely: "Friend, do +you be silent in this matter. You've come from other parts and you +do not know of things that have happened here in days gone by. Janci +can do more than take care of his sheep. One day, when my little +girl was playing in the street, he said to me, 'Have a care of +Maruschka, smith!' and three days later the child was dead. The +evening before Red Betty was murdered he saw her in a vision lying +in a coffin in front of her door. He told it to the sexton, whom +he met in the fields; and next morning they found Betty dead. And +there are many more things that I could tell you, but what's the +use; when a man won't believe it's only lost talk to try to make +him. But one thing you should know: when Janci stares ahead of +him without seeing what's in front of him, then the whole village +begins to wonder what's going to happen, for Janci knows far more +than all the rest of us put together." + +The smith's grave, deep voice filled the room and the others +listened in a silence that gave assent to his words. He had +scarcely finished speaking, however, when there was a noise of +galloping hoofs and rapidly rolling wagon wheels. A tall brake +drawn by four handsome horses dashed past in a whirlwind. + +"It's the Count--the Count and the district judge," said the +landlord in a tone of respect. The notary made a grab at his hat +and umbrella and hurried from the room. "That shows how much they +thought of our pastor," continued the landlord proudly. "For the +Count himself has come and with four horses, too, to get here the +more quickly. His Reverence was a great friend of the Countess." + +"They didn't make so much fuss over the pedlar and Betty," murmured +the cobbler, who suffered from a perpetual grouch. But he followed +the others, who paid their scores hastily and went out into the +streets that they might watch from a distance at least what was +going on in the rectory. The landlord bustled about the inn to have +everything in readiness in case the gentlemen should honour him by +taking a meal, and perhaps even lodgings, at his house. At the gate +of the rectory the coachman and the maid Liska stood to receive the +newcomers, just as five o'clock was striking from the steeple. + +It should have been still quite light, but it was already dusk, for +the clouds hung heavy. The rain had ceased, but a heavy wind came +up which tore the delicate petals of the blossoms from the fruit +trees and strewed them like snow on the ground beneath. The Count, +who was the head of one of the richest and most aristocratic +families in Hungary, threw off his heavy fur coat and hastened up +the stairs at the top of which his old friend and confidant, the +venerable pastor, usually came to meet him. To-day it was only the +local magistrate who stood there, bowing deeply. + +"This is incredible, incredible!" exclaimed the Count. + +"It is, indeed, sir," said the man, leading the magnate through the +dining-room into the pastor's study, where, as far as could be seen, +the murder had been committed. They were joined by the district +judge, who had remained behind to give an order sending a carriage +to the nearest railway station. The judge, too, was serious and +deeply shocked, for he also had greatly admired and revered the old +pastor. The stately rectory had been the scene of many a jovial +gathering when the lord of the manor had made it a centre for a day's +hunting with his friends. The bearers of some of the proudest names +in all Hungary had gathered in the high-arched rooms to laugh with +the venerable pastor and to sample the excellent wines in his cellar. +These wines, which the gentlemen themselves would send in as +presents to the master of the rectory, would be carefully preserved +for their own enjoyment. Not a landed proprietor for many leagues +around but knew and loved the old pastor, who had now so strangely +disappeared under such terrifying circumstances. + +"Well, we might as well begin our examination," remarked the Count. +"Although if Dr. Orszay's sharp eyes did not find anything, I doubt +very much if we will. You have asked the doctor to come here again, +haven't you?" + +"Yes, your Grace! As soon as I saw you coming I sent the sexton to +the asylum." Then the men went in again into the room which had +been the scene of the mysterious crime. The wind rattled the open +window and blew out its white curtains. It was already dark in the +corners of the room, one could see but indistinctly the carvings of +the wainscoting. The light backs of the books, or the gold letters +on the darker bindings, made spots of brightness in the gloom. The +hideous pool of blood in the centre of the floor was still plainly +to be seen. + +"Judging by the loss of blood, death must have come quickly." + +"There was no struggle, evidently, for everything in the room was +in perfect order when we entered it." + +"There is not even a chair misplaced. His Bible is there on the +desk, he may have been preparing for to-day's sermon." + +"Yes, that is the case; because see, here are some notes in his +handwriting." + +The Count and Judge von Kormendy spoke these sentences at intervals +as they made their examination of the room. The local magistrate +was able to answer one or two simpler questions, but for the most +part he could only shrug his shoulders in helplessness. Nothing had +been seen or heard that was at all unusual during the night in the +rectory. When the old housekeeper was called up she could say +nothing more than this. Indeed, it was almost impossible for the +old woman to say anything, her voice choked with sobs at every +second word. None of the household force had noticed anything +unusual, or could remember anything at all that would throw light +on this mystery. + +"Well, then, sir, we might just as well sit down and wait for the +detective's arrival," said the judge. + +"You are waiting for some one besides the doctor?" asked the local +magistrate timidly. + +"Yes, His Grace telegraphed to Budapest," answered the district +judge, looking at his watch. "And if the train is on time, the man +we are waiting for ought to be here in an hour. You sent the +carriage to the station, didn't you? Is the driver reliable?" + +"Yes, sir, he is a dependable man," said the old housekeeper. + +Dr. Orszay entered the room just then and the Count introduced him +to the district judge, who was still a stranger to him. + +"I fear, Count, that our eyes will serve but little in discovering +the truth of this mystery," said the doctor. + +The nobleman nodded. "I agree with you," he replied. "And I have +sent for sharper eyes than either yours or mine." + +The doctor looked his question, and the Count continued: "When the +news came to me I telegraphed to Pest for a police detective, +telling them that the case was peculiar and urgent. I received an +answer as I stopped at the station on my way here. This is it: +'Detective Joseph Muller from Vienna in Budapest by chance. Have +sent him to take your case.'" + +"Muller?" exclaimed Dr. Orszay. "Can it be the celebrated Muller, +the most famous detective of the Austrian police? That would indeed +be a blessing." + +"I hope and believe that it is," said the Count gravely. "I have +heard of this man and we need such a one here that we may find the +source of these many misfortunes which have overwhelmed our peaceful +village for two years past. It is indeed a stroke of good luck that +has led a man of such gifts into our neighbourhood at a time when +he is so greatly needed. I believe personally that it is the same +person or persons who have been the perpetrators of all these +outrages and I intend once for all to put a stop to it, let it cost +what it may." + +"If any one can discover the truth it will be Muller," said the +district judge. "It was I who told the Count how fortunate we were +that this man, who is known to the police throughout Austria and far +beyond the borders of our kingdom, should have chanced to be in +Budapest and free to come to us when we called. You and I"--he +turned with a smile to the local magistrate--"you and I can get +away with the usual cases of local brutality hereabouts. But the +cunning that is at the bottom of these crimes is one too many for +us." + +The men had taken their places around the great dining-table. The +old housekeeper had crept out again, her terror making her forget +her usual hospitality. And indeed it would not have occurred to the +guests to ask or even to wish for any refreshment. The maid brought +a lamp, which sent its weak rays scarcely beyond the edges of the +big table. The four men sat in silence for some time. + +"I suppose it would be useless to ask who has been coming and going +from the rectory the last few days?" began the Count. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, sir," said the district judge with a sigh. "For +if this murderer is the same who committed the other crimes he must +live here in or near the village, and therefore must be known to +all and not likely to excite suspicion." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," put in the doctor. "There must be at +least two of them. One man alone could not have carried off the +farm hand who was killed to the swamp where his body was found. +Nor could one man alone have taken away the bloody body of the +pastor. Our venerable friend was a man of size and weight, as +you know, and one man alone could not have dragged his body from +he room without leaving an easily seen trail." + +The judge blushed, but he nodded in affirmation to the doctor's +words. This thought had not occurred to him before. In fact, the +judge was more notable for his good will and his love of justice +rather than for his keen intelligence. He was as well aware of +this as was any one else, and he was heartily glad that the Count +had sent to the capital for reinforcements. + +Some time more passed in deep silence. Each of the men was occupied +with his own thoughts. A sigh broke the silence now and then, and +a slight movement when one or the other drew out his watch or raised +his head to look at the door. Finally, the sound of a carriage +outside was heard. The men sprang up. + +The driver's voice was heard, then steps which ascended the stairs +lowly and lightly, audible only because the stillness was so great. + +The door opened and a small, slight, smooth-shaven man with a gentle +face and keen grey eyes stood on the threshold. "I am Joseph +Muller," he said with a low, soft voice. + +The four men in the room looked at him in astonishment. + +"This simple-looking individual is the man that every one is afraid +of?" thought the Count, as he walked forward and held out his hand +to the stranger. + +"I sent for you, Mr. Muller," said the magnate, conscious of his +stately size and appearance, as well as of his importance in the +presence of a personage who so little looked what his great fame +might have led one to expect. + +"Then you are Count ---- ?" answered Muller gently. "I was in +Budapest, having just finished a difficult case which took me there. +They told me that a mysterious crime had happened in your +neighbourhood, and sent me here to take charge of it. You will +pardon any ignorance I may show as a stranger to this locality. +I will do my best and it may be possible that I can help you." + +The Count introduced the other gentlemen in order and they sat down +again at the table. + +"And now what is it you want me for, Count?" asked Muller. + +"There was a murder committed in this house," answered the Count. + +"When?" + +"Last night." + +"Who is the victim?" + +"Our pastor." + +"How was he killed?" + +"We do not know." + +"You are not a physician, then?" asked Muller, turning to Orszay. + +"Yes, I am," answered the latter. + +"Well?" + +"The body is missing," said Orszay, somewhat sharply. + +"Missing?" Muller became greatly interested. "Will you please +lead me to the scene of the crime?" he said, rising from his chair. + +The others led him into the next room, the magistrate going ahead +with a lamp. The judge called for more lights and the group stood +around the pool of blood on the floor of the study. Muller's arms +were crossed on his breast as he stood looking down at the hideous +spot. There was no terror in his eyes, as in those of the others, +but only a keen attention and a lively interest. + +"Who has been in this room since the discovery?" he asked. + +The doctor replied that only the servants of the immediate household, +the notary, the magistrate, and himself, then later the Count and +the district judge entered the room. + +"You are quite certain that no one else has been in here?" + +"No, no one else." + +"Will you kindly send for the three servants?" The magistrate left +the room. + +"Who else lives in the house?" + +"The sexton and the dairymaid." + +"And no one else has left the house to-day or has entered it?" + +"No one. The main door has been watched all day by a gendarme." + +"Is there but one door out of this room?" + +"No, there is a small door beside that bookcase." + +"Where does it lead to?" + +"It leads to a passageway at the end of which there is a stair down +into the vestry." + +Muller gave an exclamation of surprise. + +"The vestry as well as the church have neither of them been opened +on the side toward the street." + +"The church or the vestry, you mean," corrected Muller. "How many +doors have they on the street side?" + +"One each." + +"The locks on these doors were in good condition?" + +"Yes, they were untouched." + +"Was there anything stolen from the church?" + +"No, nothing that we could see." + +"Was the pastor rich?" + +"No, he was almost a poor man, for he gave away all that he had." + +"But you were his patron, Count." + +"I was his friend. He was the confidential adviser of myself and +family." + +"This would mean rich presents now and then, would it not?" + +"No, that is not the case. Our venerable pastor would take nothing +for himself. He would accept no presents but gifts of money for +his poor." + +"Then you do not believe this to have been a murder for the sake +of robbery?" + +"No. There was nothing disturbed in any part of the house, no +drawers or cupboards broken open at all." + +Muller smiled. "I have heard it said that your romantic Hungarian +bandits will often be satisfied with the small booty they may find +in the pocket or on the person of their victim." + +"You are right, Mr. Muller. But that is only when they can find +nothing else." + +"Or perhaps if it is a case of revenge. + +"It cannot be revenge in this case!" + +"The pastor was greatly loved?" + +"He was loved and revered." + +"By every one?" + +"By every one!" the four men answered at once. + +Muller was still a while. His eyes were veiled and his face +thoughtful. Finally he raised his head. "There has been nothing +moved or changed in this room?" + +"No--neither here nor anywhere else in the house or the church," +answered the local magistrate. + +"That is good. Now I would like to question the servants." + +Muller had already started for the door, then he turned back into +the room and pointing toward the second door he asked: "Is that +door locked?" + +"Yes," answered the Count. "I found it locked when I examined it +myself a short time ago." + +"It was locked on the inside?" + +"Yes, locked on the inside." + +"Very well. Then we have nothing more to do here for the time +being. Let us go back into the dining-room." + +The men returned to the dining-room, Muller last, for he stopped +to lock the door of the study and put the key in his pocket. Then +he began his examination of the servants. + +The old housekeeper, who, as usual, was the first to rise in the +household, had also, as usual, rung the bell to waken the other +servants. Then when Liska came downstairs she had sent her up +to the pastor's room. His bedroom was to the right of the +dining-room. Liska had, as usual, knocked on the door exactly at +seven o'clock and continued knocking for some few minutes without +receiving any answer. Slightly alarmed, the girl had gone back +and told the housekeeper that the pastor did not answer. + +Then the old woman asked the coachman to go up and see if anything +was the matter with the reverend gentleman. The man returned in +a few moments, pale and trembling in every limb and apparently +struck dumb by fright. He motioned the women to follow him, and +all three crept up the stairs. The coachman led them first to the +pastor's bed, which was untouched, and then to the pool of blood +in his study. The sight of the latter frightened the servants so +much that they did not notice at first that there was no sign of +the pastor himself, whom they now knew must have been murdered. +When they finally came to themselves sufficiently to take some +action, the man hurried off to call the magistrate, and Liska ran +to the asylum to fetch the old doctor; the pastor's intimate friend. +The aged housekeeper, trembling in fear, crept back to her own room +and sat there waiting the return of the others. + +This was the story of the early morning as told by the three +servants, who had already given their report in much the same words +to the Count on his arrival and also to the magistrate. There was +no reason to doubt the words of either the old housekeeper or of +Janos, the coachman, who had served for more than twenty years in +the rectory and whose fidelity was known. The girl Liska was +scarcely eighteen, and her round childish face and big eyes dimmed +with tears, corroborated her story. When they had told Muller all +they knew, the detective sat stroking, his chin, and looking +thoughtfully at the floor. Then he raised his head and said, in a +tone of calm friendliness: "Well, good friends, this will do for +to-night. Now, if you will kindly give me a bite to eat and a +glass of some light wine, I'd be very thankful. I have had no +food since early this morning." + +The housekeeper and the maid disappeared, and Janos went to the +stable to harness the Count's trap. + +The magnate turned to the detective. "I thank you once more that +you have come to us. I appreciate it greatly that a stranger to +our part of the country, like yourself, should give his time and +strength to this problem of our obscure little village." + +"There is nothing else calling me, sir," answered Muller. "And the +Budapest police will explain to headquarters at Vienna if I do not +return at once." + +"Do you understand our tongue sufficiently to deal with these people +here?" + +"Oh, yes; there will be no difficulty about that. I have hunted +criminals in Hungary before. And a case of this kind does not +usually call for disguises in which any accent would betray one." + +"It is a strange profession," said the doctor. + +"One gets used to it--like everything else," answered Muller, with +a gentle smile. "And now I have to thank you gentlemen for your +confidence in me." + +"Which I know you will justify," said the Count. + +Muller shrugged his shoulders: "I haven't felt anything yet--but +it will come--there's something in the air." + +The Count smiled at his manner of expressing himself, but all four +of the men had already begun to feel sympathy and respect for this +quiet-mannered little person whose words were so few and whose +voice was so gentle. Something in his grey eyes and in the quiet +determination of his manner made them realise that he had won his +fame honestly. With the enthusiasm of his race the Hungarian Count +pressed the detective's hand in a warm grasp as he said: "I know +that we can trust in you. You will avenge the death of my old +friend and of those others who were killed here. The doctor and +the magistrate will tell you about them to-morrow. We two will go +home now. Telegraph us as soon as anything has happened. Every +one in the village will be ready to help you and of course you can +call on me for funds. Here is something to begin on." With these +words the Count laid a silk purse full of gold pieces on the table. +One more pressure of the hand and he was gone. The other men also +left the room, following the Count's lead in a cordial farewell of +the detective. They also shared the nobleman's feeling that now +indeed, with this man to help them, could the cloud of horror that +had hung over the village for two years, and had culminated in +the present catastrophe, be lifted. + +The excitement of the Count's departure had died away and the steps +of the other men on their way to the village had faded in the +distance. There was nothing now to be heard but the rustling of +the leaves and the creaking of the boughs as the trees bent before +the onrush of the wind. Muller stood alone, with folded arms, in +the middle of the large room, letting his sharp eyes wander about +the circle of light thrown by the lamps. He was glad to be alone +--for only when he was alone could his brain do its best work. He +took up one of the lamps and opened the door to the room in which, +as far as could be known, the murder had been committed. He +walked in carefully and, setting the lamp on the desk, examined the +articles lying about on it. There was nothing of importance to be +found there. An open Bible and a sheet of paper with notes for the +day's sermon lay on top of the desk. In the drawers, none of which +were locked, were official papers, books, manuscripts of former +sermons, and a few unimportant personal notes. + +The flame of the lamp flickered in the breeze that came from the +open window. But Muller did not close the casement. He wanted to +leave everything just as he had found it until daylight. When he +saw that it was impossible to leave the lamp there he took it up +again and left the room. + +"What is the use of being impatient?" he said to himself. "If I +move about in this poor light I will be sure to ruin some possible +clue. For there must be some clue left here. It is impossible for +even the most practiced criminal not to leave some trace of his +presence." + +The detective returned to the dining-room, locking the study door +carefully behind him. The maid and the coachman returned, bringing +in an abundant supper, and Muller sat down to do justice to the many +good things on the tray. When the maid returned to take away the +dishes she inquired whether she should put the guest chamber in +order for the detective. He told her not to go to any trouble for +his sake, that he would sleep in the bed in the neighbouring room. + +"You going to sleep in there?" said the girl, horrified. + +"Yes, my child, and I think I will sleep well to-night. I feel +very tired." Liska carried the things out, shaking her head in +surprise at this thin little man who did not seem to know what it +was to be afraid. Half an hour later the rectory was in darkness. +Before he retired, Muller had made a careful examination of the +pastor's bedroom. Nothing was disturbed anywhere, and it was +evident that the priest had not made any preparations for the +night, but was still at work at his desk in the study when death +overtook him. When he came to this conclusion, the detective went +to bed and soon fell asleep. + +In his little hut near the asylum gates, shepherd Janci slept as +sound as usual. But he was dreaming and he spoke in his sleep. +There was no one to hear him, for his faithful Margit was snoring +loudly. Snatches of sentences and broken words came from Janci's +lips: "The hand--the big hand--I see it--at his throat--the +face--the yellow face--it laughs--" + +Next morning the children on their way to school crept past the +rectory with wide eyes and open mouths. And the grown people +spoke in lower tones when their work led them past the handsome +old house. It had once been their pride, but now it was a place +of horror to them. The old housekeeper had succumbed to her +fright and was very ill. Liska went about her work silently, +and the farm servants walked more heavily and chattered less than +they had before. The hump-backed sexton, who had not been allowed +to enter the church and therefore had nothing to do, made an early +start for the inn, where he spent most of the day telling what +little he knew to the many who made an excuse to follow him there. + +The only calm and undisturbed person in the rectory household was +Muller. He had made a thorough examination of the entire scene of +the murder, but had not found anything at all. Of one thing alone +was he certain: the murderer had come through the hidden passageway +from the church. There were two reasons to believe this, one of +which might possibly not be sufficient, but the other was conclusive. + +The heavy armchair before the desk, the chair on which the pastor +was presumably sitting when the murderer entered, was half turned +around, turned in just such a way as it would have been had the man +who was sitting there suddenly sprung up in excitement or surprise. +The chair was pushed back a step from the desk and turned towards +the entrance to the passageway. Those who had been in the room +during the day had reported that they had not touched any one of +the articles of furniture, therefore the position of the chair was +the same that had been given it by the man who had sat in it, by +the murdered pastor himself. + +Of course there was always the possibility that some one had moved +the chair without realising it. This clue, therefore, could not be +looked upon as an absolutely certain one had it stood alone. But +there was other evidence far more important. The great pool of +blood was just half-way between the door of the passage and the +armchair. It was here, therefore, that the attack had taken place. +The pastor could not have turned in this direction in the hope of +flight, for there was nothing here to give him shelter, no weapon +that he could grasp, not even a cane. He must have turned in this +direction to meet and greet the invader who had entered his room in +this unusual manner. Turned to meet him as a brave man would, with +no other weapon than the sacredness of his calling and his age. + +But this had not been enough to protect the venerable priest. The +murderer must have made his thrust at once and his victim had sunk +down dying on the floor of the room in which he had spent so many +hours of quiet study, in which he had brought comfort and given +advice to so many anxious hearts; for dying he must have been--it +would be impossible for a man to lose so much blood and live. + +"The struggle," thought the detective, "but was there a struggle?" +He looked about the room again, but could see nothing that showed +disorder anywhere in its immaculate neatness. No, there could have +been no struggle. It must have been a quick knife thrust and death +at once. "Not a shot?" No, a shot would have been heard by the +night watchman walking the streets near the church. The night was +quiet, the window open. Some one in the village would have heard +the noise of a shot. And it was not likely that the old housekeeper +who slept in the room immediately below, slept the light sleep of +the aged would have failed to have heard the firing of a pistol. + +Muller took a chair and sat down directly in front of the pool of +blood, looking at it carefully. Suddenly he bowed his head deeper. +He had caught sight of a fine thread of the red fluid which had +been drawn out for about a foot or two in the direction towards +the door to the dining-room. What did that mean? Did it mean that +the murderer went out through that door, dragging something after +him that made this delicate line? Muller bent down still deeper. +The sun shone brightly on the floor, sending its clear rays +obliquely through the window. The sharp eyes which now covered +every inch of the yellow-painted floor discovered something else. +They discovered that this red thread curved slightly and had a +continuation in a fine scratch in the paint of the floor. Muller +followed up this scratch and it led him over towards the window and +then back again in wide curves, then out again under the desk and +finally, growing weaker and weaker, it came back to the neighbourhood +of the pool of blood, but on the opposite side of it. Muller got +down on his hands and knees to follow up the scratch. He did not +notice the discomfort of his position, his eyes shone in excitement +and a deep flush glowed in his cheeks. Also, he began to whistle +softly. + +Joseph Muller, the bloodhound of the Austrian police, had found a +clue, a clue that soon would bring him to the trail he was seeking. +He did not know yet what he could do with his clue. But this much +he knew; sooner or later this scratch in the floor would lead him +to the murderer. The trail might be long and devious; but he would +follow it and at its end would be success. He knew that this scratch +had been made after the murder was committed; this was proved by the +blood that marked its beginning. And it could not have been made by +any of those who entered the room during the day because by that +time the blood had dried. This strange streak in the floor, with +its weird curves and spirals, could have been made only by the +murderer. But how? With what instrument? There was the riddle +which must be solved. + +And now Muller, making another careful examination of the floor, +found something else. It was something that might be utterly +unimportant or might be of great value. It was a tiny bit of +hardened lacquer which he found on the floor beside one of the legs +of the desk. It was rounded out, with sharp edges, and coloured +grey with a tiny zigzag of yellow on its surface. Muller lifted it +carefully and looked at it keenly. This tiny bit of lacquer had +evidently been knocked off from some convex object, but it was +impossible to tell at the moment just what sort of an object it +might have been. There are so many different things which are +customarily covered with lacquer. However, further examination +brought him down to a narrower range of subjects. For on the inside +of the lacquer he found a shred of reddish wood fibre. It must have +been a wooden object, therefore, from which the lacquer came, and +the wood had been of reddish tinge. + +Muller pondered the matter for a little while longer. Then he +placed his discovery carefully in the pastor's emptied tobacco-box, +and dropped the box in his own pocket. He closed the window and the +door to the dining-room, lit a lamp, and entered the passageway +leading to the vestry. It was a short passageway, scarcely more +than a dozen paces long. + +The walls were whitewashed, the floor tiled and the entire passage +shone in neatness. Muller held the light of his lamp to every inch +of it, but there was nothing to show that the criminal had gone +through here with the body of his victim. + +"The criminal"--Muller still thought of only one. His long +experience had taught him that the most intricate crimes were +usually committed by one man only. The strength necessary for such +a crime as this did not deceive him either. He knew that in +extraordinary moments extraordinary strength will come to the one +who needs it. + +He now passed down the steps leading into the vestry. There was no +trace of any kind here either. The door into the vestry was not +locked. It was seldom locked, they had told him, for the vestry +itself was closed by a huge carved portal with a heavy ornamented +iron lock that could be opened only with the greatest noise and +trouble. This door was locked and closed as it had been since +yesterday morning. Everything in the vestry was in perfect order; +the priest's garments and the censers all in their places. Muller +assured himself of this before he left the little room. He then +opened the glass door that led down by a few steps into the church. + +It was a beautiful old church, and it was a rich church also. It +was built in the older Gothic style, and its heavy, broad-arched +walls, its massive columns would have made it look cold and bare +had not handsome tapestries, the gift of the lady of the manor, +covered the walls. Fine old pictures hung here and there above the +altars, and handsome stained glass windows broke the light that fell +into the high vaulted interior. There were three great altars in +the church, all of them richly decorated. The main altar stood +isolated in the choir. In the open space behind it was the +entrance to the crypt, now veiled in a mysterious twilight. Heavy +silver candlesticks, three on a side, stood on the altar. The pale +gold of the tabernacle door gleamed between them. + +Muller walked through the silent church, in which even his light +steps resounded uncannily. He looked into each of the pews, into +the confessionals, he walked around all the columns, he climbed up +into the pulpit, he did everything that the others had done before +him yesterday. And as with them, he found nothing that would +indicate that the murderer had spent any time in the church. +Finally he turned back once more to the main altar on his way out. +But he did not leave the church as he intended. His last look at +the altar had showed him something that attracted his attention and +he walked up the three steps to examine it more closely. + +What he had seen was something unusual about one of the silver +candlesticks. These candlesticks had three feet, and five of them +were placed in such a way that the two front feet were turned toward +the spectator. But on the end candlestick nearest Muller the single +foot projected out to the front of the altar. This candlestick +therefore had been set down hastily, not placed carefully in the +order of things as were the others. + +And not only this. The heavy wax candle which was in the candlestick +was burned down about a finger's breadth more than the others, for +these were all exactly of a height. Muller bent still nearer to +the candlestick, but he saw that the dim light in the church was not +sufficient. He went to one of the smaller side altars, took a candle +from there, lit it with one of the matches that he found in his own +pocket and returned with the burning candle to the main altar. The +steps leading up to this altar were covered by a large rug with a +white ground and a pattern of flowers. Looking carefully at it the +detective saw a tiny brown spot, the mark of a burn, upon one of the +white surfaces. Beside it lay a half used match. + +Walking around this carefully, Muller approached the candlestick +that interested him and holding up his light he examined every inch +of its surface. He found what he was looking for. There were dark +red spots between the rough edges of the silver ornamentation. + +"Then the body is somewhere around here," thought the detective and +came down from the steps, still holding the burning candle. + +He walked slowly to the back of the altar. There was a little table +there such as held the sacred dishes for the communion service, and +the little carpet-covered steps which the sexton put out for the +pastor when he took the monstrance from the high-built tabernacle. +That was all that was to be seen in the dark corner behind the altar. +Holding his candle close to the floor Muller discovered an iron ring +fastened to one of the big stone flags. This must be the entrance +to the crypt. + +Muller tried to raise the flag and was astonished to find how easily +it came up. It was a square of reddish marble, the same with which +the entire floor of the church was tiled. This flag was very thin +and could easily be raised and placed back against the wall. Muller +took up his candle, too greatly excited to stop to get a stick for +it. He felt assured that now he would soon be able to solve at +least a part of the mystery. He climbed down the steps carefully +and found that they led into the crypt as he supposed. They were +kept spotlessly clean, as was the entire crypt as far as he could +see it by the light of his flickering candle. He was not surprised +to discover that the air was perfectly pure here. There must be +windows or ventilators somewhere, this he knew from the way his +candle behaved. + +The ancient vault had a high arched ceiling and heavy massive +pillars. It was a subterranean repetition of the church above. +There had evidently been a convent attached to this church at one +time; for here stood a row of simple wooden coffins all exactly +alike, bearing each one upon its lid a roughly painted cross +surrounded by a wreath. Thus were buried the monks of days long past. + +Muller walked slowly through the rows of coffins looking eagerly to +each side. Suddenly he stopped and stood still. His hand did not +tremble but his thin face was pale--pale as that face which looked +up at him out of one of the coffins. The lid of the coffin stood +up against the wall and Muller saw that there were several other +empty ones further on, waiting for their silent occupants. + +The body in the open coffin before which Muller stood was the body +of the man who had been missing since the day previous. He lay +there quite peacefully, his hands crossed over his breast, his eyes +closed, a line of pain about his lips. In the crossed fingers was +a little bunch of dark yellow roses. At the first glance one might +almost have thought that loving hands had laid the old pastor in his +coffin. But the red stain on the white cloth about his throat, and +the bloody disorder of his snow-white hair contrasted sadly with the +look of peace on the dead face. Under his head was a white silk +cushion, one of the cushions from the altar. + +Muller stood looking down for some time at this poor victim of a +strange crime, then he turned to go. + +He wanted to know one thing more: how the murderer had left the +crypt. The flame of his candle told him, for it nearly went out +in a gust of wind that came down the opening right above him. This +was a window about three or four feet from the floor, protected by +rusty iron bars which had been sawed through, leaving the opening +free. It was a small window, but it was large enough to allow a man +of much greater size than Muller to pass through it. The detective +blew out his candle and climbed up onto the window sill. He found +himself outside, in a corner of the churchyard. A thicket of heavy +bushes grown up over neglected graves completely hid the opening +through which he had come. There were thorns on these bushes and +also a few scattered roses, dark yellow roses. + +Muller walked thoughtfully through the churchyard. The sexton sat +huddled in an unhappy heap at the gate. He looked up in alarm as he +saw the detective walking towards him. Something in the stranger's +face told the little hunchback that he had made a discovery. The +sexton sprang up, his lips did not dare utter the question that his +eyes asked. + +"I have found him," said the detective gravely. + +The hunchback sexton staggered, then recovered himself, and hurried +away to fetch the magistrate and the doctor. + +An hour later the murdered pastor lay in state in the chief apartment +of his home, surrounded by burning candles and high-heaped masses of +flowers. But he still lay in the simple convent coffin and the little +bunch of roses which his murderer had placed between his stiffening +fingers had not been touched. + +Two days later the pastor was buried. The Count and his family led +the train of numerous mourners and among the last was Muller. + +A day or two after the funeral the detective sauntered slowly through +the main street of the village. He was not in a very good humour, +his answer to the greeting of those who passed him was short. The +children avoided him, for with the keenness of their kind they +recognised the fact that this usually gentle little man was not in +possession of his habitual calm temper. One group of boys, playing +with a top, did not notice his coming and Muller stopped behind +them to look on. Suddenly a sharp whistle was heard and the boys +looked up from their play, surprised at seeing the stranger behind +them. His eyes were gleaming, and his cheeks were flushed, and a +few bars of a merry tune came in a keen whistle from his lips as +he watched the spirals made by the spinning top. + +Before the boys could stop their play the detective had left the +group and hastened onward to the little shop. He left it again +in eager haste after having made his purchase, and hurried back to +the rectory. The shop-keeper stood in the doorway looking in +surprise at this grown man who came to buy a top. And at home in +the rectory the old housekeeper listened in equal surprise to the +humming noise over her head. She thought at first it might be a +bee that had got in somehow. Then she realised that it was not +quite the same noise, and having already concluded that it was of +no use to be surprised at anything this strange guest might do, she +continued reading her scriptures. + +Upstairs in the pastor's study, Muller sat in the armchair +attentively watching the gyrations of a spinning top. The little +toy, started at a certain point, drew a line exactly parallel to +the scratch on the floor that had excited his thoughts and absorbed +them day and night. + +"It was a top--a top" repeated the detective to himself again and +again. "I don't see why I didn't think of that right away. Why, +of course, nothing else could have drawn such a perfect curve around +the room, unhindered by the legs of the desk. Only I don't see how +a toy like that could have any connection with this cruel and +purposeless murder. Why, only a fool--or a madman--" + +Muller sprang up from his chair and again a sharp shrill whistle +came from his lips. "A madman!--" he repeated, beating his own +forehead. "It could only have been a madman who committed this +murder! And the pastor was not the first, there were two other +murders here within a comparatively short time. I think I will take +advantage of Dr. Orszay's invitation." + +Half an hour later Muller and the doctor sat together in a +summer-house, from the windows of which one could see the park +surrounding the asylum to almost its entire extent. The park was +arranged with due regard to its purpose. The eye could sweep +through it unhindered. There were no bushes except immediately +along the high wall. Otherwise there were beautiful lawns, flower +beds and groups of fine old trees with tall trunks. + +As would be natural in visiting such a place Muller had induced the +doctor to talk about his patients. Dr. Orszay was an excellent +talker and possessed the power of painting a personality for his +listeners. He was pleased and flattered by the evident interest +with which the detective listened to his remarks. + +"Then your patients are all quite harmless?" asked Muller +thoughtfully, when the doctor came to a pause. + +"Yes, all quite harmless. Of course, there is the man who strangely +enough considers himself the reincarnation of the famous French +murderer, the goldsmith Cardillac, who, as you remember, kept all +Paris in a fervour of excitement by his crimes during the reign of +Louis XIV. But in spite of his weird mania this man is the most +good-natured of any. He has been shut up in his room for several +days now. He was a mechanician by trade, living in Budapest, and +an unsuccessful invention turned his mind." + +"Is he a large, powerful man?" asked Muller. + +Dr. Orszay looked a bit surprised. "Why do you ask that? He does +happen to be a large man of considerable strength, but in spite of +it I have no fear of him. I have an attendant who is invaluable to +me, a man of such strength that even the fiercest of them cannot +overcome him, and yet with a mind and a personal magnetism which +they cannot resist. He can always master our patients mentally and +physically--most of them are afraid of him and they know that they +must do as he says. There is something in his very glance which +has the power to paralyse even healthy nerves, for it shows the +strength of will possessed by this man." + +"And what is the name of this invaluable attendant?" asked Muller +with a strange smile which the doctor took to be slightly ironical. + +"Gyuri Kovacz. You are amused at my enthusiasm? But consider my +position here. I am an old man and have never been a strong man. +At my age I would not have strength enough to force that little +woman there--she thinks herself possessed and is quite cranky at +times--to go to her own room when she doesn't want to. And do you +see that man over there in the blue blouse? He is an excellent +gardener but he believes himself to be Napoleon, and when he has +his acute attacks I would be helpless to control him were it not +for Gyuri." + +"And you are not afraid of Cardillac?" interrupted Muller. + +"Not in the least. He is as good-natured as a child and as +confiding. I can let him walk around here as much as he likes. If +it were not for the absurd nonsense that he talks when he has one +of his attacks, and which frightens those who do not understand him, +I could let him go free altogether." + +"Then you never let him leave the asylum grounds? + +"Oh, yes. I take him out with me very frequently. He is a man of +considerable education and a very clever talker. It is quite a +pleasure to be with him. That was the opinion of my poor friend +also, my poor murdered friend." + +"The pastor?" + +"The pastor. He often invited Cardillac to come to the rectory +with me." + +"Indeed. Then Cardillac knew the inside of the rectory?" + +"Yes. The pastor used to lend him books and let him choose them +himself from the library shelves. The people in the village are +very kind to my poor patients here. I have long since had the +habit of taking some of the quieter ones with me down into the +village and letting the people become acquainted with them. It is +good for both parties. It gives the patients some little diversion, +and it takes away the worst of the senseless fear these peasants +had at first of the asylum and its inmates. Cardillac in particular +is always welcome when he comes, for he brings the children all +sorts of toys that he makes in his cell." + +The detective had listened attentively and once his eyes flashed +and his lips shut tight as if to keep in the betraying whistle. +Then he asked calmly: "But the patients are only allowed to go out +when you accompany them, I suppose?" + +"Oh, no; the attendants take them out sometimes. I prefer, however, +to let them go only with Gyuri, for I can depend upon him more than +upon any of the others." + +"Then he and Cardillac have been out together occasionally?" + +"Oh, yes, quite frequently. But--pardon me--this is almost like +a cross-examination." + +"I beg your pardon, doctor, it's a bad habit of mine. One gets so +accustomed to it in my profession." + +"What is it you want?" asked Doctor Orszay, turning to a +fine-looking young man of superb build, who entered just then and +stood by the door. + +"I just wanted to announce, sir, that No. 302 is quiet again! + +"302 is Cardillac himself, Mr. Muller, or to give him his right +name, Lajos Varna," explained the doctor turning to his guest. "He +is the 302nd patient who has been received here in these twenty +years. Then Cardillac is quiet again?" he asked, looking up at the +young giant. "I am glad of that. You can announce our visit to +him. This gentleman wants to inspect the asylum." + +Muller realised that this was the attendant Gyuri, and he looked at +him attentively. He was soon clear in his own mind that this +remarkably handsome man did not please him, in fact awoke in him a +feeling of repulsion. The attendant's quiet, almost cat-like +movements were in strange contrast to the massivity of his superb +frame, and his large round eyes, shaped for open, honest glances, +were shifty and cunning. They seemed to be asking "Are you trying +to discover anything about me?" coupled with a threat. "For your own +sake you had better not do it." + +When the young man had left the room Muller rose hastily and walked +up and down several times. His face was flushed and his lips tight +set. Suddenly he exclaimed: "I do not like this Gyuri." + +Dr. Orszay looked up astonished. "There are many others who do not +like him--most of his fellow-warders for instance, and all of the +patients. I think there must be something in the contrast of such +quiet movements with such a big body that gets on people's nerves. +But consider, Mr. Muller, that the man's work would naturally make +him a little different from other people. I have known Gyuri for +five years as a faithful and unassuming servant, always willing and +ready for any duty, however difficult or dangerous. He has but one +fault--if I may call it such--that is that he has a mistress who +is known to be mercenary and hard-hearted. She lives in a +neighbouring village." + +"For five years, you say? And how long has Cardillac been here?" + +"Cardillac? He has been here for almost three years." + +"For almost three years, and is it not almost three years--" +Muller interrupted himself. "Are we quite alone? Is no one +listening?" The doctor nodded, greatly surprised, and the detective +continued almost in a whisper, "and it is just about three years now +that there have been committed, at intervals, three terrible crimes +notable from the cleverness with which they were carried out, and +from the utter impossibility, apparently, of discovering the +perpetrator." + +Orszay sprang up. His face flushed and then grew livid, and he put +his hand to his forehead. Then he forced a smile and said in a +voice that trembled in spite of himself: "Mr. Muller, your +imagination is wonderful. And which of these two do you think it is +that has committed these crimes--the perpetrator of which you have +come here to find?" + +"I will tell you that later. I must speak to No. 302 first, and I +must speak to him in the presence of yourself and Gyuri." + +The detective's deep gravity was contagious. Dr. Orszay had +sufficiently controlled himself to remember what he had heard in +former days, and just now recently from the district judge about +this man's marvelous deeds. He realised that when Muller said +a thing, no matter how extravagant it might sound, it was worth +taking seriously. This realisation brought great uneasiness and +grief to the doctor's heart, for he had grown fond of both of the +men on whom terrible suspicion was cast by such an authority. + +Muller himself was uneasy, but the gloom that had hung over him for +the past day or two had vanished. The impenetrable darkness that +had surrounded the mystery of the pastor's murder had gotten on his +nerves. He was not accustomed to work so long over a problem without +getting some light on it. But now, since the chance watching of the +spinning top in the street had given him his first inkling of the +trail, he was following it up to a clear issue. The eagerness, the +blissful vibrating of every nerve that he always felt at this stage +of the game, was on him again. He knew that from now on what was +still to be done would be easy. Hitherto his mind had been made up +on one point; that one man alone was concerned in the crime. Now he +understood the possibility that there might have been two, the +harmless mechanician who fancied himself a dangerous murderer, and +the handsome young giant with the evil eyes. + +The two men stood looking at each other in a silence that was almost +hostile. Had this stranger come to disturb the peace of the refuge +for the unfortunate and to prove that Dr. Orszay, the friend of all +the village, had unwittingly been giving shelter to such criminals? + +"Shall we go now?" asked the detective finally. + +"If you wish it, sir," answered the doctor in a tone that was +decidedly cool. + +Muller held out his hand. "Don't let us be foolish, doctor. If +you should find yourself terribly deceived, and I should have been +the means of proving it, promise me that you will not be angry with +me." + +Orszay pressed the offered hand with a deep sigh. He realised the +other's position and knew it was his duty to give him every possible +assistance. "What is there for me to do now?" he asked sadly. + +"You must see that all the patients are shut up in their cells so +that the other attendants are at our disposal if we need them. +Varna's room has barred windows, I suppose?" + +"Yes." + +"And I suppose also that it has but one door. I believe you told +me that your asylum was built on the cell system." + +"Yes, there is but one door to the room." + +"Let the four other attendants stand outside this door. Gyuri will +be inside with us. Tell the men outside that they are to seize and +hold whomever I shall designate to them. I will call them in by a +whistle. You can trust your people?" + +"Yes, I think I can." + +"Well, I have my revolver," said Muller calmly, "and now we can go." + +They left the room together, and found Gyuri waiting for them a +little further along the corridor. "Aren't you well, sir?" the +attendant asked the doctor, with an anxious note in his voice. + +The man's anxiety was not feigned. He was really a faithful servant +in his devotion to the old doctor, although Muller had not misjudged +him when he decided that this young giant was capable of anything. +Good and evil often lie so close together in the human heart. + +The doctor's emotion prevented him from speaking, and the detective +answered in his place. "It is a sudden indisposition," he said. +"Lead me to No. 302, who is waiting for us, I suppose. The doctor +wants to lie down a moment in his own room." + +Gyuri glanced distrustfully at this man whom he had met for the +first time to-day, but who was no stranger to him--for he had +already learned the identity of the guest in the rectory. Then +he turned his eyes on his master. The latter nodded and said: +"Take the gentleman to Varna's room. I will follow shortly." + +The cell to which they went was the first one at the head of the +staircase. "Extremely convenient," thought Muller to himself. It +was a large room, comfortably furnished and filled now with the red +glow of the setting sun. A turning-lathe stood by the window and +an elderly man was at work at it. Gyuri called to him and he turned +and rose when he saw a stranger. + +Lajos Varna was a tall, loose-jointed man with sallow skin and +tired eyes. He gave only a hasty glance at his visitor, then looked +at Gyuri. The expression in his eyes as he turned them on those of +the warder was like the look in the eyes of a well-trained dog when +it watches its master's face. Gyuri's brows were drawn close +together and his mouth set tight to a narrow line. His eyes fairly +bored themselves into the patient's eyes with an expression like +that of a hypnotiser. + +Muller knew now what he wanted to know. This young man understood +how to bend the will of others, even the will of a sick mind, to +his own desires. The little silent scene he had watched had lasted +just the length of time it had taken the detective to walk through +the room and hold out his hand to the patient. + +"I don't want to disturb you, Mr. Varna," he said in a friendly +tone, with a motion towards the bench from which the mechanician +had just arisen. Varna sat down again, obedient as a child. He +was not always so apparently, for Muller saw a red mark over the +fingers of one hand that was evidently the mark of a blow. Gyuri +was not very choice in the methods by which he controlled the +patients confided to his care. + +"May I sit down also?" asked Muller. + +Varna pushed forward a chair. His movements were like those of +an automaton. + +"And now tell me how you like it here?" began the detective. Varna +answered with a low soft voice, "Oh, I like it very much, sir." +As he spoke he looked up at Gyuri, whose eyes still bore their +commanding expression. + +"They treat you kindly here?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"The doctor is very good to you?" + +"Ah, the doctor is so good!" Varna's dull eyes brightened. + +"And the others are good to you also?" + +"Oh, yes." The momentary gleam in the sad had vanished again. + +"Where did you get this red scar?" + +The patient became uneasy, he moved anxiously on his chair and +looked up at Gyuri. It was evident that he realised there would be +more red marks if he told the truth to this stranger. + +Muller did not insist upon an answer. "You are uneasy and nervous +sometimes, aren't you?" + +"Yes, sir, I have been--nervous--lately." + +"And they don't let you go out at such times?" + +"Why, I--no, I may not go out at such times." + +"But the doctor takes you with him sometimes--the doctor or Gyuri?" +asked the detective. + +"Yes." + +"I haven't had him out with me for weeks," interrupted the attendant. +He seemed particularly anxious to have the "for weeks" clearly heard +by this inconvenient questioner. + +Muller dropped this subject and took up another. "They tell me you +are very fond of children, and I can see that you are making toys for +them here." + +"Yes, I love children, and I am so glad they are not afraid of me." +These words were spoken with more warmth and greater interest than +anything the man had yet said. + +"And they tell me that you take gifts with you for the children +every time you go down to the village. This is pretty work here, +and it must be a pleasant diversion for you." Muller had taken up +a dainty little spinning-wheel which was almost completed. "Isn't +it made from the wood of a red yew tree?" + +"Yes, the doctor gave me a whole tree that had been cut down in the +park." + +"And that gave you wood for a long time?" + +"Yes, indeed; I have been making toys from it for months." Varna +had become quite eager and interested as he handed his visitor a +number of pretty trifles. The two had risen from their chairs and +were leaning over the wide window seat which served as a store-house +for the wares turned out by the busy workman. They were toys, +mostly, all sorts of little pots and plates, dolls' furniture, balls +of various sizes, miniature bowling pins, and tops. Muller took up +one of the latter. + +"How very clever you are, and how industrious," he exclaimed, +sitting down again and turning the top in his hands. It was covered +with gray varnish with tiny little yellow stripes painted on it. +Towards the lower point a little bit of the varnish had been broken +off and the reddish wood underneath was visible. The top was much +better constructed than the cheap toys sold in the village. It was +hollow and contained in its interior a mechanism started by a +pressure on the upper end. Once set in motion the little top spun +about the room for some time. + +"Oh, isn't that pretty! Is this mechanism your own invention?" +asked Muller smiling. Gyuri watched the top with drawn brows and +murmured something about "childish foolishness." + +"Yes, it is my own invention," said the patient, flattered. He +started out on an absolutely technical explanation of the mechanism +of tops in general and of his own in particular, an explanation so +lucid and so well put that no one would have believed the man +who was speaking was not in possession of the full powers of his +mind. + +Muller listened very attentively with unfeigned interest. + +"But you have made more important inventions than this, haven't +you?" he asked when the other stopped talking. Varna's eyes flashed +and his voice dropped to a tone of mystery as he answered: "Yes +indeed I have. But I did not have time to finish them. For I had +become some one else." + +"Some one else?" + +"Cardillac," whispered Varna, whose mania was now getting the best +of him again. + +"Cardillac? You mean the notorious goldsmith who lived in Paris +200 years ago? Why, he's dead." + +Varna's pale lips curled in a superior smile. "Oh, yes--that's +what people think, but it's a mistake. He is still alive--I am +--I have--although of course there isn't much opportunity here--" + +Gyuri cleared his throat with a rasping noise. + +"What were you saying, friend Cardillac?" asked Muller with a great +show of interest. + +"I have done things here that nobody has found out. It gives me +great pleasure to see the authorities so helpless over the riddles +I have given them to solve. Oh, indeed, sir, you would never +imagine how stupid they are here." + +"In other words, friend Cardillac, you are too clever for the +authorities here? + +"Yes, that's it," said the insane man greatly flattered. He raised +his head proudly and smiled down at his guest. At this moment the +doctor came into the room and Gyuri walked forward to the group at +the window. + +"You are making him nervous, sir," he said to Muller in a tone that +was almost harsh. + +"You can leave that to me," answered the detective calmly. "And +you will please place yourself behind Mr. Varna's chair, not behind +mine. It is your eyes that are making him uneasy." + +The attendant was alarmed and lost control of himself for a moment. +"Sir!" he exclaimed in an outburst. + +"My name is Muller, in case you do not know it already, Joseph +Muller, detective. Gyuri Kovacz, you will do what I tell you to! +I am master here just now. Is it not so, doctor?" + +"Yes, it is so," said the doctor. + +"What does this mean?" murmured Gyuri, turning pale. + +"It means that the best thing for you to do is to stand up against +that wall and fold your arms on your breast," said Muller firmly. +He took a revolver from his pocket and laid it beside him on the +turning-lathe. The young giant, cowed by the sight of the weapon, +obeyed the commands of this little man whom he could have easily +crushed with a single blow. + +Dr. Orszay sank down on the chair beside the door. Muller, now +completely master of the situation, turned to the insane man who +stood looking at him in a surprise which was mingled with admiration. + +"And now, my dear Cardillac, you must tell us of your great deeds +here," said the detective in a friendly tone. + +The unfortunate man bent over him with shining eyes and whispered: +"But you'll shoot him first, won't you?" + +"Why should I shoot him?" + +"Because he won't let me say a word without beating me. He is so +cruel. He sticks pins into me if I don't do what he wants." + +"Why didn't you tell the doctor?" + +"Gyuri would have treated me worse than ever then. I am a coward, +sir, I'm so afraid of pain and he knew that--he knew that I was +afraid of being hurt and that I'd always do what he asked of me. +And because I don't like to be hurt myself I always finished them +off quickly." + +"Finished who?" + +"Why, there was Red Betty, he wanted her money." + +"Who wanted it?" + +"Gyuri." + +The man at the wall moved when he heard this terrible accusation. +But the detective took up his revolver again. "Be quiet there!" he +called, with a look such as he might have thrown at an angry dog. +Gyuri stood quiet again but his eyes shot flames and great drops +stood out on his forehead. + +"Now go on, friend Cardillac," continued the detective. "We were +talking about Red Betty." + +"I strangled her. She did not even know she was dying. She was +such a weak old woman, it really couldn't have hurt her." + +"No, certainly not," said Muller soothingly, for he saw that the +thought that his victim might have suffered was beginning to make +the madman uneasy. "You needn't worry about that. Old Betty died +a quiet death. But tell me, how did Gyuri know that she had money?" + +"The whole village knew it. She laid cards for people and earned +a lot of money that way. She was very stingy and saved every bit. +Somebody saw her counting out her money once, she had it in a big +stocking under her bed. People in the village talked about it. +That's how Gyuri heard of it." + +"And so he commanded you to kill Betty and steal her money?" + +"Yes. He knew that I loved to give them riddles to guess, just as +I did in Paris so long ago." + +"Oh, yes, you're Cardillac, aren't you? And now tell us about the +smith's swineherd." + +"You mean Janos? Oh, he was a stupid lout," answered Varna +scornfully. + +"He had cast an eye on the beautiful Julcsi, Gyuri's mistress, so +of course I had to kill him." + +"Did you do that alone?" + +"No, Gyuri helped me." + +"Why did you cut the bridge supports?" + +"Because I enjoy giving people riddles, as I told you. But Gyuri +forbade me to kill people uselessly. I liked the chance of getting +out though. The doctor's so good to me and the others too. Gyuri +is good to me when I have done what he wanted. But you see, Mr. +Muller, I am like a prisoner here and that makes me angry. I made +Gyuri let me out nights sometimes." + +"You mean he let you out alone, all alone?" + +"Yes, of course, for I threatened to tell the doctor everything if +he didn't." + +"You wouldn't have dared do that." + +"No, that's true," smiled Varna slyly. "But Gyuri was afraid I +might do it, for he isn't always strong enough to frighten me with +his eyes. Those were the hours when I could make him afraid--I +liked those hours--" + +"What did you do when you were out alone at night?" + +"I just walked about. I set fire to a tree in the woods once, then +the rain came and put it out. Once I killed a dog and another time +I cut through the bridge supports. That took me several hours to do +and made me very tired. But it was such fun to know that people +would be worrying and fussing about who did it." + +Varna rubbed his hands gleefully. He did not look the least bit +malicious but only very much amused. The doctor groaned. Gyuri's +great body trembled, his arms shook, but he did not make a single +voluntary movement. He saw the revolver in Muller's hand and felt +the keen grey eyes resting on him in pitiless calm. + +"And now tell us about the pastor?" said the detective in a firm +clear voice. + +"Oh, he was a dear, good gentleman," said No. 302 with an expression +of pitying sorrow on his face. "I owed him much gratitude; that's +why I put the roses in his hand." + +"Yes, but you murdered him first." + +"Of course, Gyuri told me to." + +"And why?" + +"He hated the pastor, for the old gentleman had no confidence in +him." + +"Is this true?" Muller turned to the doctor. + +"I did not notice it," said Orszay with a voice that showed deep +sorrow. + +"And you?" Muller's eyes bored themselves into the orbs of the young +giant, now dulled with fear. + +Gyuri started and shivered. "He looked at me sharply every now and +then," he murmured. + +"And that was why he was killed?" + +The warder's head sank on his breast. + +"No, not only for that reason," continued No. 302. "Gyuri needed +money again. He ordered me to bring him the silver candlesticks +off the altar." + +"Murder and sacrilege," said the detective calmly. + +"No, I did not rob the church. When I had buried the reverend +gentleman I heard the cock crowing. I was afraid I might get home +here too late and I forgot the candlesticks. I had to stop to wash +my hands in the brook. While I was there I saw shepherd Janci coming +along and I hid behind the willows. He almost discovered me once, +but Janci's a dreamer, he sees things nobody else sees--and he doesn't +see things that everybody else does see. I couldn't help laughing at +his sleepy face. But I didn't laugh when I came back to the asylum. +Gyuri was waiting for me at the door. When he saw that I hadn't +brought the candlesticks he beat me and tortured me worse than he'd +ever done before." + +"And you didn't tell anyone?" + +"Why, no; because I was afraid that if I told on him, I'd never be +able to go out again." + +"And you, quite alone, could carry the pastor's body out of his +room?" + +"I am very strong." + +"How did you arrange it that there should be no traces of blood to +betray you?" + +"I waited until the body had stiffened, then I tied up the wound and +carried him down into the crypt." + +"Why did you do that?" + +"I didn't want to leave him in that horrid pool of blood." + +"You were sorry for him then?" + +"Why, yes; it looked so horrid to see him lying there--and he had +always been so good to me. He was so good to me that very evening +when I entered his study. + +"He recognised you? + +"Certainly. He sprang up from his chair when I came in through the +passage from the church. I saw that he was startled, but he smiled +at me and reached out his hand to me and said: 'What brings you here, +my dear Cardillac?' And then I struck. I wanted him to die with +that smile on his lips. It is beautiful to see a man die smiling, +it shows that he has not been afraid of death. He was dead at once. +I always kill that way--I know just how to strike and where. I +killed more than a hundred people years ago in Paris, and I didn't +leave one of them the time for even a sigh. I was renowned for +that--I had a kind heart and a sure hand." + +Muller interrupted the dreadful imaginings of the madman with a +question. "You got into the house through the crypt?" + +"Yes, through the crypt. I found the window one night when I was +prowling around in the churchyard. When I knew that the pastor was +to be the next, I cut through the window bars. Gyuri went into the +church one day when nobody was there and found out that it was easy +to lift the stone over the entrance to the crypt. He also learned +that the doors from the church to the vestry were never locked. I +knew how to find the passageway, because I had been through it +several times on my visits to the rectory. But it was a mere chance +that the door into the pastor's study was unlocked." + +"A chance that cost the life of a worthy man," said the detective +gravely. + +Varna nodded sadly. "But he didn't suffer, he was dead at once." + +"And now tell me what this top was doing there?" No. 302 looked at +the detective in great surprise, and then laid his hand on the +latter's arm. "How did you know that I had the top there?" he asked +with a show of interest. + +"I found its traces in the room, and it was those traces that led +me here to you," answered Muller. + +"How strange!" remarked Varna. "Are you like shepherd Janci that +you can see the things others don't see?" + +"No, I have not Janci's gift. It would be a great comfort to me +and a help to the others perhaps if I had. I can only see things +after they have happened." + +"But you can see more than others--the others did not see the +traces of the top?" + +"My business is to see more than others see," said Muller. "But +you have not told me yet what the top was doing there. Why did you +take a toy like that with you when you went out on such an errand?" + +"It was in my pocket by chance. When I reached for my handkerchief +to quench the flow of blood the top came out with it. I must have +touched the spring without knowing it, for the top began to spin. +I stood still and watched it, then I ran after it. It spun around +the room and finally came back to the body. So did I. The pastor +was quite still and dead by that time." + +"You have heard everything, Dr. Orszay?" asked the detective, rising +from his chair. + +"Yes, I have heard everything," answered the venerable head of the +asylum. He was utterly crushed by the realisation that all this +tragedy and horror had gone out from his house. + +Varna rose also. He understood perfectly that now Gyuri's power +was at an end and he was as pleased as a child that has just +received a present. "And now you're going to shoot him?" he asked, +in the tone a boy would use if asking when the fireworks were to +begin. + +Muller shook his head. "No, my dear Cardillac," he replied +gravely. "He will not be shot--that is a death for a brave +soldier--but this man has deserved--" He did not finish the +sentence, for the warder sank to the floor unconscious. + +"What a coward!" murmured the detective scornfully, looking down at +the giant frame that lay prostrate before him. Even in his wide +experience he had known of no case of a man of such strength and +such bestial cruelty, combined with such utter cowardice. + +Varna also stood looking down at the unconscious warder. Then he +glanced up with a cunning smile at the other two men who stood +there. The doctor, pale and trembling with horror, covered his +face with his hands. Muller turned to the door to call in the +attendants waiting outside. During the moment's pause that ensued +the madman bent over his worktable, seized a knife that lay there +and dropped on one knee beside the prostrate form. His hand was +raised to strike when a calm voice said: "Fie! Cardillac, for +shame! Do not belittle yourself. This man here is not worthy of +your knife, the hangman will look after him." + +Varna raised his loose-jointed frame and looked about with +glistening eyes and trembling lips. His mind was completely +darkened once more. "I must kill him--I must have his +blood--there is no one to see me," he murmured. "I am a +hangman too--he has made a hangman of me," and again he bent +with uplifted hand over the man who had utilised his terrible +misfortune to make a criminal of him. But two of the waiting +attendants seized his arms and threw him back on the floor, while +the other two carted Gyuri out. Both unfortunates were soon +securely guarded. + +"Do not be angry with me, doctor," said Muller gravely, as he +walked through the garden accompanied by Orszay. + +Doctor Orszay laughed bitterly. "Why should I be angry with you +--you who have discovered my inexcusable credulity?" + +"Inexcusable? Oh, no, doctor; it was quite natural that you should +have believed a man who had himself so well in hand, and who knew +so well how to play his part. When we come to think of it, we +realise that most crimes have been made possible through some one's +credulity, or over-confidence, a credulity which, in the light of +subsequent events, seems quite incomprehensible. Do not reproach +yourself and do not lose heart. Your only fault was that you did +not recognise the heart of the beast of prey in this admirable human +form." + +"What course will the law take?" asked Orszay. "The poor +unfortunate madman--whose knife took all these lives--cannot be +held responsible, can he?" + +"Oh, no; his misfortune protects him. But as for the other, though +his hands bear no actual bloodstains, he is more truly a murderer +than the unhappy man who was his tool. Hanging is too good for him. +There are times when even I could wish that we were back in the +Middle Ages, when it was possible to torture a prisoner. + +"You do not look like that sort of a man," smiled the doctor through +his sadness. + +"No, I am the most good-natured of men usually, I think--the +meekest anyway," answered Muller. "But a case like this--. However, +as I said before, keep a stout heart, doctor, and do not waste +time in unnecessary self-reproachings." The detective pressed the +doctor's hand warmly and walked down the hill towards the village. + +He went at once to the office of the magistrate and made his report, +then returned to the rectory and packed his grip. He arranged for +its transport to the railway station, as he himself preferred to +walk the inconsiderable distance. He passed through the village +and had just entered the open fields when he met Janci with his +flock. The shepherd hastened his steps when he saw the detective +approaching. + +"You have found him, sir?" he exclaimed as he came up to Muller. +The men had come to be friends by this time. The silent shepherd +with the power of second sight had won Muller's interest at once. + +"Yes, I found him. It is Gyuri, the warder at the asylum." + +"No, sir, it is not Gyuri--Gyuri did not do it." + +"But when I tell you that he did?" + +"But I tell you, sir, that Gyuri did not do it. The man who did +it--he has yellowish hands--I saw them--I saw big yellowish +hands. Gyuri's hands are big, but they are brown." + +"Janci, you are right. I was only trying to test you. Gyuri did +not do it; that is, he did not do it with his own hands. The man +who held the knife that struck down the pastor was Varna, the crazy +mechanician." + +Janci beat his forehead. "Oh, I am a foolish and useless dreamer!" +he exclaimed; "of course it was Varna's hands that I saw. I have +seen them a hundred times when he came down into the village, and +yet when I saw them in the vision I did not recognise them." + +"We're all dreamers, Janci--and our dreams are very useless +generally." + +"Yours are not useless, sir," said the shepherd. "If I had as much +brains as you have, my dreams might be of some good." + +Muller smiled. "And if I had your visions, Janci, it would be a +powerful aid to me in my profession." + +"I don't think you need them, sir. You can find out the hidden +things without them. You are going to leave us?" + +"Yes, Janci, I must go back to Budapest, and from there to Vienna. +They need me on another case." + +"It's a sad work, this bringing people to the gallows, isn't it?" + +"Yes, Janci, it is sometimes. But it's a good thing to be able to +avenge crime and bring justice to the injured. Good-bye, Janci." + +"Good-bye, sir, and God speed you." + +The shepherd stood looking after the small, slight figure of the +man who walked on rapidly through the heather. "He's the right one +for the work," murmured Janci as he turned slowly back towards the +village. + +An hour later Muller stood in the little waiting-room of the railway +station writing a telegram. It was addressed to Count ----. + + "Do you know the shepherd Janci? It would be a good thing to + make him the official detective for the village. He has high + qualifications for the profession. If I had his gifts combined + with my own, not one could escape me. I have found this one + however. The guards are already taking him to you. My work + here is done. If I should be needed again I can be found at + Police Headquarters, Vienna. + "Respectfully, + "JOSEPH MULLER." + +While the detective was writing his message--it was one of the rare +moments of humour that Muller allowed himself, and he wondered +mildly what the stately Hungarian nobleman would think of it--a +heavy farm wagon jolted over the country roads towards the little +county seat. Sitting beside the driver and riding about the wagon +were armed peasants. The figure of a man, securely bound, his face +distorted by rage and fear, lay in the wagon. It was Gyuri Kovacz, +who had murdered by the hands of another, and who was now on his +way to meet the death that was his due. + +And at one of the barred windows in the big yellow house stood a +sallow-faced man, looking out at the rising moon with sad, tired +eyes. His lips were parted in a smile like that of a dreaming +child, and he hummed a gentle lullaby. + +In his compartment of the express from Budapest to Vienna, Joseph +Muller sat thinking over the strange events that had called him to +the obscure little Hungarian village. He had met with many strange +cases in his long career, but this particular case had some features +which were unique. Muller's lips set hard and his hands tightened +to fists as he murmured: "I've met with criminals who used strange +tools, but never before have I met with one who had the cunning and +the incredible cruelty to utilise the mania of an unhinged human +mind. It is a thousand times worse than those criminals who, now +and then throughout the ages, have trained brute beasts to murder +for them. Truly, this Hungarian peasant, Gyuri Kovacz, deserves a +high place in the infamous roll-call of the great criminals of +history. A student of crime might almost be led to think that it +is a pity his career has been cut short so soon. He might have +gone far. + +"But for humanity's sake" (Muller's eyes gleamed), "I am thankful +that I was able to discover this beast in human form and render him +innocuous; he had done quite enough." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext: The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study + diff --git a/old/pbips10.zip b/old/pbips10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..46176c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pbips10.zip |