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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2172-8.txt b/2172-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaea6ec --- /dev/null +++ b/2172-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13066 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: That Mainwaring Affair + +Author: Maynard Barbour + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2172] +Release Date: May, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR + + +by + +Maynard Barbour + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE MAINWARINGS + II FAIR OAKS + III THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING + IV A TERRIBLE AWAKENING + V IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES + VI THE INQUEST + VII A LITTLE ROYAL + VIII THE WEAVING OF THE WEB + IX TANGLED THREADS + X BEHIND THE SCENES + XI SKIRMISHING + XII X-RAYS + XIII THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE + XIV THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY + XV MUTUAL SURPRISES + XVI MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS + XVII LOVE FINDS A WAY + XVIII AN UNFORESEEN FOE + XIX MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS + XX OPENING FIRE + XXI THE LAST THROW + XXII SECESSION IN THE RANKS + XXIII FLOTSAM AND JETSAM + XXIV BETWEEN THE ACTS + XXV RUN TO COVER + XXVI MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING + XXVII THE SILENT WITNESS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAINWARINGS + + +The fierce sunlight of a sultry afternoon in the early part of July +forced its way through every crevice and cranny of the closely drawn +shutters in the luxurious private offices of Mainwaring & Co., Stock +Brokers, and slender shafts of light, darting here and there, lent +a rich glow of color to the otherwise subdued tones of the elegant +apartments. + +A glance at the four occupants of one of these rooms, who had +disposed themselves in various attitudes according to their +individual inclinations, revealed the fact that three out of the +four were Englishmen, while the fourth might have been denominated +as a typical American from the professional class. Of rather +slender form, with a face of rare sensitiveness and delicacy, and +restless, penetrating eyes, his every movement indicated energy and +alertness. On the present occasion he had little to say, but was +engaged in listening attentively to the conversation of the others. + +Beside a rosewood desk, whose belongings, arranged with mathematical +precision, indicated the methodical business habits of its owner, +sat Hugh Mainwaring, senior member of the firm of Mainwaring & Co., +a man approaching his fiftieth birthday. His dress and manners, +less pronouncedly English than those of the remaining two, betokened +the polished man of the world as well as the shrewd financier. He +wore an elegant business suit and his linen was immaculate; his +hair, dark and slightly tinged with gray, was closely cut; his +smoothly shaven face, less florid than those of his companions, +was particularly noticeable on account of a pair of dark gray +eyes, cold and calculating, and which had at times a steel-like +glitter. Though an attractive face, it was not altogether pleasing; +it was too sensuous, and indicated stubbornness and self-will rather +than firmness or strength. + +Half reclining upon a couch on the opposite side of the room, in an +attitude more comfortable than graceful, leisurely smoking a fine +Havana, was Ralph Mainwaring, of London, a cousin of the New York +broker, who, at the invitation of the latter, was paying his first +visit to the great western metropolis. Between the two cousins +there were few points of resemblance. Both had the same cold, +calculating gaze, which made one, subjected to its scrutiny, feel +that he was being mentally weighed and measured and would, in all +probability, be found lacking; but the Londoner possessed a more +phlegmatic temperament. A year or two his cousin's junior, he +looked considerably younger; as his hair and heavy English side +whiskers were unmixed with gray and he was inclined to stoutness. + +Seated near him, in an immense arm-chair which he filled admirably, +was William Mainwaring Thornton, of London, also a guest of Hugh +Mainwaring and distantly connected with the two cousins. He was +the youngest of the three Englishmen and the embodiment of +geniality. He was a blond of the purest type, and his beard, +parted in the centre, was brushed back in two wavy, silken masses, +while his clear blue eyes, beaming with kindliness and good-humor, +had the frankness of a child's. + +Hugh Mainwaring, the sole heir to the family estate, soon after +the death of his father, some twenty-five years previous to this +time, became weary of the monotony of his English homelife, and, +resolved upon making his permanent home in one of the large eastern +cities of the United States and embarking upon the uncertain and +treacherous seas of speculation in the western world, had sold the +estate which for a number of generations had been in the possession +of the Mainwarings, and had come to America. In addition to his +heavy capital, he had invested a large amount of keen business tact +and ability; his venture had met with almost phenomenal success and +he had acquired immense wealth besides his inherited fortune. + +His more conservative cousin, Ralph Mainwaring, while never quite +forgiving him for having disposed of the estate, had, nevertheless, +with the shrewdness and foresight for which his family were noted, +given to his only son the name of Hugh Mainwaring, confident that +his American-English cousin would never marry, and hoping thereby +to win back the old Mainwaring estate into his own line of the +family. His bit of strategy had succeeded; and now, after more +than twenty years, his foresight and worldly wisdom were about to +be rewarded, for the occasion of this reunion between the +long-separated cousins was the celebration of the rapidly +approaching fiftieth birthday of Hugh Mainwaring, at which time +Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., would attain his majority, and in recognition +of that happy event the New York millionaire broker had announced +his intention of making his will in favor of his namesake, and on +that day formally declaring him his lawful heir. + +This had been the object of the conference in the private office +of Hugh Mainwaring, and now that it was over and all necessary +arrangements had been made, that gentleman turned from his desk +with a sigh of relief. + +"I am heartily glad that this business is over," he said, +addressing his guests; "it has been on my mind for some time, and +I have consulted with Mr. Whitney about it," with a slight nod +towards the fourth gentleman, who was his attorney and legal adviser. +"We have both felt that it should have been attended to before this; +and yet, as I considered this would be the most fitting time to make +a final adjustment of affairs, I have on that account delayed +longer than I otherwise would have done. Now everything is arranged +in a manner satisfactory, I trust, to all parties immediately +concerned, and nothing remains but to draw up and execute the papers, +which will be done to-morrow." + +"You are not then troubled with any unpleasant superstitions +regarding the making of a will?" commented Mr. Thornton. + +"No," replied the other, slowly. "I am not of the opinion that it +will hasten my exit from this world; but even if it did, I would +have the satisfaction of knowing that my own wishes would be +carried out in the settlement of my estate, and that no one would +derive any benefit from my demise excepting those whom I consider +legally entitled thereto." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked curiously at his cousin through half-closed +eyes. + +"I suppose," he remarked, very deliberately, "that even in case +there were no will the property would revert to our branch of the +family; we are the nearest of kin, you know." + +"Yes, I know your family would be considered the lawful heirs," +Hugh Mainwaring replied, while he and Mr. Whitney exchanged glances; +"but this is not England; here any common adventurer might come +forward with some pretended claim against the estate, and I prefer +to see affairs definitely settled in my own way." + +"Of course," responded the other, resuming his cigar. "Well, +speaking for myself, I am more than willing to relinquish any share +I might have had for the boy's sake, and I don't suppose, Thornton, +that you have any objections to raise on Edith's account." + +"Oh, no, no," replied that gentleman, with a pleasant laugh. "I +never considered Hugh a bad son-in-law to begin with, but I'll admit +he is a little more attractive now than ever." + +The little clock on the marble mantel chimed the hour of four, +causing a general movement of surprise. "'Pon my soul! had no idea +it was that late," exclaimed Mr. Thornton, taking out his watch, +while Hugh Mainwaring, touching an electric button, replied,-- + +"This business has detained us much longer than I anticipated. I +will give some instructions to the head clerk, and we will leave at +once." + +He had scarcely finished speaking, when a door opened noiselessly +and a middle-aged man appeared. + +"Parsons," said Mr. Mainwaring, addressing him in quick, incisive +tones, "I am going out to Fair Oaks, and probably shall not be at +the office for two or three days, unless something of unusual +importance should demand my presence. Refer all business callers +to Mr. Elliott or Mr. Chittenden. Any personal calls, if specially +important, just say that I can be found at Fair Oaks." + +Parsons bowed gravely, and after a few further instructions retired. + +"Now, Mr. Whitney," Hugh Mainwaring continued, at the same time +touching another electric button, "you, of course, will be one of +our party at Fair Oaks; my secretary will accompany us, and the +papers will be drawn up to-morrow in my private library, after which +you will do us the honor to join us in the pleasures of the following +day." + +"I am at your service, Mr. Mainwaring," responded the attorney; "but," +he added, in low tones, intended only for Hugh Mainwaring's ear, but +which were heard distinctly by the private secretary, now standing +beside the desk, "would it not be better to draw up the will here, +in your private office? My presence at the house on the present +occasion might attract attention and arouse some suspicions as to +your intentions." + +"That makes no difference," replied Hugh Mainwaring, quickly, but +also speaking in a low tone; "my private papers are all at the house, +and I choose that this business shall be conducted there. I believe +that I am master in my own house yet." + +Mr. Whitney bowed in acquiescence, and Hugh Mainwaring turned to +his secretary,-- + +"Mr. Scott, just close up everything in the office as quickly as +possible and get ready to accompany me to Fair Oaks; I shall need +you there for two or three days." + +It was not the first time the private secretary had accompanied Mr. +Mainwaring to his elegant suburban residence, and he understood +perfectly what was expected of him, and immediately withdrew to +make his preparations as expeditiously as possible. + +For some reason, which Hugh Mainwaring had never stopped to explain +even to himself, he always accorded to his private secretary much +more respect and consideration than to any one of his other numerous +employees. + +Harry Scott was not only a young man of superior education and good +breeding, but what particularly impressed his employer in his favor +was a certain natural reserve which caused him to hold himself aloof +from his associates in the offices of Mainwaring & Co., and an innate +refinement and delicacy which kept him, under all circumstances, +from any gaucherie on the one hand, or undue familiarity on the +other; he was always respectful but never servile. He had been in +the employ of Hugh Mainwaring for a little more than a year, and, +having frequently accompanied him to Fair Oaks to remain for a day +or two, was, consequently, quite familiar with the house and grounds. + +As he re-entered the room, having exchanged his business suit for +one more suitable to the occasion, there was not one present but +what instinctively, though perhaps unconsciously, recognized in him +a true gentleman and treated him as such. Tall, with a splendid +physique, finely shaped head, dark hair, and eyes of peculiar beauty, +he was far from being the least attractive member of the party which, +a few moments later, entered the Mainwaring carriage, with its coat +of arms, and rolled away in the direction of Fair Oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FAIR OAKS + + +The home of Hugh Mainwaring was one of many palatial suburban +residences situated on a beautiful avenue running in a northerly +direction from the city, but it had not been for so many years in +his possession without acquiring some of the characteristics of its +owner, which gave it an individuality quite distinct from its elegant +neighbors. It had originally belonged to one of the oldest and +wealthiest families in the county, for a strictly modern house, +without a vestige of antiqueness lingering in its halls and with no +faint aroma of bygone days pervading its atmosphere, would have been +entirely too plebeian to suit the tastes of Hugh Mainwaring. + +From the street to the main entrance a broad driveway wound beneath +the interlacing boughs of a double line of giant oaks, from which +the place had derived its name. Beautiful grounds extended in every +direction, and in the rear of the mansion sloped gently to the edge +of a small lake. Facing the west was the main entrance to the house, +which was nearly surrounded by a broad veranda, commanding a fine +view, not only of the grounds and immediately surrounding country, +but also of the Hudson River, not far distant. + +The southwestern portion of the building contained the private rooms +of Hugh Mainwaring, including what was known as the "tower," and had +been added by him soon after he had taken possession of the place. +This part of the house was as far removed as possible from the large +reception-rooms, and the apartments on the second floor comprised +the suite occupied by Mr. Mainwaring. The first of these rooms, +semi-octagonal in form, constituted his private library, and its +elegant furnishings and costly volumes, lining the walls from floor +to ceiling, bespoke the wealth and taste of the owner. Across the +southwestern side of this room heavy portieres partially concealed +the entrance to what Mr. Mainwaring denominated his "sanctum +sanctorum," the room in the tower. This was small, of circular form, +and contained an immense desk, one or two revolving bookcases, and +a large safe, which held his private papers and, it was rumored, the +old Mainwaring jewels. Back of the library was a smoking-room, and +in the rear of that Mr. Mainwaring's dressing-rooms and sleeping +apartments. + +This suite of rooms was connected with the remainder of the building +by a long corridor extending from the main hall, but there was on +the south side of the house an entrance and stairway leading directly +to these rooms, the upper hall opening into the library and +smoking-room. From this southern entrance a gravelled walk led +between lines of shrubbery to a fine grove, which extended back +and downward to the western shore of the small lake already mentioned. + +But the especially distinguishing characteristic of Fair Oaks since +coming into the possession of Hugh Mainwaring was the general air of +exclusion pervading the entire place. The servants, with the +exception of "Uncle Mose," the colored man having charge of the +grounds, were imported,--the head cook being a Frenchman, the +others either English or Irish, and, from butler to chambermaid, one +and all seemed to have acquired the reserve which characterized +their employer. + +Comparatively few servants were employed and few were needed, for +never, until the present occasion, had Fair Oaks been thrown open +to guests. Occasionally Mr. Mainwaring brought out from the city +two or three gentleman friends, whom he entertained in royal +fashion. Sometimes these guests were accompanied by their wives, +but such instances were extremely rare, as ladies were seldom seen +at Fair Oaks. + +In the entertainment of these occasional guests Mr. Mainwaring was +frequently assisted by Mrs. LaGrange, known as his housekeeper, but +in reality holding a position much more advanced than is usually +implied by that term. Among those who had been personally +entertained by Mrs. LaGrange, this fact, of itself, excited little +comment; it being evident that she was as familiar with the +fashionable world as was their host himself, but surrounding her was +the same dim haze of mystery that seemed to envelop the entire place, +impalpable, but thus far impenetrable. + +She had come to Fair Oaks some fifteen years previous to this time, +dressed in deep mourning, accompanied by her infant son, about three +years of age, and it was generally understood that she was distantly +related to Mr. Mainwaring. She was a strikingly handsome woman, +with that type of physical beauty which commands admiration, rather +than winning it; tall, with superb form and carriage, rich olive +skin, large dark eyes, brilliant as diamonds and as cold, but which +could become luminous with tenderness or fiery with passion, as +occasion required. To those whom she sought to entertain she could +be extremely charming, but to a few even of these, gifted with deeper +insight than the others, it seemed that beneath that fascinating +manner was a dangerous nature, a will that would brook no restraint, +that never would be thwarted; and that this was, in reality, the +power which dominated Fair Oaks. + +After years of mysterious seclusion, however, the beautiful home of +Hugh Mainwaring, while maintaining its usual reserve towards its +neighbors, had thrown open its doors to guests from across the water; +and on the particular afternoon of the conference in the private +offices of Mainwaring & Co., there might have been seen on one of +the upper balconies of the mansion at Fair Oaks a group of five +English ladies, engaged in a discussion of their first impressions +regarding their host and his American home. The group consisted of +Mrs. Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton, +the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh +Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton; +and Mrs. Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies. + +Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit +to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy +event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest +in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially +enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and +grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament +than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much +finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her +part. + +"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming +from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of +ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside +her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in +the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart." + +"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde +like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be +yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at +least, till you are married, you know." + +"That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely +never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly. She was an +orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William +Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian. + +Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled +languidly. She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, +gray eyes. "You seem to ignore the fact," she said, "that our cousin +is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many +years to come." + +"You mercenary wretch!" retorted Miss Carleton; "are you already +counting the years before Mr. Mainwaring's death?" + +"Isabel, I am shocked!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring. + +"I don't know why," replied that young lady, coolly. "I was only +thinking, mamma; and one is not always accountable for one's +thoughts, you know." + +"But," said Miss Thornton, wonderingly, raising her large eyes, full +of inquiry, to Mrs. Mainwaring, "after our cousin has announced his +intention of making Hugh his heir, don't you think he will be likely +to extend other invitations to visit Fair Oaks?" + +"Undoubtedly, my dear," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, "there will probably +be an exchange of courtesies between the two branches of the family +from this time. Though I must say," she added, in a lower tone, and +turning to Mrs. Hogarth, "I do not know that I, for one, will be +particularly anxious to repeat my visit when this celebration is once +over. So far as I can judge, there seems to be no society here. +Wilson has learned from the servants that Mr. Mainwaring lives very +quietly, in fact, receives no company whatever; and, I may be +mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that this Mrs. LaGrange +occupies rather an anomalous position. She is here as his housekeeper, +a servant, yet she entertains his guests, and her manners are anything +but those of a servant." + +"Why shouldn't she, mamma?" inquired Isabel, rather abruptly. "Cousin +Hugh has never married,--which is a very good thing for us, by the +way,--and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?" + +"It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs. +Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there +is something about her own personality that impresses me very +unfavorably." + +"In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs. +Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite +agree with you." + +"No," said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so +decided an opinion as that. I am not prepared to say that she is +a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman." + +"Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies +to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired +Mrs. LaGrange very much." + +"I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of +her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a +veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!" + +"Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no +reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be. +I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; +and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring +estate into our own branch of the family." + +"That is just what your father intends to have done whenever the +property comes into Hugh's possession," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, +and was about to say something further, when a musical whistle +attracted the attention of the ladies, and, looking over the +balcony railing, they saw Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., approaching the +house, on his return from a day's fishing, accompanied by Walter +LaGrange, a young sophomore, home on his vacation. + +The former was a typical young Englishman, with a frank, pleasant +countenance. The latter, while inheriting his mother's beauty and +resembling her in a marked degree, yet betrayed in his face a +weakness which indicated that, lacking ability to plan and execute +for himself, he would become a ready tool to aid in carrying out the +designs of others. + +The ladies, having discovered the hour to be much later than they +supposed, and knowing that the gentlemen would soon return from the +city, speedily adjourned to their dressing-rooms to prepare for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING + + +Immediately after breakfast the following morning, Hugh Mainwaring, +having excused himself to his guests, retired to his private +library, in company with his secretary and Mr. Whitney, his attorney. +A number of fine saddle horses having been brought around from the +stables, the young people cantered gayly down the oak-lined avenue, +intent upon a morning ride, their voices echoing musically through +the grounds. The elderly people, after a short chat, gradually +dispersed. Mrs. Mainwaring retired to her room for her accustomed +morning nap; Mrs. Hogarth sought the large library and was soon +absorbed in the works of her favorite author, while Ralph Mainwaring +and Mr. Thornton strolled up and down the gravelled walks, enjoying +their cigars. + +"This is a very good bit of property," remarked Mr. Mainwaring at +length, running his eye with cold scrutiny over the mansion and +grounds; "taking into consideration the stocks and bonds and various +business interests that will go with it, it will make a fine windfall +for the boy." + +"That it will, and Hugh certainly is a lucky dog!" responded Mr. +Thornton, "but you seem to have some definite knowledge regarding +our cousin's finances; has he given you any idea as to what he is +really worth?" + +"He? Not a word." Then noting an expression of surprise on his +companion's face, Mr. Mainwaring continued. "I have a number of +business acquaintances on this side the water, and you may rest +assured I have kept myself well posted as to the way things were +going all these years. I have had something of this kind in view +all the time." + +"I might have known it," replied Mr. Thornton, with an amused +smile. "I never yet saw a Mainwaring who did not understand how +to feather his own nest. Well, as you say, it is a fine piece of +property; but, do you know, Mainwaring, it strikes me that the old +boy seems a bit anxious to get it disposed of according to his own +liking as quickly as possible." + +"It does look that way," the other acknowledged. + +"Well, now, doesn't that seem a little peculiar, when, with no +direct heirs that we know of, the property would in any case revert +to your family?" + +Ralph Mainwaring puffed in silence for a few moments, then removing +his cigar and slowing knocking off the ashes, he replied very +deliberately,-- + +"It is my opinion that he and that attorney of his are aware of some +possible claimants, of whom we know nothing." + +"That is my idea exactly," said Mr. Thornton; "and, don't you know, +it has occurred to me that possibly, unknown to us, Harold Mainwaring +may have left a child, whose existence is known to Hugh." + +"That would cut no figure in this case," Mr. Mainwaring answered, +quickly. "Even had there been a living child,--which there was +not,--he could make no claim whatever, for Harold was disinherited +by his father's will." + +"Yes, I know the old gentleman disinherited Harold, but would his +heirs have no claim?" + +"Not under that will. I was present when it was read, and I remember +it debarred 'both him and his heirs, forever.'" + +"Poor Harold!" said Mr. Thornton, after a moment's silence; "he was +the elder son, was he not?" + +"Yes, and his father's favorite. It broke the old man's heart to +disinherit him. He failed rapidly after that occurred, and he never +was the same towards Hugh. I always thought that accounted for +Hugh's selling the old place as he did; it had too many unpleasant +memories." + +"Harold died soon after that unfortunate marriage, I believe." + +"Yes; he learned too late the character of the woman he had married, +and after the death of their only child, he left her, and a few years +later was lost at sea." + +"Well," continued Mr. Thornton, after a pause, "have you the remotest +idea as to who these possible claimants against the property may be?" + +"Only the merest suspicion, as yet too vague even to mention; but I +think a day or two will probably enable me to determine whether I am +correct or not." + +At that moment, Harry Scott, the private secretary, appeared, with a +message to the gentlemen from Hugh Mainwaring, to the effect that he +would like to have them join himself and Mr. Whitney in his library. + +As they passed around to the southern entrance with the secretary, +they did not observe a closed carriage coming swiftly up the +driveway, nor a tall, slender man, with cadaverous features and +sharp, peering eyes, who alighted and hastily rang for admittance. +But two hours later, as Mr. Thornton was descending the winding +stairway in the main hall, he caught a glimpse of the strange +caller, just taking his departure. The stranger, hearing footsteps, +turned towards Mr. Thornton, and for an instant their eyes met. +There was a mutual recognition; astonishment and scorn were written +on Mr. Thornton's face, while the stranger cowed visibly and, with +a fawning, cringing bow, made as speedy an exit as possible. + +At luncheon that day both Hugh Mainwaring and a number of his guests +seemed rather preoccupied, and the meal passed in unusual silence. +Mrs. LaGrange exerted herself to be particularly entertaining to Mr. +Whitney, but he, though courteously responding to her overtures, made +no effort to continue the conversation. Even the genial Mr. Thornton +was in so abstracted a mood that his daughter at last rallied him on +his appearance, whereupon he turned somewhat abruptly to his host +with the inquiry,-- + +"Are you personally acquainted with Richard Hobson?" + +For an instant, Hugh Mainwaring seemed confused, and Mr. Whitney, +always on the alert, noted a peculiar expression flash across the +face of Mrs. LaGrange, and was also conscious of an almost +imperceptible start on the part of the young secretary seated near +him. + +Mr. Mainwaring quickly recovered himself and replied, deliberately, +"Richard Hobson, the attorney? I believe I met him once or twice, +years ago, in London, but I cannot claim any acquaintance with him." + +"Dick Hobson does not deserve the name of attorney," remarked Ralph +Mainwaring; "he is a shyster and a scoundrel." + +"He certainly bears a hard reputation," rejoined Mr. Thornton; "and +I would not have mentioned his name, only that I met him here about +half an hour since, and that caused me to make the inquiry I did." + +Hugh Mainwaring paled visibly, though he remained calm. "Met him +here, in my house? Impossible!" he exclaimed, at the same time +glancing towards the butler, but the face of that functionary was +as immobile as rock. "I did not suppose the man was in this +country!" + +"Oh, yes," replied Ralph Mainwaring; "he left England about two +years ago; he played one too many of his dirty games there and took +the first steamer for America, hoping, I suppose, to find a wider +sphere of action in this country." + +"Possibly I may have been mistaken," remarked Mr. Thornton, quietly, +realizing that he had unconsciously touched an unpleasant chord, +"but the resemblance was certainly striking." + +An awkward silence followed, broken by young Scott, who excused +himself on the plea of important work and returned to Mr. +Mainwaring's library, where he was soon joined by all the gentlemen +excepting young Mainwaring. In the hall, Hugh Mainwaring paused for +a few words with the butler, and the attorney, passing at that +moment, caught the man's reply, given in a low tone,-- + +"No, sir; Mrs. LaGrange." + +A little later, the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring was +signed by the testator, and duly attested by Ralph Mainwaring, +William Mainwaring Thornton, and William H. Whitney. As the last +signature was completed, Hugh Mainwaring drew a heavy sigh, saying +in a low tone,-- + +"That is as I wished, my namesake is my heir;" then taking the +document, he placed it in the hands of his secretary, adding, "Lay +this for the present on my desk. To-morrow I wish it to be read in +the presence of all the members of the family, after which, Mr. +Whitney, I desire to have it put in your possession for safe keeping +until it is needed; when that will be, no one can say;--it may be +sooner than we think." + +A marked change had come over his manner since luncheon, and his +tones, even more than his words, made a deep impression on the mind +of every one present. The shade of melancholy passed, however, and, +ringing the bell, Hugh Mainwaring ordered carriages for himself and +his guests for the afternoon and departed, leaving his secretary +to attend to some private work in the library. Harry Scott's manner, +upon finding himself alone within the private rooms of Hugh +Mainwaring, betrayed intense excitement. He pushed his work +impatiently from him and, rising, began to walk swiftly, though +noiselessly, back and forth, the entire length of the two apartments. +Twice he paused before the large desk, and taking therefrom the will, +already familiar to him, read its contents with burning eyes while +his face alternately flushed and paled. Then folding and replacing +the document, he turned towards the safe, muttering,-- + +"It is no use. I have searched there once before and could find +nothing." + +Suddenly he exclaimed, "No one knows what may happen; this may be my +last opportunity! I will search once more and leave not a corner +unexplored." + +Having locked the library, he returned to the safe. He knew the +combination, and soon the great doors swung open, revealing the +contents arranged with the precision for which Mr. Mainwaring was +noted in his business habits. Conscious that he had abundance of +time for the work he had undertaken and that he was secure from +interruption, he began a careful and methodical search through all +the compartments. Various private documents were examined and then +replaced in exactly their original position, but all seemed of no +avail. He discovered no trace of that which he hoped to find. + +At last he came to a metallic box, which he surmised, from its +weight and general appearance, contained the old family jewels. +Should he open that? A moment's thought decided the question; he +would leave nothing unexplored. Further search revealed the key +concealed in a tiny drawer. He applied it to the lock; the cover +flew backward, and a dazzling light flashed into his face as a ray +of sunlight fell across his shoulder upon the superb gems, gleaming +and scintillating from the depths of their hiding-place. But he +paid little heed to them, for, in a long and narrow receptacle within +one side of the box, his keen eye had discovered a paper, yellow and +musty with age, the sight of which thrilled him with hope. He +quickly drew it forth, and a single glance at its title assured him +it was indeed the object of his search. With a low cry of joy, he +locked and replaced the metallic box, and, opening the ancient +document, he eagerly scanned its contents, an expression of intense +satisfaction overspreading his features. + +He was still perusing the paper when he heard footsteps approaching +the library through the long corridor, followed an instant later by a +knock. Depositing the precious document safely within an inside +pocket, he swung the doors of the safe together, turning the handle +so as to lock it securely, and, crossing the library, unlocked and +opened the door. + +The butler was standing there, and, handing Scott a card, said, +briefly, + +"A gentleman on private business; must see Mr. Mainwaring or his +secretary at once." + +Scott glanced at the card: it bore the name of "J. Henry Carruthers," +with a London address, and underneath had been hastily pencilled +the word "Important." + +"Show the gentleman up," he said. The butler bowed and was gone, +and in an incredibly short time, while yet Scott's pulse throbbed +wildly from his recent discovery, the stranger entered the room. + +He was a little above the average height, with a somewhat commanding +presence, rather pale face, dark moustache, and black curling hair. +He wore dark glasses, and was dressed in a tweed suit, slightly +travel-worn, but his manners were those of a gentleman. + +"Mr. Scott, I believe," he said, addressing the secretary. + +"That is my name, sir; please be seated. What can I do for you, Mr. +Carruthers?" + +"Will you inform me, Mr. Scott, of the earliest hour at which I can +see Mr. Mainwaring? I called at his city office and was directed +here; but the butler states that Mr. Mainwaring is away from home, and +is unable to say when he will return, or how soon he would be at +liberty to see me." + +"Mr. Mainwaring will probably return about five o'clock; but it is +rather difficult for me to state when you could see him, as he is +entertaining a number of guests, and it is doubtful if he would care +to attend to any business just at this time, unless it were of special +importance." + +"My business with Mr. Mainwaring is of special importance," replied +the other; "and I would be very glad if he could give me a little +time to-morrow." + +"Perhaps, if you would give me some intimation of its nature," +Scott suggested, "Mr. Mainwaring might consent to make an appointment +for the following day. I hardly think he would see you sooner. +To-morrow is his birthday, and, as it is to be celebrated by him and +his guests, it is doubtful whether he would attend to any business +on that day." + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Carruthers, rising, while Scott was conscious of +a peculiar scrutiny fixed upon himself from behind those dark glasses; +"it had escaped my mind, but now I recall that Mr. Mainwaring is to +celebrate his birthday by making his young English cousin and namesake +his heir. I certainly would not intrude at a time so inopportune." + +The secretary started. "I was not aware that Mr. Mainwaring's +intentions were generally known," he remarked. + +"Perhaps not," replied the other, in a peculiar tone. "I merely +heard it mentioned, and all parties have my congratulations and best +wishes. Kindly say to Mr. Mainwaring that when the happy event is +over I hope he will give me his earliest consideration. My address +for the present will be the Arlington House.. Do not take the +trouble to ring, I can find my way." + +"You will find this way much shorter, sir," Scott replied, opening +the door into the southern hall. Mr. Carruthers thanked him and, +with a profound bow, took his departure. + +As the hour was late, Scott found it necessary to devote himself at +once to his work, and he had but just completed it when the sound +of wheels was heard outside, and a few moments later his employer +entered the room. + +The latter studied Mr. Carruthers's card quite attentively, and +frowned upon learning that his intentions regarding the making of +his will had become known by outsiders, but he soon seemed to forget +the occurrence. Soon all were gathered about the dinner-table, and +the evening passed very pleasantly. + +When, at a late hour, Hugh Mainwaring, in the dimly-lighted veranda, +bade his guests good-night, he grasped the hand of his namesake and +said, in a tone remarkably tender,-- + +"Hugh, my boy, the distance is long between the twenty-first and the +fiftieth mile-stones on the journey of life. Heaven grant, when you +shall have reached the latter, you may look back over a brighter +pathway than I do to-night!" + +Then, as the young man passed, he murmured to himself "If I could +but have had just such a son as he!" + +He did not see, though there was one who did, a woman's form glide +away in the dim light, her eyes gleaming with malignant fire. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A TERRIBLE AWAKENING + + +For some time after his guests had retired, Hugh Mainwaring remained +outside, walking up and down in the starlight, apparently absorbed +in thought. When at length he passed into the house, he met his +secretary coming out for a solitary smoke. + +"Come to my library, Mr. Scott, before you retire for the night," +said Mr. Mainwaring. + +"At once, sir, if you wish," the secretary replied. + +"No, there is no hurry; any time within an hour," and he passed +up-stairs. + +Half an hour later Harry Scott passed down the corridor towards the +library, but paused on hearing an angry voice within, which he at +once recognized as Mrs. LaGrange's. + +"Where would you be to-night?" she cried, "where would you have been +all these years, if I had but exposed your dishonesty and duplicity? +You defrauded your only brother during his lifetime; you have +persistently ignored your son, your own flesh and blood; and now you +would rob him, not only of his father's name, but of his father's +fortune,--cast him off with a mere pittance,--and put this stranger +in the place which is rightfully his, and wish that you had been +given such a son as he! You are in my power, and you know it only +too well; and I will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family +rue this day's work." + +Hugh Mainwaring's reply to this tirade was inaudible, and Scott, +feeling that he already had heard too much, withdrew, and continued +walking up and down the halls until the library door opened and Mrs. +LaGrange came out. She swept past him in a towering rage, seeming +scarcely aware of his presence until, as he passed down the corridor +and entered the library, he was suddenly conscious that she had +turned and was watching him. + +He found Mr. Mainwaring looking pale and fatigued. + +"I will detain you but a moment, Mr. Scott," he said, speaking +wearily; "I have a few instructions I would like you to carry out +early in the morning; and I also want to say that I wish you to +consider yourself as one of my guests to-morrow, and join with us +in the festivities of the occasion." + +Scott thanked his employer courteously, though there might have been +detected a shade of reserve in his manner, and, after receiving +brief directions for the following day, withdrew. + +He went to his room, but not to sleep. His mind was too full of +the events of the day just passed, as well as of the expected events +of the morrow. His thoughts reverted to his discovery of the +afternoon, and, taking the shabby document from his pocket, he read +and re-read it carefully, his features betraying deep emotion. What +should be done with it? Should he let his employer know at once of +the proof which he now held against him? Or should he hold it for a +few days and await developments? + +It was nearly three o'clock when he was aroused from his abstraction +by a slight sound, as of stealthy footsteps in the rear of the house. +He listened intently for a moment, but hearing nothing further and +discovering the lateness of the hour, he hastily extinguished the +light and, too exhausted and weary to undress, threw himself as he +was upon a couch and was soon sleeping heavily. + +The sun was shining brightly into his room, when Harry Scott was +awakened the next morning by a woman's scream, followed by cries and +sobs and a confused sound of running to and fro. Almost before he +could collect his thoughts, he heard steps approaching his room, +and, rising, hastily exchanged the smoking-jacket in which he had +slept for a coat. He had barely time to make the change when there +was a loud knock, and some one called his name in quick, sharp tones. + +Opening the door, he saw Mr. Whitney standing before him, while in +the background servants were running in different directions, +wringing their bands and moaning and crying hysterically. + +"Mr. Scott," said the attorney, in tones trembling with excitement, +"come to the tower-room at once. Mr. Mainwaring has been murdered!" + +"Mr. Mainwaring murdered!" he exclaimed, reeling for an instant as +if from a blow. "Great heavens! it cannot be possible!" + +"It is terrible, but a fact, nevertheless," replied Mr. Whitney; +"he was murdered last night in his private rooms." + +"How and when was it discovered?" Scott inquired, his mind still +dazed by the wild torrent of thought surging through his brain as +he recalled the events of the previous night. + +"Hardy, his valet, was the first to discover it this morning. We +have telephoned for his physician and for the coroner; they will be +out on the next train from the city." + +Harry Scott shuddered as he entered the familiar room where he had +taken leave of his employer but comparatively few hours before. +Even amid the confusion, he noted that in the outer room everything +appeared the same as when he last saw it, but the portieres at the +farther side, pushed widely open, revealed a ghastly sight. + +Upon the floor, about half-way between the desk and safe, his head +resting in a small pool of blood, lay Hugh Mainwaring. He was +inclined slightly towards his right side, his arm partially extended, +and on the floor, near his right hand, lay a revolver, while an ugly +wound just above the right eye and near the temple showed where the +weapon had done its deadly work. The closely cut hair about the +temple was singed and his face was blackened, showing that the fatal +shot had been fired at close range. There were no indications, +however, of a struggle of any kind; the great revolving-chair, +usually standing in front of the desk, had been pushed aside, but +everything else was in its accustomed place, and the desk was closed +and locked. + +Ralph Mainwaring was already kneeling beside the body; Mr. Thornton +and young Mainwaring, who had entered immediately after Scott and +the attorney, stood speechless with horror. With what conflicting +emotions the young secretary gazed upon the lifeless form of his +employer, fortunately for him at that moment, no one knew; as his +mind cleared, he began to realize that his position was likely to +prove a difficult and dangerous one, and that he must act with +extreme caution. + +The silence was first broken by Mr. Thornton, who exclaimed,-- + +"Terrible! Terrible! What do you think, Mainwaring? is this murder +or suicide?" + +"Time alone will tell," replied Mr. Mainwaring in a low tone; "but I +am inclined to think it is murder." + +"Murder without a doubt!" added Mr. Whitney. + +"But who could have done such a deed?" groaned Mr. Thornton. + +Hugh Mainwaring was attired, as when Scott had last seen him, in a +rich dressing-gown; but as the secretary knelt beside the silent +form and touched the left hand lying partially hidden in its folds, +he gave a slight start, and, quickly passing his hand within the +dressing-gown, announced in a low tone,-- + +"His diamond ring and his watch are both gone!" + +"Robbery!" exclaimed young Mainwaring; "that must have been the +object of the murderer!" While his father, glancing towards the +safe, remarked,-- + +"We must ascertain whether anything else is missing." + +"We will make a thorough examination of the room after the coroner's +arrival," said Mr. Whitney, "but, for the present, everything must +remain as it is." + +"Should we not send for a detective at once?" Mr. Thornton inquired. + +"I have already telephoned for one upon my own responsibility," +replied the attorney. + +"When were you last in these rooms, Mr. Scott?" asked Ralph +Mainwaring of the secretary, who had risen to his feet and was making +a careful survey of the room. + +"About twelve o'clock last night, sir," was his reply; then noting a +look of surprise on the faces about him, he added,-- + +"I came at Mr. Mainwaring's request, as he wished to give directions +regarding some work to be done this morning." + +"He was alone at that time?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How did he appear?" inquired Mr. Thornton. + +"The same as usual, except that he seemed very weary." + +"Was he in this room?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"No, sir; he was seated in the library." + +The sound of voices in the corridor attracted Mr. Mainwaring's +attention, and he turned quickly to his son,-- + +"Hugh, I hear your mother's voice; go and meet her. The ladies must +not be allowed to come in here." + +Mr. Thornton turned to accompany young Mainwaring. Near the door he +met his daughter and Miss Carleton, while a little farther down the +corridor were Isabel Mainwaring and her mother. With terror-stricken +faces they gathered about him, unable to believe the terrible report +which they had learned from the servants. As best he could, he +answered their numerous inquiries, and, having escorted them to +another part of the house, left them in charge of young Mainwaring, +while he returned to the library. + +Meanwhile, the news of the murder had spread with lightning-like +rapidity, and already crowds of people, drawn by that strange +fascination which always exists for a certain class in scenes of +this kind, were gathering on the grounds outside the house, forming +in little groups, conversing with the servants, or gazing upward +with awe-stricken glances at the closely-drawn shutters of the room +in the tower. The invisible barriers which so long had excluded +the public from Fair Oaks had been swept away by the hand of death, +and rich and poor, capitalist and laborer, alike wandered +unrestrained up and down the oak-lined avenue. + +At the door of the library, Mr. Thornton found Ralph Mainwaring and +the attorney conversing together in low tones. + +"Yes," Mr. Mainwaring was saying, "as you say, it is undoubtedly +murder; but I confess I am at a loss to understand the motive for +such a deed, unless it were robbery; and you do not seem to give +that idea much credence?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head decidedly. "Unless we find very strong +evidence in that direction, I cannot believe that this is any case +of common robbery." + +"But to what other motive would you attribute it?" inquired Mr. +Mainwaring. + +"Until further facts have been developed which may throw light upon +the subject, I do not feel prepared to say what the motive might +have been." + +"You evidently have your suspicions," remarked Mr. Mainwaring, while +Mr. Thornton inquired,-- + +"Had our cousin any enemies that you know of?" + +Mr. Whitney turned a keen, penetrating glance upon Mr. Thornton for +an instant, and the latter continued,-- + +"I thought it possible that in his business relations he might have +incurred the enmity of some one of whom you knew." + +"No," the attorney answered, quickly, "I am not aware of anything +of that nature. Mr. Mainwaring made few intimate friends, but he +was universally respected by all who knew him. If he had any +enemies," he added, very slowly, "they were within his own +household." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked sharply at the attorney, but +Mr. Thornton exclaimed,-- + +"'Egad! sir, but you surely do not think this deed was committed by +any one of the inmates of this house?" + +"As I have already said," replied Mr. Whitney, "I am not prepared +to state what I do think without further knowledge of the facts in +the case." + +"Of course we understand that," rejoined Mr. Mainwaring; "but we +desire to have the benefit of your opinions and judgment regarding +this case so soon as you do feel justified in expressing them, and, +since you are vastly more familiar with the circumstances +surrounding it than we, we wish to rely on your suggestions in +this matter." + +The attorney bowed. "My advice for the present would be to take +care that no one leaves the premises, and that you also send for +Mrs. LaGrange; I wish to see her," he said briefly, and passed +into the library. + +Ralph Mainwaring beckoned to the butler; who was standing at a +little distance, awaiting orders. + +"Call the housekeeper at once, Mr. Whitney wishes to see her in the +library; and send Wilson to me, and also the coachman." + +With a silent acknowledgment of the order the butler withdrew, and +a moment later, John Wilson, a middle-aged man and a servant of Ralph +Mainwaring's who had accompanied him from London, appeared, followed +by Brown, the coachman at Fair Oaks. + +Mr. Mainwaring first addressed the latter. "Brown, for the next +hour or so, I wish you to be stationed in the hall below. Keep back +the crowd as much as possible; when the coroner and physician arrive +show them up at once, but on no account allow any one else to come +up-stairs." + +Then turning to his own serving-man, as Brown departed to the duties +assigned him, Mr. Mainwaring continued, + +"'For you, Wilson, I have a task which I cannot intrust to any one +else, but which I know you will perform faithfully and discreetly; +so far as you are able, keep a close watch upon every one within +this house, without seeming to do so; pay close attention to all +conversation which you hear, and if you hear or see anything unusual, +or that seems to have any bearing on what has occurred, report to +me at once. Above all, do not let any of the servants leave the +premises without they have my permission." + +"Very well, sir," Wilson replied; as he moved away the butler +reappeared. + +"The housekeeper has not yet left her room, sir," he said, addressing +Mr. Mainwaring. "I gave the message by the chambermaid, and she +sent word that she had been prostrated by the terrible news this +morning, sir, but that she would see Mr. Whitney in a few moments." + +As the man retreated, Mr. Thornton paused suddenly in his walk up +and down the corridor,-- + +"'Pon my soul, Mainwaring! it strikes me--particularly since hearing +that will read yesterday--that there must have been something with +reference to that woman--well--rather peculiar, don't you know." + +"It strikes me," replied Mr. Mainwaring with marked emphasis, "that +there may be something rather 'peculiar,' as you call it, in that +direction at present, and I believe Mr. Whitney is of the same +opinion." + +"How is that? You surely do not think it possible that in his mind +she is in any way associated with this murder--if it is a murder?" + +"He evidently suspects some one in this house, and for the present +we can draw our own inferences. Regarding those provisions in the +will to which you just now alluded, I can assure you I was not too +well pleased; but I knew it was useless to raise any objections or +questions; to my mind, however, they furnish a clue as to the +possible claimants against the estate, which we were discussing +yesterday, and perhaps a clue to this latest development, also." + +"By my soul! it looks like it; but surely she could have no valid +claim." + +"Valid or not," replied Ralph Mainwaring, "there must have been a +powerful claim of some kind. When a man of Hugh Mainwaring's +type leaves a handsome annuity to his housekeeper, and an interest +in his business worth fifty or seventy-five thousand to her son, +it may be considered pretty strong evidence that--" + +At a warning glance from Mr. Thornton, Ralph Mainwaring paused +abruptly and, turning, saw Mrs. LaGrange coming noiselessly down +the corridor. She was dressed with even more than usual care, +with quantities of rich lace fastened loosely about her shapely +neck and falling in profusion over her beautifully moulded wrists +and hands. Her dark, handsome features bore no trace of recent +prostration, but betrayed, instead, signs of intense excitement. +She bowed silently and passed onward, entering the library so +quietly that the attorney, absorbed in thought, was unaware of her +presence until she stood before him. He started slightly, and for +an instant neither spoke. Each was silently gauging the power of +the other. + +For some time, Mrs. LaGrange had been conscious that Mr. Whitney +was one of the few whose penetration could not be blinded by her +blandishments. In addition, the fact that he was the private +solicitor and legal adviser of Hugh Mainwaring did not tend to +inspire her with confidence regarding his attitude towards herself. +Nevertheless, he was an eminent attorney and this was a critical +moment; if she could gain his favor and his services in her behalf, +it would be a brilliant stroke of policy. Her plans were well laid, +and she was prepared to assume whatever role was necessary, so soon +as his words or manner should give her the desired cue. + +For this, she did not have long to wait; one searching glance, and +she had read in the piercing scrutiny and cold scorn of his keen +blue eye that, so far from winning favor from him, he would prove +her most bitter opponent, and as quickly she determined upon her +future course of action. + +Mr. Whitney, on the other hand, though a frequent visitor at Fair +Oaks, and familiar with the fascinating manner with which, when she +chose, Mrs. LaGrange entertained the guests of Hugh Mainwaring, was +now forced to acknowledge to himself that never had he seen this +handsome woman so beautiful as at the present moment. The eyes +looking into his with such depth of meaning,--the expression, the +attitude,--all were utterly unlike anything which he had ever seen; +but his face grew only the more stern, for the thought then and +there occurred to him that perhaps here was the solution of the +mysterious power which this woman had wielded over the man whose +lifeless form was now lying in their presence. + +He observed that the luminous eyes grew suddenly cold, while her +head assumed its usual haughty poise; the brief spell was over, and +each understood the other. + +After a few general directions, Mr. Whitney remarked, "This day's +events will be far different from what we had anticipated." + +"Yes," she replied, with a mocking smile, "in that it brings to the +guests of this house, instead of future expectations, the immediate +realization of their wishes!" + +"It is not to be conceived for one moment that any of them take that +view of what has occurred," he replied, in a tone of displeasure. + +"Possibly not," she rejoined, "although the prospective long life +of their host seemed to greatly detract, at least in the case of one +of their number, from their enjoyment of the occasion which they had +come to celebrate." + +"To whom do you refer?" he inquired. + +"It is unnecessary to give names," she answered, coldly; "but had +the Mainwarings of London known the facts which I know, they would +never have crossed the water to take part in the farce which was +enacted here yesterday. There are Mainwarings with better right +and title to this estate than they, as they will soon learn." + +Neither by look nor gesture did she manifest the least consciousness +of, or concern for, the inanimate form visible in the adjoining room. +With sudden directness, and ignoring the implied threat in her last +words, Mr. Whitney asked,-- + +"Mrs. LaGrange, at what hour did you last see Hugh Mainwaring?" + +She was about to reply, when Scott entered from the tower-room. He +had heard her last remark, and his dark, piercing eyes were fixed +upon her face in keen scrutiny. She was quick to note the fact and +hesitated an instant, while a change, inexplicable to the attorney, +passed over her face,--surprise, a shade almost of fear, and +haughty defiance were visible in quick succession; then, turning +again towards Mr. Whitney, she answered, indifferently,-- + +"It was quite late last night; I do not recollect the hour." + +As the attorney was about to speak, Mr. Thornton appeared at the +door of the library. + +"Beg pardon, Mr. Whitney, but I believe the coroner and others have +arrived; as you know the gentlemen, will you kindly meet them?" + +"Certainly. Mr. Scott, you will please remain here," and the +attorney hastened out into the corridor. + +Again Mrs. LaGrange and the secretary faced each other in silence, +each apparently trying to read the other's thoughts and probe the +depth of the other's knowledge; then, as the gentlemen were heard +approaching, she withdrew, leaving him alone. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES + + +As the attorney, in response to the summons from Mr. Thornton, +hastened from the corridor into the main hall, five gentlemen were +slowly ascending the broad stairway, conversing together in subdued +tones. One, younger than the others and evidently more familiar +with the surroundings at Fair Oaks, stepped quickly in advance of +the rest and extended his hand to Mr. Whitney in silent greeting. +This was Dr. Hobart, Hugh Mainwaring's physician and one of his most +intimate friends, although a number of years his junior. Following +him were Mr. Elliott and Mr. Chittenden, of the firm of Mainwaring +& Co., while bringing up the rear were the coroner and a gentleman, +somewhat below medium size and of modest appearance, whom the +attorney greeted very cordially and afterwards introduced to Mr. +Thornton as Mr. Merrick. Proceeding at once to the library, they +were joined a moment later by Ralph Mainwaring and his son. The +necessary introductions followed, and Mr. Mainwaring having given +the butler instructions to admit no one into the library, Mr. Whitney +made a brief statement regarding the discovery of the murder, and +all passed into the room in the tower. + +Dr. Hobart at once bent over the prostrate form with genuine sorrow. +The millionaire broker had been one of his earliest patrons, and +their acquaintance had soon ripened into a mutual attachment, +notwithstanding the disparity in their ages. After a long look at +the face of his friend, he gave place to the coroner, who was also +a physician. They partially lifted the body and both examined the +wound, the small man who had accompanied the coroner looking on +silently. It was found that the bullet had entered just above the +right eye and had passed through the brain in a slightly downward +direction, coming out near the base upon the same side. The most +careful search failed to disclose the bullet, and attention was +next directed to the revolver lying upon the floor near the right +hand. It was a Smith & Wesson, thirty-two calibre, with but one +empty chamber, that from which the fatal bullet had probably +been discharged. + +"Can any of you gentlemen tell me whether or not this belonged to +the deceased?" inquired the coroner, holding up the revolver. + +There was an instant's pause, and Mr. Whitney replied, "I know +that Mr. Mainwaring owned a revolver, but, having never seen it, +am unable to answer your inquiry. Perhaps his secretary could +give you the desired information." + +"I have often seen a revolver lying in Mr. Mainwaring's desk," +said the secretary; "but I doubt whether I could identify it, as +I never observed it closely. I should judge, however, that this +was the same size and make." + +"Would it not be well to see if it is still there?" suggested +the attorney. "I suppose you have a key to the desk." + +"I have, sir," he replied, at the same time producing it. Crossing +the room, he unlocked and opened the desk. An instant later, he +announced, as he closed the desk, "It is not here." + +There was a subdued murmur, and Mr. Thornton was heard to exclaim, +"Suicide! That has been my impression all along." + +Ralph Mainwaring glanced inquiringly at the attorney, who shook +his head emphatically, while the coroner once more inspected the +wound with an air of perplexity. + +"Doctor," inquired Ralph Mainwaring, "in your opinion, how long has +life been extinct?" + +"I should judge about eight or nine hours," replied Dr. Hobart. +"What would you say, Dr. Westlake?" + +"That would be my judgment, also." + +"You would say that death was instantaneous?" questioned the +attorney. + +"Without a doubt. It could not have been otherwise?" Ralph +Mainwaring consulted his watch. "It is now half after nine; in your +judgment, then, this must have occurred about one o'clock this +morning?" + +"About that time." + +"At what hour was Mr. Mainwaring last seen by any one in this +house?" asked the coroner. + +"As nearly as we have ascertained thus far, at about twelve o'clock." + +"Twelve? Indeed! By whom? and where?" + +"By his private secretary, and in the library adjoining." + +"Very well," said the coroner, after a pause, during which he had +made a memorandum of certain details which he considered of special +importance; "the undertaker can now be summoned as I believe he is +waiting below, and we seem to have ascertained all the facts possible +in this direction; and, Mr. Whitney, I will next see the valet, whom +you say was the one to discover the situation this morning." + +In the slight confusion and delay which ensued, Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden took their departure, with the usual expressions of +condolence and regret, followed a few moments later by Dr. Hobart, +who was accompanied downstairs by young Mainwaring. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Merrick, having made a close scrutiny of the lifeless +form, had been slowly walking back and forth in the tower-room and +library, his hands in the pockets of his short sacque coat and his +eyes apparently riveted on the floor. Several times in the library +he paused and, bending downward, seemed to be intently studying the +carpet; then, after two or three turns about the room, he sauntered +towards the windows and doors, examining the fastenings of each in +turn, and, on reaching the door opening into the southern hall, +suddenly disappeared. + +"A very mysterious case!" commented the coroner, when he had finished +his interview with the valet. "Thus far nothing can be learned which +throws much actual light on the subject one way or another, but if +anybody can unravel the mystery, Merrick can." + +"Merrick!" repeated Mr. Thornton, turning to Mr. Whitney in surprise. +"Is Mr. Merrick a detective?" + +"He is. I did not introduce him as such, for the reason that in a +case of this kind he usually prefers to make his first visit incognito +if possible." + +"Very well; you have taken the responsibility in this matter. You +understand, of course, Mr. Whitney, that we want no amateur work in +a case like this." + +"Mr. Merrick is no amateur," said the attorney, quietly; "he is one +of the most trusted and one of the surest men on the force." + +"Before we go any farther," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, "I suggest +that we ascertain whether or not there has been a robbery. We can +at least satisfy ourselves on that point." + +"Acting on your suggestion, we will examine the safe," said Mr. +Whitney; "though I, for one, am not inclined to think there has been +any robbery. Without a knowledge of the combination, the safe could +not be opened unless force were employed; and it certainly bears no +evidence of having been tampered with." + +"Proceed with your investigation, Mr. Whitney," said the quiet voice +of the detective, who had entered unobserved from the smoking-room; +"unless I am greatly mistaken, the person we are after is some one +pretty familiar with various 'combinations' in these apartments." + +There was a general expression of surprise, and all turned towards +Mr. Merrick for an explanation, but a glance at his impassive face +convinced them that questions would be useless. + +With a few swift turns the secretary unlocked the safe and the +ponderous doors swung open, showing books and papers in their +accustomed places. Everything appeared in perfect order; but as the +attorney began a rapid examination of the interior, he suddenly +uttered a sharp exclamation, while, as he continued his search, his +manner betrayed considerable excitement. + +"Anything wrong, Mr. Whitney? anything missing?" queried Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"Everything is missing!" the other exclaimed, after a moment's pause, +turning around with a pale face and holding in his hand an empty +cash box; "there is absolutely nothing left but an old cheque-book, +a few drafts, and some other papers of no value whatever except to +Hugh Mainwaring himself!" + +Half a score of questions were instantly raised: "Was there a large +amount of money in the safe?" "Did it contain anything of great +value?" + +Scott, standing silently in the background, seemed to see +again the brilliant gems flashing in the sunlight, as he had +seen them in his search on the preceding day, but he said +nothing. + +"There was a considerable amount of cash," the attorney was saying. +"Mr. Mainwaring deposited a large sum there when he last came out +from the city, and," he added more slowly, "the old family jewels +were kept in the safe." + +"The Mainwaring jewels!" echoed both the Englishmen. "Impossible! +incredible!" While Ralph Mainwaring exclaimed, "Why, they were +worth a fortune several times over in themselves!" + +"I am aware of that," answered the attorney. "I often remonstrated +with Mr. Mainwaring, but to no purpose; for some reason which he +never explained he always kept them there." + +"I would never have believed him capable of such recklessness," said +Mr. Thornton. + +"Recklessness!" exclaimed Ralph Mainwaring; "it was the biggest +piece of imbecility I ever heard of! What is your opinion now, Mr. +Whitney, regarding a robbery in connection with this case?" + +"That there has been a robbery I am forced to admit," the attorney +replied, courteously but firmly; "but my opinion of the matter is +still unchanged. I regard the robbery as only incident to the +murder. I do not yet believe it to have led to the deeper crime." + +"Do you know, Mr. Scott, whether any one beside yourself understood +the combination of the safe?" Ralph Mainwaring inquired. + +"I do not, sir," the secretary replied, conscious that all eyes had +turned upon him at the inquiry and that the detective was observing +him closely. + +Meanwhile Ralph Mainwaring loudly lamented the missing jewels, until +it was evident to all that their loss, for the time at least, had +completely overshadowed all thought of the tragedy they were +investigating. + +"They must be recovered at all hazards and at any price," he said, +addressing the detective. "There were single gems in that +collection which cost a fortune and which have been heirlooms in +the family for generations." + +After further search which failed to disclose anything of importance, +or any clue regarding either the murder or the robbery, arrangements +were made for the inquest to be held at three o'clock that afternoon, +and the party was about to leave the apartments, when Mr. Whitney +paused. + +"One moment, gentlemen; there is one more point I would like +investigated. I maintain that we have not yet discovered the most +essential clue to this case--something to throw light on the +possible motive which prompted the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. I +now wish to make a final trial. Mr. Scott, will you once more open +Mr. Mainwaring's desk for us and take out the will that was deposited +there yesterday?" + +Ralph Mainwaring started. "The will? You surely do not think--" + +"I think it might be safer in our own possession," said the attorney, +with a peculiar smile. + +"And right you are!" added Mr. Thornton, approvingly. "I wonder you +had not thought of that yourself, Mainwaring." + +Meanwhile, Scott, having opened the desk in compliance with the +attorney's request, had looked for the will where he had last seen it +on the preceding day, and, failing to find it, was searching through +the numerous receptacles containing Mr. Mainwaring's private papers. +The silence around him became oppressive, and suddenly looking up, +he encountered the glance of both Mr. Whitney and the detective, the +former with an expression of triumph in his keen eyes. Perplexed and +bewildered, Scott exclaimed in a mechanical tone,-- + +"The will is gone; it is nowhere to be found!" + +"I thought as much," said the attorney, quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE INQUEST + + +The crowd, which early in the day had gathered about Fair Oaks, +instead of diminishing, seemed rather to increase as the hours +slipped away. Little by little the facts became known to +outsiders,--the loss of the old family jewels, concerning whose existence +and probable value vague rumors had been circulated in the past, the +drawing up of the will on the preceding day and its strange +disappearance in connection with the sudden and mysterious death of +the testator,--all combined to arouse public interest and curiosity +to an unusual degree; it seemed the culmination of the impenetrable +mystery which for years had shrouded the place. + +As the hour for the inquest approached, the crowd was augmented by +each suburban train, until a throng of business men of all classes, +interspersed with numerous reporters eager for the details of the +affair, covered the grounds and even sought admittance to the house, +for the millionaire broker, though a man of few intimate friendships, +was widely known and honored in the financial and commercial world. + +Shortly after the arrival of the 2.45 train from the city, the +Mainwaring carriage came rapidly up the avenue, two or three other +carriages following in the rear. As it stopped, Mr. Whitney +alighted, followed by an elderly gentleman of fine appearance and +two officers of the special police, who immediately began to force +back the crowd, while the attorney and his companion hastily entered +the house and were met by the butler, who, in response to a hurried +inquiry, directed them up-stairs. + +In the private library they found the detective who had been left +there alone at his own request. There was a brief interview between +the three, after which Mr. Whitney begged his companion to excuse +him for a moment, and beckoning Mr. Merrick into the tower-room, +asked eagerly,-- + +"Well, what success? Have you struck the trail?" + +With an enigmatical smile, the detective replied, "The game has +doubled back on the trail pretty adroitly, but I have made one or +two little discoveries that may be of value later. What do you +think of this?" + +Opening a small note-book, he took therefrom several pieces of burnt +paper, most of which were so blackened that the faint traces of +writing which they bore were illegible. On a few pieces, however, +words and parts of words could be distinctly read. + +Mr. Whitney studied the bits of discolored paper for a moment, and +then exclaimed in excited tones, + +"Good heavens, man! it is the will! The will drawn up in these +rooms yesterday! See, here is the date, 'this seventh day of July, +in the year of our'--the rest is gone." + +"Here is part of a name," said the detective, "'nor Houghton +LaGra'--" + +"Eleanor Houghton LaGrange!" exclaimed the attorney, "and below +you can just trace the words, 'this amount of annuity to be'; and +here are other bits, 'as to my estate and all property,' 'to hold +the same forever, together with.' Well, I should say these were +of value; where did you find them?" + +For answer, Mr. Merrick pointed to a small fireplace behind the +safe, near which a large screen was standing. + +"Strange!" exclaimed the attorney. "I never noticed that before, +much as I have been here." + +"It escaped my observation for some time," replied the other. "I +searched the fireplace in the library, but this grate is very small +and was concealed by that large screen, as well as by the safe. +Evidently, it was seldom used, and was selected for that reason by +whoever destroyed the will, as more likely to escape notice." + +"Rather a bungling piece of work," commented the attorney, "leaving +these partially burned scraps. I wonder that he or she, whoever it +was, did not make sure that they were entirely consumed." + +"The person may have heard some sound and, fearing detection, +hastened away before the job was completed," suggested the other. + +"Well, it is past three, we must hasten; you found nothing more?" + +"Nothing of special importance. I have learned one fact, however; +the murder was never committed in this room, but in the library." + +"The library! Why do you think that?" + +"I do not think it, I know it, and was confident of it while we +were making the examination this morning. Say nothing about it, +however, for the present. We will go now, if you are ready." + +Joining the gentleman still awaiting them in the library, they +descended into the lower hall, where the detective suddenly +disappeared. + +Meanwhile, the coroner and members of the jury, after alighting +from their carriages, marched gravely up the broad stairs and were +conducted by a servant into one of the private apartments where lay +the body of the murdered man. Under the direction of Dr. Westlake, +the jury individually viewed the wounds, noting their location and +character, and, after a brief visit to the room in the tower, all +passed downstairs and were shown into the large library on the first +floor. + +The coroner occupied a large arm-chair at one end of a long +writing-table in the centre of the room, the jury being seated +together near his left, while on each side of the table chairs had +been placed for the accommodation of a few of the more prominent +reporters, the others, less favored, stationing themselves at the +doorways and open windows. + +In the room back of the library were the servants, the women grouped +about the great arched doorway with white, frightened faces, the men +standing a little farther in the rear, while in a dim corner, +partially concealed by the heavy portieres and unseen by any one +excepting the servants, was the detective. + +When everything was in readiness, Mr. Whitney entered the room with +the gentleman who had accompanied him out from the city and followed +by the London guests. In the lead were Ralph Mainwaring and his +son, the entrance of the latter causing a small stir of interest and +excitement, as a score of pencils at once began to rapidly sketch +the features of the young Englishman, the intended heir of Hugh +Mainwaring. The young man's face wore an expression of unconcern, +but his father's features were set and severe. To him, the loss of +the will meant something more than the forfeiture of the exclusive +ownership of a valuable estate; it meant the overthrow and demolition +of one of his pet schemes, cherished for twenty-one years, just on +the eve of its fulfilment; and those who knew Ralph Mainwaring knew +that to thwart his plans was a dangerous undertaking. + +Mr. Thornton followed, escorting Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, +the cold, gray eyes of Isabel Mainwaring flashing a look of haughty +disdain on the faces about her. Bringing up the rear was Mrs. Hogarth +with her two charges, Edith Thornton and Winifred Carleton, the face +of the latter lighted with an intelligent, sympathetic interest in +her surroundings. + +Harry Scott next entered, pausing in the doorway for an instant, +while just behind him appeared Mrs. LaGrange. The room was already +crowded, and Miss Carleton, seated near the door, with a quick +glance invited the young secretary to a vacant chair by her side, +which he gracefully accepted, but not before a tiny note had been +thrust into his hand, unseen by any one excepting the detective. + +Pale, but with all her accustomed hauteur, Mrs. LaGrange, +accompanied by her son, passed slowly around the group of reporters, +ignoring the chair offered by the attorney, and seated herself in a +position as remote as possible from the guests of the house and +commanding a full view of the servants. Her gown was noticeable +for its elegance, and her jewelled hands toyed daintily with a +superb fan, from whose waving black plumes a perfume, subtle and +exquisite, was wafted to every part of the room. + +In the silence that followed, the coroner, with a few brief words, +called for the first witness, George Hardy. A young man, with a +frank face and quiet, unassuming manner, stepped forward from the +group of servants. After the usual preliminaries, the coroner +inquired,-- + +"How long have you been in the employ of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Nearly four years, sir." + +"During that time you have held the position of valet?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"At what time this morning did you discover what had occurred?" + +"About seven o'clock, sir." + +"You may state how you came to make this discovery, giving full +particulars." + +"I had gone as usual to the bath-room to prepare the bath for Mr. +Mainwaring, and when everything was in readiness I knocked at his +door to waken him. There was no answer, and, after knocking several +times, I unlocked the door and looked in. I saw he had not occupied +the room, but I didn't think much about that, and went on through +the smoking-room into the library, and then I saw Mr. Mainwaring +lying on the floor in the next room. At first I thought he was sick +and went to him, but as I got nearer I saw that he was dead, and +then I noticed the revolver lying beside him." + +"What did you then do?" + +"I was frightened, sir, and I went to call help as quick as I could." + +"Who was the first person whom you met and told of your discovery?" + +"Well, sir, I went first for Mr. Whitney, because he was a friend +of Mr. Mainwaring's and a lawyer, and I thought he would know what +to do; but on my way to his room I met Wilson, Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's +valet, and I told him what had happened; then I called Mr. Whitney +and told him Mr. Mainwaring had shot himself." + +"Did you get the impression that Mr. Mainwaring bad shot himself +from the fact that the revolver lay near his band, or had you any +other reasons for that inference?" + +"No, sir, that was the only reason." + +"Can you state positively whether this revolver belonged to Mr. +Mainwaring?" asked the coroner, at the same time passing the weapon +to Hardy. + +"Yes, sir," replied the latter, promptly, handing it back after a +moment's inspection, "that is Mr. Mainwaring's revolver. I've +cleaned it many a time, and there's little marks on it that I know +sure." + +"Very well. After summoning Mr. Whitney, did you call any other +members of the household?" + +"Mr. Whitney sent me to call Mr. Ralph Mainwaring; but I met Wilson +again, and he said he had just told Mr. Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, +and was on his way to the room of young Mr. Mainwaring. Down the +hall I met the butler and told him what had happened, and we both +went into the library, and I stayed there till Mr. Whitney came." + +"When did you last see Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Shortly after dinner last evening, between seven and eight o'clock, +I should say, sir." + +"Where was that?" + +"In the main hall down-stairs, sir. He stopped me to say that he +would not need me last evening, and that after locking up his rooms +for the night I could have my time to myself." + +"Was the locking of his rooms usually included among your duties at +night?" + +"Yes, sir; his private rooms and the hall on the south side." + +"Did you have any stated time for doing this?" + +"At nine o'clock, sir." + +"You locked the rooms as usual last night?" + +"Yes, sir; that is, I locked them all right, but it was later than +usual." + +"How was that?" + +"About half an hour after Mr. Mainwaring spoke to me, the housekeeper +came and asked me to keep the rooms open till about ten o'clock, as +she was expecting callers and wanted to receive them by the south +hall into her private parlor." + +"At what time did you lock the rooms?" + +"A few minutes after ten, sir. I felt kind of uneasy, because it +was Mr. Mainwaring's orders that the rooms be shut at nine; so soon +as 'twas ten o'clock I went around outside, and, seeing no light in +her parlor, I went in and locked the hall and then went up-stairs +to lock the rooms there." + +"Did you see any strangers about the place at that time?" + +"No, sir." + +"You saw no one in any of Mr. Mainwaring's private rooms?" + +"No strangers, you mean? No, sir." + +"Was there any one in his rooms?" + +"The housekeeper was in the library. She had gone up-stairs that +way, she said, and had found the door into the main hall locked, +and hearing me come, she waited for me to open it." + +"Had you locked the door into the main hall?" + +"No, sir; that door wasn't usually locked in the evening. I don't +know who locked it, but I opened it for her and then locked it +again." + +"Are you positive there was no one else in those rooms at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, pretty sure," replied Hardy, with a smile, "for I looked +them over uncommon thorough last night. I thought at first that I +smelled smoke, like something burning, but I looked around careful +and everything was all right." + +At this point Mr. Whitney held a whispered consultation with the +coroner for a moment. + +"You say," continued the latter, "you thought you smelled something +burning; could you state what the material seemed to be?" + +"Well, sir, I thought it was like paper burning; but I must have +been mistaken, for the papers on the table was all right and there +was nothing in the fireplace." + +"Did you see or hear anything unusual about the place at any time +last night?" + +"No, sir." + +For a moment the coroner was occupied with a slip of paper which +had been passed to him through a number of hands; then he said,-- + +"Before you are dismissed, will you describe the locks used on the +doors of Mr. Mainwaring's library and the south hall." + +"They had the ordinary locks, sir; and then, in addition, a small, +patent lock, that when a certain spring was turned the door locked +of itself and could not be opened from either side unless one had +the key and understood the working of the spring." + +"Who had keys to fit these locks?" + +"No one but Mr. Mainwaring. When he was home and wanted the doors +unlocked, he hung the keys in a particular place in the library +where I could find them, and when he went away he always took them +with him." + +"Did you unlock the library doors this morning?" + +"Only the door into the main hall when I went to call Mr. Whitney,--that +had nothing but an ordinary lock; but the other door, into +the south hall, was unlocked and the keys gone when I first went +into the library." + +"One question more. Do you know whether any one else in the house +had knowledge of or access to, these particular keys?" + +"I don't know for certain, sir, but I think not." + +The attorney was next called upon, and came forward, while Hardy +resumed his former place among the servants. + +"Mr. Whitney," said the coroner, after the witness had given the +details of his arrival in the tower-room in response to the valet's +summons, "will you please state when, and under what circumstances, +you last saw Hugh Mainwaring living." + +"At nearly eleven o'clock last night. Mr. Mainwaring had just +bidden his guests good-night, and I believe they had all retired to +their rooms, leaving him and myself together upon the veranda in +front of the house. I remained with him about ten minutes, I should +judge, talking over the events of the day which had been of unusual +interest. I remember his remarking that he should not retire for an +hour or so, as, to use his own expression, his thoughts would not +let him sleep. We clasped hands with an exchange of good wishes. +That was the last I ever saw him living or heard him speak." + +Mr. Whitney's voice trembled slightly towards the close of his +recital, but as he repeated Hugh Mainwaring's words a smile of scorn +passed over the face of Mrs. LaGrange, who was seated directly +opposite. + +"Will you please state," said the coroner, "how Mr. Mainwaring had +been engaged during the day, yesterday." + +"Until about half-past two his time was spent in the preparation, +with the assistance of his secretary and myself, and the execution +of his last will and testament. The remainder of the day was devoted +to the entertainment of his guests." + +"Will you give briefly and in general terms the conditions of the +will." + +"With the exception of an annuity to his housekeeper and a handsome +bequest to her son, it conveyed everything to his cousin and +namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., whom he intended to-day to formally +declare his heir." + +"Where was this document placed, Mr. Whitney?" + +"It was, at Mr. Mainwaring's request, placed by his secretary on his +desk in the tower-room." + +"You can give no further information regarding this will, now +missing?" + +"Only this," replied Mr. Whitney, with marked emphasis, "that we +now have positive proof that the will was burned." + +There was a general movement of surprise, both among the members +of the household and outsiders; and the attorney, closely observant +of Mrs. LaGrange, saw her cheek, which but a moment before, at his +mention of the annuity contained in the will, had flamed with anger, +suddenly assume a strange pallor. + +"Mr. Whitney," continued the coroner, having consulted a small +memorandum which he held, "do you know whether there were any +strangers at Fair Oaks yesterday?" + +"I have no personal knowledge on that subject. The secretary informs +me that a stranger inquired for Mr. Mainwaring in the afternoon, and +remarks were made at luncheon, that impressed me considerably, +regarding some one who had called in the forenoon, whether to see Mr. +Mainwaring I am not prepared to state." + +"Will you state the nature of those remarks?" + +"I should prefer to be excused until later in this examination. For +the present, I will merely say that one of Mr. Mainwaring's guests +incidentally met and recognized this caller; that the latter was +evidently well and unfavorably known by both Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests, and, if I am not mistaken, by the secretary also, and that +the mention of the man's name seemed to affect Mr. Hugh Mainwaring +very unpleasantly." + +"In what respect, Mr. Whitney?" + +"He grew very pale and appeared confused, if not alarmed, on +learning that the man was in this country and had been seen at this +house, and he seemed abstracted and very unlike himself for fully +an hour after the occurrence." + +"Will you state the name of this man?" + +"He was spoken of as Richard Hobson, formerly an attorney, of London." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A LITTLE ROYAL + + +"Harry Scorr, private secretary of Hugh Mainwaring," announced the +coroner, when Mr. Whitney had resumed his chair. + +As the young secretary walked deliberately through the crowded room, +there were few who failed to remark his erect, athletic form, his +splendid bearing, and especially the striking beauty of his dark +face, with its olive tint, clear-cut features, indicative of firmness +and strength, and large, piercing eyes, within whose depths, on the +present occasion, there seemed to be, half hidden, half revealed, +some smouldering fire. Instantly a half-dozen pencils were +transferring to paper his form and features. + +"Say, what are you 'doing' him for?" whispered one reporter to his +neighbor. "He isn't anybody; only the old man's secretary." + +"Can't help that," replied the other; "he's better looking than the +English chap, anyhow; and, in my opinion, the old fellow would have +shown better sense to have left him the 'stuff.'" + +Meanwhile, young Scott, having answered a few preliminary +interrogatories, turned slowly, facing Mrs. LaGrange, who was +watching him with an intensity of manner and expression as though she +would compel him to meet her gaze. + +As his glance met hers, a look of inquiry flashed from her eyes to +his, accompanied by an expression persuasive, almost appealing. But +the only reply was an ominous flash from the dark eyes, as, with a +gesture of proud disdain, he folded his arms and again faced his +interlocutor, while, with eyes gleaming with revenge from under +their heavily drooping lids and lips that curled from time to time +in a smile of bitter malignity, she watched him, listening eagerly +for his testimony, losing no word that he said. + +The young secretary well understood the character of the enemy with +whom he had thus declared war, though he was as yet in ignorance of +the weapons she would use against him, but the honeyed words of the +little note crushed within his pocket had no power to swerve him for +an instant from the course upon which he had determined. + +After a few general questions, the coroner said, + +"Please state when and what was the first intimation received by you +of any unusual occurrence." + +"I was awakened this morning by a woman's scream and heard sounds of +confused running in different directions. A few moments later Mr. +Whitney came to my room and informed me of what had occurred, and I +then went with him to the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring." + +"You were associated with Mr. Mainwaring yesterday during the greater +part of the day and evening, were you not?" + +"I was during the day, but I did not see him after dinner until late +at night." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his appearance at any time +yesterday?" + +"He appeared rather depressed for about an hour after luncheon, +during the execution of the will." + +"Did you know any cause for such depression?" + +"I attributed it, in my own mind, to the conversation at luncheon, +to which Mr. Whitney has referred." + +"Regarding one Richard Hobson?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Do you know what, if any, relations existed between Mr. Mainwaring +and this Hobson?" + +The black plumes of Mrs. LaGrange's fan suddenly quivered, her cheek +paled, and her breath came and went quickly, but these were the only +signs of agitation which she betrayed, as Scott replied,-- + +"I have no knowledge as to what relations existed between them of +late. I only know that Mr. Mainwaring had, years ago, some important +private business with this man." + +"Will you state the nature of this business?" + +"Without giving exact details," Scott replied, speaking deliberately +but with no hesitation, though conscious of the surprise and +indignation depicted on some of the faces about him, "this man was +employed as an attorney by Mr. Mainwaring before the latter came to +this country, and has since, at various times, extorted money from +him by threats of exposure regarding certain transactions." + +The silence that followed this statement was of itself eloquent. +The young secretary felt every eye fastened upon himself, and, +though his own eyes were fixed on the coroner's face, he saw +reflected even there the general expression of mingled astonishment, +incredulity, and resentment. Unmoved, however, he awaited, coolly +and impassively, the next words of the coroner. + +"Mr. Scott," said Dr. Westlake, a touch of severity in his tone, +"this is a serious assertion to make regarding a man so widely known +as Mr. Mainwaring, and so universally considered above reproach in +his business transactions." + +"I am aware of that fact, sir," replied Scott, calmly, "but reference +to the private letter-files of Mr. Mainwaring will prove the truth +of my assertion. I made this statement simply because the time and +place demanded it. You were endeavoring to ascertain the cause of +Mr. Mainwaring's perturbation on learning yesterday of the arrival +of Hobson. I have given what I consider the clue." + +"How recently had this man Hobson extorted money from Mr. Mainwaring, +and in what amount?" + +"The last money sent him was about three years ago, a sum of five +thousand dollars. Hobson wrote a most insolent letter of +acknowledgment, stating that, as this money would set him on his +feet for a time, he would not write again immediately, but assuring +Mr. Mainwaring that he would never be able to elude him, as the +writer would keep posted regarding his whereabouts, and might, some +time in the future, call upon him in person." + +"Can you describe this man's appearance?" + +"I cannot, having never met him." + +"Will you describe the stranger who is reported to have called in +the afternoon." + +"He was tall, quite pale, with dark hair and moustache. He was +dressed in a tweed suit, somewhat travel-worn, and wore dark +glasses." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"Only that he wished to see Mr. Mainwaring on business of special +importance. He at first seemed rather insistent, but, on learning +that Mr. Mainwaring was out and that he would receive no business +calls for a day or two, he readily consented to defer his interview +until later." + +"Did he leave his name or address?" + +"His card bore the name of J. Henry Carruthers, of London. He gave +his present address as the Arlington House." + +"You noticed nothing unusual in his appearance?" + +"The only thing that struck me as rather peculiar was that Mr. +Carruthers seemed well informed regarding events expected to take +place here, while his name was wholly unfamiliar to Mr. Mainwaring." + +At this point a pencilled note was handed by the coroner to Mr. +Whitney, who immediately summoned George Hardy and hastily +despatched him on some errand. + +"Mr. Scott," resumed the coroner, "were you in Mr. Mainwaring's +private library at any time during last evening?" + +"I was not. I spent the entire evening in my own room." + +"When did you again see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Not until after eleven o'clock. I had come down for a smoke in +the grounds outside and met Mr. Mainwaring in the lower hall on +the way to his rooms. He asked me to come to his library before +retiring, as he wished to give some final directions for the next +day. About half an hour later I went to the library door, but +hearing loud and angry talk within, I waited in the hall some +fifteen or twenty minutes until I knew Mr. Mainwaring was alone. +I then entered, received his instructions, and went directly to +my room for the night." + +"Were you able to recognize the voices or hear any of the +conversation?" + +"I was. I recognized the voice of the housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange; +but feeling that I was hearing what was not intended for me, I +walked back into the main hall and remained there until Mrs. +LaGrange came out." + +"You saw her leave the library?" + +"Yes, sir; I passed her in the corridor." + +"She saw you, of course?" + +"She seemed scarcely conscious of my presence until we had passed; +she then turned and watched me as I entered the library." + +"What was the nature of the conversation which you heard?" + +"I only heard what Mrs. LaGrange said. She evidently was very +angry with Mr. Mainwaring." + + +"Can you repeat her words as you heard them?" + +"Not entirely. She accused Mr. Mainwaring of dishonesty, saying +that he had defrauded his only brother, and had ignored and robbed +his own son to put a stranger in his place. The last words I heard +were, 'You are in my power, and you know it only too well; and I +will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family rue this day's +work.'" + +Harry Scott, with the proof of his employer's crimes in his +possession, repeated these words with an indifference and +impassiveness that seemed unnatural, while the smouldering fire in +his eyes gleamed fitfully, as though he knew some secret of which +the others little dreamed. + +But, if spoken indifferently, the words were not received with +indifference. The reporters bent to their task with renewed ardor, +since it promised developments so rich and racy. Ralph Mainwaring's +face was dark with suppressed wrath; Mr. Thornton seemed hardly +able to restrain himself; while the attorney grew pale with +excitement and anger. Mrs. LaGrange alone remained unmoved, as much +so as the witness himself, her eyes half closed and a cynical smile +playing about her lips as she listened to the repetition of her own +words. + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring make no reply?" inquired the coroner. + +"He did, but it was inaudible to me." + +"You went into the library as soon as he was alone?" + +"I did." + +"At what hour was this?" + +"A few minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the last time you saw Mr. Mainwaring living?" + +"It was." + +"Can you state whether any one was in his rooms after you left?" + +"I cannot." + +"Mr. Scott, by your own statement, you must have been in Mr. +Mainwaring's library within an hour preceding his death; +consequently, I would like you to give every detail of that +interview." + +"I am perfectly willing, sir, but there are few to give. The +interview occupied possibly ten minutes. Mr. Mainwaring appeared +very weary, and, after giving directions regarding any personal +mail or telegrams which might be received, stated that he wished +me to consider myself his guest on the following day and join in +the festivities of the occasion. I thanked him, and, wishing him +good-night, withdrew." + +"In which room were you?" + +"We were both in the library. When I first entered, Mr. Mainwaring +was walking back and forth, his hands folded behind him, as was +usually his habit when thinking deeply, but he immediately seated +himself and gave me my instructions. The tower-room was dimly +lighted and the curtains were drawn quite closely together at the +entrance." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound after reaching your room?" + +"Not at that time. I was aroused about three o'clock this morning +by what I thought was a stealthy step in the grounds in the rear of +the house, but I listened for a moment and heard nothing more." + +"That will do for the present, Mr. Scott. You will probably be +recalled later," said the coroner, watching the secretary rather +curiously. Then he added, in a different tone,-- + +"The next witness is Mrs. LaGrange." + +There was a perceptible stir throughout the crowd as, with a +movement of inimitable grace, Mrs. LaGrange stepped forward, darting +a swift glance of such venomous hatred towards Scott, as he again +seated himself beside Miss Carleton, that the latter, with a woman's +quick intuition, instantly grasped the situation and watched the +proceedings with new interest and closer attention. As Mrs. LaGrange +took her place and began answering the questions addressed to her, +the eager listeners pressed still more closely in their efforts to +catch every word, feeling instinctively that some startling +developments would be forthcoming; but no one was prepared for the +shock that followed when, in response to the request to state her +full name, the reply came, in clear tones, with unequivocal +distinctness,-- + +"Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring." + +For an instant an almost painful silence ensued, until Dr. Westlake +said,-- + +"Will you state your relation to the deceased?" + +"I was the lawfully wedded, but unacknowledged, wife of Hugh +Mainwaring," was the calm reply. + +"Please state when and where your marriage took place," said the +coroner, watching the witness narrowly. + +"We were married privately in London, about three months before Mr. +Mainwaring came to this country." + +"How long ago was that?" + +"A little more than twenty-three years." + +"You say that you were privately married, and that in all these +years Mr. Mainwaring never acknowledged you as his wife?" + +"Yes. I was at that time a widow, and, owing to certain unpleasant +circumstances attending the last months of my former husband's life, +Mr. Mainwaring insisted that our marriage be strictly private. I +acceded to his wishes, and we were married as quietly as possible. +At the end of three months he deserted me, and for four years I did +not even know where he had gone. During that time, however, I +learned that my husband, who had been fearful of soiling his proud +name by having it publicly joined with mine, was, in the sight of +the law, a common criminal. I finally traced him to America, and +five years after he deserted me I had the pleasure of confronting +him with the facts which I had obtained. With passionate +protestations of renewed love and fair promises of an honorable +married life, he sought to purchase my silence, and, fool that I +was! I yielded. He claimed that he could not at once acknowledge +me as his wife, because he was already known as an unmarried man, +but in the near future we would repeat the marriage ceremony and I +should be the honored mistress of his heart and home. I believed +him and waited. Meantime, our child was born, and then a new role +had to be adopted. Had he not known that he was in my power, I +would then have been thrust out homeless with my babe, but he dared +not do that. Instead, I was brought to Fair Oaks dressed in widow's +garb, as a distant relative of his who was to be his housekeeper. +So, for my son's sake, hoping he would some day receive his rights, +I have lived a double life, regarded as a servant where I should +have been mistress, and holding that poor position only because it +was within my power to put the master of the house in a felon's +cell!" + +"Can you produce the certificate of this marriage?" inquired the +coroner, regarding the witness with a searching glance as she +paused in her recital. + +"Unfortunately," she replied, in a tone ringing with scorn and +defiance, "I cannot produce our marriage certificate, as my husband +kept that in his possession, and frequently threatened to destroy +it. If it is in existence, it will be found in his safe; but I can +produce a witness who was present at our marriage, and who himself +signed the certificate." + +"State the name of this witness." + +"Richard Hobson, of London." + +"You are then acquainted with this Hobson?" the coroner inquired, +at the same time making an entry in the memorandum he held. + +"Naturally, as he was at one time my husband's attorney." + +"He called at Fair Oaks yesterday, did he not?" + +"He did." + +"Do you know whether he called more than once?" + +"He came a second time, in the evening, accompanied by his clerk." + +"Was his object at either time to secure an interview with Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"He called to see me on private business." + +"Had he any intention of meeting Mr. Mainwaring later?" + +"I know nothing regarding his intentions." + +"Mrs. LaGrange," said the coroner, after a pause, "you were in Mr. +Mainwaring's library between the hours of eleven and twelve last +night, were you not?" + +Her face darkened with anger at his form of address. "I was in +my husband's library at that hour," she replied. + +"How long were you there?" + +"I cannot state exactly," she answered, indifferently; "perhaps +half an hour." + +"Did Mr. Scott repeat correctly your words to Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have no doubt that he did. His memory on the subject is much +better than mine." + +"What was the meaning of your threat to Mr. Mainwaring, that you +would make him and his friends regret the day's proceedings?" + +"He understood my meaning. He knew that I could set aside the +will, and could ruin him by exposing his duplicity and fraud." + +"What reply did he make?" + +"He answered me, as usual, with sneers; but I saw that he felt +somewhat apprehensive. I wished to give him a little time to +reflect upon a proposition I had made, and I left the library, +intending to return later; but," she added, slowly and significantly, +"I was superseded by another visitor." + +"Explain your meaning," said the coroner, briefly. + +"My husband's private secretary entered the library directly after +I left. Some thirty minutes later I passed down the corridor +towards the library, and was startled to hear Mr. Mainwaring, in +loud and excited tones, denouncing some one as a liar and an +impostor. The reply was low, in a voice trembling with rage, but +I caught the words, 'You are a liar and a thief! If you had your +deserts, you would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported +to the wilds of Australia!' There was much more in the same tone, +but so low I could not distinguish the words, and, thinking Mr. +Mainwaring was likely to be occupied for some time, I immediately +retired to my room." + +"Was the voice of the second speaker familiar to you?" inquired +Dr. Westlake, in the breathless silence that followed this statement. + +A half smile, both cunning and cruel, played around the lips of the +witness, as she answered, with peculiar emphasis and with a ring +of triumph in her tone,-- + +"The voice was somewhat disguised, but it was distinctly recognizable +as that of Mr. Scott, the private secretary." + +To Scott himself, these words came with stunning force, not so much +for the accusation which they conveyed, as that her recital of those +words spoken within the library seemed but the repetition of words +which had rung in his brain the preceding night, as, alone in his +room, he had, in imagination, confronted his employer with the proof +of his guilt which that afternoon's search had brought to light. +His fancy had vividly portrayed the scene in which he would arraign +Hugh Mainwaring as a thief, and would himself, in turn, be denounced +as an impostor until he should have established his claims by the +indubitable evidence now in his possession. Such a scene bad in +reality been enacted,--those very words had been spoken,--and, +for an instant, it seemed to Scott as though he had been, +unconsciously, one of the actors. + +The general wonder and consternation with which he was now regarded +by the crowd quickly recalled him, however, to the present +situation, and awakened within him a sudden, fierce resentment, +though he remained outwardly calm. + +"At that time," continued the coroner, "were you of the opinion +that it was Mr. Scott whom you heard thus addressing Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, I had every reason to believe it was he, and I have now +additional reasons for the same belief." + +"Are these additional reasons founded on your own personal +knowledge, or on the information of others?" + +"Upon information received from various members of the household." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?" + +"I did not." + +"Can you state about what time you heard this conversation?" + +"I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only +ten minutes of one." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?" + +"I did not. I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring's +apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no +sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other +occupants of the house." + +Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and +the witness was temporarily dismissed. Glancing at his watch, the +coroner remarked, + +"It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we +will first hear what he has to report." + +As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, "Were you able +to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?" + +"Not very much, sir," was the reply. "I went to the Arlington first +and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there +was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering +that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the +hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the +office reading the evening papers. He went out some time between +seven and eight o'clock, and they had seen nothing more of him." + +"Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?" + +"No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson +registered there. They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered +a carriage for Fair Oaks. He came back to lunch, but kept his room +all the afternoon. He had a man with him in his room most of the +afternoon, but he took no meals there. After dinner Hobson went +out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to +breakfast, and took the first train to the city. I made some +inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man, +in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train +this morning to the city, but he didn't notice him particularly. +That was all I could learn." + +As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten +o'clock the next morning. Every one connected with the household +at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and, +dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves +within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that +would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least +possible delay, to secure possession of the property. + +Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his room for a +brief stroll through the grounds. A bitter smile crossed his face +as he noticed the brightly illumined library and heard the eager, +excited tones within, remembering the dimly-lighted room above with +its silent occupant, unloved, unmourned, unthought of, in marked +contrast to the preceding night, when Hugh Mainwaring lavished upon +his guests such royal entertainment and was the recipient of their +congratulations and their professions of esteem and regard. + +As he paced slowly up and down the avenues, his thoughts were not +of the present, but of the past and future. At the earliest +opportunity that day he had returned to the city, ostensibly, to +attend to some telegraphic despatches, but his main errand had been +to consult with an eminent lawyer whom he knew by reputation, and +in whom both Hugh Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney, in numerous legal +contests, had found a powerful and bitter opponent. To him Scott +had intrusted his own case, giving him the fullest details, and +leaving in his possession for safe keeping the proofs which were +soon to play so important a part; and Mr. Sutherland, the attorney +retained by Scott, had been present at the inquest, apparently +as a disinterested spectator, but, in reality, one of the most +intensely interested of them all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WEAVING OF THE WEB + + +Ten o'clock found an eager crowd assembled in and about the large +library at Fair Oaks, drawn by reports of the sensational features +developed on the preceding day. The members of the household +occupied nearly the same positions as on the preceding afternoon, +with the exception of the secretary, who had entered the room a +little in advance of the others and had seated himself near the +coroner. + +Notwithstanding the glances of doubt and distrust which Scott +encountered, and his own consciousness that suspicion against +himself would deepen as all the facts in the case became known, +he was as impassive as ever. Even Mr. Whitney was wholly at a +loss to account for the change in the bearing of the secretary. +He was no longer the employee, but carried himself with a proud +independence, as though conscious of some mysterious vantage-ground. + +On the other side of the coroner, but conveniently near Scott, was +Mr. Sutherland, while in the rear, commanding a good view of both +gentlemen, as well as of nearly every face in the room, sat Mr. +Merrick, though to a stranger his manner would have implied the +utmost indifference to the proceedings. + +The first witness called for by the coroner was Johnson, the butler. +For the first five or ten minutes his testimony was little more +than a corroboration of that given by the valet on the preceding +day, of the discovery of the death of Hugh Mainwaring. + +"You say," said the coroner, "that at Mr. Whitney's request you +remained in the upper hall, near the library and within call?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Will you state how long a time you should think elapsed between +the alarm given by Hardy and the appearance of the entire household, +including both the guests and the servants?" + +"Well, sir, Hardy gave the alarm a little after seven. The servants +were already up and crowded around there immediately, and I should +say that every one, including the ladies, was out within twenty +minutes, or thirty at the latest, with the exception of Mrs. LaGrange +and her son." + +"At what time did the latter appear?" + +"It must have been considerably after eight o'clock, sir, when she +came to the library in response to a message from Mr. Whitney." + +"And her son?" + +"I did not see Mr. Walter LaGrange at all during the forenoon, sir." + +"How was that?" inquired Dr. Westlake, rather quickly. "Was he not +at Fair Oaks?" + +"I cannot say, sir. I did not see him until luncheon." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"A little after eleven o'clock night before last,--Wednesday night, +sir. I was in the hall as he passed upstairs to his rooms, and I +heard him ask Mr. Scott to come to his library." + +"Did there seem to be any coldness or unpleasantness between them?" + +"No, sir; they both appeared the same as usual." + +"Did any strangers call at Fair Oaks Wednesday aside from those +mentioned yesterday?" + +"No, sir." + +"Will you describe the strangers who were here, stating when they +called and any particulars you are able to give?" + +"The man giving his name as R. Hobson called between eleven and +twelve, Wednesday morning. He was tall, with thin features, small, +dark eyes, and a very soft voice. He came in a carriage, inquired +for Mrs. LaGrange, and seemed in considerable haste. He stayed +about an hour. The gentleman who called about four in the afternoon +also came in a carriage and inquired for Mr. Mainwaring, saying he +had been directed to Fair Oaks at the city offices of Mainwaring & +Co. On learning that Mr. Mainwaring was out, he asked for the +secretary; and I took his card to Mr. Scott, who gave directions +to have him shown up into the library. I do not know when he left. +He was tall, with black hair and moustache and dark glasses." + +"Mr. Hobson's call occasioned considerable comment at luncheon, did +it not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you observe that it had any effect on Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Well, sir, I thought he appeared considerably annoyed, and after +luncheon he asked me whether Mr. Hobson had inquired for him." + +"Did you admit Hobson when he called in the evening?" + +"I did not, sir. I merely met him at the door and directed him to +the south side entrance." + +"At Mrs. LaGrange's request?" + +"Yes, sir; in accordance with her instructions." + +"Did she give any reason for such instructions?" + +"Merely that his former call had caused so much remark she wished +to receive him privately." + +"Was he alone when he called the second time?" + +"No, sir." + +"Can you describe the person who accompanied him?" + +"No, sir. The man stood so far in the shadow that I could only see +the outlines of his form. I should say he was about the same height +as Mr. Hobson, but considerably heavier." + +"Do you know at what hour they left?" + +"No, sir." + +Further questions failing to elicit any facts bearing upon the +situation, the butler was dismissed, and Brown, the coachman, took +his place. The latter was far less taciturn than the butler, +seeming rather eager to impart some piece of information which he +evidently considered of special importance. + +After a few preliminary questions, the coroner said,-- + +"At what time, and from whom, did you first hear of Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"About half-past seven, yesterday morning, sir. I was a-taking +care of the horses, sir, when Uncle Mose--he's the gardener, sir--he +comes past the stable on his way to the tool-house, and he +tells me that Mr. Mainwaring had been murdered in the night, right +in his own rooms, and then he tells me-" + +"How long had you been up and at work in the stables?" + +"Before I heard of the murder? Well, about an hour, I should say. +I generally gets up at six." + +"Had you been to the house that morning?" + +"No, sir; but I went right up there after seeing Uncle Mose, and I +was in the kitchen telling what I had seen the night before, when +the butler he comes down and said as how Mr. Ralph Mainwaring wanted +me, and that I had better keep my mouth shut till I was asked to +tell what I knew." + +"Where were you last Wednesday night?" asked the coroner, rather +abruptly. + +Brown looked surprised, but answered readily, "I was out with some +friends of mine. We all went down to the city together that night +and stayed out pretty late, and it seems a mighty good thing we +did, too." + +"Why so?" asked the coroner. + +"Well, sir," said Brown, deliberately, glad of an opportunity to +tell his story and evidently determined to make the most of it, "as +I said, we stayed out that night later than we meant to, and I didn't +waste no time getting home after I left the depot. So, when I got +to Fair Oaks, I thought I'd take the shortest cut, and so I come in +by the south gate, off from the side street, and took the path +around the lake to get to the stables." + +"What lake do you mean?" interrupted the coroner. + +"The small lake back of the grove in the south part of the grounds. +Well, I was hurrying along through that grove, and all of a sudden +I seen a man standing on the edge of the lake with his back towards +me. He was very tall, and wore an ulster that came nearly to his +feet, and he looked so queer that I stepped out of the path and +behind some big trees to watch him. I hadn't no more than done so, +when he stooped and picked up something, and come right up the path +towards me. The moon was shining, had been up about two hours, I +should say, but his back was to the light and I couldn't see his +face, nor I didn't want him to see me. After he'd got by I stepped +out to watch him and see if he went towards the house, but he +didn't; he took the path I had just left and walked very fast to +the south gate and went out onto the side street." + +"In which direction did he then go?" asked the coroner. + +"He went up onto the main avenue and turned towards the town." + +"Can you describe his appearance?" + +"Only that he was tall and had very black hair; but his face was in +the shadow, so I couldn't tell how he looked." + +"What did he pick up from the ground?" + +"I couldn't see very plain, but it looked like a small, square box +done up in paper." + +"You did not try to call any one?" + +"No, sir. The man didn't go near the house, and I didn't think +much about it until Uncle Mose told me yesterday morning that the +night before he seen--" + +"Never mind what he saw; we will let him tell his own story. Was +that all you saw?" + +"No, sir; it wasn't," replied Brown, with a quick side glance +towards Mrs. LaGrange, who occupied the same position as on the +preceding day. "I was going along towards the stables, thinking +about that man, and all of a sudden I noticed there was a bright +light in one of the rooms up-stairs. The curtains wasn't drawn, +and I thought I'd see whose room it was, so I walked up towards the +house carefully, and I saw Mr. Mainwaring's secretary. He looked +awfully pale and haggard, and was walking up and down the room kind +of excited like. Just then I happened to step on the gravelled walk +and he heard me, for he started and looked kind of frightened and +listened a moment, and then he stepped up quick and extinguished the +light, and I was afraid he'd see me then from the window, so I +hurried off. But I thought 'twas mighty queer-" + +"Mr. Scott was dressed, was he?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sir," Brown answered, sullenly. + +"Did you go directly to your room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What time was this?" + +"I heard the clock strike three just after I got in." + +"You saw or heard nothing more?" + +"No, sir." + +"You knew nothing of what had occurred at the house until the +gardener told you in the morning?" + +"N--yes--no, sir," Brown stammered, with another glance towards +Mrs. LaGrange, who was watching him closely. + +"What did you say?" demanded the coroner. + +"I said I didn't know what had happened till Uncle Mose told me," +Brown answered, doggedly. + +"That will do," said the coroner, watching the witness narrowly as +he resumed his place among the servants. + +During the latter part of Brown's testimony, quick, telegraphic +glances had been exchanged between Scott and Mr. Sutherland, and +one or two slips of paper, unobserved by any one but Merrick, had +passed from one to the other. + +Scott was well aware that the statements made by the coachman had +deepened suspicion against himself. He paid little attention to +the crowd, however, but noted particularly the faces of the guests +at Fair Oaks. Ralph Mainwaring's, dark with anger; that of the +genial Mr. Thornton coldly averted; young Mainwaring's supercilious +stare, and his sister's expression of contemptuous disdain; and as +he studied their features his own grew immobile as marble. Suddenly +his glance encountered Miss Carleton's face and was held for a +moment as though under a spell. There was no weak sentimentality +there, no pity or sympathy,--he would have scorned either,--but +the perfect confidence shining in her eyes called forth a quick +response from his own, though not a muscle stirred about the +sternly-set mouth. She saw and understood, and, as her eyes fell, +a smile, inexplicable and mysterious, flashed for an instant across +her face and was gone. + +"John Wilson," announced the coroner, after a slight pause. + +A middle-aged man, rather dull in appearance, except for a pair of +keenly observant eyes, stepped forward with slow precision. + +"You are Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's valet, I believe?" said the coroner. + +"That I am, sir," was the reply. + +"Have you been for some time in his employ?" + +The man peered sharply at Dr. Westlake from under his heavy brows, +and replied, with great deliberation, "Nigh onto thirty years, sir." + +Then, noting the surprise in his interlocutor's face, he added, with +dignity, "The Wilsons, sir, have served the Mainwarings for three +generations. My father, sir, was valet to the father of the dead +Hugh Mainwaring, the Honorable Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, sir." + +A smile played over the features of young Mainwaring at these words, +but Scott started involuntarily, and, after studying Wilson's face +intently for a moment, hastily pencilled a few words on a slip of +paper which he handed to Mr. Sutherland, and both watched the +witness with special interest. + +His testimony differed little from that given by Hardy and by the +butler. He stated, however, that, after accompanying Mr. Ralph +Mainwaring to the scene of the murder, the latter sent him to summon +Mr. Scott; but on his way to the young gentleman's room he saw Mr. +Whitney in advance of him, who called the secretary and immediately +returned with him to the library. + +"Was Mr. Scott already up when Mr. Whitney called him?" the coroner +inquired, quickly. + +"He was up and dressed, sir," was the reply. + +Wilson also corroborated the butler's statement that Walter LaGrange +was not seen about the premises until luncheon, and stated, in +addition, that the horse belonging to young LaGrange was missing +from the stables until nearly noon. Having mingled very little with +the servants at Fair Oaks, he had but slight knowledge concerning the +occurrences of the day preceding the murder. His testimony was +therefore very brief. + +"Katie O'Brien, chambermaid," was next called; and in response a +young Irish woman quietly took her place before the coroner. She +answered the questions addressed her as briefly as possible, but +with deliberation, as though each word had been carefully weighed. + +"Did you have charge of the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You took care of his rooms as usual Wednesday?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you see Mr. Mainwaring during the day or evening?" + +"I met him once or twice in the halls." + +"When did you last see him?" + +"About two o'clock Wednesday afternoon." + +"State how you first heard of his death." + +"I was working in the halls up-stairs about seven that morning and +heard running back and forth, as if there was trouble. I went out +into the front hall and met the butler, and he told me Mr. Mainwaring +had been murdered." + +"Did you go in to see him at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, for a moment." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his rooms?" + +"I didn't notice anything unusual in Mr. Mainwaring's rooms." + +"Did you in any room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"In what one?" + +"In Mr. Scott's room, a little later." + +"State what you observed." + +"A few minutes after I left the library I saw Mr. Scott come out of +his room and go away with Mr. Whitney, and I thought I would go in +and do up the room. So I went in, but the bed was just as I had +made it up the day before. It hadn't been slept in nor touched. +Then things was strewn around considerable, and the top drawer of +his dressing-case was kept locked all the forenoon until he went to +the city." + +"When did he go to the city?" + +"About noon." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott the day or evening preceding Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"No, sir; but I know he was locked in Mr. Mainwaring's library all +the afternoon, after the folks had gone out driving." + +"How do you know the library was locked?" + +"I was sweeping in the corridor, and I heard him unlock the door +when the butler came up with some gentleman's card." + +"Did you see the gentleman who came up-stairs later?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did you see Walter LaGrange at any time during yesterday forenoon?" + +The witness colored slightly, but replied, "I think I met him once +or twice; I don't remember just when." + +"He was away from home part of the time, was he not?" + +"I don't know where he was." + +Nothing further of importance could be learned from the witness, +and, as it was then past twelve, a short recess was taken until +after lunch. + +Scott took his place at the table with the guests, seemingly alike +indifferent to cold aversion or angry frowns. He was conscious that +Miss Carleton was watching him, her manner indicating the same frank +friendliness she had shown him on the preceding day, and in response +to a signal from her, as they rose from the table, he followed her +into one of the drawing-rooms, joining her in a large alcove window, +where she motioned him to a seat on a low divan by her side. + +"You have made a bitter enemy in Mrs. LaGrange," she said, archly; +"and she has marshalled her forces against you." + +"Do you think so?" he asked, with an amused smile. + +"Certainly. She displayed her tactics this morning. I am positive +that much of the testimony was given in accordance with her orders." + +"For the most part, however, the witnesses stated facts," Scott +replied, watching her closely. + +"Yes; but facts may be so misrepresented as to give an impression +quite the reverse of the truth." + +"That is so. And a misrepresentation having a foundation of truth +is the hardest to fight. But," he added, in a lighter tone, "all +this testimony against me does not seem to have produced the same +impression upon you that it has upon the others. Your suspicions +do not seem, as yet, to have been very thoroughly aroused." + +"Perhaps my suspicions are as dormant as your own apprehensions. +I fail to detect the slightest anxiety on your part as to the +outcome of this, one way or another." + +"No," he replied, after a pause; "I feel no anxiety, only resentment +that circumstances have conspired against me just at this time, and +contempt for people who will be led by appearances rather than their +own judgment." + +"People sometimes use very little judgment where their own personal +interests are concerned." + +"In that case," said Scott, as they rose to return to the library, +where the others had already preceded them, "I suppose the word of +one unprincipled woman and of three or four ignorant servants will +be allowed to outweigh mine." + +They had reached the library and Miss Carleton made no reply, but +Scott again saw the same inscrutable little smile play over her +features, and wondered at its meaning. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TANGLED THREADS + + +Upon resuming the examination, the first witness called for was +Mary Catron, the second cook, a woman about thirty-five years of +age, with an honest face, but one indicative of a fiery temper. +Her testimony was brief, but given with a directness that was +amusing. When questioned of the occurrences of the day preceding +the murder, she replied,-- + +"I know nothing of what went on except from the gossip of the rest. +My place was in the kitchen, and I had too much to do that day to +be loitering round in the halls, leaning on a broom-handle, and +listening at keyholes," and she cast a glance of scathing contempt +in the direction of the chambermaid. + +"Did this 'gossip' that you speak of have any bearing on what has +since occurred?" the coroner inquired. + +"Well, sir, it might and it mightn't. 'Twas mostly about the will +that Mr. Mainwaring was making; and as how them that got little +was angry that they didn't get more, and them as got much was +growling at not getting the whole." + +"How did the servants gain any knowledge of this will?" + +"That's more than I can say, sir, except as I knows the nature of +some folks." + +Upon further questioning, the witness stated that on the night of +the murder, between the hours of two and three, she was aroused by +a sound like the closing of an outside door, but on going to one +of the basement windows to listen, she heard nothing further and +concluded she had been mistaken. + +"Did you see the coachman at that time?" she was asked. + +"A few minutes later I looked out again and I see him gaping and +grinning at the house and jabbering to himself like an idiot, and +I was minded to send him about his business if he hadn't a-took +himself off when he did." + +"He was perfectly sober, was he not?" + +"Sober for aught that I know; but, to my thinking, he's that daft +that he's noways responsible for aught that he says." + +"Were you up-stairs soon after the alarm was given?" asked the +coroner, when she had told of hearing from the butler the news of +the murder. + +"Yes, sir; I went up as soon as ever I heard what had happened." + +"Who was in the library at that time?" + +"Nobody but some of the servants, sir. I met Mr. Whitney just as +I came out." + +"Did you meet any one else?" + +"I met no one, but I saw the housekeeper coming out of her son's +room. She didn't see me; but she was telling him to get ready +quick to go somewheres, and I heard her say to hurry, for every +minute was precious." + +Louis Picot, the head cook, could give no information whatever. +When the alarm was given, he had rushed, with the other servants, +to the scene of the murder, and in his imperfect English, +accompanied by expressive French gestures, he tried to convey his +horror and grief at the situation, but that was all. + +The two maids who attended the English ladies were next called upon; +but their testimony was mainly corroborative of that given by the +chambermaid, except that Sarah Whitely, Miss Carleton's maid, +stated, in addition, that she had seen Mr. Walter LaGrange leave +his mother's room in great haste and go down-stairs, and a little +later, from one of the upper windows, saw him riding away from +the stables in the direction of the south gate. + +But one servant remained, "Uncle Mose," as he was familiarly called, +the old colored man having charge of the grounds at Fair Oaks. His +snow-white hair and bent form gave him a venerable appearance; but +he was still active, and the shrewd old face showed both humor and +pathos as he proceeded with his story. He had been a slave in his +younger days, and still designated his late employer by the old term +"mars'r." He was a well-known character to many present, including +Dr. Westlake, who knew that in this instance questions would have +to be abandoned and the witness allowed to tell his story in his +own way. + +"Well, Uncle Mose, you have been employed at Fair Oaks for a long +time, haven't you?" + +"Moah dan twenty yeahs, sah, I'se had charge ob dese y'er grounds; +an' mars'r Mainwaring, he t'ought nobody but ole Mose cud take cyah +ob 'em, sah." + +"You were about the grounds as usual Wednesday, were you not?" + +"I was 'bout de grounds all day, sah, 'case dere was a pow'ful lot +to do a-gittin' ready for de big doins dere was goin' to be on +mars'r's birfday." + +"Did you see either of the strangers who called that day?" + +"I'se a-comm' to dat d'rectly, sah. You see, sah, I wants to say +right heah, befo' I goes any furder, dat I don' know noffin 'cept +what tuk place under my own obserbation. I don' feel called upon +to 'spress no 'pinions 'bout nobody. I jes' wants to state a few +recurrences dat I noted at de time, speshally 'bout dem strangers +as was heah in pertickeler. Well, sah, de fust man, he come heah +in de mawnin'. De Inglish gentlemens, dey had been a-walkin' in +de grounds and jes' done gone roun' de corner oh de house to go +to mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, when dis man he comes up de av'nue +in a kerridge, an' de fust ting I heah 'im a-cussin' de driver. +Den he gets out and looks roun' kind o' quick, jes' like de possum +in de kohn, as ef he was 'fraid somebody done see 'im. I was fixin' +de roses on de front poach, an' I looked at 'im pow'ful sharp, an' +when de dooh opened he jumped in quick, as ef he was glad to get +out o' sight. Well, sah, I didn't like de 'pearance ob dat man, +an' I jes' t'ought I'd get anoder look at 'im, but he stayed a +mighty long time, sah, an' bime'by I had to go to de tool-house, +an' when I gets back the kerridge was gone." + +"Could you describe the man, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked. + +"No, sah, I don' know as I could 'scribe 'im perzacly; but I'd know +'im, no matter where I sot eyes on 'im, and I know'd 'im the nex' +time I see 'im. Well, sah, dat aft'noon, mars'r Mainwaring an' de +folks had gone out ridin', an' I was roun' kind o' permiscuous like, +an' I see anoder kerridge way down de av'nue by de front gate, an' +I waited, 'spectin' maybe I'd see dat man again. While I was waitin' +by de front dooh, all oh a sudden a man come roun' from de side, as +ef he come from mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, but he was anoder man." + +"Didn't he look at all like the first man?" inquired the coroner. + +"No, sah; he looked altogedder diff'rent; but I don' know as I could +state whar'in de differensiashun consisted, sah. Dis man was berry +good lookin' 'ceptin' his eyes, an' dem yoh cudn' see, 'case he had +on cull'ed glasses. Mebbe his eyes was pow'ful weak, er mebbe he +didn't want nobody to see 'em; but I 'spicioned dem glasses d'rectly, +sah, an' I watched 'im. He goes down to de kerridge an' takes out +a coat an' says sump' in to de driver, an' de kerridge goes away +tow'ds de town, an' he walks off de oder way. Bime'by I see 'im +gwine back again on de oder side ob de street-" + +"Was he alone?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sah; an' I done kep' my eye on 'im, an' he didn' go on to de +town, but tuhned down de fust side street. Well, sah, I didn' see +no moah ob 'im den; but dat ebenin' I'd ben a-workin' roun' de +house, sprinklin' de grass and gettin' ready foh de nex' day, when +I happens to pass by de side dooh, an' I sees dem two men comm' +out togedder." + +"What time was this, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked, quickly. + +"Well, sah," said the old man, reflectively, "my mem'ry is a little +derelictious on dat p'int, but I knows 'twas gettin' putty late." + +"Are you sure these were the same two men you had seen earlier in +the day?" + +"Yes, sah; 'case I stepped in de bushes to watch 'em. Dey talked +togedder berry low, an' den one man goes back into de house, an' I +seen 'im plain in de hall light, an' he was de fust man; an' while +I was a-watchin' 'im, de oder man he disappeahed an' I cudn' see +'im nowhar, but I know'd he was de man dat came in de aft'noon, +'case he look jes' like 'im, an' toted a coat on his arm. Well, +sah, I t'inks it a berry cur'is sarcumstance, an' I was jes' comm' +to de preclushun dat I'd mention it to some ob de fambly, when de +fust man, he come to de dooh wid de housekeeper. I was in de +shadder and dey didn' see me, but I heah 'im say, kind o' soft +like, 'Remember, my deah lady, dis is a biz'ness contract; I does +my part, an' I 'spects my pay.' An' she says, 'Oh, yes, yoh shall +hab yohr money widout fail.' An' I says to myse'f, 'Mose, yoh ole +fool, what you stan'in' heah foh? Dat ain't nuffin dat consarns +yoh nohow,' an' I goes home, an' dat's all I know, sah. But I'se +ben pow'ful sorry eber sence dat I didn' let mars'r Mainwaring +know 'bout it, 'case I has my 'spicions," and the old darkey shook +his head, while the tears coursed down his furrowed cheeks. + +"How did you hear of Mr. Mainwaring's death?" asked the coroner. + +"De coachman, he done tole me, sah." + +"Why, the coachman stated that you told him what had occurred." + +"No, sah; he done tole me; I'd come up to de place pow'ful ahly +dat mawnin' 'case dere was to be such big doings dat day, an' I +was gwine to de tool-house foh sump'in, an' I see mars'r Walter +ridin' away from de stables pow' ful fas' on his hoss-" + +"Do you mean Walter LaGrange?" + +"Yes, sah; an' de coachman he came out an' I ax 'im whar de young +man was gwine dat ahly, an' he say mars'r Mainwaring ben killed, an' +mars'r Walter had to go to town as fas' as his hoss cud take 'im." + +"Do you know when he returned?" + +"He came back, sah, befo' berry long, an' den he went away agin and +didn't come back till mos' noon." + +When the old darkey had been dismissed the coachman was recalled. + +"What did you mean by stating that you first heard of Mr. +Mainwaring's death from the gardener, when the reverse was the +truth?" + +"I don't know," he replied, carelessly; "I s'pose I got mixed. I +remember talking with him about it, and I thought he told me." + +"You had forgotten the interview with Walter LaGrange, I presume." + +Brown made no answer. + +"Why did you not mention that?" + +"I wasn't asked to," he replied in insolent tones; "you said nothing +to me about Mr. LaGrange." + +"You are expected to state in full every occurrence having any +bearing on the situation. You may give the particulars of that +interview now." + +"There's nothing to tell more than Uncle Mose told. I was working +in the stables as usual, and Mr. LaGrange came in in a big hurry +and ordered me to saddle his horse as quick as I could, that Mr. +Mainwaring had been murdered, and he'd got to go to town." + +"At what time was this?" + +"About half-past seven, I should say." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"No, sir." + +"When did he return?" + +"I saw his horse standing in the yard outside the stables about half +an hour after, and then 'twas gone, and I didn't see it again till +noon." + +Walter LaGrange was next called. He stated that he had spent the +greater part of the day preceding the murder away from Fair Oaks; +he had not been at home to luncheon or dinner, and consequently knew +nothing of the strangers seen on the place that day. He had returned +about half-past ten that evening, and remembered seeing Mr. +Mainwaring and his guests seated on the veranda, but he had gone +directly to his room without meeting any one. The first intimation +which he had received of any unusual occurrence the next morning +was when his mother entered his room and told him that Mr. Mainwaring +had either been murdered or had committed suicide, no one knew which. + +"Was that her only object in coming to your room?" + +"No, sir; she wanted me to do an errand for her." + +"Will you state the nature of this errand?" + +"It was only to deliver a note." + +"To whom?" + +"To Mr. Hobson," the young man answered weakly, while his mother +frowned, the first sign of emotion of any kind which she had +betrayed that day. + +"Did you deliver the note?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then, under your mother's orders, you went to the city on your +second trip, did you not?" + +"Y-yes, sir." + +"Were you successful in finding Mr. Hobson there?" + +"Yes, sir," the witness answered sullenly. + +"You had other business in the city aside from meeting him, had you +not?" + +Between the coroner's persistence and his mother's visible signs of +displeasure, Walter LaGrange was fast losing his temper. + +"If you know so much about this business, I don't see the use of +your questioning me," he retorted angrily. "It's no affair of mine +anyway; I had nothing to do with it, nor I won't be mixed up in it; +and if you want any information you'd better ask mother for it; it's +her business and none of mine." + +After a few more questions, which the witness answered sullenly and +in monosyllables, he was dismissed. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," announced the coroner. The greatest surprise +was manifested on every side as the senior member of a well-known +firm of jewellers stepped forward; the same gentleman who had +accompanied Mr. Whitney on his return from the city on the preceding +day. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," said the coroner, "I believe you are able to +furnish some testimony which will be pertinent at this time." + +"Yes, Dr. Westlake," responded the other, in deep, musical tones, +"I think possibly I can render you a little assistance in your +investigations." + +"Mr. Higgenbotham, do you recognize the young gentleman who has just +given his testimony?" + +"I do, sir," said the witness, adjusting a pair of eyeglasses and +gazing steadily at Walter LaGrange. "I recall his features +perfectly." + +"You were personally acquainted with the late Hugh Mainwaring, I +believe?" + +"Yes, sir, intimately acquainted with him." + +"You are, I believe, familiar with the Mainwaring jewels which are +now missing?" continued the coroner. + +Walter LaGrange looked uncomfortable and his mother's cheek paled. + +"I am, sir; having had them repeatedly left in my possession for +safe keeping during their owner's absence from home; and I have +also a complete list of them, with a detailed description of every +piece." + +"Very well, Mr. Higgenbotham, will you now please state when, and +under what circumstances, you saw this young gentleman?" + +"I was seated in my private office yesterday morning, when my head +clerk came in and asked me to step out into the salesrooms for a +moment, as he said a young man was there trying to sell some very +fine jewels, and, from his youth and his ignorance of their value, +he feared something was wrong. I went out immediately and saw this +young gentleman, who handed me for inspection a superb diamond +brooch and an elegant necklace of diamonds and pearls. I instantly +recognized the gems as pieces from the old Mainwaring collection of +jewels. Simultaneously there occurred to my mind the report of the +murder of Hugh Mainwaring, which I had heard but a short time before, +although then I knew nothing of the robbery. Naturally, my +suspicions were awakened. I questioned the young man closely, +however, and he stated that his home was at Fair Oaks, and that his +mother was a distant relative of Mr. Mainwaring's; that the jewels +were hers, and she wished to dispose of them for ready cash to meet +an emergency. His story was so plausible that I thought possibly +my suspicions had been somewhat hasty and premature. Still, I +declined to purchase the jewels; and when he left the store I +ordered one of our private detectives to follow him and report to +me. In the course of an hour the detective returned and reported +that the young man had sold the jewels to a pawnbroker for less +than one-fourth their actual value. About half an hour later I +heard the news of the robbery at Fair Oaks, and that the family +jewels were missing; and knowing that Mr. Whitney was here, I +immediately telephoned to him the facts which I have just stated. +He came in to the city at once, and we proceeded to the pawnshop, +where he also identified the jewels." + +Mr. Higgenbotham paused for a moment, producing a package from an +inner pocket, which he proceeded to open. + +"We secured a loan of the jewels for a few days," he continued, +advancing towards the coroner. "Here they are, and here is a copy +of the list of which I spoke. By comparing these gems with the +description of those which I have checked on the list, you will +see that they are identical." + +He placed the open casket on the table. There was a moment's +silence, broken by subdued exclamations of admiration as Dr. +Westlake lifted the gems from their resting-place. + +"You are correct," he said; "the description is complete. There is +no doubt that these are a part of the collection. I see you have +marked the value of these two items as seven thousand dollars." + +"Yes; that is a moderate valuation. And were the prices of the +other articles carried out, you would see that, with the exception +of a few very small pieces, these have the least value of the entire +lot. I believe I can be of no further service." + +Mrs. LaGrange was next recalled. + +"Have you anything to say in reference to the testimony just given?" +the coroner inquired. + +"I have this much to say," she replied, haughtily, "that I could +have given you the history of those jewels, including, perhaps, +some facts of which even Mr. Higgenbotham and Mr. Whitney are in +ignorance, and thus have spared you the infinite pains you have +taken to make public the straits to which I was reduced, because +of my position here, when in need of a little ready money. I could +have informed you that they were originally a part of the old +Mainwaring collection of gems, until they were given me by my +husband." + +"It hardly seems consistent that a man who treated his wife in the +manner in which you claim to have been treated would bestow upon +her gifts of such value as these," the coroner remarked with +emphasis. + +"They were of little value to him," she answered, with scorn; "as +you have been informed, they were the poorest which he possessed. +Besides, there were times when I could persuade him to almost +anything,--anything but to acknowledge his lawful wife and his +legitimate son." + +"Was the money which you were forced to raise by the sale of these +jewels to be paid to Hobson?" + +"It was." + +"In accordance with the terms of your contract with him, made a +few hours preceding the death of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes," she replied, defiantly. "And as you probably would ask the +nature of that contract, I will save you the trouble. Knowing that +my son and I were likely to be defrauded of our rights in the same +manner in which Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded others, I engaged Mr. +Hobson as my attorney, as he, better than any one else, knew the +facts in the case. When I learned yesterday morning of my husband's +death, I realized that I would have immediate need of his services, +and accordingly sent him word to that effect. He demanded a large +cash payment at once. The result of this demand Mr. Higgenbotham +has already told you." + +"How was Hobson to secure for you your rights from Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"That was left entirely to his own discretion." + +"Will you describe the appearance of Mr. Hobson's clerk?" + +"Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. He was merely brought as a +witness to our contract. I knew that he was present, but he +remained in the shadow, and I took no notice of him whatever." + +"Your contract, then, was a verbal one?" + +"It was." + +Upon being closely questioned, Mrs. LaGrange reiterated her +assertions of the preceding day, laying particular stress upon the +alleged interview between Hugh Mainwaring and his secretary, after +which she was dismissed, and Harry Scott was recalled. + +"Mr. Scott," said the coroner, "what were the relations existing +between Mr. Mainwaring and yourself up to the time of his death?" + +Scott flushed slightly as he replied, "Those ordinarily existing +between employer and employed, except that I believe Mr. Mainwaring +accorded me more than usual consideration, and I, while duly +appreciative of his kindness, yet took especial pains never to +exceed the bounds of an employee." + +"Were there ever any unpleasant words passed between you?" + +"None whatever." + +"Was your last interview with Mr. Mainwaring of a friendly nature?" + +"Entirely so." + +"What have you to say in reference to the testimony given to the +effect that your voice was heard and recognized in angry +conversation with Mr. Mainwaring at nearly one o'clock?" + +"I have to say that it is false, and without foundation." + +"Do you mean to say that the statement of the witness was wholly +without truth?" + +"I do not deny that such an interview, as alleged by the witness, +may have taken place, for that is something concerning which I have +no knowledge whatever; but I do deny that she heard my voice, or +that I was in the library at that time, or at any time after about +twenty minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the time at which you went to your room?" + +"Very near that time, as my interview with Mr. Mainwaring could not +have exceeded ten minutes." + +"At what time did you retire?" + +"I sat up very late that night, for my mind was so occupied with +some personal matters that I felt no inclination for sleep. I +lighted a cigar and became so absorbed in my own thoughts that I +was totally unaware of the lapse of time, until I was aroused by +what I thought was a stealthy step outside. I then became conscious, +for the first time, that I was very weary, both physically and +mentally, and I also discovered that it was nearly three o'clock. +Astonished to find it so late, and exhausted by hours of protracted +thought, I threw myself as I was upon a low couch, where I slept +soundly until awakened in the morning." + +Further questions failed to reveal any discrepancy in his statement, +and he was dismissed. + +The testimony of Ralph Mainwaring and of his son added nothing of +interest or importance. Mr. Thornton testified to his incidental +meeting with Hobson and to the reputation which the man had borne in +London. When he had resumed his seat the coroner remarked,-- + +"As a matter of form, I will have to call upon the ladies, though +it is not expected they will be able to furnish any information +throwing light on this mysterious case." + +It was, as he had said, little more than a ceremony and occupied +but a few moments. Miss Carleton was the last one called upon. She +stated that it was nearly eleven o'clock when she reached her room, +but added that she did not retire immediately, as her cousin, Miss +Thornton, had come in, and they had chatted together for more than +an hour; that while so engaged, she heard Mr. Scott come up-stairs +and enter his room, which adjoined hers, and lock the door for the +night. + +"At what hour was this?" inquired the coroner. + +"It could not have been more than twenty minutes after twelve, as +it was twenty-five minutes after twelve when my cousin went to her +room, and this was about five minutes earlier." + +"Can you state whether or not he left his room within the next +half-hour?" + +"I know that he did not," she replied. "I can testify that he +remained in his room until after one o'clock. After my cousin left +I discovered that the moon was just rising, and the view across the +Hudson being extremely beautiful, as well as novel to me, I +extinguished the light in my room and sat down by the open window +to enjoy it. I heard Mr. Scott stepping quietly about his room for +a few moments; then all was still. I sat for some time admiring the +scenery, until I was aroused by hearing him pacing back and forth +like a person in deep thought. I then found it was much later than +I supposed,--nearly one o' clock,--and I immediately retired; but +so long as I was awake I could hear him walking in his room." + +As Miss Carleton finished her testimony it was evident that the +tide of general opinion had turned somewhat in favor of the young +secretary, but the latter quietly ignored the friendly glances cast +in his direction. + +It was generally supposed that all testimony in the case had now +been heard. Considerable surprise was, therefore, manifested when +the coroner nodded to Mr. Whitney, who, in turn, beckoned to some one +in the hall. In response the butler appeared, ushering in a tall +man, with cadaverous features and small, dark eyes, which peered +restlessly about him. + +"Richard Hobson," announced the coroner. + +"At your service, sir," said the man, advancing with a cringing gait +and fawning, apologetic smile. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the coroner, after a few preliminaries, "I +understand you were somewhat acquainted with the late Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Well, yes, sir, somewhat," the other replied in soft, insinuating +tones, but with peculiar emphasis on the word used by Dr. Westlake. +"Indeed, I might say, without exaggeration, that I was probably +better acquainted with that estimable gentleman than was any one +in this country." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have not seen him to speak with him for fully twenty-three years." + +"You have corresponded with, him, however, in that time?" + +The witness showed no surprise. + +"We exchanged a few letters while I was in England. I have neither +heard from him nor written to him since coming to this country." + +"When did you last see him, regardless of whether you spoke to him +or not?" + +"Probably within the last two or three weeks. I have occasionally +met him on the street." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring see you at any of these times?" + +"If he did, he did not recognize me." + +"Did you see him when you called at Fair Oaks, Wednesday,--either +morning or evening?" + +"I did not." + +"Mr. Hobson, will you describe the man who accompanied you when +you called in the evening, Wednesday?" + +"I could give you a general description. He was a large man, about +my own height, but heavier, and rather good looking, on the whole. +But I am not good on details, such as complexion, color of hair, and +so on; and then, you know, those little things are very easily +changed." + +"What was his name?" + +Mr. Hobson smiled blandly. "The name by which I know him is John +Carroll, but I have no idea as to his real name. He is a very +eccentric character, many-sided as it were, and I never know which +side will come uppermost." + +"He is your clerk and in your employ, is he not?" + +"Agent, I think, would be a preferable term. He is in my employ, +he transacts certain business for me, but he does it in his own way, +and comes and goes at his own discretion." + +"Where is he at present?" + +"I have no idea, sir." + +"Did he leave for the city that night, or did he remain with you at +the Riverside Hotel?" + +"He was not with me at the hotel except for a few hours. I have not +the slightest idea from whence he came to see me, when he went away, +or in what direction he went. He was in haste to be excused as soon +as our joint business was done, and I have not seen him since." + +"Did he have on dark glasses that day?" + +"Not when I saw him, but that was only in my room at the hotel, and +for a few moments in this house; he would have no need for them at +either place." + +"Did he not accompany you from the hotel to Fair Oaks?" + +"No, sir; we met here by prearrangement." + +"When do you expect to see your agent again?" + +"Whenever he has any business reports to make," Hobson replied, +with an exasperating smile; "but I have no idea when that will be. +He has other commissions to execute; he is in the employ of others +besides myself, and transacts some business on his own account also." + +"I understand, Mr. Hobson, that you have repeatedly extorted money +from Mr. Mainwaring by threatening to disclose facts in your +possession regarding some questionable transaction." + +"No, sir; my action could not be termed extortion or blackmail +within the meaning of the law, though to any one conversant with Mr. +Mainwaring's private correspondence it may have had that appearance. +I was, however, merely making an effort to collect what was legally +due me. Mr. Mainwaring, before leaving England, had voluntarily +bound himself to pay me a certain sum upon the condition that I +would not reveal certain transactions of considerably more than +questionable character. I kept my part of the contract, but he +failed in his. I wrote him, therefore, threatening, unless he +fulfilled his share of the agreement, to institute proceedings +against him, which would naturally involve a disclosure of his secret. +He never paid me in full and the secret is still mine," he paused, +then added slowly, "to keep or to sell, as will pay me best." + +"Was Hugh Mainwaring ever married?" the coroner asked, abruptly. + +"I believe he was not generally considered a married man, sir." + +"Was there ever any private marriage?" + +Hobson smiled enigmatically. "You already have the word of the +lady herself, sir; that should be sufficient. I cannot reveal any +of Hugh Mainwaring's secrets,--unless I am well paid for it!" + +Hobson was dismissed without further questions, and the examination +being now at an end, the coroner's jury retired to the room in the +rear of the library. Very few left the house, for all felt that +little time would be required for the finding of a verdict, and +comment and opinion were freely exchanged. + +"Well," said Mr. Sutherland, turning towards the secretary with a +smile, "they did not learn one fact from that last witness, for I +doubt whether one of the few statements he did make had an iota of +truth in it. By the way, Mr. Scott, it's a very fortunate thing +that you've got the proofs you have. It would be a risky piece of +work to depend on that man's word for proof; he is as slippery as +an eel. With those proofs, however, there is no doubt but that +you've got a strong case." + +"It will be hard to convince Ralph Mainwaring of that fact." + +"Yes, he looks as though he would hold on to his opinions pretty +tenaciously." + +"Not so tenaciously as he would grasp any money coming within his +reach!" + +At a little distance, Mr. Whitney was engaged in conversation with +the Englishmen. + +"I never thought he could be in any way connected with it," he was +saying. "In the first place, there was no motive, there could be +none; then, again, I believe he is altogether above suspicion. I +know that Mr. Mainwaring had the most implicit confidence in him." + +"Well," said Mr. Thornton, "for my part, I'm heartily glad if there +is nothing in it. I always liked the young fellow." + +"That's just where I don't agree with you; I don't like him," Ralph +Mainwaring replied in a surly tone. "He may be all right so far as +this matter is concerned; I don't say yet that he is or isn't; but +I do say that to defame a man's character after he's dead, in the +manner he has, is simply outrageous, and, you may depend upon it, +there's some personal spite back of it." + +"Oh, well, as to Hugh's character, I don't think you or I are going +to fret ourselves about that," laughed Mr. Thornton. "He probably +sowed his wild oats with the rest of us, and there may have been +some reason for his leaving England as he did." + +"I don't believe it," Ralph Mainwaring retorted, angrily; but before +he could say more, the doors opened and the coroner's jury filed +into the room. There was instant silence, and a moment later the +verdict had been announced. It was what every one had expected, and +yet there was not one but experienced a feeling of disappointment +and dissatisfaction. + +"We find that the deceased, Hugh Mainwaring, came to his death by +the discharge of a revolver in the hands of some person or persons +to us unknown." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEHIND THE SCENES + + +The crowd dispersed rapidly, passing down the oak-lined avenue in +twos and threes, engaged in animated discussion of the details of +the inquest, while each one advanced some theory of his own +regarding the murder. Mr. Sutherland had taken his departure after +making an appointment with Scott for the following day, and the +latter now stood in one of the deep bow-windows engrossed with his +own thoughts. Suspicion had been partially diverted from himself, +but only partially, as he well knew, to return like a tidal wave, +deepened and intensified by personal animosity, whenever the facts +he had thus far so carefully concealed should become known. He gave +little thought to this, however, except as it influenced him in +planning his course of action for the next few days. + +He was aroused from his revery by the sound of approaching steps, +and, turning, met Mr. Whitney. + +"Ah, Mr. Scott, I was just looking for you. I thought possibly you +had slipped back to the city with the crowd. I wanted to say, Mr. +Scott, that, if it will be agreeable to you, I wish you would remain +at Fair Oaks for the next few days, or weeks, as the case may be. +Mr. Ralph Mainwaring has retained my services to aid in securing +his title to the estate, and the will having been destroyed, +complications are likely to arise, so that it may take some time to +get matters adjusted. Much of the business will, of necessity, have +to be transacted here, as all of Mr. Mainwaring's private papers are +here, and if you will stay and help us out I will see, of course, +that your salary goes right on as usual." + +An excuse fur remaining at Fair Oaks was what Scott particularly +desired, but he replied indifferently, "If it will accommodate you, +Mr. Whitney, I can remain for a few days." + +"Very well. I cannot say just how long we may need you, though I +anticipate a long contest." + +"Against Mrs. LaGrange?" + +"Yes; though she has, in my opinion, no legal right whatever, yet +she will make a hard fight, and with that trickster Hobson to help +her with his chicanery, it is liable to take some time to beat them." + +"You expect to win in the end, however?" + +"Certainly; there is no doubt but that Ralph Mainwaring will win the +case. He will get the property either for his son or for himself. +We are first going to try to have the will upheld in the courts. +Failing in that, the property will, of course, be divided between +the nearest heirs, Ralph Mainwaring and a younger bachelor brother; +in which event, the whole thing will, in all probability, finally +revert to his son Hugh." + +"Mr. Whitney, what is your opinion of Mrs. LaGrange's story of a +private marriage?" + +The attorney shook his head decidedly. "One of her clever lies; but +if she ever undertakes to tell that little romance in court, I'll +tear it all to shreds. She never was married to Hugh Mainwaring; +but," he added, slowly, "I may as well tell you that Walter was his +son. Mr. Mainwaring the same as admitted that to me once; but I +am certain that, aside from that fact, that woman had some terrible +hold on him, though what I never knew. By the way, Mr. Scott, do +you know anything of the particulars of that transaction to which +those letters referred and to which Hobson alluded to-day?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Mr. Whitney looked keenly at the young man. "You obtained your +knowledge originally from other sources than Mr. Mainwaring's +correspondence, did you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I thought so. Do you know, Mr. Scott, I would denounce the whole +thing as a lie, a scheme of that adventuress, or that impostor, +Hobson, or both, by which they hope to gain some hold on the heirs, +were it not that, from your manner, I have been convinced that you +have some personal knowledge of the facts in the case,--that you +know far more than you have yet told." + +Mr. Whitney paused, watching the young secretary closely, but there +was no reply, and, with all his penetration, the attorney could read +nothing in the immobile face before him. He continued,-- + +"Whatever that transaction may have been, I wish to know nothing +about it. I was much attached to Mr. Mainwaring and respected him +highly, and I want to respect his memory; and I will tell you +frankly what I most dread in this coming contest. I expect nothing +else but that either that woman or Hobson will drag the affair out +from its hiding-place, and will hold it up for the public to gloat +over, as it always does. I hate to see a man's reputation blackened +in that way, especially when that man was my friend and his own +lips are sealed in death." + +"It is a pity," said Scott, slowly; "but if one wishes to leave +behind him an untarnished reputation, he must back it up, while +living, with an unblemished character." + +"Well," said the attorney, tentatively, after another pause, "Mr. +Mainwaring's character, whatever it may have been before we were +associated with him, certainly had no effect upon your life or mine, +hence I feel that it is nothing with which we are directly concerned; +and I believe, in fact I know, that it will be for your interest, Mr. +Scott, if you say nothing regarding whatever knowledge you may have +of the past." + +Mr. Whitney, watching the effect of his words, suddenly saw an +expression totally unlike anything he had ever seen on the face of +the secretary, and yet strangely familiar. + +Scott turned and faced him, with eyes cold and cynical and that +seemed to pierce him through and through, remarking, in tones of +quiet irony, "I am greatly obliged for your advice, Mr. Whitney, +regarding my interests, but it is not needed. Furthermore, I think +all your thought and attention will be required to look after the +interests of Ralph Mainwaring," and without waiting for reply, he +stepped through one of the low, old-fashioned windows opening upon +the veranda and disappeared, leaving the attorney alone. + +"By George, but that was cool!" ejaculated the latter. "And that +look; where have I seen it? I believe that Ralph Mainwaring is +more than half right after all, and there is something back of all +this!" + +So absorbed was he in his own reflections as to be wholly unaware +of the presence of the detective in the hall, near the doorway, +where he had paused long enough to witness the parting between +Scott and the attorney, and who now passed quietly up-stairs, +remarking to himself, "Whitney is pretty sharp, but he's more than +got his match there. That young fellow is too deep for him or any +of the rest of 'em, and he's likely to come out where they least +expect to find him." + +Half an hour later, Mr. Merrick, stepping from the private library +into the upper southern hall, heard the sound of voices, which, +from his familiarity with the rooms, he knew must proceed from Mrs. +LaGrange's parlor. He cautiously descended the stairs to the +lowest landing, in which was a deep window. The shutters were +tightly closed, and, concealing himself behind the heavy curtains, +he awaited developments. He was now directly opposite the door of +the parlor, and through the partially open transom he could hear +the imperious tones of Mrs. LaGrange and the soft, insinuating +accents of Hobson. For a while he was unable to distinguish a +word, but the variations in Hobson's tones indicated that he was +not seated, but walking back and forth, while Mrs. LaGrange's voice +betrayed intense excitement and gradually grew louder. + +"You are not altogether invulnerable," Merrick heard her say, +angrily. "You were an accessory in that affair, and you cannot +deny it?" + +Hobson evidently had paused near the door, as his reply was +distinctly audible. "You have not an atom of proof; as you well +know; and even if you had, our acquaintance, my dear madam, has been +too long and of too intimate a nature for you to care to attempt +any of your little tricks with me. You play a deep game, my lady, +but I hold the winning hand yet." + +"If you are dastardly enough to threaten me, I am not such a coward +as to fear you. I have played my cards better than you know," she +answered, defiantly. + +"My dear lady," Hobson replied, and the door-knob turned slightly +under his hand, "those little speeches sound very well, but we both +understand each other perfectly. You want my services in this case; +you must have them; and I am willing to render them; but it is +useless for you to dictate terms to me. I will undertake the case +in accordance with your wishes, but only upon the conditions +mentioned." + +The reply was inaudible, but was evidently satisfactory to Hobson, +for, as he opened the door, there was a leer of triumph on his face. +He glanced suspiciously about the hall, and, on reaching the door, +turned to Mrs. LaGrange, who had accompanied him, saying, in his +smoothest tones,-- + +"I shall be out again in two or three days. Should you wish to see +me before that time, you can telephone to my office or send me word." + +She bowed silently and he took his departure, but as she returned +to her room, she exclaimed, fiercely, "Craven! Let me but once get +my rights secured, and he will find whether I stand in fear of him!" + +Having taken leave of Mrs. LaGrange, Hobson carefully avoided the +front part of the house and grounds, taking instead the gravelled +walk leading through the grove towards the lake in the rear and out +upon the side street. As he was hurrying along this rather secluded +avenue, he was suddenly confronted by Scott. Although strangers to +each other, Hobson instantly conjectured that this must be the +secretary who had betrayed such familiarity with the correspondence +which had passed between himself and Hugh Mainwaring, and that it +might be to his own interest to form the acquaintance of the young +man. + +Quick as thought he drew from his pocket a card, and, pausing +suddenly in his rapid walk, said, with a profound bow,-- + +"I beg pardon; I cannot be mistaken; have I not the pleasure of +addressing Mr. Scott?" + +"That is my name," replied the secretary, coldly. + +"I beg you will accept this card; and allow me to suggest that you +may find it conducive to your interests to call upon me at the +address named, if you will take the trouble to do so." + +Scott glanced from the card to the speaker, regarding the latter +with close scrutiny. "You seem very solicitous of the interests of +a stranger, as it is not to be presumed that you have any ulterior +motive in making this suggestion." + +Hobson appeared to ignore the sarcasm. "It is barely possible," he +continued, in his most ingratiating tones, "that I may be in +possession of facts which it would be to your advantage to learn." + +"In case you are, I suppose, of course, you would impart them to me +simply out of pure disinterestedness, without a thought of pecuniary +compensation?" + +Hobson winced and glanced nervously about him. "I must hasten," he +said; "I cannot stop for explanations; but you will find me in my +office at two o'clock to-morrow, if you care to call. Meantime, +my young friend, I am not perhaps as mercenary as you think, and I +may be able to be of great assistance to you," and with a final bow, +the man hastily disappeared around a turn of the winding walk. + +Scott proceeded in the opposite direction in a deep study. "Is it +possible," he soliloquized, "that that creature is on my track and +has any proposition to make to me? Or, is he afraid that I know his +secret, and that I may deprive him of his hold upon the Mainwarings? +More likely it is the latter. A week ago I was looking for that +man, and would probably have endeavored to make terms with him, +though it would have involved an immense amount of risk, for a +cast-iron contract wouldn't hold him, and his testimony would be +worth little or nothing, one way or the other." Scott glanced +again at the address on the card. "Not a very desirable locality! +It probably suits him and his business, though: I believe, I will +give the scoundrel a call and see what I can draw out of him." + +Dinner was announced as Scott returned to the house, and a number +of circumstances combined to render the meal far pleasanter and +more social than any since the death of the master of Fair Oaks. +Mr. Merrick was nowhere to be found, and the slight restraint +imposed by his presence was removed. Mrs. LaGrange and her son +were also absent, preferring to take their meals privately in +an adjoining room which Hugh Mainwaring had often used as a +breakfast-room. The silence and frigidity which had lately +reigned at the table seemed to have given place to almost universal +sociability, though Ralph Mainwaring's face still wore a sullen +scowl. + +As Mr. Whitney met the secretary, his sensitive face flushed at the +remembrance of their late interview, and he watched the young man +with evident curiosity. Scott was conscious, however, of an +increased friendliness towards himself on the part of most of the +guests, but feeling that it was likely to prove of short duration, +he remained noncommittal and indifferent. As they left the table, +Miss Carleton rallied him on his appearance. + +"Mr. Scott, you are a mystery!" + +"Why so, Miss Carleton, if you please?" he asked, quickly. + +"Just now, when everybody's spirits are relaxing after that horrible +inquest, you look more serious and glum than I have ever seen you. +I threw myself into the breach this afternoon to rescue you from the +enemy's grounds, whither you had been carried by the sensational +statements of Mrs. LaGrange and the coachman and chambermaid, and I +have not even seen you smile once since. Perhaps," she added, +archly, "you didn't care to be rescued by a woman, but would have +preferred to make your own way out." + +"No," said Scott, smiling very brightly now; "I'll not be so +ungrateful as to say that, though I believe I am generally able to +fight my own battles; but I will confess I was somewhat disappointed +this afternoon when you gave your testimony." + +"How could that be?" she inquired, greatly surprised. + +"Up to that time I had flattered myself that I had one friend who +had faith in me, even though circumstances conspired against me. I +discovered, then, that it was no confidence in me, but only a +knowledge of some of the facts, that kept her from turning against +me like the rest." + +Scott spoke in serio-comic tones, and Miss Carleton looked keenly +in his face to see if he were jesting. + +"No; you are mistaken, Mr. Scott," she said, slowly, after a pause. +"My confidence in you would have been just as strong if I had known +nothing of the facts." + +"Thank you; I am very glad to hear that," he answered. Then added, +gently, "Would, it be strong enough to stand a far heavier strain +than that, if it were necessary?" + +His tones were serious now, and she regarded him inquiringly for a +moment before speaking; then seeing young Mainwaring approaching +with his sister and Miss Thornton, she replied, in low tones,-- + +"I have no idea to what you refer, Mr. Scott, and I begin to think +you are indeed a 'mystery;' but you can be assured of this much: I +would never, under any circumstances, believe you capable of +anything false or dishonorable." + +Scott's eyes expressed his gratification at these words, and he +would then have withdrawn, but neither Miss Carleton nor young +Mainwaring gave him an opportunity to do so without seeming +discourteous. Both drew him into conversation and found him +exceedingly entertaining, though reserved concerning himself. +Isabel Mainwaring still held herself aloof and took little part in +the conversation, but to make amends for this Miss Thornton bestowed +some of her most winning smiles upon the handsome young secretary, +her large, infantile blue eyes regarding him with wondering +curiosity. + +After a pleasant evening, Scott excused himself and retired to his +room; but an hour or two later there was a knock at his door, and +on opening it he saw young Mainwaring in smoking-cap and jacket. + +"I say, Scott, won't you come out and have a smoke? I've got some +fine cigars, and it's too pretty a night to stay in one's room; +come out on my balcony and we'll have a bit of a talk and smoke." + +Scott readily consented, and the two young men proceeded to the +balcony upon which Mainwaring's room opened, where the latter had +already placed two reclining chairs and a small table containing +a box of his favorite Havanas. + +For a few moments they puffed in silence, looking out into the +starlit night with its beauty of dim outline and mysterious shadow. +Mainwaring was the first to speak. + +"I say, Scott, I'm awfully ashamed of the way that some of us, my +family in particular, have treated you within the last day or two. +It was confoundedly shabby, and I beg your pardon for my share in +it, anyhow." + +"Don't waste any regrets over that matter," Scott answered, +indifferently; "I never gave it any thought, and it is not worth +mentioning." + +"I do regret it, though, more than I can tell, and I haven't any +excuse for myself; only things did look so deucedly queer there +for a while, don't you know?" + +"Well," said Scott, pleasantly, "we are not out of the woods yet, +and there is no telling what developments may arise. Things might +'look queer' again, you know." + +"That's all right. I know a gentleman when I see him, unless I +happen to lose my head, and that doesn't occur very often. Now +it's different with the governor. He's got so confoundedly wrought +up over that will, don't you know, that he can't think of anything +else, and there's no reason in him." + +"As I understand it," remarked Scott, "Mr. Mainwaring expects to +win the property in any case, either for you or for himself." + +"Yes; and naturally you might think that the loss of the will +wouldn't amount to much, one way or the other; but it's like this: +the governor and I are very different; I know we've got plenty of +ducats, and that's enough for me, but not for him; he is ambitious. +It has always galled him that we were not in the direct line of +descent from the main branch of the Mainwarings; and it has been +his one great ambition since the death of old Ralph Mainwaring, +Hugh's father, a few years before I was born, to win into his own +family the old Mainwaring estate. He had an idea that Hugh would +never marry, and gave me his name, hoping that I would be made +his heir. Should the governor succeed in this scheme of his, he +will immediately buy back the Mainwaring estate, although he knows +I don't care a rap for the whole thing, and we will then have the +honor, as he considers it, of perpetuating the old family line. +On the other hand, if the property goes to the nearest heirs, it +will be divided between him and his younger brother. Uncle Harold +has no more ambition than I have, and though he is at present a +bachelor, that is no guarantee that he will remain one; and, anyhow, +it isn't likely that there will be much of his share left when he +gets through with it. So you see how much importance the governor +attached to that will." + +"I understand," said Scott, as his companion paused. Then he added, +musingly, "Your uncle's name seems to be rather unusual among the +Mainwarings; I do not recall your having mentioned it before." + +"What, Harold? On the contrary, it is the great name in our family, +especially in the main line. I would have been given that name if +the governor had not been looking out for Hugh Mainwaring's money. +There was a direct line of Harolds down to my great-grandfather. +He gave the name to his eldest son, but he died, and the next one, +Ralph, Hugh's father, took up the line. Guy, my grandfather, was +the youngest." + +"One would almost have thought that Hugh Mainwaring would have borne +the name of Harold," commented Scott. + +Young Mainwaring smoked for a moment in silence, then said, in lower +tones, "Old Uncle Ralph had a son by that name." + +"Indeed! Had Hugh Mainwaring a brother?" Scott asked in surprise. + +"Yes, there was a brother, but he died a great many years ago. +There is quite a story connected with his name, but I don't know +many of the particulars, for the governor seldom alludes to it. I +know, however, that Harold was the elder son, but that Uncle Ralph +disinherited him for marrying against his wishes, and afterwards +died of grief over the affair, and soon after his father's death +Harold was lost at sea." + +"You say he married; did he leave any children?" + +"No, I believe he had no children; but even if he had, they would have +been disinherited also. Uncle Ralph was severe; he would not even +allow Harold's name to be mentioned; and Hugh also must have turned +against his brother, for I have heard that he never spoke of him or +allowed any allusion to be made to him." + +"Well," said Scott, after a pause, "I believe Hugh Mainwaring's life +was far from happy." + +"You are right there. I'll never forget the last words he ever +spoke to me as I took leave of him that night. They were to the +effect that he hoped when I should have reached his age, I would be +able to look back over a happier past than his had been. It is my +opinion, too, that that woman was the cause of his unhappiness, and +I believe she is at the bottom of all this trouble." + +Their conversation had drifted to the mystery then surrounding them, +and for more than an hour they dwelt on that subject, advancing many +surmises, some strangely improbable, but none of which seemed to +bring them any nearer a solution of the problem. + +"My first visit to this country has proved an eventful one," said +young Mainwaring, as, at a late hour, they finally separated for the +night, "and I don't know yet how it may terminate; but there's one +thing I shall look back upon with pleasure, and that is my meeting +with you; and I hope that from this time or we will be friends; and +that this friendship, begun to-night, will be renewed in old England +many a time." + +"Are you not rather rash," Scott inquired, slowly, "considering how +little we know of each other, the circumstances under which we have +met, and the uncertainty of what the future may reveal?" + +"No; I'm peculiar. When I like a fellow, I like him; and I've been +studying you pretty closely. I don't think we need either of us be +troubled about the future; but I'm your friend, Scott, and, whatever +happens, I'll stand by you." + +"So be it, then, Hugh," replied the secretary, clasping the hand of +the young Englishman and, for the first time, calling him by name. +"I thank you, and I hope you will never go back on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SKIRMISHING + + +On the following morning the gentlemen at Fair Oaks were astir at +an unusually early hour, and immediately after breakfast held a brief +conference. It was decided to offer a heavy reward for the +apprehension of the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, while a lesser +reward was to be offered for information leading to identification +and arrest of the guilty party. Preparations were also to be made +for the funeral, which would take place the next day, and which, in +accordance with the wishes of Ralph Mainwaring, was to be strictly +private. + +Their conference at an end, Ralph Mainwaring ordered the carriage to +take himself, Mr. Whitney, and the secretary to the depot. + +"I believe I will ride down with you," said Mr. Merrick. + +"Certainly; plenty of room. Going to the city?" + +"Yes; but not with you gentlemen. We will part company at the +depot and I will take another car." + +"How are you getting on, Mr. Merrick?" inquired Mr. Thorton. + +"As well as can be expected, all things considered," was the +non-committal reply. + +"Going to be a slow case, I'm afraid," commented Ralph Mainwaring, +shaking his head in a doubtful way, while Mr. Thornton added +jokingly,-- + +"We've got some mighty fine fellows over home there at the Yard; if +you should want any help, Mr. Merrick, I'll cable for one of them." + +"Thank you, sir," said the detective, with quiet dignity; "I don't +anticipate that I shall want any assistance; and if I should, I will +hardly need import it from Scotland Yard." + +"Ha, ha! That all depends, you know, on what your man is. If the +rascal happens to have any English blood in him, it will take a +Scotland Yard chap to run him down." + +"On the principle, I suppose, of 'set a rogue to catch a rogue,'" +Merrick replied, smiling. + +He bad scarcely finished speaking when Hardy suddenly entered the +room. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, addressing Ralph Mainwaring; "but the +coachman is gone! We've looked everywhere for him, but he's nowhere +about the place." + +"When did he go?" asked Mr. Whitney, quickly. + +"Nobody knows, sir. Joe, the stable-boy, says he hasn't been around +at all this morning." + +"Bring the boy here," said Mr. Mainwaring. + +There was instantly recalled to every one present the memory of +Brown's insolent manner at the inquest, together with his confused +and false statements. In a few moments Hardy returned with the +stable-boy, an unkempt, ignorant lad of about fourteen, but with a +face old and shrewd beyond his years. + +"Are you one of the servants here?" Mr. Mainwaring inquired. + +"I works here, ef that's wot yer mean; but I don't call myself +nobody's servant." + +"How did it happen that you were not at the inquest?" he demanded. + +"Didn't got no invite," was the reply, accompanied by a grin, while +Hardy explained that the boy did not belong to the place, but had +been hired by the coachman to come nights and mornings and attend +to the stable work. + +"What do you know about this Brown?" inquired Mr. Mainwaring, +addressing the boy. + +"Wal, I guess he's ben a-goin' it at a putty lively gait lately." + +"You mean he was fast?" + +"I guess that's about the size of it." + +"When did you see him last?" + +"Hain't seen nothin' of him sence las' night, an' then he was sorter +crusty an' didn't say much. I come down this mornin' an' went to +work,--he allus left the stable key where I could get it,--but I +ham' t seen nor heard nothin' o' him. Me'n him," with an emphatic +nod towards Hardy, "went up to his room, but he warn't there, nor +hadn't ben there all night." + +"Why do you think he was fast?" + +"Wal, from all I've hearn about him I guess he's ben goin' with a +kinder hard set lately. I've seen some putty tough-lookin' subs +hangin' 'round the stables. There was a lot of 'em waitin' for him +Wednesday night." + +"Wednesday night!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney. "At what time? and who +were they?" + +"I dunno who they was, but they was hangin' 'round about eight +o'clock waitin' for him to go with 'em. An' then he's had lots of +money lately." + +"How do you know this?" + +"I've hearn him a-jinglin' it in his room; an' night afore las' I +clim' up-stairs and peeked in, an' he had a whole pile of gold +pieces 'bout that high," measuring with his hands; "but he see me, +an' he said he'd gimme a whalin' ef he catched me at it agin." + +"Did you watch him last night?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"Yas; he acted so kinder queer that I waited 'round to see what he +was goin' to do. After 'twas still an' he thought I'd gone, he come +down an' started off towards the side street. Jes' fer fun I +follered him; an' when he got to the lake he stopped and looked all +'round, as ef to make sure there warn't nobody to see him, an' then +he takes somethin', I couldn't see what, out from under his coat an' +chucks it quick into the lake, an' then he started on a run down +towards the street." + +"Couldn't you see what he threw?" + +"No, I couldn't see what 'twas; but it struck the water awful heavy." + +"Is that all you know about the affair?" + +"Yas, that's all." + +"Wait a moment," said Mr. Merrick, as the boy turned to leave the +room. "Can you tell how many, or what kind of looking men were with +Brown on Wednesday night?" + +"There was three of 'em. One was a big feller with kinder squint +eyes, the other two was ornery lookin' fellers; one of 'em was dark +like a furriner, an' t'other one had sorter yeller hair." + +"How long were they there?" + +"About half 'n hour, I guess. They was all gone 'fore nine o'clock." + +"Did you hear anything that was said?" + +"I hearn 'em talkin' somethin' about the boss." + +"Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yas. He'd made a kick about somethin' or 'nuther that afternoon, +an' Brown he was cussin' mad, an' then when they went away I hearn +one of 'em say somethin' about 'makin' a good job of it.'" + +"How was this, Hardy?" inquired Mr. Whitney. "Had there been any +words Wednesday between Mr. Mainwaring and the coachman?" + +"Yes, sir; I had forgotten it; but now I remember that when he came +back that afternoon, he found some fault with the coachman, and +Brown was very insolent, and then Mr. Mainwaring threatened to +discharge him." + +"'Pon my soul! I should say here was something worth looking into," +said Mr. Thornton, as the boy left the room, accompanied by Hardy. + +"A great pity that we could not have had his testimony at the +inquest," commented the attorney. "We might then have cornered +Brown; but I was not aware that there was such a person employed on +the place." + +Meanwhile, a carriage ordered by telephone from the Arlington had +already arrived at Fair Oaks. + +"Well," said Ralph Mainwaring, "the carriage is waiting. We had +better proceed to the depot; we can talk of this latest development +on our way." + +"You will excuse me, gentlemen," said Mr. Merrick, quietly, "I have +changed my mind, and will postpone my trip to the city." + +"Struck a new trail, eh?" queried Ralph Mainwaring, with a peculiar +expression, as he paused to light a cigar. + +"On the contrary, sir, only following up an old one," and, with a +somewhat ambiguous smile, the detective withdrew. + +The coachman's sudden disappearance, together with the facts learned +from the stable-boy, formed the subject of discussion for the next +half-hour between Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney, Scott listening +with a thoughtful face, although taking little part in the +conversation. Upon their arrival at the offices of Mainwaring & +Co. they were given a cordial greeting by Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden, after which they passed on to the elegant private +offices of Hugh Mainwaring. Mr. Whitney was visibly affected as +he entered the familiar rooms, and to each one was forcibly +recalled the memory of their meeting a few days before. A brief +silence followed, and then in subdued tones they began to discuss +the business which had now brought them there. + +At about two o'clock that afternoon, Scott found himself entering +an ancient and dilapidated looking block in a rather disreputable +part of the city. He had fulfilled his appointment with Mr. +Sutherland, and after an hour's conversation both gentlemen appeared +very sanguine regarding the case under consideration. As Scott was +taking leave, he produced Hobson's card and related the particulars +of their incidental meeting at Fair Oaks, and Hobson's urgent +invitation to call upon him at his office. + +Mr. Sutherland laughed. "About what I expected," he said. "It was +evident from his remarks at the inquest that some one--probably +Mrs. LaGrange--had posted him concerning you, and he is afraid you +are onto his secret." + +"I had questioned if it were that, or whether possibly he might be +onto mine." + +"Not at all probable," said the attorney, after a moment's +reflection. "If he really understood your position, he would be +far too cunning to allow you to get sight of him. You have the +scoundrel completely in your power." + +"Yes, as much as he is in anybody's power; but it is doubtful if +any one can hold so slippery a rascal as he. I believe I will give +him a call, however." + +"It would do no harm, taking care, of course, that you give him no +information." + +"Oh, certainly," said Scott, with a smile, as he paused for an +instant in the doorway; "my object will be to get, not give, +information." + +"His object will probably be the same," was Mr. Sutherland's parting +shot, as he turned with a laugh to his desk. + +Scott, having ascended a narrow, crooked stairway, found himself in +a long, dark hall, poorly ventilated, and whose filthy condition was +only too apparent even in the dim light. Far in the rear he saw a +door bearing the words, "R. Hobson, Attorney." As he pushed open +the door, a boy of about seventeen, who, with a cigarette in his +mouth and his feet on a table, sat reading a novel, instantly assumed +the perpendicular and, wheeling about, faced Scott with one of the +most villainous countenances the latter had ever seen. Something in +Scott's appearance seemed to surprise him, for he stared impudently +without speaking. After silently studying the face before him for +an instant, Scott inquired for Mr. Hobson. + +"He is in, sir, but he is engaged at present with a client," said +the boy, in tones which closely resembled Hobson's. "I will take +in your card, sir." + +The boy disappeared with the card into an adjoining room, returning +a moment later with the most obsequious manners and the announcement +that Mr. Hobson would be at liberty in a few moments. Scott rightly +judged that this ceremony was merely enacted for effect, and contented +himself with looking about the small, poorly furnished room, while +the office boy opposite regarded him with an undisguised curiosity, +which betrayed that this client--if such he could be regarded--differed +greatly from the usual class. Young and untaught though +he were, he had learned to read the faces about him, and that of +his employer was to him as an open book, and the expression which +flashed into Hobson's eyes as they fell upon Scott's card indicated +plainly to the office boy that in this instance the usual conditions +were reversed, and the attorney stood in fear of his visitor. + +A few moments later the door of the next room opened noiselessly +and Hobson, attired in a red dressing-gown and wearing his most +ingratiating smile, silently beckoned Scott to enter. With a quick +glance the latter took in every detail of the second apartment. It +was somewhat larger than the first, but the furnishing was meagre +and shabby in the extreme, and, with the exception of a small set +of shelves containing a few dilapidated volumes, there were no +visible signs of an attorney's office. + +Hobson did not speak until he had carefully closed the door, then +he said, in low tones,-- + +"As our conversation is likely to be of a confidential nature, you +would perhaps desire greater privacy than can be secured here. Step +this way." + +He opened the door into a room so dark and so thick with stale +tobacco smoke that at first Scott could discern nothing clearly. + +"My den!" said Hobson, with a magnificent flourish, and Scott stepped +within, feeling, he afterwards said, as though he were being ushered +by Mephistopheles into the infernal regions, and this impression was +not lessened by the first objects which he was able to distinguish,--a +pair of skulls grinning at him through the smoky atmosphere. +As his eyes became accustomed to the dim light he noted that the +room was extremely small, with only one window, which opened upon +the blank wall of an adjoining building, and with no furniture, save +an enormous, high-top desk and two chairs. One of the latter Hobson +placed near the window for his visitor, and then busied himself for +a moment at the desk in hastily concealing what to Scott looked like +some paraphernalia of the black arts. Upon the top of the desk were +the two skulls which had first attracted Scott's attention, and +which he now regarded rather curiously. Hobson, following his +glance, said, by way of explanation,-- + +"Rather peculiar ornaments, I dare say, you consider those, Mr. +Scott; but I am greatly interested in phrenology and devote much of +my leisure time to its study. It is not only amusing, you know, but +it is of great assistance in reading and understanding my fellow-men, +and enables me to adapt myself to my clients, so to speak." + +Having satisfactorily arranged his belongings, Hobson locked the +door, and, seating himself behind his desk, appeared ready for +business. + +"Well, my young friend," he began, "I rather expected you, for I +flatter myself that I understand enough of human nature to know that +there are very few who will pass by an opportunity of learning +something for the advancement of their own interests or the +betterment of their own condition in life." + +"That may be perfectly natural," Scott replied; "but you flatter +yourself altogether too much if you think that I have come here +with any expectation that you can advance my interests or better +my condition." + +"That remains to be seen. Much also depends upon yourself, for I +take it that a young man of your calibre is not without ambition." + +Hobson paused, regarding his visitor with sharp scrutiny, but +receiving no reply, continued, "I might add, that to a young man +with ambitious designs such as yours, I would probably be able to +render great assistance." + +"I am not aware of any unusual ambition on my part." + +"Oh, no, nothing unusual. You simply had no intention of remaining +Hugh Mainwaring's secretary any longer than was necessary. That +was perfectly natural, perfectly laudable, my young friend, and I +admire the shrewdness and foresight with which you set about to +accomplish your designs. At the same time, I believe I am in a +position to give you just the information and advice you need in +order to insure your success." + +Both men had the same object in view. Each wished to ascertain what +the other knew concerning himself. Scott, unable to determine +whether Hobson had spoken at random or with an inkling of the facts, +answered, coldly,-- + +"I do not know to what you refer, or on what grounds you base the +inference which you seem to have drawn." + +"No? Then you will allow me to remark, Mr. Scott, that such +familiarity as yours with a portion of Hugh Mainwaring's private +correspondence, extending back over a period of fifteen or more +years, taking into consideration the facts that you cannot be much +more than twenty-five years of age, and have only been about two +years in Mr. Mainwaring's employ, would indicate that you had sought +to acquaint yourself with some facts connected with your employer's +early life with the express purpose of using the same to your own +advantage." + +"You must see the inconsistency of such a supposition, when you +consider that I have been in possession of these facts for some +time--it is unnecessary to state how long--and have made no use +of them whatever." + +"Possibly," said Hobson, with emphasis, "your knowledge of the +facts may not have been definite enough to warrant your use of them." + +His voice and manner unconsciously betrayed the importance which he +attached to Scott's reply. The latter detected this, and answered +evasively,-- + +"It is sufficiently definite for any own personal satisfaction in +any event." + +Hobson shook his head. "It is useless to evade the point. You had +an object in looking up that correspondence; you intended to make +a good thing out of the facts you got hold of; and, if your +information is sufficiently complete, you can make a good thing out +of them yet." + +"If I have not attempted anything of that kind in the past, would +I be likely to try it at this late day?" Scott asked, with the air +of one who is open to any available suggestion. + +Hobson at once assumed a confidential manner, and, moving a little +nearer his visitor, replied, in a low tone,-- + +"Look here, Mr. Scott, that's just why I wanted to meet you. You +see I knew more about you than you think. I've taken an unusual +interest in you, too; and, seeing the little game you were playing, +and knowing that I held the trump card myself, I naturally would +like to take a hand and help you out at the same time. Now, the +point is just this, Mr. Scott: What do you really know concerning +the transaction referred to in that correspondence? I suppose +you are familiar with all the letters that passed on both sides?" + +"Perfectly so." + +"Certainly. But you will acknowledge, Mr. Scott, that those letters +were expressed in very guarded terms, and, with the exception of +possibly one or two, gave no hint of the nature of that transaction. +Remember," he added, impressively, "I have an exact copy of the +correspondence on both sides, and no one could ever assume any +statement or admissions that were not there." + +"I presumed that, of course," said Scott, calmly. + +"Now, my young friend, let us get down to the actual knowledge which +you have of the facts. You are, I suppose, aware that there was a +missing will involved in the case?" + +"I am; and that one or two of your letters purported to show that +the missing will was destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Did I make any such allegation?" + +"Not directly; but your allusions and references would be clear to +any one having a knowledge of the English statutes." + +Hobson started, and inquired quickly, "Are you familiar with English +law?" + +"I made myself familiar with your citations and references in this +case." + +"I see; you have indeed made a study of the case. Well, Mr. Scott, +permit me to say that I accused Hugh Mainwaring of nothing which he +had not previously confessed to me himself. Have you any knowledge +concerning that will,--its terms or conditions, or the names of the +testator or beneficiaries?" + +"There was nothing in the correspondence to give any clue to those +particulars. I could only gather that Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded +others and enriched himself by destroying this will." + +Hobson looked relieved. "Without doubt, he did; but allow me to +call your attention to one point, Mr. Scott. You see how little +actual knowledge you have of this affair. There are others--Mrs. +LaGrange, for instance, and the mysterious individual whom she heard +conversing with Mr. Mainwaring on the night of the murder,--all of +whom know as much or more than you; and while this meagre knowledge +of the case might perhaps have been sufficient to bring to bear upon +Mainwaring himself, personally, it would have little or no weight +with those with whom we would now have to deal. You know nothing +of the terms of the will, or of the persons named as beneficiaries, +whom, consequently, Hugh Mainwaring defrauded. You have no proof +that he destroyed the will. In fact, my dear young friend, you +could produce no proof that such a document ever existed at all!" + +"Do I understand you, then, that those letters, Mr. Mainwaring's +included, would not be regarded as proof?" Scott asked, with +well-feigned surprise. + +"Not of themselves with these people; I know them too well." +Hobson shook his head decidedly, then continued, in oracular +tones, "Remember, I am only speaking of your chances with them. +Mainwaring's letters were very guarded, mine scarcely less so. +They would have no weight whatever with men like Ralph Mainwaring or +William Thornton. They might even charge you with forging the whole +thing. The point is just this, Mr. Scott: in order to be able to +get anything from these parties you must have complete data, absolute +proof of every statement you are to make; and such data and proofs +are in the possession of no one but myself. So you see I am the +only one who can assist you in this matter." + +"And what compensation would you demand for 'assisting' me?" + +"We will not put it that way, Mr. Scott," Hobson replied, his small, +malignant eyes gleaming with delight at the ease with which his +prey was falling into his clutches. "It is like this: Ralph +Mainwaring and Thornton are prejudiced against me; I might not be +able to work them as successfully as I could wish, but you and I +could work together very smoothly. I could remain invisible, as it +were, and give you the benefit of the information I possess and of +my experience and advice, and you could then successfully manipulate +the wires which would bring in the ducats for both of us. What do +you say, my young friend?" + +"Do you think that either Ralph Mainwaring or Mr. Thornton would +care enough for any secrets you might be able to disclose to pay +you hush money?" + +"I object to the term of 'hush money.' I am merely trying to get +what was due me from Hugh Mainwaring. As he never paid me in full, +his heirs must. Yes, I could work them after they return to +England and set up in style on the old Mainwaring estate. They +would be rather sensitive about the family reputation then." + +"Where are the beneficiaries of that will that was destroyed?" Scott +suddenly inquired. + +Hobson looked sharply at him. "Dead, long ago. Why do you ask?" + +"I was thinking that if they or their heirs were living, it would +be better to go to them with this information. They would probably +pay a good price for it." + +"You're right, they would," Hobson replied, approvingly; "but they +are all dead." + +"Were there no heirs left?" + +"None whatever, more's the pity. However, I've got a good hold on +these English chaps and will make them hand over the sovereigns yet." + +The contempt which Scott had hitherto concealed as Hobson unfolded +his plans was now plainly visible on his face as he rose from his +chair. + +"Don't hasten, my young friend," said Hobson, eagerly. "Sit down, +sit down; we have not laid our plans yet." + +"No, nor will we," was the reply. "If you think to make a cat's-paw +of me in any of your dirty, contemptible pieces of work, you are +mistaken. If you think that I came here with any intention of +listening for one moment to any of your vile propositions, you are +mistaken. I came here simply to satisfy myself on one point. My +errand is accomplished, and I will remain no longer." + +Hobson had sprung to his feet and now faced Scott, barring the way +to the door, while fear, anger, defiance, and hate passed in rapid +succession across his evil countenance, making his appearance more +demon-like than ever. + +"You lie!" he exclaimed, in a hoarse whisper. "I have not given +you one word of information!" + +"No," Scott interrupted, "you have given me no information, and you +could give me none, for the reason that I know more concerning this +whole affair than you do. I also have knowledge of certain other +matters regarding one Richard Hobson, alias Dick Carroll, and his +London adventures." + +Hobson's face had become a livid hue, and Scott detected a sudden +movement of his right hand towards his desk. + +"None of that!" he cried, warningly, at the same time springing +quickly upon him with two well-aimed blows, one of which knocked a +revolver from Hobson's hand, while the other deposited him in a heap +upon the floor. While the latter was recovering from the effect of +the stunning blow he had received, Scott picked up the revolver and, +having examined it, slipped it into his pocket, saying,-- + +"I will keep this for a while as a souvenir of our interview. It +may be needed as evidence later." + +Hobson crawled to his feet and stood cowering abjectly before Scott, +rage written on every lineament of his face, but not daring to give +it expression. + +"Who in the devil are you, anyway?" he growled. + +"That is none of your business whatever," Scott replied, seizing +him by the collar and dragging him to the door. "The only thing for +you to do is to unlock that door as expeditiously as possible, +asking no questions and making no comments." + +With trembling fingers the wretch complied, and Scott, still +retaining his hold upon his collar, reached the door of the outer +room, where, with a final shake, he released him. + +"Wait a moment," Hobson whispered, eagerly, half-paralyzed with fear, +while his eyes gleamed with malign hatred. "You've got no hold on +me by anything I've said, and you've no proof of that Carroll +business, either." + +Scott looked at him an instant with silent contempt. "You cowardly +scoundrel! all I have to say to you at present is, be careful how +you interfere with me! I'm only sorry I soiled my hands with you, +but I'll do it again if necessary; and the next time you will fare +worse!" and, opening the door, he passed quickly through the outer +room, conscious of the amazed stare of the office boy, who had +overheard his last words. Hobson did not attempt to follow him, but +paced up and down his room, trembling with fear and rage combined, +and vainly striving to imagine who his visitor might be. At last +he sat down to his desk and began to write rapidly, muttering to +himself,-- + +"I half believe--only that he's too young--that he is some hound +over here trying to scent out the whole thing. But," he added, with +an oath, "whoever he is, if he crosses my track he'll be likely to +follow Hugh Mainwaring before long, that's all!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +X-RAYS + + +On the morning following Scott's interview with Hobson, he awoke at +an early hour, vaguely conscious of some disturbing influence, +though unable to tell what had awakened him. He lay for a moment +recalling the events of the preceding day, then suddenly remembered +that this was the day fixed for the funeral of Hugh Mainwaring. +None of the servants were astir about the house, but Scott soon +became conscious of the sound of stealthy movements and subdued +voices coming through the open window, and, rising, he looked out. +At first he could see nothing unusual. It was just sunrise, and the +river, at a little distance shimmering in the golden light, held +him entranced by its beauty. Then a slight rustling in the +shrubbery near the lake attracted his attention. The golden shafts +of sunlight had not yet reached that small body of water, and it +lay smooth and unbroken as the surface of a mirror, so clear at +that hour that one could easily look into its depths. Suddenly a +light boat shot out from the side nearest the grove, breaking the +smooth surface into a thousand rippling waves of light. In the boat +were two men, one of whom Scott instantly recognized as the +detective; the other, who was rowing and had his back towards the +house, seemed to be a stranger. Some one concealed in the shrubbery +called to the boatmen, whereupon they rowed across in that direction, +stopping a few yards from shore. Here they rested a few moments +till the surface was again smooth, when, both men having carefully +peered into the depths of the little lake, the detective proceeded +to let down a drag into the water. + +"By George!" Scott ejaculated, "the sly old fox is improving the +opportunity, while every one is asleep, to drag the lake in search +of whatever the coachman threw in there. All right, my dear sir, +go ahead! But I'm somewhat interested in this affair myself, and +I don't intend that you shall monopolize all the facts in the case." + +Keeping an eye on the boat, he dressed quickly and, letting himself +out at the front entrance, he hastened down the walk through the +grove to the edge of the lake, keeping himself concealed among the +trees. The boat was moving slowly back and forth, and was now in +such a position that Scott could see the face of the man rowing, +who proved to be, as he had thought, a stranger. On the other side, +seated under the flowering shrubs and trees bordering the lake, was +Joe, the stable-boy, watching proceedings with intense interest. +With a smile, the young secretary followed his example, seating +himself at the foot of an ancient elm whose branches drooped nearly +to the ground. + +"All right, Mr. Detective!" he said, "I can stay as long as you. +If you fail to make a success of your work this morning no one will +be the wiser, but in case you find anything I propose to know +something about it myself." + +The sun was now shining brightly, but the hour was yet so early that +there was little danger of any one else appearing on the scene, +especially as it was Sunday morning. + +For nearly an hour Mr. Merrick and his companion rowed slowly back +and forth in constantly widening circles, meeting with no success +and saying little. Suddenly, while Scott was watching the face of +the stranger, wondering who he might be, he heard a low exclamation +and saw that the drag had fastened itself upon some object at the +bottom of the lake. He watched eagerly as they drew it to the +surface, and could scarcely restrain a cry of astonishment as he +saw what it was, but before either of the men could secure it, it +had slipped and fallen again into the water. With language more +forcible than elegant, the drag was again lowered, and the boat +once more began its slow trailing. + +This time they had not so long to wait for success. The drag was +brought to the surface, but carrying in its clutches an entirely +different object, and one with which the young secretary was totally +unfamiliar,--a somewhat rusty revolver. + +Mr. Merrick's back was now towards Scott, but the latter saw him +take something from his pocket which he seemed to compare with the +revolver, at the same time remarking to the stranger, who was +watching with an appearance of great interest, + +"A pretty good find, Jim, pretty good! However, we'll have another +try for that box, whatever it is. It may amount to something or it +may not, but it will do no harm to make a trial." + +Having let down the drag once more, he glanced at the house, then at +his watch, saying, "No signs of any one astir; we're all right for +another hour yet." + +After a few more turns, Scott saw them suddenly pulling in the +ropes, and once more the box appeared, rusty and covered with slime, +but still familiar. He at once sprang to his feet and sauntered +carelessly down the walk, humming a tune and watching the occupants +of the boat with an air of mild curiosity. The stranger was the +first to see him, and with an expression of evident disgust gave +Merrick warning of his approach. If the detective felt any +annoyance he did not betray it as he turned and nodded to Scott in +the most nonchalant manner possible, as though dragging the lake +were an every-day occurrence. + +"You've been fishing, I see," said Scott, pleasantly. "How did you +make out?" + +"Well, I've made this find which you see here," answered Mr. Merrick, +as the boat headed for shore. "I don't know yet what it is, but it +has not lain long in the water, and it may be worth looking into." + +Scott made no reply until the detective had sprung ashore; then, as +the latter proceeded to examine the box, leaving his companion to +take care of the boat and drag, he said, in a low tone,-- + +"That is likely to prove an important discovery, Mr. Merrick." + +"You are familiar with it then?" queried the latter. + +"I have seen it in Mr. Mainwaring's safe. That was the box in which +he kept the old jewels that were stolen on the night of the murder." + +Mr. Merrick whistled softly and studied the box anew. "Well, there +are no jewels in it now, but we will open it. There is no one up +yet to let us into the house, so suppose we go to the stables; we'll +be safe there from intrusion." + +They proceeded to the stables, and, arriving there, Scott was puzzled +to see Merrick's companion at work and evidently perfectly at home. + +"We are going to use your room a while, Matthews," said Merrick, +carelessly. Then, noting the surprise on Scott's face, he added, +"This is Matthews, the new coachman, Mr. Scott. I thought you knew +of his coming." + +"At your service, sir," said Matthews, respectfully lifting his cap +in response to Scott's greeting, while the latter inquired, as he +and the detective passed up-stairs together,-- + +"When did he come?" + +"Yesterday afternoon. He applied for the position, and, as he +happened to be an acquaintance of mine, Mr. Mainwaring hired him +upon my recommendation. Now," as he locked the door of the room +they had entered, "we will open this box as quickly as possible. +I suppose there is no key to be found, and, if there were, the +lock is too rusty to work." + +With the aid of a file and chisel the box was soon opened. The +satin linings were somewhat water-soaked and discolored, and the +box appeared to be empty, but on opening an inner compartment there +were exposed to view a pair of oddly shaped keys and a blood-stained +handkerchief, the latter firmly knotted as though it had been used +to bandage a wound of some kind. + +"Ah!" said the detective, with peculiar emphasis, examining the +handkerchief, which was of fine linen, with the initials "H. M." +embroidered in one corner. "Did Mr. Mainwaring carry a handkerchief +of that style?" + +"Yes; he carried that, or one precisely like it, the last day of +his life." + +"Very good!" was the only reply, as the detective carefully folded +and pocketed the article with an air that indicated that he wished +to say no more about it. "And these keys, do you recognize them?" + +"They were Mr. Mainwaring's private keys to his library and the +southern hall." + +"The ones the valet said were missing?" + +"The same." + +Mr. Merrick, after studying them curiously for a moment, consigned +them to his pocket also, and then began a careful inspection of the +interior of the box. Scott watched him in silence, thinking +meanwhile of the old document which he had found hidden away in its +depths, and inwardly rejoicing that it had not been left to be +discovered by the detective. Nothing in Mr. Merrick's manner or +expression betrayed the nature of his thoughts, and, so long as he +chose to remain silent, Scott refrained from questioning him. + +At length he closed the box, saying, indifferently, "Well, I don't +know as there is any reason why I should detain you any longer, Mr. +Scott. We have satisfied ourselves as to the contents of the box, +and you have identified the articles. For the present, however, I +would prefer that you say nothing of this." + +"Certainly, Mr. Merrick. The discovery, whatever its import, is +your secret, and I shall make no mention of it whatever." + +"I don't know that it is of any special importance," said the +detective, carelessly, as they prepared to descend the stairs; "but +it only confirms the opinion that I have had all along." + +"Don't you think that this tends to show that the murder and robbery +were connected, notwithstanding Mr. Whitney's theories to the +contrary?" Scott inquired, as they were about to separate. + +"Possibly," replied the other, gravely. Then added, with a smile, +"Mr. Whitney has his own preconceived ideas of the case and tries +to adapt the circumstances to suit them, when, in reality, one must +first ascertain whatever facts are available and adjust his theories +accordingly." + +They parted company at the door of the stables, but Scott had not +reached the house when the detective, with a peculiar smile, +returned to the room up-stairs, and once more opening the box, drew +forth from underneath the satin linings a folded paper, yellow with +age and covered with closely written lines; which he read with great +interest, after which he remained absorbed in thought until aroused +by the entrance of his friend, the coachman. + +Several hours later Scott stood alone beside the casket of the +murdered man. The head had been turned slightly to one side and a +spray of white blossoms, dropped with seeming carelessness within +the casket, concealed all traces of the ghastly wound, their snowy +petals scarcely whiter than the marble features of the dead. + +It lacked more than an hour of the time set for the funeral. None +of the few invited friends would arrive for some time yet. The +gentlemen of the house were still in the hands of their valets, and +the ladies engrossed with the details of their elegant mourning +costumes. Scott, knowing he would be secure from interruption, had +chosen this opportunity to take his farewell look at the face of his +employer, desiring to be alone with his own thoughts beside the dead. + +With strangely commingled emotions he gazed upon the face, so +familiar, and yet upon which the death angel had already traced many +unfamiliar lines, and as he realized the utter loneliness of the +rich man, both in life and in death, a wave of intense pity swept +across heart and brain, well-nigh obliterating all sense of personal +wrong and injury. + +"Unhappy man!" he murmured. "Unloved in life, unmourned in death! +Not one of those whom you sought to enrich will look upon you to-day +with one-half the sorrow or the pity with which I do, whom you have +wronged and defrauded from the day of my birth! But I forgive you +the wrong you have done me. It was slight compared with the far +greater wrong you did another,--your brother--your only brother! +A wrong which no sums of money, however vast, could ever repair. +What would I not give if I could once have stood by his side, even +as I stand by yours to-day, and looked once upon his face,--the +face of your brother and of the father whom, because of your guilt, +I have never seen or known, of whom I have not even a memory! +Living, I could never have forgiven you; but here, to-day, in pity +for your loveless life and out of the great love I bear that father +in his far-away ocean grave,--in his name and in my own,--I +forgive you, his brother, even that wrong!" + +As Scott left the room, he passed Mr. Whitney in the hall, who, +seeing in his face traces of recent emotion, looked after him with +great surprise. + +"That young man is a mystery!" he soliloquized. "A mystery! I +confess I cannot understand him." + +A little later the master of Fair Oaks passed for the last time +down the winding, oak-lined avenue, followed by the guests of the +place and by a small concourse of friends, whose sorrow, though +unexpressed by outward signs of mourning, was, in reality, the more +sincere. + +Mrs. LaGrange, who, as housekeeper, had remained at Fair Oaks, +seemed, as the last carriage disappeared from view, to be on the +verge of collapse from nervous prostration. No one knew the mental +excitement or the terrible nervous strain which she had undergone +during those last few days. Many at the funeral had noted her +extreme pallor, but no one dreamed of the tremendous will power +by which she had maintained her customary haughty bearing. When +all had gone, she rose and attempted to go to her room, but in the +hall she staggered helplessly and, with a low moan, sank unconscious +to the floor. The screams of the chambermaid, who had seen her +fall, summoned to her assistance the other servants, who carried +her to her room, where she slowly regained consciousness, opening +her eyes with an expression of terror, then closing them again with +a shudder. Suddenly she seemed to recall her surroundings; with a +great effort she rallied and dismissed the servants, with the +exception of the chambermaid, saying, "It was nothing, only a little +faintness caused by the heat. The room was insufferably close. Say +nothing of this to the others when they return." + +With Katie's assistance, she exchanged her heavy dress for a light +wrapper of creamy silk, and soon seemed herself again except for +her unusual pallor. + +"That will do, Katie; I shall not need you further. By the way, +did Walter go with the others, or did he remain at home?" + +"Mr. Walter is in his room, ma'am; and I heard Hardy say that he +was packing up his clothes and things." + +Mrs. LaGrange betrayed no surprise, no emotion of any kind. "Say +to him that I would like to see him in my room at once." + +The girl disappeared, leaving Mrs. LaGrange to her own reflections, +which seemed anything but pleasant. The look of terror returned +to her face; she clinched her hands until the jewels cut deeply into +the white fingers; then, springing to her feet, she paced the room +wildly until she heard the footsteps of her son approaching, when +she instantly assumed her usual composure. + +Walter LaGrange had left Fair Oaks immediately at the close of the +inquest, and had not returned except to be present at the funeral, +and even there his sullen appearance had caused general remark. +Very little love had ever existed between mother and son, for neither +had a nature capable of deep affection, but never until now had there +been any open rupture between them. Though closely resembling each +other, he lacked her ability to plan and execute, and had hitherto +been content to follow her counsels. But, as he now entered his +mother's room, a glance revealed to her that her authority and +influence over him were past. + +"You sent for me, I believe. What do you want?" he asked, as she +looked at him without speaking. + +"Do you consider your conduct becoming towards a mother who is +risking everything for you and your interests?" + +"Oh, my interests be hanged," he exclaimed, petulantly. "I don't +see that you've accomplished much for my interests with all your +scheming. A week ago I could hold up my head with any of the +fellows. I was supposed to be a relative of Hugh Mainwaring's, +with good prospects, and that I would come in for a good round +sum whenever the old fellow made his will,--just as I did. Now +that's gone, and everything's gone; I haven't even a name left!" + +"Walter LaGrange, what do you mean? Do you dare insinuate to your +own mother-" + +"Why don't you call me Walter Mainwaring?" he sneered. "As to +insinuations, I have to hear plenty of 'em. Last night I was +black-balled at one of the clubs where my name had been presented +for membership, and a lot of the fellows have cut me dead." + +"Walter, listen to me. You are Hugh Mainwaring's son and I was +his wife. I will yet compel people to recognize us as such; but +you must--" + +"Tell me one thing," he demanded, interrupting her. "If I was Hugh +Mainwaring's son, why have I not borne his name? Why did he not +recognize me as such? I'll claim no man for my father who would +not acknowledge me as his son." + +Then, before she could reply, he added, "If you were the wife of +Hugh Mainwaring, what was the meaning of your proposal of marriage +to him less than three months ago?" + +She grew deathly pale; but he, seeming to enjoy the situation, +repeated, sneeringly, "Less than three months ago, the night on +which he gave you the necklace which you commissioned me to sell +the other day! You urged your suit with a vengeance, too, I +remember, for you threatened to ruin him if he did not come to +your terms. + +"I only laughed then, for I thought 'twas another scheme of yours +to get a tighter hold on the old man's purse-strings. It's nothing +to me what your object was, but in view of the fact that I happened +to overhear that little episode, it might be just as well not to +try to tell me that I am Hugh Mainwaring's son. You will naturally +see that I am not likely to be interested in helping carry out that +little farce!" + +Still controlling herself by a tremendous will power, the wretched +woman made one more desperate effort. In low tones she replied,-- + +"You show your base ingratitude by thus insulting your mother and +running the risk of betraying her to listening servants by your +talk. Of course, this is all a farce, as you say, but it must be +carried through. You and I were distantly related to Hugh +Mainwaring, but what chance would we have against these people with +no more of a claim than ours? I am compelled to assert that I was +his wife and that you are his son in order to win any recognition +in the eyes of the law." + +For an instant her son regarded her with an expression of mingled +surprise and incredulity, then the sneer returned, and, turning to +leave the room, he answered, carelessly,-- + +"You can tell your little story to other people, and when you have +won a fortune on it, why, I'll be around for my share, as, whatever +my doubts in other directions, I have not the slightest doubt that +you are my mother, and therefore bound to support me. But, for the +present, if you please, I'll go by the old name of LaGrange. It's +a name that suits me very well yet, even though," and a strange look +flashed at her from his dark eyes, "even though it may be only a +borrowed one," and the door closed, for the last time, between +mother and son. + +A low moan escaped from the lips of the unhappy woman. "My son--the +only living being of my flesh and blood--even he has turned +against me!" Too proud to recall him, however, she sank exhausted +upon a couch, and, burying her face in her hands, wept bitterly for +the first and only time in her remembrance. + +Meanwhile, the guests of Fair Oaks, having returned from the funeral, +had assembled in the large library below, and were engaged in +animated discussion regarding the disposition to be made of the +property. Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, with pencils and paper, +were computing stocks and bonds, and estimating how much of a margin +would be left after the purchase of the old Mainwaring estate, which +they had heard could be bought at a comparatively low figure, the +present owner being somewhat embarrassed financially; while Mrs. +Mainwaring was making a careful inventory of the furniture, paintings, +and bric-a-brac at Fair Oaks, with a view of ascertaining whether +there were any articles which she would care to retain for their +future home. + +Mr. Whitney, who, as a bachelor and an intimate friend of Hugh +Mainwaring's, as well as his legal adviser, had perhaps more than +any one else enjoyed the hospitality of his beautiful suburban home, +found the conversation extremely distasteful, and, having furnished +whatever information was desired, excused himself and left the room. +As he sauntered out upon the broad veranda, he was surprised to see +Miss Carleton, who had made her escape through one of the long +windows, and who looked decidedly bored. + +"It's perfectly beastly! Don't you think so?" she exclaimed, +looking frankly into his face, as if sure of sympathy. + +She had so nearly expressed his own feelings that he flushed +slightly, as he replied, with a smile, "It looks rather peculiar to +an outsider, but I suppose it is only natural." + +"It is natural for them," she replied, with emphasis. + +"I did not intend to be personal; I meant human nature generally." + +"I have too much respect for human nature generally to believe it +as selfish and as mercenary as that. I have learned one lesson, +however. I will never leave my property to my friends, hoping by +so doing to be held in loving remembrance. It would be the surest +way to make them forget me." + +"Has your experience of the last few days made you so cynical as +that?" the attorney inquired, again smiling into the bright, fair +face beside him. + +"It is not cynicism, Mr. Whitney; it is the plain truth. I have +always known that the Mainwarings as a family were mercenary; but I +confess I had no idea, until within the last few days, that they +were capable of such beastly ingratitude." + +"Do you mean to say that it is a trait of the entire Mainwaring +family, or only of this branch in particular?" he inquired, somewhat +amused. + +"All the Mainwarings are noted for their worship of the golden god," +she replied, with a low musical laugh; "but Ralph Mainwaring's love +of money is almost a monomania. He has planned and schemed to get +that old piece of English property into his hands for years and +years, in fact, ever since it was willed to Hugh Mainwaring at the +time his brother was disinherited, and the name he gave to his son +was the first stone laid to pave the way to this coveted fortune." + +"I see. Pardon me, Miss Carleton; but you just now alluded to Hugh +Mainwaring's brother. I remember some mention was made at the +inquest of a brother, but I supposed it must be an error. Had he +really a brother?" + +"Ah, yes, an elder brother; and he must have been less avaricious +than the rest of them, as he sacrificed a fortune for love. It was +quite a little romance, you know. He and his brother Hugh were +both in love with the same lady. The father did not approve, and +gave his sons their choice between love without a fortune or a +fortune without love. Hugh Mainwaring chose the latter, but Harold, +the elder, was true to his lady, and was consequently disinherited." + +"Poor Hugh Mainwaring!" commented the attorney; "he made his choice +for life of a fortune without love, and a sad life it was, too!" + +Miss Carleton glanced up with quick sympathy. "Yes, it seemed to +me his life must have been rather lonely and sad." + +There was a pause, and she added, "And did he never speak to you, +his intimate friend, of his brother?" + +"Never." + +"Strange! Perhaps he was like the others, after all, and thought +of nothing but money." + +"No, I cannot believe that of Hugh Mainwaring," the attorney replied, +loyally; then added, "What became of the brother, Miss Carleton?" + +"He was lost at sea. He had started for Africa, to make a fortune +for himself, but the boat was wrecked in a storm and every one on +board was lost." + +"And his family, what of them?" queried the attorney. + +"He had no children, and no one ever knew what became of his wife. +The Mainwarings are a very prosaic family; that is the only bit of +romance in their history; but I always enjoyed that, except that +it ended so sadly, and I always admired Harold Mainwaring. I would +like to meet such a man as he." + +"Why, I should say there was a romance in progress at present in +the Mainwaring family," said Mr. Whitney, smiling. + +"What! Hugh and Edith Thornton?" She laughed again, a wonderfully +musical, rippling laugh, the attorney thought. "Oh, there is no +more romance there than there is in that marble," and she pointed +to a beautiful Cupid and Psyche embracing each other in the centre +of a mass of brilliant geraniums and coleas. "They have been +engaged ever since their days of long dresses and highchairs,--another +of Ralph Mainwaring's schemes! You know Edith is Hugh's +cousin, an only child, and her father is immensely rich! Oh, no; if +I ever have a romance of my own, it must spring right up +spontaneously, and grow in spite of all opposition. Not one of the +sort that has been fostered in a hot-house until its life is nearly +stifled out of it." + +Mr. Whitney glanced in admiration at the fair English face beside +him glowing with physical and intellectual beauty. Then a moment +later, as they passed down the long hall in response to the summons +to dinner, and he caught a glimpse, in one of the mirrors, of a +tolerably good-looking, professional gentleman of nearly forty, he +wondered why he suddenly felt so much older than ever before. + +Miss Carleton was seated beside him at dinner, while nearly opposite +was Harry Scott, conversing with young Mainwaring. He was quietly +but elegantly dressed, and his fine physique and noble bearing, as +well as the striking beauty of his dark face, seemed more marked +than usual. Mr. Whitney watched the young secretary narrowly. +Something in the play of his features seemed half familiar, and yet +gave him a strange sense of pain, but why, he could not determine. + +"Mr. Whitney," said Miss Carleton, in a low tone, "did you ever +observe a resemblance at times between Mr. Scott and your friend, +Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +The attorney looked up in surprise. "Why, no, Miss Carleton, I +would not think a resemblance possible. Mr. Scott is much darker +and his features are altogether different." + +"Oh, I did not refer to any resemblance of feature or complexion, +but his manner, and sometimes his expression, strikes me as very +similar. I suppose because he was associated with him so much, +you know." + +Mr. Whitney's eyes again wandered to the face of the secretary. He +started involuntarily. "By George!" he ejaculated, mentally, "Hugh +Mainwaring, as sure as I live! Not a feature like him, but the same +expression. What does it mean? Can it be simply from association?" + +In a state of great bewilderment he endeavored still to entertain +Miss Carleton, though it is to be feared she found him rather +absent-minded. He was passing out of the dining-room in a brown +study when some one touched his arm. He turned and saw Merrick. + +"When you are at liberty, come out to the grove," the latter said, +briefly, and was gone before the attorney could more than bow in +reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE + + +Half an hour later, having excused himself to Miss Carleton, Mr. +Whitney hastened to the grove, where he found the detective +sauntering up and down the winding walk, his hands behind him in a +reflective mood, absorbed in thought and in the enjoyment of a fine +cigar. He nodded pleasantly as the attorney approached. + +"Going to be at liberty for some time?" he inquired, at the same +time extending his cigar-case. + +"Yes, for any length of time you please; it's a relief to get away +from those egotists." + +"H'm!" said Merrick, as he returned the cigar-case to his pocket +after the attorney had helped himself; "I didn't think that you +looked particularly anxious to be relieved of your company when I +saw you. I really felt considerable delicacy about speaking as I +did." + +"Oh, to the deuce with your nonsense!" the attorney replied, his +cheek flushing as he lighted his cigar. "If you had listened to +the twaddle that I have all day, you would be glad to talk to almost +any one for a change." + +"In that event, perhaps you won't mind talking to me for a while. +Well, suppose we go down to the stables, to the coachman's room; he +is probably with his best girl by this time, and we will be safe +from interruption or eavesdroppers." + +"That suits me all right so long as Ralph Mainwaring doesn't think +of looking for me there. That man makes me exceedingly weary!" + +"Anxious to secure the property according to the terms of that will, +I suppose." + +"Anxious! He is perfectly insane on the subject; he can't talk of +anything else, and he'll move heaven and earth to accomplish it, +too, if necessary." + +"Don't anticipate any difficulty, do you?" + +"None whatever, unless from that woman; there's no knowing to what +she may resort. It will only be necessary to prove that the will, +if not in existence at the death of the testator, was fraudulently +destroyed prior thereto, and I think we have a pretty clear case. +By George, Merrick!" suddenly exclaimed the attorney in a different +tone, as he paused on the way to the stables. "I hadn't thought of +it before, but there's one thing ought to be done; we should have +this lake dragged at once." + +Merrick raised his eyebrows in mute inquiry. + +"To find whatever Brown threw in there, you know; it might furnish +us with an almighty important clue." + +"H'm! might be a good idea," Merrick remarked, thoughtfully. + +"Of course it would! I tell you, Merrick, I was cut out for a +detective myself, and I'm pretty good for an amateur, now." + +"Haven't a doubt of it," was the quiet response, and the pair resumed +their walk. Both were soon comfortably seated in the coachman's +room, their chairs tilted at just the right angle before a large +double window, facing the sunset. Both smoked in silence for a few +moments, each waiting for the other to speak. + +"Well, my friend, what do you know?" inquired the detective, while +he watched the delicate spirals of blue smoke as they diffused +themselves in the golden haze of the sunlight. + +"Just what I was about to ask you," said his companion. + +"Oh, time enough for that later. You have been looking into this +case, and, as you are a born detective, I naturally would like to +compare notes with you." + +Mr. Whitney glanced sharply at the detective, as though suspicious +of some sarcasm lurking in those words, but the serious face of +the latter reassured him, and he replied,-- + +"Well, I've not had much experience in that line, but I've made +quite a study of character, and can tell pretty correctly what a +person of such and such evident characteristics will do under such +and such conditions. As I have already stated to you, I know, both +from observation and from hints dropped by Hugh Mainwaring, that if +ever a dangerous woman existed,--artful, designing, absolutely +devoid of the first principles of truth, honor, or virtue,--that +woman is Mrs. LaGrange. I know that Mainwaring stood in fear of +her to a certain extent, and that she was constantly seeking, by +threats, to compel him to either marry her or secure the property +to her and her son and I also know that he was anxious to have the +will drawn in favor of his namesake as quickly and as secretly as +possible. + +"Now, knowing all these circumstances, what is more reasonable than +to suppose that she, learning in some way of his intentions, would +resort to desperate measures to thwart them? Her first impulse +would be to destroy the will; then to make one final effort to +bring him, by threats, to her terms, and, failing in that, her fury +would know no bounds. Now, what does she do? Sends for Hobson, the +one man whom Hugh Mainwaring feared, who knew his secret and stood +ready to betray it. Between them the plot was formed. They have +another interview in the evening, to which Hobson brings one of his +coadjutors, the two coming by different ways like the vile +conspirators they were, and in all probability, when Hugh Mainwaring +bade his guests good-night, every detail of his death was planned +and ready to be carried into execution in the event of his refusing +to comply with that woman's demands made by herself, personally, +and later, through Hobson. We know, from the darkey's testimony, +that Hobson and his companion appeared in the doorway together; that +the man suddenly vanished--probably concealing himself in the +shrubbery--as Hobson went back into the house; that a few moments +later, the latter reappeared with Mrs. LaGrange; and the darkey +tells me that he, supposing all was right, slunk away in the bushes +and left them standing there. We know that the valet, going up +stairs a while after, found Mrs. LaGrange in the private library, +and at the same time detected the smell of burning paper. You +found the burnt fragments of the will in the grate in the tower-room. + +"Now, to my mind, it is perfectly clear that Mrs. LaGrange and +Hobson proceeded together to the library and tower-room, where they +first destroyed the will, and where she secreted him to await the +result of her interview with Mainwaring, at the same time providing +him with the private keys by which he could effect his escape, and +with Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver with which the terrible deed was +done. Later, finding that Mainwaring would not accede to her +demands, I believe she left that room knowing to a certainty what +his fate would be in case Hobson could not succeed in making terms +with him, and I believe her object in coming down the corridor +afterwards was simply to ascertain that her plans were being carried +into execution. Now there is my theory of this whole affair; what +do you think of it?" + +"Very ingeniously put together! What about the jewels? Do you +think Hobson took them?" + +"No. I think Mrs. LaGrange got possession of them in some way. She +has no means of her own to hire that scoundrel, yet the darkey heard +her promise to pay him liberally, and you see her very first attempt +to pay him was by the sale of some of those jewels. I'll acknowledge +I'm not prepared to say how or when she secured them." + +"Could she open the safe?" + +"That I cannot say. Mainwaring told me, some months ego, that he +found her one day attempting to open it, and he immediately changed +the combination. Whether she had discovered the new combination, I +am unable to say; but she is a deep woman, and usually finds some way +of accomplishing her designs." + +"Brown, the coachman, seems to have no place in this theory of +yours." + +"Well, of course we none of us thought of him in connection with +this affair until since his sudden disappearance yesterday, but I +am inclined to think that he is to be regarded in the light of an +accessory after the fact. I think it very probable that Mrs. +LaGrange has employed him since the murder to assist her in +concealing evidences of the crime, and that is why I suggested +dragging the lake in search of what may be hidden there; but, +according to his own story, he was in the city that night until +some time after the murder was committed." + +"Yes, according to his own story, but in reality he did not go to +the city at all that night. More than that, he was seen in this +vicinity about midnight with a couple of suspicious looking +characters." + +"By George! when did you learn that?" + +"I knew it when Brown gave his testimony at the inquest." + +"The deuce you did! and then let the rascal give you the slip, +after all!" + +"Don't give yourself any anxiety on that score; I can produce Brown +any hour he's wanted. One of my subordinates has his eye on him +day and night. At last reports, he and Brown were occupying the +same room in a third-class lodging house; I'll wager they're having +a game of cards together this evening." + +"Well, well! you have stolen a march on us. But, if I may ask, why +don't you bag your game?" + +"I am using him as a decoy for larger game. Whatever Brown is mixed +up in, he is only a tool in the hands of older and shrewder rascals." + +Before the attorney could say anything further, Merrick rose abruptly +and stepped to a table near by, returning with a package. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, removing the wrappings and +holding up the rusty, metallic box. + +"Great heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney, springing forward excitedly. +"Why, man alive, you don't mean to say that you have found the jewels!" + +"No such good fortune as that yet," the detective answered quietly, +"only the empty casket;" and having opened the box, he handed it to +the attorney. + +"Where did you find this?" the latter inquired. + +"Fished it out of the lake." + +"Ah-h! I should like to know when." + +"While you were snoring this morning." + +"Great Scott! They'll catch a weasel asleep when they find you +napping! But, by George! this rather confirms my theory about that +woman getting possession of the jewels and hiring Brown to help her, +doesn't it?" + +Without replying, Merrick handed over the revolver which had been +brought to light that morning. + +"Where did you get this rusty thing? Was it in the lake, also?" + +The detective nodded affirmatively, and Mr. Whitney examined the +weapon in some perplexity. + +"Well, I must say," he remarked at length, "I don't see what +connection this has with the case. The shooting was done with +Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver; that was settled at the inquest-" + +"Pardon me! It was only 'settled' that the revolver found lying +beside him was his own." + +The attorney stared as Merrick continued, at the same time producing +from his pocket the revolver in question, "This, as you are +doubtless aware, is a Smith and Wesson, 32 calibre, while that," +pointing to the rusty weapon in Mr. Whitney's hands, "is an old +Colt's revolver, a 38. On the morning of the murder, after you and +the coroner had gone, I found the bullet for which we had searched +unsuccessfully, and from that hour to this I have known, what before +I had suspected, that this dainty little weapon of Mr. Mainwaring's +played no part in the shooting. Here is the bullet, you can see for +yourself." + +Mr. Whitney gazed in silent astonishment as the detective compared +the bullet with the two weapons, showing conclusively that it could +never have been discharged from the familiar 32-calibre revolver. + +"Well, I'll be blessed if I can see what in the dickens that +revolver of Mainwaring's had to do with the affair, anyway!" + +"Very easily explained when you once take into consideration the +fact that the whole thing was an elaborately arranged plan, on the +part of the murderer, to give the affair an appearance of suicide. +One glance at the murdered man convinced me that the wound had +never been produced by the weapon lying at his side. That clue +led to others, and when I left that room with you, to attend the +inquest, I knew that Hugh Mainwaring had been shot with a 38-calibre +revolver, in his library, near the centre of the room, and that the +body had afterwards been so arranged in the tower-room as to give +the appearance of his having deliberately shot himself beside his +desk and with his own revolver." + +"By George! I believe you're right," said the attorney; "and I +recall now your statement that day, that the shooting had occurred +in the library; I wondered then what reason you had for such an +opinion." + +"A small stain on the library carpet and the bullet told me that +much. Another thing, which at first puzzled me, was the marked +absence of blood-stains. There was a small pool of blood underneath +the head, a slight stain on the carpet in the adjoining room, but +none on the clothing or elsewhere. The solution to this I found +on further investigation. The wound had been firmly and skillfully +bandaged by an expert hand, the imprint of the bandage being +plainly visible in the hair on the temples. Here is the proof that +I was correct," and Merrick held up to the attorney's astonished +view the stained and knotted handkerchief. "This, with the private +keys belonging to Mr. Mainwaring's library, was in that box at the +bottom of the lake. Do you consider Mrs. LaGrange or Hobson capable +of planning and carrying out an affair so adroitly as that?" + +"You've got me floored," the attorney answered, gazing at the proofs +before him. "Hobson I know nothing about; but that woman I believe +could scheme to beat the very devil himself; and yet, Merrick, when +you think of it, it must have taken time--considerable time--to +plan a thing like that." + +"Or else," Merrick suggested, "it was the performance of an expert +criminal; no bungling, no work of a green hand." + +Mr. Whitney started slightly, but the detective continued. "Another +point: Hobson, as you say, was the one man whom Hugh Mainwaring +feared and who evidently had some hold upon him; would he then have +dared denounce him as a liar and an impostor? Would not his use of +such terms imply that he was addressing one whom he considered a +stranger and unacquainted with the facts in the case?" + +"I see," the attorney replied quickly; "you have in mind Hobson's +accomplice, the tall man with dark glasses." + +Merrick smiled. "You are then inclined to the opinion that J. Henry +Carruthers, who called in the afternoon, is identical with the +so-called Jack Carroll who accompanied Hobson in the evening?" + +"Certainly that is a reasonable supposition. The descriptions of +the two men agree remarkably, and the darkey was positive, both in +his testimony at the inquest and in conversation with me, that they +were one and the same person." + +"Their general appearance seems to have been much the same, but +their conduct and actions were totally unlike. Carruthers acted +fearlessly, with no attempt at concealment; while, if you will stop +to think of it, of all the witnesses who tried to give a description +of Carroll, not one had seen his face. He always remained in the +background, as much concealed as possible." + +"I don't deny that you are correct," the attorney said musingly; +"and they may have been two distinct individuals, Carroll evidently +being the guilty party; but even in that event, in my opinion, he +was only carrying out with a skillful hand the plans already arranged +by that woman and Hobson." + +"Whatever part Carroll took in the affair, he was undoubtedly +Hobson's agent; and you will find that Hobson and Mrs. LaGrange have +been more intimately associated and for a much longer time than you +suspect," and Merrick repeated what he had overheard of the interview +in Mrs. LaGrange's parlor, just after the close of the inquest. + +Mr. Whitney listened with deep interest. "Well, well! And you +heard her accuse him of being an accessory? Of course she referred +to the murder. By George! I should have wanted them arrested on +the spot!" + +After a slight pause, he continued. "There's one thing, Merrick, +in the conduct of Carruthers which I don't understand. Why, after +telling the secretary that he would remain at the Arlington for the +next two or three days, should he return to the city the next morning +on the 3.10 train?" + +"He seems to have been an impulsive man, who acted on the spur of +the moment," Merrick answered; "but the strangest part of that is, +that he did not return to the city at all. He bought a ticket for +New York, but the conductor informs me there was no such man on +board; while the north-bound train, which pulls out about five +minutes later, had a passenger answering exactly to his description. +The conductor on the latter train also informed me that, just as +they were pulling out of the station, a man, tall and dark, rather +good-looking, he should judge, though he could not see his face, and +wearing a long, light overcoat, sprang aboard, decidedly winded, as +though from running, and immediately steered for the darkest corner +of the smoking-car, where he sat with his hat well drawn down over +his face." + +"Carroll again, by George!" exclaimed the attorney. + +"Here is a problem for you to solve," Merrick continued, pointing +to the revolver and box lying side by side. "You think Brown threw +those in the lake. Who was the man that Brown saw standing beside +the lake just before three o'clock in the morning, and what was he +doing? He was tall and dark, and wore a long coat or ulster. Was +that Carroll or Carruthers? Did he throw anything into the lake? +And if so, what?" + +Mr. Whitney gazed dubiously at the detective for a moment, then +began to whistle softly, while he slowly shook his head. + +"No, Merrick; you've got me there! I never have had enough +experience in this line that I could go into the detail work. I +have to be guided by the main points in the case. Then, again, I +gave Brown's testimony very little thought, as I considered him +unreliable and irresponsible." + +"Well, to come back to the 'main points,' then: what reasons have +you for connecting Mrs. LaGrange and Hobson with this affair that +might not apply equally well in the cases of certain other people?" + +"What reason? Why, man alive! there is every reason to consider +Mrs. LaGrange the instigator of the whole affair. In the first +place, her one object and aim for the past seventeen or eighteen +years has been to get hold of Hugh Mainwaring's property, to secure +for herself and her son what she calls their 'rights'--" + +"That is the point," Merrick interrupted. "You consider her guilty +because she would be interested in securing a hold upon the property, +although she, personally, has no claim whatever. Has it never +occurred to you that there might be others more deeply interested +than she, inasmuch as they have valid claims, being the rightful +heirs?" + +"I never thought of such a possibility," said the astonished +attorney; "and I don't know that I understand now to whom you refer." + +"I have learned from various reliable sources," the detective +replied, "that Ralph Mainwaring has a younger brother, Harold, who +is as much of a money-lover as himself, though too indolent to take +the same measures for acquiring it. He is a reckless, unprincipled +fellow, and having about run through his own property, I understand, +he has had great expectations regarding this American estate, +depending upon his share of the same to retrieve his wasted fortune. +I learned yesterday, by cable, that since the departure of Ralph +Mainwaring and his family for this country, his brother has been +missing, and it is supposed, among his associates in London, that +he took the next steamer for America, intending to assert his own +claims." + +"And you think--" the attorney interrupted, breathlessly; but +Merrick shook his head and continued,-- + +"I have also, in the course of my investigations, incidentally +discovered Hugh Mainwaring's secret, and, consequently, Hobson's +secret, only that I know the real facts in the case, which Hobson +does not know. You, as Mainwaring's friend, will not care to +learn the details, and I shall not speak of them now, but I will +say this much: there are probably in existence to-day, and perhaps +not very far distant, heirs to this property, having a claim +preceding not only that of Ralph Mainwaring or his son, but of +Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +There was silence for a few moments as the detective paused, Mr. +Whitney's surprise rendering him speechless; at last he said,-- + +"Well, you are a truthful fellow, Merrick, and you never jump at +conclusions, so I know your statements can be relied upon; but I'll +be blessed if I understand how or when you have gathered all this +information together. I suppose it would be useless to ask your +deductions from all this, but I wish you would answer one or two +questions. Do you think that this Harold Mainwaring, or those +possible heirs you mention, would put in an appearance personally, +or that they would work through agents and emissaries?" + +"Depends altogether upon circumstances. Harold Mainwaring would not +be likely to appear on the scene unless he were pretty effectually +disguised. As to the others,--if they were to assert their claim,--it +would be difficult to say just what course they might take. +I have made these statements merely to give you a hint of the +possibilities involved in the case. It is now getting rather late, +but I will give you one or two pointers to ruminate upon. Don't +think that Hobson will run any risks or put himself to any personal +inconvenience for Mrs. LaGrange. He is working first and foremost +for Richard Hobson, after that for whoever will pay him best. +Another thing, don't ever for a moment imagine that Hugh Mainwaring's +private secretary is looking for a job. It's my opinion he'll give +you fellows one of the hardest jobs you ever tackled; and, unless +I'm greatly mistaken, he's got brains enough and backing enough to +carry through whatever he undertakes." + +"Say! I don't know as I exactly catch your meaning; but that's one +thing I wanted to ask you. What do you think of that young man, +anyway? I can't make him out." + +"I noticed that you had not assigned him any place in that theory +of yours." + +"No; he's been a mystery to me, a perfect mystery; but this evening +a new idea has occurred to me, and I would like your judgment on it. +Has he ever reminded you of any one? That is, can you recall any +one whom he resembles?" + +"Well, I should say there was a marked resemblance. I've often +wondered where your eyes were that you had not seen it." + +"You have noticed it, then? Well, so have I; but it has puzzled me, +for, though the look was familiar, I was unable to recall whose it +was until to-night. Now that I have recalled it, that, taken in +connection with some other things I have observed, has led me to +wonder whether it were possible that he is a son of Hugh +Mainwaring's, of whose existence no one in this country has ever +known." + +"Hugh Mainwaring! I don't understand you." + +"Why, you just acknowledged you had noticed the resemblance between +them!" + +"I beg your pardon; but you must recollect that I have never seen +Hugh Mainwaring living, and have little idea how he looked." + +"By George! that's a fact. Well, then, who in the dickens do you +think he resembles?" + +The coachman's step was heard at that instant on the stairs, and +Merrick's reply was necessarily brief. + +"Laying aside expression, take feature for feature, and you have +the face of Mrs. LaGrange." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY + + +One of the first duties which the secretary was called upon to +perform, during his brief stay at Fair Oaks, was to make a copy of +the lost will. He still retained in his possession the stenographic +notes of the original document as it had been dictated by Hugh +Mainwaring on that last morning of his life, and it was but the +work of an hour or two to again transcribe them in his clear +chirography. + +Engaged in this work, he was seated at the large desk in the +tower-room, which had that morning been opened for use for the first +time since the death of its owner. He wrote rapidly, and the +document was nearly completed when Mr. Whitney and Ralph Mainwaring +together entered the adjoining room. + +"Egad!" he heard the latter exclaim, angrily, "if that blasted +scoundrel thinks he has any hold on me, or that he can keep me on +the rack as he did Hugh, he'll find he has made the biggest mistake +of his life. It is nothing but a blackmailing scheme, and I've more +than half a mind to sift the whole matter to the bottom and land +that beggarly impostor where he belongs." + +"I hardly know just what to advise under the circumstances," Mr. +Whitney answered, quietly, "for I, naturally, have some personal +feeling in this matter, and I am forced to believe, Mr. Mainwaring, +that there is something back of all this which neither you nor I +would care to have given publicity. But, laying aside that +consideration, I am of the opinion that it might not be to your +interest to push this matter too closely." + +"On what grounds, sir, do you base your opinion?" Mr. Mainwaring +demanded. + +The attorney's reply, however, was lost upon Scott, whose attention +had been suddenly arrested by the imprint of a peculiar signature +across one corner of the blotter upon which he was drying his work, +now completed. Instantly, oblivious to everything else, he +carefully examined the blotter. It was a large one, fastened to +the top of the desk, and had been in use but a comparatively short +time. It bore traces both of Hugh Mainwaring's writing and of +his own, but this name, standing out boldly on one corner, was +utterly unlike either. Nor did it resemble any of the signatures +attached to the will on that memorable day when the desk with its +paraphernalia had been last used. + +Considerably perplexed, Scott suddenly recalled a small pocket +mirror which he had seen in the desk. This he speedily found, and, +having placed it at the right angle, leaned over to get a view of +the name as it had been originally written. As he did so, he +caught sight of some faint lines above the signature which he had +not observed, but which were plainly visible in the mirror. It was +well for the secretary that he was alone, for, as he read the +signature with the words outlined above, he was spellbound. For a +moment he seemed almost paralyzed, unable to move. His brain +whirled, and, when he at last sank back in his chair, his face was +blanched and he felt giddy and faint from the discovery which he +had made. Gradually he became conscious of his surroundings. Again +he heard, as in a dream, the conversation in the adjoining room. +The attorney was speaking. + +"I do not at present feel at liberty to give the source of my +information, but I can assure you it is perfectly reliable, and my +informant would never have made such an assertion unless he had ample +authority to back it up." + +"I don't care a rap for your information or its source," the other +interrupted, impatiently. "The whole thing is simply preposterous. +The estate descended regularly to Hugh Mainwaring, and from him to +our own family as next of kin. You can see for yourself that to +talk of any other claimants having prior rights is an utter +absurdity." + +"Had not Hugh Mainwaring an elder brother?" + +"He had; but you must be aware that he died a great many years ago." + +"But had that elder brother no issue?" + +"None living," Mr. Mainwaring replied, coldly. Then added, in the +same tone, "Even had there been, that fact would have no bearing on +this case, Mr. Whitney. The entire estate was transferred to Hugh +Mainwaring by legal process before the death of his brother, he and +his heirs having been forever disinherited, so that it is the same +as though he had never existed." + +While he was speaking, the secretary entered the library, his pallor +and unusual expression attracting Mr. Whitney's attention. In +response to a glance of inquiry from the latter, however, he merely +said,-- + +"The copy is completed. You will find it on the desk," and passed +from the library into the hall. + +Still wondering at his appearance, Mr. Whitney proceeded to the +tower-room, and a moment later both gentlemen were absorbed in the +perusal of the duplicate of the lost will; but afterwards the +attorney recalled that, on taking the document from the desk, he +had noticed that the large blotter covering the top had been removed +and replaced by a new one. + +There was no perceptible change in Scott's appearance during the +remainder of the day, except that he seemed more than usually +thoughtful, sometimes to the verge of abstraction, but, in reality, +his mind was so preoccupied with endless doubts and surmises +regarding his recent discovery that he found it exceedingly difficult +to concentrate his attention upon the work required of him. That +afternoon, however, while engaged in looking through some important +documents belonging to Hugh Mainwaring, kept at the city offices, +a cablegram was handed him, addressed to himself personally, from +Barton & Barton, a well-known legal firm in London. The despatch +itself caused him little surprise, as he had been in correspondence +with this firm for more than a year; but the contents of the message +were altogether unexpected, and left him in a state of bewilderment. +It read,-- + +"Have you met J. Henry Carruthers, of London, supposed to have +sailed ten days since, or can you give us his whereabouts?" + +Fortunately, Scott was alone, Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney +being in the private offices, and he had plenty of opportunity to +recover from his surprise. For half an hour he revolved the +matter in his thoughts, wondering whether this had any bearing +upon the question which for the last few hours he had been trying +to solve. A little later he sent the following reply: + +"Person mentioned seen on 7th instant. No trace since. You have +my letter of 8th instant. Cable instructions." + +As the Mainwaring carriage appeared at the offices at four o'clock, +to convey the gentlemen to Fair Oaks, Mr. Whitney was surprised to +find the secretary still engaged at his desk. + +"If you will excuse me," the latter said, pleasantly, "I will not +go out to Fair Oaks this evening. I have some unfinished work here, +and I will remain in the city to-night." + +Upon entering the offices the next day, however, the attorney found +the following note addressed to himself: + +"Mr. WHITNEY. + +"DEAR SIR,--I regret to be compelled to inform you that you will +have to look for another assistant, as important business calls +me away for an indefinite period. Do not give yourself any +trouble concerning the salary which you kindly offered me. I am +not in need of it, and have only been too glad to render you the +little assistance within my power, knowing, as I do, that you have +no easy case on your hands. + +"Trusting we shall meet in the future, I am, with great esteem, + + "Very truly yours, + "H. SCOTT. + +As Mr. Whitney read and reread this note, the words of the detective +regarding the private secretary were recalled to his mind, and he +muttered,-- + +"Yes, Merrick was right. It is very evident the young man is not +'looking for a job;' but I'll be blessed if I know what to think +of him!" + +Upon Mr. Whitney's return to Fair Oaks, he found the guests assembled +on the veranda, overlooking the river, Mr. Merrick, who had just +returned from a few days' absence, being also included in the company. +There were many exclamations of surprise and considerable comment +when Mr. Whitney told of the sudden disappearance of the secretary. + +"Now, that is too bad!" cried Edith Thornton. "He was so +interesting, and we were all beginning to like him so much." + +"I don't know that any of us were so charmed with him as one might +be led to suppose from your remark, Edith," said Isabel Mainwaring, +with a disdainful glance towards the attorney, who had seated +himself beside Miss Carleton; "but here, almost any one will answer +for a diversion, and he was really quite entertaining." + +"It is not to be expected that you would see or appreciate his good +points," said her brother, with half a sneer; "but Scott is a fine +fellow and a gentleman, and I shall miss him awfully." + +Miss Carleton remained silent; but for some reason, unexplainable +to herself, she was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment and +injury. She would not admit to herself that she was troubled because +Scott had gone, it was the manner of his departure. Surely, after +the friendship and confidence she had shown him, he might at least +have sent some word of farewell, instead of leaving as he had, +apparently without a thought of her. However, she chatted graciously +with Mr. Whitney, though, all the while, a proud, dark face with +strangely beautiful eyes persistently forced itself before her mental +vision, nearly obliterating the smiling face of the attorney. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring was giving the detective his views on +the subject. + +"I, for one, am not sorry that he has followed the example of the +coachman and taken himself off. It is my opinion," he continued, +in impressive tones, "that we will yet find he had reasons for +leaving in this manner." + +"Undoubtedly!" Merrick replied, with equal emphasis. + +"Now, that's just where you're wrong, governor," said young +Mainwaring. "Scott is as good as gold. There is no sneak about +him, either; and if he had reasons for leaving as he has, they were +nothing to his discredit; you can stake your last shilling on that!" + +"Oh, I know he has pulled the wool over your eyes," said his father; +"but he has never tried his smooth games on me; he knows I can see +through him. I detest him. One of your typical American swells! +Just what one would expect to find in a country where a common clerk +is allowed to associate with gentlemen!" + +"But, begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring," the detective interposed, +quietly, "Mr. Scott is not an American. He has lived less than two +years in this country." + +A chorus of exclamations followed this statement. + +"Not an American! Then he must be an Englishman," cried Miss +Carleton, her sparkling eyes unconsciously betraying her pleasure at +the discovery. + +"Merrick, are you sure of that?" inquired Mr. Whitney, in +astonishment. + +"Certainly, or I would never have made the assertion I did." + +Ralph Mainwaring suddenly turned the conversation. "How about that +will business, Mr. Whitney? When will that come off?" + +"The petition was filed this afternoon, and will be granted a +hearing some time next week; I have not yet learned the day." + +"And then will you gentlemen be ready to start for home?" Mrs. +Mainwaring inquired, a touch of impatience in her voice. + +"Well, by my soul! I should say not," laughed Mr. Thornton, before +her husband could reply. "It will probably take a number of months, +my dear madam, to settle up this estate, even if there should be no +contest; and if the case is contested, it may drag on for years, eh, +Mr. Whitney?" + +"That will depend upon circumstances. A contest would, of course, +delay the case, perhaps for several months; but I am not aware of +any contestants with sufficient means for continuing it the length +of time you mention." + +"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring, addressing her husband; "do +you and Hugh intend to remain here all that time?" + +"Our stay will probably be somewhat indefinite," he replied, +evasively; "but that is no reason why you and the young ladies need +remain against your will." + +"Indeed! Why could you not have said as much before? Neither +Isabel nor I care to remain here a day longer than is necessary; +we have simply been awaiting your pleasure. Wilson, bring me the +morning papers; I want to see what boats are expected. We will +take the first steamer home. Mr. Thornton, will you and the young +ladies accompany us, or do you prefer to remain in exile a while +longer?" + +"Well," replied that gentleman, smiling genially, "speaking for +myself, I would more than half like to stay and see this thing +through; but the ladies are in the majority, and I will abide by +their decision. How is it, Edith? I suppose, as the novelists +say, you will be 'torn by conflicting emotions.'" + +"You horrid old papa! Of course, if auntie is going back, I shall +go with her. What do you say, Winifred?" + +"I have very little choice, one way or the other," Miss Carleton +replied, more quietly than was usual for her; "whatever you and +Uncle William decide, will suit me." + +"Ab, here are the papers!" said Mrs. Mainwaring, adjusting her +eye-glasses. "These dreadful American dailies!" she exclaimed, as +she scanned the pages; "one never knows where to find anything. Ah, +here it is, and just what we want! The 'Campania' sails Thursday, +at three o'clock. That will suit us exactly." + +"To-morrow! so soon!" exclaimed two or three voices. + +"Certainly," she replied, rising. "I shall have the maids begin +packing at once; and, Mr. Thornton, I shall instruct Wilson to +attend directly to your luggage, for you would never think of it +until within an hour of sailing." + +Her departure seemed the signal for the breaking up of the little +company. Mr. Whitney lingered a few moments at Miss Carleton's +side, with a few murmured words of regret that she was to leave so +soon, to which she listened courteously, though making little +response. After he had gone she remained standing where he had +left her, gazing dreamily out on the river and the distant bluffs. +Merrick, slowly sauntering up and down the veranda, had observed +the whole scene, and now watched the fair young face with a +suggestion of a smile in his kindly eyes. + +"H'm!" he soliloquized; "Whitney is a bigger fool than I've given +him credit for if he thinks he stands any show in that direction. +If I'm not mistaken, I know which way the wind blows, and it's +dollars to doughnuts she'll lose that far-away expression of hers +before she's been aboard the 'Campania' many hours. I'd like to be +aboard myself and watch the transformation scene." + +The attorney's voice here broke in upon his cogitations. + +"I say, Merrick, that was a regular bomb you threw at Mainwaring +with regard to young Scott! How did you discover he was an +Englishman?" + +"I very easily ascertained that he was not an American; that he was +of English descent followed as a matter of course. I am not sure +whether he is of English birth." + +"You seem to be keeping an eye on him." + +"It is my business just now to be posted regarding every one +associated with this place. I've been keeping an eye on you for +the last thirty minutes." + +The attorney colored, and hastily reverted to the original topic of +conversation. "Have you seen anything of him since he left us?" + +"Since his resignation of the salary as well as the position of +private 'secretary?" queried the detective, half to himself, with +a tone of amusement, which Mr. Whitney failed to comprehend. "Yes; +I met him to-day at the Murray Hill." + +"At the Murray Hill! Is he stopping there?" + +"He evidently was this morning. So was I. Possibly we were both +'stopping' on the same business; I cannot say." + +The detective's face was a study, as was also the attorney's. + +"I supposed," said the latter, after a short pause, "from the tenor +of his note, that he intended to leave the city at once." + +"Possibly he does," replied the other, enigmatically, and, having +consulted his watch, turned abruptly in another direction. + +"Say, what will you do about him? Shall you watch him?" Mr. +Whitney called after the vanishing figure. + +Merrick looked back over his shoulder with a peculiar smile. "I +shall not lose track of him," he said, slowly; "he is too +interesting." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MUTUAL SURPRISES + + +The Mainwaring party was among the latest arrivals at the pier on +the following day, owing to the dilatoriness of Mr. Thornton, Mrs. +Mainwaring's efforts to the contrary notwithstanding. At the last +moment he appeared, serenely and smilingly unconscious of that +lady's frowns of displeasure, to the infinite amusement of his +daughter, who whispered to Miss Carleton,-- + +"Poor papa! See how auntie glares at him, and he does not even +know it." + +But even Mrs. Mainwaring's facial muscles relaxed slightly at the +sight of the beautiful ocean greyhound lying in the harbor, her +flags waving and streamers fluttering in the breeze, awaiting only +the captain's orders to start on her homeward course. + +The decks were crowded with humanity, for the most part laughing +and chatting gayly and singing bits of song, though here and there +were sad, tear-stained faces, where long farewells, some of them +perhaps the last farewells, were being spoken. + +"Thank heaven, there'll be no tears shed on this occasion!" said +Isabel Mainwaring; "unless," she added, with a glance of scorn +towards Miss Carleton's escort, "Mr. Whitney should contribute a +few. I detest such vulgar demonstrations in public!" + +The attorney certainly did not look very cheerful, and even Miss +Carleton's sunny face was somewhat overcast, though why, it would +seem difficult to determine, since she seemed to have no regrets +at leaving America. + +"Mercy me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mainwaring, "what a dreadful crowd! It +is far worse than when we came over. Hugh, I wonder if your father +examined the ship's list. I particularly requested him to do so. +I wished to ascertain whether there would be any friends of ours on +board. One does not care to make acquaintances promiscuously, you +know." + +"I don't think the governor investigated the subject very +thoroughly," young Mainwaring replied, with a laugh. "I noticed +when we registered there were three or four pages of names preceding +ours, and I don't think he gave the matter much attention. If I had +time I would look it up for you, mother, but we must go ashore in +a few moments." + +"If I am not mistaken, my dear lady," said Mr. Thornton, who had +overheard the conversation, "you will have little time or inclination +for looking up acquaintances on this trip." + +"May I ask why?" Mrs. Mainwaring demanded. + +"I think," he replied, maliciously, "that you and Isabel will be too +much occupied in cultivating the acquaintance of mal de mer to care +for your best friends." + +"How's that, Thornton? Think it will be rough?" inquired Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"The captain tells me the wind is freshening every moment, and we'll +have a decidedly choppy sea before night. I'm thinking we'll have a +nasty trip." + +"In that case, perhaps mamma and I will not be the only victims," +said Isabel Mainwaring. + +"I fear not," responded Mr. Thornton. "Were it not or my inherent +chivalry, I should turn back; but I cannot leave you ladies to meet +your fate alone." + +Amid the general confusion of leave-taking, Mr. Whitney turned +towards Miss Carleton, saying in a low tone, as he took her hand,-- + +"I have received cordial invitations both from yourself and Mr. +Thornton to visit your home, and I feel assured of a welcome should +I accept your courtesy; but, pardon me, Miss Carleton, if, after so +brief an acquaintance as ours, I inquire whether I might ever hope +for a welcome from you other than that of a friend?" + +The beautiful brown eyes met his own frankly, but all the laughter +and sunshine had gone out of them. They were serious and had almost +a look of pain. + +"I am sorry, Mr. Whitney," she said, simply; "but it would be very +unjust if I led you to hope that I could ever regard you other than +as an esteemed friend." + +"Pardon me for troubling you," he said, gently. "Believe me always +your friend, and forget that I ever asked for more than friendship," +and, releasing her hand, he passed on to the others. + +The final adieus were spoken; Ralph Mainwaring and his son, +accompanied by the attorney, went ashore; and Miss Carleton, not +caring just then to meet the curious glances of her companions, +walked slowly towards the forward part of the deck. She had gone +but a few steps, however, when she caught sight of the familiar +figure of Mr. Merrick at a little distance, in conversation with a +tall, slender man, with dark, piercing eyes. He was speaking +rapidly in low tones, but his usually non-committal face wore an +expression of unmistakable satisfaction. Suddenly he turned and +walked swiftly in Miss Carleton's direction. Their eyes met, and +in response to her glance of recognition he quickly crossed to +where she was standing. + +"I have but a few seconds left, Miss Carleton," he said, a genial +smile lighting up his face; "but I am glad of an opportunity to +wish you a pleasant trip. Are you a good sailor?" + +"I hardly know," she answered. "I have had so little experience on +the sea. Why? Shall we have a stormy passage, do you think?" + +"Nothing dangerous; a little rough, perhaps; but with congenial +company, such as I trust you will find," and his eyes gleamed with +kindly merriment, "you will hardly mind that. Good-by, Miss +Carleton; bon voyage; and if I can ever in any way serve you as a +friend, do not fail to command me," and before she could reply he +had vanished in the crowd. She looked in vain for any trace of +him; then turning to glance at his companion of a moment before, +discovered that he had disappeared also. + +A moment later the great ocean liner glided majestically out from +the harbor amid prolonged cheers and a final flutter of farewells; +but she was well out upon the tossing waves ere Miss Carleton turned +from watching the receding shore to join her friends, as yet having +found no solution of the problem perplexing her, nor even the +meaning which she felt must be concealed in the words of the +detective. + +They had not been out many hours before it became evident that Mr. +Thornton's unfavorable predictions regarding their journey were +likely to be fulfilled. The sea was decidedly "choppy" and the +motion of the boat anything but exhilarating. + +When the hour for dinner arrived, Mr. Thornton, his daughter, and +Miss Carleton were the only members of their party to venture forth +to the dining-saloon, the others preferring to have a light repast +served in their own apartments. The captain, having discovered in +Mr. Thornton an old-time friend, had ordered seats for him and his +party at his own table, and the young ladies, finding their appetites +rather an uncertain quantity, had plenty of opportunity for observing +their fellow-passengers, particularly an Anglomaniac of the most +pronounced type, in the person of a callow youth seated opposite +them, whose monocle, exaggerated collar, and affected drawl afforded +them considerable amusement. + +"Winifred," said Miss Thornton, as they were leaving the +dining-saloon, "do you see that young Englishman at the farther +table?" + +Her cousin glanced carelessly in the direction indicated, noting the +fine, athletic figure seated, back towards them, at some distance, +attired in heavy English tweed. + +"Yes. What of him?" + +"Nothing in particular; only the sight of him is such a relief, you +know, after that wretched caricature at our table." + +"Poor little harmless dudelet!" mused Winifred, with a smile; "his +self-complacency will be short-lived whenever he meets Isabel. She +will simply annihilate him with one of those glances of hers!" + +At Miss Carleton's suggestion, they went on deck; but Edith grew so +rapidly ill that her cousin assisted her below to their own elegant +suite of apartments, which adjoined, on one side, those occupied by +Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, while on the other was comfortable +state-room belonging to Mrs. Hogarth. + +Finding Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel already reduced to a state of +abject helplessness which required the attendance of both maids as +well as of the stewardess, Miss Carleton left Edith in Mrs. Hogarth's +care, and, wrapping herself warmly, again went on deck. The wind was +increasing and she found the decks nearly deserted, but the solitude +and the storm suited her mood just then, and, wrapping her rug +closely about her, she seated herself in a comparatively sheltered +place, alone with her own thoughts. + +As she recalled the parting interview with Mr. Whitney, another face +seemed to flash before her vision, and a half-formed query, which +had been persistently haunting her for the last few hours, now took +definite shape and demanded a reply. What would have been the result +if that other, instead of leaving without one word of farewell, had +asked for the hope of something better and deeper than friendship? +What would her answer have been? Even in the friendly shadow of the +deepening twilight she shrank from facing the truth gradually forcing +itself upon her. + +A solitary figure pacing the deck aroused her from her revery. As +he approached she recognized the young Englishman of whom Edith had +spoken. Dressed in warm jacket, with cap well pulled down over his +eyes and hands clasped behind him, he strode the rolling deck with +step as firm and free as though walking the streets of his native +city. She watched him with admiration, till something in his +carriage reminded her of the young secretary at Fair Oaks, and in +the sudden thrill of pleasure produced by that reminder there was +revealed to her inner consciousness a confirmation of the truth she +sought to evade. + +She watched the retreating figure with flashing eyes and burning +cheeks. "It is not true!" she exclaimed, to herself, passionately. +"I do not care for him! It was only a fancy, a foolish infatuation, +of which, thank heaven, neither he nor any one else shall ever know." + +But the monarch who had taken possession of her heart, call him by +what name she chose, was not to be so easily dethroned. + +Meanwhile, the young English stranger passed and repassed, unconscious +of the figure in the shadow, unconscious of the aversion with which +one of his countrywomen regarded him because of his resemblance to +another. He, too, was vainly seeking the solution of problems which +baffled him at every turn, and waging an ineffectual warfare against +the invisible but potent sovereign--Love. + +All that night the storm raged with increasing fury, and morning +found the entire Mainwaring party "on the retired list," as Miss +Carleton expressed it. She herself was the last to succumb, but +finally forced to an ignominious surrender, she submitted to the +inevitable with as good grace as possible, only stipulating that +she be left entirely to herself. + +Towards night the storm abated slightly, and, weary of her own +thoughts, which bad been anything but agreeable, and bored by the +society of her companions in misery, she wrapped her rug warmly +about her and ventured out on deck. The air, laden with salt +spray, seemed invigorating, and without much difficulty she found +her way to her sheltered corner of the preceding evening. She had +been seated but a few moments, however, when the young Englishman +made his appearance, as preoccupied and unconscious of his +surroundings and as free from any symptoms of discomfort as when +she had last seen him. The sight of him was the signal for the +return of the thoughts which had that day kept her company. She +cast a wrathful glance upon the unconscious young stranger just +then passing, his perfect health and evident good humor under +existing circumstances adding to her sense of injury and +exasperation. She grew ill, and determined to return at once to +her apartments, but found her progress against the gale slower and +more difficult than she had anticipated. Dizzy and faint, she had +just reached the stairs when a sudden lurch threw her violently to +one side; she staggered helplessly and would have fallen, but at +that instant a strong arm was thrown about her and she felt herself +lifted bodily. With a sigh of relief she turned her head towards +her rescuer, supposing him one of the officers of the ship, only to +discover, to her horror, that she was in the arms of the young +Englishman. His face was in the shadow, but the light falling on +her own face revealed her features, and at that instant she heard a +smothered exclamation,-- + +"Great heavens! can it be possible?" + +Something in the tone startled her and she listened, hoping he would +speak again. He did not; but she noted the tenderness with which +she was borne down the stairs and put in care of the stewardess. +Again she listened eagerly for his voice, but his words were brief +and in an altered tone. + +During the succeeding twenty-four hours in which Miss Carleton tossed +in misery, one thought was uppermost in her mind,--to discover, if +possible, the identity of the stranger who had come to her assistance. +The only information obtainable, however, was that he was evidently +a gentleman of wealth, travelling alone, and apparently with no +acquaintance on board with the exception of a young English officer. +She determined, at the earliest possible moment, to meet her +mysterious rescuer and thank him for his kindness, but was unable +to carry her plan into immediate execution. Meantime, she learned +that he had twice inquired for her. + +On Sunday afternoon, their fourth day out, the storm had ceased and +the weather was gradually clearing, and Miss Carleton, somewhat pale +but quite herself again, came out for a promenade. She found quite +a number of passengers on deck, but for some time she looked in vain +for her unknown friend. At last, after several brisk turns, she +saw him standing at a little distance, talking with the tall, +dark-eyed man whom she had seen in conversation with Mr. Merrick. +The younger man's cap was thrown back, revealing to Miss Carleton +the fine profile, almost classical in its beauty, of the secretary +at Fair Oaks. For a moment her pulse throbbed wildly. She felt a +thrill of pleasure, not unmingled with a twinge of the resentment +which she had been nursing for the last few days. Then she walked +calmly in his direction, saying to herself,-- + +"At least, I will thank him for his kindness. I am no love-lorn +peasant maid wearing my heart upon my sleeve!" + +She had nearly reached his side, though he was unaware of her +presence, when the young English officer approached from the other +side and, slapping him familiarly upon the shoulder, exclaimed,-- + +"Well, Mainwaring, my boy, you've kept your sea-legs well on this +trip." + +The tall, dark-eyed man withdrew, and Miss Carleton, utterly +bewildered, turned and slowly retraced her steps. Mainwaring! What +did it mean? She heard the name distinctly, and he had taken it as +a matter of course, replying pleasantly and quietly, as though he +had known no other name. The mystery which she had thought to solve +had only deepened tenfold. She was aroused by the cheery voice of +the captain. + +"Well, well, Miss Carleton, glad to see you out! I congratulate +you on your speedy recovery. How are the ladies? and how is my +old friend Thornton?" + +They took a few turns up and down, chatting pleasantly, till Miss +Carleton, looking into the face overflowing with kindliness and +good humor, said,-- + +"Captain, I have a great favor to ask of you." + +"Granted, my dear young lady, to the half of my kingdom!" + +"May I have your permission to examine the list of cabin passengers?" + +The captain elevated his shaggy eyebrows and his eyes twinkled with +merriment. "Ah! anxious to learn if some particular friend is on +board, I suppose. Some one was inquiring of me the other night +regarding your identity." + +"Indeed!" said Miss Carleton, a world of inquiry in her eyes. + +"Yes; Mr. Mainwaring, the gentleman conversing with Lieutenant Cohen +over there. He and I both went to your assistance the other evening, +but, much to my regret, he was quicker than I. He remarked to me +after he came back on deck that he had supposed you were a stranger, +but that your face looked familiar. He asked your name, and whether +you were with Mr. Thornton and his daughter, stating that he had met +you. Correct, I presume?" + +"Quite so," said Miss Carleton, quietly. + +"And now about that passenger list, Miss Carleton; you have my +permission to examine it, and I will accompany you myself." + +She thanked him. "Are you acquainted with Mr. Mainwaring?" she +inquired, carelessly. + +"Never met him until this trip. On first learning his name, I +supposed him to be a member of your party, as he is evidently a +gentleman; but I soon learned that he was alone." + +A few moments later the register was opened for Miss Carleton's +inspection, but she did not have to search long. Half-way down the +first page she found, in the familiar writing of the secretary, the +name which she sought--"Harold Scott Mainwaring." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS + + +Thanking the captain for his courtesy, Miss Carleton returned to +her accustomed seat on deck, and, since one is never more alone +than when surrounded by a crowd of utter strangers, she felt at +liberty to pursue her own thoughts without interruption. + +She could scarcely credit what her own ears had heard or her eyes +had seen. Harold Scott Mainwaring! What could it mean? Could it +be possible that the secretary, having familiarized himself with +the family history of the Mainwarings, was now masquerading under +an assumed name for some object of his own? But she dismissed +this idea at once. She had assured him at Fair Oaks that she +believed him incapable of anything false or dishonorable, and she +would abide by that belief until convinced otherwise. But if this +were indeed his name, what had been his object in assuming the role +of Scott, the secretary? Which was genuine and which assumed? Who +could tell? As if in answer to her thoughts, she saw the subject +of them approaching. He was alone and looking in her direction, +and on reading the recognition in her glance, his own face lighted +with a smile that banished the last shade of resentment and +suspicion from her mind, albeit there was a question in her eyes +which prepared him in a measure for her first words. With a smile +as bright as those with which she had been accustomed to greet him +at Fair Oaks, she extended her band, saying, slowly,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, this is indeed a surprise!" She watched him +closely, but there was not the quiver of an eyelash, only a slow, +inscrutable smile, as he replied,-- + +"Miss Carleton, I will add to that, and say that this is the +pleasantest surprise of my life." + +She blushed at the implied meaning of his words, and he added,-- + +"I have not seen you on deck until to-day." + +"Not last Friday evening?" she inquired, archly. His smile deepened. +"I did not know that it was you at that time until after I had +started below. Did you recognize me?" + +"I thought I recognized your voice; and I have often wished to thank +you for your kindness, but this is my first opportunity, as I have +not been out since until to-day." + +"Please do not mention it. Had I dreamed who it was thus braving +the storm, I would have offered my assistance earlier. I have not +yet recovered from my surprise on discovering the identity of my +fellow-passenger that evening." + +"Indeed!" laughed Miss Carleton; "my presence here is very easily +explained. It is simply the result of one of Mrs. Mainwaring's +numerous whims, as she suddenly decided upon an immediate return to +England. I think, however, that the surprise was mutual." + +"Accordingly, I suppose that mutual explanations should follow," +he answered, lightly. Then added, more seriously, "Miss Carleton, +I am aware that there is much in my conduct that must seem +inexplicable to you. In a few weeks everything will have been +made clear, in the natural course of events; but, if you would be +at all interested to hear, I would greatly prefer that you should +have a perfect understanding of the situation before the facts +become generally known." + +"I should greatly appreciate such a mark of confidence," she replied. + +"If agreeable to you, Miss Carleton, let us pass around to the other +side; it is less crowded there. My friend and I have two chairs, +and, as he has gone to his state-room to do some writing, we shall +be in no danger of interruption." + +When comfortably seated, the young man said, "It is a strange story +which I have to tell, but I will try not to tax your patience too +severely. One week ago this afternoon, Miss Carleton, in passing +through the hall at Fair Oaks, I accidentally overheard a portion +of your conversation with Mr. Whitney, as you related to him the +story of the unfortunate love and death of my father, Harold Scott +Mainwaring." + +Miss Carleton started violently, but said nothing, and, after a +slight pause, the speaker continued,-- + +"My earliest recollections are of a home in Australia, with +foster-parents, whose name it is unnecessary to mention, but whose +care and love for me seem, as I now look back, to have equalled that +bestowed by natural parents upon their own child. Not until I had +reached the age of fifteen years did I ever hear of my own father. +I then learned that he had given me, at birth, into the keeping +of my foster-parents, with instructions that, unless he himself +should call for me, I was not even to know of his existence until +within five or six years of my majority. I learned, further, that +his action in thus placing me in the hands of others had been +solely on account of deep trouble and sorrow, of which he wished me +to know nothing until I had reached the years of manhood. When +giving me into their keeping he had also given them a small packet, +containing a sealed letter, which was to be read by me on my +twenty-first birthday, if he had not himself claimed me before that +time. I was told that, while I was too young to retain any +remembrance of him, he frequently visited me and manifested the +greatest devotion to his child, but as I grew older he remained +away, writing occasionally to my foster-father. + +"In the last letter received from him, when I was about five years +of age, he stated that he was going to Africa to make a fortune for +his son. Nothing further was heard from him until there came tidings +of his death at sea, in the manner which you recently related. + +"Of all this I, of course, knew nothing until ten years later, but +what was told me at that time made a deep impression upon me. Of my +mother I could learn absolutely nothing; but for my father, of whom +I had no personal knowledge, and concerning whom there seemed so +much that was mysterious, I felt a love and reverence almost akin to +adoration, and I longed for the day to come when I could read the +letter he had left for me and learn the whole secret of that sad +life. + +"My twenty-first birthday arrived, and the mysterious little packet +was placed in my hands. It contained a few valuable keepsakes and +my father's letter, written out of the bitter anguish of a broken +heart. He told the story of his disinheritance, with which you are +familiar; but the loss of the property he cared little for in +comparison with the loss of his father's love; but even that was as +nothing to the sorrow which followed swiftly and which broke his +heart. He stated that, because of this great sorrow, he had placed +me in the hands of trusted friends that I should be banished from +the false-hearted woman who had borne me and who believed me dead, +as it was his wish that neither of us should ever know of the +existence of the other." + +Harold Mainwaring paused for a moment, and Miss Carleton, who had +been listening with great interest, exclaimed,-- + +"And is it possible, Mr. Mainwaring, that, in all these years, you +have had no knowledge concerning your mother?" + +"It is a fact, Miss Carleton, that I do not even know her name, or +whether or not she is living. I only hope and pray that I may +never knowingly meet her, for her heart and life must be--pardon +the expression--as false and as black as hell itself." + +There was a look on his face which Miss Carleton had never seen. +Gradually, however, his features softened, and he continued,-- + +"In accordance with my father's wish, expressed in the letter, that +I should complete my studies in England, I sailed for that country +within a few weeks of my twenty-first birthday; and while there I +learned that part of my story which is of more especial interest to +all parties concerned at the present time. + +"I had been but a few months in England when I felt a great desire +to visit, incognito, the old Mainwaring estate. Accordingly, under +the name by which you have known me, I arrived at the estate, only +to learn that the home of my father's boyhood, and of the Mainwarings +for several generations, had passed into the hands of strangers. +My grandfather had died within two years of my father's marriage, +and the younger son had sold the estate and gone to America. +Incidentally, I was directed to an old servant of my grandfather's, +who yet remained on the place and who could give me its whole +history. That servant, Miss Carleton, was old James Wilson, the +father of John Wilson, Ralph Mainwaring's present valet." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Miss Carleton, her face lighting with pleasure; "I +have seen the trusty old fellow hundreds of times, you know. Indeed, +he could give you the history of all the Mainwarings for the last +three hundred years." + +"He gave me one very important bit of history," Harold Mainwaring +replied, with a smile. "He told me that old Ralph Mainwaring, after +the departure of his son for Australia, failed rapidly. He was +slowly but surely dying of a broken heart, and, though he never +mentioned the name of his elder son, it was evident that he regretted +his own harshness and severity towards him. + +"On the night before his death he suddenly gave orders for an +attorney to be summoned, and was so insistent in his demand, that, +when it was ascertained that his old solicitor, Alfred Barton, the +father of the present firm of Barton & Barton, had been called out +of the city, a young lawyer, Richard Hobson by name, who had formerly +been an articled clerk in Barton's office, was called in in his +stead. A little before the hour of midnight, in the presence of his +son, Hugh Mainwaring, Richard Hobson, the attorney, and Alexander +McPherson, an old and trusted Scotch friend, Ralph Mainwaring caused +to be drawn and executed a will, completely revoking and setting +aside the process of law by which Harold Scott Mainwaring had been +disinherited, and restoring to him his full rights as the elder son, +McPherson and the attorney signing the will as witnesses." + +Miss Carleton's eyes dilated and her breath came and went swiftly, +but she spoke no word save a single, quick exclamation. + +"James Wilson, the servant, was also present, but in an obscure +corner, and his presence seems to have been unnoticed. The next +morning, at five o'clock, Ralph Mainwaring passed away, happy in +the thought that he had at last made reparation for his injustice +to his elder son. Within two months the old Scotchman died, and +Richard Hobson was then the sole surviving witness of the last will +and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring. + +"This was all the direct information I could obtain from Wilson, +but from other sources I learned that Hugh Mainwaring was never the +same after his father's death. He grew stern and taciturn, and +would allow no mention of his brother's name, and within two years +he had disposed of the estate and left England forever; while a few +years later tidings were received of the death of Harold Scott +Mainwaring at sea. I also learned that about this time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from the position of a penniless pettifogger +to that of an affluent attorney, though he was engaged in +questionable speculations far more than in the practice of law. + +"I visited the chambers of Barton & Barton, and learned through +them that everything had been adjusted in accordance with the terms +of the will in their possession, which disinherited the elder son; +but Hugh Mainwaring's action in disposing of the estate had excited +considerable comment. + +"Having pledged them to secrecy, I disclosed my identity and +related to them the story of the old servant. To my surprise, they +were inclined to give the story credence; and, acting upon their +advice, I obtained all possible information regarding Hugh +Mainwaring, and, when my studies were completed, sailed for America, +with the express determination to secure proof in verification of +the facts which I had already gathered, and to establish my claim +as the legal heir of the Mainwaring estate. I was not without means +to do this, as my father had accumulated considerable property +during the few years he lived in Australia, and my foster-parents +are people of wealth. + +"You will understand now, Miss Carleton, why I took the position of +private secretary to Hugh Mainwaring. You will realize how eagerly +I studied the correspondence between him and Richard Hobson, from +which I learned that the latter was extorting large sums of money +as the price of his silence regarding some fraudulent transaction, +presumably the destruction of the will; and perhaps you can imagine +my feelings on discovering, one day, among Hugh Mainwaring's private +papers, a memorandum to the effect that the will had never been +destroyed, but was still in existence and in his possession. I +knew that to make any demand upon him for the document would be +worse than useless, as he would never admit my claim. I must find +it for myself. I searched for that will as for hidden treasure, and, +Miss Carleton, I found it!" + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to repress her emotion, "I am so glad! +Do tell me how and when!" + +"I found it on the last day of Hugh Mainwaring's life, within two +hours after he had signed his own last will and testament." + +"What a strange coincidence!" + +"It was strange; and it was my discovery on that day which formed +the subject of my thoughts on the following night, the night of the +murder, and which kept me pacing my room until three o'clock in +the morning." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring know of your discovery?" + +"No; I had no opportunity to see him that evening until too late, +even if I had chosen to broach the subject to him at that time." + +"Might he not have discovered in some way that you had found the +will?" + +"I think not. Why do you inquire?" + +"It only occurred to me if it might not be possible that he had +reason to think his secret had at last been discovered, and, rather +than face the consequences, committed suicide; but it seems +improbable. But to think that you are the son of the one whom I +have always considered the noblest of all the Mainwarings, and that +you, and not Hugh, are the rightful heir to the old Mainwaring +estate! I am more than glad, and Hugh will be glad also. He will +not begrudge you one shilling or have one unkind thought towards +you, though I cannot say the same for his father." + +"Hugh is a noble-hearted fellow," said Harold, warmly. "He has +promised me his friendship, and I believe he will stand by it." + +He spoke briefly of his plans; of his business in London for a few +days; and, when the will should have been probated in the English +court, of his return to America to establish his claim there. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Miss Carleton, after a pause, "I am +inexpressibly glad to learn what you have told me, and you have my +sincerest wishes for your immediate success. I appreciate, more +than I can tell, your confidence in permitting me to be the first +to know of your good fortune. May I be the first to congratulate +you?" + +He took the proffered hand; but, looking into the beautiful eyes +sparkling with happiness, his own face grew serious, as he replied,-- + +"I thank you for your congratulations and your good wishes, Miss +Carleton, but I sometimes question whether my discovery, on that +particular day, of the will--the last link in the chain of +evidence against Hugh Mainwaring--was a matter for congratulation." + +"How is that?" she inquired, quickly. + +"Do you not see that when all these facts become known, they may be +used by my enemies to direct suspicion against me as the possible +murderer of Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Who would think of such a thing?" she exclaimed, indignantly. + +"Ralph Mainwaring will," was his prompt reply. + +"He might try to incite the suspicions of others against you, but he +would know in his own heart that his insinuations were unfounded." + +"I have no fear of him," said Harold, with a smile; "I only mentioned +it to show that I do not anticipate upon my return to America that +my pathway will be strewn with roses." + +He paused a moment, then added, "I had this in mind, Miss Carleton, +when I asked you once whether your confidence in me were strong +enough to stand a heavy strain, if necessary." + +She blushed slightly at the reminder, and a look of quick +comprehension flashed across her face, as, for an instant, she +dropped her eyes before his earnest gaze. When she again looked +up the luminous eyes met his own unwaveringly, as she replied, in +firm, low tones,-- + +"I will believe in you and trust you to the fullest extent, whatever +happens." + +"I thank you more than I can express," he answered, gravely; "for, +believe me, Miss Carleton, I value your confidence and friendship +far above any and every other." + +"I did not suppose you needed any assurance of my friendship; though, +after your sudden departure from Fair Oaks, I felt somewhat doubtful +whether you cared for it." + +He did not reply at once, and when he did, it was evident he was +repressing some strong emotion. "I feel that there is an explanation +due you for my manner of leaving Fair Oaks. I am aware that it had +the appearance of rudeness, but I can only say that it was from +necessity and not from choice. There is something more which I hope +some day to tell you, Miss Carleton, but, until I can speak as I +wish to speak, it is best to remain silent; meanwhile, I will trust +to your friendship to pardon whatever in my conduct may seem abrupt +or inexplicable." + +The conversation was terminated at this point by the appearance of +Lieutenant Cohen, whom Harold Mainwaring introduced as an old +classmate, and presently all three adjourned to the dining-saloon. + +To Harold Mainwaring and Miss Carleton the remainder of the voyage +passed swiftly and pleasantly, and the friendship begun at Fair Oaks +deepened with each succeeding day. Though no word of love passed +between them, and though Miss Carleton sometimes detected on the +part of her companion a studied avoidance of personal subjects, yet, +while wondering slightly at his self-imposed silence, she often +read in his dark eyes a language more eloquent than words, and was +content to wait. + +It was his desire that the other members of her party should still +remain in ignorance of his real identity; and, as the greater part +of the voyage proved somewhat rough, he had little difficulty in +preserving his secret. Mr. Thornton and daughter soon made their +appearance and greeted the quondam secretary with unaffected +cordiality, but Mr. Thornton was too deeply engrossed in renewing +acquaintance with one or two old friends to pay much attention to +the younger man, while Edith felt in duty bound to devote herself +to the entertainment of Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel, a task which +Miss Carleton was not at all disposed to share. Not until the last +few hours of the trip, when fair weather had become an established +fact and land had been sighted, did Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter +appear on deck, and in the general excitement Harold Mainwaring +escaped their observation. + +The parting between himself and Miss Carleton was necessarily brief. +She gave him her address, saying,-- + +"I would be delighted if you could consider yourself our guest while +in London, and I hope at least that I may see you often before your +return." + +"I thank you, Miss Carleton," he replied. "If present circumstances +would admit of it, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to +accept your invitation, but under existing conditions it is, of +course, impracticable. I cannot now say how long I will remain in +London, but I wish to make my stay as brief as possible, and to that +end shall devote almost my entire time to business; but," he added, +with a peculiar smile, "I shall not repeat the offence committed at +Fair Oaks. You may rest assured I shall not return to America +without seeing you, and I hope at that time to be able to speak +more definitely regarding my future." + +There was that in his eyes as he spoke that suffused the fair +English face with lovely color and caused a tender, wistful smile +to linger about the sweet mouth long after he had left her side. + +He was one of the first to land, and Miss Carleton, watching from +the deck, saw, almost as soon as he had reached the pier, a +fine-looking gentleman in the prime of life step quickly out from, +the crowd, and, grasping him cordially by the hand, enter at once +into earnest conversation. Harold Mainwaring turned towards the +steamer for a parting salute, and, as both gentlemen raised their +hats, she recognized in the new-comer, Alfred Barton, the junior +member of the firm of Barton & Barton. She watched them until +they disappeared in the crowd, then, turning to rejoin her +companions, she noted, standing at a little distance, the slender, +dark-eyed individual whom she had observed on previous occasions, +also watching the scene with a smile of quiet satisfaction, much +like that which Mr. Merrick's face had worn at the beginning of the +Voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LOVE FINDS A WAY + + +Less than three weeks later, Harold Mainwaring entered Miss +Carleton's private drawing-room in Mr. Thornton's London home. +Soon after her arrival in the city she had received from him a +brief note of apology, stating that unexpected business of the +greatest importance would render it impossible for him to call as +early as he had anticipated; hence this was their first meeting +since the leave-taking on board the "Campania." + +As Miss Carleton stepped forward with cordial smile and hand +extended to welcome her visitor, she was shocked at the change in +his appearance. He was pale, almost haggard, and deep lines about +the mouth and eyes told of some intense mental strain. She gave +a low cry of astonishment, for it seemed as though years, instead +of only a few weeks, had intervened since she had seen that face. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you have been ill!" she exclaimed. + +"No, Miss Carleton," he replied, his face lighting with a rare +smile; "I have been perfectly well, but loss of sleep and constant +care and anxiety have told rather severely on me. Nothing more +serious, I assure you." + +"Anxiety!" she repeated, at the same time motioning him to a seat +by her side. "Surely you do not anticipate any difficulty in +establishing your claim?" + +"No difficulty so far as its validity is concerned. My attorneys +assure me there can be no question as to that with such irrefutable +proofs in my possession, but some unlooked-for complications have +arisen, and we have had to prepare ourselves to meet them. But I +did not call to burden you with my perplexities, Miss Carleton. +Tell me of yourself. I trust you have been well since I last saw +you." + +"Yes, I am usually well," said Miss Carleton, who thought she +detected on the part of her visitor an avoidance of any details +concerning himself; "but I have been rather bored of late." Then, +in answer to his look of inquiry, she continued, "Of course, on +account of Hugh Mainwaring's death, we have been living very +quietly since our return, but, notwithstanding that fact, society +has been paying due homage to the prospective increase of fortune +and added social position of the Mainwarings. I am not particularly +fond of society in the ordinary sense of the word, you know, and I +have found it exceedingly tiresome." + +"From reports, I should judge 'society' to be very fond of yourself," +he remarked, with a smile. + +"After its own fashion," she replied, smiling in return; "but it +becomes very monotonous. It is the same old round, you know, only +that just now it bows a little lower than formerly, while it mingles +condolences and congratulations in the most absurd manner. One +hears, 'Such a dreadful affair! so shocking, don't you know!' and +'Such delightful fortune! I quite envy you, my dear!' all in the +same breath. I am only awaiting what society will say when the real +facts become known." + +Harold Mainwaring made no reply, but a strange pallor overspread +his already pale face, at which Miss Carleton wondered. + +"I have thought very often of you during these past weeks," she +continued, "and felt quite impatient to learn how you were +progressing, and your note was so brief, you know. It left so much +unsaid. I fear you forget how interested I am in all that concerns +yourself." + +"No," he replied, slowly, "I do not forget; and I appreciate your +interest in me even though I may not seem to,--even though I am +forced, as you say, to leave so much unsaid which I had hoped to +say." + +Something in his manner, more than in what he said, thrilled her +with a vague, undefinable sense of impending evil, and, during the +slight pause which followed, she dreaded his next words, lest they +should in some way confirm her apprehensions. He said nothing +further, however, and when she spoke it was with an assumed +lightness and cheerfulness which she was far from feeling. + +"I hoped to have the pleasure of meeting you often ere this, and +my uncle and cousin would have been so glad to welcome you to +their home during your stay in London, but they have just gone out +of town for a few days." + +"Ordinarily, Miss Carleton," he replied, quietly, "I should be +pleased to meet them, but on the present occasion, as I sail, +to-morrow, I naturally care to see no one but yourself." + +"To-morrow!" she exclaimed, while her own cheek suddenly paled. +"Do you return so soon?" + +"Yes," he replied, observing her emotion, and speaking rapidly to +conceal his own feelings; "my business is at last completed. I +have been detained longer than I expected, and I found the +situation more complex than I anticipated, but I shall return well +equipped for the battle." + +"And you will win, I am sure. Tell me something regarding your +plans," she added, with a wistful smile that touched her companion +for more than he cared to betray. + +"Mr. Alfred Barton goes with me to America," he said, speaking +cheerfully; "and we have already cabled instructions to Mr. +Sutherland, my New York attorney, regarding the initiatory steps. +Mr. Barton and myself will be accompanied by James Wilson, the old +servant who witnessed the execution of the will,"--Miss Carleton's +eyes brightened,--"and also by a thoroughly competent, first-class +Scotland Yard officer." + +She gave a low exclamation. "I see what a powerful witness old +Wilson will make; but the detective, what will you do with him?" + +"We are going to investigate the murder of Hugh Mainwaring," he +said, calmly. + +"Why, surely, you cannot mean--" she hesitated. "You do not think +that suspicion will be directed against any of the guests at Fair +Oaks, do you?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton, I cannot say at present. Perhaps," he added, +slowly, looking steadily into her eyes, "perhaps, when all is over, +suspicion will be directed against myself so unmistakably that public +opinion will pronounce me guilty." + +"I cannot believe that," she cried; "and even were it so,--should +the whole world pronounce you guilty,--I would still believe you +innocent; and I think," she added, quickly, "that is your object in +employing a detective: by finding the real murderer, you will +establish your own entire innocence." + +"May God grant it!" he replied, with a fervor she could not +understand. "I thank you, Miss Carleton, for your kind words; I +shall never forget them; and, however the battle goes, I can feel +there is one, at least, whose friendship and confidence are mine, +can I not?" + +"Most assuredly, Mr. Mainwaring. But why do you speak as though +there were a possibility of defeat or failure? I am so confident +that you will win, after the story of your life that you have given +me, that I am all impatience to learn the outcome of the contest, +just as having read one chapter in some thrilling romance I am eager +for the next." + +He smiled at her comparison. "Real life, as well as romance, +sometimes contains startling surprises, Miss Carleton. The next +chapter might prove less pleasant." + +She looked keenly into his face for a moment, and her manner became +as serious as his own. + +"There must be something," she said, "of which you have not told me; +if so, I will not ask your confidence until you choose to bestow it, +nor do I trust you, personally, any the less. It only seemed to me, +with your prospects of success, and the great wealth and enviable +position so soon to become yours, there could be no unpleasant +anticipations for the future." + +A bitter smile crossed his face, as he inquired in low, tense tones, +"Of what avail are wealth and position to one who finds an +insurmountable barrier placed between himself and all that he holds +most precious on earth?" + +"I fear I do not understand you," she replied. "I cannot imagine +any barriers surrounding you; and did they exist, my judgment of +you would be that you would find some way to surmount or destroy +them." + +"There are some barriers, some fetters," he said, gently, "against +which humanity, even at its best, is powerless." + +"Yes," she answered, a touch of sadness in her voice; "and there are +sometimes sorrows and troubles in which even the closest and warmest +friendship is powerless to aid or comfort." + +"Don't allow yourself to think that of your friendship for me," he +said, quickly. "Assured of your confidence and sympathy, I shall +be ten times stronger to face whatever the future may bring. If I +succeed in what I am about to undertake, I shall one day tell you +all that your friendship has been worth to me. If I fail, the +thought that you believe in me and trust me, while it will not be +all that I could wish, may be all that I can ask." + +"And if you should fail," she queried, slowly, "would you give me +no opportunity to show you, and others, my confidence in you, even +then?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton," he replied, in tones tremulous with +suppressed feeling, "much as I appreciate your kindness, I would +never, now or at any future time, willingly mar your life or your +happiness by asking you to share any burden which might be laid +upon me. I would at least leave you to go your way in peace, while +I went mine." + +"And I?" she asked, reproachfully. "Would it contribute to my +happiness, do you think, to remember the sorrow and suffering which +I was not allowed to share?" + +"Could you not forget?" + +"Never!" + +The young man sprang to his feet abruptly, his face working with +emotion, and took two or three turns about the room. At last he +paused, directly in front of her, and, folding his arms, stood +looking down into the beautiful eyes that met his own so +unflinchingly. He was outwardly calm, but the smouldering fire +which seemed to gleam in his dark eyes told of intense mental +excitement. + +"Miss Carleton," he said, slowly, in low tones, but yet which +vibrated through her whole being, "you are almost cruel in your +kindness; you will yet make a coward of me!" + +"I have no fear of that," she answered, quietly. + +"Yes, a coward! Instead of remaining silent as I intended, and +keeping my trouble within my own breast, you will compel me in +self-defence to say that which will only give you pain to hear, +thereby adding to my own suffering." + +"Perhaps you misjudge," she replied, and her voice had a ring of +pathos in it; "any word of explanation--no matter what--would be +less hard for me to endure than this suspense." + +"God knows I would make full explanation if I could, but I cannot, +and I fear there is nothing I can say that will not add to your +suspense. Miss Carleton, you must need no words from me to tell +you that I love you. I have loved you almost from the first day +of our meeting, and whatever life may have in store for me, you, +and you alone, will have my love. But, loving you as I do, could +I have looked forward to the present time, could I for one moment +have foreseen what was awaiting me, believe me, you should never +have known by word or look, or any other sign, of my love." + +He paused a moment, then continued. "If that were all, I might +have borne it; I could have locked my love forever within my own +heart, and suffered in silence; but the fact that you have given me +some reason to believe that you were not wholly indifferent to me,--the +thought that I might in time have won your love,--makes the +possibilities of the future a thousand times harder to bear. It is +harder to forego the joys of Paradise when once you have had a +glimpse within! It was to this I alluded when I spoke of the +insurmountable barrier placed between myself and all that I hold +holiest and best on earth!" + +"But I do not understand!" she cried, her lovely color deepening +and her eyes glowing with a new light, until Harold Mainwaring +confessed to himself that never had he seen her so beautiful. "What +barrier could ever exist between you and me?" + +For an instant he looked at her in silence, an agony of love and +longing in his eyes; then drawing himself up to his full height, +he said, slowly,-- + +"Not until I can stand before you free and clear from the faintest +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring, will I ever ask for that +most precious gift of your love!" + +Her face blanched at the mere possibility suggested by his words. +"But you are innocent!" she cried in swift protest, "and you could +prove it, even were suspicion directed against you for a time." + +"Even admitting that I were, the taint of suspicion is sometimes as +lasting as the stain of crime itself." + +She arose and stood proudly facing him. "Do you think I would fear +suspicion? To hear from your own lips that you love me and that +you are innocent would be enough for me; I would defy the whole +world!" + +He did not at once reply, and when he spoke it was slowly and +reluctantly, as though each word were wrung from him by torture. + +"My dear Miss Carleton, even to you I cannot say that I am innocent." + +There was a moment's pause, during which she gazed at him, +speechless with astonishment; a moment of intense agony to Harold +Mainwaring, as he watched whether her faith in him would waver. +But she gave no sign, though she scanned his face, as the condemned +criminal scans the document handed him as the fateful day approaches, +to ascertain whether it contains his pardon or his death sentence. + +"Understand me," he said at last, gently, unable longer to endure +the terrible silence, "I do not admit that I am in any way guilty, +but until I am fully acquitted of any share in or knowledge of the +death of Hugh Mainwaring, I can make neither denial nor admission, +one way or the other." + +"But you still love me?" she inquired, calmly. + +"Miss Carleton,--Winifred,--how can you ask? You are, and always +will be to me, the one, only woman upon earth." + +"That is sufficient," she answered, with a strange, bright smile; +"my faith in you is perfect, and faith and love can wait." + +"Wait, my love! until when?" he cried. + +"If needful, until Eternity's sunlight dispels Earth's shadows! +Eternity holds ample compensation for all of Earth's waiting." + +"But, my darling," he said, half protesting, while he folded her to +his breast, "you know not the risk you may be running; I cannot +accept the sacrifice that may be involved." + +"My decision is taken, and it is irrevocable," she answered, with +an arch smile; then added, "There can be no barriers between us, +Harold, for Love will find a way!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AN UNFORESEEN FOE + + +Though nearly six weeks had elapsed since the death of the master +of Fair Oaks, and as yet no light had been shed on that mysterious +event, the interest of the public mind in the affair had in no wise +abated during this brief interim. On the contrary, its curiosity +had been so whetted by the partial revelations of the inquest, that +it had eagerly followed each step of the legal proceedings leading +towards the inevitable contest over the property, ready to hail +with delight the appearance of the Mainwaring skeleton when it +should step forth from its long hiding to disclose the secrets of +the past. + +As early as possible, a petition, setting forth the terms and +conditions of the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring, and +praying for letters of administration in accordance therewith to be +issued to William H. Whitney, the executor named in said will, had +been filed in the district court. A few days thereafter, the +petition of Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, for letters to be issued +to Richard Hobson, was also filed. The hearing in the application +for letters of administration occupied several days; very little +evidence was adduced, however, which had not already been given at +the inquest, and in due time an order was issued by the court, +appointing Mr. Whitney administrator of the estate, with instructions +that the same be adjusted according to the terms of the lost will. +From this order, Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, through her attorney, +Hobson, had appealed, and the contest had at last begun. + +For greater convenience during the legal proceedings, Ralph +Mainwaring had closed the suburban residence, dismissing what +servants were no longer needed, though still retaining the new +coachman, and had removed to Hugh Mainwaring's city residence, +where he and his son made themselves perfectly at home, dining +with Mr. Whitney at his club. Mrs. LaGrange, having been +compelled to resign her position at Fair Oaks, had also removed +to the city and taken apartments in a convenient hotel until the +termination of her suit. + +The afternoon of the second day since the opening of the case was +drawing to a close; the testimony on the appellant's side had been +taken, and it was expected that the respondent would be heard on the +following day, when an event transpired which completely overthrew +all proceedings had thus far, and which promised the waiting public +developments as startling as could be desired. + +This event was none other than the filing in the district court of +a document purporting to be the last will and testament of the father +of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, by the terms of which the Mainwaring +estate, as it then existed, together with the bulk of his other +property, passed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, an elder son who had +been previously disinherited, but was by this will restored to his +full rights. With this document, worn and yellow with age, was filed +a petition, setting forth the claims of one Harold Scott Mainwaring, +the lawful, living, and only son of the said Harold Scott Mainwaring +named in the will, but since deceased, and sole heir of the +Mainwaring estate, and praying for letters of administration to be +issued to George D. Sutherland, attorney for the said lawful heir. + +The court adjourned amid intense excitement, just as the newsboys +were crying the headlines of the evening papers,-- + +"A New Heir to the Mainwaring Property! Discovery of Will secreted +more than Twenty-five Years! Millions wrongfully withheld from the +Rightful Owner!" + +Strangely enough, the two most interested in this unexpected turn +of affairs were among the latest to learn the surprising news. +Ralph Mainwaring, having felt slightly indisposed, and knowing that +his side would not come up for hearing until the following day, had +made himself as comfortable as possible in the elegant apartments +which he had appropriated to his own use, while his son had left +the court-room at an early hour to devote the remainder of the +afternoon to letter-writing. + +The latter glanced up from his writing and nodded pleasantly, as +Mr. Whitney, pale with excitement, was ushered by the butler into +the library. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, is your father in?" the attorney inquired, hastily. + +"I believe so," replied the young man, smiling broadly; "the last I +knew, the governor was luxuriating in his rooms up-stairs; I think +you will find him there now. How's the case coming on, sir?" he +added, as the attorney turned quickly towards the hall. "Anything +new developed?" + +"Yes; decidedly new!" Mr. Whitney answered, rather brusquely; "you +had better join us up-stairs!" and he disappeared. + +The young man's face grew suddenly serious, and, springing from his +chair, he swiftly followed the retreating figure of the attorney, +arriving just in time to hear the latter exclaim, in reply to some +question from his father,-- + +"Well, sir, the storm has burst!" + +Ralph Mainwaring was, as his son had said, "luxuriating" in a superb +reclining chair, his eyes half closed, enjoying a fine Havana, but +the attorney's words seemed to produce the effect of an electric +shock. + +"The deuce, sir! what do you mean?" he demanded, instantly assuming +an upright position. + +"I simply mean that what I have expected and dreaded all along has +at last come to pass." + +"Then, since it was not unexpected, it is to be presumed that you +were at least prepared for it! That shyster and his designing +client must, at the last moment, have exerted their inventive +faculties to a remarkable degree!" + +"On the contrary," said the attorney, quietly ignoring the other's +sarcasm, and handing copies of the evening papers to father and +son, "I am satisfied that neither Hobson nor his client has any part +in the developments of this afternoon." + +A brief silence followed, during which the attorney watched the two +men before him, noting the strange contrast between them, never +until that moment so apparent. Young Mainwaring's boyish face grew +pale as he read, and he occasionally glanced at Mr. Whitney, as +though seeking in his face either confirmation or contradiction of +the report, but he remained calm and self-possessed, preserving his +gentlemanly bearing to the close of the interview. The face of the +elder man, however, rapidly assumed an almost apoplectic hue, the +veins standing out from his temples like whip-cords, and when he +spoke his voice trembled with rage. He was the first to break the +silence, as, with an oath, he flung the papers upon the floor, +exclaiming,-- + +"It is a lie from beginning to end! The most preposterous +fabrication of falsehood that could be devised! The 'will,' as it +is called, is nothing but a rank forgery, and the man who dares +assert any claim to the estate is a damned impostor, and I'll tell +him so to his face!" + +"I examined the document very carefully, Mr. Mainwaring," said the +attorney, "and I shall have to admit that it certainly had every +appearance of genuineness; if it is a forgery, it is an exceedingly +clever one." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you believe, for one moment, in this +balderdash?" demanded Ralph Mainwaring, at the same time rising and +striding about the room in his wrath. "The utter absurdity of the +thing, that such a will ever existed, in the first place, and then +that it would be secreted all these years only to be 'discovered' +just at this critical moment! It is the most transparent invention +I ever heard of, and it is a disgrace to your American courts that +the thing was not quashed at once!" + +"That could not very well be done," said Mr. Whitney, with a quiet +smile; "and as the matter now stands, the only course left open for +us is to prepare ourselves for a thorough investigation of the case." + +"Investigation be damned!" interrupted the other, but, before he +could proceed further, he was in turn interrupted by young +Mainwaring. + +"I say, governor, you'd best cool down a bit and listen to what Mr. +Whitney has to say; if this thing is a forgery, we surely can prove +it so; and if it isn't, why, all the bluster in the world won't help +it, you know." + +His father faced him with a look of withering contempt. "'If' it +is a forgery! I tell you there are no 'ifs' about it. I suppose, +though, you are just fool enough that, if any man made a pretence +of a claim to the estate, you would simply hand it over to him, +and thank him for taking it off your hands!" + +"That's just where you are wrong, governor. I would fight him, fair +and square, and he would have to prove a better claim than mine +before he could win. But the point is this, don't you know, you can +fight better with your head cool and your plans well laid beforehand." + +"The young man is right," said Mr. Whitney, quickly; "there is every +indication that our opponent, whoever or whatever he may be, is well +prepared for contesting the case. I understand he has plenty of +evidence on his side and the best of legal counsel." + +"Evidence, I suppose," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, with a sneer, +"in support of a document that never existed, and a man that never +lived on the face of the earth; for Harold Mainwaring never had a +living son. Have you seen this remarkable individual?" + +"I believe no one in this country has seen him as yet, sir. He is +expected to arrive on the 'Umbria,' which I understand is due the +early part of next week." + +The face of the other showed slight surprise at this statement, but, +before he could speak, the young man inquired,-- + +"I say, Mr. Whitney, what sort of a man is this attorney, Sutherland? +Is he another Hobson?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head significantly. "Mr. Sutherland is one of +the ablest men in his profession. I consider him a fine jurist, an +eloquent pleader, and a perfect gentleman. I had some conversation +with him after court adjourned, and while he, of course, stated no +details, he gave me to understand that his client had a strong case. +He also informed me that Barton & Barton, of London, had been +retained in the case, and that his client would be accompanied to +this country by the junior member of the firm, Alfred Barton." + +"By Jove, that looks bad for us!" ejaculated young Mainwaring, +while his father exclaimed, impatiently,-- + +"Barton & Barton? Impossible! that is mere bombast! Why, man, +the Bartons, father and sons, have been the family solicitors of +the Mainwarings for the past fifty years. The old firm of Barton +& Sons had charge of the settlement of the estate when it passed +into Hugh Mainwaring's possession at the death of his father." + +"So I had understood," said the attorney; "I have heard Mr. +Mainwaring himself speak of them." + +"And," continued the other, "only a few days before sailing for +America, I called at their chambers in London and told them of +Hugh's intentions regarding my son and received their +congratulations. Now, sir, do you mean to tell me, in the face +of all this, that Barton & Barton are retained by this mushroom +claimant, whoever he is? Pooh! preposterous!" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head slowly. "Mr. Sutherland is not the man +to make any misstatements or allow himself to be misinformed. All +I have to say is, if those attorneys are retained in the case, it +certainly looks as though our opponent must have some tenable +ground in support of his claim. I am inclined to think they will +make us a hard fight, but I am confident that we will win in the +end. The main point is this: we must be prepared to meet them on +whatever ground they may take, and, after hearing their side and +the proof they set up, we can easily determine our line of defence." + +"To the deuce with your line of defence! I tell you, Whitney, there +is just one point to be maintained, and, by my soul, it shall be +maintained at any cost!" and the speaker emphasized his words by +bringing his clinched hand down upon a table beside him with +terrific force "that point is this: Harold Scott Mainwaring never +had a living, lawful son; no such person exists, or ever has +existed on the face of the earth, and I can prove what I say." + +"Have you absolute proof of that?" Mr. Whitney inquired, quickly. + +"I have," replied Ralph Mainwaring, triumphantly, while his cold, +calculating gray eyes glittered like burnished steel. "If any man +thinks I have been asleep for the past twenty-one years, he is +deucedly mistaken. Mr. Whitney, since the day of that boy's birth," +pointing to his son, "I have had but one fixed resolve, which has +been paramount to everything else, to which everything else has +had to subserve,--the Mainwaring estate with its millions should +one day be his. Not a day has passed in which this was not +uppermost in my mind; not a day in which I have not scanned the +horizon in every direction to detect the least shadow likely to +intervene between me and the attainment of the dearest object of +my life. When the news of Harold Mainwaring's death reached +England, in order to guard against the possibility of a claim ever +being asserted in that direction, I set myself at once to the task +of finding for a certainty whether or not he had left any issue. +I never rested day or night until, after infinite labor and pains, +I had secured the certificate of the attendant physician to the +effect that the only child of Harold Mainwaring died within an +hour from its birth." + +"Have you that certificate now?" inquired the attorney. + +"Not here; it is among my private papers at home." + +"Cable for it at once; with the death of Harold Mainwaring's child +fully established, the will would cut no figure, one way or another." + +"That will," said Ralph Mainwaring, fiercely, turning upon Mr. +Whitney with an expression which the latter had never seen, "let me +tell you, will cut no figure one way or another in any event. That +will, remember, is a forgery; and, if necessary, I will prove it so, +if it takes my last shilling and the last drop of my heart's blood +to do it; do you understand?" + +The attorney understood, and was more than ever convinced in his ow + mind that the old will filed that day was genuine. + +Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Mrs. LaGrange sat alone in +her apartments, awaiting the coming of Richard Hobson. It was +considerably past the hour which he had set and daylight was slowly +merging into dusk, yet enough light still remained to show the +changes which the last few weeks had wrought in her face. Her +features looked pinched and drawn, and a strange pallor had replaced +the rich coloring of the olive skin, while her dark eyes, cold and +brilliant as ever, had the look of some wild creature suddenly +brought to bay. She shuddered now, as, from her window, she saw the +cringing form of Hobson approaching the building. + +"To think," she exclaimed to herself, passionately, "that that +creature is the only one to whom I can go for counsel or advice! I +loathe the very sight of him; fool that I was ever to place myself +within his power! I thought I could use him as a tool like the +rest; but it is like playing with edged tools; yet I dare not let +him go." + +A moment later, she heard a stealthy, cat-like tread in the corridor +outside, followed by a low, peculiar tap at the door, and Hobson +entered. + +She crossed the room slowly, keeping her face in the shadow, and, +motioning him to a chair, seated herself opposite, watching him +narrowly. + +"You are late," she said, coldly, in response to his greeting. + +"Admitted, my lady," he replied, in his usual unctuous tones, "but +I naturally wished to ascertain all the facts possible regarding +this new deal, and, seeing Whitney nosing about on the trail, I +decided to remain within ear-shot and pick up what information I +could second-hand." + +"What did you learn?" + +"Nothing very definite, and yet enough, perhaps, to give us our +cue until further developments. My dear lady, what do you think of +this new turn of affairs?" + +"The whole thing is simply preposterous; a piece of the most +consummate audacity I ever dreamed of!" + +"Ha! I thought it would strike you as particularly nervy. It is +the most daring bit of invention I have seen for some time; and it +must be a pretty cleverly concocted scheme and pretty well backed +with the ducats also, for I learned to-night that the 'heir,'" +laying special emphasis on the word, "has secured the services of +Barton & Barton, and those birds are too old to be caught with +chaff; besides, you know as well as I the part that firm has taken +in the Mainwaring affairs." + +"Barton & Barton? Incredible! The case is hopeless then for Ralph +Mainwaring: he is a fool if he expects to win." + +"Just what I was leading up to. Whitney is no match even for this +man, Sutherland, and he will be a mere child in the hands of the +Bartons. Now, the question is, where do we come in? As you say, +Ralph Mainwaring's case is hopeless, unless--" and he looked +significantly at his client. + +"I do not think I quite catch the drift of your meaning," she answered, +slowly. + +"Has it not occurred to you that there are not two people in existence +who can so quickly tear to shreds the scheme of this impostor as +you and I? There is not a human being living outside of myself who +knows the real facts concerning that will; and who could give such +effective and convincing testimony regarding Harold Mainwaring's +son as yourself?" + +"Admitting all this, what do you propose?" + +"When Ralph Mainwaring has staked his highest card and finds that +the game is irrevocably lost, what will he not give at the last +critical moment for assistance such as we can then furnish him?" + +"And which course would you pursue in that event?" she asked, a +tinge of irony in her tone. "Would you deny that such a will ever +existed in face of whatever evidence may be brought forward in its +support? or would you admit being a party to the destruction of +the will?" + +"My dear madam, I am perfectly capable of conducting this affair +to our mutual satisfaction and without running my head into any trap, +as you so pleasantly suggest. And right here allow me to say that +it would be just as well for you not to make those insinuations +which you are so fond of throwing out at random. As I said before, +no living person outside of myself, including even yourself, knows +the facts regarding that will. You have your own surmises, but they +are only surmises, and you had best keep them to yourself as you +know enough of me by this time to know it will be to your interest +to accept my suggestions and fall in line with my plans." + +Her face was in the shadow, and he did not see the scornful curl of +her lip or her peculiar expression, as she remarked coldly,-- + +"You are only wasting words and time in your efforts to intimidate +me. You have not yet made any suggestions or outlined any plans. +I have asked you what you propose to do." + +"I have not time to go into details, but, briefly stated, I propose, +when the right opportunity presents itself, to prove, first, that +this document filed to-day is a forgery. If I can show conclusively +that the original will was accidentally lost, or intentionally +destroyed, or if I happen to have the original in my possession,--under +any of these conditions I gain my first point. Then, through +your testimony, I shall demonstrate unequivocally a still more +important point, that this so-called heir is a gross impostor, that +no such individual exists." + +"And for this, you expect--what?" + +"For this I shall demand a handsome remuneration, to be divided, of +course, between yourself and myself, and Ralph Mainwaring will only +too gladly give the half of his kingdom for such services." + +"And your testimony would have so much weight with Ralph Mainwaring +and the Bartons, and with every one else who has any knowledge of +your London history!" + +Hobson winced visibly, but before he could reply she continued: + +"You are talking the most arrant foolishness. You know that those +men would not allow your testimony in court; they would very quickly +procure evidence to show that your word, even under oath, is +worthless; that you are a liar, a perjurer and a--" + +"Not so fast, not so fast, my lady. If past histories are to be +raked up, I know of one which embraces a much wider area than London +alone; Melbourne, for instance, and Paris and Vienna, to say nothing +of more recent events!" + +"Do your worst, and I will do mine!" she replied, defiantly. "That +is nothing to the point, however. What I have to say is this: You +are a fool if you think that you or I can ever extort money from +Ralph Mainwaring. He would give no credence whatever to anything +that you might say, and if once my identity were revealed to him, +he would go through fire and blood rather than that one shilling of +his should ever become mine." + +"And what do you propose to do?" he asked, sullenly. "Do you +intend to give up the game?" + +"Give up? Never! I would give my life first! I will yet have my +revenge on the Mainwarings, one and all; and I will repay them +double for all the insult and ignominy they have heaped upon me." + +"That is to the point; but how will you accomplish it?" said Hobson, +in a more conciliatory tone, for each feared the other, and he +thoroughly understood the spirit of his client. "Let us be +reasonable about this; you and I have too much at stake and too +many interests in common for us to quarrel like children." + +"If I were differently situated, I can assure you we would then have +very few interests in common," she replied, bitterly. + +"Well, supposing you were, what would you do in this case?" he +inquired, softly, apparently taking no notice of her remark, but +in reality making a mental note of it for future reckoning. + +"Defeat Ralph Mainwaring, by all means; if necessary, produce +testimony to show that this will is genuine. If he spends his last +shilling to fight the case, so much the better. Then, when the +case is settled and this so-called heir is master of the situation, +or supposes himself so, bring suit to show that he is an impostor, +and assert my own claim as the nearest living heir." + +Hobson whistled softly. "A plan worthy of your ambition, my lady, +but hardly feasible. It is one thing to assert a claim, and +another to be able to establish it. Through your over-ambition +you would lose in the end, for, should you succeed in dispossessing +this stranger, Ralph Mainwaring would surely come forward with his +claim, and you would be beaten." + +"When I lay down arms to a Mainwaring, I will lay down my life also," +she answered, proudly. + +"You think so, perhaps; but let me tell you the best course for you +to pursue is to make terms, either with Ralph Mainwaring, as I +first suggested, or else with this new-comer--should he prove +victorious--by threatening to expose his whole scheme." + +Mrs. LaGrange made no reply, and Hobson, rising to take leave, saw +her face for the first time and paused, surprised at its strange +expression. + +"Well?" he said, with a look of inquiry. + +"My thoughts were wandering just then," she said, with a faint +smile, and her tone was so changed the voice scarcely seemed her +own. "I was wishing, just for the moment, that this stranger, +whoever he may be, was in reality the one he claims to be. I +would need no attorney to make terms with him then!" + +"You forget; he would be a Mainwaring!" + +"Yes; but he would be the only Mainwaring and the only human being +I could ever have loved, and I would have loved him better than +my own life." + +"Love!" repeated Hobson, with a sneer. "Who would ever have +thought to hear that word from your lips! But how about your son, +Walter; do you not love him?" + +"Him!" she exclaimed, passionately; "the price I paid hoping to +win Hugh Mainwaring! I am proud of him as my own flesh and blood, +but love him? Never!" + +"But you have not yet told me what you think of my last suggestion," +he said, tentatively, watching her closely. Her manner changed +instantly; rising with all her accustomed hauteur and turning from +him with a gesture of dismissal, she replied,-- + +"Come to me later, when I shall have measured lances with our new +opponent, and you shall have your answer." + +He would have spoken, but her dismissal was final, and with +darkening face he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS + + +The sudden turn of affairs in the Mainwaring case excited no small +amount of comment, and for the next ensuing days speculation was +rife concerning the recently discovered will, but more particularly +regarding the new and unknown claimant. At the clubs and elsewhere +it formed the principal topic of conversation, and Ralph Mainwaring +was loud in his denunciations of the one as a forgery, and of the +other as an impostor. To all such remarks, however, as well as to +the questions of the curious, Mr. Sutherland had but one reply, +accompanied by a slow, quiet smile; that on the day set for the +hearing, he would not only prove the validity of the will, but +would also establish, beyond all doubt or question, the identity +of the claimant. + +As a result, public curiosity was so thoroughly aroused, that upon +the arrival of the "Umbria," an unusual crowd of reporters was +assembled at the pier, notwithstanding a pouring rain, and the +gang-plank had no sooner been thrown down than a number of the +more ambitious rushed on board, eager to be the first in gaining +some bit of information or personal description. Their efforts, +however, were unsuccessful, as the individuals whom they most +desired to meet remained in their state-rooms and declined to be +interviewed. Not until the crowd had about dispersed and the +patience of a few of the more persistent was nearly exhausted, was +their zeal rewarded by the sight of a party of four Englishmen, who +hastily left the boat, completely enveloped in heavy mackintoshes, +and, taking a closed carriage which was awaiting them, were driven +rapidly to the Waldorf Hotel. + +At the hotel the party still remained inaccessible to all visitors, +with the exception of Mr. Sutherland, who spent much of his time +in their apartments. It was ascertained that the party consisted +of two gentlemen, one of whom was accompanied by a valet, the +other--presumably the attorney--by a clerk, but all efforts +towards gaining any more definite information prove absolutely +futile. The arrival by the next steamer of another stranger, an +elderly gentleman, who immediately joined the party at the Waldoff, +after having registered under an evident alias, only served to +deepen the mystery. + +Upon the arrival of the day set for the hearing of the proof in +support of the ancient will, the court-room was, at an early hour, +packed to its utmost capacity. Occupying a prominent place were +Ralph Mainwaring and his son, accompanied by Mr. Whitney, the +sensitive face of the attorney more eager and alert than ever! +At some distance from them, but seated rather conspicuously where +she could command a good view of all that occurred, was Mrs. +LaGrange, while in a remote corner of the court-room, partially +concealed by the crowd, was Richard Hobson. + +Within a few moments preceding the appointed hour, Mr. Sutherland +appeared. His entrance caused a sudden hush of expectation +throughout the crowd and all eyes were immediately turned in his +direction. Accompanying him was a gentleman whose bearing commanded +universal admiration, and whom the Mainwarings instantly recognized +as the English barrister whose connection with the case they had +deemed so incredible. But a still deeper surprise awaited them. +Immediately following the attorneys was a young man whose features +and carriage were familiar, not only to the Mainwarings, but to +scores of spectators as well, as those of the private secretary of +the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, whose testimony at the inquest had +created so much of a sensation, and whose sudden disappearance +thereafter had caused considerable comment. There was a ripple of +excitement through the court-room, and the Mainwarings, father, and +son, watched the young man with strangely varying emotions, neither +as yet fully comprehending the real significance of his presence +there. + +"The secretary!" exclaimed Mr. Whitney, in a low tone. "Can it be +possible that he is concerned in this?" + +"He is probably the hired tool by means of which this has been +brought about. I might have known as much!" replied the elder man, +his old hatred and wrath reviving with greater intensity than ever, +but before he could proceed further his glance fell on the +secretary's companion. + +He was a tall, elderly gentleman, with snow-white hair and beard, +but with form erect and vigorous, and with piercing eyes which met +those of Ralph Mainwaring with a flash, not of recognition alone, +but of disdain and defiance that seemed to challenge him to do his +utmost. + +With a muttered oath, the latter half rose from his chair, but at +that instant his attention was arrested by the two men bringing up +the rear; one, small and of uncertain age, the other, older even +than he appeared, and bearing the unmistakable air of an English +servant. As Ralph Mainwaring recognized James Wilson, the last +relic of the old Mainwaring household, he suddenly grew pale and +sank back into his chair, silent, watchful, and determined; while +his son and the attorney, quick to note the change in his appearance, +made neither inquiries nor comments, but each drew his own +conclusion. + +There was one other to whom the white-haired gentleman did not seem +an utter stranger. Mrs. LaGrange from her post of observation had +watched the entering party with visible signs of excitement. Her +lips curled in a mocking smile as she caught sight of the secretary, +but glancing from him to his companion, she involuntarily recoiled +in terror, yet gazed like one fascinated, unable to remove her eyes +from his face. Suddenly the piercing eyes met her own, their look +of astonishment quickly changing to scorn. She flushed, then paled, +but her eyes never faltered, flashing back mocking defiance to his +anger and scorn for scorn. + +Meanwhile, the quondam secretary, seated between the attorneys on +the one hand and his elderly companion on the other, seemed alike +unconscious of the many curious glances cast in his direction and +of the dark looks of Ralph Mainwaring now fastened on him. At a +little distance was the old servant, his immovable features expressing +the utmost indifference to his surroundings, looking neither to the +right hand nor to the left. + +Not so with the remaining member of the party, the so-called "clerk!" +Seated beside the English barrister, his eye seemed to sweep the +entire court-room with a glance that omitted no details, not even +the cringing form of Hobson, who quailed and seemed to be trying to +shrink still further into concealment as he felt himself included +in the search-light of that gaze. But no one saw the slip of paper +which, a moment later, was handed to Alfred Barton, and by him +passed to Mr. Sutherland. There was a hurried filling out of blanks +lying among the papers on the table, a messenger was despatched, two +or three men edged themselves into the crowd in Hobson's vicinity,--and +that was all! + +Promptly at the time appointed the case was called. There was +perfect silence throughout the court-room as Mr. Sutherland arose, +holding in one hand the ancient will, and with breathless attention +the crowd listened for the opening words of what was to prove one +of the fiercest and most bitter contests on record, and of whose +final termination even the participants themselves little dreamed. + +After a few preliminaries, Mr. Sutherland said, addressing the court,-- + +"Before proceeding farther, your honor, I will give orders for the +subpoena, as a witness in this case, of one Richard Hobson, alias +Dick Carroll." + +Then turning towards the crowd in the rear of the courtroom, he added, +"Let the papers be served at once." + +There was a stir of excitement and a sudden craning of necks in the +direction indicated by the attorney's glance, where three men had +sprung forward in obedience to his orders. + +Hobson, at the first mention of his name, had glanced quickly about +him as though seeking some means of escape, but on hearing the +alias--the name he had supposed unknown in America--he paused for +an instant, seemingly half paralyzed with terror. But the sight of +the approaching sheriff broke the spell, and he made a sudden lunge +through the crowd in the direction of an open window. His progress +was speedily checked by one of the deputies, however, and after a +short, ineffectual struggle he sullenly submitted. + +"Bring the witness forward," said Mr. Sutherland, with his calm, +slow smile; "we may call upon him before long, and he would probably +prefer a seat convenient to the witness stand." + +As he was seated opposite and facing the English party, it was noted +that the face of the old servant lighted up with a look of +recognition, and he watched the new-comer with evident interest. +Hobson, having carefully avoided the eyes of both Alfred Barton and +the private secretary, soon became aware of Wilson's scrutiny, and +after regarding him fixedly for a moment seemed suddenly to recognize +him in turn, and also to realize at the same time the import of his +presence there, which, apparently, did not tend to lessen his +agitation. + +Slowly Mr. Sutherland unfolded the document he held, yellow with +age, the edges of its folds so frayed and tattered as to render the +writing in some places almost illegible. Slowly, in deep, resonant +tones, he read the opening words of the old will; words of unusual +solemnity, which caused a hush to fall over the crowded court-room: + +"In the name of God; Amen. Know all men, that I, Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but now +upon my death-bed, soon to appear in the presence of my Maker, do +make and publish this, my last will and testament; hereby revoking +and setting aside any and every will at any time heretofore made +by me." + +Then followed, in quaint phraseology, the terms of the will; by +which the full right and title of the first-born son, under the +English law, were conveyed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, and all legal +processes theretofore entered into, depriving him of such rights, +were forever annulled; restoring to the said Harold Scott Mainwaring, +as his rightful inheritance, the entire family estate, including +other valuable property; the said property at his death to pass to +his eldest living son, or in case of his dying without issue, to +revert to his brother Hugh, were the latter living, if not, to the +nearest living heirs of the Mainwarings; but on no account was any +portion of the estate or property to pass to the wife of Harold +Scott Mainwaring, should she survive him. + +As the reading of the will progressed, Hobson's feelings, too deep +and genuine at that moment for disguise, were plainly mirrored in +his face. Having for years believed the old will destroyed, as he +now listened to the words dictated to himself upon that memorable +night, so long ago, it was little wonder that to his cowardly soul +it seemed like a voice from the dead, and that astonishment, fear, +and dread were depicted on his features, merging into actual terror +as the attorney at last pronounced the names of the witnesses, +Alexander McPherson and Richard Hobson. + +For a few seconds his brain reeled, and he saw only the face of the +dying man as it looked that night,--stern and pale, but with dark, +piercing eyes, deep-set, within whose depths still gleamed the +embers of a smouldering fire which now seemed burning into his +inmost soul. Trembling from head to foot, Hobson, with a mighty +effort, regained his scattered faculties and again became conscious +of his surroundings, only to find the eyes of the secretary fixed +upon his face, and, as he shrank from their burning gaze, the truth +flashed suddenly upon him. + +"The face of old Mainwaring himself!" he muttered in horror; then +added, with an oath, "Fool that I was not to have known it sooner! +That woman lied!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OPENING FIRE + + +The first witness called to the stand by Mr. Sutherland was James +Wilson. There were many present who noted the resemblance between +him and his son, John Wilson, who had given testimony at the +inquest, though unaware of the relationship between them. + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, after the usual preliminaries, "I +understand you were for a number of years in the employ of Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, the testator whose name is affixed to this will; +is that so?" + +"Yes, sir," was the reply, while the attention of the crowd was at +once riveted upon the witness. + +"Will you state how long you were in his employ, and in what +capacity?" + +"I was his valet, sir, from his twenty-fifth year until the day of +his death, a little above thirty-five years, sir; and during his +last illness, of about three months, I was with him constantly, +you might say, sir." + +"Do you recognize the document just read in your hearing as anything +which you have heard before?" + +"That I do, sir." + +"State when and under what circumstances you have previously heard +it." + +"At the death-bed of Mr. Ralph Mainwaring, sir, twenty-five years +ago the seventeenth of last November. I was present at the making +of that will, sir, the night before Mr. Mainwaring died. I heard +him give those words to the lawyer, and then heard them read to +him before the will was signed." + +"By whom was it drawn?" + +"By Richard Hobson, sir; the man sitting there," pointing to the +shrinking figure of Hobson. + +"Do you positively identify that man as the writer of this will?" + +"That I do, sir," with marked emphasis; "when one once sets eyes +on the likes o' him, he's not likely to forget him soon." + +"Was Richard Hobson the attorney of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Ah, no, sir," with evident scorn; "his attorney was Mr. Alfred +Barton, the father, sir, of this gentleman," indicating the English +barrister, while the interest of the crowd deepened. + +"How, then, was this man employed to draw the will?" + +"Mr. Barton was out of town, sir; and as Mr. Mainwaring was dying +and naught would satisfy him but to have a lawyer, they brought Mr. +Barton's clerk." + +"State the circumstances under which this will was drawn; was Mr. +Mainwaring influenced by any one to make it?" + +"He was influenced by none but his own conscience, sir. You see, +sir, three or four years before, he was very angry with his elder +son, and cut him off without a shilling and gave everything to Mr. +Hugh. But it broke his heart to do it, for Mr. Harold was his +favorite, as indeed he was everybody's, though he never mentioned +his name again until the night he made the will. Well, sir, all +that day we knew he was dying, and he knew it, and he was restless +till late at night, when of a sudden he tells us to get his lawyer. +Mr. Hugh tried to put him off, and told us his mind was wandering; +but 'twas no use; and the carriage was sent for Mr. Barton, and +when word was brought back that he was out of town, it was sent +again and brought back his clerk. Everything was all ready, and +he was propped up in bed by pillows, his eyes burning as though there +was fire in them. He repeated those words while the lawyer wrote +them down, and then had them read to him, and at fifteen minutes +of twelve o'clock the will was signed and sealed." + +"You were present during the drawing up of the will?" + +"Yes, sir, I was present through it all, but not where the others +saw me. When the lawyer came, Mr. Hugh told me to leave the room; +but as I was going his father called me back and bade me stay, +and I was standing at the foot of the bed, hidden by the curtains +of the canopy, so none but the old gentleman saw me." + +"Who else was present?" + +"Mr. Mainwaring's old friend, Sandy McPherson, Mr. Hugh, and the +lawyer." + +"No one else? Were there no physicians present?" + +"There were physicians in the house, sir, but not in the room." + +"How long did Mr. Mainwaring live afterwards?" + +"He died at five o'clock the next morning, sir; his strength went +fast after that was done, but he rested easy and seemed satisfied." + +"What was done with the will?" + +"Mr. Hobson took it away with him that night." + +"Have you ever seen it since?" + +"No, sir." + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, showing the witness the will, "can +you swear to these signatures as being the same which you saw affixed +to the will upon that night?" + +Wilson studied the document attentively for a moment. "Yes, sir, +that is Mr. Mainwaring's writing, only a bit unsteady, for his hand +trembled. McPherson's writing I know, and you mark that blot after +his name? I remember his fussing that night because he had blotted +the paper." + +"And the third name, is that the signature of this man, Richard +Hobson?" + +"I know naught about that man's writing," the old fellow replied, +with a shrewd look; "but you will mind that the name is the same +writing as the will itself, and he wrote that and signed his name +to it, for I saw him." + +"And you have neither seen that will, nor heard it read until this +morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"You have remembered it all these years?" + +"Maybe not word for word, sir, but I have kept the sense of it in +my mind." + +"Are you positive that this is the will drawn up on the night of +which you speak?" + +"That I am, sir." + +"Did you ever speak to any one of this will?" + +"To none but my son, sir. Mr. Hugh Mainwaring was that sort of a +man, I could not speak to him about it, or ask about his brother. +I asked to be allowed to stay about the old place in hopes that some +day Mr. Harold would come back to have a look at his old home, and +I could tell him of it, for I thought things had not gone right +altogether. Then we heard of his death, and I thought it was too +late; I could do no good by speaking, and I held my tongue until +the young gentleman came." + +Wilson was then dismissed and Hobson was next called to the stand. +More even than the reading of the old will, the truth which had +dawned upon Hobson's mind as he met the piercing gaze of the +secretary, had convinced him that the position which he had intended +to assume, adverse to the new claimant and as an ally of Ralph +Mainwaring's, was neither politic nor safe. His views on that +subject had undergone a decided change, and, with his usual +weathervane proclivities, he was now preparing to take a totally +different stand and strive to ingratiate himself into the favor of +the new heir, at the same time leaving, if possible, a few loop-holes +through which he could retreat, should some veering wind change his +course in another direction. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, somewhat abruptly, when the +necessary preliminaries were over, "did you on the night of November +17, 18-, act as attorney for Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, in the drawing +up, at his request, of his last will and testament?" + +"I believe so, sir," was the guarded answer. + +"Did you or did you not?" Mr. Sutherland persisted. + +"I did, sir." + +"Have you, during all these years, had any knowledge that the will +you drew under the circumstances already mentioned was still in +existence?" + +After a slight pause, the witness replied, "I had no positive +knowledge to that effect." + +"Did you believe the will to be in existence?" + +Hobson reflected a moment, then replied, cautiously, "I was led to +suppose that the will did not exist." + +"You remember the form, terms, and conditions of the document drawn +by yourself on that occasion?" + +"I do, perfectly," he replied, with more assurance. + +"State whether the will read in your hearing this morning is +identical with the one drawn by yourself." + +Hobson now saw the drift of the attorney's questions, but it was too +late. + +"As near as I can recollect," he stammered, but a word from Mr. +Sutherland recalled him. + +"You just said you remembered perfectly." + +"I believe they are identical in form." + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, spreading out the document before +the witness, but still retaining his hold upon it, "will you state +to the court whether that is your writing, and whether the last name, +that of the second witness, is your signature." + +With great precision, Hobson adjusted a pair of eyeglasses and +proceeded to scrutinize the writing closely. "Well," he remarked, +at length, very deliberately, "I do not deny that to be my writing, +nor am I prepared to positively affirm that it is such. The fact +is, my chirography varies so much from time to time that I often +find it difficult for me to verify my own signatures." + +"Here are some papers which may assist the gentleman, and may be of +some use to the court," said a deep voice with rich, musical +inflections, but slightly tinged with sarcasm, and the English +attorney handed a small package to Mr. Sutherland. "They contain," +he added, "some specimens of the witness's chirography of about the +same date as the will." + +"The writing in both cases is identical," said Mr. Sutherland, as, +having examined the papers, he showed them to Hobson, but a glance +at their contents seemed rather to confuse the witness than +otherwise, for he remained silent. + +"Do you acknowledge these letters to be of your writing?" inquired +the attorney. + +"I do, sir; and I have no doubt but that the other is my writing +also." + +"You acknowledge this, then, as the will which you wrote at the +dictation of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring the night before his death?" + +"I believe it is, sir." + +"Mr. Hobson, why was this will not make public following Mr. +Mainwaring's death and burial?" + +"On the day after his death, I gave it into the keeping of his son, +Hugh Mainwaring, at his own request, and he afterwards gave me to +understand that it was lost." + +"And you were paid for keeping silent as to the existence of such +a will, were you not?" + +"I may have been," the witness replied, with a calmness born of +desperation. + +"That is sufficient for the present." + +A few moments followed in which the attorneys consulted together, +while comments in tones of subdued excitement and expectancy were +exchanged among the crowd. Ralph Mainwaring had sat with darkening +face throughout the testimony thus far; now he remarked to Mr. +Whitney, with a bitter sneer,-- + +"Fine witnesses! A beggarly shyster whose oath is worthless, and +an imbecile old servant, who could be bought for a half-crown!" + +Young Mainwaring turned upon his father a look of indignant surprise. +"Governor," he said, "it would not be well for you if either old +James Wilson or his son heard that remark of yours!" + +"It will be well for you to attend to your own business and keep +your mouth shut!" responded his father, angrily. + +Beneath the calm exterior which the young man preserved, the old +Mainwaring blood was now fast rising, but he made no reply, for at +that instant Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the next witness: + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring!" + +There was a sudden hush throughout the court-room, broken an instant +later by a low murmur of mingled astonishment, incredulity, and +wonder as the private secretary rose and walked towards the witness +stand. A few comments reached his ears, but he seemed unconscious +of them, and, having taken his place, turned towards the audience a +face cold and impassive, inscrutable to his enemies, who could read +nothing of the conflicting emotions beneath that calm, immobile +surface. + +He saw the crowd of upturned faces--incredulous, wondering, curious; +he caught the mocking smile of Mrs. LaGrange and Ralph Mainwaring's +dark, sinister sneer; but he took little note of these. Like an +arrow speeding to the mark, his glance sought the face of young Hugh +Mainwaring. Their eyes met, and in that brief moment there was +recalled to each a starlit night on one of the balconies at Fair +Oaks, and the parting words of young Mainwaring to the secretary, +"I'm your friend, Scott, and whatever happens, I'll stand by you." + +With swift intuition each read the other's thought, and, although +there was no outward sign, Harold Mainwaring knew from that instant +that there would be no retraction of that pledge. + +The slight ripple of excitement died away while the witness was +sworn, and the crowd listened with interest even to the preliminary +interrogatories. + +"Where were you born?" asked the attorney. + +"In Melbourne, Australia," was the reply, while deep silence awaited +Mr. Sutherland's next question. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I believe you are familiar with the will just read, +are you not?" + +"I am." + +"Please state when, and under what conditions, you gained your +knowledge of this will." + +"I first learned that such a will had existed and knew its general +terms, between five and six years since, through information given +me by James Wilson. From data found a little over a year ago among +the personal letters of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, I ascertained +that the will was still in existence, and on the 7th of July last +I discovered the document itself and became personally familiar with +its contents." + +At the mention of the name of Hugh Mainwaring and of the date so +eventful in the recent history of Fair Oaks, the interest of the +crowd deepened. + +"Did you discover the document accidentally, or after special search +for it?" + +"As the result of a systematic search for more than a year." + +"Please state whether you took any steps leading to the discovery +of this will during the four or five years immediately following +your first knowledge of it; and if so, what?" + +"As I first learned of the will soon after entering Oxford, my +studies necessarily occupied the greater part of my time for the +next three or four years; but I lost no opportunity for gaining all +possible information relating not only to the Mainwaring estate, +but more particularly to Hugh Mainwaring and his coadjutor, Richard +Hobson. Among other facts, I learned that immediately after the +settlement of the estate, Hugh Mainwaring had disposed of the same +and left England for America, while about the same time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from a penniless pettifogger to a position of +affluence. + +"As soon as my studies were completed, I sailed for America, with +the avowed determination of securing further evidence regarding the +will, and of establishing my claim to the property fraudulently +withheld from my father and from myself. In the securing of the +necessary evidence I succeeded beyond my expectations. As Hugh +Mainwaring's private secretary, I gained access to the files of +his personal letters, and soon was familiar with the entire +correspondence between himself and Richard Hobson, from which I +learned that the latter demanding and receiving large sums of +money as the price of his silence regarding some past fraudulent +transaction. The nature of that transaction, I ascertained in +this marginal note, in Hugh Mainwaring's handwriting, upon one of +Hobson's letters which happened to be more insolent in its tone +than the rest. With the permission of the court I will read it: + +"'He insinuates that I destroyed the will; I only gave him to +understand that it was lost. Little he dreams it is still in my +possession and will be, until such time as I, too, have to make +final disposition of my estate! Why I did not destroy it, or why +I do not, now that the property is rightfully mine, I cannot say, +except that I dare not! "Thus conscience does make cowards of us +all?"' + +"With the discovery of these words," concluded the witness, "began +my search for the will itself." + +"From the discovery of this letter which led you to believe the will +was still in existence, you prosecuted your search for the document +until the 7th of last July?" + +"Yes, sir, whenever an opportunity for search was offered." + +"Where did you finally find the will?" + +"In the safe, in Mr. Mainwaring's private apartments at Fair Oaks." + +"On July 7 last?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"That was the day on which you, acting as Hugh Mainwaring's secretary, +had drawn, at his dictation, his last will and testament, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, deliberately, his eye quick to +read the faces about him, "is there in your mind any connection +between that event and your discovery of this will?" + +"Only the most indirect," was the reply, given with equal +deliberation. "The fact that Hugh Mainwaring was making final +disposition of his property naturally spurred me on to increased +action, since, in making final adjustment of his papers, he would +be more than likely to destroy the old will. This incentive, +together with the fact that opportunity was given me for a more +thorough search than I had been able to make prior to that time, +combined to bring about the discovery of the will." + +"Please state the time and circumstances of your finding it." + +"I found it late in the afternoon, while Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests had gone for a long drive. I determined to leave no place +unexplored where it could possibly be concealed; after about an +hour's search I found it." + +"What did you then do with it?" + +"I retained it in my possession, and at the earliest opportunity +secreted it within my own room." + +"It was in your possession during the following evening and night?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland, with marked emphasis, "please +state whether you mentioned to Hugh Mainwaring the discovery of the +will, or had any conversation with him relating thereto." + +"I made no mention of the matter to him whatever. Except for a few +moments, immediately upon his return, I did not see him alone until +about midnight, when he appeared fatigued, and I would not introduce +the subject at a time so inopportune." + +After a slight pause, Mr. Sutherland continued. "You claim to be +the lawful son of the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in this will, +and as such the lawful heir, under its terms and conditions, of the +Mainwaring property?" + +"I do." + +"Has it not been generally understood among those supposed to have +knowledge of the facts in the case that Harold Scott Mainwaring, at +the time of his death, had no living child?" + +"That has been the general understanding." + +"Will you explain how the fact of your existence has been kept +concealed all these years?" + +The silence following the attorney's question was so deep as to be +oppressive until broken by the answer of the witness, clear, cold, +and penetrating to the remotest corner of the crowded room. + +"Within an hour from my birth, a dead child was substituted in my +place, and I was secretly given by my father into the keeping of +trusted friends, with instructions that until I had nearly attained +my majority I was not even to know of his existence, or of the +relationship existing between us." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, "are you willing to state the +reasons for such an extraordinary proceeding on his part?" + +For the first time the impassive bearing and the calm, even tones +of the witness gave way; the smouldering fire in his dark eyes burst +forth, as with impassioned utterance and voice vibrating with emotion, +he replied,-- + +"It was done because of sorrow, more bitter than death, in his own +heart and home, of which he wished me to know nothing until I had +reached the years of manhood and could understand the nature of his +wrongs; it was done that I should be forever barred from all +association with, or knowledge of, the base, false-hearted woman who +bore his name only to dishonor it,--who, though she had given me; +birth, yet believed me dead,--that I might live as ignorant of her +existence as she of mine; it was done because of his love for his +only child, a love for which I would to-day gladly suffer dishonor +and even death, if I could but avenge his wrongs!" + +Only Harold Mainwaring's attorneys understood the spirit which +prompted his words, but they carried his audience with him in a +sudden wave of sympathy, and as he paused, men applauded and women +sobbed, while the judge vainly rapped for order. + +One figure alone remained motionless, spellbound. Amid the general +excitement, Mrs. LaGrange sat as though turned to stone, her hands +clasped so tightly that the jewels cut deeply into the delicate +flesh, every vestige of color fled from her face, her lips ashen, +her eyes fixed upon the witness, yet seemingly seeing nothing. +Gradually, as she became conscious of her surroundings and of the +curious glances cast in her direction, she partially recovered +herself, though her eyes never left the face of the witness. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," continued the attorney, when order had been +restored, "when and how did you first learn that you were the son +of Harold Scott Mainwaring?" + +"My first knowledge regarding my own father I received at the age of +fifteen from my foster-parents, who told me of the manner in which +I had been given to them and of the death of my father a few years +later; but the full particulars I did not learn until my twenty-first +birthday, when I received a letter written by my father soon after +my birth, and intrusted to the keeping of my foster-parents until I +should have attained my majority. In that letter he gave me the +story of his life, of his marriage and consequent disinheritance, +and of the yet greater sorrow which followed shortly, which led him +to voluntarily exile himself from his beloved England, and which +finally led to his sacrifice of the love and companionship of his +only child." + +As Harold Mainwaring paused, Mr. Sutherland remarked, "I, myself, +have seen the letter to which the witness refers, but I consider it +of too personal a nature and too private in character to submit for +examination. I will say, however, that both my honored colleague, +Mr. Barton, and myself have compared it with other letters and +documents known to have been written by Harold Scott Mainwaring, the +elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, and have found the writing +in all cases identically the same. There is yet one more question +which may have a bearing later upon this case, which I will ask the +witness. Mr. Mainwaring, have you, during this time, received any +clue regarding the identity of your mother, or is that still unknown +to you?" + +With great deliberation, the witness replied, "Until within the past +three or four days, I have known absolutely nothing regarding even +the name of the woman whom my father made his wife, or whether she +were still in existence. I have recently learned, however, that she +is living, and," he added, more slowly, "I know that she is present +in this court-room." + +It was afterwards recalled that, as the witness resumed his seat, a +curious sound, something between a gasp and a sob was heard, but +amid the tremendous sensation produced by his last statement it passed +unnoticed. + +With very little delay, Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the last +witness,-- + +"Frederick Mainwaring Scott!" + +Again the silence deepened as the white-haired gentleman, with great +dignity, took his place upon the stand. His heavy, sonorous tones +rang out over the court-room, while from time to time the piercing +eyes beneath the beetling, snow-white brows sought the face of Ralph +Mainwaring with their silent but unmistakable challenge. At the +first sound of his voice, Mrs. LaGrange's agitation increased +perceptibly; her expression changed to abject terror, yet she seemed +unable to move or to withdraw her gaze from his face. + +To the question, "Where were you born?" the witness replied, "I was +born in London, but for the past forty-five years have been a +resident of Melbourne, Australia." + +"Are you not connected with the Mainwaring family?" + +"Distantly. The Scott and Mainwaring families have intermarried for +many years, but I have waived all claims of relationship for nearly +half a century." + +"Were you acquainted with the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in +this will?" + +"Intimately acquainted with him, as we were associated together in +business during his entire stay in Australia." + +"In what business were you engaged?" + +"In the sheep business, principally; we were also interested in the +mines." + +"For how long a time were you associated together?" + +"Six years, or thereabouts." + +"Mr. Scott, you are the foster-father of Harold Scott Mainwaring +who has just preceded you upon the witness stand, are you not?" + +"I am, and have been from the day of his birth." + +"Will you state the circumstances under which you became his +foster-parent?" + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring, the elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, +came to Australia within a year after the marriage for which he was +disinherited. His reason for leaving England was not, as many have +supposed, on account of his father's severity, but because of the +discovery of his wife's infidelity after all that he had sacrificed +for her. He brought her to Australia in the vain hope that, removed +from other influences--the influence of his own brother, in +particular,--she would yet prove true to him. Within the following +year, his son was born; but before that event he had fully learned +the character of the woman he had married, and he determined that no +child of his should be disgraced by any knowledge of its mother, or +contaminated by association with her. To my wife and myself he +confided his plans, and, as we had no children of our own, he pledged +us to the adoption of his child while yet unborn. An old and trusted +nurse in our family was also taken into the secret, but not the +physician employed on that occasion, as he was a man of no principle +and already in league with the false wife against her husband. When +the child was born, Mrs. Mainwaring was very ill and the babe received +comparatively little notice from the attendant physician. A dead +child, born but a few hours earlier, was therefore easily substituted +for the living child of Harold Mainwaring, while the latter was +secretly conveyed to my own home. + +"A few weeks later, the child was privately christened in a small +church on the outskirts of Melbourne and the event duly recorded +upon the church records. He was given his father's name in full, +Harold Scott Mainwaring, but until his twenty-first birthday was +known among our acquaintances as Harry Scott, the same name by +which he has been known in your city while acting as private +secretary to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Are you familiar with the letter written by Harold Mainwaring to +his son?" + +"Perfectly so; he gave it into my keeping on the day of the +christening, to be given to his son when he should have reached +his majority, if he himself had not, before that time, claimed +him as his child." + +"You can then vouch for its genuineness?" + +"I can." + +"How long a time elapsed between the birth of this child and the +death of Harold Mainwaring, the father?" + +"About five years. He left his wife soon after the birth of this +child and spent the greater part of his time at the mines. He +finally decided to go to the gold fields of Africa, and a few +months after his departure, we received tidings of the wreck of +the vessel in which he sailed, with the particulars of his death +at sea." + +"Mr. Scott, did you ever hear of the existence of this will?" + +"Not until the boy, Harold, learned of it, soon after he entered +Oxford." + +"Do you know how he first heard of it?" + +"He heard of it from Wilson, one of the old servants on the +Mainwaring estate, who recognized in him a resemblance to Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, and, learning of his identity, told him the +history of the will." + +"You have been kept informed of his search for the will and of +its final discovery?" + +"From the first; and though the boy has a good bit of money in his +own name, I will back him in getting his rights to the very last +pound in my possession, and that," he added, while his dark eyes +flashed ominously, "will outlast the bank-roll of any that can go +against him." + +"Have you any further direct evidence which you can produce in +support of the identity of the claimant?" + +"I have," the witness replied, and having taken from his pocket a +large memorandum book and extracted therefrom a paper, he continued, +with great deliberation,-- + +"I have here a certified copy of the record of the christening, at +the church of St. Bartholomew, on June 24, 18-, of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, the first-born son of Harold Scott and Eleanor Houghton +Mainwaring." + +A piercing shriek suddenly rang out through the hushed court-room, +and the crowd, turning involuntarily at the familiar name of +Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring towards the seat occupied by Mrs. +LaGrange, saw that wretched woman sink, with a low, despairing moan, +unconscious to the floor. As several sprang to the assistance of +the unfortunate woman, Mr. Scott, turning swiftly towards the +judge, exclaimed,-- + +"There, your honor, is a most unwilling witness, but one who has +very effectively confirmed my testimony!" + +The greatest confusion followed, several women having fainted from +nervous excitement, and, as it was then nearly noon, the court +adjourned until the afternoon session. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST THROW + + +There being no further testimony in the case, but little time was +occupied by Mr. Sutherland at the afternoon session. Briefly and +forcibly he summarized the evidence already adduced, emphasizing +the strongest points and closing with numerous citations bearing +upon the case taken from recent decisions of the highest legal +authorities. + +Several days would be required for consideration of the case pending +the decision of the court, and as the crowd surged out into the +corridors and diffused itself through the various exits, there was +much speculation as to what that decision would be and what would be +the action taken by the opponents. Among the clubmen who had made +the acquaintance of Ralph Mainwaring, heavy bets were offered that +he would contest the case before the will was even admitted to +probate. + +"He is a fool if he does," said one; "the young fellow has the best +show." + +"He'll not give up, however," was the reply; "he's got too much of +the bull-dog about him; nothing will make him break his hold till +he has spent his last shilling." + +"Well, he'll spend it for nothing, that's all!" said another. "I'll +wager you a dinner for the whole club that the young fellow will +beat him. Anybody that knows Sutherland, knows he hasn't played his +trump card yet; and you may rest assured that English lawyer isn't +over here as a figure-head!" + +Ralph Mainwaring, passing hastily from the court-room, accompanied +by Mr. Whitney, overheard the last remark. His only reply, however, +was a look of scorn flashed at the speaker, but the sardonic smile +which lingered about his closely compressed lips betokened on his +part no anticipations of defeat, but rather the reverse. Even Mr. +Whitney wondered at his silence, but young Mainwaring, leisurely +following in the rear, knew it to be only the calm which presages +the coming storm. + +His father, followed by the attorney, stepped quickly into the +Mainwaring carriage and beckoned impatiently for him to follow, but +the younger man coolly declined the invitation. + +"No, thank you, governor. I'm going for a bit of a stroll; I'll +join you and Mr. Whitney at dinner." + +As the carriage rolled away he stood for a few moments lost in +thought. His father's words to him that morning had stung his +pride and aroused in him a spirit of independence altogether new, +which had made him the more keen in observing his father's +expressions and movements, and in drawing his own deductions +therefrom. He had formed some theories of his own, and as he now +stood in the soft, autumnal sunshine, he resolved to put them to +the test. + +Turning suddenly in an opposite direction from that which he had +at first taken, he found himself confronted by Harold Mainwaring +and his party as they descended the court-house steps to the +carriages in waiting. + +Instantly the young men clasped hands, and the frank, blue eyes +gazed into the piercing dark ones, with a friendliness of whose +sincerity there could be no doubt. + +"Egad, old fellow!" he exclaimed, in low tones, "I'm glad to see +you, though you have taken us rather by surprise. I'll not take +back a word of the promise I made you, nor of what I've said about +you, either." + +"I did not think you would, Hugh," Harold replied, grasping the +proffered hand heartily; "I had a great deal of faith in you and in +your word. I only regretted that I could not explain matters at the +time; it seemed like taking advantage of you and your friendship, +though I warned you that the future might make some unexpected +revelations." + +"Well, I don't regret anything. I always said you had good blood +in you, don't you know," Hugh continued, with a boyish laugh, then +added, a little huskily, "I'll say this much, and I mean it. I +would rather give up what I supposed was mine to you than to +anybody else that know of." + +"Thank you, Hugh; I appreciate that, I assure you. Come around to +the Waldorf, I would like to have a talk with you." + +"Indeed I will. Of course, I suppose it would be of no use to ask +you up to the house; I couldn't expect you to come, but I'll see +you as soon as I can," and with another handclasp the young men +parted. + +On arriving at the Waldorf, a note was handed to Harold Mainwaring, +with the information that the bearer had been waiting nearly an hour, +as there was an answer expected. He well knew the writing; it was +the same as that of the little missive given him on the first day +of the inquest, and with darkening face he opened it and read the +following lines: + +"I must see you at once, and I beg of you to come to my apartments +this afternoon at five o'clock, without fail. In the name of mercy, +do not deny me this one favor. I can tell you something important +for you to know, of which you little dream. + + "ELEANOR HOUGHTON MAINWARING." + +After brief consultation with his attorneys, an answer was sent to +the effect that he would call in compliance with the request, and a +little later he started upon his strange errand. + +With what wildly conflicting emotions Mrs. LaGrange in her apartments +awaited his coming may perhaps be more easily imagined than +portrayed. She had not recovered from the morning's shock, but was +nerving herself for the coming ordeal; preparing to make her final, +desperate throw in the game of life. Success now, in this last +venture, would mean everything to her, while failure would leave her +nothing, only blank despair. Pride, the dominant passion of her +life, struggled with a newly awakened love; doubt and dread and fear +battled with hope, but even in the unequal contest, hope would not +be vanquished. + +Shortly before the hour appointed, Richard Hobson's card was handed +her with the information that he must see her without delay. She +understood the nature of his errand; she knew his coming was +inevitable; her only desire was to postpone the meeting with him +until after the interview with Harold Mainwaring, but on no account +would she have him know of her appointment with the latter. She +tore the bit of pasteboard in two. + +"Tell him to call to-morrow," she said to the messenger; but he soon +returned, with another card on which was written,-- + +"Important! must see you to-day." + +It was nearly five. Quickly, with fingers trembling from her +anxiety lest he delay too long, she wrote,-- + +"Call at eight o'clock this evening; I can see no one earlier." + +As she gave the card to the messenger, she glanced again at the +little French clock on the mantel. + +"Three hours," she murmured; "three hours in which to decide my fate! +If I succeed, I can bid defiance to that craven when he shall come +to-night; if not--" she shuddered and walked over to the window, +where she watched eagerly till she saw the cringing figure going +hastily down the street. + +He had but just disappeared around the corner of the block when a +closed carriage was driven rapidly to the hotel, and a moment later +Harold Scott Mainwaring was announced. + +Her heart throbbed wildly as she turned to meet him, then suddenly +stopped, seeming a dead weight in her breast, as her eyes met his. + +For a moment neither spoke; once her lips moved, but no sound came +from them. Before that face, hard and impassive as granite, and as +cold, the impulse which she had felt to throw herself at his feet +and plead for mercy and for love died within her; her tongue seemed +paralyzed, powerless to utter a word, and the words she would have +spoken fled from her brain. + +With swift observation he noted the terrible change which the last +weeks, and especially the last few hours, had wrought in the wretched +woman before him, and the suffering, evidenced by her deathly pallor, +her trembling agitation, and the look of dumb, almost hopeless +pleading in her eyes, appealed to him far more than any words could +have done. + +He was the first to speak, and though there was no softening of the +stern features, yet his tones were gentle, almost pitying, as he +said,-- + +"I have come as you requested. Why did you send for me? What have +you to say?" + +At the sound of his voice she seemed somewhat reassured, and +advancing a few steps towards him, she repeated his words,-- + +"Why did I send for you? Why should I not send for you? Think +you a mother would have no desire to see her own son after long +years of cruel separation from him?" + +"There is no need to call up the past," he said, more coldly; "the +separation to which you refer was, under existing circumstances, +the best for all concerned. It undoubtedly caused suffering, but +you were not the sufferer; there could be no great depth of +maternal love where there was neither love nor loyalty as a wife." + +Her dark eyes grew tender and luminous as she fixed them upon his +face, while she beckoned him to a seat and seated herself near and +facing him. + +"You forget," she replied, in the low, rich tones he had so often +heard at Fair Oaks; "you forget that a mother's love is instinctive, +born within her with the birth of her child, while a wife's love +must be won. I must recall the past to you, and you must listen; +'twas for this I sent for you, that you, knowing the past, might +know that, however deeply I may have sinned, I have been far more +deeply sinned against." + +"Not as regards my father," he interposed, quickly, as she paused +to note the effect of her words; "he sacrificed fortune, home, +friends, everything for you, and you rewarded his love and devotion +only with the basest infidelity." + +"That your father loved me, I admit," she continued, in the same +low, musical tones, scarcely heeding his words; "but, as I said a +moment ago, a wife's love must be won, and he failed to win my +love." + +"Was his treacherous brother so much more successful then in that +direction than he?" Harold questioned, sternly. "Within six months +after your marriage to my father, you admitted that you married him +only that you might have Hugh Mainwaring for your lover." + +She neither flushed nor quailed under the burning indignation of his +gaze, but her eyes were fastened upon him intently as the eyes of +the charmer upon his victim. + +"Half truths are ever harder to refute than falsehood," she replied, +softly. "I said that once under great provocation, but if I sought +to make Hugh Mainwaring my lover, it was not that I loved him, but +through revenge for his having trifled with me only to deceive and +desert me. Before I married your father, both he and his brother +were among my most ardent admirers. The younger brother seemed to +me far more congenial, and had he possessed one-half the chivalry +and devotion which the elder brother afterwards manifested, he +would have completely won my love. The rivalry between the two +brothers led to bitter estrangement, which soon became known to +their father, who lost no time in ascertaining its cause. His anger +on learning the facts in the case was extreme; he wrote me an +insulting letter, and threatened to disown either or both of his +sons unless they discontinued their attentions to a 'disreputable +adventuress,' as he chose to style me. Hugh Mainwaring at once +deserted me, without even a word of explanation or of farewell, and, +as if that were not enough, on more than one occasion he openly +insulted me in the presence of his father, on the streets of London. +I realized then for the first time that I cared for him, coward that +he was, though I did not love him as he thought,--had I loved him, +I would have killed him, then and there. Mad with chagrin and rage, +I married your father, partly for the position he could give me--for +I did not believe that he, the elder son and his father's +favorite, would be disowned--and partly to show his brother and +their father that I still held, as I supposed, the winning hand. +On my wedding-day I vowed that I would yet bring Hugh Mainwaring to +my feet as my lover, and when, shortly afterwards, your father was +disinherited in his favor, my desire for revenge was only +intensified. I redoubled my efforts to win him, and I found it no +difficult task; he was even more willing to play the lover to his +brother's wife than to the penniless girl whom he had known, with +no possessions but her beauty and wit. At first, our meetings +were clandestine; but we soon grew reckless, and in one or two +instances I openly boasted of my conquest, hoping thereby to arouse +his father's displeasure against him also. But in that I reckoned +wrong. He disinherited and disowned his son for having honorably +married a woman whom he considered below him in station, but for +an open affaire d'amour with that son's wife, he had not even a +word of censure. + +"Your father discovered the situation and decided upon a life in +Australia. If he had then shown me some consideration, the future +might have been vastly different; but he grew morose and taciturn, +and I, accustomed to gay society and the admiration of crowds, was +left to mope alone in a strange country, with no companionship +whatever. What wonder that I hungered for the old life, or that a +casual admiring glance, or a few words even of flattery, were like +cold water to one perishing with thirst! Then new hope came into +my lonely life, and I spent months in dreamy, happy anticipations +of the future love and companionship of my child. But even that +boon was denied me. It was hard enough, believing, as I did, that +my child had died, but to find that I was robbed of that which would +have been not only my joy and happiness, but my salvation from the +life which followed!" She paused, apparently unable to proceed, +and buried her eyes in a dainty handkerchief, while Harold +Mainwaring watched her, the hard lines deepening about his mouth. + +"After that," she resumed, in trembling tones, "all hope was gone. +Your father deserted me soon afterwards, leaving me nearly penniless, +and a flew years later I returned to England." + +"To find Hugh Mainwaring?" he queried. + +"Not at the first," she answered, but her eyes fell before the +cynicism of his glance. "I had no thought of him then, but I learned +through Richard Hobson, whom I met in London at that time, of the +will which had been made in my husband's favor, but which he told me +had been destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring. He said nothing of the clause +forbidding that any of the property should pass to me, and I +immediately sailed for America in search of Hugh Mainwaring, +believing that, with my knowledge of the will, I, as his brother's +widow, could get some hold upon him by which I could compel him +either to share the property with me or to marry me." + +"Then you were not married to Hugh Mainwaring in England, as you +testified at the inquest?" + +"No," she replied, passionately; "I was never married to him. I +have made many men my dupes and slaves, but he was the one man who +made a dupe of me, and I hating him all the time!" + +"And Walter!" he exclaimed, "you stated that he was the son of Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"He is Hugh Mainwaring's son and mine," she answered, with bitter +emphasis; "that was another of my schemes which failed. I found I +had little hold upon Hugh Mainwaring, while he had the same power +over me as in the days before I had learned to despise him. When +Walter was born, I hoped he would then fulfil his promises of +marriage; but instead, he would have turned me adrift had I not +threatened that I would then disclose everything which I knew +concerning the will. He sneered at me, but offered me a place as +servant in his home, and support and education for his child on +condition that the relationship should never be known, and that I +would remain silent regarding the will. I could do nothing then +but accept his conditions, but they were galling,--too galling at +last to be longer endured!" + +"How is it that you and Walter bear the name of LaGrange?" he asked. + +She hesitated a moment, then replied: "I married a man by that name +soon after leaving Australia." + +"Before or after the tidings of my father's death?" he questioned, +sternly. + +"We heard the news of his death soon after our marriage, but he had +deserted me years before, so it made little difference. I met +Captain LaGrange in Sydney, and we sailed together for Paris and +were married there, but we soon grew tired of each other. I left +him in about two years and went to Vienna, and from there returned +to England. In some way, Hugh Mainwaring learned of the marriage, +and when I came to Fair Oaks, he insisted on my taking that name +for myself and child." + +She spoke wearily and with an air of dejection, for it was plainly +evident that Harold Mainwaring was not to be deceived by +misstatements, however plausible, nor were his sympathies to be +aroused by simulated grief. A few moments of silence followed, +while she watched him intently, her face again falling into the +pinched and haggard outlines which he had observed on entering the +room. + +When he at last spoke, his voice was calm, without a trace of anger +or bitterness. + +"Mrs. LaGrange, I have been informed that in the days before you +ruined my father's life you were an actress in a second-class London +playhouse, and I see you have not yet lost some little tricks of the +stage; but we are not now before the footlights, and it will be much +better to lay aside everything pertaining to them. Nothing that you +have said has awakened my pity or touched my sympathies for you; in +fact, what you have told me has only steeled my heart against you +because of its utter falsity. It is unnecessary to go over the +ground again, but if you could not reciprocate the love and devotion +bestowed upon you by my father, you should never have accepted it; +but accepting it as you did, you were bound by every consideration +to be true and loyal to that love and to him. Instead, from +beginning to end, you have been false to him, false to his memory, +false to your own wifehood and motherhood, false to yourself! I +have not come here to reproach you, however. I will only say that +I do not believe the capacity--the capability even--of love exists, +or has ever existed, within you. But," he continued, in gentler +tones, "the capacity for suffering does exist, and I can see without +any simulation on your part that you have suffered." + +Before the look of pity which now for the first time softened the +stern features, she broke down, and genuine tears coursed down her +pallid cheeks as she cried, "Suffered! what have I not suffered! +I am homeless, penniless, degraded, an outcast! There is no hope, +no help for me unless you will help me. I know what you must think +of me, how even you, my son, must despise me, but as a drowning man +catches at a straw, I sent for you, hoping that you would in mercy +pity me and help me." + +"Do you wish me to help you pecuniarily? I will willingly do that." + +"Pecuniarily!" she exclaimed, almost in scorn. "Cannot you +understand what I need most? It is pity, sympathy, love! I want +the love and support of my first-born son, and I am willing to beg +for it," and, rising from her chair, she threw herself upon her +knees beside him, "only be my son, forget the past and let me be to +you, as I am, your mother! No, let me be!" she exclaimed, as he +would have raised her from her kneeling posture. "I have no son +but you, for Walter, like his father, has deserted me, with taunts +and sneers. I can help you, too," she added, eagerly, but in low +tones, "help you in a way of which you little dream. Do you know +what Ralph Mainwaring will attempt next? He will try to implicate +you in the murder of Hugh Mainwaring!" + +"That will be no more than you yourself attempted at the inquest," +he answered. + +"Ah, but his motive is different; in my case it was but the resort +of a weak woman to divert suspicion from herself; but he will seek +to fasten this crime upon you to defeat you, to crush and ruin you, +because he fears you as his opponent, and it is within my power to +clear you from any charges he may bring against you." + +Her voice sank nearly to a whisper, her eyes were dilated, and she +was trembling with excitement. + +He watched her intently for a moment, then spoke in a tone of calm +command. "Tell me how you could help me. What do you know of that +affair?" + +"Listen, and I will tell you," and leaning towards him, she whispered +a few words in his ears. + +Only a few words, but Harold Mainwaring started as from a shock, +while his face grew as pale as her own, and it was with difficulty +he could control his voice, as he demanded in quick, excited tones,-- + +"Do you know what you are saying? Are you speaking the truth?" + +"Yes, before Heaven, it is the truth, and the horror of it has +haunted me day and night; the thought of it has driven me nearly +mad, but I dared not breathe it to any living human being." + +"You have told no one else what you have just told me?" + +"No, I dared not." + +He asked a few more questions which she answered, and from her +manner he was convinced that she spoke the truth. Then he sat for +a moment silent, his head bowed, his eyes covered, lost in thought, +while strangely commingled emotions surged within his breast. + +At last she broke the silence. "It will help you--what I have +told you--will it not?" + +"It is of inestimable value to me," he answered, but instead of +exultation, there was a strange sadness in his voice. + +"You will let me help you, and you will be a son to me, will you +not?" + +He looked at her with an expression of mingled pity and bitterness, +and then, without replying, lifted her gently but firmly and +reseated her, while he himself remained standing at a little +distance. She watched him anxiously. + +"Harold," at last she ventured, "think what I have suffered, and +do not refuse my one prayer." + +"I can see that you have suffered," he answered, gently; "and, as I +have told you, I will help you pecuniarily and will befriend you, +only do not ask me that which I cannot give." + +"I ask nothing more," she exclaimed, passionately, rising to her +feet, "than that you be a son to me, and I will accept nothing less." + +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he replied, "for you are only +unnecessarily depriving yourself of many benefits that might be +yours. I would provide a home for you where you would be unknown, +and means that you could spend the remainder of your life in +comfort." + +"What would I care for any home or wealth that you might provide +for me," she demanded, angrily, "if you yourself would not +acknowledge me as your mother! I will accept nothing from you +under such conditions." + +"Then we may as well end this conference," he replied, calmly, "for +I hold my father in too deep love and reverence ever to permit of +my applying to you the sacred name of 'Mother.'" + +Her eyes flashed at the mention of his father, and she was about to +speak, but he lifted his hand warningly. "Hush!" he commanded; "not +one word shall you speak against him in my presence! Before I go, +I will give you an opportunity to reconsider your declaration of a +moment ago." + +"I will not reconsider it. You are like every Mainwaring that I +have ever known, in that you think money and shelter, such as you +might fling at some superannuated servant, will take the place of +the true position and honor that are my due." + +"Do you then, finally and once for all, refuse any and all offers +of assistance from me?" he asked. + +"I do," she replied, proudly; "I will not accept charity from a +Mainwaring,--not even from you!" + +"Very well; if that is your decision, I bid you adieu," and before +she could reply, he was gone. + +He passed swiftly down the corridor, his head bowed slightly, +looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, but his step had +an elasticity it had not possessed in weeks, and any one passing +near him would have heard the single exclamation, "Thank God!" + +Upon reaching his carriage, he spoke quickly to the driver, "To +the Waldorf at once!" and was borne away by the impatient steeds +even more swiftly than he had come. + +Meanwhile, within the room which he had just left, the wretched +woman, whose falseness and pride had wrought her own undoing, stood +listening to the retreating footsteps; she heard them die away in +the distance, heard the carriage-wheels roll rapidly down the avenue, +then sank upon a low couch with a cry of despair. + +"All is over," she moaned, "and I have failed. I could not force +him to my terms, and I would never yield to his. I will take +charity from no one, least of all from him. I will be first, or +nothing!" and she shivered faintly. + +After a tune she arose, and ringing for her maid, ordered a light +repast brought to her room, as she would not go down to dinner; +"And," she concluded, "you can have the evening to yourself: I +expect callers, and will not need you." + +An hour later, Richard Hobson crept along the corridor and tapped +for admittance. There was no answer, and cautiously pushing open +the door, he entered unbidden, but started back in horror at the +sight which met his eyes. The electric lights had not been turned +on, but a few tall wax tapers, in a pair of candelabra upon the +mantel, were burning, and in the dim, weird light, Mrs. LaGrange, +still elegantly attired for her interview with Harold Mainwaring, +lay upon the low couch near the grate, her features scarcely paler +than a few hours before, but now rigid in death. Upon the table +beside her, the supper ordered by the maid stood untasted, while +on the same table a small vial bearing the label of one of the +deadliest of poisons, but empty, told the story. Underneath the +vial was a slip of paper, on which was written,-- + +"I have staked my highest card--and lost! The game is done." + +Terror-stricken, Hobson glanced about him, then pausing only long +enough to clutch some of the gleaming jewels from the inanimate +form, he stealthily withdrew, and, skulking unobserved along the +corridors, passed out into the darkness and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SECESSION IN THE RANKS + + +When Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney arrived at the club they found +young Mainwaring already awaiting them at their private table, but +it was far from a social group which sat down to dinner that evening. +The elder Mainwaring still preserved an ominous silence, and in his +dark, glowering face few would have recognized the urbane guest whom +Hugh Mainwaring had introduced to his small coterie of friends less +than three months before. The younger man, though holding a +desultory conversation with the attorney, yet looked decidedly +bored, while from time to time he regarded his father with a cynical +expression entirely new to his hitherto ingenuous face. Mr. Whitney, +always keenly alert to his surroundings, became quickly conscious +of a sudden lack of harmony between father and son, and feeling +himself in rather a delicate position, carefully refrained in his +remarks from touching upon any but the most neutral ground. + +A couple of hours later, as the three with a box of cigars were +gathered around an open fire in Ralph Mainwaring's apartments, it +was noticeable that young Mainwaring was unusually silent. In a +few moments, however, his father's long pent-up wrath burst forth. + +Addressing the attorney in no very pleasant tone, he demanded, "Well, +sir, what do you now propose to do about this matter?" + +"It is to be a fight, then, is it?" Mr. Whitney asked with a smile, +knocking the ashes from his cigar. + +"Yes, by my soul, and a fight to the finish. Understand, I will +have no time lost. This farce has got to be quashed at once, and +the sooner the better, so you may enter protest and file an +application for hearing, or whatever your mode of procedure is in +this country, at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile, I'll +secure the best legal talent that money can get to help you. I've +a longer purse than that old Australian sheep-herder thinks, and +when the time for contest comes, I'll meet him on his own ground." + +"If you are going to employ additional counsel," interposed Mr. +Whitney, "allow me to suggest the name of P. B. Hunnewell, of this +city; he is one of the ablest attorneys in the United States, +particularly in matters of this kind. His fees are somewhat +exorbitant, but money is no object with you in this case." + +"None whatever," the other interrupted, impatiently; "we will retain +this Hunnewell upon your recommendation, but in the morning I shall + cable for Upham & Blackwell, of London. They rank right in the +same line with Barton & Barton; they have conducted considerable +business for me, and I am satisfied," he added, with peculiar +emphasis, "they could not be tampered with or bought at any price. +I shall also cable for Graham, the expert on chirography and on all +kinds of forgeries, and we will have his decision upon that will. +I am going, first of all, understand, to have that document proven +a forgery. That done, the whole fabrication of this cunning impostor +falls to the ground, and then, when I have him completely floored +in that direction, he will find that I have only just begun with him." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney. "You surely do not intend +to dispute his identity after the unmistakable proofs submitted?" + +"I care nothing about his identity," Mainwaring retorted, with a +sneer. "Whether he is the son of Harold Mainwaring or of Frederick +Scott, matters little; both were renegades and outcasts from their +homes. No, sir," and there was a ring of exultation in his tone, +while his steel-gray eyes glittered, "I have a surprise in store +for the young man; when he gets through with this contest, he will +find himself under arrest as the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring." + +Young Mainwaring rose suddenly and began pacing the room, while +Mr. Whitney exclaimed,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you astonish me! I certainly fail to see how you +can connect the young man with that terrible affair." + +"What else could be expected of a man who acknowledges that for +years he has been dogging the steps of Hugh Mainwaring and acting +the part of a spy, not only in his private offices, but even in +his own home, stooping to any means, no matter how contemptible, +to further his nefarious designs? Would such a man, when his +schemes were finally matured, have any scruples about taking the +life of the one who stood in the way of their fulfilment?" + +"But, sir," protested the attorney, "such a deed would be wholly +unnecessary. Admitting all that you have said regarding the means +employed by him, would it not be much more reasonable to suppose +that he would attempt to bring his man to terms either through a +personal interview or by bringing suit against him, rather than +by resorting to brutal crime?" + +"And supposing he did have a personal interview for the purpose of +setting forth his claims, do you think that Hugh Mainwaring would +be bamboozled by any of his cheap trickery? No, sir, not for one +moment. He would simply pronounce the whole thing a sham. Well, +sir, if you will recall some of the testimony at the inquest, you +will see that is precisely what occurred. Hugh Mainwaring, within +twenty or thirty minutes preceding his death, was heard to denounce +some one as a 'liar' and an 'impostor.' An 'impostor,' mark you! +Very applicable to the case we are now supposing. And in the +altercation which followed, the other party called him a 'thief,' +and made some allusion--I do not recall the exact words--to his +being 'transported to the wilds of Australia.' Now, sir, there is +no doubt in the mind of any sane man that those words were spoken +by the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, and I think now we have a +pretty good clue to his identity." + +"But the young man stated emphatically this morning that he made +no mention of the will to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"To the devil with his statements! There is evidence enough against +him that he will be ruined when I get through with him. He has +dared to try to thwart me in the plans of a lifetime, and I'll make +it the worst piece of business he ever undertook. Understand, I +want you to institute proceedings against him at once!" + +"Governor," said young Mainwaring, quietly, before Mr. Whitney could +respond to this tirade, "in whose name will these proceedings be +instituted, yours or mine?" + +"Well," replied his father, with a sneer, "I don't know that it +makes any particular difference to you in whose name it is done, +so long as it is for your benefit." + +"Begging your pardon, sir, I believe it does make considerable +difference. And I will say right here that I will have no +proceedings entered, either in my name or for my benefit, for two +reasons: first, Harold Scott Mainwaring is no impostor; we had +abundant proof to-day that, under the terms of that will, he is the +sole claimant to the property; and second, you know, sir, as well +as I, that years ago, your own servant, John Wilson, told you that +such a will had existed, and there is every ground for believing +that this document is genuine. I just begin to understand your +little game, governor, and, by Jove! I will not be a party to it." + +Up to this point, astonishment at his son's audacity seemed to have +bereft Ralph Mainwaring of the power of speech, but now he demanded +in thunderous tones, while his face grew purple with rage, "What do +you mean, sir, by daring to address such language to me? You +impudent upstart! let me tell you that you had best attend to your +own business!" + +"This is the second time you have told me that today," said the +young man, calmly, though the hot blood was fast rising; "allow me +to inform you, governor, with all due respect, that henceforth I +will attend to my own business, and will not trouble you to attend +to it for me. If you had any just or tenable grounds for the +proceedings you are about to institute, I would have nothing to say; +but, begging your pardon, you have none whatever; it is simply a +piece of dirty work with which I will have nothing to do." + +"You ungrateful dog! This is your return for my care and +forethought for you, is it? Do you retract every word which you +have said, or I'll cut you off without a penny," and with a fearful +oath he swung himself around in his chair with such violence as to +overturn the small onyx table upon which the cigars were standing, +shattering it to fragments. + +The young man paused directly in front of his father. "I retract +nothing," he said, quietly but firmly. "You are at liberty to +follow the example of old Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring if you wish, but +you may regret it later, as he did." + +"And do you think Edith Thornton will marry a penniless beggar, a +pauper? Or do you propose to live upon her fortune?" + +"No; I will not touch a penny of her fortune," he replied, his cheek +flushing; "and I am not quite a pauper, for I have the money left +me by Uncle Tom years ago; and if Edith is the girl to be turned +from me under the circumstances, why, the sooner I find it out the +better." + +"A paltry twenty thousand pounds! a fine fortune!" sneered his +father, ignoring his last remark. + +"Many a fortune has been made from a much smaller start; but it is +useless to waste words further. You understand my position, and that +is enough. Mr. Whitney," he continued, addressing the attorney, +"according to the terms of Hugh Mainwaring's will, I, and not my +father, am heir to the property, and therefore the one to contest +the claim of Harold Mainwaring if it is contested at all. I wish to +state to you here and now, distinctly, that I will not contest the +case, nor will I authorize any one to do so for me; and now, +gentlemen, I bid you both good-evening!" and he quietly left the +room. + +"Zounds!" exclaimed the elder man, as the door closed upon his son, +"I didn't suppose the boy had so much spirit! I've often wished he +and Isabel could change places, because she was so much more like +myself and what I would like a son to be." + +"He has the Mainwaring blood all right," replied the attorney, with +more inward admiration for the young man than he dared to express. + +"Not if he will throw away a fortune in this manner; it is probably +some boyish whim, however and the young fool will look at it in a +different light to-morrow." + +"I think not, Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, quietly; "he is +enough like Hugh Mainwaring, and like yourself, that when he decides +upon a certain line of action, he will not be easily turned aside. +You may rest assured that he will have nothing whatever to do with +this contest, and that if you wish to carry on the fight, you will +have to do so under your own colors." + +"I'll do it, too," he replied, fiercely; "I'll enter proceedings in +my own name, as the nearest heir after Hugh Mainwaring." + +"In that case, your brother must be notified, as he will be entitled +to share the estate with you; that may cause us some little delay, +but--" + +"Curse it all!" the other interrupted, angrily; "I had not thought +of that; he will have to come in for a share; confound that boy's +foolishness! I'll get hold of him tomorrow morning and see if I +cannot talk some reason into him," and Ralph Mainwaring relapsed +into sullen silence. It was a new experience for him to meet with +opposition in his own family, least of all from his son, and he felt +the first step must be to quell it, though decidedly at loss just +how to proceed. + +A little later, Mr. Whitney, finding his client disinclined to +further conversation, after making an appointment for the next +morning, excused himself and took his departure for his own +apartments at the club. + +As he passed down the stairway into the spacious hall, what was his +surprise to see Mr. Merrick comfortably ensconced in a large leather +chair, reading the evening papers. + +The two men shook hands warmly, and together passed out into the +cool, starlit night. + +"When did you arrive, Merrick? and from what point of the compass?" +inquired the attorney. + +"Got in on the 9.30 train," the detective replied, seeming not to +have heard the second question; "learned you were at Mainwaring's, +so I stopped in, but told the butler not to disturb you, as I was +in no hurry." + +"I noticed you were looking over the evening papers, did you read +the account of this morning's proceedings in court?" + +"I did." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"I am not in the least surprised." + +"Not surprised!" echoed the attorney. "Do you mean to say that the +reappearance of the missing secretary as the heir to the Mainwaring +estate is no surprise to you?" + +"None whatever," Merrick replied, with the most exasperating +coolness, adding, as he noted the other's incredulous smile, "you +may recall a hint given you at Fair Oaks, one evening, of the +possible existence of claimants, perhaps not far distant, whose +rights superseded those of Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +Mr. Whitney started involuntarily as the detective's words of a few +weeks before were thus recalled, then looking his companion squarely +in the face, he exclaimed, half playfully, half indignantly, "I +don't suppose you will go so far as to claim any familiarity with +that old will which has just been resurrected." + +"Well," said Merrick, deliberately stopping to relight his cigar, "I +was aware that there was such a will in existence, or at least that +it had existed up to the time of Hugh Mainwaring's death, and I +supposed all along that it was in the possession of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, otherwise known as Harry Scott, secretary." + +"By George! when and how did you get hold of all this?" questioned +the attorney, in a tone of bewilderment. + +"I was pretty well conversant with the facts in the case a few days +before the young man took passage for England, in the 'Campania.'" + +"The 'Campania!' Heavens and earth, man! Do you mean to say that +he went over on the same boat with Miss--with the ladies from +Fair Oaks?" + +"Certainly; and I don't think," Merrick continued, watching the +attorney shrewdly, "that Miss--the ladies from Fair Oaks--objected +to him as a fellow-traveller, either." + +Mr. Whitney changed the subject. "Then you know that will to be +genuine, do you?" + +"H'm! am I on the witness stand?" + +"No; but I think I ought to subpoena you to keep the other side +from getting your testimony; you might make a troublesome witness +against us." + +"My testimony might be worth much or little; I am not giving it to +either side at present." + +"Well, I would not have it go out, of course; but for my part, I am +inclined, to believe not only that the will is genuine, but also +that Ralph Mainwaring knows that it is." + +"He will fight it all the same." + +"Yes, but on rather different grounds from what he first anticipated," +and Mr. Whitney gave Merrick an account of young Mainwaring's +defection. "In my private opinion," concluded the attorney, "Ralph +Mainwaring is a fool, for he has got a pretty hard combination to go +against; they've evidently got a strong case, splendid legal talent, +and plenty of money to back it all. However, I'm making a good +thing out of it." + +"Yes," said Merrick, enigmatically, "Barton & Barton are undoubtedly +men of great ability in their professions but that 'clerk' of theirs +who has come over with the party," with peculiar emphasis, "is the +smartest man in the whole crowd!" + +"The clerk! why I thought he seemed rather an insignificant sort +of a fellow; what do you know about him?" + +For reply the detective only gave a short, unpleasant laugh, and, +touching his cap, turned abruptly down another street. + +"Hold on!" cried the attorney; "you haven't told me anything about +yourself yet. What have you been doing? and how long are you going +to be in town?" + +"A day or two, perhaps, possibly a week; I cannot say." + +"How are you getting on?" + +But the detective was lost in thought and apparently did not hear +the question. "I suppose you read of the arrest of Brown, the +coachman?" he remarked, abstractedly, after a moment's silence. + +"The coachman? No! you don't say that he was really concerned in +that affair?" the attorney exclaimed, excitedly. + +"What affair, the Mainwaring murder? I don't know that I have +said that he was concerned in that," Merrick answered, suddenly +coming to himself and evidently enjoying the attorney's expression +of blank perplexity; "he was mixed up in a shooting affair, however, +which occurred about that time, and by holding him in custody we +hope to get on to the principals. Oh," he added, carelessly, +anticipating another inquiry from Mr. Whitney, "I'm getting there +all right, if that is what you want to know; but I won't have +somebody else dogging my tracks and then claiming the game by and by." + +"Man alive! what in the dickens are you driving at? You are in one +of your moods to-night." + +"Perhaps so," Merrick replied, indifferently, then added quickly, +"There is a sensation of some sort in there; see the crowd of +reporters!" + +They were standing on a street corner, near a large hotel, and +glancing through the windows in the direction indicated by the +detective, Mr. Whitney saw, as he had said, a crowd of reporters in +the office and lobbies, some writing, some talking excitedly, and +others coming and going. Just then one who was leaving the building +passed them, and Merrick stopped him. + +"What is going on? What's the excitement?" + +"Suicide!" the young man replied, hastily. "That woman who was +mixed up in the Mainwaring case has suicided by poison." + +The attorney and the detective exchanged startled glances, then +both entered the hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FLOTSAM AND JETSAM + + +An hour later, the attorney and the detective reappeared, and, +threading their way through the crowd still lingering about the +hotel, walked rapidly down the street, arm in arm, conversing in +low tones. + +"A case of suicide, undoubtedly," said the attorney "and scarcely to +be wondered at, taking all the circumstances into consideration. +Do you know, I am now more than ever inclined to the belief that +she was in some way connected with Hugh Mainwaring's death, and +that, after such a revelation of her character as was made in court +this morning, she feared further disclosures." + +Mr. Whitney glanced at his companion, but the latter seemed +engrossed with his own thoughts and made no reply. + +"I never was so completely floored in my life," the attorney +continued, "as when it came out that Harold Mainwaring was her son; +and I yet fail to see the necessity for introducing that feature +into the testimony. I should have thought that would have been +passed over in silence." + +"As near as I can judge from reading of the case," Merrick replied, +"it seems to have been done with a purpose. His attorneys were +leading up to that very point in such a manner that, when the climax +was reached, she would involuntarily betray herself--as she did--thus +confirming in the strongest manner the testimony already given." + +"I believe you may be right," said the attorney, musingly, "though +it had not occurred to me." + +After a short pause, Merrick continued: "When I was first called to +Fair Oaks, I suspected some relationship between that woman and the +secretary, as he was then called; there was a marked resemblance +between them; both had the same peculiar olive skin, while their +features and carriage were almost identical." + +"Yes, I recall your mentioning the likeness to me, and at the same +time I was puzzled by the resemblance between him and Hugh +Mainwaring. Well, I always said he was a mystery, and no wonder!" + +They had reached the club-house by this time, and, as Merrick +declined Mr. Whitney's invitation to enter, both men remained +outside for a few moments. Once again, the attorney endeavored to +sound the detective regarding his work and the progress he was +making, but the latter suddenly became strangely uncommunicative. + +"My client is going to charge Harold Mainwaring with the murder," +said the attorney at last. + +Merrick laughed scornfully, and for the second time that evening +wheeled abruptly and turned down a side street, leaving Mr. Whitney +standing upon the club-house steps, watching the rapidly retreating +figure with mingled vexation and amusement. + +"Something has upset Merrick," he soliloquized, as he finally turned +towards the entrance; "who can he imagine is 'dogging' his tracks, +as he terms it? These detectives seem about as jealous of their +reputation as we lawyers are supposed to be. Ralph Mainwaring is +going to engage 'the best legal talent that money can get!' H'm! +when he comes to settle, he may find that my 'legal talent' will +come just as high as the best of them." + +Could Mr. Whitney have been present at a conference held that +evening in one of the private parlors of the Waldorf, he might have +had a better understanding of the cause of Merrick's perturbation. + +Immediately upon returning to the hotel, Harold Mainwaring had +communicated to the English attorney and to Mr. Scott the particulars +of his interview with Mrs. LaGrange. Mr. Scott at once expressed +his satisfaction at the outcome, in that she had rejected all offers +of assistance except upon her own terms. + +"That is best, that is best just as it is," he said, emphatically; +"you do not want to be hampered with any obligations she might +impose upon you, and as for ever recognizing or acknowledging any +relationship, it is not to be thought of for one moment. Your course +was right, perfectly right. But what was the statement of such +importance which she was to make?" + +"That is just what I am coming to," the young man replied; and +drawing his chair closer to those of his companions, he repeated in +low tones the secret intrusted to him by Mrs. LaGrange. The faces of +the two men were a study as he ended his recital. + +"Are you confident that she spoke the truth?" questioned Mr. Barton +eagerly. + +"I am positive that she did; she seemed like one terror-stricken, +and said that the horror of it had haunted her day and night." + +"There could be no reason in this instance for doubting her," +commented Mr. Scott, thoughtfully; "she would have no motive for +making such a statement if it were not true." + +"My dear Mainwaring!" exclaimed the attorney, "it is what I have +suspected ever since you gave me the details of the affair; you +remember what I told you before we left London!" + +"Certainly; but it seemed to me then too improbable." + +"The improbable is, sometimes, what we must look for in cases like +this," he replied; "McCabe should be put on to this immediately, +and we must call Sutherland. I will summon him, myself, at once," +and he left the room. + +The foster-father and son, left for a few moments to themselves, +had little to say, but sat looking into each other's faces with eyes +full of meaning, each understanding what was in the other's heart. +At last, as they heard returning footsteps, the elder man spoke,-- + +"It was a good thing you went there, my boy; come what may, you will +never regret it." + +"Never!" the other replied with emphasis. + +It seemed but a few moments ere hurried steps were heard along the +corridor, followed by a light, familiar knock, and Mr. Sutherland +entered. + +"I recognized your voice at the 'phone, Mr. Barton," said the +attorney, after greetings had been exchanged, "and something in its +tone, aside from the general import of your message, led me to +believe that the call was of special importance, therefore I lost +no time in coming here." + +"You were correct," replied the English barrister; "we have made a +most important discovery, bearing not only upon the case in hand, +but also upon the Mainwaring murder case." + +"Ah-h!" responded the attorney with evident interest; then drawing +his chair near the group seated about the open fire, he asked, with +a swift glance about the room, "But where is your 'clerk,' Mr. +Barton? Should he not be present?" + +"My 'clerk!'" replied Mr. Barton, with peculiar emphasis, and plainly +appreciating the humor of the inquiry; "my 'clerk' is, I believe, at +present engaged in most assiduously cultivating the acquaintance of +Ralph Mainwaring's coachman." + +Then, as Mr. Sutherland elevated his eyebrows in mute inquiry, he +continued,-- + +"The coachman, I have understood, is a recent acquisition, taken, I +believe, upon the recommendation of this Merrick; and while he seems +eminently satisfactory as a coachman, I have my doubts as to whether +he will prove quite so satisfactory to his superior officer upon his +return." + +"Ah, I see!" ejaculated the other; "he is what might be denominated +a 'sub.'" + +"Yes; and so exceedingly verdant that McCabe thought it worth while +to make his acquaintance. But now to present business!" + +Again the strange story was repeated, Mr. Sutherland listening with +grave attention, which deepened as the recital proceeded, until, at +its completion, he could scarcely restrain his enthusiasm; exultation +was plainly written on his face, but there was a peculiar gentleness +in his manner as he first approached his young client, saying in a +low tone, as he cordially grasped his hand,-- + +"I realize, Mr. Mainwaring, all that this means to you, and I am +sure you will understand me when I say that I congratulate you." + +Harold Mainwaring bowed silently, and Mr. Sutherland, turning +towards the English barrister, exclaimed, "This explains everything! +This will make our case absolutely incontrovertible; but, first, +we must secure that man at all hazards and at any cost just as +quickly as possible; think what a witness he will make!" + +"Just what I had in mind" was the response, "and McCabe is the man +to locate him if he is upon the face of the earth. But we must +decide immediately upon our own course of action, for this will +necessitate certain changes in our plans, and we must act at once, +and, at the same time, with the utmost caution and secrecy." + +Dinner was ordered and served in the privacy of their own apartments +that they might be entirely free from intrusion or interruptions +during their deliberations, and it was at a late hour when, their +consultation ended, they gathered about the open fire with their +cigars, awaiting, with much self-congratulation and cheerful talk, +the return of the absent McCabe. + +"Confound it!" exclaimed Mr. Barton, presently, glancing at his +watch; "what in the deuce is keeping that fellow so late? If we +had not especially wanted him, he would have been here two hours ago." + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Sutherland, "he may have found the coachman +more communicative than he anticipated." + +"He has doubtless struck some clue which he is following," was the +reply; but at that instant there was a light tap at the door, and the +man generally known as the English barrister's "clerk" entered. + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, cheerfully, "'speak of the devil'--you +know what follows! What luck to-night?" + +"Very fair, sir," said the man, quietly taking in the situation at +a glance, as he noted the eager, expectant faces of the four men, +and, dropping into a chair near the group, he instantly assumed an +attitude of close attention. + +Ordinarily, McCabe was, as Mr. Whitney had remarked, rather an +insignificant looking man. He was below medium stature and somewhat +dull in appearance, owing to the fact that he seemed to take little +interest in his surroundings, while his face, when his eyes were +concealed, as was generally the case, by the heavily drooping lids +and long eyelashes, was absolutely expressionless. When, however, +he raised his eyes and fixed them upon any one, the effect was much +the same as though a search-light suddenly flashed in one's face; +but this was only upon rare occasions, and few casual observers +would dream of the keen perceptive faculties hidden beneath that +quiet exterior. + +"Tell us your story first, Mac," said Mr. Barton, after a moment's +silence, thoroughly understanding his man, "ours will keep for a +little bit." + +"There's not much to tell, sir." + +"How are you and the coachman coming on?" + +"We'll not be very intimate after to-night, I'm thinking." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney, at the same time smiling +broadly at his companions. + +"Well, sir, there'll be no call for it, for one thing, as I've got +all the points in the case I wanted; and for another, his chief +returned this evening, and, from the few words I overheard upon +his arrival, I don't think the coachman will feel over-confidential +the next time he sees me," and McCabe smiled grimly to himself. + +"So Merrick is back!" interposed Mr. Sutherland, laughing. "Did +you and he meet?" + +"Meet, sir? Ah, no, not much o' that! I heard a step coming up +the stairs, and as I thought the room was hardly big enough for +three, I excused myself to Mr. Jim Matheson--alias Matthews, the +coachman--and made for the hall. We passed each other at the head +of the stairs, and I cluttered down, making as much racket as I +could; then at the foot of the stairs I took off my boots and crept +upstairs again, more to hear the fellow's voice than anything else, +so I could recognize him afterwards." + +"What did you hear?" inquired Mr. Barton, as McCabe paused to light +a cigar which Mr. Sutherland had handed him. + +"I heard him say, 'Who was that I passed outside, Jim?' 'Only a +cross-country friend of mine,' says Jim. 'What friends are you +entertaining here in these quarters?' says he, kind o' sharp like. +'An' sure,' says Jim, 'it was only Dan McCoy, the clerk of the big +London lawyer who has come over with the young Mr. Mainwaring I've +heard you speak of, and a right clever fellow he is, too!' 'Clerk!' +he roars out, 'clerk, you blithering idiot! he's no more clerk +than you are coachman, nor half so much, for you're fit for nothing +but to take care of horses all your days! Do you want to know,' +says he, 'who you've been entertaining?' That's no more nor less +than Dan McCabe, a Scotland Yard man they've brought over, nobody +knows what for, but whatever his game, he's made you play into his +hand! I didn't stay to hear more," McCabe concluded, "I got out." + +"But how does this Merrick know you?" Mr. Barton inquired, as the +laughter caused by McCabe's recital subsided. + +"He doesn't know me, he only knows of me," the man replied. "I +found that out an hour or two later, when I met him in a crowd at +the Wellington Hotel;" the speaker glanced curiously in the +direction of Harold Mainwaring for an instant, and then continued, +"I knew him by his voice, but I spoke with him, and he had no idea +who I was." + +"But how has he heard of you?" persisted Mr. Barton. + +"There was an American detective--a friend of his--who came over +on the 'Campania' on the same trip with Mr. Mainwaring. He was +following up a case in London, but he managed to keep his eye on +Mr. Mainwaring and kept this Merrick posted of all that he was doing. +It was because of some remarks of his that I got wind of, that I +determined from the first to get onto his game." + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, tentatively, "are you ready to go to +work now?" + +The keen eyes flashed for an instant in the attorney's face, then +the man answered quietly, "If you've nothing to tell me, I'm ready +to go to work on my own hook and in my own way; if you've anything +to say, I'll hear it." + +Mr. Barton glanced at the others. "We had better tell McCabe what +we have learned, and also just what our plans are." + +The others bowed in assent, and the chairs were drawn closer together +while Mr. Barton, in low tones, told, as briefly and clearly as +possible, the discovery which they had made. McCabe listened to the +attorney's story, but whether or not the secret were already guessed +by him, his face gave no sign. When it was ended he glanced +curiously at Harold Mainwaring. + +"Mrs. LaGrange told you this?" + +"She did." + +"At what time, if you please, sir?" + +"At about half-past five." + +"Are you aware, sir, that, with the exception of her maid, you are +probably the last person who saw Mrs. LaGrange living?" + +"Saw her living!" Harold Mainwaring repeated, astonished, while Mr. +Barton demanded, "What do you mean, Mac?" + +"I mean, sir," said McCabe, slowly, "that Mrs. LaGrange committed +suicide at about seven o'clock this evening, less than two hours +after Mr. Mainwaring saw her." + +"When did you learn of this?" "What do you know of the affair?" +questioned the attorneys quickly, while Harold Mainwaring, more +deeply shocked than he would have thought possible, listened to the +man's reply. + +"I happened along by the Wellington about two hours ago, and saw +considerable stir around there. I learned 'twas a case of suicide, +but thought nothing of it till I heard the woman's name, then I +dropped in and picked up the facts in the case," and he proceeded +to relate the details of the affair. + +As Harold Mainwaring listened, he recalled the looks and words of +the wretched woman, her genuine misery, her falsehood and deceit, +her piteous pleadings, and the final rage and scorn with which she +had rejected his assistance even in the face of such desperation +and despair; and a sickening sense of horror stole over him, +rendering him almost oblivious to the conversation around him. + +"'Twas there I saw this man Merrick," McCabe was saying in +conclusion. "I heard him questioning the maid about Mr. Mainwaring's +interview with the woman; he evidently was onto that. I saw the +girl myself shortly afterwards and gave her a hint and a bit of money +to keep her mouth shut about Mr. Mainwaring. She seemed pretty +bright, and I think she will understand her business." + +"Confound that meddlesome Yankee! what was he prowling around +there for?" interrupted Mr. Scott, angrily. "He has no business +prying into Harold Scott Mainwaring's affairs, and I'll have him +understand it; let him attend to his own duties, and I think, from +all reports, he will have his hands more than full then. Mr. +Sutherland," he continued, addressing the attorney, "there's no +knowing what that beastly bungler who calls himself a detective +will do next; this thing is likely to be out in the morning papers +with the boy's name mixed up in it, and it must be stopped right +here. His name must be kept out of this at any price, and you +probably can reach the New York press better than any one of us." + +"You are right," said Mr. Sutherland, rising hastily and preparing +to leave; "our client wants no notoriety of that sort; and I will +make sure that nothing of the kind occurs. I have a friend who has +unlimited influence with the newspaper men, and I will have him +attend to the matter at once, and see to it that everything of that +nature is suppressed." + +"That is best," said Harold Mainwaring gravely, coming forward. "I +would have rendered the woman any necessary assistance; I am willing +to do whatever is needful now, but, living or dead, her name shall +never be coupled with my father's name and mine." + +"You understand, of course, that money is no object in this matter," +added Mr. Scott. + +"I understand perfectly, sir," said the attorney, courteously; +"everything will be attended to; and, Mr. Barton, you will kindly +confer with Mr. McCabe, and I will see you in the morning regarding +your final decision. Good-night, gentlemen." + +An hour later, McCabe took his departure. Of his own theories or +plans he had said little more than that he was to leave the +Waldorf that night for another part of the city, but all details +for communication with him in case of necessity had been carefully +arranged. + +"Your 'clerk' has been suddenly called to London on important +business," he said to Mr. Barton, with a quiet smile, adding, "You +may meet me occasionally, but it's not likely or best that you +recognize me, and when I have anything to report you will hear from +me," and with these words he was gone. + +When at last Harold Mainwaring and his foster-father were again by +themselves, the latter, noting the younger man's abstraction, said,-- + +"This is naturally a great shock to you, my boy, but it is only what +might be expected after such a life as hers. You have done nothing +for which to censure yourself; you have done all that could be done +under existing conditions, and more than was actually required of +you; so you need have no regrets over the affair." + +"I understand that, sir; but the thought that I cannot banish from +my mind is, knowing so well her treachery and deceit, is it possible +that she herself had a hand in the murder, and finding at last that +there was no hope of gaining my friendship, did she fear the +developments which might follow from what she had told?" + +The elder man shook his head thoughtfully. "We cannot say, my boy; +the thought occurred to me almost instantaneously, for, without +doubt, she both hated and feared him; but time alone will tell." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +BETWEEN THE ACTS + + +For the ten days next ensuing the public craving for sensational +developments in the Mainwaring case seemed likely to be gratified +to an unusual degree. To the exciting scenes of the court-room was +added the suicide of Mrs. LaGrange, immediately followed by news of +the discovery that Richard Hobson, the unwilling witness in the +previous day's proceedings, had absconded, leaving not the slightest +indication of even the direction in which he had vanished. By many +the suicide of the one and the sudden disappearance of the other, +occurring simultaneously, were considered as prima facie evidence +that the two, so closely associated with each other, had been in +some way connected with the Fair Oaks tragedy. + +From this phase of the affair, however, public attention was +speedily diverted by the report that proceedings to contest the old +will had been instituted, but in the name of Ralph Mainwaring and +his brother, Harold W. Mainwaring; his son, the sole heir under the +will of Hugh Mainwaring, having altogether withdrawn from the +contest. This had caused an open rupture between father and son, +and the latter had established himself in a suite of apartments at +the Murray Hill. + +Young Mainwaring's course occasioned great surprise; many commended +his wisdom, but few gave him credit for the genuine sense of honor +which had actuated him. + +"A neat little stroke of diplomacy," said one club-man to another, +"and worthy of Hugh Mainwaring himself! There is no show for him, +anyway, and it's much better policy to yield the point now, don't +you see, than to fight it out along with that pig-headed father of +his." + +"He understands on which side his bread is buttered, and don't you +forget it, my dear boy," was the laughing rejoinder. "It's always +best to stand in with the winning side; he won't lose anything in +the long run, and he knows it." + +Such remarks occasionally reached young Mainwaring, making him +exceedingly indignant. + +"You may say, once and for all," he said to a reporter who was +interviewing him in his apartments at the Murray Hill, "that in +withdrawing from this contest I am not currying favor with Harold +Scott Mainwaring. He and I are the best of friends, but that fact +would not hinder me from giving him a fair and square fight if +there were the slightest doubt as to the validity of his claim. +But there isn't; he has proved his right, legally and morally, to +the property, and that's enough for me." + +"But Mr. Ralph Mainwaring must have some tenable ground for +contesting his claim," said the reporter, tentatively, hoping to +get some of the inside facts of the case. + +Young Mainwaring froze instantly. "I have nothing whatever to say, +sir, regarding the governor's action in this matter; any information +you desire on that point you will have to obtain from him." + +The next development in the Mainwaring case was a report to the +effect that the whereabouts of Harold W. Mainwaring could not be +ascertained, and it was generally supposed among his London +associates that he had followed his brother to America by the next +steamer. As this report was supplemented by the further facts that +he was a man of no principle, heavily involved in debt, and deeply +incensed at Ralph Mainwaring's success in securing for his son the +American estate in which he himself had expected to share, public +speculation was immediately aroused in a new direction, and "that +Mainwaring affair" became the absorbing topic, not alone at the +clubs and other places of masculine rendezvous, but at all social +gatherings as well. + +Regarding the principal actors in this drama, however, around whom +public interest really centred, little could be definitely +ascertained. To many, who, on the following morning, read the +details of the suicide at the Wellington, it was a matter of no +small wonder that the name of Harold Scott Mainwaring was not once +mentioned in connection with that of the woman shown by the +preceding day's testimony to have been so closely related to him. +Perhaps no one was more surprised at this omission than Merrick +himself but if so, his only comment was made mentally. + +"He's got the cinch on them all around, and he'll win, hands down!" + +The inquest, held at an early hour, was merely a matter of form, +the evidence of intentional suicide being conclusive, and the +interment, a few hours later, was strictly private. Excepting the +clergyman who read the burial service, there were present only the +two sons of the wretched woman. + +It was their first meeting since learning of the strange relationship +existing between them, and Walter LaGrange, as he entered the +presence of the dead, cast a curious glance, half shrinking, half +defiant, at the calm, stern face of Harold Mainwaring, who had +preceded him. His own face was haggard and drawn, and the hard, +rigid lines deepened as his glance fell for an instant on the casket +between them. Then his eyes looked straight into those of Harold +Mainwaring with an expression almost imploring. + +"Tell me," he demanded in low, hoarse tones, "is it true that I +am--what she once said and what report is now saying--the son of +Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"It is true," the other replied, gravely. + +"Then curse them both!" he exclaimed, while his hands clinched +involuntarily. "What right had they to blight and ruin my life? +What right had they to live as they did, and let the stigma, the +shame, the curse of it all fall on me? A few months since I had +the honor and respect of my classmates and associates; to-day, not +one will recognize me, and for no fault of mine!" + +"Hush!" interposed Harold Mainwaring; "I know the wrong which has +been done you,--they have wronged me, also, far more deeply than +you know,--but this is no time or place to recall it!" + +The calmness and kindness of his tones seemed to soothe and control +his excited companion. + +"I know they have wronged you," the latter replied; "but they have +not ruined you! You have not only friends and wealth, but, more +than all, your father's name. I," he added bitterly, "am a pauper, +and worse than a pauper, for I have not even a name!" + +For a few moments Harold Mainwaring silently studied the haggard +young face confronting him, in which anger was slowly giving place +to dull, sullen despair; and his own heart was suddenly moved with +pity for the boy. + +"Robbed of his birthright before he was born," reared in an +atmosphere of treachery and deceit calculated to foster and develop +the evil tendencies already inherited; yet, notwithstanding all, so +closely akin to himself. + +"Walter," he said, gravely, at the same time extending his hand +across the casket, "I realize the truth of much that you have said, +but you need not allow this to ruin or blight your life. Mark my +words, your future from this time forth is, to a great extent, in +your own hands; your life will be what you make it, and you alone. +See to it that it is not blighted by your own wrong-doing! Be +yourself a man of honor, and I will assure you, you can depend upon +me to stand by you and to help you." Walter LaGrange raised his +eyes in astonishment at these words, containing a pledge of probably +the first genuine friendship he had ever known in his young life. +He gave a look, searching, almost cynical, into Harold Mainwaring's +face; then reading nothing but sincerity, he took the proffered hand, +saying brokenly,-- + +"Do you really mean it? I supposed that you, of all others, would +despise me; and it would be no great wonder if you did!" + +"It will depend entirely upon yourself, Walter, whether or not I +despise you. If I ever do, it will be the result of your own +unworthiness, not because of the wrong-doing of others." + +There were signs in the boy's face of a brief struggle between the +old pride, inherited from his mother, and the self-respect which +Harold Mainwaring's words had but just awakened. + +"If it were the other fellow," he said, slowly, "the one the old +man intended to make his heir, had made me such a proposition, I +would tell him to go to the devil; but, by George! if you will +stand by me, it's all right, and I'll be man enough anyway that +you'll never regret it." + +A few days later, Walter LaGrange, penniless and friendless, had +disappeared, whither his former associates neither knew nor cared. +In a large banking establishment in one of the principal western +cities,--a branch of the firm of Mainwaring & Co.,--a young man, +known as the ward of Harold Scott Mainwaring, was entered as an +employee, with prospect of advancement should he prove himself +worthy of responsibility and trust. But of this, as of many other +events just then quietly transpiring behind the scenes, little or +nothing was known. + +Meanwhile, as the days slipped rapidly away, the party at the +Waldorf was not idle. There were conferences, numerous and +protracted, behind dosed doors, telegrams and cablegrams in cipher +flashed hither and thither in multitudinous directions, while Mr. +Sutherland seemed fairly ubiquitous. Much of his time, however, +was spent in the private parlors of the English party, with frequent +journeys to the court-house to ascertain the status of the case. +From one of these trips he returned one evening jubilant. + +"Well," said he, settling himself comfortably, with a sigh of +relief, "the first point in the case is decided in our favor." + +"That is a good omen," Mr. Barton replied cheerfully; "but may I +inquire to what you refer?" + +"I have succeeded in getting the date for the hearing set for the +next term of court, which opens early in December." + +"I am glad to hear it; a little time just now is of the utmost +importance to our interests. Did you have any difficulty in +securing a postponement until the next term?" + +"Whitney, of course, opposed it strongly. He said his client +wanted the matter settled at the earliest possible moment; but I +told him that so long as Ralph Mainwaring persisted in butting +against a stone wall, just so long a speedy settlement was out of +the question; it was bound to be a hard fight, and would be carried +over into the next term in any event. Then I had a private +interview with Judge Bingham, and, without giving particulars, told +him that new developments had arisen, and, with a little time in +which to procure certain evidence, we would have our opponents +completely floored,--they would not even have an inch of room left +to stand upon,--while under present conditions, Mainwaring, so long +as he had a shilling, would, if beaten, move for a new trial, or +appeal to a higher court,--anything to keep up the fight. So he +will grant us till December, which, I am inclined to think, will be +ample time." + +"It looks now," said Mr. Barton, producing a telegram, "as though +we might succeed in securing that evidence much sooner than we have +anticipated. What do you think of that?" and he handed the despatch +to Mr. Sutherland. + +The face of the latter brightened as he glanced rapidly over the +yellow sheet. + +"The dickens! McCabe has left the city!" he exclaimed. + +Mr. Barton bowed. "Which means," he said in reply, "that he has +evidently struck the scent; and when he once starts on the trail, +it is only a question of time--and usually not any great length +of time, either--before he runs his game to cover." + +"Well," ejaculated Mr. Sutherland, rubbing his hands together +enthusiastically, "I, for one, want to be 'in at the death' on this, +for it will simply be the finest piece of work, the grandest +denouement, of any case that has ever come within my twenty years of +legal experience!" + +Mr. Barton smiled. "My brother is evidently of the same opinion +with yourself," he said. "I received a cablegram from him to-day, +requesting me to inform him at once of the date set for the hearing, +as he stated he would not, for a kingdom, fail of being present at +the trial." + +With the announcement that the case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring +had been set for the opening of the December term of court, the +public paused to take breath and to wonder at this unlooked-for +delay, but preparations for the coming contest were continued with +unabated vigor on both sides. Contrary to all expectations, Ralph +Mainwaring, so far from objecting to the postponement of the case, +took special pains to express his entire satisfaction with this +turn of affairs. + +"It is an indication of conscious weakness on their part," he +remarked with great complacency, as he and Mr. Whitney were dining +at the club on the following day. "They have evidently discovered +some flaw in their defence which it will take some time to repair. +I can afford to wait, however; my attorneys and experts will soon +be here, and while our side could easily have been in readiness in +a much shorter time, this, of course, will give us an opportunity +for still more elaborate preparation, so that we will gain an +immense advantage over them." + +"I suppose, Mr. Mainwaring," said one of his listeners, giving a +quick side-glance at his companions, "I suppose that during this +interim a truce will be declared, and for the time being there will +be a cessation of hostilities between the parties in interest, will +there not?" + +"Sir!" roared Ralph Mainwaring, transfixing the speaker with a +stare calculated to annihilate him. + +"I beg pardon, sir, I intended no offence," continued the +irrepressible young American, ignoring the warning signals from his +associates; "it only occurred to me that with such an immense +advantage on your side you could afford to be magnanimous and treat +your opponent with some consideration." + +"I am not accustomed to showing magnanimity or consideration to any +but my own equals," the other rejoined, with freezing dignity; "and +the fact that my 'opponent,' as you are pleased to designate him, +is, for the present, allowed liberty to go and come at his pleasure, +although under strict surveillance, is, in this instance, sufficient +consideration." + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring under surveillance? Incredible!" exclaimed +one of the party in a low tone, while the first speaker remarked, "I +certainly was unaware that the gentleman in question was to be +regarded in the light of a suspected criminal!" + +"It is to be presumed," said Ralph Mainwaring, haughtily, stung by +the tinge of irony in the other's tone, "that there are a number of +points in this case of which people in general are as yet unaware, +but upon which they are likely to become enlightened in the near +future, when this person who has assumed such a variety of roles +will be disclosed in his true light,--not that of a suspected +criminal merely, but of a condemned criminal, convicted by a chain +of evidence every link of which has been forged by himself." + +There was an ominous silence as Ralph Mainwaring rose from the +table, broken at last by an elderly gentleman seated at a little +distance, who, while apparently an interested listener, had taken +no part in the conversation. + +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring, I would judge the charges +which you would prefer against this young man to be unusually +serious; may I inquire their nature?" + +The words were spoken with the utmost deliberation, but in the calm, +even tones there was an implied challenge, which was all that was +needed at that instant to fan Ralph Mainwaring's wrath into a flame. +Utterly disregarding a cautionary glance from Mr. Whitney, he turned +his monocle upon the speaker, glaring at him in contemptuous silence +for a moment. + +"You have decidedly the advantage of me, sir, but allow me to say +that the person under discussion has not only, with unheard of +effrontery, publicly and unblushingly proclaimed himself as a +blackmailer and knave, capable of descending to any perfidy or +treachery for the purpose of favoring his own base schemes, but he +has also, in his inordinate greed and ambition, unwittingly proved +himself by his own statements and conduct to be a villain of the +deepest dye; and I will say, furthermore, that if Harold Scott +Mainwaring, as he styles himself, ends his days upon the gallows +in expiation of the foul murder of Hugh Mainwaring, he will have +only himself to thank, for his own words and deeds will have put +the noose about his neck." + +Having thus expressed himself, Ralph Mainwaring, without waiting +for reply, left the room accompanied by Mr. Whitney. The latter +made no comment until they were seated in the carriage and rolling +down the avenue; then he remarked, casually,-- + +"I was surprised, Mr. Mainwaring, that you failed to recognize the +gentleman who addressed you as you were leaving the table." + +"His face was somewhat familiar; I have met him, but I cannot recall +when or where. I considered his tone decidedly offensive, however, +and I proposed, whoever he might be, to give him to understand that +I would brook no interference. Do you know him?" + +"I have never met him, but I know of him," the attorney replied, +watching his client closely. "He is the Honorable J. Ponsonby Roget, +Q. C., of London. I supposed of course that you knew him." + +"J. Ponsonby Roget, Queen's Counsel? Egad! I have met him, but it +was years ago, and he has aged so that I did not recognize him. +Strange!" he added, visibly annoyed. "What the deuce is he doing +in this country?" + +"That is just what no one is able to say," replied the attorney, +slowly. "He is stopping at the Waldorf, with our friends, the +English party, but whether as a guest or in a professional capacity, +no one has been able to ascertain." + +"Zounds, man! why did you not give me this information earlier?" + +"For the good and sufficient reason, Mr. Mainwaring, that I did not +learn of the facts myself until within the last two hours. My +attention was called to the gentleman as I entered the club. I +assumed, of course, that you knew him, at least by sight, and when +he addressed you I supposed for the instant that you were +acquaintances." + +"But how came he at the club? None of the party from the Waldorf +were with him." + +"He was there as the especial guest of Chief-Justice Parmalee, of +the Supreme Court, the gentleman on his left. Judge Parmalee spent +much of his life in London, and the two are particular friends." + +"Well, it's done, and can't be undone, and I don't know that I +regret it," Ralph Mainwaring remarked, sullenly. "If he chooses to +identify himself with that side of the case he is at liberty to do +so, but he has my opinion of his client gratis." + +Mr. Whitney made no reply, and the drive was concluded in silence. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring had no sooner left the club than a +chorus of exclamations, protests, and running comments arose on +all sides. + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring! That is +carrying this farce beyond all bounds!" + +"If he cannot get possession of the property in any other way, he +will send the new heir to the gallows, eh?" + +"He will attempt it, too; he is desperate," said one. + +"He may make it pretty serious for the young fellow," said another, +thoughtfully. "You remember, by his own statements he was the last +person who saw Hugh Mainwaring alive; in fact, he was in his library +within a few moments preceding his death; and after all that has +been brought to light, it's not to be supposed that he had any great +affection for his uncle." + +"What is this, gentlemen?" said a reporter, briskly, appearing on +the scene, note-book in hand. "Any new developments in the +Mainwaring case?" + +"Yes, a genuine sensation!" shouted two or three voices. + +"Gentlemen, attention a moment!" said a commanding voice outside, +and an instant later a tall, well-known form entered. + +"The ubiquitous Mr. Sutherland!" laughingly announced a jovial +young fellow, standing near the entrance. + +"Sutherland, how is this?" demanded one of the elder gentlemen. +"Have you a private battery concealed about your person with +invisible wires distributed throughout the city, that you seem to +arrive at any and every spot just on the nick of time?" + +"That is one of the secrets of the profession, Mr. Norton, not to +be revealed to the uninitiated," replied the attorney, while a +quick glance flashed between himself and the Queen's Counsel. + +"There is one thing, gentlemen," he continued, with great dignity, +"to which I wish to call your attention, particularly you gentlemen +of the press. I am aware of the nature of the 'sensation' of which +you made mention a moment ago, but I wish it distinctly understood +that it is to be given no publicity whatever. The name of my client +is not to be bandied about before the public in connection with any +of Ralph Mainwaring's imputations or vilifications, for the reason +that they are wholly without foundation. We are thoroughly +cognizant of that gentleman's intentions regarding our client, and +we will meet him on his own ground. In the coming contest we will +not only establish beyond all shadow of doubt our client's sole +right and title to the Mainwaring estate, but we will, at the same +time, forever refute and silence any and every aspersion which Ralph +Mainwaring may seek to cast upon him. Even were there any truth +in these insinuations, it would be time enough, when the charges +should be preferred against our client, to brazen them before the +public, but since they are only the product of spleen and malignity, +simply consign them to the odium and obloquy to which they are +entitled." + +"That is right!" responded two or three voices, while the reporter +replied, courteously,-- + +"We will certainly respect your wishes, sir; but you see the public +is on the qui vive, so to speak, over this case, and it is our +business to get hold of every item which we can to add to the +interest. You have checked us off on some rather interesting matter +already, I believe." + +"Perhaps so," said Mr. Sutherland, quietly, "but I can promise you +that before long there will be developments in the case which will +give you boys all the interesting matter you will need for some +time, and they will be fact, not fabrication." + +As the result of Mr. Sutherland's prompt action, the newspapers +contained no allusion to that evening's scene at the club; but even +his energy and caution were powerless to prevent the spread of the +affair from lip to lip. Mentioned scarcely above a whisper, the +report rippled onward, the waves widening in all directions, with +various alterations and additions, till it was regarded as an open +secret in all circles of society. It reached young Mainwaring in +his rather secluded bachelor quarters at the Murray Hill, and he +bowed his head in shame that a Mainwaring should stoop to so +disgraceful an exhibition of his venomous rage and hatred. It +reached Harold Scott Mainwaring, and the smouldering fire in the +dark eyes gleamed afresh and the proud face grew rigid and stern. +Donning overcoat and hat, he left his apartments at the Waldorf; +and started forth in the direction of the club most frequented by +Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney. + +He had gone but a short distance when he met young Mainwaring. The +young men exchanged cordial greetings, and, at Harold's request, his +cousin retraced his steps to accompany him. + +"Why are you making such a stranger of yourself; Hugh? I have +scarcely seen you of late," said Harold, after a little general +conversation. + +"Well, to be frank with you, old boy, I haven't been around so often +as I would like for two reasons; for one thing, I find people +generally are not inclined to regard our friendship in the same light +that we do. You and I understand one another, and you don't suspect +me of any flunkeyism, or any ulterior motive, don't you know,--" + +"I understand perfectly," said Harold, as his cousin paused, seeming +to find some difficulty in conveying his exact meaning; "and so +long as you and I do understand each other, what is the use of +paying any attention to outsiders? Whether we were friends, or +refused to recognize one another, their small talk and gossip would +flow on forever, so why attempt to check it?" + +"I believe you are right; but that isn't all of it, don't you know. +What I care most about is the governor's losing his head in the way +he has lately. It is simply outrageous, the reports he has started +in circulation!" + +Hugh paused and glanced anxiously into his cousin's face, but the +frank, brotherly kindness which he read there reassured him. + +"My dear cousin," said Harold, warmly, "nothing that Ralph +Mainwaring can ever say or do shall make any difference between us. +There are but two contingencies in this connection that I regret." + +"And those are what?" the younger man questioned eagerly. + +"That he bears the name of Mainwaring, and that he is your father!" + +"By Jove! I'm with you on that," the other exclaimed heartily, "and +I hope you'll win every point in the game; but I've been awfully +cut up over what he has said and done recently. I know that he +intends to carry his threats into execution, and I'm afraid he'll +make it deucedly unpleasant for you, don't you know." + +They had reached the club-house, and Harold Mainwaring, as he paused +on the lowest step, smiled brightly into the boyish face, regarding +him with such solicitude. + +"I understand his intentions as well as you, and know that it would +give him great delight to carry them into execution; but, my dear +boy, he will never have the opportunity to even make the attempt." + +Young Mainwaring's face brightened. "Why, are you prepared to head +him off in that direction? By Jove! I'm right glad to know it. +Well, I'll be around to the Waldorf in the course of a day or two + No, much obliged, but I don't care to go into the club-rooms +to-night; in fact, I haven't been in there since the governor made +that after-dinner speech of his. Good-night!" + +As Harold Mainwaring sauntered carelessly through the club-rooms, +returning the greetings of the select circle of friends which he +had made, he was conscious of glances of interest and undisguised +curiosity from the many with whom he had no acquaintance. No +allusion was made to the subject which he well knew was in their +minds, however, until, meeting Mr. Chittenden, the latter drew him +aside into an alcove. + +"I say, my dear Mainwaring, are you aware that your esteemed kinsman +has you under strict surveillance?" + +Mainwaring smiled, though his eyes flashed. "I am aware that he +has made statements to that effect, although, thus far, his +'surveillance' has interfered in no way either with my duties or +pleasures, nor do I apprehend that it will." + +"My dear fellow, it is simply preposterous! The man must be insane." + +"Is he here this evening?" Mainwaring inquired. + +"No; to tell the truth, he has not found it so very congenial here +since that outbreak of his; he seldom is here now, excepting, of +course, at meals. Mr. Whitney is here, however." + +"I came here," Harold Mainwaring replied, "with the express purpose +of meeting one or the other, or both; on the whole, it will be +rather better to meet Mr. Whitney." + +"No trouble, no unpleasant words, I hope?" said the elder man, +anxiously. + +"Mr. Chittenden, when you knew me as Hugh Mainwaring's private +secretary, you knew me as a gentleman; I trust I shall never be +less." + +"You are right, you are right, my boy, and I beg your pardon; but +young blood is apt to be hasty, you know." + +A little later Harold Mainwaring strolled leisurely across the large +reading-room to a table where Mr. Whitney was seated. The latter, +seeing him, rose to greet him, while his sensitive face flushed +with momentary excitement. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I am delighted to meet you. I had hoped from the +friendly tone of that rather mysterious note of yours, upon your +somewhat abrupt departure, that we might meet again soon, and, +though it is under greatly altered circumstances, I am proud to +have the opportunity of congratulating you." + +The younger man responded courteously, and for a few moments the +two chatted pleasantly upon subjects of general interest, while +many pairs of eyes looked on in silent astonishment, wondering what +this peculiar interview might portend. + +At last, after a slight pause, Harold Mainwaring remarked, calmly, +"Mr. Whitney, I understand that, when the coming litigation is +terminated, your client intends to institute proceedings against me +of a far different nature,--criminal proceedings, in fact." + +The attorney colored and started nervously, then replied in a low +tone, "Mr. Mainwaring, let us withdraw to one of the side rooms; +this is rather a public place for any conversation regarding those +matters." + +"It is none too public for me, Mr. Whitney, as I have nothing +unpleasant to say towards yourself personally, and nothing which I +am not perfectly willing should be heard by any and every individual +in these rooms to-night. You have not yet answered my inquiry, Mr. +Whitney." + +The attorney paused for a moment, as though laboring under great +excitement, then he spoke in a tone vibrating with strong emotion,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, regarding my client's intentions, you have, in all +probability, been correctly informed. I believe that he has made +statements at various times to that effect, and I am now so well +acquainted with him that I know there is no doubt but that he will +attempt to carry out what he has threatened. But, Mr. Mainwaring, I +wish to say a word or two for myself. In the coming litigation +over the estate, I, as Ralph Mainwaring's counsel, am bound to do +my part without any reference to my own personal opinions or +prejudices, and I expect to meet you and your counsel in an open +fight,--perhaps a bitter one. But this much I have to say: Should +Ralph Mainwaring undertake to bring against you any action of the +character which he has threatened," here Mr. Whitney rose to his +feet and brought his hand down with a ringing blow upon the table +at his side, "he will have to employ other counsel than myself, for +I will have nothing whatever to do with such a case." + +He paused a moment, then continued: "I do not claim to understand +you perfectly, Mr. Mainwaring. I will confess you have always been +a mystery to me, and you are still. There are depths about you that +I cannot fathom. But I do believe in your honor, your integrity, +and your probity, and as for taking part in any action reflecting +upon your character, or incriminating you in any respect, I never +will!" + +A roar of applause resounded through the club-rooms as he concluded. +When it had subsided, Harold Mainwaring replied,-- + +"Mr. Whitney, I thank you for this public expression of your +confidence in me. The relations between us in the past have been +pleasant, and I trust they will continue so in the future. As I +stated, however, I came here to-night with no unfriendly feeling +towards yourself, but to ask you to be the bearer of a message +from me to your client. Ralph Mainwaring, not content with trying +by every means within his power to deprive me of my right and +title to the estate for years wrongfully withheld from my father +and from myself, now accuses me of being the murderer of Hugh +Mainwaring. I Say to Ralph Mainwaring, for me, that, not through +what he terms my 'inordinate greed and ambition,' but through +God-given rights which no man can take from me, I will have my +own, and he is powerless to prevent it or to stand in my way. But +say to him that I will never touch one farthing of this property +until I stand before the world free and acquitted of the most remote +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring; nor until the foul and +dastardly crime that stains Fair Oaks shall have been avenged!" + +Amid the prolonged applause that followed, Harold Mainwaring left +the building. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RUN TO COVER + + +A dull, cheerless day in the early part of December was merging +into a stormy night as the west-bound express over one of the +transcontinental railways, swiftly winding its way along the +tortuous course of a Rocky Mountain canyon, suddenly paused before +the long, low depot of a typical western mining city. The arc +lights swinging to and fro shed only a ghastly radiance through the +dense fog, and grotesque shadows, dancing hither and thither to the +vibratory motion of the lights, seemed trying to contest supremacy +with the feeble rays. + +The train had not come to a full stop when a man sprang lightly +from one of the car platforms, and, passing swiftly through the +waiting crowd, concealed himself in the friendly shelter of the +shadows, where he remained oblivious to the rain falling in +spiteful dashes, while he scanned the hurrying crowd surging in +various directions. Not one of the crowd observed him; not one +escaped his observation. Soon his attention was riveted upon a +tall man, closely muffled in fur coat and cap, who descended from +one of the rear coaches, and, after a quick, cautious glance about +him, passed the silent, motionless figure in the shadow and hastily +entered a carriage standing near. The other, listening intently +for the instructions given the driver, caught the words, "545 +Jefferson Street." + +As the carriage rolled away, he emerged from the shadow and jotted +down the address in a small note-book, soliloquizing as he did so,-- + +"I have tracked him to his lair at last, and now, unless that +infernal hoodoo looms upon the scene, I can get in my work in good +shape. I would have had my game weeks ago, but for his appearance, +confound him!" + +He looked at his watch. "Dinner first," he muttered, "the next +thing in order is to find the alias under which my gentleman is at +present travelling. No one seems to know much about him in these +parts." + +The dim light revealed a man below medium height, his form enveloped +in a heavy English mackintosh thrown carelessly about his shoulders, +which, as he made his notes, blew partially open, revealing an +immaculate shirt front and a brilliant diamond which scintillated +and sparkled in open defiance of the surrounding gloom. A soft felt +hat well pulled down concealed his eyes and the upper part of his +face, leaving visible only a slightly aquiline nose and heavy, black +mustache, which gave his face something of a Jewish cast. Replacing +his note-book in his pocket, he called a belated carriage, and +hastily gave orders to be taken to the Clifton House. + +Arriving at the hotel, the stranger registered as "A. Rosenbaum, +Berlin," and, having secured one of the best rooms the house afforded, +repaired to the dining-room. Dinner over, Mr. Rosenbaum betook +himself to a quiet corner of the office, which served also as a +reading-room, and soon was apparently absorbed in a number of Eastern +papers, both English and German, though a keen observer would have +noted that the papers were occasionally lowered sufficiently to give +the eyes--again concealed beneath the hat-brim--an opportunity for +reconnoitering the situation. He was attired in a black suit of +faultless fit, and a superb ruby on his left hand gleamed and glowed +like living fire, rivalling in beauty the flashing diamond. He +speedily became the subject of considerable speculation among the +various classes of men congregating in the hotel office, most of +them for an evening of social enjoyment, though a few seemed to have +gathered there for the purpose of conducting business negotiations. +Among the latter, after a time, was the tall man in fur coat and +cap, who appeared to be waiting for some one with whom he had an +appointment, as he shunned the crowd, selecting a seat near Mr. +Rosenbaum as the most quiet place available. Having removed his +cap and thrown back the high collar of his fur coat, he appeared to +be a man of about fifty years of age, with iron-gray hair and a full, +heavy beard of the same shade. He wore dark glasses, and, having +seated himself with his back towards the light, drew forth from his +pocket a number of voluminous type-written documents, and became +absorbed in a perusal of their contents. + +Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Clifton House, feeling considerable +curiosity regarding his new guest, sauntered over in his direction. + +"Well, Mr. Rosenbaum," he remarked, genially, "you have hit on +rather a stormy night for your introduction to our city, for I take +it you are a stranger here, are you not?" + +The soft hat was raised slightly, revealing a rather stolid, +expressionless face, with dark eyes nearly concealed by long lashes. + +"Not the most agreeable, certainly," he answered, with an expressive +shrug and a marked German accent, at the same time ignoring the +other's question. + +"Your first impressions are not likely to be very pleasant, but if +you stop over a few days you will see we have a fine city. Do you +remain here long?" + +"I cannot say at present; depends entirely upon business, you +understand." + +"I see. What's your line?" + +For reply the stranger handed the other a small card, on which was +engraved, "Rosenbaum Brothers, Diamond Brokers, Berlin," and bearing +on one corner his own name, "A. Rosenbaum." + +"Diamond brokers, eh? You don't say!" exclaimed the proprietor, +regarding the bit of pasteboard with visible respect. "Must be quite +a business. You represent this firm, I suppose; you are their +salesman?" + +The stranger shook his head with a smile. "We have no salesmen," he +answered, quietly. "We have branch houses in Paris, London, and New +York, but we employ no travelling salesmen. Any one can sell +diamonds; my business is to buy them," with marked emphasis on the +last words. + +"Well," said his interlocutor, "you're not looking for 'em out here, +are you?" + +"Why not here as well as anywhere? So far as my experience goes, +it is nothing uncommon in this part of the country to run across +owners of fine stones who, for one reason or another, are very glad +to exchange the same for cash." + +"Yes, I suppose so. When a fellow gets down to bedrock, he'll put +up most anything to make a raise." + +"There are many besides those who are down to bedrock, as you call +it, who are glad to make an exchange of that kind," said Mr. +Rosenbaum, speaking with deliberation and keeping an eye upon his +neighbor in the fur coat; "but their reasons, whatever they may be, +do not concern us; our business is simply to buy the gems wherever +we can find them and ask no questions." + +By this time a fourth man was approaching in their direction, +evidently the individual for whom the man in the fur coat was +waiting, and Mr. Rosenbaum, thinking it time to put an end to the +conversation, rose and began to don his mackintosh. + +"Surely you are not going out to-night!" said the proprietor; "better +stay indoors, and I'll make you acquainted with some of the boys." + +"Much obliged, but an important engagement compels me to forego that +pleasure," said Mr. Rosenbaum, and, bidding his host good-evening, he +sallied forth, well aware that every word of their conversation had +been overheard by their silent neighbor, notwithstanding the +voluminous documents which seemed to engross his attention. + +Passing out into the night, he found the storm fast abating. +Stopping at a news-stand, he inquired for a directory, which he +carefully studied for a few moments, then walked down the principal +thoroughfare until, coming to a side street, he turned and for a +number of blocks passed up one street and down another, plunging at +last into a dark alley. + +Upon emerging therefrom a block away, the soft felt hat had given +place to a jaunty cap, while a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses +perched upon the aquiline nose gave the wearer a decidedly youthful +and debonnaire appearance. Approaching a secluded house in a dimly +lighted location, he glanced sharply at the number, as though to +reassure himself, then running swiftly up the front steps, he +pulled the door-bell vigorously and awaited developments. After +considerable delay the door was unlocked and partially opened by a +hatchet-faced woman, who peered cautiously out, her features lighted +by the uncertain rays of a candle which the draught momentarily +threatened to extinguish. + +"Good-evening, madam," said the stranger, airily. "Pardon such an +unseasonable call, but I wish to see Mr. Lovering, who, I understand, +has rooms here." + +"There's no such person rooming here," she replied, sharply, her +manner indicating that this bit of information ended the interview, +but her interlocutor was not to be so easily dismissed. + +"No such person!" he exclaimed, at the same time scrutinizing in +apparent perplexity a small card which he had produced. "J. D. +Lovering, 545 Jefferson Street; isn't this 545, madam?" + +"Yes," she answered, testily, "this is 545; but there's nobody here +by the name of Lovering." + +The young man turned as if to go. "Have you any roomers at present?" +he inquired, doubtfully. + +"I have one, but his name is Mannering." + +"Mannering," he repeated, thoughtfully, once more facing her; "I +wonder if I am not mistaken in the name? Will you kindly describe +Mr. Mannering?" + +The woman hesitated, eying him suspiciously. "He ain't likely to +be the man you want," she said, slowly, "for he don't have no +callers, and he never goes anywhere, except out of the city once in +a while on business. He's an oldish man, with dark hair and beard +streaked with gray, and he wears dark glasses." + +"Ah, no," the young man interrupted hastily, "that is not the man at +all; the man I am looking for is rather young and a decided blond. +I am sorry to have troubled you, madam; I beg a thousand pardons," +and with profuse apologies he bowed himself down the steps, to the +evident relief of the landlady. + +As the door closed behind him, Mr. Rosenbaum paused a moment to +reconnoitre. The house he had just left was the only habitable +building visible in the immediate vicinity, but a few rods farther +down the street was a small cabin, whose dilapidated appearance +indicated that it was unoccupied. Approaching the cabin cautiously, +Mr. Rosenbaum tried the door; it offered but slight resistance, and, +entering, he found it, as he had surmised, empty and deserted. +Stationing himself near a window which overlooked No. 545, he +regarded the isolated dwelling with considerable interest. It was +a two-story structure with a long extension in the rear, only one +story in height. With the exception of a dim light in this rear +portion, the house was entirely dark, which led Mr. Rosenbaum to +the conclusion that the landlady's private apartments were in this +part of the building and remote from the room occupied by her lodger, +which he surmised to be the front room on the second floor, a side +window of which faced the cabin. + +For more than an hour Mr. Rosenbaum remained at his post, and at +last had the satisfaction of seeing the tall figure in the fur coat +approaching down the dimly lighted street. He ascended the steps +of 545, let himself in with a night-key, and a moment later the gas +in the upper front room was turned on, showing Mr. Rosenbaum's +surmise to be correct. For an instant the flaring flame revealed +a pale face without the dark glasses, and with a full, dark beard +tinged with gray; then it was lowered and the window blinds were +closely drawn, precluding the possibility of further observation. +The face was like and yet unlike what Mr. Rosenbaum had expected +to see; he determined upon a nearer and better view, without the +dark glasses, before making any decisive move. + +The following evening, as soon as it was dusk, found Mr. Rosenbaum +again at the window of the deserted cabin, keenly observant of No. +545. A faint light burned in the rear of the lower floor, while in +the front room upstairs a fire was evidently burning in an open +grate, the rest of the house being in darkness. Presently a man's +figure, tall and well formed, could be seen pacing up and down the +room, appearing, vanishing, and reappearing in the wavering +firelight. For nearly an hour he continued his perambulation, his +hands clasped behind him as though absorbed in deep thought. At +last, arousing himself from his revery, the man looked at his watch +and vanished, reappearing ten minutes later at the front door, in +the usual fur coat and cap, and, descending the steps, turned +towards town and proceeded leisurely down the street, Mr. Rosenbaum +following at some distance, but always keeping him in view and +gradually diminishing the distance between them as the thoroughfare +became more crowded, till they were nearly opposite each other. + +Finally, the man paused before a restaurant and, turning, looked +carefully up and down the street. For the first time he observed +Mr. Rosenbaum and seemed to regard him with close attention, but +the latter gentleman was absorbed in the contemplation of an +assortment of diamonds and various gems displayed in a jeweller's +window, directly opposite the restaurant. In the mirrored back of +the show-case the restaurant was plainly visible, and Mr. Rosenbaum +noted with satisfaction the other's evident interest in himself, +and continued to study the contents of the show-case till the man +had entered the restaurant, seating himself at one of the +unoccupied tables. Having observed his man well started on the +first course of dinner, Mr. Rosenbaum crossed the street slowly, +entered the restaurant and with a pre-occupied air seated himself +at the same table with Mr. Mannering. After giving his order, he +proceeded to unfold the evening paper laid beside his plate, without +even a glance at his vis-a-vis. His thoughts, however, were not +on the printed page, but upon the man opposite, whom he had followed +from city to city, hearing of him by various names and under various +guises; hitherto unable to obtain more than a fleeting glimpse of +him, but now brought face to face. + +"Alias Henry J. Mannering at last!" he commented mentally, as he +refolded his paper; "you have led me a long chase, my man, but you +and I will now have our little game, and I will force you to show +your hand before it is over!" + +Glancing casually across at his neighbor, he found the dark glasses +focused upon himself with such fixity that he responded with a +friendly nod, and, making some trivial remark, found Mr. Mannering +not at all averse to conversation. A few commonplaces were exchanged +until the arrival of Mr. Rosenbaum's order, when the other remarked,-- + +"Evidently you do not find the cuisine of the Clifton House entirely +satisfactory." + +"It is very good," Mr. Rosenbaum answered, indifferently, "but an +occasional change is agreeable. By the way, sir, have I met you at +the Clifton? I do not remember to have had that pleasure." + +"We have not met," replied the other. "I saw you there last evening, +however, as I happened in soon after your arrival." + +"Ah, so? I am very deficient in remembering faces." + +Mr. Mannering hesitated a moment, then remarked with a smile, "I, +on the contrary, am quite observant of faces, and yours seems +somewhat familiar; have I not seen you elsewhere than here?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum raised his eyebrows in amusement. "It is very possible +you have, my dear sir; I travel constantly, and for aught that I +know you may have seen me in nearly every city on the globe. May I +inquire your business, sir? Do you also travel?" + +"No," said Mr. Mannering, slowly, but apparently relieved by Mr. +Rosenbaum's answer, "I am not engaged in any particular line of +business at present. I am interested in mining to a considerable +extent, and am out here just now looking after my properties. How +do you find business in your line?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum shook his head with a slight shrug. + +"Nothing so far to make it worth my while to stay. You see, sir, +for such a trade as ours we want only the finest gems that can be +bought; we have no use for ordinary stones, and that is all I have +seen here so far;" and, having thrown out his bait, he awaited +results. + +A long pause followed, while Mr. Mannering toyed with his fork, +drawing numerous diagrams on the table-cloth. + +"I think," he said at last, slowly, "that I could get you one or two +fine diamonds if you cared to buy and would give anything like their +true valuation." + +"That would depend, of course, upon the quality of the diamonds; +really fine gems we are always ready to buy and to pay a good price +for." + +"If I am any judge of diamonds, these are valuable stones," said Mr. +Mannering, "and the owner of them, who is a friend of mine, being +himself a connoisseur in that line, would not be likely to entertain +any false ideas regarding their value." + +"And your friend wishes to sell them?" + +"I am inclined to think that he might dispose of one or two for a +sufficient consideration, subject, however, to one condition,--that +no questions will be asked." + +"That goes without saying, my dear sir; asking questions is not our +business. We are simply looking for the finest stones that money +can buy, without regard to anything else. Perhaps," added Mr. +Rosenbaum, tentatively, "we might arrange with your friend for a +meeting between the three of us." + +"That would be impracticable," Mr. Mannering replied; "he is out of +the city; and furthermore I know he would not care to appear in the +transaction, but would prefer to have me conduct the negotiations. +I was going to suggest that if you were to remain here a few days, +I shall see my friend in a day or so, as I am going out to look +over some mining properties in which we are both interested, and I +could bring in some of the gems with me, and we might then see what +terms we could make." + +"I can remain over, sir, if you can make it an object for me, and +if the stones prove satisfactory I have no doubt we can make terms. +Why, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum leaned across the table and his voice +assumed a confidential tone, "money would be no object with me if I +could get one or two particular gems that I want. For instance, I +have one diamond that I would go to the ends of the earth and pay +a small fortune when I got there, if I could only find a perfect +match for it!" and he launched forth upon an enthusiastic description +of the stone, expatiating upon its enormous size, its wonderful +brilliancy and perfection, adding in conclusion, "and its workmanship +shows it to be at least two hundred years old! Think of that, sir! +What would I not give to be able to match it!" + +A peculiar expression flitted over his listener's face, not +unobserved by Mr. Rosenbaum. He made no immediate response, however, +but when at last the two men separated, it was with the agreement +that they should dine together at the same café three days later, +when Mr. Mannering would have returned from his conference with his +friend, at which time, if the latter cared to dispose of his jewels, +they would be submitted for inspection. + +Upon retiring to his room that night, Mr. Rosenbaum sat for some +time in deep abstraction, and when he finally turned off the gas, +he murmured,-- + +"He will produce the jewels all right, and may heaven preserve us +both from the hoodoo!" + +For the two days next ensuing, Mr. Rosenbaum watched closely the +arrivals in the city, but, notwithstanding his vigilance, there +slipped in unaware, on the evening of the second day, a quiet, +unassuming man, who went to the Windsor Hotel, registering there +as "A. J. Johnson, Chicago." At a late hour, while Mr. Rosenbaum, +in the solitude of his own room, was perfecting his plans for the +following day, Mr. Johnson, who was making a tour of inspection +among the leading hotels, sauntered carelessly into the office of +the Clifton. He seemed rather socially inclined, and soon was +engaged in conversation with the proprietor and a dozen of the +"boys," all of whom were informed that he was travelling through +the West on the lookout for "snaps" in the way of mining investments. +This announcement produced general good feeling, and there were not +wanting plenty who offered to take Mr. Johnson around the city on +the following day and introduce him to the leading mining men and +promoters. + +"Much obliged, boys," said Mr. Johnson, "but there's no rush. I +expect to meet some friends here in a few days, and till they come +I shall simply look around on the q. t., you understand, and make +some observations for myself. And that reminds me, gentlemen," he +added, "do any of you happen to know a man by the name of Mannering, +who is interested in mines out here?" + +"Mannering?" answered one of the group; "there's a man by that name +has been around here off and on for the last two or three months; +but I didn't know he was interested in mines to any extent, though +he seems to have plenty of money." + +"I think that is the man I have in mind; will you describe him?" + +"Well, he's tall, about middle age, rather gray, wears blue glasses, +and never has anything to say to anybody; a queer sort of fellow." + +Mr. Johnson nodded, but before he could reply, another in the group +remarked, "Oh, that's the fellow you mean, is it? I've seen him at +the Royal Café for the last six weeks, and in all that time he's +never exchanged a dozen words with anybody, till here, the other +night, that diamond Dutchman of yours," addressing the proprietor +of the Clifton, "came waltzing in there, and I'll be hanged if the +two didn't get as confidential over their dinner as two old women +over a cup of tea." + +Mr. Johnson turned towards the proprietor with a quiet smile. "The +'diamond Dutchman!' Is he a guest of your house?" + +"Mr. Rosenbaum?" + +"Yes; do you know him?" + +"Not by name, but I think I have seen the gentleman on my travels; +engaged in the jewelry business, isn't he, and carries his +advertisements on his shirt-front and fingers?" + +"That's the man," the proprietor replied, amid a general laugh. +"Why? He's all right, isn't he?" + +"All right for aught that I know, sir; I haven't the pleasure of +the gentleman's acquaintance, though possibly I may have if we both +remain here long enough," and he carelessly turned the subject of +conversation. + +A little later, as Mr. Johnson left the Clifton, he soliloquized, +"Well, if I haven't exactly killed two birds with one stone, I think +I've snared two birds in one trap. Since coming West I haven't +located one without seeing or hearing of the other; it's my belief +they're 'pals,' and if I can pull in the pair, so much the better." + +The following evening found Mr. Johnson in the vicinity of the Royal +Café; having discovered a small newsstand opposite, he strolled in +thither, and, buying a couple of papers, seated himself in a quiet +corner, prepared to take observations. He had not waited long when +Mr. Mannering made his appearance, and, after pausing a moment to +look up and down the street, entered the restaurant. He had been +seated but a moment when Mr. Rosenbaum appeared, crossing the street, +having evidently left the jeweller's store, and also entered the +café. The two men shook hands and immediately withdrew to one of +the private boxes. Mr. Johnson had visited the Royal Café earlier +in the day and made himself familiar with its interior arrangement. +Knowing the box just taken to be No. 3, and that No. 4 directly +opposite was unoccupied, he at once proceeded across the street to +the restaurant. Stopping at the cashier's desk, he said in a low +tone, "I expect some friends later, and don't wish to be disturbed +till they come; understand?" + +The man nodded, and Mr. Johnson passed on noiselessly into No. 4. +Meanwhile, the occupants of No. 3 having received their orders, +dismissed the waiter, with the information that when they needed +his services they would ring for him. Mr. Mannering was visibly +excited, so much so that his dinner remained almost untasted, and +the other, observing his evident agitation, pushed aside his own +plate and, folding his arms upon the table, inquired indifferently,-- + +"Well, my dear sir, what was your friend's decision?" + +For reply, the other drew from his pocket a small case, which he +silently handed across the table. Mr. Rosenbaum opened it, +disclosing, as he did so, a pair of diamonds of moderate size, but +of unusual brilliancy and perfectly matched. He examined them +silently, scrutinizing them closely, while his face indicated +considerable dissatisfaction. + +"What does your friend expect for these?" he asked at length. + +"What will you give for them?" was the counter-question. + +"I do not care to set a price on them, for I do not want them," he +replied, rather shortly. + +"I think," said Mr. Mannering, "that my friend would dispose of +them at a reasonable figure, as he is at present in need of ready +cash with which to consummate an important mining negotiation." + +After considerable fencing and parrying, Mr. Rosenbaum made an offer +for the gems, to which Mr. Mannering demurred. + +"Show me a higher class of gems and I will offer you a better price," +said Mr. Rosenbaum, finally seeming to grow impatient. "Show me one +like this, for instance, and I will offer you a small fortune," and +opening a case which he had quickly drawn from his pocket, he took +from it an enormous diamond, beside whose dazzling brilliancy the +pair of gems under consideration seemed suddenly to grow dim and +lustreless. He held it up and a thousand rays of prismatic light +flashed in as many different directions. + +"What do you think of that, my dear sir? When I can find a match +for that magnificent stone, we can fill an order which we have held +for more than twelve months from the royal house in Germany. But +where will I find it?" + +Twirling the gem carelessly between his thumb and finger, he watched +the face of his companion and saw it change to a deathly pallor. + +"May I see that for one moment?" he asked, and his voice sounded +unnatural and constrained, while the hand which he extended across +the table trembled visibly. + +"Most certainly, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum replied, and, in compliance +with the request, handed to Mr. Mannering the gem which the latter +had himself disposed of less than three months before in one of the +large Western cities. Nothing could escape the piercing eyes now +fastened upon that face with its strange pallor, its swiftly +changing expression. Unconscious of this scrutiny, Mr. Mannering +regarded the gem silently, then removed his glasses for a closer +inspection. Having satisfied his curiosity, he returned the stone +to Mr. Rosenbaum, and as he did so, found the eyes of the latter +fixed not upon the gem, but upon his own face. Something in their +glance seemed to disconcert him for an instant, but he quickly +recovered himself, and, replacing the colored glasses, remarked +with a forced composure,-- + +"That is a magnificent stone. May I ask when and where you found +it?" + +"I picked it up in one of your cities some three months ago, maybe, +more or less." + +"You bought it in this country, then? Why may you not expect to +match it here?" + +"Simply on the theory, my dear sir, that the lightning never strikes +twice in the same place." + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Mannering, calmly, "I will show you a stone so +perfect a match for that, you yourself could not distinguish between +the two." + +"You have such a diamond!" Mr. Rosenbaum exclaimed; "why then are +you wasting time with these?" and he pushed the smaller diamonds +from him with a gesture of contempt. "Why did you not produce it +in the first place?" + +"Because," replied Mr. Mannering, his composure now fully restored, +"I do not propose to produce it until I know somewhere near what +you will give for it." + +"My dear sir," Mr. Rosenbaum's tones became eager, "as I have already +told you, if I can match this stone," placing it on the table between +them, "I will pay you a small fortune; money would be no object; you +could have your own price." + +Without further words, Mr. Mannering drew forth a small package, +which he carefully opened, and, taking therefrom an exact duplicate +of the wonderful gem, placed it upon the table beside the latter. + +With a smile which the other did not see, Mr. Rosenbaum bent his +head to examine the stones; he had recognized his man in the brief +instant that their eyes had met, and now, within his grasp, lay, as +he well knew from the description which he carried, two of the finest +diamonds in the famous Mainwaring collection of jewels, stolen less +than six months before; his triumph was almost complete. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson, who had overheard much of their conversation, +was congratulating himself upon the near success of his own schemes, +when the officiousness of a waiter overthrew the plans of all parties +and produced the greatest confusion. Catching sight of the gentleman +waiting in No. 4, he ignored the cashier's instructions and entered +the box to take his order. Mr. Johnson's reply, low and brief though +it was, caught the quick ear of Mr. Rosenbaum, who muttered under his +breath,-- + +"The hoodoo! confound him!" + +At the same instant a draught lifted the curtain to NO. 3, revealing +to the astonished Mannering a view of Mr. Johnson's profile in the +opposite box. His own face grew white as the table-cloth before +him; he reached wildly for the diamond, but both gems were gone, and +Rosenbaum confronted him with a most sinister expression. + +"My diamond!" he gasped. + +"The diamonds are safe," replied the other in a low tone, "and you," +addressing Mannering by his true name, "the more quiet you are just +now the better." + +The elder man's face grew livid with rage and fear, and, rising +suddenly to his feet, his tall form towered far above Rosenbaum. + +"Wretch!" he hissed, with an oath, "you have betrayed me, curse you!" +and, dealing the smaller man a blow which floored him, he rushed from +the box. + +In an instant Rosenbaum staggered to his feet, and, pausing only long +enough to make sure of the safety of the jewels, rushed from the café, +reaching the street just in time to see his man jump into a cab, which +whirled swiftly and started down the street at break-neck speed. Two +cabmen, talking at a short distance, hurried to the scene, and, +calling one of them, Mr. Rosenbaum hastily took a second cab and +started in pursuit of the first, but not before he had caught a +glimpse of Mr. Johnson making active preparations to follow them +both. + +"Hang that fellow!" he muttered, as he heard wheels behind him. +"This is the third time he has spoiled the game; but I've got the +winning hand, and he'll not beat me out of it!" + +By this time the first cab, having turned a corner a short distance +ahead, was out of sight, but Rosenbaum, convinced from the direction +taken of its destination, and knowing a more direct route, shouted +to the driver what streets to follow, and to come out upon the alley +near No. 545 Jefferson Street. + +"The old fellow will think I've lost the trail when he finds he's +not followed," he soliloquized, amid the joltings of the vehicle, +"and maybe it will throw the hoodoo off the track." + +But Mr. Johnson had no intention of being thrown off. He had seen +cab No. 2 a take a different course, and, having lost sight of No. 1, +decided that a bird in the hand would be worth two in the bush, and +that he would follow up the "pal." + +As cab No. 2 approached Jefferson Street, Rosenbaum called to the +driver to slacken and drive on the dark side of the alley. He jumped +out to reconnoitre; a cab was just stopping at No. 545, a tall figure +got out and hastily disappeared up the steps, while the cab whirled +rapidly away. + +"Turn about, drive back quietly, and answer no questions," Rosenbaum +said, slipping a bill into the driver's hand, and then glided swiftly +through the shadow to No. 545. His maneuvers were seen, however, by +Mr. Johnson, who immediately proceeded to follow his example. + +Running quickly up the steps to No. 545, Rosenbaum produced a bunch +of skeleton keys, which he proceeded to try. The first was useless, +the second ditto; he heard steps approaching; the third fitted the +lock, but, as it turned, a hand was laid upon his shoulder, a dark +lantern flashed in his face, and a voice said,-- + +"Your game is up, my man; you had better come with me as peaceably +as possible!" + +For answer, the other turned quickly, and, without a word, lifted +the lapel of his coat, where a star gleamed brightly in the rays +of the lantern. + +The band holding the lantern dropped suddenly, and its owner +ejaculated, "Heavens and earth! what does this mean? Who are you?" + +"I am Dan McCabe, at your service," was the cool reply; then, as the +other remained speechless with astonishment, McCabe continued: "I've +no time to waste with you, Mr. Merrick; we may have a desperate piece +of work on hand; but if you'll come with me, I give you my word for +it that before this job is over you'll meet the biggest surprise of +your life." + +Pushing open the door, McCabe noiselessly climbed the stairs, +beckoning Merrick to follow. By the light of the dark lantern he +selected the door leading to the room occupied by Mannering, and, +after listening a moment, nodded significantly to Merrick. + +"Is he there?" the latter whispered. + +"He is there," said McCabe, grimly, "but not the man you are looking +for. I'll tell you who is there," and he whispered in his ear. + +Merrick staggered as if from a blow. "Great God!" he exclaimed +aloud. + +There was a sudden sound within as of some one frightened and moving +hastily. McCabe again called the man by name, and demanded +admittance. There was a moment's silence, and then McCabe, with +Merrick's aid, forced in the door, and as it yielded there came from +within the sharp report of a revolver, followed by a heavy groan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING + + +The case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring had been set for the opening +of the December term of court, being the first case on the docket. +The intervening weeks, crowded with preparation for the coming +litigation, had passed, and now, on the eve of the contest, each side +having marshalled its forces, awaited the beginning of the fray, each +alike confident of victory and each alike little dreaming of the end. +From near and far was gathered an array of legal talent as well as of +expert testimony seldom equalled, all for the purpose of determining +the validity or invalidity of a bit of paper-yellow with age, +time-worn and musty which stood as an insurmountable barrier between +Ralph Mainwaring and the fulfilment of his long cherished project. + +The Fair Oaks tragedy still remained as deep a mystery as on the +morning when, in all its horror of sickening detail, it had startled +and shocked the entire community. No trace of the murderer had been +as yet reported, and even Mr. Whitney had been forced to acknowledge +in reply to numerous inquiries that he had of late received no +tidings whatever from Merrick, either of success or failure. + +Since the announcement of Harold Mainwaring at the club that he +would not touch a farthing of the Mainwaring estate until not only +his own name should be cleared of the slightest imputation of murder, +but until the murder itself should be avenged, it had been rumored +that the party at the Waldorf was in possession of facts containing +the clue to the whole mystery. Though this was mere conjecture, it +was plainly evident that whatever secrets that party held in its +possession were not likely to be divulged before their time. The +party had been augmented by the arrival of the senior member of the +firm of Barton & Barton, while the register of the Waldorf showed at +that time numerous other arrivals from London, all of whom proved to +be individuals of a severely judicial appearance and on extremely +intimate terms with the original Waldorf party. Of the business of +the former, however, or the movements of the latter, nothing definite +could be learned. Despatches in cipher still flashed daily over the +wires, but their import remained a matter of the merest surmise to +the curious world outside. + +Ralph Mainwaring, on the contrary, since the arrival of his London +attorneys, Upham and Blackwell, with Graham, the well-known +chirographical expert, had seized every opportunity for rendering +himself and them as conspicuous as possible, while his boasts of +their well-laid plans, the strong points in their case, and their +ultimate triumph, formed his theme on all occasions. Mr. Whitney's +position at this time was not an enviable one, for Ralph Mainwaring, +having of late become dimly conscious of a lack of harmony between +himself and his New York attorney, took special delight in frequently +flouting his opinions and advice in the presence of the English +solicitors; but that gentleman, mindful of a rapidly growing account, +wisely pocketed his pride, and continued to serve his client with +the most urbane courtesy, soothing his wounded sensibilities with an +extra fee for every snub. + +On the day prior to that set for the opening of the trial, among the +numerous equipages drawn up at one of the piers, awaiting an incoming +ocean-liner, was the Mainwaring carriage, containing, as usual, Ralph +Mainwaring, Upham and Blackwell, and Mr. Whitney. The carriage and +its occupants formed the centre of attraction to a considerable +portion of the crowd, until attention was suddenly diverted by the +sight of a stylish turnout in the shape of an elegant trap and a pair +of superb bays driven tandem, which passed the Mainwaring carriage +and took its position at some distance nearer the pier. Seated in +the trap were Harold Mainwaring and Hugh Mainwaring, junior. Their +appearance together at that particular time and place excited no +little wonder and comment, especially when, the gangplank having +been thrown down, the young men left the turnout in care of a +policeman and walked rapidly towards the hurrying stream of +passengers, followed more slowly by Ralph Mainwaring and his party. + +All was explained a few moments later, as that embodiment of +geniality, William Mainwaring Thornton, loomed up in the crowd, his +daughter upon one arm, upon the other Miss Carleton, and accompanied +by Mrs. Hogarth and the usual retinue of attendants. + +"Looks like a family reunion, by George!" exclaimed one of the +on-lookers, as a general exchange of greetings ensued, but to a +close observer it was evident that between some members of the +different parties the relations were decidedly strained. No so with +Mr. Thornton, however; his first greetings were for the young men. + +"Well, well, Hugh, you contumacious young rascal! how are you? I +hear you've kicked over the traces and set the governor and his +sovereigns at defiance! Well, you've shown yourself a Mainwaring, +that's all I have to say! Here is a young lady, however, who is +waiting to give you a piece of her mind; you'll have to settle with +her." + +"Papa!" exclaimed Edith Thornton in faint protest, her fair face +suffused with blushes as she came forward to meet her lover, while +her father turned towards Harold Mainwaring. + +"Well, my dear sir," he said, extending his hand with the utmost +cordiality, "I am glad to meet you in your own proper sphere at +last; I always thought you were far too good looking for a secretary! +But, joking aside, my dear boy, let me assure you that as the son of +Harold Scott Mainwaring, one of the most royal fellows I ever knew, +I congratulate you and wish you success." + +Deeply touched by Mr. Thornton's kindness and his allusion to his +father, the young man thanked him with considerable emotion. + +"That is all right," the elder man responded heartily; "I was very +sorry not to have met you in London, but I heard the particulars of +your story from Winifred, and--well, I consider her a very +level-headed young woman, and I think you are to be congratulated +on that score also." + +"No one is better aware of that fact than I," said the young man, +warmly, and passed on to meet the young ladies, while Mr. Thornton +turned to confront the frowning face of Ralph Mainwaring. + +"Hello, Mainwaring! What's the matter? You look black as a +thunder-cloud! Did you have something indigestible for luncheon?" + +"Matter enough I should say," growled the other, unsuccessfully +trying to ignore Mr. Thornton's outstretched hand, "to find you +hobnobbing with that blackguard!" + +Mr. Thornton glanced over his shoulder at the young people with a +comical look of perplexity. "Well, you see how it is yourself, +Mainwaring: what is a fellow to do? This is a house divided against +itself, as it were, and no matter what my personal sentiments +towards you might be, I find myself forced to maintain a position +of strict neutrality." + +"Neutrality be damned! you had better maintain better parental +government in your own family!" + +"As you do in yours, for instance." + +"You know very well," continued Ralph Mainwaring, flushing angrily, +"that if you had forbidden Edith marrying Hugh under present +conditions, he would have got down off his high horse very quickly." + +"That is something I would never do," Mr. Thornton replied, calmly, +"for two reasons; first, I have never governed my daughter by direct +commands and prohibitions, and, second, I think just as much of Hugh +Mainwaring without his father's money as with it; more, if it is to +be accompanied with the conditions which you imposed." + +"Then am I to understand," demanded the other, angrily, "that you +intend to go against me in this matter?" + +"My dear Mainwaring," said Mr. Thornton, much as he would address a +petulant child, "this is all the merest nonsense. I am not going +against you, for I have no part in this contest; my position is +necessarily neutral; but if you want my opinion of the whole matter, +I will tell you frankly that I think, for once in your life, you +have bitten off more than you can swallow, and you will find it so +before long." + +"Perhaps it might be just as well to reserve your opinion till it +is called for," the other answered, shortly. + +"All right," returned Mr. Thornton, with imperturbable good humor; +"but any time that you want to wager a thousand or so on the outcome +of this affair, remember the money is ready for you!" + +The conversation changed, but Ralph Mainwaring was far more +chagrined and annoyed than he would have acknowledged. Mr. +Thornton's words rang in his ears till they seemed an augury of +defeat, and, though outwardly as dogged and defiant as ever, he was +unable to banish them, or to throw off the strange sense of +depression which followed. + +Meanwhile, amid the discordant elements surrounding them, Harold +Mainwaring and Winifred Carleton found little opportunity for any +but the most desultory conversation, but happily there was little +need for words between them. Heart can speak to heart through the +subtle magnetism of a hand-clasp, or the swift flash from eye to +eye, conveying meanings for which words often prove inadequate. + +"You wrote that you were confident of victory, and your looks bear +it out," she said, 'with a radiant smile; "but I would have come +just the same, even had there been no hope of success for you." + +"I need no assurance of your faith and loyalty," he replied, gazing +tenderly into her luminous eyes, "but your coming will make my +triumph ten times sweeter." + +"Of course you will spend the evening with, us at our hotel,--uncle +cabled for apartments at the Savoy,--and I am all impatience to +learn whatever you are at liberty to tell me concerning your case, +for there must have been some wonderful developments in your favor +soon after your arrival in this country, you have seemed so much more +hopeful; and do not let me forget, I have something to show you which +will interest you. It is a written statement by Hugh Mainwaring +himself regarding this identical will that is causing all this +controversy." + +"A statement of Hugh Mainwaring's!" Harold repeated in astonishment; +"how did it come into your possession?" + +"That is the strangest part of it," she replied, hurriedly, for +they had now reached the carriages in waiting for them. "I received +it through the mail, from America, a few days before I left London, +and from--you cannot imagine whom--Mr. Merrick, the detective. +How he ever knew my address, or how he should surmise that I was +particularly interested in you," she blushed very prettily with +these words, "is more than I can understand, however." + +"I think I can explain that part of it," said Harold, with a smile; +"but how such a statement ever came into his hands is a mystery to +me. I will see you this evening without fail," and, assisting Miss +Carleton into the carriage, he bade her au revoir, and hastened to +rejoin young Mainwaring. + +That evening witnessed rather a novel reception in the private +parlors of the Savoy; both parties to the coming contest being +entertained by their mutual friends. When Harold Mainwaring finally +succeeded in securing a tete-a-tete conversation with Miss Carleton, +she placed in his hands a small packet, saying,-- + +"You will find in this the statement of which I spoke to you, and +I wish you would also read the accompanying note, and explain how +the writer came to have so good an understanding of the situation." + +With eager haste he drew forth a sheet of paper little less time-worn +and yellowed than the ancient will itself, upon which was written, +in the methodical business hand with which he was so familiar, a +brief statement to the effect that a certain accompanying document +described as the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring +had been drawn and executed as such on the night preceding his +death, its intent and purpose being to reconvey to an elder son the +family estate, to which he had previously forfeited all right and +title; that efforts made to communicate with the beneficiary had +proved unavailing, as he had left the country and his place of +residence was unknown. Then followed Hugh Mainwaring's signature. +At the bottom of the page, however, was a foot-note of much later +date, which put a different complexion on the foregoing, and which +read as follows: + +"It has now been ascertained for a certainty that the beneficiary +mentioned in the accompanying will is no longer living. I have, +therefore, a clear title to the estate, as it would revert to me at +his death. The document itself is worthless, except as a possible +means of silencing that scoundrel, Hobson, should he attempt to +reveal anything of the past, as he has threatened to do, and for +this purpose I shall retain it in my possession until such time as +I make final adjustment of my affairs. + + "HUGH MAINWARING." + +"Ah," said Harold Mainwaring, thoughtfully, as he suddenly recalled +the morning when he had discovered Merrick and his assistant dragging +the lake at Fair Oaks, "I think I understand how this paper came +into Merrick's possession. It was evidently kept in the same +receptacle which held the will, but in my haste and excitement at +the discovery of the will I must have overlooked it. The box in +which these papers were kept afterwards fell into Merrick's hands, +and he must have found this." + +"That solves one riddle, here is the other," and Miss Carleton +handed her lover a small note, covered with a fine, delicate +chirography whose perfectly formed characters revealed a mind +accustomed to the study of minute details and appreciative of their +significance. He opened it and read the following: + +"MY DEAR MISS CARLETON: + +"Pardon the liberty I take, but, thinking the enclosed bit of paper +might be of some possible assistance to one in whose success I +believe you are deeply interested, I send it herewith, as, for +obvious reasons, I deem this circuitous method of transmission +better than one more direct. + +"As when taking leave of you on board the 'Campania,' so now, permit +me to assure you that if I can ever serve you as a friend, you have +but to command me. + + "Most sincerely yours, + "C. D. MERRICK." + + +A smile of amusement lighted Harold Mainwaring's face as, glancing +up from the note, his eyes met those of Miss Carleton's with their +expression of perplexed inquiry. + +"This is easily explained," he said; "do you remember the tall, +slender man whom we observed on board the 'Campania' as being rather +unsocial and taciturn?" + +"Yes, I remember he rather annoyed me, for I fancied he concentrated +considerably more thought and attention upon us than the +circumstances called for." + +"Which shows you were more observing than I. Such a thought never +entered my mind till I had been about ten days in London, when it +occurred to me that, considering the size of the town and the fact +that he and I were strangers, we met with astonishing frequency. I +have since learned that he was a detective sent over to London on +an important case, and being an intimate friend of Merrick's, the +latter, who, I am informed, was shadowing me pretty closely at the +time, requested him to follow my movements and report to him, which +he evidently did, as I have since heard that Merrick had expressed +to one or two that he was not at all surprised by the developments +which followed my return to this country. Consequently, it is not +to be wondered at if he has an inkling that you may be somewhat +interested in this case." + +"But what could have been Mr. Merrick's object in shadowing you?" + +"I cannot say. It may have been only part of his professional +vigilance in letting nothing escape his observation; but from the +first I was conscious of his close espionage of my movements. Now, +however, I am satisfied that he had none but friendly intentions, +and I appreciate his kindness, not only towards myself, but more +especially towards you." + +"Will that statement be of any assistance to you, do you think?" + +"I hardly think so under our present plans," he replied, after a +moment's reflection; "under recent developments our plans differ +so radically from what we first intended, that we will probably +have little use for any of the testimony which we had originally +prepared." + +"But these recent developments which have so changed your plans +must certainly have been in your favor and have rendered your +success the more assured, have they not?" + +"Not only more assured, but more speedy and complete. To me, the +coming trial means far more than the settlement of the controversy +over the estate; it means the complete and final vindication of my +character, so that I can stand before you and before the world +acquitted of every charge which my enemies would have sought to +bring against me." + +Her face grew radiant with sympathy. "I well know what that means +to you, and I would be first to congratulate you on such a victory, +for your own sake; but I needed no public acquittal to convince me +of your innocence,--not even," she added, slowly, "when you yourself +for some reason, which I hope one day to understand, were unable to +assure me of it." + +His dark eyes, glowing with suppressed feeling, met hers, the +intensity of their gaze thrilling her heart to its inmost depths. + +"Do not think that I can ever forget that," he said in low tones +which seemed to vibrate through her whole being; "do not think that +through any triumphs or joys which the future may bring, I can ever +forget, for one moment, the faith and love which stood loyally by +me in my darkest hour,--the hour when the shadow of the crime, +which has forever darkened Fair Oaks, was closing about my very +soul!" + +Startled at the sudden solemnity of his words and manner, she +remained silent, her eyes meeting his without a shade of doubt or +distrust, but full of wondering, tender inquiry, to which he +replied, while for an instant he laid his hand lightly and +caressingly on hers, "Only a few days longer, love, and I will tell +you all!" + +On the morning of the following day a dense crowd awaited, at an +early hour, the opening of the December term of court; a crowd which +was steadily augmented till, when the case of Mainwaring versus +Mainwaring was called, every available seat was filled. All +parties to the suit were promptly on hand, and amid a silence +almost oppressive, proponent and contestant, with their counsel +and witnesses, passed down the long aisle to their respective +places. + +Seldom had the old court-room, in its long and varied history, +held so imposing an array of legal talent as was assemble that +morning within its walls. The principal attorneys for the +contestant were Hunnewell & Whitney of New York, and the London +firm of Upham & Blackwell, while grouped about these were a number +of lesser luminaries, whose milder rays would sufficiently illumine +the minor points in the case. But at a glance it was clearly +evident that the galaxy of legal lights opposing them contained +only stars of the first magnitude. Most prominent among the latter +were Barton & Barton, of London, with Mr. Sutherland and his +life-long friend and coadjutor, M. D. Montague, with whom he had +never failed to take counsel in cases of special importance, all +men of superb physique and magnificent brains; while slightly in +the rear, as reinforcements, were the Hon. I. Ponsonby Roget, Q.C., +another Q.C. whose name had not yet reached the public ear, and a +Boston jurist whose brilliant career had made his name famous +throughout the United States. + +Prominent among the spectators were Mr. Scott and Mr. Thornton, +apparently on the best of terms, and watching proceedings with +demonstrations of the liveliest interest, while seated at a little +distance, less demonstrative, but no less interested, was young +Mainwaring, accompanied by Miss Thornton and Miss Carleton. + +The first day was devoted to preliminaries, the greater part of +the time being consumed in the selection of a jury. One after +another of those impaneled was examined, challenged by one side or +the other, and dismissed; not until the entire panel had been +exhausted and several special venires issued, was there found the +requisite number sufficiently unprejudiced to meet the requirements +of the situation. + +The remainder of the day was occupied by counsel for contestant in +making the opening statement. A review of the grounds upon which +the contest was based was first read by one of the assistant +attorneys, after which Mr. Whitney followed with a lengthy statement +which occupied nearly an hour. He reviewed in detail the +circumstances of the case, beginning with the death of Hugh +Mainwaring, and laying special stress upon his irreproachable +reputation. He stated that it would be shown to the jury that the +life of Hugh Mainwaring had been above suspicion, an irrefutable +argument against the charges of fraud and dishonesty which had been +brought against him by those who sought to establish the will in +contest. It would also be shown that the said document was a +forgery, the result of a prearranged plan, devised by those who had +been lifelong enemies of Hugh Mainwaring and the contestant, to +defraud the latter of his rights, and to obtain possession of the +Mainwaring estate; and that the transparency of the device in +bringing the so-called will to light at that particular time and +under those particular circumstances was only too plainly evident. + +Mr. Whitney was warming with his subject, but at this juncture he +was peremptorily called to order by Mr. Sutherland, who stated that +he objected to counsel making an argument to the jury, when he +should confine himself simply to an opening statement. Mr. Whitney's +face flushed as a ripple of amusement ran through the courtroom, but +the objection was sustained, and, after a brief summary of what the +contestant proposed to show, he resumed his seat, and the court then +adjourned until the following morning. + +The first testimony introduced on the following day was to establish +the unimpeachable honesty and integrity of the deceased Hugh +Mainwaring. Both Mr. Elliot and Mr. Chittenden were called to the +stand, and their examination--particularly the cross-examination, +in which a number of damaging admissions were made--occupied nearly +the entire forenoon; the remainder of the day being devoted to the +testimony of witnesses from abroad, introduced to show that for +years a bitter estrangement had existed between Frederick Mainwaring +Scott, the alleged foster-father of the proponent, and the members +of the Mainwaring family,--the deceased Hugh Mainwaring and the +contestant in particular; and also to show the implacable anger of +Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring against his elder son and the extreme +improbability of his ever relenting in his favor. + +Day after day dragged slowly on, still taken up with the examination +of witnesses for contestant; examinations too tedious and monotonous +for repetition, but full of interest to the crowds which came and +went, increasing daily, till, on the days devoted to the expert +testimony, galleries and aisles were packed to overflowing, while +throngs of eager listeners gathered in the corridors about the +various exits. + +It soon became evident that Ralph Mainwaring's oft repeated +assertions concerning the elaborate preparation he had made for the +coming contest were no idle boast. Nothing that human ingenuity +could devise had been left undone which could help to turn the +scale in his own favor. The original will of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, by which his elder son was disinherited, was produced +and read in court. Both wills were photographed, and numerous +copies, minute in every detail, made, in order to show by comparison +the differences in their respective signatures. Under powerful +microscopes it was discovered that several pauses had been made in +the signature of the later will. Electric batteries were introduced +to show that the document had been steeped in coffee and tobacco +juice to give it the appearance of great age. Interesting chemical +experiments were performed, by which a piece of new paper was made +to look stained and spotted as if mildewed and musty, while by the +use of tiny files and needles, the edges, having first been slightly +scalloped, were grated and the paper punctured, till it presented +a very similar aspect to the will itself as though worn through at +the creases and frayed and tattered with age. + +But the accumulation of this overwhelming mass of expert testimony +failed to make the impression upon counsel for proponent which had +been anticipated by the other side. Mr. Sutherland varied the +monotony of the direct examinations by frequent and pertinent +objections, while Barton & Barton took occasional notes, which were +afterwards passed to Sutherland and Montague, and by them used with +telling effect in the cross-examinations, but the faces of one and +all wore an expression inscrutable as that of the sphinx. + +Only once was their equanimity disturbed by any ripple of agitation, +and then the incident was so little understood as to be soon +forgotten. As the third day of the trial was drawing to a close, a +despatch in cipher was handed Mr. Sutherland, which when translated +seemed to produce a startling effect upon its readers. Barton & +Barton exchanged glances and frowned heavily; Mr. Sutherland's +face for one brief moment showed genuine alarm, and Harold +Mainwaring, upon reading the slip of paper passed to him, grew pale. +A hurried consultation followed and Mr. Montague left the court-room. + +On the following morning the papers announced that at 11 P.M. the +preceding night, the Victoria, the private car of the president of +one of the principal railway lines, with special engine attached, +had left for the West, evidently on business of great importance, +as everything on the road had been ordered side-tracked. It was +stated that no particulars could be ascertained, however, regarding +either her passengers or her destination, the utmost secrecy being +maintained by those on board, including even the trainmen. This +item, though attracting some attention, caused less comment than +did the fact that for the three days next ensuing, neither the +senior Mr. Barton nor Mr. Montague was present in court; but no one +suspected any connection between the two events, or dreamed that +the above gentlemen, with two of New York's most skilled surgeons, +were the occupants of the president's private car, then hastening +westward at almost lightning speed. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day of the trial, as it became +apparent that the seemingly interminable evidence submitted by +contestant was nearly at an end, the eager impatience of the waiting +crowd could scarcely be restrained within the limits of order. A +change was noticeable also in the demeanor of proponent and his +counsel. For the two days preceding they had appeared as though +under some tension or suspense; now they seemed to exhibit almost +an indifference to the proceedings, as though the outcome of the +contest were already a settled fact, while a marked gravity +accompanied each word and gesture. + +At last the contestant rested, and all eyes were fixed upon Mr. +Sutherland, as, after a brief pause, he rose to make, as was +supposed, his opening statement. Instead of addressing the jury, +however, he turned towards Judge Bingham. + +"Your honor," he began, in slow, measured tones, "it now lacks but +little more than an hour of the usual time for adjournment, and +after the constant strain which has been put upon our nerves for +the past six days, I feel that none of us, including yourself, your +honor, are in a sufficiently receptive mood to listen to the +testimony which the proponent has to offer. In addition to this +is the fact that our most important witness is not present this +afternoon. I would therefore ask for an adjournment to be taken +until ten o'clock next Monday morning, at which time I will +guarantee your honor and the gentlemen of the jury that the +intricate and elaborate web of fine-spun theories which has been +presented will be swept away in fewer hours than the days which +have been required for its construction." + +There was an attempt at applause, which was speedily checked, and +without further delay the court adjourned. + +As judge, jury, and counsel took their respective places on the +following Monday at the hour appointed, the scene presented by the +old court-room was one never before witnessed in its history. +Every available inch of standing room, both on the main floor and +in the galleries, was taken; throngs were congregated about the +doorways, those in the rear standing on chairs and benches that +they might obtain a view over the heads of their more fortunate +neighbors, while even the recesses formed by the enormous windows +were packed with humanity, two rows deep, the outer row embracing +the inner one in its desperate efforts to maintain its equilibrium. + +The opposing sides presented a marked contrast in their appearance +that morning. Ralph Mainwaring betrayed a nervous excitement very +unusual in one of his phlegmatic temperament; his face alternately +flushed and paled, and though much of the old defiant bravado +remained, yet he awaited the opening of proceedings with visible +impatience. Nor was Mr. Whitney less excited, his manner revealing +both agitation and anxiety. On the part of Harold Mainwaring and +his counsel, however, there was no agitation, no haste; every +movement was characterized by composure and deliberation, yet +something in their bearing--something subtle and indefinable but +nevertheless irresistible--impressed the sensibilities of the vast +audience much as the oppressive calm which precedes an electric +storm. All felt that some great crisis was at hand, and it was +amid almost breathless silence that Mr. Sutherland arose to make +his opening statement. + +"Gentlemen of the jury," he began, and the slow, resonant tones +penetrated to the farthest corner and out into the corridors where +hundreds were eagerly listening, "as a defence to the charges +sought to be established in your hearing, we propose to show, not +by fine-spun theories based upon electrical and chemical experiments, +nor brilliant sophistries deduced from microscopic observations, +but by the citation of stubborn and incontrovertible facts, that +this document (holding up the will), copies of which you now have +in your possession, is the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, executed by him on the night preceding his death, and +as such entitled to stand; that this will, from the date of its +execution to the day of its discovery on the seventh of July last, +was wilfully and fraudulently withheld from publication, and its +existence kept secret by the deceased Hugh Mainwaring. That the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the lawful and only son of +the beneficiary named therein, and as such the sole rightful and +lawful heir to and owner of the Mainwaring estate. More than this, +we propose at the same time and by the same evidence to forever +disprove, confute, and silence any and every aspersion and +insinuation which has been brought against the character of the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring; and in doing this, we shall at +last lift the veil which, for the past five months, has hung over +the Fair Oaks tragedy." + +Mr. Sutherland paused to allow the tremendous excitement produced +by his words to subside; then turning, he addressed himself to the +judge. + +"Your honor, I have to request permission of the court to depart in +a slight degree from the usual custom. The witness for the defence +is in an adjoining room, ready to give testimony when summoned to +do so, but in this instance I have to ask that the name be withheld, +and that the witness himself be identified by the contestant and his +counsel." + +The judge bowed in assent, and amid a silence so rigid and intense +as to be almost painful, at a signal from Mr. Sutherland, the doors +of an anteroom were swung noiselessly open and approaching footsteps +were heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SILENT WITNESS + + +Approaching footsteps were heard, but they were the steps of men +moving slowly and unsteadily, as though carrying some heavy burden. +An instant later, six men, bearing a casket beneath whose weight +they staggered, entered the court-room and, making their way through +the spell-bound crowd, deposited their burden near the witness stand. +Immediately following were two men, one of whom was instantly +recognized as Merrick, the detective; the other as the man who, a +few months before, had been known as the English barrister's clerk, +now wearing the full uniform of a Scotland Yard official. Bringing +up the rear was an undertaker, who, amid the breathless silence +which ensued, proceeded to open the casket. This done, Mr. +Sutherland rose and addressed the judge, his low tones for the first +time vibrating with suppressed feeling. + +"Your honor, I request that William H. Whitney be first called upon +to identify the witness." + +Controlling his agitation by a visible effort, Mr. Whitney approached +the casket, but his eyes no sooner rested on the form and features +within than his forced composure gave way. With a groan he exclaimed, + +"My God, it is Hugh Mainwaring!" and bending over the casket, he +covered his face with his hands while he strove in vain to conceal +his emotion. + +His words, ringing through the hushed court-room, seemed to break +the spell, and the over-wrought nerves of the people began to yield +under the tremendous pressure. Mr. Sutherland raised a warning +hand to check the tide of nervous excitement which threatened to +sweep over the entire crowd, but it was of little avail. Piercing +screams followed; women fainted and were borne from the room, and +the faces of strong men blanched to a deathly pallor as they gazed +at one another in mute consternation and bewilderment. For a few +moments the greatest confusion reigned, but when at last order was +restored and Mr. Whitney had regained his composure, Mr. Sutherland +inquired,-- + +"Mr. Whitney, do you identify the dead man as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"I do." + +"But did you not identify as Hugh Mainwaring the man who, at Fair +Oaks, on or about the eighth of July last, came to his death from +the effect of a gunshot wound?" + +"I supposed then, and up until the present time, that it was he; +there certainly was a most wonderful resemblance which I am unable +to explain or account for, but this, beyond all question, is Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Will you state what proof of identification you can give in this +instance that was not present in the other?" + +"Hugh Mainwaring had over the right temple a slight birthmark, a +red line extending upward into the hair, not always equally distinct, +but always visible to one who had once observed it, and in this +instance quite noticeable. I saw no trace of this mark on the face +of the murdered man; but as the face was somewhat blackened by +powder about the right temple, I attributed its absence to that +fact, and in the excitement which followed I thought little of it. +On the day of the funeral I also noted certain lines in the face +which seemed unfamiliar, but realizing that death often makes the +features of those whom we know best to seem strange to us, I +thought no further of the matter. Now, however, looking upon this +face, I am able to recall several differences, unnoticed then, but +all of which go to prove that this is Hugh Mainwaring." + +Ralph Mainwaring was the next one summoned for identification. +During Mr. Whitney's examination his manner had betrayed intense +agitation, and he now came forward with an expression of mingled +incredulity and dread, but upon reaching the casket, he stood like +one petrified, unable to move or speak, while no one who saw him +could ever forget the look of horror which overspread his features. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland at length, "do you know the +dead man?" + +"It is he," answered Ralph Mainwaring in a low tone, apparently +speaking more to himself than to the attorney; "it is Hugh +Mainwaring; that was the distinguishing mark between them." + +"Do you refer to the mark of which Mr. Whitney has just spoken?" + +"Yes." + +"What do you mean by designating it as 'the distinguishing mark +between them'?" + +Ralph Mainwaring turned from the casket and faced Mr. Sutherland, +but his eyes had the strained, far-away look of one gazing into the +distance, unconscious of objects near him. + +"It was the mark," he said, speaking with an effort, "by which, when +we were boys, he was distinguished from his twin brother." + +"His twin brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring?" queried the attorney. + +"Yes," the other answered, mechanically. + +"Do you then identify this as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Yes; and the other--he must have been--no, no, it could not be--great +God!" Ralph Mainwaring suddenly reeled and raised his hand +to his head. Mr. Whitney sprang to his assistance and led him to +his chair, but in those few moments he had aged twenty years. + +A number of those most intimately acquainted with Hugh Mainwaring +were then called upon, all of whom identified the dead man as their +late friend and associate. These preliminaries over, Mr. Sutherland +arose. + +"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury, before proceeding with the +testimony to be introduced, I have a brief statement to make. Soon +after the commencement of this action, we came into possession of +indisputable evidence that Hugh Mainwaring, the supposed victim of +the Fair Oaks tragedy, was still living, and that of whatever crime, +if crime there were associated with that fearful event, he was not +the victim but the perpetrator. We determined at all hazards to +secure him, first as a witness in this case, our subsequent action +to be decided by later developments. Through our special detective +we succeeded in locating him, but he, upon finding himself cornered, +supposing he was to be arrested for the murder of his brother, +attempted suicide by shooting. The combined skill of the best +surgeons obtainable, though unable to save him, yet prolonged life +for three days, long enough to enable two of our number, Mr. Barton +and Mr. Montague, to reach him in season to take his dying statement; +a statement not only setting forth the facts relating to the will +in question, but embracing also the details of the Fair Oaks tragedy +and mystery. This statement, made by Hugh Mainwaring and attested +by numerous witnesses present, will now be read by Mr. Montague." + +Amid an impressive silence, Mr. Montague stepped to the side of the +casket and, unfolding a document which he held, read the following: + +"I, Hugh Mainwaring, freely and voluntarily and under no duress or +compulsion, make this, my dying statement, not only as a relief to +the mental anguish I have endured for the past few months, but also +in the hope that I may thereby, in my last hours, help in some +degree to right the wrong which my life of treachery and cowardice +has wrought. To do this, I must go back over twenty-five years of +crime, and beyond that to the inordinate greed and ambition that +led to crime. + +"My brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I were twins, so +marvelously alike in form and feature that our parents often had +difficulty to distinguish between us, but utterly unlike in +disposition, except that we both possessed a fiery temper and an +indomitable will. He was the soul of honor, generous to a fault, +loyal-hearted and brave, and he exacted honor and loyalty from +others. He had no petty ambitions; he cared little for wealth for +its own sake, still less for its votaries. I was ambitious; I +loved wealth for the power which it bestowed; I would sacrifice +anything for the attainment of that power, and even my boyish +years were tainted with secret envy of my brother, an envy that +grew with my growth, till, as we reached years of maturity, the +consciousness that he, my senior by only a few hours, was yet to +take precedence over me--to possess all that I coveted--became +a thorn in my side whose rankling presence I never for a single +waking hour forgot; it embittered my enjoyment of the present, +my hopes and plans for the future. + +"But of this deadly undercurrent flowing far beneath the surface +neither he nor others dreamed, till, one day, a woman's face--cold, +cruel, false, but beautiful, bewitchingly, entrancingly beautiful,--came +between us, and from that hour all semblance of friendship +was at an end. With me it was an infatuation; with him it was love, +a love ready to make any sacrifice for its idol. So when our father +threatened to disinherit and disown either or both of us, and the +false, fickle heart of a woman was laid in the balances against the +ancestral estates, I saw my opportunity for seizing the long coveted +prize. We each made his choice; my brother sold his birthright for +a mess of pottage; his rights were transferred to me, and my +ambition was at last gratified. + +"Between three and four years later, on the night of November +seventeenth, within a few hours preceding his death, my father made +a will, revoking the will by which he had disinherited his elder +son, and restoring him again to his full right and title to the +estate. This was not unexpected to me. Though no words on the +subject had passed between us and my brother's name was never +mentioned, I had realized for more than a year that my father was +gradually relenting towards the son who had ever been his favorite, +and on the last day that he was able to leave his room, I had come +upon him unaware in the old picture gallery, standing before the +portrait of his elder son, silent and stern, but with the tears +coursing down his pallid cheeks. When, therefore, on the night +preceding his death, my father demanded that an attorney be +summoned, my feelings can be imagined. Just as the prize which I +had so long regarded as mine was almost within my grasp, should I +permit it to elude me for the gratification of a dying man's whim? +Never! In my rage I could have throttled him then and there without +a qualm; fear of the law alone held me back. I tried to dissuade +him, but it was useless. I then bribed the servant sent to bring +the attorney to report that he was out of town, and when that +proved of no avail, I sent for Richard Hobson, a penniless shyster, +whose lack of means and lack of principle I believed would render +him an easy tool in my hands. He came; I was waiting to receive +him, and we entered into compact, I little dreaming I was setting +loose on my track a veritable hell-hound! The will was drawn and +executed, Hobson and one Alexander McPherson, an old friend of my +father's, signing as witnesses. Within twenty-four hours of its +execution, Richard Hobson was richer by several hundred pounds, and +the will was in my possession. Two days later, I had a false +telegram sent to our place, summoning McPherson to his home in +Scotland. He left at once, before my father's burial, and his death, +which occurred a few weeks later, removed the last obstacle in the +way of carrying my plans into execution. My brother at that time +was in Australia, but in what part of the country I did not know, +nor did I try to ascertain. My constant fear was that he might in +some way--though by what means I could not imagine--get some +knowledge of the will and return to set up a claim to the estate. +As soon as possible, therefore, notwithstanding the protests of +my attorneys, I sold the estate and came to America. + +"Concerning the years that followed, it is needless to go into +detail; they brought me wealth, influence, power, all that I had +craved, but little of happiness. Even when there came tidings of +my brother's death at sea, and I felt that at last my title to +the estate was secure, I had little enjoyment in its possession. +Richard Hobson had already begun his black-mailing schemes, his +demands growing more frequent and exorbitant with each succeeding +year. Through him, also, the woman who had wrecked my brother's +life received some inkling of my secret, and through this knowledge, +slight as it was, gained enough of a hold over me that life was +becoming an intolerable burden. Through all these years, however, +I kept the will in my possession. Even after hearing of the death +of my brother, a cowardly, half-superstitious dread kept me from +destroying it, though doubtless I would have done so soon after +making my own will had I not been prevented by circumstances +unforeseen, which I will now state. + +"The events which I am about to relate are stamped upon my brain +as though by fire; they have haunted me day and night for the past +five months. On the seventh of July last, I made and executed my +will in favor of my namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, and on the following +day--his birthday and mine--he was to be declared my heir. It +was past eleven o'clock on the night of that day when I retired to +my private library, and it was fully an hour later when, having +dismissed my secretary, I finally found myself alone, as I supposed, +for the night. My thoughts were far from pleasant. I had just had +a stormy interview with my housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange, who had +tried, as on previous occasions, to coerce me by threats into a +private marriage and a public recognition of her as my wife and of +her child and mine; and, in addition, the occurrences of the day +had been of a nature to recall the past, and events which I usually +sought to bury in oblivion were passing before my mental vision +despite my efforts to banish them. Suddenly a voice which seemed +like an echo of the past recalled me to the present. Somewhat +startled, I turned quickly, confronting a man who had entered +unperceived from the tower-room. He was my own height and size, +with curling black hair and heavy mustache, but I was unable to +distinguish his features as he remained standing partly in the +shadow. Before I could recover from my surprise, he again spoke, +his voice still vaguely familiar. + +"'The master of Fair Oaks'--the words were spoken with stinging +emphasis--'seems depressed on the eve of his festal day, the day +on which he is to name the heir and successor to his vast estates!' + +"I remembered that a stranger had called that day during my absence, +who, my secretary had informed me, bad shown a surprising familiarity +with my private plans. + +"'I think,' I replied, coldly, 'that you favored me with a call +this afternoon, but whatever your business then or now, you will +have to defer it for a few days. I do not know how you gained +admittance to these apartments at this hour, but I will see that +you are escorted from them without delay,' and as I spoke I rose +to ring for a servant. + +"He anticipated my intention, however, and with the agility of a +panther sprang noiselessly across the room, intercepting me, at +the same time raising a large, English bull-dog revolver, which +he levelled at me. + +"'Not so fast, not so fast,' he said, softly; 'you can afford to +wait a little; I have waited for years!' + +"I stood as though rooted to the spot, gazing at him with a sort +of fascination. As he emerged into the light there was something +almost familiar in his features, and yet something horribly +incongruous and unreal. His eyes glowed like living fire; his soft, +low tones reminded me of nothing so much as the purring of a tiger; +while the smile that played about his lips was more terrible than +anything I had ever seen on human face. It was ten times more +fearful than the muzzle of the revolver confronting me, and seemed +to freeze the very blood in my veins. + +"'You take a base advantage; I am unarmed," I sneered. + +"'I knew too well with whom I had to deal to come unarmed,' he +replied; 'though this,' and he lowered the revolver, 'this is not +the sort of weapon you would employ,--a thrust in the dark, a stab +in the back, that is your style, coward!" + +"'I demand an explanation of this,' I said. + +"He folded his arms, still retaining his hold upon the weapon, as +he answered, 'Explanations will follow in due time; but surely, on +the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of such a life as yours, +congratulations are first in order. Allow me to congratulate you, +Hugh Mainwaring, upon the success which has attended and crowned +the past twenty-five years of your life! upon the rich harvest +you have reaped during all these years; the amassed wealth, the +gratified ambitions, the almost illimitable power, the adulation +and homage,--all so precious to your sordid soul, and for which +you have bartered honor, happiness, character, all, in short, that +life is worth. Standing, as you do to-night, at the fiftieth +milestone on life's journey, I congratulate you upon your +recollections of the past, and upon your anticipations for the +future, as you descend to an unhonored and unloved old age!' + +"Every word was heaped with scorn, and, as I looked into the burning +eyes fixed upon mine and watched the sardonic smile hovering about +his lips, I wondered whether he were some Mephistopheles--some +fiend incarnate--sent to torture me, or whether he were really +flesh and blood. + +"The mocking smile now left his face, but his eyes held me speechless +as he continued,-- + +"'No wonder that memories of bygone years haunted your thoughts +to-night! Memories, perhaps, of a father whose dying will you +disregarded; of a brother whom you twice defrauded,--once of the +honor and sanctity of his home, then, as if that were not enough, +of his birthright,--his heritage from generations of our race--' + +"'Stop!' I cried, stung to anger by his accusations and startled +by the strange words, 'our race,' which seemed to fall so familiarly +from his lips. 'Stop! are you mad?" Do you know what you are +saying? Once more I demand that you state who or what you are, and +your business here!' + +"'That is quickly stated, Hugh Mainwaring,' he answered, in tones +which made my heart beat with a strange dread; 'I am Harold Scott +Mainwaring! I am here to claim no brotherhood or kinship with you, +but to claim and to have my own, the birthright restored to me by +the last will and testament of a dying father, of which you have +defrauded me for twenty-five years!" + +"'You are a liar and an impostor!' I cried, enraged at the sound of +my brother's name, and for the instant believing the man to be some +emissary of Hobson's who had used it to work upon my feelings. + +"Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing, he answered +in low tones, 'Dare you apply those epithets to me, usurper that you +are? You are a liar and a thief, and if you had your deserts you +would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported to the wilds of +Australia! I an impostor? See and judge for yourself!' and with a +sudden, swift movement the black curling hair and mustache were +dashed to the floor, and he stood before me the exact counterpart +of myself. Stunned by the transformation, I gazed at him speechless; +it was like looking in a mirror, feature for feature identically the +same! For a few seconds my brain seemed to reel from the shock, but +his tones recalled me to myself. + +"'Ah!' he said, with mocking emphasis, 'who is the impostor now?' + +"My first thought was of self-vindication, and to effect, if +possible, a compromise with him. 'I am no impostor or usurper,' I +said, 'because, believing you dead, I have used that to which in +the event of your death I would be legally entitled even had you +any claim, and I am willing, not as an acknowledgment of any valid +claim on your part, but as a concession on my own part, to give you +a liberal share in the estate, or to pay you any reasonable sum +which you may require-- + +"He stopped me with an intolerant gesture. 'Do not attempt any +palliation of the past with me,' he said, sternly; 'it is worse +than useless; and do not think that you can make any compromises +with me or purchase my silence with your ill-gotten wealth. That +may have served your purpose in the past with your associate and +coadjutor, Richard Hobson, the man who holds in his mercenary +grasp the flimsy reputation which is all that is left to you, or +with the woman--cruel as the grave and false as hell--who once +wrecked my life, and now, with the son that you dare not +acknowledge, rules your home, but you cannot buy my silence. I +come to you as no beggar! I am a richer man to-day than you, but +for the sake of generations past, as well as of generations yet to +come, I will have my own. The estate which was once my forefathers +shall be my son's, and his sons' after him!' + +"As I listened, my whole soul rose against him in bitter hatred, +the old hatred of my youth. 'I defy you,' I' cried, hotly, 'to +produce one atom of proof in support of your claim or of your +charges against me! The estate is mine, and I will make you rue +the day that you dare dispute my right and title to it!' + +"His eyes flashed with scorn as he replied, 'You lie, Hugh +Mainwaring! Your life for the past twenty-five years has been +nothing but a lie, and the day just closed has witnessed the final +act in this farce of yours. That I have already undone, and just +as surely I will undo the work of the past years. And let me assure +you I have no lack of proof with which to verify either my own +claim or any assertion I have made, or may yet make, against you. +I have proof that on the night preceding my father's death he made +a will restoring to me my full rights, which you have fraudulently +withheld all these years; and through my son, whom you have known +for the past eighteen months as your private secretary, I have proof +that that will is still in existence, of itself an irrefutable +witness against you!' + +"With the mention of my secretary the truth flashed upon me. I +realized I was completely in his power, and with a sense of my +own impotency my rage and hatred increased. Forgetful of the weapon +in his hand and almost blind with fury, I sprang towards him, +intending to throttle him--to strangle him--until he should plead +for mercy. Instantly he raised the revolver in warning, but not +before I had seized his wrist, turning the weapon from myself. A +brief struggle followed, in which I soon found my strength was no +match for his. Growing desperate, I summoned all my strength for +one tremendous effort, at the same time holding his wrist in a +vice-like grip, forcing his hand higher and turning the revolver +more and more in his direction. Suddenly there was a flash,--a +sharp report,--and he fell heavily to the floor, dragging me down +upon him. + +"For an instant I was too much stunned and bewildered to realize +what had happened, but a glance at my opponent revealed the +situation. He lay motionless where he had fallen, and a ghastly +wound over the right eye told the terrible story. Dazed with +horror, I placed my hand over his heart, but there was no motion, +no life,--he was dead! The awful truth forced itself upon me. +Mad and blind with rage, I had turned the weapon upon him and it had +discharged,--whether by some sudden movement of his hand, or by +the accidental pressure of my own fingers upon the trigger, God +alone knows, I do not! One fact I could not then, nor ever can, +forget; it was my hand that gave the weapon its deadly aim, however +blindly or unwittingly, and the blood of my brother whom I had +wronged and defrauded now lay at my door. + +"The agony of remorse that followed was something beyond description, +beyond any suffering of which I had ever dreamed; but suddenly a +thought flashed upon me which added new horror, causing me to spring +to my feet cold with terror, while great beads of perspiration +gathered on my brow. When that terrible scene should be revealed, +not alone in the approaching morning light, but in the light of past +events which, if the last words spoken by those lips now sealed in +death were true, could no longer be kept secret, what would be the +world's verdict?" Murder! fratricide! and I? Great God! of what +avail would be any plea of mine in the face of such damning evidence? + +"I rushed to the tower-room, and hastily opening my safe, took from +a private drawer therein a key and with trembling fingers fitted it +into the lock of a large metallic box which contained the family +jewels, and which for more than twenty-five years had held the old +will executed by my father on his death-bed. I had seen it there +less than forty-eight hours before, and in my desperation I now +determined to destroy it. My very haste and eagerness delayed me, +but at last the cover flew back, revealing the gleaming jewels, +but--the will was not there! Unable to believe my own eyes, I +drew my fingers carefully back and forth through the narrow +receptacle where it had lain, and among the satin linings of the +various compartments, but in vain; the will was gone! My brother +had spoken the truth, and the will was doubtless in the possession +of his son, who, under its terms, was now himself heir to the +estate. The room grew dim and the walls themselves seemed to whirl +swiftly about me as, with great difficulty, I groped my way back to +the library, where I stood gazing at that strange counterpart of +myself, till, under the growing horror of the situation, it seemed +to my benumbed senses as though I were some disembodied spirit +hovering above his own corpse. The horrible illusion was like a +nightmare; I could not throw it off, and I would then and there +have gone stark, staring mad, but that there came to me out of that +awful chaos of fancies a suggestion which seemed like an inspiration. +'It is Hugh Mainwaring,' I said to myself, 'Hugh Mainwaring died +to-night!' + +"My fevered brain grew cool, my pulse steady, and my nerves firm +as I proceeded at once to act upon the idea. Kneeling beside the +dead man, I examined the wound. The bullet had entered above the +right eye and passed downward, coming out at the base of the brain; +from both wounds the blood was flowing in a slow, sluggish stream. +Drawing a large handkerchief from my pocket, I bound it tightly +about the head over both wounds, knotting it firmly; then carrying +the body into the tower-room, I made sure that all doors were +locked, and proceeded to put into execution the plan so suddenly +formed. By this time I was myself, and, though the task before me +was neither easy nor pleasant to perform, I went about it as +calmly and methodically as though it were some ordinary business +transaction. As expeditiously as possible I removed the dead man's +clothing and my own, which I then exchanged, dressing the lifeless +form in the clothes I had worn on the preceding day, even to the +dressing-gown which I had put on upon retiring to my apartments, +while I donned his somewhat travel-worn suit of tweed. Having +completed this gruesome task, I left the body in much the same +position in which it had originally fallen, lying slightly upon +the right side, the right arm extended on the floor, and, to give +the appearance of suicide, I placed my own revolver--first +emptying one of the chambers--near his right hand. On going to +my desk for the revolver, I discovered the explanation of my +brother's words when he said that he had already undone my work +of the preceding day, the final act of the farce I had carried +out. In the terrible excitement of those moments his meaning +escaped my mind; now it was clear. My own will, executed with +such care, and which early in the evening I had left upon my desk, +was gone. That he had destroyed it in his wrath and scorn I had +abundant proof a little later, upon incidentally finding in the +small grate in that room the partially burned fragments of the +document, which I left to tell their own tale. + +"Having satisfactorily disposed of Hugh Mainwaring (as the dead +man now seemed to my over-wrought imagination), I made preparation +for my immediate departure. This occupied little time. There was +fortunately some cash in the safe, which I took; all drafts and +papers of that nature I left,--they were of value only to Hugh +Mainwaring, and he was dead! As the cash would be inadequate, +however, for my needs, I decided after considerable deliberation +to take the family jewels, though not without apprehension that +they might lead to my detection, as they finally did. These I put +in a small box covered with ordinary wrapping-paper to attract as +little attention as possible,' and, having completed my preparations, +I removed the bandage from the dead man's head and threw it with the +private keys to my library into the metallic box which had held the +jewels. Then donning the black wig and mustache which my visitor +had thrown aside on disclosing his identity, together with a long +ulster which he had left in the tower-room, I took one farewell +look at the familiar apartments and their silent occupant and stole +noiselessly out into the night. I remained on the premises only +long enough to visit the small lake in the rear of the house, into +which I threw the metallic box and its contents, then, following +the walk through the grove to the side street, I left Fair Oaks, as +I well knew, forever. While yet on the grounds I met my own +coachman, but he failed to recognize me in my disguise. My plans +were already formed. I had come to the conclusion that my late +visitor and the caller of the preceding afternoon, whose card bore +the name of J. Henry Carruthers, were one and the same. My secretary +had stated that Carruthers had come out from the city that day, so +my appearance at the depot, dressed in his own disguise, would +probably attract no attention. I was fortunate enough to reach the +depot just as two trains were about to pull out; the suburban train +which would leave in three minutes for the city, and the north-bound +express, due to leave five minutes later. I bought a ticket for New +York, then passing around the rear of the suburban train, quietly +boarded the express, and before the discovery of that night's +fearful tragedy I was speeding towards the great West. + +"But go where I might, from that hour to this, I have never been +free from agonizing remorse, nor have I been able for one moment +to banish from my memory the sight of that face,--the face of my +brother, killed by my own hand, and a discovery which I made +within the first few hours of my flight made my remorse ten times +deeper. In going through the pockets of the suit I wore I found +a letter from my brother, addressed to his son, written in my own +library and at my own desk while he awaited my coming. He seemed +to have had a sort of presentiment that his interview with me might +end in some such tragedy as it did, and took that opportunity to +inform his son regarding both his past work and his plans for the +future. What was my astonishment to find that his son was, at +that time, as totally unaware of his father's existence as was I +a few hours before of the existence of a brother! + +"From this letter I learned that the son had been given away at +birth, and was to know nothing of his true parentage until he had +reached years of maturity; that he himself had been shipwrecked, as +reported years ago, but had escaped in some miraculous manner; that +reaching Africa at last, he disclosed his identity to no one, but +devoted all his energies to acquiring a fortune for his son. He +succeeded even beyond his anticipations, and when nearly twenty +years had elapsed, sailed for his old Australian home, to find his +son. Arriving there, he learned that his son, while pursuing his +studies in England, had obtained information of the will made in +his father's favor, and learning facts which led him to believe that +the will was still in existence and in the possession of his father's +younger brother, had, with the advice of his London attorneys, gone +to America, and was then in his uncle's employ for the purpose of +securing proof regarding the will, and, if possible, possession of +the will itself. Upon learning these facts, my brother had +immediately proceeded to London and to Barton & Barton, his son's +attorneys, who, upon his arrival there, informed him of his son's +success up to that time, and also notified him that his brother was +about to celebrate his approaching fiftieth birthday by naming the +son of Ralph Mainwaring as his heir, Ralph Mainwaring and family +having just sailed to America for that purpose. My brother then +took the first steamer for America, arriving only two days later +than Ralph Mainwaring. Though unable to obtain an interview with +me at once, as he had intended, he had succeeded in catching sight +of me, in order to assure himself that the marked resemblance +between us still existed, and, to emphasize that resemblance, he +then shaved and had his hair cut in the same style in which I wore +mine, so as to render the likeness the more striking and +indisputable when he should announce himself to me. + +"His existence and return he wished kept secret from his son until +the successful consummation of his plans, but he wrote the letter +as an explanation in case there should be any unforeseen +termination. The letter was overflowing with a father's love and +pride; his allusion to the difficulty with which he had restrained +his feelings when he found himself face to face with his son on the +afternoon of his call, being especially touching. The perusal of +that letter added a hundred-fold to my own grief and remorse. I +dared not run the risk of disclosing myself by sending it to my +brother's son, but I have preserved it carefully for him, and desire +it to be given him as quickly as possible. + +"Through New York papers I learned from time to time of the murder +of Hugh Mainwaring, the lost will, the discovery of the old will, +and the appearance of the rightful heir. From that source, also, I +learned that Merrick, the detective, was shadowing the murderer, +who was generally supposed to be a man by the name of Carruthers. +I had one advantage of Merrick. I knew him--my old friend Whitney +having often pointed him out to me--while he did not know the man +he sought. Many a time in my wanderings I have seen him, and, +knowing well the game he was after, eluded him, only to fall at +last into the snare of one whom I did not know. The man searching +for the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring encountered another, trailing +the murderer of Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I suddenly found my +time had come! A coward then, as always, I tried to shoot myself. +In the darkness I held the muzzle of my brother's revolver to my +own temple; instantly there flashed before me his face when I had +killed him! I grew sick, my hand trembled and dropped; then, as +my pursuers came nearer, I aimed for my heart and fired! This is +the result. Death was not instantaneous, as I had hoped; instead, +I was given this opportunity to make some slight reparation for my +sin; to aid, as I said before, in righting the wrong wrought by my +past life. + +"And now, in these my last moments, I do solemnly affirm and aver +that on the night preceding his death, my father executed a will +restoring to my elder brother his full right and title, which will +I have for more than twenty-five years last past wrongfully and +fraudulently withheld and concealed; and that my brother being now +dead, killed by my own hand, though unwittingly and unintentionally, +his son, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the rightful and sole heir +to the entire Mainwaring estate. + +"Signed by Hugh Mainwaring in the presence of the following +witnesses: William J. Barton, M. D. Montague, Joseph P. Sturgiss, +M.D., M. J. Wheating, M.D., Daniel McCabe and C. D. Merrick." + +At the conclusion of this statement, there was shown in evidence +the rusty metallic box-dragged from the lake--with the keys and +the knotted, blood-stained handkerchief found therein. This was +followed by brief testimony by Harold Scott Mainwaring and the +old servant, James Wilson, but the proceedings following the +reading of the statement were little more than mere form. There +was little attempt at cross-examination, and when the time came for +the argument by counsel for contestant, Mr. Whitney, who had been +deeply affected by the confession of his old friend, declined to +speak. + +All eyes were fastened upon Mr. Sutherland as he arose, as was +supposed, for the closing argument. For a moment his eyes scanned +the faces of the jurors, man by man, then addressing the judge, he +said slowly, in clear, resonant tones,-- + +"Your honor, I submit the case without argument." + +In less than forty-five minutes from the conclusion of the statement +the jury retired, but no one moved from his place in the crowded +court-room, for all felt that little time would be required for their +decision. In ten minutes they returned, and, amid the silence that +followed, the foreman announced the verdict, "for the proponent, +Harold Scott Mainwaring." + +Cheers burst forth from all parts of the room, and the walls rang +with applause, which was only checked by a sudden, simultaneous +movement of several men towards the contestant. With the +announcement of the verdict, Ralph Mainwaring had risen to his feet, +as though in protest. For an instant he stood gasping helplessly, +but unable to utter a word; then, with a loud groan, he sank +backward and would have fallen to the floor but for his attorneys, +who had rushed to the assistance of the stricken man. + +A few moments later the lifeless remains of Hugh Mainwaring were +carried from the court-room, while, in another direction, the +unconscious form of Ralph Mainwaring was borne by tender, pitying +hands, among them those of the victor himself, and the contest of +Mainwaring versus Mainwaring was ended. + + * * * * * * * * * + +The bright sunlight of a December afternoon, ten days after the +close of the trial, crowned with a shining halo the heads of +Harold Scott Mainwaring and his wife as they stood together in the +tower-room at Fair Oaks. But a few hours had elapsed since they +had repeated the words of the beautiful marriage service which had +made them husband and wife. Their wedding had been, of necessity, +a quiet one, only their own party and a few of their American +friends being present, for the ocean-liner, then lying in the +harbor, but which in a few hours was to bear them homeward, would +carry also the bodies of the Mainwaring brothers and of Ralph +Mainwaring to their last resting place. + +Here, amid the very surroundings where it was written, Harold +Mainwaring had just read to his wife his father's letter, penned a +few hours before his death. For a few moments neither spoke, then +Winifred said brokenly, through fast falling tears,-- + +"How he loved you, Harold!" + +"Yes," he replied, sadly; "and what would I not give for one hour +in which to assure him of my love! I would gladly have endured any +suffering for his sake, but in the few moments that we stood face +to face we met as strangers, and I have had no opportunity to show +him my appreciation of his love or my love for him in return." + +"Don't think he does not know it," she said, earnestly. "I believe +that he now knows your love for him far more perfectly than you +know his." + +He kissed her tenderly, then drawing from his pocket a +memorandum-book, took therefrom a piece of blotter having upon it +the impress of some writing. Placing it upon the desk beside the +letter, he held a small mirror against it, and Winifred, looking +in the mirror, read, + + "Your affectionate father, + "HAROLD SCOTT MAINWARING." + +Then glancing at the signature to the letter, she saw they were +identical. In answer to her look of inquiry, Harold said,-- + +"I discovered that impress on the blotter on this desk one morning +about ten days after the tragedy, and at once recognized it as my +father's writing. In a flash I understood the situation; my father +himself had returned, had been in these rooms, and had had an +interview with his brother! I knew of the marked resemblance between +them, and at once questioned, How had that interview ended? Who was +the murdered man? Who was the murderer? That was the cause of my +trip to England to try to find some light on this subject. I need +no words to tell you the agony of suspense that I endured for the +next few weeks, and you will understand now why I would not--even +to yourself--declare my innocence of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. +I would have bourne any ignominy and dishonor, even death itself, +rather than that a breath of suspicion should have been directed +against my father's name." + +"My hero!" she exclaimed, smiling through her tears; then asked, +"When and how did you learn the real facts?" + +"Almost immediately upon my return to this country, and from Mrs. +LaGrange," and he told her briefly of his last interview with that +unhappy woman. "Up to the day of the funeral, she was ignorant of +the truth, but on that day she detected the difference, which none +of the others saw. She knew and recognized my father." + +Standing at last on the western veranda, they took their farewell +of Fair Oaks. + +"Beautiful Fair Oaks!" Winifred murmured; "once I loved you; but +you could never be our home; you hold memories far too bitter!" + +"Yes," Harold replied, gravely, "it is darkened by crime and stained +with innocent blood. The only bright feature to redeem it," he +added with a smile, "is the memory of the love I found there, but +that," and he drew her arm closely within his own, "I take with me +to England, to my father's home and mine." + +Together they left the majestic arched portals, and going down the +oak-lined avenue, through the dim twilight of the great boughs +interlocked above their heads, passed on, out into the sunlight, +with never a fear for shadows that might come; each strong and +confident in the love that united them "for better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, . . . till death us +do part." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + +***** This file should be named 2172-8.txt or 2172-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/2172/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: That Mainwaring Affair + +Author: Maynard Barbour + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2172] +Release Date: May, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Maynard Barbour +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE MAINWARINGS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">FAIR OAKS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">A TERRIBLE AWAKENING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE INQUEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A LITTLE ROYAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE WEAVING OF THE WEB</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">TANGLED THREADS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">BEHIND THE SCENES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">SKIRMISHING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">X-RAYS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">MUTUAL SURPRISES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">LOVE FINDS A WAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">AN UNFORESEEN FOE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">OPENING FIRE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">THE LAST THROW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">SECESSION IN THE RANKS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">FLOTSAM AND JETSAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">BETWEEN THE ACTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">RUN TO COVER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">THE SILENT WITNESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAINWARINGS +</H3> + +<P> +The fierce sunlight of a sultry afternoon in the early part of July +forced its way through every crevice and cranny of the closely drawn +shutters in the luxurious private offices of Mainwaring & Co., Stock +Brokers, and slender shafts of light, darting here and there, lent +a rich glow of color to the otherwise subdued tones of the elegant +apartments. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at the four occupants of one of these rooms, who had +disposed themselves in various attitudes according to their +individual inclinations, revealed the fact that three out of the +four were Englishmen, while the fourth might have been denominated +as a typical American from the professional class. Of rather +slender form, with a face of rare sensitiveness and delicacy, and +restless, penetrating eyes, his every movement indicated energy and +alertness. On the present occasion he had little to say, but was +engaged in listening attentively to the conversation of the others. +</P> + +<P> +Beside a rosewood desk, whose belongings, arranged with mathematical +precision, indicated the methodical business habits of its owner, +sat Hugh Mainwaring, senior member of the firm of Mainwaring & Co., +a man approaching his fiftieth birthday. His dress and manners, +less pronouncedly English than those of the remaining two, betokened +the polished man of the world as well as the shrewd financier. He +wore an elegant business suit and his linen was immaculate; his +hair, dark and slightly tinged with gray, was closely cut; his +smoothly shaven face, less florid than those of his companions, +was particularly noticeable on account of a pair of dark gray +eyes, cold and calculating, and which had at times a steel-like +glitter. Though an attractive face, it was not altogether pleasing; +it was too sensuous, and indicated stubbornness and self-will rather +than firmness or strength. +</P> + +<P> +Half reclining upon a couch on the opposite side of the room, in an +attitude more comfortable than graceful, leisurely smoking a fine +Havana, was Ralph Mainwaring, of London, a cousin of the New York +broker, who, at the invitation of the latter, was paying his first +visit to the great western metropolis. Between the two cousins +there were few points of resemblance. Both had the same cold, +calculating gaze, which made one, subjected to its scrutiny, feel +that he was being mentally weighed and measured and would, in all +probability, be found lacking; but the Londoner possessed a more +phlegmatic temperament. A year or two his cousin's junior, he +looked considerably younger; as his hair and heavy English side +whiskers were unmixed with gray and he was inclined to stoutness. +</P> + +<P> +Seated near him, in an immense arm-chair which he filled admirably, +was William Mainwaring Thornton, of London, also a guest of Hugh +Mainwaring and distantly connected with the two cousins. He was +the youngest of the three Englishmen and the embodiment of +geniality. He was a blond of the purest type, and his beard, +parted in the centre, was brushed back in two wavy, silken masses, +while his clear blue eyes, beaming with kindliness and good-humor, +had the frankness of a child's. +</P> + +<P> +Hugh Mainwaring, the sole heir to the family estate, soon after +the death of his father, some twenty-five years previous to this +time, became weary of the monotony of his English homelife, and, +resolved upon making his permanent home in one of the large eastern +cities of the United States and embarking upon the uncertain and +treacherous seas of speculation in the western world, had sold the +estate which for a number of generations had been in the possession +of the Mainwarings, and had come to America. In addition to his +heavy capital, he had invested a large amount of keen business tact +and ability; his venture had met with almost phenomenal success and +he had acquired immense wealth besides his inherited fortune. +</P> + +<P> +His more conservative cousin, Ralph Mainwaring, while never quite +forgiving him for having disposed of the estate, had, nevertheless, +with the shrewdness and foresight for which his family were noted, +given to his only son the name of Hugh Mainwaring, confident that +his American-English cousin would never marry, and hoping thereby +to win back the old Mainwaring estate into his own line of the +family. His bit of strategy had succeeded; and now, after more +than twenty years, his foresight and worldly wisdom were about to +be rewarded, for the occasion of this reunion between the +long-separated cousins was the celebration of the rapidly +approaching fiftieth birthday of Hugh Mainwaring, at which time +Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., would attain his majority, and in recognition +of that happy event the New York millionaire broker had announced +his intention of making his will in favor of his namesake, and on +that day formally declaring him his lawful heir. +</P> + +<P> +This had been the object of the conference in the private office +of Hugh Mainwaring, and now that it was over and all necessary +arrangements had been made, that gentleman turned from his desk +with a sigh of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"I am heartily glad that this business is over," he said, +addressing his guests; "it has been on my mind for some time, and +I have consulted with Mr. Whitney about it," with a slight nod +towards the fourth gentleman, who was his attorney and legal adviser. +"We have both felt that it should have been attended to before this; +and yet, as I considered this would be the most fitting time to make +a final adjustment of affairs, I have on that account delayed +longer than I otherwise would have done. Now everything is arranged +in a manner satisfactory, I trust, to all parties immediately +concerned, and nothing remains but to draw up and execute the papers, +which will be done to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"You are not then troubled with any unpleasant superstitions +regarding the making of a will?" commented Mr. Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the other, slowly. "I am not of the opinion that it +will hasten my exit from this world; but even if it did, I would +have the satisfaction of knowing that my own wishes would be +carried out in the settlement of my estate, and that no one would +derive any benefit from my demise excepting those whom I consider +legally entitled thereto." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring looked curiously at his cousin through half-closed +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," he remarked, very deliberately, "that even in case +there were no will the property would revert to our branch of the +family; we are the nearest of kin, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know your family would be considered the lawful heirs," +Hugh Mainwaring replied, while he and Mr. Whitney exchanged glances; +"but this is not England; here any common adventurer might come +forward with some pretended claim against the estate, and I prefer +to see affairs definitely settled in my own way." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," responded the other, resuming his cigar. "Well, +speaking for myself, I am more than willing to relinquish any share +I might have had for the boy's sake, and I don't suppose, Thornton, +that you have any objections to raise on Edith's account." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, no," replied that gentleman, with a pleasant laugh. "I +never considered Hugh a bad son-in-law to begin with, but I'll admit +he is a little more attractive now than ever." +</P> + +<P> +The little clock on the marble mantel chimed the hour of four, +causing a general movement of surprise. "'Pon my soul! had no idea +it was that late," exclaimed Mr. Thornton, taking out his watch, +while Hugh Mainwaring, touching an electric button, replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"This business has detained us much longer than I anticipated. I +will give some instructions to the head clerk, and we will leave at +once." +</P> + +<P> +He had scarcely finished speaking, when a door opened noiselessly +and a middle-aged man appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Parsons," said Mr. Mainwaring, addressing him in quick, incisive +tones, "I am going out to Fair Oaks, and probably shall not be at +the office for two or three days, unless something of unusual +importance should demand my presence. Refer all business callers +to Mr. Elliott or Mr. Chittenden. Any personal calls, if specially +important, just say that I can be found at Fair Oaks." +</P> + +<P> +Parsons bowed gravely, and after a few further instructions retired. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mr. Whitney," Hugh Mainwaring continued, at the same time +touching another electric button, "you, of course, will be one of +our party at Fair Oaks; my secretary will accompany us, and the +papers will be drawn up to-morrow in my private library, after which +you will do us the honor to join us in the pleasures of the following +day." +</P> + +<P> +"I am at your service, Mr. Mainwaring," responded the attorney; "but," +he added, in low tones, intended only for Hugh Mainwaring's ear, but +which were heard distinctly by the private secretary, now standing +beside the desk, "would it not be better to draw up the will here, +in your private office? My presence at the house on the present +occasion might attract attention and arouse some suspicions as to +your intentions." +</P> + +<P> +"That makes no difference," replied Hugh Mainwaring, quickly, but +also speaking in a low tone; "my private papers are all at the house, +and I choose that this business shall be conducted there. I believe +that I am master in my own house yet." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney bowed in acquiescence, and Hugh Mainwaring turned to +his secretary,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, just close up everything in the office as quickly as +possible and get ready to accompany me to Fair Oaks; I shall need +you there for two or three days." +</P> + +<P> +It was not the first time the private secretary had accompanied Mr. +Mainwaring to his elegant suburban residence, and he understood +perfectly what was expected of him, and immediately withdrew to +make his preparations as expeditiously as possible. +</P> + +<P> +For some reason, which Hugh Mainwaring had never stopped to explain +even to himself, he always accorded to his private secretary much +more respect and consideration than to any one of his other numerous +employees. +</P> + +<P> +Harry Scott was not only a young man of superior education and good +breeding, but what particularly impressed his employer in his favor +was a certain natural reserve which caused him to hold himself aloof +from his associates in the offices of Mainwaring & Co., and an innate +refinement and delicacy which kept him, under all circumstances, +from any gaucherie on the one hand, or undue familiarity on the +other; he was always respectful but never servile. He had been in +the employ of Hugh Mainwaring for a little more than a year, and, +having frequently accompanied him to Fair Oaks to remain for a day +or two, was, consequently, quite familiar with the house and grounds. +</P> + +<P> +As he re-entered the room, having exchanged his business suit for +one more suitable to the occasion, there was not one present but +what instinctively, though perhaps unconsciously, recognized in him +a true gentleman and treated him as such. Tall, with a splendid +physique, finely shaped head, dark hair, and eyes of peculiar beauty, +he was far from being the least attractive member of the party which, +a few moments later, entered the Mainwaring carriage, with its coat +of arms, and rolled away in the direction of Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FAIR OAKS +</H3> + +<P> +The home of Hugh Mainwaring was one of many palatial suburban +residences situated on a beautiful avenue running in a northerly +direction from the city, but it had not been for so many years in +his possession without acquiring some of the characteristics of its +owner, which gave it an individuality quite distinct from its elegant +neighbors. It had originally belonged to one of the oldest and +wealthiest families in the county, for a strictly modern house, +without a vestige of antiqueness lingering in its halls and with no +faint aroma of bygone days pervading its atmosphere, would have been +entirely too plebeian to suit the tastes of Hugh Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +From the street to the main entrance a broad driveway wound beneath +the interlacing boughs of a double line of giant oaks, from which +the place had derived its name. Beautiful grounds extended in every +direction, and in the rear of the mansion sloped gently to the edge +of a small lake. Facing the west was the main entrance to the house, +which was nearly surrounded by a broad veranda, commanding a fine +view, not only of the grounds and immediately surrounding country, +but also of the Hudson River, not far distant. +</P> + +<P> +The southwestern portion of the building contained the private rooms +of Hugh Mainwaring, including what was known as the "tower," and had +been added by him soon after he had taken possession of the place. +This part of the house was as far removed as possible from the large +reception-rooms, and the apartments on the second floor comprised +the suite occupied by Mr. Mainwaring. The first of these rooms, +semi-octagonal in form, constituted his private library, and its +elegant furnishings and costly volumes, lining the walls from floor +to ceiling, bespoke the wealth and taste of the owner. Across the +southwestern side of this room heavy portieres partially concealed +the entrance to what Mr. Mainwaring denominated his "sanctum +sanctorum," the room in the tower. This was small, of circular form, +and contained an immense desk, one or two revolving bookcases, and +a large safe, which held his private papers and, it was rumored, the +old Mainwaring jewels. Back of the library was a smoking-room, and +in the rear of that Mr. Mainwaring's dressing-rooms and sleeping +apartments. +</P> + +<P> +This suite of rooms was connected with the remainder of the building +by a long corridor extending from the main hall, but there was on +the south side of the house an entrance and stairway leading directly +to these rooms, the upper hall opening into the library and +smoking-room. From this southern entrance a gravelled walk led +between lines of shrubbery to a fine grove, which extended back +and downward to the western shore of the small lake already mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +But the especially distinguishing characteristic of Fair Oaks since +coming into the possession of Hugh Mainwaring was the general air of +exclusion pervading the entire place. The servants, with the +exception of "Uncle Mose," the colored man having charge of the +grounds, were imported,—the head cook being a Frenchman, the +others either English or Irish, and, from butler to chambermaid, one +and all seemed to have acquired the reserve which characterized +their employer. +</P> + +<P> +Comparatively few servants were employed and few were needed, for +never, until the present occasion, had Fair Oaks been thrown open +to guests. Occasionally Mr. Mainwaring brought out from the city +two or three gentleman friends, whom he entertained in royal +fashion. Sometimes these guests were accompanied by their wives, +but such instances were extremely rare, as ladies were seldom seen +at Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<P> +In the entertainment of these occasional guests Mr. Mainwaring was +frequently assisted by Mrs. LaGrange, known as his housekeeper, but +in reality holding a position much more advanced than is usually +implied by that term. Among those who had been personally +entertained by Mrs. LaGrange, this fact, of itself, excited little +comment; it being evident that she was as familiar with the +fashionable world as was their host himself, but surrounding her was +the same dim haze of mystery that seemed to envelop the entire place, +impalpable, but thus far impenetrable. +</P> + +<P> +She had come to Fair Oaks some fifteen years previous to this time, +dressed in deep mourning, accompanied by her infant son, about three +years of age, and it was generally understood that she was distantly +related to Mr. Mainwaring. She was a strikingly handsome woman, +with that type of physical beauty which commands admiration, rather +than winning it; tall, with superb form and carriage, rich olive +skin, large dark eyes, brilliant as diamonds and as cold, but which +could become luminous with tenderness or fiery with passion, as +occasion required. To those whom she sought to entertain she could +be extremely charming, but to a few even of these, gifted with deeper +insight than the others, it seemed that beneath that fascinating +manner was a dangerous nature, a will that would brook no restraint, +that never would be thwarted; and that this was, in reality, the +power which dominated Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<P> +After years of mysterious seclusion, however, the beautiful home of +Hugh Mainwaring, while maintaining its usual reserve towards its +neighbors, had thrown open its doors to guests from across the water; +and on the particular afternoon of the conference in the private +offices of Mainwaring & Co., there might have been seen on one of +the upper balconies of the mansion at Fair Oaks a group of five +English ladies, engaged in a discussion of their first impressions +regarding their host and his American home. The group consisted of +Mrs. Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton, +the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh +Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton; +and Mrs. Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies. +</P> + +<P> +Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit +to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy +event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest +in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially +enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and +grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament +than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much +finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her +part. +</P> + +<P> +"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming +from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of +ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside +her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in +the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde +like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be +yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at +least, till you are married, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely +never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly. She was an +orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William +Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian. +</P> + +<P> +Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled +languidly. She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, +gray eyes. "You seem to ignore the fact," she said, "that our cousin +is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many +years to come." +</P> + +<P> +"You mercenary wretch!" retorted Miss Carleton; "are you already +counting the years before Mr. Mainwaring's death?" +</P> + +<P> +"Isabel, I am shocked!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know why," replied that young lady, coolly. "I was only +thinking, mamma; and one is not always accountable for one's +thoughts, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"But," said Miss Thornton, wonderingly, raising her large eyes, full +of inquiry, to Mrs. Mainwaring, "after our cousin has announced his +intention of making Hugh his heir, don't you think he will be likely +to extend other invitations to visit Fair Oaks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly, my dear," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, "there will probably +be an exchange of courtesies between the two branches of the family +from this time. Though I must say," she added, in a lower tone, and +turning to Mrs. Hogarth, "I do not know that I, for one, will be +particularly anxious to repeat my visit when this celebration is once +over. So far as I can judge, there seems to be no society here. +Wilson has learned from the servants that Mr. Mainwaring lives very +quietly, in fact, receives no company whatever; and, I may be +mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that this Mrs. LaGrange +occupies rather an anomalous position. She is here as his housekeeper, +a servant, yet she entertains his guests, and her manners are anything +but those of a servant." +</P> + +<P> +"Why shouldn't she, mamma?" inquired Isabel, rather abruptly. "Cousin +Hugh has never married,—which is a very good thing for us, by the +way,—and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs. +Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there +is something about her own personality that impresses me very +unfavorably." +</P> + +<P> +"In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs. +Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite +agree with you." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so +decided an opinion as that. I am not prepared to say that she is +a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies +to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired +Mrs. LaGrange very much." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of +her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a +veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no +reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be. +I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; +and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring +estate into our own branch of the family." +</P> + +<P> +"That is just what your father intends to have done whenever the +property comes into Hugh's possession," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, +and was about to say something further, when a musical whistle +attracted the attention of the ladies, and, looking over the +balcony railing, they saw Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., approaching the +house, on his return from a day's fishing, accompanied by Walter +LaGrange, a young sophomore, home on his vacation. +</P> + +<P> +The former was a typical young Englishman, with a frank, pleasant +countenance. The latter, while inheriting his mother's beauty and +resembling her in a marked degree, yet betrayed in his face a +weakness which indicated that, lacking ability to plan and execute +for himself, he would become a ready tool to aid in carrying out the +designs of others. +</P> + +<P> +The ladies, having discovered the hour to be much later than they +supposed, and knowing that the gentlemen would soon return from the +city, speedily adjourned to their dressing-rooms to prepare for +dinner. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING +</H3> + +<P> +Immediately after breakfast the following morning, Hugh Mainwaring, +having excused himself to his guests, retired to his private +library, in company with his secretary and Mr. Whitney, his attorney. +A number of fine saddle horses having been brought around from the +stables, the young people cantered gayly down the oak-lined avenue, +intent upon a morning ride, their voices echoing musically through +the grounds. The elderly people, after a short chat, gradually +dispersed. Mrs. Mainwaring retired to her room for her accustomed +morning nap; Mrs. Hogarth sought the large library and was soon +absorbed in the works of her favorite author, while Ralph Mainwaring +and Mr. Thornton strolled up and down the gravelled walks, enjoying +their cigars. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a very good bit of property," remarked Mr. Mainwaring at +length, running his eye with cold scrutiny over the mansion and +grounds; "taking into consideration the stocks and bonds and various +business interests that will go with it, it will make a fine windfall +for the boy." +</P> + +<P> +"That it will, and Hugh certainly is a lucky dog!" responded Mr. +Thornton, "but you seem to have some definite knowledge regarding +our cousin's finances; has he given you any idea as to what he is +really worth?" +</P> + +<P> +"He? Not a word." Then noting an expression of surprise on his +companion's face, Mr. Mainwaring continued. "I have a number of +business acquaintances on this side the water, and you may rest +assured I have kept myself well posted as to the way things were +going all these years. I have had something of this kind in view +all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"I might have known it," replied Mr. Thornton, with an amused +smile. "I never yet saw a Mainwaring who did not understand how +to feather his own nest. Well, as you say, it is a fine piece of +property; but, do you know, Mainwaring, it strikes me that the old +boy seems a bit anxious to get it disposed of according to his own +liking as quickly as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"It does look that way," the other acknowledged. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, doesn't that seem a little peculiar, when, with no +direct heirs that we know of, the property would in any case revert +to your family?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring puffed in silence for a few moments, then removing +his cigar and slowing knocking off the ashes, he replied very +deliberately,— +</P> + +<P> +"It is my opinion that he and that attorney of his are aware of some +possible claimants, of whom we know nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"That is my idea exactly," said Mr. Thornton; "and, don't you know, +it has occurred to me that possibly, unknown to us, Harold Mainwaring +may have left a child, whose existence is known to Hugh." +</P> + +<P> +"That would cut no figure in this case," Mr. Mainwaring answered, +quickly. "Even had there been a living child,—which there was +not,—he could make no claim whatever, for Harold was disinherited +by his father's will." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know the old gentleman disinherited Harold, but would his +heirs have no claim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not under that will. I was present when it was read, and I remember +it debarred 'both him and his heirs, forever.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Harold!" said Mr. Thornton, after a moment's silence; "he was +the elder son, was he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and his father's favorite. It broke the old man's heart to +disinherit him. He failed rapidly after that occurred, and he never +was the same towards Hugh. I always thought that accounted for +Hugh's selling the old place as he did; it had too many unpleasant +memories." +</P> + +<P> +"Harold died soon after that unfortunate marriage, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; he learned too late the character of the woman he had married, +and after the death of their only child, he left her, and a few years +later was lost at sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," continued Mr. Thornton, after a pause, "have you the remotest +idea as to who these possible claimants against the property may be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only the merest suspicion, as yet too vague even to mention; but I +think a day or two will probably enable me to determine whether I am +correct or not." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, Harry Scott, the private secretary, appeared, with a +message to the gentlemen from Hugh Mainwaring, to the effect that he +would like to have them join himself and Mr. Whitney in his library. +</P> + +<P> +As they passed around to the southern entrance with the secretary, +they did not observe a closed carriage coming swiftly up the +driveway, nor a tall, slender man, with cadaverous features and +sharp, peering eyes, who alighted and hastily rang for admittance. +But two hours later, as Mr. Thornton was descending the winding +stairway in the main hall, he caught a glimpse of the strange +caller, just taking his departure. The stranger, hearing footsteps, +turned towards Mr. Thornton, and for an instant their eyes met. +There was a mutual recognition; astonishment and scorn were written +on Mr. Thornton's face, while the stranger cowed visibly and, with +a fawning, cringing bow, made as speedy an exit as possible. +</P> + +<P> +At luncheon that day both Hugh Mainwaring and a number of his guests +seemed rather preoccupied, and the meal passed in unusual silence. +Mrs. LaGrange exerted herself to be particularly entertaining to Mr. +Whitney, but he, though courteously responding to her overtures, made +no effort to continue the conversation. Even the genial Mr. Thornton +was in so abstracted a mood that his daughter at last rallied him on +his appearance, whereupon he turned somewhat abruptly to his host +with the inquiry,— +</P> + +<P> +"Are you personally acquainted with Richard Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant, Hugh Mainwaring seemed confused, and Mr. Whitney, +always on the alert, noted a peculiar expression flash across the +face of Mrs. LaGrange, and was also conscious of an almost +imperceptible start on the part of the young secretary seated near +him. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mainwaring quickly recovered himself and replied, deliberately, +"Richard Hobson, the attorney? I believe I met him once or twice, +years ago, in London, but I cannot claim any acquaintance with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Dick Hobson does not deserve the name of attorney," remarked Ralph +Mainwaring; "he is a shyster and a scoundrel." +</P> + +<P> +"He certainly bears a hard reputation," rejoined Mr. Thornton; "and +I would not have mentioned his name, only that I met him here about +half an hour since, and that caused me to make the inquiry I did." +</P> + +<P> +Hugh Mainwaring paled visibly, though he remained calm. "Met him +here, in my house? Impossible!" he exclaimed, at the same time +glancing towards the butler, but the face of that functionary was +as immobile as rock. "I did not suppose the man was in this +country!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," replied Ralph Mainwaring; "he left England about two +years ago; he played one too many of his dirty games there and took +the first steamer for America, hoping, I suppose, to find a wider +sphere of action in this country." +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly I may have been mistaken," remarked Mr. Thornton, quietly, +realizing that he had unconsciously touched an unpleasant chord, +"but the resemblance was certainly striking." +</P> + +<P> +An awkward silence followed, broken by young Scott, who excused +himself on the plea of important work and returned to Mr. +Mainwaring's library, where he was soon joined by all the gentlemen +excepting young Mainwaring. In the hall, Hugh Mainwaring paused for +a few words with the butler, and the attorney, passing at that +moment, caught the man's reply, given in a low tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; Mrs. LaGrange." +</P> + +<P> +A little later, the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring was +signed by the testator, and duly attested by Ralph Mainwaring, +William Mainwaring Thornton, and William H. Whitney. As the last +signature was completed, Hugh Mainwaring drew a heavy sigh, saying +in a low tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"That is as I wished, my namesake is my heir;" then taking the +document, he placed it in the hands of his secretary, adding, "Lay +this for the present on my desk. To-morrow I wish it to be read in +the presence of all the members of the family, after which, Mr. +Whitney, I desire to have it put in your possession for safe keeping +until it is needed; when that will be, no one can say;—it may be +sooner than we think." +</P> + +<P> +A marked change had come over his manner since luncheon, and his +tones, even more than his words, made a deep impression on the mind +of every one present. The shade of melancholy passed, however, and, +ringing the bell, Hugh Mainwaring ordered carriages for himself and +his guests for the afternoon and departed, leaving his secretary +to attend to some private work in the library. Harry Scott's manner, +upon finding himself alone within the private rooms of Hugh +Mainwaring, betrayed intense excitement. He pushed his work +impatiently from him and, rising, began to walk swiftly, though +noiselessly, back and forth, the entire length of the two apartments. +Twice he paused before the large desk, and taking therefrom the will, +already familiar to him, read its contents with burning eyes while +his face alternately flushed and paled. Then folding and replacing +the document, he turned towards the safe, muttering,— +</P> + +<P> +"It is no use. I have searched there once before and could find +nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he exclaimed, "No one knows what may happen; this may be my +last opportunity! I will search once more and leave not a corner +unexplored." +</P> + +<P> +Having locked the library, he returned to the safe. He knew the +combination, and soon the great doors swung open, revealing the +contents arranged with the precision for which Mr. Mainwaring was +noted in his business habits. Conscious that he had abundance of +time for the work he had undertaken and that he was secure from +interruption, he began a careful and methodical search through all +the compartments. Various private documents were examined and then +replaced in exactly their original position, but all seemed of no +avail. He discovered no trace of that which he hoped to find. +</P> + +<P> +At last he came to a metallic box, which he surmised, from its +weight and general appearance, contained the old family jewels. +Should he open that? A moment's thought decided the question; he +would leave nothing unexplored. Further search revealed the key +concealed in a tiny drawer. He applied it to the lock; the cover +flew backward, and a dazzling light flashed into his face as a ray +of sunlight fell across his shoulder upon the superb gems, gleaming +and scintillating from the depths of their hiding-place. But he +paid little heed to them, for, in a long and narrow receptacle within +one side of the box, his keen eye had discovered a paper, yellow and +musty with age, the sight of which thrilled him with hope. He +quickly drew it forth, and a single glance at its title assured him +it was indeed the object of his search. With a low cry of joy, he +locked and replaced the metallic box, and, opening the ancient +document, he eagerly scanned its contents, an expression of intense +satisfaction overspreading his features. +</P> + +<P> +He was still perusing the paper when he heard footsteps approaching +the library through the long corridor, followed an instant later by a +knock. Depositing the precious document safely within an inside +pocket, he swung the doors of the safe together, turning the handle +so as to lock it securely, and, crossing the library, unlocked and +opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +The butler was standing there, and, handing Scott a card, said, +briefly, +</P> + +<P> +"A gentleman on private business; must see Mr. Mainwaring or his +secretary at once." +</P> + +<P> +Scott glanced at the card: it bore the name of "J. Henry Carruthers," +with a London address, and underneath had been hastily pencilled +the word "Important." +</P> + +<P> +"Show the gentleman up," he said. The butler bowed and was gone, +and in an incredibly short time, while yet Scott's pulse throbbed +wildly from his recent discovery, the stranger entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +He was a little above the average height, with a somewhat commanding +presence, rather pale face, dark moustache, and black curling hair. +He wore dark glasses, and was dressed in a tweed suit, slightly +travel-worn, but his manners were those of a gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, I believe," he said, addressing the secretary. +</P> + +<P> +"That is my name, sir; please be seated. What can I do for you, Mr. +Carruthers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you inform me, Mr. Scott, of the earliest hour at which I can +see Mr. Mainwaring? I called at his city office and was directed +here; but the butler states that Mr. Mainwaring is away from home, and +is unable to say when he will return, or how soon he would be at +liberty to see me." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring will probably return about five o'clock; but it is +rather difficult for me to state when you could see him, as he is +entertaining a number of guests, and it is doubtful if he would care +to attend to any business just at this time, unless it were of special +importance." +</P> + +<P> +"My business with Mr. Mainwaring is of special importance," replied +the other; "and I would be very glad if he could give me a little +time to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps, if you would give me some intimation of its nature," +Scott suggested, "Mr. Mainwaring might consent to make an appointment +for the following day. I hardly think he would see you sooner. +To-morrow is his birthday, and, as it is to be celebrated by him and +his guests, it is doubtful whether he would attend to any business +on that day." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" said Mr. Carruthers, rising, while Scott was conscious of +a peculiar scrutiny fixed upon himself from behind those dark glasses; +"it had escaped my mind, but now I recall that Mr. Mainwaring is to +celebrate his birthday by making his young English cousin and namesake +his heir. I certainly would not intrude at a time so inopportune." +</P> + +<P> +The secretary started. "I was not aware that Mr. Mainwaring's +intentions were generally known," he remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not," replied the other, in a peculiar tone. "I merely +heard it mentioned, and all parties have my congratulations and best +wishes. Kindly say to Mr. Mainwaring that when the happy event is +over I hope he will give me his earliest consideration. My address +for the present will be the Arlington House.. Do not take the +trouble to ring, I can find my way." +</P> + +<P> +"You will find this way much shorter, sir," Scott replied, opening +the door into the southern hall. Mr. Carruthers thanked him and, +with a profound bow, took his departure. +</P> + +<P> +As the hour was late, Scott found it necessary to devote himself at +once to his work, and he had but just completed it when the sound +of wheels was heard outside, and a few moments later his employer +entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +The latter studied Mr. Carruthers's card quite attentively, and +frowned upon learning that his intentions regarding the making of +his will had become known by outsiders, but he soon seemed to forget +the occurrence. Soon all were gathered about the dinner-table, and +the evening passed very pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +When, at a late hour, Hugh Mainwaring, in the dimly-lighted veranda, +bade his guests good-night, he grasped the hand of his namesake and +said, in a tone remarkably tender,— +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh, my boy, the distance is long between the twenty-first and the +fiftieth mile-stones on the journey of life. Heaven grant, when you +shall have reached the latter, you may look back over a brighter +pathway than I do to-night!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, as the young man passed, he murmured to himself "If I could +but have had just such a son as he!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not see, though there was one who did, a woman's form glide +away in the dim light, her eyes gleaming with malignant fire. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A TERRIBLE AWAKENING +</H3> + +<P> +For some time after his guests had retired, Hugh Mainwaring remained +outside, walking up and down in the starlight, apparently absorbed +in thought. When at length he passed into the house, he met his +secretary coming out for a solitary smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Come to my library, Mr. Scott, before you retire for the night," +said Mr. Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"At once, sir, if you wish," the secretary replied. +</P> + +<P> +"No, there is no hurry; any time within an hour," and he passed +up-stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later Harry Scott passed down the corridor towards the +library, but paused on hearing an angry voice within, which he at +once recognized as Mrs. LaGrange's. +</P> + +<P> +"Where would you be to-night?" she cried, "where would you have been +all these years, if I had but exposed your dishonesty and duplicity? +You defrauded your only brother during his lifetime; you have +persistently ignored your son, your own flesh and blood; and now you +would rob him, not only of his father's name, but of his father's +fortune,—cast him off with a mere pittance,—and put this stranger +in the place which is rightfully his, and wish that you had been +given such a son as he! You are in my power, and you know it only +too well; and I will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family +rue this day's work." +</P> + +<P> +Hugh Mainwaring's reply to this tirade was inaudible, and Scott, +feeling that he already had heard too much, withdrew, and continued +walking up and down the halls until the library door opened and Mrs. +LaGrange came out. She swept past him in a towering rage, seeming +scarcely aware of his presence until, as he passed down the corridor +and entered the library, he was suddenly conscious that she had +turned and was watching him. +</P> + +<P> +He found Mr. Mainwaring looking pale and fatigued. +</P> + +<P> +"I will detain you but a moment, Mr. Scott," he said, speaking +wearily; "I have a few instructions I would like you to carry out +early in the morning; and I also want to say that I wish you to +consider yourself as one of my guests to-morrow, and join with us +in the festivities of the occasion." +</P> + +<P> +Scott thanked his employer courteously, though there might have been +detected a shade of reserve in his manner, and, after receiving +brief directions for the following day, withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +He went to his room, but not to sleep. His mind was too full of +the events of the day just passed, as well as of the expected events +of the morrow. His thoughts reverted to his discovery of the +afternoon, and, taking the shabby document from his pocket, he read +and re-read it carefully, his features betraying deep emotion. What +should be done with it? Should he let his employer know at once of +the proof which he now held against him? Or should he hold it for a +few days and await developments? +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly three o'clock when he was aroused from his abstraction +by a slight sound, as of stealthy footsteps in the rear of the house. +He listened intently for a moment, but hearing nothing further and +discovering the lateness of the hour, he hastily extinguished the +light and, too exhausted and weary to undress, threw himself as he +was upon a couch and was soon sleeping heavily. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was shining brightly into his room, when Harry Scott was +awakened the next morning by a woman's scream, followed by cries and +sobs and a confused sound of running to and fro. Almost before he +could collect his thoughts, he heard steps approaching his room, +and, rising, hastily exchanged the smoking-jacket in which he had +slept for a coat. He had barely time to make the change when there +was a loud knock, and some one called his name in quick, sharp tones. +</P> + +<P> +Opening the door, he saw Mr. Whitney standing before him, while in +the background servants were running in different directions, +wringing their bands and moaning and crying hysterically. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott," said the attorney, in tones trembling with excitement, +"come to the tower-room at once. Mr. Mainwaring has been murdered!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring murdered!" he exclaimed, reeling for an instant as +if from a blow. "Great heavens! it cannot be possible!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is terrible, but a fact, nevertheless," replied Mr. Whitney; +"he was murdered last night in his private rooms." +</P> + +<P> +"How and when was it discovered?" Scott inquired, his mind still +dazed by the wild torrent of thought surging through his brain as +he recalled the events of the previous night. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardy, his valet, was the first to discover it this morning. We +have telephoned for his physician and for the coroner; they will be +out on the next train from the city." +</P> + +<P> +Harry Scott shuddered as he entered the familiar room where he had +taken leave of his employer but comparatively few hours before. +Even amid the confusion, he noted that in the outer room everything +appeared the same as when he last saw it, but the portieres at the +farther side, pushed widely open, revealed a ghastly sight. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the floor, about half-way between the desk and safe, his head +resting in a small pool of blood, lay Hugh Mainwaring. He was +inclined slightly towards his right side, his arm partially extended, +and on the floor, near his right hand, lay a revolver, while an ugly +wound just above the right eye and near the temple showed where the +weapon had done its deadly work. The closely cut hair about the +temple was singed and his face was blackened, showing that the fatal +shot had been fired at close range. There were no indications, +however, of a struggle of any kind; the great revolving-chair, +usually standing in front of the desk, had been pushed aside, but +everything else was in its accustomed place, and the desk was closed +and locked. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring was already kneeling beside the body; Mr. Thornton +and young Mainwaring, who had entered immediately after Scott and +the attorney, stood speechless with horror. With what conflicting +emotions the young secretary gazed upon the lifeless form of his +employer, fortunately for him at that moment, no one knew; as his +mind cleared, he began to realize that his position was likely to +prove a difficult and dangerous one, and that he must act with +extreme caution. +</P> + +<P> +The silence was first broken by Mr. Thornton, who exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Terrible! Terrible! What do you think, Mainwaring? is this murder +or suicide?" +</P> + +<P> +"Time alone will tell," replied Mr. Mainwaring in a low tone; "but I +am inclined to think it is murder." +</P> + +<P> +"Murder without a doubt!" added Mr. Whitney. +</P> + +<P> +"But who could have done such a deed?" groaned Mr. Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +Hugh Mainwaring was attired, as when Scott had last seen him, in a +rich dressing-gown; but as the secretary knelt beside the silent +form and touched the left hand lying partially hidden in its folds, +he gave a slight start, and, quickly passing his hand within the +dressing-gown, announced in a low tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"His diamond ring and his watch are both gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Robbery!" exclaimed young Mainwaring; "that must have been the +object of the murderer!" While his father, glancing towards the +safe, remarked,— +</P> + +<P> +"We must ascertain whether anything else is missing." +</P> + +<P> +"We will make a thorough examination of the room after the coroner's +arrival," said Mr. Whitney, "but, for the present, everything must +remain as it is." +</P> + +<P> +"Should we not send for a detective at once?" Mr. Thornton inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I have already telephoned for one upon my own responsibility," +replied the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"When were you last in these rooms, Mr. Scott?" asked Ralph +Mainwaring of the secretary, who had risen to his feet and was making +a careful survey of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"About twelve o'clock last night, sir," was his reply; then noting a +look of surprise on the faces about him, he added,— +</P> + +<P> +"I came at Mr. Mainwaring's request, as he wished to give directions +regarding some work to be done this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"He was alone at that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"How did he appear?" inquired Mr. Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"The same as usual, except that he seemed very weary." +</P> + +<P> +"Was he in this room?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; he was seated in the library." +</P> + +<P> +The sound of voices in the corridor attracted Mr. Mainwaring's +attention, and he turned quickly to his son,— +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh, I hear your mother's voice; go and meet her. The ladies must +not be allowed to come in here." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton turned to accompany young Mainwaring. Near the door he +met his daughter and Miss Carleton, while a little farther down the +corridor were Isabel Mainwaring and her mother. With terror-stricken +faces they gathered about him, unable to believe the terrible report +which they had learned from the servants. As best he could, he +answered their numerous inquiries, and, having escorted them to +another part of the house, left them in charge of young Mainwaring, +while he returned to the library. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the news of the murder had spread with lightning-like +rapidity, and already crowds of people, drawn by that strange +fascination which always exists for a certain class in scenes of +this kind, were gathering on the grounds outside the house, forming +in little groups, conversing with the servants, or gazing upward +with awe-stricken glances at the closely-drawn shutters of the room +in the tower. The invisible barriers which so long had excluded +the public from Fair Oaks had been swept away by the hand of death, +and rich and poor, capitalist and laborer, alike wandered +unrestrained up and down the oak-lined avenue. +</P> + +<P> +At the door of the library, Mr. Thornton found Ralph Mainwaring and +the attorney conversing together in low tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Mr. Mainwaring was saying, "as you say, it is undoubtedly +murder; but I confess I am at a loss to understand the motive for +such a deed, unless it were robbery; and you do not seem to give +that idea much credence?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney shook his head decidedly. "Unless we find very strong +evidence in that direction, I cannot believe that this is any case +of common robbery." +</P> + +<P> +"But to what other motive would you attribute it?" inquired Mr. +Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Until further facts have been developed which may throw light upon +the subject, I do not feel prepared to say what the motive might +have been." +</P> + +<P> +"You evidently have your suspicions," remarked Mr. Mainwaring, while +Mr. Thornton inquired,— +</P> + +<P> +"Had our cousin any enemies that you know of?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney turned a keen, penetrating glance upon Mr. Thornton for +an instant, and the latter continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it possible that in his business relations he might have +incurred the enmity of some one of whom you knew." +</P> + +<P> +"No," the attorney answered, quickly, "I am not aware of anything +of that nature. Mr. Mainwaring made few intimate friends, but he +was universally respected by all who knew him. If he had any +enemies," he added, very slowly, "they were within his own +household." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring looked sharply at the attorney, but +Mr. Thornton exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"'Egad! sir, but you surely do not think this deed was committed by +any one of the inmates of this house?" +</P> + +<P> +"As I have already said," replied Mr. Whitney, "I am not prepared +to state what I do think without further knowledge of the facts in +the case." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we understand that," rejoined Mr. Mainwaring; "but we +desire to have the benefit of your opinions and judgment regarding +this case so soon as you do feel justified in expressing them, and, +since you are vastly more familiar with the circumstances +surrounding it than we, we wish to rely on your suggestions in +this matter." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney bowed. "My advice for the present would be to take +care that no one leaves the premises, and that you also send for +Mrs. LaGrange; I wish to see her," he said briefly, and passed +into the library. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring beckoned to the butler; who was standing at a +little distance, awaiting orders. +</P> + +<P> +"Call the housekeeper at once, Mr. Whitney wishes to see her in the +library; and send Wilson to me, and also the coachman." +</P> + +<P> +With a silent acknowledgment of the order the butler withdrew, and +a moment later, John Wilson, a middle-aged man and a servant of Ralph +Mainwaring's who had accompanied him from London, appeared, followed +by Brown, the coachman at Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mainwaring first addressed the latter. "Brown, for the next +hour or so, I wish you to be stationed in the hall below. Keep back +the crowd as much as possible; when the coroner and physician arrive +show them up at once, but on no account allow any one else to come +up-stairs." +</P> + +<P> +Then turning to his own serving-man, as Brown departed to the duties +assigned him, Mr. Mainwaring continued, +</P> + +<P> +"'For you, Wilson, I have a task which I cannot intrust to any one +else, but which I know you will perform faithfully and discreetly; +so far as you are able, keep a close watch upon every one within +this house, without seeming to do so; pay close attention to all +conversation which you hear, and if you hear or see anything unusual, +or that seems to have any bearing on what has occurred, report to +me at once. Above all, do not let any of the servants leave the +premises without they have my permission." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, sir," Wilson replied; as he moved away the butler +reappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"The housekeeper has not yet left her room, sir," he said, addressing +Mr. Mainwaring. "I gave the message by the chambermaid, and she +sent word that she had been prostrated by the terrible news this +morning, sir, but that she would see Mr. Whitney in a few moments." +</P> + +<P> +As the man retreated, Mr. Thornton paused suddenly in his walk up +and down the corridor,— +</P> + +<P> +"'Pon my soul, Mainwaring! it strikes me—particularly since hearing +that will read yesterday—that there must have been something with +reference to that woman—well—rather peculiar, don't you know." +</P> + +<P> +"It strikes me," replied Mr. Mainwaring with marked emphasis, "that +there may be something rather 'peculiar,' as you call it, in that +direction at present, and I believe Mr. Whitney is of the same +opinion." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that? You surely do not think it possible that in his mind +she is in any way associated with this murder—if it is a murder?" +</P> + +<P> +"He evidently suspects some one in this house, and for the present +we can draw our own inferences. Regarding those provisions in the +will to which you just now alluded, I can assure you I was not too +well pleased; but I knew it was useless to raise any objections or +questions; to my mind, however, they furnish a clue as to the +possible claimants against the estate, which we were discussing +yesterday, and perhaps a clue to this latest development, also." +</P> + +<P> +"By my soul! it looks like it; but surely she could have no valid +claim." +</P> + +<P> +"Valid or not," replied Ralph Mainwaring, "there must have been a +powerful claim of some kind. When a man of Hugh Mainwaring's +type leaves a handsome annuity to his housekeeper, and an interest +in his business worth fifty or seventy-five thousand to her son, +it may be considered pretty strong evidence that—" +</P> + +<P> +At a warning glance from Mr. Thornton, Ralph Mainwaring paused +abruptly and, turning, saw Mrs. LaGrange coming noiselessly down +the corridor. She was dressed with even more than usual care, +with quantities of rich lace fastened loosely about her shapely +neck and falling in profusion over her beautifully moulded wrists +and hands. Her dark, handsome features bore no trace of recent +prostration, but betrayed, instead, signs of intense excitement. +She bowed silently and passed onward, entering the library so +quietly that the attorney, absorbed in thought, was unaware of her +presence until she stood before him. He started slightly, and for +an instant neither spoke. Each was silently gauging the power of +the other. +</P> + +<P> +For some time, Mrs. LaGrange had been conscious that Mr. Whitney +was one of the few whose penetration could not be blinded by her +blandishments. In addition, the fact that he was the private +solicitor and legal adviser of Hugh Mainwaring did not tend to +inspire her with confidence regarding his attitude towards herself. +Nevertheless, he was an eminent attorney and this was a critical +moment; if she could gain his favor and his services in her behalf, +it would be a brilliant stroke of policy. Her plans were well laid, +and she was prepared to assume whatever role was necessary, so soon +as his words or manner should give her the desired cue. +</P> + +<P> +For this, she did not have long to wait; one searching glance, and +she had read in the piercing scrutiny and cold scorn of his keen +blue eye that, so far from winning favor from him, he would prove +her most bitter opponent, and as quickly she determined upon her +future course of action. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney, on the other hand, though a frequent visitor at Fair +Oaks, and familiar with the fascinating manner with which, when she +chose, Mrs. LaGrange entertained the guests of Hugh Mainwaring, was +now forced to acknowledge to himself that never had he seen this +handsome woman so beautiful as at the present moment. The eyes +looking into his with such depth of meaning,—the expression, the +attitude,—all were utterly unlike anything which he had ever seen; +but his face grew only the more stern, for the thought then and +there occurred to him that perhaps here was the solution of the +mysterious power which this woman had wielded over the man whose +lifeless form was now lying in their presence. +</P> + +<P> +He observed that the luminous eyes grew suddenly cold, while her +head assumed its usual haughty poise; the brief spell was over, and +each understood the other. +</P> + +<P> +After a few general directions, Mr. Whitney remarked, "This day's +events will be far different from what we had anticipated." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied, with a mocking smile, "in that it brings to the +guests of this house, instead of future expectations, the immediate +realization of their wishes!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not to be conceived for one moment that any of them take that +view of what has occurred," he replied, in a tone of displeasure. +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly not," she rejoined, "although the prospective long life +of their host seemed to greatly detract, at least in the case of one +of their number, from their enjoyment of the occasion which they had +come to celebrate." +</P> + +<P> +"To whom do you refer?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"It is unnecessary to give names," she answered, coldly; "but had +the Mainwarings of London known the facts which I know, they would +never have crossed the water to take part in the farce which was +enacted here yesterday. There are Mainwarings with better right +and title to this estate than they, as they will soon learn." +</P> + +<P> +Neither by look nor gesture did she manifest the least consciousness +of, or concern for, the inanimate form visible in the adjoining room. +With sudden directness, and ignoring the implied threat in her last +words, Mr. Whitney asked,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. LaGrange, at what hour did you last see Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +She was about to reply, when Scott entered from the tower-room. He +had heard her last remark, and his dark, piercing eyes were fixed +upon her face in keen scrutiny. She was quick to note the fact and +hesitated an instant, while a change, inexplicable to the attorney, +passed over her face,—surprise, a shade almost of fear, and +haughty defiance were visible in quick succession; then, turning +again towards Mr. Whitney, she answered, indifferently,— +</P> + +<P> +"It was quite late last night; I do not recollect the hour." +</P> + +<P> +As the attorney was about to speak, Mr. Thornton appeared at the +door of the library. +</P> + +<P> +"Beg pardon, Mr. Whitney, but I believe the coroner and others have +arrived; as you know the gentlemen, will you kindly meet them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. Mr. Scott, you will please remain here," and the +attorney hastened out into the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +Again Mrs. LaGrange and the secretary faced each other in silence, +each apparently trying to read the other's thoughts and probe the +depth of the other's knowledge; then, as the gentlemen were heard +approaching, she withdrew, leaving him alone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES +</H3> + +<P> +As the attorney, in response to the summons from Mr. Thornton, +hastened from the corridor into the main hall, five gentlemen were +slowly ascending the broad stairway, conversing together in subdued +tones. One, younger than the others and evidently more familiar +with the surroundings at Fair Oaks, stepped quickly in advance of +the rest and extended his hand to Mr. Whitney in silent greeting. +This was Dr. Hobart, Hugh Mainwaring's physician and one of his most +intimate friends, although a number of years his junior. Following +him were Mr. Elliott and Mr. Chittenden, of the firm of Mainwaring +& Co., while bringing up the rear were the coroner and a gentleman, +somewhat below medium size and of modest appearance, whom the +attorney greeted very cordially and afterwards introduced to Mr. +Thornton as Mr. Merrick. Proceeding at once to the library, they +were joined a moment later by Ralph Mainwaring and his son. The +necessary introductions followed, and Mr. Mainwaring having given +the butler instructions to admit no one into the library, Mr. Whitney +made a brief statement regarding the discovery of the murder, and +all passed into the room in the tower. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Hobart at once bent over the prostrate form with genuine sorrow. +The millionaire broker had been one of his earliest patrons, and +their acquaintance had soon ripened into a mutual attachment, +notwithstanding the disparity in their ages. After a long look at +the face of his friend, he gave place to the coroner, who was also +a physician. They partially lifted the body and both examined the +wound, the small man who had accompanied the coroner looking on +silently. It was found that the bullet had entered just above the +right eye and had passed through the brain in a slightly downward +direction, coming out near the base upon the same side. The most +careful search failed to disclose the bullet, and attention was +next directed to the revolver lying upon the floor near the right +hand. It was a Smith & Wesson, thirty-two calibre, with but one +empty chamber, that from which the fatal bullet had probably +been discharged. +</P> + +<P> +"Can any of you gentlemen tell me whether or not this belonged to +the deceased?" inquired the coroner, holding up the revolver. +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant's pause, and Mr. Whitney replied, "I know +that Mr. Mainwaring owned a revolver, but, having never seen it, +am unable to answer your inquiry. Perhaps his secretary could +give you the desired information." +</P> + +<P> +"I have often seen a revolver lying in Mr. Mainwaring's desk," +said the secretary; "but I doubt whether I could identify it, as +I never observed it closely. I should judge, however, that this +was the same size and make." +</P> + +<P> +"Would it not be well to see if it is still there?" suggested +the attorney. "I suppose you have a key to the desk." +</P> + +<P> +"I have, sir," he replied, at the same time producing it. Crossing +the room, he unlocked and opened the desk. An instant later, he +announced, as he closed the desk, "It is not here." +</P> + +<P> +There was a subdued murmur, and Mr. Thornton was heard to exclaim, +"Suicide! That has been my impression all along." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring glanced inquiringly at the attorney, who shook +his head emphatically, while the coroner once more inspected the +wound with an air of perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor," inquired Ralph Mainwaring, "in your opinion, how long has +life been extinct?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should judge about eight or nine hours," replied Dr. Hobart. +"What would you say, Dr. Westlake?" +</P> + +<P> +"That would be my judgment, also." +</P> + +<P> +"You would say that death was instantaneous?" questioned the +attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Without a doubt. It could not have been otherwise?" Ralph +Mainwaring consulted his watch. "It is now half after nine; in your +judgment, then, this must have occurred about one o'clock this +morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"About that time." +</P> + +<P> +"At what hour was Mr. Mainwaring last seen by any one in this +house?" asked the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"As nearly as we have ascertained thus far, at about twelve o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Twelve? Indeed! By whom? and where?" +</P> + +<P> +"By his private secretary, and in the library adjoining." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said the coroner, after a pause, during which he had +made a memorandum of certain details which he considered of special +importance; "the undertaker can now be summoned as I believe he is +waiting below, and we seem to have ascertained all the facts possible +in this direction; and, Mr. Whitney, I will next see the valet, whom +you say was the one to discover the situation this morning." +</P> + +<P> +In the slight confusion and delay which ensued, Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden took their departure, with the usual expressions of +condolence and regret, followed a few moments later by Dr. Hobart, +who was accompanied downstairs by young Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Mr. Merrick, having made a close scrutiny of the lifeless +form, had been slowly walking back and forth in the tower-room and +library, his hands in the pockets of his short sacque coat and his +eyes apparently riveted on the floor. Several times in the library +he paused and, bending downward, seemed to be intently studying the +carpet; then, after two or three turns about the room, he sauntered +towards the windows and doors, examining the fastenings of each in +turn, and, on reaching the door opening into the southern hall, +suddenly disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"A very mysterious case!" commented the coroner, when he had finished +his interview with the valet. "Thus far nothing can be learned which +throws much actual light on the subject one way or another, but if +anybody can unravel the mystery, Merrick can." +</P> + +<P> +"Merrick!" repeated Mr. Thornton, turning to Mr. Whitney in surprise. +"Is Mr. Merrick a detective?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is. I did not introduce him as such, for the reason that in a +case of this kind he usually prefers to make his first visit incognito +if possible." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well; you have taken the responsibility in this matter. You +understand, of course, Mr. Whitney, that we want no amateur work in +a case like this." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Merrick is no amateur," said the attorney, quietly; "he is one +of the most trusted and one of the surest men on the force." +</P> + +<P> +"Before we go any farther," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, "I suggest +that we ascertain whether or not there has been a robbery. We can +at least satisfy ourselves on that point." +</P> + +<P> +"Acting on your suggestion, we will examine the safe," said Mr. +Whitney; "though I, for one, am not inclined to think there has been +any robbery. Without a knowledge of the combination, the safe could +not be opened unless force were employed; and it certainly bears no +evidence of having been tampered with." +</P> + +<P> +"Proceed with your investigation, Mr. Whitney," said the quiet voice +of the detective, who had entered unobserved from the smoking-room; +"unless I am greatly mistaken, the person we are after is some one +pretty familiar with various 'combinations' in these apartments." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general expression of surprise, and all turned towards +Mr. Merrick for an explanation, but a glance at his impassive face +convinced them that questions would be useless. +</P> + +<P> +With a few swift turns the secretary unlocked the safe and the +ponderous doors swung open, showing books and papers in their +accustomed places. Everything appeared in perfect order; but as the +attorney began a rapid examination of the interior, he suddenly +uttered a sharp exclamation, while, as he continued his search, his +manner betrayed considerable excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything wrong, Mr. Whitney? anything missing?" queried Ralph +Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything is missing!" the other exclaimed, after a moment's pause, +turning around with a pale face and holding in his hand an empty +cash box; "there is absolutely nothing left but an old cheque-book, +a few drafts, and some other papers of no value whatever except to +Hugh Mainwaring himself!" +</P> + +<P> +Half a score of questions were instantly raised: "Was there a large +amount of money in the safe?" "Did it contain anything of great +value?" +</P> + +<P> +Scott, standing silently in the background, seemed to see +again the brilliant gems flashing in the sunlight, as he had +seen them in his search on the preceding day, but he said +nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a considerable amount of cash," the attorney was saying. +"Mr. Mainwaring deposited a large sum there when he last came out +from the city, and," he added more slowly, "the old family jewels +were kept in the safe." +</P> + +<P> +"The Mainwaring jewels!" echoed both the Englishmen. "Impossible! +incredible!" While Ralph Mainwaring exclaimed, "Why, they were +worth a fortune several times over in themselves!" +</P> + +<P> +"I am aware of that," answered the attorney. "I often remonstrated +with Mr. Mainwaring, but to no purpose; for some reason which he +never explained he always kept them there." +</P> + +<P> +"I would never have believed him capable of such recklessness," said +Mr. Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"Recklessness!" exclaimed Ralph Mainwaring; "it was the biggest +piece of imbecility I ever heard of! What is your opinion now, Mr. +Whitney, regarding a robbery in connection with this case?" +</P> + +<P> +"That there has been a robbery I am forced to admit," the attorney +replied, courteously but firmly; "but my opinion of the matter is +still unchanged. I regard the robbery as only incident to the +murder. I do not yet believe it to have led to the deeper crime." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Mr. Scott, whether any one beside yourself understood +the combination of the safe?" Ralph Mainwaring inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not, sir," the secretary replied, conscious that all eyes had +turned upon him at the inquiry and that the detective was observing +him closely. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Ralph Mainwaring loudly lamented the missing jewels, until +it was evident to all that their loss, for the time at least, had +completely overshadowed all thought of the tragedy they were +investigating. +</P> + +<P> +"They must be recovered at all hazards and at any price," he said, +addressing the detective. "There were single gems in that +collection which cost a fortune and which have been heirlooms in +the family for generations." +</P> + +<P> +After further search which failed to disclose anything of importance, +or any clue regarding either the murder or the robbery, arrangements +were made for the inquest to be held at three o'clock that afternoon, +and the party was about to leave the apartments, when Mr. Whitney +paused. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, gentlemen; there is one more point I would like +investigated. I maintain that we have not yet discovered the most +essential clue to this case—something to throw light on the +possible motive which prompted the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. I +now wish to make a final trial. Mr. Scott, will you once more open +Mr. Mainwaring's desk for us and take out the will that was deposited +there yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring started. "The will? You surely do not think—" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it might be safer in our own possession," said the attorney, +with a peculiar smile. +</P> + +<P> +"And right you are!" added Mr. Thornton, approvingly. "I wonder you +had not thought of that yourself, Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Scott, having opened the desk in compliance with the +attorney's request, had looked for the will where he had last seen it +on the preceding day, and, failing to find it, was searching through +the numerous receptacles containing Mr. Mainwaring's private papers. +The silence around him became oppressive, and suddenly looking up, +he encountered the glance of both Mr. Whitney and the detective, the +former with an expression of triumph in his keen eyes. Perplexed and +bewildered, Scott exclaimed in a mechanical tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"The will is gone; it is nowhere to be found!" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought as much," said the attorney, quietly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE INQUEST +</H3> + +<P> +The crowd, which early in the day had gathered about Fair Oaks, +instead of diminishing, seemed rather to increase as the hours +slipped away. Little by little the facts became known to +outsiders,—the loss of the old family jewels, concerning whose existence +and probable value vague rumors had been circulated in the past, the +drawing up of the will on the preceding day and its strange +disappearance in connection with the sudden and mysterious death of +the testator,—all combined to arouse public interest and curiosity +to an unusual degree; it seemed the culmination of the impenetrable +mystery which for years had shrouded the place. +</P> + +<P> +As the hour for the inquest approached, the crowd was augmented by +each suburban train, until a throng of business men of all classes, +interspersed with numerous reporters eager for the details of the +affair, covered the grounds and even sought admittance to the house, +for the millionaire broker, though a man of few intimate friendships, +was widely known and honored in the financial and commercial world. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after the arrival of the 2.45 train from the city, the +Mainwaring carriage came rapidly up the avenue, two or three other +carriages following in the rear. As it stopped, Mr. Whitney +alighted, followed by an elderly gentleman of fine appearance and +two officers of the special police, who immediately began to force +back the crowd, while the attorney and his companion hastily entered +the house and were met by the butler, who, in response to a hurried +inquiry, directed them up-stairs. +</P> + +<P> +In the private library they found the detective who had been left +there alone at his own request. There was a brief interview between +the three, after which Mr. Whitney begged his companion to excuse +him for a moment, and beckoning Mr. Merrick into the tower-room, +asked eagerly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what success? Have you struck the trail?" +</P> + +<P> +With an enigmatical smile, the detective replied, "The game has +doubled back on the trail pretty adroitly, but I have made one or +two little discoveries that may be of value later. What do you +think of this?" +</P> + +<P> +Opening a small note-book, he took therefrom several pieces of burnt +paper, most of which were so blackened that the faint traces of +writing which they bore were illegible. On a few pieces, however, +words and parts of words could be distinctly read. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney studied the bits of discolored paper for a moment, and +then exclaimed in excited tones, +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens, man! it is the will! The will drawn up in these +rooms yesterday! See, here is the date, 'this seventh day of July, +in the year of our'—the rest is gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Here is part of a name," said the detective, "'nor Houghton +LaGra'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Eleanor Houghton LaGrange!" exclaimed the attorney, "and below +you can just trace the words, 'this amount of annuity to be'; and +here are other bits, 'as to my estate and all property,' 'to hold +the same forever, together with.' Well, I should say these were +of value; where did you find them?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, Mr. Merrick pointed to a small fireplace behind the +safe, near which a large screen was standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Strange!" exclaimed the attorney. "I never noticed that before, +much as I have been here." +</P> + +<P> +"It escaped my observation for some time," replied the other. "I +searched the fireplace in the library, but this grate is very small +and was concealed by that large screen, as well as by the safe. +Evidently, it was seldom used, and was selected for that reason by +whoever destroyed the will, as more likely to escape notice." +</P> + +<P> +"Rather a bungling piece of work," commented the attorney, "leaving +these partially burned scraps. I wonder that he or she, whoever it +was, did not make sure that they were entirely consumed." +</P> + +<P> +"The person may have heard some sound and, fearing detection, +hastened away before the job was completed," suggested the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is past three, we must hasten; you found nothing more?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing of special importance. I have learned one fact, however; +the murder was never committed in this room, but in the library." +</P> + +<P> +"The library! Why do you think that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think it, I know it, and was confident of it while we +were making the examination this morning. Say nothing about it, +however, for the present. We will go now, if you are ready." +</P> + +<P> +Joining the gentleman still awaiting them in the library, they +descended into the lower hall, where the detective suddenly +disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the coroner and members of the jury, after alighting +from their carriages, marched gravely up the broad stairs and were +conducted by a servant into one of the private apartments where lay +the body of the murdered man. Under the direction of Dr. Westlake, +the jury individually viewed the wounds, noting their location and +character, and, after a brief visit to the room in the tower, all +passed downstairs and were shown into the large library on the first +floor. +</P> + +<P> +The coroner occupied a large arm-chair at one end of a long +writing-table in the centre of the room, the jury being seated +together near his left, while on each side of the table chairs had +been placed for the accommodation of a few of the more prominent +reporters, the others, less favored, stationing themselves at the +doorways and open windows. +</P> + +<P> +In the room back of the library were the servants, the women grouped +about the great arched doorway with white, frightened faces, the men +standing a little farther in the rear, while in a dim corner, +partially concealed by the heavy portieres and unseen by any one +excepting the servants, was the detective. +</P> + +<P> +When everything was in readiness, Mr. Whitney entered the room with +the gentleman who had accompanied him out from the city and followed +by the London guests. In the lead were Ralph Mainwaring and his +son, the entrance of the latter causing a small stir of interest and +excitement, as a score of pencils at once began to rapidly sketch +the features of the young Englishman, the intended heir of Hugh +Mainwaring. The young man's face wore an expression of unconcern, +but his father's features were set and severe. To him, the loss of +the will meant something more than the forfeiture of the exclusive +ownership of a valuable estate; it meant the overthrow and demolition +of one of his pet schemes, cherished for twenty-one years, just on +the eve of its fulfilment; and those who knew Ralph Mainwaring knew +that to thwart his plans was a dangerous undertaking. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton followed, escorting Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, +the cold, gray eyes of Isabel Mainwaring flashing a look of haughty +disdain on the faces about her. Bringing up the rear was Mrs. Hogarth +with her two charges, Edith Thornton and Winifred Carleton, the face +of the latter lighted with an intelligent, sympathetic interest in +her surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +Harry Scott next entered, pausing in the doorway for an instant, +while just behind him appeared Mrs. LaGrange. The room was already +crowded, and Miss Carleton, seated near the door, with a quick +glance invited the young secretary to a vacant chair by her side, +which he gracefully accepted, but not before a tiny note had been +thrust into his hand, unseen by any one excepting the detective. +</P> + +<P> +Pale, but with all her accustomed hauteur, Mrs. LaGrange, +accompanied by her son, passed slowly around the group of reporters, +ignoring the chair offered by the attorney, and seated herself in a +position as remote as possible from the guests of the house and +commanding a full view of the servants. Her gown was noticeable +for its elegance, and her jewelled hands toyed daintily with a +superb fan, from whose waving black plumes a perfume, subtle and +exquisite, was wafted to every part of the room. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence that followed, the coroner, with a few brief words, +called for the first witness, George Hardy. A young man, with a +frank face and quiet, unassuming manner, stepped forward from the +group of servants. After the usual preliminaries, the coroner +inquired,— +</P> + +<P> +"How long have you been in the employ of Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly four years, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"During that time you have held the position of valet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time this morning did you discover what had occurred?" +</P> + +<P> +"About seven o'clock, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You may state how you came to make this discovery, giving full +particulars." +</P> + +<P> +"I had gone as usual to the bath-room to prepare the bath for Mr. +Mainwaring, and when everything was in readiness I knocked at his +door to waken him. There was no answer, and, after knocking several +times, I unlocked the door and looked in. I saw he had not occupied +the room, but I didn't think much about that, and went on through +the smoking-room into the library, and then I saw Mr. Mainwaring +lying on the floor in the next room. At first I thought he was sick +and went to him, but as I got nearer I saw that he was dead, and +then I noticed the revolver lying beside him." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you then do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was frightened, sir, and I went to call help as quick as I could." +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the first person whom you met and told of your discovery?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, I went first for Mr. Whitney, because he was a friend +of Mr. Mainwaring's and a lawyer, and I thought he would know what +to do; but on my way to his room I met Wilson, Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's +valet, and I told him what had happened; then I called Mr. Whitney +and told him Mr. Mainwaring had shot himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get the impression that Mr. Mainwaring bad shot himself +from the fact that the revolver lay near his band, or had you any +other reasons for that inference?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir, that was the only reason." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you state positively whether this revolver belonged to Mr. +Mainwaring?" asked the coroner, at the same time passing the weapon +to Hardy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," replied the latter, promptly, handing it back after a +moment's inspection, "that is Mr. Mainwaring's revolver. I've +cleaned it many a time, and there's little marks on it that I know +sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. After summoning Mr. Whitney, did you call any other +members of the household?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney sent me to call Mr. Ralph Mainwaring; but I met Wilson +again, and he said he had just told Mr. Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, +and was on his way to the room of young Mr. Mainwaring. Down the +hall I met the butler and told him what had happened, and we both +went into the library, and I stayed there till Mr. Whitney came." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shortly after dinner last evening, between seven and eight o'clock, +I should say, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the main hall down-stairs, sir. He stopped me to say that he +would not need me last evening, and that after locking up his rooms +for the night I could have my time to myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Was the locking of his rooms usually included among your duties at +night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; his private rooms and the hall on the south side." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you have any stated time for doing this?" +</P> + +<P> +"At nine o'clock, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You locked the rooms as usual last night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; that is, I locked them all right, but it was later than +usual." +</P> + +<P> +"How was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"About half an hour after Mr. Mainwaring spoke to me, the housekeeper +came and asked me to keep the rooms open till about ten o'clock, as +she was expecting callers and wanted to receive them by the south +hall into her private parlor." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time did you lock the rooms?" +</P> + +<P> +"A few minutes after ten, sir. I felt kind of uneasy, because it +was Mr. Mainwaring's orders that the rooms be shut at nine; so soon +as 'twas ten o'clock I went around outside, and, seeing no light in +her parlor, I went in and locked the hall and then went up-stairs +to lock the rooms there." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see any strangers about the place at that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You saw no one in any of Mr. Mainwaring's private rooms?" +</P> + +<P> +"No strangers, you mean? No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Was there any one in his rooms?" +</P> + +<P> +"The housekeeper was in the library. She had gone up-stairs that +way, she said, and had found the door into the main hall locked, +and hearing me come, she waited for me to open it." +</P> + +<P> +"Had you locked the door into the main hall?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; that door wasn't usually locked in the evening. I don't +know who locked it, but I opened it for her and then locked it +again." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you positive there was no one else in those rooms at that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, pretty sure," replied Hardy, with a smile, "for I looked +them over uncommon thorough last night. I thought at first that I +smelled smoke, like something burning, but I looked around careful +and everything was all right." +</P> + +<P> +At this point Mr. Whitney held a whispered consultation with the +coroner for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You say," continued the latter, "you thought you smelled something +burning; could you state what the material seemed to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, I thought it was like paper burning; but I must have +been mistaken, for the papers on the table was all right and there +was nothing in the fireplace." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see or hear anything unusual about the place at any time +last night?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the coroner was occupied with a slip of paper which +had been passed to him through a number of hands; then he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Before you are dismissed, will you describe the locks used on the +doors of Mr. Mainwaring's library and the south hall." +</P> + +<P> +"They had the ordinary locks, sir; and then, in addition, a small, +patent lock, that when a certain spring was turned the door locked +of itself and could not be opened from either side unless one had +the key and understood the working of the spring." +</P> + +<P> +"Who had keys to fit these locks?" +</P> + +<P> +"No one but Mr. Mainwaring. When he was home and wanted the doors +unlocked, he hung the keys in a particular place in the library +where I could find them, and when he went away he always took them +with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you unlock the library doors this morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only the door into the main hall when I went to call Mr. Whitney,—that +had nothing but an ordinary lock; but the other door, into +the south hall, was unlocked and the keys gone when I first went +into the library." +</P> + +<P> +"One question more. Do you know whether any one else in the house +had knowledge of or access to, these particular keys?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know for certain, sir, but I think not." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney was next called upon, and came forward, while Hardy +resumed his former place among the servants. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney," said the coroner, after the witness had given the +details of his arrival in the tower-room in response to the valet's +summons, "will you please state when, and under what circumstances, +you last saw Hugh Mainwaring living." +</P> + +<P> +"At nearly eleven o'clock last night. Mr. Mainwaring had just +bidden his guests good-night, and I believe they had all retired to +their rooms, leaving him and myself together upon the veranda in +front of the house. I remained with him about ten minutes, I should +judge, talking over the events of the day which had been of unusual +interest. I remember his remarking that he should not retire for an +hour or so, as, to use his own expression, his thoughts would not +let him sleep. We clasped hands with an exchange of good wishes. +That was the last I ever saw him living or heard him speak." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney's voice trembled slightly towards the close of his +recital, but as he repeated Hugh Mainwaring's words a smile of scorn +passed over the face of Mrs. LaGrange, who was seated directly +opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please state," said the coroner, "how Mr. Mainwaring had +been engaged during the day, yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +"Until about half-past two his time was spent in the preparation, +with the assistance of his secretary and myself, and the execution +of his last will and testament. The remainder of the day was devoted +to the entertainment of his guests." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you give briefly and in general terms the conditions of the +will." +</P> + +<P> +"With the exception of an annuity to his housekeeper and a handsome +bequest to her son, it conveyed everything to his cousin and +namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., whom he intended to-day to formally +declare his heir." +</P> + +<P> +"Where was this document placed, Mr. Whitney?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was, at Mr. Mainwaring's request, placed by his secretary on his +desk in the tower-room." +</P> + +<P> +"You can give no further information regarding this will, now +missing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only this," replied Mr. Whitney, with marked emphasis, "that we +now have positive proof that the will was burned." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general movement of surprise, both among the members +of the household and outsiders; and the attorney, closely observant +of Mrs. LaGrange, saw her cheek, which but a moment before, at his +mention of the annuity contained in the will, had flamed with anger, +suddenly assume a strange pallor. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney," continued the coroner, having consulted a small +memorandum which he held, "do you know whether there were any +strangers at Fair Oaks yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have no personal knowledge on that subject. The secretary informs +me that a stranger inquired for Mr. Mainwaring in the afternoon, and +remarks were made at luncheon, that impressed me considerably, +regarding some one who had called in the forenoon, whether to see Mr. +Mainwaring I am not prepared to state." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state the nature of those remarks?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should prefer to be excused until later in this examination. For +the present, I will merely say that one of Mr. Mainwaring's guests +incidentally met and recognized this caller; that the latter was +evidently well and unfavorably known by both Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests, and, if I am not mistaken, by the secretary also, and that +the mention of the man's name seemed to affect Mr. Hugh Mainwaring +very unpleasantly." +</P> + +<P> +"In what respect, Mr. Whitney?" +</P> + +<P> +"He grew very pale and appeared confused, if not alarmed, on +learning that the man was in this country and had been seen at this +house, and he seemed abstracted and very unlike himself for fully +an hour after the occurrence." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state the name of this man?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was spoken of as Richard Hobson, formerly an attorney, of London." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LITTLE ROYAL +</H3> + +<P> +"Harry Scorr, private secretary of Hugh Mainwaring," announced the +coroner, when Mr. Whitney had resumed his chair. +</P> + +<P> +As the young secretary walked deliberately through the crowded room, +there were few who failed to remark his erect, athletic form, his +splendid bearing, and especially the striking beauty of his dark +face, with its olive tint, clear-cut features, indicative of firmness +and strength, and large, piercing eyes, within whose depths, on the +present occasion, there seemed to be, half hidden, half revealed, +some smouldering fire. Instantly a half-dozen pencils were +transferring to paper his form and features. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, what are you 'doing' him for?" whispered one reporter to his +neighbor. "He isn't anybody; only the old man's secretary." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't help that," replied the other; "he's better looking than the +English chap, anyhow; and, in my opinion, the old fellow would have +shown better sense to have left him the 'stuff.'" +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, young Scott, having answered a few preliminary +interrogatories, turned slowly, facing Mrs. LaGrange, who was +watching him with an intensity of manner and expression as though she +would compel him to meet her gaze. +</P> + +<P> +As his glance met hers, a look of inquiry flashed from her eyes to +his, accompanied by an expression persuasive, almost appealing. But +the only reply was an ominous flash from the dark eyes, as, with a +gesture of proud disdain, he folded his arms and again faced his +interlocutor, while, with eyes gleaming with revenge from under +their heavily drooping lids and lips that curled from time to time +in a smile of bitter malignity, she watched him, listening eagerly +for his testimony, losing no word that he said. +</P> + +<P> +The young secretary well understood the character of the enemy with +whom he had thus declared war, though he was as yet in ignorance of +the weapons she would use against him, but the honeyed words of the +little note crushed within his pocket had no power to swerve him for +an instant from the course upon which he had determined. +</P> + +<P> +After a few general questions, the coroner said, +</P> + +<P> +"Please state when and what was the first intimation received by you +of any unusual occurrence." +</P> + +<P> +"I was awakened this morning by a woman's scream and heard sounds of +confused running in different directions. A few moments later Mr. +Whitney came to my room and informed me of what had occurred, and I +then went with him to the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"You were associated with Mr. Mainwaring yesterday during the greater +part of the day and evening, were you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was during the day, but I did not see him after dinner until late +at night." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you notice anything unusual in his appearance at any time +yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"He appeared rather depressed for about an hour after luncheon, +during the execution of the will." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know any cause for such depression?" +</P> + +<P> +"I attributed it, in my own mind, to the conversation at luncheon, +to which Mr. Whitney has referred." +</P> + +<P> +"Regarding one Richard Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know what, if any, relations existed between Mr. Mainwaring +and this Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +The black plumes of Mrs. LaGrange's fan suddenly quivered, her cheek +paled, and her breath came and went quickly, but these were the only +signs of agitation which she betrayed, as Scott replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have no knowledge as to what relations existed between them of +late. I only know that Mr. Mainwaring had, years ago, some important +private business with this man." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state the nature of this business?" +</P> + +<P> +"Without giving exact details," Scott replied, speaking deliberately +but with no hesitation, though conscious of the surprise and +indignation depicted on some of the faces about him, "this man was +employed as an attorney by Mr. Mainwaring before the latter came to +this country, and has since, at various times, extorted money from +him by threats of exposure regarding certain transactions." +</P> + +<P> +The silence that followed this statement was of itself eloquent. +The young secretary felt every eye fastened upon himself, and, +though his own eyes were fixed on the coroner's face, he saw +reflected even there the general expression of mingled astonishment, +incredulity, and resentment. Unmoved, however, he awaited, coolly +and impassively, the next words of the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott," said Dr. Westlake, a touch of severity in his tone, +"this is a serious assertion to make regarding a man so widely known +as Mr. Mainwaring, and so universally considered above reproach in +his business transactions." +</P> + +<P> +"I am aware of that fact, sir," replied Scott, calmly, "but reference +to the private letter-files of Mr. Mainwaring will prove the truth +of my assertion. I made this statement simply because the time and +place demanded it. You were endeavoring to ascertain the cause of +Mr. Mainwaring's perturbation on learning yesterday of the arrival +of Hobson. I have given what I consider the clue." +</P> + +<P> +"How recently had this man Hobson extorted money from Mr. Mainwaring, +and in what amount?" +</P> + +<P> +"The last money sent him was about three years ago, a sum of five +thousand dollars. Hobson wrote a most insolent letter of +acknowledgment, stating that, as this money would set him on his +feet for a time, he would not write again immediately, but assuring +Mr. Mainwaring that he would never be able to elude him, as the +writer would keep posted regarding his whereabouts, and might, some +time in the future, call upon him in person." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you describe this man's appearance?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot, having never met him." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you describe the stranger who is reported to have called in +the afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"He was tall, quite pale, with dark hair and moustache. He was +dressed in a tweed suit, somewhat travel-worn, and wore dark +glasses." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he state his errand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only that he wished to see Mr. Mainwaring on business of special +importance. He at first seemed rather insistent, but, on learning +that Mr. Mainwaring was out and that he would receive no business +calls for a day or two, he readily consented to defer his interview +until later." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he leave his name or address?" +</P> + +<P> +"His card bore the name of J. Henry Carruthers, of London. He gave +his present address as the Arlington House." +</P> + +<P> +"You noticed nothing unusual in his appearance?" +</P> + +<P> +"The only thing that struck me as rather peculiar was that Mr. +Carruthers seemed well informed regarding events expected to take +place here, while his name was wholly unfamiliar to Mr. Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +At this point a pencilled note was handed by the coroner to Mr. +Whitney, who immediately summoned George Hardy and hastily +despatched him on some errand. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott," resumed the coroner, "were you in Mr. Mainwaring's +private library at any time during last evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was not. I spent the entire evening in my own room." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you again see Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not until after eleven o'clock. I had come down for a smoke in +the grounds outside and met Mr. Mainwaring in the lower hall on +the way to his rooms. He asked me to come to his library before +retiring, as he wished to give some final directions for the next +day. About half an hour later I went to the library door, but +hearing loud and angry talk within, I waited in the hall some +fifteen or twenty minutes until I knew Mr. Mainwaring was alone. +I then entered, received his instructions, and went directly to +my room for the night." +</P> + +<P> +"Were you able to recognize the voices or hear any of the +conversation?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was. I recognized the voice of the housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange; +but feeling that I was hearing what was not intended for me, I +walked back into the main hall and remained there until Mrs. +LaGrange came out." +</P> + +<P> +"You saw her leave the library?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; I passed her in the corridor." +</P> + +<P> +"She saw you, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"She seemed scarcely conscious of my presence until we had passed; +she then turned and watched me as I entered the library." +</P> + +<P> +"What was the nature of the conversation which you heard?" +</P> + +<P> +"I only heard what Mrs. LaGrange said. She evidently was very +angry with Mr. Mainwaring." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Can you repeat her words as you heard them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not entirely. She accused Mr. Mainwaring of dishonesty, saying +that he had defrauded his only brother, and had ignored and robbed +his own son to put a stranger in his place. The last words I heard +were, 'You are in my power, and you know it only too well; and I +will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family rue this day's +work.'" +</P> + +<P> +Harry Scott, with the proof of his employer's crimes in his +possession, repeated these words with an indifference and +impassiveness that seemed unnatural, while the smouldering fire in +his eyes gleamed fitfully, as though he knew some secret of which +the others little dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +But, if spoken indifferently, the words were not received with +indifference. The reporters bent to their task with renewed ardor, +since it promised developments so rich and racy. Ralph Mainwaring's +face was dark with suppressed wrath; Mr. Thornton seemed hardly +able to restrain himself; while the attorney grew pale with +excitement and anger. Mrs. LaGrange alone remained unmoved, as much +so as the witness himself, her eyes half closed and a cynical smile +playing about her lips as she listened to the repetition of her own +words. +</P> + +<P> +"Did Mr. Mainwaring make no reply?" inquired the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"He did, but it was inaudible to me." +</P> + +<P> +"You went into the library as soon as he was alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did." +</P> + +<P> +"At what hour was this?" +</P> + +<P> +"A few minutes past twelve." +</P> + +<P> +"Was that the last time you saw Mr. Mainwaring living?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you state whether any one was in his rooms after you left?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, by your own statement, you must have been in Mr. +Mainwaring's library within an hour preceding his death; +consequently, I would like you to give every detail of that +interview." +</P> + +<P> +"I am perfectly willing, sir, but there are few to give. The +interview occupied possibly ten minutes. Mr. Mainwaring appeared +very weary, and, after giving directions regarding any personal +mail or telegrams which might be received, stated that he wished +me to consider myself his guest on the following day and join in +the festivities of the occasion. I thanked him, and, wishing him +good-night, withdrew." +</P> + +<P> +"In which room were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"We were both in the library. When I first entered, Mr. Mainwaring +was walking back and forth, his hands folded behind him, as was +usually his habit when thinking deeply, but he immediately seated +himself and gave me my instructions. The tower-room was dimly +lighted and the curtains were drawn quite closely together at the +entrance." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear any unusual sound after reaching your room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at that time. I was aroused about three o'clock this morning +by what I thought was a stealthy step in the grounds in the rear of +the house, but I listened for a moment and heard nothing more." +</P> + +<P> +"That will do for the present, Mr. Scott. You will probably be +recalled later," said the coroner, watching the secretary rather +curiously. Then he added, in a different tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"The next witness is Mrs. LaGrange." +</P> + +<P> +There was a perceptible stir throughout the crowd as, with a +movement of inimitable grace, Mrs. LaGrange stepped forward, darting +a swift glance of such venomous hatred towards Scott, as he again +seated himself beside Miss Carleton, that the latter, with a woman's +quick intuition, instantly grasped the situation and watched the +proceedings with new interest and closer attention. As Mrs. LaGrange +took her place and began answering the questions addressed to her, +the eager listeners pressed still more closely in their efforts to +catch every word, feeling instinctively that some startling +developments would be forthcoming; but no one was prepared for the +shock that followed when, in response to the request to state her +full name, the reply came, in clear tones, with unequivocal +distinctness,— +</P> + +<P> +"Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant an almost painful silence ensued, until Dr. Westlake +said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state your relation to the deceased?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was the lawfully wedded, but unacknowledged, wife of Hugh +Mainwaring," was the calm reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Please state when and where your marriage took place," said the +coroner, watching the witness narrowly. +</P> + +<P> +"We were married privately in London, about three months before Mr. +Mainwaring came to this country." +</P> + +<P> +"How long ago was that?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little more than twenty-three years." +</P> + +<P> +"You say that you were privately married, and that in all these +years Mr. Mainwaring never acknowledged you as his wife?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I was at that time a widow, and, owing to certain unpleasant +circumstances attending the last months of my former husband's life, +Mr. Mainwaring insisted that our marriage be strictly private. I +acceded to his wishes, and we were married as quietly as possible. +At the end of three months he deserted me, and for four years I did +not even know where he had gone. During that time, however, I +learned that my husband, who had been fearful of soiling his proud +name by having it publicly joined with mine, was, in the sight of +the law, a common criminal. I finally traced him to America, and +five years after he deserted me I had the pleasure of confronting +him with the facts which I had obtained. With passionate +protestations of renewed love and fair promises of an honorable +married life, he sought to purchase my silence, and, fool that I +was! I yielded. He claimed that he could not at once acknowledge +me as his wife, because he was already known as an unmarried man, +but in the near future we would repeat the marriage ceremony and I +should be the honored mistress of his heart and home. I believed +him and waited. Meantime, our child was born, and then a new role +had to be adopted. Had he not known that he was in my power, I +would then have been thrust out homeless with my babe, but he dared +not do that. Instead, I was brought to Fair Oaks dressed in widow's +garb, as a distant relative of his who was to be his housekeeper. +So, for my son's sake, hoping he would some day receive his rights, +I have lived a double life, regarded as a servant where I should +have been mistress, and holding that poor position only because it +was within my power to put the master of the house in a felon's +cell!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you produce the certificate of this marriage?" inquired the +coroner, regarding the witness with a searching glance as she +paused in her recital. +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunately," she replied, in a tone ringing with scorn and +defiance, "I cannot produce our marriage certificate, as my husband +kept that in his possession, and frequently threatened to destroy +it. If it is in existence, it will be found in his safe; but I can +produce a witness who was present at our marriage, and who himself +signed the certificate." +</P> + +<P> +"State the name of this witness." +</P> + +<P> +"Richard Hobson, of London." +</P> + +<P> +"You are then acquainted with this Hobson?" the coroner inquired, +at the same time making an entry in the memorandum he held. +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally, as he was at one time my husband's attorney." +</P> + +<P> +"He called at Fair Oaks yesterday, did he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"He did." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know whether he called more than once?" +</P> + +<P> +"He came a second time, in the evening, accompanied by his clerk." +</P> + +<P> +"Was his object at either time to secure an interview with Mr. +Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"He called to see me on private business." +</P> + +<P> +"Had he any intention of meeting Mr. Mainwaring later?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know nothing regarding his intentions." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. LaGrange," said the coroner, after a pause, "you were in Mr. +Mainwaring's library between the hours of eleven and twelve last +night, were you not?" +</P> + +<P> +Her face darkened with anger at his form of address. "I was in +my husband's library at that hour," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"How long were you there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot state exactly," she answered, indifferently; "perhaps +half an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"Did Mr. Scott repeat correctly your words to Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have no doubt that he did. His memory on the subject is much +better than mine." +</P> + +<P> +"What was the meaning of your threat to Mr. Mainwaring, that you +would make him and his friends regret the day's proceedings?" +</P> + +<P> +"He understood my meaning. He knew that I could set aside the +will, and could ruin him by exposing his duplicity and fraud." +</P> + +<P> +"What reply did he make?" +</P> + +<P> +"He answered me, as usual, with sneers; but I saw that he felt +somewhat apprehensive. I wished to give him a little time to +reflect upon a proposition I had made, and I left the library, +intending to return later; but," she added, slowly and significantly, +"I was superseded by another visitor." +</P> + +<P> +"Explain your meaning," said the coroner, briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"My husband's private secretary entered the library directly after +I left. Some thirty minutes later I passed down the corridor +towards the library, and was startled to hear Mr. Mainwaring, in +loud and excited tones, denouncing some one as a liar and an +impostor. The reply was low, in a voice trembling with rage, but +I caught the words, 'You are a liar and a thief! If you had your +deserts, you would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported +to the wilds of Australia!' There was much more in the same tone, +but so low I could not distinguish the words, and, thinking Mr. +Mainwaring was likely to be occupied for some time, I immediately +retired to my room." +</P> + +<P> +"Was the voice of the second speaker familiar to you?" inquired +Dr. Westlake, in the breathless silence that followed this statement. +</P> + +<P> +A half smile, both cunning and cruel, played around the lips of the +witness, as she answered, with peculiar emphasis and with a ring +of triumph in her tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"The voice was somewhat disguised, but it was distinctly recognizable +as that of Mr. Scott, the private secretary." +</P> + +<P> +To Scott himself, these words came with stunning force, not so much +for the accusation which they conveyed, as that her recital of those +words spoken within the library seemed but the repetition of words +which had rung in his brain the preceding night, as, alone in his +room, he had, in imagination, confronted his employer with the proof +of his guilt which that afternoon's search had brought to light. +His fancy had vividly portrayed the scene in which he would arraign +Hugh Mainwaring as a thief, and would himself, in turn, be denounced +as an impostor until he should have established his claims by the +indubitable evidence now in his possession. Such a scene bad in +reality been enacted,—those very words had been spoken,—and, +for an instant, it seemed to Scott as though he had been, +unconsciously, one of the actors. +</P> + +<P> +The general wonder and consternation with which he was now regarded +by the crowd quickly recalled him, however, to the present +situation, and awakened within him a sudden, fierce resentment, +though he remained outwardly calm. +</P> + +<P> +"At that time," continued the coroner, "were you of the opinion +that it was Mr. Scott whom you heard thus addressing Mr. +Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I had every reason to believe it was he, and I have now +additional reasons for the same belief." +</P> + +<P> +"Are these additional reasons founded on your own personal +knowledge, or on the information of others?" +</P> + +<P> +"Upon information received from various members of the household." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you state about what time you heard this conversation?" +</P> + +<P> +"I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only +ten minutes of one." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not. I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring's +apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no +sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other +occupants of the house." +</P> + +<P> +Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and +the witness was temporarily dismissed. Glancing at his watch, the +coroner remarked, +</P> + +<P> +"It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we +will first hear what he has to report." +</P> + +<P> +As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, "Were you able +to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not very much, sir," was the reply. "I went to the Arlington first +and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there +was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering +that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the +hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the +office reading the evening papers. He went out some time between +seven and eight o'clock, and they had seen nothing more of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson +registered there. They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered +a carriage for Fair Oaks. He came back to lunch, but kept his room +all the afternoon. He had a man with him in his room most of the +afternoon, but he took no meals there. After dinner Hobson went +out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to +breakfast, and took the first train to the city. I made some +inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man, +in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train +this morning to the city, but he didn't notice him particularly. +That was all I could learn." +</P> + +<P> +As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten +o'clock the next morning. Every one connected with the household +at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and, +dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves +within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that +would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least +possible delay, to secure possession of the property. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his room for a +brief stroll through the grounds. A bitter smile crossed his face +as he noticed the brightly illumined library and heard the eager, +excited tones within, remembering the dimly-lighted room above with +its silent occupant, unloved, unmourned, unthought of, in marked +contrast to the preceding night, when Hugh Mainwaring lavished upon +his guests such royal entertainment and was the recipient of their +congratulations and their professions of esteem and regard. +</P> + +<P> +As he paced slowly up and down the avenues, his thoughts were not +of the present, but of the past and future. At the earliest +opportunity that day he had returned to the city, ostensibly, to +attend to some telegraphic despatches, but his main errand had been +to consult with an eminent lawyer whom he knew by reputation, and +in whom both Hugh Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney, in numerous legal +contests, had found a powerful and bitter opponent. To him Scott +had intrusted his own case, giving him the fullest details, and +leaving in his possession for safe keeping the proofs which were +soon to play so important a part; and Mr. Sutherland, the attorney +retained by Scott, had been present at the inquest, apparently +as a disinterested spectator, but, in reality, one of the most +intensely interested of them all. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WEAVING OF THE WEB +</H3> + +<P> +Ten o'clock found an eager crowd assembled in and about the large +library at Fair Oaks, drawn by reports of the sensational features +developed on the preceding day. The members of the household +occupied nearly the same positions as on the preceding afternoon, +with the exception of the secretary, who had entered the room a +little in advance of the others and had seated himself near the +coroner. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the glances of doubt and distrust which Scott +encountered, and his own consciousness that suspicion against +himself would deepen as all the facts in the case became known, +he was as impassive as ever. Even Mr. Whitney was wholly at a +loss to account for the change in the bearing of the secretary. +He was no longer the employee, but carried himself with a proud +independence, as though conscious of some mysterious vantage-ground. +</P> + +<P> +On the other side of the coroner, but conveniently near Scott, was +Mr. Sutherland, while in the rear, commanding a good view of both +gentlemen, as well as of nearly every face in the room, sat Mr. +Merrick, though to a stranger his manner would have implied the +utmost indifference to the proceedings. +</P> + +<P> +The first witness called for by the coroner was Johnson, the butler. +For the first five or ten minutes his testimony was little more +than a corroboration of that given by the valet on the preceding +day, of the discovery of the death of Hugh Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"You say," said the coroner, "that at Mr. Whitney's request you +remained in the upper hall, near the library and within call?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state how long a time you should think elapsed between +the alarm given by Hardy and the appearance of the entire household, +including both the guests and the servants?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, Hardy gave the alarm a little after seven. The servants +were already up and crowded around there immediately, and I should +say that every one, including the ladies, was out within twenty +minutes, or thirty at the latest, with the exception of Mrs. LaGrange +and her son." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time did the latter appear?" +</P> + +<P> +"It must have been considerably after eight o'clock, sir, when she +came to the library in response to a message from Mr. Whitney." +</P> + +<P> +"And her son?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not see Mr. Walter LaGrange at all during the forenoon, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"How was that?" inquired Dr. Westlake, rather quickly. "Was he not +at Fair Oaks?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say, sir. I did not see him until luncheon." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little after eleven o'clock night before last,—Wednesday night, +sir. I was in the hall as he passed upstairs to his rooms, and I +heard him ask Mr. Scott to come to his library." +</P> + +<P> +"Did there seem to be any coldness or unpleasantness between them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; they both appeared the same as usual." +</P> + +<P> +"Did any strangers call at Fair Oaks Wednesday aside from those +mentioned yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you describe the strangers who were here, stating when they +called and any particulars you are able to give?" +</P> + +<P> +"The man giving his name as R. Hobson called between eleven and +twelve, Wednesday morning. He was tall, with thin features, small, +dark eyes, and a very soft voice. He came in a carriage, inquired +for Mrs. LaGrange, and seemed in considerable haste. He stayed +about an hour. The gentleman who called about four in the afternoon +also came in a carriage and inquired for Mr. Mainwaring, saying he +had been directed to Fair Oaks at the city offices of Mainwaring & +Co. On learning that Mr. Mainwaring was out, he asked for the +secretary; and I took his card to Mr. Scott, who gave directions +to have him shown up into the library. I do not know when he left. +He was tall, with black hair and moustache and dark glasses." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson's call occasioned considerable comment at luncheon, did +it not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you observe that it had any effect on Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, I thought he appeared considerably annoyed, and after +luncheon he asked me whether Mr. Hobson had inquired for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you admit Hobson when he called in the evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not, sir. I merely met him at the door and directed him to +the south side entrance." +</P> + +<P> +"At Mrs. LaGrange's request?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; in accordance with her instructions." +</P> + +<P> +"Did she give any reason for such instructions?" +</P> + +<P> +"Merely that his former call had caused so much remark she wished +to receive him privately." +</P> + +<P> +"Was he alone when he called the second time?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you describe the person who accompanied him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir. The man stood so far in the shadow that I could only see +the outlines of his form. I should say he was about the same height +as Mr. Hobson, but considerably heavier." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know at what hour they left?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Further questions failing to elicit any facts bearing upon the +situation, the butler was dismissed, and Brown, the coachman, took +his place. The latter was far less taciturn than the butler, +seeming rather eager to impart some piece of information which he +evidently considered of special importance. +</P> + +<P> +After a few preliminary questions, the coroner said,— +</P> + +<P> +"At what time, and from whom, did you first hear of Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" +</P> + +<P> +"About half-past seven, yesterday morning, sir. I was a-taking +care of the horses, sir, when Uncle Mose—he's the gardener, sir—he +comes past the stable on his way to the tool-house, and he +tells me that Mr. Mainwaring had been murdered in the night, right +in his own rooms, and then he tells me-" +</P> + +<P> +"How long had you been up and at work in the stables?" +</P> + +<P> +"Before I heard of the murder? Well, about an hour, I should say. +I generally gets up at six." +</P> + +<P> +"Had you been to the house that morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; but I went right up there after seeing Uncle Mose, and I +was in the kitchen telling what I had seen the night before, when +the butler he comes down and said as how Mr. Ralph Mainwaring wanted +me, and that I had better keep my mouth shut till I was asked to +tell what I knew." +</P> + +<P> +"Where were you last Wednesday night?" asked the coroner, rather +abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +Brown looked surprised, but answered readily, "I was out with some +friends of mine. We all went down to the city together that night +and stayed out pretty late, and it seems a mighty good thing we +did, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Why so?" asked the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir," said Brown, deliberately, glad of an opportunity to +tell his story and evidently determined to make the most of it, "as +I said, we stayed out that night later than we meant to, and I didn't +waste no time getting home after I left the depot. So, when I got +to Fair Oaks, I thought I'd take the shortest cut, and so I come in +by the south gate, off from the side street, and took the path +around the lake to get to the stables." +</P> + +<P> +"What lake do you mean?" interrupted the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"The small lake back of the grove in the south part of the grounds. +Well, I was hurrying along through that grove, and all of a sudden +I seen a man standing on the edge of the lake with his back towards +me. He was very tall, and wore an ulster that came nearly to his +feet, and he looked so queer that I stepped out of the path and +behind some big trees to watch him. I hadn't no more than done so, +when he stooped and picked up something, and come right up the path +towards me. The moon was shining, had been up about two hours, I +should say, but his back was to the light and I couldn't see his +face, nor I didn't want him to see me. After he'd got by I stepped +out to watch him and see if he went towards the house, but he +didn't; he took the path I had just left and walked very fast to +the south gate and went out onto the side street." +</P> + +<P> +"In which direction did he then go?" asked the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"He went up onto the main avenue and turned towards the town." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you describe his appearance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only that he was tall and had very black hair; but his face was in +the shadow, so I couldn't tell how he looked." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he pick up from the ground?" +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't see very plain, but it looked like a small, square box +done up in paper." +</P> + +<P> +"You did not try to call any one?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir. The man didn't go near the house, and I didn't think +much about it until Uncle Mose told me yesterday morning that the +night before he seen—" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind what he saw; we will let him tell his own story. Was +that all you saw?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; it wasn't," replied Brown, with a quick side glance +towards Mrs. LaGrange, who occupied the same position as on the +preceding day. "I was going along towards the stables, thinking +about that man, and all of a sudden I noticed there was a bright +light in one of the rooms up-stairs. The curtains wasn't drawn, +and I thought I'd see whose room it was, so I walked up towards the +house carefully, and I saw Mr. Mainwaring's secretary. He looked +awfully pale and haggard, and was walking up and down the room kind +of excited like. Just then I happened to step on the gravelled walk +and he heard me, for he started and looked kind of frightened and +listened a moment, and then he stepped up quick and extinguished the +light, and I was afraid he'd see me then from the window, so I +hurried off. But I thought 'twas mighty queer-" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott was dressed, was he?" interrupted the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," Brown answered, sullenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you go directly to your room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"What time was this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard the clock strike three just after I got in." +</P> + +<P> +"You saw or heard nothing more?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You knew nothing of what had occurred at the house until the +gardener told you in the morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"N—yes—no, sir," Brown stammered, with another glance towards +Mrs. LaGrange, who was watching him closely. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you say?" demanded the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"I said I didn't know what had happened till Uncle Mose told me," +Brown answered, doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do," said the coroner, watching the witness narrowly as +he resumed his place among the servants. +</P> + +<P> +During the latter part of Brown's testimony, quick, telegraphic +glances had been exchanged between Scott and Mr. Sutherland, and +one or two slips of paper, unobserved by any one but Merrick, had +passed from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +Scott was well aware that the statements made by the coachman had +deepened suspicion against himself. He paid little attention to +the crowd, however, but noted particularly the faces of the guests +at Fair Oaks. Ralph Mainwaring's, dark with anger; that of the +genial Mr. Thornton coldly averted; young Mainwaring's supercilious +stare, and his sister's expression of contemptuous disdain; and as +he studied their features his own grew immobile as marble. Suddenly +his glance encountered Miss Carleton's face and was held for a +moment as though under a spell. There was no weak sentimentality +there, no pity or sympathy,—he would have scorned either,—but +the perfect confidence shining in her eyes called forth a quick +response from his own, though not a muscle stirred about the +sternly-set mouth. She saw and understood, and, as her eyes fell, +a smile, inexplicable and mysterious, flashed for an instant across +her face and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"John Wilson," announced the coroner, after a slight pause. +</P> + +<P> +A middle-aged man, rather dull in appearance, except for a pair of +keenly observant eyes, stepped forward with slow precision. +</P> + +<P> +"You are Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's valet, I believe?" said the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"That I am, sir," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you been for some time in his employ?" +</P> + +<P> +The man peered sharply at Dr. Westlake from under his heavy brows, +and replied, with great deliberation, "Nigh onto thirty years, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Then, noting the surprise in his interlocutor's face, he added, with +dignity, "The Wilsons, sir, have served the Mainwarings for three +generations. My father, sir, was valet to the father of the dead +Hugh Mainwaring, the Honorable Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, sir." +</P> + +<P> +A smile played over the features of young Mainwaring at these words, +but Scott started involuntarily, and, after studying Wilson's face +intently for a moment, hastily pencilled a few words on a slip of +paper which he handed to Mr. Sutherland, and both watched the +witness with special interest. +</P> + +<P> +His testimony differed little from that given by Hardy and by the +butler. He stated, however, that, after accompanying Mr. Ralph +Mainwaring to the scene of the murder, the latter sent him to summon +Mr. Scott; but on his way to the young gentleman's room he saw Mr. +Whitney in advance of him, who called the secretary and immediately +returned with him to the library. +</P> + +<P> +"Was Mr. Scott already up when Mr. Whitney called him?" the coroner +inquired, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"He was up and dressed, sir," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +Wilson also corroborated the butler's statement that Walter LaGrange +was not seen about the premises until luncheon, and stated, in +addition, that the horse belonging to young LaGrange was missing +from the stables until nearly noon. Having mingled very little with +the servants at Fair Oaks, he had but slight knowledge concerning the +occurrences of the day preceding the murder. His testimony was +therefore very brief. +</P> + +<P> +"Katie O'Brien, chambermaid," was next called; and in response a +young Irish woman quietly took her place before the coroner. She +answered the questions addressed her as briefly as possible, but +with deliberation, as though each word had been carefully weighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you have charge of the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You took care of his rooms as usual Wednesday?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see Mr. Mainwaring during the day or evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"I met him once or twice in the halls." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see him?" +</P> + +<P> +"About two o'clock Wednesday afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"State how you first heard of his death." +</P> + +<P> +"I was working in the halls up-stairs about seven that morning and +heard running back and forth, as if there was trouble. I went out +into the front hall and met the butler, and he told me Mr. Mainwaring +had been murdered." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you go in to see him at that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, for a moment." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you notice anything unusual in his rooms?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't notice anything unusual in Mr. Mainwaring's rooms." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you in any room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"In what one?" +</P> + +<P> +"In Mr. Scott's room, a little later." +</P> + +<P> +"State what you observed." +</P> + +<P> +"A few minutes after I left the library I saw Mr. Scott come out of +his room and go away with Mr. Whitney, and I thought I would go in +and do up the room. So I went in, but the bed was just as I had +made it up the day before. It hadn't been slept in nor touched. +Then things was strewn around considerable, and the top drawer of +his dressing-case was kept locked all the forenoon until he went to +the city." +</P> + +<P> +"When did he go to the city?" +</P> + +<P> +"About noon." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see Mr. Scott the day or evening preceding Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; but I know he was locked in Mr. Mainwaring's library all +the afternoon, after the folks had gone out driving." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know the library was locked?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was sweeping in the corridor, and I heard him unlock the door +when the butler came up with some gentleman's card." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see the gentleman who came up-stairs later?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see Walter LaGrange at any time during yesterday forenoon?" +</P> + +<P> +The witness colored slightly, but replied, "I think I met him once +or twice; I don't remember just when." +</P> + +<P> +"He was away from home part of the time, was he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know where he was." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing further of importance could be learned from the witness, +and, as it was then past twelve, a short recess was taken until +after lunch. +</P> + +<P> +Scott took his place at the table with the guests, seemingly alike +indifferent to cold aversion or angry frowns. He was conscious that +Miss Carleton was watching him, her manner indicating the same frank +friendliness she had shown him on the preceding day, and in response +to a signal from her, as they rose from the table, he followed her +into one of the drawing-rooms, joining her in a large alcove window, +where she motioned him to a seat on a low divan by her side. +</P> + +<P> +"You have made a bitter enemy in Mrs. LaGrange," she said, archly; +"and she has marshalled her forces against you." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so?" he asked, with an amused smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. She displayed her tactics this morning. I am positive +that much of the testimony was given in accordance with her orders." +</P> + +<P> +"For the most part, however, the witnesses stated facts," Scott +replied, watching her closely. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but facts may be so misrepresented as to give an impression +quite the reverse of the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"That is so. And a misrepresentation having a foundation of truth +is the hardest to fight. But," he added, in a lighter tone, "all +this testimony against me does not seem to have produced the same +impression upon you that it has upon the others. Your suspicions +do not seem, as yet, to have been very thoroughly aroused." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps my suspicions are as dormant as your own apprehensions. +I fail to detect the slightest anxiety on your part as to the +outcome of this, one way or another." +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied, after a pause; "I feel no anxiety, only resentment +that circumstances have conspired against me just at this time, and +contempt for people who will be led by appearances rather than their +own judgment." +</P> + +<P> +"People sometimes use very little judgment where their own personal +interests are concerned." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case," said Scott, as they rose to return to the library, +where the others had already preceded them, "I suppose the word of +one unprincipled woman and of three or four ignorant servants will +be allowed to outweigh mine." +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the library and Miss Carleton made no reply, but +Scott again saw the same inscrutable little smile play over her +features, and wondered at its meaning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TANGLED THREADS +</H3> + +<P> +Upon resuming the examination, the first witness called for was +Mary Catron, the second cook, a woman about thirty-five years of +age, with an honest face, but one indicative of a fiery temper. +Her testimony was brief, but given with a directness that was +amusing. When questioned of the occurrences of the day preceding +the murder, she replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"I know nothing of what went on except from the gossip of the rest. +My place was in the kitchen, and I had too much to do that day to +be loitering round in the halls, leaning on a broom-handle, and +listening at keyholes," and she cast a glance of scathing contempt +in the direction of the chambermaid. +</P> + +<P> +"Did this 'gossip' that you speak of have any bearing on what has +since occurred?" the coroner inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, it might and it mightn't. 'Twas mostly about the will +that Mr. Mainwaring was making; and as how them that got little +was angry that they didn't get more, and them as got much was +growling at not getting the whole." +</P> + +<P> +"How did the servants gain any knowledge of this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's more than I can say, sir, except as I knows the nature of +some folks." +</P> + +<P> +Upon further questioning, the witness stated that on the night of +the murder, between the hours of two and three, she was aroused by +a sound like the closing of an outside door, but on going to one +of the basement windows to listen, she heard nothing further and +concluded she had been mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see the coachman at that time?" she was asked. +</P> + +<P> +"A few minutes later I looked out again and I see him gaping and +grinning at the house and jabbering to himself like an idiot, and +I was minded to send him about his business if he hadn't a-took +himself off when he did." +</P> + +<P> +"He was perfectly sober, was he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sober for aught that I know; but, to my thinking, he's that daft +that he's noways responsible for aught that he says." +</P> + +<P> +"Were you up-stairs soon after the alarm was given?" asked the +coroner, when she had told of hearing from the butler the news of +the murder. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; I went up as soon as ever I heard what had happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Who was in the library at that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody but some of the servants, sir. I met Mr. Whitney just as +I came out." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you meet any one else?" +</P> + +<P> +"I met no one, but I saw the housekeeper coming out of her son's +room. She didn't see me; but she was telling him to get ready +quick to go somewheres, and I heard her say to hurry, for every +minute was precious." +</P> + +<P> +Louis Picot, the head cook, could give no information whatever. +When the alarm was given, he had rushed, with the other servants, +to the scene of the murder, and in his imperfect English, +accompanied by expressive French gestures, he tried to convey his +horror and grief at the situation, but that was all. +</P> + +<P> +The two maids who attended the English ladies were next called upon; +but their testimony was mainly corroborative of that given by the +chambermaid, except that Sarah Whitely, Miss Carleton's maid, +stated, in addition, that she had seen Mr. Walter LaGrange leave +his mother's room in great haste and go down-stairs, and a little +later, from one of the upper windows, saw him riding away from +the stables in the direction of the south gate. +</P> + +<P> +But one servant remained, "Uncle Mose," as he was familiarly called, +the old colored man having charge of the grounds at Fair Oaks. His +snow-white hair and bent form gave him a venerable appearance; but +he was still active, and the shrewd old face showed both humor and +pathos as he proceeded with his story. He had been a slave in his +younger days, and still designated his late employer by the old term +"mars'r." He was a well-known character to many present, including +Dr. Westlake, who knew that in this instance questions would have +to be abandoned and the witness allowed to tell his story in his +own way. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Uncle Mose, you have been employed at Fair Oaks for a long +time, haven't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Moah dan twenty yeahs, sah, I'se had charge ob dese y'er grounds; +an' mars'r Mainwaring, he t'ought nobody but ole Mose cud take cyah +ob 'em, sah." +</P> + +<P> +"You were about the grounds as usual Wednesday, were you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was 'bout de grounds all day, sah, 'case dere was a pow'ful lot +to do a-gittin' ready for de big doins dere was goin' to be on +mars'r's birfday." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see either of the strangers who called that day?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'se a-comm' to dat d'rectly, sah. You see, sah, I wants to say +right heah, befo' I goes any furder, dat I don' know noffin 'cept +what tuk place under my own obserbation. I don' feel called upon +to 'spress no 'pinions 'bout nobody. I jes' wants to state a few +recurrences dat I noted at de time, speshally 'bout dem strangers +as was heah in pertickeler. Well, sah, de fust man, he come heah +in de mawnin'. De Inglish gentlemens, dey had been a-walkin' in +de grounds and jes' done gone roun' de corner oh de house to go +to mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, when dis man he comes up de av'nue +in a kerridge, an' de fust ting I heah 'im a-cussin' de driver. +Den he gets out and looks roun' kind o' quick, jes' like de possum +in de kohn, as ef he was 'fraid somebody done see 'im. I was fixin' +de roses on de front poach, an' I looked at 'im pow'ful sharp, an' +when de dooh opened he jumped in quick, as ef he was glad to get +out o' sight. Well, sah, I didn't like de 'pearance ob dat man, +an' I jes' t'ought I'd get anoder look at 'im, but he stayed a +mighty long time, sah, an' bime'by I had to go to de tool-house, +an' when I gets back the kerridge was gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you describe the man, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sah, I don' know as I could 'scribe 'im perzacly; but I'd know +'im, no matter where I sot eyes on 'im, and I know'd 'im the nex' +time I see 'im. Well, sah, dat aft'noon, mars'r Mainwaring an' de +folks had gone out ridin', an' I was roun' kind o' permiscuous like, +an' I see anoder kerridge way down de av'nue by de front gate, an' +I waited, 'spectin' maybe I'd see dat man again. While I was waitin' +by de front dooh, all oh a sudden a man come roun' from de side, as +ef he come from mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, but he was anoder man." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't he look at all like the first man?" inquired the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sah; he looked altogedder diff'rent; but I don' know as I could +state whar'in de differensiashun consisted, sah. Dis man was berry +good lookin' 'ceptin' his eyes, an' dem yoh cudn' see, 'case he had +on cull'ed glasses. Mebbe his eyes was pow'ful weak, er mebbe he +didn't want nobody to see 'em; but I 'spicioned dem glasses d'rectly, +sah, an' I watched 'im. He goes down to de kerridge an' takes out +a coat an' says sump' in to de driver, an' de kerridge goes away +tow'ds de town, an' he walks off de oder way. Bime'by I see 'im +gwine back again on de oder side ob de street-" +</P> + +<P> +"Was he alone?" interrupted the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sah; an' I done kep' my eye on 'im, an' he didn' go on to de +town, but tuhned down de fust side street. Well, sah, I didn' see +no moah ob 'im den; but dat ebenin' I'd ben a-workin' roun' de +house, sprinklin' de grass and gettin' ready foh de nex' day, when +I happens to pass by de side dooh, an' I sees dem two men comm' +out togedder." +</P> + +<P> +"What time was this, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sah," said the old man, reflectively, "my mem'ry is a little +derelictious on dat p'int, but I knows 'twas gettin' putty late." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure these were the same two men you had seen earlier in +the day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sah; 'case I stepped in de bushes to watch 'em. Dey talked +togedder berry low, an' den one man goes back into de house, an' I +seen 'im plain in de hall light, an' he was de fust man; an' while +I was a-watchin' 'im, de oder man he disappeahed an' I cudn' see +'im nowhar, but I know'd he was de man dat came in de aft'noon, +'case he look jes' like 'im, an' toted a coat on his arm. Well, +sah, I t'inks it a berry cur'is sarcumstance, an' I was jes' comm' +to de preclushun dat I'd mention it to some ob de fambly, when de +fust man, he come to de dooh wid de housekeeper. I was in de +shadder and dey didn' see me, but I heah 'im say, kind o' soft +like, 'Remember, my deah lady, dis is a biz'ness contract; I does +my part, an' I 'spects my pay.' An' she says, 'Oh, yes, yoh shall +hab yohr money widout fail.' An' I says to myse'f, 'Mose, yoh ole +fool, what you stan'in' heah foh? Dat ain't nuffin dat consarns +yoh nohow,' an' I goes home, an' dat's all I know, sah. But I'se +ben pow'ful sorry eber sence dat I didn' let mars'r Mainwaring +know 'bout it, 'case I has my 'spicions," and the old darkey shook +his head, while the tears coursed down his furrowed cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you hear of Mr. Mainwaring's death?" asked the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"De coachman, he done tole me, sah." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the coachman stated that you told him what had occurred." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sah; he done tole me; I'd come up to de place pow'ful ahly +dat mawnin' 'case dere was to be such big doings dat day, an' I +was gwine to de tool-house foh sump'in, an' I see mars'r Walter +ridin' away from de stables pow' ful fas' on his hoss-" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean Walter LaGrange?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sah; an' de coachman he came out an' I ax 'im whar de young +man was gwine dat ahly, an' he say mars'r Mainwaring ben killed, an' +mars'r Walter had to go to town as fas' as his hoss cud take 'im." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know when he returned?" +</P> + +<P> +"He came back, sah, befo' berry long, an' den he went away agin and +didn't come back till mos' noon." +</P> + +<P> +When the old darkey had been dismissed the coachman was recalled. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you mean by stating that you first heard of Mr. +Mainwaring's death from the gardener, when the reverse was the +truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," he replied, carelessly; "I s'pose I got mixed. I +remember talking with him about it, and I thought he told me." +</P> + +<P> +"You had forgotten the interview with Walter LaGrange, I presume." +</P> + +<P> +Brown made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not mention that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't asked to," he replied in insolent tones; "you said nothing +to me about Mr. LaGrange." +</P> + +<P> +"You are expected to state in full every occurrence having any +bearing on the situation. You may give the particulars of that +interview now." +</P> + +<P> +"There's nothing to tell more than Uncle Mose told. I was working +in the stables as usual, and Mr. LaGrange came in in a big hurry +and ordered me to saddle his horse as quick as I could, that Mr. +Mainwaring had been murdered, and he'd got to go to town." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time was this?" +</P> + +<P> +"About half-past seven, I should say." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he state his errand?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"When did he return?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw his horse standing in the yard outside the stables about half +an hour after, and then 'twas gone, and I didn't see it again till +noon." +</P> + +<P> +Walter LaGrange was next called. He stated that he had spent the +greater part of the day preceding the murder away from Fair Oaks; +he had not been at home to luncheon or dinner, and consequently knew +nothing of the strangers seen on the place that day. He had returned +about half-past ten that evening, and remembered seeing Mr. +Mainwaring and his guests seated on the veranda, but he had gone +directly to his room without meeting any one. The first intimation +which he had received of any unusual occurrence the next morning +was when his mother entered his room and told him that Mr. Mainwaring +had either been murdered or had committed suicide, no one knew which. +</P> + +<P> +"Was that her only object in coming to your room?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; she wanted me to do an errand for her." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state the nature of this errand?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was only to deliver a note." +</P> + +<P> +"To whom?" +</P> + +<P> +"To Mr. Hobson," the young man answered weakly, while his mother +frowned, the first sign of emotion of any kind which she had +betrayed that day. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you deliver the note?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, under your mother's orders, you went to the city on your +second trip, did you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Y-yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Were you successful in finding Mr. Hobson there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," the witness answered sullenly. +</P> + +<P> +"You had other business in the city aside from meeting him, had you +not?" +</P> + +<P> +Between the coroner's persistence and his mother's visible signs of +displeasure, Walter LaGrange was fast losing his temper. +</P> + +<P> +"If you know so much about this business, I don't see the use of +your questioning me," he retorted angrily. "It's no affair of mine +anyway; I had nothing to do with it, nor I won't be mixed up in it; +and if you want any information you'd better ask mother for it; it's +her business and none of mine." +</P> + +<P> +After a few more questions, which the witness answered sullenly and +in monosyllables, he was dismissed. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Higgenbotham," announced the coroner. The greatest surprise +was manifested on every side as the senior member of a well-known +firm of jewellers stepped forward; the same gentleman who had +accompanied Mr. Whitney on his return from the city on the preceding +day. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Higgenbotham," said the coroner, "I believe you are able to +furnish some testimony which will be pertinent at this time." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Dr. Westlake," responded the other, in deep, musical tones, +"I think possibly I can render you a little assistance in your +investigations." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Higgenbotham, do you recognize the young gentleman who has just +given his testimony?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do, sir," said the witness, adjusting a pair of eyeglasses and +gazing steadily at Walter LaGrange. "I recall his features +perfectly." +</P> + +<P> +"You were personally acquainted with the late Hugh Mainwaring, I +believe?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, intimately acquainted with him." +</P> + +<P> +"You are, I believe, familiar with the Mainwaring jewels which are +now missing?" continued the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +Walter LaGrange looked uncomfortable and his mother's cheek paled. +</P> + +<P> +"I am, sir; having had them repeatedly left in my possession for +safe keeping during their owner's absence from home; and I have +also a complete list of them, with a detailed description of every +piece." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Mr. Higgenbotham, will you now please state when, and +under what circumstances, you saw this young gentleman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was seated in my private office yesterday morning, when my head +clerk came in and asked me to step out into the salesrooms for a +moment, as he said a young man was there trying to sell some very +fine jewels, and, from his youth and his ignorance of their value, +he feared something was wrong. I went out immediately and saw this +young gentleman, who handed me for inspection a superb diamond +brooch and an elegant necklace of diamonds and pearls. I instantly +recognized the gems as pieces from the old Mainwaring collection of +jewels. Simultaneously there occurred to my mind the report of the +murder of Hugh Mainwaring, which I had heard but a short time before, +although then I knew nothing of the robbery. Naturally, my +suspicions were awakened. I questioned the young man closely, +however, and he stated that his home was at Fair Oaks, and that his +mother was a distant relative of Mr. Mainwaring's; that the jewels +were hers, and she wished to dispose of them for ready cash to meet +an emergency. His story was so plausible that I thought possibly +my suspicions had been somewhat hasty and premature. Still, I +declined to purchase the jewels; and when he left the store I +ordered one of our private detectives to follow him and report to +me. In the course of an hour the detective returned and reported +that the young man had sold the jewels to a pawnbroker for less +than one-fourth their actual value. About half an hour later I +heard the news of the robbery at Fair Oaks, and that the family +jewels were missing; and knowing that Mr. Whitney was here, I +immediately telephoned to him the facts which I have just stated. +He came in to the city at once, and we proceeded to the pawnshop, +where he also identified the jewels." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Higgenbotham paused for a moment, producing a package from an +inner pocket, which he proceeded to open. +</P> + +<P> +"We secured a loan of the jewels for a few days," he continued, +advancing towards the coroner. "Here they are, and here is a copy +of the list of which I spoke. By comparing these gems with the +description of those which I have checked on the list, you will +see that they are identical." +</P> + +<P> +He placed the open casket on the table. There was a moment's +silence, broken by subdued exclamations of admiration as Dr. +Westlake lifted the gems from their resting-place. +</P> + +<P> +"You are correct," he said; "the description is complete. There is +no doubt that these are a part of the collection. I see you have +marked the value of these two items as seven thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; that is a moderate valuation. And were the prices of the +other articles carried out, you would see that, with the exception +of a few very small pieces, these have the least value of the entire +lot. I believe I can be of no further service." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. LaGrange was next recalled. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you anything to say in reference to the testimony just given?" +the coroner inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I have this much to say," she replied, haughtily, "that I could +have given you the history of those jewels, including, perhaps, +some facts of which even Mr. Higgenbotham and Mr. Whitney are in +ignorance, and thus have spared you the infinite pains you have +taken to make public the straits to which I was reduced, because +of my position here, when in need of a little ready money. I could +have informed you that they were originally a part of the old +Mainwaring collection of gems, until they were given me by my +husband." +</P> + +<P> +"It hardly seems consistent that a man who treated his wife in the +manner in which you claim to have been treated would bestow upon +her gifts of such value as these," the coroner remarked with +emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"They were of little value to him," she answered, with scorn; "as +you have been informed, they were the poorest which he possessed. +Besides, there were times when I could persuade him to almost +anything,—anything but to acknowledge his lawful wife and his +legitimate son." +</P> + +<P> +"Was the money which you were forced to raise by the sale of these +jewels to be paid to Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was." +</P> + +<P> +"In accordance with the terms of your contract with him, made a +few hours preceding the death of Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied, defiantly. "And as you probably would ask the +nature of that contract, I will save you the trouble. Knowing that +my son and I were likely to be defrauded of our rights in the same +manner in which Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded others, I engaged Mr. +Hobson as my attorney, as he, better than any one else, knew the +facts in the case. When I learned yesterday morning of my husband's +death, I realized that I would have immediate need of his services, +and accordingly sent him word to that effect. He demanded a large +cash payment at once. The result of this demand Mr. Higgenbotham +has already told you." +</P> + +<P> +"How was Hobson to secure for you your rights from Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"That was left entirely to his own discretion." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you describe the appearance of Mr. Hobson's clerk?" +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. He was merely brought as a +witness to our contract. I knew that he was present, but he +remained in the shadow, and I took no notice of him whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"Your contract, then, was a verbal one?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was." +</P> + +<P> +Upon being closely questioned, Mrs. LaGrange reiterated her +assertions of the preceding day, laying particular stress upon the +alleged interview between Hugh Mainwaring and his secretary, after +which she was dismissed, and Harry Scott was recalled. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott," said the coroner, "what were the relations existing +between Mr. Mainwaring and yourself up to the time of his death?" +</P> + +<P> +Scott flushed slightly as he replied, "Those ordinarily existing +between employer and employed, except that I believe Mr. Mainwaring +accorded me more than usual consideration, and I, while duly +appreciative of his kindness, yet took especial pains never to +exceed the bounds of an employee." +</P> + +<P> +"Were there ever any unpleasant words passed between you?" +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"Was your last interview with Mr. Mainwaring of a friendly nature?" +</P> + +<P> +"Entirely so." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you to say in reference to the testimony given to the +effect that your voice was heard and recognized in angry +conversation with Mr. Mainwaring at nearly one o'clock?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have to say that it is false, and without foundation." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say that the statement of the witness was wholly +without truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not deny that such an interview, as alleged by the witness, +may have taken place, for that is something concerning which I have +no knowledge whatever; but I do deny that she heard my voice, or +that I was in the library at that time, or at any time after about +twenty minutes past twelve." +</P> + +<P> +"Was that the time at which you went to your room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very near that time, as my interview with Mr. Mainwaring could not +have exceeded ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time did you retire?" +</P> + +<P> +"I sat up very late that night, for my mind was so occupied with +some personal matters that I felt no inclination for sleep. I +lighted a cigar and became so absorbed in my own thoughts that I +was totally unaware of the lapse of time, until I was aroused by +what I thought was a stealthy step outside. I then became conscious, +for the first time, that I was very weary, both physically and +mentally, and I also discovered that it was nearly three o'clock. +Astonished to find it so late, and exhausted by hours of protracted +thought, I threw myself as I was upon a low couch, where I slept +soundly until awakened in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +Further questions failed to reveal any discrepancy in his statement, +and he was dismissed. +</P> + +<P> +The testimony of Ralph Mainwaring and of his son added nothing of +interest or importance. Mr. Thornton testified to his incidental +meeting with Hobson and to the reputation which the man had borne in +London. When he had resumed his seat the coroner remarked,— +</P> + +<P> +"As a matter of form, I will have to call upon the ladies, though +it is not expected they will be able to furnish any information +throwing light on this mysterious case." +</P> + +<P> +It was, as he had said, little more than a ceremony and occupied +but a few moments. Miss Carleton was the last one called upon. She +stated that it was nearly eleven o'clock when she reached her room, +but added that she did not retire immediately, as her cousin, Miss +Thornton, had come in, and they had chatted together for more than +an hour; that while so engaged, she heard Mr. Scott come up-stairs +and enter his room, which adjoined hers, and lock the door for the +night. +</P> + +<P> +"At what hour was this?" inquired the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"It could not have been more than twenty minutes after twelve, as +it was twenty-five minutes after twelve when my cousin went to her +room, and this was about five minutes earlier." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you state whether or not he left his room within the next +half-hour?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know that he did not," she replied. "I can testify that he +remained in his room until after one o'clock. After my cousin left +I discovered that the moon was just rising, and the view across the +Hudson being extremely beautiful, as well as novel to me, I +extinguished the light in my room and sat down by the open window +to enjoy it. I heard Mr. Scott stepping quietly about his room for +a few moments; then all was still. I sat for some time admiring the +scenery, until I was aroused by hearing him pacing back and forth +like a person in deep thought. I then found it was much later than +I supposed,—nearly one o' clock,—and I immediately retired; but +so long as I was awake I could hear him walking in his room." +</P> + +<P> +As Miss Carleton finished her testimony it was evident that the +tide of general opinion had turned somewhat in favor of the young +secretary, but the latter quietly ignored the friendly glances cast +in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +It was generally supposed that all testimony in the case had now +been heard. Considerable surprise was, therefore, manifested when +the coroner nodded to Mr. Whitney, who, in turn, beckoned to some one +in the hall. In response the butler appeared, ushering in a tall +man, with cadaverous features and small, dark eyes, which peered +restlessly about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Richard Hobson," announced the coroner. +</P> + +<P> +"At your service, sir," said the man, advancing with a cringing gait +and fawning, apologetic smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson," said the coroner, after a few preliminaries, "I +understand you were somewhat acquainted with the late Hugh +Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, sir, somewhat," the other replied in soft, insinuating +tones, but with peculiar emphasis on the word used by Dr. Westlake. +"Indeed, I might say, without exaggeration, that I was probably +better acquainted with that estimable gentleman than was any one +in this country." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not seen him to speak with him for fully twenty-three years." +</P> + +<P> +"You have corresponded with, him, however, in that time?" +</P> + +<P> +The witness showed no surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"We exchanged a few letters while I was in England. I have neither +heard from him nor written to him since coming to this country." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see him, regardless of whether you spoke to him +or not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Probably within the last two or three weeks. I have occasionally +met him on the street." +</P> + +<P> +"Did Mr. Mainwaring see you at any of these times?" +</P> + +<P> +"If he did, he did not recognize me." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see him when you called at Fair Oaks, Wednesday,—either +morning or evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson, will you describe the man who accompanied you when +you called in the evening, Wednesday?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could give you a general description. He was a large man, about +my own height, but heavier, and rather good looking, on the whole. +But I am not good on details, such as complexion, color of hair, and +so on; and then, you know, those little things are very easily +changed." +</P> + +<P> +"What was his name?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobson smiled blandly. "The name by which I know him is John +Carroll, but I have no idea as to his real name. He is a very +eccentric character, many-sided as it were, and I never know which +side will come uppermost." +</P> + +<P> +"He is your clerk and in your employ, is he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Agent, I think, would be a preferable term. He is in my employ, +he transacts certain business for me, but he does it in his own way, +and comes and goes at his own discretion." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he at present?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have no idea, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he leave for the city that night, or did he remain with you at +the Riverside Hotel?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was not with me at the hotel except for a few hours. I have not +the slightest idea from whence he came to see me, when he went away, +or in what direction he went. He was in haste to be excused as soon +as our joint business was done, and I have not seen him since." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he have on dark glasses that day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not when I saw him, but that was only in my room at the hotel, and +for a few moments in this house; he would have no need for them at +either place." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he not accompany you from the hotel to Fair Oaks?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; we met here by prearrangement." +</P> + +<P> +"When do you expect to see your agent again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever he has any business reports to make," Hobson replied, +with an exasperating smile; "but I have no idea when that will be. +He has other commissions to execute; he is in the employ of others +besides myself, and transacts some business on his own account also." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand, Mr. Hobson, that you have repeatedly extorted money +from Mr. Mainwaring by threatening to disclose facts in your +possession regarding some questionable transaction." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; my action could not be termed extortion or blackmail +within the meaning of the law, though to any one conversant with Mr. +Mainwaring's private correspondence it may have had that appearance. +I was, however, merely making an effort to collect what was legally +due me. Mr. Mainwaring, before leaving England, had voluntarily +bound himself to pay me a certain sum upon the condition that I +would not reveal certain transactions of considerably more than +questionable character. I kept my part of the contract, but he +failed in his. I wrote him, therefore, threatening, unless he +fulfilled his share of the agreement, to institute proceedings +against him, which would naturally involve a disclosure of his secret. +He never paid me in full and the secret is still mine," he paused, +then added slowly, "to keep or to sell, as will pay me best." +</P> + +<P> +"Was Hugh Mainwaring ever married?" the coroner asked, abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe he was not generally considered a married man, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Was there ever any private marriage?" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson smiled enigmatically. "You already have the word of the +lady herself, sir; that should be sufficient. I cannot reveal any +of Hugh Mainwaring's secrets,—unless I am well paid for it!" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson was dismissed without further questions, and the examination +being now at an end, the coroner's jury retired to the room in the +rear of the library. Very few left the house, for all felt that +little time would be required for the finding of a verdict, and +comment and opinion were freely exchanged. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Mr. Sutherland, turning towards the secretary with a +smile, "they did not learn one fact from that last witness, for I +doubt whether one of the few statements he did make had an iota of +truth in it. By the way, Mr. Scott, it's a very fortunate thing +that you've got the proofs you have. It would be a risky piece of +work to depend on that man's word for proof; he is as slippery as +an eel. With those proofs, however, there is no doubt but that +you've got a strong case." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be hard to convince Ralph Mainwaring of that fact." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he looks as though he would hold on to his opinions pretty +tenaciously." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so tenaciously as he would grasp any money coming within his +reach!" +</P> + +<P> +At a little distance, Mr. Whitney was engaged in conversation with +the Englishmen. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought he could be in any way connected with it," he was +saying. "In the first place, there was no motive, there could be +none; then, again, I believe he is altogether above suspicion. I +know that Mr. Mainwaring had the most implicit confidence in him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Mr. Thornton, "for my part, I'm heartily glad if there +is nothing in it. I always liked the young fellow." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just where I don't agree with you; I don't like him," Ralph +Mainwaring replied in a surly tone. "He may be all right so far as +this matter is concerned; I don't say yet that he is or isn't; but +I do say that to defame a man's character after he's dead, in the +manner he has, is simply outrageous, and, you may depend upon it, +there's some personal spite back of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, as to Hugh's character, I don't think you or I are going +to fret ourselves about that," laughed Mr. Thornton. "He probably +sowed his wild oats with the rest of us, and there may have been +some reason for his leaving England as he did." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe it," Ralph Mainwaring retorted, angrily; but before +he could say more, the doors opened and the coroner's jury filed +into the room. There was instant silence, and a moment later the +verdict had been announced. It was what every one had expected, and +yet there was not one but experienced a feeling of disappointment +and dissatisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"We find that the deceased, Hugh Mainwaring, came to his death by +the discharge of a revolver in the hands of some person or persons +to us unknown." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BEHIND THE SCENES +</H3> + +<P> +The crowd dispersed rapidly, passing down the oak-lined avenue in +twos and threes, engaged in animated discussion of the details of +the inquest, while each one advanced some theory of his own +regarding the murder. Mr. Sutherland had taken his departure after +making an appointment with Scott for the following day, and the +latter now stood in one of the deep bow-windows engrossed with his +own thoughts. Suspicion had been partially diverted from himself, +but only partially, as he well knew, to return like a tidal wave, +deepened and intensified by personal animosity, whenever the facts +he had thus far so carefully concealed should become known. He gave +little thought to this, however, except as it influenced him in +planning his course of action for the next few days. +</P> + +<P> +He was aroused from his revery by the sound of approaching steps, +and, turning, met Mr. Whitney. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Mr. Scott, I was just looking for you. I thought possibly you +had slipped back to the city with the crowd. I wanted to say, Mr. +Scott, that, if it will be agreeable to you, I wish you would remain +at Fair Oaks for the next few days, or weeks, as the case may be. +Mr. Ralph Mainwaring has retained my services to aid in securing +his title to the estate, and the will having been destroyed, +complications are likely to arise, so that it may take some time to +get matters adjusted. Much of the business will, of necessity, have +to be transacted here, as all of Mr. Mainwaring's private papers are +here, and if you will stay and help us out I will see, of course, +that your salary goes right on as usual." +</P> + +<P> +An excuse fur remaining at Fair Oaks was what Scott particularly +desired, but he replied indifferently, "If it will accommodate you, +Mr. Whitney, I can remain for a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. I cannot say just how long we may need you, though I +anticipate a long contest." +</P> + +<P> +"Against Mrs. LaGrange?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; though she has, in my opinion, no legal right whatever, yet +she will make a hard fight, and with that trickster Hobson to help +her with his chicanery, it is liable to take some time to beat them." +</P> + +<P> +"You expect to win in the end, however?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; there is no doubt but that Ralph Mainwaring will win the +case. He will get the property either for his son or for himself. +We are first going to try to have the will upheld in the courts. +Failing in that, the property will, of course, be divided between +the nearest heirs, Ralph Mainwaring and a younger bachelor brother; +in which event, the whole thing will, in all probability, finally +revert to his son Hugh." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney, what is your opinion of Mrs. LaGrange's story of a +private marriage?" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney shook his head decidedly. "One of her clever lies; but +if she ever undertakes to tell that little romance in court, I'll +tear it all to shreds. She never was married to Hugh Mainwaring; +but," he added, slowly, "I may as well tell you that Walter was his +son. Mr. Mainwaring the same as admitted that to me once; but I +am certain that, aside from that fact, that woman had some terrible +hold on him, though what I never knew. By the way, Mr. Scott, do +you know anything of the particulars of that transaction to which +those letters referred and to which Hobson alluded to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney looked keenly at the young man. "You obtained your +knowledge originally from other sources than Mr. Mainwaring's +correspondence, did you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so. Do you know, Mr. Scott, I would denounce the whole +thing as a lie, a scheme of that adventuress, or that impostor, +Hobson, or both, by which they hope to gain some hold on the heirs, +were it not that, from your manner, I have been convinced that you +have some personal knowledge of the facts in the case,—that you +know far more than you have yet told." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney paused, watching the young secretary closely, but there +was no reply, and, with all his penetration, the attorney could read +nothing in the immobile face before him. He continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever that transaction may have been, I wish to know nothing +about it. I was much attached to Mr. Mainwaring and respected him +highly, and I want to respect his memory; and I will tell you +frankly what I most dread in this coming contest. I expect nothing +else but that either that woman or Hobson will drag the affair out +from its hiding-place, and will hold it up for the public to gloat +over, as it always does. I hate to see a man's reputation blackened +in that way, especially when that man was my friend and his own +lips are sealed in death." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a pity," said Scott, slowly; "but if one wishes to leave +behind him an untarnished reputation, he must back it up, while +living, with an unblemished character." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the attorney, tentatively, after another pause, "Mr. +Mainwaring's character, whatever it may have been before we were +associated with him, certainly had no effect upon your life or mine, +hence I feel that it is nothing with which we are directly concerned; +and I believe, in fact I know, that it will be for your interest, Mr. +Scott, if you say nothing regarding whatever knowledge you may have +of the past." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney, watching the effect of his words, suddenly saw an +expression totally unlike anything he had ever seen on the face of +the secretary, and yet strangely familiar. +</P> + +<P> +Scott turned and faced him, with eyes cold and cynical and that +seemed to pierce him through and through, remarking, in tones of +quiet irony, "I am greatly obliged for your advice, Mr. Whitney, +regarding my interests, but it is not needed. Furthermore, I think +all your thought and attention will be required to look after the +interests of Ralph Mainwaring," and without waiting for reply, he +stepped through one of the low, old-fashioned windows opening upon +the veranda and disappeared, leaving the attorney alone. +</P> + +<P> +"By George, but that was cool!" ejaculated the latter. "And that +look; where have I seen it? I believe that Ralph Mainwaring is +more than half right after all, and there is something back of all +this!" +</P> + +<P> +So absorbed was he in his own reflections as to be wholly unaware +of the presence of the detective in the hall, near the doorway, +where he had paused long enough to witness the parting between +Scott and the attorney, and who now passed quietly up-stairs, +remarking to himself, "Whitney is pretty sharp, but he's more than +got his match there. That young fellow is too deep for him or any +of the rest of 'em, and he's likely to come out where they least +expect to find him." +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later, Mr. Merrick, stepping from the private library +into the upper southern hall, heard the sound of voices, which, +from his familiarity with the rooms, he knew must proceed from Mrs. +LaGrange's parlor. He cautiously descended the stairs to the +lowest landing, in which was a deep window. The shutters were +tightly closed, and, concealing himself behind the heavy curtains, +he awaited developments. He was now directly opposite the door of +the parlor, and through the partially open transom he could hear +the imperious tones of Mrs. LaGrange and the soft, insinuating +accents of Hobson. For a while he was unable to distinguish a +word, but the variations in Hobson's tones indicated that he was +not seated, but walking back and forth, while Mrs. LaGrange's voice +betrayed intense excitement and gradually grew louder. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not altogether invulnerable," Merrick heard her say, +angrily. "You were an accessory in that affair, and you cannot +deny it?" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson evidently had paused near the door, as his reply was +distinctly audible. "You have not an atom of proof; as you well +know; and even if you had, our acquaintance, my dear madam, has been +too long and of too intimate a nature for you to care to attempt +any of your little tricks with me. You play a deep game, my lady, +but I hold the winning hand yet." +</P> + +<P> +"If you are dastardly enough to threaten me, I am not such a coward +as to fear you. I have played my cards better than you know," she +answered, defiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear lady," Hobson replied, and the door-knob turned slightly +under his hand, "those little speeches sound very well, but we both +understand each other perfectly. You want my services in this case; +you must have them; and I am willing to render them; but it is +useless for you to dictate terms to me. I will undertake the case +in accordance with your wishes, but only upon the conditions +mentioned." +</P> + +<P> +The reply was inaudible, but was evidently satisfactory to Hobson, +for, as he opened the door, there was a leer of triumph on his face. +He glanced suspiciously about the hall, and, on reaching the door, +turned to Mrs. LaGrange, who had accompanied him, saying, in his +smoothest tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be out again in two or three days. Should you wish to see +me before that time, you can telephone to my office or send me word." +</P> + +<P> +She bowed silently and he took his departure, but as she returned +to her room, she exclaimed, fiercely, "Craven! Let me but once get +my rights secured, and he will find whether I stand in fear of him!" +</P> + +<P> +Having taken leave of Mrs. LaGrange, Hobson carefully avoided the +front part of the house and grounds, taking instead the gravelled +walk leading through the grove towards the lake in the rear and out +upon the side street. As he was hurrying along this rather secluded +avenue, he was suddenly confronted by Scott. Although strangers to +each other, Hobson instantly conjectured that this must be the +secretary who had betrayed such familiarity with the correspondence +which had passed between himself and Hugh Mainwaring, and that it +might be to his own interest to form the acquaintance of the young +man. +</P> + +<P> +Quick as thought he drew from his pocket a card, and, pausing +suddenly in his rapid walk, said, with a profound bow,— +</P> + +<P> +"I beg pardon; I cannot be mistaken; have I not the pleasure of +addressing Mr. Scott?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is my name," replied the secretary, coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg you will accept this card; and allow me to suggest that you +may find it conducive to your interests to call upon me at the +address named, if you will take the trouble to do so." +</P> + +<P> +Scott glanced from the card to the speaker, regarding the latter +with close scrutiny. "You seem very solicitous of the interests of +a stranger, as it is not to be presumed that you have any ulterior +motive in making this suggestion." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson appeared to ignore the sarcasm. "It is barely possible," he +continued, in his most ingratiating tones, "that I may be in +possession of facts which it would be to your advantage to learn." +</P> + +<P> +"In case you are, I suppose, of course, you would impart them to me +simply out of pure disinterestedness, without a thought of pecuniary +compensation?" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson winced and glanced nervously about him. "I must hasten," he +said; "I cannot stop for explanations; but you will find me in my +office at two o'clock to-morrow, if you care to call. Meantime, +my young friend, I am not perhaps as mercenary as you think, and I +may be able to be of great assistance to you," and with a final bow, +the man hastily disappeared around a turn of the winding walk. +</P> + +<P> +Scott proceeded in the opposite direction in a deep study. "Is it +possible," he soliloquized, "that that creature is on my track and +has any proposition to make to me? Or, is he afraid that I know his +secret, and that I may deprive him of his hold upon the Mainwarings? +More likely it is the latter. A week ago I was looking for that +man, and would probably have endeavored to make terms with him, +though it would have involved an immense amount of risk, for a +cast-iron contract wouldn't hold him, and his testimony would be +worth little or nothing, one way or the other." Scott glanced +again at the address on the card. "Not a very desirable locality! +It probably suits him and his business, though: I believe, I will +give the scoundrel a call and see what I can draw out of him." +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was announced as Scott returned to the house, and a number +of circumstances combined to render the meal far pleasanter and +more social than any since the death of the master of Fair Oaks. +Mr. Merrick was nowhere to be found, and the slight restraint +imposed by his presence was removed. Mrs. LaGrange and her son +were also absent, preferring to take their meals privately in +an adjoining room which Hugh Mainwaring had often used as a +breakfast-room. The silence and frigidity which had lately +reigned at the table seemed to have given place to almost universal +sociability, though Ralph Mainwaring's face still wore a sullen +scowl. +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Whitney met the secretary, his sensitive face flushed at the +remembrance of their late interview, and he watched the young man +with evident curiosity. Scott was conscious, however, of an +increased friendliness towards himself on the part of most of the +guests, but feeling that it was likely to prove of short duration, +he remained noncommittal and indifferent. As they left the table, +Miss Carleton rallied him on his appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, you are a mystery!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why so, Miss Carleton, if you please?" he asked, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Just now, when everybody's spirits are relaxing after that horrible +inquest, you look more serious and glum than I have ever seen you. +I threw myself into the breach this afternoon to rescue you from the +enemy's grounds, whither you had been carried by the sensational +statements of Mrs. LaGrange and the coachman and chambermaid, and I +have not even seen you smile once since. Perhaps," she added, +archly, "you didn't care to be rescued by a woman, but would have +preferred to make your own way out." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Scott, smiling very brightly now; "I'll not be so +ungrateful as to say that, though I believe I am generally able to +fight my own battles; but I will confess I was somewhat disappointed +this afternoon when you gave your testimony." +</P> + +<P> +"How could that be?" she inquired, greatly surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Up to that time I had flattered myself that I had one friend who +had faith in me, even though circumstances conspired against me. I +discovered, then, that it was no confidence in me, but only a +knowledge of some of the facts, that kept her from turning against +me like the rest." +</P> + +<P> +Scott spoke in serio-comic tones, and Miss Carleton looked keenly +in his face to see if he were jesting. +</P> + +<P> +"No; you are mistaken, Mr. Scott," she said, slowly, after a pause. +"My confidence in you would have been just as strong if I had known +nothing of the facts." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you; I am very glad to hear that," he answered. Then added, +gently, "Would, it be strong enough to stand a far heavier strain +than that, if it were necessary?" +</P> + +<P> +His tones were serious now, and she regarded him inquiringly for a +moment before speaking; then seeing young Mainwaring approaching +with his sister and Miss Thornton, she replied, in low tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have no idea to what you refer, Mr. Scott, and I begin to think +you are indeed a 'mystery;' but you can be assured of this much: I +would never, under any circumstances, believe you capable of +anything false or dishonorable." +</P> + +<P> +Scott's eyes expressed his gratification at these words, and he +would then have withdrawn, but neither Miss Carleton nor young +Mainwaring gave him an opportunity to do so without seeming +discourteous. Both drew him into conversation and found him +exceedingly entertaining, though reserved concerning himself. +Isabel Mainwaring still held herself aloof and took little part in +the conversation, but to make amends for this Miss Thornton bestowed +some of her most winning smiles upon the handsome young secretary, +her large, infantile blue eyes regarding him with wondering +curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +After a pleasant evening, Scott excused himself and retired to his +room; but an hour or two later there was a knock at his door, and +on opening it he saw young Mainwaring in smoking-cap and jacket. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Scott, won't you come out and have a smoke? I've got some +fine cigars, and it's too pretty a night to stay in one's room; +come out on my balcony and we'll have a bit of a talk and smoke." +</P> + +<P> +Scott readily consented, and the two young men proceeded to the +balcony upon which Mainwaring's room opened, where the latter had +already placed two reclining chairs and a small table containing +a box of his favorite Havanas. +</P> + +<P> +For a few moments they puffed in silence, looking out into the +starlit night with its beauty of dim outline and mysterious shadow. +Mainwaring was the first to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Scott, I'm awfully ashamed of the way that some of us, my +family in particular, have treated you within the last day or two. +It was confoundedly shabby, and I beg your pardon for my share in +it, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't waste any regrets over that matter," Scott answered, +indifferently; "I never gave it any thought, and it is not worth +mentioning." +</P> + +<P> +"I do regret it, though, more than I can tell, and I haven't any +excuse for myself; only things did look so deucedly queer there +for a while, don't you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Scott, pleasantly, "we are not out of the woods yet, +and there is no telling what developments may arise. Things might +'look queer' again, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. I know a gentleman when I see him, unless I +happen to lose my head, and that doesn't occur very often. Now +it's different with the governor. He's got so confoundedly wrought +up over that will, don't you know, that he can't think of anything +else, and there's no reason in him." +</P> + +<P> +"As I understand it," remarked Scott, "Mr. Mainwaring expects to +win the property in any case, either for you or for himself." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and naturally you might think that the loss of the will +wouldn't amount to much, one way or the other; but it's like this: +the governor and I are very different; I know we've got plenty of +ducats, and that's enough for me, but not for him; he is ambitious. +It has always galled him that we were not in the direct line of +descent from the main branch of the Mainwarings; and it has been +his one great ambition since the death of old Ralph Mainwaring, +Hugh's father, a few years before I was born, to win into his own +family the old Mainwaring estate. He had an idea that Hugh would +never marry, and gave me his name, hoping that I would be made +his heir. Should the governor succeed in this scheme of his, he +will immediately buy back the Mainwaring estate, although he knows +I don't care a rap for the whole thing, and we will then have the +honor, as he considers it, of perpetuating the old family line. +On the other hand, if the property goes to the nearest heirs, it +will be divided between him and his younger brother. Uncle Harold +has no more ambition than I have, and though he is at present a +bachelor, that is no guarantee that he will remain one; and, anyhow, +it isn't likely that there will be much of his share left when he +gets through with it. So you see how much importance the governor +attached to that will." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," said Scott, as his companion paused. Then he added, +musingly, "Your uncle's name seems to be rather unusual among the +Mainwarings; I do not recall your having mentioned it before." +</P> + +<P> +"What, Harold? On the contrary, it is the great name in our family, +especially in the main line. I would have been given that name if +the governor had not been looking out for Hugh Mainwaring's money. +There was a direct line of Harolds down to my great-grandfather. +He gave the name to his eldest son, but he died, and the next one, +Ralph, Hugh's father, took up the line. Guy, my grandfather, was +the youngest." +</P> + +<P> +"One would almost have thought that Hugh Mainwaring would have borne +the name of Harold," commented Scott. +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring smoked for a moment in silence, then said, in lower +tones, "Old Uncle Ralph had a son by that name." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed! Had Hugh Mainwaring a brother?" Scott asked in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there was a brother, but he died a great many years ago. +There is quite a story connected with his name, but I don't know +many of the particulars, for the governor seldom alludes to it. I +know, however, that Harold was the elder son, but that Uncle Ralph +disinherited him for marrying against his wishes, and afterwards +died of grief over the affair, and soon after his father's death +Harold was lost at sea." +</P> + +<P> +"You say he married; did he leave any children?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I believe he had no children; but even if he had, they would have +been disinherited also. Uncle Ralph was severe; he would not even +allow Harold's name to be mentioned; and Hugh also must have turned +against his brother, for I have heard that he never spoke of him or +allowed any allusion to be made to him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Scott, after a pause, "I believe Hugh Mainwaring's life +was far from happy." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right there. I'll never forget the last words he ever +spoke to me as I took leave of him that night. They were to the +effect that he hoped when I should have reached his age, I would be +able to look back over a happier past than his had been. It is my +opinion, too, that that woman was the cause of his unhappiness, and +I believe she is at the bottom of all this trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Their conversation had drifted to the mystery then surrounding them, +and for more than an hour they dwelt on that subject, advancing many +surmises, some strangely improbable, but none of which seemed to +bring them any nearer a solution of the problem. +</P> + +<P> +"My first visit to this country has proved an eventful one," said +young Mainwaring, as, at a late hour, they finally separated for the +night, "and I don't know yet how it may terminate; but there's one +thing I shall look back upon with pleasure, and that is my meeting +with you; and I hope that from this time or we will be friends; and +that this friendship, begun to-night, will be renewed in old England +many a time." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you not rather rash," Scott inquired, slowly, "considering how +little we know of each other, the circumstances under which we have +met, and the uncertainty of what the future may reveal?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I'm peculiar. When I like a fellow, I like him; and I've been +studying you pretty closely. I don't think we need either of us be +troubled about the future; but I'm your friend, Scott, and, whatever +happens, I'll stand by you." +</P> + +<P> +"So be it, then, Hugh," replied the secretary, clasping the hand of +the young Englishman and, for the first time, calling him by name. +"I thank you, and I hope you will never go back on that." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SKIRMISHING +</H3> + +<P> +On the following morning the gentlemen at Fair Oaks were astir at +an unusually early hour, and immediately after breakfast held a brief +conference. It was decided to offer a heavy reward for the +apprehension of the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, while a lesser +reward was to be offered for information leading to identification +and arrest of the guilty party. Preparations were also to be made +for the funeral, which would take place the next day, and which, in +accordance with the wishes of Ralph Mainwaring, was to be strictly +private. +</P> + +<P> +Their conference at an end, Ralph Mainwaring ordered the carriage to +take himself, Mr. Whitney, and the secretary to the depot. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe I will ride down with you," said Mr. Merrick. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; plenty of room. Going to the city?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but not with you gentlemen. We will part company at the +depot and I will take another car." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you getting on, Mr. Merrick?" inquired Mr. Thorton. +</P> + +<P> +"As well as can be expected, all things considered," was the +non-committal reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Going to be a slow case, I'm afraid," commented Ralph Mainwaring, +shaking his head in a doubtful way, while Mr. Thornton added +jokingly,— +</P> + +<P> +"We've got some mighty fine fellows over home there at the Yard; if +you should want any help, Mr. Merrick, I'll cable for one of them." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir," said the detective, with quiet dignity; "I don't +anticipate that I shall want any assistance; and if I should, I will +hardly need import it from Scotland Yard." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, ha! That all depends, you know, on what your man is. If the +rascal happens to have any English blood in him, it will take a +Scotland Yard chap to run him down." +</P> + +<P> +"On the principle, I suppose, of 'set a rogue to catch a rogue,'" +Merrick replied, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +He bad scarcely finished speaking when Hardy suddenly entered the +room. +</P> + +<P> +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, addressing Ralph Mainwaring; "but the +coachman is gone! We've looked everywhere for him, but he's nowhere +about the place." +</P> + +<P> +"When did he go?" asked Mr. Whitney, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody knows, sir. Joe, the stable-boy, says he hasn't been around +at all this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Bring the boy here," said Mr. Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +There was instantly recalled to every one present the memory of +Brown's insolent manner at the inquest, together with his confused +and false statements. In a few moments Hardy returned with the +stable-boy, an unkempt, ignorant lad of about fourteen, but with a +face old and shrewd beyond his years. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you one of the servants here?" Mr. Mainwaring inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I works here, ef that's wot yer mean; but I don't call myself +nobody's servant." +</P> + +<P> +"How did it happen that you were not at the inquest?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't got no invite," was the reply, accompanied by a grin, while +Hardy explained that the boy did not belong to the place, but had +been hired by the coachman to come nights and mornings and attend +to the stable work. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you know about this Brown?" inquired Mr. Mainwaring, +addressing the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, I guess he's ben a-goin' it at a putty lively gait lately." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean he was fast?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's about the size of it." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you see him last?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hain't seen nothin' of him sence las' night, an' then he was sorter +crusty an' didn't say much. I come down this mornin' an' went to +work,—he allus left the stable key where I could get it,—but I +ham' t seen nor heard nothin' o' him. Me'n him," with an emphatic +nod towards Hardy, "went up to his room, but he warn't there, nor +hadn't ben there all night." +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you think he was fast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wal, from all I've hearn about him I guess he's ben goin' with a +kinder hard set lately. I've seen some putty tough-lookin' subs +hangin' 'round the stables. There was a lot of 'em waitin' for him +Wednesday night." +</P> + +<P> +"Wednesday night!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney. "At what time? and who +were they?" +</P> + +<P> +"I dunno who they was, but they was hangin' 'round about eight +o'clock waitin' for him to go with 'em. An' then he's had lots of +money lately." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've hearn him a-jinglin' it in his room; an' night afore las' I +clim' up-stairs and peeked in, an' he had a whole pile of gold +pieces 'bout that high," measuring with his hands; "but he see me, +an' he said he'd gimme a whalin' ef he catched me at it agin." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you watch him last night?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas; he acted so kinder queer that I waited 'round to see what he +was goin' to do. After 'twas still an' he thought I'd gone, he come +down an' started off towards the side street. Jes' fer fun I +follered him; an' when he got to the lake he stopped and looked all +'round, as ef to make sure there warn't nobody to see him, an' then +he takes somethin', I couldn't see what, out from under his coat an' +chucks it quick into the lake, an' then he started on a run down +towards the street." +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't you see what he threw?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I couldn't see what 'twas; but it struck the water awful heavy." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that all you know about the affair?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a moment," said Mr. Merrick, as the boy turned to leave the +room. "Can you tell how many, or what kind of looking men were with +Brown on Wednesday night?" +</P> + +<P> +"There was three of 'em. One was a big feller with kinder squint +eyes, the other two was ornery lookin' fellers; one of 'em was dark +like a furriner, an' t'other one had sorter yeller hair." +</P> + +<P> +"How long were they there?" +</P> + +<P> +"About half 'n hour, I guess. They was all gone 'fore nine o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear anything that was said?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hearn 'em talkin' somethin' about the boss." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas. He'd made a kick about somethin' or 'nuther that afternoon, +an' Brown he was cussin' mad, an' then when they went away I hearn +one of 'em say somethin' about 'makin' a good job of it.'" +</P> + +<P> +"How was this, Hardy?" inquired Mr. Whitney. "Had there been any +words Wednesday between Mr. Mainwaring and the coachman?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; I had forgotten it; but now I remember that when he came +back that afternoon, he found some fault with the coachman, and +Brown was very insolent, and then Mr. Mainwaring threatened to +discharge him." +</P> + +<P> +"'Pon my soul! I should say here was something worth looking into," +said Mr. Thornton, as the boy left the room, accompanied by Hardy. +</P> + +<P> +"A great pity that we could not have had his testimony at the +inquest," commented the attorney. "We might then have cornered +Brown; but I was not aware that there was such a person employed on +the place." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, a carriage ordered by telephone from the Arlington had +already arrived at Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Ralph Mainwaring, "the carriage is waiting. We had +better proceed to the depot; we can talk of this latest development +on our way." +</P> + +<P> +"You will excuse me, gentlemen," said Mr. Merrick, quietly, "I have +changed my mind, and will postpone my trip to the city." +</P> + +<P> +"Struck a new trail, eh?" queried Ralph Mainwaring, with a peculiar +expression, as he paused to light a cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, sir, only following up an old one," and, with a +somewhat ambiguous smile, the detective withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +The coachman's sudden disappearance, together with the facts learned +from the stable-boy, formed the subject of discussion for the next +half-hour between Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney, Scott listening +with a thoughtful face, although taking little part in the +conversation. Upon their arrival at the offices of Mainwaring & +Co. they were given a cordial greeting by Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden, after which they passed on to the elegant private +offices of Hugh Mainwaring. Mr. Whitney was visibly affected as +he entered the familiar rooms, and to each one was forcibly +recalled the memory of their meeting a few days before. A brief +silence followed, and then in subdued tones they began to discuss +the business which had now brought them there. +</P> + +<P> +At about two o'clock that afternoon, Scott found himself entering +an ancient and dilapidated looking block in a rather disreputable +part of the city. He had fulfilled his appointment with Mr. +Sutherland, and after an hour's conversation both gentlemen appeared +very sanguine regarding the case under consideration. As Scott was +taking leave, he produced Hobson's card and related the particulars +of their incidental meeting at Fair Oaks, and Hobson's urgent +invitation to call upon him at his office. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Sutherland laughed. "About what I expected," he said. "It was +evident from his remarks at the inquest that some one—probably +Mrs. LaGrange—had posted him concerning you, and he is afraid you +are onto his secret." +</P> + +<P> +"I had questioned if it were that, or whether possibly he might be +onto mine." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all probable," said the attorney, after a moment's +reflection. "If he really understood your position, he would be +far too cunning to allow you to get sight of him. You have the +scoundrel completely in your power." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, as much as he is in anybody's power; but it is doubtful if +any one can hold so slippery a rascal as he. I believe I will give +him a call, however." +</P> + +<P> +"It would do no harm, taking care, of course, that you give him no +information." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certainly," said Scott, with a smile, as he paused for an +instant in the doorway; "my object will be to get, not give, +information." +</P> + +<P> +"His object will probably be the same," was Mr. Sutherland's parting +shot, as he turned with a laugh to his desk. +</P> + +<P> +Scott, having ascended a narrow, crooked stairway, found himself in +a long, dark hall, poorly ventilated, and whose filthy condition was +only too apparent even in the dim light. Far in the rear he saw a +door bearing the words, "R. Hobson, Attorney." As he pushed open +the door, a boy of about seventeen, who, with a cigarette in his +mouth and his feet on a table, sat reading a novel, instantly assumed +the perpendicular and, wheeling about, faced Scott with one of the +most villainous countenances the latter had ever seen. Something in +Scott's appearance seemed to surprise him, for he stared impudently +without speaking. After silently studying the face before him for +an instant, Scott inquired for Mr. Hobson. +</P> + +<P> +"He is in, sir, but he is engaged at present with a client," said +the boy, in tones which closely resembled Hobson's. "I will take +in your card, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The boy disappeared with the card into an adjoining room, returning +a moment later with the most obsequious manners and the announcement +that Mr. Hobson would be at liberty in a few moments. Scott rightly +judged that this ceremony was merely enacted for effect, and contented +himself with looking about the small, poorly furnished room, while +the office boy opposite regarded him with an undisguised curiosity, +which betrayed that this client—if such he could be regarded—differed +greatly from the usual class. Young and untaught though +he were, he had learned to read the faces about him, and that of +his employer was to him as an open book, and the expression which +flashed into Hobson's eyes as they fell upon Scott's card indicated +plainly to the office boy that in this instance the usual conditions +were reversed, and the attorney stood in fear of his visitor. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the door of the next room opened noiselessly +and Hobson, attired in a red dressing-gown and wearing his most +ingratiating smile, silently beckoned Scott to enter. With a quick +glance the latter took in every detail of the second apartment. It +was somewhat larger than the first, but the furnishing was meagre +and shabby in the extreme, and, with the exception of a small set +of shelves containing a few dilapidated volumes, there were no +visible signs of an attorney's office. +</P> + +<P> +Hobson did not speak until he had carefully closed the door, then +he said, in low tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"As our conversation is likely to be of a confidential nature, you +would perhaps desire greater privacy than can be secured here. Step +this way." +</P> + +<P> +He opened the door into a room so dark and so thick with stale +tobacco smoke that at first Scott could discern nothing clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"My den!" said Hobson, with a magnificent flourish, and Scott stepped +within, feeling, he afterwards said, as though he were being ushered +by Mephistopheles into the infernal regions, and this impression was +not lessened by the first objects which he was able to distinguish,—a +pair of skulls grinning at him through the smoky atmosphere. +As his eyes became accustomed to the dim light he noted that the +room was extremely small, with only one window, which opened upon +the blank wall of an adjoining building, and with no furniture, save +an enormous, high-top desk and two chairs. One of the latter Hobson +placed near the window for his visitor, and then busied himself for +a moment at the desk in hastily concealing what to Scott looked like +some paraphernalia of the black arts. Upon the top of the desk were +the two skulls which had first attracted Scott's attention, and +which he now regarded rather curiously. Hobson, following his +glance, said, by way of explanation,— +</P> + +<P> +"Rather peculiar ornaments, I dare say, you consider those, Mr. +Scott; but I am greatly interested in phrenology and devote much of +my leisure time to its study. It is not only amusing, you know, but +it is of great assistance in reading and understanding my fellow-men, +and enables me to adapt myself to my clients, so to speak." +</P> + +<P> +Having satisfactorily arranged his belongings, Hobson locked the +door, and, seating himself behind his desk, appeared ready for +business. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my young friend," he began, "I rather expected you, for I +flatter myself that I understand enough of human nature to know that +there are very few who will pass by an opportunity of learning +something for the advancement of their own interests or the +betterment of their own condition in life." +</P> + +<P> +"That may be perfectly natural," Scott replied; "but you flatter +yourself altogether too much if you think that I have come here +with any expectation that you can advance my interests or better +my condition." +</P> + +<P> +"That remains to be seen. Much also depends upon yourself, for I +take it that a young man of your calibre is not without ambition." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson paused, regarding his visitor with sharp scrutiny, but +receiving no reply, continued, "I might add, that to a young man +with ambitious designs such as yours, I would probably be able to +render great assistance." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not aware of any unusual ambition on my part." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, nothing unusual. You simply had no intention of remaining +Hugh Mainwaring's secretary any longer than was necessary. That +was perfectly natural, perfectly laudable, my young friend, and I +admire the shrewdness and foresight with which you set about to +accomplish your designs. At the same time, I believe I am in a +position to give you just the information and advice you need in +order to insure your success." +</P> + +<P> +Both men had the same object in view. Each wished to ascertain what +the other knew concerning himself. Scott, unable to determine +whether Hobson had spoken at random or with an inkling of the facts, +answered, coldly,— +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know to what you refer, or on what grounds you base the +inference which you seem to have drawn." +</P> + +<P> +"No? Then you will allow me to remark, Mr. Scott, that such +familiarity as yours with a portion of Hugh Mainwaring's private +correspondence, extending back over a period of fifteen or more +years, taking into consideration the facts that you cannot be much +more than twenty-five years of age, and have only been about two +years in Mr. Mainwaring's employ, would indicate that you had sought +to acquaint yourself with some facts connected with your employer's +early life with the express purpose of using the same to your own +advantage." +</P> + +<P> +"You must see the inconsistency of such a supposition, when you +consider that I have been in possession of these facts for some +time—it is unnecessary to state how long—and have made no use +of them whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly," said Hobson, with emphasis, "your knowledge of the +facts may not have been definite enough to warrant your use of them." +</P> + +<P> +His voice and manner unconsciously betrayed the importance which he +attached to Scott's reply. The latter detected this, and answered +evasively,— +</P> + +<P> +"It is sufficiently definite for any own personal satisfaction in +any event." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson shook his head. "It is useless to evade the point. You had +an object in looking up that correspondence; you intended to make +a good thing out of the facts you got hold of; and, if your +information is sufficiently complete, you can make a good thing out +of them yet." +</P> + +<P> +"If I have not attempted anything of that kind in the past, would +I be likely to try it at this late day?" Scott asked, with the air +of one who is open to any available suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +Hobson at once assumed a confidential manner, and, moving a little +nearer his visitor, replied, in a low tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Mr. Scott, that's just why I wanted to meet you. You +see I knew more about you than you think. I've taken an unusual +interest in you, too; and, seeing the little game you were playing, +and knowing that I held the trump card myself, I naturally would +like to take a hand and help you out at the same time. Now, the +point is just this, Mr. Scott: What do you really know concerning +the transaction referred to in that correspondence? I suppose +you are familiar with all the letters that passed on both sides?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly so." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. But you will acknowledge, Mr. Scott, that those letters +were expressed in very guarded terms, and, with the exception of +possibly one or two, gave no hint of the nature of that transaction. +Remember," he added, impressively, "I have an exact copy of the +correspondence on both sides, and no one could ever assume any +statement or admissions that were not there." +</P> + +<P> +"I presumed that, of course," said Scott, calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my young friend, let us get down to the actual knowledge which +you have of the facts. You are, I suppose, aware that there was a +missing will involved in the case?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am; and that one or two of your letters purported to show that +the missing will was destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"Did I make any such allegation?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not directly; but your allusions and references would be clear to +any one having a knowledge of the English statutes." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson started, and inquired quickly, "Are you familiar with English +law?" +</P> + +<P> +"I made myself familiar with your citations and references in this +case." +</P> + +<P> +"I see; you have indeed made a study of the case. Well, Mr. Scott, +permit me to say that I accused Hugh Mainwaring of nothing which he +had not previously confessed to me himself. Have you any knowledge +concerning that will,—its terms or conditions, or the names of the +testator or beneficiaries?" +</P> + +<P> +"There was nothing in the correspondence to give any clue to those +particulars. I could only gather that Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded +others and enriched himself by destroying this will." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson looked relieved. "Without doubt, he did; but allow me to +call your attention to one point, Mr. Scott. You see how little +actual knowledge you have of this affair. There are others—Mrs. +LaGrange, for instance, and the mysterious individual whom she heard +conversing with Mr. Mainwaring on the night of the murder,—all of +whom know as much or more than you; and while this meagre knowledge +of the case might perhaps have been sufficient to bring to bear upon +Mainwaring himself, personally, it would have little or no weight +with those with whom we would now have to deal. You know nothing +of the terms of the will, or of the persons named as beneficiaries, +whom, consequently, Hugh Mainwaring defrauded. You have no proof +that he destroyed the will. In fact, my dear young friend, you +could produce no proof that such a document ever existed at all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do I understand you, then, that those letters, Mr. Mainwaring's +included, would not be regarded as proof?" Scott asked, with +well-feigned surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Not of themselves with these people; I know them too well." +Hobson shook his head decidedly, then continued, in oracular +tones, "Remember, I am only speaking of your chances with them. +Mainwaring's letters were very guarded, mine scarcely less so. +They would have no weight whatever with men like Ralph Mainwaring or +William Thornton. They might even charge you with forging the whole +thing. The point is just this, Mr. Scott: in order to be able to +get anything from these parties you must have complete data, absolute +proof of every statement you are to make; and such data and proofs +are in the possession of no one but myself. So you see I am the +only one who can assist you in this matter." +</P> + +<P> +"And what compensation would you demand for 'assisting' me?" +</P> + +<P> +"We will not put it that way, Mr. Scott," Hobson replied, his small, +malignant eyes gleaming with delight at the ease with which his +prey was falling into his clutches. "It is like this: Ralph +Mainwaring and Thornton are prejudiced against me; I might not be +able to work them as successfully as I could wish, but you and I +could work together very smoothly. I could remain invisible, as it +were, and give you the benefit of the information I possess and of +my experience and advice, and you could then successfully manipulate +the wires which would bring in the ducats for both of us. What do +you say, my young friend?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think that either Ralph Mainwaring or Mr. Thornton would +care enough for any secrets you might be able to disclose to pay +you hush money?" +</P> + +<P> +"I object to the term of 'hush money.' I am merely trying to get +what was due me from Hugh Mainwaring. As he never paid me in full, +his heirs must. Yes, I could work them after they return to +England and set up in style on the old Mainwaring estate. They +would be rather sensitive about the family reputation then." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are the beneficiaries of that will that was destroyed?" Scott +suddenly inquired. +</P> + +<P> +Hobson looked sharply at him. "Dead, long ago. Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking that if they or their heirs were living, it would +be better to go to them with this information. They would probably +pay a good price for it." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, they would," Hobson replied, approvingly; "but they +are all dead." +</P> + +<P> +"Were there no heirs left?" +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever, more's the pity. However, I've got a good hold on +these English chaps and will make them hand over the sovereigns yet." +</P> + +<P> +The contempt which Scott had hitherto concealed as Hobson unfolded +his plans was now plainly visible on his face as he rose from his +chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't hasten, my young friend," said Hobson, eagerly. "Sit down, +sit down; we have not laid our plans yet." +</P> + +<P> +"No, nor will we," was the reply. "If you think to make a cat's-paw +of me in any of your dirty, contemptible pieces of work, you are +mistaken. If you think that I came here with any intention of +listening for one moment to any of your vile propositions, you are +mistaken. I came here simply to satisfy myself on one point. My +errand is accomplished, and I will remain no longer." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson had sprung to his feet and now faced Scott, barring the way +to the door, while fear, anger, defiance, and hate passed in rapid +succession across his evil countenance, making his appearance more +demon-like than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"You lie!" he exclaimed, in a hoarse whisper. "I have not given +you one word of information!" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Scott interrupted, "you have given me no information, and you +could give me none, for the reason that I know more concerning this +whole affair than you do. I also have knowledge of certain other +matters regarding one Richard Hobson, alias Dick Carroll, and his +London adventures." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson's face had become a livid hue, and Scott detected a sudden +movement of his right hand towards his desk. +</P> + +<P> +"None of that!" he cried, warningly, at the same time springing +quickly upon him with two well-aimed blows, one of which knocked a +revolver from Hobson's hand, while the other deposited him in a heap +upon the floor. While the latter was recovering from the effect of +the stunning blow he had received, Scott picked up the revolver and, +having examined it, slipped it into his pocket, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"I will keep this for a while as a souvenir of our interview. It +may be needed as evidence later." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson crawled to his feet and stood cowering abjectly before Scott, +rage written on every lineament of his face, but not daring to give +it expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Who in the devil are you, anyway?" he growled. +</P> + +<P> +"That is none of your business whatever," Scott replied, seizing +him by the collar and dragging him to the door. "The only thing for +you to do is to unlock that door as expeditiously as possible, +asking no questions and making no comments." +</P> + +<P> +With trembling fingers the wretch complied, and Scott, still +retaining his hold upon his collar, reached the door of the outer +room, where, with a final shake, he released him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a moment," Hobson whispered, eagerly, half-paralyzed with fear, +while his eyes gleamed with malign hatred. "You've got no hold on +me by anything I've said, and you've no proof of that Carroll +business, either." +</P> + +<P> +Scott looked at him an instant with silent contempt. "You cowardly +scoundrel! all I have to say to you at present is, be careful how +you interfere with me! I'm only sorry I soiled my hands with you, +but I'll do it again if necessary; and the next time you will fare +worse!" and, opening the door, he passed quickly through the outer +room, conscious of the amazed stare of the office boy, who had +overheard his last words. Hobson did not attempt to follow him, but +paced up and down his room, trembling with fear and rage combined, +and vainly striving to imagine who his visitor might be. At last +he sat down to his desk and began to write rapidly, muttering to +himself,— +</P> + +<P> +"I half believe—only that he's too young—that he is some hound +over here trying to scent out the whole thing. But," he added, with +an oath, "whoever he is, if he crosses my track he'll be likely to +follow Hugh Mainwaring before long, that's all!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X-RAYS +</H3> + +<P> +On the morning following Scott's interview with Hobson, he awoke at +an early hour, vaguely conscious of some disturbing influence, +though unable to tell what had awakened him. He lay for a moment +recalling the events of the preceding day, then suddenly remembered +that this was the day fixed for the funeral of Hugh Mainwaring. +None of the servants were astir about the house, but Scott soon +became conscious of the sound of stealthy movements and subdued +voices coming through the open window, and, rising, he looked out. +At first he could see nothing unusual. It was just sunrise, and the +river, at a little distance shimmering in the golden light, held +him entranced by its beauty. Then a slight rustling in the +shrubbery near the lake attracted his attention. The golden shafts +of sunlight had not yet reached that small body of water, and it +lay smooth and unbroken as the surface of a mirror, so clear at +that hour that one could easily look into its depths. Suddenly a +light boat shot out from the side nearest the grove, breaking the +smooth surface into a thousand rippling waves of light. In the boat +were two men, one of whom Scott instantly recognized as the +detective; the other, who was rowing and had his back towards the +house, seemed to be a stranger. Some one concealed in the shrubbery +called to the boatmen, whereupon they rowed across in that direction, +stopping a few yards from shore. Here they rested a few moments +till the surface was again smooth, when, both men having carefully +peered into the depths of the little lake, the detective proceeded +to let down a drag into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"By George!" Scott ejaculated, "the sly old fox is improving the +opportunity, while every one is asleep, to drag the lake in search +of whatever the coachman threw in there. All right, my dear sir, +go ahead! But I'm somewhat interested in this affair myself, and +I don't intend that you shall monopolize all the facts in the case." +</P> + +<P> +Keeping an eye on the boat, he dressed quickly and, letting himself +out at the front entrance, he hastened down the walk through the +grove to the edge of the lake, keeping himself concealed among the +trees. The boat was moving slowly back and forth, and was now in +such a position that Scott could see the face of the man rowing, +who proved to be, as he had thought, a stranger. On the other side, +seated under the flowering shrubs and trees bordering the lake, was +Joe, the stable-boy, watching proceedings with intense interest. +With a smile, the young secretary followed his example, seating +himself at the foot of an ancient elm whose branches drooped nearly +to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mr. Detective!" he said, "I can stay as long as you. +If you fail to make a success of your work this morning no one will +be the wiser, but in case you find anything I propose to know +something about it myself." +</P> + +<P> +The sun was now shining brightly, but the hour was yet so early that +there was little danger of any one else appearing on the scene, +especially as it was Sunday morning. +</P> + +<P> +For nearly an hour Mr. Merrick and his companion rowed slowly back +and forth in constantly widening circles, meeting with no success +and saying little. Suddenly, while Scott was watching the face of +the stranger, wondering who he might be, he heard a low exclamation +and saw that the drag had fastened itself upon some object at the +bottom of the lake. He watched eagerly as they drew it to the +surface, and could scarcely restrain a cry of astonishment as he +saw what it was, but before either of the men could secure it, it +had slipped and fallen again into the water. With language more +forcible than elegant, the drag was again lowered, and the boat +once more began its slow trailing. +</P> + +<P> +This time they had not so long to wait for success. The drag was +brought to the surface, but carrying in its clutches an entirely +different object, and one with which the young secretary was totally +unfamiliar,—a somewhat rusty revolver. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Merrick's back was now towards Scott, but the latter saw him +take something from his pocket which he seemed to compare with the +revolver, at the same time remarking to the stranger, who was +watching with an appearance of great interest, +</P> + +<P> +"A pretty good find, Jim, pretty good! However, we'll have another +try for that box, whatever it is. It may amount to something or it +may not, but it will do no harm to make a trial." +</P> + +<P> +Having let down the drag once more, he glanced at the house, then at +his watch, saying, "No signs of any one astir; we're all right for +another hour yet." +</P> + +<P> +After a few more turns, Scott saw them suddenly pulling in the +ropes, and once more the box appeared, rusty and covered with slime, +but still familiar. He at once sprang to his feet and sauntered +carelessly down the walk, humming a tune and watching the occupants +of the boat with an air of mild curiosity. The stranger was the +first to see him, and with an expression of evident disgust gave +Merrick warning of his approach. If the detective felt any +annoyance he did not betray it as he turned and nodded to Scott in +the most nonchalant manner possible, as though dragging the lake +were an every-day occurrence. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been fishing, I see," said Scott, pleasantly. "How did you +make out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've made this find which you see here," answered Mr. Merrick, +as the boat headed for shore. "I don't know yet what it is, but it +has not lain long in the water, and it may be worth looking into." +</P> + +<P> +Scott made no reply until the detective had sprung ashore; then, as +the latter proceeded to examine the box, leaving his companion to +take care of the boat and drag, he said, in a low tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"That is likely to prove an important discovery, Mr. Merrick." +</P> + +<P> +"You are familiar with it then?" queried the latter. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen it in Mr. Mainwaring's safe. That was the box in which +he kept the old jewels that were stolen on the night of the murder." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Merrick whistled softly and studied the box anew. "Well, there +are no jewels in it now, but we will open it. There is no one up +yet to let us into the house, so suppose we go to the stables; we'll +be safe there from intrusion." +</P> + +<P> +They proceeded to the stables, and, arriving there, Scott was puzzled +to see Merrick's companion at work and evidently perfectly at home. +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to use your room a while, Matthews," said Merrick, +carelessly. Then, noting the surprise on Scott's face, he added, +"This is Matthews, the new coachman, Mr. Scott. I thought you knew +of his coming." +</P> + +<P> +"At your service, sir," said Matthews, respectfully lifting his cap +in response to Scott's greeting, while the latter inquired, as he +and the detective passed up-stairs together,— +</P> + +<P> +"When did he come?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yesterday afternoon. He applied for the position, and, as he +happened to be an acquaintance of mine, Mr. Mainwaring hired him +upon my recommendation. Now," as he locked the door of the room +they had entered, "we will open this box as quickly as possible. +I suppose there is no key to be found, and, if there were, the +lock is too rusty to work." +</P> + +<P> +With the aid of a file and chisel the box was soon opened. The +satin linings were somewhat water-soaked and discolored, and the +box appeared to be empty, but on opening an inner compartment there +were exposed to view a pair of oddly shaped keys and a blood-stained +handkerchief, the latter firmly knotted as though it had been used +to bandage a wound of some kind. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said the detective, with peculiar emphasis, examining the +handkerchief, which was of fine linen, with the initials "H. M." +embroidered in one corner. "Did Mr. Mainwaring carry a handkerchief +of that style?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; he carried that, or one precisely like it, the last day of +his life." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good!" was the only reply, as the detective carefully folded +and pocketed the article with an air that indicated that he wished +to say no more about it. "And these keys, do you recognize them?" +</P> + +<P> +"They were Mr. Mainwaring's private keys to his library and the +southern hall." +</P> + +<P> +"The ones the valet said were missing?" +</P> + +<P> +"The same." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Merrick, after studying them curiously for a moment, consigned +them to his pocket also, and then began a careful inspection of the +interior of the box. Scott watched him in silence, thinking +meanwhile of the old document which he had found hidden away in its +depths, and inwardly rejoicing that it had not been left to be +discovered by the detective. Nothing in Mr. Merrick's manner or +expression betrayed the nature of his thoughts, and, so long as he +chose to remain silent, Scott refrained from questioning him. +</P> + +<P> +At length he closed the box, saying, indifferently, "Well, I don't +know as there is any reason why I should detain you any longer, Mr. +Scott. We have satisfied ourselves as to the contents of the box, +and you have identified the articles. For the present, however, I +would prefer that you say nothing of this." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Mr. Merrick. The discovery, whatever its import, is +your secret, and I shall make no mention of it whatever." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it is of any special importance," said the +detective, carelessly, as they prepared to descend the stairs; "but +it only confirms the opinion that I have had all along." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think that this tends to show that the murder and robbery +were connected, notwithstanding Mr. Whitney's theories to the +contrary?" Scott inquired, as they were about to separate. +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly," replied the other, gravely. Then added, with a smile, +"Mr. Whitney has his own preconceived ideas of the case and tries +to adapt the circumstances to suit them, when, in reality, one must +first ascertain whatever facts are available and adjust his theories +accordingly." +</P> + +<P> +They parted company at the door of the stables, but Scott had not +reached the house when the detective, with a peculiar smile, +returned to the room up-stairs, and once more opening the box, drew +forth from underneath the satin linings a folded paper, yellow with +age and covered with closely written lines; which he read with great +interest, after which he remained absorbed in thought until aroused +by the entrance of his friend, the coachman. +</P> + +<P> +Several hours later Scott stood alone beside the casket of the +murdered man. The head had been turned slightly to one side and a +spray of white blossoms, dropped with seeming carelessness within +the casket, concealed all traces of the ghastly wound, their snowy +petals scarcely whiter than the marble features of the dead. +</P> + +<P> +It lacked more than an hour of the time set for the funeral. None +of the few invited friends would arrive for some time yet. The +gentlemen of the house were still in the hands of their valets, and +the ladies engrossed with the details of their elegant mourning +costumes. Scott, knowing he would be secure from interruption, had +chosen this opportunity to take his farewell look at the face of his +employer, desiring to be alone with his own thoughts beside the dead. +</P> + +<P> +With strangely commingled emotions he gazed upon the face, so +familiar, and yet upon which the death angel had already traced many +unfamiliar lines, and as he realized the utter loneliness of the +rich man, both in life and in death, a wave of intense pity swept +across heart and brain, well-nigh obliterating all sense of personal +wrong and injury. +</P> + +<P> +"Unhappy man!" he murmured. "Unloved in life, unmourned in death! +Not one of those whom you sought to enrich will look upon you to-day +with one-half the sorrow or the pity with which I do, whom you have +wronged and defrauded from the day of my birth! But I forgive you +the wrong you have done me. It was slight compared with the far +greater wrong you did another,—your brother—your only brother! +A wrong which no sums of money, however vast, could ever repair. +What would I not give if I could once have stood by his side, even +as I stand by yours to-day, and looked once upon his face,—the +face of your brother and of the father whom, because of your guilt, +I have never seen or known, of whom I have not even a memory! +Living, I could never have forgiven you; but here, to-day, in pity +for your loveless life and out of the great love I bear that father +in his far-away ocean grave,—in his name and in my own,—I +forgive you, his brother, even that wrong!" +</P> + +<P> +As Scott left the room, he passed Mr. Whitney in the hall, who, +seeing in his face traces of recent emotion, looked after him with +great surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"That young man is a mystery!" he soliloquized. "A mystery! I +confess I cannot understand him." +</P> + +<P> +A little later the master of Fair Oaks passed for the last time +down the winding, oak-lined avenue, followed by the guests of the +place and by a small concourse of friends, whose sorrow, though +unexpressed by outward signs of mourning, was, in reality, the more +sincere. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. LaGrange, who, as housekeeper, had remained at Fair Oaks, +seemed, as the last carriage disappeared from view, to be on the +verge of collapse from nervous prostration. No one knew the mental +excitement or the terrible nervous strain which she had undergone +during those last few days. Many at the funeral had noted her +extreme pallor, but no one dreamed of the tremendous will power +by which she had maintained her customary haughty bearing. When +all had gone, she rose and attempted to go to her room, but in the +hall she staggered helplessly and, with a low moan, sank unconscious +to the floor. The screams of the chambermaid, who had seen her +fall, summoned to her assistance the other servants, who carried +her to her room, where she slowly regained consciousness, opening +her eyes with an expression of terror, then closing them again with +a shudder. Suddenly she seemed to recall her surroundings; with a +great effort she rallied and dismissed the servants, with the +exception of the chambermaid, saying, "It was nothing, only a little +faintness caused by the heat. The room was insufferably close. Say +nothing of this to the others when they return." +</P> + +<P> +With Katie's assistance, she exchanged her heavy dress for a light +wrapper of creamy silk, and soon seemed herself again except for +her unusual pallor. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do, Katie; I shall not need you further. By the way, +did Walter go with the others, or did he remain at home?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Walter is in his room, ma'am; and I heard Hardy say that he +was packing up his clothes and things." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. LaGrange betrayed no surprise, no emotion of any kind. "Say +to him that I would like to see him in my room at once." +</P> + +<P> +The girl disappeared, leaving Mrs. LaGrange to her own reflections, +which seemed anything but pleasant. The look of terror returned +to her face; she clinched her hands until the jewels cut deeply into +the white fingers; then, springing to her feet, she paced the room +wildly until she heard the footsteps of her son approaching, when +she instantly assumed her usual composure. +</P> + +<P> +Walter LaGrange had left Fair Oaks immediately at the close of the +inquest, and had not returned except to be present at the funeral, +and even there his sullen appearance had caused general remark. +Very little love had ever existed between mother and son, for neither +had a nature capable of deep affection, but never until now had there +been any open rupture between them. Though closely resembling each +other, he lacked her ability to plan and execute, and had hitherto +been content to follow her counsels. But, as he now entered his +mother's room, a glance revealed to her that her authority and +influence over him were past. +</P> + +<P> +"You sent for me, I believe. What do you want?" he asked, as she +looked at him without speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you consider your conduct becoming towards a mother who is +risking everything for you and your interests?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my interests be hanged," he exclaimed, petulantly. "I don't +see that you've accomplished much for my interests with all your +scheming. A week ago I could hold up my head with any of the +fellows. I was supposed to be a relative of Hugh Mainwaring's, +with good prospects, and that I would come in for a good round +sum whenever the old fellow made his will,—just as I did. Now +that's gone, and everything's gone; I haven't even a name left!" +</P> + +<P> +"Walter LaGrange, what do you mean? Do you dare insinuate to your +own mother-" +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you call me Walter Mainwaring?" he sneered. "As to +insinuations, I have to hear plenty of 'em. Last night I was +black-balled at one of the clubs where my name had been presented +for membership, and a lot of the fellows have cut me dead." +</P> + +<P> +"Walter, listen to me. You are Hugh Mainwaring's son and I was +his wife. I will yet compel people to recognize us as such; but +you must—" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me one thing," he demanded, interrupting her. "If I was Hugh +Mainwaring's son, why have I not borne his name? Why did he not +recognize me as such? I'll claim no man for my father who would +not acknowledge me as his son." +</P> + +<P> +Then, before she could reply, he added, "If you were the wife of +Hugh Mainwaring, what was the meaning of your proposal of marriage +to him less than three months ago?" +</P> + +<P> +She grew deathly pale; but he, seeming to enjoy the situation, +repeated, sneeringly, "Less than three months ago, the night on +which he gave you the necklace which you commissioned me to sell +the other day! You urged your suit with a vengeance, too, I +remember, for you threatened to ruin him if he did not come to +your terms. +</P> + +<P> +"I only laughed then, for I thought 'twas another scheme of yours +to get a tighter hold on the old man's purse-strings. It's nothing +to me what your object was, but in view of the fact that I happened +to overhear that little episode, it might be just as well not to +try to tell me that I am Hugh Mainwaring's son. You will naturally +see that I am not likely to be interested in helping carry out that +little farce!" +</P> + +<P> +Still controlling herself by a tremendous will power, the wretched +woman made one more desperate effort. In low tones she replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"You show your base ingratitude by thus insulting your mother and +running the risk of betraying her to listening servants by your +talk. Of course, this is all a farce, as you say, but it must be +carried through. You and I were distantly related to Hugh +Mainwaring, but what chance would we have against these people with +no more of a claim than ours? I am compelled to assert that I was +his wife and that you are his son in order to win any recognition +in the eyes of the law." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant her son regarded her with an expression of mingled +surprise and incredulity, then the sneer returned, and, turning to +leave the room, he answered, carelessly,— +</P> + +<P> +"You can tell your little story to other people, and when you have +won a fortune on it, why, I'll be around for my share, as, whatever +my doubts in other directions, I have not the slightest doubt that +you are my mother, and therefore bound to support me. But, for the +present, if you please, I'll go by the old name of LaGrange. It's +a name that suits me very well yet, even though," and a strange look +flashed at her from his dark eyes, "even though it may be only a +borrowed one," and the door closed, for the last time, between +mother and son. +</P> + +<P> +A low moan escaped from the lips of the unhappy woman. "My son—the +only living being of my flesh and blood—even he has turned +against me!" Too proud to recall him, however, she sank exhausted +upon a couch, and, burying her face in her hands, wept bitterly for +the first and only time in her remembrance. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the guests of Fair Oaks, having returned from the funeral, +had assembled in the large library below, and were engaged in +animated discussion regarding the disposition to be made of the +property. Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, with pencils and paper, +were computing stocks and bonds, and estimating how much of a margin +would be left after the purchase of the old Mainwaring estate, which +they had heard could be bought at a comparatively low figure, the +present owner being somewhat embarrassed financially; while Mrs. +Mainwaring was making a careful inventory of the furniture, paintings, +and bric-a-brac at Fair Oaks, with a view of ascertaining whether +there were any articles which she would care to retain for their +future home. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney, who, as a bachelor and an intimate friend of Hugh +Mainwaring's, as well as his legal adviser, had perhaps more than +any one else enjoyed the hospitality of his beautiful suburban home, +found the conversation extremely distasteful, and, having furnished +whatever information was desired, excused himself and left the room. +As he sauntered out upon the broad veranda, he was surprised to see +Miss Carleton, who had made her escape through one of the long +windows, and who looked decidedly bored. +</P> + +<P> +"It's perfectly beastly! Don't you think so?" she exclaimed, +looking frankly into his face, as if sure of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +She had so nearly expressed his own feelings that he flushed +slightly, as he replied, with a smile, "It looks rather peculiar to +an outsider, but I suppose it is only natural." +</P> + +<P> +"It is natural for them," she replied, with emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not intend to be personal; I meant human nature generally." +</P> + +<P> +"I have too much respect for human nature generally to believe it +as selfish and as mercenary as that. I have learned one lesson, +however. I will never leave my property to my friends, hoping by +so doing to be held in loving remembrance. It would be the surest +way to make them forget me." +</P> + +<P> +"Has your experience of the last few days made you so cynical as +that?" the attorney inquired, again smiling into the bright, fair +face beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not cynicism, Mr. Whitney; it is the plain truth. I have +always known that the Mainwarings as a family were mercenary; but I +confess I had no idea, until within the last few days, that they +were capable of such beastly ingratitude." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say that it is a trait of the entire Mainwaring +family, or only of this branch in particular?" he inquired, somewhat +amused. +</P> + +<P> +"All the Mainwarings are noted for their worship of the golden god," +she replied, with a low musical laugh; "but Ralph Mainwaring's love +of money is almost a monomania. He has planned and schemed to get +that old piece of English property into his hands for years and +years, in fact, ever since it was willed to Hugh Mainwaring at the +time his brother was disinherited, and the name he gave to his son +was the first stone laid to pave the way to this coveted fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"I see. Pardon me, Miss Carleton; but you just now alluded to Hugh +Mainwaring's brother. I remember some mention was made at the +inquest of a brother, but I supposed it must be an error. Had he +really a brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes, an elder brother; and he must have been less avaricious +than the rest of them, as he sacrificed a fortune for love. It was +quite a little romance, you know. He and his brother Hugh were +both in love with the same lady. The father did not approve, and +gave his sons their choice between love without a fortune or a +fortune without love. Hugh Mainwaring chose the latter, but Harold, +the elder, was true to his lady, and was consequently disinherited." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Hugh Mainwaring!" commented the attorney; "he made his choice +for life of a fortune without love, and a sad life it was, too!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carleton glanced up with quick sympathy. "Yes, it seemed to +me his life must have been rather lonely and sad." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause, and she added, "And did he never speak to you, +his intimate friend, of his brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never." +</P> + +<P> +"Strange! Perhaps he was like the others, after all, and thought +of nothing but money." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I cannot believe that of Hugh Mainwaring," the attorney replied, +loyally; then added, "What became of the brother, Miss Carleton?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was lost at sea. He had started for Africa, to make a fortune +for himself, but the boat was wrecked in a storm and every one on +board was lost." +</P> + +<P> +"And his family, what of them?" queried the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"He had no children, and no one ever knew what became of his wife. +The Mainwarings are a very prosaic family; that is the only bit of +romance in their history; but I always enjoyed that, except that +it ended so sadly, and I always admired Harold Mainwaring. I would +like to meet such a man as he." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I should say there was a romance in progress at present in +the Mainwaring family," said Mr. Whitney, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"What! Hugh and Edith Thornton?" She laughed again, a wonderfully +musical, rippling laugh, the attorney thought. "Oh, there is no +more romance there than there is in that marble," and she pointed +to a beautiful Cupid and Psyche embracing each other in the centre +of a mass of brilliant geraniums and coleas. "They have been +engaged ever since their days of long dresses and highchairs,—another +of Ralph Mainwaring's schemes! You know Edith is Hugh's +cousin, an only child, and her father is immensely rich! Oh, no; if +I ever have a romance of my own, it must spring right up +spontaneously, and grow in spite of all opposition. Not one of the +sort that has been fostered in a hot-house until its life is nearly +stifled out of it." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney glanced in admiration at the fair English face beside +him glowing with physical and intellectual beauty. Then a moment +later, as they passed down the long hall in response to the summons +to dinner, and he caught a glimpse, in one of the mirrors, of a +tolerably good-looking, professional gentleman of nearly forty, he +wondered why he suddenly felt so much older than ever before. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carleton was seated beside him at dinner, while nearly opposite +was Harry Scott, conversing with young Mainwaring. He was quietly +but elegantly dressed, and his fine physique and noble bearing, as +well as the striking beauty of his dark face, seemed more marked +than usual. Mr. Whitney watched the young secretary narrowly. +Something in the play of his features seemed half familiar, and yet +gave him a strange sense of pain, but why, he could not determine. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney," said Miss Carleton, in a low tone, "did you ever +observe a resemblance at times between Mr. Scott and your friend, +Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney looked up in surprise. "Why, no, Miss Carleton, I +would not think a resemblance possible. Mr. Scott is much darker +and his features are altogether different." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I did not refer to any resemblance of feature or complexion, +but his manner, and sometimes his expression, strikes me as very +similar. I suppose because he was associated with him so much, +you know." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney's eyes again wandered to the face of the secretary. He +started involuntarily. "By George!" he ejaculated, mentally, "Hugh +Mainwaring, as sure as I live! Not a feature like him, but the same +expression. What does it mean? Can it be simply from association?" +</P> + +<P> +In a state of great bewilderment he endeavored still to entertain +Miss Carleton, though it is to be feared she found him rather +absent-minded. He was passing out of the dining-room in a brown +study when some one touched his arm. He turned and saw Merrick. +</P> + +<P> +"When you are at liberty, come out to the grove," the latter said, +briefly, and was gone before the attorney could more than bow in +reply. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE +</H3> + +<P> +Half an hour later, having excused himself to Miss Carleton, Mr. +Whitney hastened to the grove, where he found the detective +sauntering up and down the winding walk, his hands behind him in a +reflective mood, absorbed in thought and in the enjoyment of a fine +cigar. He nodded pleasantly as the attorney approached. +</P> + +<P> +"Going to be at liberty for some time?" he inquired, at the same +time extending his cigar-case. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, for any length of time you please; it's a relief to get away +from those egotists." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" said Merrick, as he returned the cigar-case to his pocket +after the attorney had helped himself; "I didn't think that you +looked particularly anxious to be relieved of your company when I +saw you. I really felt considerable delicacy about speaking as I +did." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, to the deuce with your nonsense!" the attorney replied, his +cheek flushing as he lighted his cigar. "If you had listened to +the twaddle that I have all day, you would be glad to talk to almost +any one for a change." +</P> + +<P> +"In that event, perhaps you won't mind talking to me for a while. +Well, suppose we go down to the stables, to the coachman's room; he +is probably with his best girl by this time, and we will be safe +from interruption or eavesdroppers." +</P> + +<P> +"That suits me all right so long as Ralph Mainwaring doesn't think +of looking for me there. That man makes me exceedingly weary!" +</P> + +<P> +"Anxious to secure the property according to the terms of that will, +I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Anxious! He is perfectly insane on the subject; he can't talk of +anything else, and he'll move heaven and earth to accomplish it, +too, if necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't anticipate any difficulty, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever, unless from that woman; there's no knowing to what +she may resort. It will only be necessary to prove that the will, +if not in existence at the death of the testator, was fraudulently +destroyed prior thereto, and I think we have a pretty clear case. +By George, Merrick!" suddenly exclaimed the attorney in a different +tone, as he paused on the way to the stables. "I hadn't thought of +it before, but there's one thing ought to be done; we should have +this lake dragged at once." +</P> + +<P> +Merrick raised his eyebrows in mute inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"To find whatever Brown threw in there, you know; it might furnish +us with an almighty important clue." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm! might be a good idea," Merrick remarked, thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it would! I tell you, Merrick, I was cut out for a +detective myself, and I'm pretty good for an amateur, now." +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't a doubt of it," was the quiet response, and the pair resumed +their walk. Both were soon comfortably seated in the coachman's +room, their chairs tilted at just the right angle before a large +double window, facing the sunset. Both smoked in silence for a few +moments, each waiting for the other to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my friend, what do you know?" inquired the detective, while +he watched the delicate spirals of blue smoke as they diffused +themselves in the golden haze of the sunlight. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I was about to ask you," said his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, time enough for that later. You have been looking into this +case, and, as you are a born detective, I naturally would like to +compare notes with you." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney glanced sharply at the detective, as though suspicious +of some sarcasm lurking in those words, but the serious face of +the latter reassured him, and he replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've not had much experience in that line, but I've made +quite a study of character, and can tell pretty correctly what a +person of such and such evident characteristics will do under such +and such conditions. As I have already stated to you, I know, both +from observation and from hints dropped by Hugh Mainwaring, that if +ever a dangerous woman existed,—artful, designing, absolutely +devoid of the first principles of truth, honor, or virtue,—that +woman is Mrs. LaGrange. I know that Mainwaring stood in fear of +her to a certain extent, and that she was constantly seeking, by +threats, to compel him to either marry her or secure the property +to her and her son and I also know that he was anxious to have the +will drawn in favor of his namesake as quickly and as secretly as +possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, knowing all these circumstances, what is more reasonable than +to suppose that she, learning in some way of his intentions, would +resort to desperate measures to thwart them? Her first impulse +would be to destroy the will; then to make one final effort to +bring him, by threats, to her terms, and, failing in that, her fury +would know no bounds. Now, what does she do? Sends for Hobson, the +one man whom Hugh Mainwaring feared, who knew his secret and stood +ready to betray it. Between them the plot was formed. They have +another interview in the evening, to which Hobson brings one of his +coadjutors, the two coming by different ways like the vile +conspirators they were, and in all probability, when Hugh Mainwaring +bade his guests good-night, every detail of his death was planned +and ready to be carried into execution in the event of his refusing +to comply with that woman's demands made by herself, personally, +and later, through Hobson. We know, from the darkey's testimony, +that Hobson and his companion appeared in the doorway together; that +the man suddenly vanished—probably concealing himself in the +shrubbery—as Hobson went back into the house; that a few moments +later, the latter reappeared with Mrs. LaGrange; and the darkey +tells me that he, supposing all was right, slunk away in the bushes +and left them standing there. We know that the valet, going up +stairs a while after, found Mrs. LaGrange in the private library, +and at the same time detected the smell of burning paper. You +found the burnt fragments of the will in the grate in the tower-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, to my mind, it is perfectly clear that Mrs. LaGrange and +Hobson proceeded together to the library and tower-room, where they +first destroyed the will, and where she secreted him to await the +result of her interview with Mainwaring, at the same time providing +him with the private keys by which he could effect his escape, and +with Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver with which the terrible deed was +done. Later, finding that Mainwaring would not accede to her +demands, I believe she left that room knowing to a certainty what +his fate would be in case Hobson could not succeed in making terms +with him, and I believe her object in coming down the corridor +afterwards was simply to ascertain that her plans were being carried +into execution. Now there is my theory of this whole affair; what +do you think of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very ingeniously put together! What about the jewels? Do you +think Hobson took them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. I think Mrs. LaGrange got possession of them in some way. She +has no means of her own to hire that scoundrel, yet the darkey heard +her promise to pay him liberally, and you see her very first attempt +to pay him was by the sale of some of those jewels. I'll acknowledge +I'm not prepared to say how or when she secured them." +</P> + +<P> +"Could she open the safe?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I cannot say. Mainwaring told me, some months ego, that he +found her one day attempting to open it, and he immediately changed +the combination. Whether she had discovered the new combination, I +am unable to say; but she is a deep woman, and usually finds some way +of accomplishing her designs." +</P> + +<P> +"Brown, the coachman, seems to have no place in this theory of +yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of course we none of us thought of him in connection with +this affair until since his sudden disappearance yesterday, but I +am inclined to think that he is to be regarded in the light of an +accessory after the fact. I think it very probable that Mrs. +LaGrange has employed him since the murder to assist her in +concealing evidences of the crime, and that is why I suggested +dragging the lake in search of what may be hidden there; but, +according to his own story, he was in the city that night until +some time after the murder was committed." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, according to his own story, but in reality he did not go to +the city at all that night. More than that, he was seen in this +vicinity about midnight with a couple of suspicious looking +characters." +</P> + +<P> +"By George! when did you learn that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it when Brown gave his testimony at the inquest." +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce you did! and then let the rascal give you the slip, +after all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't give yourself any anxiety on that score; I can produce Brown +any hour he's wanted. One of my subordinates has his eye on him +day and night. At last reports, he and Brown were occupying the +same room in a third-class lodging house; I'll wager they're having +a game of cards together this evening." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well! you have stolen a march on us. But, if I may ask, why +don't you bag your game?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am using him as a decoy for larger game. Whatever Brown is mixed +up in, he is only a tool in the hands of older and shrewder rascals." +</P> + +<P> +Before the attorney could say anything further, Merrick rose abruptly +and stepped to a table near by, returning with a package. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that?" he asked, removing the wrappings and +holding up the rusty, metallic box. +</P> + +<P> +"Great heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney, springing forward excitedly. +"Why, man alive, you don't mean to say that you have found the jewels!" +</P> + +<P> +"No such good fortune as that yet," the detective answered quietly, +"only the empty casket;" and having opened the box, he handed it to +the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you find this?" the latter inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Fished it out of the lake." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah-h! I should like to know when." +</P> + +<P> +"While you were snoring this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott! They'll catch a weasel asleep when they find you +napping! But, by George! this rather confirms my theory about that +woman getting possession of the jewels and hiring Brown to help her, +doesn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Without replying, Merrick handed over the revolver which had been +brought to light that morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you get this rusty thing? Was it in the lake, also?" +</P> + +<P> +The detective nodded affirmatively, and Mr. Whitney examined the +weapon in some perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I must say," he remarked at length, "I don't see what +connection this has with the case. The shooting was done with +Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver; that was settled at the inquest-" +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me! It was only 'settled' that the revolver found lying +beside him was his own." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney stared as Merrick continued, at the same time producing +from his pocket the revolver in question, "This, as you are +doubtless aware, is a Smith and Wesson, 32 calibre, while that," +pointing to the rusty weapon in Mr. Whitney's hands, "is an old +Colt's revolver, a 38. On the morning of the murder, after you and +the coroner had gone, I found the bullet for which we had searched +unsuccessfully, and from that hour to this I have known, what before +I had suspected, that this dainty little weapon of Mr. Mainwaring's +played no part in the shooting. Here is the bullet, you can see for +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney gazed in silent astonishment as the detective compared +the bullet with the two weapons, showing conclusively that it could +never have been discharged from the familiar 32-calibre revolver. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be blessed if I can see what in the dickens that +revolver of Mainwaring's had to do with the affair, anyway!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very easily explained when you once take into consideration the +fact that the whole thing was an elaborately arranged plan, on the +part of the murderer, to give the affair an appearance of suicide. +One glance at the murdered man convinced me that the wound had +never been produced by the weapon lying at his side. That clue +led to others, and when I left that room with you, to attend the +inquest, I knew that Hugh Mainwaring had been shot with a 38-calibre +revolver, in his library, near the centre of the room, and that the +body had afterwards been so arranged in the tower-room as to give +the appearance of his having deliberately shot himself beside his +desk and with his own revolver." +</P> + +<P> +"By George! I believe you're right," said the attorney; "and I +recall now your statement that day, that the shooting had occurred +in the library; I wondered then what reason you had for such an +opinion." +</P> + +<P> +"A small stain on the library carpet and the bullet told me that +much. Another thing, which at first puzzled me, was the marked +absence of blood-stains. There was a small pool of blood underneath +the head, a slight stain on the carpet in the adjoining room, but +none on the clothing or elsewhere. The solution to this I found +on further investigation. The wound had been firmly and skillfully +bandaged by an expert hand, the imprint of the bandage being +plainly visible in the hair on the temples. Here is the proof that +I was correct," and Merrick held up to the attorney's astonished +view the stained and knotted handkerchief. "This, with the private +keys belonging to Mr. Mainwaring's library, was in that box at the +bottom of the lake. Do you consider Mrs. LaGrange or Hobson capable +of planning and carrying out an affair so adroitly as that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've got me floored," the attorney answered, gazing at the proofs +before him. "Hobson I know nothing about; but that woman I believe +could scheme to beat the very devil himself; and yet, Merrick, when +you think of it, it must have taken time—considerable time—to +plan a thing like that." +</P> + +<P> +"Or else," Merrick suggested, "it was the performance of an expert +criminal; no bungling, no work of a green hand." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney started slightly, but the detective continued. "Another +point: Hobson, as you say, was the one man whom Hugh Mainwaring +feared and who evidently had some hold upon him; would he then have +dared denounce him as a liar and an impostor? Would not his use of +such terms imply that he was addressing one whom he considered a +stranger and unacquainted with the facts in the case?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see," the attorney replied quickly; "you have in mind Hobson's +accomplice, the tall man with dark glasses." +</P> + +<P> +Merrick smiled. "You are then inclined to the opinion that J. Henry +Carruthers, who called in the afternoon, is identical with the +so-called Jack Carroll who accompanied Hobson in the evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly that is a reasonable supposition. The descriptions of +the two men agree remarkably, and the darkey was positive, both in +his testimony at the inquest and in conversation with me, that they +were one and the same person." +</P> + +<P> +"Their general appearance seems to have been much the same, but +their conduct and actions were totally unlike. Carruthers acted +fearlessly, with no attempt at concealment; while, if you will stop +to think of it, of all the witnesses who tried to give a description +of Carroll, not one had seen his face. He always remained in the +background, as much concealed as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't deny that you are correct," the attorney said musingly; +"and they may have been two distinct individuals, Carroll evidently +being the guilty party; but even in that event, in my opinion, he +was only carrying out with a skillful hand the plans already arranged +by that woman and Hobson." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever part Carroll took in the affair, he was undoubtedly +Hobson's agent; and you will find that Hobson and Mrs. LaGrange have +been more intimately associated and for a much longer time than you +suspect," and Merrick repeated what he had overheard of the interview +in Mrs. LaGrange's parlor, just after the close of the inquest. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney listened with deep interest. "Well, well! And you +heard her accuse him of being an accessory? Of course she referred +to the murder. By George! I should have wanted them arrested on +the spot!" +</P> + +<P> +After a slight pause, he continued. "There's one thing, Merrick, +in the conduct of Carruthers which I don't understand. Why, after +telling the secretary that he would remain at the Arlington for the +next two or three days, should he return to the city the next morning +on the 3.10 train?" +</P> + +<P> +"He seems to have been an impulsive man, who acted on the spur of +the moment," Merrick answered; "but the strangest part of that is, +that he did not return to the city at all. He bought a ticket for +New York, but the conductor informs me there was no such man on +board; while the north-bound train, which pulls out about five +minutes later, had a passenger answering exactly to his description. +The conductor on the latter train also informed me that, just as +they were pulling out of the station, a man, tall and dark, rather +good-looking, he should judge, though he could not see his face, and +wearing a long, light overcoat, sprang aboard, decidedly winded, as +though from running, and immediately steered for the darkest corner +of the smoking-car, where he sat with his hat well drawn down over +his face." +</P> + +<P> +"Carroll again, by George!" exclaimed the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is a problem for you to solve," Merrick continued, pointing +to the revolver and box lying side by side. "You think Brown threw +those in the lake. Who was the man that Brown saw standing beside +the lake just before three o'clock in the morning, and what was he +doing? He was tall and dark, and wore a long coat or ulster. Was +that Carroll or Carruthers? Did he throw anything into the lake? +And if so, what?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney gazed dubiously at the detective for a moment, then +began to whistle softly, while he slowly shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Merrick; you've got me there! I never have had enough +experience in this line that I could go into the detail work. I +have to be guided by the main points in the case. Then, again, I +gave Brown's testimony very little thought, as I considered him +unreliable and irresponsible." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, to come back to the 'main points,' then: what reasons have +you for connecting Mrs. LaGrange and Hobson with this affair that +might not apply equally well in the cases of certain other people?" +</P> + +<P> +"What reason? Why, man alive! there is every reason to consider +Mrs. LaGrange the instigator of the whole affair. In the first +place, her one object and aim for the past seventeen or eighteen +years has been to get hold of Hugh Mainwaring's property, to secure +for herself and her son what she calls their 'rights'—" +</P> + +<P> +"That is the point," Merrick interrupted. "You consider her guilty +because she would be interested in securing a hold upon the property, +although she, personally, has no claim whatever. Has it never +occurred to you that there might be others more deeply interested +than she, inasmuch as they have valid claims, being the rightful +heirs?" +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought of such a possibility," said the astonished +attorney; "and I don't know that I understand now to whom you refer." +</P> + +<P> +"I have learned from various reliable sources," the detective +replied, "that Ralph Mainwaring has a younger brother, Harold, who +is as much of a money-lover as himself, though too indolent to take +the same measures for acquiring it. He is a reckless, unprincipled +fellow, and having about run through his own property, I understand, +he has had great expectations regarding this American estate, +depending upon his share of the same to retrieve his wasted fortune. +I learned yesterday, by cable, that since the departure of Ralph +Mainwaring and his family for this country, his brother has been +missing, and it is supposed, among his associates in London, that +he took the next steamer for America, intending to assert his own +claims." +</P> + +<P> +"And you think—" the attorney interrupted, breathlessly; but +Merrick shook his head and continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have also, in the course of my investigations, incidentally +discovered Hugh Mainwaring's secret, and, consequently, Hobson's +secret, only that I know the real facts in the case, which Hobson +does not know. You, as Mainwaring's friend, will not care to +learn the details, and I shall not speak of them now, but I will +say this much: there are probably in existence to-day, and perhaps +not very far distant, heirs to this property, having a claim +preceding not only that of Ralph Mainwaring or his son, but of +Hugh Mainwaring himself." +</P> + +<P> +There was silence for a few moments as the detective paused, Mr. +Whitney's surprise rendering him speechless; at last he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you are a truthful fellow, Merrick, and you never jump at +conclusions, so I know your statements can be relied upon; but I'll +be blessed if I understand how or when you have gathered all this +information together. I suppose it would be useless to ask your +deductions from all this, but I wish you would answer one or two +questions. Do you think that this Harold Mainwaring, or those +possible heirs you mention, would put in an appearance personally, +or that they would work through agents and emissaries?" +</P> + +<P> +"Depends altogether upon circumstances. Harold Mainwaring would not +be likely to appear on the scene unless he were pretty effectually +disguised. As to the others,—if they were to assert their claim,—it +would be difficult to say just what course they might take. +I have made these statements merely to give you a hint of the +possibilities involved in the case. It is now getting rather late, +but I will give you one or two pointers to ruminate upon. Don't +think that Hobson will run any risks or put himself to any personal +inconvenience for Mrs. LaGrange. He is working first and foremost +for Richard Hobson, after that for whoever will pay him best. +Another thing, don't ever for a moment imagine that Hugh Mainwaring's +private secretary is looking for a job. It's my opinion he'll give +you fellows one of the hardest jobs you ever tackled; and, unless +I'm greatly mistaken, he's got brains enough and backing enough to +carry through whatever he undertakes." +</P> + +<P> +"Say! I don't know as I exactly catch your meaning; but that's one +thing I wanted to ask you. What do you think of that young man, +anyway? I can't make him out." +</P> + +<P> +"I noticed that you had not assigned him any place in that theory +of yours." +</P> + +<P> +"No; he's been a mystery to me, a perfect mystery; but this evening +a new idea has occurred to me, and I would like your judgment on it. +Has he ever reminded you of any one? That is, can you recall any +one whom he resembles?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I should say there was a marked resemblance. I've often +wondered where your eyes were that you had not seen it." +</P> + +<P> +"You have noticed it, then? Well, so have I; but it has puzzled me, +for, though the look was familiar, I was unable to recall whose it +was until to-night. Now that I have recalled it, that, taken in +connection with some other things I have observed, has led me to +wonder whether it were possible that he is a son of Hugh +Mainwaring's, of whose existence no one in this country has ever +known." +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh Mainwaring! I don't understand you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you just acknowledged you had noticed the resemblance between +them!" +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon; but you must recollect that I have never seen +Hugh Mainwaring living, and have little idea how he looked." +</P> + +<P> +"By George! that's a fact. Well, then, who in the dickens do you +think he resembles?" +</P> + +<P> +The coachman's step was heard at that instant on the stairs, and +Merrick's reply was necessarily brief. +</P> + +<P> +"Laying aside expression, take feature for feature, and you have +the face of Mrs. LaGrange." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY +</H3> + +<P> +One of the first duties which the secretary was called upon to +perform, during his brief stay at Fair Oaks, was to make a copy of +the lost will. He still retained in his possession the stenographic +notes of the original document as it had been dictated by Hugh +Mainwaring on that last morning of his life, and it was but the +work of an hour or two to again transcribe them in his clear +chirography. +</P> + +<P> +Engaged in this work, he was seated at the large desk in the +tower-room, which had that morning been opened for use for the first +time since the death of its owner. He wrote rapidly, and the +document was nearly completed when Mr. Whitney and Ralph Mainwaring +together entered the adjoining room. +</P> + +<P> +"Egad!" he heard the latter exclaim, angrily, "if that blasted +scoundrel thinks he has any hold on me, or that he can keep me on +the rack as he did Hugh, he'll find he has made the biggest mistake +of his life. It is nothing but a blackmailing scheme, and I've more +than half a mind to sift the whole matter to the bottom and land +that beggarly impostor where he belongs." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly know just what to advise under the circumstances," Mr. +Whitney answered, quietly, "for I, naturally, have some personal +feeling in this matter, and I am forced to believe, Mr. Mainwaring, +that there is something back of all this which neither you nor I +would care to have given publicity. But, laying aside that +consideration, I am of the opinion that it might not be to your +interest to push this matter too closely." +</P> + +<P> +"On what grounds, sir, do you base your opinion?" Mr. Mainwaring +demanded. +</P> + +<P> +The attorney's reply, however, was lost upon Scott, whose attention +had been suddenly arrested by the imprint of a peculiar signature +across one corner of the blotter upon which he was drying his work, +now completed. Instantly, oblivious to everything else, he +carefully examined the blotter. It was a large one, fastened to +the top of the desk, and had been in use but a comparatively short +time. It bore traces both of Hugh Mainwaring's writing and of +his own, but this name, standing out boldly on one corner, was +utterly unlike either. Nor did it resemble any of the signatures +attached to the will on that memorable day when the desk with its +paraphernalia had been last used. +</P> + +<P> +Considerably perplexed, Scott suddenly recalled a small pocket +mirror which he had seen in the desk. This he speedily found, and, +having placed it at the right angle, leaned over to get a view of +the name as it had been originally written. As he did so, he +caught sight of some faint lines above the signature which he had +not observed, but which were plainly visible in the mirror. It was +well for the secretary that he was alone, for, as he read the +signature with the words outlined above, he was spellbound. For a +moment he seemed almost paralyzed, unable to move. His brain +whirled, and, when he at last sank back in his chair, his face was +blanched and he felt giddy and faint from the discovery which he +had made. Gradually he became conscious of his surroundings. Again +he heard, as in a dream, the conversation in the adjoining room. +The attorney was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not at present feel at liberty to give the source of my +information, but I can assure you it is perfectly reliable, and my +informant would never have made such an assertion unless he had ample +authority to back it up." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care a rap for your information or its source," the other +interrupted, impatiently. "The whole thing is simply preposterous. +The estate descended regularly to Hugh Mainwaring, and from him to +our own family as next of kin. You can see for yourself that to +talk of any other claimants having prior rights is an utter +absurdity." +</P> + +<P> +"Had not Hugh Mainwaring an elder brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"He had; but you must be aware that he died a great many years ago." +</P> + +<P> +"But had that elder brother no issue?" +</P> + +<P> +"None living," Mr. Mainwaring replied, coldly. Then added, in the +same tone, "Even had there been, that fact would have no bearing on +this case, Mr. Whitney. The entire estate was transferred to Hugh +Mainwaring by legal process before the death of his brother, he and +his heirs having been forever disinherited, so that it is the same +as though he had never existed." +</P> + +<P> +While he was speaking, the secretary entered the library, his pallor +and unusual expression attracting Mr. Whitney's attention. In +response to a glance of inquiry from the latter, however, he merely +said,— +</P> + +<P> +"The copy is completed. You will find it on the desk," and passed +from the library into the hall. +</P> + +<P> +Still wondering at his appearance, Mr. Whitney proceeded to the +tower-room, and a moment later both gentlemen were absorbed in the +perusal of the duplicate of the lost will; but afterwards the +attorney recalled that, on taking the document from the desk, he +had noticed that the large blotter covering the top had been removed +and replaced by a new one. +</P> + +<P> +There was no perceptible change in Scott's appearance during the +remainder of the day, except that he seemed more than usually +thoughtful, sometimes to the verge of abstraction, but, in reality, +his mind was so preoccupied with endless doubts and surmises +regarding his recent discovery that he found it exceedingly difficult +to concentrate his attention upon the work required of him. That +afternoon, however, while engaged in looking through some important +documents belonging to Hugh Mainwaring, kept at the city offices, +a cablegram was handed him, addressed to himself personally, from +Barton & Barton, a well-known legal firm in London. The despatch +itself caused him little surprise, as he had been in correspondence +with this firm for more than a year; but the contents of the message +were altogether unexpected, and left him in a state of bewilderment. +It read,— +</P> + +<P> +"Have you met J. Henry Carruthers, of London, supposed to have +sailed ten days since, or can you give us his whereabouts?" +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately, Scott was alone, Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney +being in the private offices, and he had plenty of opportunity to +recover from his surprise. For half an hour he revolved the +matter in his thoughts, wondering whether this had any bearing +upon the question which for the last few hours he had been trying +to solve. A little later he sent the following reply: +</P> + +<P> +"Person mentioned seen on 7th instant. No trace since. You have +my letter of 8th instant. Cable instructions." +</P> + +<P> +As the Mainwaring carriage appeared at the offices at four o'clock, +to convey the gentlemen to Fair Oaks, Mr. Whitney was surprised to +find the secretary still engaged at his desk. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will excuse me," the latter said, pleasantly, "I will not +go out to Fair Oaks this evening. I have some unfinished work here, +and I will remain in the city to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Upon entering the offices the next day, however, the attorney found +the following note addressed to himself: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. WHITNEY. +</P> + +<P> +"DEAR SIR,—I regret to be compelled to inform you that you will +have to look for another assistant, as important business calls +me away for an indefinite period. Do not give yourself any +trouble concerning the salary which you kindly offered me. I am +not in need of it, and have only been too glad to render you the +little assistance within my power, knowing, as I do, that you have +no easy case on your hands. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Trusting we shall meet in the future, I am, with great esteem,<BR> + "Very truly yours,<BR> + "H. SCOTT.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Whitney read and reread this note, the words of the detective +regarding the private secretary were recalled to his mind, and he +muttered,— +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Merrick was right. It is very evident the young man is not +'looking for a job;' but I'll be blessed if I know what to think +of him!" +</P> + +<P> +Upon Mr. Whitney's return to Fair Oaks, he found the guests assembled +on the veranda, overlooking the river, Mr. Merrick, who had just +returned from a few days' absence, being also included in the company. +There were many exclamations of surprise and considerable comment +when Mr. Whitney told of the sudden disappearance of the secretary. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, that is too bad!" cried Edith Thornton. "He was so +interesting, and we were all beginning to like him so much." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that any of us were so charmed with him as one might +be led to suppose from your remark, Edith," said Isabel Mainwaring, +with a disdainful glance towards the attorney, who had seated +himself beside Miss Carleton; "but here, almost any one will answer +for a diversion, and he was really quite entertaining." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not to be expected that you would see or appreciate his good +points," said her brother, with half a sneer; "but Scott is a fine +fellow and a gentleman, and I shall miss him awfully." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carleton remained silent; but for some reason, unexplainable +to herself, she was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment and +injury. She would not admit to herself that she was troubled because +Scott had gone, it was the manner of his departure. Surely, after +the friendship and confidence she had shown him, he might at least +have sent some word of farewell, instead of leaving as he had, +apparently without a thought of her. However, she chatted graciously +with Mr. Whitney, though, all the while, a proud, dark face with +strangely beautiful eyes persistently forced itself before her mental +vision, nearly obliterating the smiling face of the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring was giving the detective his views on +the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"I, for one, am not sorry that he has followed the example of the +coachman and taken himself off. It is my opinion," he continued, +in impressive tones, "that we will yet find he had reasons for +leaving in this manner." +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly!" Merrick replied, with equal emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, that's just where you're wrong, governor," said young +Mainwaring. "Scott is as good as gold. There is no sneak about +him, either; and if he had reasons for leaving as he has, they were +nothing to his discredit; you can stake your last shilling on that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know he has pulled the wool over your eyes," said his father; +"but he has never tried his smooth games on me; he knows I can see +through him. I detest him. One of your typical American swells! +Just what one would expect to find in a country where a common clerk +is allowed to associate with gentlemen!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring," the detective interposed, +quietly, "Mr. Scott is not an American. He has lived less than two +years in this country." +</P> + +<P> +A chorus of exclamations followed this statement. +</P> + +<P> +"Not an American! Then he must be an Englishman," cried Miss +Carleton, her sparkling eyes unconsciously betraying her pleasure at +the discovery. +</P> + +<P> +"Merrick, are you sure of that?" inquired Mr. Whitney, in +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, or I would never have made the assertion I did." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring suddenly turned the conversation. "How about that +will business, Mr. Whitney? When will that come off?" +</P> + +<P> +"The petition was filed this afternoon, and will be granted a +hearing some time next week; I have not yet learned the day." +</P> + +<P> +"And then will you gentlemen be ready to start for home?" Mrs. +Mainwaring inquired, a touch of impatience in her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, by my soul! I should say not," laughed Mr. Thornton, before +her husband could reply. "It will probably take a number of months, +my dear madam, to settle up this estate, even if there should be no +contest; and if the case is contested, it may drag on for years, eh, +Mr. Whitney?" +</P> + +<P> +"That will depend upon circumstances. A contest would, of course, +delay the case, perhaps for several months; but I am not aware of +any contestants with sufficient means for continuing it the length +of time you mention." +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring, addressing her husband; "do +you and Hugh intend to remain here all that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"Our stay will probably be somewhat indefinite," he replied, +evasively; "but that is no reason why you and the young ladies need +remain against your will." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed! Why could you not have said as much before? Neither +Isabel nor I care to remain here a day longer than is necessary; +we have simply been awaiting your pleasure. Wilson, bring me the +morning papers; I want to see what boats are expected. We will +take the first steamer home. Mr. Thornton, will you and the young +ladies accompany us, or do you prefer to remain in exile a while +longer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," replied that gentleman, smiling genially, "speaking for +myself, I would more than half like to stay and see this thing +through; but the ladies are in the majority, and I will abide by +their decision. How is it, Edith? I suppose, as the novelists +say, you will be 'torn by conflicting emotions.'" +</P> + +<P> +"You horrid old papa! Of course, if auntie is going back, I shall +go with her. What do you say, Winifred?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have very little choice, one way or the other," Miss Carleton +replied, more quietly than was usual for her; "whatever you and +Uncle William decide, will suit me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ab, here are the papers!" said Mrs. Mainwaring, adjusting her +eye-glasses. "These dreadful American dailies!" she exclaimed, as +she scanned the pages; "one never knows where to find anything. Ah, +here it is, and just what we want! The 'Campania' sails Thursday, +at three o'clock. That will suit us exactly." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow! so soon!" exclaimed two or three voices. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," she replied, rising. "I shall have the maids begin +packing at once; and, Mr. Thornton, I shall instruct Wilson to +attend directly to your luggage, for you would never think of it +until within an hour of sailing." +</P> + +<P> +Her departure seemed the signal for the breaking up of the little +company. Mr. Whitney lingered a few moments at Miss Carleton's +side, with a few murmured words of regret that she was to leave so +soon, to which she listened courteously, though making little +response. After he had gone she remained standing where he had +left her, gazing dreamily out on the river and the distant bluffs. +Merrick, slowly sauntering up and down the veranda, had observed +the whole scene, and now watched the fair young face with a +suggestion of a smile in his kindly eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" he soliloquized; "Whitney is a bigger fool than I've given +him credit for if he thinks he stands any show in that direction. +If I'm not mistaken, I know which way the wind blows, and it's +dollars to doughnuts she'll lose that far-away expression of hers +before she's been aboard the 'Campania' many hours. I'd like to be +aboard myself and watch the transformation scene." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney's voice here broke in upon his cogitations. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Merrick, that was a regular bomb you threw at Mainwaring +with regard to young Scott! How did you discover he was an +Englishman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I very easily ascertained that he was not an American; that he was +of English descent followed as a matter of course. I am not sure +whether he is of English birth." +</P> + +<P> +"You seem to be keeping an eye on him." +</P> + +<P> +"It is my business just now to be posted regarding every one +associated with this place. I've been keeping an eye on you for +the last thirty minutes." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney colored, and hastily reverted to the original topic of +conversation. "Have you seen anything of him since he left us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since his resignation of the salary as well as the position of +private 'secretary?" queried the detective, half to himself, with +a tone of amusement, which Mr. Whitney failed to comprehend. "Yes; +I met him to-day at the Murray Hill." +</P> + +<P> +"At the Murray Hill! Is he stopping there?" +</P> + +<P> +"He evidently was this morning. So was I. Possibly we were both +'stopping' on the same business; I cannot say." +</P> + +<P> +The detective's face was a study, as was also the attorney's. +</P> + +<P> +"I supposed," said the latter, after a short pause, "from the tenor +of his note, that he intended to leave the city at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly he does," replied the other, enigmatically, and, having +consulted his watch, turned abruptly in another direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, what will you do about him? Shall you watch him?" Mr. +Whitney called after the vanishing figure. +</P> + +<P> +Merrick looked back over his shoulder with a peculiar smile. "I +shall not lose track of him," he said, slowly; "he is too +interesting." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MUTUAL SURPRISES +</H3> + +<P> +The Mainwaring party was among the latest arrivals at the pier on +the following day, owing to the dilatoriness of Mr. Thornton, Mrs. +Mainwaring's efforts to the contrary notwithstanding. At the last +moment he appeared, serenely and smilingly unconscious of that +lady's frowns of displeasure, to the infinite amusement of his +daughter, who whispered to Miss Carleton,— +</P> + +<P> +"Poor papa! See how auntie glares at him, and he does not even +know it." +</P> + +<P> +But even Mrs. Mainwaring's facial muscles relaxed slightly at the +sight of the beautiful ocean greyhound lying in the harbor, her +flags waving and streamers fluttering in the breeze, awaiting only +the captain's orders to start on her homeward course. +</P> + +<P> +The decks were crowded with humanity, for the most part laughing +and chatting gayly and singing bits of song, though here and there +were sad, tear-stained faces, where long farewells, some of them +perhaps the last farewells, were being spoken. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven, there'll be no tears shed on this occasion!" said +Isabel Mainwaring; "unless," she added, with a glance of scorn +towards Miss Carleton's escort, "Mr. Whitney should contribute a +few. I detest such vulgar demonstrations in public!" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney certainly did not look very cheerful, and even Miss +Carleton's sunny face was somewhat overcast, though why, it would +seem difficult to determine, since she seemed to have no regrets +at leaving America. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mainwaring, "what a dreadful crowd! It +is far worse than when we came over. Hugh, I wonder if your father +examined the ship's list. I particularly requested him to do so. +I wished to ascertain whether there would be any friends of ours on +board. One does not care to make acquaintances promiscuously, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think the governor investigated the subject very +thoroughly," young Mainwaring replied, with a laugh. "I noticed +when we registered there were three or four pages of names preceding +ours, and I don't think he gave the matter much attention. If I had +time I would look it up for you, mother, but we must go ashore in +a few moments." +</P> + +<P> +"If I am not mistaken, my dear lady," said Mr. Thornton, who had +overheard the conversation, "you will have little time or inclination +for looking up acquaintances on this trip." +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask why?" Mrs. Mainwaring demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," he replied, maliciously, "that you and Isabel will be too +much occupied in cultivating the acquaintance of mal de mer to care +for your best friends." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that, Thornton? Think it will be rough?" inquired Ralph +Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"The captain tells me the wind is freshening every moment, and we'll +have a decidedly choppy sea before night. I'm thinking we'll have a +nasty trip." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case, perhaps mamma and I will not be the only victims," +said Isabel Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear not," responded Mr. Thornton. "Were it not or my inherent +chivalry, I should turn back; but I cannot leave you ladies to meet +your fate alone." +</P> + +<P> +Amid the general confusion of leave-taking, Mr. Whitney turned +towards Miss Carleton, saying in a low tone, as he took her hand,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have received cordial invitations both from yourself and Mr. +Thornton to visit your home, and I feel assured of a welcome should +I accept your courtesy; but, pardon me, Miss Carleton, if, after so +brief an acquaintance as ours, I inquire whether I might ever hope +for a welcome from you other than that of a friend?" +</P> + +<P> +The beautiful brown eyes met his own frankly, but all the laughter +and sunshine had gone out of them. They were serious and had almost +a look of pain. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, Mr. Whitney," she said, simply; "but it would be very +unjust if I led you to hope that I could ever regard you other than +as an esteemed friend." +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me for troubling you," he said, gently. "Believe me always +your friend, and forget that I ever asked for more than friendship," +and, releasing her hand, he passed on to the others. +</P> + +<P> +The final adieus were spoken; Ralph Mainwaring and his son, +accompanied by the attorney, went ashore; and Miss Carleton, not +caring just then to meet the curious glances of her companions, +walked slowly towards the forward part of the deck. She had gone +but a few steps, however, when she caught sight of the familiar +figure of Mr. Merrick at a little distance, in conversation with a +tall, slender man, with dark, piercing eyes. He was speaking +rapidly in low tones, but his usually non-committal face wore an +expression of unmistakable satisfaction. Suddenly he turned and +walked swiftly in Miss Carleton's direction. Their eyes met, and +in response to her glance of recognition he quickly crossed to +where she was standing. +</P> + +<P> +"I have but a few seconds left, Miss Carleton," he said, a genial +smile lighting up his face; "but I am glad of an opportunity to +wish you a pleasant trip. Are you a good sailor?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly know," she answered. "I have had so little experience on +the sea. Why? Shall we have a stormy passage, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing dangerous; a little rough, perhaps; but with congenial +company, such as I trust you will find," and his eyes gleamed with +kindly merriment, "you will hardly mind that. Good-by, Miss +Carleton; bon voyage; and if I can ever in any way serve you as a +friend, do not fail to command me," and before she could reply he +had vanished in the crowd. She looked in vain for any trace of +him; then turning to glance at his companion of a moment before, +discovered that he had disappeared also. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later the great ocean liner glided majestically out from +the harbor amid prolonged cheers and a final flutter of farewells; +but she was well out upon the tossing waves ere Miss Carleton turned +from watching the receding shore to join her friends, as yet having +found no solution of the problem perplexing her, nor even the +meaning which she felt must be concealed in the words of the +detective. +</P> + +<P> +They had not been out many hours before it became evident that Mr. +Thornton's unfavorable predictions regarding their journey were +likely to be fulfilled. The sea was decidedly "choppy" and the +motion of the boat anything but exhilarating. +</P> + +<P> +When the hour for dinner arrived, Mr. Thornton, his daughter, and +Miss Carleton were the only members of their party to venture forth +to the dining-saloon, the others preferring to have a light repast +served in their own apartments. The captain, having discovered in +Mr. Thornton an old-time friend, had ordered seats for him and his +party at his own table, and the young ladies, finding their appetites +rather an uncertain quantity, had plenty of opportunity for observing +their fellow-passengers, particularly an Anglomaniac of the most +pronounced type, in the person of a callow youth seated opposite +them, whose monocle, exaggerated collar, and affected drawl afforded +them considerable amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"Winifred," said Miss Thornton, as they were leaving the +dining-saloon, "do you see that young Englishman at the farther +table?" +</P> + +<P> +Her cousin glanced carelessly in the direction indicated, noting the +fine, athletic figure seated, back towards them, at some distance, +attired in heavy English tweed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. What of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing in particular; only the sight of him is such a relief, you +know, after that wretched caricature at our table." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor little harmless dudelet!" mused Winifred, with a smile; "his +self-complacency will be short-lived whenever he meets Isabel. She +will simply annihilate him with one of those glances of hers!" +</P> + +<P> +At Miss Carleton's suggestion, they went on deck; but Edith grew so +rapidly ill that her cousin assisted her below to their own elegant +suite of apartments, which adjoined, on one side, those occupied by +Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, while on the other was comfortable +state-room belonging to Mrs. Hogarth. +</P> + +<P> +Finding Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel already reduced to a state of +abject helplessness which required the attendance of both maids as +well as of the stewardess, Miss Carleton left Edith in Mrs. Hogarth's +care, and, wrapping herself warmly, again went on deck. The wind was +increasing and she found the decks nearly deserted, but the solitude +and the storm suited her mood just then, and, wrapping her rug +closely about her, she seated herself in a comparatively sheltered +place, alone with her own thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +As she recalled the parting interview with Mr. Whitney, another face +seemed to flash before her vision, and a half-formed query, which +had been persistently haunting her for the last few hours, now took +definite shape and demanded a reply. What would have been the result +if that other, instead of leaving without one word of farewell, had +asked for the hope of something better and deeper than friendship? +What would her answer have been? Even in the friendly shadow of the +deepening twilight she shrank from facing the truth gradually forcing +itself upon her. +</P> + +<P> +A solitary figure pacing the deck aroused her from her revery. As +he approached she recognized the young Englishman of whom Edith had +spoken. Dressed in warm jacket, with cap well pulled down over his +eyes and hands clasped behind him, he strode the rolling deck with +step as firm and free as though walking the streets of his native +city. She watched him with admiration, till something in his +carriage reminded her of the young secretary at Fair Oaks, and in +the sudden thrill of pleasure produced by that reminder there was +revealed to her inner consciousness a confirmation of the truth she +sought to evade. +</P> + +<P> +She watched the retreating figure with flashing eyes and burning +cheeks. "It is not true!" she exclaimed, to herself, passionately. +"I do not care for him! It was only a fancy, a foolish infatuation, +of which, thank heaven, neither he nor any one else shall ever know." +</P> + +<P> +But the monarch who had taken possession of her heart, call him by +what name she chose, was not to be so easily dethroned. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the young English stranger passed and repassed, unconscious +of the figure in the shadow, unconscious of the aversion with which +one of his countrywomen regarded him because of his resemblance to +another. He, too, was vainly seeking the solution of problems which +baffled him at every turn, and waging an ineffectual warfare against +the invisible but potent sovereign—Love. +</P> + +<P> +All that night the storm raged with increasing fury, and morning +found the entire Mainwaring party "on the retired list," as Miss +Carleton expressed it. She herself was the last to succumb, but +finally forced to an ignominious surrender, she submitted to the +inevitable with as good grace as possible, only stipulating that +she be left entirely to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Towards night the storm abated slightly, and, weary of her own +thoughts, which bad been anything but agreeable, and bored by the +society of her companions in misery, she wrapped her rug warmly +about her and ventured out on deck. The air, laden with salt +spray, seemed invigorating, and without much difficulty she found +her way to her sheltered corner of the preceding evening. She had +been seated but a few moments, however, when the young Englishman +made his appearance, as preoccupied and unconscious of his +surroundings and as free from any symptoms of discomfort as when +she had last seen him. The sight of him was the signal for the +return of the thoughts which had that day kept her company. She +cast a wrathful glance upon the unconscious young stranger just +then passing, his perfect health and evident good humor under +existing circumstances adding to her sense of injury and +exasperation. She grew ill, and determined to return at once to +her apartments, but found her progress against the gale slower and +more difficult than she had anticipated. Dizzy and faint, she had +just reached the stairs when a sudden lurch threw her violently to +one side; she staggered helplessly and would have fallen, but at +that instant a strong arm was thrown about her and she felt herself +lifted bodily. With a sigh of relief she turned her head towards +her rescuer, supposing him one of the officers of the ship, only to +discover, to her horror, that she was in the arms of the young +Englishman. His face was in the shadow, but the light falling on +her own face revealed her features, and at that instant she heard a +smothered exclamation,— +</P> + +<P> +"Great heavens! can it be possible?" +</P> + +<P> +Something in the tone startled her and she listened, hoping he would +speak again. He did not; but she noted the tenderness with which +she was borne down the stairs and put in care of the stewardess. +Again she listened eagerly for his voice, but his words were brief +and in an altered tone. +</P> + +<P> +During the succeeding twenty-four hours in which Miss Carleton tossed +in misery, one thought was uppermost in her mind,—to discover, if +possible, the identity of the stranger who had come to her assistance. +The only information obtainable, however, was that he was evidently +a gentleman of wealth, travelling alone, and apparently with no +acquaintance on board with the exception of a young English officer. +She determined, at the earliest possible moment, to meet her +mysterious rescuer and thank him for his kindness, but was unable +to carry her plan into immediate execution. Meantime, she learned +that he had twice inquired for her. +</P> + +<P> +On Sunday afternoon, their fourth day out, the storm had ceased and +the weather was gradually clearing, and Miss Carleton, somewhat pale +but quite herself again, came out for a promenade. She found quite +a number of passengers on deck, but for some time she looked in vain +for her unknown friend. At last, after several brisk turns, she +saw him standing at a little distance, talking with the tall, +dark-eyed man whom she had seen in conversation with Mr. Merrick. +The younger man's cap was thrown back, revealing to Miss Carleton +the fine profile, almost classical in its beauty, of the secretary +at Fair Oaks. For a moment her pulse throbbed wildly. She felt a +thrill of pleasure, not unmingled with a twinge of the resentment +which she had been nursing for the last few days. Then she walked +calmly in his direction, saying to herself,— +</P> + +<P> +"At least, I will thank him for his kindness. I am no love-lorn +peasant maid wearing my heart upon my sleeve!" +</P> + +<P> +She had nearly reached his side, though he was unaware of her +presence, when the young English officer approached from the other +side and, slapping him familiarly upon the shoulder, exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mainwaring, my boy, you've kept your sea-legs well on this +trip." +</P> + +<P> +The tall, dark-eyed man withdrew, and Miss Carleton, utterly +bewildered, turned and slowly retraced her steps. Mainwaring! What +did it mean? She heard the name distinctly, and he had taken it as +a matter of course, replying pleasantly and quietly, as though he +had known no other name. The mystery which she had thought to solve +had only deepened tenfold. She was aroused by the cheery voice of +the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, Miss Carleton, glad to see you out! I congratulate +you on your speedy recovery. How are the ladies? and how is my +old friend Thornton?" +</P> + +<P> +They took a few turns up and down, chatting pleasantly, till Miss +Carleton, looking into the face overflowing with kindliness and +good humor, said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Captain, I have a great favor to ask of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Granted, my dear young lady, to the half of my kingdom!" +</P> + +<P> +"May I have your permission to examine the list of cabin passengers?" +</P> + +<P> +The captain elevated his shaggy eyebrows and his eyes twinkled with +merriment. "Ah! anxious to learn if some particular friend is on +board, I suppose. Some one was inquiring of me the other night +regarding your identity." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" said Miss Carleton, a world of inquiry in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; Mr. Mainwaring, the gentleman conversing with Lieutenant Cohen +over there. He and I both went to your assistance the other evening, +but, much to my regret, he was quicker than I. He remarked to me +after he came back on deck that he had supposed you were a stranger, +but that your face looked familiar. He asked your name, and whether +you were with Mr. Thornton and his daughter, stating that he had met +you. Correct, I presume?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite so," said Miss Carleton, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"And now about that passenger list, Miss Carleton; you have my +permission to examine it, and I will accompany you myself." +</P> + +<P> +She thanked him. "Are you acquainted with Mr. Mainwaring?" she +inquired, carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Never met him until this trip. On first learning his name, I +supposed him to be a member of your party, as he is evidently a +gentleman; but I soon learned that he was alone." +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the register was opened for Miss Carleton's +inspection, but she did not have to search long. Half-way down the +first page she found, in the familiar writing of the secretary, the +name which she sought—"Harold Scott Mainwaring." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +Thanking the captain for his courtesy, Miss Carleton returned to +her accustomed seat on deck, and, since one is never more alone +than when surrounded by a crowd of utter strangers, she felt at +liberty to pursue her own thoughts without interruption. +</P> + +<P> +She could scarcely credit what her own ears had heard or her eyes +had seen. Harold Scott Mainwaring! What could it mean? Could it +be possible that the secretary, having familiarized himself with +the family history of the Mainwarings, was now masquerading under +an assumed name for some object of his own? But she dismissed +this idea at once. She had assured him at Fair Oaks that she +believed him incapable of anything false or dishonorable, and she +would abide by that belief until convinced otherwise. But if this +were indeed his name, what had been his object in assuming the role +of Scott, the secretary? Which was genuine and which assumed? Who +could tell? As if in answer to her thoughts, she saw the subject +of them approaching. He was alone and looking in her direction, +and on reading the recognition in her glance, his own face lighted +with a smile that banished the last shade of resentment and +suspicion from her mind, albeit there was a question in her eyes +which prepared him in a measure for her first words. With a smile +as bright as those with which she had been accustomed to greet him +at Fair Oaks, she extended her band, saying, slowly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, this is indeed a surprise!" She watched him +closely, but there was not the quiver of an eyelash, only a slow, +inscrutable smile, as he replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Carleton, I will add to that, and say that this is the +pleasantest surprise of my life." +</P> + +<P> +She blushed at the implied meaning of his words, and he added,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have not seen you on deck until to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Not last Friday evening?" she inquired, archly. His smile deepened. +"I did not know that it was you at that time until after I had +started below. Did you recognize me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I recognized your voice; and I have often wished to thank +you for your kindness, but this is my first opportunity, as I have +not been out since until to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Please do not mention it. Had I dreamed who it was thus braving +the storm, I would have offered my assistance earlier. I have not +yet recovered from my surprise on discovering the identity of my +fellow-passenger that evening." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" laughed Miss Carleton; "my presence here is very easily +explained. It is simply the result of one of Mrs. Mainwaring's +numerous whims, as she suddenly decided upon an immediate return to +England. I think, however, that the surprise was mutual." +</P> + +<P> +"Accordingly, I suppose that mutual explanations should follow," +he answered, lightly. Then added, more seriously, "Miss Carleton, +I am aware that there is much in my conduct that must seem +inexplicable to you. In a few weeks everything will have been +made clear, in the natural course of events; but, if you would be +at all interested to hear, I would greatly prefer that you should +have a perfect understanding of the situation before the facts +become generally known." +</P> + +<P> +"I should greatly appreciate such a mark of confidence," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"If agreeable to you, Miss Carleton, let us pass around to the other +side; it is less crowded there. My friend and I have two chairs, +and, as he has gone to his state-room to do some writing, we shall +be in no danger of interruption." +</P> + +<P> +When comfortably seated, the young man said, "It is a strange story +which I have to tell, but I will try not to tax your patience too +severely. One week ago this afternoon, Miss Carleton, in passing +through the hall at Fair Oaks, I accidentally overheard a portion +of your conversation with Mr. Whitney, as you related to him the +story of the unfortunate love and death of my father, Harold Scott +Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carleton started violently, but said nothing, and, after a +slight pause, the speaker continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"My earliest recollections are of a home in Australia, with +foster-parents, whose name it is unnecessary to mention, but whose +care and love for me seem, as I now look back, to have equalled that +bestowed by natural parents upon their own child. Not until I had +reached the age of fifteen years did I ever hear of my own father. +I then learned that he had given me, at birth, into the keeping +of my foster-parents, with instructions that, unless he himself +should call for me, I was not even to know of his existence until +within five or six years of my majority. I learned, further, that +his action in thus placing me in the hands of others had been +solely on account of deep trouble and sorrow, of which he wished me +to know nothing until I had reached the years of manhood. When +giving me into their keeping he had also given them a small packet, +containing a sealed letter, which was to be read by me on my +twenty-first birthday, if he had not himself claimed me before that +time. I was told that, while I was too young to retain any +remembrance of him, he frequently visited me and manifested the +greatest devotion to his child, but as I grew older he remained +away, writing occasionally to my foster-father. +</P> + +<P> +"In the last letter received from him, when I was about five years +of age, he stated that he was going to Africa to make a fortune for +his son. Nothing further was heard from him until there came tidings +of his death at sea, in the manner which you recently related. +</P> + +<P> +"Of all this I, of course, knew nothing until ten years later, but +what was told me at that time made a deep impression upon me. Of my +mother I could learn absolutely nothing; but for my father, of whom +I had no personal knowledge, and concerning whom there seemed so +much that was mysterious, I felt a love and reverence almost akin to +adoration, and I longed for the day to come when I could read the +letter he had left for me and learn the whole secret of that sad +life. +</P> + +<P> +"My twenty-first birthday arrived, and the mysterious little packet +was placed in my hands. It contained a few valuable keepsakes and +my father's letter, written out of the bitter anguish of a broken +heart. He told the story of his disinheritance, with which you are +familiar; but the loss of the property he cared little for in +comparison with the loss of his father's love; but even that was as +nothing to the sorrow which followed swiftly and which broke his +heart. He stated that, because of this great sorrow, he had placed +me in the hands of trusted friends that I should be banished from +the false-hearted woman who had borne me and who believed me dead, +as it was his wish that neither of us should ever know of the +existence of the other." +</P> + +<P> +Harold Mainwaring paused for a moment, and Miss Carleton, who had +been listening with great interest, exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"And is it possible, Mr. Mainwaring, that, in all these years, you +have had no knowledge concerning your mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a fact, Miss Carleton, that I do not even know her name, or +whether or not she is living. I only hope and pray that I may +never knowingly meet her, for her heart and life must be—pardon +the expression—as false and as black as hell itself." +</P> + +<P> +There was a look on his face which Miss Carleton had never seen. +Gradually, however, his features softened, and he continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"In accordance with my father's wish, expressed in the letter, that +I should complete my studies in England, I sailed for that country +within a few weeks of my twenty-first birthday; and while there I +learned that part of my story which is of more especial interest to +all parties concerned at the present time. +</P> + +<P> +"I had been but a few months in England when I felt a great desire +to visit, incognito, the old Mainwaring estate. Accordingly, under +the name by which you have known me, I arrived at the estate, only +to learn that the home of my father's boyhood, and of the Mainwarings +for several generations, had passed into the hands of strangers. +My grandfather had died within two years of my father's marriage, +and the younger son had sold the estate and gone to America. +Incidentally, I was directed to an old servant of my grandfather's, +who yet remained on the place and who could give me its whole +history. That servant, Miss Carleton, was old James Wilson, the +father of John Wilson, Ralph Mainwaring's present valet." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" ejaculated Miss Carleton, her face lighting with pleasure; "I +have seen the trusty old fellow hundreds of times, you know. Indeed, +he could give you the history of all the Mainwarings for the last +three hundred years." +</P> + +<P> +"He gave me one very important bit of history," Harold Mainwaring +replied, with a smile. "He told me that old Ralph Mainwaring, after +the departure of his son for Australia, failed rapidly. He was +slowly but surely dying of a broken heart, and, though he never +mentioned the name of his elder son, it was evident that he regretted +his own harshness and severity towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"On the night before his death he suddenly gave orders for an +attorney to be summoned, and was so insistent in his demand, that, +when it was ascertained that his old solicitor, Alfred Barton, the +father of the present firm of Barton & Barton, had been called out +of the city, a young lawyer, Richard Hobson by name, who had formerly +been an articled clerk in Barton's office, was called in in his +stead. A little before the hour of midnight, in the presence of his +son, Hugh Mainwaring, Richard Hobson, the attorney, and Alexander +McPherson, an old and trusted Scotch friend, Ralph Mainwaring caused +to be drawn and executed a will, completely revoking and setting +aside the process of law by which Harold Scott Mainwaring had been +disinherited, and restoring to him his full rights as the elder son, +McPherson and the attorney signing the will as witnesses." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carleton's eyes dilated and her breath came and went swiftly, +but she spoke no word save a single, quick exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"James Wilson, the servant, was also present, but in an obscure +corner, and his presence seems to have been unnoticed. The next +morning, at five o'clock, Ralph Mainwaring passed away, happy in +the thought that he had at last made reparation for his injustice +to his elder son. Within two months the old Scotchman died, and +Richard Hobson was then the sole surviving witness of the last will +and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"This was all the direct information I could obtain from Wilson, +but from other sources I learned that Hugh Mainwaring was never the +same after his father's death. He grew stern and taciturn, and +would allow no mention of his brother's name, and within two years +he had disposed of the estate and left England forever; while a few +years later tidings were received of the death of Harold Scott +Mainwaring at sea. I also learned that about this time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from the position of a penniless pettifogger +to that of an affluent attorney, though he was engaged in +questionable speculations far more than in the practice of law. +</P> + +<P> +"I visited the chambers of Barton & Barton, and learned through +them that everything had been adjusted in accordance with the terms +of the will in their possession, which disinherited the elder son; +but Hugh Mainwaring's action in disposing of the estate had excited +considerable comment. +</P> + +<P> +"Having pledged them to secrecy, I disclosed my identity and +related to them the story of the old servant. To my surprise, they +were inclined to give the story credence; and, acting upon their +advice, I obtained all possible information regarding Hugh +Mainwaring, and, when my studies were completed, sailed for America, +with the express determination to secure proof in verification of +the facts which I had already gathered, and to establish my claim +as the legal heir of the Mainwaring estate. I was not without means +to do this, as my father had accumulated considerable property +during the few years he lived in Australia, and my foster-parents +are people of wealth. +</P> + +<P> +"You will understand now, Miss Carleton, why I took the position of +private secretary to Hugh Mainwaring. You will realize how eagerly +I studied the correspondence between him and Richard Hobson, from +which I learned that the latter was extorting large sums of money +as the price of his silence regarding some fraudulent transaction, +presumably the destruction of the will; and perhaps you can imagine +my feelings on discovering, one day, among Hugh Mainwaring's private +papers, a memorandum to the effect that the will had never been +destroyed, but was still in existence and in his possession. I +knew that to make any demand upon him for the document would be +worse than useless, as he would never admit my claim. I must find +it for myself. I searched for that will as for hidden treasure, and, +Miss Carleton, I found it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to repress her emotion, "I am so glad! +Do tell me how and when!" +</P> + +<P> +"I found it on the last day of Hugh Mainwaring's life, within two +hours after he had signed his own last will and testament." +</P> + +<P> +"What a strange coincidence!" +</P> + +<P> +"It was strange; and it was my discovery on that day which formed +the subject of my thoughts on the following night, the night of the +murder, and which kept me pacing my room until three o'clock in +the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Did Mr. Mainwaring know of your discovery?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I had no opportunity to see him that evening until too late, +even if I had chosen to broach the subject to him at that time." +</P> + +<P> +"Might he not have discovered in some way that you had found the +will?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think not. Why do you inquire?" +</P> + +<P> +"It only occurred to me if it might not be possible that he had +reason to think his secret had at last been discovered, and, rather +than face the consequences, committed suicide; but it seems +improbable. But to think that you are the son of the one whom I +have always considered the noblest of all the Mainwarings, and that +you, and not Hugh, are the rightful heir to the old Mainwaring +estate! I am more than glad, and Hugh will be glad also. He will +not begrudge you one shilling or have one unkind thought towards +you, though I cannot say the same for his father." +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh is a noble-hearted fellow," said Harold, warmly. "He has +promised me his friendship, and I believe he will stand by it." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke briefly of his plans; of his business in London for a few +days; and, when the will should have been probated in the English +court, of his return to America to establish his claim there. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Miss Carleton, after a pause, "I am +inexpressibly glad to learn what you have told me, and you have my +sincerest wishes for your immediate success. I appreciate, more +than I can tell, your confidence in permitting me to be the first +to know of your good fortune. May I be the first to congratulate +you?" +</P> + +<P> +He took the proffered hand; but, looking into the beautiful eyes +sparkling with happiness, his own face grew serious, as he replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you for your congratulations and your good wishes, Miss +Carleton, but I sometimes question whether my discovery, on that +particular day, of the will—the last link in the chain of +evidence against Hugh Mainwaring—was a matter for congratulation." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that?" she inquired, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you not see that when all these facts become known, they may be +used by my enemies to direct suspicion against me as the possible +murderer of Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who would think of such a thing?" she exclaimed, indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ralph Mainwaring will," was his prompt reply. +</P> + +<P> +"He might try to incite the suspicions of others against you, but he +would know in his own heart that his insinuations were unfounded." +</P> + +<P> +"I have no fear of him," said Harold, with a smile; "I only mentioned +it to show that I do not anticipate upon my return to America that +my pathway will be strewn with roses." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment, then added, "I had this in mind, Miss Carleton, +when I asked you once whether your confidence in me were strong +enough to stand a heavy strain, if necessary." +</P> + +<P> +She blushed slightly at the reminder, and a look of quick +comprehension flashed across her face, as, for an instant, she +dropped her eyes before his earnest gaze. When she again looked +up the luminous eyes met his own unwaveringly, as she replied, in +firm, low tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"I will believe in you and trust you to the fullest extent, whatever +happens." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you more than I can express," he answered, gravely; "for, +believe me, Miss Carleton, I value your confidence and friendship +far above any and every other." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not suppose you needed any assurance of my friendship; though, +after your sudden departure from Fair Oaks, I felt somewhat doubtful +whether you cared for it." +</P> + +<P> +He did not reply at once, and when he did, it was evident he was +repressing some strong emotion. "I feel that there is an explanation +due you for my manner of leaving Fair Oaks. I am aware that it had +the appearance of rudeness, but I can only say that it was from +necessity and not from choice. There is something more which I hope +some day to tell you, Miss Carleton, but, until I can speak as I +wish to speak, it is best to remain silent; meanwhile, I will trust +to your friendship to pardon whatever in my conduct may seem abrupt +or inexplicable." +</P> + +<P> +The conversation was terminated at this point by the appearance of +Lieutenant Cohen, whom Harold Mainwaring introduced as an old +classmate, and presently all three adjourned to the dining-saloon. +</P> + +<P> +To Harold Mainwaring and Miss Carleton the remainder of the voyage +passed swiftly and pleasantly, and the friendship begun at Fair Oaks +deepened with each succeeding day. Though no word of love passed +between them, and though Miss Carleton sometimes detected on the +part of her companion a studied avoidance of personal subjects, yet, +while wondering slightly at his self-imposed silence, she often +read in his dark eyes a language more eloquent than words, and was +content to wait. +</P> + +<P> +It was his desire that the other members of her party should still +remain in ignorance of his real identity; and, as the greater part +of the voyage proved somewhat rough, he had little difficulty in +preserving his secret. Mr. Thornton and daughter soon made their +appearance and greeted the quondam secretary with unaffected +cordiality, but Mr. Thornton was too deeply engrossed in renewing +acquaintance with one or two old friends to pay much attention to +the younger man, while Edith felt in duty bound to devote herself +to the entertainment of Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel, a task which +Miss Carleton was not at all disposed to share. Not until the last +few hours of the trip, when fair weather had become an established +fact and land had been sighted, did Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter +appear on deck, and in the general excitement Harold Mainwaring +escaped their observation. +</P> + +<P> +The parting between himself and Miss Carleton was necessarily brief. +She gave him her address, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"I would be delighted if you could consider yourself our guest while +in London, and I hope at least that I may see you often before your +return." +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you, Miss Carleton," he replied. "If present circumstances +would admit of it, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to +accept your invitation, but under existing conditions it is, of +course, impracticable. I cannot now say how long I will remain in +London, but I wish to make my stay as brief as possible, and to that +end shall devote almost my entire time to business; but," he added, +with a peculiar smile, "I shall not repeat the offence committed at +Fair Oaks. You may rest assured I shall not return to America +without seeing you, and I hope at that time to be able to speak +more definitely regarding my future." +</P> + +<P> +There was that in his eyes as he spoke that suffused the fair +English face with lovely color and caused a tender, wistful smile +to linger about the sweet mouth long after he had left her side. +</P> + +<P> +He was one of the first to land, and Miss Carleton, watching from +the deck, saw, almost as soon as he had reached the pier, a +fine-looking gentleman in the prime of life step quickly out from, +the crowd, and, grasping him cordially by the hand, enter at once +into earnest conversation. Harold Mainwaring turned towards the +steamer for a parting salute, and, as both gentlemen raised their +hats, she recognized in the new-comer, Alfred Barton, the junior +member of the firm of Barton & Barton. She watched them until +they disappeared in the crowd, then, turning to rejoin her +companions, she noted, standing at a little distance, the slender, +dark-eyed individual whom she had observed on previous occasions, +also watching the scene with a smile of quiet satisfaction, much +like that which Mr. Merrick's face had worn at the beginning of the +Voyage. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LOVE FINDS A WAY +</H3> + +<P> +Less than three weeks later, Harold Mainwaring entered Miss +Carleton's private drawing-room in Mr. Thornton's London home. +Soon after her arrival in the city she had received from him a +brief note of apology, stating that unexpected business of the +greatest importance would render it impossible for him to call as +early as he had anticipated; hence this was their first meeting +since the leave-taking on board the "Campania." +</P> + +<P> +As Miss Carleton stepped forward with cordial smile and hand +extended to welcome her visitor, she was shocked at the change in +his appearance. He was pale, almost haggard, and deep lines about +the mouth and eyes told of some intense mental strain. She gave +a low cry of astonishment, for it seemed as though years, instead +of only a few weeks, had intervened since she had seen that face. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, you have been ill!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Carleton," he replied, his face lighting with a rare +smile; "I have been perfectly well, but loss of sleep and constant +care and anxiety have told rather severely on me. Nothing more +serious, I assure you." +</P> + +<P> +"Anxiety!" she repeated, at the same time motioning him to a seat +by her side. "Surely you do not anticipate any difficulty in +establishing your claim?" +</P> + +<P> +"No difficulty so far as its validity is concerned. My attorneys +assure me there can be no question as to that with such irrefutable +proofs in my possession, but some unlooked-for complications have +arisen, and we have had to prepare ourselves to meet them. But I +did not call to burden you with my perplexities, Miss Carleton. +Tell me of yourself. I trust you have been well since I last saw +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am usually well," said Miss Carleton, who thought she +detected on the part of her visitor an avoidance of any details +concerning himself; "but I have been rather bored of late." Then, +in answer to his look of inquiry, she continued, "Of course, on +account of Hugh Mainwaring's death, we have been living very +quietly since our return, but, notwithstanding that fact, society +has been paying due homage to the prospective increase of fortune +and added social position of the Mainwarings. I am not particularly +fond of society in the ordinary sense of the word, you know, and I +have found it exceedingly tiresome." +</P> + +<P> +"From reports, I should judge 'society' to be very fond of yourself," +he remarked, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"After its own fashion," she replied, smiling in return; "but it +becomes very monotonous. It is the same old round, you know, only +that just now it bows a little lower than formerly, while it mingles +condolences and congratulations in the most absurd manner. One +hears, 'Such a dreadful affair! so shocking, don't you know!' and +'Such delightful fortune! I quite envy you, my dear!' all in the +same breath. I am only awaiting what society will say when the real +facts become known." +</P> + +<P> +Harold Mainwaring made no reply, but a strange pallor overspread +his already pale face, at which Miss Carleton wondered. +</P> + +<P> +"I have thought very often of you during these past weeks," she +continued, "and felt quite impatient to learn how you were +progressing, and your note was so brief, you know. It left so much +unsaid. I fear you forget how interested I am in all that concerns +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied, slowly, "I do not forget; and I appreciate your +interest in me even though I may not seem to,—even though I am +forced, as you say, to leave so much unsaid which I had hoped to +say." +</P> + +<P> +Something in his manner, more than in what he said, thrilled her +with a vague, undefinable sense of impending evil, and, during the +slight pause which followed, she dreaded his next words, lest they +should in some way confirm her apprehensions. He said nothing +further, however, and when she spoke it was with an assumed +lightness and cheerfulness which she was far from feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"I hoped to have the pleasure of meeting you often ere this, and +my uncle and cousin would have been so glad to welcome you to +their home during your stay in London, but they have just gone out +of town for a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"Ordinarily, Miss Carleton," he replied, quietly, "I should be +pleased to meet them, but on the present occasion, as I sail, +to-morrow, I naturally care to see no one but yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow!" she exclaimed, while her own cheek suddenly paled. +"Do you return so soon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied, observing her emotion, and speaking rapidly to +conceal his own feelings; "my business is at last completed. I +have been detained longer than I expected, and I found the +situation more complex than I anticipated, but I shall return well +equipped for the battle." +</P> + +<P> +"And you will win, I am sure. Tell me something regarding your +plans," she added, with a wistful smile that touched her companion +for more than he cared to betray. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Alfred Barton goes with me to America," he said, speaking +cheerfully; "and we have already cabled instructions to Mr. +Sutherland, my New York attorney, regarding the initiatory steps. +Mr. Barton and myself will be accompanied by James Wilson, the old +servant who witnessed the execution of the will,"—Miss Carleton's +eyes brightened,—"and also by a thoroughly competent, first-class +Scotland Yard officer." +</P> + +<P> +She gave a low exclamation. "I see what a powerful witness old +Wilson will make; but the detective, what will you do with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to investigate the murder of Hugh Mainwaring," he +said, calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, surely, you cannot mean—" she hesitated. "You do not think +that suspicion will be directed against any of the guests at Fair +Oaks, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Carleton, I cannot say at present. Perhaps," he added, +slowly, looking steadily into her eyes, "perhaps, when all is over, +suspicion will be directed against myself so unmistakably that public +opinion will pronounce me guilty." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot believe that," she cried; "and even were it so,—should +the whole world pronounce you guilty,—I would still believe you +innocent; and I think," she added, quickly, "that is your object in +employing a detective: by finding the real murderer, you will +establish your own entire innocence." +</P> + +<P> +"May God grant it!" he replied, with a fervor she could not +understand. "I thank you, Miss Carleton, for your kind words; I +shall never forget them; and, however the battle goes, I can feel +there is one, at least, whose friendship and confidence are mine, +can I not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Most assuredly, Mr. Mainwaring. But why do you speak as though +there were a possibility of defeat or failure? I am so confident +that you will win, after the story of your life that you have given +me, that I am all impatience to learn the outcome of the contest, +just as having read one chapter in some thrilling romance I am eager +for the next." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled at her comparison. "Real life, as well as romance, +sometimes contains startling surprises, Miss Carleton. The next +chapter might prove less pleasant." +</P> + +<P> +She looked keenly into his face for a moment, and her manner became +as serious as his own. +</P> + +<P> +"There must be something," she said, "of which you have not told me; +if so, I will not ask your confidence until you choose to bestow it, +nor do I trust you, personally, any the less. It only seemed to me, +with your prospects of success, and the great wealth and enviable +position so soon to become yours, there could be no unpleasant +anticipations for the future." +</P> + +<P> +A bitter smile crossed his face, as he inquired in low, tense tones, +"Of what avail are wealth and position to one who finds an +insurmountable barrier placed between himself and all that he holds +most precious on earth?" +</P> + +<P> +"I fear I do not understand you," she replied. "I cannot imagine +any barriers surrounding you; and did they exist, my judgment of +you would be that you would find some way to surmount or destroy +them." +</P> + +<P> +"There are some barriers, some fetters," he said, gently, "against +which humanity, even at its best, is powerless." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered, a touch of sadness in her voice; "and there are +sometimes sorrows and troubles in which even the closest and warmest +friendship is powerless to aid or comfort." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't allow yourself to think that of your friendship for me," he +said, quickly. "Assured of your confidence and sympathy, I shall +be ten times stronger to face whatever the future may bring. If I +succeed in what I am about to undertake, I shall one day tell you +all that your friendship has been worth to me. If I fail, the +thought that you believe in me and trust me, while it will not be +all that I could wish, may be all that I can ask." +</P> + +<P> +"And if you should fail," she queried, slowly, "would you give me +no opportunity to show you, and others, my confidence in you, even +then?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Carleton," he replied, in tones tremulous with +suppressed feeling, "much as I appreciate your kindness, I would +never, now or at any future time, willingly mar your life or your +happiness by asking you to share any burden which might be laid +upon me. I would at least leave you to go your way in peace, while +I went mine." +</P> + +<P> +"And I?" she asked, reproachfully. "Would it contribute to my +happiness, do you think, to remember the sorrow and suffering which +I was not allowed to share?" +</P> + +<P> +"Could you not forget?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" +</P> + +<P> +The young man sprang to his feet abruptly, his face working with +emotion, and took two or three turns about the room. At last he +paused, directly in front of her, and, folding his arms, stood +looking down into the beautiful eyes that met his own so +unflinchingly. He was outwardly calm, but the smouldering fire +which seemed to gleam in his dark eyes told of intense mental +excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Carleton," he said, slowly, in low tones, but yet which +vibrated through her whole being, "you are almost cruel in your +kindness; you will yet make a coward of me!" +</P> + +<P> +"I have no fear of that," she answered, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a coward! Instead of remaining silent as I intended, and +keeping my trouble within my own breast, you will compel me in +self-defence to say that which will only give you pain to hear, +thereby adding to my own suffering." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you misjudge," she replied, and her voice had a ring of +pathos in it; "any word of explanation—no matter what—would be +less hard for me to endure than this suspense." +</P> + +<P> +"God knows I would make full explanation if I could, but I cannot, +and I fear there is nothing I can say that will not add to your +suspense. Miss Carleton, you must need no words from me to tell +you that I love you. I have loved you almost from the first day +of our meeting, and whatever life may have in store for me, you, +and you alone, will have my love. But, loving you as I do, could +I have looked forward to the present time, could I for one moment +have foreseen what was awaiting me, believe me, you should never +have known by word or look, or any other sign, of my love." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment, then continued. "If that were all, I might +have borne it; I could have locked my love forever within my own +heart, and suffered in silence; but the fact that you have given me +some reason to believe that you were not wholly indifferent to me,—the +thought that I might in time have won your love,—makes the +possibilities of the future a thousand times harder to bear. It is +harder to forego the joys of Paradise when once you have had a +glimpse within! It was to this I alluded when I spoke of the +insurmountable barrier placed between myself and all that I hold +holiest and best on earth!" +</P> + +<P> +"But I do not understand!" she cried, her lovely color deepening +and her eyes glowing with a new light, until Harold Mainwaring +confessed to himself that never had he seen her so beautiful. "What +barrier could ever exist between you and me?" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant he looked at her in silence, an agony of love and +longing in his eyes; then drawing himself up to his full height, +he said, slowly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Not until I can stand before you free and clear from the faintest +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring, will I ever ask for that +most precious gift of your love!" +</P> + +<P> +Her face blanched at the mere possibility suggested by his words. +"But you are innocent!" she cried in swift protest, "and you could +prove it, even were suspicion directed against you for a time." +</P> + +<P> +"Even admitting that I were, the taint of suspicion is sometimes as +lasting as the stain of crime itself." +</P> + +<P> +She arose and stood proudly facing him. "Do you think I would fear +suspicion? To hear from your own lips that you love me and that +you are innocent would be enough for me; I would defy the whole +world!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not at once reply, and when he spoke it was slowly and +reluctantly, as though each word were wrung from him by torture. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Carleton, even to you I cannot say that I am innocent." +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment's pause, during which she gazed at him, +speechless with astonishment; a moment of intense agony to Harold +Mainwaring, as he watched whether her faith in him would waver. +But she gave no sign, though she scanned his face, as the condemned +criminal scans the document handed him as the fateful day approaches, +to ascertain whether it contains his pardon or his death sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Understand me," he said at last, gently, unable longer to endure +the terrible silence, "I do not admit that I am in any way guilty, +but until I am fully acquitted of any share in or knowledge of the +death of Hugh Mainwaring, I can make neither denial nor admission, +one way or the other." +</P> + +<P> +"But you still love me?" she inquired, calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Carleton,—Winifred,—how can you ask? You are, and always +will be to me, the one, only woman upon earth." +</P> + +<P> +"That is sufficient," she answered, with a strange, bright smile; +"my faith in you is perfect, and faith and love can wait." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait, my love! until when?" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +"If needful, until Eternity's sunlight dispels Earth's shadows! +Eternity holds ample compensation for all of Earth's waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"But, my darling," he said, half protesting, while he folded her to +his breast, "you know not the risk you may be running; I cannot +accept the sacrifice that may be involved." +</P> + +<P> +"My decision is taken, and it is irrevocable," she answered, with +an arch smile; then added, "There can be no barriers between us, +Harold, for Love will find a way!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN UNFORESEEN FOE +</H3> + +<P> +Though nearly six weeks had elapsed since the death of the master +of Fair Oaks, and as yet no light had been shed on that mysterious +event, the interest of the public mind in the affair had in no wise +abated during this brief interim. On the contrary, its curiosity +had been so whetted by the partial revelations of the inquest, that +it had eagerly followed each step of the legal proceedings leading +towards the inevitable contest over the property, ready to hail +with delight the appearance of the Mainwaring skeleton when it +should step forth from its long hiding to disclose the secrets of +the past. +</P> + +<P> +As early as possible, a petition, setting forth the terms and +conditions of the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring, and +praying for letters of administration in accordance therewith to be +issued to William H. Whitney, the executor named in said will, had +been filed in the district court. A few days thereafter, the +petition of Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, for letters to be issued +to Richard Hobson, was also filed. The hearing in the application +for letters of administration occupied several days; very little +evidence was adduced, however, which had not already been given at +the inquest, and in due time an order was issued by the court, +appointing Mr. Whitney administrator of the estate, with instructions +that the same be adjusted according to the terms of the lost will. +From this order, Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, through her attorney, +Hobson, had appealed, and the contest had at last begun. +</P> + +<P> +For greater convenience during the legal proceedings, Ralph +Mainwaring had closed the suburban residence, dismissing what +servants were no longer needed, though still retaining the new +coachman, and had removed to Hugh Mainwaring's city residence, +where he and his son made themselves perfectly at home, dining +with Mr. Whitney at his club. Mrs. LaGrange, having been +compelled to resign her position at Fair Oaks, had also removed +to the city and taken apartments in a convenient hotel until the +termination of her suit. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon of the second day since the opening of the case was +drawing to a close; the testimony on the appellant's side had been +taken, and it was expected that the respondent would be heard on the +following day, when an event transpired which completely overthrew +all proceedings had thus far, and which promised the waiting public +developments as startling as could be desired. +</P> + +<P> +This event was none other than the filing in the district court of +a document purporting to be the last will and testament of the father +of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, by the terms of which the Mainwaring +estate, as it then existed, together with the bulk of his other +property, passed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, an elder son who had +been previously disinherited, but was by this will restored to his +full rights. With this document, worn and yellow with age, was filed +a petition, setting forth the claims of one Harold Scott Mainwaring, +the lawful, living, and only son of the said Harold Scott Mainwaring +named in the will, but since deceased, and sole heir of the +Mainwaring estate, and praying for letters of administration to be +issued to George D. Sutherland, attorney for the said lawful heir. +</P> + +<P> +The court adjourned amid intense excitement, just as the newsboys +were crying the headlines of the evening papers,— +</P> + +<P> +"A New Heir to the Mainwaring Property! Discovery of Will secreted +more than Twenty-five Years! Millions wrongfully withheld from the +Rightful Owner!" +</P> + +<P> +Strangely enough, the two most interested in this unexpected turn +of affairs were among the latest to learn the surprising news. +Ralph Mainwaring, having felt slightly indisposed, and knowing that +his side would not come up for hearing until the following day, had +made himself as comfortable as possible in the elegant apartments +which he had appropriated to his own use, while his son had left +the court-room at an early hour to devote the remainder of the +afternoon to letter-writing. +</P> + +<P> +The latter glanced up from his writing and nodded pleasantly, as +Mr. Whitney, pale with excitement, was ushered by the butler into +the library. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, is your father in?" the attorney inquired, hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so," replied the young man, smiling broadly; "the last I +knew, the governor was luxuriating in his rooms up-stairs; I think +you will find him there now. How's the case coming on, sir?" he +added, as the attorney turned quickly towards the hall. "Anything +new developed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; decidedly new!" Mr. Whitney answered, rather brusquely; "you +had better join us up-stairs!" and he disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +The young man's face grew suddenly serious, and, springing from his +chair, he swiftly followed the retreating figure of the attorney, +arriving just in time to hear the latter exclaim, in reply to some +question from his father,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, the storm has burst!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring was, as his son had said, "luxuriating" in a superb +reclining chair, his eyes half closed, enjoying a fine Havana, but +the attorney's words seemed to produce the effect of an electric +shock. +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce, sir! what do you mean?" he demanded, instantly assuming +an upright position. +</P> + +<P> +"I simply mean that what I have expected and dreaded all along has +at last come to pass." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, since it was not unexpected, it is to be presumed that you +were at least prepared for it! That shyster and his designing +client must, at the last moment, have exerted their inventive +faculties to a remarkable degree!" +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary," said the attorney, quietly ignoring the other's +sarcasm, and handing copies of the evening papers to father and +son, "I am satisfied that neither Hobson nor his client has any part +in the developments of this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +A brief silence followed, during which the attorney watched the two +men before him, noting the strange contrast between them, never +until that moment so apparent. Young Mainwaring's boyish face grew +pale as he read, and he occasionally glanced at Mr. Whitney, as +though seeking in his face either confirmation or contradiction of +the report, but he remained calm and self-possessed, preserving his +gentlemanly bearing to the close of the interview. The face of the +elder man, however, rapidly assumed an almost apoplectic hue, the +veins standing out from his temples like whip-cords, and when he +spoke his voice trembled with rage. He was the first to break the +silence, as, with an oath, he flung the papers upon the floor, +exclaiming,— +</P> + +<P> +"It is a lie from beginning to end! The most preposterous +fabrication of falsehood that could be devised! The 'will,' as it +is called, is nothing but a rank forgery, and the man who dares +assert any claim to the estate is a damned impostor, and I'll tell +him so to his face!" +</P> + +<P> +"I examined the document very carefully, Mr. Mainwaring," said the +attorney, "and I shall have to admit that it certainly had every +appearance of genuineness; if it is a forgery, it is an exceedingly +clever one." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me that you believe, for one moment, in this +balderdash?" demanded Ralph Mainwaring, at the same time rising and +striding about the room in his wrath. "The utter absurdity of the +thing, that such a will ever existed, in the first place, and then +that it would be secreted all these years only to be 'discovered' +just at this critical moment! It is the most transparent invention +I ever heard of, and it is a disgrace to your American courts that +the thing was not quashed at once!" +</P> + +<P> +"That could not very well be done," said Mr. Whitney, with a quiet +smile; "and as the matter now stands, the only course left open for +us is to prepare ourselves for a thorough investigation of the case." +</P> + +<P> +"Investigation be damned!" interrupted the other, but, before he +could proceed further, he was in turn interrupted by young +Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, governor, you'd best cool down a bit and listen to what Mr. +Whitney has to say; if this thing is a forgery, we surely can prove +it so; and if it isn't, why, all the bluster in the world won't help +it, you know." +</P> + +<P> +His father faced him with a look of withering contempt. "'If' it +is a forgery! I tell you there are no 'ifs' about it. I suppose, +though, you are just fool enough that, if any man made a pretence +of a claim to the estate, you would simply hand it over to him, +and thank him for taking it off your hands!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just where you are wrong, governor. I would fight him, fair +and square, and he would have to prove a better claim than mine +before he could win. But the point is this, don't you know, you can +fight better with your head cool and your plans well laid beforehand." +</P> + +<P> +"The young man is right," said Mr. Whitney, quickly; "there is every +indication that our opponent, whoever or whatever he may be, is well +prepared for contesting the case. I understand he has plenty of +evidence on his side and the best of legal counsel." +</P> + +<P> +"Evidence, I suppose," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, with a sneer, +"in support of a document that never existed, and a man that never +lived on the face of the earth; for Harold Mainwaring never had a +living son. Have you seen this remarkable individual?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe no one in this country has seen him as yet, sir. He is +expected to arrive on the 'Umbria,' which I understand is due the +early part of next week." +</P> + +<P> +The face of the other showed slight surprise at this statement, but, +before he could speak, the young man inquired,— +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Mr. Whitney, what sort of a man is this attorney, Sutherland? +Is he another Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney shook his head significantly. "Mr. Sutherland is one of +the ablest men in his profession. I consider him a fine jurist, an +eloquent pleader, and a perfect gentleman. I had some conversation +with him after court adjourned, and while he, of course, stated no +details, he gave me to understand that his client had a strong case. +He also informed me that Barton & Barton, of London, had been +retained in the case, and that his client would be accompanied to +this country by the junior member of the firm, Alfred Barton." +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove, that looks bad for us!" ejaculated young Mainwaring, +while his father exclaimed, impatiently,— +</P> + +<P> +"Barton & Barton? Impossible! that is mere bombast! Why, man, +the Bartons, father and sons, have been the family solicitors of +the Mainwarings for the past fifty years. The old firm of Barton +& Sons had charge of the settlement of the estate when it passed +into Hugh Mainwaring's possession at the death of his father." +</P> + +<P> +"So I had understood," said the attorney; "I have heard Mr. +Mainwaring himself speak of them." +</P> + +<P> +"And," continued the other, "only a few days before sailing for +America, I called at their chambers in London and told them of +Hugh's intentions regarding my son and received their +congratulations. Now, sir, do you mean to tell me, in the face +of all this, that Barton & Barton are retained by this mushroom +claimant, whoever he is? Pooh! preposterous!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney shook his head slowly. "Mr. Sutherland is not the man +to make any misstatements or allow himself to be misinformed. All +I have to say is, if those attorneys are retained in the case, it +certainly looks as though our opponent must have some tenable +ground in support of his claim. I am inclined to think they will +make us a hard fight, but I am confident that we will win in the +end. The main point is this: we must be prepared to meet them on +whatever ground they may take, and, after hearing their side and +the proof they set up, we can easily determine our line of defence." +</P> + +<P> +"To the deuce with your line of defence! I tell you, Whitney, there +is just one point to be maintained, and, by my soul, it shall be +maintained at any cost!" and the speaker emphasized his words by +bringing his clinched hand down upon a table beside him with +terrific force "that point is this: Harold Scott Mainwaring never +had a living, lawful son; no such person exists, or ever has +existed on the face of the earth, and I can prove what I say." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you absolute proof of that?" Mr. Whitney inquired, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have," replied Ralph Mainwaring, triumphantly, while his cold, +calculating gray eyes glittered like burnished steel. "If any man +thinks I have been asleep for the past twenty-one years, he is +deucedly mistaken. Mr. Whitney, since the day of that boy's birth," +pointing to his son, "I have had but one fixed resolve, which has +been paramount to everything else, to which everything else has +had to subserve,—the Mainwaring estate with its millions should +one day be his. Not a day has passed in which this was not +uppermost in my mind; not a day in which I have not scanned the +horizon in every direction to detect the least shadow likely to +intervene between me and the attainment of the dearest object of +my life. When the news of Harold Mainwaring's death reached +England, in order to guard against the possibility of a claim ever +being asserted in that direction, I set myself at once to the task +of finding for a certainty whether or not he had left any issue. +I never rested day or night until, after infinite labor and pains, +I had secured the certificate of the attendant physician to the +effect that the only child of Harold Mainwaring died within an +hour from its birth." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you that certificate now?" inquired the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Not here; it is among my private papers at home." +</P> + +<P> +"Cable for it at once; with the death of Harold Mainwaring's child +fully established, the will would cut no figure, one way or another." +</P> + +<P> +"That will," said Ralph Mainwaring, fiercely, turning upon Mr. +Whitney with an expression which the latter had never seen, "let me +tell you, will cut no figure one way or another in any event. That +will, remember, is a forgery; and, if necessary, I will prove it so, +if it takes my last shilling and the last drop of my heart's blood +to do it; do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +The attorney understood, and was more than ever convinced in his ow + mind that the old will filed that day was genuine.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Mrs. LaGrange sat alone in +her apartments, awaiting the coming of Richard Hobson. It was +considerably past the hour which he had set and daylight was slowly +merging into dusk, yet enough light still remained to show the +changes which the last few weeks had wrought in her face. Her +features looked pinched and drawn, and a strange pallor had replaced +the rich coloring of the olive skin, while her dark eyes, cold and +brilliant as ever, had the look of some wild creature suddenly +brought to bay. She shuddered now, as, from her window, she saw the +cringing form of Hobson approaching the building. +</P> + +<P> +"To think," she exclaimed to herself, passionately, "that that +creature is the only one to whom I can go for counsel or advice! I +loathe the very sight of him; fool that I was ever to place myself +within his power! I thought I could use him as a tool like the +rest; but it is like playing with edged tools; yet I dare not let +him go." +</P> + +<P> +A moment later, she heard a stealthy, cat-like tread in the corridor +outside, followed by a low, peculiar tap at the door, and Hobson +entered. +</P> + +<P> +She crossed the room slowly, keeping her face in the shadow, and, +motioning him to a chair, seated herself opposite, watching him +narrowly. +</P> + +<P> +"You are late," she said, coldly, in response to his greeting. +</P> + +<P> +"Admitted, my lady," he replied, in his usual unctuous tones, "but +I naturally wished to ascertain all the facts possible regarding +this new deal, and, seeing Whitney nosing about on the trail, I +decided to remain within ear-shot and pick up what information I +could second-hand." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you learn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing very definite, and yet enough, perhaps, to give us our +cue until further developments. My dear lady, what do you think of +this new turn of affairs?" +</P> + +<P> +"The whole thing is simply preposterous; a piece of the most +consummate audacity I ever dreamed of!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! I thought it would strike you as particularly nervy. It is +the most daring bit of invention I have seen for some time; and it +must be a pretty cleverly concocted scheme and pretty well backed +with the ducats also, for I learned to-night that the 'heir,'" +laying special emphasis on the word, "has secured the services of +Barton & Barton, and those birds are too old to be caught with +chaff; besides, you know as well as I the part that firm has taken +in the Mainwaring affairs." +</P> + +<P> +"Barton & Barton? Incredible! The case is hopeless then for Ralph +Mainwaring: he is a fool if he expects to win." +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I was leading up to. Whitney is no match even for this +man, Sutherland, and he will be a mere child in the hands of the +Bartons. Now, the question is, where do we come in? As you say, +Ralph Mainwaring's case is hopeless, unless—" and he looked +significantly at his client. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think I quite catch the drift of your meaning," she answered, +slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Has it not occurred to you that there are not two people in existence +who can so quickly tear to shreds the scheme of this impostor as +you and I? There is not a human being living outside of myself who +knows the real facts concerning that will; and who could give such +effective and convincing testimony regarding Harold Mainwaring's +son as yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"Admitting all this, what do you propose?" +</P> + +<P> +"When Ralph Mainwaring has staked his highest card and finds that +the game is irrevocably lost, what will he not give at the last +critical moment for assistance such as we can then furnish him?" +</P> + +<P> +"And which course would you pursue in that event?" she asked, a +tinge of irony in her tone. "Would you deny that such a will ever +existed in face of whatever evidence may be brought forward in its +support? or would you admit being a party to the destruction of +the will?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear madam, I am perfectly capable of conducting this affair +to our mutual satisfaction and without running my head into any trap, +as you so pleasantly suggest. And right here allow me to say that +it would be just as well for you not to make those insinuations +which you are so fond of throwing out at random. As I said before, +no living person outside of myself, including even yourself, knows +the facts regarding that will. You have your own surmises, but they +are only surmises, and you had best keep them to yourself as you +know enough of me by this time to know it will be to your interest +to accept my suggestions and fall in line with my plans." +</P> + +<P> +Her face was in the shadow, and he did not see the scornful curl of +her lip or her peculiar expression, as she remarked coldly,— +</P> + +<P> +"You are only wasting words and time in your efforts to intimidate +me. You have not yet made any suggestions or outlined any plans. +I have asked you what you propose to do." +</P> + +<P> +"I have not time to go into details, but, briefly stated, I propose, +when the right opportunity presents itself, to prove, first, that +this document filed to-day is a forgery. If I can show conclusively +that the original will was accidentally lost, or intentionally +destroyed, or if I happen to have the original in my possession,—under +any of these conditions I gain my first point. Then, through +your testimony, I shall demonstrate unequivocally a still more +important point, that this so-called heir is a gross impostor, that +no such individual exists." +</P> + +<P> +"And for this, you expect—what?" +</P> + +<P> +"For this I shall demand a handsome remuneration, to be divided, of +course, between yourself and myself, and Ralph Mainwaring will only +too gladly give the half of his kingdom for such services." +</P> + +<P> +"And your testimony would have so much weight with Ralph Mainwaring +and the Bartons, and with every one else who has any knowledge of +your London history!" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson winced visibly, but before he could reply she continued: +</P> + +<P> +"You are talking the most arrant foolishness. You know that those +men would not allow your testimony in court; they would very quickly +procure evidence to show that your word, even under oath, is +worthless; that you are a liar, a perjurer and a—" +</P> + +<P> +"Not so fast, not so fast, my lady. If past histories are to be +raked up, I know of one which embraces a much wider area than London +alone; Melbourne, for instance, and Paris and Vienna, to say nothing +of more recent events!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do your worst, and I will do mine!" she replied, defiantly. "That +is nothing to the point, however. What I have to say is this: You +are a fool if you think that you or I can ever extort money from +Ralph Mainwaring. He would give no credence whatever to anything +that you might say, and if once my identity were revealed to him, +he would go through fire and blood rather than that one shilling of +his should ever become mine." +</P> + +<P> +"And what do you propose to do?" he asked, sullenly. "Do you +intend to give up the game?" +</P> + +<P> +"Give up? Never! I would give my life first! I will yet have my +revenge on the Mainwarings, one and all; and I will repay them +double for all the insult and ignominy they have heaped upon me." +</P> + +<P> +"That is to the point; but how will you accomplish it?" said Hobson, +in a more conciliatory tone, for each feared the other, and he +thoroughly understood the spirit of his client. "Let us be +reasonable about this; you and I have too much at stake and too +many interests in common for us to quarrel like children." +</P> + +<P> +"If I were differently situated, I can assure you we would then have +very few interests in common," she replied, bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, supposing you were, what would you do in this case?" he +inquired, softly, apparently taking no notice of her remark, but +in reality making a mental note of it for future reckoning. +</P> + +<P> +"Defeat Ralph Mainwaring, by all means; if necessary, produce +testimony to show that this will is genuine. If he spends his last +shilling to fight the case, so much the better. Then, when the +case is settled and this so-called heir is master of the situation, +or supposes himself so, bring suit to show that he is an impostor, +and assert my own claim as the nearest living heir." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson whistled softly. "A plan worthy of your ambition, my lady, +but hardly feasible. It is one thing to assert a claim, and +another to be able to establish it. Through your over-ambition +you would lose in the end, for, should you succeed in dispossessing +this stranger, Ralph Mainwaring would surely come forward with his +claim, and you would be beaten." +</P> + +<P> +"When I lay down arms to a Mainwaring, I will lay down my life also," +she answered, proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"You think so, perhaps; but let me tell you the best course for you +to pursue is to make terms, either with Ralph Mainwaring, as I +first suggested, or else with this new-comer—should he prove +victorious—by threatening to expose his whole scheme." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. LaGrange made no reply, and Hobson, rising to take leave, saw +her face for the first time and paused, surprised at its strange +expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he said, with a look of inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"My thoughts were wandering just then," she said, with a faint +smile, and her tone was so changed the voice scarcely seemed her +own. "I was wishing, just for the moment, that this stranger, +whoever he may be, was in reality the one he claims to be. I +would need no attorney to make terms with him then!" +</P> + +<P> +"You forget; he would be a Mainwaring!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but he would be the only Mainwaring and the only human being +I could ever have loved, and I would have loved him better than +my own life." +</P> + +<P> +"Love!" repeated Hobson, with a sneer. "Who would ever have +thought to hear that word from your lips! But how about your son, +Walter; do you not love him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Him!" she exclaimed, passionately; "the price I paid hoping to +win Hugh Mainwaring! I am proud of him as my own flesh and blood, +but love him? Never!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you have not yet told me what you think of my last suggestion," +he said, tentatively, watching her closely. Her manner changed +instantly; rising with all her accustomed hauteur and turning from +him with a gesture of dismissal, she replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"Come to me later, when I shall have measured lances with our new +opponent, and you shall have your answer." +</P> + +<P> +He would have spoken, but her dismissal was final, and with +darkening face he left the room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS +</H3> + +<P> +The sudden turn of affairs in the Mainwaring case excited no small +amount of comment, and for the next ensuing days speculation was +rife concerning the recently discovered will, but more particularly +regarding the new and unknown claimant. At the clubs and elsewhere +it formed the principal topic of conversation, and Ralph Mainwaring +was loud in his denunciations of the one as a forgery, and of the +other as an impostor. To all such remarks, however, as well as to +the questions of the curious, Mr. Sutherland had but one reply, +accompanied by a slow, quiet smile; that on the day set for the +hearing, he would not only prove the validity of the will, but +would also establish, beyond all doubt or question, the identity +of the claimant. +</P> + +<P> +As a result, public curiosity was so thoroughly aroused, that upon +the arrival of the "Umbria," an unusual crowd of reporters was +assembled at the pier, notwithstanding a pouring rain, and the +gang-plank had no sooner been thrown down than a number of the +more ambitious rushed on board, eager to be the first in gaining +some bit of information or personal description. Their efforts, +however, were unsuccessful, as the individuals whom they most +desired to meet remained in their state-rooms and declined to be +interviewed. Not until the crowd had about dispersed and the +patience of a few of the more persistent was nearly exhausted, was +their zeal rewarded by the sight of a party of four Englishmen, who +hastily left the boat, completely enveloped in heavy mackintoshes, +and, taking a closed carriage which was awaiting them, were driven +rapidly to the Waldorf Hotel. +</P> + +<P> +At the hotel the party still remained inaccessible to all visitors, +with the exception of Mr. Sutherland, who spent much of his time +in their apartments. It was ascertained that the party consisted +of two gentlemen, one of whom was accompanied by a valet, the +other—presumably the attorney—by a clerk, but all efforts +towards gaining any more definite information prove absolutely +futile. The arrival by the next steamer of another stranger, an +elderly gentleman, who immediately joined the party at the Waldoff, +after having registered under an evident alias, only served to +deepen the mystery. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the arrival of the day set for the hearing of the proof in +support of the ancient will, the court-room was, at an early hour, +packed to its utmost capacity. Occupying a prominent place were +Ralph Mainwaring and his son, accompanied by Mr. Whitney, the +sensitive face of the attorney more eager and alert than ever! +At some distance from them, but seated rather conspicuously where +she could command a good view of all that occurred, was Mrs. +LaGrange, while in a remote corner of the court-room, partially +concealed by the crowd, was Richard Hobson. +</P> + +<P> +Within a few moments preceding the appointed hour, Mr. Sutherland +appeared. His entrance caused a sudden hush of expectation +throughout the crowd and all eyes were immediately turned in his +direction. Accompanying him was a gentleman whose bearing commanded +universal admiration, and whom the Mainwarings instantly recognized +as the English barrister whose connection with the case they had +deemed so incredible. But a still deeper surprise awaited them. +Immediately following the attorneys was a young man whose features +and carriage were familiar, not only to the Mainwarings, but to +scores of spectators as well, as those of the private secretary of +the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, whose testimony at the inquest had +created so much of a sensation, and whose sudden disappearance +thereafter had caused considerable comment. There was a ripple of +excitement through the court-room, and the Mainwarings, father, and +son, watched the young man with strangely varying emotions, neither +as yet fully comprehending the real significance of his presence +there. +</P> + +<P> +"The secretary!" exclaimed Mr. Whitney, in a low tone. "Can it be +possible that he is concerned in this?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is probably the hired tool by means of which this has been +brought about. I might have known as much!" replied the elder man, +his old hatred and wrath reviving with greater intensity than ever, +but before he could proceed further his glance fell on the +secretary's companion. +</P> + +<P> +He was a tall, elderly gentleman, with snow-white hair and beard, +but with form erect and vigorous, and with piercing eyes which met +those of Ralph Mainwaring with a flash, not of recognition alone, +but of disdain and defiance that seemed to challenge him to do his +utmost. +</P> + +<P> +With a muttered oath, the latter half rose from his chair, but at +that instant his attention was arrested by the two men bringing up +the rear; one, small and of uncertain age, the other, older even +than he appeared, and bearing the unmistakable air of an English +servant. As Ralph Mainwaring recognized James Wilson, the last +relic of the old Mainwaring household, he suddenly grew pale and +sank back into his chair, silent, watchful, and determined; while +his son and the attorney, quick to note the change in his appearance, +made neither inquiries nor comments, but each drew his own +conclusion. +</P> + +<P> +There was one other to whom the white-haired gentleman did not seem +an utter stranger. Mrs. LaGrange from her post of observation had +watched the entering party with visible signs of excitement. Her +lips curled in a mocking smile as she caught sight of the secretary, +but glancing from him to his companion, she involuntarily recoiled +in terror, yet gazed like one fascinated, unable to remove her eyes +from his face. Suddenly the piercing eyes met her own, their look +of astonishment quickly changing to scorn. She flushed, then paled, +but her eyes never faltered, flashing back mocking defiance to his +anger and scorn for scorn. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the quondam secretary, seated between the attorneys on +the one hand and his elderly companion on the other, seemed alike +unconscious of the many curious glances cast in his direction and +of the dark looks of Ralph Mainwaring now fastened on him. At a +little distance was the old servant, his immovable features expressing +the utmost indifference to his surroundings, looking neither to the +right hand nor to the left. +</P> + +<P> +Not so with the remaining member of the party, the so-called "clerk!" +Seated beside the English barrister, his eye seemed to sweep the +entire court-room with a glance that omitted no details, not even +the cringing form of Hobson, who quailed and seemed to be trying to +shrink still further into concealment as he felt himself included +in the search-light of that gaze. But no one saw the slip of paper +which, a moment later, was handed to Alfred Barton, and by him +passed to Mr. Sutherland. There was a hurried filling out of blanks +lying among the papers on the table, a messenger was despatched, two +or three men edged themselves into the crowd in Hobson's vicinity,—and +that was all! +</P> + +<P> +Promptly at the time appointed the case was called. There was +perfect silence throughout the court-room as Mr. Sutherland arose, +holding in one hand the ancient will, and with breathless attention +the crowd listened for the opening words of what was to prove one +of the fiercest and most bitter contests on record, and of whose +final termination even the participants themselves little dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +After a few preliminaries, Mr. Sutherland said, addressing the court,— +</P> + +<P> +"Before proceeding farther, your honor, I will give orders for the +subpoena, as a witness in this case, of one Richard Hobson, alias +Dick Carroll." +</P> + +<P> +Then turning towards the crowd in the rear of the courtroom, he added, +"Let the papers be served at once." +</P> + +<P> +There was a stir of excitement and a sudden craning of necks in the +direction indicated by the attorney's glance, where three men had +sprung forward in obedience to his orders. +</P> + +<P> +Hobson, at the first mention of his name, had glanced quickly about +him as though seeking some means of escape, but on hearing the +alias—the name he had supposed unknown in America—he paused for +an instant, seemingly half paralyzed with terror. But the sight of +the approaching sheriff broke the spell, and he made a sudden lunge +through the crowd in the direction of an open window. His progress +was speedily checked by one of the deputies, however, and after a +short, ineffectual struggle he sullenly submitted. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring the witness forward," said Mr. Sutherland, with his calm, +slow smile; "we may call upon him before long, and he would probably +prefer a seat convenient to the witness stand." +</P> + +<P> +As he was seated opposite and facing the English party, it was noted +that the face of the old servant lighted up with a look of +recognition, and he watched the new-comer with evident interest. +Hobson, having carefully avoided the eyes of both Alfred Barton and +the private secretary, soon became aware of Wilson's scrutiny, and +after regarding him fixedly for a moment seemed suddenly to recognize +him in turn, and also to realize at the same time the import of his +presence there, which, apparently, did not tend to lessen his +agitation. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly Mr. Sutherland unfolded the document he held, yellow with +age, the edges of its folds so frayed and tattered as to render the +writing in some places almost illegible. Slowly, in deep, resonant +tones, he read the opening words of the old will; words of unusual +solemnity, which caused a hush to fall over the crowded court-room: +</P> + +<P> +"In the name of God; Amen. Know all men, that I, Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but now +upon my death-bed, soon to appear in the presence of my Maker, do +make and publish this, my last will and testament; hereby revoking +and setting aside any and every will at any time heretofore made +by me." +</P> + +<P> +Then followed, in quaint phraseology, the terms of the will; by +which the full right and title of the first-born son, under the +English law, were conveyed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, and all legal +processes theretofore entered into, depriving him of such rights, +were forever annulled; restoring to the said Harold Scott Mainwaring, +as his rightful inheritance, the entire family estate, including +other valuable property; the said property at his death to pass to +his eldest living son, or in case of his dying without issue, to +revert to his brother Hugh, were the latter living, if not, to the +nearest living heirs of the Mainwarings; but on no account was any +portion of the estate or property to pass to the wife of Harold +Scott Mainwaring, should she survive him. +</P> + +<P> +As the reading of the will progressed, Hobson's feelings, too deep +and genuine at that moment for disguise, were plainly mirrored in +his face. Having for years believed the old will destroyed, as he +now listened to the words dictated to himself upon that memorable +night, so long ago, it was little wonder that to his cowardly soul +it seemed like a voice from the dead, and that astonishment, fear, +and dread were depicted on his features, merging into actual terror +as the attorney at last pronounced the names of the witnesses, +Alexander McPherson and Richard Hobson. +</P> + +<P> +For a few seconds his brain reeled, and he saw only the face of the +dying man as it looked that night,—stern and pale, but with dark, +piercing eyes, deep-set, within whose depths still gleamed the +embers of a smouldering fire which now seemed burning into his +inmost soul. Trembling from head to foot, Hobson, with a mighty +effort, regained his scattered faculties and again became conscious +of his surroundings, only to find the eyes of the secretary fixed +upon his face, and, as he shrank from their burning gaze, the truth +flashed suddenly upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"The face of old Mainwaring himself!" he muttered in horror; then +added, with an oath, "Fool that I was not to have known it sooner! +That woman lied!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OPENING FIRE +</H3> + +<P> +The first witness called to the stand by Mr. Sutherland was James +Wilson. There were many present who noted the resemblance between +him and his son, John Wilson, who had given testimony at the +inquest, though unaware of the relationship between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, after the usual preliminaries, "I +understand you were for a number of years in the employ of Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, the testator whose name is affixed to this will; +is that so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," was the reply, while the attention of the crowd was at +once riveted upon the witness. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state how long you were in his employ, and in what +capacity?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was his valet, sir, from his twenty-fifth year until the day of +his death, a little above thirty-five years, sir; and during his +last illness, of about three months, I was with him constantly, +you might say, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you recognize the document just read in your hearing as anything +which you have heard before?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I do, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"State when and under what circumstances you have previously heard +it." +</P> + +<P> +"At the death-bed of Mr. Ralph Mainwaring, sir, twenty-five years +ago the seventeenth of last November. I was present at the making +of that will, sir, the night before Mr. Mainwaring died. I heard +him give those words to the lawyer, and then heard them read to +him before the will was signed." +</P> + +<P> +"By whom was it drawn?" +</P> + +<P> +"By Richard Hobson, sir; the man sitting there," pointing to the +shrinking figure of Hobson. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you positively identify that man as the writer of this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I do, sir," with marked emphasis; "when one once sets eyes +on the likes o' him, he's not likely to forget him soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Was Richard Hobson the attorney of Mr. Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, no, sir," with evident scorn; "his attorney was Mr. Alfred +Barton, the father, sir, of this gentleman," indicating the English +barrister, while the interest of the crowd deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"How, then, was this man employed to draw the will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Barton was out of town, sir; and as Mr. Mainwaring was dying +and naught would satisfy him but to have a lawyer, they brought Mr. +Barton's clerk." +</P> + +<P> +"State the circumstances under which this will was drawn; was Mr. +Mainwaring influenced by any one to make it?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was influenced by none but his own conscience, sir. You see, +sir, three or four years before, he was very angry with his elder +son, and cut him off without a shilling and gave everything to Mr. +Hugh. But it broke his heart to do it, for Mr. Harold was his +favorite, as indeed he was everybody's, though he never mentioned +his name again until the night he made the will. Well, sir, all +that day we knew he was dying, and he knew it, and he was restless +till late at night, when of a sudden he tells us to get his lawyer. +Mr. Hugh tried to put him off, and told us his mind was wandering; +but 'twas no use; and the carriage was sent for Mr. Barton, and +when word was brought back that he was out of town, it was sent +again and brought back his clerk. Everything was all ready, and +he was propped up in bed by pillows, his eyes burning as though there +was fire in them. He repeated those words while the lawyer wrote +them down, and then had them read to him, and at fifteen minutes +of twelve o'clock the will was signed and sealed." +</P> + +<P> +"You were present during the drawing up of the will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, I was present through it all, but not where the others +saw me. When the lawyer came, Mr. Hugh told me to leave the room; +but as I was going his father called me back and bade me stay, +and I was standing at the foot of the bed, hidden by the curtains +of the canopy, so none but the old gentleman saw me." +</P> + +<P> +"Who else was present?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring's old friend, Sandy McPherson, Mr. Hugh, and the +lawyer." +</P> + +<P> +"No one else? Were there no physicians present?" +</P> + +<P> +"There were physicians in the house, sir, but not in the room." +</P> + +<P> +"How long did Mr. Mainwaring live afterwards?" +</P> + +<P> +"He died at five o'clock the next morning, sir; his strength went +fast after that was done, but he rested easy and seemed satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +"What was done with the will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson took it away with him that night." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you ever seen it since?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, showing the witness the will, "can +you swear to these signatures as being the same which you saw affixed +to the will upon that night?" +</P> + +<P> +Wilson studied the document attentively for a moment. "Yes, sir, +that is Mr. Mainwaring's writing, only a bit unsteady, for his hand +trembled. McPherson's writing I know, and you mark that blot after +his name? I remember his fussing that night because he had blotted +the paper." +</P> + +<P> +"And the third name, is that the signature of this man, Richard +Hobson?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know naught about that man's writing," the old fellow replied, +with a shrewd look; "but you will mind that the name is the same +writing as the will itself, and he wrote that and signed his name +to it, for I saw him." +</P> + +<P> +"And you have neither seen that will, nor heard it read until this +morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"You have remembered it all these years?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe not word for word, sir, but I have kept the sense of it in +my mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you positive that this is the will drawn up on the night of +which you speak?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I am, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever speak to any one of this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"To none but my son, sir. Mr. Hugh Mainwaring was that sort of a +man, I could not speak to him about it, or ask about his brother. +I asked to be allowed to stay about the old place in hopes that some +day Mr. Harold would come back to have a look at his old home, and +I could tell him of it, for I thought things had not gone right +altogether. Then we heard of his death, and I thought it was too +late; I could do no good by speaking, and I held my tongue until +the young gentleman came." +</P> + +<P> +Wilson was then dismissed and Hobson was next called to the stand. +More even than the reading of the old will, the truth which had +dawned upon Hobson's mind as he met the piercing gaze of the +secretary, had convinced him that the position which he had intended +to assume, adverse to the new claimant and as an ally of Ralph +Mainwaring's, was neither politic nor safe. His views on that +subject had undergone a decided change, and, with his usual +weathervane proclivities, he was now preparing to take a totally +different stand and strive to ingratiate himself into the favor of +the new heir, at the same time leaving, if possible, a few loop-holes +through which he could retreat, should some veering wind change his +course in another direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, somewhat abruptly, when the +necessary preliminaries were over, "did you on the night of November +17, 18-, act as attorney for Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, in the drawing +up, at his request, of his last will and testament?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so, sir," was the guarded answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you or did you not?" Mr. Sutherland persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"I did, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you, during all these years, had any knowledge that the will +you drew under the circumstances already mentioned was still in +existence?" +</P> + +<P> +After a slight pause, the witness replied, "I had no positive +knowledge to that effect." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you believe the will to be in existence?" +</P> + +<P> +Hobson reflected a moment, then replied, cautiously, "I was led to +suppose that the will did not exist." +</P> + +<P> +"You remember the form, terms, and conditions of the document drawn +by yourself on that occasion?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do, perfectly," he replied, with more assurance. +</P> + +<P> +"State whether the will read in your hearing this morning is +identical with the one drawn by yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Hobson now saw the drift of the attorney's questions, but it was too +late. +</P> + +<P> +"As near as I can recollect," he stammered, but a word from Mr. +Sutherland recalled him. +</P> + +<P> +"You just said you remembered perfectly." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe they are identical in form." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, spreading out the document before +the witness, but still retaining his hold upon it, "will you state +to the court whether that is your writing, and whether the last name, +that of the second witness, is your signature." +</P> + +<P> +With great precision, Hobson adjusted a pair of eyeglasses and +proceeded to scrutinize the writing closely. "Well," he remarked, +at length, very deliberately, "I do not deny that to be my writing, +nor am I prepared to positively affirm that it is such. The fact +is, my chirography varies so much from time to time that I often +find it difficult for me to verify my own signatures." +</P> + +<P> +"Here are some papers which may assist the gentleman, and may be of +some use to the court," said a deep voice with rich, musical +inflections, but slightly tinged with sarcasm, and the English +attorney handed a small package to Mr. Sutherland. "They contain," +he added, "some specimens of the witness's chirography of about the +same date as the will." +</P> + +<P> +"The writing in both cases is identical," said Mr. Sutherland, as, +having examined the papers, he showed them to Hobson, but a glance +at their contents seemed rather to confuse the witness than +otherwise, for he remained silent. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you acknowledge these letters to be of your writing?" inquired +the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"I do, sir; and I have no doubt but that the other is my writing +also." +</P> + +<P> +"You acknowledge this, then, as the will which you wrote at the +dictation of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring the night before his death?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it is, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobson, why was this will not make public following Mr. +Mainwaring's death and burial?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the day after his death, I gave it into the keeping of his son, +Hugh Mainwaring, at his own request, and he afterwards gave me to +understand that it was lost." +</P> + +<P> +"And you were paid for keeping silent as to the existence of such +a will, were you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I may have been," the witness replied, with a calmness born of +desperation. +</P> + +<P> +"That is sufficient for the present." +</P> + +<P> +A few moments followed in which the attorneys consulted together, +while comments in tones of subdued excitement and expectancy were +exchanged among the crowd. Ralph Mainwaring had sat with darkening +face throughout the testimony thus far; now he remarked to Mr. +Whitney, with a bitter sneer,— +</P> + +<P> +"Fine witnesses! A beggarly shyster whose oath is worthless, and +an imbecile old servant, who could be bought for a half-crown!" +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring turned upon his father a look of indignant surprise. +"Governor," he said, "it would not be well for you if either old +James Wilson or his son heard that remark of yours!" +</P> + +<P> +"It will be well for you to attend to your own business and keep +your mouth shut!" responded his father, angrily. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath the calm exterior which the young man preserved, the old +Mainwaring blood was now fast rising, but he made no reply, for at +that instant Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the next witness: +</P> + +<P> +"Harold Scott Mainwaring!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a sudden hush throughout the court-room, broken an instant +later by a low murmur of mingled astonishment, incredulity, and +wonder as the private secretary rose and walked towards the witness +stand. A few comments reached his ears, but he seemed unconscious +of them, and, having taken his place, turned towards the audience a +face cold and impassive, inscrutable to his enemies, who could read +nothing of the conflicting emotions beneath that calm, immobile +surface. +</P> + +<P> +He saw the crowd of upturned faces—incredulous, wondering, curious; +he caught the mocking smile of Mrs. LaGrange and Ralph Mainwaring's +dark, sinister sneer; but he took little note of these. Like an +arrow speeding to the mark, his glance sought the face of young Hugh +Mainwaring. Their eyes met, and in that brief moment there was +recalled to each a starlit night on one of the balconies at Fair +Oaks, and the parting words of young Mainwaring to the secretary, +"I'm your friend, Scott, and whatever happens, I'll stand by you." +</P> + +<P> +With swift intuition each read the other's thought, and, although +there was no outward sign, Harold Mainwaring knew from that instant +that there would be no retraction of that pledge. +</P> + +<P> +The slight ripple of excitement died away while the witness was +sworn, and the crowd listened with interest even to the preliminary +interrogatories. +</P> + +<P> +"Where were you born?" asked the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"In Melbourne, Australia," was the reply, while deep silence awaited +Mr. Sutherland's next question. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, I believe you are familiar with the will just read, +are you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Please state when, and under what conditions, you gained your +knowledge of this will." +</P> + +<P> +"I first learned that such a will had existed and knew its general +terms, between five and six years since, through information given +me by James Wilson. From data found a little over a year ago among +the personal letters of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, I ascertained +that the will was still in existence, and on the 7th of July last +I discovered the document itself and became personally familiar with +its contents." +</P> + +<P> +At the mention of the name of Hugh Mainwaring and of the date so +eventful in the recent history of Fair Oaks, the interest of the +crowd deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you discover the document accidentally, or after special search +for it?" +</P> + +<P> +"As the result of a systematic search for more than a year." +</P> + +<P> +"Please state whether you took any steps leading to the discovery +of this will during the four or five years immediately following +your first knowledge of it; and if so, what?" +</P> + +<P> +"As I first learned of the will soon after entering Oxford, my +studies necessarily occupied the greater part of my time for the +next three or four years; but I lost no opportunity for gaining all +possible information relating not only to the Mainwaring estate, +but more particularly to Hugh Mainwaring and his coadjutor, Richard +Hobson. Among other facts, I learned that immediately after the +settlement of the estate, Hugh Mainwaring had disposed of the same +and left England for America, while about the same time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from a penniless pettifogger to a position of +affluence. +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as my studies were completed, I sailed for America, with +the avowed determination of securing further evidence regarding the +will, and of establishing my claim to the property fraudulently +withheld from my father and from myself. In the securing of the +necessary evidence I succeeded beyond my expectations. As Hugh +Mainwaring's private secretary, I gained access to the files of +his personal letters, and soon was familiar with the entire +correspondence between himself and Richard Hobson, from which I +learned that the latter demanding and receiving large sums of +money as the price of his silence regarding some past fraudulent +transaction. The nature of that transaction, I ascertained in +this marginal note, in Hugh Mainwaring's handwriting, upon one of +Hobson's letters which happened to be more insolent in its tone +than the rest. With the permission of the court I will read it: +</P> + +<P> +"'He insinuates that I destroyed the will; I only gave him to +understand that it was lost. Little he dreams it is still in my +possession and will be, until such time as I, too, have to make +final disposition of my estate! Why I did not destroy it, or why +I do not, now that the property is rightfully mine, I cannot say, +except that I dare not! "Thus conscience does make cowards of us +all?"' +</P> + +<P> +"With the discovery of these words," concluded the witness, "began +my search for the will itself." +</P> + +<P> +"From the discovery of this letter which led you to believe the will +was still in existence, you prosecuted your search for the document +until the 7th of last July?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, whenever an opportunity for search was offered." +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you finally find the will?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the safe, in Mr. Mainwaring's private apartments at Fair Oaks." +</P> + +<P> +"On July 7 last?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"That was the day on which you, acting as Hugh Mainwaring's secretary, +had drawn, at his dictation, his last will and testament, was it not?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, deliberately, his eye quick to +read the faces about him, "is there in your mind any connection +between that event and your discovery of this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only the most indirect," was the reply, given with equal +deliberation. "The fact that Hugh Mainwaring was making final +disposition of his property naturally spurred me on to increased +action, since, in making final adjustment of his papers, he would +be more than likely to destroy the old will. This incentive, +together with the fact that opportunity was given me for a more +thorough search than I had been able to make prior to that time, +combined to bring about the discovery of the will." +</P> + +<P> +"Please state the time and circumstances of your finding it." +</P> + +<P> +"I found it late in the afternoon, while Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests had gone for a long drive. I determined to leave no place +unexplored where it could possibly be concealed; after about an +hour's search I found it." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you then do with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I retained it in my possession, and at the earliest opportunity +secreted it within my own room." +</P> + +<P> +"It was in your possession during the following evening and night?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland, with marked emphasis, "please +state whether you mentioned to Hugh Mainwaring the discovery of the +will, or had any conversation with him relating thereto." +</P> + +<P> +"I made no mention of the matter to him whatever. Except for a few +moments, immediately upon his return, I did not see him alone until +about midnight, when he appeared fatigued, and I would not introduce +the subject at a time so inopportune." +</P> + +<P> +After a slight pause, Mr. Sutherland continued. "You claim to be +the lawful son of the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in this will, +and as such the lawful heir, under its terms and conditions, of the +Mainwaring property?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Has it not been generally understood among those supposed to have +knowledge of the facts in the case that Harold Scott Mainwaring, at +the time of his death, had no living child?" +</P> + +<P> +"That has been the general understanding." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you explain how the fact of your existence has been kept +concealed all these years?" +</P> + +<P> +The silence following the attorney's question was so deep as to be +oppressive until broken by the answer of the witness, clear, cold, +and penetrating to the remotest corner of the crowded room. +</P> + +<P> +"Within an hour from my birth, a dead child was substituted in my +place, and I was secretly given by my father into the keeping of +trusted friends, with instructions that until I had nearly attained +my majority I was not even to know of his existence, or of the +relationship existing between us." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, "are you willing to state the +reasons for such an extraordinary proceeding on his part?" +</P> + +<P> +For the first time the impassive bearing and the calm, even tones +of the witness gave way; the smouldering fire in his dark eyes burst +forth, as with impassioned utterance and voice vibrating with emotion, +he replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"It was done because of sorrow, more bitter than death, in his own +heart and home, of which he wished me to know nothing until I had +reached the years of manhood and could understand the nature of his +wrongs; it was done that I should be forever barred from all +association with, or knowledge of, the base, false-hearted woman who +bore his name only to dishonor it,—who, though she had given me; +birth, yet believed me dead,—that I might live as ignorant of her +existence as she of mine; it was done because of his love for his +only child, a love for which I would to-day gladly suffer dishonor +and even death, if I could but avenge his wrongs!" +</P> + +<P> +Only Harold Mainwaring's attorneys understood the spirit which +prompted his words, but they carried his audience with him in a +sudden wave of sympathy, and as he paused, men applauded and women +sobbed, while the judge vainly rapped for order. +</P> + +<P> +One figure alone remained motionless, spellbound. Amid the general +excitement, Mrs. LaGrange sat as though turned to stone, her hands +clasped so tightly that the jewels cut deeply into the delicate +flesh, every vestige of color fled from her face, her lips ashen, +her eyes fixed upon the witness, yet seemingly seeing nothing. +Gradually, as she became conscious of her surroundings and of the +curious glances cast in her direction, she partially recovered +herself, though her eyes never left the face of the witness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," continued the attorney, when order had been +restored, "when and how did you first learn that you were the son +of Harold Scott Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"My first knowledge regarding my own father I received at the age of +fifteen from my foster-parents, who told me of the manner in which +I had been given to them and of the death of my father a few years +later; but the full particulars I did not learn until my twenty-first +birthday, when I received a letter written by my father soon after +my birth, and intrusted to the keeping of my foster-parents until I +should have attained my majority. In that letter he gave me the +story of his life, of his marriage and consequent disinheritance, +and of the yet greater sorrow which followed shortly, which led him +to voluntarily exile himself from his beloved England, and which +finally led to his sacrifice of the love and companionship of his +only child." +</P> + +<P> +As Harold Mainwaring paused, Mr. Sutherland remarked, "I, myself, +have seen the letter to which the witness refers, but I consider it +of too personal a nature and too private in character to submit for +examination. I will say, however, that both my honored colleague, +Mr. Barton, and myself have compared it with other letters and +documents known to have been written by Harold Scott Mainwaring, the +elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, and have found the writing +in all cases identically the same. There is yet one more question +which may have a bearing later upon this case, which I will ask the +witness. Mr. Mainwaring, have you, during this time, received any +clue regarding the identity of your mother, or is that still unknown +to you?" +</P> + +<P> +With great deliberation, the witness replied, "Until within the past +three or four days, I have known absolutely nothing regarding even +the name of the woman whom my father made his wife, or whether she +were still in existence. I have recently learned, however, that she +is living, and," he added, more slowly, "I know that she is present +in this court-room." +</P> + +<P> +It was afterwards recalled that, as the witness resumed his seat, a +curious sound, something between a gasp and a sob was heard, but +amid the tremendous sensation produced by his last statement it passed +unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +With very little delay, Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the last +witness,— +</P> + +<P> +"Frederick Mainwaring Scott!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the silence deepened as the white-haired gentleman, with great +dignity, took his place upon the stand. His heavy, sonorous tones +rang out over the court-room, while from time to time the piercing +eyes beneath the beetling, snow-white brows sought the face of Ralph +Mainwaring with their silent but unmistakable challenge. At the +first sound of his voice, Mrs. LaGrange's agitation increased +perceptibly; her expression changed to abject terror, yet she seemed +unable to move or to withdraw her gaze from his face. +</P> + +<P> +To the question, "Where were you born?" the witness replied, "I was +born in London, but for the past forty-five years have been a +resident of Melbourne, Australia." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you not connected with the Mainwaring family?" +</P> + +<P> +"Distantly. The Scott and Mainwaring families have intermarried for +many years, but I have waived all claims of relationship for nearly +half a century." +</P> + +<P> +"Were you acquainted with the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in +this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Intimately acquainted with him, as we were associated together in +business during his entire stay in Australia." +</P> + +<P> +"In what business were you engaged?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the sheep business, principally; we were also interested in the +mines." +</P> + +<P> +"For how long a time were you associated together?" +</P> + +<P> +"Six years, or thereabouts." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, you are the foster-father of Harold Scott Mainwaring +who has just preceded you upon the witness stand, are you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am, and have been from the day of his birth." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state the circumstances under which you became his +foster-parent?" +</P> + +<P> +"Harold Scott Mainwaring, the elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, +came to Australia within a year after the marriage for which he was +disinherited. His reason for leaving England was not, as many have +supposed, on account of his father's severity, but because of the +discovery of his wife's infidelity after all that he had sacrificed +for her. He brought her to Australia in the vain hope that, removed +from other influences—the influence of his own brother, in +particular,—she would yet prove true to him. Within the following +year, his son was born; but before that event he had fully learned +the character of the woman he had married, and he determined that no +child of his should be disgraced by any knowledge of its mother, or +contaminated by association with her. To my wife and myself he +confided his plans, and, as we had no children of our own, he pledged +us to the adoption of his child while yet unborn. An old and trusted +nurse in our family was also taken into the secret, but not the +physician employed on that occasion, as he was a man of no principle +and already in league with the false wife against her husband. When +the child was born, Mrs. Mainwaring was very ill and the babe received +comparatively little notice from the attendant physician. A dead +child, born but a few hours earlier, was therefore easily substituted +for the living child of Harold Mainwaring, while the latter was +secretly conveyed to my own home. +</P> + +<P> +"A few weeks later, the child was privately christened in a small +church on the outskirts of Melbourne and the event duly recorded +upon the church records. He was given his father's name in full, +Harold Scott Mainwaring, but until his twenty-first birthday was +known among our acquaintances as Harry Scott, the same name by +which he has been known in your city while acting as private +secretary to Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you familiar with the letter written by Harold Mainwaring to +his son?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly so; he gave it into my keeping on the day of the +christening, to be given to his son when he should have reached +his majority, if he himself had not, before that time, claimed +him as his child." +</P> + +<P> +"You can then vouch for its genuineness?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can." +</P> + +<P> +"How long a time elapsed between the birth of this child and the +death of Harold Mainwaring, the father?" +</P> + +<P> +"About five years. He left his wife soon after the birth of this +child and spent the greater part of his time at the mines. He +finally decided to go to the gold fields of Africa, and a few +months after his departure, we received tidings of the wreck of +the vessel in which he sailed, with the particulars of his death +at sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Scott, did you ever hear of the existence of this will?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not until the boy, Harold, learned of it, soon after he entered +Oxford." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know how he first heard of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"He heard of it from Wilson, one of the old servants on the +Mainwaring estate, who recognized in him a resemblance to Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, and, learning of his identity, told him the +history of the will." +</P> + +<P> +"You have been kept informed of his search for the will and of +its final discovery?" +</P> + +<P> +"From the first; and though the boy has a good bit of money in his +own name, I will back him in getting his rights to the very last +pound in my possession, and that," he added, while his dark eyes +flashed ominously, "will outlast the bank-roll of any that can go +against him." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any further direct evidence which you can produce in +support of the identity of the claimant?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have," the witness replied, and having taken from his pocket a +large memorandum book and extracted therefrom a paper, he continued, +with great deliberation,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have here a certified copy of the record of the christening, at +the church of St. Bartholomew, on June 24, 18-, of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, the first-born son of Harold Scott and Eleanor Houghton +Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +A piercing shriek suddenly rang out through the hushed court-room, +and the crowd, turning involuntarily at the familiar name of +Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring towards the seat occupied by Mrs. +LaGrange, saw that wretched woman sink, with a low, despairing moan, +unconscious to the floor. As several sprang to the assistance of +the unfortunate woman, Mr. Scott, turning swiftly towards the +judge, exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"There, your honor, is a most unwilling witness, but one who has +very effectively confirmed my testimony!" +</P> + +<P> +The greatest confusion followed, several women having fainted from +nervous excitement, and, as it was then nearly noon, the court +adjourned until the afternoon session. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST THROW +</H3> + +<P> +There being no further testimony in the case, but little time was +occupied by Mr. Sutherland at the afternoon session. Briefly and +forcibly he summarized the evidence already adduced, emphasizing +the strongest points and closing with numerous citations bearing +upon the case taken from recent decisions of the highest legal +authorities. +</P> + +<P> +Several days would be required for consideration of the case pending +the decision of the court, and as the crowd surged out into the +corridors and diffused itself through the various exits, there was +much speculation as to what that decision would be and what would be +the action taken by the opponents. Among the clubmen who had made +the acquaintance of Ralph Mainwaring, heavy bets were offered that +he would contest the case before the will was even admitted to +probate. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a fool if he does," said one; "the young fellow has the best +show." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll not give up, however," was the reply; "he's got too much of +the bull-dog about him; nothing will make him break his hold till +he has spent his last shilling." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he'll spend it for nothing, that's all!" said another. "I'll +wager you a dinner for the whole club that the young fellow will +beat him. Anybody that knows Sutherland, knows he hasn't played his +trump card yet; and you may rest assured that English lawyer isn't +over here as a figure-head!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring, passing hastily from the court-room, accompanied +by Mr. Whitney, overheard the last remark. His only reply, however, +was a look of scorn flashed at the speaker, but the sardonic smile +which lingered about his closely compressed lips betokened on his +part no anticipations of defeat, but rather the reverse. Even Mr. +Whitney wondered at his silence, but young Mainwaring, leisurely +following in the rear, knew it to be only the calm which presages +the coming storm. +</P> + +<P> +His father, followed by the attorney, stepped quickly into the +Mainwaring carriage and beckoned impatiently for him to follow, but +the younger man coolly declined the invitation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you, governor. I'm going for a bit of a stroll; I'll +join you and Mr. Whitney at dinner." +</P> + +<P> +As the carriage rolled away he stood for a few moments lost in +thought. His father's words to him that morning had stung his +pride and aroused in him a spirit of independence altogether new, +which had made him the more keen in observing his father's +expressions and movements, and in drawing his own deductions +therefrom. He had formed some theories of his own, and as he now +stood in the soft, autumnal sunshine, he resolved to put them to +the test. +</P> + +<P> +Turning suddenly in an opposite direction from that which he had +at first taken, he found himself confronted by Harold Mainwaring +and his party as they descended the court-house steps to the +carriages in waiting. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the young men clasped hands, and the frank, blue eyes +gazed into the piercing dark ones, with a friendliness of whose +sincerity there could be no doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"Egad, old fellow!" he exclaimed, in low tones, "I'm glad to see +you, though you have taken us rather by surprise. I'll not take +back a word of the promise I made you, nor of what I've said about +you, either." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not think you would, Hugh," Harold replied, grasping the +proffered hand heartily; "I had a great deal of faith in you and in +your word. I only regretted that I could not explain matters at the +time; it seemed like taking advantage of you and your friendship, +though I warned you that the future might make some unexpected +revelations." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't regret anything. I always said you had good blood +in you, don't you know," Hugh continued, with a boyish laugh, then +added, a little huskily, "I'll say this much, and I mean it. I +would rather give up what I supposed was mine to you than to +anybody else that know of." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Hugh; I appreciate that, I assure you. Come around to +the Waldorf, I would like to have a talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I will. Of course, I suppose it would be of no use to ask +you up to the house; I couldn't expect you to come, but I'll see +you as soon as I can," and with another handclasp the young men +parted. +</P> + +<P> +On arriving at the Waldorf, a note was handed to Harold Mainwaring, +with the information that the bearer had been waiting nearly an hour, +as there was an answer expected. He well knew the writing; it was +the same as that of the little missive given him on the first day +of the inquest, and with darkening face he opened it and read the +following lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"I must see you at once, and I beg of you to come to my apartments +this afternoon at five o'clock, without fail. In the name of mercy, +do not deny me this one favor. I can tell you something important +for you to know, of which you little dream. +<BR><BR> + "ELEANOR HOUGHTON MAINWARING." +</P> + +<P> +After brief consultation with his attorneys, an answer was sent to +the effect that he would call in compliance with the request, and a +little later he started upon his strange errand. +</P> + +<P> +With what wildly conflicting emotions Mrs. LaGrange in her apartments +awaited his coming may perhaps be more easily imagined than +portrayed. She had not recovered from the morning's shock, but was +nerving herself for the coming ordeal; preparing to make her final, +desperate throw in the game of life. Success now, in this last +venture, would mean everything to her, while failure would leave her +nothing, only blank despair. Pride, the dominant passion of her +life, struggled with a newly awakened love; doubt and dread and fear +battled with hope, but even in the unequal contest, hope would not +be vanquished. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly before the hour appointed, Richard Hobson's card was handed +her with the information that he must see her without delay. She +understood the nature of his errand; she knew his coming was +inevitable; her only desire was to postpone the meeting with him +until after the interview with Harold Mainwaring, but on no account +would she have him know of her appointment with the latter. She +tore the bit of pasteboard in two. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him to call to-morrow," she said to the messenger; but he soon +returned, with another card on which was written,— +</P> + +<P> +"Important! must see you to-day." +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly five. Quickly, with fingers trembling from her +anxiety lest he delay too long, she wrote,— +</P> + +<P> +"Call at eight o'clock this evening; I can see no one earlier." +</P> + +<P> +As she gave the card to the messenger, she glanced again at the +little French clock on the mantel. +</P> + +<P> +"Three hours," she murmured; "three hours in which to decide my fate! +If I succeed, I can bid defiance to that craven when he shall come +to-night; if not—" she shuddered and walked over to the window, +where she watched eagerly till she saw the cringing figure going +hastily down the street. +</P> + +<P> +He had but just disappeared around the corner of the block when a +closed carriage was driven rapidly to the hotel, and a moment later +Harold Scott Mainwaring was announced. +</P> + +<P> +Her heart throbbed wildly as she turned to meet him, then suddenly +stopped, seeming a dead weight in her breast, as her eyes met his. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment neither spoke; once her lips moved, but no sound came +from them. Before that face, hard and impassive as granite, and as +cold, the impulse which she had felt to throw herself at his feet +and plead for mercy and for love died within her; her tongue seemed +paralyzed, powerless to utter a word, and the words she would have +spoken fled from her brain. +</P> + +<P> +With swift observation he noted the terrible change which the last +weeks, and especially the last few hours, had wrought in the wretched +woman before him, and the suffering, evidenced by her deathly pallor, +her trembling agitation, and the look of dumb, almost hopeless +pleading in her eyes, appealed to him far more than any words could +have done. +</P> + +<P> +He was the first to speak, and though there was no softening of the +stern features, yet his tones were gentle, almost pitying, as he +said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have come as you requested. Why did you send for me? What have +you to say?" +</P> + +<P> +At the sound of his voice she seemed somewhat reassured, and +advancing a few steps towards him, she repeated his words,— +</P> + +<P> +"Why did I send for you? Why should I not send for you? Think +you a mother would have no desire to see her own son after long +years of cruel separation from him?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no need to call up the past," he said, more coldly; "the +separation to which you refer was, under existing circumstances, +the best for all concerned. It undoubtedly caused suffering, but +you were not the sufferer; there could be no great depth of +maternal love where there was neither love nor loyalty as a wife." +</P> + +<P> +Her dark eyes grew tender and luminous as she fixed them upon his +face, while she beckoned him to a seat and seated herself near and +facing him. +</P> + +<P> +"You forget," she replied, in the low, rich tones he had so often +heard at Fair Oaks; "you forget that a mother's love is instinctive, +born within her with the birth of her child, while a wife's love +must be won. I must recall the past to you, and you must listen; +'twas for this I sent for you, that you, knowing the past, might +know that, however deeply I may have sinned, I have been far more +deeply sinned against." +</P> + +<P> +"Not as regards my father," he interposed, quickly, as she paused +to note the effect of her words; "he sacrificed fortune, home, +friends, everything for you, and you rewarded his love and devotion +only with the basest infidelity." +</P> + +<P> +"That your father loved me, I admit," she continued, in the same +low, musical tones, scarcely heeding his words; "but, as I said a +moment ago, a wife's love must be won, and he failed to win my +love." +</P> + +<P> +"Was his treacherous brother so much more successful then in that +direction than he?" Harold questioned, sternly. "Within six months +after your marriage to my father, you admitted that you married him +only that you might have Hugh Mainwaring for your lover." +</P> + +<P> +She neither flushed nor quailed under the burning indignation of his +gaze, but her eyes were fastened upon him intently as the eyes of +the charmer upon his victim. +</P> + +<P> +"Half truths are ever harder to refute than falsehood," she replied, +softly. "I said that once under great provocation, but if I sought +to make Hugh Mainwaring my lover, it was not that I loved him, but +through revenge for his having trifled with me only to deceive and +desert me. Before I married your father, both he and his brother +were among my most ardent admirers. The younger brother seemed to +me far more congenial, and had he possessed one-half the chivalry +and devotion which the elder brother afterwards manifested, he +would have completely won my love. The rivalry between the two +brothers led to bitter estrangement, which soon became known to +their father, who lost no time in ascertaining its cause. His anger +on learning the facts in the case was extreme; he wrote me an +insulting letter, and threatened to disown either or both of his +sons unless they discontinued their attentions to a 'disreputable +adventuress,' as he chose to style me. Hugh Mainwaring at once +deserted me, without even a word of explanation or of farewell, and, +as if that were not enough, on more than one occasion he openly +insulted me in the presence of his father, on the streets of London. +I realized then for the first time that I cared for him, coward that +he was, though I did not love him as he thought,—had I loved him, +I would have killed him, then and there. Mad with chagrin and rage, +I married your father, partly for the position he could give me—for +I did not believe that he, the elder son and his father's +favorite, would be disowned—and partly to show his brother and +their father that I still held, as I supposed, the winning hand. +On my wedding-day I vowed that I would yet bring Hugh Mainwaring to +my feet as my lover, and when, shortly afterwards, your father was +disinherited in his favor, my desire for revenge was only +intensified. I redoubled my efforts to win him, and I found it no +difficult task; he was even more willing to play the lover to his +brother's wife than to the penniless girl whom he had known, with +no possessions but her beauty and wit. At first, our meetings +were clandestine; but we soon grew reckless, and in one or two +instances I openly boasted of my conquest, hoping thereby to arouse +his father's displeasure against him also. But in that I reckoned +wrong. He disinherited and disowned his son for having honorably +married a woman whom he considered below him in station, but for +an open affaire d'amour with that son's wife, he had not even a +word of censure. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father discovered the situation and decided upon a life in +Australia. If he had then shown me some consideration, the future +might have been vastly different; but he grew morose and taciturn, +and I, accustomed to gay society and the admiration of crowds, was +left to mope alone in a strange country, with no companionship +whatever. What wonder that I hungered for the old life, or that a +casual admiring glance, or a few words even of flattery, were like +cold water to one perishing with thirst! Then new hope came into +my lonely life, and I spent months in dreamy, happy anticipations +of the future love and companionship of my child. But even that +boon was denied me. It was hard enough, believing, as I did, that +my child had died, but to find that I was robbed of that which would +have been not only my joy and happiness, but my salvation from the +life which followed!" She paused, apparently unable to proceed, +and buried her eyes in a dainty handkerchief, while Harold +Mainwaring watched her, the hard lines deepening about his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"After that," she resumed, in trembling tones, "all hope was gone. +Your father deserted me soon afterwards, leaving me nearly penniless, +and a flew years later I returned to England." +</P> + +<P> +"To find Hugh Mainwaring?" he queried. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at the first," she answered, but her eyes fell before the +cynicism of his glance. "I had no thought of him then, but I learned +through Richard Hobson, whom I met in London at that time, of the +will which had been made in my husband's favor, but which he told me +had been destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring. He said nothing of the clause +forbidding that any of the property should pass to me, and I +immediately sailed for America in search of Hugh Mainwaring, +believing that, with my knowledge of the will, I, as his brother's +widow, could get some hold upon him by which I could compel him +either to share the property with me or to marry me." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you were not married to Hugh Mainwaring in England, as you +testified at the inquest?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," she replied, passionately; "I was never married to him. I +have made many men my dupes and slaves, but he was the one man who +made a dupe of me, and I hating him all the time!" +</P> + +<P> +"And Walter!" he exclaimed, "you stated that he was the son of Hugh +Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"He is Hugh Mainwaring's son and mine," she answered, with bitter +emphasis; "that was another of my schemes which failed. I found I +had little hold upon Hugh Mainwaring, while he had the same power +over me as in the days before I had learned to despise him. When +Walter was born, I hoped he would then fulfil his promises of +marriage; but instead, he would have turned me adrift had I not +threatened that I would then disclose everything which I knew +concerning the will. He sneered at me, but offered me a place as +servant in his home, and support and education for his child on +condition that the relationship should never be known, and that I +would remain silent regarding the will. I could do nothing then +but accept his conditions, but they were galling,—too galling at +last to be longer endured!" +</P> + +<P> +"How is it that you and Walter bear the name of LaGrange?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment, then replied: "I married a man by that name +soon after leaving Australia." +</P> + +<P> +"Before or after the tidings of my father's death?" he questioned, +sternly. +</P> + +<P> +"We heard the news of his death soon after our marriage, but he had +deserted me years before, so it made little difference. I met +Captain LaGrange in Sydney, and we sailed together for Paris and +were married there, but we soon grew tired of each other. I left +him in about two years and went to Vienna, and from there returned +to England. In some way, Hugh Mainwaring learned of the marriage, +and when I came to Fair Oaks, he insisted on my taking that name +for myself and child." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke wearily and with an air of dejection, for it was plainly +evident that Harold Mainwaring was not to be deceived by +misstatements, however plausible, nor were his sympathies to be +aroused by simulated grief. A few moments of silence followed, +while she watched him intently, her face again falling into the +pinched and haggard outlines which he had observed on entering the +room. +</P> + +<P> +When he at last spoke, his voice was calm, without a trace of anger +or bitterness. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. LaGrange, I have been informed that in the days before you +ruined my father's life you were an actress in a second-class London +playhouse, and I see you have not yet lost some little tricks of the +stage; but we are not now before the footlights, and it will be much +better to lay aside everything pertaining to them. Nothing that you +have said has awakened my pity or touched my sympathies for you; in +fact, what you have told me has only steeled my heart against you +because of its utter falsity. It is unnecessary to go over the +ground again, but if you could not reciprocate the love and devotion +bestowed upon you by my father, you should never have accepted it; +but accepting it as you did, you were bound by every consideration +to be true and loyal to that love and to him. Instead, from +beginning to end, you have been false to him, false to his memory, +false to your own wifehood and motherhood, false to yourself! I +have not come here to reproach you, however. I will only say that +I do not believe the capacity—the capability even—of love exists, +or has ever existed, within you. But," he continued, in gentler +tones, "the capacity for suffering does exist, and I can see without +any simulation on your part that you have suffered." +</P> + +<P> +Before the look of pity which now for the first time softened the +stern features, she broke down, and genuine tears coursed down her +pallid cheeks as she cried, "Suffered! what have I not suffered! +I am homeless, penniless, degraded, an outcast! There is no hope, +no help for me unless you will help me. I know what you must think +of me, how even you, my son, must despise me, but as a drowning man +catches at a straw, I sent for you, hoping that you would in mercy +pity me and help me." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you wish me to help you pecuniarily? I will willingly do that." +</P> + +<P> +"Pecuniarily!" she exclaimed, almost in scorn. "Cannot you +understand what I need most? It is pity, sympathy, love! I want +the love and support of my first-born son, and I am willing to beg +for it," and, rising from her chair, she threw herself upon her +knees beside him, "only be my son, forget the past and let me be to +you, as I am, your mother! No, let me be!" she exclaimed, as he +would have raised her from her kneeling posture. "I have no son +but you, for Walter, like his father, has deserted me, with taunts +and sneers. I can help you, too," she added, eagerly, but in low +tones, "help you in a way of which you little dream. Do you know +what Ralph Mainwaring will attempt next? He will try to implicate +you in the murder of Hugh Mainwaring!" +</P> + +<P> +"That will be no more than you yourself attempted at the inquest," +he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but his motive is different; in my case it was but the resort +of a weak woman to divert suspicion from herself; but he will seek +to fasten this crime upon you to defeat you, to crush and ruin you, +because he fears you as his opponent, and it is within my power to +clear you from any charges he may bring against you." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice sank nearly to a whisper, her eyes were dilated, and she +was trembling with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +He watched her intently for a moment, then spoke in a tone of calm +command. "Tell me how you could help me. What do you know of that +affair?" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, and I will tell you," and leaning towards him, she whispered +a few words in his ears. +</P> + +<P> +Only a few words, but Harold Mainwaring started as from a shock, +while his face grew as pale as her own, and it was with difficulty +he could control his voice, as he demanded in quick, excited tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know what you are saying? Are you speaking the truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, before Heaven, it is the truth, and the horror of it has +haunted me day and night; the thought of it has driven me nearly +mad, but I dared not breathe it to any living human being." +</P> + +<P> +"You have told no one else what you have just told me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I dared not." +</P> + +<P> +He asked a few more questions which she answered, and from her +manner he was convinced that she spoke the truth. Then he sat for +a moment silent, his head bowed, his eyes covered, lost in thought, +while strangely commingled emotions surged within his breast. +</P> + +<P> +At last she broke the silence. "It will help you—what I have +told you—will it not?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is of inestimable value to me," he answered, but instead of +exultation, there was a strange sadness in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You will let me help you, and you will be a son to me, will you +not?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her with an expression of mingled pity and bitterness, +and then, without replying, lifted her gently but firmly and +reseated her, while he himself remained standing at a little +distance. She watched him anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Harold," at last she ventured, "think what I have suffered, and +do not refuse my one prayer." +</P> + +<P> +"I can see that you have suffered," he answered, gently; "and, as I +have told you, I will help you pecuniarily and will befriend you, +only do not ask me that which I cannot give." +</P> + +<P> +"I ask nothing more," she exclaimed, passionately, rising to her +feet, "than that you be a son to me, and I will accept nothing less." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he replied, "for you are only +unnecessarily depriving yourself of many benefits that might be +yours. I would provide a home for you where you would be unknown, +and means that you could spend the remainder of your life in +comfort." +</P> + +<P> +"What would I care for any home or wealth that you might provide +for me," she demanded, angrily, "if you yourself would not +acknowledge me as your mother! I will accept nothing from you +under such conditions." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we may as well end this conference," he replied, calmly, "for +I hold my father in too deep love and reverence ever to permit of +my applying to you the sacred name of 'Mother.'" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes flashed at the mention of his father, and she was about to +speak, but he lifted his hand warningly. "Hush!" he commanded; "not +one word shall you speak against him in my presence! Before I go, +I will give you an opportunity to reconsider your declaration of a +moment ago." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not reconsider it. You are like every Mainwaring that I +have ever known, in that you think money and shelter, such as you +might fling at some superannuated servant, will take the place of +the true position and honor that are my due." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you then, finally and once for all, refuse any and all offers +of assistance from me?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I do," she replied, proudly; "I will not accept charity from a +Mainwaring,—not even from you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well; if that is your decision, I bid you adieu," and before +she could reply, he was gone. +</P> + +<P> +He passed swiftly down the corridor, his head bowed slightly, +looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, but his step had +an elasticity it had not possessed in weeks, and any one passing +near him would have heard the single exclamation, "Thank God!" +</P> + +<P> +Upon reaching his carriage, he spoke quickly to the driver, "To +the Waldorf at once!" and was borne away by the impatient steeds +even more swiftly than he had come. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, within the room which he had just left, the wretched +woman, whose falseness and pride had wrought her own undoing, stood +listening to the retreating footsteps; she heard them die away in +the distance, heard the carriage-wheels roll rapidly down the avenue, +then sank upon a low couch with a cry of despair. +</P> + +<P> +"All is over," she moaned, "and I have failed. I could not force +him to my terms, and I would never yield to his. I will take +charity from no one, least of all from him. I will be first, or +nothing!" and she shivered faintly. +</P> + +<P> +After a tune she arose, and ringing for her maid, ordered a light +repast brought to her room, as she would not go down to dinner; +"And," she concluded, "you can have the evening to yourself: I +expect callers, and will not need you." +</P> + +<P> +An hour later, Richard Hobson crept along the corridor and tapped +for admittance. There was no answer, and cautiously pushing open +the door, he entered unbidden, but started back in horror at the +sight which met his eyes. The electric lights had not been turned +on, but a few tall wax tapers, in a pair of candelabra upon the +mantel, were burning, and in the dim, weird light, Mrs. LaGrange, +still elegantly attired for her interview with Harold Mainwaring, +lay upon the low couch near the grate, her features scarcely paler +than a few hours before, but now rigid in death. Upon the table +beside her, the supper ordered by the maid stood untasted, while +on the same table a small vial bearing the label of one of the +deadliest of poisons, but empty, told the story. Underneath the +vial was a slip of paper, on which was written,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have staked my highest card—and lost! The game is done." +</P> + +<P> +Terror-stricken, Hobson glanced about him, then pausing only long +enough to clutch some of the gleaming jewels from the inanimate +form, he stealthily withdrew, and, skulking unobserved along the +corridors, passed out into the darkness and was gone. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SECESSION IN THE RANKS +</H3> + +<P> +When Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney arrived at the club they found +young Mainwaring already awaiting them at their private table, but +it was far from a social group which sat down to dinner that evening. +The elder Mainwaring still preserved an ominous silence, and in his +dark, glowering face few would have recognized the urbane guest whom +Hugh Mainwaring had introduced to his small coterie of friends less +than three months before. The younger man, though holding a +desultory conversation with the attorney, yet looked decidedly +bored, while from time to time he regarded his father with a cynical +expression entirely new to his hitherto ingenuous face. Mr. Whitney, +always keenly alert to his surroundings, became quickly conscious +of a sudden lack of harmony between father and son, and feeling +himself in rather a delicate position, carefully refrained in his +remarks from touching upon any but the most neutral ground. +</P> + +<P> +A couple of hours later, as the three with a box of cigars were +gathered around an open fire in Ralph Mainwaring's apartments, it +was noticeable that young Mainwaring was unusually silent. In a +few moments, however, his father's long pent-up wrath burst forth. +</P> + +<P> +Addressing the attorney in no very pleasant tone, he demanded, "Well, +sir, what do you now propose to do about this matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is to be a fight, then, is it?" Mr. Whitney asked with a smile, +knocking the ashes from his cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, by my soul, and a fight to the finish. Understand, I will +have no time lost. This farce has got to be quashed at once, and +the sooner the better, so you may enter protest and file an +application for hearing, or whatever your mode of procedure is in +this country, at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile, I'll +secure the best legal talent that money can get to help you. I've +a longer purse than that old Australian sheep-herder thinks, and +when the time for contest comes, I'll meet him on his own ground." +</P> + +<P> +"If you are going to employ additional counsel," interposed Mr. +Whitney, "allow me to suggest the name of P. B. Hunnewell, of this +city; he is one of the ablest attorneys in the United States, +particularly in matters of this kind. His fees are somewhat +exorbitant, but money is no object with you in this case." +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever," the other interrupted, impatiently; "we will retain +this Hunnewell upon your recommendation, but in the morning I shall + cable for Upham & Blackwell, of London. They rank right in the<BR> +same line with Barton & Barton; they have conducted considerable +business for me, and I am satisfied," he added, with peculiar +emphasis, "they could not be tampered with or bought at any price. +I shall also cable for Graham, the expert on chirography and on all +kinds of forgeries, and we will have his decision upon that will. +I am going, first of all, understand, to have that document proven +a forgery. That done, the whole fabrication of this cunning impostor +falls to the ground, and then, when I have him completely floored +in that direction, he will find that I have only just begun with him." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that?" questioned the attorney. "You surely do not intend +to dispute his identity after the unmistakable proofs submitted?" +</P> + +<P> +"I care nothing about his identity," Mainwaring retorted, with a +sneer. "Whether he is the son of Harold Mainwaring or of Frederick +Scott, matters little; both were renegades and outcasts from their +homes. No, sir," and there was a ring of exultation in his tone, +while his steel-gray eyes glittered, "I have a surprise in store +for the young man; when he gets through with this contest, he will +find himself under arrest as the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring rose suddenly and began pacing the room, while +Mr. Whitney exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, you astonish me! I certainly fail to see how you +can connect the young man with that terrible affair." +</P> + +<P> +"What else could be expected of a man who acknowledges that for +years he has been dogging the steps of Hugh Mainwaring and acting +the part of a spy, not only in his private offices, but even in +his own home, stooping to any means, no matter how contemptible, +to further his nefarious designs? Would such a man, when his +schemes were finally matured, have any scruples about taking the +life of the one who stood in the way of their fulfilment?" +</P> + +<P> +"But, sir," protested the attorney, "such a deed would be wholly +unnecessary. Admitting all that you have said regarding the means +employed by him, would it not be much more reasonable to suppose +that he would attempt to bring his man to terms either through a +personal interview or by bringing suit against him, rather than +by resorting to brutal crime?" +</P> + +<P> +"And supposing he did have a personal interview for the purpose of +setting forth his claims, do you think that Hugh Mainwaring would +be bamboozled by any of his cheap trickery? No, sir, not for one +moment. He would simply pronounce the whole thing a sham. Well, +sir, if you will recall some of the testimony at the inquest, you +will see that is precisely what occurred. Hugh Mainwaring, within +twenty or thirty minutes preceding his death, was heard to denounce +some one as a 'liar' and an 'impostor.' An 'impostor,' mark you! +Very applicable to the case we are now supposing. And in the +altercation which followed, the other party called him a 'thief,' +and made some allusion—I do not recall the exact words—to his +being 'transported to the wilds of Australia.' Now, sir, there is +no doubt in the mind of any sane man that those words were spoken +by the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, and I think now we have a +pretty good clue to his identity." +</P> + +<P> +"But the young man stated emphatically this morning that he made +no mention of the will to Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"To the devil with his statements! There is evidence enough against +him that he will be ruined when I get through with him. He has +dared to try to thwart me in the plans of a lifetime, and I'll make +it the worst piece of business he ever undertook. Understand, I +want you to institute proceedings against him at once!" +</P> + +<P> +"Governor," said young Mainwaring, quietly, before Mr. Whitney could +respond to this tirade, "in whose name will these proceedings be +instituted, yours or mine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," replied his father, with a sneer, "I don't know that it +makes any particular difference to you in whose name it is done, +so long as it is for your benefit." +</P> + +<P> +"Begging your pardon, sir, I believe it does make considerable +difference. And I will say right here that I will have no +proceedings entered, either in my name or for my benefit, for two +reasons: first, Harold Scott Mainwaring is no impostor; we had +abundant proof to-day that, under the terms of that will, he is the +sole claimant to the property; and second, you know, sir, as well +as I, that years ago, your own servant, John Wilson, told you that +such a will had existed, and there is every ground for believing +that this document is genuine. I just begin to understand your +little game, governor, and, by Jove! I will not be a party to it." +</P> + +<P> +Up to this point, astonishment at his son's audacity seemed to have +bereft Ralph Mainwaring of the power of speech, but now he demanded +in thunderous tones, while his face grew purple with rage, "What do +you mean, sir, by daring to address such language to me? You +impudent upstart! let me tell you that you had best attend to your +own business!" +</P> + +<P> +"This is the second time you have told me that today," said the +young man, calmly, though the hot blood was fast rising; "allow me +to inform you, governor, with all due respect, that henceforth I +will attend to my own business, and will not trouble you to attend +to it for me. If you had any just or tenable grounds for the +proceedings you are about to institute, I would have nothing to say; +but, begging your pardon, you have none whatever; it is simply a +piece of dirty work with which I will have nothing to do." +</P> + +<P> +"You ungrateful dog! This is your return for my care and +forethought for you, is it? Do you retract every word which you +have said, or I'll cut you off without a penny," and with a fearful +oath he swung himself around in his chair with such violence as to +overturn the small onyx table upon which the cigars were standing, +shattering it to fragments. +</P> + +<P> +The young man paused directly in front of his father. "I retract +nothing," he said, quietly but firmly. "You are at liberty to +follow the example of old Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring if you wish, but +you may regret it later, as he did." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you think Edith Thornton will marry a penniless beggar, a +pauper? Or do you propose to live upon her fortune?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I will not touch a penny of her fortune," he replied, his cheek +flushing; "and I am not quite a pauper, for I have the money left +me by Uncle Tom years ago; and if Edith is the girl to be turned +from me under the circumstances, why, the sooner I find it out the +better." +</P> + +<P> +"A paltry twenty thousand pounds! a fine fortune!" sneered his +father, ignoring his last remark. +</P> + +<P> +"Many a fortune has been made from a much smaller start; but it is +useless to waste words further. You understand my position, and that +is enough. Mr. Whitney," he continued, addressing the attorney, +"according to the terms of Hugh Mainwaring's will, I, and not my +father, am heir to the property, and therefore the one to contest +the claim of Harold Mainwaring if it is contested at all. I wish to +state to you here and now, distinctly, that I will not contest the +case, nor will I authorize any one to do so for me; and now, +gentlemen, I bid you both good-evening!" and he quietly left the +room. +</P> + +<P> +"Zounds!" exclaimed the elder man, as the door closed upon his son, +"I didn't suppose the boy had so much spirit! I've often wished he +and Isabel could change places, because she was so much more like +myself and what I would like a son to be." +</P> + +<P> +"He has the Mainwaring blood all right," replied the attorney, with +more inward admiration for the young man than he dared to express. +</P> + +<P> +"Not if he will throw away a fortune in this manner; it is probably +some boyish whim, however and the young fool will look at it in a +different light to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"I think not, Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, quietly; "he is +enough like Hugh Mainwaring, and like yourself, that when he decides +upon a certain line of action, he will not be easily turned aside. +You may rest assured that he will have nothing whatever to do with +this contest, and that if you wish to carry on the fight, you will +have to do so under your own colors." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do it, too," he replied, fiercely; "I'll enter proceedings in +my own name, as the nearest heir after Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case, your brother must be notified, as he will be entitled +to share the estate with you; that may cause us some little delay, +but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Curse it all!" the other interrupted, angrily; "I had not thought +of that; he will have to come in for a share; confound that boy's +foolishness! I'll get hold of him tomorrow morning and see if I +cannot talk some reason into him," and Ralph Mainwaring relapsed +into sullen silence. It was a new experience for him to meet with +opposition in his own family, least of all from his son, and he felt +the first step must be to quell it, though decidedly at loss just +how to proceed. +</P> + +<P> +A little later, Mr. Whitney, finding his client disinclined to +further conversation, after making an appointment for the next +morning, excused himself and took his departure for his own +apartments at the club. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed down the stairway into the spacious hall, what was his +surprise to see Mr. Merrick comfortably ensconced in a large leather +chair, reading the evening papers. +</P> + +<P> +The two men shook hands warmly, and together passed out into the +cool, starlit night. +</P> + +<P> +"When did you arrive, Merrick? and from what point of the compass?" +inquired the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Got in on the 9.30 train," the detective replied, seeming not to +have heard the second question; "learned you were at Mainwaring's, +so I stopped in, but told the butler not to disturb you, as I was +in no hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"I noticed you were looking over the evening papers, did you read +the account of this morning's proceedings in court?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am not in the least surprised." +</P> + +<P> +"Not surprised!" echoed the attorney. "Do you mean to say that the +reappearance of the missing secretary as the heir to the Mainwaring +estate is no surprise to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever," Merrick replied, with the most exasperating +coolness, adding, as he noted the other's incredulous smile, "you +may recall a hint given you at Fair Oaks, one evening, of the +possible existence of claimants, perhaps not far distant, whose +rights superseded those of Hugh Mainwaring himself." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney started involuntarily as the detective's words of a few +weeks before were thus recalled, then looking his companion squarely +in the face, he exclaimed, half playfully, half indignantly, "I +don't suppose you will go so far as to claim any familiarity with +that old will which has just been resurrected." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Merrick, deliberately stopping to relight his cigar, "I +was aware that there was such a will in existence, or at least that +it had existed up to the time of Hugh Mainwaring's death, and I +supposed all along that it was in the possession of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, otherwise known as Harry Scott, secretary." +</P> + +<P> +"By George! when and how did you get hold of all this?" questioned +the attorney, in a tone of bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"I was pretty well conversant with the facts in the case a few days +before the young man took passage for England, in the 'Campania.'" +</P> + +<P> +"The 'Campania!' Heavens and earth, man! Do you mean to say that +he went over on the same boat with Miss—with the ladies from +Fair Oaks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; and I don't think," Merrick continued, watching the +attorney shrewdly, "that Miss—the ladies from Fair Oaks—objected +to him as a fellow-traveller, either." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney changed the subject. "Then you know that will to be +genuine, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"H'm! am I on the witness stand?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but I think I ought to subpoena you to keep the other side +from getting your testimony; you might make a troublesome witness +against us." +</P> + +<P> +"My testimony might be worth much or little; I am not giving it to +either side at present." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I would not have it go out, of course; but for my part, I am +inclined, to believe not only that the will is genuine, but also +that Ralph Mainwaring knows that it is." +</P> + +<P> +"He will fight it all the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but on rather different grounds from what he first anticipated," +and Mr. Whitney gave Merrick an account of young Mainwaring's +defection. "In my private opinion," concluded the attorney, "Ralph +Mainwaring is a fool, for he has got a pretty hard combination to go +against; they've evidently got a strong case, splendid legal talent, +and plenty of money to back it all. However, I'm making a good +thing out of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Merrick, enigmatically, "Barton & Barton are undoubtedly +men of great ability in their professions but that 'clerk' of theirs +who has come over with the party," with peculiar emphasis, "is the +smartest man in the whole crowd!" +</P> + +<P> +"The clerk! why I thought he seemed rather an insignificant sort +of a fellow; what do you know about him?" +</P> + +<P> +For reply the detective only gave a short, unpleasant laugh, and, +touching his cap, turned abruptly down another street. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on!" cried the attorney; "you haven't told me anything about +yourself yet. What have you been doing? and how long are you going +to be in town?" +</P> + +<P> +"A day or two, perhaps, possibly a week; I cannot say." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you getting on?" +</P> + +<P> +But the detective was lost in thought and apparently did not hear +the question. "I suppose you read of the arrest of Brown, the +coachman?" he remarked, abstractedly, after a moment's silence. +</P> + +<P> +"The coachman? No! you don't say that he was really concerned in +that affair?" the attorney exclaimed, excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"What affair, the Mainwaring murder? I don't know that I have +said that he was concerned in that," Merrick answered, suddenly +coming to himself and evidently enjoying the attorney's expression +of blank perplexity; "he was mixed up in a shooting affair, however, +which occurred about that time, and by holding him in custody we +hope to get on to the principals. Oh," he added, carelessly, +anticipating another inquiry from Mr. Whitney, "I'm getting there +all right, if that is what you want to know; but I won't have +somebody else dogging my tracks and then claiming the game by and by." +</P> + +<P> +"Man alive! what in the dickens are you driving at? You are in one +of your moods to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so," Merrick replied, indifferently, then added quickly, +"There is a sensation of some sort in there; see the crowd of +reporters!" +</P> + +<P> +They were standing on a street corner, near a large hotel, and +glancing through the windows in the direction indicated by the +detective, Mr. Whitney saw, as he had said, a crowd of reporters in +the office and lobbies, some writing, some talking excitedly, and +others coming and going. Just then one who was leaving the building +passed them, and Merrick stopped him. +</P> + +<P> +"What is going on? What's the excitement?" +</P> + +<P> +"Suicide!" the young man replied, hastily. "That woman who was +mixed up in the Mainwaring case has suicided by poison." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney and the detective exchanged startled glances, then +both entered the hotel. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FLOTSAM AND JETSAM +</H3> + +<P> +An hour later, the attorney and the detective reappeared, and, +threading their way through the crowd still lingering about the +hotel, walked rapidly down the street, arm in arm, conversing in +low tones. +</P> + +<P> +"A case of suicide, undoubtedly," said the attorney "and scarcely to +be wondered at, taking all the circumstances into consideration. +Do you know, I am now more than ever inclined to the belief that +she was in some way connected with Hugh Mainwaring's death, and +that, after such a revelation of her character as was made in court +this morning, she feared further disclosures." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney glanced at his companion, but the latter seemed +engrossed with his own thoughts and made no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I never was so completely floored in my life," the attorney +continued, "as when it came out that Harold Mainwaring was her son; +and I yet fail to see the necessity for introducing that feature +into the testimony. I should have thought that would have been +passed over in silence." +</P> + +<P> +"As near as I can judge from reading of the case," Merrick replied, +"it seems to have been done with a purpose. His attorneys were +leading up to that very point in such a manner that, when the climax +was reached, she would involuntarily betray herself—as she did—thus +confirming in the strongest manner the testimony already given." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you may be right," said the attorney, musingly, "though +it had not occurred to me." +</P> + +<P> +After a short pause, Merrick continued: "When I was first called to +Fair Oaks, I suspected some relationship between that woman and the +secretary, as he was then called; there was a marked resemblance +between them; both had the same peculiar olive skin, while their +features and carriage were almost identical." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I recall your mentioning the likeness to me, and at the same +time I was puzzled by the resemblance between him and Hugh +Mainwaring. Well, I always said he was a mystery, and no wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the club-house by this time, and, as Merrick +declined Mr. Whitney's invitation to enter, both men remained +outside for a few moments. Once again, the attorney endeavored to +sound the detective regarding his work and the progress he was +making, but the latter suddenly became strangely uncommunicative. +</P> + +<P> +"My client is going to charge Harold Mainwaring with the murder," +said the attorney at last. +</P> + +<P> +Merrick laughed scornfully, and for the second time that evening +wheeled abruptly and turned down a side street, leaving Mr. Whitney +standing upon the club-house steps, watching the rapidly retreating +figure with mingled vexation and amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"Something has upset Merrick," he soliloquized, as he finally turned +towards the entrance; "who can he imagine is 'dogging' his tracks, +as he terms it? These detectives seem about as jealous of their +reputation as we lawyers are supposed to be. Ralph Mainwaring is +going to engage 'the best legal talent that money can get!' H'm! +when he comes to settle, he may find that my 'legal talent' will +come just as high as the best of them." +</P> + +<P> +Could Mr. Whitney have been present at a conference held that +evening in one of the private parlors of the Waldorf, he might have +had a better understanding of the cause of Merrick's perturbation. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately upon returning to the hotel, Harold Mainwaring had +communicated to the English attorney and to Mr. Scott the particulars +of his interview with Mrs. LaGrange. Mr. Scott at once expressed +his satisfaction at the outcome, in that she had rejected all offers +of assistance except upon her own terms. +</P> + +<P> +"That is best, that is best just as it is," he said, emphatically; +"you do not want to be hampered with any obligations she might +impose upon you, and as for ever recognizing or acknowledging any +relationship, it is not to be thought of for one moment. Your course +was right, perfectly right. But what was the statement of such +importance which she was to make?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is just what I am coming to," the young man replied; and +drawing his chair closer to those of his companions, he repeated in +low tones the secret intrusted to him by Mrs. LaGrange. The faces of +the two men were a study as he ended his recital. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you confident that she spoke the truth?" questioned Mr. Barton +eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am positive that she did; she seemed like one terror-stricken, +and said that the horror of it had haunted her day and night." +</P> + +<P> +"There could be no reason in this instance for doubting her," +commented Mr. Scott, thoughtfully; "she would have no motive for +making such a statement if it were not true." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Mainwaring!" exclaimed the attorney, "it is what I have +suspected ever since you gave me the details of the affair; you +remember what I told you before we left London!" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; but it seemed to me then too improbable." +</P> + +<P> +"The improbable is, sometimes, what we must look for in cases like +this," he replied; "McCabe should be put on to this immediately, +and we must call Sutherland. I will summon him, myself, at once," +and he left the room. +</P> + +<P> +The foster-father and son, left for a few moments to themselves, +had little to say, but sat looking into each other's faces with eyes +full of meaning, each understanding what was in the other's heart. +At last, as they heard returning footsteps, the elder man spoke,— +</P> + +<P> +"It was a good thing you went there, my boy; come what may, you will +never regret it." +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" the other replied with emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed but a few moments ere hurried steps were heard along the +corridor, followed by a light, familiar knock, and Mr. Sutherland +entered. +</P> + +<P> +"I recognized your voice at the 'phone, Mr. Barton," said the +attorney, after greetings had been exchanged, "and something in its +tone, aside from the general import of your message, led me to +believe that the call was of special importance, therefore I lost +no time in coming here." +</P> + +<P> +"You were correct," replied the English barrister; "we have made a +most important discovery, bearing not only upon the case in hand, +but also upon the Mainwaring murder case." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah-h!" responded the attorney with evident interest; then drawing +his chair near the group seated about the open fire, he asked, with +a swift glance about the room, "But where is your 'clerk,' Mr. +Barton? Should he not be present?" +</P> + +<P> +"My 'clerk!'" replied Mr. Barton, with peculiar emphasis, and plainly +appreciating the humor of the inquiry; "my 'clerk' is, I believe, at +present engaged in most assiduously cultivating the acquaintance of +Ralph Mainwaring's coachman." +</P> + +<P> +Then, as Mr. Sutherland elevated his eyebrows in mute inquiry, he +continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"The coachman, I have understood, is a recent acquisition, taken, I +believe, upon the recommendation of this Merrick; and while he seems +eminently satisfactory as a coachman, I have my doubts as to whether +he will prove quite so satisfactory to his superior officer upon his +return." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I see!" ejaculated the other; "he is what might be denominated +a 'sub.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and so exceedingly verdant that McCabe thought it worth while +to make his acquaintance. But now to present business!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the strange story was repeated, Mr. Sutherland listening with +grave attention, which deepened as the recital proceeded, until, at +its completion, he could scarcely restrain his enthusiasm; exultation +was plainly written on his face, but there was a peculiar gentleness +in his manner as he first approached his young client, saying in a +low tone, as he cordially grasped his hand,— +</P> + +<P> +"I realize, Mr. Mainwaring, all that this means to you, and I am +sure you will understand me when I say that I congratulate you." +</P> + +<P> +Harold Mainwaring bowed silently, and Mr. Sutherland, turning +towards the English barrister, exclaimed, "This explains everything! +This will make our case absolutely incontrovertible; but, first, +we must secure that man at all hazards and at any cost just as +quickly as possible; think what a witness he will make!" +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I had in mind" was the response, "and McCabe is the man +to locate him if he is upon the face of the earth. But we must +decide immediately upon our own course of action, for this will +necessitate certain changes in our plans, and we must act at once, +and, at the same time, with the utmost caution and secrecy." +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was ordered and served in the privacy of their own apartments +that they might be entirely free from intrusion or interruptions +during their deliberations, and it was at a late hour when, their +consultation ended, they gathered about the open fire with their +cigars, awaiting, with much self-congratulation and cheerful talk, +the return of the absent McCabe. +</P> + +<P> +"Confound it!" exclaimed Mr. Barton, presently, glancing at his +watch; "what in the deuce is keeping that fellow so late? If we +had not especially wanted him, he would have been here two hours ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Sutherland, "he may have found the coachman +more communicative than he anticipated." +</P> + +<P> +"He has doubtless struck some clue which he is following," was the +reply; but at that instant there was a light tap at the door, and the +man generally known as the English barrister's "clerk" entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, cheerfully, "'speak of the devil'—you +know what follows! What luck to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very fair, sir," said the man, quietly taking in the situation at +a glance, as he noted the eager, expectant faces of the four men, +and, dropping into a chair near the group, he instantly assumed an +attitude of close attention. +</P> + +<P> +Ordinarily, McCabe was, as Mr. Whitney had remarked, rather an +insignificant looking man. He was below medium stature and somewhat +dull in appearance, owing to the fact that he seemed to take little +interest in his surroundings, while his face, when his eyes were +concealed, as was generally the case, by the heavily drooping lids +and long eyelashes, was absolutely expressionless. When, however, +he raised his eyes and fixed them upon any one, the effect was much +the same as though a search-light suddenly flashed in one's face; +but this was only upon rare occasions, and few casual observers +would dream of the keen perceptive faculties hidden beneath that +quiet exterior. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us your story first, Mac," said Mr. Barton, after a moment's +silence, thoroughly understanding his man, "ours will keep for a +little bit." +</P> + +<P> +"There's not much to tell, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you and the coachman coming on?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll not be very intimate after to-night, I'm thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"How is that?" questioned the attorney, at the same time smiling +broadly at his companions. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, there'll be no call for it, for one thing, as I've got +all the points in the case I wanted; and for another, his chief +returned this evening, and, from the few words I overheard upon +his arrival, I don't think the coachman will feel over-confidential +the next time he sees me," and McCabe smiled grimly to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"So Merrick is back!" interposed Mr. Sutherland, laughing. "Did +you and he meet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Meet, sir? Ah, no, not much o' that! I heard a step coming up +the stairs, and as I thought the room was hardly big enough for +three, I excused myself to Mr. Jim Matheson—alias Matthews, the +coachman—and made for the hall. We passed each other at the head +of the stairs, and I cluttered down, making as much racket as I +could; then at the foot of the stairs I took off my boots and crept +upstairs again, more to hear the fellow's voice than anything else, +so I could recognize him afterwards." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you hear?" inquired Mr. Barton, as McCabe paused to light +a cigar which Mr. Sutherland had handed him. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard him say, 'Who was that I passed outside, Jim?' 'Only a +cross-country friend of mine,' says Jim. 'What friends are you +entertaining here in these quarters?' says he, kind o' sharp like. +'An' sure,' says Jim, 'it was only Dan McCoy, the clerk of the big +London lawyer who has come over with the young Mr. Mainwaring I've +heard you speak of, and a right clever fellow he is, too!' 'Clerk!' +he roars out, 'clerk, you blithering idiot! he's no more clerk +than you are coachman, nor half so much, for you're fit for nothing +but to take care of horses all your days! Do you want to know,' +says he, 'who you've been entertaining?' That's no more nor less +than Dan McCabe, a Scotland Yard man they've brought over, nobody +knows what for, but whatever his game, he's made you play into his +hand! I didn't stay to hear more," McCabe concluded, "I got out." +</P> + +<P> +"But how does this Merrick know you?" Mr. Barton inquired, as the +laughter caused by McCabe's recital subsided. +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't know me, he only knows of me," the man replied. "I +found that out an hour or two later, when I met him in a crowd at +the Wellington Hotel;" the speaker glanced curiously in the +direction of Harold Mainwaring for an instant, and then continued, +"I knew him by his voice, but I spoke with him, and he had no idea +who I was." +</P> + +<P> +"But how has he heard of you?" persisted Mr. Barton. +</P> + +<P> +"There was an American detective—a friend of his—who came over +on the 'Campania' on the same trip with Mr. Mainwaring. He was +following up a case in London, but he managed to keep his eye on +Mr. Mainwaring and kept this Merrick posted of all that he was doing. +It was because of some remarks of his that I got wind of, that I +determined from the first to get onto his game." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, tentatively, "are you ready to go to +work now?" +</P> + +<P> +The keen eyes flashed for an instant in the attorney's face, then +the man answered quietly, "If you've nothing to tell me, I'm ready +to go to work on my own hook and in my own way; if you've anything +to say, I'll hear it." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Barton glanced at the others. "We had better tell McCabe what +we have learned, and also just what our plans are." +</P> + +<P> +The others bowed in assent, and the chairs were drawn closer together +while Mr. Barton, in low tones, told, as briefly and clearly as +possible, the discovery which they had made. McCabe listened to the +attorney's story, but whether or not the secret were already guessed +by him, his face gave no sign. When it was ended he glanced +curiously at Harold Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. LaGrange told you this?" +</P> + +<P> +"She did." +</P> + +<P> +"At what time, if you please, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"At about half-past five." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you aware, sir, that, with the exception of her maid, you are +probably the last person who saw Mrs. LaGrange living?" +</P> + +<P> +"Saw her living!" Harold Mainwaring repeated, astonished, while Mr. +Barton demanded, "What do you mean, Mac?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean, sir," said McCabe, slowly, "that Mrs. LaGrange committed +suicide at about seven o'clock this evening, less than two hours +after Mr. Mainwaring saw her." +</P> + +<P> +"When did you learn of this?" "What do you know of the affair?" +questioned the attorneys quickly, while Harold Mainwaring, more +deeply shocked than he would have thought possible, listened to the +man's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I happened along by the Wellington about two hours ago, and saw +considerable stir around there. I learned 'twas a case of suicide, +but thought nothing of it till I heard the woman's name, then I +dropped in and picked up the facts in the case," and he proceeded +to relate the details of the affair. +</P> + +<P> +As Harold Mainwaring listened, he recalled the looks and words of +the wretched woman, her genuine misery, her falsehood and deceit, +her piteous pleadings, and the final rage and scorn with which she +had rejected his assistance even in the face of such desperation +and despair; and a sickening sense of horror stole over him, +rendering him almost oblivious to the conversation around him. +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas there I saw this man Merrick," McCabe was saying in +conclusion. "I heard him questioning the maid about Mr. Mainwaring's +interview with the woman; he evidently was onto that. I saw the +girl myself shortly afterwards and gave her a hint and a bit of money +to keep her mouth shut about Mr. Mainwaring. She seemed pretty +bright, and I think she will understand her business." +</P> + +<P> +"Confound that meddlesome Yankee! what was he prowling around +there for?" interrupted Mr. Scott, angrily. "He has no business +prying into Harold Scott Mainwaring's affairs, and I'll have him +understand it; let him attend to his own duties, and I think, from +all reports, he will have his hands more than full then. Mr. +Sutherland," he continued, addressing the attorney, "there's no +knowing what that beastly bungler who calls himself a detective +will do next; this thing is likely to be out in the morning papers +with the boy's name mixed up in it, and it must be stopped right +here. His name must be kept out of this at any price, and you +probably can reach the New York press better than any one of us." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right," said Mr. Sutherland, rising hastily and preparing +to leave; "our client wants no notoriety of that sort; and I will +make sure that nothing of the kind occurs. I have a friend who has +unlimited influence with the newspaper men, and I will have him +attend to the matter at once, and see to it that everything of that +nature is suppressed." +</P> + +<P> +"That is best," said Harold Mainwaring gravely, coming forward. "I +would have rendered the woman any necessary assistance; I am willing +to do whatever is needful now, but, living or dead, her name shall +never be coupled with my father's name and mine." +</P> + +<P> +"You understand, of course, that money is no object in this matter," +added Mr. Scott. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand perfectly, sir," said the attorney, courteously; +"everything will be attended to; and, Mr. Barton, you will kindly +confer with Mr. McCabe, and I will see you in the morning regarding +your final decision. Good-night, gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +An hour later, McCabe took his departure. Of his own theories or +plans he had said little more than that he was to leave the +Waldorf that night for another part of the city, but all details +for communication with him in case of necessity had been carefully +arranged. +</P> + +<P> +"Your 'clerk' has been suddenly called to London on important +business," he said to Mr. Barton, with a quiet smile, adding, "You +may meet me occasionally, but it's not likely or best that you +recognize me, and when I have anything to report you will hear from +me," and with these words he was gone. +</P> + +<P> +When at last Harold Mainwaring and his foster-father were again by +themselves, the latter, noting the younger man's abstraction, said,— +</P> + +<P> +"This is naturally a great shock to you, my boy, but it is only what +might be expected after such a life as hers. You have done nothing +for which to censure yourself; you have done all that could be done +under existing conditions, and more than was actually required of +you; so you need have no regrets over the affair." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that, sir; but the thought that I cannot banish from +my mind is, knowing so well her treachery and deceit, is it possible +that she herself had a hand in the murder, and finding at last that +there was no hope of gaining my friendship, did she fear the +developments which might follow from what she had told?" +</P> + +<P> +The elder man shook his head thoughtfully. "We cannot say, my boy; +the thought occurred to me almost instantaneously, for, without +doubt, she both hated and feared him; but time alone will tell." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BETWEEN THE ACTS +</H3> + +<P> +For the ten days next ensuing the public craving for sensational +developments in the Mainwaring case seemed likely to be gratified +to an unusual degree. To the exciting scenes of the court-room was +added the suicide of Mrs. LaGrange, immediately followed by news of +the discovery that Richard Hobson, the unwilling witness in the +previous day's proceedings, had absconded, leaving not the slightest +indication of even the direction in which he had vanished. By many +the suicide of the one and the sudden disappearance of the other, +occurring simultaneously, were considered as prima facie evidence +that the two, so closely associated with each other, had been in +some way connected with the Fair Oaks tragedy. +</P> + +<P> +From this phase of the affair, however, public attention was +speedily diverted by the report that proceedings to contest the old +will had been instituted, but in the name of Ralph Mainwaring and +his brother, Harold W. Mainwaring; his son, the sole heir under the +will of Hugh Mainwaring, having altogether withdrawn from the +contest. This had caused an open rupture between father and son, +and the latter had established himself in a suite of apartments at +the Murray Hill. +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring's course occasioned great surprise; many commended +his wisdom, but few gave him credit for the genuine sense of honor +which had actuated him. +</P> + +<P> +"A neat little stroke of diplomacy," said one club-man to another, +"and worthy of Hugh Mainwaring himself! There is no show for him, +anyway, and it's much better policy to yield the point now, don't +you see, than to fight it out along with that pig-headed father of +his." +</P> + +<P> +"He understands on which side his bread is buttered, and don't you +forget it, my dear boy," was the laughing rejoinder. "It's always +best to stand in with the winning side; he won't lose anything in +the long run, and he knows it." +</P> + +<P> +Such remarks occasionally reached young Mainwaring, making him +exceedingly indignant. +</P> + +<P> +"You may say, once and for all," he said to a reporter who was +interviewing him in his apartments at the Murray Hill, "that in +withdrawing from this contest I am not currying favor with Harold +Scott Mainwaring. He and I are the best of friends, but that fact +would not hinder me from giving him a fair and square fight if +there were the slightest doubt as to the validity of his claim. +But there isn't; he has proved his right, legally and morally, to +the property, and that's enough for me." +</P> + +<P> +"But Mr. Ralph Mainwaring must have some tenable ground for +contesting his claim," said the reporter, tentatively, hoping to +get some of the inside facts of the case. +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring froze instantly. "I have nothing whatever to say, +sir, regarding the governor's action in this matter; any information +you desire on that point you will have to obtain from him." +</P> + +<P> +The next development in the Mainwaring case was a report to the +effect that the whereabouts of Harold W. Mainwaring could not be +ascertained, and it was generally supposed among his London +associates that he had followed his brother to America by the next +steamer. As this report was supplemented by the further facts that +he was a man of no principle, heavily involved in debt, and deeply +incensed at Ralph Mainwaring's success in securing for his son the +American estate in which he himself had expected to share, public +speculation was immediately aroused in a new direction, and "that +Mainwaring affair" became the absorbing topic, not alone at the +clubs and other places of masculine rendezvous, but at all social +gatherings as well. +</P> + +<P> +Regarding the principal actors in this drama, however, around whom +public interest really centred, little could be definitely +ascertained. To many, who, on the following morning, read the +details of the suicide at the Wellington, it was a matter of no +small wonder that the name of Harold Scott Mainwaring was not once +mentioned in connection with that of the woman shown by the +preceding day's testimony to have been so closely related to him. +Perhaps no one was more surprised at this omission than Merrick +himself but if so, his only comment was made mentally. +</P> + +<P> +"He's got the cinch on them all around, and he'll win, hands down!" +</P> + +<P> +The inquest, held at an early hour, was merely a matter of form, +the evidence of intentional suicide being conclusive, and the +interment, a few hours later, was strictly private. Excepting the +clergyman who read the burial service, there were present only the +two sons of the wretched woman. +</P> + +<P> +It was their first meeting since learning of the strange relationship +existing between them, and Walter LaGrange, as he entered the +presence of the dead, cast a curious glance, half shrinking, half +defiant, at the calm, stern face of Harold Mainwaring, who had +preceded him. His own face was haggard and drawn, and the hard, +rigid lines deepened as his glance fell for an instant on the casket +between them. Then his eyes looked straight into those of Harold +Mainwaring with an expression almost imploring. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me," he demanded in low, hoarse tones, "is it true that I +am—what she once said and what report is now saying—the son of +Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is true," the other replied, gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Then curse them both!" he exclaimed, while his hands clinched +involuntarily. "What right had they to blight and ruin my life? +What right had they to live as they did, and let the stigma, the +shame, the curse of it all fall on me? A few months since I had +the honor and respect of my classmates and associates; to-day, not +one will recognize me, and for no fault of mine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" interposed Harold Mainwaring; "I know the wrong which has +been done you,—they have wronged me, also, far more deeply than +you know,—but this is no time or place to recall it!" +</P> + +<P> +The calmness and kindness of his tones seemed to soothe and control +his excited companion. +</P> + +<P> +"I know they have wronged you," the latter replied; "but they have +not ruined you! You have not only friends and wealth, but, more +than all, your father's name. I," he added bitterly, "am a pauper, +and worse than a pauper, for I have not even a name!" +</P> + +<P> +For a few moments Harold Mainwaring silently studied the haggard +young face confronting him, in which anger was slowly giving place +to dull, sullen despair; and his own heart was suddenly moved with +pity for the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Robbed of his birthright before he was born," reared in an +atmosphere of treachery and deceit calculated to foster and develop +the evil tendencies already inherited; yet, notwithstanding all, so +closely akin to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Walter," he said, gravely, at the same time extending his hand +across the casket, "I realize the truth of much that you have said, +but you need not allow this to ruin or blight your life. Mark my +words, your future from this time forth is, to a great extent, in +your own hands; your life will be what you make it, and you alone. +See to it that it is not blighted by your own wrong-doing! Be +yourself a man of honor, and I will assure you, you can depend upon +me to stand by you and to help you." Walter LaGrange raised his +eyes in astonishment at these words, containing a pledge of probably +the first genuine friendship he had ever known in his young life. +He gave a look, searching, almost cynical, into Harold Mainwaring's +face; then reading nothing but sincerity, he took the proffered hand, +saying brokenly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Do you really mean it? I supposed that you, of all others, would +despise me; and it would be no great wonder if you did!" +</P> + +<P> +"It will depend entirely upon yourself, Walter, whether or not I +despise you. If I ever do, it will be the result of your own +unworthiness, not because of the wrong-doing of others." +</P> + +<P> +There were signs in the boy's face of a brief struggle between the +old pride, inherited from his mother, and the self-respect which +Harold Mainwaring's words had but just awakened. +</P> + +<P> +"If it were the other fellow," he said, slowly, "the one the old +man intended to make his heir, had made me such a proposition, I +would tell him to go to the devil; but, by George! if you will +stand by me, it's all right, and I'll be man enough anyway that +you'll never regret it." +</P> + +<P> +A few days later, Walter LaGrange, penniless and friendless, had +disappeared, whither his former associates neither knew nor cared. +In a large banking establishment in one of the principal western +cities,—a branch of the firm of Mainwaring & Co.,—a young man, +known as the ward of Harold Scott Mainwaring, was entered as an +employee, with prospect of advancement should he prove himself +worthy of responsibility and trust. But of this, as of many other +events just then quietly transpiring behind the scenes, little or +nothing was known. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, as the days slipped rapidly away, the party at the +Waldorf was not idle. There were conferences, numerous and +protracted, behind dosed doors, telegrams and cablegrams in cipher +flashed hither and thither in multitudinous directions, while Mr. +Sutherland seemed fairly ubiquitous. Much of his time, however, +was spent in the private parlors of the English party, with frequent +journeys to the court-house to ascertain the status of the case. +From one of these trips he returned one evening jubilant. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said he, settling himself comfortably, with a sigh of +relief, "the first point in the case is decided in our favor." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a good omen," Mr. Barton replied cheerfully; "but may I +inquire to what you refer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have succeeded in getting the date for the hearing set for the +next term of court, which opens early in December." +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad to hear it; a little time just now is of the utmost +importance to our interests. Did you have any difficulty in +securing a postponement until the next term?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whitney, of course, opposed it strongly. He said his client +wanted the matter settled at the earliest possible moment; but I +told him that so long as Ralph Mainwaring persisted in butting +against a stone wall, just so long a speedy settlement was out of +the question; it was bound to be a hard fight, and would be carried +over into the next term in any event. Then I had a private +interview with Judge Bingham, and, without giving particulars, told +him that new developments had arisen, and, with a little time in +which to procure certain evidence, we would have our opponents +completely floored,—they would not even have an inch of room left +to stand upon,—while under present conditions, Mainwaring, so long +as he had a shilling, would, if beaten, move for a new trial, or +appeal to a higher court,—anything to keep up the fight. So he +will grant us till December, which, I am inclined to think, will be +ample time." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks now," said Mr. Barton, producing a telegram, "as though +we might succeed in securing that evidence much sooner than we have +anticipated. What do you think of that?" and he handed the despatch +to Mr. Sutherland. +</P> + +<P> +The face of the latter brightened as he glanced rapidly over the +yellow sheet. +</P> + +<P> +"The dickens! McCabe has left the city!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Barton bowed. "Which means," he said in reply, "that he has +evidently struck the scent; and when he once starts on the trail, +it is only a question of time—and usually not any great length +of time, either—before he runs his game to cover." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," ejaculated Mr. Sutherland, rubbing his hands together +enthusiastically, "I, for one, want to be 'in at the death' on this, +for it will simply be the finest piece of work, the grandest +denouement, of any case that has ever come within my twenty years of +legal experience!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Barton smiled. "My brother is evidently of the same opinion +with yourself," he said. "I received a cablegram from him to-day, +requesting me to inform him at once of the date set for the hearing, +as he stated he would not, for a kingdom, fail of being present at +the trial." +</P> + +<P> +With the announcement that the case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring +had been set for the opening of the December term of court, the +public paused to take breath and to wonder at this unlooked-for +delay, but preparations for the coming contest were continued with +unabated vigor on both sides. Contrary to all expectations, Ralph +Mainwaring, so far from objecting to the postponement of the case, +took special pains to express his entire satisfaction with this +turn of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"It is an indication of conscious weakness on their part," he +remarked with great complacency, as he and Mr. Whitney were dining +at the club on the following day. "They have evidently discovered +some flaw in their defence which it will take some time to repair. +I can afford to wait, however; my attorneys and experts will soon +be here, and while our side could easily have been in readiness in +a much shorter time, this, of course, will give us an opportunity +for still more elaborate preparation, so that we will gain an +immense advantage over them." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose, Mr. Mainwaring," said one of his listeners, giving a +quick side-glance at his companions, "I suppose that during this +interim a truce will be declared, and for the time being there will +be a cessation of hostilities between the parties in interest, will +there not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sir!" roared Ralph Mainwaring, transfixing the speaker with a +stare calculated to annihilate him. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg pardon, sir, I intended no offence," continued the +irrepressible young American, ignoring the warning signals from his +associates; "it only occurred to me that with such an immense +advantage on your side you could afford to be magnanimous and treat +your opponent with some consideration." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not accustomed to showing magnanimity or consideration to any +but my own equals," the other rejoined, with freezing dignity; "and +the fact that my 'opponent,' as you are pleased to designate him, +is, for the present, allowed liberty to go and come at his pleasure, +although under strict surveillance, is, in this instance, sufficient +consideration." +</P> + +<P> +"Harold Scott Mainwaring under surveillance? Incredible!" exclaimed +one of the party in a low tone, while the first speaker remarked, "I +certainly was unaware that the gentleman in question was to be +regarded in the light of a suspected criminal!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is to be presumed," said Ralph Mainwaring, haughtily, stung by +the tinge of irony in the other's tone, "that there are a number of +points in this case of which people in general are as yet unaware, +but upon which they are likely to become enlightened in the near +future, when this person who has assumed such a variety of roles +will be disclosed in his true light,—not that of a suspected +criminal merely, but of a condemned criminal, convicted by a chain +of evidence every link of which has been forged by himself." +</P> + +<P> +There was an ominous silence as Ralph Mainwaring rose from the +table, broken at last by an elderly gentleman seated at a little +distance, who, while apparently an interested listener, had taken +no part in the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring, I would judge the charges +which you would prefer against this young man to be unusually +serious; may I inquire their nature?" +</P> + +<P> +The words were spoken with the utmost deliberation, but in the calm, +even tones there was an implied challenge, which was all that was +needed at that instant to fan Ralph Mainwaring's wrath into a flame. +Utterly disregarding a cautionary glance from Mr. Whitney, he turned +his monocle upon the speaker, glaring at him in contemptuous silence +for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You have decidedly the advantage of me, sir, but allow me to say +that the person under discussion has not only, with unheard of +effrontery, publicly and unblushingly proclaimed himself as a +blackmailer and knave, capable of descending to any perfidy or +treachery for the purpose of favoring his own base schemes, but he +has also, in his inordinate greed and ambition, unwittingly proved +himself by his own statements and conduct to be a villain of the +deepest dye; and I will say, furthermore, that if Harold Scott +Mainwaring, as he styles himself, ends his days upon the gallows +in expiation of the foul murder of Hugh Mainwaring, he will have +only himself to thank, for his own words and deeds will have put +the noose about his neck." +</P> + +<P> +Having thus expressed himself, Ralph Mainwaring, without waiting +for reply, left the room accompanied by Mr. Whitney. The latter +made no comment until they were seated in the carriage and rolling +down the avenue; then he remarked, casually,— +</P> + +<P> +"I was surprised, Mr. Mainwaring, that you failed to recognize the +gentleman who addressed you as you were leaving the table." +</P> + +<P> +"His face was somewhat familiar; I have met him, but I cannot recall +when or where. I considered his tone decidedly offensive, however, +and I proposed, whoever he might be, to give him to understand that +I would brook no interference. Do you know him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have never met him, but I know of him," the attorney replied, +watching his client closely. "He is the Honorable J. Ponsonby Roget, +Q. C., of London. I supposed of course that you knew him." +</P> + +<P> +"J. Ponsonby Roget, Queen's Counsel? Egad! I have met him, but it +was years ago, and he has aged so that I did not recognize him. +Strange!" he added, visibly annoyed. "What the deuce is he doing +in this country?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is just what no one is able to say," replied the attorney, +slowly. "He is stopping at the Waldorf, with our friends, the +English party, but whether as a guest or in a professional capacity, +no one has been able to ascertain." +</P> + +<P> +"Zounds, man! why did you not give me this information earlier?" +</P> + +<P> +"For the good and sufficient reason, Mr. Mainwaring, that I did not +learn of the facts myself until within the last two hours. My +attention was called to the gentleman as I entered the club. I +assumed, of course, that you knew him, at least by sight, and when +he addressed you I supposed for the instant that you were +acquaintances." +</P> + +<P> +"But how came he at the club? None of the party from the Waldorf +were with him." +</P> + +<P> +"He was there as the especial guest of Chief-Justice Parmalee, of +the Supreme Court, the gentleman on his left. Judge Parmalee spent +much of his life in London, and the two are particular friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's done, and can't be undone, and I don't know that I +regret it," Ralph Mainwaring remarked, sullenly. "If he chooses to +identify himself with that side of the case he is at liberty to do +so, but he has my opinion of his client gratis." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney made no reply, and the drive was concluded in silence. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring had no sooner left the club than a +chorus of exclamations, protests, and running comments arose on +all sides. +</P> + +<P> +"Harold Scott Mainwaring the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring! That is +carrying this farce beyond all bounds!" +</P> + +<P> +"If he cannot get possession of the property in any other way, he +will send the new heir to the gallows, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"He will attempt it, too; he is desperate," said one. +</P> + +<P> +"He may make it pretty serious for the young fellow," said another, +thoughtfully. "You remember, by his own statements he was the last +person who saw Hugh Mainwaring alive; in fact, he was in his library +within a few moments preceding his death; and after all that has +been brought to light, it's not to be supposed that he had any great +affection for his uncle." +</P> + +<P> +"What is this, gentlemen?" said a reporter, briskly, appearing on +the scene, note-book in hand. "Any new developments in the +Mainwaring case?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, a genuine sensation!" shouted two or three voices. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen, attention a moment!" said a commanding voice outside, +and an instant later a tall, well-known form entered. +</P> + +<P> +"The ubiquitous Mr. Sutherland!" laughingly announced a jovial +young fellow, standing near the entrance. +</P> + +<P> +"Sutherland, how is this?" demanded one of the elder gentlemen. +"Have you a private battery concealed about your person with +invisible wires distributed throughout the city, that you seem to +arrive at any and every spot just on the nick of time?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is one of the secrets of the profession, Mr. Norton, not to +be revealed to the uninitiated," replied the attorney, while a +quick glance flashed between himself and the Queen's Counsel. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one thing, gentlemen," he continued, with great dignity, +"to which I wish to call your attention, particularly you gentlemen +of the press. I am aware of the nature of the 'sensation' of which +you made mention a moment ago, but I wish it distinctly understood +that it is to be given no publicity whatever. The name of my client +is not to be bandied about before the public in connection with any +of Ralph Mainwaring's imputations or vilifications, for the reason +that they are wholly without foundation. We are thoroughly +cognizant of that gentleman's intentions regarding our client, and +we will meet him on his own ground. In the coming contest we will +not only establish beyond all shadow of doubt our client's sole +right and title to the Mainwaring estate, but we will, at the same +time, forever refute and silence any and every aspersion which Ralph +Mainwaring may seek to cast upon him. Even were there any truth +in these insinuations, it would be time enough, when the charges +should be preferred against our client, to brazen them before the +public, but since they are only the product of spleen and malignity, +simply consign them to the odium and obloquy to which they are +entitled." +</P> + +<P> +"That is right!" responded two or three voices, while the reporter +replied, courteously,— +</P> + +<P> +"We will certainly respect your wishes, sir; but you see the public +is on the qui vive, so to speak, over this case, and it is our +business to get hold of every item which we can to add to the +interest. You have checked us off on some rather interesting matter +already, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so," said Mr. Sutherland, quietly, "but I can promise you +that before long there will be developments in the case which will +give you boys all the interesting matter you will need for some +time, and they will be fact, not fabrication." +</P> + +<P> +As the result of Mr. Sutherland's prompt action, the newspapers +contained no allusion to that evening's scene at the club; but even +his energy and caution were powerless to prevent the spread of the +affair from lip to lip. Mentioned scarcely above a whisper, the +report rippled onward, the waves widening in all directions, with +various alterations and additions, till it was regarded as an open +secret in all circles of society. It reached young Mainwaring in +his rather secluded bachelor quarters at the Murray Hill, and he +bowed his head in shame that a Mainwaring should stoop to so +disgraceful an exhibition of his venomous rage and hatred. It +reached Harold Scott Mainwaring, and the smouldering fire in the +dark eyes gleamed afresh and the proud face grew rigid and stern. +Donning overcoat and hat, he left his apartments at the Waldorf; +and started forth in the direction of the club most frequented by +Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney. +</P> + +<P> +He had gone but a short distance when he met young Mainwaring. The +young men exchanged cordial greetings, and, at Harold's request, his +cousin retraced his steps to accompany him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you making such a stranger of yourself; Hugh? I have +scarcely seen you of late," said Harold, after a little general +conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, to be frank with you, old boy, I haven't been around so often +as I would like for two reasons; for one thing, I find people +generally are not inclined to regard our friendship in the same light +that we do. You and I understand one another, and you don't suspect +me of any flunkeyism, or any ulterior motive, don't you know,—" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand perfectly," said Harold, as his cousin paused, seeming +to find some difficulty in conveying his exact meaning; "and so +long as you and I do understand each other, what is the use of +paying any attention to outsiders? Whether we were friends, or +refused to recognize one another, their small talk and gossip would +flow on forever, so why attempt to check it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you are right; but that isn't all of it, don't you know. +What I care most about is the governor's losing his head in the way +he has lately. It is simply outrageous, the reports he has started +in circulation!" +</P> + +<P> +Hugh paused and glanced anxiously into his cousin's face, but the +frank, brotherly kindness which he read there reassured him. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear cousin," said Harold, warmly, "nothing that Ralph +Mainwaring can ever say or do shall make any difference between us. +There are but two contingencies in this connection that I regret." +</P> + +<P> +"And those are what?" the younger man questioned eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"That he bears the name of Mainwaring, and that he is your father!" +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove! I'm with you on that," the other exclaimed heartily, "and +I hope you'll win every point in the game; but I've been awfully +cut up over what he has said and done recently. I know that he +intends to carry his threats into execution, and I'm afraid he'll +make it deucedly unpleasant for you, don't you know." +</P> + +<P> +They had reached the club-house, and Harold Mainwaring, as he paused +on the lowest step, smiled brightly into the boyish face, regarding +him with such solicitude. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand his intentions as well as you, and know that it would +give him great delight to carry them into execution; but, my dear +boy, he will never have the opportunity to even make the attempt." +</P> + +<P> +Young Mainwaring's face brightened. "Why, are you prepared to head +him off in that direction? By Jove! I'm right glad to know it. +Well, I'll be around to the Waldorf in the course of a day or two + No, much obliged, but I don't care to go into the club-rooms<BR> +to-night; in fact, I haven't been in there since the governor made +that after-dinner speech of his. Good-night!" +</P> + +<P> +As Harold Mainwaring sauntered carelessly through the club-rooms, +returning the greetings of the select circle of friends which he +had made, he was conscious of glances of interest and undisguised +curiosity from the many with whom he had no acquaintance. No +allusion was made to the subject which he well knew was in their +minds, however, until, meeting Mr. Chittenden, the latter drew him +aside into an alcove. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, my dear Mainwaring, are you aware that your esteemed kinsman +has you under strict surveillance?" +</P> + +<P> +Mainwaring smiled, though his eyes flashed. "I am aware that he +has made statements to that effect, although, thus far, his +'surveillance' has interfered in no way either with my duties or +pleasures, nor do I apprehend that it will." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear fellow, it is simply preposterous! The man must be insane." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he here this evening?" Mainwaring inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"No; to tell the truth, he has not found it so very congenial here +since that outbreak of his; he seldom is here now, excepting, of +course, at meals. Mr. Whitney is here, however." +</P> + +<P> +"I came here," Harold Mainwaring replied, "with the express purpose +of meeting one or the other, or both; on the whole, it will be +rather better to meet Mr. Whitney." +</P> + +<P> +"No trouble, no unpleasant words, I hope?" said the elder man, +anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Chittenden, when you knew me as Hugh Mainwaring's private +secretary, you knew me as a gentleman; I trust I shall never be +less." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, you are right, my boy, and I beg your pardon; but +young blood is apt to be hasty, you know." +</P> + +<P> +A little later Harold Mainwaring strolled leisurely across the large +reading-room to a table where Mr. Whitney was seated. The latter, +seeing him, rose to greet him, while his sensitive face flushed +with momentary excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, I am delighted to meet you. I had hoped from the +friendly tone of that rather mysterious note of yours, upon your +somewhat abrupt departure, that we might meet again soon, and, +though it is under greatly altered circumstances, I am proud to +have the opportunity of congratulating you." +</P> + +<P> +The younger man responded courteously, and for a few moments the +two chatted pleasantly upon subjects of general interest, while +many pairs of eyes looked on in silent astonishment, wondering what +this peculiar interview might portend. +</P> + +<P> +At last, after a slight pause, Harold Mainwaring remarked, calmly, +"Mr. Whitney, I understand that, when the coming litigation is +terminated, your client intends to institute proceedings against me +of a far different nature,—criminal proceedings, in fact." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney colored and started nervously, then replied in a low +tone, "Mr. Mainwaring, let us withdraw to one of the side rooms; +this is rather a public place for any conversation regarding those +matters." +</P> + +<P> +"It is none too public for me, Mr. Whitney, as I have nothing +unpleasant to say towards yourself personally, and nothing which I +am not perfectly willing should be heard by any and every individual +in these rooms to-night. You have not yet answered my inquiry, Mr. +Whitney." +</P> + +<P> +The attorney paused for a moment, as though laboring under great +excitement, then he spoke in a tone vibrating with strong emotion,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring, regarding my client's intentions, you have, in all +probability, been correctly informed. I believe that he has made +statements at various times to that effect, and I am now so well +acquainted with him that I know there is no doubt but that he will +attempt to carry out what he has threatened. But, Mr. Mainwaring, I +wish to say a word or two for myself. In the coming litigation +over the estate, I, as Ralph Mainwaring's counsel, am bound to do +my part without any reference to my own personal opinions or +prejudices, and I expect to meet you and your counsel in an open +fight,—perhaps a bitter one. But this much I have to say: Should +Ralph Mainwaring undertake to bring against you any action of the +character which he has threatened," here Mr. Whitney rose to his +feet and brought his hand down with a ringing blow upon the table +at his side, "he will have to employ other counsel than myself, for +I will have nothing whatever to do with such a case." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment, then continued: "I do not claim to understand +you perfectly, Mr. Mainwaring. I will confess you have always been +a mystery to me, and you are still. There are depths about you that +I cannot fathom. But I do believe in your honor, your integrity, +and your probity, and as for taking part in any action reflecting +upon your character, or incriminating you in any respect, I never +will!" +</P> + +<P> +A roar of applause resounded through the club-rooms as he concluded. +When it had subsided, Harold Mainwaring replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney, I thank you for this public expression of your +confidence in me. The relations between us in the past have been +pleasant, and I trust they will continue so in the future. As I +stated, however, I came here to-night with no unfriendly feeling +towards yourself, but to ask you to be the bearer of a message +from me to your client. Ralph Mainwaring, not content with trying +by every means within his power to deprive me of my right and +title to the estate for years wrongfully withheld from my father +and from myself, now accuses me of being the murderer of Hugh +Mainwaring. I Say to Ralph Mainwaring, for me, that, not through +what he terms my 'inordinate greed and ambition,' but through +God-given rights which no man can take from me, I will have my +own, and he is powerless to prevent it or to stand in my way. But +say to him that I will never touch one farthing of this property +until I stand before the world free and acquitted of the most remote +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring; nor until the foul and +dastardly crime that stains Fair Oaks shall have been avenged!" +</P> + +<P> +Amid the prolonged applause that followed, Harold Mainwaring left +the building. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RUN TO COVER +</H3> + +<P> +A dull, cheerless day in the early part of December was merging +into a stormy night as the west-bound express over one of the +transcontinental railways, swiftly winding its way along the +tortuous course of a Rocky Mountain canyon, suddenly paused before +the long, low depot of a typical western mining city. The arc +lights swinging to and fro shed only a ghastly radiance through the +dense fog, and grotesque shadows, dancing hither and thither to the +vibratory motion of the lights, seemed trying to contest supremacy +with the feeble rays. +</P> + +<P> +The train had not come to a full stop when a man sprang lightly +from one of the car platforms, and, passing swiftly through the +waiting crowd, concealed himself in the friendly shelter of the +shadows, where he remained oblivious to the rain falling in +spiteful dashes, while he scanned the hurrying crowd surging in +various directions. Not one of the crowd observed him; not one +escaped his observation. Soon his attention was riveted upon a +tall man, closely muffled in fur coat and cap, who descended from +one of the rear coaches, and, after a quick, cautious glance about +him, passed the silent, motionless figure in the shadow and hastily +entered a carriage standing near. The other, listening intently +for the instructions given the driver, caught the words, "545 +Jefferson Street." +</P> + +<P> +As the carriage rolled away, he emerged from the shadow and jotted +down the address in a small note-book, soliloquizing as he did so,— +</P> + +<P> +"I have tracked him to his lair at last, and now, unless that +infernal hoodoo looms upon the scene, I can get in my work in good +shape. I would have had my game weeks ago, but for his appearance, +confound him!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at his watch. "Dinner first," he muttered, "the next +thing in order is to find the alias under which my gentleman is at +present travelling. No one seems to know much about him in these +parts." +</P> + +<P> +The dim light revealed a man below medium height, his form enveloped +in a heavy English mackintosh thrown carelessly about his shoulders, +which, as he made his notes, blew partially open, revealing an +immaculate shirt front and a brilliant diamond which scintillated +and sparkled in open defiance of the surrounding gloom. A soft felt +hat well pulled down concealed his eyes and the upper part of his +face, leaving visible only a slightly aquiline nose and heavy, black +mustache, which gave his face something of a Jewish cast. Replacing +his note-book in his pocket, he called a belated carriage, and +hastily gave orders to be taken to the Clifton House. +</P> + +<P> +Arriving at the hotel, the stranger registered as "A. Rosenbaum, +Berlin," and, having secured one of the best rooms the house afforded, +repaired to the dining-room. Dinner over, Mr. Rosenbaum betook +himself to a quiet corner of the office, which served also as a +reading-room, and soon was apparently absorbed in a number of Eastern +papers, both English and German, though a keen observer would have +noted that the papers were occasionally lowered sufficiently to give +the eyes—again concealed beneath the hat-brim—an opportunity for +reconnoitering the situation. He was attired in a black suit of +faultless fit, and a superb ruby on his left hand gleamed and glowed +like living fire, rivalling in beauty the flashing diamond. He +speedily became the subject of considerable speculation among the +various classes of men congregating in the hotel office, most of +them for an evening of social enjoyment, though a few seemed to have +gathered there for the purpose of conducting business negotiations. +Among the latter, after a time, was the tall man in fur coat and +cap, who appeared to be waiting for some one with whom he had an +appointment, as he shunned the crowd, selecting a seat near Mr. +Rosenbaum as the most quiet place available. Having removed his +cap and thrown back the high collar of his fur coat, he appeared to +be a man of about fifty years of age, with iron-gray hair and a full, +heavy beard of the same shade. He wore dark glasses, and, having +seated himself with his back towards the light, drew forth from his +pocket a number of voluminous type-written documents, and became +absorbed in a perusal of their contents. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Clifton House, feeling considerable +curiosity regarding his new guest, sauntered over in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Rosenbaum," he remarked, genially, "you have hit on +rather a stormy night for your introduction to our city, for I take +it you are a stranger here, are you not?" +</P> + +<P> +The soft hat was raised slightly, revealing a rather stolid, +expressionless face, with dark eyes nearly concealed by long lashes. +</P> + +<P> +"Not the most agreeable, certainly," he answered, with an expressive +shrug and a marked German accent, at the same time ignoring the +other's question. +</P> + +<P> +"Your first impressions are not likely to be very pleasant, but if +you stop over a few days you will see we have a fine city. Do you +remain here long?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say at present; depends entirely upon business, you +understand." +</P> + +<P> +"I see. What's your line?" +</P> + +<P> +For reply the stranger handed the other a small card, on which was +engraved, "Rosenbaum Brothers, Diamond Brokers, Berlin," and bearing +on one corner his own name, "A. Rosenbaum." +</P> + +<P> +"Diamond brokers, eh? You don't say!" exclaimed the proprietor, +regarding the bit of pasteboard with visible respect. "Must be quite +a business. You represent this firm, I suppose; you are their +salesman?" +</P> + +<P> +The stranger shook his head with a smile. "We have no salesmen," he +answered, quietly. "We have branch houses in Paris, London, and New +York, but we employ no travelling salesmen. Any one can sell +diamonds; my business is to buy them," with marked emphasis on the +last words. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said his interlocutor, "you're not looking for 'em out here, +are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not here as well as anywhere? So far as my experience goes, +it is nothing uncommon in this part of the country to run across +owners of fine stones who, for one reason or another, are very glad +to exchange the same for cash." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I suppose so. When a fellow gets down to bedrock, he'll put +up most anything to make a raise." +</P> + +<P> +"There are many besides those who are down to bedrock, as you call +it, who are glad to make an exchange of that kind," said Mr. +Rosenbaum, speaking with deliberation and keeping an eye upon his +neighbor in the fur coat; "but their reasons, whatever they may be, +do not concern us; our business is simply to buy the gems wherever +we can find them and ask no questions." +</P> + +<P> +By this time a fourth man was approaching in their direction, +evidently the individual for whom the man in the fur coat was +waiting, and Mr. Rosenbaum, thinking it time to put an end to the +conversation, rose and began to don his mackintosh. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely you are not going out to-night!" said the proprietor; "better +stay indoors, and I'll make you acquainted with some of the boys." +</P> + +<P> +"Much obliged, but an important engagement compels me to forego that +pleasure," said Mr. Rosenbaum, and, bidding his host good-evening, he +sallied forth, well aware that every word of their conversation had +been overheard by their silent neighbor, notwithstanding the +voluminous documents which seemed to engross his attention. +</P> + +<P> +Passing out into the night, he found the storm fast abating. +Stopping at a news-stand, he inquired for a directory, which he +carefully studied for a few moments, then walked down the principal +thoroughfare until, coming to a side street, he turned and for a +number of blocks passed up one street and down another, plunging at +last into a dark alley. +</P> + +<P> +Upon emerging therefrom a block away, the soft felt hat had given +place to a jaunty cap, while a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses +perched upon the aquiline nose gave the wearer a decidedly youthful +and debonnaire appearance. Approaching a secluded house in a dimly +lighted location, he glanced sharply at the number, as though to +reassure himself, then running swiftly up the front steps, he +pulled the door-bell vigorously and awaited developments. After +considerable delay the door was unlocked and partially opened by a +hatchet-faced woman, who peered cautiously out, her features lighted +by the uncertain rays of a candle which the draught momentarily +threatened to extinguish. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-evening, madam," said the stranger, airily. "Pardon such an +unseasonable call, but I wish to see Mr. Lovering, who, I understand, +has rooms here." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no such person rooming here," she replied, sharply, her +manner indicating that this bit of information ended the interview, +but her interlocutor was not to be so easily dismissed. +</P> + +<P> +"No such person!" he exclaimed, at the same time scrutinizing in +apparent perplexity a small card which he had produced. "J. D. +Lovering, 545 Jefferson Street; isn't this 545, madam?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered, testily, "this is 545; but there's nobody here +by the name of Lovering." +</P> + +<P> +The young man turned as if to go. "Have you any roomers at present?" +he inquired, doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I have one, but his name is Mannering." +</P> + +<P> +"Mannering," he repeated, thoughtfully, once more facing her; "I +wonder if I am not mistaken in the name? Will you kindly describe +Mr. Mannering?" +</P> + +<P> +The woman hesitated, eying him suspiciously. "He ain't likely to +be the man you want," she said, slowly, "for he don't have no +callers, and he never goes anywhere, except out of the city once in +a while on business. He's an oldish man, with dark hair and beard +streaked with gray, and he wears dark glasses." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, no," the young man interrupted hastily, "that is not the man at +all; the man I am looking for is rather young and a decided blond. +I am sorry to have troubled you, madam; I beg a thousand pardons," +and with profuse apologies he bowed himself down the steps, to the +evident relief of the landlady. +</P> + +<P> +As the door closed behind him, Mr. Rosenbaum paused a moment to +reconnoitre. The house he had just left was the only habitable +building visible in the immediate vicinity, but a few rods farther +down the street was a small cabin, whose dilapidated appearance +indicated that it was unoccupied. Approaching the cabin cautiously, +Mr. Rosenbaum tried the door; it offered but slight resistance, and, +entering, he found it, as he had surmised, empty and deserted. +Stationing himself near a window which overlooked No. 545, he +regarded the isolated dwelling with considerable interest. It was +a two-story structure with a long extension in the rear, only one +story in height. With the exception of a dim light in this rear +portion, the house was entirely dark, which led Mr. Rosenbaum to +the conclusion that the landlady's private apartments were in this +part of the building and remote from the room occupied by her lodger, +which he surmised to be the front room on the second floor, a side +window of which faced the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +For more than an hour Mr. Rosenbaum remained at his post, and at +last had the satisfaction of seeing the tall figure in the fur coat +approaching down the dimly lighted street. He ascended the steps +of 545, let himself in with a night-key, and a moment later the gas +in the upper front room was turned on, showing Mr. Rosenbaum's +surmise to be correct. For an instant the flaring flame revealed +a pale face without the dark glasses, and with a full, dark beard +tinged with gray; then it was lowered and the window blinds were +closely drawn, precluding the possibility of further observation. +The face was like and yet unlike what Mr. Rosenbaum had expected +to see; he determined upon a nearer and better view, without the +dark glasses, before making any decisive move. +</P> + +<P> +The following evening, as soon as it was dusk, found Mr. Rosenbaum +again at the window of the deserted cabin, keenly observant of No. +545. A faint light burned in the rear of the lower floor, while in +the front room upstairs a fire was evidently burning in an open +grate, the rest of the house being in darkness. Presently a man's +figure, tall and well formed, could be seen pacing up and down the +room, appearing, vanishing, and reappearing in the wavering +firelight. For nearly an hour he continued his perambulation, his +hands clasped behind him as though absorbed in deep thought. At +last, arousing himself from his revery, the man looked at his watch +and vanished, reappearing ten minutes later at the front door, in +the usual fur coat and cap, and, descending the steps, turned +towards town and proceeded leisurely down the street, Mr. Rosenbaum +following at some distance, but always keeping him in view and +gradually diminishing the distance between them as the thoroughfare +became more crowded, till they were nearly opposite each other. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, the man paused before a restaurant and, turning, looked +carefully up and down the street. For the first time he observed +Mr. Rosenbaum and seemed to regard him with close attention, but +the latter gentleman was absorbed in the contemplation of an +assortment of diamonds and various gems displayed in a jeweller's +window, directly opposite the restaurant. In the mirrored back of +the show-case the restaurant was plainly visible, and Mr. Rosenbaum +noted with satisfaction the other's evident interest in himself, +and continued to study the contents of the show-case till the man +had entered the restaurant, seating himself at one of the +unoccupied tables. Having observed his man well started on the +first course of dinner, Mr. Rosenbaum crossed the street slowly, +entered the restaurant and with a pre-occupied air seated himself +at the same table with Mr. Mannering. After giving his order, he +proceeded to unfold the evening paper laid beside his plate, without +even a glance at his vis-a-vis. His thoughts, however, were not +on the printed page, but upon the man opposite, whom he had followed +from city to city, hearing of him by various names and under various +guises; hitherto unable to obtain more than a fleeting glimpse of +him, but now brought face to face. +</P> + +<P> +"Alias Henry J. Mannering at last!" he commented mentally, as he +refolded his paper; "you have led me a long chase, my man, but you +and I will now have our little game, and I will force you to show +your hand before it is over!" +</P> + +<P> +Glancing casually across at his neighbor, he found the dark glasses +focused upon himself with such fixity that he responded with a +friendly nod, and, making some trivial remark, found Mr. Mannering +not at all averse to conversation. A few commonplaces were exchanged +until the arrival of Mr. Rosenbaum's order, when the other remarked,— +</P> + +<P> +"Evidently you do not find the cuisine of the Clifton House entirely +satisfactory." +</P> + +<P> +"It is very good," Mr. Rosenbaum answered, indifferently, "but an +occasional change is agreeable. By the way, sir, have I met you at +the Clifton? I do not remember to have had that pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +"We have not met," replied the other. "I saw you there last evening, +however, as I happened in soon after your arrival." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, so? I am very deficient in remembering faces." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mannering hesitated a moment, then remarked with a smile, "I, +on the contrary, am quite observant of faces, and yours seems +somewhat familiar; have I not seen you elsewhere than here?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Rosenbaum raised his eyebrows in amusement. "It is very possible +you have, my dear sir; I travel constantly, and for aught that I +know you may have seen me in nearly every city on the globe. May I +inquire your business, sir? Do you also travel?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mr. Mannering, slowly, but apparently relieved by Mr. +Rosenbaum's answer, "I am not engaged in any particular line of +business at present. I am interested in mining to a considerable +extent, and am out here just now looking after my properties. How +do you find business in your line?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Rosenbaum shook his head with a slight shrug. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing so far to make it worth my while to stay. You see, sir, +for such a trade as ours we want only the finest gems that can be +bought; we have no use for ordinary stones, and that is all I have +seen here so far;" and, having thrown out his bait, he awaited +results. +</P> + +<P> +A long pause followed, while Mr. Mannering toyed with his fork, +drawing numerous diagrams on the table-cloth. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," he said at last, slowly, "that I could get you one or two +fine diamonds if you cared to buy and would give anything like their +true valuation." +</P> + +<P> +"That would depend, of course, upon the quality of the diamonds; +really fine gems we are always ready to buy and to pay a good price +for." +</P> + +<P> +"If I am any judge of diamonds, these are valuable stones," said Mr. +Mannering, "and the owner of them, who is a friend of mine, being +himself a connoisseur in that line, would not be likely to entertain +any false ideas regarding their value." +</P> + +<P> +"And your friend wishes to sell them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am inclined to think that he might dispose of one or two for a +sufficient consideration, subject, however, to one condition,—that +no questions will be asked." +</P> + +<P> +"That goes without saying, my dear sir; asking questions is not our +business. We are simply looking for the finest stones that money +can buy, without regard to anything else. Perhaps," added Mr. +Rosenbaum, tentatively, "we might arrange with your friend for a +meeting between the three of us." +</P> + +<P> +"That would be impracticable," Mr. Mannering replied; "he is out of +the city; and furthermore I know he would not care to appear in the +transaction, but would prefer to have me conduct the negotiations. +I was going to suggest that if you were to remain here a few days, +I shall see my friend in a day or so, as I am going out to look +over some mining properties in which we are both interested, and I +could bring in some of the gems with me, and we might then see what +terms we could make." +</P> + +<P> +"I can remain over, sir, if you can make it an object for me, and +if the stones prove satisfactory I have no doubt we can make terms. +Why, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum leaned across the table and his voice +assumed a confidential tone, "money would be no object with me if I +could get one or two particular gems that I want. For instance, I +have one diamond that I would go to the ends of the earth and pay +a small fortune when I got there, if I could only find a perfect +match for it!" and he launched forth upon an enthusiastic description +of the stone, expatiating upon its enormous size, its wonderful +brilliancy and perfection, adding in conclusion, "and its workmanship +shows it to be at least two hundred years old! Think of that, sir! +What would I not give to be able to match it!" +</P> + +<P> +A peculiar expression flitted over his listener's face, not +unobserved by Mr. Rosenbaum. He made no immediate response, however, +but when at last the two men separated, it was with the agreement +that they should dine together at the same café three days later, +when Mr. Mannering would have returned from his conference with his +friend, at which time, if the latter cared to dispose of his jewels, +they would be submitted for inspection. +</P> + +<P> +Upon retiring to his room that night, Mr. Rosenbaum sat for some +time in deep abstraction, and when he finally turned off the gas, +he murmured,— +</P> + +<P> +"He will produce the jewels all right, and may heaven preserve us +both from the hoodoo!" +</P> + +<P> +For the two days next ensuing, Mr. Rosenbaum watched closely the +arrivals in the city, but, notwithstanding his vigilance, there +slipped in unaware, on the evening of the second day, a quiet, +unassuming man, who went to the Windsor Hotel, registering there +as "A. J. Johnson, Chicago." At a late hour, while Mr. Rosenbaum, +in the solitude of his own room, was perfecting his plans for the +following day, Mr. Johnson, who was making a tour of inspection +among the leading hotels, sauntered carelessly into the office of +the Clifton. He seemed rather socially inclined, and soon was +engaged in conversation with the proprietor and a dozen of the +"boys," all of whom were informed that he was travelling through +the West on the lookout for "snaps" in the way of mining investments. +This announcement produced general good feeling, and there were not +wanting plenty who offered to take Mr. Johnson around the city on +the following day and introduce him to the leading mining men and +promoters. +</P> + +<P> +"Much obliged, boys," said Mr. Johnson, "but there's no rush. I +expect to meet some friends here in a few days, and till they come +I shall simply look around on the q. t., you understand, and make +some observations for myself. And that reminds me, gentlemen," he +added, "do any of you happen to know a man by the name of Mannering, +who is interested in mines out here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mannering?" answered one of the group; "there's a man by that name +has been around here off and on for the last two or three months; +but I didn't know he was interested in mines to any extent, though +he seems to have plenty of money." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that is the man I have in mind; will you describe him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's tall, about middle age, rather gray, wears blue glasses, +and never has anything to say to anybody; a queer sort of fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Johnson nodded, but before he could reply, another in the group +remarked, "Oh, that's the fellow you mean, is it? I've seen him at +the Royal Café for the last six weeks, and in all that time he's +never exchanged a dozen words with anybody, till here, the other +night, that diamond Dutchman of yours," addressing the proprietor +of the Clifton, "came waltzing in there, and I'll be hanged if the +two didn't get as confidential over their dinner as two old women +over a cup of tea." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Johnson turned towards the proprietor with a quiet smile. "The +'diamond Dutchman!' Is he a guest of your house?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Rosenbaum?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; do you know him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not by name, but I think I have seen the gentleman on my travels; +engaged in the jewelry business, isn't he, and carries his +advertisements on his shirt-front and fingers?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the man," the proprietor replied, amid a general laugh. +"Why? He's all right, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"All right for aught that I know, sir; I haven't the pleasure of +the gentleman's acquaintance, though possibly I may have if we both +remain here long enough," and he carelessly turned the subject of +conversation. +</P> + +<P> +A little later, as Mr. Johnson left the Clifton, he soliloquized, +"Well, if I haven't exactly killed two birds with one stone, I think +I've snared two birds in one trap. Since coming West I haven't +located one without seeing or hearing of the other; it's my belief +they're 'pals,' and if I can pull in the pair, so much the better." +</P> + +<P> +The following evening found Mr. Johnson in the vicinity of the Royal +Café; having discovered a small newsstand opposite, he strolled in +thither, and, buying a couple of papers, seated himself in a quiet +corner, prepared to take observations. He had not waited long when +Mr. Mannering made his appearance, and, after pausing a moment to +look up and down the street, entered the restaurant. He had been +seated but a moment when Mr. Rosenbaum appeared, crossing the street, +having evidently left the jeweller's store, and also entered the +café. The two men shook hands and immediately withdrew to one of +the private boxes. Mr. Johnson had visited the Royal Café earlier +in the day and made himself familiar with its interior arrangement. +Knowing the box just taken to be No. 3, and that No. 4 directly +opposite was unoccupied, he at once proceeded across the street to +the restaurant. Stopping at the cashier's desk, he said in a low +tone, "I expect some friends later, and don't wish to be disturbed +till they come; understand?" +</P> + +<P> +The man nodded, and Mr. Johnson passed on noiselessly into No. 4. +Meanwhile, the occupants of No. 3 having received their orders, +dismissed the waiter, with the information that when they needed +his services they would ring for him. Mr. Mannering was visibly +excited, so much so that his dinner remained almost untasted, and +the other, observing his evident agitation, pushed aside his own +plate and, folding his arms upon the table, inquired indifferently,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear sir, what was your friend's decision?" +</P> + +<P> +For reply, the other drew from his pocket a small case, which he +silently handed across the table. Mr. Rosenbaum opened it, +disclosing, as he did so, a pair of diamonds of moderate size, but +of unusual brilliancy and perfectly matched. He examined them +silently, scrutinizing them closely, while his face indicated +considerable dissatisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"What does your friend expect for these?" he asked at length. +</P> + +<P> +"What will you give for them?" was the counter-question. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not care to set a price on them, for I do not want them," he +replied, rather shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said Mr. Mannering, "that my friend would dispose of +them at a reasonable figure, as he is at present in need of ready +cash with which to consummate an important mining negotiation." +</P> + +<P> +After considerable fencing and parrying, Mr. Rosenbaum made an offer +for the gems, to which Mr. Mannering demurred. +</P> + +<P> +"Show me a higher class of gems and I will offer you a better price," +said Mr. Rosenbaum, finally seeming to grow impatient. "Show me one +like this, for instance, and I will offer you a small fortune," and +opening a case which he had quickly drawn from his pocket, he took +from it an enormous diamond, beside whose dazzling brilliancy the +pair of gems under consideration seemed suddenly to grow dim and +lustreless. He held it up and a thousand rays of prismatic light +flashed in as many different directions. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that, my dear sir? When I can find a match +for that magnificent stone, we can fill an order which we have held +for more than twelve months from the royal house in Germany. But +where will I find it?" +</P> + +<P> +Twirling the gem carelessly between his thumb and finger, he watched +the face of his companion and saw it change to a deathly pallor. +</P> + +<P> +"May I see that for one moment?" he asked, and his voice sounded +unnatural and constrained, while the hand which he extended across +the table trembled visibly. +</P> + +<P> +"Most certainly, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum replied, and, in compliance +with the request, handed to Mr. Mannering the gem which the latter +had himself disposed of less than three months before in one of the +large Western cities. Nothing could escape the piercing eyes now +fastened upon that face with its strange pallor, its swiftly +changing expression. Unconscious of this scrutiny, Mr. Mannering +regarded the gem silently, then removed his glasses for a closer +inspection. Having satisfied his curiosity, he returned the stone +to Mr. Rosenbaum, and as he did so, found the eyes of the latter +fixed not upon the gem, but upon his own face. Something in their +glance seemed to disconcert him for an instant, but he quickly +recovered himself, and, replacing the colored glasses, remarked +with a forced composure,— +</P> + +<P> +"That is a magnificent stone. May I ask when and where you found +it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I picked it up in one of your cities some three months ago, maybe, +more or less." +</P> + +<P> +"You bought it in this country, then? Why may you not expect to +match it here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Simply on the theory, my dear sir, that the lightning never strikes +twice in the same place." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir," said Mr. Mannering, calmly, "I will show you a stone so +perfect a match for that, you yourself could not distinguish between +the two." +</P> + +<P> +"You have such a diamond!" Mr. Rosenbaum exclaimed; "why then are +you wasting time with these?" and he pushed the smaller diamonds +from him with a gesture of contempt. "Why did you not produce it +in the first place?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because," replied Mr. Mannering, his composure now fully restored, +"I do not propose to produce it until I know somewhere near what +you will give for it." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear sir," Mr. Rosenbaum's tones became eager, "as I have already +told you, if I can match this stone," placing it on the table between +them, "I will pay you a small fortune; money would be no object; you +could have your own price." +</P> + +<P> +Without further words, Mr. Mannering drew forth a small package, +which he carefully opened, and, taking therefrom an exact duplicate +of the wonderful gem, placed it upon the table beside the latter. +</P> + +<P> +With a smile which the other did not see, Mr. Rosenbaum bent his +head to examine the stones; he had recognized his man in the brief +instant that their eyes had met, and now, within his grasp, lay, as +he well knew from the description which he carried, two of the finest +diamonds in the famous Mainwaring collection of jewels, stolen less +than six months before; his triumph was almost complete. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson, who had overheard much of their conversation, +was congratulating himself upon the near success of his own schemes, +when the officiousness of a waiter overthrew the plans of all parties +and produced the greatest confusion. Catching sight of the gentleman +waiting in No. 4, he ignored the cashier's instructions and entered +the box to take his order. Mr. Johnson's reply, low and brief though +it was, caught the quick ear of Mr. Rosenbaum, who muttered under his +breath,— +</P> + +<P> +"The hoodoo! confound him!" +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant a draught lifted the curtain to NO. 3, revealing +to the astonished Mannering a view of Mr. Johnson's profile in the +opposite box. His own face grew white as the table-cloth before +him; he reached wildly for the diamond, but both gems were gone, and +Rosenbaum confronted him with a most sinister expression. +</P> + +<P> +"My diamond!" he gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"The diamonds are safe," replied the other in a low tone, "and you," +addressing Mannering by his true name, "the more quiet you are just +now the better." +</P> + +<P> +The elder man's face grew livid with rage and fear, and, rising +suddenly to his feet, his tall form towered far above Rosenbaum. +</P> + +<P> +"Wretch!" he hissed, with an oath, "you have betrayed me, curse you!" +and, dealing the smaller man a blow which floored him, he rushed from +the box. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant Rosenbaum staggered to his feet, and, pausing only long +enough to make sure of the safety of the jewels, rushed from the café, +reaching the street just in time to see his man jump into a cab, which +whirled swiftly and started down the street at break-neck speed. Two +cabmen, talking at a short distance, hurried to the scene, and, +calling one of them, Mr. Rosenbaum hastily took a second cab and +started in pursuit of the first, but not before he had caught a +glimpse of Mr. Johnson making active preparations to follow them +both. +</P> + +<P> +"Hang that fellow!" he muttered, as he heard wheels behind him. +"This is the third time he has spoiled the game; but I've got the +winning hand, and he'll not beat me out of it!" +</P> + +<P> +By this time the first cab, having turned a corner a short distance +ahead, was out of sight, but Rosenbaum, convinced from the direction +taken of its destination, and knowing a more direct route, shouted +to the driver what streets to follow, and to come out upon the alley +near No. 545 Jefferson Street. +</P> + +<P> +"The old fellow will think I've lost the trail when he finds he's +not followed," he soliloquized, amid the joltings of the vehicle, +"and maybe it will throw the hoodoo off the track." +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Johnson had no intention of being thrown off. He had seen +cab No. 2 a take a different course, and, having lost sight of No. 1, +decided that a bird in the hand would be worth two in the bush, and +that he would follow up the "pal." +</P> + +<P> +As cab No. 2 approached Jefferson Street, Rosenbaum called to the +driver to slacken and drive on the dark side of the alley. He jumped +out to reconnoitre; a cab was just stopping at No. 545, a tall figure +got out and hastily disappeared up the steps, while the cab whirled +rapidly away. +</P> + +<P> +"Turn about, drive back quietly, and answer no questions," Rosenbaum +said, slipping a bill into the driver's hand, and then glided swiftly +through the shadow to No. 545. His maneuvers were seen, however, by +Mr. Johnson, who immediately proceeded to follow his example. +</P> + +<P> +Running quickly up the steps to No. 545, Rosenbaum produced a bunch +of skeleton keys, which he proceeded to try. The first was useless, +the second ditto; he heard steps approaching; the third fitted the +lock, but, as it turned, a hand was laid upon his shoulder, a dark +lantern flashed in his face, and a voice said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Your game is up, my man; you had better come with me as peaceably +as possible!" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, the other turned quickly, and, without a word, lifted +the lapel of his coat, where a star gleamed brightly in the rays +of the lantern. +</P> + +<P> +The band holding the lantern dropped suddenly, and its owner +ejaculated, "Heavens and earth! what does this mean? Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am Dan McCabe, at your service," was the cool reply; then, as the +other remained speechless with astonishment, McCabe continued: "I've +no time to waste with you, Mr. Merrick; we may have a desperate piece +of work on hand; but if you'll come with me, I give you my word for +it that before this job is over you'll meet the biggest surprise of +your life." +</P> + +<P> +Pushing open the door, McCabe noiselessly climbed the stairs, +beckoning Merrick to follow. By the light of the dark lantern he +selected the door leading to the room occupied by Mannering, and, +after listening a moment, nodded significantly to Merrick. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he there?" the latter whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"He is there," said McCabe, grimly, "but not the man you are looking +for. I'll tell you who is there," and he whispered in his ear. +</P> + +<P> +Merrick staggered as if from a blow. "Great God!" he exclaimed +aloud. +</P> + +<P> +There was a sudden sound within as of some one frightened and moving +hastily. McCabe again called the man by name, and demanded +admittance. There was a moment's silence, and then McCabe, with +Merrick's aid, forced in the door, and as it yielded there came from +within the sharp report of a revolver, followed by a heavy groan. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING +</H3> + +<P> +The case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring had been set for the opening +of the December term of court, being the first case on the docket. +The intervening weeks, crowded with preparation for the coming +litigation, had passed, and now, on the eve of the contest, each side +having marshalled its forces, awaited the beginning of the fray, each +alike confident of victory and each alike little dreaming of the end. +From near and far was gathered an array of legal talent as well as of +expert testimony seldom equalled, all for the purpose of determining +the validity or invalidity of a bit of paper-yellow with age, +time-worn and musty which stood as an insurmountable barrier between +Ralph Mainwaring and the fulfilment of his long cherished project. +</P> + +<P> +The Fair Oaks tragedy still remained as deep a mystery as on the +morning when, in all its horror of sickening detail, it had startled +and shocked the entire community. No trace of the murderer had been +as yet reported, and even Mr. Whitney had been forced to acknowledge +in reply to numerous inquiries that he had of late received no +tidings whatever from Merrick, either of success or failure. +</P> + +<P> +Since the announcement of Harold Mainwaring at the club that he +would not touch a farthing of the Mainwaring estate until not only +his own name should be cleared of the slightest imputation of murder, +but until the murder itself should be avenged, it had been rumored +that the party at the Waldorf was in possession of facts containing +the clue to the whole mystery. Though this was mere conjecture, it +was plainly evident that whatever secrets that party held in its +possession were not likely to be divulged before their time. The +party had been augmented by the arrival of the senior member of the +firm of Barton & Barton, while the register of the Waldorf showed at +that time numerous other arrivals from London, all of whom proved to +be individuals of a severely judicial appearance and on extremely +intimate terms with the original Waldorf party. Of the business of +the former, however, or the movements of the latter, nothing definite +could be learned. Despatches in cipher still flashed daily over the +wires, but their import remained a matter of the merest surmise to +the curious world outside. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring, on the contrary, since the arrival of his London +attorneys, Upham and Blackwell, with Graham, the well-known +chirographical expert, had seized every opportunity for rendering +himself and them as conspicuous as possible, while his boasts of +their well-laid plans, the strong points in their case, and their +ultimate triumph, formed his theme on all occasions. Mr. Whitney's +position at this time was not an enviable one, for Ralph Mainwaring, +having of late become dimly conscious of a lack of harmony between +himself and his New York attorney, took special delight in frequently +flouting his opinions and advice in the presence of the English +solicitors; but that gentleman, mindful of a rapidly growing account, +wisely pocketed his pride, and continued to serve his client with +the most urbane courtesy, soothing his wounded sensibilities with an +extra fee for every snub. +</P> + +<P> +On the day prior to that set for the opening of the trial, among the +numerous equipages drawn up at one of the piers, awaiting an incoming +ocean-liner, was the Mainwaring carriage, containing, as usual, Ralph +Mainwaring, Upham and Blackwell, and Mr. Whitney. The carriage and +its occupants formed the centre of attraction to a considerable +portion of the crowd, until attention was suddenly diverted by the +sight of a stylish turnout in the shape of an elegant trap and a pair +of superb bays driven tandem, which passed the Mainwaring carriage +and took its position at some distance nearer the pier. Seated in +the trap were Harold Mainwaring and Hugh Mainwaring, junior. Their +appearance together at that particular time and place excited no +little wonder and comment, especially when, the gangplank having +been thrown down, the young men left the turnout in care of a +policeman and walked rapidly towards the hurrying stream of +passengers, followed more slowly by Ralph Mainwaring and his party. +</P> + +<P> +All was explained a few moments later, as that embodiment of +geniality, William Mainwaring Thornton, loomed up in the crowd, his +daughter upon one arm, upon the other Miss Carleton, and accompanied +by Mrs. Hogarth and the usual retinue of attendants. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a family reunion, by George!" exclaimed one of the +on-lookers, as a general exchange of greetings ensued, but to a +close observer it was evident that between some members of the +different parties the relations were decidedly strained. No so with +Mr. Thornton, however; his first greetings were for the young men. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, Hugh, you contumacious young rascal! how are you? I +hear you've kicked over the traces and set the governor and his +sovereigns at defiance! Well, you've shown yourself a Mainwaring, +that's all I have to say! Here is a young lady, however, who is +waiting to give you a piece of her mind; you'll have to settle with +her." +</P> + +<P> +"Papa!" exclaimed Edith Thornton in faint protest, her fair face +suffused with blushes as she came forward to meet her lover, while +her father turned towards Harold Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear sir," he said, extending his hand with the utmost +cordiality, "I am glad to meet you in your own proper sphere at +last; I always thought you were far too good looking for a secretary! +But, joking aside, my dear boy, let me assure you that as the son of +Harold Scott Mainwaring, one of the most royal fellows I ever knew, +I congratulate you and wish you success." +</P> + +<P> +Deeply touched by Mr. Thornton's kindness and his allusion to his +father, the young man thanked him with considerable emotion. +</P> + +<P> +"That is all right," the elder man responded heartily; "I was very +sorry not to have met you in London, but I heard the particulars of +your story from Winifred, and—well, I consider her a very +level-headed young woman, and I think you are to be congratulated +on that score also." +</P> + +<P> +"No one is better aware of that fact than I," said the young man, +warmly, and passed on to meet the young ladies, while Mr. Thornton +turned to confront the frowning face of Ralph Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Mainwaring! What's the matter? You look black as a +thunder-cloud! Did you have something indigestible for luncheon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Matter enough I should say," growled the other, unsuccessfully +trying to ignore Mr. Thornton's outstretched hand, "to find you +hobnobbing with that blackguard!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Thornton glanced over his shoulder at the young people with a +comical look of perplexity. "Well, you see how it is yourself, +Mainwaring: what is a fellow to do? This is a house divided against +itself, as it were, and no matter what my personal sentiments +towards you might be, I find myself forced to maintain a position +of strict neutrality." +</P> + +<P> +"Neutrality be damned! you had better maintain better parental +government in your own family!" +</P> + +<P> +"As you do in yours, for instance." +</P> + +<P> +"You know very well," continued Ralph Mainwaring, flushing angrily, +"that if you had forbidden Edith marrying Hugh under present +conditions, he would have got down off his high horse very quickly." +</P> + +<P> +"That is something I would never do," Mr. Thornton replied, calmly, +"for two reasons; first, I have never governed my daughter by direct +commands and prohibitions, and, second, I think just as much of Hugh +Mainwaring without his father's money as with it; more, if it is to +be accompanied with the conditions which you imposed." +</P> + +<P> +"Then am I to understand," demanded the other, angrily, "that you +intend to go against me in this matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Mainwaring," said Mr. Thornton, much as he would address a +petulant child, "this is all the merest nonsense. I am not going +against you, for I have no part in this contest; my position is +necessarily neutral; but if you want my opinion of the whole matter, +I will tell you frankly that I think, for once in your life, you +have bitten off more than you can swallow, and you will find it so +before long." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it might be just as well to reserve your opinion till it +is called for," the other answered, shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," returned Mr. Thornton, with imperturbable good humor; +"but any time that you want to wager a thousand or so on the outcome +of this affair, remember the money is ready for you!" +</P> + +<P> +The conversation changed, but Ralph Mainwaring was far more +chagrined and annoyed than he would have acknowledged. Mr. +Thornton's words rang in his ears till they seemed an augury of +defeat, and, though outwardly as dogged and defiant as ever, he was +unable to banish them, or to throw off the strange sense of +depression which followed. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, amid the discordant elements surrounding them, Harold +Mainwaring and Winifred Carleton found little opportunity for any +but the most desultory conversation, but happily there was little +need for words between them. Heart can speak to heart through the +subtle magnetism of a hand-clasp, or the swift flash from eye to +eye, conveying meanings for which words often prove inadequate. +</P> + +<P> +"You wrote that you were confident of victory, and your looks bear +it out," she said, 'with a radiant smile; "but I would have come +just the same, even had there been no hope of success for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I need no assurance of your faith and loyalty," he replied, gazing +tenderly into her luminous eyes, "but your coming will make my +triumph ten times sweeter." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you will spend the evening with, us at our hotel,—uncle +cabled for apartments at the Savoy,—and I am all impatience to +learn whatever you are at liberty to tell me concerning your case, +for there must have been some wonderful developments in your favor +soon after your arrival in this country, you have seemed so much more +hopeful; and do not let me forget, I have something to show you which +will interest you. It is a written statement by Hugh Mainwaring +himself regarding this identical will that is causing all this +controversy." +</P> + +<P> +"A statement of Hugh Mainwaring's!" Harold repeated in astonishment; +"how did it come into your possession?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is the strangest part of it," she replied, hurriedly, for +they had now reached the carriages in waiting for them. "I received +it through the mail, from America, a few days before I left London, +and from—you cannot imagine whom—Mr. Merrick, the detective. +How he ever knew my address, or how he should surmise that I was +particularly interested in you," she blushed very prettily with +these words, "is more than I can understand, however." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I can explain that part of it," said Harold, with a smile; +"but how such a statement ever came into his hands is a mystery to +me. I will see you this evening without fail," and, assisting Miss +Carleton into the carriage, he bade her au revoir, and hastened to +rejoin young Mainwaring. +</P> + +<P> +That evening witnessed rather a novel reception in the private +parlors of the Savoy; both parties to the coming contest being +entertained by their mutual friends. When Harold Mainwaring finally +succeeded in securing a tete-a-tete conversation with Miss Carleton, +she placed in his hands a small packet, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"You will find in this the statement of which I spoke to you, and +I wish you would also read the accompanying note, and explain how +the writer came to have so good an understanding of the situation." +</P> + +<P> +With eager haste he drew forth a sheet of paper little less time-worn +and yellowed than the ancient will itself, upon which was written, +in the methodical business hand with which he was so familiar, a +brief statement to the effect that a certain accompanying document +described as the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring +had been drawn and executed as such on the night preceding his +death, its intent and purpose being to reconvey to an elder son the +family estate, to which he had previously forfeited all right and +title; that efforts made to communicate with the beneficiary had +proved unavailing, as he had left the country and his place of +residence was unknown. Then followed Hugh Mainwaring's signature. +At the bottom of the page, however, was a foot-note of much later +date, which put a different complexion on the foregoing, and which +read as follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"It has now been ascertained for a certainty that the beneficiary +mentioned in the accompanying will is no longer living. I have, +therefore, a clear title to the estate, as it would revert to me at +his death. The document itself is worthless, except as a possible +means of silencing that scoundrel, Hobson, should he attempt to +reveal anything of the past, as he has threatened to do, and for +this purpose I shall retain it in my possession until such time as +I make final adjustment of my affairs. +<BR><BR> + "HUGH MAINWARING." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said Harold Mainwaring, thoughtfully, as he suddenly recalled +the morning when he had discovered Merrick and his assistant dragging +the lake at Fair Oaks, "I think I understand how this paper came +into Merrick's possession. It was evidently kept in the same +receptacle which held the will, but in my haste and excitement at +the discovery of the will I must have overlooked it. The box in +which these papers were kept afterwards fell into Merrick's hands, +and he must have found this." +</P> + +<P> +"That solves one riddle, here is the other," and Miss Carleton +handed her lover a small note, covered with a fine, delicate +chirography whose perfectly formed characters revealed a mind +accustomed to the study of minute details and appreciative of their +significance. He opened it and read the following: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"MY DEAR MISS CARLETON: +<BR><BR> +"Pardon the liberty I take, but, thinking the enclosed bit of paper +might be of some possible assistance to one in whose success I +believe you are deeply interested, I send it herewith, as, for +obvious reasons, I deem this circuitous method of transmission +better than one more direct. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"As when taking leave of you on board the 'Campania,' so now, permit +me to assure you that if I can ever serve you as a friend, you have +but to command me. +<BR><BR> + "Most sincerely yours,<BR> + "C. D. MERRICK."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A smile of amusement lighted Harold Mainwaring's face as, glancing +up from the note, his eyes met those of Miss Carleton's with their +expression of perplexed inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"This is easily explained," he said; "do you remember the tall, +slender man whom we observed on board the 'Campania' as being rather +unsocial and taciturn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I remember he rather annoyed me, for I fancied he concentrated +considerably more thought and attention upon us than the +circumstances called for." +</P> + +<P> +"Which shows you were more observing than I. Such a thought never +entered my mind till I had been about ten days in London, when it +occurred to me that, considering the size of the town and the fact +that he and I were strangers, we met with astonishing frequency. I +have since learned that he was a detective sent over to London on +an important case, and being an intimate friend of Merrick's, the +latter, who, I am informed, was shadowing me pretty closely at the +time, requested him to follow my movements and report to him, which +he evidently did, as I have since heard that Merrick had expressed +to one or two that he was not at all surprised by the developments +which followed my return to this country. Consequently, it is not +to be wondered at if he has an inkling that you may be somewhat +interested in this case." +</P> + +<P> +"But what could have been Mr. Merrick's object in shadowing you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say. It may have been only part of his professional +vigilance in letting nothing escape his observation; but from the +first I was conscious of his close espionage of my movements. Now, +however, I am satisfied that he had none but friendly intentions, +and I appreciate his kindness, not only towards myself, but more +especially towards you." +</P> + +<P> +"Will that statement be of any assistance to you, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think so under our present plans," he replied, after a +moment's reflection; "under recent developments our plans differ +so radically from what we first intended, that we will probably +have little use for any of the testimony which we had originally +prepared." +</P> + +<P> +"But these recent developments which have so changed your plans +must certainly have been in your favor and have rendered your +success the more assured, have they not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not only more assured, but more speedy and complete. To me, the +coming trial means far more than the settlement of the controversy +over the estate; it means the complete and final vindication of my +character, so that I can stand before you and before the world +acquitted of every charge which my enemies would have sought to +bring against me." +</P> + +<P> +Her face grew radiant with sympathy. "I well know what that means +to you, and I would be first to congratulate you on such a victory, +for your own sake; but I needed no public acquittal to convince me +of your innocence,—not even," she added, slowly, "when you yourself +for some reason, which I hope one day to understand, were unable to +assure me of it." +</P> + +<P> +His dark eyes, glowing with suppressed feeling, met hers, the +intensity of their gaze thrilling her heart to its inmost depths. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not think that I can ever forget that," he said in low tones +which seemed to vibrate through her whole being; "do not think that +through any triumphs or joys which the future may bring, I can ever +forget, for one moment, the faith and love which stood loyally by +me in my darkest hour,—the hour when the shadow of the crime, +which has forever darkened Fair Oaks, was closing about my very +soul!" +</P> + +<P> +Startled at the sudden solemnity of his words and manner, she +remained silent, her eyes meeting his without a shade of doubt or +distrust, but full of wondering, tender inquiry, to which he +replied, while for an instant he laid his hand lightly and +caressingly on hers, "Only a few days longer, love, and I will tell +you all!" +</P> + +<P> +On the morning of the following day a dense crowd awaited, at an +early hour, the opening of the December term of court; a crowd which +was steadily augmented till, when the case of Mainwaring versus +Mainwaring was called, every available seat was filled. All +parties to the suit were promptly on hand, and amid a silence +almost oppressive, proponent and contestant, with their counsel +and witnesses, passed down the long aisle to their respective +places. +</P> + +<P> +Seldom had the old court-room, in its long and varied history, +held so imposing an array of legal talent as was assemble that +morning within its walls. The principal attorneys for the +contestant were Hunnewell & Whitney of New York, and the London +firm of Upham & Blackwell, while grouped about these were a number +of lesser luminaries, whose milder rays would sufficiently illumine +the minor points in the case. But at a glance it was clearly +evident that the galaxy of legal lights opposing them contained +only stars of the first magnitude. Most prominent among the latter +were Barton & Barton, of London, with Mr. Sutherland and his +life-long friend and coadjutor, M. D. Montague, with whom he had +never failed to take counsel in cases of special importance, all +men of superb physique and magnificent brains; while slightly in +the rear, as reinforcements, were the Hon. I. Ponsonby Roget, Q.C., +another Q.C. whose name had not yet reached the public ear, and a +Boston jurist whose brilliant career had made his name famous +throughout the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Prominent among the spectators were Mr. Scott and Mr. Thornton, +apparently on the best of terms, and watching proceedings with +demonstrations of the liveliest interest, while seated at a little +distance, less demonstrative, but no less interested, was young +Mainwaring, accompanied by Miss Thornton and Miss Carleton. +</P> + +<P> +The first day was devoted to preliminaries, the greater part of +the time being consumed in the selection of a jury. One after +another of those impaneled was examined, challenged by one side or +the other, and dismissed; not until the entire panel had been +exhausted and several special venires issued, was there found the +requisite number sufficiently unprejudiced to meet the requirements +of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +The remainder of the day was occupied by counsel for contestant in +making the opening statement. A review of the grounds upon which +the contest was based was first read by one of the assistant +attorneys, after which Mr. Whitney followed with a lengthy statement +which occupied nearly an hour. He reviewed in detail the +circumstances of the case, beginning with the death of Hugh +Mainwaring, and laying special stress upon his irreproachable +reputation. He stated that it would be shown to the jury that the +life of Hugh Mainwaring had been above suspicion, an irrefutable +argument against the charges of fraud and dishonesty which had been +brought against him by those who sought to establish the will in +contest. It would also be shown that the said document was a +forgery, the result of a prearranged plan, devised by those who had +been lifelong enemies of Hugh Mainwaring and the contestant, to +defraud the latter of his rights, and to obtain possession of the +Mainwaring estate; and that the transparency of the device in +bringing the so-called will to light at that particular time and +under those particular circumstances was only too plainly evident. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Whitney was warming with his subject, but at this juncture he +was peremptorily called to order by Mr. Sutherland, who stated that +he objected to counsel making an argument to the jury, when he +should confine himself simply to an opening statement. Mr. Whitney's +face flushed as a ripple of amusement ran through the courtroom, but +the objection was sustained, and, after a brief summary of what the +contestant proposed to show, he resumed his seat, and the court then +adjourned until the following morning. +</P> + +<P> +The first testimony introduced on the following day was to establish +the unimpeachable honesty and integrity of the deceased Hugh +Mainwaring. Both Mr. Elliot and Mr. Chittenden were called to the +stand, and their examination—particularly the cross-examination, +in which a number of damaging admissions were made—occupied nearly +the entire forenoon; the remainder of the day being devoted to the +testimony of witnesses from abroad, introduced to show that for +years a bitter estrangement had existed between Frederick Mainwaring +Scott, the alleged foster-father of the proponent, and the members +of the Mainwaring family,—the deceased Hugh Mainwaring and the +contestant in particular; and also to show the implacable anger of +Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring against his elder son and the extreme +improbability of his ever relenting in his favor. +</P> + +<P> +Day after day dragged slowly on, still taken up with the examination +of witnesses for contestant; examinations too tedious and monotonous +for repetition, but full of interest to the crowds which came and +went, increasing daily, till, on the days devoted to the expert +testimony, galleries and aisles were packed to overflowing, while +throngs of eager listeners gathered in the corridors about the +various exits. +</P> + +<P> +It soon became evident that Ralph Mainwaring's oft repeated +assertions concerning the elaborate preparation he had made for the +coming contest were no idle boast. Nothing that human ingenuity +could devise had been left undone which could help to turn the +scale in his own favor. The original will of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, by which his elder son was disinherited, was produced +and read in court. Both wills were photographed, and numerous +copies, minute in every detail, made, in order to show by comparison +the differences in their respective signatures. Under powerful +microscopes it was discovered that several pauses had been made in +the signature of the later will. Electric batteries were introduced +to show that the document had been steeped in coffee and tobacco +juice to give it the appearance of great age. Interesting chemical +experiments were performed, by which a piece of new paper was made +to look stained and spotted as if mildewed and musty, while by the +use of tiny files and needles, the edges, having first been slightly +scalloped, were grated and the paper punctured, till it presented +a very similar aspect to the will itself as though worn through at +the creases and frayed and tattered with age. +</P> + +<P> +But the accumulation of this overwhelming mass of expert testimony +failed to make the impression upon counsel for proponent which had +been anticipated by the other side. Mr. Sutherland varied the +monotony of the direct examinations by frequent and pertinent +objections, while Barton & Barton took occasional notes, which were +afterwards passed to Sutherland and Montague, and by them used with +telling effect in the cross-examinations, but the faces of one and +all wore an expression inscrutable as that of the sphinx. +</P> + +<P> +Only once was their equanimity disturbed by any ripple of agitation, +and then the incident was so little understood as to be soon +forgotten. As the third day of the trial was drawing to a close, a +despatch in cipher was handed Mr. Sutherland, which when translated +seemed to produce a startling effect upon its readers. Barton & +Barton exchanged glances and frowned heavily; Mr. Sutherland's +face for one brief moment showed genuine alarm, and Harold +Mainwaring, upon reading the slip of paper passed to him, grew pale. +A hurried consultation followed and Mr. Montague left the court-room. +</P> + +<P> +On the following morning the papers announced that at 11 P.M. the +preceding night, the Victoria, the private car of the president of +one of the principal railway lines, with special engine attached, +had left for the West, evidently on business of great importance, +as everything on the road had been ordered side-tracked. It was +stated that no particulars could be ascertained, however, regarding +either her passengers or her destination, the utmost secrecy being +maintained by those on board, including even the trainmen. This +item, though attracting some attention, caused less comment than +did the fact that for the three days next ensuing, neither the +senior Mr. Barton nor Mr. Montague was present in court; but no one +suspected any connection between the two events, or dreamed that +the above gentlemen, with two of New York's most skilled surgeons, +were the occupants of the president's private car, then hastening +westward at almost lightning speed. +</P> + +<P> +On the afternoon of the sixth day of the trial, as it became +apparent that the seemingly interminable evidence submitted by +contestant was nearly at an end, the eager impatience of the waiting +crowd could scarcely be restrained within the limits of order. A +change was noticeable also in the demeanor of proponent and his +counsel. For the two days preceding they had appeared as though +under some tension or suspense; now they seemed to exhibit almost +an indifference to the proceedings, as though the outcome of the +contest were already a settled fact, while a marked gravity +accompanied each word and gesture. +</P> + +<P> +At last the contestant rested, and all eyes were fixed upon Mr. +Sutherland, as, after a brief pause, he rose to make, as was +supposed, his opening statement. Instead of addressing the jury, +however, he turned towards Judge Bingham. +</P> + +<P> +"Your honor," he began, in slow, measured tones, "it now lacks but +little more than an hour of the usual time for adjournment, and +after the constant strain which has been put upon our nerves for +the past six days, I feel that none of us, including yourself, your +honor, are in a sufficiently receptive mood to listen to the +testimony which the proponent has to offer. In addition to this +is the fact that our most important witness is not present this +afternoon. I would therefore ask for an adjournment to be taken +until ten o'clock next Monday morning, at which time I will +guarantee your honor and the gentlemen of the jury that the +intricate and elaborate web of fine-spun theories which has been +presented will be swept away in fewer hours than the days which +have been required for its construction." +</P> + +<P> +There was an attempt at applause, which was speedily checked, and +without further delay the court adjourned. +</P> + +<P> +As judge, jury, and counsel took their respective places on the +following Monday at the hour appointed, the scene presented by the +old court-room was one never before witnessed in its history. +Every available inch of standing room, both on the main floor and +in the galleries, was taken; throngs were congregated about the +doorways, those in the rear standing on chairs and benches that +they might obtain a view over the heads of their more fortunate +neighbors, while even the recesses formed by the enormous windows +were packed with humanity, two rows deep, the outer row embracing +the inner one in its desperate efforts to maintain its equilibrium. +</P> + +<P> +The opposing sides presented a marked contrast in their appearance +that morning. Ralph Mainwaring betrayed a nervous excitement very +unusual in one of his phlegmatic temperament; his face alternately +flushed and paled, and though much of the old defiant bravado +remained, yet he awaited the opening of proceedings with visible +impatience. Nor was Mr. Whitney less excited, his manner revealing +both agitation and anxiety. On the part of Harold Mainwaring and +his counsel, however, there was no agitation, no haste; every +movement was characterized by composure and deliberation, yet +something in their bearing—something subtle and indefinable but +nevertheless irresistible—impressed the sensibilities of the vast +audience much as the oppressive calm which precedes an electric +storm. All felt that some great crisis was at hand, and it was +amid almost breathless silence that Mr. Sutherland arose to make +his opening statement. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen of the jury," he began, and the slow, resonant tones +penetrated to the farthest corner and out into the corridors where +hundreds were eagerly listening, "as a defence to the charges +sought to be established in your hearing, we propose to show, not +by fine-spun theories based upon electrical and chemical experiments, +nor brilliant sophistries deduced from microscopic observations, +but by the citation of stubborn and incontrovertible facts, that +this document (holding up the will), copies of which you now have +in your possession, is the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, executed by him on the night preceding his death, and +as such entitled to stand; that this will, from the date of its +execution to the day of its discovery on the seventh of July last, +was wilfully and fraudulently withheld from publication, and its +existence kept secret by the deceased Hugh Mainwaring. That the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the lawful and only son of +the beneficiary named therein, and as such the sole rightful and +lawful heir to and owner of the Mainwaring estate. More than this, +we propose at the same time and by the same evidence to forever +disprove, confute, and silence any and every aspersion and +insinuation which has been brought against the character of the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring; and in doing this, we shall at +last lift the veil which, for the past five months, has hung over +the Fair Oaks tragedy." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Sutherland paused to allow the tremendous excitement produced +by his words to subside; then turning, he addressed himself to the +judge. +</P> + +<P> +"Your honor, I have to request permission of the court to depart in +a slight degree from the usual custom. The witness for the defence +is in an adjoining room, ready to give testimony when summoned to +do so, but in this instance I have to ask that the name be withheld, +and that the witness himself be identified by the contestant and his +counsel." +</P> + +<P> +The judge bowed in assent, and amid a silence so rigid and intense +as to be almost painful, at a signal from Mr. Sutherland, the doors +of an anteroom were swung noiselessly open and approaching footsteps +were heard. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SILENT WITNESS +</H3> + +<P> +Approaching footsteps were heard, but they were the steps of men +moving slowly and unsteadily, as though carrying some heavy burden. +An instant later, six men, bearing a casket beneath whose weight +they staggered, entered the court-room and, making their way through +the spell-bound crowd, deposited their burden near the witness stand. +Immediately following were two men, one of whom was instantly +recognized as Merrick, the detective; the other as the man who, a +few months before, had been known as the English barrister's clerk, +now wearing the full uniform of a Scotland Yard official. Bringing +up the rear was an undertaker, who, amid the breathless silence +which ensued, proceeded to open the casket. This done, Mr. +Sutherland rose and addressed the judge, his low tones for the first +time vibrating with suppressed feeling. +</P> + +<P> +"Your honor, I request that William H. Whitney be first called upon +to identify the witness." +</P> + +<P> +Controlling his agitation by a visible effort, Mr. Whitney approached +the casket, but his eyes no sooner rested on the form and features +within than his forced composure gave way. With a groan he exclaimed, +</P> + +<P> +"My God, it is Hugh Mainwaring!" and bending over the casket, he +covered his face with his hands while he strove in vain to conceal +his emotion. +</P> + +<P> +His words, ringing through the hushed court-room, seemed to break +the spell, and the over-wrought nerves of the people began to yield +under the tremendous pressure. Mr. Sutherland raised a warning +hand to check the tide of nervous excitement which threatened to +sweep over the entire crowd, but it was of little avail. Piercing +screams followed; women fainted and were borne from the room, and +the faces of strong men blanched to a deathly pallor as they gazed +at one another in mute consternation and bewilderment. For a few +moments the greatest confusion reigned, but when at last order was +restored and Mr. Whitney had regained his composure, Mr. Sutherland +inquired,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Whitney, do you identify the dead man as Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do." +</P> + +<P> +"But did you not identify as Hugh Mainwaring the man who, at Fair +Oaks, on or about the eighth of July last, came to his death from +the effect of a gunshot wound?" +</P> + +<P> +"I supposed then, and up until the present time, that it was he; +there certainly was a most wonderful resemblance which I am unable +to explain or account for, but this, beyond all question, is Hugh +Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you state what proof of identification you can give in this +instance that was not present in the other?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hugh Mainwaring had over the right temple a slight birthmark, a +red line extending upward into the hair, not always equally distinct, +but always visible to one who had once observed it, and in this +instance quite noticeable. I saw no trace of this mark on the face +of the murdered man; but as the face was somewhat blackened by +powder about the right temple, I attributed its absence to that +fact, and in the excitement which followed I thought little of it. +On the day of the funeral I also noted certain lines in the face +which seemed unfamiliar, but realizing that death often makes the +features of those whom we know best to seem strange to us, I +thought no further of the matter. Now, however, looking upon this +face, I am able to recall several differences, unnoticed then, but +all of which go to prove that this is Hugh Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring was the next one summoned for identification. +During Mr. Whitney's examination his manner had betrayed intense +agitation, and he now came forward with an expression of mingled +incredulity and dread, but upon reaching the casket, he stood like +one petrified, unable to move or speak, while no one who saw him +could ever forget the look of horror which overspread his features. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland at length, "do you know the +dead man?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is he," answered Ralph Mainwaring in a low tone, apparently +speaking more to himself than to the attorney; "it is Hugh +Mainwaring; that was the distinguishing mark between them." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you refer to the mark of which Mr. Whitney has just spoken?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean by designating it as 'the distinguishing mark +between them'?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph Mainwaring turned from the casket and faced Mr. Sutherland, +but his eyes had the strained, far-away look of one gazing into the +distance, unconscious of objects near him. +</P> + +<P> +"It was the mark," he said, speaking with an effort, "by which, when +we were boys, he was distinguished from his twin brother." +</P> + +<P> +"His twin brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring?" queried the attorney. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," the other answered, mechanically. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you then identify this as Hugh Mainwaring?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; and the other—he must have been—no, no, it could not be—great +God!" Ralph Mainwaring suddenly reeled and raised his hand +to his head. Mr. Whitney sprang to his assistance and led him to +his chair, but in those few moments he had aged twenty years. +</P> + +<P> +A number of those most intimately acquainted with Hugh Mainwaring +were then called upon, all of whom identified the dead man as their +late friend and associate. These preliminaries over, Mr. Sutherland +arose. +</P> + +<P> +"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury, before proceeding with the +testimony to be introduced, I have a brief statement to make. Soon +after the commencement of this action, we came into possession of +indisputable evidence that Hugh Mainwaring, the supposed victim of +the Fair Oaks tragedy, was still living, and that of whatever crime, +if crime there were associated with that fearful event, he was not +the victim but the perpetrator. We determined at all hazards to +secure him, first as a witness in this case, our subsequent action +to be decided by later developments. Through our special detective +we succeeded in locating him, but he, upon finding himself cornered, +supposing he was to be arrested for the murder of his brother, +attempted suicide by shooting. The combined skill of the best +surgeons obtainable, though unable to save him, yet prolonged life +for three days, long enough to enable two of our number, Mr. Barton +and Mr. Montague, to reach him in season to take his dying statement; +a statement not only setting forth the facts relating to the will +in question, but embracing also the details of the Fair Oaks tragedy +and mystery. This statement, made by Hugh Mainwaring and attested +by numerous witnesses present, will now be read by Mr. Montague." +</P> + +<P> +Amid an impressive silence, Mr. Montague stepped to the side of the +casket and, unfolding a document which he held, read the following: +</P> + +<P> +"I, Hugh Mainwaring, freely and voluntarily and under no duress or +compulsion, make this, my dying statement, not only as a relief to +the mental anguish I have endured for the past few months, but also +in the hope that I may thereby, in my last hours, help in some +degree to right the wrong which my life of treachery and cowardice +has wrought. To do this, I must go back over twenty-five years of +crime, and beyond that to the inordinate greed and ambition that +led to crime. +</P> + +<P> +"My brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I were twins, so +marvelously alike in form and feature that our parents often had +difficulty to distinguish between us, but utterly unlike in +disposition, except that we both possessed a fiery temper and an +indomitable will. He was the soul of honor, generous to a fault, +loyal-hearted and brave, and he exacted honor and loyalty from +others. He had no petty ambitions; he cared little for wealth for +its own sake, still less for its votaries. I was ambitious; I +loved wealth for the power which it bestowed; I would sacrifice +anything for the attainment of that power, and even my boyish +years were tainted with secret envy of my brother, an envy that +grew with my growth, till, as we reached years of maturity, the +consciousness that he, my senior by only a few hours, was yet to +take precedence over me—to possess all that I coveted—became +a thorn in my side whose rankling presence I never for a single +waking hour forgot; it embittered my enjoyment of the present, +my hopes and plans for the future. +</P> + +<P> +"But of this deadly undercurrent flowing far beneath the surface +neither he nor others dreamed, till, one day, a woman's face—cold, +cruel, false, but beautiful, bewitchingly, entrancingly beautiful,—came +between us, and from that hour all semblance of friendship +was at an end. With me it was an infatuation; with him it was love, +a love ready to make any sacrifice for its idol. So when our father +threatened to disinherit and disown either or both of us, and the +false, fickle heart of a woman was laid in the balances against the +ancestral estates, I saw my opportunity for seizing the long coveted +prize. We each made his choice; my brother sold his birthright for +a mess of pottage; his rights were transferred to me, and my +ambition was at last gratified. +</P> + +<P> +"Between three and four years later, on the night of November +seventeenth, within a few hours preceding his death, my father made +a will, revoking the will by which he had disinherited his elder +son, and restoring him again to his full right and title to the +estate. This was not unexpected to me. Though no words on the +subject had passed between us and my brother's name was never +mentioned, I had realized for more than a year that my father was +gradually relenting towards the son who had ever been his favorite, +and on the last day that he was able to leave his room, I had come +upon him unaware in the old picture gallery, standing before the +portrait of his elder son, silent and stern, but with the tears +coursing down his pallid cheeks. When, therefore, on the night +preceding his death, my father demanded that an attorney be +summoned, my feelings can be imagined. Just as the prize which I +had so long regarded as mine was almost within my grasp, should I +permit it to elude me for the gratification of a dying man's whim? +Never! In my rage I could have throttled him then and there without +a qualm; fear of the law alone held me back. I tried to dissuade +him, but it was useless. I then bribed the servant sent to bring +the attorney to report that he was out of town, and when that +proved of no avail, I sent for Richard Hobson, a penniless shyster, +whose lack of means and lack of principle I believed would render +him an easy tool in my hands. He came; I was waiting to receive +him, and we entered into compact, I little dreaming I was setting +loose on my track a veritable hell-hound! The will was drawn and +executed, Hobson and one Alexander McPherson, an old friend of my +father's, signing as witnesses. Within twenty-four hours of its +execution, Richard Hobson was richer by several hundred pounds, and +the will was in my possession. Two days later, I had a false +telegram sent to our place, summoning McPherson to his home in +Scotland. He left at once, before my father's burial, and his death, +which occurred a few weeks later, removed the last obstacle in the +way of carrying my plans into execution. My brother at that time +was in Australia, but in what part of the country I did not know, +nor did I try to ascertain. My constant fear was that he might in +some way—though by what means I could not imagine—get some +knowledge of the will and return to set up a claim to the estate. +As soon as possible, therefore, notwithstanding the protests of +my attorneys, I sold the estate and came to America. +</P> + +<P> +"Concerning the years that followed, it is needless to go into +detail; they brought me wealth, influence, power, all that I had +craved, but little of happiness. Even when there came tidings of +my brother's death at sea, and I felt that at last my title to +the estate was secure, I had little enjoyment in its possession. +Richard Hobson had already begun his black-mailing schemes, his +demands growing more frequent and exorbitant with each succeeding +year. Through him, also, the woman who had wrecked my brother's +life received some inkling of my secret, and through this knowledge, +slight as it was, gained enough of a hold over me that life was +becoming an intolerable burden. Through all these years, however, +I kept the will in my possession. Even after hearing of the death +of my brother, a cowardly, half-superstitious dread kept me from +destroying it, though doubtless I would have done so soon after +making my own will had I not been prevented by circumstances +unforeseen, which I will now state. +</P> + +<P> +"The events which I am about to relate are stamped upon my brain +as though by fire; they have haunted me day and night for the past +five months. On the seventh of July last, I made and executed my +will in favor of my namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, and on the following +day—his birthday and mine—he was to be declared my heir. It +was past eleven o'clock on the night of that day when I retired to +my private library, and it was fully an hour later when, having +dismissed my secretary, I finally found myself alone, as I supposed, +for the night. My thoughts were far from pleasant. I had just had +a stormy interview with my housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange, who had +tried, as on previous occasions, to coerce me by threats into a +private marriage and a public recognition of her as my wife and of +her child and mine; and, in addition, the occurrences of the day +had been of a nature to recall the past, and events which I usually +sought to bury in oblivion were passing before my mental vision +despite my efforts to banish them. Suddenly a voice which seemed +like an echo of the past recalled me to the present. Somewhat +startled, I turned quickly, confronting a man who had entered +unperceived from the tower-room. He was my own height and size, +with curling black hair and heavy mustache, but I was unable to +distinguish his features as he remained standing partly in the +shadow. Before I could recover from my surprise, he again spoke, +his voice still vaguely familiar. +</P> + +<P> +"'The master of Fair Oaks'—the words were spoken with stinging +emphasis—'seems depressed on the eve of his festal day, the day +on which he is to name the heir and successor to his vast estates!' +</P> + +<P> +"I remembered that a stranger had called that day during my absence, +who, my secretary had informed me, bad shown a surprising familiarity +with my private plans. +</P> + +<P> +"'I think,' I replied, coldly, 'that you favored me with a call +this afternoon, but whatever your business then or now, you will +have to defer it for a few days. I do not know how you gained +admittance to these apartments at this hour, but I will see that +you are escorted from them without delay,' and as I spoke I rose +to ring for a servant. +</P> + +<P> +"He anticipated my intention, however, and with the agility of a +panther sprang noiselessly across the room, intercepting me, at +the same time raising a large, English bull-dog revolver, which +he levelled at me. +</P> + +<P> +"'Not so fast, not so fast,' he said, softly; 'you can afford to +wait a little; I have waited for years!' +</P> + +<P> +"I stood as though rooted to the spot, gazing at him with a sort +of fascination. As he emerged into the light there was something +almost familiar in his features, and yet something horribly +incongruous and unreal. His eyes glowed like living fire; his soft, +low tones reminded me of nothing so much as the purring of a tiger; +while the smile that played about his lips was more terrible than +anything I had ever seen on human face. It was ten times more +fearful than the muzzle of the revolver confronting me, and seemed +to freeze the very blood in my veins. +</P> + +<P> +"'You take a base advantage; I am unarmed," I sneered. +</P> + +<P> +"'I knew too well with whom I had to deal to come unarmed,' he +replied; 'though this,' and he lowered the revolver, 'this is not +the sort of weapon you would employ,—a thrust in the dark, a stab +in the back, that is your style, coward!" +</P> + +<P> +"'I demand an explanation of this,' I said. +</P> + +<P> +"He folded his arms, still retaining his hold upon the weapon, as +he answered, 'Explanations will follow in due time; but surely, on +the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of such a life as yours, +congratulations are first in order. Allow me to congratulate you, +Hugh Mainwaring, upon the success which has attended and crowned +the past twenty-five years of your life! upon the rich harvest +you have reaped during all these years; the amassed wealth, the +gratified ambitions, the almost illimitable power, the adulation +and homage,—all so precious to your sordid soul, and for which +you have bartered honor, happiness, character, all, in short, that +life is worth. Standing, as you do to-night, at the fiftieth +milestone on life's journey, I congratulate you upon your +recollections of the past, and upon your anticipations for the +future, as you descend to an unhonored and unloved old age!' +</P> + +<P> +"Every word was heaped with scorn, and, as I looked into the burning +eyes fixed upon mine and watched the sardonic smile hovering about +his lips, I wondered whether he were some Mephistopheles—some +fiend incarnate—sent to torture me, or whether he were really +flesh and blood. +</P> + +<P> +"The mocking smile now left his face, but his eyes held me speechless +as he continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"'No wonder that memories of bygone years haunted your thoughts +to-night! Memories, perhaps, of a father whose dying will you +disregarded; of a brother whom you twice defrauded,—once of the +honor and sanctity of his home, then, as if that were not enough, +of his birthright,—his heritage from generations of our race—' +</P> + +<P> +"'Stop!' I cried, stung to anger by his accusations and startled +by the strange words, 'our race,' which seemed to fall so familiarly +from his lips. 'Stop! are you mad?" Do you know what you are +saying? Once more I demand that you state who or what you are, and +your business here!' +</P> + +<P> +"'That is quickly stated, Hugh Mainwaring,' he answered, in tones +which made my heart beat with a strange dread; 'I am Harold Scott +Mainwaring! I am here to claim no brotherhood or kinship with you, +but to claim and to have my own, the birthright restored to me by +the last will and testament of a dying father, of which you have +defrauded me for twenty-five years!" +</P> + +<P> +"'You are a liar and an impostor!' I cried, enraged at the sound of +my brother's name, and for the instant believing the man to be some +emissary of Hobson's who had used it to work upon my feelings. +</P> + +<P> +"Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing, he answered +in low tones, 'Dare you apply those epithets to me, usurper that you +are? You are a liar and a thief, and if you had your deserts you +would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported to the wilds of +Australia! I an impostor? See and judge for yourself!' and with a +sudden, swift movement the black curling hair and mustache were +dashed to the floor, and he stood before me the exact counterpart +of myself. Stunned by the transformation, I gazed at him speechless; +it was like looking in a mirror, feature for feature identically the +same! For a few seconds my brain seemed to reel from the shock, but +his tones recalled me to myself. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ah!' he said, with mocking emphasis, 'who is the impostor now?' +</P> + +<P> +"My first thought was of self-vindication, and to effect, if +possible, a compromise with him. 'I am no impostor or usurper,' I +said, 'because, believing you dead, I have used that to which in +the event of your death I would be legally entitled even had you +any claim, and I am willing, not as an acknowledgment of any valid +claim on your part, but as a concession on my own part, to give you +a liberal share in the estate, or to pay you any reasonable sum +which you may require— +</P> + +<P> +"He stopped me with an intolerant gesture. 'Do not attempt any +palliation of the past with me,' he said, sternly; 'it is worse +than useless; and do not think that you can make any compromises +with me or purchase my silence with your ill-gotten wealth. That +may have served your purpose in the past with your associate and +coadjutor, Richard Hobson, the man who holds in his mercenary +grasp the flimsy reputation which is all that is left to you, or +with the woman—cruel as the grave and false as hell—who once +wrecked my life, and now, with the son that you dare not +acknowledge, rules your home, but you cannot buy my silence. I +come to you as no beggar! I am a richer man to-day than you, but +for the sake of generations past, as well as of generations yet to +come, I will have my own. The estate which was once my forefathers +shall be my son's, and his sons' after him!' +</P> + +<P> +"As I listened, my whole soul rose against him in bitter hatred, +the old hatred of my youth. 'I defy you,' I' cried, hotly, 'to +produce one atom of proof in support of your claim or of your +charges against me! The estate is mine, and I will make you rue +the day that you dare dispute my right and title to it!' +</P> + +<P> +"His eyes flashed with scorn as he replied, 'You lie, Hugh +Mainwaring! Your life for the past twenty-five years has been +nothing but a lie, and the day just closed has witnessed the final +act in this farce of yours. That I have already undone, and just +as surely I will undo the work of the past years. And let me assure +you I have no lack of proof with which to verify either my own +claim or any assertion I have made, or may yet make, against you. +I have proof that on the night preceding my father's death he made +a will restoring to me my full rights, which you have fraudulently +withheld all these years; and through my son, whom you have known +for the past eighteen months as your private secretary, I have proof +that that will is still in existence, of itself an irrefutable +witness against you!' +</P> + +<P> +"With the mention of my secretary the truth flashed upon me. I +realized I was completely in his power, and with a sense of my +own impotency my rage and hatred increased. Forgetful of the weapon +in his hand and almost blind with fury, I sprang towards him, +intending to throttle him—to strangle him—until he should plead +for mercy. Instantly he raised the revolver in warning, but not +before I had seized his wrist, turning the weapon from myself. A +brief struggle followed, in which I soon found my strength was no +match for his. Growing desperate, I summoned all my strength for +one tremendous effort, at the same time holding his wrist in a +vice-like grip, forcing his hand higher and turning the revolver +more and more in his direction. Suddenly there was a flash,—a +sharp report,—and he fell heavily to the floor, dragging me down +upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"For an instant I was too much stunned and bewildered to realize +what had happened, but a glance at my opponent revealed the +situation. He lay motionless where he had fallen, and a ghastly +wound over the right eye told the terrible story. Dazed with +horror, I placed my hand over his heart, but there was no motion, +no life,—he was dead! The awful truth forced itself upon me. +Mad and blind with rage, I had turned the weapon upon him and it had +discharged,—whether by some sudden movement of his hand, or by +the accidental pressure of my own fingers upon the trigger, God +alone knows, I do not! One fact I could not then, nor ever can, +forget; it was my hand that gave the weapon its deadly aim, however +blindly or unwittingly, and the blood of my brother whom I had +wronged and defrauded now lay at my door. +</P> + +<P> +"The agony of remorse that followed was something beyond description, +beyond any suffering of which I had ever dreamed; but suddenly a +thought flashed upon me which added new horror, causing me to spring +to my feet cold with terror, while great beads of perspiration +gathered on my brow. When that terrible scene should be revealed, +not alone in the approaching morning light, but in the light of past +events which, if the last words spoken by those lips now sealed in +death were true, could no longer be kept secret, what would be the +world's verdict?" Murder! fratricide! and I? Great God! of what +avail would be any plea of mine in the face of such damning evidence? +</P> + +<P> +"I rushed to the tower-room, and hastily opening my safe, took from +a private drawer therein a key and with trembling fingers fitted it +into the lock of a large metallic box which contained the family +jewels, and which for more than twenty-five years had held the old +will executed by my father on his death-bed. I had seen it there +less than forty-eight hours before, and in my desperation I now +determined to destroy it. My very haste and eagerness delayed me, +but at last the cover flew back, revealing the gleaming jewels, +but—the will was not there! Unable to believe my own eyes, I +drew my fingers carefully back and forth through the narrow +receptacle where it had lain, and among the satin linings of the +various compartments, but in vain; the will was gone! My brother +had spoken the truth, and the will was doubtless in the possession +of his son, who, under its terms, was now himself heir to the +estate. The room grew dim and the walls themselves seemed to whirl +swiftly about me as, with great difficulty, I groped my way back to +the library, where I stood gazing at that strange counterpart of +myself, till, under the growing horror of the situation, it seemed +to my benumbed senses as though I were some disembodied spirit +hovering above his own corpse. The horrible illusion was like a +nightmare; I could not throw it off, and I would then and there +have gone stark, staring mad, but that there came to me out of that +awful chaos of fancies a suggestion which seemed like an inspiration. +'It is Hugh Mainwaring,' I said to myself, 'Hugh Mainwaring died +to-night!' +</P> + +<P> +"My fevered brain grew cool, my pulse steady, and my nerves firm +as I proceeded at once to act upon the idea. Kneeling beside the +dead man, I examined the wound. The bullet had entered above the +right eye and passed downward, coming out at the base of the brain; +from both wounds the blood was flowing in a slow, sluggish stream. +Drawing a large handkerchief from my pocket, I bound it tightly +about the head over both wounds, knotting it firmly; then carrying +the body into the tower-room, I made sure that all doors were +locked, and proceeded to put into execution the plan so suddenly +formed. By this time I was myself, and, though the task before me +was neither easy nor pleasant to perform, I went about it as +calmly and methodically as though it were some ordinary business +transaction. As expeditiously as possible I removed the dead man's +clothing and my own, which I then exchanged, dressing the lifeless +form in the clothes I had worn on the preceding day, even to the +dressing-gown which I had put on upon retiring to my apartments, +while I donned his somewhat travel-worn suit of tweed. Having +completed this gruesome task, I left the body in much the same +position in which it had originally fallen, lying slightly upon +the right side, the right arm extended on the floor, and, to give +the appearance of suicide, I placed my own revolver—first +emptying one of the chambers—near his right hand. On going to +my desk for the revolver, I discovered the explanation of my +brother's words when he said that he had already undone my work +of the preceding day, the final act of the farce I had carried +out. In the terrible excitement of those moments his meaning +escaped my mind; now it was clear. My own will, executed with +such care, and which early in the evening I had left upon my desk, +was gone. That he had destroyed it in his wrath and scorn I had +abundant proof a little later, upon incidentally finding in the +small grate in that room the partially burned fragments of the +document, which I left to tell their own tale. +</P> + +<P> +"Having satisfactorily disposed of Hugh Mainwaring (as the dead +man now seemed to my over-wrought imagination), I made preparation +for my immediate departure. This occupied little time. There was +fortunately some cash in the safe, which I took; all drafts and +papers of that nature I left,—they were of value only to Hugh +Mainwaring, and he was dead! As the cash would be inadequate, +however, for my needs, I decided after considerable deliberation +to take the family jewels, though not without apprehension that +they might lead to my detection, as they finally did. These I put +in a small box covered with ordinary wrapping-paper to attract as +little attention as possible,' and, having completed my preparations, +I removed the bandage from the dead man's head and threw it with the +private keys to my library into the metallic box which had held the +jewels. Then donning the black wig and mustache which my visitor +had thrown aside on disclosing his identity, together with a long +ulster which he had left in the tower-room, I took one farewell +look at the familiar apartments and their silent occupant and stole +noiselessly out into the night. I remained on the premises only +long enough to visit the small lake in the rear of the house, into +which I threw the metallic box and its contents, then, following +the walk through the grove to the side street, I left Fair Oaks, as +I well knew, forever. While yet on the grounds I met my own +coachman, but he failed to recognize me in my disguise. My plans +were already formed. I had come to the conclusion that my late +visitor and the caller of the preceding afternoon, whose card bore +the name of J. Henry Carruthers, were one and the same. My secretary +had stated that Carruthers had come out from the city that day, so +my appearance at the depot, dressed in his own disguise, would +probably attract no attention. I was fortunate enough to reach the +depot just as two trains were about to pull out; the suburban train +which would leave in three minutes for the city, and the north-bound +express, due to leave five minutes later. I bought a ticket for New +York, then passing around the rear of the suburban train, quietly +boarded the express, and before the discovery of that night's +fearful tragedy I was speeding towards the great West. +</P> + +<P> +"But go where I might, from that hour to this, I have never been +free from agonizing remorse, nor have I been able for one moment +to banish from my memory the sight of that face,—the face of my +brother, killed by my own hand, and a discovery which I made +within the first few hours of my flight made my remorse ten times +deeper. In going through the pockets of the suit I wore I found +a letter from my brother, addressed to his son, written in my own +library and at my own desk while he awaited my coming. He seemed +to have had a sort of presentiment that his interview with me might +end in some such tragedy as it did, and took that opportunity to +inform his son regarding both his past work and his plans for the +future. What was my astonishment to find that his son was, at +that time, as totally unaware of his father's existence as was I +a few hours before of the existence of a brother! +</P> + +<P> +"From this letter I learned that the son had been given away at +birth, and was to know nothing of his true parentage until he had +reached years of maturity; that he himself had been shipwrecked, as +reported years ago, but had escaped in some miraculous manner; that +reaching Africa at last, he disclosed his identity to no one, but +devoted all his energies to acquiring a fortune for his son. He +succeeded even beyond his anticipations, and when nearly twenty +years had elapsed, sailed for his old Australian home, to find his +son. Arriving there, he learned that his son, while pursuing his +studies in England, had obtained information of the will made in +his father's favor, and learning facts which led him to believe that +the will was still in existence and in the possession of his father's +younger brother, had, with the advice of his London attorneys, gone +to America, and was then in his uncle's employ for the purpose of +securing proof regarding the will, and, if possible, possession of +the will itself. Upon learning these facts, my brother had +immediately proceeded to London and to Barton & Barton, his son's +attorneys, who, upon his arrival there, informed him of his son's +success up to that time, and also notified him that his brother was +about to celebrate his approaching fiftieth birthday by naming the +son of Ralph Mainwaring as his heir, Ralph Mainwaring and family +having just sailed to America for that purpose. My brother then +took the first steamer for America, arriving only two days later +than Ralph Mainwaring. Though unable to obtain an interview with +me at once, as he had intended, he had succeeded in catching sight +of me, in order to assure himself that the marked resemblance +between us still existed, and, to emphasize that resemblance, he +then shaved and had his hair cut in the same style in which I wore +mine, so as to render the likeness the more striking and +indisputable when he should announce himself to me. +</P> + +<P> +"His existence and return he wished kept secret from his son until +the successful consummation of his plans, but he wrote the letter +as an explanation in case there should be any unforeseen +termination. The letter was overflowing with a father's love and +pride; his allusion to the difficulty with which he had restrained +his feelings when he found himself face to face with his son on the +afternoon of his call, being especially touching. The perusal of +that letter added a hundred-fold to my own grief and remorse. I +dared not run the risk of disclosing myself by sending it to my +brother's son, but I have preserved it carefully for him, and desire +it to be given him as quickly as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Through New York papers I learned from time to time of the murder +of Hugh Mainwaring, the lost will, the discovery of the old will, +and the appearance of the rightful heir. From that source, also, I +learned that Merrick, the detective, was shadowing the murderer, +who was generally supposed to be a man by the name of Carruthers. +I had one advantage of Merrick. I knew him—my old friend Whitney +having often pointed him out to me—while he did not know the man +he sought. Many a time in my wanderings I have seen him, and, +knowing well the game he was after, eluded him, only to fall at +last into the snare of one whom I did not know. The man searching +for the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring encountered another, trailing +the murderer of Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I suddenly found my +time had come! A coward then, as always, I tried to shoot myself. +In the darkness I held the muzzle of my brother's revolver to my +own temple; instantly there flashed before me his face when I had +killed him! I grew sick, my hand trembled and dropped; then, as +my pursuers came nearer, I aimed for my heart and fired! This is +the result. Death was not instantaneous, as I had hoped; instead, +I was given this opportunity to make some slight reparation for my +sin; to aid, as I said before, in righting the wrong wrought by my +past life. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, in these my last moments, I do solemnly affirm and aver +that on the night preceding his death, my father executed a will +restoring to my elder brother his full right and title, which will +I have for more than twenty-five years last past wrongfully and +fraudulently withheld and concealed; and that my brother being now +dead, killed by my own hand, though unwittingly and unintentionally, +his son, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the rightful and sole heir +to the entire Mainwaring estate. +</P> + +<P> +"Signed by Hugh Mainwaring in the presence of the following +witnesses: William J. Barton, M. D. Montague, Joseph P. Sturgiss, +M.D., M. J. Wheating, M.D., Daniel McCabe and C. D. Merrick." +</P> + +<P> +At the conclusion of this statement, there was shown in evidence +the rusty metallic box-dragged from the lake—with the keys and +the knotted, blood-stained handkerchief found therein. This was +followed by brief testimony by Harold Scott Mainwaring and the +old servant, James Wilson, but the proceedings following the +reading of the statement were little more than mere form. There +was little attempt at cross-examination, and when the time came for +the argument by counsel for contestant, Mr. Whitney, who had been +deeply affected by the confession of his old friend, declined to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were fastened upon Mr. Sutherland as he arose, as was +supposed, for the closing argument. For a moment his eyes scanned +the faces of the jurors, man by man, then addressing the judge, he +said slowly, in clear, resonant tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"Your honor, I submit the case without argument." +</P> + +<P> +In less than forty-five minutes from the conclusion of the statement +the jury retired, but no one moved from his place in the crowded +court-room, for all felt that little time would be required for their +decision. In ten minutes they returned, and, amid the silence that +followed, the foreman announced the verdict, "for the proponent, +Harold Scott Mainwaring." +</P> + +<P> +Cheers burst forth from all parts of the room, and the walls rang +with applause, which was only checked by a sudden, simultaneous +movement of several men towards the contestant. With the +announcement of the verdict, Ralph Mainwaring had risen to his feet, +as though in protest. For an instant he stood gasping helplessly, +but unable to utter a word; then, with a loud groan, he sank +backward and would have fallen to the floor but for his attorneys, +who had rushed to the assistance of the stricken man. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the lifeless remains of Hugh Mainwaring were +carried from the court-room, while, in another direction, the +unconscious form of Ralph Mainwaring was borne by tender, pitying +hands, among them those of the victor himself, and the contest of +Mainwaring versus Mainwaring was ended. +</P> + +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> + +<P> +The bright sunlight of a December afternoon, ten days after the +close of the trial, crowned with a shining halo the heads of +Harold Scott Mainwaring and his wife as they stood together in the +tower-room at Fair Oaks. But a few hours had elapsed since they +had repeated the words of the beautiful marriage service which had +made them husband and wife. Their wedding had been, of necessity, +a quiet one, only their own party and a few of their American +friends being present, for the ocean-liner, then lying in the +harbor, but which in a few hours was to bear them homeward, would +carry also the bodies of the Mainwaring brothers and of Ralph +Mainwaring to their last resting place. +</P> + +<P> +Here, amid the very surroundings where it was written, Harold +Mainwaring had just read to his wife his father's letter, penned a +few hours before his death. For a few moments neither spoke, then +Winifred said brokenly, through fast falling tears,— +</P> + +<P> +"How he loved you, Harold!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he replied, sadly; "and what would I not give for one hour +in which to assure him of my love! I would gladly have endured any +suffering for his sake, but in the few moments that we stood face +to face we met as strangers, and I have had no opportunity to show +him my appreciation of his love or my love for him in return." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think he does not know it," she said, earnestly. "I believe +that he now knows your love for him far more perfectly than you +know his." +</P> + +<P> +He kissed her tenderly, then drawing from his pocket a +memorandum-book, took therefrom a piece of blotter having upon it +the impress of some writing. Placing it upon the desk beside the +letter, he held a small mirror against it, and Winifred, looking +in the mirror, read, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + "Your affectionate father,<BR> + "HAROLD SCOTT MAINWARING."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +Then glancing at the signature to the letter, she saw they were +identical. In answer to her look of inquiry, Harold said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I discovered that impress on the blotter on this desk one morning +about ten days after the tragedy, and at once recognized it as my +father's writing. In a flash I understood the situation; my father +himself had returned, had been in these rooms, and had had an +interview with his brother! I knew of the marked resemblance between +them, and at once questioned, How had that interview ended? Who was +the murdered man? Who was the murderer? That was the cause of my +trip to England to try to find some light on this subject. I need +no words to tell you the agony of suspense that I endured for the +next few weeks, and you will understand now why I would not—even +to yourself—declare my innocence of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. +I would have bourne any ignominy and dishonor, even death itself, +rather than that a breath of suspicion should have been directed +against my father's name." +</P> + +<P> +"My hero!" she exclaimed, smiling through her tears; then asked, +"When and how did you learn the real facts?" +</P> + +<P> +"Almost immediately upon my return to this country, and from Mrs. +LaGrange," and he told her briefly of his last interview with that +unhappy woman. "Up to the day of the funeral, she was ignorant of +the truth, but on that day she detected the difference, which none +of the others saw. She knew and recognized my father." +</P> + +<P> +Standing at last on the western veranda, they took their farewell +of Fair Oaks. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful Fair Oaks!" Winifred murmured; "once I loved you; but +you could never be our home; you hold memories far too bitter!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Harold replied, gravely, "it is darkened by crime and stained +with innocent blood. The only bright feature to redeem it," he +added with a smile, "is the memory of the love I found there, but +that," and he drew her arm closely within his own, "I take with me +to England, to my father's home and mine." +</P> + +<P> +Together they left the majestic arched portals, and going down the +oak-lined avenue, through the dim twilight of the great boughs +interlocked above their heads, passed on, out into the sunlight, +with never a fear for shadows that might come; each strong and +confident in the love that united them "for better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, . . . till death us +do part." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + +***** This file should be named 2172-h.htm or 2172-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/2172/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: That Mainwaring Affair + +Author: Maynard Barbour + +Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2172] +Release Date: May, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + + + + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. HTML +version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR + + +by + +Maynard Barbour + + + + +CONTENTS + + I THE MAINWARINGS + II FAIR OAKS + III THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING + IV A TERRIBLE AWAKENING + V IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES + VI THE INQUEST + VII A LITTLE ROYAL + VIII THE WEAVING OF THE WEB + IX TANGLED THREADS + X BEHIND THE SCENES + XI SKIRMISHING + XII X-RAYS + XIII THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE + XIV THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY + XV MUTUAL SURPRISES + XVI MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS + XVII LOVE FINDS A WAY + XVIII AN UNFORESEEN FOE + XIX MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS + XX OPENING FIRE + XXI THE LAST THROW + XXII SECESSION IN THE RANKS + XXIII FLOTSAM AND JETSAM + XXIV BETWEEN THE ACTS + XXV RUN TO COVER + XXVI MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING + XXVII THE SILENT WITNESS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAINWARINGS + + +The fierce sunlight of a sultry afternoon in the early part of July +forced its way through every crevice and cranny of the closely drawn +shutters in the luxurious private offices of Mainwaring & Co., Stock +Brokers, and slender shafts of light, darting here and there, lent +a rich glow of color to the otherwise subdued tones of the elegant +apartments. + +A glance at the four occupants of one of these rooms, who had +disposed themselves in various attitudes according to their +individual inclinations, revealed the fact that three out of the +four were Englishmen, while the fourth might have been denominated +as a typical American from the professional class. Of rather +slender form, with a face of rare sensitiveness and delicacy, and +restless, penetrating eyes, his every movement indicated energy and +alertness. On the present occasion he had little to say, but was +engaged in listening attentively to the conversation of the others. + +Beside a rosewood desk, whose belongings, arranged with mathematical +precision, indicated the methodical business habits of its owner, +sat Hugh Mainwaring, senior member of the firm of Mainwaring & Co., +a man approaching his fiftieth birthday. His dress and manners, +less pronouncedly English than those of the remaining two, betokened +the polished man of the world as well as the shrewd financier. He +wore an elegant business suit and his linen was immaculate; his +hair, dark and slightly tinged with gray, was closely cut; his +smoothly shaven face, less florid than those of his companions, +was particularly noticeable on account of a pair of dark gray +eyes, cold and calculating, and which had at times a steel-like +glitter. Though an attractive face, it was not altogether pleasing; +it was too sensuous, and indicated stubbornness and self-will rather +than firmness or strength. + +Half reclining upon a couch on the opposite side of the room, in an +attitude more comfortable than graceful, leisurely smoking a fine +Havana, was Ralph Mainwaring, of London, a cousin of the New York +broker, who, at the invitation of the latter, was paying his first +visit to the great western metropolis. Between the two cousins +there were few points of resemblance. Both had the same cold, +calculating gaze, which made one, subjected to its scrutiny, feel +that he was being mentally weighed and measured and would, in all +probability, be found lacking; but the Londoner possessed a more +phlegmatic temperament. A year or two his cousin's junior, he +looked considerably younger; as his hair and heavy English side +whiskers were unmixed with gray and he was inclined to stoutness. + +Seated near him, in an immense arm-chair which he filled admirably, +was William Mainwaring Thornton, of London, also a guest of Hugh +Mainwaring and distantly connected with the two cousins. He was +the youngest of the three Englishmen and the embodiment of +geniality. He was a blond of the purest type, and his beard, +parted in the centre, was brushed back in two wavy, silken masses, +while his clear blue eyes, beaming with kindliness and good-humor, +had the frankness of a child's. + +Hugh Mainwaring, the sole heir to the family estate, soon after +the death of his father, some twenty-five years previous to this +time, became weary of the monotony of his English homelife, and, +resolved upon making his permanent home in one of the large eastern +cities of the United States and embarking upon the uncertain and +treacherous seas of speculation in the western world, had sold the +estate which for a number of generations had been in the possession +of the Mainwarings, and had come to America. In addition to his +heavy capital, he had invested a large amount of keen business tact +and ability; his venture had met with almost phenomenal success and +he had acquired immense wealth besides his inherited fortune. + +His more conservative cousin, Ralph Mainwaring, while never quite +forgiving him for having disposed of the estate, had, nevertheless, +with the shrewdness and foresight for which his family were noted, +given to his only son the name of Hugh Mainwaring, confident that +his American-English cousin would never marry, and hoping thereby +to win back the old Mainwaring estate into his own line of the +family. His bit of strategy had succeeded; and now, after more +than twenty years, his foresight and worldly wisdom were about to +be rewarded, for the occasion of this reunion between the +long-separated cousins was the celebration of the rapidly +approaching fiftieth birthday of Hugh Mainwaring, at which time +Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., would attain his majority, and in recognition +of that happy event the New York millionaire broker had announced +his intention of making his will in favor of his namesake, and on +that day formally declaring him his lawful heir. + +This had been the object of the conference in the private office +of Hugh Mainwaring, and now that it was over and all necessary +arrangements had been made, that gentleman turned from his desk +with a sigh of relief. + +"I am heartily glad that this business is over," he said, +addressing his guests; "it has been on my mind for some time, and +I have consulted with Mr. Whitney about it," with a slight nod +towards the fourth gentleman, who was his attorney and legal adviser. +"We have both felt that it should have been attended to before this; +and yet, as I considered this would be the most fitting time to make +a final adjustment of affairs, I have on that account delayed +longer than I otherwise would have done. Now everything is arranged +in a manner satisfactory, I trust, to all parties immediately +concerned, and nothing remains but to draw up and execute the papers, +which will be done to-morrow." + +"You are not then troubled with any unpleasant superstitions +regarding the making of a will?" commented Mr. Thornton. + +"No," replied the other, slowly. "I am not of the opinion that it +will hasten my exit from this world; but even if it did, I would +have the satisfaction of knowing that my own wishes would be +carried out in the settlement of my estate, and that no one would +derive any benefit from my demise excepting those whom I consider +legally entitled thereto." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked curiously at his cousin through half-closed +eyes. + +"I suppose," he remarked, very deliberately, "that even in case +there were no will the property would revert to our branch of the +family; we are the nearest of kin, you know." + +"Yes, I know your family would be considered the lawful heirs," +Hugh Mainwaring replied, while he and Mr. Whitney exchanged glances; +"but this is not England; here any common adventurer might come +forward with some pretended claim against the estate, and I prefer +to see affairs definitely settled in my own way." + +"Of course," responded the other, resuming his cigar. "Well, +speaking for myself, I am more than willing to relinquish any share +I might have had for the boy's sake, and I don't suppose, Thornton, +that you have any objections to raise on Edith's account." + +"Oh, no, no," replied that gentleman, with a pleasant laugh. "I +never considered Hugh a bad son-in-law to begin with, but I'll admit +he is a little more attractive now than ever." + +The little clock on the marble mantel chimed the hour of four, +causing a general movement of surprise. "'Pon my soul! had no idea +it was that late," exclaimed Mr. Thornton, taking out his watch, +while Hugh Mainwaring, touching an electric button, replied,-- + +"This business has detained us much longer than I anticipated. I +will give some instructions to the head clerk, and we will leave at +once." + +He had scarcely finished speaking, when a door opened noiselessly +and a middle-aged man appeared. + +"Parsons," said Mr. Mainwaring, addressing him in quick, incisive +tones, "I am going out to Fair Oaks, and probably shall not be at +the office for two or three days, unless something of unusual +importance should demand my presence. Refer all business callers +to Mr. Elliott or Mr. Chittenden. Any personal calls, if specially +important, just say that I can be found at Fair Oaks." + +Parsons bowed gravely, and after a few further instructions retired. + +"Now, Mr. Whitney," Hugh Mainwaring continued, at the same time +touching another electric button, "you, of course, will be one of +our party at Fair Oaks; my secretary will accompany us, and the +papers will be drawn up to-morrow in my private library, after which +you will do us the honor to join us in the pleasures of the following +day." + +"I am at your service, Mr. Mainwaring," responded the attorney; "but," +he added, in low tones, intended only for Hugh Mainwaring's ear, but +which were heard distinctly by the private secretary, now standing +beside the desk, "would it not be better to draw up the will here, +in your private office? My presence at the house on the present +occasion might attract attention and arouse some suspicions as to +your intentions." + +"That makes no difference," replied Hugh Mainwaring, quickly, but +also speaking in a low tone; "my private papers are all at the house, +and I choose that this business shall be conducted there. I believe +that I am master in my own house yet." + +Mr. Whitney bowed in acquiescence, and Hugh Mainwaring turned to +his secretary,-- + +"Mr. Scott, just close up everything in the office as quickly as +possible and get ready to accompany me to Fair Oaks; I shall need +you there for two or three days." + +It was not the first time the private secretary had accompanied Mr. +Mainwaring to his elegant suburban residence, and he understood +perfectly what was expected of him, and immediately withdrew to +make his preparations as expeditiously as possible. + +For some reason, which Hugh Mainwaring had never stopped to explain +even to himself, he always accorded to his private secretary much +more respect and consideration than to any one of his other numerous +employees. + +Harry Scott was not only a young man of superior education and good +breeding, but what particularly impressed his employer in his favor +was a certain natural reserve which caused him to hold himself aloof +from his associates in the offices of Mainwaring & Co., and an innate +refinement and delicacy which kept him, under all circumstances, +from any gaucherie on the one hand, or undue familiarity on the +other; he was always respectful but never servile. He had been in +the employ of Hugh Mainwaring for a little more than a year, and, +having frequently accompanied him to Fair Oaks to remain for a day +or two, was, consequently, quite familiar with the house and grounds. + +As he re-entered the room, having exchanged his business suit for +one more suitable to the occasion, there was not one present but +what instinctively, though perhaps unconsciously, recognized in him +a true gentleman and treated him as such. Tall, with a splendid +physique, finely shaped head, dark hair, and eyes of peculiar beauty, +he was far from being the least attractive member of the party which, +a few moments later, entered the Mainwaring carriage, with its coat +of arms, and rolled away in the direction of Fair Oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FAIR OAKS + + +The home of Hugh Mainwaring was one of many palatial suburban +residences situated on a beautiful avenue running in a northerly +direction from the city, but it had not been for so many years in +his possession without acquiring some of the characteristics of its +owner, which gave it an individuality quite distinct from its elegant +neighbors. It had originally belonged to one of the oldest and +wealthiest families in the county, for a strictly modern house, +without a vestige of antiqueness lingering in its halls and with no +faint aroma of bygone days pervading its atmosphere, would have been +entirely too plebeian to suit the tastes of Hugh Mainwaring. + +From the street to the main entrance a broad driveway wound beneath +the interlacing boughs of a double line of giant oaks, from which +the place had derived its name. Beautiful grounds extended in every +direction, and in the rear of the mansion sloped gently to the edge +of a small lake. Facing the west was the main entrance to the house, +which was nearly surrounded by a broad veranda, commanding a fine +view, not only of the grounds and immediately surrounding country, +but also of the Hudson River, not far distant. + +The southwestern portion of the building contained the private rooms +of Hugh Mainwaring, including what was known as the "tower," and had +been added by him soon after he had taken possession of the place. +This part of the house was as far removed as possible from the large +reception-rooms, and the apartments on the second floor comprised +the suite occupied by Mr. Mainwaring. The first of these rooms, +semi-octagonal in form, constituted his private library, and its +elegant furnishings and costly volumes, lining the walls from floor +to ceiling, bespoke the wealth and taste of the owner. Across the +southwestern side of this room heavy portieres partially concealed +the entrance to what Mr. Mainwaring denominated his "sanctum +sanctorum," the room in the tower. This was small, of circular form, +and contained an immense desk, one or two revolving bookcases, and +a large safe, which held his private papers and, it was rumored, the +old Mainwaring jewels. Back of the library was a smoking-room, and +in the rear of that Mr. Mainwaring's dressing-rooms and sleeping +apartments. + +This suite of rooms was connected with the remainder of the building +by a long corridor extending from the main hall, but there was on +the south side of the house an entrance and stairway leading directly +to these rooms, the upper hall opening into the library and +smoking-room. From this southern entrance a gravelled walk led +between lines of shrubbery to a fine grove, which extended back +and downward to the western shore of the small lake already mentioned. + +But the especially distinguishing characteristic of Fair Oaks since +coming into the possession of Hugh Mainwaring was the general air of +exclusion pervading the entire place. The servants, with the +exception of "Uncle Mose," the colored man having charge of the +grounds, were imported,--the head cook being a Frenchman, the +others either English or Irish, and, from butler to chambermaid, one +and all seemed to have acquired the reserve which characterized +their employer. + +Comparatively few servants were employed and few were needed, for +never, until the present occasion, had Fair Oaks been thrown open +to guests. Occasionally Mr. Mainwaring brought out from the city +two or three gentleman friends, whom he entertained in royal +fashion. Sometimes these guests were accompanied by their wives, +but such instances were extremely rare, as ladies were seldom seen +at Fair Oaks. + +In the entertainment of these occasional guests Mr. Mainwaring was +frequently assisted by Mrs. LaGrange, known as his housekeeper, but +in reality holding a position much more advanced than is usually +implied by that term. Among those who had been personally +entertained by Mrs. LaGrange, this fact, of itself, excited little +comment; it being evident that she was as familiar with the +fashionable world as was their host himself, but surrounding her was +the same dim haze of mystery that seemed to envelop the entire place, +impalpable, but thus far impenetrable. + +She had come to Fair Oaks some fifteen years previous to this time, +dressed in deep mourning, accompanied by her infant son, about three +years of age, and it was generally understood that she was distantly +related to Mr. Mainwaring. She was a strikingly handsome woman, +with that type of physical beauty which commands admiration, rather +than winning it; tall, with superb form and carriage, rich olive +skin, large dark eyes, brilliant as diamonds and as cold, but which +could become luminous with tenderness or fiery with passion, as +occasion required. To those whom she sought to entertain she could +be extremely charming, but to a few even of these, gifted with deeper +insight than the others, it seemed that beneath that fascinating +manner was a dangerous nature, a will that would brook no restraint, +that never would be thwarted; and that this was, in reality, the +power which dominated Fair Oaks. + +After years of mysterious seclusion, however, the beautiful home of +Hugh Mainwaring, while maintaining its usual reserve towards its +neighbors, had thrown open its doors to guests from across the water; +and on the particular afternoon of the conference in the private +offices of Mainwaring & Co., there might have been seen on one of +the upper balconies of the mansion at Fair Oaks a group of five +English ladies, engaged in a discussion of their first impressions +regarding their host and his American home. The group consisted of +Mrs. Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton, +the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh +Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton; +and Mrs. Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies. + +Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit +to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy +event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest +in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially +enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and +grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament +than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much +finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her +part. + +"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming +from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of +ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside +her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in +the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart." + +"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde +like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be +yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at +least, till you are married, you know." + +"That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely +never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly. She was an +orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William +Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian. + +Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled +languidly. She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, +gray eyes. "You seem to ignore the fact," she said, "that our cousin +is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many +years to come." + +"You mercenary wretch!" retorted Miss Carleton; "are you already +counting the years before Mr. Mainwaring's death?" + +"Isabel, I am shocked!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring. + +"I don't know why," replied that young lady, coolly. "I was only +thinking, mamma; and one is not always accountable for one's +thoughts, you know." + +"But," said Miss Thornton, wonderingly, raising her large eyes, full +of inquiry, to Mrs. Mainwaring, "after our cousin has announced his +intention of making Hugh his heir, don't you think he will be likely +to extend other invitations to visit Fair Oaks?" + +"Undoubtedly, my dear," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, "there will probably +be an exchange of courtesies between the two branches of the family +from this time. Though I must say," she added, in a lower tone, and +turning to Mrs. Hogarth, "I do not know that I, for one, will be +particularly anxious to repeat my visit when this celebration is once +over. So far as I can judge, there seems to be no society here. +Wilson has learned from the servants that Mr. Mainwaring lives very +quietly, in fact, receives no company whatever; and, I may be +mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that this Mrs. LaGrange +occupies rather an anomalous position. She is here as his housekeeper, +a servant, yet she entertains his guests, and her manners are anything +but those of a servant." + +"Why shouldn't she, mamma?" inquired Isabel, rather abruptly. "Cousin +Hugh has never married,--which is a very good thing for us, by the +way,--and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?" + +"It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs. +Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there +is something about her own personality that impresses me very +unfavorably." + +"In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs. +Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite +agree with you." + +"No," said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so +decided an opinion as that. I am not prepared to say that she is +a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman." + +"Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies +to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired +Mrs. LaGrange very much." + +"I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of +her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a +veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!" + +"Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no +reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be. +I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; +and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring +estate into our own branch of the family." + +"That is just what your father intends to have done whenever the +property comes into Hugh's possession," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, +and was about to say something further, when a musical whistle +attracted the attention of the ladies, and, looking over the +balcony railing, they saw Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., approaching the +house, on his return from a day's fishing, accompanied by Walter +LaGrange, a young sophomore, home on his vacation. + +The former was a typical young Englishman, with a frank, pleasant +countenance. The latter, while inheriting his mother's beauty and +resembling her in a marked degree, yet betrayed in his face a +weakness which indicated that, lacking ability to plan and execute +for himself, he would become a ready tool to aid in carrying out the +designs of others. + +The ladies, having discovered the hour to be much later than they +supposed, and knowing that the gentlemen would soon return from the +city, speedily adjourned to their dressing-rooms to prepare for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING + + +Immediately after breakfast the following morning, Hugh Mainwaring, +having excused himself to his guests, retired to his private +library, in company with his secretary and Mr. Whitney, his attorney. +A number of fine saddle horses having been brought around from the +stables, the young people cantered gayly down the oak-lined avenue, +intent upon a morning ride, their voices echoing musically through +the grounds. The elderly people, after a short chat, gradually +dispersed. Mrs. Mainwaring retired to her room for her accustomed +morning nap; Mrs. Hogarth sought the large library and was soon +absorbed in the works of her favorite author, while Ralph Mainwaring +and Mr. Thornton strolled up and down the gravelled walks, enjoying +their cigars. + +"This is a very good bit of property," remarked Mr. Mainwaring at +length, running his eye with cold scrutiny over the mansion and +grounds; "taking into consideration the stocks and bonds and various +business interests that will go with it, it will make a fine windfall +for the boy." + +"That it will, and Hugh certainly is a lucky dog!" responded Mr. +Thornton, "but you seem to have some definite knowledge regarding +our cousin's finances; has he given you any idea as to what he is +really worth?" + +"He? Not a word." Then noting an expression of surprise on his +companion's face, Mr. Mainwaring continued. "I have a number of +business acquaintances on this side the water, and you may rest +assured I have kept myself well posted as to the way things were +going all these years. I have had something of this kind in view +all the time." + +"I might have known it," replied Mr. Thornton, with an amused +smile. "I never yet saw a Mainwaring who did not understand how +to feather his own nest. Well, as you say, it is a fine piece of +property; but, do you know, Mainwaring, it strikes me that the old +boy seems a bit anxious to get it disposed of according to his own +liking as quickly as possible." + +"It does look that way," the other acknowledged. + +"Well, now, doesn't that seem a little peculiar, when, with no +direct heirs that we know of, the property would in any case revert +to your family?" + +Ralph Mainwaring puffed in silence for a few moments, then removing +his cigar and slowing knocking off the ashes, he replied very +deliberately,-- + +"It is my opinion that he and that attorney of his are aware of some +possible claimants, of whom we know nothing." + +"That is my idea exactly," said Mr. Thornton; "and, don't you know, +it has occurred to me that possibly, unknown to us, Harold Mainwaring +may have left a child, whose existence is known to Hugh." + +"That would cut no figure in this case," Mr. Mainwaring answered, +quickly. "Even had there been a living child,--which there was +not,--he could make no claim whatever, for Harold was disinherited +by his father's will." + +"Yes, I know the old gentleman disinherited Harold, but would his +heirs have no claim?" + +"Not under that will. I was present when it was read, and I remember +it debarred 'both him and his heirs, forever.'" + +"Poor Harold!" said Mr. Thornton, after a moment's silence; "he was +the elder son, was he not?" + +"Yes, and his father's favorite. It broke the old man's heart to +disinherit him. He failed rapidly after that occurred, and he never +was the same towards Hugh. I always thought that accounted for +Hugh's selling the old place as he did; it had too many unpleasant +memories." + +"Harold died soon after that unfortunate marriage, I believe." + +"Yes; he learned too late the character of the woman he had married, +and after the death of their only child, he left her, and a few years +later was lost at sea." + +"Well," continued Mr. Thornton, after a pause, "have you the remotest +idea as to who these possible claimants against the property may be?" + +"Only the merest suspicion, as yet too vague even to mention; but I +think a day or two will probably enable me to determine whether I am +correct or not." + +At that moment, Harry Scott, the private secretary, appeared, with a +message to the gentlemen from Hugh Mainwaring, to the effect that he +would like to have them join himself and Mr. Whitney in his library. + +As they passed around to the southern entrance with the secretary, +they did not observe a closed carriage coming swiftly up the +driveway, nor a tall, slender man, with cadaverous features and +sharp, peering eyes, who alighted and hastily rang for admittance. +But two hours later, as Mr. Thornton was descending the winding +stairway in the main hall, he caught a glimpse of the strange +caller, just taking his departure. The stranger, hearing footsteps, +turned towards Mr. Thornton, and for an instant their eyes met. +There was a mutual recognition; astonishment and scorn were written +on Mr. Thornton's face, while the stranger cowed visibly and, with +a fawning, cringing bow, made as speedy an exit as possible. + +At luncheon that day both Hugh Mainwaring and a number of his guests +seemed rather preoccupied, and the meal passed in unusual silence. +Mrs. LaGrange exerted herself to be particularly entertaining to Mr. +Whitney, but he, though courteously responding to her overtures, made +no effort to continue the conversation. Even the genial Mr. Thornton +was in so abstracted a mood that his daughter at last rallied him on +his appearance, whereupon he turned somewhat abruptly to his host +with the inquiry,-- + +"Are you personally acquainted with Richard Hobson?" + +For an instant, Hugh Mainwaring seemed confused, and Mr. Whitney, +always on the alert, noted a peculiar expression flash across the +face of Mrs. LaGrange, and was also conscious of an almost +imperceptible start on the part of the young secretary seated near +him. + +Mr. Mainwaring quickly recovered himself and replied, deliberately, +"Richard Hobson, the attorney? I believe I met him once or twice, +years ago, in London, but I cannot claim any acquaintance with him." + +"Dick Hobson does not deserve the name of attorney," remarked Ralph +Mainwaring; "he is a shyster and a scoundrel." + +"He certainly bears a hard reputation," rejoined Mr. Thornton; "and +I would not have mentioned his name, only that I met him here about +half an hour since, and that caused me to make the inquiry I did." + +Hugh Mainwaring paled visibly, though he remained calm. "Met him +here, in my house? Impossible!" he exclaimed, at the same time +glancing towards the butler, but the face of that functionary was +as immobile as rock. "I did not suppose the man was in this +country!" + +"Oh, yes," replied Ralph Mainwaring; "he left England about two +years ago; he played one too many of his dirty games there and took +the first steamer for America, hoping, I suppose, to find a wider +sphere of action in this country." + +"Possibly I may have been mistaken," remarked Mr. Thornton, quietly, +realizing that he had unconsciously touched an unpleasant chord, +"but the resemblance was certainly striking." + +An awkward silence followed, broken by young Scott, who excused +himself on the plea of important work and returned to Mr. +Mainwaring's library, where he was soon joined by all the gentlemen +excepting young Mainwaring. In the hall, Hugh Mainwaring paused for +a few words with the butler, and the attorney, passing at that +moment, caught the man's reply, given in a low tone,-- + +"No, sir; Mrs. LaGrange." + +A little later, the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring was +signed by the testator, and duly attested by Ralph Mainwaring, +William Mainwaring Thornton, and William H. Whitney. As the last +signature was completed, Hugh Mainwaring drew a heavy sigh, saying +in a low tone,-- + +"That is as I wished, my namesake is my heir;" then taking the +document, he placed it in the hands of his secretary, adding, "Lay +this for the present on my desk. To-morrow I wish it to be read in +the presence of all the members of the family, after which, Mr. +Whitney, I desire to have it put in your possession for safe keeping +until it is needed; when that will be, no one can say;--it may be +sooner than we think." + +A marked change had come over his manner since luncheon, and his +tones, even more than his words, made a deep impression on the mind +of every one present. The shade of melancholy passed, however, and, +ringing the bell, Hugh Mainwaring ordered carriages for himself and +his guests for the afternoon and departed, leaving his secretary +to attend to some private work in the library. Harry Scott's manner, +upon finding himself alone within the private rooms of Hugh +Mainwaring, betrayed intense excitement. He pushed his work +impatiently from him and, rising, began to walk swiftly, though +noiselessly, back and forth, the entire length of the two apartments. +Twice he paused before the large desk, and taking therefrom the will, +already familiar to him, read its contents with burning eyes while +his face alternately flushed and paled. Then folding and replacing +the document, he turned towards the safe, muttering,-- + +"It is no use. I have searched there once before and could find +nothing." + +Suddenly he exclaimed, "No one knows what may happen; this may be my +last opportunity! I will search once more and leave not a corner +unexplored." + +Having locked the library, he returned to the safe. He knew the +combination, and soon the great doors swung open, revealing the +contents arranged with the precision for which Mr. Mainwaring was +noted in his business habits. Conscious that he had abundance of +time for the work he had undertaken and that he was secure from +interruption, he began a careful and methodical search through all +the compartments. Various private documents were examined and then +replaced in exactly their original position, but all seemed of no +avail. He discovered no trace of that which he hoped to find. + +At last he came to a metallic box, which he surmised, from its +weight and general appearance, contained the old family jewels. +Should he open that? A moment's thought decided the question; he +would leave nothing unexplored. Further search revealed the key +concealed in a tiny drawer. He applied it to the lock; the cover +flew backward, and a dazzling light flashed into his face as a ray +of sunlight fell across his shoulder upon the superb gems, gleaming +and scintillating from the depths of their hiding-place. But he +paid little heed to them, for, in a long and narrow receptacle within +one side of the box, his keen eye had discovered a paper, yellow and +musty with age, the sight of which thrilled him with hope. He +quickly drew it forth, and a single glance at its title assured him +it was indeed the object of his search. With a low cry of joy, he +locked and replaced the metallic box, and, opening the ancient +document, he eagerly scanned its contents, an expression of intense +satisfaction overspreading his features. + +He was still perusing the paper when he heard footsteps approaching +the library through the long corridor, followed an instant later by a +knock. Depositing the precious document safely within an inside +pocket, he swung the doors of the safe together, turning the handle +so as to lock it securely, and, crossing the library, unlocked and +opened the door. + +The butler was standing there, and, handing Scott a card, said, +briefly, + +"A gentleman on private business; must see Mr. Mainwaring or his +secretary at once." + +Scott glanced at the card: it bore the name of "J. Henry Carruthers," +with a London address, and underneath had been hastily pencilled +the word "Important." + +"Show the gentleman up," he said. The butler bowed and was gone, +and in an incredibly short time, while yet Scott's pulse throbbed +wildly from his recent discovery, the stranger entered the room. + +He was a little above the average height, with a somewhat commanding +presence, rather pale face, dark moustache, and black curling hair. +He wore dark glasses, and was dressed in a tweed suit, slightly +travel-worn, but his manners were those of a gentleman. + +"Mr. Scott, I believe," he said, addressing the secretary. + +"That is my name, sir; please be seated. What can I do for you, Mr. +Carruthers?" + +"Will you inform me, Mr. Scott, of the earliest hour at which I can +see Mr. Mainwaring? I called at his city office and was directed +here; but the butler states that Mr. Mainwaring is away from home, and +is unable to say when he will return, or how soon he would be at +liberty to see me." + +"Mr. Mainwaring will probably return about five o'clock; but it is +rather difficult for me to state when you could see him, as he is +entertaining a number of guests, and it is doubtful if he would care +to attend to any business just at this time, unless it were of special +importance." + +"My business with Mr. Mainwaring is of special importance," replied +the other; "and I would be very glad if he could give me a little +time to-morrow." + +"Perhaps, if you would give me some intimation of its nature," +Scott suggested, "Mr. Mainwaring might consent to make an appointment +for the following day. I hardly think he would see you sooner. +To-morrow is his birthday, and, as it is to be celebrated by him and +his guests, it is doubtful whether he would attend to any business +on that day." + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Carruthers, rising, while Scott was conscious of +a peculiar scrutiny fixed upon himself from behind those dark glasses; +"it had escaped my mind, but now I recall that Mr. Mainwaring is to +celebrate his birthday by making his young English cousin and namesake +his heir. I certainly would not intrude at a time so inopportune." + +The secretary started. "I was not aware that Mr. Mainwaring's +intentions were generally known," he remarked. + +"Perhaps not," replied the other, in a peculiar tone. "I merely +heard it mentioned, and all parties have my congratulations and best +wishes. Kindly say to Mr. Mainwaring that when the happy event is +over I hope he will give me his earliest consideration. My address +for the present will be the Arlington House.. Do not take the +trouble to ring, I can find my way." + +"You will find this way much shorter, sir," Scott replied, opening +the door into the southern hall. Mr. Carruthers thanked him and, +with a profound bow, took his departure. + +As the hour was late, Scott found it necessary to devote himself at +once to his work, and he had but just completed it when the sound +of wheels was heard outside, and a few moments later his employer +entered the room. + +The latter studied Mr. Carruthers's card quite attentively, and +frowned upon learning that his intentions regarding the making of +his will had become known by outsiders, but he soon seemed to forget +the occurrence. Soon all were gathered about the dinner-table, and +the evening passed very pleasantly. + +When, at a late hour, Hugh Mainwaring, in the dimly-lighted veranda, +bade his guests good-night, he grasped the hand of his namesake and +said, in a tone remarkably tender,-- + +"Hugh, my boy, the distance is long between the twenty-first and the +fiftieth mile-stones on the journey of life. Heaven grant, when you +shall have reached the latter, you may look back over a brighter +pathway than I do to-night!" + +Then, as the young man passed, he murmured to himself "If I could +but have had just such a son as he!" + +He did not see, though there was one who did, a woman's form glide +away in the dim light, her eyes gleaming with malignant fire. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A TERRIBLE AWAKENING + + +For some time after his guests had retired, Hugh Mainwaring remained +outside, walking up and down in the starlight, apparently absorbed +in thought. When at length he passed into the house, he met his +secretary coming out for a solitary smoke. + +"Come to my library, Mr. Scott, before you retire for the night," +said Mr. Mainwaring. + +"At once, sir, if you wish," the secretary replied. + +"No, there is no hurry; any time within an hour," and he passed +up-stairs. + +Half an hour later Harry Scott passed down the corridor towards the +library, but paused on hearing an angry voice within, which he at +once recognized as Mrs. LaGrange's. + +"Where would you be to-night?" she cried, "where would you have been +all these years, if I had but exposed your dishonesty and duplicity? +You defrauded your only brother during his lifetime; you have +persistently ignored your son, your own flesh and blood; and now you +would rob him, not only of his father's name, but of his father's +fortune,--cast him off with a mere pittance,--and put this stranger +in the place which is rightfully his, and wish that you had been +given such a son as he! You are in my power, and you know it only +too well; and I will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family +rue this day's work." + +Hugh Mainwaring's reply to this tirade was inaudible, and Scott, +feeling that he already had heard too much, withdrew, and continued +walking up and down the halls until the library door opened and Mrs. +LaGrange came out. She swept past him in a towering rage, seeming +scarcely aware of his presence until, as he passed down the corridor +and entered the library, he was suddenly conscious that she had +turned and was watching him. + +He found Mr. Mainwaring looking pale and fatigued. + +"I will detain you but a moment, Mr. Scott," he said, speaking +wearily; "I have a few instructions I would like you to carry out +early in the morning; and I also want to say that I wish you to +consider yourself as one of my guests to-morrow, and join with us +in the festivities of the occasion." + +Scott thanked his employer courteously, though there might have been +detected a shade of reserve in his manner, and, after receiving +brief directions for the following day, withdrew. + +He went to his room, but not to sleep. His mind was too full of +the events of the day just passed, as well as of the expected events +of the morrow. His thoughts reverted to his discovery of the +afternoon, and, taking the shabby document from his pocket, he read +and re-read it carefully, his features betraying deep emotion. What +should be done with it? Should he let his employer know at once of +the proof which he now held against him? Or should he hold it for a +few days and await developments? + +It was nearly three o'clock when he was aroused from his abstraction +by a slight sound, as of stealthy footsteps in the rear of the house. +He listened intently for a moment, but hearing nothing further and +discovering the lateness of the hour, he hastily extinguished the +light and, too exhausted and weary to undress, threw himself as he +was upon a couch and was soon sleeping heavily. + +The sun was shining brightly into his room, when Harry Scott was +awakened the next morning by a woman's scream, followed by cries and +sobs and a confused sound of running to and fro. Almost before he +could collect his thoughts, he heard steps approaching his room, +and, rising, hastily exchanged the smoking-jacket in which he had +slept for a coat. He had barely time to make the change when there +was a loud knock, and some one called his name in quick, sharp tones. + +Opening the door, he saw Mr. Whitney standing before him, while in +the background servants were running in different directions, +wringing their bands and moaning and crying hysterically. + +"Mr. Scott," said the attorney, in tones trembling with excitement, +"come to the tower-room at once. Mr. Mainwaring has been murdered!" + +"Mr. Mainwaring murdered!" he exclaimed, reeling for an instant as +if from a blow. "Great heavens! it cannot be possible!" + +"It is terrible, but a fact, nevertheless," replied Mr. Whitney; +"he was murdered last night in his private rooms." + +"How and when was it discovered?" Scott inquired, his mind still +dazed by the wild torrent of thought surging through his brain as +he recalled the events of the previous night. + +"Hardy, his valet, was the first to discover it this morning. We +have telephoned for his physician and for the coroner; they will be +out on the next train from the city." + +Harry Scott shuddered as he entered the familiar room where he had +taken leave of his employer but comparatively few hours before. +Even amid the confusion, he noted that in the outer room everything +appeared the same as when he last saw it, but the portieres at the +farther side, pushed widely open, revealed a ghastly sight. + +Upon the floor, about half-way between the desk and safe, his head +resting in a small pool of blood, lay Hugh Mainwaring. He was +inclined slightly towards his right side, his arm partially extended, +and on the floor, near his right hand, lay a revolver, while an ugly +wound just above the right eye and near the temple showed where the +weapon had done its deadly work. The closely cut hair about the +temple was singed and his face was blackened, showing that the fatal +shot had been fired at close range. There were no indications, +however, of a struggle of any kind; the great revolving-chair, +usually standing in front of the desk, had been pushed aside, but +everything else was in its accustomed place, and the desk was closed +and locked. + +Ralph Mainwaring was already kneeling beside the body; Mr. Thornton +and young Mainwaring, who had entered immediately after Scott and +the attorney, stood speechless with horror. With what conflicting +emotions the young secretary gazed upon the lifeless form of his +employer, fortunately for him at that moment, no one knew; as his +mind cleared, he began to realize that his position was likely to +prove a difficult and dangerous one, and that he must act with +extreme caution. + +The silence was first broken by Mr. Thornton, who exclaimed,-- + +"Terrible! Terrible! What do you think, Mainwaring? is this murder +or suicide?" + +"Time alone will tell," replied Mr. Mainwaring in a low tone; "but I +am inclined to think it is murder." + +"Murder without a doubt!" added Mr. Whitney. + +"But who could have done such a deed?" groaned Mr. Thornton. + +Hugh Mainwaring was attired, as when Scott had last seen him, in a +rich dressing-gown; but as the secretary knelt beside the silent +form and touched the left hand lying partially hidden in its folds, +he gave a slight start, and, quickly passing his hand within the +dressing-gown, announced in a low tone,-- + +"His diamond ring and his watch are both gone!" + +"Robbery!" exclaimed young Mainwaring; "that must have been the +object of the murderer!" While his father, glancing towards the +safe, remarked,-- + +"We must ascertain whether anything else is missing." + +"We will make a thorough examination of the room after the coroner's +arrival," said Mr. Whitney, "but, for the present, everything must +remain as it is." + +"Should we not send for a detective at once?" Mr. Thornton inquired. + +"I have already telephoned for one upon my own responsibility," +replied the attorney. + +"When were you last in these rooms, Mr. Scott?" asked Ralph +Mainwaring of the secretary, who had risen to his feet and was making +a careful survey of the room. + +"About twelve o'clock last night, sir," was his reply; then noting a +look of surprise on the faces about him, he added,-- + +"I came at Mr. Mainwaring's request, as he wished to give directions +regarding some work to be done this morning." + +"He was alone at that time?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How did he appear?" inquired Mr. Thornton. + +"The same as usual, except that he seemed very weary." + +"Was he in this room?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"No, sir; he was seated in the library." + +The sound of voices in the corridor attracted Mr. Mainwaring's +attention, and he turned quickly to his son,-- + +"Hugh, I hear your mother's voice; go and meet her. The ladies must +not be allowed to come in here." + +Mr. Thornton turned to accompany young Mainwaring. Near the door he +met his daughter and Miss Carleton, while a little farther down the +corridor were Isabel Mainwaring and her mother. With terror-stricken +faces they gathered about him, unable to believe the terrible report +which they had learned from the servants. As best he could, he +answered their numerous inquiries, and, having escorted them to +another part of the house, left them in charge of young Mainwaring, +while he returned to the library. + +Meanwhile, the news of the murder had spread with lightning-like +rapidity, and already crowds of people, drawn by that strange +fascination which always exists for a certain class in scenes of +this kind, were gathering on the grounds outside the house, forming +in little groups, conversing with the servants, or gazing upward +with awe-stricken glances at the closely-drawn shutters of the room +in the tower. The invisible barriers which so long had excluded +the public from Fair Oaks had been swept away by the hand of death, +and rich and poor, capitalist and laborer, alike wandered +unrestrained up and down the oak-lined avenue. + +At the door of the library, Mr. Thornton found Ralph Mainwaring and +the attorney conversing together in low tones. + +"Yes," Mr. Mainwaring was saying, "as you say, it is undoubtedly +murder; but I confess I am at a loss to understand the motive for +such a deed, unless it were robbery; and you do not seem to give +that idea much credence?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head decidedly. "Unless we find very strong +evidence in that direction, I cannot believe that this is any case +of common robbery." + +"But to what other motive would you attribute it?" inquired Mr. +Mainwaring. + +"Until further facts have been developed which may throw light upon +the subject, I do not feel prepared to say what the motive might +have been." + +"You evidently have your suspicions," remarked Mr. Mainwaring, while +Mr. Thornton inquired,-- + +"Had our cousin any enemies that you know of?" + +Mr. Whitney turned a keen, penetrating glance upon Mr. Thornton for +an instant, and the latter continued,-- + +"I thought it possible that in his business relations he might have +incurred the enmity of some one of whom you knew." + +"No," the attorney answered, quickly, "I am not aware of anything +of that nature. Mr. Mainwaring made few intimate friends, but he +was universally respected by all who knew him. If he had any +enemies," he added, very slowly, "they were within his own +household." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked sharply at the attorney, but +Mr. Thornton exclaimed,-- + +"'Egad! sir, but you surely do not think this deed was committed by +any one of the inmates of this house?" + +"As I have already said," replied Mr. Whitney, "I am not prepared +to state what I do think without further knowledge of the facts in +the case." + +"Of course we understand that," rejoined Mr. Mainwaring; "but we +desire to have the benefit of your opinions and judgment regarding +this case so soon as you do feel justified in expressing them, and, +since you are vastly more familiar with the circumstances +surrounding it than we, we wish to rely on your suggestions in +this matter." + +The attorney bowed. "My advice for the present would be to take +care that no one leaves the premises, and that you also send for +Mrs. LaGrange; I wish to see her," he said briefly, and passed +into the library. + +Ralph Mainwaring beckoned to the butler; who was standing at a +little distance, awaiting orders. + +"Call the housekeeper at once, Mr. Whitney wishes to see her in the +library; and send Wilson to me, and also the coachman." + +With a silent acknowledgment of the order the butler withdrew, and +a moment later, John Wilson, a middle-aged man and a servant of Ralph +Mainwaring's who had accompanied him from London, appeared, followed +by Brown, the coachman at Fair Oaks. + +Mr. Mainwaring first addressed the latter. "Brown, for the next +hour or so, I wish you to be stationed in the hall below. Keep back +the crowd as much as possible; when the coroner and physician arrive +show them up at once, but on no account allow any one else to come +up-stairs." + +Then turning to his own serving-man, as Brown departed to the duties +assigned him, Mr. Mainwaring continued, + +"'For you, Wilson, I have a task which I cannot intrust to any one +else, but which I know you will perform faithfully and discreetly; +so far as you are able, keep a close watch upon every one within +this house, without seeming to do so; pay close attention to all +conversation which you hear, and if you hear or see anything unusual, +or that seems to have any bearing on what has occurred, report to +me at once. Above all, do not let any of the servants leave the +premises without they have my permission." + +"Very well, sir," Wilson replied; as he moved away the butler +reappeared. + +"The housekeeper has not yet left her room, sir," he said, addressing +Mr. Mainwaring. "I gave the message by the chambermaid, and she +sent word that she had been prostrated by the terrible news this +morning, sir, but that she would see Mr. Whitney in a few moments." + +As the man retreated, Mr. Thornton paused suddenly in his walk up +and down the corridor,-- + +"'Pon my soul, Mainwaring! it strikes me--particularly since hearing +that will read yesterday--that there must have been something with +reference to that woman--well--rather peculiar, don't you know." + +"It strikes me," replied Mr. Mainwaring with marked emphasis, "that +there may be something rather 'peculiar,' as you call it, in that +direction at present, and I believe Mr. Whitney is of the same +opinion." + +"How is that? You surely do not think it possible that in his mind +she is in any way associated with this murder--if it is a murder?" + +"He evidently suspects some one in this house, and for the present +we can draw our own inferences. Regarding those provisions in the +will to which you just now alluded, I can assure you I was not too +well pleased; but I knew it was useless to raise any objections or +questions; to my mind, however, they furnish a clue as to the +possible claimants against the estate, which we were discussing +yesterday, and perhaps a clue to this latest development, also." + +"By my soul! it looks like it; but surely she could have no valid +claim." + +"Valid or not," replied Ralph Mainwaring, "there must have been a +powerful claim of some kind. When a man of Hugh Mainwaring's +type leaves a handsome annuity to his housekeeper, and an interest +in his business worth fifty or seventy-five thousand to her son, +it may be considered pretty strong evidence that--" + +At a warning glance from Mr. Thornton, Ralph Mainwaring paused +abruptly and, turning, saw Mrs. LaGrange coming noiselessly down +the corridor. She was dressed with even more than usual care, +with quantities of rich lace fastened loosely about her shapely +neck and falling in profusion over her beautifully moulded wrists +and hands. Her dark, handsome features bore no trace of recent +prostration, but betrayed, instead, signs of intense excitement. +She bowed silently and passed onward, entering the library so +quietly that the attorney, absorbed in thought, was unaware of her +presence until she stood before him. He started slightly, and for +an instant neither spoke. Each was silently gauging the power of +the other. + +For some time, Mrs. LaGrange had been conscious that Mr. Whitney +was one of the few whose penetration could not be blinded by her +blandishments. In addition, the fact that he was the private +solicitor and legal adviser of Hugh Mainwaring did not tend to +inspire her with confidence regarding his attitude towards herself. +Nevertheless, he was an eminent attorney and this was a critical +moment; if she could gain his favor and his services in her behalf, +it would be a brilliant stroke of policy. Her plans were well laid, +and she was prepared to assume whatever role was necessary, so soon +as his words or manner should give her the desired cue. + +For this, she did not have long to wait; one searching glance, and +she had read in the piercing scrutiny and cold scorn of his keen +blue eye that, so far from winning favor from him, he would prove +her most bitter opponent, and as quickly she determined upon her +future course of action. + +Mr. Whitney, on the other hand, though a frequent visitor at Fair +Oaks, and familiar with the fascinating manner with which, when she +chose, Mrs. LaGrange entertained the guests of Hugh Mainwaring, was +now forced to acknowledge to himself that never had he seen this +handsome woman so beautiful as at the present moment. The eyes +looking into his with such depth of meaning,--the expression, the +attitude,--all were utterly unlike anything which he had ever seen; +but his face grew only the more stern, for the thought then and +there occurred to him that perhaps here was the solution of the +mysterious power which this woman had wielded over the man whose +lifeless form was now lying in their presence. + +He observed that the luminous eyes grew suddenly cold, while her +head assumed its usual haughty poise; the brief spell was over, and +each understood the other. + +After a few general directions, Mr. Whitney remarked, "This day's +events will be far different from what we had anticipated." + +"Yes," she replied, with a mocking smile, "in that it brings to the +guests of this house, instead of future expectations, the immediate +realization of their wishes!" + +"It is not to be conceived for one moment that any of them take that +view of what has occurred," he replied, in a tone of displeasure. + +"Possibly not," she rejoined, "although the prospective long life +of their host seemed to greatly detract, at least in the case of one +of their number, from their enjoyment of the occasion which they had +come to celebrate." + +"To whom do you refer?" he inquired. + +"It is unnecessary to give names," she answered, coldly; "but had +the Mainwarings of London known the facts which I know, they would +never have crossed the water to take part in the farce which was +enacted here yesterday. There are Mainwarings with better right +and title to this estate than they, as they will soon learn." + +Neither by look nor gesture did she manifest the least consciousness +of, or concern for, the inanimate form visible in the adjoining room. +With sudden directness, and ignoring the implied threat in her last +words, Mr. Whitney asked,-- + +"Mrs. LaGrange, at what hour did you last see Hugh Mainwaring?" + +She was about to reply, when Scott entered from the tower-room. He +had heard her last remark, and his dark, piercing eyes were fixed +upon her face in keen scrutiny. She was quick to note the fact and +hesitated an instant, while a change, inexplicable to the attorney, +passed over her face,--surprise, a shade almost of fear, and +haughty defiance were visible in quick succession; then, turning +again towards Mr. Whitney, she answered, indifferently,-- + +"It was quite late last night; I do not recollect the hour." + +As the attorney was about to speak, Mr. Thornton appeared at the +door of the library. + +"Beg pardon, Mr. Whitney, but I believe the coroner and others have +arrived; as you know the gentlemen, will you kindly meet them?" + +"Certainly. Mr. Scott, you will please remain here," and the +attorney hastened out into the corridor. + +Again Mrs. LaGrange and the secretary faced each other in silence, +each apparently trying to read the other's thoughts and probe the +depth of the other's knowledge; then, as the gentlemen were heard +approaching, she withdrew, leaving him alone. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES + + +As the attorney, in response to the summons from Mr. Thornton, +hastened from the corridor into the main hall, five gentlemen were +slowly ascending the broad stairway, conversing together in subdued +tones. One, younger than the others and evidently more familiar +with the surroundings at Fair Oaks, stepped quickly in advance of +the rest and extended his hand to Mr. Whitney in silent greeting. +This was Dr. Hobart, Hugh Mainwaring's physician and one of his most +intimate friends, although a number of years his junior. Following +him were Mr. Elliott and Mr. Chittenden, of the firm of Mainwaring +& Co., while bringing up the rear were the coroner and a gentleman, +somewhat below medium size and of modest appearance, whom the +attorney greeted very cordially and afterwards introduced to Mr. +Thornton as Mr. Merrick. Proceeding at once to the library, they +were joined a moment later by Ralph Mainwaring and his son. The +necessary introductions followed, and Mr. Mainwaring having given +the butler instructions to admit no one into the library, Mr. Whitney +made a brief statement regarding the discovery of the murder, and +all passed into the room in the tower. + +Dr. Hobart at once bent over the prostrate form with genuine sorrow. +The millionaire broker had been one of his earliest patrons, and +their acquaintance had soon ripened into a mutual attachment, +notwithstanding the disparity in their ages. After a long look at +the face of his friend, he gave place to the coroner, who was also +a physician. They partially lifted the body and both examined the +wound, the small man who had accompanied the coroner looking on +silently. It was found that the bullet had entered just above the +right eye and had passed through the brain in a slightly downward +direction, coming out near the base upon the same side. The most +careful search failed to disclose the bullet, and attention was +next directed to the revolver lying upon the floor near the right +hand. It was a Smith & Wesson, thirty-two calibre, with but one +empty chamber, that from which the fatal bullet had probably +been discharged. + +"Can any of you gentlemen tell me whether or not this belonged to +the deceased?" inquired the coroner, holding up the revolver. + +There was an instant's pause, and Mr. Whitney replied, "I know +that Mr. Mainwaring owned a revolver, but, having never seen it, +am unable to answer your inquiry. Perhaps his secretary could +give you the desired information." + +"I have often seen a revolver lying in Mr. Mainwaring's desk," +said the secretary; "but I doubt whether I could identify it, as +I never observed it closely. I should judge, however, that this +was the same size and make." + +"Would it not be well to see if it is still there?" suggested +the attorney. "I suppose you have a key to the desk." + +"I have, sir," he replied, at the same time producing it. Crossing +the room, he unlocked and opened the desk. An instant later, he +announced, as he closed the desk, "It is not here." + +There was a subdued murmur, and Mr. Thornton was heard to exclaim, +"Suicide! That has been my impression all along." + +Ralph Mainwaring glanced inquiringly at the attorney, who shook +his head emphatically, while the coroner once more inspected the +wound with an air of perplexity. + +"Doctor," inquired Ralph Mainwaring, "in your opinion, how long has +life been extinct?" + +"I should judge about eight or nine hours," replied Dr. Hobart. +"What would you say, Dr. Westlake?" + +"That would be my judgment, also." + +"You would say that death was instantaneous?" questioned the +attorney. + +"Without a doubt. It could not have been otherwise?" Ralph +Mainwaring consulted his watch. "It is now half after nine; in your +judgment, then, this must have occurred about one o'clock this +morning?" + +"About that time." + +"At what hour was Mr. Mainwaring last seen by any one in this +house?" asked the coroner. + +"As nearly as we have ascertained thus far, at about twelve o'clock." + +"Twelve? Indeed! By whom? and where?" + +"By his private secretary, and in the library adjoining." + +"Very well," said the coroner, after a pause, during which he had +made a memorandum of certain details which he considered of special +importance; "the undertaker can now be summoned as I believe he is +waiting below, and we seem to have ascertained all the facts possible +in this direction; and, Mr. Whitney, I will next see the valet, whom +you say was the one to discover the situation this morning." + +In the slight confusion and delay which ensued, Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden took their departure, with the usual expressions of +condolence and regret, followed a few moments later by Dr. Hobart, +who was accompanied downstairs by young Mainwaring. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Merrick, having made a close scrutiny of the lifeless +form, had been slowly walking back and forth in the tower-room and +library, his hands in the pockets of his short sacque coat and his +eyes apparently riveted on the floor. Several times in the library +he paused and, bending downward, seemed to be intently studying the +carpet; then, after two or three turns about the room, he sauntered +towards the windows and doors, examining the fastenings of each in +turn, and, on reaching the door opening into the southern hall, +suddenly disappeared. + +"A very mysterious case!" commented the coroner, when he had finished +his interview with the valet. "Thus far nothing can be learned which +throws much actual light on the subject one way or another, but if +anybody can unravel the mystery, Merrick can." + +"Merrick!" repeated Mr. Thornton, turning to Mr. Whitney in surprise. +"Is Mr. Merrick a detective?" + +"He is. I did not introduce him as such, for the reason that in a +case of this kind he usually prefers to make his first visit incognito +if possible." + +"Very well; you have taken the responsibility in this matter. You +understand, of course, Mr. Whitney, that we want no amateur work in +a case like this." + +"Mr. Merrick is no amateur," said the attorney, quietly; "he is one +of the most trusted and one of the surest men on the force." + +"Before we go any farther," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, "I suggest +that we ascertain whether or not there has been a robbery. We can +at least satisfy ourselves on that point." + +"Acting on your suggestion, we will examine the safe," said Mr. +Whitney; "though I, for one, am not inclined to think there has been +any robbery. Without a knowledge of the combination, the safe could +not be opened unless force were employed; and it certainly bears no +evidence of having been tampered with." + +"Proceed with your investigation, Mr. Whitney," said the quiet voice +of the detective, who had entered unobserved from the smoking-room; +"unless I am greatly mistaken, the person we are after is some one +pretty familiar with various 'combinations' in these apartments." + +There was a general expression of surprise, and all turned towards +Mr. Merrick for an explanation, but a glance at his impassive face +convinced them that questions would be useless. + +With a few swift turns the secretary unlocked the safe and the +ponderous doors swung open, showing books and papers in their +accustomed places. Everything appeared in perfect order; but as the +attorney began a rapid examination of the interior, he suddenly +uttered a sharp exclamation, while, as he continued his search, his +manner betrayed considerable excitement. + +"Anything wrong, Mr. Whitney? anything missing?" queried Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"Everything is missing!" the other exclaimed, after a moment's pause, +turning around with a pale face and holding in his hand an empty +cash box; "there is absolutely nothing left but an old cheque-book, +a few drafts, and some other papers of no value whatever except to +Hugh Mainwaring himself!" + +Half a score of questions were instantly raised: "Was there a large +amount of money in the safe?" "Did it contain anything of great +value?" + +Scott, standing silently in the background, seemed to see +again the brilliant gems flashing in the sunlight, as he had +seen them in his search on the preceding day, but he said +nothing. + +"There was a considerable amount of cash," the attorney was saying. +"Mr. Mainwaring deposited a large sum there when he last came out +from the city, and," he added more slowly, "the old family jewels +were kept in the safe." + +"The Mainwaring jewels!" echoed both the Englishmen. "Impossible! +incredible!" While Ralph Mainwaring exclaimed, "Why, they were +worth a fortune several times over in themselves!" + +"I am aware of that," answered the attorney. "I often remonstrated +with Mr. Mainwaring, but to no purpose; for some reason which he +never explained he always kept them there." + +"I would never have believed him capable of such recklessness," said +Mr. Thornton. + +"Recklessness!" exclaimed Ralph Mainwaring; "it was the biggest +piece of imbecility I ever heard of! What is your opinion now, Mr. +Whitney, regarding a robbery in connection with this case?" + +"That there has been a robbery I am forced to admit," the attorney +replied, courteously but firmly; "but my opinion of the matter is +still unchanged. I regard the robbery as only incident to the +murder. I do not yet believe it to have led to the deeper crime." + +"Do you know, Mr. Scott, whether any one beside yourself understood +the combination of the safe?" Ralph Mainwaring inquired. + +"I do not, sir," the secretary replied, conscious that all eyes had +turned upon him at the inquiry and that the detective was observing +him closely. + +Meanwhile Ralph Mainwaring loudly lamented the missing jewels, until +it was evident to all that their loss, for the time at least, had +completely overshadowed all thought of the tragedy they were +investigating. + +"They must be recovered at all hazards and at any price," he said, +addressing the detective. "There were single gems in that +collection which cost a fortune and which have been heirlooms in +the family for generations." + +After further search which failed to disclose anything of importance, +or any clue regarding either the murder or the robbery, arrangements +were made for the inquest to be held at three o'clock that afternoon, +and the party was about to leave the apartments, when Mr. Whitney +paused. + +"One moment, gentlemen; there is one more point I would like +investigated. I maintain that we have not yet discovered the most +essential clue to this case--something to throw light on the +possible motive which prompted the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. I +now wish to make a final trial. Mr. Scott, will you once more open +Mr. Mainwaring's desk for us and take out the will that was deposited +there yesterday?" + +Ralph Mainwaring started. "The will? You surely do not think--" + +"I think it might be safer in our own possession," said the attorney, +with a peculiar smile. + +"And right you are!" added Mr. Thornton, approvingly. "I wonder you +had not thought of that yourself, Mainwaring." + +Meanwhile, Scott, having opened the desk in compliance with the +attorney's request, had looked for the will where he had last seen it +on the preceding day, and, failing to find it, was searching through +the numerous receptacles containing Mr. Mainwaring's private papers. +The silence around him became oppressive, and suddenly looking up, +he encountered the glance of both Mr. Whitney and the detective, the +former with an expression of triumph in his keen eyes. Perplexed and +bewildered, Scott exclaimed in a mechanical tone,-- + +"The will is gone; it is nowhere to be found!" + +"I thought as much," said the attorney, quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE INQUEST + + +The crowd, which early in the day had gathered about Fair Oaks, +instead of diminishing, seemed rather to increase as the hours +slipped away. Little by little the facts became known to +outsiders,--the loss of the old family jewels, concerning whose existence +and probable value vague rumors had been circulated in the past, the +drawing up of the will on the preceding day and its strange +disappearance in connection with the sudden and mysterious death of +the testator,--all combined to arouse public interest and curiosity +to an unusual degree; it seemed the culmination of the impenetrable +mystery which for years had shrouded the place. + +As the hour for the inquest approached, the crowd was augmented by +each suburban train, until a throng of business men of all classes, +interspersed with numerous reporters eager for the details of the +affair, covered the grounds and even sought admittance to the house, +for the millionaire broker, though a man of few intimate friendships, +was widely known and honored in the financial and commercial world. + +Shortly after the arrival of the 2.45 train from the city, the +Mainwaring carriage came rapidly up the avenue, two or three other +carriages following in the rear. As it stopped, Mr. Whitney +alighted, followed by an elderly gentleman of fine appearance and +two officers of the special police, who immediately began to force +back the crowd, while the attorney and his companion hastily entered +the house and were met by the butler, who, in response to a hurried +inquiry, directed them up-stairs. + +In the private library they found the detective who had been left +there alone at his own request. There was a brief interview between +the three, after which Mr. Whitney begged his companion to excuse +him for a moment, and beckoning Mr. Merrick into the tower-room, +asked eagerly,-- + +"Well, what success? Have you struck the trail?" + +With an enigmatical smile, the detective replied, "The game has +doubled back on the trail pretty adroitly, but I have made one or +two little discoveries that may be of value later. What do you +think of this?" + +Opening a small note-book, he took therefrom several pieces of burnt +paper, most of which were so blackened that the faint traces of +writing which they bore were illegible. On a few pieces, however, +words and parts of words could be distinctly read. + +Mr. Whitney studied the bits of discolored paper for a moment, and +then exclaimed in excited tones, + +"Good heavens, man! it is the will! The will drawn up in these +rooms yesterday! See, here is the date, 'this seventh day of July, +in the year of our'--the rest is gone." + +"Here is part of a name," said the detective, "'nor Houghton +LaGra'--" + +"Eleanor Houghton LaGrange!" exclaimed the attorney, "and below +you can just trace the words, 'this amount of annuity to be'; and +here are other bits, 'as to my estate and all property,' 'to hold +the same forever, together with.' Well, I should say these were +of value; where did you find them?" + +For answer, Mr. Merrick pointed to a small fireplace behind the +safe, near which a large screen was standing. + +"Strange!" exclaimed the attorney. "I never noticed that before, +much as I have been here." + +"It escaped my observation for some time," replied the other. "I +searched the fireplace in the library, but this grate is very small +and was concealed by that large screen, as well as by the safe. +Evidently, it was seldom used, and was selected for that reason by +whoever destroyed the will, as more likely to escape notice." + +"Rather a bungling piece of work," commented the attorney, "leaving +these partially burned scraps. I wonder that he or she, whoever it +was, did not make sure that they were entirely consumed." + +"The person may have heard some sound and, fearing detection, +hastened away before the job was completed," suggested the other. + +"Well, it is past three, we must hasten; you found nothing more?" + +"Nothing of special importance. I have learned one fact, however; +the murder was never committed in this room, but in the library." + +"The library! Why do you think that?" + +"I do not think it, I know it, and was confident of it while we +were making the examination this morning. Say nothing about it, +however, for the present. We will go now, if you are ready." + +Joining the gentleman still awaiting them in the library, they +descended into the lower hall, where the detective suddenly +disappeared. + +Meanwhile, the coroner and members of the jury, after alighting +from their carriages, marched gravely up the broad stairs and were +conducted by a servant into one of the private apartments where lay +the body of the murdered man. Under the direction of Dr. Westlake, +the jury individually viewed the wounds, noting their location and +character, and, after a brief visit to the room in the tower, all +passed downstairs and were shown into the large library on the first +floor. + +The coroner occupied a large arm-chair at one end of a long +writing-table in the centre of the room, the jury being seated +together near his left, while on each side of the table chairs had +been placed for the accommodation of a few of the more prominent +reporters, the others, less favored, stationing themselves at the +doorways and open windows. + +In the room back of the library were the servants, the women grouped +about the great arched doorway with white, frightened faces, the men +standing a little farther in the rear, while in a dim corner, +partially concealed by the heavy portieres and unseen by any one +excepting the servants, was the detective. + +When everything was in readiness, Mr. Whitney entered the room with +the gentleman who had accompanied him out from the city and followed +by the London guests. In the lead were Ralph Mainwaring and his +son, the entrance of the latter causing a small stir of interest and +excitement, as a score of pencils at once began to rapidly sketch +the features of the young Englishman, the intended heir of Hugh +Mainwaring. The young man's face wore an expression of unconcern, +but his father's features were set and severe. To him, the loss of +the will meant something more than the forfeiture of the exclusive +ownership of a valuable estate; it meant the overthrow and demolition +of one of his pet schemes, cherished for twenty-one years, just on +the eve of its fulfilment; and those who knew Ralph Mainwaring knew +that to thwart his plans was a dangerous undertaking. + +Mr. Thornton followed, escorting Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, +the cold, gray eyes of Isabel Mainwaring flashing a look of haughty +disdain on the faces about her. Bringing up the rear was Mrs. Hogarth +with her two charges, Edith Thornton and Winifred Carleton, the face +of the latter lighted with an intelligent, sympathetic interest in +her surroundings. + +Harry Scott next entered, pausing in the doorway for an instant, +while just behind him appeared Mrs. LaGrange. The room was already +crowded, and Miss Carleton, seated near the door, with a quick +glance invited the young secretary to a vacant chair by her side, +which he gracefully accepted, but not before a tiny note had been +thrust into his hand, unseen by any one excepting the detective. + +Pale, but with all her accustomed hauteur, Mrs. LaGrange, +accompanied by her son, passed slowly around the group of reporters, +ignoring the chair offered by the attorney, and seated herself in a +position as remote as possible from the guests of the house and +commanding a full view of the servants. Her gown was noticeable +for its elegance, and her jewelled hands toyed daintily with a +superb fan, from whose waving black plumes a perfume, subtle and +exquisite, was wafted to every part of the room. + +In the silence that followed, the coroner, with a few brief words, +called for the first witness, George Hardy. A young man, with a +frank face and quiet, unassuming manner, stepped forward from the +group of servants. After the usual preliminaries, the coroner +inquired,-- + +"How long have you been in the employ of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Nearly four years, sir." + +"During that time you have held the position of valet?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"At what time this morning did you discover what had occurred?" + +"About seven o'clock, sir." + +"You may state how you came to make this discovery, giving full +particulars." + +"I had gone as usual to the bath-room to prepare the bath for Mr. +Mainwaring, and when everything was in readiness I knocked at his +door to waken him. There was no answer, and, after knocking several +times, I unlocked the door and looked in. I saw he had not occupied +the room, but I didn't think much about that, and went on through +the smoking-room into the library, and then I saw Mr. Mainwaring +lying on the floor in the next room. At first I thought he was sick +and went to him, but as I got nearer I saw that he was dead, and +then I noticed the revolver lying beside him." + +"What did you then do?" + +"I was frightened, sir, and I went to call help as quick as I could." + +"Who was the first person whom you met and told of your discovery?" + +"Well, sir, I went first for Mr. Whitney, because he was a friend +of Mr. Mainwaring's and a lawyer, and I thought he would know what +to do; but on my way to his room I met Wilson, Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's +valet, and I told him what had happened; then I called Mr. Whitney +and told him Mr. Mainwaring had shot himself." + +"Did you get the impression that Mr. Mainwaring bad shot himself +from the fact that the revolver lay near his band, or had you any +other reasons for that inference?" + +"No, sir, that was the only reason." + +"Can you state positively whether this revolver belonged to Mr. +Mainwaring?" asked the coroner, at the same time passing the weapon +to Hardy. + +"Yes, sir," replied the latter, promptly, handing it back after a +moment's inspection, "that is Mr. Mainwaring's revolver. I've +cleaned it many a time, and there's little marks on it that I know +sure." + +"Very well. After summoning Mr. Whitney, did you call any other +members of the household?" + +"Mr. Whitney sent me to call Mr. Ralph Mainwaring; but I met Wilson +again, and he said he had just told Mr. Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, +and was on his way to the room of young Mr. Mainwaring. Down the +hall I met the butler and told him what had happened, and we both +went into the library, and I stayed there till Mr. Whitney came." + +"When did you last see Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Shortly after dinner last evening, between seven and eight o'clock, +I should say, sir." + +"Where was that?" + +"In the main hall down-stairs, sir. He stopped me to say that he +would not need me last evening, and that after locking up his rooms +for the night I could have my time to myself." + +"Was the locking of his rooms usually included among your duties at +night?" + +"Yes, sir; his private rooms and the hall on the south side." + +"Did you have any stated time for doing this?" + +"At nine o'clock, sir." + +"You locked the rooms as usual last night?" + +"Yes, sir; that is, I locked them all right, but it was later than +usual." + +"How was that?" + +"About half an hour after Mr. Mainwaring spoke to me, the housekeeper +came and asked me to keep the rooms open till about ten o'clock, as +she was expecting callers and wanted to receive them by the south +hall into her private parlor." + +"At what time did you lock the rooms?" + +"A few minutes after ten, sir. I felt kind of uneasy, because it +was Mr. Mainwaring's orders that the rooms be shut at nine; so soon +as 'twas ten o'clock I went around outside, and, seeing no light in +her parlor, I went in and locked the hall and then went up-stairs +to lock the rooms there." + +"Did you see any strangers about the place at that time?" + +"No, sir." + +"You saw no one in any of Mr. Mainwaring's private rooms?" + +"No strangers, you mean? No, sir." + +"Was there any one in his rooms?" + +"The housekeeper was in the library. She had gone up-stairs that +way, she said, and had found the door into the main hall locked, +and hearing me come, she waited for me to open it." + +"Had you locked the door into the main hall?" + +"No, sir; that door wasn't usually locked in the evening. I don't +know who locked it, but I opened it for her and then locked it +again." + +"Are you positive there was no one else in those rooms at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, pretty sure," replied Hardy, with a smile, "for I looked +them over uncommon thorough last night. I thought at first that I +smelled smoke, like something burning, but I looked around careful +and everything was all right." + +At this point Mr. Whitney held a whispered consultation with the +coroner for a moment. + +"You say," continued the latter, "you thought you smelled something +burning; could you state what the material seemed to be?" + +"Well, sir, I thought it was like paper burning; but I must have +been mistaken, for the papers on the table was all right and there +was nothing in the fireplace." + +"Did you see or hear anything unusual about the place at any time +last night?" + +"No, sir." + +For a moment the coroner was occupied with a slip of paper which +had been passed to him through a number of hands; then he said,-- + +"Before you are dismissed, will you describe the locks used on the +doors of Mr. Mainwaring's library and the south hall." + +"They had the ordinary locks, sir; and then, in addition, a small, +patent lock, that when a certain spring was turned the door locked +of itself and could not be opened from either side unless one had +the key and understood the working of the spring." + +"Who had keys to fit these locks?" + +"No one but Mr. Mainwaring. When he was home and wanted the doors +unlocked, he hung the keys in a particular place in the library +where I could find them, and when he went away he always took them +with him." + +"Did you unlock the library doors this morning?" + +"Only the door into the main hall when I went to call Mr. Whitney,--that +had nothing but an ordinary lock; but the other door, into +the south hall, was unlocked and the keys gone when I first went +into the library." + +"One question more. Do you know whether any one else in the house +had knowledge of or access to, these particular keys?" + +"I don't know for certain, sir, but I think not." + +The attorney was next called upon, and came forward, while Hardy +resumed his former place among the servants. + +"Mr. Whitney," said the coroner, after the witness had given the +details of his arrival in the tower-room in response to the valet's +summons, "will you please state when, and under what circumstances, +you last saw Hugh Mainwaring living." + +"At nearly eleven o'clock last night. Mr. Mainwaring had just +bidden his guests good-night, and I believe they had all retired to +their rooms, leaving him and myself together upon the veranda in +front of the house. I remained with him about ten minutes, I should +judge, talking over the events of the day which had been of unusual +interest. I remember his remarking that he should not retire for an +hour or so, as, to use his own expression, his thoughts would not +let him sleep. We clasped hands with an exchange of good wishes. +That was the last I ever saw him living or heard him speak." + +Mr. Whitney's voice trembled slightly towards the close of his +recital, but as he repeated Hugh Mainwaring's words a smile of scorn +passed over the face of Mrs. LaGrange, who was seated directly +opposite. + +"Will you please state," said the coroner, "how Mr. Mainwaring had +been engaged during the day, yesterday." + +"Until about half-past two his time was spent in the preparation, +with the assistance of his secretary and myself, and the execution +of his last will and testament. The remainder of the day was devoted +to the entertainment of his guests." + +"Will you give briefly and in general terms the conditions of the +will." + +"With the exception of an annuity to his housekeeper and a handsome +bequest to her son, it conveyed everything to his cousin and +namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., whom he intended to-day to formally +declare his heir." + +"Where was this document placed, Mr. Whitney?" + +"It was, at Mr. Mainwaring's request, placed by his secretary on his +desk in the tower-room." + +"You can give no further information regarding this will, now +missing?" + +"Only this," replied Mr. Whitney, with marked emphasis, "that we +now have positive proof that the will was burned." + +There was a general movement of surprise, both among the members +of the household and outsiders; and the attorney, closely observant +of Mrs. LaGrange, saw her cheek, which but a moment before, at his +mention of the annuity contained in the will, had flamed with anger, +suddenly assume a strange pallor. + +"Mr. Whitney," continued the coroner, having consulted a small +memorandum which he held, "do you know whether there were any +strangers at Fair Oaks yesterday?" + +"I have no personal knowledge on that subject. The secretary informs +me that a stranger inquired for Mr. Mainwaring in the afternoon, and +remarks were made at luncheon, that impressed me considerably, +regarding some one who had called in the forenoon, whether to see Mr. +Mainwaring I am not prepared to state." + +"Will you state the nature of those remarks?" + +"I should prefer to be excused until later in this examination. For +the present, I will merely say that one of Mr. Mainwaring's guests +incidentally met and recognized this caller; that the latter was +evidently well and unfavorably known by both Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests, and, if I am not mistaken, by the secretary also, and that +the mention of the man's name seemed to affect Mr. Hugh Mainwaring +very unpleasantly." + +"In what respect, Mr. Whitney?" + +"He grew very pale and appeared confused, if not alarmed, on +learning that the man was in this country and had been seen at this +house, and he seemed abstracted and very unlike himself for fully +an hour after the occurrence." + +"Will you state the name of this man?" + +"He was spoken of as Richard Hobson, formerly an attorney, of London." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A LITTLE ROYAL + + +"Harry Scorr, private secretary of Hugh Mainwaring," announced the +coroner, when Mr. Whitney had resumed his chair. + +As the young secretary walked deliberately through the crowded room, +there were few who failed to remark his erect, athletic form, his +splendid bearing, and especially the striking beauty of his dark +face, with its olive tint, clear-cut features, indicative of firmness +and strength, and large, piercing eyes, within whose depths, on the +present occasion, there seemed to be, half hidden, half revealed, +some smouldering fire. Instantly a half-dozen pencils were +transferring to paper his form and features. + +"Say, what are you 'doing' him for?" whispered one reporter to his +neighbor. "He isn't anybody; only the old man's secretary." + +"Can't help that," replied the other; "he's better looking than the +English chap, anyhow; and, in my opinion, the old fellow would have +shown better sense to have left him the 'stuff.'" + +Meanwhile, young Scott, having answered a few preliminary +interrogatories, turned slowly, facing Mrs. LaGrange, who was +watching him with an intensity of manner and expression as though she +would compel him to meet her gaze. + +As his glance met hers, a look of inquiry flashed from her eyes to +his, accompanied by an expression persuasive, almost appealing. But +the only reply was an ominous flash from the dark eyes, as, with a +gesture of proud disdain, he folded his arms and again faced his +interlocutor, while, with eyes gleaming with revenge from under +their heavily drooping lids and lips that curled from time to time +in a smile of bitter malignity, she watched him, listening eagerly +for his testimony, losing no word that he said. + +The young secretary well understood the character of the enemy with +whom he had thus declared war, though he was as yet in ignorance of +the weapons she would use against him, but the honeyed words of the +little note crushed within his pocket had no power to swerve him for +an instant from the course upon which he had determined. + +After a few general questions, the coroner said, + +"Please state when and what was the first intimation received by you +of any unusual occurrence." + +"I was awakened this morning by a woman's scream and heard sounds of +confused running in different directions. A few moments later Mr. +Whitney came to my room and informed me of what had occurred, and I +then went with him to the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring." + +"You were associated with Mr. Mainwaring yesterday during the greater +part of the day and evening, were you not?" + +"I was during the day, but I did not see him after dinner until late +at night." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his appearance at any time +yesterday?" + +"He appeared rather depressed for about an hour after luncheon, +during the execution of the will." + +"Did you know any cause for such depression?" + +"I attributed it, in my own mind, to the conversation at luncheon, +to which Mr. Whitney has referred." + +"Regarding one Richard Hobson?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Do you know what, if any, relations existed between Mr. Mainwaring +and this Hobson?" + +The black plumes of Mrs. LaGrange's fan suddenly quivered, her cheek +paled, and her breath came and went quickly, but these were the only +signs of agitation which she betrayed, as Scott replied,-- + +"I have no knowledge as to what relations existed between them of +late. I only know that Mr. Mainwaring had, years ago, some important +private business with this man." + +"Will you state the nature of this business?" + +"Without giving exact details," Scott replied, speaking deliberately +but with no hesitation, though conscious of the surprise and +indignation depicted on some of the faces about him, "this man was +employed as an attorney by Mr. Mainwaring before the latter came to +this country, and has since, at various times, extorted money from +him by threats of exposure regarding certain transactions." + +The silence that followed this statement was of itself eloquent. +The young secretary felt every eye fastened upon himself, and, +though his own eyes were fixed on the coroner's face, he saw +reflected even there the general expression of mingled astonishment, +incredulity, and resentment. Unmoved, however, he awaited, coolly +and impassively, the next words of the coroner. + +"Mr. Scott," said Dr. Westlake, a touch of severity in his tone, +"this is a serious assertion to make regarding a man so widely known +as Mr. Mainwaring, and so universally considered above reproach in +his business transactions." + +"I am aware of that fact, sir," replied Scott, calmly, "but reference +to the private letter-files of Mr. Mainwaring will prove the truth +of my assertion. I made this statement simply because the time and +place demanded it. You were endeavoring to ascertain the cause of +Mr. Mainwaring's perturbation on learning yesterday of the arrival +of Hobson. I have given what I consider the clue." + +"How recently had this man Hobson extorted money from Mr. Mainwaring, +and in what amount?" + +"The last money sent him was about three years ago, a sum of five +thousand dollars. Hobson wrote a most insolent letter of +acknowledgment, stating that, as this money would set him on his +feet for a time, he would not write again immediately, but assuring +Mr. Mainwaring that he would never be able to elude him, as the +writer would keep posted regarding his whereabouts, and might, some +time in the future, call upon him in person." + +"Can you describe this man's appearance?" + +"I cannot, having never met him." + +"Will you describe the stranger who is reported to have called in +the afternoon." + +"He was tall, quite pale, with dark hair and moustache. He was +dressed in a tweed suit, somewhat travel-worn, and wore dark +glasses." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"Only that he wished to see Mr. Mainwaring on business of special +importance. He at first seemed rather insistent, but, on learning +that Mr. Mainwaring was out and that he would receive no business +calls for a day or two, he readily consented to defer his interview +until later." + +"Did he leave his name or address?" + +"His card bore the name of J. Henry Carruthers, of London. He gave +his present address as the Arlington House." + +"You noticed nothing unusual in his appearance?" + +"The only thing that struck me as rather peculiar was that Mr. +Carruthers seemed well informed regarding events expected to take +place here, while his name was wholly unfamiliar to Mr. Mainwaring." + +At this point a pencilled note was handed by the coroner to Mr. +Whitney, who immediately summoned George Hardy and hastily +despatched him on some errand. + +"Mr. Scott," resumed the coroner, "were you in Mr. Mainwaring's +private library at any time during last evening?" + +"I was not. I spent the entire evening in my own room." + +"When did you again see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Not until after eleven o'clock. I had come down for a smoke in +the grounds outside and met Mr. Mainwaring in the lower hall on +the way to his rooms. He asked me to come to his library before +retiring, as he wished to give some final directions for the next +day. About half an hour later I went to the library door, but +hearing loud and angry talk within, I waited in the hall some +fifteen or twenty minutes until I knew Mr. Mainwaring was alone. +I then entered, received his instructions, and went directly to +my room for the night." + +"Were you able to recognize the voices or hear any of the +conversation?" + +"I was. I recognized the voice of the housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange; +but feeling that I was hearing what was not intended for me, I +walked back into the main hall and remained there until Mrs. +LaGrange came out." + +"You saw her leave the library?" + +"Yes, sir; I passed her in the corridor." + +"She saw you, of course?" + +"She seemed scarcely conscious of my presence until we had passed; +she then turned and watched me as I entered the library." + +"What was the nature of the conversation which you heard?" + +"I only heard what Mrs. LaGrange said. She evidently was very +angry with Mr. Mainwaring." + + +"Can you repeat her words as you heard them?" + +"Not entirely. She accused Mr. Mainwaring of dishonesty, saying +that he had defrauded his only brother, and had ignored and robbed +his own son to put a stranger in his place. The last words I heard +were, 'You are in my power, and you know it only too well; and I +will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family rue this day's +work.'" + +Harry Scott, with the proof of his employer's crimes in his +possession, repeated these words with an indifference and +impassiveness that seemed unnatural, while the smouldering fire in +his eyes gleamed fitfully, as though he knew some secret of which +the others little dreamed. + +But, if spoken indifferently, the words were not received with +indifference. The reporters bent to their task with renewed ardor, +since it promised developments so rich and racy. Ralph Mainwaring's +face was dark with suppressed wrath; Mr. Thornton seemed hardly +able to restrain himself; while the attorney grew pale with +excitement and anger. Mrs. LaGrange alone remained unmoved, as much +so as the witness himself, her eyes half closed and a cynical smile +playing about her lips as she listened to the repetition of her own +words. + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring make no reply?" inquired the coroner. + +"He did, but it was inaudible to me." + +"You went into the library as soon as he was alone?" + +"I did." + +"At what hour was this?" + +"A few minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the last time you saw Mr. Mainwaring living?" + +"It was." + +"Can you state whether any one was in his rooms after you left?" + +"I cannot." + +"Mr. Scott, by your own statement, you must have been in Mr. +Mainwaring's library within an hour preceding his death; +consequently, I would like you to give every detail of that +interview." + +"I am perfectly willing, sir, but there are few to give. The +interview occupied possibly ten minutes. Mr. Mainwaring appeared +very weary, and, after giving directions regarding any personal +mail or telegrams which might be received, stated that he wished +me to consider myself his guest on the following day and join in +the festivities of the occasion. I thanked him, and, wishing him +good-night, withdrew." + +"In which room were you?" + +"We were both in the library. When I first entered, Mr. Mainwaring +was walking back and forth, his hands folded behind him, as was +usually his habit when thinking deeply, but he immediately seated +himself and gave me my instructions. The tower-room was dimly +lighted and the curtains were drawn quite closely together at the +entrance." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound after reaching your room?" + +"Not at that time. I was aroused about three o'clock this morning +by what I thought was a stealthy step in the grounds in the rear of +the house, but I listened for a moment and heard nothing more." + +"That will do for the present, Mr. Scott. You will probably be +recalled later," said the coroner, watching the secretary rather +curiously. Then he added, in a different tone,-- + +"The next witness is Mrs. LaGrange." + +There was a perceptible stir throughout the crowd as, with a +movement of inimitable grace, Mrs. LaGrange stepped forward, darting +a swift glance of such venomous hatred towards Scott, as he again +seated himself beside Miss Carleton, that the latter, with a woman's +quick intuition, instantly grasped the situation and watched the +proceedings with new interest and closer attention. As Mrs. LaGrange +took her place and began answering the questions addressed to her, +the eager listeners pressed still more closely in their efforts to +catch every word, feeling instinctively that some startling +developments would be forthcoming; but no one was prepared for the +shock that followed when, in response to the request to state her +full name, the reply came, in clear tones, with unequivocal +distinctness,-- + +"Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring." + +For an instant an almost painful silence ensued, until Dr. Westlake +said,-- + +"Will you state your relation to the deceased?" + +"I was the lawfully wedded, but unacknowledged, wife of Hugh +Mainwaring," was the calm reply. + +"Please state when and where your marriage took place," said the +coroner, watching the witness narrowly. + +"We were married privately in London, about three months before Mr. +Mainwaring came to this country." + +"How long ago was that?" + +"A little more than twenty-three years." + +"You say that you were privately married, and that in all these +years Mr. Mainwaring never acknowledged you as his wife?" + +"Yes. I was at that time a widow, and, owing to certain unpleasant +circumstances attending the last months of my former husband's life, +Mr. Mainwaring insisted that our marriage be strictly private. I +acceded to his wishes, and we were married as quietly as possible. +At the end of three months he deserted me, and for four years I did +not even know where he had gone. During that time, however, I +learned that my husband, who had been fearful of soiling his proud +name by having it publicly joined with mine, was, in the sight of +the law, a common criminal. I finally traced him to America, and +five years after he deserted me I had the pleasure of confronting +him with the facts which I had obtained. With passionate +protestations of renewed love and fair promises of an honorable +married life, he sought to purchase my silence, and, fool that I +was! I yielded. He claimed that he could not at once acknowledge +me as his wife, because he was already known as an unmarried man, +but in the near future we would repeat the marriage ceremony and I +should be the honored mistress of his heart and home. I believed +him and waited. Meantime, our child was born, and then a new role +had to be adopted. Had he not known that he was in my power, I +would then have been thrust out homeless with my babe, but he dared +not do that. Instead, I was brought to Fair Oaks dressed in widow's +garb, as a distant relative of his who was to be his housekeeper. +So, for my son's sake, hoping he would some day receive his rights, +I have lived a double life, regarded as a servant where I should +have been mistress, and holding that poor position only because it +was within my power to put the master of the house in a felon's +cell!" + +"Can you produce the certificate of this marriage?" inquired the +coroner, regarding the witness with a searching glance as she +paused in her recital. + +"Unfortunately," she replied, in a tone ringing with scorn and +defiance, "I cannot produce our marriage certificate, as my husband +kept that in his possession, and frequently threatened to destroy +it. If it is in existence, it will be found in his safe; but I can +produce a witness who was present at our marriage, and who himself +signed the certificate." + +"State the name of this witness." + +"Richard Hobson, of London." + +"You are then acquainted with this Hobson?" the coroner inquired, +at the same time making an entry in the memorandum he held. + +"Naturally, as he was at one time my husband's attorney." + +"He called at Fair Oaks yesterday, did he not?" + +"He did." + +"Do you know whether he called more than once?" + +"He came a second time, in the evening, accompanied by his clerk." + +"Was his object at either time to secure an interview with Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"He called to see me on private business." + +"Had he any intention of meeting Mr. Mainwaring later?" + +"I know nothing regarding his intentions." + +"Mrs. LaGrange," said the coroner, after a pause, "you were in Mr. +Mainwaring's library between the hours of eleven and twelve last +night, were you not?" + +Her face darkened with anger at his form of address. "I was in +my husband's library at that hour," she replied. + +"How long were you there?" + +"I cannot state exactly," she answered, indifferently; "perhaps +half an hour." + +"Did Mr. Scott repeat correctly your words to Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have no doubt that he did. His memory on the subject is much +better than mine." + +"What was the meaning of your threat to Mr. Mainwaring, that you +would make him and his friends regret the day's proceedings?" + +"He understood my meaning. He knew that I could set aside the +will, and could ruin him by exposing his duplicity and fraud." + +"What reply did he make?" + +"He answered me, as usual, with sneers; but I saw that he felt +somewhat apprehensive. I wished to give him a little time to +reflect upon a proposition I had made, and I left the library, +intending to return later; but," she added, slowly and significantly, +"I was superseded by another visitor." + +"Explain your meaning," said the coroner, briefly. + +"My husband's private secretary entered the library directly after +I left. Some thirty minutes later I passed down the corridor +towards the library, and was startled to hear Mr. Mainwaring, in +loud and excited tones, denouncing some one as a liar and an +impostor. The reply was low, in a voice trembling with rage, but +I caught the words, 'You are a liar and a thief! If you had your +deserts, you would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported +to the wilds of Australia!' There was much more in the same tone, +but so low I could not distinguish the words, and, thinking Mr. +Mainwaring was likely to be occupied for some time, I immediately +retired to my room." + +"Was the voice of the second speaker familiar to you?" inquired +Dr. Westlake, in the breathless silence that followed this statement. + +A half smile, both cunning and cruel, played around the lips of the +witness, as she answered, with peculiar emphasis and with a ring +of triumph in her tone,-- + +"The voice was somewhat disguised, but it was distinctly recognizable +as that of Mr. Scott, the private secretary." + +To Scott himself, these words came with stunning force, not so much +for the accusation which they conveyed, as that her recital of those +words spoken within the library seemed but the repetition of words +which had rung in his brain the preceding night, as, alone in his +room, he had, in imagination, confronted his employer with the proof +of his guilt which that afternoon's search had brought to light. +His fancy had vividly portrayed the scene in which he would arraign +Hugh Mainwaring as a thief, and would himself, in turn, be denounced +as an impostor until he should have established his claims by the +indubitable evidence now in his possession. Such a scene bad in +reality been enacted,--those very words had been spoken,--and, +for an instant, it seemed to Scott as though he had been, +unconsciously, one of the actors. + +The general wonder and consternation with which he was now regarded +by the crowd quickly recalled him, however, to the present +situation, and awakened within him a sudden, fierce resentment, +though he remained outwardly calm. + +"At that time," continued the coroner, "were you of the opinion +that it was Mr. Scott whom you heard thus addressing Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, I had every reason to believe it was he, and I have now +additional reasons for the same belief." + +"Are these additional reasons founded on your own personal +knowledge, or on the information of others?" + +"Upon information received from various members of the household." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?" + +"I did not." + +"Can you state about what time you heard this conversation?" + +"I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only +ten minutes of one." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?" + +"I did not. I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring's +apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no +sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other +occupants of the house." + +Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and +the witness was temporarily dismissed. Glancing at his watch, the +coroner remarked, + +"It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we +will first hear what he has to report." + +As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, "Were you able +to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?" + +"Not very much, sir," was the reply. "I went to the Arlington first +and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there +was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering +that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the +hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the +office reading the evening papers. He went out some time between +seven and eight o'clock, and they had seen nothing more of him." + +"Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?" + +"No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson +registered there. They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered +a carriage for Fair Oaks. He came back to lunch, but kept his room +all the afternoon. He had a man with him in his room most of the +afternoon, but he took no meals there. After dinner Hobson went +out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to +breakfast, and took the first train to the city. I made some +inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man, +in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train +this morning to the city, but he didn't notice him particularly. +That was all I could learn." + +As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten +o'clock the next morning. Every one connected with the household +at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and, +dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves +within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that +would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least +possible delay, to secure possession of the property. + +Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his room for a +brief stroll through the grounds. A bitter smile crossed his face +as he noticed the brightly illumined library and heard the eager, +excited tones within, remembering the dimly-lighted room above with +its silent occupant, unloved, unmourned, unthought of, in marked +contrast to the preceding night, when Hugh Mainwaring lavished upon +his guests such royal entertainment and was the recipient of their +congratulations and their professions of esteem and regard. + +As he paced slowly up and down the avenues, his thoughts were not +of the present, but of the past and future. At the earliest +opportunity that day he had returned to the city, ostensibly, to +attend to some telegraphic despatches, but his main errand had been +to consult with an eminent lawyer whom he knew by reputation, and +in whom both Hugh Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney, in numerous legal +contests, had found a powerful and bitter opponent. To him Scott +had intrusted his own case, giving him the fullest details, and +leaving in his possession for safe keeping the proofs which were +soon to play so important a part; and Mr. Sutherland, the attorney +retained by Scott, had been present at the inquest, apparently +as a disinterested spectator, but, in reality, one of the most +intensely interested of them all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WEAVING OF THE WEB + + +Ten o'clock found an eager crowd assembled in and about the large +library at Fair Oaks, drawn by reports of the sensational features +developed on the preceding day. The members of the household +occupied nearly the same positions as on the preceding afternoon, +with the exception of the secretary, who had entered the room a +little in advance of the others and had seated himself near the +coroner. + +Notwithstanding the glances of doubt and distrust which Scott +encountered, and his own consciousness that suspicion against +himself would deepen as all the facts in the case became known, +he was as impassive as ever. Even Mr. Whitney was wholly at a +loss to account for the change in the bearing of the secretary. +He was no longer the employee, but carried himself with a proud +independence, as though conscious of some mysterious vantage-ground. + +On the other side of the coroner, but conveniently near Scott, was +Mr. Sutherland, while in the rear, commanding a good view of both +gentlemen, as well as of nearly every face in the room, sat Mr. +Merrick, though to a stranger his manner would have implied the +utmost indifference to the proceedings. + +The first witness called for by the coroner was Johnson, the butler. +For the first five or ten minutes his testimony was little more +than a corroboration of that given by the valet on the preceding +day, of the discovery of the death of Hugh Mainwaring. + +"You say," said the coroner, "that at Mr. Whitney's request you +remained in the upper hall, near the library and within call?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Will you state how long a time you should think elapsed between +the alarm given by Hardy and the appearance of the entire household, +including both the guests and the servants?" + +"Well, sir, Hardy gave the alarm a little after seven. The servants +were already up and crowded around there immediately, and I should +say that every one, including the ladies, was out within twenty +minutes, or thirty at the latest, with the exception of Mrs. LaGrange +and her son." + +"At what time did the latter appear?" + +"It must have been considerably after eight o'clock, sir, when she +came to the library in response to a message from Mr. Whitney." + +"And her son?" + +"I did not see Mr. Walter LaGrange at all during the forenoon, sir." + +"How was that?" inquired Dr. Westlake, rather quickly. "Was he not +at Fair Oaks?" + +"I cannot say, sir. I did not see him until luncheon." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"A little after eleven o'clock night before last,--Wednesday night, +sir. I was in the hall as he passed upstairs to his rooms, and I +heard him ask Mr. Scott to come to his library." + +"Did there seem to be any coldness or unpleasantness between them?" + +"No, sir; they both appeared the same as usual." + +"Did any strangers call at Fair Oaks Wednesday aside from those +mentioned yesterday?" + +"No, sir." + +"Will you describe the strangers who were here, stating when they +called and any particulars you are able to give?" + +"The man giving his name as R. Hobson called between eleven and +twelve, Wednesday morning. He was tall, with thin features, small, +dark eyes, and a very soft voice. He came in a carriage, inquired +for Mrs. LaGrange, and seemed in considerable haste. He stayed +about an hour. The gentleman who called about four in the afternoon +also came in a carriage and inquired for Mr. Mainwaring, saying he +had been directed to Fair Oaks at the city offices of Mainwaring & +Co. On learning that Mr. Mainwaring was out, he asked for the +secretary; and I took his card to Mr. Scott, who gave directions +to have him shown up into the library. I do not know when he left. +He was tall, with black hair and moustache and dark glasses." + +"Mr. Hobson's call occasioned considerable comment at luncheon, did +it not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you observe that it had any effect on Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Well, sir, I thought he appeared considerably annoyed, and after +luncheon he asked me whether Mr. Hobson had inquired for him." + +"Did you admit Hobson when he called in the evening?" + +"I did not, sir. I merely met him at the door and directed him to +the south side entrance." + +"At Mrs. LaGrange's request?" + +"Yes, sir; in accordance with her instructions." + +"Did she give any reason for such instructions?" + +"Merely that his former call had caused so much remark she wished +to receive him privately." + +"Was he alone when he called the second time?" + +"No, sir." + +"Can you describe the person who accompanied him?" + +"No, sir. The man stood so far in the shadow that I could only see +the outlines of his form. I should say he was about the same height +as Mr. Hobson, but considerably heavier." + +"Do you know at what hour they left?" + +"No, sir." + +Further questions failing to elicit any facts bearing upon the +situation, the butler was dismissed, and Brown, the coachman, took +his place. The latter was far less taciturn than the butler, +seeming rather eager to impart some piece of information which he +evidently considered of special importance. + +After a few preliminary questions, the coroner said,-- + +"At what time, and from whom, did you first hear of Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"About half-past seven, yesterday morning, sir. I was a-taking +care of the horses, sir, when Uncle Mose--he's the gardener, sir--he +comes past the stable on his way to the tool-house, and he +tells me that Mr. Mainwaring had been murdered in the night, right +in his own rooms, and then he tells me-" + +"How long had you been up and at work in the stables?" + +"Before I heard of the murder? Well, about an hour, I should say. +I generally gets up at six." + +"Had you been to the house that morning?" + +"No, sir; but I went right up there after seeing Uncle Mose, and I +was in the kitchen telling what I had seen the night before, when +the butler he comes down and said as how Mr. Ralph Mainwaring wanted +me, and that I had better keep my mouth shut till I was asked to +tell what I knew." + +"Where were you last Wednesday night?" asked the coroner, rather +abruptly. + +Brown looked surprised, but answered readily, "I was out with some +friends of mine. We all went down to the city together that night +and stayed out pretty late, and it seems a mighty good thing we +did, too." + +"Why so?" asked the coroner. + +"Well, sir," said Brown, deliberately, glad of an opportunity to +tell his story and evidently determined to make the most of it, "as +I said, we stayed out that night later than we meant to, and I didn't +waste no time getting home after I left the depot. So, when I got +to Fair Oaks, I thought I'd take the shortest cut, and so I come in +by the south gate, off from the side street, and took the path +around the lake to get to the stables." + +"What lake do you mean?" interrupted the coroner. + +"The small lake back of the grove in the south part of the grounds. +Well, I was hurrying along through that grove, and all of a sudden +I seen a man standing on the edge of the lake with his back towards +me. He was very tall, and wore an ulster that came nearly to his +feet, and he looked so queer that I stepped out of the path and +behind some big trees to watch him. I hadn't no more than done so, +when he stooped and picked up something, and come right up the path +towards me. The moon was shining, had been up about two hours, I +should say, but his back was to the light and I couldn't see his +face, nor I didn't want him to see me. After he'd got by I stepped +out to watch him and see if he went towards the house, but he +didn't; he took the path I had just left and walked very fast to +the south gate and went out onto the side street." + +"In which direction did he then go?" asked the coroner. + +"He went up onto the main avenue and turned towards the town." + +"Can you describe his appearance?" + +"Only that he was tall and had very black hair; but his face was in +the shadow, so I couldn't tell how he looked." + +"What did he pick up from the ground?" + +"I couldn't see very plain, but it looked like a small, square box +done up in paper." + +"You did not try to call any one?" + +"No, sir. The man didn't go near the house, and I didn't think +much about it until Uncle Mose told me yesterday morning that the +night before he seen--" + +"Never mind what he saw; we will let him tell his own story. Was +that all you saw?" + +"No, sir; it wasn't," replied Brown, with a quick side glance +towards Mrs. LaGrange, who occupied the same position as on the +preceding day. "I was going along towards the stables, thinking +about that man, and all of a sudden I noticed there was a bright +light in one of the rooms up-stairs. The curtains wasn't drawn, +and I thought I'd see whose room it was, so I walked up towards the +house carefully, and I saw Mr. Mainwaring's secretary. He looked +awfully pale and haggard, and was walking up and down the room kind +of excited like. Just then I happened to step on the gravelled walk +and he heard me, for he started and looked kind of frightened and +listened a moment, and then he stepped up quick and extinguished the +light, and I was afraid he'd see me then from the window, so I +hurried off. But I thought 'twas mighty queer-" + +"Mr. Scott was dressed, was he?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sir," Brown answered, sullenly. + +"Did you go directly to your room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What time was this?" + +"I heard the clock strike three just after I got in." + +"You saw or heard nothing more?" + +"No, sir." + +"You knew nothing of what had occurred at the house until the +gardener told you in the morning?" + +"N--yes--no, sir," Brown stammered, with another glance towards +Mrs. LaGrange, who was watching him closely. + +"What did you say?" demanded the coroner. + +"I said I didn't know what had happened till Uncle Mose told me," +Brown answered, doggedly. + +"That will do," said the coroner, watching the witness narrowly as +he resumed his place among the servants. + +During the latter part of Brown's testimony, quick, telegraphic +glances had been exchanged between Scott and Mr. Sutherland, and +one or two slips of paper, unobserved by any one but Merrick, had +passed from one to the other. + +Scott was well aware that the statements made by the coachman had +deepened suspicion against himself. He paid little attention to +the crowd, however, but noted particularly the faces of the guests +at Fair Oaks. Ralph Mainwaring's, dark with anger; that of the +genial Mr. Thornton coldly averted; young Mainwaring's supercilious +stare, and his sister's expression of contemptuous disdain; and as +he studied their features his own grew immobile as marble. Suddenly +his glance encountered Miss Carleton's face and was held for a +moment as though under a spell. There was no weak sentimentality +there, no pity or sympathy,--he would have scorned either,--but +the perfect confidence shining in her eyes called forth a quick +response from his own, though not a muscle stirred about the +sternly-set mouth. She saw and understood, and, as her eyes fell, +a smile, inexplicable and mysterious, flashed for an instant across +her face and was gone. + +"John Wilson," announced the coroner, after a slight pause. + +A middle-aged man, rather dull in appearance, except for a pair of +keenly observant eyes, stepped forward with slow precision. + +"You are Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's valet, I believe?" said the coroner. + +"That I am, sir," was the reply. + +"Have you been for some time in his employ?" + +The man peered sharply at Dr. Westlake from under his heavy brows, +and replied, with great deliberation, "Nigh onto thirty years, sir." + +Then, noting the surprise in his interlocutor's face, he added, with +dignity, "The Wilsons, sir, have served the Mainwarings for three +generations. My father, sir, was valet to the father of the dead +Hugh Mainwaring, the Honorable Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, sir." + +A smile played over the features of young Mainwaring at these words, +but Scott started involuntarily, and, after studying Wilson's face +intently for a moment, hastily pencilled a few words on a slip of +paper which he handed to Mr. Sutherland, and both watched the +witness with special interest. + +His testimony differed little from that given by Hardy and by the +butler. He stated, however, that, after accompanying Mr. Ralph +Mainwaring to the scene of the murder, the latter sent him to summon +Mr. Scott; but on his way to the young gentleman's room he saw Mr. +Whitney in advance of him, who called the secretary and immediately +returned with him to the library. + +"Was Mr. Scott already up when Mr. Whitney called him?" the coroner +inquired, quickly. + +"He was up and dressed, sir," was the reply. + +Wilson also corroborated the butler's statement that Walter LaGrange +was not seen about the premises until luncheon, and stated, in +addition, that the horse belonging to young LaGrange was missing +from the stables until nearly noon. Having mingled very little with +the servants at Fair Oaks, he had but slight knowledge concerning the +occurrences of the day preceding the murder. His testimony was +therefore very brief. + +"Katie O'Brien, chambermaid," was next called; and in response a +young Irish woman quietly took her place before the coroner. She +answered the questions addressed her as briefly as possible, but +with deliberation, as though each word had been carefully weighed. + +"Did you have charge of the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You took care of his rooms as usual Wednesday?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you see Mr. Mainwaring during the day or evening?" + +"I met him once or twice in the halls." + +"When did you last see him?" + +"About two o'clock Wednesday afternoon." + +"State how you first heard of his death." + +"I was working in the halls up-stairs about seven that morning and +heard running back and forth, as if there was trouble. I went out +into the front hall and met the butler, and he told me Mr. Mainwaring +had been murdered." + +"Did you go in to see him at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, for a moment." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his rooms?" + +"I didn't notice anything unusual in Mr. Mainwaring's rooms." + +"Did you in any room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"In what one?" + +"In Mr. Scott's room, a little later." + +"State what you observed." + +"A few minutes after I left the library I saw Mr. Scott come out of +his room and go away with Mr. Whitney, and I thought I would go in +and do up the room. So I went in, but the bed was just as I had +made it up the day before. It hadn't been slept in nor touched. +Then things was strewn around considerable, and the top drawer of +his dressing-case was kept locked all the forenoon until he went to +the city." + +"When did he go to the city?" + +"About noon." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott the day or evening preceding Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"No, sir; but I know he was locked in Mr. Mainwaring's library all +the afternoon, after the folks had gone out driving." + +"How do you know the library was locked?" + +"I was sweeping in the corridor, and I heard him unlock the door +when the butler came up with some gentleman's card." + +"Did you see the gentleman who came up-stairs later?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did you see Walter LaGrange at any time during yesterday forenoon?" + +The witness colored slightly, but replied, "I think I met him once +or twice; I don't remember just when." + +"He was away from home part of the time, was he not?" + +"I don't know where he was." + +Nothing further of importance could be learned from the witness, +and, as it was then past twelve, a short recess was taken until +after lunch. + +Scott took his place at the table with the guests, seemingly alike +indifferent to cold aversion or angry frowns. He was conscious that +Miss Carleton was watching him, her manner indicating the same frank +friendliness she had shown him on the preceding day, and in response +to a signal from her, as they rose from the table, he followed her +into one of the drawing-rooms, joining her in a large alcove window, +where she motioned him to a seat on a low divan by her side. + +"You have made a bitter enemy in Mrs. LaGrange," she said, archly; +"and she has marshalled her forces against you." + +"Do you think so?" he asked, with an amused smile. + +"Certainly. She displayed her tactics this morning. I am positive +that much of the testimony was given in accordance with her orders." + +"For the most part, however, the witnesses stated facts," Scott +replied, watching her closely. + +"Yes; but facts may be so misrepresented as to give an impression +quite the reverse of the truth." + +"That is so. And a misrepresentation having a foundation of truth +is the hardest to fight. But," he added, in a lighter tone, "all +this testimony against me does not seem to have produced the same +impression upon you that it has upon the others. Your suspicions +do not seem, as yet, to have been very thoroughly aroused." + +"Perhaps my suspicions are as dormant as your own apprehensions. +I fail to detect the slightest anxiety on your part as to the +outcome of this, one way or another." + +"No," he replied, after a pause; "I feel no anxiety, only resentment +that circumstances have conspired against me just at this time, and +contempt for people who will be led by appearances rather than their +own judgment." + +"People sometimes use very little judgment where their own personal +interests are concerned." + +"In that case," said Scott, as they rose to return to the library, +where the others had already preceded them, "I suppose the word of +one unprincipled woman and of three or four ignorant servants will +be allowed to outweigh mine." + +They had reached the library and Miss Carleton made no reply, but +Scott again saw the same inscrutable little smile play over her +features, and wondered at its meaning. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TANGLED THREADS + + +Upon resuming the examination, the first witness called for was +Mary Catron, the second cook, a woman about thirty-five years of +age, with an honest face, but one indicative of a fiery temper. +Her testimony was brief, but given with a directness that was +amusing. When questioned of the occurrences of the day preceding +the murder, she replied,-- + +"I know nothing of what went on except from the gossip of the rest. +My place was in the kitchen, and I had too much to do that day to +be loitering round in the halls, leaning on a broom-handle, and +listening at keyholes," and she cast a glance of scathing contempt +in the direction of the chambermaid. + +"Did this 'gossip' that you speak of have any bearing on what has +since occurred?" the coroner inquired. + +"Well, sir, it might and it mightn't. 'Twas mostly about the will +that Mr. Mainwaring was making; and as how them that got little +was angry that they didn't get more, and them as got much was +growling at not getting the whole." + +"How did the servants gain any knowledge of this will?" + +"That's more than I can say, sir, except as I knows the nature of +some folks." + +Upon further questioning, the witness stated that on the night of +the murder, between the hours of two and three, she was aroused by +a sound like the closing of an outside door, but on going to one +of the basement windows to listen, she heard nothing further and +concluded she had been mistaken. + +"Did you see the coachman at that time?" she was asked. + +"A few minutes later I looked out again and I see him gaping and +grinning at the house and jabbering to himself like an idiot, and +I was minded to send him about his business if he hadn't a-took +himself off when he did." + +"He was perfectly sober, was he not?" + +"Sober for aught that I know; but, to my thinking, he's that daft +that he's noways responsible for aught that he says." + +"Were you up-stairs soon after the alarm was given?" asked the +coroner, when she had told of hearing from the butler the news of +the murder. + +"Yes, sir; I went up as soon as ever I heard what had happened." + +"Who was in the library at that time?" + +"Nobody but some of the servants, sir. I met Mr. Whitney just as +I came out." + +"Did you meet any one else?" + +"I met no one, but I saw the housekeeper coming out of her son's +room. She didn't see me; but she was telling him to get ready +quick to go somewheres, and I heard her say to hurry, for every +minute was precious." + +Louis Picot, the head cook, could give no information whatever. +When the alarm was given, he had rushed, with the other servants, +to the scene of the murder, and in his imperfect English, +accompanied by expressive French gestures, he tried to convey his +horror and grief at the situation, but that was all. + +The two maids who attended the English ladies were next called upon; +but their testimony was mainly corroborative of that given by the +chambermaid, except that Sarah Whitely, Miss Carleton's maid, +stated, in addition, that she had seen Mr. Walter LaGrange leave +his mother's room in great haste and go down-stairs, and a little +later, from one of the upper windows, saw him riding away from +the stables in the direction of the south gate. + +But one servant remained, "Uncle Mose," as he was familiarly called, +the old colored man having charge of the grounds at Fair Oaks. His +snow-white hair and bent form gave him a venerable appearance; but +he was still active, and the shrewd old face showed both humor and +pathos as he proceeded with his story. He had been a slave in his +younger days, and still designated his late employer by the old term +"mars'r." He was a well-known character to many present, including +Dr. Westlake, who knew that in this instance questions would have +to be abandoned and the witness allowed to tell his story in his +own way. + +"Well, Uncle Mose, you have been employed at Fair Oaks for a long +time, haven't you?" + +"Moah dan twenty yeahs, sah, I'se had charge ob dese y'er grounds; +an' mars'r Mainwaring, he t'ought nobody but ole Mose cud take cyah +ob 'em, sah." + +"You were about the grounds as usual Wednesday, were you not?" + +"I was 'bout de grounds all day, sah, 'case dere was a pow'ful lot +to do a-gittin' ready for de big doins dere was goin' to be on +mars'r's birfday." + +"Did you see either of the strangers who called that day?" + +"I'se a-comm' to dat d'rectly, sah. You see, sah, I wants to say +right heah, befo' I goes any furder, dat I don' know noffin 'cept +what tuk place under my own obserbation. I don' feel called upon +to 'spress no 'pinions 'bout nobody. I jes' wants to state a few +recurrences dat I noted at de time, speshally 'bout dem strangers +as was heah in pertickeler. Well, sah, de fust man, he come heah +in de mawnin'. De Inglish gentlemens, dey had been a-walkin' in +de grounds and jes' done gone roun' de corner oh de house to go +to mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, when dis man he comes up de av'nue +in a kerridge, an' de fust ting I heah 'im a-cussin' de driver. +Den he gets out and looks roun' kind o' quick, jes' like de possum +in de kohn, as ef he was 'fraid somebody done see 'im. I was fixin' +de roses on de front poach, an' I looked at 'im pow'ful sharp, an' +when de dooh opened he jumped in quick, as ef he was glad to get +out o' sight. Well, sah, I didn't like de 'pearance ob dat man, +an' I jes' t'ought I'd get anoder look at 'im, but he stayed a +mighty long time, sah, an' bime'by I had to go to de tool-house, +an' when I gets back the kerridge was gone." + +"Could you describe the man, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked. + +"No, sah, I don' know as I could 'scribe 'im perzacly; but I'd know +'im, no matter where I sot eyes on 'im, and I know'd 'im the nex' +time I see 'im. Well, sah, dat aft'noon, mars'r Mainwaring an' de +folks had gone out ridin', an' I was roun' kind o' permiscuous like, +an' I see anoder kerridge way down de av'nue by de front gate, an' +I waited, 'spectin' maybe I'd see dat man again. While I was waitin' +by de front dooh, all oh a sudden a man come roun' from de side, as +ef he come from mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, but he was anoder man." + +"Didn't he look at all like the first man?" inquired the coroner. + +"No, sah; he looked altogedder diff'rent; but I don' know as I could +state whar'in de differensiashun consisted, sah. Dis man was berry +good lookin' 'ceptin' his eyes, an' dem yoh cudn' see, 'case he had +on cull'ed glasses. Mebbe his eyes was pow'ful weak, er mebbe he +didn't want nobody to see 'em; but I 'spicioned dem glasses d'rectly, +sah, an' I watched 'im. He goes down to de kerridge an' takes out +a coat an' says sump' in to de driver, an' de kerridge goes away +tow'ds de town, an' he walks off de oder way. Bime'by I see 'im +gwine back again on de oder side ob de street-" + +"Was he alone?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sah; an' I done kep' my eye on 'im, an' he didn' go on to de +town, but tuhned down de fust side street. Well, sah, I didn' see +no moah ob 'im den; but dat ebenin' I'd ben a-workin' roun' de +house, sprinklin' de grass and gettin' ready foh de nex' day, when +I happens to pass by de side dooh, an' I sees dem two men comm' +out togedder." + +"What time was this, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked, quickly. + +"Well, sah," said the old man, reflectively, "my mem'ry is a little +derelictious on dat p'int, but I knows 'twas gettin' putty late." + +"Are you sure these were the same two men you had seen earlier in +the day?" + +"Yes, sah; 'case I stepped in de bushes to watch 'em. Dey talked +togedder berry low, an' den one man goes back into de house, an' I +seen 'im plain in de hall light, an' he was de fust man; an' while +I was a-watchin' 'im, de oder man he disappeahed an' I cudn' see +'im nowhar, but I know'd he was de man dat came in de aft'noon, +'case he look jes' like 'im, an' toted a coat on his arm. Well, +sah, I t'inks it a berry cur'is sarcumstance, an' I was jes' comm' +to de preclushun dat I'd mention it to some ob de fambly, when de +fust man, he come to de dooh wid de housekeeper. I was in de +shadder and dey didn' see me, but I heah 'im say, kind o' soft +like, 'Remember, my deah lady, dis is a biz'ness contract; I does +my part, an' I 'spects my pay.' An' she says, 'Oh, yes, yoh shall +hab yohr money widout fail.' An' I says to myse'f, 'Mose, yoh ole +fool, what you stan'in' heah foh? Dat ain't nuffin dat consarns +yoh nohow,' an' I goes home, an' dat's all I know, sah. But I'se +ben pow'ful sorry eber sence dat I didn' let mars'r Mainwaring +know 'bout it, 'case I has my 'spicions," and the old darkey shook +his head, while the tears coursed down his furrowed cheeks. + +"How did you hear of Mr. Mainwaring's death?" asked the coroner. + +"De coachman, he done tole me, sah." + +"Why, the coachman stated that you told him what had occurred." + +"No, sah; he done tole me; I'd come up to de place pow'ful ahly +dat mawnin' 'case dere was to be such big doings dat day, an' I +was gwine to de tool-house foh sump'in, an' I see mars'r Walter +ridin' away from de stables pow' ful fas' on his hoss-" + +"Do you mean Walter LaGrange?" + +"Yes, sah; an' de coachman he came out an' I ax 'im whar de young +man was gwine dat ahly, an' he say mars'r Mainwaring ben killed, an' +mars'r Walter had to go to town as fas' as his hoss cud take 'im." + +"Do you know when he returned?" + +"He came back, sah, befo' berry long, an' den he went away agin and +didn't come back till mos' noon." + +When the old darkey had been dismissed the coachman was recalled. + +"What did you mean by stating that you first heard of Mr. +Mainwaring's death from the gardener, when the reverse was the +truth?" + +"I don't know," he replied, carelessly; "I s'pose I got mixed. I +remember talking with him about it, and I thought he told me." + +"You had forgotten the interview with Walter LaGrange, I presume." + +Brown made no answer. + +"Why did you not mention that?" + +"I wasn't asked to," he replied in insolent tones; "you said nothing +to me about Mr. LaGrange." + +"You are expected to state in full every occurrence having any +bearing on the situation. You may give the particulars of that +interview now." + +"There's nothing to tell more than Uncle Mose told. I was working +in the stables as usual, and Mr. LaGrange came in in a big hurry +and ordered me to saddle his horse as quick as I could, that Mr. +Mainwaring had been murdered, and he'd got to go to town." + +"At what time was this?" + +"About half-past seven, I should say." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"No, sir." + +"When did he return?" + +"I saw his horse standing in the yard outside the stables about half +an hour after, and then 'twas gone, and I didn't see it again till +noon." + +Walter LaGrange was next called. He stated that he had spent the +greater part of the day preceding the murder away from Fair Oaks; +he had not been at home to luncheon or dinner, and consequently knew +nothing of the strangers seen on the place that day. He had returned +about half-past ten that evening, and remembered seeing Mr. +Mainwaring and his guests seated on the veranda, but he had gone +directly to his room without meeting any one. The first intimation +which he had received of any unusual occurrence the next morning +was when his mother entered his room and told him that Mr. Mainwaring +had either been murdered or had committed suicide, no one knew which. + +"Was that her only object in coming to your room?" + +"No, sir; she wanted me to do an errand for her." + +"Will you state the nature of this errand?" + +"It was only to deliver a note." + +"To whom?" + +"To Mr. Hobson," the young man answered weakly, while his mother +frowned, the first sign of emotion of any kind which she had +betrayed that day. + +"Did you deliver the note?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then, under your mother's orders, you went to the city on your +second trip, did you not?" + +"Y-yes, sir." + +"Were you successful in finding Mr. Hobson there?" + +"Yes, sir," the witness answered sullenly. + +"You had other business in the city aside from meeting him, had you +not?" + +Between the coroner's persistence and his mother's visible signs of +displeasure, Walter LaGrange was fast losing his temper. + +"If you know so much about this business, I don't see the use of +your questioning me," he retorted angrily. "It's no affair of mine +anyway; I had nothing to do with it, nor I won't be mixed up in it; +and if you want any information you'd better ask mother for it; it's +her business and none of mine." + +After a few more questions, which the witness answered sullenly and +in monosyllables, he was dismissed. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," announced the coroner. The greatest surprise +was manifested on every side as the senior member of a well-known +firm of jewellers stepped forward; the same gentleman who had +accompanied Mr. Whitney on his return from the city on the preceding +day. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," said the coroner, "I believe you are able to +furnish some testimony which will be pertinent at this time." + +"Yes, Dr. Westlake," responded the other, in deep, musical tones, +"I think possibly I can render you a little assistance in your +investigations." + +"Mr. Higgenbotham, do you recognize the young gentleman who has just +given his testimony?" + +"I do, sir," said the witness, adjusting a pair of eyeglasses and +gazing steadily at Walter LaGrange. "I recall his features +perfectly." + +"You were personally acquainted with the late Hugh Mainwaring, I +believe?" + +"Yes, sir, intimately acquainted with him." + +"You are, I believe, familiar with the Mainwaring jewels which are +now missing?" continued the coroner. + +Walter LaGrange looked uncomfortable and his mother's cheek paled. + +"I am, sir; having had them repeatedly left in my possession for +safe keeping during their owner's absence from home; and I have +also a complete list of them, with a detailed description of every +piece." + +"Very well, Mr. Higgenbotham, will you now please state when, and +under what circumstances, you saw this young gentleman?" + +"I was seated in my private office yesterday morning, when my head +clerk came in and asked me to step out into the salesrooms for a +moment, as he said a young man was there trying to sell some very +fine jewels, and, from his youth and his ignorance of their value, +he feared something was wrong. I went out immediately and saw this +young gentleman, who handed me for inspection a superb diamond +brooch and an elegant necklace of diamonds and pearls. I instantly +recognized the gems as pieces from the old Mainwaring collection of +jewels. Simultaneously there occurred to my mind the report of the +murder of Hugh Mainwaring, which I had heard but a short time before, +although then I knew nothing of the robbery. Naturally, my +suspicions were awakened. I questioned the young man closely, +however, and he stated that his home was at Fair Oaks, and that his +mother was a distant relative of Mr. Mainwaring's; that the jewels +were hers, and she wished to dispose of them for ready cash to meet +an emergency. His story was so plausible that I thought possibly +my suspicions had been somewhat hasty and premature. Still, I +declined to purchase the jewels; and when he left the store I +ordered one of our private detectives to follow him and report to +me. In the course of an hour the detective returned and reported +that the young man had sold the jewels to a pawnbroker for less +than one-fourth their actual value. About half an hour later I +heard the news of the robbery at Fair Oaks, and that the family +jewels were missing; and knowing that Mr. Whitney was here, I +immediately telephoned to him the facts which I have just stated. +He came in to the city at once, and we proceeded to the pawnshop, +where he also identified the jewels." + +Mr. Higgenbotham paused for a moment, producing a package from an +inner pocket, which he proceeded to open. + +"We secured a loan of the jewels for a few days," he continued, +advancing towards the coroner. "Here they are, and here is a copy +of the list of which I spoke. By comparing these gems with the +description of those which I have checked on the list, you will +see that they are identical." + +He placed the open casket on the table. There was a moment's +silence, broken by subdued exclamations of admiration as Dr. +Westlake lifted the gems from their resting-place. + +"You are correct," he said; "the description is complete. There is +no doubt that these are a part of the collection. I see you have +marked the value of these two items as seven thousand dollars." + +"Yes; that is a moderate valuation. And were the prices of the +other articles carried out, you would see that, with the exception +of a few very small pieces, these have the least value of the entire +lot. I believe I can be of no further service." + +Mrs. LaGrange was next recalled. + +"Have you anything to say in reference to the testimony just given?" +the coroner inquired. + +"I have this much to say," she replied, haughtily, "that I could +have given you the history of those jewels, including, perhaps, +some facts of which even Mr. Higgenbotham and Mr. Whitney are in +ignorance, and thus have spared you the infinite pains you have +taken to make public the straits to which I was reduced, because +of my position here, when in need of a little ready money. I could +have informed you that they were originally a part of the old +Mainwaring collection of gems, until they were given me by my +husband." + +"It hardly seems consistent that a man who treated his wife in the +manner in which you claim to have been treated would bestow upon +her gifts of such value as these," the coroner remarked with +emphasis. + +"They were of little value to him," she answered, with scorn; "as +you have been informed, they were the poorest which he possessed. +Besides, there were times when I could persuade him to almost +anything,--anything but to acknowledge his lawful wife and his +legitimate son." + +"Was the money which you were forced to raise by the sale of these +jewels to be paid to Hobson?" + +"It was." + +"In accordance with the terms of your contract with him, made a +few hours preceding the death of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes," she replied, defiantly. "And as you probably would ask the +nature of that contract, I will save you the trouble. Knowing that +my son and I were likely to be defrauded of our rights in the same +manner in which Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded others, I engaged Mr. +Hobson as my attorney, as he, better than any one else, knew the +facts in the case. When I learned yesterday morning of my husband's +death, I realized that I would have immediate need of his services, +and accordingly sent him word to that effect. He demanded a large +cash payment at once. The result of this demand Mr. Higgenbotham +has already told you." + +"How was Hobson to secure for you your rights from Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"That was left entirely to his own discretion." + +"Will you describe the appearance of Mr. Hobson's clerk?" + +"Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. He was merely brought as a +witness to our contract. I knew that he was present, but he +remained in the shadow, and I took no notice of him whatever." + +"Your contract, then, was a verbal one?" + +"It was." + +Upon being closely questioned, Mrs. LaGrange reiterated her +assertions of the preceding day, laying particular stress upon the +alleged interview between Hugh Mainwaring and his secretary, after +which she was dismissed, and Harry Scott was recalled. + +"Mr. Scott," said the coroner, "what were the relations existing +between Mr. Mainwaring and yourself up to the time of his death?" + +Scott flushed slightly as he replied, "Those ordinarily existing +between employer and employed, except that I believe Mr. Mainwaring +accorded me more than usual consideration, and I, while duly +appreciative of his kindness, yet took especial pains never to +exceed the bounds of an employee." + +"Were there ever any unpleasant words passed between you?" + +"None whatever." + +"Was your last interview with Mr. Mainwaring of a friendly nature?" + +"Entirely so." + +"What have you to say in reference to the testimony given to the +effect that your voice was heard and recognized in angry +conversation with Mr. Mainwaring at nearly one o'clock?" + +"I have to say that it is false, and without foundation." + +"Do you mean to say that the statement of the witness was wholly +without truth?" + +"I do not deny that such an interview, as alleged by the witness, +may have taken place, for that is something concerning which I have +no knowledge whatever; but I do deny that she heard my voice, or +that I was in the library at that time, or at any time after about +twenty minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the time at which you went to your room?" + +"Very near that time, as my interview with Mr. Mainwaring could not +have exceeded ten minutes." + +"At what time did you retire?" + +"I sat up very late that night, for my mind was so occupied with +some personal matters that I felt no inclination for sleep. I +lighted a cigar and became so absorbed in my own thoughts that I +was totally unaware of the lapse of time, until I was aroused by +what I thought was a stealthy step outside. I then became conscious, +for the first time, that I was very weary, both physically and +mentally, and I also discovered that it was nearly three o'clock. +Astonished to find it so late, and exhausted by hours of protracted +thought, I threw myself as I was upon a low couch, where I slept +soundly until awakened in the morning." + +Further questions failed to reveal any discrepancy in his statement, +and he was dismissed. + +The testimony of Ralph Mainwaring and of his son added nothing of +interest or importance. Mr. Thornton testified to his incidental +meeting with Hobson and to the reputation which the man had borne in +London. When he had resumed his seat the coroner remarked,-- + +"As a matter of form, I will have to call upon the ladies, though +it is not expected they will be able to furnish any information +throwing light on this mysterious case." + +It was, as he had said, little more than a ceremony and occupied +but a few moments. Miss Carleton was the last one called upon. She +stated that it was nearly eleven o'clock when she reached her room, +but added that she did not retire immediately, as her cousin, Miss +Thornton, had come in, and they had chatted together for more than +an hour; that while so engaged, she heard Mr. Scott come up-stairs +and enter his room, which adjoined hers, and lock the door for the +night. + +"At what hour was this?" inquired the coroner. + +"It could not have been more than twenty minutes after twelve, as +it was twenty-five minutes after twelve when my cousin went to her +room, and this was about five minutes earlier." + +"Can you state whether or not he left his room within the next +half-hour?" + +"I know that he did not," she replied. "I can testify that he +remained in his room until after one o'clock. After my cousin left +I discovered that the moon was just rising, and the view across the +Hudson being extremely beautiful, as well as novel to me, I +extinguished the light in my room and sat down by the open window +to enjoy it. I heard Mr. Scott stepping quietly about his room for +a few moments; then all was still. I sat for some time admiring the +scenery, until I was aroused by hearing him pacing back and forth +like a person in deep thought. I then found it was much later than +I supposed,--nearly one o' clock,--and I immediately retired; but +so long as I was awake I could hear him walking in his room." + +As Miss Carleton finished her testimony it was evident that the +tide of general opinion had turned somewhat in favor of the young +secretary, but the latter quietly ignored the friendly glances cast +in his direction. + +It was generally supposed that all testimony in the case had now +been heard. Considerable surprise was, therefore, manifested when +the coroner nodded to Mr. Whitney, who, in turn, beckoned to some one +in the hall. In response the butler appeared, ushering in a tall +man, with cadaverous features and small, dark eyes, which peered +restlessly about him. + +"Richard Hobson," announced the coroner. + +"At your service, sir," said the man, advancing with a cringing gait +and fawning, apologetic smile. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the coroner, after a few preliminaries, "I +understand you were somewhat acquainted with the late Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Well, yes, sir, somewhat," the other replied in soft, insinuating +tones, but with peculiar emphasis on the word used by Dr. Westlake. +"Indeed, I might say, without exaggeration, that I was probably +better acquainted with that estimable gentleman than was any one +in this country." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have not seen him to speak with him for fully twenty-three years." + +"You have corresponded with, him, however, in that time?" + +The witness showed no surprise. + +"We exchanged a few letters while I was in England. I have neither +heard from him nor written to him since coming to this country." + +"When did you last see him, regardless of whether you spoke to him +or not?" + +"Probably within the last two or three weeks. I have occasionally +met him on the street." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring see you at any of these times?" + +"If he did, he did not recognize me." + +"Did you see him when you called at Fair Oaks, Wednesday,--either +morning or evening?" + +"I did not." + +"Mr. Hobson, will you describe the man who accompanied you when +you called in the evening, Wednesday?" + +"I could give you a general description. He was a large man, about +my own height, but heavier, and rather good looking, on the whole. +But I am not good on details, such as complexion, color of hair, and +so on; and then, you know, those little things are very easily +changed." + +"What was his name?" + +Mr. Hobson smiled blandly. "The name by which I know him is John +Carroll, but I have no idea as to his real name. He is a very +eccentric character, many-sided as it were, and I never know which +side will come uppermost." + +"He is your clerk and in your employ, is he not?" + +"Agent, I think, would be a preferable term. He is in my employ, +he transacts certain business for me, but he does it in his own way, +and comes and goes at his own discretion." + +"Where is he at present?" + +"I have no idea, sir." + +"Did he leave for the city that night, or did he remain with you at +the Riverside Hotel?" + +"He was not with me at the hotel except for a few hours. I have not +the slightest idea from whence he came to see me, when he went away, +or in what direction he went. He was in haste to be excused as soon +as our joint business was done, and I have not seen him since." + +"Did he have on dark glasses that day?" + +"Not when I saw him, but that was only in my room at the hotel, and +for a few moments in this house; he would have no need for them at +either place." + +"Did he not accompany you from the hotel to Fair Oaks?" + +"No, sir; we met here by prearrangement." + +"When do you expect to see your agent again?" + +"Whenever he has any business reports to make," Hobson replied, +with an exasperating smile; "but I have no idea when that will be. +He has other commissions to execute; he is in the employ of others +besides myself, and transacts some business on his own account also." + +"I understand, Mr. Hobson, that you have repeatedly extorted money +from Mr. Mainwaring by threatening to disclose facts in your +possession regarding some questionable transaction." + +"No, sir; my action could not be termed extortion or blackmail +within the meaning of the law, though to any one conversant with Mr. +Mainwaring's private correspondence it may have had that appearance. +I was, however, merely making an effort to collect what was legally +due me. Mr. Mainwaring, before leaving England, had voluntarily +bound himself to pay me a certain sum upon the condition that I +would not reveal certain transactions of considerably more than +questionable character. I kept my part of the contract, but he +failed in his. I wrote him, therefore, threatening, unless he +fulfilled his share of the agreement, to institute proceedings +against him, which would naturally involve a disclosure of his secret. +He never paid me in full and the secret is still mine," he paused, +then added slowly, "to keep or to sell, as will pay me best." + +"Was Hugh Mainwaring ever married?" the coroner asked, abruptly. + +"I believe he was not generally considered a married man, sir." + +"Was there ever any private marriage?" + +Hobson smiled enigmatically. "You already have the word of the +lady herself, sir; that should be sufficient. I cannot reveal any +of Hugh Mainwaring's secrets,--unless I am well paid for it!" + +Hobson was dismissed without further questions, and the examination +being now at an end, the coroner's jury retired to the room in the +rear of the library. Very few left the house, for all felt that +little time would be required for the finding of a verdict, and +comment and opinion were freely exchanged. + +"Well," said Mr. Sutherland, turning towards the secretary with a +smile, "they did not learn one fact from that last witness, for I +doubt whether one of the few statements he did make had an iota of +truth in it. By the way, Mr. Scott, it's a very fortunate thing +that you've got the proofs you have. It would be a risky piece of +work to depend on that man's word for proof; he is as slippery as +an eel. With those proofs, however, there is no doubt but that +you've got a strong case." + +"It will be hard to convince Ralph Mainwaring of that fact." + +"Yes, he looks as though he would hold on to his opinions pretty +tenaciously." + +"Not so tenaciously as he would grasp any money coming within his +reach!" + +At a little distance, Mr. Whitney was engaged in conversation with +the Englishmen. + +"I never thought he could be in any way connected with it," he was +saying. "In the first place, there was no motive, there could be +none; then, again, I believe he is altogether above suspicion. I +know that Mr. Mainwaring had the most implicit confidence in him." + +"Well," said Mr. Thornton, "for my part, I'm heartily glad if there +is nothing in it. I always liked the young fellow." + +"That's just where I don't agree with you; I don't like him," Ralph +Mainwaring replied in a surly tone. "He may be all right so far as +this matter is concerned; I don't say yet that he is or isn't; but +I do say that to defame a man's character after he's dead, in the +manner he has, is simply outrageous, and, you may depend upon it, +there's some personal spite back of it." + +"Oh, well, as to Hugh's character, I don't think you or I are going +to fret ourselves about that," laughed Mr. Thornton. "He probably +sowed his wild oats with the rest of us, and there may have been +some reason for his leaving England as he did." + +"I don't believe it," Ralph Mainwaring retorted, angrily; but before +he could say more, the doors opened and the coroner's jury filed +into the room. There was instant silence, and a moment later the +verdict had been announced. It was what every one had expected, and +yet there was not one but experienced a feeling of disappointment +and dissatisfaction. + +"We find that the deceased, Hugh Mainwaring, came to his death by +the discharge of a revolver in the hands of some person or persons +to us unknown." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEHIND THE SCENES + + +The crowd dispersed rapidly, passing down the oak-lined avenue in +twos and threes, engaged in animated discussion of the details of +the inquest, while each one advanced some theory of his own +regarding the murder. Mr. Sutherland had taken his departure after +making an appointment with Scott for the following day, and the +latter now stood in one of the deep bow-windows engrossed with his +own thoughts. Suspicion had been partially diverted from himself, +but only partially, as he well knew, to return like a tidal wave, +deepened and intensified by personal animosity, whenever the facts +he had thus far so carefully concealed should become known. He gave +little thought to this, however, except as it influenced him in +planning his course of action for the next few days. + +He was aroused from his revery by the sound of approaching steps, +and, turning, met Mr. Whitney. + +"Ah, Mr. Scott, I was just looking for you. I thought possibly you +had slipped back to the city with the crowd. I wanted to say, Mr. +Scott, that, if it will be agreeable to you, I wish you would remain +at Fair Oaks for the next few days, or weeks, as the case may be. +Mr. Ralph Mainwaring has retained my services to aid in securing +his title to the estate, and the will having been destroyed, +complications are likely to arise, so that it may take some time to +get matters adjusted. Much of the business will, of necessity, have +to be transacted here, as all of Mr. Mainwaring's private papers are +here, and if you will stay and help us out I will see, of course, +that your salary goes right on as usual." + +An excuse fur remaining at Fair Oaks was what Scott particularly +desired, but he replied indifferently, "If it will accommodate you, +Mr. Whitney, I can remain for a few days." + +"Very well. I cannot say just how long we may need you, though I +anticipate a long contest." + +"Against Mrs. LaGrange?" + +"Yes; though she has, in my opinion, no legal right whatever, yet +she will make a hard fight, and with that trickster Hobson to help +her with his chicanery, it is liable to take some time to beat them." + +"You expect to win in the end, however?" + +"Certainly; there is no doubt but that Ralph Mainwaring will win the +case. He will get the property either for his son or for himself. +We are first going to try to have the will upheld in the courts. +Failing in that, the property will, of course, be divided between +the nearest heirs, Ralph Mainwaring and a younger bachelor brother; +in which event, the whole thing will, in all probability, finally +revert to his son Hugh." + +"Mr. Whitney, what is your opinion of Mrs. LaGrange's story of a +private marriage?" + +The attorney shook his head decidedly. "One of her clever lies; but +if she ever undertakes to tell that little romance in court, I'll +tear it all to shreds. She never was married to Hugh Mainwaring; +but," he added, slowly, "I may as well tell you that Walter was his +son. Mr. Mainwaring the same as admitted that to me once; but I +am certain that, aside from that fact, that woman had some terrible +hold on him, though what I never knew. By the way, Mr. Scott, do +you know anything of the particulars of that transaction to which +those letters referred and to which Hobson alluded to-day?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Mr. Whitney looked keenly at the young man. "You obtained your +knowledge originally from other sources than Mr. Mainwaring's +correspondence, did you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I thought so. Do you know, Mr. Scott, I would denounce the whole +thing as a lie, a scheme of that adventuress, or that impostor, +Hobson, or both, by which they hope to gain some hold on the heirs, +were it not that, from your manner, I have been convinced that you +have some personal knowledge of the facts in the case,--that you +know far more than you have yet told." + +Mr. Whitney paused, watching the young secretary closely, but there +was no reply, and, with all his penetration, the attorney could read +nothing in the immobile face before him. He continued,-- + +"Whatever that transaction may have been, I wish to know nothing +about it. I was much attached to Mr. Mainwaring and respected him +highly, and I want to respect his memory; and I will tell you +frankly what I most dread in this coming contest. I expect nothing +else but that either that woman or Hobson will drag the affair out +from its hiding-place, and will hold it up for the public to gloat +over, as it always does. I hate to see a man's reputation blackened +in that way, especially when that man was my friend and his own +lips are sealed in death." + +"It is a pity," said Scott, slowly; "but if one wishes to leave +behind him an untarnished reputation, he must back it up, while +living, with an unblemished character." + +"Well," said the attorney, tentatively, after another pause, "Mr. +Mainwaring's character, whatever it may have been before we were +associated with him, certainly had no effect upon your life or mine, +hence I feel that it is nothing with which we are directly concerned; +and I believe, in fact I know, that it will be for your interest, Mr. +Scott, if you say nothing regarding whatever knowledge you may have +of the past." + +Mr. Whitney, watching the effect of his words, suddenly saw an +expression totally unlike anything he had ever seen on the face of +the secretary, and yet strangely familiar. + +Scott turned and faced him, with eyes cold and cynical and that +seemed to pierce him through and through, remarking, in tones of +quiet irony, "I am greatly obliged for your advice, Mr. Whitney, +regarding my interests, but it is not needed. Furthermore, I think +all your thought and attention will be required to look after the +interests of Ralph Mainwaring," and without waiting for reply, he +stepped through one of the low, old-fashioned windows opening upon +the veranda and disappeared, leaving the attorney alone. + +"By George, but that was cool!" ejaculated the latter. "And that +look; where have I seen it? I believe that Ralph Mainwaring is +more than half right after all, and there is something back of all +this!" + +So absorbed was he in his own reflections as to be wholly unaware +of the presence of the detective in the hall, near the doorway, +where he had paused long enough to witness the parting between +Scott and the attorney, and who now passed quietly up-stairs, +remarking to himself, "Whitney is pretty sharp, but he's more than +got his match there. That young fellow is too deep for him or any +of the rest of 'em, and he's likely to come out where they least +expect to find him." + +Half an hour later, Mr. Merrick, stepping from the private library +into the upper southern hall, heard the sound of voices, which, +from his familiarity with the rooms, he knew must proceed from Mrs. +LaGrange's parlor. He cautiously descended the stairs to the +lowest landing, in which was a deep window. The shutters were +tightly closed, and, concealing himself behind the heavy curtains, +he awaited developments. He was now directly opposite the door of +the parlor, and through the partially open transom he could hear +the imperious tones of Mrs. LaGrange and the soft, insinuating +accents of Hobson. For a while he was unable to distinguish a +word, but the variations in Hobson's tones indicated that he was +not seated, but walking back and forth, while Mrs. LaGrange's voice +betrayed intense excitement and gradually grew louder. + +"You are not altogether invulnerable," Merrick heard her say, +angrily. "You were an accessory in that affair, and you cannot +deny it?" + +Hobson evidently had paused near the door, as his reply was +distinctly audible. "You have not an atom of proof; as you well +know; and even if you had, our acquaintance, my dear madam, has been +too long and of too intimate a nature for you to care to attempt +any of your little tricks with me. You play a deep game, my lady, +but I hold the winning hand yet." + +"If you are dastardly enough to threaten me, I am not such a coward +as to fear you. I have played my cards better than you know," she +answered, defiantly. + +"My dear lady," Hobson replied, and the door-knob turned slightly +under his hand, "those little speeches sound very well, but we both +understand each other perfectly. You want my services in this case; +you must have them; and I am willing to render them; but it is +useless for you to dictate terms to me. I will undertake the case +in accordance with your wishes, but only upon the conditions +mentioned." + +The reply was inaudible, but was evidently satisfactory to Hobson, +for, as he opened the door, there was a leer of triumph on his face. +He glanced suspiciously about the hall, and, on reaching the door, +turned to Mrs. LaGrange, who had accompanied him, saying, in his +smoothest tones,-- + +"I shall be out again in two or three days. Should you wish to see +me before that time, you can telephone to my office or send me word." + +She bowed silently and he took his departure, but as she returned +to her room, she exclaimed, fiercely, "Craven! Let me but once get +my rights secured, and he will find whether I stand in fear of him!" + +Having taken leave of Mrs. LaGrange, Hobson carefully avoided the +front part of the house and grounds, taking instead the gravelled +walk leading through the grove towards the lake in the rear and out +upon the side street. As he was hurrying along this rather secluded +avenue, he was suddenly confronted by Scott. Although strangers to +each other, Hobson instantly conjectured that this must be the +secretary who had betrayed such familiarity with the correspondence +which had passed between himself and Hugh Mainwaring, and that it +might be to his own interest to form the acquaintance of the young +man. + +Quick as thought he drew from his pocket a card, and, pausing +suddenly in his rapid walk, said, with a profound bow,-- + +"I beg pardon; I cannot be mistaken; have I not the pleasure of +addressing Mr. Scott?" + +"That is my name," replied the secretary, coldly. + +"I beg you will accept this card; and allow me to suggest that you +may find it conducive to your interests to call upon me at the +address named, if you will take the trouble to do so." + +Scott glanced from the card to the speaker, regarding the latter +with close scrutiny. "You seem very solicitous of the interests of +a stranger, as it is not to be presumed that you have any ulterior +motive in making this suggestion." + +Hobson appeared to ignore the sarcasm. "It is barely possible," he +continued, in his most ingratiating tones, "that I may be in +possession of facts which it would be to your advantage to learn." + +"In case you are, I suppose, of course, you would impart them to me +simply out of pure disinterestedness, without a thought of pecuniary +compensation?" + +Hobson winced and glanced nervously about him. "I must hasten," he +said; "I cannot stop for explanations; but you will find me in my +office at two o'clock to-morrow, if you care to call. Meantime, +my young friend, I am not perhaps as mercenary as you think, and I +may be able to be of great assistance to you," and with a final bow, +the man hastily disappeared around a turn of the winding walk. + +Scott proceeded in the opposite direction in a deep study. "Is it +possible," he soliloquized, "that that creature is on my track and +has any proposition to make to me? Or, is he afraid that I know his +secret, and that I may deprive him of his hold upon the Mainwarings? +More likely it is the latter. A week ago I was looking for that +man, and would probably have endeavored to make terms with him, +though it would have involved an immense amount of risk, for a +cast-iron contract wouldn't hold him, and his testimony would be +worth little or nothing, one way or the other." Scott glanced +again at the address on the card. "Not a very desirable locality! +It probably suits him and his business, though: I believe, I will +give the scoundrel a call and see what I can draw out of him." + +Dinner was announced as Scott returned to the house, and a number +of circumstances combined to render the meal far pleasanter and +more social than any since the death of the master of Fair Oaks. +Mr. Merrick was nowhere to be found, and the slight restraint +imposed by his presence was removed. Mrs. LaGrange and her son +were also absent, preferring to take their meals privately in +an adjoining room which Hugh Mainwaring had often used as a +breakfast-room. The silence and frigidity which had lately +reigned at the table seemed to have given place to almost universal +sociability, though Ralph Mainwaring's face still wore a sullen +scowl. + +As Mr. Whitney met the secretary, his sensitive face flushed at the +remembrance of their late interview, and he watched the young man +with evident curiosity. Scott was conscious, however, of an +increased friendliness towards himself on the part of most of the +guests, but feeling that it was likely to prove of short duration, +he remained noncommittal and indifferent. As they left the table, +Miss Carleton rallied him on his appearance. + +"Mr. Scott, you are a mystery!" + +"Why so, Miss Carleton, if you please?" he asked, quickly. + +"Just now, when everybody's spirits are relaxing after that horrible +inquest, you look more serious and glum than I have ever seen you. +I threw myself into the breach this afternoon to rescue you from the +enemy's grounds, whither you had been carried by the sensational +statements of Mrs. LaGrange and the coachman and chambermaid, and I +have not even seen you smile once since. Perhaps," she added, +archly, "you didn't care to be rescued by a woman, but would have +preferred to make your own way out." + +"No," said Scott, smiling very brightly now; "I'll not be so +ungrateful as to say that, though I believe I am generally able to +fight my own battles; but I will confess I was somewhat disappointed +this afternoon when you gave your testimony." + +"How could that be?" she inquired, greatly surprised. + +"Up to that time I had flattered myself that I had one friend who +had faith in me, even though circumstances conspired against me. I +discovered, then, that it was no confidence in me, but only a +knowledge of some of the facts, that kept her from turning against +me like the rest." + +Scott spoke in serio-comic tones, and Miss Carleton looked keenly +in his face to see if he were jesting. + +"No; you are mistaken, Mr. Scott," she said, slowly, after a pause. +"My confidence in you would have been just as strong if I had known +nothing of the facts." + +"Thank you; I am very glad to hear that," he answered. Then added, +gently, "Would, it be strong enough to stand a far heavier strain +than that, if it were necessary?" + +His tones were serious now, and she regarded him inquiringly for a +moment before speaking; then seeing young Mainwaring approaching +with his sister and Miss Thornton, she replied, in low tones,-- + +"I have no idea to what you refer, Mr. Scott, and I begin to think +you are indeed a 'mystery;' but you can be assured of this much: I +would never, under any circumstances, believe you capable of +anything false or dishonorable." + +Scott's eyes expressed his gratification at these words, and he +would then have withdrawn, but neither Miss Carleton nor young +Mainwaring gave him an opportunity to do so without seeming +discourteous. Both drew him into conversation and found him +exceedingly entertaining, though reserved concerning himself. +Isabel Mainwaring still held herself aloof and took little part in +the conversation, but to make amends for this Miss Thornton bestowed +some of her most winning smiles upon the handsome young secretary, +her large, infantile blue eyes regarding him with wondering +curiosity. + +After a pleasant evening, Scott excused himself and retired to his +room; but an hour or two later there was a knock at his door, and +on opening it he saw young Mainwaring in smoking-cap and jacket. + +"I say, Scott, won't you come out and have a smoke? I've got some +fine cigars, and it's too pretty a night to stay in one's room; +come out on my balcony and we'll have a bit of a talk and smoke." + +Scott readily consented, and the two young men proceeded to the +balcony upon which Mainwaring's room opened, where the latter had +already placed two reclining chairs and a small table containing +a box of his favorite Havanas. + +For a few moments they puffed in silence, looking out into the +starlit night with its beauty of dim outline and mysterious shadow. +Mainwaring was the first to speak. + +"I say, Scott, I'm awfully ashamed of the way that some of us, my +family in particular, have treated you within the last day or two. +It was confoundedly shabby, and I beg your pardon for my share in +it, anyhow." + +"Don't waste any regrets over that matter," Scott answered, +indifferently; "I never gave it any thought, and it is not worth +mentioning." + +"I do regret it, though, more than I can tell, and I haven't any +excuse for myself; only things did look so deucedly queer there +for a while, don't you know?" + +"Well," said Scott, pleasantly, "we are not out of the woods yet, +and there is no telling what developments may arise. Things might +'look queer' again, you know." + +"That's all right. I know a gentleman when I see him, unless I +happen to lose my head, and that doesn't occur very often. Now +it's different with the governor. He's got so confoundedly wrought +up over that will, don't you know, that he can't think of anything +else, and there's no reason in him." + +"As I understand it," remarked Scott, "Mr. Mainwaring expects to +win the property in any case, either for you or for himself." + +"Yes; and naturally you might think that the loss of the will +wouldn't amount to much, one way or the other; but it's like this: +the governor and I are very different; I know we've got plenty of +ducats, and that's enough for me, but not for him; he is ambitious. +It has always galled him that we were not in the direct line of +descent from the main branch of the Mainwarings; and it has been +his one great ambition since the death of old Ralph Mainwaring, +Hugh's father, a few years before I was born, to win into his own +family the old Mainwaring estate. He had an idea that Hugh would +never marry, and gave me his name, hoping that I would be made +his heir. Should the governor succeed in this scheme of his, he +will immediately buy back the Mainwaring estate, although he knows +I don't care a rap for the whole thing, and we will then have the +honor, as he considers it, of perpetuating the old family line. +On the other hand, if the property goes to the nearest heirs, it +will be divided between him and his younger brother. Uncle Harold +has no more ambition than I have, and though he is at present a +bachelor, that is no guarantee that he will remain one; and, anyhow, +it isn't likely that there will be much of his share left when he +gets through with it. So you see how much importance the governor +attached to that will." + +"I understand," said Scott, as his companion paused. Then he added, +musingly, "Your uncle's name seems to be rather unusual among the +Mainwarings; I do not recall your having mentioned it before." + +"What, Harold? On the contrary, it is the great name in our family, +especially in the main line. I would have been given that name if +the governor had not been looking out for Hugh Mainwaring's money. +There was a direct line of Harolds down to my great-grandfather. +He gave the name to his eldest son, but he died, and the next one, +Ralph, Hugh's father, took up the line. Guy, my grandfather, was +the youngest." + +"One would almost have thought that Hugh Mainwaring would have borne +the name of Harold," commented Scott. + +Young Mainwaring smoked for a moment in silence, then said, in lower +tones, "Old Uncle Ralph had a son by that name." + +"Indeed! Had Hugh Mainwaring a brother?" Scott asked in surprise. + +"Yes, there was a brother, but he died a great many years ago. +There is quite a story connected with his name, but I don't know +many of the particulars, for the governor seldom alludes to it. I +know, however, that Harold was the elder son, but that Uncle Ralph +disinherited him for marrying against his wishes, and afterwards +died of grief over the affair, and soon after his father's death +Harold was lost at sea." + +"You say he married; did he leave any children?" + +"No, I believe he had no children; but even if he had, they would have +been disinherited also. Uncle Ralph was severe; he would not even +allow Harold's name to be mentioned; and Hugh also must have turned +against his brother, for I have heard that he never spoke of him or +allowed any allusion to be made to him." + +"Well," said Scott, after a pause, "I believe Hugh Mainwaring's life +was far from happy." + +"You are right there. I'll never forget the last words he ever +spoke to me as I took leave of him that night. They were to the +effect that he hoped when I should have reached his age, I would be +able to look back over a happier past than his had been. It is my +opinion, too, that that woman was the cause of his unhappiness, and +I believe she is at the bottom of all this trouble." + +Their conversation had drifted to the mystery then surrounding them, +and for more than an hour they dwelt on that subject, advancing many +surmises, some strangely improbable, but none of which seemed to +bring them any nearer a solution of the problem. + +"My first visit to this country has proved an eventful one," said +young Mainwaring, as, at a late hour, they finally separated for the +night, "and I don't know yet how it may terminate; but there's one +thing I shall look back upon with pleasure, and that is my meeting +with you; and I hope that from this time or we will be friends; and +that this friendship, begun to-night, will be renewed in old England +many a time." + +"Are you not rather rash," Scott inquired, slowly, "considering how +little we know of each other, the circumstances under which we have +met, and the uncertainty of what the future may reveal?" + +"No; I'm peculiar. When I like a fellow, I like him; and I've been +studying you pretty closely. I don't think we need either of us be +troubled about the future; but I'm your friend, Scott, and, whatever +happens, I'll stand by you." + +"So be it, then, Hugh," replied the secretary, clasping the hand of +the young Englishman and, for the first time, calling him by name. +"I thank you, and I hope you will never go back on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SKIRMISHING + + +On the following morning the gentlemen at Fair Oaks were astir at +an unusually early hour, and immediately after breakfast held a brief +conference. It was decided to offer a heavy reward for the +apprehension of the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, while a lesser +reward was to be offered for information leading to identification +and arrest of the guilty party. Preparations were also to be made +for the funeral, which would take place the next day, and which, in +accordance with the wishes of Ralph Mainwaring, was to be strictly +private. + +Their conference at an end, Ralph Mainwaring ordered the carriage to +take himself, Mr. Whitney, and the secretary to the depot. + +"I believe I will ride down with you," said Mr. Merrick. + +"Certainly; plenty of room. Going to the city?" + +"Yes; but not with you gentlemen. We will part company at the +depot and I will take another car." + +"How are you getting on, Mr. Merrick?" inquired Mr. Thorton. + +"As well as can be expected, all things considered," was the +non-committal reply. + +"Going to be a slow case, I'm afraid," commented Ralph Mainwaring, +shaking his head in a doubtful way, while Mr. Thornton added +jokingly,-- + +"We've got some mighty fine fellows over home there at the Yard; if +you should want any help, Mr. Merrick, I'll cable for one of them." + +"Thank you, sir," said the detective, with quiet dignity; "I don't +anticipate that I shall want any assistance; and if I should, I will +hardly need import it from Scotland Yard." + +"Ha, ha! That all depends, you know, on what your man is. If the +rascal happens to have any English blood in him, it will take a +Scotland Yard chap to run him down." + +"On the principle, I suppose, of 'set a rogue to catch a rogue,'" +Merrick replied, smiling. + +He bad scarcely finished speaking when Hardy suddenly entered the +room. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, addressing Ralph Mainwaring; "but the +coachman is gone! We've looked everywhere for him, but he's nowhere +about the place." + +"When did he go?" asked Mr. Whitney, quickly. + +"Nobody knows, sir. Joe, the stable-boy, says he hasn't been around +at all this morning." + +"Bring the boy here," said Mr. Mainwaring. + +There was instantly recalled to every one present the memory of +Brown's insolent manner at the inquest, together with his confused +and false statements. In a few moments Hardy returned with the +stable-boy, an unkempt, ignorant lad of about fourteen, but with a +face old and shrewd beyond his years. + +"Are you one of the servants here?" Mr. Mainwaring inquired. + +"I works here, ef that's wot yer mean; but I don't call myself +nobody's servant." + +"How did it happen that you were not at the inquest?" he demanded. + +"Didn't got no invite," was the reply, accompanied by a grin, while +Hardy explained that the boy did not belong to the place, but had +been hired by the coachman to come nights and mornings and attend +to the stable work. + +"What do you know about this Brown?" inquired Mr. Mainwaring, +addressing the boy. + +"Wal, I guess he's ben a-goin' it at a putty lively gait lately." + +"You mean he was fast?" + +"I guess that's about the size of it." + +"When did you see him last?" + +"Hain't seen nothin' of him sence las' night, an' then he was sorter +crusty an' didn't say much. I come down this mornin' an' went to +work,--he allus left the stable key where I could get it,--but I +ham' t seen nor heard nothin' o' him. Me'n him," with an emphatic +nod towards Hardy, "went up to his room, but he warn't there, nor +hadn't ben there all night." + +"Why do you think he was fast?" + +"Wal, from all I've hearn about him I guess he's ben goin' with a +kinder hard set lately. I've seen some putty tough-lookin' subs +hangin' 'round the stables. There was a lot of 'em waitin' for him +Wednesday night." + +"Wednesday night!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney. "At what time? and who +were they?" + +"I dunno who they was, but they was hangin' 'round about eight +o'clock waitin' for him to go with 'em. An' then he's had lots of +money lately." + +"How do you know this?" + +"I've hearn him a-jinglin' it in his room; an' night afore las' I +clim' up-stairs and peeked in, an' he had a whole pile of gold +pieces 'bout that high," measuring with his hands; "but he see me, +an' he said he'd gimme a whalin' ef he catched me at it agin." + +"Did you watch him last night?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"Yas; he acted so kinder queer that I waited 'round to see what he +was goin' to do. After 'twas still an' he thought I'd gone, he come +down an' started off towards the side street. Jes' fer fun I +follered him; an' when he got to the lake he stopped and looked all +'round, as ef to make sure there warn't nobody to see him, an' then +he takes somethin', I couldn't see what, out from under his coat an' +chucks it quick into the lake, an' then he started on a run down +towards the street." + +"Couldn't you see what he threw?" + +"No, I couldn't see what 'twas; but it struck the water awful heavy." + +"Is that all you know about the affair?" + +"Yas, that's all." + +"Wait a moment," said Mr. Merrick, as the boy turned to leave the +room. "Can you tell how many, or what kind of looking men were with +Brown on Wednesday night?" + +"There was three of 'em. One was a big feller with kinder squint +eyes, the other two was ornery lookin' fellers; one of 'em was dark +like a furriner, an' t'other one had sorter yeller hair." + +"How long were they there?" + +"About half 'n hour, I guess. They was all gone 'fore nine o'clock." + +"Did you hear anything that was said?" + +"I hearn 'em talkin' somethin' about the boss." + +"Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yas. He'd made a kick about somethin' or 'nuther that afternoon, +an' Brown he was cussin' mad, an' then when they went away I hearn +one of 'em say somethin' about 'makin' a good job of it.'" + +"How was this, Hardy?" inquired Mr. Whitney. "Had there been any +words Wednesday between Mr. Mainwaring and the coachman?" + +"Yes, sir; I had forgotten it; but now I remember that when he came +back that afternoon, he found some fault with the coachman, and +Brown was very insolent, and then Mr. Mainwaring threatened to +discharge him." + +"'Pon my soul! I should say here was something worth looking into," +said Mr. Thornton, as the boy left the room, accompanied by Hardy. + +"A great pity that we could not have had his testimony at the +inquest," commented the attorney. "We might then have cornered +Brown; but I was not aware that there was such a person employed on +the place." + +Meanwhile, a carriage ordered by telephone from the Arlington had +already arrived at Fair Oaks. + +"Well," said Ralph Mainwaring, "the carriage is waiting. We had +better proceed to the depot; we can talk of this latest development +on our way." + +"You will excuse me, gentlemen," said Mr. Merrick, quietly, "I have +changed my mind, and will postpone my trip to the city." + +"Struck a new trail, eh?" queried Ralph Mainwaring, with a peculiar +expression, as he paused to light a cigar. + +"On the contrary, sir, only following up an old one," and, with a +somewhat ambiguous smile, the detective withdrew. + +The coachman's sudden disappearance, together with the facts learned +from the stable-boy, formed the subject of discussion for the next +half-hour between Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney, Scott listening +with a thoughtful face, although taking little part in the +conversation. Upon their arrival at the offices of Mainwaring & +Co. they were given a cordial greeting by Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden, after which they passed on to the elegant private +offices of Hugh Mainwaring. Mr. Whitney was visibly affected as +he entered the familiar rooms, and to each one was forcibly +recalled the memory of their meeting a few days before. A brief +silence followed, and then in subdued tones they began to discuss +the business which had now brought them there. + +At about two o'clock that afternoon, Scott found himself entering +an ancient and dilapidated looking block in a rather disreputable +part of the city. He had fulfilled his appointment with Mr. +Sutherland, and after an hour's conversation both gentlemen appeared +very sanguine regarding the case under consideration. As Scott was +taking leave, he produced Hobson's card and related the particulars +of their incidental meeting at Fair Oaks, and Hobson's urgent +invitation to call upon him at his office. + +Mr. Sutherland laughed. "About what I expected," he said. "It was +evident from his remarks at the inquest that some one--probably +Mrs. LaGrange--had posted him concerning you, and he is afraid you +are onto his secret." + +"I had questioned if it were that, or whether possibly he might be +onto mine." + +"Not at all probable," said the attorney, after a moment's +reflection. "If he really understood your position, he would be +far too cunning to allow you to get sight of him. You have the +scoundrel completely in your power." + +"Yes, as much as he is in anybody's power; but it is doubtful if +any one can hold so slippery a rascal as he. I believe I will give +him a call, however." + +"It would do no harm, taking care, of course, that you give him no +information." + +"Oh, certainly," said Scott, with a smile, as he paused for an +instant in the doorway; "my object will be to get, not give, +information." + +"His object will probably be the same," was Mr. Sutherland's parting +shot, as he turned with a laugh to his desk. + +Scott, having ascended a narrow, crooked stairway, found himself in +a long, dark hall, poorly ventilated, and whose filthy condition was +only too apparent even in the dim light. Far in the rear he saw a +door bearing the words, "R. Hobson, Attorney." As he pushed open +the door, a boy of about seventeen, who, with a cigarette in his +mouth and his feet on a table, sat reading a novel, instantly assumed +the perpendicular and, wheeling about, faced Scott with one of the +most villainous countenances the latter had ever seen. Something in +Scott's appearance seemed to surprise him, for he stared impudently +without speaking. After silently studying the face before him for +an instant, Scott inquired for Mr. Hobson. + +"He is in, sir, but he is engaged at present with a client," said +the boy, in tones which closely resembled Hobson's. "I will take +in your card, sir." + +The boy disappeared with the card into an adjoining room, returning +a moment later with the most obsequious manners and the announcement +that Mr. Hobson would be at liberty in a few moments. Scott rightly +judged that this ceremony was merely enacted for effect, and contented +himself with looking about the small, poorly furnished room, while +the office boy opposite regarded him with an undisguised curiosity, +which betrayed that this client--if such he could be regarded--differed +greatly from the usual class. Young and untaught though +he were, he had learned to read the faces about him, and that of +his employer was to him as an open book, and the expression which +flashed into Hobson's eyes as they fell upon Scott's card indicated +plainly to the office boy that in this instance the usual conditions +were reversed, and the attorney stood in fear of his visitor. + +A few moments later the door of the next room opened noiselessly +and Hobson, attired in a red dressing-gown and wearing his most +ingratiating smile, silently beckoned Scott to enter. With a quick +glance the latter took in every detail of the second apartment. It +was somewhat larger than the first, but the furnishing was meagre +and shabby in the extreme, and, with the exception of a small set +of shelves containing a few dilapidated volumes, there were no +visible signs of an attorney's office. + +Hobson did not speak until he had carefully closed the door, then +he said, in low tones,-- + +"As our conversation is likely to be of a confidential nature, you +would perhaps desire greater privacy than can be secured here. Step +this way." + +He opened the door into a room so dark and so thick with stale +tobacco smoke that at first Scott could discern nothing clearly. + +"My den!" said Hobson, with a magnificent flourish, and Scott stepped +within, feeling, he afterwards said, as though he were being ushered +by Mephistopheles into the infernal regions, and this impression was +not lessened by the first objects which he was able to distinguish,--a +pair of skulls grinning at him through the smoky atmosphere. +As his eyes became accustomed to the dim light he noted that the +room was extremely small, with only one window, which opened upon +the blank wall of an adjoining building, and with no furniture, save +an enormous, high-top desk and two chairs. One of the latter Hobson +placed near the window for his visitor, and then busied himself for +a moment at the desk in hastily concealing what to Scott looked like +some paraphernalia of the black arts. Upon the top of the desk were +the two skulls which had first attracted Scott's attention, and +which he now regarded rather curiously. Hobson, following his +glance, said, by way of explanation,-- + +"Rather peculiar ornaments, I dare say, you consider those, Mr. +Scott; but I am greatly interested in phrenology and devote much of +my leisure time to its study. It is not only amusing, you know, but +it is of great assistance in reading and understanding my fellow-men, +and enables me to adapt myself to my clients, so to speak." + +Having satisfactorily arranged his belongings, Hobson locked the +door, and, seating himself behind his desk, appeared ready for +business. + +"Well, my young friend," he began, "I rather expected you, for I +flatter myself that I understand enough of human nature to know that +there are very few who will pass by an opportunity of learning +something for the advancement of their own interests or the +betterment of their own condition in life." + +"That may be perfectly natural," Scott replied; "but you flatter +yourself altogether too much if you think that I have come here +with any expectation that you can advance my interests or better +my condition." + +"That remains to be seen. Much also depends upon yourself, for I +take it that a young man of your calibre is not without ambition." + +Hobson paused, regarding his visitor with sharp scrutiny, but +receiving no reply, continued, "I might add, that to a young man +with ambitious designs such as yours, I would probably be able to +render great assistance." + +"I am not aware of any unusual ambition on my part." + +"Oh, no, nothing unusual. You simply had no intention of remaining +Hugh Mainwaring's secretary any longer than was necessary. That +was perfectly natural, perfectly laudable, my young friend, and I +admire the shrewdness and foresight with which you set about to +accomplish your designs. At the same time, I believe I am in a +position to give you just the information and advice you need in +order to insure your success." + +Both men had the same object in view. Each wished to ascertain what +the other knew concerning himself. Scott, unable to determine +whether Hobson had spoken at random or with an inkling of the facts, +answered, coldly,-- + +"I do not know to what you refer, or on what grounds you base the +inference which you seem to have drawn." + +"No? Then you will allow me to remark, Mr. Scott, that such +familiarity as yours with a portion of Hugh Mainwaring's private +correspondence, extending back over a period of fifteen or more +years, taking into consideration the facts that you cannot be much +more than twenty-five years of age, and have only been about two +years in Mr. Mainwaring's employ, would indicate that you had sought +to acquaint yourself with some facts connected with your employer's +early life with the express purpose of using the same to your own +advantage." + +"You must see the inconsistency of such a supposition, when you +consider that I have been in possession of these facts for some +time--it is unnecessary to state how long--and have made no use +of them whatever." + +"Possibly," said Hobson, with emphasis, "your knowledge of the +facts may not have been definite enough to warrant your use of them." + +His voice and manner unconsciously betrayed the importance which he +attached to Scott's reply. The latter detected this, and answered +evasively,-- + +"It is sufficiently definite for any own personal satisfaction in +any event." + +Hobson shook his head. "It is useless to evade the point. You had +an object in looking up that correspondence; you intended to make +a good thing out of the facts you got hold of; and, if your +information is sufficiently complete, you can make a good thing out +of them yet." + +"If I have not attempted anything of that kind in the past, would +I be likely to try it at this late day?" Scott asked, with the air +of one who is open to any available suggestion. + +Hobson at once assumed a confidential manner, and, moving a little +nearer his visitor, replied, in a low tone,-- + +"Look here, Mr. Scott, that's just why I wanted to meet you. You +see I knew more about you than you think. I've taken an unusual +interest in you, too; and, seeing the little game you were playing, +and knowing that I held the trump card myself, I naturally would +like to take a hand and help you out at the same time. Now, the +point is just this, Mr. Scott: What do you really know concerning +the transaction referred to in that correspondence? I suppose +you are familiar with all the letters that passed on both sides?" + +"Perfectly so." + +"Certainly. But you will acknowledge, Mr. Scott, that those letters +were expressed in very guarded terms, and, with the exception of +possibly one or two, gave no hint of the nature of that transaction. +Remember," he added, impressively, "I have an exact copy of the +correspondence on both sides, and no one could ever assume any +statement or admissions that were not there." + +"I presumed that, of course," said Scott, calmly. + +"Now, my young friend, let us get down to the actual knowledge which +you have of the facts. You are, I suppose, aware that there was a +missing will involved in the case?" + +"I am; and that one or two of your letters purported to show that +the missing will was destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Did I make any such allegation?" + +"Not directly; but your allusions and references would be clear to +any one having a knowledge of the English statutes." + +Hobson started, and inquired quickly, "Are you familiar with English +law?" + +"I made myself familiar with your citations and references in this +case." + +"I see; you have indeed made a study of the case. Well, Mr. Scott, +permit me to say that I accused Hugh Mainwaring of nothing which he +had not previously confessed to me himself. Have you any knowledge +concerning that will,--its terms or conditions, or the names of the +testator or beneficiaries?" + +"There was nothing in the correspondence to give any clue to those +particulars. I could only gather that Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded +others and enriched himself by destroying this will." + +Hobson looked relieved. "Without doubt, he did; but allow me to +call your attention to one point, Mr. Scott. You see how little +actual knowledge you have of this affair. There are others--Mrs. +LaGrange, for instance, and the mysterious individual whom she heard +conversing with Mr. Mainwaring on the night of the murder,--all of +whom know as much or more than you; and while this meagre knowledge +of the case might perhaps have been sufficient to bring to bear upon +Mainwaring himself, personally, it would have little or no weight +with those with whom we would now have to deal. You know nothing +of the terms of the will, or of the persons named as beneficiaries, +whom, consequently, Hugh Mainwaring defrauded. You have no proof +that he destroyed the will. In fact, my dear young friend, you +could produce no proof that such a document ever existed at all!" + +"Do I understand you, then, that those letters, Mr. Mainwaring's +included, would not be regarded as proof?" Scott asked, with +well-feigned surprise. + +"Not of themselves with these people; I know them too well." +Hobson shook his head decidedly, then continued, in oracular +tones, "Remember, I am only speaking of your chances with them. +Mainwaring's letters were very guarded, mine scarcely less so. +They would have no weight whatever with men like Ralph Mainwaring or +William Thornton. They might even charge you with forging the whole +thing. The point is just this, Mr. Scott: in order to be able to +get anything from these parties you must have complete data, absolute +proof of every statement you are to make; and such data and proofs +are in the possession of no one but myself. So you see I am the +only one who can assist you in this matter." + +"And what compensation would you demand for 'assisting' me?" + +"We will not put it that way, Mr. Scott," Hobson replied, his small, +malignant eyes gleaming with delight at the ease with which his +prey was falling into his clutches. "It is like this: Ralph +Mainwaring and Thornton are prejudiced against me; I might not be +able to work them as successfully as I could wish, but you and I +could work together very smoothly. I could remain invisible, as it +were, and give you the benefit of the information I possess and of +my experience and advice, and you could then successfully manipulate +the wires which would bring in the ducats for both of us. What do +you say, my young friend?" + +"Do you think that either Ralph Mainwaring or Mr. Thornton would +care enough for any secrets you might be able to disclose to pay +you hush money?" + +"I object to the term of 'hush money.' I am merely trying to get +what was due me from Hugh Mainwaring. As he never paid me in full, +his heirs must. Yes, I could work them after they return to +England and set up in style on the old Mainwaring estate. They +would be rather sensitive about the family reputation then." + +"Where are the beneficiaries of that will that was destroyed?" Scott +suddenly inquired. + +Hobson looked sharply at him. "Dead, long ago. Why do you ask?" + +"I was thinking that if they or their heirs were living, it would +be better to go to them with this information. They would probably +pay a good price for it." + +"You're right, they would," Hobson replied, approvingly; "but they +are all dead." + +"Were there no heirs left?" + +"None whatever, more's the pity. However, I've got a good hold on +these English chaps and will make them hand over the sovereigns yet." + +The contempt which Scott had hitherto concealed as Hobson unfolded +his plans was now plainly visible on his face as he rose from his +chair. + +"Don't hasten, my young friend," said Hobson, eagerly. "Sit down, +sit down; we have not laid our plans yet." + +"No, nor will we," was the reply. "If you think to make a cat's-paw +of me in any of your dirty, contemptible pieces of work, you are +mistaken. If you think that I came here with any intention of +listening for one moment to any of your vile propositions, you are +mistaken. I came here simply to satisfy myself on one point. My +errand is accomplished, and I will remain no longer." + +Hobson had sprung to his feet and now faced Scott, barring the way +to the door, while fear, anger, defiance, and hate passed in rapid +succession across his evil countenance, making his appearance more +demon-like than ever. + +"You lie!" he exclaimed, in a hoarse whisper. "I have not given +you one word of information!" + +"No," Scott interrupted, "you have given me no information, and you +could give me none, for the reason that I know more concerning this +whole affair than you do. I also have knowledge of certain other +matters regarding one Richard Hobson, alias Dick Carroll, and his +London adventures." + +Hobson's face had become a livid hue, and Scott detected a sudden +movement of his right hand towards his desk. + +"None of that!" he cried, warningly, at the same time springing +quickly upon him with two well-aimed blows, one of which knocked a +revolver from Hobson's hand, while the other deposited him in a heap +upon the floor. While the latter was recovering from the effect of +the stunning blow he had received, Scott picked up the revolver and, +having examined it, slipped it into his pocket, saying,-- + +"I will keep this for a while as a souvenir of our interview. It +may be needed as evidence later." + +Hobson crawled to his feet and stood cowering abjectly before Scott, +rage written on every lineament of his face, but not daring to give +it expression. + +"Who in the devil are you, anyway?" he growled. + +"That is none of your business whatever," Scott replied, seizing +him by the collar and dragging him to the door. "The only thing for +you to do is to unlock that door as expeditiously as possible, +asking no questions and making no comments." + +With trembling fingers the wretch complied, and Scott, still +retaining his hold upon his collar, reached the door of the outer +room, where, with a final shake, he released him. + +"Wait a moment," Hobson whispered, eagerly, half-paralyzed with fear, +while his eyes gleamed with malign hatred. "You've got no hold on +me by anything I've said, and you've no proof of that Carroll +business, either." + +Scott looked at him an instant with silent contempt. "You cowardly +scoundrel! all I have to say to you at present is, be careful how +you interfere with me! I'm only sorry I soiled my hands with you, +but I'll do it again if necessary; and the next time you will fare +worse!" and, opening the door, he passed quickly through the outer +room, conscious of the amazed stare of the office boy, who had +overheard his last words. Hobson did not attempt to follow him, but +paced up and down his room, trembling with fear and rage combined, +and vainly striving to imagine who his visitor might be. At last +he sat down to his desk and began to write rapidly, muttering to +himself,-- + +"I half believe--only that he's too young--that he is some hound +over here trying to scent out the whole thing. But," he added, with +an oath, "whoever he is, if he crosses my track he'll be likely to +follow Hugh Mainwaring before long, that's all!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +X-RAYS + + +On the morning following Scott's interview with Hobson, he awoke at +an early hour, vaguely conscious of some disturbing influence, +though unable to tell what had awakened him. He lay for a moment +recalling the events of the preceding day, then suddenly remembered +that this was the day fixed for the funeral of Hugh Mainwaring. +None of the servants were astir about the house, but Scott soon +became conscious of the sound of stealthy movements and subdued +voices coming through the open window, and, rising, he looked out. +At first he could see nothing unusual. It was just sunrise, and the +river, at a little distance shimmering in the golden light, held +him entranced by its beauty. Then a slight rustling in the +shrubbery near the lake attracted his attention. The golden shafts +of sunlight had not yet reached that small body of water, and it +lay smooth and unbroken as the surface of a mirror, so clear at +that hour that one could easily look into its depths. Suddenly a +light boat shot out from the side nearest the grove, breaking the +smooth surface into a thousand rippling waves of light. In the boat +were two men, one of whom Scott instantly recognized as the +detective; the other, who was rowing and had his back towards the +house, seemed to be a stranger. Some one concealed in the shrubbery +called to the boatmen, whereupon they rowed across in that direction, +stopping a few yards from shore. Here they rested a few moments +till the surface was again smooth, when, both men having carefully +peered into the depths of the little lake, the detective proceeded +to let down a drag into the water. + +"By George!" Scott ejaculated, "the sly old fox is improving the +opportunity, while every one is asleep, to drag the lake in search +of whatever the coachman threw in there. All right, my dear sir, +go ahead! But I'm somewhat interested in this affair myself, and +I don't intend that you shall monopolize all the facts in the case." + +Keeping an eye on the boat, he dressed quickly and, letting himself +out at the front entrance, he hastened down the walk through the +grove to the edge of the lake, keeping himself concealed among the +trees. The boat was moving slowly back and forth, and was now in +such a position that Scott could see the face of the man rowing, +who proved to be, as he had thought, a stranger. On the other side, +seated under the flowering shrubs and trees bordering the lake, was +Joe, the stable-boy, watching proceedings with intense interest. +With a smile, the young secretary followed his example, seating +himself at the foot of an ancient elm whose branches drooped nearly +to the ground. + +"All right, Mr. Detective!" he said, "I can stay as long as you. +If you fail to make a success of your work this morning no one will +be the wiser, but in case you find anything I propose to know +something about it myself." + +The sun was now shining brightly, but the hour was yet so early that +there was little danger of any one else appearing on the scene, +especially as it was Sunday morning. + +For nearly an hour Mr. Merrick and his companion rowed slowly back +and forth in constantly widening circles, meeting with no success +and saying little. Suddenly, while Scott was watching the face of +the stranger, wondering who he might be, he heard a low exclamation +and saw that the drag had fastened itself upon some object at the +bottom of the lake. He watched eagerly as they drew it to the +surface, and could scarcely restrain a cry of astonishment as he +saw what it was, but before either of the men could secure it, it +had slipped and fallen again into the water. With language more +forcible than elegant, the drag was again lowered, and the boat +once more began its slow trailing. + +This time they had not so long to wait for success. The drag was +brought to the surface, but carrying in its clutches an entirely +different object, and one with which the young secretary was totally +unfamiliar,--a somewhat rusty revolver. + +Mr. Merrick's back was now towards Scott, but the latter saw him +take something from his pocket which he seemed to compare with the +revolver, at the same time remarking to the stranger, who was +watching with an appearance of great interest, + +"A pretty good find, Jim, pretty good! However, we'll have another +try for that box, whatever it is. It may amount to something or it +may not, but it will do no harm to make a trial." + +Having let down the drag once more, he glanced at the house, then at +his watch, saying, "No signs of any one astir; we're all right for +another hour yet." + +After a few more turns, Scott saw them suddenly pulling in the +ropes, and once more the box appeared, rusty and covered with slime, +but still familiar. He at once sprang to his feet and sauntered +carelessly down the walk, humming a tune and watching the occupants +of the boat with an air of mild curiosity. The stranger was the +first to see him, and with an expression of evident disgust gave +Merrick warning of his approach. If the detective felt any +annoyance he did not betray it as he turned and nodded to Scott in +the most nonchalant manner possible, as though dragging the lake +were an every-day occurrence. + +"You've been fishing, I see," said Scott, pleasantly. "How did you +make out?" + +"Well, I've made this find which you see here," answered Mr. Merrick, +as the boat headed for shore. "I don't know yet what it is, but it +has not lain long in the water, and it may be worth looking into." + +Scott made no reply until the detective had sprung ashore; then, as +the latter proceeded to examine the box, leaving his companion to +take care of the boat and drag, he said, in a low tone,-- + +"That is likely to prove an important discovery, Mr. Merrick." + +"You are familiar with it then?" queried the latter. + +"I have seen it in Mr. Mainwaring's safe. That was the box in which +he kept the old jewels that were stolen on the night of the murder." + +Mr. Merrick whistled softly and studied the box anew. "Well, there +are no jewels in it now, but we will open it. There is no one up +yet to let us into the house, so suppose we go to the stables; we'll +be safe there from intrusion." + +They proceeded to the stables, and, arriving there, Scott was puzzled +to see Merrick's companion at work and evidently perfectly at home. + +"We are going to use your room a while, Matthews," said Merrick, +carelessly. Then, noting the surprise on Scott's face, he added, +"This is Matthews, the new coachman, Mr. Scott. I thought you knew +of his coming." + +"At your service, sir," said Matthews, respectfully lifting his cap +in response to Scott's greeting, while the latter inquired, as he +and the detective passed up-stairs together,-- + +"When did he come?" + +"Yesterday afternoon. He applied for the position, and, as he +happened to be an acquaintance of mine, Mr. Mainwaring hired him +upon my recommendation. Now," as he locked the door of the room +they had entered, "we will open this box as quickly as possible. +I suppose there is no key to be found, and, if there were, the +lock is too rusty to work." + +With the aid of a file and chisel the box was soon opened. The +satin linings were somewhat water-soaked and discolored, and the +box appeared to be empty, but on opening an inner compartment there +were exposed to view a pair of oddly shaped keys and a blood-stained +handkerchief, the latter firmly knotted as though it had been used +to bandage a wound of some kind. + +"Ah!" said the detective, with peculiar emphasis, examining the +handkerchief, which was of fine linen, with the initials "H. M." +embroidered in one corner. "Did Mr. Mainwaring carry a handkerchief +of that style?" + +"Yes; he carried that, or one precisely like it, the last day of +his life." + +"Very good!" was the only reply, as the detective carefully folded +and pocketed the article with an air that indicated that he wished +to say no more about it. "And these keys, do you recognize them?" + +"They were Mr. Mainwaring's private keys to his library and the +southern hall." + +"The ones the valet said were missing?" + +"The same." + +Mr. Merrick, after studying them curiously for a moment, consigned +them to his pocket also, and then began a careful inspection of the +interior of the box. Scott watched him in silence, thinking +meanwhile of the old document which he had found hidden away in its +depths, and inwardly rejoicing that it had not been left to be +discovered by the detective. Nothing in Mr. Merrick's manner or +expression betrayed the nature of his thoughts, and, so long as he +chose to remain silent, Scott refrained from questioning him. + +At length he closed the box, saying, indifferently, "Well, I don't +know as there is any reason why I should detain you any longer, Mr. +Scott. We have satisfied ourselves as to the contents of the box, +and you have identified the articles. For the present, however, I +would prefer that you say nothing of this." + +"Certainly, Mr. Merrick. The discovery, whatever its import, is +your secret, and I shall make no mention of it whatever." + +"I don't know that it is of any special importance," said the +detective, carelessly, as they prepared to descend the stairs; "but +it only confirms the opinion that I have had all along." + +"Don't you think that this tends to show that the murder and robbery +were connected, notwithstanding Mr. Whitney's theories to the +contrary?" Scott inquired, as they were about to separate. + +"Possibly," replied the other, gravely. Then added, with a smile, +"Mr. Whitney has his own preconceived ideas of the case and tries +to adapt the circumstances to suit them, when, in reality, one must +first ascertain whatever facts are available and adjust his theories +accordingly." + +They parted company at the door of the stables, but Scott had not +reached the house when the detective, with a peculiar smile, +returned to the room up-stairs, and once more opening the box, drew +forth from underneath the satin linings a folded paper, yellow with +age and covered with closely written lines; which he read with great +interest, after which he remained absorbed in thought until aroused +by the entrance of his friend, the coachman. + +Several hours later Scott stood alone beside the casket of the +murdered man. The head had been turned slightly to one side and a +spray of white blossoms, dropped with seeming carelessness within +the casket, concealed all traces of the ghastly wound, their snowy +petals scarcely whiter than the marble features of the dead. + +It lacked more than an hour of the time set for the funeral. None +of the few invited friends would arrive for some time yet. The +gentlemen of the house were still in the hands of their valets, and +the ladies engrossed with the details of their elegant mourning +costumes. Scott, knowing he would be secure from interruption, had +chosen this opportunity to take his farewell look at the face of his +employer, desiring to be alone with his own thoughts beside the dead. + +With strangely commingled emotions he gazed upon the face, so +familiar, and yet upon which the death angel had already traced many +unfamiliar lines, and as he realized the utter loneliness of the +rich man, both in life and in death, a wave of intense pity swept +across heart and brain, well-nigh obliterating all sense of personal +wrong and injury. + +"Unhappy man!" he murmured. "Unloved in life, unmourned in death! +Not one of those whom you sought to enrich will look upon you to-day +with one-half the sorrow or the pity with which I do, whom you have +wronged and defrauded from the day of my birth! But I forgive you +the wrong you have done me. It was slight compared with the far +greater wrong you did another,--your brother--your only brother! +A wrong which no sums of money, however vast, could ever repair. +What would I not give if I could once have stood by his side, even +as I stand by yours to-day, and looked once upon his face,--the +face of your brother and of the father whom, because of your guilt, +I have never seen or known, of whom I have not even a memory! +Living, I could never have forgiven you; but here, to-day, in pity +for your loveless life and out of the great love I bear that father +in his far-away ocean grave,--in his name and in my own,--I +forgive you, his brother, even that wrong!" + +As Scott left the room, he passed Mr. Whitney in the hall, who, +seeing in his face traces of recent emotion, looked after him with +great surprise. + +"That young man is a mystery!" he soliloquized. "A mystery! I +confess I cannot understand him." + +A little later the master of Fair Oaks passed for the last time +down the winding, oak-lined avenue, followed by the guests of the +place and by a small concourse of friends, whose sorrow, though +unexpressed by outward signs of mourning, was, in reality, the more +sincere. + +Mrs. LaGrange, who, as housekeeper, had remained at Fair Oaks, +seemed, as the last carriage disappeared from view, to be on the +verge of collapse from nervous prostration. No one knew the mental +excitement or the terrible nervous strain which she had undergone +during those last few days. Many at the funeral had noted her +extreme pallor, but no one dreamed of the tremendous will power +by which she had maintained her customary haughty bearing. When +all had gone, she rose and attempted to go to her room, but in the +hall she staggered helplessly and, with a low moan, sank unconscious +to the floor. The screams of the chambermaid, who had seen her +fall, summoned to her assistance the other servants, who carried +her to her room, where she slowly regained consciousness, opening +her eyes with an expression of terror, then closing them again with +a shudder. Suddenly she seemed to recall her surroundings; with a +great effort she rallied and dismissed the servants, with the +exception of the chambermaid, saying, "It was nothing, only a little +faintness caused by the heat. The room was insufferably close. Say +nothing of this to the others when they return." + +With Katie's assistance, she exchanged her heavy dress for a light +wrapper of creamy silk, and soon seemed herself again except for +her unusual pallor. + +"That will do, Katie; I shall not need you further. By the way, +did Walter go with the others, or did he remain at home?" + +"Mr. Walter is in his room, ma'am; and I heard Hardy say that he +was packing up his clothes and things." + +Mrs. LaGrange betrayed no surprise, no emotion of any kind. "Say +to him that I would like to see him in my room at once." + +The girl disappeared, leaving Mrs. LaGrange to her own reflections, +which seemed anything but pleasant. The look of terror returned +to her face; she clinched her hands until the jewels cut deeply into +the white fingers; then, springing to her feet, she paced the room +wildly until she heard the footsteps of her son approaching, when +she instantly assumed her usual composure. + +Walter LaGrange had left Fair Oaks immediately at the close of the +inquest, and had not returned except to be present at the funeral, +and even there his sullen appearance had caused general remark. +Very little love had ever existed between mother and son, for neither +had a nature capable of deep affection, but never until now had there +been any open rupture between them. Though closely resembling each +other, he lacked her ability to plan and execute, and had hitherto +been content to follow her counsels. But, as he now entered his +mother's room, a glance revealed to her that her authority and +influence over him were past. + +"You sent for me, I believe. What do you want?" he asked, as she +looked at him without speaking. + +"Do you consider your conduct becoming towards a mother who is +risking everything for you and your interests?" + +"Oh, my interests be hanged," he exclaimed, petulantly. "I don't +see that you've accomplished much for my interests with all your +scheming. A week ago I could hold up my head with any of the +fellows. I was supposed to be a relative of Hugh Mainwaring's, +with good prospects, and that I would come in for a good round +sum whenever the old fellow made his will,--just as I did. Now +that's gone, and everything's gone; I haven't even a name left!" + +"Walter LaGrange, what do you mean? Do you dare insinuate to your +own mother-" + +"Why don't you call me Walter Mainwaring?" he sneered. "As to +insinuations, I have to hear plenty of 'em. Last night I was +black-balled at one of the clubs where my name had been presented +for membership, and a lot of the fellows have cut me dead." + +"Walter, listen to me. You are Hugh Mainwaring's son and I was +his wife. I will yet compel people to recognize us as such; but +you must--" + +"Tell me one thing," he demanded, interrupting her. "If I was Hugh +Mainwaring's son, why have I not borne his name? Why did he not +recognize me as such? I'll claim no man for my father who would +not acknowledge me as his son." + +Then, before she could reply, he added, "If you were the wife of +Hugh Mainwaring, what was the meaning of your proposal of marriage +to him less than three months ago?" + +She grew deathly pale; but he, seeming to enjoy the situation, +repeated, sneeringly, "Less than three months ago, the night on +which he gave you the necklace which you commissioned me to sell +the other day! You urged your suit with a vengeance, too, I +remember, for you threatened to ruin him if he did not come to +your terms. + +"I only laughed then, for I thought 'twas another scheme of yours +to get a tighter hold on the old man's purse-strings. It's nothing +to me what your object was, but in view of the fact that I happened +to overhear that little episode, it might be just as well not to +try to tell me that I am Hugh Mainwaring's son. You will naturally +see that I am not likely to be interested in helping carry out that +little farce!" + +Still controlling herself by a tremendous will power, the wretched +woman made one more desperate effort. In low tones she replied,-- + +"You show your base ingratitude by thus insulting your mother and +running the risk of betraying her to listening servants by your +talk. Of course, this is all a farce, as you say, but it must be +carried through. You and I were distantly related to Hugh +Mainwaring, but what chance would we have against these people with +no more of a claim than ours? I am compelled to assert that I was +his wife and that you are his son in order to win any recognition +in the eyes of the law." + +For an instant her son regarded her with an expression of mingled +surprise and incredulity, then the sneer returned, and, turning to +leave the room, he answered, carelessly,-- + +"You can tell your little story to other people, and when you have +won a fortune on it, why, I'll be around for my share, as, whatever +my doubts in other directions, I have not the slightest doubt that +you are my mother, and therefore bound to support me. But, for the +present, if you please, I'll go by the old name of LaGrange. It's +a name that suits me very well yet, even though," and a strange look +flashed at her from his dark eyes, "even though it may be only a +borrowed one," and the door closed, for the last time, between +mother and son. + +A low moan escaped from the lips of the unhappy woman. "My son--the +only living being of my flesh and blood--even he has turned +against me!" Too proud to recall him, however, she sank exhausted +upon a couch, and, burying her face in her hands, wept bitterly for +the first and only time in her remembrance. + +Meanwhile, the guests of Fair Oaks, having returned from the funeral, +had assembled in the large library below, and were engaged in +animated discussion regarding the disposition to be made of the +property. Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, with pencils and paper, +were computing stocks and bonds, and estimating how much of a margin +would be left after the purchase of the old Mainwaring estate, which +they had heard could be bought at a comparatively low figure, the +present owner being somewhat embarrassed financially; while Mrs. +Mainwaring was making a careful inventory of the furniture, paintings, +and bric-a-brac at Fair Oaks, with a view of ascertaining whether +there were any articles which she would care to retain for their +future home. + +Mr. Whitney, who, as a bachelor and an intimate friend of Hugh +Mainwaring's, as well as his legal adviser, had perhaps more than +any one else enjoyed the hospitality of his beautiful suburban home, +found the conversation extremely distasteful, and, having furnished +whatever information was desired, excused himself and left the room. +As he sauntered out upon the broad veranda, he was surprised to see +Miss Carleton, who had made her escape through one of the long +windows, and who looked decidedly bored. + +"It's perfectly beastly! Don't you think so?" she exclaimed, +looking frankly into his face, as if sure of sympathy. + +She had so nearly expressed his own feelings that he flushed +slightly, as he replied, with a smile, "It looks rather peculiar to +an outsider, but I suppose it is only natural." + +"It is natural for them," she replied, with emphasis. + +"I did not intend to be personal; I meant human nature generally." + +"I have too much respect for human nature generally to believe it +as selfish and as mercenary as that. I have learned one lesson, +however. I will never leave my property to my friends, hoping by +so doing to be held in loving remembrance. It would be the surest +way to make them forget me." + +"Has your experience of the last few days made you so cynical as +that?" the attorney inquired, again smiling into the bright, fair +face beside him. + +"It is not cynicism, Mr. Whitney; it is the plain truth. I have +always known that the Mainwarings as a family were mercenary; but I +confess I had no idea, until within the last few days, that they +were capable of such beastly ingratitude." + +"Do you mean to say that it is a trait of the entire Mainwaring +family, or only of this branch in particular?" he inquired, somewhat +amused. + +"All the Mainwarings are noted for their worship of the golden god," +she replied, with a low musical laugh; "but Ralph Mainwaring's love +of money is almost a monomania. He has planned and schemed to get +that old piece of English property into his hands for years and +years, in fact, ever since it was willed to Hugh Mainwaring at the +time his brother was disinherited, and the name he gave to his son +was the first stone laid to pave the way to this coveted fortune." + +"I see. Pardon me, Miss Carleton; but you just now alluded to Hugh +Mainwaring's brother. I remember some mention was made at the +inquest of a brother, but I supposed it must be an error. Had he +really a brother?" + +"Ah, yes, an elder brother; and he must have been less avaricious +than the rest of them, as he sacrificed a fortune for love. It was +quite a little romance, you know. He and his brother Hugh were +both in love with the same lady. The father did not approve, and +gave his sons their choice between love without a fortune or a +fortune without love. Hugh Mainwaring chose the latter, but Harold, +the elder, was true to his lady, and was consequently disinherited." + +"Poor Hugh Mainwaring!" commented the attorney; "he made his choice +for life of a fortune without love, and a sad life it was, too!" + +Miss Carleton glanced up with quick sympathy. "Yes, it seemed to +me his life must have been rather lonely and sad." + +There was a pause, and she added, "And did he never speak to you, +his intimate friend, of his brother?" + +"Never." + +"Strange! Perhaps he was like the others, after all, and thought +of nothing but money." + +"No, I cannot believe that of Hugh Mainwaring," the attorney replied, +loyally; then added, "What became of the brother, Miss Carleton?" + +"He was lost at sea. He had started for Africa, to make a fortune +for himself, but the boat was wrecked in a storm and every one on +board was lost." + +"And his family, what of them?" queried the attorney. + +"He had no children, and no one ever knew what became of his wife. +The Mainwarings are a very prosaic family; that is the only bit of +romance in their history; but I always enjoyed that, except that +it ended so sadly, and I always admired Harold Mainwaring. I would +like to meet such a man as he." + +"Why, I should say there was a romance in progress at present in +the Mainwaring family," said Mr. Whitney, smiling. + +"What! Hugh and Edith Thornton?" She laughed again, a wonderfully +musical, rippling laugh, the attorney thought. "Oh, there is no +more romance there than there is in that marble," and she pointed +to a beautiful Cupid and Psyche embracing each other in the centre +of a mass of brilliant geraniums and coleas. "They have been +engaged ever since their days of long dresses and highchairs,--another +of Ralph Mainwaring's schemes! You know Edith is Hugh's +cousin, an only child, and her father is immensely rich! Oh, no; if +I ever have a romance of my own, it must spring right up +spontaneously, and grow in spite of all opposition. Not one of the +sort that has been fostered in a hot-house until its life is nearly +stifled out of it." + +Mr. Whitney glanced in admiration at the fair English face beside +him glowing with physical and intellectual beauty. Then a moment +later, as they passed down the long hall in response to the summons +to dinner, and he caught a glimpse, in one of the mirrors, of a +tolerably good-looking, professional gentleman of nearly forty, he +wondered why he suddenly felt so much older than ever before. + +Miss Carleton was seated beside him at dinner, while nearly opposite +was Harry Scott, conversing with young Mainwaring. He was quietly +but elegantly dressed, and his fine physique and noble bearing, as +well as the striking beauty of his dark face, seemed more marked +than usual. Mr. Whitney watched the young secretary narrowly. +Something in the play of his features seemed half familiar, and yet +gave him a strange sense of pain, but why, he could not determine. + +"Mr. Whitney," said Miss Carleton, in a low tone, "did you ever +observe a resemblance at times between Mr. Scott and your friend, +Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +The attorney looked up in surprise. "Why, no, Miss Carleton, I +would not think a resemblance possible. Mr. Scott is much darker +and his features are altogether different." + +"Oh, I did not refer to any resemblance of feature or complexion, +but his manner, and sometimes his expression, strikes me as very +similar. I suppose because he was associated with him so much, +you know." + +Mr. Whitney's eyes again wandered to the face of the secretary. He +started involuntarily. "By George!" he ejaculated, mentally, "Hugh +Mainwaring, as sure as I live! Not a feature like him, but the same +expression. What does it mean? Can it be simply from association?" + +In a state of great bewilderment he endeavored still to entertain +Miss Carleton, though it is to be feared she found him rather +absent-minded. He was passing out of the dining-room in a brown +study when some one touched his arm. He turned and saw Merrick. + +"When you are at liberty, come out to the grove," the latter said, +briefly, and was gone before the attorney could more than bow in +reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE + + +Half an hour later, having excused himself to Miss Carleton, Mr. +Whitney hastened to the grove, where he found the detective +sauntering up and down the winding walk, his hands behind him in a +reflective mood, absorbed in thought and in the enjoyment of a fine +cigar. He nodded pleasantly as the attorney approached. + +"Going to be at liberty for some time?" he inquired, at the same +time extending his cigar-case. + +"Yes, for any length of time you please; it's a relief to get away +from those egotists." + +"H'm!" said Merrick, as he returned the cigar-case to his pocket +after the attorney had helped himself; "I didn't think that you +looked particularly anxious to be relieved of your company when I +saw you. I really felt considerable delicacy about speaking as I +did." + +"Oh, to the deuce with your nonsense!" the attorney replied, his +cheek flushing as he lighted his cigar. "If you had listened to +the twaddle that I have all day, you would be glad to talk to almost +any one for a change." + +"In that event, perhaps you won't mind talking to me for a while. +Well, suppose we go down to the stables, to the coachman's room; he +is probably with his best girl by this time, and we will be safe +from interruption or eavesdroppers." + +"That suits me all right so long as Ralph Mainwaring doesn't think +of looking for me there. That man makes me exceedingly weary!" + +"Anxious to secure the property according to the terms of that will, +I suppose." + +"Anxious! He is perfectly insane on the subject; he can't talk of +anything else, and he'll move heaven and earth to accomplish it, +too, if necessary." + +"Don't anticipate any difficulty, do you?" + +"None whatever, unless from that woman; there's no knowing to what +she may resort. It will only be necessary to prove that the will, +if not in existence at the death of the testator, was fraudulently +destroyed prior thereto, and I think we have a pretty clear case. +By George, Merrick!" suddenly exclaimed the attorney in a different +tone, as he paused on the way to the stables. "I hadn't thought of +it before, but there's one thing ought to be done; we should have +this lake dragged at once." + +Merrick raised his eyebrows in mute inquiry. + +"To find whatever Brown threw in there, you know; it might furnish +us with an almighty important clue." + +"H'm! might be a good idea," Merrick remarked, thoughtfully. + +"Of course it would! I tell you, Merrick, I was cut out for a +detective myself, and I'm pretty good for an amateur, now." + +"Haven't a doubt of it," was the quiet response, and the pair resumed +their walk. Both were soon comfortably seated in the coachman's +room, their chairs tilted at just the right angle before a large +double window, facing the sunset. Both smoked in silence for a few +moments, each waiting for the other to speak. + +"Well, my friend, what do you know?" inquired the detective, while +he watched the delicate spirals of blue smoke as they diffused +themselves in the golden haze of the sunlight. + +"Just what I was about to ask you," said his companion. + +"Oh, time enough for that later. You have been looking into this +case, and, as you are a born detective, I naturally would like to +compare notes with you." + +Mr. Whitney glanced sharply at the detective, as though suspicious +of some sarcasm lurking in those words, but the serious face of +the latter reassured him, and he replied,-- + +"Well, I've not had much experience in that line, but I've made +quite a study of character, and can tell pretty correctly what a +person of such and such evident characteristics will do under such +and such conditions. As I have already stated to you, I know, both +from observation and from hints dropped by Hugh Mainwaring, that if +ever a dangerous woman existed,--artful, designing, absolutely +devoid of the first principles of truth, honor, or virtue,--that +woman is Mrs. LaGrange. I know that Mainwaring stood in fear of +her to a certain extent, and that she was constantly seeking, by +threats, to compel him to either marry her or secure the property +to her and her son and I also know that he was anxious to have the +will drawn in favor of his namesake as quickly and as secretly as +possible. + +"Now, knowing all these circumstances, what is more reasonable than +to suppose that she, learning in some way of his intentions, would +resort to desperate measures to thwart them? Her first impulse +would be to destroy the will; then to make one final effort to +bring him, by threats, to her terms, and, failing in that, her fury +would know no bounds. Now, what does she do? Sends for Hobson, the +one man whom Hugh Mainwaring feared, who knew his secret and stood +ready to betray it. Between them the plot was formed. They have +another interview in the evening, to which Hobson brings one of his +coadjutors, the two coming by different ways like the vile +conspirators they were, and in all probability, when Hugh Mainwaring +bade his guests good-night, every detail of his death was planned +and ready to be carried into execution in the event of his refusing +to comply with that woman's demands made by herself, personally, +and later, through Hobson. We know, from the darkey's testimony, +that Hobson and his companion appeared in the doorway together; that +the man suddenly vanished--probably concealing himself in the +shrubbery--as Hobson went back into the house; that a few moments +later, the latter reappeared with Mrs. LaGrange; and the darkey +tells me that he, supposing all was right, slunk away in the bushes +and left them standing there. We know that the valet, going up +stairs a while after, found Mrs. LaGrange in the private library, +and at the same time detected the smell of burning paper. You +found the burnt fragments of the will in the grate in the tower-room. + +"Now, to my mind, it is perfectly clear that Mrs. LaGrange and +Hobson proceeded together to the library and tower-room, where they +first destroyed the will, and where she secreted him to await the +result of her interview with Mainwaring, at the same time providing +him with the private keys by which he could effect his escape, and +with Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver with which the terrible deed was +done. Later, finding that Mainwaring would not accede to her +demands, I believe she left that room knowing to a certainty what +his fate would be in case Hobson could not succeed in making terms +with him, and I believe her object in coming down the corridor +afterwards was simply to ascertain that her plans were being carried +into execution. Now there is my theory of this whole affair; what +do you think of it?" + +"Very ingeniously put together! What about the jewels? Do you +think Hobson took them?" + +"No. I think Mrs. LaGrange got possession of them in some way. She +has no means of her own to hire that scoundrel, yet the darkey heard +her promise to pay him liberally, and you see her very first attempt +to pay him was by the sale of some of those jewels. I'll acknowledge +I'm not prepared to say how or when she secured them." + +"Could she open the safe?" + +"That I cannot say. Mainwaring told me, some months ego, that he +found her one day attempting to open it, and he immediately changed +the combination. Whether she had discovered the new combination, I +am unable to say; but she is a deep woman, and usually finds some way +of accomplishing her designs." + +"Brown, the coachman, seems to have no place in this theory of +yours." + +"Well, of course we none of us thought of him in connection with +this affair until since his sudden disappearance yesterday, but I +am inclined to think that he is to be regarded in the light of an +accessory after the fact. I think it very probable that Mrs. +LaGrange has employed him since the murder to assist her in +concealing evidences of the crime, and that is why I suggested +dragging the lake in search of what may be hidden there; but, +according to his own story, he was in the city that night until +some time after the murder was committed." + +"Yes, according to his own story, but in reality he did not go to +the city at all that night. More than that, he was seen in this +vicinity about midnight with a couple of suspicious looking +characters." + +"By George! when did you learn that?" + +"I knew it when Brown gave his testimony at the inquest." + +"The deuce you did! and then let the rascal give you the slip, +after all!" + +"Don't give yourself any anxiety on that score; I can produce Brown +any hour he's wanted. One of my subordinates has his eye on him +day and night. At last reports, he and Brown were occupying the +same room in a third-class lodging house; I'll wager they're having +a game of cards together this evening." + +"Well, well! you have stolen a march on us. But, if I may ask, why +don't you bag your game?" + +"I am using him as a decoy for larger game. Whatever Brown is mixed +up in, he is only a tool in the hands of older and shrewder rascals." + +Before the attorney could say anything further, Merrick rose abruptly +and stepped to a table near by, returning with a package. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, removing the wrappings and +holding up the rusty, metallic box. + +"Great heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney, springing forward excitedly. +"Why, man alive, you don't mean to say that you have found the jewels!" + +"No such good fortune as that yet," the detective answered quietly, +"only the empty casket;" and having opened the box, he handed it to +the attorney. + +"Where did you find this?" the latter inquired. + +"Fished it out of the lake." + +"Ah-h! I should like to know when." + +"While you were snoring this morning." + +"Great Scott! They'll catch a weasel asleep when they find you +napping! But, by George! this rather confirms my theory about that +woman getting possession of the jewels and hiring Brown to help her, +doesn't it?" + +Without replying, Merrick handed over the revolver which had been +brought to light that morning. + +"Where did you get this rusty thing? Was it in the lake, also?" + +The detective nodded affirmatively, and Mr. Whitney examined the +weapon in some perplexity. + +"Well, I must say," he remarked at length, "I don't see what +connection this has with the case. The shooting was done with +Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver; that was settled at the inquest-" + +"Pardon me! It was only 'settled' that the revolver found lying +beside him was his own." + +The attorney stared as Merrick continued, at the same time producing +from his pocket the revolver in question, "This, as you are +doubtless aware, is a Smith and Wesson, 32 calibre, while that," +pointing to the rusty weapon in Mr. Whitney's hands, "is an old +Colt's revolver, a 38. On the morning of the murder, after you and +the coroner had gone, I found the bullet for which we had searched +unsuccessfully, and from that hour to this I have known, what before +I had suspected, that this dainty little weapon of Mr. Mainwaring's +played no part in the shooting. Here is the bullet, you can see for +yourself." + +Mr. Whitney gazed in silent astonishment as the detective compared +the bullet with the two weapons, showing conclusively that it could +never have been discharged from the familiar 32-calibre revolver. + +"Well, I'll be blessed if I can see what in the dickens that +revolver of Mainwaring's had to do with the affair, anyway!" + +"Very easily explained when you once take into consideration the +fact that the whole thing was an elaborately arranged plan, on the +part of the murderer, to give the affair an appearance of suicide. +One glance at the murdered man convinced me that the wound had +never been produced by the weapon lying at his side. That clue +led to others, and when I left that room with you, to attend the +inquest, I knew that Hugh Mainwaring had been shot with a 38-calibre +revolver, in his library, near the centre of the room, and that the +body had afterwards been so arranged in the tower-room as to give +the appearance of his having deliberately shot himself beside his +desk and with his own revolver." + +"By George! I believe you're right," said the attorney; "and I +recall now your statement that day, that the shooting had occurred +in the library; I wondered then what reason you had for such an +opinion." + +"A small stain on the library carpet and the bullet told me that +much. Another thing, which at first puzzled me, was the marked +absence of blood-stains. There was a small pool of blood underneath +the head, a slight stain on the carpet in the adjoining room, but +none on the clothing or elsewhere. The solution to this I found +on further investigation. The wound had been firmly and skillfully +bandaged by an expert hand, the imprint of the bandage being +plainly visible in the hair on the temples. Here is the proof that +I was correct," and Merrick held up to the attorney's astonished +view the stained and knotted handkerchief. "This, with the private +keys belonging to Mr. Mainwaring's library, was in that box at the +bottom of the lake. Do you consider Mrs. LaGrange or Hobson capable +of planning and carrying out an affair so adroitly as that?" + +"You've got me floored," the attorney answered, gazing at the proofs +before him. "Hobson I know nothing about; but that woman I believe +could scheme to beat the very devil himself; and yet, Merrick, when +you think of it, it must have taken time--considerable time--to +plan a thing like that." + +"Or else," Merrick suggested, "it was the performance of an expert +criminal; no bungling, no work of a green hand." + +Mr. Whitney started slightly, but the detective continued. "Another +point: Hobson, as you say, was the one man whom Hugh Mainwaring +feared and who evidently had some hold upon him; would he then have +dared denounce him as a liar and an impostor? Would not his use of +such terms imply that he was addressing one whom he considered a +stranger and unacquainted with the facts in the case?" + +"I see," the attorney replied quickly; "you have in mind Hobson's +accomplice, the tall man with dark glasses." + +Merrick smiled. "You are then inclined to the opinion that J. Henry +Carruthers, who called in the afternoon, is identical with the +so-called Jack Carroll who accompanied Hobson in the evening?" + +"Certainly that is a reasonable supposition. The descriptions of +the two men agree remarkably, and the darkey was positive, both in +his testimony at the inquest and in conversation with me, that they +were one and the same person." + +"Their general appearance seems to have been much the same, but +their conduct and actions were totally unlike. Carruthers acted +fearlessly, with no attempt at concealment; while, if you will stop +to think of it, of all the witnesses who tried to give a description +of Carroll, not one had seen his face. He always remained in the +background, as much concealed as possible." + +"I don't deny that you are correct," the attorney said musingly; +"and they may have been two distinct individuals, Carroll evidently +being the guilty party; but even in that event, in my opinion, he +was only carrying out with a skillful hand the plans already arranged +by that woman and Hobson." + +"Whatever part Carroll took in the affair, he was undoubtedly +Hobson's agent; and you will find that Hobson and Mrs. LaGrange have +been more intimately associated and for a much longer time than you +suspect," and Merrick repeated what he had overheard of the interview +in Mrs. LaGrange's parlor, just after the close of the inquest. + +Mr. Whitney listened with deep interest. "Well, well! And you +heard her accuse him of being an accessory? Of course she referred +to the murder. By George! I should have wanted them arrested on +the spot!" + +After a slight pause, he continued. "There's one thing, Merrick, +in the conduct of Carruthers which I don't understand. Why, after +telling the secretary that he would remain at the Arlington for the +next two or three days, should he return to the city the next morning +on the 3.10 train?" + +"He seems to have been an impulsive man, who acted on the spur of +the moment," Merrick answered; "but the strangest part of that is, +that he did not return to the city at all. He bought a ticket for +New York, but the conductor informs me there was no such man on +board; while the north-bound train, which pulls out about five +minutes later, had a passenger answering exactly to his description. +The conductor on the latter train also informed me that, just as +they were pulling out of the station, a man, tall and dark, rather +good-looking, he should judge, though he could not see his face, and +wearing a long, light overcoat, sprang aboard, decidedly winded, as +though from running, and immediately steered for the darkest corner +of the smoking-car, where he sat with his hat well drawn down over +his face." + +"Carroll again, by George!" exclaimed the attorney. + +"Here is a problem for you to solve," Merrick continued, pointing +to the revolver and box lying side by side. "You think Brown threw +those in the lake. Who was the man that Brown saw standing beside +the lake just before three o'clock in the morning, and what was he +doing? He was tall and dark, and wore a long coat or ulster. Was +that Carroll or Carruthers? Did he throw anything into the lake? +And if so, what?" + +Mr. Whitney gazed dubiously at the detective for a moment, then +began to whistle softly, while he slowly shook his head. + +"No, Merrick; you've got me there! I never have had enough +experience in this line that I could go into the detail work. I +have to be guided by the main points in the case. Then, again, I +gave Brown's testimony very little thought, as I considered him +unreliable and irresponsible." + +"Well, to come back to the 'main points,' then: what reasons have +you for connecting Mrs. LaGrange and Hobson with this affair that +might not apply equally well in the cases of certain other people?" + +"What reason? Why, man alive! there is every reason to consider +Mrs. LaGrange the instigator of the whole affair. In the first +place, her one object and aim for the past seventeen or eighteen +years has been to get hold of Hugh Mainwaring's property, to secure +for herself and her son what she calls their 'rights'--" + +"That is the point," Merrick interrupted. "You consider her guilty +because she would be interested in securing a hold upon the property, +although she, personally, has no claim whatever. Has it never +occurred to you that there might be others more deeply interested +than she, inasmuch as they have valid claims, being the rightful +heirs?" + +"I never thought of such a possibility," said the astonished +attorney; "and I don't know that I understand now to whom you refer." + +"I have learned from various reliable sources," the detective +replied, "that Ralph Mainwaring has a younger brother, Harold, who +is as much of a money-lover as himself, though too indolent to take +the same measures for acquiring it. He is a reckless, unprincipled +fellow, and having about run through his own property, I understand, +he has had great expectations regarding this American estate, +depending upon his share of the same to retrieve his wasted fortune. +I learned yesterday, by cable, that since the departure of Ralph +Mainwaring and his family for this country, his brother has been +missing, and it is supposed, among his associates in London, that +he took the next steamer for America, intending to assert his own +claims." + +"And you think--" the attorney interrupted, breathlessly; but +Merrick shook his head and continued,-- + +"I have also, in the course of my investigations, incidentally +discovered Hugh Mainwaring's secret, and, consequently, Hobson's +secret, only that I know the real facts in the case, which Hobson +does not know. You, as Mainwaring's friend, will not care to +learn the details, and I shall not speak of them now, but I will +say this much: there are probably in existence to-day, and perhaps +not very far distant, heirs to this property, having a claim +preceding not only that of Ralph Mainwaring or his son, but of +Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +There was silence for a few moments as the detective paused, Mr. +Whitney's surprise rendering him speechless; at last he said,-- + +"Well, you are a truthful fellow, Merrick, and you never jump at +conclusions, so I know your statements can be relied upon; but I'll +be blessed if I understand how or when you have gathered all this +information together. I suppose it would be useless to ask your +deductions from all this, but I wish you would answer one or two +questions. Do you think that this Harold Mainwaring, or those +possible heirs you mention, would put in an appearance personally, +or that they would work through agents and emissaries?" + +"Depends altogether upon circumstances. Harold Mainwaring would not +be likely to appear on the scene unless he were pretty effectually +disguised. As to the others,--if they were to assert their claim,--it +would be difficult to say just what course they might take. +I have made these statements merely to give you a hint of the +possibilities involved in the case. It is now getting rather late, +but I will give you one or two pointers to ruminate upon. Don't +think that Hobson will run any risks or put himself to any personal +inconvenience for Mrs. LaGrange. He is working first and foremost +for Richard Hobson, after that for whoever will pay him best. +Another thing, don't ever for a moment imagine that Hugh Mainwaring's +private secretary is looking for a job. It's my opinion he'll give +you fellows one of the hardest jobs you ever tackled; and, unless +I'm greatly mistaken, he's got brains enough and backing enough to +carry through whatever he undertakes." + +"Say! I don't know as I exactly catch your meaning; but that's one +thing I wanted to ask you. What do you think of that young man, +anyway? I can't make him out." + +"I noticed that you had not assigned him any place in that theory +of yours." + +"No; he's been a mystery to me, a perfect mystery; but this evening +a new idea has occurred to me, and I would like your judgment on it. +Has he ever reminded you of any one? That is, can you recall any +one whom he resembles?" + +"Well, I should say there was a marked resemblance. I've often +wondered where your eyes were that you had not seen it." + +"You have noticed it, then? Well, so have I; but it has puzzled me, +for, though the look was familiar, I was unable to recall whose it +was until to-night. Now that I have recalled it, that, taken in +connection with some other things I have observed, has led me to +wonder whether it were possible that he is a son of Hugh +Mainwaring's, of whose existence no one in this country has ever +known." + +"Hugh Mainwaring! I don't understand you." + +"Why, you just acknowledged you had noticed the resemblance between +them!" + +"I beg your pardon; but you must recollect that I have never seen +Hugh Mainwaring living, and have little idea how he looked." + +"By George! that's a fact. Well, then, who in the dickens do you +think he resembles?" + +The coachman's step was heard at that instant on the stairs, and +Merrick's reply was necessarily brief. + +"Laying aside expression, take feature for feature, and you have +the face of Mrs. LaGrange." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY + + +One of the first duties which the secretary was called upon to +perform, during his brief stay at Fair Oaks, was to make a copy of +the lost will. He still retained in his possession the stenographic +notes of the original document as it had been dictated by Hugh +Mainwaring on that last morning of his life, and it was but the +work of an hour or two to again transcribe them in his clear +chirography. + +Engaged in this work, he was seated at the large desk in the +tower-room, which had that morning been opened for use for the first +time since the death of its owner. He wrote rapidly, and the +document was nearly completed when Mr. Whitney and Ralph Mainwaring +together entered the adjoining room. + +"Egad!" he heard the latter exclaim, angrily, "if that blasted +scoundrel thinks he has any hold on me, or that he can keep me on +the rack as he did Hugh, he'll find he has made the biggest mistake +of his life. It is nothing but a blackmailing scheme, and I've more +than half a mind to sift the whole matter to the bottom and land +that beggarly impostor where he belongs." + +"I hardly know just what to advise under the circumstances," Mr. +Whitney answered, quietly, "for I, naturally, have some personal +feeling in this matter, and I am forced to believe, Mr. Mainwaring, +that there is something back of all this which neither you nor I +would care to have given publicity. But, laying aside that +consideration, I am of the opinion that it might not be to your +interest to push this matter too closely." + +"On what grounds, sir, do you base your opinion?" Mr. Mainwaring +demanded. + +The attorney's reply, however, was lost upon Scott, whose attention +had been suddenly arrested by the imprint of a peculiar signature +across one corner of the blotter upon which he was drying his work, +now completed. Instantly, oblivious to everything else, he +carefully examined the blotter. It was a large one, fastened to +the top of the desk, and had been in use but a comparatively short +time. It bore traces both of Hugh Mainwaring's writing and of +his own, but this name, standing out boldly on one corner, was +utterly unlike either. Nor did it resemble any of the signatures +attached to the will on that memorable day when the desk with its +paraphernalia had been last used. + +Considerably perplexed, Scott suddenly recalled a small pocket +mirror which he had seen in the desk. This he speedily found, and, +having placed it at the right angle, leaned over to get a view of +the name as it had been originally written. As he did so, he +caught sight of some faint lines above the signature which he had +not observed, but which were plainly visible in the mirror. It was +well for the secretary that he was alone, for, as he read the +signature with the words outlined above, he was spellbound. For a +moment he seemed almost paralyzed, unable to move. His brain +whirled, and, when he at last sank back in his chair, his face was +blanched and he felt giddy and faint from the discovery which he +had made. Gradually he became conscious of his surroundings. Again +he heard, as in a dream, the conversation in the adjoining room. +The attorney was speaking. + +"I do not at present feel at liberty to give the source of my +information, but I can assure you it is perfectly reliable, and my +informant would never have made such an assertion unless he had ample +authority to back it up." + +"I don't care a rap for your information or its source," the other +interrupted, impatiently. "The whole thing is simply preposterous. +The estate descended regularly to Hugh Mainwaring, and from him to +our own family as next of kin. You can see for yourself that to +talk of any other claimants having prior rights is an utter +absurdity." + +"Had not Hugh Mainwaring an elder brother?" + +"He had; but you must be aware that he died a great many years ago." + +"But had that elder brother no issue?" + +"None living," Mr. Mainwaring replied, coldly. Then added, in the +same tone, "Even had there been, that fact would have no bearing on +this case, Mr. Whitney. The entire estate was transferred to Hugh +Mainwaring by legal process before the death of his brother, he and +his heirs having been forever disinherited, so that it is the same +as though he had never existed." + +While he was speaking, the secretary entered the library, his pallor +and unusual expression attracting Mr. Whitney's attention. In +response to a glance of inquiry from the latter, however, he merely +said,-- + +"The copy is completed. You will find it on the desk," and passed +from the library into the hall. + +Still wondering at his appearance, Mr. Whitney proceeded to the +tower-room, and a moment later both gentlemen were absorbed in the +perusal of the duplicate of the lost will; but afterwards the +attorney recalled that, on taking the document from the desk, he +had noticed that the large blotter covering the top had been removed +and replaced by a new one. + +There was no perceptible change in Scott's appearance during the +remainder of the day, except that he seemed more than usually +thoughtful, sometimes to the verge of abstraction, but, in reality, +his mind was so preoccupied with endless doubts and surmises +regarding his recent discovery that he found it exceedingly difficult +to concentrate his attention upon the work required of him. That +afternoon, however, while engaged in looking through some important +documents belonging to Hugh Mainwaring, kept at the city offices, +a cablegram was handed him, addressed to himself personally, from +Barton & Barton, a well-known legal firm in London. The despatch +itself caused him little surprise, as he had been in correspondence +with this firm for more than a year; but the contents of the message +were altogether unexpected, and left him in a state of bewilderment. +It read,-- + +"Have you met J. Henry Carruthers, of London, supposed to have +sailed ten days since, or can you give us his whereabouts?" + +Fortunately, Scott was alone, Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney +being in the private offices, and he had plenty of opportunity to +recover from his surprise. For half an hour he revolved the +matter in his thoughts, wondering whether this had any bearing +upon the question which for the last few hours he had been trying +to solve. A little later he sent the following reply: + +"Person mentioned seen on 7th instant. No trace since. You have +my letter of 8th instant. Cable instructions." + +As the Mainwaring carriage appeared at the offices at four o'clock, +to convey the gentlemen to Fair Oaks, Mr. Whitney was surprised to +find the secretary still engaged at his desk. + +"If you will excuse me," the latter said, pleasantly, "I will not +go out to Fair Oaks this evening. I have some unfinished work here, +and I will remain in the city to-night." + +Upon entering the offices the next day, however, the attorney found +the following note addressed to himself: + +"Mr. WHITNEY. + +"DEAR SIR,--I regret to be compelled to inform you that you will +have to look for another assistant, as important business calls +me away for an indefinite period. Do not give yourself any +trouble concerning the salary which you kindly offered me. I am +not in need of it, and have only been too glad to render you the +little assistance within my power, knowing, as I do, that you have +no easy case on your hands. + +"Trusting we shall meet in the future, I am, with great esteem, + + "Very truly yours, + "H. SCOTT. + +As Mr. Whitney read and reread this note, the words of the detective +regarding the private secretary were recalled to his mind, and he +muttered,-- + +"Yes, Merrick was right. It is very evident the young man is not +'looking for a job;' but I'll be blessed if I know what to think +of him!" + +Upon Mr. Whitney's return to Fair Oaks, he found the guests assembled +on the veranda, overlooking the river, Mr. Merrick, who had just +returned from a few days' absence, being also included in the company. +There were many exclamations of surprise and considerable comment +when Mr. Whitney told of the sudden disappearance of the secretary. + +"Now, that is too bad!" cried Edith Thornton. "He was so +interesting, and we were all beginning to like him so much." + +"I don't know that any of us were so charmed with him as one might +be led to suppose from your remark, Edith," said Isabel Mainwaring, +with a disdainful glance towards the attorney, who had seated +himself beside Miss Carleton; "but here, almost any one will answer +for a diversion, and he was really quite entertaining." + +"It is not to be expected that you would see or appreciate his good +points," said her brother, with half a sneer; "but Scott is a fine +fellow and a gentleman, and I shall miss him awfully." + +Miss Carleton remained silent; but for some reason, unexplainable +to herself, she was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment and +injury. She would not admit to herself that she was troubled because +Scott had gone, it was the manner of his departure. Surely, after +the friendship and confidence she had shown him, he might at least +have sent some word of farewell, instead of leaving as he had, +apparently without a thought of her. However, she chatted graciously +with Mr. Whitney, though, all the while, a proud, dark face with +strangely beautiful eyes persistently forced itself before her mental +vision, nearly obliterating the smiling face of the attorney. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring was giving the detective his views on +the subject. + +"I, for one, am not sorry that he has followed the example of the +coachman and taken himself off. It is my opinion," he continued, +in impressive tones, "that we will yet find he had reasons for +leaving in this manner." + +"Undoubtedly!" Merrick replied, with equal emphasis. + +"Now, that's just where you're wrong, governor," said young +Mainwaring. "Scott is as good as gold. There is no sneak about +him, either; and if he had reasons for leaving as he has, they were +nothing to his discredit; you can stake your last shilling on that!" + +"Oh, I know he has pulled the wool over your eyes," said his father; +"but he has never tried his smooth games on me; he knows I can see +through him. I detest him. One of your typical American swells! +Just what one would expect to find in a country where a common clerk +is allowed to associate with gentlemen!" + +"But, begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring," the detective interposed, +quietly, "Mr. Scott is not an American. He has lived less than two +years in this country." + +A chorus of exclamations followed this statement. + +"Not an American! Then he must be an Englishman," cried Miss +Carleton, her sparkling eyes unconsciously betraying her pleasure at +the discovery. + +"Merrick, are you sure of that?" inquired Mr. Whitney, in +astonishment. + +"Certainly, or I would never have made the assertion I did." + +Ralph Mainwaring suddenly turned the conversation. "How about that +will business, Mr. Whitney? When will that come off?" + +"The petition was filed this afternoon, and will be granted a +hearing some time next week; I have not yet learned the day." + +"And then will you gentlemen be ready to start for home?" Mrs. +Mainwaring inquired, a touch of impatience in her voice. + +"Well, by my soul! I should say not," laughed Mr. Thornton, before +her husband could reply. "It will probably take a number of months, +my dear madam, to settle up this estate, even if there should be no +contest; and if the case is contested, it may drag on for years, eh, +Mr. Whitney?" + +"That will depend upon circumstances. A contest would, of course, +delay the case, perhaps for several months; but I am not aware of +any contestants with sufficient means for continuing it the length +of time you mention." + +"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring, addressing her husband; "do +you and Hugh intend to remain here all that time?" + +"Our stay will probably be somewhat indefinite," he replied, +evasively; "but that is no reason why you and the young ladies need +remain against your will." + +"Indeed! Why could you not have said as much before? Neither +Isabel nor I care to remain here a day longer than is necessary; +we have simply been awaiting your pleasure. Wilson, bring me the +morning papers; I want to see what boats are expected. We will +take the first steamer home. Mr. Thornton, will you and the young +ladies accompany us, or do you prefer to remain in exile a while +longer?" + +"Well," replied that gentleman, smiling genially, "speaking for +myself, I would more than half like to stay and see this thing +through; but the ladies are in the majority, and I will abide by +their decision. How is it, Edith? I suppose, as the novelists +say, you will be 'torn by conflicting emotions.'" + +"You horrid old papa! Of course, if auntie is going back, I shall +go with her. What do you say, Winifred?" + +"I have very little choice, one way or the other," Miss Carleton +replied, more quietly than was usual for her; "whatever you and +Uncle William decide, will suit me." + +"Ab, here are the papers!" said Mrs. Mainwaring, adjusting her +eye-glasses. "These dreadful American dailies!" she exclaimed, as +she scanned the pages; "one never knows where to find anything. Ah, +here it is, and just what we want! The 'Campania' sails Thursday, +at three o'clock. That will suit us exactly." + +"To-morrow! so soon!" exclaimed two or three voices. + +"Certainly," she replied, rising. "I shall have the maids begin +packing at once; and, Mr. Thornton, I shall instruct Wilson to +attend directly to your luggage, for you would never think of it +until within an hour of sailing." + +Her departure seemed the signal for the breaking up of the little +company. Mr. Whitney lingered a few moments at Miss Carleton's +side, with a few murmured words of regret that she was to leave so +soon, to which she listened courteously, though making little +response. After he had gone she remained standing where he had +left her, gazing dreamily out on the river and the distant bluffs. +Merrick, slowly sauntering up and down the veranda, had observed +the whole scene, and now watched the fair young face with a +suggestion of a smile in his kindly eyes. + +"H'm!" he soliloquized; "Whitney is a bigger fool than I've given +him credit for if he thinks he stands any show in that direction. +If I'm not mistaken, I know which way the wind blows, and it's +dollars to doughnuts she'll lose that far-away expression of hers +before she's been aboard the 'Campania' many hours. I'd like to be +aboard myself and watch the transformation scene." + +The attorney's voice here broke in upon his cogitations. + +"I say, Merrick, that was a regular bomb you threw at Mainwaring +with regard to young Scott! How did you discover he was an +Englishman?" + +"I very easily ascertained that he was not an American; that he was +of English descent followed as a matter of course. I am not sure +whether he is of English birth." + +"You seem to be keeping an eye on him." + +"It is my business just now to be posted regarding every one +associated with this place. I've been keeping an eye on you for +the last thirty minutes." + +The attorney colored, and hastily reverted to the original topic of +conversation. "Have you seen anything of him since he left us?" + +"Since his resignation of the salary as well as the position of +private 'secretary?" queried the detective, half to himself, with +a tone of amusement, which Mr. Whitney failed to comprehend. "Yes; +I met him to-day at the Murray Hill." + +"At the Murray Hill! Is he stopping there?" + +"He evidently was this morning. So was I. Possibly we were both +'stopping' on the same business; I cannot say." + +The detective's face was a study, as was also the attorney's. + +"I supposed," said the latter, after a short pause, "from the tenor +of his note, that he intended to leave the city at once." + +"Possibly he does," replied the other, enigmatically, and, having +consulted his watch, turned abruptly in another direction. + +"Say, what will you do about him? Shall you watch him?" Mr. +Whitney called after the vanishing figure. + +Merrick looked back over his shoulder with a peculiar smile. "I +shall not lose track of him," he said, slowly; "he is too +interesting." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MUTUAL SURPRISES + + +The Mainwaring party was among the latest arrivals at the pier on +the following day, owing to the dilatoriness of Mr. Thornton, Mrs. +Mainwaring's efforts to the contrary notwithstanding. At the last +moment he appeared, serenely and smilingly unconscious of that +lady's frowns of displeasure, to the infinite amusement of his +daughter, who whispered to Miss Carleton,-- + +"Poor papa! See how auntie glares at him, and he does not even +know it." + +But even Mrs. Mainwaring's facial muscles relaxed slightly at the +sight of the beautiful ocean greyhound lying in the harbor, her +flags waving and streamers fluttering in the breeze, awaiting only +the captain's orders to start on her homeward course. + +The decks were crowded with humanity, for the most part laughing +and chatting gayly and singing bits of song, though here and there +were sad, tear-stained faces, where long farewells, some of them +perhaps the last farewells, were being spoken. + +"Thank heaven, there'll be no tears shed on this occasion!" said +Isabel Mainwaring; "unless," she added, with a glance of scorn +towards Miss Carleton's escort, "Mr. Whitney should contribute a +few. I detest such vulgar demonstrations in public!" + +The attorney certainly did not look very cheerful, and even Miss +Carleton's sunny face was somewhat overcast, though why, it would +seem difficult to determine, since she seemed to have no regrets +at leaving America. + +"Mercy me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mainwaring, "what a dreadful crowd! It +is far worse than when we came over. Hugh, I wonder if your father +examined the ship's list. I particularly requested him to do so. +I wished to ascertain whether there would be any friends of ours on +board. One does not care to make acquaintances promiscuously, you +know." + +"I don't think the governor investigated the subject very +thoroughly," young Mainwaring replied, with a laugh. "I noticed +when we registered there were three or four pages of names preceding +ours, and I don't think he gave the matter much attention. If I had +time I would look it up for you, mother, but we must go ashore in +a few moments." + +"If I am not mistaken, my dear lady," said Mr. Thornton, who had +overheard the conversation, "you will have little time or inclination +for looking up acquaintances on this trip." + +"May I ask why?" Mrs. Mainwaring demanded. + +"I think," he replied, maliciously, "that you and Isabel will be too +much occupied in cultivating the acquaintance of mal de mer to care +for your best friends." + +"How's that, Thornton? Think it will be rough?" inquired Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"The captain tells me the wind is freshening every moment, and we'll +have a decidedly choppy sea before night. I'm thinking we'll have a +nasty trip." + +"In that case, perhaps mamma and I will not be the only victims," +said Isabel Mainwaring. + +"I fear not," responded Mr. Thornton. "Were it not or my inherent +chivalry, I should turn back; but I cannot leave you ladies to meet +your fate alone." + +Amid the general confusion of leave-taking, Mr. Whitney turned +towards Miss Carleton, saying in a low tone, as he took her hand,-- + +"I have received cordial invitations both from yourself and Mr. +Thornton to visit your home, and I feel assured of a welcome should +I accept your courtesy; but, pardon me, Miss Carleton, if, after so +brief an acquaintance as ours, I inquire whether I might ever hope +for a welcome from you other than that of a friend?" + +The beautiful brown eyes met his own frankly, but all the laughter +and sunshine had gone out of them. They were serious and had almost +a look of pain. + +"I am sorry, Mr. Whitney," she said, simply; "but it would be very +unjust if I led you to hope that I could ever regard you other than +as an esteemed friend." + +"Pardon me for troubling you," he said, gently. "Believe me always +your friend, and forget that I ever asked for more than friendship," +and, releasing her hand, he passed on to the others. + +The final adieus were spoken; Ralph Mainwaring and his son, +accompanied by the attorney, went ashore; and Miss Carleton, not +caring just then to meet the curious glances of her companions, +walked slowly towards the forward part of the deck. She had gone +but a few steps, however, when she caught sight of the familiar +figure of Mr. Merrick at a little distance, in conversation with a +tall, slender man, with dark, piercing eyes. He was speaking +rapidly in low tones, but his usually non-committal face wore an +expression of unmistakable satisfaction. Suddenly he turned and +walked swiftly in Miss Carleton's direction. Their eyes met, and +in response to her glance of recognition he quickly crossed to +where she was standing. + +"I have but a few seconds left, Miss Carleton," he said, a genial +smile lighting up his face; "but I am glad of an opportunity to +wish you a pleasant trip. Are you a good sailor?" + +"I hardly know," she answered. "I have had so little experience on +the sea. Why? Shall we have a stormy passage, do you think?" + +"Nothing dangerous; a little rough, perhaps; but with congenial +company, such as I trust you will find," and his eyes gleamed with +kindly merriment, "you will hardly mind that. Good-by, Miss +Carleton; bon voyage; and if I can ever in any way serve you as a +friend, do not fail to command me," and before she could reply he +had vanished in the crowd. She looked in vain for any trace of +him; then turning to glance at his companion of a moment before, +discovered that he had disappeared also. + +A moment later the great ocean liner glided majestically out from +the harbor amid prolonged cheers and a final flutter of farewells; +but she was well out upon the tossing waves ere Miss Carleton turned +from watching the receding shore to join her friends, as yet having +found no solution of the problem perplexing her, nor even the +meaning which she felt must be concealed in the words of the +detective. + +They had not been out many hours before it became evident that Mr. +Thornton's unfavorable predictions regarding their journey were +likely to be fulfilled. The sea was decidedly "choppy" and the +motion of the boat anything but exhilarating. + +When the hour for dinner arrived, Mr. Thornton, his daughter, and +Miss Carleton were the only members of their party to venture forth +to the dining-saloon, the others preferring to have a light repast +served in their own apartments. The captain, having discovered in +Mr. Thornton an old-time friend, had ordered seats for him and his +party at his own table, and the young ladies, finding their appetites +rather an uncertain quantity, had plenty of opportunity for observing +their fellow-passengers, particularly an Anglomaniac of the most +pronounced type, in the person of a callow youth seated opposite +them, whose monocle, exaggerated collar, and affected drawl afforded +them considerable amusement. + +"Winifred," said Miss Thornton, as they were leaving the +dining-saloon, "do you see that young Englishman at the farther +table?" + +Her cousin glanced carelessly in the direction indicated, noting the +fine, athletic figure seated, back towards them, at some distance, +attired in heavy English tweed. + +"Yes. What of him?" + +"Nothing in particular; only the sight of him is such a relief, you +know, after that wretched caricature at our table." + +"Poor little harmless dudelet!" mused Winifred, with a smile; "his +self-complacency will be short-lived whenever he meets Isabel. She +will simply annihilate him with one of those glances of hers!" + +At Miss Carleton's suggestion, they went on deck; but Edith grew so +rapidly ill that her cousin assisted her below to their own elegant +suite of apartments, which adjoined, on one side, those occupied by +Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, while on the other was comfortable +state-room belonging to Mrs. Hogarth. + +Finding Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel already reduced to a state of +abject helplessness which required the attendance of both maids as +well as of the stewardess, Miss Carleton left Edith in Mrs. Hogarth's +care, and, wrapping herself warmly, again went on deck. The wind was +increasing and she found the decks nearly deserted, but the solitude +and the storm suited her mood just then, and, wrapping her rug +closely about her, she seated herself in a comparatively sheltered +place, alone with her own thoughts. + +As she recalled the parting interview with Mr. Whitney, another face +seemed to flash before her vision, and a half-formed query, which +had been persistently haunting her for the last few hours, now took +definite shape and demanded a reply. What would have been the result +if that other, instead of leaving without one word of farewell, had +asked for the hope of something better and deeper than friendship? +What would her answer have been? Even in the friendly shadow of the +deepening twilight she shrank from facing the truth gradually forcing +itself upon her. + +A solitary figure pacing the deck aroused her from her revery. As +he approached she recognized the young Englishman of whom Edith had +spoken. Dressed in warm jacket, with cap well pulled down over his +eyes and hands clasped behind him, he strode the rolling deck with +step as firm and free as though walking the streets of his native +city. She watched him with admiration, till something in his +carriage reminded her of the young secretary at Fair Oaks, and in +the sudden thrill of pleasure produced by that reminder there was +revealed to her inner consciousness a confirmation of the truth she +sought to evade. + +She watched the retreating figure with flashing eyes and burning +cheeks. "It is not true!" she exclaimed, to herself, passionately. +"I do not care for him! It was only a fancy, a foolish infatuation, +of which, thank heaven, neither he nor any one else shall ever know." + +But the monarch who had taken possession of her heart, call him by +what name she chose, was not to be so easily dethroned. + +Meanwhile, the young English stranger passed and repassed, unconscious +of the figure in the shadow, unconscious of the aversion with which +one of his countrywomen regarded him because of his resemblance to +another. He, too, was vainly seeking the solution of problems which +baffled him at every turn, and waging an ineffectual warfare against +the invisible but potent sovereign--Love. + +All that night the storm raged with increasing fury, and morning +found the entire Mainwaring party "on the retired list," as Miss +Carleton expressed it. She herself was the last to succumb, but +finally forced to an ignominious surrender, she submitted to the +inevitable with as good grace as possible, only stipulating that +she be left entirely to herself. + +Towards night the storm abated slightly, and, weary of her own +thoughts, which bad been anything but agreeable, and bored by the +society of her companions in misery, she wrapped her rug warmly +about her and ventured out on deck. The air, laden with salt +spray, seemed invigorating, and without much difficulty she found +her way to her sheltered corner of the preceding evening. She had +been seated but a few moments, however, when the young Englishman +made his appearance, as preoccupied and unconscious of his +surroundings and as free from any symptoms of discomfort as when +she had last seen him. The sight of him was the signal for the +return of the thoughts which had that day kept her company. She +cast a wrathful glance upon the unconscious young stranger just +then passing, his perfect health and evident good humor under +existing circumstances adding to her sense of injury and +exasperation. She grew ill, and determined to return at once to +her apartments, but found her progress against the gale slower and +more difficult than she had anticipated. Dizzy and faint, she had +just reached the stairs when a sudden lurch threw her violently to +one side; she staggered helplessly and would have fallen, but at +that instant a strong arm was thrown about her and she felt herself +lifted bodily. With a sigh of relief she turned her head towards +her rescuer, supposing him one of the officers of the ship, only to +discover, to her horror, that she was in the arms of the young +Englishman. His face was in the shadow, but the light falling on +her own face revealed her features, and at that instant she heard a +smothered exclamation,-- + +"Great heavens! can it be possible?" + +Something in the tone startled her and she listened, hoping he would +speak again. He did not; but she noted the tenderness with which +she was borne down the stairs and put in care of the stewardess. +Again she listened eagerly for his voice, but his words were brief +and in an altered tone. + +During the succeeding twenty-four hours in which Miss Carleton tossed +in misery, one thought was uppermost in her mind,--to discover, if +possible, the identity of the stranger who had come to her assistance. +The only information obtainable, however, was that he was evidently +a gentleman of wealth, travelling alone, and apparently with no +acquaintance on board with the exception of a young English officer. +She determined, at the earliest possible moment, to meet her +mysterious rescuer and thank him for his kindness, but was unable +to carry her plan into immediate execution. Meantime, she learned +that he had twice inquired for her. + +On Sunday afternoon, their fourth day out, the storm had ceased and +the weather was gradually clearing, and Miss Carleton, somewhat pale +but quite herself again, came out for a promenade. She found quite +a number of passengers on deck, but for some time she looked in vain +for her unknown friend. At last, after several brisk turns, she +saw him standing at a little distance, talking with the tall, +dark-eyed man whom she had seen in conversation with Mr. Merrick. +The younger man's cap was thrown back, revealing to Miss Carleton +the fine profile, almost classical in its beauty, of the secretary +at Fair Oaks. For a moment her pulse throbbed wildly. She felt a +thrill of pleasure, not unmingled with a twinge of the resentment +which she had been nursing for the last few days. Then she walked +calmly in his direction, saying to herself,-- + +"At least, I will thank him for his kindness. I am no love-lorn +peasant maid wearing my heart upon my sleeve!" + +She had nearly reached his side, though he was unaware of her +presence, when the young English officer approached from the other +side and, slapping him familiarly upon the shoulder, exclaimed,-- + +"Well, Mainwaring, my boy, you've kept your sea-legs well on this +trip." + +The tall, dark-eyed man withdrew, and Miss Carleton, utterly +bewildered, turned and slowly retraced her steps. Mainwaring! What +did it mean? She heard the name distinctly, and he had taken it as +a matter of course, replying pleasantly and quietly, as though he +had known no other name. The mystery which she had thought to solve +had only deepened tenfold. She was aroused by the cheery voice of +the captain. + +"Well, well, Miss Carleton, glad to see you out! I congratulate +you on your speedy recovery. How are the ladies? and how is my +old friend Thornton?" + +They took a few turns up and down, chatting pleasantly, till Miss +Carleton, looking into the face overflowing with kindliness and +good humor, said,-- + +"Captain, I have a great favor to ask of you." + +"Granted, my dear young lady, to the half of my kingdom!" + +"May I have your permission to examine the list of cabin passengers?" + +The captain elevated his shaggy eyebrows and his eyes twinkled with +merriment. "Ah! anxious to learn if some particular friend is on +board, I suppose. Some one was inquiring of me the other night +regarding your identity." + +"Indeed!" said Miss Carleton, a world of inquiry in her eyes. + +"Yes; Mr. Mainwaring, the gentleman conversing with Lieutenant Cohen +over there. He and I both went to your assistance the other evening, +but, much to my regret, he was quicker than I. He remarked to me +after he came back on deck that he had supposed you were a stranger, +but that your face looked familiar. He asked your name, and whether +you were with Mr. Thornton and his daughter, stating that he had met +you. Correct, I presume?" + +"Quite so," said Miss Carleton, quietly. + +"And now about that passenger list, Miss Carleton; you have my +permission to examine it, and I will accompany you myself." + +She thanked him. "Are you acquainted with Mr. Mainwaring?" she +inquired, carelessly. + +"Never met him until this trip. On first learning his name, I +supposed him to be a member of your party, as he is evidently a +gentleman; but I soon learned that he was alone." + +A few moments later the register was opened for Miss Carleton's +inspection, but she did not have to search long. Half-way down the +first page she found, in the familiar writing of the secretary, the +name which she sought--"Harold Scott Mainwaring." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS + + +Thanking the captain for his courtesy, Miss Carleton returned to +her accustomed seat on deck, and, since one is never more alone +than when surrounded by a crowd of utter strangers, she felt at +liberty to pursue her own thoughts without interruption. + +She could scarcely credit what her own ears had heard or her eyes +had seen. Harold Scott Mainwaring! What could it mean? Could it +be possible that the secretary, having familiarized himself with +the family history of the Mainwarings, was now masquerading under +an assumed name for some object of his own? But she dismissed +this idea at once. She had assured him at Fair Oaks that she +believed him incapable of anything false or dishonorable, and she +would abide by that belief until convinced otherwise. But if this +were indeed his name, what had been his object in assuming the role +of Scott, the secretary? Which was genuine and which assumed? Who +could tell? As if in answer to her thoughts, she saw the subject +of them approaching. He was alone and looking in her direction, +and on reading the recognition in her glance, his own face lighted +with a smile that banished the last shade of resentment and +suspicion from her mind, albeit there was a question in her eyes +which prepared him in a measure for her first words. With a smile +as bright as those with which she had been accustomed to greet him +at Fair Oaks, she extended her band, saying, slowly,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, this is indeed a surprise!" She watched him +closely, but there was not the quiver of an eyelash, only a slow, +inscrutable smile, as he replied,-- + +"Miss Carleton, I will add to that, and say that this is the +pleasantest surprise of my life." + +She blushed at the implied meaning of his words, and he added,-- + +"I have not seen you on deck until to-day." + +"Not last Friday evening?" she inquired, archly. His smile deepened. +"I did not know that it was you at that time until after I had +started below. Did you recognize me?" + +"I thought I recognized your voice; and I have often wished to thank +you for your kindness, but this is my first opportunity, as I have +not been out since until to-day." + +"Please do not mention it. Had I dreamed who it was thus braving +the storm, I would have offered my assistance earlier. I have not +yet recovered from my surprise on discovering the identity of my +fellow-passenger that evening." + +"Indeed!" laughed Miss Carleton; "my presence here is very easily +explained. It is simply the result of one of Mrs. Mainwaring's +numerous whims, as she suddenly decided upon an immediate return to +England. I think, however, that the surprise was mutual." + +"Accordingly, I suppose that mutual explanations should follow," +he answered, lightly. Then added, more seriously, "Miss Carleton, +I am aware that there is much in my conduct that must seem +inexplicable to you. In a few weeks everything will have been +made clear, in the natural course of events; but, if you would be +at all interested to hear, I would greatly prefer that you should +have a perfect understanding of the situation before the facts +become generally known." + +"I should greatly appreciate such a mark of confidence," she replied. + +"If agreeable to you, Miss Carleton, let us pass around to the other +side; it is less crowded there. My friend and I have two chairs, +and, as he has gone to his state-room to do some writing, we shall +be in no danger of interruption." + +When comfortably seated, the young man said, "It is a strange story +which I have to tell, but I will try not to tax your patience too +severely. One week ago this afternoon, Miss Carleton, in passing +through the hall at Fair Oaks, I accidentally overheard a portion +of your conversation with Mr. Whitney, as you related to him the +story of the unfortunate love and death of my father, Harold Scott +Mainwaring." + +Miss Carleton started violently, but said nothing, and, after a +slight pause, the speaker continued,-- + +"My earliest recollections are of a home in Australia, with +foster-parents, whose name it is unnecessary to mention, but whose +care and love for me seem, as I now look back, to have equalled that +bestowed by natural parents upon their own child. Not until I had +reached the age of fifteen years did I ever hear of my own father. +I then learned that he had given me, at birth, into the keeping +of my foster-parents, with instructions that, unless he himself +should call for me, I was not even to know of his existence until +within five or six years of my majority. I learned, further, that +his action in thus placing me in the hands of others had been +solely on account of deep trouble and sorrow, of which he wished me +to know nothing until I had reached the years of manhood. When +giving me into their keeping he had also given them a small packet, +containing a sealed letter, which was to be read by me on my +twenty-first birthday, if he had not himself claimed me before that +time. I was told that, while I was too young to retain any +remembrance of him, he frequently visited me and manifested the +greatest devotion to his child, but as I grew older he remained +away, writing occasionally to my foster-father. + +"In the last letter received from him, when I was about five years +of age, he stated that he was going to Africa to make a fortune for +his son. Nothing further was heard from him until there came tidings +of his death at sea, in the manner which you recently related. + +"Of all this I, of course, knew nothing until ten years later, but +what was told me at that time made a deep impression upon me. Of my +mother I could learn absolutely nothing; but for my father, of whom +I had no personal knowledge, and concerning whom there seemed so +much that was mysterious, I felt a love and reverence almost akin to +adoration, and I longed for the day to come when I could read the +letter he had left for me and learn the whole secret of that sad +life. + +"My twenty-first birthday arrived, and the mysterious little packet +was placed in my hands. It contained a few valuable keepsakes and +my father's letter, written out of the bitter anguish of a broken +heart. He told the story of his disinheritance, with which you are +familiar; but the loss of the property he cared little for in +comparison with the loss of his father's love; but even that was as +nothing to the sorrow which followed swiftly and which broke his +heart. He stated that, because of this great sorrow, he had placed +me in the hands of trusted friends that I should be banished from +the false-hearted woman who had borne me and who believed me dead, +as it was his wish that neither of us should ever know of the +existence of the other." + +Harold Mainwaring paused for a moment, and Miss Carleton, who had +been listening with great interest, exclaimed,-- + +"And is it possible, Mr. Mainwaring, that, in all these years, you +have had no knowledge concerning your mother?" + +"It is a fact, Miss Carleton, that I do not even know her name, or +whether or not she is living. I only hope and pray that I may +never knowingly meet her, for her heart and life must be--pardon +the expression--as false and as black as hell itself." + +There was a look on his face which Miss Carleton had never seen. +Gradually, however, his features softened, and he continued,-- + +"In accordance with my father's wish, expressed in the letter, that +I should complete my studies in England, I sailed for that country +within a few weeks of my twenty-first birthday; and while there I +learned that part of my story which is of more especial interest to +all parties concerned at the present time. + +"I had been but a few months in England when I felt a great desire +to visit, incognito, the old Mainwaring estate. Accordingly, under +the name by which you have known me, I arrived at the estate, only +to learn that the home of my father's boyhood, and of the Mainwarings +for several generations, had passed into the hands of strangers. +My grandfather had died within two years of my father's marriage, +and the younger son had sold the estate and gone to America. +Incidentally, I was directed to an old servant of my grandfather's, +who yet remained on the place and who could give me its whole +history. That servant, Miss Carleton, was old James Wilson, the +father of John Wilson, Ralph Mainwaring's present valet." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Miss Carleton, her face lighting with pleasure; "I +have seen the trusty old fellow hundreds of times, you know. Indeed, +he could give you the history of all the Mainwarings for the last +three hundred years." + +"He gave me one very important bit of history," Harold Mainwaring +replied, with a smile. "He told me that old Ralph Mainwaring, after +the departure of his son for Australia, failed rapidly. He was +slowly but surely dying of a broken heart, and, though he never +mentioned the name of his elder son, it was evident that he regretted +his own harshness and severity towards him. + +"On the night before his death he suddenly gave orders for an +attorney to be summoned, and was so insistent in his demand, that, +when it was ascertained that his old solicitor, Alfred Barton, the +father of the present firm of Barton & Barton, had been called out +of the city, a young lawyer, Richard Hobson by name, who had formerly +been an articled clerk in Barton's office, was called in in his +stead. A little before the hour of midnight, in the presence of his +son, Hugh Mainwaring, Richard Hobson, the attorney, and Alexander +McPherson, an old and trusted Scotch friend, Ralph Mainwaring caused +to be drawn and executed a will, completely revoking and setting +aside the process of law by which Harold Scott Mainwaring had been +disinherited, and restoring to him his full rights as the elder son, +McPherson and the attorney signing the will as witnesses." + +Miss Carleton's eyes dilated and her breath came and went swiftly, +but she spoke no word save a single, quick exclamation. + +"James Wilson, the servant, was also present, but in an obscure +corner, and his presence seems to have been unnoticed. The next +morning, at five o'clock, Ralph Mainwaring passed away, happy in +the thought that he had at last made reparation for his injustice +to his elder son. Within two months the old Scotchman died, and +Richard Hobson was then the sole surviving witness of the last will +and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring. + +"This was all the direct information I could obtain from Wilson, +but from other sources I learned that Hugh Mainwaring was never the +same after his father's death. He grew stern and taciturn, and +would allow no mention of his brother's name, and within two years +he had disposed of the estate and left England forever; while a few +years later tidings were received of the death of Harold Scott +Mainwaring at sea. I also learned that about this time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from the position of a penniless pettifogger +to that of an affluent attorney, though he was engaged in +questionable speculations far more than in the practice of law. + +"I visited the chambers of Barton & Barton, and learned through +them that everything had been adjusted in accordance with the terms +of the will in their possession, which disinherited the elder son; +but Hugh Mainwaring's action in disposing of the estate had excited +considerable comment. + +"Having pledged them to secrecy, I disclosed my identity and +related to them the story of the old servant. To my surprise, they +were inclined to give the story credence; and, acting upon their +advice, I obtained all possible information regarding Hugh +Mainwaring, and, when my studies were completed, sailed for America, +with the express determination to secure proof in verification of +the facts which I had already gathered, and to establish my claim +as the legal heir of the Mainwaring estate. I was not without means +to do this, as my father had accumulated considerable property +during the few years he lived in Australia, and my foster-parents +are people of wealth. + +"You will understand now, Miss Carleton, why I took the position of +private secretary to Hugh Mainwaring. You will realize how eagerly +I studied the correspondence between him and Richard Hobson, from +which I learned that the latter was extorting large sums of money +as the price of his silence regarding some fraudulent transaction, +presumably the destruction of the will; and perhaps you can imagine +my feelings on discovering, one day, among Hugh Mainwaring's private +papers, a memorandum to the effect that the will had never been +destroyed, but was still in existence and in his possession. I +knew that to make any demand upon him for the document would be +worse than useless, as he would never admit my claim. I must find +it for myself. I searched for that will as for hidden treasure, and, +Miss Carleton, I found it!" + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to repress her emotion, "I am so glad! +Do tell me how and when!" + +"I found it on the last day of Hugh Mainwaring's life, within two +hours after he had signed his own last will and testament." + +"What a strange coincidence!" + +"It was strange; and it was my discovery on that day which formed +the subject of my thoughts on the following night, the night of the +murder, and which kept me pacing my room until three o'clock in +the morning." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring know of your discovery?" + +"No; I had no opportunity to see him that evening until too late, +even if I had chosen to broach the subject to him at that time." + +"Might he not have discovered in some way that you had found the +will?" + +"I think not. Why do you inquire?" + +"It only occurred to me if it might not be possible that he had +reason to think his secret had at last been discovered, and, rather +than face the consequences, committed suicide; but it seems +improbable. But to think that you are the son of the one whom I +have always considered the noblest of all the Mainwarings, and that +you, and not Hugh, are the rightful heir to the old Mainwaring +estate! I am more than glad, and Hugh will be glad also. He will +not begrudge you one shilling or have one unkind thought towards +you, though I cannot say the same for his father." + +"Hugh is a noble-hearted fellow," said Harold, warmly. "He has +promised me his friendship, and I believe he will stand by it." + +He spoke briefly of his plans; of his business in London for a few +days; and, when the will should have been probated in the English +court, of his return to America to establish his claim there. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Miss Carleton, after a pause, "I am +inexpressibly glad to learn what you have told me, and you have my +sincerest wishes for your immediate success. I appreciate, more +than I can tell, your confidence in permitting me to be the first +to know of your good fortune. May I be the first to congratulate +you?" + +He took the proffered hand; but, looking into the beautiful eyes +sparkling with happiness, his own face grew serious, as he replied,-- + +"I thank you for your congratulations and your good wishes, Miss +Carleton, but I sometimes question whether my discovery, on that +particular day, of the will--the last link in the chain of +evidence against Hugh Mainwaring--was a matter for congratulation." + +"How is that?" she inquired, quickly. + +"Do you not see that when all these facts become known, they may be +used by my enemies to direct suspicion against me as the possible +murderer of Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Who would think of such a thing?" she exclaimed, indignantly. + +"Ralph Mainwaring will," was his prompt reply. + +"He might try to incite the suspicions of others against you, but he +would know in his own heart that his insinuations were unfounded." + +"I have no fear of him," said Harold, with a smile; "I only mentioned +it to show that I do not anticipate upon my return to America that +my pathway will be strewn with roses." + +He paused a moment, then added, "I had this in mind, Miss Carleton, +when I asked you once whether your confidence in me were strong +enough to stand a heavy strain, if necessary." + +She blushed slightly at the reminder, and a look of quick +comprehension flashed across her face, as, for an instant, she +dropped her eyes before his earnest gaze. When she again looked +up the luminous eyes met his own unwaveringly, as she replied, in +firm, low tones,-- + +"I will believe in you and trust you to the fullest extent, whatever +happens." + +"I thank you more than I can express," he answered, gravely; "for, +believe me, Miss Carleton, I value your confidence and friendship +far above any and every other." + +"I did not suppose you needed any assurance of my friendship; though, +after your sudden departure from Fair Oaks, I felt somewhat doubtful +whether you cared for it." + +He did not reply at once, and when he did, it was evident he was +repressing some strong emotion. "I feel that there is an explanation +due you for my manner of leaving Fair Oaks. I am aware that it had +the appearance of rudeness, but I can only say that it was from +necessity and not from choice. There is something more which I hope +some day to tell you, Miss Carleton, but, until I can speak as I +wish to speak, it is best to remain silent; meanwhile, I will trust +to your friendship to pardon whatever in my conduct may seem abrupt +or inexplicable." + +The conversation was terminated at this point by the appearance of +Lieutenant Cohen, whom Harold Mainwaring introduced as an old +classmate, and presently all three adjourned to the dining-saloon. + +To Harold Mainwaring and Miss Carleton the remainder of the voyage +passed swiftly and pleasantly, and the friendship begun at Fair Oaks +deepened with each succeeding day. Though no word of love passed +between them, and though Miss Carleton sometimes detected on the +part of her companion a studied avoidance of personal subjects, yet, +while wondering slightly at his self-imposed silence, she often +read in his dark eyes a language more eloquent than words, and was +content to wait. + +It was his desire that the other members of her party should still +remain in ignorance of his real identity; and, as the greater part +of the voyage proved somewhat rough, he had little difficulty in +preserving his secret. Mr. Thornton and daughter soon made their +appearance and greeted the quondam secretary with unaffected +cordiality, but Mr. Thornton was too deeply engrossed in renewing +acquaintance with one or two old friends to pay much attention to +the younger man, while Edith felt in duty bound to devote herself +to the entertainment of Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel, a task which +Miss Carleton was not at all disposed to share. Not until the last +few hours of the trip, when fair weather had become an established +fact and land had been sighted, did Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter +appear on deck, and in the general excitement Harold Mainwaring +escaped their observation. + +The parting between himself and Miss Carleton was necessarily brief. +She gave him her address, saying,-- + +"I would be delighted if you could consider yourself our guest while +in London, and I hope at least that I may see you often before your +return." + +"I thank you, Miss Carleton," he replied. "If present circumstances +would admit of it, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to +accept your invitation, but under existing conditions it is, of +course, impracticable. I cannot now say how long I will remain in +London, but I wish to make my stay as brief as possible, and to that +end shall devote almost my entire time to business; but," he added, +with a peculiar smile, "I shall not repeat the offence committed at +Fair Oaks. You may rest assured I shall not return to America +without seeing you, and I hope at that time to be able to speak +more definitely regarding my future." + +There was that in his eyes as he spoke that suffused the fair +English face with lovely color and caused a tender, wistful smile +to linger about the sweet mouth long after he had left her side. + +He was one of the first to land, and Miss Carleton, watching from +the deck, saw, almost as soon as he had reached the pier, a +fine-looking gentleman in the prime of life step quickly out from, +the crowd, and, grasping him cordially by the hand, enter at once +into earnest conversation. Harold Mainwaring turned towards the +steamer for a parting salute, and, as both gentlemen raised their +hats, she recognized in the new-comer, Alfred Barton, the junior +member of the firm of Barton & Barton. She watched them until +they disappeared in the crowd, then, turning to rejoin her +companions, she noted, standing at a little distance, the slender, +dark-eyed individual whom she had observed on previous occasions, +also watching the scene with a smile of quiet satisfaction, much +like that which Mr. Merrick's face had worn at the beginning of the +Voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LOVE FINDS A WAY + + +Less than three weeks later, Harold Mainwaring entered Miss +Carleton's private drawing-room in Mr. Thornton's London home. +Soon after her arrival in the city she had received from him a +brief note of apology, stating that unexpected business of the +greatest importance would render it impossible for him to call as +early as he had anticipated; hence this was their first meeting +since the leave-taking on board the "Campania." + +As Miss Carleton stepped forward with cordial smile and hand +extended to welcome her visitor, she was shocked at the change in +his appearance. He was pale, almost haggard, and deep lines about +the mouth and eyes told of some intense mental strain. She gave +a low cry of astonishment, for it seemed as though years, instead +of only a few weeks, had intervened since she had seen that face. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you have been ill!" she exclaimed. + +"No, Miss Carleton," he replied, his face lighting with a rare +smile; "I have been perfectly well, but loss of sleep and constant +care and anxiety have told rather severely on me. Nothing more +serious, I assure you." + +"Anxiety!" she repeated, at the same time motioning him to a seat +by her side. "Surely you do not anticipate any difficulty in +establishing your claim?" + +"No difficulty so far as its validity is concerned. My attorneys +assure me there can be no question as to that with such irrefutable +proofs in my possession, but some unlooked-for complications have +arisen, and we have had to prepare ourselves to meet them. But I +did not call to burden you with my perplexities, Miss Carleton. +Tell me of yourself. I trust you have been well since I last saw +you." + +"Yes, I am usually well," said Miss Carleton, who thought she +detected on the part of her visitor an avoidance of any details +concerning himself; "but I have been rather bored of late." Then, +in answer to his look of inquiry, she continued, "Of course, on +account of Hugh Mainwaring's death, we have been living very +quietly since our return, but, notwithstanding that fact, society +has been paying due homage to the prospective increase of fortune +and added social position of the Mainwarings. I am not particularly +fond of society in the ordinary sense of the word, you know, and I +have found it exceedingly tiresome." + +"From reports, I should judge 'society' to be very fond of yourself," +he remarked, with a smile. + +"After its own fashion," she replied, smiling in return; "but it +becomes very monotonous. It is the same old round, you know, only +that just now it bows a little lower than formerly, while it mingles +condolences and congratulations in the most absurd manner. One +hears, 'Such a dreadful affair! so shocking, don't you know!' and +'Such delightful fortune! I quite envy you, my dear!' all in the +same breath. I am only awaiting what society will say when the real +facts become known." + +Harold Mainwaring made no reply, but a strange pallor overspread +his already pale face, at which Miss Carleton wondered. + +"I have thought very often of you during these past weeks," she +continued, "and felt quite impatient to learn how you were +progressing, and your note was so brief, you know. It left so much +unsaid. I fear you forget how interested I am in all that concerns +yourself." + +"No," he replied, slowly, "I do not forget; and I appreciate your +interest in me even though I may not seem to,--even though I am +forced, as you say, to leave so much unsaid which I had hoped to +say." + +Something in his manner, more than in what he said, thrilled her +with a vague, undefinable sense of impending evil, and, during the +slight pause which followed, she dreaded his next words, lest they +should in some way confirm her apprehensions. He said nothing +further, however, and when she spoke it was with an assumed +lightness and cheerfulness which she was far from feeling. + +"I hoped to have the pleasure of meeting you often ere this, and +my uncle and cousin would have been so glad to welcome you to +their home during your stay in London, but they have just gone out +of town for a few days." + +"Ordinarily, Miss Carleton," he replied, quietly, "I should be +pleased to meet them, but on the present occasion, as I sail, +to-morrow, I naturally care to see no one but yourself." + +"To-morrow!" she exclaimed, while her own cheek suddenly paled. +"Do you return so soon?" + +"Yes," he replied, observing her emotion, and speaking rapidly to +conceal his own feelings; "my business is at last completed. I +have been detained longer than I expected, and I found the +situation more complex than I anticipated, but I shall return well +equipped for the battle." + +"And you will win, I am sure. Tell me something regarding your +plans," she added, with a wistful smile that touched her companion +for more than he cared to betray. + +"Mr. Alfred Barton goes with me to America," he said, speaking +cheerfully; "and we have already cabled instructions to Mr. +Sutherland, my New York attorney, regarding the initiatory steps. +Mr. Barton and myself will be accompanied by James Wilson, the old +servant who witnessed the execution of the will,"--Miss Carleton's +eyes brightened,--"and also by a thoroughly competent, first-class +Scotland Yard officer." + +She gave a low exclamation. "I see what a powerful witness old +Wilson will make; but the detective, what will you do with him?" + +"We are going to investigate the murder of Hugh Mainwaring," he +said, calmly. + +"Why, surely, you cannot mean--" she hesitated. "You do not think +that suspicion will be directed against any of the guests at Fair +Oaks, do you?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton, I cannot say at present. Perhaps," he added, +slowly, looking steadily into her eyes, "perhaps, when all is over, +suspicion will be directed against myself so unmistakably that public +opinion will pronounce me guilty." + +"I cannot believe that," she cried; "and even were it so,--should +the whole world pronounce you guilty,--I would still believe you +innocent; and I think," she added, quickly, "that is your object in +employing a detective: by finding the real murderer, you will +establish your own entire innocence." + +"May God grant it!" he replied, with a fervor she could not +understand. "I thank you, Miss Carleton, for your kind words; I +shall never forget them; and, however the battle goes, I can feel +there is one, at least, whose friendship and confidence are mine, +can I not?" + +"Most assuredly, Mr. Mainwaring. But why do you speak as though +there were a possibility of defeat or failure? I am so confident +that you will win, after the story of your life that you have given +me, that I am all impatience to learn the outcome of the contest, +just as having read one chapter in some thrilling romance I am eager +for the next." + +He smiled at her comparison. "Real life, as well as romance, +sometimes contains startling surprises, Miss Carleton. The next +chapter might prove less pleasant." + +She looked keenly into his face for a moment, and her manner became +as serious as his own. + +"There must be something," she said, "of which you have not told me; +if so, I will not ask your confidence until you choose to bestow it, +nor do I trust you, personally, any the less. It only seemed to me, +with your prospects of success, and the great wealth and enviable +position so soon to become yours, there could be no unpleasant +anticipations for the future." + +A bitter smile crossed his face, as he inquired in low, tense tones, +"Of what avail are wealth and position to one who finds an +insurmountable barrier placed between himself and all that he holds +most precious on earth?" + +"I fear I do not understand you," she replied. "I cannot imagine +any barriers surrounding you; and did they exist, my judgment of +you would be that you would find some way to surmount or destroy +them." + +"There are some barriers, some fetters," he said, gently, "against +which humanity, even at its best, is powerless." + +"Yes," she answered, a touch of sadness in her voice; "and there are +sometimes sorrows and troubles in which even the closest and warmest +friendship is powerless to aid or comfort." + +"Don't allow yourself to think that of your friendship for me," he +said, quickly. "Assured of your confidence and sympathy, I shall +be ten times stronger to face whatever the future may bring. If I +succeed in what I am about to undertake, I shall one day tell you +all that your friendship has been worth to me. If I fail, the +thought that you believe in me and trust me, while it will not be +all that I could wish, may be all that I can ask." + +"And if you should fail," she queried, slowly, "would you give me +no opportunity to show you, and others, my confidence in you, even +then?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton," he replied, in tones tremulous with +suppressed feeling, "much as I appreciate your kindness, I would +never, now or at any future time, willingly mar your life or your +happiness by asking you to share any burden which might be laid +upon me. I would at least leave you to go your way in peace, while +I went mine." + +"And I?" she asked, reproachfully. "Would it contribute to my +happiness, do you think, to remember the sorrow and suffering which +I was not allowed to share?" + +"Could you not forget?" + +"Never!" + +The young man sprang to his feet abruptly, his face working with +emotion, and took two or three turns about the room. At last he +paused, directly in front of her, and, folding his arms, stood +looking down into the beautiful eyes that met his own so +unflinchingly. He was outwardly calm, but the smouldering fire +which seemed to gleam in his dark eyes told of intense mental +excitement. + +"Miss Carleton," he said, slowly, in low tones, but yet which +vibrated through her whole being, "you are almost cruel in your +kindness; you will yet make a coward of me!" + +"I have no fear of that," she answered, quietly. + +"Yes, a coward! Instead of remaining silent as I intended, and +keeping my trouble within my own breast, you will compel me in +self-defence to say that which will only give you pain to hear, +thereby adding to my own suffering." + +"Perhaps you misjudge," she replied, and her voice had a ring of +pathos in it; "any word of explanation--no matter what--would be +less hard for me to endure than this suspense." + +"God knows I would make full explanation if I could, but I cannot, +and I fear there is nothing I can say that will not add to your +suspense. Miss Carleton, you must need no words from me to tell +you that I love you. I have loved you almost from the first day +of our meeting, and whatever life may have in store for me, you, +and you alone, will have my love. But, loving you as I do, could +I have looked forward to the present time, could I for one moment +have foreseen what was awaiting me, believe me, you should never +have known by word or look, or any other sign, of my love." + +He paused a moment, then continued. "If that were all, I might +have borne it; I could have locked my love forever within my own +heart, and suffered in silence; but the fact that you have given me +some reason to believe that you were not wholly indifferent to me,--the +thought that I might in time have won your love,--makes the +possibilities of the future a thousand times harder to bear. It is +harder to forego the joys of Paradise when once you have had a +glimpse within! It was to this I alluded when I spoke of the +insurmountable barrier placed between myself and all that I hold +holiest and best on earth!" + +"But I do not understand!" she cried, her lovely color deepening +and her eyes glowing with a new light, until Harold Mainwaring +confessed to himself that never had he seen her so beautiful. "What +barrier could ever exist between you and me?" + +For an instant he looked at her in silence, an agony of love and +longing in his eyes; then drawing himself up to his full height, +he said, slowly,-- + +"Not until I can stand before you free and clear from the faintest +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring, will I ever ask for that +most precious gift of your love!" + +Her face blanched at the mere possibility suggested by his words. +"But you are innocent!" she cried in swift protest, "and you could +prove it, even were suspicion directed against you for a time." + +"Even admitting that I were, the taint of suspicion is sometimes as +lasting as the stain of crime itself." + +She arose and stood proudly facing him. "Do you think I would fear +suspicion? To hear from your own lips that you love me and that +you are innocent would be enough for me; I would defy the whole +world!" + +He did not at once reply, and when he spoke it was slowly and +reluctantly, as though each word were wrung from him by torture. + +"My dear Miss Carleton, even to you I cannot say that I am innocent." + +There was a moment's pause, during which she gazed at him, +speechless with astonishment; a moment of intense agony to Harold +Mainwaring, as he watched whether her faith in him would waver. +But she gave no sign, though she scanned his face, as the condemned +criminal scans the document handed him as the fateful day approaches, +to ascertain whether it contains his pardon or his death sentence. + +"Understand me," he said at last, gently, unable longer to endure +the terrible silence, "I do not admit that I am in any way guilty, +but until I am fully acquitted of any share in or knowledge of the +death of Hugh Mainwaring, I can make neither denial nor admission, +one way or the other." + +"But you still love me?" she inquired, calmly. + +"Miss Carleton,--Winifred,--how can you ask? You are, and always +will be to me, the one, only woman upon earth." + +"That is sufficient," she answered, with a strange, bright smile; +"my faith in you is perfect, and faith and love can wait." + +"Wait, my love! until when?" he cried. + +"If needful, until Eternity's sunlight dispels Earth's shadows! +Eternity holds ample compensation for all of Earth's waiting." + +"But, my darling," he said, half protesting, while he folded her to +his breast, "you know not the risk you may be running; I cannot +accept the sacrifice that may be involved." + +"My decision is taken, and it is irrevocable," she answered, with +an arch smile; then added, "There can be no barriers between us, +Harold, for Love will find a way!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AN UNFORESEEN FOE + + +Though nearly six weeks had elapsed since the death of the master +of Fair Oaks, and as yet no light had been shed on that mysterious +event, the interest of the public mind in the affair had in no wise +abated during this brief interim. On the contrary, its curiosity +had been so whetted by the partial revelations of the inquest, that +it had eagerly followed each step of the legal proceedings leading +towards the inevitable contest over the property, ready to hail +with delight the appearance of the Mainwaring skeleton when it +should step forth from its long hiding to disclose the secrets of +the past. + +As early as possible, a petition, setting forth the terms and +conditions of the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring, and +praying for letters of administration in accordance therewith to be +issued to William H. Whitney, the executor named in said will, had +been filed in the district court. A few days thereafter, the +petition of Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, for letters to be issued +to Richard Hobson, was also filed. The hearing in the application +for letters of administration occupied several days; very little +evidence was adduced, however, which had not already been given at +the inquest, and in due time an order was issued by the court, +appointing Mr. Whitney administrator of the estate, with instructions +that the same be adjusted according to the terms of the lost will. +From this order, Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, through her attorney, +Hobson, had appealed, and the contest had at last begun. + +For greater convenience during the legal proceedings, Ralph +Mainwaring had closed the suburban residence, dismissing what +servants were no longer needed, though still retaining the new +coachman, and had removed to Hugh Mainwaring's city residence, +where he and his son made themselves perfectly at home, dining +with Mr. Whitney at his club. Mrs. LaGrange, having been +compelled to resign her position at Fair Oaks, had also removed +to the city and taken apartments in a convenient hotel until the +termination of her suit. + +The afternoon of the second day since the opening of the case was +drawing to a close; the testimony on the appellant's side had been +taken, and it was expected that the respondent would be heard on the +following day, when an event transpired which completely overthrew +all proceedings had thus far, and which promised the waiting public +developments as startling as could be desired. + +This event was none other than the filing in the district court of +a document purporting to be the last will and testament of the father +of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, by the terms of which the Mainwaring +estate, as it then existed, together with the bulk of his other +property, passed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, an elder son who had +been previously disinherited, but was by this will restored to his +full rights. With this document, worn and yellow with age, was filed +a petition, setting forth the claims of one Harold Scott Mainwaring, +the lawful, living, and only son of the said Harold Scott Mainwaring +named in the will, but since deceased, and sole heir of the +Mainwaring estate, and praying for letters of administration to be +issued to George D. Sutherland, attorney for the said lawful heir. + +The court adjourned amid intense excitement, just as the newsboys +were crying the headlines of the evening papers,-- + +"A New Heir to the Mainwaring Property! Discovery of Will secreted +more than Twenty-five Years! Millions wrongfully withheld from the +Rightful Owner!" + +Strangely enough, the two most interested in this unexpected turn +of affairs were among the latest to learn the surprising news. +Ralph Mainwaring, having felt slightly indisposed, and knowing that +his side would not come up for hearing until the following day, had +made himself as comfortable as possible in the elegant apartments +which he had appropriated to his own use, while his son had left +the court-room at an early hour to devote the remainder of the +afternoon to letter-writing. + +The latter glanced up from his writing and nodded pleasantly, as +Mr. Whitney, pale with excitement, was ushered by the butler into +the library. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, is your father in?" the attorney inquired, hastily. + +"I believe so," replied the young man, smiling broadly; "the last I +knew, the governor was luxuriating in his rooms up-stairs; I think +you will find him there now. How's the case coming on, sir?" he +added, as the attorney turned quickly towards the hall. "Anything +new developed?" + +"Yes; decidedly new!" Mr. Whitney answered, rather brusquely; "you +had better join us up-stairs!" and he disappeared. + +The young man's face grew suddenly serious, and, springing from his +chair, he swiftly followed the retreating figure of the attorney, +arriving just in time to hear the latter exclaim, in reply to some +question from his father,-- + +"Well, sir, the storm has burst!" + +Ralph Mainwaring was, as his son had said, "luxuriating" in a superb +reclining chair, his eyes half closed, enjoying a fine Havana, but +the attorney's words seemed to produce the effect of an electric +shock. + +"The deuce, sir! what do you mean?" he demanded, instantly assuming +an upright position. + +"I simply mean that what I have expected and dreaded all along has +at last come to pass." + +"Then, since it was not unexpected, it is to be presumed that you +were at least prepared for it! That shyster and his designing +client must, at the last moment, have exerted their inventive +faculties to a remarkable degree!" + +"On the contrary," said the attorney, quietly ignoring the other's +sarcasm, and handing copies of the evening papers to father and +son, "I am satisfied that neither Hobson nor his client has any part +in the developments of this afternoon." + +A brief silence followed, during which the attorney watched the two +men before him, noting the strange contrast between them, never +until that moment so apparent. Young Mainwaring's boyish face grew +pale as he read, and he occasionally glanced at Mr. Whitney, as +though seeking in his face either confirmation or contradiction of +the report, but he remained calm and self-possessed, preserving his +gentlemanly bearing to the close of the interview. The face of the +elder man, however, rapidly assumed an almost apoplectic hue, the +veins standing out from his temples like whip-cords, and when he +spoke his voice trembled with rage. He was the first to break the +silence, as, with an oath, he flung the papers upon the floor, +exclaiming,-- + +"It is a lie from beginning to end! The most preposterous +fabrication of falsehood that could be devised! The 'will,' as it +is called, is nothing but a rank forgery, and the man who dares +assert any claim to the estate is a damned impostor, and I'll tell +him so to his face!" + +"I examined the document very carefully, Mr. Mainwaring," said the +attorney, "and I shall have to admit that it certainly had every +appearance of genuineness; if it is a forgery, it is an exceedingly +clever one." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you believe, for one moment, in this +balderdash?" demanded Ralph Mainwaring, at the same time rising and +striding about the room in his wrath. "The utter absurdity of the +thing, that such a will ever existed, in the first place, and then +that it would be secreted all these years only to be 'discovered' +just at this critical moment! It is the most transparent invention +I ever heard of, and it is a disgrace to your American courts that +the thing was not quashed at once!" + +"That could not very well be done," said Mr. Whitney, with a quiet +smile; "and as the matter now stands, the only course left open for +us is to prepare ourselves for a thorough investigation of the case." + +"Investigation be damned!" interrupted the other, but, before he +could proceed further, he was in turn interrupted by young +Mainwaring. + +"I say, governor, you'd best cool down a bit and listen to what Mr. +Whitney has to say; if this thing is a forgery, we surely can prove +it so; and if it isn't, why, all the bluster in the world won't help +it, you know." + +His father faced him with a look of withering contempt. "'If' it +is a forgery! I tell you there are no 'ifs' about it. I suppose, +though, you are just fool enough that, if any man made a pretence +of a claim to the estate, you would simply hand it over to him, +and thank him for taking it off your hands!" + +"That's just where you are wrong, governor. I would fight him, fair +and square, and he would have to prove a better claim than mine +before he could win. But the point is this, don't you know, you can +fight better with your head cool and your plans well laid beforehand." + +"The young man is right," said Mr. Whitney, quickly; "there is every +indication that our opponent, whoever or whatever he may be, is well +prepared for contesting the case. I understand he has plenty of +evidence on his side and the best of legal counsel." + +"Evidence, I suppose," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, with a sneer, +"in support of a document that never existed, and a man that never +lived on the face of the earth; for Harold Mainwaring never had a +living son. Have you seen this remarkable individual?" + +"I believe no one in this country has seen him as yet, sir. He is +expected to arrive on the 'Umbria,' which I understand is due the +early part of next week." + +The face of the other showed slight surprise at this statement, but, +before he could speak, the young man inquired,-- + +"I say, Mr. Whitney, what sort of a man is this attorney, Sutherland? +Is he another Hobson?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head significantly. "Mr. Sutherland is one of +the ablest men in his profession. I consider him a fine jurist, an +eloquent pleader, and a perfect gentleman. I had some conversation +with him after court adjourned, and while he, of course, stated no +details, he gave me to understand that his client had a strong case. +He also informed me that Barton & Barton, of London, had been +retained in the case, and that his client would be accompanied to +this country by the junior member of the firm, Alfred Barton." + +"By Jove, that looks bad for us!" ejaculated young Mainwaring, +while his father exclaimed, impatiently,-- + +"Barton & Barton? Impossible! that is mere bombast! Why, man, +the Bartons, father and sons, have been the family solicitors of +the Mainwarings for the past fifty years. The old firm of Barton +& Sons had charge of the settlement of the estate when it passed +into Hugh Mainwaring's possession at the death of his father." + +"So I had understood," said the attorney; "I have heard Mr. +Mainwaring himself speak of them." + +"And," continued the other, "only a few days before sailing for +America, I called at their chambers in London and told them of +Hugh's intentions regarding my son and received their +congratulations. Now, sir, do you mean to tell me, in the face +of all this, that Barton & Barton are retained by this mushroom +claimant, whoever he is? Pooh! preposterous!" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head slowly. "Mr. Sutherland is not the man +to make any misstatements or allow himself to be misinformed. All +I have to say is, if those attorneys are retained in the case, it +certainly looks as though our opponent must have some tenable +ground in support of his claim. I am inclined to think they will +make us a hard fight, but I am confident that we will win in the +end. The main point is this: we must be prepared to meet them on +whatever ground they may take, and, after hearing their side and +the proof they set up, we can easily determine our line of defence." + +"To the deuce with your line of defence! I tell you, Whitney, there +is just one point to be maintained, and, by my soul, it shall be +maintained at any cost!" and the speaker emphasized his words by +bringing his clinched hand down upon a table beside him with +terrific force "that point is this: Harold Scott Mainwaring never +had a living, lawful son; no such person exists, or ever has +existed on the face of the earth, and I can prove what I say." + +"Have you absolute proof of that?" Mr. Whitney inquired, quickly. + +"I have," replied Ralph Mainwaring, triumphantly, while his cold, +calculating gray eyes glittered like burnished steel. "If any man +thinks I have been asleep for the past twenty-one years, he is +deucedly mistaken. Mr. Whitney, since the day of that boy's birth," +pointing to his son, "I have had but one fixed resolve, which has +been paramount to everything else, to which everything else has +had to subserve,--the Mainwaring estate with its millions should +one day be his. Not a day has passed in which this was not +uppermost in my mind; not a day in which I have not scanned the +horizon in every direction to detect the least shadow likely to +intervene between me and the attainment of the dearest object of +my life. When the news of Harold Mainwaring's death reached +England, in order to guard against the possibility of a claim ever +being asserted in that direction, I set myself at once to the task +of finding for a certainty whether or not he had left any issue. +I never rested day or night until, after infinite labor and pains, +I had secured the certificate of the attendant physician to the +effect that the only child of Harold Mainwaring died within an +hour from its birth." + +"Have you that certificate now?" inquired the attorney. + +"Not here; it is among my private papers at home." + +"Cable for it at once; with the death of Harold Mainwaring's child +fully established, the will would cut no figure, one way or another." + +"That will," said Ralph Mainwaring, fiercely, turning upon Mr. +Whitney with an expression which the latter had never seen, "let me +tell you, will cut no figure one way or another in any event. That +will, remember, is a forgery; and, if necessary, I will prove it so, +if it takes my last shilling and the last drop of my heart's blood +to do it; do you understand?" + +The attorney understood, and was more than ever convinced in his ow + mind that the old will filed that day was genuine. + +Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Mrs. LaGrange sat alone in +her apartments, awaiting the coming of Richard Hobson. It was +considerably past the hour which he had set and daylight was slowly +merging into dusk, yet enough light still remained to show the +changes which the last few weeks had wrought in her face. Her +features looked pinched and drawn, and a strange pallor had replaced +the rich coloring of the olive skin, while her dark eyes, cold and +brilliant as ever, had the look of some wild creature suddenly +brought to bay. She shuddered now, as, from her window, she saw the +cringing form of Hobson approaching the building. + +"To think," she exclaimed to herself, passionately, "that that +creature is the only one to whom I can go for counsel or advice! I +loathe the very sight of him; fool that I was ever to place myself +within his power! I thought I could use him as a tool like the +rest; but it is like playing with edged tools; yet I dare not let +him go." + +A moment later, she heard a stealthy, cat-like tread in the corridor +outside, followed by a low, peculiar tap at the door, and Hobson +entered. + +She crossed the room slowly, keeping her face in the shadow, and, +motioning him to a chair, seated herself opposite, watching him +narrowly. + +"You are late," she said, coldly, in response to his greeting. + +"Admitted, my lady," he replied, in his usual unctuous tones, "but +I naturally wished to ascertain all the facts possible regarding +this new deal, and, seeing Whitney nosing about on the trail, I +decided to remain within ear-shot and pick up what information I +could second-hand." + +"What did you learn?" + +"Nothing very definite, and yet enough, perhaps, to give us our +cue until further developments. My dear lady, what do you think of +this new turn of affairs?" + +"The whole thing is simply preposterous; a piece of the most +consummate audacity I ever dreamed of!" + +"Ha! I thought it would strike you as particularly nervy. It is +the most daring bit of invention I have seen for some time; and it +must be a pretty cleverly concocted scheme and pretty well backed +with the ducats also, for I learned to-night that the 'heir,'" +laying special emphasis on the word, "has secured the services of +Barton & Barton, and those birds are too old to be caught with +chaff; besides, you know as well as I the part that firm has taken +in the Mainwaring affairs." + +"Barton & Barton? Incredible! The case is hopeless then for Ralph +Mainwaring: he is a fool if he expects to win." + +"Just what I was leading up to. Whitney is no match even for this +man, Sutherland, and he will be a mere child in the hands of the +Bartons. Now, the question is, where do we come in? As you say, +Ralph Mainwaring's case is hopeless, unless--" and he looked +significantly at his client. + +"I do not think I quite catch the drift of your meaning," she answered, +slowly. + +"Has it not occurred to you that there are not two people in existence +who can so quickly tear to shreds the scheme of this impostor as +you and I? There is not a human being living outside of myself who +knows the real facts concerning that will; and who could give such +effective and convincing testimony regarding Harold Mainwaring's +son as yourself?" + +"Admitting all this, what do you propose?" + +"When Ralph Mainwaring has staked his highest card and finds that +the game is irrevocably lost, what will he not give at the last +critical moment for assistance such as we can then furnish him?" + +"And which course would you pursue in that event?" she asked, a +tinge of irony in her tone. "Would you deny that such a will ever +existed in face of whatever evidence may be brought forward in its +support? or would you admit being a party to the destruction of +the will?" + +"My dear madam, I am perfectly capable of conducting this affair +to our mutual satisfaction and without running my head into any trap, +as you so pleasantly suggest. And right here allow me to say that +it would be just as well for you not to make those insinuations +which you are so fond of throwing out at random. As I said before, +no living person outside of myself, including even yourself, knows +the facts regarding that will. You have your own surmises, but they +are only surmises, and you had best keep them to yourself as you +know enough of me by this time to know it will be to your interest +to accept my suggestions and fall in line with my plans." + +Her face was in the shadow, and he did not see the scornful curl of +her lip or her peculiar expression, as she remarked coldly,-- + +"You are only wasting words and time in your efforts to intimidate +me. You have not yet made any suggestions or outlined any plans. +I have asked you what you propose to do." + +"I have not time to go into details, but, briefly stated, I propose, +when the right opportunity presents itself, to prove, first, that +this document filed to-day is a forgery. If I can show conclusively +that the original will was accidentally lost, or intentionally +destroyed, or if I happen to have the original in my possession,--under +any of these conditions I gain my first point. Then, through +your testimony, I shall demonstrate unequivocally a still more +important point, that this so-called heir is a gross impostor, that +no such individual exists." + +"And for this, you expect--what?" + +"For this I shall demand a handsome remuneration, to be divided, of +course, between yourself and myself, and Ralph Mainwaring will only +too gladly give the half of his kingdom for such services." + +"And your testimony would have so much weight with Ralph Mainwaring +and the Bartons, and with every one else who has any knowledge of +your London history!" + +Hobson winced visibly, but before he could reply she continued: + +"You are talking the most arrant foolishness. You know that those +men would not allow your testimony in court; they would very quickly +procure evidence to show that your word, even under oath, is +worthless; that you are a liar, a perjurer and a--" + +"Not so fast, not so fast, my lady. If past histories are to be +raked up, I know of one which embraces a much wider area than London +alone; Melbourne, for instance, and Paris and Vienna, to say nothing +of more recent events!" + +"Do your worst, and I will do mine!" she replied, defiantly. "That +is nothing to the point, however. What I have to say is this: You +are a fool if you think that you or I can ever extort money from +Ralph Mainwaring. He would give no credence whatever to anything +that you might say, and if once my identity were revealed to him, +he would go through fire and blood rather than that one shilling of +his should ever become mine." + +"And what do you propose to do?" he asked, sullenly. "Do you +intend to give up the game?" + +"Give up? Never! I would give my life first! I will yet have my +revenge on the Mainwarings, one and all; and I will repay them +double for all the insult and ignominy they have heaped upon me." + +"That is to the point; but how will you accomplish it?" said Hobson, +in a more conciliatory tone, for each feared the other, and he +thoroughly understood the spirit of his client. "Let us be +reasonable about this; you and I have too much at stake and too +many interests in common for us to quarrel like children." + +"If I were differently situated, I can assure you we would then have +very few interests in common," she replied, bitterly. + +"Well, supposing you were, what would you do in this case?" he +inquired, softly, apparently taking no notice of her remark, but +in reality making a mental note of it for future reckoning. + +"Defeat Ralph Mainwaring, by all means; if necessary, produce +testimony to show that this will is genuine. If he spends his last +shilling to fight the case, so much the better. Then, when the +case is settled and this so-called heir is master of the situation, +or supposes himself so, bring suit to show that he is an impostor, +and assert my own claim as the nearest living heir." + +Hobson whistled softly. "A plan worthy of your ambition, my lady, +but hardly feasible. It is one thing to assert a claim, and +another to be able to establish it. Through your over-ambition +you would lose in the end, for, should you succeed in dispossessing +this stranger, Ralph Mainwaring would surely come forward with his +claim, and you would be beaten." + +"When I lay down arms to a Mainwaring, I will lay down my life also," +she answered, proudly. + +"You think so, perhaps; but let me tell you the best course for you +to pursue is to make terms, either with Ralph Mainwaring, as I +first suggested, or else with this new-comer--should he prove +victorious--by threatening to expose his whole scheme." + +Mrs. LaGrange made no reply, and Hobson, rising to take leave, saw +her face for the first time and paused, surprised at its strange +expression. + +"Well?" he said, with a look of inquiry. + +"My thoughts were wandering just then," she said, with a faint +smile, and her tone was so changed the voice scarcely seemed her +own. "I was wishing, just for the moment, that this stranger, +whoever he may be, was in reality the one he claims to be. I +would need no attorney to make terms with him then!" + +"You forget; he would be a Mainwaring!" + +"Yes; but he would be the only Mainwaring and the only human being +I could ever have loved, and I would have loved him better than +my own life." + +"Love!" repeated Hobson, with a sneer. "Who would ever have +thought to hear that word from your lips! But how about your son, +Walter; do you not love him?" + +"Him!" she exclaimed, passionately; "the price I paid hoping to +win Hugh Mainwaring! I am proud of him as my own flesh and blood, +but love him? Never!" + +"But you have not yet told me what you think of my last suggestion," +he said, tentatively, watching her closely. Her manner changed +instantly; rising with all her accustomed hauteur and turning from +him with a gesture of dismissal, she replied,-- + +"Come to me later, when I shall have measured lances with our new +opponent, and you shall have your answer." + +He would have spoken, but her dismissal was final, and with +darkening face he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS + + +The sudden turn of affairs in the Mainwaring case excited no small +amount of comment, and for the next ensuing days speculation was +rife concerning the recently discovered will, but more particularly +regarding the new and unknown claimant. At the clubs and elsewhere +it formed the principal topic of conversation, and Ralph Mainwaring +was loud in his denunciations of the one as a forgery, and of the +other as an impostor. To all such remarks, however, as well as to +the questions of the curious, Mr. Sutherland had but one reply, +accompanied by a slow, quiet smile; that on the day set for the +hearing, he would not only prove the validity of the will, but +would also establish, beyond all doubt or question, the identity +of the claimant. + +As a result, public curiosity was so thoroughly aroused, that upon +the arrival of the "Umbria," an unusual crowd of reporters was +assembled at the pier, notwithstanding a pouring rain, and the +gang-plank had no sooner been thrown down than a number of the +more ambitious rushed on board, eager to be the first in gaining +some bit of information or personal description. Their efforts, +however, were unsuccessful, as the individuals whom they most +desired to meet remained in their state-rooms and declined to be +interviewed. Not until the crowd had about dispersed and the +patience of a few of the more persistent was nearly exhausted, was +their zeal rewarded by the sight of a party of four Englishmen, who +hastily left the boat, completely enveloped in heavy mackintoshes, +and, taking a closed carriage which was awaiting them, were driven +rapidly to the Waldorf Hotel. + +At the hotel the party still remained inaccessible to all visitors, +with the exception of Mr. Sutherland, who spent much of his time +in their apartments. It was ascertained that the party consisted +of two gentlemen, one of whom was accompanied by a valet, the +other--presumably the attorney--by a clerk, but all efforts +towards gaining any more definite information prove absolutely +futile. The arrival by the next steamer of another stranger, an +elderly gentleman, who immediately joined the party at the Waldoff, +after having registered under an evident alias, only served to +deepen the mystery. + +Upon the arrival of the day set for the hearing of the proof in +support of the ancient will, the court-room was, at an early hour, +packed to its utmost capacity. Occupying a prominent place were +Ralph Mainwaring and his son, accompanied by Mr. Whitney, the +sensitive face of the attorney more eager and alert than ever! +At some distance from them, but seated rather conspicuously where +she could command a good view of all that occurred, was Mrs. +LaGrange, while in a remote corner of the court-room, partially +concealed by the crowd, was Richard Hobson. + +Within a few moments preceding the appointed hour, Mr. Sutherland +appeared. His entrance caused a sudden hush of expectation +throughout the crowd and all eyes were immediately turned in his +direction. Accompanying him was a gentleman whose bearing commanded +universal admiration, and whom the Mainwarings instantly recognized +as the English barrister whose connection with the case they had +deemed so incredible. But a still deeper surprise awaited them. +Immediately following the attorneys was a young man whose features +and carriage were familiar, not only to the Mainwarings, but to +scores of spectators as well, as those of the private secretary of +the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, whose testimony at the inquest had +created so much of a sensation, and whose sudden disappearance +thereafter had caused considerable comment. There was a ripple of +excitement through the court-room, and the Mainwarings, father, and +son, watched the young man with strangely varying emotions, neither +as yet fully comprehending the real significance of his presence +there. + +"The secretary!" exclaimed Mr. Whitney, in a low tone. "Can it be +possible that he is concerned in this?" + +"He is probably the hired tool by means of which this has been +brought about. I might have known as much!" replied the elder man, +his old hatred and wrath reviving with greater intensity than ever, +but before he could proceed further his glance fell on the +secretary's companion. + +He was a tall, elderly gentleman, with snow-white hair and beard, +but with form erect and vigorous, and with piercing eyes which met +those of Ralph Mainwaring with a flash, not of recognition alone, +but of disdain and defiance that seemed to challenge him to do his +utmost. + +With a muttered oath, the latter half rose from his chair, but at +that instant his attention was arrested by the two men bringing up +the rear; one, small and of uncertain age, the other, older even +than he appeared, and bearing the unmistakable air of an English +servant. As Ralph Mainwaring recognized James Wilson, the last +relic of the old Mainwaring household, he suddenly grew pale and +sank back into his chair, silent, watchful, and determined; while +his son and the attorney, quick to note the change in his appearance, +made neither inquiries nor comments, but each drew his own +conclusion. + +There was one other to whom the white-haired gentleman did not seem +an utter stranger. Mrs. LaGrange from her post of observation had +watched the entering party with visible signs of excitement. Her +lips curled in a mocking smile as she caught sight of the secretary, +but glancing from him to his companion, she involuntarily recoiled +in terror, yet gazed like one fascinated, unable to remove her eyes +from his face. Suddenly the piercing eyes met her own, their look +of astonishment quickly changing to scorn. She flushed, then paled, +but her eyes never faltered, flashing back mocking defiance to his +anger and scorn for scorn. + +Meanwhile, the quondam secretary, seated between the attorneys on +the one hand and his elderly companion on the other, seemed alike +unconscious of the many curious glances cast in his direction and +of the dark looks of Ralph Mainwaring now fastened on him. At a +little distance was the old servant, his immovable features expressing +the utmost indifference to his surroundings, looking neither to the +right hand nor to the left. + +Not so with the remaining member of the party, the so-called "clerk!" +Seated beside the English barrister, his eye seemed to sweep the +entire court-room with a glance that omitted no details, not even +the cringing form of Hobson, who quailed and seemed to be trying to +shrink still further into concealment as he felt himself included +in the search-light of that gaze. But no one saw the slip of paper +which, a moment later, was handed to Alfred Barton, and by him +passed to Mr. Sutherland. There was a hurried filling out of blanks +lying among the papers on the table, a messenger was despatched, two +or three men edged themselves into the crowd in Hobson's vicinity,--and +that was all! + +Promptly at the time appointed the case was called. There was +perfect silence throughout the court-room as Mr. Sutherland arose, +holding in one hand the ancient will, and with breathless attention +the crowd listened for the opening words of what was to prove one +of the fiercest and most bitter contests on record, and of whose +final termination even the participants themselves little dreamed. + +After a few preliminaries, Mr. Sutherland said, addressing the court,-- + +"Before proceeding farther, your honor, I will give orders for the +subpoena, as a witness in this case, of one Richard Hobson, alias +Dick Carroll." + +Then turning towards the crowd in the rear of the courtroom, he added, +"Let the papers be served at once." + +There was a stir of excitement and a sudden craning of necks in the +direction indicated by the attorney's glance, where three men had +sprung forward in obedience to his orders. + +Hobson, at the first mention of his name, had glanced quickly about +him as though seeking some means of escape, but on hearing the +alias--the name he had supposed unknown in America--he paused for +an instant, seemingly half paralyzed with terror. But the sight of +the approaching sheriff broke the spell, and he made a sudden lunge +through the crowd in the direction of an open window. His progress +was speedily checked by one of the deputies, however, and after a +short, ineffectual struggle he sullenly submitted. + +"Bring the witness forward," said Mr. Sutherland, with his calm, +slow smile; "we may call upon him before long, and he would probably +prefer a seat convenient to the witness stand." + +As he was seated opposite and facing the English party, it was noted +that the face of the old servant lighted up with a look of +recognition, and he watched the new-comer with evident interest. +Hobson, having carefully avoided the eyes of both Alfred Barton and +the private secretary, soon became aware of Wilson's scrutiny, and +after regarding him fixedly for a moment seemed suddenly to recognize +him in turn, and also to realize at the same time the import of his +presence there, which, apparently, did not tend to lessen his +agitation. + +Slowly Mr. Sutherland unfolded the document he held, yellow with +age, the edges of its folds so frayed and tattered as to render the +writing in some places almost illegible. Slowly, in deep, resonant +tones, he read the opening words of the old will; words of unusual +solemnity, which caused a hush to fall over the crowded court-room: + +"In the name of God; Amen. Know all men, that I, Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but now +upon my death-bed, soon to appear in the presence of my Maker, do +make and publish this, my last will and testament; hereby revoking +and setting aside any and every will at any time heretofore made +by me." + +Then followed, in quaint phraseology, the terms of the will; by +which the full right and title of the first-born son, under the +English law, were conveyed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, and all legal +processes theretofore entered into, depriving him of such rights, +were forever annulled; restoring to the said Harold Scott Mainwaring, +as his rightful inheritance, the entire family estate, including +other valuable property; the said property at his death to pass to +his eldest living son, or in case of his dying without issue, to +revert to his brother Hugh, were the latter living, if not, to the +nearest living heirs of the Mainwarings; but on no account was any +portion of the estate or property to pass to the wife of Harold +Scott Mainwaring, should she survive him. + +As the reading of the will progressed, Hobson's feelings, too deep +and genuine at that moment for disguise, were plainly mirrored in +his face. Having for years believed the old will destroyed, as he +now listened to the words dictated to himself upon that memorable +night, so long ago, it was little wonder that to his cowardly soul +it seemed like a voice from the dead, and that astonishment, fear, +and dread were depicted on his features, merging into actual terror +as the attorney at last pronounced the names of the witnesses, +Alexander McPherson and Richard Hobson. + +For a few seconds his brain reeled, and he saw only the face of the +dying man as it looked that night,--stern and pale, but with dark, +piercing eyes, deep-set, within whose depths still gleamed the +embers of a smouldering fire which now seemed burning into his +inmost soul. Trembling from head to foot, Hobson, with a mighty +effort, regained his scattered faculties and again became conscious +of his surroundings, only to find the eyes of the secretary fixed +upon his face, and, as he shrank from their burning gaze, the truth +flashed suddenly upon him. + +"The face of old Mainwaring himself!" he muttered in horror; then +added, with an oath, "Fool that I was not to have known it sooner! +That woman lied!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OPENING FIRE + + +The first witness called to the stand by Mr. Sutherland was James +Wilson. There were many present who noted the resemblance between +him and his son, John Wilson, who had given testimony at the +inquest, though unaware of the relationship between them. + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, after the usual preliminaries, "I +understand you were for a number of years in the employ of Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, the testator whose name is affixed to this will; +is that so?" + +"Yes, sir," was the reply, while the attention of the crowd was at +once riveted upon the witness. + +"Will you state how long you were in his employ, and in what +capacity?" + +"I was his valet, sir, from his twenty-fifth year until the day of +his death, a little above thirty-five years, sir; and during his +last illness, of about three months, I was with him constantly, +you might say, sir." + +"Do you recognize the document just read in your hearing as anything +which you have heard before?" + +"That I do, sir." + +"State when and under what circumstances you have previously heard +it." + +"At the death-bed of Mr. Ralph Mainwaring, sir, twenty-five years +ago the seventeenth of last November. I was present at the making +of that will, sir, the night before Mr. Mainwaring died. I heard +him give those words to the lawyer, and then heard them read to +him before the will was signed." + +"By whom was it drawn?" + +"By Richard Hobson, sir; the man sitting there," pointing to the +shrinking figure of Hobson. + +"Do you positively identify that man as the writer of this will?" + +"That I do, sir," with marked emphasis; "when one once sets eyes +on the likes o' him, he's not likely to forget him soon." + +"Was Richard Hobson the attorney of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Ah, no, sir," with evident scorn; "his attorney was Mr. Alfred +Barton, the father, sir, of this gentleman," indicating the English +barrister, while the interest of the crowd deepened. + +"How, then, was this man employed to draw the will?" + +"Mr. Barton was out of town, sir; and as Mr. Mainwaring was dying +and naught would satisfy him but to have a lawyer, they brought Mr. +Barton's clerk." + +"State the circumstances under which this will was drawn; was Mr. +Mainwaring influenced by any one to make it?" + +"He was influenced by none but his own conscience, sir. You see, +sir, three or four years before, he was very angry with his elder +son, and cut him off without a shilling and gave everything to Mr. +Hugh. But it broke his heart to do it, for Mr. Harold was his +favorite, as indeed he was everybody's, though he never mentioned +his name again until the night he made the will. Well, sir, all +that day we knew he was dying, and he knew it, and he was restless +till late at night, when of a sudden he tells us to get his lawyer. +Mr. Hugh tried to put him off, and told us his mind was wandering; +but 'twas no use; and the carriage was sent for Mr. Barton, and +when word was brought back that he was out of town, it was sent +again and brought back his clerk. Everything was all ready, and +he was propped up in bed by pillows, his eyes burning as though there +was fire in them. He repeated those words while the lawyer wrote +them down, and then had them read to him, and at fifteen minutes +of twelve o'clock the will was signed and sealed." + +"You were present during the drawing up of the will?" + +"Yes, sir, I was present through it all, but not where the others +saw me. When the lawyer came, Mr. Hugh told me to leave the room; +but as I was going his father called me back and bade me stay, +and I was standing at the foot of the bed, hidden by the curtains +of the canopy, so none but the old gentleman saw me." + +"Who else was present?" + +"Mr. Mainwaring's old friend, Sandy McPherson, Mr. Hugh, and the +lawyer." + +"No one else? Were there no physicians present?" + +"There were physicians in the house, sir, but not in the room." + +"How long did Mr. Mainwaring live afterwards?" + +"He died at five o'clock the next morning, sir; his strength went +fast after that was done, but he rested easy and seemed satisfied." + +"What was done with the will?" + +"Mr. Hobson took it away with him that night." + +"Have you ever seen it since?" + +"No, sir." + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, showing the witness the will, "can +you swear to these signatures as being the same which you saw affixed +to the will upon that night?" + +Wilson studied the document attentively for a moment. "Yes, sir, +that is Mr. Mainwaring's writing, only a bit unsteady, for his hand +trembled. McPherson's writing I know, and you mark that blot after +his name? I remember his fussing that night because he had blotted +the paper." + +"And the third name, is that the signature of this man, Richard +Hobson?" + +"I know naught about that man's writing," the old fellow replied, +with a shrewd look; "but you will mind that the name is the same +writing as the will itself, and he wrote that and signed his name +to it, for I saw him." + +"And you have neither seen that will, nor heard it read until this +morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"You have remembered it all these years?" + +"Maybe not word for word, sir, but I have kept the sense of it in +my mind." + +"Are you positive that this is the will drawn up on the night of +which you speak?" + +"That I am, sir." + +"Did you ever speak to any one of this will?" + +"To none but my son, sir. Mr. Hugh Mainwaring was that sort of a +man, I could not speak to him about it, or ask about his brother. +I asked to be allowed to stay about the old place in hopes that some +day Mr. Harold would come back to have a look at his old home, and +I could tell him of it, for I thought things had not gone right +altogether. Then we heard of his death, and I thought it was too +late; I could do no good by speaking, and I held my tongue until +the young gentleman came." + +Wilson was then dismissed and Hobson was next called to the stand. +More even than the reading of the old will, the truth which had +dawned upon Hobson's mind as he met the piercing gaze of the +secretary, had convinced him that the position which he had intended +to assume, adverse to the new claimant and as an ally of Ralph +Mainwaring's, was neither politic nor safe. His views on that +subject had undergone a decided change, and, with his usual +weathervane proclivities, he was now preparing to take a totally +different stand and strive to ingratiate himself into the favor of +the new heir, at the same time leaving, if possible, a few loop-holes +through which he could retreat, should some veering wind change his +course in another direction. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, somewhat abruptly, when the +necessary preliminaries were over, "did you on the night of November +17, 18-, act as attorney for Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, in the drawing +up, at his request, of his last will and testament?" + +"I believe so, sir," was the guarded answer. + +"Did you or did you not?" Mr. Sutherland persisted. + +"I did, sir." + +"Have you, during all these years, had any knowledge that the will +you drew under the circumstances already mentioned was still in +existence?" + +After a slight pause, the witness replied, "I had no positive +knowledge to that effect." + +"Did you believe the will to be in existence?" + +Hobson reflected a moment, then replied, cautiously, "I was led to +suppose that the will did not exist." + +"You remember the form, terms, and conditions of the document drawn +by yourself on that occasion?" + +"I do, perfectly," he replied, with more assurance. + +"State whether the will read in your hearing this morning is +identical with the one drawn by yourself." + +Hobson now saw the drift of the attorney's questions, but it was too +late. + +"As near as I can recollect," he stammered, but a word from Mr. +Sutherland recalled him. + +"You just said you remembered perfectly." + +"I believe they are identical in form." + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, spreading out the document before +the witness, but still retaining his hold upon it, "will you state +to the court whether that is your writing, and whether the last name, +that of the second witness, is your signature." + +With great precision, Hobson adjusted a pair of eyeglasses and +proceeded to scrutinize the writing closely. "Well," he remarked, +at length, very deliberately, "I do not deny that to be my writing, +nor am I prepared to positively affirm that it is such. The fact +is, my chirography varies so much from time to time that I often +find it difficult for me to verify my own signatures." + +"Here are some papers which may assist the gentleman, and may be of +some use to the court," said a deep voice with rich, musical +inflections, but slightly tinged with sarcasm, and the English +attorney handed a small package to Mr. Sutherland. "They contain," +he added, "some specimens of the witness's chirography of about the +same date as the will." + +"The writing in both cases is identical," said Mr. Sutherland, as, +having examined the papers, he showed them to Hobson, but a glance +at their contents seemed rather to confuse the witness than +otherwise, for he remained silent. + +"Do you acknowledge these letters to be of your writing?" inquired +the attorney. + +"I do, sir; and I have no doubt but that the other is my writing +also." + +"You acknowledge this, then, as the will which you wrote at the +dictation of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring the night before his death?" + +"I believe it is, sir." + +"Mr. Hobson, why was this will not make public following Mr. +Mainwaring's death and burial?" + +"On the day after his death, I gave it into the keeping of his son, +Hugh Mainwaring, at his own request, and he afterwards gave me to +understand that it was lost." + +"And you were paid for keeping silent as to the existence of such +a will, were you not?" + +"I may have been," the witness replied, with a calmness born of +desperation. + +"That is sufficient for the present." + +A few moments followed in which the attorneys consulted together, +while comments in tones of subdued excitement and expectancy were +exchanged among the crowd. Ralph Mainwaring had sat with darkening +face throughout the testimony thus far; now he remarked to Mr. +Whitney, with a bitter sneer,-- + +"Fine witnesses! A beggarly shyster whose oath is worthless, and +an imbecile old servant, who could be bought for a half-crown!" + +Young Mainwaring turned upon his father a look of indignant surprise. +"Governor," he said, "it would not be well for you if either old +James Wilson or his son heard that remark of yours!" + +"It will be well for you to attend to your own business and keep +your mouth shut!" responded his father, angrily. + +Beneath the calm exterior which the young man preserved, the old +Mainwaring blood was now fast rising, but he made no reply, for at +that instant Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the next witness: + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring!" + +There was a sudden hush throughout the court-room, broken an instant +later by a low murmur of mingled astonishment, incredulity, and +wonder as the private secretary rose and walked towards the witness +stand. A few comments reached his ears, but he seemed unconscious +of them, and, having taken his place, turned towards the audience a +face cold and impassive, inscrutable to his enemies, who could read +nothing of the conflicting emotions beneath that calm, immobile +surface. + +He saw the crowd of upturned faces--incredulous, wondering, curious; +he caught the mocking smile of Mrs. LaGrange and Ralph Mainwaring's +dark, sinister sneer; but he took little note of these. Like an +arrow speeding to the mark, his glance sought the face of young Hugh +Mainwaring. Their eyes met, and in that brief moment there was +recalled to each a starlit night on one of the balconies at Fair +Oaks, and the parting words of young Mainwaring to the secretary, +"I'm your friend, Scott, and whatever happens, I'll stand by you." + +With swift intuition each read the other's thought, and, although +there was no outward sign, Harold Mainwaring knew from that instant +that there would be no retraction of that pledge. + +The slight ripple of excitement died away while the witness was +sworn, and the crowd listened with interest even to the preliminary +interrogatories. + +"Where were you born?" asked the attorney. + +"In Melbourne, Australia," was the reply, while deep silence awaited +Mr. Sutherland's next question. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I believe you are familiar with the will just read, +are you not?" + +"I am." + +"Please state when, and under what conditions, you gained your +knowledge of this will." + +"I first learned that such a will had existed and knew its general +terms, between five and six years since, through information given +me by James Wilson. From data found a little over a year ago among +the personal letters of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, I ascertained +that the will was still in existence, and on the 7th of July last +I discovered the document itself and became personally familiar with +its contents." + +At the mention of the name of Hugh Mainwaring and of the date so +eventful in the recent history of Fair Oaks, the interest of the +crowd deepened. + +"Did you discover the document accidentally, or after special search +for it?" + +"As the result of a systematic search for more than a year." + +"Please state whether you took any steps leading to the discovery +of this will during the four or five years immediately following +your first knowledge of it; and if so, what?" + +"As I first learned of the will soon after entering Oxford, my +studies necessarily occupied the greater part of my time for the +next three or four years; but I lost no opportunity for gaining all +possible information relating not only to the Mainwaring estate, +but more particularly to Hugh Mainwaring and his coadjutor, Richard +Hobson. Among other facts, I learned that immediately after the +settlement of the estate, Hugh Mainwaring had disposed of the same +and left England for America, while about the same time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from a penniless pettifogger to a position of +affluence. + +"As soon as my studies were completed, I sailed for America, with +the avowed determination of securing further evidence regarding the +will, and of establishing my claim to the property fraudulently +withheld from my father and from myself. In the securing of the +necessary evidence I succeeded beyond my expectations. As Hugh +Mainwaring's private secretary, I gained access to the files of +his personal letters, and soon was familiar with the entire +correspondence between himself and Richard Hobson, from which I +learned that the latter demanding and receiving large sums of +money as the price of his silence regarding some past fraudulent +transaction. The nature of that transaction, I ascertained in +this marginal note, in Hugh Mainwaring's handwriting, upon one of +Hobson's letters which happened to be more insolent in its tone +than the rest. With the permission of the court I will read it: + +"'He insinuates that I destroyed the will; I only gave him to +understand that it was lost. Little he dreams it is still in my +possession and will be, until such time as I, too, have to make +final disposition of my estate! Why I did not destroy it, or why +I do not, now that the property is rightfully mine, I cannot say, +except that I dare not! "Thus conscience does make cowards of us +all?"' + +"With the discovery of these words," concluded the witness, "began +my search for the will itself." + +"From the discovery of this letter which led you to believe the will +was still in existence, you prosecuted your search for the document +until the 7th of last July?" + +"Yes, sir, whenever an opportunity for search was offered." + +"Where did you finally find the will?" + +"In the safe, in Mr. Mainwaring's private apartments at Fair Oaks." + +"On July 7 last?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"That was the day on which you, acting as Hugh Mainwaring's secretary, +had drawn, at his dictation, his last will and testament, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, deliberately, his eye quick to +read the faces about him, "is there in your mind any connection +between that event and your discovery of this will?" + +"Only the most indirect," was the reply, given with equal +deliberation. "The fact that Hugh Mainwaring was making final +disposition of his property naturally spurred me on to increased +action, since, in making final adjustment of his papers, he would +be more than likely to destroy the old will. This incentive, +together with the fact that opportunity was given me for a more +thorough search than I had been able to make prior to that time, +combined to bring about the discovery of the will." + +"Please state the time and circumstances of your finding it." + +"I found it late in the afternoon, while Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests had gone for a long drive. I determined to leave no place +unexplored where it could possibly be concealed; after about an +hour's search I found it." + +"What did you then do with it?" + +"I retained it in my possession, and at the earliest opportunity +secreted it within my own room." + +"It was in your possession during the following evening and night?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland, with marked emphasis, "please +state whether you mentioned to Hugh Mainwaring the discovery of the +will, or had any conversation with him relating thereto." + +"I made no mention of the matter to him whatever. Except for a few +moments, immediately upon his return, I did not see him alone until +about midnight, when he appeared fatigued, and I would not introduce +the subject at a time so inopportune." + +After a slight pause, Mr. Sutherland continued. "You claim to be +the lawful son of the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in this will, +and as such the lawful heir, under its terms and conditions, of the +Mainwaring property?" + +"I do." + +"Has it not been generally understood among those supposed to have +knowledge of the facts in the case that Harold Scott Mainwaring, at +the time of his death, had no living child?" + +"That has been the general understanding." + +"Will you explain how the fact of your existence has been kept +concealed all these years?" + +The silence following the attorney's question was so deep as to be +oppressive until broken by the answer of the witness, clear, cold, +and penetrating to the remotest corner of the crowded room. + +"Within an hour from my birth, a dead child was substituted in my +place, and I was secretly given by my father into the keeping of +trusted friends, with instructions that until I had nearly attained +my majority I was not even to know of his existence, or of the +relationship existing between us." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, "are you willing to state the +reasons for such an extraordinary proceeding on his part?" + +For the first time the impassive bearing and the calm, even tones +of the witness gave way; the smouldering fire in his dark eyes burst +forth, as with impassioned utterance and voice vibrating with emotion, +he replied,-- + +"It was done because of sorrow, more bitter than death, in his own +heart and home, of which he wished me to know nothing until I had +reached the years of manhood and could understand the nature of his +wrongs; it was done that I should be forever barred from all +association with, or knowledge of, the base, false-hearted woman who +bore his name only to dishonor it,--who, though she had given me; +birth, yet believed me dead,--that I might live as ignorant of her +existence as she of mine; it was done because of his love for his +only child, a love for which I would to-day gladly suffer dishonor +and even death, if I could but avenge his wrongs!" + +Only Harold Mainwaring's attorneys understood the spirit which +prompted his words, but they carried his audience with him in a +sudden wave of sympathy, and as he paused, men applauded and women +sobbed, while the judge vainly rapped for order. + +One figure alone remained motionless, spellbound. Amid the general +excitement, Mrs. LaGrange sat as though turned to stone, her hands +clasped so tightly that the jewels cut deeply into the delicate +flesh, every vestige of color fled from her face, her lips ashen, +her eyes fixed upon the witness, yet seemingly seeing nothing. +Gradually, as she became conscious of her surroundings and of the +curious glances cast in her direction, she partially recovered +herself, though her eyes never left the face of the witness. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," continued the attorney, when order had been +restored, "when and how did you first learn that you were the son +of Harold Scott Mainwaring?" + +"My first knowledge regarding my own father I received at the age of +fifteen from my foster-parents, who told me of the manner in which +I had been given to them and of the death of my father a few years +later; but the full particulars I did not learn until my twenty-first +birthday, when I received a letter written by my father soon after +my birth, and intrusted to the keeping of my foster-parents until I +should have attained my majority. In that letter he gave me the +story of his life, of his marriage and consequent disinheritance, +and of the yet greater sorrow which followed shortly, which led him +to voluntarily exile himself from his beloved England, and which +finally led to his sacrifice of the love and companionship of his +only child." + +As Harold Mainwaring paused, Mr. Sutherland remarked, "I, myself, +have seen the letter to which the witness refers, but I consider it +of too personal a nature and too private in character to submit for +examination. I will say, however, that both my honored colleague, +Mr. Barton, and myself have compared it with other letters and +documents known to have been written by Harold Scott Mainwaring, the +elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, and have found the writing +in all cases identically the same. There is yet one more question +which may have a bearing later upon this case, which I will ask the +witness. Mr. Mainwaring, have you, during this time, received any +clue regarding the identity of your mother, or is that still unknown +to you?" + +With great deliberation, the witness replied, "Until within the past +three or four days, I have known absolutely nothing regarding even +the name of the woman whom my father made his wife, or whether she +were still in existence. I have recently learned, however, that she +is living, and," he added, more slowly, "I know that she is present +in this court-room." + +It was afterwards recalled that, as the witness resumed his seat, a +curious sound, something between a gasp and a sob was heard, but +amid the tremendous sensation produced by his last statement it passed +unnoticed. + +With very little delay, Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the last +witness,-- + +"Frederick Mainwaring Scott!" + +Again the silence deepened as the white-haired gentleman, with great +dignity, took his place upon the stand. His heavy, sonorous tones +rang out over the court-room, while from time to time the piercing +eyes beneath the beetling, snow-white brows sought the face of Ralph +Mainwaring with their silent but unmistakable challenge. At the +first sound of his voice, Mrs. LaGrange's agitation increased +perceptibly; her expression changed to abject terror, yet she seemed +unable to move or to withdraw her gaze from his face. + +To the question, "Where were you born?" the witness replied, "I was +born in London, but for the past forty-five years have been a +resident of Melbourne, Australia." + +"Are you not connected with the Mainwaring family?" + +"Distantly. The Scott and Mainwaring families have intermarried for +many years, but I have waived all claims of relationship for nearly +half a century." + +"Were you acquainted with the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in +this will?" + +"Intimately acquainted with him, as we were associated together in +business during his entire stay in Australia." + +"In what business were you engaged?" + +"In the sheep business, principally; we were also interested in the +mines." + +"For how long a time were you associated together?" + +"Six years, or thereabouts." + +"Mr. Scott, you are the foster-father of Harold Scott Mainwaring +who has just preceded you upon the witness stand, are you not?" + +"I am, and have been from the day of his birth." + +"Will you state the circumstances under which you became his +foster-parent?" + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring, the elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, +came to Australia within a year after the marriage for which he was +disinherited. His reason for leaving England was not, as many have +supposed, on account of his father's severity, but because of the +discovery of his wife's infidelity after all that he had sacrificed +for her. He brought her to Australia in the vain hope that, removed +from other influences--the influence of his own brother, in +particular,--she would yet prove true to him. Within the following +year, his son was born; but before that event he had fully learned +the character of the woman he had married, and he determined that no +child of his should be disgraced by any knowledge of its mother, or +contaminated by association with her. To my wife and myself he +confided his plans, and, as we had no children of our own, he pledged +us to the adoption of his child while yet unborn. An old and trusted +nurse in our family was also taken into the secret, but not the +physician employed on that occasion, as he was a man of no principle +and already in league with the false wife against her husband. When +the child was born, Mrs. Mainwaring was very ill and the babe received +comparatively little notice from the attendant physician. A dead +child, born but a few hours earlier, was therefore easily substituted +for the living child of Harold Mainwaring, while the latter was +secretly conveyed to my own home. + +"A few weeks later, the child was privately christened in a small +church on the outskirts of Melbourne and the event duly recorded +upon the church records. He was given his father's name in full, +Harold Scott Mainwaring, but until his twenty-first birthday was +known among our acquaintances as Harry Scott, the same name by +which he has been known in your city while acting as private +secretary to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Are you familiar with the letter written by Harold Mainwaring to +his son?" + +"Perfectly so; he gave it into my keeping on the day of the +christening, to be given to his son when he should have reached +his majority, if he himself had not, before that time, claimed +him as his child." + +"You can then vouch for its genuineness?" + +"I can." + +"How long a time elapsed between the birth of this child and the +death of Harold Mainwaring, the father?" + +"About five years. He left his wife soon after the birth of this +child and spent the greater part of his time at the mines. He +finally decided to go to the gold fields of Africa, and a few +months after his departure, we received tidings of the wreck of +the vessel in which he sailed, with the particulars of his death +at sea." + +"Mr. Scott, did you ever hear of the existence of this will?" + +"Not until the boy, Harold, learned of it, soon after he entered +Oxford." + +"Do you know how he first heard of it?" + +"He heard of it from Wilson, one of the old servants on the +Mainwaring estate, who recognized in him a resemblance to Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, and, learning of his identity, told him the +history of the will." + +"You have been kept informed of his search for the will and of +its final discovery?" + +"From the first; and though the boy has a good bit of money in his +own name, I will back him in getting his rights to the very last +pound in my possession, and that," he added, while his dark eyes +flashed ominously, "will outlast the bank-roll of any that can go +against him." + +"Have you any further direct evidence which you can produce in +support of the identity of the claimant?" + +"I have," the witness replied, and having taken from his pocket a +large memorandum book and extracted therefrom a paper, he continued, +with great deliberation,-- + +"I have here a certified copy of the record of the christening, at +the church of St. Bartholomew, on June 24, 18-, of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, the first-born son of Harold Scott and Eleanor Houghton +Mainwaring." + +A piercing shriek suddenly rang out through the hushed court-room, +and the crowd, turning involuntarily at the familiar name of +Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring towards the seat occupied by Mrs. +LaGrange, saw that wretched woman sink, with a low, despairing moan, +unconscious to the floor. As several sprang to the assistance of +the unfortunate woman, Mr. Scott, turning swiftly towards the +judge, exclaimed,-- + +"There, your honor, is a most unwilling witness, but one who has +very effectively confirmed my testimony!" + +The greatest confusion followed, several women having fainted from +nervous excitement, and, as it was then nearly noon, the court +adjourned until the afternoon session. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST THROW + + +There being no further testimony in the case, but little time was +occupied by Mr. Sutherland at the afternoon session. Briefly and +forcibly he summarized the evidence already adduced, emphasizing +the strongest points and closing with numerous citations bearing +upon the case taken from recent decisions of the highest legal +authorities. + +Several days would be required for consideration of the case pending +the decision of the court, and as the crowd surged out into the +corridors and diffused itself through the various exits, there was +much speculation as to what that decision would be and what would be +the action taken by the opponents. Among the clubmen who had made +the acquaintance of Ralph Mainwaring, heavy bets were offered that +he would contest the case before the will was even admitted to +probate. + +"He is a fool if he does," said one; "the young fellow has the best +show." + +"He'll not give up, however," was the reply; "he's got too much of +the bull-dog about him; nothing will make him break his hold till +he has spent his last shilling." + +"Well, he'll spend it for nothing, that's all!" said another. "I'll +wager you a dinner for the whole club that the young fellow will +beat him. Anybody that knows Sutherland, knows he hasn't played his +trump card yet; and you may rest assured that English lawyer isn't +over here as a figure-head!" + +Ralph Mainwaring, passing hastily from the court-room, accompanied +by Mr. Whitney, overheard the last remark. His only reply, however, +was a look of scorn flashed at the speaker, but the sardonic smile +which lingered about his closely compressed lips betokened on his +part no anticipations of defeat, but rather the reverse. Even Mr. +Whitney wondered at his silence, but young Mainwaring, leisurely +following in the rear, knew it to be only the calm which presages +the coming storm. + +His father, followed by the attorney, stepped quickly into the +Mainwaring carriage and beckoned impatiently for him to follow, but +the younger man coolly declined the invitation. + +"No, thank you, governor. I'm going for a bit of a stroll; I'll +join you and Mr. Whitney at dinner." + +As the carriage rolled away he stood for a few moments lost in +thought. His father's words to him that morning had stung his +pride and aroused in him a spirit of independence altogether new, +which had made him the more keen in observing his father's +expressions and movements, and in drawing his own deductions +therefrom. He had formed some theories of his own, and as he now +stood in the soft, autumnal sunshine, he resolved to put them to +the test. + +Turning suddenly in an opposite direction from that which he had +at first taken, he found himself confronted by Harold Mainwaring +and his party as they descended the court-house steps to the +carriages in waiting. + +Instantly the young men clasped hands, and the frank, blue eyes +gazed into the piercing dark ones, with a friendliness of whose +sincerity there could be no doubt. + +"Egad, old fellow!" he exclaimed, in low tones, "I'm glad to see +you, though you have taken us rather by surprise. I'll not take +back a word of the promise I made you, nor of what I've said about +you, either." + +"I did not think you would, Hugh," Harold replied, grasping the +proffered hand heartily; "I had a great deal of faith in you and in +your word. I only regretted that I could not explain matters at the +time; it seemed like taking advantage of you and your friendship, +though I warned you that the future might make some unexpected +revelations." + +"Well, I don't regret anything. I always said you had good blood +in you, don't you know," Hugh continued, with a boyish laugh, then +added, a little huskily, "I'll say this much, and I mean it. I +would rather give up what I supposed was mine to you than to +anybody else that know of." + +"Thank you, Hugh; I appreciate that, I assure you. Come around to +the Waldorf, I would like to have a talk with you." + +"Indeed I will. Of course, I suppose it would be of no use to ask +you up to the house; I couldn't expect you to come, but I'll see +you as soon as I can," and with another handclasp the young men +parted. + +On arriving at the Waldorf, a note was handed to Harold Mainwaring, +with the information that the bearer had been waiting nearly an hour, +as there was an answer expected. He well knew the writing; it was +the same as that of the little missive given him on the first day +of the inquest, and with darkening face he opened it and read the +following lines: + +"I must see you at once, and I beg of you to come to my apartments +this afternoon at five o'clock, without fail. In the name of mercy, +do not deny me this one favor. I can tell you something important +for you to know, of which you little dream. + + "ELEANOR HOUGHTON MAINWARING." + +After brief consultation with his attorneys, an answer was sent to +the effect that he would call in compliance with the request, and a +little later he started upon his strange errand. + +With what wildly conflicting emotions Mrs. LaGrange in her apartments +awaited his coming may perhaps be more easily imagined than +portrayed. She had not recovered from the morning's shock, but was +nerving herself for the coming ordeal; preparing to make her final, +desperate throw in the game of life. Success now, in this last +venture, would mean everything to her, while failure would leave her +nothing, only blank despair. Pride, the dominant passion of her +life, struggled with a newly awakened love; doubt and dread and fear +battled with hope, but even in the unequal contest, hope would not +be vanquished. + +Shortly before the hour appointed, Richard Hobson's card was handed +her with the information that he must see her without delay. She +understood the nature of his errand; she knew his coming was +inevitable; her only desire was to postpone the meeting with him +until after the interview with Harold Mainwaring, but on no account +would she have him know of her appointment with the latter. She +tore the bit of pasteboard in two. + +"Tell him to call to-morrow," she said to the messenger; but he soon +returned, with another card on which was written,-- + +"Important! must see you to-day." + +It was nearly five. Quickly, with fingers trembling from her +anxiety lest he delay too long, she wrote,-- + +"Call at eight o'clock this evening; I can see no one earlier." + +As she gave the card to the messenger, she glanced again at the +little French clock on the mantel. + +"Three hours," she murmured; "three hours in which to decide my fate! +If I succeed, I can bid defiance to that craven when he shall come +to-night; if not--" she shuddered and walked over to the window, +where she watched eagerly till she saw the cringing figure going +hastily down the street. + +He had but just disappeared around the corner of the block when a +closed carriage was driven rapidly to the hotel, and a moment later +Harold Scott Mainwaring was announced. + +Her heart throbbed wildly as she turned to meet him, then suddenly +stopped, seeming a dead weight in her breast, as her eyes met his. + +For a moment neither spoke; once her lips moved, but no sound came +from them. Before that face, hard and impassive as granite, and as +cold, the impulse which she had felt to throw herself at his feet +and plead for mercy and for love died within her; her tongue seemed +paralyzed, powerless to utter a word, and the words she would have +spoken fled from her brain. + +With swift observation he noted the terrible change which the last +weeks, and especially the last few hours, had wrought in the wretched +woman before him, and the suffering, evidenced by her deathly pallor, +her trembling agitation, and the look of dumb, almost hopeless +pleading in her eyes, appealed to him far more than any words could +have done. + +He was the first to speak, and though there was no softening of the +stern features, yet his tones were gentle, almost pitying, as he +said,-- + +"I have come as you requested. Why did you send for me? What have +you to say?" + +At the sound of his voice she seemed somewhat reassured, and +advancing a few steps towards him, she repeated his words,-- + +"Why did I send for you? Why should I not send for you? Think +you a mother would have no desire to see her own son after long +years of cruel separation from him?" + +"There is no need to call up the past," he said, more coldly; "the +separation to which you refer was, under existing circumstances, +the best for all concerned. It undoubtedly caused suffering, but +you were not the sufferer; there could be no great depth of +maternal love where there was neither love nor loyalty as a wife." + +Her dark eyes grew tender and luminous as she fixed them upon his +face, while she beckoned him to a seat and seated herself near and +facing him. + +"You forget," she replied, in the low, rich tones he had so often +heard at Fair Oaks; "you forget that a mother's love is instinctive, +born within her with the birth of her child, while a wife's love +must be won. I must recall the past to you, and you must listen; +'twas for this I sent for you, that you, knowing the past, might +know that, however deeply I may have sinned, I have been far more +deeply sinned against." + +"Not as regards my father," he interposed, quickly, as she paused +to note the effect of her words; "he sacrificed fortune, home, +friends, everything for you, and you rewarded his love and devotion +only with the basest infidelity." + +"That your father loved me, I admit," she continued, in the same +low, musical tones, scarcely heeding his words; "but, as I said a +moment ago, a wife's love must be won, and he failed to win my +love." + +"Was his treacherous brother so much more successful then in that +direction than he?" Harold questioned, sternly. "Within six months +after your marriage to my father, you admitted that you married him +only that you might have Hugh Mainwaring for your lover." + +She neither flushed nor quailed under the burning indignation of his +gaze, but her eyes were fastened upon him intently as the eyes of +the charmer upon his victim. + +"Half truths are ever harder to refute than falsehood," she replied, +softly. "I said that once under great provocation, but if I sought +to make Hugh Mainwaring my lover, it was not that I loved him, but +through revenge for his having trifled with me only to deceive and +desert me. Before I married your father, both he and his brother +were among my most ardent admirers. The younger brother seemed to +me far more congenial, and had he possessed one-half the chivalry +and devotion which the elder brother afterwards manifested, he +would have completely won my love. The rivalry between the two +brothers led to bitter estrangement, which soon became known to +their father, who lost no time in ascertaining its cause. His anger +on learning the facts in the case was extreme; he wrote me an +insulting letter, and threatened to disown either or both of his +sons unless they discontinued their attentions to a 'disreputable +adventuress,' as he chose to style me. Hugh Mainwaring at once +deserted me, without even a word of explanation or of farewell, and, +as if that were not enough, on more than one occasion he openly +insulted me in the presence of his father, on the streets of London. +I realized then for the first time that I cared for him, coward that +he was, though I did not love him as he thought,--had I loved him, +I would have killed him, then and there. Mad with chagrin and rage, +I married your father, partly for the position he could give me--for +I did not believe that he, the elder son and his father's +favorite, would be disowned--and partly to show his brother and +their father that I still held, as I supposed, the winning hand. +On my wedding-day I vowed that I would yet bring Hugh Mainwaring to +my feet as my lover, and when, shortly afterwards, your father was +disinherited in his favor, my desire for revenge was only +intensified. I redoubled my efforts to win him, and I found it no +difficult task; he was even more willing to play the lover to his +brother's wife than to the penniless girl whom he had known, with +no possessions but her beauty and wit. At first, our meetings +were clandestine; but we soon grew reckless, and in one or two +instances I openly boasted of my conquest, hoping thereby to arouse +his father's displeasure against him also. But in that I reckoned +wrong. He disinherited and disowned his son for having honorably +married a woman whom he considered below him in station, but for +an open affaire d'amour with that son's wife, he had not even a +word of censure. + +"Your father discovered the situation and decided upon a life in +Australia. If he had then shown me some consideration, the future +might have been vastly different; but he grew morose and taciturn, +and I, accustomed to gay society and the admiration of crowds, was +left to mope alone in a strange country, with no companionship +whatever. What wonder that I hungered for the old life, or that a +casual admiring glance, or a few words even of flattery, were like +cold water to one perishing with thirst! Then new hope came into +my lonely life, and I spent months in dreamy, happy anticipations +of the future love and companionship of my child. But even that +boon was denied me. It was hard enough, believing, as I did, that +my child had died, but to find that I was robbed of that which would +have been not only my joy and happiness, but my salvation from the +life which followed!" She paused, apparently unable to proceed, +and buried her eyes in a dainty handkerchief, while Harold +Mainwaring watched her, the hard lines deepening about his mouth. + +"After that," she resumed, in trembling tones, "all hope was gone. +Your father deserted me soon afterwards, leaving me nearly penniless, +and a flew years later I returned to England." + +"To find Hugh Mainwaring?" he queried. + +"Not at the first," she answered, but her eyes fell before the +cynicism of his glance. "I had no thought of him then, but I learned +through Richard Hobson, whom I met in London at that time, of the +will which had been made in my husband's favor, but which he told me +had been destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring. He said nothing of the clause +forbidding that any of the property should pass to me, and I +immediately sailed for America in search of Hugh Mainwaring, +believing that, with my knowledge of the will, I, as his brother's +widow, could get some hold upon him by which I could compel him +either to share the property with me or to marry me." + +"Then you were not married to Hugh Mainwaring in England, as you +testified at the inquest?" + +"No," she replied, passionately; "I was never married to him. I +have made many men my dupes and slaves, but he was the one man who +made a dupe of me, and I hating him all the time!" + +"And Walter!" he exclaimed, "you stated that he was the son of Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"He is Hugh Mainwaring's son and mine," she answered, with bitter +emphasis; "that was another of my schemes which failed. I found I +had little hold upon Hugh Mainwaring, while he had the same power +over me as in the days before I had learned to despise him. When +Walter was born, I hoped he would then fulfil his promises of +marriage; but instead, he would have turned me adrift had I not +threatened that I would then disclose everything which I knew +concerning the will. He sneered at me, but offered me a place as +servant in his home, and support and education for his child on +condition that the relationship should never be known, and that I +would remain silent regarding the will. I could do nothing then +but accept his conditions, but they were galling,--too galling at +last to be longer endured!" + +"How is it that you and Walter bear the name of LaGrange?" he asked. + +She hesitated a moment, then replied: "I married a man by that name +soon after leaving Australia." + +"Before or after the tidings of my father's death?" he questioned, +sternly. + +"We heard the news of his death soon after our marriage, but he had +deserted me years before, so it made little difference. I met +Captain LaGrange in Sydney, and we sailed together for Paris and +were married there, but we soon grew tired of each other. I left +him in about two years and went to Vienna, and from there returned +to England. In some way, Hugh Mainwaring learned of the marriage, +and when I came to Fair Oaks, he insisted on my taking that name +for myself and child." + +She spoke wearily and with an air of dejection, for it was plainly +evident that Harold Mainwaring was not to be deceived by +misstatements, however plausible, nor were his sympathies to be +aroused by simulated grief. A few moments of silence followed, +while she watched him intently, her face again falling into the +pinched and haggard outlines which he had observed on entering the +room. + +When he at last spoke, his voice was calm, without a trace of anger +or bitterness. + +"Mrs. LaGrange, I have been informed that in the days before you +ruined my father's life you were an actress in a second-class London +playhouse, and I see you have not yet lost some little tricks of the +stage; but we are not now before the footlights, and it will be much +better to lay aside everything pertaining to them. Nothing that you +have said has awakened my pity or touched my sympathies for you; in +fact, what you have told me has only steeled my heart against you +because of its utter falsity. It is unnecessary to go over the +ground again, but if you could not reciprocate the love and devotion +bestowed upon you by my father, you should never have accepted it; +but accepting it as you did, you were bound by every consideration +to be true and loyal to that love and to him. Instead, from +beginning to end, you have been false to him, false to his memory, +false to your own wifehood and motherhood, false to yourself! I +have not come here to reproach you, however. I will only say that +I do not believe the capacity--the capability even--of love exists, +or has ever existed, within you. But," he continued, in gentler +tones, "the capacity for suffering does exist, and I can see without +any simulation on your part that you have suffered." + +Before the look of pity which now for the first time softened the +stern features, she broke down, and genuine tears coursed down her +pallid cheeks as she cried, "Suffered! what have I not suffered! +I am homeless, penniless, degraded, an outcast! There is no hope, +no help for me unless you will help me. I know what you must think +of me, how even you, my son, must despise me, but as a drowning man +catches at a straw, I sent for you, hoping that you would in mercy +pity me and help me." + +"Do you wish me to help you pecuniarily? I will willingly do that." + +"Pecuniarily!" she exclaimed, almost in scorn. "Cannot you +understand what I need most? It is pity, sympathy, love! I want +the love and support of my first-born son, and I am willing to beg +for it," and, rising from her chair, she threw herself upon her +knees beside him, "only be my son, forget the past and let me be to +you, as I am, your mother! No, let me be!" she exclaimed, as he +would have raised her from her kneeling posture. "I have no son +but you, for Walter, like his father, has deserted me, with taunts +and sneers. I can help you, too," she added, eagerly, but in low +tones, "help you in a way of which you little dream. Do you know +what Ralph Mainwaring will attempt next? He will try to implicate +you in the murder of Hugh Mainwaring!" + +"That will be no more than you yourself attempted at the inquest," +he answered. + +"Ah, but his motive is different; in my case it was but the resort +of a weak woman to divert suspicion from herself; but he will seek +to fasten this crime upon you to defeat you, to crush and ruin you, +because he fears you as his opponent, and it is within my power to +clear you from any charges he may bring against you." + +Her voice sank nearly to a whisper, her eyes were dilated, and she +was trembling with excitement. + +He watched her intently for a moment, then spoke in a tone of calm +command. "Tell me how you could help me. What do you know of that +affair?" + +"Listen, and I will tell you," and leaning towards him, she whispered +a few words in his ears. + +Only a few words, but Harold Mainwaring started as from a shock, +while his face grew as pale as her own, and it was with difficulty +he could control his voice, as he demanded in quick, excited tones,-- + +"Do you know what you are saying? Are you speaking the truth?" + +"Yes, before Heaven, it is the truth, and the horror of it has +haunted me day and night; the thought of it has driven me nearly +mad, but I dared not breathe it to any living human being." + +"You have told no one else what you have just told me?" + +"No, I dared not." + +He asked a few more questions which she answered, and from her +manner he was convinced that she spoke the truth. Then he sat for +a moment silent, his head bowed, his eyes covered, lost in thought, +while strangely commingled emotions surged within his breast. + +At last she broke the silence. "It will help you--what I have +told you--will it not?" + +"It is of inestimable value to me," he answered, but instead of +exultation, there was a strange sadness in his voice. + +"You will let me help you, and you will be a son to me, will you +not?" + +He looked at her with an expression of mingled pity and bitterness, +and then, without replying, lifted her gently but firmly and +reseated her, while he himself remained standing at a little +distance. She watched him anxiously. + +"Harold," at last she ventured, "think what I have suffered, and +do not refuse my one prayer." + +"I can see that you have suffered," he answered, gently; "and, as I +have told you, I will help you pecuniarily and will befriend you, +only do not ask me that which I cannot give." + +"I ask nothing more," she exclaimed, passionately, rising to her +feet, "than that you be a son to me, and I will accept nothing less." + +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he replied, "for you are only +unnecessarily depriving yourself of many benefits that might be +yours. I would provide a home for you where you would be unknown, +and means that you could spend the remainder of your life in +comfort." + +"What would I care for any home or wealth that you might provide +for me," she demanded, angrily, "if you yourself would not +acknowledge me as your mother! I will accept nothing from you +under such conditions." + +"Then we may as well end this conference," he replied, calmly, "for +I hold my father in too deep love and reverence ever to permit of +my applying to you the sacred name of 'Mother.'" + +Her eyes flashed at the mention of his father, and she was about to +speak, but he lifted his hand warningly. "Hush!" he commanded; "not +one word shall you speak against him in my presence! Before I go, +I will give you an opportunity to reconsider your declaration of a +moment ago." + +"I will not reconsider it. You are like every Mainwaring that I +have ever known, in that you think money and shelter, such as you +might fling at some superannuated servant, will take the place of +the true position and honor that are my due." + +"Do you then, finally and once for all, refuse any and all offers +of assistance from me?" he asked. + +"I do," she replied, proudly; "I will not accept charity from a +Mainwaring,--not even from you!" + +"Very well; if that is your decision, I bid you adieu," and before +she could reply, he was gone. + +He passed swiftly down the corridor, his head bowed slightly, +looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, but his step had +an elasticity it had not possessed in weeks, and any one passing +near him would have heard the single exclamation, "Thank God!" + +Upon reaching his carriage, he spoke quickly to the driver, "To +the Waldorf at once!" and was borne away by the impatient steeds +even more swiftly than he had come. + +Meanwhile, within the room which he had just left, the wretched +woman, whose falseness and pride had wrought her own undoing, stood +listening to the retreating footsteps; she heard them die away in +the distance, heard the carriage-wheels roll rapidly down the avenue, +then sank upon a low couch with a cry of despair. + +"All is over," she moaned, "and I have failed. I could not force +him to my terms, and I would never yield to his. I will take +charity from no one, least of all from him. I will be first, or +nothing!" and she shivered faintly. + +After a tune she arose, and ringing for her maid, ordered a light +repast brought to her room, as she would not go down to dinner; +"And," she concluded, "you can have the evening to yourself: I +expect callers, and will not need you." + +An hour later, Richard Hobson crept along the corridor and tapped +for admittance. There was no answer, and cautiously pushing open +the door, he entered unbidden, but started back in horror at the +sight which met his eyes. The electric lights had not been turned +on, but a few tall wax tapers, in a pair of candelabra upon the +mantel, were burning, and in the dim, weird light, Mrs. LaGrange, +still elegantly attired for her interview with Harold Mainwaring, +lay upon the low couch near the grate, her features scarcely paler +than a few hours before, but now rigid in death. Upon the table +beside her, the supper ordered by the maid stood untasted, while +on the same table a small vial bearing the label of one of the +deadliest of poisons, but empty, told the story. Underneath the +vial was a slip of paper, on which was written,-- + +"I have staked my highest card--and lost! The game is done." + +Terror-stricken, Hobson glanced about him, then pausing only long +enough to clutch some of the gleaming jewels from the inanimate +form, he stealthily withdrew, and, skulking unobserved along the +corridors, passed out into the darkness and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SECESSION IN THE RANKS + + +When Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney arrived at the club they found +young Mainwaring already awaiting them at their private table, but +it was far from a social group which sat down to dinner that evening. +The elder Mainwaring still preserved an ominous silence, and in his +dark, glowering face few would have recognized the urbane guest whom +Hugh Mainwaring had introduced to his small coterie of friends less +than three months before. The younger man, though holding a +desultory conversation with the attorney, yet looked decidedly +bored, while from time to time he regarded his father with a cynical +expression entirely new to his hitherto ingenuous face. Mr. Whitney, +always keenly alert to his surroundings, became quickly conscious +of a sudden lack of harmony between father and son, and feeling +himself in rather a delicate position, carefully refrained in his +remarks from touching upon any but the most neutral ground. + +A couple of hours later, as the three with a box of cigars were +gathered around an open fire in Ralph Mainwaring's apartments, it +was noticeable that young Mainwaring was unusually silent. In a +few moments, however, his father's long pent-up wrath burst forth. + +Addressing the attorney in no very pleasant tone, he demanded, "Well, +sir, what do you now propose to do about this matter?" + +"It is to be a fight, then, is it?" Mr. Whitney asked with a smile, +knocking the ashes from his cigar. + +"Yes, by my soul, and a fight to the finish. Understand, I will +have no time lost. This farce has got to be quashed at once, and +the sooner the better, so you may enter protest and file an +application for hearing, or whatever your mode of procedure is in +this country, at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile, I'll +secure the best legal talent that money can get to help you. I've +a longer purse than that old Australian sheep-herder thinks, and +when the time for contest comes, I'll meet him on his own ground." + +"If you are going to employ additional counsel," interposed Mr. +Whitney, "allow me to suggest the name of P. B. Hunnewell, of this +city; he is one of the ablest attorneys in the United States, +particularly in matters of this kind. His fees are somewhat +exorbitant, but money is no object with you in this case." + +"None whatever," the other interrupted, impatiently; "we will retain +this Hunnewell upon your recommendation, but in the morning I shall + cable for Upham & Blackwell, of London. They rank right in the +same line with Barton & Barton; they have conducted considerable +business for me, and I am satisfied," he added, with peculiar +emphasis, "they could not be tampered with or bought at any price. +I shall also cable for Graham, the expert on chirography and on all +kinds of forgeries, and we will have his decision upon that will. +I am going, first of all, understand, to have that document proven +a forgery. That done, the whole fabrication of this cunning impostor +falls to the ground, and then, when I have him completely floored +in that direction, he will find that I have only just begun with him." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney. "You surely do not intend +to dispute his identity after the unmistakable proofs submitted?" + +"I care nothing about his identity," Mainwaring retorted, with a +sneer. "Whether he is the son of Harold Mainwaring or of Frederick +Scott, matters little; both were renegades and outcasts from their +homes. No, sir," and there was a ring of exultation in his tone, +while his steel-gray eyes glittered, "I have a surprise in store +for the young man; when he gets through with this contest, he will +find himself under arrest as the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring." + +Young Mainwaring rose suddenly and began pacing the room, while +Mr. Whitney exclaimed,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you astonish me! I certainly fail to see how you +can connect the young man with that terrible affair." + +"What else could be expected of a man who acknowledges that for +years he has been dogging the steps of Hugh Mainwaring and acting +the part of a spy, not only in his private offices, but even in +his own home, stooping to any means, no matter how contemptible, +to further his nefarious designs? Would such a man, when his +schemes were finally matured, have any scruples about taking the +life of the one who stood in the way of their fulfilment?" + +"But, sir," protested the attorney, "such a deed would be wholly +unnecessary. Admitting all that you have said regarding the means +employed by him, would it not be much more reasonable to suppose +that he would attempt to bring his man to terms either through a +personal interview or by bringing suit against him, rather than +by resorting to brutal crime?" + +"And supposing he did have a personal interview for the purpose of +setting forth his claims, do you think that Hugh Mainwaring would +be bamboozled by any of his cheap trickery? No, sir, not for one +moment. He would simply pronounce the whole thing a sham. Well, +sir, if you will recall some of the testimony at the inquest, you +will see that is precisely what occurred. Hugh Mainwaring, within +twenty or thirty minutes preceding his death, was heard to denounce +some one as a 'liar' and an 'impostor.' An 'impostor,' mark you! +Very applicable to the case we are now supposing. And in the +altercation which followed, the other party called him a 'thief,' +and made some allusion--I do not recall the exact words--to his +being 'transported to the wilds of Australia.' Now, sir, there is +no doubt in the mind of any sane man that those words were spoken +by the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, and I think now we have a +pretty good clue to his identity." + +"But the young man stated emphatically this morning that he made +no mention of the will to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"To the devil with his statements! There is evidence enough against +him that he will be ruined when I get through with him. He has +dared to try to thwart me in the plans of a lifetime, and I'll make +it the worst piece of business he ever undertook. Understand, I +want you to institute proceedings against him at once!" + +"Governor," said young Mainwaring, quietly, before Mr. Whitney could +respond to this tirade, "in whose name will these proceedings be +instituted, yours or mine?" + +"Well," replied his father, with a sneer, "I don't know that it +makes any particular difference to you in whose name it is done, +so long as it is for your benefit." + +"Begging your pardon, sir, I believe it does make considerable +difference. And I will say right here that I will have no +proceedings entered, either in my name or for my benefit, for two +reasons: first, Harold Scott Mainwaring is no impostor; we had +abundant proof to-day that, under the terms of that will, he is the +sole claimant to the property; and second, you know, sir, as well +as I, that years ago, your own servant, John Wilson, told you that +such a will had existed, and there is every ground for believing +that this document is genuine. I just begin to understand your +little game, governor, and, by Jove! I will not be a party to it." + +Up to this point, astonishment at his son's audacity seemed to have +bereft Ralph Mainwaring of the power of speech, but now he demanded +in thunderous tones, while his face grew purple with rage, "What do +you mean, sir, by daring to address such language to me? You +impudent upstart! let me tell you that you had best attend to your +own business!" + +"This is the second time you have told me that today," said the +young man, calmly, though the hot blood was fast rising; "allow me +to inform you, governor, with all due respect, that henceforth I +will attend to my own business, and will not trouble you to attend +to it for me. If you had any just or tenable grounds for the +proceedings you are about to institute, I would have nothing to say; +but, begging your pardon, you have none whatever; it is simply a +piece of dirty work with which I will have nothing to do." + +"You ungrateful dog! This is your return for my care and +forethought for you, is it? Do you retract every word which you +have said, or I'll cut you off without a penny," and with a fearful +oath he swung himself around in his chair with such violence as to +overturn the small onyx table upon which the cigars were standing, +shattering it to fragments. + +The young man paused directly in front of his father. "I retract +nothing," he said, quietly but firmly. "You are at liberty to +follow the example of old Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring if you wish, but +you may regret it later, as he did." + +"And do you think Edith Thornton will marry a penniless beggar, a +pauper? Or do you propose to live upon her fortune?" + +"No; I will not touch a penny of her fortune," he replied, his cheek +flushing; "and I am not quite a pauper, for I have the money left +me by Uncle Tom years ago; and if Edith is the girl to be turned +from me under the circumstances, why, the sooner I find it out the +better." + +"A paltry twenty thousand pounds! a fine fortune!" sneered his +father, ignoring his last remark. + +"Many a fortune has been made from a much smaller start; but it is +useless to waste words further. You understand my position, and that +is enough. Mr. Whitney," he continued, addressing the attorney, +"according to the terms of Hugh Mainwaring's will, I, and not my +father, am heir to the property, and therefore the one to contest +the claim of Harold Mainwaring if it is contested at all. I wish to +state to you here and now, distinctly, that I will not contest the +case, nor will I authorize any one to do so for me; and now, +gentlemen, I bid you both good-evening!" and he quietly left the +room. + +"Zounds!" exclaimed the elder man, as the door closed upon his son, +"I didn't suppose the boy had so much spirit! I've often wished he +and Isabel could change places, because she was so much more like +myself and what I would like a son to be." + +"He has the Mainwaring blood all right," replied the attorney, with +more inward admiration for the young man than he dared to express. + +"Not if he will throw away a fortune in this manner; it is probably +some boyish whim, however and the young fool will look at it in a +different light to-morrow." + +"I think not, Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, quietly; "he is +enough like Hugh Mainwaring, and like yourself, that when he decides +upon a certain line of action, he will not be easily turned aside. +You may rest assured that he will have nothing whatever to do with +this contest, and that if you wish to carry on the fight, you will +have to do so under your own colors." + +"I'll do it, too," he replied, fiercely; "I'll enter proceedings in +my own name, as the nearest heir after Hugh Mainwaring." + +"In that case, your brother must be notified, as he will be entitled +to share the estate with you; that may cause us some little delay, +but--" + +"Curse it all!" the other interrupted, angrily; "I had not thought +of that; he will have to come in for a share; confound that boy's +foolishness! I'll get hold of him tomorrow morning and see if I +cannot talk some reason into him," and Ralph Mainwaring relapsed +into sullen silence. It was a new experience for him to meet with +opposition in his own family, least of all from his son, and he felt +the first step must be to quell it, though decidedly at loss just +how to proceed. + +A little later, Mr. Whitney, finding his client disinclined to +further conversation, after making an appointment for the next +morning, excused himself and took his departure for his own +apartments at the club. + +As he passed down the stairway into the spacious hall, what was his +surprise to see Mr. Merrick comfortably ensconced in a large leather +chair, reading the evening papers. + +The two men shook hands warmly, and together passed out into the +cool, starlit night. + +"When did you arrive, Merrick? and from what point of the compass?" +inquired the attorney. + +"Got in on the 9.30 train," the detective replied, seeming not to +have heard the second question; "learned you were at Mainwaring's, +so I stopped in, but told the butler not to disturb you, as I was +in no hurry." + +"I noticed you were looking over the evening papers, did you read +the account of this morning's proceedings in court?" + +"I did." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"I am not in the least surprised." + +"Not surprised!" echoed the attorney. "Do you mean to say that the +reappearance of the missing secretary as the heir to the Mainwaring +estate is no surprise to you?" + +"None whatever," Merrick replied, with the most exasperating +coolness, adding, as he noted the other's incredulous smile, "you +may recall a hint given you at Fair Oaks, one evening, of the +possible existence of claimants, perhaps not far distant, whose +rights superseded those of Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +Mr. Whitney started involuntarily as the detective's words of a few +weeks before were thus recalled, then looking his companion squarely +in the face, he exclaimed, half playfully, half indignantly, "I +don't suppose you will go so far as to claim any familiarity with +that old will which has just been resurrected." + +"Well," said Merrick, deliberately stopping to relight his cigar, "I +was aware that there was such a will in existence, or at least that +it had existed up to the time of Hugh Mainwaring's death, and I +supposed all along that it was in the possession of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, otherwise known as Harry Scott, secretary." + +"By George! when and how did you get hold of all this?" questioned +the attorney, in a tone of bewilderment. + +"I was pretty well conversant with the facts in the case a few days +before the young man took passage for England, in the 'Campania.'" + +"The 'Campania!' Heavens and earth, man! Do you mean to say that +he went over on the same boat with Miss--with the ladies from +Fair Oaks?" + +"Certainly; and I don't think," Merrick continued, watching the +attorney shrewdly, "that Miss--the ladies from Fair Oaks--objected +to him as a fellow-traveller, either." + +Mr. Whitney changed the subject. "Then you know that will to be +genuine, do you?" + +"H'm! am I on the witness stand?" + +"No; but I think I ought to subpoena you to keep the other side +from getting your testimony; you might make a troublesome witness +against us." + +"My testimony might be worth much or little; I am not giving it to +either side at present." + +"Well, I would not have it go out, of course; but for my part, I am +inclined, to believe not only that the will is genuine, but also +that Ralph Mainwaring knows that it is." + +"He will fight it all the same." + +"Yes, but on rather different grounds from what he first anticipated," +and Mr. Whitney gave Merrick an account of young Mainwaring's +defection. "In my private opinion," concluded the attorney, "Ralph +Mainwaring is a fool, for he has got a pretty hard combination to go +against; they've evidently got a strong case, splendid legal talent, +and plenty of money to back it all. However, I'm making a good +thing out of it." + +"Yes," said Merrick, enigmatically, "Barton & Barton are undoubtedly +men of great ability in their professions but that 'clerk' of theirs +who has come over with the party," with peculiar emphasis, "is the +smartest man in the whole crowd!" + +"The clerk! why I thought he seemed rather an insignificant sort +of a fellow; what do you know about him?" + +For reply the detective only gave a short, unpleasant laugh, and, +touching his cap, turned abruptly down another street. + +"Hold on!" cried the attorney; "you haven't told me anything about +yourself yet. What have you been doing? and how long are you going +to be in town?" + +"A day or two, perhaps, possibly a week; I cannot say." + +"How are you getting on?" + +But the detective was lost in thought and apparently did not hear +the question. "I suppose you read of the arrest of Brown, the +coachman?" he remarked, abstractedly, after a moment's silence. + +"The coachman? No! you don't say that he was really concerned in +that affair?" the attorney exclaimed, excitedly. + +"What affair, the Mainwaring murder? I don't know that I have +said that he was concerned in that," Merrick answered, suddenly +coming to himself and evidently enjoying the attorney's expression +of blank perplexity; "he was mixed up in a shooting affair, however, +which occurred about that time, and by holding him in custody we +hope to get on to the principals. Oh," he added, carelessly, +anticipating another inquiry from Mr. Whitney, "I'm getting there +all right, if that is what you want to know; but I won't have +somebody else dogging my tracks and then claiming the game by and by." + +"Man alive! what in the dickens are you driving at? You are in one +of your moods to-night." + +"Perhaps so," Merrick replied, indifferently, then added quickly, +"There is a sensation of some sort in there; see the crowd of +reporters!" + +They were standing on a street corner, near a large hotel, and +glancing through the windows in the direction indicated by the +detective, Mr. Whitney saw, as he had said, a crowd of reporters in +the office and lobbies, some writing, some talking excitedly, and +others coming and going. Just then one who was leaving the building +passed them, and Merrick stopped him. + +"What is going on? What's the excitement?" + +"Suicide!" the young man replied, hastily. "That woman who was +mixed up in the Mainwaring case has suicided by poison." + +The attorney and the detective exchanged startled glances, then +both entered the hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FLOTSAM AND JETSAM + + +An hour later, the attorney and the detective reappeared, and, +threading their way through the crowd still lingering about the +hotel, walked rapidly down the street, arm in arm, conversing in +low tones. + +"A case of suicide, undoubtedly," said the attorney "and scarcely to +be wondered at, taking all the circumstances into consideration. +Do you know, I am now more than ever inclined to the belief that +she was in some way connected with Hugh Mainwaring's death, and +that, after such a revelation of her character as was made in court +this morning, she feared further disclosures." + +Mr. Whitney glanced at his companion, but the latter seemed +engrossed with his own thoughts and made no reply. + +"I never was so completely floored in my life," the attorney +continued, "as when it came out that Harold Mainwaring was her son; +and I yet fail to see the necessity for introducing that feature +into the testimony. I should have thought that would have been +passed over in silence." + +"As near as I can judge from reading of the case," Merrick replied, +"it seems to have been done with a purpose. His attorneys were +leading up to that very point in such a manner that, when the climax +was reached, she would involuntarily betray herself--as she did--thus +confirming in the strongest manner the testimony already given." + +"I believe you may be right," said the attorney, musingly, "though +it had not occurred to me." + +After a short pause, Merrick continued: "When I was first called to +Fair Oaks, I suspected some relationship between that woman and the +secretary, as he was then called; there was a marked resemblance +between them; both had the same peculiar olive skin, while their +features and carriage were almost identical." + +"Yes, I recall your mentioning the likeness to me, and at the same +time I was puzzled by the resemblance between him and Hugh +Mainwaring. Well, I always said he was a mystery, and no wonder!" + +They had reached the club-house by this time, and, as Merrick +declined Mr. Whitney's invitation to enter, both men remained +outside for a few moments. Once again, the attorney endeavored to +sound the detective regarding his work and the progress he was +making, but the latter suddenly became strangely uncommunicative. + +"My client is going to charge Harold Mainwaring with the murder," +said the attorney at last. + +Merrick laughed scornfully, and for the second time that evening +wheeled abruptly and turned down a side street, leaving Mr. Whitney +standing upon the club-house steps, watching the rapidly retreating +figure with mingled vexation and amusement. + +"Something has upset Merrick," he soliloquized, as he finally turned +towards the entrance; "who can he imagine is 'dogging' his tracks, +as he terms it? These detectives seem about as jealous of their +reputation as we lawyers are supposed to be. Ralph Mainwaring is +going to engage 'the best legal talent that money can get!' H'm! +when he comes to settle, he may find that my 'legal talent' will +come just as high as the best of them." + +Could Mr. Whitney have been present at a conference held that +evening in one of the private parlors of the Waldorf, he might have +had a better understanding of the cause of Merrick's perturbation. + +Immediately upon returning to the hotel, Harold Mainwaring had +communicated to the English attorney and to Mr. Scott the particulars +of his interview with Mrs. LaGrange. Mr. Scott at once expressed +his satisfaction at the outcome, in that she had rejected all offers +of assistance except upon her own terms. + +"That is best, that is best just as it is," he said, emphatically; +"you do not want to be hampered with any obligations she might +impose upon you, and as for ever recognizing or acknowledging any +relationship, it is not to be thought of for one moment. Your course +was right, perfectly right. But what was the statement of such +importance which she was to make?" + +"That is just what I am coming to," the young man replied; and +drawing his chair closer to those of his companions, he repeated in +low tones the secret intrusted to him by Mrs. LaGrange. The faces of +the two men were a study as he ended his recital. + +"Are you confident that she spoke the truth?" questioned Mr. Barton +eagerly. + +"I am positive that she did; she seemed like one terror-stricken, +and said that the horror of it had haunted her day and night." + +"There could be no reason in this instance for doubting her," +commented Mr. Scott, thoughtfully; "she would have no motive for +making such a statement if it were not true." + +"My dear Mainwaring!" exclaimed the attorney, "it is what I have +suspected ever since you gave me the details of the affair; you +remember what I told you before we left London!" + +"Certainly; but it seemed to me then too improbable." + +"The improbable is, sometimes, what we must look for in cases like +this," he replied; "McCabe should be put on to this immediately, +and we must call Sutherland. I will summon him, myself, at once," +and he left the room. + +The foster-father and son, left for a few moments to themselves, +had little to say, but sat looking into each other's faces with eyes +full of meaning, each understanding what was in the other's heart. +At last, as they heard returning footsteps, the elder man spoke,-- + +"It was a good thing you went there, my boy; come what may, you will +never regret it." + +"Never!" the other replied with emphasis. + +It seemed but a few moments ere hurried steps were heard along the +corridor, followed by a light, familiar knock, and Mr. Sutherland +entered. + +"I recognized your voice at the 'phone, Mr. Barton," said the +attorney, after greetings had been exchanged, "and something in its +tone, aside from the general import of your message, led me to +believe that the call was of special importance, therefore I lost +no time in coming here." + +"You were correct," replied the English barrister; "we have made a +most important discovery, bearing not only upon the case in hand, +but also upon the Mainwaring murder case." + +"Ah-h!" responded the attorney with evident interest; then drawing +his chair near the group seated about the open fire, he asked, with +a swift glance about the room, "But where is your 'clerk,' Mr. +Barton? Should he not be present?" + +"My 'clerk!'" replied Mr. Barton, with peculiar emphasis, and plainly +appreciating the humor of the inquiry; "my 'clerk' is, I believe, at +present engaged in most assiduously cultivating the acquaintance of +Ralph Mainwaring's coachman." + +Then, as Mr. Sutherland elevated his eyebrows in mute inquiry, he +continued,-- + +"The coachman, I have understood, is a recent acquisition, taken, I +believe, upon the recommendation of this Merrick; and while he seems +eminently satisfactory as a coachman, I have my doubts as to whether +he will prove quite so satisfactory to his superior officer upon his +return." + +"Ah, I see!" ejaculated the other; "he is what might be denominated +a 'sub.'" + +"Yes; and so exceedingly verdant that McCabe thought it worth while +to make his acquaintance. But now to present business!" + +Again the strange story was repeated, Mr. Sutherland listening with +grave attention, which deepened as the recital proceeded, until, at +its completion, he could scarcely restrain his enthusiasm; exultation +was plainly written on his face, but there was a peculiar gentleness +in his manner as he first approached his young client, saying in a +low tone, as he cordially grasped his hand,-- + +"I realize, Mr. Mainwaring, all that this means to you, and I am +sure you will understand me when I say that I congratulate you." + +Harold Mainwaring bowed silently, and Mr. Sutherland, turning +towards the English barrister, exclaimed, "This explains everything! +This will make our case absolutely incontrovertible; but, first, +we must secure that man at all hazards and at any cost just as +quickly as possible; think what a witness he will make!" + +"Just what I had in mind" was the response, "and McCabe is the man +to locate him if he is upon the face of the earth. But we must +decide immediately upon our own course of action, for this will +necessitate certain changes in our plans, and we must act at once, +and, at the same time, with the utmost caution and secrecy." + +Dinner was ordered and served in the privacy of their own apartments +that they might be entirely free from intrusion or interruptions +during their deliberations, and it was at a late hour when, their +consultation ended, they gathered about the open fire with their +cigars, awaiting, with much self-congratulation and cheerful talk, +the return of the absent McCabe. + +"Confound it!" exclaimed Mr. Barton, presently, glancing at his +watch; "what in the deuce is keeping that fellow so late? If we +had not especially wanted him, he would have been here two hours ago." + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Sutherland, "he may have found the coachman +more communicative than he anticipated." + +"He has doubtless struck some clue which he is following," was the +reply; but at that instant there was a light tap at the door, and the +man generally known as the English barrister's "clerk" entered. + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, cheerfully, "'speak of the devil'--you +know what follows! What luck to-night?" + +"Very fair, sir," said the man, quietly taking in the situation at +a glance, as he noted the eager, expectant faces of the four men, +and, dropping into a chair near the group, he instantly assumed an +attitude of close attention. + +Ordinarily, McCabe was, as Mr. Whitney had remarked, rather an +insignificant looking man. He was below medium stature and somewhat +dull in appearance, owing to the fact that he seemed to take little +interest in his surroundings, while his face, when his eyes were +concealed, as was generally the case, by the heavily drooping lids +and long eyelashes, was absolutely expressionless. When, however, +he raised his eyes and fixed them upon any one, the effect was much +the same as though a search-light suddenly flashed in one's face; +but this was only upon rare occasions, and few casual observers +would dream of the keen perceptive faculties hidden beneath that +quiet exterior. + +"Tell us your story first, Mac," said Mr. Barton, after a moment's +silence, thoroughly understanding his man, "ours will keep for a +little bit." + +"There's not much to tell, sir." + +"How are you and the coachman coming on?" + +"We'll not be very intimate after to-night, I'm thinking." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney, at the same time smiling +broadly at his companions. + +"Well, sir, there'll be no call for it, for one thing, as I've got +all the points in the case I wanted; and for another, his chief +returned this evening, and, from the few words I overheard upon +his arrival, I don't think the coachman will feel over-confidential +the next time he sees me," and McCabe smiled grimly to himself. + +"So Merrick is back!" interposed Mr. Sutherland, laughing. "Did +you and he meet?" + +"Meet, sir? Ah, no, not much o' that! I heard a step coming up +the stairs, and as I thought the room was hardly big enough for +three, I excused myself to Mr. Jim Matheson--alias Matthews, the +coachman--and made for the hall. We passed each other at the head +of the stairs, and I cluttered down, making as much racket as I +could; then at the foot of the stairs I took off my boots and crept +upstairs again, more to hear the fellow's voice than anything else, +so I could recognize him afterwards." + +"What did you hear?" inquired Mr. Barton, as McCabe paused to light +a cigar which Mr. Sutherland had handed him. + +"I heard him say, 'Who was that I passed outside, Jim?' 'Only a +cross-country friend of mine,' says Jim. 'What friends are you +entertaining here in these quarters?' says he, kind o' sharp like. +'An' sure,' says Jim, 'it was only Dan McCoy, the clerk of the big +London lawyer who has come over with the young Mr. Mainwaring I've +heard you speak of, and a right clever fellow he is, too!' 'Clerk!' +he roars out, 'clerk, you blithering idiot! he's no more clerk +than you are coachman, nor half so much, for you're fit for nothing +but to take care of horses all your days! Do you want to know,' +says he, 'who you've been entertaining?' That's no more nor less +than Dan McCabe, a Scotland Yard man they've brought over, nobody +knows what for, but whatever his game, he's made you play into his +hand! I didn't stay to hear more," McCabe concluded, "I got out." + +"But how does this Merrick know you?" Mr. Barton inquired, as the +laughter caused by McCabe's recital subsided. + +"He doesn't know me, he only knows of me," the man replied. "I +found that out an hour or two later, when I met him in a crowd at +the Wellington Hotel;" the speaker glanced curiously in the +direction of Harold Mainwaring for an instant, and then continued, +"I knew him by his voice, but I spoke with him, and he had no idea +who I was." + +"But how has he heard of you?" persisted Mr. Barton. + +"There was an American detective--a friend of his--who came over +on the 'Campania' on the same trip with Mr. Mainwaring. He was +following up a case in London, but he managed to keep his eye on +Mr. Mainwaring and kept this Merrick posted of all that he was doing. +It was because of some remarks of his that I got wind of, that I +determined from the first to get onto his game." + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, tentatively, "are you ready to go to +work now?" + +The keen eyes flashed for an instant in the attorney's face, then +the man answered quietly, "If you've nothing to tell me, I'm ready +to go to work on my own hook and in my own way; if you've anything +to say, I'll hear it." + +Mr. Barton glanced at the others. "We had better tell McCabe what +we have learned, and also just what our plans are." + +The others bowed in assent, and the chairs were drawn closer together +while Mr. Barton, in low tones, told, as briefly and clearly as +possible, the discovery which they had made. McCabe listened to the +attorney's story, but whether or not the secret were already guessed +by him, his face gave no sign. When it was ended he glanced +curiously at Harold Mainwaring. + +"Mrs. LaGrange told you this?" + +"She did." + +"At what time, if you please, sir?" + +"At about half-past five." + +"Are you aware, sir, that, with the exception of her maid, you are +probably the last person who saw Mrs. LaGrange living?" + +"Saw her living!" Harold Mainwaring repeated, astonished, while Mr. +Barton demanded, "What do you mean, Mac?" + +"I mean, sir," said McCabe, slowly, "that Mrs. LaGrange committed +suicide at about seven o'clock this evening, less than two hours +after Mr. Mainwaring saw her." + +"When did you learn of this?" "What do you know of the affair?" +questioned the attorneys quickly, while Harold Mainwaring, more +deeply shocked than he would have thought possible, listened to the +man's reply. + +"I happened along by the Wellington about two hours ago, and saw +considerable stir around there. I learned 'twas a case of suicide, +but thought nothing of it till I heard the woman's name, then I +dropped in and picked up the facts in the case," and he proceeded +to relate the details of the affair. + +As Harold Mainwaring listened, he recalled the looks and words of +the wretched woman, her genuine misery, her falsehood and deceit, +her piteous pleadings, and the final rage and scorn with which she +had rejected his assistance even in the face of such desperation +and despair; and a sickening sense of horror stole over him, +rendering him almost oblivious to the conversation around him. + +"'Twas there I saw this man Merrick," McCabe was saying in +conclusion. "I heard him questioning the maid about Mr. Mainwaring's +interview with the woman; he evidently was onto that. I saw the +girl myself shortly afterwards and gave her a hint and a bit of money +to keep her mouth shut about Mr. Mainwaring. She seemed pretty +bright, and I think she will understand her business." + +"Confound that meddlesome Yankee! what was he prowling around +there for?" interrupted Mr. Scott, angrily. "He has no business +prying into Harold Scott Mainwaring's affairs, and I'll have him +understand it; let him attend to his own duties, and I think, from +all reports, he will have his hands more than full then. Mr. +Sutherland," he continued, addressing the attorney, "there's no +knowing what that beastly bungler who calls himself a detective +will do next; this thing is likely to be out in the morning papers +with the boy's name mixed up in it, and it must be stopped right +here. His name must be kept out of this at any price, and you +probably can reach the New York press better than any one of us." + +"You are right," said Mr. Sutherland, rising hastily and preparing +to leave; "our client wants no notoriety of that sort; and I will +make sure that nothing of the kind occurs. I have a friend who has +unlimited influence with the newspaper men, and I will have him +attend to the matter at once, and see to it that everything of that +nature is suppressed." + +"That is best," said Harold Mainwaring gravely, coming forward. "I +would have rendered the woman any necessary assistance; I am willing +to do whatever is needful now, but, living or dead, her name shall +never be coupled with my father's name and mine." + +"You understand, of course, that money is no object in this matter," +added Mr. Scott. + +"I understand perfectly, sir," said the attorney, courteously; +"everything will be attended to; and, Mr. Barton, you will kindly +confer with Mr. McCabe, and I will see you in the morning regarding +your final decision. Good-night, gentlemen." + +An hour later, McCabe took his departure. Of his own theories or +plans he had said little more than that he was to leave the +Waldorf that night for another part of the city, but all details +for communication with him in case of necessity had been carefully +arranged. + +"Your 'clerk' has been suddenly called to London on important +business," he said to Mr. Barton, with a quiet smile, adding, "You +may meet me occasionally, but it's not likely or best that you +recognize me, and when I have anything to report you will hear from +me," and with these words he was gone. + +When at last Harold Mainwaring and his foster-father were again by +themselves, the latter, noting the younger man's abstraction, said,-- + +"This is naturally a great shock to you, my boy, but it is only what +might be expected after such a life as hers. You have done nothing +for which to censure yourself; you have done all that could be done +under existing conditions, and more than was actually required of +you; so you need have no regrets over the affair." + +"I understand that, sir; but the thought that I cannot banish from +my mind is, knowing so well her treachery and deceit, is it possible +that she herself had a hand in the murder, and finding at last that +there was no hope of gaining my friendship, did she fear the +developments which might follow from what she had told?" + +The elder man shook his head thoughtfully. "We cannot say, my boy; +the thought occurred to me almost instantaneously, for, without +doubt, she both hated and feared him; but time alone will tell." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +BETWEEN THE ACTS + + +For the ten days next ensuing the public craving for sensational +developments in the Mainwaring case seemed likely to be gratified +to an unusual degree. To the exciting scenes of the court-room was +added the suicide of Mrs. LaGrange, immediately followed by news of +the discovery that Richard Hobson, the unwilling witness in the +previous day's proceedings, had absconded, leaving not the slightest +indication of even the direction in which he had vanished. By many +the suicide of the one and the sudden disappearance of the other, +occurring simultaneously, were considered as prima facie evidence +that the two, so closely associated with each other, had been in +some way connected with the Fair Oaks tragedy. + +From this phase of the affair, however, public attention was +speedily diverted by the report that proceedings to contest the old +will had been instituted, but in the name of Ralph Mainwaring and +his brother, Harold W. Mainwaring; his son, the sole heir under the +will of Hugh Mainwaring, having altogether withdrawn from the +contest. This had caused an open rupture between father and son, +and the latter had established himself in a suite of apartments at +the Murray Hill. + +Young Mainwaring's course occasioned great surprise; many commended +his wisdom, but few gave him credit for the genuine sense of honor +which had actuated him. + +"A neat little stroke of diplomacy," said one club-man to another, +"and worthy of Hugh Mainwaring himself! There is no show for him, +anyway, and it's much better policy to yield the point now, don't +you see, than to fight it out along with that pig-headed father of +his." + +"He understands on which side his bread is buttered, and don't you +forget it, my dear boy," was the laughing rejoinder. "It's always +best to stand in with the winning side; he won't lose anything in +the long run, and he knows it." + +Such remarks occasionally reached young Mainwaring, making him +exceedingly indignant. + +"You may say, once and for all," he said to a reporter who was +interviewing him in his apartments at the Murray Hill, "that in +withdrawing from this contest I am not currying favor with Harold +Scott Mainwaring. He and I are the best of friends, but that fact +would not hinder me from giving him a fair and square fight if +there were the slightest doubt as to the validity of his claim. +But there isn't; he has proved his right, legally and morally, to +the property, and that's enough for me." + +"But Mr. Ralph Mainwaring must have some tenable ground for +contesting his claim," said the reporter, tentatively, hoping to +get some of the inside facts of the case. + +Young Mainwaring froze instantly. "I have nothing whatever to say, +sir, regarding the governor's action in this matter; any information +you desire on that point you will have to obtain from him." + +The next development in the Mainwaring case was a report to the +effect that the whereabouts of Harold W. Mainwaring could not be +ascertained, and it was generally supposed among his London +associates that he had followed his brother to America by the next +steamer. As this report was supplemented by the further facts that +he was a man of no principle, heavily involved in debt, and deeply +incensed at Ralph Mainwaring's success in securing for his son the +American estate in which he himself had expected to share, public +speculation was immediately aroused in a new direction, and "that +Mainwaring affair" became the absorbing topic, not alone at the +clubs and other places of masculine rendezvous, but at all social +gatherings as well. + +Regarding the principal actors in this drama, however, around whom +public interest really centred, little could be definitely +ascertained. To many, who, on the following morning, read the +details of the suicide at the Wellington, it was a matter of no +small wonder that the name of Harold Scott Mainwaring was not once +mentioned in connection with that of the woman shown by the +preceding day's testimony to have been so closely related to him. +Perhaps no one was more surprised at this omission than Merrick +himself but if so, his only comment was made mentally. + +"He's got the cinch on them all around, and he'll win, hands down!" + +The inquest, held at an early hour, was merely a matter of form, +the evidence of intentional suicide being conclusive, and the +interment, a few hours later, was strictly private. Excepting the +clergyman who read the burial service, there were present only the +two sons of the wretched woman. + +It was their first meeting since learning of the strange relationship +existing between them, and Walter LaGrange, as he entered the +presence of the dead, cast a curious glance, half shrinking, half +defiant, at the calm, stern face of Harold Mainwaring, who had +preceded him. His own face was haggard and drawn, and the hard, +rigid lines deepened as his glance fell for an instant on the casket +between them. Then his eyes looked straight into those of Harold +Mainwaring with an expression almost imploring. + +"Tell me," he demanded in low, hoarse tones, "is it true that I +am--what she once said and what report is now saying--the son of +Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"It is true," the other replied, gravely. + +"Then curse them both!" he exclaimed, while his hands clinched +involuntarily. "What right had they to blight and ruin my life? +What right had they to live as they did, and let the stigma, the +shame, the curse of it all fall on me? A few months since I had +the honor and respect of my classmates and associates; to-day, not +one will recognize me, and for no fault of mine!" + +"Hush!" interposed Harold Mainwaring; "I know the wrong which has +been done you,--they have wronged me, also, far more deeply than +you know,--but this is no time or place to recall it!" + +The calmness and kindness of his tones seemed to soothe and control +his excited companion. + +"I know they have wronged you," the latter replied; "but they have +not ruined you! You have not only friends and wealth, but, more +than all, your father's name. I," he added bitterly, "am a pauper, +and worse than a pauper, for I have not even a name!" + +For a few moments Harold Mainwaring silently studied the haggard +young face confronting him, in which anger was slowly giving place +to dull, sullen despair; and his own heart was suddenly moved with +pity for the boy. + +"Robbed of his birthright before he was born," reared in an +atmosphere of treachery and deceit calculated to foster and develop +the evil tendencies already inherited; yet, notwithstanding all, so +closely akin to himself. + +"Walter," he said, gravely, at the same time extending his hand +across the casket, "I realize the truth of much that you have said, +but you need not allow this to ruin or blight your life. Mark my +words, your future from this time forth is, to a great extent, in +your own hands; your life will be what you make it, and you alone. +See to it that it is not blighted by your own wrong-doing! Be +yourself a man of honor, and I will assure you, you can depend upon +me to stand by you and to help you." Walter LaGrange raised his +eyes in astonishment at these words, containing a pledge of probably +the first genuine friendship he had ever known in his young life. +He gave a look, searching, almost cynical, into Harold Mainwaring's +face; then reading nothing but sincerity, he took the proffered hand, +saying brokenly,-- + +"Do you really mean it? I supposed that you, of all others, would +despise me; and it would be no great wonder if you did!" + +"It will depend entirely upon yourself, Walter, whether or not I +despise you. If I ever do, it will be the result of your own +unworthiness, not because of the wrong-doing of others." + +There were signs in the boy's face of a brief struggle between the +old pride, inherited from his mother, and the self-respect which +Harold Mainwaring's words had but just awakened. + +"If it were the other fellow," he said, slowly, "the one the old +man intended to make his heir, had made me such a proposition, I +would tell him to go to the devil; but, by George! if you will +stand by me, it's all right, and I'll be man enough anyway that +you'll never regret it." + +A few days later, Walter LaGrange, penniless and friendless, had +disappeared, whither his former associates neither knew nor cared. +In a large banking establishment in one of the principal western +cities,--a branch of the firm of Mainwaring & Co.,--a young man, +known as the ward of Harold Scott Mainwaring, was entered as an +employee, with prospect of advancement should he prove himself +worthy of responsibility and trust. But of this, as of many other +events just then quietly transpiring behind the scenes, little or +nothing was known. + +Meanwhile, as the days slipped rapidly away, the party at the +Waldorf was not idle. There were conferences, numerous and +protracted, behind dosed doors, telegrams and cablegrams in cipher +flashed hither and thither in multitudinous directions, while Mr. +Sutherland seemed fairly ubiquitous. Much of his time, however, +was spent in the private parlors of the English party, with frequent +journeys to the court-house to ascertain the status of the case. +From one of these trips he returned one evening jubilant. + +"Well," said he, settling himself comfortably, with a sigh of +relief, "the first point in the case is decided in our favor." + +"That is a good omen," Mr. Barton replied cheerfully; "but may I +inquire to what you refer?" + +"I have succeeded in getting the date for the hearing set for the +next term of court, which opens early in December." + +"I am glad to hear it; a little time just now is of the utmost +importance to our interests. Did you have any difficulty in +securing a postponement until the next term?" + +"Whitney, of course, opposed it strongly. He said his client +wanted the matter settled at the earliest possible moment; but I +told him that so long as Ralph Mainwaring persisted in butting +against a stone wall, just so long a speedy settlement was out of +the question; it was bound to be a hard fight, and would be carried +over into the next term in any event. Then I had a private +interview with Judge Bingham, and, without giving particulars, told +him that new developments had arisen, and, with a little time in +which to procure certain evidence, we would have our opponents +completely floored,--they would not even have an inch of room left +to stand upon,--while under present conditions, Mainwaring, so long +as he had a shilling, would, if beaten, move for a new trial, or +appeal to a higher court,--anything to keep up the fight. So he +will grant us till December, which, I am inclined to think, will be +ample time." + +"It looks now," said Mr. Barton, producing a telegram, "as though +we might succeed in securing that evidence much sooner than we have +anticipated. What do you think of that?" and he handed the despatch +to Mr. Sutherland. + +The face of the latter brightened as he glanced rapidly over the +yellow sheet. + +"The dickens! McCabe has left the city!" he exclaimed. + +Mr. Barton bowed. "Which means," he said in reply, "that he has +evidently struck the scent; and when he once starts on the trail, +it is only a question of time--and usually not any great length +of time, either--before he runs his game to cover." + +"Well," ejaculated Mr. Sutherland, rubbing his hands together +enthusiastically, "I, for one, want to be 'in at the death' on this, +for it will simply be the finest piece of work, the grandest +denouement, of any case that has ever come within my twenty years of +legal experience!" + +Mr. Barton smiled. "My brother is evidently of the same opinion +with yourself," he said. "I received a cablegram from him to-day, +requesting me to inform him at once of the date set for the hearing, +as he stated he would not, for a kingdom, fail of being present at +the trial." + +With the announcement that the case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring +had been set for the opening of the December term of court, the +public paused to take breath and to wonder at this unlooked-for +delay, but preparations for the coming contest were continued with +unabated vigor on both sides. Contrary to all expectations, Ralph +Mainwaring, so far from objecting to the postponement of the case, +took special pains to express his entire satisfaction with this +turn of affairs. + +"It is an indication of conscious weakness on their part," he +remarked with great complacency, as he and Mr. Whitney were dining +at the club on the following day. "They have evidently discovered +some flaw in their defence which it will take some time to repair. +I can afford to wait, however; my attorneys and experts will soon +be here, and while our side could easily have been in readiness in +a much shorter time, this, of course, will give us an opportunity +for still more elaborate preparation, so that we will gain an +immense advantage over them." + +"I suppose, Mr. Mainwaring," said one of his listeners, giving a +quick side-glance at his companions, "I suppose that during this +interim a truce will be declared, and for the time being there will +be a cessation of hostilities between the parties in interest, will +there not?" + +"Sir!" roared Ralph Mainwaring, transfixing the speaker with a +stare calculated to annihilate him. + +"I beg pardon, sir, I intended no offence," continued the +irrepressible young American, ignoring the warning signals from his +associates; "it only occurred to me that with such an immense +advantage on your side you could afford to be magnanimous and treat +your opponent with some consideration." + +"I am not accustomed to showing magnanimity or consideration to any +but my own equals," the other rejoined, with freezing dignity; "and +the fact that my 'opponent,' as you are pleased to designate him, +is, for the present, allowed liberty to go and come at his pleasure, +although under strict surveillance, is, in this instance, sufficient +consideration." + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring under surveillance? Incredible!" exclaimed +one of the party in a low tone, while the first speaker remarked, "I +certainly was unaware that the gentleman in question was to be +regarded in the light of a suspected criminal!" + +"It is to be presumed," said Ralph Mainwaring, haughtily, stung by +the tinge of irony in the other's tone, "that there are a number of +points in this case of which people in general are as yet unaware, +but upon which they are likely to become enlightened in the near +future, when this person who has assumed such a variety of roles +will be disclosed in his true light,--not that of a suspected +criminal merely, but of a condemned criminal, convicted by a chain +of evidence every link of which has been forged by himself." + +There was an ominous silence as Ralph Mainwaring rose from the +table, broken at last by an elderly gentleman seated at a little +distance, who, while apparently an interested listener, had taken +no part in the conversation. + +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring, I would judge the charges +which you would prefer against this young man to be unusually +serious; may I inquire their nature?" + +The words were spoken with the utmost deliberation, but in the calm, +even tones there was an implied challenge, which was all that was +needed at that instant to fan Ralph Mainwaring's wrath into a flame. +Utterly disregarding a cautionary glance from Mr. Whitney, he turned +his monocle upon the speaker, glaring at him in contemptuous silence +for a moment. + +"You have decidedly the advantage of me, sir, but allow me to say +that the person under discussion has not only, with unheard of +effrontery, publicly and unblushingly proclaimed himself as a +blackmailer and knave, capable of descending to any perfidy or +treachery for the purpose of favoring his own base schemes, but he +has also, in his inordinate greed and ambition, unwittingly proved +himself by his own statements and conduct to be a villain of the +deepest dye; and I will say, furthermore, that if Harold Scott +Mainwaring, as he styles himself, ends his days upon the gallows +in expiation of the foul murder of Hugh Mainwaring, he will have +only himself to thank, for his own words and deeds will have put +the noose about his neck." + +Having thus expressed himself, Ralph Mainwaring, without waiting +for reply, left the room accompanied by Mr. Whitney. The latter +made no comment until they were seated in the carriage and rolling +down the avenue; then he remarked, casually,-- + +"I was surprised, Mr. Mainwaring, that you failed to recognize the +gentleman who addressed you as you were leaving the table." + +"His face was somewhat familiar; I have met him, but I cannot recall +when or where. I considered his tone decidedly offensive, however, +and I proposed, whoever he might be, to give him to understand that +I would brook no interference. Do you know him?" + +"I have never met him, but I know of him," the attorney replied, +watching his client closely. "He is the Honorable J. Ponsonby Roget, +Q. C., of London. I supposed of course that you knew him." + +"J. Ponsonby Roget, Queen's Counsel? Egad! I have met him, but it +was years ago, and he has aged so that I did not recognize him. +Strange!" he added, visibly annoyed. "What the deuce is he doing +in this country?" + +"That is just what no one is able to say," replied the attorney, +slowly. "He is stopping at the Waldorf, with our friends, the +English party, but whether as a guest or in a professional capacity, +no one has been able to ascertain." + +"Zounds, man! why did you not give me this information earlier?" + +"For the good and sufficient reason, Mr. Mainwaring, that I did not +learn of the facts myself until within the last two hours. My +attention was called to the gentleman as I entered the club. I +assumed, of course, that you knew him, at least by sight, and when +he addressed you I supposed for the instant that you were +acquaintances." + +"But how came he at the club? None of the party from the Waldorf +were with him." + +"He was there as the especial guest of Chief-Justice Parmalee, of +the Supreme Court, the gentleman on his left. Judge Parmalee spent +much of his life in London, and the two are particular friends." + +"Well, it's done, and can't be undone, and I don't know that I +regret it," Ralph Mainwaring remarked, sullenly. "If he chooses to +identify himself with that side of the case he is at liberty to do +so, but he has my opinion of his client gratis." + +Mr. Whitney made no reply, and the drive was concluded in silence. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring had no sooner left the club than a +chorus of exclamations, protests, and running comments arose on +all sides. + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring! That is +carrying this farce beyond all bounds!" + +"If he cannot get possession of the property in any other way, he +will send the new heir to the gallows, eh?" + +"He will attempt it, too; he is desperate," said one. + +"He may make it pretty serious for the young fellow," said another, +thoughtfully. "You remember, by his own statements he was the last +person who saw Hugh Mainwaring alive; in fact, he was in his library +within a few moments preceding his death; and after all that has +been brought to light, it's not to be supposed that he had any great +affection for his uncle." + +"What is this, gentlemen?" said a reporter, briskly, appearing on +the scene, note-book in hand. "Any new developments in the +Mainwaring case?" + +"Yes, a genuine sensation!" shouted two or three voices. + +"Gentlemen, attention a moment!" said a commanding voice outside, +and an instant later a tall, well-known form entered. + +"The ubiquitous Mr. Sutherland!" laughingly announced a jovial +young fellow, standing near the entrance. + +"Sutherland, how is this?" demanded one of the elder gentlemen. +"Have you a private battery concealed about your person with +invisible wires distributed throughout the city, that you seem to +arrive at any and every spot just on the nick of time?" + +"That is one of the secrets of the profession, Mr. Norton, not to +be revealed to the uninitiated," replied the attorney, while a +quick glance flashed between himself and the Queen's Counsel. + +"There is one thing, gentlemen," he continued, with great dignity, +"to which I wish to call your attention, particularly you gentlemen +of the press. I am aware of the nature of the 'sensation' of which +you made mention a moment ago, but I wish it distinctly understood +that it is to be given no publicity whatever. The name of my client +is not to be bandied about before the public in connection with any +of Ralph Mainwaring's imputations or vilifications, for the reason +that they are wholly without foundation. We are thoroughly +cognizant of that gentleman's intentions regarding our client, and +we will meet him on his own ground. In the coming contest we will +not only establish beyond all shadow of doubt our client's sole +right and title to the Mainwaring estate, but we will, at the same +time, forever refute and silence any and every aspersion which Ralph +Mainwaring may seek to cast upon him. Even were there any truth +in these insinuations, it would be time enough, when the charges +should be preferred against our client, to brazen them before the +public, but since they are only the product of spleen and malignity, +simply consign them to the odium and obloquy to which they are +entitled." + +"That is right!" responded two or three voices, while the reporter +replied, courteously,-- + +"We will certainly respect your wishes, sir; but you see the public +is on the qui vive, so to speak, over this case, and it is our +business to get hold of every item which we can to add to the +interest. You have checked us off on some rather interesting matter +already, I believe." + +"Perhaps so," said Mr. Sutherland, quietly, "but I can promise you +that before long there will be developments in the case which will +give you boys all the interesting matter you will need for some +time, and they will be fact, not fabrication." + +As the result of Mr. Sutherland's prompt action, the newspapers +contained no allusion to that evening's scene at the club; but even +his energy and caution were powerless to prevent the spread of the +affair from lip to lip. Mentioned scarcely above a whisper, the +report rippled onward, the waves widening in all directions, with +various alterations and additions, till it was regarded as an open +secret in all circles of society. It reached young Mainwaring in +his rather secluded bachelor quarters at the Murray Hill, and he +bowed his head in shame that a Mainwaring should stoop to so +disgraceful an exhibition of his venomous rage and hatred. It +reached Harold Scott Mainwaring, and the smouldering fire in the +dark eyes gleamed afresh and the proud face grew rigid and stern. +Donning overcoat and hat, he left his apartments at the Waldorf; +and started forth in the direction of the club most frequented by +Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney. + +He had gone but a short distance when he met young Mainwaring. The +young men exchanged cordial greetings, and, at Harold's request, his +cousin retraced his steps to accompany him. + +"Why are you making such a stranger of yourself; Hugh? I have +scarcely seen you of late," said Harold, after a little general +conversation. + +"Well, to be frank with you, old boy, I haven't been around so often +as I would like for two reasons; for one thing, I find people +generally are not inclined to regard our friendship in the same light +that we do. You and I understand one another, and you don't suspect +me of any flunkeyism, or any ulterior motive, don't you know,--" + +"I understand perfectly," said Harold, as his cousin paused, seeming +to find some difficulty in conveying his exact meaning; "and so +long as you and I do understand each other, what is the use of +paying any attention to outsiders? Whether we were friends, or +refused to recognize one another, their small talk and gossip would +flow on forever, so why attempt to check it?" + +"I believe you are right; but that isn't all of it, don't you know. +What I care most about is the governor's losing his head in the way +he has lately. It is simply outrageous, the reports he has started +in circulation!" + +Hugh paused and glanced anxiously into his cousin's face, but the +frank, brotherly kindness which he read there reassured him. + +"My dear cousin," said Harold, warmly, "nothing that Ralph +Mainwaring can ever say or do shall make any difference between us. +There are but two contingencies in this connection that I regret." + +"And those are what?" the younger man questioned eagerly. + +"That he bears the name of Mainwaring, and that he is your father!" + +"By Jove! I'm with you on that," the other exclaimed heartily, "and +I hope you'll win every point in the game; but I've been awfully +cut up over what he has said and done recently. I know that he +intends to carry his threats into execution, and I'm afraid he'll +make it deucedly unpleasant for you, don't you know." + +They had reached the club-house, and Harold Mainwaring, as he paused +on the lowest step, smiled brightly into the boyish face, regarding +him with such solicitude. + +"I understand his intentions as well as you, and know that it would +give him great delight to carry them into execution; but, my dear +boy, he will never have the opportunity to even make the attempt." + +Young Mainwaring's face brightened. "Why, are you prepared to head +him off in that direction? By Jove! I'm right glad to know it. +Well, I'll be around to the Waldorf in the course of a day or two + No, much obliged, but I don't care to go into the club-rooms +to-night; in fact, I haven't been in there since the governor made +that after-dinner speech of his. Good-night!" + +As Harold Mainwaring sauntered carelessly through the club-rooms, +returning the greetings of the select circle of friends which he +had made, he was conscious of glances of interest and undisguised +curiosity from the many with whom he had no acquaintance. No +allusion was made to the subject which he well knew was in their +minds, however, until, meeting Mr. Chittenden, the latter drew him +aside into an alcove. + +"I say, my dear Mainwaring, are you aware that your esteemed kinsman +has you under strict surveillance?" + +Mainwaring smiled, though his eyes flashed. "I am aware that he +has made statements to that effect, although, thus far, his +'surveillance' has interfered in no way either with my duties or +pleasures, nor do I apprehend that it will." + +"My dear fellow, it is simply preposterous! The man must be insane." + +"Is he here this evening?" Mainwaring inquired. + +"No; to tell the truth, he has not found it so very congenial here +since that outbreak of his; he seldom is here now, excepting, of +course, at meals. Mr. Whitney is here, however." + +"I came here," Harold Mainwaring replied, "with the express purpose +of meeting one or the other, or both; on the whole, it will be +rather better to meet Mr. Whitney." + +"No trouble, no unpleasant words, I hope?" said the elder man, +anxiously. + +"Mr. Chittenden, when you knew me as Hugh Mainwaring's private +secretary, you knew me as a gentleman; I trust I shall never be +less." + +"You are right, you are right, my boy, and I beg your pardon; but +young blood is apt to be hasty, you know." + +A little later Harold Mainwaring strolled leisurely across the large +reading-room to a table where Mr. Whitney was seated. The latter, +seeing him, rose to greet him, while his sensitive face flushed +with momentary excitement. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I am delighted to meet you. I had hoped from the +friendly tone of that rather mysterious note of yours, upon your +somewhat abrupt departure, that we might meet again soon, and, +though it is under greatly altered circumstances, I am proud to +have the opportunity of congratulating you." + +The younger man responded courteously, and for a few moments the +two chatted pleasantly upon subjects of general interest, while +many pairs of eyes looked on in silent astonishment, wondering what +this peculiar interview might portend. + +At last, after a slight pause, Harold Mainwaring remarked, calmly, +"Mr. Whitney, I understand that, when the coming litigation is +terminated, your client intends to institute proceedings against me +of a far different nature,--criminal proceedings, in fact." + +The attorney colored and started nervously, then replied in a low +tone, "Mr. Mainwaring, let us withdraw to one of the side rooms; +this is rather a public place for any conversation regarding those +matters." + +"It is none too public for me, Mr. Whitney, as I have nothing +unpleasant to say towards yourself personally, and nothing which I +am not perfectly willing should be heard by any and every individual +in these rooms to-night. You have not yet answered my inquiry, Mr. +Whitney." + +The attorney paused for a moment, as though laboring under great +excitement, then he spoke in a tone vibrating with strong emotion,-- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, regarding my client's intentions, you have, in all +probability, been correctly informed. I believe that he has made +statements at various times to that effect, and I am now so well +acquainted with him that I know there is no doubt but that he will +attempt to carry out what he has threatened. But, Mr. Mainwaring, I +wish to say a word or two for myself. In the coming litigation +over the estate, I, as Ralph Mainwaring's counsel, am bound to do +my part without any reference to my own personal opinions or +prejudices, and I expect to meet you and your counsel in an open +fight,--perhaps a bitter one. But this much I have to say: Should +Ralph Mainwaring undertake to bring against you any action of the +character which he has threatened," here Mr. Whitney rose to his +feet and brought his hand down with a ringing blow upon the table +at his side, "he will have to employ other counsel than myself, for +I will have nothing whatever to do with such a case." + +He paused a moment, then continued: "I do not claim to understand +you perfectly, Mr. Mainwaring. I will confess you have always been +a mystery to me, and you are still. There are depths about you that +I cannot fathom. But I do believe in your honor, your integrity, +and your probity, and as for taking part in any action reflecting +upon your character, or incriminating you in any respect, I never +will!" + +A roar of applause resounded through the club-rooms as he concluded. +When it had subsided, Harold Mainwaring replied,-- + +"Mr. Whitney, I thank you for this public expression of your +confidence in me. The relations between us in the past have been +pleasant, and I trust they will continue so in the future. As I +stated, however, I came here to-night with no unfriendly feeling +towards yourself, but to ask you to be the bearer of a message +from me to your client. Ralph Mainwaring, not content with trying +by every means within his power to deprive me of my right and +title to the estate for years wrongfully withheld from my father +and from myself, now accuses me of being the murderer of Hugh +Mainwaring. I Say to Ralph Mainwaring, for me, that, not through +what he terms my 'inordinate greed and ambition,' but through +God-given rights which no man can take from me, I will have my +own, and he is powerless to prevent it or to stand in my way. But +say to him that I will never touch one farthing of this property +until I stand before the world free and acquitted of the most remote +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring; nor until the foul and +dastardly crime that stains Fair Oaks shall have been avenged!" + +Amid the prolonged applause that followed, Harold Mainwaring left +the building. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RUN TO COVER + + +A dull, cheerless day in the early part of December was merging +into a stormy night as the west-bound express over one of the +transcontinental railways, swiftly winding its way along the +tortuous course of a Rocky Mountain canyon, suddenly paused before +the long, low depot of a typical western mining city. The arc +lights swinging to and fro shed only a ghastly radiance through the +dense fog, and grotesque shadows, dancing hither and thither to the +vibratory motion of the lights, seemed trying to contest supremacy +with the feeble rays. + +The train had not come to a full stop when a man sprang lightly +from one of the car platforms, and, passing swiftly through the +waiting crowd, concealed himself in the friendly shelter of the +shadows, where he remained oblivious to the rain falling in +spiteful dashes, while he scanned the hurrying crowd surging in +various directions. Not one of the crowd observed him; not one +escaped his observation. Soon his attention was riveted upon a +tall man, closely muffled in fur coat and cap, who descended from +one of the rear coaches, and, after a quick, cautious glance about +him, passed the silent, motionless figure in the shadow and hastily +entered a carriage standing near. The other, listening intently +for the instructions given the driver, caught the words, "545 +Jefferson Street." + +As the carriage rolled away, he emerged from the shadow and jotted +down the address in a small note-book, soliloquizing as he did so,-- + +"I have tracked him to his lair at last, and now, unless that +infernal hoodoo looms upon the scene, I can get in my work in good +shape. I would have had my game weeks ago, but for his appearance, +confound him!" + +He looked at his watch. "Dinner first," he muttered, "the next +thing in order is to find the alias under which my gentleman is at +present travelling. No one seems to know much about him in these +parts." + +The dim light revealed a man below medium height, his form enveloped +in a heavy English mackintosh thrown carelessly about his shoulders, +which, as he made his notes, blew partially open, revealing an +immaculate shirt front and a brilliant diamond which scintillated +and sparkled in open defiance of the surrounding gloom. A soft felt +hat well pulled down concealed his eyes and the upper part of his +face, leaving visible only a slightly aquiline nose and heavy, black +mustache, which gave his face something of a Jewish cast. Replacing +his note-book in his pocket, he called a belated carriage, and +hastily gave orders to be taken to the Clifton House. + +Arriving at the hotel, the stranger registered as "A. Rosenbaum, +Berlin," and, having secured one of the best rooms the house afforded, +repaired to the dining-room. Dinner over, Mr. Rosenbaum betook +himself to a quiet corner of the office, which served also as a +reading-room, and soon was apparently absorbed in a number of Eastern +papers, both English and German, though a keen observer would have +noted that the papers were occasionally lowered sufficiently to give +the eyes--again concealed beneath the hat-brim--an opportunity for +reconnoitering the situation. He was attired in a black suit of +faultless fit, and a superb ruby on his left hand gleamed and glowed +like living fire, rivalling in beauty the flashing diamond. He +speedily became the subject of considerable speculation among the +various classes of men congregating in the hotel office, most of +them for an evening of social enjoyment, though a few seemed to have +gathered there for the purpose of conducting business negotiations. +Among the latter, after a time, was the tall man in fur coat and +cap, who appeared to be waiting for some one with whom he had an +appointment, as he shunned the crowd, selecting a seat near Mr. +Rosenbaum as the most quiet place available. Having removed his +cap and thrown back the high collar of his fur coat, he appeared to +be a man of about fifty years of age, with iron-gray hair and a full, +heavy beard of the same shade. He wore dark glasses, and, having +seated himself with his back towards the light, drew forth from his +pocket a number of voluminous type-written documents, and became +absorbed in a perusal of their contents. + +Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Clifton House, feeling considerable +curiosity regarding his new guest, sauntered over in his direction. + +"Well, Mr. Rosenbaum," he remarked, genially, "you have hit on +rather a stormy night for your introduction to our city, for I take +it you are a stranger here, are you not?" + +The soft hat was raised slightly, revealing a rather stolid, +expressionless face, with dark eyes nearly concealed by long lashes. + +"Not the most agreeable, certainly," he answered, with an expressive +shrug and a marked German accent, at the same time ignoring the +other's question. + +"Your first impressions are not likely to be very pleasant, but if +you stop over a few days you will see we have a fine city. Do you +remain here long?" + +"I cannot say at present; depends entirely upon business, you +understand." + +"I see. What's your line?" + +For reply the stranger handed the other a small card, on which was +engraved, "Rosenbaum Brothers, Diamond Brokers, Berlin," and bearing +on one corner his own name, "A. Rosenbaum." + +"Diamond brokers, eh? You don't say!" exclaimed the proprietor, +regarding the bit of pasteboard with visible respect. "Must be quite +a business. You represent this firm, I suppose; you are their +salesman?" + +The stranger shook his head with a smile. "We have no salesmen," he +answered, quietly. "We have branch houses in Paris, London, and New +York, but we employ no travelling salesmen. Any one can sell +diamonds; my business is to buy them," with marked emphasis on the +last words. + +"Well," said his interlocutor, "you're not looking for 'em out here, +are you?" + +"Why not here as well as anywhere? So far as my experience goes, +it is nothing uncommon in this part of the country to run across +owners of fine stones who, for one reason or another, are very glad +to exchange the same for cash." + +"Yes, I suppose so. When a fellow gets down to bedrock, he'll put +up most anything to make a raise." + +"There are many besides those who are down to bedrock, as you call +it, who are glad to make an exchange of that kind," said Mr. +Rosenbaum, speaking with deliberation and keeping an eye upon his +neighbor in the fur coat; "but their reasons, whatever they may be, +do not concern us; our business is simply to buy the gems wherever +we can find them and ask no questions." + +By this time a fourth man was approaching in their direction, +evidently the individual for whom the man in the fur coat was +waiting, and Mr. Rosenbaum, thinking it time to put an end to the +conversation, rose and began to don his mackintosh. + +"Surely you are not going out to-night!" said the proprietor; "better +stay indoors, and I'll make you acquainted with some of the boys." + +"Much obliged, but an important engagement compels me to forego that +pleasure," said Mr. Rosenbaum, and, bidding his host good-evening, he +sallied forth, well aware that every word of their conversation had +been overheard by their silent neighbor, notwithstanding the +voluminous documents which seemed to engross his attention. + +Passing out into the night, he found the storm fast abating. +Stopping at a news-stand, he inquired for a directory, which he +carefully studied for a few moments, then walked down the principal +thoroughfare until, coming to a side street, he turned and for a +number of blocks passed up one street and down another, plunging at +last into a dark alley. + +Upon emerging therefrom a block away, the soft felt hat had given +place to a jaunty cap, while a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses +perched upon the aquiline nose gave the wearer a decidedly youthful +and debonnaire appearance. Approaching a secluded house in a dimly +lighted location, he glanced sharply at the number, as though to +reassure himself, then running swiftly up the front steps, he +pulled the door-bell vigorously and awaited developments. After +considerable delay the door was unlocked and partially opened by a +hatchet-faced woman, who peered cautiously out, her features lighted +by the uncertain rays of a candle which the draught momentarily +threatened to extinguish. + +"Good-evening, madam," said the stranger, airily. "Pardon such an +unseasonable call, but I wish to see Mr. Lovering, who, I understand, +has rooms here." + +"There's no such person rooming here," she replied, sharply, her +manner indicating that this bit of information ended the interview, +but her interlocutor was not to be so easily dismissed. + +"No such person!" he exclaimed, at the same time scrutinizing in +apparent perplexity a small card which he had produced. "J. D. +Lovering, 545 Jefferson Street; isn't this 545, madam?" + +"Yes," she answered, testily, "this is 545; but there's nobody here +by the name of Lovering." + +The young man turned as if to go. "Have you any roomers at present?" +he inquired, doubtfully. + +"I have one, but his name is Mannering." + +"Mannering," he repeated, thoughtfully, once more facing her; "I +wonder if I am not mistaken in the name? Will you kindly describe +Mr. Mannering?" + +The woman hesitated, eying him suspiciously. "He ain't likely to +be the man you want," she said, slowly, "for he don't have no +callers, and he never goes anywhere, except out of the city once in +a while on business. He's an oldish man, with dark hair and beard +streaked with gray, and he wears dark glasses." + +"Ah, no," the young man interrupted hastily, "that is not the man at +all; the man I am looking for is rather young and a decided blond. +I am sorry to have troubled you, madam; I beg a thousand pardons," +and with profuse apologies he bowed himself down the steps, to the +evident relief of the landlady. + +As the door closed behind him, Mr. Rosenbaum paused a moment to +reconnoitre. The house he had just left was the only habitable +building visible in the immediate vicinity, but a few rods farther +down the street was a small cabin, whose dilapidated appearance +indicated that it was unoccupied. Approaching the cabin cautiously, +Mr. Rosenbaum tried the door; it offered but slight resistance, and, +entering, he found it, as he had surmised, empty and deserted. +Stationing himself near a window which overlooked No. 545, he +regarded the isolated dwelling with considerable interest. It was +a two-story structure with a long extension in the rear, only one +story in height. With the exception of a dim light in this rear +portion, the house was entirely dark, which led Mr. Rosenbaum to +the conclusion that the landlady's private apartments were in this +part of the building and remote from the room occupied by her lodger, +which he surmised to be the front room on the second floor, a side +window of which faced the cabin. + +For more than an hour Mr. Rosenbaum remained at his post, and at +last had the satisfaction of seeing the tall figure in the fur coat +approaching down the dimly lighted street. He ascended the steps +of 545, let himself in with a night-key, and a moment later the gas +in the upper front room was turned on, showing Mr. Rosenbaum's +surmise to be correct. For an instant the flaring flame revealed +a pale face without the dark glasses, and with a full, dark beard +tinged with gray; then it was lowered and the window blinds were +closely drawn, precluding the possibility of further observation. +The face was like and yet unlike what Mr. Rosenbaum had expected +to see; he determined upon a nearer and better view, without the +dark glasses, before making any decisive move. + +The following evening, as soon as it was dusk, found Mr. Rosenbaum +again at the window of the deserted cabin, keenly observant of No. +545. A faint light burned in the rear of the lower floor, while in +the front room upstairs a fire was evidently burning in an open +grate, the rest of the house being in darkness. Presently a man's +figure, tall and well formed, could be seen pacing up and down the +room, appearing, vanishing, and reappearing in the wavering +firelight. For nearly an hour he continued his perambulation, his +hands clasped behind him as though absorbed in deep thought. At +last, arousing himself from his revery, the man looked at his watch +and vanished, reappearing ten minutes later at the front door, in +the usual fur coat and cap, and, descending the steps, turned +towards town and proceeded leisurely down the street, Mr. Rosenbaum +following at some distance, but always keeping him in view and +gradually diminishing the distance between them as the thoroughfare +became more crowded, till they were nearly opposite each other. + +Finally, the man paused before a restaurant and, turning, looked +carefully up and down the street. For the first time he observed +Mr. Rosenbaum and seemed to regard him with close attention, but +the latter gentleman was absorbed in the contemplation of an +assortment of diamonds and various gems displayed in a jeweller's +window, directly opposite the restaurant. In the mirrored back of +the show-case the restaurant was plainly visible, and Mr. Rosenbaum +noted with satisfaction the other's evident interest in himself, +and continued to study the contents of the show-case till the man +had entered the restaurant, seating himself at one of the +unoccupied tables. Having observed his man well started on the +first course of dinner, Mr. Rosenbaum crossed the street slowly, +entered the restaurant and with a pre-occupied air seated himself +at the same table with Mr. Mannering. After giving his order, he +proceeded to unfold the evening paper laid beside his plate, without +even a glance at his vis-a-vis. His thoughts, however, were not +on the printed page, but upon the man opposite, whom he had followed +from city to city, hearing of him by various names and under various +guises; hitherto unable to obtain more than a fleeting glimpse of +him, but now brought face to face. + +"Alias Henry J. Mannering at last!" he commented mentally, as he +refolded his paper; "you have led me a long chase, my man, but you +and I will now have our little game, and I will force you to show +your hand before it is over!" + +Glancing casually across at his neighbor, he found the dark glasses +focused upon himself with such fixity that he responded with a +friendly nod, and, making some trivial remark, found Mr. Mannering +not at all averse to conversation. A few commonplaces were exchanged +until the arrival of Mr. Rosenbaum's order, when the other remarked,-- + +"Evidently you do not find the cuisine of the Clifton House entirely +satisfactory." + +"It is very good," Mr. Rosenbaum answered, indifferently, "but an +occasional change is agreeable. By the way, sir, have I met you at +the Clifton? I do not remember to have had that pleasure." + +"We have not met," replied the other. "I saw you there last evening, +however, as I happened in soon after your arrival." + +"Ah, so? I am very deficient in remembering faces." + +Mr. Mannering hesitated a moment, then remarked with a smile, "I, +on the contrary, am quite observant of faces, and yours seems +somewhat familiar; have I not seen you elsewhere than here?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum raised his eyebrows in amusement. "It is very possible +you have, my dear sir; I travel constantly, and for aught that I +know you may have seen me in nearly every city on the globe. May I +inquire your business, sir? Do you also travel?" + +"No," said Mr. Mannering, slowly, but apparently relieved by Mr. +Rosenbaum's answer, "I am not engaged in any particular line of +business at present. I am interested in mining to a considerable +extent, and am out here just now looking after my properties. How +do you find business in your line?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum shook his head with a slight shrug. + +"Nothing so far to make it worth my while to stay. You see, sir, +for such a trade as ours we want only the finest gems that can be +bought; we have no use for ordinary stones, and that is all I have +seen here so far;" and, having thrown out his bait, he awaited +results. + +A long pause followed, while Mr. Mannering toyed with his fork, +drawing numerous diagrams on the table-cloth. + +"I think," he said at last, slowly, "that I could get you one or two +fine diamonds if you cared to buy and would give anything like their +true valuation." + +"That would depend, of course, upon the quality of the diamonds; +really fine gems we are always ready to buy and to pay a good price +for." + +"If I am any judge of diamonds, these are valuable stones," said Mr. +Mannering, "and the owner of them, who is a friend of mine, being +himself a connoisseur in that line, would not be likely to entertain +any false ideas regarding their value." + +"And your friend wishes to sell them?" + +"I am inclined to think that he might dispose of one or two for a +sufficient consideration, subject, however, to one condition,--that +no questions will be asked." + +"That goes without saying, my dear sir; asking questions is not our +business. We are simply looking for the finest stones that money +can buy, without regard to anything else. Perhaps," added Mr. +Rosenbaum, tentatively, "we might arrange with your friend for a +meeting between the three of us." + +"That would be impracticable," Mr. Mannering replied; "he is out of +the city; and furthermore I know he would not care to appear in the +transaction, but would prefer to have me conduct the negotiations. +I was going to suggest that if you were to remain here a few days, +I shall see my friend in a day or so, as I am going out to look +over some mining properties in which we are both interested, and I +could bring in some of the gems with me, and we might then see what +terms we could make." + +"I can remain over, sir, if you can make it an object for me, and +if the stones prove satisfactory I have no doubt we can make terms. +Why, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum leaned across the table and his voice +assumed a confidential tone, "money would be no object with me if I +could get one or two particular gems that I want. For instance, I +have one diamond that I would go to the ends of the earth and pay +a small fortune when I got there, if I could only find a perfect +match for it!" and he launched forth upon an enthusiastic description +of the stone, expatiating upon its enormous size, its wonderful +brilliancy and perfection, adding in conclusion, "and its workmanship +shows it to be at least two hundred years old! Think of that, sir! +What would I not give to be able to match it!" + +A peculiar expression flitted over his listener's face, not +unobserved by Mr. Rosenbaum. He made no immediate response, however, +but when at last the two men separated, it was with the agreement +that they should dine together at the same cafe three days later, +when Mr. Mannering would have returned from his conference with his +friend, at which time, if the latter cared to dispose of his jewels, +they would be submitted for inspection. + +Upon retiring to his room that night, Mr. Rosenbaum sat for some +time in deep abstraction, and when he finally turned off the gas, +he murmured,-- + +"He will produce the jewels all right, and may heaven preserve us +both from the hoodoo!" + +For the two days next ensuing, Mr. Rosenbaum watched closely the +arrivals in the city, but, notwithstanding his vigilance, there +slipped in unaware, on the evening of the second day, a quiet, +unassuming man, who went to the Windsor Hotel, registering there +as "A. J. Johnson, Chicago." At a late hour, while Mr. Rosenbaum, +in the solitude of his own room, was perfecting his plans for the +following day, Mr. Johnson, who was making a tour of inspection +among the leading hotels, sauntered carelessly into the office of +the Clifton. He seemed rather socially inclined, and soon was +engaged in conversation with the proprietor and a dozen of the +"boys," all of whom were informed that he was travelling through +the West on the lookout for "snaps" in the way of mining investments. +This announcement produced general good feeling, and there were not +wanting plenty who offered to take Mr. Johnson around the city on +the following day and introduce him to the leading mining men and +promoters. + +"Much obliged, boys," said Mr. Johnson, "but there's no rush. I +expect to meet some friends here in a few days, and till they come +I shall simply look around on the q. t., you understand, and make +some observations for myself. And that reminds me, gentlemen," he +added, "do any of you happen to know a man by the name of Mannering, +who is interested in mines out here?" + +"Mannering?" answered one of the group; "there's a man by that name +has been around here off and on for the last two or three months; +but I didn't know he was interested in mines to any extent, though +he seems to have plenty of money." + +"I think that is the man I have in mind; will you describe him?" + +"Well, he's tall, about middle age, rather gray, wears blue glasses, +and never has anything to say to anybody; a queer sort of fellow." + +Mr. Johnson nodded, but before he could reply, another in the group +remarked, "Oh, that's the fellow you mean, is it? I've seen him at +the Royal Cafe for the last six weeks, and in all that time he's +never exchanged a dozen words with anybody, till here, the other +night, that diamond Dutchman of yours," addressing the proprietor +of the Clifton, "came waltzing in there, and I'll be hanged if the +two didn't get as confidential over their dinner as two old women +over a cup of tea." + +Mr. Johnson turned towards the proprietor with a quiet smile. "The +'diamond Dutchman!' Is he a guest of your house?" + +"Mr. Rosenbaum?" + +"Yes; do you know him?" + +"Not by name, but I think I have seen the gentleman on my travels; +engaged in the jewelry business, isn't he, and carries his +advertisements on his shirt-front and fingers?" + +"That's the man," the proprietor replied, amid a general laugh. +"Why? He's all right, isn't he?" + +"All right for aught that I know, sir; I haven't the pleasure of +the gentleman's acquaintance, though possibly I may have if we both +remain here long enough," and he carelessly turned the subject of +conversation. + +A little later, as Mr. Johnson left the Clifton, he soliloquized, +"Well, if I haven't exactly killed two birds with one stone, I think +I've snared two birds in one trap. Since coming West I haven't +located one without seeing or hearing of the other; it's my belief +they're 'pals,' and if I can pull in the pair, so much the better." + +The following evening found Mr. Johnson in the vicinity of the Royal +Cafe; having discovered a small newsstand opposite, he strolled in +thither, and, buying a couple of papers, seated himself in a quiet +corner, prepared to take observations. He had not waited long when +Mr. Mannering made his appearance, and, after pausing a moment to +look up and down the street, entered the restaurant. He had been +seated but a moment when Mr. Rosenbaum appeared, crossing the street, +having evidently left the jeweller's store, and also entered the +cafe. The two men shook hands and immediately withdrew to one of +the private boxes. Mr. Johnson had visited the Royal Cafe earlier +in the day and made himself familiar with its interior arrangement. +Knowing the box just taken to be No. 3, and that No. 4 directly +opposite was unoccupied, he at once proceeded across the street to +the restaurant. Stopping at the cashier's desk, he said in a low +tone, "I expect some friends later, and don't wish to be disturbed +till they come; understand?" + +The man nodded, and Mr. Johnson passed on noiselessly into No. 4. +Meanwhile, the occupants of No. 3 having received their orders, +dismissed the waiter, with the information that when they needed +his services they would ring for him. Mr. Mannering was visibly +excited, so much so that his dinner remained almost untasted, and +the other, observing his evident agitation, pushed aside his own +plate and, folding his arms upon the table, inquired indifferently,-- + +"Well, my dear sir, what was your friend's decision?" + +For reply, the other drew from his pocket a small case, which he +silently handed across the table. Mr. Rosenbaum opened it, +disclosing, as he did so, a pair of diamonds of moderate size, but +of unusual brilliancy and perfectly matched. He examined them +silently, scrutinizing them closely, while his face indicated +considerable dissatisfaction. + +"What does your friend expect for these?" he asked at length. + +"What will you give for them?" was the counter-question. + +"I do not care to set a price on them, for I do not want them," he +replied, rather shortly. + +"I think," said Mr. Mannering, "that my friend would dispose of +them at a reasonable figure, as he is at present in need of ready +cash with which to consummate an important mining negotiation." + +After considerable fencing and parrying, Mr. Rosenbaum made an offer +for the gems, to which Mr. Mannering demurred. + +"Show me a higher class of gems and I will offer you a better price," +said Mr. Rosenbaum, finally seeming to grow impatient. "Show me one +like this, for instance, and I will offer you a small fortune," and +opening a case which he had quickly drawn from his pocket, he took +from it an enormous diamond, beside whose dazzling brilliancy the +pair of gems under consideration seemed suddenly to grow dim and +lustreless. He held it up and a thousand rays of prismatic light +flashed in as many different directions. + +"What do you think of that, my dear sir? When I can find a match +for that magnificent stone, we can fill an order which we have held +for more than twelve months from the royal house in Germany. But +where will I find it?" + +Twirling the gem carelessly between his thumb and finger, he watched +the face of his companion and saw it change to a deathly pallor. + +"May I see that for one moment?" he asked, and his voice sounded +unnatural and constrained, while the hand which he extended across +the table trembled visibly. + +"Most certainly, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum replied, and, in compliance +with the request, handed to Mr. Mannering the gem which the latter +had himself disposed of less than three months before in one of the +large Western cities. Nothing could escape the piercing eyes now +fastened upon that face with its strange pallor, its swiftly +changing expression. Unconscious of this scrutiny, Mr. Mannering +regarded the gem silently, then removed his glasses for a closer +inspection. Having satisfied his curiosity, he returned the stone +to Mr. Rosenbaum, and as he did so, found the eyes of the latter +fixed not upon the gem, but upon his own face. Something in their +glance seemed to disconcert him for an instant, but he quickly +recovered himself, and, replacing the colored glasses, remarked +with a forced composure,-- + +"That is a magnificent stone. May I ask when and where you found +it?" + +"I picked it up in one of your cities some three months ago, maybe, +more or less." + +"You bought it in this country, then? Why may you not expect to +match it here?" + +"Simply on the theory, my dear sir, that the lightning never strikes +twice in the same place." + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Mannering, calmly, "I will show you a stone so +perfect a match for that, you yourself could not distinguish between +the two." + +"You have such a diamond!" Mr. Rosenbaum exclaimed; "why then are +you wasting time with these?" and he pushed the smaller diamonds +from him with a gesture of contempt. "Why did you not produce it +in the first place?" + +"Because," replied Mr. Mannering, his composure now fully restored, +"I do not propose to produce it until I know somewhere near what +you will give for it." + +"My dear sir," Mr. Rosenbaum's tones became eager, "as I have already +told you, if I can match this stone," placing it on the table between +them, "I will pay you a small fortune; money would be no object; you +could have your own price." + +Without further words, Mr. Mannering drew forth a small package, +which he carefully opened, and, taking therefrom an exact duplicate +of the wonderful gem, placed it upon the table beside the latter. + +With a smile which the other did not see, Mr. Rosenbaum bent his +head to examine the stones; he had recognized his man in the brief +instant that their eyes had met, and now, within his grasp, lay, as +he well knew from the description which he carried, two of the finest +diamonds in the famous Mainwaring collection of jewels, stolen less +than six months before; his triumph was almost complete. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson, who had overheard much of their conversation, +was congratulating himself upon the near success of his own schemes, +when the officiousness of a waiter overthrew the plans of all parties +and produced the greatest confusion. Catching sight of the gentleman +waiting in No. 4, he ignored the cashier's instructions and entered +the box to take his order. Mr. Johnson's reply, low and brief though +it was, caught the quick ear of Mr. Rosenbaum, who muttered under his +breath,-- + +"The hoodoo! confound him!" + +At the same instant a draught lifted the curtain to NO. 3, revealing +to the astonished Mannering a view of Mr. Johnson's profile in the +opposite box. His own face grew white as the table-cloth before +him; he reached wildly for the diamond, but both gems were gone, and +Rosenbaum confronted him with a most sinister expression. + +"My diamond!" he gasped. + +"The diamonds are safe," replied the other in a low tone, "and you," +addressing Mannering by his true name, "the more quiet you are just +now the better." + +The elder man's face grew livid with rage and fear, and, rising +suddenly to his feet, his tall form towered far above Rosenbaum. + +"Wretch!" he hissed, with an oath, "you have betrayed me, curse you!" +and, dealing the smaller man a blow which floored him, he rushed from +the box. + +In an instant Rosenbaum staggered to his feet, and, pausing only long +enough to make sure of the safety of the jewels, rushed from the cafe, +reaching the street just in time to see his man jump into a cab, which +whirled swiftly and started down the street at break-neck speed. Two +cabmen, talking at a short distance, hurried to the scene, and, +calling one of them, Mr. Rosenbaum hastily took a second cab and +started in pursuit of the first, but not before he had caught a +glimpse of Mr. Johnson making active preparations to follow them +both. + +"Hang that fellow!" he muttered, as he heard wheels behind him. +"This is the third time he has spoiled the game; but I've got the +winning hand, and he'll not beat me out of it!" + +By this time the first cab, having turned a corner a short distance +ahead, was out of sight, but Rosenbaum, convinced from the direction +taken of its destination, and knowing a more direct route, shouted +to the driver what streets to follow, and to come out upon the alley +near No. 545 Jefferson Street. + +"The old fellow will think I've lost the trail when he finds he's +not followed," he soliloquized, amid the joltings of the vehicle, +"and maybe it will throw the hoodoo off the track." + +But Mr. Johnson had no intention of being thrown off. He had seen +cab No. 2 a take a different course, and, having lost sight of No. 1, +decided that a bird in the hand would be worth two in the bush, and +that he would follow up the "pal." + +As cab No. 2 approached Jefferson Street, Rosenbaum called to the +driver to slacken and drive on the dark side of the alley. He jumped +out to reconnoitre; a cab was just stopping at No. 545, a tall figure +got out and hastily disappeared up the steps, while the cab whirled +rapidly away. + +"Turn about, drive back quietly, and answer no questions," Rosenbaum +said, slipping a bill into the driver's hand, and then glided swiftly +through the shadow to No. 545. His maneuvers were seen, however, by +Mr. Johnson, who immediately proceeded to follow his example. + +Running quickly up the steps to No. 545, Rosenbaum produced a bunch +of skeleton keys, which he proceeded to try. The first was useless, +the second ditto; he heard steps approaching; the third fitted the +lock, but, as it turned, a hand was laid upon his shoulder, a dark +lantern flashed in his face, and a voice said,-- + +"Your game is up, my man; you had better come with me as peaceably +as possible!" + +For answer, the other turned quickly, and, without a word, lifted +the lapel of his coat, where a star gleamed brightly in the rays +of the lantern. + +The band holding the lantern dropped suddenly, and its owner +ejaculated, "Heavens and earth! what does this mean? Who are you?" + +"I am Dan McCabe, at your service," was the cool reply; then, as the +other remained speechless with astonishment, McCabe continued: "I've +no time to waste with you, Mr. Merrick; we may have a desperate piece +of work on hand; but if you'll come with me, I give you my word for +it that before this job is over you'll meet the biggest surprise of +your life." + +Pushing open the door, McCabe noiselessly climbed the stairs, +beckoning Merrick to follow. By the light of the dark lantern he +selected the door leading to the room occupied by Mannering, and, +after listening a moment, nodded significantly to Merrick. + +"Is he there?" the latter whispered. + +"He is there," said McCabe, grimly, "but not the man you are looking +for. I'll tell you who is there," and he whispered in his ear. + +Merrick staggered as if from a blow. "Great God!" he exclaimed +aloud. + +There was a sudden sound within as of some one frightened and moving +hastily. McCabe again called the man by name, and demanded +admittance. There was a moment's silence, and then McCabe, with +Merrick's aid, forced in the door, and as it yielded there came from +within the sharp report of a revolver, followed by a heavy groan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING + + +The case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring had been set for the opening +of the December term of court, being the first case on the docket. +The intervening weeks, crowded with preparation for the coming +litigation, had passed, and now, on the eve of the contest, each side +having marshalled its forces, awaited the beginning of the fray, each +alike confident of victory and each alike little dreaming of the end. +From near and far was gathered an array of legal talent as well as of +expert testimony seldom equalled, all for the purpose of determining +the validity or invalidity of a bit of paper-yellow with age, +time-worn and musty which stood as an insurmountable barrier between +Ralph Mainwaring and the fulfilment of his long cherished project. + +The Fair Oaks tragedy still remained as deep a mystery as on the +morning when, in all its horror of sickening detail, it had startled +and shocked the entire community. No trace of the murderer had been +as yet reported, and even Mr. Whitney had been forced to acknowledge +in reply to numerous inquiries that he had of late received no +tidings whatever from Merrick, either of success or failure. + +Since the announcement of Harold Mainwaring at the club that he +would not touch a farthing of the Mainwaring estate until not only +his own name should be cleared of the slightest imputation of murder, +but until the murder itself should be avenged, it had been rumored +that the party at the Waldorf was in possession of facts containing +the clue to the whole mystery. Though this was mere conjecture, it +was plainly evident that whatever secrets that party held in its +possession were not likely to be divulged before their time. The +party had been augmented by the arrival of the senior member of the +firm of Barton & Barton, while the register of the Waldorf showed at +that time numerous other arrivals from London, all of whom proved to +be individuals of a severely judicial appearance and on extremely +intimate terms with the original Waldorf party. Of the business of +the former, however, or the movements of the latter, nothing definite +could be learned. Despatches in cipher still flashed daily over the +wires, but their import remained a matter of the merest surmise to +the curious world outside. + +Ralph Mainwaring, on the contrary, since the arrival of his London +attorneys, Upham and Blackwell, with Graham, the well-known +chirographical expert, had seized every opportunity for rendering +himself and them as conspicuous as possible, while his boasts of +their well-laid plans, the strong points in their case, and their +ultimate triumph, formed his theme on all occasions. Mr. Whitney's +position at this time was not an enviable one, for Ralph Mainwaring, +having of late become dimly conscious of a lack of harmony between +himself and his New York attorney, took special delight in frequently +flouting his opinions and advice in the presence of the English +solicitors; but that gentleman, mindful of a rapidly growing account, +wisely pocketed his pride, and continued to serve his client with +the most urbane courtesy, soothing his wounded sensibilities with an +extra fee for every snub. + +On the day prior to that set for the opening of the trial, among the +numerous equipages drawn up at one of the piers, awaiting an incoming +ocean-liner, was the Mainwaring carriage, containing, as usual, Ralph +Mainwaring, Upham and Blackwell, and Mr. Whitney. The carriage and +its occupants formed the centre of attraction to a considerable +portion of the crowd, until attention was suddenly diverted by the +sight of a stylish turnout in the shape of an elegant trap and a pair +of superb bays driven tandem, which passed the Mainwaring carriage +and took its position at some distance nearer the pier. Seated in +the trap were Harold Mainwaring and Hugh Mainwaring, junior. Their +appearance together at that particular time and place excited no +little wonder and comment, especially when, the gangplank having +been thrown down, the young men left the turnout in care of a +policeman and walked rapidly towards the hurrying stream of +passengers, followed more slowly by Ralph Mainwaring and his party. + +All was explained a few moments later, as that embodiment of +geniality, William Mainwaring Thornton, loomed up in the crowd, his +daughter upon one arm, upon the other Miss Carleton, and accompanied +by Mrs. Hogarth and the usual retinue of attendants. + +"Looks like a family reunion, by George!" exclaimed one of the +on-lookers, as a general exchange of greetings ensued, but to a +close observer it was evident that between some members of the +different parties the relations were decidedly strained. No so with +Mr. Thornton, however; his first greetings were for the young men. + +"Well, well, Hugh, you contumacious young rascal! how are you? I +hear you've kicked over the traces and set the governor and his +sovereigns at defiance! Well, you've shown yourself a Mainwaring, +that's all I have to say! Here is a young lady, however, who is +waiting to give you a piece of her mind; you'll have to settle with +her." + +"Papa!" exclaimed Edith Thornton in faint protest, her fair face +suffused with blushes as she came forward to meet her lover, while +her father turned towards Harold Mainwaring. + +"Well, my dear sir," he said, extending his hand with the utmost +cordiality, "I am glad to meet you in your own proper sphere at +last; I always thought you were far too good looking for a secretary! +But, joking aside, my dear boy, let me assure you that as the son of +Harold Scott Mainwaring, one of the most royal fellows I ever knew, +I congratulate you and wish you success." + +Deeply touched by Mr. Thornton's kindness and his allusion to his +father, the young man thanked him with considerable emotion. + +"That is all right," the elder man responded heartily; "I was very +sorry not to have met you in London, but I heard the particulars of +your story from Winifred, and--well, I consider her a very +level-headed young woman, and I think you are to be congratulated +on that score also." + +"No one is better aware of that fact than I," said the young man, +warmly, and passed on to meet the young ladies, while Mr. Thornton +turned to confront the frowning face of Ralph Mainwaring. + +"Hello, Mainwaring! What's the matter? You look black as a +thunder-cloud! Did you have something indigestible for luncheon?" + +"Matter enough I should say," growled the other, unsuccessfully +trying to ignore Mr. Thornton's outstretched hand, "to find you +hobnobbing with that blackguard!" + +Mr. Thornton glanced over his shoulder at the young people with a +comical look of perplexity. "Well, you see how it is yourself, +Mainwaring: what is a fellow to do? This is a house divided against +itself, as it were, and no matter what my personal sentiments +towards you might be, I find myself forced to maintain a position +of strict neutrality." + +"Neutrality be damned! you had better maintain better parental +government in your own family!" + +"As you do in yours, for instance." + +"You know very well," continued Ralph Mainwaring, flushing angrily, +"that if you had forbidden Edith marrying Hugh under present +conditions, he would have got down off his high horse very quickly." + +"That is something I would never do," Mr. Thornton replied, calmly, +"for two reasons; first, I have never governed my daughter by direct +commands and prohibitions, and, second, I think just as much of Hugh +Mainwaring without his father's money as with it; more, if it is to +be accompanied with the conditions which you imposed." + +"Then am I to understand," demanded the other, angrily, "that you +intend to go against me in this matter?" + +"My dear Mainwaring," said Mr. Thornton, much as he would address a +petulant child, "this is all the merest nonsense. I am not going +against you, for I have no part in this contest; my position is +necessarily neutral; but if you want my opinion of the whole matter, +I will tell you frankly that I think, for once in your life, you +have bitten off more than you can swallow, and you will find it so +before long." + +"Perhaps it might be just as well to reserve your opinion till it +is called for," the other answered, shortly. + +"All right," returned Mr. Thornton, with imperturbable good humor; +"but any time that you want to wager a thousand or so on the outcome +of this affair, remember the money is ready for you!" + +The conversation changed, but Ralph Mainwaring was far more +chagrined and annoyed than he would have acknowledged. Mr. +Thornton's words rang in his ears till they seemed an augury of +defeat, and, though outwardly as dogged and defiant as ever, he was +unable to banish them, or to throw off the strange sense of +depression which followed. + +Meanwhile, amid the discordant elements surrounding them, Harold +Mainwaring and Winifred Carleton found little opportunity for any +but the most desultory conversation, but happily there was little +need for words between them. Heart can speak to heart through the +subtle magnetism of a hand-clasp, or the swift flash from eye to +eye, conveying meanings for which words often prove inadequate. + +"You wrote that you were confident of victory, and your looks bear +it out," she said, 'with a radiant smile; "but I would have come +just the same, even had there been no hope of success for you." + +"I need no assurance of your faith and loyalty," he replied, gazing +tenderly into her luminous eyes, "but your coming will make my +triumph ten times sweeter." + +"Of course you will spend the evening with, us at our hotel,--uncle +cabled for apartments at the Savoy,--and I am all impatience to +learn whatever you are at liberty to tell me concerning your case, +for there must have been some wonderful developments in your favor +soon after your arrival in this country, you have seemed so much more +hopeful; and do not let me forget, I have something to show you which +will interest you. It is a written statement by Hugh Mainwaring +himself regarding this identical will that is causing all this +controversy." + +"A statement of Hugh Mainwaring's!" Harold repeated in astonishment; +"how did it come into your possession?" + +"That is the strangest part of it," she replied, hurriedly, for +they had now reached the carriages in waiting for them. "I received +it through the mail, from America, a few days before I left London, +and from--you cannot imagine whom--Mr. Merrick, the detective. +How he ever knew my address, or how he should surmise that I was +particularly interested in you," she blushed very prettily with +these words, "is more than I can understand, however." + +"I think I can explain that part of it," said Harold, with a smile; +"but how such a statement ever came into his hands is a mystery to +me. I will see you this evening without fail," and, assisting Miss +Carleton into the carriage, he bade her au revoir, and hastened to +rejoin young Mainwaring. + +That evening witnessed rather a novel reception in the private +parlors of the Savoy; both parties to the coming contest being +entertained by their mutual friends. When Harold Mainwaring finally +succeeded in securing a tete-a-tete conversation with Miss Carleton, +she placed in his hands a small packet, saying,-- + +"You will find in this the statement of which I spoke to you, and +I wish you would also read the accompanying note, and explain how +the writer came to have so good an understanding of the situation." + +With eager haste he drew forth a sheet of paper little less time-worn +and yellowed than the ancient will itself, upon which was written, +in the methodical business hand with which he was so familiar, a +brief statement to the effect that a certain accompanying document +described as the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring +had been drawn and executed as such on the night preceding his +death, its intent and purpose being to reconvey to an elder son the +family estate, to which he had previously forfeited all right and +title; that efforts made to communicate with the beneficiary had +proved unavailing, as he had left the country and his place of +residence was unknown. Then followed Hugh Mainwaring's signature. +At the bottom of the page, however, was a foot-note of much later +date, which put a different complexion on the foregoing, and which +read as follows: + +"It has now been ascertained for a certainty that the beneficiary +mentioned in the accompanying will is no longer living. I have, +therefore, a clear title to the estate, as it would revert to me at +his death. The document itself is worthless, except as a possible +means of silencing that scoundrel, Hobson, should he attempt to +reveal anything of the past, as he has threatened to do, and for +this purpose I shall retain it in my possession until such time as +I make final adjustment of my affairs. + + "HUGH MAINWARING." + +"Ah," said Harold Mainwaring, thoughtfully, as he suddenly recalled +the morning when he had discovered Merrick and his assistant dragging +the lake at Fair Oaks, "I think I understand how this paper came +into Merrick's possession. It was evidently kept in the same +receptacle which held the will, but in my haste and excitement at +the discovery of the will I must have overlooked it. The box in +which these papers were kept afterwards fell into Merrick's hands, +and he must have found this." + +"That solves one riddle, here is the other," and Miss Carleton +handed her lover a small note, covered with a fine, delicate +chirography whose perfectly formed characters revealed a mind +accustomed to the study of minute details and appreciative of their +significance. He opened it and read the following: + +"MY DEAR MISS CARLETON: + +"Pardon the liberty I take, but, thinking the enclosed bit of paper +might be of some possible assistance to one in whose success I +believe you are deeply interested, I send it herewith, as, for +obvious reasons, I deem this circuitous method of transmission +better than one more direct. + +"As when taking leave of you on board the 'Campania,' so now, permit +me to assure you that if I can ever serve you as a friend, you have +but to command me. + + "Most sincerely yours, + "C. D. MERRICK." + + +A smile of amusement lighted Harold Mainwaring's face as, glancing +up from the note, his eyes met those of Miss Carleton's with their +expression of perplexed inquiry. + +"This is easily explained," he said; "do you remember the tall, +slender man whom we observed on board the 'Campania' as being rather +unsocial and taciturn?" + +"Yes, I remember he rather annoyed me, for I fancied he concentrated +considerably more thought and attention upon us than the +circumstances called for." + +"Which shows you were more observing than I. Such a thought never +entered my mind till I had been about ten days in London, when it +occurred to me that, considering the size of the town and the fact +that he and I were strangers, we met with astonishing frequency. I +have since learned that he was a detective sent over to London on +an important case, and being an intimate friend of Merrick's, the +latter, who, I am informed, was shadowing me pretty closely at the +time, requested him to follow my movements and report to him, which +he evidently did, as I have since heard that Merrick had expressed +to one or two that he was not at all surprised by the developments +which followed my return to this country. Consequently, it is not +to be wondered at if he has an inkling that you may be somewhat +interested in this case." + +"But what could have been Mr. Merrick's object in shadowing you?" + +"I cannot say. It may have been only part of his professional +vigilance in letting nothing escape his observation; but from the +first I was conscious of his close espionage of my movements. Now, +however, I am satisfied that he had none but friendly intentions, +and I appreciate his kindness, not only towards myself, but more +especially towards you." + +"Will that statement be of any assistance to you, do you think?" + +"I hardly think so under our present plans," he replied, after a +moment's reflection; "under recent developments our plans differ +so radically from what we first intended, that we will probably +have little use for any of the testimony which we had originally +prepared." + +"But these recent developments which have so changed your plans +must certainly have been in your favor and have rendered your +success the more assured, have they not?" + +"Not only more assured, but more speedy and complete. To me, the +coming trial means far more than the settlement of the controversy +over the estate; it means the complete and final vindication of my +character, so that I can stand before you and before the world +acquitted of every charge which my enemies would have sought to +bring against me." + +Her face grew radiant with sympathy. "I well know what that means +to you, and I would be first to congratulate you on such a victory, +for your own sake; but I needed no public acquittal to convince me +of your innocence,--not even," she added, slowly, "when you yourself +for some reason, which I hope one day to understand, were unable to +assure me of it." + +His dark eyes, glowing with suppressed feeling, met hers, the +intensity of their gaze thrilling her heart to its inmost depths. + +"Do not think that I can ever forget that," he said in low tones +which seemed to vibrate through her whole being; "do not think that +through any triumphs or joys which the future may bring, I can ever +forget, for one moment, the faith and love which stood loyally by +me in my darkest hour,--the hour when the shadow of the crime, +which has forever darkened Fair Oaks, was closing about my very +soul!" + +Startled at the sudden solemnity of his words and manner, she +remained silent, her eyes meeting his without a shade of doubt or +distrust, but full of wondering, tender inquiry, to which he +replied, while for an instant he laid his hand lightly and +caressingly on hers, "Only a few days longer, love, and I will tell +you all!" + +On the morning of the following day a dense crowd awaited, at an +early hour, the opening of the December term of court; a crowd which +was steadily augmented till, when the case of Mainwaring versus +Mainwaring was called, every available seat was filled. All +parties to the suit were promptly on hand, and amid a silence +almost oppressive, proponent and contestant, with their counsel +and witnesses, passed down the long aisle to their respective +places. + +Seldom had the old court-room, in its long and varied history, +held so imposing an array of legal talent as was assemble that +morning within its walls. The principal attorneys for the +contestant were Hunnewell & Whitney of New York, and the London +firm of Upham & Blackwell, while grouped about these were a number +of lesser luminaries, whose milder rays would sufficiently illumine +the minor points in the case. But at a glance it was clearly +evident that the galaxy of legal lights opposing them contained +only stars of the first magnitude. Most prominent among the latter +were Barton & Barton, of London, with Mr. Sutherland and his +life-long friend and coadjutor, M. D. Montague, with whom he had +never failed to take counsel in cases of special importance, all +men of superb physique and magnificent brains; while slightly in +the rear, as reinforcements, were the Hon. I. Ponsonby Roget, Q.C., +another Q.C. whose name had not yet reached the public ear, and a +Boston jurist whose brilliant career had made his name famous +throughout the United States. + +Prominent among the spectators were Mr. Scott and Mr. Thornton, +apparently on the best of terms, and watching proceedings with +demonstrations of the liveliest interest, while seated at a little +distance, less demonstrative, but no less interested, was young +Mainwaring, accompanied by Miss Thornton and Miss Carleton. + +The first day was devoted to preliminaries, the greater part of +the time being consumed in the selection of a jury. One after +another of those impaneled was examined, challenged by one side or +the other, and dismissed; not until the entire panel had been +exhausted and several special venires issued, was there found the +requisite number sufficiently unprejudiced to meet the requirements +of the situation. + +The remainder of the day was occupied by counsel for contestant in +making the opening statement. A review of the grounds upon which +the contest was based was first read by one of the assistant +attorneys, after which Mr. Whitney followed with a lengthy statement +which occupied nearly an hour. He reviewed in detail the +circumstances of the case, beginning with the death of Hugh +Mainwaring, and laying special stress upon his irreproachable +reputation. He stated that it would be shown to the jury that the +life of Hugh Mainwaring had been above suspicion, an irrefutable +argument against the charges of fraud and dishonesty which had been +brought against him by those who sought to establish the will in +contest. It would also be shown that the said document was a +forgery, the result of a prearranged plan, devised by those who had +been lifelong enemies of Hugh Mainwaring and the contestant, to +defraud the latter of his rights, and to obtain possession of the +Mainwaring estate; and that the transparency of the device in +bringing the so-called will to light at that particular time and +under those particular circumstances was only too plainly evident. + +Mr. Whitney was warming with his subject, but at this juncture he +was peremptorily called to order by Mr. Sutherland, who stated that +he objected to counsel making an argument to the jury, when he +should confine himself simply to an opening statement. Mr. Whitney's +face flushed as a ripple of amusement ran through the courtroom, but +the objection was sustained, and, after a brief summary of what the +contestant proposed to show, he resumed his seat, and the court then +adjourned until the following morning. + +The first testimony introduced on the following day was to establish +the unimpeachable honesty and integrity of the deceased Hugh +Mainwaring. Both Mr. Elliot and Mr. Chittenden were called to the +stand, and their examination--particularly the cross-examination, +in which a number of damaging admissions were made--occupied nearly +the entire forenoon; the remainder of the day being devoted to the +testimony of witnesses from abroad, introduced to show that for +years a bitter estrangement had existed between Frederick Mainwaring +Scott, the alleged foster-father of the proponent, and the members +of the Mainwaring family,--the deceased Hugh Mainwaring and the +contestant in particular; and also to show the implacable anger of +Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring against his elder son and the extreme +improbability of his ever relenting in his favor. + +Day after day dragged slowly on, still taken up with the examination +of witnesses for contestant; examinations too tedious and monotonous +for repetition, but full of interest to the crowds which came and +went, increasing daily, till, on the days devoted to the expert +testimony, galleries and aisles were packed to overflowing, while +throngs of eager listeners gathered in the corridors about the +various exits. + +It soon became evident that Ralph Mainwaring's oft repeated +assertions concerning the elaborate preparation he had made for the +coming contest were no idle boast. Nothing that human ingenuity +could devise had been left undone which could help to turn the +scale in his own favor. The original will of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, by which his elder son was disinherited, was produced +and read in court. Both wills were photographed, and numerous +copies, minute in every detail, made, in order to show by comparison +the differences in their respective signatures. Under powerful +microscopes it was discovered that several pauses had been made in +the signature of the later will. Electric batteries were introduced +to show that the document had been steeped in coffee and tobacco +juice to give it the appearance of great age. Interesting chemical +experiments were performed, by which a piece of new paper was made +to look stained and spotted as if mildewed and musty, while by the +use of tiny files and needles, the edges, having first been slightly +scalloped, were grated and the paper punctured, till it presented +a very similar aspect to the will itself as though worn through at +the creases and frayed and tattered with age. + +But the accumulation of this overwhelming mass of expert testimony +failed to make the impression upon counsel for proponent which had +been anticipated by the other side. Mr. Sutherland varied the +monotony of the direct examinations by frequent and pertinent +objections, while Barton & Barton took occasional notes, which were +afterwards passed to Sutherland and Montague, and by them used with +telling effect in the cross-examinations, but the faces of one and +all wore an expression inscrutable as that of the sphinx. + +Only once was their equanimity disturbed by any ripple of agitation, +and then the incident was so little understood as to be soon +forgotten. As the third day of the trial was drawing to a close, a +despatch in cipher was handed Mr. Sutherland, which when translated +seemed to produce a startling effect upon its readers. Barton & +Barton exchanged glances and frowned heavily; Mr. Sutherland's +face for one brief moment showed genuine alarm, and Harold +Mainwaring, upon reading the slip of paper passed to him, grew pale. +A hurried consultation followed and Mr. Montague left the court-room. + +On the following morning the papers announced that at 11 P.M. the +preceding night, the Victoria, the private car of the president of +one of the principal railway lines, with special engine attached, +had left for the West, evidently on business of great importance, +as everything on the road had been ordered side-tracked. It was +stated that no particulars could be ascertained, however, regarding +either her passengers or her destination, the utmost secrecy being +maintained by those on board, including even the trainmen. This +item, though attracting some attention, caused less comment than +did the fact that for the three days next ensuing, neither the +senior Mr. Barton nor Mr. Montague was present in court; but no one +suspected any connection between the two events, or dreamed that +the above gentlemen, with two of New York's most skilled surgeons, +were the occupants of the president's private car, then hastening +westward at almost lightning speed. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day of the trial, as it became +apparent that the seemingly interminable evidence submitted by +contestant was nearly at an end, the eager impatience of the waiting +crowd could scarcely be restrained within the limits of order. A +change was noticeable also in the demeanor of proponent and his +counsel. For the two days preceding they had appeared as though +under some tension or suspense; now they seemed to exhibit almost +an indifference to the proceedings, as though the outcome of the +contest were already a settled fact, while a marked gravity +accompanied each word and gesture. + +At last the contestant rested, and all eyes were fixed upon Mr. +Sutherland, as, after a brief pause, he rose to make, as was +supposed, his opening statement. Instead of addressing the jury, +however, he turned towards Judge Bingham. + +"Your honor," he began, in slow, measured tones, "it now lacks but +little more than an hour of the usual time for adjournment, and +after the constant strain which has been put upon our nerves for +the past six days, I feel that none of us, including yourself, your +honor, are in a sufficiently receptive mood to listen to the +testimony which the proponent has to offer. In addition to this +is the fact that our most important witness is not present this +afternoon. I would therefore ask for an adjournment to be taken +until ten o'clock next Monday morning, at which time I will +guarantee your honor and the gentlemen of the jury that the +intricate and elaborate web of fine-spun theories which has been +presented will be swept away in fewer hours than the days which +have been required for its construction." + +There was an attempt at applause, which was speedily checked, and +without further delay the court adjourned. + +As judge, jury, and counsel took their respective places on the +following Monday at the hour appointed, the scene presented by the +old court-room was one never before witnessed in its history. +Every available inch of standing room, both on the main floor and +in the galleries, was taken; throngs were congregated about the +doorways, those in the rear standing on chairs and benches that +they might obtain a view over the heads of their more fortunate +neighbors, while even the recesses formed by the enormous windows +were packed with humanity, two rows deep, the outer row embracing +the inner one in its desperate efforts to maintain its equilibrium. + +The opposing sides presented a marked contrast in their appearance +that morning. Ralph Mainwaring betrayed a nervous excitement very +unusual in one of his phlegmatic temperament; his face alternately +flushed and paled, and though much of the old defiant bravado +remained, yet he awaited the opening of proceedings with visible +impatience. Nor was Mr. Whitney less excited, his manner revealing +both agitation and anxiety. On the part of Harold Mainwaring and +his counsel, however, there was no agitation, no haste; every +movement was characterized by composure and deliberation, yet +something in their bearing--something subtle and indefinable but +nevertheless irresistible--impressed the sensibilities of the vast +audience much as the oppressive calm which precedes an electric +storm. All felt that some great crisis was at hand, and it was +amid almost breathless silence that Mr. Sutherland arose to make +his opening statement. + +"Gentlemen of the jury," he began, and the slow, resonant tones +penetrated to the farthest corner and out into the corridors where +hundreds were eagerly listening, "as a defence to the charges +sought to be established in your hearing, we propose to show, not +by fine-spun theories based upon electrical and chemical experiments, +nor brilliant sophistries deduced from microscopic observations, +but by the citation of stubborn and incontrovertible facts, that +this document (holding up the will), copies of which you now have +in your possession, is the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, executed by him on the night preceding his death, and +as such entitled to stand; that this will, from the date of its +execution to the day of its discovery on the seventh of July last, +was wilfully and fraudulently withheld from publication, and its +existence kept secret by the deceased Hugh Mainwaring. That the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the lawful and only son of +the beneficiary named therein, and as such the sole rightful and +lawful heir to and owner of the Mainwaring estate. More than this, +we propose at the same time and by the same evidence to forever +disprove, confute, and silence any and every aspersion and +insinuation which has been brought against the character of the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring; and in doing this, we shall at +last lift the veil which, for the past five months, has hung over +the Fair Oaks tragedy." + +Mr. Sutherland paused to allow the tremendous excitement produced +by his words to subside; then turning, he addressed himself to the +judge. + +"Your honor, I have to request permission of the court to depart in +a slight degree from the usual custom. The witness for the defence +is in an adjoining room, ready to give testimony when summoned to +do so, but in this instance I have to ask that the name be withheld, +and that the witness himself be identified by the contestant and his +counsel." + +The judge bowed in assent, and amid a silence so rigid and intense +as to be almost painful, at a signal from Mr. Sutherland, the doors +of an anteroom were swung noiselessly open and approaching footsteps +were heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SILENT WITNESS + + +Approaching footsteps were heard, but they were the steps of men +moving slowly and unsteadily, as though carrying some heavy burden. +An instant later, six men, bearing a casket beneath whose weight +they staggered, entered the court-room and, making their way through +the spell-bound crowd, deposited their burden near the witness stand. +Immediately following were two men, one of whom was instantly +recognized as Merrick, the detective; the other as the man who, a +few months before, had been known as the English barrister's clerk, +now wearing the full uniform of a Scotland Yard official. Bringing +up the rear was an undertaker, who, amid the breathless silence +which ensued, proceeded to open the casket. This done, Mr. +Sutherland rose and addressed the judge, his low tones for the first +time vibrating with suppressed feeling. + +"Your honor, I request that William H. Whitney be first called upon +to identify the witness." + +Controlling his agitation by a visible effort, Mr. Whitney approached +the casket, but his eyes no sooner rested on the form and features +within than his forced composure gave way. With a groan he exclaimed, + +"My God, it is Hugh Mainwaring!" and bending over the casket, he +covered his face with his hands while he strove in vain to conceal +his emotion. + +His words, ringing through the hushed court-room, seemed to break +the spell, and the over-wrought nerves of the people began to yield +under the tremendous pressure. Mr. Sutherland raised a warning +hand to check the tide of nervous excitement which threatened to +sweep over the entire crowd, but it was of little avail. Piercing +screams followed; women fainted and were borne from the room, and +the faces of strong men blanched to a deathly pallor as they gazed +at one another in mute consternation and bewilderment. For a few +moments the greatest confusion reigned, but when at last order was +restored and Mr. Whitney had regained his composure, Mr. Sutherland +inquired,-- + +"Mr. Whitney, do you identify the dead man as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"I do." + +"But did you not identify as Hugh Mainwaring the man who, at Fair +Oaks, on or about the eighth of July last, came to his death from +the effect of a gunshot wound?" + +"I supposed then, and up until the present time, that it was he; +there certainly was a most wonderful resemblance which I am unable +to explain or account for, but this, beyond all question, is Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Will you state what proof of identification you can give in this +instance that was not present in the other?" + +"Hugh Mainwaring had over the right temple a slight birthmark, a +red line extending upward into the hair, not always equally distinct, +but always visible to one who had once observed it, and in this +instance quite noticeable. I saw no trace of this mark on the face +of the murdered man; but as the face was somewhat blackened by +powder about the right temple, I attributed its absence to that +fact, and in the excitement which followed I thought little of it. +On the day of the funeral I also noted certain lines in the face +which seemed unfamiliar, but realizing that death often makes the +features of those whom we know best to seem strange to us, I +thought no further of the matter. Now, however, looking upon this +face, I am able to recall several differences, unnoticed then, but +all of which go to prove that this is Hugh Mainwaring." + +Ralph Mainwaring was the next one summoned for identification. +During Mr. Whitney's examination his manner had betrayed intense +agitation, and he now came forward with an expression of mingled +incredulity and dread, but upon reaching the casket, he stood like +one petrified, unable to move or speak, while no one who saw him +could ever forget the look of horror which overspread his features. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland at length, "do you know the +dead man?" + +"It is he," answered Ralph Mainwaring in a low tone, apparently +speaking more to himself than to the attorney; "it is Hugh +Mainwaring; that was the distinguishing mark between them." + +"Do you refer to the mark of which Mr. Whitney has just spoken?" + +"Yes." + +"What do you mean by designating it as 'the distinguishing mark +between them'?" + +Ralph Mainwaring turned from the casket and faced Mr. Sutherland, +but his eyes had the strained, far-away look of one gazing into the +distance, unconscious of objects near him. + +"It was the mark," he said, speaking with an effort, "by which, when +we were boys, he was distinguished from his twin brother." + +"His twin brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring?" queried the attorney. + +"Yes," the other answered, mechanically. + +"Do you then identify this as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Yes; and the other--he must have been--no, no, it could not be--great +God!" Ralph Mainwaring suddenly reeled and raised his hand +to his head. Mr. Whitney sprang to his assistance and led him to +his chair, but in those few moments he had aged twenty years. + +A number of those most intimately acquainted with Hugh Mainwaring +were then called upon, all of whom identified the dead man as their +late friend and associate. These preliminaries over, Mr. Sutherland +arose. + +"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury, before proceeding with the +testimony to be introduced, I have a brief statement to make. Soon +after the commencement of this action, we came into possession of +indisputable evidence that Hugh Mainwaring, the supposed victim of +the Fair Oaks tragedy, was still living, and that of whatever crime, +if crime there were associated with that fearful event, he was not +the victim but the perpetrator. We determined at all hazards to +secure him, first as a witness in this case, our subsequent action +to be decided by later developments. Through our special detective +we succeeded in locating him, but he, upon finding himself cornered, +supposing he was to be arrested for the murder of his brother, +attempted suicide by shooting. The combined skill of the best +surgeons obtainable, though unable to save him, yet prolonged life +for three days, long enough to enable two of our number, Mr. Barton +and Mr. Montague, to reach him in season to take his dying statement; +a statement not only setting forth the facts relating to the will +in question, but embracing also the details of the Fair Oaks tragedy +and mystery. This statement, made by Hugh Mainwaring and attested +by numerous witnesses present, will now be read by Mr. Montague." + +Amid an impressive silence, Mr. Montague stepped to the side of the +casket and, unfolding a document which he held, read the following: + +"I, Hugh Mainwaring, freely and voluntarily and under no duress or +compulsion, make this, my dying statement, not only as a relief to +the mental anguish I have endured for the past few months, but also +in the hope that I may thereby, in my last hours, help in some +degree to right the wrong which my life of treachery and cowardice +has wrought. To do this, I must go back over twenty-five years of +crime, and beyond that to the inordinate greed and ambition that +led to crime. + +"My brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I were twins, so +marvelously alike in form and feature that our parents often had +difficulty to distinguish between us, but utterly unlike in +disposition, except that we both possessed a fiery temper and an +indomitable will. He was the soul of honor, generous to a fault, +loyal-hearted and brave, and he exacted honor and loyalty from +others. He had no petty ambitions; he cared little for wealth for +its own sake, still less for its votaries. I was ambitious; I +loved wealth for the power which it bestowed; I would sacrifice +anything for the attainment of that power, and even my boyish +years were tainted with secret envy of my brother, an envy that +grew with my growth, till, as we reached years of maturity, the +consciousness that he, my senior by only a few hours, was yet to +take precedence over me--to possess all that I coveted--became +a thorn in my side whose rankling presence I never for a single +waking hour forgot; it embittered my enjoyment of the present, +my hopes and plans for the future. + +"But of this deadly undercurrent flowing far beneath the surface +neither he nor others dreamed, till, one day, a woman's face--cold, +cruel, false, but beautiful, bewitchingly, entrancingly beautiful,--came +between us, and from that hour all semblance of friendship +was at an end. With me it was an infatuation; with him it was love, +a love ready to make any sacrifice for its idol. So when our father +threatened to disinherit and disown either or both of us, and the +false, fickle heart of a woman was laid in the balances against the +ancestral estates, I saw my opportunity for seizing the long coveted +prize. We each made his choice; my brother sold his birthright for +a mess of pottage; his rights were transferred to me, and my +ambition was at last gratified. + +"Between three and four years later, on the night of November +seventeenth, within a few hours preceding his death, my father made +a will, revoking the will by which he had disinherited his elder +son, and restoring him again to his full right and title to the +estate. This was not unexpected to me. Though no words on the +subject had passed between us and my brother's name was never +mentioned, I had realized for more than a year that my father was +gradually relenting towards the son who had ever been his favorite, +and on the last day that he was able to leave his room, I had come +upon him unaware in the old picture gallery, standing before the +portrait of his elder son, silent and stern, but with the tears +coursing down his pallid cheeks. When, therefore, on the night +preceding his death, my father demanded that an attorney be +summoned, my feelings can be imagined. Just as the prize which I +had so long regarded as mine was almost within my grasp, should I +permit it to elude me for the gratification of a dying man's whim? +Never! In my rage I could have throttled him then and there without +a qualm; fear of the law alone held me back. I tried to dissuade +him, but it was useless. I then bribed the servant sent to bring +the attorney to report that he was out of town, and when that +proved of no avail, I sent for Richard Hobson, a penniless shyster, +whose lack of means and lack of principle I believed would render +him an easy tool in my hands. He came; I was waiting to receive +him, and we entered into compact, I little dreaming I was setting +loose on my track a veritable hell-hound! The will was drawn and +executed, Hobson and one Alexander McPherson, an old friend of my +father's, signing as witnesses. Within twenty-four hours of its +execution, Richard Hobson was richer by several hundred pounds, and +the will was in my possession. Two days later, I had a false +telegram sent to our place, summoning McPherson to his home in +Scotland. He left at once, before my father's burial, and his death, +which occurred a few weeks later, removed the last obstacle in the +way of carrying my plans into execution. My brother at that time +was in Australia, but in what part of the country I did not know, +nor did I try to ascertain. My constant fear was that he might in +some way--though by what means I could not imagine--get some +knowledge of the will and return to set up a claim to the estate. +As soon as possible, therefore, notwithstanding the protests of +my attorneys, I sold the estate and came to America. + +"Concerning the years that followed, it is needless to go into +detail; they brought me wealth, influence, power, all that I had +craved, but little of happiness. Even when there came tidings of +my brother's death at sea, and I felt that at last my title to +the estate was secure, I had little enjoyment in its possession. +Richard Hobson had already begun his black-mailing schemes, his +demands growing more frequent and exorbitant with each succeeding +year. Through him, also, the woman who had wrecked my brother's +life received some inkling of my secret, and through this knowledge, +slight as it was, gained enough of a hold over me that life was +becoming an intolerable burden. Through all these years, however, +I kept the will in my possession. Even after hearing of the death +of my brother, a cowardly, half-superstitious dread kept me from +destroying it, though doubtless I would have done so soon after +making my own will had I not been prevented by circumstances +unforeseen, which I will now state. + +"The events which I am about to relate are stamped upon my brain +as though by fire; they have haunted me day and night for the past +five months. On the seventh of July last, I made and executed my +will in favor of my namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, and on the following +day--his birthday and mine--he was to be declared my heir. It +was past eleven o'clock on the night of that day when I retired to +my private library, and it was fully an hour later when, having +dismissed my secretary, I finally found myself alone, as I supposed, +for the night. My thoughts were far from pleasant. I had just had +a stormy interview with my housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange, who had +tried, as on previous occasions, to coerce me by threats into a +private marriage and a public recognition of her as my wife and of +her child and mine; and, in addition, the occurrences of the day +had been of a nature to recall the past, and events which I usually +sought to bury in oblivion were passing before my mental vision +despite my efforts to banish them. Suddenly a voice which seemed +like an echo of the past recalled me to the present. Somewhat +startled, I turned quickly, confronting a man who had entered +unperceived from the tower-room. He was my own height and size, +with curling black hair and heavy mustache, but I was unable to +distinguish his features as he remained standing partly in the +shadow. Before I could recover from my surprise, he again spoke, +his voice still vaguely familiar. + +"'The master of Fair Oaks'--the words were spoken with stinging +emphasis--'seems depressed on the eve of his festal day, the day +on which he is to name the heir and successor to his vast estates!' + +"I remembered that a stranger had called that day during my absence, +who, my secretary had informed me, bad shown a surprising familiarity +with my private plans. + +"'I think,' I replied, coldly, 'that you favored me with a call +this afternoon, but whatever your business then or now, you will +have to defer it for a few days. I do not know how you gained +admittance to these apartments at this hour, but I will see that +you are escorted from them without delay,' and as I spoke I rose +to ring for a servant. + +"He anticipated my intention, however, and with the agility of a +panther sprang noiselessly across the room, intercepting me, at +the same time raising a large, English bull-dog revolver, which +he levelled at me. + +"'Not so fast, not so fast,' he said, softly; 'you can afford to +wait a little; I have waited for years!' + +"I stood as though rooted to the spot, gazing at him with a sort +of fascination. As he emerged into the light there was something +almost familiar in his features, and yet something horribly +incongruous and unreal. His eyes glowed like living fire; his soft, +low tones reminded me of nothing so much as the purring of a tiger; +while the smile that played about his lips was more terrible than +anything I had ever seen on human face. It was ten times more +fearful than the muzzle of the revolver confronting me, and seemed +to freeze the very blood in my veins. + +"'You take a base advantage; I am unarmed," I sneered. + +"'I knew too well with whom I had to deal to come unarmed,' he +replied; 'though this,' and he lowered the revolver, 'this is not +the sort of weapon you would employ,--a thrust in the dark, a stab +in the back, that is your style, coward!" + +"'I demand an explanation of this,' I said. + +"He folded his arms, still retaining his hold upon the weapon, as +he answered, 'Explanations will follow in due time; but surely, on +the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of such a life as yours, +congratulations are first in order. Allow me to congratulate you, +Hugh Mainwaring, upon the success which has attended and crowned +the past twenty-five years of your life! upon the rich harvest +you have reaped during all these years; the amassed wealth, the +gratified ambitions, the almost illimitable power, the adulation +and homage,--all so precious to your sordid soul, and for which +you have bartered honor, happiness, character, all, in short, that +life is worth. Standing, as you do to-night, at the fiftieth +milestone on life's journey, I congratulate you upon your +recollections of the past, and upon your anticipations for the +future, as you descend to an unhonored and unloved old age!' + +"Every word was heaped with scorn, and, as I looked into the burning +eyes fixed upon mine and watched the sardonic smile hovering about +his lips, I wondered whether he were some Mephistopheles--some +fiend incarnate--sent to torture me, or whether he were really +flesh and blood. + +"The mocking smile now left his face, but his eyes held me speechless +as he continued,-- + +"'No wonder that memories of bygone years haunted your thoughts +to-night! Memories, perhaps, of a father whose dying will you +disregarded; of a brother whom you twice defrauded,--once of the +honor and sanctity of his home, then, as if that were not enough, +of his birthright,--his heritage from generations of our race--' + +"'Stop!' I cried, stung to anger by his accusations and startled +by the strange words, 'our race,' which seemed to fall so familiarly +from his lips. 'Stop! are you mad?" Do you know what you are +saying? Once more I demand that you state who or what you are, and +your business here!' + +"'That is quickly stated, Hugh Mainwaring,' he answered, in tones +which made my heart beat with a strange dread; 'I am Harold Scott +Mainwaring! I am here to claim no brotherhood or kinship with you, +but to claim and to have my own, the birthright restored to me by +the last will and testament of a dying father, of which you have +defrauded me for twenty-five years!" + +"'You are a liar and an impostor!' I cried, enraged at the sound of +my brother's name, and for the instant believing the man to be some +emissary of Hobson's who had used it to work upon my feelings. + +"Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing, he answered +in low tones, 'Dare you apply those epithets to me, usurper that you +are? You are a liar and a thief, and if you had your deserts you +would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported to the wilds of +Australia! I an impostor? See and judge for yourself!' and with a +sudden, swift movement the black curling hair and mustache were +dashed to the floor, and he stood before me the exact counterpart +of myself. Stunned by the transformation, I gazed at him speechless; +it was like looking in a mirror, feature for feature identically the +same! For a few seconds my brain seemed to reel from the shock, but +his tones recalled me to myself. + +"'Ah!' he said, with mocking emphasis, 'who is the impostor now?' + +"My first thought was of self-vindication, and to effect, if +possible, a compromise with him. 'I am no impostor or usurper,' I +said, 'because, believing you dead, I have used that to which in +the event of your death I would be legally entitled even had you +any claim, and I am willing, not as an acknowledgment of any valid +claim on your part, but as a concession on my own part, to give you +a liberal share in the estate, or to pay you any reasonable sum +which you may require-- + +"He stopped me with an intolerant gesture. 'Do not attempt any +palliation of the past with me,' he said, sternly; 'it is worse +than useless; and do not think that you can make any compromises +with me or purchase my silence with your ill-gotten wealth. That +may have served your purpose in the past with your associate and +coadjutor, Richard Hobson, the man who holds in his mercenary +grasp the flimsy reputation which is all that is left to you, or +with the woman--cruel as the grave and false as hell--who once +wrecked my life, and now, with the son that you dare not +acknowledge, rules your home, but you cannot buy my silence. I +come to you as no beggar! I am a richer man to-day than you, but +for the sake of generations past, as well as of generations yet to +come, I will have my own. The estate which was once my forefathers +shall be my son's, and his sons' after him!' + +"As I listened, my whole soul rose against him in bitter hatred, +the old hatred of my youth. 'I defy you,' I' cried, hotly, 'to +produce one atom of proof in support of your claim or of your +charges against me! The estate is mine, and I will make you rue +the day that you dare dispute my right and title to it!' + +"His eyes flashed with scorn as he replied, 'You lie, Hugh +Mainwaring! Your life for the past twenty-five years has been +nothing but a lie, and the day just closed has witnessed the final +act in this farce of yours. That I have already undone, and just +as surely I will undo the work of the past years. And let me assure +you I have no lack of proof with which to verify either my own +claim or any assertion I have made, or may yet make, against you. +I have proof that on the night preceding my father's death he made +a will restoring to me my full rights, which you have fraudulently +withheld all these years; and through my son, whom you have known +for the past eighteen months as your private secretary, I have proof +that that will is still in existence, of itself an irrefutable +witness against you!' + +"With the mention of my secretary the truth flashed upon me. I +realized I was completely in his power, and with a sense of my +own impotency my rage and hatred increased. Forgetful of the weapon +in his hand and almost blind with fury, I sprang towards him, +intending to throttle him--to strangle him--until he should plead +for mercy. Instantly he raised the revolver in warning, but not +before I had seized his wrist, turning the weapon from myself. A +brief struggle followed, in which I soon found my strength was no +match for his. Growing desperate, I summoned all my strength for +one tremendous effort, at the same time holding his wrist in a +vice-like grip, forcing his hand higher and turning the revolver +more and more in his direction. Suddenly there was a flash,--a +sharp report,--and he fell heavily to the floor, dragging me down +upon him. + +"For an instant I was too much stunned and bewildered to realize +what had happened, but a glance at my opponent revealed the +situation. He lay motionless where he had fallen, and a ghastly +wound over the right eye told the terrible story. Dazed with +horror, I placed my hand over his heart, but there was no motion, +no life,--he was dead! The awful truth forced itself upon me. +Mad and blind with rage, I had turned the weapon upon him and it had +discharged,--whether by some sudden movement of his hand, or by +the accidental pressure of my own fingers upon the trigger, God +alone knows, I do not! One fact I could not then, nor ever can, +forget; it was my hand that gave the weapon its deadly aim, however +blindly or unwittingly, and the blood of my brother whom I had +wronged and defrauded now lay at my door. + +"The agony of remorse that followed was something beyond description, +beyond any suffering of which I had ever dreamed; but suddenly a +thought flashed upon me which added new horror, causing me to spring +to my feet cold with terror, while great beads of perspiration +gathered on my brow. When that terrible scene should be revealed, +not alone in the approaching morning light, but in the light of past +events which, if the last words spoken by those lips now sealed in +death were true, could no longer be kept secret, what would be the +world's verdict?" Murder! fratricide! and I? Great God! of what +avail would be any plea of mine in the face of such damning evidence? + +"I rushed to the tower-room, and hastily opening my safe, took from +a private drawer therein a key and with trembling fingers fitted it +into the lock of a large metallic box which contained the family +jewels, and which for more than twenty-five years had held the old +will executed by my father on his death-bed. I had seen it there +less than forty-eight hours before, and in my desperation I now +determined to destroy it. My very haste and eagerness delayed me, +but at last the cover flew back, revealing the gleaming jewels, +but--the will was not there! Unable to believe my own eyes, I +drew my fingers carefully back and forth through the narrow +receptacle where it had lain, and among the satin linings of the +various compartments, but in vain; the will was gone! My brother +had spoken the truth, and the will was doubtless in the possession +of his son, who, under its terms, was now himself heir to the +estate. The room grew dim and the walls themselves seemed to whirl +swiftly about me as, with great difficulty, I groped my way back to +the library, where I stood gazing at that strange counterpart of +myself, till, under the growing horror of the situation, it seemed +to my benumbed senses as though I were some disembodied spirit +hovering above his own corpse. The horrible illusion was like a +nightmare; I could not throw it off, and I would then and there +have gone stark, staring mad, but that there came to me out of that +awful chaos of fancies a suggestion which seemed like an inspiration. +'It is Hugh Mainwaring,' I said to myself, 'Hugh Mainwaring died +to-night!' + +"My fevered brain grew cool, my pulse steady, and my nerves firm +as I proceeded at once to act upon the idea. Kneeling beside the +dead man, I examined the wound. The bullet had entered above the +right eye and passed downward, coming out at the base of the brain; +from both wounds the blood was flowing in a slow, sluggish stream. +Drawing a large handkerchief from my pocket, I bound it tightly +about the head over both wounds, knotting it firmly; then carrying +the body into the tower-room, I made sure that all doors were +locked, and proceeded to put into execution the plan so suddenly +formed. By this time I was myself, and, though the task before me +was neither easy nor pleasant to perform, I went about it as +calmly and methodically as though it were some ordinary business +transaction. As expeditiously as possible I removed the dead man's +clothing and my own, which I then exchanged, dressing the lifeless +form in the clothes I had worn on the preceding day, even to the +dressing-gown which I had put on upon retiring to my apartments, +while I donned his somewhat travel-worn suit of tweed. Having +completed this gruesome task, I left the body in much the same +position in which it had originally fallen, lying slightly upon +the right side, the right arm extended on the floor, and, to give +the appearance of suicide, I placed my own revolver--first +emptying one of the chambers--near his right hand. On going to +my desk for the revolver, I discovered the explanation of my +brother's words when he said that he had already undone my work +of the preceding day, the final act of the farce I had carried +out. In the terrible excitement of those moments his meaning +escaped my mind; now it was clear. My own will, executed with +such care, and which early in the evening I had left upon my desk, +was gone. That he had destroyed it in his wrath and scorn I had +abundant proof a little later, upon incidentally finding in the +small grate in that room the partially burned fragments of the +document, which I left to tell their own tale. + +"Having satisfactorily disposed of Hugh Mainwaring (as the dead +man now seemed to my over-wrought imagination), I made preparation +for my immediate departure. This occupied little time. There was +fortunately some cash in the safe, which I took; all drafts and +papers of that nature I left,--they were of value only to Hugh +Mainwaring, and he was dead! As the cash would be inadequate, +however, for my needs, I decided after considerable deliberation +to take the family jewels, though not without apprehension that +they might lead to my detection, as they finally did. These I put +in a small box covered with ordinary wrapping-paper to attract as +little attention as possible,' and, having completed my preparations, +I removed the bandage from the dead man's head and threw it with the +private keys to my library into the metallic box which had held the +jewels. Then donning the black wig and mustache which my visitor +had thrown aside on disclosing his identity, together with a long +ulster which he had left in the tower-room, I took one farewell +look at the familiar apartments and their silent occupant and stole +noiselessly out into the night. I remained on the premises only +long enough to visit the small lake in the rear of the house, into +which I threw the metallic box and its contents, then, following +the walk through the grove to the side street, I left Fair Oaks, as +I well knew, forever. While yet on the grounds I met my own +coachman, but he failed to recognize me in my disguise. My plans +were already formed. I had come to the conclusion that my late +visitor and the caller of the preceding afternoon, whose card bore +the name of J. Henry Carruthers, were one and the same. My secretary +had stated that Carruthers had come out from the city that day, so +my appearance at the depot, dressed in his own disguise, would +probably attract no attention. I was fortunate enough to reach the +depot just as two trains were about to pull out; the suburban train +which would leave in three minutes for the city, and the north-bound +express, due to leave five minutes later. I bought a ticket for New +York, then passing around the rear of the suburban train, quietly +boarded the express, and before the discovery of that night's +fearful tragedy I was speeding towards the great West. + +"But go where I might, from that hour to this, I have never been +free from agonizing remorse, nor have I been able for one moment +to banish from my memory the sight of that face,--the face of my +brother, killed by my own hand, and a discovery which I made +within the first few hours of my flight made my remorse ten times +deeper. In going through the pockets of the suit I wore I found +a letter from my brother, addressed to his son, written in my own +library and at my own desk while he awaited my coming. He seemed +to have had a sort of presentiment that his interview with me might +end in some such tragedy as it did, and took that opportunity to +inform his son regarding both his past work and his plans for the +future. What was my astonishment to find that his son was, at +that time, as totally unaware of his father's existence as was I +a few hours before of the existence of a brother! + +"From this letter I learned that the son had been given away at +birth, and was to know nothing of his true parentage until he had +reached years of maturity; that he himself had been shipwrecked, as +reported years ago, but had escaped in some miraculous manner; that +reaching Africa at last, he disclosed his identity to no one, but +devoted all his energies to acquiring a fortune for his son. He +succeeded even beyond his anticipations, and when nearly twenty +years had elapsed, sailed for his old Australian home, to find his +son. Arriving there, he learned that his son, while pursuing his +studies in England, had obtained information of the will made in +his father's favor, and learning facts which led him to believe that +the will was still in existence and in the possession of his father's +younger brother, had, with the advice of his London attorneys, gone +to America, and was then in his uncle's employ for the purpose of +securing proof regarding the will, and, if possible, possession of +the will itself. Upon learning these facts, my brother had +immediately proceeded to London and to Barton & Barton, his son's +attorneys, who, upon his arrival there, informed him of his son's +success up to that time, and also notified him that his brother was +about to celebrate his approaching fiftieth birthday by naming the +son of Ralph Mainwaring as his heir, Ralph Mainwaring and family +having just sailed to America for that purpose. My brother then +took the first steamer for America, arriving only two days later +than Ralph Mainwaring. Though unable to obtain an interview with +me at once, as he had intended, he had succeeded in catching sight +of me, in order to assure himself that the marked resemblance +between us still existed, and, to emphasize that resemblance, he +then shaved and had his hair cut in the same style in which I wore +mine, so as to render the likeness the more striking and +indisputable when he should announce himself to me. + +"His existence and return he wished kept secret from his son until +the successful consummation of his plans, but he wrote the letter +as an explanation in case there should be any unforeseen +termination. The letter was overflowing with a father's love and +pride; his allusion to the difficulty with which he had restrained +his feelings when he found himself face to face with his son on the +afternoon of his call, being especially touching. The perusal of +that letter added a hundred-fold to my own grief and remorse. I +dared not run the risk of disclosing myself by sending it to my +brother's son, but I have preserved it carefully for him, and desire +it to be given him as quickly as possible. + +"Through New York papers I learned from time to time of the murder +of Hugh Mainwaring, the lost will, the discovery of the old will, +and the appearance of the rightful heir. From that source, also, I +learned that Merrick, the detective, was shadowing the murderer, +who was generally supposed to be a man by the name of Carruthers. +I had one advantage of Merrick. I knew him--my old friend Whitney +having often pointed him out to me--while he did not know the man +he sought. Many a time in my wanderings I have seen him, and, +knowing well the game he was after, eluded him, only to fall at +last into the snare of one whom I did not know. The man searching +for the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring encountered another, trailing +the murderer of Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I suddenly found my +time had come! A coward then, as always, I tried to shoot myself. +In the darkness I held the muzzle of my brother's revolver to my +own temple; instantly there flashed before me his face when I had +killed him! I grew sick, my hand trembled and dropped; then, as +my pursuers came nearer, I aimed for my heart and fired! This is +the result. Death was not instantaneous, as I had hoped; instead, +I was given this opportunity to make some slight reparation for my +sin; to aid, as I said before, in righting the wrong wrought by my +past life. + +"And now, in these my last moments, I do solemnly affirm and aver +that on the night preceding his death, my father executed a will +restoring to my elder brother his full right and title, which will +I have for more than twenty-five years last past wrongfully and +fraudulently withheld and concealed; and that my brother being now +dead, killed by my own hand, though unwittingly and unintentionally, +his son, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the rightful and sole heir +to the entire Mainwaring estate. + +"Signed by Hugh Mainwaring in the presence of the following +witnesses: William J. Barton, M. D. Montague, Joseph P. Sturgiss, +M.D., M. J. Wheating, M.D., Daniel McCabe and C. D. Merrick." + +At the conclusion of this statement, there was shown in evidence +the rusty metallic box-dragged from the lake--with the keys and +the knotted, blood-stained handkerchief found therein. This was +followed by brief testimony by Harold Scott Mainwaring and the +old servant, James Wilson, but the proceedings following the +reading of the statement were little more than mere form. There +was little attempt at cross-examination, and when the time came for +the argument by counsel for contestant, Mr. Whitney, who had been +deeply affected by the confession of his old friend, declined to +speak. + +All eyes were fastened upon Mr. Sutherland as he arose, as was +supposed, for the closing argument. For a moment his eyes scanned +the faces of the jurors, man by man, then addressing the judge, he +said slowly, in clear, resonant tones,-- + +"Your honor, I submit the case without argument." + +In less than forty-five minutes from the conclusion of the statement +the jury retired, but no one moved from his place in the crowded +court-room, for all felt that little time would be required for their +decision. In ten minutes they returned, and, amid the silence that +followed, the foreman announced the verdict, "for the proponent, +Harold Scott Mainwaring." + +Cheers burst forth from all parts of the room, and the walls rang +with applause, which was only checked by a sudden, simultaneous +movement of several men towards the contestant. With the +announcement of the verdict, Ralph Mainwaring had risen to his feet, +as though in protest. For an instant he stood gasping helplessly, +but unable to utter a word; then, with a loud groan, he sank +backward and would have fallen to the floor but for his attorneys, +who had rushed to the assistance of the stricken man. + +A few moments later the lifeless remains of Hugh Mainwaring were +carried from the court-room, while, in another direction, the +unconscious form of Ralph Mainwaring was borne by tender, pitying +hands, among them those of the victor himself, and the contest of +Mainwaring versus Mainwaring was ended. + + * * * * * * * * * + +The bright sunlight of a December afternoon, ten days after the +close of the trial, crowned with a shining halo the heads of +Harold Scott Mainwaring and his wife as they stood together in the +tower-room at Fair Oaks. But a few hours had elapsed since they +had repeated the words of the beautiful marriage service which had +made them husband and wife. Their wedding had been, of necessity, +a quiet one, only their own party and a few of their American +friends being present, for the ocean-liner, then lying in the +harbor, but which in a few hours was to bear them homeward, would +carry also the bodies of the Mainwaring brothers and of Ralph +Mainwaring to their last resting place. + +Here, amid the very surroundings where it was written, Harold +Mainwaring had just read to his wife his father's letter, penned a +few hours before his death. For a few moments neither spoke, then +Winifred said brokenly, through fast falling tears,-- + +"How he loved you, Harold!" + +"Yes," he replied, sadly; "and what would I not give for one hour +in which to assure him of my love! I would gladly have endured any +suffering for his sake, but in the few moments that we stood face +to face we met as strangers, and I have had no opportunity to show +him my appreciation of his love or my love for him in return." + +"Don't think he does not know it," she said, earnestly. "I believe +that he now knows your love for him far more perfectly than you +know his." + +He kissed her tenderly, then drawing from his pocket a +memorandum-book, took therefrom a piece of blotter having upon it +the impress of some writing. Placing it upon the desk beside the +letter, he held a small mirror against it, and Winifred, looking +in the mirror, read, + + "Your affectionate father, + "HAROLD SCOTT MAINWARING." + +Then glancing at the signature to the letter, she saw they were +identical. In answer to her look of inquiry, Harold said,-- + +"I discovered that impress on the blotter on this desk one morning +about ten days after the tragedy, and at once recognized it as my +father's writing. In a flash I understood the situation; my father +himself had returned, had been in these rooms, and had had an +interview with his brother! I knew of the marked resemblance between +them, and at once questioned, How had that interview ended? Who was +the murdered man? Who was the murderer? That was the cause of my +trip to England to try to find some light on this subject. I need +no words to tell you the agony of suspense that I endured for the +next few weeks, and you will understand now why I would not--even +to yourself--declare my innocence of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. +I would have bourne any ignominy and dishonor, even death itself, +rather than that a breath of suspicion should have been directed +against my father's name." + +"My hero!" she exclaimed, smiling through her tears; then asked, +"When and how did you learn the real facts?" + +"Almost immediately upon my return to this country, and from Mrs. +LaGrange," and he told her briefly of his last interview with that +unhappy woman. "Up to the day of the funeral, she was ignorant of +the truth, but on that day she detected the difference, which none +of the others saw. She knew and recognized my father." + +Standing at last on the western veranda, they took their farewell +of Fair Oaks. + +"Beautiful Fair Oaks!" Winifred murmured; "once I loved you; but +you could never be our home; you hold memories far too bitter!" + +"Yes," Harold replied, gravely, "it is darkened by crime and stained +with innocent blood. The only bright feature to redeem it," he +added with a smile, "is the memory of the love I found there, but +that," and he drew her arm closely within his own, "I take with me +to England, to my father's home and mine." + +Together they left the majestic arched portals, and going down the +oak-lined avenue, through the dim twilight of the great boughs +interlocked above their heads, passed on, out into the sunlight, +with never a fear for shadows that might come; each strong and +confident in the love that united them "for better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, . . . till death us +do part." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR *** + +***** This file should be named 2172.txt or 2172.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/2172/ + +Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer. + + + + + +THAT MAINWARING AFFAIR + +by Maynard Barbour + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAINWARINGS + + +The fierce sunlight of a sultry afternoon in the early part of July +forced its way through every crevice and cranny of the closely drawn +shutters in the luxurious private offices of Mainwaring & Co., Stock +Brokers, and slender shafts of light, darting here and there, lent +a rich glow of color to the otherwise subdued tones of the elegant +apartments. + +A glance at the four occupants of one of these rooms, who had +disposed themselves in various attitudes according to their +individual inclinations, revealed the fact that three out of the +four were Englishmen, while the fourth might have been denominated +as a typical American from the professional class. Of rather +slender form, with a face of rare sensitiveness and delicacy, and +restless, penetrating eyes, his every movement indicated energy and +alertness. On the present occasion he had little to say, but was +engaged in listening attentively to the conversation of the others. + +Beside a rosewood desk, whose belongings, arranged with mathematical +precision, indicated the methodical business habits of its owner, +sat Hugh Mainwaring, senior member of the firm of Mainwaring & Co., +a man approaching his fiftieth birthday. His dress and manners, +less pronouncedly English than those of the remaining two, betokened +the polished man of the world as well as the shrewd financier. He +wore an elegant business suit and his linen was immaculate; his +hair, dark and slightly tinged with gray, was closely cut; his +smoothly shaven face, less florid than those of his companions, +was particularly noticeable on account of a pair of dark gray +eyes, cold and calculating, and which had at times a steel-like +glitter. Though an attractive face, it was not altogether pleasing; +it was too sensuous, and indicated stubbornness and self-will rather +than firmness or strength. + +Half reclining upon a couch on the opposite side of the room, in an +attitude more comfortable than graceful, leisurely smoking a fine +Havana, was Ralph Mainwaring, of London, a cousin of the New York +broker, who, at the invitation of the latter, was paying his first +visit to the great western metropolis. Between the two cousins +there were few points of resemblance. Both had the same cold, +calculating gaze, which made one, subjected to its scrutiny, feel +that he was being mentally weighed and measured and would, in all +probability, be found lacking; but the Londoner possessed a more +phlegmatic temperament. A year or two his cousin's junior, he +looked considerably younger; as his hair and heavy English side +whiskers were unmixed with gray and he was inclined to stoutness. + +Seated near him, in an immense arm-chair which he filled admirably, +was William Mainwaring Thornton, of London, also a guest of Hugh +Mainwaring and distantly connected with the two cousins. He was +the youngest of the three Englishmen and the embodiment of +geniality. He was a blond of the purest type, and his beard, +parted in the centre, was brushed back in two wavy, silken masses, +while his clear blue eyes, beaming with kindliness and good-humor, +had the frankness of a child's. + +Hugh Mainwaring, the sole heir to the family estate, soon after +the death of his father, some twenty-five years previous to this +time, became weary of the monotony of his English homelife, and, +resolved upon making his permanent home in one of the large eastern +cities of the United States and embarking upon the uncertain and +treacherous seas of speculation in the western world, had sold the +estate which for a number of generations had been in the possession +of the Mainwarings, and had come to America. In addition to his +heavy capital, he had invested a large amount of keen business tact +and ability; his venture had met with almost phenomenal success and +he had acquired immense wealth besides his inherited fortune. + +His more conservative cousin, Ralph Mainwaring, while never quite +forgiving him for having disposed of the estate, had, nevertheless, +with the shrewdness and foresight for which his family were noted, +given to his only son the name of Hugh Mainwaring, confident that +his American-English cousin would never marry, and hoping thereby +to win back the old Mainwaring estate into his own line of the +family. His bit of strategy had succeeded; and now, after more +than twenty years, his foresight and worldly wisdom were about to +be rewarded, for the occasion of this reunion between the +long-separated cousins was the celebration of the rapidly +approaching fiftieth birthday of Hugh Mainwaring, at which time +Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., would attain his majority, and in recognition +of that happy event the New York millionaire broker had announced +his intention of making his will in favor of his namesake, and on +that day formally declaring him his lawful heir. + +This had been the object of the conference in the private office +of Hugh Mainwaring, and now that it was over and all necessary +arrangements had been made, that gentleman turned from his desk +with a sigh of relief. + +"I am heartily glad that this business is over," he said, +addressing his guests; "it has been on my mind for some time, and +I have consulted with Mr. Whitney about it," with a slight nod +towards the fourth gentleman, who was his attorney and legal adviser. +"We have both felt that it should have been attended to before this; +and yet, as I considered this would be the most fitting time to make +a final adjustment of affairs, I have on that account delayed +longer than I otherwise would have done. Now everything is arranged +in a manner satisfactory, I trust, to all parties immediately +concerned, and nothing remains but to draw up and execute the papers, +which will be done to-morrow." + +"You are not then troubled with any unpleasant superstitions +regarding the making of a will?" commented Mr. Thornton. + +"No," replied the other, slowly. "I am not of the opinion that it +will hasten my exit from this world; but even if it did, I would +have the satisfaction of knowing that my own wishes would be +carried out in the settlement of my estate, and that no one would +derive any benefit from my demise excepting those whom I consider +legally entitled thereto." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked curiously at his cousin through half-closed +eyes. + +"I suppose," he remarked, very deliberately, "that even in case +there were no will the property would revert to our branch of the +family; we are the nearest of kin, you know." + +"Yes, I know your family would be considered the lawful heirs," +Hugh Mainwaring replied, while he and Mr. Whitney exchanged glances; +"but this is not England; here any common adventurer might come +forward with some pretended claim against the estate, and I prefer +to see affairs definitely settled in my own way." + +"Of course," responded the other, resuming his cigar. "Well, +speaking for myself, I am more than willing to relinquish any share +I might have had for the boy's sake, and I don't suppose, Thornton, +that you have any objections to raise on Edith's account." + +"Oh, no, no," replied that gentleman, with a pleasant laugh. "I +never considered Hugh a bad son-in-law to begin with, but I'll admit +he is a little more attractive now than ever." + +The little clock on the marble mantel chimed the hour of four, +causing a general movement of surprise. "'Pon my soul! had no idea +it was that late," exclaimed Mr. Thornton, taking out his watch, +while Hugh Mainwaring, touching an electric button, replied,- + +"This business has detained us much longer than I anticipated. I +will give some instructions to the head clerk, and we will leave at +once." + +He had scarcely finished speaking, when a door opened noiselessly +and a middle-aged man appeared. + +"Parsons," said Mr. Mainwaring, addressing him in quick, incisive +tones, "I am going out to Fair Oaks, and probably shall not be at +the office for two or three days, unless something of unusual +importance should demand my presence. Refer all business callers +to Mr. Elliott or Mr. Chittenden. Any personal calls, if specially +important, just say that I can be found at Fair Oaks." + +Parsons bowed gravely, and after a few further instructions retired. + +"Now, Mr. Whitney," Hugh Mainwaring continued, at the same time +touching another electric button, "you, of course, will be one of +our party at Fair Oaks; my secretary will accompany us, and the +papers will be drawn up to-morrow in my private library, after which +you will do us the honor to join us in the pleasures of the following +day." + +"I am at your service, Mr. Mainwaring," responded the attorney; "but," +he added, in low tones, intended only for Hugh Mainwaring's ear, but +which were heard distinctly by the private secretary, now standing +beside the desk, "would it not be better to draw up the will here, +in your private office? My presence at the house on the present +occasion might attract attention and arouse some suspicions as to +your intentions." + +"That makes no difference," replied Hugh Mainwaring, quickly, but +also speaking in a low tone; "my private papers are all at the house, +and I choose that this business shall be conducted there. I believe +that I am master in my own house yet." + +Mr. Whitney bowed in acquiescence, and Hugh Mainwaring turned to +his secretary,- + +"Mr. Scott, just close up everything in the office as quickly as +possible and get ready to accompany me to Fair Oaks; I shall need +you there for two or three days." + +It was not the first time the private secretary had accompanied Mr. +Mainwaring to his elegant suburban residence, and he understood +perfectly what was expected of him, and immediately withdrew to +make his preparations as expeditiously as possible. + +For some reason, which Hugh Mainwaring had never stopped to explain +even to himself, he always accorded to his private secretary much +more respect and consideration than to any one of his other numerous +employees. + +Harry Scott was not only a young man of superior education and good +breeding, but what particularly impressed his employer in his favor +was a certain natural reserve which caused him to hold himself aloof +from his associates in the offices of Mainwaring & Co., and an innate +refinement and delicacy which kept him, under all circumstances, +from any gaucherie on the one hand, or undue familiarity on the +other; he was always respectful but never servile. He had been in +the employ of Hugh Mainwaring for a little more than a year, and, +having frequently accompanied him to Fair Oaks to remain for a day +or two, was, consequently, quite familiar with the house and grounds. + +As he re-entered the room, having exchanged his business suit for +one more suitable to the occasion, there was not one present but +what instinctively, though perhaps unconsciously, recognized in him +a true gentleman and treated him as such. Tall, with a splendid +physique, finely shaped head, dark hair, and eyes of peculiar beauty, +he was far from being the least attractive member of the party which, +a few moments later, entered the Mainwaring carriage, with its coat +of arms, and rolled away in the direction of Fair Oaks. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FAIR OAKS + + +The home of Hugh Mainwaring was one of many palatial suburban +residences situated on a beautiful avenue running in a northerly +direction from the city, but it had not been for so many years in +his possession without acquiring some of the characteristics of its +owner, which gave it an individuality quite distinct from its elegant +neighbors. It had originally belonged to one of the oldest and +wealthiest families in the county, for a strictly modern house, +without a vestige of antiqueness lingering in its halls and with no +faint aroma of bygone days pervading its atmosphere, would have been +entirely too plebeian to suit the tastes of Hugh Mainwaring. + +From the street to the main entrance a broad driveway wound beneath +the interlacing boughs of a double line of giant oaks, from which +the place had derived its name. Beautiful grounds extended in every +direction, and in the rear of the mansion sloped gently to the edge +of a small lake. Facing the west was the main entrance to the house, +which was nearly surrounded by a broad veranda, commanding a fine +view, not only of the grounds and immediately surrounding country, +but also of the Hudson River, not far distant. + +The southwestern portion of the building contained the private rooms +of Hugh Mainwaring, including what was known as the "tower," and had +been added by him soon after he had taken possession of the place. +This part of the house was as far removed as possible from the large +reception-rooms, and the apartments on the second floor comprised +the suite occupied by Mr. Mainwaring. The first of these rooms, +semi-octagonal in form, constituted his private library, and its +elegant furnishings and costly volumes, lining the walls from floor +to ceiling, bespoke the wealth and taste of the owner. Across the +southwestern side of this room heavy portieres partially concealed +the entrance to what Mr. Mainwaring denominated his "sanctum +sanctorum," the room in the tower. This was small, of circular form, +and contained an immense desk, one or two revolving bookcases, and +a large safe, which held his private papers and, it was rumored, the +old Mainwaring jewels. Back of the library was a smoking-room, and +in the rear of that Mr. Mainwaring's dressing-rooms and sleeping +apartments. + +This suite of rooms was connected with the remainder of the building +by a long corridor extending from the main hall, but there was on +the south side of the house an entrance and stairway leading directly +to these rooms, the upper hall opening into the library and +smoking-room. From this southern entrance a gravelled walk led +between lines of shrubbery to a fine grove, which extended back +and downward to the western shore of the small lake already mentioned. + +But the especially distinguishing characteristic of Fair Oaks since +coming into the possession of Hugh Mainwaring was the general air of +exclusion pervading the entire place. The servants, with the +exception of "Uncle Mose," the colored man having charge of the +grounds, were imported, - the head cook being a Frenchman, the +others either English or Irish, and, from butler to chambermaid, one +and all seemed to have acquired the reserve which characterized +their employer. + +Comparatively few servants were employed and few were needed, for +never, until the present occasion, had Fair Oaks been thrown open +to guests. Occasionally Mr. Mainwaring brought out from the city +two or three gentleman friends, whom he entertained in royal +fashion. Sometimes these guests were accompanied by their wives, +but such instances were extremely rare, as ladies were seldom seen +at Fair Oaks. + +In the entertainment of these occasional guests Mr. Mainwaring was +frequently assisted by Mrs. LaGrange, known as his housekeeper, but +in reality holding a position much more advanced than is usually +implied by that term. Among those who had been personally +entertained by Mrs. LaGrange, this fact, of itself, excited little +comment; it being evident that she was as familiar with the +fashionable world as was their host himself, but surrounding her was +the same dim haze of mystery that seemed to envelop the entire place, +impalpable, but thus far impenetrable. + +She had come to Fair Oaks some fifteen years previous to this time, +dressed in deep mourning, accompanied by her infant son, about three +years of age, and it was generally understood that she was distantly +related to Mr. Mainwaring. She was a strikingly handsome woman, +with that type of physical beauty which commands admiration, rather +than winning it; tall, with superb form and carriage, rich olive +skin, large dark eyes, brilliant as diamonds and as cold, but which +could become luminous with tenderness or fiery with passion, as +occasion required. To those whom she sought to entertain she could +be extremely charming, but to a few even of these, gifted with deeper +insight than the others, it seemed that beneath that fascinating +manner was a dangerous nature, a will that would brook no restraint, +that never would be thwarted; and that this was, in reality, the +power which dominated Fair Oaks. + +After years of mysterious seclusion, however, the beautiful home of +Hugh Mainwaring, while maintaining its usual reserve towards its +neighbors, had thrown open its doors to guests from across the water; +and on the particular afternoon of the conference in the private +offices of Mainwaring & Co., there might have been seen on one of +the upper balconies of the mansion at Fair Oaks a group of five +English ladies, engaged in a discussion of their first impressions +regarding their host and his American home. The group consisted of +Mrs. Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton, +the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh +Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton; +and Mrs. Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies. + +Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit +to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy +event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest +in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially +enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and +grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament +than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much +finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her +part. + +"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming +from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of +ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside +her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in +the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart." + +"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde +like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be +yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at +least, till you are married, you know." + +"That is a very reckless declaration on your part, for I am likely +never to marry," responded Miss Carleton, lightly. She was an +orphan and an heiress, but had a home in the family of William +Mainwaring Thornton, who was her uncle and guardian. + +Isabel Mainwaring, reclining in a hammock near Miss Thornton, smiled +languidly. She was tall, with dark hair and the Mainwaring cold, +gray eyes. "You seem to ignore the fact," she said, "that our cousin +is likely to live in the exclusive enjoyment of his home for many +years to come." + +"You mercenary wretch!" retorted Miss Carleton; "are you already +counting the years before Mr. Mainwaring's death?" + +"Isabel, I am shocked!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring. + +"I don't know why," replied that young lady, coolly. "I was only +thinking, mamma; and one is not always accountable for one's +thoughts, you know." + +"But," said Miss Thornton, wonderingly, raising her large eyes, full +of inquiry, to Mrs. Mainwaring, "after our cousin has announced his +intention of making Hugh his heir, don't you think he will be likely +to extend other invitations to visit Fair Oaks?" + +"Undoubtedly, my dear," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, "there will probably +be an exchange of courtesies between the two branches of the family +from this time. Though I must say," she added, in a lower tone, and +turning to Mrs. Hogarth, "I do not know that I, for one, will be +particularly anxious to repeat my visit when this celebration is once +over. So far as I can judge, there seems to be no society here. +Wilson has learned from the servants that Mr. Mainwaring lives very +quietly, in fact, receives no company whatever; and, I may be +mistaken, but it certainly seems to me that this Mrs. LaGrange +occupies rather an anomalous position. She is here as his housekeeper, +a servant, yet she entertains his guests, and her manners are anything +but those of a servant." + +"Why shouldn't she, mamma?" inquired Isabel, rather abruptly. "Cousin +Hugh has never married, - which is a very good thing for us, by the +way, - and who would help him entertain if his housekeeper did not?" + +"It is not her position to which I object so much," remarked Mrs. +Hogarth, quietly, "though I admit it seems rather peculiar, but there +is something about her own personality that impresses me very +unfavorably." + +"In your opinion, then, she is not a proper person," said Mrs. +Mainwaring, who was fond of jumping at conclusions; "well, I quite +agree with you." + +"No," said Mrs. Hogarth, with a smile, "I have not yet formed so +decided an opinion as that. I am not prepared to say that she is +a bad woman, but I believe she is a very dangerous woman." + +"Dear Mrs. Hogarth, how mercilessly you always scatter my fancies +to the winds!" exclaimed Miss Thornton; "until this moment I admired +Mrs. LaGrange very much." + +"I did not," said Miss Carleton, quickly; "from my first glimpse of +her she has seemed to me like a malign presence about the place, a +veritable serpent in this beautiful Eden!" + +"Well," said Isabel Mainwaring, with a slight shrug, "I see no +reason for any concern regarding Mrs. LaGrange, whatever she may be. +I don't suppose she will be entailed upon Hugh with the property; +and I only hope that before long we can buy back the old Mainwaring +estate into our own branch of the family." + +"That is just what your father intends to have done whenever the +property comes into Hugh's possession," replied Mrs. Mainwaring, +and was about to say something further, when a musical whistle +attracted the attention of the ladies, and, looking over the +balcony railing, they saw Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., approaching the +house, on his return from a day's fishing, accompanied by Walter +LaGrange, a young sophomore, home on his vacation. + +The former was a typical young Englishman, with a frank, pleasant +countenance. The latter, while inheriting his mother's beauty and +resembling her in a marked degree, yet betrayed in his face a +weakness which indicated that, lacking ability to plan and execute +for himself, he would become a ready tool to aid in carrying out the +designs of others. + +The ladies, having discovered the hour to be much later than they +supposed, and knowing that the gentlemen would soon return from the +city, speedily adjourned to their dressing-rooms to prepare for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HUGH MAINWARING + + +Immediately after breakfast the following morning, Hugh Mainwaring, +having excused himself to his guests, retired to his private +library, in company with his secretary and Mr. Whitney, his attorney. +A number of fine saddle horses having been brought around from the +stables, the young people cantered gayly down the oak-lined avenue, +intent upon a morning ride, their voices echoing musically through +the grounds. The elderly people, after a short chat, gradually +dispersed. Mrs. Mainwaring retired to her room for her accustomed +morning nap; Mrs. Hogarth sought the large library and was soon +absorbed in the works of her favorite author, while Ralph Mainwaring +and Mr. Thornton strolled up and down the gravelled walks, enjoying +their cigars. + +"This is a very good bit of property," remarked Mr. Mainwaring at +length, running his eye with cold scrutiny over the mansion and +grounds; "taking into consideration the stocks and bonds and various +business interests that will go with it, it will make a fine windfall +for the boy." + +"That it will, and Hugh certainly is a lucky dog!" responded Mr. +Thornton, "but you seem to have some definite knowledge regarding +our cousin's finances; has he given you any idea as to what he is +really worth?" + +"He? Not a word." Then noting an expression of surprise on his +companion's face, Mr. Mainwaring continued. "I have a number of +business acquaintances on this side the water, and you may rest +assured I have kept myself well posted as to the way things were +going all these years. I have had something of this kind in view +all the time." + +"I might have known it," replied Mr. Thornton, with an amused +smile. "I never yet saw a Mainwaring who did not understand how +to feather his own nest. Well, as you say, it is a fine piece of +property; but, do you know, Mainwaring, it strikes me that the old +boy seems a bit anxious to get it disposed of according to his own +liking as quickly as possible." + +"It does look that way," the other acknowledged. + +"Well, now, doesn't that seem a little peculiar, when, with no +direct heirs that we know of, the property would in any case revert +to your family?" + +Ralph Mainwaring puffed in silence for a few moments, then removing +his cigar and slowing knocking off the ashes, he replied very +deliberately,- + +"It is my opinion that he and that attorney of his are aware of some +possible claimants, of whom we know nothing." + +"That is my idea exactly," said Mr. Thornton; "and, don't you know, +it has occurred to me that possibly, unknown to us, Harold Mainwaring +may have left a child, whose existence is known to Hugh." + +"That would cut no figure in this case," Mr. Mainwaring answered, +quickly. "Even had there been a living child, - which there was +not, - he could make no claim whatever, for Harold was disinherited +by his father's will." + +"Yes, I know the old gentleman disinherited Harold, but would his +heirs have no claim?" + +"Not under that will. I was present when it was read, and I remember +it debarred 'both him and his heirs, forever.'" + +"Poor Harold!" said Mr. Thornton, after a moment's silence; "he was +the elder son, was he not?" + +"Yes, and his father's favorite. It broke the old man's heart to +disinherit him. He failed rapidly after that occurred, and he never +was the same towards Hugh. I always thought that accounted for +Hugh's selling the old place as he did; it had too many unpleasant +memories." + +"Harold died soon after that unfortunate marriage, I believe." + +"Yes; he learned too late the character of the woman he had married, +and after the death of their only child, he left her, and a few years +later was lost at sea." + +"Well," continued Mr. Thornton, after a pause, "have you the remotest +idea as to who these possible claimants against the property may be?" + +"Only the merest suspicion, as yet too vague even to mention; but I +think a day or two will probably enable me to determine whether I am +correct or not." + +At that moment, Harry Scott, the private secretary, appeared, with a +message to the gentlemen from Hugh Mainwaring, to the effect that he +would like to have them join himself and Mr. Whitney in his library. + +As they passed around to the southern entrance with the secretary, +they did not observe a closed carriage coming swiftly up the +driveway, nor a tall, slender man, with cadaverous features and +sharp, peering eyes, who alighted and hastily rang for admittance. +But two hours later, as Mr. Thornton was descending the winding +stairway in the main hall, he caught a glimpse of the strange +caller, just taking his departure. The stranger, hearing footsteps, +turned towards Mr. Thornton, and for an instant their eyes met. +There was a mutual recognition; astonishment and scorn were written +on Mr. Thornton's face, while the stranger cowed visibly and, with +a fawning, cringing bow, made as speedy an exit as possible. + +At luncheon that day both Hugh Mainwaring and a number of his guests +seemed rather preoccupied, and the meal passed in unusual silence. +Mrs. LaGrange exerted herself to be particularly entertaining to Mr. +Whitney, but he, though courteously responding to her overtures, made +no effort to continue the conversation. Even the genial Mr. Thornton +was in so abstracted a mood that his daughter at last rallied him on +his appearance, whereupon he turned somewhat abruptly to his host +with the inquiry,- + +"Are you personally acquainted with Richard Hobson?" + +For an instant, Hugh Mainwaring seemed confused, and Mr. Whitney, +always on the alert, noted a peculiar expression flash across the +face of Mrs. LaGrange, and was also conscious of an almost +imperceptible start on the part of the young secretary seated near +him. + +Mr. Mainwaring quickly recovered himself and replied, deliberately, +"Richard Hobson, the attorney? I believe I met him once or twice, +years ago, in London, but I cannot claim any acquaintance with him." + +"Dick Hobson does not deserve the name of attorney," remarked Ralph +Mainwaring; "he is a shyster and a scoundrel." + +"He certainly bears a hard reputation," rejoined Mr. Thornton; "and +I would not have mentioned his name, only that I met him here about +half an hour since, and that caused me to make the inquiry I did." + +Hugh Mainwaring paled visibly, though he remained calm. "Met him +here, in my house? Impossible!" he exclaimed, at the same time +glancing towards the butler, but the face of that functionary was +as immobile as rock. "I did not suppose the man was in this +country!" + +"Oh, yes," replied Ralph Mainwaring; "he left England about two +years ago; he played one too many of his dirty games there and took +the first steamer for America, hoping, I suppose, to find a wider +sphere of action in this country." + +"Possibly I may have been mistaken," remarked Mr. Thornton, quietly, +realizing that he had unconsciously touched an unpleasant chord, +"but the resemblance was certainly striking." + +An awkward silence followed, broken by young Scott, who excused +himself on the plea of important work and returned to Mr. +Mainwaring's library, where he was soon joined by all the gentlemen +excepting young Mainwaring. In the hall, Hugh Mainwaring paused for +a few words with the butler, and the attorney, passing at that +moment, caught the man's reply, given in a low tone,- + +"No, sir; Mrs. LaGrange." + +A little later, the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring was +signed by the testator, and duly attested by Ralph Mainwaring, +William Mainwaring Thornton, and William H. Whitney. As the last +signature was completed, Hugh Mainwaring drew a heavy sigh, saying +in a low tone,- + +"That is as I wished, my namesake is my heir;" then taking the +document, he placed it in the hands of his secretary, adding, "Lay +this for the present on my desk. To-morrow I wish it to be read in +the presence of all the members of the family, after which, Mr. +Whitney, I desire to have it put in your possession for safe keeping +until it is needed; when that will be, no one can say; - it may be +sooner than we think." + +A marked change had come over his manner since luncheon, and his +tones, even more than his words, made a deep impression on the mind +of every one present. The shade of melancholy passed, however, and, +ringing the bell, Hugh Mainwaring ordered carriages for himself and +his guests for the afternoon and departed, leaving his secretary +to attend to some private work in the library. Harry Scott's manner, +upon finding himself alone within the private rooms of Hugh +Mainwaring, betrayed intense excitement. He pushed his work +impatiently from him and, rising, began to walk swiftly, though +noiselessly, back and forth, the entire length of the two apartments. +Twice he paused before the large desk, and taking therefrom the will, +already familiar to him, read its contents with burning eyes while +his face alternately flushed and paled. Then folding and replacing +the document, he turned towards the safe, muttering,- + +"It is no use. I have searched there once before and could find +nothing." + +Suddenly he exclaimed, "No one knows what may happen; this may be my +last opportunity! I will search once more and leave not a corner +unexplored." + +Having locked the library, he returned to the safe. He knew the +combination, and soon the great doors swung open, revealing the +contents arranged with the precision for which Mr. Mainwaring was +noted in his business habits. Conscious that he had abundance of +time for the work he had undertaken and that he was secure from +interruption, he began a careful and methodical search through all +the compartments. Various private documents were examined and then +replaced in exactly their original position, but all seemed of no +avail. He discovered no trace of that which he hoped to find. + +At last he came to a metallic box, which he surmised, from its +weight and general appearance, contained the old family jewels. +Should he open that? A moment's thought decided the question; he +would leave nothing unexplored. Further search revealed the key +concealed in a tiny drawer. He applied it to the lock; the cover +flew backward, and a dazzling light flashed into his face as a ray +of sunlight fell across his shoulder upon the superb gems, gleaming +and scintillating from the depths of their hiding-place. But he +paid little heed to them, for, in a long and narrow receptacle within +one side of the box, his keen eye had discovered a paper, yellow and +musty with age, the sight of which thrilled him with hope. He +quickly drew it forth, and a single glance at its title assured him +it was indeed the object of his search. With a low cry of joy, he +locked and replaced the metallic box, and, opening the ancient +document, he eagerly scanned its contents, an expression of intense +satisfaction overspreading his features. + +He was still perusing the paper when he heard footsteps approaching +the library through the long corridor, followed an instant later by a +knock. Depositing the precious document safely within an inside +pocket, he swung the doors of the safe together, turning the handle +so as to lock it securely, and, crossing the library, unlocked and +opened the door. + +The butler was standing there, and, handing Scott a card, said, +briefly, + +"A gentleman on private business; must see Mr. Mainwaring or his +secretary at once." + +Scott glanced at the card: it bore the name of "J. Henry Carruthers," +with a London address, and underneath had been hastily pencilled +the word "Important." + +"Show the gentleman up," he said. The butler bowed and was gone, +and in an incredibly short time, while yet Scott's pulse throbbed +wildly from his recent discovery, the stranger entered the room. + +He was a little above the average height, with a somewhat commanding +presence, rather pale face, dark moustache, and black curling hair. +He wore dark glasses, and was dressed in a tweed suit, slightly +travel-worn, but his manners were those of a gentleman. + +"Mr. Scott, I believe," he said, addressing the secretary. + +"That is my name, sir; please be seated. What can I do for you, Mr. +Carruthers?" + +"Will you inform me, Mr. Scott, of the earliest hour at which I can +see Mr. Mainwaring? I called at his city office and was directed +here; but the butler states that Mr. Mainwaring is away from home, and +is unable to say when he will return, or how soon he would be at +liberty to see me." + +"Mr. Mainwaring will probably return about five o'clock; but it is +rather difficult for me to state when you could see him, as he is +entertaining a number of guests, and it is doubtful if he would care +to attend to any business just at this time, unless it were of special +importance." + +"My business with Mr. Mainwaring is of special importance," replied +the other; "and I would be very glad if he could give me a little +time to-morrow." + +"Perhaps, if you would give me some intimation of its nature," +Scott suggested, "Mr. Mainwaring might consent to make an appointment +for the following day. I hardly think he would see you sooner. +To-morrow is his birthday, and, as it is to be celebrated by him and +his guests, it is doubtful whether he would attend to any business +on that day." + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Carruthers, rising, while Scott was conscious of +a peculiar scrutiny fixed upon himself from behind those dark glasses; +"it had escaped my mind, but now I recall that Mr. Mainwaring is to +celebrate his birthday by making his young English cousin and namesake +his heir. I certainly would not intrude at a time so inopportune." + +The secretary started. "I was not aware that Mr. Mainwaring's +intentions were generally known," he remarked. + +"Perhaps not," replied the other, in a peculiar tone. "I merely +heard it mentioned, and all parties have my congratulations and best +wishes. Kindly say to Mr. Mainwaring that when the happy event is +over I hope he will give me his earliest consideration. My address +for the present will be the Arlington House.. Do not take the +trouble to ring, I can find my way." + +"You will find this way much shorter, sir," Scott replied, opening +the door into the southern hall. Mr. Carruthers thanked him and, +with a profound bow, took his departure. + +As the hour was late, Scott found it necessary to devote himself at +once to his work, and he had but just completed it when the sound +of wheels was heard outside, and a few moments later his employer +entered the room. + +The latter studied Mr. Carruthers's card quite attentively, and +frowned upon learning that his intentions regarding the making of +his will had become known by outsiders, but he soon seemed to forget +the occurrence. Soon all were gathered about the dinner-table, and +the evening passed very pleasantly. + +When, at a late hour, Hugh Mainwaring, in the dimly-lighted veranda, +bade his guests good-night, he grasped the hand of his namesake and +said, in a tone remarkably tender,- + +"Hugh, my boy, the distance is long between the twenty-first and the +fiftieth mile-stones on the journey of life. Heaven grant, when you +shall have reached the latter, you may look back over a brighter +pathway than I do to-night!" + +Then, as the young man passed, he murmured to himself "If I could +but have had just such a son as he!" + +He did not see, though there was one who did, a woman's form glide +away in the dim light, her eyes gleaming with malignant fire. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A TERRIBLE AWAKENING + + +For some time after his guests had retired, Hugh Mainwaring remained +outside, walking up and down in the starlight, apparently absorbed +in thought. When at length he passed into the house, he met his +secretary coming out for a solitary smoke. + +"Come to my library, Mr. Scott, before you retire for the night," +said Mr. Mainwaring. + +"At once, sir, if you wish," the secretary replied. + +"No, there is no hurry; any time within an hour," and he passed +up-stairs. + +Half an hour later Harry Scott passed down the corridor towards the +library, but paused on hearing an angry voice within, which he at +once recognized as Mrs. LaGrange's. + +"Where would you be to-night?" she cried, "where would you have been +all these years, if I had but exposed your dishonesty and duplicity? +You defrauded your only brother during his lifetime; you have +persistently ignored your son, your own flesh and blood; and now you +would rob him, not only of his father's name, but of his father's +fortune, - cast him off with a mere pittance, - and put this stranger +in the place which is rightfully his, and wish that you had been +given such a son as he! You are in my power, and you know it only +too well; and I will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family +rue this day's work." + +Hugh Mainwaring's reply to this tirade was inaudible, and Scott, +feeling that he already had heard too much, withdrew, and continued +walking up and down the halls until the library door opened and Mrs. +LaGrange came out. She swept past him in a towering rage, seeming +scarcely aware of his presence until, as he passed down the corridor +and entered the library, he was suddenly conscious that she had +turned and was watching him. + +He found Mr. Mainwaring looking pale and fatigued. + +"I will detain you but a moment, Mr. Scott," he said, speaking +wearily; "I have a few instructions I would like you to carry out +early in the morning; and I also want to say that I wish you to +consider yourself as one of my guests to-morrow, and join with us +in the festivities of the occasion." + +Scott thanked his employer courteously, though there might have been +detected a shade of reserve in his manner, and, after receiving +brief directions for the following day, withdrew. + +He went to his room, but not to sleep. His mind was too full of +the events of the day just passed, as well as of the expected events +of the morrow. His thoughts reverted to his discovery of the +afternoon, and, taking the shabby document from his pocket, he read +and re-read it carefully, his features betraying deep emotion. What +should be done with it? Should he let his employer know at once of +the proof which he now held against him? Or should he hold it for a +few days and await developments? + +It was nearly three o'clock when he was aroused from his abstraction +by a slight sound, as of stealthy footsteps in the rear of the house. +He listened intently for a moment, but hearing nothing further and +discovering the lateness of the hour, he hastily extinguished the +light and, too exhausted and weary to undress, threw himself as he +was upon a couch and was soon sleeping heavily. + +The sun was shining brightly into his room, when Harry Scott was +awakened the next morning by a woman's scream, followed by cries and +sobs and a confused sound of running to and fro. Almost before he +could collect his thoughts, he heard steps approaching his room, +and, rising, hastily exchanged the smoking-jacket in which he had +slept for a coat. He had barely time to make the change when there +was a loud knock, and some one called his name in quick, sharp tones. + +Opening the door, he saw Mr. Whitney standing before him, while in +the background servants were running in different directions, +wringing their bands and moaning and crying hysterically. + +"Mr. Scott," said the attorney, in tones trembling with excitement, +"come to the tower-room at once. Mr. Mainwaring has been murdered!" + +"Mr. Mainwaring murdered!" he exclaimed, reeling for an instant as +if from a blow. "Great heavens! it cannot be possible!" + +"It is terrible, but a fact, nevertheless," replied Mr. Whitney; +"he was murdered last night in his private rooms." + +"How and when was it discovered?" Scott inquired, his mind still +dazed by the wild torrent of thought surging through his brain as +he recalled the events of the previous night. + +"Hardy, his valet, was the first to discover it this morning. We +have telephoned for his physician and for the coroner; they will be +out on the next train from the city." + +Harry Scott shuddered as he entered the familiar room where he had +taken leave of his employer but comparatively few hours before. +Even amid the confusion, he noted that in the outer room everything +appeared the same as when he last saw it, but the portieres at the +farther side, pushed widely open, revealed a ghastly sight. + +Upon the floor, about half-way between the desk and safe, his head +resting in a small pool of blood, lay Hugh Mainwaring. He was +inclined slightly towards his right side, his arm partially extended, +and on the floor, near his right hand, lay a revolver, while an ugly +wound just above the right eye and near the temple showed where the +weapon had done its deadly work. The closely cut hair about the +temple was singed and his face was blackened, showing that the fatal +shot had been fired at close range. There were no indications, +however, of a struggle of any kind; the great revolving-chair, +usually standing in front of the desk, had been pushed aside, but +everything else was in its accustomed place, and the desk was closed +and locked. + +Ralph Mainwaring was already kneeling beside the body; Mr. Thornton +and young Mainwaring, who had entered immediately after Scott and +the attorney, stood speechless with horror. With what conflicting +emotions the young secretary gazed upon the lifeless form of his +employer, fortunately for him at that moment, no one knew; as his +mind cleared, he began to realize that his position was likely to +prove a difficult and dangerous one, and that he must act with +extreme caution. + +The silence was first broken by Mr. Thornton, who exclaimed,- + +"Terrible! Terrible! What do you think, Mainwaring? is this murder +or suicide?" + +"Time alone will tell," replied Mr. Mainwaring in a low tone; "but I +am inclined to think it is murder." + +"Murder without a doubt!" added Mr. Whitney. + +"But who could have done such a deed?" groaned Mr. Thornton. + +Hugh Mainwaring was attired, as when Scott had last seen him, in a +rich dressing-gown; but as the secretary knelt beside the silent +form and touched the left hand lying partially hidden in its folds, +he gave a slight start, and, quickly passing his hand within the +dressing-gown, announced in a low tone,- + +"His diamond ring and his watch are both gone!" + +"Robbery!" exclaimed young Mainwaring; "that must have been the +object of the murderer!" While his father, glancing towards the +safe, remarked,- + +"We must ascertain whether anything else is missing." + +"We will make a thorough examination of the room after the coroner's +arrival," said Mr. Whitney, "but, for the present, everything must +remain as it is." + +"Should we not send for a detective at once?" Mr. Thornton inquired. + +"I have already telephoned for one upon my own responsibility," +replied the attorney. + +"When were you last in these rooms, Mr. Scott?" asked Ralph +Mainwaring of the secretary, who had risen to his feet and was making +a careful survey of the room. + +"About twelve o'clock last night, sir," was his reply; then noting a +look of surprise on the faces about him, he added,- + +"I came at Mr. Mainwaring's request, as he wished to give directions +regarding some work to be done this morning." + +"He was alone at that time?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"How did he appear?" inquired Mr. Thornton. + +"The same as usual, except that he seemed very weary." + +"Was he in this room?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"No, sir; he was seated in the library." + +The sound of voices in the corridor attracted Mr. Mainwaring's +attention, and he turned quickly to his son, - + +"Hugh, I hear your mother's voice; go and meet her. The ladies must +not be allowed to come in here." + +Mr. Thornton turned to accompany young Mainwaring. Near the door he +met his daughter and Miss Carleton, while a little farther down the +corridor were Isabel Mainwaring and her mother. With terror-stricken +faces they gathered about him, unable to believe the terrible report +which they had learned from the servants. As best he could, he +answered their numerous inquiries, and, having escorted them to +another part of the house, left them in charge of young Mainwaring, +while he returned to the library. + +Meanwhile, the news of the murder had spread with lightning-like +rapidity, and already crowds of people, drawn by that strange +fascination which always exists for a certain class in scenes of +this kind, were gathering on the grounds outside the house, forming +in little groups, conversing with the servants, or gazing upward +with awe-stricken glances at the closely-drawn shutters of the room +in the tower. The invisible barriers which so long had excluded +the public from Fair Oaks had been swept away by the hand of death, +and rich and poor, capitalist and laborer, alike wandered +unrestrained up and down the oak-lined avenue. + +At the door of the library, Mr. Thornton found Ralph Mainwaring and +the attorney conversing together in low tones. + +"Yes," Mr. Mainwaring was saying, "as you say, it is undoubtedly +murder; but I confess I am at a loss to understand the motive for +such a deed, unless it were robbery; and you do not seem to give +that idea much credence?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head decidedly. "Unless we find very strong +evidence in that direction, I cannot believe that this is any case +of common robbery." + +"But to what other motive would you attribute it?" inquired Mr. +Mainwaring. + +"Until further facts have been developed which may throw light upon +the subject, I do not feel prepared to say what the motive might +have been." + +"You evidently have your suspicions," remarked Mr. Mainwaring, while +Mr. Thornton inquired,- + +"Had our cousin any enemies that you know of?" + +Mr. Whitney turned a keen, penetrating glance upon Mr. Thornton for +an instant, and the latter continued,- + +"I thought it possible that in his business relations he might have +incurred the enmity of some one of whom you knew." + +"No," the attorney answered, quickly, "I am not aware of anything +of that nature. Mr. Mainwaring made few intimate friends, but he +was universally respected by all who knew him. If he had any +enemies," he added, very slowly, "they were within his own +household." + +Ralph Mainwaring looked sharply at the attorney, but +Mr. Thornton exclaimed,- + +"'Egad! sir, but you surely do not think this deed was committed by +any one of the inmates of this house?" + +"As I have already said," replied Mr. Whitney, "I am not prepared +to state what I do think without further knowledge of the facts in +the case." + +"Of course we understand that," rejoined Mr. Mainwaring; "but we +desire to have the benefit of your opinions and judgment regarding +this case so soon as you do feel justified in expressing them, and, +since you are vastly more familiar with the circumstances +surrounding it than we, we wish to rely on your suggestions in +this matter," + +The attorney bowed. "My advice for the present would be to take +care that no one leaves the premises, and that you also send for +Mrs. LaGrange; I wish to see her," he said briefly, and passed +into the library. + +Ralph Mainwaring beckoned to the butler; who was standing at a +little distance, awaiting orders. + +"Call the housekeeper at once, Mr. Whitney wishes to see her in the +library; and send Wilson to me, and also the coachman." + +With a silent acknowledgment of the order the butler withdrew, and +a moment later, John Wilson, a middle-aged man and a servant of Ralph +Mainwaring's who had accompanied him from London, appeared, followed +by Brown, the coachman at Fair Oaks. + +Mr. Mainwaring first addressed the latter. "Brown, for the next +hour or so, I wish you to be stationed in the hall below. Keep back +the crowd as much as possible; when the coroner and physician arrive +show them up at once, but on no account allow any one else to come +up-stairs." + +Then turning to his own serving-man, as Brown departed to the duties +assigned him, Mr. Mainwaring continued, + +"'For you, Wilson, I have a task which I cannot intrust to any one +else, but which I know you will perform faithfully and discreetly; +so far as you are able, keep a close watch upon every one within +this house, without seeming to do so; pay close attention to all +conversation which you hear, and if you hear or see anything unusual, +or that seems to have any bearing on what has occurred, report to +me at once. Above all, do not let any of the servants leave the +premises without they have my permission." + +"Very well, sir," Wilson replied; as he moved away the butler +reappeared. + +"The housekeeper has not yet left her room, sir," he said, addressing +Mr. Mainwaring. "I gave the message by the chambermaid, and she +sent word that she had been prostrated by the terrible news this +morning, sir, but that she would see Mr. Whitney in a few moments." + +As the man retreated, Mr. Thornton paused suddenly in his walk up +and down the corridor,- + +"'Pon my soul, Mainwaring! it strikes me - particularly since hearing +that will read yesterday - that there must have been something with +reference to that woman - well - rather peculiar, don't you know." + +"It strikes me," replied Mr. Mainwaring with marked emphasis, "that +there may be something rather 'peculiar,' as you call it, in that +direction at present, and I believe Mr. Whitney is of the same +opinion." + +"How is that? You surely do not think it possible that in his mind +she is in any way associated with this murder - if it is a murder?" + +"He evidently suspects some one in this house, and for the present +we can draw our own inferences. Regarding those provisions in the +will to which you just now alluded, I can assure you I was not too +well pleased; but I knew it was useless to raise any objections or +questions; to my mind, however, they furnish a clue as to the +possible claimants against the estate, which we were discussing +yesterday, and perhaps a clue to this latest development, also." + +"By my soul! it looks like it; but surely she could have no valid +claim." + +"Valid or not," replied Ralph Mainwaring, "there must have been a +powerful claim of some kind. When a man of Hugh Mainwaring's +type leaves a handsome annuity to his housekeeper, and an interest +in his business worth fifty or seventy-five thousand to her son, +it may be considered pretty strong evidence that - " + +At a warning glance from Mr. Thornton, Ralph Mainwaring paused +abruptly and, turning, saw Mrs. LaGrange coming noiselessly down +the corridor. She was dressed with even more than usual care, +with quantities of rich lace fastened loosely about her shapely +neck and falling in profusion over her beautifully moulded wrists +and hands. Her dark, handsome features bore no trace of recent +prostration, but betrayed, instead, signs of intense excitement. +She bowed silently and passed onward, entering the library so +quietly that the attorney, absorbed in thought, was unaware of her +presence until she stood before him. He started slightly, and for +an instant neither spoke. Each was silently gauging the power of +the other. + +For some time, Mrs. LaGrange had been conscious that Mr. Whitney +was one of the few whose penetration could not be blinded by her +blandishments. In addition, the fact that he was the private +solicitor and legal adviser of Hugh Mainwaring did not tend to +inspire her with confidence regarding his attitude towards herself. +Nevertheless, he was an eminent attorney and this was a critical +moment; if she could gain his favor and his services in her behalf, +it would be a brilliant stroke of policy. Her plans were well laid, +and she was prepared to assume whatever role was necessary, so soon +as his words or manner should give her the desired cue. + +For this, she did not have long to wait; one searching glance, and +she had read in the piercing scrutiny and cold scorn of his keen +blue eye that, so far from winning favor from him, he would prove +her most bitter opponent, and as quickly she determined upon her +future course of action. + +Mr. Whitney, on the other hand, though a frequent visitor at Fair +Oaks, and familiar with the fascinating manner with which, when she +chose, Mrs. LaGrange entertained the guests of Hugh Mainwaring, was +now forced to acknowledge to himself that never had he seen this +handsome woman so beautiful as at the present moment. The eyes +looking into his with such depth of meaning, - the expression, the +attitude, - all were utterly unlike anything which he had ever seen; +but his face grew only the more stern, for the thought then and +there occurred to him that perhaps here was the solution of the +mysterious power which this woman had wielded over the man whose +lifeless form was now lying in their presence. + +He observed that the luminous eyes grew suddenly cold, while her +head assumed its usual haughty poise; the brief spell was over, and +each understood the other. + +After a few general directions, Mr. Whitney remarked, "This day's +events will be far different from what we had anticipated." + +"Yes," she replied, with a mocking smile, "in that it brings to the +guests of this house, instead of future expectations, the immediate +realization of their wishes!" + +"It is not to be conceived for one moment that any of them take that +view of what has occurred," he replied, in a tone of displeasure. + +"Possibly not," she rejoined, "although the prospective long life +of their host seemed to greatly detract, at least in the case of one +of their number, from their enjoyment of the occasion which they had +come to celebrate." + +"To whom do you refer?" he inquired. + +"It is unnecessary to give names," she answered, coldly; "but had +the Mainwarings of London known the facts which I know, they would +never have crossed the water to take part in the farce which was +enacted here yesterday. There are Mainwarings with better right +and title to this estate than they, as they will soon learn." + +Neither by look nor gesture did she manifest the least consciousness +of, or concern for, the inanimate form visible in the adjoining room. +With sudden directness, and ignoring the implied threat in her last +words, Mr. Whitney asked,- + +"Mrs. LaGrange, at what hour did you last see Hugh Mainwaring?" + +She was about to reply, when Scott entered from the tower-room. He +had heard her last remark, and his dark, piercing eyes were fixed +upon her face in keen scrutiny. She was quick to note the fact and +hesitated an instant, while a change, inexplicable to the attorney, +passed over her face, - surprise, a shade almost of fear, and +haughty defiance were visible in quick succession; then, turning +again towards Mr. Whitney, she answered, indifferently,- + +"It was quite late last night; I do not recollect the hour." + +As the attorney was about to speak, Mr. Thornton appeared at the +door of the library. + +"Beg pardon, Mr. Whitney, but I believe the coroner and others have +arrived; as you know the gentlemen, will you kindly meet them?" + +"Certainly. Mr. Scott, you will please remain here," and the +attorney hastened out into the corridor. + +Again Mrs. LaGrange and the secretary faced each other in silence, +each apparently trying to read the other's thoughts and probe the +depth of the other's knowledge; then, as the gentlemen were heard +approaching, she withdrew, leaving him alone. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES + + +As the attorney, in response to the summons from Mr. Thornton, +hastened from the corridor into the main hall, five gentlemen were +slowly ascending the broad stairway, conversing together in subdued +tones. One, younger than the others and evidently more familiar +with the surroundings at Fair Oaks, stepped quickly in advance of +the rest and extended his hand to Mr. Whitney in silent greeting. +This was Dr. Hobart, Hugh Mainwaring's physician and one of his most +intimate friends, although a number of years his junior. Following +him were Mr. Elliott and Mr. Chittenden, of the firm of Mainwaring +& Co., while bringing up the rear were the coroner and a gentleman, +somewhat below medium size and of modest appearance, whom the +attorney greeted very cordially and afterwards introduced to Mr. +Thornton as Mr. Merrick. Proceeding at once to the library, they +were joined a moment later by Ralph Mainwaring and his son. The +necessary introductions followed, and Mr. Mainwaring having given +the butler instructions to admit no one into the library, Mr. Whitney +made a brief statement regarding the discovery of the murder, and +all passed into the room in the tower. + +Dr. Hobart at once bent over the prostrate form with genuine sorrow. +The millionaire broker had been one of his earliest patrons, and +their acquaintance had soon ripened into a mutual attachment, +notwithstanding the disparity in their ages. After a long look at +the face of his friend, he gave place to the coroner, who was also +a physician. They partially lifted the body and both examined the +wound, the small man who had accompanied the coroner looking on +silently. It was found that the bullet had entered just above the +right eye and had passed through the brain in a slightly downward +direction, coming out near the base upon the same side. The most +careful search failed to disclose the bullet, and attention was +next directed to the revolver lying upon the floor near the right +hand. It was a Smith & Wesson, thirty-two calibre, with but one +empty chamber, that from which the fatal bullet had probably +been discharged. + +"Can any of you gentlemen tell me whether or not this belonged to +the deceased?" inquired the coroner, holding up the revolver. + +There was an instant's pause, and Mr. Whitney replied, "I know +that Mr. Mainwaring owned a revolver, but, having never seen it, +am unable to answer your inquiry. Perhaps his secretary could +give you the desired information." + +"I have often seen a revolver lying in Mr. Mainwaring's desk," +said the secretary; "but I doubt whether I could identify it, as +I never observed it closely. I should judge, however, that this +was the same size and make." + +"Would it not be well to see if it is still there?" suggested +the attorney. "I suppose you have a key to the desk." + +"I have, sir," he replied, at the same time producing it. Crossing +the room, he unlocked and opened the desk. An instant later, he +announced, as he closed the desk, "It is not here." + +There was a subdued murmur, and Mr. Thornton was heard to exclaim, +"Suicide! That has been my impression all along." + +Ralph Mainwaring glanced inquiringly at the attorney, who shook +his head emphatically, while the coroner once more inspected the +wound with an air of perplexity. + +"Doctor," inquired Ralph Mainwaring, "in your opinion, how long has +life been extinct?" + +"I should judge about eight or nine hours," replied Dr. Hobart. +"What would you say, Dr. Westlake?" + +"That would be my judgment, also." + +"You would say that death was instantaneous?" questioned the +attorney. + +"Without a doubt. It could not have been otherwise?" Ralph +Mainwaring consulted his watch. "It is now half after nine; in your +judgment, then, this must have occurred about one o'clock this +morning?" + +"About that time." + +"At what hour was Mr. Mainwaring last seen by any one in this +house?" asked the coroner. + +"As nearly as we have ascertained thus far, at about twelve o'clock." + +"Twelve? Indeed! By whom? and where?" + +"By his private secretary, and in the library adjoining." + +"Very well," said the coroner, after a pause, during which he had +made a memorandum of certain details which he considered of special +importance; "the undertaker can now be summoned as I believe he is +waiting below, and we seem to have ascertained all the facts possible +in this direction; and, Mr. Whitney, I will next see the valet, whom +you say was the one to discover the situation this morning." + +In the slight confusion and delay which ensued, Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden took their departure, with the usual expressions of +condolence and regret, followed a few moments later by Dr. Hobart, +who was accompanied downstairs by young Mainwaring. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Merrick, having made a close scrutiny of the lifeless +form, had been slowly walking back and forth in the tower-room and +library, his hands in the pockets of his short sacque coat and his +eyes apparently riveted on the floor. Several times in the library +he paused and, bending downward, seemed to be intently studying the +carpet; then, after two or three turns about the room, he sauntered +towards the windows and doors, examining the fastenings of each in +turn, and, on reaching the door opening into the southern hall, +suddenly disappeared. + +"A very mysterious case!" commented the coroner, when he had finished +his interview with the valet. "Thus far nothing can be learned which +throws much actual light on the subject one way or another, but if +anybody can unravel the mystery, Merrick can." + +"Merrick!" repeated Mr. Thornton, turning to Mr. Whitney in surprise. +"Is Mr. Merrick a detective?" + +"He is. I did not introduce him as such, for the reason that in a +case of this kind he usually prefers to make his first visit incognito +if possible." + +"Very well; you have taken the responsibility in this matter. You +understand, of course, Mr. Whitney, that we want no amateur work in +a case like this." + +"Mr. Merrick is no amateur," said the attorney, quietly; "he is one +of the most trusted and one of the surest men on the force." + +"Before we go any farther," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, "I suggest +that we ascertain whether or not there has been a robbery. We can +at least satisfy ourselves on that point." + +"Acting on your suggestion, we will examine the safe," said Mr. +Whitney; "though I, for one, am not inclined to think there has been +any robbery. Without a knowledge of the combination, the safe could +not be opened unless force were employed; and it certainly bears no +evidence of having been tampered with." + +"Proceed with your investigation, Mr. Whitney," said the quiet voice +of the detective, who had entered unobserved from the smoking-room; +"unless I am greatly mistaken, the person we are after is some one +pretty familiar with various 'combinations' in these apartments." + +There was a general expression of surprise, and all turned towards +Mr. Merrick for an explanation, but a glance at his impassive face +convinced them that questions would be useless. + +With a few swift turns the secretary unlocked the safe and the +ponderous doors swung open, showing books and papers in their +accustomed places. Everything appeared in perfect order; but as the +attorney began a rapid examination of the interior, he suddenly +uttered a sharp exclamation, while, as he continued his search, his +manner betrayed considerable excitement. + +"Anything wrong, Mr. Whitney? anything missing?" queried Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"Everything is missing!" the other exclaimed, after a moment's pause, +turning around with a pale face and holding in his hand an empty +cash box; "there is absolutely nothing left but an old cheque-book, +a few drafts, and some other papers of no value whatever except to +Hugh Mainwaring himself!" + +Half a score of questions were instantly raised: "Was there a large +amount of money in the safe?" "Did it contain anything of great +value?" + +Scott, standing silently in the background, seemed to see +again the brilliant gems flashing in the sunlight, as he had +seen them in his search on the preceding day, but he said +nothing. + +"There was a considerable amount of cash," the attorney was saying. +"Mr. Mainwaring deposited a large sum there when he last came out +from the city, and," he added more slowly, "the old family jewels +were kept in the safe." + +"The Mainwaring jewels!" echoed both the Englishmen. "Impossible! +incredible!" While Ralph Mainwaring exclaimed, "Why, they were +worth a fortune several times over in themselves!" + +"I am aware of that," answered the attorney. "I often remonstrated +with Mr. Mainwaring, but to no purpose; for some reason which he +never explained he always kept them there." + +"I would never have believed him capable of such recklessness," said +Mr. Thornton. + +"Recklessness!" exclaimed Ralph Mainwaring; "it was the biggest +piece of imbecility I ever heard of! What is your opinion now, Mr. +Whitney, regarding a robbery in connection with this case?" + +"That there has been a robbery I am forced to admit," the attorney +replied, courteously but firmly; "but my opinion of the matter is +still unchanged. I regard the robbery as only incident to the +murder. I do not yet believe it to have led to the deeper crime." + +"Do you know, Mr. Scott, whether any one beside yourself understood +the combination of the safe?" Ralph Mainwaring inquired. + +"I do not, sir," the secretary replied, conscious that all eyes had +turned upon him at the inquiry and that the detective was observing +him closely. + +Meanwhile Ralph Mainwaring loudly lamented the missing jewels, until +it was evident to all that their loss, for the time at least, had +completely overshadowed all thought of the tragedy they were +investigating. + +"They must be recovered at all hazards and at any price," he said, +addressing the detective. "There were single gems in that +collection which cost a fortune and which have been heirlooms in +the family for generations." + +After further search which failed to disclose anything of importance, +or any clue regarding either the murder or the robbery, arrangements +were made for the inquest to be held at three o'clock that afternoon, +and the party was about to leave the apartments, when Mr. Whitney +paused. + +"One moment, gentlemen; there is one more point I would like +investigated. I maintain that we have not yet discovered the most +essential clue to this case - something to throw light on the +possible motive which prompted the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. I +now wish to make a final trial. Mr. Scott, will you once more open +Mr. Mainwaring's desk for us and take out the will that was deposited +there yesterday?" + +Ralph Mainwaring started. "The will? You surely do not think - " + +"I think it might be safer in our own possession," said the attorney, +with a peculiar smile. + +"And right you are!" added Mr. Thornton, approvingly. "I wonder you +had not thought of that yourself, Mainwaring." + +Meanwhile, Scott, having opened the desk in compliance with the +attorney's request, had looked for the will where he had last seen it +on the preceding day, and, failing to find it, was searching through +the numerous receptacles containing Mr. Mainwaring's private papers. +The silence around him became oppressive, and suddenly looking up, +he encountered the glance of both Mr. Whitney and the detective, the +former with an expression of triumph in his keen eyes. Perplexed and +bewildered, Scott exclaimed in a mechanical tone,- + +"The will is gone; it is nowhere to be found!" + +"I thought as much," said the attorney, quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE INQUEST + + +The crowd, which early in the day had gathered about Fair Oaks, +instead of diminishing, seemed rather to increase as the hours +slipped away. Little by little the facts became known to outsiders, + - the loss of the old family jewels, concerning whose existence +and probable value vague rumors had been circulated in the past, the +drawing up of the will on the preceding day and its strange +disappearance in connection with the sudden and mysterious death of +the testator,-all combined to arouse public interest and curiosity +to an unusual degree; it seemed the culmination of the impenetrable +mystery which for years had shrouded the place. + +As the hour for the inquest approached, the crowd was augmented by +each suburban train, until a throng of business men of all classes, +interspersed with numerous reporters eager for the details of the +affair, covered the grounds and even sought admittance to the house, +for the millionaire broker, though a man of few intimate friendships, +was widely known and honored in the financial and commercial world. + +Shortly after the arrival of the 2.45 train from the city, the +Mainwaring carriage came rapidly up the avenue, two or three other +carriages following in the rear. As it stopped, Mr. Whitney +alighted, followed by an elderly gentleman of fine appearance and +two officers of the special police, who immediately began to force +back the crowd, while the attorney and his companion hastily entered +the house and were met by the butler, who, in response to a hurried +inquiry, directed them up-stairs. + +In the private library they found the detective who had been left +there alone at his own request. There was a brief interview between +the three, after which Mr. Whitney begged his companion to excuse +him for a moment, and beckoning Mr. Merrick into the tower-room, +asked eagerly,- + +"Well, what success? Have you struck the trail?" + +With an enigmatical smile, the detective replied, "The game has +doubled back on the trail pretty adroitly, but I have made one or +two little discoveries that may be of value later. What do you +think of this?" + +Opening a small note-book, he took therefrom several pieces of burnt +paper, most of which were so blackened that the faint traces of +writing which they bore were illegible. On a few pieces, however, +words and parts of words could be distinctly read. + +Mr. Whitney studied the bits of discolored paper for a moment, and +then exclaimed in excited tones, + +"Good heavens, man! it is the will! The will drawn up in these +rooms yesterday! See, here is the date, 'this seventh day of July, +in the year of our' - the rest is gone." + +"Here is part of a name," said the detective, "'nor Houghton +LaGra' - " + +"Eleanor Houghton LaGrange!" exclaimed the attorney, "and below +you can just trace the words, 'this amount of annuity to be'; and +here are other bits, 'as to my estate and all property,' 'to hold +the same forever, together with.' Well, I should say these were +of value; where did you find them?" + +For answer, Mr. Merrick pointed to a small fireplace behind the +safe, near which a large screen was standing. + +"Strange!" exclaimed the attorney. "I never noticed that before, +much as I have been here." + +"It escaped my observation for some time," replied the other. "I +searched the fireplace in the library, but this grate is very small +and was concealed by that large screen, as well as by the safe. +Evidently, it was seldom used, and was selected for that reason by +whoever destroyed the will, as more likely to escape notice." + +"Rather a bungling piece of work," commented the attorney, "leaving +these partially burned scraps. I wonder that he or she, whoever it +was, did not make sure that they were entirely consumed." + +"The person may have heard some sound and, fearing detection, +hastened away before the job was completed," suggested the other. + +"Well, it is past three, we must hasten; you found nothing more?" + +"Nothing of special importance. I have learned one fact, however; +the murder was never committed in this room, but in the library." + +"The library! Why do you think that?" + +"I do not think it, I know it, and was confident of it while we +were making the examination this morning. Say nothing about it, +however, for the present. We will go now, if you are ready." + +Joining the gentleman still awaiting them in the library, they +descended into the lower hall, where the detective suddenly +disappeared. + +Meanwhile, the coroner and members of the jury, after alighting +from their carriages, marched gravely up the broad stairs and were +conducted by a servant into one of the private apartments where lay +the body of the murdered man. Under the direction of Dr. Westlake, +the jury individually viewed the wounds, noting their location and +character, and, after a brief visit to the room in the tower, all +passed downstairs and were shown into the large library on the first +floor. + +The coroner occupied a large arm-chair at one end of a long +writing-table in the centre of the room, the jury being seated +together near his left, while on each side of the table chairs had +been placed for the accommodation of a few of the more prominent +reporters, the others, less favored, stationing themselves at the +doorways and open windows. + +In the room back of the library were the servants, the women grouped +about the great arched doorway with white, frightened faces, the men +standing a little farther in the rear, while in a dim corner, +partially concealed by the heavy portieres and unseen by any one +excepting the servants, was the detective. + +When everything was in readiness, Mr. Whitney entered the room with +the gentleman who had accompanied him out from the city and followed +by the London guests. In the lead were Ralph Mainwaring and his +son, the entrance of the latter causing a small stir of interest and +excitement, as a score of pencils at once began to rapidly sketch +the features of the young Englishman, the intended heir of Hugh +Mainwaring. The young man's face wore an expression of unconcern, +but his father's features were set and severe. To him, the loss of +the will meant something more than the forfeiture of the exclusive +ownership of a valuable estate; it meant the overthrow and demolition +of one of his pet schemes, cherished for twenty-one years, just on +the eve of its fulfilment; and those who knew Ralph Mainwaring knew +that to thwart his plans was a dangerous undertaking. + +Mr. Thornton followed, escorting Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, +the cold, gray eyes of Isabel Mainwaring flashing a look of haughty +disdain on the faces about her. Bringing up the rear was Mrs. Hogarth +with her two charges, Edith Thornton and Winifred Carleton, the face +of the latter lighted with an intelligent, sympathetic interest in +her surroundings. + +Harry Scott next entered, pausing in the doorway for an instant, +while just behind him appeared Mrs. LaGrange. The room was already +crowded, and Miss Carleton, seated near the door, with a quick +glance invited the young secretary to a vacant chair by her side, +which he gracefully accepted, but not before a tiny note had been +thrust into his hand, unseen by any one excepting the detective. + +Pale, but with all her accustomed hauteur, Mrs. LaGrange, +accompanied by her son, passed slowly around the group of reporters, +ignoring the chair offered by the attorney, and seated herself in a +position as remote as possible from the guests of the house and +commanding a full view of the servants. Her gown was noticeable +for its elegance, and her jewelled hands toyed daintily with a +superb fan, from whose waving black plumes a perfume, subtle and +exquisite, was wafted to every part of the room. + +In the silence that followed, the coroner, with a few brief words, +called for the first witness, George Hardy. A young man, with a +frank face and quiet, unassuming manner, stepped forward from the +group of servants. After the usual preliminaries, the coroner +inquired,- + +"How long have you been in the employ of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Nearly four years, sir." + +"During that time you have held the position of valet?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"At what time this morning did you discover what had occurred?" + +"About seven o'clock, sir." + +"You may state how you came to make this discovery, giving full +particulars." + +"I had gone as usual to the bath-room to prepare the bath for Mr. +Mainwaring, and when everything was in readiness I knocked at his +door to waken him. There was no answer, and, after knocking several +times, I unlocked the door and looked in. I saw he had not occupied +the room, but I didn't think much about that, and went on through +the smoking-room into the library, and then I saw Mr. Mainwaring +lying on the floor in the next room. At first I thought he was sick +and went to him, but as I got nearer I saw that he was dead, and +then I noticed the revolver lying beside him." + +"What did you then do?" + +"I was frightened, sir, and I went to call help as quick as I could." + +"Who was the first person whom you met and told of your discovery?" + +"Well, sir, I went first for Mr. Whitney, because he was a friend +of Mr. Mainwaring's and a lawyer, and I thought he would know what +to do; but on my way to his room I met Wilson, Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's +valet, and I told him what had happened; then I called Mr. Whitney +and told him Mr. Mainwaring had shot himself." + +"Did you get the impression that Mr. Mainwaring bad shot himself +from the fact that the revolver lay near his band, or had you any +other reasons for that inference?" + +"No, sir, that was the only reason." + +"Can you state positively whether this revolver belonged to Mr. +Mainwaring?" asked the coroner, at the same time passing the weapon +to Hardy. + +"Yes, sir," replied the latter, promptly, handing it back after a +moment's inspection, "that is Mr. Mainwaring's revolver. I've +cleaned it many a time, and there's little marks on it that I know +sure." + +"Very well. After summoning Mr. Whitney, did you call any other +members of the household?" + +"Mr. Whitney sent me to call Mr. Ralph Mainwaring; but I met Wilson +again, and he said he had just told Mr. Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, +and was on his way to the room of young Mr. Mainwaring. Down the +hall I met the butler and told him what had happened, and we both +went into the library, and I stayed there till Mr. Whitney came." + +"When did you last see Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Shortly after dinner last evening, between seven and eight o'clock, +I should say, sir." + +"Where was that?" + +"In the main hall down-stairs, sir. He stopped me to say that he +would not need me last evening, and that after locking up his rooms +for the night I could have my time to myself." + +"Was the locking of his rooms usually included among your duties at +night?" + +"Yes, sir; his private rooms and the hall on the south side." + +"Did you have any stated time for doing this?" + +"At nine o'clock, sir." + +"You locked the rooms as usual last night?" + +"Yes, sir; that is, I locked them all right, but it was later than +usual." + +"How was that?" + +"About half an hour after Mr. Mainwaring spoke to me, the housekeeper +came and asked me to keep the rooms open till about ten o'clock, as +she was expecting callers and wanted to receive them by the south +hall into her private parlor." + +"At what time did you lock the rooms?" + +"A few minutes after ten, sir. I felt kind of uneasy, because it +was Mr. Mainwaring's orders that the rooms be shut at nine; so soon +as 'twas ten o'clock I went around outside, and, seeing no light in +her parlor, I went in and locked the hall and then went up-stairs +to lock the rooms there." + +"Did you see any strangers about the place at that time?" + +"No, sir." + +"You saw no one in any of Mr. Mainwaring's private rooms?" + +"No strangers, you mean? No, sir." + +"Was there any one in his rooms?" + +"The housekeeper was in the library. She had gone up-stairs that +way, she said, and had found the door into the main hall locked, +and hearing me come, she waited for me to open it." + +"Had you locked the door into the main hall?" + +"No, sir; that door wasn't usually locked in the evening. I don't +know who locked it, but I opened it for her and then locked it +again." + +"Are you positive there was no one else in those rooms at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, pretty sure," replied Hardy, with a smile, "for I looked +them over uncommon thorough last night. I thought at first that I +smelled smoke, like something burning, but I looked around careful +and everything was all right." + +At this point Mr. Whitney held a whispered consultation with the +coroner for a moment. + +"You say," continued the latter, "you thought you smelled something +burning; could you state what the material seemed to be?" + +"Well, sir, I thought it was like paper burning; but I must have +been mistaken, for the papers on the table was all right and there +was nothing in the fireplace." + +"Did you see or hear anything unusual about the place at any time +last night?" + +"No, sir." + +For a moment the coroner was occupied with a slip of paper which +had been passed to him through a number of hands; then he said,- + +"Before you are dismissed, will you describe the locks used on the +doors of Mr. Mainwaring's library and the south hall." + +"They had the ordinary locks, sir; and then, in addition, a small, +patent lock, that when a certain spring was turned the door locked +of itself and could not be opened from either side unless one had +the key and understood the working of the spring." + +"Who had keys to fit these locks?" + +"No one but Mr. Mainwaring. When he was home and wanted the doors +unlocked, he hung the keys in a particular place in the library +where I could find them, and when he went away he always took them +with him." + +"Did you unlock the library doors this morning?" + +"Only the door into the main hall when I went to call Mr. Whitney, + - that had nothing but an ordinary lock; but the other door, into +the south hall, was unlocked and the keys gone when I first went +into the library." + +"One question more. Do you know whether any one else in the house +had knowledge of or access to, these particular keys?" + +"I don't know for certain, sir, but I think not." + +The attorney was next called upon, and came forward, while Hardy +resumed his former place among the servants. + +"Mr. Whitney," said the coroner, after the witness had given the +details of his arrival in the tower-room in response to the valet's +summons, "will you please state when, and under what circumstances, +you last saw Hugh Mainwaring living." + +"At nearly eleven o'clock last night. Mr. Mainwaring had just +bidden his guests good-night, and I believe they had all retired to +their rooms, leaving him and myself together upon the veranda in +front of the house. I remained with him about ten minutes, I should +judge, talking over the events of the day which had been of unusual +interest. I remember his remarking that he should not retire for an +hour or so, as, to use his own expression, his thoughts would not +let him sleep. We clasped hands with an exchange of good wishes. +That was the last I ever saw him living or heard him speak." + +Mr. Whitney's voice trembled slightly towards the close of his +recital, but as he repeated Hugh Mainwaring's words a smile of scorn +passed over the face of Mrs. LaGrange, who was seated directly +opposite. + +"Will you please state," said the coroner, "how Mr. Mainwaring had +been engaged during the day, yesterday." + +"Until about half-past two his time was spent in the preparation, +with the assistance of his secretary and myself, and the execution +of his last will and testament. The remainder of the day was devoted +to the entertainment of his guests." + +"Will you give briefly and in general terms the conditions of the +will." + +"With the exception of an annuity to his housekeeper and a handsome +bequest to her son, it conveyed everything to his cousin and +namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, Jr., whom he intended to-day to formally +declare his heir." + +"Where was this document placed, Mr. Whitney?" + +"It was, at Mr. Mainwaring's request, placed by his secretary on his +desk in the tower-room." + +"You can give no further information regarding this will, now +missing?" + +"Only this," replied Mr. Whitney, with marked emphasis, "that we +now have positive proof that the will was burned." + +There was a general movement of surprise, both among the members +of the household and outsiders; and the attorney, closely observant +of Mrs. LaGrange, saw her cheek, which but a moment before, at his +mention of the annuity contained in the will, had flamed with anger, +suddenly assume a strange pallor. + +"Mr. Whitney," continued the coroner, having consulted a small +memorandum which he held, "do you know whether there were any +strangers at Fair Oaks yesterday?" + +"I have no personal knowledge on that subject. The secretary informs +me that a stranger inquired for Mr. Mainwaring in the afternoon, and +remarks were made at luncheon, that impressed me considerably, +regarding some one who had called in the forenoon, whether to see Mr. +Mainwaring I am not prepared to state." + +"Will you state the nature of those remarks?" + +"I should prefer to be excused until later in this examination. For +the present, I will merely say that one of Mr. Mainwaring's guests +incidentally met and recognized this caller; that the latter was +evidently well and unfavorably known by both Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests, and, if I am not mistaken, by the secretary also, and that +the mention of the man's name seemed to affect Mr. Hugh Mainwaring +very unpleasantly." + +"In what respect, Mr. Whitney?" + +"He grew very pale and appeared confused, if not alarmed, on +learning that the man was in this country and had been seen at this +house, and he seemed abstracted and very unlike himself for fully +an hour after the occurrence." + +"Will you state the name of this man?" + +"He was spoken of as Richard Hobson, formerly an attorney, of London." + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A LITTLE ROYAL + + +"Harry Scorr, private secretary of Hugh Mainwaring," announced the +coroner, when Mr. Whitney had resumed his chair. + +As the young secretary walked deliberately through the crowded room, +there were few who failed to remark his erect, athletic form, his +splendid bearing, and especially the striking beauty of his dark +face, with its olive tint, clear-cut features, indicative of firmness +and strength, and large, piercing eyes, within whose depths, on the +present occasion, there seemed to be, half hidden, half revealed, +some smouldering fire. Instantly a half-dozen pencils were +transferring to paper his form and features. + +"Say, what are you 'doing' him for?" whispered one reporter to his +neighbor. "He isn't anybody; only the old man's secretary." + +"Can't help that," replied the other; "he's better looking than the +English chap, anyhow; and, in my opinion, the old fellow would have +shown better sense to have left him the 'stuff.'" + +Meanwhile, young Scott, having answered a few preliminary +interrogatories, turned slowly, facing Mrs. LaGrange, who was +watching him with an intensity of manner and expression as though she +would compel him to meet her gaze. + +As his glance met hers, a look of inquiry flashed from her eyes to +his, accompanied by an expression persuasive, almost appealing. But +the only reply was an ominous flash from the dark eyes, as, with a +gesture of proud disdain, he folded his arms and again faced his +interlocutor, while, with eyes gleaming with revenge from under +their heavily drooping lids and lips that curled from time to time +in a smile of bitter malignity, she watched him, listening eagerly +for his testimony, losing no word that he said. + +The young secretary well understood the character of the enemy with +whom he had thus declared war, though he was as yet in ignorance of +the weapons she would use against him, but the honeyed words of the +little note crushed within his pocket had no power to swerve him for +an instant from the course upon which he had determined. + +After a few general questions, the coroner said, + +"Please state when and what was the first intimation received by you +of any unusual occurrence." + +"I was awakened this morning by a woman's scream and heard sounds of +confused running in different directions. A few moments later Mr. +Whitney came to my room and informed me of what had occurred, and I +then went with him to the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring." + +"You were associated with Mr. Mainwaring yesterday during the greater +part of the day and evening, were you not?" + +"I was during the day, but I did not see him after dinner until late +at night." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his appearance at any time +yesterday?" + +"He appeared rather depressed for about an hour after luncheon, +during the execution of the will." + +"Did you know any cause for such depression?" + +"I attributed it, in my own mind, to the conversation at luncheon, +to which Mr. Whitney has referred." + +"Regarding one Richard Hobson?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Do you know what, if any, relations existed between Mr. Mainwaring +and this Hobson?" + +The black plumes of Mrs. LaGrange's fan suddenly quivered, her cheek +paled, and her breath came and went quickly, but these were the only +signs of agitation which she betrayed, as Scott replied,- + +"I have no knowledge as to what relations existed between them of +late. I only know that Mr. Mainwaring had, years ago, some important +private business with this man." + +"Will you state the nature of this business?" + +"Without giving exact details," Scott replied, speaking deliberately +but with no hesitation, though conscious of the surprise and +indignation depicted on some of the faces about him, "this man was +employed as an attorney by Mr. Mainwaring before the latter came to +this country, and has since, at various times, extorted money from +him by threats of exposure regarding certain transactions." + +The silence that followed this statement was of itself eloquent. +The young secretary felt every eye fastened upon himself, and, +though his own eyes were fixed on the coroner's face, he saw +reflected even there the general expression of mingled astonishment, +incredulity, and resentment. Unmoved, however, he awaited, coolly +and impassively, the next words of the coroner. + +"Mr. Scott," said Dr. Westlake, a touch of severity in his tone, +"this is a serious assertion to make regarding a man so widely known +as Mr. Mainwaring, and so universally considered above reproach in +his business transactions." + +"I am aware of that fact, sir," replied Scott, calmly, "but reference +to the private letter-files of Mr. Mainwaring will prove the truth +of my assertion. I made this statement simply because the time and +place demanded it. You were endeavoring to ascertain the cause of +Mr. Mainwaring's perturbation on learning yesterday of the arrival +of Hobson. I have given what I consider the clue." + +"How recently had this man Hobson extorted money from Mr. Mainwaring, +and in what amount?" + +"The last money sent him was about three years ago, a sum of five +thousand dollars. Hobson wrote a most insolent letter of +acknowledgment, stating that, as this money would set him on his +feet for a time, he would not write again immediately, but assuring +Mr. Mainwaring that he would never be able to elude him, as the +writer would keep posted regarding his whereabouts, and might, some +time in the future, call upon him in person." + +"Can you describe this man's appearance?" + +"I cannot, having never met him." + +"Will you describe the stranger who is reported to have called in +the afternoon." + +"He was tall, quite pale, with dark hair and moustache. He was +dressed in a tweed suit, somewhat travel-worn, and wore dark +glasses." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"Only that he wished to see Mr. Mainwaring on business of special +importance. He at first seemed rather insistent, but, on learning +that Mr. Mainwaring was out and that he would receive no business +calls for a day or two, he readily consented to defer his interview +until later." + +"Did he leave his name or address?" + +"His card bore the name of J. Henry Carruthers, of London. He gave +his present address as the Arlington House." + +"You noticed nothing unusual in his appearance?" + +"The only thing that struck me as rather peculiar was that Mr. +Carruthers seemed well informed regarding events expected to take +place here, while his name was wholly unfamiliar to Mr. Mainwaring." + +At this point a pencilled note was handed by the coroner to Mr. +Whitney, who immediately summoned George Hardy and hastily +despatched him on some errand. + +"Mr. Scott," resumed the coroner, "were you in Mr. Mainwaring's +private library at any time during last evening?" + +"I was not. I spent the entire evening in my own room." + +"When did you again see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Not until after eleven o'clock. I had come down for a smoke in +the grounds outside and met Mr. Mainwaring in the lower hall on +the way to his rooms. He asked me to come to his library before +retiring, as he wished to give some final directions for the next +day. About half an hour later I went to the library door, but +hearing loud and angry talk within, I waited in the hall some +fifteen or twenty minutes until I knew Mr. Mainwaring was alone. +I then entered, received his instructions, and went directly to +my room for the night." + +"Were you able to recognize the voices or hear any of the +conversation?" + +"I was. I recognized the voice of the housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange; +but feeling that I was hearing what was not intended for me, I +walked back into the main hall and remained there until Mrs. +LaGrange came out." + +"You saw her leave the library?" + +"Yes, sir; I passed her in the corridor." + +"She saw you, of course?" + +"She seemed scarcely conscious of my presence until we had passed; +she then turned and watched me as I entered the library." + +"What was the nature of the conversation which you heard?" + +"I only heard what Mrs. LaGrange said. She evidently was very +angry with Mr. Mainwaring." + + +"Can you repeat her words as you heard them?" + +"Not entirely. She accused Mr. Mainwaring of dishonesty, saying +that he had defrauded his only brother, and had ignored and robbed +his own son to put a stranger in his place. The last words I heard +were, 'You are in my power, and you know it only too well; and I +will make you and your high-born, purse-proud family rue this day's +work.'" + +Harry Scott, with the proof of his employer's crimes in his +possession, repeated these words with an indifference and +impassiveness that seemed unnatural, while the smouldering fire in +his eyes gleamed fitfully, as though he knew some secret of which +the others little dreamed. + +But, if spoken indifferently, the words were not received with +indifference. The reporters bent to their task with renewed ardor, +since it promised developments so rich and racy. Ralph Mainwaring's +face was dark with suppressed wrath; Mr. Thornton seemed hardly +able to restrain himself; while the attorney grew pale with +excitement and anger. Mrs. LaGrange alone remained unmoved, as much +so as the witness himself, her eyes half closed and a cynical smile +playing about her lips as she listened to the repetition of her own +words. + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring make no reply?" inquired the coroner. + +"He did, but it was inaudible to me." + +"You went into the library as soon as he was alone?" + +"I did." + +"At what hour was this?" + +"A few minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the last time you saw Mr. Mainwaring living?" + +"It was." + +"Can you state whether any one was in his rooms after you left?" + +"I cannot." + +"Mr. Scott, by your own statement, you must have been in Mr. +Mainwaring's library within an hour preceding his death; +consequently, I would like you to give every detail of that +interview." + +"I am perfectly willing, sir, but there are few to give. The +interview occupied possibly ten minutes. Mr. Mainwaring appeared +very weary, and, after giving directions regarding any personal +mail or telegrams which might be received, stated that he wished +me to consider myself his guest on the following day and join in +the festivities of the occasion. I thanked him, and, wishing him +good-night, withdrew." + +"In which room were you?" + +"We were both in the library. When I first entered, Mr. Mainwaring +was walking back and forth, his hands folded behind him, as was +usually his habit when thinking deeply, but he immediately seated +himself and gave me my instructions. The tower-room was dimly +lighted and the curtains were drawn quite closely together at the +entrance." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound after reaching your room?" + +"Not at that time. I was aroused about three o'clock this morning +by what I thought was a stealthy step in the grounds in the rear of +the house, but I listened for a moment and heard nothing more." + +"That will do for the present, Mr. Scott. You will probably be +recalled later," said the coroner, watching the secretary rather +curiously. Then he added, in a different tone,- + +"The next witness is Mrs. LaGrange." + +There was a perceptible stir throughout the crowd as, with a +movement of inimitable grace, Mrs. LaGrange stepped forward, darting +a swift glance of such venomous hatred towards Scott, as he again +seated himself beside Miss Carleton, that the latter, with a woman's +quick intuition, instantly grasped the situation and watched the +proceedings with new interest and closer attention. As Mrs. LaGrange +took her place and began answering the questions addressed to her, +the eager listeners pressed still more closely in their efforts to +catch every word, feeling instinctively that some startling +developments would be forthcoming; but no one was prepared for the +shock that followed when, in response to the request to state her +full name, the reply came, in clear tones, with unequivocal +distinctness, - + +"Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring." + +For an instant an almost painful silence ensued, until Dr. Westlake +said,- + +"Will you state your relation to the deceased?" + +"I was the lawfully wedded, but unacknowledged, wife of Hugh +Mainwaring," was the calm reply. + +"Please state when and where your marriage took place," said the +coroner, watching the witness narrowly. + +"We were married privately in London, about three months before Mr. +Mainwaring came to this country." + +"How long ago was that?" + +"A little more than twenty-three years." + +"You say that you were privately married, and that in all these +years Mr. Mainwaring never acknowledged you as his wife?" + +"Yes. I was at that time a widow, and, owing to certain unpleasant +circumstances attending the last months of my former husband's life, +Mr. Mainwaring insisted that our marriage be strictly private. I +acceded to his wishes, and we were married as quietly as possible. +At the end of three months he deserted me, and for four years I did +not even know where he had gone. During that time, however, I +learned that my husband, who had been fearful of soiling his proud +name by having it publicly joined with mine, was, in the sight of +the law, a common criminal. I finally traced him to America, and +five years after he deserted me I had the pleasure of confronting +him with the facts which I had obtained. With passionate +protestations of renewed love and fair promises of an honorable +married life, he sought to purchase my silence, and, fool that I +was! I yielded. He claimed that he could not at once acknowledge +me as his wife, because he was already known as an unmarried man, +but in the near future we would repeat the marriage ceremony and I +should be the honored mistress of his heart and home. I believed +him and waited. Meantime, our child was born, and then a new role +had to be adopted. Had he not known that he was in my power, I +would then have been thrust out homeless with my babe, but he dared +not do that. Instead, I was brought to Fair Oaks dressed in widow's +garb, as a distant relative of his who was to be his housekeeper. +So, for my son's sake, hoping he would some day receive his rights, +I have lived a double life, regarded as a servant where I should +have been mistress, and holding that poor position only because it +was within my power to put the master of the house in a felon's +cell!" + +"Can you produce the certificate of this marriage?" inquired the +coroner, regarding the witness with a searching glance as she +paused in her recital. + +"Unfortunately," she replied, in a tone ringing with scorn and +defiance, "I cannot produce our marriage certificate, as my husband +kept that in his possession, and frequently threatened to destroy +it. If it is in existence, it will be found in his safe; but I can +produce a witness who was present at our marriage, and who himself +signed the certificate." + +"State the name of this witness." + +"Richard Hobson, of London." + +"You are then acquainted with this Hobson?" the coroner inquired, +at the same time making an entry in the memorandum he held. + +"Naturally, as he was at one time my husband's attorney." + +"He called at Fair Oaks yesterday, did he not?" + +"He did." + +"Do you know whether he called more than once?" + +"He came a second time, in the evening, accompanied by his clerk." + +"Was his object at either time to secure an interview with Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"He called to see me on private business." + +"Had he any intention of meeting Mr. Mainwaring later?" + +"I know nothing regarding his intentions." + +"Mrs. LaGrange," said the coroner, after a pause, "you were in Mr. +Mainwaring's library between the hours of eleven and twelve last +night, were you not?" + +Her face darkened with anger at his form of address. "I was in +my husband's library at that hour," she replied. + +"How long were you there?" + +"I cannot state exactly," she answered, indifferently; "perhaps +half an hour." + +"Did Mr. Scott repeat correctly your words to Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have no doubt that he did. His memory on the subject is much +better than mine." + +"What was the meaning of your threat to Mr. Mainwaring, that you +would make him and his friends regret the day's proceedings?" + +"He understood my meaning. He knew that I could set aside the +will, and could ruin him by exposing his duplicity and fraud." + +"What reply did he make?" + +"He answered me, as usual, with sneers; but I saw that he felt +somewhat apprehensive. I wished to give him a little time to +reflect upon a proposition I had made, and I left the library, +intending to return later; but," she added, slowly and +significantly, "I was superseded by another visitor." + +"Explain your meaning," said the coroner, briefly. + +"My husband's private secretary entered the library directly after +I left. Some thirty minutes later I passed down the corridor +towards the library, and was startled to hear Mr. Mainwaring, in +loud and excited tones, denouncing some one as a liar and an +impostor. The reply was low, in a voice trembling with rage, but +I caught the words, 'You are a liar and a thief! If you had your +deserts, you would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported +to the wilds of Australia!' There was much more in the same tone, +but so low I could not distinguish the words, and, thinking Mr. +Mainwaring was likely to be occupied for some time, I immediately +retired to my room." + +"Was the voice of the second speaker familiar to you?" inquired +Dr. Westlake, in the breathless silence that followed this statement. + +A half smile, both cunning and cruel, played around the lips of the +witness, as she answered, with peculiar emphasis and with a ring +of triumph in her tone,- + +"The voice was somewhat disguised, but it was distinctly recognizable +as that of Mr. Scott, the private secretary." + +To Scott himself, these words came with stunning force, not so much +for the accusation which they conveyed, as that her recital of those +words spoken within the library seemed but the repetition of words +which had rung in his brain the preceding night, as, alone in his +room, he had, in imagination, confronted his employer with the proof +of his guilt which that afternoon's search had brought to light. +His fancy had vividly portrayed the scene in which he would arraign +Hugh Mainwaring as a thief, and would himself, in turn, be denounced +as an impostor until he should have established his claims by the +indubitable evidence now in his possession. Such a scene bad in +reality been enacted, - those very words had been spoken, - and, +for an instant, it seemed to Scott as though he had been, +unconsciously, one of the actors. + +The general wonder and consternation with which he was now regarded +by the crowd quickly recalled him, however, to the present +situation, and awakened within him a sudden, fierce resentment, +though he remained outwardly calm. + +"At that time," continued the coroner, "were you of the opinion +that it was Mr. Scott whom you heard thus addressing Mr. +Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, I had every reason to believe it was he, and I have now +additional reasons for the same belief." + +"Are these additional reasons founded on your own personal +knowledge, or on the information of others?" + +"Upon information received from various members of the household." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott leave the library?" + +"I did not." + +"Can you state about what time you heard this conversation?" + +"I went immediately to my room, and there found that it lacked only +ten minutes of one." + +"Did you hear any unusual sound afterwards?" + +"I did not. I heard no one in the halls; and Mr. Mainwaring's +apartments were so remote from the general sleeping-rooms that no +sound from there, unless very loud, could have reached the other +occupants of the house." + +Further questions failed to develop any evidence of importance, and +the witness was temporarily dismissed. Glancing at his watch, the +coroner remarked, + +"It is nearly time to adjourn, but if Mr. Hardy has returned we +will first hear what he has to report." + +As the valet again came forward, Dr. Westlake asked, "Were you able +to learn anything concerning the strangers who were here yesterday?" + +"Not very much, sir," was the reply. "I went to the Arlington first +and inquired for Mr. J. Henry Carruthers, and they told me there +was no such person registered there; but they said a man answering +that description, tall and wearing dark glasses, came into the +hotel last evening and took dinner and sat for an hour or so in the +office reading the evening papers. He went out some time between +seven and eight o'clock, and they had seen nothing more of him." + +"Was Richard Hobson at the Arlington?" + +"No, sir; but I went to the Riverside, and found R. Hobson +registered there. They said he came in in the forenoon and ordered +a carriage for Fair Oaks. He came back to lunch, but kept his room +all the afternoon. He had a man with him in his room most of the +afternoon, but he took no meals there. After dinner Hobson went +out, and nobody knew when he came back; but he was there to +breakfast, and took the first train to the city. I made some +inquiries at the depot, and the agent said there was a tall man, +in a gray ulster and with dark glasses, who took the 3.10 train +this morning to the city, but he didn't notice him particularly. +That was all I could learn." + +As the hour was late, the inquest was then adjourned until ten +o'clock the next morning. Every one connected with the household +at Fair Oaks was expected to remain on the premises that night; and, +dinner over, the gentlemen, including Mr. Whitney, locked themselves +within the large library to discuss the inevitable contest that +would arise over the estate and to devise how, with the least +possible delay, to secure possession of the property. + +Later in the evening Harry Scott came down from his room for a +brief stroll through the grounds. A bitter smile crossed his face +as he noticed the brightly illumined library and heard the eager, +excited tones within, remembering the dimly-lighted room above with +its silent occupant, unloved, unmourned, unthought of, in marked +contrast to the preceding night, when Hugh Mainwaring lavished upon +his guests such royal entertainment and was the recipient of their +congratulations and their professions of esteem and regard. + +As he paced slowly up and down the avenues, his thoughts were not +of the present, but of the past and future. At the earliest +opportunity that day he had returned to the city, ostensibly, to +attend to some telegraphic despatches, but his main errand had been +to consult with an eminent lawyer whom he knew by reputation, and +in whom both Hugh Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney, in numerous legal +contests, had found a powerful and bitter opponent. To him Scott +had intrusted his own case, giving him the fullest details, and +leaving in his possession for safe keeping the proofs which were +soon to play so important a part; and Mr. Sutherland, the attorney +retained by Scott, had been present at the inquest, apparently +as a disinterested spectator, but, in reality, one of the most +intensely interested of them all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WEAVING OF THE WEB + + +Ten o'clock found an eager crowd assembled in and about the large +library at Fair Oaks, drawn by reports of the sensational features +developed on the preceding day. The members of the household +occupied nearly the same positions as on the preceding afternoon, +with the exception of the secretary, who had entered the room a +little in advance of the others and had seated himself near the +coroner. + +Notwithstanding the glances of doubt and distrust which Scott +encountered, and his own consciousness that suspicion against +himself would deepen as all the facts in the case became known, +he was as impassive as ever. Even Mr. Whitney was wholly at a +loss to account for the change in the bearing of the secretary. +He was no longer the employee, but carried himself with a proud +independence, as though conscious of some mysterious vantage-ground. + +On the other side of the coroner, but conveniently near Scott, was +Mr. Sutherland, while in the rear, commanding a good view of both +gentlemen, as well as of nearly every face in the room, sat Mr. +Merrick, though to a stranger his manner would have implied the +utmost indifference to the proceedings. + +The first witness called for by the coroner was Johnson, the butler. +For the first five or ten minutes his testimony was little more +than a corroboration of that given by the valet on the preceding +day, of the discovery of the death of Hugh Mainwaring. + +"You say," said the coroner, "that at Mr. Whitney's request you +remained in the upper hall, near the library and within call?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Will you state how long a time you should think elapsed between +the alarm given by Hardy and the appearance of the entire household, +including both the guests and the servants?" + +"Well, sir, Hardy gave the alarm a little after seven. The servants +were already up and crowded around there immediately, and I should +say that every one, including the ladies, was out within twenty +minutes, or thirty at the latest, with the exception of Mrs. LaGrange +and her son." + +"At what time did the latter appear?" + +"It must have been considerably after eight o'clock, sir, when she +came to the library in response to a message from Mr. Whitney." + +"And her son?" + +"I did not see Mr. Walter LaGrange at all during the forenoon, sir." + +"How was that?" inquired Dr. Westlake, rather quickly. "Was he not +at Fair Oaks?" + +"I cannot say, sir. I did not see him until luncheon." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"A little after eleven o'clock night before last, - Wednesday night, +sir. I was in the hall as he passed upstairs to his rooms, and I +heard him ask Mr. Scott to come to his library." + +"Did there seem to be any coldness or unpleasantness between them?" + +"No, sir; they both appeared the same as usual." + +"Did any strangers call at Fair Oaks Wednesday aside from those +mentioned yesterday?" + +"No, sir." + +"Will you describe the strangers who were here, stating when they +called and any particulars you are able to give?" + +"The man giving his name as R. Hobson called between eleven and +twelve, Wednesday morning. He was tall, with thin features, small, +dark eyes, and a very soft voice. He came in a carriage, inquired +for Mrs. LaGrange, and seemed in considerable haste. He stayed +about an hour. The gentleman who called about four in the afternoon +also came in a carriage and inquired for Mr. Mainwaring, saying he +had been directed to Fair Oaks at the city offices of Mainwaring & +Co. On learning that Mr. Mainwaring was out, he asked for the +secretary; and I took his card to Mr. Scott, who gave directions +to have him shown up into the library. I do not know when he left. +He was tall, with black hair and moustache and dark glasses." + +"Mr. Hobson's call occasioned considerable comment at luncheon, did +it not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you observe that it had any effect on Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Well, sir, I thought he appeared considerably annoyed, and after +luncheon he asked me whether Mr. Hobson had inquired for him." + +"Did you admit Hobson when he called in the evening?" + +"I did not, sir. I merely met him at the door and directed him to +the south side entrance." + +"At Mrs. LaGrange's request?" + +"Yes, sir; in accordance with her instructions." + +"Did she give any reason for such instructions?" + +"Merely that his former call had caused so much remark she wished +to receive him privately." + +"Was he alone when he called the second time?" + +"No, sir." + +"Can you describe the person who accompanied him?" + +"No, sir. The man stood so far in the shadow that I could only see +the outlines of his form. I should say he was about the same height +as Mr. Hobson, but considerably heavier." + +"Do you know at what hour they left?" + +"No, sir." + +Further questions failing to elicit any facts bearing upon the +situation, the butler was dismissed, and Brown, the coachman, took +his place. The latter was far less taciturn than the butler, +seeming rather eager to impart some piece of information which he +evidently considered of special importance. + +After a few preliminary questions, the coroner said,- + +"At what time, and from whom, did you first hear of Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"About half-past seven, yesterday morning, sir. I was a-taking +care of the horses, sir, when Uncle Mose - he's the gardener, sir + - he comes past the stable on his way to the tool-house, and he +tells me that Mr. Mainwaring had been murdered in the night, right +in his own rooms, and then he tells me-" + +"How long had you been up and at work in the stables?" + +"Before I heard of the murder? Well, about an hour, I should say. +I generally gets up at six." + +"Had you been to the house that morning?" + +"No, sir; but I went right up there after seeing Uncle Mose, and I +was in the kitchen telling what I had seen the night before, when +the butler he comes down and said as how Mr. Ralph Mainwaring wanted +me, and that I had better keep my mouth shut till I was asked to +tell what I knew." + +"Where were you last Wednesday night?" asked the coroner, rather +abruptly. + +Brown looked surprised, but answered readily, "I was out with some +friends of mine. We all went down to the city together that night +and stayed out pretty late, and it seems a mighty good thing we +did, too." + +"Why so?" asked the coroner. + +"Well, sir," said Brown, deliberately, glad of an opportunity to +tell his story and evidently determined to make the most of it, "as +I said, we stayed out that night later than we meant to, and I didn't +waste no time getting home after I left the depot. So, when I got +to Fair Oaks, I thought I'd take the shortest cut, and so I come in +by the south gate, off from the side street, and took the path +around the lake to get to the stables." + +"What lake do you mean?" interrupted the coroner. + +"The small lake back of the grove in the south part of the grounds. +Well, I was hurrying along through that grove, and all of a sudden +I seen a man standing on the edge of the lake with his back towards +me. He was very tall, and wore an ulster that came nearly to his +feet, and he looked so queer that I stepped out of the path and +behind some big trees to watch him. I hadn't no more than done so, +when he stooped and picked up something, and come right up the path +towards me. The moon was shining, had been up about two hours, I +should say, but his back was to the light and I couldn't see his +face, nor I didn't want him to see me. After he'd got by I stepped +out to watch him and see if he went towards the house, but he +didn't; he took the path I had just left and walked very fast to +the south gate and went out onto the side street." + +"In which direction did he then go?" asked the coroner. + +"He went up onto the main avenue and turned towards the town." + +"Can you describe his appearance?" + +"Only that he was tall and had very black hair; but his face was in +the shadow, so I couldn't tell how he looked." + +"What did he pick up from the ground?" + +"I couldn't see very plain, but it looked like a small, square box +done up in paper." + +"You did not try to call any one?" + +"No, sir. The man didn't go near the house, and I didn't think +much about it until Uncle Mose told me yesterday morning that the +night before he seen - " + +"Never mind what he saw; we will let him tell his own story. Was +that all you saw?" + +"No, sir; it wasn't," replied Brown, with a quick side glance +towards Mrs. LaGrange, who occupied the same position as on the +preceding day. "I was going along towards the stables, thinking +about that man, and all of a sudden I noticed there was a bright +light in one of the rooms up-stairs. The curtains wasn't drawn, +and I thought I'd see whose room it was, so I walked up towards the +house carefully, and I saw Mr. Mainwaring's secretary. He looked +awfully pale and haggard, and was walking up and down the room kind +of excited like. Just then I happened to step on the gravelled walk +and he heard me, for he started and looked kind of frightened and +listened a moment, and then he stepped up quick and extinguished the +light, and I was afraid he'd see me then from the window, so I +hurried off. But I thought 'twas mighty queer-" + +"Mr. Scott was dressed, was he?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sir," Brown answered, sullenly. + +"Did you go directly to your room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What time was this?" + +"I heard the clock strike three just after I got in." + +"You saw or heard nothing more?" + +"No, sir." + +"You knew nothing of what had occurred at the house until the +gardener told you in the morning?" + +"N - yes - no, sir," Brown stammered, with another glance towards +Mrs. LaGrange, who was watching him closely. + +"What did you say?" demanded the coroner. + +"I said I didn't know what had happened till Uncle Mose told me," +Brown answered, doggedly. + +"That will do," said the coroner, watching the witness narrowly as +he resumed his place among the servants. + +During the latter part of Brown's testimony, quick, telegraphic +glances had been exchanged between Scott and Mr. Sutherland, and +one or two slips of paper, unobserved by any one but Merrick, had +passed from one to the other. + +Scott was well aware that the statements made by the coachman had +deepened suspicion against himself. He paid little attention to +the crowd, however, but noted particularly the faces of the guests +at Fair Oaks. Ralph Mainwaring's, dark with anger; that of the +genial Mr. Thornton coldly averted; young Mainwaring's supercilious +stare, and his sister's expression of contemptuous disdain; and as +he studied their features his own grew immobile as marble. Suddenly +his glance encountered Miss Carleton's face and was held for a +moment as though under a spell. There was no weak sentimentality +there, no pity or sympathy, - he would have scorned either, - but +the perfect confidence shining in her eyes called forth a quick +response from his own, though not a muscle stirred about the +sternly-set mouth. She saw and understood, and, as her eyes fell, +a smile, inexplicable and mysterious, flashed for an instant across +her face and was gone. + +"John Wilson," announced the coroner, after a slight pause. + +A middle-aged man, rather dull in appearance, except for a pair of +keenly observant eyes, stepped forward with slow precision. + +"You are Mr. Ralph Mainwaring's valet, I believe?" said the coroner. + +"That I am, sir," was the reply. + +"Have you been for some time in his employ?" + +The man peered sharply at Dr. Westlake from under his heavy brows, +and replied, with great deliberation, "Nigh onto thirty years, sir." + +Then, noting the surprise in his interlocutor's face, he added, with +dignity, "The Wilsons, sir, have served the Mainwarings for three +generations. My father, sir, was valet to the father of the dead +Hugh Mainwaring, the Honorable Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, sir." + +A smile played over the features of young Mainwaring at these words, +but Scott started involuntarily, and, after studying Wilson's face +intently for a moment, hastily pencilled a few words on a slip of +paper which he handed to Mr. Sutherland, and both watched the +witness with special interest. + +His testimony differed little from that given by Hardy and by the +butler. He stated, however, that, after accompanying Mr. Ralph +Mainwaring to the scene of the murder, the latter sent him to summon +Mr. Scott; but on his way to the young gentleman's room he saw Mr. +Whitney in advance of him, who called the secretary and immediately +returned with him to the library. + +"Was Mr. Scott already up when Mr. Whitney called him?" the coroner +inquired, quickly. + +"He was up and dressed, sir," was the reply. + +Wilson also corroborated the butler's statement that Walter LaGrange +was not seen about the premises until luncheon, and stated, in +addition, that the horse belonging to young LaGrange was missing +from the stables until nearly noon. Having mingled very little with +the servants at Fair Oaks, he had but slight knowledge concerning the +occurrences of the day preceding the murder. His testimony was +therefore very brief. + +"Katie O'Brien, chambermaid," was next called; and in response a +young Irish woman quietly took her place before the coroner. She +answered the questions addressed her as briefly as possible, but +with deliberation, as though each word had been carefully weighed. + +"Did you have charge of the private rooms of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"You took care of his rooms as usual Wednesday?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did you see Mr. Mainwaring during the day or evening?" + +"I met him once or twice in the halls." + +"When did you last see him?" + +"About two o'clock Wednesday afternoon." + +"State how you first heard of his death." + +"I was working in the halls up-stairs about seven that morning and +heard running back and forth, as if there was trouble. I went out +into the front hall and met the butler, and he told me Mr. Mainwaring +had been murdered." + +"Did you go in to see him at that time?" + +"Yes, sir, for a moment." + +"Did you notice anything unusual in his rooms?" + +"I didn't notice anything unusual in Mr. Mainwaring's rooms." + +"Did you in any room?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"In what one?" + +"In Mr. Scott's room, a little later." + +"State what you observed." + +"A few minutes after I left the library I saw Mr. Scott come out of +his room and go away with Mr. Whitney, and I thought I would go in +and do up the room. So I went in, but the bed was just as I had +made it up the day before. It hadn't been slept in nor touched. +Then things was strewn around considerable, and the top drawer of +his dressing-case was kept locked all the forenoon until he went to +the city." + +"When did he go to the city?" + +"About noon." + +"Did you see Mr. Scott the day or evening preceding Mr. Mainwaring's +death?" + +"No, sir; but I know he was locked in Mr. Mainwaring's library all +the afternoon, after the folks had gone out driving." + +"How do you know the library was locked?" + +"I was sweeping in the corridor, and I heard him unlock the door +when the butler came up with some gentleman's card." + +"Did you see the gentleman who came up-stairs later?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did you see Walter LaGrange at any time during yesterday forenoon?" + +The witness colored slightly, but replied, "I think I met him once +or twice; I don't remember just when." + +"He was away from home part of the time, was he not?" + +"I don't know where he was." + +Nothing further of importance could be learned from the witness, +and, as it was then past twelve, a short recess was taken until +after lunch. + +Scott took his place at the table with the guests, seemingly alike +indifferent to cold aversion or angry frowns. He was conscious that +Miss Carleton was watching him, her manner indicating the same frank +friendliness she had shown him on the preceding day, and in response +to a signal from her, as they rose from the table, he followed her +into one of the drawing-rooms, joining her in a large alcove window, +where she motioned him to a seat on a low divan by her side. + +"You have made a bitter enemy in Mrs. LaGrange," she said, archly; +"and she has marshalled her forces against you." + +"Do you think so?" he asked, with an amused smile. + +"Certainly. She displayed her tactics this morning. I am positive +that much of the testimony was given in accordance with her orders." + +"For the most part, however, the witnesses stated facts," Scott +replied, watching her closely. + +"Yes; but facts may be so misrepresented as to give an impression +quite the reverse of the truth." + +"That is so. And a misrepresentation having a foundation of truth +is the hardest to fight. But," he added, in a lighter tone, "all +this testimony against me does not seem to have produced the same +impression upon you that it has upon the others. Your suspicions +do not seem, as yet, to have been very thoroughly aroused." + +"Perhaps my suspicions are as dormant as your own apprehensions. +I fail to detect the slightest anxiety on your part as to the +outcome of this, one way or another." + +"No," he replied, after a pause; "I feel no anxiety, only resentment +that circumstances have conspired against me just at this time, and +contempt for people who will be led by appearances rather than their +own judgment." + +"People sometimes use very little judgment where their own personal +interests are concerned." + +"In that case," said Scott, as they rose to return to the library, +where the others had already preceded them, "I suppose the word of +one unprincipled woman and of three or four ignorant servants will +be allowed to outweigh mine." + +They had reached the library and Miss Carleton made no reply, but +Scott again saw the same inscrutable little smile play over her +features, and wondered at its meaning. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TANGLED THREADS + + +Upon resuming the examination, the first witness called for was +Mary Catron, the second cook, a woman about thirty-five years of +age, with an honest face, but one indicative of a fiery temper. +Her testimony was brief, but given with a directness that was +amusing. When questioned of the occurrences of the day preceding +the murder, she replied,- + +"I know nothing of what went on except from the gossip of the rest. +My place was in the kitchen, and I had too much to do that day to +be loitering round in the halls, leaning on a broom-handle, and +listening at keyholes," and she cast a glance of scathing contempt +in the direction of the chambermaid. + +"Did this 'gossip' that you speak of have any bearing on what has +since occurred?" the coroner inquired. + +"Well, sir, it might and it mightn't. 'Twas mostly about the will +that Mr. Mainwaring was making; and as how them that got little +was angry that they didn't get more, and them as got much was +growling at not getting the whole." + +"How did the servants gain any knowledge of this will?" + +"That's more than I can say, sir, except as I knows the nature of +some folks." + +Upon further questioning, the witness stated that on the night of +the murder, between the hours of two and three, she was aroused by +a sound like the closing of an outside door, but on going to one +of the basement windows to listen, she heard nothing further and +concluded she had been mistaken. + +"Did you see the coachman at that time?" she was asked. + +"A few minutes later I looked out again and I see him gaping and +grinning at the house and jabbering to himself like an idiot, and +I was minded to send him about his business if he hadn't a-took +himself off when he did." + +"He was perfectly sober, was he not?" + +"Sober for aught that I know; but, to my thinking, he's that daft +that he's noways responsible for aught that he says." + +"Were you up-stairs soon after the alarm was given?" asked the +coroner, when she had told of hearing from the butler the news of +the murder. + +"Yes, sir; I went up as soon as ever I heard what had happened." + +"Who was in the library at that time?" + +"Nobody but some of the servants, sir. I met Mr. Whitney just as +I came out." + +"Did you meet any one else?" + +"I met no one, but I saw the housekeeper coming out of her son's +room. She didn't see me; but she was telling him to get ready +quick to go somewheres, and I heard her say to hurry, for every +minute was precious." + +Louis Picot, the head cook, could give no information whatever. +When the alarm was given, he had rushed, with the other servants, +to the scene of the murder, and in his imperfect English, +accompanied by expressive French gestures, he tried to convey his +horror and grief at the situation, but that was all. + +The two maids who attended the English ladies were next called upon; +but their testimony was mainly corroborative of that given by the +chambermaid, except that Sarah Whitely, Miss Carleton's maid, +stated, in addition, that she had seen Mr. Walter LaGrange leave +his mother's room in great haste and go down-stairs, and a little +later, from one of the upper windows, saw him riding away from +the stables in the direction of the south gate. + +But one servant remained, "Uncle Mose," as he was familiarly called, +the old colored man having charge of the grounds at Fair Oaks. His +snow-white hair and bent form gave him a venerable appearance; but +he was still active, and the shrewd old face showed both humor and +pathos as he proceeded with his story. He had been a slave in his +younger days, and still designated his late employer by the old term +"mars'r." He was a well-known character to many present, including +Dr. Westlake, who knew that in this instance questions would have +to be abandoned and the witness allowed to tell his story in his +own way. + +"Well, Uncle Mose, you have been employed at Fair Oaks for a long +time, haven't you?" + +"Moah dan twenty yeahs, sah, I'se had charge ob dese y'er grounds; +an' mars'r Mainwaring, he t'ought nobody but ole Mose cud take cyah +ob 'em, sah." + +"You were about the grounds as usual Wednesday, were you not?" + +"I was 'bout de grounds all day, sah, 'case dere was a pow'ful lot +to do a-gittin' ready for de big doins dere was goin' to be on +mars'r's birfday." + +"Did you see either of the strangers who called that day?" + +"I'se a-comm' to dat d'rectly, sah. You see, sah, I wants to say +right heah, befo' I goes any furder, dat I don' know noffin 'cept +what tuk place under my own obserbation. I don' feel called upon +to 'spress no 'pinions 'bout nobody. I jes' wants to state a few +recurrences dat I noted at de time, speshally 'bout dem strangers +as was heah in pertickeler. Well, sah, de fust man, he come heah +in de mawnin'. De Inglish gentlemens, dey had been a-walkin' in +de grounds and jes' done gone roun' de corner oh de house to go +to mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, when dis man he comes up de av'nue +in a kerridge, an' de fust ting I heah 'im a-cussin' de driver. +Den he gets out and looks roun' kind o' quick, jes' like de possum +in de kohn, as ef he was 'fraid somebody done see 'im. I was fixin' +de roses on de front poach, an' I looked at 'im pow'ful sharp, an' +when de dooh opened he jumped in quick, as ef he was glad to get +out o' sight. Well, sah, I didn't like de 'pearance ob dat man, +an' I jes' t'ought I'd get anoder look at 'im, but he stayed a +mighty long time, sah, an' bime'by I had to go to de tool-house, +an' when I gets back the kerridge was gone." + +"Could you describe the man, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked. + +"No, sah, I don' know as I could 'scribe 'im perzacly; but I'd know +'im, no matter where I sot eyes on 'im, and I know'd 'im the nex' +time I see 'im. Well, sah, dat aft'noon, mars'r Mainwaring an' de +folks had gone out ridin', an' I was roun' kind o' permiscuous like, +an' I see anoder kerridge way down de av'nue by de front gate, an' +I waited, 'spectin' maybe I'd see dat man again. While I was waitin' +by de front dooh, all oh a sudden a man come roun' from de side, as +ef he come from mars'r Mainwaring's liberry, but he was anoder man." + +"Didn't he look at all like the first man?" inquired the coroner. + +"No, sah; he looked altogedder diff'rent; but I don' know as I could +state whar'in de differensiashun consisted, sah. Dis man was berry +good lookin' 'ceptin' his eyes, an' dem yoh cudn' see, 'case he had +on cull'ed glasses. Mebbe his eyes was pow'ful weak, er mebbe he +didn't want nobody to see 'em; but I 'spicioned dem glasses d'rectly, +sah, an' I watched 'im. He goes down to de kerridge an' takes out +a coat an' says sump' in to de driver, an' de kerridge goes away +tow'ds de town, an' he walks off de oder way. Bime'by I see 'im +gwine back again on de oder side ob de street-" + +"Was he alone?" interrupted the coroner. + +"Yes, sah; an' I done kep' my eye on 'im, an' he didn' go on to de +town, but tuhned down de fust side street. Well, sah, I didn' see +no moah ob 'im den; but dat ebenin' I'd ben a-workin' roun' de +house, sprinklin' de grass and gettin' ready foh de nex' day, when +I happens to pass by de side dooh, an' I sees dem two men comm' +out togedder." + +"What time was this, Uncle Mose?" the coroner asked, quickly. + +"Well, sah," said the old man, reflectively, "my mem'ry is a little +derelictious on dat p'int, but I knows 'twas gettin' putty late." + +"Are you sure these were the same two men you had seen earlier in +the day?" + +"Yes, sah; 'case I stepped in de bushes to watch 'em. Dey talked +togedder berry low, an' den one man goes back into de house, an' I +seen 'im plain in de hall light, an' he was de fust man; an' while +I was a-watchin' 'im, de oder man he disappeahed an' I cudn' see +'im nowhar, but I know'd he was de man dat came in de aft'noon, +'case he look jes' like 'im, an' toted a coat on his arm. Well, +sah, I t'inks it a berry cur'is sarcumstance, an' I was jes' comm' +to de preclushun dat I'd mention it to some ob de fambly, when de +fust man, he come to de dooh wid de housekeeper. I was in de +shadder and dey didn' see me, but I heah 'im say, kind o' soft +like, 'Remember, my deah lady, dis is a biz'ness contract; I does +my part, an' I 'spects my pay.' An' she says, 'Oh, yes, yoh shall +hab yohr money widout fail.' An' I says to myse'f, 'Mose, yoh ole +fool, what you stan'in' heah foh? Dat ain't nuffin dat consarns +yoh nohow,' an' I goes home, an' dat's all I know, sah. But I'se +ben pow'ful sorry eber sence dat I didn' let mars'r Mainwaring +know 'bout it, 'case I has my 'spicions," and the old darkey shook +his head, while the tears coursed down his furrowed cheeks. + +"How did you hear of Mr. Mainwaring's death?" asked the coroner. + +"De coachman, he done tole me, sah." + +"Why, the coachman stated that you told him what had occurred." + +"No, sah; he done tole me; I'd come up to de place pow'ful ahly +dat mawnin' 'case dere was to be such big doings dat day, an' I +was gwine to de tool-house foh sump'in, an' I see mars'r Walter +ridin' away from de stables pow' ful fas' on his hoss-" + +"Do you mean Walter LaGrange?" + +"Yes, sah; an' de coachman he came out an' I ax 'im whar de young +man was gwine dat ahly, an' he say mars'r Mainwaring ben killed, an' +mars'r Walter had to go to town as fas' as his hoss cud take 'im." + +"Do you know when he returned?" + +"He came back, sah, befo' berry long, an' den he went away agin and +didn't come back till mos' noon." + +When the old darkey had been dismissed the coachman was recalled. + +"What did you mean by stating that you first heard of Mr. +Mainwaring's death from the gardener, when the reverse was the +truth?" + +"I don't know," he replied, carelessly; "I s'pose I got mixed. I +remember talking with him about it, and I thought he told me." + +"You had forgotten the interview with Walter LaGrange, I presume." + +Brown made no answer. + +"Why did you not mention that?" + +"I wasn't asked to," he replied in insolent tones; "you said nothing +to me about Mr. LaGrange." + +"You are expected to state in full every occurrence having any +bearing on the situation. You may give the particulars of that +interview now." + +"There's nothing to tell more than Uncle Mose told. I was working +in the stables as usual, and Mr. LaGrange came in in a big hurry +and ordered me to saddle his horse as quick as I could, that Mr. +Mainwaring had been murdered, and he'd got to go to town." + +"At what time was this?" + +"About half-past seven, I should say." + +"Did he state his errand?" + +"No, sir." + +"When did he return?" + +"I saw his horse standing in the yard outside the stables about half +an hour after, and then 'twas gone, and I didn't see it again till +noon." + +Walter LaGrange was next called. He stated that he had spent the +greater part of the day preceding the murder away from Fair Oaks; +he had not been at home to luncheon or dinner, and consequently knew +nothing of the strangers seen on the place that day. He had returned +about half-past ten that evening, and remembered seeing Mr. +Mainwaring and his guests seated on the veranda, but he had gone +directly to his room without meeting any one. The first intimation +which he had received of any unusual occurrence the next morning +was when his mother entered his room and told him that Mr. Mainwaring +had either been murdered or had committed suicide, no one knew which. + +"Was that her only object in coming to your room?" + +"No, sir; she wanted me to do an errand for her." + +"Will you state the nature of this errand?" + +"It was only to deliver a note." + +"To whom?" + +"To Mr. Hobson," the young man answered weakly, while his mother +frowned, the first sign of emotion of any kind which she had +betrayed that day. + +"Did you deliver the note?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then, under your mother's orders, you went to the city on your +second trip, did you not?" + +"Y-yes, sir." + +"Were you successful in finding Mr. Hobson there?" + +"Yes, sir," the witness answered sullenly. + +"You had other business in the city aside from meeting him, had you +not?" + +Between the coroner's persistence and his mother's visible signs of +displeasure, Walter LaGrange was fast losing his temper. + +"If you know so much about this business, I don't see the use of +your questioning me," he retorted angrily. "It's no affair of mine +anyway; I had nothing to do with it, nor I won't be mixed up in it; +and if you want any information you'd better ask mother for it; it's +her business and none of mine." + +After a few more questions, which the witness answered sullenly and +in monosyllables, he was dismissed. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," announced the coroner. The greatest surprise +was manifested on every side as the senior member of a well-known +firm of jewellers stepped forward; the same gentleman who had +accompanied Mr. Whitney on his return from the city on the preceding +day. + +"Mr. Higgenbotham," said the coroner, "I believe you are able to +furnish some testimony which will be pertinent at this time." + +"Yes, Dr. Westlake," responded the other, in deep, musical tones, +"I think possibly I can render you a little assistance in your +investigations." + +"Mr. Higgenbotham, do you recognize the young gentleman who has just +given his testimony?" + +"I do, sir," said the witness, adjusting a pair of eyeglasses and +gazing steadily at Walter LaGrange. "I recall his features +perfectly." + +"You were personally acquainted with the late Hugh Mainwaring, I +believe?" + +"Yes, sir, intimately acquainted with him." + +"You are, I believe, familiar with the Mainwaring jewels which are +now missing?" continued the coroner. + +Walter LaGrange looked uncomfortable and his mother's cheek paled. + +"I am, sir; having had them repeatedly left in my possession for +safe keeping during their owner's absence from home; and I have +also a complete list of them, with a detailed description of every +piece." + +"Very well, Mr. Higgenbotham, will you now please state when, and +under what circumstances, you saw this young gentleman?" + +"I was seated in my private office yesterday morning, when my head +clerk came in and asked me to step out into the salesrooms for a +moment, as he said a young man was there trying to sell some very +fine jewels, and, from his youth and his ignorance of their value, +he feared something was wrong. I went out immediately and saw this +young gentleman, who handed me for inspection a superb diamond +brooch and an elegant necklace of diamonds and pearls. I instantly +recognized the gems as pieces from the old Mainwaring collection of +jewels. Simultaneously there occurred to my mind the report of the +murder of Hugh Mainwaring, which I had heard but a short time before, +although then I knew nothing of the robbery. Naturally, my +suspicions were awakened. I questioned the young man closely, +however, and he stated that his home was at Fair Oaks, and that his +mother was a distant relative of Mr. Mainwaring's; that the jewels +were hers, and she wished to dispose of them for ready cash to meet +an emergency. His story was so plausible that I thought possibly +my suspicions had been somewhat hasty and premature. Still, I +declined to purchase the jewels; and when he left the store I +ordered one of our private detectives to follow him and report to +me. In the course of an hour the detective returned and reported +that the young man had sold the jewels to a pawnbroker for less +than one-fourth their actual value. About half an hour later I +heard the news of the robbery at Fair Oaks, and that the family +jewels were missing; and knowing that Mr. Whitney was here, I +immediately telephoned to him the facts which I have just stated. +He came in to the city at once, and we proceeded to the pawnshop, +where he also identified the jewels." + +Mr. Higgenbotham paused for a moment, producing a package from an +inner pocket, which he proceeded to open. + +"We secured a loan of the jewels for a few days," he continued, +advancing towards the coroner. "Here they are, and here is a copy +of the list of which I spoke. By comparing these gems with the +description of those which I have checked on the list, you will +see that they are identical." + +He placed the open casket on the table. There was a moment's +silence, broken by subdued exclamations of admiration as Dr. +Westlake lifted the gems from their resting-place. + +"You are correct," he said; "the description is complete. There is +no doubt that these are a part of the collection. I see you have +marked the value of these two items as seven thousand dollars." + +"Yes; that is a moderate valuation. And were the prices of the +other articles carried out, you would see that, with the exception +of a few very small pieces, these have the least value of the entire +lot. I believe I can be of no further service." + +Mrs. LaGrange was next recalled. + +"Have you anything to say in reference to the testimony just given?" +the coroner inquired. + +"I have this much to say," she replied, haughtily, "that I could +have given you the history of those jewels, including, perhaps, +some facts of which even Mr. Higgenbotham and Mr. Whitney are in +ignorance, and thus have spared you the infinite pains you have +taken to make public the straits to which I was reduced, because +of my position here, when in need of a little ready money. I could +have informed you that they were originally a part of the old +Mainwaring collection of gems, until they were given me by my +husband." + +"It hardly seems consistent that a man who treated his wife in the +manner in which you claim to have been treated would bestow upon +her gifts of such value as these," the coroner remarked with +emphasis. + +"They were of little value to him," she answered, with scorn; "as +you have been informed, they were the poorest which he possessed. +Besides, there were times when I could persuade him to almost +anything, - anything but to acknowledge his lawful wife and his +legitimate son." + +"Was the money which you were forced to raise by the sale of these +jewels to be paid to Hobson?" + +"It was." + +"In accordance with the terms of your contract with him, made a +few hours preceding the death of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yes," she replied, defiantly. "And as you probably would ask the +nature of that contract, I will save you the trouble. Knowing that +my son and I were likely to be defrauded of our rights in the same +manner in which Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded others, I engaged Mr. +Hobson as my attorney, as he, better than any one else, knew the +facts in the case. When I learned yesterday morning of my husband's +death, I realized that I would have immediate need of his services, +and accordingly sent him word to that effect. He demanded a large +cash payment at once. The result of this demand Mr. Higgenbotham +has already told you." + +"How was Hobson to secure for you your rights from Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"That was left entirely to his own discretion." + +"Will you describe the appearance of Mr. Hobson's clerk?" + +"Unfortunately, I am unable to do so. He was merely brought as a +witness to our contract. I knew that he was present, but he +remained in the shadow, and I took no notice of him whatever." + +"Your contract, then, was a verbal one?" + +"It was." + +Upon being closely questioned, Mrs. LaGrange reiterated her +assertions of the preceding day, laying particular stress upon the +alleged interview between Hugh Mainwaring and his secretary, after +which she was dismissed, and Harry Scott was recalled. + +"Mr. Scott," said the coroner, "what were the relations existing +between Mr. Mainwaring and yourself up to the time of his death?" + +Scott flushed slightly as he replied, "Those ordinarily existing +between employer and employed, except that I believe Mr. Mainwaring +accorded me more than usual consideration, and I, while duly +appreciative of his kindness, yet took especial pains never to +exceed the bounds of an employee." + +"Were there ever any unpleasant words passed between you?" + +"None whatever." + +"Was your last interview with Mr. Mainwaring of a friendly nature?" + +"Entirely so." + +"What have you to say in reference to the testimony given to the +effect that your voice was heard and recognized in angry +conversation with Mr. Mainwaring at nearly one o'clock?" + +"I have to say that it is false, and without foundation." + +"Do you mean to say that the statement of the witness was wholly +without truth?" + +"I do not deny that such an interview, as alleged by the witness, +may have taken place, for that is something concerning which I have +no knowledge whatever; but I do deny that she heard my voice, or +that I was in the library at that time, or at any time after about +twenty minutes past twelve." + +"Was that the time at which you went to your room?" + +"Very near that time, as my interview with Mr. Mainwaring could not +have exceeded ten minutes." + +"At what time did you retire?" + +"I sat up very late that night, for my mind was so occupied with +some personal matters that I felt no inclination for sleep. I +lighted a cigar and became so absorbed in my own thoughts that I +was totally unaware of the lapse of time, until I was aroused by +what I thought was a stealthy step outside. I then became conscious, +for the first time, that I was very weary, both physically and +mentally, and I also discovered that it was nearly three o'clock. +Astonished to find it so late, and exhausted by hours of protracted +thought, I threw myself as I was upon a low couch, where I slept +soundly until awakened in the morning." + +Further questions failed to reveal any discrepancy in his statement, +and he was dismissed. + +The testimony of Ralph Mainwaring and of his son added nothing of +interest or importance. Mr. Thornton testified to his incidental +meeting with Hobson and to the reputation which the man had borne in +London. When he had resumed his seat the coroner remarked,- + +"As a matter of form, I will have to call upon the ladies, though +it is not expected they will be able to furnish any information +throwing light on this mysterious case." + +It was, as he had said, little more than a ceremony and occupied +but a few moments. Miss Carleton was the last one called upon. She +stated that it was nearly eleven o'clock when she reached her room, +but added that she did not retire immediately, as her cousin, Miss +Thornton, had come in, and they had chatted together for more than +an hour; that while so engaged, she heard Mr. Scott come up-stairs +and enter his room, which adjoined hers, and lock the door for the +night. + +"At what hour was this?" inquired the coroner. + +"It could not have been more than twenty minutes after twelve, as +it was twenty-five minutes after twelve when my cousin went to her +room, and this was about five minutes earlier." + +"Can you state whether or not he left his room within the next +half-hour?" + +"I know that he did not," she replied. "I can testify that he +remained in his room until after one o'clock. After my cousin left +I discovered that the moon was just rising, and the view across the +Hudson being extremely beautiful, as well as novel to me, I +extinguished the light in my room and sat down by the open window +to enjoy it. I heard Mr. Scott stepping quietly about his room for +a few moments; then all was still. I sat for some time admiring the +scenery, until I was aroused by hearing him pacing back and forth +like a person in deep thought. I then found it was much later than +I supposed, - nearly one o' clock, - and I immediately retired; but +so long as I was awake I could hear him walking in his room." + +As Miss Carleton finished her testimony it was evident that the +tide of general opinion had turned somewhat in favor of the young +secretary, but the latter quietly ignored the friendly glances cast +in his direction. + +It was generally supposed that all testimony in the case had now +been heard. Considerable surprise was, therefore, manifested when +the coroner nodded to Mr. Whitney, who, in turn, beckoned to some one +in the hall. In response the butler appeared, ushering in a tall +man, with cadaverous features and small, dark eyes, which peered +restlessly about him. + +"Richard Hobson," announced the coroner. + +"At your service, sir," said the man, advancing with a cringing gait +and fawning, apologetic smile. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the coroner, after a few preliminaries, "I +understand you were somewhat acquainted with the late Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Well, yes, sir, somewhat," the other replied in soft, insinuating +tones, but with peculiar emphasis on the word used by Dr. Westlake. +"Indeed, I might say, without exaggeration, that I was probably +better acquainted with that estimable gentleman than was any one +in this country." + +"When did you last see Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"I have not seen him to speak with him for fully twenty-three years." + +"You have corresponded with, him, however, in that time?" + +The witness showed no surprise. + +"We exchanged a few letters while I was in England. I have neither +heard from him nor written to him since coming to this country." + +"When did you last see him, regardless of whether you spoke to him +or not?" + +"Probably within the last two or three weeks. I have occasionally +met him on the street." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring see you at any of these times?" + +"If he did, he did not recognize me." + +"Did you see him when you called at Fair Oaks, Wednesday, - either +morning or evening?" + +"I did not." + +"Mr. Hobson, will you describe the man who accompanied you when +you called in the evening, Wednesday?" + +"I could give you a general description. He was a large man, about +my own height, but heavier, and rather good looking, on the whole. +But I am not good on details, such as complexion, color of hair, and +so on; and then, you know, those little things are very easily +changed." + +"What was his name?" + +Mr. Hobson smiled blandly. "The name by which I know him is John +Carroll, but I have no idea as to his real name. He is a very +eccentric character, many-sided as it were, and I never know which +side will come uppermost." + +"He is your clerk and in your employ, is he not?" + +"Agent, I think, would be a preferable term. He is in my employ, +he transacts certain business for me, but he does it in his own way, +and comes and goes at his own discretion." + +"Where is he at present?" + +"I have no idea, sir." + +"Did he leave for the city that night, or did he remain with you at +the Riverside Hotel?" + +"He was not with me at the hotel except for a few hours. I have not +the slightest idea from whence he came to see me, when he went away, +or in what direction he went. He was in haste to be excused as soon +as our joint business was done, and I have not seen him since." + +"Did he have on dark glasses that day?" + +"Not when I saw him, but that was only in my room at the hotel, and +for a few moments in this house; he would have no need for them at +either place." + +"Did he not accompany you from the hotel to Fair Oaks?" + +"No, sir; we met here by prearrangement." + +"When do you expect to see your agent again?" + +"Whenever he has any business reports to make," Hobson replied, +with an exasperating smile; "but I have no idea when that will be. +He has other commissions to execute; he is in the employ of others +besides myself, and transacts some business on his own account also." + +"I understand, Mr. Hobson, that you have repeatedly extorted money +from Mr. Mainwaring by threatening to disclose facts in your +possession regarding some questionable transaction." + +"No, sir; my action could not be termed extortion or blackmail +within the meaning of the law, though to any one conversant with Mr. +Mainwaring's private correspondence it may have had that appearance. +I was, however, merely making an effort to collect what was legally +due me. Mr. Mainwaring, before leaving England, had voluntarily +bound himself to pay me a certain sum upon the condition that I +would not reveal certain transactions of considerably more than +questionable character. I kept my part of the contract, but he +failed in his. I wrote him, therefore, threatening, unless he +fulfilled his share of the agreement, to institute proceedings +against him, which would naturally involve a disclosure of his secret. +He never paid me in full and the secret is still mine," he paused, +then added slowly, "to keep or to sell, as will pay me best." + +"Was Hugh Mainwaring ever married?" the coroner asked, abruptly. + +"I believe he was not generally considered a married man, sir." + +"Was there ever any private marriage?" + +Hobson smiled enigmatically. "You already have the word of the +lady herself, sir; that should be sufficient. I cannot reveal any +of Hugh Mainwaring's secrets, - unless I am well paid for it!" + +Hobson was dismissed without further questions, and the examination +being now at an end, the coroner's jury retired to the room in the +rear of the library. Very few left the house, for all felt that +little time would be required for the finding of a verdict, and +comment and opinion were freely exchanged. + +"Well," said Mr. Sutherland, turning towards the secretary with a +smile, "they did not learn one fact from that last witness, for I +doubt whether one of the few statements he did make had an iota of +truth in it. By the way, Mr. Scott, it's a very fortunate thing +that you've got the proofs you have. It would be a risky piece of +work to depend on that man's word for proof; he is as slippery as +an eel. With those proofs, however, there is no doubt but that +you've got a strong case." + +"It will be hard to convince Ralph Mainwaring of that fact." + +"Yes, he looks as though he would hold on to his opinions pretty +tenaciously." + +"Not so tenaciously as he would grasp any money coming within his +reach!" + +At a little distance, Mr. Whitney was engaged in conversation with +the Englishmen. + +"I never thought he could be in any way connected with it," he was +saying. "In the first place, there was no motive, there could be +none; then, again, I believe he is altogether above suspicion. I +know that Mr. Mainwaring had the most implicit confidence in him." + +"Well," said Mr. Thornton, "for my part, I'm heartily glad if there +is nothing in it. I always liked the young fellow." + +"That's just where I don't agree with you; I don't like him," Ralph +Mainwaring replied in a surly tone. "He may be all right so far as +this matter is concerned; I don't say yet that he is or isn't; but +I do say that to defame a man's character after he's dead, in the +manner he has, is simply outrageous, and, you may depend upon it, +there's some personal spite back of it." + +"Oh, well, as to Hugh's character, I don't think you or I are going +to fret ourselves about that," laughed Mr. Thornton. "He probably +sowed his wild oats with the rest of us, and there may have been +some reason for his leaving England as he did." + +"I don't believe it," Ralph Mainwaring retorted, angrily; but before +he could say more, the doors opened and the coroner's jury filed +into the room. There was instant silence, and a moment later the +verdict had been announced. It was what every one had expected, and +yet there was not one but experienced a feeling of disappointment +and dissatisfaction. + +"We find that the deceased, Hugh Mainwaring, came to his death by +the discharge of a revolver in the hands of some person or persons +to us unknown." + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BEHIND THE SCENES + + +The crowd dispersed rapidly, passing down the oak-lined avenue in +twos and threes, engaged in animated discussion of the details of +the inquest, while each one advanced some theory of his own +regarding the murder. Mr. Sutherland had taken his departure after +making an appointment with Scott for the following day, and the +latter now stood in one of the deep bow-windows engrossed with his +own thoughts. Suspicion had been partially diverted from himself, +but only partially, as he well knew, to return like a tidal wave, +deepened and intensified by personal animosity, whenever the facts +he had thus far so carefully concealed should become known. He gave +little thought to this, however, except as it influenced him in +planning his course of action for the next few days. + +He was aroused from his revery by the sound of approaching steps, +and, turning, met Mr. Whitney. + +"Ah, Mr. Scott, I was just looking for you. I thought possibly you +had slipped back to the city with the crowd. I wanted to say, Mr. +Scott, that, if it will be agreeable to you, I wish you would remain +at Fair Oaks for the next few days, or weeks, as the case may be. +Mr. Ralph Mainwaring has retained my services to aid in securing +his title to the estate, and the will having been destroyed, +complications are likely to arise, so that it may take some time to +get matters adjusted. Much of the business will, of necessity, have +to be transacted here, as all of Mr. Mainwaring's private papers are +here, and if you will stay and help us out I will see, of course, +that your salary goes right on as usual." + +An excuse fur remaining at Fair Oaks was what Scott particularly +desired, but he replied indifferently, "If it will accommodate you, +Mr. Whitney, I can remain for a few days." + +"Very well. I cannot say just how long we may need you, though I +anticipate a long contest." + +"Against Mrs. LaGrange?" + +"Yes; though she has, in my opinion, no legal right whatever, yet +she will make a hard fight, and with that trickster Hobson to help +her with his chicanery, it is liable to take some time to beat them" + +"You expect to win in the end, however?" + +"Certainly; there is no doubt but that Ralph Mainwaring will win the +case. He will get the property either for his son or for himself. +We are first going to try to have the will upheld in the courts. +Failing in that, the property will, of course, be divided between +the nearest heirs, Ralph Mainwaring and a younger bachelor brother; +in which event, the whole thing will, in all probability, finally +revert to his son Hugh." + +"Mr. Whitney, what is your opinion of Mrs. LaGrange's story of a +private marriage?" + +The attorney shook his head decidedly. "One of her clever lies; but +if she ever undertakes to tell that little romance in court, I'll +tear it all to shreds. She never was married to Hugh Mainwaring; +but," he added, slowly, "I may as well tell you that Walter was his +son. Mr. Mainwaring the same as admitted that to me once; but I +am certain that, aside from that fact, that woman had some terrible +hold on him, though what I never knew. By the way, Mr. Scott, do +you know anything of the particulars of that transaction to which +those letters referred and to which Hobson alluded to-day?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Mr. Whitney looked keenly at the young man. "You obtained your +knowledge originally from other sources than Mr. Mainwaring's +correspondence, did you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I thought so. Do you know, Mr. Scott, I would denounce the whole +thing as a lie, a scheme of that adventuress, or that impostor, +Hobson, or both, by which they hope to gain some hold on the heirs, +were it not that, from your manner, I have been convinced that you +have some personal knowledge of the facts in the case, - that you +know far more than you have yet told." + +Mr. Whitney paused, watching the young secretary closely, but there +was no reply, and, with all his penetration, the attorney could read +nothing in the immobile face before him. He continued,- + +"Whatever that transaction may have been, I wish to know nothing +about it. I was much attached to Mr. Mainwaring and respected him +highly, and I want to respect his memory; and I will tell you +frankly what I most dread in this coming contest. I expect nothing +else but that either that woman or Hobson will drag the affair out +from its hiding-place, and will hold it up for the public to gloat +over, as it always does. I hate to see a man's reputation blackened +in that way, especially when that man was my friend and his own +lips are sealed in death." + +"It is a pity," said Scott, slowly; "but if one wishes to leave +behind him an untarnished reputation, he must back it up, while +living, with an unblemished character." + +"Well," said the attorney, tentatively, after another pause, "Mr. +Mainwaring's character, whatever it may have been before we were +associated with him, certainly had no effect upon your life or mine, +hence I feel that it is nothing with which we are directly concerned; +and I believe, in fact I know, that it will be for your interest, Mr. +Scott, if you say nothing regarding whatever knowledge you may have +of the past." + +Mr. Whitney, watching the effect of his words, suddenly saw an +expression totally unlike anything he had ever seen on the face of +the secretary, and yet strangely familiar. + +Scott turned and faced him, with eyes cold and cynical and that +seemed to pierce him through and through, remarking, in tones of +quiet irony, "I am greatly obliged for your advice, Mr. Whitney, +regarding my interests, but it is not needed. Furthermore, I think +all your thought and attention will be required to look after the +interests of Ralph Mainwaring," and without waiting for reply, he +stepped through one of the low, old-fashioned windows opening upon +the veranda and disappeared, leaving the attorney alone. + +"By George, but that was cool!" ejaculated the latter. "And that +look; where have I seen it? I believe that Ralph Mainwaring is +more than half right after all, and there is something back of all +this!" + +So absorbed was he in his own reflections as to be wholly unaware +of the presence of the detective in the hall, near the doorway, +where he had paused long enough to witness the parting between +Scott and the attorney, and who now passed quietly up-stairs, +remarking to himself, "Whitney is pretty sharp, but he's more than +got his match there. That young fellow is too deep for him or any +of the rest of 'em, and he's likely to come out where they least +expect to find him." + +Half an hour later, Mr. Merrick, stepping from the private library +into the upper southern hall, heard the sound of voices, which, +from his familiarity with the rooms, he knew must proceed from Mrs. +LaGrange's parlor. He cautiously descended the stairs to the +lowest landing, in which was a deep window. The shutters were +tightly closed, and, concealing himself behind the heavy curtains, +he awaited developments. He was now directly opposite the door of +the parlor, and through the partially open transom he could hear +the imperious tones of Mrs. LaGrange and the soft, insinuating +accents of Hobson. For a while he was unable to distinguish a +word, but the variations in Hobson's tones indicated that he was +not seated, but walking back and forth, while Mrs. LaGrange's voice +betrayed intense excitement and gradually grew louder. + +"You are not altogether invulnerable," Merrick heard her say, +angrily. "You were an accessory in that affair, and you cannot +deny it?" + +Hobson evidently had paused near the door, as his reply was +distinctly audible. "You have not an atom of proof; as you well +know; and even if you had, our acquaintance, my dear madam, has been +too long and of too intimate a nature for you to care to attempt +any of your little tricks with me. You play a deep game, my lady, +but I hold the winning hand yet." + +"If you are dastardly enough to threaten me, I am not such a coward +as to fear you. I have played my cards better than you know," she +answered, defiantly. + +"My dear lady," Hobson replied, and the door-knob turned slightly +under his hand, "those little speeches sound very well, but we both +understand each other perfectly. You want my services in this case; +you must have them; and I am willing to render them; but it is +useless for you to dictate terms to me. I will undertake the case +in accordance with your wishes, but only upon the conditions +mentioned." + +The reply was inaudible, but was evidently satisfactory to Hobson, +for, as he opened the door, there was a leer of triumph on his face. +He glanced suspiciously about the hall, and, on reaching the door, +turned to Mrs. LaGrange, who had accompanied him, saying, in his +smoothest tones,- + +"I shall be out again in two or three days. Should you wish to see +me before that time, you can telephone to my office or send me word." + +She bowed silently and he took his departure, but as she returned +to her room, she exclaimed, fiercely, "Craven! Let me but once get +my rights secured, and he will find whether I stand in fear of him!" + +Having taken leave of Mrs. LaGrange, Hobson carefully avoided the +front part of the house and grounds, taking instead the gravelled +walk leading through the grove towards the lake in the rear and out +upon the side street. As he was hurrying along this rather secluded +avenue, he was suddenly confronted by Scott. Although strangers to +each other, Hobson instantly conjectured that this must be the +secretary who had betrayed such familiarity with the correspondence +which had passed between himself and Hugh Mainwaring, and that it +might be to his own interest to form the acquaintance of the young +man. + +Quick as thought he drew from his pocket a card, and, pausing +suddenly in his rapid walk, said, with a profound bow,- + +"I beg pardon; I cannot be mistaken; have I not the pleasure of +addressing Mr. Scott?" + +"That is my name," replied the secretary, coldly. + +"I beg you will accept this card; and allow me to suggest that you +may find it conducive to your interests to call upon me at the +address named, if you will take the trouble to do so." + +Scott glanced from the card to the speaker, regarding the latter +with close scrutiny. "You seem very solicitous of the interests of +a stranger, as it is not to be presumed that you have any ulterior +motive in making this suggestion." + +Hobson appeared to ignore the sarcasm. "It is barely possible," he +continued, in his most ingratiating tones, "that I may be in +possession of facts which it would be to your advantage to learn." + +"In case you are, I suppose, of course, you would impart them to me +simply out of pure disinterestedness, without a thought of pecuniary +compensation?" + +Hobson winced and glanced nervously about him. "I must hasten," he +said; "I cannot stop for explanations; but you will find me in my +office at two o'clock to-morrow, if you care to call. Meantime, +my young friend, I am not perhaps as mercenary as you think, and I +may be able to be of great assistance to you," and with a final bow, +the man hastily disappeared around a turn of the winding walk. + +Scott proceeded in the opposite direction in a deep study. "Is it +possible," he soliloquized, "that that creature is on my track and +has any proposition to make to me? Or, is he afraid that I know his +secret, and that I may deprive him of his hold upon the Mainwarings? +More likely it is the latter. A week ago I was looking for that +man, and would probably have endeavored to make terms with him, +though it would have involved an immense amount of risk, for a +cast-iron contract wouldn't hold him, and his testimony would be +worth little or nothing, one way or the other." Scott glanced +again at the address on the card. "Not a very desirable locality! +It probably suits him and his business, though: I believe, I will +give the scoundrel a call and see what I can draw out of him." + +Dinner was announced as Scott returned to the house, and a number +of circumstances combined to render the meal far pleasanter and +more social than any since the death of the master of Fair Oaks. +Mr. Merrick was nowhere to be found, and the slight restraint +imposed by his presence was removed. Mrs. LaGrange and her son +were also absent, preferring to take their meals privately in +an adjoining room which Hugh Mainwaring had often used as a +breakfast-room. The silence and frigidity which had lately +reigned at the table seemed to have given place to almost universal +sociability, though Ralph Mainwaring's face still wore a sullen +scowl. + +As Mr. Whitney met the secretary, his sensitive face flushed at the +remembrance of their late interview, and he watched the young man +with evident curiosity. Scott was conscious, however, of an +increased friendliness towards himself on the part of most of the +guests, but feeling that it was likely to prove of short duration, +he remained noncommittal and indifferent. As they left the table, +Miss Carleton rallied him on his appearance. + +"Mr. Scott, you are a mystery!" + +"Why so, Miss Carleton, if you please?" he asked, quickly. + +"Just now, when everybody's spirits are relaxing after that horrible +inquest, you look more serious and glum than I have ever seen you. +I threw myself into the breach this afternoon to rescue you from the +enemy's grounds, whither you had been carried by the sensational +statements of Mrs. LaGrange and the coachman and chambermaid, and I +have not even seen you smile once since. Perhaps," she added, +archly, "you didn't care to be rescued by a woman, but would have +preferred to make your own way out." + +"No," said Scott, smiling very brightly now; "I'll not be so +ungrateful as to say that, though I believe I am generally able to +fight my own battles; but I will confess I was somewhat disappointed +this afternoon when you gave your testimony." + +"How could that be?" she inquired, greatly surprised. + +"Up to that time I had flattered myself that I had one friend who +had faith in me, even though circumstances conspired against me. I +discovered, then, that it was no confidence in me, but only a +knowledge of some of the facts, that kept her from turning against +me like the rest." + +Scott spoke in serio-comic tones, and Miss Carleton looked keenly +in his face to see if he were jesting. + +"No; you are mistaken, Mr. Scott," she said, slowly, after a pause. +"My confidence in you would have been just as strong if I had known +nothing of the facts." + +"Thank you; I am very glad to hear that," he answered. Then added, +gently, "Would, it be strong enough to stand a far heavier strain +than that, if it were necessary?" + +His tones were serious now, and she regarded him inquiringly for a +moment before speaking; then seeing young Mainwaring approaching +with his sister and Miss Thornton, she replied, in low tones,- + +"I have no idea to what you refer, Mr. Scott, and I begin to think +you are indeed a 'mystery;' but you can be assured of this much: I +would never, under any circumstances, believe you capable of +anything false or dishonorable." + +Scott's eyes expressed his gratification at these words, and he +would then have withdrawn, but neither Miss Carleton nor young +Mainwaring gave him an opportunity to do so without seeming +discourteous. Both drew him into conversation and found him +exceedingly entertaining, though reserved concerning himself. +Isabel Mainwaring still held herself aloof and took little part in +the conversation, but to make amends for this Miss Thornton bestowed +some of her most winning smiles upon the handsome young secretary, +her large, infantile blue eyes regarding him with wondering +curiosity. + +After a pleasant evening, Scott excused himself and retired to his +room; but an hour or two later there was a knock at his door, and +on opening it he saw young Mainwaring in smoking-cap and jacket. + +"I say, Scott, won't you come out and have a smoke? I've got some +fine cigars, and it's too pretty a night to stay in one's room; +come out on my balcony and we'll have a bit of a talk and smoke." + +Scott readily consented, and the two young men proceeded to the +balcony upon which Mainwaring's room opened, where the latter had +already placed two reclining chairs and a small table containing +a box of his favorite Havanas. + +For a few moments they puffed in silence, looking out into the +starlit night with its beauty of dim outline and mysterious shadow. +Mainwaring was the first to speak. + +"I say, Scott, I'm awfully ashamed of the way that some of us, my +family in particular, have treated you within the last day or two. +It was confoundedly shabby, and I beg your pardon for my share in +it, anyhow." + +"Don't waste any regrets over that matter," Scott answered, +indifferently; "I never gave it any thought, and it is not worth +mentioning." + +"I do regret it, though, more than I can tell, and I haven't any +excuse for myself; only things did look so deucedly queer there +for a while, don't you know?" + +"Well," said Scott, pleasantly, "we are not out of the woods yet, +and there is no telling what developments may arise. Things might +'look queer' again, you know." + +"That's all right. I know a gentleman when I see him, unless I +happen to lose my head, and that doesn't occur very often. Now +it's different with the governor. He's got so confoundedly wrought +up over that will, don't you know, that he can't think of anything +else, and there's no reason in him." + +"As I understand it," remarked Scott, "Mr. Mainwaring expects to +win the property in any case, either for you or for himself." + +"Yes; and naturally you might think that the loss of the will +wouldn't amount to much, one way or the other; but it's like this: +the governor and I are very different; I know we've got plenty of +ducats, and that's enough for me, but not for him; he is ambitious. +It has always galled him that we were not in the direct line of +descent from the main branch of the Mainwarings; and it has been +his one great ambition since the death of old Ralph Mainwaring, +Hugh's father, a few years before I was born, to win into his own +family the old Mainwaring estate. He had an idea that Hugh would +never marry, and gave me his name, hoping that I would be made +his heir. Should the governor succeed in this scheme of his, he +will immediately buy back the Mainwaring estate, although he knows +I don't care a rap for the whole thing, and we will then have the +honor, as he considers it, of perpetuating the old family line. +On the other hand, if the property goes to the nearest heirs, it +will be divided between him and his younger brother. Uncle Harold +has no more ambition than I have, and though he is at present a +bachelor, that is no guarantee that he will remain one; and, anyhow, +it isn't likely that there will be much of his share left when he +gets through with it. So you see how much importance the governor +attached to that will." + +"I understand," said Scott, as his companion paused. Then he added, +musingly, "Your uncle's name seems to be rather unusual among the +Mainwarings; I do not recall your having mentioned it before." + +"What, Harold? On the contrary, it is the great name in our family, +especially in the main line. I would have been given that name if +the governor had not been looking out for Hugh Mainwaring's money. +There was a direct line of Harolds down to my great-grandfather. +He gave the name to his eldest son, but he died, and the next one, +Ralph, Hugh's father, took up the line. Guy, my grandfather, was +the youngest." + +"One would almost have thought that Hugh Mainwaring would have borne +the name of Harold," commented Scott. + +Young Mainwaring smoked for a moment in silence, then said, in lower +tones, "Old Uncle Ralph had a son by that name." + +"Indeed! Had Hugh Mainwaring a brother?" Scott asked in surprise. + +"Yes, there was a brother, but he died a great many years ago. +There is quite a story connected with his name, but I don't know +many of the particulars, for the governor seldom alludes to it. I +know, however, that Harold was the elder son, but that Uncle Ralph +disinherited him for marrying against his wishes, and afterwards +died of grief over the affair, and soon after his father's death +Harold was lost at sea." + +"You say he married; did he leave any children?" + +"No, I believe he had no children; but even if he had, they would have +been disinherited also. Uncle Ralph was severe; he would not even +allow Harold's name to be mentioned; and Hugh also must have turned +against his brother, for I have heard that he never spoke of him or +allowed any allusion to be made to him." + +"Well," said Scott, after a pause, "I believe Hugh Mainwaring's life +was far from happy." + +"You are right there. I'll never forget the last words he ever +spoke to me as I took leave of him that night. They were to the +effect that he hoped when I should have reached his age, I would be +able to look back over a happier past than his had been. It is my +opinion, too, that that woman was the cause of his unhappiness, and +I believe she is at the bottom of all this trouble." + +Their conversation had drifted to the mystery then surrounding them, +and for more than an hour they dwelt on that subject, advancing many +surmises, some strangely improbable, but none of which seemed to +bring them any nearer a solution of the problem. + +"My first visit to this country has proved an eventful one," said +young Mainwaring, as, at a late hour, they finally separated for the +night, "and I don't know yet how it may terminate; but there's one +thing I shall look back upon with pleasure, and that is my meeting +with you; and I hope that from this time or we will be friends; and +that this friendship, begun to-night, will be renewed in old England +many a time." + +"Are you not rather rash," Scott inquired, slowly, "considering how +little we know of each other, the circumstances under which we have +met, and the uncertainty of what the future may reveal?" + +"No; I'm peculiar. When I like a fellow, I like him; and I've been +studying you pretty closely. I don't think we need either of us be +troubled about the future; but I'm your friend, Scott, and, whatever +happens, I'll stand by you." + +"So be it, then, Hugh," replied the secretary, clasping the hand of +the young Englishman and, for the first time, calling him by name. +"I thank you, and I hope you will never go back on that." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SKIRMISHING + + +On the following morning the gentlemen at Fair Oaks were astir at +an unusually early hour, and immediately after breakfast held a brief +conference. It was decided to offer a heavy reward for the +apprehension of the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, while a lesser +reward was to be offered for information leading to identification +and arrest of the guilty party. Preparations were also to be made +for the funeral, which would take place the next day, and which, in +accordance with the wishes of Ralph Mainwaring, was to be strictly +private. + +Their conference at an end, Ralph Mainwaring ordered the carriage to +take himself, Mr. Whitney, and the secretary to the depot. + +"I believe I will ride down with you," said Mr. Merrick. + +"Certainly; plenty of room. Going to the city?" + +"Yes; but not with you gentlemen. We will part company at the +depot and I will take another car." + +"How are you getting on, Mr. Merrick?" inquired Mr. Thorton. + +"As well as can be expected, all things considered," was the +non-committal reply. + +"Going to be a slow case, I'm afraid," commented Ralph Mainwaring, +shaking his head in a doubtful way, while Mr. Thornton added +jokingly,- + +"We've got some mighty fine fellows over home there at the Yard; if +you should want any help, Mr. Merrick, I'll cable for one of them." + +"Thank you, sir," said the detective, with quiet dignity; "I don't +anticipate that I shall want any assistance; and if I should, I will +hardly need import it from Scotland Yard." + +"Ha, ha! That all depends, you know, on what your man is. If the +rascal happens to have any English blood in him, it will take a +Scotland Yard chap to run him down." + +"On the principle, I suppose, of 'set a rogue to catch a rogue,'" +Merrick replied, smiling. + +He bad scarcely finished speaking when Hardy suddenly entered the +room. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, addressing Ralph Mainwaring; "but the +coachman is gone! We've looked everywhere for him, but he's nowhere +about the place." + +"When did he go?" asked Mr. Whitney, quickly. + +"Nobody knows, sir. Joe, the stable-boy, says he hasn't been around +at all this morning." + +"Bring the boy here," said Mr. Mainwaring. + +There was instantly recalled to every one present the memory of +Brown's insolent manner at the inquest, together with his confused +and false statements. In a few moments Hardy returned with the +stable-boy, an unkempt, ignorant lad of about fourteen, but with a +face old and shrewd beyond his years. + +"Are you one of the servants here?" Mr. Mainwaring inquired. + +"I works here, ef that's wot yer mean; but I don't call myself +nobody's servant." + +"How did it happen that you were not at the inquest?" he demanded. + +"Didn't got no invite," was the reply, accompanied by a grin, while +Hardy explained that the boy did not belong to the place, but had +been hired by the coachman to come nights and mornings and attend +to the stable work. + +"What do you know about this Brown?" inquired Mr. Mainwaring, +addressing the boy. + +"Wal, I guess he's ben a-goin' it at a putty lively gait lately." + +"You mean he was fast?" + +"I guess that's about the size of it." + +"When did you see him last?" + +"Hain't seen nothin' of him sence las' night, an' then he was sorter +crusty an' didn't say much. I come down this mornin' an' went to +work, - he allus left the stable key where I could get it, - but I +ham' t seen nor heard nothin' o' him. Me'n him," with an emphatic +nod towards Hardy, "went up to his room, but he warn't there, nor +hadn't ben there all night." + +"Why do you think he was fast?" + +"Wal, from all I've hearn about him I guess he's ben goin' with a +kinder hard set lately. I've seen some putty tough-lookin' subs +hangin' 'round the stables. There was a lot of 'em waitin' for him +Wednesday night." + +"Wednesday night!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney. "At what time? and who +were they?" + +"I dunno who they was, but they was hangin' 'round about eight +o'clock waitin' for him to go with 'em. An' then he's had lots of +money lately." + +"How do you know this?" + +"I've hearn him a-jinglin' it in his room; an' night afore las' I +clim' up-stairs and peeked in, an' he had a whole pile of gold +pieces 'bout that high," measuring with his hands; "but he see me, +an' he said he'd gimme a whalin' ef he catched me at it agin." + +"Did you watch him last night?" asked Mr. Mainwaring. + +"Yas; he acted so kinder queer that I waited 'round to see what he +was goin' to do. After 'twas still an' he thought I'd gone, he come +down an' started off towards the side street. Jes' fer fun I +follered him; an' when he got to the lake he stopped and looked all +'round, as ef to make sure there warn't nobody to see him, an' then +he takes somethin', I couldn't see what, out from under his coat an' +chucks it quick into the lake, an' then he started on a run down +towards the street." + +"Couldn't you see what he threw?" + +"No, I couldn't see what 'twas; but it struck the water awful heavy." + +"Is that all you know about the affair?" + +"Yas, that's all." + +"Wait a moment," said Mr. Merrick, as the boy turned to leave the +room. "Can you tell how many, or what kind of looking men were with +Brown on Wednesday night?" + +"There was three of 'em. One was a big feller with kinder squint +eyes, the other two was ornery lookin' fellers; one of 'em was dark +like a furriner, an' t'other one had sorter yeller hair." + +"How long were they there?" + +"About half' n hour, I guess. They was all gone 'fore nine o'clock." + +"Did you hear anything that was said?" + +"I hearn 'em talkin' somethin' about the boss." + +"Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Yas. He'd made a kick about somethin' or 'nuther that afternoon, +an' Brown he was cussin' mad, an' then when they went away I hearn +one of 'em say somethin' about 'makin' a good job of it.'" + +"How was this, Hardy?" inquired Mr. Whitney. "Had there been any +words Wednesday between Mr. Mainwaring and the coachman?" + +"Yes, sir; I had forgotten it; but now I remember that when he came +back that afternoon, he found some fault with the coachman, and +Brown was very insolent, and then Mr. Mainwaring threatened to +discharge him." + +"'Pon my soul! I should say here was something worth looking into," +said Mr. Thornton, as the boy left the room, accompanied by Hardy. + +"A great pity that we could not have had his testimony at the +inquest," commented the attorney. "We might then have cornered +Brown; but I was not aware that there was such a person employed on +the place." + +Meanwhile, a carriage ordered by telephone from the Arlington had +already arrived at Fair Oaks. + +"Well," said Ralph Mainwaring, "the carriage is waiting. We had +better proceed to the depot; we can talk of this latest development +on our way." + +"You will excuse me, gentlemen," said Mr. Merrick, quietly, "I have +changed my mind, and will postpone my trip to the city." + +"Struck a new trail, eh?" queried Ralph Mainwaring, with a peculiar +expression, as he paused to light a cigar. + +"On the contrary, sir, only following up an old one," and, with a +somewhat ambiguous smile, the detective withdrew. + +The coachman's sudden disappearance, together with the facts learned +from the stable-boy, formed the subject of discussion for the next +half-hour between Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney, Scott listening +with a thoughtful face, although taking little part in the +conversation. Upon their arrival at the offices of Mainwaring & +Co. they were given a cordial greeting by Mr. Elliott and Mr. +Chittenden, after which they passed on to the elegant private +offices of Hugh Mainwaring. Mr. Whitney was visibly affected as +he entered the familiar rooms, and to each one was forcibly +recalled the memory of their meeting a few days before. A brief +silence followed, and then in subdued tones they began to discuss +the business which had now brought them there. + +At about two o'clock that afternoon, Scott found himself entering +an ancient and dilapidated looking block in a rather disreputable +part of the city. He had fulfilled his appointment with Mr. +Sutherland, and after an hour's conversation both gentlemen appeared +very sanguine regarding the case under consideration. As Scott was +taking leave, he produced Hobson's card and related the particulars +of their incidental meeting at Fair Oaks, and Hobson's urgent +invitation to call upon him at his office. + +Mr. Sutherland laughed. "About what I expected," he said. "It was +evident from his remarks at the inquest that some one - probably +Mrs. LaGrange - had posted him concerning you, and he is afraid you +are onto his secret." + +"I had questioned if it were that, or whether possibly he might be +onto mine." + +"Not at all probable," said the attorney, after a moment's +reflection. "If he really understood your position, he would be +far too cunning to allow you to get sight of him. You have the +scoundrel completely in your power." + +"Yes, as much as he is in anybody's power; but it is doubtful if +any one can hold so slippery a rascal as he. I believe I will give +him a call, however." + +"It would do no harm, taking care, of course, that you give him no +information." + +"Oh, certainly," said Scott, with a smile, as he paused for an +instant in the doorway; "my object will be to get, not give, +information." + +"His object will probably be the same," was Mr. Sutherland's parting +shot, as he turned with a laugh to his desk. + +Scott, having ascended a narrow, crooked stairway, found himself in +a long, dark hall, poorly ventilated, and whose filthy condition was +only too apparent even in the dim light. Far in the rear he saw a +door bearing the words, "R. Hobson, Attorney." As he pushed open +the door, a boy of about seventeen, who, with a cigarette in his +mouth and his feet on a table, sat reading a novel, instantly assumed +the perpendicular and, wheeling about, faced Scott with one of the +most villainous countenances the latter had ever seen. Something in +Scott's appearance seemed to surprise him, for he stared impudently +without speaking. After silently studying the face before him for +an instant, Scott inquired for Mr. Hobson. + +"He is in, sir, but he is engaged at present with a client," said +the boy, in tones which closely resembled Hobson's. "I will take +in your card, sir." + +The boy disappeared with the card into an adjoining room, returning +a moment later with the most obsequious manners and the announcement +that Mr. Hobson would be at liberty in a few moments. Scott rightly +judged that this ceremony was merely enacted for effect, and contented +himself with looking about the small, poorly furnished room, while +the office boy opposite regarded him with an undisguised curiosity, +which betrayed that this client - if such he could be regarded - +differed greatly from the usual class. Young and untaught though +he were, he had learned to read the faces about him, and that of +his employer was to him as an open book, and the expression which +flashed into Hobson's eyes as they fell upon Scott's card indicated +plainly to the office boy that in this instance the usual conditions +were reversed, and the attorney stood in fear of his visitor. + +A few moments later the door of the next room opened noiselessly +and Hobson, attired in a red dressing-gown and wearing his most +ingratiating smile, silently beckoned Scott to enter. With a quick +glance the latter took in every detail of the second apartment. It +was somewhat larger than the first, but the furnishing was meagre +and shabby in the extreme, and, with the exception of a small set +of shelves containing a few dilapidated volumes, there were no +visible signs of an attorney's office. + +Hobson did not speak until he had carefully closed the door, then +he said, in low tones,- + +"As our conversation is likely to be of a confidential nature, you +would perhaps desire greater privacy than can be secured here. Step +this way." + +He opened the door into a room so dark and so thick with stale +tobacco smoke that at first Scott could discern nothing clearly. + +"My den!" said Hobson, with a magnificent flourish, and Scott stepped +within, feeling, he afterwards said, as though he were being ushered +by Mephistopheles into the infernal regions, and this impression was +not lessened by the first objects which he was able to distinguish, + - a pair of skulls grinning at him through the smoky atmosphere. +As his eyes became accustomed to the dim light he noted that the +room was extremely small, with only one window, which opened upon +the blank wall of an adjoining building, and with no furniture, save +an enormous, high-top desk and two chairs. One of the latter Hobson +placed near the window for his visitor, and then busied himself for +a moment at the desk in hastily concealing what to Scott looked like +some paraphernalia of the black arts. Upon the top of the desk were +the two skulls which had first attracted Scott's attention, and +which he now regarded rather curiously. Hobson, following his +glance, said, by way of explanation,- + +"Rather peculiar ornaments, I dare say, you consider those, Mr. +Scott; but I am greatly interested in phrenology and devote much of +my leisure time to its study. It is not only amusing, you know, but +it is of great assistance in reading and understanding my fellow-men, +and enables me to adapt myself to my clients, so to speak." + +Having satisfactorily arranged his belongings, Hobson locked the +door, and, seating himself behind his desk, appeared ready for +business. + +"Well, my young friend," he began, "I rather expected you, for I +flatter myself that I understand enough of human nature to know that +there are very few who will pass by an opportunity of learning +something for the advancement of their own interests or the +betterment of their own condition in life." + +"That may be perfectly natural," Scott replied; "but you flatter +yourself altogether too much if you think that I have come here +with any expectation that you can advance my interests or better +my condition." + +"That remains to be seen. Much also depends upon yourself, for I +take it that a young man of your calibre is not without ambition." + +Hobson paused, regarding his visitor with sharp scrutiny, but +receiving no reply, continued, "I might add, that to a young man +with ambitious designs such as yours, I would probably be able to +render great assistance." + +"I am not aware of any unusual ambition on my part." + +"Oh, no, nothing unusual. You simply had no intention of remaining +Hugh Mainwaring's secretary any longer than was necessary. That +was perfectly natural, perfectly laudable, my young friend, and I +admire the shrewdness and foresight with which you set about to +accomplish your designs. At the same time, I believe I am in a +position to give you just the information and advice you need in +order to insure your success." + +Both men had the same object in view. Each wished to ascertain what +the other knew concerning himself. Scott, unable to determine +whether Hobson had spoken at random or with an inkling of the facts, +answered, coldly,- + +"I do not know to what you refer, or on what grounds you base the +inference which you seem to have drawn." + +"No? Then you will allow me to remark, Mr. Scott, that such +familiarity as yours with a portion of Hugh Mainwaring's private +correspondence, extending back over a period of fifteen or more +years, taking into consideration the facts that you cannot be much +more than twenty-five years of age, and have only been about two +years in Mr. Mainwaring's employ, would indicate that you had sought +to acquaint yourself with some facts connected with your employer's +early life with the express purpose of using the same to your own +advantage." + +"You must see the inconsistency of such a supposition, when you +consider that I have been in possession of these facts for some +time - it is unnecessary to state how long - and have made no use +of them whatever." + +"Possibly," said Hobson, with emphasis, "your knowledge of the +facts may not have been definite enough to warrant your use of them." + +His voice and manner unconsciously betrayed the importance which he +attached to Scott's reply. The latter detected this, and answered +evasively,- + +"It is sufficiently definite for any own personal satisfaction in +any event." + +Hobson shook his head. "It is useless to evade the point. You had +an object in looking up that correspondence; you intended to make +a good thing out of the facts you got hold of; and, if your +information is sufficiently complete, you can make a good thing out +of them yet." + +"If I have not attempted anything of that kind in the past, would +I be likely to try it at this late day?" Scott asked, with the air +of one who is open to any available suggestion. + +Hobson at once assumed a confidential manner, and, moving a little +nearer his visitor, replied, in a low tone,- + +"Look here, Mr. Scott, that's just why I wanted to meet you. You +see I knew more about you than you think. I've taken an unusual +interest in you, too; and, seeing the little game you were playing, +and knowing that I held the trump card myself, I naturally would +like to take a hand and help you out at the same time. Now, the +point is just this, Mr. Scott: What do you really know concerning +the transaction referred to in that correspondence? I suppose +you are familiar with all the letters that passed on both sides?" + +"Perfectly so." + +"Certainly. But you will acknowledge, Mr. Scott, that those letters +were expressed in very guarded terms, and, with the exception of +possibly one or two, gave no hint of the nature of that transaction. +Remember," he added, impressively, "I have an exact copy of the +correspondence on both sides, and no one could ever assume any +statement or admissions that were not there." + +"I presumed that, of course," said Scott, calmly. + +"Now, my young friend, let us get down to the actual knowledge which +you have of the facts. You are, I suppose, aware that there was a +missing will involved in the case?" + +"I am; and that one or two of your letters purported to show that +the missing will was destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Did I make any such allegation?" + +"Not directly; but your allusions and references would be clear to +any one having a knowledge of the English statutes." + +Hobson started, and inquired quickly, "Are you familiar with English +law?" + +"I made myself familiar with your citations and references in this +case." + +"I see; you have indeed made a study of the case. Well, Mr. Scott, +permit me to say that I accused Hugh Mainwaring of nothing which he +had not previously confessed to me himself. Have you any knowledge +concerning that will, - its terms or conditions, or the names of the +testator or beneficiaries?" + +"There was nothing in the correspondence to give any clue to those +particulars. I could only gather that Hugh Mainwaring had defrauded +others and enriched himself by destroying this will." + +Hobson looked relieved. "Without doubt, he did; but allow me to +call your attention to one point, Mr. Scott. You see how little +actual knowledge you have of this affair. There are others - Mrs. +LaGrange, for instance, and the mysterious individual whom she heard +conversing with Mr. Mainwaring on the night of the murder, - all of +whom know as much or more than you; and while this meagre knowledge +of the case might perhaps have been sufficient to bring to bear upon +Mainwaring himself, personally, it would have little or no weight +with those with whom we would now have to deal. You know nothing +of the terms of the will, or of the persons named as beneficiaries, +whom, consequently, Hugh Mainwaring defrauded. You have no proof +that he destroyed the will. In fact, my dear young friend, you +could produce no proof that such a document ever existed at all!" + +"Do I understand you, then, that those letters, Mr. Mainwaring's +included, would not be regarded as proof?" Scott asked, with +well-feigned surprise. + +"Not of themselves with these people; I know them too well." +Hobson shook his head decidedly, then continued, in oracular +tones, "Remember, I am only speaking of your chances with them. +Mainwaring's letters were very guarded, mine scarcely less so. +They would have no weight whatever with men like Ralph Mainwaring or +William Thornton. They might even charge you with forging the whole +thing. The point is just this, Mr. Scott: in order to be able to +get anything from these parties you must have complete data, absolute +proof of every statement you are to make; and such data and proofs +are in the possession of no one but myself. So you see I am the +only one who can assist you in this matter." + +"And what compensation would you demand for 'assisting' me?" + +"We will not put it that way, Mr. Scott," Hobson replied, his small, +malignant eyes gleaming with delight at the ease with which his +prey was falling into his clutches. "It is like this: Ralph +Mainwaring and Thornton are prejudiced against me; I might not be +able to work them as successfully as I could wish, but you and I +could work together very smoothly. I could remain invisible, as it +were, and give you the benefit of the information I possess and of +my experience and advice, and you could then successfully manipulate +the wires which would bring in the ducats for both of us. What do +you say, my young friend?" + +"Do you think that either Ralph Mainwaring or Mr. Thornton would +care enough for any secrets you might be able to disclose to pay +you hush money?" + +"I object to the term of 'hush money.' I am merely trying to get +what was due me from Hugh Mainwaring. As he never paid me in full, +his heirs must. Yes, I could work them after they return to +England and set up in style on the old Mainwaring estate. They +would be rather sensitive about the family reputation then." + +"Where are the beneficiaries of that will that was destroyed?" Scott +suddenly inquired. + +Hobson looked sharply at him. "Dead, long ago. Why do you ask?" + +"I was thinking that if they or their heirs were living, it would +be better to go to them with this information. They would probably +pay a good price for it." + +"You're right, they would," Hobson replied, approvingly; "but they +are all dead." + +"Were there no heirs left?" + +"None whatever, more's the pity. However, I've got a good hold on +these English chaps and will make them hand over the sovereigns yet." + +The contempt which Scott had hitherto concealed as Hobson unfolded +his plans was now plainly visible on his face as he rose from his +chair. + +"Don't hasten, my young friend," said Hobson, eagerly. "Sit down, +sit down; we have not laid our plans yet." + +"No, nor will we," was the reply. "If you think to make a cat's-paw +of me in any of your dirty, contemptible pieces of work, you are +mistaken. If you think that I came here with any intention of +listening for one moment to any of your vile propositions, you are +mistaken. I came here simply to satisfy myself on one point. My +errand is accomplished, and I will remain no longer." + +Hobson had sprung to his feet and now faced Scott, barring the way +to the door, while fear, anger, defiance, and hate passed in rapid +succession across his evil countenance, making his appearance more +demon-like than ever. + +"You lie!" he exclaimed, in a hoarse whisper. "I have not given +you one word of information!" + +"No," Scott interrupted, "you have given me no information, and you +could give me none, for the reason that I know more concerning this +whole affair than you do. I also have knowledge of certain other +matters regarding one Richard Hobson, alias Dick Carroll, and his +London adventures." + +Hobson's face had become a livid hue, and Scott detected a sudden +movement of his right hand towards his desk. + +"None of that!" he cried, warningly, at the same time springing +quickly upon him with two well-aimed blows, one of which knocked a +revolver from Hobson's hand, while the other deposited him in a heap +upon the floor. While the latter was recovering from the effect of +the stunning blow he had received, Scott picked up the revolver and, +having examined it, slipped it into his pocket, saying,- + +"I will keep this for a while as a souvenir of our interview. It +may be needed as evidence later." + +Hobson crawled to his feet and stood cowering abjectly before Scott, +rage written on every lineament of his face, but not daring to give +it expression. + +"Who in the devil are you, anyway?" he growled. + +"That is none of your business whatever," Scott replied, seizing +him by the collar and dragging him to the door. "The only thing for +you to do is to unlock that door as expeditiously as possible, +asking no questions and making no comments." + +With trembling fingers the wretch complied, and Scott, still +retaining his hold upon his collar, reached the door of the outer +room, where, with a final shake, he released him. + +"Wait a moment," Hobson whispered, eagerly, half-paralyzed with fear, +while his eyes gleamed with malign hatred. "You've got no hold on +me by anything I've said, and you've no proof of that Carroll +business, either." + +Scott looked at him an instant with silent contempt. "You cowardly +scoundrel! all I have to say to you at present is, be careful how +you interfere with me! I'm only sorry I soiled my hands with you, +but I'll do it again if necessary; and the next time you will fare +worse!" and, opening the door, he passed quickly through the outer +room, conscious of the amazed stare of the office boy, who had +overheard his last words. Hobson did not attempt to follow him, but +paced up and down his room, trembling with fear and rage combined, +and vainly striving to imagine who his visitor might be. At last +he sat down to his desk and began to write rapidly, muttering to +himself,- + +"I half believe - only that he's too young - that he is some hound +over here trying to scent out the whole thing. But," he added, with +an oath, "whoever he is, if he crosses my track he'll be likely to +follow Hugh Mainwaring before long, that's all!" + + + +CHAPTER XII + +X-RAYS + + +On the morning following Scott's interview with Hobson, he awoke at +an early hour, vaguely conscious of some disturbing influence, +though unable to tell what had awakened him. He lay for a moment +recalling the events of the preceding day, then suddenly remembered +that this was the day fixed for the funeral of Hugh Mainwaring. +None of the servants were astir about the house, but Scott soon +became conscious of the sound of stealthy movements and subdued +voices coming through the open window, and, rising, he looked out. +At first he could see nothing unusual. It was just sunrise, and the +river, at a little distance shimmering in the golden light, held +him entranced by its beauty. Then a slight rustling in the +shrubbery near the lake attracted his attention. The golden shafts +of sunlight had not yet reached that small body of water, and it +lay smooth and unbroken as the surface of a mirror, so clear at +that hour that one could easily look into its depths. Suddenly a +light boat shot out from the side nearest the grove, breaking the +smooth surface into a thousand rippling waves of light. In the boat +were two men, one of whom Scott instantly recognized as the +detective; the other, who was rowing and had his back towards the +house, seemed to be a stranger. Some one concealed in the shrubbery +called to the boatmen, whereupon they rowed across in that direction, +stopping a few yards from shore. Here they rested a few moments +till the surface was again smooth, when, both men having carefully +peered into the depths of the little lake, the detective proceeded +to let down a drag into the water. + +"By George!" Scott ejaculated, "the sly old fox is improving the +opportunity, while every one is asleep, to drag the lake in search +of whatever the coachman threw in there. All right, my dear sir, +go ahead! But I'm somewhat interested in this affair myself, and +I don't intend that you shall monopolize all the facts in the case." + +Keeping an eye on the boat, he dressed quickly and, letting himself +out at the front entrance, he hastened down the walk through the +grove to the edge of the lake, keeping himself concealed among the +trees. The boat was moving slowly back and forth, and was now in +such a position that Scott could see the face of the man rowing, +who proved to be, as he had thought, a stranger. On the other side, +seated under the flowering shrubs and trees bordering the lake, was +Joe, the stable-boy, watching proceedings with intense interest. +With a smile, the young secretary followed his example, seating +himself at the foot of an ancient elm whose branches drooped nearly +to the ground. + +"All right, Mr. Detective!" he said, "I can stay as long as you. +If you fail to make a success of your work this morning no one will +be the wiser, but in case you find anything I propose to know +something about it myself." + +The sun was now shining brightly, but the hour was yet so early that +there was little danger of any one else appearing on the scene, +especially as it was Sunday morning. + +For nearly an hour Mr. Merrick and his companion rowed slowly back +and forth in constantly widening circles, meeting with no success +and saying little. Suddenly, while Scott was watching the face of +the stranger, wondering who he might be, he heard a low exclamation +and saw that the drag had fastened itself upon some object at the +bottom of the lake. He watched eagerly as they drew it to the +surface, and could scarcely restrain a cry of astonishment as he +saw what it was, but before either of the men could secure it, it +had slipped and fallen again into the water. With language more +forcible than elegant, the drag was again lowered, and the boat +once more began its slow trailing. + +This time they had not so long to wait for success. The drag was +brought to the surface, but carrying in its clutches an entirely +different object, and one with which the young secretary was totally +unfamiliar, - a somewhat rusty revolver. + +Mr. Merrick's back was now towards Scott, but the latter saw him +take something from his pocket which he seemed to compare with the +revolver, at the same time remarking to the stranger, who was +watching with an appearance of great interest, + +"A pretty good find, Jim, pretty good! However, we'll have another +try for that box, whatever it is. It may amount to something or it +may not, but it will do no harm to make a trial." + +Having let down the drag once more, he glanced at the house, then at +his watch, saying, "No signs of any one astir; we're all right for +another hour yet." + +After a few more turns, Scott saw them suddenly pulling in the +ropes, and once more the box appeared, rusty and covered with slime, +but still familiar. He at once sprang to his feet and sauntered +carelessly down the walk, humming a tune and watching the occupants +of the boat with an air of mild curiosity. The stranger was the +first to see him, and with an expression of evident disgust gave +Merrick warning of his approach. If the detective felt any +annoyance he did not betray it as he turned and nodded to Scott in +the most nonchalant manner possible, as though dragging the lake +were an every-day occurrence. + +"You've been fishing, I see," said Scott, pleasantly. "How did you +make out?" + +"Well, I've made this find which you see here," answered Mr. Merrick, +as the boat headed for shore. "I don't know yet what it is, but it +has not lain long in the water, and it may be worth looking into." + +Scott made no reply until the detective had sprung ashore; then, as +the latter proceeded to examine the box, leaving his companion to +take care of the boat and drag, he said, in a low tone,- + +"That is likely to prove an important discovery, Mr. Merrick." + +"You are familiar with it then?" queried the latter. + +"I have seen it in Mr. Mainwaring's safe. That was the box in which +he kept the old jewels that were stolen on the night of the murder." + +Mr. Merrick whistled softly and studied the box anew. "Well, there +are no jewels in it now, but we will open it. There is no one up +yet to let us into the house, so suppose we go to the stables; we'll +be safe there from intrusion." + +They proceeded to the stables, and, arriving there, Scott was puzzled +to see Merrick's companion at work and evidently perfectly at home. + +"We are going to use your room a while, Matthews," said Merrick, +carelessly. Then, noting the surprise on Scott's face, he added, +"This is Matthews, the new coachman, Mr. Scott. I thought you knew +of his coming." + +"At your service, sir," said Matthews, respectfully lifting his cap +in response to Scott's greeting, while the latter inquired, as he +and the detective passed up-stairs together,- + +"When did he come?" + +"Yesterday afternoon. He applied for the position, and, as he +happened to be an acquaintance of mine, Mr. Mainwaring hired him +upon my recommendation. Now," as he locked the door of the room +they had entered, "we will open this box as quickly as possible. +I suppose there is no key to be found, and, if there were, the +lock is too rusty to work." + +With the aid of a file and chisel the box was soon opened. The +satin linings were somewhat water-soaked and discolored, and the +box appeared to be empty, but on opening an inner compartment there +were exposed to view a pair of oddly shaped keys and a blood-stained +handkerchief, the latter firmly knotted as though it had been used +to bandage a wound of some kind. + +"Ah!" said the detective, with peculiar emphasis, examining the +handkerchief, which was of fine linen, with the initials "H. M." +embroidered in one corner. "Did Mr. Mainwaring carry a handkerchief +of that style?" + +"Yes; he carried that, or one precisely like it, the last day of +his life." + +"Very good!" was the only reply, as the detective carefully folded +and pocketed the article with an air that indicated that he wished +to say no more about it. "And these keys, do you recognize them?" + +"They were Mr. Mainwaring's private keys to his library and the +southern hall." + +"The ones the valet said were missing?" + +"The same." + +Mr. Merrick, after studying them curiously for a moment, consigned +them to his pocket also, and then began a careful inspection of the +interior of the box. Scott watched him in silence, thinking +meanwhile of the old document which he had found hidden away in its +depths, and inwardly rejoicing that it had not been left to be +discovered by the detective. Nothing in Mr. Merrick's manner or +expression betrayed the nature of his thoughts, and, so long as he +chose to remain silent, Scott refrained from questioning him. + +At length he closed the box, saying, indifferently, "Well, I don't +know as there is any reason why I should detain you any longer, Mr. +Scott. We have satisfied ourselves as to the contents of the box, +and you have identified the articles. For the present, however, I +would prefer that you say nothing of this." + +"Certainly, Mr. Merrick. The discovery, whatever its import, is +your secret, and I shall make no mention of it whatever." + +"I don't know that it is of any special importance," said the +detective, carelessly, as they prepared to descend the stairs; "but +it only confirms the opinion that I have had all along." + +"Don't you think that this tends to show that the murder and robbery +were connected, notwithstanding Mr. Whitney's theories to the +contrary?" Scott inquired, as they were about to separate. + +"Possibly," replied the other, gravely. Then added, with a smile, +"Mr. Whitney has his own preconceived ideas of the case and tries +to adapt the circumstances to suit them, when, in reality, one must +first ascertain whatever facts are available and adjust his theories +accordingly." + +They parted company at the door of the stables, but Scott had not +reached the house when the detective, with a peculiar smile, +returned to the room up-stairs, and once more opening the box, drew +forth from underneath the satin linings a folded paper, yellow with +age and covered with closely written lines; which he read with great +interest, after which he remained absorbed in thought until aroused +by the entrance of his friend, the coachman. + +Several hours later Scott stood alone beside the casket of the +murdered man. The head had been turned slightly to one side and a +spray of white blossoms, dropped with seeming carelessness within +the casket, concealed all traces of the ghastly wound, their snowy +petals scarcely whiter than the marble features of the dead. + +It lacked more than an hour of the time set for the funeral. None +of the few invited friends would arrive for some time yet. The +gentlemen of the house were still in the hands of their valets, and +the ladies engrossed with the details of their elegant mourning +costumes. Scott, knowing he would be secure from interruption, had +chosen this opportunity to take his farewell look at the face of his +employer, desiring to be alone with his own thoughts beside the dead. + +With strangely commingled emotions he gazed upon the face, so +familiar, and yet upon which the death angel had already traced many +unfamiliar lines, and as he realized the utter loneliness of the +rich man, both in life and in death, a wave of intense pity swept +across heart and brain, well-nigh obliterating all sense of personal +wrong and injury. + +"Unhappy man!" he murmured. "Unloved in life, unmourned in death! +Not one of those whom you sought to enrich will look upon you to-day +with one-half the sorrow or the pity with which I do, whom you have +wronged and defrauded from the day of my birth! But I forgive you +the wrong you have done me. It was slight compared with the far +greater wrong you did another, - your brother - your only brother! +A wrong which no sums of money, however vast, could ever repair. +What would I not give if I could once have stood by his side, even +as I stand by yours to-day, and looked once upon his face, - the +face of your brother and of the father whom, because of your guilt, +I have never seen or known, of whom I have not even a memory! +Living, I could never have forgiven you; but here, to-day, in pity +for your loveless life and out of the great love I bear that father +in his far-away ocean grave, - in his name and in my own, - I +forgive you, his brother, even that wrong!" + +As Scott left the room, he passed Mr. Whitney in the hall, who, +seeing in his face traces of recent emotion, looked after him with +great surprise. + +"That young man is a mystery!" he soliloquized. "A mystery! I +confess I cannot understand him." + +A little later the master of Fair Oaks passed for the last time +down the winding, oak-lined avenue, followed by the guests of the +place and by a small concourse of friends, whose sorrow, though +unexpressed by outward signs of mourning, was, in reality, the more +sincere. + +Mrs. LaGrange, who, as housekeeper, had remained at Fair Oaks, +seemed, as the last carriage disappeared from view, to be on the +verge of collapse from nervous prostration. No one knew the mental +excitement or the terrible nervous strain which she had undergone +during those last few days. Many at the funeral had noted her +extreme pallor, but no one dreamed of the tremendous will power +by which she had maintained her customary haughty bearing. When +all had gone, she rose and attempted to go to her room, but in the +hall she staggered helplessly and, with a low moan, sank unconscious +to the floor. The screams of the chambermaid, who had seen her +fall, summoned to her assistance the other servants, who carried +her to her room, where she slowly regained consciousness, opening +her eyes with an expression of terror, then closing them again with +a shudder. Suddenly she seemed to recall her surroundings; with a +great effort she rallied and dismissed the servants, with the +exception of the chambermaid, saying, "It was nothing, only a little +faintness caused by the heat. The room was insufferably close. Say +nothing of this to the others when they return." + +With Katie's assistance, she exchanged her heavy dress for a light +wrapper of creamy silk, and soon seemed herself again except for +her unusual pallor. + +"That will do, Katie; I shall not need you further. By the way, +did Walter go with the others, or did he remain at home?" + +"Mr. Walter is in his room, ma'am; and I heard Hardy say that he +was packing up his clothes and things." + +Mrs. LaGrange betrayed no surprise, no emotion of any kind. "Say +to him that I would like to see him in my room at once." + +The girl disappeared, leaving Mrs. LaGrange to her own reflections, +which seemed anything but pleasant. The look of terror returned +to her face; she clinched her hands until the jewels cut deeply into +the white fingers; then, springing to her feet, she paced the room +wildly until she heard the footsteps of her son approaching, when +she instantly assumed her usual composure. + +Walter LaGrange had left Fair Oaks immediately at the close of the +inquest, and had not returned except to be present at the funeral, +and even there his sullen appearance had caused general remark. +Very little love had ever existed between mother and son, for neither +had a nature capable of deep affection, but never until now had there +been any open rupture between them. Though closely resembling each +other, he lacked her ability to plan and execute, and had hitherto +been content to follow her counsels. But, as he now entered his +mother's room, a glance revealed to her that her authority and +influence over him were past. + +"You sent for me, I believe. What do you want?" he asked, as she +looked at him without speaking. + +"Do you consider your conduct becoming towards a mother who is +risking everything for you and your interests?" + +"Oh, my interests be hanged," he exclaimed, petulantly. "I don't +see that you've accomplished much for my interests with all your +scheming. A week ago I could hold up my head with any of the +fellows. I was supposed to be a relative of Hugh Mainwaring's, +with good prospects, and that I would come in for a good round +sum whenever the old fellow made his will, - just as I did. Now +that's gone, and everything's gone; I haven't even a name left!" + +"Walter LaGrange, what do you mean? Do you dare insinuate to your +own mother-" + +"Why don't you call me Walter Mainwaring?" he sneered. "As to +insinuations, I have to hear plenty of 'em. Last night I was +black-balled at one of the clubs where my name had been presented +for membership, and a lot of the fellows have cut me dead." + +"Walter, listen to me. You are Hugh Mainwaring's son and I was +his wife. I will yet compel people to recognize us as such; but +you must - " + +"Tell me one thing," he demanded, interrupting her. "If I was Hugh +Mainwaring's son, why have I not borne his name? Why did he not +recognize me as such? I'll claim no man for my father who would +not acknowledge me as his son." + +Then, before she could reply, he added, "If you were the wife of +Hugh Mainwaring, what was the meaning of your proposal of marriage +to him less than three months ago?" + +She grew deathly pale; but he, seeming to enjoy the situation, +repeated, sneeringly, "Less than three months ago, the night on +which he gave you the necklace which you commissioned me to sell +the other day! You urged your suit with a vengeance, too, I +remember, for you threatened to ruin him if he did not come to +your terms. + +"I only laughed then, for I thought 'twas another scheme of yours +to get a tighter hold on the old man's purse-strings. It's nothing +to me what your object was, but in view of the fact that I happened +to overhear that little episode, it might be just as well not to +try to tell me that I am Hugh Mainwaring's son. You will naturally +see that I am not likely to be interested in helping carry out that +little farce!" + +Still controlling herself by a tremendous will power, the wretched +woman made one more desperate effort. In low tones she replied,- + +"You show your base ingratitude by thus insulting your mother and +running the risk of betraying her to listening servants by your +talk. Of course, this is all a farce, as you say, but it must be +carried through. You and I were distantly related to Hugh +Mainwaring, but what chance would we have against these people with +no more of a claim than ours? I am compelled to assert that I was +his wife and that you are his son in order to win any recognition +in the eyes of the law." + +For an instant her son regarded her with an expression of mingled +surprise and incredulity, then the sneer returned, and, turning to +leave the room, he answered, carelessly,- + +"You can tell your little story to other people, and when you have +won a fortune on it, why, I'll be around for my share, as, whatever +my doubts in other directions, I have not the slightest doubt that +you are my mother, and therefore bound to support me. But, for the +present, if you please, I'll go by the old name of LaGrange. It's +a name that suits me very well yet, even though," and a strange look +flashed at her from his dark eyes, "even though it may be only a +borrowed one," and the door closed, for the last time, between +mother and son. + +A low moan escaped from the lips of the unhappy woman. "My son - +the only living being of my flesh and blood - even he has turned +against me!" Too proud to recall him, however, she sank exhausted +upon a couch, and, burying her face in her hands, wept bitterly for +the first and only time in her remembrance. + +Meanwhile, the guests of Fair Oaks, having returned from the funeral, +had assembled in the large library below, and were engaged in +animated discussion regarding the disposition to be made of the +property. Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Thornton, with pencils and paper, +were computing stocks and bonds, and estimating how much of a margin +would be left after the purchase of the old Mainwaring estate, which +they had heard could be bought at a comparatively low figure, the +present owner being somewhat embarrassed financially; while Mrs. +Mainwaring was making a careful inventory of the furniture, paintings, +and bric-a-brac at Fair Oaks, with a view of ascertaining whether +there were any articles which she would care to retain for their +future home. + +Mr. Whitney, who, as a bachelor and an intimate friend of Hugh +Mainwaring's, as well as his legal adviser, had perhaps more than +any one else enjoyed the hospitality of his beautiful suburban home, +found the conversation extremely distasteful, and, having furnished +whatever information was desired, excused himself and left the room. +As he sauntered out upon the broad veranda, he was surprised to see +Miss Carleton, who had made her escape through one of the long +windows, and who looked decidedly bored. + +"It's perfectly beastly! Don't you think so?" she exclaimed, +looking frankly into his face, as if sure of sympathy. + +She had so nearly expressed his own feelings that he flushed +slightly, as he replied, with a smile, "It looks rather peculiar to +an outsider, but I suppose it is only natural." + +"It is natural for them," she replied, with emphasis. + +"I did not intend to be personal; I meant human nature generally." + +"I have too much respect for human nature generally to believe it +as selfish and as mercenary as that. I have learned one lesson, +however. I will never leave my property to my friends, hoping by +so doing to be held in loving remembrance. It would be the surest +way to make them forget me." + +"Has your experience of the last few days made you so cynical as +that?" the attorney inquired, again smiling into the bright, fair +face beside him. + +"It is not cynicism, Mr. Whitney; it is the plain truth. I have +always known that the Mainwarings as a family were mercenary; but I +confess I had no idea, until within the last few days, that they +were capable of such beastly ingratitude." + +"Do you mean to say that it is a trait of the entire Mainwaring +family, or only of this branch in particular?" he inquired, somewhat +amused. + +"All the Mainwarings are noted for their worship of the golden god," +she replied, with a low musical laugh; "but Ralph Mainwaring's love +of money is almost a monomania. He has planned and schemed to get +that old piece of English property into his hands for years and +years, in fact, ever since it was willed to Hugh Mainwaring at the +time his brother was disinherited, and the name he gave to his son +was the first stone laid to pave the way to this coveted fortune." + +"I see. Pardon me, Miss Carleton; but you just now alluded to Hugh +Mainwaring's brother. I remember some mention was made at the +inquest of a brother, but I supposed it must be an error. Had he +really a brother?" + +"Ah, yes, an elder brother; and he must have been less avaricious +than the rest of them, as he sacrificed a fortune for love. It was +quite a little romance, you know. He and his brother Hugh were +both in love with the same lady. The father did not approve, and +gave his sons their choice between love without a fortune or a +fortune without love. Hugh Mainwaring chose the latter, but Harold, +the elder, was true to his lady, and was consequently disinherited." + +"Poor Hugh Mainwaring!" commented the attorney; "he made his choice +for life of a fortune without love, and a sad life it was, too!" + +Miss Carleton glanced up with quick sympathy. "Yes, it seemed to +me his life must have been rather lonely and sad." + +There was a pause, and she added, "And did he never speak to you, +his intimate friend, of his brother?" + +"Never." + +"Strange! Perhaps he was like the others, after all, and thought +of nothing but money." + +"No, I cannot believe that of Hugh Mainwaring," the attorney replied, +loyally; then added, "What became of the brother, Miss Carleton?" + +"He was lost at sea. He had started for Africa, to make a fortune +for himself, but the boat was wrecked in a storm and every one on +board was lost." + +"And his family, what of them?" queried the attorney. + +"He had no children, and no one ever knew what became of his wife. +The Mainwarings are a very prosaic family; that is the only bit of +romance in their history; but I always enjoyed that, except that +it ended so sadly, and I always admired Harold Mainwaring. I would +like to meet such a man as he." + +"Why, I should say there was a romance in progress at present in +the Mainwaring family," said Mr. Whitney, smiling. + +"What! Hugh and Edith Thornton?" She laughed again, a wonderfully +musical, rippling laugh, the attorney thought. "Oh, there is no +more romance there than there is in that marble," and she pointed +to a beautiful Cupid and Psyche embracing each other in the centre +of a mass of brilliant geraniums and coleas. "They have been +engaged ever since their days of long dresses and highchairs, - +another of Ralph Mainwaring's schemes! You know Edith is Hugh's +cousin, an only child, and her father is immensely rich! Oh, no; if +I ever have a romance of my own, it must spring right up +spontaneously, and grow in spite of all opposition. Not one of the +sort that has been fostered in a hot-house until its life is nearly +stifled out of it." + +Mr. Whitney glanced in admiration at the fair English face beside +him glowing with physical and intellectual beauty. Then a moment +later, as they passed down the long hall in response to the summons +to dinner, and he caught a glimpse, in one of the mirrors, of a +tolerably good-looking, professional gentleman of nearly forty, he +wondered why he suddenly felt so much older than ever before. + +Miss Carleton was seated beside him at dinner, while nearly opposite +was Harry Scott, conversing with young Mainwaring. He was quietly +but elegantly dressed, and his fine physique and noble bearing, as +well as the striking beauty of his dark face, seemed more marked +than usual. Mr. Whitney watched the young secretary narrowly. +Something in the play of his features seemed half familiar, and yet +gave him a strange sense of pain, but why, he could not determine. + +"Mr. Whitney," said Miss Carleton, in a low tone, "did you ever +observe a resemblance at times between Mr. Scott and your friend, +Mr. Hugh Mainwaring?" + +The attorney looked up in surprise. "Why, no, Miss Carleton, I +would not think a resemblance possible. Mr. Scott is much darker +and his features are altogether different." + +"Oh, I did not refer to any resemblance of feature or complexion, +but his manner, and sometimes his expression, strikes me as very +similar. I suppose because he was associated with him so much, +you know." + +Mr. Whitney's eyes again wandered to the face of the secretary. He +started involuntarily. "By George!" he ejaculated, mentally, "Hugh +Mainwaring, as sure as I live! Not a feature like him, but the same +expression. What does it mean? Can it be simply from association?" + +In a state of great bewilderment he endeavored still to entertain +Miss Carleton, though it is to be feared she found him rather +absent-minded. He was passing out of the dining-room in a brown +study when some one touched his arm. He turned and saw Merrick. + +"When you are at liberty, come out to the grove," the latter said, +briefly, and was gone before the attorney could more than bow in +reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THEORIES, WISE AND OTHERWISE + + +Half an hour later, having excused himself to Miss Carleton, Mr. +Whitney hastened to the grove, where he found the detective +sauntering up and down the winding walk, his hands behind him in a +reflective mood, absorbed in thought and in the enjoyment of a fine +cigar. He nodded pleasantly as the attorney approached. + +"Going to be at liberty for some time?" he inquired, at the same +time extending his cigar-case. + +"Yes, for any length of time you please; it's a relief to get away +from those egotists." + +"H'm!" said Merrick, as he returned the cigar-case to his pocket +after the attorney had helped himself; "I didn't think that you +looked particularly anxious to be relieved of your company when I +saw you. I really felt considerable delicacy about speaking as I +did." + +"Oh, to the deuce with your nonsense!" the attorney replied, his +cheek flushing as he lighted his cigar. "If you had listened to +the twaddle that I have all day, you would be glad to talk to almost +any one for a change." + +"In that event, perhaps you won't mind talking to me for a while. +Well, suppose we go down to the stables, to the coachman's room; he +is probably with his best girl by this time, and we will be safe +from interruption or eavesdroppers." + +"That suits me all right so long as Ralph Mainwaring doesn't think +of looking for me there. That man makes me exceedingly weary!" + +"Anxious to secure the property according to the terms of that will, +I suppose." + +"Anxious! He is perfectly insane on the subject; he can't talk of +anything else, and he'll move heaven and earth to accomplish it, +too, if necessary." + +"Don't anticipate any difficulty, do you?" + +"None whatever, unless from that woman; there's no knowing to what +she may resort. It will only be necessary to prove that the will, +if not in existence at the death of the testator, was fraudulently +destroyed prior thereto, and I think we have a pretty clear case. +By George, Merrick!" suddenly exclaimed the attorney in a different +tone, as he paused on the way to the stables. "I hadn't thought of +it before, but there's one thing ought to be done; we should have +this lake dragged at once." + +Merrick raised his eyebrows in mute inquiry. + +"To find whatever Brown threw in there, you know; it might furnish +us with an almighty important clue." + +"H'm! might be a good idea," Merrick remarked, thoughtfully. + +"Of course it would! I tell you, Merrick, I was cut out for a +detective myself, and I'm pretty good for an amateur, now." + +"Haven't a doubt of it," was the quiet response, and the pair resumed +their walk. Both were soon comfortably seated in the coachman's +room, their chairs tilted at just the right angle before a large +double window, facing the sunset. Both smoked in silence for a few +moments, each waiting for the other to speak. + +"Well, my friend, what do you know?" inquired the detective, while +he watched the delicate spirals of blue smoke as they diffused +themselves in the golden haze of the sunlight. + +"Just what I was about to ask you," said his companion. + +"Oh, time enough for that later. You have been looking into this +case, and, as you are a born detective, I naturally would like to +compare notes with you." + +Mr. Whitney glanced sharply at the detective, as though suspicious +of some sarcasm lurking in those words, but the serious face of +the latter reassured him, and he replied,- + +"Well, I've not had much experience in that line, but I've made +quite a study of character, and can tell pretty correctly what a +person of such and such evident characteristics will do under such +and such conditions. As I have already stated to you, I know, both +from observation and from hints dropped by Hugh Mainwaring, that if +ever a dangerous woman existed, - artful, designing, absolutely +devoid of the first principles of truth, honor, or virtue, - that +woman is Mrs. LaGrange. I know that Mainwaring stood in fear of +her to a certain extent, and that she was constantly seeking, by +threats, to compel him to either marry her or secure the property +to her and her son and I also know that he was anxious to have the +will drawn in favor of his namesake as quickly and as secretly as +possible. + +"Now, knowing all these circumstances, what is more reasonable than +to suppose that she, learning in some way of his intentions, would +resort to desperate measures to thwart them? Her first impulse +would be to destroy the will; then to make one final effort to +bring him, by threats, to her terms, and, failing in that, her fury +would know no bounds. Now, what does she do? Sends for Hobson, the +one man whom Hugh Mainwaring feared, who knew his secret and stood +ready to betray it. Between them the plot was formed. They have +another interview in the evening, to which Hobson brings one of his +coadjutors, the two coming by different ways like the vile +conspirators they were, and in all probability, when Hugh Mainwaring +bade his guests good-night, every detail of his death was planned +and ready to be carried into execution in the event of his refusing +to comply with that woman's demands made by herself, personally, +and later, through Hobson. We know, from the darkey's testimony, +that Hobson and his companion appeared in the doorway together; that +the man suddenly vanished - probably concealing himself in the +shrubbery - as Hobson went back into the house; that a few moments +later, the latter reappeared with Mrs. LaGrange; and the darkey +tells me that he, supposing all was right, slunk away in the bushes +and left them standing there. We know that the valet, going up +stairs a while after, found Mrs. LaGrange in the private library, +and at the same time detected the smell of burning paper. You +found the burnt fragments of the will in the grate in the tower-room. + +"Now, to my mind, it is perfectly clear that Mrs. LaGrange and +Hobson proceeded together to the library and tower-room, where they +first destroyed the will, and where she secreted him to await the +result of her interview with Mainwaring, at the same time providing +him with the private keys by which he could effect his escape, and +with Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver with which the terrible deed was +done. Later, finding that Mainwaring would not accede to her +demands, I believe she left that room knowing to a certainty what +his fate would be in case Hobson could not succeed in making terms +with him, and I believe her object in coming down the corridor +afterwards was simply to ascertain that her plans were being carried +into execution. Now there is my theory of this whole affair; what +do you think of it?" + +"Very ingeniously put together! What about the jewels? Do you +think Hobson took them?" + +"No. I think Mrs. LaGrange got possession of them in some way. She +has no means of her own to hire that scoundrel, yet the darkey heard +her promise to pay him liberally, and you see her very first attempt +to pay him was by the sale of some of those jewels. I'll acknowledge +I'm not prepared to say how or when she secured them." + +"Could she open the safe?" + +"That I cannot say. Mainwaring told me, some months ego, that he +found her one day attempting to open it, and he immediately changed +the combination. Whether she had discovered the new combination, I +am unable to say; but she is a deep woman, and usually finds some way +of accomplishing her designs." + +"Brown, the coachman, seems to have no place in this theory of +yours." + +"Well, of course we none of us thought of him in connection with +this affair until since his sudden disappearance yesterday, but I +am inclined to think that he is to be regarded in the light of an +accessory after the fact. I think it very probable that Mrs. +LaGrange has employed him since the murder to assist her in +concealing evidences of the crime, and that is why I suggested +dragging the lake in search of what may be hidden there; but, +according to his own story, he was in the city that night until +some time after the murder was committed." + +"Yes, according to his own story, but in reality he did not go to +the city at all that night. More than that, he was seen in this +vicinity about midnight with a couple of suspicious looking +characters." + +"By George! when did you learn that?" + +"I knew it when Brown gave his testimony at the inquest." + +"The deuce you did! and then let the rascal give you the slip, +after all!" + +"Don't give yourself any anxiety on that score; I can produce Brown +any hour he's wanted. One of my subordinates has his eye on him +day and night. At last reports, he and Brown were occupying the +same room in a third-class lodging house; I'll wager they're having +a game of cards together this evening." + +"Well, well! you have stolen a march on us. But, if I may ask, why +don't you bag your game?" + +"I am using him as a decoy for larger game. Whatever Brown is mixed +up in, he is only a tool in the hands of older and shrewder rascals." + +Before the attorney could say anything further, Merrick rose abruptly +and stepped to a table near by, returning with a package. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, removing the wrappings and +holding up the rusty, metallic box. + +"Great heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Whitney, springing forward excitedly. +"Why, man alive, you don't mean to say that you have found the jewels!" + +"No such good fortune as that yet," the detective answered quietly, +"only the empty casket;" and having opened the box, he handed it to +the attorney. + +"Where did you find this?" the latter inquired. + +"Fished it out of the lake." + +"Ah-h! I should like to know when." + +"While you were snoring this morning." + +"Great Scott! They'll catch a weasel asleep when they find you +napping! But, by George! this rather confirms my theory about that +woman getting possession of the jewels and hiring Brown to help her, +doesn't it?" + +Without replying, Merrick handed over the revolver which had been +brought to light that morning. + +"Where did you get this rusty thing? Was it in the lake, also?" + +The detective nodded affirmatively, and Mr. Whitney examined the +weapon in some perplexity. + +"Well, I must say," he remarked at length, "I don't see what +connection this has with the case. The shooting was done with +Hugh Mainwaring's own revolver; that was settled at the inquest-" + +"Pardon me! It was only 'settled' that the revolver found lying +beside him was his own." + +The attorney stared as Merrick continued, at the same time producing +from his pocket the revolver in question, "This, as you are +doubtless aware, is a Smith and Wesson, 32 calibre, while that," +pointing to the rusty weapon in Mr. Whitney's hands, "is an old +Colt's revolver, a 38. On the morning of the murder, after you and +the coroner had gone, I found the bullet for which we had searched +unsuccessfully, and from that hour to this I have known, what before +I had suspected, that this dainty little weapon of Mr. Mainwaring's +played no part in the shooting. Here is the bullet, you can see for +yourself." + +Mr. Whitney gazed in silent astonishment as the detective compared +the bullet with the two weapons, showing conclusively that it could +never have been discharged from the familiar 32-calibre revolver. + +"Well, I'll be blessed if I can see what in the dickens that +revolver of Mainwaring's had to do with the affair, anyway!" + +"Very easily explained when you once take into consideration the +fact that the whole thing was an elaborately arranged plan, on the +part of the murderer, to give the affair an appearance of suicide. +One glance at the murdered man convinced me that the wound had +never been produced by the weapon lying at his side. That clue +led to others, and when I left that room with you, to attend the +inquest, I knew that Hugh Mainwaring had been shot with a 38-calibre +revolver, in his library, near the centre of the room, and that the +body had afterwards been so arranged in the tower-room as to give +the appearance of his having deliberately shot himself beside his +desk and with his own revolver." + +"By George! I believe you're right," said the attorney; "and I +recall now your statement that day, that the shooting had occurred +in the library; I wondered then what reason you had for such an +opinion." + +"A small stain on the library carpet and the bullet told me that +much. Another thing, which at first puzzled me, was the marked +absence of blood-stains. There was a small pool of blood underneath +the head, a slight stain on the carpet in the adjoining room, but +none on the clothing or elsewhere. The solution to this I found +on further investigation. The wound had been firmly and skillfully +bandaged by an expert hand, the imprint of the bandage being +plainly visible in the hair on the temples. Here is the proof that +I was correct," and Merrick held up to the attorney's astonished +view the stained and knotted handkerchief. "This, with the private +keys belonging to Mr. Mainwaring's library, was in that box at the +bottom of the lake. Do you consider Mrs. LaGrange or Hobson capable +of planning and carrying out an affair so adroitly as that?" + +"You've got me floored," the attorney answered, gazing at the proofs +before him. "Hobson I know nothing about; but that woman I believe +could scheme to beat the very devil himself; and yet, Merrick, when +you think of it, it must have taken time - considerable time - to +plan a thing like that." + +"Or else," Merrick suggested, "it was the performance of an expert +criminal; no bungling, no work of a green hand." + +Mr. Whitney started slightly, but the detective continued. "Another +point: Hobson, as you say, was the one man whom Hugh Mainwaring +feared and who evidently had some hold upon him; would he then have +dared denounce him as a liar and an impostor? Would not his use of +such terms imply that he was addressing one whom he considered a +stranger and unacquainted with the facts in the case?" + +"I see," the attorney replied quickly; "you have in mind Hobson's +accomplice, the tall man with dark glasses." + +Merrick smiled. "You are then inclined to the opinion that J. Henry +Carruthers, who called in the afternoon, is identical with the +so-called Jack Carroll who accompanied Hobson in the evening?" + +"Certainly that is a reasonable supposition. The descriptions of +the two men agree remarkably, and the darkey was positive, both in +his testimony at the inquest and in conversation with me, that they +were one and the same person." + +"Their general appearance seems to have been much the same, but +their conduct and actions were totally unlike. Carruthers acted +fearlessly, with no attempt at concealment; while, if you will stop +to think of it, of all the witnesses who tried to give a description +of Carroll, not one had seen his face. He always remained in the +background, as much concealed as possible." + +"I don't deny that you are correct," the attorney said musingly; +"and they may have been two distinct individuals, Carroll evidently +being the guilty party; but even in that event, in my opinion, he +was only carrying out with a skillful hand the plans already arranged +by that woman and Hobson." + +"Whatever part Carroll took in the affair, he was undoubtedly +Hobson's agent; and you will find that Hobson and Mrs. LaGrange have +been more intimately associated and for a much longer time than you +suspect," and Merrick repeated what he had overheard of the interview +in Mrs. LaGrange's parlor, just after the close of the inquest. + +Mr. Whitney listened with deep interest. "Well, well! And you +heard her accuse him of being an accessory? Of course she referred +to the murder. By George! I should have wanted them arrested on +the spot!" + +After a slight pause, he continued. "There's one thing, Merrick, +in the conduct of Carruthers which I don't understand. Why, after +telling the secretary that he would remain at the Arlington for the +next two or three days, should he return to the city the next morning +on the 3.10 train?" + +"He seems to have been an impulsive man, who acted on the spur of +the moment," Merrick answered; "but the strangest part of that is, +that he did not return to the city at all. He bought a ticket for +New York, but the conductor informs me there was no such man on +board; while the north-bound train, which pulls out about five +minutes later, had a passenger answering exactly to his description. +The conductor on the latter train also informed me that, just as +they were pulling out of the station, a man, tall and dark, rather +good-looking, he should judge, though he could not see his face, and +wearing a long, light overcoat, sprang aboard, decidedly winded, as +though from running, and immediately steered for the darkest corner +of the smoking-car, where he sat with his hat well drawn down over +his face." + +"Carroll again, by George!" exclaimed the attorney. + +"Here is a problem for you to solve," Merrick continued, pointing +to the revolver and box lying side by side. "You think Brown threw +those in the lake. Who was the man that Brown saw standing beside +the lake just before three o'clock in the morning, and what was he +doing? He was tall and dark, and wore a long coat or ulster. Was +that Carroll or Carruthers? Did he throw anything into the lake? +And if so, what?" + +Mr. Whitney gazed dubiously at the detective for a moment, then +began to whistle softly, while he slowly shook his head. + +"No, Merrick; you've got me there! I never have had enough +experience in this line that I could go into the detail work. I +have to be guided by the main points in the case. Then, again, I +gave Brown's testimony very little thought, as I considered him +unreliable and irresponsible." + +"Well, to come back to the 'main points,' then: what reasons have +you for connecting Mrs. LaGrange and Hobson with this affair that +might not apply equally well in the cases of certain other people?" + +"What reason? Why, man alive! there is every reason to consider +Mrs. LaGrange the instigator of the whole affair. In the first +place, her one object and aim for the past seventeen or eighteen +years has been to get hold of Hugh Mainwaring's property, to secure +for herself and her son what she calls their 'rights' - " + +"That is the point," Merrick interrupted. "You consider her guilty +because she would be interested in securing a hold upon the property, +although she, personally, has no claim whatever. Has it never +occurred to you that there might be others more deeply interested +than she, inasmuch as they have valid claims, being the rightful +heirs?" + +"I never thought of such a possibility," said the astonished +attorney; "and I don't know that I understand now to whom you refer." + +"I have learned from various reliable sources," the detective +replied, "that Ralph Mainwaring has a younger brother, Harold, who +is as much of a money-lover as himself, though too indolent to take +the same measures for acquiring it. He is a reckless, unprincipled +fellow, and having about run through his own property, I understand, +he has had great expectations regarding this American estate, +depending upon his share of the same to retrieve his wasted fortune. +I learned yesterday, by cable, that since the departure of Ralph +Mainwaring and his family for this country, his brother has been +missing, and it is supposed, among his associates in London, that +he took the next steamer for America, intending to assert his own +claims." + +"And you think - " the attorney interrupted, breathlessly; but +Merrick shook his head and continued,- + +"I have also, in the course of my investigations, incidentally +discovered Hugh Mainwaring's secret, and, consequently, Hobson's +secret, only that I know the real facts in the case, which Hobson +does not know. You, as Mainwaring's friend, will not care to +learn the details, and I shall not speak of them now, but I will +say this much: there are probably in existence to-day, and perhaps +not very far distant, heirs to this property, having a claim +preceding not only that of Ralph Mainwaring or his son, but of +Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +There was silence for a few moments as the detective paused, Mr. +Whitney's surprise rendering him speechless; at last he said,- + +"Well, you are a truthful fellow, Merrick, and you never jump at +conclusions, so I know your statements can be relied upon; but I'll +be blessed if I understand how or when you have gathered all this +information together. I suppose it would be useless to ask your +deductions from all this, but I wish you would answer one or two +questions. Do you think that this Harold Mainwaring, or those +possible heirs you mention, would put in an appearance personally, +or that they would work through agents and emissaries?" + +"Depends altogether upon circumstances. Harold Mainwaring would not +be likely to appear on the scene unless he were pretty effectually +disguised. As to the others, - if they were to assert their claim, + - it would be difficult to say just what course they might take. +I have made these statements merely to give you a hint of the +possibilities involved in the case. It is now getting rather late, +but I will give you one or two pointers to ruminate upon. Don't +think that Hobson will run any risks or put himself to any personal +inconvenience for Mrs. LaGrange. He is working first and foremost +for Richard Hobson, after that for whoever will pay him best. +Another thing, don't ever for a moment imagine that Hugh Mainwaring's +private secretary is looking for a job. It's my opinion he'll give +you fellows one of the hardest jobs you ever tackled; and, unless +I'm greatly mistaken, he's got brains enough and backing enough to +carry through whatever he undertakes." + +"Say! I don't know as I exactly catch your meaning; but that's one +thing I wanted to ask you. What do you think of that young man, +anyway? I can't make him out." + +"I noticed that you had not assigned him any place in that theory +of yours." + +"No; he's been a mystery to me, a perfect mystery; but this evening +a new idea has occurred to me, and I would like your judgment on it. +Has he ever reminded you of any one? That is, can you recall any +one whom he resembles?" + +"Well, I should say there was a marked resemblance. I've often +wondered where your eyes were that you had not seen it." + +"You have noticed it, then? Well, so have I; but it has puzzled me, +for, though the look was familiar, I was unable to recall whose it +was until to-night. Now that I have recalled it, that, taken in +connection with some other things I have observed, has led me to +wonder whether it were possible that he is a son of Hugh +Mainwaring's, of whose existence no one in this country has ever +known." + +"Hugh Mainwaring! I don't understand you." + +"Why, you just acknowledged you had noticed the resemblance between +them!" + +"I beg your pardon; but you must recollect that I have never seen +Hugh Mainwaring living, and have little idea how he looked." + +"By George! that's a fact. Well, then, who in the dickens do you +think he resembles?" + +The coachman's step was heard at that instant on the stairs, and +Merrick's reply was necessarily brief. + +"Laying aside expression, take feature for feature, and you have +the face of Mrs. LaGrange." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EXIT OF SCOTT, THE SECRETARY + + +One of the first duties which the secretary was called upon to +perform, during his brief stay at Fair Oaks, was to make a copy of +the lost will. He still retained in his possession the stenographic +notes of the original document as it had been dictated by Hugh +Mainwaring on that last morning of his life, and it was but the +work of an hour or two to again transcribe them in his clear +chirography. + +Engaged in this work, he was seated at the large desk in the +tower-room, which had that morning been opened for use for the first +time since the death of its owner. He wrote rapidly, and the +document was nearly completed when Mr. Whitney and Ralph Mainwaring +together entered the adjoining room. + +"Egad!" he heard the latter exclaim, angrily, "if that blasted +scoundrel thinks he has any hold on me, or that he can keep me on +the rack as he did Hugh, he'll find he has made the biggest mistake +of his life. It is nothing but a blackmailing scheme, and I've more +than half a mind to sift the whole matter to the bottom and land +that beggarly impostor where he belongs." + +"I hardly know just what to advise under the circumstances," Mr. +Whitney answered, quietly, "for I, naturally, have some personal +feeling in this matter, and I am forced to believe, Mr. Mainwaring, +that there is something back of all this which neither you nor I +would care to have given publicity. But, laying aside that +consideration, I am of the opinion that it might not be to your +interest to push this matter too closely." + +"On what grounds, sir, do you base your opinion?" Mr. Mainwaring +demanded. + +The attorney's reply, however, was lost upon Scott, whose attention +had been suddenly arrested by the imprint of a peculiar signature +across one corner of the blotter upon which he was drying his work, +now completed. Instantly, oblivious to everything else, he +carefully examined the blotter. It was a large one, fastened to +the top of the desk, and had been in use but a comparatively short +time. It bore traces both of Hugh Mainwaring's writing and of +his own, but this name, standing out boldly on one corner, was +utterly unlike either. Nor did it resemble any of the signatures +attached to the will on that memorable day when the desk with its +paraphernalia had been last used. + +Considerably perplexed, Scott suddenly recalled a small pocket +mirror which he had seen in the desk. This he speedily found, and, +having placed it at the right angle, leaned over to get a view of +the name as it had been originally written. As he did so, he +caught sight of some faint lines above the signature which he had +not observed, but which were plainly visible in the mirror. It was +well for the secretary that he was alone, for, as he read the +signature with the words outlined above, he was spellbound. For a +moment he seemed almost paralyzed, unable to move. His brain +whirled, and, when he at last sank back in his chair, his face was +blanched and he felt giddy and faint from the discovery which he +had made. Gradually he became conscious of his surroundings. Again +he heard, as in a dream, the conversation in the adjoining room. +The attorney was speaking. + +"I do not at present feel at liberty to give the source of my +information, but I can assure you it is perfectly reliable, and my +informant would never have made such an assertion unless he had ample +authority to back it up." + +"I don't care a rap for your information or its source," the other +interrupted, impatiently. "The whole thing is simply preposterous. +The estate descended regularly to Hugh Mainwaring, and from him to +our own family as next of kin. You can see for yourself that to +talk of any other claimants having prior rights is an utter +absurdity." + +"Had not Hugh Mainwaring an elder brother?" + +"He had; but you must be aware that he died a great many years ago." + +"But had that elder brother no issue?" + +"None living," Mr. Mainwaring replied, coldly. Then added, in the +same tone, "Even had there been, that fact would have no bearing on +this case, Mr. Whitney. The entire estate was transferred to Hugh +Mainwaring by legal process before the death of his brother, he and +his heirs having been forever disinherited, so that it is the same +as though he had never existed." + +While he was speaking, the secretary entered the library, his pallor +and unusual expression attracting Mr. Whitney's attention. In +response to a glance of inquiry from the latter, however, he merely +said,- + +"The copy is completed. You will find it on the desk," and passed +from the library into the hall. + +Still wondering at his appearance, Mr. Whitney proceeded to the +tower-room, and a moment later both gentlemen were absorbed in the +perusal of the duplicate of the lost will; but afterwards the +attorney recalled that, on taking the document from the desk, he +had noticed that the large blotter covering the top had been removed +and replaced by a new one. + +There was no perceptible change in Scott's appearance during the +remainder of the day, except that he seemed more than usually +thoughtful, sometimes to the verge of abstraction, but, in reality, +his mind was so preoccupied with endless doubts and surmises +regarding his recent discovery that he found it exceedingly difficult +to concentrate his attention upon the work required of him. That +afternoon, however, while engaged in looking through some important +documents belonging to Hugh Mainwaring, kept at the city offices, +a cablegram was handed him, addressed to himself personally, from +Barton & Barton, a well-known legal firm in London. The despatch +itself caused him little surprise, as he had been in correspondence +with this firm for more than a year; but the contents of the message +were altogether unexpected, and left him in a state of bewilderment. +It read,- + +"Have you met J. Henry Carruthers, of London, supposed to have +sailed ten days since, or can you give us his whereabouts?" + +Fortunately, Scott was alone, Ralph Mainwaring and the attorney +being in the private offices, and he had plenty of opportunity to +recover from his surprise. For half an hour he revolved the +matter in his thoughts, wondering whether this had any bearing +upon the question which for the last few hours he had been trying +to solve. A little later he sent the following reply: + +"Person mentioned seen on 7th instant. No trace since. You have +my letter of 8th instant. Cable instructions." + +As the Mainwaring carriage appeared at the offices at four o'clock, +to convey the gentlemen to Fair Oaks, Mr. Whitney was surprised to +find the secretary still engaged at his desk. + +"If you will excuse me," the latter said, pleasantly, "I will not +go out to Fair Oaks this evening. I have some unfinished work here, +and I will remain in the city to-night." + +Upon entering the offices the next day, however, the attorney found +the following note addressed to himself: + +"Mr. WHITNEY. + +"DEAR SIR,-I regret to be compelled to inform you that you will +have to look for another assistant, as important business calls +me away for an indefinite period. Do not give yourself any +trouble concerning the salary which you kindly offered me. I am +not in need of it, and have only been too glad to render you the +little assistance within my power, knowing, as I do, that you have +no easy case on your hands. + +"Trusting we shall meet in the future, I am, with great esteem, + "Very truly yours, + "H. SCOTT. + +As Mr. Whitney read and reread this note, the words of the detective +regarding the private secretary were recalled to his mind, and he +muttered,- + +"Yes, Merrick was right. It is very evident the young man is not +'looking for a job;' but I'll be blessed if I know what to think +of him!" + +Upon Mr. Whitney's return to Fair Oaks, he found the guests assembled +on the veranda, overlooking the river, Mr. Merrick, who had just +returned from a few days' absence, being also included in the company. +There were many exclamations of surprise and considerable comment +when Mr. Whitney told of the sudden disappearance of the secretary. + +"Now, that is too bad!" cried Edith Thornton. "He was so +interesting, and we were all beginning to like him so much." + +"I don't know that any of us were so charmed with him as one might +be led to suppose from your remark, Edith," said Isabel Mainwaring, +with a disdainful glance towards the attorney, who had seated +himself beside Miss Carleton; "but here, almost any one will answer +for a diversion, and he was really quite entertaining." + +"It is not to be expected that you would see or appreciate his good +points," said her brother, with half a sneer; "but Scott is a fine +fellow and a gentleman, and I shall miss him awfully." + +Miss Carleton remained silent; but for some reason, unexplainable +to herself, she was conscious of a vague sense of disappointment and +injury. She would not admit to herself that she was troubled because +Scott had gone, it was the manner of his departure. Surely, after +the friendship and confidence she had shown him, he might at least +have sent some word of farewell, instead of leaving as he had, +apparently without a thought of her. However, she chatted graciously +with Mr. Whitney, though, all the while, a proud, dark face with +strangely beautiful eyes persistently forced itself before her mental +vision, nearly obliterating the smiling face of the attorney. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring was giving the detective his views on +the subject. + +"I, for one, am not sorry that he has followed the example of the +coachman and taken himself off. It is my opinion," he continued, +in impressive tones, "that we will yet find he had reasons for +leaving in this manner." + +"Undoubtedly!" Merrick replied, with equal emphasis. + +"Now, that's just where you're wrong, governor," said young +Mainwaring. "Scott is as good as gold. There is no sneak about +him, either; and if he had reasons for leaving as he has, they were +nothing to his discredit; you can stake your last shilling on that!" + +"Oh, I know he has pulled the wool over your eyes," said his father; +"but he has never tried his smooth games on me; he knows I can see +through him. I detest him. One of your typical American swells! +Just what one would expect to find in a country where a common clerk +is allowed to associate with gentlemen!" + +"But, begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring," the detective interposed, +quietly, "Mr. Scott is not an American. He has lived less than two +years in this country." + +A chorus of exclamations followed this statement. + +"Not an American! Then he must be an Englishman," cried Miss +Carleton, her sparkling eyes unconsciously betraying her pleasure at +the discovery. + +"Merrick, are you sure of that?" inquired Mr. Whitney, in +astonishment. + +"Certainly, or I would never have made the assertion I did." + +Ralph Mainwaring suddenly turned the conversation. "How about that +will business, Mr. Whitney? When will that come off?" + +"The petition was filed this afternoon, and will be granted a +hearing some time next week; I have not yet learned the day." + +"And then will you gentlemen be ready to start for home?" Mrs. +Mainwaring inquired, a touch of impatience in her voice. + +"Well, by my soul! I should say not," laughed Mr. Thornton, before +her husband could reply. "It will probably take a number of months, +my dear madam, to settle up this estate, even if there should be no +contest; and if the case is contested, it may drag on for years, eh, +Mr. Whitney?" + +"That will depend upon circumstances. A contest would, of course, +delay the case, perhaps for several months; but I am not aware of +any contestants with sufficient means for continuing it the length +of time you mention." + +"Mercy me!" exclaimed Mrs. Mainwaring, addressing her husband; "do +you and Hugh intend to remain here all that time?" + +"Our stay will probably be somewhat indefinite," he replied, +evasively; "but that is no reason why you and the young ladies need +remain against your will." + +"Indeed! Why could you not have said as much before? Neither +Isabel nor I care to remain here a day longer than is necessary; +we have simply been awaiting your pleasure. Wilson, bring me the +morning papers; I want to see what boats are expected. We will +take the first steamer home. Mr. Thornton, will you and the young +ladies accompany us, or do you prefer to remain in exile a while +longer?" + +"Well," replied that gentleman, smiling genially, "speaking for +myself, I would more than half like to stay and see this thing +through; but the ladies are in the majority, and I will abide by +their decision. How is it, Edith? I suppose, as the novelists +say, you will be 'torn by conflicting emotions.'" + +"You horrid old papa! Of course, if auntie is going back, I shall +go with her. What do you say, Winifred?" + +"I have very little choice, one way or the other," Miss Carleton +replied, more quietly than was usual for her; "whatever you and +Uncle William decide, will suit me." + +"Ab, here are the papers!" said Mrs. Mainwaring, adjusting her +eye-glasses. "These dreadful American dailies!" she exclaimed, as +she scanned the pages; "one never knows where to find anything. Ah, +here it is, and just what we want! The 'Campania' sails Thursday, +at three o'clock. That will suit us exactly." + +"To-morrow! so soon!" exclaimed two or three voices. + +"Certainly," she replied, rising. "I shall have the maids begin +packing at once; and, Mr. Thornton, I shall instruct Wilson to +attend directly to your luggage, for you would never think of it +until within an hour of sailing." + +Her departure seemed the signal for the breaking up of the little +company. Mr. Whitney lingered a few moments at Miss Carleton's +side, with a few murmured words of regret that she was to leave so +soon, to which she listened courteously, though making little +response. After he had gone she remained standing where he had +left her, gazing dreamily out on the river and the distant bluffs. +Merrick, slowly sauntering up and down the veranda, had observed +the whole scene, and now watched the fair young face with a +suggestion of a smile in his kindly eyes. + +"H'm!" he soliloquized; "Whitney is a bigger fool than I've given +him credit for if he thinks he stands any show in that direction. +If I'm not mistaken, I know which way the wind blows, and it's +dollars to doughnuts she'll lose that far-away expression of hers +before she's been aboard the 'Campania' many hours. I'd like to be +aboard myself and watch the transformation scene." + +The attorney's voice here broke in upon his cogitations. + +"I say, Merrick, that was a regular bomb you threw at Mainwaring +with regard to young Scott! How did you discover he was an +Englishman?" + +"I very easily ascertained that he was not an American; that he was +of English descent followed as a matter of course. I am not sure +whether he is of English birth." + +"You seem to be keeping an eye on him." + +"It is my business just now to be posted regarding every one +associated with this place. I've been keeping an eye on you for +the last thirty minutes." + +The attorney colored, and hastily reverted to the original topic of +conversation. "Have you seen anything of him since he left us?" + +"Since his resignation of the salary as well as the position of +private 'secretary?" queried the detective, half to himself, with +a tone of amusement, which Mr. Whitney failed to comprehend. "Yes; +I met him to-day at the Murray Hill." + +"At the Murray Hill! Is he stopping there?" + +"He evidently was this morning. So was I. Possibly we were both +'stopping' on the same business; I cannot say." + +The detective's face was a study, as was also the attorney's. + +"I supposed," said the latter, after a short pause, "from the tenor +of his note, that he intended to leave the city at once." + +"Possibly he does," replied the other, enigmatically, and, having +consulted his watch, turned abruptly in another direction. + +"Say, what will you do about him? Shall you watch him?" Mr. +Whitney called after the vanishing figure. + +Merrick looked back over his shoulder with a peculiar smile. "I +shall not lose track of him," he said, slowly; "he is too +interesting." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MUTUAL SURPRISES + + +The Mainwaring party was among the latest arrivals at the pier on +the following day, owing to the dilatoriness of Mr. Thornton, Mrs. +Mainwaring's efforts to the contrary notwithstanding. At the last +moment he appeared, serenely and smilingly unconscious of that +lady's frowns of displeasure, to the infinite amusement of his +daughter, who whispered to Miss Carleton,- + +"Poor papa! See how auntie glares at him, and he does not even +know it." + +But even Mrs. Mainwaring's facial muscles relaxed slightly at the +sight of the beautiful ocean greyhound lying in the harbor, her +flags waving and streamers fluttering in the breeze, awaiting only +the captain's orders to start on her homeward course. + +The decks were crowded with humanity, for the most part laughing +and chatting gayly and singing bits of song, though here and there +were sad, tear-stained faces, where long farewells, some of them +perhaps the last farewells, were being spoken. + +"Thank heaven, there'll be no tears shed on this occasion!" said +Isabel Mainwaring; "unless," she added, with a glance of scorn +towards Miss Carleton's escort, "Mr. Whitney should contribute a +few. I detest such vulgar demonstrations in public!" + +The attorney certainly did not look very cheerful, and even Miss +Carleton's sunny face was somewhat overcast, though why, it would +seem difficult to determine, since she seemed to have no regrets +at leaving America. + +"Mercy me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mainwaring, "what a dreadful crowd! It +is far worse than when we came over. Hugh, I wonder if your father +examined the ship's list. I particularly requested him to do so. +I wished to ascertain whether there would be any friends of ours on +board. One does not care to make acquaintances promiscuously, you +know." + +"I don't think the governor investigated the subject very +thoroughly," young Mainwaring replied, with a laugh. "I noticed +when we registered there were three or four pages of names preceding +ours, and I don't think he gave the matter much attention. If I had +time I would look it up for you, mother, but we must go ashore in +a few moments." + +"If I am not mistaken, my dear lady," said Mr. Thornton, who had +overheard the conversation, "you will have little time or inclination +for looking up acquaintances on this trip." + +"May I ask why?" Mrs. Mainwaring demanded. + +"I think," he replied, maliciously, "that you and Isabel will be too +much occupied in cultivating the acquaintance of mal de mer to care +for your best friends." + +"How's that, Thornton? Think it will be rough?" inquired Ralph +Mainwaring. + +"The captain tells me the wind is freshening every moment, and we'll +have a decidedly choppy sea before night. I'm thinking we'll have a +nasty trip." + +"In that case, perhaps mamma and I will not be the only victims," +said Isabel Mainwaring. + +"I fear not," responded Mr. Thornton. "Were it not or my inherent +chivalry, I should turn back; but I cannot leave you ladies to meet +your fate alone." + +Amid the general confusion of leave-taking, Mr. Whitney turned +towards Miss Carleton, saying in a low tone, as he took her hand,- + +"I have received cordial invitations both from yourself and Mr. +Thornton to visit your home, and I feel assured of a welcome should +I accept your courtesy; but, pardon me, Miss Carleton, if, after so +brief an acquaintance as ours, I inquire whether I might ever hope +for a welcome from you other than that of a friend?" + +The beautiful brown eyes met his own frankly, but all the laughter +and sunshine had gone out of them. They were serious and had almost +a look of pain. + +"I am sorry, Mr. Whitney," she said, simply; "but it would be very +unjust if I led you to hope that I could ever regard you other than +as an esteemed friend." + +"Pardon me for troubling you," he said, gently. "Believe me always +your friend, and forget that I ever asked for more than friendship," +and, releasing her hand, he passed on to the others. + +The final adieus were spoken; Ralph Mainwaring and his son, +accompanied by the attorney, went ashore; and Miss Carleton, not +caring just then to meet the curious glances of her companions, +walked slowly towards the forward part of the deck. She had gone +but a few steps, however, when she caught sight of the familiar +figure of Mr. Merrick at a little distance, in conversation with a +tall, slender man, with dark, piercing eyes. He was speaking +rapidly in low tones, but his usually non-committal face wore an +expression of unmistakable satisfaction. Suddenly he turned and +walked swiftly in Miss Carleton's direction. Their eyes met, and +in response to her glance of recognition he quickly crossed to +where she was standing. + +"I have but a few seconds left, Miss Carleton," he said, a genial +smile lighting up his face; "but I am glad of an opportunity to +wish you a pleasant trip. Are you a good sailor?" + +"I hardly know," she answered. "I have had so little experience on +the sea. Why? Shall we have a stormy passage, do you think?" + +"Nothing dangerous; a little rough, perhaps; but with congenial +company, such as I trust you will find," and his eyes gleamed with +kindly merriment, "you will hardly mind that. Good-by, Miss +Carleton; bon voyage; and if I can ever in any way serve you as a +friend, do not fail to command me," and before she could reply he +had vanished in the crowd. She looked in vain for any trace of +him; then turning to glance at his companion of a moment before, +discovered that he had disappeared also. + +A moment later the great ocean liner glided majestically out from +the harbor amid prolonged cheers and a final flutter of farewells; +but she was well out upon the tossing waves ere Miss Carleton turned +from watching the receding shore to join her friends, as yet having +found no solution of the problem perplexing her, nor even the +meaning which she felt must be concealed in the words of the +detective. + +They had not been out many hours before it became evident that Mr. +Thornton's unfavorable predictions regarding their journey were +likely to be fulfilled. The sea was decidedly "choppy" and the +motion of the boat anything but exhilarating. + +When the hour for dinner arrived, Mr. Thornton, his daughter, and +Miss Carleton were the only members of their party to venture forth +to the dining-saloon, the others preferring to have a light repast +served in their own apartments. The captain, having discovered in +Mr. Thornton an old-time friend, had ordered seats for him and his +party at his own table, and the young ladies, finding their appetites +rather an uncertain quantity, had plenty of opportunity for observing +their fellow-passengers, particularly an Anglomaniac of the most +pronounced type, in the person of a callow youth seated opposite +them, whose monocle, exaggerated collar, and affected drawl afforded +them considerable amusement. + +"Winifred," said Miss Thornton, as they were leaving the +dining-saloon, "do you see that young Englishman at the farther +table?" + +Her cousin glanced carelessly in the direction indicated, noting the +fine, athletic figure seated, back towards them, at some distance, +attired in heavy English tweed. + +"Yes. What of him?" + +"Nothing in particular; only the sight of him is such a relief, you +know, after that wretched caricature at our table." + +"Poor little harmless dudelet!" mused Winifred, with a smile; "his +self-complacency will be short-lived whenever he meets Isabel. She +will simply annihilate him with one of those glances of hers!" + +At Miss Carleton's suggestion, they went on deck; but Edith grew so +rapidly ill that her cousin assisted her below to their own elegant +suite of apartments, which adjoined, on one side, those occupied by +Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter, while on the other was comfortable +state-room belonging to Mrs. Hogarth. + +Finding Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel already reduced to a state of +abject helplessness which required the attendance of both maids as +well as of the stewardess, Miss Carleton left Edith in Mrs. Hogarth's +care, and, wrapping herself warmly, again went on deck. The wind was +increasing and she found the decks nearly deserted, but the solitude +and the storm suited her mood just then, and, wrapping her rug +closely about her, she seated herself in a comparatively sheltered +place, alone with her own thoughts. + +As she recalled the parting interview with Mr. Whitney, another face +seemed to flash before her vision, and a half-formed query, which +had been persistently haunting her for the last few hours, now took +definite shape and demanded a reply. What would have been the result +if that other, instead of leaving without one word of farewell, had +asked for the hope of something better and deeper than friendship? +What would her answer have been? Even in the friendly shadow of the +deepening twilight she shrank from facing the truth gradually forcing +itself upon her. + +A solitary figure pacing the deck aroused her from her revery. As +he approached she recognized the young Englishman of whom Edith had +spoken. Dressed in warm jacket, with cap well pulled down over his +eyes and hands clasped behind him, he strode the rolling deck with +step as firm and free as though walking the streets of his native +city. She watched him with admiration, till something in his +carriage reminded her of the young secretary at Fair Oaks, and in +the sudden thrill of pleasure produced by that reminder there was +revealed to her inner consciousness a confirmation of the truth she +sought to evade. + +She watched the retreating figure with flashing eyes and burning +cheeks. "It is not true!" she exclaimed, to herself, passionately. +"I do not care for him! It was only a fancy, a foolish infatuation, +of which, thank heaven, neither he nor any one else shall ever know." + +But the monarch who had taken possession of her heart, call him by +what name she chose, was not to be so easily dethroned. + +Meanwhile, the young English stranger passed and repassed, unconscious +of the figure in the shadow, unconscious of the aversion with which +one of his countrywomen regarded him because of his resemblance to +another. He, too, was vainly seeking the solution of problems which +baffled him at every turn, and waging an ineffectual warfare against +the invisible but potent sovereign - Love. + +All that night the storm raged with increasing fury, and morning +found the entire Mainwaring party "on the retired list," as Miss +Carleton expressed it. She herself was the last to succumb, but +finally forced to an ignominious surrender, she submitted to the +inevitable with as good grace as possible, only stipulating that +she be left entirely to herself. + +Towards night the storm abated slightly, and, weary of her own +thoughts, which bad been anything but agreeable, and bored by the +society of her companions in misery, she wrapped her rug warmly +about her and ventured out on deck. The air, laden with salt +spray, seemed invigorating, and without much difficulty she found +her way to her sheltered corner of the preceding evening. She had +been seated but a few moments, however, when the young Englishman +made his appearance, as preoccupied and unconscious of his +surroundings and as free from any symptoms of discomfort as when +she had last seen him. The sight of him was the signal for the +return of the thoughts which had that day kept her company. She +cast a wrathful glance upon the unconscious young stranger just +then passing, his perfect health and evident good humor under +existing circumstances adding to her sense of injury and +exasperation. She grew ill, and determined to return at once to +her apartments, but found her progress against the gale slower and +more difficult than she had anticipated. Dizzy and faint, she had +just reached the stairs when a sudden lurch threw her violently to +one side; she staggered helplessly and would have fallen, but at +that instant a strong arm was thrown about her and she felt herself +lifted bodily. With a sigh of relief she turned her head towards +her rescuer, supposing him one of the officers of the ship, only to +discover, to her horror, that she was in the arms of the young +Englishman. His face was in the shadow, but the light falling on +her own face revealed her features, and at that instant she heard a +smothered exclamation,- + +"Great heavens! can it be possible?" + +Something in the tone startled her and she listened, hoping he would +speak again. He did not; but she noted the tenderness with which +she was borne down the stairs and put in care of the stewardess. +Again she listened eagerly for his voice, but his words were brief +and in an altered tone. + +During the succeeding twenty-four hours in which Miss Carleton tossed +in misery, one thought was uppermost in her mind, - to discover, if +possible, the identity of the stranger who had come to her assistance. +The only information obtainable, however, was that he was evidently +a gentleman of wealth, travelling alone, and apparently with no +acquaintance on board with the exception of a young English officer. +She determined, at the earliest possible moment, to meet her +mysterious rescuer and thank him for his kindness, but was unable +to carry her plan into immediate execution. Meantime, she learned +that he had twice inquired for her. + +On Sunday afternoon, their fourth day out, the storm had ceased and +the weather was gradually clearing, and Miss Carleton, somewhat pale +but quite herself again, came out for a promenade. She found quite +a number of passengers on deck, but for some time she looked in vain +for her unknown friend. At last, after several brisk turns, she +saw him standing at a little distance, talking with the tall, +dark-eyed man whom she had seen in conversation with Mr. Merrick. +The younger man's cap was thrown back, revealing to Miss Carleton +the fine profile, almost classical in its beauty, of the secretary +at Fair Oaks. For a moment her pulse throbbed wildly. She felt a +thrill of pleasure, not unmingled with a twinge of the resentment +which she had been nursing for the last few days. Then she walked +calmly in his direction, saying to herself, - + +"At least, I will thank him for his kindness. I am no love-lorn +peasant maid wearing my heart upon my sleeve!" + +She had nearly reached his side, though he was unaware of her +presence, when the young English officer approached from the other +side and, slapping him familiarly upon the shoulder, exclaimed,- + +"Well, Mainwaring, my boy, you've kept your sea-legs well on this +trip." + +The tall, dark-eyed man withdrew, and Miss Carleton, utterly +bewildered, turned and slowly retraced her steps. Mainwaring! What +did it mean? She heard the name distinctly, and he had taken it as +a matter of course, replying pleasantly and quietly, as though he +had known no other name. The mystery which she had thought to solve +had only deepened tenfold. She was aroused by the cheery voice of +the captain. + +"Well, well, Miss Carleton, glad to see you out! I congratulate +you on your speedy recovery. How are the ladies? and how is my +old friend Thornton?" + +They took a few turns up and down, chatting pleasantly, till Miss +Carleton, looking into the face overflowing with kindliness and +good humor, said,- + +"Captain, I have a great favor to ask of you." + +"Granted, my dear young lady, to the half of my kingdom!" + +"May I have your permission to examine the list of cabin passengers?" + +The captain elevated his shaggy eyebrows and his eyes twinkled with +merriment. "Ah! anxious to learn if some particular friend is on +board, I suppose. Some one was inquiring of me the other night +regarding your identity." + +"Indeed!" said Miss Carleton, a world of inquiry in her eyes. + +"Yes; Mr. Mainwaring, the gentleman conversing with Lieutenant Cohen +over there. He and I both went to your assistance the other evening, +but, much to my regret, he was quicker than I. He remarked to me +after he came back on deck that he had supposed you were a stranger, +but that your face looked familiar. He asked your name, and whether +you were with Mr. Thornton and his daughter, stating that he had met +you. Correct, I presume?" + +"Quite so," said Miss Carleton, quietly. + +"And now about that passenger list, Miss Carleton; you have my +permission to examine it, and I will accompany you myself." + +She thanked him. "Are you acquainted with Mr. Mainwaring?" she +inquired, carelessly. + +"Never met him until this trip. On first learning his name, I +supposed him to be a member of your party, as he is evidently a +gentleman; but I soon learned that he was alone." + +A few moments later the register was opened for Miss Carleton's +inspection, but she did not have to search long. Half-way down the +first page she found, in the familiar writing of the secretary, the +name which she sought - "Harold Scott Mainwaring." + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MUTUAL EXPLANATIONS + +Thanking the captain for his courtesy, Miss Carleton returned to +her accustomed seat on deck, and, since one is never more alone +than when surrounded by a crowd of utter strangers, she felt at +liberty to pursue her own thoughts without interruption. + +She could scarcely credit what her own ears had heard or her eyes +had seen. Harold Scott Mainwaring! What could it mean? Could it +be possible that the secretary, having familiarized himself with +the family history of the Mainwarings, was now masquerading under +an assumed name for some object of his own? But she dismissed +this idea at once. She had assured him at Fair Oaks that she +believed him incapable of anything false or dishonorable, and she +would abide by that belief until convinced otherwise. But if this +were indeed his name, what had been his object in assuming the role +of Scott, the secretary? Which was genuine and which assumed? Who +could tell? As if in answer to her thoughts, she saw the subject +of them approaching. He was alone and looking in her direction, +and on reading the recognition in her glance, his own face lighted +with a smile that banished the last shade of resentment and +suspicion from her mind, albeit there was a question in her eyes +which prepared him in a measure for her first words. With a smile +as bright as those with which she had been accustomed to greet him +at Fair Oaks, she extended her band, saying, slowly,- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, this is indeed a surprise!" She watched him +closely, but there was not the quiver of an eyelash, only a slow, +inscrutable smile, as he replied,- + +"Miss Carleton, I will add to that, and say that this is the +pleasantest surprise of my life." + +She blushed at the implied meaning of his words, and he added,- + +"I have not seen you on deck until to-day." + +"Not last Friday evening?" she inquired, archly. His smile deepened. +"I did not know that it was you at that time until after I had +started below. Did you recognize me?" + +"I thought I recognized your voice; and I have often wished to thank +you for your kindness, but this is my first opportunity, as I have +not been out since until to-day." + +"Please do not mention it. Had I dreamed who it was thus braving +the storm, I would have offered my assistance earlier. I have not +yet recovered from my surprise on discovering the identity of my +fellow-passenger that evening." + +"Indeed!" laughed Miss Carleton; "my presence here is very easily +explained. It is simply the result of one of Mrs. Mainwaring's +numerous whims, as she suddenly decided upon an immediate return to +England. I think, however, that the surprise was mutual." + +"Accordingly, I suppose that mutual explanations should follow," +he answered, lightly. Then added, more seriously, "Miss Carleton, +I am aware that there is much in my conduct that must seem +inexplicable to you. In a few weeks everything will have been +made clear, in the natural course of events; but, if you would be +at all interested to hear, I would greatly prefer that you should +have a perfect understanding of the situation before the facts +become generally known." + +"I should greatly appreciate such a mark of confidence," she replied. + +"If agreeable to you, Miss Carleton, let us pass around to the other +side; it is less crowded there. My friend and I have two chairs, +and, as he has gone to his state-room to do some writing, we shall +be in no danger of interruption." + +When comfortably seated, the young man said, "It is a strange story +which I have to tell, but I will try not to tax your patience too +severely. One week ago this afternoon, Miss Carleton, in passing +through the hall at Fair Oaks, I accidentally overheard a portion +of your conversation with Mr. Whitney, as you related to him the +story of the unfortunate love and death of my father, Harold Scott +Mainwaring." + +Miss Carleton started violently, but said nothing, and, after a +slight pause, the speaker continued,- + +"My earliest recollections are of a home in Australia, with +foster-parents, whose name it is unnecessary to mention, but whose +care and love for me seem, as I now look back, to have equalled that +bestowed by natural parents upon their own child. Not until I had +reached the age of fifteen years did I ever hear of my own father. +I then learned that he had given me, at birth, into the keeping +of my foster-parents, with instructions that, unless he himself +should call for me, I was not even to know of his existence until +within five or six years of my majority. I learned, further, that +his action in thus placing me in the hands of others had been +solely on account of deep trouble and sorrow, of which he wished me +to know nothing until I had reached the years of manhood. When +giving me into their keeping he had also given them a small packet, +containing a sealed letter, which was to be read by me on my +twenty-first birthday, if he had not himself claimed me before that +time. I was told that, while I was too young to retain any +remembrance of him, he frequently visited me and manifested the +greatest devotion to his child, but as I grew older he remained +away, writing occasionally to my foster-father. + +"In the last letter received from him, when I was about five years +of age, he stated that he was going to Africa to make a fortune for +his son. Nothing further was heard from him until there came tidings +of his death at sea, in the manner which you recently related. + +"Of all this I, of course, knew nothing until ten years later, but +what was told me at that time made a deep impression upon me. Of my +mother I could learn absolutely nothing; but for my father, of whom +I had no personal knowledge, and concerning whom there seemed so +much that was mysterious, I felt a love and reverence almost akin to +adoration, and I longed for the day to come when I could read the +letter he had left for me and learn the whole secret of that sad +life. + +"My twenty-first birthday arrived, and the mysterious little packet +was placed in my hands. It contained a few valuable keepsakes and +my father's letter, written out of the bitter anguish of a broken +heart. He told the story of his disinheritance, with which you are +familiar; but the loss of the property he cared little for in +comparison with the loss of his father's love; but even that was as +nothing to the sorrow which followed swiftly and which broke his +heart. He stated that, because of this great sorrow, he had placed +me in the hands of trusted friends that I should be banished from +the false-hearted woman who had borne me and who believed me dead, +as it was his wish that neither of us should ever know of the +existence of the other." + +Harold Mainwaring paused for a moment, and Miss Carleton, who had +been listening with great interest, exclaimed, - + +"And is it possible, Mr. Mainwaring, that, in all these years, you +have had no knowledge concerning your mother?" + +"It is a fact, Miss Carleton, that I do not even know her name, or +whether or not she is living. I only hope and pray that I may +never knowingly meet her, for her heart and life must be - pardon +the expression - as false and as black as hell itself." + +There was a look on his face which Miss Carleton had never seen. +Gradually, however, his features softened, and he continued,- + +"In accordance with my father's wish, expressed in the letter, that +I should complete my studies in England, I sailed for that country +within a few weeks of my twenty-first birthday; and while there I +learned that part of my story which is of more especial interest to +all parties concerned at the present time. + +"I had been but a few months in England when I felt a great desire +to visit, incognito, the old Mainwaring estate. Accordingly, under +the name by which you have known me, I arrived at the estate, only +to learn that the home of my father's boyhood, and of the Mainwarings +for several generations, had passed into the hands of strangers. +My grandfather had died within two years of my father's marriage, +and the younger son had sold the estate and gone to America. +Incidentally, I was directed to an old servant of my grandfather's, +who yet remained on the place and who could give me its whole +history. That servant, Miss Carleton, was old James Wilson, the +father of John Wilson, Ralph Mainwaring's present valet." + +"Ah!" ejaculated Miss Carleton, her face lighting with pleasure; "I +have seen the trusty old fellow hundreds of times, you know. Indeed, +he could give you the history of all the Mainwarings for the last +three hundred years." + +"He gave me one very important bit of history," Harold Mainwaring +replied, with a smile. "He told me that old Ralph Mainwaring, after +the departure of his son for Australia, failed rapidly. He was +slowly but surely dying of a broken heart, and, though he never +mentioned the name of his elder son, it was evident that he regretted +his own harshness and severity towards him. + +"On the night before his death he suddenly gave orders for an +attorney to be summoned, and was so insistent in his demand, that, +when it was ascertained that his old solicitor, Alfred Barton, the +father of the present firm of Barton & Barton, had been called out +of the city, a young lawyer, Richard Hobson by name, who had formerly +been an articled clerk in Barton's office, was called in in his +stead. A little before the hour of midnight, in the presence of his +son, Hugh Mainwaring, Richard Hobson, the attorney, and Alexander +McPherson, an old and trusted Scotch friend, Ralph Mainwaring caused +to be drawn and executed a will, completely revoking and setting +aside the process of law by which Harold Scott Mainwaring had been +disinherited, and restoring to him his full rights as the elder son, +McPherson and the attorney signing the will as witnesses." + +Miss Carleton's eyes dilated and her breath came and went swiftly, +but she spoke no word save a single, quick exclamation. + +"James Wilson, the servant, was also present, but in an obscure +corner, and his presence seems to have been unnoticed. The next +morning, at five o'clock, Ralph Mainwaring passed away, happy in +the thought that he had at last made reparation for his injustice +to his elder son. Within two months the old Scotchman died, and +Richard Hobson was then the sole surviving witness of the last will +and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring. + +"This was all the direct information I could obtain from Wilson, +but from other sources I learned that Hugh Mainwaring was never the +same after his father's death. He grew stern and taciturn, and +would allow no mention of his brother's name, and within two years +he had disposed of the estate and left England forever; while a few +years later tidings were received of the death of Harold Scott +Mainwaring at sea. I also learned that about this time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from the position of a penniless pettifogger +to that of an affluent attorney, though he was engaged in +questionable speculations far more than in the practice of law. + +"I visited the chambers of Barton & Barton, and learned through +them that everything had been adjusted in accordance with the terms +of the will in their possession, which disinherited the elder son; +but Hugh Mainwaring's action in disposing of the estate had excited +considerable comment. + +"Having pledged them to secrecy, I disclosed my identity and +related to them the story of the old servant. To my surprise, they +were inclined to give the story credence; and, acting upon their +advice, I obtained all possible information regarding Hugh +Mainwaring, and, when my studies were completed, sailed for America, +with the express determination to secure proof in verification of +the facts which I had already gathered, and to establish my claim +as the legal heir of the Mainwaring estate. I was not without means +to do this, as my father had accumulated considerable property +during the few years he lived in Australia, and my foster-parents +are people of wealth. + +"You will understand now, Miss Carleton, why I took the position of +private secretary to Hugh Mainwaring. You will realize how eagerly +I studied the correspondence between him and Richard Hobson, from +which I learned that the latter was extorting large sums of money +as the price of his silence regarding some fraudulent transaction, +presumably the destruction of the will; and perhaps you can imagine +my feelings on discovering, one day, among Hugh Mainwaring's private +papers, a memorandum to the effect that the will had never been +destroyed, but was still in existence and in his possession. I +knew that to make any demand upon him for the document would be +worse than useless, as he would never admit my claim. I must find +it for myself. I searched for that will as for hidden treasure, and, +Miss Carleton, I found it!" + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to repress her emotion, "I am so glad! +Do tell me how and when!" + +"I found it on the last day of Hugh Mainwaring's life, within two +hours after he had signed his own last will and testament." + +"What a strange coincidence!" + +"It was strange; and it was my discovery on that day which formed +the subject of my thoughts on the following night, the night of the +murder, and which kept me pacing my room until three o'clock in +the morning." + +"Did Mr. Mainwaring know of your discovery?" + +"No; I had no opportunity to see him that evening until too late, +even if I had chosen to broach the subject to him at that time." + +"Might he not have discovered in some way that you had found the +will?" + +"I think not. Why do you inquire?" + +"It only occurred to me if it might not be possible that he had +reason to think his secret had at last been discovered, and, rather +than face the consequences, committed suicide; but it seems +improbable. But to think that you are the son of the one whom I +have always considered the noblest of all the Mainwarings, and that +you, and not Hugh, are the rightful heir to the old Mainwaring +estate! I am more than glad, and Hugh will be glad also. He will +not begrudge you one shilling or have one unkind thought towards +you, though I cannot say the same for his father." + +"Hugh is a noble-hearted fellow," said Harold, warmly. "He has +promised me his friendship, and I believe he will stand by it." + +He spoke briefly of his plans; of his business in London for a few +days; and, when the will should have been probated in the English +court, of his return to America to establish his claim there. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Miss Carleton, after a pause, "I am +inexpressibly glad to learn what you have told me, and you have my +sincerest wishes for your immediate success. I appreciate, more +than I can tell, your confidence in permitting me to be the first +to know of your good fortune. May I be the first to congratulate +you?" + +He took the proffered hand; but, looking into the beautiful eyes +sparkling with happiness, his own face grew serious, as he replied,- + +"I thank you for your congratulations and your good wishes, Miss +Carleton, but I sometimes question whether my discovery, on that +particular day, of the will - the last link in the chain of +evidence against Hugh Mainwaring - was a matter for congratulation." + +"How is that?" she inquired, quickly. + +"Do you not see that when all these facts become known, they may be +used by my enemies to direct suspicion against me as the possible +murderer of Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Who would think of such a thing?" she exclaimed, indignantly. + +"Ralph Mainwaring will," was his prompt reply. + +"He might try to incite the suspicions of others against you, but he +would know in his own heart that his insinuations were unfounded." + +"I have no fear of him," said Harold, with a smile; "I only mentioned +it to show that I do not anticipate upon my return to America that +my pathway will be strewn with roses." + +He paused a moment, then added, "I had this in mind, Miss Carleton, +when I asked you once whether your confidence in me were strong +enough to stand a heavy strain, if necessary." + +She blushed slightly at the reminder, and a look of quick +comprehension flashed across her face, as, for an instant, she +dropped her eyes before his earnest gaze. When she again looked +up the luminous eyes met his own unwaveringly, as she replied, in +firm, low tones,- + +"I will believe in you and trust you to the fullest extent, whatever +happens." + +"I thank you more than I can express," he answered, gravely; "for, +believe me, Miss Carleton, I value your confidence and friendship +far above any and every other." + +"I did not suppose you needed any assurance of my friendship; though, +after your sudden departure from Fair Oaks, I felt somewhat doubtful +whether you cared for it." + +He did not reply at once, and when he did, it was evident he was +repressing some strong emotion. "I feel that there is an explanation +due you for my manner of leaving Fair Oaks. I am aware that it had +the appearance of rudeness, but I can only say that it was from +necessity and not from choice. There is something more which I hope +some day to tell you, Miss Carleton, but, until I can speak as I +wish to speak, it is best to remain silent; meanwhile, I will trust +to your friendship to pardon whatever in my conduct may seem abrupt +or inexplicable." + +The conversation was terminated at this point by the appearance of +Lieutenant Cohen, whom Harold Mainwaring introduced as an old +classmate, and presently all three adjourned to the dining-saloon. + +To Harold Mainwaring and Miss Carleton the remainder of the voyage +passed swiftly and pleasantly, and the friendship begun at Fair Oaks +deepened with each succeeding day. Though no word of love passed +between them, and though Miss Carleton sometimes detected on the +part of her companion a studied avoidance of personal subjects, yet, +while wondering slightly at his self-imposed silence, she often +read in his dark eyes a language more eloquent than words, and was +content to wait. + +It was his desire that the other members of her party should still +remain in ignorance of his real identity; and, as the greater part +of the voyage proved somewhat rough, he had little difficulty in +preserving his secret. Mr. Thornton and daughter soon made their +appearance and greeted the quondam secretary with unaffected +cordiality, but Mr. Thornton was too deeply engrossed in renewing +acquaintance with one or two old friends to pay much attention to +the younger man, while Edith felt in duty bound to devote herself +to the entertainment of Mrs. Mainwaring and Isabel, a task which +Miss Carleton was not at all disposed to share. Not until the last +few hours of the trip, when fair weather had become an established +fact and land had been sighted, did Mrs. Mainwaring and her daughter +appear on deck, and in the general excitement Harold Mainwaring +escaped their observation. + +The parting between himself and Miss Carleton was necessarily brief. +She gave him her address, saying,- + +"I would be delighted if you could consider yourself our guest while +in London, and I hope at least that I may see you often before your +return." + +"I thank you, Miss Carleton," he replied. "If present circumstances +would admit of it, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to +accept your invitation, but under existing conditions it is, of +course, impracticable. I cannot now say how long I will remain in +London, but I wish to make my stay as brief as possible, and to that +end shall devote almost my entire time to business; but," he added, +with a peculiar smile, "I shall not repeat the offence committed at +Fair Oaks. You may rest assured I shall not return to America +without seeing you, and I hope at that time to be able to speak +more definitely regarding my future." + +There was that in his eyes as he spoke that suffused the fair +English face with lovely color and caused a tender, wistful smile +to linger about the sweet mouth long after he had left her side. + +He was one of the first to land, and Miss Carleton, watching from +the deck, saw, almost as soon as he had reached the pier, a +fine-looking gentleman in the prime of life step quickly out from, +the crowd, and, grasping him cordially by the hand, enter at once +into earnest conversation. Harold Mainwaring turned towards the +steamer for a parting salute, and, as both gentlemen raised their +hats, she recognized in the new-comer, Alfred Barton, the junior +member of the firm of Barton & Barton. She watched them until +they disappeared in the crowd, then, turning to rejoin her +companions, she noted, standing at a little distance, the slender, +dark-eyed individual whom she had observed on previous occasions, +also watching the scene with a smile of quiet satisfaction, much +like that which Mr. Merrick's face had worn at the beginning of the +Voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LOVE FINDS A WAY + +Less than three weeks later, Harold Mainwaring entered Miss +Carleton's private drawing-room in Mr. Thornton's London home. +Soon after her arrival in the city she had received from him a +brief note of apology, stating that unexpected business of the +greatest importance would render it impossible for him to call as +early as he had anticipated; hence this was their first meeting +since the leave-taking on board the "Campania." + +As Miss Carleton stepped forward with cordial smile and hand +extended to welcome her visitor, she was shocked at the change in +his appearance. He was pale, almost haggard, and deep lines about +the mouth and eyes told of some intense mental strain. She gave +a low cry of astonishment, for it seemed as though years, instead +of only a few weeks, had intervened since she had seen that face. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you have been ill!" she exclaimed. + +"No, Miss Carleton," he replied, his face lighting with a rare +smile; "I have been perfectly well, but loss of sleep and constant +care and anxiety have told rather severely on me. Nothing more +serious, I assure you." + +"Anxiety!" she repeated, at the same time motioning him to a seat +by her side. "Surely you do not anticipate any difficulty in +establishing your claim?" + +"No difficulty so far as its validity is concerned. My attorneys +assure me there can be no question as to that with such irrefutable +proofs in my possession, but some unlooked-for complications have +arisen, and we have had to prepare ourselves to meet them. But I +did not call to burden you with my perplexities, Miss Carleton. +Tell me of yourself. I trust you have been well since I last saw +you." + +"Yes, I am usually well," said Miss Carleton, who thought she +detected on the part of her visitor an avoidance of any details +concerning himself; "but I have been rather bored of late." Then, +in answer to his look of inquiry, she continued, "Of course, on +account of Hugh Mainwaring's death, we have been living very +quietly since our return, but, notwithstanding that fact, society +has been paying due homage to the prospective increase of fortune +and added social position of the Mainwarings. I am not particularly +fond of society in the ordinary sense of the word, you know, and I +have found it exceedingly tiresome." + +"From reports, I should judge 'society' to be very fond of yourself," +he remarked, with a smile. + +"After its own fashion," she replied, smiling in return; "but it +becomes very monotonous. It is the same old round, you know, only +that just now it bows a little lower than formerly, while it mingles +condolences and congratulations in the most absurd manner. One +hears, 'Such a dreadful affair! so shocking, don't you know!' and +'Such delightful fortune! I quite envy you, my dear!' all in the +same breath. I am only awaiting what society will say when the real +facts become known." + +Harold Mainwaring made no reply, but a strange pallor overspread +his already pale face, at which Miss Carleton wondered. + +"I have thought very often of you during these past weeks," she +continued, "and felt quite impatient to learn how you were +progressing, and your note was so brief, you know. It left so much +unsaid. I fear you forget how interested I am in all that concerns +yourself." + +"No," he replied, slowly, "I do not forget; and I appreciate your +interest in me even though I may not seem to, - even though I am +forced, as you say, to leave so much unsaid which I had hoped to +say." + +Something in his manner, more than in what he said, thrilled her +with a vague, undefinable sense of impending evil, and, during the +slight pause which followed, she dreaded his next words, lest they +should in some way confirm her apprehensions. He said nothing +further, however, and when she spoke it was with an assumed +lightness and cheerfulness which she was far from feeling. + +"I hoped to have the pleasure of meeting you often ere this, and +my uncle and cousin would have been so glad to welcome you to +their home during your stay in London, but they have just gone out +of town for a few days." + +"Ordinarily, Miss Carleton," he replied, quietly, "I should be +pleased to meet them, but on the present occasion, as I sail, +to-morrow, I naturally care to see no one but yourself." + +"To-morrow!" she exclaimed, while her own cheek suddenly paled. +"Do you return so soon?" + +"Yes," he replied, observing her emotion, and speaking rapidly to +conceal his own feelings; "my business is at last completed. I +have been detained longer than I expected, and I found the +situation more complex than I anticipated, but I shall return well +equipped for the battle." + +"And you will win, I am sure. Tell me something regarding your +plans," she added, with a wistful smile that touched her companion +for more than he cared to betray. + +"Mr. Alfred Barton goes with me to America," he said, speaking +cheerfully; "and we have already cabled instructions to Mr. +Sutherland, my New York attorney, regarding the initiatory steps. +Mr. Barton and myself will be accompanied by James Wilson, the old +servant who witnessed the execution of the will," - Miss Carleton's +eyes brightened, - "and also by a thoroughly competent, first-class +Scotland Yard officer." + +She gave a low exclamation. "I see what a powerful witness old +Wilson will make; but the detective, what will you do with him?" + +"We are going to investigate the murder of Hugh Mainwaring," he +said, calmly. + +"Why, surely, you cannot mean - " she hesitated. "You do not think +that suspicion will be directed against any of the guests at Fair +Oaks, do you?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton, I cannot say at present. Perhaps," he added, +slowly, looking steadily into her eyes, "perhaps, when all is over, +suspicion will be directed against myself so unmistakably that public +opinion will pronounce me guilty." + +"I cannot believe that," she cried; "and even were it so, - should +the whole world pronounce you guilty, - I would still believe you +innocent; and I think," she added, quickly, "that is your object in +employing a detective: by finding the real murderer, you will +establish your own entire innocence." + +"May God grant it!" he replied, with a fervor she could not +understand. "I thank you, Miss Carleton, for your kind words; I +shall never forget them; and, however the battle goes, I can feel +there is one, at least, whose friendship and confidence are mine, +can I not?" + +"Most assuredly, Mr. Mainwaring. But why do you speak as though +there were a possibility of defeat or failure? I am so confident +that you will win, after the story of your life that you have given +me, that I am all impatience to learn the outcome of the contest, +just as having read one chapter in some thrilling romance I am eager +for the next." + +He smiled at her comparison. "Real life, as well as romance, +sometimes contains startling surprises, Miss Carleton. The next +chapter might prove less pleasant." + +She looked keenly into his face for a moment, and her manner became +as serious as his own. + +"There must be something," she said, "of which you have not told me; +if so, I will not ask your confidence until you choose to bestow it, +nor do I trust you, personally, any the less. It only seemed to me, +with your prospects of success, and the great wealth and enviable +position so soon to become yours, there could be no unpleasant +anticipations for the future." + +A bitter smile crossed his face, as he inquired in low, tense tones, +"Of what avail are wealth and position to one who finds an +insurmountable barrier placed between himself and all that he holds +most precious on earth?" + +"I fear I do not understand you," she replied. "I cannot imagine +any barriers surrounding you; and did they exist, my judgment of +you would be that you would find some way to surmount or destroy +them." + +"There are some barriers, some fetters," he said, gently, "against +which humanity, even at its best, is powerless." + +"Yes," she answered, a touch of sadness in her voice; "and there are +sometimes sorrows and troubles in which even the closest and warmest +friendship is powerless to aid or comfort." + +"Don't allow yourself to think that of your friendship for me," he +said, quickly. "Assured of your confidence and sympathy, I shall +be ten times stronger to face whatever the future may bring. If I +succeed in what I am about to undertake, I shall one day tell you +all that your friendship has been worth to me. If I fail, the +thought that you believe in me and trust me, while it will not be +all that I could wish, may be all that I can ask." + +"And if you should fail," she queried, slowly, "would you give me +no opportunity to show you, and others, my confidence in you, even +then?" + +"My dear Miss Carleton," he replied, in tones tremulous with +suppressed feeling, "much as I appreciate your kindness, I would +never, now or at any future time, willingly mar your life or your +happiness by asking you to share any burden which might be laid +upon me. I would at least leave you to go your way in peace, while +I went mine." + +"And I?" she asked, reproachfully. "Would it contribute to my +happiness, do you think, to remember the sorrow and suffering which +I was not allowed to share?" + +"Could you not forget?" + +"Never!" + +The young man sprang to his feet abruptly, his face working with +emotion, and took two or three turns about the room. At last he +paused, directly in front of her, and, folding his arms, stood +looking down into the beautiful eyes that met his own so +unflinchingly. He was outwardly calm, but the smouldering fire +which seemed to gleam in his dark eyes told of intense mental +excitement. + +"Miss Carleton," he said, slowly, in low tones, but yet which +vibrated through her whole being, "you are almost cruel in your +kindness; you will yet make a coward of me!" + +"I have no fear of that," she answered, quietly. + +"Yes, a coward! Instead of remaining silent as I intended, and +keeping my trouble within my own breast, you will compel me in +self-defence to say that which will only give you pain to hear, +thereby adding to my own suffering." + +"Perhaps you misjudge," she replied, and her voice had a ring of +pathos in it; "any word of explanation - no matter what - would be +less hard for me to endure than this suspense." + +"God knows I would make full explanation if I could, but I cannot, +and I fear there is nothing I can say that will not add to your +suspense. Miss Carleton, you must need no words from me to tell +you that I love you. I have loved you almost from the first day +of our meeting, and whatever life may have in store for me, you, +and you alone, will have my love. But, loving you as I do, could +I have looked forward to the present time, could I for one moment +have foreseen what was awaiting me, believe me, you should never +have known by word or look, or any other sign, of my love." + +He paused a moment, then continued. "If that were all, I might +have borne it; I could have locked my love forever within my own +heart, and suffered in silence; but the fact that you have given me +some reason to believe that you were not wholly indifferent to me, + - the thought that I might in time have won your love, - makes the +possibilities of the future a thousand times harder to bear. It is +harder to forego the joys of Paradise when once you have had a +glimpse within! It was to this I alluded when I spoke of the +insurmountable barrier placed between myself and all that I hold +holiest and best on earth!" + +"But I do not understand!" she cried, her lovely color deepening +and her eyes glowing with a new light, until Harold Mainwaring +confessed to himself that never had he seen her so beautiful. "What +barrier could ever exist between you and me?" + +For an instant he looked at her in silence, an agony of love and +longing in his eyes; then drawing himself up to his full height, +he said, slowly,- + +"Not until I can stand before you free and clear from the faintest +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring, will I ever ask for that +most precious gift of your love!" + +Her face blanched at the mere possibility suggested by his words. +"But you are innocent!" she cried in swift protest, "and you could +prove it, even were suspicion directed against you for a time." + +"Even admitting that I were, the taint of suspicion is sometimes as +lasting as the stain of crime itself." + +She arose and stood proudly facing him. "Do you think I would fear +suspicion? To hear from your own lips that you love me and that +you are innocent would be enough for me; I would defy the whole +world!" + +He did not at once reply, and when he spoke it was slowly and +reluctantly, as though each word were wrung from him by torture. + +"My dear Miss Carleton, even to you I cannot say that I am innocent." + +There was a moment's pause, during which she gazed at him, +speechless with astonishment; a moment of intense agony to Harold +Mainwaring, as he watched whether her faith in him would waver. +But she gave no sign, though she scanned his face, as the condemned +criminal scans the document handed him as the fateful day approaches, +to ascertain whether it contains his pardon or his death sentence. + +"Understand me," he said at last, gently, unable longer to endure +the terrible silence, "I do not admit that I am in any way guilty, +but until I am fully acquitted of any share in or knowledge of the +death of Hugh Mainwaring, I can make neither denial nor admission, +one way or the other." + +"But you still love me?" she inquired, calmly. + +"Miss Carleton, - Winifred, - how can you ask? You are, and always +will be to me, the one, only woman upon earth." + +"That is sufficient," she answered, with a strange, bright smile; +"my faith in you is perfect, and faith and love can wait." + +"Wait, my love! until when?" he cried. + +"If needful, until Eternity's sunlight dispels Earth's shadows! +Eternity holds ample compensation for all of Earth's waiting." + +"But, my darling," he said, half protesting, while he folded her to +his breast, "you know not the risk you may be running; I cannot +accept the sacrifice that may be involved." + +"My decision is taken, and it is irrevocable," she answered, with +an arch smile; then added, "There can be no barriers between us, +Harold, for Love will find a way!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AN UNFORESEEN FOE + + +Though nearly six weeks had elapsed since the death of the master +of Fair Oaks, and as yet no light had been shed on that mysterious +event, the interest of the public mind in the affair had in no wise +abated during this brief interim. On the contrary, its curiosity +had been so whetted by the partial revelations of the inquest, that +it had eagerly followed each step of the legal proceedings leading +towards the inevitable contest over the property, ready to hail +with delight the appearance of the Mainwaring skeleton when it +should step forth from its long hiding to disclose the secrets of +the past. + +As early as possible, a petition, setting forth the terms and +conditions of the last will and testament of Hugh Mainwaring, and +praying for letters of administration in accordance therewith to be +issued to William H. Whitney, the executor named in said will, had +been filed in the district court. A few days thereafter, the +petition of Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, for letters to be issued +to Richard Hobson, was also filed. The hearing in the application +for letters of administration occupied several days; very little +evidence was adduced, however, which had not already been given at +the inquest, and in due time an order was issued by the court, +appointing Mr. Whitney administrator of the estate, with instructions +that the same be adjusted according to the terms of the lost will. +From this order, Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring, through her attorney, +Hobson, had appealed, and the contest had at last begun. + +For greater convenience during the legal proceedings, Ralph +Mainwaring had closed the suburban residence, dismissing what +servants were no longer needed, though still retaining the new +coachman, and had removed to Hugh Mainwaring's city residence, +where he and his son made themselves perfectly at home, dining +with Mr. Whitney at his club. Mrs. LaGrange, having been +compelled to resign her position at Fair Oaks, had also removed +to the city and taken apartments in a convenient hotel until the +termination of her suit. + +The afternoon of the second day since the opening of the case was +drawing to a close; the testimony on the appellant's side had been +taken, and it was expected that the respondent would be heard on the +following day, when an event transpired which completely overthrew +all proceedings had thus far, and which promised the waiting public +developments as startling as could be desired. + +This event was none other than the filing in the district court of +a document purporting to be the last will and testament of the father +of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, by the terms of which the Mainwaring +estate, as it then existed, together with the bulk of his other +property, passed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, an elder son who had +been previously disinherited, but was by this will restored to his +full rights. With this document, worn and yellow with age, was filed +a petition, setting forth the claims of one Harold Scott Mainwaring, +the lawful, living, and only son of the said Harold Scott Mainwaring +named in the will, but since deceased, and sole heir of the +Mainwaring estate, and praying for letters of administration to be +issued to George D. Sutherland, attorney for the said lawful heir. + +The court adjourned amid intense excitement, just as the newsboys +were crying the headlines of the evening papers,- + +"A New Heir to the Mainwaring Property! Discovery of Will secreted +more than Twenty-five Years! Millions wrongfully withheld from the +Rightful Owner!" + +Strangely enough, the two most interested in this unexpected turn +of affairs were among the latest to learn the surprising news. +Ralph Mainwaring, having felt slightly indisposed, and knowing that +his side would not come up for hearing until the following day, had +made himself as comfortable as possible in the elegant apartments +which he had appropriated to his own use, while his son had left +the court-room at an early hour to devote the remainder of the +afternoon to letter-writing. + +The latter glanced up from his writing and nodded pleasantly, as +Mr. Whitney, pale with excitement, was ushered by the butler into +the library. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, is your father in?" the attorney inquired, hastily. + +"I believe so," replied the young man, smiling broadly; "the last I +knew, the governor was luxuriating in his rooms up-stairs; I think +you will find him there now. How's the case coming on, sir?" he +added, as the attorney turned quickly towards the hall. "Anything +new developed?" + +"Yes; decidedly new!" Mr. Whitney answered, rather brusquely; "you +had better join us up-stairs!" and he disappeared. + +The young man's face grew suddenly serious, and, springing from his +chair, he swiftly followed the retreating figure of the attorney, +arriving just in time to hear the latter exclaim, in reply to some +question from his father,- + +"Well, sir, the storm has burst!" + +Ralph Mainwaring was, as his son had said, "luxuriating" in a superb +reclining chair, his eyes half closed, enjoying a fine Havana, but +the attorney's words seemed to produce the effect of an electric +shock. + +"The deuce, sir! what do you mean?" he demanded, instantly assuming +an upright position. + +"I simply mean that what I have expected and dreaded all along has +at last come to pass." + +"Then, since it was not unexpected, it is to be presumed that you +were at least prepared for it! That shyster and his designing +client must, at the last moment, have exerted their inventive +faculties to a remarkable degree!" + +"On the contrary," said the attorney, quietly ignoring the other's +sarcasm, and handing copies of the evening papers to father and +son, "I am satisfied that neither Hobson nor his client has any part +in the developments of this afternoon." + +A brief silence followed, during which the attorney watched the two +men before him, noting the strange contrast between them, never +until that moment so apparent. Young Mainwaring's boyish face grew +pale as he read, and he occasionally glanced at Mr. Whitney, as +though seeking in his face either confirmation or contradiction of +the report, but he remained calm and self-possessed, preserving his +gentlemanly bearing to the close of the interview. The face of the +elder man, however, rapidly assumed an almost apoplectic hue, the +veins standing out from his temples like whip-cords, and when he +spoke his voice trembled with rage. He was the first to break the +silence, as, with an oath, he flung the papers upon the floor, +exclaiming,- + +"It is a lie from beginning to end! The most preposterous +fabrication of falsehood that could be devised! The 'will,' as it +is called, is nothing but a rank forgery, and the man who dares +assert any claim to the estate is a damned impostor, and I'll tell +him so to his face!" + +"I examined the document very carefully, Mr. Mainwaring," said the +attorney, "and I shall have to admit that it certainly had every +appearance of genuineness; if it is a forgery, it is an exceedingly +clever one." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you believe, for one moment, in this +balderdash?" demanded Ralph Mainwaring, at the same time rising and +striding about the room in his wrath. "The utter absurdity of the +thing, that such a will ever existed, in the first place, and then +that it would be secreted all these years only to be 'discovered' +just at this critical moment! It is the most transparent invention +I ever heard of, and it is a disgrace to your American courts that +the thing was not quashed at once!" + +"That could not very well be done," said Mr. Whitney, with a quiet +smile; "and as the matter now stands, the only course left open for +us is to prepare ourselves for a thorough investigation of the case." + +"Investigation be damned!" interrupted the other, but, before he +could proceed further, he was in turn interrupted by young +Mainwaring. + +"I say, governor, you'd best cool down a bit and listen to what Mr. +Whitney has to say; if this thing is a forgery, we surely can prove +it so; and if it isn't, why, all the bluster in the world won't help +it, you know." + +His father faced him with a look of withering contempt. "'If' it +is a forgery! I tell you there are no 'ifs' about it. I suppose, +though, you are just fool enough that, if any man made a pretence +of a claim to the estate, you would simply hand it over to him, +and thank him for taking it off your hands!" + +"That's just where you are wrong, governor. I would fight him, fair +and square, and he would have to prove a better claim than mine +before he could win. But the point is this, don't you know, you can +fight better with your head cool and your plans well laid beforehand." + +"The young man is right," said Mr. Whitney, quickly; "there is every +indication that our opponent, whoever or whatever he may be, is well +prepared for contesting the case. I understand he has plenty of +evidence on his side and the best of legal counsel." + +"Evidence, I suppose," interposed Ralph Mainwaring, with a sneer, +"in support of a document that never existed, and a man that never +lived on the face of the earth; for Harold Mainwaring never had a +living son. Have you seen this remarkable individual?" + +"I believe no one in this country has seen him as yet, sir. He is +expected to arrive on the 'Umbria,' which I understand is due the +early part of next week." + +The face of the other showed slight surprise at this statement, but, +before he could speak, the young man inquired,- + +"I say, Mr. Whitney, what sort of a man is this attorney, Sutherland? +Is he another Hobson?" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head significantly. "Mr. Sutherland is one of +the ablest men in his profession. I consider him a fine jurist, an +eloquent pleader, and a perfect gentleman. I had some conversation +with him after court adjourned, and while he, of course, stated no +details, he gave me to understand that his client had a strong case. +He also informed me that Barton & Barton, of London, had been +retained in the case, and that his client would be accompanied to +this country by the junior member of the firm, Alfred Barton." + +"By Jove, that looks bad for us!" ejaculated young Mainwaring, +while his father exclaimed, impatiently,- + +"Barton & Barton? Impossible! that is mere bombast! Why, man, +the Bartons, father and sons, have been the family solicitors of +the Mainwarings for the past fifty years. The old firm of Barton +& Sons had charge of the settlement of the estate when it passed +into Hugh Mainwaring's possession at the death of his father." + +"So I had understood," said the attorney; "I have heard Mr. +Mainwaring himself speak of them." + +"And," continued the other, "only a few days before sailing for +America, I called at their chambers in London and told them of +Hugh's intentions regarding my son and received their +congratulations. Now, sir, do you mean to tell me, in the face +of all this, that Barton & Barton are retained by this mushroom +claimant, whoever he is? Pooh! preposterous!" + +Mr. Whitney shook his head slowly. "Mr. Sutherland is not the man +to make any misstatements or allow himself to be misinformed. All +I have to say is, if those attorneys are retained in the case, it +certainly looks as though our opponent must have some tenable +ground in support of his claim. I am inclined to think they will +make us a hard fight, but I am confident that we will win in the +end. The main point is this: we must be prepared to meet them on +whatever ground they may take, and, after hearing their side and +the proof they set up, we can easily determine our line of defence." + +"To the deuce with your line of defence! I tell you, Whitney, there +is just one point to be maintained, and, by my soul, it shall be +maintained at any cost!" and the speaker emphasized his words by +bringing his clinched hand down upon a table beside him with +terrific force "that point is this: Harold Scott Mainwaring never +had a living, lawful son; no such person exists, or ever has +existed on the face of the earth, and I can prove what I say." + +"Have you absolute proof of that?" Mr. Whitney inquired, quickly. + +"I have," replied Ralph Mainwaring, triumphantly, while his cold, +calculating gray eyes glittered like burnished steel. "If any man +thinks I have been asleep for the past twenty-one years, he is +deucedly mistaken. Mr. Whitney, since the day of that boy's birth," +pointing to his son, "I have had but one fixed resolve, which has +been paramount to everything else, to which everything else has +had to subserve, - the Mainwaring estate with its millions should +one day be his. Not a day has passed in which this was not +uppermost in my mind; not a day in which I have not scanned the +horizon in every direction to detect the least shadow likely to +intervene between me and the attainment of the dearest object of +my life. When the news of Harold Mainwaring's death reached +England, in order to guard against the possibility of a claim ever +being asserted in that direction, I set myself at once to the task +of finding for a certainty whether or not he had left any issue. +I never rested day or night until, after infinite labor and pains, +I had secured the certificate of the attendant physician to the +effect that the only child of Harold Mainwaring died within an +hour from its birth." + +"Have you that certificate now?" inquired the attorney. + +"Not here; it is among my private papers at home." + +"Cable for it at once; with the death of Harold Mainwaring's child +fully established, the will would cut no figure, one way or another." + +"That will," said Ralph Mainwaring, fiercely, turning upon Mr. +Whitney with an expression which the latter had never seen, "let me +tell you, will cut no figure one way or another in any event. That +will, remember, is a forgery; and, if necessary, I will prove it so, +if it takes my last shilling and the last drop of my heart's blood +to do it; do you understand?" + +The attorney understood, and was more than ever convinced in his ow + mind that the old will filed that day was genuine. + +Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Mrs. LaGrange sat alone in +her apartments, awaiting the coming of Richard Hobson. It was +considerably past the hour which he had set and daylight was slowly +merging into dusk, yet enough light still remained to show the +changes which the last few weeks had wrought in her face. Her +features looked pinched and drawn, and a strange pallor had replaced +the rich coloring of the olive skin, while her dark eyes, cold and +brilliant as ever, had the look of some wild creature suddenly +brought to bay. She shuddered now, as, from her window, she saw the +cringing form of Hobson approaching the building. + +"To think," she exclaimed to herself, passionately, "that that +creature is the only one to whom I can go for counsel or advice! I +loathe the very sight of him; fool that I was ever to place myself +within his power! I thought I could use him as a tool like the +rest; but it is like playing with edged tools; yet I dare not let +him go." + +A moment later, she heard a stealthy, cat-like tread in the corridor +outside, followed by a low, peculiar tap at the door, and Hobson +entered. + +She crossed the room slowly, keeping her face in the shadow, and, +motioning him to a chair, seated herself opposite, watching him +narrowly. + +"You are late," she said, coldly, in response to his greeting. + +"Admitted, my lady," he replied, in his usual unctuous tones, "but +I naturally wished to ascertain all the facts possible regarding +this new deal, and, seeing Whitney nosing about on the trail, I +decided to remain within ear-shot and pick up what information I +could second-hand." + +"What did you learn?" + +"Nothing very definite, and yet enough, perhaps, to give us our +cue until further developments. My dear lady, what do you think of +this new turn of affairs?" + +"The whole thing is simply preposterous; a piece of the most +consummate audacity I ever dreamed of!" + +"Ha! I thought it would strike you as particularly nervy. It is +the most daring bit of invention I have seen for some time; and it +must be a pretty cleverly concocted scheme and pretty well backed +with the ducats also, for I learned to-night that the 'heir,'" +laying special emphasis on the word, "has secured the services of +Barton & Barton, and those birds are too old to be caught with +chaff; besides, you know as well as I the part that firm has taken +in the Mainwaring affairs." + +"Barton & Barton? Incredible! The case is hopeless then for Ralph +Mainwaring: he is a fool if he expects to win." + +"Just what I was leading up to. Whitney is no match even for this +man, Sutherland, and he will be a mere child in the hands of the +Bartons. Now, the question is, where do we come in? As you say, +Ralph Mainwaring's case is hopeless, unless - " and he looked +significantly at his client. + +"I do not think I quite catch the drift of your meaning," she answered, +slowly. + +"Has it not occurred to you that there are not two people in existence +who can so quickly tear to shreds the scheme of this impostor as +you and I? There is not a human being living outside of myself who +knows the real facts concerning that will; and who could give such +effective and convincing testimony regarding Harold Mainwaring's +son as yourself?" + +"Admitting all this, what do you propose?" + +"When Ralph Mainwaring has staked his highest card and finds that +the game is irrevocably lost, what will he not give at the last +critical moment for assistance such as we can then furnish him?" + +"And which course would you pursue in that event?" she asked, a +tinge of irony in her tone. "Would you deny that such a will ever +existed in face of whatever evidence may be brought forward in its +support? or would you admit being a party to the destruction of +the will?" + +"My dear madam, I am perfectly capable of conducting this affair +to our mutual satisfaction and without running my head into any trap, +as you so pleasantly suggest. And right here allow me to say that +it would be just as well for you not to make those insinuations +which you are so fond of throwing out at random. As I said before, +no living person outside of myself, including even yourself, knows +the facts regarding that will. You have your own surmises, but they +are only surmises, and you had best keep them to yourself as you +know enough of me by this time to know it will be to your interest +to accept my suggestions and fall in line with my plans." + +Her face was in the shadow, and he did not see the scornful curl of +her lip or her peculiar expression, as she remarked coldly,- + +"You are only wasting words and time in your efforts to intimidate +me. You have not yet made any suggestions or outlined any plans. +I have asked you what you propose to do." + +"I have not time to go into details, but, briefly stated, I propose, +when the right opportunity presents itself, to prove, first, that +this document filed to-day is a forgery. If I can show conclusively +that the original will was accidentally lost, or intentionally +destroyed, or if I happen to have the original in my possession, +- under any of these conditions I gain my first point. Then, through +your testimony, I shall demonstrate unequivocally a still more +important point, that this so-called heir is a gross impostor, that +no such individual exists." + +"And for this, you expect - what?" + +"For this I shall demand a handsome remuneration, to be divided, of +course, between yourself and myself, and Ralph Mainwaring will only +too gladly give the half of his kingdom for such services." + +"And your testimony would have so much weight with Ralph Mainwaring +and the Bartons, and with every one else who has any knowledge of +your London history!" + +Hobson winced visibly, but before he could reply she continued: + +"You are talking the most arrant foolishness. You know that those +men would not allow your testimony in court; they would very quickly +procure evidence to show that your word, even under oath, is +worthless; that you are a liar, a perjurer and a - " + +"Not so fast, not so fast, my lady. If past histories are to be +raked up, I know of one which embraces a much wider area than London +alone; Melbourne, for instance, and Paris and Vienna, to say nothing +of more recent events!" + +"Do your worst, and I will do mine!" she replied, defiantly. "That +is nothing to the point, however. What I have to say is this: You +are a fool if you think that you or I can ever extort money from +Ralph Mainwaring. He would give no credence whatever to anything +that you might say, and if once my identity were revealed to him, +he would go through fire and blood rather than that one shilling of +his should ever become mine." + +"And what do you propose to do?" he asked, sullenly. "Do you +intend to give up the game?" + +"Give up? Never! I would give my life first! I will yet have my +revenge on the Mainwarings, one and all; and I will repay them +double for all the insult and ignominy they have heaped upon me." + +"That is to the point; but how will you accomplish it?" said Hobson, +in a more conciliatory tone, for each feared the other, and he +thoroughly understood the spirit of his client. "Let us be +reasonable about this; you and I have too much at stake and too +many interests in common for us to quarrel like children." + +"If I were differently situated, I can assure you we would then have +very few interests in common," she replied, bitterly. + +"Well, supposing you were, what would you do in this case?" he +inquired, softly, apparently taking no notice of her remark, but +in reality making a mental note of it for future reckoning. + +"Defeat Ralph Mainwaring, by all means; if necessary, produce +testimony to show that this will is genuine. If he spends his last +shilling to fight the case, so much the better. Then, when the +case is settled and this so-called heir is master of the situation, +or supposes himself so, bring suit to show that he is an impostor, +and assert my own claim as the nearest living heir." + +Hobson whistled softly. "A plan worthy of your ambition, my lady, +but hardly feasible. It is one thing to assert a claim, and +another to be able to establish it. Through your over-ambition +you would lose in the end, for, should you succeed in dispossessing +this stranger, Ralph Mainwaring would surely come forward with his +claim, and you would be beaten." + +"When I lay down arms to a Mainwaring, I will lay down my life also," +she answered, proudly. + +"You think so, perhaps; but let me tell you the best course for you +to pursue is to make terms, either with Ralph Mainwaring, as I +first suggested, or else with this new-comer - should he prove +victorious - by threatening to expose his whole scheme." + +Mrs. LaGrange made no reply, and Hobson, rising to take leave, saw +her face for the first time and paused, surprised at its strange +expression. + +"Well?" he said, with a look of inquiry. + +"My thoughts were wandering just then," she said, with a faint +smile, and her tone was so changed the voice scarcely seemed her +own. "I was wishing, just for the moment, that this stranger, +whoever he may be, was in reality the one he claims to be. I +would need no attorney to make terms with him then!" + +"You forget; he would be a Mainwaring!" + +"Yes; but he would be the only Mainwaring and the only human being +I could ever have loved, and I would have loved him better than +my own life." + +"Love!" repeated Hobson, with a sneer. "Who would ever have +thought to hear that word from your lips! But how about your son, +Walter; do you not love him?" + +"Him!" she exclaimed, passionately; "the price I paid hoping to +win Hugh Mainwaring! I am proud of him as my own flesh and blood, +but love him? Never!" + +"But you have not yet told me what you think of my last suggestion," +he said, tentatively, watching her closely. Her manner changed +instantly; rising with all her accustomed hauteur and turning from +him with a gesture of dismissal, she replied,- + +"Come to me later, when I shall have measured lances with our new +opponent, and you shall have your answer." + +He would have spoken, but her dismissal was final, and with +darkening face he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MUTUAL RECOGNITIONS + + +The sudden turn of affairs in the Mainwaring case excited no small +amount of comment, and for the next ensuing days speculation was +rife concerning the recently discovered will, but more particularly +regarding the new and unknown claimant. At the clubs and elsewhere +it formed the principal topic of conversation, and Ralph Mainwaring +was loud in his denunciations of the one as a forgery, and of the +other as an impostor. To all such remarks, however, as well as to +the questions of the curious, Mr. Sutherland had but one reply, +accompanied by a slow, quiet smile; that on the day set for the +hearing, he would not only prove the validity of the will, but +would also establish, beyond all doubt or question, the identity +of the claimant. + +As a result, public curiosity was so thoroughly aroused, that upon +the arrival of the "Umbria," an unusual crowd of reporters was +assembled at the pier, notwithstanding a pouring rain, and the +gang-plank had no sooner been thrown down than a number of the +more ambitious rushed on board, eager to be the first in gaining +some bit of information or personal description. Their efforts, +however, were unsuccessful, as the individuals whom they most +desired to meet remained in their state-rooms and declined to be +interviewed. Not until the crowd had about dispersed and the +patience of a few of the more persistent was nearly exhausted, was +their zeal rewarded by the sight of a party of four Englishmen, who +hastily left the boat, completely enveloped in heavy mackintoshes, +and, taking a closed carriage which was awaiting them, were driven +rapidly to the Waldorf Hotel. + +At the hotel the party still remained inaccessible to all visitors, +with the exception of Mr. Sutherland, who spent much of his time +in their apartments. It was ascertained that the party consisted +of two gentlemen, one of whom was accompanied by a valet, the +other - presumably the attorney - by a clerk, but all efforts +towards gaining any more definite information prove absolutely +futile. The arrival by the next steamer of another stranger, an +elderly gentleman, who immediately joined the party at the Waldoff, +after having registered under an evident alias, only served to +deepen the mystery. + +Upon the arrival of the day set for the hearing of the proof in +support of the ancient will, the court-room was, at an early hour, +packed to its utmost capacity. Occupying a prominent place were +Ralph Mainwaring and his son, accompanied by Mr. Whitney, the +sensitive face of the attorney more eager and alert than ever! +At some distance from them, but seated rather conspicuously where +she could command a good view of all that occurred, was Mrs. +LaGrange, while in a remote corner of the court-room, partially +concealed by the crowd, was Richard Hobson. + +Within a few moments preceding the appointed hour, Mr. Sutherland +appeared. His entrance caused a sudden hush of expectation +throughout the crowd and all eyes were immediately turned in his +direction. Accompanying him was a gentleman whose bearing commanded +universal admiration, and whom the Mainwarings instantly recognized +as the English barrister whose connection with the case they had +deemed so incredible. But a still deeper surprise awaited them. +Immediately following the attorneys was a young man whose features +and carriage were familiar, not only to the Mainwarings, but to +scores of spectators as well, as those of the private secretary of +the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, whose testimony at the inquest had +created so much of a sensation, and whose sudden disappearance +thereafter had caused considerable comment. There was a ripple of +excitement through the court-room, and the Mainwarings, father, and +son, watched the young man with strangely varying emotions, neither +as yet fully comprehending the real significance of his presence +there. + +"The secretary!" exclaimed Mr. Whitney, in a low tone. "Can it be +possible that he is concerned in this?" + +"He is probably the hired tool by means of which this has been +brought about. I might have known as much!" replied the elder man, +his old hatred and wrath reviving with greater intensity than ever, +but before he could proceed further his glance fell on the +secretary's companion. + +He was a tall, elderly gentleman, with snow-white hair and beard, +but with form erect and vigorous, and with piercing eyes which met +those of Ralph Mainwaring with a flash, not of recognition alone, +but of disdain and defiance that seemed to challenge him to do his +utmost. + +With a muttered oath, the latter half rose from his chair, but at +that instant his attention was arrested by the two men bringing up +the rear; one, small and of uncertain age, the other, older even +than he appeared, and bearing the unmistakable air of an English +servant. As Ralph Mainwaring recognized James Wilson, the last +relic of the old Mainwaring household, he suddenly grew pale and +sank back into his chair, silent, watchful, and determined; while +his son and the attorney, quick to note the change in his appearance, +made neither inquiries nor comments, but each drew his own +conclusion. + +There was one other to whom the white-haired gentleman did not seem +an utter stranger. Mrs. LaGrange from her post of observation had +watched the entering party with visible signs of excitement. Her +lips curled in a mocking smile as she caught sight of the secretary, +but glancing from him to his companion, she involuntarily recoiled +in terror, yet gazed like one fascinated, unable to remove her eyes +from his face. Suddenly the piercing eyes met her own, their look +of astonishment quickly changing to scorn. She flushed, then paled, +but her eyes never faltered, flashing back mocking defiance to his +anger and scorn for scorn. + +Meanwhile, the quondam secretary, seated between the attorneys on +the one hand and his elderly companion on the other, seemed alike +unconscious of the many curious glances cast in his direction and +of the dark looks of Ralph Mainwaring now fastened on him. At a +little distance was the old servant, his immovable features expressing +the utmost indifference to his surroundings, looking neither to the +right hand nor to the left. + +Not so with the remaining member of the party, the so-called "clerk!" +Seated beside the English barrister, his eye seemed to sweep the +entire court-room with a glance that omitted no details, not even +the cringing form of Hobson, who quailed and seemed to be trying to +shrink still further into concealment as he felt himself included +in the search-light of that gaze. But no one saw the slip of paper +which, a moment later, was handed to Alfred Barton, and by him +passed to Mr. Sutherland. There was a hurried filling out of blanks +lying among the papers on the table, a messenger was despatched, two +or three men edged themselves into the crowd in Hobson's vicinity, + - and that was all! + +Promptly at the time appointed the case was called. There was +perfect silence throughout the court-room as Mr. Sutherland arose, +holding in one hand the ancient will, and with breathless attention +the crowd listened for the opening words of what was to prove one +of the fiercest and most bitter contests on record, and of whose +final termination even the participants themselves little dreamed. + +After a few preliminaries, Mr. Sutherland said, addressing the court,- + +"Before proceeding farther, your honor, I will give orders for the +subpoena, as a witness in this case, of one Richard Hobson, alias +Dick Carroll." + +Then turning towards the crowd in the rear of the courtroom, he added, +"Let the papers be served at once." + +There was a stir of excitement and a sudden craning of necks in the +direction indicated by the attorney's glance, where three men had +sprung forward in obedience to his orders. + +Hobson, at the first mention of his name, had glanced quickly about +him as though seeking some means of escape, but on hearing the +alias - the name he had supposed unknown in America - he paused for +an instant, seemingly half paralyzed with terror. But the sight of +the approaching sheriff broke the spell, and he made a sudden lunge +through the crowd in the direction of an open window. His progress +was speedily checked by one of the deputies, however, and after a +short, ineffectual struggle he sullenly submitted. + +"Bring the witness forward," said Mr. Sutherland, with his calm, +slow smile; "we may call upon him before long, and he would probably +prefer a seat convenient to the witness stand." + +As he was seated opposite and facing the English party, it was noted +that the face of the old servant lighted up with a look of +recognition, and he watched the new-comer with evident interest. +Hobson, having carefully avoided the eyes of both Alfred Barton and +the private secretary, soon became aware of Wilson's scrutiny, and +after regarding him fixedly for a moment seemed suddenly to recognize +him in turn, and also to realize at the same time the import of his +presence there, which, apparently, did not tend to lessen his +agitation. + +Slowly Mr. Sutherland unfolded the document he held, yellow with +age, the edges of its folds so frayed and tattered as to render the +writing in some places almost illegible. Slowly, in deep, resonant +tones, he read the opening words of the old will; words of unusual +solemnity, which caused a hush to fall over the crowded court-room: + +"In the name of God; Amen. Know all men, that I, Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but now +upon my death-bed, soon to appear in the presence of my Maker, do +make and publish this, my last will and testament; hereby revoking +and setting aside any and every will at any time heretofore made +by me." + +Then followed, in quaint phraseology, the terms of the will; by +which the full right and title of the first-born son, under the +English law, were conveyed to Harold Scott Mainwaring, and all legal +processes theretofore entered into, depriving him of such rights, +were forever annulled; restoring to the said Harold Scott Mainwaring, +as his rightful inheritance, the entire family estate, including +other valuable property; the said property at his death to pass to +his eldest living son, or in case of his dying without issue, to +revert to his brother Hugh, were the latter living, if not, to the +nearest living heirs of the Mainwarings; but on no account was any +portion of the estate or property to pass to the wife of Harold +Scott Mainwaring, should she survive him. + +As the reading of the will progressed, Hobson's feelings, too deep +and genuine at that moment for disguise, were plainly mirrored in +his face. Having for years believed the old will destroyed, as he +now listened to the words dictated to himself upon that memorable +night, so long ago, it was little wonder that to his cowardly soul +it seemed like a voice from the dead, and that astonishment, fear, +and dread were depicted on his features, merging into actual terror +as the attorney at last pronounced the names of the witnesses, +Alexander McPherson and Richard Hobson. + +For a few seconds his brain reeled, and he saw only the face of the +dying man as it looked that night, - stern and pale, but with dark, +piercing eyes, deep-set, within whose depths still gleamed the +embers of a smouldering fire which now seemed burning into his +inmost soul. Trembling from head to foot, Hobson, with a mighty +effort, regained his scattered faculties and again became conscious +of his surroundings, only to find the eyes of the secretary fixed +upon his face, and, as he shrank from their burning gaze, the truth +flashed suddenly upon him. + +"The face of old Mainwaring himself!" he muttered in horror; then +added, with an oath, "Fool that I was not to have known it sooner! +That woman lied!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OPENING FIRE + + +The first witness called to the stand by Mr. Sutherland was James +Wilson. There were many present who noted the resemblance between +him and his son, John Wilson, who had given testimony at the +inquest, though unaware of the relationship between them. + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, after the usual preliminaries, "I +understand you were for a number of years in the employ of Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, the testator whose name is affixed to this will; +is that so?" + +"Yes, sir," was the reply, while the attention of the crowd was at +once riveted upon the witness. + +"Will you state how long you were in his employ, and in what +capacity?" + +"I was his valet, sir, from his twenty-fifth year until the day of +his death, a little above thirty-five years, sir; and during his +last illness, of about three months, I was with him constantly, +you might say, sir." + +"Do you recognize the document just read in your hearing as anything +which you have heard before?" + +"That I do, sir." + +"State when and under what circumstances you have previously heard +it." + +"At the death-bed of Mr. Ralph Mainwaring, sir, twenty-five years +ago the seventeenth of last November. I was present at the making +of that will, sir, the night before Mr. Mainwaring died. I heard +him give those words to the lawyer, and then heard them read to +him before the will was signed." + +"By whom was it drawn?" + +"By Richard Hobson, sir; the man sitting there," pointing to the +shrinking figure of Hobson. + +"Do you positively identify that man as the writer of this will?" + +"That I do, sir," with marked emphasis; "when one once sets eyes +on the likes o' him, he's not likely to forget him soon." + +"Was Richard Hobson the attorney of Mr. Mainwaring?" + +"Ah, no, sir," with evident scorn; "his attorney was Mr. Alfred +Barton, the father, sir, of this gentleman," indicating the English +barrister, while the interest of the crowd deepened. + +"How, then, was this man employed to draw the will?" + +"Mr. Barton was out of town, sir; and as Mr. Mainwaring was dying +and naught would satisfy him but to have a lawyer, they brought Mr. +Barton's clerk." + +"State the circumstances under which this will was drawn; was Mr. +Mainwaring influenced by any one to make it?" + +"He was influenced by none but his own conscience, sir. You see, +sir, three or four years before, he was very angry with his elder +son, and cut him off without a shilling and gave everything to Mr. +Hugh. But it broke his heart to do it, for Mr. Harold was his +favorite, as indeed he was everybody's, though he never mentioned +his name again until the night he made the will. Well, sir, all +that day we knew he was dying, and he knew it, and he was restless +till late at night, when of a sudden he tells us to get his lawyer. +Mr. Hugh tried to put him off, and told us his mind was wandering; +but 'twas no use; and the carriage was sent for Mr. Barton, and +when word was brought back that he was out of town, it was sent +again and brought back his clerk. Everything was all ready, and +he was propped up in bed by pillows, his eyes burning as though there +was fire in them. He repeated those words while the lawyer wrote +them down, and then had them read to him, and at fifteen minutes +of twelve o'clock the will was signed and sealed." + +"You were present during the drawing up of the will?" + +"Yes, sir, I was present through it all, but not where the others +saw me. When the lawyer came, Mr. Hugh told me to leave the room; +but as I was going his father called me back and bade me stay, +and I was standing at the foot of the bed, hidden by the curtains +of the canopy, so none but the old gentleman saw me." + +"Who else was present?" + +"Mr. Mainwaring's old friend, Sandy McPherson, Mr. Hugh, and the +lawyer." + +"No one else? Were there no physicians present?" + +"There were physicians in the house, sir, but not in the room." + +"How long did Mr. Mainwaring live afterwards?" + +"He died at five o'clock the next morning, sir; his strength went +fast after that was done, but he rested easy and seemed satisfied." + +"What was done with the will?" + +"Mr. Hobson took it away with him that night." + +"Have you ever seen it since?" + +"No, sir." + +"Mr. Wilson," said the attorney, showing the witness the will, "can +you swear to these signatures as being the same which you saw affixed +to the will upon that night?" + +Wilson studied the document attentively for a moment. "Yes, sir, +that is Mr. Mainwaring's writing, only a bit unsteady, for his hand +trembled. McPherson's writing I know, and you mark that blot after +his name? I remember his fussing that night because he had blotted +the paper." + +"And the third name, is that the signature of this man, Richard +Hobson?" + +"I know naught about that man's writing," the old fellow replied, +with a shrewd look; "but you will mind that the name is the same +writing as the will itself, and he wrote that and signed his name +to it, for I saw him." + +"And you have neither seen that will, nor heard it read until this +morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"You have remembered it all these years?" + +"Maybe not word for word, sir, but I have kept the sense of it in +my mind." + +"Are you positive that this is the will drawn up on the night of +which you speak?" + +"That I am, sir." + +"Did you ever speak to any one of this will?" + +"To none but my son, sir. Mr. Hugh Mainwaring was that sort of a +man, I could not speak to him about it, or ask about his brother. +I asked to be allowed to stay about the old place in hopes that some +day Mr. Harold would come back to have a look at his old home, and +I could tell him of it, for I thought things had not gone right +altogether. Then we heard of his death, and I thought it was too +late; I could do no good by speaking, and I held my tongue until +the young gentleman came." + +Wilson was then dismissed and Hobson was next called to the stand. +More even than the reading of the old will, the truth which had +dawned upon Hobson's mind as he met the piercing gaze of the +secretary, had convinced him that the position which he had intended +to assume, adverse to the new claimant and as an ally of Ralph +Mainwaring's, was neither politic nor safe. His views on that +subject had undergone a decided change, and, with his usual +weathervane proclivities, he was now preparing to take a totally +different stand and strive to ingratiate himself into the favor of +the new heir, at the same time leaving, if possible, a few loop-holes +through which he could retreat, should some veering wind change his +course in another direction. + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, somewhat abruptly, when the +necessary preliminaries were over, "did you on the night of November +17, 18-, act as attorney for Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, in the drawing +up, at his request, of his last will and testament?" + +"I believe so, sir," was the guarded answer. + +"Did you or did you not?" Mr. Sutherland persisted. + +"I did, sir." + +"Have you, during all these years, had any knowledge that the will +you drew under the circumstances already mentioned was still in +existence?" + +After a slight pause, the witness replied, "I had no positive +knowledge to that effect." + +"Did you believe the will to be in existence?" + +Hobson reflected a moment, then replied, cautiously, "I was led to +suppose that the will did not exist." + +"You remember the form, terms, and conditions of the document drawn +by yourself on that occasion?" + +"I do, perfectly," he replied, with more assurance. + +"State whether the will read in your hearing this morning is +identical with the one drawn by yourself." + +Hobson now saw the drift of the attorney's questions, but it was too +late. + +"As near as I can recollect," he stammered, but a word from Mr. +Sutherland recalled him. + +"You just said you remembered perfectly." + +"I believe they are identical in form." + +"Mr. Hobson," said the attorney, spreading out the document before +the witness, but still retaining his hold upon it, "will you state +to the court whether that is your writing, and whether the last name, +that of the second witness, is your signature." + +With great precision, Hobson adjusted a pair of eyeglasses and +proceeded to scrutinize the writing closely. "Well," he remarked, +at length, very deliberately, "I do not deny that to be my writing, +nor am I prepared to positively affirm that it is such. The fact +is, my chirography varies so much from time to time that I often +find it difficult for me to verify my own signatures." + +"Here are some papers which may assist the gentleman, and may be of +some use to the court," said a deep voice with rich, musical +inflections, but slightly tinged with sarcasm, and the English +attorney handed a small package to Mr. Sutherland. "They contain," +he added, "some specimens of the witness's chirography of about the +same date as the will." + +"The writing in both cases is identical," said Mr. Sutherland, as, +having examined the papers, he showed them to Hobson, but a glance +at their contents seemed rather to confuse the witness than +otherwise, for he remained silent. + +"Do you acknowledge these letters to be of your writing?" inquired +the attorney. + +"I do, sir; and I have no doubt but that the other is my writing +also." + +"You acknowledge this, then, as the will which you wrote at the +dictation of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring the night before his death?" + +"I believe it is, sir." + +"Mr. Hobson, why was this will not make public following Mr. +Mainwaring's death and burial?" + +"On the day after his death, I gave it into the keeping of his son, +Hugh Mainwaring, at his own request, and he afterwards gave me to +understand that it was lost." + +"And you were paid for keeping silent as to the existence of such +a will, were you not?" + +"I may have been," the witness replied, with a calmness born of +desperation. + +"That is sufficient for the present." + +A few moments followed in which the attorneys consulted together, +while comments in tones of subdued excitement and expectancy were +exchanged among the crowd. Ralph Mainwaring had sat with darkening +face throughout the testimony thus far; now he remarked to Mr. +Whitney, with a bitter sneer,- + +"Fine witnesses! A beggarly shyster whose oath is worthless, and +an imbecile old servant, who could be bought for a half-crown!" + +Young Mainwaring turned upon his father a look of indignant surprise. +"Governor," he said, "it would not be well for you if either old +James Wilson or his son heard that remark of yours!" + +"It will be well for you to attend to your own business and keep +your mouth shut!" responded his father, angrily. + +Beneath the calm exterior which the young man preserved, the old +Mainwaring blood was now fast rising, but he made no reply, for at +that instant Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the next witness: + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring!" + +There was a sudden hush throughout the court-room, broken an instant +later by a low murmur of mingled astonishment, incredulity, and +wonder as the private secretary rose and walked towards the witness +stand. A few comments reached his ears, but he seemed unconscious +of them, and, having taken his place, turned towards the audience a +face cold and impassive, inscrutable to his enemies, who could read +nothing of the conflicting emotions beneath that calm, immobile +surface. + +He saw the crowd of upturned faces - incredulous, wondering, curious; +he caught the mocking smile of Mrs. LaGrange and Ralph Mainwaring's +dark, sinister sneer; but he took little note of these. Like an +arrow speeding to the mark, his glance sought the face of young Hugh +Mainwaring. Their eyes met, and in that brief moment there was +recalled to each a starlit night on one of the balconies at Fair +Oaks, and the parting words of young Mainwaring to the secretary, +"I'm your friend, Scott, and whatever happens, I'll stand by you." + +With swift intuition each read the other's thought, and, although +there was no outward sign, Harold Mainwaring knew from that instant +that there would be no retraction of that pledge. + +The slight ripple of excitement died away while the witness was +sworn, and the crowd listened with interest even to the preliminary +interrogatories. + +"Where were you born?" asked the attorney. + +"In Melbourne, Australia," was the reply, while deep silence awaited +Mr. Sutherland's next question. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I believe you are familiar with the will just read, +are you not?" + +"I am." + +"Please state when, and under what conditions, you gained your +knowledge of this will." + +"I first learned that such a will had existed and knew its general +terms, between five and six years since, through information given +me by James Wilson. From data found a little over a year ago among +the personal letters of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, I ascertained +that the will was still in existence, and on the 7th of July last +I discovered the document itself and became personally familiar with +its contents." + +At the mention of the name of Hugh Mainwaring and of the date so +eventful in the recent history of Fair Oaks, the interest of the +crowd deepened. + +"Did you discover the document accidentally, or after special search +for it?" + +"As the result of a systematic search for more than a year." + +"Please state whether you took any steps leading to the discovery +of this will during the four or five years immediately following +your first knowledge of it; and if so, what?" + +"As I first learned of the will soon after entering Oxford, my +studies necessarily occupied the greater part of my time for the +next three or four years; but I lost no opportunity for gaining all +possible information relating not only to the Mainwaring estate, +but more particularly to Hugh Mainwaring and his coadjutor, Richard +Hobson. Among other facts, I learned that immediately after the +settlement of the estate, Hugh Mainwaring had disposed of the same +and left England for America, while about the same time Richard +Hobson suddenly rose from a penniless pettifogger to a position of +affluence. + +"As soon as my studies were completed, I sailed for America, with +the avowed determination of securing further evidence regarding the +will, and of establishing my claim to the property fraudulently +withheld from my father and from myself. In the securing of the +necessary evidence I succeeded beyond my expectations. As Hugh +Mainwaring's private secretary, I gained access to the files of +his personal letters, and soon was familiar with the entire +correspondence between himself and Richard Hobson, from which I +learned that the latter demanding and receiving large sums of +money as the price of his silence regarding some past fraudulent +transaction. The nature of that transaction, I ascertained in +this marginal note, in Hugh Mainwaring's handwriting, upon one of +Hobson's letters which happened to be more insolent in its tone +than the rest. With the permission of the court I will read it: + +"'He insinuates that I destroyed the will; I only gave him to +understand that it was lost. Little he dreams it is still in my +possession and will be, until such time as I, too, have to make +final disposition of my estate! Why I did not destroy it, or why +I do not, now that the property is rightfully mine, I cannot say, +except that I dare not! "Thus conscience does make cowards of us +all?"' + +"With the discovery of these words," concluded the witness, "began +my search for the will itself." + +"From the discovery of this letter which led you to believe the will +was still in existence, you prosecuted your search for the document +until the 7th of last July?" + +"Yes, sir, whenever an opportunity for search was offered." + +"Where did you finally find the will?" + +"In the safe, in Mr. Mainwaring's private apartments at Fair Oaks." + +"On July 7 last?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"That was the day on which you, acting as Hugh Mainwaring's secretary, +had drawn, at his dictation, his last will and testament, was it not?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, deliberately, his eye quick to +read the faces about him, "is there in your mind any connection +between that event and your discovery of this will?" + +"Only the most indirect," was the reply, given with equal +deliberation. "The fact that Hugh Mainwaring was making final +disposition of his property naturally spurred me on to increased +action, since, in making final adjustment of his papers, he would +be more than likely to destroy the old will. This incentive, +together with the fact that opportunity was given me for a more +thorough search than I had been able to make prior to that time, +combined to bring about the discovery of the will." + +"Please state the time and circumstances of your finding it." + +"I found it late in the afternoon, while Mr. Mainwaring and his +guests had gone for a long drive. I determined to leave no place +unexplored where it could possibly be concealed; after about an +hour's search I found it." + +"What did you then do with it?" + +"I retained it in my possession, and at the earliest opportunity +secreted it within my own room." + +"It was in your possession during the following evening and night?" + +"It was." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland, with marked emphasis, "please +state whether you mentioned to Hugh Mainwaring the discovery of the +will, or had any conversation with him relating thereto." + +"I made no mention of the matter to him whatever. Except for a few +moments, immediately upon his return, I did not see him alone until +about midnight, when he appeared fatigued, and I would not introduce +the subject at a time so inopportune." + +After a slight pause, Mr. Sutherland continued. "You claim to be +the lawful son of the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in this will, +and as such the lawful heir, under its terms and conditions, of the +Mainwaring property?" + +"I do." + +"Has it not been generally understood among those supposed to have +knowledge of the facts in the case that Harold Scott Mainwaring, at +the time of his death, had no living child?" + +"That has been the general understanding." + +"Will you explain how the fact of your existence has been kept +concealed all these years?" + +The silence following the attorney's question was so deep as to be +oppressive until broken by the answer of the witness, clear, cold, +and penetrating to the remotest corner of the crowded room. + +"Within an hour from my birth, a dead child was substituted in my +place, and I was secretly given by my father into the keeping of +trusted friends, with instructions that until I had nearly attained +my majority I was not even to know of his existence, or of the +relationship existing between us." + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, "are you willing to state the +reasons for such an extraordinary proceeding on his part?" + +For the first time the impassive bearing and the calm, even tones +of the witness gave way; the smouldering fire in his dark eyes burst +forth, as with impassioned utterance and voice vibrating with emotion, +he replied,- + +"It was done because of sorrow, more bitter than death, in his own +heart and home, of which he wished me to know nothing until I had +reached the years of manhood and could understand the nature of his +wrongs; it was done that I should be forever barred from all +association with, or knowledge of, the base, false-hearted woman who +bore his name only to dishonor it, - who, though she had given me; +birth, yet believed me dead, - that I might live as ignorant of her +existence as she of mine; it was done because of his love for his +only child, a love for which I would to-day gladly suffer dishonor +and even death, if I could but avenge his wrongs!" + +Only Harold Mainwaring's attorneys understood the spirit which +prompted his words, but they carried his audience with him in a +sudden wave of sympathy, and as he paused, men applauded and women +sobbed, while the judge vainly rapped for order. + +One figure alone remained motionless, spellbound. Amid the general +excitement, Mrs. LaGrange sat as though turned to stone, her hands +clasped so tightly that the jewels cut deeply into the delicate +flesh, every vestige of color fled from her face, her lips ashen, +her eyes fixed upon the witness, yet seemingly seeing nothing. +Gradually, as she became conscious of her surroundings and of the +curious glances cast in her direction, she partially recovered +herself, though her eyes never left the face of the witness. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," continued the attorney, when order had been +restored, "when and how did you first learn that you were the son +of Harold Scott Mainwaring?" + +"My first knowledge regarding my own father I received at the age of +fifteen from my foster-parents, who told me of the manner in which +I had been given to them and of the death of my father a few years +later; but the full particulars I did not learn until my twenty-first +birthday, when I received a letter written by my father soon after +my birth, and intrusted to the keeping of my foster-parents until I +should have attained my majority. In that letter he gave me the +story of his life, of his marriage and consequent disinheritance, +and of the yet greater sorrow which followed shortly, which led him +to voluntarily exile himself from his beloved England, and which +finally led to his sacrifice of the love and companionship of his +only child." + +As Harold Mainwaring paused, Mr. Sutherland remarked, "I, myself, +have seen the letter to which the witness refers, but I consider it +of too personal a nature and too private in character to submit for +examination. I will say, however, that both my honored colleague, +Mr. Barton, and myself have compared it with other letters and +documents known to have been written by Harold Scott Mainwaring, the +elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, and have found the writing +in all cases identically the same. There is yet one more question +which may have a bearing later upon this case, which I will ask the +witness. Mr. Mainwaring, have you, during this time, received any +clue regarding the identity of your mother, or is that still unknown +to you?" + +With great deliberation, the witness replied, "Until within the past +three or four days, I have known absolutely nothing regarding even +the name of the woman whom my father made his wife, or whether she +were still in existence. I have recently learned, however, that she +is living, and," he added, more slowly, "I know that she is present +in this court-room." + +It was afterwards recalled that, as the witness resumed his seat, a +curious sound, something between a gasp and a sob was heard, but +amid the tremendous sensation produced by his last statement it passed +unnoticed. + +With very little delay, Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the last +witness,- + +"Frederick Mainwaring Scott!" + +Again the silence deepened as the white-haired gentleman, with great +dignity, took his place upon the stand. His heavy, sonorous tones +rang out over the court-room, while from time to time the piercing +eyes beneath the beetling, snow-white brows sought the face of Ralph +Mainwaring with their silent but unmistakable challenge. At the +first sound of his voice, Mrs. LaGrange's agitation increased +perceptibly; her expression changed to abject terror, yet she seemed +unable to move or to withdraw her gaze from his face. + +To the question, "Where were you born?" the witness replied, "I was +born in London, but for the past forty-five years have been a +resident of Melbourne, Australia." + +"Are you not connected with the Mainwaring family?" + +"Distantly. The Scott and Mainwaring families have intermarried for +many years, but I have waived all claims of relationship for nearly +half a century." + +"Were you acquainted with the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in +this will?" + +"Intimately acquainted with him, as we were associated together in +business during his entire stay in Australia." + +"In what business were you engaged?" + +"In the sheep business, principally; we were also interested in the +mines." + +"For how long a time were you associated together?" + +"Six years, or thereabouts." + +"Mr. Scott, you are the foster-father of Harold Scott Mainwaring +who has just preceded you upon the witness stand, are you not?" + +"I am, and have been from the day of his birth." + +"Will you state the circumstances under which you became his +foster-parent?" + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring, the elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, +came to Australia within a year after the marriage for which he was +disinherited. His reason for leaving England was not, as many have +supposed, on account of his father's severity, but because of the +discovery of his wife's infidelity after all that he had sacrificed +for her. He brought her to Australia in the vain hope that, removed +from other influences - the influence of his own brother, in +particular, - she would yet prove true to him. Within the following +year, his son was born; but before that event he had fully learned +the character of the woman he had married, and he determined that no +child of his should be disgraced by any knowledge of its mother, or +contaminated by association with her. To my wife and myself he +confided his plans, and, as we had no children of our own, he pledged +us to the adoption of his child while yet unborn. An old and trusted +nurse in our family was also taken into the secret, but not the +physician employed on that occasion, as he was a man of no principle +and already in league with the false wife against her husband. When +the child was born, Mrs. Mainwaring was very ill and the babe received +comparatively little notice from the attendant physician. A dead +child, born but a few hours earlier, was therefore easily substituted +for the living child of Harold Mainwaring, while the latter was +secretly conveyed to my own home. + +"A few weeks later, the child was privately christened in a small +church on the outskirts of Melbourne and the event duly recorded +upon the church records. He was given his father's name in full, +Harold Scott Mainwaring, but until his twenty-first birthday was +known among our acquaintances as Harry Scott, the same name by +which he has been known in your city while acting as private +secretary to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"Are you familiar with the letter written by Harold Mainwaring to +his son?" + +"Perfectly so; he gave it into my keeping on the day of the +christening, to be given to his son when he should have reached +his majority, if he himself had not, before that time, claimed +him as his child." + +"You can then vouch for its genuineness?" + +"I can." + +"How long a time elapsed between the birth of this child and the +death of Harold Mainwaring, the father?" + +"About five years. He left his wife soon after the birth of this +child and spent the greater part of his time at the mines. He +finally decided to go to the gold fields of Africa, and a few +months after his departure, we received tidings of the wreck of +the vessel in which he sailed, with the particulars of his death +at sea." + +"Mr. Scott, did you ever hear of the existence of this will?" + +"Not until the boy, Harold, learned of it, soon after he entered +Oxford." + +"Do you know how he first heard of it?" + +"He heard of it from Wilson, one of the old servants on the +Mainwaring estate, who recognized in him a resemblance to Ralph +Maxwell Mainwaring, and, learning of his identity, told him the +history of the will." + +"You have been kept informed of his search for the will and of +its final discovery?" + +"From the first; and though the boy has a good bit of money in his +own name, I will back him in getting his rights to the very last +pound in my possession, and that," he added, while his dark eyes +flashed ominously, "will outlast the bank-roll of any that can go +against him." + +"Have you any further direct evidence which you can produce in +support of the identity of the claimant?" + +"I have," the witness replied, and having taken from his pocket a +large memorandum book and extracted therefrom a paper, he continued, +with great deliberation, - + +"I have here a certified copy of the record of the christening, at +the church of St. Bartholomew, on June 24, 18-, of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, the first-born son of Harold Scott and Eleanor Houghton +Mainwaring." + +A piercing shriek suddenly rang out through the hushed court-room, +and the crowd, turning involuntarily at the familiar name of +Eleanor Houghton Mainwaring towards the seat occupied by Mrs. +LaGrange, saw that wretched woman sink, with a low, despairing moan, +unconscious to the floor. As several sprang to the assistance of +the unfortunate woman, Mr. Scott, turning swiftly towards the +judge, exclaimed,- + +"There, your honor, is a most unwilling witness, but one who has +very effectively confirmed my testimony!" + +The greatest confusion followed, several women having fainted from +nervous excitement, and, as it was then nearly noon, the court +adjourned until the afternoon session. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST THROW + + +There being no further testimony in the case, but little time was +occupied by Mr. Sutherland at the afternoon session. Briefly and +forcibly he summarized the evidence already adduced, emphasizing +the strongest points and closing with numerous citations bearing +upon the case taken from recent decisions of the highest legal +authorities. + +Several days would be required for consideration of the case pending +the decision of the court, and as the crowd surged out into the +corridors and diffused itself through the various exits, there was +much speculation as to what that decision would be and what would be +the action taken by the opponents. Among the clubmen who had made +the acquaintance of Ralph Mainwaring, heavy bets were offered that +he would contest the case before the will was even admitted to +probate. + +"He is a fool if he does," said one; "the young fellow has the best +show." + +"He'll not give up, however," was the reply; "he's got too much of +the bull-dog about him; nothing will make him break his hold till +he has spent his last shilling." + +"Well, he'll spend it for nothing, that's all!" said another. "I'll +wager you a dinner for the whole club that the young fellow will +beat him. Anybody that knows Sutherland, knows he hasn't played his +trump card yet; and you may rest assured that English lawyer isn't +over here as a figure-head!" + +Ralph Mainwaring, passing hastily from the court-room, accompanied +by Mr. Whitney, overheard the last remark. His only reply, however, +was a look of scorn flashed at the speaker, but the sardonic smile +which lingered about his closely compressed lips betokened on his +part no anticipations of defeat, but rather the reverse. Even Mr. +Whitney wondered at his silence, but young Mainwaring, leisurely +following in the rear, knew it to be only the calm which presages +the coming storm. + +His father, followed by the attorney, stepped quickly into the +Mainwaring carriage and beckoned impatiently for him to follow, but +the younger man coolly declined the invitation. + +"No, thank you, governor. I'm going for a bit of a stroll; I'll +join you and Mr. Whitney at dinner." + +As the carriage rolled away he stood for a few moments lost in +thought. His father's words to him that morning had stung his +pride and aroused in him a spirit of independence altogether new, +which had made him the more keen in observing his father's +expressions and movements, and in drawing his own deductions +therefrom. He had formed some theories of his own, and as he now +stood in the soft, autumnal sunshine, he resolved to put them to +the test. + +Turning suddenly in an opposite direction from that which he had +at first taken, he found himself confronted by Harold Mainwaring +and his party as they descended the court-house steps to the +carriages in waiting. + +Instantly the young men clasped hands, and the frank, blue eyes +gazed into the piercing dark ones, with a friendliness of whose +sincerity there could be no doubt. + +"Egad, old fellow!" he exclaimed, in low tones, "I'm glad to see +you, though you have taken us rather by surprise. I'll not take +back a word of the promise I made you, nor of what I've said about +you, either." + +"I did not think you would, Hugh," Harold replied, grasping the +proffered hand heartily; "I had a great deal of faith in you and in +your word. I only regretted that I could not explain matters at the +time; it seemed like taking advantage of you and your friendship, +though I warned you that the future might make some unexpected +revelations." + +"Well, I don't regret anything. I always said you had good blood +in you, don't you know," Hugh continued, with a boyish laugh, then +added, a little huskily, "I'll say this much, and I mean it. I +would rather give up what I supposed was mine to you than to +anybody else that know of." + +"Thank you, Hugh; I appreciate that, I assure you. Come around to +the Waldorf, I would like to have a talk with you." + +"Indeed I will. Of course, I suppose it would be of no use to ask +you up to the house; I couldn't expect you to come, but I'll see +you as soon as I can," and with another handclasp the young men +parted. + +On arriving at the Waldorf, a note was handed to Harold Mainwaring, +with the information that the bearer had been waiting nearly an hour, +as there was an answer expected. He well knew the writing; it was +the same as that of the little missive given him on the first day +of the inquest, and with darkening face he opened it and read the +following lines: + +"I must see you at once, and I beg of you to come to my apartments +this afternoon at five o'clock, without fail. In the name of mercy, +do not deny me this one favor. I can tell you something important +for you to know, of which you little dream. + "ELEANOR HOUGHTON MAINWARING." + +After brief consultation with his attorneys, an answer was sent to +the effect that he would call in compliance with the request, and a +little later he started upon his strange errand. + +With what wildly conflicting emotions Mrs. LaGrange in her apartments +awaited his coming may perhaps be more easily imagined than +portrayed. She had not recovered from the morning's shock, but was +nerving herself for the coming ordeal; preparing to make her final, +desperate throw in the game of life. Success now, in this last +venture, would mean everything to her, while failure would leave her +nothing, only blank despair. Pride, the dominant passion of her +life, struggled with a newly awakened love; doubt and dread and fear +battled with hope, but even in the unequal contest, hope would not +be vanquished. + +Shortly before the hour appointed, Richard Hobson's card was handed +her with the information that he must see her without delay. She +understood the nature of his errand; she knew his coming was +inevitable; her only desire was to postpone the meeting with him +until after the interview with Harold Mainwaring, but on no account +would she have him know of her appointment with the latter. She +tore the bit of pasteboard in two. + +"Tell him to call to-morrow," she said to the messenger; but he soon +returned, with another card on which was written,- + +"Important! must see you to-day." + +It was nearly five. Quickly, with fingers trembling from her +anxiety lest he delay too long, she wrote,- + +"Call at eight o'clock this evening; I can see no one earlier." + +As she gave the card to the messenger, she glanced again at the +little French clock on the mantel. + +"Three hours," she murmured; "three hours in which to decide my fate! +If I succeed, I can bid defiance to that craven when he shall come +to-night; if not - " she shuddered and walked over to the window, +where she watched eagerly till she saw the cringing figure going +hastily down the street. + +He had but just disappeared around the corner of the block when a +closed carriage was driven rapidly to the hotel, and a moment later +Harold Scott Mainwaring was announced. + +Her heart throbbed wildly as she turned to meet him, then suddenly +stopped, seeming a dead weight in her breast, as her eyes met his. + +For a moment neither spoke; once her lips moved, but no sound came +from them. Before that face, hard and impassive as granite, and as +cold, the impulse which she had felt to throw herself at his feet +and plead for mercy and for love died within her; her tongue seemed +paralyzed, powerless to utter a word, and the words she would have +spoken fled from her brain. + +With swift observation he noted the terrible change which the last +weeks, and especially the last few hours, had wrought in the wretched +woman before him, and the suffering, evidenced by her deathly pallor, +her trembling agitation, and the look of dumb, almost hopeless +pleading in her eyes, appealed to him far more than any words could +have done. + +He was the first to speak, and though there was no softening of the +stern features, yet his tones were gentle, almost pitying, as he +said,- + +"I have come as you requested. Why did you send for me? What have +you to say?" + +At the sound of his voice she seemed somewhat reassured, and +advancing a few steps towards him, she repeated his words,- + +"Why did I send for you? Why should I not send for you? Think +you a mother would have no desire to see her own son after long +years of cruel separation from him?" + +"There is no need to call up the past," he said, more coldly; "the +separation to which you refer was, under existing circumstances, +the best for all concerned. It undoubtedly caused suffering, but +you were not the sufferer; there could be no great depth of +maternal love where there was neither love nor loyalty as a wife." + +Her dark eyes grew tender and luminous as she fixed them upon his +face, while she beckoned him to a seat and seated herself near and +facing him. + +"You forget," she replied, in the low, rich tones he had so often +heard at Fair Oaks; "you forget that a mother's love is instinctive, +born within her with the birth of her child, while a wife's love +must be won. I must recall the past to you, and you must listen; +'twas for this I sent for you, that you, knowing the past, might +know that, however deeply I may have sinned, I have been far more +deeply sinned against." + +"Not as regards my father," he interposed, quickly, as she paused +to note the effect of her words; "he sacrificed fortune, home, +friends, everything for you, and you rewarded his love and devotion +only with the basest infidelity." + +"That your father loved me, I admit," she continued, in the same +low, musical tones, scarcely heeding his words; "but, as I said a +moment ago, a wife's love must be won, and he failed to win my +love." + +"Was his treacherous brother so much more successful then in that +direction than he?" Harold questioned, sternly. "Within six months +after your marriage to my father, you admitted that you married him +only that you might have Hugh Mainwaring for your lover." + +She neither flushed nor quailed under the burning indignation of his +gaze, but her eyes were fastened upon him intently as the eyes of +the charmer upon his victim. + +"Half truths are ever harder to refute than falsehood," she replied, +softly. "I said that once under great provocation, but if I sought +to make Hugh Mainwaring my lover, it was not that I loved him, but +through revenge for his having trifled with me only to deceive and +desert me. Before I married your father, both he and his brother +were among my most ardent admirers. The younger brother seemed to +me far more congenial, and had he possessed one-half the chivalry +and devotion which the elder brother afterwards manifested, he +would have completely won my love. The rivalry between the two +brothers led to bitter estrangement, which soon became known to +their father, who lost no time in ascertaining its cause. His anger +on learning the facts in the case was extreme; he wrote me an +insulting letter, and threatened to disown either or both of his +sons unless they discontinued their attentions to a 'disreputable +adventuress,' as he chose to style me. Hugh Mainwaring at once +deserted me, without even a word of explanation or of farewell, and, +as if that were not enough, on more than one occasion he openly +insulted me in the presence of his father, on the streets of London. +I realized then for the first time that I cared for him, coward that +he was, though I did not love him as he thought, - had I loved him, +I would have killed him, then and there. Mad with chagrin and rage, +I married your father, partly for the position he could give me - +for I did not believe that he, the elder son and his father's +favorite, would be disowned - and partly to show his brother and +their father that I still held, as I supposed, the winning hand. +On my wedding-day I vowed that I would yet bring Hugh Mainwaring to +my feet as my lover, and when, shortly afterwards, your father was +disinherited in his favor, my desire for revenge was only +intensified. I redoubled my efforts to win him, and I found it no +difficult task; he was even more willing to play the lover to his +brother's wife than to the penniless girl whom he had known, with +no possessions but her beauty and wit. At first, our meetings +were clandestine; but we soon grew reckless, and in one or two +instances I openly boasted of my conquest, hoping thereby to arouse +his father's displeasure against him also. But in that I reckoned +wrong. He disinherited and disowned his son for having honorably +married a woman whom he considered below him in station, but for +an open affaire d'amour with that son's wife, he had not even a +word of censure. + +"Your father discovered the situation and decided upon a life in +Australia. If he had then shown me some consideration, the future +might have been vastly different; but he grew morose and taciturn, +and I, accustomed to gay society and the admiration of crowds, was +left to mope alone in a strange country, with no companionship +whatever. What wonder that I hungered for the old life, or that a +casual admiring glance, or a few words even of flattery, were like +cold water to one perishing with thirst! Then new hope came into +my lonely life, and I spent months in dreamy, happy anticipations +of the future love and companionship of my child. But even that +boon was denied me. It was hard enough, believing, as I did, that +my child had died, but to find that I was robbed of that which would +have been not only my joy and happiness, but my salvation from the +life which followed!" She paused, apparently unable to proceed, +and buried her eyes in a dainty handkerchief, while Harold +Mainwaring watched her, the hard lines deepening about his mouth. + +"After that," she resumed, in trembling tones, "all hope was gone. +Your father deserted me soon afterwards, leaving me nearly penniless, +and a flew years later I returned to England." + +"To find Hugh Mainwaring?" he queried. + +"Not at the first," she answered, but her eyes fell before the +cynicism of his glance. "I had no thought of him then, but I learned +through Richard Hobson, whom I met in London at that time, of the +will which had been made in my husband's favor, but which he told me +had been destroyed by Hugh Mainwaring. He said nothing of the clause +forbidding that any of the property should pass to me, and I +immediately sailed for America in search of Hugh Mainwaring, +believing that, with my knowledge of the will, I, as his brother's +widow, could get some hold upon him by which I could compel him +either to share the property with me or to marry me." + +"Then you were not married to Hugh Mainwaring in England, as you +testified at the inquest?" + +"No," she replied, passionately; "I was never married to him. I +have made many men my dupes and slaves, but he was the one man who +made a dupe of me, and I hating him all the time!" + +"And Walter!" he exclaimed, "you stated that he was the son of Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"He is Hugh Mainwaring's son and mine," she answered, with bitter +emphasis; "that was another of my schemes which failed. I found I +had little hold upon Hugh Mainwaring, while he had the same power +over me as in the days before I had learned to despise him. When +Walter was born, I hoped he would then fulfil his promises of +marriage; but instead, he would have turned me adrift had I not +threatened that I would then disclose everything which I knew +concerning the will. He sneered at me, but offered me a place as +servant in his home, and support and education for his child on +condition that the relationship should never be known, and that I +would remain silent regarding the will. I could do nothing then +but accept his conditions, but they were galling, - too galling at +last to be longer endured!" + +"How is it that you and Walter bear the name of LaGrange?" he asked. + +She hesitated a moment, then replied: "I married a man by that name +soon after leaving Australia." + +"Before or after the tidings of my father's death?" he questioned, +sternly. + +"We heard the news of his death soon after our marriage, but he had +deserted me years before, so it made little difference. I met +Captain LaGrange in Sydney, and we sailed together for Paris and +were married there, but we soon grew tired of each other. I left +him in about two years and went to Vienna, and from there returned +to England. In some way, Hugh Mainwaring learned of the marriage, +and when I came to Fair Oaks, he insisted on my taking that name +for myself and child." + +She spoke wearily and with an air of dejection, for it was plainly +evident that Harold Mainwaring was not to be deceived by +misstatements, however plausible, nor were his sympathies to be +aroused by simulated grief. A few moments of silence followed, +while she watched him intently, her face again falling into the +pinched and haggard outlines which he had observed on entering the +room. + +When he at last spoke, his voice was calm, without a trace of anger +or bitterness. + +"Mrs. LaGrange, I have been informed that in the days before you +ruined my father's life you were an actress in a second-class London +playhouse, and I see you have not yet lost some little tricks of the +stage; but we are not now before the footlights, and it will be much +better to lay aside everything pertaining to them. Nothing that you +have said has awakened my pity or touched my sympathies for you; in +fact, what you have told me has only steeled my heart against you +because of its utter falsity. It is unnecessary to go over the +ground again, but if you could not reciprocate the love and devotion +bestowed upon you by my father, you should never have accepted it; +but accepting it as you did, you were bound by every consideration +to be true and loyal to that love and to him. Instead, from +beginning to end, you have been false to him, false to his memory, +false to your own wifehood and motherhood, false to yourself! I +have not come here to reproach you, however. I will only say that +I do not believe the capacity - the capability even - of love exists, +or has ever existed, within you. But," he continued, in gentler +tones, "the capacity for suffering does exist, and I can see without +any simulation on your part that you have suffered." + +Before the look of pity which now for the first time softened the +stern features, she broke down, and genuine tears coursed down her +pallid cheeks as she cried, "Suffered! what have I not suffered! +I am homeless, penniless, degraded, an outcast! There is no hope, +no help for me unless you will help me. I know what you must think +of me, how even you, my son, must despise me, but as a drowning man +catches at a straw, I sent for you, hoping that you would in mercy +pity me and help me." + +"Do you wish me to help you pecuniarily? I will willingly do that." + +"Pecuniarily!" she exclaimed, almost in scorn. "Cannot you +understand what I need most? It is pity, sympathy, love! I want +the love and support of my first-born son, and I am willing to beg +for it," and, rising from her chair, she threw herself upon her +knees beside him, "only be my son, forget the past and let me be to +you, as I am, your mother! No, let me be!" she exclaimed, as he +would have raised her from her kneeling posture. "I have no son +but you, for Walter, like his father, has deserted me, with taunts +and sneers. I can help you, too," she added, eagerly, but in low +tones, "help you in a way of which you little dream. Do you know +what Ralph Mainwaring will attempt next? He will try to implicate +you in the murder of Hugh Mainwaring!" + +"That will be no more than you yourself attempted at the inquest," +he answered. + +"Ah, but his motive is different; in my case it was but the resort +of a weak woman to divert suspicion from herself; but he will seek +to fasten this crime upon you to defeat you, to crush and ruin you, +because he fears you as his opponent, and it is within my power to +clear you from any charges he may bring against you." + +Her voice sank nearly to a whisper, her eyes were dilated, and she +was trembling with excitement. + +He watched her intently for a moment, then spoke in a tone of calm +command. "Tell me how you could help me. What do you know of that +affair?" + +"Listen, and I will tell you," and leaning towards him, she whispered +a few words in his ears. + +Only a few words, but Harold Mainwaring started as from a shock, +while his face grew as pale as her own, and it was with difficulty +he could control his voice, as he demanded in quick, excited tones,- + +"Do you know what you are saying? Are you speaking the truth?" + +"Yes, before Heaven, it is the truth, and the horror of it has +haunted me day and night; the thought of it has driven me nearly +mad, but I dared not breathe it to any living human being." + +"You have told no one else what you have just told me?" + +"No, I dared not." + +He asked a few more questions which she answered, and from her +manner he was convinced that she spoke the truth. Then he sat for +a moment silent, his head bowed, his eyes covered, lost in thought, +while strangely commingled emotions surged within his breast. + +At last she broke the silence. "It will help you - what I have +told you - will it not?" + +"It is of inestimable value to me," he answered, but instead of +exultation, there was a strange sadness in his voice. + +"You will let me help you, and you will be a son to me, will you +not?" + +He looked at her with an expression of mingled pity and bitterness, +and then, without replying, lifted her gently but firmly and +reseated her, while he himself remained standing at a little +distance. She watched him anxiously. + +"Harold," at last she ventured, "think what I have suffered, and +do not refuse my one prayer." + +"I can see that you have suffered," he answered, gently; "and, as I +have told you, I will help you pecuniarily and will befriend you, +only do not ask me that which I cannot give." + +"I ask nothing more," she exclaimed, passionately, rising to her +feet, "than that you be a son to me, and I will accept nothing less." + +"I am sorry to hear you say that," he replied, "for you are only +unnecessarily depriving yourself of many benefits that might be +yours. I would provide a home for you where you would be unknown, +and means that you could spend the remainder of your life in +comfort." + +"What would I care for any home or wealth that you might provide +for me," she demanded, angrily, "if you yourself would not +acknowledge me as your mother! I will accept nothing from you +under such conditions." + +"Then we may as well end this conference," he replied, calmly, "for +I hold my father in too deep love and reverence ever to permit of +my applying to you the sacred name of 'Mother.'" + +Her eyes flashed at the mention of his father, and she was about to +speak, but he lifted his hand warningly. "Hush!" he commanded; "not +one word shall you speak against him in my presence! Before I go, +I will give you an opportunity to reconsider your declaration of a +moment ago." + +"I will not reconsider it. You are like every Mainwaring that I +have ever known, in that you think money and shelter, such as you +might fling at some superannuated servant, will take the place of +the true position and honor that are my due." + +"Do you then, finally and once for all, refuse any and all offers +of assistance from me?" he asked. + +"I do," she replied, proudly; "I will not accept charity from a +Mainwaring, - not even from you!" + +"Very well; if that is your decision, I bid you adieu," and before +she could reply, he was gone. + +He passed swiftly down the corridor, his head bowed slightly, +looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, but his step had +an elasticity it had not possessed in weeks, and any one passing +near him would have heard the single exclamation, "Thank God!" + +Upon reaching his carriage, he spoke quickly to the driver, "To +the Waldorf at once!" and was borne away by the impatient steeds +even more swiftly than he had come. + +Meanwhile, within the room which he had just left, the wretched +woman, whose falseness and pride had wrought her own undoing, stood +listening to the retreating footsteps; she heard them die away in +the distance, heard the carriage-wheels roll rapidly down the avenue, +then sank upon a low couch with a cry of despair. + +"All is over," she moaned, "and I have failed. I could not force +him to my terms, and I would never yield to his. I will take +charity from no one, least of all from him. I will be first, or +nothing!" and she shivered faintly. + +After a tune she arose, and ringing for her maid, ordered a light +repast brought to her room, as she would not go down to dinner; +"And," she concluded, "you can have the evening to yourself: I +expect callers, and will not need you." + +An hour later, Richard Hobson crept along the corridor and tapped +for admittance. There was no answer, and cautiously pushing open +the door, he entered unbidden, but started back in horror at the +sight which met his eyes. The electric lights had not been turned +on, but a few tall wax tapers, in a pair of candelabra upon the +mantel, were burning, and in the dim, weird light, Mrs. LaGrange, +still elegantly attired for her interview with Harold Mainwaring, +lay upon the low couch near the grate, her features scarcely paler +than a few hours before, but now rigid in death. Upon the table +beside her, the supper ordered by the maid stood untasted, while +on the same table a small vial bearing the label of one of the +deadliest of poisons, but empty, told the story. Underneath the +vial was a slip of paper, on which was written,- + +"I have staked my highest card - and lost! The game is done." + +Terror-stricken, Hobson glanced about him, then pausing only long +enough to clutch some of the gleaming jewels from the inanimate +form, he stealthily withdrew, and, skulking unobserved along the +corridors, passed out into the darkness and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SECESSION IN THE RANKS + + +When Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney arrived at the club they found +young Mainwaring already awaiting them at their private table, but +it was far from a social group which sat down to dinner that evening. +The elder Mainwaring still preserved an ominous silence, and in his +dark, glowering face few would have recognized the urbane guest whom +Hugh Mainwaring had introduced to his small coterie of friends less +than three months before. The younger man, though holding a +desultory conversation with the attorney, yet looked decidedly +bored, while from time to time he regarded his father with a cynical +expression entirely new to his hitherto ingenuous face. Mr. Whitney, +always keenly alert to his surroundings, became quickly conscious +of a sudden lack of harmony between father and son, and feeling +himself in rather a delicate position, carefully refrained in his +remarks from touching upon any but the most neutral ground. + +A couple of hours later, as the three with a box of cigars were +gathered around an open fire in Ralph Mainwaring's apartments, it +was noticeable that young Mainwaring was unusually silent. In a +few moments, however, his father's long pent-up wrath burst forth. + +Addressing the attorney in no very pleasant tone, he demanded, "Well, +sir, what do you now propose to do about this matter?" + +"It is to be a fight, then, is it?" Mr. Whitney asked with a smile, +knocking the ashes from his cigar. + +"Yes, by my soul, and a fight to the finish. Understand, I will +have no time lost. This farce has got to be quashed at once, and +the sooner the better, so you may enter protest and file an +application for hearing, or whatever your mode of procedure is in +this country, at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile, I'll +secure the best legal talent that money can get to help you. I've +a longer purse than that old Australian sheep-herder thinks, and +when the time for contest comes, I'll meet him on his own ground." + +"If you are going to employ additional counsel," interposed Mr. +Whitney, "allow me to suggest the name of P. B. Hunnewell, of this +city; he is one of the ablest attorneys in the United States, +particularly in matters of this kind. His fees are somewhat +exorbitant, but money is no object with you in this case." + +"None whatever," the other interrupted, impatiently; "we will retain +this Hunnewell upon your recommendation, but in the morning I shall + cable for Upham & Blackwell, of London. They rank right in the +same line with Barton & Barton; they have conducted considerable +business for me, and I am satisfied," he added, with peculiar +emphasis, "they could not be tampered with or bought at any price. +I shall also cable for Graham, the expert on chirography and on all +kinds of forgeries, and we will have his decision upon that will. +I am going, first of all, understand, to have that document proven +a forgery. That done, the whole fabrication of this cunning impostor +falls to the ground, and then, when I have him completely floored +in that direction, he will find that I have only just begun with him." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney. "You surely do not intend +to dispute his identity after the unmistakable proofs submitted?" + +"I care nothing about his identity," Mainwaring retorted, with a +sneer. "Whether he is the son of Harold Mainwaring or of Frederick +Scott, matters little; both were renegades and outcasts from their +homes. No, sir," and there was a ring of exultation in his tone, +while his steel-gray eyes glittered, "I have a surprise in store +for the young man; when he gets through with this contest, he will +find himself under arrest as the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring." + +Young Mainwaring rose suddenly and began pacing the room, while +Mr. Whitney exclaimed,- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, you astonish me! I certainly fail to see how you +can connect the young man with that terrible affair." + +"What else could be expected of a man who acknowledges that for +years he has been dogging the steps of Hugh Mainwaring and acting +the part of a spy, not only in his private offices, but even in +his own home, stooping to any means, no matter how contemptible, +to further his nefarious designs? Would such a man, when his +schemes were finally matured, have any scruples about taking the +life of the one who stood in the way of their fulfilment?" + +"But, sir," protested the attorney, "such a deed would be wholly +unnecessary. Admitting all that you have said regarding the means +employed by him, would it not be much more reasonable to suppose +that he would attempt to bring his man to terms either through a +personal interview or by bringing suit against him, rather than +by resorting to brutal crime?" + +"And supposing he did have a personal interview for the purpose of +setting forth his claims, do you think that Hugh Mainwaring would +be bamboozled by any of his cheap trickery? No, sir, not for one +moment. He would simply pronounce the whole thing a sham. Well, +sir, if you will recall some of the testimony at the inquest, you +will see that is precisely what occurred. Hugh Mainwaring, within +twenty or thirty minutes preceding his death, was heard to denounce +some one as a 'liar' and an 'impostor.' An 'impostor,' mark you! +Very applicable to the case we are now supposing. And in the +altercation which followed, the other party called him a 'thief,' +and made some allusion - I do not recall the exact words - to his +being 'transported to the wilds of Australia.' Now, sir, there is +no doubt in the mind of any sane man that those words were spoken +by the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring, and I think now we have a +pretty good clue to his identity." + +"But the young man stated emphatically this morning that he made +no mention of the will to Hugh Mainwaring." + +"To the devil with his statements! There is evidence enough against +him that he will be ruined when I get through with him. He has +dared to try to thwart me in the plans of a lifetime, and I'll make +it the worst piece of business he ever undertook. Understand, I +want you to institute proceedings against him at once!" + +"Governor," said young Mainwaring, quietly, before Mr. Whitney could +respond to this tirade, "in whose name will these proceedings be +instituted, yours or mine?" + +"Well," replied his father, with a sneer, "I don't know that it +makes any particular difference to you in whose name it is done, +so long as it is for your benefit." + +"Begging your pardon, sir, I believe it does make considerable +difference. And I will say right here that I will have no +proceedings entered, either in my name or for my benefit, for two +reasons: first, Harold Scott Mainwaring is no impostor; we had +abundant proof to-day that, under the terms of that will, he is the +sole claimant to the property; and second, you know, sir, as well +as I, that years ago, your own servant, John Wilson, told you that +such a will had existed, and there is every ground for believing +that this document is genuine. I just begin to understand your +little game, governor, and, by Jove! I will not be a party to it." + +Up to this point, astonishment at his son's audacity seemed to have +bereft Ralph Mainwaring of the power of speech, but now he demanded +in thunderous tones, while his face grew purple with rage, "What do +you mean, sir, by daring to address such language to me? You +impudent upstart! let me tell you that you had best attend to your +own business!" + +"This is the second time you have told me that today," said the +young man, calmly, though the hot blood was fast rising; "allow me +to inform you, governor, with all due respect, that henceforth I +will attend to my own business, and will not trouble you to attend +to it for me. If you had any just or tenable grounds for the +proceedings you are about to institute, I would have nothing to say; +but, begging your pardon, you have none whatever; it is simply a +piece of dirty work with which I will have nothing to do." + +"You ungrateful dog! This is your return for my care and +forethought for you, is it? Do you retract every word which you +have said, or I'll cut you off without a penny," and with a fearful +oath he swung himself around in his chair with such violence as to +overturn the small onyx table upon which the cigars were standing, +shattering it to fragments. + +The young man paused directly in front of his father. "I retract +nothing," he said, quietly but firmly. "You are at liberty to +follow the example of old Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring if you wish, but +you may regret it later, as he did." + +"And do you think Edith Thornton will marry a penniless beggar, a +pauper? Or do you propose to live upon her fortune?" + +"No; I will not touch a penny of her fortune," he replied, his cheek +flushing; "and I am not quite a pauper, for I have the money left +me by Uncle Tom years ago; and if Edith is the girl to be turned +from me under the circumstances, why, the sooner I find it out the +better." + +"A paltry twenty thousand pounds! a fine fortune!" sneered his +father, ignoring his last remark. + +"Many a fortune has been made from a much smaller start; but it is +useless to waste words further. You understand my position, and that +is enough. Mr. Whitney," he continued, addressing the attorney, +"according to the terms of Hugh Mainwaring's will, I, and not my +father, am heir to the property, and therefore the one to contest +the claim of Harold Mainwaring if it is contested at all. I wish to +state to you here and now, distinctly, that I will not contest the +case, nor will I authorize any one to do so for me; and now, +gentlemen, I bid you both good-evening!" and he quietly left the +room. + +"Zounds!" exclaimed the elder man, as the door closed upon his son, +"I didn't suppose the boy had so much spirit! I've often wished he +and Isabel could change places, because she was so much more like +myself and what I would like a son to be." + +"He has the Mainwaring blood all right," replied the attorney, with +more inward admiration for the young man than he dared to express. + +"Not if he will throw away a fortune in this manner; it is probably +some boyish whim, however and the young fool will look at it in a +different light to-morrow." + +"I think not, Mr. Mainwaring," said the attorney, quietly; "he is +enough like Hugh Mainwaring, and like yourself, that when he decides +upon a certain line of action, he will not be easily turned aside. +You may rest assured that he will have nothing whatever to do with +this contest, and that if you wish to carry on the fight, you will +have to do so under your own colors." + +"I'll do it, too," he replied, fiercely; "I'll enter proceedings in +my own name, as the nearest heir after Hugh Mainwaring." + +"In that case, your brother must be notified, as he will be entitled +to share the estate with you; that may cause us some little delay, +but -" + +"Curse it all!" the other interrupted, angrily; "I had not thought +of that; he will have to come in for a share; confound that boy's +foolishness! I'll get hold of him tomorrow morning and see if I +cannot talk some reason into him," and Ralph Mainwaring relapsed +into sullen silence. It was a new experience for him to meet with +opposition in his own family, least of all from his son, and he felt +the first step must be to quell it, though decidedly at loss just +how to proceed. + +A little later, Mr. Whitney, finding his client disinclined to +further conversation, after making an appointment for the next +morning, excused himself and took his departure for his own +apartments at the club. + +As he passed down the stairway into the spacious hall, what was his +surprise to see Mr. Merrick comfortably ensconced in a large leather +chair, reading the evening papers. + +The two men shook hands warmly, and together passed out into the +cool, starlit night. + +"When did you arrive, Merrick? and from what point of the compass?" +inquired the attorney. + +"Got in on the 9.30 train," the detective replied, seeming not to +have heard the second question; "learned you were at Mainwaring's, +so I stopped in, but told the butler not to disturb you, as I was +in no hurry." + +"I noticed you were looking over the evening papers, did you read +the account of this morning's proceedings in court?" + +"I did." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"I am not in the least surprised." + +"Not surprised!" echoed the attorney. "Do you mean to say that the +reappearance of the missing secretary as the heir to the Mainwaring +estate is no surprise to you?" + +"None whatever," Merrick replied, with the most exasperating +coolness, adding, as he noted the other's incredulous smile, "you +may recall a hint given you at Fair Oaks, one evening, of the +possible existence of claimants, perhaps not far distant, whose +rights superseded those of Hugh Mainwaring himself." + +Mr. Whitney started involuntarily as the detective's words of a few +weeks before were thus recalled, then looking his companion squarely +in the face, he exclaimed, half playfully, half indignantly, "I +don't suppose you will go so far as to claim any familiarity with +that old will which has just been resurrected." + +"Well," said Merrick, deliberately stopping to relight his cigar, "I +was aware that there was such a will in existence, or at least that +it had existed up to the time of Hugh Mainwaring's death, and I +supposed all along that it was in the possession of Harold Scott +Mainwaring, otherwise known as Harry Scott, secretary." + +"By George! when and how did you get hold of all this?" questioned +the attorney, in a tone of bewilderment. + +"I was pretty well conversant with the facts in the case a few days +before the young man took passage for England, in the 'Campania.'" + +"The 'Campania!' Heavens and earth, man! Do you mean to say that +he went over on the same boat with Miss - with the ladies from +Fair Oaks?" + +"Certainly; and I don't think," Merrick continued, watching the +attorney shrewdly, "that Miss - the ladies from Fair Oaks - objected +to him as a fellow-traveller, either." + +Mr. Whitney changed the subject. "Then you know that will to be +genuine, do you?" + +"H'm! am I on the witness stand?" + +"No; but I think I ought to subpoena you to keep the other side +from getting your testimony; you might make a troublesome witness +against us." + +"My testimony might be worth much or little; I am not giving it to +either side at present." + +"Well, I would not have it go out, of course; but for my part, I am +inclined, to believe not only that the will is genuine, but also +that Ralph Mainwaring knows that it is." + +"He will fight it all the same." + +"Yes, but on rather different grounds from what he first anticipated," +and Mr. Whitney gave Merrick an account of young Mainwaring's +defection. "In my private opinion," concluded the attorney, "Ralph +Mainwaring is a fool, for he has got a pretty hard combination to go +against; they've evidently got a strong case, splendid legal talent, +and plenty of money to back it all. However, I'm making a good +thing out of it." + +"Yes," said Merrick, enigmatically, "Barton & Barton are undoubtedly +men of great ability in their professions but that 'clerk' of theirs +who has come over with the party," with peculiar emphasis, "is the +smartest man in the whole crowd!" + +"The clerk! why I thought he seemed rather an insignificant sort +of a fellow; what do you know about him?" + +For reply the detective only gave a short, unpleasant laugh, and, +touching his cap, turned abruptly down another street. + +"Hold on!" cried the attorney; "you haven't told me anything about +yourself yet. What have you been doing? and how long are you going +to be in town?" + +"A day or two, perhaps, possibly a week; I cannot say." + +"How are you getting on?" + +But the detective was lost in thought and apparently did not hear +the question. "I suppose you read of the arrest of Brown, the +coachman?" he remarked, abstractedly, after a moment's silence. + +"The coachman? No! you don't say that he was really concerned in +that affair?" the attorney exclaimed, excitedly. + +"What affair, the Mainwaring murder? I don't know that I have +said that he was concerned in that," Merrick answered, suddenly +coming to himself and evidently enjoying the attorney's expression +of blank perplexity; "he was mixed up in a shooting affair, however, +which occurred about that time, and by holding him in custody we +hope to get on to the principals. Oh," he added, carelessly, +anticipating another inquiry from Mr. Whitney, "I'm getting there +all right, if that is what you want to know; but I won't have +somebody else dogging my tracks and then claiming the game by and by." + +"Man alive! what in the dickens are you driving at? You are in one +of your moods to-night." + +"Perhaps so," Merrick replied, indifferently, then added quickly, +"There is a sensation of some sort in there; see the crowd of +reporters!" + +They were standing on a street corner, near a large hotel, and +glancing through the windows in the direction indicated by the +detective, Mr. Whitney saw, as he had said, a crowd of reporters in +the office and lobbies, some writing, some talking excitedly, and +others coming and going. Just then one who was leaving the building +passed them, and Merrick stopped him. + +"What is going on? What's the excitement?" + +"Suicide!" the young man replied, hastily. "That woman who was +mixed up in the Mainwaring case has suicided by poison." + +The attorney and the detective exchanged startled glances, then +both entered the hotel. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FLOTSAM AND JETSAM + + +An hour later, the attorney and the detective reappeared, and, +threading their way through the crowd still lingering about the +hotel, walked rapidly down the street, arm in arm, conversing in +low tones. + +"A case of suicide, undoubtedly," said the attorney "and scarcely to +be wondered at, taking all the circumstances into consideration. +Do you know, I am now more than ever inclined to the belief that +she was in some way connected with Hugh Mainwaring's death, and +that, after such a revelation of her character as was made in court +this morning, she feared further disclosures." + +Mr. Whitney glanced at his companion, but the latter seemed +engrossed with his own thoughts and made no reply. + +"I never was so completely floored in my life," the attorney +continued, "as when it came out that Harold Mainwaring was her son; +and I yet fail to see the necessity for introducing that feature +into the testimony. I should have thought that would have been +passed over in silence." + +"As near as I can judge from reading of the case," Merrick replied, +"it seems to have been done with a purpose. His attorneys were +leading up to that very point in such a manner that, when the climax +was reached, she would involuntarily betray herself - as she did - +thus confirming in the strongest manner the testimony already given." + +"I believe you may be right," said the attorney, musingly, "though +it had not occurred to me." + +After a short pause, Merrick continued: "When I was first called to +Fair Oaks, I suspected some relationship between that woman and the +secretary, as he was then called; there was a marked resemblance +between them; both had the same peculiar olive skin, while their +features and carriage were almost identical." + +"Yes, I recall your mentioning the likeness to me, and at the same +time I was puzzled by the resemblance between him and Hugh +Mainwaring. Well, I always said he was a mystery, and no wonder!" + +They had reached the club-house by this time, and, as Merrick +declined Mr. Whitney's invitation to enter, both men remained +outside for a few moments. Once again, the attorney endeavored to +sound the detective regarding his work and the progress he was +making, but the latter suddenly became strangely uncommunicative. + +"My client is going to charge Harold Mainwaring with the murder," +said the attorney at last. + +Merrick laughed scornfully, and for the second time that evening +wheeled abruptly and turned down a side street, leaving Mr. Whitney +standing upon the club-house steps, watching the rapidly retreating +figure with mingled vexation and amusement. + +"Something has upset Merrick," he soliloquized, as he finally turned +towards the entrance; "who can he imagine is 'dogging' his tracks, +as he terms it? These detectives seem about as jealous of their +reputation as we lawyers are supposed to be. Ralph Mainwaring is +going to engage 'the best legal talent that money can get!' H'm! +when he comes to settle, he may find that my 'legal talent' will +come just as high as the best of them." + +Could Mr. Whitney have been present at a conference held that +evening in one of the private parlors of the Waldorf, he might have +had a better understanding of the cause of Merrick's perturbation. + +Immediately upon returning to the hotel, Harold Mainwaring had +communicated to the English attorney and to Mr. Scott the particulars +of his interview with Mrs. LaGrange. Mr. Scott at once expressed +his satisfaction at the outcome, in that she had rejected all offers +of assistance except upon her own terms. + +"That is best, that is best just as it is," he said, emphatically; +"you do not want to be hampered with any obligations she might +impose upon you, and as for ever recognizing or acknowledging any +relationship, it is not to be thought of for one moment. Your course +was right, perfectly right. But what was the statement of such +importance which she was to make?" + +"That is just what I am coming to," the young man replied; and +drawing his chair closer to those of his companions, he repeated in +low tones the secret intrusted to him by Mrs. LaGrange. The faces of +the two men were a study as he ended his recital. + +"Are you confident that she spoke the truth?" questioned Mr. Barton +eagerly. + +"I am positive that she did; she seemed like one terror-stricken, +and said that the horror of it had haunted her day and night." + +"There could be no reason in this instance for doubting her," +commented Mr. Scott, thoughtfully; "she would have no motive for +making such a statement if it were not true." + +"My dear Mainwaring!" exclaimed the attorney, "it is what I have +suspected ever since you gave me the details of the affair; you +remember what I told you before we left London!" + +"Certainly; but it seemed to me then too improbable." + +"The improbable is, sometimes, what we must look for in cases like +this," he replied; "McCabe should be put on to this immediately, +and we must call Sutherland. I will summon him, myself, at once," +and he left the room. + +The foster-father and son, left for a few moments to themselves, +had little to say, but sat looking into each other's faces with eyes +full of meaning, each understanding what was in the other's heart. +At last, as they heard returning footsteps, the elder man spoke,- + +"It was a good thing you went there, my boy; come what may, you will +never regret it." + +"Never!" the other replied with emphasis. + +It seemed but a few moments ere hurried steps were heard along the +corridor, followed by a light, familiar knock, and Mr. Sutherland +entered. + +"I recognized your voice at the 'phone, Mr. Barton," said the +attorney, after greetings had been exchanged, "and something in its +tone, aside from the general import of your message, led me to +believe that the call was of special importance, therefore I lost +no time in coming here." + +"You were correct," replied the English barrister; "we have made a +most important discovery, bearing not only upon the case in hand, +but also upon the Mainwaring murder case." + +"Ah-h!" responded the attorney with evident interest; then drawing +his chair near the group seated about the open fire, he asked, with +a swift glance about the room, "But where is your 'clerk,' Mr. +Barton? Should he not be present?" + +"My 'clerk!'" replied Mr. Barton, with peculiar emphasis, and plainly +appreciating the humor of the inquiry; "my 'clerk' is, I believe, at +present engaged in most assiduously cultivating the acquaintance of +Ralph Mainwaring's coachman." + +Then, as Mr. Sutherland elevated his eyebrows in mute inquiry, he +continued,- + +"The coachman, I have understood, is a recent acquisition, taken, I +believe, upon the recommendation of this Merrick; and while he seems +eminently satisfactory as a coachman, I have my doubts as to whether +he will prove quite so satisfactory to his superior officer upon his +return." + +"Ah, I see!" ejaculated the other; "he is what might be denominated +a 'sub.'" + +"Yes; and so exceedingly verdant that McCabe thought it worth while +to make his acquaintance. But now to present business!" + +Again the strange story was repeated, Mr. Sutherland listening with +grave attention, which deepened as the recital proceeded, until, at +its completion, he could scarcely restrain his enthusiasm; exultation +was plainly written on his face, but there was a peculiar gentleness +in his manner as he first approached his young client, saying in a +low tone, as he cordially grasped his hand,- + +"I realize, Mr. Mainwaring, all that this means to you, and I am +sure you will understand me when I say that I congratulate you." + +Harold Mainwaring bowed silently, and Mr. Sutherland, turning +towards the English barrister, exclaimed, "This explains everything! +This will make our case absolutely incontrovertible; but, first, +we must secure that man at all hazards and at any cost just as +quickly as possible; think what a witness he will make!" + +"Just what I had in mind" was the response, "and McCabe is the man +to locate him if he is upon the face of the earth. But we must +decide immediately upon our own course of action, for this will +necessitate certain changes in our plans, and we must act at once, +and, at the same time, with the utmost caution and secrecy." + +Dinner was ordered and served in the privacy of their own apartments +that they might be entirely free from intrusion or interruptions +during their deliberations, and it was at a late hour when, their +consultation ended, they gathered about the open fire with their +cigars, awaiting, with much self-congratulation and cheerful talk, +the return of the absent McCabe. + +"Confound it!" exclaimed Mr. Barton, presently, glancing at his +watch; "what in the deuce is keeping that fellow so late?" If we +had not especially wanted him, he would have been here two hours ago." + +"Perhaps," suggested Mr. Sutherland, "he may have found the coachman +more communicative than he anticipated." + +"He has doubtless struck some clue which he is following," was the +reply; but at that instant there was a light tap at the door, and the +man generally known as the English barrister's "clerk" entered. + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, cheerfully, "'speak of the devil' + - you know what follows! What luck to-night?" + +"Very fair, sir," said the man, quietly taking in the situation at +a glance, as he noted the eager, expectant faces of the four men, +and, dropping into a chair near the group, he instantly assumed an +attitude of close attention. + +Ordinarily, McCabe was, as Mr. Whitney had remarked, rather an +insignificant looking man. He was below medium stature and somewhat +dull in appearance, owing to the fact that he seemed to take little +interest in his surroundings, while his face, when his eyes were +concealed, as was generally the case, by the heavily drooping lids +and long eyelashes, was absolutely expressionless. When, however, +he raised his eyes and fixed them upon any one, the effect was much +the same as though a search-light suddenly flashed in one's face; +but this was only upon rare occasions, and few casual observers +would dream of the keen perceptive faculties hidden beneath that +quiet exterior. + +"Tell us your story first, Mac," said Mr. Barton, after a moment's +silence, thoroughly understanding his man, "ours will keep for a +little bit." + +"There's not much to tell, sir." + +"How are you and the coachman coming on?" + +"We'll not be very intimate after to-night, I'm thinking." + +"How is that?" questioned the attorney, at the same time smiling +broadly at his companions. + +"Well, sir, there'll be no call for it, for one thing, as I've got +all the points in the case I wanted; and for another, his chief +returned this evening, and, from the few words I overheard upon +his arrival, I don't think the coachman will feel over-confidential +the next time he sees me," and McCabe smiled grimly to himself. + +"So Merrick is back!" interposed Mr. Sutherland, laughing. "Did +you and he meet?" + +"Meet, sir? Ah, no, not much o' that! I heard a step coming up +the stairs, and as I thought the room was hardly big enough for +three, I excused myself to Mr. Jim Matheson - alias Matthews, the +coachman - and made for the hall. We passed each other at the head +of the stairs, and I cluttered down, making as much racket as I +could; then at the foot of the stairs I took off my boots and crept +upstairs again, more to hear the fellow's voice than anything else, +so I could recognize him afterwards." + +"What did you hear?" inquired Mr. Barton, as McCabe paused to light +a cigar which Mr. Sutherland had handed him. + +"I heard him say, 'Who was that I passed outside, Jim?' 'Only a +cross-country friend of mine,' says Jim. 'What friends are you +entertaining here in these quarters?' says he, kind o' sharp like. +'An' sure,' says Jim, 'it was only Dan McCoy, the clerk of the big +London lawyer who has come over with the young Mr. Mainwaring I've +heard you speak of, and a right clever fellow he is, too!' 'Clerk!' +he roars out, 'clerk, you blithering idiot! he's no more clerk +than you are coachman, nor half so much, for you're fit for nothing +but to take care of horses all your days! Do you want to know,' +says he, 'who you've been entertaining?' That's no more nor less +than Dan McCabe, a Scotland Yard man they've brought over, nobody +knows what for, but whatever his game, he's made you play into his +hand! I didn't stay to hear more," McCabe concluded, "I got out." + +"But how does this Merrick know you?" Mr. Barton inquired, as the +laughter caused by McCabe's recital subsided. + +"He doesn't know me, he only knows of me," the man replied. "I +found that out an hour or two later, when I met him in a crowd at +the Wellington Hotel;" the speaker glanced curiously in the +direction of Harold Mainwaring for an instant, and then continued, +"I knew him by his voice, but I spoke with him, and he had no idea +who I was." + +"But how has he heard of you?" persisted Mr. Barton. + +"There was an American detective - a friend of his - who came over +on the 'Campania' on the same trip with Mr. Mainwaring. He was +following up a case in London, but he managed to keep his eye on +Mr. Mainwaring and kept this Merrick posted of all that he was doing. +It was because of some remarks of his that I got wind of, that I +determined from the first to get onto his game." + +"Well, Mac," said Mr. Barton, tentatively, "are you ready to go to +work now?" + +The keen eyes flashed for an instant in the attorney's face, then +the man answered quietly, "If you've nothing to tell me, I'm ready +to go to work on my own hook and in my own way; if you've anything +to say, I'll hear it." + +Mr. Barton glanced at the others. "We had better tell McCabe what +we have learned, and also just what our plans are." + +The others bowed in assent, and the chairs were drawn closer together +while Mr. Barton, in low tones, told, as briefly and clearly as +possible, the discovery which they had made. McCabe listened to the +attorney's story, but whether or not the secret were already guessed +by him, his face gave no sign. When it was ended he glanced +curiously at Harold Mainwaring. + +"Mrs. LaGrange told you this?" + +"She did." + +"At what time, if you please, sir?" + +"At about half-past five." + +"Are you aware, sir, that, with the exception of her maid, you are +probably the last person who saw Mrs. LaGrange living?" + +"Saw her living!" Harold Mainwaring repeated, astonished, while Mr. +Barton demanded, "What do you mean, Mac?" + +"I mean, sir," said McCabe, slowly, "that Mrs. LaGrange committed +suicide at about seven o'clock this evening, less than two hours +after Mr. Mainwaring saw her." + +"When did you learn of this?" "What do you know of the affair?" +questioned the attorneys quickly, while Harold Mainwaring, more +deeply shocked than he would have thought possible, listened to the +man's reply. + +"I happened along by the Wellington about two hours ago, and saw +considerable stir around there. I learned 'twas a case of suicide, +but thought nothing of it till I heard the woman's name, then I +dropped in and picked up the facts in the case," and he proceeded +to relate the details of the affair. + +As Harold Mainwaring listened, he recalled the looks and words of +the wretched woman, her genuine misery, her falsehood and deceit, +her piteous pleadings, and the final rage and scorn with which she +had rejected his assistance even in the face of such desperation +and despair; and a sickening sense of horror stole over him, +rendering him almost oblivious to the conversation around him. + +"'Twas there I saw this man Merrick," McCabe was saying in +conclusion. "I heard him questioning the maid about Mr. Mainwaring's +interview with the woman; he evidently was onto that. I saw the +girl myself shortly afterwards and gave her a hint and a bit of money +to keep her mouth shut about Mr. Mainwaring. She seemed pretty +bright, and I think she will understand her business." + +"Confound that meddlesome Yankee! what was he prowling around +there for?" interrupted Mr. Scott, angrily. "He has no business +prying into Harold Scott Mainwaring's affairs, and I'll have him +understand it; let him attend to his own duties, and I think, from +all reports, he will have his hands more than full then. Mr. +Sutherland," he continued, addressing the attorney, "there's no +knowing what that beastly bungler who calls himself a detective +will do next; this thing is likely to be out in the morning papers +with the boy's name mixed up in it, and it must be stopped right +here. His name must be kept out of this at any price, and you +probably can reach the New York press better than any one of us." + +"You are right," said Mr. Sutherland, rising hastily and preparing +to leave; "our client wants no notoriety of that sort; and I will +make sure that nothing of the kind occurs. I have a friend who has +unlimited influence with the newspaper men, and I will have him +attend to the matter at once, and see to it that everything of that +nature is suppressed." + +"That is best," said Harold Mainwaring gravely, coming forward. "I +would have rendered the woman any necessary assistance; I am willing +to do whatever is needful now, but, living or dead, her name shall +never be coupled with my father's name and mine." + +"You understand, of course, that money is no object in this matter," +added Mr. Scott. + +"I understand perfectly, sir," said the attorney, courteously; +"everything will be attended to; and, Mr. Barton, you will kindly +confer with Mr. McCabe, and I will see you in the morning regarding +your final decision. Good-night, gentlemen." + +An hour later, McCabe took his departure. Of his own theories or +plans he had said little more than that he was to leave the +Waldorf that night for another part of the city, but all details +for communication with him in case of necessity had been carefully +arranged. + +"Your 'clerk' has been suddenly called to London on important +business," he said to Mr. Barton, with a quiet smile, adding, "You +may meet me occasionally, but it's not likely or best that you +recognize me, and when I have anything to report you will hear from +me," and with these words he was gone. + +When at last Harold Mainwaring and his foster-father were again by +themselves, the latter, noting the younger man's abstraction, said,- + +"This is naturally a great shock to you, my boy, but it is only what +might be expected after such a life as hers. You have done nothing +for which to censure yourself; you have done all that could be done +under existing conditions, and more than was actually required of +you; so you need have no regrets over the affair." + +"I understand that, sir; but the thought that I cannot banish from +my mind is, knowing so well her treachery and deceit, is it possible +that she herself had a hand in the murder, and finding at last that +there was no hope of gaining my friendship, did she fear the +developments which might follow from what she had told?" + +The elder man shook his head thoughtfully. "We cannot say, my boy; +the thought occurred to me almost instantaneously, for, without +doubt, she both hated and feared him; but time alone will tell." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +BETWEEN THE ACTS + + +For the ten days next ensuing the public craving for sensational +developments in the Mainwaring case seemed likely to be gratified +to an unusual degree. To the exciting scenes of the court-room was +added the suicide of Mrs. LaGrange, immediately followed by news of +the discovery that Richard Hobson, the unwilling witness in the +previous day's proceedings, had absconded, leaving not the slightest +indication of even the direction in which he had vanished. By many +the suicide of the one and the sudden disappearance of the other, +occurring simultaneously, were considered as prima facie evidence +that the two, so closely associated with each other, had been in +some way connected with the Fair Oaks tragedy. + +From this phase of the affair, however, public attention was +speedily diverted by the report that proceedings to contest the old +will had been instituted, but in the name of Ralph Mainwaring and +his brother, Harold W. Mainwaring; his son, the sole heir under the +will of Hugh Mainwaring, having altogether withdrawn from the +contest. This had caused an open rupture between father and son, +and the latter had established himself in a suite of apartments at +the Murray Hill. + +Young Mainwaring's course occasioned great surprise; many commended +his wisdom, but few gave him credit for the genuine sense of honor +which had actuated him. + +"A neat little stroke of diplomacy," said one club-man to another, +"and worthy of Hugh Mainwaring himself! There is no show for him, +anyway, and it's much better policy to yield the point now, don't +you see, than to fight it out along with that pig-headed father of +his." + +"He understands on which side his bread is buttered, and don't you +forget it, my dear boy," was the laughing rejoinder. "It's always +best to stand in with the winning side; he won't lose anything in +the long run, and he knows it." + +Such remarks occasionally reached young Mainwaring, making him +exceedingly indignant. + +"You may say, once and for all," he said to a reporter who was +interviewing him in his apartments at the Murray Hill, "that in +withdrawing from this contest I am not currying favor with Harold +Scott Mainwaring. He and I are the best of friends, but that fact +would not hinder me from giving him a fair and square fight if +there were the slightest doubt as to the validity of his claim. +But there isn't; he has proved his right, legally and morally, to +the property, and that's enough for me." + +"But Mr. Ralph Mainwaring must have some tenable ground for +contesting his claim," said the reporter, tentatively, hoping to +get some of the inside facts of the case. + +Young Mainwaring froze instantly. "I have nothing whatever to say, +sir, regarding the governor's action in this matter; any information +you desire on that point you will have to obtain from him." + +The next development in the Mainwaring case was a report to the +effect that the whereabouts of Harold W. Mainwaring could not be +ascertained, and it was generally supposed among his London +associates that he had followed his brother to America by the next +steamer. As this report was supplemented by the further facts that +he was a man of no principle, heavily involved in debt, and deeply +incensed at Ralph Mainwaring's success in securing for his son the +American estate in which he himself had expected to share, public +speculation was immediately aroused in a new direction, and "that +Mainwaring affair" became the absorbing topic, not alone at the +clubs and other places of masculine rendezvous, but at all social +gatherings as well. + +Regarding the principal actors in this drama, however, around whom +public interest really centred, little could be definitely +ascertained. To many, who, on the following morning, read the +details of the suicide at the Wellington, it was a matter of no +small wonder that the name of Harold Scott Mainwaring was not once +mentioned in connection with that of the woman shown by the +preceding day's testimony to have been so closely related to him. +Perhaps no one was more surprised at this omission than Merrick +himself but if so, his only comment was made mentally. + +"He's got the cinch on them all around, and he'll win, hands down!" + +The inquest, held at an early hour, was merely a matter of form, +the evidence of intentional suicide being conclusive, and the +interment, a few hours later, was strictly private. Excepting the +clergyman who read the burial service, there were present only the +two sons of the wretched woman. + +It was their first meeting since learning of the strange relationship +existing between them, and Walter LaGrange, as he entered the +presence of the dead, cast a curious glance, half shrinking, half +defiant, at the calm, stern face of Harold Mainwaring, who had +preceded him. His own face was haggard and drawn, and the hard, +rigid lines deepened as his glance fell for an instant on the casket +between them. Then his eyes looked straight into those of Harold +Mainwaring with an expression almost imploring. + +"Tell me," he demanded in low, hoarse tones, "is it true that I am +- what she once said and what report is now saying - the son of +Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"It is true," the other replied, gravely. + +"Then curse them both!" he exclaimed, while his hands clinched +involuntarily. "What right had they to blight and ruin my life? +What right had they to live as they did, and let the stigma, the +shame, the curse of it all fall on me? A few months since I had +the honor and respect of my classmates and associates; to-day, not +one will recognize me, and for no fault of mine!" + +"Hush!" interposed Harold Mainwaring; "I know the wrong which has +been done you, - they have wronged me, also, far more deeply than +you know, - but this is no time or place to recall it!" + +The calmness and kindness of his tones seemed to soothe and control +his excited companion. + +"I know they have wronged you," the latter replied; "but they have +not ruined you! You have not only friends and wealth, but, more +than all, your father's name. I," he added bitterly, "am a pauper, +and worse than a pauper, for I have not even a name!" + +For a few moments Harold Mainwaring silently studied the haggard +young face confronting him, in which anger was slowly giving place +to dull, sullen despair; and his own heart was suddenly moved with +pity for the boy. + +"Robbed of his birthright before he was born," reared in an +atmosphere of treachery and deceit calculated to foster and develop +the evil tendencies already inherited; yet, notwithstanding all, so +closely akin to himself. + +"Walter," he said, gravely, at the same time extending his hand +across the casket, "I realize the truth of much that you have said, +but you need not allow this to ruin or blight your life. Mark my +words, your future from this time forth is, to a great extent, in +your own hands; your life will be what you make it, and you alone. +See to it that it is not blighted by your own wrong-doing! Be +yourself a man of honor, and I will assure you, you can depend upon +me to stand by you and to help you." Walter LaGrange raised his +eyes in astonishment at these words, containing a pledge of probably +the first genuine friendship he had ever known in his young life. +He gave a look, searching, almost cynical, into Harold Mainwaring's +face; then reading nothing but sincerity, he took the proffered hand, +saying brokenly,- + +"Do you really mean it? I supposed that you, of all others, would +despise me; and it would be no great wonder if you did!" + +"It will depend entirely upon yourself, Walter, whether or not I +despise you. If I ever do, it will be the result of your own +unworthiness, not because of the wrong-doing of others." + +There were signs in the boy's face of a brief struggle between the +old pride, inherited from his mother, and the self-respect which +Harold Mainwaring's words had but just awakened. + +"If it were the other fellow," he said, slowly, "the one the old +man intended to make his heir, had made me such a proposition, I +would tell him to go to the devil; but, by George! if you will +stand by me, it's all right, and I'll be man enough anyway that +you'll never regret it." + +A few days later, Walter LaGrange, penniless and friendless, had +disappeared, whither his former associates neither knew nor cared. +In a large banking establishment in one of the principal western +cities, - a branch of the firm of Mainwaring & Co., - a young man, +known as the ward of Harold Scott Mainwaring, was entered as an +employee, with prospect of advancement should he prove himself +worthy of responsibility and trust. But of this, as of many other +events just then quietly transpiring behind the scenes, little or +nothing was known. + +Meanwhile, as the days slipped rapidly away, the party at the +Waldorf was not idle. There were conferences, numerous and +protracted, behind dosed doors, telegrams and cablegrams in cipher +flashed hither and thither in multitudinous directions, while Mr. +Sutherland seemed fairly ubiquitous. Much of his time, however, +was spent in the private parlors of the English party, with frequent +journeys to the court-house to ascertain the status of the case. +From one of these trips he returned one evening jubilant. + +"Well," said he, settling himself comfortably, with a sigh of +relief, "the first point in the case is decided in our favor." + +"That is a good omen," Mr. Barton replied cheerfully; "but may I +inquire to what you refer?" + +"I have succeeded in getting the date for the hearing set for the +next term of court, which opens early in December." + +"I am glad to hear it; a little time just now is of the utmost +importance to our interests. Did you have any difficulty in +securing a postponement until the next term?" + +"Whitney, of course, opposed it strongly. He said his client +wanted the matter settled at the earliest possible moment; but I +told him that so long as Ralph Mainwaring persisted in butting +against a stone wall, just so long a speedy settlement was out of +the question; it was bound to be a hard fight, and would be carried +over into the next term in any event. Then I had a private +interview with Judge Bingham, and, without giving particulars, told +him that new developments had arisen, and, with a little time in +which to procure certain evidence, we would have our opponents +completely floored, - they would not even have an inch of room left +to stand upon, - while under present conditions, Mainwaring, so long +as he had a shilling, would, if beaten, move for a new trial, or +appeal to a higher court, - anything to keep up the fight. So he +will grant us till December, which, I am inclined to think, will be +ample time." + +"It looks now," said Mr. Barton, producing a telegram, "as though +we might succeed in securing that evidence much sooner than we have +anticipated. What do you think of that?" and he handed the despatch +to Mr. Sutherland. + +The face of the latter brightened as he glanced rapidly over the +yellow sheet. + +"The dickens! McCabe has left the city!" he exclaimed. + +Mr. Barton bowed. "Which means," he said in reply, "that he has +evidently struck the scent; and when he once starts on the trail, +it is only a question of time - and usually not any great length +of time, either - before he runs his game to cover." + +"Well," ejaculated Mr. Sutherland, rubbing his hands together +enthusiastically, "I, for one, want to be 'in at the death' on this, +for it will simply be the finest piece of work, the grandest +denouement, of any case that has ever come within my twenty years of +legal experience!" + +Mr. Barton smiled. "My brother is evidently of the same opinion +with yourself," he said. "I received a cablegram from him to-day, +requesting me to inform him at once of the date set for the hearing, +as he stated he would not, for a kingdom, fail of being present at +the trial." + +With the announcement that the case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring +had been set for the opening of the December term of court, the +public paused to take breath and to wonder at this unlooked-for +delay, but preparations for the coming contest were continued with +unabated vigor on both sides. Contrary to all expectations, Ralph +Mainwaring, so far from objecting to the postponement of the case, +took special pains to express his entire satisfaction with this +turn of affairs. + +"It is an indication of conscious weakness on their part," he +remarked with great complacency, as he and Mr. Whitney were dining +at the club on the following day. "They have evidently discovered +some flaw in their defence which it will take some time to repair. +I can afford to wait, however; my attorneys and experts will soon +be here, and while our side could easily have been in readiness in +a much shorter time, this, of course, will give us an opportunity +for still more elaborate preparation, so that we will gain an +immense advantage over them." + +"I suppose, Mr. Mainwaring," said one of his listeners, giving a +quick side-glance at his companions, "I suppose that during this +interim a truce will be declared, and for the time being there will +be a cessation of hostilities between the parties in interest, will +there not?" + +"Sir!" roared Ralph Mainwaring, transfixing the speaker with a +stare calculated to annihilate him. + +"I beg pardon, sir, I intended no offence," continued the +irrepressible young American, ignoring the warning signals from his +associates; "it only occurred to me that with such an immense +advantage on your side you could afford to be magnanimous and treat +your opponent with some consideration." + +"I am not accustomed to showing magnanimity or consideration to any +but my own equals," the other rejoined, with freezing dignity; "and +the fact that my 'opponent,' as you are pleased to designate him, +is, for the present, allowed liberty to go and come at his pleasure, +although under strict surveillance, is, in this instance, sufficient +consideration." + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring under surveillance? Incredible!" exclaimed +one of the party in a low tone, while the first speaker remarked, "I +certainly was unaware that the gentleman in question was to be +regarded in the light of a suspected criminal!" + +"It is to be presumed," said Ralph Mainwaring, haughtily, stung by +the tinge of irony in the other's tone, "that there are a number of +points in this case of which people in general are as yet unaware, +but upon which they are likely to become enlightened in the near +future, when this person who has assumed such a variety of roles +will be disclosed in his true light, - not that of a suspected +criminal merely, but of a condemned criminal, convicted by a chain +of evidence every link of which has been forged by himself." + +There was an ominous silence as Ralph Mainwaring rose from the +table, broken at last by an elderly gentleman seated at a little +distance, who, while apparently an interested listener, had taken +no part in the conversation. + +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Mainwaring, I would judge the charges +which you would prefer against this young man to be unusually +serious; may I inquire their nature?" + +The words were spoken with the utmost deliberation, but in the calm, +even tones there was an implied challenge, which was all that was +needed at that instant to fan Ralph Mainwaring's wrath into a flame. +Utterly disregarding a cautionary glance from Mr. Whitney, he turned +his monocle upon the speaker, glaring at him in contemptuous silence +for a moment. + +"You have decidedly the advantage of me, sir, but allow me to say +that the person under discussion has not only, with unheard of +effrontery, publicly and unblushingly proclaimed himself as a +blackmailer and knave, capable of descending to any perfidy or +treachery for the purpose of favoring his own base schemes, but he +has also, in his inordinate greed and ambition, unwittingly proved +himself by his own statements and conduct to be a villain of the +deepest dye; and I will say, furthermore, that if Harold Scott +Mainwaring, as he styles himself, ends his days upon the gallows +in expiation of the foul murder of Hugh Mainwaring, he will have +only himself to thank, for his own words and deeds will have put +the noose about his neck." + +Having thus expressed himself, Ralph Mainwaring, without waiting +for reply, left the room accompanied by Mr. Whitney. The latter +made no comment until they were seated in the carriage and rolling +down the avenue; then he remarked, casually,- + +"I was surprised, Mr. Mainwaring, that you failed to recognize the +gentleman who addressed you as you were leaving the table." + +"His face was somewhat familiar; I have met him, but I cannot recall +when or where. I considered his tone decidedly offensive, however, +and I proposed, whoever he might be, to give him to understand that +I would brook no interference. Do you know him?" + +"I have never met him, but I know of him," the attorney replied, +watching his client closely. "He is the Honorable J. Ponsonby Roget, +Q. C., of London. I supposed of course that you knew him." + +"J. Ponsonby Roget, Queen's Counsel? Egad! I have met him, but it +was years ago, and he has aged so that I did not recognize him. +Strange!" he added, visibly annoyed. "What the deuce is he doing +in this country?" + +"That is just what no one is able to say," replied the attorney, +slowly. "He is stopping at the Waldorf, with our friends, the +English party, but whether as a guest or in a professional capacity, +no one has been able to ascertain." + +"Zounds, man! why did you not give me this information earlier?" + +"For the good and sufficient reason, Mr. Mainwaring, that I did not +learn of the facts myself until within the last two hours. My +attention was called to the gentleman as I entered the club. I +assumed, of course, that you knew him, at least by sight, and when +he addressed you I supposed for the instant that you were +acquaintances." + +"But how came he at the club? None of the party from the Waldorf +were with him." + +"He was there as the especial guest of Chief-Justice Parmalee, of +the Supreme Court, the gentleman on his left. Judge Parmalee spent +much of his life in London, and the two are particular friends." + +"Well, it's done, and can't be undone, and I don't know that I +regret it," Ralph Mainwaring remarked, sullenly. "If he chooses to +identify himself with that side of the case he is at liberty to do +so, but he has my opinion of his client gratis." + +Mr. Whitney made no reply, and the drive was concluded in silence. + +Meanwhile, Ralph Mainwaring had no sooner left the club than a +chorus of exclamations, protests, and running comments arose on +all sides. + +"Harold Scott Mainwaring the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring! That is +carrying this farce beyond all bounds!" + +"If he cannot get possession of the property in any other way, he +will send the new heir to the gallows, eh?" + +"He will attempt it, too; he is desperate," said one. + +"He may make it pretty serious for the young fellow," said another, +thoughtfully. "You remember, by his own statements he was the last +person who saw Hugh Mainwaring alive; in fact, he was in his library +within a few moments preceding his death; and after all that has +been brought to light, it's not to be supposed that he had any great +affection for his uncle." + +"What is this, gentlemen?" said a reporter, briskly, appearing on +the scene, note-book in hand. "Any new developments in the +Mainwaring case?" + +"Yes, a genuine sensation!" shouted two or three voices. + +"Gentlemen, attention a moment!" said a commanding voice outside, +and an instant later a tall, well-known form entered. + +"The ubiquitous Mr. Sutherland!" laughingly announced a jovial +young fellow, standing near the entrance. + +"Sutherland, how is this?" demanded one of the elder gentlemen. +"Have you a private battery concealed about your person with +invisible wires distributed throughout the city, that you seem to +arrive at any and every spot just on the nick of time?" + +"That is one of the secrets of the profession, Mr. Norton, not to +be revealed to the uninitiated," replied the attorney, while a +quick glance flashed between himself and the Queen's Counsel. + +"There is one thing, gentlemen," he continued, with great dignity, +"to which I wish to call your attention, particularly you gentlemen +of the press. I am aware of the nature of the 'sensation' of which +you made mention a moment ago, but I wish it distinctly understood +that it is to be given no publicity whatever. The name of my client +is not to be bandied about before the public in connection with any +of Ralph Mainwaring's imputations or vilifications, for the reason +that they are wholly without foundation. We are thoroughly +cognizant of that gentleman's intentions regarding our client, and +we will meet him on his own ground. In the coming contest we will +not only establish beyond all shadow of doubt our client's sole +right and title to the Mainwaring estate, but we will, at the same +time, forever refute and silence any and every aspersion which Ralph +Mainwaring may seek to cast upon him. Even were there any truth +in these insinuations, it would be time enough, when the charges +should be preferred against our client, to brazen them before the +public, but since they are only the product of spleen and malignity, +simply consign them to the odium and obloquy to which they are +entitled." + +"That is right!" responded two or three voices, while the reporter +replied, courteously,- + +"We will certainly respect your wishes, sir; but you see the public +is on the qui vive, so to speak, over this case, and it is our +business to get hold of every item which we can to add to the +interest. You have checked us off on some rather interesting matter +already, I believe." + +"Perhaps so," said Mr. Sutherland, quietly, "but I can promise you +that before long there will be developments in the case which will +give you boys all the interesting matter you will need for some +time, and they will be fact, not fabrication." + +As the result of Mr. Sutherland's prompt action, the newspapers +contained no allusion to that evening's scene at the club; but even +his energy and caution were powerless to prevent the spread of the +affair from lip to lip. Mentioned scarcely above a whisper, the +report rippled onward, the waves widening in all directions, with +various alterations and additions, till it was regarded as an open +secret in all circles of society. It reached young Mainwaring in +his rather secluded bachelor quarters at the Murray Hill, and he +bowed his head in shame that a Mainwaring should stoop to so +disgraceful an exhibition of his venomous rage and hatred. It +reached Harold Scott Mainwaring, and the smouldering fire in the +dark eyes gleamed afresh and the proud face grew rigid and stern. +Donning overcoat and hat, he left his apartments at the Waldorf; +and started forth in the direction of the club most frequented by +Ralph Mainwaring and Mr. Whitney. + +He had gone but a short distance when he met young Mainwaring. The +young men exchanged cordial greetings, and, at Harold's request, his +cousin retraced his steps to accompany him. + +"Why are you making such a stranger of yourself; Hugh? I have +scarcely seen you of late," said Harold, after a little general +conversation. + +"Well, to be frank with you, old boy, I haven't been around so often +as I would like for two reasons; for one thing, I find people +generally are not inclined to regard our friendship in the same light +that we do. You and I understand one another, and you don't suspect +me of any flunkeyism, or any ulterior motive, don't you know, -" + +"I understand perfectly," said Harold, as his cousin paused, seeming +to find some difficulty in conveying his exact meaning; "and so +long as you and I do understand each other, what is the use of +paying any attention to outsiders? Whether we were friends, or +refused to recognize one another, their small talk and gossip would +flow on forever, so why attempt to check it?" + +"I believe you are right; but that isn't all of it, don't you know. +What I care most about is the governor's losing his head in the way +he has lately. It is simply outrageous, the reports he has started +in circulation!" + +Hugh paused and glanced anxiously into his cousin's face, but the +frank, brotherly kindness which he read there reassured him. + +"My dear cousin," said Harold, warmly, "nothing that Ralph +Mainwaring can ever say or do shall make any difference between us. +There are but two contingencies in this connection that I regret." + +"And those are what?" the younger man questioned eagerly. + +"That he bears the name of Mainwaring, and that he is your father!" + +"By Jove! I'm with you on that," the other exclaimed heartily, "and +I hope you'll win every point in the game; but I've been awfully +cut up over what he has said and done recently. I know that he +intends to carry his threats into execution, and I'm afraid he'll +make it deucedly unpleasant for you, don't you know." + +They had reached the club-house, and Harold Mainwaring, as he paused +on the lowest step, smiled brightly into the boyish face, regarding +him with such solicitude. + +"I understand his intentions as well as you, and know that it would +give him great delight to carry them into execution; but, my dear +boy, he will never have the opportunity to even make the attempt." + +Young Mainwaring's face brightened. "Why, are you prepared to head +him off in that direction? By Jove! I'm right glad to know it. +Well, I'll be around to the Waldorf in the course of a day or two + No, much obliged, but I don't care to go into the club-rooms +to-night; in fact, I haven't been in there since the governor made +that after-dinner speech of his. Good-night!" + +As Harold Mainwaring sauntered carelessly through the club-rooms, +returning the greetings of the select circle of friends which he +had made, he was conscious of glances of interest and undisguised +curiosity from the many with whom he had no acquaintance. No +allusion was made to the subject which he well knew was in their +minds, however, until, meeting Mr. Chittenden, the latter drew him +aside into an alcove. + +"I say, my dear Mainwaring, are you aware that your esteemed kinsman +has you under strict surveillance?" + +Mainwaring smiled, though his eyes flashed. "I am aware that he +has made statements to that effect, although, thus far, his +'surveillance' has interfered in no way either with my duties or +pleasures, nor do I apprehend that it will." + +"My dear fellow, it is simply preposterous! The man must be insane." + +"Is he here this evening?" Mainwaring inquired. + +"No; to tell the truth, he has not found it so very congenial here +since that outbreak of his; he seldom is here now, excepting, of +course, at meals. Mr. Whitney is here, however." + +"I came here," Harold Mainwaring replied, "with the express purpose +of meeting one or the other, or both; on the whole, it will be +rather better to meet Mr. Whitney." + +"No trouble, no unpleasant words, I hope?" said the elder man, +anxiously. + +"Mr. Chittenden, when you knew me as Hugh Mainwaring's private +secretary, you knew me as a gentleman; I trust I shall never be +less." + +"You are right, you are right, my boy, and I beg your pardon; but +young blood is apt to be hasty, you know." + +A little later Harold Mainwaring strolled leisurely across the large +reading-room to a table where Mr. Whitney was seated. The latter, +seeing him, rose to greet him, while his sensitive face flushed +with momentary excitement. + +"Mr. Mainwaring, I am delighted to meet you. I had hoped from the +friendly tone of that rather mysterious note of yours, upon your +somewhat abrupt departure, that we might meet again soon, and, +though it is under greatly altered circumstances, I am proud to +have the opportunity of congratulating you." + +The younger man responded courteously, and for a few moments the +two chatted pleasantly upon subjects of general interest, while +many pairs of eyes looked on in silent astonishment, wondering what +this peculiar interview might portend. + +At last, after a slight pause, Harold Mainwaring remarked, calmly, +"Mr. Whitney, I understand that, when the coming litigation is +terminated, your client intends to institute proceedings against me +of a far different nature, - criminal proceedings, in fact." + +The attorney colored and started nervously, then replied in a low +tone, "Mr. Mainwaring, let us withdraw to one of the side rooms; +this is rather a public place for any conversation regarding those +matters." + +"It is none too public for me, Mr. Whitney, as I have nothing +unpleasant to say towards yourself personally, and nothing which I +am not perfectly willing should be heard by any and every individual +in these rooms to-night. You have not yet answered my inquiry, Mr. +Whitney." + +The attorney paused for a moment, as though laboring under great +excitement, then he spoke in a tone vibrating with strong emotion,- + +"Mr. Mainwaring, regarding my client's intentions, you have, in all +probability, been correctly informed. I believe that he has made +statements at various times to that effect, and I am now so well +acquainted with him that I know there is no doubt but that he will +attempt to carry out what he has threatened. But, Mr. Mainwaring, I +wish to say a word or two for myself. In the coming litigation +over the estate, I, as Ralph Mainwaring's counsel, am bound to do +my part without any reference to my own personal opinions or +prejudices, and I expect to meet you and your counsel in an open +fight, - perhaps a bitter one. But this much I have to say: Should +Ralph Mainwaring undertake to bring against you any action of the +character which he has threatened," here Mr. Whitney rose to his +feet and brought his hand down with a ringing blow upon the table +at his side, "he will have to employ other counsel than myself, for +I will have nothing whatever to do with such a case." + +He paused a moment, then continued: "I do not claim to understand +you perfectly, Mr. Mainwaring. I will confess you have always been +a mystery to me, and you are still. There are depths about you that +I cannot fathom. But I do believe in your honor, your integrity, +and your probity, and as for taking part in any action reflecting +upon your character, or incriminating you in any respect, I never +will!" + +A roar of applause resounded through the club-rooms as he concluded. +When it had subsided, Harold Mainwaring replied,- + +"Mr. Whitney, I thank you for this public expression of your +confidence in me. The relations between us in the past have been +pleasant, and I trust they will continue so in the future. As I +stated, however, I came here to-night with no unfriendly feeling +towards yourself, but to ask you to be the bearer of a message +from me to your client. Ralph Mainwaring, not content with trying +by every means within his power to deprive me of my right and +title to the estate for years wrongfully withheld from my father +and from myself, now accuses me of being the murderer of Hugh +Mainwaring. I Say to Ralph Mainwaring, for me, that, not through +what he terms my 'inordinate greed and ambition,' but through +God-given rights which no man can take from me, I will have my +own, and he is powerless to prevent it or to stand in my way. But +say to him that I will never touch one farthing of this property +until I stand before the world free and acquitted of the most remote +shadow of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring; nor until the foul and +dastardly crime that stains Fair Oaks shall have been avenged!" + +Amid the prolonged applause that followed, Harold Mainwaring left +the building. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RUN TO COVER + + +A dull, cheerless day in the early part of December was merging +into a stormy night as the west-bound express over one of the +transcontinental railways, swiftly winding its way along the +tortuous course of a Rocky Mountain canyon, suddenly paused before +the long, low depot of a typical western mining city. The arc +lights swinging to and fro shed only a ghastly radiance through the +dense fog, and grotesque shadows, dancing hither and thither to the +vibratory motion of the lights, seemed trying to contest supremacy +with the feeble rays. + +The train had not come to a full stop when a man sprang lightly +from one of the car platforms, and, passing swiftly through the +waiting crowd, concealed himself in the friendly shelter of the +shadows, where he remained oblivious to the rain falling in +spiteful dashes, while he scanned the hurrying crowd surging in +various directions. Not one of the crowd observed him; not one +escaped his observation. Soon his attention was riveted upon a +tall man, closely muffled in fur coat and cap, who descended from +one of the rear coaches, and, after a quick, cautious glance about +him, passed the silent, motionless figure in the shadow and hastily +entered a carriage standing near. The other, listening intently +for the instructions given the driver, caught the words, "545 +Jefferson Street." + +As the carriage rolled away, he emerged from the shadow and jotted +down the address in a small note-book, soliloquizing as he did so,- + +"I have tracked him to his lair at last, and now, unless that +infernal hoodoo looms upon the scene, I can get in my work in good +shape. I would have had my game weeks ago, but for his appearance, +confound him!" + +He looked at his watch. "Dinner first," he muttered, "the next +thing in order is to find the alias under which my gentleman is at +present travelling. No one seems to know much about him in these +parts." + +The dim light revealed a man below medium height, his form enveloped +in a heavy English mackintosh thrown carelessly about his shoulders, +which, as he made his notes, blew partially open, revealing an +immaculate shirt front and a brilliant diamond which scintillated +and sparkled in open defiance of the surrounding gloom. A soft felt +hat well pulled down concealed his eyes and the upper part of his +face, leaving visible only a slightly aquiline nose and heavy, black +mustache, which gave his face something of a Jewish cast. Replacing +his note-book in his pocket, he called a belated carriage, and +hastily gave orders to be taken to the Clifton House. + +Arriving at the hotel, the stranger registered as "A. Rosenbaum, +Berlin," and, having secured one of the best rooms the house afforded, +repaired to the dining-room. Dinner over, Mr. Rosenbaum betook +himself to a quiet corner of the office, which served also as a +reading-room, and soon was apparently absorbed in a number of Eastern +papers, both English and German, though a keen observer would have +noted that the papers were occasionally lowered sufficiently to give +the eyes - again concealed beneath the hat-brim - an opportunity for +reconnoitering the situation. He was attired in a black suit of +faultless fit, and a superb ruby on his left hand gleamed and glowed +like living fire, rivalling in beauty the flashing diamond. He +speedily became the subject of considerable speculation among the +various classes of men congregating in the hotel office, most of +them for an evening of social enjoyment, though a few seemed to have +gathered there for the purpose of conducting business negotiations. +Among the latter, after a time, was the tall man in fur coat and +cap, who appeared to be waiting for some one with whom he had an +appointment, as he shunned the crowd, selecting a seat near Mr. +Rosenbaum as the most quiet place available. Having removed his +cap and thrown back the high collar of his fur coat, he appeared to +be a man of about fifty years of age, with iron-gray hair and a full, +heavy beard of the same shade. He wore dark glasses, and, having +seated himself with his back towards the light, drew forth from his +pocket a number of voluminous type-written documents, and became +absorbed in a perusal of their contents. + +Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Clifton House, feeling considerable +curiosity regarding his new guest, sauntered over in his direction. + +"Well, Mr. Rosenbaum," he remarked, genially, "you have hit on +rather a stormy night for your introduction to our city, for I take +it you are a stranger here, are you not?" + +The soft hat was raised slightly, revealing a rather stolid, +expressionless face, with dark eyes nearly concealed by long lashes. + +"Not the most agreeable, certainly," he answered, with an expressive +shrug and a marked German accent, at the same time ignoring the +other's question. + +"Your first impressions are not likely to be very pleasant, but if +you stop over a few days you will see we have a fine city. Do you +remain here long?" + +"I cannot say at present; depends entirely upon business, you +understand." + +"I see. What's your line?" + +For reply the stranger handed the other a small card, on which was +engraved, "Rosenbaum Brothers, Diamond Brokers, Berlin," and bearing +on one corner his own name, "A. Rosenbaum." + +"Diamond brokers, eh? You don't say!" exclaimed the proprietor, +regarding the bit of pasteboard with visible respect. "Must be quite +a business. You represent this firm, I suppose; you are their +salesman?" + +The stranger shook his head with a smile. "We have no salesmen," he +answered, quietly. "We have branch houses in Paris, London, and New +York, but we employ no travelling salesmen. Any one can sell +diamonds; my business is to buy them," with marked emphasis on the +last words. + +"Well," said his interlocutor, "you're not looking for 'em out here, +are you?" + +"Why not here as well as anywhere? So far as my experience goes, +it is nothing uncommon in this part of the country to run across +owners of fine stones who, for one reason or another, are very glad +to exchange the same for cash." + +"Yes, I suppose so. When a fellow gets down to bedrock, he'll put +up most anything to make a raise." + +"There are many besides those who are down to bedrock, as you call +it, who are glad to make an exchange of that kind," said Mr. +Rosenbaum, speaking with deliberation and keeping an eye upon his +neighbor in the fur coat; "but their reasons, whatever they may be, +do not concern us; our business is simply to buy the gems wherever +we can find them and ask no questions." + +By this time a fourth man was approaching in their direction, +evidently the individual for whom the man in the fur coat was +waiting, and Mr. Rosenbaum, thinking it time to put an end to the +conversation, rose and began to don his mackintosh. + +"Surely you are not going out to-night!" said the proprietor; "better +stay indoors, and I'll make you acquainted with some of the boys." + +"Much obliged, but an important engagement compels me to forego that +pleasure," said Mr. Rosenbaum, and, bidding his host good-evening, he +sallied forth, well aware that every word of their conversation had +been overheard by their silent neighbor, notwithstanding the +voluminous documents which seemed to engross his attention. + +Passing out into the night, he found the storm fast abating. +Stopping at a news-stand, he inquired for a directory, which he +carefully studied for a few moments, then walked down the principal +thoroughfare until, coming to a side street, he turned and for a +number of blocks passed up one street and down another, plunging at +last into a dark alley. + +Upon emerging therefrom a block away, the soft felt hat had given +place to a jaunty cap, while a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses +perched upon the aquiline nose gave the wearer a decidedly youthful +and debonnaire appearance. Approaching a secluded house in a dimly +lighted location, he glanced sharply at the number, as though to +reassure himself, then running swiftly up the front steps, he +pulled the door-bell vigorously and awaited developments. After +considerable delay the door was unlocked and partially opened by a +hatchet-faced woman, who peered cautiously out, her features lighted +by the uncertain rays of a candle which the draught momentarily +threatened to extinguish. + +"Good-evening, madam," said the stranger, airily. "Pardon such an +unseasonable call, but I wish to see Mr. Lovering, who, I understand, +has rooms here." + +"There's no such person rooming here," she replied, sharply, her +manner indicating that this bit of information ended the interview, +but her interlocutor was not to be so easily dismissed. + +"No such person!" he exclaimed, at the same time scrutinizing in +apparent perplexity a small card which he had produced. "J. D. +Lovering, 545 Jefferson Street; isn't this 545, madam?" + +"Yes," she answered, testily, "this is 545; but there's nobody here +by the name of Lovering." + +The young man turned as if to go. "Have you any roomers at present?" +he inquired, doubtfully. + +"I have one, but his name is Mannering." + +"Mannering," he repeated, thoughtfully, once more facing her; "I +wonder if I am not mistaken in the name? Will you kindly describe +Mr. Mannering?" + +The woman hesitated, eying him suspiciously. "He ain't likely to +be the man you want," she said, slowly, "for he don't have no +callers, and he never goes anywhere, except out of the city once in +a while on business. He's an oldish man, with dark hair and beard +streaked with gray, and he wears dark glasses." + +"Ah, no," the young man interrupted hastily, "that is not the man at +all; the man I am looking for is rather young and a decided blond. +I am sorry to have troubled you, madam; I beg a thousand pardons," +and with profuse apologies he bowed himself down the steps, to the +evident relief of the landlady. + +As the door closed behind him, Mr. Rosenbaum paused a moment to +reconnoitre. The house he had just left was the only habitable +building visible in the immediate vicinity, but a few rods farther +down the street was a small cabin, whose dilapidated appearance +indicated that it was unoccupied. Approaching the cabin cautiously, +Mr. Rosenbaum tried the door; it offered but slight resistance, and, +entering, he found it, as he had surmised, empty and deserted. +Stationing himself near a window which overlooked No. 545, he +regarded the isolated dwelling with considerable interest. It was +a two-story structure with a long extension in the rear, only one +story in height. With the exception of a dim light in this rear +portion, the house was entirely dark, which led Mr. Rosenbaum to +the conclusion that the landlady's private apartments were in this +part of the building and remote from the room occupied by her lodger, +which he surmised to be the front room on the second floor, a side +window of which faced the cabin. + +For more than an hour Mr. Rosenbaum remained at his post, and at +last had the satisfaction of seeing the tall figure in the fur coat +approaching down the dimly lighted street. He ascended the steps +of 545, let himself in with a night-key, and a moment later the gas +in the upper front room was turned on, showing Mr. Rosenbaum's +surmise to be correct. For an instant the flaring flame revealed +a pale face without the dark glasses, and with a full, dark beard +tinged with gray; then it was lowered and the window blinds were +closely drawn, precluding the possibility of further observation. +The face was like and yet unlike what Mr. Rosenbaum had expected +to see; he determined upon a nearer and better view, without the +dark glasses, before making any decisive move. + +The following evening, as soon as it was dusk, found Mr. Rosenbaum +again at the window of the deserted cabin, keenly observant of No. +545. A faint light burned in the rear of the lower floor, while in +the front room upstairs a fire was evidently burning in an open +grate, the rest of the house being in darkness. Presently a man's +figure, tall and well formed, could be seen pacing up and down the +room, appearing, vanishing, and reappearing in the wavering +firelight. For nearly an hour he continued his perambulation, his +hands clasped behind him as though absorbed in deep thought. At +last, arousing himself from his revery, the man looked at his watch +and vanished, reappearing ten minutes later at the front door, in +the usual fur coat and cap, and, descending the steps, turned +towards town and proceeded leisurely down the street, Mr. Rosenbaum +following at some distance, but always keeping him in view and +gradually diminishing the distance between them as the thoroughfare +became more crowded, till they were nearly opposite each other. + +Finally, the man paused before a restaurant and, turning, looked +carefully up and down the street. For the first time he observed +Mr. Rosenbaum and seemed to regard him with close attention, but +the latter gentleman was absorbed in the contemplation of an +assortment of diamonds and various gems displayed in a jeweller's +window, directly opposite the restaurant. In the mirrored back of +the show-case the restaurant was plainly visible, and Mr. Rosenbaum +noted with satisfaction the other's evident interest in himself, +and continued to study the contents of the show-case till the man +had entered the restaurant, seating himself at one of the +unoccupied tables. Having observed his man well started on the +first course of dinner, Mr. Rosenbaum crossed the street slowly, +entered the restaurant and with a pre-occupied air seated himself +at the same table with Mr. Mannering. After giving his order, he +proceeded to unfold the evening paper laid beside his plate, without +even a glance at his vis-a-vis. His thoughts, however, were not +on the printed page, but upon the man opposite, whom he had followed +from city to city, hearing of him by various names and under various +guises; hitherto unable to obtain more than a fleeting glimpse of +him, but now brought face to face. + +"Alias Henry J. Mannering at last!" he commented mentally, as he +refolded his paper; "you have led me a long chase, my man, but you +and I will now have our little game, and I will force you to show +your hand before it is over!" + +Glancing casually across at his neighbor, he found the dark glasses +focused upon himself with such fixity that he responded with a +friendly nod, and, making some trivial remark, found Mr. Mannering +not at all averse to conversation. A few commonplaces were exchanged +until the arrival of Mr. Rosenbaum's order, when the other remarked,- + +"Evidently you do not find the cuisine of the Clifton House entirely +satisfactory." + +"It is very good," Mr. Rosenbaum answered, indifferently, "but an +occasional change is agreeable. By the way, sir, have I met you at +the Clifton? I do not remember to have had that pleasure." + +"We have not met," replied the other. "I saw you there last evening, +however, as I happened in soon after your arrival." + +"Ah, so? I am very deficient in remembering faces." + +Mr. Mannering hesitated a moment, then remarked with a smile, "I, +on the contrary, am quite observant of faces, and yours seems +somewhat familiar; have I not seen you elsewhere than here?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum raised his eyebrows in amusement. "It is very possible +you have, my dear sir; I travel constantly, and for aught that I +know you may have seen me in nearly every city on the globe. May I +inquire your business, sir? Do you also travel?" + +"No," said Mr. Mannering, slowly, but apparently relieved by Mr. +Rosenbaum's answer, "I am not engaged in any particular line of +business at present. I am interested in mining to a considerable +extent, and am out here just now looking after my properties. How +do you find business in your line?" + +Mr. Rosenbaum shook his head with a slight shrug. + +"Nothing so far to make it worth my while to stay. You see, sir, +for such a trade as ours we want only the finest gems that can be +bought; we have no use for ordinary stones, and that is all I have +seen here so far;" and, having thrown out his bait, he awaited +results. + +A long pause followed, while Mr. Mannering toyed with his fork, +drawing numerous diagrams on the table-cloth. + +"I think," he said at last, slowly, "that I could get you one or two +fine diamonds if you cared to buy and would give anything like their +true valuation." + +"That would depend, of course, upon the quality of the diamonds; +really fine gems we are always ready to buy and to pay a good price +for." + +"If I am any judge of diamonds, these are valuable stones," said Mr. +Mannering, "and the owner of them, who is a friend of mine, being +himself a connoisseur in that line, would not be likely to entertain +any false ideas regarding their value." + +"And your friend wishes to sell them?" + +"I am inclined to think that he might dispose of one or two for a +sufficient consideration, subject, however, to one condition, - that +no questions will be asked." + +"That goes without saying, my dear sir; asking questions is not our +business. We are simply looking for the finest stones that money +can buy, without regard to anything else. Perhaps," added Mr. +Rosenbaum, tentatively, "we might arrange with your friend for a +meeting between the three of us." + +"That would be impracticable," Mr. Mannering replied; "he is out of +the city; and furthermore I know he would not care to appear in the +transaction, but would prefer to have me conduct the negotiations. +I was going to suggest that if you were to remain here a few days, +I shall see my friend in a day or so, as I am going out to look +over some mining properties in which we are both interested, and I +could bring in some of the gems with me, and we might then see what +terms we could make." + +"I can remain over, sir, if you can make it an object for me, and +if the stones prove satisfactory I have no doubt we can make terms. +Why, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum leaned across the table and his voice +assumed a confidential tone, "money would be no object with me if I +could get one or two particular gems that I want. For instance, I +have one diamond that I would go to the ends of the earth and pay +a small fortune when I got there, if I could only find a perfect +match for it!" and he launched forth upon an enthusiastic description +of the stone, expatiating upon its enormous size, its wonderful +brilliancy and perfection, adding in conclusion, "and its workmanship +shows it to be at least two hundred years old! Think of that, sir! +What would I not give to be able to match it!" + +A peculiar expression flitted over his listener's face, not +unobserved by Mr. Rosenbaum. He made no immediate response, however, +but when at last the two men separated, it was with the agreement +that they should dine together at the same café three days later, +when Mr. Mannering would have returned from his conference with his +friend, at which time, if the latter cared to dispose of his jewels, +they would be submitted for inspection. + +Upon retiring to his room that night, Mr. Rosenbaum sat for some +time in deep abstraction, and when he finally turned off the gas, +he murmured,- + +"He will produce the jewels all right, and may heaven preserve us +both from the hoodoo!" + +For the two days next ensuing, Mr. Rosenbaum watched closely the +arrivals in the city, but, notwithstanding his vigilance, there +slipped in unaware, on the evening of the second day, a quiet, +unassuming man, who went to the Windsor Hotel, registering there +as "A. J. Johnson, Chicago." At a late hour, while Mr. Rosenbaum, +in the solitude of his own room, was perfecting his plans for the +following day, Mr. Johnson, who was making a tour of inspection +among the leading hotels, sauntered carelessly into the office of +the Clifton. He seemed rather socially inclined, and soon was +engaged in conversation with the proprietor and a dozen of the +"boys," all of whom were informed that he was travelling through +the West on the lookout for "snaps" in the way of mining investments. +This announcement produced general good feeling, and there were not +wanting plenty who offered to take Mr. Johnson around the city on +the following day and introduce him to the leading mining men and +promoters. + +"Much obliged, boys," said Mr. Johnson, "but there's no rush. I +expect to meet some friends here in a few days, and till they come +I shall simply look around on the q. t., you understand, and make +some observations for myself. And that reminds me, gentlemen," he +added, "do any of you happen to know a man by the name of Mannering, +who is interested in mines out here?" + +"Mannering?" answered one of the group; "there's a man by that name +has been around here off and on for the last two or three months; +but I didn't know he was interested in mines to any extent, though +he seems to have plenty of money." + +"I think that is the man I have in mind; will you describe him?" + +"Well, he's tall, about middle age, rather gray, wears blue glasses, +and never has anything to say to anybody; a queer sort of fellow." + +Mr. Johnson nodded, but before he could reply, another in the group +remarked, "Oh, that's the fellow you mean, is it? I've seen him at +the Royal Café for the last six weeks, and in all that time he's +never exchanged a dozen words with anybody, till here, the other +night, that diamond Dutchman of yours," addressing the proprietor +of the Clifton, "came waltzing in there, and I'll be hanged if the +two didn't get as confidential over their dinner as two old women +over a cup of tea." + +Mr. Johnson turned towards the proprietor with a quiet smile. "The +'diamond Dutchman!' Is he a guest of your house?" + +"Mr. Rosenbaum?" + +"Yes; do you know him?" + +"Not by name, but I think I have seen the gentleman on my travels; +engaged in the jewelry business, isn't he, and carries his +advertisements on his shirt-front and fingers?" + +"That's the man," the proprietor replied, amid a general laugh. +"Why?" He's all right, isn't he?" + +"All right for aught that I know, sir; I haven't the pleasure of +the gentleman's acquaintance, though possibly I may have if we both +remain here long enough," and he carelessly turned the subject of +conversation. + +A little later, as Mr. Johnson left the Clifton, he soliloquized, +"Well, if I haven't exactly killed two birds with one stone, I think +I've snared two birds in one trap. Since coming West I haven't +located one without seeing or hearing of the other; it's my belief +they're 'pals,' and if I can pull in the pair, so much the better." + +The following evening found Mr. Johnson in the vicinity of the Royal +Café; having discovered a small newsstand opposite, he strolled in +thither, and, buying a couple of papers, seated himself in a quiet +corner, prepared to take observations. He had not waited long when +Mr. Mannering made his appearance, and, after pausing a moment to +look up and down the street, entered the restaurant. He had been +seated but a moment when Mr. Rosenbaum appeared, crossing the street, +having evidently left the jeweller's store, and also entered the +café. The two men shook hands and immediately withdrew to one of +the private boxes. Mr. Johnson had visited the Royal Café earlier +in the day and made himself familiar with its interior arrangement. +Knowing the box just taken to be No. 3, and that No. 4 directly +opposite was unoccupied, he at once proceeded across the street to +the restaurant. Stopping at the cashier's desk, he said in a low +tone, "I expect some friends later, and don't wish to be disturbed +till they come; understand?" + +The man nodded, and Mr. Johnson passed on noiselessly into No. 4. +Meanwhile, the occupants of No. 3 having received their orders, +dismissed the waiter, with the information that when they needed +his services they would ring for him. Mr. Mannering was visibly +excited, so much so that his dinner remained almost untasted, and +the other, observing his evident agitation, pushed aside his own +plate and, folding his arms upon the table, inquired indifferently,- + +"Well, my dear sir, what was your friend's decision?" + +For reply, the other drew from his pocket a small case, which he +silently handed across the table. Mr. Rosenbaum opened it, +disclosing, as he did so, a pair of diamonds of moderate size, but +of unusual brilliancy and perfectly matched. He examined them +silently, scrutinizing them closely, while his face indicated +considerable dissatisfaction. + +"What does your friend expect for these?" he asked at length. + +"What will you give for them?" was the counter-question. + +"I do not care to set a price on them, for I do not want them," he +replied, rather shortly. + +"I think," said Mr. Mannering, "that my friend would dispose of +them at a reasonable figure, as he is at present in need of ready +cash with which to consummate an important mining negotiation." + +After considerable fencing and parrying, Mr. Rosenbaum made an offer +for the gems, to which Mr. Mannering demurred. + +"Show me a higher class of gems and I will offer you a better price," +said Mr. Rosenbaum, finally seeming to grow impatient. "Show me one +like this, for instance, and I will offer you a small fortune," and +opening a case which he had quickly drawn from his pocket, he took +from it an enormous diamond, beside whose dazzling brilliancy the +pair of gems under consideration seemed suddenly to grow dim and +lustreless. He held it up and a thousand rays of prismatic light +flashed in as many different directions. + +"What do you think of that, my dear sir? When I can find a match +for that magnificent stone, we can fill an order which we have held +for more than twelve months from the royal house in Germany. But +where will I find it?" + +Twirling the gem carelessly between his thumb and finger, he watched +the face of his companion and saw it change to a deathly pallor. + +"May I see that for one moment?" he asked, and his voice sounded +unnatural and constrained, while the hand which he extended across +the table trembled visibly. + +"Most certainly, sir," Mr. Rosenbaum replied, and, in compliance +with the request, handed to Mr. Mannering the gem which the latter +had himself disposed of less than three months before in one of the +large Western cities. Nothing could escape the piercing eyes now +fastened upon that face with its strange pallor, its swiftly +changing expression. Unconscious of this scrutiny, Mr. Mannering +regarded the gem silently, then removed his glasses for a closer +inspection. Having satisfied his curiosity, he returned the stone +to Mr. Rosenbaum, and as he did so, found the eyes of the latter +fixed not upon the gem, but upon his own face. Something in their +glance seemed to disconcert him for an instant, but he quickly +recovered himself, and, replacing the colored glasses, remarked +with a forced composure,- + +"That is a magnificent stone. May I ask when and where you found +it?" + +"I picked it up in one of your cities some three months ago, maybe, +more or less." + +"You bought it in this country, then? Why may you not expect to +match it here?" + +"Simply on the theory, my dear sir, that the lightning never strikes +twice in the same place." + +"Well, sir," said Mr. Mannering, calmly, "I will show you a stone so +perfect a match for that, you yourself could not distinguish between +the two." + +"You have such a diamond!" Mr. Rosenbaum exclaimed; "why then are +you wasting time with these?" and he pushed the smaller diamonds +from him with a gesture of contempt. "Why did you not produce it +in the first place?" + +"Because," replied Mr. Mannering, his composure now fully restored, +"I do not propose to produce it until I know somewhere near what +you will give for it." + +"My dear sir," Mr. Rosenbaum's tones became eager, "as I have already +told you, if I can match this stone," placing it on the table between +them, "I will pay you a small fortune; money would be no object; you +could have your own price." + +Without further words, Mr. Mannering drew forth a small package, +which he carefully opened, and, taking therefrom an exact duplicate +of the wonderful gem, placed it upon the table beside the latter. + +With a smile which the other did not see, Mr. Rosenbaum bent his +head to examine the stones; he had recognized his man in the brief +instant that their eyes had met, and now, within his grasp, lay, as +he well knew from the description which he carried, two of the finest +diamonds in the famous Mainwaring collection of jewels, stolen less +than six months before; his triumph was almost complete. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson, who had overheard much of their conversation, +was congratulating himself upon the near success of his own schemes, +when the officiousness of a waiter overthrew the plans of all parties +and produced the greatest confusion. Catching sight of the gentleman +waiting in No. 4, he ignored the cashier's instructions and entered +the box to take his order. Mr. Johnson's reply, low and brief though +it was, caught the quick ear of Mr. Rosenbaum, who muttered under his +breath,- + +"The hoodoo! confound him!" + +At the same instant a draught lifted the curtain to NO. 3, revealing +to the astonished Mannering a view of Mr. Johnson's profile in the +opposite box. His own face grew white as the table-cloth before +him; he reached wildly for the diamond, but both gems were gone, and +Rosenbaum confronted him with a most sinister expression. + +"My diamond!" he gasped. + +"The diamonds are safe," replied the other in a low tone, "and you," +addressing Mannering by his true name, "the more quiet you are just +now the better." + +The elder man's face grew livid with rage and fear, and, rising +suddenly to his feet, his tall form towered far above Rosenbaum. + +"Wretch!" he hissed, with an oath, "you have betrayed me, curse you!" +and, dealing the smaller man a blow which floored him, he rushed from +the box. + +In an instant Rosenbaum staggered to his feet, and, pausing only long +enough to make sure of the safety of the jewels, rushed from the café, +reaching the street just in time to see his man jump into a cab, which +whirled swiftly and started down the street at break-neck speed. Two +cabmen, talking at a short distance, hurried to the scene, and, +calling one of them, Mr. Rosenbaum hastily took a second cab and +started in pursuit of the first, but not before he had caught a +glimpse of Mr. Johnson making active preparations to follow them +both. + +"Hang that fellow!" he muttered, as he heard wheels behind him. +"This is the third time he has spoiled the game; but I've got the +winning hand, and he'll not beat me out of it!" + +By this time the first cab, having turned a corner a short distance +ahead, was out of sight, but Rosenbaum, convinced from the direction +taken of its destination, and knowing a more direct route, shouted +to the driver what streets to follow, and to come out upon the alley +near No. 545 Jefferson Street. + +"The old fellow will think I've lost the trail when he finds he's +not followed," he soliloquized, amid the joltings of the vehicle, +"and maybe it will throw the hoodoo off the track." + +But Mr. Johnson had no intention of being thrown off. He had seen +cab No. 2 a take a different course, and, having lost sight of No. 1, +decided that a bird in the hand would be worth two in the bush, and +that he would follow up the "pal." + +As cab No. 2 approached Jefferson Street, Rosenbaum called to the +driver to slacken and drive on the dark side of the alley. He jumped +out to reconnoitre; a cab was just stopping at No. 545, a tall figure +got out and hastily disappeared up the steps, while the cab whirled +rapidly away. + +"Turn about, drive back quietly, and answer no questions," Rosenbaum +said, slipping a bill into the driver's hand, and then glided swiftly +through the shadow to No. 545. His maneuvers were seen, however, by +Mr. Johnson, who immediately proceeded to follow his example. + +Running quickly up the steps to No. 545, Rosenbaum produced a bunch +of skeleton keys, which he proceeded to try. The first was useless, +the second ditto; he heard steps approaching; the third fitted the +lock, but, as it turned, a hand was laid upon his shoulder, a dark +lantern flashed in his face, and a voice said,- + +"Your game is up, my man; you had better come with me as peaceably +as possible!" + +For answer, the other turned quickly, and, without a word, lifted +the lapel of his coat, where a star gleamed brightly in the rays +of the lantern. + +The band holding the lantern dropped suddenly, and its owner +ejaculated, "Heavens and earth! what does this mean? Who are you?" + +"I am Dan McCabe, at your service," was the cool reply; then, as the +other remained speechless with astonishment, McCabe continued: "I've +no time to waste with you, Mr. Merrick; we may have a desperate piece +of work on hand; but if you'll come with me, I give you my word for +it that before this job is over you'll meet the biggest surprise of +your life." + +Pushing open the door, McCabe noiselessly climbed the stairs, +beckoning Merrick to follow. By the light of the dark lantern he +selected the door leading to the room occupied by Mannering, and, +after listening a moment, nodded significantly to Merrick. + +"Is he there?" the latter whispered. + +"He is there," said McCabe, grimly, "but not the man you are looking +for. I'll tell you who is there," and he whispered in his ear. + +Merrick staggered as if from a blow. "Great God!" he exclaimed +aloud. + +There was a sudden sound within as of some one frightened and moving +hastily. McCabe again called the man by name, and demanded +admittance. There was a moment's silence, and then McCabe, with +Merrick's aid, forced in the door, and as it yielded there came from +within the sharp report of a revolver, followed by a heavy groan. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MAINWARING VS. MAINWARING + + +The case of Mainwaring versus Mainwaring had been set for the opening +of the December term of court, being the first case on the docket. +The intervening weeks, crowded with preparation for the coming +litigation, had passed, and now, on the eve of the contest, each side +having marshalled its forces, awaited the beginning of the fray, each +alike confident of victory and each alike little dreaming of the end. +From near and far was gathered an array of legal talent as well as of +expert testimony seldom equalled, all for the purpose of determining +the validity or invalidity of a bit of paper-yellow with age, +time-worn and musty which stood as an insurmountable barrier between +Ralph Mainwaring and the fulfilment of his long cherished project. + +The Fair Oaks tragedy still remained as deep a mystery as on the +morning when, in all its horror of sickening detail, it had startled +and shocked the entire community. No trace of the murderer had been +as yet reported, and even Mr. Whitney had been forced to acknowledge +in reply to numerous inquiries that he had of late received no +tidings whatever from Merrick, either of success or failure. + +Since the announcement of Harold Mainwaring at the club that he +would not touch a farthing of the Mainwaring estate until not only +his own name should be cleared of the slightest imputation of murder, +but until the murder itself should be avenged, it had been rumored +that the party at the Waldorf was in possession of facts containing +the clue to the whole mystery. Though this was mere conjecture, it +was plainly evident that whatever secrets that party held in its +possession were not likely to be divulged before their time. The +party had been augmented by the arrival of the senior member of the +firm of Barton & Barton, while the register of the Waldorf showed at +that time numerous other arrivals from London, all of whom proved to +be individuals of a severely judicial appearance and on extremely +intimate terms with the original Waldorf party. Of the business of +the former, however, or the movements of the latter, nothing definite +could be learned. Despatches in cipher still flashed daily over the +wires, but their import remained a matter of the merest surmise to +the curious world outside. + +Ralph Mainwaring, on the contrary, since the arrival of his London +attorneys, Upham and Blackwell, with Graham, the well-known +chirographical expert, had seized every opportunity for rendering +himself and them as conspicuous as possible, while his boasts of +their well-laid plans, the strong points in their case, and their +ultimate triumph, formed his theme on all occasions. Mr. Whitney's +position at this time was not an enviable one, for Ralph Mainwaring, +having of late become dimly conscious of a lack of harmony between +himself and his New York attorney, took special delight in frequently +flouting his opinions and advice in the presence of the English +solicitors; but that gentleman, mindful of a rapidly growing account, +wisely pocketed his pride, and continued to serve his client with +the most urbane courtesy, soothing his wounded sensibilities with an +extra fee for every snub. + +On the day prior to that set for the opening of the trial, among the +numerous equipages drawn up at one of the piers, awaiting an incoming +ocean-liner, was the Mainwaring carriage, containing, as usual, Ralph +Mainwaring, Upham and Blackwell, and Mr. Whitney. The carriage and +its occupants formed the centre of attraction to a considerable +portion of the crowd, until attention was suddenly diverted by the +sight of a stylish turnout in the shape of an elegant trap and a pair +of superb bays driven tandem, which passed the Mainwaring carriage +and took its position at some distance nearer the pier. Seated in +the trap were Harold Mainwaring and Hugh Mainwaring, junior. Their +appearance together at that particular time and place excited no +little wonder and comment, especially when, the gangplank having +been thrown down, the young men left the turnout in care of a +policeman and walked rapidly towards the hurrying stream of +passengers, followed more slowly by Ralph Mainwaring and his party. + +All was explained a few moments later, as that embodiment of +geniality, William Mainwaring Thornton, loomed up in the crowd, his +daughter upon one arm, upon the other Miss Carleton, and accompanied +by Mrs. Hogarth and the usual retinue of attendants. + +"Looks like a family reunion, by George!" exclaimed one of the +on-lookers, as a general exchange of greetings ensued, but to a +close observer it was evident that between some members of the +different parties the relations were decidedly strained. No so with +Mr. Thornton, however; his first greetings were for the young men. + +"Well, well, Hugh, you contumacious young rascal! how are you? I +hear you've kicked over the traces and set the governor and his +sovereigns at defiance! Well, you've shown yourself a Mainwaring, +that's all I have to say! Here is a young lady, however, who is +waiting to give you a piece of her mind; you'll have to settle with +her." + +"Papa!" exclaimed Edith Thornton in faint protest, her fair face +suffused with blushes as she came forward to meet her lover, while +her father turned towards Harold Mainwaring. + +"Well, my dear sir," he said, extending his hand with the utmost +cordiality, "I am glad to meet you in your own proper sphere at +last; I always thought you were far too good looking for a secretary! +But, joking aside, my dear boy, let me assure you that as the son of +Harold Scott Mainwaring, one of the most royal fellows I ever knew, +I congratulate you and wish you success." + +Deeply touched by Mr. Thornton's kindness and his allusion to his +father, the young man thanked him with considerable emotion. + +"That is all right," the elder man responded heartily; "I was very +sorry not to have met you in London, but I heard the particulars of +your story from Winifred, and - well, I consider her a very +level-headed young woman, and I think you are to be congratulated +on that score also." + +"No one is better aware of that fact than I," said the young man, +warmly, and passed on to meet the young ladies, while Mr. Thornton +turned to confront the frowning face of Ralph Mainwaring. + +"Hello, Mainwaring! What's the matter? You look black as a +thunder-cloud! Did you have something indigestible for luncheon?" + +"Matter enough I should say," growled the other, unsuccessfully +trying to ignore Mr. Thornton's outstretched hand, "to find you +hobnobbing with that blackguard!" + +Mr. Thornton glanced over his shoulder at the young people with a +comical look of perplexity. "Well, you see how it is yourself, +Mainwaring: what is a fellow to do? This is a house divided against +itself, as it were, and no matter what my personal sentiments +towards you might be, I find myself forced to maintain a position +of strict neutrality." + +"Neutrality be damned! you had better maintain better parental +government in your own family!" + +"As you do in yours, for instance." + +"You know very well," continued Ralph Mainwaring, flushing angrily, +"that if you had forbidden Edith marrying Hugh under present +conditions, he would have got down off his high horse very quickly." + +"That is something I would never do," Mr. Thornton replied, calmly, +"for two reasons; first, I have never governed my daughter by direct +commands and prohibitions, and, second, I think just as much of Hugh +Mainwaring without his father's money as with it; more, if it is to +be accompanied with the conditions which you imposed." + +"Then am I to understand," demanded the other, angrily, "that you +intend to go against me in this matter?" + +"My dear Mainwaring," said Mr. Thornton, much as he would address a +petulant child, "this is all the merest nonsense. I am not going +against you, for I have no part in this contest; my position is +necessarily neutral; but if you want my opinion of the whole matter, +I will tell you frankly that I think, for once in your life, you +have bitten off more than you can swallow, and you will find it so +before long." + +"Perhaps it might be just as well to reserve your opinion till it +is called for," the other answered, shortly. + +"All right," returned Mr. Thornton, with imperturbable good humor; +"but any time that you want to wager a thousand or so on the outcome +of this affair, remember the money is ready for you!" + +The conversation changed, but Ralph Mainwaring was far more +chagrined and annoyed than he would have acknowledged. Mr. +Thornton's words rang in his ears till they seemed an augury of +defeat, and, though outwardly as dogged and defiant as ever, he was +unable to banish them, or to throw off the strange sense of +depression which followed. + +Meanwhile, amid the discordant elements surrounding them, Harold +Mainwaring and Winifred Carleton found little opportunity for any +but the most desultory conversation, but happily there was little +need for words between them. Heart can speak to heart through the +subtle magnetism of a hand-clasp, or the swift flash from eye to +eye, conveying meanings for which words often prove inadequate. + +"You wrote that you were confident of victory, and your looks bear +it out," she said, 'with a radiant smile; "but I would have come +just the same, even had there been no hope of success for you." + +"I need no assurance of your faith and loyalty," he replied, gazing +tenderly into her luminous eyes, "but your coming will make my +triumph ten times sweeter." + +"Of course you will spend the evening with, us at our hotel, - uncle +cabled for apartments at the Savoy, - and I am all impatience to +learn whatever you are at liberty to tell me concerning your case, +for there must have been some wonderful developments in your favor +soon after your arrival in this country, you have seemed so much more +hopeful; and do not let me forget, I have something to show you which +will interest you. It is a written statement by Hugh Mainwaring +himself regarding this identical will that is causing all this +controversy." + +"A statement of Hugh Mainwaring's!" Harold repeated in astonishment; +"how did it come into your possession?" + +"That is the strangest part of it," she replied, hurriedly, for +they had now reached the carriages in waiting for them. "I received +it through the mail, from America, a few days before I left London, +and from - you cannot imagine whom - Mr. Merrick, the detective. +How he ever knew my address, or how he should surmise that I was +particularly interested in you," she blushed very prettily with +these words, "is more than I can understand, however." + +"I think I can explain that part of it," said Harold, with a smile; +"but how such a statement ever came into his hands is a mystery to +me. I will see you this evening without fail," and, assisting Miss +Carleton into the carriage, he bade her au revoir, and hastened to +rejoin young Mainwaring. + +That evening witnessed rather a novel reception in the private +parlors of the Savoy; both parties to the coming contest being +entertained by their mutual friends. When Harold Mainwaring finally +succeeded in securing a tete-a-tete conversation with Miss Carleton, +she placed in his hands a small packet, saying,- + +"You will find in this the statement of which I spoke to you, and +I wish you would also read the accompanying note, and explain how +the writer came to have so good an understanding of the situation." + +With eager haste he drew forth a sheet of paper little less time-worn +and yellowed than the ancient will itself, upon which was written, +in the methodical business hand with which he was so familiar, a +brief statement to the effect that a certain accompanying document +described as the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring +had been drawn and executed as such on the night preceding his +death, its intent and purpose being to reconvey to an elder son the +family estate, to which he had previously forfeited all right and +title; that efforts made to communicate with the beneficiary had +proved unavailing, as he had left the country and his place of +residence was unknown. Then followed Hugh Mainwaring's signature. +At the bottom of the page, however, was a foot-note of much later +date, which put a different complexion on the foregoing, and which +read as follows: + +"It has now been ascertained for a certainty that the beneficiary +mentioned in the accompanying will is no longer living. I have, +therefore, a clear title to the estate, as it would revert to me at +his death. The document itself is worthless, except as a possible +means of silencing that scoundrel, Hobson, should he attempt to +reveal anything of the past, as he has threatened to do, and for +this purpose I shall retain it in my possession until such time as +I make final adjustment of my affairs. + "HUGH MAINWARING." + +"Ah," said Harold Mainwaring, thoughtfully, as he suddenly recalled +the morning when he had discovered Merrick and his assistant dragging +the lake at Fair Oaks, "I think I understand how this paper came +into Merrick's possession. It was evidently kept in the same +receptacle which held the will, but in my haste and excitement at +the discovery of the will I must have overlooked it. The box in +which these papers were kept afterwards fell into Merrick's hands, +and he must have found this." + +"That solves one riddle, here is the other," and Miss Carleton +handed her lover a small note, covered with a fine, delicate +chirography whose perfectly formed characters revealed a mind +accustomed to the study of minute details and appreciative of their +significance. He opened it and read the following: + +"MY DEAR MISS CARLETON: + +"Pardon the liberty I take, but, thinking the enclosed bit of paper +might be of some possible assistance to one in whose success I +believe you are deeply interested, I send it herewith, as, for +obvious reasons, I deem this circuitous method of transmission +better than one more direct. + +"As when taking leave of you on board the 'Campania,' so now, permit +me to assure you that if I can ever serve you as a friend, you have +but to command me. + "Most sincerely yours, + "C. D. MERRICK." + + +A smile of amusement lighted Harold Mainwaring's face as, glancing +up from the note, his eyes met those of Miss Carleton's with their +expression of perplexed inquiry. + +"This is easily explained," he said; "do you remember the tall, +slender man whom we observed on board the 'Campania' as being rather +unsocial and taciturn?" + +"Yes, I remember he rather annoyed me, for I fancied he concentrated +considerably more thought and attention upon us than the +circumstances called for." + +"Which shows you were more observing than I. Such a thought never +entered my mind till I had been about ten days in London, when it +occurred to me that, considering the size of the town and the fact +that he and I were strangers, we met with astonishing frequency. I +have since learned that he was a detective sent over to London on +an important case, and being an intimate friend of Merrick's, the +latter, who, I am informed, was shadowing me pretty closely at the +time, requested him to follow my movements and report to him, which +he evidently did, as I have since heard that Merrick had expressed +to one or two that he was not at all surprised by the developments +which followed my return to this country. Consequently, it is not +to be wondered at if he has an inkling that you may be somewhat +interested in this case." + +"But what could have been Mr. Merrick's object in shadowing you?" + +"I cannot say. It may have been only part of his professional +vigilance in letting nothing escape his observation; but from the +first I was conscious of his close espionage of my movements. Now, +however, I am satisfied that he had none but friendly intentions, +and I appreciate his kindness, not only towards myself, but more +especially towards you." + +"Will that statement be of any assistance to you, do you think?" + +"I hardly think so under our present plans," he replied, after a +moment's reflection; "under recent developments our plans differ +so radically from what we first intended, that we will probably +have little use for any of the testimony which we had originally +prepared." + +"But these recent developments which have so changed your plans +must certainly have been in your favor and have rendered your +success the more assured, have they not?" + +"Not only more assured, but more speedy and complete. To me, the +coming trial means far more than the settlement of the controversy +over the estate; it means the complete and final vindication of my +character, so that I can stand before you and before the world +acquitted of every charge which my enemies would have sought to +bring against me." + +Her face grew radiant with sympathy. "I well know what that means +to you, and I would be first to congratulate you on such a victory, +for your own sake; but I needed no public acquittal to convince me +of your innocence, - not even," she added, slowly, "when you yourself +for some reason, which I hope one day to understand, were unable to +assure me of it." + +His dark eyes, glowing with suppressed feeling, met hers, the +intensity of their gaze thrilling her heart to its inmost depths. + +"Do not think that I can ever forget that," he said in low tones +which seemed to vibrate through her whole being; "do not think that +through any triumphs or joys which the future may bring, I can ever +forget, for one moment, the faith and love which stood loyally by +me in my darkest hour, - the hour when the shadow of the crime, +which has forever darkened Fair Oaks, was closing about my very +soul!" + +Startled at the sudden solemnity of his words and manner, she +remained silent, her eyes meeting his without a shade of doubt or +distrust, but full of wondering, tender inquiry, to which he +replied, while for an instant he laid his hand lightly and +caressingly on hers, "Only a few days longer, love, and I will tell +you all!" + +On the morning of the following day a dense crowd awaited, at an +early hour, the opening of the December term of court; a crowd which +was steadily augmented till, when the case of Mainwaring versus +Mainwaring was called, every available seat was filled. All +parties to the suit were promptly on hand, and amid a silence +almost oppressive, proponent and contestant, with their counsel +and witnesses, passed down the long aisle to their respective +places. + +Seldom had the, old court-room, in its long and varied history, +held so imposing an array of legal talent as was assemble that +morning within its walls. The principal attorneys for the +contestant were Hunnewell & Whitney of New York, and the London +firm of Upham & Blackwell, while grouped about these were a number +of lesser luminaries, whose milder rays would sufficiently illumine +the minor points in the case. But at a glance it was clearly +evident that the galaxy of legal lights opposing them contained +only stars of the first magnitude. Most prominent among the latter +were Barton & Barton, of London, with Mr. Sutherland and his +life-long friend and coadjutor, M. D. Montague, with whom he had +never failed to take counsel in cases of special importance, all +men of superb physique and magnificent brains; while slightly in +the rear, as reinforcements, were the Hon. I. Ponsonby Roget, Q.C., +another Q.C. whose name had not yet reached the public ear, and a +Boston jurist whose brilliant career had made his name famous +throughout the United States. + +Prominent among the spectators were Mr. Scott and Mr. Thornton, +apparently on the best of terms, and watching proceedings with +demonstrations of the liveliest interest, while seated at a little +distance, less demonstrative, but no less interested, was young +Mainwaring, accompanied by Miss Thornton and Miss Carleton. + +The first day was devoted to preliminaries, the greater part of +the time being consumed in the selection of a jury. One after +another of those impaneled was examined, challenged by one side or +the other, and dismissed; not until the entire panel had been +exhausted and several special venires issued, was there found the +requisite number sufficiently unprejudiced to meet the requirements +of the situation. + +The remainder of the day was occupied by counsel for contestant in +making the opening statement. A review of the grounds upon which +the contest was based was first read by one of the assistant +attorneys, after which Mr. Whitney followed with a lengthy statement +which occupied nearly an hour. He reviewed in detail the +circumstances of the case, beginning with the death of Hugh +Mainwaring, and laying special stress upon his irreproachable +reputation. He stated that it would be shown to the jury that the +life of Hugh Mainwaring had been above suspicion, an irrefutable +argument against the charges of fraud and dishonesty which had been +brought against him by those who sought to establish the will in +contest. It would also be shown that the said document was a +forgery, the result of a prearranged plan, devised by those who had +been lifelong enemies of Hugh Mainwaring and the contestant, to +defraud the latter of his rights, and to obtain possession of the +Mainwaring estate; and that the transparency of the device in +bringing the so-called will to light at that particular time and +under those particular circumstances was only too plainly evident. + +Mr. Whitney was warming with his subject, but at this juncture he +was peremptorily called to order by Mr. Sutherland, who stated that +he objected to counsel making an argument to the jury, when he +should confine himself simply to an opening statement. Mr. Whitney's +face flushed as a ripple of amusement ran through the courtroom, but +the objection was sustained, and, after a brief summary of what the +contestant proposed to show, he resumed his seat, and the court then +adjourned until the following morning. + +The first testimony introduced on the following day was to establish +the unimpeachable honesty and integrity of the deceased Hugh +Mainwaring. Both Mr. Elliot and Mr. Chittenden were called to the +stand, and their examination - particularly the cross-examination, +in which a number of damaging admissions were made - occupied nearly +the entire forenoon; the remainder of the day being devoted to the +testimony of witnesses from abroad, introduced to show that for +years a bitter estrangement had existed between Frederick Mainwaring +Scott, the alleged foster-father of the proponent, and the members +of the Mainwaring family, - the deceased Hugh Mainwaring and the +contestant in particular; and also to show the implacable anger of +Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring against his elder son and the extreme +improbability of his ever relenting in his favor. + +Day after day dragged slowly on, still taken up with the examination +of witnesses for contestant; examinations too tedious and monotonous +for repetition, but full of interest to the crowds which came and +went, increasing daily, till, on the days devoted to the expert +testimony, galleries and aisles were packed to overflowing, while +throngs of eager listeners gathered in the corridors about the +various exits. + +It soon became evident that Ralph Mainwaring's oft repeated +assertions concerning the elaborate preparation he had made for the +coming contest were no idle boast. Nothing that human ingenuity +could devise had been left undone which could help to turn the +scale in his own favor. The original will of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, by which his elder son was disinherited, was produced +and read in court. Both wills were photographed, and numerous +copies, minute in every detail, made, in order to show by comparison +the differences in their respective signatures. Under powerful +microscopes it was discovered that several pauses had been made in +the signature of the later will. Electric batteries were introduced +to show that the document had been steeped in coffee and tobacco +juice to give it the appearance of great age. Interesting chemical +experiments were performed, by which a piece of new paper was made +to look stained and spotted as if mildewed and musty, while by the +use of tiny files and needles, the edges, having first been slightly +scalloped, were grated and the paper punctured, till it presented +a very similar aspect to the will itself as though worn through at +the creases and frayed and tattered with age. + +But the accumulation of this overwhelming mass of expert testimony +failed to make the impression upon counsel for proponent which had +been anticipated by the other side. Mr. Sutherland varied the +monotony of the direct examinations by frequent and pertinent +objections, while Barton & Barton took occasional notes, which were +afterwards passed to Sutherland and Montague, and by them used with +telling effect in the cross-examinations, but the faces of one and +all wore an expression inscrutable as that of the sphinx. + +Only once was their equanimity disturbed by any ripple of agitation, +and then the incident was so little understood as to be soon +forgotten. As the third day of the trial was drawing to a close, a +despatch in cipher was handed Mr. Sutherland, which when translated +seemed to produce a startling effect upon its readers. Barton & +Barton exchanged glances and frowned heavily; Mr. Sutherland's +face for one brief moment showed genuine alarm, and Harold +Mainwaring, upon reading the slip of paper passed to him, grew pale. +A hurried consultation followed and Mr. Montague left the court-room. + +On the following morning the papers announced that at 11 P.M. the +preceding night, the Victoria, the private car of the president of +one of the principal railway lines, with special engine attached, +had left for the West, evidently on business of great importance, +as everything on the road had been ordered side-tracked. It was +stated that no particulars could be ascertained, however, regarding +either her passengers or her destination, the utmost secrecy being +maintained by those on board, including even the trainmen. This +item, though attracting some attention, caused less comment than +did the fact that for the three days next ensuing, neither the +senior Mr. Barton nor Mr. Montague was present in court; but no one +suspected any connection between the two events, or dreamed that +the above gentlemen, with two of New York's most skilled surgeons, +were the occupants of the president's private car, then hastening +westward at almost lightning speed. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day of the trial, as it became +apparent that the seemingly interminable evidence submitted by +contestant was nearly at an end, the eager impatience of the waiting +crowd could scarcely be restrained within the limits of order. A +change was noticeable also in the demeanor of proponent and his +counsel. For the two days preceding they had appeared as though +under some tension or suspense; now they seemed to exhibit almost +an indifference to the proceedings, as though the outcome of the +contest were already a settled fact, while a marked gravity +accompanied each word and gesture. + +At last the contestant rested, and all eyes were fixed upon Mr. +Sutherland, as, after a brief pause, he rose to make, as was +supposed, his opening statement. Instead of addressing the jury, +however, he turned towards Judge Bingham. + +"Your honor," he began, in slow, measured tones, "it now lacks but +little more than an hour of the usual time for adjournment, and +after the constant strain which has been put upon our nerves for +the past six days, I feel that none of us, including yourself, your +honor, are in a sufficiently receptive mood to listen to the +testimony which the proponent has to offer. In addition to this +is the fact that our most important witness is not present this +afternoon. I would therefore ask for an adjournment to be taken +until ten o'clock next Monday morning, at which time I will +guarantee your honor and the gentlemen of the jury that the +intricate and elaborate web of fine-spun theories which has been +presented will be swept away in fewer hours than the days which +have been required for its construction." + +There was an attempt at applause, which was speedily checked, and +without further delay the court adjourned. + +As judge, jury, and counsel took their respective places on the +following Monday at the hour appointed, the scene presented by the +old court-room was one never before witnessed in its history. +Every available inch of standing room, both on the main floor and +in the galleries, was taken; throngs were congregated about the +doorways, those in the rear standing on chairs and benches that +they might obtain a view over the heads of their more fortunate +neighbors, while even the recesses formed by the enormous windows +were packed with humanity, two rows deep, the outer row embracing +the inner one in its desperate efforts to maintain its equilibrium. + +The opposing sides presented a marked contrast in their appearance +that morning. Ralph Mainwaring betrayed a nervous excitement very +unusual in one of his phlegmatic temperament; his face alternately +flushed and paled, and though much of the old defiant bravado +remained, yet he awaited the opening of proceedings with visible +impatience. Nor was Mr. Whitney less excited, his manner revealing +both agitation and anxiety. On the part of Harold Mainwaring and +his counsel, however, there was no agitation, no haste; every +movement was characterized by composure and deliberation, yet +something in their bearing - something subtle and indefinable but +nevertheless irresistible - impressed the sensibilities of the vast +audience much as the oppressive calm which precedes an electric +storm. All felt that some great crisis was at hand, and it was +amid almost breathless silence that Mr. Sutherland arose to make +his opening statement. + +"Gentlemen of the jury," he began, and the slow, resonant tones +penetrated to the farthest corner and out into the corridors where +hundreds were eagerly listening, "as a defence to the charges +sought to be established in your hearing, we propose to show, not +by fine-spun theories based upon electrical and chemical experiments, +nor brilliant sophistries deduced from microscopic observations, +but by the citation of stubborn and incontrovertible facts, that +this document (holding up the will), copies of which you now have +in your possession, is the last will and testament of Ralph Maxwell +Mainwaring, executed by him on the night preceding his death, and +as such entitled to stand; that this will, from the date of its +execution to the day of its discovery on the seventh of July last, +was wilfully and fraudulently withheld from publication, and its +existence kept secret by the deceased Hugh Mainwaring. That the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the lawful and only son of +the beneficiary named therein, and as such the sole rightful and +lawful heir to and owner of the Mainwaring estate. More than this, +we propose at the same time and by the same evidence to forever +disprove, confute, and silence any and every aspersion and +insinuation which has been brought against the character of the +proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring; and in doing this, we shall at +last lift the veil which, for the past five months, has hung over +the Fair Oaks tragedy." + +Mr. Sutherland paused to allow the tremendous excitement produced +by his words to subside; then turning, he addressed himself to the +judge. + +"Your honor, I have to request permission of the court to depart in +a slight degree from the usual custom. The witness for the defence +is in an adjoining room, ready to give testimony when summoned to +do so, but in this instance I have to ask that the name be withheld, +and that the witness himself be identified by the contestant and his +counsel." + +The judge bowed in assent, and amid a silence so rigid and intense +as to be almost painful, at a signal from Mr. Sutherland, the doors +of an anteroom were swung noiselessly open and approaching footsteps +were heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE SILENT WITNESS + + +Approaching footsteps were heard, but they were the steps of men +moving slowly and unsteadily, as though carrying some heavy burden. +An instant later, six men, bearing a casket beneath whose weight +they staggered, entered the court-room and, making their way through +the spell-bound crowd, deposited their burden near the witness stand. +Immediately following were two men, one of whom was instantly +recognized as Merrick, the detective; the other as the man who, a +few months before, had been known as the English barrister's clerk, +now wearing the full uniform of a Scotland Yard official. Bringing +up the rear was an undertaker, who, amid the breathless silence +which ensued, proceeded to open the casket. This done, Mr. +Sutherland rose and addressed the judge, his low tones for the first +time vibrating with suppressed feeling. + +"Your honor, I request that William H. Whitney be first called upon +to identify the witness." + +Controlling his agitation by a visible effort, Mr. Whitney approached +the casket, but his eyes no sooner rested on the form and features +within than his forced composure gave way. With a groan he exclaimed, + +"My God, it is Hugh Mainwaring!" and bending over the casket, he +covered his face with his hands while he strove in vain to conceal +his emotion. + +His words, ringing through the hushed court-room, seemed to break +the spell, and the over-wrought nerves of the people began to yield +under the tremendous pressure. Mr. Sutherland raised a warning +hand to check the tide of nervous excitement which threatened to +sweep over the entire crowd, but it was of little avail. Piercing +screams followed; women fainted and were borne from the room, and +the faces of strong men blanched to a deathly pallor as they gazed +at one another in mute consternation and bewilderment. For a few +moments the greatest confusion reigned, but when at last order was +restored and Mr. Whitney had regained his composure, Mr. Sutherland +inquired,- + +"Mr. Whitney, do you identify the dead man as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"I do." + +"But did you not identify as Hugh Mainwaring the man who, at Fair +Oaks, on or about the eighth of July last, came to his death from +the effect of a gunshot wound?" + +"I supposed then, and up until the present time, that it was he; +there certainly was a most wonderful resemblance which I am unable +to explain or account for, but this, beyond all question, is Hugh +Mainwaring." + +"Will you state what proof of identification you can give in this +instance that was not present in the other?" + +"Hugh Mainwaring had over the right temple a slight birthmark, a +red line extending upward into the hair, not always equally distinct, +but always visible to one who had once observed it, and in this +instance quite noticeable. I saw no trace of this mark on the face +of the murdered man; but as the face was somewhat blackened by +powder about the right temple, I attributed its absence to that +fact, and in the excitement which followed I thought little of it. +On the day of the funeral I also noted certain lines in the face +which seemed unfamiliar, but realizing that death often makes the +features of those whom we know best to seem strange to us, I +thought no further of the matter. Now, however, looking upon this +face, I am able to recall several differences, unnoticed then, but +all of which go to prove that this is Hugh Mainwaring." + +Ralph Mainwaring was the next one summoned for identification. +During Mr. Whitney's examination his manner had betrayed intense +agitation, and he now came forward with an expression of mingled +incredulity and dread, but upon reaching the casket, he stood like +one petrified, unable to move or speak, while no one who saw him +could ever forget the look of horror which overspread his features. + +"Mr. Mainwaring," said Mr. Sutherland at length, "do you know the +dead man?" + +"It is he," answered Ralph Mainwaring in a low tone, apparently +speaking more to himself than to the attorney; "it is Hugh +Mainwaring; that was the distinguishing mark between them." + +"Do you refer to the mark of which Mr. Whitney has just spoken?" + +"Yes." + +"What do you mean by designating it as 'the distinguishing mark +between them'?" + +Ralph Mainwaring turned from the casket and faced Mr. Sutherland, +but his eyes had the strained, far-away look of one gazing into the +distance, unconscious of objects near him. + +"It was the mark," he said, speaking with an effort, "by which, when +we were boys, he was distinguished from his twin brother." + +"His twin brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring?" queried the attorney. + +"Yes," the other answered, mechanically. + +"Do you then identify this as Hugh Mainwaring?" + +"Yes; and the other - he must have been - no, no, it could not be + - great God!" Ralph Mainwaring suddenly reeled and raised his hand +to his head. Mr. Whitney sprang to his assistance and led him to +his chair, but in those few moments he had aged twenty years. + +A number of those most intimately acquainted with Hugh Mainwaring +were then called upon, all of whom identified the dead man as their +late friend and associate. These preliminaries over, Mr. Sutherland +arose. + +"Your honor and gentlemen of the jury, before proceeding with the +testimony to be introduced, I have a brief statement to make. Soon +after the commencement of this action, we came into possession of +indisputable evidence that Hugh Mainwaring, the supposed victim of +the Fair Oaks tragedy, was still living, and that of whatever crime, +if crime there were associated with that fearful event, he was not +the victim but the perpetrator. We determined at all hazards to +secure him, first as a witness in this case, our subsequent action +to be decided by later developments. Through our special detective +we succeeded in locating him, but he, upon finding himself cornered, +supposing he was to be arrested for the murder of his brother, +attempted suicide by shooting. The combined skill of the best +surgeons obtainable, though unable to save him, yet prolonged life +for three days, long enough to enable two of our number, Mr. Barton +and Mr. Montague, to reach him in season to take his dying statement; +a statement not only setting forth the facts relating to the will +in question, but embracing also the details of the Fair Oaks tragedy +and mystery. This statement, made by Hugh Mainwaring and attested +by numerous witnesses present, will now be read by Mr. Montague." + +Amid an impressive silence, Mr. Montague stepped to the side of the +casket and, unfolding a document which he held, read the following: + +"I, Hugh Mainwaring, freely and voluntarily and under no duress or +compulsion, make this, my dying statement, not only as a relief to +the mental anguish I have endured for the past few months, but also +in the hope that I may thereby, in my last hours, help in some +degree to right the wrong which my life of treachery and cowardice +has wrought. To do this, I must go back over twenty-five years of +crime, and beyond that to the inordinate greed and ambition that +led to crime. + +"My brother, Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I were twins, so +marvelously alike in form and feature that our parents often had +difficulty to distinguish between us, but utterly unlike in +disposition, except that we both possessed a fiery temper and an +indomitable will. He was the soul of honor, generous to a fault, +loyal-hearted and brave, and he exacted honor and loyalty from +others. He had no petty ambitions; he cared little for wealth for +its own sake, still less for its votaries. I was ambitious; I +loved wealth for the power which it bestowed; I would sacrifice +anything for the attainment of that power, and even my boyish +years were tainted with secret envy of my brother, an envy that +grew with my growth, till, as we reached years of maturity, the +consciousness that he, my senior by only a few hours, was yet to +take precedence over me - to possess all that I coveted - became +a thorn in my side whose rankling presence I never for a single +waking hour forgot; it embittered my enjoyment of the present, +my hopes and plans for the future. + +"But of this deadly undercurrent flowing far beneath the surface +neither he nor others dreamed, till, one day, a woman's face - cold, +cruel, false, but beautiful, bewitchingly, entrancingly beautiful, + - came between us, and from that hour all semblance of friendship +was at an end. With me it was an infatuation; with him it was love, +a love ready to make any sacrifice for its idol. So when our father +threatened to disinherit and disown either or both of us, and the +false, fickle heart of a woman was laid in the balances against the +ancestral estates, I saw my opportunity for seizing the long coveted +prize. We each made his choice; my brother sold his birthright for +a mess of pottage; his rights were transferred to me, and my +ambition was at last gratified. + +"Between three and four years later, on the night of November +seventeenth, within a few hours preceding his death, my father made +a will, revoking the will by which he had disinherited his elder +son, and restoring him again to his full right and title to the +estate. This was not unexpected to me. Though no words on the +subject had passed between us and my brother's name was never +mentioned, I had realized for more than a year that my father was +gradually relenting towards the son who had ever been his favorite, +and on the last day that he was able to leave his room, I had come +upon him unaware in the old picture gallery, standing before the +portrait of his elder son, silent and stern, but with the tears +coursing down his pallid cheeks. When, therefore, on the night +preceding his death, my father demanded that an attorney be +summoned, my feelings can be imagined. Just as the prize which I +had so long regarded as mine was almost within my grasp, should I +permit it to elude me for the gratification of a dying man's whim? +Never! In my rage I could have throttled him then and there without +a qualm; fear of the law alone held me back. I tried to dissuade +him, but it was useless. I then bribed the servant sent to bring +the attorney to report that he was out of town, and when that +proved of no avail, I sent for Richard Hobson, a penniless shyster, +whose lack of means and lack of principle I believed would render +him an easy tool in my hands. He came; I was waiting to receive +him, and we entered into compact, I little dreaming I was setting +loose on my track a veritable hell-hound! The will was drawn and +executed, Hobson and one Alexander McPherson, an old friend of my +father's, signing as witnesses. Within twenty-four hours of its +execution, Richard Hobson was richer by several hundred pounds, and +the will was in my possession. Two days later, I had a false +telegram sent to our place, summoning McPherson to his home in +Scotland. He left at once, before my father's burial, and his death, +which occurred a few weeks later, removed the last obstacle in the +way of carrying my plans into execution. My brother at that time +was in Australia, but in what part of the country I did not know, +nor did I try to ascertain. My constant fear was that he might in +some way - though by what means I could not imagine - get some +knowledge of the will and return to set up a claim to the estate. +As soon as possible, therefore, notwithstanding the protests of +my attorneys, I sold the estate and came to America. + +"Concerning the years that followed, it is needless to go into +detail; they brought me wealth, influence, power, all that I had +craved, but little of happiness. Even when there came tidings of +my brother's death at sea, and I felt that at last my title to +the estate was secure, I had little enjoyment in its possession. +Richard Hobson had already begun his black-mailing schemes, his +demands growing more frequent and exorbitant with each succeeding +year. Through him, also, the woman who had wrecked my brother's +life received some inkling of my secret, and through this knowledge, +slight as it was, gained enough of a hold over me that life was +becoming an intolerable burden. Through all these years, however, +I kept the will in my possession. Even after hearing of the death +of my brother, a cowardly, half-superstitious dread kept me from +destroying it, though doubtless I would have done so soon after +making my own will had I not been prevented by circumstances +unforeseen, which I will now state. + +"The events which I am about to relate are stamped upon my brain +as though by fire; they have haunted me day and night for the past +five months. On the seventh of July last, I made and executed my +will in favor of my namesake, Hugh Mainwaring, and on the following +day - his birthday and mine - he was to be declared my heir. It +was past eleven o'clock on the night of that day when I retired to +my private library, and it was fully an hour later when, having +dismissed my secretary, I finally found myself alone, as I supposed, +for the night. My thoughts were far from pleasant. I had just had +a stormy interview with my housekeeper, Mrs. LaGrange, who had +tried, as on previous occasions, to coerce me by threats into a +private marriage and a public recognition of her as my wife and of +her child and mine; and, in addition, the occurrences of the day +had been of a nature to recall the past, and events which I usually +sought to bury in oblivion were passing before my mental vision +despite my efforts to banish them. Suddenly a voice which seemed +like an echo of the past recalled me to the present. Somewhat +startled, I turned quickly, confronting a man who had entered +unperceived from the tower-room. He was my own height and size, +with curling black hair and heavy mustache, but I was unable to +distinguish his features as he remained standing partly in the +shadow. Before I could recover from my surprise, he again spoke, +his voice still vaguely familiar. + +"'The master of Fair Oaks' - the words were spoken with stinging +emphasis - 'seems depressed on the eve of his festal day, the day +on which he is to name the heir and successor to his vast estates!' + +"I remembered that a stranger had called that day during my absence, +who, my secretary had informed me, bad shown a surprising familiarity +with my private plans. + +"'I think,' I replied, coldly, 'that you favored me with a call +this afternoon, but whatever your business then or now, you will +have to defer it for a few days. I do not know how you gained +admittance to these apartments at this hour, but I will see that +you are escorted from them without delay,' and as I spoke I rose +to ring for a servant. + +"He anticipated my intention, however, and with the agility of a +panther sprang noiselessly across the room, intercepting me, at +the same time raising a large, English bull-dog revolver, which +he levelled at me. + +"'Not so fast, not so fast,' he said, softly; 'you can afford to +wait a little; I have waited for years!' + +"I stood as though rooted to the spot, gazing at him with a sort +of fascination. As he emerged into the light there was something +almost familiar in his features, and yet something horribly +incongruous and unreal. His eyes glowed like living fire; his soft, +low tones reminded me of nothing so much as the purring of a tiger; +while the smile that played about his lips was more terrible than +anything I had ever seen on human face. It was ten times more +fearful than the muzzle of the revolver confronting me, and seemed +to freeze the very blood in my veins. + +"'You take a base advantage; I am unarmed," I sneered. + +"'I knew too well with whom I had to deal to come unarmed,' he +replied; 'though this,' and he lowered the revolver, 'this is not +the sort of weapon you would employ, - a thrust in the dark, a stab +in the back, that is your style, coward!" + +"'I demand an explanation of this,' I said. + +"He folded his arms, still retaining his hold upon the weapon, as +he answered, 'Explanations will follow in due time; but surely, on +the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of such a life as yours, +congratulations are first in order. Allow me to congratulate you, +Hugh Mainwaring, upon the success which has attended and crowned +the past twenty-five years of your life! upon the rich harvest +you have reaped during all these years; the amassed wealth, the +gratified ambitions, the almost illimitable power, the adulation +and homage, - all so precious to your sordid soul, and for which +you have bartered honor, happiness, character, all, in short, that +life is worth. Standing, as you do to-night, at the fiftieth +milestone on life's journey, I congratulate you upon your +recollections of the past, and upon your anticipations for the +future, as you descend to an unhonored and unloved old age!' + +"Every word was heaped with scorn, and, as I looked into the burning +eyes fixed upon mine and watched the sardonic smile hovering about +his lips, I wondered whether he were some Mephistopheles - some +fiend incarnate - sent to torture me, or whether he were really +flesh and blood. + +"The mocking smile now left his face, but his eyes held me speechless +as he continued,- + +"'No wonder that memories of bygone years haunted your thoughts +to-night! Memories, perhaps, of a father whose dying will you +disregarded; of a brother whom you twice defrauded, - once of the +honor and sanctity of his home, then, as if that were not enough, +of his birthright, - his heritage from generations of our race -' + +"'Stop!' I cried, stung to anger by his accusations and startled +by the strange words, 'our race,' which seemed to fall so familiarly +from his lips. 'Stop! are you mad?" Do you know what you are +saying? Once more I demand that you state who or what you are, and +your business here!' + +"'That is quickly stated, Hugh Mainwaring,' he answered, in tones +which made my heart beat with a strange dread; 'I am Harold Scott +Mainwaring! I am here to claim no brotherhood or kinship with you, +but to claim and to have my own, the birthright restored to me by +the last will and testament of a dying father, of which you have +defrauded me for twenty-five years!" + +"'You are a liar and an impostor!' I cried, enraged at the sound of +my brother's name, and for the instant believing the man to be some +emissary of Hobson's who had used it to work upon my feelings. + +"Drawing himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing, he answered +in low tones, 'Dare you apply those epithets to me, usurper that you +are? You are a liar and a thief, and if you had your deserts you +would be in a felon's cell to-night, or transported to the wilds of +Australia! I an impostor? See and judge for yourself!' and with a +sudden, swift movement the black curling hair and mustache were +dashed to the floor, and he stood before me the exact counterpart +of myself. Stunned by the transformation, I gazed at him speechless; +it was like looking in a mirror, feature for feature identically the +same! For a few seconds my brain seemed to reel from the shock, but +his tones recalled me to myself. + +"'Ah!' he said, with mocking emphasis, 'who is the impostor now?' + +"My first thought was of self-vindication, and to effect, if +possible, a compromise with him. 'I am no impostor or usurper,' I +said, 'because, believing you dead, I have used that to which in +the event of your death I would be legally entitled even had you +any claim, and I am willing, not as an acknowledgment of any valid +claim on your part, but as a concession on my own part, to give you +a liberal share in the estate, or to pay you any reasonable sum +which you may require- + +"He stopped me with an intolerant gesture. 'Do not attempt any +palliation of the past with me,' he said, sternly; 'it is worse +than useless; and do not think that you can make any compromises +with me or purchase my silence with your ill-gotten wealth. That +may have served your purpose in the past with your associate and +coadjutor, Richard Hobson, the man who holds in his mercenary +grasp the flimsy reputation which is all that is left to you, or +with the woman - cruel as the grave and false as hell - who once +wrecked my life, and now, with the son that you dare not +acknowledge, rules your home, but you cannot buy my silence. I +come to you as no beggar! I am a richer man to-day than you, but +for the sake of generations past, as well as of generations yet to +come, I will have my own. The estate which was once my forefathers +shall be my son's, and his sons' after him!' + +"As I listened, my whole soul rose against him in bitter hatred, +the old hatred of my youth. 'I defy you,' I' cried, hotly, 'to +produce one atom of proof in support of your claim or of your +charges against me! The estate is mine, and I will make you rue +the day that you dare dispute my right and title to it!' + +"His eyes flashed with scorn as he replied, 'You lie, Hugh +Mainwaring! Your life for the past twenty-five years has been +nothing but a lie, and the day just closed has witnessed the final +act in this farce of yours. That I have already undone, and just +as surely I will undo the work of the past years. And let me assure +you I have no lack of proof with which to verify either my own +claim or any assertion I have made, or may yet make, against you. +I have proof that on the night preceding my father's death he made +a will restoring to me my full rights, which you have fraudulently +withheld all these years; and through my son, whom you have known +for the past eighteen months as your private secretary, I have proof +that that will is still in existence, of itself an irrefutable +witness against you!' + +"With the mention of my secretary the truth flashed upon me. I +realized I was completely in his power, and with a sense of my +own impotency my rage and hatred increased. Forgetful of the weapon +in his hand and almost blind with fury, I sprang towards him, +intending to throttle him - to strangle him - until he should plead +for mercy. Instantly he raised the revolver in warning, but not +before I had seized his wrist, turning the weapon from myself. A +brief struggle followed, in which I soon found my strength was no +match for his. Growing desperate, I summoned all my strength for +one tremendous effort, at the same time holding his wrist in a +vice-like grip, forcing his hand higher and turning the revolver +more and more in his direction. Suddenly there was a flash, - a +sharp report, - and he fell heavily to the floor, dragging me down +upon him. + +"For an instant I was too much stunned and bewildered to realize +what had happened, but a glance at my opponent revealed the +situation. He lay motionless where he had fallen, and a ghastly +wound over the right eye told the terrible story. Dazed with +horror, I placed my hand over his heart, but there was no motion, +no life, - he was dead! The awful truth forced itself upon me. +Mad and blind with rage, I had turned the weapon upon him and it had +discharged, - whether by some sudden movement of his hand, or by +the accidental pressure of my own fingers upon the trigger, God +alone knows, I do not! One fact I could not then, nor ever can, +forget; it was my hand that gave the weapon its deadly aim, however +blindly or unwittingly, and the blood of my brother whom I had +wronged and defrauded now lay at my door. + +"The agony of remorse that followed was something beyond description, +beyond any suffering of which I had ever dreamed; but suddenly a +thought flashed upon me which added new horror, causing me to spring +to my feet cold with terror, while great beads of perspiration +gathered on my brow. When that terrible scene should be revealed, +not alone in the approaching morning light, but in the light of past +events which, if the last words spoken by those lips now sealed in +death were true, could no longer be kept secret, what would be the +world's verdict?" Murder! fratricide! and I? Great God! of what +avail would be any plea of mine in the face of such damning evidence? + +"I rushed to the tower-room, and hastily opening my safe, took from +a private drawer therein a key and with trembling fingers fitted it +into the lock of a large metallic box which contained the family +jewels, and which for more than twenty-five years had held the old +will executed by my father on his death-bed. I had seen it there +less than forty-eight hours before, and in my desperation I now +determined to destroy it. My very haste and eagerness delayed me, +but at last the cover flew back, revealing the gleaming jewels, +but - the will was not there! Unable to believe my own eyes, I +drew my fingers carefully back and forth through the narrow +receptacle where it had lain, and among the satin linings of the +various compartments, but in vain; the will was gone! My brother +had spoken the truth, and the will was doubtless in the possession +of his son, who, under its terms, was now himself heir to the +estate. The room grew dim and the walls themselves seemed to whirl +swiftly about me as, with great difficulty, I groped my way back to +the library, where I stood gazing at that strange counterpart of +myself, till, under the growing horror of the situation, it seemed +to my benumbed senses as though I were some disembodied spirit +hovering above his own corpse. The horrible illusion was like a +nightmare; I could not throw it off, and I would then and there +have gone stark, staring mad, but that there came to me out of that +awful chaos of fancies a suggestion which seemed like an inspiration. +'It is Hugh Mainwaring,' I said to myself, 'Hugh Mainwaring died +to-night!' + +"My fevered brain grew cool, my pulse steady, and my nerves firm +as I proceeded at once to act upon the idea. Kneeling beside the +dead man, I examined the wound. The bullet had entered above the +right eye and passed downward, coming out at the base of the brain; +from both wounds the blood was flowing in a slow, sluggish stream. +Drawing a large handkerchief from my pocket, I bound it tightly +about the head over both wounds, knotting it firmly; then carrying +the body into the tower-room, I made sure that all doors were +locked, and proceeded to put into execution the plan so suddenly +formed. By this time I was myself, and, though the task before me +was neither easy nor pleasant to perform, I went about it as +calmly and methodically as though it were some ordinary business +transaction. As expeditiously as possible I removed the dead man's +clothing and my own, which I then exchanged, dressing the lifeless +form in the clothes I had worn on the preceding day, even to the +dressing-gown which I had put on upon retiring to my apartments, +while I donned his somewhat travel-worn suit of tweed. Having +completed this gruesome task, I left the body in much the same +position in which it had originally fallen, lying slightly upon +the right side, the right arm extended on the floor, and, to give +the appearance of suicide, I placed my own revolver - first +emptying one of the chambers - near his right hand. On going to +my desk for the revolver, I discovered the explanation of my +brother's words when he said that he had already undone my work +of the preceding day, the final act of the farce I had carried +out. In the terrible excitement of those moments his meaning +escaped my mind; now it was clear. My own will, executed with +such care, and which early in the evening I had left upon my desk, +was gone. That he had destroyed it in his wrath and scorn I had +abundant proof a little later, upon incidentally finding in the +small grate in that room the partially burned fragments of the +document, which I left to tell their own tale. + +"Having satisfactorily disposed of Hugh Mainwaring (as the dead +man now seemed to my over-wrought imagination), I made preparation +for my immediate departure. This occupied little time. There was +fortunately some cash in the safe, which I took; all drafts and +papers of that nature I left, - they were of value only to Hugh +Mainwaring, and he was dead! As the cash would be inadequate, +however, for my needs, I decided after considerable deliberation +to take the family jewels, though not without apprehension that +they might lead to my detection, as they finally did. These I put +in a small box covered with ordinary wrapping-paper to attract as +little attention as possible,' and, having completed my preparations, +I removed the bandage from the dead man's head and threw it with the +private keys to my library into the metallic box which had held the +jewels. Then donning the black wig and mustache which my visitor +had thrown aside on disclosing his identity, together with a long +ulster which he had left in the tower-room, I took one farewell +look at the familiar apartments and their silent occupant and stole +noiselessly out into the night. I remained on the premises only +long enough to visit the small lake in the rear of the house, into +which I threw the metallic box and its contents, then, following +the walk through the grove to the side street, I left Fair Oaks, as +I well knew, forever. While yet on the grounds I met my own +coachman, but he failed to recognize me in my disguise. My plans +were already formed. I had come to the conclusion that my late +visitor and the caller of the preceding afternoon, whose card bore +the name of J. Henry Carruthers, were one and the same. My secretary +had stated that Carruthers had come out from the city that day, so +my appearance at the depot, dressed in his own disguise, would +probably attract no attention. I was fortunate enough to reach the +depot just as two trains were about to pull out; the suburban train +which would leave in three minutes for the city, and the north-bound +express, due to leave five minutes later. I bought a ticket for New +York, then passing around the rear of the suburban train, quietly +boarded the express, and before the discovery of that night's +fearful tragedy I was speeding towards the great West. + +"But go where I might, from that hour to this, I have never been +free from agonizing remorse, nor have I been able for one moment +to banish from my memory the sight of that face, - the face of my +brother, killed by my own hand, and a discovery which I made +within the first few hours of my flight made my remorse ten times +deeper. In going through the pockets of the suit I wore I found +a letter from my brother, addressed to his son, written in my own +library and at my own desk while he awaited my coming. He seemed +to have had a sort of presentiment that his interview with me might +end in some such tragedy as it did, and took that opportunity to +inform his son regarding both his past work and his plans for the +future. What was my astonishment to find that his son was, at +that time, as totally unaware of his father's existence as was I +a few hours before of the existence of a brother! + +"From this letter I learned that the son had been given away at +birth, and was to know nothing of his true parentage until he had +reached years of maturity; that he himself had been shipwrecked, as +reported years ago, but had escaped in some miraculous manner; that +reaching Africa at last, he disclosed his identity to no one, but +devoted all his energies to acquiring a fortune for his son. He +succeeded even beyond his anticipations, and when nearly twenty +years had elapsed, sailed for his old Australian home, to find his +son. Arriving there, he learned that his son, while pursuing his +studies in England, had obtained information of the will made in +his father's favor, and learning facts which led him to believe that +the will was still in existence and in the possession of his father's +younger brother, had, with the advice of his London attorneys, gone +to America, and was then in his uncle's employ for the purpose of +securing proof regarding the will, and, if possible, possession of +the will itself. Upon learning these facts, my brother had +immediately proceeded to London and to Barton & Barton, his son's +attorneys, who, upon his arrival there, informed him of his son's +success up to that time, and also notified him that his brother was +about to celebrate his approaching fiftieth birthday by naming the +son of Ralph Mainwaring as his heir, Ralph Mainwaring and family +having just sailed to America for that purpose. My brother then +took the first steamer for America, arriving only two days later +than Ralph Mainwaring. Though unable to obtain an interview with +me at once, as he had intended, he had succeeded in catching sight +of me, in order to assure himself that the marked resemblance +between us still existed, and, to emphasize that resemblance, he +then shaved and had his hair cut in the same style in which I wore +mine, so as to render the likeness the more striking and +indisputable when he should announce himself to me. + +"His existence and return he wished kept secret from his son until +the successful consummation of his plans, but he wrote the letter +as an explanation in case there should be any unforeseen +termination. The letter was overflowing with a father's love and +pride; his allusion to the difficulty with which he had restrained +his feelings when he found himself face to face with his son on the +afternoon of his call, being especially touching. The perusal of +that letter added a hundred-fold to my own grief and remorse. I +dared not run the risk of disclosing myself by sending it to my +brother's son, but I have preserved it carefully for him, and desire +it to be given him as quickly as possible. + +"Through New York papers I learned from time to time of the murder +of Hugh Mainwaring, the lost will, the discovery of the old will, +and the appearance of the rightful heir. From that source, also, I +learned that Merrick, the detective, was shadowing the murderer, +who was generally supposed to be a man by the name of Carruthers. +I had one advantage of Merrick. I knew him - my old friend Whitney +having often pointed him out to me - while he did not know the man +he sought. Many a time in my wanderings I have seen him, and, +knowing well the game he was after, eluded him, only to fall at +last into the snare of one whom I did not know. The man searching +for the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring encountered another, trailing +the murderer of Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I suddenly found my +time had come! A coward then, as always, I tried to shoot myself. +In the darkness I held the muzzle of my brother's revolver to my +own temple; instantly there flashed before me his face when I had +killed him! I grew sick, my hand trembled and dropped; then, as +my pursuers came nearer, I aimed for my heart and fired! This is +the result. Death was not instantaneous, as I had hoped; instead, +I was given this opportunity to make some slight reparation for my +sin; to aid, as I said before, in righting the wrong wrought by my +past life. + +"And now, in these my last moments, I do solemnly affirm and aver +that on the night preceding his death, my father executed a will +restoring to my elder brother his full right and title, which will +I have for more than twenty-five years last past wrongfully and +fraudulently withheld and concealed; and that my brother being now +dead, killed by my own hand, though unwittingly and unintentionally, +his son, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the rightful and sole heir +to the entire Mainwaring estate. + +"Signed by Hugh Mainwaring in the presence of the following +witnesses: William J. Barton, M. D. Montague, Joseph P. Sturgiss, +M.D., M. J. Wheating, M.D., Daniel McCabe and C. D. Merrick." + +At the conclusion of this statement, there was shown in evidence +the rusty metallic box-dragged from the lake - with the keys and +the knotted, blood-stained handkerchief found therein. This was +followed by brief testimony by Harold Scott Mainwaring and the +old servant, James Wilson, but the proceedings following the +reading of the statement were little more than mere form. There +was little attempt at cross-examination, and when the time came for +the argument by counsel for contestant, Mr. Whitney, who had been +deeply affected by the confession of his old friend, declined to +speak. + +All eyes were fastened upon Mr. Sutherland as he arose, as was +supposed, for the closing argument. For a moment his eyes scanned +the faces of the jurors, man by man, then addressing the judge, he +said slowly, in clear, resonant tones,- + +"Your honor, I submit the case without argument." + +In less than forty-five minutes from the conclusion of the statement +the jury retired, but no one moved from his place in the crowded +court-room, for all felt that little time would be required for their +decision. In ten minutes they returned, and, amid the silence that +followed, the foreman announced the verdict, "for the proponent, +Harold Scott Mainwaring." + +Cheers burst forth from all parts of the room, and the walls rang +with applause, which was only checked by a sudden, simultaneous +movement of several men towards the contestant. With the +announcement of the verdict, Ralph Mainwaring had risen to his feet, +as though in protest. For an instant he stood gasping helplessly, +but unable to utter a word; then, with a loud groan, he sank +backward and would have fallen to the floor but for his attorneys, +who had rushed to the assistance of the stricken man. + +A few moments later the lifeless remains of Hugh Mainwaring were +carried from the court-room, while, in another direction, the +unconscious form of Ralph Mainwaring was borne by tender, pitying +hands, among them those of the victor himself, and the contest of +Mainwaring versus Mainwaring was ended. + + * * * * * * * * * + +The bright sunlight of a December afternoon, ten days after the +close of the trial, crowned with a shining halo the heads of +Harold Scott Mainwaring and his wife as they stood together in the +tower-room at Fair Oaks. But a few hours had elapsed since they +had repeated the words of the beautiful marriage service which had +made them husband and wife. Their wedding had been, of necessity, +a quiet one, only their own party and a few of their American +friends being present, for the ocean-liner, then lying in the +harbor, but which in a few hours was to bear them homeward, would +carry also the bodies of the Mainwaring brothers and of Ralph +Mainwaring to their last resting place. + +Here, amid the very surroundings where it was written, Harold +Mainwaring had just read to his wife his father's letter, penned a +few hours before his death. For a few moments neither spoke, then +Winifred said brokenly, through fast falling tears,- + +"How he loved you, Harold!" + +"Yes," he replied, sadly; "and what would I not give for one hour +in which to assure him of my love! I would gladly have endured any +suffering for his sake, but in the few moments that we stood face +to face we met as strangers, and I have had no opportunity to show +him my appreciation of his love or my love for him in return." + +"Don't think he does not know it," she said, earnestly. "I believe +that he now knows your love for him far more perfectly than you +know his." + +He kissed her tenderly, then drawing from his pocket a +memorandum-book, took therefrom a piece of blotter having upon it +the impress of some writing. Placing it upon the desk beside the +letter, he held a small mirror against it, and Winifred, looking +in the mirror, read, + "Your affectionate father, + "HAROLD SCOTT MAINWARING." + +Then glancing at the signature to the letter, she saw they were +identical. In answer to her look of inquiry, Harold said,- + +"I discovered that impress on the blotter on this desk one morning +about ten days after the tragedy, and at once recognized it as my +father's writing. In a flash I understood the situation; my father +himself had returned, had been in these rooms, and had had an +interview with his brother! I knew of the marked resemblance between +them, and at once questioned, How had that interview ended? Who was +the murdered man? Who was the murderer? That was the cause of my +trip to England to try to find some light on this subject. I need +no words to tell you the agony of suspense that I endured for the +next few weeks, and you will understand now why I would not - even +to yourself - declare my innocence of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring. +I would have bourne any ignominy and dishonor, even death itself, +rather than that a breath of suspicion should have been directed +against my father's name." + +"My hero!" she exclaimed, smiling through her tears; then asked, +"When and how did you learn the real facts?" + +"Almost immediately upon my return to this country, and from Mrs. +LaGrange," and he told her briefly of his last interview with that +unhappy woman. "Up to the day of the funeral, she was ignorant of +the truth, but on that day she detected the difference, which none +of the others saw. She knew and recognized my father." + +Standing at last on the western veranda, they took their farewell +of Fair Oaks. + +"Beautiful Fair Oaks!" Winifred murmured; "once I loved you; but +you could never be our home; you hold memories far too bitter!" + +"Yes," Harold replied, gravely, "it is darkened by crime and stained +with innocent blood. The only bright feature to redeem it," he +added with a smile, "is the memory of the love I found there, but +that," and he drew her arm closely within his own, "I take with me +to England, to my father's home and mine." + +Together they left the majestic arched portals, and going down the +oak-lined avenue, through the dim twilight of the great boughs +interlocked above their heads, passed on, out into the sunlight, +with never a fear for shadows that might come; each strong and +confident in the love that united them "for better for worse, for +richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, . . . till death us +do part." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext That Mainwaring Affair, by Maynard Barbour + diff --git a/old/mnwrn10.zip b/old/mnwrn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f18458 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mnwrn10.zip |