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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Diamond Coterie
+
+Author: Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+Release Date: June 4, 2008 [EBook #25695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIAMOND COTERIE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE NEW DETECTIVE STORY.
+
+                            THE DIAMOND COTERIE
+
+                            BY LAWRENCE L. LYNCH
+
+            AUTHOR OF "SHADOWED BY THREE" "MADELINE PAYNE," ETC.
+
+
+    CHICAGO:
+    HENRY A. SUMNER AND COMPANY.
+    1884.
+
+    Copyright, 1882, by
+    DONNELLEY, LOYD & CO.,
+    CHICAGO.
+
+    Copyright, 1884, by
+    R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS,
+    CHICAGO.
+
+    R. R. Donnelley & Sons, The Lakeside Press, Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Really this is a sad affair."]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I. Two Shocks for W----
+
+CHAPTER II. W---- Investigates
+
+CHAPTER III. A Sample of the Lamotte Blood
+
+CHAPTER IV. Sybil's Letter
+
+CHAPTER V. The Deductions of a Detective
+
+CHAPTER VI. Doctor Heath at Home
+
+CHAPTER VII. A Falling Out
+
+CHAPTER VIII. One Detective too Many
+
+CHAPTER IX. The Deductions of Detective Number Two
+
+CHAPTER X. Evan
+
+CHAPTER XI. The End of the Beginning
+
+CHAPTER XII. The Beginning of the End
+
+CHAPTER XIII. Constance's Diplomacy
+
+CHAPTER XIV. John Burrill, Aristocrat
+
+CHAPTER XV. Diamonds
+
+CHAPTER XVI. In Open Mutiny
+
+CHAPTER XVII. The Play Goes On
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. John Burrill, Plebeian
+
+CHAPTER XIX. Nance Burrill's Warning
+
+CHAPTER XX. Constance at Bay
+
+CHAPTER XXI. Appointing a Watch Dog
+
+CHAPTER XXII. The Watch Dog Discharged
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. Father and Son
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. A Day of Gloom
+
+CHAPTER XXV. That Night
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. Prince's Prey
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. A Turn in the Game
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. Introducing Mr. Smith
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. Openly Accused
+
+CHAPTER XXX. An Obstinate Client
+
+CHAPTER XXXI. Beginning the Investigation
+
+CHAPTER XXXII. An Appeal to the Wardour Honor
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII. "I Can Save Him if I Will"
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV. A Last Resort
+
+CHAPTER XXXV. A Strange Interview
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI. Two Passengers West
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII. Some Excellent Advice
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII. Belknap Outwitted
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX. "Will Love Outweigh Honor?"
+
+CHAPTER XL. "Too Young to Die"
+
+CHAPTER XLI. Sir Clifford Heathercliffe
+
+CHAPTER XLII. A Tortured Witness
+
+CHAPTER XLIII. Justice, Sacrifice, Death
+
+CHAPTER XLIV. A Spartan Mother
+
+CHAPTER XLV. Told by a Detective
+
+CHAPTER XLVI. The Story of Lucky Jim
+
+CHAPTER XLVII. After the Drama Ended
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+"Really, this is a sad affair."
+
+"I have a clue."
+
+"I am ready to do that at any and all times."
+
+"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute!"
+
+So he dines at Wardour Place
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Ah! This phial is one of a set."
+
+"Are we alone?"
+
+The tramp turned and looked back
+
+"Doctor Heath flatters himself."
+
+"Here is this man again."
+
+"Poor Frank! don't let this overcome you so."
+
+"Why, Evan, you look ghostly."
+
+"You must not have a third attack."
+
+"Conny, it has come."
+
+"I am happy to know you."
+
+"I have never once been tempted to self destruction."
+
+Only a moment did Sybil listen
+
+Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away
+
+"It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision."
+
+"Then take that, and that."
+
+"It's the other one," he muttered
+
+"Stay a moment, sir."
+
+"I'll be hanged if I can understand it."
+
+"I hope you will excuse me."
+
+"Well, Roake, are you ready for business?"
+
+"If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober."
+
+"You promise never to marry Francis LaMotte?"
+
+The cottage stands quite by itself
+
+"Prince, come away, sir!"
+
+"Why, boy, bless me."
+
+"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"
+
+"Did you ever see that knife before?"
+
+They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk
+
+"Softly, sir; reflect a little."
+
+"Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium."
+
+"Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."
+
+"Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."
+
+"Mr. Belknap, it is I."
+
+"Cap'n, you're a good fellow."
+
+"My friend, come down off that."
+
+"That hope is ended now."
+
+"Prisoner at the Bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"
+
+"It was found close beside the body of John Burrill."
+
+They come slowly forward
+
+"There is a flash--a loud report."
+
+Bathurst telling the story
+
+
+
+
+THE DIAMOND COTERIE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TWO SHOCKS FOR W----.
+
+
+On a certain Saturday in June, year of our Lord 1880, between the hours
+of sunrise and sunset, the town of W----, in a State which shall be
+nameless, received two shocks.
+
+Small affairs, concerning small people, could never have thrown
+W---- into such a state of excitement, for she was a large and wealthy
+town, and understood what was due to herself.
+
+She possessed many factories, and sometimes a man came to his death
+among the ponderous machinery. Not long since one "hand" had stabbed
+another, fatally; and, still later, a factory girl had committed
+suicide.
+
+These things created a ripple, nothing more. It would ill become a town,
+boasting its aristocracy and "style," to grow frenzied over the woes of
+such common people. But W---- possessed a goodly number of wealthy
+families, and some blue blood. These were worthy of consideration, and
+upon these calamity had fallen. Let us read an extract or two from the
+W---- _Argus_, a newspaper of much enterprise and exceeding veracity:
+
+     MONSTROUS DIAMOND ROBBERY--BOLD BURGLARY.
+
+     This day we are startled by the news of a robbery in our midst, the
+     like of which it has never been our fate to chronicle.
+
+     When the servants at Wardour Place arose this morning, they found
+     confusion reigning in the library, desks forced open, papers strewn
+     about, and furniture disarranged. One of the long windows had been
+     opened by forcing the shutters, and then cutting out a pane of
+     glass, after which the bolts were easily drawn.
+
+     Miss Wardour was at once aroused, and further examination disclosed
+     the fact that her dressing room had been invaded, and every box,
+     trunk and drawer searched. The beautiful little affair, which has
+     the appearance of a miniature combined desk and bookcase, but which
+     contains a small safe, that Miss Wardour believed burglar proof,
+     had been forced, and the jewels so widely known as the "Wardour
+     diamonds," stolen. Quite a large sum of money, and some papers of
+     value, were also taken.
+
+     Most of our readers are familiar with the history of the Wardour
+     diamonds, and know that they represented a fortune.
+
+     The burglary was effected without noise, not a sound disturbing
+     Miss Wardour, or any of her servants, some of whom are light
+     sleepers, and they have not a single clue by which to trace the
+     robbers.
+
+     Miss Wardour bears the loss with great calmness. Of course every
+     effort will be made to recover the jewels, and capture the thieves.
+     It is rumored that Mr. Jasper Lamotte, in behalf of Miss Wardour,
+     will visit the city at once and set the detectives at work.
+
+This was shock number one for the public of W----.
+
+Miss Constance Wardour, of Wardour Place, was a lady of distinction. She
+possessed the oldest name, the bluest blood, the fairest face, and the
+longest purse, to be found in W----; and, the _Argus_ had said truly,
+the Wardour diamonds represented a fortune, and not a small one.
+
+Emmeline Wardour, the great grandmother of Miss Constance, was a belle
+and heiress. Her fondness for rare jewels amounted to a mania, and she
+spent enormous sums in collecting rare gems. At her death she bequeathed
+to her daughter a collection such as is owned by few ladies in private
+life. She also bequeathed to her daughter her mania. This daughter,
+after whom Constance was named, added to her mother's store of precious
+stones, from time to time, and when, one fine day, a bank, in which she
+had deposited some thousands of her dollars, failed, and she found
+herself a loser, she brought her craze to a climax, by converting all
+her money into diamonds, set and unset.
+
+At her death, her granddaughter, Constance, inherited these treasures,
+in addition to a handsome fortune from her mother; and, although the
+original collection made by Emmeline Wardour contained a variety of rare
+stones, opals, amethysts, pearls, cameos, etc., besides the many fine
+diamonds, they all came to be classed under the head of the "Wardour
+diamonds."
+
+It is small wonder that W---- stood aghast at the thought of such a
+robbery, and it is impossible to say when the talk, the wonderment, the
+conjectures, suggestions, theories, and general indignation would have
+ended, had not the second shock overborne the first. Once more let the
+_Argus_ speak:
+
+     A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
+
+     Yesterday afternoon, while the town was filled with the excitement
+     caused by the Wardour robbery, Miss Sybil Lamotte, the beautiful
+     daughter of our wealthy and highly respected citizen, Jasper
+     Lamotte, Esq., eloped with John Burrill, who was, for a time,
+     foreman in one of her father's mills. Burrill is known to be a
+     divorced man, having a former wife and a child, living in W----;
+     and his elopement with one of the aristocracy has filled the town
+     with consternation.
+
+     Mr. Lamotte, the father of the young lady, had not been from home
+     two hours, in company with his wife, when his daughter fled. He was
+     _en route_ for the city, to procure the services of detectives, in
+     the hope of recovering the Wardour diamonds; both his sons were
+     absent from home as well. Mr. Lamotte has not yet returned, and is
+     still ignorant of his daughter's flight.
+
+Thus abruptly and reluctantly ends the second _Argus_ bombshell, and
+this same last bombshell had been a very different thing to handle. It
+might have been made far more sensational, and the editor had sighed as
+he penned the cautiously worded lines: "It was a monstrous
+_mesalliance_, and a great deal could be said in disparagement of Mr.
+John Burrill;" but Mr. Lamotte was absent; the brothers Lamotte were
+absent; and until he was certain what steps they would take in this
+matter, it were wise to err on the safe side. Sybil was an only
+daughter. Parents are sometimes prone to forgive much; it might be best
+to "let Mr. Burrill off easy."
+
+Thus to himself reasoned the editor, and, having bridled his pen, much
+against his will, he set free his tongue, and in the bosom of his family
+discoursed very freely of Mr. John Burrill.
+
+"My dear, it's unendurable," he announced to the little woman opposite,
+with the nod of a Solomon. "It's perfectly _incomprehensible_, how such
+a girl could do it. Why, he's a braggart and a bully. He drinks in our
+public saloons, and handles a woman's name as he does his beer glass.
+The factory men say that he has boasted openly that he meant to marry
+Miss Lamotte, _or_ Miss Wardour, he couldn't decide which. By the by,
+it's rather odd that those two young ladies should meet with such
+dissimilar misfortunes on the same day."
+
+Mrs. Editor, a small woman, who, from constantly hearing and absorbing
+into the vacuum of her own mind, the words of wisdom falling from the
+mouth of her husband, had acquired an expression of being always ready
+and willing to be convinced, looked up from her teapot and propounded
+the following:
+
+"W-what do you s'pose she eloped with him for?"
+
+"Maria, I believe I have told you frequently that there is no such word
+as 's'pose.' I don't _suppose_ anything about it. It's enough to make
+one believe in witchcraft. Miss Sybil Lamotte held her head above _us_;
+above plenty more, who were the peers of Mr. John Burrill. Last year, as
+everybody knows, she refused Robert Crofton, who is handsome, rich, and
+upright in character. This Spring, they say, she jilted Raymond Vandyck,
+and people who ought to know, say that they were engaged. Why, Ray
+Vandyck comes of the best old Dutch stock, and his fortune is something
+worth while. I wonder what young Vandyck will say to this, and how that
+high-stepping old lady, his mother, will fancy having her son thrown
+over for John Burrill. I wish I knew how Jasper Lamotte would take it."
+
+So, in many a household, tongues wagged fast and furious; misfortune had
+smitten the mighty ones of W----, and brought them within range of the
+gossiping tongues of their social inferiors; and, while the village
+oracles improve their opportunities, and old women hatch theories, the
+like of which was never heard on earth, let us make the acquaintance of
+some of the "mighty ones."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+W---- INVESTIGATES.
+
+
+Wardour Place, the home of Miss Constance Wardour, and the scene of the
+"_great_ Diamond robbery," lies a little east from the town, away from
+the clamor of its mills, and the contamination of its _canaille_.
+
+It is a beautiful old place, built upon a slight elevation, surrounded
+by stately old trees, with a wide sweep of well-kept lawn, bordered with
+rose thickets, and dotted here and there with great clumps of tall
+syringas, white lilacs, acacias, and a variety of ornamental trees and
+flowering shrubs.
+
+The mansion stands some distance from the road, and is reached by a
+broad, sweeping drive and two footpaths that approach from opposite
+directions.
+
+In the rear are orchard and gardens, and beyond these a grassy slope
+that curves down to meet the river, that is ever hurrying townward to
+seize the great mill wheels and set them sweeping round and round.
+
+The mansion itself is a large, roomy edifice, built by a master
+architect. It at once impresses one with a sense of its true purpose: a
+home, stately, but not stiff, abounding in comfort and aristocratic
+ease; a place of serene repose and inborn refinement. Such, Wardour
+Place was intended to be; such, it has been and is.
+
+Miss Constance Wardour, mistress of the domain and last of the race, is
+alone in her own favorite morning room. It is two hours since the
+discovery of the robbery, and during those two hours confusion has
+reigned supreme. Everybody, except Miss Wardour, has seemingly run wild.
+But Miss Wardour has kept her head, and has prevented the servants from
+giving the alarm upon the highway, and thus filling her house with a
+promiscuous mob. She has compelled them to comport themselves like
+rational beings; has ordered the library and dressing room to be closed,
+and left untouched until the proper officer shall have made proper
+investigations; and then she has ordered her maid to serve her with a
+cup of strong coffee in the morning room; and, considering the
+glittering wealth she has just been bereaved of, Miss Wardour looks very
+calm and unruffled, and sips her coffee with a relish.
+
+Presently the door opens and a lady enters: a very fat lady, with florid
+complexion, restless, inquisitive, but good-humored gray eyes, and
+plenty of dark crinkly hair, combed low about her ears.
+
+This is Mrs. Honor Aliston, a distant relative of Miss Wardour's, who
+has found a most delightful home with that young lady, ever since the
+death of Grandmamma Wardour, for Constance Wardour has been an orphan
+since her childhood.
+
+Mrs. Aliston comes forward, rather rolls forward, and sinking, with a
+grunt of satisfaction, into the largest chair at hand, fixes two gray
+eyes upon the heiress, which that young lady, perceiving, says: "Well?"
+
+"Don't say 'well' to me. I've just come down from the mansard," gasped
+the widow Aliston.
+
+"From the _mansard_?"
+
+"Yes," fanning herself briskly with the pages of an uncut magazine.
+
+Constance laughs musically. "Why, Aunt Honor, you didn't expect to see
+the robbers running across the country, did you?"
+
+"Not I," disdainfully. "I wanted to see how long it took the news to get
+to--Mapleton."
+
+"Oh!" indifferently.
+
+"And--they're coming."
+
+"So soon!"
+
+"So soon! and the sheriff, or constable, or coroner,--_who_ is it that
+make these investigations? He's coming, at any rate, whoever he is, with
+a mob at his heels. Who did you send for, Con?"
+
+"For Mr. O'Meara, of course, and--I would like to see Ray Vandyck."
+
+"What for?"
+
+Constance laughed. "Oh, I am fond of Ray, you know, and I think he would
+offer some unique suggestions; besides--dear me, auntie!" breaking off
+suddenly, "I wish this farce was at an end."
+
+Mrs. Aliston's gray eyes twinkled. "Why, child, you may be thankful it's
+no worse. Suppose--"
+
+"Hush, Aunt Honor. 'Walls have ears,' you know. I have half a mind to
+take Mr. Lamotte into my--"
+
+"Constance Wardour, _what_ are you thinking about? 'Take Mr. Lamotte!'
+that means Frank Lamotte and Madame Lamotte, and _that_ means all the
+rest."
+
+"I said '_half_ a mind,' auntie. I don't think the notion will ever get
+its growth. I think we will see the end of this affair through our own
+spectacles; but--hear that noise! Are they bringing a legion of people?
+Auntie, I don't believe you have had a cup of coffee yet."
+
+"Don't you? Well, I _have_, my child. Let's go out and meet those
+people. They will bring all the dirt that lay loose on the highway on
+the soles of their boots. Con," turning suddenly, "you don't look solemn
+enough."
+
+Without heeding this last remark, Constance Wardour throws open the
+door, and passes out and down the hall to meet the party just entering.
+
+There is Mr. Soames, the mayor of W----, very bustling and important;
+Corliss, the constable, exceedingly shrewd in his own opinion, and
+looking on this occasion as wise as an owl; Thomas Craig, Esq.,
+sub-editor of the _Argus_; and some lesser lights, who, on one pretext
+and another, hope to gain admittance and sate their curiosity.
+
+"Really, Miss Wardour," begins the bustling mayor, "really, this is a
+sad affair! miserable affair! Must have given you a terrible fright, and
+then the loss!--but we will find them. Of course your jewels, such
+valuables, can't be kept hid from sharp detectives--a--Corliss, what had
+we better do first?" for Mayor Soames, like many another mayor, is
+about as capable of fulfilling his duties as an average ten-year-old.
+
+Corliss, however, comes gallantly to the rescue. He is equal to any
+emergency; there is nothing, if you take his word as proof, that Corliss
+is _not_ equal to.
+
+"First," says Corliss, "I think we had better--ahem--investigate."
+
+"To be sure--investigate, of course--Miss Wardour, you have--"
+
+"Closed up the disturbed rooms," interrupts Constance, promptly. "Yes,
+sir; I fear you will find little there to assist you. Nelly, throw open
+the library."
+
+The servant, thus commanded, took from her mistress' hand a key,
+unlocked the library door and threw it open; and then the farce began.
+
+If there is anything in all our dispensations of law and order that is
+calculated to strike astonishment to the heart and mind of a foreigner,
+it is our off-hand way of conducting a police investigation. In other
+countries, to be a magistrate, a notary, means to be in some degree
+qualified for the position; to be a constable, means to possess a
+moderate allowance of mother wit, and a small measure of "muscular
+christianity;" and to discover a crime, means to follow it up with a
+thorough and systematic investigation. Such is not our mode. With us, to
+hold office, means to get a salary; and to conduct an investigation,
+means to maunder through some sort of farce, which gives the criminal
+time to make good his escape, and to permit the newspapers to seize upon
+and publish every item, to detail every clue, as fast as discovered; all
+this being in favor of the law-breakers, and detrimental to the
+conscientious officers of justice.
+
+In France, they complain of too much red tape in the police department.
+Let them supply us out of their superabundance; we have too little.
+
+While Corliss "investigates," the mayor delivers an impromptu oration;
+and Mr. Craig, of the _Argus_, takes notes, according to his own light.
+
+Out of his inner consciousness, the _Argus_ man evokes an idea, which
+Corliss is not slow to adopt and use as his own.
+
+"I suppose they will have a detective down as soon as possible," says
+Mr. Craig, as Corliss lays one ruthless hand on an overturned chair. "If
+I were you, Corliss, I would leave everything exactly as I find it, for
+the benefit of whoever works up the case."
+
+Corliss slowly lowers the chair to its former position, and turns upon
+Craig a look of offended dignity.
+
+"Why, what did you suppose I intended to do?"
+
+"Umph!" retorted Craig, with a disrespectful sniff, "I rather thought
+you intended to sit down in that chair."
+
+Turning his back upon the flippant young man, so sadly lacking in
+respect for the "powers that be," Corliss pursues his investigations. He
+has read, in many novels and sensational newspapers, vivid descriptions
+of similar examinations, and he goes to work after the most approved
+fashion. He scrutinizes the window, the open blind, the cut pane, the
+hangings within and the down-trodden shrubbery without; he darts out,
+and dives in; he peers under every thing, over every thing, into every
+thing; he inspects, over and again, the mutilated writing case, or safe,
+from which the treasure was actually taken; and raps and sounds it as if
+in search of some private receptacle that the thieves had overlooked, or
+Miss Wardour never found out. He goes down flat upon his stomach, and
+scrutinizes Miss Wardour's scrupulously swept carpets, in search of a
+footprint in the dust that is not there.
+
+While he performs these feats, the mayor follows him about solemnly, and
+full of wondering admiration; and the man of the _Argus_ scribbles, and
+chuckles and grins maliciously.
+
+Meantime, there have been other arrivals at Wardour Place; and
+Constance, leaving the inspectors to their own devices, is standing in
+her drawing-room, talking earnestly with a broad-shouldered, handsome
+man, who looks much surprised at the tale she is telling.
+
+"How unfortunate, and how fortunate," he says, depositing his hat upon
+the table beside him. "I came here to speak of our river excursion, and
+lo, I am in the midst of a sensation."
+
+Constance laughed.
+
+"And surrounded by forlorn females," she supplemented. "Aunt Honor won't
+recover from the fright in a week, although she looks so fierce at
+present."
+
+Mrs. Aliston, who is seated at the farthest window, half buried by the
+lace draperies, and looking steadfastly down the road, pops out her head
+to retort:
+
+"It's time to look fierce; don't I know that those Vandals in the next
+room will make as big a muddle as if they were in sympathy with the
+burglars?"
+
+Constance laughed easily.
+
+"They can't do much harm, auntie; the burglars did not leave a trace; I
+am positive of that." Then turning to the new comer, "I am very glad you
+came just now, Doctor Heath; you may help me with your advice. I have
+sent for my lawyer, Mr. O'Meara; but, for some reason he does not come."
+
+"Mr. O'Meara left for the city last night."
+
+"Oh! I am sorry for that; he would be sure to know how to proceed, and
+who to employ. Doctor Heath you are of course acquainted in the city;
+tell me of a good man, a _really_ good one. I intend to spare no expense
+in hunting these robbers."
+
+"And these diamonds," from behind the curtain.
+
+"Aunt Honor, you are like the ghost in the pantomime; come out and be
+one of us."
+
+"I won't."
+
+"Very well, then; but seriously, Doctor Heath, if I can't secure but the
+one, let it be the robbers. Do you know I have a fancy that if we caught
+them or him, it would put an end to some of our mysteries. You have not
+been among us very long; but, don't you think we have more than our
+average of crime?"
+
+"I had not observed, Miss Wardour."
+
+"Less than a year ago, Brant, the jeweler, was a heavy loser. Within the
+year, three banks in this vicinity have been robbed. Last summer, Mark
+Olson, a farmer, drew from the bank several thousand dollars, intending
+to purchase land. Half way between W---- and his home he was waylaid,
+knocked from his horse, robbed, and left in the road senseless. I could
+name to you no less than seven private residences that have been
+burglarized within the past ten months, and if I related to you the
+circumstances attending each robbery, you would be satisfied, as I am,
+that, _in every case_, the robbers knew their ground, and did not work
+at random."
+
+"And you have noted each of these events so accurately, Miss Wardour,
+and yet, were not--warned."
+
+"I have noted all these events, Doctor Heath, and yet--have been
+robbed."
+
+Doctor Heath bends his eyes upon the floor, and remains silent; there is
+no possibility of reading his thoughts in his face. It is a fine face,
+however, and Miss Wardour must be pardoned if she takes advantage of
+this temporary abstraction, to gaze full at him for one moment. The
+close cropped thick brown hair displays a well shaped head, the forehead
+is broad and full, the eyes large, dark gray, and capable of almost any
+expression; usually they look out from his handsome face with a half
+contemptuous indifference to all things, that leads one to fancy those
+eyes may have a history; this may or may not be the case. Doctor Heath
+came to W---- less than a year ago, armed with a personal certificate of
+merit from the first of the great New York physicians, bought out the
+practice of a broken down old resident doctor, fitted up a handsome
+office, and settled down to his business. He hired a small cottage as a
+place of residence, installed a deaf old woman as housekeeper and maid
+of all work, and lived a quiet bachelor life, riding a good horse,
+smoking a good cigar, and growing in favor with polite W---- society.
+
+And this is absolutely all that W---- can tell concerning Dr. Clifford
+Heath. What was his past, whence he came, what the length of his purse
+or pedigree, no one knows. People have tried to find out something--of
+course--but Doctor Heath has a wonderful way of setting aside the hints
+of the curious, and he ignores the right of W---- to know his private
+history, with a cool impertinence that is as exasperating as it is
+effectual.
+
+As he thinks, Miss Wardour watches; but no change comes over the calm,
+smooth shaven face, every feature expresses firmness and strength, and
+nothing more.
+
+"And so you want an able officer to take this business in hand, Miss
+Wardour," says Clifford Heath, at length. "If it is as you suspect, it
+will need a shrewd man, and you have no clue, save those that are now
+being inspected," with a light laugh, "by our worthy constable and his
+supporters."
+
+Constance Wardour arose and came close to the table, speaking in a low
+voice.
+
+"Yes, Doctor Heath, I will trust _you_, although I intended saying
+nothing of this until an officer arrived. I have a clue, slight,
+although it may be, it is--"
+
+[Illustration: "I have a clue."]
+
+She drew from her pocket a small white roll, and unfolding it, held up
+for his inspection _half_ of a fine cambric handkerchief, and a tiny
+stoppered vial of finest cut glass.
+
+Doctor Heath glanced at the vial and uttered one word.
+
+"Chloroform."
+
+"Chloroform," repeated Miss Wardour; "when I was awakened, by the
+knocking at my door, I found this," shaking the fragment of cambric,
+"lying lightly across my face; and the vial, on the little night stand
+beside my bed. Aunt Honor was rapping for admittance, and when she had
+made me comprehend the situation, we decided that it was best to say
+nothing of this. What seems most strange is, that it was administered
+with so much care; I am affected by the smallest quantity of the drug,
+and an ordinary dose would have put me under medical treatment. I could
+not have left my bed for a week, had they given me as much as would
+serve only to stupify Aunt Honor there."
+
+"No," interrupted Mrs. Aliston, once more half emerging from her window.
+"It would have been worse than that; I think an overdose of chloroform
+would kill Constance. It seems as if they knew just how much to give."
+
+Was it fancy, or did a troubled look rest for a moment in the eyes of
+Doctor Heath, and on his countenance a shade of pallor?
+
+"This is, to my mind, the most serious aspect of the affair," he said
+gravely. "Mrs. Aliston is right; an overdose of that drug would be fatal
+to you. Your life has been jeopardized. I agree with Mrs. Aliston, your
+investigation _is_ in the hands of bunglers; let us hunt these fellows
+down."
+
+"I will see that an officer is telegraphed for at once; but--shall I
+send to the regular bureau, or--how?"
+
+"There is one man in the city, if he _is_ in the city now, who is
+qualified for the position he holds. He has withdrawn himself from the
+regular force, and acts solely on his own responsibility. He is much
+sought after, and possesses wonderful abilities; some of his exploits
+have been truly astounding."
+
+"And this man is--"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte; Mr. Francis Lamotte," announced a servant.
+
+"Show them in," said Constance, at the same time gathering up the piece
+of cambric and the little vial and putting them in her pocket.
+
+Doctor Heath arose, and taking up his hat, murmured an apology.
+
+"I have a patient at this hour, Miss Wardour, and will call again during
+the day. You will not stand in need of my counsel now," smilingly. "Mr.
+Lamotte can give you all needful advice, and he is sure to be right,"
+and Doctor Heath bowed himself out.
+
+"The Wardour diamonds," he muttered, as he mounted his horse. "And to
+think that they almost cost her her life; a skilled hand was it? Well,
+when the detective comes, I, too, may have a clue for him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A SAMPLE OF THE LAMOTTE BLOOD.
+
+
+Mr. Jasper Lamotte is a tall man, a dark man, and a stately man. He is
+grave of speech, yet very suave and pleasing. He is open handed and
+charitable, and a very popular man among the people of W----. He will
+rein in his blooded horses to ask after the health of his factory hands,
+and doff his hat to the wife of his humblest tenant. He has been for
+many years a resident of W----. Years ago he was a great traveler,
+coming and going almost incessantly, but, after a time, he built the
+largest and newest of the W---- mills, and settled himself down to rear
+his family, and attend in person to his "bales and shekels."
+
+Francis Lamotte is, what his father has been, a tall, dark eyed, sallow
+skinned young man, with a Greek profile, a profusion of curling dusky
+hair, a soft slow voice, a sweet and most pleasing smile; aristocratic
+hands and feet, a most affable manner; a very agreeable companion, and a
+dutiful son and brother. So saith W----. Such is Francis Lamotte, and
+being such, he is voted, with one consent, the handsomest young man in
+W----. Francis Lamotte, too, is popular with the people of W----;
+handsome and fascinating, the son of a father whose fortune is said to
+be enormous; he is welcomed in every household circle, and he brings
+pleasure and courtesy wherever he enters.
+
+"Constance, my child, what is this that I hear?" exclaims Jasper
+Lamotte, taking the hand of Miss Wardour as she advances to meet him.
+"Have they not exaggerated the truth? The village is full of rumors."
+
+"Constance, good morning," breaks in Francis Lamotte. "Father's head is
+a little turned by all this. _Have_ you had a burglar? _Have_ they
+stolen the Wardour diamonds? And _are_ you frightened to death? And,"
+with a malicious glance toward Mrs. Aliston, who had forsaken her window
+and was rolling slowly towards them, serene, and dignified, "did they
+bind and gag dear Mrs. A--?"
+
+"Yes, yes! and no, no!" says Constance, cutting off the retort that was
+rising to the lips of her aunt. "Be seated, Mr. Lamotte; sit down Frank.
+I have 'had a burglar,' they did steal my diamonds. But--well, they did
+not frighten me for I was not aware of their presence, and they did not
+bind Aunt Honor for they--"
+
+"Hadn't rope enough," interrupts that lady, at which they all laugh.
+
+"But seriously, Constance," resumes Lamotte _pere_, "this is a bad
+business; a _very_ bad business; good gracious! are we all to be robbed
+at the pleasure of these rascals? plundered whenever their pockets run
+dry? It's abominable! What has been done? There should be an officer on
+the spot now."
+
+"So there is," breaks in Aunt Honor, with suspicious sweetness.
+"Constable Corliss and Mayor Soames, are examining the library and
+dressing room."
+
+Mr. Lamotte retains his gravity, but after exchanging demure glances,
+and in spite of themselves, Constance and Francis Lamotte laugh
+outright.
+
+"Then, my friends, let us await a revelation," Francis drawls in the
+most approved "camp meeting" fashion.
+
+"Poor Corliss!" Mr. Lamotte smiles slightly; "at any rate he will try to
+do his duty. But, Constance, you should have an officer here as soon as
+possible; I should not come here venturing my suggestions but I learned,
+accidentally, that your lawyer O'Meara, is absent; that is another
+misfortune. O'Meara has a long clear head; would not make a bad
+detective himself. As he _is_ away, and you need some one to act for
+you, why, I place myself at your disposal; if you have not already
+appointed an agent," with another smile.
+
+"I have made no move in the matter, Mr. Lamotte; indeed, I have hardly
+had time to think, as yet. I suppose, too, that we have lost valuable
+time, and yet we can't get a detective down here in a moment. Pray take
+what measures you deem best, and let us have the _best_ officer that we
+can get. I am especially anxious to capture the thieves if possible--and
+the diamonds--of course."
+
+"England expects every man to do his duty," quoted Francis. "Constance
+give me an appointment, too."
+
+"So I will," retorted Constance, wickedly. "I think you are eminently
+fitted to assist--Mr. Corliss."
+
+"Frank, be serious," says Mr. Lamotte, with a touch of severity. "Now
+Constance, let us do what we can to make up for this unavoidable loss of
+time; first tell me, as minutely as you can, just how this robbery was
+discovered."
+
+"It's a very brief story," says Constance, smiling slightly, and then
+she narrates, in a somewhat hurried manner, as if she were weary of the
+subject, and wanted to have done with it, the events of the morning,
+omitting, however, to mention the finding of the chloroform vial, and
+the half square of cambric.
+
+"Mr. Soames and the constable--and several more, were on the spot with
+great promptness," finished she, with a comical glance toward Mrs.
+Aliston.
+
+"We overlooked their proceedings until we discovered that they would do
+no actual damage, but would leave everything exactly as they found it,
+and then--"
+
+"Yes," interrupted Francis, with a queer smile upon his lips, "and then
+you found a more agreeable occupation."
+
+"And then," continued Constance, as if she had not heard him, but
+returning his half-malicious look with interest, "Dr. Heath called, and
+I told him all about it. He is very clear headed and sensible, and I was
+sorry his time was so limited; he might have been of some assistance,
+and--"
+
+"Too bad," again broke in young Lamotte, with something very like a
+sneer upon his handsome face. "Let me repair the damage. I'll tell him
+to call--"
+
+"Oh, not at all, Frank; pardon my interruption," said the girl, turning
+her eyes full upon him with artful artlessness. "You are very good, but
+it's quite unnecessary. Dr. Heath promised to call again during the day
+or evening."
+
+Frank Lamotte bit his lip, but kept silent; and the elder man came to
+the rescue. He had been thinking, and without seeming to have noticed
+the little passage at arms, he arose and said: "Well, Constance, I don't
+see that talking will do much good just now; what the occasion demands
+is action. My first impulse was to telegraph at once for an officer from
+the city force, but, on reflection, I think it better not to use the
+telegraph. Our every movement may be closely noted, and to send a
+message would be to set some one watching for the arrival of a
+detective, and once his identity becomes known, farewell to his
+prospects of success. It will take a few hours longer to get him here,
+but I think I had better visit the city in person, lay the case before
+our man, and so enable him to enter the town prepared for his work, and
+able to maintain his incognito. I have business of my own in the city,
+and Mrs. Lamotte is anxious to do some shopping. Women are always
+anxious to shop, I believe. I will return home at once, and give her
+warning; it will look less like a business trip if she accompanies me.
+How does this plan suit you?"
+
+"Any plan that brings us a competent officer as early as possible, will
+suit me," replied Constance. "It's _very_ good of you to take all this
+trouble, Mr. Lamotte."
+
+"Nothing of the sort," expostulated Mr. Lamotte, heartily. "I am always
+at the service of my daughter's dearest friend. By the by, Sybil is not
+yet aware of your loss. I did not enlighten her, for I knew she would
+insist upon coming with me, and that," smiling a little, "would have
+necessitated waiting for toilette."
+
+"And apropos of toilettes," cried his son, springing up. "There is
+_Mere_, she will want due warning, for nothing short of a full hour will
+she take. So, sir, let's take a look at Soames and Corliss, and hasten
+our departure."
+
+"Right; quite right, Frank, I will appoint you as my representative in
+my absence. You are to execute any and all of Miss Wardour's commands."
+
+"I am ready to do that at any and all times," replied the young man,
+with sudden gravity, and letting his dark eyes rest for a moment upon
+the face of the lady in question. And then, without waiting for an
+answering remark, he turned from the room, followed by his father and
+the two ladies.
+
+[Illustration: "I am ready to do that at any and all times."]
+
+They found Corliss making his final sprawl, and the entire committee of
+investigation ready with any quantity of newly hatched theories,
+probable and improbable. Cutting short their eloquence, however, Mr.
+Lamotte recommended them to talk as little as possible among the
+townspeople, and to pursue the investigation quietly, after their own
+light. Then, after a few more words with the fair heiress, father and
+son took their leave.
+
+Left alone, Constance sprang lightly out from the open library window,
+and began pacing the graveled walk, with a brow wrinkled in thought.
+Hearing a step behind her, she turned to encounter once more the gaze of
+Francis Lamotte.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said, quite humbly. "I was commissioned by Sybil
+to give you this," extending a dainty white note. "In the excitement of
+the morning I quite forgot it. Sybil gave me it last evening, asking me
+to deliver it this morning," and lowering his voice, "knowing it would
+be for me an exceedingly delightful mission."
+
+Constance took the missive, and twisting it carelessly in her fingers,
+said:
+
+"Of course, Frank; many thanks. And now, as you are under my commands, I
+forbid any more flattery and nonsense, sir. I am not in the mood to
+retort."
+
+"So much the better for me," muttered the young man, moodily.
+"Constance, I--"
+
+"Silence, sir! Have you not received your orders? My mind is on my
+losses. If you can think of no way to further our search, I shall
+dismiss you."
+
+"I have thought of a way, then," he replied, with a touch of dignity. "I
+think one point has been overlooked. Those robbers have undoubtedly fled
+the town with their treasure, but it is hardly likely that they went by
+any very public thoroughfare. Now one, two or more strangers, traveling
+across the country, may have been seen by some cottager, farmer, or wood
+cutter; and I think it would be a mistake to neglect what might give us
+a clue. Probably the rascals took to their heels during the hours of
+darkness, making for some small railroad station. Now, I propose to go
+straightway, mount my horse, and scour the country in search of
+information. If I find a clew I shall follow it up; and so, if you don't
+see me by to-morrow morning, Constance, you may know that I have struck
+the trail."
+
+"Why, Frank," cried Constance, in a burst of outspoken admiration. "I
+didn't think it was in you! Really, I admire you immensely; and you will
+really abandon your ease and comfort for--"
+
+"You."
+
+"No, don't put it in that way; say for justice."
+
+"I don't care a fig for justice!" impatiently. "My motive is purely
+selfish. If I can be instrumental in recovering your diamonds, may I not
+hope for some very small reward?"
+
+"To be--sure, Frank. I had overlooked that; a reward of course. I mean
+to have posters out right away, and--you may as well earn it as any
+one."
+
+Francis Lamotte turned swiftly and stood for a moment with bent, averted
+head; then turning once more toward her a set, white face, he said:
+
+"Even your cruelty shall not prevent me from serving you to the fullest
+extent of my power. And while I am gone you will receive--" he broke off
+abruptly, then went on, speaking huskily. "Constance, a girl like you
+can know little of the life led by a man who is an enigma even to his
+fellow men. I wish I could teach you to distrust--"
+
+She lifted one hand, warningly. "You can teach me to distrust no one
+but yourself, Frank; and please don't perpetually talk of me as some
+unsophisticated school girl. I am twenty-one, nearly as old as you, my
+child,--old enough, certainly, to form my own judgment of people and
+things. Don't let's quarrel, Frank; you know I have been taught
+self-reliance, and never submit to dictation."
+
+"As the queen pleases;" he lifted his hat with a graceful gesture.
+"Good-morning, Constance," and he turned and strode rapidly away.
+
+"Frank."
+
+He stopped and turned toward her, but did not retrace his steps.
+
+"Are you really going, _a la Don Quixote_?"
+
+"I really am," gravely.
+
+He lifted his hat once more, and without uttering a word, resumed his
+rapid walk down the graveled footpath. Reaching the entrance to the
+grounds he paused, leaning for a moment against a stone pillar of the
+gateway; his hands were clenched until the nails left deep indentations
+in the flesh; his face was ghastly and covered with great drops of
+perspiration, and, whether the look that shone from his glittering dark
+eyes betokened rage, or despair, or both, an observer could not have
+guessed.
+
+Meanwhile, Constance stood as he had left her, gazing after him with a
+mingled expression of annoyance and regret.
+
+"It was very ungracious of me," she thought, half penitently, "but
+there's no other way with Frank, and his love-making annoys me
+exceedingly, especially since Aunt Honor's discovery. How she detests
+him, and Aunt Honor is too easy to lavish her hate upon many."
+
+As if conjured up by her words, Mrs. Aliston appeared at the window.
+
+"Handsome fellow, isn't he?" that is what her lips said, but the tone
+and look said quite as plainly, "detestable, abominable, odious." For
+Mrs. Aliston believed that she had discovered a good reason for
+disliking Frank Lamotte.
+
+"Don't be exasperating, Aunt Honor," retorted Constance, re-entering the
+window with a slow, languid movement, as if the events of the morning
+had wearied her vastly. "Everybody has outdone themselves in the
+disagreeable line, myself included. I wish the burglars had carried me
+off along with my jewels. I am going up-stairs and try another dose of
+burglarious chloroform. But, first," dropping into the nearest chair,
+and assuming a tragic tone, "Let me peruse the letter of my beloved
+Sybil."
+
+She broke the seal of the dainty envelope, to find that it enclosed
+another and still smaller one; and on this she read:
+
+     Constance, if I did not trust you so fully, I would not dare risk
+     this: Do not open this envelope until sunset of to-morrow
+     (Saturday); the contents will enlighten you as to my reasons for
+     this strangeness _then_.
+
+There was no signature, but the handwriting of Sybil Lamotte was too
+familiar to be mistaken. And, Constance Wardour sat silent and
+motionless, gazing at the little envelope with such a look of intense
+gravity upon her face as had not rested there during the entire
+morning.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, who was a woman of tact, and understood her niece
+thoroughly, seemed not to have noticed the unopened envelope, and asked
+for no news from Sybil.
+
+Presently, Constance arose, and, still wearing that weary air and solemn
+face, crossed the room; with her hand upon the door, she turned her face
+toward Mrs. Aliston, saying:
+
+"Auntie, you hear about all that's going; did you ever hear that there
+was a streak of insanity in the Lamotte blood?" And then, without
+waiting for the astonished lady to reply, she quietly passed out and up
+the broad stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+SYBIL'S LETTER.
+
+
+It is almost sunset, and Constance Wardour is standing alone at her
+dressing-room window, which faces the west. It is still in confusion,
+but she cares little for that. Her thoughts are far away from the
+"Wardour diamonds" at this moment. Several things have occurred to vex
+and annoy her to-day, and Constance Wardour, heiress and autocrat, is
+not accustomed to being annoyed.
+
+In fact, so peculiar is her nature, that very few things have power to
+annoy her; but, just now, she is annoyed because she _is_ annoyed.
+
+"As the queen pleases," Frank Lamotte had said; and all her fair
+twenty-one years of life events had been ordered "as the queen pleased."
+She had been taught self-reliance, so she told him; she had inherited
+self-reliance, she might have said, inherited it along with the rich,
+strong, fearless blood, the haughtiness, the independence, and the
+intolerance of the Wardours.
+
+The haughtiness was only for those who presumed; the intolerance for
+those she despised; and Miss Wardour was quite capable of that strong
+sentiment, or feeling. The independence was an ever present element of
+her nature.
+
+Of medium height, she was neither slender nor plump, graceful curves,
+perfect outlines, faultless gait and gesture; she, "slew her tens of
+thousands," and bore herself like a princess royal toward all.
+
+Without being regularly beautiful, her face is very fair to see. Being,
+in spite of her haughtiness, most kind and considerate toward inferiors
+and dependents, and withal exceeding lovable, she is disqualified for a
+novel heroine by her excessive humanness; and, by that same humanness,
+eminently qualified to be loved by all who know her, gentle and simple.
+
+Just now her firm little mouth is pursed up, and her brow is wrinkled
+into a frown, such as never is seen on the face of any orthodox heroine;
+but, her thoughts are very orthodox, as heroines go. She is wondering
+why Doctor Heath has not made his second appearance at Wardour Place,
+when she so plainly signified her desire to see him there, again, and
+soon.
+
+Not that she had bidden him come in so many words; but, had she not
+looked? had she not smiled? Not that she felt any special interest in
+Dr. Heath; oh, not at all, only she was bored, and worried, and wanted
+to be amused, and entertained; and Clifford Heath _could_ be
+entertaining.
+
+Sybil Lamotte's unopened note lies on the dressing table. She has
+pondered over that half the afternoon, and has wondered, and guessed, at
+its meaning; turning over in her mind every explanation probable, and
+possible, but satisfied with none. She is wonderfully lacking in
+curiosity, for a woman, but for this she might not have withstood the
+temptation to anticipate the sunset; for she never has felt so curious
+about a mystery in her life.
+
+She turns abruptly from the window, and her eyes fall upon Sybil's note,
+her thoughts return to it again. But it is not quite sunset.
+
+Picking it up, she re-reads for the twentieth time the puzzling lines,
+then she throws it down impatiently.
+
+"Bah!" she exclaims; "You wretched little white enigma! you are tempting
+me to forget myself. I shall flee from the fascination of your
+mysterious face, for I am quite certain that Joshua's chariot is abroad,
+and the sun is standing still in the skies."
+
+So saying, she goes out, closing and locking the dressing-room door, and
+descends the stately stairs; at their foot she pauses in full view of
+the entrance, for there, hat in hand, appears the subject of her recent
+discontent, Doctor Heath. Surely there must be something depressing in
+the atmosphere, Constance thinks, as she goes forward to meet him; for
+his face wears a grave, troubled look not usually seen there.
+
+"Oh, Doctor Heath," she says, half reproachfully, and fabricating after
+the manner of her sex, "here I have been trying to evoke from my 'inner
+consciousness' what manner of man your great detective might be. You
+barely introduced him, and then you flitted; and I do so much dislike
+the 'To be continued' style."
+
+"So do I," he replies, soberly, as he follows her into the drawing room.
+"So much that I shall make the story I have come to tell, as brief as
+maybe. Miss Wardour, have you heard any news from the town--since
+noon?"
+
+"Not a word," moving across the room, and drawing back the curtain so
+that the last rays of sunlight fall across the floor. "Is there any
+news? Have they found a trace of my robbers?"
+
+"For the time being, your robbers, are forgotten," smiling slightly.
+"W---- has had a fresh sensation this afternoon."
+
+"So! and I have become a lesser light? Well, so goes the world! Of
+course it won't be as interesting as the story of my own woes; but, who
+is the newest candidate for sensational honors?"
+
+"Your friend, Miss Sybil Lamotte."
+
+Instantly her careless tone changes to one of gravity. For a moment she
+has forgotten Sybil, and her note; now she remembers both, and
+involuntarily glances out toward the west. The sun is almost gone, but
+still darts red gleams across the sky. Moving nearer she seats herself,
+and scans his face a moment, and then, while she motions him to a seat
+opposite her, says, in that low even tone that is usual to her in all
+serious moods.
+
+"And what of Sybil Lamotte?" Her eyes search his face; instinctively she
+knows that something serious has happened; she dreads, yet, with her
+natural bravery, resolves to hear the worst at once.
+
+"She has--eloped."
+
+"Eloped! But why? Sybil eloped--then it must be with Ray Vandyck,"
+drawing a breath of relief.
+
+"No," gloomily. "It is _not_ Raymond Vandyck. That would have been
+simply a piece of romantic folly, since no one would long oppose Ray,
+but this--this thing that she has done, is worse than folly, it is
+crime, madness."
+
+"Not Ray! and yet Sybil lo--Doctor Heath tell the whole truth, the very
+worst, quickly."
+
+"Sybil loved Raymond Vandyck, that is what you were about to say, Miss
+Wardour. You would have betrayed no secret; poor young Vandyck honors me
+with his confidence. I left him, not half an hour ago, prostrate, half
+maddened with grief and rage; grief, when he thinks of Sybil lost to
+him, and fury when he thinks of the man she has chosen. I never saw him;
+but if the public voice speaks truth, John Burrill is all that is vulgar
+and corrupt."
+
+"_John Burrill!_" Constance springs to her feet with eyes flashing.
+"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute; mentally, morally, physically, _a
+brute_. And you couple his name with that of Sybil Lamotte? Doctor
+Heath, this is an infamous trick. Some one has lied to you. You have
+never seen him, you say; if you _had_ you could not have been duped. _I_
+know him, as one grows to know any notorious character in a town like
+this, from seeing him reeling intoxicated through our streets, from
+hearing of his most startling escapades; a common lounger, a drunkard, a
+man with a divorced wife in our very midst. Doctor Heath, I know you are
+incapable of such a jest, but tell me who has caused you to believe a
+thing so shameful?"
+
+[Illustration: "John Burrill! Why, he is a Brute!"]
+
+"I thank you for your faith in me," he says, with the shadow of a smile
+upon his face. "The story is shameful indeed, but it is _true_. Sybil
+Lamotte has eloped, and with John Burrill. Listen, before you
+remonstrate. This afternoon at two o'clock, John Burrill, with a swift
+horse and shining new carriage, drove boldly up to the side entrance of
+Mapleton Park. There, Sybil Lamotte was awaiting him; he handed her to
+his carriage and then drove ostentatiously through the town taking the
+west road. It appears, that for several days, Burrill had been dropping
+hints in his sober moments, and boasting openly in his cups, of his
+coming marriage with one of the belles of W----, and, last evening, he
+openly avowed that to-day, he should 'carry off Miss Sybil Lamotte, in
+spite of her high and mighty family, and in the face of all the town.'
+Of course, no one who heard regarded these things, save as the bombast
+of a half drunken braggart and liar. To-day, young Evarts and his still
+wilder chum, encountered him just setting forth with his fine turnout
+and wonderfully gotten up. They jested on his fine appearance, and for
+once he evaded their questions, and seemed anxious to be rid of them.
+This piqued their curiosity, and, ripe for mischief, as usual, they
+resolved to follow him.
+
+"They were mounted when they met him, having just ridden into town. They
+saw him stop at Mapleton and take up Miss Sybil, from there they
+followed them westward. Burrill drove at the height of his horse's
+speed, and the boys, who followed at a distance, arrived at Milton (you
+will see their policy in avoiding the railroad towns), ten miles
+distance, to find that Burrill had changed horses there, and driven
+away, still westward, at the same break-neck pace. Burrill's horse was
+badly used up, short as the drive had been, and the man who took it in
+charge said that the fresh horse was brought there by him, Burrill,
+yesterday, and that he had heard the lady complain that they 'could not
+go fast enough.'"
+
+He ceases, and his eyes rest anxiously on her face. She does not seem to
+have observed that he is not speaking. She has heard every word, and,
+somehow, the conviction has been growing even in advance of his story,
+that it is all true. This will explain Sybil's strange letter, and--that
+letter! what does it contain? She turns and gazes, as if fascinated,
+towards the west. There are no more golden gleams athwart the windows,
+only a dull red flush upon the horizon. The sun, at last, has set.
+
+At last! She turns, rises slowly and without once glancing toward him
+begins to pace the length of the room, and he sees that the queenly Miss
+Wardour is for once, unnerved, is struggling for composure.
+
+Finally she speaks, still keeping up her slow promenade.
+
+"Dr. Heath, I am bewildered. I am terrified! I--" She breaks
+off suddenly, as if to modify her speech. "This can be no
+common--elopement," she winces at the word. "Sybil is refined, honest
+and true-hearted, and she loves--another. There must be something yet,
+to be understood, and," with a sudden startled look in her eyes,
+"perhaps this might have been prevented; perhaps _I_ might have
+prevented it if--" another break; then, "Doctor, it is just possible
+that I may find a clue to this strangeness. Will you pardon my absence
+for a short time, and await me here? This is a strange request, but--"
+
+"It's a day of strange things," he interrupts, kindly, seeing her
+agitation. "Go, Miss Wardour; I am at your service this evening."
+
+He crosses the room, seats himself at a table, and takes up a book; and
+Constance stands irresolute for a moment, then, without a word, hurries
+from the room.
+
+Up the stairs she flies, hastily unlocks her dressing-room door, enters,
+and, in a moment, with a courage born of a nervous determination to know
+the worst at once, seizes the mysterious note and breaks the seal. A
+moment's hesitation, and then the page is opened, and the lines, only a
+few, dance before her eyes. She tries to steady her hand; she can not
+read them fast enough.
+
+     _Constance, Dear Constance:_
+
+     When you read this, you may have become already aware of the fate I
+     have chosen for myself. I have no explanation to offer. Think of
+     Beauty and the Beast; think of Titania's strange choice; think me
+     mad. But oh, Constance, never censure me; never think that all the
+     happy days, when you have been my friend, I was not worthy that
+     friendship. And, Con., don't let _others_ say things too bitter
+     about me. Am I not dead to myself, and to you all? and for the
+     dead, have we not charity only? Constance, I wish I were buried,
+     too.
+
+     SYBIL
+
+     P. S.--Con., never let my relatives see this note. They will have
+     enough to bear.
+
+So runs the note.
+
+Half an hour later, Constance Wardour comes quietly into the
+drawing-room. So quietly, that her approach is not observed by Dr.
+Heath, until her voice breaks the silence, and he starts up from the
+reverie in which he has been indulging, to see her standing before him,
+with pale cheeks, and troubled, anxious eyes.
+
+"Has my rudeness been quite unpardonable?" she says, appealingly.
+"Truly, I have had no idea of the flight of time. I have been sitting up
+there," motioning toward the upper floor, "stunned, and yet trying to
+think. I have gained a little self-possession," smiling slightly, as she
+sinks into a seat, "but not my senses. I thought myself equal to most
+emergencies, but this is more than an emergency,--it is a mystery, a
+terror! For the first time in my life, I can't think, I can't reason. I
+don't know what to do!"
+
+It is her turn to speak in riddles; his, not to comprehend. But, being a
+man, he closes his lips and waits.
+
+"Something terrible has befallen Sybil Lamotte," she goes on, gradually
+regaining a measure of her natural tone and manner. "I need an adviser,
+or I had better say, a confidante, for it amounts to that. You know
+Sybil, and you know poor Ray. You are, I believe, a capital judge of
+human nature. This morning, just after you left, as you know, Mr.
+Lamotte and his son called here, and Frank put in my hand this note from
+Sybil." For the first time he observes the letter which she holds
+between her two hands. "For reasons stated on the outside of the
+envelope, which was enclosed in another, I did not break the seal
+until--now. It may seem like violating Sybil's confidence, but I feel
+justified in doing what I do. I have no one to advise me, Aunt Honor
+being worse than myself in a crisis like this; and I believe that both
+Sybil and I can trust you. Dr. Heath, please read that letter."
+
+He looks at it doubtfully, but does not take it from her extended hand.
+
+"You are sure it is best?" hesitatingly. "You wish it?"
+
+"I wish it," with a touch of her natural imperiousness; "I believe it is
+best."
+
+Silently he takes the letter from her hand, silently reads the lines
+upon the envelope, while she thinks how sensible he is not to have
+uttered some stereotyped phrase, expressive of his sense of the high
+honor she does him by giving him so much of her confidence.
+
+Still in silence, he opens and reads the letter, then lays it down and
+thinks.
+
+At last she grows impatient. "Well," she exclaims, "are you, too,
+stricken with something nameless?"
+
+He leans toward her, his arm resting upon the table between them, his
+eyes fixed gravely upon her face,
+
+"Miss Wardour, does your faith in your friend justify you in complying
+with her wishes?"
+
+"Most assuredly," with a look of surprise.
+
+"In spite of to-day's events?"
+
+"In spite of _any thing_!"
+
+He draws a long, sighing breath. "Oh," he says, softly, "it would be
+worth something to possess _your_ friendship. Now,--do you really wish
+for my advice?"
+
+"Have I not asked for it, or, rather, demanded it, like a true
+highwayman?"
+
+"Then here is your case: You have a friend; you trust her fully; nothing
+can shake your faith in her. Suddenly, she does a thing, shocking,
+incomprehensible, and, in doing it, asks you not to question, for she
+can not explain; asks you to think of her kindly; to trust her still.
+Here is a test for your friendship. Others may pry, drag her name about,
+torture her with their curiosity; she has appealed to you. Respect her
+secret. Let her bury it if she will, and can; you can not help her. If
+she has become that bad man's wife, she is past human help. Undoubtedly
+there is a mystery here; undoubtedly she has acted under the control of
+some power outside herself; but she has taken the step, and--it is
+_done_!"
+
+She draws a long, sighing breath. "You are right," she says, wearily,
+"your wisdom is simple, but it _is_ wisdom, and I thank you for it; but,
+oh! if they could have been intercepted. If I could have known--have
+guessed."
+
+He smiles oddly. "You do not consider," he says, "how cunningly their
+plans were laid; doubtless they have been waiting some such opportunity.
+At twelve o'clock, Mr. Lamotte and wife started for the city."
+
+"In my service, alas!"
+
+"At one, Frank Lamotte mounted his horse and rode eastward."
+
+"Alas! also to serve me."
+
+"At two o'clock, the coast was clear, and the flight commenced. When it
+became known, search was made for Evan, as the only member of the family
+within reach of a warning voice. They found him in a beer saloon, in a
+state of beastly intoxication."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Of course he was surrounded by a crowd, eager to see and to hear how he
+would receive the news; and the work of sobering him up was at once
+commenced. It took a long time to make him comprehend their meaning, but
+after a while the name of his sister, coupled with that of John Burrill,
+brought him staggering to his feet, and a few moments later, a plain
+statement of the facts, hurled bluntly at him by one of the loungers,
+sobered him completely. In an instant he had laid his informant
+sprawling in the saloon sawdust. He declared it a calumny, as you did,
+and declared war upon the lot of them. Soon kinder hands rescued him
+from these tormentors, and men he could not doubt convinced him of the
+truth of the unhappy affair. And then, any who saw would have pitied
+him. The boy is wild and bad, but he has a heart, and he loves his
+sister. Poor fellow! he is not all bad."
+
+"Poor Evan!"
+
+"He telegraphed at once to his father, and then set out for Mapleton,
+looking like the ghost of himself, but carrying a freshly filled flask."
+
+"Of course," mournfully.
+
+"He would have started in pursuit, had they not convinced him of the
+folly of such an undertaking."
+
+"Folly, indeed, for him."
+
+"And now, Miss Wardour, we have arrived at the end of certainty, and to
+enter into the field of conjecture is useless. The time may come when
+some of us may be of actual service to this most unhappy friend of
+yours. I confess that I wait with some curiosity the movements of her
+parents in the matter."
+
+"They will take her from him, at once. They will buy him off; compel
+him--anything to get her back."
+
+"Perhaps; but--she may resist them. Think of that letter."
+
+"True. Ah me! I can't think. Doctor Heath, I have kept you here
+starving. I had forgotten that dinner ever was, or could be. You shall
+dine with Aunt Honor and myself; and, for the present, we will not speak
+of poor Sybil's flight to her. She would run the entire gamut of
+speculation, for she is very much given to 'seeing through things,' and
+I can't bear to talk too much on this subject. I should get angry, and
+nervous, and altogether unpleasant. I say, 'you will stay;' _will_ you
+stay?"
+
+He has never before been invited to dine at Wardour Place, except when
+the dinner has been a formal one, and the guests numerous; but he
+accepts this invitation to dine _en famillé_, quite nonchalantly, and as
+a thing of course.
+
+So he dines at Wardour Place, and talks with Aunt Honor about the
+robbery, and listens to her description of the splendid Wardour
+diamonds, and looks at Constance, and thinks his own thoughts.
+
+[Illustration: So he dines at Wardour Place.]
+
+After dinner Aunt Honor occupies herself with the evening paper; and,
+after a while, Constance and Doctor Heath pass out through the low,
+broad French window, and stand on the balcony. The light from within
+falls upon them and that portion of the balcony where they stand. There
+is a young moon, too; and just beyond is a monster oak, that spreads its
+great branches out, and out, until they rustle, and sway above the lower
+half of the long balcony, and rap and patter against the stone walls.
+
+"Have you thought," asks Constance, as she leans lightly against the
+iron railing, "that to-morrow is Sunday, and that Mr. Lamotte, unless he
+has already returned, can not reach home until Monday?"
+
+"It has occurred to me."
+
+"And poor Sybil! Where will she be by then?"
+
+"Miss Wardour! What disinterestedness! I thought you were thinking of
+your detective."
+
+"My detective! Why, what a lot of stupid people! He might as well not
+come at all. Why didn't you tell me to telegraph at once?"
+
+"Because Mr. Lamotte was coming. I depended upon him."
+
+"And he has made a blunder."
+
+"Not necessarily."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He may have seen an officer immediately, and the man may be now on the
+way, by the night train. He will be sure to be here before Monday, or he
+is no detective. They depend very little on the regular trains."
+
+"Oh; I am enlightened! All the same, I shall never see my diamonds
+more."
+
+"You don't seem much troubled."
+
+"Pride, all pride! I'm heart broken."
+
+"You are a most _nonchalant_ young lady."
+
+"Yes,--it's contagious."
+
+Then they both laugh, and relapse into silence. Presently, she says:
+
+"We are sure to have the wrong man. Why did you not tell me the name of
+your great detective, so that I might have commissioned Mr. Lamotte to
+bring him? That man has been in my mind all day. You have made me
+enamored of him."
+
+"Why?" laughing indulgently; "I barely mentioned him."
+
+"No matter; you say he is a splendid officer?"
+
+"There is no better. I know of none as good."
+
+"And his name?"
+
+"A very romantic one: Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+"Why!" stepping suddenly to the window. "Aunt Honor!"
+
+"Well," replies Mrs. Aliston, from behind her newspaper.
+
+"What is the name of your wonderful detective, who brought those two
+murderers from Europe, and had them properly hung?"
+
+"Mr. Neil Bathurst. Why, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, nothing special, auntie;" then returning to the window, "Auntie
+never loses trace of a crime or a trial in high life. I have heard her
+talk of this man's splendid exploits, by the hour. She is a walking
+catalogue in all aristocratic sensations. So this is your great man?
+Well, if he is in the city, we must have him. Mr. Lamotte shall bring
+his man, or send him; there should be work for two. As for me, I intend
+to secure the services of Mr. Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+"He may not be within reach; he is constantly moving, and always busy."
+
+"No matter. I tell you I want to see this man."
+
+"That being the case, I may as well present myself."
+
+They start at the sound of a strange voice near them. There is a
+rustling of leaves, and from one of the great oak's extended branches, a
+form swings downward, and drops lightly upon the grass, just before the
+place where they stand.
+
+"Who are you?" demands Doctor Heath, sternly, as the eavesdropper
+approaches. "And what does this impertinence mean?"
+
+[Illustration: "Who are you?"]
+
+Before they can think, the man approaches the balcony, puts his hands
+upon the railing, and springs lightly over; standing in the full light
+that falls from within, he doffs his hat like a courtier, and bending
+before Constance, says, in a voice that is, for a man, singularly rich
+and mellow:
+
+"Madame, I am here at your service. I am Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE DEDUCTIONS OF A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+Both Constance and Dr. Heath fancy that they comprehend the situation
+almost instantaneously. The stranger's movements have been so cat-like,
+his voice so carefully modulated, that Aunt Honor reads on, never
+dreaming that an addition has been made to the party. Dr. Heath is the
+first to speak.
+
+"Upon my word," he says, with a touch of coldness in his tone; "this is
+quite dramatic."
+
+"It's a very good tableaux," admits the new comer, "but dramatic as the
+present day drama goes? No, it's too naturally brought about, as you
+will admit, when I explain my presence here. Your mention of my name,
+while I lay sprawled across the great branch, within easy hearing, was
+rather sensational, to me, but, of course you can explain that."
+
+By this time Constance has recovered herself, and rises to the occasion;
+in fact, she rather enjoys the situation; this is one of the emergencies
+wherein she is quite at home. Without stopping for commonplace remarks,
+or expressions of surprise, she goes straight to the point.
+
+"How we came to be discussing you, you must understand, if you are
+really Mr. Bathurst, and--have been very long in that tree."
+
+"I have been 'very long' in that tree, I feel it," ruefully. "And I _am_
+Neil Bathurst, detective; never was anybody else, and by the by, here is
+this doctor; I heard him giving me a capital 'recommend;' now bid him
+step up and identify me," and he laughs as if he had uttered a capital
+joke.
+
+Doctor Heath laughs now, as he comes closer and scrutinizes him by the
+light from the drawing room.
+
+"Oh, I recognize you by your voice, which you have not attempted to
+disguise, and by your--a--assurance."
+
+"I thought so!" rubbing his hands with a satisfied air.
+
+"But that physiognomy, I never saw before."
+
+The detective laughs.
+
+"No, this is one of my business faces, and you, sir, are one of the few
+who have known me simply as a man, without inference to my occupation; a
+man like me may be expected to turn up anywhere, but you, sir, are the
+last man I expected to see in this place."
+
+"Nevertheless, I have been an inhabitant of W---- for a year; but enough
+of me for the present. Mr. Bathurst, this lady is Miss Wardour, in whose
+service you have been retained."
+
+Miss Wardour extends a gracious, welcoming hand.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst has heard me express my desire to know him," she says,
+with a little ripple of laughter, "so no more need be said on the
+subject. Mr. Bathurst you came as opportunely as a fairy godmother; and
+now let us go in and take my aunt into our counsels."
+
+She lifts the lace curtains and passes in; as she goes, Dr. Heath lays a
+detaining hand on the detective's arm.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst," he whispers; "in W---- I am Dr. Heath, from nowhere."
+
+"I comprehend," significantly.
+
+"Thank you;" then they too pass through the window, and the detective
+goes through the ordeal of presentation to Aunt Honor.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, being a thorough woman, who knows her perquisites, gets
+through with the necessary amount of astonishment, ejaculations,
+questionings, and expressions of delight; all things are overcome by
+time, even a woman's volubility. And during the flow of her discourse
+the detective is communing thus with his "inner consciousness:"
+
+"So we have been retained by this handsome young lady? Well, that's
+intelligence! and what does the old lady mean by supposing that Mr.
+Lamotte has told me this and that? Who the deuce is Lamotte? Why the
+deuce don't somebody ask me how I came to be perched in that tree? Do
+they think it's the proper thing for detectives to tumble in among them
+out of the trees and the skies? After all, it is like a drama, for I'll
+be blessed if I see any sense in it all."
+
+"I see you are all more or less attracted by my personal appearance," he
+says, after Aunt Honor has given up the floor. "Now that I think of it,
+it's _not_ just the thing for a drawing room."
+
+Mr. Neil Bathurst, or his present presentment, is a medium sized man,
+attired in garments that have once been elegant, but are now frayed,
+threadbare, travel worn; his feet are encased in boots that have once
+been jaunty; his hat is as rakish as it is battered; his face wears that
+dull reddish hue, common to fair complexions that have been long exposed
+to sun and wind; his hair and beard, somewhat matted, somewhat
+disordered, may have borne some tinge of auburn or yellow once, but they
+too, have, unmistakeably, battled with the sun, and have come out a
+light hay color. As Constance looks at him, she, mentally, confesses
+that he _is_ certainly the oddest figure she has ever entertained in her
+drawing room.
+
+"I have been wondering just what grade of humanity you are supposing
+yourself to represent just now," says Doctor Heath, eyeing him
+quizzically.
+
+"What!" with mock humility, "am I thus a failure? Miss Wardour, look at
+me well; do you not recognize my social rank?"
+
+Constance surveys him afresh, with critical eye.
+
+"I think," she says, "I recognize the gentleman tramp; one of the sort
+who asks to wash his face before eating, and to chop your wood after."
+
+"Right!" says the detective. "My self-respect returns; I am _not_ a
+bungler. In the morning I shall be on the ground, to wash my face, and
+chop your wood; which reminds me, your servants, they must not see me
+here. I must depart as I came, and soon."
+
+"And your search," asks Constance, "when will that begin?"
+
+"My search?" hesitating oddly. "Oh, that has already commenced."
+
+"What a curious thing it is that Mr. Lamotte should have secured you, of
+all men," breaks in Aunt Honor. "I did not think it possible Mr.
+Lamotte--"
+
+"Pardon me, all of you," breaks in the gentleman tramp. "Something must
+be set right; I will come to the point at once. Who _is_ Mr. Lamotte?
+_What_ is Mr. Lamotte? I have never seen him; never heard of him."
+
+"What!" from Constance.
+
+"Oh!" from Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"But--" from Doctor Heath.
+
+"Let me finish," he interpolates. "Let me tell you just how I happened
+to drop down among you to-night. Recently we have had in the city
+several robberies similar to this of yours, Miss Wardour, as I
+understand it. Several times we have had a trace or clue, and have hoped
+to find the robbers, but so far have been baffled. We must necessarily
+have many ways of gathering up information, and I have some methods of
+my own. This is one of them. I have access to the offices of our daily
+papers. I have a friend or tool in each. When a special telegram, in the
+line of criminal intelligence, comes to one of these papers, I am in
+possession of its contents before it has reached the compositor's hands.
+This morning a 'special' arrived at the office of the _Evening
+Bulletin_. I have not with me a copy. It ran:
+
+     MONSTER DIAMOND ROBBERY.
+
+     [Special dispatch to the Evening Bulletin.]
+
+     Intelligence has this moment been received, that Wardour Place has
+     been burglarized; and the splendid Wardour diamonds, valued at more
+     than one hundred thousand dollars, stolen, besides money and papers
+     of value. No particulars as yet.
+
+"This is what brought me here. I came to see if this burglary was the
+handiwork of the thieves I have been trying to catch. I came solely on
+my own responsibility, not intending to make myself known to the inmates
+of this house, but to ferret out things quietly and go my way. While
+lurking in that tree I was surprised to hear myself made the subject of
+conversation; and then, impulse led me to respond to this lady's
+expressed desire to see me, and--I presented myself."
+
+All sit silent, all are astonished, and inclined to think this odd
+complication out quietly.
+
+Constance is the first to see the absurdity of the situation, and she
+breaks into a peal of laughter, in which she is presently joined by the
+others. Finally, she regains her composure and says:
+
+"And so after all you are not our detective. Well, that shall not
+prevent us from appropriating your services. And you want to identify
+these robbers if possible? We are all at your disposal--tell us how we
+can help you most."
+
+"You came with scant information," says Doctor Heath, "and you can't
+have been here long, but I'll wager you have picked up something."
+
+"As to that," replies the detective, smiling slightly, "I left the city
+by the early afternoon express, before your Mr. Lamotte had arrived,
+you see. Twelve miles from W---- I left the train and boarded a freight;
+about three miles out I abandoned the freight, quite unceremoniously,
+while she was pulling up a heavy grade, and tramped into town. I lounged
+about, confining myself to the more obscure streets until I had got the
+story of the robbery, with full particulars, as far as the gossips knew
+it. Toward sundown I started in this direction. Stopping on the way, I
+begged a drink of water and a slice of bread, of an old woman, in a
+little brown house. She thought me a very well behaved tramp, and
+inquired after my private history and the condition of my soul."
+
+Constance laughs.
+
+"That is old Mrs. Malloy," she says. "She's very pious and very full of
+gossip."
+
+"Precisely!" replies the detective, wickedly; "she told me how many
+lovers you had, Miss Wardour; and how many dresses; and just the color
+of your eyes, and hair; she told me all about the robbery, and a great
+many more things that were not quite to the point."
+
+"Of course," assents Miss Wardour, not at all abashed. "Mrs. Malloy is
+an oracle."
+
+"As soon as I could make my escape from her, I came nearer Wardour
+Place, and made a circuitous survey. Still later, I came upon your
+gardener, sitting, ruminating, upon a stone fence, in the rear of the
+premises. I found him inclined to be communicative, in fact, he seemed
+rather desirous to air his notions, and he has some peculiar ones,
+concerning this robbery. I gave him a drink out of my black bottle, and
+he grew quite eloquent."
+
+"Oh, dear," interrupts Constance once more. "Then, no doubt, he has
+pruned away half the garden shrubs. Old Jerry always _is_ seized with a
+desire to prune things, the moment he has taken a drink."
+
+"It was getting too dark for pruning, Miss Wardour, and he went to his
+supper. Then, I approached the kitchen cautiously, found a comfortable
+lurking place, close to an open window, and listened to the table talk
+of the servants. From them I learned the bearings of the library, and
+so, while you were at dinner, I entered, without difficulty, and have
+explored that room to my entire satisfaction."
+
+Amazement sits on the face of all three listeners.
+
+"Well!" ejaculates Dr. Heath, "You are a modest tramp! What did you do
+next?"
+
+"Next I prowled 'round and round the house,' examining all the windows,
+and drawing some conclusions; and then, having seen you, Doctor Heath,
+through the drawing-room windows, I established myself in yonder tree to
+wait until you should go home, and to waylay you."
+
+"Much obliged, I'm sure," says the Doctor, gratefully. "What demoniac
+design had you on my defenseless self?"
+
+"Several; to appeal to your hospitality; to renew an acquaintance, which
+in the beginning did me honor; and to quiz you unmercifully."
+
+"Then I forgive you," grandiloquently. "And my doors are open to you,
+and my hand is extended, and the secrets of my bosom are laid bare. But
+Miss Wardour has something to say; I see it trembling on her lips."
+
+"Right," smiles Constance. "I was about to ask if Mr. Bathurst, having
+effected his object thus far independently, will be satisfied to inspect
+my dressing room, the real scene of action, in the ordinary manner and
+without any obstacles in the way."
+
+"Perfectly," says the detective, dropping his tone of badinage and
+becoming alert and business like at once. "And the sooner the better. I
+am anxious to complete my deductions, for my time is limited, and I must
+wait for daylight to overlook the grounds more closely than I could
+venture to do to-day."
+
+"We are all anxious for your opinion, and so, will you take one of those
+lamps and my keys, or will you have an escort?"
+
+"I wish you to point out to me the exact position of everything this
+morning, Miss Wardour. I think we may all go up."
+
+So they all ascended to the disordered dressing room, and the detective
+seats himself, deliberately, upon the first unoccupied chair, and begins
+to look slowly about him. It is not a long survey, and then the safe is
+examined. Here he looks at Constance.
+
+"This has not been done without noise; not loud enough to be heard
+across the hall, perhaps, but enough to be heard by a light sleeper, or,
+indeed, any one who did not sleep too soundly and with muffled ears,
+say, in that room," pointing through the curtained arch which divided
+the dressing from the sleeping room.
+
+"Did you sleep there, Miss Wardour?"
+
+Constance nods, then goes through the arch and returns with a little
+phial of chloroform, and a fragment of cambric in her hand.
+
+She places them before him, telling him quietly how they were found
+before her that morning.
+
+The detective takes them, turns them over in his hand, and examines them
+closely.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaims, drawing out the fancifully carved stopper, "this
+phial is one of a set."
+
+[Illustration: "Ah! this phial is one of a set."]
+
+Doctor Heath nods. "So I thought," he says, glancing at Constance.
+
+Once more, and in silence, the detective examines the safe, then he goes
+quietly about the room not overturning or handling, simply observing
+closely; then he says:
+
+"Now, I think I am done here. We will go down, if you please, and I will
+give you the benefit of my conjectures." He puts the bottle and the
+piece of linen in his pocket, and turns from the room. Instinctively he
+takes the lead, instinctively they follow, naturally according him the
+leadership.
+
+When they are once more seated, he turns to Constance.
+
+"They gave you a very light dose of chloroform, Miss Wardour."
+
+"Very light," she replies; "and that was most fortunate for me."
+
+"How fortunate?"
+
+"Allow me to explain," interrupts Doctor Heath. "Miss Wardour possesses
+one of those peculiar constitutions upon which all opiates act with
+disastrous effect. It is fortunate that a cautious hand,--I was about to
+say a skilled hand,--administered the drug. I could swear that not the
+half of an ordinary dose was given her, for a full dose would have
+prostrated her for days; and the quantity it would require to make you
+or me sleep soundly for half the night, would kill her outright."
+
+"Ah!" says the detective, softly, to himself. "Ah-h-h!"
+
+"Now I wonder;" it is Mrs. Aliston who speaks. "I _wonder_ how in the
+world you knew that they had given my niece only a small dose."
+
+"Very easily, madame. The phial is very small, and it is now over
+two-thirds full."
+
+"That, indeed!" murmurs Mrs. Aliston, feeling somehow extinguished,
+while the others smile at his simple explanation.
+
+"And now," says the detective, "for my deductions. First, then, the
+robbers did not enter these grounds last night for the first time. They
+did not enter the library at random, or because that window could be
+easily forced. They, whoever they were, knew their grounds, not only
+from without, but from within. The disturbance in the library is only a
+ruse,--the robbers wanted nothing, knew they should find nothing, there.
+They were not amateurs; yet, somehow, in this case, they bungled
+somewhat in their work. Before they approached this house, every thing
+was planned, and all was done as planned. They were systematic,
+therefore successful; and yet--they bungled. They came by the
+river,--came in a boat, with oars muffled; they came by the footpath
+over the river slope, and entered your garden by leaping the fence just
+below the gate, which was locked. Then they followed the footpaths
+through the shrubbery, and straight to that library window. They came
+there because they knew it to be the library window, and they wished to
+cross the library because they knew that from the door of that room they
+stepped at once upon the stairs, thus having the nearest, easiest and
+safest route to Miss Wardour's rooms. Either they found her door
+unlocked, or they were prepared with skeleton keys. Was the door locked,
+Miss Wardour?"
+
+"It was locked."
+
+"It was locked. They then used a skeleton key, entered, and knowing just
+the proportion of chloroform Miss Wardour could bear, they administered
+it carefully, secured the booty without further trouble, and made their
+escape without detection."
+
+No remarks from his listeners. They sit amazed, incredulous, admiring,
+yet speechless.
+
+"Now, I see I had better prove my statements," goes on Mr. Bathurst,
+looking from one to another with a smile of easy superiority. "Miss
+Wardour is beginning to think that I _do_ belong to the godmother
+species, and yet, it's all very simple."
+
+"No doubt," retorts Doctor Heath, drily; "yet we are willing to endure
+your simple explanation."
+
+"I say the robbers came by the river," continues the detective. "Before
+sundown I sauntered along the river bank; to-morrow I can show you
+traces, indistinct but sufficient, to prove that a boat has been drawn
+out of the water, and overturned upon the grass; keel, prow and
+oar-locks have left their traces. There is also the print of a clubbed
+and muffled oar, above the water mark, where an impatient hand has
+pushed off the boat. Here is blunder number one. All these traces might
+have been avoided or obliterated."
+
+He pauses a moment, but his listeners sit, a very respectful audience,
+and are inclined neither to question or argue. So he continues:
+
+"I said that the robbers entered purposely at that particular window,
+and because they were familiar with the interior of the house. Now I
+have examined all of the windows of this floor, and I find that a person
+unfamiliar with the inside of the building, and not aware which of the
+upper rooms were occupied, would have chosen differently. The
+dining-room windows, from without, would seem much more inviting; still
+more, the drawing-room windows. Naturally, our burglars would select a
+window which was tolerably easy of access, and where they knew there was
+the least chance of being overheard and observed from above. Now, the
+dining-room windows are close to the ground, and the awnings cut off all
+chance for observation from above; but--they knew that Miss Wardour's
+coachman sleeps in a small room just in the rear of the dining-room."
+
+This was too much for Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"Now, how _did_ you find that out?" she asks, with staring eyes.
+
+"From my friend, the gardener," he replies. "Oh, I am quite familiar
+with things about here. The very best place for a burglar to operate
+would be these windows," motioning toward the front of the drawing room;
+"he could stand in comfort on the lower balcony, screened by the upper,
+and cut away at shutters and panes; but, our burglars knew that Miss
+Wardour's rooms were directly above, and that Miss Wardour is a light
+sleeper. Now, the very place that would be shunned by an unfamiliar
+robber, is this very library window; it is higher than the others, has a
+little thicket of shrubs just beneath it, and is overlooked from above,
+being near an angle, by six windows. But our burglars knew that not one
+of those rooms to which the six windows belong, are occupied; and that
+the servants all sleep on the opposite side of the house. Now, then, I
+say that the robbers knew Miss Wardour's sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform; how else can we account for the fact of their giving just
+enough to cause her to sleep, and not enough to cause any unpleasant
+after effects. We can call it a coincidence, but it is one not likely to
+happen; Doctor Heath knows that."
+
+"True," responds Doctor Heath; "in a matter of this sort one would
+hardly be likely to make so fortunate a blunder, or guess."
+
+The detective pauses a moment, and then concludes: "My reasons for
+saying that the robbers entered the garden by leaping the low fence just
+below the gate, are, first, that gate creaks loudly when opened or shut,
+and they knew this, and therefore avoided it; and, second, one of them,
+the heavier of the two, came over with sufficient force to leave the
+imprint of his right boot heel in the ground. It was the right heel,
+because the deepest side of the indentation is to the right, and he
+would naturally strike the ground with the weight resting on the outside
+of the foot; and here, my friends, as the lawyers have it, I rest my
+case."
+
+"And a very clear case it looks," says Doctor Heath.
+
+"How easily and naturally you come at these things," exclaims Constance,
+in admiration. "It is a, b, c, to you, but it's awful Greek to the rest
+of us. I begin to think detectives are born, not made."
+
+"You think right, Miss Wardour," replies Bathurst. "It is the made
+detectives who spoil and disgrace our profession."
+
+"But," says Constance, with a look of anxiety upon her face; "I am sorry
+to have it proved that this thing was done by some of our people. I am
+reluctant to institute a search that may implicate some poor man whose
+wife and children may live in our very town."
+
+The detective laughs softly.
+
+"There it is," he exclaims. "An amateur must always judge by what
+appears uppermost. We detectives, as a rule, always distrust the most
+plausible theory. Now look, a skilled burglar is a man of many
+resources; a burglar studies his business as I study mine. You have no
+idea how much misapplied talent goes roaming about of nights with a
+jimmy and a dark lantern. Now let us suppose this case. A professional
+burglar in the course of his wanderings, hears, as would be quite
+natural, of the immense value of the Wardour diamonds, and he desires to
+possess them. Now it's a great prize, and he goes to work with his
+utmost care. He has confederates; they come, one or all, and manage to
+gain the necessary information; they may come as tramps, pedlars, what
+not; a talkative servant, a gossiping neighbor, like Mrs. Malloy, or
+fragments of information picked up here and there may help them to get
+the 'lay of the land;' they may even have entered the house, probably
+have, and it may have been last month, or last year; our burglar
+nourishes his job and studies it carefully. Finally he is ready; he
+strikes; he succeeds. I do not say this is the case, understand; I
+simply put it as a thing possible; and quite as probable as that the
+thieves are here in W----."
+
+Constance muses; she is thinking of various other depredations committed
+in and about W----; and, as once before she recounted them to Doctor
+Heath, she enumerates them now, and closes by saying:
+
+"Your burglars keep a sharp eye on us, at all events, Mr. Bathurst."
+
+"Naturally," assents the detective; "W---- is a capital field for that
+sort of chap. It's a little mine of itself, and will always receive due
+attention from the law breakers. By the by, Miss Wardour, these facts
+you mention are worth noting; after considering, I think I will remain
+in W---- during to-morrow. I want to explore about the river, and about
+this place, a little more. If I may see you to-morrow I would like your
+version of these other older robberies. I keep a record of every crime
+reported, and, no doubt, have each of these upon my register, but not as
+I would receive them from you. I do not wish to be seen or known, as
+acting in this matter; your friend will be here to-morrow, or Monday,
+and the officer he has chosen should be on the ground before to-morrow
+morning. No doubt he will be all that you wish for, and my duties will
+call me elsewhere very soon."
+
+Then they all rise, and standing in a group begin talking. They so much
+regret that they can not retain his services, and they are very grateful
+to him for so much light as he has thrown upon the subject of the
+robbery.
+
+"But wait," he says, "you are to bear in mind that you _have_ no light;
+you are in total darkness and ignorance; to-morrow you will have a new
+officer, he may evolve a totally different theory. Then discard mine, or
+not, as you think fit; in any case, let it be kept exclusively to your
+three selves, for I am very likely to make a second appearance here. I
+think that these burglars of yours are the chaps I am wanting. And, Miss
+Wardour, this reminds me," drawing from his pocket the chloroform vial
+wrapped in its accompanying linen bit, "may I keep this until morning? I
+will return it to you by Doctor Heath, and, if your officer is not too
+much in the way, will try and see you in person, if you will kindly give
+me what facts you can recall concerning those robberies."
+
+Constance expresses a hope that the officer will not be in the way, and
+after they have talked a little more, the detective repeating his
+cautions, Constance repeating her regret that he is not to take the
+case, as _her_ case; and Mrs. Aliston repeating everything that comes
+into her head, they separate, and the two men, looking so oddly unlike,
+go out into the night.
+
+Mrs. Aliston is ready to talk, but Constance is in no mood to listen.
+She cuts short her aunt's elocution, and goes with listless weariness to
+her own apartments.
+
+Since the appearance of the detective, a shade of perplexity rested on
+her face, and over and again her thoughts have repeated the question
+which now falls from her lips.
+
+"What does it mean? I am not mistaken; he said, 'here, I am Doctor Heath
+from nowhere.' I begin to think that life is a mystery."
+
+For Miss Wardour, hesitating a moment as she passed in from the balcony,
+had caught the words uttered for the ears of the detective only.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+DOCTOR HEATH AT HOME.
+
+
+Doctor Heath and the detective went in silence down the wide
+shrub-bordered walk, to the spot where the doctor's horse awaited him.
+Here the detective paused suddenly and listened a moment.
+
+"We should not be seen together," he said in a low tone. "Do you mount
+your horse and ride on slowly, I will follow."
+
+"But----"
+
+"No buts; I can follow you, never fear; that's my business; do you go
+straight home and prepare to admit me on the quiet. Stay--have you any
+gelatine?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Any plaster of Paris?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Any wax?"
+
+"Only a small quantity."
+
+"Too bad; I must have some. There will be a drug store open?"
+
+"At this hour? oh, yes."
+
+"Then get me some, half a pound at least. Now move on, I hear a horse
+coming down the road."
+
+"Some farmer going home. Well, I'm off, then."
+
+"And so am I."
+
+Half an hour later Doctor Heath was standing in his open doorway,
+wondering what had become of the detective, when a light touch upon his
+shoulder caused him to start suddenly, and turning, he saw the man for
+whom he watched, standing behind him, and within the dimly-lighted hall.
+
+"Are we alone?" whispered the detective; "is the coast clear?"
+
+[Illustration: "Are we alone?"]
+
+"Quite clear; but how the mischief did you get in there, man?"
+
+"Through the door," replied Bathurst, as he followed his host into a
+cozy parlor, where a shaded lamp burned. "You are not a good sentinel;
+why, I all but brushed you; have you no sense of feeling, then; why,
+man, I can recognize a near presence in the darkest room."
+
+"Now that I think of it," retorts the doctor, maliciously, "I did feel a
+queer sensation in the ends of my thumbs. Make yourself at home now;
+take that chair," rolling a comfortable-looking monster close to the
+round table; "there are segars and--why--I say man, have you eaten any
+thing since you started on this chase?"
+
+"Now you mention it, I distinctly recollect, that I have not."
+
+"Of course not; I will wake up Mrs. Gray."
+
+"Pray don't; I couldn't think of eating Mrs. Gray."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughs his host; "Mrs. Gray is my housekeeper, and she is
+deaf as a post."
+
+"Well, that's a comfort, the deafness. Is she dumb, too?"
+
+"Unfortunately, no; but as I have not been home to dine, she will think
+she is preparing my supper, and I will tell her you are a patient come
+to be treated, and that I am going to give you a bed; here," tossing
+something which he finds upon a bookcase, across to his guest, "tie your
+face up in that rag, before she comes in. She will not give you a second
+glance; she never troubles her head about my patients."
+
+So saying, he goes out, and the detective proceeds to spread out the
+"rag," to prepare his bandage. Suddenly he starts; scrutinizes closer,
+turns it about, and looks again, then----
+
+"Ah!" says Mr. Bathurst; "Oh! really!"
+
+And he folds up his bandage, and puts it in one pocket, whips a clean
+pocket handkerchief from another, and substituting it for the "rag,"
+awaits the coming of his host.
+
+"Very comfortable quarters," he muttered, looking about him, "Luxurious
+too; quite so. Our doctor has not forgotten how people ought to live."
+
+The doctor's "quarters" were all that he described them. Luxurious,
+comfortable; and luxury and comfort do not always go hand in hand;
+tasteful, too. Nothing too much; nothing lacking--just the beau-ideal of
+a bachelor's parlor. Warm browns brightening here and there into bronze.
+Books, a great many and of the best. Pictures, a very few, and all rare
+and beautiful. Bronzes and statuettes in plenty. Bric-a-bric, not any,
+for no fair and foolish woman has trailed her skirts through these
+apartments, leaving traces of her presence in the shape of those small
+and costly abominations, yclept "ceramics."
+
+Presently Doctor Heath reappears, and not long after, Mrs. Gray bears in
+a heaped-up tray of edibles. Then Doctor Heath sets forth brandy and
+wine, and informs Mrs. Gray, through the medium of his ten fingers, that
+she is dismissed for the night.
+
+When she has retired the detective unties his face, and falls upon the
+food spread before him, as a hungry man will. While he eats he talks a
+little, just a random remark now and then, and his host sits opposite
+him, answering his infrequent questions and observations, and thinking.
+
+In past days, and under very different circumstances, these two men have
+met and known each other, and Doctor Clifford Heath is wondering how
+much of his story it will be necessary to tell, in order to explain his
+present position, which, he knows, must seem a most strange one to his
+former acquaintance; for Doctor Clifford Heath, like most of us who have
+not passed a vegetable existence, has a history, and a past.
+
+Of that fact, however, Mr. Bathurst seems quite oblivious, as he washes
+down his repast with a glass of brandy and water, and pushes back his
+chair from the table.
+
+"Now, then," he begins, with his usual brisk business manner, "I'm
+rested and refreshed, and all ready for that white wax, if you please,
+Doctor Heath."
+
+"I'm quite curious about that wax," says the doctor, rising. "Just let
+me draw away this table and bring up another, it's the easiest way of
+disposing of the dinner things, and will furnish Mrs. Gray with food for
+comfortable comment; she takes all such opportunities to disparage
+'men's ways,' and as she seems to enjoy them, I make it a point to
+afford her as many as possible," making the proposed change as he talks.
+"Now, then, there's a table and there's your wax."
+
+"Now something to melt it in and over; I'm going to take an impression."
+
+There is a little difficulty about getting the necessary articles
+together, but after a while they are all there, and the wax is simmering
+in the melting cup. Then the detective takes from his pocket the
+borrowed bottle of chloroform, and asks for an empty vial. This being
+given him he pours out the chloroform carefully, and wipes the emptied
+bottle.
+
+"It's a pity I can't keep this bottle just as it is," he says, eyeing
+the cut-glass stopper regretfully, "but it must be returned, of course;
+and I must do the next best. What's your notion of the original use of
+that little gimcrack?"
+
+He reaches out the bottle and the doctor takes it in his hand saying:
+"Why, it's from one of those dainty toilet cases used by ladies
+principally; there will be a set, uniform in size, that are filled with
+perfumes of various sorts, and larger bottles, of the same pattern, for
+goodness knows what use. I have seen the kind, but not the pattern."
+
+"Well," says the detective, slowly, "I _think_ that I have seen the
+pattern; but where? However," dipping a stick into the melting wax, "I
+shall find out, and before very long."
+
+"I wonder," says Doctor Heath, stretching out his hand for a fresh
+segar, "at the fellows leaving such a testimonial as that behind them.
+What's your theory?"
+
+"I have expected that question from both yourself and Miss Wardour. I am
+glad she did not ask me."
+
+"Why?"
+
+The detective takes a spoon and dips up his wax, letting it drip from
+the spoon, drop by drop. It is ready for use, and, without seeming aware
+of the doctor's presence, he busies himself with his impression
+taking--seeing which, Doctor Heath smokes on, and is silent.
+
+Finally, his mould is set to cool, and the detective resumes his seat;
+and, quite ignoring that long neglected monosyllable of inquiry, uttered
+by his host, begins:
+
+"When the burglars, for, no doubt, there were two of them, entered Miss
+Wardour's dressing room, they carried one dark lantern. This, one of
+them took, and crept with it into the sleeping room; here, he was, for a
+moment, troubled. He had prepared himself with the chloroform, but must
+use his own handkerchief, and that is marked."
+
+"Oh! a burglar with marked linen!"
+
+"Even so. It's nothing unusual. You reason like a reader of too many
+novels. Burglars are not all escaped convicts, blear eyed and hideous;
+nor do they all go about in fustian. It's the burglar in broadcloth
+that makes us the trouble. Fustian starves, and steals, and is soon
+found out; runs away with its booty, as a dog runs away with its bone.
+Broadcloth is wiser, just as a skilled workman is wiser than a hod
+carrier. It brings to its service tact, study,--who knows what, of
+scientific skill? It looks before it leaps; it plans before it executes;
+and it covers up all traces of its progress, or else leaves a network of
+false clues and misleading evidences. Bah! if we had only fustian to
+deal with, it would not be worth while to be a detective."
+
+"Granted," says the doctor, drumming impatiently upon the table, with
+the fingers of his strong, white, right hand. "We have to deal with a
+broadcloth burglar, who marks his linen, and, perhaps, perfumes it.
+_Was_ it perfumed? I forgot."
+
+"It was not perfumed. I wish it had been. Yes, ours is a broadcloth
+burglar. When he approached Miss Wardour's bedside, he produced from a
+convenient pocket, his stupefying drug; and then he looked about for
+something with which to apply it, and at the same time, no doubt, he
+berates himself for omitting to provide himself with a plain, small
+napkin, or piece of linen. There was nothing at hand that was not too
+large for his purpose, and too coarse, for he understood the delicacy of
+his undertaking. So, he produced his pocket handkerchief, which, as I
+said before, was marked; he tears off the half bearing the name, but, in
+his haste, does not observe that he has left evidence that the name was
+there. He then saturated the linen, and set the bottle upon the night
+stand, leaving his two hands free to apply his drug with utmost care.
+Then he pauses for a moment, to note the effect of his application, or
+to gaze upon the fair sleeper. And then comes a sound from the outer
+room, an impatient call, the click of steel implements, no matter
+what,--he snatches up the dark lantern and, forgetting the bottle, goes
+out to his comrade."
+
+"You believe there were two?"
+
+"Yes; there were two. These affairs are seldom operated by one man."
+
+"You said this evening that they had blundered. It seems to me that they
+made a very neat job of the affair."
+
+"They did blunder. It does look like a neat job to a non-professional,
+but they have left several flaws in their work. They felt very confident
+of future safety, I am sure, for they were shrewd fellows; that's
+established in my mind. There's a something about this case that puzzles
+me, and some queer ideas are drifting through my head, but for the
+present I shall keep them there. About those blunders now. That boat
+business was the first. There's plain proof; then look at the manner in
+which they stirred up the library. Why, man, didn't you reflect that
+those heavy chairs never could have been overturned by a hasty careless
+hand, without coming down with a loud bang? and there are three of them,
+all thrown down in different positions; every one of them was lowered
+slowly, carefully. Why, look at that pile of books upon the floor! do
+you imagine they were ever tossed down from their shelves, as they
+appear to have been, without striking upon the floor or each other, with
+a thud? I can see the whole operation; one man held the lantern while
+the other disarranged the room. But they did not do it well. That much
+of the business looks like the work of an amateur. Perhaps you wonder
+why I did not speak of this to Miss Wardour. I said enough to convince
+her that I had studied the matter; I did not wish to exhaust the
+subject, that is the business of the man who is to come. And now I think
+I will remove my cast, and then, my dear fellow, I am quite ready to
+retire, for I feel the need of all the sleep I can get between now and
+sunrise."
+
+"Shocking confession," laughs the doctor, lazily. "Let me tell you it's
+highly improper for a detective to get sleepy, or hungry, or tired; they
+never do it in print."
+
+"Which should convince you that they always do out of it. Detectives, my
+dear sir, are like doctors, their success depends upon the people's
+faith in them, not on their own merits. Now I know that you can't see
+through the anatomy of old Mrs. Grundy, and tell what she had for
+dinner, unless, to be sure, she had been eating onions; but if Mrs.
+Grundy doubted for a moment your ability to don your professional
+spectacles and peer into the innermost depths of her disordered old
+being, she would write another name than yours on her books, as favorite
+physician."
+
+"Guide, philosopher and friend," quotes the doctor, composedly. "Let
+Mrs. Grundy alone, will you, she is one of my best customers."
+
+"She is not one of my worst, but the world is not _quite_ filled up with
+Mrs. Grundys, else our fortunes were soon made; for instance, up at
+Wardour Place to-night, that seraphic old lady was prepared to receive
+all my statements, as Mrs. G---- takes your pills, on faith. But the
+young lady; oh, no! she has too much head for a woman."
+
+"Why, for a woman?"
+
+"Not got scope enough. 'Woman's kingdom' too small for her; too much top
+to her head; brow too broad; eyes too full; won't believe a thing is
+true, because you say it is true; got to convince her reason. Such
+people make chaps like you and me lots of bother; won't take us for
+granted."
+
+"Granted we wish them to."
+
+"Bah! Of course we wish them to! everybody wants to be taken on trust;
+but there, we can waive this discussion; Miss Wardour will find
+occupation for that head of hers for a time at least. My head must
+rest."
+
+"I should think so; you are as full of whimsies as ever, when off duty,
+and since to-night I accept you as a detective, _a la_ 'Mrs. Grundy,'
+just follow me now, Sir Tramp. By the way, how will you get out of here
+in the morning?"
+
+"Leave that to me. By the way, don't disturb my wax work. I will leave
+the bottle and linen; do you restore them to Miss Wardour to-morrow at
+the earliest hour possible to a caller. I shall present myself in my own
+time and way, governed, of course, by circumstances, and it is probable
+that you will not see me again for some time. Therefore let me say,
+thanks for your hospitality. Call on me when you want a service, and
+good night."
+
+So saying he vanishes into an inner room, the door of which the doctor
+has just now thrown invitingly open. As the door closes quickly, and in
+his very face, Clifford Heath stares blankly at it, and for a moment
+stands so, looking half bewildered.
+
+Finally a look of amusement crosses his face, and he returns slowly to
+his seat beside the table, slowly selects a segar, and slowly lights it.
+
+"There's a queer customer," muses he, as he settles himself for a
+comfortable meditation. "He can go to sleep in the very teeth of
+mystery, and wake up, clear headed, in a fog. Now I can't sleep, and
+I've been awake longer than my allotted time, too. Shades of my
+ancestors! What a day! And, oh, my prophetic soul, what will it bring
+forth? Well, Doctor Clifford Heath, _as_ Doctor Clifford Heath, what is
+it to you? You have been honored by the confidence of Constance Wardour,
+what then? There was no one else in whom she could confide; may she not
+honor your judgment without coveting your adoration. Bah! the very fact
+that she confides in you proves that she cares nothing for you. However,
+she has a heart for somebody; that is proved by her agitation upon
+hearing the story, and reading the letter telling of poor Sybil
+Lamotte's misery. For undoubtedly in some manner she has been made a
+victim; can it be that wretched Evan? His agitation to-day bore the look
+of remorse, and God knows where dissipation will not lead a man. I know
+something of that, too." Here he frowns darkly, and sits for a long time
+looking the incarnation of resentment and defiance.
+
+"Bah!" he mutters presently, "what a blot upon the record of a proud
+family! A father who is a philanthropist and public benefactor; a mother
+who is '_une dame sans reproche_;' a brother against whom I can bring no
+charge save that he is my rival; a sister, beautiful and good and
+accomplished, but that beauty, goodness, culture, are all shipwrecked;
+how could either live in the same atmosphere with John Burrill, as I
+have heard him described. Evan Lamotte is a black sheep; I should take
+it Burrill must be a black dog, or worse, and sheep and dog are owned by
+the same family. After all, what is race? a fig for pedigree. It's the
+deed that tells. Here in the next room I have a man who claims to be
+nobody. Nothing is said or known about his blood; a great deal is said
+and known about his brain, favorably said, too, and honorably known. He
+is a detective, and as such, dead to the blue book; it's his business to
+hunt men down, to pry into secret places, to unmask villainies, and drag
+to light shameful family secrets; and, for the second time, he has
+stumbled upon a secret of mine, and treated it most generously.
+
+"To-night I say to him, 'know me only as Doctor Heath, from nowhere.'
+Another man would have asked for an explanation, when the opportunity
+came; but not he. He sits with me, sups with me, sleeps under my roof,
+and makes no sign that he ever knew me save as I now am. He treats me as
+a man worthy his confidence, yet asks none of mine. That's what I call
+splendid behavior; that's a man worthy to be called a gentleman. I
+wonder;" here his countenance darkens, and his eyes look gloomy. "I
+wonder what this honorable officer would say if he knew what I did
+to-night? if he knew, say I! does he not know? how can I tell? he is
+sharp, a lynx; and heaven only knows what mad impulse prompted me to do
+a mean thing. Bah!" rising and stretching himself; "we are all fools or
+knaves, or both; when a beautiful woman has dethroned reason and common
+sense, and sways us body and soul. I wonder what Constance Wardour would
+say if she knew? A keen witted detective takes me on trust; will she do
+the same?"
+
+There is little of the look of a despairing swain on his face, as he
+concludes his soliloquy, and goes out to see that the outer door is
+secure, before retiring. A trifle pale, a trifle bored, a trifle
+cynical, and a trifle sleepy he looks. He also looks, for a man who has
+just been indulging in a fit of severe self-depreciation, exceedingly
+confident and full of faith in himself. And why not? Let that man
+despair who has lost confidence in his own ability to wrest favors from
+the fingers of Fate or Fortune. Despair is not for the brave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FALLING OUT.
+
+
+Constance Wardour arose early on Sunday morning. In spite of youth,
+health, and her splendid self-poise, she had slept but little; and such
+slumber as had visited her eyelids, had been haunted by hideous dreams,
+in which detectives and burglars mixed their identity in the most
+remarkable manner; and through all, more vivid than all, shone the face
+of Sybil Lamotte, always agonized, always appealing, always surrounded
+by dark shadows, and always seeming menaced, terrified, helpless. Such
+nights of tormented slumber, and uneasy wakefulness, were new to the
+mistress of Wardour; and now, while the dew was yet on the grass and
+flowers, she was promenading her pretty rose garden, where the sun shone
+full, looking a trifle paler than was usual to her, and somewhat
+dissatisfied.
+
+Mrs. Aliston was still snugly ensconced in her bed, for she never rose
+early, and always retired late, her motto being, "Mrs. Aliston first,
+the world afterward." That lady of portly dimensions had her peculiar
+theory of life. To eat the best food obtainable, and a great deal of it;
+to wear the heaviest silks, and the softest cashmeres; and to sleep in
+the downiest of beds; these were to her the necessities of life. That
+the food was provided from the larder of her niece; that the silks and
+cashmeres were gracious gifts, and that the downy couch cost her
+nothing, mattered little; her niece needed her, she needed her niece;
+_ergo_, her niece sought in every way possible to render her happy and
+comfortable; and she, in return for her comfort and happiness, was a
+model duenna; never questioning, never criticising, humoring all that
+young lady's whims, yet retaining that free, hearty out-spokenness, that
+made her seem not in the least a dependent, and which was, as Mrs.
+Aliston well knew, most pleasing to the heiress.
+
+Altogether, they were a pair of very sensible women. Mrs. Aliston ate
+when she liked, and slept when she liked; Miss Wardour did what _she_
+liked, and both were satisfied.
+
+While Miss Wardour was promenading her garden, and Mrs. Aliston was
+comfortably sleeping, two men were approaching each other on the sandy
+road that ran from the town past Wardour Place.
+
+The one coming from townward was our detective tramp, looking all that a
+tramp should be.
+
+The other, approaching from the opposite direction, was a sleek,
+respectable looking, middle aged man, who might have been some small
+farmer dressed in his Sunday clothes, which fitted him none too well.
+
+Almost opposite the gates of Wardour Place they met and passed each
+other, the tramp saluting respectfully, the other responding with a
+stolid stare.
+
+A little further on the tramp turned slowly and looked back. The
+farmer-looking individual had entered the grounds of Wardour Place, and
+was hurrying straight on toward the entrance, looking neither to the
+right nor left.
+
+[Illustration: "The tramp turned and looked back."]
+
+"So!" muttered the tramp, with the air of a man who would have been
+astonished then, but for the fact that he never allowed anything to
+astonish him. "So _he_ is mixing himself up in this affair! I wonder in
+what capacity? Can it be that by some means he has been selected to work
+up this case? Oh! oh! Bless my soul! What a coincidence that would be!"
+
+Evidently he had grasped at a new idea, and one that was somewhat
+startling. He quickened his pace until, unconsciously, it became almost
+a trot. The mask of studied vacancy dropped from his face, leaving it
+alert, keen, analytical. His mind had grasped at a problem, and he was
+studying it with knitted brow and compressed mouth, as he hurried on
+countryward, not heeding anything save the thought which possessed him.
+
+It was Sunday morning, too early for church goers, and too late for cow
+boys. So he met no one on his hurried march, and when at last he began
+to moderate his pace, he was a full mile from Wardour Place. As his walk
+grew slower his face relaxed, and gradually resumed its mask of careless
+stupidity.
+
+Finally he paused, looked about him, laughed a short half laugh, and
+crossing the road, vaulted a high-wired fence, with the ease of a
+harlequin, and took his way across a meadow toward the river.
+
+"Tra-la, tra-la-la-la-la," chirped he, softly and contentedly. "_What_ a
+pretty kettle of fish. How I should love to sit down right beside it and
+see it boil, stir it occasionally; instead, I must go far away, and
+meantime, who knows, the kettle may boil over. But I hope not,--I trust
+not. I will try and prevent it; and, to do that, I must drop a little
+shell before I go. I must bind Miss Wardour over to my aid. I must show
+her that it is wise to trust me. I must have a confidante here, and
+there are only two to choose from. Doctor Heath, 'from nowhere,' and
+this clear-eyed lady. I choose her; for, with all due regard for my
+friend, the doctor, and all due faith in the propriety of his motives, I
+must know _why_ he throws that bit of circumstantial evidence in my way,
+before I show him any part of my hand. Why Doctor Heath is here, is none
+of my business, strange as his presence and present occupation seem to
+me. Why he is mixing himself up in the affair of Miss Wardour's
+diamonds, however, _is_ my business, just now. But, first of all, to
+know how much or little Jerry Belknap knows of this affair, and of these
+people, and whether he is at his old crookedness once more. Now, here is
+the river; here the footpath. I must see the mistress of Wardour Place,
+and at once; so, _en avant_."
+
+And he struck into the river footpath, and strode rapidly along toward
+Wardour Place, whistling softly as he went. Meantime, Constance Wardour,
+pacing the walks of her garden, with her brows wrinkled into a frown,
+was interrupted by her housemaid.
+
+"If you please, miss, there's a man in the front hall, that's wanting
+to see you, and says I am to tell you it's important that his business
+is."
+
+Constance made a slight gesture of impatience; she had been thinking of
+Sybil Lamotte, to the exclusion of all other subjects, and this message
+brought her suddenly back to her own affairs.
+
+"Important!" she muttered to herself. "Then it must be--the other one.
+Nelly," raising her voice, "what is this man like?"
+
+"Like, miss?" inquiringly.
+
+"Yes. How does he look?"
+
+"Oh! Well, it's very ugly he looks, to my notion."
+
+"Does he look like a gentleman, Nelly?"
+
+"Oh, murther! no."
+
+"Like a tramp, then?"
+
+"No; his clothes is too new."
+
+"Well, Nelly, I will go and see him," said Constance, beginning to
+despair of finding out whether this visitor were the tramp of the night
+previous, or the new actor expected on the scene. "You know I never
+allow you to turn a tramp away hungry, and if one comes who seems worthy
+of help, I wish you always to let me know it."
+
+This she said, thinking of the manner in which it was probable the
+detective tramp would seek access to her presence.
+
+"By the way, Nelly," pausing with one foot on the steps of the
+dining-room terrace. "You may wake Mrs. Aliston and tell her that if I
+wish her to join me in the little parlor I will send you to her," then
+_sotto voce_, as she entered the house and went carelessly toward the
+drawing-room: "If this visitor proves a bore I will turn him over to
+Aunt Honor; I can't have two days of constant boredom."
+
+Coming forward from the lower entrance, Constance encountered the gaze
+of the strange man, whom, arriving at the front door, Nelly had not
+ventured to set down as a tramp, and whose clothes made her doubt the
+propriety of showing him the drawing-room. Being of Hibernian
+extraction, and not to be nonplussed, Nelly had adapted a happy medium,
+and seated the visitor in the largest hall chair, where he now awaited
+the approach of Constance.
+
+"I think you wished to see me," said Constance, in the unaffected kindly
+tone usual to her when addressing strangers or inferiors, "I am Miss
+Wardour."
+
+The stranger arose, making a stiff salute, and saying in a low, guarded
+tone:
+
+"Yes, Miss Wardour, I have a message for you;" at the same moment he
+presented her a card, and glanced in a suggestive manner toward Nelly,
+who was traveling up the stairs in a very leisurely manner, _en route_
+for Mrs. Aliston's rooms.
+
+Constance glanced at the card which bore the inscription,
+
+     "JERRY BELKNAP,
+     _Private Detective_."
+
+"Come this way," she said, throwing open the drawing-room door and
+preceding him into that apartment.
+
+Jerry Belknap, private detective, followed close behind her, and himself
+closed the door carefully. Constance crossed the room, drew back the
+curtains, and pushed open the shutters of the terrace windows, thus
+letting in a flood of light. Then turning, she seated herself upon a
+fauteuil, and, motioning the detective to a chair opposite, said:
+
+"Now, sir, I am ready to receive your message."
+
+"It's a verbal one," returned the detective, in a voice soft and smooth,
+not at all in keeping with his disguise, "and from Mr. Lamotte. I am the
+officer chosen by him to investigate for you, Miss Wardour, and as much
+time has been lost, I only wait your sanction and acceptance to begin
+the work."
+
+The soft voice and polished accent were in very marked contrast to his
+dress and facial appearance. His manner of boorish discomfort had been
+dropped when the door closed upon outside observation.
+
+Mentally contrasting the ease and suavity of this new comer with the
+cat-like movements and brusqueness of his predecessor, Constance, who
+began to realize the ludicrousness of the situation, in fact seemed to
+have some special private reason for finding it exceedingly absurd,
+replied that Mr. Lamotte's chosen officer must of course be acceptable
+to her, and that she only awaited his commands, if she could be of any
+service to him.
+
+"Then," said Detective Belknap, "I may as well look over the premises,
+unless," turning upon her a searching look, "there are particulars
+concerning the robbery which Mr. Lamotte was not in possession of."
+
+Constance lowered her eyes, in seeming effort to remember if Mr. Lamotte
+knew absolutely all; she thought of the chloroform, but the bottle had
+not yet been returned to her. What should she do? Before telling this
+part of the story she must have the bottle. Suddenly her woman's wit
+came to her aid. Looking up with sweetest candor into the detective's
+face, she said,
+
+"I am the only one who possesses any information that was not known to
+Mr. Lamotte. It is a mere trifle, but as it will take some time in the
+telling, I will, if you please, order breakfast. You can scarcely have
+breakfasted at this hour. I will show you the library now. Will you look
+over that and the other rooms, and kindly excuse me for a short time?
+Then join me at breakfast, and I will give you my version of the story."
+
+She arose as if considering the matter decided beyond question, and
+moved toward the door, and with a bow and a murmur of assent, Mr. Jerry
+Belknap fell into his assumed shamble, and followed her to the library.
+Leaving him there, Constance went out to order breakfast served in half
+an hour, and to send Nelly with the key to her dressing room.
+
+"Nelly must be taken into my confidence," mused she, as she went in
+search of that damsel. "I can trust Nelly in spite of her Irishries, and
+if Doctor Heath does not appear soon she must help me out in some way."
+
+Nelly was not at her post, having been dispatched kitchenward by Mrs.
+Aliston, and Constance went up to her own rooms, thinking, as she went,
+how best to defer a further interview with Mr. Belknap.
+
+"I must take him the key myself," she muttered, as she moved about the
+dressing room, and then a sudden thought came, and she moved quickly to
+an open wardrobe, pulled down the dress she had worn on the previous
+afternoon, and searched hurriedly in the pockets.
+
+All at once a look of dismay overspread her features; again and again
+she shook out the silken folds, again thrust her hands in the dainty
+pockets, and fluttered her fingers among the intricacies of the
+trimming. The thing she searched for was gone. Sybil Lamotte's strange
+letter, the letter that was a trust not to be violated, was not to be
+found.
+
+Thoroughly distressed now, Constance renewed her search--about the
+room--everywhere--in the most impossible places; but no letter.
+
+Down stairs she went; and hopeless as was the chance of finding it
+there, hunted in the drawing room and on the terrace.
+
+She distinctly remembered placing it in her pocket, after receiving it
+back from the hands of Doctor Heath; of bestowing it very carefully,
+too.
+
+Who had been in the drawing room since Doctor Heath? Mrs. Aliston; the
+two detectives; herself. Who had seen her put the letter in her pocket?
+Only Doctor Heath. Could it have dropped from her pocket? That seemed
+impossible. Could he have removed it? That seemed impossible, too, and
+very absurd. But what could she think, else? Then, she remembered what
+he had said to the detective the night before, and all the mystery
+surrounding his past. Hitherto, she had scoffed at the prying ones, and
+advocated his perfect right to his own past and future, too. Now, she
+felt her ignorance of aught concerning the life of Doctor Clifford
+Heath, to be a deep personal injury. Hitherto, she had reasoned that his
+past was something very simple, a commonplace of study, perhaps, and
+self-building; for she, being an admirer of self-made men, had chosen to
+believe him one of them. Now, she bounded straight to the conclusion
+that Doctor Heath had a past--to conceal; and then she found herself
+growing very angry, with him first, and herself afterward.
+
+Why had he not presented his passports before seeking her favor? How had
+he dared to make himself so much at home in her drawing room, with his
+impertinent _insouciance_ and his Sultan airs? How had he gone about,
+indifferent, independent, ignoring when he pleased, courting no one's
+favor, and yet, be--nobody knew who.
+
+And what a fool she had been, trusting him with her personal secrets;
+putting her private letters into his hands. How he must be laughing at
+her in his sleeve! Exasperating thought. Worse than all else, to be
+laughed at. What worse calamity can befall poor, arrogant human nature?
+
+Constance was now thoroughly angry, and, "by the same token," thoroughly
+unreasonable. It is highly objectionable in a heroine; but Constance, as
+we have said before, is a very human heroine. And, dear reader, however
+sensible you be, if you have ever been in just the state of mind in
+which Constance Wardour found herself that morning, and most of us have,
+I promise you, you were not one whit more reasonable; not one whit less
+capable of being aggressive, unreasonable, and generally disagreeable.
+
+And now, the perverse imp who goes about, concocting horrible practical
+jokes, and stirring up _contretemps_, seemed to take possession of the
+field; for, just at the moment when he should have been at least five
+miles away, Doctor Heath, unannounced, appeared at the drawing-room
+door,--smiling, too, looking provokingly sure of a welcome, and
+handsomer than usual.
+
+Miss Wardour's self-possession was as instant as her indignation.
+
+"Good morning, Doctor Heath," frigidly. "I am sorry you found it
+necessary to admit yourself in this manner. I suppose my servants _are_
+neglectful."
+
+"Not at all," replied he, discovering that she was out of humor, but not
+divining the cause. "Your housemaid admitted me, and thinking you in
+your own room, was about to usher me in here, and go to announce me,
+when I saved her the trouble, telling her that my time was limited, and
+admitting myself; had I known you were here, I should not have intruded
+without permission;" then perceiving that her face retained its
+frigidity, his voice took on a shade of haughtiness as he laid a packet
+upon the table, saying: "I have brought back your 'proofs;' Mr. Bathurst
+wished me to say, if I chanced to see you first, that is," hesitating.
+
+"I have not seen Mr. Bathurst."
+
+"No!" Doctor Heath seemed to be somewhat affected by the chill of the
+atmosphere. "Then I am to say that he has something for your private
+ear, and that when he comes, he begs that you will contrive in some way
+to see him, whether your other officer is here or no."
+
+A grave bow from Lapland. Then,
+
+"Officer Belknap is here, and in the library. I presume," consulting her
+watch, "he is waiting for me at this moment."
+
+Doctor Heath had been standing a few feet from her, hat in hand; now,
+and in spite of this implied dismissal, he coolly deposited his hat upon
+the table beside Miss Wardour's package, and advanced nearer to that
+young lady, speaking calmly, gently even, but without the slightest
+touch of entreaty, penitence, or humility of any sort in his manner or
+voice.
+
+"Miss Wardour, pardon me for alluding to it, but I would be blind indeed
+not to see that something has annoyed you exceedingly. Indeed, I could
+almost fancy that, in some way, I have become the cause of your
+displeasure; if this is so, tell me how I have been so unfortunate as to
+offend?"
+
+Now this was a very pacific and proper speech, and uttered in the right
+spirit. But had its effect been salutary, then Doctor Heath would stand
+alone, the first, last, and only man who ever yet attempted to argue
+with, reason with, or pacify an angry woman without blundering
+egregiously in the beginning, and coming out worsted at the end. There
+are a _few_ things in this world that mortal man can't compass, and to
+attempt to pour oil on the waves of a woman's wrath when they are just
+at the boiling point, and ready to overflow their confines, is like
+sitting down on a bunch of fire-crackers to prevent their going off. Let
+the water boil over, and there will still be enough left to brew you a
+cup of tea. Let the crackers explode, and you may sit down on them with
+impunity.
+
+Dear brethren, the moral is homely.
+
+How had he offended? That he should ask the question, was the acme of
+his offense. As if she could tell how he had offended. Was there ever so
+impertinent a question and questioner? "How had he been so _unfortunate_
+as to offend?" Any other man would have said "unhappy," whether he meant
+it or not, but this man, oh! he would not even _look_ a culprit.
+
+She raised her haughty head a trifle higher, as high as it could be; she
+drew back as many steps as he had advanced; the room had become a
+refrigerator.
+
+"Doctor Heath flatters himself; in what manner _could_ he offend me?"
+
+[Illustration: "Doctor Heath flatters himself."]
+
+Still he retains his composure, not guessing at the truth.
+
+"I have never presumed Miss Wardour, therefore can not have flattered
+myself. I _may_ have offended by coming one moment too late with this
+packet. Miss Wardour is accustomed to unqualified obedience. If I fail
+in that it is not from lack of inclination, but--because I am just
+learning submission." He uttered the last words in a lower, softer
+tone, and fell back as he uttered them, laying his hand upon his hat.
+
+Anger, self-shame, and a strange thrilling emotion, she could not, or
+would not recognize or define, urged her out of herself, beyond herself,
+and beyond the bounds of propriety or courtesy. Sweeping toward him with
+one swift movement, she extended one hand with downward turned palm, in
+a quick, meaning gesture, and said,
+
+"Doctor Heath, I have lost Sybil Lamotte's letter."
+
+"Lost it! How?"
+
+"That I should be glad to know; since I showed it to you last night and
+replaced it in my pocket, I have not seen it, and, Doctor Heath, as I do
+not wish without your knowledge, to be in possession of any secret of
+yours, I may as well tell you now that I overheard your warning to the
+detective last night."
+
+"My warning!" he repeated, parrot-like.
+
+"Your reminder that you must be to him, _Doctor Heath from nowhere_!"
+
+Doctor Heath from nowhere, gazed at her for a moment as if petrified,
+his mind seeming reluctant or unable to grasp at once her full meaning;
+then he came close to her, straight and tall, and paler than her own
+pale robe; the blood of all the Howards flashing from his eye, and
+speaking in his bearing. Thus, for a moment, they faced each other,
+pale, passionate, mute; then a voice, soft and suave, broke the spell.
+
+"I trust you will pardon me."
+
+They turned swiftly, neither had faced the door; both had been too
+preoccupied to observe or hear. How long he had been a listener he alone
+could tell; but there stood Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective, one
+hand resting on the handle of the closed door, the other holding an open
+note book.
+
+Doctor Heath vouchsafed him one dark glance, then bending above the
+uplifted hand of Constance Wardour, he looked straight down into her
+eyes, and said in a low, tense voice,
+
+"Miss Wardour, your words have been not an accusation, but an insult; as
+such, I can only accept them--in silence; good morning."
+
+Then he turned, waved the private detective haughtily from before the
+door, and strode out, his heels ringing firm upon the hall marble as he
+went.
+
+"I fear I intruded," said Mr. Belknap, innocently. "I have just finished
+making some notes in the library, and am ready to proceed to the upper
+floor."
+
+"Breakfast." It was Nelly who appeared with this announcement, which was
+welcome, at least to Mr. Belknap, and pale, silent, subdued, Constance
+motioned him to precede her to the dining room.
+
+"I'm sure to be in a situation," mused the girl with a rueful grimace.
+"If it's only a _tête-á-tête_ breakfast with a detective."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ONE DETECTIVE TOO MANY.
+
+
+"Aunt Honor," said Miss Wardour, sweeping unceremoniously into her
+aunt's dressing room, "you really must come to my relief."
+
+Mrs. Aliston seated in a big dressing chair, with a tempting breakfast
+tray drawn close beside her, looked up serene and comfortable, and said,
+after setting down her porcelain chocolate cup with great care.
+
+"Yes!" with the rising inflection.
+
+"I'm exhausted, bothered, bored," continued the young lady, flinging
+herself down upon the nearest ottoman. "I wish my old diamonds had never
+had an existence. I wish Grandmama Wardour had had better sense."
+
+"Have a cup of chocolate," suggested Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"I won't," snapped Constance, belligerently. "I have breakfasted if you
+please; auntie," lowering her voice to a tone of mock mystery, "we have
+got another detective in the house."
+
+"So Nelly tells me," reaching out for another roll.
+
+"And, he has breakfasted with me."
+
+Mrs. Aliston laid down the roll, turned for a moment to gaze at her
+niece; and, reading in that fair upturned face, the fact that its owner
+was in a state of mutiny against the proprieties and all things else
+that might come in opposition to her will, she took up her roll and
+buttered it carefully as she said:
+
+"Well! that's quite like you. What sort of a man is he?"
+
+"Splendid," with a shrug of the shoulders, "smooth as oil, polished as
+ivory; a Chesterfield in ill fitting clothes."
+
+"And, a detective?"
+
+"Well, why not? Somehow he has picked up all the arts and graces of a
+gentleman."
+
+"Really! Not much like the other one then."
+
+"Not in the least. The other is eccentric, explosive, amusing. This one
+is like a lawyer; very non-committal, not at all inclined to tell all he
+knows."
+
+"Oh! have you told him about the chloroform?"
+
+"Yes; he has the bottle."
+
+"Well, what did _he_ say?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"Goodness gracious! and you breakfasted with him?"
+
+"Yes; and he has spent half an hour or more in the drawing room. I have
+told him all I had to tell, and he is now prowling about my dressing
+room."
+
+"But what does he think about this affair?"
+
+"I don't know;" indifferently.
+
+"Why, it didn't take you all breakfast time to tell _your_ story?"
+
+"Oh, no; I told my story and Mr. Belknap listened very attentively; made
+some entries in his note book, remarked that he would have a report
+ready for me in the course of the day, and then turned his back upon the
+subject."
+
+"Mercy!"
+
+"He discussed the new opera, asked me if I had seen Neilson in Twelfth
+Night, gave a brilliant description of a young French drama by a young
+French author, gave me his opinion of Dickens, and looked his opinion of
+myself."
+
+"What a remarkable person."
+
+"Exceedingly so. His remarks have quite exhausted me."
+
+"Now, Con.;" reproachfully.
+
+"Now, auntie, don't plead, my heart is adamant. If you don't go and
+interview that man for the remainder of his stay I shall order William
+to throw him out of my dressing-room window; not that I have a rooted
+antipathy for him, he is certainly a clever man, and no doubt a good
+officer. But I am worn out, unfit for duty, and--I have another matter
+to attend to."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Mrs. Aliston arising, "then, my child, I am ready, or
+almost ready, to go and inspect your new detective."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Aliston goes to her mirror, touches up her
+dressing-cap, gives a pat here, a shake there, and then ruffling her
+plumage like some huge old bird, follows her niece.
+
+Across the hall they find the detective inspecting the little safe, and
+hurriedly introducing Mrs. Aliston, and making her own excuses,
+Constance hastens away and down stairs.
+
+Down the stairs and out of the house, first because she felt oppressed
+and needed the soothing effects of fresh air and exercise, and, second,
+because she expected the tramp detective to be somewhere in the
+vicinity, and, for some reason, she wanted to see him. In spite of the
+fact that she had just declared herself bored, and desperate, and
+anxious to be alone; in spite of the fact that she had fled from
+detective number two, she wanted to see number one for a woman's reason.
+Having quarrelled desperately with Clifford Heath, she was immediately
+possessed by an insane desire to hear some one speak of him, and speak
+well of him. This man had treated Doctor Heath from the first with the
+utmost respect. He was undoubtedly pleased at their chance meeting;
+after all might not this secret which lay between the two be a perfectly
+honorable one?
+
+In fact, Miss Wardour wanted to see Detective Bathurst, not as Detective
+Bathurst, but as the man who knew Doctor Clifford Heath better than she
+herself knew him. Of her diamonds, she never thought at all.
+
+She felt depressed, dissatisfied, yet not quite prepared to blame
+herself in any way. She was possessed by more uncomfortable feelings
+than she could have analyzed or described, yet was too consistent a
+woman to be so soon ready to admit, even to herself, that she had
+wronged Doctor Heath. Indeed, she was more angry than ever with that
+unfortunate man. Had he not capped the climax of his iniquities by
+flying off at a tangent, and leaving her in a most uncomfortable
+position?
+
+The grounds about Wardour Place were large, well shaded, and laid out
+with a network of walks. With a view to the avoiding of those paths
+overlooked by the windows of her dressing room, or other rooms where her
+aunt and the detective were likely to be, Constance kept to the north
+and east walks, thus coming near the river, which ran north and south,
+and toward which the eastern, or near, portion of the grounds sloped
+down.
+
+Walking thus, and gazing riverward, Constance saw a form approaching,
+which she soon recognized as that of the detective tramp.
+
+Glancing quickly about to see if any of the servants were in the
+grounds, and assuring herself that the way was clear, she went forward
+to where he could see her, before approaching too near.
+
+Gazing fixedly at him, a slight movement of his hand told her that he
+had seen, and was alert; and then she made a gesture northward, and,
+turning that way herself, disappeared from his sight among the
+shrubbery.
+
+On the north, the grounds were bounded by the orchard wall, over which
+drooped the branches of huge old apple trees, and down close to the
+eastern boundary of this same orchard, a small iron gate opened into it.
+Toward this gate Constance walked, avoiding any appearance of unseemly
+haste, and toward the eastern wall, hard by, went the tramp detective,
+looking innocent of any thought or purpose, save to intercept the lady,
+and beg for a dinner, a dollar, or a dime.
+
+Reaching the gate, Constance passed through it into the orchard, and,
+almost at the same moment, the tramp bounded over the wall, and stood
+bowing beside her.
+
+"Come into the grounds," said Constance, waiving all ceremony. "If we
+are seen talking there, it will look less suspicious. My servants are
+quite accustomed to see me interviewing tramps."
+
+She led the way back into the grounds, closed the wicket, and walked
+along the orchard wall to a rustic bench close under the bending boughs
+of a great tree. Here she seated herself, and the tramp, leaning against
+a tree a few paces from her, turned upon her a look of proper
+supplication, and said:
+
+"Now I think we are ready for observers."
+
+"Quite. None of my servants saw you last night, and they are not likely
+to come here in any case. We shall hardly be disturbed."
+
+"You think so? May I ask how long you have been absent from the house?"
+
+"About fifteen minutes, I should think."
+
+"Well, in fifteen minutes more Mr. Belknap will be out looking at the
+grounds, and for you."
+
+Constance uttered a low exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Ah!" said she, "you know that already. Pray tell me how? you are more
+puzzling than a Chinese juggler."
+
+"No jugglery about this, however," he replied, looking somewhat amused.
+"I met Mr. Belknap, face to face at your very gate; I have seen him wear
+that farmer disguise before, hence I recognized him."
+
+"And he?"
+
+"Did _not_ recognize me."
+
+"Yet you know each other."
+
+"Slightly, yes;" with a droll look in his eyes, of which Constance took
+note.
+
+"Now tell me, Mr. Bathurst, is Mr. Belknap a good detective?"
+
+"Mr. Belknap is a smart man, Miss Wardour; he understands his business
+thoroughly."
+
+"He equivocates," thought Constance; aloud she said,
+
+"And I need not fear to trust my business in his hands?"
+
+"You need not fear," he replied, with odd emphasis. "And now," he
+continued, "time presses; you received your package, Miss Wardour?"
+
+Constance felt uneasy, this man seemed to find out everything; did he
+know of what she had accused Doctor Heath?
+
+"I received it an hour ago," she replied.
+
+"Miss Wardour," asked he, fixing his eyes upon her face, "have you any
+suspicion as to who these robbers were?"
+
+For a moment Constance seemed half paralyzed with fright; then she
+answered firmly,
+
+"No, sir; not the shadow of a suspicion; but--you have."
+
+"If I have, it is not more than a shadow--at present. Now, may I ask you
+some questions, not just to the point but which, for my own reasons, I
+wish answered."
+
+She nodded assent.
+
+"Can you tell me how many medical men you have in W----?"
+
+Constance reflected; finally she said,
+
+"I think there are seven, in all."
+
+"Ah! all in practice?"
+
+"Not all; two are retired, one is an invalid, doing but little."
+
+"Thank you; and how many of them have assistants or students?"
+
+"Only two, to my knowledge, Doctor Benoit and--Doctor Heath."
+
+"And who are these young men--I suppose they _are_ young men? Can you
+give me any information concerning them?"
+
+"The young man with Doctor Benoit is a stranger to me, he comes, I
+believe, from one of the neighboring towns; the one with Doctor Heath,"
+here, in spite of herself, Constance colored slightly, "is the son of
+one of our wealthiest citizens. He had, I believe, been reading a little
+in the city during the winter before Doctor Heath established himself
+here; since when he has remained in W----, and read in Doctor Heath's
+office, when it has suited him to do so; he is like many young men of
+great expectations."
+
+"And his name?"
+
+"His name," hesitating a little, "is Francis Lamotte."
+
+"Thank you; and now, Miss Wardour, I want to ask at least three favors
+of you, in return for which you may command me to any extent."
+
+"Ask them," replied Constance, feeling inwardly that she was outgrowing
+surprise.
+
+"First, will you promise me--I know that you keep your promises--not to
+repeat one word of this conversation to Doctor Heath."
+
+"Doctor Heath is not my father confessor," she said coldly; and then
+remembering the sort of man she was addressing, she added as best she
+could. "Although from what you saw last night, you might almost have
+fancied him such. I promise in any case to keep secret this interview."
+
+"Will you promise, above all, to keep it from Mr. Belknap; to keep
+_everything_ concerning me from his knowledge?"
+
+Constance laughed.
+
+"So far as I can," she replied. "Mr. Belknap is a detective; let him
+find out things as you seem to do."
+
+"I don't find out everything, more's the pity," he replied; then
+hesitating slightly over the question. "May I rely on your aunt?"
+
+"I promise for my aunt," replied Constance, laughing again; "she is very
+loyal."
+
+"Thank you. Now there is one thing more I very much wish, for reasons
+which no doubt you will know in good time, to see or hear the report of
+Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective. This I know, is asking much, but
+you will have no cause to regret it if you enable me to obtain this
+knowledge."
+
+Constance looked perplexed, and hesitated in her answer.
+
+"You distrust Mr. Belknap," she said finally. "I thought--"
+
+He throws up his hand somewhat impatiently.
+
+"You jump at conclusions," he interrupted; "a detective's motives must
+be taken for granted. It is not distrust that causes me to ask this
+favor; I could not tell you my reason without unraveling a long web, and
+it is not time to begin the process; I am still in the realm of
+conjecture. So you won't help me to the result of Mr. Belknap's
+investigation, Miss Wardour? I am sorry; it would save time for me, for
+I fully intend to find it out in some way."
+
+Constance smiled in spite of herself; she admired this man's cool way of
+mastering the situation; she felt that it would be policy to let him
+have his way, since he would take it whether she would or no. But the
+imp of caprice had not quite deserted her, and now he goaded her on to
+her own downfall. Looking up suddenly, she asked:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, why did you ask me if I suspected who stole my diamonds?"
+
+"I didn't," smiling oddly.
+
+Constance stared.
+
+"I asked if you guessed who the robbers were."
+
+"But--," began she; but the detective drawing a step nearer, and
+speaking in a guarded tone, interrupts her.
+
+"I am satisfied that you were _robbed_ on Saturday night, Miss Wardour;
+I am sure that you have no clue to the burglars; no suspicion as to
+their identity; but, I am not so sure that you do not know _precisely
+where to look for the Wardour diamonds at this moment_?"
+
+Constance flushed, and then turned pale. She had found her match; she
+was cornered, mastered, but she must give one last scratch.
+
+"Having divined so much," she said bitterly. "I suppose you intend to
+find them too?"
+
+He drew himself up haughtily. "I am a detective, madam, not a spy; so
+long as your diamonds give _you_ no uneasiness they have no interest for
+me. When you need my services they are yours. I do not investigate
+mysteries from mere curiosity."
+
+Constance felt a twinge of self-reproach. "I am behaving like a fool,"
+she thought, in severe condemnation. "I am losing my own identity; this
+man is a friend to rely on, an enemy to fear. He will not bow to my
+whims and caprices. What has come over me? Let me try and redeem
+myself."
+
+She had been musing with downcast eyes; now she looked up, straight into
+her companion's face. It had undergone a sudden change; the eyes, a
+moment since so full of fire and subtlety, were dull and expressionless.
+The face was vague to apathy, the mouth looked the incarnation of
+meekness or imbecility; even his hands had taken on a helpless
+feebleness in the clutch in which he held his worn-out hat. Before she
+could withdraw her gaze or open her lips in speech, he said in a low
+guarded tone:
+
+"Some one is approaching. Look behind me, Miss Wardour, and carefully,
+not to excite suspicion."
+
+She turned her gaze cautiously in the direction indicated, and saw
+coming slowly toward them, Mr. Belknap and Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"It is Mr. Belknap," she said, nodding easily at the new comers as she
+spoke, "and my aunt. Have no fears, sir tramp, everything shall be as
+you wish. I will engage you, I think."
+
+Constance was herself again.
+
+"Aunt Honor," she said, as the two came within hearing distance, "you
+find me at my old tricks."
+
+"Old tricks indeed!" replied her aunt, with more subtlety of meaning
+than she often employed.
+
+Constance arose and swept past the supposed tramp, without bestowing a
+glance upon him.
+
+"What would you do aunt?" she said, with an air of honest anxiety that
+would have done credit to an actress, "here is this man again. You know
+I promised to try and help him when he was here before. Simon needs an
+assistant, he tells me; would you try him as under gardener?"
+
+[Illustration: "Here is this man again."]
+
+Thoroughly drilled in the art of aiding and abetting her niece, Mrs.
+Aliston proved equal to the emergency.
+
+"It couldn't do any harm," she said surveying the gentleman tramp
+somewhat superciliously. "He looks quite respectable, for that sort of a
+person."
+
+Constance stifled an inclination to laugh as she said, briskly:
+
+"Then we will try him, and I'll just take him to the kitchen, and tell
+cook what to do with him until Simon comes."
+
+"Now just let me do that Con.," remonstrated Mrs. Aliston, "Mr. Belknap
+wishes to talk with you about the servants; remain here, and I will
+attend to this person."
+
+"Very well," responded Constance, indifferently, at the same time
+realizing the expediency of allowing the detective an instant
+opportunity for dropping a word of warning in the ear of her relative.
+"Tell the cook to give him something to eat, and now Mr. Belknap, you
+and I may walk on."
+
+"Just follow me, my man," called Mrs. Aliston, in a tone of loftiest
+patronage, and the newly appointed under gardener, beaming with
+gratitude, passed by Miss Wardour and Mr. Belknap, and followed the
+portly figure kitchenward with eager alacrity.
+
+Meantime, Constance, eager to engross Mr. Belknap's attention, turned
+toward him a smiling face, and said:
+
+"Now, Mr. Belknap, I am at your disposal for a short time; fate seems
+against my obtaining the rest I came out here to seek, but _your_
+business is in my interest, and I am not ungrateful; you wished to say
+something about my servants."
+
+"I wish to question your servants separately, Miss Wardour."
+
+Constance opened her eyes in quick surprise, then she answered quietly:
+
+"To question my servants! Oh, certainly, Mr. Belknap; when, and where?"
+
+"This evening would suit me; I am going to look about the surrounding
+country during the day."
+
+"This evening then, after dinner; will that suit you?"
+
+"Admirably, say at half past eight;" and having completed his
+arrangements in this business-like manner, Mr. Belknap asked permission
+to pass through the orchard, received it, and, bowing gravely, went
+through the wicket, and walked swiftly between the rows of apple trees
+straight northward.
+
+At six o'clock that evening, Miss Wardour sent for the gardener.
+
+"Simon," she said sweetly to the cross looking old man, "I engaged a new
+man to-day, perhaps you have seen him. I don't expect he can be very
+useful to you just at first, and I want you to give him very light
+tasks, and treat him kindly; he is a very unfortunate man. If we find
+that we can't make him useful after a few days' trial, we will pay him a
+month's wages and let him go. That will help him a little."
+
+Then she sent for the new man.
+
+"I thought you might wish to hear the latest report from Mr. Belknap,"
+she said graciously. "If I am to be your ally, I intend to keep nothing
+back; but I can't help fearing that he may suspect your identity."
+
+"You need not," he replied with confident ease. "He has every reason
+for supposing me in California at this moment; besides, he does not know
+me well enough to be able to recognize me under a good disguise; our
+acquaintance," he added dryly, "has been somewhat one sided, with the
+advantage so far on my side. When I told you that I knew Mr. Belknap
+well, I did not intend to imply that he knew me equally well."
+
+"Then I will trouble myself no more about the matter," said she lightly.
+"Mr. Belknap wishes to examine the servants, that is what I wished to
+tell you."
+
+"Very proper in Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Oh! is it? I thought it very absurd. My servants are honesty itself."
+
+"So much the better; Mr. Belknap knows how to go to work, Miss Wardour,
+pray feel no prejudice."
+
+"Oh, not at all," ironically. "Now about the report. Be within easy call
+to-morrow morning, please, I think we will have it then."
+
+"Thanks."
+
+"I suppose it will be best to have you present, that is, within hearing.
+I will arrange that the interview will take place in the dining room,
+and can easily get you into the butler's room adjoining, where William
+sleeps; this room was arranged with a view to the overlooking of the
+dining room, and plate closet, as you discovered for yourself; from
+there you can both hear and see."
+
+"So much the better." Then admiringly, he added, "Miss Wardour you are a
+splendid ally; you have thought of everything."
+
+She laughed; then answered with artful frankness: "I am trying to get
+back into my normal condition. I have been out of balance somehow, ever
+since this business commenced; have been as testy as an old woman of
+eighty. It is time I began to redeem myself. But I must not detain you.
+I see you begin to look uneasy. Until to-morrow, I commend you to the
+tender mercies of Simon and the cook."
+
+"I wonder how that man looks, devoid of all disguise," mused she, after
+he had withdrawn. "I don't believe he is tow-haired and freckled by
+nature. I wonder what has become of poor Sybil's letter; and if I had
+better ask his aid in finding it. But he is going away so soon. Now that
+I reflect, soberly, what motive could Doctor Heath possibly have for
+taking that letter? I think I must have been mad, or in hysteria. The
+man may be an imposter, a man of mystery, and all that; but why must I
+accuse him of taking a letter that could be of no possible use to him. I
+had worked myself into a rage. Well, it's done; I can't recall it.
+Doctor Heath will think me a vixen, and why not? What is Doctor Heath's
+opinion to me?"
+
+What, indeed!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEDUCTIONS OF DETECTIVE NUMBER TWO.
+
+
+The fates seemed propitious on Monday morning. The day dawned fair and
+balmy, and Constance arose, feeling refreshed and like her own serene
+self once more.
+
+The events of the two previous days no longer seemed to her imagination
+a chaotic disturbing mass of tribulations; they had arranged themselves
+in their proper order, been reviewed sensibly, and assigned their
+rightful places, as things to be overcome, or overlooked, as the case
+might be.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, too, at once discreet and talkative, was in fine spirits,
+and the two, having ascertained the precise time when Private Detective
+Belknap might be expected to make his report, had breakfasted
+comfortably, stowed away Mr. Bathurst, according to previous
+arrangement, and were now calmly awaiting the coming man.
+
+They had not long to wait. Mr. Belknap, ushered in by Nelly, found the
+ladies seated near the breakfast tray, as if just about completing a
+repast, which had in reality been finished some time before.
+
+"Good-morning, ladies," said he, laying down his hat, and at once
+drawing a chair to the table, with the air of a man whose time is
+money. "Having completed my investigations here,--that is, in this
+immediate neighborhood,--I am prepared with my written report, which I
+submit to you, Miss Wardour. Will you please read it, and then give me
+further instructions?" and he proffered her a neatly-folded paper, of
+goodly proportions.
+
+Constance glanced at it dubiously, but did not take it from his hand.
+
+"Please read it, Mr. Belknap," she said, appealingly. "I am sure I shall
+comprehend it better, and my aunt shares my anxiety to hear and
+understand its contents."
+
+"As you please," assented he, opening the manuscript. "I have made it as
+brief as possible; of course, it was necessary to be statistical."
+
+The report began with the usual form, day and date, circumstances under
+which his services were retained, etc., a statement of the case as it
+was made to him, then came the following:
+
+"Arrived in W---- early on Sunday morning, walking from the first
+station northward. Found Wardour Place easily from Mr. Lamotte's
+description. Gained admittance, and was at once permitted to inspect the
+room where the robbers found an entrance; found that it had been
+previously examined, and could not feel quite sure that some clue had
+not been effaced or something disturbed that might have evolved a clue.
+Miss Wardour assures me that nothing of value was taken from this room,
+and I am inclined to think that the robbers had hoped to find
+themselves in the dining room, and gain access to the plate closet.
+
+"Finding themselves instead in the library, a room where, there being no
+man of the house, it could hardly be supposed valuables were kept, or
+money or papers of worth locked away; they, after a vigorous search,
+opened the door of the hall; here they found themselves at once at the
+foot of the stairs and, naturally, one ascends to explore. The first
+door that he tries is the door of Miss Wardour's dressing room; and,
+having examined that door, I am compelled to think that Miss Wardour,
+for once, forgot to lock it. Had it been locked the explorer would
+naturally have passed on, trying the other doors and some of these other
+doors were certainly not locked.
+
+"The burglary was effected with the utmost quiet, and there are no
+indications that any thing was disturbed on the second floor, save in
+Miss Wardour's rooms, therefore (I cite this presumptive evidence), Miss
+Wardour's door was _not_ locked as she supposed it to be; finding this
+to be the case the man signaled to his confederate to come up, and then,
+having a dark lantern, they entered, and surveyed the room. The rest is
+evident; one of them, skilled in his profession, and in the exigencies
+that must arise in the practice of it, administered to Miss Wardour the
+chloroform. Now the operation must have been a delicate one, and the
+length of time necessary to open the safe and get possession of its
+contents covered some minutes; having heard Miss Wardour's statement in
+regard to the effect a powerful dose of chloroform has on her physical
+system, I incline to the opinion that the drug was administered to her
+in minute doses, not once, but two or three times at least; this
+accounts for the bottle and the linen being left in the sleeping room.
+Probably, just at the moment when they had stowed away the last of their
+booty, some slight sound alarmed them and they made a hurried escape,
+forgetting the bottle entirely.
+
+"The robbers left behind them no clues beyond the established fact that
+they were professional burglars. This is proved by the manner in which
+they did their work, and by the tools they must have carried.
+
+"I see plainly here the work of city-bred burglars, and the remainder of
+the work of finding them is to be done in the city, where they will
+eventually try to dispose of some of the jewels, no doubt.
+
+"In order to satisfy myself that there has been no accomplice here, who
+may have been acquainted with the premises, I have searched most
+thoroughly. I have examined the servants closely, and I find nothing to
+indicate that there has been any one concerned in this affair, who is an
+inhabitant, or habitual visitor in the town.
+
+"In a field to the northward, I have found what may be, I think is, a
+trace of the robbers. Two or more men have leaped a ditch, running
+across the field from east to west; and the footmarks in the first
+instance are coming southward, or toward Wardour. These footmarks are
+within a few rods of the road, as if the parties had suddenly abandoned
+that highway, fearing observation from travelers. My supposition is,
+that they approached Wardour Place, keeping to the field, after having
+leaped the ditch, until the northern boundary of the orchard was
+reached; here they must have kept close under the wall, until they came
+to the roadside fence, which they climbed. The fence bears freshly
+scraped marks, as if made by boot heels in climbing over, and some tall
+weeds, growing by the roadside, give evidence of having been hastily and
+heavily trampled. The thieves probably returned after the robbery, in
+the same way; for, one crossing of the fence would not have left so many
+marks visible, either on the boards or among the weeds; and in the
+darkness they fell a little eastward of their first course; for I find,
+at the ditch again, but nearer to the river, the same footprints where
+the ditch has been leaped, this time the footsteps going northward.
+
+"It is probable that the thieves tramped northward under cover of the
+darkness, until they struck the railroad at some previously selected
+point, and from thence took the first train cityward."
+
+The reading came thus abruptly to an end, and the reader looked up to
+note the effect upon his hearers. They both sat in most attentive
+attitudes, and each face wore an expression of puzzled astonishment. Not
+being able to reach their "inner consciousness," and read the mental
+comparisons there being drawn between this report and the very
+dissimilar summing up of the tramp detective, Mr. Belknap drew his
+inferences, as do we all, poor mortals that we are, seeing only the
+outside of the cup and platter. He saw the surprise, the puzzled look,
+that might denote a partial inability to grasp his thoughts and theories
+at once, and a feeling of satisfaction took possession of the breast of
+the astute detective.
+
+Pausing for a comment, and receiving none, he said, with dignified
+gravity:
+
+"I trust that I have made my report sufficiently plain to you, ladies,
+and that you find no flaw in it."
+
+Constance, who with her keen sense of the ridiculous, had been fancying
+the effect this report would have upon the detective in ambush, and
+struggling hard with her own risibilities, mastered herself finally, and
+preserving her gravity of expression, replied with a wicked undercurrent
+of meaning:
+
+"It is quite plain to me, sir; I am a poor critic of such matters, but I
+should think it a masterpiece for directness and comprehensiveness."
+
+"And you see nothing in the theory to object to? You think that working
+from these findings, there will be a hope of success?" he queried.
+
+Constance hesitated once more to consider her answer and collect herself
+generally.
+
+"Why, you know, Mr. Belknap," she said at last, and with charming
+ingenuousness, "this is not a matter for my judgment; I rely upon you
+entirely; pray do not hesitate, but continue your investigations in
+whatever direction your judgment leads you. I wish Mr. Lamotte was here
+to confer with you; but, if he were here," and her face became sad as
+she thought of his home coming; "he would hardly be in spirits for such
+a consultation. Mr. Lamotte has bad news awaiting him. We must venture
+this matter without his aid for the present."
+
+The detective's face showed grave concern.
+
+"Bad news for Mr. Lamotte," he murmurs; "I deeply deplore that. He seems
+such a genial, kindly gentleman, so much above the average business man.
+It is not too serious, I hope."
+
+"It is something you would have heard from the first gossip, if you had
+mingled with the town people at all," replied Constance sadly. "I may as
+well tell you what every one knows. Mr. Lamotte's only daughter has
+eloped during his absence, with a very worthless man."
+
+"His only daughter!" repeated the detective in a hushed sympathetic
+voice; "what a blow! what a bitter blow to a father's heart. Ah, madam,"
+turning to Mrs. Aliston, "these things are common, especially so to men
+in my profession, but we can never adjust ourselves to them for all
+that; each one comes to some one with the shock of a never before
+experienced horror. Death is common, the commonest thing of all, but, it
+is the 'king of terrors' still."
+
+His voice, low, splendidly modulated, sadly cadenced, seemed thrilling
+with sympathy, and he sighed as he lowered his eyes to the floor, and
+relapsed into meditation, seemingly forgetful of the business in hand.
+
+Suddenly he started, seeming to recover himself with an effort.
+
+"Pardon my abstraction," he said, a shade of pensiveness still lingering
+in his voice. "In contemplating another's sorrow, I am forgetting your
+business. I can only hope that this matter is not so bad as it might be,
+as such things sometimes are."
+
+"It's as bad as it can be," responded Constance, gloomily. "It won't
+bear discussion; I mentioned it to you, Mr. Belknap, in order to show
+you how entirely absorbed Mr. Lamotte will of necessity be in his own
+affairs when he reaches home, and that we will be obliged to move in
+this matter without him."
+
+"Perhaps there is some one else you may desire to consult, in Mr.
+Lamotte's absence?" hazarded the private detective.
+
+"No," replied Constance; "my lawyer is out of town, and there is no one
+else upon whom I can rely. You must act alone, Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Authorized by you I shall not hesitate to do so," he replied, bowing
+courteously. "The case looks very clear to me. It will be a matter of
+time of course, these old birds are sly; but eventually they will try to
+market their wares, and then we shall have them. You can give me an
+accurate description of all the stolen jewels, Miss Wardour?"
+
+"Oh, certainly."
+
+"Then the sooner that is done the better."
+
+At this moment a soft rap sounded on the door. Constance crossed the
+room and admitted Nelly, who said in a low tone:
+
+"Mr. Francis Lamotte wishes to see you, Miss. I told him you were
+particular engaged, just as you told me; but he said to tell you he had
+just come from his search, and would only detain you for a moment."
+
+Constance paled slightly, and after a moment's thought, said:
+
+"Wait a moment, Nelly." Then she went back and addressed the detective
+and her aunt.
+
+"It is Francis Lamotte," she said, adding, by way of explanation, to the
+detective, "the eldest son of Mr. Lamotte, and brother of the young lady
+who has brought trouble to herself and family. He, Francis, went on
+Saturday, on a self-imposed search through the surrounding country, in
+the hopes of finding some trace of these robbers. If he is but now
+returned he cannot yet have heard of his sister's flight. We cannot let
+him go away in ignorance, and yet," turning a look of swift appeal upon
+her aunt, "Aunt Honor, will _you_ lay aside old prejudices and tell him
+of this sad misfortune?"
+
+Mrs. Aliston looked doubtful for a moment, then a look of satisfied
+commiseration came into her face as she thought:
+
+"She can't be very much infatuated with him or she would herself
+undertake this delicate task, and I can afford to pity the poor fellow,
+since she does not pity him overmuch," hence the strange mingling of
+pleasure and pity in her face as she said aloud:
+
+"Certainly I will break the news to him, my dear, and as gently as is in
+my power."
+
+Constance was turning to give her answer to Nelly when the voice of the
+detective interposed.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, "you tell me this young man has been scouring the
+country in search of information. Would it not be well to hear what
+report he brings? To allow me to see him here in your presence, and then
+let Mrs. Aliston tell him her story. Ill news you know," smiling
+slightly, "come soon enough, at latest."
+
+"Your suggestion is good," replied Constance, whose face continued to
+look anxious and troubled. "We will receive him here, then, and after
+hearing his story, you and I can withdraw."
+
+In the hurry and embarrassment of the moment, and the situation,
+Constance had entirely forgotten the proximity of the concealed
+detective, as also had Mrs. Aliston; and that invisible gentleman began
+to scent the prospect of a long imprisonment.
+
+Obedient to a nod from Constance, Nelly vanished, and soon re-appeared,
+ushering in Francis Lamotte, looking somewhat jaded and travel-worn, but
+quite confident and smiling.
+
+In a few words, Constance made him acquainted with the detective, and
+gave him an outline of the doings at Wardour, including Mr. Belknap's
+discoveries, since he was last there; and the subdued kindness of her
+manner, caused him to wonder not a little and rejoice greatly, within
+himself.
+
+"And so you have been bringing things down to a fine point," said
+Francis, after the greetings were over, and he had listened to
+Constance's explanation of the present state of affairs.
+
+"It appears then that I come just in time; and perhaps you sir," bowing
+to Mr. Belknap, "may conclude that my amateur work has not been quite
+thrown away, or misapplied."
+
+"Pray give me details," said the detective, consulting his watch, which
+was a huge silver affair, quite in keeping with the disguise he still
+wore. "I must economize my time, as much as may be, and shall be glad to
+hear all you have to tell--at once. Miss Wardour instructs me to act in
+this matter, according to my best judgment, and that tells me to shorten
+my stay here, and commence a search in the city."
+
+"All I know is soon told," said young Lamotte, with a light laugh. "I
+rode a great many miles, and asked a great many useless questions.
+Yesterday, however, I learned that two men had boarded a freight train
+bound cityward, at daybreak, Sunday morning, at Blair, a little watering
+station, some fifteen miles from here. I could not get a very accurate
+description of them. They were below the medium size, I should judge,
+wearing loose-fitting dark gray garments, and soft hats, pulled well
+down over their faces. The man at the tank tells me, he noticed
+distinctly that one of them wore very large and heavy boots, and that
+they were daubed here and there with red clay. Acting upon this hint, I
+rode some four miles south-east from Blair, knowing that there is a
+piece of marsh field, which the highway crosses, that has a reddish,
+clayey soil. Here, after asking a good many wrong persons, I found at
+last the right one, in the person of a farmer who, hearing some unusual
+noise among his cattle, arose before daybreak, and, going toward his
+barn, noticed two shadowy forms crossing the field just beyond. They
+were coming from the south, he said, and he watched them until they
+climbed the fence and struck into the road leading toward Blair. It was
+too dark for him to see them distinctly, but as they were then crossing
+a red loam field, we are safe to conclude that they were the two who, a
+little later, took to the freight cars at the water station."
+
+Mr. Belknap had been for some moments writing rapidly in a small
+memorandum book, and as Francis ceased speaking, Constance, after a
+moment's silence, said, more to relieve the stillness than with a desire
+for any further intelligence:
+
+"And is that all, Frank?"
+
+"That is enough," interposed the detective, before the young man could
+reply. "Mr. Lamotte, let me congratulate you; you have done well. This
+confirms my theory, and gives me something to start from when I reach
+the city. I shall go now with a light heart, and a more than moderate
+hope of success."
+
+"Then your business here is about accomplished?" asked Francis.
+
+"It is accomplished, thanks to you. I would like," glancing as he spoke,
+into his note book, "to talk this matter over with you further. It is
+possible I might see you again before leaving for the city. At present,"
+he broke off abruptly, and glanced at Constance.
+
+"I understand," laughed she nervously; "at present you require my
+assistance about that list of jewels. Frank, you will remain here with
+Aunt Honor for a short time; she has, I think, something to say to you.
+We will go to the library, Mr. Belknap," and she turned toward the door.
+
+"Don't hurry matters so, please," expostulated Francis. "Let me say a
+little word to Mr. Belknap before you carry him off. His business here
+being so nearly done, the necessity for extra caution ceases, does it
+not? At least, it would not injure the cause if I carry him over to
+Mapleton to luncheon; will it, think you? You won't leave for the city
+before night, Mr. Belknap, I hope?"
+
+"You are very good," said the detective, with some hesitation. "But, if
+you please, we will renew this subject a little later; now, just excuse
+me," and before the bewildered young man could raise his voice to
+intercept them, Constance and Mr. Belknap had passed from the room, and
+he found himself alone with Mrs. Aliston. Turning toward that lady, he
+was surprised at the look of intent pity she was bending on him, and,
+remembering the words of Constance, he came close beside her, saying:
+
+"You had something to say to me, madam?"
+
+"Yes Frank," he almost started upon hearing his name falling so gently
+from her lips. She was not used to familiarity in addressing him.
+"Prepare yourself to receive a shock, a terrible shock." A look of
+uneasiness, but not of alarm, came over his countenance.
+
+"What is it?" he asked hastily. "Has Evan--done something worse than
+usual?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge. It is not Evan."
+
+"Not Evan, what then; tell me Mrs. Aliston," his face becoming paler and
+paler.
+
+"Frank, your sister has eloped!"
+
+He fell into the nearest chair, white and limp.
+
+"Go on," he whispered hoarsely, lifting a haggard face towards her;
+"tell me--the worst, Mrs. Aliston."
+
+"She has eloped with John Burrill," went on Mrs. Aliston, a shade of
+coldness in her voice. "They ran away on Saturday afternoon."
+
+His head dropped forward and fell upon the table before him. Thus for a
+moment he remained motionless, then his voice broke the stillness,
+sounding faint and hollow.
+
+"Is that--all--you can tell me?"
+
+"All! Yes!" exclaimed Mrs. Aliston in a burst of nervousness. "I wish I
+had not told you so much. Frank don't take it so hard."
+
+He lifted his head, showing her a ghastly face and pale trembling lips.
+
+"Did Constance see Sybil? Does she know--" he broke off abruptly and
+half rising from his chair, stretched out to her an imploring hand.
+
+"Mrs. Aliston," he said hoarsely. "I must see Constance. I _must_. For
+God's sake send her to me, just for one moment."
+
+"But--" began Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"I tell you I _must_ see her," he cried, with sudden fierceness. "I
+shall go to her if there is no other way."
+
+Great drops of sweat stood out on his forehead; once more he looked as
+he had two days before, when he stood alone under the trees of Wardour
+Place, after his parting with Constance.
+
+Seeing that look upon his face, Mrs. Aliston went slowly towards the
+door.
+
+"I will send Constance to you," she said gently and went out, closing
+the door softly.
+
+When he was alone the look upon Francis Lamotte's face became fierce and
+set. Springing to his feet he paced the floor like a mad man.
+
+"That letter," he hissed, "that accursed letter, what has it told? I
+must know! I must know the worst! blind fool that I was to let my own
+hand bring this about. Oh! this is horrible! Am I lost or--"
+
+Suddenly he seemed to recollect himself and dropping into a chair he
+buried his passion-distorted face in his arms and so awaited the coming
+of Constance.
+
+He had not long to wait; soon his listening ear caught the gentle
+opening and closing of the door, and then he felt a light hand upon his
+arm, and a sweet pitying voice said: "Poor Frank, poor boy, don't let
+this overcome you so."
+
+[Illustration: "Poor Frank, don't let this overcome you."]
+
+One hand reached up and clasped the soft hand that rested on his arm,
+but he did not lift his head, as he said brokenly:
+
+"Tell me the worst, Constance."
+
+"Why, Frank! the worst is told."
+
+"But," his hand tightened its clasp, "_you_ know more than she has told
+me."
+
+"No, Frank, nothing more."
+
+He lifted his pale face again.
+
+"Constance--that letter."
+
+She started and flushed.
+
+"What letter, Frank?"
+
+"You know," his eyes scanning her face hungrily. "Her letter. The one I
+brought you two days ago. What was it?"
+
+She drew away her hand.
+
+"It was a note of farewell, Frank. Nothing more."
+
+"Then she told you?" he gasped,--caught his lips between his teeth, and
+waited for her to finish the sentence.
+
+"She told me nothing, Frank. Oh, I wish she had."
+
+He sprang up, overturning his chair in his hasty excitement.
+
+"Nothing!" he cried "she told you _nothing_?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing. The letter was an enigma. How strangely you act,
+Frank. I can't understand you."
+
+Slowly the life color returned to his cheeks and lips, as he answered,
+or stammered:
+
+"Pardon me, Constance. I thought--I feared--I hoped there might be some
+explanation. I thought she must have given you some reason for so
+horrible a step. Are you sure there is no hint, no clue to help us?"
+
+"Frank, listen: Sybil's note explained nothing. It only implored me not
+to think harshly of her, when I should know what she had done, and bade
+me farewell. I could not comprehend its meaning until the news reached
+me that she had fled."
+
+"And you can not guess why she did this thing?"
+
+"No."
+
+He turned away, putting his hand up before his face, and uttering a
+groan. Then he moved toward one of the French windows, pushed it open,
+and leaned out.
+
+"I feel as if I were going mad," he muttered. "Constance, pardon me; I
+must have the air. I must be alone to think, and to face this--this
+disgrace that has come upon us."
+
+And he stepped through the open window, and reeled rather than walked
+down the steps, and out among the trees.
+
+Constance watched him until the shrubbery hid him from view, and then,
+with a quick, nervous glance about the room, and out at the windows, she
+went to the door which shut our tramp detective from view, but not from
+hearing.
+
+"Come out," she whispered, hurriedly. "Now is your time to escape."
+
+He came out, shaking himself like a water dog.
+
+"Ugh!" he exclaimed. "I have been in one position too long."
+
+"I am sorry," began Constance.
+
+"Not for me," he interrupted. "Like most listeners, I heard what I did
+not bargain for; but--I have not heard too much. Miss Wardour, don't
+reproach yourself, or Fate; that little extra hearing was a godsend.
+And now, let me out, quickly, before some one else claims your time."
+
+She looked cautiously out into the hall, then closed the door again.
+
+"I wish I could know your opinion regarding this business--all of it,"
+she said, wistfully. "I begin to feel helpless, like a rudderless
+mariner."
+
+"It's a hard knot," he said, going toward the door; "a very hard knot.
+But we will untie it, Miss Wardour, and then you will understand all
+these things. Now tell me, where is your detective going next?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"You must find out," imperatively.
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"And come to me in the garden."
+
+"Very well," looking out once more. "Your way is clear, sir; go straight
+to the kitchen entrance."
+
+He passed out, and went his way, swiftly, quietly, and unobserved; and
+Constance returned to Mr. Belknap, and the completion of her jewel list.
+
+"The combat deepens," mused the tramp detective, as he paced slowly down
+the garden walk. "The plot, thickens. I come for a catfish,--I may catch
+a whale. Oh, what a knot; what a beautiful, delightful, horribly hard
+knot; and how my fingers itch to begin at it. But soft--easy; there is
+more to be tied in. Let us pay out the rope, and wait."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+EVAN.
+
+
+Miss Wardour and the private detective had just completed their work of
+transferring to paper a minute description of the Wardour diamonds, when
+the door opened quietly, and Francis Lamotte, pale, heavy-eyed, but
+quite composed, appeared before them.
+
+"Have you finished your work?" he asked wearily. "If so, may I intrude?"
+
+"Come, by all means," replied Constance, gently. "You are not intruding,
+Frank."
+
+"Thank you." He came forward, and sank listlessly into a chair.
+"Constance, who brought you this news about--Sybil?"
+
+Constance glanced toward the detective, and Francis, interpreting the
+look, hastened to say:
+
+"It is known to Mr. Belknap, I presume--this shameful business. There is
+no use of secrecy, where all the world is already agape. My sister, you
+tell me, has eloped with a low brute. I am numbed with the horror of it.
+But I must hear it all; every word, every particular. Who brought you
+the news, Constance?"
+
+"Doctor Heath," replied the girl, icily.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+The interjection came through shut teeth, and just for a moment the
+dark shadow flitted across his features; then he said, with quiet
+composure:
+
+"Heath? ah, yes; and he gave you all the particulars,--all that he had
+gathered?"
+
+"Doctor Heath told me all that he had learned," she replied, still
+coldly.
+
+Frank Lamotte arose slowly, wearily.
+
+"I must see Heath," he said, taking up his hat. "It is small wonder that
+you speak so frostily to the brother of a girl who has disgraced
+herself, Constance. However, I realize my fall; henceforth, I know my
+place."
+
+The detective arose and moved uneasily to the window.
+
+"I am sorry to hear this absurdity, Frank," said Constance, with some
+severity. "You know my position always in these matters; only yourself
+can injure yourself in my eyes; and I am sorry to hear you speak thus of
+Sybil. I have yet to be convinced that in some manner, she is not more a
+victim than disloyal. _I_ have not condemned her; why should you, her
+brother?"
+
+A hot flush came over the young man's face, and his eyes glowed with a
+strange light. He shifted his position uneasily; then, abruptly, he
+turned to the detective.
+
+"If under the circumstances, and having seen my mood, you care to accept
+my hospitality, it is still extended, sir," he said, somewhat awkwardly;
+"will you accompany me to town, and afterwards lunch with me?"
+
+"I will accompany you to the town," replied the detective, coming back
+from the window; "but I fear I must decline your hospitality for to-day;
+another time, perhaps."
+
+Francis bowed stiffly, then turned to Constance.
+
+"Constance, good bye," he said, mournfully, and holding out his hand. "I
+will not displease you again; I will keep at a safe distance."
+
+"You will displease me by doing that," she replied, kindly, at the same
+time extending her hand. "I mean by staying away; I want you to come
+often, and to bring me any news that may come from Sybil. Remember, I
+intend to be her champion, and you must be mine."
+
+"Then I _may_ come as a bringer of news?" he asked.
+
+"You may come as usual," she retorted, a trifle sharply, "and come
+_especially_ when there is news."
+
+"Thank you;" he bowed over her hand, then turned to the private
+detective.
+
+"Good morning, Miss Wardour," said that individual, coming forward; "it
+is probable that I shall not see you again, as I will leave for the city
+this evening, but you will hear from me as the case progresses, or it is
+possible that I may find it expedient to pay this place another visit."
+
+"In which case, you will of course present yourself," smiled Constance.
+"May I ask where you intend to pass your time until you leave for the
+city, sir?"
+
+"I can hardly say; about the town, as it may happen."
+
+"Ah! Pardon the question; I was thinking of the business in hand; you
+can hardly hope to find anything new in the village."
+
+"One can never tell, Miss Wardour. If I do learn anything new, you shall
+hear from me. Present my adieus to Mrs. Aliston, and once more good
+day."
+
+Constance watched the two as they walked away together, the handsome
+lithe form of the younger man in such marked contrast with the shambling
+gait of the detective. Only for a moment, however, then she went swiftly
+through the halls, out at a rear entrance, and down the path toward the
+rear gardens.
+
+Here she found the tramp detective busy, or pretending to busy himself
+with a small pruning knife.
+
+"If you want to follow him, you must make haste," she said,
+breathlessly; "he is walking townward with Mr. Lamotte; intends to
+loiter about the town and take some evening train."
+
+"Pray don't appear so much excited," said the tramp detective, dropping
+his pruning knife, and picking it up again with great deliberation.
+"There is a man coming up from the river, he must be getting pretty near
+us. No, don't look now."
+
+"Dear me!" began Constance.
+
+"Listen," he went on, without regarding her ejaculation. "I am going to
+leave here in two minutes; you can say that you have discharged me. I
+may not see you again for months. I may return at any time. I may as
+well warn you here, not to _confide_ anything to Mr. Belknap; at another
+time you will learn why. Another thing, it is just possible that you
+may need my services at some future time. I was about to give you an
+address that will reach me at any time, but we may be observed by that
+fellow who is coming. I will send you by mail a card containing the
+address. Pray call upon me if you need my aid. I hope Belknap will find
+your robbers, but you were wise not to tell him that you had saved your
+diamonds. Keep your counsel on that subject always, Miss Wardour, it
+will save you trouble. And now you had better move on. I intend to
+follow and overtake your two departing guests."
+
+He turned carelessly away as he spoke, and Constance, after a pretense
+of examining the shrubbery, faced about and walked a few paces down the
+path, then lifting her eyes carelessly, they fell upon the intruder.
+Uttering a low ejaculation of surprise, she hastened toward him.
+
+"Evan! why Evan!" she cried, anxiously. "You look ghostly, and you must
+be in trouble."
+
+[Illustration: "Why, Evan, you look ghostly!"]
+
+"Or I would not be here," said Evan Lamotte, bitterly. "Evan, the
+ne'er-do-well, does not seek his friends when the sun shines. Eh, Conny?
+Don't go in," laying one hand upon her arm, as she was about to turn
+toward the house, "I--I came to talk with you."
+
+"But you will come in, Evan?"
+
+"No, I should fall out with your old cat--I beg pardon, Con., I mean
+your old aunt, directly."
+
+"Aunt Honor shut herself in her own room an hour ago, child; she has
+been worn out with too much excitement. We have had a detective here all
+the morning, not to mention Frank, who has made a wonderful discovery."
+
+"I dare say," muttered the young fellow, dryly, "Frank will make another
+wonderful discovery soon. Conny," clutching at her arm again, "_have you
+heard_?"
+
+"Have I heard what, Evan?"
+
+"About Sybil--my sister," his voice broke, ending in a sob.
+
+"Yes, Evan," she replied, very gently, "I have heard."
+
+It was noticeable, the difference between her treatment of this younger
+brother of Sybil Lamotte and the one who had just gone.
+
+With Francis she had preserved, even while her heart was full of
+sympathy and pity for his trouble, a certain dignity even in her
+kindness, an arm's length repellant stateliness, that galled and
+tormented the ardent, impulsive, and too eager young man. With Evan she
+was all pity, all sympathy, full of familiar sisterly kindness and
+patience.
+
+Women are strange creatures; we may be as handsome as the Apollo, and
+they will steel their hearts against us. If we would have the
+confidence, the caresses, the tenderest love of a pitying woman, we must
+be mentally, or morally, or physically maimed, or halt, or blind.
+
+Evan Lamotte was one of the world's unfortunates, and the pitying heart
+of the fair heiress had no scorn for such as he. A black sheep, so they
+called Evan Lamotte, not yet of age, with a slender physique, a pale,
+handsome face, handsome in spite of his dissipations. He seemed
+possessed of an evil spirit, that cried incessantly, "drink, drink,
+drink." Every means had been tried to win him from his dissipation;
+tears, entreaties, threats, bribes, were alike unavailing. In spite of
+himself, against himself, Evan Lamotte seemed driven downward by a
+relentless, unseen enemy.
+
+"Reckless, worthless, hopeless." These were the adjectives commonly
+coupled with his name, and yet his sister had deemed him worth her
+loving; his mother had deemed him worth her tears, and Constance Wardour
+had deemed him worth her pitying kindness.
+
+"Constance," he choked back the sobs that arose in his throat; "don't
+think that I have been drinking; when a fellow like me is grieved almost
+to madness, you call him maudlin, but I never cry in my cups, Con. And I
+have been perfectly sober since Saturday night, or if you like,
+yesterday morning. I drank hard all that day after they told me, Con.,
+but not one drop since; not one. Con., tell me what have you heard?"
+
+"About all that is known, I think, Evan. Oh! Evan, do you know, can you
+guess why she has done this--this terrible thing? Come down this walk,
+Evan; let us sit under that tree, on that bench."
+
+She moved toward the spot indicated, he following mechanically, and
+seating himself beside her, in obedience to her gesture.
+
+"Do I know the reason?" he repeated. "Do I guess it? Oh, if I could
+guess it; it has haunted me every moment; that strong desire to know
+what drove my sister to this fate? It is the question I came here to
+ask. Con., help me to think; she must have said something; must have
+given you some hint."
+
+"Alas. But she never did."
+
+"And you can not guess; you have no clue to help us unravel this
+mystery?"
+
+Constance shook her head.
+
+"Con., oh, Con., _you_ don't think--you can't think that she loved
+that--that beast?"
+
+"No, Evan, I can't think that."
+
+"Then," excitedly; "you must think as I do; that there is a mystery;
+that there has been foul play. Con., I don't care for anything on earth,
+except Sybil; I _must_ know what has driven her to this; I must help
+her; I can help her; I can take her from that brute."
+
+His face was livid, and his eyes glowed with the fierce light that we
+have seen in the eyes of his elder brother. Constance saw the growing
+excitement, and sought to soothe it.
+
+"Evan, let us not anticipate," she said, gently. "All that we can do for
+Sybil shall be done, but it must be with her consent. When does your
+father come?"
+
+"I don't know," sullenly; "I telegraphed him Saturday; he will come
+to-day, no doubt. But he will come too late."
+
+"Alas, yes; I regret so much that it was for my sake he was absent from
+home at such a time, and Frank, too."
+
+"Frank? bah! What could he do? What could any one do?"
+
+She turned, and scanned his face keenly.
+
+"Evan, you suspect, or you know something."
+
+"I have a thought," he replied. "I hardly dare call it a suspicion. If I
+could know it to be the truth," he hissed, between set, white teeth, "I
+should know what to do, then."
+
+"Don't look like that, Evan; you look wicked."
+
+"I feel wicked," he cried, fiercely. "You can never guess how wicked.
+When I think of that brute, that beast, that viper; of the power he must
+hold over _her_, I am mad, crazed. But he will come back, and then--then
+I will murder him, and set her free."
+
+With his gleaming eyes, his clenched hands, his white, uplifted face, he
+looked like a beautiful evil demon. Constance shuddered as she gazed,
+and then her hand closed firmly upon his arm, as she said:
+
+"Evan, listen: Do you think it would lighten Sybil's burden to hear you
+rave thus? Do you want to make her lot still harder to bear? Sybil loves
+you. Would it make her heart lighter to have you embroil yourself for
+her sake? You know your faults. If you let this hideous idea take place
+in your mind now, it will break out some day when the demon possesses
+you. If Sybil Lamotte returns, and hears you utter such threats, she
+will have an added torture to bear; she will have two curses instead of
+one. You can not help Sybil by committing an act that would cut you off
+from her forever. You have caused her heart-aches enough already. See,
+now, if you can not lighten her burden in some different, better way.
+But all this is superfluous, perhaps. I wonder if Sybil will come back,
+at all?"
+
+Lower and lower sank his head, as he listened, and then something that
+she had said seemed to chain and hold his thoughts.
+
+Slowly the evil light faded from his eyes, and into his face crept a
+strange, fixed look. Forgetful of time, or of his companion's presence,
+his thoughts followed this new course, his hands clenching and
+unclenching themselves, his teeth burying themselves from time to time
+in his thin under lip. So long he sat thus, that Constance herself, from
+watching and wondering at his strange mood, wandered off into a sad
+reverie, the subject of which she could hardly have told, it was such a
+vague mixture of Sybil's sorrows and her own unrest.
+
+After a time he stirred as if arousing himself with difficulty from a
+nightmare; and Constance, recalled to herself, in turn, looked up to
+encounter his gaze, and to be astonished at the new, purposeful
+self-restraint upon his face, and the inscrutable intentness of his eye.
+
+"Con.," he said slowly, even his voice seeming to have gained a new
+strange undertone, "Con., you are an angel. You have set me on my feet."
+
+"On your feet, Evan?"
+
+"Yes, on my feet, mentally at least. I don't suppose any one could set
+me permanently on my physical, corporeal pins. Beg pardon for the slang,
+Conny, I don't forget how you and Sybil used to lecture me for that, and
+my other vices. Poor sis, she had given up the drink talks latterly,
+given me over as hopeless, and so I am. Con., I have made a new
+resolve."
+
+Constance smiled faintly.
+
+"Oh, you smile. You think I am going to swear off again. No, Con.,
+that's of no use, I should know myself for a liar all the time. I shall
+never quit liquor; I _can't_ and I tell you," he whispered this
+fiercely, "they _know that I can't_, and they know _why_ I can't. Oh!
+you need not recoil; we are not the first family that has inherited a
+taint; and I am the one unfortunate in whom that taint has broken forth.
+Let me tell you a secret; since my first potation, my mother has never
+once remonstrated with me; never once upbraided; my proud, high tempered
+mother. She knows the folly of trying to reclaim the irreclaimable.
+But," lowering his voice, sadly, "my mother never loved me."
+
+She shuddered at the tone, knowing that this last statement, at least,
+was all too true, and, to direct his thoughts from so painful and
+delicate a subject, said:
+
+"And your resolve then, Evan?"
+
+"My resolve," his mouth settling into hard lines once more. "Oh, that!
+well, it is a resolve you put into my head, Con.; although I'll swear
+the thought was never in _your_ mind. I have resolved to act upon your
+advice; to curb my heathenish temper, and to _help Sybil_, when the
+_right time comes_, in the right way."
+
+She looked at him fixedly.
+
+"Evan, are you sure this last state of your mind is not worse than the
+first?"
+
+He laughed, ironically.
+
+"How hard it is to make you believe that any good exists in me."
+
+"Oh, not that, Evan, but you look so strange; not so wild as before,
+but--"
+
+"Just as wicked."
+
+"Well, yes!"
+
+"Well, Con., you can't expect a fellow to feel pious all in an instant;
+mine is a pious resolve, and the proper feeling must follow. Isn't that
+about how they preach it?"
+
+"That's about how they preach it, sir. Now listen, I don't intend to
+stir one step, or allow you to stir, until you have explained some of
+your dark sayings; you are going to tell me what this new resolve is."
+
+Evan glanced at her from under his long lashes, and seemed to hesitate.
+He knew that Constance, in what he had sometimes termed her "imperative
+mood," was a difficult element to contend with. But he was not quite
+prepared to divulge just the precise thoughts that were in his mind.
+
+"Con.," he said, slowly, "do you think, if my sister came back very
+penitent, or very miserable, that my father would take her home?"
+
+"I don't know, Evan."
+
+"Well, that's another of the things that brought me to you. I was
+overwhelmed with misery, and my head was chaos. I was wild to wreak
+vengeance upon that man, and filled with dread at the thought that Sybil
+might come back and meet with no welcome. I believe she will come. I
+know that man would not miss the triumph of bringing her back among us.
+Now, Con., my father thinks you infallible, and you can do anything with
+Frank. I want you to see them, and make them take Sybil home, when she
+comes. Yes, and John Burrill, too, if she _will_ have him."
+
+"Why, Evan!"
+
+"Then," he went on, breathlessly, "the world must have a reason for this
+marriage; for, not the greatest fool in W---- will believe that Sybil
+freely chose that villain. Do you pave the way for Sybil's return; I
+will find a reason for the marriage,--a bone to throw to the dogs. For,
+I tell you, Con., the true reason will never be told."
+
+Thinking of Sybil's letter, Constance could but agree with him in this;
+and that letter, too, had caused her to think that Sybil had expected,
+or hoped, or feared, a return to W----; which, she could only guess.
+
+"You will furnish a reason, Evan? You are mystifying me."
+
+"Never mind that. I, Evan Lamotte, worthless--black sheep--sot; _I_ will
+find a reason, I tell you; one that will not be questioned, and that
+will spare Sybil."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Then, aided by you, Sybil can come back to us. Aided by my new strong
+resolve, I will receive that Burrill,--it nearly chokes me to speak his
+name,--just as Sybil shall dictate; and then, aided by the old man's
+money, we may be able to buy him off and get him out of the country."
+
+"Why, Evan Lamotte," cried Constance, with a burst of hopefulness, "you
+have actually evolved a practical scheme. I begin to feel less
+hopeless."
+
+"Oh, I have a brain or two left, when a firm hand, like yours, shakes me
+up, sets me straight, and gets me in running order. Will you help,
+Con.?"
+
+"Will I help! Sybil Lamotte, if she comes back, will be warmly welcomed
+by me, and by all W----, if I can bring it about."
+
+He sprang to his feet and seized her hands. "Thank you, Conny," he
+cried; "my heart is lightened now; I can 'bide my time,' as the novels
+say. Only do your part, Con."
+
+"Trust me for that. Now come to luncheon, Evan."
+
+He dropped her hands, and turned away abruptly.
+
+"I wont! I can't," he said, almost gruffly. "Go in, Con., and be
+prepared to welcome Sybil back; and I," he added, moving away, and
+turning a wicked look over his shoulder, "will be prepared to welcome
+Burrill;" a low, ironical laugh followed these words, and Evan Lamotte
+leaped the low garden palings, and went back as he had come, by the
+river way.
+
+"What can that strange boy mean," thought Constance, gazing after him;
+"he makes me nervous, and yet he was reasonable after his fashion. Poor
+Evan, he is indeed unfortunate; here he has been breaking his heart over
+Sybil, and before night he may be singing in some saloon, in a state of
+mad intoxication. Altogether, they are a very uncomfortable pair to
+entertain in one half day, Frank and Evan Lamotte."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
+
+
+Doctor Clifford Heath sat alone in his office at half-past eleven
+o'clock. His horse, "all saddled and bridled," stood below in the
+street, awaiting him. On a small stand, near the door, lay his hat,
+riding whip, gloves. On the desk beside him, lay a small pyramid of
+letters and papers, and these he was opening, and scanning in a
+careless, leisurely fashion, with his chair tilted back, his heels on
+high, his entire person very much at ease.
+
+Over one letter he seemed to ponder, blowing great clouds of smoke from
+the secret depths of a huge black Dutch pipe the while. Finally, he laid
+letter and pipe aside, lowered his feet, wheeled about in his chair,
+drew pen, ink, and paper before him on the desk, and began to write
+rapidly only a few lines, and the letter was done, and signed, and
+sealed, with grim satisfaction; then he gathered up his scattered
+missives, and locked them away carefully.
+
+"I won't go back," he muttered, picking up his pipe once more. "I
+wouldn't go now for a kingdom; I won't be put to rout by a woman, and
+that is just what it would amount to. I'll see the play played out, and
+I'll stay in W----."
+
+Again the smoke puffed out from the black pipe; again the heels were
+elevated, and, drawing some papers toward him, Dr. Heath began to absorb
+the latest news, looking as little like a jilted lover or a despairing
+swain, as possible.
+
+Presently the office door opened to admit a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed
+young man, of aristocratic bearing and handsome countenance, but looking
+extremely haggard and heavy eyed.
+
+Doctor Heath turned his head lazily at the sound of the opening door,
+but seeing who his visitor was, he laid his pipe aside and arose with
+kindly alacrity.
+
+"Come along, Ray, old fellow," he said cheerily, "why you look as if the
+witches had made your bed."
+
+"It's about the way I feel, too," said the new comer, dropping wearily
+into the easy chair pushed toward him. "Heath, you are a good fellow,
+and I can't blame you for thinking me a cad. Don't stop your smoke."
+
+"Why as to that," replied the doctor, easily, and taking a long pull at
+his pipe, "we are all cads, more or less, in certain emergencies, and
+yours was an unusually severe blow. We all have to take them in some
+shape or other, at one time, or another; these soft hands hit hard,
+but--it's the penalty we pay for being sons of Adam. Although now that I
+come to think of it, I can't recall that I ever insisted upon being a
+son of Adam."
+
+"Why!" said Raymond Vandyck, opening his eyes in languid surprise, "you
+talk as if _you_ had received one of those hard hits."
+
+"So I have, my boy; so I have," he replied _debonairly_. "If I were a
+woman I would get out a fresh handkerchief and tell you all about it.
+Being a man I--smoke."
+
+Young Vandyck sighed heavily, and picked up a newspaper, running his eye
+listlessly over the columns. Here was another upon whom the flight of
+Sybil Lamotte had fallen a heavy blow. He had loved Sybil since they
+were boy and girl, and lately for a few short months they had been
+betrothed, then Sybil had asked to be released, and in such a manner
+that it left him no room for remonstrance. The engagement had been
+broken, but the young man had not quite abandoned hope.
+
+Now, however, hope had deserted him. Sybil was lost to him utterly, and
+hearing the news of her flight he had rushed into Doctor Heath's
+presence a temporary madman. He could not have found a wiser or more
+sympathetic friend and adviser, and he fully realized this fact. The
+doctor's patience, delicacy and discretion had screened him from the
+prying eyes and prating tongues of the curious ones, who were anxious to
+probe his wounds, and see how "Vandyck would take it," and had made him
+his firm friend for always.
+
+Ever since the advent of Doctor Heath, Vandyck had been one of his
+warmest admirers, and this admiration had now ripened into a sincere and
+lasting friendship.
+
+"You are a good fellow, Heath," said Vandyck, suddenly, throwing down
+his paper. "I want to tell you that I appreciate such kindness as you
+did me. I don't suppose you would ever go off your head like that. I
+shan't again."
+
+"No, I don't think you will," responded the doctor soberly. "As for
+going off my head, Lord bless you, man, it's in the temperament. I might
+never lose my head in just that way. We're not made alike, you see. Now
+I should be struck with a dumb devil, and grow surly and cynical as time
+went on, and of all contemptible men a cynic is the worst. You will have
+your burst of passion, and carry a tender spot to your grave, but you
+can't squeeze all the sunshine out of your soul, any more than out of
+your Saxon face."
+
+Vandyck laughed dismally.
+
+"It's hard lines, however," he said. "But I'm bound to face the music.
+Only--I wish I could understand it."
+
+"So do all her friends. Ray, let me give you a little advice."
+
+"Well."
+
+"After a little, go call on Miss Wardour and talk with her about this
+affair. I think she knows as much as is known, and I am certain she has
+not lost her faith in her friend."
+
+"Thank you, Heath; I will."
+
+Just here the office door admitted another visitor in the form of
+Francis Lamotte.
+
+He, too, looked pale and worn, but he carried his head erect, if not
+with some defiance. "Do, Heath. Morning, Vandyck," he mumbled, flinging
+himself upon a settee with scant ceremony. "You will excuse me from
+asking 'what's the news?'"
+
+"I should ask what's the matter?" retorted Clifford Heath, eyeing him
+closely.
+
+"Fix me up one of your potions, Heath," replied Francis, drawing a hard
+deep breath. "I've had another of those cursed attacks."
+
+Dr. Heath arose and went slowly toward a cabinet, slowly unlocked it and
+then turned and surveyed his patient.
+
+"Another attack," he said somewhat severely, "the second one in three
+days, and not a light one, if I can judge. Let me tell you, Lamotte, you
+must not have a third of these attacks for some time to come."
+
+[Illustration: "You must not have a third attack."]
+
+"I won't," replied Lamotte, with a nervous laugh. "This one has done me
+up; I feel weak as a kitten, meek as a lamb."
+
+"Humph," this from Doctor Heath, who proceeded to drop into a druggist's
+glass, sundry globules of dark liquid, which he qualified with other
+globules from another bottle, and then half filling the glass with some
+pale brandy, handed it to Lamotte who drained it off eagerly.
+
+"Physician, heal thyself," quoted Raymond Vandyck, watching the patient
+with some interest. "Why don't you do your own dosing, Lamotte?"
+
+"I'm shaky," replied Lamotte, lifting an unsteady hand. "And then we are
+advised to have faith in our physician. I should swallow my own mixture
+with fear and trembling."
+
+"And pour it down your neighbor's throat with entire satisfaction,"
+interpolated Doctor Heath.
+
+"Precisely, just as you pour this stuff down mine. Thanks, Heath,"
+handing back the glass. "Now then, we are all friends here, and you two
+know what I wish to learn. Heath," shading his eyes with his hand as he
+reclined on the settee. "I came back, from a two day's tramp about the
+country in search of Miss Wardour's robbers, or of traces of them, this
+morning. Let that pass. I called at Wardour Place first of all, have
+just come from there in fact--and Constance tells me--"
+
+He paused as if struggling with some emotion, and Ray Vandyck stirred
+uneasily, flushed slightly, and partially turned away his face. Only
+Clifford Heath retained his stoical calm.
+
+"Well!" he said coolly, "Miss Wardour tells you--what?"
+
+"That my sister has run--away."
+
+"Oh! Well, Lamotte, I am glad you know it. It's a hard story to tell a
+friend."
+
+"So thought Constance, and she would give me no particulars, she told
+me," letting his hand fall from before his face, "to come to you."
+
+"And why to me?" coldly.
+
+"She said that you knew the particulars--that you brought her the news."
+
+"True; I did. Still it's a hard story to tell, Lamotte."
+
+"And no one will tell it more kindly, I know. Say on, Heath; don't
+spare me, or mind Vandyck's presence--I don't. I know that I must hear
+this thing, and I know that Ray is my friend. Go on, Heath; get it over
+soon."
+
+Raymond Vandyck arose and walked to the window, standing with his back
+toward them while Doctor Heath, in a plain, straightforward, kindly
+manner, told the story of Sybil's flight, just as he had told it to
+Constance Wardour.
+
+For a long time after the story was done, Lamotte lay with his face
+buried in his arms, silent and motionless, while young Vandyck stood
+like a graven image at his post by the window.
+
+Finally, Lamotte brought himself to a sitting posture, and, with the
+look and tone of a man utterly crushed, said:
+
+"Thank you, Heath. You have done me a kindness. This is the most
+terrible, most unheard of thing. My poor sister must be mad. She has
+_not_ been herself, now that I remember, for some weeks. Something has
+been preying upon her spirits. There has been--by heavens! Ray, Ray
+Vandyck, can you guess at the cause of this madness?"
+
+Raymond Vandyck wheeled suddenly, and came close to his interlocutor,
+the hot, angry blood surging to his face.
+
+"There was plenty of 'method in this madness,'" he sneered. "As to the
+_cause_, it may not be so hard to discover as you seem to imagine." And,
+before they could recover from their astonishment, he was out and away,
+banging the door fiercely as he went.
+
+For a moment the lurid light gleamed in Frank Lamotte's eye, and it
+seemed that another "attack" was about to seize him, but he calmed
+himself with a mighty effort, and turning toward Doctor Heath, said,
+plaintively:
+
+"Has all the world run mad, Heath? What the devil does that fellow
+mean?"
+
+"I know no more than you, Lamotte," said the doctor, upon whose face sat
+a look of genuine surprise. "I don't think he quite knows himself. He
+has been sadly worked up by this affair."
+
+"Humph! I suppose so. Well, for Sybil's sake, I forgive him, this once;
+but--I hope he will outgrow these hallucinations."
+
+"Doubtless he will," replied the doctor, somewhat drily. "I say,
+Lamotte, you had better run down to my house, and turn in for a couple
+of hours; you look done up,--and you can't stand much more of this sort
+of thing. I must go now, to see old Mrs. Grady, over at the mills."
+
+"Then I will just stretch myself here, Heath," replied Lamotte. "I don't
+feel equal to a start out just now; and, look here, old fellow," turning
+a shade paler, as he spoke, "deal gently with a fallen rival after
+this--disgrace. Of course, I quit the field; but--don't ride over me too
+hard."
+
+The doctor drew on his riding gloves with grave precision, put his hat
+on his head, and took up his riding whip; then he turned toward Lamotte.
+
+"I suppose you refer to Miss Wardour?" he said blandly.
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Then rest easy. I do not pretend in that quarter. Miss Wardour is yours
+for all me; and--you are not such a fool as to think that she will let
+your sister's affair alter her feelings for you--if she cares for you?"
+
+Lamotte sprang up, staring with surprise.
+
+"Why, but--Heath, you owned yourself my rival!"
+
+"True."
+
+"And--upon my word, I believe you were ahead of the field."
+
+"True again; but--_I have withdrawn_." And Doctor Heath went out, closed
+the door deliberately, and ran lightly down the stairs. He found Ray
+Vandyck loitering on the pavement.
+
+"I knew you would be down presently," said Vandyck, anxiously; "I want
+to say, Heath, don't notice what I said to that cad. He maddened me;
+above all, don't think that one word I uttered was intended to reflect
+upon _her_."
+
+"He has withdrawn," muttered Francis Lamotte, settling himself back as
+comfortably as possible, and clasping his hands behind his head.
+
+"And _he_ means what he says; something has happened in my absence; I
+can't understand it, but it's so much the better for me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+
+Saturday, Sunday, Monday, three days; three nights. The events
+chronicled in the foregoing chapters, crowded themselves into the space
+of three days.
+
+But these were exceptional days; life does not move on thus, especially
+in the usually staid and well regulated town of W----. Men and women are
+not qualified to run a long, high pressure race. Action, and
+then--reaction. Reaction from every emotion, every sorrow, every joy.
+God help us.
+
+We weep for days, but not for years. We suffer, but here and there comes
+a respite from our pain. We live in a delirium of joy for a brief space,
+and vegetate in dullness, in apathy, in hardness of heart, in
+indifference, or in despair, according to our various natures, for the
+rest of our natural lives. So let it be, it is the lot common to all.
+
+    "No man can hide from it, but it will find him out,
+    Nor run from it, but it overtaketh him."
+
+After the robbery, after the flight, after the coming and departure of
+the two detectives, dullness settled down upon our friends in W----.
+
+It is needless to chronicle the effect of the news of their daughter's
+flight, upon Mr. and Mrs. Lamotte.
+
+That is a thing we can all understand; we can picture it for ourselves.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte shut herself up in her chamber, and refused to be comforted
+by family or friends. Mr. Lamotte, bitterly grieved, terribly shocked,
+did all that a father could do, which was in effect, nothing.
+
+One day, the mail brought them a copy of the marriage certificate of
+Sybil Lamotte and John Burrill; but that was all. Where the fugitives
+had gone, could not be discovered.
+
+Francis Lamotte went about as usual; with a little more of haughtiness,
+a little more reserve, and just a tinge of melancholy in his manner. He
+took Constance at her word, and came and went very much as of old, but
+was so watchful over himself, so subdued, and as she thought, improved
+in manner, that she declared confidentially to her aunt that he had
+become "really quite a comfortable person to have in one's parlor." She
+ceased snubbing him altogether, and received him with the frank
+graciousness that used to charm Doctor Heath; assuring herself, often,
+that "trouble was improving poor Frank."
+
+Evan Lamotte was Evan Lamotte still. Now drunk, now sober; a little more
+furious and ready to quarrel than usual, when in his cups; a little more
+taciturn and inclined to solitude in his sober moments.
+
+Doctor Heath went about among his patients, wearing his usual cheery
+smile, speaking the usual comforting word, smoking, philosophizing,
+rallying his friends, satirizing his enemies, genial, independent,
+inscrutable as ever. He never called at Wardour Place, of course. He
+never sought an opportunity for meeting or seeing Constance, and he
+never avoided her; altogether, his conduct, from a romantic standpoint,
+was very reprehensible.
+
+And Constance; perhaps of them all, these three days had effected the
+greatest change in her, as any chain of startling or strange events
+must, in a measure, change the current of thought and feeling in a life
+that has hitherto floated under a roseate cloud, on a sea without a
+ripple. She had been rocked by storm waves; had seen a bark shipwrecked
+close beside her; had even encountered mutiny in her own craft; when the
+lull came, and she drifted quietly, she found herself forever face to
+face with the facts that sorrow and trouble were abroad in the land,
+that crime existed outside of the newspapers; that heartache and self
+dissatisfaction were possibilities, and that even a queen absolute might
+come under the shadow of each and all. Not that Constance had never been
+aware of all these things, but we never can _realize_ what we have never
+experienced.
+
+We look sadly sympathetic, and murmur "poor things," when we see some
+mourner weeping over a dead loved one, but we never comprehend the
+sorrow until we bury our own dead.
+
+Constance had loved Sybil Lamotte as a sister; she thought and sorrowed
+not a little over the strange freak Fate had played with her friend's
+life, and she wondered often if Doctor Heath had really lost all regard
+for her; she knew, as what woman does not, that a warm regard had once
+existed; and she assured herself that whether he had or not, was a
+matter of no consequence to her. "She had not the slightest interest in
+Doctor Heath," so she told Mrs. Aliston, and, like him, she never sought
+nor avoided a meeting.
+
+It is singular, however, that a man who possessed for her "not the
+slightest interest" should so often present himself to her thoughts, and
+certain it is that at this period of our story her mind had a most
+provoking habit of running away from a variety of subjects straight to
+Clifford Heath, M. D. But women at best are strange creatures, and
+subject to singular phenomena.
+
+Mrs. Aliston just here experienced some dissatisfaction; Clifford Heath
+was with her a favorite; Francis Lamotte was her pet hatred. To see the
+favorite made conspicuous by his absence, and have his name, like that
+of a disinherited daughter, tabooed from the family converse, while the
+obnoxious Francis, because of his provokingly good behavior, made rapid
+strides into the good graces of the queen of the castle, would have
+exasperated most good, maneuvering old ladies, but Mrs. Aliston
+maneuvered principally for her own comfort, so she sighed a little,
+regretted the present state of affairs in a resigned and becoming
+manner, ceased to mention the name of Doctor Heath, and condescended to
+receive Francis graciously, after that young man had made a special
+call, during which he saw only Mrs. Aliston, and apologized amply and
+most humbly for his unceremonious ejectment of that lady in favor of
+Constance, on the day when the former undertook, "as gently as
+possible," to break to him the news of his sister's flight.
+
+To make an apology gracefully is in itself, an art; and this art Francis
+Lamotte was skilled in; indeed but for a certain physical weakness, he
+would have been an ornament to the diplomatic service. Alas, that there
+must always be a "but" in the way of our moral completeness, our
+physical perfection and our life's success.
+
+Days and weeks passed on, and the household of Wardour remained in
+utmost quiet; that at Mapleton, shrouded in gloom and sorrowful
+seclusion. Mrs. Lamotte saw no one. Mr. Lamotte went out only to look
+after his business interests.
+
+When the copy of Sybil's marriage certificate came, Frank, like a loyal
+knight, came to Constance with the news, told it with a sad countenance
+and in few words, and went away soon and sorrowfully.
+
+One day, not long after, Mrs. Aliston returned from the town where she
+had spent four long hours in calling upon the wives of the Episcopalian,
+the Unitarian and the Presbyterian ministers, for Mrs. Aliston was a
+liberal soul, and hurled herself into Constance's favorite sitting room,
+in a state of unusual excitement.
+
+"Well, Con.," she panted, pulling hard the while at her squeezed on
+gloves, "I've found it out;" and she dropped into the easiest chair, and
+pulled and panted afresh.
+
+Constance looked up from a rather uninteresting "Novel with a Moral,"
+and asked, as indifferently as possible:
+
+"What have you found out, auntie?"
+
+"About Sybil."
+
+Constance laid down her book, and her tone underwent a change.
+
+"If it's any thing more than gossip, auntie, tell me quick."
+
+"Oh, it isn't gossip; at least they all say it's true. And as for
+gossip, Con., I tell you, you have done something toward stopping that."
+
+Con. laughed like one who is conscious of her power.
+
+"Yes, indeed," rattled on Mrs. Aliston. "Mrs. Wooster says, and if she
+_is_ a Unitarian she is certainly a very good and truthful woman, that
+she has heard from various ones that you have openly declared against
+the handling of poor Sybil's name among the people who have called
+themselves her friends, and accepted so often her mother's hospitality.
+And she said--these are her very words, Con.--'I was delighted, dear
+Mrs. Aliston, for we all know that these gossip lovers, every one of
+them, will deny themselves the luxury of tearing Sybil to pieces,
+knowing that she has a champion in Miss Wardour.' So much for influence,
+Con."
+
+"Bah!" retorted Con., wise in her generation. "So much for money, and
+how do I know that I have not lost my prestige along with my diamonds.
+Auntie, you have lost the thread of your discourse; you always do."
+
+"So you always tell me," laughed the elderly chatterbox. "Well, Con.,
+they say that Sybil has sacrificed herself."
+
+"Do they?" said Con., sarcastically; "the wise heads. I hope that
+conclusion has not exhausted their keen intellects, whoever 'they' may
+be. As if the sacrifice were not patent on the face of the thing."
+
+"Con. you talk like a--a stump orator."
+
+"Do I? Well, I'm glad of it; it would not be so bad to be a 'stump
+orator,' or any other sort of male animal, for the older I grow the more
+I incline to the belief that women are fools. But go on, auntie; I
+believe I get 'riled' every time I hear Sybil's name. What else do
+'they' say?"
+
+"You don't deserve to be told, you are so impatient; but I will tell you
+this once. I was about to add that it seems to be an accepted fact that
+Sybil sacrificed herself to save Evan from some sort of exposure and
+disgrace. And they say that some of those rough men in a saloon threw
+the thing in Evan's teeth, and that he replied in his odd way:
+
+"'Yes, she did it for my sake, and now the first man of you that
+mentions my sister's name in my hearing will go under.' You know they
+are afraid of Evan in his rages."
+
+Constance opened her mouth impulsively, but she choked back the words
+that rushed forward for utterance, and closing her lips tightly, sat
+staring straight before her, a strange expression creeping into her
+face.
+
+She seemed to hear anew Evan's words: "Do your part, I will do mine. I,
+Evan Lamotte, worthless, black sheep, sot; I will find a reason that
+will not be questioned, and that will spare Sybil."
+
+And he had found a reason. The black sheep was offered up a sacrifice.
+Evan Lamotte had flung away his last rag of respectability for his
+sister's sake. Henceforth he would appear in the eyes of the people
+doubly blackened, doubly degraded, the destroyer of his sister's
+happiness, the blight upon her life, and yet, he was innocent of this;
+he was a martyr; he the ne'er-do-well, the inebriate.
+
+Constance was strangely moved by this self-sacrifice, coming from one
+who was so morally weak; if it had been Frank, but here her lip curled
+contemptuously; instinctively she knew that such self-sacrifice was not
+in Frank's nature, any more than was such self-abandonment to weakness.
+Constance began to wonder if Frank and his parents knew the truth. If
+they had permitted the weakest shoulders to bear the burden; or, if Evan
+had deceived them too, and then she murmured, almost in the language of
+the tramp detective:
+
+"It's a thing for time to unravel. It's a play just begun. It's a hard,
+hard knot."
+
+And, then and there, she took Sybil and Evan to her generous heart of
+hearts, and mentally resolved to be their champion and friend to the
+uttermost, while she would judge their parents and their brother
+according as these dealt by the unfortunates.
+
+It was many days before she saw Evan, for, although in true woman
+fashion, she longed to scold him first for so sacrificing himself, and
+praise him after for his generous true heartedness, she knew that he
+would only be distressed by such an interview, and would obey a summons
+from her reluctantly if at all.
+
+But one day, just as she was driving her ponies out through the gates of
+Wardour Place, she saw a horseman riding furiously up the road, and a
+nearer view revealed Frank Lamotte's fine horse and mounted by Evan.
+
+His eyes were flaming with excitement, and there was a burning spot of
+red on either cheek as he reined up his horse beside her, and Constance
+saw at a glance that, again, he was perfectly sober.
+
+"Conny," he cried breathlessly, "it has come."
+
+[Illustration: "Conny, it has come."]
+
+"What has come, Evan?"
+
+"The day we hoped for; we have heard from Sybil."
+
+"A letter! Oh Evan, tell me all about it."
+
+"I can't, there is no time; only, Con., it's your turn now. It's your
+time to strike for Sybil. They are holding council over the letter, and
+can't decide, whether the old gentleman shall go at once and see Sybil;
+whether they shall bring her back and swallow the Burrill; for, it seems
+he must be swallowed, and what society will think about it, are the
+questions that they are agitating. Mother says, that Sybil must and
+shall come back; father says he will go and see her; and Frank--" he
+broke off abruptly and bent down to look at his saddle girth.
+
+"And Frank; what does he say, Evan?"
+
+"Frank is a fool," snapped Evan irrelevantly. "What _he_ says is no
+matter; only, Conny, now is your time, if you will only have faith in
+what I say. You are out with your ponies; drive straight to Mapleton,
+and don't mention me. You will be admitted to mother. Father is there,
+and Frank; give them the least chance, and they will tell you about
+Sybil, and then you can manage the rest. Tell them to bring her back,
+even with that beastly incumbrance. They will listen to you; they won't
+to me. If you fail me here, then--"
+
+"Then your sacrifice goes for nothing. Oh, Evan, did you think I would
+not understand that? You have wronged yourself for Sybil's sake. But you
+shall have a tithe of your reward. And, dear boy, you should not have
+done this thing; we might have found another way."
+
+"Nonsense, Conny! It was the only way. And what is my life worth, or my
+reputation, either? It can't hurt a poor devil like me. Con., will you
+go?"
+
+"I will go straight to Mapleton, Evan. You shall see that I have faith
+in you. I will do just as you direct, and all will go well."
+
+"Then I'm off. I stole Frank's horse. I must get him back to avoid a
+row. Thank you, Conny; you are a true friend."
+
+"Good-bye, Evan. Come to me with all the news, or when you want help."
+
+"I won't forget," wheeling his horse about; then, in a choking voice,
+"God bless you, Conny," and a moment later, he was away down the road,
+galloping in a cloud of dust.
+
+Constance followed in his wake, keeping her ponies at a sober pace.
+
+"I wonder how he found out these things. Poor boy!" she murmured, half
+aloud, "he is not one at their family councils; of that I am sure. His
+father has lost all patience with him; and yet, he knows all that is
+going on. I wonder how."
+
+If Evan Lamotte had heard this query, and had chosen to answer it, he
+would have said: "_I watch and I listen._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CONSTANCE'S DIPLOMACY.
+
+
+Miss Wardour, being Miss Wardour, was apt to succeed in most things, and
+it is fair to suppose that her visit to Mapleton, in the character of
+intercessor for the erring Sybil, was not a fruitless one. Certainly, it
+was not barren of results.
+
+On the day following the call from Constance, Mrs. Lamotte came forth
+from her seclusion; her carriage bore her out from the gates of
+Mapleton, and straight to Wardour Place. Here she took up the heiress
+and Mrs. Aliston, and the three drove ostentatiously through the streets
+of W----, bowing smilingly here and there, as calm, serene, and elegant
+a trio, to all outward seeming, as ever passed before admiring eyes on
+velvet cushions.
+
+This act informed W---- that Mrs. Lamotte was once more visible, and "at
+home," and when a day or two later, Constance and her aunt, in splendid
+array, drove again into W----, calling here and there, and dropping upon
+each hearthstone a bit of manna for family digestion, the result was
+what they intended it should be.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" asks Mrs. Hopkins, fashionable busybody,
+running in for an informal call on Mrs. O'Meara, who is warm-hearted
+and sensible, and who listens to the babblings of Mrs. Hopkins, with a
+patience and benignity worthy of a Spartan mother.
+
+"No! Well, I am dying to tell it, then. Sybil Lamotte is coming
+back--actually coming back--and that man with her; and--won't it be
+queer? We shall have him in society, of course, for I am told, from the
+_best_ of sources, that the Lamottes will accept him as Sybil's choice,
+and make the best of him."
+
+"But _we_ need not accept him, my dear," comments the Spartan mother,
+whose lawyer husband is rich and independent, and does not count fees.
+"As for Sybil, she was always a favorite with us; we shall be glad to
+have her back."
+
+"Yes, that's very well for you and Mr. O'Meara, who are very exclusive,
+and go out little, but we poor society people will have to submit to the
+powers that be. Constance Wardour, the Lamottes, the Vandycks, have led
+us as they would, and queer as it may seem, the Lamottes are backed up
+in this business of forcing John Burrill upon us, by Constance, on one
+hand, and the Vandycks, mother and son, on the other."
+
+"And Mrs. Aliston?"
+
+"Mrs. Aliston, of course. When did she ever oppose Constance? It's
+making a great furore, I can tell you; but no one is going to step
+forward and openly oppose Constance and the Vandycks. I for one am
+Sybil's staunch friend, and--well, as Constance says, 'let us take it
+for granted that this bear of Sybil's has some good qualities, or he
+would never have won her,' and then, too, it's so romantic, about Evan
+you know, and how Sybil, in some way, saved him from something, by
+marrying this man. I never could get the right end, or any end of that
+story, nor have I found any one who knows the plain facts. Well, Mrs.
+O'Meara, I must go; I have seven more calls to make, and I really have
+talked too long."
+
+"_She'll_ take him up fast enough," mused Mrs. O'Meara, in solitude.
+"That's the way of society; they can't oppose wealth and prestige, even
+when prestige and wealth command them to fellowship with a grizzly bear;
+rather they will whitewash their bear, and call him a thing of beauty,
+and laugh in their silken sleeves to see him dance."
+
+It was quite true, that bombshell of Mrs. Hopkins'--Sybil Lamotte was
+coming back. Mr. Lamotte went somewhere, nobody could name just the
+place, and returned, having done, nobody knew precisely what; and as the
+result of that journey, so said W----, Sybil and John Burrill were
+coming soon, to breast the waves of public opinion, and take up their
+abode in Mapleton.
+
+When this fact became well established, tongues wagged briskly; some
+were sorry; some were glad; some eager for the advent of the ill
+assorted pair.
+
+The sorriest one of all was unhappy Ray Vandyck, who realized how hard a
+task would devolve upon him; and the gladdest of the glad was poor Evan,
+who celebrated his rejoicing with one of the wildest and most protracted
+of all his sprees.
+
+Constance had won Sybil's battle. In accordance with the hint given by
+Dr. Heath, Raymond Vandyck had called at Wardour Place, and the result
+of that call was patent to the eyes of all W----. Ray, the rejected, had
+gone over to the support of his lost love and taken his mother with him.
+
+At last they came, after the nine days' talk had subsided, after
+W---- had become accustomed to the idea, quietly, unostentatiously.
+Before their arrival had become known, they were established at Mapleton.
+
+Everybody admitted that they displayed good taste and judgment in the
+manner of their home coming, but when, except in the case of this
+horrible choice of Sybil's, did not the Lamottes display good taste.
+People said "The Lamottes," without so much as recognizing the existence
+of poor Evan.
+
+Meantime the days were numbering themselves. It was June when Sybil
+Lamotte fled away with her Bear. It is September before they return;
+during these three months Constance has heard from Detective Belknap. He
+is always afar off, always on the track of her robbers, and she reads
+his reports, honors his drafts for "expense money," and troubles her
+head no more about the "Wardour robbery" or the "Wardour diamonds."
+
+Of Detective Bathurst there came never a word or sign, either to the
+heiress or to Doctor Heath.
+
+But it is time to introduce our Bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+JOHN BURRILL, ARISTOCRAT.
+
+
+Mapleton stands high on an eminence, which may have arisen expressly to
+hold, and to exhibit, the splendid edifice erected thereon by Mr. Jasper
+Lamotte. It is the only hill within sight on that side of the river, and
+renders Mapleton a most conspicuous as well as most beautiful abiding
+place.
+
+In front of the dwelling and its grounds flows the river, broad and
+glittering in the sunshine, on this day of which I write. In the rear
+stretches a grove, large enough to be termed "the grove" by the people
+of W----; and dense enough for Robin Hood and his merry men to find
+comfort in, for Jasper Lamotte has chosen to let it remain _en
+naturale_, since it first came into his possession.
+
+To reach Mapleton from Wardour Place one must drive directly to the
+center of W----, turn eastward, then cross a handsome new iron bridge,
+and go southward a short distance, coming finally to the broad curve
+which sweeps up to the mansion, and away from the river, along which the
+road winds.
+
+In the old days, when Sybil Lamotte and Constance Wardour found
+excellent reasons for meeting and chatting together, at least once in
+every twenty-four hours, this fair river was a source of alternate
+pleasure and annoyance to them. Of pleasure, when the days were fair,
+and Sybil and Frank could pull their boat up stream, and land at the
+grassy slope in the rear of Wardour Place, where, often, they found
+Constance and a gay party awaiting them. Or, when Constance could drift
+down stream with scarcely the stroke of an oar necessary, until she came
+opposite "the hill," as Mapleton was often called. Of annoyance, when
+winds blew cold and rough, and the waters of the river turned black and
+angry, and surged high between its banks. Then the two young ladies
+voted the iron bridge "the coldest place possible," and wished that no
+dark, wintry river flowed between them.
+
+The river is very calm to-day, however; it is flowing gently, murmuring
+softly, and gleaming silver and blue, beneath a soft September sun. Away
+down, where the factories stand, and the great wheels turn, it loses its
+blue and silver, flowing under that ever moving, never lifting curtain
+of smoke, that darkens and dims the skies themselves, and gives to the
+sun's face the look of a disreputable celestial tramp.
+
+It's always gray, "down at the factories," and why not? What need have
+the toilers there for sunlight? They have work and sleep.
+
+There is nothing gray or dreary about Mapleton, as we enter there and
+survey the inmates who, just now, are loitering about the lunch table.
+Nothing gray, if we except a few silver threads in the hair of Mrs.
+Lamotte; nothing dreary, unless it may be a look which, now and then,
+and only for an instant, creeps into the eyes of Mrs. John Burrill.
+
+They sit about the lunch table,--all but Sybil. She has arisen, and
+reseated herself in a great easy chair, which seems to swallow up her
+slight form, and renders her quite invisible to all at the table, save
+Evan, who, from time to time, glances furtively across at her.
+
+There may be dissension in this family, but they look the embodiment of
+high-bred ease and serene contentment.
+
+Jasper Lamotte turns his paper, sips his light wine, speaks suavely, and
+looks as placid as the sky overhead.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte speaks slow and seldom; smiles when she does speak; and
+looks as if nothing ever ruffled the placidity of her mind, or the even
+tenor of her pleasant existence. She looks all this, sitting directly
+opposite John Burrill, her reluctantly accepted son-in-law, for what
+Mrs. Lamotte cannot overcome, she ignores, and her proud calm is the
+result of a long and bitter schooling.
+
+Sybil looks paler than is usual for her, but no other expression than
+one of calmness and _ennui_ can be detected on that lovely, inscrutable
+face; and the dusky eyes keep well veiled, and tell no secrets.
+
+Evan Lamotte is sober, and good humored, for his sister's sake; and
+Frank is simply lazy.
+
+But John Burrill! there is no contentment equal to his; seated in the
+easiest of chairs, before a table laden with viands upon which he has
+just gorged himself, he contemplates his legs and his surroundings with
+extreme satisfaction; his legs first, because, being stretched directly
+before him, they come first under his eye; and he is delighted with
+their size, and shape; they are a fine pair, such as would do credit to
+a bull fighter, or a "champion pedestrian," and with the quality and cut
+of the pantaloons that adorn them. It has not always been his good
+fortune to sit at a rich man's table, and to wear fashionable clothing;
+and John Burrill appreciates his "marcies." He has feasted his stomach,
+and John Burrill's stomach comes in for a large share of his
+consideration; and now he is feasting his senses: this richly appointed
+room is his room; this splendid stately lady, how he delights to call
+her "mother," varied occasionally by "mother-in-law;" how he glories in
+the possession of a pair of aristocratic brothers-in-law; and how he
+swells with pride, when he steps into the carriage, and, sitting beside
+"the rich Mr. Lamotte," is driven through W---- and to the factories;
+and last, and best of all, there is his wife, a beauty, a belle, an
+heiress, possessing a score of lovers, yet won by him.
+
+Only one thing troubles John Burrill, he does not quite understand
+Sybil; he has "got the hang," so he thinks of the other members of the
+family, but sometimes Sybil's wordless glance operates upon him like a
+cold shower bath, and Mr. Burrill, like all the "gutter born," rather
+fears a shower bath.
+
+Coarse in sense and sentiment, plebeian in body and soul; whatever else
+Sybil Lamotte's husband may be, let our story develop.
+
+Quitting his place now, he crosses the room, and, taking up a position
+where his eyes can gloat upon Sybil's face, he rests one elbow upon a
+mantel, and so, in a comfortable after-dinner attitude, continues his
+pleasant meditations. Sybil stirs uneasily, but notices his proximity in
+no other way. Presently her eyes shoot straight past him, and she says
+to Evan who has also risen, and stands stretching himself, lazily, with
+his face to the window, and his back toward the assembly:
+
+"Evan, just hand me that book on the mantel. No, not _that_ one," as he
+lays his ready hand on the book nearest him, "the other."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Evan, at the same moment laying hand upon a volume
+directly underneath John Burrill's elbow. "Hoist up your arrum, Burrill.
+'My lady's up, and wants her wollum.'"
+
+John Burrill's face reddens slowly. He is an Englishman, and sometimes
+his H's and A's play him sorry tricks, although he has labored hard to
+Americanize himself, and likes to think that he has succeeded.
+
+"D--n it!" broke out the man, suddenly losing his after dinner calm.
+"You might have asked _me_ for the book, Sybil; it was near enough."
+
+Sybil received the book from Evan's hand, opened it, turned a page or
+two, and then lifting her eyes to his face, replied in a voice, low,
+clear, and cutting as the north wind:
+
+"Evan is my slave, Mr. Burrill, _you_--are my lord and master."
+Indescribable contempt shone upon him for a moment from her splendid
+eyes; then she lowered them, and became, apparently, wholly absorbed in
+her book.
+
+John Burrill muttered something very low, and probably very ugly, and
+dropped back into his former attitude; and the others, never by word or
+glance, noticed this little passage at arms. Only Evan returned to the
+window, and standing there with hands in pockets, glowered down upon the
+frost-touched rose trees and clustered geraniums, savagely, and long.
+
+Presently, Evan turns from the window, which commands a view of the
+drive.
+
+"Constance is coming," he says, addressing Sybil.
+
+She starts up, looking anxious and disturbed; Constance has visited her,
+and she has driven over once to see Constance; but it has so happened
+that John Burrill has always been absent; and Sybil has a shuddering
+horror of this meeting that must be.
+
+The announcement seems to galvanize them all into life. Mr. Lamotte
+looks up with a gleam of latent anticipation in his eyes; Frank smiles
+his pleasure; and John Burrill steals a deprecatory glance at a mirror,
+smoothes a wrinkle out of his waistcoat, and outsmiles Frank. Here is
+another triumph; he is about to be introduced to the richest girl in the
+country; to meet her on an equal footing, in the character of husband to
+her dearest friend.
+
+Sybil rises and goes to the window; her pale face flushing. There is a
+rolling of wheels, a sound of swift, firm footsteps without, and then
+the door opens, and Constance is announced.
+
+She follows her name in her usual free, at home fashion, and in a moment
+is kissing Sybil, shaking hands with Mrs. Lamotte, exchanging smiling
+salutations with Mr. Lamotte, and gay badinage with Francis. And then,
+while Sybil still hesitates, Evan comes to the rescue.
+
+With a face of preternatural gravity, he advances, seizes the arm of
+John Burrill, drags him toward Constance, and says, with elaborate
+politeness:
+
+"Constance, allow me to present my new brother-in-law, Mr. Burrill.
+Brother-in-law, this is Miss Wardour, of Wardour Place."
+
+In spite of themselves, they smile; all except Sybil. John Burrill feels
+that somehow, he is made ridiculous; that another man in his place would
+not have been thus introduced. But the eyes of the heiress are upon his
+face, her daintily gloved hand is proffered him, and she lies in her
+softest contralto, and unblushingly:
+
+"I am happy to know you, Mr. Burrill."
+
+[Illustration: "I am happy to know you."]
+
+Somehow, they all breathe freer after that pretty falsehood. John
+Burrill regains his composure, and relapses into his former state of
+comfortable gloating. Another face is added to the circle of high-bred
+people around him. He does not talk much, for he is not yet quite at his
+ease when in conversation with them. As they talk, he thinks what a fine
+nest this is which he has gained for himself; what a lovely woman is his
+wife; and how splendidly handsome is Miss Wardour. He thinks how, by and
+by, he will boast to some of his choice spirits, of his friendship for
+Miss Wardour, and of the value in which she holds his esteem. He thinks
+how good is the Lamotte cook, and how, presently, he will sample the
+Lamotte wines, and smoke a splendid segar; and then he pricks up his
+ears and listens, for the conversation has drifted away from the
+commonplace, and Miss Wardour is saying:
+
+"It really is a forlorn hope, I fear, Mr. Lamotte. I don't know what to
+reply to Mr. Belknap, but I think he is wasting his time, and I my
+money; and, if you will communicate with him, as he failed to name his
+address in his note to me, we will close up the case."
+
+"And say farewell to your diamonds?"
+
+"I have performed that ceremony some time since. I really am worn out
+with the subject. At some other time I may resume the search."
+
+"You are getting discouraged."
+
+"Call it that, if you like."
+
+"Excuse me, if I pursue so wearisome a subject, Constance; but--does not
+Mr. Belknap hint at a new clue in this note of his? You must know he has
+written me also."
+
+"He hints, and very vaguely."
+
+"Well, I am anxious to look into this matter a little further. As a
+special favor to me will you retain the services of Mr. Belknap a little
+longer?"
+
+"As you make such a point of it, yes, Mr. Lamotte; but--do you really
+hope to find anything new, at this late day?"
+
+"I really do, my child, but can not put my ideas in shape, as yet. I
+think we shall have Mr. Belknap among us soon."
+
+"Well, don't let him persecute me, that's all," stipulated Constance. "I
+have lost my faith in detectives."
+
+"All this talk reminds me, Constance," interrupted Sybil, "mamma has had
+her diamonds reset for me, and they are really beautiful; besides which,
+papa and Mr. Burrill have added to the collection, so that in the
+absence of yours, I may set myself up as diamond queen. Come to my room
+and be dazzled."
+
+"And leave us under a cloud," chimed in Frank. "Burrill, come, let's
+adjourn to the billiard room, and have a segar;" and intent upon keeping
+his brother-in-law in order during the time Constance should be under
+the roof, he slapped him cordially on his brawny shoulder, and they went
+out in most amiable and brotherly fashion, and entered the billiard
+room, where Frank permitted Burrill to cheat at the game, and eventually
+win it, much to the delight of that personage.
+
+When they had left the morning room, Evan Lamotte, too, sauntered out
+and down the hall, and, hearing their voices in amiable dialogue,
+interspersed by the click of the billiard balls, he muttered:
+
+"Ah, Constance, you are a witch indeed! you have made my magnificent
+brother adopt my _rôle_ for once; so long as you are here we may depend
+upon Frank to keep our bull out of the china shop. So, as one good turn
+deserves another, I will just give your mare a turn and look in at 'Old
+Forty Rods;' I'm safe to go off duty for the day."
+
+And ten minutes later the reckless youth was galloping Frank's blooded
+mare along the highway _en route_ for the saloon known to the initiated
+as "Old Forty Rods."
+
+Left alone together, Mr. Jasper Lamotte and his wife gazed at each other
+in silence for a moment, and then he said:
+
+"Do you think it safe to leave them alone together too long?"
+
+"Who, Frank and----"
+
+"Pshaw, no; the girls."
+
+"It is quite safe; nevertheless I will go up to them," and Mrs. Lamotte
+arose and went slowly up the stairs, and softly past the door where
+Sybil and Constance sat together, straight to her own room, which she
+entered, closed and locked the door carefully, and allowing the look of
+haughty calm to die out of her face, she threw herself into a dressing
+chair, and pressed two feverish hands against a face that was sad and
+bitter and full of weariness.
+
+Left to his own devices, Jasper Lamotte seated himself at a desk and
+dashed off a few hurried lines, which he directed to
+
+    "Mr. Jerry Belknap,
+    "No. --, Room 7, Blank St.,
+    "N. Y."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DIAMONDS.
+
+
+Constance followed her friend up to the room where they had so often
+passed long hours together, wondering idly at Sybil's composure and
+seeming resignation, and shudderingly recalling the blank devouring
+stare of the man who was her husband.
+
+It was the first time since Sybil's return that they had been alone
+together, and Constance half dreaded the interview, as well as wondered
+not a little that the opportunity was of Sybil's own making; hitherto
+she seemed anxious to avoid a _tête-à-tête_.
+
+Sybil moved straight on in advance of her friend, and never turned her
+head nor spoke, until the door of her _boudoir_ had shut them in; then
+she turned and faced her companion, uttering as she did so a low
+mirthless laugh.
+
+"Well!" she asked abruptly, "how do you like him?"
+
+Constance bent a searching gaze upon her friend, and read her state of
+mind with a woman's keen intuition. The tensely strung nerves, the dread
+of this interview, the determination to have it over, and to bear her
+part bravely; a proud and stubborn nature, battling with despair, and
+unspeakable heartache. She understood it all, and her own heart bled
+for her friend. But, being a wise little woman, she held her pity in
+reserve, and replied, as if the question concerned a new dancing master:
+
+"I don't like him at all, child; let's talk about something more
+interesting," and she threw herself down upon a _fauteuil_, and tossed
+off her hat; just as she had tossed it aside a hundred times, in that
+same pretty room. The simple action, brought a thrill of tenderness, and
+sad recollection, to the heart of Sybil. She seated herself beside her
+friend, and her face lost a shade of its bitterness.
+
+"It's like a shadow of the old days, Con.," she said sadly, "and the
+substance I can never have any more. But, you must let me talk, I feel
+as if I must talk, and you will let me say what I will, and ask me
+nothing. Con., you saw that--that creature down stairs? You saw him, but
+you did not _hear_ him."
+
+She shuddered, and paused for an instant; but Constance did not speak,
+and so she continued:
+
+"I had made up my mind never to speak of him to you, but the very thing
+I had dreaded has happened; you have met, and, in the generosity of your
+soul, for my sake, you have extended to him your hand; have openly
+accepted his acquaintance. Oh, Con.! I could have struck him dead before
+he touched your hand. _He!_ Ah, there is a limit to my forbearance; he
+has forced himself into my life to blight it; he has forced himself into
+my family to be an added curse. But he shall not force himself upon my
+friends. Con., treat him with the disdain he deserves, else, he will
+force his way into your very drawing room. Never, never, never, extend
+to him the courtesies due to an equal. He is not an equal, he is not a
+man at all; he is a fat, sleek, leering, ruminating animal, at his best;
+he is a wolf, a vampire, a devil, at other times; ignorant, vain,
+avaricious, gross. Rather than see him force himself upon you, as he has
+forced himself upon us here, I will myself sever our friendship, I will
+never see, never speak with you again. John Burrill shall find a limit,
+which even his brute force cannot pass." She was growing more and more
+excited and a bright spot burned on each cheek.
+
+Constance was startled, but fully understanding the necessity for
+perfect coolness, now that Sybil's composure had almost given way, she
+never attempted to interrupt the words that were but the overflow of
+long pent up feelings; but sat quietly stroking one of Sybil's slender
+hands, and becoming more amazed and mystified as she listened.
+
+"Sometimes I find myself wondering at the tenacity of my life," went on
+Sybil, more hurriedly and with increasing excitement. "Sometimes I feel
+my strength leaving me, and think the battle is almost over; but somehow
+it is renewed, and I find myself growing strong instead of weak. For
+months I lived with my inevitable fate constantly before my eyes. I knew
+that there was no escape; that what has transpired, must happen. I have
+suffered tortures, passed nights without sleep, and days without food. I
+have grown a little paler, a little thinner, and a great deal wickeder,
+and that is all. I am strong, as strong as in the beginning, and yet,
+what am I but a galvanized corpse? I am dead to all that is worth living
+for. My one wish is to be free, and yet, Con., do you know I have never
+once been tempted to self-destruction."
+
+[Illustration: "I have never once been tempted to self-destruction."]
+
+Constance Wardour sprang impetuously to her feet, and paced the length
+of the _boudoir_ again and again in perfect silence. The terrible weight
+of torment that was crushing Sybil's heart, and maddening her brain,
+seemed to rest, too, upon her, and weigh down her spirits; she was
+tortured with the sight of Sybil's misery, and the thought of her own
+helplessness. Could nothing be done? Struggling for an appearance of
+composure, she paced to and fro, and at last, having mastered her
+feelings, and arranged her thoughts, she resumed her seat beside Sybil,
+whose eyes had followed her movements with curiosity.
+
+"Sybil, listen;" she began with that clear, concise energy of manner
+that, in itself, inspired confidence. "If you do not wish me to make any
+overtures of friendship, rest assured I shall make none. I at least am
+not under the spell which this man seems to have thrown about you all.
+There, don't draw back, child, I have no more to say on this part of the
+subject. I may ask a few questions, however, without treading on
+forbidden ground. You say John Burrill is avaricious; can he not be
+bought off?"
+
+Sybil shook her head.
+
+"Not with the Wardour estate," she replied, sadly. "Not with all our
+fortunes united?"
+
+"Cannot he be frightened then?"
+
+"Frightened! You don't know what you are saying."
+
+"Then, I can think of one other way. He is a bad man; he must have led a
+wicked life; can we not find something in his past, which will place him
+in our power? Can he not be driven into banishment, through fear of
+justice?"
+
+Sybil turned her eyes full upon her friend; eyes dark with the shadow of
+despair, but unwavering in their sad firmness.
+
+"If that could be done," she said, slowly. "The very day that witnessed
+his downfall, would bring about the catastrophe I have sacrificed myself
+to avert. Constance, say no more; we can do none of these things; there
+is no help for me on this side of the grave."
+
+Constance looked once more at her friend; looked long and earnestly
+then.
+
+"Sybil," she cried, with swift resolution. "Do you know what you are
+bringing upon yourself? Do you want to go mad, and so be at the mercy of
+John Burrill? It is what will come upon you if you don't throw off this
+torpor. Your eyes are as dry as if tears were not meant to relieve the
+overburdened heart. Let your tears flow; shake off this lethargy; battle
+royally for your life; it is worth more than his; do not let him put
+your reason to flight, and so conquer. Sybil! Sybil!"
+
+The words ended in a sobbing cry, but Sybil only gazed dumbly, and then
+looked helplessly about her.
+
+"There, there, Conny," she said at last, as if soothing a hurt child;
+"don't mind me. It's true my life is worth more than his, but--I can't
+cry, I don't _feel_ like crying."
+
+"Then laugh," cried Constance desperately; "laugh and defy your
+tormentor; harden your heart if you must, but don't let it break."
+
+"I won't," said Sybil, with quiet emphasis. "Now come and see my
+diamonds, Con."
+
+She crossed the room as she spoke, bent over a dressing case, and came
+back with a tray of sparkling newly set jewels.
+
+"Bah!" she said, as she dropped the glittering things one by one into
+her friend's lap. "How I loved their glitter once, and how I envied you
+your treasure of jewels; now you have lost your treasure, and I have no
+more love for mine."
+
+Constance laughed oddly, as she bent to recover her hat from the floor,
+where it had lain during their interview.
+
+"Secret for secret, Sybil," she said, with forced gaiety. "I have one
+little secret of mine own, and I am inclined to tell it you, because I
+know you can appreciate it, and can keep it; and I choose to have it
+kept. Bend down your head, dear, walls may have ears. Listen."
+
+Sybil bent her dark head, and Constance whispered a few short sentences
+that caused her to spring up erect and excited.
+
+"Constance! you are not jesting?"
+
+"Honestly no. I have told you the truth, plain and unvarnished."
+
+Sybil stood as if transfixed with surprise, or some sudden inspiration.
+
+"Why, how amazed you look, dear; after all it's an old, old trick, and
+easily played. Come, don't stare at me any longer; put away your
+diamonds and come below with me, my ponies must be dying with
+impatience, and I am anxious to avoid our mutual foe, for I make common
+cause with you, dear, and I have told you my secret, that we may be in
+very truth, fellow conspirators. Make my adieus to the family, and be
+sure and come to me just as you used; if your ogre insists upon coming,
+trust me to freeze him into an earnest desire to be in a warmer and more
+congenial place. Courage, _mon ami_, somehow we must win the battle."
+
+Sybil took the diamonds from her hands and put them away, with far more
+care than she had displayed in bringing them forth; then she followed
+her friend from the room, closing and carefully locking the door behind
+her.
+
+Constance observed the unusual caution, but made no comment. Only when
+many days after she remembered that day she wondered how she could have
+been so stupidly blind.
+
+She effected her departure without being seen by Frank or Burrill, and
+drove homeward, revolving in her mind various plots for the confusion of
+the latter, and plans for awakening Sybil from the dangerous melancholy
+that would surely unseat her reason.
+
+"If I could only move her to tears," she murmured, "only break that
+frozen calm once. How can I touch, move, melt her? It must be done." And
+pondering this difficult task, she drove slowly on.
+
+"I wonder if I blundered in telling her my secret," she mused. "I know
+she will keep it; and yet, somehow, I fear I was too hasty. One would
+think it had grown too big for me to keep. But, pshaw! it's not a life
+and death matter, and I wanted to give a new impulse to that poor
+child's thoughts. But I must try and cure myself of this impulsiveness,
+just as if it were not 'bred in the bone,' for it was an impulse that
+made me whisper my secret to Sybil; and once, it has got me into serious
+trouble." And her brow darkened, as she thought of the feud thus raised
+between herself and Doctor Heath.
+
+While she was thus pondering, Sybil Burrill had hurried back to her own
+room, locked herself in, and with hands clasped and working nervously,
+was pacing restlessly up and down, as Constance had done a little
+earlier.
+
+"It's the only way," she muttered between shut teeth, "the only possible
+way." And then she unlocked the dressing case, took out her jewels once
+more, handling them with greatest care. She spread them out before her,
+and resting her elbows on the dressing table, and her chin in the palm
+of one slender hand, gazed and thought with darkening brow and
+compressed lips; and with now and then a shudder, and a startled glance
+behind and about her.
+
+"It's the only way," she repeated. "They have left me but one weapon,
+and it's _for my life_;" and the lips set themselves in hard lines, and
+the dark eyes looked steely and resolute. What wild purpose was taking
+shape in the tortured brain of Sybil Burrill? planted there by the
+impulsive revelation of Constance Wardour.
+
+While the lurid light yet shone from her eyes, there came a tap upon the
+door, and then Mrs. Lamotte's voice called:
+
+"Sybil, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, mamma."
+
+Sybil gathered up the jewels once more, hastily and putting them under
+lock and key, admitted her mother. Mrs. Lamotte was never a
+demonstrative parent. She glanced anxiously at her daughter, and the
+look upon the pale face did not escape her eye; but she made no comment,
+only saying:
+
+"I heard Constance drive away, and thought I should find you alone. Do
+you feel equal to a drive, Sybil?"
+
+Sybil hesitated, and then answered: "I think so mamma, if you wish to go
+out."
+
+"I have some shopping to do, and--it's best for us to go out a little.
+Don't you think so?"
+
+"It's best that we keep up appearances, certainly mamma; for what else
+do we exist? Shall we take the honorable Mr. Burrill?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte shrugged her shoulders. "By no means," she replied. "Mr.
+Burrill, if his feelings are too much hurt, shall drive with me
+to-morrow. It's an honor he has been thirsting for."
+
+"He has indeed, mamma; the creature is insatiable."
+
+Mrs. Lamotte arose with one of her cold smiles.
+
+"For the present let us ignore him, Sybil," she said. "Make an elaborate
+driving toilet, we want the admiration of W----, not its pity." And
+having thus uttered one article of her creed, Mrs. Lamotte swept away to
+prepare for the ordeal, for such that drive would be to those two proud
+women.
+
+No one could have guessed it, however, when an hour later, the elegant
+barouche, drawn by two superb grays, rolled through the streets of
+W----. Two richly dressed, handsome, high-bred, smiling women; that is
+what W---- saw, and all it saw; and light-hearted poverty looked, and
+envied; little knowing the sorrow hidden underneath the silk and lace,
+and the misery that was masked in smiles.
+
+Meantime John Burrill, left to his own devices, found time drag heavily.
+Frank had abandoned him, as soon as it became known that Constance was
+gone; and had abandoned himself to a fit of rage, when he became aware
+that his black mare was also gone. Mr. Lamotte had driven to town with
+his own light buggy; Sybil was gone, Evan was gone; even his stately
+mother-in-law was beyond the reach of his obnoxious pleasantries.
+
+He ordered up a bottle of wine, and drank it in the spirit of an ill
+used man. Always, in his perfectly sober moments, John Burrill felt
+oppressed with a sense of the difference existing between himself and
+the people among whom he had chosen to cast his lot.
+
+Not that he recognized, or admitted, his inferiority; had he not
+demonstrated to the world, that he, John Burrill, sometime mill worker,
+and overseer, was a man of parts, a self-made man.
+
+When he had quaffed a bottle of wine, he began to feel oppressed in a
+different way. He was overburdened with a sense of his own genius, and
+in a very amiable frame of mind, altogether. In this mood, he joined the
+family at dinner; after which meal, a few glasses of brandy added fire
+to the smouldering element within him, and straightway he blazed forth:
+a gallant, a coxcomb. In this frame of mind, he always admired himself
+excessively, took stock of his burly legs and brawny shoulders, and
+smiled sentimentally before the mirror, at his reflected face.
+
+There were people who called John Burrill a handsome man; and if one had
+a fancy for a round head, with depressions where bumps are desirable,
+and _vice versa_, and an animal sort of attractiveness of feature,
+consisting of a low, flat forehead, straight nose, large, full red
+lipped mouth, fair florid complexion, set off by a pair of dark blue
+eyes, that were devoid of any kindly expression, and hair, full beard,
+and moustache, of a reddish brown hue, coarse in quality, but plentiful
+in quantity, and curling closely; then we will admit that John Burrill
+was handsome. Why not? We can see handsome bovines at any fat cattle
+show.
+
+After this elation, came the fourth stage; a mixture of liquors as the
+evening advanced, and then John Burrill became jealous of his rights,
+careful of his dignity, crafty, quarrelsome, and difficult to manage.
+Next he became uproarious, then maudlin; then blind, beastly drunk, and
+utterly regardless where he laid him down, or fell down, to finish the
+night, for his last stage usually dragged itself far into the small
+hours.
+
+Gluttonous and meditative in the morning; beginning to swell with a
+growing sense of importance about midday; amorous, obtrusive, and
+consequential later; hilarious after dinner; quarrelsome before tea; and
+down in the ditch before dawn. This was Burrill's notion of enjoying
+life in leisurely, gentlemanly fashion. And this was his daily routine,
+with variations to suit the occasion.
+
+But sober or drunk, morning, noon, or night, he never ceased to remind
+the Lamottes that he was one of them, their equal; never forgot his
+purpose, or allowed them to forget it, or him. He was their old man of
+the sea, their blight, their curse, and, they could never hope to shake
+him off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+IN OPEN MUTINY.
+
+
+Sybil sat alone in her boudoir. It was yet early in the evening, but,
+feeling little inclined to remain in the society of her family, who
+assembled, with all due formality, in the drawing room on "at home"
+evenings, and most of their evenings were spent at home now, she had
+withdrawn, pleading fatigue after their drive.
+
+The night outside was balmy enough, but Sybil had ordered a light fire
+in the grate, and she sat before it with all the rays from a fully
+illuminated chandelier falling directly over her.
+
+She still wore the rich dress she had put on for her drive; and
+excitement, exercise, _something_, had lent an unusual glow to her
+cheeks, and caused her dusky eyes to shine clear and steady, almost too
+clear, too steadfast, was their gaze as it was fixed upon the glowing
+coals; she had not looked so thoughtful, so self forgetful, yet self
+absorbed, since she came back to Mapleton, John Burrill's wife.
+
+Sitting thus, she heard a shambling step in the hall, and the heavy
+voice of her husband, trolling out a snatch of song, caught up most
+likely in some bar-room.
+
+He was approaching her door, and quick as thought, she sprang from her
+chair, and noiselessly examined the fastenings, to assure herself
+against him. Then, while her hand still rested on the door, his hand
+struck a huge blow upon the outside, and he called out gruffly:
+
+"Sybil."
+
+No answer; she dared not move, lest the rustle of her silks should
+betray her. "S-Sybil, I say, lemme in." Still no reply, and John Burrill
+shook the door violently, and ground out an oath.
+
+Just then came the sound of another door further up the hall, her
+mother's door. It opened easily, and closed softly, and then quick,
+cat-like steps approached, and the voice of Jasper Lamotte, low and
+serene as usual, arrested the noise of the baffled applicant for
+admittance.
+
+"Less noise, Burrill." Sybil had not heard her father address him in
+that tone of familiar command. "Sybil's not there."
+
+"Jes zif I didn't know better."
+
+"Nonsense, man; your wife is below with her mother at this moment. Now
+stop that fuss, and shake yourself out. I've some private words for your
+ear."
+
+"Oh;" the man's voice dropped a tone lower; "quite a time since we've
+'ad many private words. 'Bout Sybil?"
+
+"No, sir." The tone was lower than before, and so stern that it caused
+the listener to start. "It's about _your_ business and _mine_."
+
+"Oh! maybe you want to settle up and discharge me. Maybe you don't need
+me any more."
+
+"Curse you for a fool! You know your own value too well. Bully as you
+please, where the rest are concerned, but drop your airs with me. Settle
+with Sybil later, if you must; I want you now."
+
+Could it be Jasper Lamotte that uttered these words; rather, hissed
+them? Sybil almost betrayed herself in her surprise; but the gasp that
+she could not quite stifle, was drowned by the voice of Burrill, saying:
+
+"All right. I'll settle with Sybil later."
+
+And then she heard them enter her mother's room, and close the door
+softly.
+
+For a full moment, Sybil Burrill stood transfixed; then the silken folds
+that she had instinctively gathered about her at the first, slowly
+slipped from her hand; gradually the color that had fled from her cheeks
+came back, and burned brighter than before. She seemed to control
+herself by a strong effort, and stood thinking--thinking.
+
+Only for a few moments; then she lifted her head with a gesture of
+defiance. Swiftly and noiselessly she moved under the chandelier, drew
+it down, and extinguished every light. Then softly, cautiously, she
+opened her door and looked out, listened thus a moment, and then stepped
+boldly out, and, gliding to the head of the stairs, leaned down and
+listened.
+
+From the drawing room there came to her ear the sound of the piano,
+lightly touched, and Frank's tenor humming over the bars of a Neapolitan
+boat song.
+
+Then she understood her father's mistake. Some unwonted impulse had
+caused her mother to seat herself at the piano, and accompany Frank, who
+did not reckon piano playing among his accomplishments; and the thing
+was so unusual, that Sybil was not surprised at her parent's mistake.
+
+Evan being absent, Jasper Lamotte naturally supposed that floor
+deserted, and therefore had not observed too much caution.
+
+Only a moment did Sybil listen, and then, gathering up the silken train,
+and crushing it into a soft mass under her hand, she crept noiselessly
+as a cat to the door of her mother's room, bent down her head and
+listened there.
+
+[Illustration: Only a moment did Sybil listen.]
+
+Five minutes, ten, and still they talked, and still Sybil stood,
+moveless and intent. Then, drawing back suddenly, she ran hurriedly down
+the hall, and had gained the foot of the stairs before the sound of the
+opening door admonished her that she had escaped none too soon.
+
+In a moment she had entered the drawing room, and, with more of her
+olden gayety than they had seen in her manner for many long days,
+approached the loiterers at the piano.
+
+"Mother! mother! your hand is out of time!" and, in a moment, she had
+drawn her astonished mother from the stool, and seated herself in the
+vacant place.
+
+"Sing, Frank," she commanded, striking the keys with a crash that died
+away in discord. "We have been dull too long."
+
+When Jasper Lamotte and his model son-in-law entered the drawing room,
+they found Frank singing, Sybil accompanying him with dextrous fingers,
+and Mrs. Lamotte half resting near them, with veiled eyes, and her
+serenest cast of countenance.
+
+Casting one keen glance toward Burrill, which, being interpreted, meant,
+"I told you so, you fool," Mr. Lamotte seated himself beside his wife.
+
+John Burrill, during his interview with his father-in-law, had become a
+shade more reasonable, and less inclined to think that, in order to
+vindicate his wounded sensibilities, he must "have it out with Sybil."
+But his face still wore a surly look, and Frank, who was not over
+delicate in such matters, looked askance at him, and then whispered to
+Sybil, under cover of a softly played interlude that he "scented battle
+afar off."
+
+Sybil's only answer was a low, meaning laugh, and when he had finished
+his song, she played on and on and on. _Sonata, bravura, fantasia,
+rondo_; a crash and whirl--rapid, swift, sweet, brilliant, cold; no
+feeling, no pathos. A fanciful person might have traced something of
+exultation and defiance, in those dashing, rippling waves of music.
+
+Presently she stopped and turned to Frank.
+
+"What shall you do in the morning?" she asked, abruptly.
+
+Frank ran his fingers through his hair, after a fashion he much
+affected, and replied, slowly:
+
+"Well, really! Nothing important. Going to ride to the office--meaning
+Heath's office, not the mills. Can I do anything for you, sis?"
+
+"I was thinking," began Sybil, as unconcernedly as if she did not know
+that she was about to astonish, more than she had already done, every
+one of her listeners, "that it would be a fine morning for a canter;
+that is, if to-morrow should be a counterpart of to-day; and I am hungry
+to be in the saddle."
+
+Frank roused himself from his lazy position, and looked interested. He
+took a secret delight in annoying Burrill, when he could do it without
+too much openness or display of _malice prepense_; and here was one of
+his opportunities.
+
+"Well, Sybil, you shan't be hungering in vain," he replied, gallantly.
+"Name your hour, and your steed, and I will even sacrifice my last best
+morning nap, if need be."
+
+Sybil laughed lightly.
+
+"We will have a moderately seasonable breakfast, Frank, not to make your
+sacrifice too great; and I will ride Gretchen. Poor thing! she will have
+almost forgotten me now."
+
+"Then that is settled," replied Frank, tranquilly, and glancing
+furtively toward Burrill, who was beginning to wriggle uneasily in his
+chair. "Do you want to go anywhere in particular, sis?"
+
+"No, unless you leave me for awhile at Wardour Place; I want to see some
+of Con.'s new dresses. You can ride into town and call for me later."
+
+"Ah! very nice arrangement; then _I_ can't call with you?"
+
+"Decidedly not, sir. Who wants a man always about? They are
+conveniences, not blessings."
+
+"Oh, well, I'm extinguished. I promise to vanish from your gaze as soon
+as you are within the gates of the Princess of Wardour, and now I think,
+after so much vocal effort, and so much self-humiliation, I will go and
+smoke. Adieu, sister mine; adieu mamma. Will you smoke, Burrill?"
+
+"No, sir, thank you;" replied Burrill, with brief courtesy, and Frank,
+who knew beforehand what his answer would be, went toward his own room,
+smiling contentedly.
+
+"I wonder what's up with Sybil?" he said to himself. "She has waked up
+decidedly; but she has let herself in for a rumpus with Burrill."
+
+When he had gone Sybil arose, and seating herself near her mother, said:
+
+"Mamma, you were saying something about going to the city yesterday;
+have you decided about it?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte, who had had no thought of going to the city, and who was
+fully conscious that she had made no remarks on the subject, looked up
+without a ruffle upon her placid countenance and replied, like a wise
+and good mother.
+
+"No, my child, I have not decided."
+
+"Then, when you decide to go, inform me beforehand, mamma. I think I
+should like to accompany you and do some shopping for myself."
+
+Here Burrill showed such marked symptoms of outbreak that Mr. Lamotte
+who, throughout the hour they had passed in the drawing room, had been a
+quiet but close observer, thought it wise to interpose, and artfully
+attempted to avert the impending storm by saying:
+
+"Now that sounds natural. I'm glad that you feel like shopping, Sybil,
+and like getting out more. Very glad, aren't you, Burrill?"
+
+But Mr. Burrill had no notion of being thus appeased; instead of spiking
+a gun Jasper Lamotte had opened a battery.
+
+"I'm delighted to hear that Mrs. Burrill has stopped moping," he said
+gruffly; "but I'll be hanged if I'm glad to hear myself left out of all
+the programmes, and I'll be cussed if I'm going to put up with it,
+either," and Mr. Burrill, being full in more senses than one, arose and
+paced the room with more fierceness than regularity.
+
+Mr. Lamotte forgot himself so far as to utter an angry imprecation
+between his shut teeth, and to wrinkle his forehead into a dark frown.
+Mrs. Lamotte allowed a shade of contempt to creep about her lips as she
+turned her eyes upon her daughter, but Sybil looked not one whit
+disconcerted.
+
+"I've got something to say about my wife," went on Mr. Burrill, "and I'm
+blessed if I don't say it."
+
+What had come over Sybil? Heretofore she would in any way, in every way,
+have avoided an encounter with him; she would have quitted the field or
+have remained deaf as a post; but now, "Say it, then, Mr. Burrill, say
+it, by all means, here and now," she retorted in the coolest voice
+imaginable.
+
+And Mr. Burrill did say it.
+
+"I've had enough of being made a fool of, Mrs. Sybil Burrill; I've had
+enough of being a carpet under your feet, and nothing better. I'm your
+equal, and anybody's equal, that's what _I_ am, and I'm going to have
+_my_ rights. It's very well for you to announce that you're going here
+and going there, Mrs. Burrill; but let me tell you that you go _nowhere_
+except John Burrill goes with you, that's settled."
+
+Sybil laughed scornfully.
+
+"Not quite so fast, Mr. Burrill, just stand still one moment, if you
+_can_ stand still, which I doubt. You say you will accompany me wherever
+I go; I say you may accompany me wherever people will tolerate you,
+nowhere else. You are not the man to force into a gentleman's parlor;
+you would disgrace his kitchen, his stable. The streets are free to all,
+you can accompany me in my drives; the churches are open to the vilest,
+you can go with me there; but into the houses of my friends you _shall
+not_ go; I will not so abuse friendship. You have counted upon me to
+gain you _entrée_ to Wardour and to a dozen houses, the thresholds of
+which you will never cross. If you are not satisfied with this, then you
+must be suited with less. I will not be seen with you at all."
+
+Again Jasper Lamotte, vexed and alarmed for the _denouement_,
+interposed; knowing she was striking at Burrill's chief weakness:
+
+"But Sybil, Miss Wardour, here in her meetings with Burrill, tacitly
+recognized his right to call."
+
+She turned upon him swiftly.
+
+"You know why she did it, sir; it is useless to discuss the question.
+You may calm Mr. Burrill in any way you please, or can. You know the
+terms on which he became my husband. He will continue my husband on my
+own terms. He shall not cross the threshold of Wardour, protected by my
+presence, and without it the door would close in his face. If Mr.
+Burrill does not like my terms, let him say so. _It is not in his power
+or yours to alter my decision._" And Sybil once more gathered together
+her silken skirts, lest in passing they should brush the now collapsed
+Mr. Burrill, and swept from the room.
+
+[Illustration: "It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision."]
+
+Mr. Lamotte turned to his wife.
+
+"You must talk with that girl," he said, savagely, "what the devil ails
+you all?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte arose and faced him.
+
+"I should be wasting my breath," she replied, looking him straight in
+the eye. "You have tried that girl a little too far, Mr. Lamotte," and
+she followed after her daughter.
+
+A roar, not unlike the bellow of a bull, recalled Mr. Lamotte to the
+business of the moment. John Burrill, having recovered from his
+momentary stupor of astonishment, was dancing an improvised, and
+unsteady _can can_, among the chairs and tables, beating the air with
+his huge fists, and howling with rage.
+
+Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte did first, a very natural thing; he uttered a
+string of oaths, "not loud, but deep," and next, a very sensible thing;
+he rang for brandy and hot water.
+
+And now the battle is in Mr. Lamotte's hands, why need we linger. Brandy
+hot will always conquer a John Burrill.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE PLAY GOES ON.
+
+
+When Sybil Burrill, after uttering her defiance in the face of father
+and husband, had swept from the room, closely followed by her mother,
+another form moved away from the immediate vicinity of the most
+accessible drawing-room window,--the form of Evan Lamotte. Crouching,
+creeping, shivering, cursing, he made his way to the spot where he had
+left Frank's horse, and led it toward the stables.
+
+Anything but sober when he commenced his vigil underneath the
+drawing-room windows, he had been shocked into sobriety by his sister's
+violence, and his own rage against her tormentors. Growing more and more
+sober, and more and more sullen, he stabled the ill-used thoroughbred
+with his own hands, and then, avoiding alike both servants and family,
+he crept into the house, and up to his own room.
+
+In the morning he awoke betimes, and arose promptly; he had come to know
+the habits of his father and John Burrill, and he had good reason for
+knowing them, having of late made their movements his study.
+
+Burrill would sleep until nine o'clock; he always did after a debauch,
+and he, Evan, had recently formed a habit of appearing late at breakfast
+also. From his room he kept up a surveillance over all the household
+after a method invented by himself.
+
+He knew when his stately mother swept down to the breakfast room,
+followed soon after by his father.
+
+The family all aimed to breakfast before the obnoxious Burrill had come
+to his waking time, and so were rid of him for one meal, all but Evan.
+He and his brother-in-law breakfasted together later, and in the most
+amiable manner. After a time he heard Frank go down, and the ring of his
+heels assured Evan that he was equipped for the saddle.
+
+A little later, and, from his post at his front window, screened by the
+flowing curtains, Evan saw the horses led around, saw Sybil come down
+the steps in her trailing, dark cloth habit, saw her spring lightly to
+the saddle, and heard a mocking laugh ring out, in response to some
+sally from Frank, as they cantered away.
+
+[Illustration: Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away.]
+
+"Act one in the insurrection," said Evan, as he turned away from the
+window. "Now let _me_ prepare for action." His preparations were few and
+simple; he removed his boots and coat, and crept out, and softly along
+the hall until he reached Burrill's door. Here he paused, to assure
+himself that he was not observed, and then softly tried the door; as he
+had expected, it opened without resistance, for Burrill had been
+escorted to bed, by his faithful father-in-law, in a state of
+mellowness, that precluded all thought for the night, or the dangers it
+might bring forth. Evan entered, cautiously closing the door as he had
+found it, and approached the bed. Its occupant was sleeping heavily, and
+breathing melodiously. Satisfied on this point, Evan opened a commodious
+wardrobe near the bed, threw down some clothing, spread it out smoothly,
+and then stepping within, he drew the doors together, fastening them by
+a hook of his own contrivance, on the inside; for Evan had made this
+wardrobe do service before. Then he laid himself down as comfortably as
+possible, and applied his eye to some small holes punctured in the dark
+wood, and quite invisible to casual outside observation.
+
+He had began to grow restless in his hiding-place, and fiercely
+disgusted with the sleeper's monotonously musical whistle, when his
+waiting was rewarded. The door once again opened cautiously, and this
+time, Jasper Lamotte entered. He looked carefully about him, then
+closing and locking the door, he approached the sleeper.
+
+"I knew it," thought Evan; "the fox will catch the wolf napping, and
+nail him before he can fortify himself with a morning dram."
+
+It took some time to arouse the sleeper, but Jasper Lamotte was equal to
+the occasion; this not being his first morning interview with his
+son-in-law; and, after a little, John Burrill was sufficiently awake to
+scramble through with a hasty toilet, talking as he dressed.
+
+"Business is getting urgent," he grumbled, thrusting a huge foot into a
+gorgeously decorated slipper. "I'd rather talk after breakfast."
+
+"Pshaw, you are always drunk enough to be unreasonable before noon. Turn
+some cold water upon your head and be ready to attend to what I have to
+say."
+
+What he had to say took a long time in the telling, for it was a long,
+long hour before the conference broke up, and the two men left the room
+together.
+
+Then the doors of the wardrobe opened slowly, and a pale, pinched face
+looked forth; following the face came the body of Evan Lamotte, shaken
+as if with an ague. Mechanically he closed the wardrobe, and staggered
+rather than walked from the room. Once more within his own room he
+locked the door with an unsteady hand, and then threw himself headlong
+upon the bed, uttering groan after groan, as if in pain.
+
+After a time he arose from the bed, still looking as if he had seen a
+ghost, and, going to a desk, opened it, and took therefrom a capacious
+drinking flask; raising it to his lips he drained half its contents, and
+the stimulant acting upon overstrained nerves, seemed to restore rather
+than to intoxicate.
+
+"At last," he muttered to himself, "I am at the bottom of the mystery,
+and--I am powerless." Then, like his sister on the previous day, he
+muttered, "There is but one way--only one--and _it must be done_!" Then
+throwing himself once more upon the bed, he moaned:
+
+"Oh, that I, the accursed of the family, heretofore, should live to
+be--but pshaw! it is for Sybil I care. But--for to-day let them all keep
+out of my sight--I could not see them and hold my peace."
+
+He pocketed the half empty flask, and made his way from the house to be
+seen by none at Mapleton for the next twenty-four hours.
+
+After that morning interview with his father-in-law, John Burrill
+blusters less for a few days, and makes himself less disagreeable to the
+ladies. He accepts the situation, or seems to; he rides out on one or
+two sunny afternoons with Mrs. Lamotte and Sybil, and on one of these
+occasions they meet Constance Wardour, driving with her aunt. The
+heiress of Wardour smiles gayly and kisses the tips of her fingers to
+the ladies, but there is no chance for him--he might be the footman for
+all Constance seems to see or know to the contrary. This happens in a
+thoroughfare where they are more than likely to have been observed, and
+John Burrill chafes inwardly, and begins to ponder how he can, in the
+face of all the Lamottes, gain a recognition from Constance Wardour. In
+his sober moments this becomes a haunting thought; in his tipsy ones it
+grows to be a mania.
+
+One day, during this lull in the family siege, Sybil and her mother
+visit the city, doing a mountain of shopping, and returning the next
+day. Sybil keeps on as she began, on the night when she listened to her
+father and husband, while they held council in her mother's room. She is
+full of energy and nervous excitement always, and the old stupor of
+dullness, and apathetic killing of time, never once returns. But Mrs.
+Lamotte likes this last state not much better than the first; neither
+does Constance; but they say nothing, for the reason that it would be
+useless, as they know too well. Sybil goes out oftener, sits with the
+family more, and seems like one waiting anxiously for a long expected
+event.
+
+John Burrill is a little disturbed at Sybil's visit to the city. He
+knows that she will go and come as she pleases there, unquestioned, and,
+if she choose, unattended by her mother. And, without knowing why, he
+feels inclined to rebel; but he is still under the spell of that morning
+interview, and so holds his peace.
+
+Evan, too, under the same uncanny spell, goes about more morose than
+usual, more silent than usual, more sarcastic than usual. More and more,
+too, he attaches himself to John Burrill; they drink together in the
+dining room, and then repair together to "Old Forty Rods," or some other
+favorite haunt. Together they seek for pleasure in the haunts of the
+vilest, Evan continually playing upon the vanity and credulity in
+Burrill's nature, to push him forward as the leader in all their
+debauches, the master spirit, the _bon vivant, par excellence_.
+
+And Burrill goes on and on, down and down. He begins to confide all his
+maudlin woes to Evan, and that young man is ever ready with sympathy and
+advice that is not calculated to make Jasper Lamotte's position, as bear
+trainer, a sinecure.
+
+But Evan contrives to leave Sybil tolerably free from this nuisance for
+a time; but only for a time. John Burrill has other advisers, other
+exhorters, other spurs that urge him on to his own downfall.
+
+Burrill begins to throw himself in the way of Constance Wardour; to meet
+her carriage here and there; to stand near by as she goes and comes on
+her shopping excursions; to drive past Wardour Place alone and often.
+
+At first, this only amuses Miss Wardour; then it annoys her; then, when
+she finds her walks in the grounds so often overlooked by the slowly
+passing Burrill, she begins to mark his maneuvers with a growing
+vexation.
+
+But Burrill perseveres, and the more nearly he approaches the fourth
+stage of his intoxication, the more open becomes his stare, the more
+patent his growing admiration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+JOHN BURRILL, PLEBEIAN.
+
+
+It is night, late and lowering; especially gloomy in that quarter of
+W---- where loom the great ugly rows of tenements that are inhabited by
+the factory toilers; for the gloom and smoke of the great engines brood
+over the roofs night and day, and the dust and cinders could only be
+made noticeable by their absence.
+
+In a small cottage, at the end of a row of larger houses, a woman is
+busy clearing away the fragments of a none too bountiful supper. A small
+woman, with a sour visage, and not one ounce of flesh on her person,
+that is not absolutely needed to screen from mortal gaze a bone. A woman
+with a long, sharp nose, two bright, ferret-like brown eyes, and a
+rasping voice, that seems to have worn itself thin asking hard questions
+of Providence, from sunrise till dark.
+
+The table has been spread for two, but the second party at the banquet,
+a gamin son aged seven, has swallowed his own and all he could get of
+his mother's share, and betakened himself to the streets, night though
+it be.
+
+The woman moves about, now and then muttering to herself as she works.
+The room is shabbily furnished, and not over neat, for its mistress
+spends her days in the great mill hard by, and housekeeping has become
+a secondary matter. Only the needs of life find their demands honored in
+this part of W----. Too often needs get choked and die of the smoke and
+the cinders.
+
+It is late, for the woman has been doing extra work; it is stormy, too,
+blustering and spattering rain. Yet she pauses occasionally and listens
+to a passing footfall, as though she expected a visitor.
+
+At last, when the final touch has made the room as tidy as it ever is,
+or as she thinks it need be, there comes a shuffling of feet outside,
+and a tremendous thump on the rickety door. After which, as if he was
+sufficiently heralded, in comes a man, a big man, muffled to the eyes in
+a huge coat, which he slowly draws down and draws off, disclosing to the
+half curious, half contemptuous gaze of the woman the auburn locks and
+highly tinted countenance of Mr. John Burrill.
+
+"So," she says, in her shrillest voice, "It's _you_, is it? It seems one
+is never to be rid of you at any price."
+
+"Yes, it's me--all of me," the man replies, as if confirming a doubtful
+statement. "Why, now; you act as if you didn't expect me."
+
+"And no more I did," says the woman sullenly and most untruthfully.
+"It's a wonder to me that you can't stay away from here, after all
+that's come and gone."
+
+"Well, I can't," he retorts, amiably rubbing his hands together.
+"Anyhow, I won't, which means about the same thing. Where's the little
+duffer?"
+
+"He's where you were at his age, I expect," she replies grimly.
+
+"Well, and if he only keeps on as I have, until he gets up to my present
+age, he won't be in a bad boat, eh, Mrs. Burrill the first."
+
+"He's got too much of his mother's grit to be where _you_ are, John
+Burrill, livin' a lackey among people that despise you because you have
+got a hand on 'em somewhere. I want to know if you don't think they will
+choke you off some day when they are done using you?"
+
+John Burrill seated himself astride a low wooden chair, and propelling
+it and himself forward by a movement of the feet and a "hitch" of the
+shoulders, he leaned across the chair back in his most facetious manner,
+and addressed her with severe eloquence.
+
+"Look here, Mrs. Burrill number one, don't you take advantage of your
+position, and ride the high horse too free. It's something to 'ave been
+Mrs. J. Burrill once, I'll admit; but don't let it elevate you too much.
+You ain't quite so handsome as the present Mrs. Burrill, neither are you
+so young, consequently you don't show off so well in a tantrum. Now the
+present Mrs. Burrill--"
+
+"Oh, then she does have tantrums, the present Mrs. Burrill," sneered the
+woman, fairly quivering with suppressed rage. "One would think she would
+be so proud of you that she could excuse all your little faults. Brooks
+says that they all talk French up there, so that you can't wring into
+their confabs, John."
+
+"Does he?" remarked Burrill, quietly, but with an ominous gleam in his
+ugly eyes. "Brooks must be careful of that tongue of his. You may
+reckon that they all stop their French when _I_ begin to talk. Now,
+don't be disagreeable, Nance; it ain't every man that can take a rise in
+the world like me, and _I_ don't put on airs, and hold myself above my
+old friends. Do you think that every man could step into such a family
+as _I_ belong to, Mrs. Burrill? No one can say that John Burrill's a
+common fellow after that feat."
+
+"No, but a great many can say that John Burrill's a mean fellow, too
+mean to walk over. Do you think the men as you worked along side of, and
+drank and supped with, don't know what you are, John Burrill! Do you
+think that they don't all know that your outrageous vanity has made a
+fool of you? Chance threw into your hands a secret of the Lamottes; you
+need not stare, we ain't fools down here at the factories. Maybe I know
+what that secret is, and maybe I don't. It's no matter. I know more of
+your doings than you give me credit for, John Burrill. Now, what must
+you do? Blackmail would have satisfied a sensible man; but straightway
+you are seized with the idea that you were born to be a gentleman. You!
+Then you form your plan; and you force, by means of the power in your
+hands, that beautiful young lady to marry you."
+
+"Seems to me," interrupts the man who has been listening quite
+contentedly, "that you are getting along too fast with your story."
+
+"Yes, I am too fast. When you first hatched out this plan, you came to
+me and put a pistol to my head, and swore that if I didn't apply for a
+divorce from you at once, you would blow my brains out. I had swore
+more than once to have a divorce; and Lord knows I had cause enough;
+what, with the drunkenness and the beatings, and the idleness, and the
+night prowlin', and all the rest; but I never expected that."
+
+The woman paused for a moment, and then resumed her tirade of mixed
+eloquence and bad grammar.
+
+"I didn't expect to be drove into the divorce court at the point of a
+pistol, but that's how it ended, and you was free to torment Miss
+Lamotte, poor young thing! Don't you let yourself think that I envied
+_her_! Lord knows I had had enough of you, and your meanness, but I
+pitied her; and if I had knocked out your brains, as I've been tempted
+to do a dozen times, when you have rolled in here blind drunk, I'd have
+done her a good turn, and myself too. The time was when Nance Fergus was
+your equal, and more too; but you left England with the notion that here
+you would be the equal of anybody, and you've never got clear of the
+idea. I've tried to make you understand that there's a coarse breed of
+folks, same's there is of dogs, and that you are of a mighty coarse
+breed. I've lived out with gentle folks over the water, and they were
+none of your sort. But, go on John Burrill, the low women you are so
+fond of, and the girls at the factory, have called you good lookin',
+until your head is turned with vanity. You have got yourself in among
+the upper class, no matter how, and I suppose you expect your good looks
+to do the rest for you. I mind once when I was at service in
+Herefordshire, the Squire had a fine young beast in his cattle yard,
+black an' sleek, an' handsome to look at, and the young ladies came down
+from the big house and looked at it through the fence, and called it a
+'beautiful creature,' but all the same they led it away to the slaughter
+house with a ring in its nose, and the young ladies dined off it with a
+relish."
+
+John Burrill stroked his nasal organ fondly, as if discerning some
+connection between that protuberance and the aforementioned ring; but he
+made no attempt to interrupt her.
+
+"You was bad enough in England, John Burrill; what with your poaching
+and your other misdeeds, and sorry was the day when I left a good place
+to come away from the country with you, because it was gettin' too hot
+for you to stay there. You couldn't get along without me then; and you
+can't get along now it seems, for all your fine feathers, without you
+come here sometimes to brag of your exploits, and pretend you are
+lookin' after the boy."
+
+"Nance," said Burrill, "you're a fine old bird! 'Ow I'd like to set you
+at my old father-in-law, blarst him, when he rides it too rough
+sometimes, and, what a sociable little discourse you could lay down for
+the ladies too, Nance; but, are you about done? You've been clean over
+the old ground, seems to me, tho' I may have dozed a little here and
+there. Have you been over the old business, and brought me over the
+water, by the nape of the neck; because, if you haven't--no, I see you
+have not, so here's to you, Nance, spin on;" and he took from his
+pocket a black bottle, and drank a mighty draught therefrom.
+
+"No, I'm _not_ done," screamed the woman. "You've come here to-night, as
+you have before, for a purpose; one would think that such a fine
+gentleman could find better society, but it seems you can't. You never
+come here for nothing; you never come for any good; you want something?
+What is it?"
+
+He laughed a low, hard laugh.
+
+"Yes," he said, taking another pull at the black bottle; "I want
+something."
+
+"Umph! I thought so."
+
+"I want to tell you," here he arose, and dropping his careless manner,
+laid a threatening hand upon her arm. "I want to tell you, Nance
+Burrill, that you have got to bridle that tongue of yours; d'ye
+understand?"
+
+She shook off his hand, and retired a few paces eyeing him closely as
+she said:
+
+"Oh! I thought so. Something has scared ye already."
+
+"No, I'm not scared; that thing can't be done by you, Nance; but you
+have been blowing too much among the factory people, and I won't have
+it."
+
+"Won't have what?"
+
+"Won't have any more of this talk about going to my wife with stories
+about me."
+
+"Who said I threatened?"
+
+"No matter, you don't do much that I don't hear of, so mind your eye,
+Nance. As for the women at the bend, you let them alone, and keep your
+tongue between your teeth."
+
+"Oh! I will; one can't blame you for seeking the society of your equals,
+after the snubbing you must get from your betters up there. But that
+don't satisfy you; you must drag that poor fellow, Evan Lamotte, into
+their den; as if he were not wild enough, before you came where you
+could reach him."
+
+John Burrill took another pull at the black bottle.
+
+"Evan's a good fellow," he said somewhat thickly. "He knows enough to
+appreciate a man like me, and we both have larks, now let me tell you."
+
+"Well, have your larks; but don't sit and drink yourself blind before my
+very eyes. Why don't you go?"
+
+"Cause I don't want'er--," growing more and more mellow, as the liquor
+went fuming to his head, already pretty heavily loaded with brandy and
+wine. "Where's the little rooster, I tell yer."
+
+"In the streets, and he's too much like his father to ever come home,
+'till he's gone after, and dragged in."
+
+"Well, go and drag him in then, I'm goin' ter see 'im."
+
+"I won't!" shrieked the woman, now fairly beside herself with rage; "go
+home to your lady wife, and take her my compliments; tell her that I
+turned you out."
+
+John Burrill staggered to his feet, uttering a brutal oath.
+
+"You'll turn me out, will you? You say _won't_ to me; you are forgetting
+my training, Mrs. Nance; I'll teach you that John Burrill's yer master
+yet; go for the boy."
+
+But the woman did not stir.
+
+"You won't, eh!" clutching her fiercely, and shaking her violently, "now
+will you?"
+
+"No, you brute."
+
+"Then, take that, and that, and that!"
+
+[Illustration: "Then take that, and that."]
+
+A rain of swift blows; a shriek ringing out on the stillness of the
+night; then a swift step, the door dashed in, and John Burrill is
+measuring his length upon the bare floor.
+
+The woman reels, as the clutch of the miscreant loosens from her arm,
+but recovers herself and turns a bruised face toward the timely
+intruder. It is Clifford Heath.
+
+"Are you badly hurt?" he asks, anxiously.
+
+She lifts a hand to her poor bruised face, and aching head, and then
+sinking into a chair says, wearily:
+
+"It's nothing--for me. Look out, sir!"
+
+This last was an exclamation of warning, John Burrill had staggered to
+his feet, and was aiming an unsteady blow at the averted head of Doctor
+Heath.
+
+The latter turned swiftly, comprehending the situation at a glance, and
+once more felled the brute to the floor.
+
+By this time others had appeared upon the scene,--neighbors, roused by
+the cry of the woman.
+
+Doctor Heath bent again to examine her face. He had scarcely observed
+the features of the man he had just knocked down; and he now asked:
+
+"Is--this man you husband, madam?"
+
+The woman reddened under her bruises.
+
+"He _was_ my husband," she said, bitterly. "He is--John Burrill."
+
+Clifford Heath started back, thinking, first of all, of Sybil, and
+realizing that there must be no scandal, that could be avoided, for her
+sake. He had never seen Burrill, save at a distance, but had heard, as
+had every one in W----, of his divorced wife.
+
+Turning to one of the neighbors, he said: "I was passing on my way home
+from Mrs. Brown's, when I heard this alarm. I think, good people, that
+we had better let this fellow go away quietly, and attend to this woman.
+Her face will be badly swollen by and by." Then he turned once more
+toward Burrill.
+
+Once more the miscreant was struggling to his feet, and at a command
+from Doctor Heath, he hastened his efforts. Hitherto, he had had only a
+vision of a pair of flashing dark eyes, and an arm that shot out
+swiftly, and straight home.
+
+Now, however, as he gained an erect posture, and turned a threatening
+look upon his assailant, the onlookers, who all knew him, and all hated
+and feared him, saw a sudden and surprising transformation. The red all
+died out of his face, the eyes seemed starting from their sockets, the
+lower jaw dropped abjectly and suddenly, and, with a yell of terror,
+John Burrill lowered his head and dashed from the house, as if pursued
+by a legion of spectres.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NANCE BURRILL'S WARNING.
+
+
+The sudden and surprising exit of Burrill caused, for a moment, a stay
+of proceedings, and left the group, so rapidly gathered in Nance
+Burrill's kitchen, standing _en tableaux_, for a full minute.
+
+Dr. Heath was the first to recover from his surprise, and as he took in
+the absurdity of the scene, he uttered a low laugh, and turned once more
+toward the woman, Nance, who seemed to have lost herself in a prolonged
+stare.
+
+"Your persecutor does not like my looks, apparently," he said, at the
+same time taking from his pocket a small medicine case. "Or was it some
+of these good friends that put him to flight?" And he glanced at the
+group gathered near the door.
+
+A woman with a child in her arms, and her husband with two more in
+charge, at her heels; a family group to the rescue; two or three old
+women, of course; and a man with a slouching gait, a shock of unruly red
+hair, and a face very much freckled across the cheek bones, and very red
+about the nose; the eyes, too, had an uncanny squint, as if nature had
+given up her task too soon and left him to survey the world through the
+narrow slits. This man had always an air of being profoundly interested
+in the smallest affairs of life, perhaps because the slits through which
+he gazed magnified the objects gazed upon, and he peered about him now
+with profoundest solicitude. This was Watt Brooks, a mechanic, and
+hanger-on about the mills, where he did an occasional bit of odd work,
+and employed the balance of his time in gossiping among the women, or
+lounging at the drinking saloons, talking a great deal about the wrongs
+of the working classes, and winning to himself some friends from a
+certain turbulent class who listened admiringly to his loud, communistic
+oratory.
+
+Brooks had not been long in W----, but he had made rapid headway among
+that class who, having little or nothing to love or to fear, are not
+slow to relieve the monotony of very bare existence by appropriating to
+themselves the friendship of every hail fellow whom chance throws in
+their way.
+
+Accordingly Brooks had become a sort of oracle among the dwellers in
+"Mill avenue," as the street was facetiously called, and he was ready
+for any dish of gossip, not infrequently making himself conspicuous as a
+teller of news; he was faithful in gathering up and retailing small
+items among such ladies of the "avenue" as, being exempted from mill
+work because of family cares, had time and inclination, and this latter
+was seldom lacking, to chatter with him about the latest mishap, or the
+one that was bound to occur soon.
+
+Prominent among the gossips of Mill avenue was that much abused matron
+Mrs. John Burrill number one, and she had not been slow to discover the
+advantages of possessing such an acquaintance as Mr. Brooks; accordingly
+they gravitated toward each other by mutual attraction, and it was quite
+a common thing for Brooks to drop in and pass an evening hour in the
+society of Mrs. Burrill, sometimes even taking a cup of tea at the table
+of the lone woman on a Sunday afternoon.
+
+As Doctor Heath laid his case upon the small pine table, and prepared to
+deal out a soothing lotion for the bruised Mrs. Burrill, Brooks advanced
+courageously, supported on either hand by an anxious old lady, and the
+chorus commenced.
+
+"It warn't _us_ as scared him out, sir," said Brooks, positively. "He's
+seen all o' us, first and last. Maybe as he's had cause for remembering
+_you_, sir?" and Brooks peered anxiously at the doctor, as if hoping for
+a prompt confirmation of this shrewd guess.
+
+"Sure, an' it was a guilty conscience, if ever I seen one, as made the
+brute beast run like that, from the sight of the doctor," chimed in
+first old lady, who quarreled with her "old man" on principle, and
+seldom came out second best. "Faith, an' the murtherin' wretch has half
+killed ye, Burrill, dear."
+
+"I was that scart with the screamin'," said the mother of three, "that I
+nearly let the baby fall a-runnin' here."
+
+And then they all gathered around Mrs. Burrill, and talked vigorously,
+and all together, while Brooks, hovering near the doctor, pursued his
+investigation.
+
+"A bad lot, that Burrill, sir. I've seen him, frequent; and so he's had
+occasion to know you, sir?"
+
+"No, my good fellow; I never had the honor of meeting Mr. John Burrill
+before," replied Doctor Heath, smiling at the man's pertinacity.
+
+"Now, I want to know," exclaimed Brooks, in accents of real distress,
+"then what _could_ have set him off like that?"
+
+"I suppose we were getting too many for him," replied the doctor,
+easily.
+
+"Not a bit of it, sir. Burrill ain't no coward, especially when he's in
+liquor; and he and me's on good enough terms, too; though, of course,"
+said Brooks, recollecting himself, and glancing anxiously at the
+reclining figure of the injured one, "of course, I would never stand by
+and see a lady struck down, sir."
+
+"Manifestly not," replied the doctor, drily. "Then, as he would not fear
+you, and could not fear me, he must have been in the first stages of
+'snake seeing.'"
+
+"It's my opinion, he took you for somebody else, as he has reasons to be
+afraid of," said one of the women, with an emphatic nod.
+
+But here the voice of the heroine of the occasion rose high above the
+rest.
+
+"John Burrill wasn't so drunk as to run away from a man he never saw, or
+to see crooked," she said, fiercely. "I saw the look on his face,
+blinded tho' I was, and he's afraid of _you_, Doctor Heath. I don't know
+why. There's some secrets in John Burrill's life that I don't know, and
+there's more that I wish I didn't know; but here, or somewhere else, he
+has known you, sir. Perhaps only by sight; but he's afraid of you,
+that's certain."
+
+There was no reply from Doctor Heath; he was busy over his medicine
+case. He prepared a lotion, to be applied to the bruises, and a
+sedative, to be applied to the nerves of the patient, who was beginning
+to recover herself in a measure, and launched out into a torrent of
+invective against the author of her trouble; after which she rushed into
+a wild recital of her wrongs, beginning at the time when she left a good
+place in England, to follow the fortunes of John Burrill, and running
+with glib tongue over the entire gamut of her trials since. And all of
+this, although it was far from new to the dwellers of Mill Avenue, was
+listened to, by them, with absorbed interest, and the proper
+accompaniment of ejaculations, at the proper places. During this
+discourse, to which Brooks listened with evidences of liveliest
+interest, Doctor Heath remained seemingly inattentive, waiting for a
+lull in the storm; when it came at last, he ascertained as briefly as
+possible, who among the women would remain, and pass the night with Mrs.
+Burrill; gave her direction, as to the use she was to make of the
+medicines he had prepared, and buttoned his coat about him, preparatory
+to departure.
+
+As his hand was upon the latch, the voice of his patient arrested him.
+
+"Doctor," she said, earnestly. "It wouldn't be gratitude in me to let
+you go away without a word of warning. I don't want to pry into your
+affairs, but let me tell you this: You are not done with John Burrill;
+you took him by surprise to-night; but, I'll wager he is over his scare
+by now, and he is plotting how he can get another sight at you,
+unbeknown to yourself; and, if he has reason to be afraid of you, then
+look out for him; _you_ have reasons for being afraid too."
+
+Doctor Heath hesitated a moment, and a shade of annoyance crossed his
+face, then he said in his usual careless tone:
+
+"Give yourself no uneasiness about this matter, madam; I never saw the
+scoundrel before, and he was simply afraid of my fist. However, if he
+ever should cross my path, be assured I shall know how to dispose of
+him;" and Clifford Heath bowed and went out into the night, little
+recking that he had left his life in the hands of five old women.
+
+In a short time, Brooks arose and shuffled out, and then the tongues
+were once more loosened, the husband attendant had been ordered home
+with his two charges, and the chief subject of their converse was Doctor
+Heath, and the strange influence he had exerted upon John Burrill; and a
+fruitful theme they found it.
+
+Meantime, John Burrill, who had fled straight on down the gloomy length
+of Mill avenue, found himself, and his senses, together, close under the
+shadow of one of the huge factories, and at the river's very edge.
+
+Here, breathless and bespattered, he sat down upon a flat stone to
+recover himself, and review the situation.
+
+"Curse the man," he muttered. "I would not have made such a fool of
+myself for a gold mine; but I couldn't have helped it for two," he
+added, after a moment's reflection, "if it's the man I supposed it to
+be! But it can't be! It is not."
+
+He was by this time, comparatively sober, and he arose to his feet,
+finally, feeling his courage returning, but still deep in thought.
+
+"Hang the luck," he muttered, kicking viciously at a loose stone. "If
+that's the man I fear, then Jasper Lamotte would be glad to know him.
+Why!" starting suddenly erect, "I can find out, and I will. I must, for
+my own safety," and John Burrill faced about and retraced his steps.
+
+Cautiously this time, he went over the ground, heeding where he set his
+foot, lest some misstep should betray his presence in Mill avenue still;
+more and more cautiously as he neared the house from which he had so
+lately fled.
+
+Closer and closer he crept, until at last he was under the window of the
+kitchen, and here he crouched, listening. He heard the mingled confusion
+of voices, then the firm tones of Clifford Heath, clear above the rest.
+Hearing this, he moved quickly away, for he was in instant danger of
+detection, should the door open suddenly, as it might at any moment.
+
+He crossed the street and standing under the shadow of a small tenement,
+waited.
+
+It was not long before the door opened, and the light from within showed
+him the tall form of Clifford Heath, clearly outlined against the
+darkness.
+
+Out strode Heath, walking so rapidly, that the not yet quite sober, John
+Burrill, found himself compelled to exercise care, and expend some
+breath, in keeping him within sight.
+
+On and on, went the pursued and the pursuer, and presently, out of the
+darkness, came a third form, gliding shadow-like; as if every step of
+the way were too familiar to render caution necessary; this third form,
+drew nearer and nearer to Burrill, who, all unconscious of its
+proximity, labored on after Doctor Heath.
+
+Straight to his own cottage went the doubly shadowed young physician; he
+opened the door with a latch key, and the followers lost him in the
+darkness of the unlighted vestibule. Presently, however, a light was
+seen to glimmer through the partially closed blinds, and then John
+Burrill crept cautiously nearer, and feeling his way carefully, lest
+some obstacle at his feet should cause him to stumble; he gained the
+window, pressed his face close to the shutters and peered through.
+
+Clifford Heath was pacing up and down his cosy sitting room, seemingly
+lost in perplexed thought, and, as again and again his face was turned
+to the light, the watcher studied it closely; finally he seemed
+satisfied with his scrutiny, for he turned away and groped back to the
+street once more.
+
+"It's the other one," he muttered, drawing a long breath of relief. "I
+might have known it from the first; so he is the young Doctor they tell
+of! Well, it's a rum game that brings him here, and it's certain he
+don't want to be known. He can't know me, and--Jove, I'd like to pay him
+for the hits he gave me," and he fell to pondering as he turned his
+steps, not the way he had come, nor yet toward Mapleton, but in the
+direction of "Old Forty Rods." But long before he reached his
+destination, the creeping, stealthy shadow, had ceased to follow, and
+had vanished down a side street.
+
+[Illustration: "It's the other one," he muttered.]
+
+A few lights were glimmering, here and there, as he turned down the, not
+very elegant, street on which was located the haven of "Forty Rods," and
+when he was within a block of the place, a man, coming suddenly around
+the corner, ran square against him.
+
+Burrill uttered an oath, as he with difficulty regained his balance, but
+the new-comer called out in a voice, a little unsteady from some cause:
+
+"Helloa! B--Burrill, that yer, ole feller? Didn't mean ter knock against
+yer, give-ye my word I didn'. Give us a tiss, ole man, an' come-long to
+Forty's!"
+
+"Brooks," said Burrill, taking him sociably by the arm, and facing
+toward the saloon in question. "Brooks, you're drunk; you're beastly
+drunk; drunk as a sailor by all that's sober." And together they entered
+"Old Forty Rods."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CONSTANCE AT BAY.
+
+
+"It is impossible, sir! utterly impossible! and, pardon me for saying
+it, most absurd! This matter has been dragged on too long already. And
+on such evidence I utterly refuse to follow up the case. You have done
+well, undoubtedly, but it was only at the urgent request of Mr. Lamotte
+that I have allowed it to continue, and now I wash my hands of the whole
+affair."
+
+It is Constance Wardour who speaks, standing very straight and with head
+very firmly poised, and wearing upon her face what Mrs. Aliston would
+have called her "obstinate look." Her words were addressed to a well
+dressed, gentlemanly looking personage, who is neither young nor yet
+middle aged, and who might pass for a solicitor with a good run of
+clients, or a bank cashier out on special business. He is looking
+somewhat disconcerted just now, but recovers his composure almost as she
+ceases speaking.
+
+"But, madam," he expostulates mildly, "this is unheard of, really. You
+employ me upon a case which, just now, has reached a crisis, and when
+success seems almost certain you tell me to drop the case. I never like
+to drag forward my own personality, Miss Wardour, but really this is a
+blow aimed directly at my professional honor."
+
+There is an ominous flash in the eye of the heiress, but her voice is
+smooth and tranquil, as she replies:
+
+"I am sorry if this should injure _you_, Mr. Belknap, but, pardon me, I
+scarcely see how it can; you, as I understand, are a '_private
+detective_,' answerable to no one save yourself and the one employing
+you. I, as that one, pronounce myself satisfied to drop the case. I
+decline to use the circumstantial evidence you have brought against a
+man who is above suspicion, in my mind, at least. Let the Wardour
+diamonds rest in oblivion. Mr. Belknap, I am ready to honor your draft
+for any sum that you may deem sufficient to compensate you for the
+trouble you have taken, as well as for the _hurt_ done your professional
+pride."
+
+Private Detective Belknap stood for a moment, pondering, then he lifted
+his head and said, with an air of injured virtue beautiful to
+contemplate:
+
+"Miss Wardour, of course there is no appeal from your decision. In my
+profession it often happens that we are compelled to unmask fraud and
+deceit in high places, and to wound the feelings of some we profoundly
+respect. While in your employ, I was bound to work for your interest; I
+owed a duty to you. Being dismissed from your service, I owe a duty
+still to society. As an officer of the law, it becomes my duty, being no
+longer under your commands, to make known to the proper authorities the
+facts in my possession. I do not know this Doctor Heath, consequently
+can have no object in hunting him down; but, believing him guilty, and
+holding the proof that I do, I must make known the truth, otherwise I
+should be compromising myself, and compounding a felony." Here Mr.
+Belknap took up his hat. "I will send in my statement of expenses, etc.,
+to-morrow, Miss Wardour. This withdrawal of the case has been so sudden,
+so unexpected, that I am not prepared for a settlement of accounts." And
+Mr. Belknap turned slowly toward the door.
+
+But the heiress stopped him by a gesture.
+
+"Stay a moment, sir," she said, and the ominous gleam was intensified
+into a look of absolute hatred, for an instant. "I hope I do not quite
+understand your meaning. Did you intend to tell me that if I dismiss you
+from my service, you will still continue the search for my diamonds?"
+
+[Illustration: "Stay a moment, sir."]
+
+"No, madam: I will simply place the facts I have gathered before the
+town authorities, and leave them to use the knowledge as they see fit. I
+then withdraw from the field, unless called upon as a witness, when, of
+course, I must do my duty."
+
+Miss Wardour stood for some moments in silent thought, one small foot
+tapping nervously the while, a sure sign of irritation with her. At last
+she said, slowly, and with an undertone of sarcasm, that she made a
+futile effort to conceal:
+
+"I think I comprehend you Mr. Belknap, and I withdraw my dismissal. You
+are still retained on the Wardour robbery case; I suppose, therefore,
+you are subject to my orders."
+
+Mr. Belknap laid down his hat, and returned to his former position.
+Without a trace of triumph or satisfaction in his face or manner, he
+said:
+
+"I am subject to your commands, certainly, Miss Wardour; but I beg that
+you will not misapprehend me."
+
+"Be easy on that point," interrupted Miss Wardour, somewhat impatiently.
+"Now then, Mr. Belknap, I want a little time to consider this matter,
+and to consult with my aunt; also to see Mr. Lamotte. During this time I
+desire you to remain passive, to make no move in the matter; above all,
+to mention your suspicions to no one. You can, of course, keep as close
+a watch as you may please over Doctor Heath, but it must be done
+quietly, do you comprehend? You are to say nothing of this matter not
+even to Mr. Lamotte."
+
+Once more the detective took up his hat.
+
+"I comprehend," he said, gravely; "you shall be obeyed to the letter,
+Miss Wardour; for three days, then, my task will be an easy one. On
+Friday morning I will call on you again."
+
+"That is what I wish," she said; "I will have further instructions for
+you then."
+
+With the bow of a courtier, the private detective withdrew from her
+presence, and for a moment the heiress stood as he had left her, gazing
+at the door through which he had disappeared, as if she were seeking to
+transfix an enemy with the angry fire of her eyes. Then she struck her
+hands together fiercely, and began a rapid march to and fro across the
+room.
+
+"Ah!" she ejaculated; "the sleek, smooth, oily-tongued wretch! To dare
+to come here and make terms with _me_; to fairly compel me to keep him
+in my service! and to bring such a charge against _him_. If he had an
+enemy, I should call it a wretched plot. But I'll not be outwitted by
+you, Mr. Belknap; I have three day's grace."
+
+She continued to pace the room with much energy for a few moments, and
+then seating herself at a writing table, rapidly wrote as follows:
+
+     NEIL BATHURST, ESQ,
+     No.---- B---- street. N. Y.
+
+     _Dear Sir:_--If in your power, be in W---- in two days, without
+     fail. Danger menaces your friend, Dr. H----, and I only hold
+     detective B---- in my service to bridle his tongue. I fear a plot,
+     and can only stay proceedings against the innocent, by proclaiming
+     the truth concerning my diamonds; acting under your advice, I will
+     withhold my statement until you arrive.
+
+     Hastily, etc.,
+     CONSTANCE WARDOUR.
+
+There was yet an hour before the departure of the eastern mail, and
+Constance sealed her letter, and dispatched it by a faithful messenger;
+this done, she pondered again.
+
+The private detective had waited upon her that morning with a strange
+statement. For weeks he had been working out this strange case, guided
+by the fact that the chloroform administered to Constance was
+scientifically meted out. He had commenced a system of shadowing the
+various medical men in W----, without regard to their present or
+previous standing. Nothing could be found in the past or present of any
+to cause them to fall under suspicion, until he came to investigate
+Doctor Heath. Here what did he find? First, that his antecedents could
+be traced back only so far as his stay in W---- had extended. Nothing
+could be found to prove that his career had been above reproach,
+previous to his sojourn here; hence, according to the reasoning of Mr.
+Belknap, it was fair to suppose that it had not been. "For," argued the
+astute private detective, "where there is secresy, there is also room
+for suspicion." And Constance felt a momentary sinking of the heart,
+when she recalled the words she had overheard, as they fell from the
+lips of Clifford Heath: "Here, I am Clifford Heath, from nowhere."
+Starting with a suspicion, the private detective had made rapid headway.
+He had ascertained beyond a doubt that Doctor Heath's expenses, taken
+all in all, were in excess of his professional income. He might have a
+private income, true; but this was not proven, and then there _was_ a
+mystery that the accused had tried in vain to hide from the eyes of the
+hunters. There was a correspondence that was carried on with the utmost
+caution, letters received that had thrown him quite off his guard, and
+that were destroyed as soon as read. Finally and lastly, there was the
+bottle broken into fragments and thrown to the dust heap; but, without
+doubt, the counterpart of the one found at Miss Wardour's bedside on the
+morning of the robbery; while, among some cast-off garments, had been
+found the _half of a handkerchief_, that matched precisely the one found
+over the face of the heiress. All these facts Mr. Belknap had laid
+before her with elaborate explanations, and "notes by the way," but
+instead of drawing from her the expected indignant demand for the
+instant arrest of the accused one, Miss Wardour had listened coldly, and
+with marked impatience, and had finally declared her decision not to
+move in the affair, nor to allow any one to act in her behalf.
+
+As Constance reviewed the arguments of the detective, a new thought came
+to her. Doctor Heath, all unconscious of the danger menacing him, might
+in some way, do himself an injury, and add to the chain of
+circumstantial evidence that was lengthening for his overthrow. He must
+be warned.
+
+This was a delicate task, and she hesitated a little over the manner of
+accomplishing it.
+
+Finally, she seated herself once more at her desk and wrote another
+letter, or rather a note.
+
+It contained only a few lines, and was addressed to, "_Mr. Raymond
+Vandyck._"
+
+Meanwhile, private detective Belknap was driving slowly in the
+light buggy, that had brought him to Wardour Place, toward the
+residence of Jasper Lamotte. His features wore a look of complacent
+self-satisfaction, and he hummed softly to himself, as he drove easily
+over the red and brown leaves that were beginning to flutter downward
+and carpet the highway.
+
+Arriving at Mapleton; he drove leisurely up the avenue, and lifting his
+eyes toward the stately edifice crowning the hill, he saw, standing on
+the broad piazza, and gazing directly toward him, a beautiful woman,
+clad in trailing silk, and wearing a shawl of richest crimson cashmere,
+draped about her head and shoulders; as he drew nearer, he was startled
+at the strange mingling of pallor and flame in her face; the temples
+were like blue veined ivory, and the slender hands, clasping the folds
+of crimson, seemed scarcely strong enough to retain their hold; but the
+lips and cheeks were a glowing crimson, and the eyes burned and glowed
+with a steady intense light.
+
+"So," thought private detective Belknap, "I have not left all the beauty
+behind me, it seems. I suppose this is the daughter of mine host."
+
+And so thinking, he reined in his horse upon the graveled drive and,
+lifting up his hat, with elaborate courtesy, said:
+
+"I believe this is Mapleton."
+
+The lovely brunette allowed the crimson shawl to drop from about her
+head as she came slowly down the steps, never once removing her dark
+searching eyes from his face.
+
+"This is Mapleton, sir. May I ask if this is Mr. Belknap?"
+
+Somewhat surprised, he answered in the affirmative.
+
+"Mr. Belknap, the detective," she persisted, and then seeing that he
+hesitated over his answer, she added, "I am Jasper Lamotte's daughter,
+and know that he expects you."
+
+"I am the man Mr. Lamotte expects," he said, throwing down the reins
+and springing from the buggy. "Is Mr. Lamotte at home?"
+
+"My father is in the library," she replied, coming still nearer him,
+"follow me, Mr. Belknap, I will send a servant to take your horse."
+
+He followed her up the steps, and across the broad piazza; as they
+passed under the shadow of the arched doorway, she paused, looked about
+her, and then, drawing close to the detective and laying one hand
+lightly on his arm, she whispered:
+
+"Mr. Belknap, I have a word for your ear alone. Can you meet me to-night
+where we shall be secure from intrusion?"
+
+Her burning eyes searched his face, and accustomed as he was to strange
+situations, Mr. Belknap was startled for a moment out of his
+self-possession.
+
+"I have need of your professional services," she hurried on, "and they
+must be rendered very secretly. Will you hear what I have to say?"
+
+The beautiful face was full of wild eagerness, and Mr. Belknap was not
+insensible to the piquancy of the situation.
+
+"I am yours to command, madam. Name the place and hour," he replied
+gallantly.
+
+"Then meet me at the boat house, you can see it from here, to-night at
+nine. Be sure you are not followed, and--above all, do not mention to my
+father, or any one, this meeting of ours. You will be punctual?"
+
+"As the hour itself."
+
+"Thanks. Come in now, sir; I will send a servant to announce your
+arrival."
+
+She threw open the door of the drawing room, motioned him to enter,
+inclined her head in a graceful adieu, and swept down the hall.
+
+Two minutes later he stood in the library bowing before Jasper Lamotte
+and his son Frank.
+
+"Ah, it's you, Belknap," said the elder Lamotte. "And what news?"
+
+"Very little, sir."
+
+"But," interrupted Frank, "surely you have fired your train?"
+
+"Yes, and I have run against the worst impediment that ever comes in a
+detective's way."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"A woman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+APPOINTING A WATCH DOG.
+
+
+Doctor Heath stood at his office window looking out upon the street, and
+whistling softly. Below and directly under his gaze, stood a fine bay
+horse, harnessed to a new light road wagon; and horse and owner were
+somewhat impatiently waiting the arrival of Ray Vandyck, who was under
+engagement to drive with Doctor Heath, and pass his opinion on the
+"points" of the handsome bay, a recent purchase of the doctor's, who was
+a lover of a good horse and a fine dog, and was never without one or
+more specimens of each.
+
+A quick step behind him caused him to bring his tune to an abrupt close,
+and he turned to see Ray, who had entered hurriedly, leaving the door
+ajar, and was busy breaking the seal of a small cream tinted envelope.
+
+Clifford Heath favored him with a quizzical glance, and came away from
+the window.
+
+"That's a dangerous looking document, Ray," laughed the doctor, throwing
+himself down in his own favorite chair with the air of a man resigned to
+any thing.
+
+"I've a shuddering horror of any thing so small and delicately tinted.
+But read it, my boy; it's your fate to be persecuted, you are so
+amiable."
+
+Ray lost no time in opening and scanning the dainty note, and he now
+turned a perplexed face toward his friend.
+
+"I'll be hanged if I can understand it," he said, filiping the note
+between his thumb and fingers.
+
+[Illustration: "I'll be hanged if I can understand it."]
+
+"Of course you can't, 'it' having emanated from the brain of a woman. I
+only hope your inability to comprehend the incomprehensible is the worst
+feature in the case."
+
+"But it isn't," protested Ray. "I must renounce my drive, and your
+charming society."
+
+"Really! is she so imperative, and are you so much her bond slave?"
+
+Ray laughed. "Imperative," he cried. "You need not have asked, had you
+known the name affixed to this missive, and you would obey it with as
+much alacrity as I shall. Listen, Heath: I can trust you with a secret,
+if this be one." And, unfolding the note, he read:
+
+     RAYMOND VANDYCK, ETC.
+
+     _My Friend_: By coming to me, _at once_, on receipt of this note,
+     you will do me a great favor, and perhaps do one who is your
+     friend, an essential service. Come at once, to
+
+     Yours in waiting,
+     CONSTANCE WARDOUR.
+
+"There," said Ray, refolding the note; "now what say you?"
+
+"That Miss Wardour's commands are to be obeyed; and--as your horse is
+stabled, and mine is at the door, you had best take mine and lose no
+time. Perhaps you may be dismissed as speedily as you are summoned, and
+we may take our drive after all. Go, go, my son;" and he waved his hand
+theatrically.
+
+"Thank you, Heath. You are a generous fellow; but don't look for your
+red roan steed until you see it back. I shall place that and myself at
+Miss Wardour's disposal. She shall find that she has summoned no laggard
+knight."
+
+"Who talks of playing the knight to Miss Constance Wardour's 'fair
+ladye?' Let him have a care!" cried a gay voice from the doorway. And
+turning their eyes thither, they saw the dark, handsome face of Frank
+Lamotte.
+
+A shade of annoyance crossed the face of young Vandyck, but he retorted
+in the same strain:
+
+"I am that happy man. Stand aside, sir. I go to cast myself and all my
+fortune at her feet." Then, turning a wicked look back at his friend in
+the big chair, he cried, "Heath, adieu! look your last on the red roan
+steed. I may be going 'O'er the hills and far away,'--who knows?"
+
+"You may be gone--"
+
+"Deep into the dying day."
+
+"That's the thought that distresses me," retorted the doctor. "But go,
+go, egotist!"
+
+With a laugh, and another backward meaning glance at the doctor, young
+Vandyck pocketed his note, took up his hat, and murmuring a mocking
+adieu in the ear of young Lamotte, ran lightly down the steps, and, a
+moment later, the swift fall of hoofs told them he was off.
+
+"What the deuce ails the fellow?" said Lamotte, sourly, tossing his hat
+and himself down upon the office divan. "Prating like a school-boy about
+a summons from Miss Wardour."
+
+"He means to get to Wardour Place without loss of time, if one may judge
+from the manner of his going. You know," smiling behind his hand, "Ray
+is a prime favorite at Wardour."
+
+"I did not know it," returned Lamotte, sulkily. "Vandyck don't seem to
+realize that I have a prior claim, and that his twaddle, therefore, only
+serves to render him ridiculous."
+
+Clifford Heath dropped his hand from before his face, and turned two
+stern, searching eyes upon the young man.
+
+"_Have_ you a prior claim?" he asked, slowly.
+
+For a second the eyes of Frank Lamotte were hidden by their long lashes;
+then they were turned full upon the face of his interlocutor, as their
+owner replied firmly:
+
+"I have."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Raymond Vandyck lost no time on his drive to Wardour Place; and before
+he could frame any sort of reasonable guess as to the possible meaning
+of Constance's note, he found himself in her very presence.
+
+"Ah, Ray!" she exclaimed, extending a welcome hand, "you are promptness
+itself. I hardly dared hope to see you so soon."
+
+"I met your messenger on the road, as I was riding in to keep an
+appointment with Heath," exclaimed Ray, "but as I was in company with
+Bradley, our new neighbor, you know, I did not open the note until I got
+to Heath's office. Then, as your note was urgent, and Heath's horse at
+the door, I took it, and here I am, very much at your service, Conny."
+
+"And I don't know of another who _could_ be of service to me just now,
+Ray," she said, seriously; "neither do I know just how to make use of
+you. Ray," suddenly, "are you burdened with a large amount of
+curiosity?"
+
+"About the average amount, I think."
+
+"Well! I am about to give that curiosity a severe test."
+
+"Seriously, Conny, unless your secret concerns some one especially dear
+to me, I can survive being kept in the dark."
+
+"And being made to work in the dark?"
+
+"Yes, that too, under your orders, for I know I should risk nothing in
+obeying them."
+
+"I should set you no dangerous or dishonorable task, of course, Ray."
+
+"I am sure of that, Conny; command me; don't hesitate."
+
+But she did hesitate, not knowing just how to tell him that she was
+Doctor Heath's friend, in spite of appearances, without telling, or
+revealing otherwise too much. How could she set the matter before him,
+as she wished him to see it?
+
+Seeing her hesitate, Ray unwittingly came to the rescue, and Constance
+seized upon the idea he gave her, with hasty eagerness, little thinking
+of the results that were to follow her implied deceit.
+
+"I can't feel too grateful for your confidence at any price," he said,
+laughingly; "when I think how Lamotte glowered at me when he saw me
+coming here. But, then, if rumor speaks the truth, he has a right to be
+jealous, eh, Constance?"
+
+Here was a way out of her dilemma; let Ray imagine her engaged to Frank
+Lamotte, and he would not misconstrue her interest in Doctor Heath; as
+for Frank, he had been a suitor, and a most troublesome one, for so
+long, that she thought nothing of appropriating him to herself, as a
+matter of convenience, and only for the moment, and she never thought at
+all of the injury she might do herself by this deception.
+
+"Oh, yes!" she replied; "I have given Frank the right to be as jealous
+as he pleases." And the hot blood flamed into her cheek, as she saw how
+readily he had taken her words as she had meant them to be understood.
+
+"Lamotte's a lucky fellow," said Ray, "although I know a better man I
+would like to see in his shoes. But we won't quarrel over Frank. Is it
+him that I am to serve?"
+
+"No," she replied, coloring again. And once more he misapplied her
+confusion.
+
+Constance was silent and thoughtful for a few moments, and then she came
+directly to the point.
+
+"Some strange things have come to my knowledge concerning Doctor Heath,
+Ray. They have come in such a manner that I would be in a measure
+violating the confidence of another were I to make a statement in full,
+and yet--in some way Doctor Heath must know that danger menaces him."
+
+"Ah!" uttered Ray Vandyck, and Constance, lifting her eyes to his face,
+caught there a fleeting look that caused her to ask suddenly:
+
+"Ray, have you heard anything about Doctor Heath? anything strange, I
+mean, or unexpected?"
+
+"Why," replied Ray, slowly. "I have nothing very strange to relate,
+but--Heath's encounter with Burrill a short time since has made some
+talk."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+"Then is it not about this affair that you have sent for me?"
+
+"Ray, explain yourself. What of this 'affair,' as you call it?"
+
+"Why, you see," began Ray, plunging into his recital after a fashion
+peculiar to himself, "about a week ago, yes, it was quite a week ago, on
+that stormy blustering Monday night, when sensible people staid in
+doors, Heath, after the manner of doctors, was straggling about that
+lovely precinct known as Mill avenue, trying to find the shortest way
+out after paying a visit to some sick child, or woman, I won't swear
+which; as I was saying, he was on his way out of that blessed avenue,
+when he heard screams coming from the cottage he was passing. It was the
+voice of a woman, and Heath made for the house, and rushed in just in
+time to see that latest addition to society, Mr. John Burrill, in a
+state of partial intoxication, raining blows about the head and
+shoulders of the woman who was once his wife. Heath rained one blow upon
+him and he went down under it. Then he got up, not quite satisfied and
+thirsting for more fight, and Heath felled him once more.
+
+"It seems that the thing had been done so rapidly, that Burrill had not
+had time to get a fair look at the face of his assailant; but the second
+time he scrambled to his feet, Heath stood facing him full, braced and
+ready, when, behold, Burrill, after one look, turns as pale as a
+spectre, utters a yell of fear, and dashes out of the house like a
+madman. By this time, several people had come in, and the thing puzzled
+them not a little. Heath asserted that he had never, to his knowledge,
+seen Burrill before; and yet there stood the fact of Burrill's fright at
+sight of him. Some believed it a case of mistaken identity; others, that
+Heath was trying to mislead them, and that he did know Burrill. The
+affair became noised about as such things will be, and some were curious
+to see another meeting between Heath and Burrill. And here comes the
+queer part of the business. In his sober moments, Burrill avoids Heath,
+and can not be brought to mention his name. But when he gets a little
+too much on board--beg pardon, Conny--I mean, somewhat intoxicated, he
+becomes very loquacious; then he throws out strange hints, and gives
+mysterious winks; states that he could tell a tale about Heath that
+would open everybody's eyes. He talks of 'borrowed plumage,' and
+insinuates that Heath would like to buy him off. He says that he took to
+his heels because he knew that Heath did not mean fair play, etc.
+Finally, two or three evenings ago, when Burrill was remarkably tipsy,
+and therefore, unusually ripe for a combat with any one, Heath and I,
+crossing the street opposite Spring's Bank, encountered him coming
+toward us, surrounded by a party of roughs. As we approached them,
+Burrill making some uncouth gestures, came forward, in advance of the
+rest, and as he came opposite Heath, leaned toward him, and whispered a
+few words in his ear. I don't know what he said, but the effect on Heath
+was magical. For a moment, he seemed staggered, as if by a blow, and
+then he took the fellow by the throat, and shook him until his teeth
+rattled; then loosed his hold, so suddenly, that his man dropped to the
+ground. Heath by this time was a little cooler; he stooped over the
+prostrate man, took him by the collar, and fairly lifted him to his
+feet, then he said:
+
+"'Understand this, fellow, I allow no man to interfere with my business.
+This is only a sample of what will happen to you if you ever try this
+dodge again; keep my name off your tongue in public, and private, if you
+want whole bones in your body;' then he marched past the whole
+astonished crowd, minding them no more than if they were gnats. I
+followed, of course, and said as I came up with Heath:
+
+"'Quite an adventure, upon my word; you seem to possess a strange
+attraction for Burrill?'
+
+"'Burrill,' he exclaimed; 'who the mischief _is_ the fellow, Ray?'
+
+"'He is Mr. Lamotte's son-in-law,' I answered.
+
+"'Ah,' he mused; 'so Jasper Lamotte has married his daughter to a
+blackmailer;' and after that, he said never a word more on the subject.
+I had it in my mind to tell him of the hints and insinuations, Burrill,
+in his unguarded moments, was putting into circulation, but his
+reticence closed my lips."
+
+He paused, and looked to his auditor for some comment, but she sat with
+her eyes fixed upon the carpet, and a troubled look on her face.
+
+"Don't think, Conny, that I am one of those who construe this against
+Heath," said the loyal fellow. "He is the best fellow in the world. The
+whole thing, for me, lies in a nutshell. Heath is not a man to disturb
+himself about his neighbor's concerns, and he don't expect his neighbors
+to interest themselves in his. This Burrill has picked up, somehow, a
+little information; something concerning Heath, or his past life, that
+is not known to W----, and he is trying to make capital of it. The
+secret in itself may be a mere nothing, but Heath is the first man to
+resent impertinences, and the last man to make explanations. And he's
+right, too, especially under the present circumstances. I like him all
+the better for his pluck, and his reticence; let him keep his secrets,
+so long as he gives me his friendship, I am quite content."
+
+Constance felt a thrill of satisfaction, and a return of courage, as she
+listened. Here was a friend, loyal, enthusiastic, not to be alienated
+by slander or suspicion. She had known Ray from his childhood, and they
+had always been the best of friends, but she had never admired and
+honored him, never valued his friendship so much, as she did at this
+moment.
+
+His enthusiasm was contagious; she forgot all her fears, of a personal
+nature, and became in an instant the true woman and unselfish friend.
+
+"Ah, Ray," she exclaimed, lifting two admiring gray eyes to meet his,
+"you are a friend indeed! a friend to be proud of; but tell me, did you
+hear nothing more of Burrill after that second encounter?"
+
+"He made some pretty loud threats," replied Ray, "and a fellow named
+Brooks, a sort of crony of Burrill's, took it upon himself to call upon
+Heath the next day, and advise him to keep a pretty close lookout for
+Burrill, as he was quite likely, in one of his drunken rages, to make an
+assault upon him. Heath thanked the fellow, and assured him that he was
+quite capable of taking care of himself, and Burrill, too, if need be;
+and Brooks backed out, declaring that he 'meant no 'arm by intrudin'.'"
+
+"Ray," said Constance, earnestly, "John Burrill is not the only man
+Doctor Heath has to fear. I may have acted hastily in sending for you,
+but I was so troubled by certain facts that have just come to my
+knowledge, that I could not rest without doing something. It's almost an
+abuse of confidence to ask so much of you and tell you so little, but in
+a few days I hope to be mistress of my own tongue, and then you shall
+have all the particulars. For the present, Ray, promise to follow my
+instructions blindly."
+
+"I have promised that, Conny."
+
+"And, Ray, you will keep this all a secret; you will do your part
+without hinting to Doctor Heath your true motive, unless circumstances
+compel an explanation?"
+
+"I promise that, too."
+
+"When I sent for you, it was to ask you to warn Doctor Heath, in the
+most delicate way you could devise, that he was menaced by an enemy, and
+under hourly surveillance; but, since you have told me of this, Burrill,
+it occurs to me that in some way he may be mixed up in this matter,
+and--I have thought of a better plan."
+
+Ray nodded, and looked full of interest.
+
+"Your description of his manner of receiving Burrill's interference, and
+of his reticence throughout, makes me feel that it might be only
+precipitating a catastrophe if we warned him, and so, Ray, I want you,
+for three days, to be his constant shadow. Devise some excuse for
+remaining in town; thrust yourself upon his hospitality; observe any
+strangers who may approach him. If possible, do not let him get out of
+your sight, even for a short time; in three days you shall be relieved."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+She lifted her hand, warningly. "No questions, Ray. Can you manage all
+this?"
+
+He pondered a while, then said: "I think I can; I am a pretty good
+actor, Conny. What do you say to my feigning illness?"
+
+"He would find you out."
+
+"Not if I did it well, perhaps. I think I could manage for a few days."
+
+"It won't do, Ray. He would send you to bed and walk away and leave
+you."
+
+Ray groaned.
+
+"Tell him your room is undergoing repairs, and throw yourself on his
+mercy; then feign low spirits, and make him think it is his duty to
+entertain and cheer you up."
+
+"Capital, Conny! we can make that work I know; your wit is worth more
+than my wisdom. For three days then, I am your watch dog."
+
+"And your friend's guardian."
+
+"Precisely. I begin to swell with importance. But seriously, Conny, let
+me have your confidence at the earliest moment. For, whoever does battle
+with Heath, will find me arrayed against him, and--it's difficult
+fighting in the dark."
+
+"You shall know all, as soon as possible, Ray, and now--"
+
+"And now," repeated he, rising with alacrity. "Heath's horse stands
+outside, and Heath himself waits my return; so, lest he should grow
+impatient, and go where mischief awaits him, I will go now and begin my
+task."
+
+"Thank you, Ray, I know I can depend upon you. All this seems like a
+scene out of a melodrama, but it's wretchedly real for all that. Ray, I
+am just waking up to a knowledge of how much plotting and wickedness
+there is in this world; even in our little world of W----."
+
+"We all wake to that knowledge," he said, a spasm of pain crossing his
+face. "You know how the lesson came to me, Conny."
+
+"Yes, poor Ray! and I know that another suffers, even more than you,
+because of it."
+
+"And the cause of it all is another mystery. But no more of this; unless
+something noteworthy occurs, you will not see me again for three days."
+
+She gave him her hand, and a look of gratitude, and trust; and, in a few
+moments more, the red roan steed was speeding back townward.
+
+Francis Lamotte had found the doctor dull company; and, as he scarcely
+ever remained in the office to read now-a-days, he had taken himself and
+his dissatisfaction elsewhere, long before Ray returned to the office
+ready to begin his new _rôle_.
+
+He found the doctor sitting in a despondent attitude, almost where he
+had left him, holding in his hand a crumpled letter.
+
+Without appearing to notice his abstraction, Ray came at once to the
+point at issue.
+
+"Heath," he said, "your red roan is returned to you, and the loan of him
+encourages me to ask another favor."
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, without looking up or changing his attitude.
+
+"The fact is," said Ray, with splendid ingenuousness, "I am a sort of
+outcast. My quarters are undergoing that misery they call 'repairs,'
+and--the truth is, Heath, I want you to tender me your hospitality, for,
+say two or three days. I can't go to a public place; I don't feel like
+facing the music, for I am a little sore yet, and I find that I am still
+an object for commiseration, and I do get low spirited in spite of
+myself. It's cheeky, my asking it, I know, and you'll find my constant
+society a terrible bore; but my heart is set on quartering with you, so
+don't say no, Heath."
+
+Clifford Heath threw off his listlessness and looked up with his usual
+cheery smile.
+
+"Why, Ray, you young dog," he cried, "you beseech me like a veritable
+tramp, just as if you were not as welcome as the sunshine; come along,
+you shall share my bed, and board, and--I'll be hanged if you shan't
+share the daily dose of abuse I have to take from my old housekeeper.
+I'll make a special arrangement to that effect."
+
+"Thanks, Heath," replied Ray, and then he turned to the window to hide
+the fire that burned in his cheeks, because of the deceit he was
+practicing upon this open-hearted friend. "But it's all for his
+benefit," he thought; "at least I hope so."
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, moving uneasily in his chair; "I hope your
+mission prospered."
+
+"Oh, yes," carelessly.
+
+"You--found Miss Wardour well, I hope?"
+
+"Quite well; only wanting my valuable assistance in a little scheme she
+has on foot, a sort of benefit affair." And Ray congratulated himself on
+the adaptability of his answer.
+
+"Is it too late to drive, Heath?"
+
+But the doctor made no answer to this question, nor did he seem to hear
+it. Rising, he walked to the window, looked down thoughtfully into the
+street for a moment, then, without turning, he said:
+
+"Rumor says, that Miss Wardour will marry Lamotte."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lamotte just now made the same statement."
+
+"Ah!" contemptuously, "it's like him to boast; but I'm afraid he tells
+the truth; Constance admitted as much to me to-day."
+
+A long time Clifford Heath stood motionless and silent at the window;
+then turning as if spurred by some sudden thought, he threw the crumpled
+note, which all the time had been clasped in his hand, upon the table
+between them, saying:
+
+"Here's a mystery, sir; read that and pass your opinion on it; as you
+are to become my guest, you should know what society you will find
+yourself in."
+
+Ray eyed the letter with his head on one side.
+
+"What is it?" he asked in a stage whisper.
+
+"A note, a _billet doux_, a solemn warning; came under the door a little
+while ago, while I was off in a reverie; came by a spirit hand, maybe,
+for I never heard a sound, but there lay the letter waiting to be
+observed and perused." And the doctor laughed contemptuously, and
+turned away to prepare for his drive. But Ray's face lengthened
+perceptibly, and he took up the note with sudden eagerness, and read:
+
+     DOCTOR HEATH:--Take the advice of a friend and leave W---- for
+     a time; a plot is ripening against you, and your only safety lies in
+     your absence, for your enemies are powerful and have woven a chain
+     about you that will render you helpless, perhaps ruin you utterly.
+     TRUTH.
+
+     Lose no time, for the blow will soon fall.
+
+The note was written in a cramped, reversed hand, and, after a hasty
+perusal, Ray bent his head and scanned the pen strokes closely, then he
+looked up with all the color gone from his face, and a strange gleam in
+his eyes.
+
+"How--how do you say this came, Heath?"
+
+"I didn't say, for I don't know, my lad. It made its first appearance
+lying just there," and the doctor pointed with his wisp broom, which he
+had been vigorously applying to a brown overcoat, at the spot just
+inside the door where he had first perceived the letter, and then
+resumed his occupation without observing the trouble in Ray's face.
+"Sensational, isn't it? but I can't think of quitting W---- just as it
+begins to grow interesting."
+
+"Then you take no stock in this warning?"
+
+"Bah! why should I?"
+
+"But if you should have secret foes?"
+
+"Let them come on," quoted the doctor, theatrically; "bring along that
+precious document, Ray, and come along yourself."
+
+Ray Vandyck, still looking troubled and anxious, arose, and, with
+lagging steps, followed his friend; as he noted with a new curiosity the
+tall, lithe, well knit figure striding on before him, the handsome,
+haughtily poised head, and the careless indifference of mien, he asked
+himself:
+
+"What can it be, this mystery and danger that surrounds him, that has
+caused Constance Wardour to take such unprecedented measures to insure
+his safety, and has wrung from Sybil Lamotte this strangely worded,
+oddly and ineffectually disguised warning," for Ray, seeing not as the
+world sees, but with the eyes of love, had recognized in the strange
+scrawl the hand of the woman he had loved and lost.
+
+"Heath _is_ in some peril," thought he, and then, with a rueful sigh,
+"Oh! I would risk dangers too to be watched over by two such women."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE WATCH DOG DISCHARGED.
+
+
+The three days that followed were days of unrest to Constance Wardour.
+The intangible, yet distinctly realized trouble, and fear, and dread,
+were new experiences in her bright life.
+
+The mystery round about her, her inability to cope with the unknown, the
+inaction, the waiting, was almost more than she could calmly endure; and
+all this distress of mind and unrest of body was for others. Personally,
+she had nothing to fear, nothing to annoy her; but the warm-hearted
+heiress made a friend's cause her own. From the first she had grieved
+over the sad fate of Sybil Lamotte; not lightly, not as society sorrows
+over the fall of its some _protegés_; but deeply, from her heart of
+hearts. And now there was added to this, her concern for Clifford Heath,
+and the danger that menaced him tormented her.
+
+If her own honor were threatened she could not have been more troubled
+and full of fear; for in rebellion, in self-contempt, in a fierce burst
+of rage against the heart she could not control, Constance Wardour,
+heiress and queen absolute, was forced to confess to that heart that
+Clifford Heath's happiness was her happiness too.
+
+Having been forced to recognize this fact, against her wish and will,
+Constance came to a better understanding with herself, and she confessed
+to herself, with cheeks aflame at the recollection, that her petulant
+outbreak, and shameful accusation against Doctor Heath, was but the
+mutinous struggle of the head against the heart's acknowledged master.
+Too late came this self confession. Sybil Lamotte's letter had never
+been found; the mystery surrounding its disappearance, remained a
+mystery; and, how could she recall her accusation, while the
+circumstances under which it was made remained unchanged? Realizing that
+she owed him reparation, she was yet powerless to make it.
+
+"It would be equivalent to a confession, that I could not be happy
+without his friendship," she said, hotly. "And he would not accept an
+apology while his innocence remained unproven. Let me suffer the
+consequences of my own folly; I deserve it; but," setting her white
+teeth resolutely, "no harm shall come to him that I can avert; and, I am
+not the weakest of women."
+
+Oh, the perversity of women. Who can comprehend it? Who analyze the
+mysterious creatures?
+
+When there was against Clifford Heath only a breath of suspicion, a few
+whispered words from his own lips, that might mean nothing of
+importance, when calmly reconsidered; a missing letter, with the
+contents of which he was familiar, and which, therefore, could be of
+little value to him, and it was enough. He stood before her accused, and
+went out from her presence wronged, insulted, splendid as King Arthur in
+his helpless indignation.
+
+Now the detective's strong chain of evidence, John Burrill's strange
+insinuations, and still stranger conduct, his words when he spoke, his
+reticence when he kept silence, all were arrayed against him, with
+telling effect, and in spite of them all, Constance Wardour angrily
+assured herself, and fully believed, that Clifford Heath was a wronged,
+and innocent man. She did not reason herself into this belief; and it
+was absurd, of course. She arrived at her conclusions, as all loving
+women do, through her feelings, and her instinct. A woman seldom
+reasons, but in many cases her ready intuition is worth more than all
+man's wisdom. Her delicate instinct strikes directly at the truth, when
+man's reason gropes in darkness.
+
+Constance went out very little during these troubled days, and for this
+there were several reasons. John Burrill's obtrusiveness was at its
+height, and he fairly haunted the vicinity of Wardour; and since the
+advent of Mr. Belknap, Constance had an uneasy feeling that she was in
+some way, under surveillance. Nelly, who was argus-eyed, and always in
+armor on behalf of her mistress, had, on one or two occasions, spied a
+lurker about the premises; and Constance was resolved to give Mr.
+Belknap as little trouble, on her account, as possible. She had not
+visited Sybil for some days, for, although she had informed the
+detective that she desired to consult Mr. Lamotte, she had no such
+intentions; and, since the day when she had promised Mr. Lamotte to
+retain the detective for another week, she had avoided meeting him, and
+being forced to resume the conversation.
+
+To know herself under the watchful eye of one detective, while anxiously
+expecting the advent of another, and to be aware that the presence of
+the one must not be made known to the other, afforded her a new and
+strange sensation; not altogether an unpleasant one either, for
+Constance was no coward, and had a decided taste for adventure.
+
+She realized, too, the absurdity of being thus shadowed in her own
+house, by her own hired agent.
+
+"I should go down to posterity as the first woman who ever hired a spy
+to watch herself," she mused with a little laugh. "I begin to think that
+I _am_ an absurd creature, throughout."
+
+Two days passed, and Constance endured them, although the hours crept
+slowly. On the third, her anxiety was almost beyond control.
+
+If Bathurst should fail her! If her letter had not found him! If he were
+absent from the city! Oh, what a chance was here for disaster. Mr.
+Belknap would soon be in the field, and Ray's time had almost expired.
+
+"Oh," she said, anxiously, "if he disappoints me, what _shall_ I do. I
+must trust Ray, and will he be strong enough to battle with this
+danger?"
+
+While she mused thus, growing wild with anxiety, a half grown boy,
+bearing on his head a small tray of delicate ivory carvings, was
+applying for admittance at the servants' entrance. He was shabbily
+dressed, but possessed a fine, intelligent face, and bore himself with
+cool confidence.
+
+"I have brought the carving for Miss Wardour," he said, briskly. "Can I
+see her, please?"
+
+Nelly hesitated.
+
+"She expects me," said the boy, quickly; "and, as I am a little late, I
+would like to show her the wares and be off, for I've more to sell in
+the village. Just tell her it's the chap she's looking for."
+
+Constance stared in surprise when Nelly delivered this message.
+
+"The chap I am looking for," she repeated slowly; then, with a sudden
+brightening of her whole face, she added: "Oh, to be sure? I had almost
+forgotten. Send him here, at once, Nelly."
+
+"I hope you will excuse me," began the boy, apologetically; then, as
+Nelly closed the door, he dropped his voice, and said, "I come from Mr.
+Bathurst;" and, taking off his cap, he produced from thence a letter,
+which he put in her hand.
+
+[Illustration: "I hope you'll excuse me."]
+
+"I'm to wait for the answer," he said, and took up his position beside
+his wares.
+
+Constance opened the letter, with a hand trembling with eagerness. It
+ran:
+
+     MISS WARDOUR:--By all means keep the secret of the diamonds, and
+     trust all to me. I think it best not to come to you, as Belknap
+     keeps a constant watch upon your movements; dismiss him as soon as
+     you like. Have no fears regarding Heath, I have his enemies well
+     roped; be assured that I shall be on hand when needed, and when you
+     see me expect to have the question of the diamond mystery forever
+     set at rest. If you have anything to say, send verbal instructions
+     by boy; he is to be trusted.
+
+     Yours sincerely,
+     NEIL J. BATHURST.
+
+Constance heaved a sigh of relief, as she finished the perusal of this
+note, and after a moment's reflection, she said:
+
+"Tell Mr. Bathurst that I will obey his instructions, and that Mr.
+Belknap will be dismissed from my service to-day."
+
+"Yes, madam. Now if you will please to select some of these things for
+the sake of appearance."
+
+"Of course. You are very thoughtful. Are you a young detective too?"
+
+The boy looked up with a gleam of pride in his eyes.
+
+"I have been in Mr. Bathurst's service two years, madam."
+
+"Oh, then I have no fears as to your discretion; so I will ask you a
+question, knowing that you are wise enough to refuse me an answer if I
+am asking too much."
+
+The boy smiled, and stood attentive.
+
+"May I ask if Mr. Bathurst is really now in W----, and when he arrived?"
+
+The boy laughed an odd laugh, and full of mischief.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst is here," he said. "I can't tell just _when_ he did
+arrive."
+
+"Then you did not come together?"
+
+"We! Oh, no, indeed!" laughing again. "Mr. Bathurst is too smart for
+that."
+
+Constance smiled with a returning feeling of ease and restfulness.
+
+"Ah, I see I can trust Mr. Bathurst--and you, and lest I ask the wrong
+question if I continue, I will not ask another one; tell Mr. Bathurst I
+rely on him to straighten all the tangles; and that I like his messenger
+almost as much as his message."
+
+"My, but ain't she a rum young lady," mused the boy, as he trudged away
+from Wardour Place with his lightened tray of ivories, "and handsome!
+jingo! if I was Mr. Bathurst I'd work for her, just to see her smile,
+and no pay; but Lord, _he_ don't care, he don't; he'll work just as hard
+for any old crone; he's another rum one."
+
+"Ah, what a relief," breathed Constance, reading for the third time
+Bathurst's reassuring note. "I begin to feel like myself once more. Now
+I am ready for you, Mr. private detective Belknap."
+
+And, truly, Constance _was_ herself once more. Poor Mrs. Aliston,
+sitting aloof, and almost abandoned during the days of her niece's
+perturbation of mind, was the first to receive the benefit of the
+returning sunshine. Constance, for reasons which any woman can guess,
+had kept her anxiety, concerning Doctor Heath, a profound secret from
+this good lady; and she, watching the signs of the times, made no
+comments, but speculated profoundly--and, wide of the mark.
+
+"You should have gone with me to drive, yesterday, Con.," said Mrs.
+Aliston to Constance, who, sitting in her aunt's room, half an hour
+after the departure of her small messenger, was endeavoring to atone for
+her neglect of the past few days by chatting cheerily upon every
+subject but the one which was of deepest interest to herself.
+
+"You should have been with me and seen Sybil Lamotte."
+
+"Sybil! Did you call there?"
+
+"Oh, no. I can't get on with Mrs. Lamotte well enough to brave such a
+call alone; she is too stately and non-committal for me."
+
+"You don't understand her, auntie; but Sybil, did you speak with her?"
+
+"Yes, we met just over the bridge, and Sybil stopped the carriage to ask
+after you; I think she is anxious to see you."
+
+"Poor Sybil," said Constance, contritely, "I _have_ neglected her of
+late; but we will drive there to-morrow; to-day I don't just feel like
+going out. Does Sybil look well, auntie?"
+
+Mrs. Aliston leaned forward and lifted a plump forefinger to give
+emphasis to her words.
+
+"Con., Sybil is dying or going mad, I can't tell which."
+
+"Auntie! why?"
+
+But Mrs. Aliston went on rapidly. "I never saw such a change; two weeks
+ago, one week ago, even the last time she came here, Sybil seemed nerved
+to bear her trouble, she carried herself well and seemed firm as a
+rock."
+
+"Outwardly."
+
+"Outwardly of course, one couldn't feel much secret pride, compelled to
+live under the same roof with that low man she has married; but Sybil
+is not calm _outwardly_ now, she has lost all that brilliant color."
+
+"So much the better, it was the outward token of a mental excitement
+that would soon drive her mad; Sybil should never have attempted to
+brave criticism, and bear her shame so publicly. Every time she has
+allowed that man to appear beside her in the streets of W----, has
+shortened her life as surely as slow poison could do it."
+
+"Well! mark my word, she won't undergo the ordeal much longer; her eyes
+have lost their steady light and luster, and have a wild, frightened,
+expectant look impossible to describe; when a horse came suddenly up
+behind us, she started and almost screamed with fright, and I could see
+her hands tremble and her lips quiver for minutes after; hands, they are
+mere claws! and she is growing more shadowy every day."
+
+"Auntie, hush! you have made me as nervous as you picture Sybil. I shall
+not rest until I see her."
+
+"There is a gentleman to see you, Miss Constance," said Nelly, from the
+doorway, which position she had gained unnoticed by the two ladies.
+
+Constance gave a nervous start, and then arose hastily.
+
+"Who is it, Nelly?" she asked, merely for appearance sake, for she fully
+expected to see Mr. Belkhap.
+
+"He didn't give his name, Miss, but said he come by appointment. It's
+the same gentleman as called a few days ago."
+
+"Oh! then he won't detain me long," said the young lady, a resolute
+look coming into her eyes. "Auntie, I'll be with you again in a very few
+moments."
+
+"He won't be very graciously received," was Mrs. Aliston's mental
+comment. "I know that gleam of the eye, and what it means."
+
+But Mrs. Aliston was mistaken for once.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Belknap," Constance said, sweeping into his presence with her
+proudest air, and smiling upon him her sweetest smile. "I am glad you
+have come."
+
+"Promptness is our first lesson in my profession," replied he, with an
+affable smile.
+
+"Yes! and have you learned anything new since Monday?"
+
+"Nothing of importance. The party under suspicion has been entertaining
+a friend, and has been out very little."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"One thing occurred on Monday last, not long after I had left you, which
+I can't help looking on with suspicion."
+
+"Indeed! and may I hear it?"
+
+"I think so. Without stopping to explain my modes of taking
+observations, I will give the bare fact. On Monday afternoon, while
+Doctor Heath was alone in his office, a boy, carrying on his head a tray
+of carvings, stopped at the foot of the stairs, set down his tray, ran
+up the flight like a young cat, and just as quietly, and slipped a note
+underneath the office door."
+
+"Really!" in real surprise, and some disturbance of mind. "And you know
+nothing more about the note?"
+
+"Nothing; but I shall soon I trust."
+
+"Then you intend following up this case, Mr. Belknap?"
+
+He looked up with a start of astonishment.
+
+"Is not that your intention?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"But--have you consulted with Mr. Lamotte?"
+
+"I have consulted with no one, sir. I thought over the matter once more,
+and decided to let my own mind guide my actions."
+
+"But Mr. Lamotte thinks the case should be pushed."
+
+"Mr. Lamotte is my neighbor, not my guardian. He is good enough to
+advise me sometimes; I think he would scarcely presume to dictate."
+
+"Ah! then I am to consider myself no longer in your service?"
+
+She bowed her head.
+
+"After I have cancelled my indebtedness to you," she said, serenely.
+
+With a look of vexation that he could not hide, the private detective
+drew from his pocket a memorandum book, and from thence a slip of paper,
+which he handed to Constance.
+
+"That is my statement," he said.
+
+She ran her eye over the itemized account, smiling a little as she did
+so. Then, rising swiftly, she said:
+
+"Excuse me for one moment."
+
+He bowed silently, and she went out, returning soon with a bank cheque,
+which she placed in his hands, saying:
+
+"So ends the case of the Wardour diamonds. I shall not take it up
+again."
+
+"What! do you really mean that?"
+
+"I really do."
+
+The detective opened his lips, as if about to remonstrate, then closed
+them suddenly, and moved toward the door.
+
+"Do you still cling to your intention of notifying the town authorities,
+and setting them upon Doctor Heath?" she asked.
+
+He turned toward her, with a peculiar smile upon his face.
+
+"You have offered a reward for your jewels, I believe?"
+
+"You mistake, I have offered a reward for the apprehension of the thief
+or thieves."
+
+"And--as you have withdrawn the case, shall you withdraw your reward
+also?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Then--if I bring you both the jewels and the thieves my reward should
+be doubled?"
+
+A queer gleam shot from her eyes, as she answered, without hesitation:
+
+"And so I shall. Place my robbers in the county jail, and put my
+diamonds in my hands, and you shall receive a double reward."
+
+"Then, for the present, I shall keep my clews in my own hands; Miss
+Wardour, I wish you good morning." And the private detective stalked
+from the room with the air of a man who was overflowing with desirable
+information.
+
+"That's a queer woman," mused Mr. Belknap, as he turned his face away
+from Wardour. "I can't make her out. If it were not altogether too
+fishy, I should say she had a suspicion concerning those diamonds. I
+intend to look a little closer into the doings of Miss Wardour; and,
+blow hot, or blow cold, I'm bound to have my reward, if not by this, why
+by that."
+
+With this enigmatical reflection, he looked up to behold, sitting by the
+roadside, a tramp of sinister aspect, who turned his head indolently as
+the detective approached, and then applied himself closer to a luncheon
+of broken victuals, eating like a man famished. Mr. Belknap, who, on
+this occasion, had visited Wardour on foot, came quite close upon the
+man, and then halted suddenly, putting his hand in his pocket, as if
+with charitable intent; instantly the tramp dropped his fragment of
+bread, and sprang to his feet, with outstretched hands, as if greedy for
+the expected bounty. He was a dirty, ragged fellow, undersized, but
+strong and sinewy, with an ugly scarred face, and a boorish gait and
+manner. As the private detective withdrew his hand from his pocket and
+tendered the tramp a small coin, a passer-by, had there been such, would
+have called the scene a tableaux of alms-giving; but what the detective
+said was:
+
+"Well, Roake, here you are; are you ready for business?"
+
+[Illustration: "Well, Roarke, are you ready for business?"]
+
+And the tramp replied: "You bet, if it's a solid racket."
+
+"Then follow me, at a distance, until we reach a place where we can talk
+things over." And Mr. Belknap moved on, never once glancing back.
+
+The tramp once more seated himself beside the fence, and resumed his
+occupation. When the last scrap of food was devoured, he arose, and,
+taking up a rough stick that served as a cane, he followed the receding
+form of the private detective.
+
+At sunset, Ray Vandyck presented himself punctually for further
+instructions, at Wardour.
+
+"You are released, Ray," said Constance, coming to meet him, with a
+bright face and a warm hand-clasp. "You are free to follow your own
+devices; Doctor Heath has a better guardian than either you or I."
+
+"Cool, upon my word," said Ray, with a grimace. "So I am discharged
+without references?"
+
+"Even so, and you must be content without an explanation, too, for the
+present. My tongue is still tied."
+
+"Worse and worse, Conny; can't I even know who has supplanted me?"
+
+"It's a great secret, and must be carefully guarded, but, I believe I
+will confide that much to you, as it does not conflict with any
+promises."
+
+"Well! I listen."
+
+"Doctor Heath is protected by an able detective. His name I must not
+communicate."
+
+Ray Vandyck opened wide his handsome eyes, and gave vent to a long, low
+whistle.
+
+"Conny, you are too deep for me," he said; "I am all at sea; I will drop
+the subject, as it is working severely upon my curiosity."
+
+For a few moments they sat in silence, Constance thinking how much she
+regretted not asking Mr. Bathurst to make himself known to this loyal
+friend, who must now be kept in ignorance, however worthy he might be of
+all confidence, and Ray thinking of something that caused his face to
+sadden, and his eyes to darken with inward pain. Presently he drew a
+little nearer his hostess, and asked, in a low, sorrowful tone:
+
+"Conny, have you seen her lately?"
+
+"Not for a week or more, Ray."
+
+"I saw her yesterday."
+
+"And she," anxiously; "did she see you, Ray?"
+
+"No, thank God! she was driving with her mother, and, Con.," his voice
+broke and he turned his face away; "I wish you would go to her."
+
+"Why, Ray?"
+
+"Because--oh, you should have seen her face. She is suffering horribly;
+she is dying by inches."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+FATHER AND SON.
+
+
+At early morn on the next day, Jasper Lamotte and his son, Frank, were
+seated together in the dining-room of Mapleton.
+
+Jasper Lamotte was hurriedly eating a bountiful and appetizing lunch,
+and washing it down with plenty of light claret; and Frank was seated
+near the table, smoking a strong segar, and giving an attentive ear to
+the words of his sire.
+
+"This is the first time that we have got the lead on Burrill," said the
+elder Lamotte, "and in some way it must be made to count. Drunk or
+sober, heretofore, he has looked after his interests too closely to
+serve ours."
+
+"The devil's got into Burrill," replied Frank, bending forward to knock
+the ashes from his black segar; "and into the rest of the family too, I
+should say; Evan has been bad enough any time within the memory of man,
+but look at him now. Why, he has not been sober for ten days."
+
+"Well, he is sober this morning."
+
+"Really, have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes. I went to his room to ask him some questions about Burrill. I
+found him white as a cloth, and quite as limp; he had overdone himself
+at his last carouse; is as sick as a dog, and on the verge of delirium
+tremens if a man ever was. He won't get out of his bed for a few days,
+if I am a judge; the room was full of medical perfumes, and his mother
+was trying to induce him to drink some hot coffee."
+
+"And Burrill?"
+
+"He knew nothing of him, and recommended me to look after my own
+vermin."
+
+"He's a sharp tongued cur," said Frank, with a short laugh.
+
+"Next, I went to Sybil's rooms; she was sitting over a roasting fire,
+wrapped in a shawl, and shivering from head to foot; she almost shrieked
+at the mention of Burrill's name; Sybil looks bad, very bad. When we get
+these other matters safely settled, we must do something for the girl."
+
+"And that means----"
+
+"That we must master Burrill. We will soon be in a position to do it, I
+hope."
+
+"I hope so," gloomily.
+
+"We must be, or be ruined. You will settle this business with Constance,
+at once, to-day?"
+
+"Yes--I suppose so."
+
+"You suppose! man, you talk as if you were leading a forlorn hope. Do
+you _expect_ a refusal?"
+
+"I don't know _what_ to expect," flinging away his segar, angrily, "I
+can't understand Constance; I wish that cursed Heath were safely out of
+my path."
+
+"Can't you trust him to Belknap?"
+
+"There we are again! what is that confounded detective doing? He has
+been here five days, or nearly that; four days ago, Constance asked
+three days to consider upon the case. What did that mean? Belknap should
+have been here with his report long ago. Why don't he come?"
+
+"That I can't tell you; he has his own way of doing things; his absence
+does not alter the fact, that I must use this opportunity for getting to
+the city; and you must press this business with Constance, and bring it
+to a settlement. I don't think there is much doubt as to her answer."
+
+"Well, I wish I could feel as sanguine, that's all."
+
+At this moment there came the sound of wheels on the gravel outside, and
+glancing toward the window, Frank sprang up exclaiming:
+
+"There's Belknap, and not a minute to lose. I'll go meet him," and he
+hurried out, wearing a look of relief, mingled with expectancy.
+
+In a moment he returned, closely followed by the smiling detective.
+
+"Quick, Belknap," said Frank, closing the door, carefully, "give us the
+important points. The carriage will be here in a short time, to take the
+old man to town, and he must be on time, for trains won't wait."
+
+"True," said Mr. Belknap, seating himself near the table. "I should have
+reported to you last evening, but thought it best to remain about town,
+and let myself be seen by the hotel loungers; people, in a place like
+this, are curious about a man who keeps too much to himself, and one
+must always conciliate suspicion."
+
+"True," from Mr. Lamotte.
+
+"I saw Miss Wardour yesterday, gentlemen; she entirely withdraws the
+case."
+
+"What! entirely?" asked Frank.
+
+"Entirely; she asked for my account, paid it, and dismissed me, saying,
+that she should not resume the search, but should double the reward."
+
+"Double the reward!" repeated Frank.
+
+"Yes, _provided_ both the diamonds and the thieves were found."
+
+A moment's silence and then the elder Lamotte emptied his glass and set
+it down, saying as he did so:
+
+"Well, but the point is not yet reached. Did you explain the necessity
+you were under if the case left your hands?"
+
+"I did. She was surprised, of course, and incredulous, but she made no
+remarks, and seemed not at all discomposed at the danger menacing Doctor
+Heath. After we had settled our business, she asked me if I should now
+drop the case and let the authorities work it out, or if I would
+continue to work independent of her."
+
+"And you said what?" asked Frank.
+
+"I said that circumstances must decide that."
+
+"And she was not disturbed about Heath?"
+
+"Evidently not; she was as cool as myself."
+
+Frank drew a long breath of relief.
+
+"And now, Mr. Lamotte," said the private detective, "what is the next
+move?"
+
+"Perfect quiet for the next two or three days; like Miss Wardour, we
+will take time to consider. I am going to the big city to-day, Mr.
+Belknap, if you need any funds before I return, call on Frank. I shall
+be back in two days, and then we will decide upon our next move. Is that
+the carriage, Frank?"
+
+It was the carriage, and almost before Mr. Belknap could realize it or
+gather together his scattered forces, Mr. Lamotte had shaken hands with
+him, nodded to Frank, donned his hat, gathered up his traveling coat,
+cane, and gloves, and was on his way to the carriage, followed by a
+servant, who carried his small traveling bag.
+
+As may be seen, Mr. Belknap had made his "reports" according to his own
+lights, as for instance, giving his first interview with Constance in
+brief, on the same day it took place, merely stating that Miss Wardour
+requested time to consider; and reserving all that portion concerning
+Doctor Heath, until to-day, when he gave that too, in brief, and with
+many "mental reservations."
+
+Mr. Belknap was a little bit nonplussed at this sudden journey of Jasper
+Lamotte's; he did not like to be so widely separated from his patron,
+even for a few days, and especially now; but it was too late to make an
+amendment to this state of affairs, so he contented himself with a segar
+and Frank's society. Not finding the latter of the best, and being able
+to enjoy the former anywhere, he soon took his leave, and drove back to
+his hotel, the best in W----, where he went straight to his room,
+ordered up a hot brandy, complained of a slight indisposition, and spent
+the remainder of the day and the entire evening in and about the hotel,
+lounging, smoking, reading, chatting and always visible.
+
+Meantime, Mr. Lamotte, arriving ten minutes early at the W---- depot,
+sauntered out among the people swarming about, and waiting the arrival
+of the fast express.
+
+There was always a bustle about the W---- depot at this hour of the day,
+and Mr. Lamotte nodded graciously here and there, and stopped to extend
+a patronizing hand to a chosen and honored few. Presently he came face
+to face with a man who, with hands in his pockets, was watching the
+unloading of a belated dray.
+
+"How do you do, Brooks," said he, glancing at the hands and face that
+were a little cleaner than usual, and at the pretence of a toilet that
+made the awkwardness of the fellow unusually apparent. "You seem taking
+a holiday. Are you bound to leave us?"
+
+"That's what I am, sir," said the man, touching his hat. "Work's too
+scarce for me, sir, and bad company's too plenty. I've said I would go a
+dozen times, sir; and now I'm off."
+
+"I am sorry we could not keep you on at the mills, Brooks; but--you know
+who was to blame."
+
+"Oh, it was me, sir; I don't deny _that_. It's hard for me to keep away
+from the liquor. But look here, Mr. Lamotte, sir: If you ever see me
+again, _you'll see me sober_."
+
+[Illustration: "If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober."]
+
+Mr. Lamotte uttered a skeptical laugh and turned away. The train was
+there, and it bore cityward the gentlemanly Mr. Lamotte, and the
+half-inebriated loafer, Brooks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A DAY OF GLOOM.
+
+
+All that day, or what remained of it after his father's departure, and
+the almost simultaneous withdrawal of the private detective, Frank
+Lamotte passed in an uneasy reverie. He had much at stake; and, now that
+the crisis of his fortunes was so near at hand, he began to review his
+ground, and every word, look, and tone of Constance Wardour, as he
+recalled them, one by one, was to him a fresh puzzle.
+
+Six months ago, Frank Lamotte would have scoffed at the suggestion of a
+refusal even from the proud Constance. Now, somehow, he had lost his
+self-confidence. Again and again he imagined the words that he would
+say, and the words he hoped, that she would answer. Then, as he forced
+himself to face the possibility of defeat, the veins upon his temples
+swelled out, his teeth clenched, and one of those "attacks," to which he
+was subject, and against which Doctor Heath had warned him, seemed
+imminent. Again and again he gazed, with proud satisfaction, upon his
+reflected image, in the full length drawing-room mirror, and turned
+away, vowing himself a fitting mate for any woman. Again and again, when
+the image of his own physical perfections had ceased to dazzle his
+vision, his heart sank within him, and a dismal foreboding put his
+courage to flight.
+
+"Confound it all," muttered he, as he wandered aimlessly from one
+deserted room to another: "the very house seems under a spell. Sybil,
+sitting like a recluse in her own rooms, growing pale, and wild-eyed,
+and spectre-like, every day. Evan, in _his_ room, sick with drink, and
+verging on the D. T. Mother, gliding like a stately ghost from the one
+to the other, or closeted in her own room; she has not been down stairs
+to-day. Burrill, the devil knows where _he_ is, and what took him out so
+unusually early this morning. He's been cutting it worse than ever for
+the past week; the fellow, seemingly, can't find company low enough for
+him, in one stage of his drunkenness, nor high enough for him in
+another. It's fortunate for us that liquor has at last relaxed his
+vigilance; the old man has taken a leading trick by the means. Curse the
+brute! Why won't he die in a drunken frenzy, or from overfeeding, but he
+won't!" Thus soliloquizing, he lighted a segar and went out into the
+grounds. "I'll try the effect of a little sunshine," he muttered; "for
+the house feels like a sarcophagus; one would think the family pride was
+about to receive its last blow, and the family doom about to fall."
+
+So, restless and self-tormented, Frank Lamotte passed the long
+afternoon, in the double solitude of a man deserted, alike by his
+friends and his peace of mind.
+
+"We make our own ghosts," said somebody once.
+
+Frank Lamotte's phantoms had begun to manifest themselves, having grown
+into things of strength, and become endowed with the power to torture;
+thanks to the atmosphere into which he had plunged himself and them.
+
+Late in the afternoon, John Burrill came home, but Frank avoided him,
+not caring to answer any questions at that time.
+
+Burrill seemed to care little for this, or for anything; he was in a
+wonderfully jubilant mood. He rambled through the tenantless rooms,
+whistling shrilly, and with his hands in his pockets. He commanded the
+servants like a Baron of old. He drank wine in the library, and smoked a
+segar in the drawing room, and when these pleasures palled upon him, he
+ascended the stairs, and went straight to the room occupied by Evan.
+
+For some time past, Jasper Lamotte had made an effort to break the bond
+of good fellowship, that, much to the surprise of all the family, had
+sprung up between the wild young fellow, and the coarser and equally or
+worse besotted elder one. How even reckless Evan Lamotte could find
+pleasure in such society, was a mystery to all who knew the two. But so
+it was, and Jasper Lamotte's interdict was not strong enough to sever
+the intimacy. John Burrill responded to his exhortations with a burst of
+defiance, or a volley of oaths; and, Evan received all comments upon his
+choice of a companion, with a sardonic smile, or a wild mocking laugh.
+
+They had not been much together for the past few days, owing to the
+indisposition which had kept Evan away from their favorite haunts, but
+had not kept him away from his favorite beverage.
+
+As Burrill entered his room, Evan received him with a shout of welcome,
+and for more than an hour they were closeted there, some times
+conversing in low, guarded tones, and sometimes bursting into roars of
+laughter, that penetrated even through the shut doors of Sybil's rooms,
+causing her to start nervously, and shiver as with a chill.
+
+A little before sunset the carriage from Wardour deposited Constance and
+Mrs. Aliston at the door of this home of little harmony, and even
+Constance noted the unusual stillness, and whispered to her aunt, as
+they waited in the drawing room the appearance of Mrs. Lamotte:
+
+"Bah! I sniff the ogre here, auntie. 'The trail of the serpent' is over
+the entire house."
+
+"I sniff the dead odor of a vile segar," retorted Mrs. Aliston. "As for
+the ogre--if he won't appear in person, I'll try and survive the rest."
+
+"I am very glad you have come, Constance," said Mrs. Lamotte, entering
+at this moment. "We are so dull here, and Sybil has wished much to see
+you." And then she extended a courteous but more stately greeting to
+Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"It grieves me to hear that Sybil is not so well, dear Mrs. Lamotte.
+Does she employ a physician?" asked Constance, presently.
+
+"She will not have a physician called, much to my regret. The very
+suggestion makes her wildly nervous."
+
+"And--she keeps her room too much. I think Frank told me."
+
+"Yes, recently. But, Constance, go up to her; Mrs. Aliston and I will
+entertain each other for awhile, and then we will join you. Sybil heard
+you announced, and will expect you."
+
+Thus commanded, Constance lost no time in making her way, unattended, to
+Sybil's room.
+
+In the upper hall she met Frank, who started, and flushed at sight of
+her, and then hurried forward, with extended hand.
+
+"Constance," he exclaimed, eagerly, "how glad I am to see you."
+
+"I'm such an uncommon sight!" she laughed, too much absorbed with
+thoughts of Sybil, to notice the extra warmth of his greeting, or a
+certain change of manner, that was a mingling of boldness, bashfulness,
+humility and coxcombery.
+
+"How do you do, Frank?"
+
+"Well in body, Constance--"
+
+"Oh! then we can easily regulate your mind. I'm going to see Sybil, and
+I don't want your company; so adieu, Frank."
+
+"One moment, please. I want to--I _must_ see you, this evening. Shall
+you remain with us?"
+
+"No. Aunt Honor below; we go home, soon."
+
+"Then--may I call, this evening, Constance?"
+
+"What a question! as if you did not call whenever the spirit moved you
+so to do; come, if you like, child; I shall have no better company, I am
+afraid," and on she swept, and had vanished within his sister's room,
+before Frank could decide whether to be chagrined, or delighted, at so
+readily given, carelessly worded, a consent.
+
+The start, the nervous tremor, the terrified ejaculations, with which
+Sybil greeted, even this expected and welcome guest, all told how some
+deadly foe was surely undermining her life and reason. And Constance
+noted, with a sinking heart, the dark circles around the eyes that were
+growing hollow, and heavy, and full of a strange, wild expectancy: the
+pale cheeks, thinner than ever, and the woful weariness of the entire
+face.
+
+Greeting her tenderly, and making no comments on her changed appearance,
+Constance chatted for a time on indifferent subjects, and noted closely,
+as a loving friend will, the face and manner of her listener. Sybil sat
+like one in a trance, rather a nightmare, her eyes roving from her
+visitor's face to the door, and back again, and this constantly
+repeated; her whole attitude and manner, that of one listening, rather
+for some sound, or alarm, from afar, than to the words of the friend
+beside her.
+
+At last, Constance finding commonplace about exhausted, said:
+
+"Congratulate me, child! I have thrown off a burden from my shoulders; I
+have brought my diamond investigations to a close."
+
+"Ah! diamonds!" Sybil almost started from her chair, and the exclamation
+came sharply from lips white and trembling.
+
+"Yes, my lost diamonds, you know; I have dismissed Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Belknap!" an unmistakable look of horror crossed her face. "Dismissed
+him; oh, I wish _I_ could!"
+
+Sorely at a loss, yet thinking it best not to seem surprised at what she
+believed to be the efforts of a wandering mind to grasp and master the
+subject under discussion, Constance talked on, answering questions and
+making observations, without allowing Sybil to see the surprise and
+sorrow that filled her heart; and, not until many days later did she
+recall her friend's wild words, to see how much of method there might be
+in this seeming madness.
+
+"Mr. Belknap was conducting the search for the diamonds, you know,
+Sybil?"
+
+Sybil seemed making an effort to collect her scattered senses.
+
+"Yes, yes, Conny, go on," she whispered.
+
+"I have paid him off and am done with him; that's about all, dear."
+
+"Conny," in a half whisper, "is he _gone_?"
+
+"I don't know about that; he said something about remaining here for a
+time."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Sybil, and then, under her breath, "My God!"
+
+Constance shuddered as she looked upon the shivering figure before her,
+the wavering eyes, the hands clenching and unclenching themselves; she
+found conversation difficult, and began to wonder how she could avoid
+subjects that brought painful thoughts or suggestions. But suddenly a
+change came over Sybil; sitting erect, she looked fixedly at her friend,
+and asked:
+
+"Conny, has _he_ tormented you of late?"
+
+"He! Sybil; you mean--"
+
+"I mean my curse! has he dared to annoy you? He has sworn that he will
+be accepted and recognized as your friend."
+
+Constance laughed a short, sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Be at rest, Sybil; he never will."
+
+"No;" with a strange dropping of the voice. "_He never will!_"
+
+Again she seemed struggling to recover herself, and to recall some
+thought; then she looked up and asked abruptly:
+
+"Conny, have you promised to marry my--Frank Lamotte?"
+
+"No, Sybil."
+
+"Then--promise, _promise_ me, Constance, as if I were on my dying bed,
+that you never will."
+
+"Why, Sybil, dear?"
+
+"Don't ask for reasons, don't; promise, _promise_, PROMISE!"
+
+She was growing excited, and Constance hastened to say:
+
+"You are laboring under some delusion, dear child; Frank has not offered
+himself to me."
+
+"But he will! he will! and I tell you, Constance, it would be giving
+yourself to a fate like mine, and worse. The Lamottes have not done with
+disgrace yet, and it shall not fall on you; promise me, Con."
+
+"I promise, Sybil."
+
+"You promise;" she arose from her chair and came close to Constance;
+"you promise," she said, slowly, "never, _never_ to marry Francis
+Lamotte?"
+
+[Illustration: "You promise never to marry Francis Lamotte?"]
+
+"I swear it."
+
+A coarse laugh, a smothered oath; they both turn swiftly, and there, in
+the doorway, smelling of tobacco and brandy, and shaking with coarse
+laughter, is John Burrill, and beside him, with clenched hands, swollen
+temples, drawn, white lips, stands Francis Lamotte. Stands! No. He
+reels, he clings to the door-frame for support; his _enemy_ is upon him.
+
+Sybil draws herself erect; the red blood flames to her face; the fire
+darts from her eyes; she lifts one slender arm and points at the reeling
+figure; then there rings out a burst of mad, mocking laughter.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! Frank Lamotte, I have settled my account with you."
+
+Then turning swiftly upon Burrill, and with even fiercer fury she
+shrieks:
+
+"Out, out, out of my sight! I am almost done with you, too. Go back to
+your wine and your wallowing in the gutter; your days are numbered."
+
+The awful look upon her face, the defiant hatred in her voice, the
+sudden strength and firmness of her whole bearing, Constance shuddered
+at and never forgot. Frank Lamotte, making a monstrous effort for
+self-control, gasped, let go his hold on the door frame, lifted his hand
+to his temples, and came a few steps into the room. Outside, on the
+stairway, was the rustle of woman's garments, the light fall of swift
+feet. In another moment Mrs. Lamotte, followed by Mrs. Aliston, enters
+the room, pushing past the gaping and astonished Burrill with scant
+ceremony. Then, Sybil's strength deserts her as John Burrill, recalled
+to a sense of his own importance, advances, and seems about to address
+her. She utters a cry of abhorrence and terror, and, throwing out her
+hands to ward off his approach, reels, falls, and is caught in the
+supporting arms of Constance and Mrs. Lamotte.
+
+While they are applying restoratives, Frank sees the propriety of
+withdrawing from the scene, but no such motives of delicacy or decency
+ever find lodgment in the brain of John Burrill, and leering with tipsy
+gravity, he presses close to the bedside and poisons the air with his
+reeking breath. Constance flushes with anger, and glances at Mrs.
+Lamotte. That lady looks up uneasily, and seems to hesitate, and then
+Mrs. Aliston rises to the occasion, and covers herself with glory.
+
+Looking blandly up into the man's face, she lays one fat, gloved hand
+upon his arm, and says, in a low, confidential tone:
+
+"Come this way one moment, sir, if you please," and she fairly leads the
+wondering and unsuspecting victim from the room. A second later he is
+standing in the passage, the chamber door is shut swiftly and locked
+securely. John Burrill has been led out like a lamb, and the fat and
+smiling strategist comes back to the bedside.
+
+"I suppose he thought I would tell him a secret when I got him outside,"
+she laughs, softly.
+
+Whatever he thought he kept to himself. After uttering a few curses he
+went below, "returned to his pipe and his bowl," and waited the dinner
+hour.
+
+"I shall send for Doctor Heath," said Mrs. Lamotte, as she bent above
+her daughter, who had slowly returned to consciousness, but lay passive,
+seeming not to see or know the friends who stood about her. "Sybil does
+not know us; I feel alarmed."
+
+Mrs. Aliston nodded sagaciously. "He can not come too soon," she said;
+then to Constance, with a mingling of womanly tact and genuine
+kindliness, "my child, you had better drive home soon. If Mrs. Lamotte
+wishes, or will permit, I will stay to-night. It will be better, believe
+me, Mrs. Lamotte, than to share a watch with any servant; and I am a
+good nurse."
+
+So it is arranged that she shall stay, and Constance proposes to return
+alone to Wardour.
+
+As she goes down stairs to her carriage, from out the shadow of the
+drawing room comes Frank Lamotte, still very haggard, and trembling with
+excitement suppressed.
+
+"Constance!" he whispers, hoarsely, "one moment, please."
+
+She pauses before him, very pale and still.
+
+"Constance," speaking with an effort, "I--went up there, hoping to keep
+Burrill from intruding; he was too quick for me, and--and I heard
+Sybil's last words--and yours."
+
+No answer from the pale listener.
+
+"My sister asked you to refuse me. Am I right?"
+
+"You heard."
+
+"And you promised?"
+
+"I promised."
+
+"Constance, Sybil is half mad. You surely were only humoring her whim in
+so replying."
+
+"Sybil _is_ half mad. I begin to think that you know why."
+
+"We all know why. She has sacrificed herself for an ingrate; she has
+saddled us all with a monster, to save a brother who is not worth
+saving."
+
+"Frank Lamotte, stop; I can not listen to this; for, let me tell you
+that I know this charge against Evan Lamotte to be false, and I know
+that you know it; and yet you have sanctioned the fraud. Who has
+blighted Sybil's life, you may know, but it is not Evan."
+
+"Constance do you mean--"
+
+"I mean all that I say. Let me pass, Frank."
+
+"Not yet. Constance, Constance! had you never any love for me? Is there
+no shadow of hope?"
+
+"At first," said Constance, coldly, "I liked you as Sybil's brother;
+later, I tolerated you; now you are teaching me to despise you. Long ago
+I told you that only yourself could injure yourself in my eyes. There
+might have been a reason, an excuse even, for allowing poor Evan, who
+has willingly assumed the position, to become the family scape-goat.
+There is none for your unbrotherly and false accusation. Whatever his
+faults may be, poor Evan is unselfish, and he truly loves his sister."
+
+"Is this your answer?"
+
+"What do you expect? do you want my assurance that my promise to Sybil
+was made in good faith, and that I intend to keep it? If so, you have
+it." She went swiftly past him, with the last words on her lips. And
+again Frank Lamotte was the prey of his enemy; like a drunken man, he
+reeled back into the parlor, gnashing his teeth, cursing his fate, half
+mad and wholly desperate.
+
+Meanwhile, above stairs, John Burrill was rehearsing to Evan, after his
+drunken fashion, the recent scene in Sybil's room, not even omitting his
+own expulsion by wily Mrs. Aliston. As he repeated, with wonderful
+accuracy, considering his condition, the wild words uttered by Sybil,
+his listener sat very erect, with wild staring eyes, and lips held
+tightly together, his teeth almost biting through them; with burning
+eyes, and quivering frame, and a strange fear at his heart.
+
+Having finished his narrative, Burrill arose:
+
+"I'm to meet some fellows at Forty's," he said, thickly. "I'll stop with
+them a couple of hours, or three, maybe; after that--" and he winked
+significantly.
+
+"After that," repeated Evan, and winked in return.
+
+An hour later Evan, pale and shivering, knocked softly at Sybil's door;
+Mrs. Lamotte appeared.
+
+"How is Sybil, mother?"
+
+"Quiet, but not rational. Doctor Heath has just gone. Evan, why! how
+badly you look!"
+
+"I feel badly. I'm going to bed; good night, mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THAT NIGHT.
+
+
+At ten o'clock that night, business was running lively at the low
+ceiled, dingy, riverside saloon, that was most popular with the factory
+men, the colliers, the drovers, and the promiscuous roughs of W----, and
+that bears the dignified title of "Old Forty Rods."
+
+The saloon is well patronized to-night. At the upper end, nearest the
+door, "Old Forty," in person, is passing liquors across the bar, and
+bawling orders to a nimble assistant, while every now and then he
+addresses a coarse jest to some one of the numerous loafers about the
+bar, mingling them strangely with his orders, and his calling of the
+drinks, as he passes them across the rail.
+
+"Here's your beer, Lupin; Jack, half a dozen brandies for Mr. Burrill's
+party; Little, you are out on the brown horse--rum and water? Yes, sir,
+yes."
+
+"Burrill's beastly high to-night," said a factory hand, setting down his
+beer glass and wiping his mouth; "and the boys freeze to him since he
+handles old Lamotte's rocks."
+
+"Of course, of course. Burrill don't forget old friends; Jack, bring the
+rum flask; they've been here a plum hour, them chaps, sir; 'ere's your
+punch, mister, and they keep the stuff runnin' down their throats, now
+I can tell you. Burrill foots the bill, of course; and they can do
+anything with that big chap when the wines get the upper hands of him.
+I'll be sworn, they're up to mischief to-night, for I see Rooney and Bob
+Giles, they delight in getting Burrill into scrapes, are drinking light,
+and plying him heavy," and "Forty" turned about to draw a glass of beer
+for a low-browed, roughly-dressed man who had just entered, and who was
+in fact, none other than the tramp who had feasted by the roadside, on
+the day before, and whom Mr. Belknap had called Roake.
+
+Roake drank his beer, and lounged over the bar for a short time, then
+called for a second glass, and after drinking it, went quietly out.
+
+At the lower end of the long saloon, several tables are scattered, and
+gathered about one of these we see the party spoken of as "Mr.
+Burrill's."
+
+Five men are grouped about the small table, and among these, John
+Burrill is conspicuous for being much better dressed, much louder in his
+laughter, and viler in his jests, and much drunker than are the other
+four.
+
+Since his change of fortunes, these men have made capital of his
+weakness, and his purse has supplied their thirst, in return for which
+he has been fawned upon, and flattered, during the earlier stages of his
+intoxication, and made a tool and a jest later.
+
+"I mus' go home," articulated Burrill, drawing forth and consulting a
+showy gold repeater. "Folks's sick er home; mus' be good; take er
+nother drink, boys?"
+
+"Folks sick, eh?" queried Rooney, winking behind his hand at the others,
+"wife, I 'spose?"
+
+"Yes, wife I 'spose; wife 'n' brother-in-law, both sick; take er
+nother--"
+
+"All right, old pard; but don't let a little sickness call you off so
+early; just let Heath take care of them; you're fond of Heath, too."
+
+"Curse Heath!" roared out John Burrill; "what do you mean, I say,
+Roo-Roo-ney?"
+
+"Burrill," said Bob Giles, setting down his glass and speaking in a low,
+confidential tone; "what's this power you have over Heath? Don't you
+know he's afraid of you?"
+
+"He--he zer 'fraid er me! an' so he better be--him un--"
+
+"And yet there are two or three of the fellows that say you are the one
+that's afraid."
+
+"Me afraid! I--John Bur--ll, f-fraid. Boys, look, en I'll jus' tell you
+a s-secret. If I jus' opened my mouth, I could run that f-fellow out of
+the country; fact!" and he nodded sagaciously again and again.
+
+"Then there ain't no truth in that story that you are the one that's
+afraid, and that you wouldn't dare go to Heath's office, not even if you
+wanted a doctor?"
+
+"T-truth? By gad, sir, show me the man that says so; show 'im to me! By
+heavens, sir, I wouldn't be f-fraid to rout him up the d-darkest night
+that ever blew, sir."
+
+"Of course not, we don't doubt that, but--there's them do. I'll tell you
+what it is, Burrill, the thing would be settled if you would just walk
+up to the doctor's cottage, tell him you are sick somewhere, and bring
+away a prescription; that _would_ settle it."
+
+A murmur of approval went round the table. Not a man was there among
+them who would not rejoice inwardly at the discomfiture of the arrogant,
+would-be aristocrat, who, while he was less than their equal in many
+things, had risen above them in fortune. He had reached that period of
+drunkenness, and it took a vast quantity of stout liquor to bring him up
+to it, where his voice began to grow hoarse, his ready tongue to trip,
+his brain to be most completely muddled, and his legs to be most
+unreliable instruments of locomotion. The men about the table nodded and
+winked to each other, under his very nose.
+
+"Egg him on, Rooney," whispered Giles, "let's have the fun out." And
+they did.
+
+Ere long, John Burrill, staggering under the additional cargo of drinks
+imbibed as toasts to the undertaking, and again, as draughts of defiance
+to the enemy who would dare question his courage, buttoned his coat
+about him, and, boasting, cursing, and swaggering, reeled out into the
+night. Out into the night that swallowed him up forever.
+
+"Let's follow him," said one of the plotters, starting up as the door
+closed behind him.
+
+But this proposition met with no favor. The night was very dark, and the
+wind blowing in fierce gusts; the saloon was warm and inviting, and
+their victim had ordered their grog, until he should return.
+
+"Let's drink the good liquor he has paid for," said Rooney, with a wink,
+"then we will let some more of the boys into the secret, and start out
+in a gang and gather him up. Heath will kick him out sure enough, and if
+we follow too close we might be discovered. Not by Burrill but by the
+doctor. We will bring Burrill back here and two more drinks will make
+him tell the whole story."
+
+They did not agree with Rooney on all points of his argument; but they
+had played a coarse, practical joke upon a man who sometimes "took on
+airs" and vaunted himself as their patron; he who had been only their
+equal once. It was only a joke, a witless, mirthless, coarse saloon
+joke, and they drank on and grew hilarious, never dreaming that they had
+sent one man to his grave, and another to the foot of the scaffold.
+
+As John Burrill came forth from the saloon and turned his face toward
+Doctor Heath's cottage, a lithe form emerged from amidst the darkness
+and paused for a moment just outside the saloon door, seeming to
+hesitate.
+
+"He's goin' home, in course," muttered the man. "I'll jest light out and
+come in ahead." And he plunged down a by street and went swiftly over
+the bridge; but not alone.
+
+A second dark form had been lurking in the vicinity of "Old Forty's,"
+the form of a boy, who glided through the dark, at the heels of the
+other, like a spirit.
+
+"He is going wrong," thought this shadow, discontentedly. "Somehow I'm
+sure of it; I'm shadowing the wrong party; but--I'm obeying
+instructions." And pursued and pursuer crossed the bridge and turned
+their steps toward Mapleton.
+
+Meantime, John Burrill, reeling, singing snatches of low songs, and
+stopping sometimes to rest and assure himself that all the landmarks are
+there, pursues his way toward Doctor Heath's cottage.
+
+It is situated on the outskirts of the town; the way is long, the night
+dark, the wind boisterous, and the way lonely. It is after ten o'clock.
+
+Later--nearly two hours later, Frank Lamotte, driven by his demon of
+unrest, is pacing his room, feverish and fierce, when his door opens
+softly, a white, haggard face looks in, a hoarse voice articulates,
+"Frank, for God's sake, for your own sake, come with me quick!"
+
+Frank Lamotte turns swiftly, angrily. He is about to speak, when
+something catches his eye, fixes it in horror, and causes him to gasp
+out, pointing with one shaking finger.
+
+"Ah-h-h! _what_ is that?"
+
+"It is the _Family Honor_!" came the hissing answer. "_Come_, I tell
+you."
+
+And like a man in a nightmare, Frank Lamotte obeys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+PRINCE'S PREY.
+
+
+The morning of the following day breaks gray and dismal. The wind has
+been blowing all the night through, and wherever a tree stands, there
+the fallen leaves lie, thick and rain-soaked; for it is raining,
+drizzling weather, and above, below, and around, all is gray, and dull,
+and dreary.
+
+Dr. Heath's cottage stands aloof from all other dwellings, quite by
+itself, for the houses stand wide apart in this suburban portion of the
+town, and he has selected the pretty place because of its quiet beauty,
+and comparative isolation. He has neighbors within sight, within
+hearing, too, should he choose to be vociferous; but the houses about
+him all stand within their own pleasant grounds. His nearest neighbor,
+on the one hand, has placed a fine orchard between them, and on the
+other hand, he has no neighbor at all; there is a vacant lot, well
+planted and pleasantly ruinous to see. A fine dwelling had once occupied
+the site, but fire had destroyed it, and the gaping cellar, a pile of
+burnt bricks, and some charred débris, are all that remain. In summer
+the place is one tangled growth of roses and flowering shrubs, and
+Doctor Heath makes free with the flowers in their season, and even
+swings his hammock there among the old trees, that outnumber his own,
+and have outstripped them, too, in years and growth.
+
+[Illustration: The cottage stands quite by itself.]
+
+Opposite the doctor's cottage stands a handsome dwelling, far back among
+the trees. It is the home of Lawyer O'Meara and his wife; and the two
+are the doctor's firm friends.
+
+Beyond the O'Meara dwelling and on the same side of the street,
+stretches a row of cottages, built and owned by Mr. O'Meara. These are
+occupied by some thrifty mechanics, and one or two of the best of the
+mill workers. They are neat, new, tasteful, and well cared for by their
+tenants.
+
+Clifford Heath awakes a little later than usual, this dismal, gray
+morning; he had returned from his second visit to Sybil Burrill at a
+late hour, and after sitting beside his fire, pondering long over many
+things, had retired, to sleep soundly, and to wake late. What first
+rouses him is a knocking upon his door, a regular tattoo, beaten by his
+housekeeper, grown impatient over coffee too long brewed, and muffins
+too brown.
+
+He makes his toilet after a leisurely fashion, smiling a little at the
+vociferous barking of his dog, Prince.
+
+The dog is always confined in the stable at night, where he is a safe
+companion and sure protection to the doctor's fine horse; and now, it
+being past the time when he is usually liberated, he is making his
+wrongs heard, and there will be no more repose or quiet until Prince is
+set free.
+
+"Poor fellow," calls his master, as he swings open the stable door.
+"Poor Prince! Good, old boy! Come now, and you shall have a splendid
+breakfast, to compensate for my neglect."
+
+The dog bounds out, a splendid bull dog, strong, fierce, and white as
+milk. He fawns upon his master, leaps about him, barks joyfully, and
+then follows obediently to the kitchen. The dog provided for, Doctor
+Heath goes in out of the rain, shaking the water from his coat, and
+tossing it aside in favor of a dry one; and then he applies himself to
+his own breakfast.
+
+The warmth and comfort within are intensified by the dreariness without.
+Mrs. Gray has lighted a fire in the grate, and he turns toward it,
+sipping his coffee leisurely, enjoying the warmth all the more because
+of an occasional glance out of the window.
+
+Two men pass--two of the cottagers--his neighbors, who, dismayed by the
+storm, have turned back toward their homes.
+
+"Poor devils!" mutters the doctor, sympathetically; "they don't fancy
+laying brick and mixing mortar in weather like this; and one of them has
+no overcoat; I must keep that in mind, and supply him, if he will accept
+one, from out my store."
+
+He stirs the fire briskly, takes another sip from his half emptied cup,
+and goes off in a reverie. Presently there comes the sound of a dog's
+angry barking, and soon mingled with the canine cries, the voices of men
+calling to one another, crying for aid. But so pleasant is his
+meditation, and so deep, that their sounds do not rouse him; they reach
+his ears, 'tis true; he has a vague sense of disagreeable sounds, but
+they do not break his reverie.
+
+Something else does, however, a brisk hammering on the street door, and
+a loud, high pitched voice, calling:
+
+"Heath! Heath, I say!"
+
+He starts up, shakes himself and his ideas, together, and goes to face
+the intruder upon his meditations. It is his neighbor across the way.
+
+"Heath, have you lost your ears? or your senses?" he cries, impatiently;
+"what the devil has your dog found, that has set these fellows in such a
+panic? Something's wrong; they want you to come and control the dog."
+
+"Heath! Heath!" comes from the adjoining vacant lot; "come, for God's
+sake, quick!"
+
+In another moment, Clifford Heath has seized his hat, and, followed by
+his neighbor, is out in the yard.
+
+"Come this way, O'Meara," he says, quickly; "that is if you can leap the
+fence, it's not high," and he strides through his own grounds, scales
+the intervening palings, and in a few seconds is on the scene.
+
+On the scene! At the edge of the old cellar, one of the men recently
+denominated, "poor devils," by the musing doctor, is gesticulating
+violently, and urging him forward with lips that are pale with terror.
+
+Down in the old cellar, the second man, paler still than the first, is
+making futile efforts to draw the dog away from something, at which he
+is clawing and tearing, barking furiously all the time.
+
+Something lies under a heaped up mass of leaves, grass, and freshly
+turned earth; something from which the fierce beast is tearing away the
+covering with rapid movements. As he leaps down into the cellar,
+Clifford Heath sees what it is that has so terrified the two men. From
+under the leaves and earth, Prince has brought to light a human foot and
+leg!
+
+Instantly he springs forward, his hand upon the dog's collar, his face
+pale as ashes.
+
+"Prince!" he cries; "Prince! come away, sir."
+
+[Illustration: "Prince, come away, sir!"]
+
+The dog crouches, quails for a moment, then utters a low growl, and
+tries to shake himself free; for the first time, he refuses to obey his
+master.
+
+But it _is_ his master; there is a short, sharp struggle, and then the
+brute cowers, whining at his feet.
+
+"Wait!" he says, imperiously to the men, and then, speaking a stern word
+of command, he strides away, followed by the conquered and trembling
+brute.
+
+It is the work of a moment to chain him fast; and then Clifford Heath
+goes swiftly back to the men, who stand very much as he left them.
+
+"Can this be some trick?" Mr. O'Meara is saying, peering down from the
+edge of the cellar wall at the mound of earth and the protruding leg.
+
+"There is no trick here," replies Clifford Heath, once more springing
+down into the cellar. "My dog would not be deceived. Come down here,
+O'Meara; this thing must be unearthed."
+
+Mr. O'Meara lowers himself carefully down, and the man who has thus far
+stood sentinel follows suit. Then the four approach the mound once more.
+For a moment they regard each other silently; then one of the masons
+says:
+
+"If we had a spade."
+
+"Not yet," breaks in Lawyer O'Meara. "Let's make sure that we have found
+something before we cause any alarm to be given. Get some small boards;
+we do not want a spade."
+
+The boards are found easily, and they look to O'Meara again, all but
+Clifford Heath, who stands near the mound gazing downward as if
+fascinated. While O'Meara speaks, he stoops swiftly, and then carries
+his hand to his pocket.
+
+"Let's remove the--upper portion of whatever this is," says the lawyer
+nervously, "and work carefully. This looks like--"
+
+"It looks like _murder_," says Clifford Heath, quietly. "Pull away the
+dirt carefully, men."
+
+They are all strong-nerved, courageous men; yet they are all very pale,
+as they bend to their task.
+
+A few moments, and Mr. O'Meara utters a sharp exclamation, drops his
+board, and draws back. They have unearthed a shoulder, an arm, a
+clenched hand.
+
+A moment more, and Clifford Heath, too, withdraws from his task, the
+cold sweat standing thick upon his temples. They are uncovering a head,
+a head that is shrouded with something white.
+
+To Mr. O'Meara, to Clifford Heath, the moment is one of intense unmixed
+horror. To the men who still bend to their work, the horror has its
+mixture of curiosity. _Whose_ is the face they are about to look upon?
+
+Instinctively the two more refined men draw farther back, instinctively
+the others bend closer.
+
+Swiftly they work. The last bit of earth is removed from the face;
+carefully they draw away a large white handkerchief, then utter a cry of
+horror.
+
+"My God!" cries one, "it is _John Burrill_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A TURN IN THE GAME.
+
+
+It is John Burrill!
+
+Lying there, half buried still, with clenched hands and features
+distorted. It is John Burrill, dead.
+
+Clifford Heath utters a sharp exclamation. He starts forward suddenly,
+and looks, not upon the dead face, but straight at the white thing that
+is still held in the hand of one of the masons. Then he snatches it from
+the man fiercely, looks at it again and more closely, and lets it fall
+from his grasp. For a moment all is black to his vision, and over his
+face a ghastly pallor creeps. Slowly, slowly, he lifts his hand to his
+forehead, rests it there for a moment, and seems making an effort to
+think. Then he drops his hand; he lifts his head; he draws himself
+erect.
+
+"O'Meara," he says, in a voice strangely hollow and unfamiliar, and
+pointing to the fallen handkerchief. "Look at that. I am going home;
+when you want me you will find me there." And without having so much as
+glanced at the dead face so near him, he goes slowly towards his
+cottage, holding his head proudly erect still.
+
+Mr. O'Meara turns away from the corpse, and gazes for a moment after the
+retreating form of his friend; then he picks up the handkerchief; it is
+of softest linen, and across one corner he reads the embroidered name
+of _Clifford Heath_. For a moment he stands with the telltale thing held
+loosely in his hand, and then he bends down, spreads it once more over
+the dead face, and turns to the men.
+
+"This body must not be disturbed further," he says, authoritatively.
+"One of you go at once and notify Soames, and then Corliss. Fortunately,
+Soames lives quite near. Don't bring a gang here. Let's conduct this
+business decently and in order. Do you go, Bartlett," addressing the
+younger of the two men. "We will stay here until the mayor comes."
+
+And Lawyer O'Meara buttons his coat tightly about him and draws closer
+to the cellar wall, the better to protect himself from the drip, drip,
+of the rain.
+
+"It is a horrible thing, sir," ventured the mechanic, drawing further
+away from the ghastly thing outlined, and made more horrible, by the
+wet, white covering. "It's a fearful deed for somebody, and--it looks as
+if the right man wasn't far away; we all know how he and Burrill were--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, man," snapped O'Meara, testily, "keep 'what we all
+know' until you are called on to testify. _I_ have something to think
+about."
+
+And he does think, long and earnestly, regardless of the rain;
+regardless alike of the restless living companion and of the silent
+dead.
+
+By and by, they come, the mayor, the officers, the curious gazers; the
+rain is nothing to them, in a case like this; there is much running to
+and fro; there are all the scenes and incidents attendant upon a
+first-class horror. A messenger is dispatched, in haste, to Mapleton,
+and, in the wind and the rain, the drama moves on.
+
+The messenger to Mapleton rides in hot haste; he finds none but the
+servants astir in that stately house; to them he breaks the news, and
+then waits while they rouse Frank Lamotte; for Jasper Lamotte has not
+returned from the city.
+
+After a time he comes down, pale and troubled of countenance; he can
+scarcely credit the news he hears; he is terribly shocked, speechless
+with the horror of the story told him.
+
+By and by, he recovers his composure, in a measure; he goes to his
+mother's room, and tells her the horrible news; he orders the servants
+to be careful what they say in his sister's presence, and not to
+approach Evan's room; then he tells the coachman to meet Mr. Lamotte,
+who will come on the noon express, with the carriage. After which, he
+swallows a glass of brandy; and, without waiting for breakfast, mounts
+his horse and gallops madly townward.
+
+Meantime, the fast express is steaming toward W----, bearing among its
+human freight, Mr. Jasper Lamotte; and never has W---- seen upon his
+usually serene face such a look as it now wears. It is harassed,
+baffled, discontented, surly. He knows no one among the passengers, and
+he sits aloof from his fellow travelers, making no effort to while away
+the time, as travelers do.
+
+As they near W----, however, he shakes off his dullness, and lays aside
+his look of care; and when he steps upon the platform at W----, he is to
+all appearance, the same smiling suave man, who went away three days
+before.
+
+There are several other passengers for W----, among whom we may see a
+portly, dignified gentleman who looks to be somewhere in the forties,
+and who evidently has a capital opinion of himself, and knows what he is
+about. He is fashionably dressed, and wears a splendid diamond in his
+shirt front. He carries in his hand a small valise, and asks for a
+carriage to the best hotel.
+
+Close behind him is another man, of a different stripe. He is a rakish
+looking fellow, dressed in smart but cheap clothing. He carries in his
+hand a small, square package, neatly strapped, and this alone would
+betray his calling, were it not so obvious in his look and manner. The
+"book fiend" has descended upon W----. He looks about him carelessly,
+watches the portly gentleman as he is driven away in the carriage from
+the W---- Hotel, sees Mr. Jasper Lamotte enter his landau, and drive
+swiftly away, and then he trudges cheerily townward, swinging his packet
+of books as he goes.
+
+When they are out of sight of the gaping crowd about the depot, the
+coachman, acting under Frank's orders, brings his horses to a walk, and,
+turning upon his seat, addresses his master.
+
+"I've dreadful news to tell you, sir; and Mr. Frank said to let you know
+it quick, so as you could come there at once."
+
+Jasper Lamotte stares in angry astonishment, scarcely taking in the
+meaning of the none too lucid sentence.
+
+"Well, sir," he says, shortly, "what are you talking about?"
+
+This time the man came at once to the point.
+
+"Mr. Burrill has been murdered, sir. They found him this morning in an
+old cellar, close by Doctor Heath's; and they say, sir,--"
+
+"_What!_ what do you say? Burrill--"
+
+"Murdered, sir--killed dead--stabbed right through the heart, sir. They
+are anxious for you to come. They are going to have an inquest right
+there."
+
+"Drive there, at once," cried Mr. Lamotte, hoarsely. "I must see for
+myself," and he sinks back upon his seat, pale and trembling.
+
+Meantime the carriage containing the portly gentleman arrives at the
+hotel. The rain is still falling, and the gentleman steps hurriedly from
+the carriage and across the pavement--so hurriedly, indeed, that he
+jostles against a boy who is passing with a tray of ivory carvings and
+pretty scroll-work.
+
+Down comes the tray, and the gentleman, who is evidently kind-hearted,
+cries out:
+
+"Why, boy! Bless me, but I'm sorry! Didn't see you, upon my word. Pick
+your wares up, sonny, and take stock of the broken things, then come in
+and I'll make it all square. Just ask for Mr. Wedron, and don't be
+bashful," and he bustles into the office of the W---- House, where he
+calls for the best room they can give him, registers as "A. C. Wedron,
+att'y, N. Y.," and, asking that he might have dinner as early as
+possible, he goes at once to his room.
+
+[Illustration: "Why, boy! Bless me."]
+
+"I say," he calls to the porter who brings up his valise, "when that
+young image boy comes, just send him along to me; I owe him some
+damages."
+
+A few minutes later, the boy enters the office and deposits his
+disordered tray upon a chair.
+
+"Come along, you," calls the porter, gruffly. "The gentleman's looking
+for you."
+
+"Wait a minit, can't ye?" retorts the boy coolly. "I jest want to take
+account of stock."
+
+He drops on one knee and rearranges his tray with great care and no
+haste.
+
+"There!" he exclaims, rising at length with a chuckle of satisfaction.
+"I reckon that big bloke'll be about two fifty out after I call." And he
+takes up his tray and says to the porter: "Now, then, give us the
+address."
+
+"Twenty-one," he replies, and the boy ascends the stairs, and
+unceremoniously opens the door of twenty-one.
+
+The gentleman, who stands at the window, turns quickly at the sound of
+the opening door, and when it has closed behind the boy, he advances and
+asks in a low tone:
+
+"How lies the land, George? Is there any news?"
+
+"I'm sorry, sir," replies the boy. "I was faithful to orders--but things
+have gone wrong."
+
+"How, my boy?"
+
+"The man you call Burrill was murdered last night."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"Yes, sir, and I _might_ have known who did it. This is the way it went,
+sir: I kept an eye on all of your men as well as I could, during the
+day, and kept the widest eye on the short fellow with the tramp lay-out
+and the ugly face. That was easy, for he lay low all day; so I managed
+to get around here two or three times during the afternoon, and I found
+that Mr. Belknap was laying low, too. He staid in and about the hotel
+all day, and, I think, all the evening. At night the tramp fellow began
+to show signs of life, and I piped him close. Early in the evening, at
+dusk, in fact, he went over the river and out toward Mapleton; on the
+way he met Burrill coming to town, and he faced about and stalked him
+back. Burrill lounged about a good bit, and then he went to the saloon
+you pointed out to me; some fellows were waiting there for him, and they
+got about a table and carried things high, drinking every five minutes.
+My man kept a close look on the saloon, and seemed uneasy all the time;
+once he went in, and drank two beers, but he did not venture near
+Burrill and his party. By and by, I think it must have been ten o'clock
+or later, Burrill came out from the saloon alone; he was very drunk, and
+staggered as he walked away. He turned south, and my man came out, as I
+supposed, to follow. But, instead, he took a short cut to the bridge
+and crossed over, hiding himself in the low hedge on the other side. He
+staid there until almost morning, and then he seemed to be disgusted, or
+discouraged, or both. I staid close by, and tracked him back to his
+roost! Then I turned in to get a little rest myself. I was out early,
+and looked first after my man; he was out too, prowling about uneasily.
+He went to the saloon, and seemed inclined to loaf there a bit; so I
+went to look after Mr. Belknap. He was not visible, and so I lounged
+about, as it was too wet to get out my wares. Well, it was not long
+before my man came out from old 'Forty Rods,' and started out on the
+south road, and I kept on behind him, and before we had gone far we met
+a party of excited men, gathered about the mayor's house, and learned
+that a murder had been committed. We fell in with the crowd, and went
+out to the place where the body lay. It was in an empty lot, right next
+to Doctor Heath's cottage; the body was down in an old cellar, and had
+been hastily buried by the murderers. They say it was Doctor Heath's dog
+that first discovered the body."
+
+He pauses, and waits for a comment, but none comes; the gentleman stands
+with hands behind him, and head bent, as if still listening. For a long
+time, he stands thus, and then takes a turn or two about the room.
+
+"Why, George," he says, at last. "I don't see that you could have done
+better. It was no part of our plan to have this murder happen, and it
+bids fair to make us some trouble that we had not counted on. But we
+are used to that, George. So you think you might have known who did the
+deed?"
+
+"I might, sir, if I had followed Burrill; I felt all the time that he
+was the man to watch."
+
+"Oh!" with an odd smile; "your instincts are on the alert. However, you
+did right in disregarding instinct, and obeying orders. Now then, be off
+sir, and until you have further notice, keep both your eyes on Mr.
+Belknap. By the by, when do they hold an inquest?"
+
+"At three o'clock, sir; they want to have Mr. Lamotte there."
+
+"Well! that's all, George; you had better dispose of your traps for the
+day, and look sharp after Mr. Belknap."
+
+"All right, sir;" and taking up his tray, the little detective goes out,
+dropping back into his old impudent manner, as the door closes behind
+him.
+
+"So, Burrill has been killed," soliloquizes the portly gentleman seating
+himself before his cheery fire. "Well, that goes to show that we
+detectives don't find out all the tangles. We are lucky oftener than we
+are shrewd! Now look, I fancied I had the game in my hands, and stepped
+into town this morning to throw my trump and win, and now, my game is
+blocked, and a new one opens against me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+INTRODUCING MR. SMITH.
+
+
+All that long morning Clifford Heath sat alone in his cosy, parlor, and
+what his thoughts were no observer, had there been such, could have
+guessed. His features were grave, even stern, but there was no
+apprehension, no expectancy, no fear; nothing but calm gravity and
+inflexible haughtiness could be discerned in the face that was sometimes
+bent over a favorite book, sometimes submerged in clouds of smoke from
+his big German meerschaum; but that never once turned toward the window
+that overlooked the scene of the morning's discovery. All day the sounds
+from thence penetrated to his ear; all day men were coming and going,
+with much loud talk as they passed his doorway, and much bustle and
+excitement. But Clifford Heath might have been deaf and blind, so little
+interest did he manifest in the sights and sounds that were attendant
+upon the scene of John Burrill's low, rain-soaked bed of death.
+
+Crouched at his feet lay the great dog Prince, who had been comforted by
+his master for any harshness that he had suffered necessarily, and he
+now lay watchful but quiet, seeming to share, in a measure, the mood of
+his master and best friend.
+
+At one o'clock Mrs. Gray came in and spread his luncheon beside him in
+tempting array, and the doctor laid aside his pipe, and, favoring Mrs.
+Gray with one of those kindly smiles that she always melted under to the
+extent of admitting to herself that her master _was_ "a man who _meant
+well_, in spite of his horrid ways."
+
+Then he drew his chair up beside the lunch table, and immediately set
+Mrs. Gray's good humor awry by indulging in one of his "horrid ways,"
+namely, the tossing of dainty bits to Prince, who caught them in his
+mouth with much adroitness and without quitting his position upon the
+Turkish rug.
+
+Finally, when Prince had received his share of Mrs. Gray's dainties, the
+doctor fell upon the rest and made a hearty meal.
+
+As he was washing down a tart with a large tumbler of claret, there came
+a knock upon the street door, and without a moment's hesitation--indeed,
+with some alacrity--he arose to answer it in person.
+
+Once more it was his neighbor, O'Meara.
+
+"Come in O'Meara," said he, coolly. "I'm just finishing luncheon," and
+he led the way back to the parlor.
+
+"I just looked in for a moment in my capacity of friend and neighbor,
+Heath," said the little lawyer, briskly, at the same time seating
+himself near the table. "Later on I may give you a call in my
+professional capacity, but not now, not now, sir."
+
+"Don't do it at all, O'Meara," said the doctor, with a short laugh; "I
+have no earthly use for a lawyer."
+
+"No more have I for a medical adviser just this minute, sir; but I may
+need one before night."
+
+"And before night I may need a lawyer, O'Meara--is that it?"
+
+The little man shook his head.
+
+"I'm afraid of it, Heath; I'm afraid of it, as things look now."
+
+"And things look now very much as they did this morning, I suppose?"
+
+O'Meara nodded.
+
+"Then, this is the prospect ahead--a coroner's verdict thus: 'Deceased
+came to his death at the hands of Clifford Heath, M. D.;' and
+circumstantial evidence thus: 'Deceased has on several occasions been
+threatened by accused; he was found buried near the premises of accused,
+and upon his person was found a handkerchief bearing the name, Clifford
+Heath.' This, and how much more I can't tell. It's a beautiful case,
+O'Meara."
+
+The little lawyer stared, astonished at his coolness.
+
+"Don't underrate this business, Heath," he said, anxiously. "I'm glad to
+see that it has not had the opposite effect on you. I'm glad to see
+plenty of pluck, but--"
+
+"But, there's a strong case against me; that's what you would say,
+O'Meara. I don't doubt, and let me tell you that neither you nor I can
+guess _how_ strong the case is; not yet."
+
+"Such an affair is bad enough, at the best, Heath; I don't see anything
+in the case, thus far, that will hold up against an impartial
+investigation; as for other evidence, am I to understand--"
+
+Clifford Heath bent forward, and lifted one hand warningly.
+
+"Understand nothing for the present, O'Meara; after the verdict come to
+me, not as a lawyer, but as a friend, and I will explain my language
+and--attitude; for the present I have nothing to say."
+
+"Then I must be satisfied with what you _have_ said," replied the lawyer
+cheerfully. "Of course you will be at the inquest?"
+
+The doctor nodded.
+
+"Well, having seen--and heard you, it is not necessary to offer any
+suggestions, I see that," and the lawyer arose and took up his hat, "and
+it won't be policy for me to remain here too long. Count on me Heath, in
+any emergency. I'm your man."
+
+"Thank you, O'Meara; rest assured such friendship is fully appreciated."
+And he extended his hand to the friendly lawyer, who grasped it
+silently, seemed struggling, either to speak or to repress some thought,
+and then dropped it and went out silently, followed in equal silence by
+his host, who closed the door behind him, and then went thoughtfully
+back to his claret.
+
+"Zounds!" muttered Lawyer O'Meara, picking his way back across the muddy
+street, and entering his own dwelling. "To think of accusing a man of so
+much coolness, and presence of mind, of such a bungling piece of work as
+this. It's a queer suspicion, but I could almost swear that Heath smells
+a plot."
+
+At this moment a carriage drove hastily by, all mud bespattered, and
+lying open in defiance of the rain.
+
+"It's Lamotte's landau," said the lawyer, peeping out from the shelter
+of his verandah; "it's Lamotte's carriage, and it's Lamotte himself; I
+would like to see how he looks, just for one moment; but it's too wet,
+and I must go tell the old woman how her favorite doctor faces the
+situation."
+
+A few moments after the landau had deposited Jasper Lamotte at the gate
+of the vacant lot, a pedestrian, striding swiftly along, as if eager to
+be upon the scene and sate his curiosity, came in among the group of men
+that, all day long, had hovered about the cellar.
+
+"What's a going on here?" he demanded of the first man upon whom his
+glance fell, "an--accident?"
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed the man, who was one of Old Forty Rod's
+customers; "where have _you_ come from that you don't know a man has
+been killed!"
+
+"Killed!"
+
+"Yes, murdered! stabbed last night and buried in this old cellar."
+
+"Heavens, man! was--was he a citizen?"
+
+"Well, I should say! and a rum chap, too. Why, you are a stranger to
+these parts if you don't know John Burrill."
+
+"Never heard of him in my life, old Top," replied the stranger. "I
+_don't_ live in these parts."
+
+The man drew back a little, and seeing this, the stranger came closer
+and laid one hand familiarly upon his arm, at the same time leaning
+nearer, and saying in a loud whisper:
+
+"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"
+
+[Illustration: "Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"]
+
+The satellite of "Old Forty," who had at first seemed somewhat disposed
+to resent too much familiarity on the part of the stranger, turned
+toward him, drew closer, and allowed his features to relax into a grin
+of friendliness. He had not been so fortunate as to receive a morning
+dram, and the breath of the stranger had wafted to his nostrils the
+beloved, delicious odor of "whisky killers."
+
+"Hush!" he whispered confidentially, "that man over there the tall,
+good-looking one with the whiskers, d'ye mind--"
+
+"Yes, yes! high toned bloke?"
+
+"Exactly; that's the dead man's father-in-law."
+
+"Father-in-law, eh!"
+
+"Yes, and that young chap beside him, the pale, handsome one, that's his
+son."
+
+"Whose son?"
+
+"The tall man's son; Frank Lamotte's his name."
+
+"You don't say; good-looking duffer! Found the assassin?"
+
+"Not exactly, but they say--"
+
+"Look here, pard, this sniffs of romance; now I'm gone on romance in
+real life; just let's step back among these cedars, and out of the
+crowd, where I can give you a pull at my brandy flask, and you can tell
+me all the particulars."
+
+And the jaunty young man tapped his breast suggestively and winked
+knowingly down at his new found friend.
+
+"Agreed," said the man, eagerly, and turning at once toward the nearest
+clump of trees.
+
+"I may as well say that my name is Smith," said the stranger, as he
+passed over his brandy flask. "Now then, pard, fire ahead, and don't
+forget when you get thirsty to notify Smith, the book peddler."
+
+The man began his story, and the book peddler stood with ear attentive
+to the tale, and eye fixed upon Jasper Lamotte.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+OPENLY ACCUSED.
+
+
+It is three o'clock. The rain has ceased falling, but the sky is still
+gray and threatening. The wind howls dismally among the old trees that
+surround John Burrill's shallow grave, and its weird wail, combined with
+the rattle and creak of the branches, and the drip, drip of water,
+dropping from the many crevices into the old cellar, unite to form a
+fitting requiem for an occasion so strange, so uncanny.
+
+Down in the cellar, standing ankle deep in the mud and slime, are the
+"good men and true," who have been summoned by Justice, to decide upon
+the manner in which John Burrill met his death. There, too, is the
+mayor, dignified, grave, and important. The officers of the law are
+there, and close behind the coroner stand the Lamottes, father and son.
+A little farther back are grouped the witnesses. Those of the morning,
+the two masons, Mr. O'Meara, Dr. Heath,--they are all there except the
+first and surest one, Prince. There are the men who were Burrill's
+companions of the night before, reluctant witnesses, ferreted out
+through the officiousness of one of the saloon habitues, and fearing, a
+little, to relate their part in the evening's programme, each eager to
+lighten his own burden of the responsibility at the expense of his
+comrades in the plot. There are three women and one man, all
+eye-witnesses to the first meeting between John Burrill and Doctor Heath
+in Nance Burrill's cottage, and there is Nance Burrill herself. The
+women stand a little aloof, upon a few boards that have been thrown
+carelessly down for their comfort. And Nance Burrill talks loudly, and
+cries as bitterly as if the dead man had been her life's comfort, not
+its curse.
+
+And there, too, is Raymond Vandyck. He stands aloof from them all,
+stands near the ghastly thing that once, not long ago, came between him
+and all his happiness. There is a strange look in his blue eyes, as they
+rest upon the lifeless form, from which the coverings have been removed,
+but which still lies in the shallow place scooped out for it by the
+hands that struck it from among the living. Under the eyes of them all
+the dirt has been removed from the broad breast, and two gaping wounds
+are disclosed; cuts, deep and wide, are made with some broad, heavy
+weapon, of the dagger species.
+
+When they have all, in turn, examined the body, as it lies, it is lifted
+out carefully, and placed upon a litter, in the midst of the group, and
+then all turn their eyes from the shallow grave to the new resting place
+of its late occupant.
+
+Not all; Raymond Vandyck, still gazing as if fascinated by that
+hollowed-out bit of earth, starts forward suddenly, then draws
+shudderingly back, and points to something that lies almost imbedded in
+the soft soil. Somebody comes forward, examines, and then draws from
+out the grave, where it has lain, directly under the body, a knife--a
+knife of peculiar shape and workmanship--a long, keen, _surgeon's
+knife_! There are dark stains upon the blade and handle; and a murmur of
+horror runs through the crowd as it is held aloft to their view.
+
+Raymond Vandyck draws instinctively away from the grave now, and from
+the man who still holds the knife; and in so doing he comes nearer the
+group of women, and catches a sentence that falls from the lips of Nance
+Burrill.
+
+Suddenly his face flames into anger, and he strides across to where Mr.
+O'Meara stands.
+
+"O'Meara, what is this that I hear; have they dared accuse Heath?"
+
+"Don't you know, Vandyck?"
+
+"No; I have heard nothing, save the fact of the murder; the coroner's
+summons found me at home."
+
+"Heath will be accused, I think."
+
+Raymond Vandyck turns and goes over to Clifford Heath; without uttering
+a word, he links his arm within that of the suspected man, and standing
+thus, listens to the opening of the trial.
+
+The only sign of recognition he receives is a slight pressure of the arm
+upon which his hand rests; but before Clifford Heath's eyes, just for
+the moment, there swims a suspicious moisture.
+
+Above them, crowding close about the cellar walls, is a motley throng,
+curious, eager, expectant; among the faces peering down may be seen
+that of the portly gentleman; his diamond pin glistening as he turns
+this way and that; his great coat blown back by the gusts of wind, and a
+natty umbrella clutched firmly in his plump, gloved hand. Not far
+distant is private detective Belknap, looking as curious as any, and
+still nearer the cellar's edge is the rakish book-peddler, supported by
+his now admiring friend of the morning, who has warmed into a hearty
+interest in "that fine young fellow, Smith," under the exhilarating
+influence of the "fine young fellow's" brandy flask.
+
+Dodging about among the spectators, too, is the boy George, who has
+abandoned his tray of pretty wares, and is making his holiday a feast of
+horrors.
+
+And now all ears are strained to hear the statements of the various
+witnesses in this strange case.
+
+Frank Lamotte is the first. He is pale and nervous, and he avoids the
+eyes of all save the ones whom he addresses. Doctor Heath keeps two
+steady, searching orbs fixed upon his face, but can draw to himself no
+responsive glance. Frank testifies as follows:
+
+John Burrill had left Mapleton the evening before at an early hour, not
+later than eight o'clock. Witness had seen little of him during the day.
+Deceased was in a state of semi-intoxication when last he saw him. That
+was at six o'clock, or near that time. No, he did not know the
+destination of deceased. They seldom went out together. Did not know if
+Burrill had any enemies. Was not much in his confidence.
+
+Upon being questioned closer, he displays some unwillingness to answer,
+but finally admits that he _has_ heard Burrill speak in bitter terms of
+Doctor Heath, seeming to know something concerning the doctor's past
+life that he, Heath, wished to conceal.
+
+What was the nature of the knowledge?
+
+That he cannot tell.
+
+Jasper Lamotte is called. He has been absent from home, and can throw no
+light upon the subject.
+
+The two masons, one after the other, testify; their statements do not
+vary.
+
+They were returning home, having turned back from their day's labor,
+because of the rain. When they came near the old cellar, the barking of
+a dog attracted their attention. It came from the cellar, and one of
+them, curious to see what the dog had hunted down, went to look. The dog
+was tugging at what appeared to be a human foot. He called his
+companion, and then leaped down into the cellar, and tried to drive the
+dog from what he now feared was a half buried human being. The other man
+called for help, and, seeing O'Meara, shouted to him to tell Heath to
+come and call off his dog.
+
+They tell it all. How Doctor Heath came and mastered the dog, after a
+hard struggle; how the face of the dead was uncovered, and how Doctor
+Heath had snatched at the white thing they had taken from off it,
+scrutinized it for a moment, and then flung it from him. They repeat his
+words to Mr. O'Meara with telling effect; and then they stand aside.
+
+Doctor Heath is sworn. He has nothing to say that has not been said. He
+knows nothing of the murdered man, save that once he had knocked him
+down for beating a woman, and once for insulting himself.
+
+Had he ever threatened deceased? He believed that he had on the occasion
+last mentioned. What was the precise language used? That he could not
+recall.
+
+Then the handkerchief is produced; is presented to him.
+
+"Doctor Heath, is that yours?" Every man holds his breath; every man is
+visibly agitated; every man save the witness.
+
+Coolly lifting his hand to his breast pocket, he draws from thence a
+folded handkerchief; he shakes out the snowy square, and offers it to
+the coroner.
+
+"It is mine or an exact counterpart of mine. Your honor can compare
+them."
+
+Astonishment sits on every face. What matchless coolness! what a
+splendid display of conscious innocence! or of cool effrontery!
+
+The coroner examines the two pieces of linen long and closely, then he
+passes them to one of the jurymen; and then they go from hand to hand;
+and all the while Clifford Heath stands watching the scrutiny. Not
+eagerly, not even with interest, rather with a bored look, as if he must
+see something, and with every feature locked in impenetrable calm.
+
+Finally the coroner receives them back. They are precisely alike, and so
+says his honor:
+
+"Clifford Heath, do you believe this handkerchief, which I hold in my
+hand, and which was recently found upon the face of this dead man, to
+be, or to have been yours?"
+
+"I do," calmly.
+
+"Are you aware that you have recently lost such a handkerchief?"
+
+"I am not."
+
+"Has such a one been stolen from you?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge."
+
+"Then you have no idea how your property came where it was this morning
+found?"
+
+"You are seeking facts, sir, not ideas."
+
+A moment's silence; the coroner takes up the knife.
+
+"Doctor Heath, will you look at this knife?"
+
+The doctor steps promptly forward and receives it from his hand.
+
+"Did you ever see that knife before?"
+
+[Illustration: "Did you ever see that knife before?"]
+
+"I can't say, sir," turning it carelessly in his hands, and examining
+the spots upon the blade.
+
+"Did you ever see one like it?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you ever own one like it?"
+
+"I _do_ own one like it."
+
+"Are such knives common?"
+
+"They are--to the surgical profession."
+
+"Do you own more than one knife of this sort?"
+
+"I do not."
+
+"Did you ever own more than one like this?"
+
+"Not at the same time."
+
+"Then you have lost a knife like this?"
+
+"No; but I have broken two."
+
+"When did you last see deceased alive?"
+
+"Not since our encounter on the street; that was a week ago, I should
+think, perhaps longer."
+
+"Who witnessed that affair?"
+
+"Mr. Vandyck was with me; the others were strangers."
+
+"That is all, Doctor Heath."
+
+Lawyer O'Meara comes next; his testimony is brief, and impatiently
+given. He adds nothing new to the collected evidence.
+
+Next comes the man Rooney, and he rehearses the scene at "Old Forty
+Rods," sparing himself as much as possible.
+
+"We didn't really think he'd go to Doctor Heath's," he says in
+conclusion. "We all called it a capital joke, and agreed to go out and
+look him up after a little. He was reeling drunk when he went out, and
+we all expected to find him floored on the way. After a while, an hour
+perhaps, we started out, half a dozen of us, with a lantern, and went
+along the road he had taken; we went almost to Heath's cottage, looking
+all about the road as we went. When we did not find him, we concluded
+that he had gone straight home, and that if we staid out longer the
+laugh would be on us. So we went back, and agreed to say nothing about
+the matter to Burrill when we should see him."
+
+"How near did you come to Doctor Heath's house?"
+
+"Very near, sir; almost as near as we are now."
+
+"But you were in the opposite direction."
+
+"Just so, sir; we came from the town."
+
+"Did you hear any movements; any sounds of any sort?"
+
+"Nothing particular, sir; we were making some noise ourselves."
+
+"Did you meet any one, either going or coming?"
+
+"No, sir; but a man might easily have passed us in the dark on the other
+side of the road."
+
+Five men confirm Rooney's statement, and every word weighs like lead
+against Clifford Heath.
+
+John Burrill left the saloon to go to Doctor Heath's house; in drunken
+bravado, he would go at night to disturb and annoy the man who had,
+twice, in public, chastised him, and on both occasions uttered a threat
+and a warning; unheeding these, he had gone to brave the man who had
+warned him against an approach--and he has never been seen alive since;
+he has been found dead, murdered, hidden away near the house of the man
+who had said: "If he ever should cross my path, rest assured I shall
+know how to dispose of him."
+
+These words distinctly remembered by all three of the women who
+witnessed the rescue in Nance Burrill's house, are repeated by each one
+in turn, and the entire scene is rehearsed.
+
+Nance Burrill is called upon, and just as she comes forward, Mr. Lamotte
+beckons the coroner, and whispers a few words in his ear. The coroner
+nods, and returns to his place. Nance Burrill is sworn, and all listen
+eagerly, expecting to hear her rehearse the story of her life as
+connected with that of the dead man. But all are doomed to
+disappointment. She tells the story of the rescue in her cottage, much
+as did the others; she repeats the words of Clifford Heath, as did the
+others, and she turns back to her friends, leaving the case against the
+man who had been her champion, darker than before.
+
+Raymond Vandyck is called; he does not stir from his position beside his
+friend, and his face wears a look of defiant stubbornness.
+
+"Ray," says Clifford Heath, quietly, "your silence would be construed
+against me; go forward and tell the whole truth."
+
+Then he obeys the summons; but the truth has to be drawn from him by
+hard labor; he will not help them to a single fact. For example:
+
+"What do you know concerning this case?"
+
+"Nothing," he says, shortly.
+
+"Did you know that man," pointing to the body of Burrill; "in his life."
+
+"I had not that honor."
+
+"Ah--you have seen him."
+
+"I believe so," indifferently.
+
+"You can't swear to the fact, then?"
+
+"I knew him better by reputation, than by sight."
+
+The coroner wiggled, uneasily.
+
+"You are a friend to Doctor Heath?"
+
+"I am," promptly.
+
+"Please relate what you know of his--difference with Mr. Burrill?"
+
+"What I--_know_."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Why, I don't exactly _know_ anything"
+
+"Why, sir, did you not witness a meeting between the two?"
+
+"I--suppose so."
+
+"You suppose!"
+
+"Well, I can't _swear_ that the man I saw knocked down, if that is what
+you mean, was Burrill; it was night, and I did not see his face
+clearly."
+
+"You believed it to be Burrill?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Dr. Heath so believed?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+More uneasiness on the part of the coroner.
+
+"Please state what Doctor Heath said to the man he knocked down?"
+
+"Well, I can't repeat the exact words. He said what any one would have
+said under the circumstances."
+
+"Ah! what were the circumstances?"
+
+"The fellow was half drunk. He approached Dr. Heath in a coarse and
+offensive manner."
+
+"Was his language offensive?"
+
+"I didn't hear what he said."
+
+"Did you hear what Dr. Heath said?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"You heard it distinctly?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Ah!" smiling triumphantly. "Then you _can_ give us his words?"
+
+"Not _verbatim_."
+
+"Give us his meaning, then."
+
+"His meaning, as nearly as I could understand it, was this: He would
+allow no man to insult him or to meddle with his affairs, and he
+finished with something like this: 'Keep my name off your lips, wherever
+you are, if you want whole bones in your skin.'"
+
+"He said that?"
+
+"Well, something like that; I may have put it too strong."
+
+"Do you remember what Dr. Heath said by way of comment on the affair?"
+
+"One of the men picked the fellow by the sleeve, and said, 'Come out of
+that, Burrill!' and then Heath turned to me and asked, 'Who the deuce is
+Burrill?'"
+
+"And your reply?"
+
+"I said--" stopping a moment and turning his eyes upon the two
+Lamottes--"I said, 'He is Jasper Lamotte's son-in-law.'"
+
+"And then, sir?"
+
+"Then Dr. Heath made about the same sort of comment others have made
+before him--something to the effect that Mr. Lamotte had made a very
+remarkable choice."
+
+"Mr. Vandyck," says the coroner severely, "it seems to me that your
+memory is singularly lucid on some points, and deficient on others of
+more importance."
+
+"That's a fact, sir," with cheerful humility. "I'm always that way."
+
+"Ah!" with an excess of dignity. "Mr. Vandyck, I won't tax your memory
+further."
+
+Ray turns away, looking as if, having done his duty, he might even
+survive the coroner's frown, and as he moves again to the side of the
+suspected man, some one in the audience above, a portly gentleman, with
+a diamond shining on his immaculate breast, makes this mental comment:
+"There is a witness who has withheld more than he has told." And he
+registers the name of Raymond Vandyck upon his memory.
+
+This is the last witness.
+
+While the jurymen stand aside to deliberate, there is a buzz and murmur
+among the people up above, and profound quiet below. Attention is
+divided between the gentlemen of the jury and Clifford Heath. The former
+are very much agitated. They look troubled, uneasy and uncomfortable.
+They gesticulate rapidly and with a variety of movements that would be
+ludicrous were the occasion less solemn, the issue less than a man's
+life and honor.
+
+Finally the verdict is reached, and is pronounced:
+
+The coroner's jury "find, after due deliberation, that John Burrill came
+to his death by two dagger, or knife strokes from the hand of Dr.
+Clifford Heath."
+
+The accused, who, during the entire scene, has stood as immovable as the
+sphynx, and has not once been startled, disturbed, or surprised from his
+calm by anything that has been brought forward by the numerous
+witnesses, lifts his head proudly; lifts his hat, too, with a courtly
+gesture, to the gentlemen of the jury, that may mean total exoneration
+from blame, so far as they are concerned, or a haughty defiance, and
+then, after one sweeping glance around the assembly, a glance which
+turns for an instant upon the faces of the Lamottes, he beckons to the
+constable; beckons with a gesture that is obeyed as if it were a
+command.
+
+"Corliss," he says, just as he would say--"give the patient a hot drink
+and two powders." "Corliss, I suppose you won't want to lose sight of
+me, since I have suddenly become public property. Come with me, if you
+please; I am going home; then--I am at _your_ service."
+
+And without more words, without let or hindrance, without so much as a
+murmur of disapproval, he lifts himself out of the cellar, and walks, at
+a moderate pace, and with firm aspect, toward his cottage, closely
+followed by Corliss, who looks, for the first time, in his official
+career, as if he would gladly be a simple private citizen, at that
+moment.
+
+The coroner's inquest is over; there remains now nothing save to remove
+the body to a more suitable resting place, and to disperse.
+
+Jasper Lamotte moves about, giving short orders in a low tone. He is
+pallid and visibly nervous. If it were his own son who lay there in
+their midst, stiff and cold, and saturated with his own blood, he could
+scarcely appear more agitated, more shocked and sorrowful. He is really
+shocked; really sorry; he actually regrets the loss of this man, who
+must have been a constant crucifixion to his pride.
+
+This is what they whisper among themselves, as they gather in knots and
+furtively watch him, as he moves about the bier.
+
+It has been a shock to Frank Lamotte, too, although he never had seemed
+to crave the society of his brother-in-law, and always turned away from
+any mention of his name, with a sneer.
+
+Two men, who withdraw quickly from the crowd, are Lawyer O'Meara and Ray
+Vandyck. As they come up out of the cellar and go out from the hateful
+place, Ray breaks into bitter invective; but O'Meara lays a firm hand
+upon his arm.
+
+"Hold your impulsive tongue, you young scamp! Do you want to be
+impeached for a prejudiced witness? You want to help Heath, not to hurt
+him; and let me tell you, he will need strong friends and shrewd
+helpers, before we see him a free man again."
+
+Ray grinds out something profane, and then paces on in wrathful silence.
+
+"You are right, of course," he says, after a moment's pause, and in a
+calmer tone. "But, good God! to bring such a charge against Heath, of
+all men! O'Meara," suddenly, "you must defend him."
+
+"I intend to," grimly. "And in his interest I want to see you as soon as
+the vicinity is quiet; we must think the matter over and then see
+Heath."
+
+"Heath puzzles me; he's strangely apathetic."
+
+"He'll puzzle you more yet, I'm thinking. I half think he knows who did
+the deed, and don't intend to tell." He pauses, having come to the place
+where their ways diverge. "Come around by dark, Vandyck, we can't lose
+any time, that is if the buzzards are out of the way."
+
+"The buzzards will follow the carrion," scornfully. "I'll be on hand,
+Mr. O'Meara."
+
+He goes on, looking longingly at Clifford Heath's cottage, as he passes
+the gate, and the little lawyer begins to pick his way across the muddy
+street, not caring to go on to the proper crossing.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara."
+
+He turns nervously, to encounter the gaze of a large gentleman with a
+rosy face, curling, iron-gray hair, and beard, and a blazing diamond in
+his shirt front.
+
+"Eh! sir; you addressed me?"
+
+"I did," replies the gentleman, in a low, energetic tone, strangely at
+variance with his general appearance, at the same time coming close and
+grasping the lawyer's hand with great show of cordiality, and before the
+astounded little man can realize what he is about. "Call me Wedron, sir,
+Wedron, ahem, of the New York Bar. I must have an interview with you,
+sir, and at once."
+
+O'Meara draws back and replies rather frigidly:
+
+"I am glad to know you, sir; but if your business is not too urgent--if
+another time will do--"
+
+"Another time will _not_ do? my business concerns Clifford Heath."
+
+"Then, sir, I am at your service."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AN OBSTINATE CLIENT.
+
+
+"There, sir; I think we understand each other, sir."
+
+"Humph! well, that's according to how you put it. My knowledge is
+sufficient unto the day, at any rate. I am to visit Heath at once,
+taking young Vandyck with me; I am to insist upon his making a strong
+defence, and to watch him closely. Vandyck is to add his voice, and
+he'll do it with a roar, and then we are to report to you. Is that it?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+The speakers are Lawyer O'Meara and "Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar;"
+for more than an hour they have been seated in the lawyer's study,
+conversing in low, earnest tones; and during this interval, O'Meara's
+valuation of his _vis-à-vis_ has evidently "taken a rise," and stands
+now at a high premium. His spirits have risen, too; he views the case of
+Clifford Heath through a new lens; evidently he recognizes, in the man
+before him, a strong ally.
+
+It is arranged that, for the present, Mr. Wedron shall retain his room
+at the hotel, but shall pass the most of his time with the O'Mearas, and
+the uninitiated are to fancy him an old friend, as well as a brother
+practitioner. Even Mrs. O'Meara is obliged to accept this version, while
+inwardly wondering that she has never heard her husband mention his
+friend, "Wedron, of the New York Bar."
+
+Evidently they trust each other, these two men, and, as O'Meara has just
+said, their mutual understanding is sufficient unto the hour. Therefore,
+it being already sunset, they go together to the parlor, and are soon
+seated, in company with Mrs. O'Meara, about a cosy tea table.
+
+"It is best that Vandyck should not see me here until after your
+interview with Heath," Mr. Wedron has said to the little lawyer;
+therefore when, a little later, Ray puts in an appearance, he sees only
+O'Meara, and is immediately hurried away toward the county jail.
+
+They find Corliss at the sheriff's desk, his superior officer having
+been for several days absent from the town. The constable looks relieved
+and fatigued. He believes that within the hour he, single handed, has
+conveyed into safe custody one of the most ferocious assassins of his
+time; and, having gained so signal a victory, he now feels inclined to
+take upon himself airs, and he hesitates, becomingly, over O'Meara's
+civilly worded request to be shown to the cell assigned Doctor Heath.
+
+[Illustration: They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk.]
+
+But O'Meara, who possesses all the brusqueness of the average Yankee
+lawyer, has no mind to argue the case.
+
+"I don't know, sir," says Corliss, with some pomposity. "Really, I
+consider Heath a very unsafe prisoner, and--"
+
+"The deuce you do," breaks in the impatient lawyer. "Well, I'll promise
+that _Doctor_ Heath shan't damage you any, so just trot ahead with your
+keys, and don't parley. _My_ time is worth something."
+
+Corliss slips down from his stool and looks at Ray.
+
+"But Mr. Vandyck, sir?" he begins.
+
+"Mr. Vandyck will see Doctor Heath too, sir," interrupts Ray, with much
+decision. "And you won't find it to your interest, Corliss, to hunt up
+too many scruples."
+
+It filters into the head of the constable that the wealthiest and most
+popular of W----'s lawyers, and the bondsman and firm friend of the
+absent sheriff, are hardly the men to baffle, and so, for the safety of
+his own official head, he takes his keys and conducts them to Doctor
+Heath.
+
+The jail is new and clean and comfortable, more than can be said of many
+in our land, and the prisoner has a cell that is fairly lighted, and not
+constructed on the suffocation plan.
+
+They find him sitting by his small table, his head resting upon his
+hand, his eyes fixed upon the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
+Evidently he is glad to see his visitors, for a smile breaks over his
+face as he rises to greet them.
+
+It is not a time for commonplaces, and O'Meara, who sees that time is of
+value, is in no mood for a prologue to his task; so he begins at the
+right place.
+
+"Heath, I'm sorry enough that you, almost a stranger among us, should be
+singled out as a victim in this case. It don't speak well for the
+judgment of our citizens. However, we are bound to set you right, and
+I've come to say that I shall esteem it a privilege to defend you--that
+is, if you have not a more able friend to depend upon."
+
+The prisoner smiles as he replies:
+
+"You are very good, O'Meara, and you are the man I should choose to
+defend me; but--you will have to build your case; I can't make one for
+you, and--you heard the evidence."
+
+"Hang the evidence!" cries the lawyer, drawing from his pocket a small
+note book.
+
+"We'll settle their evidence; just you give me a few items of
+information, and then I will let Vandyck talk; he wants to, terribly."
+
+The prisoner turns slowly in his chair, and looks steadfastly first at
+one, then at the other, and then he says:
+
+"Do you really believe, O'Meara, that I had no hand in this murder?"
+
+"I do," emphatically.
+
+"And you, Ray?"
+
+"I! You deserve to be kicked for asking. I'll tell _just_ what I
+_think_, a little later; I know you didn't kill Burrill."
+
+Clifford Heath withdraws his gaze from the faces of his visitors, and
+seems to hesitate; then he says slowly:
+
+"I am deeply grateful for your confidence in me; but, I fear my actions
+must belie my words. My friends, the evidence is more than I can
+combat. I can't prove an _alibi_; and there's no other way to clear
+myself."
+
+"Bah!" retorts O'Meara; "there are several ways. Let us take the ground
+that you are innocent; there must then be some one upon whom to fasten
+the guilt. You have an enemy; some one has stolen your handkerchief and
+your knife. Who is that enemy? Whom do you suspect?"
+
+The prisoner shook his head. "I shall accuse no one," he said, briefly.
+
+"What!" burst out Ray Vandyck; "you will not hunt down your enemy? This
+is too much! Heath, I believe you could put your hand on the assassin."
+
+No reply from the prisoner; he sits with his head bowed upon his hand, a
+look of dogged resolution upon his face.
+
+"Vandyck," says the little lawyer, who has been gazing fixedly at his
+obstinate client, and who now turns two keen eyes upon the excited Ray;
+"keep cool! keep cool, my lad! Heath, look here, sir, I'm bound to
+defend your case--do you object to that?"
+
+"On the contrary, O'Meara, you are my only hope; but, your success must
+depend upon your own shrewdness. I can't give you any help."
+
+Down went something in the lawyer's note book.
+
+"That means you won't give me any help," writing briskly.
+
+"It's an ungracious way of putting it," smiling slightly; "but--that's
+about the way it stands."
+
+"Just so," writing still; "you believe the handkerchief to have been
+yours?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the knife?"
+
+"Yes. Stay, send Corliss with some one else, to my office; let them
+examine my case of instruments, and see if the knife is among them;
+this, for form's sake."
+
+"It shall be attended to--for form's sake. Heath, who beside yourself
+had access to your office?"
+
+"My office was insecurely locked; any one might easily force an
+entrance, and a common key would open my door."
+
+Scratch, scratch; the lawyer seems not to notice the doctor's evasion of
+the question.
+
+"Ahem! As your lawyer, Heath, is there any truth in these stories about
+a previous knowledge of Burrill?"
+
+"Do you mean _my_ previous knowledge of the man?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I never knew the fellow; never saw him until I knocked him down in his
+first wife's defence."
+
+"Yet, he claimed to know you."
+
+"So I am told."
+
+"And you don't know _where_ he may have seen you?"
+
+"All I know, you have heard in the evidence given to-day."
+
+"And--" hesitating slightly; "is there nothing in your past life that
+might weigh in your favor; nothing that will give the lie to these
+hints so industriously scattered by Burrill?"
+
+"O'Meara, let us understand each other; your question means this: Do I
+intend, now that this crisis has come, to make public, for the benefit
+of W----, the facts concerning my life previous to my coming here as a
+resident? My answer must be this, and again I must give you reason to
+think me ungracious, ungrateful. There is nothing in my past that could
+help me in this present emergency; there is no one who could come
+forward to my assistance. I have not in all America one friend who is so
+well known to me, or who knows me as well as Vandyck here, or yourself.
+I can not drag to light any of the events of my past life; on the
+contrary, I must redouble my efforts to keep that past a mystery."
+
+Utter silence in the cell. The lawyer's pencil travels on--scratch,
+scratch, scratch. Ray sits moody and troubled of aspect. Doctor Heath
+looks with some curiosity upon the movements of the little lawyer, and
+inwardly wonders at his coolness. He has expected expostulation,
+indignation; has even fancied that his obstinate refusal to lend his
+friends any assistance may alienate them from his case, leaving him to
+face his fate alone. He sees how Vandyck is chafing, but he is puzzled
+by the little lawyer's phlegmatic acceptance of the situation.
+
+Presently, the lawyer looks up, snaps his note book together with a
+quick movement, and then stows it away carefully in his breast pocket.
+
+"Umph!" he begins, raising the five fingers of his right hand and
+checking off his items with the pencil which he has transferred to the
+left. "Umph! Then your case stands like this, my friend: A man is found
+dead near your premises; a handkerchief bearing your name covers his
+face; a knife supposed to belong to you is with the body. You are known
+to have differed with this man; you have knocked him down; you have
+threatened him in the public streets. You are a stranger to W----. This
+murdered man claimed to know something to your disadvantage. He is known
+to have set out for your house; he is found soon after, as I have said,
+dead. You acknowledge the knife and handkerchief to be yours; you can
+offer no _alibi_, you can rebut none of the testimony. You refuse to
+tell aught concerning your past life. That's a fine case, now; don't you
+think so?"
+
+"It's a worthless case for you, O'Meara. You had better leave me to
+fight my own battles."
+
+"Umph! I'm going to leave you for the present; but this battle may turn
+out to be not entirely your property, my friend. Since you won't help
+me, I won't disturb you farther. Come along, Vandyck."
+
+Young Vandyck began at once to expostulate, to entreat, to argue; but
+the little lawyer cut short the tide of his eloquence.
+
+"Vandyck, be quiet! Can't you let a gentleman hang himself, if he sees
+fit? No, I see you can't; it's against your nature. Well, come along; we
+will see if we can't outwit this would-be suicide, and the hangman,
+too." And he fairly forces poor, bewildered Ray from the room. Then,
+turning again toward his uncommunicative client, he says:
+
+"Oh, I'll attend to that knife business at once, Heath, and let you hear
+the result."
+
+"Stop a moment, O'Meara. There is one thing I can say, and that
+is,--have the wounds in that body examined at once. As nearly as I could
+observe, without a closer scrutiny, the knife that killed was not the
+knife found with the body. It was a smaller, narrower bladed knife;
+and--if an expert examines that knife, the one found, he will be
+satisfied that it has never entered any body, animal or human. The
+_point_ has never been dipped in blood."
+
+"Oh! ho!" cries O'Meara, rubbing his hands together briskly. "So! we are
+waking up! why didn't you mention all this before? But there's time
+enough! time enough yet. I'll have the body examined; and by the best
+surgeons, sir; and I'll see you to-morrow, _early_; good evening,
+Heath."
+
+"I'm blessed if I understand all this," burst out Ray Vandyck, when they
+had gained the street. "Here you have kept me with my mouth stopped all
+through this queer confab. I want a little light on this subject. What
+the deuce ails Heath, that he won't lift his voice to defend himself?
+And what the mischief do you let him throw away his best chances for? I
+never heard of such foolhardiness."
+
+"Young man," retorts the little lawyer, with a queer smile upon his
+face, "just at present I have got no use for that tongue of yours. You
+may be all eyes and ears, the more the better; but, I'm going to include
+you in a very important private consultation; and, _don't you open your
+mouth_ until somebody asks you to; and then mind you get it open quick
+enough and wide enough."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+BEGINNING THE INVESTIGATION.
+
+
+"Well!"
+
+It is Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar, who utters this monosyllable. He
+sits at the library table in the little lawyer's sanctum; opposite him
+is his host, and a little farther away, stands Ray Vandyck; a living,
+breathing, gloomy faced but mute interrogation point. He has just been
+introduced to Mr. Wedron, and he is anxiously waiting to hear how these
+two men propose to save from the gallows, a man who will make no effort
+to save himself.
+
+"Well!" repeats Mr. Wedron, "you have seen the prisoner?"
+
+"We have seen him."
+
+"And the result?"
+
+"Was what you predicted. See, here in my note book, I have his very
+words; you can judge for yourself."
+
+O'Meara passes his note book across to his questioner, and the latter
+reads rapidly, the short sentences scrawled by his host.
+
+"So," he says, lifting his eyes from the note book. "Doctor Heath
+refuses to defend himself. Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "sit
+down, sir; draw your chair up here; I wish to look at you, sir."
+
+Not a little astonished, but obeying orders like a veteran, Ray complies
+mutely.
+
+"Now then," says Mr. Wedron, with brisk good nature, "let's get down to
+business. Mr. Vandyck, I am here to save Clifford Heath; I was at the
+inquest; I have had long experience in this sort of business, and I
+arrive at my conclusions rapidly, after a way of my own. O'Meara,
+prepare to write a synopsis of our reasonings."
+
+"Of _your_ reasonings," corrects the lawyer, drawing pen and paper
+toward himself.
+
+"Of my reasonings then. First; are you ready, O'Meara?"
+
+"All ready."
+
+"Well, then; and don't stop to be astonished at anything I may say.
+First, Clifford Heath knows who stole his handkerchief; and who stole
+his knife."
+
+A grunt of approbation from O'Meara; a stare of astonishment from Ray.
+
+"For some reason, Heath has resolved to screen the thief." Scratch,
+scratch. "But he does not feel at all sure that the one who stole his
+belongings is the one who struck the blow."
+
+Ray stares in astonishment.
+
+"Now then, there has been a plot on foot against Heath, and I believe
+him to have been aware of it." He is looking at Ray, and that young man
+starts guiltily.
+
+"Put down this, O'Meara," says Mr. Wedron, suddenly withdrawing his
+gaze. "Doctor Heath has nothing to blush for, in his past. He withholds
+his story through pride, not through fear; but it may be necessary to
+tell it in court, in order to prove that he _did not_ know John Burrill
+previous to the meeting in Nance Burrill's cottage; and if he refuses to
+tell his story, _I_ must tell it for him."
+
+It is O'Meara's turn to be surprised, and he writes on with eager eyes
+and bated breath.
+
+"And now, O'Meara," concludes Mr. Wedron, "there were two parties sworn
+to-day, who did not tell all they knew concerning this affair. One
+was--Mr. Francis Lamotte."
+
+Ray breathes again.
+
+"The other was--Mr. Raymond Vandyck."
+
+Ray colors hotly, and half starts up from his seat. O'Meara lays down
+his pen, and stares across at his contemporary, but that individual
+proceeds with unruffled serenity.
+
+"Mr. Vandyck did not tell all that he knows, because he feared that in
+some way his testimony might be turned against Clifford Heath. Here he
+can have no such scruples. Our first step in this case, must be to find
+out _who_ Clifford Heath suspects; and why he will not denounce him."
+
+"And that bids fair to be a tough undertaking," says O'Meara.
+
+"Not at all, Mr. O'Meara. I expect that this young man can give us all
+the help we need."
+
+"I," burst out Ray. "You mistake, sir; I can not help you."
+
+"Softly, sir; softly; reflect a little, this is no time for over-nice
+scruples; besides, I know too much already. We three are here to help
+Clifford Heath. Mr. Vandyck, can you not trust to our discretion; you
+may be able, unknown to yourself, to speak the word that will free your
+friend from the foulest charge that was ever preferred against a man.
+Will you answer my questions frankly, or--must we set detectives to hunt
+for the information you could so easily give?"
+
+[Illustration: "Softly, Sir; softly; reflect a little."]
+
+The calm, resolute tones of the stranger have their weight with the
+mystified Ray. Instinctively he feels the power of the man, and the
+weight of the argument.
+
+"What do you wish to know, sir?" he says, quietly. "I am ready to serve
+Clifford Heath."
+
+"Ah, very good;" signing to O'Meara. "First, sir, as a friend of Doctor
+Heath, do you know if he has recently had any trouble, any
+disappointment? He is a young man. Has he been jilted, or--"
+
+"Ah-h-h!" breaks in O'Meara; "why didn't you ask _me_ that, Wedron? Upon
+my soul, I have heard plenty about this same business."
+
+"Then take the witness stand, sir. What do you know? _You_ won't be over
+delicate in bringing facts to the surface."
+
+"Why," rubbing his hands serenely, "I can't see your drift, Wedron, any
+more than can Vandyck here; but I have heard Mrs. O'Meara discuss the
+probable future of Clifford Heath, until I have it by heart. Not long
+ago she was sure he, Heath, was in love with Miss Wardour, and we all
+thought she rather favored him, although it's hard to guess at a woman's
+real feelings. Later, quite lately, in fact, the thing seemed to be all
+off, and my wife has commented on it not a little."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron. "And--had Doctor Heath any rivals?"
+
+"Miss Wardour has always plenty of lovers; but I believe that Mr. Frank
+Lamotte was the only rival he ever had any reason to fear."
+
+"Ah! so Mr. Frank Lamotte has been Heath's rival? Handsome fellow, that
+Lamotte! Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "the ice is now
+broken. What do you know, or think, or believe, about this attachment to
+Miss Wardour?"
+
+"I think that Heath really hoped to win her at one time, and I believed
+his chances were good. Something, I don't know what, has come between
+them."
+
+"Do you think she has refused him?"
+
+"Honestly, I don't, sir. I think there is a misunderstanding."
+
+"And young Lamotte, what of him?"
+
+"I suppose he has come in ahead; in fact, have very good cause for
+thinking him engaged to Miss Wardour."
+
+"Bah!" cries O'Meara, contemptuously, "I don't believe it. There's
+nothing sly about Constance. She would have told me or my wife."
+
+"I'll tell you my reasons for saying this, gentlemen," says Ray, after a
+moment's hesitation. "I'll tell you all I can about the business. Some
+time ago, shortly after Heath's last encounter with Burrill, I came into
+town one day to keep an appointment with him."
+
+"Stay! Can you recall the date?"
+
+"It was on Monday, I believe, and early in the month."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"I met one of the Wardour servants, who gave me a note. It was a request
+that I wait upon Miss Wardour at once; she wished to consult me on some
+private matters. Miss Wardour and I, you must understand, are very old
+friends."
+
+"Yes, yes; go on."
+
+"I excused myself to Heath, and, just as I was leaving the office,
+Lamotte came in. He challenged me, in badinage, as though he had a right
+to say who should visit Wardour. He overheard me telling Heath where I
+was going."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"During my call, I made some allusion to Lamotte, speaking of him as her
+accepted lover. She did not deny the charge my language implied, and I
+came away believing her engaged to Lamotte. When I returned to Heath's
+office, Lamotte had gone, and Heath asked me, rather abruptly, if I
+believed Miss Wardour would marry Lamotte. I replied, that I did believe
+it then, for the first time."
+
+"Ah, yes! Mr. Vandyck, are you aware that on this same day, this Monday
+of which you speak, Clifford Heath received an anonymous note, in a
+feminine hand; warning him against danger, and begging him to leave
+town?"
+
+"What, sir?" starting and coloring, hotly.
+
+"Ah, you are aware of that fact. Did you see that note, Mr. Vandyck?"
+
+"I did," uneasily.
+
+"How did Heath treat it?"
+
+"With utter indifference."
+
+"So! And did he, to your knowledge, receive other warnings?"
+
+"I am quite sure he did not."
+
+"During your call at Wardour Place, did Miss Wardour mention Doctor
+Heath."
+
+"She--did," reluctantly.
+
+"She _did_. Can you recall what was said."
+
+"It was soon after that street encounter with Burrill. I related the
+circumstance; she had not heard of it."
+
+"And did she seem unfriendly toward Heath?"
+
+"On the contrary I think she was, and is, his friend."
+
+"You met Lamotte in Heath's office. Does Lamotte go there often?"
+
+"Why, he made a pretence of studying with Heath; but he never stuck very
+close to anything; he had read a little in the city, I believe."
+
+"Then he is quite at home in Heath's office?"
+
+"Quite at home."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Vandyck." Mr. Wedron draws back from the table and
+smiles blandly upon poor Ray. "Thank you, sir. You are an admirable
+witness; for the second time to-day you have evaded leading questions,
+and withheld more than you have told. But I won't bear malice. I see
+that you are resolved not to tell why Miss Wardour summoned you to her
+presence on that particular day; so, I won't insist upon it--I will find
+out in some other way."
+
+"Thank you," retorts Ray, rather stiffly. "It will be a relief to me, if
+you can do so. Can I answer any more questions, sir?"
+
+"Not to-night. And, Mr. Vandyck, as a friend of Clifford Heath's, we ask
+you to help us, and to share our confidence. Now, we must find out
+first, if Constance Wardour _is_ engaged to Lamotte; and second, the
+cause of the estrangement between herself and Doctor Heath. Can you
+suggest a plan?"
+
+"Yes," replies Ray, a smile breaking over his face. "Send for Mrs.
+Aliston, and question her as you have me."
+
+"Good!" cries Mr. Wedron. "_Excellent!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+AN APPEAL TO THE WARDOUR HONOR.
+
+
+During the night that saw Sybil Burrill's reason give way under the
+long, horrible strain, that had borne upon it; the night that witnessed
+the downfall of Frank Lamotte's cherished hopes, and closed the earthly
+career of John Burrill; Mrs. Lamotte and Mrs. Aliston hovered over the
+bed where lay Sybil, now tossing in delirium, now sinking into
+insensibility. Early in the evening, Dr. Heath had been summoned, and he
+had responded promptly to Mrs. Lamotte's eager call.
+
+They could do little, just then, save to administer opiates; he told
+them there was every symptom of brain fever; by to-morrow he would know
+what course of treatment to pursue; until then, keep the patient quiet,
+humor all her whims, so far as was possible; give her no stimulants,
+and, if there was any marked change, send for him at once.
+
+The two anxious women hung upon his words; afterward, they both
+remembered how cheerful, how brave and strong he had seemed that night;
+how gentle his voice was; how kindly his glance; how soothing and
+reassuring his manner.
+
+In the gray of the morning, Sybil dropped into one of her lethargies
+after hours of uneasy mutterings, that would have been mad ravings, but
+for the doctor's powerful opiate; and then, after a word combat with
+Mrs. Lamotte, just such an argument as has occurred by hundreds of sick
+beds, where two weary, anxious watchers vie with each other for the
+place beside the bed, and the right to watch in weariness, while the
+other rests; after such an argument, Mrs. Aliston yielded to the
+solicitations of her hostess, and withdrew, to refresh herself with a
+little sleep.
+
+The vigil had been an unusual one, and Mrs. Aliston was very weary. No
+sound disturbed the quiet of the elegant guest chamber where she lay;
+and so it happened that a brisk rapping at her door; at ten o'clock in
+the morning, awoke her from heavy, dreamless slumber, and set her
+wandering wits to wondering vaguely what all this strangeness meant.
+Then suddenly recalling the events of the previous night, she sat up in
+bed and called out:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+"It's ten o'clock, madam," replied the voice of Mrs. Lamotte's maid;
+"and will you have breakfast in your room, or in the dining room?"
+
+Slipping slowly out from the downy bed, Mrs. Aliston crossed to the
+door, and peering out at the servant, said:
+
+"I will breakfast here, Ellen. How is Sybil?"
+
+"She is worse, I think, madam, and Mrs. Lamotte is very uneasy; I think
+she wishes to speak with you, or she would not have had you wakened."
+
+"Tell her I will come to her at once;" and Mrs. Aliston closed the door
+and began a hurried toilet; before it was completed, Mrs. Lamotte
+herself appeared; she was pale and heavy eyed, and seemed much agitated.
+
+"Pardon my intrusion," she began, hurriedly; "I am uneasy about Sybil;
+she is growing very restless, and for more than an hour has called
+unceasingly for Constance. Do you think your niece would come to us this
+morning? Her strong, cool nerves might have some influence upon poor
+Sybil."
+
+"I am sure she will come," replied Mrs. Aliston, warmly "and without a
+moment's delay. I will drive home at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and send
+Constance back."
+
+"Not until you have had breakfast, Mrs. Aliston. And how can I thank you
+for your goodness, and your help, during the past horrible night?"
+
+"By saying nothing at all about it, my dear, and by ordering the
+carriage the moment I have swallowed a cup of coffee," replied the
+good-hearted soul, cheerily. "I hope and trust that Sybil will recover
+very soon; but if she grows worse, you must let me help you all I can."
+
+Half an hour later the Lamotte carriage rolled swiftly across the bridge
+and towards Wardour; and so Mrs. Aliston, for the time at least, was
+spared the shock that fell upon the house of Mapleton, scarce fifteen
+minutes later, the news of John Burrill's murder, and the finding of the
+body.
+
+Little more than an hour later, Constance Wardour sprang from the
+carriage at the door of Mapleton, and ran hurriedly up the broad steps.
+The outer door stood wide open, and a group of servants were huddled
+about the door of the drawing room, with pale, affrighted faces, and
+panic-stricken manner.
+
+Seeing them, Constance at once takes the alarm. Sybil must be worse;
+must be very ill indeed. Instantly the question rises to her lips:
+
+"Is Sybil--is Mrs. Burrill worse?" and then she hears the startling
+truth.
+
+"John Burrill is dead. John Burrill has been murdered." In bewilderment,
+in amazement, she hears all there is to tell, all that the servants
+know. A messenger came, telling only the bare facts. John Burrill's body
+has been found in an old cellar; Frank has just gone, riding like a
+madman, to see that the body is cared for, and to bring it home. Mrs.
+Lamotte has been told the horrible news; has received it like an icicle;
+has ordered them to prepare the drawing room for the reception of the
+body, and has gone back to her daughter.
+
+All this Constance hears, and then, strangely startled, and vaguely
+thankful that Frank is not in the house, she goes up to the sick room.
+Mrs. Lamotte rises to greet her, with a look upon her face that startles
+Constance, even more than did the news she has just heard below stairs.
+
+Intense feeling has been for so long frozen out of that high-bred,
+haughty face, that the look of the eyes, the compression of the lips,
+the fear and horror of the entire countenance, amount almost to a
+transfiguration.
+
+She draws Constance away from the bed, and into the dressing room
+beyond. Then, in a voice husky with suppressed emotion, she addresses
+her as follows:
+
+"Constance Wardour, I am about to place my honor, my daughter's life,
+the honor of all my family, in your hands. There is not another living
+being in whom to trust, and I must trust some one. I must, for my
+child's sake, have relief, or _my_ reason, too, will desert me.
+Constance, that sick room holds a terrible secret--Sybil's secret. If
+you can share it with me, for Sybil's sake, I will try to brave this
+tempest, as I have braved others; if you refuse"--she paused a moment,
+and then whispered fiercely:
+
+"If you refuse, I will lock that chamber door, and Sybil Lamotte shall
+die in her delirium before I will allow an ear that I can not trust,
+within those walls, or the hand of a possible enemy to administer one
+life-saving draught."
+
+[Illustration: "Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium."]
+
+Over the face of Constance Wardour crept a look of horror indescribable.
+In an instant her mind is illuminated, and all the fearful meaning of
+Mrs. Lamotte's strange words, is grasped and mastered. She reels as if
+struck by a heavy hand, and a low moan breaks from her lips. So long she
+stands thus, mute and awe-stricken, that Mrs. Lamotte can bear the
+strain of suspense no longer.
+
+"For God's sake, speak," she gasps; "there have been those of your race
+who could not abandon a fallen friend."
+
+Over the cheek, and neck, and brow, the hot, proud, loyal Wardour blood,
+comes surging. The gray eyes lift themselves with a proud flash; low and
+firm comes the answer:
+
+"The Wardours were never Summer friends. Sybil has been as a sister, in
+prosperity; I shall be no less than a sister now. You may trust me as
+you would yourself; and--I am very glad you sent for me, and trusted no
+other."
+
+"God bless you, Constance! No one else _can_ be trusted. With your help
+I must do this work alone."
+
+Then comes a cry from the sick room; they go back, and Constance enters
+at once upon her new, strange task. Her heart heavy; her hand firm; her
+ears smitten by the babbling recitation of that awful secret; and her
+lips sealed with the seal of the Wardour honor.
+
+All that day she is at her post. Mrs. Lamotte, who is resolved to retain
+her strength for Sybil's sake, lies down in the dressing room and sleeps
+from sheer exhaustion.
+
+As the day wears on there is movement and bustle down stairs, they are
+bringing in the body of the murdered man. The undertaker goes about his
+work with pompous air, and solemn visage; and when darkness falls, John
+Burrill's lifeless form lies in state in the drawing room of Mapleton,
+that room over the splendors of which his plebeian soul has gloated, his
+covetous eyes feasted and his ambitious bosom swelled with a sense of
+proprietorship. He is clothed in finest broadcloth, surrounded with
+costly trappings; but not one tear falls over him; not one heart grieves
+for him; not one tongue utters a word of sorrow or regret; he has
+schemed and sinned, to become a member of the aristocracy, to ally
+himself to the proud Lamottes; and to-night, one and all of the
+Lamottes, breathe the freer, because his breathing has forever ceased.
+Even Constance Wardour has no pitying thought for the dead man; she
+keeps aloof from the drawing room, shuddering when compelled to pass its
+closed doors; living, John Burrill was odious to her; dead, he is
+loathsome.
+
+The day passes, and Doctor Heath does not visit his patient. At
+intervals during the long afternoon, they have discussed the question,
+"What shall we do to keep the patient quiet when the doctor comes?"
+
+It is Constance who solves the problem.
+
+"We must send for Doctor Benoit, Mrs. Lamotte; Doctor Heath's tardiness
+will furnish sufficient excuse, and Doctor Benoit's partial deafness
+will render him our safest physician."
+
+It is a happy thought; Doctor Benoit is old, and partially deaf, but he
+is a thoroughly good and reliable physician.
+
+Late that night, Jasper Lamotte applies for admittance at the door of
+his daughter's sick room. Constance opens the door softly, and as his
+eyes fall upon her, she fancies that a look of fierce hatred gleams at
+her for a moment from those sunken orbs and darkens his haggard
+countenance. Of course it is only a fancy. In another moment he is
+asking after his daughter, with grave solicitude.
+
+"She is quiet; she must not be disturbed;" so Constance tells him. And
+he glides away softly, murmuring his gratitude to his daughter's friend,
+as he goes.
+
+It is midnight at Mapleton; in Sybil Lamotte's room the lights burn
+dimly, and Mrs. Lamotte and Constance sit near the bed, listening, with
+sad, set faces, to the ravings of the delirious girl.
+
+"Ha! ha!" she cries, tossing her bare arms aloft. "How well you planned
+that, Constance! the Wardour diamonds; ah, they are worth keeping, they
+are worth plotting to keep--and it's often done--it's easy to do. Hush!
+Mr. Belknap, I need your help--meet me, meet me to-night, at the boat
+house. If a man were to disappear, never to come back, mind--what would
+I give? One thousand dollars! two! three! It shall be done! I shall be
+free! free! _free!_ Ha! ha! Constance, your diamonds are safer than
+mine--but what are diamonds--I shall live a lie--let me adorn myself
+with lies. Why not? Why care? I will be free. You have been the tool of
+others, Mr. Belknap, why hesitate to serve me--you want money--here it
+is, half of it--when it is done, when I _know_ it is done, I will come
+here again--at night--and the rest is yours."
+
+With a stifled moan, Mrs. Lamotte leans forward, and lays a hand upon
+her companion's arm.
+
+"Constance--do you know what she means?"
+
+Slowly and shudderingly, the girl answers:
+
+"I fear--that I know too well."
+
+"And--that boat-house appointment?"
+
+"Must be kept, Mrs. Lamotte; for Sybil's sake, it must be kept, _by you
+or me_."
+
+It is midnight. In Evan Lamotte's room lamps are burning brightly, and
+the fumes of strong liquor fill the air. On the bed lies Evan, with
+flushed face, and mud bespattered clothing; he is in a sleep that is
+broken and feverish, that borders in fact, upon delirium; beside him,
+pale as a corpse, with nerves unstrung, and trembling, sits Frank
+Lamotte, fearing to leave him, and loath to stay. At intervals, the
+sleeper grows more restless, and then starts up with wild ejaculations,
+or bursts of demonaic laughter. At such times, Frank Lamotte pours, from
+a bottle at his side, a powerful draught of burning brandy, and holds it
+to the frenzied lips. They drain off the liquor, and presently relapse
+into quiet.
+
+It is midnight. In the library of Mapleton, Jasper Lamotte sits at his
+desk, poring over a pile of papers. The curtains are closely drawn, the
+door securely locked. Now and then he rises, and paces nervously up and
+down the room, gesticulating fiercely, and wearing such a look as has
+never been seen upon the countenance of the Jasper Lamotte of society.
+
+It is midnight. In the Mapleton drawing room, all that remains of John
+Burrill, lies in solemn solitary state; and, down in his cell, face
+downward upon his pallet, lies Clifford Heath, broad awake, and bitterly
+reviewing the wrongs heaped upon him by fate; realizing, to the full,
+his own helplessness, and the peril before him, and doggedly resolving
+to die, and make no sign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+I CAN SAVE HIM IF I WILL.
+
+
+Doctor Benoit was old and deaf; he was also very talkative. One of those
+physicians who invariably leave a titbit of news alongside of their
+powders and pellets. A constant talker is apt to be an indiscreet
+talker, and, very often, wanting in tact. Doctor Benoit was not so much
+deficient in tact, as in memory. In growing old, he had grown forgetful,
+and not being a society man, social gossip was less dear to his heart
+than the news of political outbreaks, business strivings, and about-town
+sensations. Doubtless he had heard, like all the world of W----, that
+Doctor Clifford Heath had, at one time, been an aspirant for the favor
+of the proud heiress of Wardour, and that suddenly he had fallen from
+grace, and was no more seen within the walls of Wardour, or at the side
+of its mistress on social occasions. If so, he had entirely forgotten
+these facts. Accordingly, during his second call, made on the morning
+after the inquest, he began to drop soft remarks concerning the recent
+horror.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte was lying down, and Constance had decided not to arouse her
+when the doctor arrived, inasmuch as the patient was in one of her
+stupors, and not likely to rouse from it.
+
+The arrest of a brother practitioner on such a charge as was preferred
+against Clifford Heath, had created no little commotion in the mind of
+Dr. Benoit, and he found it difficult to keep the subject off his
+tongue, so, after he had given Constance full instructions concerning
+the patient, he said, standing hat in hand near the dressing room door:
+
+"This is a terrible state of affairs for W----, Miss Wardour. Do you
+know," drawing a step nearer, and lowering his voice, "Do you know if
+Mr. Lamotte has been informed that O'Meara, as Heath's lawyer, demands a
+surgical examination?"
+
+"As Heath's lawyer!" The room seemed to swim about her. She turned
+instinctively toward the door of the chamber, closed it softly, and came
+very close to the old doctor, lifting her pale lips to his ear.
+
+"I don't understand you, doctor. What has Mr. O'Meara to do with the
+murder?"
+
+"Hey? What's that? What is O'Meara going to do? He's going to defend
+young Heath." Then, seeing the startled, perplexed look upon her face,
+"Is it possible you have not heard about Heath's arrest?"
+
+She shook her head, and again lifted her mouth to his ear.
+
+"I have heard nothing; tell me all."
+
+"It seems that there was an old feud between Heath and Burrill," began
+the doctor, beginning to feel that somehow he had made a blunder. "They
+have hunted up some pretty strong evidence against Heath, and the
+coroner's jury brought in a verdict against him. You know the body was
+found in an old cellar, close by Heath's cottage."
+
+At this moment there came a soft tap on the outer door, which Constance
+at once recognized. Mechanically she moved forward and opened the door.
+Mrs. Lamotte stood on the threshold.
+
+Seeing the doctor and Constance, she at once inferred that Sybil was the
+subject under discussion, and to insure the patient against being
+disturbed, beckoned the doctor to come outside.
+
+As he stepped out into the hall, Constance, hoping to get a little
+information from him, came forward, and standing in the doorway,
+partially closed the door behind her.
+
+"Doctor," said Mrs. Lamotte, anxiously, "do you see any change in
+Sybil?"
+
+He shook his head gravely.
+
+"There is no marked change, madam; but I see a possibility that she may
+return to consciousness within the next forty-eight hours, in which case
+I must warn you against letting her know or guess at the calamity that
+has befallen her."
+
+The two women exchanged glances of relief.
+
+"If she receives no shock until her mental balance is fully restored,
+her recovery may be hoped for; otherwise--"
+
+"Otherwise, doctor?"
+
+"Otherwise, if she retains her life, it will be at the cost of her
+reason."
+
+"Oh!" moaned the mother, "death would be better than that."
+
+There was the sound of a door opening softly down the hall. They all
+turned their eyes that way to see Frank Lamotte emerging from Evan's
+room. He came hurriedly toward them, and Constance noticed the nervous
+unsteadiness of his gait, the pinched and pallid look of his face, the
+feverish fire of his sunken eyes.
+
+"Mother," he said, in a constrained voice, and without once glancing
+toward Constance, "I think you had better have Doctor Benoit see Evan. I
+have been with him all night, and am thoroughly worn out."
+
+"What ails Evan, Frank?"
+
+"Too much liquor," with a shrug of the shoulders. "He is on the verge of
+the 'brandy madness,' he sometimes sings of. He must have powerful
+narcotics, and no cessation of his stimulants, or we will have him
+raving about the house like a veritable madman; and--I have not told him
+about Burrill."
+
+A look of contrition came into the mother's face. Evan had kept his room
+for days, but, in her anxiety for her dearest child, she had quite
+forgotten him.
+
+"Come, doctor," she said, quickly; "let us go to Evan at once."
+
+They passed on to the lower room, leaving Constance and Frank face to
+face.
+
+Constance moved back a pace as if to re-enter the dressing-room; burning
+with anxiety as she was, to hear more concerning Clifford Heath, her
+womanly instincts were too true to permit her to ask information of her
+discarded suitor. But Frank's voice stayed her movements.
+
+"Constance, only one moment," he said, appealingly. "Have a little
+patience with me _now_. Have a little pity for my misery."
+
+His misery! The words sounded hypocritical; he had never loved John
+Burrill over much, she knew.
+
+"I bestow my pity whenever it is truly needed, Frank," she said, coldly,
+her face whitening with the anguish of her inward thought. "Do you think
+_you_ are the only sufferer in this miserable affair?"
+
+"I am the only one who can not enlist your sympathies. I must live
+without your love; I must bear a name disgraced, yet those who brought
+about this family disgrace, even Clifford Heath, in a felon's cell, no
+doubt you will aid and pity; _he_ is a martyr perhaps, while I--"
+
+"While you--go on, sir;" fierce scorn shining from the gray eyes; bitter
+sarcasm in the voice.
+
+"While I," coming closer and fairly hissing the words, "am set aside for
+him, a felon, Oh! you are a proud woman, and you keep your secrets well,
+but you can not hide from me the fact that ever since the accursed day
+that brought you and Clifford Heath together, _he_ has been the man
+preferred by you. If I have lost you, you have none the less lost him;
+listen."
+
+Before she is aware of his purpose, he has her two wrists in a vice-like
+grip; and bending down, until his lips almost touch the glossy locks on
+her averted head, he is pouring out, in swift cutting sentences, the
+story of the inquest; all the damning evidence is swiftly rehearsed;
+nothing that can weigh against his rival, is omitted.
+
+Feeling instinctively that he utters the truth; paralyzed by the weight
+of his words; she stands with head drooping more and more, with cheeks
+growing paler, with hands that tremble and grow cold in his clasp.
+
+He sees her terror, a sudden thought possesses his brain; grasping her
+hands still tighter, he goes madly on:
+
+"Constance Wardour, in spite of the coldness between you, you love
+Clifford Heath. _What will you do to save him?_"
+
+[Illustration: "Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."]
+
+"This is too much! This is horrible!" She makes a mad effort to free
+herself from his grasp.
+
+The question comes like a taunt, a declaration of her helplessness.
+Coming from him, it is maddening. It restores her courage; it makes her
+mistress of herself once more.
+
+"Don't repeat that question," she says, flashing upon him a look of
+defiance.
+
+"I _do_ repeat it!" he goes on wildly. "Go to O'Meara; to whom you
+please; satisfy yourself that Clifford Heath has a halter about his
+neck; then come to me, and tell me if you will give yourself as his
+ransom. _I can save him if I will._ I _will_ save him, only on one
+condition. You know what that is."
+
+With a sudden fierce effort she frees herself from his clasp, and stands
+erect before him, fairly panting with the fierceness of her anger.
+
+"Traitor! _monster!_ Cain! Not to save all the lives of my friends; not
+to save the world from perdition, would I be your wife! _You_ would
+denounce the destroyer of that worthless clay below us. _You!_ Before
+that should happen, to save the world the knowledge that such a monster
+exists, _I_ will tell the world where the guilt lies, _for I know_."
+
+Before he can realize the full meaning of her words, the dressing-room
+door is closed between them, and Frank Lamotte stands gnashing his
+teeth, beating the air with his hands in a frenzy of rage and despair.
+
+While he stands thus, a step comes slowly up the stairs; he turns to
+meet the gaze of his father.
+
+"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, in low, guarded accents, "Come down to the
+library at once. It is time you knew the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+A LAST RESORT.
+
+
+Like a man in a dream, Frank Lamotte obeys his father's call, never once
+thinking that the summons is strangely worded. Over and over in his mind
+the question is repeating itself--What did she mean? Was he going mad?
+Was he dreaming? Had Constance Wardour really said a word that rendered
+himself and all that household unsafe? If she knew who should stand in
+Clifford Heath's stead, would she really spare the culprit? No; it was
+impossible. Was her talk bravado? was she seeking to deceive him?
+
+"Impossible," he reasons. "If she knew who struck that blow, then I am
+ruined utterly. But she does not know--she can not."
+
+Jasper Lamotte leads the way to the library. It seems natural that he
+should move softly, cautiously. A supernatural stillness pervades the
+lower floor. Frank Lamotte shudders and keeps his eyes turned away from
+the closed-up drawing room with its silent tenant.
+
+When they are seated face to face, with locked door and closely drawn
+curtains, Frank looks across at his father, and notes for the first time
+that day the lines of care settling about the sallow mouth, and
+underneath the dark, brooding eyes. A moment of silence rests between
+them, while each reads the signs of disaster in the face of the other.
+Finally the elder says, with something very like a sneer in his voice:
+
+"One would think you a model mourner, your visage is sufficiently
+woful." Then leaning across the table, and elevating one long
+forefinger; "Something more than the simple fact of Burrill's death has
+shaken you, Frank. _What is it?_"
+
+Frank Lamotte utters a low mirthless laugh.
+
+"I might say the same of you, sir; your present pallor can scarcely be
+attributed to grief."
+
+"True;" a darker shadow falling across his countenance. "Nor is it
+grief. It is bitter disappointment. Have you seen Miss Wardour?"
+
+"Yes;" averting his head.
+
+"And your case in that quarter?"
+
+"Hopeless."
+
+"What!" sharply.
+
+"Hopeless, I tell you, sir; do I look like a prosperous wooer? she will
+not look at me. She will not touch me. She will not have me at any
+price."
+
+Jasper Lamotte mutters a curse. "Then you have been playing the
+poltroon," he says savagely.
+
+The countenance of the younger man grows livid. He starts up from his
+chair, then sinks weakly back again.
+
+"Drop the subject," he says hoarsely. "That card is played, and lost. Is
+this all you have to say?"
+
+"All! I wish it were. What took me to the city?"
+
+"What took you, true enough. The need of a few thousands, ready cash."
+
+"Yes. Well! I have not got the cash."
+
+"But--good heavens! you had ample--securities."
+
+"Ample securities, yes," with a low grating laugh. "Look, I don't know
+who has interposed thus in our favor, but--if John Burrill were alive
+to-night you and I would be--beggars."
+
+"Impossible, while you hold the valuable--"
+
+"Bah! valuable indeed! you and I have been fooled, duped, deluded. Our
+treasured securities are--"
+
+"Well, are what?"
+
+"Shams."
+
+"Shams!" incredulously. "But that is impossible."
+
+"Is it?" cynically. "Then the impossible has come to pass. There's
+nothing genuine in the whole lot."
+
+A long silence falls between them. Frank Lamotte sits staring straight
+before him; sudden conviction seems to have overtaken his panic-stricken
+senses. Jasper Lamotte drums upon the table impatiently, looking moody
+and despondent.
+
+"A variety of queer things may seem plain to you now," he says, finally.
+"Perhaps you realize the necessity for instant action of some sort."
+
+Frank stirs restlessly, and passes his hand across his brows.
+
+"I can't realize anything fully," he says, slowly. "It's as well that
+Burrill did not live to know this."
+
+"Well! It's providential! We should not have a chance; as it is, we
+have one. Do you know where Burrill kept his papers?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Who removed his personal effects? Were you present?"
+
+"Assuredly. There were no papers of value to us upon the body."
+
+"Well, those papers must be found. Once in our hands, we are safe enough
+for the present; but until we find them, we are not so secure. However,
+I have no doubt but that they are secreted somewhere about his room.
+Have you seen Belknap to-day?"
+
+"Only at the inquest. Curse that fellow; I wish we were rid of him
+entirely."
+
+"I wish we were rid of his claim; but it must be paid somehow."
+
+"Somehow!" echoing the word, mockingly.
+
+"That is the word I used. I must borrow the money."
+
+"Indeed! Of whom?"
+
+"Of Constance Wardour."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Why not, pray? Am I to withdraw because you have been discarded? Why
+should I not borrow from this tricky young lady? Curse her!"
+
+"Well!" rising slowly, "she is under your roof at this moment. Strike
+while the iron is hot. Have you anything more to say to-night?"
+
+"No. You are too idiotic. Get some of the cobwebs out of your brain, and
+that scared look out of your face. One would think that _you_, and not
+Heath, were the murderer of Burrill."
+
+A strange look darts from the eyes of Frank Lamotte.
+
+"It won't be so decided by a jury," he says, between his shut teeth.
+"Curse Heath, he is the man who, all along, has stood in my way."
+
+"Well, there's a strong likelihood that he will be removed from your
+path. There, go, and don't look so abjectly hopeless. We have nothing to
+do at present, but to quiet Belknap. Good night."
+
+With lagging steps, Frank Lamotte ascends the stairs, and enters his own
+room. He locks the door with a nervous hand, and then hurriedly lowers
+the curtains. He goes to the mirror, and gazes at his reflected
+self,--hollow, burning eyes, haggard cheeks, blanched lips, that twitch
+convulsively, a mingled expression of desperation, horror, and
+despair,--that is what he sees, and the sight does not serve to steady
+his nerves. He turns away, with a curse upon the white lips.
+
+He flings himself down in a huge easy chair, and dropping his chin upon
+his breast, tries to think; but thought only deepens the despairing
+horror and fear upon his countenance. Where his father sees one foe,
+Francis Lamotte sees ten.
+
+He sees before him Jerry Belknap, private detective, angry, implacable,
+menacing, not to be quieted. He sees Clifford Heath, pale, stern,
+accusing. Constance Wardour, scornful, menacing, condemning and
+consigning him to dreadful punishment. The dead face of John Burrill
+rises before him, jeering, jibing, odious, seeming to share with him
+some ugly secret. He passes his hand across his brow, and starts up
+suddenly.
+
+"Bah!" he mutters, "this is no time to dally; on every side I see a
+pitfall. Let every man look to himself. If I must play in my last trump,
+let me be prepared."
+
+He takes from his pocket a bunch of keys, and, selecting one of the
+smallest, unlocks a drawer of his dressing case. He draws forth a pair
+of pistols and examines them carefully. Then he withdraws the charges
+from both weapons, and loads one anew. The latter he conceals about his
+person, and then takes up the other. He hesitates a moment, and then
+loads that also, replaces it in its hiding place, closes and locks the
+drawer. Then he breathes a long sigh of relief.
+
+"It's a deadly anchor to windward," he mutters, turning away. "It's a
+last resort. Now I have only to wait."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+A STRANGE INTERVIEW.
+
+
+While Frank Lamotte, in his own chamber, is preparing himself for
+emergencies, Constance Wardour stands by the bedside of her unconscious
+friend, struggling for self control; shutting her lips firmly together,
+clenching her teeth; mastering her outward self, by the force of her
+strong will; and striving to bring the chaos of her mind into like
+subjection. Three facts stare her in the face; three ideas dance through
+her brain and mingle themselves in a confused mass. Clifford Heath is in
+peril. She can save him by betraying a friend and a trust. She loves
+him.
+
+Yes, stronger than all, greater than all, this fact stands out; in this
+hour of peril the truth will not be frowned down. She loves this man who
+stands accused of murder; she loves him, and, great heavens! he is
+innocent, and yet, must suffer for the guilty.
+
+What can she do? What must she do? She can not go to him; she, by her
+own act, has cut off all friendly intercourse between them. But,
+something must be done, shall be done.
+
+Suddenly, she bends down, and looks long and earnestly into the face of
+the sleeper. The dark lashes rest upon cheeks that are pale as ivory;
+the face looks torture-stricken; the beautiful lips quiver with the pain
+of some dismal dream.
+
+Involuntarily, this cry escapes the lips of the watcher:
+
+"My God! To think that two noble lives must be blasted, because of that
+pitiful, worthless thing, that lies below."
+
+The moments drag on heavily, her thoughts gradually shaping themselves
+into a resolve, while she watches by the bedside and waits the return of
+Mrs. Lamotte. At last, she comes, and there is an added shade of sorrow
+in her dark eyes; Evan is very ill, she fears for his reason, too.
+
+"What has come upon my children, Constance?" she asks, brokenly; "even
+Frank has changed for the worse."
+
+"Poor Evan," sighs Constance, thinking of his loyal love for Sybil; and
+thus with her new resolve strong in her mind, she says, briefly:
+
+"I must go to town at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and will return as soon as
+possible. Can you spare me without too much weight upon yourself."
+
+Without a question, Mrs. Lamotte bids her go; and very soon she is
+driving swiftly toward W----, behind the splendid Lamotte horses.
+
+Straight to Lawyer O'Meara she is whirled, and by the time she reaches
+the gate, she is as calm as an iceberg.
+
+Coming down the steps is a familiar form, that of her aunt, Mrs.
+Aliston. Each lady seems a trifle disconcerted by this unexpected
+meeting; neither is inclined to explain her presence there.
+
+Mrs. Aliston appears the more disturbed and startled of the two; she
+starts and flushes, guiltily, at sight of her niece.
+
+But, Constance is intent upon her errand; she pauses long enough to
+inquire after her aunt's health, to report that Sybil is much the same,
+and Evan ill, and then she says:
+
+"Is Mr. O'Meara at home, Aunt Honor?"
+
+"Yes. That is, I believe so," stammers Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"Then I must not detain you, or delay myself; good morning, auntie;" and
+she enters the house, leaving Mrs. Aliston looking perplexed and
+troubled.
+
+Ushered into the presence of Mr. O'Meara, Constance wastes no words.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," she begins, in her most straightforward manner, "I have
+just come from Mapleton, where I have been with Sybil since last night.
+This morning, Doctor Benoit horrified me by telling me that Doctor Heath
+has been arrested for the murder of John Burrill."
+
+Just here the study door opens softly, and a portly, pleasant faced
+gentleman enters. He bows with easy self-possession, and turns
+expectantly toward O'Meara. That gentleman performed the ceremony of
+introduction.
+
+"Miss Wardour, permit me: Mr. a--Wedron, of the New York Bar. Mr.
+Wedron, my dear, is here in the interest of Doctor Heath."
+
+A pair of searching gray eyes are turned full upon the stranger, who
+bears the scrutiny with infinite composure. She bows gravely, and then
+seats herself opposite the two gentleman.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," she says, imperiously, "I want to hear the full
+particulars of this affair, from the very first, up to the present
+moment."
+
+The two professional men exchange glances. Then Mr. Wedron interposes:
+"Miss Wardour," he says, slowly, "we are acting for Clifford Heath, in
+this matter, therefore, I must ask, do you come as a friend of the
+accused, or--to offer testimony?"
+
+Again the gray eyes flash upon him. "I come as a friend of Doctor
+Heath," she says, haughtily; "and I ask only what is known to all W----,
+I suppose."
+
+Mr. Wedron conceals a smile of satisfaction behind a smooth white hand;
+then he draws a bundle of papers from his pocket.
+
+"O'Meara," he says, passing them to his colleague; "here are the items
+of the case, as we summed them up last evening; please read them to Miss
+Wardour." And he favors the little lawyer, with a swift, but significant
+glance.
+
+Drawing his chair a little nearer that of his visitor, O'Meara begins,
+while the portly gentleman sits in the background and notes, lynx-like,
+every expression that flits across the face of the listening girl.
+
+O'Meara reads on and on. The summing up is very comprehensive. From the
+first discovery of the body, to the last item of testimony before the
+coroner's jury; and after that, the strangeness, the apathy, the
+obstinacy of the accused, and his utter refusal to add his testimony, or
+to accuse any other. Utter silence falls upon them as the reading
+ceases.
+
+Constance sits mute and pale as a statue; Mr. Wedron seems quite
+self-absorbed, and Mr. O'Meara, glances around nervously, as if waiting
+for a cue.
+
+Constance turns her head slowly, and looks from one to the other.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara, Mr. Wedron, you are to defend Doctor Heath, you tell me?"
+They both nod assent.
+
+"And--have you, as his counsel, gathered no palliating proof? Nothing to
+set against this mass of blighting circumstantial evidence?"
+
+Mr. Wedron leans forward, fastens his eyes upon her face, and says
+gravely: "Miss Wardour, all that can be done for Clifford Heath will be
+done. But--the case as it stands is against him. For some reason he has
+lost courage. He seems to place small value upon his life I believe that
+he knows who is the guilty one, and that he is sacrificing himself.
+Furthermore, I believe that there are those who can tell, if they will,
+far more than has been told concerning this case; those who may withhold
+just the evidence that in a lawyer's hands will clear Clifford Heath."
+
+The pallid misery of her face is pitiful, but it does not move Mr.
+Wedron.
+
+"Last night," he goes on mercilessly, "Mr. Raymond Vandyck sat where you
+sit now, and I said to him what I now say to you. Miss Wardour, Raymond
+Vandyck knows more than he has told." His keen eyes search her face, her
+own orbs fall before his gaze. Then she lifts them suddenly, and asks
+abruptly:
+
+"Who are the other parties who are withholding their testimony?"
+
+Again Mr. Wedron suppresses a smile. "Another who knows more than he
+chooses to tell is Mr. Frank Lamotte."
+
+She starts perceptibly.
+
+"And--are there others?"
+
+"Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."
+
+[Illustration: "Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."]
+
+"Myself!"
+
+She bows her face upon her hands, and convulsive shudders shake her
+form. She sits thus so long that O'Meara becomes restless, but Mr.
+Wedron sits calm, serene, expectant.
+
+By and by she lifts her head, and her eyes shine with the glint of blue
+steel.
+
+"You are right, sir," she says in a low, steady voice. "I _can_ tell
+more than is known. It may not benefit Doctor Heath; I do not see how it
+can. Nevertheless, all that I can tell you shall hear, and I only ask
+that you will respect such portions of my story as are not needed in
+evidence. As for Mr. O'Meara, I know I can trust him. And I believe,
+sir, that I can rely upon you."
+
+Mr. Wedron bows gravely.
+
+"I will begin by saying that Mr. Vandyck, if he has withheld anything
+concerning Doctor Heath, has acted honorably in so doing. He was bound
+by a promise, from which I shall at once release him."
+
+In obedience to a sign from Mr. Wedron, O'Meara prepares to write.
+
+"You have said, sir," addressing Mr. Wedron, "that I may be able to say
+something which, if withheld, would complicate this case. What do you
+wish to hear?"
+
+"Every thing, Miss Wardour, every thing. All that you can tell
+concerning your acquaintance with Clifford Heath--all that you have seen
+and know concerning John Burrill; all that you can recall of the sayings
+and doings of the Lamottes. And remember, the things that may seem
+unimportant or irrelevant to you, may be the very items that we lack to
+complete what may be a chain of strong evidence in favor of the accused.
+Allow me to question you from time to time, and, if I seem possessed of
+too much information concerning your private affairs, do not be too
+greatly astonished, but rest assured that all my researches have been
+made to serve another, not to gratify myself."
+
+"Where shall I begin, sir?"
+
+"Begin where the first shadow of complication fell; begin at the first
+word or deed of Doctor Heath's that struck you as being in any way
+strange or peculiar."
+
+She flushes hotly and begins her story.
+
+She describes her first impression of Doctor Heath, touching lightly
+upon their acquaintance previous to the time of the robbery at Wardour.
+Then she describes, very minutely, the first call made by Doctor Heath,
+after that affair.
+
+"One moment, Miss Wardour, you told Doctor Heath all that you knew
+concerning the robbery."
+
+"I did, sir;" coloring rosily.
+
+"And you exhibited to him the vial of chloroform and the piece of
+cambric?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"At this point you were interrupted by callers, and Doctor Heath left
+rather abruptly?"
+
+"Precisely, sir."
+
+"Who were these callers?"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte and his son."
+
+"Had you any reason for thinking that Doctor Heath purposely avoided a
+meeting with these gentlemen?"
+
+"Not at that time;" flushing slightly.
+
+"Go on, Miss Wardour."
+
+She resumes her story, telling all that she can remember of the call, of
+Frank's return, and of Sybil's letter.
+
+"About this letter, I would rather not speak, Mr. Wedron; it can not
+affect the case."
+
+"It _does_ affect the case," he replies quickly. "Pray omit no details
+just here."
+
+She resumes: telling the story of that long day, of Clifford Heath's
+second visit, and of the news of Sybil Lamotte's flight.
+
+She tells how, at sunset, she opened the strange letter, and how,
+bewildered and startled out of herself, she put it into Clifford Heath's
+hands, and called upon him to advise her.
+
+Almost word for word she repeats his comments, and then she hesitates.
+
+"Go on," says Mr. Wedron, impatiently; "what happened next?"
+
+Next she tells of the sudden appearance of the strange detective; and
+here O'Meara seems very much interested, and Mr. Wedron very little.
+
+He does not interrupt her, nor display much interest, until she reaches
+the point in her narrative when she discovers the loss of Sybil's
+letter.
+
+"Well!" he cries, as she hesitates once more. "Go on! go on! about that
+letter."
+
+"Gentlemen," says Constance, contritely, "here, if I could, I would
+spare myself. When Doctor Heath came, to return the bottle borrowed by
+the detective, I accused him of taking the letter."
+
+"What!" starting violently; "you suspected him?"
+
+"I insulted him."
+
+"And he--"
+
+"He resented the insult in the only way possible to a gentleman. He
+accepted it in silence, and turned his back upon me."
+
+"Ah! and since that time?"
+
+"Since that time I have received no intimation that Doctor Heath is
+aware of my existence."
+
+"Ah-h-h!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "and you have not found the letter?"
+
+"No. Its fate remains a mystery."
+
+"Do you still believe that Doctor Heath could account for its
+disappearance, if he would?"
+
+"On sober second thought, I could see no motive for taking the letter.
+I was hasty in my accusation. I came to that decision long ago."
+
+"You were deeply grieved over the _mesalliance_ of Miss Lamotte?"
+
+"She was my dearest friend."
+
+"Was?" inquiringly.
+
+Constance pales slightly, but does not correct herself.
+
+"Miss Lamotte's strange marriage has been since explained, I believe?"
+
+"_No, sir!_ not to my satisfaction."
+
+"What! Was it not to save a scapegrace brother?"
+
+"Stop, sir! That scapegrace brother is the one of all that family most
+worthy your respect and mine. You wish me to tell you of the family; let
+me begin with Evan."
+
+Beginning where she had dropped her story, Constance goes on. She
+outlines the visits of the two detectives; she tells how Frank Lamotte
+received the news of his sister's flight.
+
+Then she paints in glowing, enthusiastic language, the interview with
+Evan in the garden. She pictures his grief, his rage, his plea that she
+will stand fast as his sister's friend and champion. She repeats his odd
+language; describes his sudden change of manner; his declaration that he
+will find a reason for Sybil's conduct, that shall shield Sybil, and be
+acceptable to all.
+
+Then she tells how the rumor that Sybil had sacrificed herself for
+Evan's sake grew and spread, and how the boy had sanctioned the report.
+How he had come to her the second time to claim her promise, and
+announce the time for its fulfillment.
+
+"To-day," she says, with moist eyes, "Evan Lamotte lies on a drunkard's
+bed; liquor has been his curse. Morally he is weaker than water; but he
+has, under all that weakness, the elements that go to make a hero. All
+that he had, he sacrificed for his sister. Degraded by drink as he was,
+he could still feel his superiority to the man Burrill; yet, for Sybil's
+sake, to relieve her of his brutal presence, Evan became his companion,
+and passed long hours in the society that he loathed."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "ah-h-h!" then he closes his lips, and
+Constance resumes.
+
+She tells next how she became weary of the search for the Wardour
+diamonds; how she sought to withdraw private detective Belknap; and how
+that individual had endeavored to implicate Doctor Heath, and had
+finally accused him; how she had temporized, and sent for officer
+Bathurst; and how, during the three days of waiting, she had sent Ray
+Vandyck to watch over Clifford Heath. She finishes her story without
+interruption, carrying it up to the very day of the murder. Then she
+pauses, dreading further questioning.
+
+But Mr. Wedron asks no questions, and makes no comment. He fidgets in
+his chair, and seems anxious to end the interview.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Wardour," he says, rising briskly, "you have been an
+invaluable witness; and I feel like telling you, that--thanks to you, I
+hope soon to put my hand upon the guilty party, and open the prison
+doors for Heath."
+
+She utters a low cry.
+
+"My God! What have I said!" she cries wildly. "Listen, sir; Clifford
+Heath must, and shall, be free; but--you must never drag to justice the
+true culprit; you _never shall_!"
+
+She is on her feet facing Mr. Wedron, a look of startled defiance in her
+eyes.
+
+He is gazing at her with the look of a man who has discovered a secret.
+Suddenly he comes close beside her, and says, in low, significant tones:
+
+"Let us understand each other; one of two must suffer for this crime.
+Shall it be Clifford Heath, the innocent, or--_Frank Lamotte_?"
+
+She reels and clutches wildly at a chair for support.
+
+"Frank Lamotte!" she gasps, "_Frank_, Oh! No! No! It must not be him!
+Oh! You do not understand; you can not."
+
+She pauses, affrighted and gasping. Then her lips close suddenly, and
+she struggles fiercely to regain her composure. After a little she turns
+to Mr. O'Meara, saying:
+
+"You have heard me say that Mr. Bathurst, the detective, and friend of
+Doctor Heath, was, not long since, in W----; he may be here still; I do
+not know. But he must be found; he is the only man who can do what
+_must_ be done. For I repeat, Doctor Heath must be saved, and the true
+criminal must _not_ be punished. My entire fortune is at your command;
+find this detective, for my hands are tied; and he _must_, he MUST, find
+a way to save both guilty and innocent."
+
+"This is getting too deep for me, Wedron," says O'Meara, when the door
+has closed behind Constance. "What does it lead up to? For I take it
+your tactics mean something."
+
+Mr. Wedron laughs a low, mellow laugh.
+
+"Things are shaping themselves to my liking," he says, rubbing his hands
+briskly. "We are almost done floundering, O'Meara. Thanks to Miss
+Wardour, I know where to put my hand when the right time comes."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"You will very soon. Now hear a prophecy: Before to-morrow night,
+Clifford Heath will send for you, and lay before you a plan for his
+defence. He will manifest a sudden desire to live."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+TWO PASSENGERS WEST.
+
+
+Late that night a man is walking slowly up and down the little footpath
+that leads from the highway, just opposite Mapleton, down to the river
+and close past that pretty, white boat house belonging to the Lamotte
+domain.
+
+He is very patient, very tranquil in his movements, and quite
+unconscious that, crouched in the shadow, not far away, a small figure
+notes his every action.
+
+Presently a second form emerges from the gloom that hangs over the gates
+of Mapleton, and comes down toward the river. Just beside the boat house
+it pauses and waits the man's approach.
+
+The new comer is a woman. The night is not so dark but that her form is
+distinctly visible to the hidden watcher.
+
+"Well," says the man, coming close beside her, "I am here--madam."
+
+"Yes," whispers the woman. "Have you--" she hesitates.
+
+"Accomplished my task?" he finishes the sentence. "Have you not proof up
+yonder that the work is done?"
+
+The woman trembles from head to foot, and draws farther away.
+
+"I am only waiting to receive what is now due me," the man resumes. "You
+need have no fears as to the future; like Abraham, you have been
+provided with a lamb for the sacrifice."
+
+Again a shudder shakes the form of the woman, but she does not speak.
+
+"I must trouble you to do me a favor, Mrs. Burrill," the man goes on.
+"It is necessary that I should see the honorable Mr. Lamotte. So, if you
+will be so good as to admit me to Mapleton to-night, under cover of this
+darkness, and contrive an interview without disturbing the other
+inmates, you will greatly oblige me; but first, my two thousand dollars,
+if you please."
+
+With a sudden movement the woman flings back the cloak that has been
+drawn close about her face, and strikes with her hand upon the timbers
+of the boat house.
+
+There is a crackling sound, a flash of light, and then the slow blaze of
+a parlor match.
+
+By its light they gaze upon each other, and then the man mutters a
+curse.
+
+"Miss Wardour!"
+
+"Mr. Belknap, it is I."
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Belknap, it is I."]
+
+There is a moment's silence, and then she speaks again:
+
+"You are disappointed, Mr. Belknap; you expected to meet another, who
+would pay you your price for--you know what. You will not see that other
+one; she is hovering between life and death, and her delirious ravings
+have revealed you in your true character. You may wonder how I have
+dared thus to brave an assassin, a blackmailer. I am not reckless. If I
+do not return in ten minutes, safe and sound, the boat house will be
+speedily searched and you, Mr. Belknap, will be hunted as you may have
+hunted others. Not long since you made terms with me, you attempted
+coercion, I might say blackmail; to-night, it is in my power to bridle
+your tongue, and I tell you, that, unless you leave W---- at once, you
+will find yourself a resident here against your will. Consider your
+business in W---- at an end. This is not a safe place for you."
+
+With the last words on her lips, she turns and speeds swiftly back
+toward Mapleton, and Jerry Belknap, private detective, stands
+transfixed, gazing at the spot from which she has fled, and muttering
+curses not good to hear.
+
+He makes no attempt to follow her. He recognizes the fact that he is
+baffled, and, for the time at least, defeated. Grinding out curses as he
+goes, he turns his steps toward W----.
+
+Then, from out the shadows of the boat house, a small bundle uncoils
+itself, stands erect, and then moves forward as if in pursuit.
+
+But, something else rises up from the ground, directly in the path of
+this small shadow; a long, slender body displays itself, and a voice
+whispers close to the ears of the smaller watcher:
+
+"Remain here, George, and keep a close eye on the house. I will look
+after _him_."
+
+Then the shadows separate; the taller one follows in the wake of the
+disconsolate detective.
+
+The other, scaling the park palings like a cat, vanishes in the darkness
+that surrounds Mapleton.
+
+The reflections of Jerry Belknap, private detective, as he goes, with
+moody brow, and tightly compressed lips, across the pretty river bridge,
+and back toward his hotel, are far from pleasant.
+
+He is a shrewd man, and has engineered many a knotty case to a
+successful issue, thereby covering himself with glory. This was in the
+past, however; in the days when he had been regularly attached to a
+strong and reliable detective agency.
+
+For tact, energy, ambition, he had no peer; but one day his career had
+been nipped in the bud.
+
+A young man, equally talented, and far more honorable, had caused his
+overthrow; and yet had saved him from the worst that might have befallen
+him. And, Jerry Belknap, had stepped down from an honorable position,
+and, determined to make his power, experience, and acknowledged
+abilities, serve him as the means of supplying his somewhat extravagant
+needs, had resolved himself into a "private detective," and betaken
+himself to "ways that are dark."
+
+"There's something at the bottom of this business that I don't
+understand," mused he as he paced onward; little thinking how soon he is
+to be enlightened on this and sundry other subjects. "I never felt more
+sanguine of bringing a crooked operation to a successful termination,
+and I never yet made such an abject failure. I shall make it my business
+to find out, and at once, what is this power behind the throne. So,
+according to Miss Wardour, may Satan fly away with her, I am not to
+approach the Lamotte's, I am to lose my reward, I am to retire from the
+field like a whipped cur. Miss Wardour, we shall see about that."
+
+"Call me for the early train going west," he says to the night clerk, on
+reaching the hotel; "let me see, what is the hour?"
+
+"The western train leaves very early, sir--at four twenty. Then you
+won't be here to witness Burrill's funeral? It will call everybody out.
+The circumstances attending the man's life and death will make it an
+event for W----."
+
+"It's an 'event' that won't interest me. If I have been rightly
+informed, the man is better, placed in his coffin, than he ever was in
+his boots. I shall leave my baggage here--all but a small valise. I
+expect to return to W---- soon. If anything occurs to change my plans, I
+will telegraph you and have it forwarded."
+
+At this moment the door of the office opens and closes noisily, and a
+man comes rather unsteadily toward them. It is Smith, the book-peddler,
+and evidently much intoxicated.
+
+"Hallo, Smith," says the night clerk, jocosely, as Mr. Belknap turns
+away, "you seem to have rheumatism, and I suspect you find more fun than
+business in W----."
+
+"Town ain't much on literature," retorts Mr. Smith, amiably, "but it's
+the devil and all for draw poker. I've raked in a pot, and I'm going on
+to the next pious town, so
+
+    'If you are waking, call me early.'
+
+Old top, I'm going west."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+SOME EXCELLENT ADVICE.
+
+
+Early on the following morning, there was unusual stir about Mapleton.
+John Burrill was to be buried that day, and the sad funeral preparations
+were going on. People were moving about, making the bustle the more
+noticeable by their visible efforts to step softly, and by the low
+monotonous hum of their voices.
+
+Up stairs, the usual quiet reigned.
+
+Sybil was sleeping under the influence of powerful opiates, administered
+to insure her against the possibility of being overheard in her ravings,
+or of waking to a realization of the events taking place below stairs.
+
+Evan, too, had been quieted by the use of brandy and morphine, and Mrs.
+Lamotte kept watch at his bedside, while Constance, in Sybil's chamber,
+maintained a similar vigil. Neither of the two watchers manifested any
+interest in the funeral preparations, nor did they feel any.
+
+"I shall not be present at the burial," Mrs. Lamotte had said to her
+husband. "Sybil's illness and Evan's will furnish sufficient excuse,
+and--nothing constrains me to do honor to John Burrill _now_."
+
+Mr. Lamotte opened his lips to remonstrate, but catching a look upon the
+face of his wife that he had learned to its fullest meaning, he closed
+them again and went grimly below stairs, and, through all the day
+previous to the departure of the funeral cortege, Jasper Lamotte was the
+only member of that aristocratic family who was visible to the curious
+gaze of the strangers who attended upon the burial preparations.
+
+Early in the forenoon an unexpected delegation arrived at the entrance
+of Mapleton.
+
+First, came Doctor Benoit, driving alone in his time-honored gig, the
+only vehicle he had been seen to enter within the memory of W----.
+
+Close behind him, a carriage containing four gentlemen, all manifestly
+persons of more than ordinary importance, Mr. O'Meara, in fact, his
+colleague of the New York Bar, and two elderly, self-possessed
+strangers, evidently city men.
+
+They desired a few words with Mr. Lamotte, and that gentleman, after
+some hesitation and no little concern as to the nature of their business
+at such a time, presented himself before them, looking the
+personification of subdued sorrow and haughty reserve.
+
+Mr. O'Meara acted as spokesman for the party.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," he began, with profound politeness and marked coldness of
+manner and speech, "I should apologize for our intrusion at such a time,
+were it not that our errand is one of gravest importance and can not be
+put off. Allow me to introduce to you Mr. Wedron, Doctor Gaylor and
+Professor Harrington, all of New York."
+
+Mr. Lamotte recognized the strangers with haughty courtesy, and silently
+awaited disclosures.
+
+"Mr. Wedron and myself, as the representatives and counsel of Doctor
+Heath, have summoned from the city these two gentlemen, whom you must
+know by reputation, and we desire that they be allowed to examine the
+body of Mr. Burrill, in order to ascertain if the wounds upon the body
+were actually made by the knife found with it."
+
+The countenance of Mr. Lamotte darkened perceptibly.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "that
+this is an unwarrantable and useless proceeding--doubly so at this late
+hour."
+
+"Nevertheless, it is a necessary one," broke in Mr. Wedron, crisply. "It
+is presumable that you can have no personal enmity against Doctor Heath,
+sir; therefore you can have no reason for opposing measures instigated
+by justice. The examination will be a brief one."
+
+The resolute tone of his voice, no less than his words, brought Jasper
+Lamotte to his senses.
+
+"Certainly, I have no wish to oppose the ends of justice," he said, in a
+tone which, in spite of himself, was most ungracious. "Such an
+investigation is naturally distasteful to me. Nevertheless, you may
+proceed, gentlemen, but I should not like the ladies of my household to
+discover what is going on. They are sufficiently nervous already. If you
+will excuse me for a moment, I will go up and request them to remain in
+their rooms for the present. After that, you are at liberty to
+proceed."
+
+They all seat themselves gravely, and Mr. Lamotte, taking this as a
+quiet acquiescence, goes out, and softly but swiftly up the broad
+stairs; not to the rooms occupied by the ladies, however, but straight
+on to Frank's room, where that young man has remained in solitude, ever
+since his unusually early breakfast hour.
+
+"Frank," he says, entering quietly and closing the door with great care.
+"Frank, we have a delegation of doctors below stairs."
+
+"A delegation of doctors?" Frank repeats, parrot-like.
+
+"Precisely; they want to examine the body."
+
+Frank comes slowly to his feet.
+
+"To examine the body!" he repeats again. "In Heaven's name, _why_?"
+
+"To ascertain, by examining the wounds on the body, if the knife found
+with it, is the knife that killed."
+
+A sickly hue overspreads Frank Lamotte's face, and he sits weakly down
+in the chair, from which he has just risen, saying never a word.
+
+"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, eyeing his son sharply. "Do you see any
+reason why this investigation should not take place; supposing that it
+were yet in our power to hinder it?"
+
+A silence that lasts many seconds, then:
+
+"It is _not_ in our power to hinder it," says Frank, in a hollow voice;
+"neither would it be policy. Let the play go on," and he turns his face
+away with a weary gesture.
+
+For a moment, Jasper Lamotte stands gazing at his son; a puzzled look on
+his face; then he turns and goes out as softly as he came.
+
+"Gentlemen," he says, re-entering the library, with the same subdued
+manner, "you are at liberty to proceed with your examination, and, if I
+may suggest, it is as well to lose no time. The funeral takes place at
+two o'clock."
+
+They arise simultaneously, and without more words, follow Jasper Lamotte
+to the room of death.
+
+At the door, Mr. Wedron halts.
+
+"I will remain on the balcony," he says to Mr. O'Meara, but sufficiently
+loud to be heard by all the rest, "I never could endure the sight of a
+corpse." And he turns abruptly, and goes out through the open doorway;
+taking up a position on the broad piazza, and turning his gaze toward
+the river.
+
+Jasper Lamotte is less sensitive, however; he enters with the others,
+and stands beside O'Meara, while the physicians do their work.
+
+"At least," he thinks, "I'll know what they are about, and what their
+verdict is."
+
+But in this he is disappointed. They have brought with them a surgeon's
+knife; the precise counterpart of the one now in possession of the
+prosecution, and of the same manufacture.
+
+One by one they examine, they compare, they probe, and all in silence.
+Then they turn toward O'Meara.
+
+"I believe we have finished," says Professor Harrington.
+
+"And the result?" asks Jasper Lamotte, eagerly, in spite of himself.
+
+"That," replies Mr. O'Meara, with elaborate _nonchalance_, "will be made
+known at the trial. Mr. Lamotte, we trust that you will pardon this most
+necessary intrusion, and we wish you a very good morning."
+
+The examination has been a very brief affair; it is just ten o'clock
+when the four unwelcome guests drive away.
+
+Doctor Benoit does not accompany them; he goes up-stairs to visit his
+patients.
+
+Jasper Lamotte asks him no questions. He knows that Doctor Benoit is a
+man of honor and that he will keep his professional secrets. So he goes
+sulkily back to his library.
+
+Two hours later a rough, uncouth looking man appears at the servants'
+entrance, and asks to see Mr. Lamotte.
+
+"I'm one of his workmen," he says, very gravely, "and I want to see him
+particular."
+
+Jasper Lamotte is in no mood for receiving visitors, but he is, just
+now, in a position where he can not, with safety, follow the dictates of
+his haughty nature.
+
+He is filled with suspicion; surrounded by a mystery he can not fathom;
+and, a man who begs for an audience at such an hour, must have an
+extraordinary errand. Reasoning thus, he says, crustily:
+
+"Show the fellow here."
+
+A moment later the man shuffles into the room. Mr. Lamotte glances up,
+and his brow darkens ominously.
+
+"Brooks!" he exclaims. "What the mischief--" he checks himself, then
+adds, ungraciously: "What do _you_ want?"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, I beg your pardon, sir," says the man, a trifle thickly.
+"I came back to W---- last night, and heard of the awful things, as has
+happened here. Now, I always liked Burrill, in spite of his weakness,
+for _I_ ain't the man to criticise such failin's. I've been down among
+the factory people, and I've heard them talk; and, thinks I to myself,
+there's some things as Mr. Lamotte ought to know. You've always paid me
+my wages, sir; and treated me fair; and I believe you've treated all the
+hands the same; but--there's _some_ people as must always have their
+fling at every body, as the Lord has seen fit to set over their heads;
+and--there's some of them sort in Mill avenue."
+
+During this harangue the countenance of Jasper Lamotte has grown less
+supercilious, but not less curious.
+
+"Explain yourself, Brooks," he says, quite graciously, and with some
+inward uneasiness. "I do not comprehend your meaning."
+
+"If I had come to your servants and asked to see the body of my old
+chum," begins Brooks, with a knowing look, and drawing near Mr. Lamotte,
+"they would have ordered me off, and shut the door in my face; so I just
+asked to see _you_ on particular business. But if you was to ring your
+bell, by and by, and order one of your servants to take me in to look
+at the corpse, I could explain to them what an old friend I was, and
+that would settle the curiosity business."
+
+"Doesn't it strike you, Brooks, that you don't cut much of a figure, to
+appear as the friend of my son-in-law?" questions Mr. Lamotte, looking
+some disfavor at the _ensemble_ before him.
+
+Brooks buries his chin in his bosom, in order to survey his soiled
+linen; looks down at his dingy boots; runs his fingers through his shock
+of coarse red hair.
+
+"I ain't much of a feller to look at; but that's because I ain't been as
+lucky as Burrill was; though I ain't anxious to change places with him
+now. I'll fix the friendship business to suit you, sir, and be proper
+respectful about it. Say Burrill was my boss, or something of that sort.
+I shouldn't like to have certain parties know my _real_ business here,
+and I _should_ like to take a look at Burrill on my own account."
+
+There is a ring of sarcasm in the first words of this speech, and Mr.
+Lamotte reflects that he has not yet learned his errand.
+
+"Very good, Brooks, you shall see the body, and manage the rest as
+delicately as possible, please. You know we want no ill spoken of the
+dead. Now, then, your real business, for," consulting his watch, "time
+presses."
+
+"I know it does, sir, and I won't waste any words. You see, sir, beggin'
+your pardon for mentionin' of it, Burrill has got another wife, a
+divorced one, I mean, livin' down at the avenue. She works in Story's
+mill now, but she used to work in yours before--"
+
+"Yes, yes," impatiently. "Get on faster, Brooks."
+
+"Well, you see, sir, since her husband--I mean since _Mr. Burrill_ was
+killed, she has been cuttin' up rough, and lettin' out a many things as
+you wouldn't like to have get all over W----. She ain't afraid of him no
+more (he did beat her monstrous), and when she gets to takin' on, she
+lets out things that would sound bad about your son-in-law. If it was a
+common chap like me, it wouldn't matter; but I thinks to myself, now,
+Brooks, this 'ere woman who can't hold her tongue will be hauled up as a
+witness for Doctor Heath. I ain't got nothing against Doctor Heath, but
+I says, it will be awful humblin' to Mr. Lamotte's pride, and powerful
+hard on his pretty daughter; so I jest come to say that if Nance Burrill
+could be got to go away, quiet like, before the other parties could get
+their hands on her, why, it would be a good thing, Mr. Lamotte."
+
+Considering the tender solicitude he feels for "Mr. Lamotte's pride," he
+has given it some pretty hard knocks, but he looks quite innocent, and
+incapable of any sinister intent, and Mr. Lamotte, after gnawing his lip
+viciously for a moment and favoring his _vis-à-vis_ with a sharp glance
+of suspicion, says, with sudden condescension:
+
+"Brooks, I've always been inclined to believe you a pretty good sort of
+fellow, but really this singular disinterestedness almost makes me
+suspect your motive. Stop," as Brooks elevates his head and suddenly
+faces toward the door. "Hear me out. Brooks, don't be ashamed to
+confess it. Did the thought of a reward stimulate you to do me
+this--favor?"
+
+"If it's a favor, sir, you take it very uppish," retorts Brooks sulkily,
+and edging slowly toward the door. "I'm a poor man, sir, but I ain't bad
+enough to come to you with a trumped-up story, and if I happened to
+think that in case you found things as I tell you, you might reward me
+by and by with a ten-dollar note, why, I don't think there is much harm
+in that. I liked you and your ways, and wanted to do you a good turn,
+and if I wanted to do myself a good turn, too, why, there's nater in
+that."
+
+"There's nature in that, true enough. Brooks, I wish I had time to hear
+all the particulars of this affair."
+
+"I don't want to give them, sir," replies the man, hastily. "No more
+would it be fair for me to do so. I've got some fair friends among the
+Mill avenue folks. I've come back to W----, because I couldn't get on
+anywhere else; and I've come back broke. The factory folks will trust me
+to a night's lodging, when their betters wouldn't. I've told you enough
+to open your eyes, sir; and you can look into the thing for yourself."
+
+To "look into the thing" for himself, is precisely what Jasper Lamotte
+is not inclined to do; so he says, with growing convictions, and
+increasing friendliness of manner:
+
+"At least, Brooks, you can give me an idea of the nature of the stories
+this woman will tell, if brought into court?"
+
+"The Lord knows what she won't tell, sir; she blows hot, and blows cold.
+One minute she tells how he was a fairly good husband, until he got into
+the hands of some city gang, while they lived in New York; and next she
+raves over all his misdeeds, tells how he was compelled to quit England,
+or be jugged up; how he forced her into divorcing him; how he bragged
+over the strong influence he had over you and all your family; how he
+came to her house time and again, after he was married to your gal; and
+how he promised her 'pots of old Lamotte's money;' them's her words,
+sir, 'pots of old Lamotte's money, and heaps of diamonds, for the sake
+of old times,' when he was drunk enough to be good natured; and how he
+beat her, and I can testify to that, when he was a little drunker."
+
+"Brooks," says Mr. Lamotte, springing a last trap; "do you suppose _you_
+could manage this business of getting away the woman, if I paid you
+well, and gave you a bribe for her?"
+
+"No, sir. I couldn't do it. I am so well known about Mill avenue; it
+won't do for a poor broke up devil to turn up flush all at once. I don't
+want nothing to do with the affair. I've done all I can do."
+
+Mr. Lamotte slowly draws forth his wallet, and slowly opens it.
+
+"Brooks, here is twenty-five dollars; I've not much money by me; I'll
+look into this matter, and do more for you after we get quiet again.
+Meantime, you can have the first vacancy at the factory; I'll see to
+that at once."
+
+"And I'll try and be sober, sir, and ready for it. Now, then, I've been
+here a good many minutes; you'd better let me take a look at the corpse,
+and be off."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+BELKNAP OUTWITTED.
+
+
+"If you please, Mr. Lamotte," said that gentleman's coachman, appearing
+before his master, less than an hour before the time appointed for the
+moving of the funeral cortege, and looking much confused. "If you
+please, sir, I've had a misfortune with my hand, sir; at least, my
+wrist; it's sort of sprained, and I most fear I can't handle the reins
+proper, for the horses is mighty full of life, bein' so little used of
+late."
+
+"Well, well," broke in Mr. Lamotte. "I suppose you can get a man to fill
+your place?"
+
+The man's countenance brightened at once.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I've the very man right on hand. A friend of mine, and a
+master one with horses."
+
+"Let him take your place then, and see that every thing is in proper
+order."
+
+"It's all right," said the coachman, returning to the stables, and
+addressing a man who leaned against the loose box, where two blooded
+carriage horses were undergoing the currying process. "It's all right;
+you can drive the horses."
+
+"Cap'n you're a good fellow," said the man, enthusiastically, "and
+here's your ten dollars. It's a favor I'll never forget, mind, for
+many's the day I've driven the beauties, before Squire McInnis went up,
+and we all had to go."
+
+[Illustration: "Cap'n, you're a good fellow."]
+
+"That was a big failure," replied the coachman, knowingly. "You just see
+that the horses are done off all right, won't you? I must look after the
+carriage."
+
+"It was lucky for me that I happened to know the history of these
+horses," mused Jerry Belknap, for he it was who leaned confidingly over
+to stroke the sleek sides of one of the splendid bays, and who had
+bribed Mr. Lamotte's coachman with a ten dollar bill. "If I drive the
+Lamottes, I'm sure of a hearing, and no audience; at the worst if they
+should take in a third party, but they won't, I can find a way to make
+myself and my wants known." And he sauntered across to the carriage
+house and critically inspected the splendid landau that was being rolled
+out upon the gravel.
+
+He had returned to W---- on foot, from a near railway station, reaching
+the town within five hours from the time he left it.
+
+During this time, however, his personal appearance had undergone a
+marked change. He was rubicund, and more youthful of countenance;
+shabbily smart in dress; excessively "horsey," and somewhat loud in
+manner.
+
+During his intercourse with the Lamottes he had learned, from Frank,
+that their blooded bays had once been the property of a wealthy and
+prominent citizen of New York, who having failed, after the modern
+fashion, had given Jasper Lamotte the first bid for the valuable span.
+Given thus much, the rest was easy. Representing himself as a former
+coachman of this bankrupt New Yorker, he had told his little story. He
+was looking about him for a place in which to open a "small, but neat"
+livery stable, had wandered into W---- that morning, and having
+considerable cash about him, all his savings in fact, he had not cared
+to tempt robbers, by appearing too "high toned."
+
+Of course he had heard at once of the murder, and then remembered that
+Lamotte was the name of the gentleman who had bought his favorite horses
+from his former master.
+
+"I never pulled reins over a span equal to 'em," he said, with much
+pathos. "I never had the same liking for any other pair of critters;
+they was the apple of my eye, and I'd give just ten dollars to draw
+reins over 'em once more--even to a funeral."
+
+His little ruse was successful; the bait was instantly swallowed, and
+Jerry Belknap glanced maliciously up at the closely curtained chamber
+windows, and muttered, as he began to saunter slowly up and down before
+the stable door:
+
+"Miss Wardour, you won't find it so easy to outwit an old detective,
+even with the odds in your favor."
+
+Just as the horses were being led out from the stable, a quiet-looking
+young man, with a somewhat rustic air, came into the yard, and
+approached the group near the carriage house.
+
+"Who comes here?" asked the disguised Belknap, in a low tone, addressing
+the coachman.
+
+"More than I know," replied that functionary. Then laying down a
+halter, just removed from the head of one of the pawing, restless
+horses, he turned toward the new comer, saying, patronizingly:
+
+"Well, my man, can we do anything for you?"
+
+The stranger appeared somewhat abashed.
+
+"I hope I ain't in the way, gentlemen," he said, respectfully; "I came
+from Wardour with a message for Miss Constance. It's from the old lady,
+and as I see the carriages are coming and the hearse, I just thought I'd
+wait till the funeral was gone before I intruded."
+
+"Oh!" said the coachman, more graciously. "Well, you won't have long to
+wait, then; the time's about up, and Mr. Lamotte is never behind time."
+Then he turned to Mr. Belknap.
+
+"You must keep a close eye over the off one," he said; "he's full of
+Cain; and I say, what a lucky thing it is that your clothes are dark,
+and that Mrs. Lamotte won't let us wear full liveries."
+
+"Why, yes, it's very lucky, that's so; just throw over those reins, will
+you. Don't be uneasy in your mind about that horse; I'll drive 'em safe
+enough; just you tell me when to start."
+
+Ten minutes later, all that remained of John Burrill was borne out in
+its costly casket and placed in the splendid hearse at the door.
+
+Just as he was about to cross his own threshold, Jasper Lamotte was
+confronted by a young man who pressed into his hand a slip of paper, and
+whispered in his ear:
+
+"Read it at once, sir; it's of vital importance _to you_."
+
+Stifling an exclamation, Jasper Lamotte unfolded and glanced at the slip
+of paper. It contained these words:
+
+     The man who will drive your carriage is a cursed New York
+     detective, who has bribed your coachman.
+
+     Don't give him the opportunity he hopes to gain for watching and
+     listening to yourself and son.
+
+     The bearer of this can be trusted. BELKNAP.
+
+By the time he had mastered the meaning of the note, the hearse had
+moved forward and the pall-bearers were taking their places.
+
+Then the Lamotte carriage came into view. Mr. Lamotte placed the note in
+the hand of his son, who stood close beside him, and descended the
+steps, a stern look on his face.
+
+"My friend, come down off that box," he said to the self-satisfied
+substitute procured him by his coachman.
+
+[Illustration: "My friend, come down off that."]
+
+The man on the box stared down at him in amazement.
+
+"But, sir," he began.
+
+"I want no words from you, sir; you can't drive my horses. Come down
+instantly."
+
+The discomfited Belknap writhed in his seat, and looked about him
+helplessly.
+
+Before were the pall-bearers, looking back from their open vehicle, and
+noting the scene; on the steps, and within easy hearing distance, were
+gathered the small knot of gentlemen, who, for courtesy's sake, or for
+policy's sake, had gathered to do honor to Mr. Lamotte, rather than to
+the poor rosewood shrouded thing that had never a mourner.
+
+He could not explain; he could not make himself known.
+
+"I will have you thrown off that box, sir; if you hesitate ten seconds
+longer," exclaimed Mr. Lamotte, impatiently, at the same time moving
+away and beckoning to the driver of the next carriage.
+
+Fate was against him, and muttering curses, "not loud but deep," Jerry
+Belknap began to clamber reluctantly down.
+
+Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte turned toward the bearer of the mischievous
+note, who had withdrawn a few paces from the group near the carriage,
+and beckoned him to approach.
+
+He came forward promptly.
+
+"Can you drive, my man?"
+
+"Yes, sir," respectfully.
+
+"Then do me the favor to mount that box and drive my horses this
+afternoon."
+
+"And you, sir," turning to poor Belknap, "get off my premises and keep
+off."
+
+And so it came about that Jerry Belknap, private detective, found
+himself once more outwitted, and "Mr. Smith, the book-peddler," drove
+the carriage containing John Burrill's chief mourners.
+
+"Pardon this little scene, gentlemen," said Mr. Lamotte, turning to his
+friends, "but I happen to know that the man I dismissed is drunk."
+
+Half an hour later a servant tapped softly at the door where Constance
+kept watch, and said:
+
+"There's a boy below, Miss Wardour, who says he has an important message
+for you, and must deliver it in person."
+
+Constance went immediately down to find our old friend George, the image
+boy, in the hall below.
+
+She smiled at sight of him, hoping to obtain some news of Bathurst. But
+he only bowed, as if to a queen, placed in her hand a small, sealed
+envelope; and before she could utter a word, she was standing alone in
+the crape-hung hall, while the boy's steps could be heard ringing on the
+stones outside.
+
+Standing there, Constance hastily opened the envelope. It contained a
+letter and a scrap of paper. Glancing first at the scrap, she read these
+words:
+
+     MISS WARDOUR--
+
+     Enclosed find a letter, which, for reasons which I shall explain
+     later, I pilfered from you on the night of our first meeting. It
+     has accomplished the purpose for which I took it, and I hasten to
+     restore it.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+Constance turned her eye once more upon the paper in her hand, looked
+closer and exclaimed: "It is; it is Sybil's lost letter!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+"WILL LOVE OUTWEIGH HONOR?"
+
+
+"Dr. Heath, here is another visitor."
+
+Clifford Heath turned slowly away from the small iron-barred window; he
+looked a trifle disturbed by this announcement, for he had just been
+interviewed by Mr. O'Meara, who for the first time had presented Mr.
+Wedron, and the two had left him much to think about.
+
+The look of annoyance left his face, however, and a stare of surprise
+took its place, when, following upon the footsteps of the janitor, came
+Constance Wardour, not closely veiled and drooping, after the manner of
+prison-visiting females in orthodox novels, but with her fair face
+unconcealed, and her graceful figure at its proudest poise.
+
+The haughtiness all departed from face and bearing, however, when the
+door closed behind her and she found herself alone with the man she had
+falsely accused.
+
+Misfortune had not humbled Clifford Heath. When the first momentary look
+of surprise had left his face, he stood before her as proudly erect, as
+icily courteous, as if he were receiving her in his own parlor.
+
+"Doctor Heath," began Constance, in low, contrite tones, "some months
+ago I brought a wrongful accusation against you. I wronged you deeply;
+let me do myself the justice to say that almost immediately I was
+convinced of the injustice I had done you, of the utter insanity of my
+own behavior, but--" blushing rosily, "I never found the letter, and how
+could I come to you and say, I have changed my mind, without a reason.
+Less than an hour ago, this note was put into my hands, and with it that
+unfortunate lost letter. This enables me to say,--Doctor Heath, I deeply
+regret the insult I offered you, and I ask you to be magnanimous, and to
+pardon me."
+
+She put the note in his hand, and he read it, without uttering a word;
+stood silent for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts, and then said:
+
+"Miss Wardour, I am glad that this affair has been cleared up; when a
+man has so many dark shadows hanging over him, he is thankful for the
+smallest glimpse of sunlight. It is like your generosity to come in
+person."
+
+"But you have not said that you forgive me, Doctor Heath; fully and
+freely, remember."
+
+"Fully and freely I forgive you, then, Miss Wardour," smilingly, he
+replied. "After all, the mistake was a natural one. Since I have been an
+inmate of this cell, I have learned to see myself as others see me. Why
+should I not come under suspicion, especially after hearing my words to
+Bathurst? By the by, this note from Bathurst, you tell me that you
+received it to-day?"
+
+"To-day; since noon."
+
+"And it is dated to-day; then," looking at her questioningly, "Bathurst
+must be in town."
+
+"Yes," dropping her eyes, confusedly. "That is, I think so;" and
+scarcely heeding her own movements, she seated herself in the doctor's
+chair, and, leaning one arm against the table, looked up into his face,
+saying with a spice of her old manner, so familiar to him in the past:
+
+"Having forgiven me so generously, Doctor Heath, don't you think it
+would be quite proper to shake hands?"
+
+He looked down upon her, a strange light leaping into his eyes. But he
+did not approach. He lifted a large, shapely hand, and surveyed it
+sorrowfully.
+
+"It _looks_ as clean as any hand, Miss Wardour, but there is a stain
+upon it."
+
+"A stain! No, sir. Do you think that _I_ believe in your guilt?"
+
+Again the quick light flamed in his eyes, and now he came a step nearer.
+
+"Do you believe in my innocence?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt."
+
+"When I said 'there is a stain upon my hand,' I did not mean the stain
+of guilt, but of suspicion, of accusation."
+
+"There is _no_ stain upon your hand! Doctor Heath. What is this I hear
+about you? They tell me you will make no defense."
+
+He smiled down at her.
+
+"I could make but one defense, and that--"
+
+"And that?"
+
+"And that, Miss Wardour, I would not make."
+
+"Why?"
+
+She was straining every nerve to preserve her composure; words came from
+her lips like frozen heartbeats.
+
+"Because--Miss Wardour, do not ask me why."
+
+"I do ask; I persist. Why? Why? _Why?_"
+
+"Because--I see you are as imperious as ever--because I can only save
+myself by giving the real murderer up to justice."
+
+She was on her feet in an instant, all her enforced calmness gone,
+unutterable misery in her face and voice.
+
+"You know!" she cried. "You! Oh! my God, what shall I do!"
+
+"Have no fear, Miss Wardour; have I not said I will keep my own
+counsel?"
+
+"But, you! _You!_ Oh, there is no reason why _you_ should not speak; you
+are not bound! You are not--oh, what am I saying!" She sank back into
+her seat, panting and wild-eyed.
+
+"Miss Wardour, calm yourself," he said, gently. "I _am_ bound. It is my
+pleasure to keep this secret. Listen. A short time ago I received a
+visit from my lawyers. They told me--among other things, they thought it
+best that I should know--that you knew who did the deed, and that you
+would have us both saved, innocent and guilty alike. Before that, I had
+determined to keep silence; now I am doubly resolved. For your sake, I
+will not accuse Frank Lamotte."
+
+"Frank--you will not accuse _Frank Lamotte_? And for my sake!" she
+almost shrieked. "For God's sake, explain. What is Frank Lamotte to me?
+Of what can you accuse him?"
+
+It was Clifford Heath's turn to lose his composure. How could he
+interpret her words? Was she trying to deceive him?
+
+"Miss Wardour," he said, almost sternly, "do you wish me to understand
+that Francis Lamotte is nothing to you?"
+
+"_Nothing to me!_ the vilest, the basest, the most treacherous, the most
+abject of all human creatures, _that_ is what Frank Lamotte is to me!"
+
+Uncontrollable scorn rang in her voice; rising anger, too. How dared
+_he_ couple her name with that of Frank Lamotte?
+
+From the chaos of meanings and mysteries revolving through his mind,
+Clifford Heath seized upon and clung to one idea, held it in silence for
+a moment, then let it burst forth in words.
+
+"Then--then you are not Frank Lamotte's promised wife?"
+
+"_I!_ great heavens! _no._"
+
+"And never have been?"
+
+"And never have been."
+
+Clifford Heath drew a long, deep breath. For a moment a look of gladness
+beamed in his eye, then it died out suddenly, as he said, almost
+gloomily:
+
+"And yet, you have said that he must be saved at all hazards. Knowing
+his guilt, I still am here in his place."
+
+"In his place, oh," she came toward him with a swift, eager movement, "I
+begin to see! Doctor Heath, you think Frank Lamotte the guilty one?"
+
+"I know it," grimly.
+
+A look of relief came over her face. She breathed freely.
+
+"You believe this," she said at last, "and yet you are here. If you have
+evidence against Frank Lamotte, why do you occupy a felon's cell? Why
+not put him in your place?"
+
+"I have told you why. It was for your sake."
+
+She lowered her eyes and drew back a little, but he followed her, and,
+standing before her, looked down into her face with a persistent,
+searching gaze. "You must understand me now," he said firmly, "when I
+believed that you loved Frank Lamotte, I said 'Then I will not stand
+forth and accuse the man she loves, for--I love her, and she must not be
+unhappy.'"
+
+A great sob rose in her throat. A wave of crimson swept over her brow.
+She stood before him with clasped hands and drooping head.
+
+"But for that meddlesome slip of paper," he went on, "I should not have
+been driven from the field, and this treachery of Lamotte's could never
+have been practiced upon me. Do you remember a certain day when you sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and he came to you from my office? Well, on that day
+Francis Lamotte told me that you were his promised wife, and when Ray
+came back, _he_ verified the statement, having received the information
+from your lips. Once I hoped to come to you and say, after lifting for
+your eyes the veil of mystery, which I have allowed to envelope my past:
+'Constance Wardour, I love you; I want you for my very own, my wife!'
+Now, mountains have arisen between us; I can not offer you a hand with
+the shadow of a stain upon it; nor a name that is tarnished by doubt and
+suspicion. However this affair may end for me, that hope is ended now."
+
+[Illustration: "That hope is ended now."]
+
+It had come; the decisive moment.
+
+She could go away now with sealed lips, and it would end indeed. She
+could turn away from him, leaving happiness behind her; taking with her
+his happiness, too; or, she could speak, and then--
+
+She looked about her; and the bare walls and grated windows gave her
+strength to dare much. Had they stood together out under the broad
+bright sunlight; he as free as herself, she could have turned away
+mutely, and let her life go on as it would.
+
+Now--now his present was overshadowed; his future difficult to read.
+
+"_Is_ it ended?" she said, softly. Then, looking up with sudden,
+charming imperiousness. "You end things very selfishly, very coolly,
+Doctor Heath. I do not choose to have it ended."
+
+"Miss Wardour!--Constance!"
+
+"Wait; you say that your lawyers told of my visit to them, and that I
+would not have the guilty punished. What more did they tell you--about
+my doings?"
+
+"Very little; I could hardly understand why they told thus much."
+
+"Did they tell you that I learned, through a scheming rascal in the
+guise of a detective, that a plot was growing against you; that I sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and set him over you as a temporary guardian? And that
+I sent next for Detective Bathurst, warning him that you were surrounded
+by enemies. Did they tell you that, when I learned of your arrest, I
+left my place by Sybil Lamotte, who is delirious and yet clings to me
+constantly, and came to them, offering them all my fortune if they would
+only save me you?"
+
+"Did you do this--Constance?"
+
+"I have done this. Have I not earned the right, openly, before all the
+world, to be your champion, your truest friend, your--"
+
+"My queen! my darling! my very own!"
+
+All his calm is gone, all his haughtiness of bearing; with one swift
+movement he snatches her to his heart, and she rests in his embrace,
+shocked at her own boldness, and unspeakably happy.
+
+Who dare intrude upon a lover's interview? Who dares to snatch the first
+coy love words from a maiden's lips, and give them to a world grown old
+in love making, and appraising each tender word by its own calloused old
+heart?
+
+For the time all is forgotten, save one fact, they love each other
+well.
+
+By and by, other thoughts come, forcing their way like unwelcome guests.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Constance," he says, after a long interval, "you have made me anything
+but indifferent to my fate. Now I shall begin to struggle for my
+freedom; but--do you realize what a network of false testimony they have
+woven about me?"
+
+"Do I realize it?" she cried. "Yes, far more than you do, or can,
+and--you said something about Frank Lamotte. Has he sought to injure
+you?"
+
+"Constance, I thought you knew," turning upon her a look of surprise. "I
+thought you knew his guilt. Who, but Frank Lamotte, could gain access to
+my office, to purloin my handkerchief and my knife? He had a duplicate
+key, and--_I found that key in the old cellar beside the body of John
+Burrill_."
+
+The look of perplexity on her face deepens into one of actual distress.
+
+Could it be, that after all, Frank had forestalled that other one?
+
+Back upon her memory came his words, "I can save him if I will." Where
+there is room for doubt there is room for hope. What if another hand had
+anticipated that of the paid assassin? She resolved to cling to this
+hope with desperation.
+
+If there was evidence so strong against Frank Lamotte, let him take her
+lover's place. Why not? She began to see many things in a new light; she
+peered forward, catching a view of the partial truth, "as in a glass,
+darkly." One thing was clear, however, they must act at once! No time
+must be lost!
+
+She sat before him thinking thus, yet seemingly powerless to act or
+speak!
+
+"Constance. Has the possibility of Frank Lamotte's guilt, overwhelmed
+you?"
+
+"The possibility!" she exclaimed, starting up suddenly. "No. I know him
+capable of baser things than murder."
+
+"Of baser things! My darling, what do you mean?"
+
+"Don't ask me now; there is no time to waste in talking of him; I am
+going straight to your lawyers this moment; I am going to send them to
+you, and you shall tell them every thing."
+
+"Despot!" His eyes devouring her.
+
+"Of course! I am always that. They will say it is time some one took you
+in charge. Are you going to be dumb any more?"
+
+"Never! My lips are unsealed from this hour; since you have dared to
+claim and take a share in my fate, and since I have not the courage to
+put so much happiness from me."
+
+"Supposing it in your power?"
+
+"Oh, I know better than to cope with you," smiling upon her fondly. "But
+my honor must be vindicated for your gracious sake, and--I must cease to
+be," with a sidelong glance, "'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Sit down,
+darling; our janitor is an accommodating fellow; he will not interrupt,
+nor shorten your stay, I am sure. I want to tell you my story. It is
+yours, together with all my other secrets."
+
+She put up her hand, quickly.
+
+"Not now," she said. "Not for a long time. I prefer you as I have known
+you; for me, you shall still be 'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Don't
+remonstrate; I will have it so; I will send Mr. O'Meara to you, and that
+odd Mr. Wedron; you shall tell _them_ all about yourself."
+
+"_You_ will go to them? Constance, no; for your own sake, let us keep
+our love a secret for a time; until this is ended, somehow. Think, my
+proud darling, how much it would spare you."
+
+She turned toward him, her mouth settling into very firm lines, a
+resolute look in her eyes.
+
+"Would it spare you anything?" she asked, quietly.
+
+"I? Oh, no. It is sacrifice for me; but, I wish to have it so. You
+must not visit me here. You must not let gossip say she has thrown
+herself away on an adventurer."
+
+"I won't," she replied, sententiously; "I'd like to hear of anybody
+saying that! I'd excommunicate them, I'm going to close the mouths of
+gossips, by setting my seal of proprietorship upon you. I'm coming here
+every day; but, after this, I'll bring Aunt Honor, or Mrs. O'Meara with
+me. I'm going to say to every soul who names you to me: 'Doctor Heath is
+my affianced husband, defame him if you dare.' And I'm going straight to
+tell Mr. O'Meara that he must take your testimony against Frank
+Lamotte."
+
+Constance kept her word. Before many days, the town rang with the news
+that Constance Wardour, in the face of the accusation against him, had
+announced her engagement to Doctor Clifford Heath.
+
+Then a hush fell upon the aristocratic gossipers of W----, and
+mischievous tongues were severely bridled. It was not wise to censure
+too freely a man whom the heiress of Wardour had marked with her favor.
+
+The lawyers found their client in a mood much more to their liking, and
+O'Meara scribbled down in his little book long sentences caught from the
+lips of Clifford Heath, who was now a strong helper, and apt in
+suggestions for the defense.
+
+He opened for them the sealed up pages of his past life.
+
+He told them in detail, all that he had briefly stated to Constance,
+concerning Frank Lamotte, and more.
+
+Every day now they were in close consultation, and every day the Wardour
+carriage drove at a stated hour, first to Mapleton, where it took up
+Constance, and then to the prison, where, accompanied by her aunt, or
+her guardian's wife, the heiress passed a half hour in the cell of her
+lover.
+
+She still clung to the hope that the accumulating evidence against Frank
+Lamotte might break the chain that bound him, and open his prison doors;
+but, one day, a week after her first visit to the prison, Mr. O'Meara
+dashed this hope to atoms.
+
+"We can bring no criminal accusation against Lamotte," he said. "The
+examination proved that John Burrill was killed as early as eleven
+o'clock that night, and investigation has proven that Lamotte remained
+at home all that evening, and was heard moving about in his room until
+after midnight. I'm terribly sorry, Constance, but the case stands just
+about as it did at first, and the odds are still against Heath. He will
+have to stand his trial."
+
+The girl's heart sank like lead, and as days passed on and no new
+developments could be evolved from a case which began to assume a most
+gloomy aspect, her position in the Lamotte household became unbearable.
+
+Sybil had changed a very little, but for the better. Her fits of raving
+were less frequent, and almost always to be anticipated. So, worn in
+body and tortured in mind, Constance went back to Wardour, and, save for
+her daily visits to the prison, was invisible to all her friends.
+
+And she did not suffer alone. Knowing her love for Clifford Heath and
+the terrible secret she carried in her bosom, Mrs. Lamotte lived in an
+anguish of suspense. Would love outweigh honor? If the worst should
+come, could she trust Constance Wardour? Could she trust herself?
+
+In those tortured hours, the same prayer went up from the heart of both
+mother and friend--that Sybil Lamotte would die!
+
+While these things were making the world a weariness to Constance, Jerry
+Belknap, in his character of prospecting horse jockey, took up his
+quarters in a third rate hotel near the river, and remained very quiet
+in fancied security, until he became suddenly enlightened as to the
+cause of his ill success, as follows:
+
+Lounging near the hotel one day, he was accosted by a stranger, who
+tapped him familiarly on the shoulder, saying:
+
+"My friend, I've got a word to say to you. Will you just step into the
+nearest saloon with me. We will talk over a glass of something."
+
+Wondering idly at his coolness, Belknap followed the stranger, and they
+entered "Old Forty Rods," that being the nearest saloon.
+
+Once seated face to face at a table, the stranger threw a letter across
+to Belknap, saying carelessly:
+
+"Read that, if you please."
+
+Opening the letter, these lines stared Belknap in the face:
+
+     You have broken your pledge, Jerry Belknap. I have had you under my
+     eye constantly. Fortunately for yourself, I can make use of you.
+     Follow the instructions of the bearer of this _to the letter_ now
+     and until further notice, if you hope for any mercy from
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+He stared at the open letter as if it possessed the eyes of a basilisk.
+
+Instantly he recognized the power behind the scenes, and was no longer
+surprised at his failures. And he turned upon his companion a look of
+sullen submission.
+
+"I know better than to kick against Bathurst," he said doggedly. "What
+does he want me to do?"
+
+"That's just what we are going to talk about," said the stranger,
+coolly. "Draw your chair up closer, Jerry."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+"TOO YOUNG TO DIE."
+
+
+Over days, filled with weary waiting and marked by few incidents and no
+discoveries, we pass with one glance.
+
+Clifford Heath's trial follows close upon his indictment. A month rolls
+away, and with the first days of winter comes the assembling of judge
+and jury, and his case is the first one called.
+
+During the weeks that have intervened between his arrest and this day of
+his trial, Constance has been his bravest champion and truest friend;
+she has stimulated him to hope, and incited him to courage, with loving,
+cheerful words, while clinging desperately to a last remnant of her own
+sinking hope.
+
+Day by day, during all this time, the ancient gig driven by Doctor
+Benoit, deposited that gentleman before the doors of Mapleton. Sybil's
+delirium had ended in a slow, wearisome fever, which left her, as the
+first frosts of winter touched the land, a white, emaciated shadow of
+her former self, her reason restored, but her memory sadly deficient.
+
+She had forgotten that dark phase of her life in which John Burrill had
+played so sinister a part, and fancied herself back in the old days when
+her heart was light and her life unfettered. She had dropped a year out
+of that life, but memory would come back with strength, the doctor said;
+and Mrs. Lamotte dreaded the days when that memory should bring to her
+daughter's brow, a shadow never to be lifted; into her life a ghost
+never to be laid.
+
+Evan, too, had narrowly escaped death at the hands of his rum demons;
+after four weeks filled with all the horrors attendant upon the
+drunkard's delirium, he came to his senses, hollow-cheeked, sunken eyed,
+emaciated, with his breath coming in quick, short gasps, and the days of
+his life numbered.
+
+Brandy had devoured his vitals; late hours and protracted orgies had
+sapped his strength; constant exposure in all weather and at all hours
+had done its work upon his lungs.
+
+"If he outlasts the Winter, he will die in the Spring." This was the
+doctor's _ultimatum_.
+
+News from the outside world was strictly shut out from those sick ones.
+The name of John Burrill never was breathed in their presence, and both
+were ignorant of the fact that Clifford Heath, an old time favorite with
+each, was on trial for his life.
+
+The morning that saw Clifford Heath quit his cell to take his place in
+the felon's dock and answer to the charge of murder, saw Sybil Lamotte
+lying upon a soft divan, before a merry Winter fire. It was the first
+time since her illness that she had quitted her bed. And Evan, too, for
+the first time in many weeks, came with feeble, halting steps to his
+sister's room, and sitting near her, scanned her wasted features with
+wistful intentness.
+
+"Poor sis!" he murmured, stroking her hand softly. "We've had a pretty
+hard pull, you and I, but we're coming out famously." And then he added
+to himself, "More's the pity, so far as I am concerned."
+
+"What made you ill, Evan?" she whispered feebly. "Was it worrying about
+me?"
+
+A bright flush leaped to his cheeks and burned there hotly.
+
+"Yes, it was about you, sis. But you will soon be as well and happy as
+ever, won't you?" anxiously.
+
+"To be sure, Evan; we will both get well very fast. We have got so much
+to live for, and we are too young to die."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+SIR CLIFFORD HEATHERCLIFFE.
+
+
+It is the opening hour of Clifford Heath's trial.
+
+The court room is crowded to its utmost capacity; never has there
+occurred a trial there so intensely interesting to all W----.
+
+The prisoner is a little paler, a little graver than his ordinary self.
+But is his ordinary self in every other respect; as proud of bearing, as
+self-possessed, as handsome, and _distingue_ as ever.
+
+Beside him sits Mr. O'Meara, alone. Mr. Wedron, after all his labor, and
+his seeming interest, is unaccountably absent; unaccountably, at least,
+so far as the opposition, the prisoner, the judge, jury, and all the
+spectators are concerned. Mr. O'Meara seems not at all disturbed by his
+absence, and evidently understands all about it.
+
+Near the prisoner sits a man who causes a buzz of inquiry to run through
+the entire audience.
+
+He is tall, fair haired, handsome; the carriage of his head, the
+haughtiness of his bearing, reminds more than one present of Clifford
+Heath, as they first knew him. He is a stranger to all W----, and "Who
+is he? Who is he?" runs from lip to lip.
+
+The stranger is seemingly oblivious of the attention lavished upon him;
+he bends forward at times, and whispers a word to the prisoner, or his
+counsel, and he turns occasionally to murmur something in the ear of
+Constance Wardour, who sits beside him, grave, stately, calm.
+
+She is accompanied by Mrs. Aliston and Mrs. O'Meara, and Ray Vandyck
+sits beside the latter lady, and completes the party.
+
+Mr. Lamotte is there, subdued, yet affable, and Frank, too, who is paler
+than usual, but quite self-possessed.
+
+Near the party above mentioned, may be seen the two city physicians,
+but, and here is another cause for wonderment, Doctor Benoit is not
+present; and, who ever knew the good doctor to miss an occasion like
+this?
+
+"Business must be urgent, when it keeps Benoit away from such a trial,"
+whispers one gossip to another, and the second endorses the opinion of
+the first.
+
+Sitting there, scanning that audience with a seemingly careless glance,
+Constance feels her heart sink like lead in her bosom.
+
+She feels, she knows, that already in the minds of most, her lover is a
+condemned man. She knows that the weight of evidence will be against
+him. They have a defense, it is true, but nothing will overthrow the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to the house of the prisoner, and
+was found dead hard by.
+
+All along she has hoped, she knew not what, from Bathurst. But since he
+returned Sybil's note in so strange and abrupt a manner, she has had no
+word or sign from him, and now she doubts him, she distrusts everything.
+
+But, little by little, day by day, she has been schooling her heart to
+face one last desperate alternative. Her lover _shall_ be saved! Let the
+trial go on. Let the worst come. Let the fatal verdict be pronounced, if
+it must; after that, perish the Wardour honor. What if she must trample
+the heart out of a mother's breast? What if she must fling into the
+breach the life of a blighted, wronged, helpless, perhaps dying sister
+woman?
+
+Hardening her heart, crushing down her pride, she muttered desperately
+on this last day of doubt and suspense.
+
+"Let them all go. Let the verdict be what it may, Clifford Heath shall
+not suffer a felon's doom!"
+
+Then she had nerved herself to calmness and gone to face the inevitable.
+
+"Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"
+
+[Illustration: "Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"]
+
+The reading of the indictment has turned all eyes upon the prisoner's
+face.
+
+He stands erect, his head haughtily poised, his clear dark eyes fixed
+fully upon the judge.
+
+"I am not guilty, your honor."
+
+A murmur runs through the court room. The stranger bends to whisper to
+Constance. The trial proceeds.
+
+Once again all the evidence brought forward at the inquest is
+repeated--sworn to--dilated upon. Once again it presses the scales
+down, down, down, and the chances for the prisoner hang light in the
+balance.
+
+One thing puzzles the prosecuting attorney, and troubles the mind of
+Jasper Lamotte.
+
+O'Meara, the shrewd, the fox like--O'Meara, who never lets pass a flaw
+or a loophole for criticism; who never loses a chance to pick and
+torture and puzzle a witness, is strangely indifferent.
+
+One by one the witnesses for the prosecution pass before him; little by
+little they build a mountain of evidence against his client. He declines
+to examine them. He listens to their testimony with the air of a bored
+play-goer at a very poor farce.
+
+After the testimony of the two masons, comes that of the party who last
+saw John Burrill in life. They testify as they did at the
+inquest--neither more, nor less.
+
+Then come the dwellers in Mill avenue. They are all there but Brooks and
+Nance Burrill.
+
+"Your honor," says the prosecuting attorney, "two of our witnesses--two
+very important ones--are absent. Why they are absent, we do not know.
+Where they may be found, is a profound mystery.
+
+"One of these witnesses, a man called Brooks, we believe to have been
+especially intimate with the murdered man. We think that he could have
+revealed the secret which the prisoner took such deadly measures to
+cover up. This man can not be found. He disappeared shortly after the
+murder.
+
+"Our other witness vanished almost simultaneously. This other was the
+divorced wife of the murdered Burrill. She, too, knew too much. Now I do
+not insinuate--I do not cast any stones, but there are some, not far
+distant, who could explain these two mysterious disappearances, 'an they
+would.'"
+
+"An they _will_!" pops in the hitherto mute O'Meara. "They'll make
+several knotty points clear to your understanding, honorable sir."
+
+A retort rises to his opponent's lips, and a wordy war seems imminent,
+but the crier commands "Order in the Court," and the two antagonists
+glare at each other mutely, while the trial moves on.
+
+Frank Lamotte comes upon the witness stand. As before, he tells nothing
+new.
+
+He was aware that his brother-in-law possessed some secret of Doctor
+Heath's. Did not know the nature of it, but inferred from words Burrill
+had let drop, that it was of a damaging character.
+
+Upon being questioned as to his acquaintance with the prisoner, and what
+he knew of his disposition and temper, he replies that he has known the
+prisoner since he first came to W----; liked him very much; never had
+any personal misunderstanding, although of late the prisoner had chosen
+to treat him with marked coldness.
+
+As to his temper--well, he must admit that it was very fiery, very
+quickly roused, very difficult of control, he believed. Prisoner was by
+nature intolerant to a fault. He had shown this disposition in presence
+of witness on many occasions.
+
+Being shown the knife found in the cellar, he examines it carefully, and
+pronounces it to be the one he has often seen in Doctor Heath's
+instrument case, or its precise counterpart.
+
+This ends his testimony. O'Meara has no questions to ask, and Jasper
+Lamotte takes his son's place. He is the last witness for the
+prosecution.
+
+He has less to say than any of the others.
+
+He had heard of his son-in-law's encounter with Doctor Heath, of course;
+knew that a feud existed between them, could not so much as guess at the
+nature of it. The prosecuting attorney is about to dismiss him _sans
+ceremonie_, when Mr. O'Meara, springs into sudden activity and announces
+his desire to examine the witness.
+
+His opponent stares astonished, a murmur runs through the room; the
+Court bids him proceed.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, rising to his feet with provoking
+slowness, and then propounding his questions with a rapidity which
+leaves the witness no time for thought. "Mr. Lamotte, what can you tell
+us of this missing witness, Brooks?"
+
+Mr. Lamotte stares in mute astonishment, then instinctively scenting
+danger ahead, he makes an effort to rally his forces that have been
+scattered by the lawyer's unexpected bomb.
+
+"What do I know of the man Brooks?" he repeats slowly. "I don't
+comprehend you, sir."
+
+"I asked a plain question," retorts the lawyer, crisply.
+
+"I believe the man has been in my employ," ventures the witness, as if
+making an effort to recall some very insignificant personage.
+
+"When?"
+
+"That I do not remember, sir."
+
+"Ah! Perhaps you have forgotten when last you saw this fellow, Brooks?"
+
+"I think I saw him, for the last time, two days before my son-in-law was
+killed. I was at the depot, starting for the city. I think Brooks left
+town on the same train."
+
+"And you have not seen him since?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge."
+
+"Make an effort to think, sir. Brooks has been seen in W---- since. It
+is known that he has visited Mapleton. Try to recall that visit."
+
+Mr. Lamotte ponders and falls into the trap.
+
+"A man came to Mapleton on the day of Mr. Burrill's funeral," he says,
+slowly. "I believe, upon reflection, that it _was_ Brooks; he wished to
+see the body."
+
+"Did you see this man on that occasion?"
+
+"I did; for a moment only; he came to me with his request."
+
+"You are sure this man was Brooks?"
+
+"Not beyond a doubt. I was troubled, and busy. It was one of my factory
+hands; I _think_ it was the man Brooks."
+
+"Mr. Clerk," says O'Meara, turning suddenly to that functionary, "please
+take down Mr. Lamotte's statements. He is _not_ sure that it was the
+man Brooks."
+
+Mr. Lamotte looks disconcerted for a moment.
+
+But O'Meara goes vigorously on, leaving him no time to collect his
+thoughts.
+
+"Now, Mr. Lamotte, what do you know of this woman who calls herself
+Nance Burrill?"
+
+"Nothing," with a glance of offended dignity.
+
+"Nothing! I am told that she has worked in your mills."
+
+"It is possible; I am not my own overseer, however, and do not know
+_all_ my people."
+
+"Have you ever heard that this woman could tell things that would not
+reflect credit upon your dead son-in-law?"
+
+"No, sir," haughtily.
+
+"Were you aware that this woman is not to be found, before learning the
+same in court?"
+
+"No, sir! I consider your questions irrelevant."
+
+"Possibly," retorts O'Meara, drily. "I have no more to ask, sir." Then
+turning toward the jury, he says, rapidly:
+
+"May it please your honor and the gentlemen of the jury, just here I
+have a word to say:
+
+"You have heard the evidence against my client; you have heard the life
+and honor of a high-minded gentleman, against whom there was never
+before a breath of scandal or blame, sworn away by a handful of saloon
+loafers, and a pack of ignorant old women.
+
+"I mean no disrespect to the loafers or the old women in question. I
+suppose if the good Lord had not intended them for what they are, he
+would have made them otherwise--and then there would have been no
+evidence against my client. I name them what they are, because, when
+this honorable jury weighs the evidence, I want them to weigh the
+witnesses as well."
+
+"The gentleman wished to say one word," sneers the prosecution. "Has he
+said it, or is this the beginning of his plea?"
+
+"It would be better for your case if it were the beginning of my plea,"
+cuts in O'Meara; "my witnesses will be less to the gentleman's liking
+than are my words.
+
+"Your honor, first then, the gentleman for the prosecution, in making
+his preliminary remarks, has dwelt at length upon the fact that my
+client is comparatively a stranger to W----; a stranger with a mystery.
+Now, then, I wish to show that it is possible for a stranger to W---- to
+be an honorable man, with an unblemished past; and that it is equally
+possible for a dweller in this classic and hitherto unpolluted town, to
+be a liar and to perjure himself most foully.
+
+"Let the Honorable George Heathercliffe take the stand.
+
+"And mark you, this gentleman _is_ the Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+of Cliffe Towers, Hampshire, England, member of parliament, and honored
+of the Queen. His passports have been examined by our honorable judge,
+thereby saving the necessity for too much unpolished Yankee criticism."
+
+"It has failed to save us a dose of Irish pig-headedness, however,"
+interpolates the opposing barrister.
+
+During the burst of smothered laughter that follows, the stately
+fair-haired stranger quits his place beside Constance, and takes the
+stand.
+
+He is duly sworn, and then Mr. O'Meara begins, with much impressiveness:
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, turn your eyes upon the prisoner, my client. Have
+you ever seen him before entering this court room?"
+
+The Honorable George Heathercliffe turns toward the prisoner, and a
+smile deepens the blue of his eyes, and intensifies the kindly
+expression of his handsome mouth.
+
+"I have seen the prisoner before," he replies, still smiling.
+
+"Have you known him previous to his advent in W----?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"For long?"
+
+"For many years."
+
+"My honorable opponent has hinted that there is a mystery hanging about
+this man. He even hazards a guess that his name may not be Clifford
+Heath. Do you know aught of this mystery?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Does the prisoner bear a name not his own?"
+
+"He does not bear his own name entire."
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, who is this man who calls himself Doctor Clifford
+Heath?"
+
+"He is _Sir Clifford Heathercliffe_, and my elder brother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+A TORTURED WITNESS.
+
+
+There is a profound sensation in the court room.
+
+Constance Wardour catches her breath, and bends forward to look at her
+lover, the color coming and going hotly in her cheeks. She had chosen to
+hear nothing of his past, and so Mr. O'Meara has introduced the
+Honorable George Heathercliffe, that morning, saying only: "A most
+important witness, Constance; a _strong_ witness."
+
+"He is Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, and my elder brother."
+
+Mr. Rand, the prosecuting attorney, moves uneasily in his seat, and
+begins to wonder what small shot O'Meara holds back of this big shell.
+
+Without seeming to notice the sensation created by his self-possessed
+witness, O'Meara goes on rapidly.
+
+"How long has your brother, Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, been in
+America?"
+
+"For more than three years."
+
+"Until you received the telegram calling you to his aid, did you know
+where to find your brother?"
+
+"I did not."
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, have you that telegram in your possession?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"Will you permit his honor, the judge, to see that telegram?"
+
+"Assuredly." He draws forth a morocco letter case, and taking therefrom
+a slip of paper hands it to O'Meara. That astute gentleman passes it
+carelessly on to the clerk, saying: "Read it please."
+
+Rising to receive the paper, the clerk reads:
+
+     _Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+     Cliffe Towers, etc., etc.,_
+
+     Come at once to W----, R---- County.---- Sir Clifford is in deep
+     trouble.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+"Bathurst!" the name falls involuntarily from the lips of Mr. Rand; he
+knows the expert by reputation, and this is the first intimation he has
+received, that so shrewd a man is at work in the interest of Clifford
+Heath.
+
+"Is this the only message you received?"
+
+"No, later in the day this came."
+
+He produced and passed over a second dispatch, which is read like the
+first.
+
+     _Honorable George Heathercliffe, etc._
+
+     Before starting find out everything you can concerning one John, or
+     Jonathan Burrill, once in the employ of your father.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+The two Lamottes glance uneasily at each other. Whither is this
+examination tending?
+
+"Did you follow the instructions in this last telegram?" asks O'Meara.
+
+"I did."
+
+A bland smile widens the mouth of the little Irish lawyer. He waves his
+hand magisterially.
+
+"That is all, for the present, Mr. Heathercliffe," he says, suavely, and
+amazement sits on every countenance.
+
+And now Mr. Rand bends forward and flings himself into the arena, while
+O'Meara leans back in his chair, his eyes twinkling maliciously.
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe," begins the cross-examiner, "Your two dispatches are
+signed 'Bathurst.' Who is this Bathurst?"
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, sir, is a very able detective."
+
+"Ah! He is known to you, I presume?"
+
+"He is," bowing gravely.
+
+"Now, Mr. Heathercliffe, it strikes me as singular that an English
+gentleman should be on such familiar terms with a Yankee detective; and
+still more strange that an English nobleman should be masquerading in
+America, as a country physician. I should like an explanation of these
+things."
+
+"My brother came to America on account of family troubles, sir. Is it
+_necessary_ that I make a fuller statement?"
+
+He asks this hesitatingly, and Mr. Rand fancies that he sees a point to
+be gained. He does not see that O'Meara is struggling to conceal the
+smile of satisfaction that _will_ creep into his face.
+
+"_I_ consider it necessary, sir. It is high time that we knew why we
+have been honored by this _incognito_--nobleman."
+
+The witness turns an unruffled countenance towards the judge.
+
+"If the Court will permit me to tell my brother's story in my own way,
+(it will take some time,) I shall be glad to enlighten this legal
+gentleman."
+
+The Court gives its gracious permission; Attorney Rand resumes his seat;
+O'Meara fairly grins his delight; Constance leans forward, breathlessly;
+the prisoner casts one look about him, and then rests his head upon his
+hand; there is breathless silence in the court, as the Honorable George
+Heathercliffe begins:
+
+"I have said that the prisoner at the Bar, is my elder brother; three
+years ago he was not _Sir_ Clifford Heathercliffe, not my eldest
+brother.
+
+"The name of Sir Herbert Heathercliffe is, no doubt, unknown to all here
+present--except Mr. Bathurst, if that gentleman is here--but England has
+rung with that name, and the Heathercliffe pride has been lowered to the
+dust, because of it.
+
+"Sir Herbert was the pet and favorite of our father, and possessed over
+him a strong magnetic influence. He was less than two years older than
+Clifford, and the two closely resembled each other.
+
+"From their academic days, Herbert was an idler, a spendthrift, a squire
+of dames, _par excellence_. Clifford was devoted to study, and not
+enamored of society.
+
+"It is not my purpose to follow step by step the downward career of my
+brother Herbert, only such of his misdeeds as affected Clifford need be
+brought forward here.
+
+"I have said that Herbert was a spendthrift. He was perpetually
+borrowing of Clifford, and always in debt.
+
+"When Clifford, who had a monomania for the medical profession,
+announced his intention to go to Germany and pursue his studies there,
+the first trouble came.
+
+"Herbert, who for his own selfish ends, wished to keep Clifford and his
+purse nearer Cliffe Towers, incited my father to oppose the scheme. This
+was easy. Lord Heathercliffe did not believe in the dignity of labor,
+and the two voted this new departure a family disgrace. They said so
+much, and in such offensive language, that Clifford, in open defiance of
+his father's commands, turned his back upon us all, and went to
+Heidelberg.
+
+"But, Herbert's career had only began. In a little while, it was
+discovered that our father's name had been forged for a large amount,
+and suspicion pointed to my brother Clifford. He came in hot haste on
+receipt of a telegram, and he did not come alone. He brought with him,
+Detective Bathurst, whom he was so fortunate as to find at Scotland
+Yards.
+
+"I need not dwell on what followed; Bathurst is a keen detective; he
+vindicated my brother, Clifford, and placed the guilt where it belonged.
+It was Herbert who had forged my father's name.
+
+"There was a terrible scene at the Towers. Herbert swore eternal enmity
+toward Clifford, and Clifford predicted then and there the downfall of
+all our pride, through Herbert's follies. I remember his words
+distinctly:
+
+"'Let me tell you how this will end, Lord Heathercliffe,' he said; 'I
+have not grown up beside Herbert, not to know him. Our name has
+heretofore been stainless; we shall keep it so no longer; it will be
+dragged in the mud, smirched, hissed, disgraced utterly. But I will
+never permit myself to go down with the fall of the Heathercliffes; I
+renounce all claims upon you; I renounce my succession; I renounce a
+name already contaminated; the world is my heritage; I shall leave
+England; I shall leave Europe; I will make me a new name, and build my
+own fortune. When Herbert has broken your heart, and ruined your
+fortunes, as he surely will, and when his debaucheries have brought him
+to an early grave, as they must, then let the title fall to George; he
+is younger; he can not feel this shame so keenly; as for me, I will
+never wear the title; I will never be pointed out as the peer whose
+elder brother was a rake, a seducer, a forger, and Herbert is all
+these.'
+
+"Clifford went back to Heidelberg; Herbert remained at the Towers,
+whining, pleading, shamefully fawning upon a doting and half imbecile
+old man.
+
+"He feigned illness; he feigned penitence, and finally he held my father
+more than ever his adoring slave.
+
+"I can not prolong this recital. It is needless. Herbert ran his race of
+infamy. My father died broken hearted. Clifford searched all England to
+bring Herbert, then a fugitive, to his father's death bed; but the
+officers of justice were before him. They ran him down in an obscure
+provincial village, and, to escape the consequences of his misdeeds,
+Herbert Heathercliffe crowned his life of mad folly by dying a suicide's
+death.
+
+"And now I must turn a page in my own personal history:
+
+"Prior to my father's death, I had formed an attachment for the only
+daughter of a proud and wealthy country gentleman, our neighbor. But I
+was a younger son, and by my father's will, made upon his death-bed,
+Clifford was his heir. Herbert had squandered half our father's fortune,
+but a handsome sum still remained.
+
+"Realizing the hopelessness of my suit, I was preparing to quit England,
+taking with me my mother's legacy, which would amply suffice for a
+bachelor's wants, but was too meager a sum to lay at the feet of a
+beauty and an heiress. To make my departure more bitter, I had learned
+that the woman of my choice returned my affections.
+
+"Then Sir Clifford swooped down upon me. Before I could guess his
+intent, he had sought and gained the consent of my wife's father; had
+transferred to me all his fortune, reserving only his mother's legacy,
+which was the same as mine. He forced me to accept by the strength of
+his splendid will. He installed me as master of Cliffe Towers. He
+hastened the marriage preparations. He remained long enough to dance at
+our wedding, and then he left us--proud as a king, independent as a
+gypsy, blameless, fearless, high-souled.
+
+"He came to America, and never permitted us to know his whereabouts. At
+regular intervals, we received his letters--many whimsical descriptions
+of his new life and new pursuits, but we always addressed him in New
+York, and our letters, bearing the English seal, came to him under an
+American disguise. We did not so much as know the name he had assumed.
+
+"This, gentlemen, is the true reason why Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, the
+truest, the noblest of English gentlemen, came among you as one of
+yourselves.
+
+"I have one more word to say. Sir Clifford never saw the man, John
+Burrill; but our brother Herbert knew him well. Burrill was his tool and
+accomplice in many shameful escapades. They came to grief together;
+quarreled fearfully, and, when Herbert fled for his life, Burrill with
+his wife made his escape to America. All that I have said concerning
+this Burrill will be verified by Detective Bathurst."
+
+Then turning toward Mr. Rand: "Is my explanation sufficient, sir?"
+
+The lawyer only bows his head, and the handsome Englishman takes his
+seat while the house rings with applause. Evidently his tersely told
+story of brotherly sacrifice has touched the "humanness" of that
+strangely-mixed audience.
+
+During the moment of clamor and confusion, Doctor Benoit enters the
+court room, and almost unobserved seats himself beside the New York
+medical experts.
+
+A smile of gratification comes to O'Meara's face at sight of this late
+arrival, and when the court is restored to quiet, he says:
+
+"Let Doctor Benoit be sworn."
+
+The doctor testifies as follows:
+
+Being called to examine the wounds upon the person of John Burrill, he
+found that they could not have been made with the knife found with the
+body. The identical knife being put into his hands, he explains how a
+cut made by such a keen, heavy weapon, must appear, and describes the
+knife that must have been used upon the body.
+
+"It was a smaller weapon," he says, "thinner bladed and much lighter. It
+must have been shorter by two or three inches."
+
+Then he adds that the surgeon's knife has never been used upon a body;
+the blood has been smeared on by an inartistic hand.
+
+"It would be impossible," he says, "to withdraw this knife from a
+bleeding wound with no other blood marks than those it bears."
+
+Doctor Gaylor and Professor Harrington corroborate his every statement,
+and when their testimony is done there is another sensation in the court
+room.
+
+As Doctor Benoit passes by O'Meara, in returning from the witness stand,
+he tosses over a piece of paper, which the lawyer seizes, scans eagerly,
+and stows carefully away.
+
+He consults some papers for a moment, and then says:
+
+"I wish to recall Francis Lamotte."
+
+Frank comes again upon the stand; his eyes seem fixed on vacancy; his
+face is white and rigid; his answers come in a dry monotone.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, briskly. "It is understood that you have
+been a student in Doctor Heath's office."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"During the time you studied there, had you free access to the office at
+all hours?"
+
+"I had."
+
+"I judge, then, that you must have possessed a pass key?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Is that key still in your possession?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How did you dispose of that key?"
+
+"I think it was lost; it has been out of my possession for some time."
+
+"Where did you lose this key?"
+
+"I do not remember; possibly at home, possibly at the office. It has
+been out of my possession for some time."
+
+"Since losing your key, how did you gain access to the office in the
+doctor's absence?"
+
+"I have visited the office very seldom of late, and not once since
+losing the key, in the absence of Doctor Heath."
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, was there any way to distinguish your lost key from that
+used by my client?"
+
+"Yes; my key was newer than his, and brighter."
+
+"It was my client's custom to keep an extra suit of clothes in his
+office closet, was it not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And it would be very natural that, in exchanging one garment for
+another, a glove or handkerchief should be sometimes left in the
+discarded garment?"
+
+"Quite natural."
+
+"Now let us suppose that, on the night of the murder, my client,
+returning from a visit to Mapleton, where he was called to attend upon
+the wife of the murdered man, halted at his office, hung up his outer
+coat, and sat for a little time, writing or reading, or perhaps
+meditating.
+
+"Let us suppose that on preparing to face the wind, that was rising
+rapidly, and blowing chill, he substituted a heavy overcoat for the one
+he had worn earlier in the evening; and that he discovered, when half
+way home, that he had left his much needed handkerchief with his
+discarded coat.
+
+"Would it not be quite an easy matter for some one who had obtained
+possession of your key, _and was sufficiently familiar with the bearings
+of the office to move about in the dark_, or by the dim fire-light, to
+enter that office, remove the surgeon's knife from its case, pilfer a
+handkerchief from the coat pocket, and escape unseen?"
+
+"It would--I should think."
+
+"If this person having the key, the knife, and the handkerchief, all in
+his possession, should go and fling them all into the old cellar on the
+Burns' place, you would call that singular?"
+
+"Yes," from lips white and parched.
+
+O'Meara turns suddenly and takes something from the table.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, take this key, examine it well. Does it at all resemble
+the one you--_lost_?"
+
+Frank takes the key, mechanically, turns it about with nerveless
+fingers, scarcely glances at it.
+
+"I think--it is--the same," he mutters, hoarsely.
+
+"You think it is your lost key. Mr. Lamotte, do you know where this key
+was found?"
+
+"No," stolidly.
+
+"I will tell you. It was found in the old cellar, embedded in the mud,
+_close beside the dead body of John Burrill_."
+
+[Illustration: "It was found beside the body of John Burrill."]
+
+Frank Lamotte's hands go up to his head, his pale face becomes livid,
+his eyes seem starting from their sockets; he gasps, staggers, falls
+heavily in a dead faint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+JUSTICE, SACRIFICE, DEATH.
+
+
+And there is confusion in the court room.
+
+Mr. Rand bounds angrily to his feet, then reseats himself suddenly, and
+without opening his lips.
+
+As they bear Frank Lamotte from the room, O'Meara's voice rises and
+rings clear above the buzz and bustle:
+
+"That witness must not be permitted to leave the court."
+
+Then he stands gazing about him like a small, rampant lion; his eyes
+flashing, his nostrils quivering, his whole manner betokening that he is
+warming to his work.
+
+Presently the room is quiet again, and O'Meara addresses the court:
+
+"Your honor, and gentlemen; I have been successful beyond my
+expectations. You see what a guilty conscience can do. I wished to
+convince this court that my client has enemies in W----; powerful,
+unsuspected, enemies. I wished also to demonstrate to Mr. Rand, how easy
+it is to obtain circumstantial evidence. The witness may recover at his
+leisure. I have nothing more to say to him."
+
+While he is speaking, Mr. Lamotte and Doctor Benoit, who had hastened
+out to attend upon Frank, re-enter, and resume their places, the former
+looking harassed and uneasy, the latter, bland as ever, and nodding an
+assurance that the patient is recovering safely.
+
+"My next witness," says O'Meara, "is private detective Jerry Belknap;
+but, before this gentleman is sworn, I desire the clerk to read aloud,
+_very_ loud, the testimony lately given by Mr. Jasper Lamotte. I want
+Mr. Lamotte's testimony to be fresh in the minds of the jury when they
+listen to Mr. Belknap."
+
+Strive as he will, Jasper Lamotte can not wear a look of entire
+unconcern, although his self-control is marvellous.
+
+What does Jerry Belknap know concerning this case? Why is _he_ here as a
+witness? Mr. Lamotte is speedily enlightened.
+
+While the clerk reads his recent testimony, Jerry Belknap takes his
+place upon the stand. Not the Belknap Jasper Lamotte has known; not the
+Belknap of Constance Wardour's recollection; but Jerry Belknap, in
+_propria persona_, shorn of all disguise.
+
+He is a man well up in his thirties, medium in height, slender in
+person, with a dark, smooth shaven face, keen, restless eyes, black,
+closely cropped hair.
+
+The clerk having finished the reading, Mr. O'Meara addresses the witness
+with marked courtesy.
+
+"Mr. Belknap, you have heard the reading of Mr. Lamotte's testimony. You
+have heard Mr. Rand say that two important witnesses are absent, namely,
+a certain Brooks, and Mrs. Nance Burrill. You have heard Mr. Lamotte say
+that he knows nothing of the whereabouts of Nance Burrill, that he knows
+nothing of Brooks.
+
+"Now, as Mr. Lamotte can not enlighten us, and as the attorney for the
+prosecution is very anxious about these two witnesses, will you just
+tell the court what you know of Mr. Brooks, and Nance Burrill, as
+connected with this case?"
+
+Jerry Belknap bows to O'Meara, bows to the Court, wipes his mouth with a
+white silk handkerchief, and begins:
+
+"I came to W---- on professional business, and, having obtained
+permission, through Mr. O'Meara, I may state here what that business
+was.
+
+"I came on behalf of Miss Wardour, to investigate the noted diamond
+robbery. I have been in and about W---- for some time, but always in
+disguise, this being the first time my real face has been visible.
+
+"Not long ago a stranger accosted me and put into my hands a letter. The
+letter bade me follow the instructions of the bearer of the same without
+fear, or question. Now Mr. Bathurst commands me at all times, and like a
+good soldier I obeyed my superior officer. I placed myself under the
+orders of Mr. Bathurst's deputy, who is himself a clever detective, and
+this is what he told me:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst had been operating in W---- for weeks, under my very nose,
+and, although I knew him, and am called a tolerable detective, I never
+found him out. He knew me, however, from the first, knew me all along,
+although I, several times, changed my disguise. _His_ disguise was too
+perfect, and he is too good an actor, ever to betray himself.
+
+"That disguise having served his purpose, and having been thrown aside
+for good, I can safely comply with Mr. O'Meara's request and oblige the
+gentleman for the prosecution.
+
+"The missing witness known as Brooks, the red-headed drunken mechanic,
+was officer Bathurst and none other."
+
+Again there is a buzz in the court room.
+
+The prisoner turns upon his counsel a look of profound wonder.
+
+Constance clasps her hands delightedly and begins to brighten with hope.
+
+Jasper Lamotte wears a look of consternation.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst's instructions were brief," resumes Mr. Belknap after a
+moment's pause. "I was to present myself to Mr. Lamotte under some
+pretext of business. I am slightly known to Mr. Lamotte through my
+connection with the Wardour case and could approach him without creating
+suspicion. I was to accept any commissions he might wish me to execute.
+
+"I presented myself to Jasper Lamotte; he had a piece of work for me. He
+told me that he had good reasons for wishing the woman Nance Burrill out
+of the town; he wished her no harm, but she was in his way. If I would
+get her away, on some pretext, he would pay me well. Acting under
+instructions, I approached the woman, making her acquaintance easily
+through her little boy. She is very ignorant and very foolish. I
+displayed a little money, offered her a profitable situation in New
+York, paid her a month's wages in advance and took her and her child to
+the city, where I hired a small furnished cottage, and installed her as
+housekeeper. Not being informed that her evidence was wanted on this
+occasion she is there still."
+
+When Jerry Belknap began his story, Jasper Lamotte had drawn nearer to
+the prosecuting attorney, and, before the story was done, a slip of
+paper had made its way into the hands of the latter gentleman, bearing
+these words:
+
+"For God's sake don't cross-examine that witness."
+
+Consequently, in response to O'Meara's unnecessarily polite query, "Will
+the attorney for the prosecution be pleased to cross-examine this
+witness?"--Mr. Rand only scowled over at his antagonist, and shook his
+head savagely.
+
+"This, I trust," begins O'Meara, before the last witness is fairly
+seated, "sufficiently explains the absence of these two _important_
+witnesses. It would seem that the absence of one at least was more
+important than her presence. Mr. Lamotte, at least, should be grateful.
+He desired Nance Burrill's absence; she is not here; and as no summons
+was issued for this woman--either by the prosecution or defense, no one
+can accuse me of hampering the progress of the law, and of this
+honorable court."
+
+Mr. Rand bounds up, fire in his eye.
+
+"It may not be rulable nor dignified," he begins hotly, "but I demand a
+moment's hearing. This whole trial has been irregular, from first to
+last.
+
+"The gentleman brings forward an honorable witness from over the water;
+a witness who brings out the accused in a new character; covers him with
+a blaze of glory; this is very good, and very theatrical. Let us grant
+that the accused _is_ Sir Clifford Heathercliffe. Does that alter the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to his door, straight to the door
+of his sworn enemy, and was never again seen alive. He seeks to
+implicate Frank Lamotte, and to impeach the integrity of Jasper Lamotte,
+an honorable gentleman, against whom there was never yet a breath of
+suspicion. It will not alter the facts in the case. Clifford Heath's
+enemy was found dead close by Clifford Heath's door! He has blackened
+the character of the dead; he has struck hard at the honorable living.
+He has flooded the court with the testimony of mysterious strangers; he
+has suppressed known witnesses; he has worked his will with us. But he
+has not disproved one item of evidence; he has not changed one fact or
+phase of the case. Let us grant all he has proven, what have we left?
+_The unalterable facts_, that the prisoner has repeatedly threatened his
+victim; that the murdered man set out to visit the prisoner, at night,
+through the darkness, and was found early the following morning, before
+the body could be removed to a safer hiding place, his face covered by
+the prisoner's own linen; his gaping wounds giving evidence of a
+practiced hand; the prisoner's knife buried with him; the _key_ of the
+prisoner's office or house lying beside the shallow grave. Facts tell,
+gentlemen; these _are facts_."
+
+These words rush from his lips torrent like.
+
+He has turned to face the jury and so does not see that O'Meara has
+lounged back to his seat, with an air of perfect unconcern, and that he
+is actually signaling the judge not to stay this whirlwind; a proceeding
+which so astounds that official, that for full five minutes the tide of
+speech flows on, lava like.
+
+On the audience, it has a startling effect. He is speaking the truth. He
+is reiterating facts, and facts are sure of instant recognition by our
+Yankee countrymen.
+
+A thrill runs through the assembly; there comes one of those sudden
+revulsions of feeling, common to scenes like this. Sir Clifford
+Heathercliffe disappears from before their dazzled vision; what they
+see, in the light of stern facts, is Clifford Heath, the murderer.
+
+"These are facts," reiterates Mr. Rand, excitedly. "Who has seen this
+wonderful Bathurst, with his bundle of testimony? Who knows the man? Why
+is he not here in court? _Where is he?_"
+
+"_Here!_"
+
+Clear and full the voice rings over the room, transfixing for one moment
+the entire court; then the gavel descends; order is commanded with
+double unction, because of the recent lapse. Mr. O'Meara is on his feet;
+Mr. Rand's impromptu speech is at an end.
+
+"More theatricals," snarls Mr. Rand, flinging himself violently down
+into his seat.
+
+But no one heeds him; all eyes are fixed upon the new comers.
+
+Near the door of the court room they stand grouped close together.
+
+Mr. Wedron, dignified and placid as usual.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte, with head proudly poised, and eyes that seem wells of
+pent-up anguish.
+
+Evan Lamotte, looking like a lost and almost disembodied spirit.
+
+Frank Lamotte, who during the time Mr. Belknap has occupied in giving
+his testimony, has quietly re-entered the room, seeming to have
+recovered, and looking almost composed, looks with the rest, and is once
+more, for a moment, startled out of all semblance of calmness; he starts
+up from his seat, then sinks back weakly, a desperate hunted look in his
+eyes, his hands clenched and working nervously.
+
+They came slowly forward--Evan Lamotte, supported on either side by his
+mother and the _soi-disant_ Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar.
+
+[Illustration: They come slowly forward.]
+
+They pass so close that the lady's trailing silks brush against the feet
+of Jasper Lamotte, but she never vouchsafes a glance to husband or son,
+and Evan's eyes are set straight before him, fixed on vacancy--unseeing
+orbs of fire, set in a spectral face.
+
+Presently, they are seated near the group gathered about the prisoner,
+and then Mr. Wedron confers with Mr. O'Meara.
+
+As they talk, the little lawyer's face becomes grave, even to sadness,
+and when he rises to address the Court, his tone is subdued, his manner
+that of one performing a painful task.
+
+"May it please the Court," he says, slowly, "the witnesses for whom I
+waited have come. As one of them is just recovering from a serious
+illness, Mr. Bathurst has thought it best that a reliable physician
+should certify to his perfect ability to testify at this time. Let
+Doctor Benoit be sworn."
+
+It is done, and in the same grave and subdued manner Doctor Benoit bears
+witness, as follows:
+
+"I have been in attendance at Mapleton for some weeks past. Evan Lamotte
+has been one of my patients. He has been very ill, and delirious almost
+constantly. It is less than a week since he entirely recovered his
+reasoning faculties. To-day, at the request of Mr. Wedron, I subjected
+him to various tests, and I freely pronounce him perfectly sane--as sane
+as any here in this court room. If any one is inclined to question my
+statement, I shall desire Professor Harrington and Doctor Gaylor to
+examine the witness."
+
+There is profound silence for a moment, then O'Meara says, quietly:
+
+"Will Detective Bathurst take the stand?"
+
+The gentleman who has become known to many in W---- as Mr. Wedron, of
+the New York Bar, left his place near Evan Lamotte, and came quietly
+forward. Having been duly sworn, Mr. O'Meara said:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, you have been connected with this case from the first.
+Tell us what you have discovered, in your own way."
+
+The detective bowed, took off a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses, and
+turned upon the court a pair of bright, piercing, handsome, dark blue
+eyes, that proved themselves capable of numberless expressions.
+
+"My name is Neil J. Bathurst," he began, "and I am a detective. I came
+to W---- for the first time early in the summer--in June, I believe. I
+came on professional business. To my surprise, and quite by accident, I
+found Sir Clifford Heathercliffe here in the character of Doctor Heath.
+My business in W---- was in no way connected with Sir Clifford, but
+before I left the town, which was on the third day after my arrival, I
+became aware that he had an enemy here. I left W---- to return in a
+short time, and I figured among the factory people as Brooks, the
+drunken mechanic. Mr. Lamotte employed me twice and twice discharged me
+because of my intemperance. I became quite intimate and friendly with
+John Burrill, and succeeded in gaining his confidence. I was also on
+good terms with Nance Burrill, John Burrill's divorced wife, and I
+learned a good many things from her.
+
+"Early in the autumn it came to my knowledge that Sir Clifford's enemies
+had begun to move, that a plan was on foot against him. About this time
+I discovered that several people needed looking after, and I sent for a
+boy shadower. He came, and did his work well. He is not here, because
+his testimony is not needed.
+
+"You will understand that I had now more than one operation on my hands.
+I was still engaged upon the case which first brought me to W----, and I
+was intent upon frustrating the designs of Sir Clifford's enemies. He,
+Sir Clifford, was not aware of my presence in W----, and he was likewise
+ignorant of the plot against him.
+
+"Early in November, I found it expedient to appear in W---- in a new
+character. Brooks had done his work. Accordingly, I, as Brooks, set out
+for the city one morning, leaving my shadower in charge of the field.
+Jasper Lamotte went to the city by the same train, and, singular
+coincidence, he came back on the train which brought me. I returned, as
+Mr. Wedron, an attorney, and I brought with me an assistant (for the
+plot was thickening fast), who assumed the character of a book peddler.
+I was absent only two days, but, during that time, the entire drama had
+undergone a transformation.
+
+"Before I had been half an hour in W----, I had received the report of
+my shadower; it was startling. John Burrill had been murdered. Here was
+a disappointment. I had fully intended that Burrill should do some
+honest work in the State penitentiary, and was almost prepared to make
+some arrests. I attended the inquest, and was again discomfited. The
+enemies of Sir Clifford had abandoned their first infamous scheme for
+his ruin, and had succeeded in fastening this miserable crime upon him.
+Standing there in the presence of all the actors in the tragedy, and
+listening to the witnesses before the coroner, I decided what course to
+pursue. I would make my other operations a secondary affair, and devote
+myself to the task of finding John Burrill's murderer. I presented
+myself to Mr. O'Meara, and made known my identity; we decided to act
+together, and at once set to work.
+
+"I knew that Francis Lamotte was Sir Clifford's secret enemy, and,
+naturally, I began to study him, and to watch him. You have heard his
+testimony to-day, and you know how easy it would have been for him,
+first to follow and to kill John Burrill, and next to cast suspicion
+upon an innocent man. I could prefer a charge against him, and bring
+some circumstantial evidence to back it; but this would not vindicate
+Sir Clifford, and would complicate affairs very much. What I wanted, was
+_proof_ positive, absolute. So I waited, and studied the case. Of one
+thing I was assured; Francis Lamotte, whether guilty or innocent, knew
+more of that murder than he chose to tell.
+
+"One day, while in conversation with Miss Wardour, I chanced to mention
+the name of Evan Lamotte, adding something not complimentary to that
+young gentleman. Miss Wardour took fire at once. She assured me that
+Evan Lamotte was _not_ what people sought to make him; that in spite of
+his weaknesses, he had many noble and lovable qualities. She told me how
+he came to her when the first shock of his sister's flight was upon him;
+she described, vividly, his passion, his sorrow, his love for his
+sister. He spoke of her as the only being on earth whom he truly loved,
+the only one who had been unvaryingly kind to him. He cursed the
+destroyers of his sister's happiness, and implored Miss Wardour not to
+abandon that unfortunate sister. He said that he believed she would
+return, and he implored her to visit his parents, and intercede in
+behalf of the fugitive.
+
+"Miss Wardour gave him the required promise, and then said that if the
+real reason for this strange elopement _must_ remain a secret, she
+wished they could hit upon some explanation that would spare the
+fugitive as much as possible, and satisfy the gossips. Instantly he
+sprang up, declaring that he would furnish a reason, a reason that no
+one would question, and that would spare his sister.
+
+"A few days later, the story was flying about W----, that to save her
+brother Evan from the consequences of some evil deed, Sybil Lamotte had
+sacrificed herself.
+
+"When Miss Wardour heard of this, she knew that Evan Lamotte had allowed
+himself to be defamed for his sister's sake. She knew that the true
+reasons for her friend's _mesalliance_ was hidden safely beneath a
+brother's sacrifice.
+
+"Miss Wardour told me this, and much more, in praise of Evan Lamotte;
+and here, for his sake, let me say, that in studying John Burrill and
+Francis Lamotte, I had discovered that Sybil Lamotte had been made to
+believe, that the honor and safety of her father and _elder_ brother,
+depended upon her sacrifice, when the truth is, that she was _sold_.
+Simply sold--for their convenience, and their gain.
+
+"You have looked upon Jasper Lamotte as an honorable citizen. On the day
+of John Burrill's funeral, I resumed my old disguise, that of Brooks,
+and went to Mapleton; I told Mr. Lamotte that I had come as a friend of
+his, and of Burrill's, to warn him, that if Nance Burrill was allowed to
+remain in W----, she would be brought forward at this trial, and give
+damaging evidence against his dead son-in-law.
+
+"I remained in the library with him some fifteen minutes. My errand was
+a trap, and he fell into it. What followed, Mr. Belknap has already
+told. In the presence of this court, Jasper Lamotte has perjured
+himself. Let the officers of the law keep this fact in mind.
+
+"Now, to return to my witness. When I heard Miss Wardour's glowing
+vindication of Evan Lamotte, I said to myself, 'Here is the right
+person. Evan Lamotte is the one who can clear up this mystery.' It was
+clear as day to my eyes.
+
+"It was necessary that I should see him, but I very soon learned that he
+was lying at his home dangerously ill, and quite out of his senses.
+There was nothing to do but to wait. I made the acquaintance of Doctor
+Benoit, and from him I obtained daily news of his patient.
+
+"At the eleventh hour, when I had begun to despair of his recovery, the
+doctor reported the patient restored to his senses. I then told him,
+Doctor Benoit, that the very moment Evan Lamotte was able to listen, and
+to talk rationally, I must see him. That the case was one of life and
+death.
+
+"This day, at the very hour when the trial was called, I set out for
+Mapleton; I saw Evan Lamotte; I told him that Clifford Heath was on
+trial for the murder of John Burrill; and that the chances were against
+him.
+
+"It is not necessary to repeat all that passed between us, the result
+is, that Evan Lamotte comes into this court of his own free will and
+accord, and it is his desire that he be allowed to tell his own story.
+
+"He comes here freely, willingly, asking nothing, hoping nothing, and
+when this audience has heard his testimony, they will join me in
+pronouncing him the noblest Lamotte of them all."
+
+There is a look so weird, so unearthly, in the eyes of Evan Lamotte, as
+he comes forward and turns his face slowly upon the audience, so that
+all can see its ghastly contrast with those burning orbs, that a
+startled hush falls upon them all, a funereal silence pervades the room.
+
+They seem to note for the first time, what a solemn thing is the oath,
+which Evan takes with voice, hollow and weak, but calm and fall of
+decision.
+
+His breath comes in short gasps, his sentences are broken, the fatigue
+caused by his effort to speak is evident. But he goes on to the end, and
+this is what he says:
+
+"When I learned that my sister's life had been ruined, I was a madman; I
+did not know for a time why she had thus thrown herself away, but I
+determined that I would know, and I set myself to spy upon my own
+family.
+
+"If the detective had not told you this truth I should withhold it now,
+for we all have a sufficient burden of shame upon us.
+
+"I watched and I listened and I learned why Sybil had been sacrificed.
+
+"At first I thought I would openly assault Burrill, would compel him to
+resist and would make his life as uncomfortable as possible; I was a
+madman.
+
+"Constance Wardour told me it was not the way to help Sybil; that such a
+course would only cause her added sorrow. When I grew calmer I saw that
+Conny was right. I promised her to do nothing that would add to my poor
+sister's unhappiness.
+
+"By and by they came home, and I saw the misery in my sister's face; day
+by day it deepened, her eyes growing hollow and wild, and full of
+unutterable horror and fear, her face growing paler and thinner, and
+sadder, her hands so weak and tremulous, all appealed to me, all
+maddened me afresh. I resolved that in some way I would free her. But
+how?
+
+"Day after day I brooded upon it. Burrill became more bestial, more
+besotted, more contemptible, every day. My sister's strength was almost
+gone, her reason was tottering.
+
+"I began to cultivate Burrill. I flattered him; I caroused with him. I
+had sunk so low myself that he could feel at ease with me. But drunk or
+sober I never once forgot a resolve I had taken. Matters were going from
+bad to worse. It must be Sybil's life or _his_. I resolved that it
+should _not_ be my sister who was sacrificed.
+
+"When I found that no more time could be wasted, I laid my plans. I
+feigned illness and kept my room for several days.
+
+"Burrill came daily to see me. I told him that I had some rare new fun
+in my head, and we planned that I should feign to be worse than usual.
+Burrill knew that our people had made efforts to stop our nocturnal
+expeditions, and he agreed with me that the thing should be kept secret.
+On that last night he left the house early, saying that he would spend a
+couple of hours at 'Old Forty's,' and then meet me at a place appointed.
+
+"At nine o'clock I stole out, and no one at Mapleton discovered my
+absence. I did not intend that they should. I waited at the place
+appointed for our meeting until I grew impatient. The time came for him
+to appear; he did not come. I knew where I should find him, and set out
+for 'Forty Rods.' I was determined to let that night end Sybil's
+troubles.
+
+"Half way between the saloon and Doctor Heath's I saw him. He passed
+close to me, as I came up from Mill avenue, and reeled across the road.
+He was not going toward our rendezvous, but away from it.
+
+"I followed stealthily. I did not make my nearness known. I think he was
+too drunk to know where he was going or where to stop. He reeled past
+Doctor Heath's house, and was nearly opposite the gate of the empty lot
+before he discovered that he had gone too far.
+
+"He turned, and while he leaned against the fence and seemed to ponder,
+I crept upon him, knife in hand; I struck him, once, again, a third
+time. He uttered one groan loud enough to have been heard some distance
+away, and then fell heavily. I had struck home. When I was sure that he
+was dead--I seemed to know just how to act--I ran to the gate of the
+Burns' lot and opened it wide. The body was twice my weight but I
+dragged it inside before my strength gave out.
+
+"Then, for a while, I seemed panic stricken. What should I do with that
+body? By and by, I thought of a way to get help. I waited until
+midnight, then I made my way to Mapleton, all blood stained, and
+carrying the knife with me. Unseen I entered and gained Frank's room. He
+was up and pacing the floor; I told him to follow me. He saw my
+blood-stained hands and garments; I opened my coat and displayed the
+knife, and he obeyed me. I told him what I had done, and that he must
+help me conceal the body. For a moment he seemed stunned, and then he
+assisted me with surprising readiness; he planned everything; in fact,
+took the lead from that moment. I thought he was working to save his
+brother. The detective has told me the truth, and abjured me to tell all
+I know.
+
+"Frank left me at the foot of the stairs leading to Heath's office. When
+he came down he seemed much excited, and hurried on very fast. We
+scooped out a grave in the cellar, as best we could in the dark, Frank
+working actively. He told me to take my knife and throw it into the old
+well--if you look you will find it there. While I was doing it, he must
+have put the other knife in the grave. When I came back he had covered
+the face with something white. I did not think about it at the time; now
+I know that it was Doctor Heath's handkerchief.
+
+"Doctor Heath is an innocent man. _I_ killed John Burrill; I am here to
+accept the consequences. I did the deed to save my sister. I do not
+regret it."
+
+Then, turning toward the place where Frank Lamotte sits, cowering and
+panic stricken, he stretches out one spectral hand and says:
+
+"Frank! Frank Lamotte, do the only thing left you to do; stand up and
+say that I have spoken the truth. Let us end this at once, Frank!"
+
+Like one roused from some strange stupor, Frank staggers to his feet.
+
+"It is all true!" he gasps. "Evan has told nothing but the truth." Then
+he falls back in his seat more dead than alive.
+
+To describe the triumph of O'Meara; the mingled pity and gladness that
+fills the heart of Constance; the rejoicings of Clifford Heath's
+friends, one and all; the misery and the shame that overwhelmed the
+Lamottes, would be useless.
+
+The excitement of the audience, judge and jury, can be imagined better
+than described.
+
+The tragic farce is at an end. The case is given to the jury. Without
+quitting their places, they return their verdict. Clifford Heath is not
+guilty; is honorably acquitted.
+
+Exhausted by his recent effort, Evan Lamotte is carried from the court
+room, closely attended by his mother; is carried to the cell where
+lately Clifford Heath has dwelt a prisoner, while the latter is escorted
+in triumph, to O'Meara's, by all his rejoicing friends.
+
+As the procession of conquerors moves away from the entrance, an officer
+approaches Jasper Lamotte.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, I am very sorry, sir, but you must consider yourself my
+prisoner."
+
+Jasper Lamotte bows coldly, and signals the man that he will follow him.
+
+The officer turns to Frank, but before he can open his lips, the
+miserable young man steps back, makes one quick movement; there is a
+flash, a loud report, and Frank Lamotte falls forward, to be caught in
+the arms of a by-stander.
+
+[Illustration: There is a flash--a loud report.]
+
+They lay him gently down, and Jasper Lamotte bids them send for a
+physician; there must be one very near.
+
+But Frank beckons his father to come close, and when the others have
+drawn back, this is what the father hears, from the son's lips:
+
+"There is another--pistol in--my pocket--I meant it for Evan,--you--had
+better--use it."
+
+Horrible words from the lips of a dying son. They are his last. Before
+Doctor Benoit can turn back and reach his side, Frank Lamotte has
+finished his career of folly, and sin, and shame, dying as he had lived,
+selfishly, like a coward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+A SPARTAN MOTHER.
+
+
+"I never before in all my career, brought to justice a criminal whom I
+both pitied unreservedly, and justified fully. Viewing all things from
+his standpoint, Evan Lamotte is less a murderer than a martyr."
+
+It is the day after the trial with so strange an ending. They are seated
+in O'Meara's library; Constance, Mrs. Aliston, Mrs. O'Meara, Sir
+Clifford, his brother, the Honorable George Heathercliffe, Ray Vandyck,
+O'Meara, and Mr. Bathurst. Mr. Bathurst, who now appears what he _is_; a
+handsome gentleman, about thirty years of age, clever, vivacious,
+eminently agreeable. Mr. Wedron, like Brooks, has served out his day,
+and been set aside.
+
+They have assembled at the detective's request, and while fully
+expecting a revelation of some sort, they look a serene, and not an
+apprehensive party.
+
+"Poor Evan," sighs Constance; "I pity him most sincerely; I shall go and
+see him."
+
+"_We_ will go and see him," corrects Sir Clifford, and she smiles, and
+does not dispute the correction.
+
+"Before I begin my other story," says the detective, "I may as well tell
+you of my visit yesterday, and how my news was received.
+
+"From the moment when I heard Miss Wardour's description of Evan
+Lamotte, I knew he was our man. But I was determined to have no more
+mistakes. So I kept my opinion to myself. You can imagine how anxiously
+I hung upon the words of Doctor Benoit, knowing that upon this boy's
+chances for life hung Sir Clifford's life, liberty, and honor.
+
+"When I saw that poor, pale, wreck of humanity, my heart almost failed
+me. How could I drag his secret from him? But no time was to be lost,
+and, as best I could, I told him everything. First, that his sister
+believed herself the guilty one; guilty, at least, in that she had
+instigated the deed, and next, that Sir Clifford was now the victim of
+this crime. His mind at once seemed to grasp the issue. He had listened
+to me intently, breathlessly almost; he now lifted himself suddenly from
+the bed, and said quickly:
+
+"'Why, then, it seems I have not saved Sybil yet. Call my mother! let me
+see her alone.'
+
+"I obeyed him without a question; they were alone together for a long
+half hour, then Mrs. Lamotte came to me with the same look upon her face
+that you saw in court.
+
+"'Evan tells me that you know everything,' she said, her voice trembling
+in spite of herself. 'He tells me that you are a detective. Then you
+know that I have _one_ son of whom I may be proud. Evan Lamotte has
+saved his sister's honor. Saved it doubly. My weak, my ill-used Evan,
+has proven the only man a man's pride, who bears the name of Lamotte,
+because he could not see his sister and his mother contaminated by the
+presence of the monster his father and brother had been so base as to
+force upon us; he has taken justice into his own hands. He has freed his
+sister; he has saved her from crime, and now he stands ready to put
+himself in the place of a wronged and innocent man. I shall go with him
+into court; I shall not leave him again.'
+
+"She broke off with a dry sob and turned away to prepare for the drive.
+
+"How I pitied that proud woman. How tender she was of her lost boy, and
+how he clung to her.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," turning suddenly toward the lawyer, "we must get that
+poor fellow out of that cell. Doctor Benoit says that he can live but a
+short time at best. He must not die there, and justice can not deal with
+a dying man."
+
+"I think it can be managed," replied the lawyer. "All W---- will favor
+the scheme. Not a man or woman will raise their voice against that dying
+boy. He will have plenty of friends _now_."
+
+"He shall find them strong friends, too," exclaimed Constance. "Mrs.
+O'Meara, we will stir up the whole town."
+
+"Then you'll get your way," put in Bathurst. "And now. Miss Wardour, are
+you ready to hear the end of the mystery surrounding the Wardour
+robbery, and the Wardour diamonds?"
+
+All eyes were turned at once upon the speaker.
+
+"Because I have asked you all to meet me here to-day that I might tell
+it," he went on. "It will contain much that is new to you all, and it
+will interest you all. I know Miss Wardour will wish you all to hear the
+end of her diamond case, and the fate of her robbers."
+
+"Of course! You are perfectly right, Mr. Bathurst," said Constance.
+"Doctor Heath cuts more of a figure than he knows in this business, and
+Ray has staid out in the cold long enough. Go on, Mr. Bathurst, expose
+me in all my iniquity. But have you _really_ found the robbers?"
+
+"Listen," said the detective, and while they all fixed upon him their
+gravest attention he began.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+"For several years past," began Mr. Bathurst, "the city and many of the
+wealthier suburban towns have been undergoing a systematic overhauling.
+Through the network of big thefts, and little thefts, petit larcenies
+and bank robberies, there has run one clear-cut burglarious specialty--a
+style of depredations noticeably similar in case after case; alike in
+'design and execution,' and always baffling to the officers.
+
+[Illustration: Bathurst telling the story.]
+
+"I allude to a series of robberies of jewelry and plate, a succession of
+provoking thefts, monstrous, enough to be easily traced, but executed
+with such exceeding _finesse_ that, in no single instance, has the
+property been recovered, or the robbers run to earth.
+
+"These fastidious thieves never took money in large amounts, only took
+plate when it was of the purest metal and least cumbersome sort; and
+always aimed for the brightest, the purest, the costliest diamonds.
+Diamonds indeed seemed their specialty.
+
+"This gang has operated in such a gingerly, gentlemanly, mysterious
+manner, and has raided for diamonds so long and so successfully, that
+they have come to be called, among New York detectives, The Diamond
+Coterie, although no man knew whether they numbered two, or twenty.
+
+"They could always recognize their handiwork, however, and whenever the
+news came that some lady in the city, or suburbs, had lost her diamonds,
+and that the thieves had made a 'clean job' of it, the officers said,
+'that's the work of the Diamond Coterie.'
+
+"I have been much abroad of late, but every time I came back to New York
+the Coterie had gathered fresh jewels into its treasure box, and no man
+had found a clue to the sly fellows.
+
+"I began to feel interested in the clique and resolved to take a hand at
+them, at the first opportunity. That opportunity came, with the news of
+the great Wardour robbery, and I came down to W----.
+
+"I saw enough in this robbery to interest me, for various reasons.
+
+"I believed I could see distinctly the handiwork of the Diamond Coterie,
+and I saw another thing; it was the first piece of work I had known them
+to bungle. And they had bungled in this.
+
+"I made some of my conclusions known to Miss Wardour and her friends,
+but I kept to myself the most important ones.
+
+"The story of the chloroform, so carefully administered, was one of the
+things over which I pondered much; I borrowed the chloroform bottle and
+the piece of linen that had been used to apply the drug, and that night
+I accepted the hospitality proffered me by Sir Clifford. I took a wax
+impression of the vial, at his house, and I made an important discovery
+while there.
+
+"Sir Clifford found me half famished and ordered his housekeeper to
+bring in a lunch. Not wishing my identity known, I pretended to be a
+patient; and just as my host was leaving the room, he tossed me a
+handkerchief, which he took from a side table, bidding me make myself a
+bandage to partially conceal my face.
+
+"Now my eyes are trained to see much at a glance, and the moment they
+fell upon that bit of white linen they were riveted there.
+
+"The handkerchief was precisely like the mutilated one used with the
+chloroform. This might be a coincidence--plain white handkerchiefs with
+wide borders were not uncommon, but this handkerchief was _marked_!
+
+"I could scarcely wait until Sir Clifford should show me to my room, so
+anxious was I to compare the two pieces of linen.
+
+"The whole one bore the initials F. L., and on the raw, torn edge of the
+half square was a black dot that was undoubtedly the fragment of a
+letter, or name, that had been torn hastily off. It corresponded exactly
+with the lower end of the letter L. upon the whole handkerchief given me
+by Sir Clifford.
+
+"This might be a coincidence, but it is one of my rules to suspect two
+coincidences coming close together; and I had already discovered three
+remarkable ones in this case.
+
+"Sitting alone in my room, I reflected thus:
+
+"Take it for granted that this robbery was perpetrated by the Diamond
+Coterie, what are the facts?
+
+"The robbers knew where to enter, and where to look for plunder; _ergo_,
+they must have known the premises.
+
+"They administered the deadly chloroform with nicest calculation;
+_ergo_, they must have known Miss Wardour.
+
+"One of them was something of a dandy,--witness the superfine bit of
+cambric, and the print of jaunty boots where he leaped the garden fence.
+
+"The next morning I took unceremonious leave of my host, and set out on
+my explorations. As I approached Wardour Place I met a man, who
+immediately drew my interest to himself.
+
+"This man was Jerry Belknap. He wore a disguise quite familiar to me,
+and I recognized him easily. He entered at the Wardour gate, and I
+sauntered on, having found new food for thought.
+
+"Now, a word concerning this man Belknap.
+
+"At one time he was an honorable member of the best detective force in
+the city; but he had too much cupidity, and not enough moral firmness.
+Twice he allowed himself to be bribed into letting a case fall through,
+and finally I caught him in secret conclave with a gang of bank
+burglars, who were conspiring to raise a fortune for each, and escape
+with their booty through the connivance of our false detective.
+
+"I exploded this little scheme, and compelled Belknap to withdraw from
+the force. Imagine my surprise when, a little later, Miss Wardour told
+me that _Mr. Belknap_ was the detective sent down from the city by Mr.
+Lamotte!
+
+"Well, Mr. Belknap went to work upon the case, and Miss Wardour
+concealed me near her dining room so that I might have the pleasure of
+listening to his first report.
+
+"That was a fortunate ambush for me. Mr. Belknap's deductions were as
+diametrically opposite to mine as if he had purposely studied out the
+contrast; and I was shaking my sides with the thought of how all this
+plausibility must be puzzling Miss Wardour and her aunt, when a new
+element was introduced into the programme.
+
+"Mr. Frank Lamotte, fresh from an amateur robber hunt, came into the
+room. It had been arranged that Mrs. Aliston should break to this young
+man the news that his sister had that day eloped with John Burrill; but
+first, he was to relate his adventures, and this he did.
+
+"If I can hear a voice, before seeing the face, I can usually measure
+its truth or falsity. Now, I had not seen Mr. Frank Lamotte, but his
+voice told me that he was rehearsing a well studied part; and,
+furthermore, I was assured that Belknap knew this, and purposely helped
+him on.
+
+"By and by Miss Wardour withdrew, and Mrs. Aliston fulfilled her
+mission. Then I was more than ever convinced of the fellow's
+insincerity. I heard how he received the news of his sister's flight;
+and when Mrs. Aliston went, in a panic, to call her niece, I heard him,
+when he fancied himself alone.
+
+"It seems he had been the bearer of a note from his sister to Miss
+Wardour, and he was now intent upon learning if that note had contained
+any thing damaging to himself. This much I learned from his solitary
+mutterings, and then Miss Wardour re-entered the room. He was half wild,
+until she had assured him that the note contained nothing that could
+injure him; and then he became calmer, and went out into the air to
+recover his breath.
+
+"Miss Wardour made haste to release me, and I came out of my concealment
+congratulating myself that I had been so lucky.
+
+"And now I found myself compelled to leave W---- just as things were
+growing very interesting; I had made my flying visit in a moment of
+leisure, but my vacation had run out; duty, honor and interest, alike
+impelled me in another direction.
+
+"I left my address with Miss Wardour, and I promised myself that at the
+first opportunity I would return to W---- and take up my abode here for
+a time.
+
+"I had been in W---- not quite three days. I had not seen Jasper
+Lamotte, I had barely seen Frank, and I had added to my deductions made
+on the night of my arrival, until the case stood like this in my mind:
+
+"1st. The robbers were familiar with Wardour, outside and in.
+
+"2d. They knew Miss Wardour, and her sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform.
+
+"3d. One of them was a man of gentlemanly propensities, and probably
+young.
+
+"4th. They or a part of their number approached by the river, using a
+boat with muffled oars.
+
+"So much for my deductions. Now for some coincidences.
+
+"It was a coincidence that the handkerchief I got from Sir Clifford
+should bear Frank Lamotte's initials, and should be precisely like the
+one left behind by the robbers.
+
+"It was a coincidence that Frank Lamotte should be a student of
+medicine, who might have been quite as capable of administering
+chloroform as was the burglar himself.
+
+"It was a coincidence that Miss Sybil Lamotte should have eloped on the
+very day when her best friend was robbed, and that father, mother, and
+brother were all absent in behalf of the robbed friend, thus leaving the
+way open to the fugitives, and giving them plenty of time to escape.
+
+"Now for some _facts_ that looked strange.
+
+"It was strange that Sybil Lamotte should leave her home to marry a man
+like John Burrill, when she was known to have bestowed her heart
+elsewhere.
+
+"It was strange that Jasper Lamotte, going to the city to employ a
+detective, should so soon have stumbled upon Jerry Belknap, who was
+identified with no agency, and could only be reached through private
+means.
+
+"It was strange that Frank Lamotte should set himself up as an amateur
+detective, and should bring back a report that tallied so perfectly with
+the deductions of Jerry Belknap.
+
+"It was strange that Miss Wardour, having just been robbed of jewels to
+the amount of fifty thousand dollars, should be so little distressed, so
+little agitated by her loss.
+
+"From deductions, coincidences and strange facts, I evolved the
+following theory, which certainly looked well from my standpoint, but
+might not hold water. You will see, that from the first I connected the
+Wardour robbery and the Lamotte elopement.
+
+"Now, Sybil Lamotte's strange flight gave proof that there was a
+skeleton in the Lamotte closet. I said:
+
+"If this unseen Mr. Lamotte had planned this robbery, and if for some
+reason it seemed good that his daughter should elope, how well all was
+arranged.
+
+"His son assisting him, they could drop down from Mapleton in their row
+boat; come up from the river, and, with their plans all laid, and
+knowing their ground, could make quick headway. Frank Lamotte's boot
+heel would leave just such a print, as one of the robbers left in the
+loose dirt beside the garden fence. Frank Lamotte would know just how to
+administer the chloroform. Then, Mr. Lamotte, in going to the city,
+ostensibly to procure the services of a detective, could easily take the
+spoils along; and his wife also, that she might be well out of his
+daughter's way. Such a man would naturally select a fellow like Jerry
+Belknap, who would keep up a farce of investigation, and keep away all
+who might, perhaps, stumble upon the truth. Frank's eagerness to be
+absent on this day of his sister's flight, and to assist in the search
+for the robbers, would be thus explained; and his anxiety concerning the
+contents of his sister's letter might be easily traced to a guilty
+conscience.
+
+"But my theories were doomed to be laid aside for a time. Other duties
+claimed me and it was four weeks before I could turn so much as a
+thought toward W----.
+
+"Before leaving the city, however, I had placed my wax cast of the
+chloroform bottle in the hands of one of my best men, and had also given
+him a clue upon which to work.
+
+"My agent was wonderfully successful. He found the counterparts to the
+chloroform bottle, and then he began shadowing the owner of said vials.
+It proved to be a young woman who had formerly lived in W----, as a
+factory hand, but who had been transplanted to the city by Frank
+Lamotte.
+
+"It is not necessary to enlarge upon the story of this girl as connected
+with Lamotte; but this must be borne in mind. During the time that my
+agent had this girl under surveillance, Frank Lamotte visited her, and,
+it is supposed that he removed the remaining bottles of the set, for one
+was afterward exhumed, in fragments, from Doctor Heath's ash heap, by
+the industrious Jerry Belknap, and the others have disappeared."
+
+At the mention of this factory girl Mrs. Aliston turned her face toward
+Constance, its expression saying as plainly as any language could, "I
+told you so." But Mr. Bathurst took no notice of this, and hurried on
+with his story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+THE STORY OF LUCKY JIM.
+
+
+"From the moment when I appeared among you as Brooks, my work was
+double. I was bent upon posting myself thoroughly in regard to Jasper
+Lamotte, and day by day I became more interested in the career of this
+remarkable man.
+
+"Step by step, I trod backward the path of his history, since his advent
+in W----, gathering my information from many sources.
+
+"It would be tedious to enter into details; suffice it to say that while
+I worked here, two others, trained to such research, were beating up the
+past I was so anxious to become familiar with. And a third, across the
+water, was gathering up the history of John Burrill, another object of
+interest to me at that time.
+
+"And now I will reverse the order in which we made our search, and,
+beginning where my men left off, give you, in brief, the history of a
+remarkable man.
+
+"The man we know as Jasper Lamotte figured in various cities,
+twenty-five years ago, and still earlier, as _Lucky Jim_, a handsome,
+well educated, sharp witted, confidence man.
+
+"He seldom gambled, and made his swindling operations of various sorts
+reap him a rich harvest; and, by his unvarying good luck, in escaping
+the dragons of the law, as well as because of his lucky ventures, he
+became known to his intimates as Lucky Jim.
+
+"In these days, Miss Sybil Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy old
+Maryland aristocrat, came to the city to reside with an aunt, while she
+completed her musical education. Lucky Jim saw her, and fell in love
+with her beautiful, haughty face.
+
+"He contrived to make her acquaintance, and the rest was easy; it was a
+repetition of the old story; he was handsome and fascinating, she young
+and unsophisticated, with plenty of headstrong Southern blood and self
+will.
+
+"After a brief courtship, Lucky Jim married the Maryland heiress. Her
+father, as may be supposed, repudiated the marriage, but she clung to
+her scamp, and so the old Maryland aristocrat sent her a small fortune,
+which was hers, inherited from her mother's mother, and beyond his
+control; and bade her consider herself no more a Schuyler, of _the_
+Schuylers.
+
+"For a time, Lucky Jim rode smoothly on the top wave of prosperity; his
+wife easily duped, believed him a Wall street operator. Frank was born,
+and then Sybil, and the Maryland beauty queened it in an elegant and
+secluded little home.
+
+"But the crisis came. The silver cloud turned its dark side.
+
+"Lucky Jim played a losing game, one day, and his wife suddenly found
+herself face to face with the truth.
+
+"They lived through stormy times, but Jim had, in his palmy days, left
+his wife's fortune intact, and now it proved an anchor to windward.
+
+"They absented themselves from this country for more than two years;
+then they came back, and Lucky Jim brought his family, which now
+included Evan, to W----. The Maryland fortune enabled them to set up as
+aristocrats, and Lucky Jim seems to have aspired to become a power in
+the community.
+
+"I don't think he often attempted any of his old confidence and
+swindling games; but, during his absences from home, which were
+frequent, during his earlier residence here, he made a study of fine
+burglary.
+
+"I can fancy how carefully he put his new schemes in practice, and how
+he passed himself off upon W---- as a rising speculator.
+
+"He probably spent years in gathering together that select society,
+known as the Diamond Coterie.
+
+"At first, it consisted of four; himself, a city pawn-broker, known as
+Ezras, who received and negotiated the sale of the stolen goods, and who
+is as keen a rascal as ever escaped justice, and two noted cracksmen,
+who had headquarters in the city, and were famous in their day, but who
+were compelled to withdraw in the midst of their high career, one dying
+of a malignant fever, the other being killed by a woman.
+
+"To replace these departed worthies, Ezras, who was always on the alert
+for pals, and who had had various crooked dealings with Jerry Belknap,
+brought this gentleman and Mr. Lamotte, or Lucky Jim together.
+
+"Belknap proved the right man in the right place, and was soon admitted
+into the Coterie. Next to come under the favorable notice of Ezras, was
+John Burrill, who had come over from England, bringing with him some
+ill-gotten gains, and who set himself up in New York as a swell
+cracksman.
+
+"Now, Burrill, the English boor, had an ambition. In this easy-going
+America, he hoped in some way to build himself into an aristocrat, and
+to shine as one of the lords of the land. To this end he hoarded his
+share of all the spoils, and, adding it to the sum brought from England,
+he began to find himself a rich man.
+
+"Meantime, Mr. Lamotte had speculated a little too freely; he had built
+a mansion, and built his factories. He had been living like a prince,
+and some of his late ventures had failed. Something must be done. And
+then his eye fell upon Burrill; he coveted the Englishman's hoarded
+dollars.
+
+"He found it easy to persuade Burrill to come to W----, ostensibly to
+take the position of overseer at the factories; really to be more
+readily duped by Lucky Jim. Burrill came; he saw how his comrade was
+respected and bowed down to by all W----. He had always admired Lucky
+Jim for his gentlemanly polish and his aristocratic manners; and he now
+concocted a scheme for his own aggrandisement. The Lamottes had made
+themselves aristocrats, they should make an aristocrat of him.
+
+"You all know the result; John Burrill divorced his wife; Jasper Lamotte
+sold his daughter.
+
+"While Frank Lamotte felt tolerably sanguine of winning the heiress of
+Wardour, the Wardour jewels were left unmolested. But when a rival came
+into the field, they determined to have the jewels, even if they lost
+the heiress.
+
+"Accordingly they planned the robbery and the elopement, and you all
+know the afterpart.
+
+"Miss Wardour, you once offered a reward for the arrest of the robbers
+who invaded Wardour Place, _not_ to recover your diamonds, but for the
+sake of justice. It is for the sake of justice and for the future safety
+of peaceable citizens that I have run the Diamond Coterie to earth. For,
+be it known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that Miss Constance Wardour,
+like the wise young lady she is, took her jewels to an expert, one fine
+day, long ago, and had them all duplicated in paste; and while Jasper
+Lamotte and his clique were industriously carrying into safe hiding
+these paste diamonds, the real Wardour jewels were reposing safely in
+the vaults of a city bank, and they repose there safely still!
+
+"When Jasper Lamotte went to the city, two days before the killing of
+Burrill, he went to dispose of some of those paste jewels; and, not
+until then, did he learn how the heiress of Wardour had outwitted him.
+
+"Miss Wardour, the career of the Diamond Coterie is at an end.
+
+"Old Ezras has long been under our eye. Last night I sent a telegram,
+which will cause his instant arrest; and there are enough charges
+against him to insure him a life sentence, had he yet seventy years to
+live.
+
+"John Burrill has passed beyond our reach. The news of his murder
+frustrated my nicely laid plans for his arrest, and turned my mind for
+some time from the Diamond Coterie to the task of clearing Sir Clifford.
+
+"Frank Lamotte, too, with all his sin and selfishness, has passed before
+a higher tribunal.
+
+"There remains only Jerry Belknap and Jasper Lamotte.
+
+"To Jerry Belknap, I have promised protection--not because he deserves
+the same, but because in no other way could I avail myself of his
+services; and, to make my chain of evidence complete, I needed his
+testimony. He will go out to the frontier, and never appear again in New
+York.
+
+"And now, perhaps, you can comprehend why I brought that charge of
+perjury against Jasper Lamotte. For his wife's sake, for his unhappy
+daughter's sake, for the sake of Evan Lamotte, who implored me, while
+going to give himself up to save another, that I would not let further
+disgrace bow his mother's head to the dust. For the sake of these
+unfortunate victims, I would let Jasper Lamotte go free, so far as we
+are concerned. The charge of perjury is enough for W----. The officers
+have chosen not to place him in confinement, so, if Jasper Lamotte is
+suddenly missed from among us, who can be questioned or blamed?
+
+"I have acted in this matter solely on my own responsibility.
+
+"I have seen Jasper Lamotte, and I gave him two alternatives to choose
+from. He could remain and be arrested as the head and front of the
+Diamond Coterie, or he could take passage on board the first ship bound
+for Australia, to remain there the rest of his natural life. He chose
+the latter, and I have appointed my agent, 'Smith, the book peddler,' as
+his guardian, to see that he carries out his contract to the letter.
+
+"And now there is one thing more:
+
+"After Burrill's death, Jasper and Frank Lamotte made a search for
+certain papers supposed to have been upon the person of the dead man;
+they never found them, for the reason that I, as Brooks, had relieved
+Burrill of the care of these same papers, weeks before, substituting for
+them blanks, which no doubt, Burrill had hidden somewhere, in one of his
+fits of drunken caution.
+
+"These papers define distinctly such portions of the Lamotte property as
+in reality belonged to Burrill; and if I am not mistaken in Mrs. Lamotte
+and her daughter, they will wish no share in it. I will put these papers
+into your hands, Mr. O'Meara, to be held for future action."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+AFTER THE DRAMA ENDED.
+
+
+"Clifford," says the heiress of Wardour, standing beside her lover, one
+winter day, not long after the extinction of the Diamond Coterie,
+"Clifford I have been to Mapleton to-day, for the first time since--"
+
+She pauses abruptly, and her lover draws her closer to his side, with
+all his olden assurance shining in the eyes he bends down upon her.
+
+"Since the drama ended," he finishes. "You have been to Mapleton,
+beloved! tell me about it."
+
+"There's something I wish to tell you, Clifford; something that in full,
+Mr. Bathurst generously kept out of his story when he told us the rest;
+something that is known as it is only to Mrs. Lamotte, Sybil, Evan, Mr.
+Belknap, Mr. Bathurst, and myself, but which I think I had better tell
+you now."
+
+"I am listening Conny."
+
+"Well, you see when the robbers made off with my paste diamonds--think
+of its being the Lamottes, Clifford--when they robbed me of nothing, I
+felt quite relieved, for those diamonds _had_ been a burden. I made up
+my mind to make the most of the business, and let everybody think me a
+loser, hoping thus to possess myself and my diamonds in peace and
+safety. But your Mr. Bathurst--"
+
+"My Mr. Bathurst!"
+
+"Well, _my_ Mr. Bathurst, then; only you very well know that he has a
+wife. When _my_ Mr. Bathurst had talked to me a second time--I believe
+that man can see straight through people--he had my secret at his
+tongue's end; and he warned me to be very cautious and not to tell _any
+one_ the truth concerning the diamonds. In spite of this, one evening,
+when some imp possessed me, I told Sybil Lamotte; I shall never forget
+her strange manner, nor her wild words. Clifford, that awful mistake of
+mine almost made Sybil a murderess."
+
+"Constance!"
+
+"Listen, dear! Sybil had brooded over what I had told her. Trouble was
+unsettling her mind. She had some valuable jewels; she went with her
+mother to the city, and while there, had the real stones replaced by
+paste, as I had done, and received two thousand dollars for her
+diamonds.
+
+"In some way she had found out that Jerry Belknap was a man to be
+bought; she obtained an interview with him, and offered him two thousand
+dollars if he would _get John Burrill out of her way_!"
+
+"Good heavens!"
+
+"Don't interrupt me. Belknap agreed to remove Burrill, and received five
+hundred dollars in advance. He sent to the city for a ruffian, one of
+his tools. The man came, but Mr. Bathurst had his eye upon him. On the
+night of the murder, this ruffian was hidden outside of the saloon,
+waiting to follow and waylay John Burrill when he should go home. The
+boy detective, George, was hidden and watching the ruffian. Do you
+follow?"
+
+"Yes! yes!"
+
+"When Burrill came out of the saloon, the ruffian, supposing of course
+that he was going home, hurried on ahead, crossed the bridge, and
+secreted himself in the hedge. The boy, George, was far enough behind to
+see that Burrill was _not_ going home, but he was acting as directed by
+Mr. Bathurst, and so followed the ruffian. Think of it, Clifford! While
+Sybil's paid assassin lay in wait for his victim, Sybil's brother was
+saving her soul from guilt, by taking a crime upon his own. But for
+Evan's knife, poor half crazed Sybil would have been a murderess, and
+this I knew in part from the first, and that is why I said, that the
+true slayer must not be punished; until they brought Evan Lamotte into
+court, I believed that Sybil was the guilty one."
+
+"And you could not betray your unfortunate friend? My true hearted
+Constance!"
+
+"I had promised Mrs. Lamotte not to betray her, but was nerving myself
+to dare all and save you, when poor Evan threw himself into the breach,
+and saved us, all three. You must know, Clifford, that Mr. Belknap made
+a full confession to Mr. Bathurst, when he found he could do no better.
+And Mr. Bathurst, knowing that I was aware of Sybil's dealings with
+Belknap, told me everything."
+
+"And this is what Bathurst meant when he said that Sybil believed
+herself guilty. I thought he referred to some of her insane ravings."
+
+"So they all thought. But it is best as it is. There is no need to tell
+this sad story, unless--"
+
+"Unless what?"
+
+"Unless it seems best that Ray Vandyck should know it."
+
+"Poor Ray. Conny, if the time ever comes when Ray and Sybil meet again,
+_she_ will tell him her own story."
+
+Constance bent over the glowing coals a moment, and then lifting her
+face, she said in a hushed voice:
+
+"I saw Evan."
+
+"And he--"
+
+"He is just fading out of life. Oh! it was so fortunate that there was
+no resistance to the humane ones who sought to help him out of that
+gloomy prison. Sybil never leaves him for a moment. Oh, what must her
+feelings have been, when she learned that Evan had saved her from a life
+time of remorse. I could see by her face, oh, such a poor, pale, sad,
+utterly changed face! that she knew all; everything. She greeted me; so
+timidly, yet, with so much of thankfulness. But, she had eyes and ears
+for no one but Evan, although she is too weak to do more than sit beside
+him and hold his hand. But, Mrs. Lamotte's courage is wonderful. Old Mr.
+Schuyler, Sybil's grandfather, is dead; and he has left Mrs. Lamotte his
+property; but, so tied up that Mr. Lamotte could never touch a dollar.
+Mrs. Lamotte says that when it is over--Evan's life you know--she shall
+take Sybil and go to live in her old Maryland home. They will not touch
+a penny of John Burrill's money; it is all to be transferred to his
+first wife, to be held in trust for her little boy. The woman is going
+back to England as soon as the transfer is made. Mrs. Lamotte said to me
+to-day:
+
+"'After all these years, Constance, I am to have an old age of peace, I
+trust. Mr. Lamotte and I have parted forever. My love for him died long
+since, so this gives me no pain. My keenest sorrow is that I never gave
+my poor Evan his full share of my mother love. He came with my sorrow,
+and bears the impress of my despair and madness. If we could only save
+and keep him! But it is best as it is. Mind and body seem dying
+together, and it is better so. When all is over, I shall take Sybil
+away, where there will be nothing to recall her wretched past; and there
+I shall trust her to Time, the Healer.'
+
+"She never mentioned Frank's name, Clifford," bending forward to look in
+his face. "Do you know what I see in the future? I see poor Evan laid
+away under the snows; I see the memory of John Burrill sunk in oblivion.
+I see Sybil Lamotte coming slowly back to life and hope and happiness,
+under the kind blue Maryland skies. I see Mrs. Lamotte, her pride
+softened and chastened, and a look of serene content upon her face. And
+I see Ray Vandyck making his way southward some day, and standing before
+Sybil with his heart in his eyes. I see--"
+
+"You see enough. Leave Ray and Sybil face to face; you and I can guess
+the rest. Do you see Doctor Clifford Heathercliffe resuming his practice
+in W----, as if nothing had happened? For that's what his newly
+appointed tyrant has bidden him do. Do you see a certain fair lady,
+transformed into Lady Heathercliffe by and by, and sailing away over the
+seas to bewilder the dwellers of Heathercliffe Towers, with the
+brightness of her eyes and, in spite of the Diamond Coterie, to blaze
+forth upon the 'nobility and gentry' of Hampshire, in all the splendor
+of the Wardour diamonds? All this shall come to pass, beloved; and,
+since it has gained me the fairest, bravest, truest wife in Christendom,
+I can even rejoice in the persecutions and the hatred of the Diamond
+Coterie.
+
+"If John Burrill had not mistaken me for Herbert, on the night when the
+feud began, he might now be living, perhaps, and you and I be far apart;
+so, at the last, Herbert Heathercliffe, in his grave, has done me a
+service. I do look like him, Conny, and it's small wonder Burrill knew
+me for a Heathercliffe, and made capital out of my altered name. But all
+that is past. My darling, we have learned our hard lesson, now we have
+only to forgive the dead and the erring, to forget the shadows and
+sorrows of the past, and to say, 'God bless our friends in need; God
+bless Bathurst, king of his kind; God bless the O'Mearas--God bless the
+beautiful darling who outwitted the diamond Coterie, and who wears the
+Wardour diamonds, and the Wardour honor with regal grace.'"
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Diamond Coterie
+
+Author: Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+Release Date: June 4, 2008 [EBook #25695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIAMOND COTERIE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cover01.jpg"><img src="images/cover01.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>THE NEW DETECTIVE STORY.</h2>
+
+<h1>THE <span class="smcap">Diamond Coterie</span></h1>
+
+<h2>BY LAWRENCE L. LYNCH</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Author of "Shadowed by Three" "Madeline Payne," Etc.</span></h3>
+
+
+<h4>CHICAGO:<br />
+HENRY A. SUMNER AND COMPANY.<br />
+1884.</h4>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1882, by</span></h4>
+
+<h4>DONNELLEY, LOYD &amp; CO.,<br />
+CHICAGO.</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1884, by</span><br />
+R. R. DONNELLEY &amp; SONS,<br />
+CHICAGO.</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">R. R. Donnelley &amp; Sons, The Lakeside Press, Chicago.</span></h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs01" id="gs01"></a>
+<img src="images/gs01.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Really this is a sad affair.</span>"</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. Two Shocks for W&mdash;&mdash;</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. W&mdash;&mdash; Investigates</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. A Sample of the Lamotte Blood</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. Sybil's Letter</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. The Deductions of a Detective</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. Doctor Heath at Home</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. A Falling Out</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. One Detective too Many</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. The Deductions of Detective Number Two</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. Evan</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. The End of the Beginning</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. The Beginning of the End</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. Constance's Diplomacy</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. John Burrill, Aristocrat</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. Diamonds</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. In Open Mutiny</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. The Play Goes On</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. John Burrill, Plebeian</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.Nance Burrill's Warning</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. Constance at Bay</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. Appointing a Watch Dog</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. The Watch Dog Discharged</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. Father and Son</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. A Day of Gloom</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. That Night</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. Prince's Prey</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.A Turn in the Game</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII. Introducing Mr. Smith</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX. Openly Accused</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX. An Obstinate Client</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI. Beginning the Investigation</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII. An Appeal to the Wardour Honor</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII. "I Can Save Him if I Will"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV. A Last Resort</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV. A Strange Interview</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI. Two Passengers West</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII. Some Excellent Advice</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII. Belknap Outwitted</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX. "Will Love Outweigh Honor?"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL. "Too Young to Die"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI. Sir Clifford Heathercliffe</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII. A Tortured Witness</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII. Justice, Sacrifice, Death</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV. A Spartan Mother</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV. Told by a Detective</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI. The Story of Lucky Jim</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII. After the Drama Ended</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p><a href="#gs01">"Really, this is a sad affair."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs02">"I have a clue."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs03">"I am ready to do that at any and all times."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs04">"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute!"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs05">So he dines at Wardour Place</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs06">"Who are you?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs07">"Ah! This phial is one of a set."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs08">"Are we alone?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs09">The tramp turned and looked back</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs10">"Doctor Heath flatters himself."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs11">"Here is this man again."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs12">"Poor Frank! don't let this overcome you so."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs13">"Why, Evan, you look ghostly."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs14">"You must not have a third attack."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs15">"Conny, it has come."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs16">"I am happy to know you."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs17">"I have never once been tempted to self destruction."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs18">Only a moment did Sybil listen</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs19">Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs20">"It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs21">"Then take that, and that."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs22">"It's the other one," he muttered</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs23">"Stay a moment, sir."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs24">"I'll be hanged if I can understand it."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs25">"I hope you will excuse me."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs26">"Well, Roake, are you ready for business?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs27">"If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs28">"You promise never to marry Francis LaMotte?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs29">The cottage stands quite by itself</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs30">"Prince, come away, sir!"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs31">"Why, boy, bless me."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs32">"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs33">"Did you ever see that knife before?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs34">They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs35">"Softly, sir; reflect a little."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs36">"Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs37">"Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs38">"Another, Miss Wardour, is&mdash;yourself."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs39">"Mr. Belknap, it is I."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs40">"Cap'n, you're a good fellow."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs41">"My friend, come down off that."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs42">"That hope is ended now."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs43">"Prisoner at the Bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs44">"It was found close beside the body of John Burrill."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs45">They come slowly forward</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs46">"There is a flash&mdash;a loud report."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#gs47">Bathurst telling the story</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>The Diamond Coterie.</h2>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO SHOCKS FOR W&mdash;&mdash;.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On a certain Saturday in June, year of our Lord 1880, between the hours
+of sunrise and sunset, the town of W&mdash;&mdash;, in a State which shall be
+nameless, received two shocks.</p>
+
+<p>Small affairs, concerning small people, could never have thrown
+W&mdash;&mdash; into such a state of excitement, for she was a large and wealthy
+town, and understood what was due to herself.</p>
+
+<p>She possessed many factories, and sometimes a man came to his death
+among the ponderous machinery. Not long since one "hand" had stabbed
+another, fatally; and, still later, a factory girl had committed
+suicide.</p>
+
+<p>These things created a ripple, nothing more. It would ill become a town,
+boasting its aristocracy and "style," to grow frenzied over the woes of
+such common people. But W&mdash;&mdash; possessed a goodly number of wealthy
+families, and some blue blood. These were worthy of consideration, and
+upon these calamity had fallen. Let us read an extract or two from the
+W&mdash;&mdash; <i>Argus</i>, a newspaper of much enterprise and exceeding veracity:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>MONSTROUS DIAMOND ROBBERY&mdash;BOLD BURGLARY.</p>
+
+<p>This day we are startled by the news of a robbery in our midst, the
+like of which it has never been our fate to chronicle.</p>
+
+<p>When the servants at Wardour Place arose this morning, they found
+confusion reigning in the library, desks forced open, papers strewn
+about, and furniture disarranged. One of the long windows had been
+opened by forcing the shutters, and then cutting out a pane of
+glass, after which the bolts were easily drawn.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wardour was at once aroused, and further examination disclosed
+the fact that her dressing room had been invaded, and every box,
+trunk and drawer searched. The beautiful little affair, which has
+the appearance of a miniature combined desk and bookcase, but which
+contains a small safe, that Miss Wardour believed burglar proof,
+had been forced, and the jewels so widely known as the "Wardour
+diamonds," stolen. Quite a large sum of money, and some papers of
+value, were also taken.</p>
+
+<p>Most of our readers are familiar with the history of the Wardour
+diamonds, and know that they represented a fortune.</p>
+
+<p>The burglary was effected without noise, not a sound disturbing
+Miss Wardour, or any of her servants, some of whom are light
+sleepers, and they have not a single clue by which to trace the
+robbers.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wardour bears the loss with great calmness. Of course every
+effort will be made to recover the jewels, and capture the thieves.
+It is rumored that Mr. Jasper Lamotte, in behalf of Miss Wardour,
+will visit the city at once and set the detectives at work.</p></div>
+
+<p>This was shock number one for the public of W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Constance Wardour, of Wardour Place, was a lady of distinction. She
+possessed the oldest name, the bluest blood, the fairest face, and the
+longest purse, to be found in W&mdash;&mdash;; and, the <i>Argus</i> had said truly,
+the Wardour diamonds represented a fortune, and not a small one.</p>
+
+<p>Emmeline Wardour, the great grandmother of Miss Constance, was a belle
+and heiress. Her fondness for rare jewels amounted to a mania, and she
+spent enormous sums in collecting rare gems. At her death she bequeathed
+to her daughter a collection such as is owned by few ladies in private
+life. She also bequeathed to her daughter her mania. This daughter,
+after whom Constance was named, added to her mother's store of precious
+stones, from time to time, and when, one fine day, a bank, in which she
+had deposited some thousands of her dollars, failed, and she found
+herself a loser, she brought her craze to a climax, by converting all
+her money into diamonds, set and unset.</p>
+
+<p>At her death, her granddaughter, Constance, inherited these treasures,
+in addition to a handsome fortune from her mother; and, although the
+original collection made by Emmeline Wardour contained a variety of rare
+stones, opals, amethysts, pearls, cameos, etc., besides the many fine
+diamonds, they all came to be classed under the head of the "Wardour
+diamonds."</p>
+
+<p>It is small wonder that W&mdash;&mdash; stood aghast at the thought of such a
+robbery, and it is impossible to say when the talk, the wonderment, the
+conjectures, suggestions, theories, and general indignation would have
+ended, had not the second shock overborne the first. Once more let the
+<i>Argus</i> speak:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>A STARTLING DISCOVERY.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday afternoon, while the town was filled with the excitement
+caused by the Wardour robbery, Miss Sybil Lamotte, the beautiful
+daughter of our wealthy and highly respected citizen, Jasper
+Lamotte, Esq., eloped with John Burrill, who was, for a time,
+foreman in one of her father's mills. Burrill is known to be a
+divorced man, having a former wife and a child, living in W&mdash;&mdash;;
+and his elopement with one of the aristocracy has filled the town
+with consternation.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte, the father of the young lady, had not been from home
+two hours, in company with his wife, when his daughter fled. He was
+<i>en route</i> for the city, to procure the services of detectives, in
+the hope of recovering the Wardour diamonds; both his sons were
+absent from home as well. Mr. Lamotte has not yet returned, and is
+still ignorant of his daughter's flight.</p></div>
+
+<p>Thus abruptly and reluctantly ends the second <i>Argus</i> bombshell, and
+this same last bombshell had been a very different thing to handle. It
+might have been made far more sensational, and the editor had sighed as
+he penned the cautiously worded lines: "It was a monstrous
+<i>mesalliance</i>, and a great deal could be said in disparagement of Mr.
+John Burrill;" but Mr. Lamotte was absent; the brothers Lamotte were
+absent; and until he was certain what steps they would take in this
+matter, it were wise to err on the safe side. Sybil was an only
+daughter. Parents are sometimes prone to forgive much; it might be best
+to "let Mr. Burrill off easy."</p>
+
+<p>Thus to himself reasoned the editor, and, having bridled his pen, much
+against his will, he set free his tongue, and in the bosom of his family
+discoursed very freely of Mr. John Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, it's unendurable," he announced to the little woman opposite,
+with the nod of a Solomon. "It's perfectly <i>incomprehensible</i>, how such
+a girl could do it. Why, he's a braggart and a bully. He drinks in our
+public saloons, and handles a woman's name as he does his beer glass.
+The factory men say that he has boasted openly that he meant to marry
+Miss Lamotte, <i>or</i> Miss Wardour, he couldn't decide which. By the by,
+it's rather odd that those two young ladies should meet with such
+dissimilar misfortunes on the same day."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Editor, a small woman, who, from constantly hearing and absorbing
+into the vacuum of her own mind, the words of wisdom falling from the
+mouth of her husband, had acquired an expression of being always ready
+and willing to be convinced, looked up from her teapot and propounded
+the following:</p>
+
+<p>"W-what do you s'pose she eloped with him for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Maria, I believe I have told you frequently that there is no such word
+as 's'pose.' I don't <i>suppose</i> anything about it. It's enough to make
+one believe in witchcraft. Miss Sybil Lamotte held her head above <i>us</i>;
+above plenty more, who were the peers of Mr. John Burrill. Last year, as
+everybody knows, she refused Robert Crofton, who is handsome, rich, and
+upright in character. This Spring, they say, she jilted Raymond Vandyck,
+and people who ought to know, say that they were engaged. Why, Ray
+Vandyck comes of the best old Dutch stock, and his fortune is something
+worth while. I wonder what young Vandyck will say to this, and how that
+high-stepping old lady, his mother, will fancy having her son thrown
+over for John Burrill. I wish I knew how Jasper Lamotte would take it."</p>
+
+<p>So, in many a household, tongues wagged fast and furious; misfortune had
+smitten the mighty ones of W&mdash;&mdash;, and brought them within range of the
+gossiping tongues of their social inferiors; and, while the village
+oracles improve their opportunities, and old women hatch theories, the
+like of which was never heard on earth, let us make the acquaintance of
+some of the "mighty ones."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>W&mdash;&mdash; INVESTIGATES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Wardour Place, the home of Miss Constance Wardour, and the scene of the
+"<i>great</i> Diamond robbery," lies a little east from the town, away from
+the clamor of its mills, and the contamination of its <i>canaille</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is a beautiful old place, built upon a slight elevation, surrounded
+by stately old trees, with a wide sweep of well-kept lawn, bordered with
+rose thickets, and dotted here and there with great clumps of tall
+syringas, white lilacs, acacias, and a variety of ornamental trees and
+flowering shrubs.</p>
+
+<p>The mansion stands some distance from the road, and is reached by a
+broad, sweeping drive and two footpaths that approach from opposite
+directions.</p>
+
+<p>In the rear are orchard and gardens, and beyond these a grassy slope
+that curves down to meet the river, that is ever hurrying townward to
+seize the great mill wheels and set them sweeping round and round.</p>
+
+<p>The mansion itself is a large, roomy edifice, built by a master
+architect. It at once impresses one with a sense of its true purpose: a
+home, stately, but not stiff, abounding in comfort and aristocratic
+ease; a place of serene repose and inborn refinement. Such, Wardour
+Place was intended to be; such, it has been and is.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Constance Wardour, mistress of the domain and last of the race, is
+alone in her own favorite morning room. It is two hours since the
+discovery of the robbery, and during those two hours confusion has
+reigned supreme. Everybody, except Miss Wardour, has seemingly run wild.
+But Miss Wardour has kept her head, and has prevented the servants from
+giving the alarm upon the highway, and thus filling her house with a
+promiscuous mob. She has compelled them to comport themselves like
+rational beings; has ordered the library and dressing room to be closed,
+and left untouched until the proper officer shall have made proper
+investigations; and then she has ordered her maid to serve her with a
+cup of strong coffee in the morning room; and, considering the
+glittering wealth she has just been bereaved of, Miss Wardour looks very
+calm and unruffled, and sips her coffee with a relish.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the door opens and a lady enters: a very fat lady, with florid
+complexion, restless, inquisitive, but good-humored gray eyes, and
+plenty of dark crinkly hair, combed low about her ears.</p>
+
+<p>This is Mrs. Honor Aliston, a distant relative of Miss Wardour's, who
+has found a most delightful home with that young lady, ever since the
+death of Grandmamma Wardour, for Constance Wardour has been an orphan
+since her childhood.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston comes forward, rather rolls forward, and sinking, with a
+grunt of satisfaction, into the largest chair at hand, fixes two gray
+eyes upon the heiress, which that young lady, perceiving, says: "Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say 'well' to me. I've just come down from the mansard," gasped
+the widow Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"From the <i>mansard</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," fanning herself briskly with the pages of an uncut magazine.</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughs musically. "Why, Aunt Honor, you didn't expect to see
+the robbers running across the country, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," disdainfully. "I wanted to see how long it took the news to get
+to&mdash;Mapleton."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;they're coming."</p>
+
+<p>"So soon!"</p>
+
+<p>"So soon! and the sheriff, or constable, or coroner,&mdash;<i>who</i> is it that
+make these investigations? He's coming, at any rate, whoever he is, with
+a mob at his heels. Who did you send for, Con?"</p>
+
+<p>"For Mr. O'Meara, of course, and&mdash;I would like to see Ray Vandyck."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed. "Oh, I am fond of Ray, you know, and I think he would
+offer some unique suggestions; besides&mdash;dear me, auntie!" breaking off
+suddenly, "I wish this farce was at an end."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston's gray eyes twinkled. "Why, child, you may be thankful it's
+no worse. Suppose&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Aunt Honor. 'Walls have ears,' you know. I have half a mind to
+take Mr. Lamotte into my&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Constance Wardour, <i>what</i> are you thinking about? 'Take Mr. Lamotte!'
+that means Frank Lamotte and Madame Lamotte, and <i>that</i> means all the
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I said '<i>half</i> a mind,' auntie. I don't think the notion will ever get
+its growth. I think we will see the end of this affair through our own
+spectacles; but&mdash;hear that noise! Are they bringing a legion of people?
+Auntie, I don't believe you have had a cup of coffee yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you? Well, I <i>have</i>, my child. Let's go out and meet those
+people. They will bring all the dirt that lay loose on the highway on
+the soles of their boots. Con," turning suddenly, "you don't look solemn
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>Without heeding this last remark, Constance Wardour throws open the
+door, and passes out and down the hall to meet the party just entering.</p>
+
+<p>There is Mr. Soames, the mayor of W&mdash;&mdash;, very bustling and important;
+Corliss, the constable, exceedingly shrewd in his own opinion, and
+looking on this occasion as wise as an owl; Thomas Craig, Esq.,
+sub-editor of the <i>Argus</i>; and some lesser lights, who, on one pretext
+and another, hope to gain admittance and sate their curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Miss Wardour," begins the bustling mayor, "really, this is a
+sad affair! miserable affair! Must have given you a terrible fright, and
+then the loss!&mdash;but we will find them. Of course your jewels, such
+valuables, can't be kept hid from sharp detectives&mdash;a&mdash;Corliss, what had
+we better do first?" for Mayor Soames, like many another mayor, is
+about as capable of fulfilling his duties as an average ten-year-old.</p>
+
+<p>Corliss, however, comes gallantly to the rescue. He is equal to any
+emergency; there is nothing, if you take his word as proof, that Corliss
+is <i>not</i> equal to.</p>
+
+<p>"First," says Corliss, "I think we had better&mdash;ahem&mdash;investigate."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure&mdash;investigate, of course&mdash;Miss Wardour, you have&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Closed up the disturbed rooms," interrupts Constance, promptly. "Yes,
+sir; I fear you will find little there to assist you. Nelly, throw open
+the library."</p>
+
+<p>The servant, thus commanded, took from her mistress' hand a key,
+unlocked the library door and threw it open; and then the farce began.</p>
+
+<p>If there is anything in all our dispensations of law and order that is
+calculated to strike astonishment to the heart and mind of a foreigner,
+it is our off-hand way of conducting a police investigation. In other
+countries, to be a magistrate, a notary, means to be in some degree
+qualified for the position; to be a constable, means to possess a
+moderate allowance of mother wit, and a small measure of "muscular
+christianity;" and to discover a crime, means to follow it up with a
+thorough and systematic investigation. Such is not our mode. With us, to
+hold office, means to get a salary; and to conduct an investigation,
+means to maunder through some sort of farce, which gives the criminal
+time to make good his escape, and to permit the newspapers to seize upon
+and publish every item, to detail every clue, as fast as discovered; all
+this being in favor of the law-breakers, and detrimental to the
+conscientious officers of justice.</p>
+
+<p>In France, they complain of too much red tape in the police department.
+Let them supply us out of their superabundance; we have too little.</p>
+
+<p>While Corliss "investigates," the mayor delivers an impromptu oration;
+and Mr. Craig, of the <i>Argus</i>, takes notes, according to his own light.</p>
+
+<p>Out of his inner consciousness, the <i>Argus</i> man evokes an idea, which
+Corliss is not slow to adopt and use as his own.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose they will have a detective down as soon as possible," says
+Mr. Craig, as Corliss lays one ruthless hand on an overturned chair. "If
+I were you, Corliss, I would leave everything exactly as I find it, for
+the benefit of whoever works up the case."</p>
+
+<p>Corliss slowly lowers the chair to its former position, and turns upon
+Craig a look of offended dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what did you suppose I intended to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Umph!" retorted Craig, with a disrespectful sniff, "I rather thought
+you intended to sit down in that chair."</p>
+
+<p>Turning his back upon the flippant young man, so sadly lacking in
+respect for the "powers that be," Corliss pursues his investigations. He
+has read, in many novels and sensational newspapers, vivid descriptions
+of similar examinations, and he goes to work after the most approved
+fashion. He scrutinizes the window, the open blind, the cut pane, the
+hangings within and the down-trodden shrubbery without; he darts out,
+and dives in; he peers under every thing, over every thing, into every
+thing; he inspects, over and again, the mutilated writing case, or safe,
+from which the treasure was actually taken; and raps and sounds it as if
+in search of some private receptacle that the thieves had overlooked, or
+Miss Wardour never found out. He goes down flat upon his stomach, and
+scrutinizes Miss Wardour's scrupulously swept carpets, in search of a
+footprint in the dust that is not there.</p>
+
+<p>While he performs these feats, the mayor follows him about solemnly, and
+full of wondering admiration; and the man of the <i>Argus</i> scribbles, and
+chuckles and grins maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, there have been other arrivals at Wardour Place; and
+Constance, leaving the inspectors to their own devices, is standing in
+her drawing-room, talking earnestly with a broad-shouldered, handsome
+man, who looks much surprised at the tale she is telling.</p>
+
+<p>"How unfortunate, and how fortunate," he says, depositing his hat upon
+the table beside him. "I came here to speak of our river excursion, and
+lo, I am in the midst of a sensation."</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"And surrounded by forlorn females," she supplemented. "Aunt Honor won't
+recover from the fright in a week, although she looks so fierce at
+present."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston, who is seated at the farthest window, half buried by the
+lace draperies, and looking steadfastly down the road, pops out her head
+to retort:</p>
+
+<p>"It's time to look fierce; don't I know that those Vandals in the next
+room will make as big a muddle as if they were in sympathy with the
+burglars?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed easily.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't do much harm, auntie; the burglars did not leave a trace; I
+am positive of that." Then turning to the new comer, "I am very glad you
+came just now, Doctor Heath; you may help me with your advice. I have
+sent for my lawyer, Mr. O'Meara; but, for some reason he does not come."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara left for the city last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I am sorry for that; he would be sure to know how to proceed, and
+who to employ. Doctor Heath you are of course acquainted in the city;
+tell me of a good man, a <i>really</i> good one. I intend to spare no expense
+in hunting these robbers."</p>
+
+<p>"And these diamonds," from behind the curtain.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Honor, you are like the ghost in the pantomime; come out and be
+one of us."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then; but seriously, Doctor Heath, if I can't secure but the
+one, let it be the robbers. Do you know I have a fancy that if we caught
+them or him, it would put an end to some of our mysteries. You have not
+been among us very long; but, don't you think we have more than our
+average of crime?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had not observed, Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"Less than a year ago, Brant, the jeweler, was a heavy loser. Within the
+year, three banks in this vicinity have been robbed. Last summer, Mark
+Olson, a farmer, drew from the bank several thousand dollars, intending
+to purchase land. Half way between W&mdash;&mdash; and his home he was waylaid,
+knocked from his horse, robbed, and left in the road senseless. I could
+name to you no less than seven private residences that have been
+burglarized within the past ten months, and if I related to you the
+circumstances attending each robbery, you would be satisfied, as I am,
+that, <i>in every case</i>, the robbers knew their ground, and did not work
+at random."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have noted each of these events so accurately, Miss Wardour,
+and yet, were not&mdash;warned."</p>
+
+<p>"I have noted all these events, Doctor Heath, and yet&mdash;have been
+robbed."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath bends his eyes upon the floor, and remains silent; there is
+no possibility of reading his thoughts in his face. It is a fine face,
+however, and Miss Wardour must be pardoned if she takes advantage of
+this temporary abstraction, to gaze full at him for one moment. The
+close cropped thick brown hair displays a well shaped head, the forehead
+is broad and full, the eyes large, dark gray, and capable of almost any
+expression; usually they look out from his handsome face with a half
+contemptuous indifference to all things, that leads one to fancy those
+eyes may have a history; this may or may not be the case. Doctor Heath
+came to W&mdash;&mdash; less than a year ago, armed with a personal certificate of
+merit from the first of the great New York physicians, bought out the
+practice of a broken down old resident doctor, fitted up a handsome
+office, and settled down to his business. He hired a small cottage as a
+place of residence, installed a deaf old woman as housekeeper and maid
+of all work, and lived a quiet bachelor life, riding a good horse,
+smoking a good cigar, and growing in favor with polite W&mdash;&mdash; society.</p>
+
+<p>And this is absolutely all that W&mdash;&mdash; can tell concerning Dr. Clifford
+Heath. What was his past, whence he came, what the length of his purse
+or pedigree, no one knows. People have tried to find out something&mdash;of
+course&mdash;but Doctor Heath has a wonderful way of setting aside the hints
+of the curious, and he ignores the right of W&mdash;&mdash; to know his private
+history, with a cool impertinence that is as exasperating as it is
+effectual.</p>
+
+<p>As he thinks, Miss Wardour watches; but no change comes over the calm,
+smooth shaven face, every feature expresses firmness and strength, and
+nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you want an able officer to take this business in hand, Miss
+Wardour," says Clifford Heath, at length. "If it is as you suspect, it
+will need a shrewd man, and you have no clue, save those that are now
+being inspected," with a light laugh, "by our worthy constable and his
+supporters."</p>
+
+<p>Constance Wardour arose and came close to the table, speaking in a low
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Doctor Heath, I will trust <i>you</i>, although I intended saying
+nothing of this until an officer arrived. I have a clue, slight,
+although it may be, it is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs02" id="gs02"></a>
+<img src="images/gs02.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I have a clue.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>She drew from her pocket a small white roll, and unfolding it, held up
+for his inspection <i>half</i> of a fine cambric handkerchief, and a tiny
+stoppered vial of finest cut glass.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath glanced at the vial and uttered one word.</p>
+
+<p>"Chloroform."</p>
+
+<p>"Chloroform," repeated Miss Wardour; "when I was awakened, by the
+knocking at my door, I found this," shaking the fragment of cambric,
+"lying lightly across my face; and the vial, on the little night stand
+beside my bed. Aunt Honor was rapping for admittance, and when she had
+made me comprehend the situation, we decided that it was best to say
+nothing of this. What seems most strange is, that it was administered
+with so much care; I am affected by the smallest quantity of the drug,
+and an ordinary dose would have put me under medical treatment. I could
+not have left my bed for a week, had they given me as much as would
+serve only to stupify Aunt Honor there."</p>
+
+<p>"No," interrupted Mrs. Aliston, once more half emerging from her window.
+"It would have been worse than that; I think an overdose of chloroform
+would kill Constance. It seems as if they knew just how much to give."</p>
+
+<p>Was it fancy, or did a troubled look rest for a moment in the eyes of
+Doctor Heath, and on his countenance a shade of pallor?</p>
+
+<p>"This is, to my mind, the most serious aspect of the affair," he said
+gravely. "Mrs. Aliston is right; an overdose of that drug would be fatal
+to you. Your life has been jeopardized. I agree with Mrs. Aliston, your
+investigation <i>is</i> in the hands of bunglers; let us hunt these fellows
+down."</p>
+
+<p>"I will see that an officer is telegraphed for at once; but&mdash;shall I
+send to the regular bureau, or&mdash;how?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is one man in the city, if he <i>is</i> in the city now, who is
+qualified for the position he holds. He has withdrawn himself from the
+regular force, and acts solely on his own responsibility. He is much
+sought after, and possesses wonderful abilities; some of his exploits
+have been truly astounding."</p>
+
+<p>"And this man is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte; Mr. Francis Lamotte," announced a servant.</p>
+
+<p>"Show them in," said Constance, at the same time gathering up the piece
+of cambric and the little vial and putting them in her pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath arose, and taking up his hat, murmured an apology.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a patient at this hour, Miss Wardour, and will call again during
+the day. You will not stand in need of my counsel now," smilingly. "Mr.
+Lamotte can give you all needful advice, and he is sure to be right,"
+and Doctor Heath bowed himself out.</p>
+
+<p>"The Wardour diamonds," he muttered, as he mounted his horse. "And to
+think that they almost cost her her life; a skilled hand was it? Well,
+when the detective comes, I, too, may have a clue for him."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SAMPLE OF THE LAMOTTE BLOOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Jasper Lamotte is a tall man, a dark man, and a stately man. He is
+grave of speech, yet very suave and pleasing. He is open handed and
+charitable, and a very popular man among the people of W&mdash;&mdash;. He will
+rein in his blooded horses to ask after the health of his factory hands,
+and doff his hat to the wife of his humblest tenant. He has been for
+many years a resident of W&mdash;&mdash;. Years ago he was a great traveler,
+coming and going almost incessantly, but, after a time, he built the
+largest and newest of the W&mdash;&mdash; mills, and settled himself down to rear
+his family, and attend in person to his "bales and shekels."</p>
+
+<p>Francis Lamotte is, what his father has been, a tall, dark eyed, sallow
+skinned young man, with a Greek profile, a profusion of curling dusky
+hair, a soft slow voice, a sweet and most pleasing smile; aristocratic
+hands and feet, a most affable manner; a very agreeable companion, and a
+dutiful son and brother. So saith W&mdash;&mdash;. Such is Francis Lamotte, and
+being such, he is voted, with one consent, the handsomest young man in
+W&mdash;&mdash;. Francis Lamotte, too, is popular with the people of W&mdash;&mdash;;
+handsome and fascinating, the son of a father whose fortune is said to
+be enormous; he is welcomed in every household circle, and he brings
+pleasure and courtesy wherever he enters.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, my child, what is this that I hear?" exclaims Jasper
+Lamotte, taking the hand of Miss Wardour as she advances to meet him.
+"Have they not exaggerated the truth? The village is full of rumors."</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, good morning," breaks in Francis Lamotte. "Father's head is
+a little turned by all this. <i>Have</i> you had a burglar? <i>Have</i> they
+stolen the Wardour diamonds? And <i>are</i> you frightened to death? And,"
+with a malicious glance toward Mrs. Aliston, who had forsaken her window
+and was rolling slowly towards them, serene, and dignified, "did they
+bind and gag dear Mrs. A&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! and no, no!" says Constance, cutting off the retort that was
+rising to the lips of her aunt. "Be seated, Mr. Lamotte; sit down Frank.
+I have 'had a burglar,' they did steal my diamonds. But&mdash;well, they did
+not frighten me for I was not aware of their presence, and they did not
+bind Aunt Honor for they&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hadn't rope enough," interrupts that lady, at which they all laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"But seriously, Constance," resumes Lamotte <i>pere</i>, "this is a bad
+business; a <i>very</i> bad business; good gracious! are we all to be robbed
+at the pleasure of these rascals? plundered whenever their pockets run
+dry? It's abominable! What has been done? There should be an officer on
+the spot now."</p>
+
+<p>"So there is," breaks in Aunt Honor, with suspicious sweetness.
+"Constable Corliss and Mayor Soames, are examining the library and
+dressing room."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte retains his gravity, but after exchanging demure glances,
+and in spite of themselves, Constance and Francis Lamotte laugh
+outright.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, my friends, let us await a revelation," Francis drawls in the
+most approved "camp meeting" fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Corliss!" Mr. Lamotte smiles slightly; "at any rate he will try to
+do his duty. But, Constance, you should have an officer here as soon as
+possible; I should not come here venturing my suggestions but I learned,
+accidentally, that your lawyer O'Meara, is absent; that is another
+misfortune. O'Meara has a long clear head; would not make a bad
+detective himself. As he <i>is</i> away, and you need some one to act for
+you, why, I place myself at your disposal; if you have not already
+appointed an agent," with another smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have made no move in the matter, Mr. Lamotte; indeed, I have hardly
+had time to think, as yet. I suppose, too, that we have lost valuable
+time, and yet we can't get a detective down here in a moment. Pray take
+what measures you deem best, and let us have the <i>best</i> officer that we
+can get. I am especially anxious to capture the thieves if possible&mdash;and
+the diamonds&mdash;of course."</p>
+
+<p>"England expects every man to do his duty," quoted Francis. "Constance
+give me an appointment, too."</p>
+
+<p>"So I will," retorted Constance, wickedly. "I think you are eminently
+fitted to assist&mdash;Mr. Corliss."</p>
+
+<p>"Frank, be serious," says Mr. Lamotte, with a touch of severity. "Now
+Constance, let us do what we can to make up for this unavoidable loss of
+time; first tell me, as minutely as you can, just how this robbery was
+discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a very brief story," says Constance, smiling slightly, and then
+she narrates, in a somewhat hurried manner, as if she were weary of the
+subject, and wanted to have done with it, the events of the morning,
+omitting, however, to mention the finding of the chloroform vial, and
+the half square of cambric.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Soames and the constable&mdash;and several more, were on the spot with
+great promptness," finished she, with a comical glance toward Mrs.
+Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"We overlooked their proceedings until we discovered that they would do
+no actual damage, but would leave everything exactly as they found it,
+and then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," interrupted Francis, with a queer smile upon his lips, "and then
+you found a more agreeable occupation."</p>
+
+<p>"And then," continued Constance, as if she had not heard him, but
+returning his half-malicious look with interest, "Dr. Heath called, and
+I told him all about it. He is very clear headed and sensible, and I was
+sorry his time was so limited; he might have been of some assistance,
+and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad," again broke in young Lamotte, with something very like a
+sneer upon his handsome face. "Let me repair the damage. I'll tell him
+to call&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not at all, Frank; pardon my interruption," said the girl, turning
+her eyes full upon him with artful artlessness. "You are very good, but
+it's quite unnecessary. Dr. Heath promised to call again during the day
+or evening."</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte bit his lip, but kept silent; and the elder man came to
+the rescue. He had been thinking, and without seeming to have noticed
+the little passage at arms, he arose and said: "Well, Constance, I don't
+see that talking will do much good just now; what the occasion demands
+is action. My first impulse was to telegraph at once for an officer from
+the city force, but, on reflection, I think it better not to use the
+telegraph. Our every movement may be closely noted, and to send a
+message would be to set some one watching for the arrival of a
+detective, and once his identity becomes known, farewell to his
+prospects of success. It will take a few hours longer to get him here,
+but I think I had better visit the city in person, lay the case before
+our man, and so enable him to enter the town prepared for his work, and
+able to maintain his incognito. I have business of my own in the city,
+and Mrs. Lamotte is anxious to do some shopping. Women are always
+anxious to shop, I believe. I will return home at once, and give her
+warning; it will look less like a business trip if she accompanies me.
+How does this plan suit you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any plan that brings us a competent officer as early as possible, will
+suit me," replied Constance. "It's <i>very</i> good of you to take all this
+trouble, Mr. Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing of the sort," expostulated Mr. Lamotte, heartily. "I am always
+at the service of my daughter's dearest friend. By the by, Sybil is not
+yet aware of your loss. I did not enlighten her, for I knew she would
+insist upon coming with me, and that," smiling a little, "would have
+necessitated waiting for toilette."</p>
+
+<p>"And apropos of toilettes," cried his son, springing up. "There is
+<i>Mere</i>, she will want due warning, for nothing short of a full hour will
+she take. So, sir, let's take a look at Soames and Corliss, and hasten
+our departure."</p>
+
+<p>"Right; quite right, Frank, I will appoint you as my representative in
+my absence. You are to execute any and all of Miss Wardour's commands."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to do that at any and all times," replied the young man,
+with sudden gravity, and letting his dark eyes rest for a moment upon
+the face of the lady in question. And then, without waiting for an
+answering remark, he turned from the room, followed by his father and
+the two ladies.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs03" id="gs03"></a>
+<img src="images/gs03.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I am ready to do that at any and all times.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>They found Corliss making his final sprawl, and the entire committee of
+investigation ready with any quantity of newly hatched theories,
+probable and improbable. Cutting short their eloquence, however, Mr.
+Lamotte recommended them to talk as little as possible among the
+townspeople, and to pursue the investigation quietly, after their own
+light. Then, after a few more words with the fair heiress, father and
+son took their leave.</p>
+
+<p>Left alone, Constance sprang lightly out from the open library window,
+and began pacing the graveled walk, with a brow wrinkled in thought.
+Hearing a step behind her, she turned to encounter once more the gaze of
+Francis Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," he said, quite humbly. "I was commissioned by Sybil
+to give you this," extending a dainty white note. "In the excitement of
+the morning I quite forgot it. Sybil gave me it last evening, asking me
+to deliver it this morning," and lowering his voice, "knowing it would
+be for me an exceedingly delightful mission."</p>
+
+<p>Constance took the missive, and twisting it carelessly in her fingers,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Frank; many thanks. And now, as you are under my commands, I
+forbid any more flattery and nonsense, sir. I am not in the mood to
+retort."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better for me," muttered the young man, moodily.
+"Constance, I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, sir! Have you not received your orders? My mind is on my
+losses. If you can think of no way to further our search, I shall
+dismiss you."</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of a way, then," he replied, with a touch of dignity. "I
+think one point has been overlooked. Those robbers have undoubtedly fled
+the town with their treasure, but it is hardly likely that they went by
+any very public thoroughfare. Now one, two or more strangers, traveling
+across the country, may have been seen by some cottager, farmer, or wood
+cutter; and I think it would be a mistake to neglect what might give us
+a clue. Probably the rascals took to their heels during the hours of
+darkness, making for some small railroad station. Now, I propose to go
+straightway, mount my horse, and scour the country in search of
+information. If I find a clew I shall follow it up; and so, if you don't
+see me by to-morrow morning, Constance, you may know that I have struck
+the trail."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Frank," cried Constance, in a burst of outspoken admiration. "I
+didn't think it was in you! Really, I admire you immensely; and you will
+really abandon your ease and comfort for&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You."</p>
+
+<p>"No, don't put it in that way; say for justice."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care a fig for justice!" impatiently. "My motive is purely
+selfish. If I can be instrumental in recovering your diamonds, may I not
+hope for some very small reward?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be&mdash;sure, Frank. I had overlooked that; a reward of course. I mean
+to have posters out right away, and&mdash;you may as well earn it as any
+one."</p>
+
+<p>Francis Lamotte turned swiftly and stood for a moment with bent, averted
+head; then turning once more toward her a set, white face, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Even your cruelty shall not prevent me from serving you to the fullest
+extent of my power. And while I am gone you will receive&mdash;" he broke off
+abruptly, then went on, speaking huskily. "Constance, a girl like you
+can know little of the life led by a man who is an enigma even to his
+fellow men. I wish I could teach you to distrust&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She lifted one hand, warningly. "You can teach me to distrust no one
+but yourself, Frank; and please don't perpetually talk of me as some
+unsophisticated school girl. I am twenty-one, nearly as old as you, my
+child,&mdash;old enough, certainly, to form my own judgment of people and
+things. Don't let's quarrel, Frank; you know I have been taught
+self-reliance, and never submit to dictation."</p>
+
+<p>"As the queen pleases;" he lifted his hat with a graceful gesture.
+"Good-morning, Constance," and he turned and strode rapidly away.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped and turned toward her, but did not retrace his steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you really going, <i>a la Don Quixote</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really am," gravely.</p>
+
+<p>He lifted his hat once more, and without uttering a word, resumed his
+rapid walk down the graveled footpath. Reaching the entrance to the
+grounds he paused, leaning for a moment against a stone pillar of the
+gateway; his hands were clenched until the nails left deep indentations
+in the flesh; his face was ghastly and covered with great drops of
+perspiration, and, whether the look that shone from his glittering dark
+eyes betokened rage, or despair, or both, an observer could not have
+guessed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Constance stood as he had left her, gazing after him with a
+mingled expression of annoyance and regret.</p>
+
+<p>"It was very ungracious of me," she thought, half penitently, "but
+there's no other way with Frank, and his love-making annoys me
+exceedingly, especially since Aunt Honor's discovery. How she detests
+him, and Aunt Honor is too easy to lavish her hate upon many."</p>
+
+<p>As if conjured up by her words, Mrs. Aliston appeared at the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Handsome fellow, isn't he?" that is what her lips said, but the tone
+and look said quite as plainly, "detestable, abominable, odious." For
+Mrs. Aliston believed that she had discovered a good reason for
+disliking Frank Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be exasperating, Aunt Honor," retorted Constance, re-entering the
+window with a slow, languid movement, as if the events of the morning
+had wearied her vastly. "Everybody has outdone themselves in the
+disagreeable line, myself included. I wish the burglars had carried me
+off along with my jewels. I am going up-stairs and try another dose of
+burglarious chloroform. But, first," dropping into the nearest chair,
+and assuming a tragic tone, "Let me peruse the letter of my beloved
+Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>She broke the seal of the dainty envelope, to find that it enclosed
+another and still smaller one; and on this she read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Constance, if I did not trust you so fully, I would not dare risk
+this: Do not open this envelope until sunset of to-morrow
+(Saturday); the contents will enlighten you as to my reasons for
+this strangeness <i>then</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>There was no signature, but the handwriting of Sybil Lamotte was too
+familiar to be mistaken. And, Constance Wardour sat silent and
+motionless, gazing at the little envelope with such a look of intense
+gravity upon her face as had not rested there during the entire
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston, who was a woman of tact, and understood her niece
+thoroughly, seemed not to have noticed the unopened envelope, and asked
+for no news from Sybil.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, Constance arose, and, still wearing that weary air and solemn
+face, crossed the room; with her hand upon the door, she turned her face
+toward Mrs. Aliston, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie, you hear about all that's going; did you ever hear that there
+was a streak of insanity in the Lamotte blood?" And then, without
+waiting for the astonished lady to reply, she quietly passed out and up
+the broad stairs.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>SYBIL'S LETTER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is almost sunset, and Constance Wardour is standing alone at her
+dressing-room window, which faces the west. It is still in confusion,
+but she cares little for that. Her thoughts are far away from the
+"Wardour diamonds" at this moment. Several things have occurred to vex
+and annoy her to-day, and Constance Wardour, heiress and autocrat, is
+not accustomed to being annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, so peculiar is her nature, that very few things have power to
+annoy her; but, just now, she is annoyed because she <i>is</i> annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"As the queen pleases," Frank Lamotte had said; and all her fair
+twenty-one years of life events had been ordered "as the queen pleased."
+She had been taught self-reliance, so she told him; she had inherited
+self-reliance, she might have said, inherited it along with the rich,
+strong, fearless blood, the haughtiness, the independence, and the
+intolerance of the Wardours.</p>
+
+<p>The haughtiness was only for those who presumed; the intolerance for
+those she despised; and Miss Wardour was quite capable of that strong
+sentiment, or feeling. The independence was an ever present element of
+her nature.</p>
+
+<p>Of medium height, she was neither slender nor plump, graceful curves,
+perfect outlines, faultless gait and gesture; she, "slew her tens of
+thousands," and bore herself like a princess royal toward all.</p>
+
+<p>Without being regularly beautiful, her face is very fair to see. Being,
+in spite of her haughtiness, most kind and considerate toward inferiors
+and dependents, and withal exceeding lovable, she is disqualified for a
+novel heroine by her excessive humanness; and, by that same humanness,
+eminently qualified to be loved by all who know her, gentle and simple.</p>
+
+<p>Just now her firm little mouth is pursed up, and her brow is wrinkled
+into a frown, such as never is seen on the face of any orthodox heroine;
+but, her thoughts are very orthodox, as heroines go. She is wondering
+why Doctor Heath has not made his second appearance at Wardour Place,
+when she so plainly signified her desire to see him there, again, and
+soon.</p>
+
+<p>Not that she had bidden him come in so many words; but, had she not
+looked? had she not smiled? Not that she felt any special interest in
+Dr. Heath; oh, not at all, only she was bored, and worried, and wanted
+to be amused, and entertained; and Clifford Heath <i>could</i> be
+entertaining.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil Lamotte's unopened note lies on the dressing table. She has
+pondered over that half the afternoon, and has wondered, and guessed, at
+its meaning; turning over in her mind every explanation probable, and
+possible, but satisfied with none. She is wonderfully lacking in
+curiosity, for a woman, but for this she might not have withstood the
+temptation to anticipate the sunset; for she never has felt so curious
+about a mystery in her life.</p>
+
+<p>She turns abruptly from the window, and her eyes fall upon Sybil's note,
+her thoughts return to it again. But it is not quite sunset.</p>
+
+<p>Picking it up, she re-reads for the twentieth time the puzzling lines,
+then she throws it down impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" she exclaims; "You wretched little white enigma! you are tempting
+me to forget myself. I shall flee from the fascination of your
+mysterious face, for I am quite certain that Joshua's chariot is abroad,
+and the sun is standing still in the skies."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, she goes out, closing and locking the dressing-room door, and
+descends the stately stairs; at their foot she pauses in full view of
+the entrance, for there, hat in hand, appears the subject of her recent
+discontent, Doctor Heath. Surely there must be something depressing in
+the atmosphere, Constance thinks, as she goes forward to meet him; for
+his face wears a grave, troubled look not usually seen there.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Doctor Heath," she says, half reproachfully, and fabricating after
+the manner of her sex, "here I have been trying to evoke from my 'inner
+consciousness' what manner of man your great detective might be. You
+barely introduced him, and then you flitted; and I do so much dislike
+the 'To be continued' style."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," he replies, soberly, as he follows her into the drawing room.
+"So much that I shall make the story I have come to tell, as brief as
+maybe. Miss Wardour, have you heard any news from the town&mdash;since
+noon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word," moving across the room, and drawing back the curtain so
+that the last rays of sunlight fall across the floor. "Is there any
+news? Have they found a trace of my robbers?"</p>
+
+<p>"For the time being, your robbers, are forgotten," smiling slightly.
+"W&mdash;&mdash; has had a fresh sensation this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"So! and I have become a lesser light? Well, so goes the world! Of
+course it won't be as interesting as the story of my own woes; but, who
+is the newest candidate for sensational honors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend, Miss Sybil Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly her careless tone changes to one of gravity. For a moment she
+has forgotten Sybil, and her note; now she remembers both, and
+involuntarily glances out toward the west. The sun is almost gone, but
+still darts red gleams across the sky. Moving nearer she seats herself,
+and scans his face a moment, and then, while she motions him to a seat
+opposite her, says, in that low even tone that is usual to her in all
+serious moods.</p>
+
+<p>"And what of Sybil Lamotte?" Her eyes search his face; instinctively she
+knows that something serious has happened; she dreads, yet, with her
+natural bravery, resolves to hear the worst at once.</p>
+
+<p>"She has&mdash;eloped."</p>
+
+<p>"Eloped! But why? Sybil eloped&mdash;then it must be with Ray Vandyck,"
+drawing a breath of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"No," gloomily. "It is <i>not</i> Raymond Vandyck. That would have been
+simply a piece of romantic folly, since no one would long oppose Ray,
+but this&mdash;this thing that she has done, is worse than folly, it is
+crime, madness."</p>
+
+<p>"Not Ray! and yet Sybil lo&mdash;Doctor Heath tell the whole truth, the very
+worst, quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil loved Raymond Vandyck, that is what you were about to say, Miss
+Wardour. You would have betrayed no secret; poor young Vandyck honors me
+with his confidence. I left him, not half an hour ago, prostrate, half
+maddened with grief and rage; grief, when he thinks of Sybil lost to
+him, and fury when he thinks of the man she has chosen. I never saw him;
+but if the public voice speaks truth, John Burrill is all that is vulgar
+and corrupt."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>John Burrill!</i>" Constance springs to her feet with eyes flashing.
+"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute; mentally, morally, physically, <i>a
+brute</i>. And you couple his name with that of Sybil Lamotte? Doctor
+Heath, this is an infamous trick. Some one has lied to you. You have
+never seen him, you say; if you <i>had</i> you could not have been duped. <i>I</i>
+know him, as one grows to know any notorious character in a town like
+this, from seeing him reeling intoxicated through our streets, from
+hearing of his most startling escapades; a common lounger, a drunkard, a
+man with a divorced wife in our very midst. Doctor Heath, I know you are
+incapable of such a jest, but tell me who has caused you to believe a
+thing so shameful?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs04" id="gs04"></a>
+<img src="images/gs04.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">John Burrill! Why, he is a Brute!</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I thank you for your faith in me," he says, with the shadow of a smile
+upon his face. "The story is shameful indeed, but it is <i>true</i>. Sybil
+Lamotte has eloped, and with John Burrill. Listen, before you
+remonstrate. This afternoon at two o'clock, John Burrill, with a swift
+horse and shining new carriage, drove boldly up to the side entrance of
+Mapleton Park. There, Sybil Lamotte was awaiting him; he handed her to
+his carriage and then drove ostentatiously through the town taking the
+west road. It appears, that for several days, Burrill had been dropping
+hints in his sober moments, and boasting openly in his cups, of his
+coming marriage with one of the belles of W&mdash;&mdash;, and, last evening, he
+openly avowed that to-day, he should 'carry off Miss Sybil Lamotte, in
+spite of her high and mighty family, and in the face of all the town.'
+Of course, no one who heard regarded these things, save as the bombast
+of a half drunken braggart and liar. To-day, young Evarts and his still
+wilder chum, encountered him just setting forth with his fine turnout
+and wonderfully gotten up. They jested on his fine appearance, and for
+once he evaded their questions, and seemed anxious to be rid of them.
+This piqued their curiosity, and, ripe for mischief, as usual, they
+resolved to follow him.</p>
+
+<p>"They were mounted when they met him, having just ridden into town. They
+saw him stop at Mapleton and take up Miss Sybil, from there they
+followed them westward. Burrill drove at the height of his horse's
+speed, and the boys, who followed at a distance, arrived at Milton (you
+will see their policy in avoiding the railroad towns), ten miles
+distance, to find that Burrill had changed horses there, and driven
+away, still westward, at the same break-neck pace. Burrill's horse was
+badly used up, short as the drive had been, and the man who took it in
+charge said that the fresh horse was brought there by him, Burrill,
+yesterday, and that he had heard the lady complain that they 'could not
+go fast enough.'"</p>
+
+<p>He ceases, and his eyes rest anxiously on her face. She does not seem to
+have observed that he is not speaking. She has heard every word, and,
+somehow, the conviction has been growing even in advance of his story,
+that it is all true. This will explain Sybil's strange letter, and&mdash;that
+letter! what does it contain? She turns and gazes, as if fascinated,
+towards the west. There are no more golden gleams athwart the windows,
+only a dull red flush upon the horizon. The sun, at last, has set.</p>
+
+<p>At last! She turns, rises slowly and without once glancing toward him
+begins to pace the length of the room, and he sees that the queenly Miss
+Wardour is for once, unnerved, is struggling for composure.</p>
+
+<p>Finally she speaks, still keeping up her slow promenade.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Heath, I am bewildered. I am terrified! I&mdash;" She breaks
+off suddenly, as if to modify her speech. "This can be no
+common&mdash;elopement," she winces at the word. "Sybil is refined, honest
+and true-hearted, and she loves&mdash;another. There must be something yet,
+to be understood, and," with a sudden startled look in her eyes,
+"perhaps this might have been prevented; perhaps <i>I</i> might have
+prevented it if&mdash;" another break; then, "Doctor, it is just possible
+that I may find a clue to this strangeness. Will you pardon my absence
+for a short time, and await me here? This is a strange request, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a day of strange things," he interrupts, kindly, seeing her
+agitation. "Go, Miss Wardour; I am at your service this evening."</p>
+
+<p>He crosses the room, seats himself at a table, and takes up a book; and
+Constance stands irresolute for a moment, then, without a word, hurries
+from the room.</p>
+
+<p>Up the stairs she flies, hastily unlocks her dressing-room door, enters,
+and, in a moment, with a courage born of a nervous determination to know
+the worst at once, seizes the mysterious note and breaks the seal. A
+moment's hesitation, and then the page is opened, and the lines, only a
+few, dance before her eyes. She tries to steady her hand; she can not
+read them fast enough.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Constance, Dear Constance:</i></p>
+
+<p>When you read this, you may have become already aware of the fate I
+have chosen for myself. I have no explanation to offer. Think of
+Beauty and the Beast; think of Titania's strange choice; think me
+mad. But oh, Constance, never censure me; never think that all the
+happy days, when you have been my friend, I was not worthy that
+friendship. And, Con., don't let <i>others</i> say things too bitter
+about me. Am I not dead to myself, and to you all? and for the
+dead, have we not charity only? Constance, I wish I were buried,
+too.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sybil</span></p>
+
+<p>P. S.&mdash;Con., never let my relatives see this note. They will have
+enough to bear.</p></div>
+
+<p>So runs the note.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later, Constance Wardour comes quietly into the
+drawing-room. So quietly, that her approach is not observed by Dr.
+Heath, until her voice breaks the silence, and he starts up from the
+reverie in which he has been indulging, to see her standing before him,
+with pale cheeks, and troubled, anxious eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Has my rudeness been quite unpardonable?" she says, appealingly.
+"Truly, I have had no idea of the flight of time. I have been sitting up
+there," motioning toward the upper floor, "stunned, and yet trying to
+think. I have gained a little self-possession," smiling slightly, as she
+sinks into a seat, "but not my senses. I thought myself equal to most
+emergencies, but this is more than an emergency,&mdash;it is a mystery, a
+terror! For the first time in my life, I can't think, I can't reason. I
+don't know what to do!"</p>
+
+<p>It is her turn to speak in riddles; his, not to comprehend. But, being a
+man, he closes his lips and waits.</p>
+
+<p>"Something terrible has befallen Sybil Lamotte," she goes on, gradually
+regaining a measure of her natural tone and manner. "I need an adviser,
+or I had better say, a confidante, for it amounts to that. You know
+Sybil, and you know poor Ray. You are, I believe, a capital judge of
+human nature. This morning, just after you left, as you know, Mr.
+Lamotte and his son called here, and Frank put in my hand this note from
+Sybil." For the first time he observes the letter which she holds
+between her two hands. "For reasons stated on the outside of the
+envelope, which was enclosed in another, I did not break the seal
+until&mdash;now. It may seem like violating Sybil's confidence, but I feel
+justified in doing what I do. I have no one to advise me, Aunt Honor
+being worse than myself in a crisis like this; and I believe that both
+Sybil and I can trust you. Dr. Heath, please read that letter."</p>
+
+<p>He looks at it doubtfully, but does not take it from her extended hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure it is best?" hesitatingly. "You wish it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish it," with a touch of her natural imperiousness; "I believe it is
+best."</p>
+
+<p>Silently he takes the letter from her hand, silently reads the lines
+upon the envelope, while she thinks how sensible he is not to have
+uttered some stereotyped phrase, expressive of his sense of the high
+honor she does him by giving him so much of her confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Still in silence, he opens and reads the letter, then lays it down and
+thinks.</p>
+
+<p>At last she grows impatient. "Well," she exclaims, "are you, too,
+stricken with something nameless?"</p>
+
+<p>He leans toward her, his arm resting upon the table between them, his
+eyes fixed gravely upon her face,</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, does your faith in your friend justify you in complying
+with her wishes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly," with a look of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"In spite of to-day's events?"</p>
+
+<p>"In spite of <i>any thing</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>He draws a long, sighing breath. "Oh," he says, softly, "it would be
+worth something to possess <i>your</i> friendship. Now,&mdash;do you really wish
+for my advice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I not asked for it, or, rather, demanded it, like a true
+highwayman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then here is your case: You have a friend; you trust her fully; nothing
+can shake your faith in her. Suddenly, she does a thing, shocking,
+incomprehensible, and, in doing it, asks you not to question, for she
+can not explain; asks you to think of her kindly; to trust her still.
+Here is a test for your friendship. Others may pry, drag her name about,
+torture her with their curiosity; she has appealed to you. Respect her
+secret. Let her bury it if she will, and can; you can not help her. If
+she has become that bad man's wife, she is past human help. Undoubtedly
+there is a mystery here; undoubtedly she has acted under the control of
+some power outside herself; but she has taken the step, and&mdash;it is
+<i>done</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>She draws a long, sighing breath. "You are right," she says, wearily,
+"your wisdom is simple, but it <i>is</i> wisdom, and I thank you for it; but,
+oh! if they could have been intercepted. If I could have known&mdash;have
+guessed."</p>
+
+<p>He smiles oddly. "You do not consider," he says, "how cunningly their
+plans were laid; doubtless they have been waiting some such opportunity.
+At twelve o'clock, Mr. Lamotte and wife started for the city."</p>
+
+<p>"In my service, alas!"</p>
+
+<p>"At one, Frank Lamotte mounted his horse and rode eastward."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! also to serve me."</p>
+
+<p>"At two o'clock, the coast was clear, and the flight commenced. When it
+became known, search was made for Evan, as the only member of the family
+within reach of a warning voice. They found him in a beer saloon, in a
+state of beastly intoxication."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he was surrounded by a crowd, eager to see and to hear how he
+would receive the news; and the work of sobering him up was at once
+commenced. It took a long time to make him comprehend their meaning, but
+after a while the name of his sister, coupled with that of John Burrill,
+brought him staggering to his feet, and a few moments later, a plain
+statement of the facts, hurled bluntly at him by one of the loungers,
+sobered him completely. In an instant he had laid his informant
+sprawling in the saloon sawdust. He declared it a calumny, as you did,
+and declared war upon the lot of them. Soon kinder hands rescued him
+from these tormentors, and men he could not doubt convinced him of the
+truth of the unhappy affair. And then, any who saw would have pitied
+him. The boy is wild and bad, but he has a heart, and he loves his
+sister. Poor fellow! he is not all bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Evan!"</p>
+
+<p>"He telegraphed at once to his father, and then set out for Mapleton,
+looking like the ghost of himself, but carrying a freshly filled flask."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"He would have started in pursuit, had they not convinced him of the
+folly of such an undertaking."</p>
+
+<p>"Folly, indeed, for him."</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Miss Wardour, we have arrived at the end of certainty, and to
+enter into the field of conjecture is useless. The time may come when
+some of us may be of actual service to this most unhappy friend of
+yours. I confess that I wait with some curiosity the movements of her
+parents in the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"They will take her from him, at once. They will buy him off; compel
+him&mdash;anything to get her back."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps; but&mdash;she may resist them. Think of that letter."</p>
+
+<p>"True. Ah me! I can't think. Doctor Heath, I have kept you here
+starving. I had forgotten that dinner ever was, or could be. You shall
+dine with Aunt Honor and myself; and, for the present, we will not speak
+of poor Sybil's flight to her. She would run the entire gamut of
+speculation, for she is very much given to 'seeing through things,' and
+I can't bear to talk too much on this subject. I should get angry, and
+nervous, and altogether unpleasant. I say, 'you will stay;' <i>will</i> you
+stay?"</p>
+
+<p>He has never before been invited to dine at Wardour Place, except when
+the dinner has been a formal one, and the guests numerous; but he
+accepts this invitation to dine <i>en famill&eacute;</i>, quite nonchalantly, and as
+a thing of course.</p>
+
+<p>So he dines at Wardour Place, and talks with Aunt Honor about the
+robbery, and listens to her description of the splendid Wardour
+diamonds, and looks at Constance, and thinks his own thoughts.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs05" id="gs05"></a>
+<img src="images/gs05.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">So he dines at Wardour Place.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>After dinner Aunt Honor occupies herself with the evening paper; and,
+after a while, Constance and Doctor Heath pass out through the low,
+broad French window, and stand on the balcony. The light from within
+falls upon them and that portion of the balcony where they stand. There
+is a young moon, too; and just beyond is a monster oak, that spreads its
+great branches out, and out, until they rustle, and sway above the lower
+half of the long balcony, and rap and patter against the stone walls.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you thought," asks Constance, as she leans lightly against the
+iron railing, "that to-morrow is Sunday, and that Mr. Lamotte, unless he
+has already returned, can not reach home until Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has occurred to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And poor Sybil! Where will she be by then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour! What disinterestedness! I thought you were thinking of
+your detective."</p>
+
+<p>"My detective! Why, what a lot of stupid people! He might as well not
+come at all. Why didn't you tell me to telegraph at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because Mr. Lamotte was coming. I depended upon him."</p>
+
+<p>"And he has made a blunder."</p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"He may have seen an officer immediately, and the man may be now on the
+way, by the night train. He will be sure to be here before Monday, or he
+is no detective. They depend very little on the regular trains."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh; I am enlightened! All the same, I shall never see my diamonds
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't seem much troubled."</p>
+
+<p>"Pride, all pride! I'm heart broken."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a most <i>nonchalant</i> young lady."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes,&mdash;it's contagious."</p>
+
+<p>Then they both laugh, and relapse into silence. Presently, she says:</p>
+
+<p>"We are sure to have the wrong man. Why did you not tell me the name of
+your great detective, so that I might have commissioned Mr. Lamotte to
+bring him? That man has been in my mind all day. You have made me
+enamored of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" laughing indulgently; "I barely mentioned him."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter; you say he is a splendid officer?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no better. I know of none as good."</p>
+
+<p>"And his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very romantic one: Neil J. Bathurst."</p>
+
+<p>"Why!" stepping suddenly to the window. "Aunt Honor!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replies Mrs. Aliston, from behind her newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the name of your wonderful detective, who brought those two
+murderers from Europe, and had them properly hung?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Neil Bathurst. Why, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing special, auntie;" then returning to the window, "Auntie
+never loses trace of a crime or a trial in high life. I have heard her
+talk of this man's splendid exploits, by the hour. She is a walking
+catalogue in all aristocratic sensations. So this is your great man?
+Well, if he is in the city, we must have him. Mr. Lamotte shall bring
+his man, or send him; there should be work for two. As for me, I intend
+to secure the services of Mr. Neil J. Bathurst."</p>
+
+<p>"He may not be within reach; he is constantly moving, and always busy."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter. I tell you I want to see this man."</p>
+
+<p>"That being the case, I may as well present myself."</p>
+
+<p>They start at the sound of a strange voice near them. There is a
+rustling of leaves, and from one of the great oak's extended branches, a
+form swings downward, and drops lightly upon the grass, just before the
+place where they stand.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" demands Doctor Heath, sternly, as the eavesdropper
+approaches. "And what does this impertinence mean?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs06" id="gs06"></a>
+<img src="images/gs06.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Who are you?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Before they can think, the man approaches the balcony, puts his hands
+upon the railing, and springs lightly over; standing in the full light
+that falls from within, he doffs his hat like a courtier, and bending
+before Constance, says, in a voice that is, for a man, singularly rich
+and mellow:</p>
+
+<p>"Madame, I am here at your service. I am Neil J. Bathurst."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE DEDUCTIONS OF A DETECTIVE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Both Constance and Dr. Heath fancy that they comprehend the situation
+almost instantaneously. The stranger's movements have been so cat-like,
+his voice so carefully modulated, that Aunt Honor reads on, never
+dreaming that an addition has been made to the party. Dr. Heath is the
+first to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word," he says, with a touch of coldness in his tone; "this is
+quite dramatic."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a very good tableaux," admits the new comer, "but dramatic as the
+present day drama goes? No, it's too naturally brought about, as you
+will admit, when I explain my presence here. Your mention of my name,
+while I lay sprawled across the great branch, within easy hearing, was
+rather sensational, to me, but, of course you can explain that."</p>
+
+<p>By this time Constance has recovered herself, and rises to the occasion;
+in fact, she rather enjoys the situation; this is one of the emergencies
+wherein she is quite at home. Without stopping for commonplace remarks,
+or expressions of surprise, she goes straight to the point.</p>
+
+<p>"How we came to be discussing you, you must understand, if you are
+really Mr. Bathurst, and&mdash;have been very long in that tree."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been 'very long' in that tree, I feel it," ruefully. "And I <i>am</i>
+Neil Bathurst, detective; never was anybody else, and by the by, here is
+this doctor; I heard him giving me a capital 'recommend;' now bid him
+step up and identify me," and he laughs as if he had uttered a capital
+joke.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath laughs now, as he comes closer and scrutinizes him by the
+light from the drawing room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I recognize you by your voice, which you have not attempted to
+disguise, and by your&mdash;a&mdash;assurance."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought so!" rubbing his hands with a satisfied air.</p>
+
+<p>"But that physiognomy, I never saw before."</p>
+
+<p>The detective laughs.</p>
+
+<p>"No, this is one of my business faces, and you, sir, are one of the few
+who have known me simply as a man, without inference to my occupation; a
+man like me may be expected to turn up anywhere, but you, sir, are the
+last man I expected to see in this place."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I have been an inhabitant of W&mdash;&mdash; for a year; but enough
+of me for the present. Mr. Bathurst, this lady is Miss Wardour, in whose
+service you have been retained."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wardour extends a gracious, welcoming hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst has heard me express my desire to know him," she says,
+with a little ripple of laughter, "so no more need be said on the
+subject. Mr. Bathurst you came as opportunely as a fairy godmother; and
+now let us go in and take my aunt into our counsels."</p>
+
+<p>She lifts the lace curtains and passes in; as she goes, Dr. Heath lays a
+detaining hand on the detective's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst," he whispers; "in W&mdash;&mdash; I am Dr. Heath, from nowhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I comprehend," significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you;" then they too pass through the window, and the detective
+goes through the ordeal of presentation to Aunt Honor.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston, being a thorough woman, who knows her perquisites, gets
+through with the necessary amount of astonishment, ejaculations,
+questionings, and expressions of delight; all things are overcome by
+time, even a woman's volubility. And during the flow of her discourse
+the detective is communing thus with his "inner consciousness:"</p>
+
+<p>"So we have been retained by this handsome young lady? Well, that's
+intelligence! and what does the old lady mean by supposing that Mr.
+Lamotte has told me this and that? Who the deuce is Lamotte? Why the
+deuce don't somebody ask me how I came to be perched in that tree? Do
+they think it's the proper thing for detectives to tumble in among them
+out of the trees and the skies? After all, it is like a drama, for I'll
+be blessed if I see any sense in it all."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you are all more or less attracted by my personal appearance," he
+says, after Aunt Honor has given up the floor. "Now that I think of it,
+it's <i>not</i> just the thing for a drawing room."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Neil Bathurst, or his present presentment, is a medium sized man,
+attired in garments that have once been elegant, but are now frayed,
+threadbare, travel worn; his feet are encased in boots that have once
+been jaunty; his hat is as rakish as it is battered; his face wears that
+dull reddish hue, common to fair complexions that have been long exposed
+to sun and wind; his hair and beard, somewhat matted, somewhat
+disordered, may have borne some tinge of auburn or yellow once, but they
+too, have, unmistakeably, battled with the sun, and have come out a
+light hay color. As Constance looks at him, she, mentally, confesses
+that he <i>is</i> certainly the oddest figure she has ever entertained in her
+drawing room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been wondering just what grade of humanity you are supposing
+yourself to represent just now," says Doctor Heath, eyeing him
+quizzically.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" with mock humility, "am I thus a failure? Miss Wardour, look at
+me well; do you not recognize my social rank?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance surveys him afresh, with critical eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," she says, "I recognize the gentleman tramp; one of the sort
+who asks to wash his face before eating, and to chop your wood after."</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" says the detective. "My self-respect returns; I am <i>not</i> a
+bungler. In the morning I shall be on the ground, to wash my face, and
+chop your wood; which reminds me, your servants, they must not see me
+here. I must depart as I came, and soon."</p>
+
+<p>"And your search," asks Constance, "when will that begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"My search?" hesitating oddly. "Oh, that has already commenced."</p>
+
+<p>"What a curious thing it is that Mr. Lamotte should have secured you, of
+all men," breaks in Aunt Honor. "I did not think it possible Mr.
+Lamotte&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, all of you," breaks in the gentleman tramp. "Something must
+be set right; I will come to the point at once. Who <i>is</i> Mr. Lamotte?
+<i>What</i> is Mr. Lamotte? I have never seen him; never heard of him."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" from Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" from Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;" from Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me finish," he interpolates. "Let me tell you just how I happened
+to drop down among you to-night. Recently we have had in the city
+several robberies similar to this of yours, Miss Wardour, as I
+understand it. Several times we have had a trace or clue, and have hoped
+to find the robbers, but so far have been baffled. We must necessarily
+have many ways of gathering up information, and I have some methods of
+my own. This is one of them. I have access to the offices of our daily
+papers. I have a friend or tool in each. When a special telegram, in the
+line of criminal intelligence, comes to one of these papers, I am in
+possession of its contents before it has reached the compositor's hands.
+This morning a 'special' arrived at the office of the <i>Evening
+Bulletin</i>. I have not with me a copy. It ran:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>MONSTER DIAMOND ROBBERY.</p>
+
+<p>[Special dispatch to the Evening Bulletin.]</p>
+
+<p>Intelligence has this moment been received, that Wardour Place has
+been burglarized; and the splendid Wardour diamonds, valued at more
+than one hundred thousand dollars, stolen, besides money and papers
+of value. No particulars as yet.</p></div>
+
+<p>"This is what brought me here. I came to see if this burglary was the
+handiwork of the thieves I have been trying to catch. I came solely on
+my own responsibility, not intending to make myself known to the inmates
+of this house, but to ferret out things quietly and go my way. While
+lurking in that tree I was surprised to hear myself made the subject of
+conversation; and then, impulse led me to respond to this lady's
+expressed desire to see me, and&mdash;I presented myself."</p>
+
+<p>All sit silent, all are astonished, and inclined to think this odd
+complication out quietly.</p>
+
+<p>Constance is the first to see the absurdity of the situation, and she
+breaks into a peal of laughter, in which she is presently joined by the
+others. Finally, she regains her composure and says:</p>
+
+<p>"And so after all you are not our detective. Well, that shall not
+prevent us from appropriating your services. And you want to identify
+these robbers if possible? We are all at your disposal&mdash;tell us how we
+can help you most."</p>
+
+<p>"You came with scant information," says Doctor Heath, "and you can't
+have been here long, but I'll wager you have picked up something."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that," replies the detective, smiling slightly, "I left the city
+by the early afternoon express, before your Mr. Lamotte had arrived,
+you see. Twelve miles from W&mdash;&mdash; I left the train and boarded a freight;
+about three miles out I abandoned the freight, quite unceremoniously,
+while she was pulling up a heavy grade, and tramped into town. I lounged
+about, confining myself to the more obscure streets until I had got the
+story of the robbery, with full particulars, as far as the gossips knew
+it. Toward sundown I started in this direction. Stopping on the way, I
+begged a drink of water and a slice of bread, of an old woman, in a
+little brown house. She thought me a very well behaved tramp, and
+inquired after my private history and the condition of my soul."</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughs.</p>
+
+<p>"That is old Mrs. Malloy," she says. "She's very pious and very full of
+gossip."</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely!" replies the detective, wickedly; "she told me how many
+lovers you had, Miss Wardour; and how many dresses; and just the color
+of your eyes, and hair; she told me all about the robbery, and a great
+many more things that were not quite to the point."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," assents Miss Wardour, not at all abashed. "Mrs. Malloy is
+an oracle."</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as I could make my escape from her, I came nearer Wardour
+Place, and made a circuitous survey. Still later, I came upon your
+gardener, sitting, ruminating, upon a stone fence, in the rear of the
+premises. I found him inclined to be communicative, in fact, he seemed
+rather desirous to air his notions, and he has some peculiar ones,
+concerning this robbery. I gave him a drink out of my black bottle, and
+he grew quite eloquent."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear," interrupts Constance once more. "Then, no doubt, he has
+pruned away half the garden shrubs. Old Jerry always <i>is</i> seized with a
+desire to prune things, the moment he has taken a drink."</p>
+
+<p>"It was getting too dark for pruning, Miss Wardour, and he went to his
+supper. Then, I approached the kitchen cautiously, found a comfortable
+lurking place, close to an open window, and listened to the table talk
+of the servants. From them I learned the bearings of the library, and
+so, while you were at dinner, I entered, without difficulty, and have
+explored that room to my entire satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>Amazement sits on the face of all three listeners.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" ejaculates Dr. Heath, "You are a modest tramp! What did you do
+next?"</p>
+
+<p>"Next I prowled 'round and round the house,' examining all the windows,
+and drawing some conclusions; and then, having seen you, Doctor Heath,
+through the drawing-room windows, I established myself in yonder tree to
+wait until you should go home, and to waylay you."</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged, I'm sure," says the Doctor, gratefully. "What demoniac
+design had you on my defenseless self?"</p>
+
+<p>"Several; to appeal to your hospitality; to renew an acquaintance, which
+in the beginning did me honor; and to quiz you unmercifully."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I forgive you," grandiloquently. "And my doors are open to you,
+and my hand is extended, and the secrets of my bosom are laid bare. But
+Miss Wardour has something to say; I see it trembling on her lips."</p>
+
+<p>"Right," smiles Constance. "I was about to ask if Mr. Bathurst, having
+effected his object thus far independently, will be satisfied to inspect
+my dressing room, the real scene of action, in the ordinary manner and
+without any obstacles in the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly," says the detective, dropping his tone of badinage and
+becoming alert and business like at once. "And the sooner the better. I
+am anxious to complete my deductions, for my time is limited, and I must
+wait for daylight to overlook the grounds more closely than I could
+venture to do to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"We are all anxious for your opinion, and so, will you take one of those
+lamps and my keys, or will you have an escort?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you to point out to me the exact position of everything this
+morning, Miss Wardour. I think we may all go up."</p>
+
+<p>So they all ascended to the disordered dressing room, and the detective
+seats himself, deliberately, upon the first unoccupied chair, and begins
+to look slowly about him. It is not a long survey, and then the safe is
+examined. Here he looks at Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"This has not been done without noise; not loud enough to be heard
+across the hall, perhaps, but enough to be heard by a light sleeper, or,
+indeed, any one who did not sleep too soundly and with muffled ears,
+say, in that room," pointing through the curtained arch which divided
+the dressing from the sleeping room.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you sleep there, Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance nods, then goes through the arch and returns with a little
+phial of chloroform, and a fragment of cambric in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>She places them before him, telling him quietly how they were found
+before her that morning.</p>
+
+<p>The detective takes them, turns them over in his hand, and examines them
+closely.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he exclaims, drawing out the fancifully carved stopper, "this
+phial is one of a set."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs07" id="gs07"></a>
+<img src="images/gs07.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Ah! this phial is one of a set.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Doctor Heath nods. "So I thought," he says, glancing at Constance.</p>
+
+<p>Once more, and in silence, the detective examines the safe, then he goes
+quietly about the room not overturning or handling, simply observing
+closely; then he says:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I think I am done here. We will go down, if you please, and I will
+give you the benefit of my conjectures." He puts the bottle and the
+piece of linen in his pocket, and turns from the room. Instinctively he
+takes the lead, instinctively they follow, naturally according him the
+leadership.</p>
+
+<p>When they are once more seated, he turns to Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"They gave you a very light dose of chloroform, Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"Very light," she replies; "and that was most fortunate for me."</p>
+
+<p>"How fortunate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to explain," interrupts Doctor Heath. "Miss Wardour possesses
+one of those peculiar constitutions upon which all opiates act with
+disastrous effect. It is fortunate that a cautious hand,&mdash;I was about to
+say a skilled hand,&mdash;administered the drug. I could swear that not the
+half of an ordinary dose was given her, for a full dose would have
+prostrated her for days; and the quantity it would require to make you
+or me sleep soundly for half the night, would kill her outright."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" says the detective, softly, to himself. "Ah-h-h!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now I wonder;" it is Mrs. Aliston who speaks. "I <i>wonder</i> how in the
+world you knew that they had given my niece only a small dose."</p>
+
+<p>"Very easily, madame. The phial is very small, and it is now over
+two-thirds full."</p>
+
+<p>"That, indeed!" murmurs Mrs. Aliston, feeling somehow extinguished,
+while the others smile at his simple explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," says the detective, "for my deductions. First, then, the
+robbers did not enter these grounds last night for the first time. They
+did not enter the library at random, or because that window could be
+easily forced. They, whoever they were, knew their grounds, not only
+from without, but from within. The disturbance in the library is only a
+ruse,&mdash;the robbers wanted nothing, knew they should find nothing, there.
+They were not amateurs; yet, somehow, in this case, they bungled
+somewhat in their work. Before they approached this house, every thing
+was planned, and all was done as planned. They were systematic,
+therefore successful; and yet&mdash;they bungled. They came by the
+river,&mdash;came in a boat, with oars muffled; they came by the footpath
+over the river slope, and entered your garden by leaping the fence just
+below the gate, which was locked. Then they followed the footpaths
+through the shrubbery, and straight to that library window. They came
+there because they knew it to be the library window, and they wished to
+cross the library because they knew that from the door of that room they
+stepped at once upon the stairs, thus having the nearest, easiest and
+safest route to Miss Wardour's rooms. Either they found her door
+unlocked, or they were prepared with skeleton keys. Was the door locked,
+Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was locked."</p>
+
+<p>"It was locked. They then used a skeleton key, entered, and knowing just
+the proportion of chloroform Miss Wardour could bear, they administered
+it carefully, secured the booty without further trouble, and made their
+escape without detection."</p>
+
+<p>No remarks from his listeners. They sit amazed, incredulous, admiring,
+yet speechless.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I see I had better prove my statements," goes on Mr. Bathurst,
+looking from one to another with a smile of easy superiority. "Miss
+Wardour is beginning to think that I <i>do</i> belong to the godmother
+species, and yet, it's all very simple."</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt," retorts Doctor Heath, drily; "yet we are willing to endure
+your simple explanation."</p>
+
+<p>"I say the robbers came by the river," continues the detective. "Before
+sundown I sauntered along the river bank; to-morrow I can show you
+traces, indistinct but sufficient, to prove that a boat has been drawn
+out of the water, and overturned upon the grass; keel, prow and
+oar-locks have left their traces. There is also the print of a clubbed
+and muffled oar, above the water mark, where an impatient hand has
+pushed off the boat. Here is blunder number one. All these traces might
+have been avoided or obliterated."</p>
+
+<p>He pauses a moment, but his listeners sit, a very respectful audience,
+and are inclined neither to question or argue. So he continues:</p>
+
+<p>"I said that the robbers entered purposely at that particular window,
+and because they were familiar with the interior of the house. Now I
+have examined all of the windows of this floor, and I find that a person
+unfamiliar with the inside of the building, and not aware which of the
+upper rooms were occupied, would have chosen differently. The
+dining-room windows, from without, would seem much more inviting; still
+more, the drawing-room windows. Naturally, our burglars would select a
+window which was tolerably easy of access, and where they knew there was
+the least chance of being overheard and observed from above. Now, the
+dining-room windows are close to the ground, and the awnings cut off all
+chance for observation from above; but&mdash;they knew that Miss Wardour's
+coachman sleeps in a small room just in the rear of the dining-room."</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, how <i>did</i> you find that out?" she asks, with staring eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"From my friend, the gardener," he replies. "Oh, I am quite familiar
+with things about here. The very best place for a burglar to operate
+would be these windows," motioning toward the front of the drawing room;
+"he could stand in comfort on the lower balcony, screened by the upper,
+and cut away at shutters and panes; but, our burglars knew that Miss
+Wardour's rooms were directly above, and that Miss Wardour is a light
+sleeper. Now, the very place that would be shunned by an unfamiliar
+robber, is this very library window; it is higher than the others, has a
+little thicket of shrubs just beneath it, and is overlooked from above,
+being near an angle, by six windows. But our burglars knew that not one
+of those rooms to which the six windows belong, are occupied; and that
+the servants all sleep on the opposite side of the house. Now, then, I
+say that the robbers knew Miss Wardour's sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform; how else can we account for the fact of their giving just
+enough to cause her to sleep, and not enough to cause any unpleasant
+after effects. We can call it a coincidence, but it is one not likely to
+happen; Doctor Heath knows that."</p>
+
+<p>"True," responds Doctor Heath; "in a matter of this sort one would
+hardly be likely to make so fortunate a blunder, or guess."</p>
+
+<p>The detective pauses a moment, and then concludes: "My reasons for
+saying that the robbers entered the garden by leaping the low fence just
+below the gate, are, first, that gate creaks loudly when opened or shut,
+and they knew this, and therefore avoided it; and, second, one of them,
+the heavier of the two, came over with sufficient force to leave the
+imprint of his right boot heel in the ground. It was the right heel,
+because the deepest side of the indentation is to the right, and he
+would naturally strike the ground with the weight resting on the outside
+of the foot; and here, my friends, as the lawyers have it, I rest my
+case."</p>
+
+<p>"And a very clear case it looks," says Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>"How easily and naturally you come at these things," exclaims Constance,
+in admiration. "It is a, b, c, to you, but it's awful Greek to the rest
+of us. I begin to think detectives are born, not made."</p>
+
+<p>"You think right, Miss Wardour," replies Bathurst. "It is the made
+detectives who spoil and disgrace our profession."</p>
+
+<p>"But," says Constance, with a look of anxiety upon her face; "I am sorry
+to have it proved that this thing was done by some of our people. I am
+reluctant to institute a search that may implicate some poor man whose
+wife and children may live in our very town."</p>
+
+<p>The detective laughs softly.</p>
+
+<p>"There it is," he exclaims. "An amateur must always judge by what
+appears uppermost. We detectives, as a rule, always distrust the most
+plausible theory. Now look, a skilled burglar is a man of many
+resources; a burglar studies his business as I study mine. You have no
+idea how much misapplied talent goes roaming about of nights with a
+jimmy and a dark lantern. Now let us suppose this case. A professional
+burglar in the course of his wanderings, hears, as would be quite
+natural, of the immense value of the Wardour diamonds, and he desires to
+possess them. Now it's a great prize, and he goes to work with his
+utmost care. He has confederates; they come, one or all, and manage to
+gain the necessary information; they may come as tramps, pedlars, what
+not; a talkative servant, a gossiping neighbor, like Mrs. Malloy, or
+fragments of information picked up here and there may help them to get
+the 'lay of the land;' they may even have entered the house, probably
+have, and it may have been last month, or last year; our burglar
+nourishes his job and studies it carefully. Finally he is ready; he
+strikes; he succeeds. I do not say this is the case, understand; I
+simply put it as a thing possible; and quite as probable as that the
+thieves are here in W&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>Constance muses; she is thinking of various other depredations committed
+in and about W&mdash;&mdash;; and, as once before she recounted them to Doctor
+Heath, she enumerates them now, and closes by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Your burglars keep a sharp eye on us, at all events, Mr. Bathurst."</p>
+
+<p>"Naturally," assents the detective; "W&mdash;&mdash; is a capital field for that
+sort of chap. It's a little mine of itself, and will always receive due
+attention from the law breakers. By the by, Miss Wardour, these facts
+you mention are worth noting; after considering, I think I will remain
+in W&mdash;&mdash; during to-morrow. I want to explore about the river, and about
+this place, a little more. If I may see you to-morrow I would like your
+version of these other older robberies. I keep a record of every crime
+reported, and, no doubt, have each of these upon my register, but not as
+I would receive them from you. I do not wish to be seen or known, as
+acting in this matter; your friend will be here to-morrow, or Monday,
+and the officer he has chosen should be on the ground before to-morrow
+morning. No doubt he will be all that you wish for, and my duties will
+call me elsewhere very soon."</p>
+
+<p>Then they all rise, and standing in a group begin talking. They so much
+regret that they can not retain his services, and they are very grateful
+to him for so much light as he has thrown upon the subject of the
+robbery.</p>
+
+<p>"But wait," he says, "you are to bear in mind that you <i>have</i> no light;
+you are in total darkness and ignorance; to-morrow you will have a new
+officer, he may evolve a totally different theory. Then discard mine, or
+not, as you think fit; in any case, let it be kept exclusively to your
+three selves, for I am very likely to make a second appearance here. I
+think that these burglars of yours are the chaps I am wanting. And, Miss
+Wardour, this reminds me," drawing from his pocket the chloroform vial
+wrapped in its accompanying linen bit, "may I keep this until morning? I
+will return it to you by Doctor Heath, and, if your officer is not too
+much in the way, will try and see you in person, if you will kindly give
+me what facts you can recall concerning those robberies."</p>
+
+<p>Constance expresses a hope that the officer will not be in the way, and
+after they have talked a little more, the detective repeating his
+cautions, Constance repeating her regret that he is not to take the
+case, as <i>her</i> case; and Mrs. Aliston repeating everything that comes
+into her head, they separate, and the two men, looking so oddly unlike,
+go out into the night.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston is ready to talk, but Constance is in no mood to listen.
+She cuts short her aunt's elocution, and goes with listless weariness to
+her own apartments.</p>
+
+<p>Since the appearance of the detective, a shade of perplexity rested on
+her face, and over and again her thoughts have repeated the question
+which now falls from her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it mean? I am not mistaken; he said, 'here, I am Doctor Heath
+from nowhere.' I begin to think that life is a mystery."</p>
+
+<p>For Miss Wardour, hesitating a moment as she passed in from the balcony,
+had caught the words uttered for the ears of the detective only.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>DOCTOR HEATH AT HOME.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Doctor Heath and the detective went in silence down the wide
+shrub-bordered walk, to the spot where the doctor's horse awaited him.
+Here the detective paused suddenly and listened a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"We should not be seen together," he said in a low tone. "Do you mount
+your horse and ride on slowly, I will follow."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No buts; I can follow you, never fear; that's my business; do you go
+straight home and prepare to admit me on the quiet. Stay&mdash;have you any
+gelatine?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Any plaster of Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Any wax?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a small quantity."</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad; I must have some. There will be a drug store open?"</p>
+
+<p>"At this hour? oh, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then get me some, half a pound at least. Now move on, I hear a horse
+coming down the road."</p>
+
+<p>"Some farmer going home. Well, I'm off, then."</p>
+
+<p>"And so am I."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later Doctor Heath was standing in his open doorway,
+wondering what had become of the detective, when a light touch upon his
+shoulder caused him to start suddenly, and turning, he saw the man for
+whom he watched, standing behind him, and within the dimly-lighted hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we alone?" whispered the detective; "is the coast clear?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs08" id="gs08"></a>
+<img src="images/gs08.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Are we alone?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Quite clear; but how the mischief did you get in there, man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Through the door," replied Bathurst, as he followed his host into a
+cozy parlor, where a shaded lamp burned. "You are not a good sentinel;
+why, I all but brushed you; have you no sense of feeling, then; why,
+man, I can recognize a near presence in the darkest room."</p>
+
+<p>"Now that I think of it," retorts the doctor, maliciously, "I did feel a
+queer sensation in the ends of my thumbs. Make yourself at home now;
+take that chair," rolling a comfortable-looking monster close to the
+round table; "there are segars and&mdash;why&mdash;I say man, have you eaten any
+thing since you started on this chase?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now you mention it, I distinctly recollect, that I have not."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not; I will wake up Mrs. Gray."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray don't; I couldn't think of eating Mrs. Gray."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" laughs his host; "Mrs. Gray is my housekeeper, and she is
+deaf as a post."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's a comfort, the deafness. Is she dumb, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately, no; but as I have not been home to dine, she will think
+she is preparing my supper, and I will tell her you are a patient come
+to be treated, and that I am going to give you a bed; here," tossing
+something which he finds upon a bookcase, across to his guest, "tie your
+face up in that rag, before she comes in. She will not give you a second
+glance; she never troubles her head about my patients."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he goes out, and the detective proceeds to spread out the
+"rag," to prepare his bandage. Suddenly he starts; scrutinizes closer,
+turns it about, and looks again, then&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" says Mr. Bathurst; "Oh! really!"</p>
+
+<p>And he folds up his bandage, and puts it in one pocket, whips a clean
+pocket handkerchief from another, and substituting it for the "rag,"
+awaits the coming of his host.</p>
+
+<p>"Very comfortable quarters," he muttered, looking about him, "Luxurious
+too; quite so. Our doctor has not forgotten how people ought to live."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor's "quarters" were all that he described them. Luxurious,
+comfortable; and luxury and comfort do not always go hand in hand;
+tasteful, too. Nothing too much; nothing lacking&mdash;just the beau-ideal of
+a bachelor's parlor. Warm browns brightening here and there into bronze.
+Books, a great many and of the best. Pictures, a very few, and all rare
+and beautiful. Bronzes and statuettes in plenty. Bric-a-bric, not any,
+for no fair and foolish woman has trailed her skirts through these
+apartments, leaving traces of her presence in the shape of those small
+and costly abominations, yclept "ceramics."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Doctor Heath reappears, and not long after, Mrs. Gray bears in
+a heaped-up tray of edibles. Then Doctor Heath sets forth brandy and
+wine, and informs Mrs. Gray, through the medium of his ten fingers, that
+she is dismissed for the night.</p>
+
+<p>When she has retired the detective unties his face, and falls upon the
+food spread before him, as a hungry man will. While he eats he talks a
+little, just a random remark now and then, and his host sits opposite
+him, answering his infrequent questions and observations, and thinking.</p>
+
+<p>In past days, and under very different circumstances, these two men have
+met and known each other, and Doctor Clifford Heath is wondering how
+much of his story it will be necessary to tell, in order to explain his
+present position, which, he knows, must seem a most strange one to his
+former acquaintance; for Doctor Clifford Heath, like most of us who have
+not passed a vegetable existence, has a history, and a past.</p>
+
+<p>Of that fact, however, Mr. Bathurst seems quite oblivious, as he washes
+down his repast with a glass of brandy and water, and pushes back his
+chair from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then," he begins, with his usual brisk business manner, "I'm
+rested and refreshed, and all ready for that white wax, if you please,
+Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm quite curious about that wax," says the doctor, rising. "Just let
+me draw away this table and bring up another, it's the easiest way of
+disposing of the dinner things, and will furnish Mrs. Gray with food for
+comfortable comment; she takes all such opportunities to disparage
+'men's ways,' and as she seems to enjoy them, I make it a point to
+afford her as many as possible," making the proposed change as he talks.
+"Now, then, there's a table and there's your wax."</p>
+
+<p>"Now something to melt it in and over; I'm going to take an impression."</p>
+
+<p>There is a little difficulty about getting the necessary articles
+together, but after a while they are all there, and the wax is simmering
+in the melting cup. Then the detective takes from his pocket the
+borrowed bottle of chloroform, and asks for an empty vial. This being
+given him he pours out the chloroform carefully, and wipes the emptied
+bottle.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a pity I can't keep this bottle just as it is," he says, eyeing
+the cut-glass stopper regretfully, "but it must be returned, of course;
+and I must do the next best. What's your notion of the original use of
+that little gimcrack?"</p>
+
+<p>He reaches out the bottle and the doctor takes it in his hand saying:
+"Why, it's from one of those dainty toilet cases used by ladies
+principally; there will be a set, uniform in size, that are filled with
+perfumes of various sorts, and larger bottles, of the same pattern, for
+goodness knows what use. I have seen the kind, but not the pattern."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," says the detective, slowly, "I <i>think</i> that I have seen the
+pattern; but where? However," dipping a stick into the melting wax, "I
+shall find out, and before very long."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," says Doctor Heath, stretching out his hand for a fresh
+segar, "at the fellows leaving such a testimonial as that behind them.
+What's your theory?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have expected that question from both yourself and Miss Wardour. I am
+glad she did not ask me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>The detective takes a spoon and dips up his wax, letting it drip from
+the spoon, drop by drop. It is ready for use, and, without seeming aware
+of the doctor's presence, he busies himself with his impression
+taking&mdash;seeing which, Doctor Heath smokes on, and is silent.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, his mould is set to cool, and the detective resumes his seat;
+and, quite ignoring that long neglected monosyllable of inquiry, uttered
+by his host, begins:</p>
+
+<p>"When the burglars, for, no doubt, there were two of them, entered Miss
+Wardour's dressing room, they carried one dark lantern. This, one of
+them took, and crept with it into the sleeping room; here, he was, for a
+moment, troubled. He had prepared himself with the chloroform, but must
+use his own handkerchief, and that is marked."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! a burglar with marked linen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Even so. It's nothing unusual. You reason like a reader of too many
+novels. Burglars are not all escaped convicts, blear eyed and hideous;
+nor do they all go about in fustian. It's the burglar in broadcloth
+that makes us the trouble. Fustian starves, and steals, and is soon
+found out; runs away with its booty, as a dog runs away with its bone.
+Broadcloth is wiser, just as a skilled workman is wiser than a hod
+carrier. It brings to its service tact, study,&mdash;who knows what, of
+scientific skill? It looks before it leaps; it plans before it executes;
+and it covers up all traces of its progress, or else leaves a network of
+false clues and misleading evidences. Bah! if we had only fustian to
+deal with, it would not be worth while to be a detective."</p>
+
+<p>"Granted," says the doctor, drumming impatiently upon the table, with
+the fingers of his strong, white, right hand. "We have to deal with a
+broadcloth burglar, who marks his linen, and, perhaps, perfumes it.
+<i>Was</i> it perfumed? I forgot."</p>
+
+<p>"It was not perfumed. I wish it had been. Yes, ours is a broadcloth
+burglar. When he approached Miss Wardour's bedside, he produced from a
+convenient pocket, his stupefying drug; and then he looked about for
+something with which to apply it, and at the same time, no doubt, he
+berates himself for omitting to provide himself with a plain, small
+napkin, or piece of linen. There was nothing at hand that was not too
+large for his purpose, and too coarse, for he understood the delicacy of
+his undertaking. So, he produced his pocket handkerchief, which, as I
+said before, was marked; he tears off the half bearing the name, but, in
+his haste, does not observe that he has left evidence that the name was
+there. He then saturated the linen, and set the bottle upon the night
+stand, leaving his two hands free to apply his drug with utmost care.
+Then he pauses for a moment, to note the effect of his application, or
+to gaze upon the fair sleeper. And then comes a sound from the outer
+room, an impatient call, the click of steel implements, no matter
+what,&mdash;he snatches up the dark lantern and, forgetting the bottle, goes
+out to his comrade."</p>
+
+<p>"You believe there were two?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; there were two. These affairs are seldom operated by one man."</p>
+
+<p>"You said this evening that they had blundered. It seems to me that they
+made a very neat job of the affair."</p>
+
+<p>"They did blunder. It does look like a neat job to a non-professional,
+but they have left several flaws in their work. They felt very confident
+of future safety, I am sure, for they were shrewd fellows; that's
+established in my mind. There's a something about this case that puzzles
+me, and some queer ideas are drifting through my head, but for the
+present I shall keep them there. About those blunders now. That boat
+business was the first. There's plain proof; then look at the manner in
+which they stirred up the library. Why, man, didn't you reflect that
+those heavy chairs never could have been overturned by a hasty careless
+hand, without coming down with a loud bang? and there are three of them,
+all thrown down in different positions; every one of them was lowered
+slowly, carefully. Why, look at that pile of books upon the floor! do
+you imagine they were ever tossed down from their shelves, as they
+appear to have been, without striking upon the floor or each other, with
+a thud? I can see the whole operation; one man held the lantern while
+the other disarranged the room. But they did not do it well. That much
+of the business looks like the work of an amateur. Perhaps you wonder
+why I did not speak of this to Miss Wardour. I said enough to convince
+her that I had studied the matter; I did not wish to exhaust the
+subject, that is the business of the man who is to come. And now I think
+I will remove my cast, and then, my dear fellow, I am quite ready to
+retire, for I feel the need of all the sleep I can get between now and
+sunrise."</p>
+
+<p>"Shocking confession," laughs the doctor, lazily. "Let me tell you it's
+highly improper for a detective to get sleepy, or hungry, or tired; they
+never do it in print."</p>
+
+<p>"Which should convince you that they always do out of it. Detectives, my
+dear sir, are like doctors, their success depends upon the people's
+faith in them, not on their own merits. Now I know that you can't see
+through the anatomy of old Mrs. Grundy, and tell what she had for
+dinner, unless, to be sure, she had been eating onions; but if Mrs.
+Grundy doubted for a moment your ability to don your professional
+spectacles and peer into the innermost depths of her disordered old
+being, she would write another name than yours on her books, as favorite
+physician."</p>
+
+<p>"Guide, philosopher and friend," quotes the doctor, composedly. "Let
+Mrs. Grundy alone, will you, she is one of my best customers."</p>
+
+<p>"She is not one of my worst, but the world is not <i>quite</i> filled up with
+Mrs. Grundys, else our fortunes were soon made; for instance, up at
+Wardour Place to-night, that seraphic old lady was prepared to receive
+all my statements, as Mrs. G&mdash;&mdash; takes your pills, on faith. But the
+young lady; oh, no! she has too much head for a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, for a woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not got scope enough. 'Woman's kingdom' too small for her; too much top
+to her head; brow too broad; eyes too full; won't believe a thing is
+true, because you say it is true; got to convince her reason. Such
+people make chaps like you and me lots of bother; won't take us for
+granted."</p>
+
+<p>"Granted we wish them to."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! Of course we wish them to! everybody wants to be taken on trust;
+but there, we can waive this discussion; Miss Wardour will find
+occupation for that head of hers for a time at least. My head must
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so; you are as full of whimsies as ever, when off duty,
+and since to-night I accept you as a detective, <i>a la</i> 'Mrs. Grundy,'
+just follow me now, Sir Tramp. By the way, how will you get out of here
+in the morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Leave that to me. By the way, don't disturb my wax work. I will leave
+the bottle and linen; do you restore them to Miss Wardour to-morrow at
+the earliest hour possible to a caller. I shall present myself in my own
+time and way, governed, of course, by circumstances, and it is probable
+that you will not see me again for some time. Therefore let me say,
+thanks for your hospitality. Call on me when you want a service, and
+good night."</p>
+
+<p>So saying he vanishes into an inner room, the door of which the doctor
+has just now thrown invitingly open. As the door closes quickly, and in
+his very face, Clifford Heath stares blankly at it, and for a moment
+stands so, looking half bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>Finally a look of amusement crosses his face, and he returns slowly to
+his seat beside the table, slowly selects a segar, and slowly lights it.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a queer customer," muses he, as he settles himself for a
+comfortable meditation. "He can go to sleep in the very teeth of
+mystery, and wake up, clear headed, in a fog. Now I can't sleep, and
+I've been awake longer than my allotted time, too. Shades of my
+ancestors! What a day! And, oh, my prophetic soul, what will it bring
+forth? Well, Doctor Clifford Heath, <i>as</i> Doctor Clifford Heath, what is
+it to you? You have been honored by the confidence of Constance Wardour,
+what then? There was no one else in whom she could confide; may she not
+honor your judgment without coveting your adoration. Bah! the very fact
+that she confides in you proves that she cares nothing for you. However,
+she has a heart for somebody; that is proved by her agitation upon
+hearing the story, and reading the letter telling of poor Sybil
+Lamotte's misery. For undoubtedly in some manner she has been made a
+victim; can it be that wretched Evan? His agitation to-day bore the look
+of remorse, and God knows where dissipation will not lead a man. I know
+something of that, too." Here he frowns darkly, and sits for a long time
+looking the incarnation of resentment and defiance.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" he mutters presently, "what a blot upon the record of a proud
+family! A father who is a philanthropist and public benefactor; a mother
+who is '<i>une dame sans reproche</i>;' a brother against whom I can bring no
+charge save that he is my rival; a sister, beautiful and good and
+accomplished, but that beauty, goodness, culture, are all shipwrecked;
+how could either live in the same atmosphere with John Burrill, as I
+have heard him described. Evan Lamotte is a black sheep; I should take
+it Burrill must be a black dog, or worse, and sheep and dog are owned by
+the same family. After all, what is race? a fig for pedigree. It's the
+deed that tells. Here in the next room I have a man who claims to be
+nobody. Nothing is said or known about his blood; a great deal is said
+and known about his brain, favorably said, too, and honorably known. He
+is a detective, and as such, dead to the blue book; it's his business to
+hunt men down, to pry into secret places, to unmask villainies, and drag
+to light shameful family secrets; and, for the second time, he has
+stumbled upon a secret of mine, and treated it most generously.</p>
+
+<p>"To-night I say to him, 'know me only as Doctor Heath, from nowhere.'
+Another man would have asked for an explanation, when the opportunity
+came; but not he. He sits with me, sups with me, sleeps under my roof,
+and makes no sign that he ever knew me save as I now am. He treats me as
+a man worthy his confidence, yet asks none of mine. That's what I call
+splendid behavior; that's a man worthy to be called a gentleman. I
+wonder;" here his countenance darkens, and his eyes look gloomy. "I
+wonder what this honorable officer would say if he knew what I did
+to-night? if he knew, say I! does he not know? how can I tell? he is
+sharp, a lynx; and heaven only knows what mad impulse prompted me to do
+a mean thing. Bah!" rising and stretching himself; "we are all fools or
+knaves, or both; when a beautiful woman has dethroned reason and common
+sense, and sways us body and soul. I wonder what Constance Wardour would
+say if she knew? A keen witted detective takes me on trust; will she do
+the same?"</p>
+
+<p>There is little of the look of a despairing swain on his face, as he
+concludes his soliloquy, and goes out to see that the outer door is
+secure, before retiring. A trifle pale, a trifle bored, a trifle
+cynical, and a trifle sleepy he looks. He also looks, for a man who has
+just been indulging in a fit of severe self-depreciation, exceedingly
+confident and full of faith in himself. And why not? Let that man
+despair who has lost confidence in his own ability to wrest favors from
+the fingers of Fate or Fortune. Despair is not for the brave.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A FALLING OUT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Constance Wardour arose early on Sunday morning. In spite of youth,
+health, and her splendid self-poise, she had slept but little; and such
+slumber as had visited her eyelids, had been haunted by hideous dreams,
+in which detectives and burglars mixed their identity in the most
+remarkable manner; and through all, more vivid than all, shone the face
+of Sybil Lamotte, always agonized, always appealing, always surrounded
+by dark shadows, and always seeming menaced, terrified, helpless. Such
+nights of tormented slumber, and uneasy wakefulness, were new to the
+mistress of Wardour; and now, while the dew was yet on the grass and
+flowers, she was promenading her pretty rose garden, where the sun shone
+full, looking a trifle paler than was usual to her, and somewhat
+dissatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston was still snugly ensconced in her bed, for she never rose
+early, and always retired late, her motto being, "Mrs. Aliston first,
+the world afterward." That lady of portly dimensions had her peculiar
+theory of life. To eat the best food obtainable, and a great deal of it;
+to wear the heaviest silks, and the softest cashmeres; and to sleep in
+the downiest of beds; these were to her the necessities of life. That
+the food was provided from the larder of her niece; that the silks and
+cashmeres were gracious gifts, and that the downy couch cost her
+nothing, mattered little; her niece needed her, she needed her niece;
+<i>ergo</i>, her niece sought in every way possible to render her happy and
+comfortable; and she, in return for her comfort and happiness, was a
+model duenna; never questioning, never criticising, humoring all that
+young lady's whims, yet retaining that free, hearty out-spokenness, that
+made her seem not in the least a dependent, and which was, as Mrs.
+Aliston well knew, most pleasing to the heiress.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether, they were a pair of very sensible women. Mrs. Aliston ate
+when she liked, and slept when she liked; Miss Wardour did what <i>she</i>
+liked, and both were satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>While Miss Wardour was promenading her garden, and Mrs. Aliston was
+comfortably sleeping, two men were approaching each other on the sandy
+road that ran from the town past Wardour Place.</p>
+
+<p>The one coming from townward was our detective tramp, looking all that a
+tramp should be.</p>
+
+<p>The other, approaching from the opposite direction, was a sleek,
+respectable looking, middle aged man, who might have been some small
+farmer dressed in his Sunday clothes, which fitted him none too well.</p>
+
+<p>Almost opposite the gates of Wardour Place they met and passed each
+other, the tramp saluting respectfully, the other responding with a
+stolid stare.</p>
+
+<p>A little further on the tramp turned slowly and looked back. The
+farmer-looking individual had entered the grounds of Wardour Place, and
+was hurrying straight on toward the entrance, looking neither to the
+right nor left.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs09" id="gs09"></a>
+<img src="images/gs09.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The tramp turned and looked back.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"So!" muttered the tramp, with the air of a man who would have been
+astonished then, but for the fact that he never allowed anything to
+astonish him. "So <i>he</i> is mixing himself up in this affair! I wonder in
+what capacity? Can it be that by some means he has been selected to work
+up this case? Oh! oh! Bless my soul! What a coincidence that would be!"</p>
+
+<p>Evidently he had grasped at a new idea, and one that was somewhat
+startling. He quickened his pace until, unconsciously, it became almost
+a trot. The mask of studied vacancy dropped from his face, leaving it
+alert, keen, analytical. His mind had grasped at a problem, and he was
+studying it with knitted brow and compressed mouth, as he hurried on
+countryward, not heeding anything save the thought which possessed him.</p>
+
+<p>It was Sunday morning, too early for church goers, and too late for cow
+boys. So he met no one on his hurried march, and when at last he began
+to moderate his pace, he was a full mile from Wardour Place. As his walk
+grew slower his face relaxed, and gradually resumed its mask of careless
+stupidity.</p>
+
+<p>Finally he paused, looked about him, laughed a short half laugh, and
+crossing the road, vaulted a high-wired fence, with the ease of a
+harlequin, and took his way across a meadow toward the river.</p>
+
+<p>"Tra-la, tra-la-la-la-la," chirped he, softly and contentedly. "<i>What</i> a
+pretty kettle of fish. How I should love to sit down right beside it and
+see it boil, stir it occasionally; instead, I must go far away, and
+meantime, who knows, the kettle may boil over. But I hope not,&mdash;I trust
+not. I will try and prevent it; and, to do that, I must drop a little
+shell before I go. I must bind Miss Wardour over to my aid. I must show
+her that it is wise to trust me. I must have a confidante here, and
+there are only two to choose from. Doctor Heath, 'from nowhere,' and
+this clear-eyed lady. I choose her; for, with all due regard for my
+friend, the doctor, and all due faith in the propriety of his motives, I
+must know <i>why</i> he throws that bit of circumstantial evidence in my way,
+before I show him any part of my hand. Why Doctor Heath is here, is none
+of my business, strange as his presence and present occupation seem to
+me. Why he is mixing himself up in the affair of Miss Wardour's
+diamonds, however, <i>is</i> my business, just now. But, first of all, to
+know how much or little Jerry Belknap knows of this affair, and of these
+people, and whether he is at his old crookedness once more. Now, here is
+the river; here the footpath. I must see the mistress of Wardour Place,
+and at once; so, <i>en avant</i>."</p>
+
+<p>And he struck into the river footpath, and strode rapidly along toward
+Wardour Place, whistling softly as he went. Meantime, Constance Wardour,
+pacing the walks of her garden, with her brows wrinkled into a frown,
+was interrupted by her housemaid.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, miss, there's a man in the front hall, that's wanting
+to see you, and says I am to tell you it's important that his business
+is."</p>
+
+<p>Constance made a slight gesture of impatience; she had been thinking of
+Sybil Lamotte, to the exclusion of all other subjects, and this message
+brought her suddenly back to her own affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Important!" she muttered to herself. "Then it must be&mdash;the other one.
+Nelly," raising her voice, "what is this man like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Like, miss?" inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. How does he look?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Well, it's very ugly he looks, to my notion."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he look like a gentleman, Nelly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, murther! no."</p>
+
+<p>"Like a tramp, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; his clothes is too new."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Nelly, I will go and see him," said Constance, beginning to
+despair of finding out whether this visitor were the tramp of the night
+previous, or the new actor expected on the scene. "You know I never
+allow you to turn a tramp away hungry, and if one comes who seems worthy
+of help, I wish you always to let me know it."</p>
+
+<p>This she said, thinking of the manner in which it was probable the
+detective tramp would seek access to her presence.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Nelly," pausing with one foot on the steps of the
+dining-room terrace. "You may wake Mrs. Aliston and tell her that if I
+wish her to join me in the little parlor I will send you to her," then
+<i>sotto voce</i>, as she entered the house and went carelessly toward the
+drawing-room: "If this visitor proves a bore I will turn him over to
+Aunt Honor; I can't have two days of constant boredom."</p>
+
+<p>Coming forward from the lower entrance, Constance encountered the gaze
+of the strange man, whom, arriving at the front door, Nelly had not
+ventured to set down as a tramp, and whose clothes made her doubt the
+propriety of showing him the drawing-room. Being of Hibernian
+extraction, and not to be nonplussed, Nelly had adapted a happy medium,
+and seated the visitor in the largest hall chair, where he now awaited
+the approach of Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you wished to see me," said Constance, in the unaffected kindly
+tone usual to her when addressing strangers or inferiors, "I am Miss
+Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>The stranger arose, making a stiff salute, and saying in a low, guarded
+tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Wardour, I have a message for you;" at the same moment he
+presented her a card, and glanced in a suggestive manner toward Nelly,
+who was traveling up the stairs in a very leisurely manner, <i>en route</i>
+for Mrs. Aliston's rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Constance glanced at the card which bore the inscription,</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Jerry Belknap</span>,<br />
+<i>Private Detective</i>."</p></div>
+
+<p>"Come this way," she said, throwing open the drawing-room door and
+preceding him into that apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Jerry Belknap, private detective, followed close behind her, and himself
+closed the door carefully. Constance crossed the room, drew back the
+curtains, and pushed open the shutters of the terrace windows, thus
+letting in a flood of light. Then turning, she seated herself upon a
+fauteuil, and, motioning the detective to a chair opposite, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sir, I am ready to receive your message."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a verbal one," returned the detective, in a voice soft and smooth,
+not at all in keeping with his disguise, "and from Mr. Lamotte. I am the
+officer chosen by him to investigate for you, Miss Wardour, and as much
+time has been lost, I only wait your sanction and acceptance to begin
+the work."</p>
+
+<p>The soft voice and polished accent were in very marked contrast to his
+dress and facial appearance. His manner of boorish discomfort had been
+dropped when the door closed upon outside observation.</p>
+
+<p>Mentally contrasting the ease and suavity of this new comer with the
+cat-like movements and brusqueness of his predecessor, Constance, who
+began to realize the ludicrousness of the situation, in fact seemed to
+have some special private reason for finding it exceedingly absurd,
+replied that Mr. Lamotte's chosen officer must of course be acceptable
+to her, and that she only awaited his commands, if she could be of any
+service to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Detective Belknap, "I may as well look over the premises,
+unless," turning upon her a searching look, "there are particulars
+concerning the robbery which Mr. Lamotte was not in possession of."</p>
+
+<p>Constance lowered her eyes, in seeming effort to remember if Mr. Lamotte
+knew absolutely all; she thought of the chloroform, but the bottle had
+not yet been returned to her. What should she do? Before telling this
+part of the story she must have the bottle. Suddenly her woman's wit
+came to her aid. Looking up with sweetest candor into the detective's
+face, she said,</p>
+
+<p>"I am the only one who possesses any information that was not known to
+Mr. Lamotte. It is a mere trifle, but as it will take some time in the
+telling, I will, if you please, order breakfast. You can scarcely have
+breakfasted at this hour. I will show you the library now. Will you look
+over that and the other rooms, and kindly excuse me for a short time?
+Then join me at breakfast, and I will give you my version of the story."</p>
+
+<p>She arose as if considering the matter decided beyond question, and
+moved toward the door, and with a bow and a murmur of assent, Mr. Jerry
+Belknap fell into his assumed shamble, and followed her to the library.
+Leaving him there, Constance went out to order breakfast served in half
+an hour, and to send Nelly with the key to her dressing room.</p>
+
+<p>"Nelly must be taken into my confidence," mused she, as she went in
+search of that damsel. "I can trust Nelly in spite of her Irishries, and
+if Doctor Heath does not appear soon she must help me out in some way."</p>
+
+<p>Nelly was not at her post, having been dispatched kitchenward by Mrs.
+Aliston, and Constance went up to her own rooms, thinking, as she went,
+how best to defer a further interview with Mr. Belknap.</p>
+
+<p>"I must take him the key myself," she muttered, as she moved about the
+dressing room, and then a sudden thought came, and she moved quickly to
+an open wardrobe, pulled down the dress she had worn on the previous
+afternoon, and searched hurriedly in the pockets.</p>
+
+<p>All at once a look of dismay overspread her features; again and again
+she shook out the silken folds, again thrust her hands in the dainty
+pockets, and fluttered her fingers among the intricacies of the
+trimming. The thing she searched for was gone. Sybil Lamotte's strange
+letter, the letter that was a trust not to be violated, was not to be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>Thoroughly distressed now, Constance renewed her search&mdash;about the
+room&mdash;everywhere&mdash;in the most impossible places; but no letter.</p>
+
+<p>Down stairs she went; and hopeless as was the chance of finding it
+there, hunted in the drawing room and on the terrace.</p>
+
+<p>She distinctly remembered placing it in her pocket, after receiving it
+back from the hands of Doctor Heath; of bestowing it very carefully,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>Who had been in the drawing room since Doctor Heath? Mrs. Aliston; the
+two detectives; herself. Who had seen her put the letter in her pocket?
+Only Doctor Heath. Could it have dropped from her pocket? That seemed
+impossible. Could he have removed it? That seemed impossible, too, and
+very absurd. But what could she think, else? Then, she remembered what
+he had said to the detective the night before, and all the mystery
+surrounding his past. Hitherto, she had scoffed at the prying ones, and
+advocated his perfect right to his own past and future, too. Now, she
+felt her ignorance of aught concerning the life of Doctor Clifford
+Heath, to be a deep personal injury. Hitherto, she had reasoned that his
+past was something very simple, a commonplace of study, perhaps, and
+self-building; for she, being an admirer of self-made men, had chosen to
+believe him one of them. Now, she bounded straight to the conclusion
+that Doctor Heath had a past&mdash;to conceal; and then she found herself
+growing very angry, with him first, and herself afterward.</p>
+
+<p>Why had he not presented his passports before seeking her favor? How had
+he dared to make himself so much at home in her drawing room, with his
+impertinent <i>insouciance</i> and his Sultan airs? How had he gone about,
+indifferent, independent, ignoring when he pleased, courting no one's
+favor, and yet, be&mdash;nobody knew who.</p>
+
+<p>And what a fool she had been, trusting him with her personal secrets;
+putting her private letters into his hands. How he must be laughing at
+her in his sleeve! Exasperating thought. Worse than all else, to be
+laughed at. What worse calamity can befall poor, arrogant human nature?</p>
+
+<p>Constance was now thoroughly angry, and, "by the same token," thoroughly
+unreasonable. It is highly objectionable in a heroine; but Constance, as
+we have said before, is a very human heroine. And, dear reader, however
+sensible you be, if you have ever been in just the state of mind in
+which Constance Wardour found herself that morning, and most of us have,
+I promise you, you were not one whit more reasonable; not one whit less
+capable of being aggressive, unreasonable, and generally disagreeable.</p>
+
+<p>And now, the perverse imp who goes about, concocting horrible practical
+jokes, and stirring up <i>contretemps</i>, seemed to take possession of the
+field; for, just at the moment when he should have been at least five
+miles away, Doctor Heath, unannounced, appeared at the drawing-room
+door,&mdash;smiling, too, looking provokingly sure of a welcome, and
+handsomer than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wardour's self-possession was as instant as her indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Doctor Heath," frigidly. "I am sorry you found it
+necessary to admit yourself in this manner. I suppose my servants <i>are</i>
+neglectful."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," replied he, discovering that she was out of humor, but not
+divining the cause. "Your housemaid admitted me, and thinking you in
+your own room, was about to usher me in here, and go to announce me,
+when I saved her the trouble, telling her that my time was limited, and
+admitting myself; had I known you were here, I should not have intruded
+without permission;" then perceiving that her face retained its
+frigidity, his voice took on a shade of haughtiness as he laid a packet
+upon the table, saying: "I have brought back your 'proofs;' Mr. Bathurst
+wished me to say, if I chanced to see you first, that is," hesitating.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not seen Mr. Bathurst."</p>
+
+<p>"No!" Doctor Heath seemed to be somewhat affected by the chill of the
+atmosphere. "Then I am to say that he has something for your private
+ear, and that when he comes, he begs that you will contrive in some way
+to see him, whether your other officer is here or no."</p>
+
+<p>A grave bow from Lapland. Then,</p>
+
+<p>"Officer Belknap is here, and in the library. I presume," consulting her
+watch, "he is waiting for me at this moment."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath had been standing a few feet from her, hat in hand; now,
+and in spite of this implied dismissal, he coolly deposited his hat upon
+the table beside Miss Wardour's package, and advanced nearer to that
+young lady, speaking calmly, gently even, but without the slightest
+touch of entreaty, penitence, or humility of any sort in his manner or
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, pardon me for alluding to it, but I would be blind indeed
+not to see that something has annoyed you exceedingly. Indeed, I could
+almost fancy that, in some way, I have become the cause of your
+displeasure; if this is so, tell me how I have been so unfortunate as to
+offend?"</p>
+
+<p>Now this was a very pacific and proper speech, and uttered in the right
+spirit. But had its effect been salutary, then Doctor Heath would stand
+alone, the first, last, and only man who ever yet attempted to argue
+with, reason with, or pacify an angry woman without blundering
+egregiously in the beginning, and coming out worsted at the end. There
+are a <i>few</i> things in this world that mortal man can't compass, and to
+attempt to pour oil on the waves of a woman's wrath when they are just
+at the boiling point, and ready to overflow their confines, is like
+sitting down on a bunch of fire-crackers to prevent their going off. Let
+the water boil over, and there will still be enough left to brew you a
+cup of tea. Let the crackers explode, and you may sit down on them with
+impunity.</p>
+
+<p>Dear brethren, the moral is homely.</p>
+
+<p>How had he offended? That he should ask the question, was the acme of
+his offense. As if she could tell how he had offended. Was there ever so
+impertinent a question and questioner? "How had he been so <i>unfortunate</i>
+as to offend?" Any other man would have said "unhappy," whether he meant
+it or not, but this man, oh! he would not even <i>look</i> a culprit.</p>
+
+<p>She raised her haughty head a trifle higher, as high as it could be; she
+drew back as many steps as he had advanced; the room had become a
+refrigerator.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath flatters himself; in what manner <i>could</i> he offend me?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs10" id="gs10"></a>
+<img src="images/gs10.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Doctor Heath flatters himself.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Still he retains his composure, not guessing at the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"I have never presumed Miss Wardour, therefore can not have flattered
+myself. I <i>may</i> have offended by coming one moment too late with this
+packet. Miss Wardour is accustomed to unqualified obedience. If I fail
+in that it is not from lack of inclination, but&mdash;because I am just
+learning submission." He uttered the last words in a lower, softer
+tone, and fell back as he uttered them, laying his hand upon his hat.</p>
+
+<p>Anger, self-shame, and a strange thrilling emotion, she could not, or
+would not recognize or define, urged her out of herself, beyond herself,
+and beyond the bounds of propriety or courtesy. Sweeping toward him with
+one swift movement, she extended one hand with downward turned palm, in
+a quick, meaning gesture, and said,</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath, I have lost Sybil Lamotte's letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Lost it! How?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I should be glad to know; since I showed it to you last night and
+replaced it in my pocket, I have not seen it, and, Doctor Heath, as I do
+not wish without your knowledge, to be in possession of any secret of
+yours, I may as well tell you now that I overheard your warning to the
+detective last night."</p>
+
+<p>"My warning!" he repeated, parrot-like.</p>
+
+<p>"Your reminder that you must be to him, <i>Doctor Heath from nowhere</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath from nowhere, gazed at her for a moment as if petrified,
+his mind seeming reluctant or unable to grasp at once her full meaning;
+then he came close to her, straight and tall, and paler than her own
+pale robe; the blood of all the Howards flashing from his eye, and
+speaking in his bearing. Thus, for a moment, they faced each other,
+pale, passionate, mute; then a voice, soft and suave, broke the spell.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust you will pardon me."</p>
+
+<p>They turned swiftly, neither had faced the door; both had been too
+preoccupied to observe or hear. How long he had been a listener he alone
+could tell; but there stood Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective, one
+hand resting on the handle of the closed door, the other holding an open
+note book.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath vouchsafed him one dark glance, then bending above the
+uplifted hand of Constance Wardour, he looked straight down into her
+eyes, and said in a low, tense voice,</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, your words have been not an accusation, but an insult; as
+such, I can only accept them&mdash;in silence; good morning."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned, waved the private detective haughtily from before the
+door, and strode out, his heels ringing firm upon the hall marble as he
+went.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear I intruded," said Mr. Belknap, innocently. "I have just finished
+making some notes in the library, and am ready to proceed to the upper
+floor."</p>
+
+<p>"Breakfast." It was Nelly who appeared with this announcement, which was
+welcome, at least to Mr. Belknap, and pale, silent, subdued, Constance
+motioned him to precede her to the dining room.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure to be in a situation," mused the girl with a rueful grimace.
+"If it's only a <i>t&ecirc;te-&aacute;-t&ecirc;te</i> breakfast with a detective."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ONE DETECTIVE TOO MANY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Aunt Honor," said Miss Wardour, sweeping unceremoniously into her
+aunt's dressing room, "you really must come to my relief."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston seated in a big dressing chair, with a tempting breakfast
+tray drawn close beside her, looked up serene and comfortable, and said,
+after setting down her porcelain chocolate cup with great care.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!" with the rising inflection.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm exhausted, bothered, bored," continued the young lady, flinging
+herself down upon the nearest ottoman. "I wish my old diamonds had never
+had an existence. I wish Grandmama Wardour had had better sense."</p>
+
+<p>"Have a cup of chocolate," suggested Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't," snapped Constance, belligerently. "I have breakfasted if you
+please; auntie," lowering her voice to a tone of mock mystery, "we have
+got another detective in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"So Nelly tells me," reaching out for another roll.</p>
+
+<p>"And, he has breakfasted with me."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston laid down the roll, turned for a moment to gaze at her
+niece; and, reading in that fair upturned face, the fact that its owner
+was in a state of mutiny against the proprieties and all things else
+that might come in opposition to her will, she took up her roll and
+buttered it carefully as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well! that's quite like you. What sort of a man is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid," with a shrug of the shoulders, "smooth as oil, polished as
+ivory; a Chesterfield in ill fitting clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"And, a detective?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why not? Somehow he has picked up all the arts and graces of a
+gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Really! Not much like the other one then."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least. The other is eccentric, explosive, amusing. This one
+is like a lawyer; very non-committal, not at all inclined to tell all he
+knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! have you told him about the chloroform?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he has the bottle."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did <i>he</i> say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness gracious! and you breakfasted with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and he has spent half an hour or more in the drawing room. I have
+told him all I had to tell, and he is now prowling about my dressing
+room."</p>
+
+<p>"But what does he think about this affair?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know;" indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it didn't take you all breakfast time to tell <i>your</i> story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; I told my story and Mr. Belknap listened very attentively; made
+some entries in his note book, remarked that he would have a report
+ready for me in the course of the day, and then turned his back upon the
+subject."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy!"</p>
+
+<p>"He discussed the new opera, asked me if I had seen Neilson in Twelfth
+Night, gave a brilliant description of a young French drama by a young
+French author, gave me his opinion of Dickens, and looked his opinion of
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"What a remarkable person."</p>
+
+<p>"Exceedingly so. His remarks have quite exhausted me."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Con.;" reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, auntie, don't plead, my heart is adamant. If you don't go and
+interview that man for the remainder of his stay I shall order William
+to throw him out of my dressing-room window; not that I have a rooted
+antipathy for him, he is certainly a clever man, and no doubt a good
+officer. But I am worn out, unfit for duty, and&mdash;I have another matter
+to attend to."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" ejaculates Mrs. Aliston arising, "then, my child, I am ready, or
+almost ready, to go and inspect your new detective."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly Mrs. Aliston goes to her mirror, touches up her
+dressing-cap, gives a pat here, a shake there, and then ruffling her
+plumage like some huge old bird, follows her niece.</p>
+
+<p>Across the hall they find the detective inspecting the little safe, and
+hurriedly introducing Mrs. Aliston, and making her own excuses,
+Constance hastens away and down stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Down the stairs and out of the house, first because she felt oppressed
+and needed the soothing effects of fresh air and exercise, and, second,
+because she expected the tramp detective to be somewhere in the
+vicinity, and, for some reason, she wanted to see him. In spite of the
+fact that she had just declared herself bored, and desperate, and
+anxious to be alone; in spite of the fact that she had fled from
+detective number two, she wanted to see number one for a woman's reason.
+Having quarrelled desperately with Clifford Heath, she was immediately
+possessed by an insane desire to hear some one speak of him, and speak
+well of him. This man had treated Doctor Heath from the first with the
+utmost respect. He was undoubtedly pleased at their chance meeting;
+after all might not this secret which lay between the two be a perfectly
+honorable one?</p>
+
+<p>In fact, Miss Wardour wanted to see Detective Bathurst, not as Detective
+Bathurst, but as the man who knew Doctor Clifford Heath better than she
+herself knew him. Of her diamonds, she never thought at all.</p>
+
+<p>She felt depressed, dissatisfied, yet not quite prepared to blame
+herself in any way. She was possessed by more uncomfortable feelings
+than she could have analyzed or described, yet was too consistent a
+woman to be so soon ready to admit, even to herself, that she had
+wronged Doctor Heath. Indeed, she was more angry than ever with that
+unfortunate man. Had he not capped the climax of his iniquities by
+flying off at a tangent, and leaving her in a most uncomfortable
+position?</p>
+
+<p>The grounds about Wardour Place were large, well shaded, and laid out
+with a network of walks. With a view to the avoiding of those paths
+overlooked by the windows of her dressing room, or other rooms where her
+aunt and the detective were likely to be, Constance kept to the north
+and east walks, thus coming near the river, which ran north and south,
+and toward which the eastern, or near, portion of the grounds sloped
+down.</p>
+
+<p>Walking thus, and gazing riverward, Constance saw a form approaching,
+which she soon recognized as that of the detective tramp.</p>
+
+<p>Glancing quickly about to see if any of the servants were in the
+grounds, and assuring herself that the way was clear, she went forward
+to where he could see her, before approaching too near.</p>
+
+<p>Gazing fixedly at him, a slight movement of his hand told her that he
+had seen, and was alert; and then she made a gesture northward, and,
+turning that way herself, disappeared from his sight among the
+shrubbery.</p>
+
+<p>On the north, the grounds were bounded by the orchard wall, over which
+drooped the branches of huge old apple trees, and down close to the
+eastern boundary of this same orchard, a small iron gate opened into it.
+Toward this gate Constance walked, avoiding any appearance of unseemly
+haste, and toward the eastern wall, hard by, went the tramp detective,
+looking innocent of any thought or purpose, save to intercept the lady,
+and beg for a dinner, a dollar, or a dime.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the gate, Constance passed through it into the orchard, and,
+almost at the same moment, the tramp bounded over the wall, and stood
+bowing beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come into the grounds," said Constance, waiving all ceremony. "If we
+are seen talking there, it will look less suspicious. My servants are
+quite accustomed to see me interviewing tramps."</p>
+
+<p>She led the way back into the grounds, closed the wicket, and walked
+along the orchard wall to a rustic bench close under the bending boughs
+of a great tree. Here she seated herself, and the tramp, leaning against
+a tree a few paces from her, turned upon her a look of proper
+supplication, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now I think we are ready for observers."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite. None of my servants saw you last night, and they are not likely
+to come here in any case. We shall hardly be disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so? May I ask how long you have been absent from the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"About fifteen minutes, I should think."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in fifteen minutes more Mr. Belknap will be out looking at the
+grounds, and for you."</p>
+
+<p>Constance uttered a low exclamation of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said she, "you know that already. Pray tell me how? you are more
+puzzling than a Chinese juggler."</p>
+
+<p>"No jugglery about this, however," he replied, looking somewhat amused.
+"I met Mr. Belknap, face to face at your very gate; I have seen him wear
+that farmer disguise before, hence I recognized him."</p>
+
+<p>"And he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did <i>not</i> recognize me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you know each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Slightly, yes;" with a droll look in his eyes, of which Constance took
+note.</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell me, Mr. Bathurst, is Mr. Belknap a good detective?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap is a smart man, Miss Wardour; he understands his business
+thoroughly."</p>
+
+<p>"He equivocates," thought Constance; aloud she said,</p>
+
+<p>"And I need not fear to trust my business in his hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"You need not fear," he replied, with odd emphasis. "And now," he
+continued, "time presses; you received your package, Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance felt uneasy, this man seemed to find out everything; did he
+know of what she had accused Doctor Heath?</p>
+
+<p>"I received it an hour ago," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour," asked he, fixing his eyes upon her face, "have you any
+suspicion as to who these robbers were?"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Constance seemed half paralyzed with fright; then she
+answered firmly,</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; not the shadow of a suspicion; but&mdash;you have."</p>
+
+<p>"If I have, it is not more than a shadow&mdash;at present. Now, may I ask you
+some questions, not just to the point but which, for my own reasons, I
+wish answered."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded assent.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell me how many medical men you have in W&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance reflected; finally she said,</p>
+
+<p>"I think there are seven, in all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! all in practice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not all; two are retired, one is an invalid, doing but little."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; and how many of them have assistants or students?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only two, to my knowledge, Doctor Benoit and&mdash;Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"And who are these young men&mdash;I suppose they <i>are</i> young men? Can you
+give me any information concerning them?"</p>
+
+<p>"The young man with Doctor Benoit is a stranger to me, he comes, I
+believe, from one of the neighboring towns; the one with Doctor Heath,"
+here, in spite of herself, Constance colored slightly, "is the son of
+one of our wealthiest citizens. He had, I believe, been reading a little
+in the city during the winter before Doctor Heath established himself
+here; since when he has remained in W&mdash;&mdash;, and read in Doctor Heath's
+office, when it has suited him to do so; he is like many young men of
+great expectations."</p>
+
+<p>"And his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"His name," hesitating a little, "is Francis Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; and now, Miss Wardour, I want to ask at least three favors
+of you, in return for which you may command me to any extent."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask them," replied Constance, feeling inwardly that she was outgrowing
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"First, will you promise me&mdash;I know that you keep your promises&mdash;not to
+repeat one word of this conversation to Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath is not my father confessor," she said coldly; and then
+remembering the sort of man she was addressing, she added as best she
+could. "Although from what you saw last night, you might almost have
+fancied him such. I promise in any case to keep secret this interview."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you promise, above all, to keep it from Mr. Belknap; to keep
+<i>everything</i> concerning me from his knowledge?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"So far as I can," she replied. "Mr. Belknap is a detective; let him
+find out things as you seem to do."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't find out everything, more's the pity," he replied; then
+hesitating slightly over the question. "May I rely on your aunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise for my aunt," replied Constance, laughing again; "she is very
+loyal."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. Now there is one thing more I very much wish, for reasons
+which no doubt you will know in good time, to see or hear the report of
+Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective. This I know, is asking much, but
+you will have no cause to regret it if you enable me to obtain this
+knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>Constance looked perplexed, and hesitated in her answer.</p>
+
+<p>"You distrust Mr. Belknap," she said finally. "I thought&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He throws up his hand somewhat impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"You jump at conclusions," he interrupted; "a detective's motives must
+be taken for granted. It is not distrust that causes me to ask this
+favor; I could not tell you my reason without unraveling a long web, and
+it is not time to begin the process; I am still in the realm of
+conjecture. So you won't help me to the result of Mr. Belknap's
+investigation, Miss Wardour? I am sorry; it would save time for me, for
+I fully intend to find it out in some way."</p>
+
+<p>Constance smiled in spite of herself; she admired this man's cool way of
+mastering the situation; she felt that it would be policy to let him
+have his way, since he would take it whether she would or no. But the
+imp of caprice had not quite deserted her, and now he goaded her on to
+her own downfall. Looking up suddenly, she asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst, why did you ask me if I suspected who stole my diamonds?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't," smiling oddly.</p>
+
+<p>Constance stared.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked if you guessed who the robbers were."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;," began she; but the detective drawing a step nearer, and
+speaking in a guarded tone, interrupts her.</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied that you were <i>robbed</i> on Saturday night, Miss Wardour;
+I am sure that you have no clue to the burglars; no suspicion as to
+their identity; but, I am not so sure that you do not know <i>precisely
+where to look for the Wardour diamonds at this moment</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance flushed, and then turned pale. She had found her match; she
+was cornered, mastered, but she must give one last scratch.</p>
+
+<p>"Having divined so much," she said bitterly. "I suppose you intend to
+find them too?"</p>
+
+<p>He drew himself up haughtily. "I am a detective, madam, not a spy; so
+long as your diamonds give <i>you</i> no uneasiness they have no interest for
+me. When you need my services they are yours. I do not investigate
+mysteries from mere curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>Constance felt a twinge of self-reproach. "I am behaving like a fool,"
+she thought, in severe condemnation. "I am losing my own identity; this
+man is a friend to rely on, an enemy to fear. He will not bow to my
+whims and caprices. What has come over me? Let me try and redeem
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>She had been musing with downcast eyes; now she looked up, straight into
+her companion's face. It had undergone a sudden change; the eyes, a
+moment since so full of fire and subtlety, were dull and expressionless.
+The face was vague to apathy, the mouth looked the incarnation of
+meekness or imbecility; even his hands had taken on a helpless
+feebleness in the clutch in which he held his worn-out hat. Before she
+could withdraw her gaze or open her lips in speech, he said in a low
+guarded tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Some one is approaching. Look behind me, Miss Wardour, and carefully,
+not to excite suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>She turned her gaze cautiously in the direction indicated, and saw
+coming slowly toward them, Mr. Belknap and Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"It is Mr. Belknap," she said, nodding easily at the new comers as she
+spoke, "and my aunt. Have no fears, sir tramp, everything shall be as
+you wish. I will engage you, I think."</p>
+
+<p>Constance was herself again.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Honor," she said, as the two came within hearing distance, "you
+find me at my old tricks."</p>
+
+<p>"Old tricks indeed!" replied her aunt, with more subtlety of meaning
+than she often employed.</p>
+
+<p>Constance arose and swept past the supposed tramp, without bestowing a
+glance upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"What would you do aunt?" she said, with an air of honest anxiety that
+would have done credit to an actress, "here is this man again. You know
+I promised to try and help him when he was here before. Simon needs an
+assistant, he tells me; would you try him as under gardener?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs11" id="gs11"></a>
+<img src="images/gs11.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Here is this man again.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Thoroughly drilled in the art of aiding and abetting her niece, Mrs.
+Aliston proved equal to the emergency.</p>
+
+<p>"It couldn't do any harm," she said surveying the gentleman tramp
+somewhat superciliously. "He looks quite respectable, for that sort of a
+person."</p>
+
+<p>Constance stifled an inclination to laugh as she said, briskly:</p>
+
+<p>"Then we will try him, and I'll just take him to the kitchen, and tell
+cook what to do with him until Simon comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Now just let me do that Con.," remonstrated Mrs. Aliston, "Mr. Belknap
+wishes to talk with you about the servants; remain here, and I will
+attend to this person."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," responded Constance, indifferently, at the same time
+realizing the expediency of allowing the detective an instant
+opportunity for dropping a word of warning in the ear of her relative.
+"Tell the cook to give him something to eat, and now Mr. Belknap, you
+and I may walk on."</p>
+
+<p>"Just follow me, my man," called Mrs. Aliston, in a tone of loftiest
+patronage, and the newly appointed under gardener, beaming with
+gratitude, passed by Miss Wardour and Mr. Belknap, and followed the
+portly figure kitchenward with eager alacrity.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Constance, eager to engross Mr. Belknap's attention, turned
+toward him a smiling face, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Belknap, I am at your disposal for a short time; fate seems
+against my obtaining the rest I came out here to seek, but <i>your</i>
+business is in my interest, and I am not ungrateful; you wished to say
+something about my servants."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to question your servants separately, Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>Constance opened her eyes in quick surprise, then she answered quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"To question my servants! Oh, certainly, Mr. Belknap; when, and where?"</p>
+
+<p>"This evening would suit me; I am going to look about the surrounding
+country during the day."</p>
+
+<p>"This evening then, after dinner; will that suit you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Admirably, say at half past eight;" and having completed his
+arrangements in this business-like manner, Mr. Belknap asked permission
+to pass through the orchard, received it, and, bowing gravely, went
+through the wicket, and walked swiftly between the rows of apple trees
+straight northward.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock that evening, Miss Wardour sent for the gardener.</p>
+
+<p>"Simon," she said sweetly to the cross looking old man, "I engaged a new
+man to-day, perhaps you have seen him. I don't expect he can be very
+useful to you just at first, and I want you to give him very light
+tasks, and treat him kindly; he is a very unfortunate man. If we find
+that we can't make him useful after a few days' trial, we will pay him a
+month's wages and let him go. That will help him a little."</p>
+
+<p>Then she sent for the new man.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you might wish to hear the latest report from Mr. Belknap,"
+she said graciously. "If I am to be your ally, I intend to keep nothing
+back; but I can't help fearing that he may suspect your identity."</p>
+
+<p>"You need not," he replied with confident ease. "He has every reason
+for supposing me in California at this moment; besides, he does not know
+me well enough to be able to recognize me under a good disguise; our
+acquaintance," he added dryly, "has been somewhat one sided, with the
+advantage so far on my side. When I told you that I knew Mr. Belknap
+well, I did not intend to imply that he knew me equally well."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will trouble myself no more about the matter," said she lightly.
+"Mr. Belknap wishes to examine the servants, that is what I wished to
+tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Very proper in Mr. Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! is it? I thought it very absurd. My servants are honesty itself."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better; Mr. Belknap knows how to go to work, Miss Wardour,
+pray feel no prejudice."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not at all," ironically. "Now about the report. Be within easy call
+to-morrow morning, please, I think we will have it then."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it will be best to have you present, that is, within hearing.
+I will arrange that the interview will take place in the dining room,
+and can easily get you into the butler's room adjoining, where William
+sleeps; this room was arranged with a view to the overlooking of the
+dining room, and plate closet, as you discovered for yourself; from
+there you can both hear and see."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better." Then admiringly, he added, "Miss Wardour you are a
+splendid ally; you have thought of everything."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed; then answered with artful frankness: "I am trying to get
+back into my normal condition. I have been out of balance somehow, ever
+since this business commenced; have been as testy as an old woman of
+eighty. It is time I began to redeem myself. But I must not detain you.
+I see you begin to look uneasy. Until to-morrow, I commend you to the
+tender mercies of Simon and the cook."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how that man looks, devoid of all disguise," mused she, after
+he had withdrawn. "I don't believe he is tow-haired and freckled by
+nature. I wonder what has become of poor Sybil's letter; and if I had
+better ask his aid in finding it. But he is going away so soon. Now that
+I reflect, soberly, what motive could Doctor Heath possibly have for
+taking that letter? I think I must have been mad, or in hysteria. The
+man may be an imposter, a man of mystery, and all that; but why must I
+accuse him of taking a letter that could be of no possible use to him. I
+had worked myself into a rage. Well, it's done; I can't recall it.
+Doctor Heath will think me a vixen, and why not? What is Doctor Heath's
+opinion to me?"</p>
+
+<p>What, indeed!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>DEDUCTIONS OF DETECTIVE NUMBER TWO.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The fates seemed propitious on Monday morning. The day dawned fair and
+balmy, and Constance arose, feeling refreshed and like her own serene
+self once more.</p>
+
+<p>The events of the two previous days no longer seemed to her imagination
+a chaotic disturbing mass of tribulations; they had arranged themselves
+in their proper order, been reviewed sensibly, and assigned their
+rightful places, as things to be overcome, or overlooked, as the case
+might be.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston, too, at once discreet and talkative, was in fine spirits,
+and the two, having ascertained the precise time when Private Detective
+Belknap might be expected to make his report, had breakfasted
+comfortably, stowed away Mr. Bathurst, according to previous
+arrangement, and were now calmly awaiting the coming man.</p>
+
+<p>They had not long to wait. Mr. Belknap, ushered in by Nelly, found the
+ladies seated near the breakfast tray, as if just about completing a
+repast, which had in reality been finished some time before.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, ladies," said he, laying down his hat, and at once
+drawing a chair to the table, with the air of a man whose time is
+money. "Having completed my investigations here,&mdash;that is, in this
+immediate neighborhood,&mdash;I am prepared with my written report, which I
+submit to you, Miss Wardour. Will you please read it, and then give me
+further instructions?" and he proffered her a neatly-folded paper, of
+goodly proportions.</p>
+
+<p>Constance glanced at it dubiously, but did not take it from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Please read it, Mr. Belknap," she said, appealingly. "I am sure I shall
+comprehend it better, and my aunt shares my anxiety to hear and
+understand its contents."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," assented he, opening the manuscript. "I have made it as
+brief as possible; of course, it was necessary to be statistical."</p>
+
+<p>The report began with the usual form, day and date, circumstances under
+which his services were retained, etc., a statement of the case as it
+was made to him, then came the following:</p>
+
+<p>"Arrived in W&mdash;&mdash; early on Sunday morning, walking from the first
+station northward. Found Wardour Place easily from Mr. Lamotte's
+description. Gained admittance, and was at once permitted to inspect the
+room where the robbers found an entrance; found that it had been
+previously examined, and could not feel quite sure that some clue had
+not been effaced or something disturbed that might have evolved a clue.
+Miss Wardour assures me that nothing of value was taken from this room,
+and I am inclined to think that the robbers had hoped to find
+themselves in the dining room, and gain access to the plate closet.</p>
+
+<p>"Finding themselves instead in the library, a room where, there being no
+man of the house, it could hardly be supposed valuables were kept, or
+money or papers of worth locked away; they, after a vigorous search,
+opened the door of the hall; here they found themselves at once at the
+foot of the stairs and, naturally, one ascends to explore. The first
+door that he tries is the door of Miss Wardour's dressing room; and,
+having examined that door, I am compelled to think that Miss Wardour,
+for once, forgot to lock it. Had it been locked the explorer would
+naturally have passed on, trying the other doors and some of these other
+doors were certainly not locked.</p>
+
+<p>"The burglary was effected with the utmost quiet, and there are no
+indications that any thing was disturbed on the second floor, save in
+Miss Wardour's rooms, therefore (I cite this presumptive evidence), Miss
+Wardour's door was <i>not</i> locked as she supposed it to be; finding this
+to be the case the man signaled to his confederate to come up, and then,
+having a dark lantern, they entered, and surveyed the room. The rest is
+evident; one of them, skilled in his profession, and in the exigencies
+that must arise in the practice of it, administered to Miss Wardour the
+chloroform. Now the operation must have been a delicate one, and the
+length of time necessary to open the safe and get possession of its
+contents covered some minutes; having heard Miss Wardour's statement in
+regard to the effect a powerful dose of chloroform has on her physical
+system, I incline to the opinion that the drug was administered to her
+in minute doses, not once, but two or three times at least; this
+accounts for the bottle and the linen being left in the sleeping room.
+Probably, just at the moment when they had stowed away the last of their
+booty, some slight sound alarmed them and they made a hurried escape,
+forgetting the bottle entirely.</p>
+
+<p>"The robbers left behind them no clues beyond the established fact that
+they were professional burglars. This is proved by the manner in which
+they did their work, and by the tools they must have carried.</p>
+
+<p>"I see plainly here the work of city-bred burglars, and the remainder of
+the work of finding them is to be done in the city, where they will
+eventually try to dispose of some of the jewels, no doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"In order to satisfy myself that there has been no accomplice here, who
+may have been acquainted with the premises, I have searched most
+thoroughly. I have examined the servants closely, and I find nothing to
+indicate that there has been any one concerned in this affair, who is an
+inhabitant, or habitual visitor in the town.</p>
+
+<p>"In a field to the northward, I have found what may be, I think is, a
+trace of the robbers. Two or more men have leaped a ditch, running
+across the field from east to west; and the footmarks in the first
+instance are coming southward, or toward Wardour. These footmarks are
+within a few rods of the road, as if the parties had suddenly abandoned
+that highway, fearing observation from travelers. My supposition is,
+that they approached Wardour Place, keeping to the field, after having
+leaped the ditch, until the northern boundary of the orchard was
+reached; here they must have kept close under the wall, until they came
+to the roadside fence, which they climbed. The fence bears freshly
+scraped marks, as if made by boot heels in climbing over, and some tall
+weeds, growing by the roadside, give evidence of having been hastily and
+heavily trampled. The thieves probably returned after the robbery, in
+the same way; for, one crossing of the fence would not have left so many
+marks visible, either on the boards or among the weeds; and in the
+darkness they fell a little eastward of their first course; for I find,
+at the ditch again, but nearer to the river, the same footprints where
+the ditch has been leaped, this time the footsteps going northward.</p>
+
+<p>"It is probable that the thieves tramped northward under cover of the
+darkness, until they struck the railroad at some previously selected
+point, and from thence took the first train cityward."</p>
+
+<p>The reading came thus abruptly to an end, and the reader looked up to
+note the effect upon his hearers. They both sat in most attentive
+attitudes, and each face wore an expression of puzzled astonishment. Not
+being able to reach their "inner consciousness," and read the mental
+comparisons there being drawn between this report and the very
+dissimilar summing up of the tramp detective, Mr. Belknap drew his
+inferences, as do we all, poor mortals that we are, seeing only the
+outside of the cup and platter. He saw the surprise, the puzzled look,
+that might denote a partial inability to grasp his thoughts and theories
+at once, and a feeling of satisfaction took possession of the breast of
+the astute detective.</p>
+
+<p>Pausing for a comment, and receiving none, he said, with dignified
+gravity:</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that I have made my report sufficiently plain to you, ladies,
+and that you find no flaw in it."</p>
+
+<p>Constance, who with her keen sense of the ridiculous, had been fancying
+the effect this report would have upon the detective in ambush, and
+struggling hard with her own risibilities, mastered herself finally, and
+preserving her gravity of expression, replied with a wicked undercurrent
+of meaning:</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite plain to me, sir; I am a poor critic of such matters, but I
+should think it a masterpiece for directness and comprehensiveness."</p>
+
+<p>"And you see nothing in the theory to object to? You think that working
+from these findings, there will be a hope of success?" he queried.</p>
+
+<p>Constance hesitated once more to consider her answer and collect herself
+generally.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you know, Mr. Belknap," she said at last, and with charming
+ingenuousness, "this is not a matter for my judgment; I rely upon you
+entirely; pray do not hesitate, but continue your investigations in
+whatever direction your judgment leads you. I wish Mr. Lamotte was here
+to confer with you; but, if he were here," and her face became sad as
+she thought of his home coming; "he would hardly be in spirits for such
+a consultation. Mr. Lamotte has bad news awaiting him. We must venture
+this matter without his aid for the present."</p>
+
+<p>The detective's face showed grave concern.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news for Mr. Lamotte," he murmurs; "I deeply deplore that. He seems
+such a genial, kindly gentleman, so much above the average business man.
+It is not too serious, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"It is something you would have heard from the first gossip, if you had
+mingled with the town people at all," replied Constance sadly. "I may as
+well tell you what every one knows. Mr. Lamotte's only daughter has
+eloped during his absence, with a very worthless man."</p>
+
+<p>"His only daughter!" repeated the detective in a hushed sympathetic
+voice; "what a blow! what a bitter blow to a father's heart. Ah, madam,"
+turning to Mrs. Aliston, "these things are common, especially so to men
+in my profession, but we can never adjust ourselves to them for all
+that; each one comes to some one with the shock of a never before
+experienced horror. Death is common, the commonest thing of all, but, it
+is the 'king of terrors' still."</p>
+
+<p>His voice, low, splendidly modulated, sadly cadenced, seemed thrilling
+with sympathy, and he sighed as he lowered his eyes to the floor, and
+relapsed into meditation, seemingly forgetful of the business in hand.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he started, seeming to recover himself with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon my abstraction," he said, a shade of pensiveness still lingering
+in his voice. "In contemplating another's sorrow, I am forgetting your
+business. I can only hope that this matter is not so bad as it might be,
+as such things sometimes are."</p>
+
+<p>"It's as bad as it can be," responded Constance, gloomily. "It won't
+bear discussion; I mentioned it to you, Mr. Belknap, in order to show
+you how entirely absorbed Mr. Lamotte will of necessity be in his own
+affairs when he reaches home, and that we will be obliged to move in
+this matter without him."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps there is some one else you may desire to consult, in Mr.
+Lamotte's absence?" hazarded the private detective.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Constance; "my lawyer is out of town, and there is no one
+else upon whom I can rely. You must act alone, Mr. Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>"Authorized by you I shall not hesitate to do so," he replied, bowing
+courteously. "The case looks very clear to me. It will be a matter of
+time of course, these old birds are sly; but eventually they will try to
+market their wares, and then we shall have them. You can give me an
+accurate description of all the stolen jewels, Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the sooner that is done the better."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a soft rap sounded on the door. Constance crossed the
+room and admitted Nelly, who said in a low tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Francis Lamotte wishes to see you, Miss. I told him you were
+particular engaged, just as you told me; but he said to tell you he had
+just come from his search, and would only detain you for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>Constance paled slightly, and after a moment's thought, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a moment, Nelly." Then she went back and addressed the detective
+and her aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"It is Francis Lamotte," she said, adding, by way of explanation, to the
+detective, "the eldest son of Mr. Lamotte, and brother of the young lady
+who has brought trouble to herself and family. He, Francis, went on
+Saturday, on a self-imposed search through the surrounding country, in
+the hopes of finding some trace of these robbers. If he is but now
+returned he cannot yet have heard of his sister's flight. We cannot let
+him go away in ignorance, and yet," turning a look of swift appeal upon
+her aunt, "Aunt Honor, will <i>you</i> lay aside old prejudices and tell him
+of this sad misfortune?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston looked doubtful for a moment, then a look of satisfied
+commiseration came into her face as she thought:</p>
+
+<p>"She can't be very much infatuated with him or she would herself
+undertake this delicate task, and I can afford to pity the poor fellow,
+since she does not pity him overmuch," hence the strange mingling of
+pleasure and pity in her face as she said aloud:</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I will break the news to him, my dear, and as gently as is in
+my power."</p>
+
+<p>Constance was turning to give her answer to Nelly when the voice of the
+detective interposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," he said, "you tell me this young man has been scouring the
+country in search of information. Would it not be well to hear what
+report he brings? To allow me to see him here in your presence, and then
+let Mrs. Aliston tell him her story. Ill news you know," smiling
+slightly, "come soon enough, at latest."</p>
+
+<p>"Your suggestion is good," replied Constance, whose face continued to
+look anxious and troubled. "We will receive him here, then, and after
+hearing his story, you and I can withdraw."</p>
+
+<p>In the hurry and embarrassment of the moment, and the situation,
+Constance had entirely forgotten the proximity of the concealed
+detective, as also had Mrs. Aliston; and that invisible gentleman began
+to scent the prospect of a long imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>Obedient to a nod from Constance, Nelly vanished, and soon re-appeared,
+ushering in Francis Lamotte, looking somewhat jaded and travel-worn, but
+quite confident and smiling.</p>
+
+<p>In a few words, Constance made him acquainted with the detective, and
+gave him an outline of the doings at Wardour, including Mr. Belknap's
+discoveries, since he was last there; and the subdued kindness of her
+manner, caused him to wonder not a little and rejoice greatly, within
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"And so you have been bringing things down to a fine point," said
+Francis, after the greetings were over, and he had listened to
+Constance's explanation of the present state of affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"It appears then that I come just in time; and perhaps you sir," bowing
+to Mr. Belknap, "may conclude that my amateur work has not been quite
+thrown away, or misapplied."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray give me details," said the detective, consulting his watch, which
+was a huge silver affair, quite in keeping with the disguise he still
+wore. "I must economize my time, as much as may be, and shall be glad to
+hear all you have to tell&mdash;at once. Miss Wardour instructs me to act in
+this matter, according to my best judgment, and that tells me to shorten
+my stay here, and commence a search in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"All I know is soon told," said young Lamotte, with a light laugh. "I
+rode a great many miles, and asked a great many useless questions.
+Yesterday, however, I learned that two men had boarded a freight train
+bound cityward, at daybreak, Sunday morning, at Blair, a little watering
+station, some fifteen miles from here. I could not get a very accurate
+description of them. They were below the medium size, I should judge,
+wearing loose-fitting dark gray garments, and soft hats, pulled well
+down over their faces. The man at the tank tells me, he noticed
+distinctly that one of them wore very large and heavy boots, and that
+they were daubed here and there with red clay. Acting upon this hint, I
+rode some four miles south-east from Blair, knowing that there is a
+piece of marsh field, which the highway crosses, that has a reddish,
+clayey soil. Here, after asking a good many wrong persons, I found at
+last the right one, in the person of a farmer who, hearing some unusual
+noise among his cattle, arose before daybreak, and, going toward his
+barn, noticed two shadowy forms crossing the field just beyond. They
+were coming from the south, he said, and he watched them until they
+climbed the fence and struck into the road leading toward Blair. It was
+too dark for him to see them distinctly, but as they were then crossing
+a red loam field, we are safe to conclude that they were the two who, a
+little later, took to the freight cars at the water station."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Belknap had been for some moments writing rapidly in a small
+memorandum book, and as Francis ceased speaking, Constance, after a
+moment's silence, said, more to relieve the stillness than with a desire
+for any further intelligence:</p>
+
+<p>"And is that all, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough," interposed the detective, before the young man could
+reply. "Mr. Lamotte, let me congratulate you; you have done well. This
+confirms my theory, and gives me something to start from when I reach
+the city. I shall go now with a light heart, and a more than moderate
+hope of success."</p>
+
+<p>"Then your business here is about accomplished?" asked Francis.</p>
+
+<p>"It is accomplished, thanks to you. I would like," glancing as he spoke,
+into his note book, "to talk this matter over with you further. It is
+possible I might see you again before leaving for the city. At present,"
+he broke off abruptly, and glanced at Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," laughed she nervously; "at present you require my
+assistance about that list of jewels. Frank, you will remain here with
+Aunt Honor for a short time; she has, I think, something to say to you.
+We will go to the library, Mr. Belknap," and she turned toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't hurry matters so, please," expostulated Francis. "Let me say a
+little word to Mr. Belknap before you carry him off. His business here
+being so nearly done, the necessity for extra caution ceases, does it
+not? At least, it would not injure the cause if I carry him over to
+Mapleton to luncheon; will it, think you? You won't leave for the city
+before night, Mr. Belknap, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good," said the detective, with some hesitation. "But, if
+you please, we will renew this subject a little later; now, just excuse
+me," and before the bewildered young man could raise his voice to
+intercept them, Constance and Mr. Belknap had passed from the room, and
+he found himself alone with Mrs. Aliston. Turning toward that lady, he
+was surprised at the look of intent pity she was bending on him, and,
+remembering the words of Constance, he came close beside her, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You had something to say to me, madam?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes Frank," he almost started upon hearing his name falling so gently
+from her lips. She was not used to familiarity in addressing him.
+"Prepare yourself to receive a shock, a terrible shock." A look of
+uneasiness, but not of alarm, came over his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he asked hastily. "Has Evan&mdash;done something worse than
+usual?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to my knowledge. It is not Evan."</p>
+
+<p>"Not Evan, what then; tell me Mrs. Aliston," his face becoming paler and
+paler.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank, your sister has eloped!"</p>
+
+<p>He fell into the nearest chair, white and limp.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," he whispered hoarsely, lifting a haggard face towards her;
+"tell me&mdash;the worst, Mrs. Aliston."</p>
+
+<p>"She has eloped with John Burrill," went on Mrs. Aliston, a shade of
+coldness in her voice. "They ran away on Saturday afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>His head dropped forward and fell upon the table before him. Thus for a
+moment he remained motionless, then his voice broke the stillness,
+sounding faint and hollow.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that&mdash;all&mdash;you can tell me?"</p>
+
+<p>"All! Yes!" exclaimed Mrs. Aliston in a burst of nervousness. "I wish I
+had not told you so much. Frank don't take it so hard."</p>
+
+<p>He lifted his head, showing her a ghastly face and pale trembling lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Did Constance see Sybil? Does she know&mdash;" he broke off abruptly and
+half rising from his chair, stretched out to her an imploring hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Aliston," he said hoarsely. "I must see Constance. I <i>must</i>. For
+God's sake send her to me, just for one moment."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;" began Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I <i>must</i> see her," he cried, with sudden fierceness. "I
+shall go to her if there is no other way."</p>
+
+<p>Great drops of sweat stood out on his forehead; once more he looked as
+he had two days before, when he stood alone under the trees of Wardour
+Place, after his parting with Constance.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that look upon his face, Mrs. Aliston went slowly towards the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"I will send Constance to you," she said gently and went out, closing
+the door softly.</p>
+
+<p>When he was alone the look upon Francis Lamotte's face became fierce and
+set. Springing to his feet he paced the floor like a mad man.</p>
+
+<p>"That letter," he hissed, "that accursed letter, what has it told? I
+must know! I must know the worst! blind fool that I was to let my own
+hand bring this about. Oh! this is horrible! Am I lost or&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he seemed to recollect himself and dropping into a chair he
+buried his passion-distorted face in his arms and so awaited the coming
+of Constance.</p>
+
+<p>He had not long to wait; soon his listening ear caught the gentle
+opening and closing of the door, and then he felt a light hand upon his
+arm, and a sweet pitying voice said: "Poor Frank, poor boy, don't let
+this overcome you so."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs12" id="gs12"></a>
+<img src="images/gs12.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Poor Frank, don't let this overcome you.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>One hand reached up and clasped the soft hand that rested on his arm,
+but he did not lift his head, as he said brokenly:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me the worst, Constance."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Frank! the worst is told."</p>
+
+<p>"But," his hand tightened its clasp, "<i>you</i> know more than she has told
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Frank, nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>He lifted his pale face again.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance&mdash;that letter."</p>
+
+<p>She started and flushed.</p>
+
+<p>"What letter, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know," his eyes scanning her face hungrily. "Her letter. The one I
+brought you two days ago. What was it?"</p>
+
+<p>She drew away her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a note of farewell, Frank. Nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she told you?" he gasped,&mdash;caught his lips between his teeth, and
+waited for her to finish the sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"She told me nothing, Frank. Oh, I wish she had."</p>
+
+<p>He sprang up, overturning his chair in his hasty excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing!" he cried "she told you <i>nothing</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely nothing. The letter was an enigma. How strangely you act,
+Frank. I can't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the life color returned to his cheeks and lips, as he answered,
+or stammered:</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Constance. I thought&mdash;I feared&mdash;I hoped there might be some
+explanation. I thought she must have given you some reason for so
+horrible a step. Are you sure there is no hint, no clue to help us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frank, listen: Sybil's note explained nothing. It only implored me not
+to think harshly of her, when I should know what she had done, and bade
+me farewell. I could not comprehend its meaning until the news reached
+me that she had fled."</p>
+
+<p>"And you can not guess why she did this thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>He turned away, putting his hand up before his face, and uttering a
+groan. Then he moved toward one of the French windows, pushed it open,
+and leaned out.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as if I were going mad," he muttered. "Constance, pardon me; I
+must have the air. I must be alone to think, and to face this&mdash;this
+disgrace that has come upon us."</p>
+
+<p>And he stepped through the open window, and reeled rather than walked
+down the steps, and out among the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Constance watched him until the shrubbery hid him from view, and then,
+with a quick, nervous glance about the room, and out at the windows, she
+went to the door which shut our tramp detective from view, but not from
+hearing.</p>
+
+<p>"Come out," she whispered, hurriedly. "Now is your time to escape."</p>
+
+<p>He came out, shaking himself like a water dog.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh!" he exclaimed. "I have been in one position too long."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry," began Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"Not for me," he interrupted. "Like most listeners, I heard what I did
+not bargain for; but&mdash;I have not heard too much. Miss Wardour, don't
+reproach yourself, or Fate; that little extra hearing was a godsend.
+And now, let me out, quickly, before some one else claims your time."</p>
+
+<p>She looked cautiously out into the hall, then closed the door again.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could know your opinion regarding this business&mdash;all of it,"
+she said, wistfully. "I begin to feel helpless, like a rudderless
+mariner."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a hard knot," he said, going toward the door; "a very hard knot.
+But we will untie it, Miss Wardour, and then you will understand all
+these things. Now tell me, where is your detective going next?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"You must find out," imperatively.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I can."</p>
+
+<p>"And come to me in the garden."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," looking out once more. "Your way is clear, sir; go straight
+to the kitchen entrance."</p>
+
+<p>He passed out, and went his way, swiftly, quietly, and unobserved; and
+Constance returned to Mr. Belknap, and the completion of her jewel list.</p>
+
+<p>"The combat deepens," mused the tramp detective, as he paced slowly down
+the garden walk. "The plot, thickens. I come for a catfish,&mdash;I may catch
+a whale. Oh, what a knot; what a beautiful, delightful, horribly hard
+knot; and how my fingers itch to begin at it. But soft&mdash;easy; there is
+more to be tied in. Let us pay out the rope, and wait."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>EVAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Miss Wardour and the private detective had just completed their work of
+transferring to paper a minute description of the Wardour diamonds, when
+the door opened quietly, and Francis Lamotte, pale, heavy-eyed, but
+quite composed, appeared before them.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you finished your work?" he asked wearily. "If so, may I intrude?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, by all means," replied Constance, gently. "You are not intruding,
+Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you." He came forward, and sank listlessly into a chair.
+"Constance, who brought you this news about&mdash;Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance glanced toward the detective, and Francis, interpreting the
+look, hastened to say:</p>
+
+<p>"It is known to Mr. Belknap, I presume&mdash;this shameful business. There is
+no use of secrecy, where all the world is already agape. My sister, you
+tell me, has eloped with a low brute. I am numbed with the horror of it.
+But I must hear it all; every word, every particular. Who brought you
+the news, Constance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath," replied the girl, icily.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!"</p>
+
+<p>The interjection came through shut teeth, and just for a moment the
+dark shadow flitted across his features; then he said, with quiet
+composure:</p>
+
+<p>"Heath? ah, yes; and he gave you all the particulars,&mdash;all that he had
+gathered?"</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath told me all that he had learned," she replied, still
+coldly.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte arose slowly, wearily.</p>
+
+<p>"I must see Heath," he said, taking up his hat. "It is small wonder that
+you speak so frostily to the brother of a girl who has disgraced
+herself, Constance. However, I realize my fall; henceforth, I know my
+place."</p>
+
+<p>The detective arose and moved uneasily to the window.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to hear this absurdity, Frank," said Constance, with some
+severity. "You know my position always in these matters; only yourself
+can injure yourself in my eyes; and I am sorry to hear you speak thus of
+Sybil. I have yet to be convinced that in some manner, she is not more a
+victim than disloyal. <i>I</i> have not condemned her; why should you, her
+brother?"</p>
+
+<p>A hot flush came over the young man's face, and his eyes glowed with a
+strange light. He shifted his position uneasily; then, abruptly, he
+turned to the detective.</p>
+
+<p>"If under the circumstances, and having seen my mood, you care to accept
+my hospitality, it is still extended, sir," he said, somewhat awkwardly;
+"will you accompany me to town, and afterwards lunch with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will accompany you to the town," replied the detective, coming back
+from the window; "but I fear I must decline your hospitality for to-day;
+another time, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>Francis bowed stiffly, then turned to Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, good bye," he said, mournfully, and holding out his hand. "I
+will not displease you again; I will keep at a safe distance."</p>
+
+<p>"You will displease me by doing that," she replied, kindly, at the same
+time extending her hand. "I mean by staying away; I want you to come
+often, and to bring me any news that may come from Sybil. Remember, I
+intend to be her champion, and you must be mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I <i>may</i> come as a bringer of news?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You may come as usual," she retorted, a trifle sharply, "and come
+<i>especially</i> when there is news."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you;" he bowed over her hand, then turned to the private
+detective.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Miss Wardour," said that individual, coming forward; "it
+is probable that I shall not see you again, as I will leave for the city
+this evening, but you will hear from me as the case progresses, or it is
+possible that I may find it expedient to pay this place another visit."</p>
+
+<p>"In which case, you will of course present yourself," smiled Constance.
+"May I ask where you intend to pass your time until you leave for the
+city, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly say; about the town, as it may happen."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Pardon the question; I was thinking of the business in hand; you
+can hardly hope to find anything new in the village."</p>
+
+<p>"One can never tell, Miss Wardour. If I do learn anything new, you shall
+hear from me. Present my adieus to Mrs. Aliston, and once more good
+day."</p>
+
+<p>Constance watched the two as they walked away together, the handsome
+lithe form of the younger man in such marked contrast with the shambling
+gait of the detective. Only for a moment, however, then she went swiftly
+through the halls, out at a rear entrance, and down the path toward the
+rear gardens.</p>
+
+<p>Here she found the tramp detective busy, or pretending to busy himself
+with a small pruning knife.</p>
+
+<p>"If you want to follow him, you must make haste," she said,
+breathlessly; "he is walking townward with Mr. Lamotte; intends to
+loiter about the town and take some evening train."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray don't appear so much excited," said the tramp detective, dropping
+his pruning knife, and picking it up again with great deliberation.
+"There is a man coming up from the river, he must be getting pretty near
+us. No, don't look now."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" began Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," he went on, without regarding her ejaculation. "I am going to
+leave here in two minutes; you can say that you have discharged me. I
+may not see you again for months. I may return at any time. I may as
+well warn you here, not to <i>confide</i> anything to Mr. Belknap; at another
+time you will learn why. Another thing, it is just possible that you
+may need my services at some future time. I was about to give you an
+address that will reach me at any time, but we may be observed by that
+fellow who is coming. I will send you by mail a card containing the
+address. Pray call upon me if you need my aid. I hope Belknap will find
+your robbers, but you were wise not to tell him that you had saved your
+diamonds. Keep your counsel on that subject always, Miss Wardour, it
+will save you trouble. And now you had better move on. I intend to
+follow and overtake your two departing guests."</p>
+
+<p>He turned carelessly away as he spoke, and Constance, after a pretense
+of examining the shrubbery, faced about and walked a few paces down the
+path, then lifting her eyes carelessly, they fell upon the intruder.
+Uttering a low ejaculation of surprise, she hastened toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Evan! why Evan!" she cried, anxiously. "You look ghostly, and you must
+be in trouble."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs13" id="gs13"></a>
+<img src="images/gs13.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Why, Evan, you look ghostly!</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Or I would not be here," said Evan Lamotte, bitterly. "Evan, the
+ne'er-do-well, does not seek his friends when the sun shines. Eh, Conny?
+Don't go in," laying one hand upon her arm, as she was about to turn
+toward the house, "I&mdash;I came to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will come in, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I should fall out with your old cat&mdash;I beg pardon, Con., I mean
+your old aunt, directly."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Honor shut herself in her own room an hour ago, child; she has
+been worn out with too much excitement. We have had a detective here all
+the morning, not to mention Frank, who has made a wonderful discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say," muttered the young fellow, dryly, "Frank will make another
+wonderful discovery soon. Conny," clutching at her arm again, "<i>have you
+heard</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I heard what, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"About Sybil&mdash;my sister," his voice broke, ending in a sob.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Evan," she replied, very gently, "I have heard."</p>
+
+<p>It was noticeable, the difference between her treatment of this younger
+brother of Sybil Lamotte and the one who had just gone.</p>
+
+<p>With Francis she had preserved, even while her heart was full of
+sympathy and pity for his trouble, a certain dignity even in her
+kindness, an arm's length repellant stateliness, that galled and
+tormented the ardent, impulsive, and too eager young man. With Evan she
+was all pity, all sympathy, full of familiar sisterly kindness and
+patience.</p>
+
+<p>Women are strange creatures; we may be as handsome as the Apollo, and
+they will steel their hearts against us. If we would have the
+confidence, the caresses, the tenderest love of a pitying woman, we must
+be mentally, or morally, or physically maimed, or halt, or blind.</p>
+
+<p>Evan Lamotte was one of the world's unfortunates, and the pitying heart
+of the fair heiress had no scorn for such as he. A black sheep, so they
+called Evan Lamotte, not yet of age, with a slender physique, a pale,
+handsome face, handsome in spite of his dissipations. He seemed
+possessed of an evil spirit, that cried incessantly, "drink, drink,
+drink." Every means had been tried to win him from his dissipation;
+tears, entreaties, threats, bribes, were alike unavailing. In spite of
+himself, against himself, Evan Lamotte seemed driven downward by a
+relentless, unseen enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckless, worthless, hopeless." These were the adjectives commonly
+coupled with his name, and yet his sister had deemed him worth her
+loving; his mother had deemed him worth her tears, and Constance Wardour
+had deemed him worth her pitying kindness.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance," he choked back the sobs that arose in his throat; "don't
+think that I have been drinking; when a fellow like me is grieved almost
+to madness, you call him maudlin, but I never cry in my cups, Con. And I
+have been perfectly sober since Saturday night, or if you like,
+yesterday morning. I drank hard all that day after they told me, Con.,
+but not one drop since; not one. Con., tell me what have you heard?"</p>
+
+<p>"About all that is known, I think, Evan. Oh! Evan, do you know, can you
+guess why she has done this&mdash;this terrible thing? Come down this walk,
+Evan; let us sit under that tree, on that bench."</p>
+
+<p>She moved toward the spot indicated, he following mechanically, and
+seating himself beside her, in obedience to her gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I know the reason?" he repeated. "Do I guess it? Oh, if I could
+guess it; it has haunted me every moment; that strong desire to know
+what drove my sister to this fate? It is the question I came here to
+ask. Con., help me to think; she must have said something; must have
+given you some hint."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas. But she never did."</p>
+
+<p>"And you can not guess; you have no clue to help us unravel this
+mystery?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Con., oh, Con., <i>you</i> don't think&mdash;you can't think that she loved
+that&mdash;that beast?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Evan, I can't think that."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," excitedly; "you must think as I do; that there is a mystery;
+that there has been foul play. Con., I don't care for anything on earth,
+except Sybil; I <i>must</i> know what has driven her to this; I must help
+her; I can help her; I can take her from that brute."</p>
+
+<p>His face was livid, and his eyes glowed with the fierce light that we
+have seen in the eyes of his elder brother. Constance saw the growing
+excitement, and sought to soothe it.</p>
+
+<p>"Evan, let us not anticipate," she said, gently. "All that we can do for
+Sybil shall be done, but it must be with her consent. When does your
+father come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," sullenly; "I telegraphed him Saturday; he will come
+to-day, no doubt. But he will come too late."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, yes; I regret so much that it was for my sake he was absent from
+home at such a time, and Frank, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Frank? bah! What could he do? What could any one do?"</p>
+
+<p>She turned, and scanned his face keenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Evan, you suspect, or you know something."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a thought," he replied. "I hardly dare call it a suspicion. If I
+could know it to be the truth," he hissed, between set, white teeth, "I
+should know what to do, then."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't look like that, Evan; you look wicked."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel wicked," he cried, fiercely. "You can never guess how wicked.
+When I think of that brute, that beast, that viper; of the power he must
+hold over <i>her</i>, I am mad, crazed. But he will come back, and then&mdash;then
+I will murder him, and set her free."</p>
+
+<p>With his gleaming eyes, his clenched hands, his white, uplifted face, he
+looked like a beautiful evil demon. Constance shuddered as she gazed,
+and then her hand closed firmly upon his arm, as she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Evan, listen: Do you think it would lighten Sybil's burden to hear you
+rave thus? Do you want to make her lot still harder to bear? Sybil loves
+you. Would it make her heart lighter to have you embroil yourself for
+her sake? You know your faults. If you let this hideous idea take place
+in your mind now, it will break out some day when the demon possesses
+you. If Sybil Lamotte returns, and hears you utter such threats, she
+will have an added torture to bear; she will have two curses instead of
+one. You can not help Sybil by committing an act that would cut you off
+from her forever. You have caused her heart-aches enough already. See,
+now, if you can not lighten her burden in some different, better way.
+But all this is superfluous, perhaps. I wonder if Sybil will come back,
+at all?"</p>
+
+<p>Lower and lower sank his head, as he listened, and then something that
+she had said seemed to chain and hold his thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the evil light faded from his eyes, and into his face crept a
+strange, fixed look. Forgetful of time, or of his companion's presence,
+his thoughts followed this new course, his hands clenching and
+unclenching themselves, his teeth burying themselves from time to time
+in his thin under lip. So long he sat thus, that Constance herself, from
+watching and wondering at his strange mood, wandered off into a sad
+reverie, the subject of which she could hardly have told, it was such a
+vague mixture of Sybil's sorrows and her own unrest.</p>
+
+<p>After a time he stirred as if arousing himself with difficulty from a
+nightmare; and Constance, recalled to herself, in turn, looked up to
+encounter his gaze, and to be astonished at the new, purposeful
+self-restraint upon his face, and the inscrutable intentness of his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Con.," he said slowly, even his voice seeming to have gained a new
+strange undertone, "Con., you are an angel. You have set me on my feet."</p>
+
+<p>"On your feet, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, on my feet, mentally at least. I don't suppose any one could set
+me permanently on my physical, corporeal pins. Beg pardon for the slang,
+Conny, I don't forget how you and Sybil used to lecture me for that, and
+my other vices. Poor sis, she had given up the drink talks latterly,
+given me over as hopeless, and so I am. Con., I have made a new
+resolve."</p>
+
+<p>Constance smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you smile. You think I am going to swear off again. No, Con.,
+that's of no use, I should know myself for a liar all the time. I shall
+never quit liquor; I <i>can't</i> and I tell you," he whispered this
+fiercely, "they <i>know that I can't</i>, and they know <i>why</i> I can't. Oh!
+you need not recoil; we are not the first family that has inherited a
+taint; and I am the one unfortunate in whom that taint has broken forth.
+Let me tell you a secret; since my first potation, my mother has never
+once remonstrated with me; never once upbraided; my proud, high tempered
+mother. She knows the folly of trying to reclaim the irreclaimable.
+But," lowering his voice, sadly, "my mother never loved me."</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered at the tone, knowing that this last statement, at least,
+was all too true, and, to direct his thoughts from so painful and
+delicate a subject, said:</p>
+
+<p>"And your resolve then, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"My resolve," his mouth settling into hard lines once more. "Oh, that!
+well, it is a resolve you put into my head, Con.; although I'll swear
+the thought was never in <i>your</i> mind. I have resolved to act upon your
+advice; to curb my heathenish temper, and to <i>help Sybil</i>, when the
+<i>right time comes</i>, in the right way."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him fixedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Evan, are you sure this last state of your mind is not worse than the
+first?"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed, ironically.</p>
+
+<p>"How hard it is to make you believe that any good exists in me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not that, Evan, but you look so strange; not so wild as before,
+but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Just as wicked."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Con., you can't expect a fellow to feel pious all in an instant;
+mine is a pious resolve, and the proper feeling must follow. Isn't that
+about how they preach it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's about how they preach it, sir. Now listen, I don't intend to
+stir one step, or allow you to stir, until you have explained some of
+your dark sayings; you are going to tell me what this new resolve is."</p>
+
+<p>Evan glanced at her from under his long lashes, and seemed to hesitate.
+He knew that Constance, in what he had sometimes termed her "imperative
+mood," was a difficult element to contend with. But he was not quite
+prepared to divulge just the precise thoughts that were in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Con.," he said, slowly, "do you think, if my sister came back very
+penitent, or very miserable, that my father would take her home?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Evan."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's another of the things that brought me to you. I was
+overwhelmed with misery, and my head was chaos. I was wild to wreak
+vengeance upon that man, and filled with dread at the thought that Sybil
+might come back and meet with no welcome. I believe she will come. I
+know that man would not miss the triumph of bringing her back among us.
+Now, Con., my father thinks you infallible, and you can do anything with
+Frank. I want you to see them, and make them take Sybil home, when she
+comes. Yes, and John Burrill, too, if she <i>will</i> have him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Evan!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then," he went on, breathlessly, "the world must have a reason for this
+marriage; for, not the greatest fool in W&mdash;&mdash; will believe that Sybil
+freely chose that villain. Do you pave the way for Sybil's return; I
+will find a reason for the marriage,&mdash;a bone to throw to the dogs. For,
+I tell you, Con., the true reason will never be told."</p>
+
+<p>Thinking of Sybil's letter, Constance could but agree with him in this;
+and that letter, too, had caused her to think that Sybil had expected,
+or hoped, or feared, a return to W&mdash;&mdash;; which, she could only guess.</p>
+
+<p>"You will furnish a reason, Evan? You are mystifying me."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that. I, Evan Lamotte, worthless&mdash;black sheep&mdash;sot; <i>I</i> will
+find a reason, I tell you; one that will not be questioned, and that
+will spare Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>"And what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then, aided by you, Sybil can come back to us. Aided by my new strong
+resolve, I will receive that Burrill,&mdash;it nearly chokes me to speak his
+name,&mdash;just as Sybil shall dictate; and then, aided by the old man's
+money, we may be able to buy him off and get him out of the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Evan Lamotte," cried Constance, with a burst of hopefulness, "you
+have actually evolved a practical scheme. I begin to feel less
+hopeless."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have a brain or two left, when a firm hand, like yours, shakes me
+up, sets me straight, and gets me in running order. Will you help,
+Con.?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will I help! Sybil Lamotte, if she comes back, will be warmly welcomed
+by me, and by all W&mdash;&mdash;, if I can bring it about."</p>
+
+<p>He sprang to his feet and seized her hands. "Thank you, Conny," he
+cried; "my heart is lightened now; I can 'bide my time,' as the novels
+say. Only do your part, Con."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me for that. Now come to luncheon, Evan."</p>
+
+<p>He dropped her hands, and turned away abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wont! I can't," he said, almost gruffly. "Go in, Con., and be
+prepared to welcome Sybil back; and I," he added, moving away, and
+turning a wicked look over his shoulder, "will be prepared to welcome
+Burrill;" a low, ironical laugh followed these words, and Evan Lamotte
+leaped the low garden palings, and went back as he had come, by the
+river way.</p>
+
+<p>"What can that strange boy mean," thought Constance, gazing after him;
+"he makes me nervous, and yet he was reasonable after his fashion. Poor
+Evan, he is indeed unfortunate; here he has been breaking his heart over
+Sybil, and before night he may be singing in some saloon, in a state of
+mad intoxication. Altogether, they are a very uncomfortable pair to
+entertain in one half day, Frank and Evan Lamotte."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE END OF THE BEGINNING.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Doctor Clifford Heath sat alone in his office at half-past eleven
+o'clock. His horse, "all saddled and bridled," stood below in the
+street, awaiting him. On a small stand, near the door, lay his hat,
+riding whip, gloves. On the desk beside him, lay a small pyramid of
+letters and papers, and these he was opening, and scanning in a
+careless, leisurely fashion, with his chair tilted back, his heels on
+high, his entire person very much at ease.</p>
+
+<p>Over one letter he seemed to ponder, blowing great clouds of smoke from
+the secret depths of a huge black Dutch pipe the while. Finally, he laid
+letter and pipe aside, lowered his feet, wheeled about in his chair,
+drew pen, ink, and paper before him on the desk, and began to write
+rapidly only a few lines, and the letter was done, and signed, and
+sealed, with grim satisfaction; then he gathered up his scattered
+missives, and locked them away carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't go back," he muttered, picking up his pipe once more. "I
+wouldn't go now for a kingdom; I won't be put to rout by a woman, and
+that is just what it would amount to. I'll see the play played out, and
+I'll stay in W&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>Again the smoke puffed out from the black pipe; again the heels were
+elevated, and, drawing some papers toward him, Dr. Heath began to absorb
+the latest news, looking as little like a jilted lover or a despairing
+swain, as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the office door opened to admit a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed
+young man, of aristocratic bearing and handsome countenance, but looking
+extremely haggard and heavy eyed.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath turned his head lazily at the sound of the opening door,
+but seeing who his visitor was, he laid his pipe aside and arose with
+kindly alacrity.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, Ray, old fellow," he said cheerily, "why you look as if the
+witches had made your bed."</p>
+
+<p>"It's about the way I feel, too," said the new comer, dropping wearily
+into the easy chair pushed toward him. "Heath, you are a good fellow,
+and I can't blame you for thinking me a cad. Don't stop your smoke."</p>
+
+<p>"Why as to that," replied the doctor, easily, and taking a long pull at
+his pipe, "we are all cads, more or less, in certain emergencies, and
+yours was an unusually severe blow. We all have to take them in some
+shape or other, at one time, or another; these soft hands hit hard,
+but&mdash;it's the penalty we pay for being sons of Adam. Although now that I
+come to think of it, I can't recall that I ever insisted upon being a
+son of Adam."</p>
+
+<p>"Why!" said Raymond Vandyck, opening his eyes in languid surprise, "you
+talk as if <i>you</i> had received one of those hard hits."</p>
+
+<p>"So I have, my boy; so I have," he replied <i>debonairly</i>. "If I were a
+woman I would get out a fresh handkerchief and tell you all about it.
+Being a man I&mdash;smoke."</p>
+
+<p>Young Vandyck sighed heavily, and picked up a newspaper, running his eye
+listlessly over the columns. Here was another upon whom the flight of
+Sybil Lamotte had fallen a heavy blow. He had loved Sybil since they
+were boy and girl, and lately for a few short months they had been
+betrothed, then Sybil had asked to be released, and in such a manner
+that it left him no room for remonstrance. The engagement had been
+broken, but the young man had not quite abandoned hope.</p>
+
+<p>Now, however, hope had deserted him. Sybil was lost to him utterly, and
+hearing the news of her flight he had rushed into Doctor Heath's
+presence a temporary madman. He could not have found a wiser or more
+sympathetic friend and adviser, and he fully realized this fact. The
+doctor's patience, delicacy and discretion had screened him from the
+prying eyes and prating tongues of the curious ones, who were anxious to
+probe his wounds, and see how "Vandyck would take it," and had made him
+his firm friend for always.</p>
+
+<p>Ever since the advent of Doctor Heath, Vandyck had been one of his
+warmest admirers, and this admiration had now ripened into a sincere and
+lasting friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a good fellow, Heath," said Vandyck, suddenly, throwing down
+his paper. "I want to tell you that I appreciate such kindness as you
+did me. I don't suppose you would ever go off your head like that. I
+shan't again."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think you will," responded the doctor soberly. "As for
+going off my head, Lord bless you, man, it's in the temperament. I might
+never lose my head in just that way. We're not made alike, you see. Now
+I should be struck with a dumb devil, and grow surly and cynical as time
+went on, and of all contemptible men a cynic is the worst. You will have
+your burst of passion, and carry a tender spot to your grave, but you
+can't squeeze all the sunshine out of your soul, any more than out of
+your Saxon face."</p>
+
+<p>Vandyck laughed dismally.</p>
+
+<p>"It's hard lines, however," he said. "But I'm bound to face the music.
+Only&mdash;I wish I could understand it."</p>
+
+<p>"So do all her friends. Ray, let me give you a little advice."</p>
+
+<p>"Well."</p>
+
+<p>"After a little, go call on Miss Wardour and talk with her about this
+affair. I think she knows as much as is known, and I am certain she has
+not lost her faith in her friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Heath; I will."</p>
+
+<p>Just here the office door admitted another visitor in the form of
+Francis Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>He, too, looked pale and worn, but he carried his head erect, if not
+with some defiance. "Do, Heath. Morning, Vandyck," he mumbled, flinging
+himself upon a settee with scant ceremony. "You will excuse me from
+asking 'what's the news?'"</p>
+
+<p>"I should ask what's the matter?" retorted Clifford Heath, eyeing him
+closely.</p>
+
+<p>"Fix me up one of your potions, Heath," replied Francis, drawing a hard
+deep breath. "I've had another of those cursed attacks."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Heath arose and went slowly toward a cabinet, slowly unlocked it and
+then turned and surveyed his patient.</p>
+
+<p>"Another attack," he said somewhat severely, "the second one in three
+days, and not a light one, if I can judge. Let me tell you, Lamotte, you
+must not have a third of these attacks for some time to come."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs14" id="gs14"></a>
+<img src="images/gs14.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">You must not have a third attack.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I won't," replied Lamotte, with a nervous laugh. "This one has done me
+up; I feel weak as a kitten, meek as a lamb."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph," this from Doctor Heath, who proceeded to drop into a druggist's
+glass, sundry globules of dark liquid, which he qualified with other
+globules from another bottle, and then half filling the glass with some
+pale brandy, handed it to Lamotte who drained it off eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Physician, heal thyself," quoted Raymond Vandyck, watching the patient
+with some interest. "Why don't you do your own dosing, Lamotte?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm shaky," replied Lamotte, lifting an unsteady hand. "And then we are
+advised to have faith in our physician. I should swallow my own mixture
+with fear and trembling."</p>
+
+<p>"And pour it down your neighbor's throat with entire satisfaction,"
+interpolated Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely, just as you pour this stuff down mine. Thanks, Heath,"
+handing back the glass. "Now then, we are all friends here, and you two
+know what I wish to learn. Heath," shading his eyes with his hand as he
+reclined on the settee. "I came back, from a two day's tramp about the
+country in search of Miss Wardour's robbers, or of traces of them, this
+morning. Let that pass. I called at Wardour Place first of all, have
+just come from there in fact&mdash;and Constance tells me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He paused as if struggling with some emotion, and Ray Vandyck stirred
+uneasily, flushed slightly, and partially turned away his face. Only
+Clifford Heath retained his stoical calm.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" he said coolly, "Miss Wardour tells you&mdash;what?"</p>
+
+<p>"That my sister has run&mdash;away."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Well, Lamotte, I am glad you know it. It's a hard story to tell a
+friend."</p>
+
+<p>"So thought Constance, and she would give me no particulars, she told
+me," letting his hand fall from before his face, "to come to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And why to me?" coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"She said that you knew the particulars&mdash;that you brought her the news."</p>
+
+<p>"True; I did. Still it's a hard story to tell, Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"And no one will tell it more kindly, I know. Say on, Heath; don't
+spare me, or mind Vandyck's presence&mdash;I don't. I know that I must hear
+this thing, and I know that Ray is my friend. Go on, Heath; get it over
+soon."</p>
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck arose and walked to the window, standing with his back
+toward them while Doctor Heath, in a plain, straightforward, kindly
+manner, told the story of Sybil's flight, just as he had told it to
+Constance Wardour.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time after the story was done, Lamotte lay with his face
+buried in his arms, silent and motionless, while young Vandyck stood
+like a graven image at his post by the window.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Lamotte brought himself to a sitting posture, and, with the
+look and tone of a man utterly crushed, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Heath. You have done me a kindness. This is the most
+terrible, most unheard of thing. My poor sister must be mad. She has
+<i>not</i> been herself, now that I remember, for some weeks. Something has
+been preying upon her spirits. There has been&mdash;by heavens! Ray, Ray
+Vandyck, can you guess at the cause of this madness?"</p>
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck wheeled suddenly, and came close to his interlocutor,
+the hot, angry blood surging to his face.</p>
+
+<p>"There was plenty of 'method in this madness,'" he sneered. "As to the
+<i>cause</i>, it may not be so hard to discover as you seem to imagine." And,
+before they could recover from their astonishment, he was out and away,
+banging the door fiercely as he went.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the lurid light gleamed in Frank Lamotte's eye, and it
+seemed that another "attack" was about to seize him, but he calmed
+himself with a mighty effort, and turning toward Doctor Heath, said,
+plaintively:</p>
+
+<p>"Has all the world run mad, Heath? What the devil does that fellow
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know no more than you, Lamotte," said the doctor, upon whose face sat
+a look of genuine surprise. "I don't think he quite knows himself. He
+has been sadly worked up by this affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! I suppose so. Well, for Sybil's sake, I forgive him, this once;
+but&mdash;I hope he will outgrow these hallucinations."</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless he will," replied the doctor, somewhat drily. "I say,
+Lamotte, you had better run down to my house, and turn in for a couple
+of hours; you look done up,&mdash;and you can't stand much more of this sort
+of thing. I must go now, to see old Mrs. Grady, over at the mills."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will just stretch myself here, Heath," replied Lamotte. "I don't
+feel equal to a start out just now; and, look here, old fellow," turning
+a shade paler, as he spoke, "deal gently with a fallen rival after
+this&mdash;disgrace. Of course, I quit the field; but&mdash;don't ride over me too
+hard."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor drew on his riding gloves with grave precision, put his hat
+on his head, and took up his riding whip; then he turned toward Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you refer to Miss Wardour?" he said blandly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Then rest easy. I do not pretend in that quarter. Miss Wardour is yours
+for all me; and&mdash;you are not such a fool as to think that she will let
+your sister's affair alter her feelings for you&mdash;if she cares for you?"</p>
+
+<p>Lamotte sprang up, staring with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, but&mdash;Heath, you owned yourself my rival!"</p>
+
+<p>"True."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;upon my word, I believe you were ahead of the field."</p>
+
+<p>"True again; but&mdash;<i>I have withdrawn</i>." And Doctor Heath went out, closed
+the door deliberately, and ran lightly down the stairs. He found Ray
+Vandyck loitering on the pavement.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you would be down presently," said Vandyck, anxiously; "I want
+to say, Heath, don't notice what I said to that cad. He maddened me;
+above all, don't think that one word I uttered was intended to reflect
+upon <i>her</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"He has withdrawn," muttered Francis Lamotte, settling himself back as
+comfortably as possible, and clasping his hands behind his head.</p>
+
+<p>"And <i>he</i> means what he says; something has happened in my absence; I
+can't understand it, but it's so much the better for me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE END.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Saturday, Sunday, Monday, three days; three nights. The events
+chronicled in the foregoing chapters, crowded themselves into the space
+of three days.</p>
+
+<p>But these were exceptional days; life does not move on thus, especially
+in the usually staid and well regulated town of W&mdash;&mdash;. Men and women are
+not qualified to run a long, high pressure race. Action, and
+then&mdash;reaction. Reaction from every emotion, every sorrow, every joy.
+God help us.</p>
+
+<p>We weep for days, but not for years. We suffer, but here and there comes
+a respite from our pain. We live in a delirium of joy for a brief space,
+and vegetate in dullness, in apathy, in hardness of heart, in
+indifference, or in despair, according to our various natures, for the
+rest of our natural lives. So let it be, it is the lot common to all.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"No man can hide from it, but it will find him out,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor run from it, but it overtaketh him."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>After the robbery, after the flight, after the coming and departure of
+the two detectives, dullness settled down upon our friends in W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to chronicle the effect of the news of their daughter's
+flight, upon Mr. and Mrs. Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>That is a thing we can all understand; we can picture it for ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte shut herself up in her chamber, and refused to be comforted
+by family or friends. Mr. Lamotte, bitterly grieved, terribly shocked,
+did all that a father could do, which was in effect, nothing.</p>
+
+<p>One day, the mail brought them a copy of the marriage certificate of
+Sybil Lamotte and John Burrill; but that was all. Where the fugitives
+had gone, could not be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Lamotte went about as usual; with a little more of haughtiness,
+a little more reserve, and just a tinge of melancholy in his manner. He
+took Constance at her word, and came and went very much as of old, but
+was so watchful over himself, so subdued, and as she thought, improved
+in manner, that she declared confidentially to her aunt that he had
+become "really quite a comfortable person to have in one's parlor." She
+ceased snubbing him altogether, and received him with the frank
+graciousness that used to charm Doctor Heath; assuring herself, often,
+that "trouble was improving poor Frank."</p>
+
+<p>Evan Lamotte was Evan Lamotte still. Now drunk, now sober; a little more
+furious and ready to quarrel than usual, when in his cups; a little more
+taciturn and inclined to solitude in his sober moments.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath went about among his patients, wearing his usual cheery
+smile, speaking the usual comforting word, smoking, philosophizing,
+rallying his friends, satirizing his enemies, genial, independent,
+inscrutable as ever. He never called at Wardour Place, of course. He
+never sought an opportunity for meeting or seeing Constance, and he
+never avoided her; altogether, his conduct, from a romantic standpoint,
+was very reprehensible.</p>
+
+<p>And Constance; perhaps of them all, these three days had effected the
+greatest change in her, as any chain of startling or strange events
+must, in a measure, change the current of thought and feeling in a life
+that has hitherto floated under a roseate cloud, on a sea without a
+ripple. She had been rocked by storm waves; had seen a bark shipwrecked
+close beside her; had even encountered mutiny in her own craft; when the
+lull came, and she drifted quietly, she found herself forever face to
+face with the facts that sorrow and trouble were abroad in the land,
+that crime existed outside of the newspapers; that heartache and self
+dissatisfaction were possibilities, and that even a queen absolute might
+come under the shadow of each and all. Not that Constance had never been
+aware of all these things, but we never can <i>realize</i> what we have never
+experienced.</p>
+
+<p>We look sadly sympathetic, and murmur "poor things," when we see some
+mourner weeping over a dead loved one, but we never comprehend the
+sorrow until we bury our own dead.</p>
+
+<p>Constance had loved Sybil Lamotte as a sister; she thought and sorrowed
+not a little over the strange freak Fate had played with her friend's
+life, and she wondered often if Doctor Heath had really lost all regard
+for her; she knew, as what woman does not, that a warm regard had once
+existed; and she assured herself that whether he had or not, was a
+matter of no consequence to her. "She had not the slightest interest in
+Doctor Heath," so she told Mrs. Aliston, and, like him, she never sought
+nor avoided a meeting.</p>
+
+<p>It is singular, however, that a man who possessed for her "not the
+slightest interest" should so often present himself to her thoughts, and
+certain it is that at this period of our story her mind had a most
+provoking habit of running away from a variety of subjects straight to
+Clifford Heath, M. D. But women at best are strange creatures, and
+subject to singular phenomena.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston just here experienced some dissatisfaction; Clifford Heath
+was with her a favorite; Francis Lamotte was her pet hatred. To see the
+favorite made conspicuous by his absence, and have his name, like that
+of a disinherited daughter, tabooed from the family converse, while the
+obnoxious Francis, because of his provokingly good behavior, made rapid
+strides into the good graces of the queen of the castle, would have
+exasperated most good, maneuvering old ladies, but Mrs. Aliston
+maneuvered principally for her own comfort, so she sighed a little,
+regretted the present state of affairs in a resigned and becoming
+manner, ceased to mention the name of Doctor Heath, and condescended to
+receive Francis graciously, after that young man had made a special
+call, during which he saw only Mrs. Aliston, and apologized amply and
+most humbly for his unceremonious ejectment of that lady in favor of
+Constance, on the day when the former undertook, "as gently as
+possible," to break to him the news of his sister's flight.</p>
+
+<p>To make an apology gracefully is in itself, an art; and this art Francis
+Lamotte was skilled in; indeed but for a certain physical weakness, he
+would have been an ornament to the diplomatic service. Alas, that there
+must always be a "but" in the way of our moral completeness, our
+physical perfection and our life's success.</p>
+
+<p>Days and weeks passed on, and the household of Wardour remained in
+utmost quiet; that at Mapleton, shrouded in gloom and sorrowful
+seclusion. Mrs. Lamotte saw no one. Mr. Lamotte went out only to look
+after his business interests.</p>
+
+<p>When the copy of Sybil's marriage certificate came, Frank, like a loyal
+knight, came to Constance with the news, told it with a sad countenance
+and in few words, and went away soon and sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>One day, not long after, Mrs. Aliston returned from the town where she
+had spent four long hours in calling upon the wives of the Episcopalian,
+the Unitarian and the Presbyterian ministers, for Mrs. Aliston was a
+liberal soul, and hurled herself into Constance's favorite sitting room,
+in a state of unusual excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Con.," she panted, pulling hard the while at her squeezed on
+gloves, "I've found it out;" and she dropped into the easiest chair, and
+pulled and panted afresh.</p>
+
+<p>Constance looked up from a rather uninteresting "Novel with a Moral,"
+and asked, as indifferently as possible:</p>
+
+<p>"What have you found out, auntie?"</p>
+
+<p>"About Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>Constance laid down her book, and her tone underwent a change.</p>
+
+<p>"If it's any thing more than gossip, auntie, tell me quick."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't gossip; at least they all say it's true. And as for
+gossip, Con., I tell you, you have done something toward stopping that."</p>
+
+<p>Con. laughed like one who is conscious of her power.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed," rattled on Mrs. Aliston. "Mrs. Wooster says, and if she
+<i>is</i> a Unitarian she is certainly a very good and truthful woman, that
+she has heard from various ones that you have openly declared against
+the handling of poor Sybil's name among the people who have called
+themselves her friends, and accepted so often her mother's hospitality.
+And she said&mdash;these are her very words, Con.&mdash;'I was delighted, dear
+Mrs. Aliston, for we all know that these gossip lovers, every one of
+them, will deny themselves the luxury of tearing Sybil to pieces,
+knowing that she has a champion in Miss Wardour.' So much for influence,
+Con."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" retorted Con., wise in her generation. "So much for money, and
+how do I know that I have not lost my prestige along with my diamonds.
+Auntie, you have lost the thread of your discourse; you always do."</p>
+
+<p>"So you always tell me," laughed the elderly chatterbox. "Well, Con.,
+they say that Sybil has sacrificed herself."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they?" said Con., sarcastically; "the wise heads. I hope that
+conclusion has not exhausted their keen intellects, whoever 'they' may
+be. As if the sacrifice were not patent on the face of the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Con. you talk like a&mdash;a stump orator."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I? Well, I'm glad of it; it would not be so bad to be a 'stump
+orator,' or any other sort of male animal, for the older I grow the more
+I incline to the belief that women are fools. But go on, auntie; I
+believe I get 'riled' every time I hear Sybil's name. What else do
+'they' say?"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't deserve to be told, you are so impatient; but I will tell you
+this once. I was about to add that it seems to be an accepted fact that
+Sybil sacrificed herself to save Evan from some sort of exposure and
+disgrace. And they say that some of those rough men in a saloon threw
+the thing in Evan's teeth, and that he replied in his odd way:</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, she did it for my sake, and now the first man of you that
+mentions my sister's name in my hearing will go under.' You know they
+are afraid of Evan in his rages."</p>
+
+<p>Constance opened her mouth impulsively, but she choked back the words
+that rushed forward for utterance, and closing her lips tightly, sat
+staring straight before her, a strange expression creeping into her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>She seemed to hear anew Evan's words: "Do your part, I will do mine. I,
+Evan Lamotte, worthless, black sheep, sot; I will find a reason that
+will not be questioned, and that will spare Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>And he had found a reason. The black sheep was offered up a sacrifice.
+Evan Lamotte had flung away his last rag of respectability for his
+sister's sake. Henceforth he would appear in the eyes of the people
+doubly blackened, doubly degraded, the destroyer of his sister's
+happiness, the blight upon her life, and yet, he was innocent of this;
+he was a martyr; he the ne'er-do-well, the inebriate.</p>
+
+<p>Constance was strangely moved by this self-sacrifice, coming from one
+who was so morally weak; if it had been Frank, but here her lip curled
+contemptuously; instinctively she knew that such self-sacrifice was not
+in Frank's nature, any more than was such self-abandonment to weakness.
+Constance began to wonder if Frank and his parents knew the truth. If
+they had permitted the weakest shoulders to bear the burden; or, if Evan
+had deceived them too, and then she murmured, almost in the language of
+the tramp detective:</p>
+
+<p>"It's a thing for time to unravel. It's a play just begun. It's a hard,
+hard knot."</p>
+
+<p>And, then and there, she took Sybil and Evan to her generous heart of
+hearts, and mentally resolved to be their champion and friend to the
+uttermost, while she would judge their parents and their brother
+according as these dealt by the unfortunates.</p>
+
+<p>It was many days before she saw Evan, for, although in true woman
+fashion, she longed to scold him first for so sacrificing himself, and
+praise him after for his generous true heartedness, she knew that he
+would only be distressed by such an interview, and would obey a summons
+from her reluctantly if at all.</p>
+
+<p>But one day, just as she was driving her ponies out through the gates of
+Wardour Place, she saw a horseman riding furiously up the road, and a
+nearer view revealed Frank Lamotte's fine horse and mounted by Evan.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes were flaming with excitement, and there was a burning spot of
+red on either cheek as he reined up his horse beside her, and Constance
+saw at a glance that, again, he was perfectly sober.</p>
+
+<p>"Conny," he cried breathlessly, "it has come."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs15" id="gs15"></a>
+<img src="images/gs15.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Conny, it has come.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"What has come, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"The day we hoped for; we have heard from Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>"A letter! Oh Evan, tell me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, there is no time; only, Con., it's your turn now. It's your
+time to strike for Sybil. They are holding council over the letter, and
+can't decide, whether the old gentleman shall go at once and see Sybil;
+whether they shall bring her back and swallow the Burrill; for, it seems
+he must be swallowed, and what society will think about it, are the
+questions that they are agitating. Mother says, that Sybil must and
+shall come back; father says he will go and see her; and Frank&mdash;" he
+broke off abruptly and bent down to look at his saddle girth.</p>
+
+<p>"And Frank; what does he say, Evan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frank is a fool," snapped Evan irrelevantly. "What <i>he</i> says is no
+matter; only, Conny, now is your time, if you will only have faith in
+what I say. You are out with your ponies; drive straight to Mapleton,
+and don't mention me. You will be admitted to mother. Father is there,
+and Frank; give them the least chance, and they will tell you about
+Sybil, and then you can manage the rest. Tell them to bring her back,
+even with that beastly incumbrance. They will listen to you; they won't
+to me. If you fail me here, then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then your sacrifice goes for nothing. Oh, Evan, did you think I would
+not understand that? You have wronged yourself for Sybil's sake. But you
+shall have a tithe of your reward. And, dear boy, you should not have
+done this thing; we might have found another way."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, Conny! It was the only way. And what is my life worth, or my
+reputation, either? It can't hurt a poor devil like me. Con., will you
+go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will go straight to Mapleton, Evan. You shall see that I have faith
+in you. I will do just as you direct, and all will go well."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm off. I stole Frank's horse. I must get him back to avoid a
+row. Thank you, Conny; you are a true friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Evan. Come to me with all the news, or when you want help."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't forget," wheeling his horse about; then, in a choking voice,
+"God bless you, Conny," and a moment later, he was away down the road,
+galloping in a cloud of dust.</p>
+
+<p>Constance followed in his wake, keeping her ponies at a sober pace.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how he found out these things. Poor boy!" she murmured, half
+aloud, "he is not one at their family councils; of that I am sure. His
+father has lost all patience with him; and yet, he knows all that is
+going on. I wonder how."</p>
+
+<p>If Evan Lamotte had heard this query, and had chosen to answer it, he
+would have said: "<i>I watch and I listen.</i>"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONSTANCE'S DIPLOMACY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Miss Wardour, being Miss Wardour, was apt to succeed in most things, and
+it is fair to suppose that her visit to Mapleton, in the character of
+intercessor for the erring Sybil, was not a fruitless one. Certainly, it
+was not barren of results.</p>
+
+<p>On the day following the call from Constance, Mrs. Lamotte came forth
+from her seclusion; her carriage bore her out from the gates of
+Mapleton, and straight to Wardour Place. Here she took up the heiress
+and Mrs. Aliston, and the three drove ostentatiously through the streets
+of W&mdash;&mdash;, bowing smilingly here and there, as calm, serene, and elegant
+a trio, to all outward seeming, as ever passed before admiring eyes on
+velvet cushions.</p>
+
+<p>This act informed W&mdash;&mdash; that Mrs. Lamotte was once more visible, and "at
+home," and when a day or two later, Constance and her aunt, in splendid
+array, drove again into W&mdash;&mdash;, calling here and there, and dropping upon
+each hearthstone a bit of manna for family digestion, the result was
+what they intended it should be.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard the news?" asks Mrs. Hopkins, fashionable busybody,
+running in for an informal call on Mrs. O'Meara, who is warm-hearted
+and sensible, and who listens to the babblings of Mrs. Hopkins, with a
+patience and benignity worthy of a Spartan mother.</p>
+
+<p>"No! Well, I am dying to tell it, then. Sybil Lamotte is coming
+back&mdash;actually coming back&mdash;and that man with her; and&mdash;won't it be
+queer? We shall have him in society, of course, for I am told, from the
+<i>best</i> of sources, that the Lamottes will accept him as Sybil's choice,
+and make the best of him."</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>we</i> need not accept him, my dear," comments the Spartan mother,
+whose lawyer husband is rich and independent, and does not count fees.
+"As for Sybil, she was always a favorite with us; we shall be glad to
+have her back."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's very well for you and Mr. O'Meara, who are very exclusive,
+and go out little, but we poor society people will have to submit to the
+powers that be. Constance Wardour, the Lamottes, the Vandycks, have led
+us as they would, and queer as it may seem, the Lamottes are backed up
+in this business of forcing John Burrill upon us, by Constance, on one
+hand, and the Vandycks, mother and son, on the other."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Aliston?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Aliston, of course. When did she ever oppose Constance? It's
+making a great furore, I can tell you; but no one is going to step
+forward and openly oppose Constance and the Vandycks. I for one am
+Sybil's staunch friend, and&mdash;well, as Constance says, 'let us take it
+for granted that this bear of Sybil's has some good qualities, or he
+would never have won her,' and then, too, it's so romantic, about Evan
+you know, and how Sybil, in some way, saved him from something, by
+marrying this man. I never could get the right end, or any end of that
+story, nor have I found any one who knows the plain facts. Well, Mrs.
+O'Meara, I must go; I have seven more calls to make, and I really have
+talked too long."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She'll</i> take him up fast enough," mused Mrs. O'Meara, in solitude.
+"That's the way of society; they can't oppose wealth and prestige, even
+when prestige and wealth command them to fellowship with a grizzly bear;
+rather they will whitewash their bear, and call him a thing of beauty,
+and laugh in their silken sleeves to see him dance."</p>
+
+<p>It was quite true, that bombshell of Mrs. Hopkins'&mdash;Sybil Lamotte was
+coming back. Mr. Lamotte went somewhere, nobody could name just the
+place, and returned, having done, nobody knew precisely what; and as the
+result of that journey, so said W&mdash;&mdash;, Sybil and John Burrill were
+coming soon, to breast the waves of public opinion, and take up their
+abode in Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>When this fact became well established, tongues wagged briskly; some
+were sorry; some were glad; some eager for the advent of the ill
+assorted pair.</p>
+
+<p>The sorriest one of all was unhappy Ray Vandyck, who realized how hard a
+task would devolve upon him; and the gladdest of the glad was poor Evan,
+who celebrated his rejoicing with one of the wildest and most protracted
+of all his sprees.</p>
+
+<p>Constance had won Sybil's battle. In accordance with the hint given by
+Dr. Heath, Raymond Vandyck had called at Wardour Place, and the result
+of that call was patent to the eyes of all W&mdash;&mdash;. Ray, the rejected, had
+gone over to the support of his lost love and taken his mother with him.</p>
+
+<p>At last they came, after the nine days' talk had subsided, after
+W&mdash;&mdash; had become accustomed to the idea, quietly, unostentatiously.
+Before their arrival had become known, they were established at Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody admitted that they displayed good taste and judgment in the
+manner of their home coming, but when, except in the case of this
+horrible choice of Sybil's, did not the Lamottes display good taste.
+People said "The Lamottes," without so much as recognizing the existence
+of poor Evan.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the days were numbering themselves. It was June when Sybil
+Lamotte fled away with her Bear. It is September before they return;
+during these three months Constance has heard from Detective Belknap. He
+is always afar off, always on the track of her robbers, and she reads
+his reports, honors his drafts for "expense money," and troubles her
+head no more about the "Wardour robbery" or the "Wardour diamonds."</p>
+
+<p>Of Detective Bathurst there came never a word or sign, either to the
+heiress or to Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>But it is time to introduce our Bear.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>JOHN BURRILL, ARISTOCRAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mapleton stands high on an eminence, which may have arisen expressly to
+hold, and to exhibit, the splendid edifice erected thereon by Mr. Jasper
+Lamotte. It is the only hill within sight on that side of the river, and
+renders Mapleton a most conspicuous as well as most beautiful abiding
+place.</p>
+
+<p>In front of the dwelling and its grounds flows the river, broad and
+glittering in the sunshine, on this day of which I write. In the rear
+stretches a grove, large enough to be termed "the grove" by the people
+of W&mdash;&mdash;; and dense enough for Robin Hood and his merry men to find
+comfort in, for Jasper Lamotte has chosen to let it remain <i>en
+naturale</i>, since it first came into his possession.</p>
+
+<p>To reach Mapleton from Wardour Place one must drive directly to the
+center of W&mdash;&mdash;, turn eastward, then cross a handsome new iron bridge,
+and go southward a short distance, coming finally to the broad curve
+which sweeps up to the mansion, and away from the river, along which the
+road winds.</p>
+
+<p>In the old days, when Sybil Lamotte and Constance Wardour found
+excellent reasons for meeting and chatting together, at least once in
+every twenty-four hours, this fair river was a source of alternate
+pleasure and annoyance to them. Of pleasure, when the days were fair,
+and Sybil and Frank could pull their boat up stream, and land at the
+grassy slope in the rear of Wardour Place, where, often, they found
+Constance and a gay party awaiting them. Or, when Constance could drift
+down stream with scarcely the stroke of an oar necessary, until she came
+opposite "the hill," as Mapleton was often called. Of annoyance, when
+winds blew cold and rough, and the waters of the river turned black and
+angry, and surged high between its banks. Then the two young ladies
+voted the iron bridge "the coldest place possible," and wished that no
+dark, wintry river flowed between them.</p>
+
+<p>The river is very calm to-day, however; it is flowing gently, murmuring
+softly, and gleaming silver and blue, beneath a soft September sun. Away
+down, where the factories stand, and the great wheels turn, it loses its
+blue and silver, flowing under that ever moving, never lifting curtain
+of smoke, that darkens and dims the skies themselves, and gives to the
+sun's face the look of a disreputable celestial tramp.</p>
+
+<p>It's always gray, "down at the factories," and why not? What need have
+the toilers there for sunlight? They have work and sleep.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing gray or dreary about Mapleton, as we enter there and
+survey the inmates who, just now, are loitering about the lunch table.
+Nothing gray, if we except a few silver threads in the hair of Mrs.
+Lamotte; nothing dreary, unless it may be a look which, now and then,
+and only for an instant, creeps into the eyes of Mrs. John Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>They sit about the lunch table,&mdash;all but Sybil. She has arisen, and
+reseated herself in a great easy chair, which seems to swallow up her
+slight form, and renders her quite invisible to all at the table, save
+Evan, who, from time to time, glances furtively across at her.</p>
+
+<p>There may be dissension in this family, but they look the embodiment of
+high-bred ease and serene contentment.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte turns his paper, sips his light wine, speaks suavely, and
+looks as placid as the sky overhead.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte speaks slow and seldom; smiles when she does speak; and
+looks as if nothing ever ruffled the placidity of her mind, or the even
+tenor of her pleasant existence. She looks all this, sitting directly
+opposite John Burrill, her reluctantly accepted son-in-law, for what
+Mrs. Lamotte cannot overcome, she ignores, and her proud calm is the
+result of a long and bitter schooling.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil looks paler than is usual for her, but no other expression than
+one of calmness and <i>ennui</i> can be detected on that lovely, inscrutable
+face; and the dusky eyes keep well veiled, and tell no secrets.</p>
+
+<p>Evan Lamotte is sober, and good humored, for his sister's sake; and
+Frank is simply lazy.</p>
+
+<p>But John Burrill! there is no contentment equal to his; seated in the
+easiest of chairs, before a table laden with viands upon which he has
+just gorged himself, he contemplates his legs and his surroundings with
+extreme satisfaction; his legs first, because, being stretched directly
+before him, they come first under his eye; and he is delighted with
+their size, and shape; they are a fine pair, such as would do credit to
+a bull fighter, or a "champion pedestrian," and with the quality and cut
+of the pantaloons that adorn them. It has not always been his good
+fortune to sit at a rich man's table, and to wear fashionable clothing;
+and John Burrill appreciates his "marcies." He has feasted his stomach,
+and John Burrill's stomach comes in for a large share of his
+consideration; and now he is feasting his senses: this richly appointed
+room is his room; this splendid stately lady, how he delights to call
+her "mother," varied occasionally by "mother-in-law;" how he glories in
+the possession of a pair of aristocratic brothers-in-law; and how he
+swells with pride, when he steps into the carriage, and, sitting beside
+"the rich Mr. Lamotte," is driven through W&mdash;&mdash; and to the factories;
+and last, and best of all, there is his wife, a beauty, a belle, an
+heiress, possessing a score of lovers, yet won by him.</p>
+
+<p>Only one thing troubles John Burrill, he does not quite understand
+Sybil; he has "got the hang," so he thinks of the other members of the
+family, but sometimes Sybil's wordless glance operates upon him like a
+cold shower bath, and Mr. Burrill, like all the "gutter born," rather
+fears a shower bath.</p>
+
+<p>Coarse in sense and sentiment, plebeian in body and soul; whatever else
+Sybil Lamotte's husband may be, let our story develop.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting his place now, he crosses the room, and, taking up a position
+where his eyes can gloat upon Sybil's face, he rests one elbow upon a
+mantel, and so, in a comfortable after-dinner attitude, continues his
+pleasant meditations. Sybil stirs uneasily, but notices his proximity in
+no other way. Presently her eyes shoot straight past him, and she says
+to Evan who has also risen, and stands stretching himself, lazily, with
+his face to the window, and his back toward the assembly:</p>
+
+<p>"Evan, just hand me that book on the mantel. No, not <i>that</i> one," as he
+lays his ready hand on the book nearest him, "the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" ejaculates Evan, at the same moment laying hand upon a volume
+directly underneath John Burrill's elbow. "Hoist up your arrum, Burrill.
+'My lady's up, and wants her wollum.'"</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill's face reddens slowly. He is an Englishman, and sometimes
+his H's and A's play him sorry tricks, although he has labored hard to
+Americanize himself, and likes to think that he has succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>"D&mdash;n it!" broke out the man, suddenly losing his after dinner calm.
+"You might have asked <i>me</i> for the book, Sybil; it was near enough."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil received the book from Evan's hand, opened it, turned a page or
+two, and then lifting her eyes to his face, replied in a voice, low,
+clear, and cutting as the north wind:</p>
+
+<p>"Evan is my slave, Mr. Burrill, <i>you</i>&mdash;are my lord and master."
+Indescribable contempt shone upon him for a moment from her splendid
+eyes; then she lowered them, and became, apparently, wholly absorbed in
+her book.</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill muttered something very low, and probably very ugly, and
+dropped back into his former attitude; and the others, never by word or
+glance, noticed this little passage at arms. Only Evan returned to the
+window, and standing there with hands in pockets, glowered down upon the
+frost-touched rose trees and clustered geraniums, savagely, and long.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, Evan turns from the window, which commands a view of the
+drive.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance is coming," he says, addressing Sybil.</p>
+
+<p>She starts up, looking anxious and disturbed; Constance has visited her,
+and she has driven over once to see Constance; but it has so happened
+that John Burrill has always been absent; and Sybil has a shuddering
+horror of this meeting that must be.</p>
+
+<p>The announcement seems to galvanize them all into life. Mr. Lamotte
+looks up with a gleam of latent anticipation in his eyes; Frank smiles
+his pleasure; and John Burrill steals a deprecatory glance at a mirror,
+smoothes a wrinkle out of his waistcoat, and outsmiles Frank. Here is
+another triumph; he is about to be introduced to the richest girl in the
+country; to meet her on an equal footing, in the character of husband to
+her dearest friend.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil rises and goes to the window; her pale face flushing. There is a
+rolling of wheels, a sound of swift, firm footsteps without, and then
+the door opens, and Constance is announced.</p>
+
+<p>She follows her name in her usual free, at home fashion, and in a moment
+is kissing Sybil, shaking hands with Mrs. Lamotte, exchanging smiling
+salutations with Mr. Lamotte, and gay badinage with Francis. And then,
+while Sybil still hesitates, Evan comes to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>With a face of preternatural gravity, he advances, seizes the arm of
+John Burrill, drags him toward Constance, and says, with elaborate
+politeness:</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, allow me to present my new brother-in-law, Mr. Burrill.
+Brother-in-law, this is Miss Wardour, of Wardour Place."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of themselves, they smile; all except Sybil. John Burrill feels
+that somehow, he is made ridiculous; that another man in his place would
+not have been thus introduced. But the eyes of the heiress are upon his
+face, her daintily gloved hand is proffered him, and she lies in her
+softest contralto, and unblushingly:</p>
+
+<p>"I am happy to know you, Mr. Burrill."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs16" id="gs16"></a>
+<img src="images/gs16.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I am happy to know you.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Somehow, they all breathe freer after that pretty falsehood. John
+Burrill regains his composure, and relapses into his former state of
+comfortable gloating. Another face is added to the circle of high-bred
+people around him. He does not talk much, for he is not yet quite at his
+ease when in conversation with them. As they talk, he thinks what a fine
+nest this is which he has gained for himself; what a lovely woman is his
+wife; and how splendidly handsome is Miss Wardour. He thinks how, by and
+by, he will boast to some of his choice spirits, of his friendship for
+Miss Wardour, and of the value in which she holds his esteem. He thinks
+how good is the Lamotte cook, and how, presently, he will sample the
+Lamotte wines, and smoke a splendid segar; and then he pricks up his
+ears and listens, for the conversation has drifted away from the
+commonplace, and Miss Wardour is saying:</p>
+
+<p>"It really is a forlorn hope, I fear, Mr. Lamotte. I don't know what to
+reply to Mr. Belknap, but I think he is wasting his time, and I my
+money; and, if you will communicate with him, as he failed to name his
+address in his note to me, we will close up the case."</p>
+
+<p>"And say farewell to your diamonds?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have performed that ceremony some time since. I really am worn out
+with the subject. At some other time I may resume the search."</p>
+
+<p>"You are getting discouraged."</p>
+
+<p>"Call it that, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, if I pursue so wearisome a subject, Constance; but&mdash;does not
+Mr. Belknap hint at a new clue in this note of his? You must know he has
+written me also."</p>
+
+<p>"He hints, and very vaguely."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am anxious to look into this matter a little further. As a
+special favor to me will you retain the services of Mr. Belknap a little
+longer?"</p>
+
+<p>"As you make such a point of it, yes, Mr. Lamotte; but&mdash;do you really
+hope to find anything new, at this late day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really do, my child, but can not put my ideas in shape, as yet. I
+think we shall have Mr. Belknap among us soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't let him persecute me, that's all," stipulated Constance. "I
+have lost my faith in detectives."</p>
+
+<p>"All this talk reminds me, Constance," interrupted Sybil, "mamma has had
+her diamonds reset for me, and they are really beautiful; besides which,
+papa and Mr. Burrill have added to the collection, so that in the
+absence of yours, I may set myself up as diamond queen. Come to my room
+and be dazzled."</p>
+
+<p>"And leave us under a cloud," chimed in Frank. "Burrill, come, let's
+adjourn to the billiard room, and have a segar;" and intent upon keeping
+his brother-in-law in order during the time Constance should be under
+the roof, he slapped him cordially on his brawny shoulder, and they went
+out in most amiable and brotherly fashion, and entered the billiard
+room, where Frank permitted Burrill to cheat at the game, and eventually
+win it, much to the delight of that personage.</p>
+
+<p>When they had left the morning room, Evan Lamotte, too, sauntered out
+and down the hall, and, hearing their voices in amiable dialogue,
+interspersed by the click of the billiard balls, he muttered:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Constance, you are a witch indeed! you have made my magnificent
+brother adopt my <i>r&ocirc;le</i> for once; so long as you are here we may depend
+upon Frank to keep our bull out of the china shop. So, as one good turn
+deserves another, I will just give your mare a turn and look in at 'Old
+Forty Rods;' I'm safe to go off duty for the day."</p>
+
+<p>And ten minutes later the reckless youth was galloping Frank's blooded
+mare along the highway <i>en route</i> for the saloon known to the initiated
+as "Old Forty Rods."</p>
+
+<p>Left alone together, Mr. Jasper Lamotte and his wife gazed at each other
+in silence for a moment, and then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it safe to leave them alone together too long?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who, Frank and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, no; the girls."</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite safe; nevertheless I will go up to them," and Mrs. Lamotte
+arose and went slowly up the stairs, and softly past the door where
+Sybil and Constance sat together, straight to her own room, which she
+entered, closed and locked the door carefully, and allowing the look of
+haughty calm to die out of her face, she threw herself into a dressing
+chair, and pressed two feverish hands against a face that was sad and
+bitter and full of weariness.</p>
+
+<p>Left to his own devices, Jasper Lamotte seated himself at a desk and
+dashed off a few hurried lines, which he directed to</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Mr. Jerry Belknap,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"No. &mdash;, Room 7, Blank St.,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"N. Y."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>DIAMONDS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Constance followed her friend up to the room where they had so often
+passed long hours together, wondering idly at Sybil's composure and
+seeming resignation, and shudderingly recalling the blank devouring
+stare of the man who was her husband.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time since Sybil's return that they had been alone
+together, and Constance half dreaded the interview, as well as wondered
+not a little that the opportunity was of Sybil's own making; hitherto
+she seemed anxious to avoid a <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil moved straight on in advance of her friend, and never turned her
+head nor spoke, until the door of her <i>boudoir</i> had shut them in; then
+she turned and faced her companion, uttering as she did so a low
+mirthless laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" she asked abruptly, "how do you like him?"</p>
+
+<p>Constance bent a searching gaze upon her friend, and read her state of
+mind with a woman's keen intuition. The tensely strung nerves, the dread
+of this interview, the determination to have it over, and to bear her
+part bravely; a proud and stubborn nature, battling with despair, and
+unspeakable heartache. She understood it all, and her own heart bled
+for her friend. But, being a wise little woman, she held her pity in
+reserve, and replied, as if the question concerned a new dancing master:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like him at all, child; let's talk about something more
+interesting," and she threw herself down upon a <i>fauteuil</i>, and tossed
+off her hat; just as she had tossed it aside a hundred times, in that
+same pretty room. The simple action, brought a thrill of tenderness, and
+sad recollection, to the heart of Sybil. She seated herself beside her
+friend, and her face lost a shade of its bitterness.</p>
+
+<p>"It's like a shadow of the old days, Con.," she said sadly, "and the
+substance I can never have any more. But, you must let me talk, I feel
+as if I must talk, and you will let me say what I will, and ask me
+nothing. Con., you saw that&mdash;that creature down stairs? You saw him, but
+you did not <i>hear</i> him."</p>
+
+<p>She shuddered, and paused for an instant; but Constance did not speak,
+and so she continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I had made up my mind never to speak of him to you, but the very thing
+I had dreaded has happened; you have met, and, in the generosity of your
+soul, for my sake, you have extended to him your hand; have openly
+accepted his acquaintance. Oh, Con.! I could have struck him dead before
+he touched your hand. <i>He!</i> Ah, there is a limit to my forbearance; he
+has forced himself into my life to blight it; he has forced himself into
+my family to be an added curse. But he shall not force himself upon my
+friends. Con., treat him with the disdain he deserves, else, he will
+force his way into your very drawing room. Never, never, never, extend
+to him the courtesies due to an equal. He is not an equal, he is not a
+man at all; he is a fat, sleek, leering, ruminating animal, at his best;
+he is a wolf, a vampire, a devil, at other times; ignorant, vain,
+avaricious, gross. Rather than see him force himself upon you, as he has
+forced himself upon us here, I will myself sever our friendship, I will
+never see, never speak with you again. John Burrill shall find a limit,
+which even his brute force cannot pass." She was growing more and more
+excited and a bright spot burned on each cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Constance was startled, but fully understanding the necessity for
+perfect coolness, now that Sybil's composure had almost given way, she
+never attempted to interrupt the words that were but the overflow of
+long pent up feelings; but sat quietly stroking one of Sybil's slender
+hands, and becoming more amazed and mystified as she listened.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes I find myself wondering at the tenacity of my life," went on
+Sybil, more hurriedly and with increasing excitement. "Sometimes I feel
+my strength leaving me, and think the battle is almost over; but somehow
+it is renewed, and I find myself growing strong instead of weak. For
+months I lived with my inevitable fate constantly before my eyes. I knew
+that there was no escape; that what has transpired, must happen. I have
+suffered tortures, passed nights without sleep, and days without food. I
+have grown a little paler, a little thinner, and a great deal wickeder,
+and that is all. I am strong, as strong as in the beginning, and yet,
+what am I but a galvanized corpse? I am dead to all that is worth living
+for. My one wish is to be free, and yet, Con., do you know I have never
+once been tempted to self-destruction."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs17" id="gs17"></a>
+<img src="images/gs17.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I have never once been tempted to self-destruction.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Constance Wardour sprang impetuously to her feet, and paced the length
+of the <i>boudoir</i> again and again in perfect silence. The terrible weight
+of torment that was crushing Sybil's heart, and maddening her brain,
+seemed to rest, too, upon her, and weigh down her spirits; she was
+tortured with the sight of Sybil's misery, and the thought of her own
+helplessness. Could nothing be done? Struggling for an appearance of
+composure, she paced to and fro, and at last, having mastered her
+feelings, and arranged her thoughts, she resumed her seat beside Sybil,
+whose eyes had followed her movements with curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil, listen;" she began with that clear, concise energy of manner
+that, in itself, inspired confidence. "If you do not wish me to make any
+overtures of friendship, rest assured I shall make none. I at least am
+not under the spell which this man seems to have thrown about you all.
+There, don't draw back, child, I have no more to say on this part of the
+subject. I may ask a few questions, however, without treading on
+forbidden ground. You say John Burrill is avaricious; can he not be
+bought off?"</p>
+
+<p>Sybil shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Not with the Wardour estate," she replied, sadly. "Not with all our
+fortunes united?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot he be frightened then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frightened! You don't know what you are saying."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, I can think of one other way. He is a bad man; he must have led a
+wicked life; can we not find something in his past, which will place him
+in our power? Can he not be driven into banishment, through fear of
+justice?"</p>
+
+<p>Sybil turned her eyes full upon her friend; eyes dark with the shadow of
+despair, but unwavering in their sad firmness.</p>
+
+<p>"If that could be done," she said, slowly. "The very day that witnessed
+his downfall, would bring about the catastrophe I have sacrificed myself
+to avert. Constance, say no more; we can do none of these things; there
+is no help for me on this side of the grave."</p>
+
+<p>Constance looked once more at her friend; looked long and earnestly
+then.</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil," she cried, with swift resolution. "Do you know what you are
+bringing upon yourself? Do you want to go mad, and so be at the mercy of
+John Burrill? It is what will come upon you if you don't throw off this
+torpor. Your eyes are as dry as if tears were not meant to relieve the
+overburdened heart. Let your tears flow; shake off this lethargy; battle
+royally for your life; it is worth more than his; do not let him put
+your reason to flight, and so conquer. Sybil! Sybil!"</p>
+
+<p>The words ended in a sobbing cry, but Sybil only gazed dumbly, and then
+looked helplessly about her.</p>
+
+<p>"There, there, Conny," she said at last, as if soothing a hurt child;
+"don't mind me. It's true my life is worth more than his, but&mdash;I can't
+cry, I don't <i>feel</i> like crying."</p>
+
+<p>"Then laugh," cried Constance desperately; "laugh and defy your
+tormentor; harden your heart if you must, but don't let it break."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't," said Sybil, with quiet emphasis. "Now come and see my
+diamonds, Con."</p>
+
+<p>She crossed the room as she spoke, bent over a dressing case, and came
+back with a tray of sparkling newly set jewels.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" she said, as she dropped the glittering things one by one into
+her friend's lap. "How I loved their glitter once, and how I envied you
+your treasure of jewels; now you have lost your treasure, and I have no
+more love for mine."</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed oddly, as she bent to recover her hat from the floor,
+where it had lain during their interview.</p>
+
+<p>"Secret for secret, Sybil," she said, with forced gaiety. "I have one
+little secret of mine own, and I am inclined to tell it you, because I
+know you can appreciate it, and can keep it; and I choose to have it
+kept. Bend down your head, dear, walls may have ears. Listen."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil bent her dark head, and Constance whispered a few short sentences
+that caused her to spring up erect and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance! you are not jesting?"</p>
+
+<p>"Honestly no. I have told you the truth, plain and unvarnished."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil stood as if transfixed with surprise, or some sudden inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how amazed you look, dear; after all it's an old, old trick, and
+easily played. Come, don't stare at me any longer; put away your
+diamonds and come below with me, my ponies must be dying with
+impatience, and I am anxious to avoid our mutual foe, for I make common
+cause with you, dear, and I have told you my secret, that we may be in
+very truth, fellow conspirators. Make my adieus to the family, and be
+sure and come to me just as you used; if your ogre insists upon coming,
+trust me to freeze him into an earnest desire to be in a warmer and more
+congenial place. Courage, <i>mon ami</i>, somehow we must win the battle."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil took the diamonds from her hands and put them away, with far more
+care than she had displayed in bringing them forth; then she followed
+her friend from the room, closing and carefully locking the door behind
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Constance observed the unusual caution, but made no comment. Only when
+many days after she remembered that day she wondered how she could have
+been so stupidly blind.</p>
+
+<p>She effected her departure without being seen by Frank or Burrill, and
+drove homeward, revolving in her mind various plots for the confusion of
+the latter, and plans for awakening Sybil from the dangerous melancholy
+that would surely unseat her reason.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could only move her to tears," she murmured, "only break that
+frozen calm once. How can I touch, move, melt her? It must be done." And
+pondering this difficult task, she drove slowly on.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if I blundered in telling her my secret," she mused. "I know
+she will keep it; and yet, somehow, I fear I was too hasty. One would
+think it had grown too big for me to keep. But, pshaw! it's not a life
+and death matter, and I wanted to give a new impulse to that poor
+child's thoughts. But I must try and cure myself of this impulsiveness,
+just as if it were not 'bred in the bone,' for it was an impulse that
+made me whisper my secret to Sybil; and once, it has got me into serious
+trouble." And her brow darkened, as she thought of the feud thus raised
+between herself and Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>While she was thus pondering, Sybil Burrill had hurried back to her own
+room, locked herself in, and with hands clasped and working nervously,
+was pacing restlessly up and down, as Constance had done a little
+earlier.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the only way," she muttered between shut teeth, "the only possible
+way." And then she unlocked the dressing case, took out her jewels once
+more, handling them with greatest care. She spread them out before her,
+and resting her elbows on the dressing table, and her chin in the palm
+of one slender hand, gazed and thought with darkening brow and
+compressed lips; and with now and then a shudder, and a startled glance
+behind and about her.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the only way," she repeated. "They have left me but one weapon,
+and it's <i>for my life</i>;" and the lips set themselves in hard lines, and
+the dark eyes looked steely and resolute. What wild purpose was taking
+shape in the tortured brain of Sybil Burrill? planted there by the
+impulsive revelation of Constance Wardour.</p>
+
+<p>While the lurid light yet shone from her eyes, there came a tap upon the
+door, and then Mrs. Lamotte's voice called:</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil, are you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil gathered up the jewels once more, hastily and putting them under
+lock and key, admitted her mother. Mrs. Lamotte was never a
+demonstrative parent. She glanced anxiously at her daughter, and the
+look upon the pale face did not escape her eye; but she made no comment,
+only saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I heard Constance drive away, and thought I should find you alone. Do
+you feel equal to a drive, Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>Sybil hesitated, and then answered: "I think so mamma, if you wish to go
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"I have some shopping to do, and&mdash;it's best for us to go out a little.
+Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's best that we keep up appearances, certainly mamma; for what else
+do we exist? Shall we take the honorable Mr. Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte shrugged her shoulders. "By no means," she replied. "Mr.
+Burrill, if his feelings are too much hurt, shall drive with me
+to-morrow. It's an honor he has been thirsting for."</p>
+
+<p>"He has indeed, mamma; the creature is insatiable."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte arose with one of her cold smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"For the present let us ignore him, Sybil," she said. "Make an elaborate
+driving toilet, we want the admiration of W&mdash;&mdash;, not its pity." And
+having thus uttered one article of her creed, Mrs. Lamotte swept away to
+prepare for the ordeal, for such that drive would be to those two proud
+women.</p>
+
+<p>No one could have guessed it, however, when an hour later, the elegant
+barouche, drawn by two superb grays, rolled through the streets of
+W&mdash;&mdash;. Two richly dressed, handsome, high-bred, smiling women; that is
+what W&mdash;&mdash; saw, and all it saw; and light-hearted poverty looked, and
+envied; little knowing the sorrow hidden underneath the silk and lace,
+and the misery that was masked in smiles.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime John Burrill, left to his own devices, found time drag heavily.
+Frank had abandoned him, as soon as it became known that Constance was
+gone; and had abandoned himself to a fit of rage, when he became aware
+that his black mare was also gone. Mr. Lamotte had driven to town with
+his own light buggy; Sybil was gone, Evan was gone; even his stately
+mother-in-law was beyond the reach of his obnoxious pleasantries.</p>
+
+<p>He ordered up a bottle of wine, and drank it in the spirit of an ill
+used man. Always, in his perfectly sober moments, John Burrill felt
+oppressed with a sense of the difference existing between himself and
+the people among whom he had chosen to cast his lot.</p>
+
+<p>Not that he recognized, or admitted, his inferiority; had he not
+demonstrated to the world, that he, John Burrill, sometime mill worker,
+and overseer, was a man of parts, a self-made man.</p>
+
+<p>When he had quaffed a bottle of wine, he began to feel oppressed in a
+different way. He was overburdened with a sense of his own genius, and
+in a very amiable frame of mind, altogether. In this mood, he joined the
+family at dinner; after which meal, a few glasses of brandy added fire
+to the smouldering element within him, and straightway he blazed forth:
+a gallant, a coxcomb. In this frame of mind, he always admired himself
+excessively, took stock of his burly legs and brawny shoulders, and
+smiled sentimentally before the mirror, at his reflected face.</p>
+
+<p>There were people who called John Burrill a handsome man; and if one had
+a fancy for a round head, with depressions where bumps are desirable,
+and <i>vice versa</i>, and an animal sort of attractiveness of feature,
+consisting of a low, flat forehead, straight nose, large, full red
+lipped mouth, fair florid complexion, set off by a pair of dark blue
+eyes, that were devoid of any kindly expression, and hair, full beard,
+and moustache, of a reddish brown hue, coarse in quality, but plentiful
+in quantity, and curling closely; then we will admit that John Burrill
+was handsome. Why not? We can see handsome bovines at any fat cattle
+show.</p>
+
+<p>After this elation, came the fourth stage; a mixture of liquors as the
+evening advanced, and then John Burrill became jealous of his rights,
+careful of his dignity, crafty, quarrelsome, and difficult to manage.
+Next he became uproarious, then maudlin; then blind, beastly drunk, and
+utterly regardless where he laid him down, or fell down, to finish the
+night, for his last stage usually dragged itself far into the small
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>Gluttonous and meditative in the morning; beginning to swell with a
+growing sense of importance about midday; amorous, obtrusive, and
+consequential later; hilarious after dinner; quarrelsome before tea; and
+down in the ditch before dawn. This was Burrill's notion of enjoying
+life in leisurely, gentlemanly fashion. And this was his daily routine,
+with variations to suit the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>But sober or drunk, morning, noon, or night, he never ceased to remind
+the Lamottes that he was one of them, their equal; never forgot his
+purpose, or allowed them to forget it, or him. He was their old man of
+the sea, their blight, their curse, and, they could never hope to shake
+him off.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN OPEN MUTINY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Sybil sat alone in her boudoir. It was yet early in the evening, but,
+feeling little inclined to remain in the society of her family, who
+assembled, with all due formality, in the drawing room on "at home"
+evenings, and most of their evenings were spent at home now, she had
+withdrawn, pleading fatigue after their drive.</p>
+
+<p>The night outside was balmy enough, but Sybil had ordered a light fire
+in the grate, and she sat before it with all the rays from a fully
+illuminated chandelier falling directly over her.</p>
+
+<p>She still wore the rich dress she had put on for her drive; and
+excitement, exercise, <i>something</i>, had lent an unusual glow to her
+cheeks, and caused her dusky eyes to shine clear and steady, almost too
+clear, too steadfast, was their gaze as it was fixed upon the glowing
+coals; she had not looked so thoughtful, so self forgetful, yet self
+absorbed, since she came back to Mapleton, John Burrill's wife.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting thus, she heard a shambling step in the hall, and the heavy
+voice of her husband, trolling out a snatch of song, caught up most
+likely in some bar-room.</p>
+
+<p>He was approaching her door, and quick as thought, she sprang from her
+chair, and noiselessly examined the fastenings, to assure herself
+against him. Then, while her hand still rested on the door, his hand
+struck a huge blow upon the outside, and he called out gruffly:</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>No answer; she dared not move, lest the rustle of her silks should
+betray her. "S-Sybil, I say, lemme in." Still no reply, and John Burrill
+shook the door violently, and ground out an oath.</p>
+
+<p>Just then came the sound of another door further up the hall, her
+mother's door. It opened easily, and closed softly, and then quick,
+cat-like steps approached, and the voice of Jasper Lamotte, low and
+serene as usual, arrested the noise of the baffled applicant for
+admittance.</p>
+
+<p>"Less noise, Burrill." Sybil had not heard her father address him in
+that tone of familiar command. "Sybil's not there."</p>
+
+<p>"Jes zif I didn't know better."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, man; your wife is below with her mother at this moment. Now
+stop that fuss, and shake yourself out. I've some private words for your
+ear."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh;" the man's voice dropped a tone lower; "quite a time since we've
+'ad many private words. 'Bout Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir." The tone was lower than before, and so stern that it caused
+the listener to start. "It's about <i>your</i> business and <i>mine</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! maybe you want to settle up and discharge me. Maybe you don't need
+me any more."</p>
+
+<p>"Curse you for a fool! You know your own value too well. Bully as you
+please, where the rest are concerned, but drop your airs with me. Settle
+with Sybil later, if you must; I want you now."</p>
+
+<p>Could it be Jasper Lamotte that uttered these words; rather, hissed
+them? Sybil almost betrayed herself in her surprise; but the gasp that
+she could not quite stifle, was drowned by the voice of Burrill, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"All right. I'll settle with Sybil later."</p>
+
+<p>And then she heard them enter her mother's room, and close the door
+softly.</p>
+
+<p>For a full moment, Sybil Burrill stood transfixed; then the silken folds
+that she had instinctively gathered about her at the first, slowly
+slipped from her hand; gradually the color that had fled from her cheeks
+came back, and burned brighter than before. She seemed to control
+herself by a strong effort, and stood thinking&mdash;thinking.</p>
+
+<p>Only for a few moments; then she lifted her head with a gesture of
+defiance. Swiftly and noiselessly she moved under the chandelier, drew
+it down, and extinguished every light. Then softly, cautiously, she
+opened her door and looked out, listened thus a moment, and then stepped
+boldly out, and, gliding to the head of the stairs, leaned down and
+listened.</p>
+
+<p>From the drawing room there came to her ear the sound of the piano,
+lightly touched, and Frank's tenor humming over the bars of a Neapolitan
+boat song.</p>
+
+<p>Then she understood her father's mistake. Some unwonted impulse had
+caused her mother to seat herself at the piano, and accompany Frank, who
+did not reckon piano playing among his accomplishments; and the thing
+was so unusual, that Sybil was not surprised at her parent's mistake.</p>
+
+<p>Evan being absent, Jasper Lamotte naturally supposed that floor
+deserted, and therefore had not observed too much caution.</p>
+
+<p>Only a moment did Sybil listen, and then, gathering up the silken train,
+and crushing it into a soft mass under her hand, she crept noiselessly
+as a cat to the door of her mother's room, bent down her head and
+listened there.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs18" id="gs18"></a>
+<img src="images/gs18.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Only a moment did Sybil listen.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Five minutes, ten, and still they talked, and still Sybil stood,
+moveless and intent. Then, drawing back suddenly, she ran hurriedly down
+the hall, and had gained the foot of the stairs before the sound of the
+opening door admonished her that she had escaped none too soon.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment she had entered the drawing room, and, with more of her
+olden gayety than they had seen in her manner for many long days,
+approached the loiterers at the piano.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother! mother! your hand is out of time!" and, in a moment, she had
+drawn her astonished mother from the stool, and seated herself in the
+vacant place.</p>
+
+<p>"Sing, Frank," she commanded, striking the keys with a crash that died
+away in discord. "We have been dull too long."</p>
+
+<p>When Jasper Lamotte and his model son-in-law entered the drawing room,
+they found Frank singing, Sybil accompanying him with dextrous fingers,
+and Mrs. Lamotte half resting near them, with veiled eyes, and her
+serenest cast of countenance.</p>
+
+<p>Casting one keen glance toward Burrill, which, being interpreted, meant,
+"I told you so, you fool," Mr. Lamotte seated himself beside his wife.</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill, during his interview with his father-in-law, had become a
+shade more reasonable, and less inclined to think that, in order to
+vindicate his wounded sensibilities, he must "have it out with Sybil."
+But his face still wore a surly look, and Frank, who was not over
+delicate in such matters, looked askance at him, and then whispered to
+Sybil, under cover of a softly played interlude that he "scented battle
+afar off."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil's only answer was a low, meaning laugh, and when he had finished
+his song, she played on and on and on. <i>Sonata, bravura, fantasia,
+rondo</i>; a crash and whirl&mdash;rapid, swift, sweet, brilliant, cold; no
+feeling, no pathos. A fanciful person might have traced something of
+exultation and defiance, in those dashing, rippling waves of music.</p>
+
+<p>Presently she stopped and turned to Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall you do in the morning?" she asked, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>Frank ran his fingers through his hair, after a fashion he much
+affected, and replied, slowly:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, really! Nothing important. Going to ride to the office&mdash;meaning
+Heath's office, not the mills. Can I do anything for you, sis?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," began Sybil, as unconcernedly as if she did not know
+that she was about to astonish, more than she had already done, every
+one of her listeners, "that it would be a fine morning for a canter;
+that is, if to-morrow should be a counterpart of to-day; and I am hungry
+to be in the saddle."</p>
+
+<p>Frank roused himself from his lazy position, and looked interested. He
+took a secret delight in annoying Burrill, when he could do it without
+too much openness or display of <i>malice prepense</i>; and here was one of
+his opportunities.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Sybil, you shan't be hungering in vain," he replied, gallantly.
+"Name your hour, and your steed, and I will even sacrifice my last best
+morning nap, if need be."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil laughed lightly.</p>
+
+<p>"We will have a moderately seasonable breakfast, Frank, not to make your
+sacrifice too great; and I will ride Gretchen. Poor thing! she will have
+almost forgotten me now."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that is settled," replied Frank, tranquilly, and glancing
+furtively toward Burrill, who was beginning to wriggle uneasily in his
+chair. "Do you want to go anywhere in particular, sis?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, unless you leave me for awhile at Wardour Place; I want to see some
+of Con.'s new dresses. You can ride into town and call for me later."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! very nice arrangement; then <i>I</i> can't call with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Decidedly not, sir. Who wants a man always about? They are
+conveniences, not blessings."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, I'm extinguished. I promise to vanish from your gaze as soon
+as you are within the gates of the Princess of Wardour, and now I think,
+after so much vocal effort, and so much self-humiliation, I will go and
+smoke. Adieu, sister mine; adieu mamma. Will you smoke, Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, thank you;" replied Burrill, with brief courtesy, and Frank,
+who knew beforehand what his answer would be, went toward his own room,
+smiling contentedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what's up with Sybil?" he said to himself. "She has waked up
+decidedly; but she has let herself in for a rumpus with Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone Sybil arose, and seating herself near her mother, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, you were saying something about going to the city yesterday;
+have you decided about it?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte, who had had no thought of going to the city, and who was
+fully conscious that she had made no remarks on the subject, looked up
+without a ruffle upon her placid countenance and replied, like a wise
+and good mother.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my child, I have not decided."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, when you decide to go, inform me beforehand, mamma. I think I
+should like to accompany you and do some shopping for myself."</p>
+
+<p>Here Burrill showed such marked symptoms of outbreak that Mr. Lamotte
+who, throughout the hour they had passed in the drawing room, had been a
+quiet but close observer, thought it wise to interpose, and artfully
+attempted to avert the impending storm by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Now that sounds natural. I'm glad that you feel like shopping, Sybil,
+and like getting out more. Very glad, aren't you, Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Burrill had no notion of being thus appeased; instead of spiking
+a gun Jasper Lamotte had opened a battery.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm delighted to hear that Mrs. Burrill has stopped moping," he said
+gruffly; "but I'll be hanged if I'm glad to hear myself left out of all
+the programmes, and I'll be cussed if I'm going to put up with it,
+either," and Mr. Burrill, being full in more senses than one, arose and
+paced the room with more fierceness than regularity.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte forgot himself so far as to utter an angry imprecation
+between his shut teeth, and to wrinkle his forehead into a dark frown.
+Mrs. Lamotte allowed a shade of contempt to creep about her lips as she
+turned her eyes upon her daughter, but Sybil looked not one whit
+disconcerted.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got something to say about my wife," went on Mr. Burrill, "and I'm
+blessed if I don't say it."</p>
+
+<p>What had come over Sybil? Heretofore she would in any way, in every way,
+have avoided an encounter with him; she would have quitted the field or
+have remained deaf as a post; but now, "Say it, then, Mr. Burrill, say
+it, by all means, here and now," she retorted in the coolest voice
+imaginable.</p>
+
+<p>And Mr. Burrill did say it.</p>
+
+<p>"I've had enough of being made a fool of, Mrs. Sybil Burrill; I've had
+enough of being a carpet under your feet, and nothing better. I'm your
+equal, and anybody's equal, that's what <i>I</i> am, and I'm going to have
+<i>my</i> rights. It's very well for you to announce that you're going here
+and going there, Mrs. Burrill; but let me tell you that you go <i>nowhere</i>
+except John Burrill goes with you, that's settled."</p>
+
+<p>Sybil laughed scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite so fast, Mr. Burrill, just stand still one moment, if you
+<i>can</i> stand still, which I doubt. You say you will accompany me wherever
+I go; I say you may accompany me wherever people will tolerate you,
+nowhere else. You are not the man to force into a gentleman's parlor;
+you would disgrace his kitchen, his stable. The streets are free to all,
+you can accompany me in my drives; the churches are open to the vilest,
+you can go with me there; but into the houses of my friends you <i>shall
+not</i> go; I will not so abuse friendship. You have counted upon me to
+gain you <i>entr&eacute;e</i> to Wardour and to a dozen houses, the thresholds of
+which you will never cross. If you are not satisfied with this, then you
+must be suited with less. I will not be seen with you at all."</p>
+
+<p>Again Jasper Lamotte, vexed and alarmed for the <i>denouement</i>,
+interposed; knowing she was striking at Burrill's chief weakness:</p>
+
+<p>"But Sybil, Miss Wardour, here in her meetings with Burrill, tacitly
+recognized his right to call."</p>
+
+<p>She turned upon him swiftly.</p>
+
+<p>"You know why she did it, sir; it is useless to discuss the question.
+You may calm Mr. Burrill in any way you please, or can. You know the
+terms on which he became my husband. He will continue my husband on my
+own terms. He shall not cross the threshold of Wardour, protected by my
+presence, and without it the door would close in his face. If Mr.
+Burrill does not like my terms, let him say so. <i>It is not in his power
+or yours to alter my decision.</i>" And Sybil once more gathered together
+her silken skirts, lest in passing they should brush the now collapsed
+Mr. Burrill, and swept from the room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs19" id="gs19"></a>
+<img src="images/gs19.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte turned to his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"You must talk with that girl," he said, savagely, "what the devil ails
+you all?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte arose and faced him.</p>
+
+<p>"I should be wasting my breath," she replied, looking him straight in
+the eye. "You have tried that girl a little too far, Mr. Lamotte," and
+she followed after her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>A roar, not unlike the bellow of a bull, recalled Mr. Lamotte to the
+business of the moment. John Burrill, having recovered from his
+momentary stupor of astonishment, was dancing an improvised, and
+unsteady <i>can can</i>, among the chairs and tables, beating the air with
+his huge fists, and howling with rage.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte did first, a very natural thing; he uttered a
+string of oaths, "not loud, but deep," and next, a very sensible thing;
+he rang for brandy and hot water.</p>
+
+<p>And now the battle is in Mr. Lamotte's hands, why need we linger. Brandy
+hot will always conquer a John Burrill.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PLAY GOES ON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When Sybil Burrill, after uttering her defiance in the face of father
+and husband, had swept from the room, closely followed by her mother,
+another form moved away from the immediate vicinity of the most
+accessible drawing-room window,&mdash;the form of Evan Lamotte. Crouching,
+creeping, shivering, cursing, he made his way to the spot where he had
+left Frank's horse, and led it toward the stables.</p>
+
+<p>Anything but sober when he commenced his vigil underneath the
+drawing-room windows, he had been shocked into sobriety by his sister's
+violence, and his own rage against her tormentors. Growing more and more
+sober, and more and more sullen, he stabled the ill-used thoroughbred
+with his own hands, and then, avoiding alike both servants and family,
+he crept into the house, and up to his own room.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning he awoke betimes, and arose promptly; he had come to know
+the habits of his father and John Burrill, and he had good reason for
+knowing them, having of late made their movements his study.</p>
+
+<p>Burrill would sleep until nine o'clock; he always did after a debauch,
+and he, Evan, had recently formed a habit of appearing late at breakfast
+also. From his room he kept up a surveillance over all the household
+after a method invented by himself.</p>
+
+<p>He knew when his stately mother swept down to the breakfast room,
+followed soon after by his father.</p>
+
+<p>The family all aimed to breakfast before the obnoxious Burrill had come
+to his waking time, and so were rid of him for one meal, all but Evan.
+He and his brother-in-law breakfasted together later, and in the most
+amiable manner. After a time he heard Frank go down, and the ring of his
+heels assured Evan that he was equipped for the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>A little later, and, from his post at his front window, screened by the
+flowing curtains, Evan saw the horses led around, saw Sybil come down
+the steps in her trailing, dark cloth habit, saw her spring lightly to
+the saddle, and heard a mocking laugh ring out, in response to some
+sally from Frank, as they cantered away.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs20" id="gs20"></a>
+<img src="images/gs20.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Act one in the insurrection," said Evan, as he turned away from the
+window. "Now let <i>me</i> prepare for action." His preparations were few and
+simple; he removed his boots and coat, and crept out, and softly along
+the hall until he reached Burrill's door. Here he paused, to assure
+himself that he was not observed, and then softly tried the door; as he
+had expected, it opened without resistance, for Burrill had been
+escorted to bed, by his faithful father-in-law, in a state of
+mellowness, that precluded all thought for the night, or the dangers it
+might bring forth. Evan entered, cautiously closing the door as he had
+found it, and approached the bed. Its occupant was sleeping heavily, and
+breathing melodiously. Satisfied on this point, Evan opened a commodious
+wardrobe near the bed, threw down some clothing, spread it out smoothly,
+and then stepping within, he drew the doors together, fastening them by
+a hook of his own contrivance, on the inside; for Evan had made this
+wardrobe do service before. Then he laid himself down as comfortably as
+possible, and applied his eye to some small holes punctured in the dark
+wood, and quite invisible to casual outside observation.</p>
+
+<p>He had began to grow restless in his hiding-place, and fiercely
+disgusted with the sleeper's monotonously musical whistle, when his
+waiting was rewarded. The door once again opened cautiously, and this
+time, Jasper Lamotte entered. He looked carefully about him, then
+closing and locking the door, he approached the sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew it," thought Evan; "the fox will catch the wolf napping, and
+nail him before he can fortify himself with a morning dram."</p>
+
+<p>It took some time to arouse the sleeper, but Jasper Lamotte was equal to
+the occasion; this not being his first morning interview with his
+son-in-law; and, after a little, John Burrill was sufficiently awake to
+scramble through with a hasty toilet, talking as he dressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Business is getting urgent," he grumbled, thrusting a huge foot into a
+gorgeously decorated slipper. "I'd rather talk after breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, you are always drunk enough to be unreasonable before noon. Turn
+some cold water upon your head and be ready to attend to what I have to
+say."</p>
+
+<p>What he had to say took a long time in the telling, for it was a long,
+long hour before the conference broke up, and the two men left the room
+together.</p>
+
+<p>Then the doors of the wardrobe opened slowly, and a pale, pinched face
+looked forth; following the face came the body of Evan Lamotte, shaken
+as if with an ague. Mechanically he closed the wardrobe, and staggered
+rather than walked from the room. Once more within his own room he
+locked the door with an unsteady hand, and then threw himself headlong
+upon the bed, uttering groan after groan, as if in pain.</p>
+
+<p>After a time he arose from the bed, still looking as if he had seen a
+ghost, and, going to a desk, opened it, and took therefrom a capacious
+drinking flask; raising it to his lips he drained half its contents, and
+the stimulant acting upon overstrained nerves, seemed to restore rather
+than to intoxicate.</p>
+
+<p>"At last," he muttered to himself, "I am at the bottom of the mystery,
+and&mdash;I am powerless." Then, like his sister on the previous day, he
+muttered, "There is but one way&mdash;only one&mdash;and <i>it must be done</i>!" Then
+throwing himself once more upon the bed, he moaned:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that I, the accursed of the family, heretofore, should live to
+be&mdash;but pshaw! it is for Sybil I care. But&mdash;for to-day let them all keep
+out of my sight&mdash;I could not see them and hold my peace."</p>
+
+<p>He pocketed the half empty flask, and made his way from the house to be
+seen by none at Mapleton for the next twenty-four hours.</p>
+
+<p>After that morning interview with his father-in-law, John Burrill
+blusters less for a few days, and makes himself less disagreeable to the
+ladies. He accepts the situation, or seems to; he rides out on one or
+two sunny afternoons with Mrs. Lamotte and Sybil, and on one of these
+occasions they meet Constance Wardour, driving with her aunt. The
+heiress of Wardour smiles gayly and kisses the tips of her fingers to
+the ladies, but there is no chance for him&mdash;he might be the footman for
+all Constance seems to see or know to the contrary. This happens in a
+thoroughfare where they are more than likely to have been observed, and
+John Burrill chafes inwardly, and begins to ponder how he can, in the
+face of all the Lamottes, gain a recognition from Constance Wardour. In
+his sober moments this becomes a haunting thought; in his tipsy ones it
+grows to be a mania.</p>
+
+<p>One day, during this lull in the family siege, Sybil and her mother
+visit the city, doing a mountain of shopping, and returning the next
+day. Sybil keeps on as she began, on the night when she listened to her
+father and husband, while they held council in her mother's room. She is
+full of energy and nervous excitement always, and the old stupor of
+dullness, and apathetic killing of time, never once returns. But Mrs.
+Lamotte likes this last state not much better than the first; neither
+does Constance; but they say nothing, for the reason that it would be
+useless, as they know too well. Sybil goes out oftener, sits with the
+family more, and seems like one waiting anxiously for a long expected
+event.</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill is a little disturbed at Sybil's visit to the city. He
+knows that she will go and come as she pleases there, unquestioned, and,
+if she choose, unattended by her mother. And, without knowing why, he
+feels inclined to rebel; but he is still under the spell of that morning
+interview, and so holds his peace.</p>
+
+<p>Evan, too, under the same uncanny spell, goes about more morose than
+usual, more silent than usual, more sarcastic than usual. More and more,
+too, he attaches himself to John Burrill; they drink together in the
+dining room, and then repair together to "Old Forty Rods," or some other
+favorite haunt. Together they seek for pleasure in the haunts of the
+vilest, Evan continually playing upon the vanity and credulity in
+Burrill's nature, to push him forward as the leader in all their
+debauches, the master spirit, the <i>bon vivant, par excellence</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And Burrill goes on and on, down and down. He begins to confide all his
+maudlin woes to Evan, and that young man is ever ready with sympathy and
+advice that is not calculated to make Jasper Lamotte's position, as bear
+trainer, a sinecure.</p>
+
+<p>But Evan contrives to leave Sybil tolerably free from this nuisance for
+a time; but only for a time. John Burrill has other advisers, other
+exhorters, other spurs that urge him on to his own downfall.</p>
+
+<p>Burrill begins to throw himself in the way of Constance Wardour; to meet
+her carriage here and there; to stand near by as she goes and comes on
+her shopping excursions; to drive past Wardour Place alone and often.</p>
+
+<p>At first, this only amuses Miss Wardour; then it annoys her; then, when
+she finds her walks in the grounds so often overlooked by the slowly
+passing Burrill, she begins to mark his maneuvers with a growing
+vexation.</p>
+
+<p>But Burrill perseveres, and the more nearly he approaches the fourth
+stage of his intoxication, the more open becomes his stare, the more
+patent his growing admiration.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>JOHN BURRILL, PLEBEIAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is night, late and lowering; especially gloomy in that quarter of
+W&mdash;&mdash; where loom the great ugly rows of tenements that are inhabited by
+the factory toilers; for the gloom and smoke of the great engines brood
+over the roofs night and day, and the dust and cinders could only be
+made noticeable by their absence.</p>
+
+<p>In a small cottage, at the end of a row of larger houses, a woman is
+busy clearing away the fragments of a none too bountiful supper. A small
+woman, with a sour visage, and not one ounce of flesh on her person,
+that is not absolutely needed to screen from mortal gaze a bone. A woman
+with a long, sharp nose, two bright, ferret-like brown eyes, and a
+rasping voice, that seems to have worn itself thin asking hard questions
+of Providence, from sunrise till dark.</p>
+
+<p>The table has been spread for two, but the second party at the banquet,
+a gamin son aged seven, has swallowed his own and all he could get of
+his mother's share, and betakened himself to the streets, night though
+it be.</p>
+
+<p>The woman moves about, now and then muttering to herself as she works.
+The room is shabbily furnished, and not over neat, for its mistress
+spends her days in the great mill hard by, and housekeeping has become
+a secondary matter. Only the needs of life find their demands honored in
+this part of W&mdash;&mdash;. Too often needs get choked and die of the smoke and
+the cinders.</p>
+
+<p>It is late, for the woman has been doing extra work; it is stormy, too,
+blustering and spattering rain. Yet she pauses occasionally and listens
+to a passing footfall, as though she expected a visitor.</p>
+
+<p>At last, when the final touch has made the room as tidy as it ever is,
+or as she thinks it need be, there comes a shuffling of feet outside,
+and a tremendous thump on the rickety door. After which, as if he was
+sufficiently heralded, in comes a man, a big man, muffled to the eyes in
+a huge coat, which he slowly draws down and draws off, disclosing to the
+half curious, half contemptuous gaze of the woman the auburn locks and
+highly tinted countenance of Mr. John Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>"So," she says, in her shrillest voice, "It's <i>you</i>, is it? It seems one
+is never to be rid of you at any price."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's me&mdash;all of me," the man replies, as if confirming a doubtful
+statement. "Why, now; you act as if you didn't expect me."</p>
+
+<p>"And no more I did," says the woman sullenly and most untruthfully.
+"It's a wonder to me that you can't stay away from here, after all
+that's come and gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't," he retorts, amiably rubbing his hands together.
+"Anyhow, I won't, which means about the same thing. Where's the little
+duffer?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's where you were at his age, I expect," she replies grimly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, and if he only keeps on as I have, until he gets up to my present
+age, he won't be in a bad boat, eh, Mrs. Burrill the first."</p>
+
+<p>"He's got too much of his mother's grit to be where <i>you</i> are, John
+Burrill, livin' a lackey among people that despise you because you have
+got a hand on 'em somewhere. I want to know if you don't think they will
+choke you off some day when they are done using you?"</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill seated himself astride a low wooden chair, and propelling
+it and himself forward by a movement of the feet and a "hitch" of the
+shoulders, he leaned across the chair back in his most facetious manner,
+and addressed her with severe eloquence.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Mrs. Burrill number one, don't you take advantage of your
+position, and ride the high horse too free. It's something to 'ave been
+Mrs. J. Burrill once, I'll admit; but don't let it elevate you too much.
+You ain't quite so handsome as the present Mrs. Burrill, neither are you
+so young, consequently you don't show off so well in a tantrum. Now the
+present Mrs. Burrill&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then she does have tantrums, the present Mrs. Burrill," sneered the
+woman, fairly quivering with suppressed rage. "One would think she would
+be so proud of you that she could excuse all your little faults. Brooks
+says that they all talk French up there, so that you can't wring into
+their confabs, John."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he?" remarked Burrill, quietly, but with an ominous gleam in his
+ugly eyes. "Brooks must be careful of that tongue of his. You may
+reckon that they all stop their French when <i>I</i> begin to talk. Now,
+don't be disagreeable, Nance; it ain't every man that can take a rise in
+the world like me, and <i>I</i> don't put on airs, and hold myself above my
+old friends. Do you think that every man could step into such a family
+as <i>I</i> belong to, Mrs. Burrill? No one can say that John Burrill's a
+common fellow after that feat."</p>
+
+<p>"No, but a great many can say that John Burrill's a mean fellow, too
+mean to walk over. Do you think the men as you worked along side of, and
+drank and supped with, don't know what you are, John Burrill! Do you
+think that they don't all know that your outrageous vanity has made a
+fool of you? Chance threw into your hands a secret of the Lamottes; you
+need not stare, we ain't fools down here at the factories. Maybe I know
+what that secret is, and maybe I don't. It's no matter. I know more of
+your doings than you give me credit for, John Burrill. Now, what must
+you do? Blackmail would have satisfied a sensible man; but straightway
+you are seized with the idea that you were born to be a gentleman. You!
+Then you form your plan; and you force, by means of the power in your
+hands, that beautiful young lady to marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me," interrupts the man who has been listening quite
+contentedly, "that you are getting along too fast with your story."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am too fast. When you first hatched out this plan, you came to
+me and put a pistol to my head, and swore that if I didn't apply for a
+divorce from you at once, you would blow my brains out. I had swore
+more than once to have a divorce; and Lord knows I had cause enough;
+what, with the drunkenness and the beatings, and the idleness, and the
+night prowlin', and all the rest; but I never expected that."</p>
+
+<p>The woman paused for a moment, and then resumed her tirade of mixed
+eloquence and bad grammar.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't expect to be drove into the divorce court at the point of a
+pistol, but that's how it ended, and you was free to torment Miss
+Lamotte, poor young thing! Don't you let yourself think that I envied
+<i>her</i>! Lord knows I had had enough of you, and your meanness, but I
+pitied her; and if I had knocked out your brains, as I've been tempted
+to do a dozen times, when you have rolled in here blind drunk, I'd have
+done her a good turn, and myself too. The time was when Nance Fergus was
+your equal, and more too; but you left England with the notion that here
+you would be the equal of anybody, and you've never got clear of the
+idea. I've tried to make you understand that there's a coarse breed of
+folks, same's there is of dogs, and that you are of a mighty coarse
+breed. I've lived out with gentle folks over the water, and they were
+none of your sort. But, go on John Burrill, the low women you are so
+fond of, and the girls at the factory, have called you good lookin',
+until your head is turned with vanity. You have got yourself in among
+the upper class, no matter how, and I suppose you expect your good looks
+to do the rest for you. I mind once when I was at service in
+Herefordshire, the Squire had a fine young beast in his cattle yard,
+black an' sleek, an' handsome to look at, and the young ladies came down
+from the big house and looked at it through the fence, and called it a
+'beautiful creature,' but all the same they led it away to the slaughter
+house with a ring in its nose, and the young ladies dined off it with a
+relish."</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill stroked his nasal organ fondly, as if discerning some
+connection between that protuberance and the aforementioned ring; but he
+made no attempt to interrupt her.</p>
+
+<p>"You was bad enough in England, John Burrill; what with your poaching
+and your other misdeeds, and sorry was the day when I left a good place
+to come away from the country with you, because it was gettin' too hot
+for you to stay there. You couldn't get along without me then; and you
+can't get along now it seems, for all your fine feathers, without you
+come here sometimes to brag of your exploits, and pretend you are
+lookin' after the boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Nance," said Burrill, "you're a fine old bird! 'Ow I'd like to set you
+at my old father-in-law, blarst him, when he rides it too rough
+sometimes, and, what a sociable little discourse you could lay down for
+the ladies too, Nance; but, are you about done? You've been clean over
+the old ground, seems to me, tho' I may have dozed a little here and
+there. Have you been over the old business, and brought me over the
+water, by the nape of the neck; because, if you haven't&mdash;no, I see you
+have not, so here's to you, Nance, spin on;" and he took from his
+pocket a black bottle, and drank a mighty draught therefrom.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm <i>not</i> done," screamed the woman. "You've come here to-night, as
+you have before, for a purpose; one would think that such a fine
+gentleman could find better society, but it seems you can't. You never
+come here for nothing; you never come for any good; you want something?
+What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed a low, hard laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, taking another pull at the black bottle; "I want
+something."</p>
+
+<p>"Umph! I thought so."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to tell you," here he arose, and dropping his careless manner,
+laid a threatening hand upon her arm. "I want to tell you, Nance
+Burrill, that you have got to bridle that tongue of yours; d'ye
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>She shook off his hand, and retired a few paces eyeing him closely as
+she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I thought so. Something has scared ye already."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not scared; that thing can't be done by you, Nance; but you
+have been blowing too much among the factory people, and I won't have
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't have what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Won't have any more of this talk about going to my wife with stories
+about me."</p>
+
+<p>"Who said I threatened?"</p>
+
+<p>"No matter, you don't do much that I don't hear of, so mind your eye,
+Nance. As for the women at the bend, you let them alone, and keep your
+tongue between your teeth."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I will; one can't blame you for seeking the society of your equals,
+after the snubbing you must get from your betters up there. But that
+don't satisfy you; you must drag that poor fellow, Evan Lamotte, into
+their den; as if he were not wild enough, before you came where you
+could reach him."</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill took another pull at the black bottle.</p>
+
+<p>"Evan's a good fellow," he said somewhat thickly. "He knows enough to
+appreciate a man like me, and we both have larks, now let me tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have your larks; but don't sit and drink yourself blind before my
+very eyes. Why don't you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cause I don't want'er&mdash;," growing more and more mellow, as the liquor
+went fuming to his head, already pretty heavily loaded with brandy and
+wine. "Where's the little rooster, I tell yer."</p>
+
+<p>"In the streets, and he's too much like his father to ever come home,
+'till he's gone after, and dragged in."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go and drag him in then, I'm goin' ter see 'im."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't!" shrieked the woman, now fairly beside herself with rage; "go
+home to your lady wife, and take her my compliments; tell her that I
+turned you out."</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill staggered to his feet, uttering a brutal oath.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll turn me out, will you? You say <i>won't</i> to me; you are forgetting
+my training, Mrs. Nance; I'll teach you that John Burrill's yer master
+yet; go for the boy."</p>
+
+<p>But the woman did not stir.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't, eh!" clutching her fiercely, and shaking her violently, "now
+will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you brute."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, take that, and that, and that!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs21" id="gs21"></a>
+<img src="images/gs21.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Then take that, and that.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>A rain of swift blows; a shriek ringing out on the stillness of the
+night; then a swift step, the door dashed in, and John Burrill is
+measuring his length upon the bare floor.</p>
+
+<p>The woman reels, as the clutch of the miscreant loosens from her arm,
+but recovers herself and turns a bruised face toward the timely
+intruder. It is Clifford Heath.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you badly hurt?" he asks, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>She lifts a hand to her poor bruised face, and aching head, and then
+sinking into a chair says, wearily:</p>
+
+<p>"It's nothing&mdash;for me. Look out, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>This last was an exclamation of warning, John Burrill had staggered to
+his feet, and was aiming an unsteady blow at the averted head of Doctor
+Heath.</p>
+
+<p>The latter turned swiftly, comprehending the situation at a glance, and
+once more felled the brute to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>By this time others had appeared upon the scene,&mdash;neighbors, roused by
+the cry of the woman.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath bent again to examine her face. He had scarcely observed
+the features of the man he had just knocked down; and he now asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Is&mdash;this man you husband, madam?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman reddened under her bruises.</p>
+
+<p>"He <i>was</i> my husband," she said, bitterly. "He is&mdash;John Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath started back, thinking, first of all, of Sybil, and
+realizing that there must be no scandal, that could be avoided, for her
+sake. He had never seen Burrill, save at a distance, but had heard, as
+had every one in W&mdash;&mdash;, of his divorced wife.</p>
+
+<p>Turning to one of the neighbors, he said: "I was passing on my way home
+from Mrs. Brown's, when I heard this alarm. I think, good people, that
+we had better let this fellow go away quietly, and attend to this woman.
+Her face will be badly swollen by and by." Then he turned once more
+toward Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the miscreant was struggling to his feet, and at a command
+from Doctor Heath, he hastened his efforts. Hitherto, he had had only a
+vision of a pair of flashing dark eyes, and an arm that shot out
+swiftly, and straight home.</p>
+
+<p>Now, however, as he gained an erect posture, and turned a threatening
+look upon his assailant, the onlookers, who all knew him, and all hated
+and feared him, saw a sudden and surprising transformation. The red all
+died out of his face, the eyes seemed starting from their sockets, the
+lower jaw dropped abjectly and suddenly, and, with a yell of terror,
+John Burrill lowered his head and dashed from the house, as if pursued
+by a legion of spectres.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>NANCE BURRILL'S WARNING.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The sudden and surprising exit of Burrill caused, for a moment, a stay
+of proceedings, and left the group, so rapidly gathered in Nance
+Burrill's kitchen, standing <i>en tableaux</i>, for a full minute.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Heath was the first to recover from his surprise, and as he took in
+the absurdity of the scene, he uttered a low laugh, and turned once more
+toward the woman, Nance, who seemed to have lost herself in a prolonged
+stare.</p>
+
+<p>"Your persecutor does not like my looks, apparently," he said, at the
+same time taking from his pocket a small medicine case. "Or was it some
+of these good friends that put him to flight?" And he glanced at the
+group gathered near the door.</p>
+
+<p>A woman with a child in her arms, and her husband with two more in
+charge, at her heels; a family group to the rescue; two or three old
+women, of course; and a man with a slouching gait, a shock of unruly red
+hair, and a face very much freckled across the cheek bones, and very red
+about the nose; the eyes, too, had an uncanny squint, as if nature had
+given up her task too soon and left him to survey the world through the
+narrow slits. This man had always an air of being profoundly interested
+in the smallest affairs of life, perhaps because the slits through which
+he gazed magnified the objects gazed upon, and he peered about him now
+with profoundest solicitude. This was Watt Brooks, a mechanic, and
+hanger-on about the mills, where he did an occasional bit of odd work,
+and employed the balance of his time in gossiping among the women, or
+lounging at the drinking saloons, talking a great deal about the wrongs
+of the working classes, and winning to himself some friends from a
+certain turbulent class who listened admiringly to his loud, communistic
+oratory.</p>
+
+<p>Brooks had not been long in W&mdash;&mdash;, but he had made rapid headway among
+that class who, having little or nothing to love or to fear, are not
+slow to relieve the monotony of very bare existence by appropriating to
+themselves the friendship of every hail fellow whom chance throws in
+their way.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly Brooks had become a sort of oracle among the dwellers in
+"Mill avenue," as the street was facetiously called, and he was ready
+for any dish of gossip, not infrequently making himself conspicuous as a
+teller of news; he was faithful in gathering up and retailing small
+items among such ladies of the "avenue" as, being exempted from mill
+work because of family cares, had time and inclination, and this latter
+was seldom lacking, to chatter with him about the latest mishap, or the
+one that was bound to occur soon.</p>
+
+<p>Prominent among the gossips of Mill avenue was that much abused matron
+Mrs. John Burrill number one, and she had not been slow to discover the
+advantages of possessing such an acquaintance as Mr. Brooks; accordingly
+they gravitated toward each other by mutual attraction, and it was quite
+a common thing for Brooks to drop in and pass an evening hour in the
+society of Mrs. Burrill, sometimes even taking a cup of tea at the table
+of the lone woman on a Sunday afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>As Doctor Heath laid his case upon the small pine table, and prepared to
+deal out a soothing lotion for the bruised Mrs. Burrill, Brooks advanced
+courageously, supported on either hand by an anxious old lady, and the
+chorus commenced.</p>
+
+<p>"It warn't <i>us</i> as scared him out, sir," said Brooks, positively. "He's
+seen all o' us, first and last. Maybe as he's had cause for remembering
+<i>you</i>, sir?" and Brooks peered anxiously at the doctor, as if hoping for
+a prompt confirmation of this shrewd guess.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, an' it was a guilty conscience, if ever I seen one, as made the
+brute beast run like that, from the sight of the doctor," chimed in
+first old lady, who quarreled with her "old man" on principle, and
+seldom came out second best. "Faith, an' the murtherin' wretch has half
+killed ye, Burrill, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I was that scart with the screamin'," said the mother of three, "that I
+nearly let the baby fall a-runnin' here."</p>
+
+<p>And then they all gathered around Mrs. Burrill, and talked vigorously,
+and all together, while Brooks, hovering near the doctor, pursued his
+investigation.</p>
+
+<p>"A bad lot, that Burrill, sir. I've seen him, frequent; and so he's had
+occasion to know you, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my good fellow; I never had the honor of meeting Mr. John Burrill
+before," replied Doctor Heath, smiling at the man's pertinacity.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I want to know," exclaimed Brooks, in accents of real distress,
+"then what <i>could</i> have set him off like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we were getting too many for him," replied the doctor,
+easily.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it, sir. Burrill ain't no coward, especially when he's in
+liquor; and he and me's on good enough terms, too; though, of course,"
+said Brooks, recollecting himself, and glancing anxiously at the
+reclining figure of the injured one, "of course, I would never stand by
+and see a lady struck down, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Manifestly not," replied the doctor, drily. "Then, as he would not fear
+you, and could not fear me, he must have been in the first stages of
+'snake seeing.'"</p>
+
+<p>"It's my opinion, he took you for somebody else, as he has reasons to be
+afraid of," said one of the women, with an emphatic nod.</p>
+
+<p>But here the voice of the heroine of the occasion rose high above the
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>"John Burrill wasn't so drunk as to run away from a man he never saw, or
+to see crooked," she said, fiercely. "I saw the look on his face,
+blinded tho' I was, and he's afraid of <i>you</i>, Doctor Heath. I don't know
+why. There's some secrets in John Burrill's life that I don't know, and
+there's more that I wish I didn't know; but here, or somewhere else, he
+has known you, sir. Perhaps only by sight; but he's afraid of you,
+that's certain."</p>
+
+<p>There was no reply from Doctor Heath; he was busy over his medicine
+case. He prepared a lotion, to be applied to the bruises, and a
+sedative, to be applied to the nerves of the patient, who was beginning
+to recover herself in a measure, and launched out into a torrent of
+invective against the author of her trouble; after which she rushed into
+a wild recital of her wrongs, beginning at the time when she left a good
+place in England, to follow the fortunes of John Burrill, and running
+with glib tongue over the entire gamut of her trials since. And all of
+this, although it was far from new to the dwellers of Mill Avenue, was
+listened to, by them, with absorbed interest, and the proper
+accompaniment of ejaculations, at the proper places. During this
+discourse, to which Brooks listened with evidences of liveliest
+interest, Doctor Heath remained seemingly inattentive, waiting for a
+lull in the storm; when it came at last, he ascertained as briefly as
+possible, who among the women would remain, and pass the night with Mrs.
+Burrill; gave her direction, as to the use she was to make of the
+medicines he had prepared, and buttoned his coat about him, preparatory
+to departure.</p>
+
+<p>As his hand was upon the latch, the voice of his patient arrested him.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," she said, earnestly. "It wouldn't be gratitude in me to let
+you go away without a word of warning. I don't want to pry into your
+affairs, but let me tell you this: You are not done with John Burrill;
+you took him by surprise to-night; but, I'll wager he is over his scare
+by now, and he is plotting how he can get another sight at you,
+unbeknown to yourself; and, if he has reason to be afraid of you, then
+look out for him; <i>you</i> have reasons for being afraid too."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath hesitated a moment, and a shade of annoyance crossed his
+face, then he said in his usual careless tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Give yourself no uneasiness about this matter, madam; I never saw the
+scoundrel before, and he was simply afraid of my fist. However, if he
+ever should cross my path, be assured I shall know how to dispose of
+him;" and Clifford Heath bowed and went out into the night, little
+recking that he had left his life in the hands of five old women.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time, Brooks arose and shuffled out, and then the tongues
+were once more loosened, the husband attendant had been ordered home
+with his two charges, and the chief subject of their converse was Doctor
+Heath, and the strange influence he had exerted upon John Burrill; and a
+fruitful theme they found it.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, John Burrill, who had fled straight on down the gloomy length
+of Mill avenue, found himself, and his senses, together, close under the
+shadow of one of the huge factories, and at the river's very edge.</p>
+
+<p>Here, breathless and bespattered, he sat down upon a flat stone to
+recover himself, and review the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Curse the man," he muttered. "I would not have made such a fool of
+myself for a gold mine; but I couldn't have helped it for two," he
+added, after a moment's reflection, "if it's the man I supposed it to
+be! But it can't be! It is not."</p>
+
+<p>He was by this time, comparatively sober, and he arose to his feet,
+finally, feeling his courage returning, but still deep in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the luck," he muttered, kicking viciously at a loose stone. "If
+that's the man I fear, then Jasper Lamotte would be glad to know him.
+Why!" starting suddenly erect, "I can find out, and I will. I must, for
+my own safety," and John Burrill faced about and retraced his steps.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously this time, he went over the ground, heeding where he set his
+foot, lest some misstep should betray his presence in Mill avenue still;
+more and more cautiously as he neared the house from which he had so
+lately fled.</p>
+
+<p>Closer and closer he crept, until at last he was under the window of the
+kitchen, and here he crouched, listening. He heard the mingled confusion
+of voices, then the firm tones of Clifford Heath, clear above the rest.
+Hearing this, he moved quickly away, for he was in instant danger of
+detection, should the door open suddenly, as it might at any moment.</p>
+
+<p>He crossed the street and standing under the shadow of a small tenement,
+waited.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before the door opened, and the light from within showed
+him the tall form of Clifford Heath, clearly outlined against the
+darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Out strode Heath, walking so rapidly, that the not yet quite sober, John
+Burrill, found himself compelled to exercise care, and expend some
+breath, in keeping him within sight.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, went the pursued and the pursuer, and presently, out of the
+darkness, came a third form, gliding shadow-like; as if every step of
+the way were too familiar to render caution necessary; this third form,
+drew nearer and nearer to Burrill, who, all unconscious of its
+proximity, labored on after Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<p>Straight to his own cottage went the doubly shadowed young physician; he
+opened the door with a latch key, and the followers lost him in the
+darkness of the unlighted vestibule. Presently, however, a light was
+seen to glimmer through the partially closed blinds, and then John
+Burrill crept cautiously nearer, and feeling his way carefully, lest
+some obstacle at his feet should cause him to stumble; he gained the
+window, pressed his face close to the shutters and peered through.</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath was pacing up and down his cosy sitting room, seemingly
+lost in perplexed thought, and, as again and again his face was turned
+to the light, the watcher studied it closely; finally he seemed
+satisfied with his scrutiny, for he turned away and groped back to the
+street once more.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the other one," he muttered, drawing a long breath of relief. "I
+might have known it from the first; so he is the young Doctor they tell
+of! Well, it's a rum game that brings him here, and it's certain he
+don't want to be known. He can't know me, and&mdash;Jove, I'd like to pay him
+for the hits he gave me," and he fell to pondering as he turned his
+steps, not the way he had come, nor yet toward Mapleton, but in the
+direction of "Old Forty Rods." But long before he reached his
+destination, the creeping, stealthy shadow, had ceased to follow, and
+had vanished down a side street.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs22" id="gs22"></a>
+<img src="images/gs22.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">It's the other one," he muttered</span>.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>A few lights were glimmering, here and there, as he turned down the, not
+very elegant, street on which was located the haven of "Forty Rods," and
+when he was within a block of the place, a man, coming suddenly around
+the corner, ran square against him.</p>
+
+<p>Burrill uttered an oath, as he with difficulty regained his balance, but
+the new-comer called out in a voice, a little unsteady from some cause:</p>
+
+<p>"Helloa! B&mdash;Burrill, that yer, ole feller? Didn't mean ter knock against
+yer, give-ye my word I didn'. Give us a tiss, ole man, an' come-long to
+Forty's!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brooks," said Burrill, taking him sociably by the arm, and facing
+toward the saloon in question. "Brooks, you're drunk; you're beastly
+drunk; drunk as a sailor by all that's sober." And together they entered
+"Old Forty Rods."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONSTANCE AT BAY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"It is impossible, sir! utterly impossible! and, pardon me for saying
+it, most absurd! This matter has been dragged on too long already. And
+on such evidence I utterly refuse to follow up the case. You have done
+well, undoubtedly, but it was only at the urgent request of Mr. Lamotte
+that I have allowed it to continue, and now I wash my hands of the whole
+affair."</p>
+
+<p>It is Constance Wardour who speaks, standing very straight and with head
+very firmly poised, and wearing upon her face what Mrs. Aliston would
+have called her "obstinate look." Her words were addressed to a well
+dressed, gentlemanly looking personage, who is neither young nor yet
+middle aged, and who might pass for a solicitor with a good run of
+clients, or a bank cashier out on special business. He is looking
+somewhat disconcerted just now, but recovers his composure almost as she
+ceases speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"But, madam," he expostulates mildly, "this is unheard of, really. You
+employ me upon a case which, just now, has reached a crisis, and when
+success seems almost certain you tell me to drop the case. I never like
+to drag forward my own personality, Miss Wardour, but really this is a
+blow aimed directly at my professional honor."</p>
+
+<p>There is an ominous flash in the eye of the heiress, but her voice is
+smooth and tranquil, as she replies:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry if this should injure <i>you</i>, Mr. Belknap, but, pardon me, I
+scarcely see how it can; you, as I understand, are a '<i>private
+detective</i>,' answerable to no one save yourself and the one employing
+you. I, as that one, pronounce myself satisfied to drop the case. I
+decline to use the circumstantial evidence you have brought against a
+man who is above suspicion, in my mind, at least. Let the Wardour
+diamonds rest in oblivion. Mr. Belknap, I am ready to honor your draft
+for any sum that you may deem sufficient to compensate you for the
+trouble you have taken, as well as for the <i>hurt</i> done your professional
+pride."</p>
+
+<p>Private Detective Belknap stood for a moment, pondering, then he lifted
+his head and said, with an air of injured virtue beautiful to
+contemplate:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, of course there is no appeal from your decision. In my
+profession it often happens that we are compelled to unmask fraud and
+deceit in high places, and to wound the feelings of some we profoundly
+respect. While in your employ, I was bound to work for your interest; I
+owed a duty to you. Being dismissed from your service, I owe a duty
+still to society. As an officer of the law, it becomes my duty, being no
+longer under your commands, to make known to the proper authorities the
+facts in my possession. I do not know this Doctor Heath, consequently
+can have no object in hunting him down; but, believing him guilty, and
+holding the proof that I do, I must make known the truth, otherwise I
+should be compromising myself, and compounding a felony." Here Mr.
+Belknap took up his hat. "I will send in my statement of expenses, etc.,
+to-morrow, Miss Wardour. This withdrawal of the case has been so sudden,
+so unexpected, that I am not prepared for a settlement of accounts." And
+Mr. Belknap turned slowly toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>But the heiress stopped him by a gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay a moment, sir," she said, and the ominous gleam was intensified
+into a look of absolute hatred, for an instant. "I hope I do not quite
+understand your meaning. Did you intend to tell me that if I dismiss you
+from my service, you will still continue the search for my diamonds?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs23" id="gs23"></a>
+<img src="images/gs23.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Stay a moment, sir.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"No, madam: I will simply place the facts I have gathered before the
+town authorities, and leave them to use the knowledge as they see fit. I
+then withdraw from the field, unless called upon as a witness, when, of
+course, I must do my duty."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Wardour stood for some moments in silent thought, one small foot
+tapping nervously the while, a sure sign of irritation with her. At last
+she said, slowly, and with an undertone of sarcasm, that she made a
+futile effort to conceal:</p>
+
+<p>"I think I comprehend you Mr. Belknap, and I withdraw my dismissal. You
+are still retained on the Wardour robbery case; I suppose, therefore,
+you are subject to my orders."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Belknap laid down his hat, and returned to his former position.
+Without a trace of triumph or satisfaction in his face or manner, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am subject to your commands, certainly, Miss Wardour; but I beg that
+you will not misapprehend me."</p>
+
+<p>"Be easy on that point," interrupted Miss Wardour, somewhat impatiently.
+"Now then, Mr. Belknap, I want a little time to consider this matter,
+and to consult with my aunt; also to see Mr. Lamotte. During this time I
+desire you to remain passive, to make no move in the matter; above all,
+to mention your suspicions to no one. You can, of course, keep as close
+a watch as you may please over Doctor Heath, but it must be done
+quietly, do you comprehend? You are to say nothing of this matter not
+even to Mr. Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the detective took up his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"I comprehend," he said, gravely; "you shall be obeyed to the letter,
+Miss Wardour; for three days, then, my task will be an easy one. On
+Friday morning I will call on you again."</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I wish," she said; "I will have further instructions for
+you then."</p>
+
+<p>With the bow of a courtier, the private detective withdrew from her
+presence, and for a moment the heiress stood as he had left her, gazing
+at the door through which he had disappeared, as if she were seeking to
+transfix an enemy with the angry fire of her eyes. Then she struck her
+hands together fiercely, and began a rapid march to and fro across the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" she ejaculated; "the sleek, smooth, oily-tongued wretch! To dare
+to come here and make terms with <i>me</i>; to fairly compel me to keep him
+in my service! and to bring such a charge against <i>him</i>. If he had an
+enemy, I should call it a wretched plot. But I'll not be outwitted by
+you, Mr. Belknap; I have three day's grace."</p>
+
+<p>She continued to pace the room with much energy for a few moments, and
+then seating herself at a writing table, rapidly wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p><span class="smcap">Neil Bathurst, Esq</span>,<br />
+ No.&mdash;&mdash; B&mdash;&mdash; street. N. Y. </p>
+
+<p><i>Dear Sir:</i>&mdash;If in your power, be in W&mdash;&mdash; in two days, without
+fail. Danger menaces your friend, Dr. H&mdash;&mdash;, and I only hold
+detective B&mdash;&mdash; in my service to bridle his tongue. I fear a plot,
+and can only stay proceedings against the innocent, by proclaiming
+the truth concerning my diamonds; acting under your advice, I will
+withhold my statement until you arrive.</p>
+
+
+<p>Hastily, etc.,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Constance Wardour</span>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There was yet an hour before the departure of the eastern mail, and
+Constance sealed her letter, and dispatched it by a faithful messenger;
+this done, she pondered again.</p>
+
+<p>The private detective had waited upon her that morning with a strange
+statement. For weeks he had been working out this strange case, guided
+by the fact that the chloroform administered to Constance was
+scientifically meted out. He had commenced a system of shadowing the
+various medical men in W&mdash;&mdash;, without regard to their present or
+previous standing. Nothing could be found in the past or present of any
+to cause them to fall under suspicion, until he came to investigate
+Doctor Heath. Here what did he find? First, that his antecedents could
+be traced back only so far as his stay in W&mdash;&mdash; had extended. Nothing
+could be found to prove that his career had been above reproach,
+previous to his sojourn here; hence, according to the reasoning of Mr.
+Belknap, it was fair to suppose that it had not been. "For," argued the
+astute private detective, "where there is secresy, there is also room
+for suspicion." And Constance felt a momentary sinking of the heart,
+when she recalled the words she had overheard, as they fell from the
+lips of Clifford Heath: "Here, I am Clifford Heath, from nowhere."
+Starting with a suspicion, the private detective had made rapid headway.
+He had ascertained beyond a doubt that Doctor Heath's expenses, taken
+all in all, were in excess of his professional income. He might have a
+private income, true; but this was not proven, and then there <i>was</i> a
+mystery that the accused had tried in vain to hide from the eyes of the
+hunters. There was a correspondence that was carried on with the utmost
+caution, letters received that had thrown him quite off his guard, and
+that were destroyed as soon as read. Finally and lastly, there was the
+bottle broken into fragments and thrown to the dust heap; but, without
+doubt, the counterpart of the one found at Miss Wardour's bedside on the
+morning of the robbery; while, among some cast-off garments, had been
+found the <i>half of a handkerchief</i>, that matched precisely the one found
+over the face of the heiress. All these facts Mr. Belknap had laid
+before her with elaborate explanations, and "notes by the way," but
+instead of drawing from her the expected indignant demand for the
+instant arrest of the accused one, Miss Wardour had listened coldly, and
+with marked impatience, and had finally declared her decision not to
+move in the affair, nor to allow any one to act in her behalf.</p>
+
+<p>As Constance reviewed the arguments of the detective, a new thought came
+to her. Doctor Heath, all unconscious of the danger menacing him, might
+in some way, do himself an injury, and add to the chain of
+circumstantial evidence that was lengthening for his overthrow. He must
+be warned.</p>
+
+<p>This was a delicate task, and she hesitated a little over the manner of
+accomplishing it.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, she seated herself once more at her desk and wrote another
+letter, or rather a note.</p>
+
+<p>It contained only a few lines, and was addressed to, "<i>Mr. Raymond
+Vandyck.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, private detective Belknap was driving slowly in the
+light buggy, that had brought him to Wardour Place, toward the
+residence of Jasper Lamotte. His features wore a look of complacent
+self-satisfaction, and he hummed softly to himself, as he drove easily
+over the red and brown leaves that were beginning to flutter downward
+and carpet the highway.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at Mapleton; he drove leisurely up the avenue, and lifting his
+eyes toward the stately edifice crowning the hill, he saw, standing on
+the broad piazza, and gazing directly toward him, a beautiful woman,
+clad in trailing silk, and wearing a shawl of richest crimson cashmere,
+draped about her head and shoulders; as he drew nearer, he was startled
+at the strange mingling of pallor and flame in her face; the temples
+were like blue veined ivory, and the slender hands, clasping the folds
+of crimson, seemed scarcely strong enough to retain their hold; but the
+lips and cheeks were a glowing crimson, and the eyes burned and glowed
+with a steady intense light.</p>
+
+<p>"So," thought private detective Belknap, "I have not left all the beauty
+behind me, it seems. I suppose this is the daughter of mine host."</p>
+
+<p>And so thinking, he reined in his horse upon the graveled drive and,
+lifting up his hat, with elaborate courtesy, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I believe this is Mapleton."</p>
+
+<p>The lovely brunette allowed the crimson shawl to drop from about her
+head as she came slowly down the steps, never once removing her dark
+searching eyes from his face.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Mapleton, sir. May I ask if this is Mr. Belknap?"</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat surprised, he answered in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap, the detective," she persisted, and then seeing that he
+hesitated over his answer, she added, "I am Jasper Lamotte's daughter,
+and know that he expects you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am the man Mr. Lamotte expects," he said, throwing down the reins
+and springing from the buggy. "Is Mr. Lamotte at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father is in the library," she replied, coming still nearer him,
+"follow me, Mr. Belknap, I will send a servant to take your horse."</p>
+
+<p>He followed her up the steps, and across the broad piazza; as they
+passed under the shadow of the arched doorway, she paused, looked about
+her, and then, drawing close to the detective and laying one hand
+lightly on his arm, she whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap, I have a word for your ear alone. Can you meet me to-night
+where we shall be secure from intrusion?"</p>
+
+<p>Her burning eyes searched his face, and accustomed as he was to strange
+situations, Mr. Belknap was startled for a moment out of his
+self-possession.</p>
+
+<p>"I have need of your professional services," she hurried on, "and they
+must be rendered very secretly. Will you hear what I have to say?"</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful face was full of wild eagerness, and Mr. Belknap was not
+insensible to the piquancy of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I am yours to command, madam. Name the place and hour," he replied
+gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then meet me at the boat house, you can see it from here, to-night at
+nine. Be sure you are not followed, and&mdash;above all, do not mention to my
+father, or any one, this meeting of ours. You will be punctual?"</p>
+
+<p>"As the hour itself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks. Come in now, sir; I will send a servant to announce your
+arrival."</p>
+
+<p>She threw open the door of the drawing room, motioned him to enter,
+inclined her head in a graceful adieu, and swept down the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes later he stood in the library bowing before Jasper Lamotte
+and his son Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, it's you, Belknap," said the elder Lamotte. "And what news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very little, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But," interrupted Frank, "surely you have fired your train?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I have run against the worst impediment that ever comes in a
+detective's way."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"A woman."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>APPOINTING A WATCH DOG.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Doctor Heath stood at his office window looking out upon the street, and
+whistling softly. Below and directly under his gaze, stood a fine bay
+horse, harnessed to a new light road wagon; and horse and owner were
+somewhat impatiently waiting the arrival of Ray Vandyck, who was under
+engagement to drive with Doctor Heath, and pass his opinion on the
+"points" of the handsome bay, a recent purchase of the doctor's, who was
+a lover of a good horse and a fine dog, and was never without one or
+more specimens of each.</p>
+
+<p>A quick step behind him caused him to bring his tune to an abrupt close,
+and he turned to see Ray, who had entered hurriedly, leaving the door
+ajar, and was busy breaking the seal of a small cream tinted envelope.</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath favored him with a quizzical glance, and came away from
+the window.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a dangerous looking document, Ray," laughed the doctor, throwing
+himself down in his own favorite chair with the air of a man resigned to
+any thing.</p>
+
+<p>"I've a shuddering horror of any thing so small and delicately tinted.
+But read it, my boy; it's your fate to be persecuted, you are so
+amiable."</p>
+
+<p>Ray lost no time in opening and scanning the dainty note, and he now
+turned a perplexed face toward his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be hanged if I can understand it," he said, filiping the note
+between his thumb and fingers.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs24" id="gs24"></a>
+<img src="images/gs24.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I'll be hanged if I can understand it.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Of course you can't, 'it' having emanated from the brain of a woman. I
+only hope your inability to comprehend the incomprehensible is the worst
+feature in the case."</p>
+
+<p>"But it isn't," protested Ray. "I must renounce my drive, and your
+charming society."</p>
+
+<p>"Really! is she so imperative, and are you so much her bond slave?"</p>
+
+<p>Ray laughed. "Imperative," he cried. "You need not have asked, had you
+known the name affixed to this missive, and you would obey it with as
+much alacrity as I shall. Listen, Heath: I can trust you with a secret,
+if this be one." And, unfolding the note, he read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Raymond Vandyck, Etc.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>My Friend</i>: By coming to me, <i>at once</i>, on receipt of this note,
+you will do me a great favor, and perhaps do one who is your
+friend, an essential service. Come at once, to</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Yours in waiting,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Constance Wardour</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>"There," said Ray, refolding the note; "now what say you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That Miss Wardour's commands are to be obeyed; and&mdash;as your horse is
+stabled, and mine is at the door, you had best take mine and lose no
+time. Perhaps you may be dismissed as speedily as you are summoned, and
+we may take our drive after all. Go, go, my son;" and he waved his hand
+theatrically.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Heath. You are a generous fellow; but don't look for your
+red roan steed until you see it back. I shall place that and myself at
+Miss Wardour's disposal. She shall find that she has summoned no laggard
+knight."</p>
+
+<p>"Who talks of playing the knight to Miss Constance Wardour's 'fair
+ladye?' Let him have a care!" cried a gay voice from the doorway. And
+turning their eyes thither, they saw the dark, handsome face of Frank
+Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>A shade of annoyance crossed the face of young Vandyck, but he retorted
+in the same strain:</p>
+
+<p>"I am that happy man. Stand aside, sir. I go to cast myself and all my
+fortune at her feet." Then, turning a wicked look back at his friend in
+the big chair, he cried, "Heath, adieu! look your last on the red roan
+steed. I may be going 'O'er the hills and far away,'&mdash;who knows?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may be gone&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Deep into the dying day."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the thought that distresses me," retorted the doctor. "But go,
+go, egotist!"</p>
+
+<p>With a laugh, and another backward meaning glance at the doctor, young
+Vandyck pocketed his note, took up his hat, and murmuring a mocking
+adieu in the ear of young Lamotte, ran lightly down the steps, and, a
+moment later, the swift fall of hoofs told them he was off.</p>
+
+<p>"What the deuce ails the fellow?" said Lamotte, sourly, tossing his hat
+and himself down upon the office divan. "Prating like a school-boy about
+a summons from Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"He means to get to Wardour Place without loss of time, if one may judge
+from the manner of his going. You know," smiling behind his hand, "Ray
+is a prime favorite at Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know it," returned Lamotte, sulkily. "Vandyck don't seem to
+realize that I have a prior claim, and that his twaddle, therefore, only
+serves to render him ridiculous."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath dropped his hand from before his face, and turned two
+stern, searching eyes upon the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Have</i> you a prior claim?" he asked, slowly.</p>
+
+<p>For a second the eyes of Frank Lamotte were hidden by their long lashes;
+then they were turned full upon the face of his interlocutor, as their
+owner replied firmly:</p>
+
+<p>"I have."</p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck lost no time on his drive to Wardour Place; and before
+he could frame any sort of reasonable guess as to the possible meaning
+of Constance's note, he found himself in her very presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Ray!" she exclaimed, extending a welcome hand, "you are promptness
+itself. I hardly dared hope to see you so soon."</p>
+
+<p>"I met your messenger on the road, as I was riding in to keep an
+appointment with Heath," exclaimed Ray, "but as I was in company with
+Bradley, our new neighbor, you know, I did not open the note until I got
+to Heath's office. Then, as your note was urgent, and Heath's horse at
+the door, I took it, and here I am, very much at your service, Conny."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't know of another who <i>could</i> be of service to me just now,
+Ray," she said, seriously; "neither do I know just how to make use of
+you. Ray," suddenly, "are you burdened with a large amount of
+curiosity?"</p>
+
+<p>"About the average amount, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! I am about to give that curiosity a severe test."</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, Conny, unless your secret concerns some one especially dear
+to me, I can survive being kept in the dark."</p>
+
+<p>"And being made to work in the dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that too, under your orders, for I know I should risk nothing in
+obeying them."</p>
+
+<p>"I should set you no dangerous or dishonorable task, of course, Ray."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of that, Conny; command me; don't hesitate."</p>
+
+<p>But she did hesitate, not knowing just how to tell him that she was
+Doctor Heath's friend, in spite of appearances, without telling, or
+revealing otherwise too much. How could she set the matter before him,
+as she wished him to see it?</p>
+
+<p>Seeing her hesitate, Ray unwittingly came to the rescue, and Constance
+seized upon the idea he gave her, with hasty eagerness, little thinking
+of the results that were to follow her implied deceit.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't feel too grateful for your confidence at any price," he said,
+laughingly; "when I think how Lamotte glowered at me when he saw me
+coming here. But, then, if rumor speaks the truth, he has a right to be
+jealous, eh, Constance?"</p>
+
+<p>Here was a way out of her dilemma; let Ray imagine her engaged to Frank
+Lamotte, and he would not misconstrue her interest in Doctor Heath; as
+for Frank, he had been a suitor, and a most troublesome one, for so
+long, that she thought nothing of appropriating him to herself, as a
+matter of convenience, and only for the moment, and she never thought at
+all of the injury she might do herself by this deception.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes!" she replied; "I have given Frank the right to be as jealous
+as he pleases." And the hot blood flamed into her cheek, as she saw how
+readily he had taken her words as she had meant them to be understood.</p>
+
+<p>"Lamotte's a lucky fellow," said Ray, "although I know a better man I
+would like to see in his shoes. But we won't quarrel over Frank. Is it
+him that I am to serve?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," she replied, coloring again. And once more he misapplied her
+confusion.</p>
+
+<p>Constance was silent and thoughtful for a few moments, and then she came
+directly to the point.</p>
+
+<p>"Some strange things have come to my knowledge concerning Doctor Heath,
+Ray. They have come in such a manner that I would be in a measure
+violating the confidence of another were I to make a statement in full,
+and yet&mdash;in some way Doctor Heath must know that danger menaces him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" uttered Ray Vandyck, and Constance, lifting her eyes to his face,
+caught there a fleeting look that caused her to ask suddenly:</p>
+
+<p>"Ray, have you heard anything about Doctor Heath? anything strange, I
+mean, or unexpected?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," replied Ray, slowly. "I have nothing very strange to relate,
+but&mdash;Heath's encounter with Burrill a short time since has made some
+talk."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then is it not about this affair that you have sent for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ray, explain yourself. What of this 'affair,' as you call it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see," began Ray, plunging into his recital after a fashion
+peculiar to himself, "about a week ago, yes, it was quite a week ago, on
+that stormy blustering Monday night, when sensible people staid in
+doors, Heath, after the manner of doctors, was straggling about that
+lovely precinct known as Mill avenue, trying to find the shortest way
+out after paying a visit to some sick child, or woman, I won't swear
+which; as I was saying, he was on his way out of that blessed avenue,
+when he heard screams coming from the cottage he was passing. It was the
+voice of a woman, and Heath made for the house, and rushed in just in
+time to see that latest addition to society, Mr. John Burrill, in a
+state of partial intoxication, raining blows about the head and
+shoulders of the woman who was once his wife. Heath rained one blow upon
+him and he went down under it. Then he got up, not quite satisfied and
+thirsting for more fight, and Heath felled him once more.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems that the thing had been done so rapidly, that Burrill had not
+had time to get a fair look at the face of his assailant; but the second
+time he scrambled to his feet, Heath stood facing him full, braced and
+ready, when, behold, Burrill, after one look, turns as pale as a
+spectre, utters a yell of fear, and dashes out of the house like a
+madman. By this time, several people had come in, and the thing puzzled
+them not a little. Heath asserted that he had never, to his knowledge,
+seen Burrill before; and yet there stood the fact of Burrill's fright at
+sight of him. Some believed it a case of mistaken identity; others, that
+Heath was trying to mislead them, and that he did know Burrill. The
+affair became noised about as such things will be, and some were curious
+to see another meeting between Heath and Burrill. And here comes the
+queer part of the business. In his sober moments, Burrill avoids Heath,
+and can not be brought to mention his name. But when he gets a little
+too much on board&mdash;beg pardon, Conny&mdash;I mean, somewhat intoxicated, he
+becomes very loquacious; then he throws out strange hints, and gives
+mysterious winks; states that he could tell a tale about Heath that
+would open everybody's eyes. He talks of 'borrowed plumage,' and
+insinuates that Heath would like to buy him off. He says that he took to
+his heels because he knew that Heath did not mean fair play, etc.
+Finally, two or three evenings ago, when Burrill was remarkably tipsy,
+and therefore, unusually ripe for a combat with any one, Heath and I,
+crossing the street opposite Spring's Bank, encountered him coming
+toward us, surrounded by a party of roughs. As we approached them,
+Burrill making some uncouth gestures, came forward, in advance of the
+rest, and as he came opposite Heath, leaned toward him, and whispered a
+few words in his ear. I don't know what he said, but the effect on Heath
+was magical. For a moment, he seemed staggered, as if by a blow, and
+then he took the fellow by the throat, and shook him until his teeth
+rattled; then loosed his hold, so suddenly, that his man dropped to the
+ground. Heath by this time was a little cooler; he stooped over the
+prostrate man, took him by the collar, and fairly lifted him to his
+feet, then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"'Understand this, fellow, I allow no man to interfere with my business.
+This is only a sample of what will happen to you if you ever try this
+dodge again; keep my name off your tongue in public, and private, if you
+want whole bones in your body;' then he marched past the whole
+astonished crowd, minding them no more than if they were gnats. I
+followed, of course, and said as I came up with Heath:</p>
+
+<p>"'Quite an adventure, upon my word; you seem to possess a strange
+attraction for Burrill?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Burrill,' he exclaimed; 'who the mischief <i>is</i> the fellow, Ray?'</p>
+
+<p>"'He is Mr. Lamotte's son-in-law,' I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah,' he mused; 'so Jasper Lamotte has married his daughter to a
+blackmailer;' and after that, he said never a word more on the subject.
+I had it in my mind to tell him of the hints and insinuations, Burrill,
+in his unguarded moments, was putting into circulation, but his
+reticence closed my lips."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and looked to his auditor for some comment, but she sat with
+her eyes fixed upon the carpet, and a troubled look on her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't think, Conny, that I am one of those who construe this against
+Heath," said the loyal fellow. "He is the best fellow in the world. The
+whole thing, for me, lies in a nutshell. Heath is not a man to disturb
+himself about his neighbor's concerns, and he don't expect his neighbors
+to interest themselves in his. This Burrill has picked up, somehow, a
+little information; something concerning Heath, or his past life, that
+is not known to W&mdash;&mdash;, and he is trying to make capital of it. The
+secret in itself may be a mere nothing, but Heath is the first man to
+resent impertinences, and the last man to make explanations. And he's
+right, too, especially under the present circumstances. I like him all
+the better for his pluck, and his reticence; let him keep his secrets,
+so long as he gives me his friendship, I am quite content."</p>
+
+<p>Constance felt a thrill of satisfaction, and a return of courage, as she
+listened. Here was a friend, loyal, enthusiastic, not to be alienated
+by slander or suspicion. She had known Ray from his childhood, and they
+had always been the best of friends, but she had never admired and
+honored him, never valued his friendship so much, as she did at this
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>His enthusiasm was contagious; she forgot all her fears, of a personal
+nature, and became in an instant the true woman and unselfish friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Ray," she exclaimed, lifting two admiring gray eyes to meet his,
+"you are a friend indeed! a friend to be proud of; but tell me, did you
+hear nothing more of Burrill after that second encounter?"</p>
+
+<p>"He made some pretty loud threats," replied Ray, "and a fellow named
+Brooks, a sort of crony of Burrill's, took it upon himself to call upon
+Heath the next day, and advise him to keep a pretty close lookout for
+Burrill, as he was quite likely, in one of his drunken rages, to make an
+assault upon him. Heath thanked the fellow, and assured him that he was
+quite capable of taking care of himself, and Burrill, too, if need be;
+and Brooks backed out, declaring that he 'meant no 'arm by intrudin'.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ray," said Constance, earnestly, "John Burrill is not the only man
+Doctor Heath has to fear. I may have acted hastily in sending for you,
+but I was so troubled by certain facts that have just come to my
+knowledge, that I could not rest without doing something. It's almost an
+abuse of confidence to ask so much of you and tell you so little, but in
+a few days I hope to be mistress of my own tongue, and then you shall
+have all the particulars. For the present, Ray, promise to follow my
+instructions blindly."</p>
+
+<p>"I have promised that, Conny."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Ray, you will keep this all a secret; you will do your part
+without hinting to Doctor Heath your true motive, unless circumstances
+compel an explanation?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise that, too."</p>
+
+<p>"When I sent for you, it was to ask you to warn Doctor Heath, in the
+most delicate way you could devise, that he was menaced by an enemy, and
+under hourly surveillance; but, since you have told me of this, Burrill,
+it occurs to me that in some way he may be mixed up in this matter,
+and&mdash;I have thought of a better plan."</p>
+
+<p>Ray nodded, and looked full of interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Your description of his manner of receiving Burrill's interference, and
+of his reticence throughout, makes me feel that it might be only
+precipitating a catastrophe if we warned him, and so, Ray, I want you,
+for three days, to be his constant shadow. Devise some excuse for
+remaining in town; thrust yourself upon his hospitality; observe any
+strangers who may approach him. If possible, do not let him get out of
+your sight, even for a short time; in three days you shall be relieved."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>She lifted her hand, warningly. "No questions, Ray. Can you manage all
+this?"</p>
+
+<p>He pondered a while, then said: "I think I can; I am a pretty good
+actor, Conny. What do you say to my feigning illness?"</p>
+
+<p>"He would find you out."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I did it well, perhaps. I think I could manage for a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"It won't do, Ray. He would send you to bed and walk away and leave
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Ray groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him your room is undergoing repairs, and throw yourself on his
+mercy; then feign low spirits, and make him think it is his duty to
+entertain and cheer you up."</p>
+
+<p>"Capital, Conny! we can make that work I know; your wit is worth more
+than my wisdom. For three days then, I am your watch dog."</p>
+
+<p>"And your friend's guardian."</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely. I begin to swell with importance. But seriously, Conny, let
+me have your confidence at the earliest moment. For, whoever does battle
+with Heath, will find me arrayed against him, and&mdash;it's difficult
+fighting in the dark."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall know all, as soon as possible, Ray, and now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And now," repeated he, rising with alacrity. "Heath's horse stands
+outside, and Heath himself waits my return; so, lest he should grow
+impatient, and go where mischief awaits him, I will go now and begin my
+task."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Ray, I know I can depend upon you. All this seems like a
+scene out of a melodrama, but it's wretchedly real for all that. Ray, I
+am just waking up to a knowledge of how much plotting and wickedness
+there is in this world; even in our little world of W&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"We all wake to that knowledge," he said, a spasm of pain crossing his
+face. "You know how the lesson came to me, Conny."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, poor Ray! and I know that another suffers, even more than you,
+because of it."</p>
+
+<p>"And the cause of it all is another mystery. But no more of this; unless
+something noteworthy occurs, you will not see me again for three days."</p>
+
+<p>She gave him her hand, and a look of gratitude, and trust; and, in a few
+moments more, the red roan steed was speeding back townward.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Lamotte had found the doctor dull company; and, as he scarcely
+ever remained in the office to read now-a-days, he had taken himself and
+his dissatisfaction elsewhere, long before Ray returned to the office
+ready to begin his new <i>r&ocirc;le</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He found the doctor sitting in a despondent attitude, almost where he
+had left him, holding in his hand a crumpled letter.</p>
+
+<p>Without appearing to notice his abstraction, Ray came at once to the
+point at issue.</p>
+
+<p>"Heath," he said, "your red roan is returned to you, and the loan of him
+encourages me to ask another favor."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said the doctor, without looking up or changing his attitude.</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is," said Ray, with splendid ingenuousness, "I am a sort of
+outcast. My quarters are undergoing that misery they call 'repairs,'
+and&mdash;the truth is, Heath, I want you to tender me your hospitality, for,
+say two or three days. I can't go to a public place; I don't feel like
+facing the music, for I am a little sore yet, and I find that I am still
+an object for commiseration, and I do get low spirited in spite of
+myself. It's cheeky, my asking it, I know, and you'll find my constant
+society a terrible bore; but my heart is set on quartering with you, so
+don't say no, Heath."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath threw off his listlessness and looked up with his usual
+cheery smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Ray, you young dog," he cried, "you beseech me like a veritable
+tramp, just as if you were not as welcome as the sunshine; come along,
+you shall share my bed, and board, and&mdash;I'll be hanged if you shan't
+share the daily dose of abuse I have to take from my old housekeeper.
+I'll make a special arrangement to that effect."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, Heath," replied Ray, and then he turned to the window to hide
+the fire that burned in his cheeks, because of the deceit he was
+practicing upon this open-hearted friend. "But it's all for his
+benefit," he thought; "at least I hope so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said the doctor, moving uneasily in his chair; "I hope your
+mission prospered."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;found Miss Wardour well, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite well; only wanting my valuable assistance in a little scheme she
+has on foot, a sort of benefit affair." And Ray congratulated himself on
+the adaptability of his answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it too late to drive, Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>But the doctor made no answer to this question, nor did he seem to hear
+it. Rising, he walked to the window, looked down thoughtfully into the
+street for a moment, then, without turning, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Rumor says, that Miss Wardour will marry Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Lamotte just now made the same statement."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" contemptuously, "it's like him to boast; but I'm afraid he tells
+the truth; Constance admitted as much to me to-day."</p>
+
+<p>A long time Clifford Heath stood motionless and silent at the window;
+then turning as if spurred by some sudden thought, he threw the crumpled
+note, which all the time had been clasped in his hand, upon the table
+between them, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a mystery, sir; read that and pass your opinion on it; as you
+are to become my guest, you should know what society you will find
+yourself in."</p>
+
+<p>Ray eyed the letter with his head on one side.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he asked in a stage whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"A note, a <i>billet doux</i>, a solemn warning; came under the door a little
+while ago, while I was off in a reverie; came by a spirit hand, maybe,
+for I never heard a sound, but there lay the letter waiting to be
+observed and perused." And the doctor laughed contemptuously, and
+turned away to prepare for his drive. But Ray's face lengthened
+perceptibly, and he took up the note with sudden eagerness, and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Doctor Heath:</span>&mdash;Take the advice of a friend and leave W&mdash;&mdash; for
+a time; a plot is ripening against you, and your only safety lies in
+your absence, for your enemies are powerful and have woven a chain
+about you that will render you helpless, perhaps ruin you utterly.
+<span class="smcap">Truth.</span></p>
+
+<p>Lose no time, for the blow will soon fall.</p></div>
+
+<p>The note was written in a cramped, reversed hand, and, after a hasty
+perusal, Ray bent his head and scanned the pen strokes closely, then he
+looked up with all the color gone from his face, and a strange gleam in
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"How&mdash;how do you say this came, Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say, for I don't know, my lad. It made its first appearance
+lying just there," and the doctor pointed with his wisp broom, which he
+had been vigorously applying to a brown overcoat, at the spot just
+inside the door where he had first perceived the letter, and then
+resumed his occupation without observing the trouble in Ray's face.
+"Sensational, isn't it? but I can't think of quitting W&mdash;&mdash; just as it
+begins to grow interesting."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you take no stock in this warning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! why should I?"</p>
+
+<p>"But if you should have secret foes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let them come on," quoted the doctor, theatrically; "bring along that
+precious document, Ray, and come along yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Ray Vandyck, still looking troubled and anxious, arose, and, with
+lagging steps, followed his friend; as he noted with a new curiosity the
+tall, lithe, well knit figure striding on before him, the handsome,
+haughtily poised head, and the careless indifference of mien, he asked
+himself:</p>
+
+<p>"What can it be, this mystery and danger that surrounds him, that has
+caused Constance Wardour to take such unprecedented measures to insure
+his safety, and has wrung from Sybil Lamotte this strangely worded,
+oddly and ineffectually disguised warning," for Ray, seeing not as the
+world sees, but with the eyes of love, had recognized in the strange
+scrawl the hand of the woman he had loved and lost.</p>
+
+<p>"Heath <i>is</i> in some peril," thought he, and then, with a rueful sigh,
+"Oh! I would risk dangers too to be watched over by two such women."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WATCH DOG DISCHARGED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The three days that followed were days of unrest to Constance Wardour.
+The intangible, yet distinctly realized trouble, and fear, and dread,
+were new experiences in her bright life.</p>
+
+<p>The mystery round about her, her inability to cope with the unknown, the
+inaction, the waiting, was almost more than she could calmly endure; and
+all this distress of mind and unrest of body was for others. Personally,
+she had nothing to fear, nothing to annoy her; but the warm-hearted
+heiress made a friend's cause her own. From the first she had grieved
+over the sad fate of Sybil Lamotte; not lightly, not as society sorrows
+over the fall of its some <i>proteg&eacute;s</i>; but deeply, from her heart of
+hearts. And now there was added to this, her concern for Clifford Heath,
+and the danger that menaced him tormented her.</p>
+
+<p>If her own honor were threatened she could not have been more troubled
+and full of fear; for in rebellion, in self-contempt, in a fierce burst
+of rage against the heart she could not control, Constance Wardour,
+heiress and queen absolute, was forced to confess to that heart that
+Clifford Heath's happiness was her happiness too.</p>
+
+<p>Having been forced to recognize this fact, against her wish and will,
+Constance came to a better understanding with herself, and she confessed
+to herself, with cheeks aflame at the recollection, that her petulant
+outbreak, and shameful accusation against Doctor Heath, was but the
+mutinous struggle of the head against the heart's acknowledged master.
+Too late came this self confession. Sybil Lamotte's letter had never
+been found; the mystery surrounding its disappearance, remained a
+mystery; and, how could she recall her accusation, while the
+circumstances under which it was made remained unchanged? Realizing that
+she owed him reparation, she was yet powerless to make it.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be equivalent to a confession, that I could not be happy
+without his friendship," she said, hotly. "And he would not accept an
+apology while his innocence remained unproven. Let me suffer the
+consequences of my own folly; I deserve it; but," setting her white
+teeth resolutely, "no harm shall come to him that I can avert; and, I am
+not the weakest of women."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the perversity of women. Who can comprehend it? Who analyze the
+mysterious creatures?</p>
+
+<p>When there was against Clifford Heath only a breath of suspicion, a few
+whispered words from his own lips, that might mean nothing of
+importance, when calmly reconsidered; a missing letter, with the
+contents of which he was familiar, and which, therefore, could be of
+little value to him, and it was enough. He stood before her accused, and
+went out from her presence wronged, insulted, splendid as King Arthur in
+his helpless indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Now the detective's strong chain of evidence, John Burrill's strange
+insinuations, and still stranger conduct, his words when he spoke, his
+reticence when he kept silence, all were arrayed against him, with
+telling effect, and in spite of them all, Constance Wardour angrily
+assured herself, and fully believed, that Clifford Heath was a wronged,
+and innocent man. She did not reason herself into this belief; and it
+was absurd, of course. She arrived at her conclusions, as all loving
+women do, through her feelings, and her instinct. A woman seldom
+reasons, but in many cases her ready intuition is worth more than all
+man's wisdom. Her delicate instinct strikes directly at the truth, when
+man's reason gropes in darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Constance went out very little during these troubled days, and for this
+there were several reasons. John Burrill's obtrusiveness was at its
+height, and he fairly haunted the vicinity of Wardour; and since the
+advent of Mr. Belknap, Constance had an uneasy feeling that she was in
+some way, under surveillance. Nelly, who was argus-eyed, and always in
+armor on behalf of her mistress, had, on one or two occasions, spied a
+lurker about the premises; and Constance was resolved to give Mr.
+Belknap as little trouble, on her account, as possible. She had not
+visited Sybil for some days, for, although she had informed the
+detective that she desired to consult Mr. Lamotte, she had no such
+intentions; and, since the day when she had promised Mr. Lamotte to
+retain the detective for another week, she had avoided meeting him, and
+being forced to resume the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>To know herself under the watchful eye of one detective, while anxiously
+expecting the advent of another, and to be aware that the presence of
+the one must not be made known to the other, afforded her a new and
+strange sensation; not altogether an unpleasant one either, for
+Constance was no coward, and had a decided taste for adventure.</p>
+
+<p>She realized, too, the absurdity of being thus shadowed in her own
+house, by her own hired agent.</p>
+
+<p>"I should go down to posterity as the first woman who ever hired a spy
+to watch herself," she mused with a little laugh. "I begin to think that
+I <i>am</i> an absurd creature, throughout."</p>
+
+<p>Two days passed, and Constance endured them, although the hours crept
+slowly. On the third, her anxiety was almost beyond control.</p>
+
+<p>If Bathurst should fail her! If her letter had not found him! If he were
+absent from the city! Oh, what a chance was here for disaster. Mr.
+Belknap would soon be in the field, and Ray's time had almost expired.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she said, anxiously, "if he disappoints me, what <i>shall</i> I do. I
+must trust Ray, and will he be strong enough to battle with this
+danger?"</p>
+
+<p>While she mused thus, growing wild with anxiety, a half grown boy,
+bearing on his head a small tray of delicate ivory carvings, was
+applying for admittance at the servants' entrance. He was shabbily
+dressed, but possessed a fine, intelligent face, and bore himself with
+cool confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought the carving for Miss Wardour," he said, briskly. "Can I
+see her, please?"</p>
+
+<p>Nelly hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"She expects me," said the boy, quickly; "and, as I am a little late, I
+would like to show her the wares and be off, for I've more to sell in
+the village. Just tell her it's the chap she's looking for."</p>
+
+<p>Constance stared in surprise when Nelly delivered this message.</p>
+
+<p>"The chap I am looking for," she repeated slowly; then, with a sudden
+brightening of her whole face, she added: "Oh, to be sure? I had almost
+forgotten. Send him here, at once, Nelly."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will excuse me," began the boy, apologetically; then, as
+Nelly closed the door, he dropped his voice, and said, "I come from Mr.
+Bathurst;" and, taking off his cap, he produced from thence a letter,
+which he put in her hand.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs25" id="gs25"></a>
+<img src="images/gs25.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">I hope you'll excuse me.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I'm to wait for the answer," he said, and took up his position beside
+his wares.</p>
+
+<p>Constance opened the letter, with a hand trembling with eagerness. It
+ran:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Miss Wardour</span>:&mdash;By all means keep the secret of the diamonds, and
+trust all to me. I think it best not to come to you, as Belknap
+keeps a constant watch upon your movements; dismiss him as soon as
+you like. Have no fears regarding Heath, I have his enemies well
+roped; be assured that I shall be on hand when needed, and when you
+see me expect to have the question of the diamond mystery forever
+set at rest. If you have anything to say, send verbal instructions
+by boy; he is to be trusted.</p>
+
+<p>Yours sincerely,<br />
+ <span class="smcap">Neil J. Bathurst</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Constance heaved a sigh of relief, as she finished the perusal of this
+note, and after a moment's reflection, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell Mr. Bathurst that I will obey his instructions, and that Mr.
+Belknap will be dismissed from my service to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam. Now if you will please to select some of these things for
+the sake of appearance."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. You are very thoughtful. Are you a young detective too?"</p>
+
+<p>The boy looked up with a gleam of pride in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been in Mr. Bathurst's service two years, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then I have no fears as to your discretion; so I will ask you a
+question, knowing that you are wise enough to refuse me an answer if I
+am asking too much."</p>
+
+<p>The boy smiled, and stood attentive.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask if Mr. Bathurst is really now in W&mdash;&mdash;, and when he arrived?"</p>
+
+<p>The boy laughed an odd laugh, and full of mischief.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst is here," he said. "I can't tell just <i>when</i> he did
+arrive."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you did not come together?"</p>
+
+<p>"We! Oh, no, indeed!" laughing again. "Mr. Bathurst is too smart for
+that."</p>
+
+<p>Constance smiled with a returning feeling of ease and restfulness.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see I can trust Mr. Bathurst&mdash;and you, and lest I ask the wrong
+question if I continue, I will not ask another one; tell Mr. Bathurst I
+rely on him to straighten all the tangles; and that I like his messenger
+almost as much as his message."</p>
+
+<p>"My, but ain't she a rum young lady," mused the boy, as he trudged away
+from Wardour Place with his lightened tray of ivories, "and handsome!
+jingo! if I was Mr. Bathurst I'd work for her, just to see her smile,
+and no pay; but Lord, <i>he</i> don't care, he don't; he'll work just as hard
+for any old crone; he's another rum one."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, what a relief," breathed Constance, reading for the third time
+Bathurst's reassuring note. "I begin to feel like myself once more. Now
+I am ready for you, Mr. private detective Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>And, truly, Constance <i>was</i> herself once more. Poor Mrs. Aliston,
+sitting aloof, and almost abandoned during the days of her niece's
+perturbation of mind, was the first to receive the benefit of the
+returning sunshine. Constance, for reasons which any woman can guess,
+had kept her anxiety, concerning Doctor Heath, a profound secret from
+this good lady; and she, watching the signs of the times, made no
+comments, but speculated profoundly&mdash;and, wide of the mark.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have gone with me to drive, yesterday, Con.," said Mrs.
+Aliston to Constance, who, sitting in her aunt's room, half an hour
+after the departure of her small messenger, was endeavoring to atone for
+her neglect of the past few days by chatting cheerily upon every
+subject but the one which was of deepest interest to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"You should have been with me and seen Sybil Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil! Did you call there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. I can't get on with Mrs. Lamotte well enough to brave such a
+call alone; she is too stately and non-committal for me."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't understand her, auntie; but Sybil, did you speak with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we met just over the bridge, and Sybil stopped the carriage to ask
+after you; I think she is anxious to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Sybil," said Constance, contritely, "I <i>have</i> neglected her of
+late; but we will drive there to-morrow; to-day I don't just feel like
+going out. Does Sybil look well, auntie?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston leaned forward and lifted a plump forefinger to give
+emphasis to her words.</p>
+
+<p>"Con., Sybil is dying or going mad, I can't tell which."</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie! why?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Aliston went on rapidly. "I never saw such a change; two weeks
+ago, one week ago, even the last time she came here, Sybil seemed nerved
+to bear her trouble, she carried herself well and seemed firm as a
+rock."</p>
+
+<p>"Outwardly."</p>
+
+<p>"Outwardly of course, one couldn't feel much secret pride, compelled to
+live under the same roof with that low man she has married; but Sybil
+is not calm <i>outwardly</i> now, she has lost all that brilliant color."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better, it was the outward token of a mental excitement
+that would soon drive her mad; Sybil should never have attempted to
+brave criticism, and bear her shame so publicly. Every time she has
+allowed that man to appear beside her in the streets of W&mdash;&mdash;, has
+shortened her life as surely as slow poison could do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! mark my word, she won't undergo the ordeal much longer; her eyes
+have lost their steady light and luster, and have a wild, frightened,
+expectant look impossible to describe; when a horse came suddenly up
+behind us, she started and almost screamed with fright, and I could see
+her hands tremble and her lips quiver for minutes after; hands, they are
+mere claws! and she is growing more shadowy every day."</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie, hush! you have made me as nervous as you picture Sybil. I shall
+not rest until I see her."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a gentleman to see you, Miss Constance," said Nelly, from the
+doorway, which position she had gained unnoticed by the two ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Constance gave a nervous start, and then arose hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it, Nelly?" she asked, merely for appearance sake, for she fully
+expected to see Mr. Belkhap.</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't give his name, Miss, but said he come by appointment. It's
+the same gentleman as called a few days ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! then he won't detain me long," said the young lady, a resolute
+look coming into her eyes. "Auntie, I'll be with you again in a very few
+moments."</p>
+
+<p>"He won't be very graciously received," was Mrs. Aliston's mental
+comment. "I know that gleam of the eye, and what it means."</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Aliston was mistaken for once.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Belknap," Constance said, sweeping into his presence with her
+proudest air, and smiling upon him her sweetest smile. "I am glad you
+have come."</p>
+
+<p>"Promptness is our first lesson in my profession," replied he, with an
+affable smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! and have you learned anything new since Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing of importance. The party under suspicion has been entertaining
+a friend, and has been out very little."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"One thing occurred on Monday last, not long after I had left you, which
+I can't help looking on with suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! and may I hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so. Without stopping to explain my modes of taking
+observations, I will give the bare fact. On Monday afternoon, while
+Doctor Heath was alone in his office, a boy, carrying on his head a tray
+of carvings, stopped at the foot of the stairs, set down his tray, ran
+up the flight like a young cat, and just as quietly, and slipped a note
+underneath the office door."</p>
+
+<p>"Really!" in real surprise, and some disturbance of mind. "And you know
+nothing more about the note?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing; but I shall soon I trust."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you intend following up this case, Mr. Belknap?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked up with a start of astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Is not that your intention?"</p>
+
+<p>"Decidedly not."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;have you consulted with Mr. Lamotte?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have consulted with no one, sir. I thought over the matter once more,
+and decided to let my own mind guide my actions."</p>
+
+<p>"But Mr. Lamotte thinks the case should be pushed."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte is my neighbor, not my guardian. He is good enough to
+advise me sometimes; I think he would scarcely presume to dictate."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! then I am to consider myself no longer in your service?"</p>
+
+<p>She bowed her head.</p>
+
+<p>"After I have cancelled my indebtedness to you," she said, serenely.</p>
+
+<p>With a look of vexation that he could not hide, the private detective
+drew from his pocket a memorandum book, and from thence a slip of paper,
+which he handed to Constance.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my statement," he said.</p>
+
+<p>She ran her eye over the itemized account, smiling a little as she did
+so. Then, rising swiftly, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me for one moment."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed silently, and she went out, returning soon with a bank cheque,
+which she placed in his hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"So ends the case of the Wardour diamonds. I shall not take it up
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"What! do you really mean that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really do."</p>
+
+<p>The detective opened his lips, as if about to remonstrate, then closed
+them suddenly, and moved toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you still cling to your intention of notifying the town authorities,
+and setting them upon Doctor Heath?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>He turned toward her, with a peculiar smile upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>"You have offered a reward for your jewels, I believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mistake, I have offered a reward for the apprehension of the thief
+or thieves."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;as you have withdrawn the case, shall you withdraw your reward
+also?"</p>
+
+<p>"By no means."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;if I bring you both the jewels and the thieves my reward should
+be doubled?"</p>
+
+<p>A queer gleam shot from her eyes, as she answered, without hesitation:</p>
+
+<p>"And so I shall. Place my robbers in the county jail, and put my
+diamonds in my hands, and you shall receive a double reward."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, for the present, I shall keep my clews in my own hands; Miss
+Wardour, I wish you good morning." And the private detective stalked
+from the room with the air of a man who was overflowing with desirable
+information.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a queer woman," mused Mr. Belknap, as he turned his face away
+from Wardour. "I can't make her out. If it were not altogether too
+fishy, I should say she had a suspicion concerning those diamonds. I
+intend to look a little closer into the doings of Miss Wardour; and,
+blow hot, or blow cold, I'm bound to have my reward, if not by this, why
+by that."</p>
+
+<p>With this enigmatical reflection, he looked up to behold, sitting by the
+roadside, a tramp of sinister aspect, who turned his head indolently as
+the detective approached, and then applied himself closer to a luncheon
+of broken victuals, eating like a man famished. Mr. Belknap, who, on
+this occasion, had visited Wardour on foot, came quite close upon the
+man, and then halted suddenly, putting his hand in his pocket, as if
+with charitable intent; instantly the tramp dropped his fragment of
+bread, and sprang to his feet, with outstretched hands, as if greedy for
+the expected bounty. He was a dirty, ragged fellow, undersized, but
+strong and sinewy, with an ugly scarred face, and a boorish gait and
+manner. As the private detective withdrew his hand from his pocket and
+tendered the tramp a small coin, a passer-by, had there been such, would
+have called the scene a tableaux of alms-giving; but what the detective
+said was:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Roake, here you are; are you ready for business?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs26" id="gs26"></a>
+<img src="images/gs26.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Well, Roarke, are you ready for business?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>And the tramp replied: "You bet, if it's a solid racket."</p>
+
+<p>"Then follow me, at a distance, until we reach a place where we can talk
+things over." And Mr. Belknap moved on, never once glancing back.</p>
+
+<p>The tramp once more seated himself beside the fence, and resumed his
+occupation. When the last scrap of food was devoured, he arose, and,
+taking up a rough stick that served as a cane, he followed the receding
+form of the private detective.</p>
+
+<p>At sunset, Ray Vandyck presented himself punctually for further
+instructions, at Wardour.</p>
+
+<p>"You are released, Ray," said Constance, coming to meet him, with a
+bright face and a warm hand-clasp. "You are free to follow your own
+devices; Doctor Heath has a better guardian than either you or I."</p>
+
+<p>"Cool, upon my word," said Ray, with a grimace. "So I am discharged
+without references?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even so, and you must be content without an explanation, too, for the
+present. My tongue is still tied."</p>
+
+<p>"Worse and worse, Conny; can't I even know who has supplanted me?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a great secret, and must be carefully guarded, but, I believe I
+will confide that much to you, as it does not conflict with any
+promises."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! I listen."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath is protected by an able detective. His name I must not
+communicate."</p>
+
+<p>Ray Vandyck opened wide his handsome eyes, and gave vent to a long, low
+whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"Conny, you are too deep for me," he said; "I am all at sea; I will drop
+the subject, as it is working severely upon my curiosity."</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments they sat in silence, Constance thinking how much she
+regretted not asking Mr. Bathurst to make himself known to this loyal
+friend, who must now be kept in ignorance, however worthy he might be of
+all confidence, and Ray thinking of something that caused his face to
+sadden, and his eyes to darken with inward pain. Presently he drew a
+little nearer his hostess, and asked, in a low, sorrowful tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Conny, have you seen her lately?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for a week or more, Ray."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"And she," anxiously; "did she see you, Ray?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank God! she was driving with her mother, and, Con.," his voice
+broke and he turned his face away; "I wish you would go to her."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Ray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because&mdash;oh, you should have seen her face. She is suffering horribly;
+she is dying by inches."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FATHER AND SON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At early morn on the next day, Jasper Lamotte and his son, Frank, were
+seated together in the dining-room of Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte was hurriedly eating a bountiful and appetizing lunch,
+and washing it down with plenty of light claret; and Frank was seated
+near the table, smoking a strong segar, and giving an attentive ear to
+the words of his sire.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the first time that we have got the lead on Burrill," said the
+elder Lamotte, "and in some way it must be made to count. Drunk or
+sober, heretofore, he has looked after his interests too closely to
+serve ours."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil's got into Burrill," replied Frank, bending forward to knock
+the ashes from his black segar; "and into the rest of the family too, I
+should say; Evan has been bad enough any time within the memory of man,
+but look at him now. Why, he has not been sober for ten days."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he is sober this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, have you seen him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I went to his room to ask him some questions about Burrill. I
+found him white as a cloth, and quite as limp; he had overdone himself
+at his last carouse; is as sick as a dog, and on the verge of delirium
+tremens if a man ever was. He won't get out of his bed for a few days,
+if I am a judge; the room was full of medical perfumes, and his mother
+was trying to induce him to drink some hot coffee."</p>
+
+<p>"And Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"He knew nothing of him, and recommended me to look after my own
+vermin."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a sharp tongued cur," said Frank, with a short laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Next, I went to Sybil's rooms; she was sitting over a roasting fire,
+wrapped in a shawl, and shivering from head to foot; she almost shrieked
+at the mention of Burrill's name; Sybil looks bad, very bad. When we get
+these other matters safely settled, we must do something for the girl."</p>
+
+<p>"And that means&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That we must master Burrill. We will soon be in a position to do it, I
+hope."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>"We must be, or be ruined. You will settle this business with Constance,
+at once, to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;I suppose so."</p>
+
+<p>"You suppose! man, you talk as if you were leading a forlorn hope. Do
+you <i>expect</i> a refusal?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know <i>what</i> to expect," flinging away his segar, angrily, "I
+can't understand Constance; I wish that cursed Heath were safely out of
+my path."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you trust him to Belknap?"</p>
+
+<p>"There we are again! what is that confounded detective doing? He has
+been here five days, or nearly that; four days ago, Constance asked
+three days to consider upon the case. What did that mean? Belknap should
+have been here with his report long ago. Why don't he come?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I can't tell you; he has his own way of doing things; his absence
+does not alter the fact, that I must use this opportunity for getting to
+the city; and you must press this business with Constance, and bring it
+to a settlement. I don't think there is much doubt as to her answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wish I could feel as sanguine, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there came the sound of wheels on the gravel outside, and
+glancing toward the window, Frank sprang up exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"There's Belknap, and not a minute to lose. I'll go meet him," and he
+hurried out, wearing a look of relief, mingled with expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he returned, closely followed by the smiling detective.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, Belknap," said Frank, closing the door, carefully, "give us the
+important points. The carriage will be here in a short time, to take the
+old man to town, and he must be on time, for trains won't wait."</p>
+
+<p>"True," said Mr. Belknap, seating himself near the table. "I should have
+reported to you last evening, but thought it best to remain about town,
+and let myself be seen by the hotel loungers; people, in a place like
+this, are curious about a man who keeps too much to himself, and one
+must always conciliate suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"True," from Mr. Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Miss Wardour yesterday, gentlemen; she entirely withdraws the
+case."</p>
+
+<p>"What! entirely?" asked Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Entirely; she asked for my account, paid it, and dismissed me, saying,
+that she should not resume the search, but should double the reward."</p>
+
+<p>"Double the reward!" repeated Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, <i>provided</i> both the diamonds and the thieves were found."</p>
+
+<p>A moment's silence and then the elder Lamotte emptied his glass and set
+it down, saying as he did so:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but the point is not yet reached. Did you explain the necessity
+you were under if the case left your hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did. She was surprised, of course, and incredulous, but she made no
+remarks, and seemed not at all discomposed at the danger menacing Doctor
+Heath. After we had settled our business, she asked me if I should now
+drop the case and let the authorities work it out, or if I would
+continue to work independent of her."</p>
+
+<p>"And you said what?" asked Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"I said that circumstances must decide that."</p>
+
+<p>"And she was not disturbed about Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently not; she was as cool as myself."</p>
+
+<p>Frank drew a long breath of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Mr. Lamotte," said the private detective, "what is the next
+move?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfect quiet for the next two or three days; like Miss Wardour, we
+will take time to consider. I am going to the big city to-day, Mr.
+Belknap, if you need any funds before I return, call on Frank. I shall
+be back in two days, and then we will decide upon our next move. Is that
+the carriage, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>It was the carriage, and almost before Mr. Belknap could realize it or
+gather together his scattered forces, Mr. Lamotte had shaken hands with
+him, nodded to Frank, donned his hat, gathered up his traveling coat,
+cane, and gloves, and was on his way to the carriage, followed by a
+servant, who carried his small traveling bag.</p>
+
+<p>As may be seen, Mr. Belknap had made his "reports" according to his own
+lights, as for instance, giving his first interview with Constance in
+brief, on the same day it took place, merely stating that Miss Wardour
+requested time to consider; and reserving all that portion concerning
+Doctor Heath, until to-day, when he gave that too, in brief, and with
+many "mental reservations."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Belknap was a little bit nonplussed at this sudden journey of Jasper
+Lamotte's; he did not like to be so widely separated from his patron,
+even for a few days, and especially now; but it was too late to make an
+amendment to this state of affairs, so he contented himself with a segar
+and Frank's society. Not finding the latter of the best, and being able
+to enjoy the former anywhere, he soon took his leave, and drove back to
+his hotel, the best in W&mdash;&mdash;, where he went straight to his room,
+ordered up a hot brandy, complained of a slight indisposition, and spent
+the remainder of the day and the entire evening in and about the hotel,
+lounging, smoking, reading, chatting and always visible.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Mr. Lamotte, arriving ten minutes early at the W&mdash;&mdash; depot,
+sauntered out among the people swarming about, and waiting the arrival
+of the fast express.</p>
+
+<p>There was always a bustle about the W&mdash;&mdash; depot at this hour of the day,
+and Mr. Lamotte nodded graciously here and there, and stopped to extend
+a patronizing hand to a chosen and honored few. Presently he came face
+to face with a man who, with hands in his pockets, was watching the
+unloading of a belated dray.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Brooks," said he, glancing at the hands and face that
+were a little cleaner than usual, and at the pretence of a toilet that
+made the awkwardness of the fellow unusually apparent. "You seem taking
+a holiday. Are you bound to leave us?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I am, sir," said the man, touching his hat. "Work's too
+scarce for me, sir, and bad company's too plenty. I've said I would go a
+dozen times, sir; and now I'm off."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry we could not keep you on at the mills, Brooks; but&mdash;you know
+who was to blame."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it was me, sir; I don't deny <i>that</i>. It's hard for me to keep away
+from the liquor. But look here, Mr. Lamotte, sir: If you ever see me
+again, <i>you'll see me sober</i>."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs27" id="gs27"></a>
+<img src="images/gs27.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte uttered a skeptical laugh and turned away. The train was
+there, and it bore cityward the gentlemanly Mr. Lamotte, and the
+half-inebriated loafer, Brooks.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A DAY OF GLOOM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All that day, or what remained of it after his father's departure, and
+the almost simultaneous withdrawal of the private detective, Frank
+Lamotte passed in an uneasy reverie. He had much at stake; and, now that
+the crisis of his fortunes was so near at hand, he began to review his
+ground, and every word, look, and tone of Constance Wardour, as he
+recalled them, one by one, was to him a fresh puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>Six months ago, Frank Lamotte would have scoffed at the suggestion of a
+refusal even from the proud Constance. Now, somehow, he had lost his
+self-confidence. Again and again he imagined the words that he would
+say, and the words he hoped, that she would answer. Then, as he forced
+himself to face the possibility of defeat, the veins upon his temples
+swelled out, his teeth clenched, and one of those "attacks," to which he
+was subject, and against which Doctor Heath had warned him, seemed
+imminent. Again and again he gazed, with proud satisfaction, upon his
+reflected image, in the full length drawing-room mirror, and turned
+away, vowing himself a fitting mate for any woman. Again and again, when
+the image of his own physical perfections had ceased to dazzle his
+vision, his heart sank within him, and a dismal foreboding put his
+courage to flight.</p>
+
+<p>"Confound it all," muttered he, as he wandered aimlessly from one
+deserted room to another: "the very house seems under a spell. Sybil,
+sitting like a recluse in her own rooms, growing pale, and wild-eyed,
+and spectre-like, every day. Evan, in <i>his</i> room, sick with drink, and
+verging on the D. T. Mother, gliding like a stately ghost from the one
+to the other, or closeted in her own room; she has not been down stairs
+to-day. Burrill, the devil knows where <i>he</i> is, and what took him out so
+unusually early this morning. He's been cutting it worse than ever for
+the past week; the fellow, seemingly, can't find company low enough for
+him, in one stage of his drunkenness, nor high enough for him in
+another. It's fortunate for us that liquor has at last relaxed his
+vigilance; the old man has taken a leading trick by the means. Curse the
+brute! Why won't he die in a drunken frenzy, or from overfeeding, but he
+won't!" Thus soliloquizing, he lighted a segar and went out into the
+grounds. "I'll try the effect of a little sunshine," he muttered; "for
+the house feels like a sarcophagus; one would think the family pride was
+about to receive its last blow, and the family doom about to fall."</p>
+
+<p>So, restless and self-tormented, Frank Lamotte passed the long
+afternoon, in the double solitude of a man deserted, alike by his
+friends and his peace of mind.</p>
+
+<p>"We make our own ghosts," said somebody once.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte's phantoms had begun to manifest themselves, having grown
+into things of strength, and become endowed with the power to torture;
+thanks to the atmosphere into which he had plunged himself and them.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon, John Burrill came home, but Frank avoided him,
+not caring to answer any questions at that time.</p>
+
+<p>Burrill seemed to care little for this, or for anything; he was in a
+wonderfully jubilant mood. He rambled through the tenantless rooms,
+whistling shrilly, and with his hands in his pockets. He commanded the
+servants like a Baron of old. He drank wine in the library, and smoked a
+segar in the drawing room, and when these pleasures palled upon him, he
+ascended the stairs, and went straight to the room occupied by Evan.</p>
+
+<p>For some time past, Jasper Lamotte had made an effort to break the bond
+of good fellowship, that, much to the surprise of all the family, had
+sprung up between the wild young fellow, and the coarser and equally or
+worse besotted elder one. How even reckless Evan Lamotte could find
+pleasure in such society, was a mystery to all who knew the two. But so
+it was, and Jasper Lamotte's interdict was not strong enough to sever
+the intimacy. John Burrill responded to his exhortations with a burst of
+defiance, or a volley of oaths; and, Evan received all comments upon his
+choice of a companion, with a sardonic smile, or a wild mocking laugh.</p>
+
+<p>They had not been much together for the past few days, owing to the
+indisposition which had kept Evan away from their favorite haunts, but
+had not kept him away from his favorite beverage.</p>
+
+<p>As Burrill entered his room, Evan received him with a shout of welcome,
+and for more than an hour they were closeted there, some times
+conversing in low, guarded tones, and sometimes bursting into roars of
+laughter, that penetrated even through the shut doors of Sybil's rooms,
+causing her to start nervously, and shiver as with a chill.</p>
+
+<p>A little before sunset the carriage from Wardour deposited Constance and
+Mrs. Aliston at the door of this home of little harmony, and even
+Constance noted the unusual stillness, and whispered to her aunt, as
+they waited in the drawing room the appearance of Mrs. Lamotte:</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! I sniff the ogre here, auntie. 'The trail of the serpent' is over
+the entire house."</p>
+
+<p>"I sniff the dead odor of a vile segar," retorted Mrs. Aliston. "As for
+the ogre&mdash;if he won't appear in person, I'll try and survive the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad you have come, Constance," said Mrs. Lamotte, entering
+at this moment. "We are so dull here, and Sybil has wished much to see
+you." And then she extended a courteous but more stately greeting to
+Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"It grieves me to hear that Sybil is not so well, dear Mrs. Lamotte.
+Does she employ a physician?" asked Constance, presently.</p>
+
+<p>"She will not have a physician called, much to my regret. The very
+suggestion makes her wildly nervous."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;she keeps her room too much. I think Frank told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, recently. But, Constance, go up to her; Mrs. Aliston and I will
+entertain each other for awhile, and then we will join you. Sybil heard
+you announced, and will expect you."</p>
+
+<p>Thus commanded, Constance lost no time in making her way, unattended, to
+Sybil's room.</p>
+
+<p>In the upper hall she met Frank, who started, and flushed at sight of
+her, and then hurried forward, with extended hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance," he exclaimed, eagerly, "how glad I am to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm such an uncommon sight!" she laughed, too much absorbed with
+thoughts of Sybil, to notice the extra warmth of his greeting, or a
+certain change of manner, that was a mingling of boldness, bashfulness,
+humility and coxcombery.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well in body, Constance&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! then we can easily regulate your mind. I'm going to see Sybil, and
+I don't want your company; so adieu, Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, please. I want to&mdash;I <i>must</i> see you, this evening. Shall
+you remain with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Aunt Honor below; we go home, soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;may I call, this evening, Constance?"</p>
+
+<p>"What a question! as if you did not call whenever the spirit moved you
+so to do; come, if you like, child; I shall have no better company, I am
+afraid," and on she swept, and had vanished within his sister's room,
+before Frank could decide whether to be chagrined, or delighted, at so
+readily given, carelessly worded, a consent.</p>
+
+<p>The start, the nervous tremor, the terrified ejaculations, with which
+Sybil greeted, even this expected and welcome guest, all told how some
+deadly foe was surely undermining her life and reason. And Constance
+noted, with a sinking heart, the dark circles around the eyes that were
+growing hollow, and heavy, and full of a strange, wild expectancy: the
+pale cheeks, thinner than ever, and the woful weariness of the entire
+face.</p>
+
+<p>Greeting her tenderly, and making no comments on her changed appearance,
+Constance chatted for a time on indifferent subjects, and noted closely,
+as a loving friend will, the face and manner of her listener. Sybil sat
+like one in a trance, rather a nightmare, her eyes roving from her
+visitor's face to the door, and back again, and this constantly
+repeated; her whole attitude and manner, that of one listening, rather
+for some sound, or alarm, from afar, than to the words of the friend
+beside her.</p>
+
+<p>At last, Constance finding commonplace about exhausted, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Congratulate me, child! I have thrown off a burden from my shoulders; I
+have brought my diamond investigations to a close."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! diamonds!" Sybil almost started from her chair, and the exclamation
+came sharply from lips white and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my lost diamonds, you know; I have dismissed Mr. Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>"Belknap!" an unmistakable look of horror crossed her face. "Dismissed
+him; oh, I wish <i>I</i> could!"</p>
+
+<p>Sorely at a loss, yet thinking it best not to seem surprised at what she
+believed to be the efforts of a wandering mind to grasp and master the
+subject under discussion, Constance talked on, answering questions and
+making observations, without allowing Sybil to see the surprise and
+sorrow that filled her heart; and, not until many days later did she
+recall her friend's wild words, to see how much of method there might be
+in this seeming madness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap was conducting the search for the diamonds, you know,
+Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>Sybil seemed making an effort to collect her scattered senses.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, Conny, go on," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"I have paid him off and am done with him; that's about all, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Conny," in a half whisper, "is he <i>gone</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that; he said something about remaining here for a
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" ejaculated Sybil, and then, under her breath, "My God!"</p>
+
+<p>Constance shuddered as she looked upon the shivering figure before her,
+the wavering eyes, the hands clenching and unclenching themselves; she
+found conversation difficult, and began to wonder how she could avoid
+subjects that brought painful thoughts or suggestions. But suddenly a
+change came over Sybil; sitting erect, she looked fixedly at her friend,
+and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Conny, has <i>he</i> tormented you of late?"</p>
+
+<p>"He! Sybil; you mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean my curse! has he dared to annoy you? He has sworn that he will
+be accepted and recognized as your friend."</p>
+
+<p>Constance laughed a short, sarcastic laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Be at rest, Sybil; he never will."</p>
+
+<p>"No;" with a strange dropping of the voice. "<i>He never will!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Again she seemed struggling to recover herself, and to recall some
+thought; then she looked up and asked abruptly:</p>
+
+<p>"Conny, have you promised to marry my&mdash;Frank Lamotte?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;promise, <i>promise</i> me, Constance, as if I were on my dying bed,
+that you never will."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Sybil, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask for reasons, don't; promise, <i>promise</i>, <span class="smcap">PROMISE</span>!"</p>
+
+<p>She was growing excited, and Constance hastened to say:</p>
+
+<p>"You are laboring under some delusion, dear child; Frank has not offered
+himself to me."</p>
+
+<p>"But he will! he will! and I tell you, Constance, it would be giving
+yourself to a fate like mine, and worse. The Lamottes have not done with
+disgrace yet, and it shall not fall on you; promise me, Con."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise, Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>"You promise;" she arose from her chair and came close to Constance;
+"you promise," she said, slowly, "never, <i>never</i> to marry Francis
+Lamotte?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs28" id="gs28"></a>
+<img src="images/gs28.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">You promise never to marry Francis Lamotte?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I swear it."</p>
+
+<p>A coarse laugh, a smothered oath; they both turn swiftly, and there, in
+the doorway, smelling of tobacco and brandy, and shaking with coarse
+laughter, is John Burrill, and beside him, with clenched hands, swollen
+temples, drawn, white lips, stands Francis Lamotte. Stands! No. He
+reels, he clings to the door-frame for support; his <i>enemy</i> is upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil draws herself erect; the red blood flames to her face; the fire
+darts from her eyes; she lifts one slender arm and points at the reeling
+figure; then there rings out a burst of mad, mocking laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha! ha! Frank Lamotte, I have settled my account with you."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning swiftly upon Burrill, and with even fiercer fury she
+shrieks:</p>
+
+<p>"Out, out, out of my sight! I am almost done with you, too. Go back to
+your wine and your wallowing in the gutter; your days are numbered."</p>
+
+<p>The awful look upon her face, the defiant hatred in her voice, the
+sudden strength and firmness of her whole bearing, Constance shuddered
+at and never forgot. Frank Lamotte, making a monstrous effort for
+self-control, gasped, let go his hold on the door frame, lifted his hand
+to his temples, and came a few steps into the room. Outside, on the
+stairway, was the rustle of woman's garments, the light fall of swift
+feet. In another moment Mrs. Lamotte, followed by Mrs. Aliston, enters
+the room, pushing past the gaping and astonished Burrill with scant
+ceremony. Then, Sybil's strength deserts her as John Burrill, recalled
+to a sense of his own importance, advances, and seems about to address
+her. She utters a cry of abhorrence and terror, and, throwing out her
+hands to ward off his approach, reels, falls, and is caught in the
+supporting arms of Constance and Mrs. Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>While they are applying restoratives, Frank sees the propriety of
+withdrawing from the scene, but no such motives of delicacy or decency
+ever find lodgment in the brain of John Burrill, and leering with tipsy
+gravity, he presses close to the bedside and poisons the air with his
+reeking breath. Constance flushes with anger, and glances at Mrs.
+Lamotte. That lady looks up uneasily, and seems to hesitate, and then
+Mrs. Aliston rises to the occasion, and covers herself with glory.</p>
+
+<p>Looking blandly up into the man's face, she lays one fat, gloved hand
+upon his arm, and says, in a low, confidential tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way one moment, sir, if you please," and she fairly leads the
+wondering and unsuspecting victim from the room. A second later he is
+standing in the passage, the chamber door is shut swiftly and locked
+securely. John Burrill has been led out like a lamb, and the fat and
+smiling strategist comes back to the bedside.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he thought I would tell him a secret when I got him outside,"
+she laughs, softly.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever he thought he kept to himself. After uttering a few curses he
+went below, "returned to his pipe and his bowl," and waited the dinner
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall send for Doctor Heath," said Mrs. Lamotte, as she bent above
+her daughter, who had slowly returned to consciousness, but lay passive,
+seeming not to see or know the friends who stood about her. "Sybil does
+not know us; I feel alarmed."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston nodded sagaciously. "He can not come too soon," she said;
+then to Constance, with a mingling of womanly tact and genuine
+kindliness, "my child, you had better drive home soon. If Mrs. Lamotte
+wishes, or will permit, I will stay to-night. It will be better, believe
+me, Mrs. Lamotte, than to share a watch with any servant; and I am a
+good nurse."</p>
+
+<p>So it is arranged that she shall stay, and Constance proposes to return
+alone to Wardour.</p>
+
+<p>As she goes down stairs to her carriage, from out the shadow of the
+drawing room comes Frank Lamotte, still very haggard, and trembling with
+excitement suppressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance!" he whispers, hoarsely, "one moment, please."</p>
+
+<p>She pauses before him, very pale and still.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance," speaking with an effort, "I&mdash;went up there, hoping to keep
+Burrill from intruding; he was too quick for me, and&mdash;and I heard
+Sybil's last words&mdash;and yours."</p>
+
+<p>No answer from the pale listener.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister asked you to refuse me. Am I right?"</p>
+
+<p>"You heard."</p>
+
+<p>"And you promised?"</p>
+
+<p>"I promised."</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, Sybil is half mad. You surely were only humoring her whim in
+so replying."</p>
+
+<p>"Sybil <i>is</i> half mad. I begin to think that you know why."</p>
+
+<p>"We all know why. She has sacrificed herself for an ingrate; she has
+saddled us all with a monster, to save a brother who is not worth
+saving."</p>
+
+<p>"Frank Lamotte, stop; I can not listen to this; for, let me tell you
+that I know this charge against Evan Lamotte to be false, and I know
+that you know it; and yet you have sanctioned the fraud. Who has
+blighted Sybil's life, you may know, but it is not Evan."</p>
+
+<p>"Constance do you mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean all that I say. Let me pass, Frank."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. Constance, Constance! had you never any love for me? Is there
+no shadow of hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"At first," said Constance, coldly, "I liked you as Sybil's brother;
+later, I tolerated you; now you are teaching me to despise you. Long ago
+I told you that only yourself could injure yourself in my eyes. There
+might have been a reason, an excuse even, for allowing poor Evan, who
+has willingly assumed the position, to become the family scape-goat.
+There is none for your unbrotherly and false accusation. Whatever his
+faults may be, poor Evan is unselfish, and he truly loves his sister."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this your answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you expect? do you want my assurance that my promise to Sybil
+was made in good faith, and that I intend to keep it? If so, you have
+it." She went swiftly past him, with the last words on her lips. And
+again Frank Lamotte was the prey of his enemy; like a drunken man, he
+reeled back into the parlor, gnashing his teeth, cursing his fate, half
+mad and wholly desperate.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, above stairs, John Burrill was rehearsing to Evan, after his
+drunken fashion, the recent scene in Sybil's room, not even omitting his
+own expulsion by wily Mrs. Aliston. As he repeated, with wonderful
+accuracy, considering his condition, the wild words uttered by Sybil,
+his listener sat very erect, with wild staring eyes, and lips held
+tightly together, his teeth almost biting through them; with burning
+eyes, and quivering frame, and a strange fear at his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Having finished his narrative, Burrill arose:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm to meet some fellows at Forty's," he said, thickly. "I'll stop with
+them a couple of hours, or three, maybe; after that&mdash;" and he winked
+significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"After that," repeated Evan, and winked in return.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later Evan, pale and shivering, knocked softly at Sybil's door;
+Mrs. Lamotte appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"How is Sybil, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quiet, but not rational. Doctor Heath has just gone. Evan, why! how
+badly you look!"</p>
+
+<p>"I feel badly. I'm going to bed; good night, mother."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THAT NIGHT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At ten o'clock that night, business was running lively at the low
+ceiled, dingy, riverside saloon, that was most popular with the factory
+men, the colliers, the drovers, and the promiscuous roughs of W&mdash;&mdash;, and
+that bears the dignified title of "Old Forty Rods."</p>
+
+<p>The saloon is well patronized to-night. At the upper end, nearest the
+door, "Old Forty," in person, is passing liquors across the bar, and
+bawling orders to a nimble assistant, while every now and then he
+addresses a coarse jest to some one of the numerous loafers about the
+bar, mingling them strangely with his orders, and his calling of the
+drinks, as he passes them across the rail.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's your beer, Lupin; Jack, half a dozen brandies for Mr. Burrill's
+party; Little, you are out on the brown horse&mdash;rum and water? Yes, sir,
+yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Burrill's beastly high to-night," said a factory hand, setting down his
+beer glass and wiping his mouth; "and the boys freeze to him since he
+handles old Lamotte's rocks."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, of course. Burrill don't forget old friends; Jack, bring the
+rum flask; they've been here a plum hour, them chaps, sir; 'ere's your
+punch, mister, and they keep the stuff runnin' down their throats, now
+I can tell you. Burrill foots the bill, of course; and they can do
+anything with that big chap when the wines get the upper hands of him.
+I'll be sworn, they're up to mischief to-night, for I see Rooney and Bob
+Giles, they delight in getting Burrill into scrapes, are drinking light,
+and plying him heavy," and "Forty" turned about to draw a glass of beer
+for a low-browed, roughly-dressed man who had just entered, and who was
+in fact, none other than the tramp who had feasted by the roadside, on
+the day before, and whom Mr. Belknap had called Roake.</p>
+
+<p>Roake drank his beer, and lounged over the bar for a short time, then
+called for a second glass, and after drinking it, went quietly out.</p>
+
+<p>At the lower end of the long saloon, several tables are scattered, and
+gathered about one of these we see the party spoken of as "Mr.
+Burrill's."</p>
+
+<p>Five men are grouped about the small table, and among these, John
+Burrill is conspicuous for being much better dressed, much louder in his
+laughter, and viler in his jests, and much drunker than are the other
+four.</p>
+
+<p>Since his change of fortunes, these men have made capital of his
+weakness, and his purse has supplied their thirst, in return for which
+he has been fawned upon, and flattered, during the earlier stages of his
+intoxication, and made a tool and a jest later.</p>
+
+<p>"I mus' go home," articulated Burrill, drawing forth and consulting a
+showy gold repeater. "Folks's sick er home; mus' be good; take er
+nother drink, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Folks sick, eh?" queried Rooney, winking behind his hand at the others,
+"wife, I 'spose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, wife I 'spose; wife 'n' brother-in-law, both sick; take er
+nother&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right, old pard; but don't let a little sickness call you off so
+early; just let Heath take care of them; you're fond of Heath, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Curse Heath!" roared out John Burrill; "what do you mean, I say,
+Roo-Roo-ney?"</p>
+
+<p>"Burrill," said Bob Giles, setting down his glass and speaking in a low,
+confidential tone; "what's this power you have over Heath? Don't you
+know he's afraid of you?"</p>
+
+<p>"He&mdash;he zer 'fraid er me! an' so he better be&mdash;him un&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And yet there are two or three of the fellows that say you are the one
+that's afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Me afraid! I&mdash;John Bur&mdash;ll, f-fraid. Boys, look, en I'll jus' tell you
+a s-secret. If I jus' opened my mouth, I could run that f-fellow out of
+the country; fact!" and he nodded sagaciously again and again.</p>
+
+<p>"Then there ain't no truth in that story that you are the one that's
+afraid, and that you wouldn't dare go to Heath's office, not even if you
+wanted a doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"T-truth? By gad, sir, show me the man that says so; show 'im to me! By
+heavens, sir, I wouldn't be f-fraid to rout him up the d-darkest night
+that ever blew, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not, we don't doubt that, but&mdash;there's them do. I'll tell you
+what it is, Burrill, the thing would be settled if you would just walk
+up to the doctor's cottage, tell him you are sick somewhere, and bring
+away a prescription; that <i>would</i> settle it."</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of approval went round the table. Not a man was there among
+them who would not rejoice inwardly at the discomfiture of the arrogant,
+would-be aristocrat, who, while he was less than their equal in many
+things, had risen above them in fortune. He had reached that period of
+drunkenness, and it took a vast quantity of stout liquor to bring him up
+to it, where his voice began to grow hoarse, his ready tongue to trip,
+his brain to be most completely muddled, and his legs to be most
+unreliable instruments of locomotion. The men about the table nodded and
+winked to each other, under his very nose.</p>
+
+<p>"Egg him on, Rooney," whispered Giles, "let's have the fun out." And
+they did.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long, John Burrill, staggering under the additional cargo of drinks
+imbibed as toasts to the undertaking, and again, as draughts of defiance
+to the enemy who would dare question his courage, buttoned his coat
+about him, and, boasting, cursing, and swaggering, reeled out into the
+night. Out into the night that swallowed him up forever.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's follow him," said one of the plotters, starting up as the door
+closed behind him.</p>
+
+<p>But this proposition met with no favor. The night was very dark, and the
+wind blowing in fierce gusts; the saloon was warm and inviting, and
+their victim had ordered their grog, until he should return.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's drink the good liquor he has paid for," said Rooney, with a wink,
+"then we will let some more of the boys into the secret, and start out
+in a gang and gather him up. Heath will kick him out sure enough, and if
+we follow too close we might be discovered. Not by Burrill but by the
+doctor. We will bring Burrill back here and two more drinks will make
+him tell the whole story."</p>
+
+<p>They did not agree with Rooney on all points of his argument; but they
+had played a coarse, practical joke upon a man who sometimes "took on
+airs" and vaunted himself as their patron; he who had been only their
+equal once. It was only a joke, a witless, mirthless, coarse saloon
+joke, and they drank on and grew hilarious, never dreaming that they had
+sent one man to his grave, and another to the foot of the scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>As John Burrill came forth from the saloon and turned his face toward
+Doctor Heath's cottage, a lithe form emerged from amidst the darkness
+and paused for a moment just outside the saloon door, seeming to
+hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>"He's goin' home, in course," muttered the man. "I'll jest light out and
+come in ahead." And he plunged down a by street and went swiftly over
+the bridge; but not alone.</p>
+
+<p>A second dark form had been lurking in the vicinity of "Old Forty's,"
+the form of a boy, who glided through the dark, at the heels of the
+other, like a spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"He is going wrong," thought this shadow, discontentedly. "Somehow I'm
+sure of it; I'm shadowing the wrong party; but&mdash;I'm obeying
+instructions." And pursued and pursuer crossed the bridge and turned
+their steps toward Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, John Burrill, reeling, singing snatches of low songs, and
+stopping sometimes to rest and assure himself that all the landmarks are
+there, pursues his way toward Doctor Heath's cottage.</p>
+
+<p>It is situated on the outskirts of the town; the way is long, the night
+dark, the wind boisterous, and the way lonely. It is after ten o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Later&mdash;nearly two hours later, Frank Lamotte, driven by his demon of
+unrest, is pacing his room, feverish and fierce, when his door opens
+softly, a white, haggard face looks in, a hoarse voice articulates,
+"Frank, for God's sake, for your own sake, come with me quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte turns swiftly, angrily. He is about to speak, when
+something catches his eye, fixes it in horror, and causes him to gasp
+out, pointing with one shaking finger.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah-h-h! <i>what</i> is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the <i>Family Honor</i>!" came the hissing answer. "<i>Come</i>, I tell
+you."</p>
+
+<p>And like a man in a nightmare, Frank Lamotte obeys.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>PRINCE'S PREY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The morning of the following day breaks gray and dismal. The wind has
+been blowing all the night through, and wherever a tree stands, there
+the fallen leaves lie, thick and rain-soaked; for it is raining,
+drizzling weather, and above, below, and around, all is gray, and dull,
+and dreary.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Heath's cottage stands aloof from all other dwellings, quite by
+itself, for the houses stand wide apart in this suburban portion of the
+town, and he has selected the pretty place because of its quiet beauty,
+and comparative isolation. He has neighbors within sight, within
+hearing, too, should he choose to be vociferous; but the houses about
+him all stand within their own pleasant grounds. His nearest neighbor,
+on the one hand, has placed a fine orchard between them, and on the
+other hand, he has no neighbor at all; there is a vacant lot, well
+planted and pleasantly ruinous to see. A fine dwelling had once occupied
+the site, but fire had destroyed it, and the gaping cellar, a pile of
+burnt bricks, and some charred d&eacute;bris, are all that remain. In summer
+the place is one tangled growth of roses and flowering shrubs, and
+Doctor Heath makes free with the flowers in their season, and even
+swings his hammock there among the old trees, that outnumber his own,
+and have outstripped them, too, in years and growth.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs29" id="gs29"></a>
+<img src="images/gs29.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The cottage stands quite by itself.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Opposite the doctor's cottage stands a handsome dwelling, far back among
+the trees. It is the home of Lawyer O'Meara and his wife; and the two
+are the doctor's firm friends.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the O'Meara dwelling and on the same side of the street,
+stretches a row of cottages, built and owned by Mr. O'Meara. These are
+occupied by some thrifty mechanics, and one or two of the best of the
+mill workers. They are neat, new, tasteful, and well cared for by their
+tenants.</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath awakes a little later than usual, this dismal, gray
+morning; he had returned from his second visit to Sybil Burrill at a
+late hour, and after sitting beside his fire, pondering long over many
+things, had retired, to sleep soundly, and to wake late. What first
+rouses him is a knocking upon his door, a regular tattoo, beaten by his
+housekeeper, grown impatient over coffee too long brewed, and muffins
+too brown.</p>
+
+<p>He makes his toilet after a leisurely fashion, smiling a little at the
+vociferous barking of his dog, Prince.</p>
+
+<p>The dog is always confined in the stable at night, where he is a safe
+companion and sure protection to the doctor's fine horse; and now, it
+being past the time when he is usually liberated, he is making his
+wrongs heard, and there will be no more repose or quiet until Prince is
+set free.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow," calls his master, as he swings open the stable door.
+"Poor Prince! Good, old boy! Come now, and you shall have a splendid
+breakfast, to compensate for my neglect."</p>
+
+<p>The dog bounds out, a splendid bull dog, strong, fierce, and white as
+milk. He fawns upon his master, leaps about him, barks joyfully, and
+then follows obediently to the kitchen. The dog provided for, Doctor
+Heath goes in out of the rain, shaking the water from his coat, and
+tossing it aside in favor of a dry one; and then he applies himself to
+his own breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>The warmth and comfort within are intensified by the dreariness without.
+Mrs. Gray has lighted a fire in the grate, and he turns toward it,
+sipping his coffee leisurely, enjoying the warmth all the more because
+of an occasional glance out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>Two men pass&mdash;two of the cottagers&mdash;his neighbors, who, dismayed by the
+storm, have turned back toward their homes.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor devils!" mutters the doctor, sympathetically; "they don't fancy
+laying brick and mixing mortar in weather like this; and one of them has
+no overcoat; I must keep that in mind, and supply him, if he will accept
+one, from out my store."</p>
+
+<p>He stirs the fire briskly, takes another sip from his half emptied cup,
+and goes off in a reverie. Presently there comes the sound of a dog's
+angry barking, and soon mingled with the canine cries, the voices of men
+calling to one another, crying for aid. But so pleasant is his
+meditation, and so deep, that their sounds do not rouse him; they reach
+his ears, 'tis true; he has a vague sense of disagreeable sounds, but
+they do not break his reverie.</p>
+
+<p>Something else does, however, a brisk hammering on the street door, and
+a loud, high pitched voice, calling:</p>
+
+<p>"Heath! Heath, I say!"</p>
+
+<p>He starts up, shakes himself and his ideas, together, and goes to face
+the intruder upon his meditations. It is his neighbor across the way.</p>
+
+<p>"Heath, have you lost your ears? or your senses?" he cries, impatiently;
+"what the devil has your dog found, that has set these fellows in such a
+panic? Something's wrong; they want you to come and control the dog."</p>
+
+<p>"Heath! Heath!" comes from the adjoining vacant lot; "come, for God's
+sake, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>In another moment, Clifford Heath has seized his hat, and, followed by
+his neighbor, is out in the yard.</p>
+
+<p>"Come this way, O'Meara," he says, quickly; "that is if you can leap the
+fence, it's not high," and he strides through his own grounds, scales
+the intervening palings, and in a few seconds is on the scene.</p>
+
+<p>On the scene! At the edge of the old cellar, one of the men recently
+denominated, "poor devils," by the musing doctor, is gesticulating
+violently, and urging him forward with lips that are pale with terror.</p>
+
+<p>Down in the old cellar, the second man, paler still than the first, is
+making futile efforts to draw the dog away from something, at which he
+is clawing and tearing, barking furiously all the time.</p>
+
+<p>Something lies under a heaped up mass of leaves, grass, and freshly
+turned earth; something from which the fierce beast is tearing away the
+covering with rapid movements. As he leaps down into the cellar,
+Clifford Heath sees what it is that has so terrified the two men. From
+under the leaves and earth, Prince has brought to light a human foot and
+leg!</p>
+
+<p>Instantly he springs forward, his hand upon the dog's collar, his face
+pale as ashes.</p>
+
+<p>"Prince!" he cries; "Prince! come away, sir."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs30" id="gs30"></a>
+<img src="images/gs30.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Prince, come away, sir!</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The dog crouches, quails for a moment, then utters a low growl, and
+tries to shake himself free; for the first time, he refuses to obey his
+master.</p>
+
+<p>But it <i>is</i> his master; there is a short, sharp struggle, and then the
+brute cowers, whining at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" he says, imperiously to the men, and then, speaking a stern word
+of command, he strides away, followed by the conquered and trembling
+brute.</p>
+
+<p>It is the work of a moment to chain him fast; and then Clifford Heath
+goes swiftly back to the men, who stand very much as he left them.</p>
+
+<p>"Can this be some trick?" Mr. O'Meara is saying, peering down from the
+edge of the cellar wall at the mound of earth and the protruding leg.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no trick here," replies Clifford Heath, once more springing
+down into the cellar. "My dog would not be deceived. Come down here,
+O'Meara; this thing must be unearthed."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. O'Meara lowers himself carefully down, and the man who has thus far
+stood sentinel follows suit. Then the four approach the mound once more.
+For a moment they regard each other silently; then one of the masons
+says:</p>
+
+<p>"If we had a spade."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," breaks in Lawyer O'Meara. "Let's make sure that we have found
+something before we cause any alarm to be given. Get some small boards;
+we do not want a spade."</p>
+
+<p>The boards are found easily, and they look to O'Meara again, all but
+Clifford Heath, who stands near the mound gazing downward as if
+fascinated. While O'Meara speaks, he stoops swiftly, and then carries
+his hand to his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's remove the&mdash;upper portion of whatever this is," says the lawyer
+nervously, "and work carefully. This looks like&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like <i>murder</i>," says Clifford Heath, quietly. "Pull away the
+dirt carefully, men."</p>
+
+<p>They are all strong-nerved, courageous men; yet they are all very pale,
+as they bend to their task.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments, and Mr. O'Meara utters a sharp exclamation, drops his
+board, and draws back. They have unearthed a shoulder, an arm, a
+clenched hand.</p>
+
+<p>A moment more, and Clifford Heath, too, withdraws from his task, the
+cold sweat standing thick upon his temples. They are uncovering a head,
+a head that is shrouded with something white.</p>
+
+<p>To Mr. O'Meara, to Clifford Heath, the moment is one of intense unmixed
+horror. To the men who still bend to their work, the horror has its
+mixture of curiosity. <i>Whose</i> is the face they are about to look upon?</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively the two more refined men draw farther back, instinctively
+the others bend closer.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly they work. The last bit of earth is removed from the face;
+carefully they draw away a large white handkerchief, then utter a cry of
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" cries one, "it is <i>John Burrill</i>."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TURN IN THE GAME.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is John Burrill!</p>
+
+<p>Lying there, half buried still, with clenched hands and features
+distorted. It is John Burrill, dead.</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath utters a sharp exclamation. He starts forward suddenly,
+and looks, not upon the dead face, but straight at the white thing that
+is still held in the hand of one of the masons. Then he snatches it from
+the man fiercely, looks at it again and more closely, and lets it fall
+from his grasp. For a moment all is black to his vision, and over his
+face a ghastly pallor creeps. Slowly, slowly, he lifts his hand to his
+forehead, rests it there for a moment, and seems making an effort to
+think. Then he drops his hand; he lifts his head; he draws himself
+erect.</p>
+
+<p>"O'Meara," he says, in a voice strangely hollow and unfamiliar, and
+pointing to the fallen handkerchief. "Look at that. I am going home;
+when you want me you will find me there." And without having so much as
+glanced at the dead face so near him, he goes slowly towards his
+cottage, holding his head proudly erect still.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. O'Meara turns away from the corpse, and gazes for a moment after the
+retreating form of his friend; then he picks up the handkerchief; it is
+of softest linen, and across one corner he reads the embroidered name
+of <i>Clifford Heath</i>. For a moment he stands with the telltale thing held
+loosely in his hand, and then he bends down, spreads it once more over
+the dead face, and turns to the men.</p>
+
+<p>"This body must not be disturbed further," he says, authoritatively.
+"One of you go at once and notify Soames, and then Corliss. Fortunately,
+Soames lives quite near. Don't bring a gang here. Let's conduct this
+business decently and in order. Do you go, Bartlett," addressing the
+younger of the two men. "We will stay here until the mayor comes."</p>
+
+<p>And Lawyer O'Meara buttons his coat tightly about him and draws closer
+to the cellar wall, the better to protect himself from the drip, drip,
+of the rain.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a horrible thing, sir," ventured the mechanic, drawing further
+away from the ghastly thing outlined, and made more horrible, by the
+wet, white covering. "It's a fearful deed for somebody, and&mdash;it looks as
+if the right man wasn't far away; we all know how he and Burrill were&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, man," snapped O'Meara, testily, "keep 'what we all
+know' until you are called on to testify. <i>I</i> have something to think
+about."</p>
+
+<p>And he does think, long and earnestly, regardless of the rain;
+regardless alike of the restless living companion and of the silent
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, they come, the mayor, the officers, the curious gazers; the
+rain is nothing to them, in a case like this; there is much running to
+and fro; there are all the scenes and incidents attendant upon a
+first-class horror. A messenger is dispatched, in haste, to Mapleton,
+and, in the wind and the rain, the drama moves on.</p>
+
+<p>The messenger to Mapleton rides in hot haste; he finds none but the
+servants astir in that stately house; to them he breaks the news, and
+then waits while they rouse Frank Lamotte; for Jasper Lamotte has not
+returned from the city.</p>
+
+<p>After a time he comes down, pale and troubled of countenance; he can
+scarcely credit the news he hears; he is terribly shocked, speechless
+with the horror of the story told him.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, he recovers his composure, in a measure; he goes to his
+mother's room, and tells her the horrible news; he orders the servants
+to be careful what they say in his sister's presence, and not to
+approach Evan's room; then he tells the coachman to meet Mr. Lamotte,
+who will come on the noon express, with the carriage. After which, he
+swallows a glass of brandy; and, without waiting for breakfast, mounts
+his horse and gallops madly townward.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the fast express is steaming toward W&mdash;&mdash;, bearing among its
+human freight, Mr. Jasper Lamotte; and never has W&mdash;&mdash; seen upon his
+usually serene face such a look as it now wears. It is harassed,
+baffled, discontented, surly. He knows no one among the passengers, and
+he sits aloof from his fellow travelers, making no effort to while away
+the time, as travelers do.</p>
+
+<p>As they near W&mdash;&mdash;, however, he shakes off his dullness, and lays aside
+his look of care; and when he steps upon the platform at W&mdash;&mdash;, he is to
+all appearance, the same smiling suave man, who went away three days
+before.</p>
+
+<p>There are several other passengers for W&mdash;&mdash;, among whom we may see a
+portly, dignified gentleman who looks to be somewhere in the forties,
+and who evidently has a capital opinion of himself, and knows what he is
+about. He is fashionably dressed, and wears a splendid diamond in his
+shirt front. He carries in his hand a small valise, and asks for a
+carriage to the best hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Close behind him is another man, of a different stripe. He is a rakish
+looking fellow, dressed in smart but cheap clothing. He carries in his
+hand a small, square package, neatly strapped, and this alone would
+betray his calling, were it not so obvious in his look and manner. The
+"book fiend" has descended upon W&mdash;&mdash;. He looks about him carelessly,
+watches the portly gentleman as he is driven away in the carriage from
+the W&mdash;&mdash; Hotel, sees Mr. Jasper Lamotte enter his landau, and drive
+swiftly away, and then he trudges cheerily townward, swinging his packet
+of books as he goes.</p>
+
+<p>When they are out of sight of the gaping crowd about the depot, the
+coachman, acting under Frank's orders, brings his horses to a walk, and,
+turning upon his seat, addresses his master.</p>
+
+<p>"I've dreadful news to tell you, sir; and Mr. Frank said to let you know
+it quick, so as you could come there at once."</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte stares in angry astonishment, scarcely taking in the
+meaning of the none too lucid sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," he says, shortly, "what are you talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>This time the man came at once to the point.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Burrill has been murdered, sir. They found him this morning in an
+old cellar, close by Doctor Heath's; and they say, sir,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What!</i> what do you say? Burrill&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Murdered, sir&mdash;killed dead&mdash;stabbed right through the heart, sir. They
+are anxious for you to come. They are going to have an inquest right
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Drive there, at once," cried Mr. Lamotte, hoarsely. "I must see for
+myself," and he sinks back upon his seat, pale and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the carriage containing the portly gentleman arrives at the
+hotel. The rain is still falling, and the gentleman steps hurriedly from
+the carriage and across the pavement&mdash;so hurriedly, indeed, that he
+jostles against a boy who is passing with a tray of ivory carvings and
+pretty scroll-work.</p>
+
+<p>Down comes the tray, and the gentleman, who is evidently kind-hearted,
+cries out:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boy! Bless me, but I'm sorry! Didn't see you, upon my word. Pick
+your wares up, sonny, and take stock of the broken things, then come in
+and I'll make it all square. Just ask for Mr. Wedron, and don't be
+bashful," and he bustles into the office of the W&mdash;&mdash; House, where he
+calls for the best room they can give him, registers as "A. C. Wedron,
+att'y, N. Y.," and, asking that he might have dinner as early as
+possible, he goes at once to his room.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs31" id="gs31"></a>
+<img src="images/gs31.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Why, boy! Bless me.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<p>"I say," he calls to the porter who brings up his valise, "when that
+young image boy comes, just send him along to me; I owe him some
+damages."</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later, the boy enters the office and deposits his
+disordered tray upon a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, you," calls the porter, gruffly. "The gentleman's looking
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minit, can't ye?" retorts the boy coolly. "I jest want to take
+account of stock."</p>
+
+<p>He drops on one knee and rearranges his tray with great care and no
+haste.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" he exclaims, rising at length with a chuckle of satisfaction.
+"I reckon that big bloke'll be about two fifty out after I call." And he
+takes up his tray and says to the porter: "Now, then, give us the
+address."</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-one," he replies, and the boy ascends the stairs, and
+unceremoniously opens the door of twenty-one.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman, who stands at the window, turns quickly at the sound of
+the opening door, and when it has closed behind the boy, he advances and
+asks in a low tone:</p>
+
+<p>"How lies the land, George? Is there any news?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry, sir," replies the boy. "I was faithful to orders&mdash;but things
+have gone wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"How, my boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"The man you call Burrill was murdered last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, and I <i>might</i> have known who did it. This is the way it went,
+sir: I kept an eye on all of your men as well as I could, during the
+day, and kept the widest eye on the short fellow with the tramp lay-out
+and the ugly face. That was easy, for he lay low all day; so I managed
+to get around here two or three times during the afternoon, and I found
+that Mr. Belknap was laying low, too. He staid in and about the hotel
+all day, and, I think, all the evening. At night the tramp fellow began
+to show signs of life, and I piped him close. Early in the evening, at
+dusk, in fact, he went over the river and out toward Mapleton; on the
+way he met Burrill coming to town, and he faced about and stalked him
+back. Burrill lounged about a good bit, and then he went to the saloon
+you pointed out to me; some fellows were waiting there for him, and they
+got about a table and carried things high, drinking every five minutes.
+My man kept a close look on the saloon, and seemed uneasy all the time;
+once he went in, and drank two beers, but he did not venture near
+Burrill and his party. By and by, I think it must have been ten o'clock
+or later, Burrill came out from the saloon alone; he was very drunk, and
+staggered as he walked away. He turned south, and my man came out, as I
+supposed, to follow. But, instead, he took a short cut to the bridge
+and crossed over, hiding himself in the low hedge on the other side. He
+staid there until almost morning, and then he seemed to be disgusted, or
+discouraged, or both. I staid close by, and tracked him back to his
+roost! Then I turned in to get a little rest myself. I was out early,
+and looked first after my man; he was out too, prowling about uneasily.
+He went to the saloon, and seemed inclined to loaf there a bit; so I
+went to look after Mr. Belknap. He was not visible, and so I lounged
+about, as it was too wet to get out my wares. Well, it was not long
+before my man came out from old 'Forty Rods,' and started out on the
+south road, and I kept on behind him, and before we had gone far we met
+a party of excited men, gathered about the mayor's house, and learned
+that a murder had been committed. We fell in with the crowd, and went
+out to the place where the body lay. It was in an empty lot, right next
+to Doctor Heath's cottage; the body was down in an old cellar, and had
+been hastily buried by the murderers. They say it was Doctor Heath's dog
+that first discovered the body."</p>
+
+<p>He pauses, and waits for a comment, but none comes; the gentleman stands
+with hands behind him, and head bent, as if still listening. For a long
+time, he stands thus, and then takes a turn or two about the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, George," he says, at last. "I don't see that you could have done
+better. It was no part of our plan to have this murder happen, and it
+bids fair to make us some trouble that we had not counted on. But we
+are used to that, George. So you think you might have known who did the
+deed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I might, sir, if I had followed Burrill; I felt all the time that he
+was the man to watch."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" with an odd smile; "your instincts are on the alert. However, you
+did right in disregarding instinct, and obeying orders. Now then, be off
+sir, and until you have further notice, keep both your eyes on Mr.
+Belknap. By the by, when do they hold an inquest?"</p>
+
+<p>"At three o'clock, sir; they want to have Mr. Lamotte there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! that's all, George; you had better dispose of your traps for the
+day, and look sharp after Mr. Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, sir;" and taking up his tray, the little detective goes out,
+dropping back into his old impudent manner, as the door closes behind
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"So, Burrill has been killed," soliloquizes the portly gentleman seating
+himself before his cheery fire. "Well, that goes to show that we
+detectives don't find out all the tangles. We are lucky oftener than we
+are shrewd! Now look, I fancied I had the game in my hands, and stepped
+into town this morning to throw my trump and win, and now, my game is
+blocked, and a new one opens against me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>INTRODUCING MR. SMITH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All that long morning Clifford Heath sat alone in his cosy, parlor, and
+what his thoughts were no observer, had there been such, could have
+guessed. His features were grave, even stern, but there was no
+apprehension, no expectancy, no fear; nothing but calm gravity and
+inflexible haughtiness could be discerned in the face that was sometimes
+bent over a favorite book, sometimes submerged in clouds of smoke from
+his big German meerschaum; but that never once turned toward the window
+that overlooked the scene of the morning's discovery. All day the sounds
+from thence penetrated to his ear; all day men were coming and going,
+with much loud talk as they passed his doorway, and much bustle and
+excitement. But Clifford Heath might have been deaf and blind, so little
+interest did he manifest in the sights and sounds that were attendant
+upon the scene of John Burrill's low, rain-soaked bed of death.</p>
+
+<p>Crouched at his feet lay the great dog Prince, who had been comforted by
+his master for any harshness that he had suffered necessarily, and he
+now lay watchful but quiet, seeming to share, in a measure, the mood of
+his master and best friend.</p>
+
+<p>At one o'clock Mrs. Gray came in and spread his luncheon beside him in
+tempting array, and the doctor laid aside his pipe, and, favoring Mrs.
+Gray with one of those kindly smiles that she always melted under to the
+extent of admitting to herself that her master <i>was</i> "a man who <i>meant
+well</i>, in spite of his horrid ways."</p>
+
+<p>Then he drew his chair up beside the lunch table, and immediately set
+Mrs. Gray's good humor awry by indulging in one of his "horrid ways,"
+namely, the tossing of dainty bits to Prince, who caught them in his
+mouth with much adroitness and without quitting his position upon the
+Turkish rug.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, when Prince had received his share of Mrs. Gray's dainties, the
+doctor fell upon the rest and made a hearty meal.</p>
+
+<p>As he was washing down a tart with a large tumbler of claret, there came
+a knock upon the street door, and without a moment's hesitation&mdash;indeed,
+with some alacrity&mdash;he arose to answer it in person.</p>
+
+<p>Once more it was his neighbor, O'Meara.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in O'Meara," said he, coolly. "I'm just finishing luncheon," and
+he led the way back to the parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"I just looked in for a moment in my capacity of friend and neighbor,
+Heath," said the little lawyer, briskly, at the same time seating
+himself near the table. "Later on I may give you a call in my
+professional capacity, but not now, not now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do it at all, O'Meara," said the doctor, with a short laugh; "I
+have no earthly use for a lawyer."</p>
+
+<p>"No more have I for a medical adviser just this minute, sir; but I may
+need one before night."</p>
+
+<p>"And before night I may need a lawyer, O'Meara&mdash;is that it?"</p>
+
+<p>The little man shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid of it, Heath; I'm afraid of it, as things look now."</p>
+
+<p>"And things look now very much as they did this morning, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, this is the prospect ahead&mdash;a coroner's verdict thus: 'Deceased
+came to his death at the hands of Clifford Heath, M. D.;' and
+circumstantial evidence thus: 'Deceased has on several occasions been
+threatened by accused; he was found buried near the premises of accused,
+and upon his person was found a handkerchief bearing the name, Clifford
+Heath.' This, and how much more I can't tell. It's a beautiful case,
+O'Meara."</p>
+
+<p>The little lawyer stared, astonished at his coolness.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't underrate this business, Heath," he said, anxiously. "I'm glad to
+see that it has not had the opposite effect on you. I'm glad to see
+plenty of pluck, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But, there's a strong case against me; that's what you would say,
+O'Meara. I don't doubt, and let me tell you that neither you nor I can
+guess <i>how</i> strong the case is; not yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Such an affair is bad enough, at the best, Heath; I don't see anything
+in the case, thus far, that will hold up against an impartial
+investigation; as for other evidence, am I to understand&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath bent forward, and lifted one hand warningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Understand nothing for the present, O'Meara; after the verdict come to
+me, not as a lawyer, but as a friend, and I will explain my language
+and&mdash;attitude; for the present I have nothing to say."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must be satisfied with what you <i>have</i> said," replied the lawyer
+cheerfully. "Of course you will be at the inquest?"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, having seen&mdash;and heard you, it is not necessary to offer any
+suggestions, I see that," and the lawyer arose and took up his hat, "and
+it won't be policy for me to remain here too long. Count on me Heath, in
+any emergency. I'm your man."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, O'Meara; rest assured such friendship is fully appreciated."
+And he extended his hand to the friendly lawyer, who grasped it
+silently, seemed struggling, either to speak or to repress some thought,
+and then dropped it and went out silently, followed in equal silence by
+his host, who closed the door behind him, and then went thoughtfully
+back to his claret.</p>
+
+<p>"Zounds!" muttered Lawyer O'Meara, picking his way back across the muddy
+street, and entering his own dwelling. "To think of accusing a man of so
+much coolness, and presence of mind, of such a bungling piece of work as
+this. It's a queer suspicion, but I could almost swear that Heath smells
+a plot."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a carriage drove hastily by, all mud bespattered, and
+lying open in defiance of the rain.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Lamotte's landau," said the lawyer, peeping out from the shelter
+of his verandah; "it's Lamotte's carriage, and it's Lamotte himself; I
+would like to see how he looks, just for one moment; but it's too wet,
+and I must go tell the old woman how her favorite doctor faces the
+situation."</p>
+
+<p>A few moments after the landau had deposited Jasper Lamotte at the gate
+of the vacant lot, a pedestrian, striding swiftly along, as if eager to
+be upon the scene and sate his curiosity, came in among the group of men
+that, all day long, had hovered about the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>"What's a going on here?" he demanded of the first man upon whom his
+glance fell, "an&mdash;accident?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord!" exclaimed the man, who was one of Old Forty Rod's
+customers; "where have <i>you</i> come from that you don't know a man has
+been killed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Killed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, murdered! stabbed last night and buried in this old cellar."</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens, man! was&mdash;was he a citizen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should say! and a rum chap, too. Why, you are a stranger to
+these parts if you don't know John Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>"Never heard of him in my life, old Top," replied the stranger. "I
+<i>don't</i> live in these parts."</p>
+
+<p>The man drew back a little, and seeing this, the stranger came closer
+and laid one hand familiarly upon his arm, at the same time leaning
+nearer, and saying in a loud whisper:</p>
+
+<p>"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs32" id="gs32"></a>
+<img src="images/gs32.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The satellite of "Old Forty," who had at first seemed somewhat disposed
+to resent too much familiarity on the part of the stranger, turned
+toward him, drew closer, and allowed his features to relax into a grin
+of friendliness. He had not been so fortunate as to receive a morning
+dram, and the breath of the stranger had wafted to his nostrils the
+beloved, delicious odor of "whisky killers."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" he whispered confidentially, "that man over there the tall,
+good-looking one with the whiskers, d'ye mind&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes! high toned bloke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly; that's the dead man's father-in-law."</p>
+
+<p>"Father-in-law, eh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and that young chap beside him, the pale, handsome one, that's his
+son."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose son?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tall man's son; Frank Lamotte's his name."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say; good-looking duffer! Found the assassin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, but they say&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, pard, this sniffs of romance; now I'm gone on romance in
+real life; just let's step back among these cedars, and out of the
+crowd, where I can give you a pull at my brandy flask, and you can tell
+me all the particulars."</p>
+
+<p>And the jaunty young man tapped his breast suggestively and winked
+knowingly down at his new found friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Agreed," said the man, eagerly, and turning at once toward the nearest
+clump of trees.</p>
+
+<p>"I may as well say that my name is Smith," said the stranger, as he
+passed over his brandy flask. "Now then, pard, fire ahead, and don't
+forget when you get thirsty to notify Smith, the book peddler."</p>
+
+<p>The man began his story, and the book peddler stood with ear attentive
+to the tale, and eye fixed upon Jasper Lamotte.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>OPENLY ACCUSED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is three o'clock. The rain has ceased falling, but the sky is still
+gray and threatening. The wind howls dismally among the old trees that
+surround John Burrill's shallow grave, and its weird wail, combined with
+the rattle and creak of the branches, and the drip, drip of water,
+dropping from the many crevices into the old cellar, unite to form a
+fitting requiem for an occasion so strange, so uncanny.</p>
+
+<p>Down in the cellar, standing ankle deep in the mud and slime, are the
+"good men and true," who have been summoned by Justice, to decide upon
+the manner in which John Burrill met his death. There, too, is the
+mayor, dignified, grave, and important. The officers of the law are
+there, and close behind the coroner stand the Lamottes, father and son.
+A little farther back are grouped the witnesses. Those of the morning,
+the two masons, Mr. O'Meara, Dr. Heath,&mdash;they are all there except the
+first and surest one, Prince. There are the men who were Burrill's
+companions of the night before, reluctant witnesses, ferreted out
+through the officiousness of one of the saloon habitues, and fearing, a
+little, to relate their part in the evening's programme, each eager to
+lighten his own burden of the responsibility at the expense of his
+comrades in the plot. There are three women and one man, all
+eye-witnesses to the first meeting between John Burrill and Doctor Heath
+in Nance Burrill's cottage, and there is Nance Burrill herself. The
+women stand a little aloof, upon a few boards that have been thrown
+carelessly down for their comfort. And Nance Burrill talks loudly, and
+cries as bitterly as if the dead man had been her life's comfort, not
+its curse.</p>
+
+<p>And there, too, is Raymond Vandyck. He stands aloof from them all,
+stands near the ghastly thing that once, not long ago, came between him
+and all his happiness. There is a strange look in his blue eyes, as they
+rest upon the lifeless form, from which the coverings have been removed,
+but which still lies in the shallow place scooped out for it by the
+hands that struck it from among the living. Under the eyes of them all
+the dirt has been removed from the broad breast, and two gaping wounds
+are disclosed; cuts, deep and wide, are made with some broad, heavy
+weapon, of the dagger species.</p>
+
+<p>When they have all, in turn, examined the body, as it lies, it is lifted
+out carefully, and placed upon a litter, in the midst of the group, and
+then all turn their eyes from the shallow grave to the new resting place
+of its late occupant.</p>
+
+<p>Not all; Raymond Vandyck, still gazing as if fascinated by that
+hollowed-out bit of earth, starts forward suddenly, then draws
+shudderingly back, and points to something that lies almost imbedded in
+the soft soil. Somebody comes forward, examines, and then draws from
+out the grave, where it has lain, directly under the body, a knife&mdash;a
+knife of peculiar shape and workmanship&mdash;a long, keen, <i>surgeon's
+knife</i>! There are dark stains upon the blade and handle; and a murmur of
+horror runs through the crowd as it is held aloft to their view.</p>
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck draws instinctively away from the grave now, and from
+the man who still holds the knife; and in so doing he comes nearer the
+group of women, and catches a sentence that falls from the lips of Nance
+Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly his face flames into anger, and he strides across to where Mr.
+O'Meara stands.</p>
+
+<p>"O'Meara, what is this that I hear; have they dared accuse Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know, Vandyck?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I have heard nothing, save the fact of the murder; the coroner's
+summons found me at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Heath will be accused, I think."</p>
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck turns and goes over to Clifford Heath; without uttering
+a word, he links his arm within that of the suspected man, and standing
+thus, listens to the opening of the trial.</p>
+
+<p>The only sign of recognition he receives is a slight pressure of the arm
+upon which his hand rests; but before Clifford Heath's eyes, just for
+the moment, there swims a suspicious moisture.</p>
+
+<p>Above them, crowding close about the cellar walls, is a motley throng,
+curious, eager, expectant; among the faces peering down may be seen
+that of the portly gentleman; his diamond pin glistening as he turns
+this way and that; his great coat blown back by the gusts of wind, and a
+natty umbrella clutched firmly in his plump, gloved hand. Not far
+distant is private detective Belknap, looking as curious as any, and
+still nearer the cellar's edge is the rakish book-peddler, supported by
+his now admiring friend of the morning, who has warmed into a hearty
+interest in "that fine young fellow, Smith," under the exhilarating
+influence of the "fine young fellow's" brandy flask.</p>
+
+<p>Dodging about among the spectators, too, is the boy George, who has
+abandoned his tray of pretty wares, and is making his holiday a feast of
+horrors.</p>
+
+<p>And now all ears are strained to hear the statements of the various
+witnesses in this strange case.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte is the first. He is pale and nervous, and he avoids the
+eyes of all save the ones whom he addresses. Doctor Heath keeps two
+steady, searching orbs fixed upon his face, but can draw to himself no
+responsive glance. Frank testifies as follows:</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill had left Mapleton the evening before at an early hour, not
+later than eight o'clock. Witness had seen little of him during the day.
+Deceased was in a state of semi-intoxication when last he saw him. That
+was at six o'clock, or near that time. No, he did not know the
+destination of deceased. They seldom went out together. Did not know if
+Burrill had any enemies. Was not much in his confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Upon being questioned closer, he displays some unwillingness to answer,
+but finally admits that he <i>has</i> heard Burrill speak in bitter terms of
+Doctor Heath, seeming to know something concerning the doctor's past
+life that he, Heath, wished to conceal.</p>
+
+<p>What was the nature of the knowledge?</p>
+
+<p>That he cannot tell.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte is called. He has been absent from home, and can throw no
+light upon the subject.</p>
+
+<p>The two masons, one after the other, testify; their statements do not
+vary.</p>
+
+<p>They were returning home, having turned back from their day's labor,
+because of the rain. When they came near the old cellar, the barking of
+a dog attracted their attention. It came from the cellar, and one of
+them, curious to see what the dog had hunted down, went to look. The dog
+was tugging at what appeared to be a human foot. He called his
+companion, and then leaped down into the cellar, and tried to drive the
+dog from what he now feared was a half buried human being. The other man
+called for help, and, seeing O'Meara, shouted to him to tell Heath to
+come and call off his dog.</p>
+
+<p>They tell it all. How Doctor Heath came and mastered the dog, after a
+hard struggle; how the face of the dead was uncovered, and how Doctor
+Heath had snatched at the white thing they had taken from off it,
+scrutinized it for a moment, and then flung it from him. They repeat his
+words to Mr. O'Meara with telling effect; and then they stand aside.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Heath is sworn. He has nothing to say that has not been said. He
+knows nothing of the murdered man, save that once he had knocked him
+down for beating a woman, and once for insulting himself.</p>
+
+<p>Had he ever threatened deceased? He believed that he had on the occasion
+last mentioned. What was the precise language used? That he could not
+recall.</p>
+
+<p>Then the handkerchief is produced; is presented to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath, is that yours?" Every man holds his breath; every man is
+visibly agitated; every man save the witness.</p>
+
+<p>Coolly lifting his hand to his breast pocket, he draws from thence a
+folded handkerchief; he shakes out the snowy square, and offers it to
+the coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"It is mine or an exact counterpart of mine. Your honor can compare
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Astonishment sits on every face. What matchless coolness! what a
+splendid display of conscious innocence! or of cool effrontery!</p>
+
+<p>The coroner examines the two pieces of linen long and closely, then he
+passes them to one of the jurymen; and then they go from hand to hand;
+and all the while Clifford Heath stands watching the scrutiny. Not
+eagerly, not even with interest, rather with a bored look, as if he must
+see something, and with every feature locked in impenetrable calm.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the coroner receives them back. They are precisely alike, and so
+says his honor:</p>
+
+<p>"Clifford Heath, do you believe this handkerchief, which I hold in my
+hand, and which was recently found upon the face of this dead man, to
+be, or to have been yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do," calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you aware that you have recently lost such a handkerchief?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not."</p>
+
+<p>"Has such a one been stolen from you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to my knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have no idea how your property came where it was this morning
+found?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are seeking facts, sir, not ideas."</p>
+
+<p>A moment's silence; the coroner takes up the knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath, will you look at this knife?"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor steps promptly forward and receives it from his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see that knife before?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs33" id="gs33"></a>
+<img src="images/gs33.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Did you ever see that knife before?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I can't say, sir," turning it carelessly in his hands, and examining
+the spots upon the blade.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see one like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever own one like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> own one like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Are such knives common?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are&mdash;to the surgical profession."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you own more than one knife of this sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever own more than one like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you have lost a knife like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I have broken two."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you last see deceased alive?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not since our encounter on the street; that was a week ago, I should
+think, perhaps longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Who witnessed that affair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Vandyck was with me; the others were strangers."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all, Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>Lawyer O'Meara comes next; his testimony is brief, and impatiently
+given. He adds nothing new to the collected evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Next comes the man Rooney, and he rehearses the scene at "Old Forty
+Rods," sparing himself as much as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"We didn't really think he'd go to Doctor Heath's," he says in
+conclusion. "We all called it a capital joke, and agreed to go out and
+look him up after a little. He was reeling drunk when he went out, and
+we all expected to find him floored on the way. After a while, an hour
+perhaps, we started out, half a dozen of us, with a lantern, and went
+along the road he had taken; we went almost to Heath's cottage, looking
+all about the road as we went. When we did not find him, we concluded
+that he had gone straight home, and that if we staid out longer the
+laugh would be on us. So we went back, and agreed to say nothing about
+the matter to Burrill when we should see him."</p>
+
+<p>"How near did you come to Doctor Heath's house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very near, sir; almost as near as we are now."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were in the opposite direction."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so, sir; we came from the town."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear any movements; any sounds of any sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing particular, sir; we were making some noise ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you meet any one, either going or coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; but a man might easily have passed us in the dark on the other
+side of the road."</p>
+
+<p>Five men confirm Rooney's statement, and every word weighs like lead
+against Clifford Heath.</p>
+
+<p>John Burrill left the saloon to go to Doctor Heath's house; in drunken
+bravado, he would go at night to disturb and annoy the man who had,
+twice, in public, chastised him, and on both occasions uttered a threat
+and a warning; unheeding these, he had gone to brave the man who had
+warned him against an approach&mdash;and he has never been seen alive since;
+he has been found dead, murdered, hidden away near the house of the man
+who had said: "If he ever should cross my path, rest assured I shall
+know how to dispose of him."</p>
+
+<p>These words distinctly remembered by all three of the women who
+witnessed the rescue in Nance Burrill's house, are repeated by each one
+in turn, and the entire scene is rehearsed.</p>
+
+<p>Nance Burrill is called upon, and just as she comes forward, Mr. Lamotte
+beckons the coroner, and whispers a few words in his ear. The coroner
+nods, and returns to his place. Nance Burrill is sworn, and all listen
+eagerly, expecting to hear her rehearse the story of her life as
+connected with that of the dead man. But all are doomed to
+disappointment. She tells the story of the rescue in her cottage, much
+as did the others; she repeats the words of Clifford Heath, as did the
+others, and she turns back to her friends, leaving the case against the
+man who had been her champion, darker than before.</p>
+
+<p>Raymond Vandyck is called; he does not stir from his position beside his
+friend, and his face wears a look of defiant stubbornness.</p>
+
+<p>"Ray," says Clifford Heath, quietly, "your silence would be construed
+against me; go forward and tell the whole truth."</p>
+
+<p>Then he obeys the summons; but the truth has to be drawn from him by
+hard labor; he will not help them to a single fact. For example:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you know concerning this case?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," he says, shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know that man," pointing to the body of Burrill; "in his life."</p>
+
+<p>"I had not that honor."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah&mdash;you have seen him."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so," indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't swear to the fact, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I knew him better by reputation, than by sight."</p>
+
+<p>The coroner wiggled, uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a friend to Doctor Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am," promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Please relate what you know of his&mdash;difference with Mr. Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"What I&mdash;<i>know</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I don't exactly <i>know</i> anything"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir, did you not witness a meeting between the two?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;suppose so."</p>
+
+<p>"You suppose!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't <i>swear</i> that the man I saw knocked down, if that is what
+you mean, was Burrill; it was night, and I did not see his face
+clearly."</p>
+
+<p>"You believed it to be Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Heath so believed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>More uneasiness on the part of the coroner.</p>
+
+<p>"Please state what Doctor Heath said to the man he knocked down?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I can't repeat the exact words. He said what any one would have
+said under the circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! what were the circumstances?"</p>
+
+<p>"The fellow was half drunk. He approached Dr. Heath in a coarse and
+offensive manner."</p>
+
+<p>"Was his language offensive?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't hear what he said."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear what Dr. Heath said?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"You heard it distinctly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" smiling triumphantly. "Then you <i>can</i> give us his words?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not <i>verbatim</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Give us his meaning, then."</p>
+
+<p>"His meaning, as nearly as I could understand it, was this: He would
+allow no man to insult him or to meddle with his affairs, and he
+finished with something like this: 'Keep my name off your lips, wherever
+you are, if you want whole bones in your skin.'"</p>
+
+<p>"He said that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, something like that; I may have put it too strong."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember what Dr. Heath said by way of comment on the affair?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of the men picked the fellow by the sleeve, and said, 'Come out of
+that, Burrill!' and then Heath turned to me and asked, 'Who the deuce is
+Burrill?'"</p>
+
+<p>"And your reply?"</p>
+
+<p>"I said&mdash;" stopping a moment and turning his eyes upon the two
+Lamottes&mdash;"I said, 'He is Jasper Lamotte's son-in-law.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And then, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then Dr. Heath made about the same sort of comment others have made
+before him&mdash;something to the effect that Mr. Lamotte had made a very
+remarkable choice."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Vandyck," says the coroner severely, "it seems to me that your
+memory is singularly lucid on some points, and deficient on others of
+more importance."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a fact, sir," with cheerful humility. "I'm always that way."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" with an excess of dignity. "Mr. Vandyck, I won't tax your memory
+further."</p>
+
+<p>Ray turns away, looking as if, having done his duty, he might even
+survive the coroner's frown, and as he moves again to the side of the
+suspected man, some one in the audience above, a portly gentleman, with
+a diamond shining on his immaculate breast, makes this mental comment:
+"There is a witness who has withheld more than he has told." And he
+registers the name of Raymond Vandyck upon his memory.</p>
+
+<p>This is the last witness.</p>
+
+<p>While the jurymen stand aside to deliberate, there is a buzz and murmur
+among the people up above, and profound quiet below. Attention is
+divided between the gentlemen of the jury and Clifford Heath. The former
+are very much agitated. They look troubled, uneasy and uncomfortable.
+They gesticulate rapidly and with a variety of movements that would be
+ludicrous were the occasion less solemn, the issue less than a man's
+life and honor.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the verdict is reached, and is pronounced:</p>
+
+<p>The coroner's jury "find, after due deliberation, that John Burrill came
+to his death by two dagger, or knife strokes from the hand of Dr.
+Clifford Heath."</p>
+
+<p>The accused, who, during the entire scene, has stood as immovable as the
+sphynx, and has not once been startled, disturbed, or surprised from his
+calm by anything that has been brought forward by the numerous
+witnesses, lifts his head proudly; lifts his hat, too, with a courtly
+gesture, to the gentlemen of the jury, that may mean total exoneration
+from blame, so far as they are concerned, or a haughty defiance, and
+then, after one sweeping glance around the assembly, a glance which
+turns for an instant upon the faces of the Lamottes, he beckons to the
+constable; beckons with a gesture that is obeyed as if it were a
+command.</p>
+
+<p>"Corliss," he says, just as he would say&mdash;"give the patient a hot drink
+and two powders." "Corliss, I suppose you won't want to lose sight of
+me, since I have suddenly become public property. Come with me, if you
+please; I am going home; then&mdash;I am at <i>your</i> service."</p>
+
+<p>And without more words, without let or hindrance, without so much as a
+murmur of disapproval, he lifts himself out of the cellar, and walks, at
+a moderate pace, and with firm aspect, toward his cottage, closely
+followed by Corliss, who looks, for the first time, in his official
+career, as if he would gladly be a simple private citizen, at that
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>The coroner's inquest is over; there remains now nothing save to remove
+the body to a more suitable resting place, and to disperse.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte moves about, giving short orders in a low tone. He is
+pallid and visibly nervous. If it were his own son who lay there in
+their midst, stiff and cold, and saturated with his own blood, he could
+scarcely appear more agitated, more shocked and sorrowful. He is really
+shocked; really sorry; he actually regrets the loss of this man, who
+must have been a constant crucifixion to his pride.</p>
+
+<p>This is what they whisper among themselves, as they gather in knots and
+furtively watch him, as he moves about the bier.</p>
+
+<p>It has been a shock to Frank Lamotte, too, although he never had seemed
+to crave the society of his brother-in-law, and always turned away from
+any mention of his name, with a sneer.</p>
+
+<p>Two men, who withdraw quickly from the crowd, are Lawyer O'Meara and Ray
+Vandyck. As they come up out of the cellar and go out from the hateful
+place, Ray breaks into bitter invective; but O'Meara lays a firm hand
+upon his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your impulsive tongue, you young scamp! Do you want to be
+impeached for a prejudiced witness? You want to help Heath, not to hurt
+him; and let me tell you, he will need strong friends and shrewd
+helpers, before we see him a free man again."</p>
+
+<p>Ray grinds out something profane, and then paces on in wrathful silence.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, of course," he says, after a moment's pause, and in a
+calmer tone. "But, good God! to bring such a charge against Heath, of
+all men! O'Meara," suddenly, "you must defend him."</p>
+
+<p>"I intend to," grimly. "And in his interest I want to see you as soon as
+the vicinity is quiet; we must think the matter over and then see
+Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"Heath puzzles me; he's strangely apathetic."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll puzzle you more yet, I'm thinking. I half think he knows who did
+the deed, and don't intend to tell." He pauses, having come to the place
+where their ways diverge. "Come around by dark, Vandyck, we can't lose
+any time, that is if the buzzards are out of the way."</p>
+
+<p>"The buzzards will follow the carrion," scornfully. "I'll be on hand,
+Mr. O'Meara."</p>
+
+<p>He goes on, looking longingly at Clifford Heath's cottage, as he passes
+the gate, and the little lawyer begins to pick his way across the muddy
+street, not caring to go on to the proper crossing.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara."</p>
+
+<p>He turns nervously, to encounter the gaze of a large gentleman with a
+rosy face, curling, iron-gray hair, and beard, and a blazing diamond in
+his shirt front.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh! sir; you addressed me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did," replies the gentleman, in a low, energetic tone, strangely at
+variance with his general appearance, at the same time coming close and
+grasping the lawyer's hand with great show of cordiality, and before the
+astounded little man can realize what he is about. "Call me Wedron, sir,
+Wedron, ahem, of the New York Bar. I must have an interview with you,
+sir, and at once."</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara draws back and replies rather frigidly:</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to know you, sir; but if your business is not too urgent&mdash;if
+another time will do&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Another time will <i>not</i> do? my business concerns Clifford Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, sir, I am at your service."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN OBSTINATE CLIENT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"There, sir; I think we understand each other, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph! well, that's according to how you put it. My knowledge is
+sufficient unto the day, at any rate. I am to visit Heath at once,
+taking young Vandyck with me; I am to insist upon his making a strong
+defence, and to watch him closely. Vandyck is to add his voice, and
+he'll do it with a roar, and then we are to report to you. Is that it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly."</p>
+
+<p>The speakers are Lawyer O'Meara and "Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar;"
+for more than an hour they have been seated in the lawyer's study,
+conversing in low, earnest tones; and during this interval, O'Meara's
+valuation of his <i>vis-&agrave;-vis</i> has evidently "taken a rise," and stands
+now at a high premium. His spirits have risen, too; he views the case of
+Clifford Heath through a new lens; evidently he recognizes, in the man
+before him, a strong ally.</p>
+
+<p>It is arranged that, for the present, Mr. Wedron shall retain his room
+at the hotel, but shall pass the most of his time with the O'Mearas, and
+the uninitiated are to fancy him an old friend, as well as a brother
+practitioner. Even Mrs. O'Meara is obliged to accept this version, while
+inwardly wondering that she has never heard her husband mention his
+friend, "Wedron, of the New York Bar."</p>
+
+<p>Evidently they trust each other, these two men, and, as O'Meara has just
+said, their mutual understanding is sufficient unto the hour. Therefore,
+it being already sunset, they go together to the parlor, and are soon
+seated, in company with Mrs. O'Meara, about a cosy tea table.</p>
+
+<p>"It is best that Vandyck should not see me here until after your
+interview with Heath," Mr. Wedron has said to the little lawyer;
+therefore when, a little later, Ray puts in an appearance, he sees only
+O'Meara, and is immediately hurried away toward the county jail.</p>
+
+<p>They find Corliss at the sheriff's desk, his superior officer having
+been for several days absent from the town. The constable looks relieved
+and fatigued. He believes that within the hour he, single handed, has
+conveyed into safe custody one of the most ferocious assassins of his
+time; and, having gained so signal a victory, he now feels inclined to
+take upon himself airs, and he hesitates, becomingly, over O'Meara's
+civilly worded request to be shown to the cell assigned Doctor Heath.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs34" id="gs34"></a>
+<img src="images/gs34.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>But O'Meara, who possesses all the brusqueness of the average Yankee
+lawyer, has no mind to argue the case.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir," says Corliss, with some pomposity. "Really, I
+consider Heath a very unsafe prisoner, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The deuce you do," breaks in the impatient lawyer. "Well, I'll promise
+that <i>Doctor</i> Heath shan't damage you any, so just trot ahead with your
+keys, and don't parley. <i>My</i> time is worth something."</p>
+
+<p>Corliss slips down from his stool and looks at Ray.</p>
+
+<p>"But Mr. Vandyck, sir?" he begins.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Vandyck will see Doctor Heath too, sir," interrupts Ray, with much
+decision. "And you won't find it to your interest, Corliss, to hunt up
+too many scruples."</p>
+
+<p>It filters into the head of the constable that the wealthiest and most
+popular of W&mdash;&mdash;'s lawyers, and the bondsman and firm friend of the
+absent sheriff, are hardly the men to baffle, and so, for the safety of
+his own official head, he takes his keys and conducts them to Doctor
+Heath.</p>
+
+<p>The jail is new and clean and comfortable, more than can be said of many
+in our land, and the prisoner has a cell that is fairly lighted, and not
+constructed on the suffocation plan.</p>
+
+<p>They find him sitting by his small table, his head resting upon his
+hand, his eyes fixed upon the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
+Evidently he is glad to see his visitors, for a smile breaks over his
+face as he rises to greet them.</p>
+
+<p>It is not a time for commonplaces, and O'Meara, who sees that time is of
+value, is in no mood for a prologue to his task; so he begins at the
+right place.</p>
+
+<p>"Heath, I'm sorry enough that you, almost a stranger among us, should be
+singled out as a victim in this case. It don't speak well for the
+judgment of our citizens. However, we are bound to set you right, and
+I've come to say that I shall esteem it a privilege to defend you&mdash;that
+is, if you have not a more able friend to depend upon."</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner smiles as he replies:</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good, O'Meara, and you are the man I should choose to
+defend me; but&mdash;you will have to build your case; I can't make one for
+you, and&mdash;you heard the evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the evidence!" cries the lawyer, drawing from his pocket a small
+note book.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll settle their evidence; just you give me a few items of
+information, and then I will let Vandyck talk; he wants to, terribly."</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner turns slowly in his chair, and looks steadfastly first at
+one, then at the other, and then he says:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really believe, O'Meara, that I had no hand in this murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do," emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Ray?"</p>
+
+<p>"I! You deserve to be kicked for asking. I'll tell <i>just</i> what I
+<i>think</i>, a little later; I know you didn't kill Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath withdraws his gaze from the faces of his visitors, and
+seems to hesitate; then he says slowly:</p>
+
+<p>"I am deeply grateful for your confidence in me; but, I fear my actions
+must belie my words. My friends, the evidence is more than I can
+combat. I can't prove an <i>alibi</i>; and there's no other way to clear
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" retorts O'Meara; "there are several ways. Let us take the ground
+that you are innocent; there must then be some one upon whom to fasten
+the guilt. You have an enemy; some one has stolen your handkerchief and
+your knife. Who is that enemy? Whom do you suspect?"</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner shook his head. "I shall accuse no one," he said, briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" burst out Ray Vandyck; "you will not hunt down your enemy? This
+is too much! Heath, I believe you could put your hand on the assassin."</p>
+
+<p>No reply from the prisoner; he sits with his head bowed upon his hand, a
+look of dogged resolution upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Vandyck," says the little lawyer, who has been gazing fixedly at his
+obstinate client, and who now turns two keen eyes upon the excited Ray;
+"keep cool! keep cool, my lad! Heath, look here, sir, I'm bound to
+defend your case&mdash;do you object to that?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, O'Meara, you are my only hope; but, your success must
+depend upon your own shrewdness. I can't give you any help."</p>
+
+<p>Down went something in the lawyer's note book.</p>
+
+<p>"That means you won't give me any help," writing briskly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's an ungracious way of putting it," smiling slightly; "but&mdash;that's
+about the way it stands."</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," writing still; "you believe the handkerchief to have been
+yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And the knife?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Stay, send Corliss with some one else, to my office; let them
+examine my case of instruments, and see if the knife is among them;
+this, for form's sake."</p>
+
+<p>"It shall be attended to&mdash;for form's sake. Heath, who beside yourself
+had access to your office?"</p>
+
+<p>"My office was insecurely locked; any one might easily force an
+entrance, and a common key would open my door."</p>
+
+<p>Scratch, scratch; the lawyer seems not to notice the doctor's evasion of
+the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Ahem! As your lawyer, Heath, is there any truth in these stories about
+a previous knowledge of Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean <i>my</i> previous knowledge of the man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew the fellow; never saw him until I knocked him down in his
+first wife's defence."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, he claimed to know you."</p>
+
+<p>"So I am told."</p>
+
+<p>"And you don't know <i>where</i> he may have seen you?"</p>
+
+<p>"All I know, you have heard in the evidence given to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;" hesitating slightly; "is there nothing in your past life that
+might weigh in your favor; nothing that will give the lie to these
+hints so industriously scattered by Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"O'Meara, let us understand each other; your question means this: Do I
+intend, now that this crisis has come, to make public, for the benefit
+of W&mdash;&mdash;, the facts concerning my life previous to my coming here as a
+resident? My answer must be this, and again I must give you reason to
+think me ungracious, ungrateful. There is nothing in my past that could
+help me in this present emergency; there is no one who could come
+forward to my assistance. I have not in all America one friend who is so
+well known to me, or who knows me as well as Vandyck here, or yourself.
+I can not drag to light any of the events of my past life; on the
+contrary, I must redouble my efforts to keep that past a mystery."</p>
+
+<p>Utter silence in the cell. The lawyer's pencil travels on&mdash;scratch,
+scratch, scratch. Ray sits moody and troubled of aspect. Doctor Heath
+looks with some curiosity upon the movements of the little lawyer, and
+inwardly wonders at his coolness. He has expected expostulation,
+indignation; has even fancied that his obstinate refusal to lend his
+friends any assistance may alienate them from his case, leaving him to
+face his fate alone. He sees how Vandyck is chafing, but he is puzzled
+by the little lawyer's phlegmatic acceptance of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, the lawyer looks up, snaps his note book together with a
+quick movement, and then stows it away carefully in his breast pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Umph!" he begins, raising the five fingers of his right hand and
+checking off his items with the pencil which he has transferred to the
+left. "Umph! Then your case stands like this, my friend: A man is found
+dead near your premises; a handkerchief bearing your name covers his
+face; a knife supposed to belong to you is with the body. You are known
+to have differed with this man; you have knocked him down; you have
+threatened him in the public streets. You are a stranger to W&mdash;&mdash;. This
+murdered man claimed to know something to your disadvantage. He is known
+to have set out for your house; he is found soon after, as I have said,
+dead. You acknowledge the knife and handkerchief to be yours; you can
+offer no <i>alibi</i>, you can rebut none of the testimony. You refuse to
+tell aught concerning your past life. That's a fine case, now; don't you
+think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a worthless case for you, O'Meara. You had better leave me to
+fight my own battles."</p>
+
+<p>"Umph! I'm going to leave you for the present; but this battle may turn
+out to be not entirely your property, my friend. Since you won't help
+me, I won't disturb you farther. Come along, Vandyck."</p>
+
+<p>Young Vandyck began at once to expostulate, to entreat, to argue; but
+the little lawyer cut short the tide of his eloquence.</p>
+
+<p>"Vandyck, be quiet! Can't you let a gentleman hang himself, if he sees
+fit? No, I see you can't; it's against your nature. Well, come along; we
+will see if we can't outwit this would-be suicide, and the hangman,
+too." And he fairly forces poor, bewildered Ray from the room. Then,
+turning again toward his uncommunicative client, he says:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll attend to that knife business at once, Heath, and let you hear
+the result."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a moment, O'Meara. There is one thing I can say, and that
+is,&mdash;have the wounds in that body examined at once. As nearly as I could
+observe, without a closer scrutiny, the knife that killed was not the
+knife found with the body. It was a smaller, narrower bladed knife;
+and&mdash;if an expert examines that knife, the one found, he will be
+satisfied that it has never entered any body, animal or human. The
+<i>point</i> has never been dipped in blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! ho!" cries O'Meara, rubbing his hands together briskly. "So! we are
+waking up! why didn't you mention all this before? But there's time
+enough! time enough yet. I'll have the body examined; and by the best
+surgeons, sir; and I'll see you to-morrow, <i>early</i>; good evening,
+Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm blessed if I understand all this," burst out Ray Vandyck, when they
+had gained the street. "Here you have kept me with my mouth stopped all
+through this queer confab. I want a little light on this subject. What
+the deuce ails Heath, that he won't lift his voice to defend himself?
+And what the mischief do you let him throw away his best chances for? I
+never heard of such foolhardiness."</p>
+
+<p>"Young man," retorts the little lawyer, with a queer smile upon his
+face, "just at present I have got no use for that tongue of yours. You
+may be all eyes and ears, the more the better; but, I'm going to include
+you in a very important private consultation; and, <i>don't you open your
+mouth</i> until somebody asks you to; and then mind you get it open quick
+enough and wide enough."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>BEGINNING THE INVESTIGATION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Well!"</p>
+
+<p>It is Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar, who utters this monosyllable. He
+sits at the library table in the little lawyer's sanctum; opposite him
+is his host, and a little farther away, stands Ray Vandyck; a living,
+breathing, gloomy faced but mute interrogation point. He has just been
+introduced to Mr. Wedron, and he is anxiously waiting to hear how these
+two men propose to save from the gallows, a man who will make no effort
+to save himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" repeats Mr. Wedron, "you have seen the prisoner?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have seen him."</p>
+
+<p>"And the result?"</p>
+
+<p>"Was what you predicted. See, here in my note book, I have his very
+words; you can judge for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara passes his note book across to his questioner, and the latter
+reads rapidly, the short sentences scrawled by his host.</p>
+
+<p>"So," he says, lifting his eyes from the note book. "Doctor Heath
+refuses to defend himself. Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "sit
+down, sir; draw your chair up here; I wish to look at you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Not a little astonished, but obeying orders like a veteran, Ray complies
+mutely.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," says Mr. Wedron, with brisk good nature, "let's get down to
+business. Mr. Vandyck, I am here to save Clifford Heath; I was at the
+inquest; I have had long experience in this sort of business, and I
+arrive at my conclusions rapidly, after a way of my own. O'Meara,
+prepare to write a synopsis of our reasonings."</p>
+
+<p>"Of <i>your</i> reasonings," corrects the lawyer, drawing pen and paper
+toward himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Of my reasonings then. First; are you ready, O'Meara?"</p>
+
+<p>"All ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then; and don't stop to be astonished at anything I may say.
+First, Clifford Heath knows who stole his handkerchief; and who stole
+his knife."</p>
+
+<p>A grunt of approbation from O'Meara; a stare of astonishment from Ray.</p>
+
+<p>"For some reason, Heath has resolved to screen the thief." Scratch,
+scratch. "But he does not feel at all sure that the one who stole his
+belongings is the one who struck the blow."</p>
+
+<p>Ray stares in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then, there has been a plot on foot against Heath, and I believe
+him to have been aware of it." He is looking at Ray, and that young man
+starts guiltily.</p>
+
+<p>"Put down this, O'Meara," says Mr. Wedron, suddenly withdrawing his
+gaze. "Doctor Heath has nothing to blush for, in his past. He withholds
+his story through pride, not through fear; but it may be necessary to
+tell it in court, in order to prove that he <i>did not</i> know John Burrill
+previous to the meeting in Nance Burrill's cottage; and if he refuses to
+tell his story, <i>I</i> must tell it for him."</p>
+
+<p>It is O'Meara's turn to be surprised, and he writes on with eager eyes
+and bated breath.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, O'Meara," concludes Mr. Wedron, "there were two parties sworn
+to-day, who did not tell all they knew concerning this affair. One
+was&mdash;Mr. Francis Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Ray breathes again.</p>
+
+<p>"The other was&mdash;Mr. Raymond Vandyck."</p>
+
+<p>Ray colors hotly, and half starts up from his seat. O'Meara lays down
+his pen, and stares across at his contemporary, but that individual
+proceeds with unruffled serenity.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Vandyck did not tell all that he knows, because he feared that in
+some way his testimony might be turned against Clifford Heath. Here he
+can have no such scruples. Our first step in this case, must be to find
+out <i>who</i> Clifford Heath suspects; and why he will not denounce him."</p>
+
+<p>"And that bids fair to be a tough undertaking," says O'Meara.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, Mr. O'Meara. I expect that this young man can give us all
+the help we need."</p>
+
+<p>"I," burst out Ray. "You mistake, sir; I can not help you."</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, sir; softly; reflect a little, this is no time for over-nice
+scruples; besides, I know too much already. We three are here to help
+Clifford Heath. Mr. Vandyck, can you not trust to our discretion; you
+may be able, unknown to yourself, to speak the word that will free your
+friend from the foulest charge that was ever preferred against a man.
+Will you answer my questions frankly, or&mdash;must we set detectives to hunt
+for the information you could so easily give?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs35" id="gs35"></a>
+<img src="images/gs35.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Softly, Sir; softly; reflect a little.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The calm, resolute tones of the stranger have their weight with the
+mystified Ray. Instinctively he feels the power of the man, and the
+weight of the argument.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish to know, sir?" he says, quietly. "I am ready to serve
+Clifford Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, very good;" signing to O'Meara. "First, sir, as a friend of Doctor
+Heath, do you know if he has recently had any trouble, any
+disappointment? He is a young man. Has he been jilted, or&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah-h-h!" breaks in O'Meara; "why didn't you ask <i>me</i> that, Wedron? Upon
+my soul, I have heard plenty about this same business."</p>
+
+<p>"Then take the witness stand, sir. What do you know? <i>You</i> won't be over
+delicate in bringing facts to the surface."</p>
+
+<p>"Why," rubbing his hands serenely, "I can't see your drift, Wedron, any
+more than can Vandyck here; but I have heard Mrs. O'Meara discuss the
+probable future of Clifford Heath, until I have it by heart. Not long
+ago she was sure he, Heath, was in love with Miss Wardour, and we all
+thought she rather favored him, although it's hard to guess at a woman's
+real feelings. Later, quite lately, in fact, the thing seemed to be all
+off, and my wife has commented on it not a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron. "And&mdash;had Doctor Heath any rivals?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour has always plenty of lovers; but I believe that Mr. Frank
+Lamotte was the only rival he ever had any reason to fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! so Mr. Frank Lamotte has been Heath's rival? Handsome fellow, that
+Lamotte! Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "the ice is now
+broken. What do you know, or think, or believe, about this attachment to
+Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that Heath really hoped to win her at one time, and I believed
+his chances were good. Something, I don't know what, has come between
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think she has refused him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Honestly, I don't, sir. I think there is a misunderstanding."</p>
+
+<p>"And young Lamotte, what of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he has come in ahead; in fact, have very good cause for
+thinking him engaged to Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" cries O'Meara, contemptuously, "I don't believe it. There's
+nothing sly about Constance. She would have told me or my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you my reasons for saying this, gentlemen," says Ray, after a
+moment's hesitation. "I'll tell you all I can about the business. Some
+time ago, shortly after Heath's last encounter with Burrill, I came into
+town one day to keep an appointment with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay! Can you recall the date?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was on Monday, I believe, and early in the month."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"I met one of the Wardour servants, who gave me a note. It was a request
+that I wait upon Miss Wardour at once; she wished to consult me on some
+private matters. Miss Wardour and I, you must understand, are very old
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; go on."</p>
+
+<p>"I excused myself to Heath, and, just as I was leaving the office,
+Lamotte came in. He challenged me, in badinage, as though he had a right
+to say who should visit Wardour. He overheard me telling Heath where I
+was going."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"During my call, I made some allusion to Lamotte, speaking of him as her
+accepted lover. She did not deny the charge my language implied, and I
+came away believing her engaged to Lamotte. When I returned to Heath's
+office, Lamotte had gone, and Heath asked me, rather abruptly, if I
+believed Miss Wardour would marry Lamotte. I replied, that I did believe
+it then, for the first time."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes! Mr. Vandyck, are you aware that on this same day, this Monday
+of which you speak, Clifford Heath received an anonymous note, in a
+feminine hand; warning him against danger, and begging him to leave
+town?"</p>
+
+<p>"What, sir?" starting and coloring, hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you are aware of that fact. Did you see that note, Mr. Vandyck?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did," uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"How did Heath treat it?"</p>
+
+<p>"With utter indifference."</p>
+
+<p>"So! And did he, to your knowledge, receive other warnings?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite sure he did not."</p>
+
+<p>"During your call at Wardour Place, did Miss Wardour mention Doctor
+Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"She&mdash;did," reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>"She <i>did</i>. Can you recall what was said."</p>
+
+<p>"It was soon after that street encounter with Burrill. I related the
+circumstance; she had not heard of it."</p>
+
+<p>"And did she seem unfriendly toward Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary I think she was, and is, his friend."</p>
+
+<p>"You met Lamotte in Heath's office. Does Lamotte go there often?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, he made a pretence of studying with Heath; but he never stuck very
+close to anything; he had read a little in the city, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is quite at home in Heath's office?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mr. Vandyck." Mr. Wedron draws back from the table and
+smiles blandly upon poor Ray. "Thank you, sir. You are an admirable
+witness; for the second time to-day you have evaded leading questions,
+and withheld more than you have told. But I won't bear malice. I see
+that you are resolved not to tell why Miss Wardour summoned you to her
+presence on that particular day; so, I won't insist upon it&mdash;I will find
+out in some other way."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," retorts Ray, rather stiffly. "It will be a relief to me, if
+you can do so. Can I answer any more questions, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to-night. And, Mr. Vandyck, as a friend of Clifford Heath's, we ask
+you to help us, and to share our confidence. Now, we must find out
+first, if Constance Wardour <i>is</i> engaged to Lamotte; and second, the
+cause of the estrangement between herself and Doctor Heath. Can you
+suggest a plan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replies Ray, a smile breaking over his face. "Send for Mrs.
+Aliston, and question her as you have me."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" cries Mr. Wedron. "<i>Excellent!</i>"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN APPEAL TO THE WARDOUR HONOR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>During the night that saw Sybil Burrill's reason give way under the
+long, horrible strain, that had borne upon it; the night that witnessed
+the downfall of Frank Lamotte's cherished hopes, and closed the earthly
+career of John Burrill; Mrs. Lamotte and Mrs. Aliston hovered over the
+bed where lay Sybil, now tossing in delirium, now sinking into
+insensibility. Early in the evening, Dr. Heath had been summoned, and he
+had responded promptly to Mrs. Lamotte's eager call.</p>
+
+<p>They could do little, just then, save to administer opiates; he told
+them there was every symptom of brain fever; by to-morrow he would know
+what course of treatment to pursue; until then, keep the patient quiet,
+humor all her whims, so far as was possible; give her no stimulants,
+and, if there was any marked change, send for him at once.</p>
+
+<p>The two anxious women hung upon his words; afterward, they both
+remembered how cheerful, how brave and strong he had seemed that night;
+how gentle his voice was; how kindly his glance; how soothing and
+reassuring his manner.</p>
+
+<p>In the gray of the morning, Sybil dropped into one of her lethargies
+after hours of uneasy mutterings, that would have been mad ravings, but
+for the doctor's powerful opiate; and then, after a word combat with
+Mrs. Lamotte, just such an argument as has occurred by hundreds of sick
+beds, where two weary, anxious watchers vie with each other for the
+place beside the bed, and the right to watch in weariness, while the
+other rests; after such an argument, Mrs. Aliston yielded to the
+solicitations of her hostess, and withdrew, to refresh herself with a
+little sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The vigil had been an unusual one, and Mrs. Aliston was very weary. No
+sound disturbed the quiet of the elegant guest chamber where she lay;
+and so it happened that a brisk rapping at her door; at ten o'clock in
+the morning, awoke her from heavy, dreamless slumber, and set her
+wandering wits to wondering vaguely what all this strangeness meant.
+Then suddenly recalling the events of the previous night, she sat up in
+bed and called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's ten o'clock, madam," replied the voice of Mrs. Lamotte's maid;
+"and will you have breakfast in your room, or in the dining room?"</p>
+
+<p>Slipping slowly out from the downy bed, Mrs. Aliston crossed to the
+door, and peering out at the servant, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I will breakfast here, Ellen. How is Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is worse, I think, madam, and Mrs. Lamotte is very uneasy; I think
+she wishes to speak with you, or she would not have had you wakened."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her I will come to her at once;" and Mrs. Aliston closed the door
+and began a hurried toilet; before it was completed, Mrs. Lamotte
+herself appeared; she was pale and heavy eyed, and seemed much agitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon my intrusion," she began, hurriedly; "I am uneasy about Sybil;
+she is growing very restless, and for more than an hour has called
+unceasingly for Constance. Do you think your niece would come to us this
+morning? Her strong, cool nerves might have some influence upon poor
+Sybil."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure she will come," replied Mrs. Aliston, warmly "and without a
+moment's delay. I will drive home at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and send
+Constance back."</p>
+
+<p>"Not until you have had breakfast, Mrs. Aliston. And how can I thank you
+for your goodness, and your help, during the past horrible night?"</p>
+
+<p>"By saying nothing at all about it, my dear, and by ordering the
+carriage the moment I have swallowed a cup of coffee," replied the
+good-hearted soul, cheerily. "I hope and trust that Sybil will recover
+very soon; but if she grows worse, you must let me help you all I can."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later the Lamotte carriage rolled swiftly across the bridge
+and towards Wardour; and so Mrs. Aliston, for the time at least, was
+spared the shock that fell upon the house of Mapleton, scarce fifteen
+minutes later, the news of John Burrill's murder, and the finding of the
+body.</p>
+
+<p>Little more than an hour later, Constance Wardour sprang from the
+carriage at the door of Mapleton, and ran hurriedly up the broad steps.
+The outer door stood wide open, and a group of servants were huddled
+about the door of the drawing room, with pale, affrighted faces, and
+panic-stricken manner.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing them, Constance at once takes the alarm. Sybil must be worse;
+must be very ill indeed. Instantly the question rises to her lips:</p>
+
+<p>"Is Sybil&mdash;is Mrs. Burrill worse?" and then she hears the startling
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>"John Burrill is dead. John Burrill has been murdered." In bewilderment,
+in amazement, she hears all there is to tell, all that the servants
+know. A messenger came, telling only the bare facts. John Burrill's body
+has been found in an old cellar; Frank has just gone, riding like a
+madman, to see that the body is cared for, and to bring it home. Mrs.
+Lamotte has been told the horrible news; has received it like an icicle;
+has ordered them to prepare the drawing room for the reception of the
+body, and has gone back to her daughter.</p>
+
+<p>All this Constance hears, and then, strangely startled, and vaguely
+thankful that Frank is not in the house, she goes up to the sick room.
+Mrs. Lamotte rises to greet her, with a look upon her face that startles
+Constance, even more than did the news she has just heard below stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Intense feeling has been for so long frozen out of that high-bred,
+haughty face, that the look of the eyes, the compression of the lips,
+the fear and horror of the entire countenance, amount almost to a
+transfiguration.</p>
+
+<p>She draws Constance away from the bed, and into the dressing room
+beyond. Then, in a voice husky with suppressed emotion, she addresses
+her as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Constance Wardour, I am about to place my honor, my daughter's life,
+the honor of all my family, in your hands. There is not another living
+being in whom to trust, and I must trust some one. I must, for my
+child's sake, have relief, or <i>my</i> reason, too, will desert me.
+Constance, that sick room holds a terrible secret&mdash;Sybil's secret. If
+you can share it with me, for Sybil's sake, I will try to brave this
+tempest, as I have braved others; if you refuse"&mdash;she paused a moment,
+and then whispered fiercely:</p>
+
+<p>"If you refuse, I will lock that chamber door, and Sybil Lamotte shall
+die in her delirium before I will allow an ear that I can not trust,
+within those walls, or the hand of a possible enemy to administer one
+life-saving draught."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs36" id="gs36"></a>
+<img src="images/gs36.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Over the face of Constance Wardour crept a look of horror indescribable.
+In an instant her mind is illuminated, and all the fearful meaning of
+Mrs. Lamotte's strange words, is grasped and mastered. She reels as if
+struck by a heavy hand, and a low moan breaks from her lips. So long she
+stands thus, mute and awe-stricken, that Mrs. Lamotte can bear the
+strain of suspense no longer.</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake, speak," she gasps; "there have been those of your race
+who could not abandon a fallen friend."</p>
+
+<p>Over the cheek, and neck, and brow, the hot, proud, loyal Wardour blood,
+comes surging. The gray eyes lift themselves with a proud flash; low and
+firm comes the answer:</p>
+
+<p>"The Wardours were never Summer friends. Sybil has been as a sister, in
+prosperity; I shall be no less than a sister now. You may trust me as
+you would yourself; and&mdash;I am very glad you sent for me, and trusted no
+other."</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you, Constance! No one else <i>can</i> be trusted. With your help
+I must do this work alone."</p>
+
+<p>Then comes a cry from the sick room; they go back, and Constance enters
+at once upon her new, strange task. Her heart heavy; her hand firm; her
+ears smitten by the babbling recitation of that awful secret; and her
+lips sealed with the seal of the Wardour honor.</p>
+
+<p>All that day she is at her post. Mrs. Lamotte, who is resolved to retain
+her strength for Sybil's sake, lies down in the dressing room and sleeps
+from sheer exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>As the day wears on there is movement and bustle down stairs, they are
+bringing in the body of the murdered man. The undertaker goes about his
+work with pompous air, and solemn visage; and when darkness falls, John
+Burrill's lifeless form lies in state in the drawing room of Mapleton,
+that room over the splendors of which his plebeian soul has gloated, his
+covetous eyes feasted and his ambitious bosom swelled with a sense of
+proprietorship. He is clothed in finest broadcloth, surrounded with
+costly trappings; but not one tear falls over him; not one heart grieves
+for him; not one tongue utters a word of sorrow or regret; he has
+schemed and sinned, to become a member of the aristocracy, to ally
+himself to the proud Lamottes; and to-night, one and all of the
+Lamottes, breathe the freer, because his breathing has forever ceased.
+Even Constance Wardour has no pitying thought for the dead man; she
+keeps aloof from the drawing room, shuddering when compelled to pass its
+closed doors; living, John Burrill was odious to her; dead, he is
+loathsome.</p>
+
+<p>The day passes, and Doctor Heath does not visit his patient. At
+intervals during the long afternoon, they have discussed the question,
+"What shall we do to keep the patient quiet when the doctor comes?"</p>
+
+<p>It is Constance who solves the problem.</p>
+
+<p>"We must send for Doctor Benoit, Mrs. Lamotte; Doctor Heath's tardiness
+will furnish sufficient excuse, and Doctor Benoit's partial deafness
+will render him our safest physician."</p>
+
+<p>It is a happy thought; Doctor Benoit is old, and partially deaf, but he
+is a thoroughly good and reliable physician.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night, Jasper Lamotte applies for admittance at the door of
+his daughter's sick room. Constance opens the door softly, and as his
+eyes fall upon her, she fancies that a look of fierce hatred gleams at
+her for a moment from those sunken orbs and darkens his haggard
+countenance. Of course it is only a fancy. In another moment he is
+asking after his daughter, with grave solicitude.</p>
+
+<p>"She is quiet; she must not be disturbed;" so Constance tells him. And
+he glides away softly, murmuring his gratitude to his daughter's friend,
+as he goes.</p>
+
+<p>It is midnight at Mapleton; in Sybil Lamotte's room the lights burn
+dimly, and Mrs. Lamotte and Constance sit near the bed, listening, with
+sad, set faces, to the ravings of the delirious girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha!" she cries, tossing her bare arms aloft. "How well you planned
+that, Constance! the Wardour diamonds; ah, they are worth keeping, they
+are worth plotting to keep&mdash;and it's often done&mdash;it's easy to do. Hush!
+Mr. Belknap, I need your help&mdash;meet me, meet me to-night, at the boat
+house. If a man were to disappear, never to come back, mind&mdash;what would
+I give? One thousand dollars! two! three! It shall be done! I shall be
+free! free! <i>free!</i> Ha! ha! Constance, your diamonds are safer than
+mine&mdash;but what are diamonds&mdash;I shall live a lie&mdash;let me adorn myself
+with lies. Why not? Why care? I will be free. You have been the tool of
+others, Mr. Belknap, why hesitate to serve me&mdash;you want money&mdash;here it
+is, half of it&mdash;when it is done, when I <i>know</i> it is done, I will come
+here again&mdash;at night&mdash;and the rest is yours."</p>
+
+<p>With a stifled moan, Mrs. Lamotte leans forward, and lays a hand upon
+her companion's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance&mdash;do you know what she means?"</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and shudderingly, the girl answers:</p>
+
+<p>"I fear&mdash;that I know too well."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;that boat-house appointment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Must be kept, Mrs. Lamotte; for Sybil's sake, it must be kept, <i>by you
+or me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>It is midnight. In Evan Lamotte's room lamps are burning brightly, and
+the fumes of strong liquor fill the air. On the bed lies Evan, with
+flushed face, and mud bespattered clothing; he is in a sleep that is
+broken and feverish, that borders in fact, upon delirium; beside him,
+pale as a corpse, with nerves unstrung, and trembling, sits Frank
+Lamotte, fearing to leave him, and loath to stay. At intervals, the
+sleeper grows more restless, and then starts up with wild ejaculations,
+or bursts of demonaic laughter. At such times, Frank Lamotte pours, from
+a bottle at his side, a powerful draught of burning brandy, and holds it
+to the frenzied lips. They drain off the liquor, and presently relapse
+into quiet.</p>
+
+<p>It is midnight. In the library of Mapleton, Jasper Lamotte sits at his
+desk, poring over a pile of papers. The curtains are closely drawn, the
+door securely locked. Now and then he rises, and paces nervously up and
+down the room, gesticulating fiercely, and wearing such a look as has
+never been seen upon the countenance of the Jasper Lamotte of society.</p>
+
+<p>It is midnight. In the Mapleton drawing room, all that remains of John
+Burrill, lies in solemn solitary state; and, down in his cell, face
+downward upon his pallet, lies Clifford Heath, broad awake, and bitterly
+reviewing the wrongs heaped upon him by fate; realizing, to the full,
+his own helplessness, and the peril before him, and doggedly resolving
+to die, and make no sign.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>I CAN SAVE HIM IF I WILL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Doctor Benoit was old and deaf; he was also very talkative. One of those
+physicians who invariably leave a titbit of news alongside of their
+powders and pellets. A constant talker is apt to be an indiscreet
+talker, and, very often, wanting in tact. Doctor Benoit was not so much
+deficient in tact, as in memory. In growing old, he had grown forgetful,
+and not being a society man, social gossip was less dear to his heart
+than the news of political outbreaks, business strivings, and about-town
+sensations. Doubtless he had heard, like all the world of W&mdash;&mdash;, that
+Doctor Clifford Heath had, at one time, been an aspirant for the favor
+of the proud heiress of Wardour, and that suddenly he had fallen from
+grace, and was no more seen within the walls of Wardour, or at the side
+of its mistress on social occasions. If so, he had entirely forgotten
+these facts. Accordingly, during his second call, made on the morning
+after the inquest, he began to drop soft remarks concerning the recent
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte was lying down, and Constance had decided not to arouse her
+when the doctor arrived, inasmuch as the patient was in one of her
+stupors, and not likely to rouse from it.</p>
+
+<p>The arrest of a brother practitioner on such a charge as was preferred
+against Clifford Heath, had created no little commotion in the mind of
+Dr. Benoit, and he found it difficult to keep the subject off his
+tongue, so, after he had given Constance full instructions concerning
+the patient, he said, standing hat in hand near the dressing room door:</p>
+
+<p>"This is a terrible state of affairs for W&mdash;&mdash;, Miss Wardour. Do you
+know," drawing a step nearer, and lowering his voice, "Do you know if
+Mr. Lamotte has been informed that O'Meara, as Heath's lawyer, demands a
+surgical examination?"</p>
+
+<p>"As Heath's lawyer!" The room seemed to swim about her. She turned
+instinctively toward the door of the chamber, closed it softly, and came
+very close to the old doctor, lifting her pale lips to his ear.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand you, doctor. What has Mr. O'Meara to do with the
+murder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hey? What's that? What is O'Meara going to do? He's going to defend
+young Heath." Then, seeing the startled, perplexed look upon her face,
+"Is it possible you have not heard about Heath's arrest?"</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head, and again lifted her mouth to his ear.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard nothing; tell me all."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems that there was an old feud between Heath and Burrill," began
+the doctor, beginning to feel that somehow he had made a blunder. "They
+have hunted up some pretty strong evidence against Heath, and the
+coroner's jury brought in a verdict against him. You know the body was
+found in an old cellar, close by Heath's cottage."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there came a soft tap on the outer door, which Constance
+at once recognized. Mechanically she moved forward and opened the door.
+Mrs. Lamotte stood on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the doctor and Constance, she at once inferred that Sybil was the
+subject under discussion, and to insure the patient against being
+disturbed, beckoned the doctor to come outside.</p>
+
+<p>As he stepped out into the hall, Constance, hoping to get a little
+information from him, came forward, and standing in the doorway,
+partially closed the door behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," said Mrs. Lamotte, anxiously, "do you see any change in
+Sybil?"</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no marked change, madam; but I see a possibility that she may
+return to consciousness within the next forty-eight hours, in which case
+I must warn you against letting her know or guess at the calamity that
+has befallen her."</p>
+
+<p>The two women exchanged glances of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"If she receives no shock until her mental balance is fully restored,
+her recovery may be hoped for; otherwise&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Otherwise, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Otherwise, if she retains her life, it will be at the cost of her
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" moaned the mother, "death would be better than that."</p>
+
+<p>There was the sound of a door opening softly down the hall. They all
+turned their eyes that way to see Frank Lamotte emerging from Evan's
+room. He came hurriedly toward them, and Constance noticed the nervous
+unsteadiness of his gait, the pinched and pallid look of his face, the
+feverish fire of his sunken eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," he said, in a constrained voice, and without once glancing
+toward Constance, "I think you had better have Doctor Benoit see Evan. I
+have been with him all night, and am thoroughly worn out."</p>
+
+<p>"What ails Evan, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"Too much liquor," with a shrug of the shoulders. "He is on the verge of
+the 'brandy madness,' he sometimes sings of. He must have powerful
+narcotics, and no cessation of his stimulants, or we will have him
+raving about the house like a veritable madman; and&mdash;I have not told him
+about Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>A look of contrition came into the mother's face. Evan had kept his room
+for days, but, in her anxiety for her dearest child, she had quite
+forgotten him.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, doctor," she said, quickly; "let us go to Evan at once."</p>
+
+<p>They passed on to the lower room, leaving Constance and Frank face to
+face.</p>
+
+<p>Constance moved back a pace as if to re-enter the dressing-room; burning
+with anxiety as she was, to hear more concerning Clifford Heath, her
+womanly instincts were too true to permit her to ask information of her
+discarded suitor. But Frank's voice stayed her movements.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, only one moment," he said, appealingly. "Have a little
+patience with me <i>now</i>. Have a little pity for my misery."</p>
+
+<p>His misery! The words sounded hypocritical; he had never loved John
+Burrill over much, she knew.</p>
+
+<p>"I bestow my pity whenever it is truly needed, Frank," she said, coldly,
+her face whitening with the anguish of her inward thought. "Do you think
+<i>you</i> are the only sufferer in this miserable affair?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am the only one who can not enlist your sympathies. I must live
+without your love; I must bear a name disgraced, yet those who brought
+about this family disgrace, even Clifford Heath, in a felon's cell, no
+doubt you will aid and pity; <i>he</i> is a martyr perhaps, while I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"While you&mdash;go on, sir;" fierce scorn shining from the gray eyes; bitter
+sarcasm in the voice.</p>
+
+<p>"While I," coming closer and fairly hissing the words, "am set aside for
+him, a felon, Oh! you are a proud woman, and you keep your secrets well,
+but you can not hide from me the fact that ever since the accursed day
+that brought you and Clifford Heath together, <i>he</i> has been the man
+preferred by you. If I have lost you, you have none the less lost him;
+listen."</p>
+
+<p>Before she is aware of his purpose, he has her two wrists in a vice-like
+grip; and bending down, until his lips almost touch the glossy locks on
+her averted head, he is pouring out, in swift cutting sentences, the
+story of the inquest; all the damning evidence is swiftly rehearsed;
+nothing that can weigh against his rival, is omitted.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling instinctively that he utters the truth; paralyzed by the weight
+of his words; she stands with head drooping more and more, with cheeks
+growing paler, with hands that tremble and grow cold in his clasp.</p>
+
+<p>He sees her terror, a sudden thought possesses his brain; grasping her
+hands still tighter, he goes madly on:</p>
+
+<p>"Constance Wardour, in spite of the coldness between you, you love
+Clifford Heath. <i>What will you do to save him?</i>"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs37" id="gs37"></a>
+<img src="images/gs37.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"This is too much! This is horrible!" She makes a mad effort to free
+herself from his grasp.</p>
+
+<p>The question comes like a taunt, a declaration of her helplessness.
+Coming from him, it is maddening. It restores her courage; it makes her
+mistress of herself once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't repeat that question," she says, flashing upon him a look of
+defiance.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> repeat it!" he goes on wildly. "Go to O'Meara; to whom you
+please; satisfy yourself that Clifford Heath has a halter about his
+neck; then come to me, and tell me if you will give yourself as his
+ransom. <i>I can save him if I will.</i> I <i>will</i> save him, only on one
+condition. You know what that is."</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden fierce effort she frees herself from his clasp, and stands
+erect before him, fairly panting with the fierceness of her anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Traitor! <i>monster!</i> Cain! Not to save all the lives of my friends; not
+to save the world from perdition, would I be your wife! <i>You</i> would
+denounce the destroyer of that worthless clay below us. <i>You!</i> Before
+that should happen, to save the world the knowledge that such a monster
+exists, <i>I</i> will tell the world where the guilt lies, <i>for I know</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Before he can realize the full meaning of her words, the dressing-room
+door is closed between them, and Frank Lamotte stands gnashing his
+teeth, beating the air with his hands in a frenzy of rage and despair.</p>
+
+<p>While he stands thus, a step comes slowly up the stairs; he turns to
+meet the gaze of his father.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, in low, guarded accents, "Come down to the
+library at once. It is time you knew the truth."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A LAST RESORT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Like a man in a dream, Frank Lamotte obeys his father's call, never once
+thinking that the summons is strangely worded. Over and over in his mind
+the question is repeating itself&mdash;What did she mean? Was he going mad?
+Was he dreaming? Had Constance Wardour really said a word that rendered
+himself and all that household unsafe? If she knew who should stand in
+Clifford Heath's stead, would she really spare the culprit? No; it was
+impossible. Was her talk bravado? was she seeking to deceive him?</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible," he reasons. "If she knew who struck that blow, then I am
+ruined utterly. But she does not know&mdash;she can not."</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte leads the way to the library. It seems natural that he
+should move softly, cautiously. A supernatural stillness pervades the
+lower floor. Frank Lamotte shudders and keeps his eyes turned away from
+the closed-up drawing room with its silent tenant.</p>
+
+<p>When they are seated face to face, with locked door and closely drawn
+curtains, Frank looks across at his father, and notes for the first time
+that day the lines of care settling about the sallow mouth, and
+underneath the dark, brooding eyes. A moment of silence rests between
+them, while each reads the signs of disaster in the face of the other.
+Finally the elder says, with something very like a sneer in his voice:</p>
+
+<p>"One would think you a model mourner, your visage is sufficiently
+woful." Then leaning across the table, and elevating one long
+forefinger; "Something more than the simple fact of Burrill's death has
+shaken you, Frank. <i>What is it?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte utters a low mirthless laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I might say the same of you, sir; your present pallor can scarcely be
+attributed to grief."</p>
+
+<p>"True;" a darker shadow falling across his countenance. "Nor is it
+grief. It is bitter disappointment. Have you seen Miss Wardour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes;" averting his head.</p>
+
+<p>"And your case in that quarter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hopeless."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Hopeless, I tell you, sir; do I look like a prosperous wooer? she will
+not look at me. She will not touch me. She will not have me at any
+price."</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte mutters a curse. "Then you have been playing the
+poltroon," he says savagely.</p>
+
+<p>The countenance of the younger man grows livid. He starts up from his
+chair, then sinks weakly back again.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop the subject," he says hoarsely. "That card is played, and lost. Is
+this all you have to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"All! I wish it were. What took me to the city?"</p>
+
+<p>"What took you, true enough. The need of a few thousands, ready cash."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Well! I have not got the cash."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;good heavens! you had ample&mdash;securities."</p>
+
+<p>"Ample securities, yes," with a low grating laugh. "Look, I don't know
+who has interposed thus in our favor, but&mdash;if John Burrill were alive
+to-night you and I would be&mdash;beggars."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, while you hold the valuable&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! valuable indeed! you and I have been fooled, duped, deluded. Our
+treasured securities are&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, are what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shams."</p>
+
+<p>"Shams!" incredulously. "But that is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it?" cynically. "Then the impossible has come to pass. There's
+nothing genuine in the whole lot."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence falls between them. Frank Lamotte sits staring straight
+before him; sudden conviction seems to have overtaken his panic-stricken
+senses. Jasper Lamotte drums upon the table impatiently, looking moody
+and despondent.</p>
+
+<p>"A variety of queer things may seem plain to you now," he says, finally.
+"Perhaps you realize the necessity for instant action of some sort."</p>
+
+<p>Frank stirs restlessly, and passes his hand across his brows.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't realize anything fully," he says, slowly. "It's as well that
+Burrill did not live to know this."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! It's providential! We should not have a chance; as it is, we
+have one. Do you know where Burrill kept his papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Who removed his personal effects? Were you present?"</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly. There were no papers of value to us upon the body."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, those papers must be found. Once in our hands, we are safe enough
+for the present; but until we find them, we are not so secure. However,
+I have no doubt but that they are secreted somewhere about his room.
+Have you seen Belknap to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only at the inquest. Curse that fellow; I wish we were rid of him
+entirely."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we were rid of his claim; but it must be paid somehow."</p>
+
+<p>"Somehow!" echoing the word, mockingly.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the word I used. I must borrow the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Of whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of Constance Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>"What!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, pray? Am I to withdraw because you have been discarded? Why
+should I not borrow from this tricky young lady? Curse her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" rising slowly, "she is under your roof at this moment. Strike
+while the iron is hot. Have you anything more to say to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. You are too idiotic. Get some of the cobwebs out of your brain, and
+that scared look out of your face. One would think that <i>you</i>, and not
+Heath, were the murderer of Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>A strange look darts from the eyes of Frank Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"It won't be so decided by a jury," he says, between his shut teeth.
+"Curse Heath, he is the man who, all along, has stood in my way."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's a strong likelihood that he will be removed from your
+path. There, go, and don't look so abjectly hopeless. We have nothing to
+do at present, but to quiet Belknap. Good night."</p>
+
+<p>With lagging steps, Frank Lamotte ascends the stairs, and enters his own
+room. He locks the door with a nervous hand, and then hurriedly lowers
+the curtains. He goes to the mirror, and gazes at his reflected
+self,&mdash;hollow, burning eyes, haggard cheeks, blanched lips, that twitch
+convulsively, a mingled expression of desperation, horror, and
+despair,&mdash;that is what he sees, and the sight does not serve to steady
+his nerves. He turns away, with a curse upon the white lips.</p>
+
+<p>He flings himself down in a huge easy chair, and dropping his chin upon
+his breast, tries to think; but thought only deepens the despairing
+horror and fear upon his countenance. Where his father sees one foe,
+Francis Lamotte sees ten.</p>
+
+<p>He sees before him Jerry Belknap, private detective, angry, implacable,
+menacing, not to be quieted. He sees Clifford Heath, pale, stern,
+accusing. Constance Wardour, scornful, menacing, condemning and
+consigning him to dreadful punishment. The dead face of John Burrill
+rises before him, jeering, jibing, odious, seeming to share with him
+some ugly secret. He passes his hand across his brow, and starts up
+suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" he mutters, "this is no time to dally; on every side I see a
+pitfall. Let every man look to himself. If I must play in my last trump,
+let me be prepared."</p>
+
+<p>He takes from his pocket a bunch of keys, and, selecting one of the
+smallest, unlocks a drawer of his dressing case. He draws forth a pair
+of pistols and examines them carefully. Then he withdraws the charges
+from both weapons, and loads one anew. The latter he conceals about his
+person, and then takes up the other. He hesitates a moment, and then
+loads that also, replaces it in its hiding place, closes and locks the
+drawer. Then he breathes a long sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a deadly anchor to windward," he mutters, turning away. "It's a
+last resort. Now I have only to wait."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A STRANGE INTERVIEW.</h3>
+
+
+<p>While Frank Lamotte, in his own chamber, is preparing himself for
+emergencies, Constance Wardour stands by the bedside of her unconscious
+friend, struggling for self control; shutting her lips firmly together,
+clenching her teeth; mastering her outward self, by the force of her
+strong will; and striving to bring the chaos of her mind into like
+subjection. Three facts stare her in the face; three ideas dance through
+her brain and mingle themselves in a confused mass. Clifford Heath is in
+peril. She can save him by betraying a friend and a trust. She loves
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, stronger than all, greater than all, this fact stands out; in this
+hour of peril the truth will not be frowned down. She loves this man who
+stands accused of murder; she loves him, and, great heavens! he is
+innocent, and yet, must suffer for the guilty.</p>
+
+<p>What can she do? What must she do? She can not go to him; she, by her
+own act, has cut off all friendly intercourse between them. But,
+something must be done, shall be done.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, she bends down, and looks long and earnestly into the face of
+the sleeper. The dark lashes rest upon cheeks that are pale as ivory;
+the face looks torture-stricken; the beautiful lips quiver with the pain
+of some dismal dream.</p>
+
+<p>Involuntarily, this cry escapes the lips of the watcher:</p>
+
+<p>"My God! To think that two noble lives must be blasted, because of that
+pitiful, worthless thing, that lies below."</p>
+
+<p>The moments drag on heavily, her thoughts gradually shaping themselves
+into a resolve, while she watches by the bedside and waits the return of
+Mrs. Lamotte. At last, she comes, and there is an added shade of sorrow
+in her dark eyes; Evan is very ill, she fears for his reason, too.</p>
+
+<p>"What has come upon my children, Constance?" she asks, brokenly; "even
+Frank has changed for the worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Evan," sighs Constance, thinking of his loyal love for Sybil; and
+thus with her new resolve strong in her mind, she says, briefly:</p>
+
+<p>"I must go to town at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and will return as soon as
+possible. Can you spare me without too much weight upon yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Without a question, Mrs. Lamotte bids her go; and very soon she is
+driving swiftly toward W&mdash;&mdash;, behind the splendid Lamotte horses.</p>
+
+<p>Straight to Lawyer O'Meara she is whirled, and by the time she reaches
+the gate, she is as calm as an iceberg.</p>
+
+<p>Coming down the steps is a familiar form, that of her aunt, Mrs.
+Aliston. Each lady seems a trifle disconcerted by this unexpected
+meeting; neither is inclined to explain her presence there.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Aliston appears the more disturbed and startled of the two; she
+starts and flushes, guiltily, at sight of her niece.</p>
+
+<p>But, Constance is intent upon her errand; she pauses long enough to
+inquire after her aunt's health, to report that Sybil is much the same,
+and Evan ill, and then she says:</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mr. O'Meara at home, Aunt Honor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. That is, I believe so," stammers Mrs. Aliston.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must not detain you, or delay myself; good morning, auntie;" and
+she enters the house, leaving Mrs. Aliston looking perplexed and
+troubled.</p>
+
+<p>Ushered into the presence of Mr. O'Meara, Constance wastes no words.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara," she begins, in her most straightforward manner, "I have
+just come from Mapleton, where I have been with Sybil since last night.
+This morning, Doctor Benoit horrified me by telling me that Doctor Heath
+has been arrested for the murder of John Burrill."</p>
+
+<p>Just here the study door opens softly, and a portly, pleasant faced
+gentleman enters. He bows with easy self-possession, and turns
+expectantly toward O'Meara. That gentleman performed the ceremony of
+introduction.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, permit me: Mr. a&mdash;Wedron, of the New York Bar. Mr.
+Wedron, my dear, is here in the interest of Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>A pair of searching gray eyes are turned full upon the stranger, who
+bears the scrutiny with infinite composure. She bows gravely, and then
+seats herself opposite the two gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara," she says, imperiously, "I want to hear the full
+particulars of this affair, from the very first, up to the present
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>The two professional men exchange glances. Then Mr. Wedron interposes:
+"Miss Wardour," he says, slowly, "we are acting for Clifford Heath, in
+this matter, therefore, I must ask, do you come as a friend of the
+accused, or&mdash;to offer testimony?"</p>
+
+<p>Again the gray eyes flash upon him. "I come as a friend of Doctor
+Heath," she says, haughtily; "and I ask only what is known to all W&mdash;&mdash;,
+I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wedron conceals a smile of satisfaction behind a smooth white hand;
+then he draws a bundle of papers from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"O'Meara," he says, passing them to his colleague; "here are the items
+of the case, as we summed them up last evening; please read them to Miss
+Wardour." And he favors the little lawyer, with a swift, but significant
+glance.</p>
+
+<p>Drawing his chair a little nearer that of his visitor, O'Meara begins,
+while the portly gentleman sits in the background and notes, lynx-like,
+every expression that flits across the face of the listening girl.</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara reads on and on. The summing up is very comprehensive. From the
+first discovery of the body, to the last item of testimony before the
+coroner's jury; and after that, the strangeness, the apathy, the
+obstinacy of the accused, and his utter refusal to add his testimony, or
+to accuse any other. Utter silence falls upon them as the reading
+ceases.</p>
+
+<p>Constance sits mute and pale as a statue; Mr. Wedron seems quite
+self-absorbed, and Mr. O'Meara, glances around nervously, as if waiting
+for a cue.</p>
+
+<p>Constance turns her head slowly, and looks from one to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara, Mr. Wedron, you are to defend Doctor Heath, you tell me?"
+They both nod assent.</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;have you, as his counsel, gathered no palliating proof? Nothing to
+set against this mass of blighting circumstantial evidence?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wedron leans forward, fastens his eyes upon her face, and says
+gravely: "Miss Wardour, all that can be done for Clifford Heath will be
+done. But&mdash;the case as it stands is against him. For some reason he has
+lost courage. He seems to place small value upon his life I believe that
+he knows who is the guilty one, and that he is sacrificing himself.
+Furthermore, I believe that there are those who can tell, if they will,
+far more than has been told concerning this case; those who may withhold
+just the evidence that in a lawyer's hands will clear Clifford Heath."</p>
+
+<p>The pallid misery of her face is pitiful, but it does not move Mr.
+Wedron.</p>
+
+<p>"Last night," he goes on mercilessly, "Mr. Raymond Vandyck sat where you
+sit now, and I said to him what I now say to you. Miss Wardour, Raymond
+Vandyck knows more than he has told." His keen eyes search her face, her
+own orbs fall before his gaze. Then she lifts them suddenly, and asks
+abruptly:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are the other parties who are withholding their testimony?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Mr. Wedron suppresses a smile. "Another who knows more than he
+chooses to tell is Mr. Frank Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>She starts perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;are there others?"</p>
+
+<p>"Another, Miss Wardour, is&mdash;yourself."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs38" id="gs38"></a>
+<img src="images/gs38.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Another, Miss Wardour, is&mdash;yourself.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Myself!"</p>
+
+<p>She bows her face upon her hands, and convulsive shudders shake her
+form. She sits thus so long that O'Meara becomes restless, but Mr.
+Wedron sits calm, serene, expectant.</p>
+
+<p>By and by she lifts her head, and her eyes shine with the glint of blue
+steel.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, sir," she says in a low, steady voice. "I <i>can</i> tell
+more than is known. It may not benefit Doctor Heath; I do not see how it
+can. Nevertheless, all that I can tell you shall hear, and I only ask
+that you will respect such portions of my story as are not needed in
+evidence. As for Mr. O'Meara, I know I can trust him. And I believe,
+sir, that I can rely upon you."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wedron bows gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I will begin by saying that Mr. Vandyck, if he has withheld anything
+concerning Doctor Heath, has acted honorably in so doing. He was bound
+by a promise, from which I shall at once release him."</p>
+
+<p>In obedience to a sign from Mr. Wedron, O'Meara prepares to write.</p>
+
+<p>"You have said, sir," addressing Mr. Wedron, "that I may be able to say
+something which, if withheld, would complicate this case. What do you
+wish to hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Every thing, Miss Wardour, every thing. All that you can tell
+concerning your acquaintance with Clifford Heath&mdash;all that you have seen
+and know concerning John Burrill; all that you can recall of the sayings
+and doings of the Lamottes. And remember, the things that may seem
+unimportant or irrelevant to you, may be the very items that we lack to
+complete what may be a chain of strong evidence in favor of the accused.
+Allow me to question you from time to time, and, if I seem possessed of
+too much information concerning your private affairs, do not be too
+greatly astonished, but rest assured that all my researches have been
+made to serve another, not to gratify myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall I begin, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Begin where the first shadow of complication fell; begin at the first
+word or deed of Doctor Heath's that struck you as being in any way
+strange or peculiar."</p>
+
+<p>She flushes hotly and begins her story.</p>
+
+<p>She describes her first impression of Doctor Heath, touching lightly
+upon their acquaintance previous to the time of the robbery at Wardour.
+Then she describes, very minutely, the first call made by Doctor Heath,
+after that affair.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, Miss Wardour, you told Doctor Heath all that you knew
+concerning the robbery."</p>
+
+<p>"I did, sir;" coloring rosily.</p>
+
+<p>"And you exhibited to him the vial of chloroform and the piece of
+cambric?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"At this point you were interrupted by callers, and Doctor Heath left
+rather abruptly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Who were these callers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte and his son."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you any reason for thinking that Doctor Heath purposely avoided a
+meeting with these gentlemen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at that time;" flushing slightly.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Miss Wardour."</p>
+
+<p>She resumes her story, telling all that she can remember of the call, of
+Frank's return, and of Sybil's letter.</p>
+
+<p>"About this letter, I would rather not speak, Mr. Wedron; it can not
+affect the case."</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>does</i> affect the case," he replies quickly. "Pray omit no details
+just here."</p>
+
+<p>She resumes: telling the story of that long day, of Clifford Heath's
+second visit, and of the news of Sybil Lamotte's flight.</p>
+
+<p>She tells how, at sunset, she opened the strange letter, and how,
+bewildered and startled out of herself, she put it into Clifford Heath's
+hands, and called upon him to advise her.</p>
+
+<p>Almost word for word she repeats his comments, and then she hesitates.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," says Mr. Wedron, impatiently; "what happened next?"</p>
+
+<p>Next she tells of the sudden appearance of the strange detective; and
+here O'Meara seems very much interested, and Mr. Wedron very little.</p>
+
+<p>He does not interrupt her, nor display much interest, until she reaches
+the point in her narrative when she discovers the loss of Sybil's
+letter.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" he cries, as she hesitates once more. "Go on! go on! about that
+letter."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," says Constance, contritely, "here, if I could, I would
+spare myself. When Doctor Heath came, to return the bottle borrowed by
+the detective, I accused him of taking the letter."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" starting violently; "you suspected him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I insulted him."</p>
+
+<p>"And he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He resented the insult in the only way possible to a gentleman. He
+accepted it in silence, and turned his back upon me."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! and since that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Since that time I have received no intimation that Doctor Heath is
+aware of my existence."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah-h-h!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "and you have not found the letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Its fate remains a mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you still believe that Doctor Heath could account for its
+disappearance, if he would?"</p>
+
+<p>"On sober second thought, I could see no motive for taking the letter.
+I was hasty in my accusation. I came to that decision long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"You were deeply grieved over the <i>mesalliance</i> of Miss Lamotte?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was my dearest friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Was?" inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>Constance pales slightly, but does not correct herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Lamotte's strange marriage has been since explained, I believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>No, sir!</i> not to my satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"What! Was it not to save a scapegrace brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, sir! That scapegrace brother is the one of all that family most
+worthy your respect and mine. You wish me to tell you of the family; let
+me begin with Evan."</p>
+
+<p>Beginning where she had dropped her story, Constance goes on. She
+outlines the visits of the two detectives; she tells how Frank Lamotte
+received the news of his sister's flight.</p>
+
+<p>Then she paints in glowing, enthusiastic language, the interview with
+Evan in the garden. She pictures his grief, his rage, his plea that she
+will stand fast as his sister's friend and champion. She repeats his odd
+language; describes his sudden change of manner; his declaration that he
+will find a reason for Sybil's conduct, that shall shield Sybil, and be
+acceptable to all.</p>
+
+<p>Then she tells how the rumor that Sybil had sacrificed herself for
+Evan's sake grew and spread, and how the boy had sanctioned the report.
+How he had come to her the second time to claim her promise, and
+announce the time for its fulfillment.</p>
+
+<p>"To-day," she says, with moist eyes, "Evan Lamotte lies on a drunkard's
+bed; liquor has been his curse. Morally he is weaker than water; but he
+has, under all that weakness, the elements that go to make a hero. All
+that he had, he sacrificed for his sister. Degraded by drink as he was,
+he could still feel his superiority to the man Burrill; yet, for Sybil's
+sake, to relieve her of his brutal presence, Evan became his companion,
+and passed long hours in the society that he loathed."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "ah-h-h!" then he closes his lips, and
+Constance resumes.</p>
+
+<p>She tells next how she became weary of the search for the Wardour
+diamonds; how she sought to withdraw private detective Belknap; and how
+that individual had endeavored to implicate Doctor Heath, and had
+finally accused him; how she had temporized, and sent for officer
+Bathurst; and how, during the three days of waiting, she had sent Ray
+Vandyck to watch over Clifford Heath. She finishes her story without
+interruption, carrying it up to the very day of the murder. Then she
+pauses, dreading further questioning.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Wedron asks no questions, and makes no comment. He fidgets in
+his chair, and seems anxious to end the interview.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Miss Wardour," he says, rising briskly, "you have been an
+invaluable witness; and I feel like telling you, that&mdash;thanks to you, I
+hope soon to put my hand upon the guilty party, and open the prison
+doors for Heath."</p>
+
+<p>She utters a low cry.</p>
+
+<p>"My God! What have I said!" she cries wildly. "Listen, sir; Clifford
+Heath must, and shall, be free; but&mdash;you must never drag to justice the
+true culprit; you <i>never shall</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>She is on her feet facing Mr. Wedron, a look of startled defiance in her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He is gazing at her with the look of a man who has discovered a secret.
+Suddenly he comes close beside her, and says, in low, significant tones:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us understand each other; one of two must suffer for this crime.
+Shall it be Clifford Heath, the innocent, or&mdash;<i>Frank Lamotte</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>She reels and clutches wildly at a chair for support.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank Lamotte!" she gasps, "<i>Frank</i>, Oh! No! No! It must not be him!
+Oh! You do not understand; you can not."</p>
+
+<p>She pauses, affrighted and gasping. Then her lips close suddenly, and
+she struggles fiercely to regain her composure. After a little she turns
+to Mr. O'Meara, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard me say that Mr. Bathurst, the detective, and friend of
+Doctor Heath, was, not long since, in W&mdash;&mdash;; he may be here still; I do
+not know. But he must be found; he is the only man who can do what
+<i>must</i> be done. For I repeat, Doctor Heath must be saved, and the true
+criminal must <i>not</i> be punished. My entire fortune is at your command;
+find this detective, for my hands are tied; and he <i>must</i>, he <span class="smcap">MUST</span>, find
+a way to save both guilty and innocent."</p>
+
+<p>"This is getting too deep for me, Wedron," says O'Meara, when the door
+has closed behind Constance. "What does it lead up to? For I take it
+your tactics mean something."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wedron laughs a low, mellow laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Things are shaping themselves to my liking," he says, rubbing his hands
+briskly. "We are almost done floundering, O'Meara. Thanks to Miss
+Wardour, I know where to put my hand when the right time comes."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>"You will very soon. Now hear a prophecy: Before to-morrow night,
+Clifford Heath will send for you, and lay before you a plan for his
+defence. He will manifest a sudden desire to live."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO PASSENGERS WEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Late that night a man is walking slowly up and down the little footpath
+that leads from the highway, just opposite Mapleton, down to the river
+and close past that pretty, white boat house belonging to the Lamotte
+domain.</p>
+
+<p>He is very patient, very tranquil in his movements, and quite
+unconscious that, crouched in the shadow, not far away, a small figure
+notes his every action.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a second form emerges from the gloom that hangs over the gates
+of Mapleton, and comes down toward the river. Just beside the boat house
+it pauses and waits the man's approach.</p>
+
+<p>The new comer is a woman. The night is not so dark but that her form is
+distinctly visible to the hidden watcher.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," says the man, coming close beside her, "I am here&mdash;madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," whispers the woman. "Have you&mdash;" she hesitates.</p>
+
+<p>"Accomplished my task?" he finishes the sentence. "Have you not proof up
+yonder that the work is done?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman trembles from head to foot, and draws farther away.</p>
+
+<p>"I am only waiting to receive what is now due me," the man resumes. "You
+need have no fears as to the future; like Abraham, you have been
+provided with a lamb for the sacrifice."</p>
+
+<p>Again a shudder shakes the form of the woman, but she does not speak.</p>
+
+<p>"I must trouble you to do me a favor, Mrs. Burrill," the man goes on.
+"It is necessary that I should see the honorable Mr. Lamotte. So, if you
+will be so good as to admit me to Mapleton to-night, under cover of this
+darkness, and contrive an interview without disturbing the other
+inmates, you will greatly oblige me; but first, my two thousand dollars,
+if you please."</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden movement the woman flings back the cloak that has been
+drawn close about her face, and strikes with her hand upon the timbers
+of the boat house.</p>
+
+<p>There is a crackling sound, a flash of light, and then the slow blaze of
+a parlor match.</p>
+
+<p>By its light they gaze upon each other, and then the man mutters a
+curse.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap, it is I."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs39" id="gs39"></a>
+<img src="images/gs39.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Mr. Belknap, it is I.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>There is a moment's silence, and then she speaks again:</p>
+
+<p>"You are disappointed, Mr. Belknap; you expected to meet another, who
+would pay you your price for&mdash;you know what. You will not see that other
+one; she is hovering between life and death, and her delirious ravings
+have revealed you in your true character. You may wonder how I have
+dared thus to brave an assassin, a blackmailer. I am not reckless. If I
+do not return in ten minutes, safe and sound, the boat house will be
+speedily searched and you, Mr. Belknap, will be hunted as you may have
+hunted others. Not long since you made terms with me, you attempted
+coercion, I might say blackmail; to-night, it is in my power to bridle
+your tongue, and I tell you, that, unless you leave W&mdash;&mdash; at once, you
+will find yourself a resident here against your will. Consider your
+business in W&mdash;&mdash; at an end. This is not a safe place for you."</p>
+
+<p>With the last words on her lips, she turns and speeds swiftly back
+toward Mapleton, and Jerry Belknap, private detective, stands
+transfixed, gazing at the spot from which she has fled, and muttering
+curses not good to hear.</p>
+
+<p>He makes no attempt to follow her. He recognizes the fact that he is
+baffled, and, for the time at least, defeated. Grinding out curses as he
+goes, he turns his steps toward W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>Then, from out the shadows of the boat house, a small bundle uncoils
+itself, stands erect, and then moves forward as if in pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>But, something else rises up from the ground, directly in the path of
+this small shadow; a long, slender body displays itself, and a voice
+whispers close to the ears of the smaller watcher:</p>
+
+<p>"Remain here, George, and keep a close eye on the house. I will look
+after <i>him</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Then the shadows separate; the taller one follows in the wake of the
+disconsolate detective.</p>
+
+<p>The other, scaling the park palings like a cat, vanishes in the darkness
+that surrounds Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>The reflections of Jerry Belknap, private detective, as he goes, with
+moody brow, and tightly compressed lips, across the pretty river bridge,
+and back toward his hotel, are far from pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>He is a shrewd man, and has engineered many a knotty case to a
+successful issue, thereby covering himself with glory. This was in the
+past, however; in the days when he had been regularly attached to a
+strong and reliable detective agency.</p>
+
+<p>For tact, energy, ambition, he had no peer; but one day his career had
+been nipped in the bud.</p>
+
+<p>A young man, equally talented, and far more honorable, had caused his
+overthrow; and yet had saved him from the worst that might have befallen
+him. And, Jerry Belknap, had stepped down from an honorable position,
+and, determined to make his power, experience, and acknowledged
+abilities, serve him as the means of supplying his somewhat extravagant
+needs, had resolved himself into a "private detective," and betaken
+himself to "ways that are dark."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something at the bottom of this business that I don't
+understand," mused he as he paced onward; little thinking how soon he is
+to be enlightened on this and sundry other subjects. "I never felt more
+sanguine of bringing a crooked operation to a successful termination,
+and I never yet made such an abject failure. I shall make it my business
+to find out, and at once, what is this power behind the throne. So,
+according to Miss Wardour, may Satan fly away with her, I am not to
+approach the Lamotte's, I am to lose my reward, I am to retire from the
+field like a whipped cur. Miss Wardour, we shall see about that."</p>
+
+<p>"Call me for the early train going west," he says to the night clerk, on
+reaching the hotel; "let me see, what is the hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"The western train leaves very early, sir&mdash;at four twenty. Then you
+won't be here to witness Burrill's funeral? It will call everybody out.
+The circumstances attending the man's life and death will make it an
+event for W&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"It's an 'event' that won't interest me. If I have been rightly
+informed, the man is better, placed in his coffin, than he ever was in
+his boots. I shall leave my baggage here&mdash;all but a small valise. I
+expect to return to W&mdash;&mdash; soon. If anything occurs to change my plans, I
+will telegraph you and have it forwarded."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the door of the office opens and closes noisily, and a
+man comes rather unsteadily toward them. It is Smith, the book-peddler,
+and evidently much intoxicated.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Smith," says the night clerk, jocosely, as Mr. Belknap turns
+away, "you seem to have rheumatism, and I suspect you find more fun than
+business in W&mdash;&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Town ain't much on literature," retorts Mr. Smith, amiably, "but it's
+the devil and all for draw poker. I've raked in a pot, and I'm going on
+to the next pious town, so</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'If you are waking, call me early.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Old top, I'm going west."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME EXCELLENT ADVICE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Early on the following morning, there was unusual stir about Mapleton.
+John Burrill was to be buried that day, and the sad funeral preparations
+were going on. People were moving about, making the bustle the more
+noticeable by their visible efforts to step softly, and by the low
+monotonous hum of their voices.</p>
+
+<p>Up stairs, the usual quiet reigned.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil was sleeping under the influence of powerful opiates, administered
+to insure her against the possibility of being overheard in her ravings,
+or of waking to a realization of the events taking place below stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Evan, too, had been quieted by the use of brandy and morphine, and Mrs.
+Lamotte kept watch at his bedside, while Constance, in Sybil's chamber,
+maintained a similar vigil. Neither of the two watchers manifested any
+interest in the funeral preparations, nor did they feel any.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not be present at the burial," Mrs. Lamotte had said to her
+husband. "Sybil's illness and Evan's will furnish sufficient excuse,
+and&mdash;nothing constrains me to do honor to John Burrill <i>now</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte opened his lips to remonstrate, but catching a look upon the
+face of his wife that he had learned to its fullest meaning, he closed
+them again and went grimly below stairs, and, through all the day
+previous to the departure of the funeral cortege, Jasper Lamotte was the
+only member of that aristocratic family who was visible to the curious
+gaze of the strangers who attended upon the burial preparations.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the forenoon an unexpected delegation arrived at the entrance
+of Mapleton.</p>
+
+<p>First, came Doctor Benoit, driving alone in his time-honored gig, the
+only vehicle he had been seen to enter within the memory of W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>Close behind him, a carriage containing four gentlemen, all manifestly
+persons of more than ordinary importance, Mr. O'Meara, in fact, his
+colleague of the New York Bar, and two elderly, self-possessed
+strangers, evidently city men.</p>
+
+<p>They desired a few words with Mr. Lamotte, and that gentleman, after
+some hesitation and no little concern as to the nature of their business
+at such a time, presented himself before them, looking the
+personification of subdued sorrow and haughty reserve.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. O'Meara acted as spokesman for the party.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte," he began, with profound politeness and marked coldness of
+manner and speech, "I should apologize for our intrusion at such a time,
+were it not that our errand is one of gravest importance and can not be
+put off. Allow me to introduce to you Mr. Wedron, Doctor Gaylor and
+Professor Harrington, all of New York."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte recognized the strangers with haughty courtesy, and silently
+awaited disclosures.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Wedron and myself, as the representatives and counsel of Doctor
+Heath, have summoned from the city these two gentlemen, whom you must
+know by reputation, and we desire that they be allowed to examine the
+body of Mr. Burrill, in order to ascertain if the wounds upon the body
+were actually made by the knife found with it."</p>
+
+<p>The countenance of Mr. Lamotte darkened perceptibly.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me," he said, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "that
+this is an unwarrantable and useless proceeding&mdash;doubly so at this late
+hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, it is a necessary one," broke in Mr. Wedron, crisply. "It
+is presumable that you can have no personal enmity against Doctor Heath,
+sir; therefore you can have no reason for opposing measures instigated
+by justice. The examination will be a brief one."</p>
+
+<p>The resolute tone of his voice, no less than his words, brought Jasper
+Lamotte to his senses.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, I have no wish to oppose the ends of justice," he said, in a
+tone which, in spite of himself, was most ungracious. "Such an
+investigation is naturally distasteful to me. Nevertheless, you may
+proceed, gentlemen, but I should not like the ladies of my household to
+discover what is going on. They are sufficiently nervous already. If you
+will excuse me for a moment, I will go up and request them to remain in
+their rooms for the present. After that, you are at liberty to
+proceed."</p>
+
+<p>They all seat themselves gravely, and Mr. Lamotte, taking this as a
+quiet acquiescence, goes out, and softly but swiftly up the broad
+stairs; not to the rooms occupied by the ladies, however, but straight
+on to Frank's room, where that young man has remained in solitude, ever
+since his unusually early breakfast hour.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," he says, entering quietly and closing the door with great care.
+"Frank, we have a delegation of doctors below stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"A delegation of doctors?" Frank repeats, parrot-like.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely; they want to examine the body."</p>
+
+<p>Frank comes slowly to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"To examine the body!" he repeats again. "In Heaven's name, <i>why</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"To ascertain, by examining the wounds on the body, if the knife found
+with it, is the knife that killed."</p>
+
+<p>A sickly hue overspreads Frank Lamotte's face, and he sits weakly down
+in the chair, from which he has just risen, saying never a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, eyeing his son sharply. "Do you see any
+reason why this investigation should not take place; supposing that it
+were yet in our power to hinder it?"</p>
+
+<p>A silence that lasts many seconds, then:</p>
+
+<p>"It is <i>not</i> in our power to hinder it," says Frank, in a hollow voice;
+"neither would it be policy. Let the play go on," and he turns his face
+away with a weary gesture.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, Jasper Lamotte stands gazing at his son; a puzzled look on
+his face; then he turns and goes out as softly as he came.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," he says, re-entering the library, with the same subdued
+manner, "you are at liberty to proceed with your examination, and, if I
+may suggest, it is as well to lose no time. The funeral takes place at
+two o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>They arise simultaneously, and without more words, follow Jasper Lamotte
+to the room of death.</p>
+
+<p>At the door, Mr. Wedron halts.</p>
+
+<p>"I will remain on the balcony," he says to Mr. O'Meara, but sufficiently
+loud to be heard by all the rest, "I never could endure the sight of a
+corpse." And he turns abruptly, and goes out through the open doorway;
+taking up a position on the broad piazza, and turning his gaze toward
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte is less sensitive, however; he enters with the others,
+and stands beside O'Meara, while the physicians do their work.</p>
+
+<p>"At least," he thinks, "I'll know what they are about, and what their
+verdict is."</p>
+
+<p>But in this he is disappointed. They have brought with them a surgeon's
+knife; the precise counterpart of the one now in possession of the
+prosecution, and of the same manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>One by one they examine, they compare, they probe, and all in silence.
+Then they turn toward O'Meara.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe we have finished," says Professor Harrington.</p>
+
+<p>"And the result?" asks Jasper Lamotte, eagerly, in spite of himself.</p>
+
+<p>"That," replies Mr. O'Meara, with elaborate <i>nonchalance</i>, "will be made
+known at the trial. Mr. Lamotte, we trust that you will pardon this most
+necessary intrusion, and we wish you a very good morning."</p>
+
+<p>The examination has been a very brief affair; it is just ten o'clock
+when the four unwelcome guests drive away.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Benoit does not accompany them; he goes up-stairs to visit his
+patients.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte asks him no questions. He knows that Doctor Benoit is a
+man of honor and that he will keep his professional secrets. So he goes
+sulkily back to his library.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later a rough, uncouth looking man appears at the servants'
+entrance, and asks to see Mr. Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm one of his workmen," he says, very gravely, "and I want to see him
+particular."</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte is in no mood for receiving visitors, but he is, just
+now, in a position where he can not, with safety, follow the dictates of
+his haughty nature.</p>
+
+<p>He is filled with suspicion; surrounded by a mystery he can not fathom;
+and, a man who begs for an audience at such an hour, must have an
+extraordinary errand. Reasoning thus, he says, crustily:</p>
+
+<p>"Show the fellow here."</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the man shuffles into the room. Mr. Lamotte glances up,
+and his brow darkens ominously.</p>
+
+<p>"Brooks!" he exclaims. "What the mischief&mdash;" he checks himself, then
+adds, ungraciously: "What do <i>you</i> want?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte, I beg your pardon, sir," says the man, a trifle thickly.
+"I came back to W&mdash;&mdash; last night, and heard of the awful things, as has
+happened here. Now, I always liked Burrill, in spite of his weakness,
+for <i>I</i> ain't the man to criticise such failin's. I've been down among
+the factory people, and I've heard them talk; and, thinks I to myself,
+there's some things as Mr. Lamotte ought to know. You've always paid me
+my wages, sir; and treated me fair; and I believe you've treated all the
+hands the same; but&mdash;there's <i>some</i> people as must always have their
+fling at every body, as the Lord has seen fit to set over their heads;
+and&mdash;there's some of them sort in Mill avenue."</p>
+
+<p>During this harangue the countenance of Jasper Lamotte has grown less
+supercilious, but not less curious.</p>
+
+<p>"Explain yourself, Brooks," he says, quite graciously, and with some
+inward uneasiness. "I do not comprehend your meaning."</p>
+
+<p>"If I had come to your servants and asked to see the body of my old
+chum," begins Brooks, with a knowing look, and drawing near Mr. Lamotte,
+"they would have ordered me off, and shut the door in my face; so I just
+asked to see <i>you</i> on particular business. But if you was to ring your
+bell, by and by, and order one of your servants to take me in to look
+at the corpse, I could explain to them what an old friend I was, and
+that would settle the curiosity business."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't it strike you, Brooks, that you don't cut much of a figure, to
+appear as the friend of my son-in-law?" questions Mr. Lamotte, looking
+some disfavor at the <i>ensemble</i> before him.</p>
+
+<p>Brooks buries his chin in his bosom, in order to survey his soiled
+linen; looks down at his dingy boots; runs his fingers through his shock
+of coarse red hair.</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't much of a feller to look at; but that's because I ain't been as
+lucky as Burrill was; though I ain't anxious to change places with him
+now. I'll fix the friendship business to suit you, sir, and be proper
+respectful about it. Say Burrill was my boss, or something of that sort.
+I shouldn't like to have certain parties know my <i>real</i> business here,
+and I <i>should</i> like to take a look at Burrill on my own account."</p>
+
+<p>There is a ring of sarcasm in the first words of this speech, and Mr.
+Lamotte reflects that he has not yet learned his errand.</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, Brooks, you shall see the body, and manage the rest as
+delicately as possible, please. You know we want no ill spoken of the
+dead. Now, then, your real business, for," consulting his watch, "time
+presses."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it does, sir, and I won't waste any words. You see, sir, beggin'
+your pardon for mentionin' of it, Burrill has got another wife, a
+divorced one, I mean, livin' down at the avenue. She works in Story's
+mill now, but she used to work in yours before&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," impatiently. "Get on faster, Brooks."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, sir, since her husband&mdash;I mean since <i>Mr. Burrill</i> was
+killed, she has been cuttin' up rough, and lettin' out a many things as
+you wouldn't like to have get all over W&mdash;&mdash;. She ain't afraid of him no
+more (he did beat her monstrous), and when she gets to takin' on, she
+lets out things that would sound bad about your son-in-law. If it was a
+common chap like me, it wouldn't matter; but I thinks to myself, now,
+Brooks, this 'ere woman who can't hold her tongue will be hauled up as a
+witness for Doctor Heath. I ain't got nothing against Doctor Heath, but
+I says, it will be awful humblin' to Mr. Lamotte's pride, and powerful
+hard on his pretty daughter; so I jest come to say that if Nance Burrill
+could be got to go away, quiet like, before the other parties could get
+their hands on her, why, it would be a good thing, Mr. Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Considering the tender solicitude he feels for "Mr. Lamotte's pride," he
+has given it some pretty hard knocks, but he looks quite innocent, and
+incapable of any sinister intent, and Mr. Lamotte, after gnawing his lip
+viciously for a moment and favoring his <i>vis-&agrave;-vis</i> with a sharp glance
+of suspicion, says, with sudden condescension:</p>
+
+<p>"Brooks, I've always been inclined to believe you a pretty good sort of
+fellow, but really this singular disinterestedness almost makes me
+suspect your motive. Stop," as Brooks elevates his head and suddenly
+faces toward the door. "Hear me out. Brooks, don't be ashamed to
+confess it. Did the thought of a reward stimulate you to do me
+this&mdash;favor?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it's a favor, sir, you take it very uppish," retorts Brooks sulkily,
+and edging slowly toward the door. "I'm a poor man, sir, but I ain't bad
+enough to come to you with a trumped-up story, and if I happened to
+think that in case you found things as I tell you, you might reward me
+by and by with a ten-dollar note, why, I don't think there is much harm
+in that. I liked you and your ways, and wanted to do you a good turn,
+and if I wanted to do myself a good turn, too, why, there's nater in
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"There's nature in that, true enough. Brooks, I wish I had time to hear
+all the particulars of this affair."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to give them, sir," replies the man, hastily. "No more
+would it be fair for me to do so. I've got some fair friends among the
+Mill avenue folks. I've come back to W&mdash;&mdash;, because I couldn't get on
+anywhere else; and I've come back broke. The factory folks will trust me
+to a night's lodging, when their betters wouldn't. I've told you enough
+to open your eyes, sir; and you can look into the thing for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>To "look into the thing" for himself, is precisely what Jasper Lamotte
+is not inclined to do; so he says, with growing convictions, and
+increasing friendliness of manner:</p>
+
+<p>"At least, Brooks, you can give me an idea of the nature of the stories
+this woman will tell, if brought into court?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord knows what she won't tell, sir; she blows hot, and blows cold.
+One minute she tells how he was a fairly good husband, until he got into
+the hands of some city gang, while they lived in New York; and next she
+raves over all his misdeeds, tells how he was compelled to quit England,
+or be jugged up; how he forced her into divorcing him; how he bragged
+over the strong influence he had over you and all your family; how he
+came to her house time and again, after he was married to your gal; and
+how he promised her 'pots of old Lamotte's money;' them's her words,
+sir, 'pots of old Lamotte's money, and heaps of diamonds, for the sake
+of old times,' when he was drunk enough to be good natured; and how he
+beat her, and I can testify to that, when he was a little drunker."</p>
+
+<p>"Brooks," says Mr. Lamotte, springing a last trap; "do you suppose <i>you</i>
+could manage this business of getting away the woman, if I paid you
+well, and gave you a bribe for her?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. I couldn't do it. I am so well known about Mill avenue; it
+won't do for a poor broke up devil to turn up flush all at once. I don't
+want nothing to do with the affair. I've done all I can do."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte slowly draws forth his wallet, and slowly opens it.</p>
+
+<p>"Brooks, here is twenty-five dollars; I've not much money by me; I'll
+look into this matter, and do more for you after we get quiet again.
+Meantime, you can have the first vacancy at the factory; I'll see to
+that at once."</p>
+
+<p>"And I'll try and be sober, sir, and ready for it. Now, then, I've been
+here a good many minutes; you'd better let me take a look at the corpse,
+and be off."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BELKNAP OUTWITTED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"If you please, Mr. Lamotte," said that gentleman's coachman, appearing
+before his master, less than an hour before the time appointed for the
+moving of the funeral cortege, and looking much confused. "If you
+please, sir, I've had a misfortune with my hand, sir; at least, my
+wrist; it's sort of sprained, and I most fear I can't handle the reins
+proper, for the horses is mighty full of life, bein' so little used of
+late."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," broke in Mr. Lamotte. "I suppose you can get a man to fill
+your place?"</p>
+
+<p>The man's countenance brightened at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, sir; I've the very man right on hand. A friend of mine, and a
+master one with horses."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him take your place then, and see that every thing is in proper
+order."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right," said the coachman, returning to the stables, and
+addressing a man who leaned against the loose box, where two blooded
+carriage horses were undergoing the currying process. "It's all right;
+you can drive the horses."</p>
+
+<p>"Cap'n you're a good fellow," said the man, enthusiastically, "and
+here's your ten dollars. It's a favor I'll never forget, mind, for
+many's the day I've driven the beauties, before Squire McInnis went up,
+and we all had to go."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs40" id="gs40"></a>
+<img src="images/gs40.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Cap'n, you're a good fellow.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"That was a big failure," replied the coachman, knowingly. "You just see
+that the horses are done off all right, won't you? I must look after the
+carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"It was lucky for me that I happened to know the history of these
+horses," mused Jerry Belknap, for he it was who leaned confidingly over
+to stroke the sleek sides of one of the splendid bays, and who had
+bribed Mr. Lamotte's coachman with a ten dollar bill. "If I drive the
+Lamottes, I'm sure of a hearing, and no audience; at the worst if they
+should take in a third party, but they won't, I can find a way to make
+myself and my wants known." And he sauntered across to the carriage
+house and critically inspected the splendid landau that was being rolled
+out upon the gravel.</p>
+
+<p>He had returned to W&mdash;&mdash; on foot, from a near railway station, reaching
+the town within five hours from the time he left it.</p>
+
+<p>During this time, however, his personal appearance had undergone a
+marked change. He was rubicund, and more youthful of countenance;
+shabbily smart in dress; excessively "horsey," and somewhat loud in
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>During his intercourse with the Lamottes he had learned, from Frank,
+that their blooded bays had once been the property of a wealthy and
+prominent citizen of New York, who having failed, after the modern
+fashion, had given Jasper Lamotte the first bid for the valuable span.
+Given thus much, the rest was easy. Representing himself as a former
+coachman of this bankrupt New Yorker, he had told his little story. He
+was looking about him for a place in which to open a "small, but neat"
+livery stable, had wandered into W&mdash;&mdash; that morning, and having
+considerable cash about him, all his savings in fact, he had not cared
+to tempt robbers, by appearing too "high toned."</p>
+
+<p>Of course he had heard at once of the murder, and then remembered that
+Lamotte was the name of the gentleman who had bought his favorite horses
+from his former master.</p>
+
+<p>"I never pulled reins over a span equal to 'em," he said, with much
+pathos. "I never had the same liking for any other pair of critters;
+they was the apple of my eye, and I'd give just ten dollars to draw
+reins over 'em once more&mdash;even to a funeral."</p>
+
+<p>His little ruse was successful; the bait was instantly swallowed, and
+Jerry Belknap glanced maliciously up at the closely curtained chamber
+windows, and muttered, as he began to saunter slowly up and down before
+the stable door:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, you won't find it so easy to outwit an old detective,
+even with the odds in your favor."</p>
+
+<p>Just as the horses were being led out from the stable, a quiet-looking
+young man, with a somewhat rustic air, came into the yard, and
+approached the group near the carriage house.</p>
+
+<p>"Who comes here?" asked the disguised Belknap, in a low tone, addressing
+the coachman.</p>
+
+<p>"More than I know," replied that functionary. Then laying down a
+halter, just removed from the head of one of the pawing, restless
+horses, he turned toward the new comer, saying, patronizingly:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my man, can we do anything for you?"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger appeared somewhat abashed.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I ain't in the way, gentlemen," he said, respectfully; "I came
+from Wardour with a message for Miss Constance. It's from the old lady,
+and as I see the carriages are coming and the hearse, I just thought I'd
+wait till the funeral was gone before I intruded."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said the coachman, more graciously. "Well, you won't have long to
+wait, then; the time's about up, and Mr. Lamotte is never behind time."
+Then he turned to Mr. Belknap.</p>
+
+<p>"You must keep a close eye over the off one," he said; "he's full of
+Cain; and I say, what a lucky thing it is that your clothes are dark,
+and that Mrs. Lamotte won't let us wear full liveries."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, it's very lucky, that's so; just throw over those reins, will
+you. Don't be uneasy in your mind about that horse; I'll drive 'em safe
+enough; just you tell me when to start."</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later, all that remained of John Burrill was borne out in
+its costly casket and placed in the splendid hearse at the door.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he was about to cross his own threshold, Jasper Lamotte was
+confronted by a young man who pressed into his hand a slip of paper, and
+whispered in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Read it at once, sir; it's of vital importance <i>to you</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Stifling an exclamation, Jasper Lamotte unfolded and glanced at the slip
+of paper. It contained these words:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The man who will drive your carriage is a cursed New York
+detective, who has bribed your coachman.</p>
+
+<p>Don't give him the opportunity he hopes to gain for watching and
+listening to yourself and son.</p>
+
+<p>The bearer of this can be trusted. <span class="smcap">Belknap.</span></p></div>
+
+<p>By the time he had mastered the meaning of the note, the hearse had
+moved forward and the pall-bearers were taking their places.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Lamotte carriage came into view. Mr. Lamotte placed the note in
+the hand of his son, who stood close beside him, and descended the
+steps, a stern look on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, come down off that box," he said to the self-satisfied
+substitute procured him by his coachman.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs41" id="gs41"></a>
+<img src="images/gs41.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">My friend, come down off that.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The man on the box stared down at him in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"But, sir," he began.</p>
+
+<p>"I want no words from you, sir; you can't drive my horses. Come down
+instantly."</p>
+
+<p>The discomfited Belknap writhed in his seat, and looked about him
+helplessly.</p>
+
+<p>Before were the pall-bearers, looking back from their open vehicle, and
+noting the scene; on the steps, and within easy hearing distance, were
+gathered the small knot of gentlemen, who, for courtesy's sake, or for
+policy's sake, had gathered to do honor to Mr. Lamotte, rather than to
+the poor rosewood shrouded thing that had never a mourner.</p>
+
+<p>He could not explain; he could not make himself known.</p>
+
+<p>"I will have you thrown off that box, sir; if you hesitate ten seconds
+longer," exclaimed Mr. Lamotte, impatiently, at the same time moving
+away and beckoning to the driver of the next carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Fate was against him, and muttering curses, "not loud but deep," Jerry
+Belknap began to clamber reluctantly down.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte turned toward the bearer of the mischievous
+note, who had withdrawn a few paces from the group near the carriage,
+and beckoned him to approach.</p>
+
+<p>He came forward promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you drive, my man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," respectfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Then do me the favor to mount that box and drive my horses this
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"And you, sir," turning to poor Belknap, "get off my premises and keep
+off."</p>
+
+<p>And so it came about that Jerry Belknap, private detective, found
+himself once more outwitted, and "Mr. Smith, the book-peddler," drove
+the carriage containing John Burrill's chief mourners.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon this little scene, gentlemen," said Mr. Lamotte, turning to his
+friends, "but I happen to know that the man I dismissed is drunk."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later a servant tapped softly at the door where Constance
+kept watch, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"There's a boy below, Miss Wardour, who says he has an important message
+for you, and must deliver it in person."</p>
+
+<p>Constance went immediately down to find our old friend George, the image
+boy, in the hall below.</p>
+
+<p>She smiled at sight of him, hoping to obtain some news of Bathurst. But
+he only bowed, as if to a queen, placed in her hand a small, sealed
+envelope; and before she could utter a word, she was standing alone in
+the crape-hung hall, while the boy's steps could be heard ringing on the
+stones outside.</p>
+
+<p>Standing there, Constance hastily opened the envelope. It contained a
+letter and a scrap of paper. Glancing first at the scrap, she read these
+words:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Miss Wardour</span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Enclosed find a letter, which, for reasons which I shall explain
+later, I pilfered from you on the night of our first meeting. It
+has accomplished the purpose for which I took it, and I hasten to
+restore it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bathurst.</span></p></div>
+
+<p>Constance turned her eye once more upon the paper in her hand, looked
+closer and exclaimed: "It is; it is Sybil's lost letter!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>"WILL LOVE OUTWEIGH HONOR?"</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Dr. Heath, here is another visitor."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath turned slowly away from the small iron-barred window; he
+looked a trifle disturbed by this announcement, for he had just been
+interviewed by Mr. O'Meara, who for the first time had presented Mr.
+Wedron, and the two had left him much to think about.</p>
+
+<p>The look of annoyance left his face, however, and a stare of surprise
+took its place, when, following upon the footsteps of the janitor, came
+Constance Wardour, not closely veiled and drooping, after the manner of
+prison-visiting females in orthodox novels, but with her fair face
+unconcealed, and her graceful figure at its proudest poise.</p>
+
+<p>The haughtiness all departed from face and bearing, however, when the
+door closed behind her and she found herself alone with the man she had
+falsely accused.</p>
+
+<p>Misfortune had not humbled Clifford Heath. When the first momentary look
+of surprise had left his face, he stood before her as proudly erect, as
+icily courteous, as if he were receiving her in his own parlor.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath," began Constance, in low, contrite tones, "some months
+ago I brought a wrongful accusation against you. I wronged you deeply;
+let me do myself the justice to say that almost immediately I was
+convinced of the injustice I had done you, of the utter insanity of my
+own behavior, but&mdash;" blushing rosily, "I never found the letter, and how
+could I come to you and say, I have changed my mind, without a reason.
+Less than an hour ago, this note was put into my hands, and with it that
+unfortunate lost letter. This enables me to say,&mdash;Doctor Heath, I deeply
+regret the insult I offered you, and I ask you to be magnanimous, and to
+pardon me."</p>
+
+<p>She put the note in his hand, and he read it, without uttering a word;
+stood silent for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts, and then said:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, I am glad that this affair has been cleared up; when a
+man has so many dark shadows hanging over him, he is thankful for the
+smallest glimpse of sunlight. It is like your generosity to come in
+person."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not said that you forgive me, Doctor Heath; fully and
+freely, remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Fully and freely I forgive you, then, Miss Wardour," smilingly, he
+replied. "After all, the mistake was a natural one. Since I have been an
+inmate of this cell, I have learned to see myself as others see me. Why
+should I not come under suspicion, especially after hearing my words to
+Bathurst? By the by, this note from Bathurst, you tell me that you
+received it to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-day; since noon."</p>
+
+<p>"And it is dated to-day; then," looking at her questioningly, "Bathurst
+must be in town."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," dropping her eyes, confusedly. "That is, I think so;" and
+scarcely heeding her own movements, she seated herself in the doctor's
+chair, and, leaning one arm against the table, looked up into his face,
+saying with a spice of her old manner, so familiar to him in the past:</p>
+
+<p>"Having forgiven me so generously, Doctor Heath, don't you think it
+would be quite proper to shake hands?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked down upon her, a strange light leaping into his eyes. But he
+did not approach. He lifted a large, shapely hand, and surveyed it
+sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>looks</i> as clean as any hand, Miss Wardour, but there is a stain
+upon it."</p>
+
+<p>"A stain! No, sir. Do you think that <i>I</i> believe in your guilt?"</p>
+
+<p>Again the quick light flamed in his eyes, and now he came a step nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe in my innocence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Beyond a doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"When I said 'there is a stain upon my hand,' I did not mean the stain
+of guilt, but of suspicion, of accusation."</p>
+
+<p>"There is <i>no</i> stain upon your hand! Doctor Heath. What is this I hear
+about you? They tell me you will make no defense."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled down at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I could make but one defense, and that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And that?"</p>
+
+<p>"And that, Miss Wardour, I would not make."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>She was straining every nerve to preserve her composure; words came from
+her lips like frozen heartbeats.</p>
+
+<p>"Because&mdash;Miss Wardour, do not ask me why."</p>
+
+<p>"I do ask; I persist. Why? Why? <i>Why?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Because&mdash;I see you are as imperious as ever&mdash;because I can only save
+myself by giving the real murderer up to justice."</p>
+
+<p>She was on her feet in an instant, all her enforced calmness gone,
+unutterable misery in her face and voice.</p>
+
+<p>"You know!" she cried. "You! Oh! my God, what shall I do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Have no fear, Miss Wardour; have I not said I will keep my own
+counsel?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, you! <i>You!</i> Oh, there is no reason why <i>you</i> should not speak; you
+are not bound! You are not&mdash;oh, what am I saying!" She sank back into
+her seat, panting and wild-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, calm yourself," he said, gently. "I <i>am</i> bound. It is my
+pleasure to keep this secret. Listen. A short time ago I received a
+visit from my lawyers. They told me&mdash;among other things, they thought it
+best that I should know&mdash;that you knew who did the deed, and that you
+would have us both saved, innocent and guilty alike. Before that, I had
+determined to keep silence; now I am doubly resolved. For your sake, I
+will not accuse Frank Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>"Frank&mdash;you will not accuse <i>Frank Lamotte</i>? And for my sake!" she
+almost shrieked. "For God's sake, explain. What is Frank Lamotte to me?
+Of what can you accuse him?"</p>
+
+<p>It was Clifford Heath's turn to lose his composure. How could he
+interpret her words? Was she trying to deceive him?</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour," he said, almost sternly, "do you wish me to understand
+that Francis Lamotte is nothing to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Nothing to me!</i> the vilest, the basest, the most treacherous, the most
+abject of all human creatures, <i>that</i> is what Frank Lamotte is to me!"</p>
+
+<p>Uncontrollable scorn rang in her voice; rising anger, too. How dared
+<i>he</i> couple her name with that of Frank Lamotte?</p>
+
+<p>From the chaos of meanings and mysteries revolving through his mind,
+Clifford Heath seized upon and clung to one idea, held it in silence for
+a moment, then let it burst forth in words.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then you are not Frank Lamotte's promised wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I!</i> great heavens! <i>no.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"And never have been?"</p>
+
+<p>"And never have been."</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath drew a long, deep breath. For a moment a look of gladness
+beamed in his eye, then it died out suddenly, as he said, almost
+gloomily:</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, you have said that he must be saved at all hazards. Knowing
+his guilt, I still am here in his place."</p>
+
+<p>"In his place, oh," she came toward him with a swift, eager movement, "I
+begin to see! Doctor Heath, you think Frank Lamotte the guilty one?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," grimly.</p>
+
+<p>A look of relief came over her face. She breathed freely.</p>
+
+<p>"You believe this," she said at last, "and yet you are here. If you have
+evidence against Frank Lamotte, why do you occupy a felon's cell? Why
+not put him in your place?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have told you why. It was for your sake."</p>
+
+<p>She lowered her eyes and drew back a little, but he followed her, and,
+standing before her, looked down into her face with a persistent,
+searching gaze. "You must understand me now," he said firmly, "when I
+believed that you loved Frank Lamotte, I said 'Then I will not stand
+forth and accuse the man she loves, for&mdash;I love her, and she must not be
+unhappy.'"</p>
+
+<p>A great sob rose in her throat. A wave of crimson swept over her brow.
+She stood before him with clasped hands and drooping head.</p>
+
+<p>"But for that meddlesome slip of paper," he went on, "I should not have
+been driven from the field, and this treachery of Lamotte's could never
+have been practiced upon me. Do you remember a certain day when you sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and he came to you from my office? Well, on that day
+Francis Lamotte told me that you were his promised wife, and when Ray
+came back, <i>he</i> verified the statement, having received the information
+from your lips. Once I hoped to come to you and say, after lifting for
+your eyes the veil of mystery, which I have allowed to envelope my past:
+'Constance Wardour, I love you; I want you for my very own, my wife!'
+Now, mountains have arisen between us; I can not offer you a hand with
+the shadow of a stain upon it; nor a name that is tarnished by doubt and
+suspicion. However this affair may end for me, that hope is ended now."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs42" id="gs42"></a>
+<img src="images/gs42.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">That hope is ended now.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>It had come; the decisive moment.</p>
+
+<p>She could go away now with sealed lips, and it would end indeed. She
+could turn away from him, leaving happiness behind her; taking with her
+his happiness, too; or, she could speak, and then&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She looked about her; and the bare walls and grated windows gave her
+strength to dare much. Had they stood together out under the broad
+bright sunlight; he as free as herself, she could have turned away
+mutely, and let her life go on as it would.</p>
+
+<p>Now&mdash;now his present was overshadowed; his future difficult to read.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Is</i> it ended?" she said, softly. Then, looking up with sudden,
+charming imperiousness. "You end things very selfishly, very coolly,
+Doctor Heath. I do not choose to have it ended."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour!&mdash;Constance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait; you say that your lawyers told of my visit to them, and that I
+would not have the guilty punished. What more did they tell you&mdash;about
+my doings?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very little; I could hardly understand why they told thus much."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they tell you that I learned, through a scheming rascal in the
+guise of a detective, that a plot was growing against you; that I sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and set him over you as a temporary guardian? And that
+I sent next for Detective Bathurst, warning him that you were surrounded
+by enemies. Did they tell you that, when I learned of your arrest, I
+left my place by Sybil Lamotte, who is delirious and yet clings to me
+constantly, and came to them, offering them all my fortune if they would
+only save me you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you do this&mdash;Constance?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have done this. Have I not earned the right, openly, before all the
+world, to be your champion, your truest friend, your&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My queen! my darling! my very own!"</p>
+
+<p>All his calm is gone, all his haughtiness of bearing; with one swift
+movement he snatches her to his heart, and she rests in his embrace,
+shocked at her own boldness, and unspeakably happy.</p>
+
+<p>Who dare intrude upon a lover's interview? Who dares to snatch the first
+coy love words from a maiden's lips, and give them to a world grown old
+in love making, and appraising each tender word by its own calloused old
+heart?</p>
+
+<p>For the time all is forgotten, save one fact, they love each other
+well.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, other thoughts come, forcing their way like unwelcome guests.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Constance," he says, after a long interval, "you have made me anything
+but indifferent to my fate. Now I shall begin to struggle for my
+freedom; but&mdash;do you realize what a network of false testimony they have
+woven about me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I realize it?" she cried. "Yes, far more than you do, or can,
+and&mdash;you said something about Frank Lamotte. Has he sought to injure
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Constance, I thought you knew," turning upon her a look of surprise. "I
+thought you knew his guilt. Who, but Frank Lamotte, could gain access to
+my office, to purloin my handkerchief and my knife? He had a duplicate
+key, and&mdash;<i>I found that key in the old cellar beside the body of John
+Burrill</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The look of perplexity on her face deepens into one of actual distress.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be, that after all, Frank had forestalled that other one?</p>
+
+<p>Back upon her memory came his words, "I can save him if I will." Where
+there is room for doubt there is room for hope. What if another hand had
+anticipated that of the paid assassin? She resolved to cling to this
+hope with desperation.</p>
+
+<p>If there was evidence so strong against Frank Lamotte, let him take her
+lover's place. Why not? She began to see many things in a new light; she
+peered forward, catching a view of the partial truth, "as in a glass,
+darkly." One thing was clear, however, they must act at once! No time
+must be lost!</p>
+
+<p>She sat before him thinking thus, yet seemingly powerless to act or
+speak!</p>
+
+<p>"Constance. Has the possibility of Frank Lamotte's guilt, overwhelmed
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"The possibility!" she exclaimed, starting up suddenly. "No. I know him
+capable of baser things than murder."</p>
+
+<p>"Of baser things! My darling, what do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me now; there is no time to waste in talking of him; I am
+going straight to your lawyers this moment; I am going to send them to
+you, and you shall tell them every thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Despot!" His eyes devouring her.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course! I am always that. They will say it is time some one took you
+in charge. Are you going to be dumb any more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never! My lips are unsealed from this hour; since you have dared to
+claim and take a share in my fate, and since I have not the courage to
+put so much happiness from me."</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing it in your power?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know better than to cope with you," smiling upon her fondly. "But
+my honor must be vindicated for your gracious sake, and&mdash;I must cease to
+be," with a sidelong glance, "'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Sit down,
+darling; our janitor is an accommodating fellow; he will not interrupt,
+nor shorten your stay, I am sure. I want to tell you my story. It is
+yours, together with all my other secrets."</p>
+
+<p>She put up her hand, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now," she said. "Not for a long time. I prefer you as I have known
+you; for me, you shall still be 'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Don't
+remonstrate; I will have it so; I will send Mr. O'Meara to you, and that
+odd Mr. Wedron; you shall tell <i>them</i> all about yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> will go to them? Constance, no; for your own sake, let us keep
+our love a secret for a time; until this is ended, somehow. Think, my
+proud darling, how much it would spare you."</p>
+
+<p>She turned toward him, her mouth settling into very firm lines, a
+resolute look in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it spare you anything?" she asked, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I? Oh, no. It is sacrifice for me; but, I wish to have it so. You
+must not visit me here. You must not let gossip say she has thrown
+herself away on an adventurer."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't," she replied, sententiously; "I'd like to hear of anybody
+saying that! I'd excommunicate them, I'm going to close the mouths of
+gossips, by setting my seal of proprietorship upon you. I'm coming here
+every day; but, after this, I'll bring Aunt Honor, or Mrs. O'Meara with
+me. I'm going to say to every soul who names you to me: 'Doctor Heath is
+my affianced husband, defame him if you dare.' And I'm going straight to
+tell Mr. O'Meara that he must take your testimony against Frank
+Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Constance kept her word. Before many days, the town rang with the news
+that Constance Wardour, in the face of the accusation against him, had
+announced her engagement to Doctor Clifford Heath.</p>
+
+<p>Then a hush fell upon the aristocratic gossipers of W&mdash;&mdash;, and
+mischievous tongues were severely bridled. It was not wise to censure
+too freely a man whom the heiress of Wardour had marked with her favor.</p>
+
+<p>The lawyers found their client in a mood much more to their liking, and
+O'Meara scribbled down in his little book long sentences caught from the
+lips of Clifford Heath, who was now a strong helper, and apt in
+suggestions for the defense.</p>
+
+<p>He opened for them the sealed up pages of his past life.</p>
+
+<p>He told them in detail, all that he had briefly stated to Constance,
+concerning Frank Lamotte, and more.</p>
+
+<p>Every day now they were in close consultation, and every day the Wardour
+carriage drove at a stated hour, first to Mapleton, where it took up
+Constance, and then to the prison, where, accompanied by her aunt, or
+her guardian's wife, the heiress passed a half hour in the cell of her
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>She still clung to the hope that the accumulating evidence against Frank
+Lamotte might break the chain that bound him, and open his prison doors;
+but, one day, a week after her first visit to the prison, Mr. O'Meara
+dashed this hope to atoms.</p>
+
+<p>"We can bring no criminal accusation against Lamotte," he said. "The
+examination proved that John Burrill was killed as early as eleven
+o'clock that night, and investigation has proven that Lamotte remained
+at home all that evening, and was heard moving about in his room until
+after midnight. I'm terribly sorry, Constance, but the case stands just
+about as it did at first, and the odds are still against Heath. He will
+have to stand his trial."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's heart sank like lead, and as days passed on and no new
+developments could be evolved from a case which began to assume a most
+gloomy aspect, her position in the Lamotte household became unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>Sybil had changed a very little, but for the better. Her fits of raving
+were less frequent, and almost always to be anticipated. So, worn in
+body and tortured in mind, Constance went back to Wardour, and, save for
+her daily visits to the prison, was invisible to all her friends.</p>
+
+<p>And she did not suffer alone. Knowing her love for Clifford Heath and
+the terrible secret she carried in her bosom, Mrs. Lamotte lived in an
+anguish of suspense. Would love outweigh honor? If the worst should
+come, could she trust Constance Wardour? Could she trust herself?</p>
+
+<p>In those tortured hours, the same prayer went up from the heart of both
+mother and friend&mdash;that Sybil Lamotte would die!</p>
+
+<p>While these things were making the world a weariness to Constance, Jerry
+Belknap, in his character of prospecting horse jockey, took up his
+quarters in a third rate hotel near the river, and remained very quiet
+in fancied security, until he became suddenly enlightened as to the
+cause of his ill success, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>Lounging near the hotel one day, he was accosted by a stranger, who
+tapped him familiarly on the shoulder, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, I've got a word to say to you. Will you just step into the
+nearest saloon with me. We will talk over a glass of something."</p>
+
+<p>Wondering idly at his coolness, Belknap followed the stranger, and they
+entered "Old Forty Rods," that being the nearest saloon.</p>
+
+<p>Once seated face to face at a table, the stranger threw a letter across
+to Belknap, saying carelessly:</p>
+
+<p>"Read that, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>Opening the letter, these lines stared Belknap in the face:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>You have broken your pledge, Jerry Belknap. I have had you under my
+eye constantly. Fortunately for yourself, I can make use of you.
+Follow the instructions of the bearer of this <i>to the letter</i> now
+and until further notice, if you hope for any mercy from</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bathurst</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>He stared at the open letter as if it possessed the eyes of a basilisk.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly he recognized the power behind the scenes, and was no longer
+surprised at his failures. And he turned upon his companion a look of
+sullen submission.</p>
+
+<p>"I know better than to kick against Bathurst," he said doggedly. "What
+does he want me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what we are going to talk about," said the stranger,
+coolly. "Draw your chair up closer, Jerry."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2>
+
+<h3>"TOO YOUNG TO DIE."</h3>
+
+
+<p>Over days, filled with weary waiting and marked by few incidents and no
+discoveries, we pass with one glance.</p>
+
+<p>Clifford Heath's trial follows close upon his indictment. A month rolls
+away, and with the first days of winter comes the assembling of judge
+and jury, and his case is the first one called.</p>
+
+<p>During the weeks that have intervened between his arrest and this day of
+his trial, Constance has been his bravest champion and truest friend;
+she has stimulated him to hope, and incited him to courage, with loving,
+cheerful words, while clinging desperately to a last remnant of her own
+sinking hope.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day, during all this time, the ancient gig driven by Doctor
+Benoit, deposited that gentleman before the doors of Mapleton. Sybil's
+delirium had ended in a slow, wearisome fever, which left her, as the
+first frosts of winter touched the land, a white, emaciated shadow of
+her former self, her reason restored, but her memory sadly deficient.</p>
+
+<p>She had forgotten that dark phase of her life in which John Burrill had
+played so sinister a part, and fancied herself back in the old days when
+her heart was light and her life unfettered. She had dropped a year out
+of that life, but memory would come back with strength, the doctor said;
+and Mrs. Lamotte dreaded the days when that memory should bring to her
+daughter's brow, a shadow never to be lifted; into her life a ghost
+never to be laid.</p>
+
+<p>Evan, too, had narrowly escaped death at the hands of his rum demons;
+after four weeks filled with all the horrors attendant upon the
+drunkard's delirium, he came to his senses, hollow-cheeked, sunken eyed,
+emaciated, with his breath coming in quick, short gasps, and the days of
+his life numbered.</p>
+
+<p>Brandy had devoured his vitals; late hours and protracted orgies had
+sapped his strength; constant exposure in all weather and at all hours
+had done its work upon his lungs.</p>
+
+<p>"If he outlasts the Winter, he will die in the Spring." This was the
+doctor's <i>ultimatum</i>.</p>
+
+<p>News from the outside world was strictly shut out from those sick ones.
+The name of John Burrill never was breathed in their presence, and both
+were ignorant of the fact that Clifford Heath, an old time favorite with
+each, was on trial for his life.</p>
+
+<p>The morning that saw Clifford Heath quit his cell to take his place in
+the felon's dock and answer to the charge of murder, saw Sybil Lamotte
+lying upon a soft divan, before a merry Winter fire. It was the first
+time since her illness that she had quitted her bed. And Evan, too, for
+the first time in many weeks, came with feeble, halting steps to his
+sister's room, and sitting near her, scanned her wasted features with
+wistful intentness.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor sis!" he murmured, stroking her hand softly. "We've had a pretty
+hard pull, you and I, but we're coming out famously." And then he added
+to himself, "More's the pity, so far as I am concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"What made you ill, Evan?" she whispered feebly. "Was it worrying about
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>A bright flush leaped to his cheeks and burned there hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was about you, sis. But you will soon be as well and happy as
+ever, won't you?" anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, Evan; we will both get well very fast. We have got so much
+to live for, and we are too young to die."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2>
+
+<h3>SIR CLIFFORD HEATHERCLIFFE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is the opening hour of Clifford Heath's trial.</p>
+
+<p>The court room is crowded to its utmost capacity; never has there
+occurred a trial there so intensely interesting to all W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner is a little paler, a little graver than his ordinary self.
+But is his ordinary self in every other respect; as proud of bearing, as
+self-possessed, as handsome, and <i>distingue</i> as ever.</p>
+
+<p>Beside him sits Mr. O'Meara, alone. Mr. Wedron, after all his labor, and
+his seeming interest, is unaccountably absent; unaccountably, at least,
+so far as the opposition, the prisoner, the judge, jury, and all the
+spectators are concerned. Mr. O'Meara seems not at all disturbed by his
+absence, and evidently understands all about it.</p>
+
+<p>Near the prisoner sits a man who causes a buzz of inquiry to run through
+the entire audience.</p>
+
+<p>He is tall, fair haired, handsome; the carriage of his head, the
+haughtiness of his bearing, reminds more than one present of Clifford
+Heath, as they first knew him. He is a stranger to all W&mdash;&mdash;, and "Who
+is he? Who is he?" runs from lip to lip.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger is seemingly oblivious of the attention lavished upon him;
+he bends forward at times, and whispers a word to the prisoner, or his
+counsel, and he turns occasionally to murmur something in the ear of
+Constance Wardour, who sits beside him, grave, stately, calm.</p>
+
+<p>She is accompanied by Mrs. Aliston and Mrs. O'Meara, and Ray Vandyck
+sits beside the latter lady, and completes the party.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte is there, subdued, yet affable, and Frank, too, who is paler
+than usual, but quite self-possessed.</p>
+
+<p>Near the party above mentioned, may be seen the two city physicians,
+but, and here is another cause for wonderment, Doctor Benoit is not
+present; and, who ever knew the good doctor to miss an occasion like
+this?</p>
+
+<p>"Business must be urgent, when it keeps Benoit away from such a trial,"
+whispers one gossip to another, and the second endorses the opinion of
+the first.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting there, scanning that audience with a seemingly careless glance,
+Constance feels her heart sink like lead in her bosom.</p>
+
+<p>She feels, she knows, that already in the minds of most, her lover is a
+condemned man. She knows that the weight of evidence will be against
+him. They have a defense, it is true, but nothing will overthrow the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to the house of the prisoner, and
+was found dead hard by.</p>
+
+<p>All along she has hoped, she knew not what, from Bathurst. But since he
+returned Sybil's note in so strange and abrupt a manner, she has had no
+word or sign from him, and now she doubts him, she distrusts everything.</p>
+
+<p>But, little by little, day by day, she has been schooling her heart to
+face one last desperate alternative. Her lover <i>shall</i> be saved! Let the
+trial go on. Let the worst come. Let the fatal verdict be pronounced, if
+it must; after that, perish the Wardour honor. What if she must trample
+the heart out of a mother's breast? What if she must fling into the
+breach the life of a blighted, wronged, helpless, perhaps dying sister
+woman?</p>
+
+<p>Hardening her heart, crushing down her pride, she muttered desperately
+on this last day of doubt and suspense.</p>
+
+<p>"Let them all go. Let the verdict be what it may, Clifford Heath shall
+not suffer a felon's doom!"</p>
+
+<p>Then she had nerved herself to calmness and gone to face the inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>"Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs43" id="gs43"></a>
+<img src="images/gs43.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The reading of the indictment has turned all eyes upon the prisoner's
+face.</p>
+
+<p>He stands erect, his head haughtily poised, his clear dark eyes fixed
+fully upon the judge.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not guilty, your honor."</p>
+
+<p>A murmur runs through the court room. The stranger bends to whisper to
+Constance. The trial proceeds.</p>
+
+<p>Once again all the evidence brought forward at the inquest is
+repeated&mdash;sworn to&mdash;dilated upon. Once again it presses the scales
+down, down, down, and the chances for the prisoner hang light in the
+balance.</p>
+
+<p>One thing puzzles the prosecuting attorney, and troubles the mind of
+Jasper Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara, the shrewd, the fox like&mdash;O'Meara, who never lets pass a flaw
+or a loophole for criticism; who never loses a chance to pick and
+torture and puzzle a witness, is strangely indifferent.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the witnesses for the prosecution pass before him; little by
+little they build a mountain of evidence against his client. He declines
+to examine them. He listens to their testimony with the air of a bored
+play-goer at a very poor farce.</p>
+
+<p>After the testimony of the two masons, comes that of the party who last
+saw John Burrill in life. They testify as they did at the
+inquest&mdash;neither more, nor less.</p>
+
+<p>Then come the dwellers in Mill avenue. They are all there but Brooks and
+Nance Burrill.</p>
+
+<p>"Your honor," says the prosecuting attorney, "two of our witnesses&mdash;two
+very important ones&mdash;are absent. Why they are absent, we do not know.
+Where they may be found, is a profound mystery.</p>
+
+<p>"One of these witnesses, a man called Brooks, we believe to have been
+especially intimate with the murdered man. We think that he could have
+revealed the secret which the prisoner took such deadly measures to
+cover up. This man can not be found. He disappeared shortly after the
+murder.</p>
+
+<p>"Our other witness vanished almost simultaneously. This other was the
+divorced wife of the murdered Burrill. She, too, knew too much. Now I do
+not insinuate&mdash;I do not cast any stones, but there are some, not far
+distant, who could explain these two mysterious disappearances, 'an they
+would.'"</p>
+
+<p>"An they <i>will</i>!" pops in the hitherto mute O'Meara. "They'll make
+several knotty points clear to your understanding, honorable sir."</p>
+
+<p>A retort rises to his opponent's lips, and a wordy war seems imminent,
+but the crier commands "Order in the Court," and the two antagonists
+glare at each other mutely, while the trial moves on.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte comes upon the witness stand. As before, he tells nothing
+new.</p>
+
+<p>He was aware that his brother-in-law possessed some secret of Doctor
+Heath's. Did not know the nature of it, but inferred from words Burrill
+had let drop, that it was of a damaging character.</p>
+
+<p>Upon being questioned as to his acquaintance with the prisoner, and what
+he knew of his disposition and temper, he replies that he has known the
+prisoner since he first came to W&mdash;&mdash;; liked him very much; never had
+any personal misunderstanding, although of late the prisoner had chosen
+to treat him with marked coldness.</p>
+
+<p>As to his temper&mdash;well, he must admit that it was very fiery, very
+quickly roused, very difficult of control, he believed. Prisoner was by
+nature intolerant to a fault. He had shown this disposition in presence
+of witness on many occasions.</p>
+
+<p>Being shown the knife found in the cellar, he examines it carefully, and
+pronounces it to be the one he has often seen in Doctor Heath's
+instrument case, or its precise counterpart.</p>
+
+<p>This ends his testimony. O'Meara has no questions to ask, and Jasper
+Lamotte takes his son's place. He is the last witness for the
+prosecution.</p>
+
+<p>He has less to say than any of the others.</p>
+
+<p>He had heard of his son-in-law's encounter with Doctor Heath, of course;
+knew that a feud existed between them, could not so much as guess at the
+nature of it. The prosecuting attorney is about to dismiss him <i>sans
+ceremonie</i>, when Mr. O'Meara, springs into sudden activity and announces
+his desire to examine the witness.</p>
+
+<p>His opponent stares astonished, a murmur runs through the room; the
+Court bids him proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, rising to his feet with provoking
+slowness, and then propounding his questions with a rapidity which
+leaves the witness no time for thought. "Mr. Lamotte, what can you tell
+us of this missing witness, Brooks?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte stares in mute astonishment, then instinctively scenting
+danger ahead, he makes an effort to rally his forces that have been
+scattered by the lawyer's unexpected bomb.</p>
+
+<p>"What do I know of the man Brooks?" he repeats slowly. "I don't
+comprehend you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I asked a plain question," retorts the lawyer, crisply.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe the man has been in my employ," ventures the witness, as if
+making an effort to recall some very insignificant personage.</p>
+
+<p>"When?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I do not remember, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Perhaps you have forgotten when last you saw this fellow, Brooks?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think I saw him, for the last time, two days before my son-in-law was
+killed. I was at the depot, starting for the city. I think Brooks left
+town on the same train."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have not seen him since?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to my knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"Make an effort to think, sir. Brooks has been seen in W&mdash;&mdash; since. It
+is known that he has visited Mapleton. Try to recall that visit."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte ponders and falls into the trap.</p>
+
+<p>"A man came to Mapleton on the day of Mr. Burrill's funeral," he says,
+slowly. "I believe, upon reflection, that it <i>was</i> Brooks; he wished to
+see the body."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see this man on that occasion?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did; for a moment only; he came to me with his request."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure this man was Brooks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not beyond a doubt. I was troubled, and busy. It was one of my factory
+hands; I <i>think</i> it was the man Brooks."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Clerk," says O'Meara, turning suddenly to that functionary, "please
+take down Mr. Lamotte's statements. He is <i>not</i> sure that it was the
+man Brooks."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lamotte looks disconcerted for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>But O'Meara goes vigorously on, leaving him no time to collect his
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Lamotte, what do you know of this woman who calls herself
+Nance Burrill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," with a glance of offended dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing! I am told that she has worked in your mills."</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible; I am not my own overseer, however, and do not know
+<i>all</i> my people."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever heard that this woman could tell things that would not
+reflect credit upon your dead son-in-law?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," haughtily.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you aware that this woman is not to be found, before learning the
+same in court?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir! I consider your questions irrelevant."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly," retorts O'Meara, drily. "I have no more to ask, sir." Then
+turning toward the jury, he says, rapidly:</p>
+
+<p>"May it please your honor and the gentlemen of the jury, just here I
+have a word to say:</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard the evidence against my client; you have heard the life
+and honor of a high-minded gentleman, against whom there was never
+before a breath of scandal or blame, sworn away by a handful of saloon
+loafers, and a pack of ignorant old women.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean no disrespect to the loafers or the old women in question. I
+suppose if the good Lord had not intended them for what they are, he
+would have made them otherwise&mdash;and then there would have been no
+evidence against my client. I name them what they are, because, when
+this honorable jury weighs the evidence, I want them to weigh the
+witnesses as well."</p>
+
+<p>"The gentleman wished to say one word," sneers the prosecution. "Has he
+said it, or is this the beginning of his plea?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be better for your case if it were the beginning of my plea,"
+cuts in O'Meara; "my witnesses will be less to the gentleman's liking
+than are my words.</p>
+
+<p>"Your honor, first then, the gentleman for the prosecution, in making
+his preliminary remarks, has dwelt at length upon the fact that my
+client is comparatively a stranger to W&mdash;&mdash;; a stranger with a mystery.
+Now, then, I wish to show that it is possible for a stranger to W&mdash;&mdash; to
+be an honorable man, with an unblemished past; and that it is equally
+possible for a dweller in this classic and hitherto unpolluted town, to
+be a liar and to perjure himself most foully.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the Honorable George Heathercliffe take the stand.</p>
+
+<p>"And mark you, this gentleman <i>is</i> the Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+of Cliffe Towers, Hampshire, England, member of parliament, and honored
+of the Queen. His passports have been examined by our honorable judge,
+thereby saving the necessity for too much unpolished Yankee criticism."</p>
+
+<p>"It has failed to save us a dose of Irish pig-headedness, however,"
+interpolates the opposing barrister.</p>
+
+<p>During the burst of smothered laughter that follows, the stately
+fair-haired stranger quits his place beside Constance, and takes the
+stand.</p>
+
+<p>He is duly sworn, and then Mr. O'Meara begins, with much impressiveness:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Heathercliffe, turn your eyes upon the prisoner, my client. Have
+you ever seen him before entering this court room?"</p>
+
+<p>The Honorable George Heathercliffe turns toward the prisoner, and a
+smile deepens the blue of his eyes, and intensifies the kindly
+expression of his handsome mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen the prisoner before," he replies, still smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you known him previous to his advent in W&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have."</p>
+
+<p>"For long?"</p>
+
+<p>"For many years."</p>
+
+<p>"My honorable opponent has hinted that there is a mystery hanging about
+this man. He even hazards a guess that his name may not be Clifford
+Heath. Do you know aught of this mystery?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Does the prisoner bear a name not his own?"</p>
+
+<p>"He does not bear his own name entire."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Heathercliffe, who is this man who calls himself Doctor Clifford
+Heath?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is <i>Sir Clifford Heathercliffe</i>, and my elder brother."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TORTURED WITNESS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is a profound sensation in the court room.</p>
+
+<p>Constance Wardour catches her breath, and bends forward to look at her
+lover, the color coming and going hotly in her cheeks. She had chosen to
+hear nothing of his past, and so Mr. O'Meara has introduced the
+Honorable George Heathercliffe, that morning, saying only: "A most
+important witness, Constance; a <i>strong</i> witness."</p>
+
+<p>"He is Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, and my elder brother."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rand, the prosecuting attorney, moves uneasily in his seat, and
+begins to wonder what small shot O'Meara holds back of this big shell.</p>
+
+<p>Without seeming to notice the sensation created by his self-possessed
+witness, O'Meara goes on rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>"How long has your brother, Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, been in
+America?"</p>
+
+<p>"For more than three years."</p>
+
+<p>"Until you received the telegram calling you to his aid, did you know
+where to find your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Heathercliffe, have you that telegram in your possession?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you permit his honor, the judge, to see that telegram?"</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly." He draws forth a morocco letter case, and taking therefrom
+a slip of paper hands it to O'Meara. That astute gentleman passes it
+carelessly on to the clerk, saying: "Read it please."</p>
+
+<p>Rising to receive the paper, the clerk reads:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+Cliffe Towers, etc., etc.,</i></p>
+
+<p>Come at once to W&mdash;&mdash;, R&mdash;&mdash; County.&mdash;&mdash;Sir Clifford is in deep
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bathurst</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>"Bathurst!" the name falls involuntarily from the lips of Mr. Rand; he
+knows the expert by reputation, and this is the first intimation he has
+received, that so shrewd a man is at work in the interest of Clifford
+Heath.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the only message you received?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, later in the day this came."</p>
+
+<p>He produced and passed over a second dispatch, which is read like the
+first.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Honorable George Heathercliffe, etc.</i></p>
+
+<p>Before starting find out everything you can concerning one John, or
+Jonathan Burrill, once in the employ of your father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bathurst</span>.</p></div>
+
+<p>The two Lamottes glance uneasily at each other. Whither is this
+examination tending?</p>
+
+<p>"Did you follow the instructions in this last telegram?" asks O'Meara.</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>A bland smile widens the mouth of the little Irish lawyer. He waves his
+hand magisterially.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all, for the present, Mr. Heathercliffe," he says, suavely, and
+amazement sits on every countenance.</p>
+
+<p>And now Mr. Rand bends forward and flings himself into the arena, while
+O'Meara leans back in his chair, his eyes twinkling maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Heathercliffe," begins the cross-examiner, "Your two dispatches are
+signed 'Bathurst.' Who is this Bathurst?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst, sir, is a very able detective."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! He is known to you, I presume?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is," bowing gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Heathercliffe, it strikes me as singular that an English
+gentleman should be on such familiar terms with a Yankee detective; and
+still more strange that an English nobleman should be masquerading in
+America, as a country physician. I should like an explanation of these
+things."</p>
+
+<p>"My brother came to America on account of family troubles, sir. Is it
+<i>necessary</i> that I make a fuller statement?"</p>
+
+<p>He asks this hesitatingly, and Mr. Rand fancies that he sees a point to
+be gained. He does not see that O'Meara is struggling to conceal the
+smile of satisfaction that <i>will</i> creep into his face.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> consider it necessary, sir. It is high time that we knew why we
+have been honored by this <i>incognito</i>&mdash;nobleman."</p>
+
+<p>The witness turns an unruffled countenance towards the judge.</p>
+
+<p>"If the Court will permit me to tell my brother's story in my own way,
+(it will take some time,) I shall be glad to enlighten this legal
+gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>The Court gives its gracious permission; Attorney Rand resumes his seat;
+O'Meara fairly grins his delight; Constance leans forward, breathlessly;
+the prisoner casts one look about him, and then rests his head upon his
+hand; there is breathless silence in the court, as the Honorable George
+Heathercliffe begins:</p>
+
+<p>"I have said that the prisoner at the Bar, is my elder brother; three
+years ago he was not <i>Sir</i> Clifford Heathercliffe, not my eldest
+brother.</p>
+
+<p>"The name of Sir Herbert Heathercliffe is, no doubt, unknown to all here
+present&mdash;except Mr. Bathurst, if that gentleman is here&mdash;but England has
+rung with that name, and the Heathercliffe pride has been lowered to the
+dust, because of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Herbert was the pet and favorite of our father, and possessed over
+him a strong magnetic influence. He was less than two years older than
+Clifford, and the two closely resembled each other.</p>
+
+<p>"From their academic days, Herbert was an idler, a spendthrift, a squire
+of dames, <i>par excellence</i>. Clifford was devoted to study, and not
+enamored of society.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not my purpose to follow step by step the downward career of my
+brother Herbert, only such of his misdeeds as affected Clifford need be
+brought forward here.</p>
+
+<p>"I have said that Herbert was a spendthrift. He was perpetually
+borrowing of Clifford, and always in debt.</p>
+
+<p>"When Clifford, who had a monomania for the medical profession,
+announced his intention to go to Germany and pursue his studies there,
+the first trouble came.</p>
+
+<p>"Herbert, who for his own selfish ends, wished to keep Clifford and his
+purse nearer Cliffe Towers, incited my father to oppose the scheme. This
+was easy. Lord Heathercliffe did not believe in the dignity of labor,
+and the two voted this new departure a family disgrace. They said so
+much, and in such offensive language, that Clifford, in open defiance of
+his father's commands, turned his back upon us all, and went to
+Heidelberg.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Herbert's career had only began. In a little while, it was
+discovered that our father's name had been forged for a large amount,
+and suspicion pointed to my brother Clifford. He came in hot haste on
+receipt of a telegram, and he did not come alone. He brought with him,
+Detective Bathurst, whom he was so fortunate as to find at Scotland
+Yards.</p>
+
+<p>"I need not dwell on what followed; Bathurst is a keen detective; he
+vindicated my brother, Clifford, and placed the guilt where it belonged.
+It was Herbert who had forged my father's name.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a terrible scene at the Towers. Herbert swore eternal enmity
+toward Clifford, and Clifford predicted then and there the downfall of
+all our pride, through Herbert's follies. I remember his words
+distinctly:</p>
+
+<p>"'Let me tell you how this will end, Lord Heathercliffe,' he said; 'I
+have not grown up beside Herbert, not to know him. Our name has
+heretofore been stainless; we shall keep it so no longer; it will be
+dragged in the mud, smirched, hissed, disgraced utterly. But I will
+never permit myself to go down with the fall of the Heathercliffes; I
+renounce all claims upon you; I renounce my succession; I renounce a
+name already contaminated; the world is my heritage; I shall leave
+England; I shall leave Europe; I will make me a new name, and build my
+own fortune. When Herbert has broken your heart, and ruined your
+fortunes, as he surely will, and when his debaucheries have brought him
+to an early grave, as they must, then let the title fall to George; he
+is younger; he can not feel this shame so keenly; as for me, I will
+never wear the title; I will never be pointed out as the peer whose
+elder brother was a rake, a seducer, a forger, and Herbert is all
+these.'</p>
+
+<p>"Clifford went back to Heidelberg; Herbert remained at the Towers,
+whining, pleading, shamefully fawning upon a doting and half imbecile
+old man.</p>
+
+<p>"He feigned illness; he feigned penitence, and finally he held my father
+more than ever his adoring slave.</p>
+
+<p>"I can not prolong this recital. It is needless. Herbert ran his race of
+infamy. My father died broken hearted. Clifford searched all England to
+bring Herbert, then a fugitive, to his father's death bed; but the
+officers of justice were before him. They ran him down in an obscure
+provincial village, and, to escape the consequences of his misdeeds,
+Herbert Heathercliffe crowned his life of mad folly by dying a suicide's
+death.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I must turn a page in my own personal history:</p>
+
+<p>"Prior to my father's death, I had formed an attachment for the only
+daughter of a proud and wealthy country gentleman, our neighbor. But I
+was a younger son, and by my father's will, made upon his death-bed,
+Clifford was his heir. Herbert had squandered half our father's fortune,
+but a handsome sum still remained.</p>
+
+<p>"Realizing the hopelessness of my suit, I was preparing to quit England,
+taking with me my mother's legacy, which would amply suffice for a
+bachelor's wants, but was too meager a sum to lay at the feet of a
+beauty and an heiress. To make my departure more bitter, I had learned
+that the woman of my choice returned my affections.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Sir Clifford swooped down upon me. Before I could guess his
+intent, he had sought and gained the consent of my wife's father; had
+transferred to me all his fortune, reserving only his mother's legacy,
+which was the same as mine. He forced me to accept by the strength of
+his splendid will. He installed me as master of Cliffe Towers. He
+hastened the marriage preparations. He remained long enough to dance at
+our wedding, and then he left us&mdash;proud as a king, independent as a
+gypsy, blameless, fearless, high-souled.</p>
+
+<p>"He came to America, and never permitted us to know his whereabouts. At
+regular intervals, we received his letters&mdash;many whimsical descriptions
+of his new life and new pursuits, but we always addressed him in New
+York, and our letters, bearing the English seal, came to him under an
+American disguise. We did not so much as know the name he had assumed.</p>
+
+<p>"This, gentlemen, is the true reason why Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, the
+truest, the noblest of English gentlemen, came among you as one of
+yourselves.</p>
+
+<p>"I have one more word to say. Sir Clifford never saw the man, John
+Burrill; but our brother Herbert knew him well. Burrill was his tool and
+accomplice in many shameful escapades. They came to grief together;
+quarreled fearfully, and, when Herbert fled for his life, Burrill with
+his wife made his escape to America. All that I have said concerning
+this Burrill will be verified by Detective Bathurst."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning toward Mr. Rand: "Is my explanation sufficient, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer only bows his head, and the handsome Englishman takes his
+seat while the house rings with applause. Evidently his tersely told
+story of brotherly sacrifice has touched the "humanness" of that
+strangely-mixed audience.</p>
+
+<p>During the moment of clamor and confusion, Doctor Benoit enters the
+court room, and almost unobserved seats himself beside the New York
+medical experts.</p>
+
+<p>A smile of gratification comes to O'Meara's face at sight of this late
+arrival, and when the court is restored to quiet, he says:</p>
+
+<p>"Let Doctor Benoit be sworn."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor testifies as follows:</p>
+
+<p>Being called to examine the wounds upon the person of John Burrill, he
+found that they could not have been made with the knife found with the
+body. The identical knife being put into his hands, he explains how a
+cut made by such a keen, heavy weapon, must appear, and describes the
+knife that must have been used upon the body.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a smaller weapon," he says, "thinner bladed and much lighter. It
+must have been shorter by two or three inches."</p>
+
+<p>Then he adds that the surgeon's knife has never been used upon a body;
+the blood has been smeared on by an inartistic hand.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be impossible," he says, "to withdraw this knife from a
+bleeding wound with no other blood marks than those it bears."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Gaylor and Professor Harrington corroborate his every statement,
+and when their testimony is done there is another sensation in the court
+room.</p>
+
+<p>As Doctor Benoit passes by O'Meara, in returning from the witness stand,
+he tosses over a piece of paper, which the lawyer seizes, scans eagerly,
+and stows carefully away.</p>
+
+<p>He consults some papers for a moment, and then says:</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to recall Francis Lamotte."</p>
+
+<p>Frank comes again upon the stand; his eyes seem fixed on vacancy; his
+face is white and rigid; his answers come in a dry monotone.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, briskly. "It is understood that you have
+been a student in Doctor Heath's office."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true."</p>
+
+<p>"During the time you studied there, had you free access to the office at
+all hours?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had."</p>
+
+<p>"I judge, then, that you must have possessed a pass key?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that key still in your possession?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you dispose of that key?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it was lost; it has been out of my possession for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you lose this key?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not remember; possibly at home, possibly at the office. It has
+been out of my possession for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Since losing your key, how did you gain access to the office in the
+doctor's absence?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have visited the office very seldom of late, and not once since
+losing the key, in the absence of Doctor Heath."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte, was there any way to distinguish your lost key from that
+used by my client?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; my key was newer than his, and brighter."</p>
+
+<p>"It was my client's custom to keep an extra suit of clothes in his
+office closet, was it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And it would be very natural that, in exchanging one garment for
+another, a glove or handkerchief should be sometimes left in the
+discarded garment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite natural."</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us suppose that, on the night of the murder, my client,
+returning from a visit to Mapleton, where he was called to attend upon
+the wife of the murdered man, halted at his office, hung up his outer
+coat, and sat for a little time, writing or reading, or perhaps
+meditating.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us suppose that on preparing to face the wind, that was rising
+rapidly, and blowing chill, he substituted a heavy overcoat for the one
+he had worn earlier in the evening; and that he discovered, when half
+way home, that he had left his much needed handkerchief with his
+discarded coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it not be quite an easy matter for some one who had obtained
+possession of your key, <i>and was sufficiently familiar with the bearings
+of the office to move about in the dark</i>, or by the dim fire-light, to
+enter that office, remove the surgeon's knife from its case, pilfer a
+handkerchief from the coat pocket, and escape unseen?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would&mdash;I should think."</p>
+
+<p>"If this person having the key, the knife, and the handkerchief, all in
+his possession, should go and fling them all into the old cellar on the
+Burns' place, you would call that singular?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," from lips white and parched.</p>
+
+<p>O'Meara turns suddenly and takes something from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte, take this key, examine it well. Does it at all resemble
+the one you&mdash;<i>lost</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>Frank takes the key, mechanically, turns it about with nerveless
+fingers, scarcely glances at it.</p>
+
+<p>"I think&mdash;it is&mdash;the same," he mutters, hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"You think it is your lost key. Mr. Lamotte, do you know where this key
+was found?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," stolidly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you. It was found in the old cellar, embedded in the mud,
+<i>close beside the dead body of John Burrill</i>."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs44" id="gs44"></a>
+<img src="images/gs44.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"<span class="smcap">It was found beside the body of John Burrill.</span>"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte's hands go up to his head, his pale face becomes livid,
+his eyes seem starting from their sockets; he gasps, staggers, falls
+heavily in a dead faint.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>JUSTICE, SACRIFICE, DEATH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>And there is confusion in the court room.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rand bounds angrily to his feet, then reseats himself suddenly, and
+without opening his lips.</p>
+
+<p>As they bear Frank Lamotte from the room, O'Meara's voice rises and
+rings clear above the buzz and bustle:</p>
+
+<p>"That witness must not be permitted to leave the court."</p>
+
+<p>Then he stands gazing about him like a small, rampant lion; his eyes
+flashing, his nostrils quivering, his whole manner betokening that he is
+warming to his work.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the room is quiet again, and O'Meara addresses the court:</p>
+
+<p>"Your honor, and gentlemen; I have been successful beyond my
+expectations. You see what a guilty conscience can do. I wished to
+convince this court that my client has enemies in W&mdash;&mdash;; powerful,
+unsuspected, enemies. I wished also to demonstrate to Mr. Rand, how easy
+it is to obtain circumstantial evidence. The witness may recover at his
+leisure. I have nothing more to say to him."</p>
+
+<p>While he is speaking, Mr. Lamotte and Doctor Benoit, who had hastened
+out to attend upon Frank, re-enter, and resume their places, the former
+looking harassed and uneasy, the latter, bland as ever, and nodding an
+assurance that the patient is recovering safely.</p>
+
+<p>"My next witness," says O'Meara, "is private detective Jerry Belknap;
+but, before this gentleman is sworn, I desire the clerk to read aloud,
+<i>very</i> loud, the testimony lately given by Mr. Jasper Lamotte. I want
+Mr. Lamotte's testimony to be fresh in the minds of the jury when they
+listen to Mr. Belknap."</p>
+
+<p>Strive as he will, Jasper Lamotte can not wear a look of entire
+unconcern, although his self-control is marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>What does Jerry Belknap know concerning this case? Why is <i>he</i> here as a
+witness? Mr. Lamotte is speedily enlightened.</p>
+
+<p>While the clerk reads his recent testimony, Jerry Belknap takes his
+place upon the stand. Not the Belknap Jasper Lamotte has known; not the
+Belknap of Constance Wardour's recollection; but Jerry Belknap, in
+<i>propria persona</i>, shorn of all disguise.</p>
+
+<p>He is a man well up in his thirties, medium in height, slender in
+person, with a dark, smooth shaven face, keen, restless eyes, black,
+closely cropped hair.</p>
+
+<p>The clerk having finished the reading, Mr. O'Meara addresses the witness
+with marked courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Belknap, you have heard the reading of Mr. Lamotte's testimony. You
+have heard Mr. Rand say that two important witnesses are absent, namely,
+a certain Brooks, and Mrs. Nance Burrill. You have heard Mr. Lamotte say
+that he knows nothing of the whereabouts of Nance Burrill, that he knows
+nothing of Brooks.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, as Mr. Lamotte can not enlighten us, and as the attorney for the
+prosecution is very anxious about these two witnesses, will you just
+tell the court what you know of Mr. Brooks, and Nance Burrill, as
+connected with this case?"</p>
+
+<p>Jerry Belknap bows to O'Meara, bows to the Court, wipes his mouth with a
+white silk handkerchief, and begins:</p>
+
+<p>"I came to W&mdash;&mdash; on professional business, and, having obtained
+permission, through Mr. O'Meara, I may state here what that business
+was.</p>
+
+<p>"I came on behalf of Miss Wardour, to investigate the noted diamond
+robbery. I have been in and about W&mdash;&mdash; for some time, but always in
+disguise, this being the first time my real face has been visible.</p>
+
+<p>"Not long ago a stranger accosted me and put into my hands a letter. The
+letter bade me follow the instructions of the bearer of the same without
+fear, or question. Now Mr. Bathurst commands me at all times, and like a
+good soldier I obeyed my superior officer. I placed myself under the
+orders of Mr. Bathurst's deputy, who is himself a clever detective, and
+this is what he told me:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst had been operating in W&mdash;&mdash; for weeks, under my very nose,
+and, although I knew him, and am called a tolerable detective, I never
+found him out. He knew me, however, from the first, knew me all along,
+although I, several times, changed my disguise. <i>His</i> disguise was too
+perfect, and he is too good an actor, ever to betray himself.</p>
+
+<p>"That disguise having served his purpose, and having been thrown aside
+for good, I can safely comply with Mr. O'Meara's request and oblige the
+gentleman for the prosecution.</p>
+
+<p>"The missing witness known as Brooks, the red-headed drunken mechanic,
+was officer Bathurst and none other."</p>
+
+<p>Again there is a buzz in the court room.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner turns upon his counsel a look of profound wonder.</p>
+
+<p>Constance clasps her hands delightedly and begins to brighten with hope.</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte wears a look of consternation.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst's instructions were brief," resumes Mr. Belknap after a
+moment's pause. "I was to present myself to Mr. Lamotte under some
+pretext of business. I am slightly known to Mr. Lamotte through my
+connection with the Wardour case and could approach him without creating
+suspicion. I was to accept any commissions he might wish me to execute.</p>
+
+<p>"I presented myself to Jasper Lamotte; he had a piece of work for me. He
+told me that he had good reasons for wishing the woman Nance Burrill out
+of the town; he wished her no harm, but she was in his way. If I would
+get her away, on some pretext, he would pay me well. Acting under
+instructions, I approached the woman, making her acquaintance easily
+through her little boy. She is very ignorant and very foolish. I
+displayed a little money, offered her a profitable situation in New
+York, paid her a month's wages in advance and took her and her child to
+the city, where I hired a small furnished cottage, and installed her as
+housekeeper. Not being informed that her evidence was wanted on this
+occasion she is there still."</p>
+
+<p>When Jerry Belknap began his story, Jasper Lamotte had drawn nearer to
+the prosecuting attorney, and, before the story was done, a slip of
+paper had made its way into the hands of the latter gentleman, bearing
+these words:</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake don't cross-examine that witness."</p>
+
+<p>Consequently, in response to O'Meara's unnecessarily polite query, "Will
+the attorney for the prosecution be pleased to cross-examine this
+witness?"&mdash;Mr. Rand only scowled over at his antagonist, and shook his
+head savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"This, I trust," begins O'Meara, before the last witness is fairly
+seated, "sufficiently explains the absence of these two <i>important</i>
+witnesses. It would seem that the absence of one at least was more
+important than her presence. Mr. Lamotte, at least, should be grateful.
+He desired Nance Burrill's absence; she is not here; and as no summons
+was issued for this woman&mdash;either by the prosecution or defense, no one
+can accuse me of hampering the progress of the law, and of this
+honorable court."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Rand bounds up, fire in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"It may not be rulable nor dignified," he begins hotly, "but I demand a
+moment's hearing. This whole trial has been irregular, from first to
+last.</p>
+
+<p>"The gentleman brings forward an honorable witness from over the water;
+a witness who brings out the accused in a new character; covers him with
+a blaze of glory; this is very good, and very theatrical. Let us grant
+that the accused <i>is</i> Sir Clifford Heathercliffe. Does that alter the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to his door, straight to the door
+of his sworn enemy, and was never again seen alive. He seeks to
+implicate Frank Lamotte, and to impeach the integrity of Jasper Lamotte,
+an honorable gentleman, against whom there was never yet a breath of
+suspicion. It will not alter the facts in the case. Clifford Heath's
+enemy was found dead close by Clifford Heath's door! He has blackened
+the character of the dead; he has struck hard at the honorable living.
+He has flooded the court with the testimony of mysterious strangers; he
+has suppressed known witnesses; he has worked his will with us. But he
+has not disproved one item of evidence; he has not changed one fact or
+phase of the case. Let us grant all he has proven, what have we left?
+<i>The unalterable facts</i>, that the prisoner has repeatedly threatened his
+victim; that the murdered man set out to visit the prisoner, at night,
+through the darkness, and was found early the following morning, before
+the body could be removed to a safer hiding place, his face covered by
+the prisoner's own linen; his gaping wounds giving evidence of a
+practiced hand; the prisoner's knife buried with him; the <i>key</i> of the
+prisoner's office or house lying beside the shallow grave. Facts tell,
+gentlemen; these <i>are facts</i>."</p>
+
+<p>These words rush from his lips torrent like.</p>
+
+<p>He has turned to face the jury and so does not see that O'Meara has
+lounged back to his seat, with an air of perfect unconcern, and that he
+is actually signaling the judge not to stay this whirlwind; a proceeding
+which so astounds that official, that for full five minutes the tide of
+speech flows on, lava like.</p>
+
+<p>On the audience, it has a startling effect. He is speaking the truth. He
+is reiterating facts, and facts are sure of instant recognition by our
+Yankee countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>A thrill runs through the assembly; there comes one of those sudden
+revulsions of feeling, common to scenes like this. Sir Clifford
+Heathercliffe disappears from before their dazzled vision; what they
+see, in the light of stern facts, is Clifford Heath, the murderer.</p>
+
+<p>"These are facts," reiterates Mr. Rand, excitedly. "Who has seen this
+wonderful Bathurst, with his bundle of testimony? Who knows the man? Why
+is he not here in court? <i>Where is he?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Here!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Clear and full the voice rings over the room, transfixing for one moment
+the entire court; then the gavel descends; order is commanded with
+double unction, because of the recent lapse. Mr. O'Meara is on his feet;
+Mr. Rand's impromptu speech is at an end.</p>
+
+<p>"More theatricals," snarls Mr. Rand, flinging himself violently down
+into his seat.</p>
+
+<p>But no one heeds him; all eyes are fixed upon the new comers.</p>
+
+<p>Near the door of the court room they stand grouped close together.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wedron, dignified and placid as usual.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lamotte, with head proudly poised, and eyes that seem wells of
+pent-up anguish.</p>
+
+<p>Evan Lamotte, looking like a lost and almost disembodied spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Lamotte, who during the time Mr. Belknap has occupied in giving
+his testimony, has quietly re-entered the room, seeming to have
+recovered, and looking almost composed, looks with the rest, and is once
+more, for a moment, startled out of all semblance of calmness; he starts
+up from his seat, then sinks back weakly, a desperate hunted look in his
+eyes, his hands clenched and working nervously.</p>
+
+<p>They came slowly forward&mdash;Evan Lamotte, supported on either side by his
+mother and the <i>soi-disant</i> Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs45" id="gs45"></a>
+<img src="images/gs45.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">They come slowly forward.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>They pass so close that the lady's trailing silks brush against the feet
+of Jasper Lamotte, but she never vouchsafes a glance to husband or son,
+and Evan's eyes are set straight before him, fixed on vacancy&mdash;unseeing
+orbs of fire, set in a spectral face.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, they are seated near the group gathered about the prisoner,
+and then Mr. Wedron confers with Mr. O'Meara.</p>
+
+<p>As they talk, the little lawyer's face becomes grave, even to sadness,
+and when he rises to address the Court, his tone is subdued, his manner
+that of one performing a painful task.</p>
+
+<p>"May it please the Court," he says, slowly, "the witnesses for whom I
+waited have come. As one of them is just recovering from a serious
+illness, Mr. Bathurst has thought it best that a reliable physician
+should certify to his perfect ability to testify at this time. Let
+Doctor Benoit be sworn."</p>
+
+<p>It is done, and in the same grave and subdued manner Doctor Benoit bears
+witness, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"I have been in attendance at Mapleton for some weeks past. Evan Lamotte
+has been one of my patients. He has been very ill, and delirious almost
+constantly. It is less than a week since he entirely recovered his
+reasoning faculties. To-day, at the request of Mr. Wedron, I subjected
+him to various tests, and I freely pronounce him perfectly sane&mdash;as sane
+as any here in this court room. If any one is inclined to question my
+statement, I shall desire Professor Harrington and Doctor Gaylor to
+examine the witness."</p>
+
+<p>There is profound silence for a moment, then O'Meara says, quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"Will Detective Bathurst take the stand?"</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman who has become known to many in W&mdash;&mdash; as Mr. Wedron, of
+the New York Bar, left his place near Evan Lamotte, and came quietly
+forward. Having been duly sworn, Mr. O'Meara said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Bathurst, you have been connected with this case from the first.
+Tell us what you have discovered, in your own way."</p>
+
+<p>The detective bowed, took off a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses, and
+turned upon the court a pair of bright, piercing, handsome, dark blue
+eyes, that proved themselves capable of numberless expressions.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Neil J. Bathurst," he began, "and I am a detective. I came
+to W&mdash;&mdash; for the first time early in the summer&mdash;in June, I believe. I
+came on professional business. To my surprise, and quite by accident, I
+found Sir Clifford Heathercliffe here in the character of Doctor Heath.
+My business in W&mdash;&mdash; was in no way connected with Sir Clifford, but
+before I left the town, which was on the third day after my arrival, I
+became aware that he had an enemy here. I left W&mdash;&mdash; to return in a
+short time, and I figured among the factory people as Brooks, the
+drunken mechanic. Mr. Lamotte employed me twice and twice discharged me
+because of my intemperance. I became quite intimate and friendly with
+John Burrill, and succeeded in gaining his confidence. I was also on
+good terms with Nance Burrill, John Burrill's divorced wife, and I
+learned a good many things from her.</p>
+
+<p>"Early in the autumn it came to my knowledge that Sir Clifford's enemies
+had begun to move, that a plan was on foot against him. About this time
+I discovered that several people needed looking after, and I sent for a
+boy shadower. He came, and did his work well. He is not here, because
+his testimony is not needed.</p>
+
+<p>"You will understand that I had now more than one operation on my hands.
+I was still engaged upon the case which first brought me to W&mdash;&mdash;, and I
+was intent upon frustrating the designs of Sir Clifford's enemies. He,
+Sir Clifford, was not aware of my presence in W&mdash;&mdash;, and he was likewise
+ignorant of the plot against him.</p>
+
+<p>"Early in November, I found it expedient to appear in W&mdash;&mdash; in a new
+character. Brooks had done his work. Accordingly, I, as Brooks, set out
+for the city one morning, leaving my shadower in charge of the field.
+Jasper Lamotte went to the city by the same train, and, singular
+coincidence, he came back on the train which brought me. I returned, as
+Mr. Wedron, an attorney, and I brought with me an assistant (for the
+plot was thickening fast), who assumed the character of a book peddler.
+I was absent only two days, but, during that time, the entire drama had
+undergone a transformation.</p>
+
+<p>"Before I had been half an hour in W&mdash;&mdash;, I had received the report of
+my shadower; it was startling. John Burrill had been murdered. Here was
+a disappointment. I had fully intended that Burrill should do some
+honest work in the State penitentiary, and was almost prepared to make
+some arrests. I attended the inquest, and was again discomfited. The
+enemies of Sir Clifford had abandoned their first infamous scheme for
+his ruin, and had succeeded in fastening this miserable crime upon him.
+Standing there in the presence of all the actors in the tragedy, and
+listening to the witnesses before the coroner, I decided what course to
+pursue. I would make my other operations a secondary affair, and devote
+myself to the task of finding John Burrill's murderer. I presented
+myself to Mr. O'Meara, and made known my identity; we decided to act
+together, and at once set to work.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that Francis Lamotte was Sir Clifford's secret enemy, and,
+naturally, I began to study him, and to watch him. You have heard his
+testimony to-day, and you know how easy it would have been for him,
+first to follow and to kill John Burrill, and next to cast suspicion
+upon an innocent man. I could prefer a charge against him, and bring
+some circumstantial evidence to back it; but this would not vindicate
+Sir Clifford, and would complicate affairs very much. What I wanted, was
+<i>proof</i> positive, absolute. So I waited, and studied the case. Of one
+thing I was assured; Francis Lamotte, whether guilty or innocent, knew
+more of that murder than he chose to tell.</p>
+
+<p>"One day, while in conversation with Miss Wardour, I chanced to mention
+the name of Evan Lamotte, adding something not complimentary to that
+young gentleman. Miss Wardour took fire at once. She assured me that
+Evan Lamotte was <i>not</i> what people sought to make him; that in spite of
+his weaknesses, he had many noble and lovable qualities. She told me how
+he came to her when the first shock of his sister's flight was upon him;
+she described, vividly, his passion, his sorrow, his love for his
+sister. He spoke of her as the only being on earth whom he truly loved,
+the only one who had been unvaryingly kind to him. He cursed the
+destroyers of his sister's happiness, and implored Miss Wardour not to
+abandon that unfortunate sister. He said that he believed she would
+return, and he implored her to visit his parents, and intercede in
+behalf of the fugitive.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour gave him the required promise, and then said that if the
+real reason for this strange elopement <i>must</i> remain a secret, she
+wished they could hit upon some explanation that would spare the
+fugitive as much as possible, and satisfy the gossips. Instantly he
+sprang up, declaring that he would furnish a reason, a reason that no
+one would question, and that would spare his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"A few days later, the story was flying about W&mdash;&mdash;, that to save her
+brother Evan from the consequences of some evil deed, Sybil Lamotte had
+sacrificed herself.</p>
+
+<p>"When Miss Wardour heard of this, she knew that Evan Lamotte had allowed
+himself to be defamed for his sister's sake. She knew that the true
+reasons for her friend's <i>mesalliance</i> was hidden safely beneath a
+brother's sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour told me this, and much more, in praise of Evan Lamotte;
+and here, for his sake, let me say, that in studying John Burrill and
+Francis Lamotte, I had discovered that Sybil Lamotte had been made to
+believe, that the honor and safety of her father and <i>elder</i> brother,
+depended upon her sacrifice, when the truth is, that she was <i>sold</i>.
+Simply sold&mdash;for their convenience, and their gain.</p>
+
+<p>"You have looked upon Jasper Lamotte as an honorable citizen. On the day
+of John Burrill's funeral, I resumed my old disguise, that of Brooks,
+and went to Mapleton; I told Mr. Lamotte that I had come as a friend of
+his, and of Burrill's, to warn him, that if Nance Burrill was allowed to
+remain in W&mdash;&mdash;, she would be brought forward at this trial, and give
+damaging evidence against his dead son-in-law.</p>
+
+<p>"I remained in the library with him some fifteen minutes. My errand was
+a trap, and he fell into it. What followed, Mr. Belknap has already
+told. In the presence of this court, Jasper Lamotte has perjured
+himself. Let the officers of the law keep this fact in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, to return to my witness. When I heard Miss Wardour's glowing
+vindication of Evan Lamotte, I said to myself, 'Here is the right
+person. Evan Lamotte is the one who can clear up this mystery.' It was
+clear as day to my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It was necessary that I should see him, but I very soon learned that he
+was lying at his home dangerously ill, and quite out of his senses.
+There was nothing to do but to wait. I made the acquaintance of Doctor
+Benoit, and from him I obtained daily news of his patient.</p>
+
+<p>"At the eleventh hour, when I had begun to despair of his recovery, the
+doctor reported the patient restored to his senses. I then told him,
+Doctor Benoit, that the very moment Evan Lamotte was able to listen, and
+to talk rationally, I must see him. That the case was one of life and
+death.</p>
+
+<p>"This day, at the very hour when the trial was called, I set out for
+Mapleton; I saw Evan Lamotte; I told him that Clifford Heath was on
+trial for the murder of John Burrill; and that the chances were against
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary to repeat all that passed between us, the result
+is, that Evan Lamotte comes into this court of his own free will and
+accord, and it is his desire that he be allowed to tell his own story.</p>
+
+<p>"He comes here freely, willingly, asking nothing, hoping nothing, and
+when this audience has heard his testimony, they will join me in
+pronouncing him the noblest Lamotte of them all."</p>
+
+<p>There is a look so weird, so unearthly, in the eyes of Evan Lamotte, as
+he comes forward and turns his face slowly upon the audience, so that
+all can see its ghastly contrast with those burning orbs, that a
+startled hush falls upon them all, a funereal silence pervades the room.</p>
+
+<p>They seem to note for the first time, what a solemn thing is the oath,
+which Evan takes with voice, hollow and weak, but calm and fall of
+decision.</p>
+
+<p>His breath comes in short gasps, his sentences are broken, the fatigue
+caused by his effort to speak is evident. But he goes on to the end, and
+this is what he says:</p>
+
+<p>"When I learned that my sister's life had been ruined, I was a madman; I
+did not know for a time why she had thus thrown herself away, but I
+determined that I would know, and I set myself to spy upon my own
+family.</p>
+
+<p>"If the detective had not told you this truth I should withhold it now,
+for we all have a sufficient burden of shame upon us.</p>
+
+<p>"I watched and I listened and I learned why Sybil had been sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p>"At first I thought I would openly assault Burrill, would compel him to
+resist and would make his life as uncomfortable as possible; I was a
+madman.</p>
+
+<p>"Constance Wardour told me it was not the way to help Sybil; that such a
+course would only cause her added sorrow. When I grew calmer I saw that
+Conny was right. I promised her to do nothing that would add to my poor
+sister's unhappiness.</p>
+
+<p>"By and by they came home, and I saw the misery in my sister's face; day
+by day it deepened, her eyes growing hollow and wild, and full of
+unutterable horror and fear, her face growing paler and thinner, and
+sadder, her hands so weak and tremulous, all appealed to me, all
+maddened me afresh. I resolved that in some way I would free her. But
+how?</p>
+
+<p>"Day after day I brooded upon it. Burrill became more bestial, more
+besotted, more contemptible, every day. My sister's strength was almost
+gone, her reason was tottering.</p>
+
+<p>"I began to cultivate Burrill. I flattered him; I caroused with him. I
+had sunk so low myself that he could feel at ease with me. But drunk or
+sober I never once forgot a resolve I had taken. Matters were going from
+bad to worse. It must be Sybil's life or <i>his</i>. I resolved that it
+should <i>not</i> be my sister who was sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p>"When I found that no more time could be wasted, I laid my plans. I
+feigned illness and kept my room for several days.</p>
+
+<p>"Burrill came daily to see me. I told him that I had some rare new fun
+in my head, and we planned that I should feign to be worse than usual.
+Burrill knew that our people had made efforts to stop our nocturnal
+expeditions, and he agreed with me that the thing should be kept secret.
+On that last night he left the house early, saying that he would spend a
+couple of hours at 'Old Forty's,' and then meet me at a place appointed.</p>
+
+<p>"At nine o'clock I stole out, and no one at Mapleton discovered my
+absence. I did not intend that they should. I waited at the place
+appointed for our meeting until I grew impatient. The time came for him
+to appear; he did not come. I knew where I should find him, and set out
+for 'Forty Rods.' I was determined to let that night end Sybil's
+troubles.</p>
+
+<p>"Half way between the saloon and Doctor Heath's I saw him. He passed
+close to me, as I came up from Mill avenue, and reeled across the road.
+He was not going toward our rendezvous, but away from it.</p>
+
+<p>"I followed stealthily. I did not make my nearness known. I think he was
+too drunk to know where he was going or where to stop. He reeled past
+Doctor Heath's house, and was nearly opposite the gate of the empty lot
+before he discovered that he had gone too far.</p>
+
+<p>"He turned, and while he leaned against the fence and seemed to ponder,
+I crept upon him, knife in hand; I struck him, once, again, a third
+time. He uttered one groan loud enough to have been heard some distance
+away, and then fell heavily. I had struck home. When I was sure that he
+was dead&mdash;I seemed to know just how to act&mdash;I ran to the gate of the
+Burns' lot and opened it wide. The body was twice my weight but I
+dragged it inside before my strength gave out.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, for a while, I seemed panic stricken. What should I do with that
+body? By and by, I thought of a way to get help. I waited until
+midnight, then I made my way to Mapleton, all blood stained, and
+carrying the knife with me. Unseen I entered and gained Frank's room. He
+was up and pacing the floor; I told him to follow me. He saw my
+blood-stained hands and garments; I opened my coat and displayed the
+knife, and he obeyed me. I told him what I had done, and that he must
+help me conceal the body. For a moment he seemed stunned, and then he
+assisted me with surprising readiness; he planned everything; in fact,
+took the lead from that moment. I thought he was working to save his
+brother. The detective has told me the truth, and abjured me to tell all
+I know.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank left me at the foot of the stairs leading to Heath's office. When
+he came down he seemed much excited, and hurried on very fast. We
+scooped out a grave in the cellar, as best we could in the dark, Frank
+working actively. He told me to take my knife and throw it into the old
+well&mdash;if you look you will find it there. While I was doing it, he must
+have put the other knife in the grave. When I came back he had covered
+the face with something white. I did not think about it at the time; now
+I know that it was Doctor Heath's handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Heath is an innocent man. <i>I</i> killed John Burrill; I am here to
+accept the consequences. I did the deed to save my sister. I do not
+regret it."</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning toward the place where Frank Lamotte sits, cowering and
+panic stricken, he stretches out one spectral hand and says:</p>
+
+<p>"Frank! Frank Lamotte, do the only thing left you to do; stand up and
+say that I have spoken the truth. Let us end this at once, Frank!"</p>
+
+<p>Like one roused from some strange stupor, Frank staggers to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all true!" he gasps. "Evan has told nothing but the truth." Then
+he falls back in his seat more dead than alive.</p>
+
+<p>To describe the triumph of O'Meara; the mingled pity and gladness that
+fills the heart of Constance; the rejoicings of Clifford Heath's
+friends, one and all; the misery and the shame that overwhelmed the
+Lamottes, would be useless.</p>
+
+<p>The excitement of the audience, judge and jury, can be imagined better
+than described.</p>
+
+<p>The tragic farce is at an end. The case is given to the jury. Without
+quitting their places, they return their verdict. Clifford Heath is not
+guilty; is honorably acquitted.</p>
+
+<p>Exhausted by his recent effort, Evan Lamotte is carried from the court
+room, closely attended by his mother; is carried to the cell where
+lately Clifford Heath has dwelt a prisoner, while the latter is escorted
+in triumph, to O'Meara's, by all his rejoicing friends.</p>
+
+<p>As the procession of conquerors moves away from the entrance, an officer
+approaches Jasper Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Lamotte, I am very sorry, sir, but you must consider yourself my
+prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>Jasper Lamotte bows coldly, and signals the man that he will follow him.</p>
+
+<p>The officer turns to Frank, but before he can open his lips, the
+miserable young man steps back, makes one quick movement; there is a
+flash, a loud report, and Frank Lamotte falls forward, to be caught in
+the arms of a by-stander.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs46" id="gs46"></a>
+<img src="images/gs46.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">There is a flash&mdash;a loud report.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>They lay him gently down, and Jasper Lamotte bids them send for a
+physician; there must be one very near.</p>
+
+<p>But Frank beckons his father to come close, and when the others have
+drawn back, this is what the father hears, from the son's lips:</p>
+
+<p>"There is another&mdash;pistol in&mdash;my pocket&mdash;I meant it for Evan,&mdash;you&mdash;had
+better&mdash;use it."</p>
+
+<p>Horrible words from the lips of a dying son. They are his last. Before
+Doctor Benoit can turn back and reach his side, Frank Lamotte has
+finished his career of folly, and sin, and shame, dying as he had lived,
+selfishly, like a coward.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SPARTAN MOTHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I never before in all my career, brought to justice a criminal whom I
+both pitied unreservedly, and justified fully. Viewing all things from
+his standpoint, Evan Lamotte is less a murderer than a martyr."</p>
+
+<p>It is the day after the trial with so strange an ending. They are seated
+in O'Meara's library; Constance, Mrs. Aliston, Mrs. O'Meara, Sir
+Clifford, his brother, the Honorable George Heathercliffe, Ray Vandyck,
+O'Meara, and Mr. Bathurst. Mr. Bathurst, who now appears what he <i>is</i>; a
+handsome gentleman, about thirty years of age, clever, vivacious,
+eminently agreeable. Mr. Wedron, like Brooks, has served out his day,
+and been set aside.</p>
+
+<p>They have assembled at the detective's request, and while fully
+expecting a revelation of some sort, they look a serene, and not an
+apprehensive party.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Evan," sighs Constance; "I pity him most sincerely; I shall go and
+see him."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We</i> will go and see him," corrects Sir Clifford, and she smiles, and
+does not dispute the correction.</p>
+
+<p>"Before I begin my other story," says the detective, "I may as well tell
+you of my visit yesterday, and how my news was received.</p>
+
+<p>"From the moment when I heard Miss Wardour's description of Evan
+Lamotte, I knew he was our man. But I was determined to have no more
+mistakes. So I kept my opinion to myself. You can imagine how anxiously
+I hung upon the words of Doctor Benoit, knowing that upon this boy's
+chances for life hung Sir Clifford's life, liberty, and honor.</p>
+
+<p>"When I saw that poor, pale, wreck of humanity, my heart almost failed
+me. How could I drag his secret from him? But no time was to be lost,
+and, as best I could, I told him everything. First, that his sister
+believed herself the guilty one; guilty, at least, in that she had
+instigated the deed, and next, that Sir Clifford was now the victim of
+this crime. His mind at once seemed to grasp the issue. He had listened
+to me intently, breathlessly almost; he now lifted himself suddenly from
+the bed, and said quickly:</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, then, it seems I have not saved Sybil yet. Call my mother! let me
+see her alone.'</p>
+
+<p>"I obeyed him without a question; they were alone together for a long
+half hour, then Mrs. Lamotte came to me with the same look upon her face
+that you saw in court.</p>
+
+<p>"'Evan tells me that you know everything,' she said, her voice trembling
+in spite of herself. 'He tells me that you are a detective. Then you
+know that I have <i>one</i> son of whom I may be proud. Evan Lamotte has
+saved his sister's honor. Saved it doubly. My weak, my ill-used Evan,
+has proven the only man a man's pride, who bears the name of Lamotte,
+because he could not see his sister and his mother contaminated by the
+presence of the monster his father and brother had been so base as to
+force upon us; he has taken justice into his own hands. He has freed his
+sister; he has saved her from crime, and now he stands ready to put
+himself in the place of a wronged and innocent man. I shall go with him
+into court; I shall not leave him again.'</p>
+
+<p>"She broke off with a dry sob and turned away to prepare for the drive.</p>
+
+<p>"How I pitied that proud woman. How tender she was of her lost boy, and
+how he clung to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. O'Meara," turning suddenly toward the lawyer, "we must get that
+poor fellow out of that cell. Doctor Benoit says that he can live but a
+short time at best. He must not die there, and justice can not deal with
+a dying man."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it can be managed," replied the lawyer. "All W&mdash;&mdash; will favor
+the scheme. Not a man or woman will raise their voice against that dying
+boy. He will have plenty of friends <i>now</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"He shall find them strong friends, too," exclaimed Constance. "Mrs.
+O'Meara, we will stir up the whole town."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you'll get your way," put in Bathurst. "And now. Miss Wardour, are
+you ready to hear the end of the mystery surrounding the Wardour
+robbery, and the Wardour diamonds?"</p>
+
+<p>All eyes were turned at once upon the speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I have asked you all to meet me here to-day that I might tell
+it," he went on. "It will contain much that is new to you all, and it
+will interest you all. I know Miss Wardour will wish you all to hear the
+end of her diamond case, and the fate of her robbers."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course! You are perfectly right, Mr. Bathurst," said Constance.
+"Doctor Heath cuts more of a figure than he knows in this business, and
+Ray has staid out in the cold long enough. Go on, Mr. Bathurst, expose
+me in all my iniquity. But have you <i>really</i> found the robbers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said the detective, and while they all fixed upon him their
+gravest attention he began.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2>
+
+<h3>TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"For several years past," began Mr. Bathurst, "the city and many of the
+wealthier suburban towns have been undergoing a systematic overhauling.
+Through the network of big thefts, and little thefts, petit larcenies
+and bank robberies, there has run one clear-cut burglarious specialty&mdash;a
+style of depredations noticeably similar in case after case; alike in
+'design and execution,' and always baffling to the officers.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="gs47" id="gs47"></a>
+<img src="images/gs47.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Bathurst telling the story.</span></h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I allude to a series of robberies of jewelry and plate, a succession of
+provoking thefts, monstrous, enough to be easily traced, but executed
+with such exceeding <i>finesse</i> that, in no single instance, has the
+property been recovered, or the robbers run to earth.</p>
+
+<p>"These fastidious thieves never took money in large amounts, only took
+plate when it was of the purest metal and least cumbersome sort; and
+always aimed for the brightest, the purest, the costliest diamonds.
+Diamonds indeed seemed their specialty.</p>
+
+<p>"This gang has operated in such a gingerly, gentlemanly, mysterious
+manner, and has raided for diamonds so long and so successfully, that
+they have come to be called, among New York detectives, The Diamond
+Coterie, although no man knew whether they numbered two, or twenty.</p>
+
+<p>"They could always recognize their handiwork, however, and whenever the
+news came that some lady in the city, or suburbs, had lost her diamonds,
+and that the thieves had made a 'clean job' of it, the officers said,
+'that's the work of the Diamond Coterie.'</p>
+
+<p>"I have been much abroad of late, but every time I came back to New York
+the Coterie had gathered fresh jewels into its treasure box, and no man
+had found a clue to the sly fellows.</p>
+
+<p>"I began to feel interested in the clique and resolved to take a hand at
+them, at the first opportunity. That opportunity came, with the news of
+the great Wardour robbery, and I came down to W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw enough in this robbery to interest me, for various reasons.</p>
+
+<p>"I believed I could see distinctly the handiwork of the Diamond Coterie,
+and I saw another thing; it was the first piece of work I had known them
+to bungle. And they had bungled in this.</p>
+
+<p>"I made some of my conclusions known to Miss Wardour and her friends,
+but I kept to myself the most important ones.</p>
+
+<p>"The story of the chloroform, so carefully administered, was one of the
+things over which I pondered much; I borrowed the chloroform bottle and
+the piece of linen that had been used to apply the drug, and that night
+I accepted the hospitality proffered me by Sir Clifford. I took a wax
+impression of the vial, at his house, and I made an important discovery
+while there.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Clifford found me half famished and ordered his housekeeper to
+bring in a lunch. Not wishing my identity known, I pretended to be a
+patient; and just as my host was leaving the room, he tossed me a
+handkerchief, which he took from a side table, bidding me make myself a
+bandage to partially conceal my face.</p>
+
+<p>"Now my eyes are trained to see much at a glance, and the moment they
+fell upon that bit of white linen they were riveted there.</p>
+
+<p>"The handkerchief was precisely like the mutilated one used with the
+chloroform. This might be a coincidence&mdash;plain white handkerchiefs with
+wide borders were not uncommon, but this handkerchief was <i>marked</i>!</p>
+
+<p>"I could scarcely wait until Sir Clifford should show me to my room, so
+anxious was I to compare the two pieces of linen.</p>
+
+<p>"The whole one bore the initials F. L., and on the raw, torn edge of the
+half square was a black dot that was undoubtedly the fragment of a
+letter, or name, that had been torn hastily off. It corresponded exactly
+with the lower end of the letter L. upon the whole handkerchief given me
+by Sir Clifford.</p>
+
+<p>"This might be a coincidence, but it is one of my rules to suspect two
+coincidences coming close together; and I had already discovered three
+remarkable ones in this case.</p>
+
+<p>"Sitting alone in my room, I reflected thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Take it for granted that this robbery was perpetrated by the Diamond
+Coterie, what are the facts?</p>
+
+<p>"The robbers knew where to enter, and where to look for plunder; <i>ergo</i>,
+they must have known the premises.</p>
+
+<p>"They administered the deadly chloroform with nicest calculation;
+<i>ergo</i>, they must have known Miss Wardour.</p>
+
+<p>"One of them was something of a dandy,&mdash;witness the superfine bit of
+cambric, and the print of jaunty boots where he leaped the garden fence.</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning I took unceremonious leave of my host, and set out on
+my explorations. As I approached Wardour Place I met a man, who
+immediately drew my interest to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"This man was Jerry Belknap. He wore a disguise quite familiar to me,
+and I recognized him easily. He entered at the Wardour gate, and I
+sauntered on, having found new food for thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, a word concerning this man Belknap.</p>
+
+<p>"At one time he was an honorable member of the best detective force in
+the city; but he had too much cupidity, and not enough moral firmness.
+Twice he allowed himself to be bribed into letting a case fall through,
+and finally I caught him in secret conclave with a gang of bank
+burglars, who were conspiring to raise a fortune for each, and escape
+with their booty through the connivance of our false detective.</p>
+
+<p>"I exploded this little scheme, and compelled Belknap to withdraw from
+the force. Imagine my surprise when, a little later, Miss Wardour told
+me that <i>Mr. Belknap</i> was the detective sent down from the city by Mr.
+Lamotte!</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Belknap went to work upon the case, and Miss Wardour
+concealed me near her dining room so that I might have the pleasure of
+listening to his first report.</p>
+
+<p>"That was a fortunate ambush for me. Mr. Belknap's deductions were as
+diametrically opposite to mine as if he had purposely studied out the
+contrast; and I was shaking my sides with the thought of how all this
+plausibility must be puzzling Miss Wardour and her aunt, when a new
+element was introduced into the programme.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Frank Lamotte, fresh from an amateur robber hunt, came into the
+room. It had been arranged that Mrs. Aliston should break to this young
+man the news that his sister had that day eloped with John Burrill; but
+first, he was to relate his adventures, and this he did.</p>
+
+<p>"If I can hear a voice, before seeing the face, I can usually measure
+its truth or falsity. Now, I had not seen Mr. Frank Lamotte, but his
+voice told me that he was rehearsing a well studied part; and,
+furthermore, I was assured that Belknap knew this, and purposely helped
+him on.</p>
+
+<p>"By and by Miss Wardour withdrew, and Mrs. Aliston fulfilled her
+mission. Then I was more than ever convinced of the fellow's
+insincerity. I heard how he received the news of his sister's flight;
+and when Mrs. Aliston went, in a panic, to call her niece, I heard him,
+when he fancied himself alone.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems he had been the bearer of a note from his sister to Miss
+Wardour, and he was now intent upon learning if that note had contained
+any thing damaging to himself. This much I learned from his solitary
+mutterings, and then Miss Wardour re-entered the room. He was half wild,
+until she had assured him that the note contained nothing that could
+injure him; and then he became calmer, and went out into the air to
+recover his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour made haste to release me, and I came out of my concealment
+congratulating myself that I had been so lucky.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I found myself compelled to leave W&mdash;&mdash; just as things were
+growing very interesting; I had made my flying visit in a moment of
+leisure, but my vacation had run out; duty, honor and interest, alike
+impelled me in another direction.</p>
+
+<p>"I left my address with Miss Wardour, and I promised myself that at the
+first opportunity I would return to W&mdash;&mdash; and take up my abode here for
+a time.</p>
+
+<p>"I had been in W&mdash;&mdash; not quite three days. I had not seen Jasper
+Lamotte, I had barely seen Frank, and I had added to my deductions made
+on the night of my arrival, until the case stood like this in my mind:</p>
+
+<p>"1st. The robbers were familiar with Wardour, outside and in.</p>
+
+<p>"2d. They knew Miss Wardour, and her sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform.</p>
+
+<p>"3d. One of them was a man of gentlemanly propensities, and probably
+young.</p>
+
+<p>"4th. They or a part of their number approached by the river, using a
+boat with muffled oars.</p>
+
+<p>"So much for my deductions. Now for some coincidences.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a coincidence that the handkerchief I got from Sir Clifford
+should bear Frank Lamotte's initials, and should be precisely like the
+one left behind by the robbers.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a coincidence that Frank Lamotte should be a student of
+medicine, who might have been quite as capable of administering
+chloroform as was the burglar himself.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a coincidence that Miss Sybil Lamotte should have eloped on the
+very day when her best friend was robbed, and that father, mother, and
+brother were all absent in behalf of the robbed friend, thus leaving the
+way open to the fugitives, and giving them plenty of time to escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for some <i>facts</i> that looked strange.</p>
+
+<p>"It was strange that Sybil Lamotte should leave her home to marry a man
+like John Burrill, when she was known to have bestowed her heart
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>"It was strange that Jasper Lamotte, going to the city to employ a
+detective, should so soon have stumbled upon Jerry Belknap, who was
+identified with no agency, and could only be reached through private
+means.</p>
+
+<p>"It was strange that Frank Lamotte should set himself up as an amateur
+detective, and should bring back a report that tallied so perfectly with
+the deductions of Jerry Belknap.</p>
+
+<p>"It was strange that Miss Wardour, having just been robbed of jewels to
+the amount of fifty thousand dollars, should be so little distressed, so
+little agitated by her loss.</p>
+
+<p>"From deductions, coincidences and strange facts, I evolved the
+following theory, which certainly looked well from my standpoint, but
+might not hold water. You will see, that from the first I connected the
+Wardour robbery and the Lamotte elopement.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Sybil Lamotte's strange flight gave proof that there was a
+skeleton in the Lamotte closet. I said:</p>
+
+<p>"If this unseen Mr. Lamotte had planned this robbery, and if for some
+reason it seemed good that his daughter should elope, how well all was
+arranged.</p>
+
+<p>"His son assisting him, they could drop down from Mapleton in their row
+boat; come up from the river, and, with their plans all laid, and
+knowing their ground, could make quick headway. Frank Lamotte's boot
+heel would leave just such a print, as one of the robbers left in the
+loose dirt beside the garden fence. Frank Lamotte would know just how to
+administer the chloroform. Then, Mr. Lamotte, in going to the city,
+ostensibly to procure the services of a detective, could easily take the
+spoils along; and his wife also, that she might be well out of his
+daughter's way. Such a man would naturally select a fellow like Jerry
+Belknap, who would keep up a farce of investigation, and keep away all
+who might, perhaps, stumble upon the truth. Frank's eagerness to be
+absent on this day of his sister's flight, and to assist in the search
+for the robbers, would be thus explained; and his anxiety concerning the
+contents of his sister's letter might be easily traced to a guilty
+conscience.</p>
+
+<p>"But my theories were doomed to be laid aside for a time. Other duties
+claimed me and it was four weeks before I could turn so much as a
+thought toward W&mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>"Before leaving the city, however, I had placed my wax cast of the
+chloroform bottle in the hands of one of my best men, and had also given
+him a clue upon which to work.</p>
+
+<p>"My agent was wonderfully successful. He found the counterparts to the
+chloroform bottle, and then he began shadowing the owner of said vials.
+It proved to be a young woman who had formerly lived in W&mdash;&mdash;, as a
+factory hand, but who had been transplanted to the city by Frank
+Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary to enlarge upon the story of this girl as connected
+with Lamotte; but this must be borne in mind. During the time that my
+agent had this girl under surveillance, Frank Lamotte visited her, and,
+it is supposed that he removed the remaining bottles of the set, for one
+was afterward exhumed, in fragments, from Doctor Heath's ash heap, by
+the industrious Jerry Belknap, and the others have disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>At the mention of this factory girl Mrs. Aliston turned her face toward
+Constance, its expression saying as plainly as any language could, "I
+told you so." But Mr. Bathurst took no notice of this, and hurried on
+with his story.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY OF LUCKY JIM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"From the moment when I appeared among you as Brooks, my work was
+double. I was bent upon posting myself thoroughly in regard to Jasper
+Lamotte, and day by day I became more interested in the career of this
+remarkable man.</p>
+
+<p>"Step by step, I trod backward the path of his history, since his advent
+in W&mdash;&mdash;, gathering my information from many sources.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be tedious to enter into details; suffice it to say that while
+I worked here, two others, trained to such research, were beating up the
+past I was so anxious to become familiar with. And a third, across the
+water, was gathering up the history of John Burrill, another object of
+interest to me at that time.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I will reverse the order in which we made our search, and,
+beginning where my men left off, give you, in brief, the history of a
+remarkable man.</p>
+
+<p>"The man we know as Jasper Lamotte figured in various cities,
+twenty-five years ago, and still earlier, as <i>Lucky Jim</i>, a handsome,
+well educated, sharp witted, confidence man.</p>
+
+<p>"He seldom gambled, and made his swindling operations of various sorts
+reap him a rich harvest; and, by his unvarying good luck, in escaping
+the dragons of the law, as well as because of his lucky ventures, he
+became known to his intimates as Lucky Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"In these days, Miss Sybil Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy old
+Maryland aristocrat, came to the city to reside with an aunt, while she
+completed her musical education. Lucky Jim saw her, and fell in love
+with her beautiful, haughty face.</p>
+
+<p>"He contrived to make her acquaintance, and the rest was easy; it was a
+repetition of the old story; he was handsome and fascinating, she young
+and unsophisticated, with plenty of headstrong Southern blood and self
+will.</p>
+
+<p>"After a brief courtship, Lucky Jim married the Maryland heiress. Her
+father, as may be supposed, repudiated the marriage, but she clung to
+her scamp, and so the old Maryland aristocrat sent her a small fortune,
+which was hers, inherited from her mother's mother, and beyond his
+control; and bade her consider herself no more a Schuyler, of <i>the</i>
+Schuylers.</p>
+
+<p>"For a time, Lucky Jim rode smoothly on the top wave of prosperity; his
+wife easily duped, believed him a Wall street operator. Frank was born,
+and then Sybil, and the Maryland beauty queened it in an elegant and
+secluded little home.</p>
+
+<p>"But the crisis came. The silver cloud turned its dark side.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky Jim played a losing game, one day, and his wife suddenly found
+herself face to face with the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"They lived through stormy times, but Jim had, in his palmy days, left
+his wife's fortune intact, and now it proved an anchor to windward.</p>
+
+<p>"They absented themselves from this country for more than two years;
+then they came back, and Lucky Jim brought his family, which now
+included Evan, to W&mdash;&mdash;. The Maryland fortune enabled them to set up as
+aristocrats, and Lucky Jim seems to have aspired to become a power in
+the community.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think he often attempted any of his old confidence and
+swindling games; but, during his absences from home, which were
+frequent, during his earlier residence here, he made a study of fine
+burglary.</p>
+
+<p>"I can fancy how carefully he put his new schemes in practice, and how
+he passed himself off upon W&mdash;&mdash; as a rising speculator.</p>
+
+<p>"He probably spent years in gathering together that select society,
+known as the Diamond Coterie.</p>
+
+<p>"At first, it consisted of four; himself, a city pawn-broker, known as
+Ezras, who received and negotiated the sale of the stolen goods, and who
+is as keen a rascal as ever escaped justice, and two noted cracksmen,
+who had headquarters in the city, and were famous in their day, but who
+were compelled to withdraw in the midst of their high career, one dying
+of a malignant fever, the other being killed by a woman.</p>
+
+<p>"To replace these departed worthies, Ezras, who was always on the alert
+for pals, and who had had various crooked dealings with Jerry Belknap,
+brought this gentleman and Mr. Lamotte, or Lucky Jim together.</p>
+
+<p>"Belknap proved the right man in the right place, and was soon admitted
+into the Coterie. Next to come under the favorable notice of Ezras, was
+John Burrill, who had come over from England, bringing with him some
+ill-gotten gains, and who set himself up in New York as a swell
+cracksman.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Burrill, the English boor, had an ambition. In this easy-going
+America, he hoped in some way to build himself into an aristocrat, and
+to shine as one of the lords of the land. To this end he hoarded his
+share of all the spoils, and, adding it to the sum brought from England,
+he began to find himself a rich man.</p>
+
+<p>"Meantime, Mr. Lamotte had speculated a little too freely; he had built
+a mansion, and built his factories. He had been living like a prince,
+and some of his late ventures had failed. Something must be done. And
+then his eye fell upon Burrill; he coveted the Englishman's hoarded
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"He found it easy to persuade Burrill to come to W&mdash;&mdash;, ostensibly to
+take the position of overseer at the factories; really to be more
+readily duped by Lucky Jim. Burrill came; he saw how his comrade was
+respected and bowed down to by all W&mdash;&mdash;. He had always admired Lucky
+Jim for his gentlemanly polish and his aristocratic manners; and he now
+concocted a scheme for his own aggrandisement. The Lamottes had made
+themselves aristocrats, they should make an aristocrat of him.</p>
+
+<p>"You all know the result; John Burrill divorced his wife; Jasper Lamotte
+sold his daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"While Frank Lamotte felt tolerably sanguine of winning the heiress of
+Wardour, the Wardour jewels were left unmolested. But when a rival came
+into the field, they determined to have the jewels, even if they lost
+the heiress.</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly they planned the robbery and the elopement, and you all
+know the afterpart.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, you once offered a reward for the arrest of the robbers
+who invaded Wardour Place, <i>not</i> to recover your diamonds, but for the
+sake of justice. It is for the sake of justice and for the future safety
+of peaceable citizens that I have run the Diamond Coterie to earth. For,
+be it known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that Miss Constance Wardour,
+like the wise young lady she is, took her jewels to an expert, one fine
+day, long ago, and had them all duplicated in paste; and while Jasper
+Lamotte and his clique were industriously carrying into safe hiding
+these paste diamonds, the real Wardour jewels were reposing safely in
+the vaults of a city bank, and they repose there safely still!</p>
+
+<p>"When Jasper Lamotte went to the city, two days before the killing of
+Burrill, he went to dispose of some of those paste jewels; and, not
+until then, did he learn how the heiress of Wardour had outwitted him.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wardour, the career of the Diamond Coterie is at an end.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Ezras has long been under our eye. Last night I sent a telegram,
+which will cause his instant arrest; and there are enough charges
+against him to insure him a life sentence, had he yet seventy years to
+live.</p>
+
+<p>"John Burrill has passed beyond our reach. The news of his murder
+frustrated my nicely laid plans for his arrest, and turned my mind for
+some time from the Diamond Coterie to the task of clearing Sir Clifford.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank Lamotte, too, with all his sin and selfishness, has passed before
+a higher tribunal.</p>
+
+<p>"There remains only Jerry Belknap and Jasper Lamotte.</p>
+
+<p>"To Jerry Belknap, I have promised protection&mdash;not because he deserves
+the same, but because in no other way could I avail myself of his
+services; and, to make my chain of evidence complete, I needed his
+testimony. He will go out to the frontier, and never appear again in New
+York.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, perhaps, you can comprehend why I brought that charge of
+perjury against Jasper Lamotte. For his wife's sake, for his unhappy
+daughter's sake, for the sake of Evan Lamotte, who implored me, while
+going to give himself up to save another, that I would not let further
+disgrace bow his mother's head to the dust. For the sake of these
+unfortunate victims, I would let Jasper Lamotte go free, so far as we
+are concerned. The charge of perjury is enough for W&mdash;&mdash;. The officers
+have chosen not to place him in confinement, so, if Jasper Lamotte is
+suddenly missed from among us, who can be questioned or blamed?</p>
+
+<p>"I have acted in this matter solely on my own responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen Jasper Lamotte, and I gave him two alternatives to choose
+from. He could remain and be arrested as the head and front of the
+Diamond Coterie, or he could take passage on board the first ship bound
+for Australia, to remain there the rest of his natural life. He chose
+the latter, and I have appointed my agent, 'Smith, the book peddler,' as
+his guardian, to see that he carries out his contract to the letter.</p>
+
+<p>"And now there is one thing more:</p>
+
+<p>"After Burrill's death, Jasper and Frank Lamotte made a search for
+certain papers supposed to have been upon the person of the dead man;
+they never found them, for the reason that I, as Brooks, had relieved
+Burrill of the care of these same papers, weeks before, substituting for
+them blanks, which no doubt, Burrill had hidden somewhere, in one of his
+fits of drunken caution.</p>
+
+<p>"These papers define distinctly such portions of the Lamotte property as
+in reality belonged to Burrill; and if I am not mistaken in Mrs. Lamotte
+and her daughter, they will wish no share in it. I will put these papers
+into your hands, Mr. O'Meara, to be held for future action."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER THE DRAMA ENDED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Clifford," says the heiress of Wardour, standing beside her lover, one
+winter day, not long after the extinction of the Diamond Coterie,
+"Clifford I have been to Mapleton to-day, for the first time since&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She pauses abruptly, and her lover draws her closer to his side, with
+all his olden assurance shining in the eyes he bends down upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Since the drama ended," he finishes. "You have been to Mapleton,
+beloved! tell me about it."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something I wish to tell you, Clifford; something that in full,
+Mr. Bathurst generously kept out of his story when he told us the rest;
+something that is known as it is only to Mrs. Lamotte, Sybil, Evan, Mr.
+Belknap, Mr. Bathurst, and myself, but which I think I had better tell
+you now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am listening Conny."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see when the robbers made off with my paste diamonds&mdash;think
+of its being the Lamottes, Clifford&mdash;when they robbed me of nothing, I
+felt quite relieved, for those diamonds <i>had</i> been a burden. I made up
+my mind to make the most of the business, and let everybody think me a
+loser, hoping thus to possess myself and my diamonds in peace and
+safety. But your Mr. Bathurst&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My Mr. Bathurst!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>my</i> Mr. Bathurst, then; only you very well know that he has a
+wife. When <i>my</i> Mr. Bathurst had talked to me a second time&mdash;I believe
+that man can see straight through people&mdash;he had my secret at his
+tongue's end; and he warned me to be very cautious and not to tell <i>any
+one</i> the truth concerning the diamonds. In spite of this, one evening,
+when some imp possessed me, I told Sybil Lamotte; I shall never forget
+her strange manner, nor her wild words. Clifford, that awful mistake of
+mine almost made Sybil a murderess."</p>
+
+<p>"Constance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, dear! Sybil had brooded over what I had told her. Trouble was
+unsettling her mind. She had some valuable jewels; she went with her
+mother to the city, and while there, had the real stones replaced by
+paste, as I had done, and received two thousand dollars for her
+diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>"In some way she had found out that Jerry Belknap was a man to be
+bought; she obtained an interview with him, and offered him two thousand
+dollars if he would <i>get John Burrill out of her way</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't interrupt me. Belknap agreed to remove Burrill, and received five
+hundred dollars in advance. He sent to the city for a ruffian, one of
+his tools. The man came, but Mr. Bathurst had his eye upon him. On the
+night of the murder, this ruffian was hidden outside of the saloon,
+waiting to follow and waylay John Burrill when he should go home. The
+boy detective, George, was hidden and watching the ruffian. Do you
+follow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes!"</p>
+
+<p>"When Burrill came out of the saloon, the ruffian, supposing of course
+that he was going home, hurried on ahead, crossed the bridge, and
+secreted himself in the hedge. The boy, George, was far enough behind to
+see that Burrill was <i>not</i> going home, but he was acting as directed by
+Mr. Bathurst, and so followed the ruffian. Think of it, Clifford! While
+Sybil's paid assassin lay in wait for his victim, Sybil's brother was
+saving her soul from guilt, by taking a crime upon his own. But for
+Evan's knife, poor half crazed Sybil would have been a murderess, and
+this I knew in part from the first, and that is why I said, that the
+true slayer must not be punished; until they brought Evan Lamotte into
+court, I believed that Sybil was the guilty one."</p>
+
+<p>"And you could not betray your unfortunate friend? My true hearted
+Constance!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had promised Mrs. Lamotte not to betray her, but was nerving myself
+to dare all and save you, when poor Evan threw himself into the breach,
+and saved us, all three. You must know, Clifford, that Mr. Belknap made
+a full confession to Mr. Bathurst, when he found he could do no better.
+And Mr. Bathurst, knowing that I was aware of Sybil's dealings with
+Belknap, told me everything."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is what Bathurst meant when he said that Sybil believed
+herself guilty. I thought he referred to some of her insane ravings."</p>
+
+<p>"So they all thought. But it is best as it is. There is no need to tell
+this sad story, unless&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless it seems best that Ray Vandyck should know it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Ray. Conny, if the time ever comes when Ray and Sybil meet again,
+<i>she</i> will tell him her own story."</p>
+
+<p>Constance bent over the glowing coals a moment, and then lifting her
+face, she said in a hushed voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I saw Evan."</p>
+
+<p>"And he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He is just fading out of life. Oh! it was so fortunate that there was
+no resistance to the humane ones who sought to help him out of that
+gloomy prison. Sybil never leaves him for a moment. Oh, what must her
+feelings have been, when she learned that Evan had saved her from a life
+time of remorse. I could see by her face, oh, such a poor, pale, sad,
+utterly changed face! that she knew all; everything. She greeted me; so
+timidly, yet, with so much of thankfulness. But, she had eyes and ears
+for no one but Evan, although she is too weak to do more than sit beside
+him and hold his hand. But, Mrs. Lamotte's courage is wonderful. Old Mr.
+Schuyler, Sybil's grandfather, is dead; and he has left Mrs. Lamotte his
+property; but, so tied up that Mr. Lamotte could never touch a dollar.
+Mrs. Lamotte says that when it is over&mdash;Evan's life you know&mdash;she shall
+take Sybil and go to live in her old Maryland home. They will not touch
+a penny of John Burrill's money; it is all to be transferred to his
+first wife, to be held in trust for her little boy. The woman is going
+back to England as soon as the transfer is made. Mrs. Lamotte said to me
+to-day:</p>
+
+<p>"'After all these years, Constance, I am to have an old age of peace, I
+trust. Mr. Lamotte and I have parted forever. My love for him died long
+since, so this gives me no pain. My keenest sorrow is that I never gave
+my poor Evan his full share of my mother love. He came with my sorrow,
+and bears the impress of my despair and madness. If we could only save
+and keep him! But it is best as it is. Mind and body seem dying
+together, and it is better so. When all is over, I shall take Sybil
+away, where there will be nothing to recall her wretched past; and there
+I shall trust her to Time, the Healer.'</p>
+
+<p>"She never mentioned Frank's name, Clifford," bending forward to look in
+his face. "Do you know what I see in the future? I see poor Evan laid
+away under the snows; I see the memory of John Burrill sunk in oblivion.
+I see Sybil Lamotte coming slowly back to life and hope and happiness,
+under the kind blue Maryland skies. I see Mrs. Lamotte, her pride
+softened and chastened, and a look of serene content upon her face. And
+I see Ray Vandyck making his way southward some day, and standing before
+Sybil with his heart in his eyes. I see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You see enough. Leave Ray and Sybil face to face; you and I can guess
+the rest. Do you see Doctor Clifford Heathercliffe resuming his practice
+in W&mdash;&mdash;, as if nothing had happened? For that's what his newly
+appointed tyrant has bidden him do. Do you see a certain fair lady,
+transformed into Lady Heathercliffe by and by, and sailing away over the
+seas to bewilder the dwellers of Heathercliffe Towers, with the
+brightness of her eyes and, in spite of the Diamond Coterie, to blaze
+forth upon the 'nobility and gentry' of Hampshire, in all the splendor
+of the Wardour diamonds? All this shall come to pass, beloved; and,
+since it has gained me the fairest, bravest, truest wife in Christendom,
+I can even rejoice in the persecutions and the hatred of the Diamond
+Coterie.</p>
+
+<p>"If John Burrill had not mistaken me for Herbert, on the night when the
+feud began, he might now be living, perhaps, and you and I be far apart;
+so, at the last, Herbert Heathercliffe, in his grave, has done me a
+service. I do look like him, Conny, and it's small wonder Burrill knew
+me for a Heathercliffe, and made capital out of my altered name. But all
+that is past. My darling, we have learned our hard lesson, now we have
+only to forgive the dead and the erring, to forget the shadows and
+sorrows of the past, and to say, 'God bless our friends in need; God
+bless Bathurst, king of his kind; God bless the O'Mearas&mdash;God bless the
+beautiful darling who outwitted the diamond Coterie, and who wears the
+Wardour diamonds, and the Wardour honor with regal grace.'"</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Diamond Coterie
+
+Author: Lawrence L. Lynch
+
+Release Date: June 4, 2008 [EBook #25695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIAMOND COTERIE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE NEW DETECTIVE STORY.
+
+                            THE DIAMOND COTERIE
+
+                            BY LAWRENCE L. LYNCH
+
+            AUTHOR OF "SHADOWED BY THREE" "MADELINE PAYNE," ETC.
+
+
+    CHICAGO:
+    HENRY A. SUMNER AND COMPANY.
+    1884.
+
+    Copyright, 1882, by
+    DONNELLEY, LOYD & CO.,
+    CHICAGO.
+
+    Copyright, 1884, by
+    R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS,
+    CHICAGO.
+
+    R. R. Donnelley & Sons, The Lakeside Press, Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Really this is a sad affair."]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I. Two Shocks for W----
+
+CHAPTER II. W---- Investigates
+
+CHAPTER III. A Sample of the Lamotte Blood
+
+CHAPTER IV. Sybil's Letter
+
+CHAPTER V. The Deductions of a Detective
+
+CHAPTER VI. Doctor Heath at Home
+
+CHAPTER VII. A Falling Out
+
+CHAPTER VIII. One Detective too Many
+
+CHAPTER IX. The Deductions of Detective Number Two
+
+CHAPTER X. Evan
+
+CHAPTER XI. The End of the Beginning
+
+CHAPTER XII. The Beginning of the End
+
+CHAPTER XIII. Constance's Diplomacy
+
+CHAPTER XIV. John Burrill, Aristocrat
+
+CHAPTER XV. Diamonds
+
+CHAPTER XVI. In Open Mutiny
+
+CHAPTER XVII. The Play Goes On
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. John Burrill, Plebeian
+
+CHAPTER XIX. Nance Burrill's Warning
+
+CHAPTER XX. Constance at Bay
+
+CHAPTER XXI. Appointing a Watch Dog
+
+CHAPTER XXII. The Watch Dog Discharged
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. Father and Son
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. A Day of Gloom
+
+CHAPTER XXV. That Night
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. Prince's Prey
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. A Turn in the Game
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. Introducing Mr. Smith
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. Openly Accused
+
+CHAPTER XXX. An Obstinate Client
+
+CHAPTER XXXI. Beginning the Investigation
+
+CHAPTER XXXII. An Appeal to the Wardour Honor
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII. "I Can Save Him if I Will"
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV. A Last Resort
+
+CHAPTER XXXV. A Strange Interview
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI. Two Passengers West
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII. Some Excellent Advice
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII. Belknap Outwitted
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX. "Will Love Outweigh Honor?"
+
+CHAPTER XL. "Too Young to Die"
+
+CHAPTER XLI. Sir Clifford Heathercliffe
+
+CHAPTER XLII. A Tortured Witness
+
+CHAPTER XLIII. Justice, Sacrifice, Death
+
+CHAPTER XLIV. A Spartan Mother
+
+CHAPTER XLV. Told by a Detective
+
+CHAPTER XLVI. The Story of Lucky Jim
+
+CHAPTER XLVII. After the Drama Ended
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+"Really, this is a sad affair."
+
+"I have a clue."
+
+"I am ready to do that at any and all times."
+
+"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute!"
+
+So he dines at Wardour Place
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Ah! This phial is one of a set."
+
+"Are we alone?"
+
+The tramp turned and looked back
+
+"Doctor Heath flatters himself."
+
+"Here is this man again."
+
+"Poor Frank! don't let this overcome you so."
+
+"Why, Evan, you look ghostly."
+
+"You must not have a third attack."
+
+"Conny, it has come."
+
+"I am happy to know you."
+
+"I have never once been tempted to self destruction."
+
+Only a moment did Sybil listen
+
+Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away
+
+"It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision."
+
+"Then take that, and that."
+
+"It's the other one," he muttered
+
+"Stay a moment, sir."
+
+"I'll be hanged if I can understand it."
+
+"I hope you will excuse me."
+
+"Well, Roake, are you ready for business?"
+
+"If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober."
+
+"You promise never to marry Francis LaMotte?"
+
+The cottage stands quite by itself
+
+"Prince, come away, sir!"
+
+"Why, boy, bless me."
+
+"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"
+
+"Did you ever see that knife before?"
+
+They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk
+
+"Softly, sir; reflect a little."
+
+"Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium."
+
+"Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."
+
+"Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."
+
+"Mr. Belknap, it is I."
+
+"Cap'n, you're a good fellow."
+
+"My friend, come down off that."
+
+"That hope is ended now."
+
+"Prisoner at the Bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"
+
+"It was found close beside the body of John Burrill."
+
+They come slowly forward
+
+"There is a flash--a loud report."
+
+Bathurst telling the story
+
+
+
+
+THE DIAMOND COTERIE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TWO SHOCKS FOR W----.
+
+
+On a certain Saturday in June, year of our Lord 1880, between the hours
+of sunrise and sunset, the town of W----, in a State which shall be
+nameless, received two shocks.
+
+Small affairs, concerning small people, could never have thrown
+W---- into such a state of excitement, for she was a large and wealthy
+town, and understood what was due to herself.
+
+She possessed many factories, and sometimes a man came to his death
+among the ponderous machinery. Not long since one "hand" had stabbed
+another, fatally; and, still later, a factory girl had committed
+suicide.
+
+These things created a ripple, nothing more. It would ill become a town,
+boasting its aristocracy and "style," to grow frenzied over the woes of
+such common people. But W---- possessed a goodly number of wealthy
+families, and some blue blood. These were worthy of consideration, and
+upon these calamity had fallen. Let us read an extract or two from the
+W---- _Argus_, a newspaper of much enterprise and exceeding veracity:
+
+     MONSTROUS DIAMOND ROBBERY--BOLD BURGLARY.
+
+     This day we are startled by the news of a robbery in our midst, the
+     like of which it has never been our fate to chronicle.
+
+     When the servants at Wardour Place arose this morning, they found
+     confusion reigning in the library, desks forced open, papers strewn
+     about, and furniture disarranged. One of the long windows had been
+     opened by forcing the shutters, and then cutting out a pane of
+     glass, after which the bolts were easily drawn.
+
+     Miss Wardour was at once aroused, and further examination disclosed
+     the fact that her dressing room had been invaded, and every box,
+     trunk and drawer searched. The beautiful little affair, which has
+     the appearance of a miniature combined desk and bookcase, but which
+     contains a small safe, that Miss Wardour believed burglar proof,
+     had been forced, and the jewels so widely known as the "Wardour
+     diamonds," stolen. Quite a large sum of money, and some papers of
+     value, were also taken.
+
+     Most of our readers are familiar with the history of the Wardour
+     diamonds, and know that they represented a fortune.
+
+     The burglary was effected without noise, not a sound disturbing
+     Miss Wardour, or any of her servants, some of whom are light
+     sleepers, and they have not a single clue by which to trace the
+     robbers.
+
+     Miss Wardour bears the loss with great calmness. Of course every
+     effort will be made to recover the jewels, and capture the thieves.
+     It is rumored that Mr. Jasper Lamotte, in behalf of Miss Wardour,
+     will visit the city at once and set the detectives at work.
+
+This was shock number one for the public of W----.
+
+Miss Constance Wardour, of Wardour Place, was a lady of distinction. She
+possessed the oldest name, the bluest blood, the fairest face, and the
+longest purse, to be found in W----; and, the _Argus_ had said truly,
+the Wardour diamonds represented a fortune, and not a small one.
+
+Emmeline Wardour, the great grandmother of Miss Constance, was a belle
+and heiress. Her fondness for rare jewels amounted to a mania, and she
+spent enormous sums in collecting rare gems. At her death she bequeathed
+to her daughter a collection such as is owned by few ladies in private
+life. She also bequeathed to her daughter her mania. This daughter,
+after whom Constance was named, added to her mother's store of precious
+stones, from time to time, and when, one fine day, a bank, in which she
+had deposited some thousands of her dollars, failed, and she found
+herself a loser, she brought her craze to a climax, by converting all
+her money into diamonds, set and unset.
+
+At her death, her granddaughter, Constance, inherited these treasures,
+in addition to a handsome fortune from her mother; and, although the
+original collection made by Emmeline Wardour contained a variety of rare
+stones, opals, amethysts, pearls, cameos, etc., besides the many fine
+diamonds, they all came to be classed under the head of the "Wardour
+diamonds."
+
+It is small wonder that W---- stood aghast at the thought of such a
+robbery, and it is impossible to say when the talk, the wonderment, the
+conjectures, suggestions, theories, and general indignation would have
+ended, had not the second shock overborne the first. Once more let the
+_Argus_ speak:
+
+     A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
+
+     Yesterday afternoon, while the town was filled with the excitement
+     caused by the Wardour robbery, Miss Sybil Lamotte, the beautiful
+     daughter of our wealthy and highly respected citizen, Jasper
+     Lamotte, Esq., eloped with John Burrill, who was, for a time,
+     foreman in one of her father's mills. Burrill is known to be a
+     divorced man, having a former wife and a child, living in W----;
+     and his elopement with one of the aristocracy has filled the town
+     with consternation.
+
+     Mr. Lamotte, the father of the young lady, had not been from home
+     two hours, in company with his wife, when his daughter fled. He was
+     _en route_ for the city, to procure the services of detectives, in
+     the hope of recovering the Wardour diamonds; both his sons were
+     absent from home as well. Mr. Lamotte has not yet returned, and is
+     still ignorant of his daughter's flight.
+
+Thus abruptly and reluctantly ends the second _Argus_ bombshell, and
+this same last bombshell had been a very different thing to handle. It
+might have been made far more sensational, and the editor had sighed as
+he penned the cautiously worded lines: "It was a monstrous
+_mesalliance_, and a great deal could be said in disparagement of Mr.
+John Burrill;" but Mr. Lamotte was absent; the brothers Lamotte were
+absent; and until he was certain what steps they would take in this
+matter, it were wise to err on the safe side. Sybil was an only
+daughter. Parents are sometimes prone to forgive much; it might be best
+to "let Mr. Burrill off easy."
+
+Thus to himself reasoned the editor, and, having bridled his pen, much
+against his will, he set free his tongue, and in the bosom of his family
+discoursed very freely of Mr. John Burrill.
+
+"My dear, it's unendurable," he announced to the little woman opposite,
+with the nod of a Solomon. "It's perfectly _incomprehensible_, how such
+a girl could do it. Why, he's a braggart and a bully. He drinks in our
+public saloons, and handles a woman's name as he does his beer glass.
+The factory men say that he has boasted openly that he meant to marry
+Miss Lamotte, _or_ Miss Wardour, he couldn't decide which. By the by,
+it's rather odd that those two young ladies should meet with such
+dissimilar misfortunes on the same day."
+
+Mrs. Editor, a small woman, who, from constantly hearing and absorbing
+into the vacuum of her own mind, the words of wisdom falling from the
+mouth of her husband, had acquired an expression of being always ready
+and willing to be convinced, looked up from her teapot and propounded
+the following:
+
+"W-what do you s'pose she eloped with him for?"
+
+"Maria, I believe I have told you frequently that there is no such word
+as 's'pose.' I don't _suppose_ anything about it. It's enough to make
+one believe in witchcraft. Miss Sybil Lamotte held her head above _us_;
+above plenty more, who were the peers of Mr. John Burrill. Last year, as
+everybody knows, she refused Robert Crofton, who is handsome, rich, and
+upright in character. This Spring, they say, she jilted Raymond Vandyck,
+and people who ought to know, say that they were engaged. Why, Ray
+Vandyck comes of the best old Dutch stock, and his fortune is something
+worth while. I wonder what young Vandyck will say to this, and how that
+high-stepping old lady, his mother, will fancy having her son thrown
+over for John Burrill. I wish I knew how Jasper Lamotte would take it."
+
+So, in many a household, tongues wagged fast and furious; misfortune had
+smitten the mighty ones of W----, and brought them within range of the
+gossiping tongues of their social inferiors; and, while the village
+oracles improve their opportunities, and old women hatch theories, the
+like of which was never heard on earth, let us make the acquaintance of
+some of the "mighty ones."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+W---- INVESTIGATES.
+
+
+Wardour Place, the home of Miss Constance Wardour, and the scene of the
+"_great_ Diamond robbery," lies a little east from the town, away from
+the clamor of its mills, and the contamination of its _canaille_.
+
+It is a beautiful old place, built upon a slight elevation, surrounded
+by stately old trees, with a wide sweep of well-kept lawn, bordered with
+rose thickets, and dotted here and there with great clumps of tall
+syringas, white lilacs, acacias, and a variety of ornamental trees and
+flowering shrubs.
+
+The mansion stands some distance from the road, and is reached by a
+broad, sweeping drive and two footpaths that approach from opposite
+directions.
+
+In the rear are orchard and gardens, and beyond these a grassy slope
+that curves down to meet the river, that is ever hurrying townward to
+seize the great mill wheels and set them sweeping round and round.
+
+The mansion itself is a large, roomy edifice, built by a master
+architect. It at once impresses one with a sense of its true purpose: a
+home, stately, but not stiff, abounding in comfort and aristocratic
+ease; a place of serene repose and inborn refinement. Such, Wardour
+Place was intended to be; such, it has been and is.
+
+Miss Constance Wardour, mistress of the domain and last of the race, is
+alone in her own favorite morning room. It is two hours since the
+discovery of the robbery, and during those two hours confusion has
+reigned supreme. Everybody, except Miss Wardour, has seemingly run wild.
+But Miss Wardour has kept her head, and has prevented the servants from
+giving the alarm upon the highway, and thus filling her house with a
+promiscuous mob. She has compelled them to comport themselves like
+rational beings; has ordered the library and dressing room to be closed,
+and left untouched until the proper officer shall have made proper
+investigations; and then she has ordered her maid to serve her with a
+cup of strong coffee in the morning room; and, considering the
+glittering wealth she has just been bereaved of, Miss Wardour looks very
+calm and unruffled, and sips her coffee with a relish.
+
+Presently the door opens and a lady enters: a very fat lady, with florid
+complexion, restless, inquisitive, but good-humored gray eyes, and
+plenty of dark crinkly hair, combed low about her ears.
+
+This is Mrs. Honor Aliston, a distant relative of Miss Wardour's, who
+has found a most delightful home with that young lady, ever since the
+death of Grandmamma Wardour, for Constance Wardour has been an orphan
+since her childhood.
+
+Mrs. Aliston comes forward, rather rolls forward, and sinking, with a
+grunt of satisfaction, into the largest chair at hand, fixes two gray
+eyes upon the heiress, which that young lady, perceiving, says: "Well?"
+
+"Don't say 'well' to me. I've just come down from the mansard," gasped
+the widow Aliston.
+
+"From the _mansard_?"
+
+"Yes," fanning herself briskly with the pages of an uncut magazine.
+
+Constance laughs musically. "Why, Aunt Honor, you didn't expect to see
+the robbers running across the country, did you?"
+
+"Not I," disdainfully. "I wanted to see how long it took the news to get
+to--Mapleton."
+
+"Oh!" indifferently.
+
+"And--they're coming."
+
+"So soon!"
+
+"So soon! and the sheriff, or constable, or coroner,--_who_ is it that
+make these investigations? He's coming, at any rate, whoever he is, with
+a mob at his heels. Who did you send for, Con?"
+
+"For Mr. O'Meara, of course, and--I would like to see Ray Vandyck."
+
+"What for?"
+
+Constance laughed. "Oh, I am fond of Ray, you know, and I think he would
+offer some unique suggestions; besides--dear me, auntie!" breaking off
+suddenly, "I wish this farce was at an end."
+
+Mrs. Aliston's gray eyes twinkled. "Why, child, you may be thankful it's
+no worse. Suppose--"
+
+"Hush, Aunt Honor. 'Walls have ears,' you know. I have half a mind to
+take Mr. Lamotte into my--"
+
+"Constance Wardour, _what_ are you thinking about? 'Take Mr. Lamotte!'
+that means Frank Lamotte and Madame Lamotte, and _that_ means all the
+rest."
+
+"I said '_half_ a mind,' auntie. I don't think the notion will ever get
+its growth. I think we will see the end of this affair through our own
+spectacles; but--hear that noise! Are they bringing a legion of people?
+Auntie, I don't believe you have had a cup of coffee yet."
+
+"Don't you? Well, I _have_, my child. Let's go out and meet those
+people. They will bring all the dirt that lay loose on the highway on
+the soles of their boots. Con," turning suddenly, "you don't look solemn
+enough."
+
+Without heeding this last remark, Constance Wardour throws open the
+door, and passes out and down the hall to meet the party just entering.
+
+There is Mr. Soames, the mayor of W----, very bustling and important;
+Corliss, the constable, exceedingly shrewd in his own opinion, and
+looking on this occasion as wise as an owl; Thomas Craig, Esq.,
+sub-editor of the _Argus_; and some lesser lights, who, on one pretext
+and another, hope to gain admittance and sate their curiosity.
+
+"Really, Miss Wardour," begins the bustling mayor, "really, this is a
+sad affair! miserable affair! Must have given you a terrible fright, and
+then the loss!--but we will find them. Of course your jewels, such
+valuables, can't be kept hid from sharp detectives--a--Corliss, what had
+we better do first?" for Mayor Soames, like many another mayor, is
+about as capable of fulfilling his duties as an average ten-year-old.
+
+Corliss, however, comes gallantly to the rescue. He is equal to any
+emergency; there is nothing, if you take his word as proof, that Corliss
+is _not_ equal to.
+
+"First," says Corliss, "I think we had better--ahem--investigate."
+
+"To be sure--investigate, of course--Miss Wardour, you have--"
+
+"Closed up the disturbed rooms," interrupts Constance, promptly. "Yes,
+sir; I fear you will find little there to assist you. Nelly, throw open
+the library."
+
+The servant, thus commanded, took from her mistress' hand a key,
+unlocked the library door and threw it open; and then the farce began.
+
+If there is anything in all our dispensations of law and order that is
+calculated to strike astonishment to the heart and mind of a foreigner,
+it is our off-hand way of conducting a police investigation. In other
+countries, to be a magistrate, a notary, means to be in some degree
+qualified for the position; to be a constable, means to possess a
+moderate allowance of mother wit, and a small measure of "muscular
+christianity;" and to discover a crime, means to follow it up with a
+thorough and systematic investigation. Such is not our mode. With us, to
+hold office, means to get a salary; and to conduct an investigation,
+means to maunder through some sort of farce, which gives the criminal
+time to make good his escape, and to permit the newspapers to seize upon
+and publish every item, to detail every clue, as fast as discovered; all
+this being in favor of the law-breakers, and detrimental to the
+conscientious officers of justice.
+
+In France, they complain of too much red tape in the police department.
+Let them supply us out of their superabundance; we have too little.
+
+While Corliss "investigates," the mayor delivers an impromptu oration;
+and Mr. Craig, of the _Argus_, takes notes, according to his own light.
+
+Out of his inner consciousness, the _Argus_ man evokes an idea, which
+Corliss is not slow to adopt and use as his own.
+
+"I suppose they will have a detective down as soon as possible," says
+Mr. Craig, as Corliss lays one ruthless hand on an overturned chair. "If
+I were you, Corliss, I would leave everything exactly as I find it, for
+the benefit of whoever works up the case."
+
+Corliss slowly lowers the chair to its former position, and turns upon
+Craig a look of offended dignity.
+
+"Why, what did you suppose I intended to do?"
+
+"Umph!" retorted Craig, with a disrespectful sniff, "I rather thought
+you intended to sit down in that chair."
+
+Turning his back upon the flippant young man, so sadly lacking in
+respect for the "powers that be," Corliss pursues his investigations. He
+has read, in many novels and sensational newspapers, vivid descriptions
+of similar examinations, and he goes to work after the most approved
+fashion. He scrutinizes the window, the open blind, the cut pane, the
+hangings within and the down-trodden shrubbery without; he darts out,
+and dives in; he peers under every thing, over every thing, into every
+thing; he inspects, over and again, the mutilated writing case, or safe,
+from which the treasure was actually taken; and raps and sounds it as if
+in search of some private receptacle that the thieves had overlooked, or
+Miss Wardour never found out. He goes down flat upon his stomach, and
+scrutinizes Miss Wardour's scrupulously swept carpets, in search of a
+footprint in the dust that is not there.
+
+While he performs these feats, the mayor follows him about solemnly, and
+full of wondering admiration; and the man of the _Argus_ scribbles, and
+chuckles and grins maliciously.
+
+Meantime, there have been other arrivals at Wardour Place; and
+Constance, leaving the inspectors to their own devices, is standing in
+her drawing-room, talking earnestly with a broad-shouldered, handsome
+man, who looks much surprised at the tale she is telling.
+
+"How unfortunate, and how fortunate," he says, depositing his hat upon
+the table beside him. "I came here to speak of our river excursion, and
+lo, I am in the midst of a sensation."
+
+Constance laughed.
+
+"And surrounded by forlorn females," she supplemented. "Aunt Honor won't
+recover from the fright in a week, although she looks so fierce at
+present."
+
+Mrs. Aliston, who is seated at the farthest window, half buried by the
+lace draperies, and looking steadfastly down the road, pops out her head
+to retort:
+
+"It's time to look fierce; don't I know that those Vandals in the next
+room will make as big a muddle as if they were in sympathy with the
+burglars?"
+
+Constance laughed easily.
+
+"They can't do much harm, auntie; the burglars did not leave a trace; I
+am positive of that." Then turning to the new comer, "I am very glad you
+came just now, Doctor Heath; you may help me with your advice. I have
+sent for my lawyer, Mr. O'Meara; but, for some reason he does not come."
+
+"Mr. O'Meara left for the city last night."
+
+"Oh! I am sorry for that; he would be sure to know how to proceed, and
+who to employ. Doctor Heath you are of course acquainted in the city;
+tell me of a good man, a _really_ good one. I intend to spare no expense
+in hunting these robbers."
+
+"And these diamonds," from behind the curtain.
+
+"Aunt Honor, you are like the ghost in the pantomime; come out and be
+one of us."
+
+"I won't."
+
+"Very well, then; but seriously, Doctor Heath, if I can't secure but the
+one, let it be the robbers. Do you know I have a fancy that if we caught
+them or him, it would put an end to some of our mysteries. You have not
+been among us very long; but, don't you think we have more than our
+average of crime?"
+
+"I had not observed, Miss Wardour."
+
+"Less than a year ago, Brant, the jeweler, was a heavy loser. Within the
+year, three banks in this vicinity have been robbed. Last summer, Mark
+Olson, a farmer, drew from the bank several thousand dollars, intending
+to purchase land. Half way between W---- and his home he was waylaid,
+knocked from his horse, robbed, and left in the road senseless. I could
+name to you no less than seven private residences that have been
+burglarized within the past ten months, and if I related to you the
+circumstances attending each robbery, you would be satisfied, as I am,
+that, _in every case_, the robbers knew their ground, and did not work
+at random."
+
+"And you have noted each of these events so accurately, Miss Wardour,
+and yet, were not--warned."
+
+"I have noted all these events, Doctor Heath, and yet--have been
+robbed."
+
+Doctor Heath bends his eyes upon the floor, and remains silent; there is
+no possibility of reading his thoughts in his face. It is a fine face,
+however, and Miss Wardour must be pardoned if she takes advantage of
+this temporary abstraction, to gaze full at him for one moment. The
+close cropped thick brown hair displays a well shaped head, the forehead
+is broad and full, the eyes large, dark gray, and capable of almost any
+expression; usually they look out from his handsome face with a half
+contemptuous indifference to all things, that leads one to fancy those
+eyes may have a history; this may or may not be the case. Doctor Heath
+came to W---- less than a year ago, armed with a personal certificate of
+merit from the first of the great New York physicians, bought out the
+practice of a broken down old resident doctor, fitted up a handsome
+office, and settled down to his business. He hired a small cottage as a
+place of residence, installed a deaf old woman as housekeeper and maid
+of all work, and lived a quiet bachelor life, riding a good horse,
+smoking a good cigar, and growing in favor with polite W---- society.
+
+And this is absolutely all that W---- can tell concerning Dr. Clifford
+Heath. What was his past, whence he came, what the length of his purse
+or pedigree, no one knows. People have tried to find out something--of
+course--but Doctor Heath has a wonderful way of setting aside the hints
+of the curious, and he ignores the right of W---- to know his private
+history, with a cool impertinence that is as exasperating as it is
+effectual.
+
+As he thinks, Miss Wardour watches; but no change comes over the calm,
+smooth shaven face, every feature expresses firmness and strength, and
+nothing more.
+
+"And so you want an able officer to take this business in hand, Miss
+Wardour," says Clifford Heath, at length. "If it is as you suspect, it
+will need a shrewd man, and you have no clue, save those that are now
+being inspected," with a light laugh, "by our worthy constable and his
+supporters."
+
+Constance Wardour arose and came close to the table, speaking in a low
+voice.
+
+"Yes, Doctor Heath, I will trust _you_, although I intended saying
+nothing of this until an officer arrived. I have a clue, slight,
+although it may be, it is--"
+
+[Illustration: "I have a clue."]
+
+She drew from her pocket a small white roll, and unfolding it, held up
+for his inspection _half_ of a fine cambric handkerchief, and a tiny
+stoppered vial of finest cut glass.
+
+Doctor Heath glanced at the vial and uttered one word.
+
+"Chloroform."
+
+"Chloroform," repeated Miss Wardour; "when I was awakened, by the
+knocking at my door, I found this," shaking the fragment of cambric,
+"lying lightly across my face; and the vial, on the little night stand
+beside my bed. Aunt Honor was rapping for admittance, and when she had
+made me comprehend the situation, we decided that it was best to say
+nothing of this. What seems most strange is, that it was administered
+with so much care; I am affected by the smallest quantity of the drug,
+and an ordinary dose would have put me under medical treatment. I could
+not have left my bed for a week, had they given me as much as would
+serve only to stupify Aunt Honor there."
+
+"No," interrupted Mrs. Aliston, once more half emerging from her window.
+"It would have been worse than that; I think an overdose of chloroform
+would kill Constance. It seems as if they knew just how much to give."
+
+Was it fancy, or did a troubled look rest for a moment in the eyes of
+Doctor Heath, and on his countenance a shade of pallor?
+
+"This is, to my mind, the most serious aspect of the affair," he said
+gravely. "Mrs. Aliston is right; an overdose of that drug would be fatal
+to you. Your life has been jeopardized. I agree with Mrs. Aliston, your
+investigation _is_ in the hands of bunglers; let us hunt these fellows
+down."
+
+"I will see that an officer is telegraphed for at once; but--shall I
+send to the regular bureau, or--how?"
+
+"There is one man in the city, if he _is_ in the city now, who is
+qualified for the position he holds. He has withdrawn himself from the
+regular force, and acts solely on his own responsibility. He is much
+sought after, and possesses wonderful abilities; some of his exploits
+have been truly astounding."
+
+"And this man is--"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte; Mr. Francis Lamotte," announced a servant.
+
+"Show them in," said Constance, at the same time gathering up the piece
+of cambric and the little vial and putting them in her pocket.
+
+Doctor Heath arose, and taking up his hat, murmured an apology.
+
+"I have a patient at this hour, Miss Wardour, and will call again during
+the day. You will not stand in need of my counsel now," smilingly. "Mr.
+Lamotte can give you all needful advice, and he is sure to be right,"
+and Doctor Heath bowed himself out.
+
+"The Wardour diamonds," he muttered, as he mounted his horse. "And to
+think that they almost cost her her life; a skilled hand was it? Well,
+when the detective comes, I, too, may have a clue for him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A SAMPLE OF THE LAMOTTE BLOOD.
+
+
+Mr. Jasper Lamotte is a tall man, a dark man, and a stately man. He is
+grave of speech, yet very suave and pleasing. He is open handed and
+charitable, and a very popular man among the people of W----. He will
+rein in his blooded horses to ask after the health of his factory hands,
+and doff his hat to the wife of his humblest tenant. He has been for
+many years a resident of W----. Years ago he was a great traveler,
+coming and going almost incessantly, but, after a time, he built the
+largest and newest of the W---- mills, and settled himself down to rear
+his family, and attend in person to his "bales and shekels."
+
+Francis Lamotte is, what his father has been, a tall, dark eyed, sallow
+skinned young man, with a Greek profile, a profusion of curling dusky
+hair, a soft slow voice, a sweet and most pleasing smile; aristocratic
+hands and feet, a most affable manner; a very agreeable companion, and a
+dutiful son and brother. So saith W----. Such is Francis Lamotte, and
+being such, he is voted, with one consent, the handsomest young man in
+W----. Francis Lamotte, too, is popular with the people of W----;
+handsome and fascinating, the son of a father whose fortune is said to
+be enormous; he is welcomed in every household circle, and he brings
+pleasure and courtesy wherever he enters.
+
+"Constance, my child, what is this that I hear?" exclaims Jasper
+Lamotte, taking the hand of Miss Wardour as she advances to meet him.
+"Have they not exaggerated the truth? The village is full of rumors."
+
+"Constance, good morning," breaks in Francis Lamotte. "Father's head is
+a little turned by all this. _Have_ you had a burglar? _Have_ they
+stolen the Wardour diamonds? And _are_ you frightened to death? And,"
+with a malicious glance toward Mrs. Aliston, who had forsaken her window
+and was rolling slowly towards them, serene, and dignified, "did they
+bind and gag dear Mrs. A--?"
+
+"Yes, yes! and no, no!" says Constance, cutting off the retort that was
+rising to the lips of her aunt. "Be seated, Mr. Lamotte; sit down Frank.
+I have 'had a burglar,' they did steal my diamonds. But--well, they did
+not frighten me for I was not aware of their presence, and they did not
+bind Aunt Honor for they--"
+
+"Hadn't rope enough," interrupts that lady, at which they all laugh.
+
+"But seriously, Constance," resumes Lamotte _pere_, "this is a bad
+business; a _very_ bad business; good gracious! are we all to be robbed
+at the pleasure of these rascals? plundered whenever their pockets run
+dry? It's abominable! What has been done? There should be an officer on
+the spot now."
+
+"So there is," breaks in Aunt Honor, with suspicious sweetness.
+"Constable Corliss and Mayor Soames, are examining the library and
+dressing room."
+
+Mr. Lamotte retains his gravity, but after exchanging demure glances,
+and in spite of themselves, Constance and Francis Lamotte laugh
+outright.
+
+"Then, my friends, let us await a revelation," Francis drawls in the
+most approved "camp meeting" fashion.
+
+"Poor Corliss!" Mr. Lamotte smiles slightly; "at any rate he will try to
+do his duty. But, Constance, you should have an officer here as soon as
+possible; I should not come here venturing my suggestions but I learned,
+accidentally, that your lawyer O'Meara, is absent; that is another
+misfortune. O'Meara has a long clear head; would not make a bad
+detective himself. As he _is_ away, and you need some one to act for
+you, why, I place myself at your disposal; if you have not already
+appointed an agent," with another smile.
+
+"I have made no move in the matter, Mr. Lamotte; indeed, I have hardly
+had time to think, as yet. I suppose, too, that we have lost valuable
+time, and yet we can't get a detective down here in a moment. Pray take
+what measures you deem best, and let us have the _best_ officer that we
+can get. I am especially anxious to capture the thieves if possible--and
+the diamonds--of course."
+
+"England expects every man to do his duty," quoted Francis. "Constance
+give me an appointment, too."
+
+"So I will," retorted Constance, wickedly. "I think you are eminently
+fitted to assist--Mr. Corliss."
+
+"Frank, be serious," says Mr. Lamotte, with a touch of severity. "Now
+Constance, let us do what we can to make up for this unavoidable loss of
+time; first tell me, as minutely as you can, just how this robbery was
+discovered."
+
+"It's a very brief story," says Constance, smiling slightly, and then
+she narrates, in a somewhat hurried manner, as if she were weary of the
+subject, and wanted to have done with it, the events of the morning,
+omitting, however, to mention the finding of the chloroform vial, and
+the half square of cambric.
+
+"Mr. Soames and the constable--and several more, were on the spot with
+great promptness," finished she, with a comical glance toward Mrs.
+Aliston.
+
+"We overlooked their proceedings until we discovered that they would do
+no actual damage, but would leave everything exactly as they found it,
+and then--"
+
+"Yes," interrupted Francis, with a queer smile upon his lips, "and then
+you found a more agreeable occupation."
+
+"And then," continued Constance, as if she had not heard him, but
+returning his half-malicious look with interest, "Dr. Heath called, and
+I told him all about it. He is very clear headed and sensible, and I was
+sorry his time was so limited; he might have been of some assistance,
+and--"
+
+"Too bad," again broke in young Lamotte, with something very like a
+sneer upon his handsome face. "Let me repair the damage. I'll tell him
+to call--"
+
+"Oh, not at all, Frank; pardon my interruption," said the girl, turning
+her eyes full upon him with artful artlessness. "You are very good, but
+it's quite unnecessary. Dr. Heath promised to call again during the day
+or evening."
+
+Frank Lamotte bit his lip, but kept silent; and the elder man came to
+the rescue. He had been thinking, and without seeming to have noticed
+the little passage at arms, he arose and said: "Well, Constance, I don't
+see that talking will do much good just now; what the occasion demands
+is action. My first impulse was to telegraph at once for an officer from
+the city force, but, on reflection, I think it better not to use the
+telegraph. Our every movement may be closely noted, and to send a
+message would be to set some one watching for the arrival of a
+detective, and once his identity becomes known, farewell to his
+prospects of success. It will take a few hours longer to get him here,
+but I think I had better visit the city in person, lay the case before
+our man, and so enable him to enter the town prepared for his work, and
+able to maintain his incognito. I have business of my own in the city,
+and Mrs. Lamotte is anxious to do some shopping. Women are always
+anxious to shop, I believe. I will return home at once, and give her
+warning; it will look less like a business trip if she accompanies me.
+How does this plan suit you?"
+
+"Any plan that brings us a competent officer as early as possible, will
+suit me," replied Constance. "It's _very_ good of you to take all this
+trouble, Mr. Lamotte."
+
+"Nothing of the sort," expostulated Mr. Lamotte, heartily. "I am always
+at the service of my daughter's dearest friend. By the by, Sybil is not
+yet aware of your loss. I did not enlighten her, for I knew she would
+insist upon coming with me, and that," smiling a little, "would have
+necessitated waiting for toilette."
+
+"And apropos of toilettes," cried his son, springing up. "There is
+_Mere_, she will want due warning, for nothing short of a full hour will
+she take. So, sir, let's take a look at Soames and Corliss, and hasten
+our departure."
+
+"Right; quite right, Frank, I will appoint you as my representative in
+my absence. You are to execute any and all of Miss Wardour's commands."
+
+"I am ready to do that at any and all times," replied the young man,
+with sudden gravity, and letting his dark eyes rest for a moment upon
+the face of the lady in question. And then, without waiting for an
+answering remark, he turned from the room, followed by his father and
+the two ladies.
+
+[Illustration: "I am ready to do that at any and all times."]
+
+They found Corliss making his final sprawl, and the entire committee of
+investigation ready with any quantity of newly hatched theories,
+probable and improbable. Cutting short their eloquence, however, Mr.
+Lamotte recommended them to talk as little as possible among the
+townspeople, and to pursue the investigation quietly, after their own
+light. Then, after a few more words with the fair heiress, father and
+son took their leave.
+
+Left alone, Constance sprang lightly out from the open library window,
+and began pacing the graveled walk, with a brow wrinkled in thought.
+Hearing a step behind her, she turned to encounter once more the gaze of
+Francis Lamotte.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said, quite humbly. "I was commissioned by Sybil
+to give you this," extending a dainty white note. "In the excitement of
+the morning I quite forgot it. Sybil gave me it last evening, asking me
+to deliver it this morning," and lowering his voice, "knowing it would
+be for me an exceedingly delightful mission."
+
+Constance took the missive, and twisting it carelessly in her fingers,
+said:
+
+"Of course, Frank; many thanks. And now, as you are under my commands, I
+forbid any more flattery and nonsense, sir. I am not in the mood to
+retort."
+
+"So much the better for me," muttered the young man, moodily.
+"Constance, I--"
+
+"Silence, sir! Have you not received your orders? My mind is on my
+losses. If you can think of no way to further our search, I shall
+dismiss you."
+
+"I have thought of a way, then," he replied, with a touch of dignity. "I
+think one point has been overlooked. Those robbers have undoubtedly fled
+the town with their treasure, but it is hardly likely that they went by
+any very public thoroughfare. Now one, two or more strangers, traveling
+across the country, may have been seen by some cottager, farmer, or wood
+cutter; and I think it would be a mistake to neglect what might give us
+a clue. Probably the rascals took to their heels during the hours of
+darkness, making for some small railroad station. Now, I propose to go
+straightway, mount my horse, and scour the country in search of
+information. If I find a clew I shall follow it up; and so, if you don't
+see me by to-morrow morning, Constance, you may know that I have struck
+the trail."
+
+"Why, Frank," cried Constance, in a burst of outspoken admiration. "I
+didn't think it was in you! Really, I admire you immensely; and you will
+really abandon your ease and comfort for--"
+
+"You."
+
+"No, don't put it in that way; say for justice."
+
+"I don't care a fig for justice!" impatiently. "My motive is purely
+selfish. If I can be instrumental in recovering your diamonds, may I not
+hope for some very small reward?"
+
+"To be--sure, Frank. I had overlooked that; a reward of course. I mean
+to have posters out right away, and--you may as well earn it as any
+one."
+
+Francis Lamotte turned swiftly and stood for a moment with bent, averted
+head; then turning once more toward her a set, white face, he said:
+
+"Even your cruelty shall not prevent me from serving you to the fullest
+extent of my power. And while I am gone you will receive--" he broke off
+abruptly, then went on, speaking huskily. "Constance, a girl like you
+can know little of the life led by a man who is an enigma even to his
+fellow men. I wish I could teach you to distrust--"
+
+She lifted one hand, warningly. "You can teach me to distrust no one
+but yourself, Frank; and please don't perpetually talk of me as some
+unsophisticated school girl. I am twenty-one, nearly as old as you, my
+child,--old enough, certainly, to form my own judgment of people and
+things. Don't let's quarrel, Frank; you know I have been taught
+self-reliance, and never submit to dictation."
+
+"As the queen pleases;" he lifted his hat with a graceful gesture.
+"Good-morning, Constance," and he turned and strode rapidly away.
+
+"Frank."
+
+He stopped and turned toward her, but did not retrace his steps.
+
+"Are you really going, _a la Don Quixote_?"
+
+"I really am," gravely.
+
+He lifted his hat once more, and without uttering a word, resumed his
+rapid walk down the graveled footpath. Reaching the entrance to the
+grounds he paused, leaning for a moment against a stone pillar of the
+gateway; his hands were clenched until the nails left deep indentations
+in the flesh; his face was ghastly and covered with great drops of
+perspiration, and, whether the look that shone from his glittering dark
+eyes betokened rage, or despair, or both, an observer could not have
+guessed.
+
+Meanwhile, Constance stood as he had left her, gazing after him with a
+mingled expression of annoyance and regret.
+
+"It was very ungracious of me," she thought, half penitently, "but
+there's no other way with Frank, and his love-making annoys me
+exceedingly, especially since Aunt Honor's discovery. How she detests
+him, and Aunt Honor is too easy to lavish her hate upon many."
+
+As if conjured up by her words, Mrs. Aliston appeared at the window.
+
+"Handsome fellow, isn't he?" that is what her lips said, but the tone
+and look said quite as plainly, "detestable, abominable, odious." For
+Mrs. Aliston believed that she had discovered a good reason for
+disliking Frank Lamotte.
+
+"Don't be exasperating, Aunt Honor," retorted Constance, re-entering the
+window with a slow, languid movement, as if the events of the morning
+had wearied her vastly. "Everybody has outdone themselves in the
+disagreeable line, myself included. I wish the burglars had carried me
+off along with my jewels. I am going up-stairs and try another dose of
+burglarious chloroform. But, first," dropping into the nearest chair,
+and assuming a tragic tone, "Let me peruse the letter of my beloved
+Sybil."
+
+She broke the seal of the dainty envelope, to find that it enclosed
+another and still smaller one; and on this she read:
+
+     Constance, if I did not trust you so fully, I would not dare risk
+     this: Do not open this envelope until sunset of to-morrow
+     (Saturday); the contents will enlighten you as to my reasons for
+     this strangeness _then_.
+
+There was no signature, but the handwriting of Sybil Lamotte was too
+familiar to be mistaken. And, Constance Wardour sat silent and
+motionless, gazing at the little envelope with such a look of intense
+gravity upon her face as had not rested there during the entire
+morning.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, who was a woman of tact, and understood her niece
+thoroughly, seemed not to have noticed the unopened envelope, and asked
+for no news from Sybil.
+
+Presently, Constance arose, and, still wearing that weary air and solemn
+face, crossed the room; with her hand upon the door, she turned her face
+toward Mrs. Aliston, saying:
+
+"Auntie, you hear about all that's going; did you ever hear that there
+was a streak of insanity in the Lamotte blood?" And then, without
+waiting for the astonished lady to reply, she quietly passed out and up
+the broad stairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+SYBIL'S LETTER.
+
+
+It is almost sunset, and Constance Wardour is standing alone at her
+dressing-room window, which faces the west. It is still in confusion,
+but she cares little for that. Her thoughts are far away from the
+"Wardour diamonds" at this moment. Several things have occurred to vex
+and annoy her to-day, and Constance Wardour, heiress and autocrat, is
+not accustomed to being annoyed.
+
+In fact, so peculiar is her nature, that very few things have power to
+annoy her; but, just now, she is annoyed because she _is_ annoyed.
+
+"As the queen pleases," Frank Lamotte had said; and all her fair
+twenty-one years of life events had been ordered "as the queen pleased."
+She had been taught self-reliance, so she told him; she had inherited
+self-reliance, she might have said, inherited it along with the rich,
+strong, fearless blood, the haughtiness, the independence, and the
+intolerance of the Wardours.
+
+The haughtiness was only for those who presumed; the intolerance for
+those she despised; and Miss Wardour was quite capable of that strong
+sentiment, or feeling. The independence was an ever present element of
+her nature.
+
+Of medium height, she was neither slender nor plump, graceful curves,
+perfect outlines, faultless gait and gesture; she, "slew her tens of
+thousands," and bore herself like a princess royal toward all.
+
+Without being regularly beautiful, her face is very fair to see. Being,
+in spite of her haughtiness, most kind and considerate toward inferiors
+and dependents, and withal exceeding lovable, she is disqualified for a
+novel heroine by her excessive humanness; and, by that same humanness,
+eminently qualified to be loved by all who know her, gentle and simple.
+
+Just now her firm little mouth is pursed up, and her brow is wrinkled
+into a frown, such as never is seen on the face of any orthodox heroine;
+but, her thoughts are very orthodox, as heroines go. She is wondering
+why Doctor Heath has not made his second appearance at Wardour Place,
+when she so plainly signified her desire to see him there, again, and
+soon.
+
+Not that she had bidden him come in so many words; but, had she not
+looked? had she not smiled? Not that she felt any special interest in
+Dr. Heath; oh, not at all, only she was bored, and worried, and wanted
+to be amused, and entertained; and Clifford Heath _could_ be
+entertaining.
+
+Sybil Lamotte's unopened note lies on the dressing table. She has
+pondered over that half the afternoon, and has wondered, and guessed, at
+its meaning; turning over in her mind every explanation probable, and
+possible, but satisfied with none. She is wonderfully lacking in
+curiosity, for a woman, but for this she might not have withstood the
+temptation to anticipate the sunset; for she never has felt so curious
+about a mystery in her life.
+
+She turns abruptly from the window, and her eyes fall upon Sybil's note,
+her thoughts return to it again. But it is not quite sunset.
+
+Picking it up, she re-reads for the twentieth time the puzzling lines,
+then she throws it down impatiently.
+
+"Bah!" she exclaims; "You wretched little white enigma! you are tempting
+me to forget myself. I shall flee from the fascination of your
+mysterious face, for I am quite certain that Joshua's chariot is abroad,
+and the sun is standing still in the skies."
+
+So saying, she goes out, closing and locking the dressing-room door, and
+descends the stately stairs; at their foot she pauses in full view of
+the entrance, for there, hat in hand, appears the subject of her recent
+discontent, Doctor Heath. Surely there must be something depressing in
+the atmosphere, Constance thinks, as she goes forward to meet him; for
+his face wears a grave, troubled look not usually seen there.
+
+"Oh, Doctor Heath," she says, half reproachfully, and fabricating after
+the manner of her sex, "here I have been trying to evoke from my 'inner
+consciousness' what manner of man your great detective might be. You
+barely introduced him, and then you flitted; and I do so much dislike
+the 'To be continued' style."
+
+"So do I," he replies, soberly, as he follows her into the drawing room.
+"So much that I shall make the story I have come to tell, as brief as
+maybe. Miss Wardour, have you heard any news from the town--since
+noon?"
+
+"Not a word," moving across the room, and drawing back the curtain so
+that the last rays of sunlight fall across the floor. "Is there any
+news? Have they found a trace of my robbers?"
+
+"For the time being, your robbers, are forgotten," smiling slightly.
+"W---- has had a fresh sensation this afternoon."
+
+"So! and I have become a lesser light? Well, so goes the world! Of
+course it won't be as interesting as the story of my own woes; but, who
+is the newest candidate for sensational honors?"
+
+"Your friend, Miss Sybil Lamotte."
+
+Instantly her careless tone changes to one of gravity. For a moment she
+has forgotten Sybil, and her note; now she remembers both, and
+involuntarily glances out toward the west. The sun is almost gone, but
+still darts red gleams across the sky. Moving nearer she seats herself,
+and scans his face a moment, and then, while she motions him to a seat
+opposite her, says, in that low even tone that is usual to her in all
+serious moods.
+
+"And what of Sybil Lamotte?" Her eyes search his face; instinctively she
+knows that something serious has happened; she dreads, yet, with her
+natural bravery, resolves to hear the worst at once.
+
+"She has--eloped."
+
+"Eloped! But why? Sybil eloped--then it must be with Ray Vandyck,"
+drawing a breath of relief.
+
+"No," gloomily. "It is _not_ Raymond Vandyck. That would have been
+simply a piece of romantic folly, since no one would long oppose Ray,
+but this--this thing that she has done, is worse than folly, it is
+crime, madness."
+
+"Not Ray! and yet Sybil lo--Doctor Heath tell the whole truth, the very
+worst, quickly."
+
+"Sybil loved Raymond Vandyck, that is what you were about to say, Miss
+Wardour. You would have betrayed no secret; poor young Vandyck honors me
+with his confidence. I left him, not half an hour ago, prostrate, half
+maddened with grief and rage; grief, when he thinks of Sybil lost to
+him, and fury when he thinks of the man she has chosen. I never saw him;
+but if the public voice speaks truth, John Burrill is all that is vulgar
+and corrupt."
+
+"_John Burrill!_" Constance springs to her feet with eyes flashing.
+"John Burrill! Why, he is a brute; mentally, morally, physically, _a
+brute_. And you couple his name with that of Sybil Lamotte? Doctor
+Heath, this is an infamous trick. Some one has lied to you. You have
+never seen him, you say; if you _had_ you could not have been duped. _I_
+know him, as one grows to know any notorious character in a town like
+this, from seeing him reeling intoxicated through our streets, from
+hearing of his most startling escapades; a common lounger, a drunkard, a
+man with a divorced wife in our very midst. Doctor Heath, I know you are
+incapable of such a jest, but tell me who has caused you to believe a
+thing so shameful?"
+
+[Illustration: "John Burrill! Why, he is a Brute!"]
+
+"I thank you for your faith in me," he says, with the shadow of a smile
+upon his face. "The story is shameful indeed, but it is _true_. Sybil
+Lamotte has eloped, and with John Burrill. Listen, before you
+remonstrate. This afternoon at two o'clock, John Burrill, with a swift
+horse and shining new carriage, drove boldly up to the side entrance of
+Mapleton Park. There, Sybil Lamotte was awaiting him; he handed her to
+his carriage and then drove ostentatiously through the town taking the
+west road. It appears, that for several days, Burrill had been dropping
+hints in his sober moments, and boasting openly in his cups, of his
+coming marriage with one of the belles of W----, and, last evening, he
+openly avowed that to-day, he should 'carry off Miss Sybil Lamotte, in
+spite of her high and mighty family, and in the face of all the town.'
+Of course, no one who heard regarded these things, save as the bombast
+of a half drunken braggart and liar. To-day, young Evarts and his still
+wilder chum, encountered him just setting forth with his fine turnout
+and wonderfully gotten up. They jested on his fine appearance, and for
+once he evaded their questions, and seemed anxious to be rid of them.
+This piqued their curiosity, and, ripe for mischief, as usual, they
+resolved to follow him.
+
+"They were mounted when they met him, having just ridden into town. They
+saw him stop at Mapleton and take up Miss Sybil, from there they
+followed them westward. Burrill drove at the height of his horse's
+speed, and the boys, who followed at a distance, arrived at Milton (you
+will see their policy in avoiding the railroad towns), ten miles
+distance, to find that Burrill had changed horses there, and driven
+away, still westward, at the same break-neck pace. Burrill's horse was
+badly used up, short as the drive had been, and the man who took it in
+charge said that the fresh horse was brought there by him, Burrill,
+yesterday, and that he had heard the lady complain that they 'could not
+go fast enough.'"
+
+He ceases, and his eyes rest anxiously on her face. She does not seem to
+have observed that he is not speaking. She has heard every word, and,
+somehow, the conviction has been growing even in advance of his story,
+that it is all true. This will explain Sybil's strange letter, and--that
+letter! what does it contain? She turns and gazes, as if fascinated,
+towards the west. There are no more golden gleams athwart the windows,
+only a dull red flush upon the horizon. The sun, at last, has set.
+
+At last! She turns, rises slowly and without once glancing toward him
+begins to pace the length of the room, and he sees that the queenly Miss
+Wardour is for once, unnerved, is struggling for composure.
+
+Finally she speaks, still keeping up her slow promenade.
+
+"Dr. Heath, I am bewildered. I am terrified! I--" She breaks
+off suddenly, as if to modify her speech. "This can be no
+common--elopement," she winces at the word. "Sybil is refined, honest
+and true-hearted, and she loves--another. There must be something yet,
+to be understood, and," with a sudden startled look in her eyes,
+"perhaps this might have been prevented; perhaps _I_ might have
+prevented it if--" another break; then, "Doctor, it is just possible
+that I may find a clue to this strangeness. Will you pardon my absence
+for a short time, and await me here? This is a strange request, but--"
+
+"It's a day of strange things," he interrupts, kindly, seeing her
+agitation. "Go, Miss Wardour; I am at your service this evening."
+
+He crosses the room, seats himself at a table, and takes up a book; and
+Constance stands irresolute for a moment, then, without a word, hurries
+from the room.
+
+Up the stairs she flies, hastily unlocks her dressing-room door, enters,
+and, in a moment, with a courage born of a nervous determination to know
+the worst at once, seizes the mysterious note and breaks the seal. A
+moment's hesitation, and then the page is opened, and the lines, only a
+few, dance before her eyes. She tries to steady her hand; she can not
+read them fast enough.
+
+     _Constance, Dear Constance:_
+
+     When you read this, you may have become already aware of the fate I
+     have chosen for myself. I have no explanation to offer. Think of
+     Beauty and the Beast; think of Titania's strange choice; think me
+     mad. But oh, Constance, never censure me; never think that all the
+     happy days, when you have been my friend, I was not worthy that
+     friendship. And, Con., don't let _others_ say things too bitter
+     about me. Am I not dead to myself, and to you all? and for the
+     dead, have we not charity only? Constance, I wish I were buried,
+     too.
+
+     SYBIL
+
+     P. S.--Con., never let my relatives see this note. They will have
+     enough to bear.
+
+So runs the note.
+
+Half an hour later, Constance Wardour comes quietly into the
+drawing-room. So quietly, that her approach is not observed by Dr.
+Heath, until her voice breaks the silence, and he starts up from the
+reverie in which he has been indulging, to see her standing before him,
+with pale cheeks, and troubled, anxious eyes.
+
+"Has my rudeness been quite unpardonable?" she says, appealingly.
+"Truly, I have had no idea of the flight of time. I have been sitting up
+there," motioning toward the upper floor, "stunned, and yet trying to
+think. I have gained a little self-possession," smiling slightly, as she
+sinks into a seat, "but not my senses. I thought myself equal to most
+emergencies, but this is more than an emergency,--it is a mystery, a
+terror! For the first time in my life, I can't think, I can't reason. I
+don't know what to do!"
+
+It is her turn to speak in riddles; his, not to comprehend. But, being a
+man, he closes his lips and waits.
+
+"Something terrible has befallen Sybil Lamotte," she goes on, gradually
+regaining a measure of her natural tone and manner. "I need an adviser,
+or I had better say, a confidante, for it amounts to that. You know
+Sybil, and you know poor Ray. You are, I believe, a capital judge of
+human nature. This morning, just after you left, as you know, Mr.
+Lamotte and his son called here, and Frank put in my hand this note from
+Sybil." For the first time he observes the letter which she holds
+between her two hands. "For reasons stated on the outside of the
+envelope, which was enclosed in another, I did not break the seal
+until--now. It may seem like violating Sybil's confidence, but I feel
+justified in doing what I do. I have no one to advise me, Aunt Honor
+being worse than myself in a crisis like this; and I believe that both
+Sybil and I can trust you. Dr. Heath, please read that letter."
+
+He looks at it doubtfully, but does not take it from her extended hand.
+
+"You are sure it is best?" hesitatingly. "You wish it?"
+
+"I wish it," with a touch of her natural imperiousness; "I believe it is
+best."
+
+Silently he takes the letter from her hand, silently reads the lines
+upon the envelope, while she thinks how sensible he is not to have
+uttered some stereotyped phrase, expressive of his sense of the high
+honor she does him by giving him so much of her confidence.
+
+Still in silence, he opens and reads the letter, then lays it down and
+thinks.
+
+At last she grows impatient. "Well," she exclaims, "are you, too,
+stricken with something nameless?"
+
+He leans toward her, his arm resting upon the table between them, his
+eyes fixed gravely upon her face,
+
+"Miss Wardour, does your faith in your friend justify you in complying
+with her wishes?"
+
+"Most assuredly," with a look of surprise.
+
+"In spite of to-day's events?"
+
+"In spite of _any thing_!"
+
+He draws a long, sighing breath. "Oh," he says, softly, "it would be
+worth something to possess _your_ friendship. Now,--do you really wish
+for my advice?"
+
+"Have I not asked for it, or, rather, demanded it, like a true
+highwayman?"
+
+"Then here is your case: You have a friend; you trust her fully; nothing
+can shake your faith in her. Suddenly, she does a thing, shocking,
+incomprehensible, and, in doing it, asks you not to question, for she
+can not explain; asks you to think of her kindly; to trust her still.
+Here is a test for your friendship. Others may pry, drag her name about,
+torture her with their curiosity; she has appealed to you. Respect her
+secret. Let her bury it if she will, and can; you can not help her. If
+she has become that bad man's wife, she is past human help. Undoubtedly
+there is a mystery here; undoubtedly she has acted under the control of
+some power outside herself; but she has taken the step, and--it is
+_done_!"
+
+She draws a long, sighing breath. "You are right," she says, wearily,
+"your wisdom is simple, but it _is_ wisdom, and I thank you for it; but,
+oh! if they could have been intercepted. If I could have known--have
+guessed."
+
+He smiles oddly. "You do not consider," he says, "how cunningly their
+plans were laid; doubtless they have been waiting some such opportunity.
+At twelve o'clock, Mr. Lamotte and wife started for the city."
+
+"In my service, alas!"
+
+"At one, Frank Lamotte mounted his horse and rode eastward."
+
+"Alas! also to serve me."
+
+"At two o'clock, the coast was clear, and the flight commenced. When it
+became known, search was made for Evan, as the only member of the family
+within reach of a warning voice. They found him in a beer saloon, in a
+state of beastly intoxication."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Of course he was surrounded by a crowd, eager to see and to hear how he
+would receive the news; and the work of sobering him up was at once
+commenced. It took a long time to make him comprehend their meaning, but
+after a while the name of his sister, coupled with that of John Burrill,
+brought him staggering to his feet, and a few moments later, a plain
+statement of the facts, hurled bluntly at him by one of the loungers,
+sobered him completely. In an instant he had laid his informant
+sprawling in the saloon sawdust. He declared it a calumny, as you did,
+and declared war upon the lot of them. Soon kinder hands rescued him
+from these tormentors, and men he could not doubt convinced him of the
+truth of the unhappy affair. And then, any who saw would have pitied
+him. The boy is wild and bad, but he has a heart, and he loves his
+sister. Poor fellow! he is not all bad."
+
+"Poor Evan!"
+
+"He telegraphed at once to his father, and then set out for Mapleton,
+looking like the ghost of himself, but carrying a freshly filled flask."
+
+"Of course," mournfully.
+
+"He would have started in pursuit, had they not convinced him of the
+folly of such an undertaking."
+
+"Folly, indeed, for him."
+
+"And now, Miss Wardour, we have arrived at the end of certainty, and to
+enter into the field of conjecture is useless. The time may come when
+some of us may be of actual service to this most unhappy friend of
+yours. I confess that I wait with some curiosity the movements of her
+parents in the matter."
+
+"They will take her from him, at once. They will buy him off; compel
+him--anything to get her back."
+
+"Perhaps; but--she may resist them. Think of that letter."
+
+"True. Ah me! I can't think. Doctor Heath, I have kept you here
+starving. I had forgotten that dinner ever was, or could be. You shall
+dine with Aunt Honor and myself; and, for the present, we will not speak
+of poor Sybil's flight to her. She would run the entire gamut of
+speculation, for she is very much given to 'seeing through things,' and
+I can't bear to talk too much on this subject. I should get angry, and
+nervous, and altogether unpleasant. I say, 'you will stay;' _will_ you
+stay?"
+
+He has never before been invited to dine at Wardour Place, except when
+the dinner has been a formal one, and the guests numerous; but he
+accepts this invitation to dine _en famille_, quite nonchalantly, and as
+a thing of course.
+
+So he dines at Wardour Place, and talks with Aunt Honor about the
+robbery, and listens to her description of the splendid Wardour
+diamonds, and looks at Constance, and thinks his own thoughts.
+
+[Illustration: So he dines at Wardour Place.]
+
+After dinner Aunt Honor occupies herself with the evening paper; and,
+after a while, Constance and Doctor Heath pass out through the low,
+broad French window, and stand on the balcony. The light from within
+falls upon them and that portion of the balcony where they stand. There
+is a young moon, too; and just beyond is a monster oak, that spreads its
+great branches out, and out, until they rustle, and sway above the lower
+half of the long balcony, and rap and patter against the stone walls.
+
+"Have you thought," asks Constance, as she leans lightly against the
+iron railing, "that to-morrow is Sunday, and that Mr. Lamotte, unless he
+has already returned, can not reach home until Monday?"
+
+"It has occurred to me."
+
+"And poor Sybil! Where will she be by then?"
+
+"Miss Wardour! What disinterestedness! I thought you were thinking of
+your detective."
+
+"My detective! Why, what a lot of stupid people! He might as well not
+come at all. Why didn't you tell me to telegraph at once?"
+
+"Because Mr. Lamotte was coming. I depended upon him."
+
+"And he has made a blunder."
+
+"Not necessarily."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He may have seen an officer immediately, and the man may be now on the
+way, by the night train. He will be sure to be here before Monday, or he
+is no detective. They depend very little on the regular trains."
+
+"Oh; I am enlightened! All the same, I shall never see my diamonds
+more."
+
+"You don't seem much troubled."
+
+"Pride, all pride! I'm heart broken."
+
+"You are a most _nonchalant_ young lady."
+
+"Yes,--it's contagious."
+
+Then they both laugh, and relapse into silence. Presently, she says:
+
+"We are sure to have the wrong man. Why did you not tell me the name of
+your great detective, so that I might have commissioned Mr. Lamotte to
+bring him? That man has been in my mind all day. You have made me
+enamored of him."
+
+"Why?" laughing indulgently; "I barely mentioned him."
+
+"No matter; you say he is a splendid officer?"
+
+"There is no better. I know of none as good."
+
+"And his name?"
+
+"A very romantic one: Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+"Why!" stepping suddenly to the window. "Aunt Honor!"
+
+"Well," replies Mrs. Aliston, from behind her newspaper.
+
+"What is the name of your wonderful detective, who brought those two
+murderers from Europe, and had them properly hung?"
+
+"Mr. Neil Bathurst. Why, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, nothing special, auntie;" then returning to the window, "Auntie
+never loses trace of a crime or a trial in high life. I have heard her
+talk of this man's splendid exploits, by the hour. She is a walking
+catalogue in all aristocratic sensations. So this is your great man?
+Well, if he is in the city, we must have him. Mr. Lamotte shall bring
+his man, or send him; there should be work for two. As for me, I intend
+to secure the services of Mr. Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+"He may not be within reach; he is constantly moving, and always busy."
+
+"No matter. I tell you I want to see this man."
+
+"That being the case, I may as well present myself."
+
+They start at the sound of a strange voice near them. There is a
+rustling of leaves, and from one of the great oak's extended branches, a
+form swings downward, and drops lightly upon the grass, just before the
+place where they stand.
+
+"Who are you?" demands Doctor Heath, sternly, as the eavesdropper
+approaches. "And what does this impertinence mean?"
+
+[Illustration: "Who are you?"]
+
+Before they can think, the man approaches the balcony, puts his hands
+upon the railing, and springs lightly over; standing in the full light
+that falls from within, he doffs his hat like a courtier, and bending
+before Constance, says, in a voice that is, for a man, singularly rich
+and mellow:
+
+"Madame, I am here at your service. I am Neil J. Bathurst."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE DEDUCTIONS OF A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+Both Constance and Dr. Heath fancy that they comprehend the situation
+almost instantaneously. The stranger's movements have been so cat-like,
+his voice so carefully modulated, that Aunt Honor reads on, never
+dreaming that an addition has been made to the party. Dr. Heath is the
+first to speak.
+
+"Upon my word," he says, with a touch of coldness in his tone; "this is
+quite dramatic."
+
+"It's a very good tableaux," admits the new comer, "but dramatic as the
+present day drama goes? No, it's too naturally brought about, as you
+will admit, when I explain my presence here. Your mention of my name,
+while I lay sprawled across the great branch, within easy hearing, was
+rather sensational, to me, but, of course you can explain that."
+
+By this time Constance has recovered herself, and rises to the occasion;
+in fact, she rather enjoys the situation; this is one of the emergencies
+wherein she is quite at home. Without stopping for commonplace remarks,
+or expressions of surprise, she goes straight to the point.
+
+"How we came to be discussing you, you must understand, if you are
+really Mr. Bathurst, and--have been very long in that tree."
+
+"I have been 'very long' in that tree, I feel it," ruefully. "And I _am_
+Neil Bathurst, detective; never was anybody else, and by the by, here is
+this doctor; I heard him giving me a capital 'recommend;' now bid him
+step up and identify me," and he laughs as if he had uttered a capital
+joke.
+
+Doctor Heath laughs now, as he comes closer and scrutinizes him by the
+light from the drawing room.
+
+"Oh, I recognize you by your voice, which you have not attempted to
+disguise, and by your--a--assurance."
+
+"I thought so!" rubbing his hands with a satisfied air.
+
+"But that physiognomy, I never saw before."
+
+The detective laughs.
+
+"No, this is one of my business faces, and you, sir, are one of the few
+who have known me simply as a man, without inference to my occupation; a
+man like me may be expected to turn up anywhere, but you, sir, are the
+last man I expected to see in this place."
+
+"Nevertheless, I have been an inhabitant of W---- for a year; but enough
+of me for the present. Mr. Bathurst, this lady is Miss Wardour, in whose
+service you have been retained."
+
+Miss Wardour extends a gracious, welcoming hand.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst has heard me express my desire to know him," she says,
+with a little ripple of laughter, "so no more need be said on the
+subject. Mr. Bathurst you came as opportunely as a fairy godmother; and
+now let us go in and take my aunt into our counsels."
+
+She lifts the lace curtains and passes in; as she goes, Dr. Heath lays a
+detaining hand on the detective's arm.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst," he whispers; "in W---- I am Dr. Heath, from nowhere."
+
+"I comprehend," significantly.
+
+"Thank you;" then they too pass through the window, and the detective
+goes through the ordeal of presentation to Aunt Honor.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, being a thorough woman, who knows her perquisites, gets
+through with the necessary amount of astonishment, ejaculations,
+questionings, and expressions of delight; all things are overcome by
+time, even a woman's volubility. And during the flow of her discourse
+the detective is communing thus with his "inner consciousness:"
+
+"So we have been retained by this handsome young lady? Well, that's
+intelligence! and what does the old lady mean by supposing that Mr.
+Lamotte has told me this and that? Who the deuce is Lamotte? Why the
+deuce don't somebody ask me how I came to be perched in that tree? Do
+they think it's the proper thing for detectives to tumble in among them
+out of the trees and the skies? After all, it is like a drama, for I'll
+be blessed if I see any sense in it all."
+
+"I see you are all more or less attracted by my personal appearance," he
+says, after Aunt Honor has given up the floor. "Now that I think of it,
+it's _not_ just the thing for a drawing room."
+
+Mr. Neil Bathurst, or his present presentment, is a medium sized man,
+attired in garments that have once been elegant, but are now frayed,
+threadbare, travel worn; his feet are encased in boots that have once
+been jaunty; his hat is as rakish as it is battered; his face wears that
+dull reddish hue, common to fair complexions that have been long exposed
+to sun and wind; his hair and beard, somewhat matted, somewhat
+disordered, may have borne some tinge of auburn or yellow once, but they
+too, have, unmistakeably, battled with the sun, and have come out a
+light hay color. As Constance looks at him, she, mentally, confesses
+that he _is_ certainly the oddest figure she has ever entertained in her
+drawing room.
+
+"I have been wondering just what grade of humanity you are supposing
+yourself to represent just now," says Doctor Heath, eyeing him
+quizzically.
+
+"What!" with mock humility, "am I thus a failure? Miss Wardour, look at
+me well; do you not recognize my social rank?"
+
+Constance surveys him afresh, with critical eye.
+
+"I think," she says, "I recognize the gentleman tramp; one of the sort
+who asks to wash his face before eating, and to chop your wood after."
+
+"Right!" says the detective. "My self-respect returns; I am _not_ a
+bungler. In the morning I shall be on the ground, to wash my face, and
+chop your wood; which reminds me, your servants, they must not see me
+here. I must depart as I came, and soon."
+
+"And your search," asks Constance, "when will that begin?"
+
+"My search?" hesitating oddly. "Oh, that has already commenced."
+
+"What a curious thing it is that Mr. Lamotte should have secured you, of
+all men," breaks in Aunt Honor. "I did not think it possible Mr.
+Lamotte--"
+
+"Pardon me, all of you," breaks in the gentleman tramp. "Something must
+be set right; I will come to the point at once. Who _is_ Mr. Lamotte?
+_What_ is Mr. Lamotte? I have never seen him; never heard of him."
+
+"What!" from Constance.
+
+"Oh!" from Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"But--" from Doctor Heath.
+
+"Let me finish," he interpolates. "Let me tell you just how I happened
+to drop down among you to-night. Recently we have had in the city
+several robberies similar to this of yours, Miss Wardour, as I
+understand it. Several times we have had a trace or clue, and have hoped
+to find the robbers, but so far have been baffled. We must necessarily
+have many ways of gathering up information, and I have some methods of
+my own. This is one of them. I have access to the offices of our daily
+papers. I have a friend or tool in each. When a special telegram, in the
+line of criminal intelligence, comes to one of these papers, I am in
+possession of its contents before it has reached the compositor's hands.
+This morning a 'special' arrived at the office of the _Evening
+Bulletin_. I have not with me a copy. It ran:
+
+     MONSTER DIAMOND ROBBERY.
+
+     [Special dispatch to the Evening Bulletin.]
+
+     Intelligence has this moment been received, that Wardour Place has
+     been burglarized; and the splendid Wardour diamonds, valued at more
+     than one hundred thousand dollars, stolen, besides money and papers
+     of value. No particulars as yet.
+
+"This is what brought me here. I came to see if this burglary was the
+handiwork of the thieves I have been trying to catch. I came solely on
+my own responsibility, not intending to make myself known to the inmates
+of this house, but to ferret out things quietly and go my way. While
+lurking in that tree I was surprised to hear myself made the subject of
+conversation; and then, impulse led me to respond to this lady's
+expressed desire to see me, and--I presented myself."
+
+All sit silent, all are astonished, and inclined to think this odd
+complication out quietly.
+
+Constance is the first to see the absurdity of the situation, and she
+breaks into a peal of laughter, in which she is presently joined by the
+others. Finally, she regains her composure and says:
+
+"And so after all you are not our detective. Well, that shall not
+prevent us from appropriating your services. And you want to identify
+these robbers if possible? We are all at your disposal--tell us how we
+can help you most."
+
+"You came with scant information," says Doctor Heath, "and you can't
+have been here long, but I'll wager you have picked up something."
+
+"As to that," replies the detective, smiling slightly, "I left the city
+by the early afternoon express, before your Mr. Lamotte had arrived,
+you see. Twelve miles from W---- I left the train and boarded a freight;
+about three miles out I abandoned the freight, quite unceremoniously,
+while she was pulling up a heavy grade, and tramped into town. I lounged
+about, confining myself to the more obscure streets until I had got the
+story of the robbery, with full particulars, as far as the gossips knew
+it. Toward sundown I started in this direction. Stopping on the way, I
+begged a drink of water and a slice of bread, of an old woman, in a
+little brown house. She thought me a very well behaved tramp, and
+inquired after my private history and the condition of my soul."
+
+Constance laughs.
+
+"That is old Mrs. Malloy," she says. "She's very pious and very full of
+gossip."
+
+"Precisely!" replies the detective, wickedly; "she told me how many
+lovers you had, Miss Wardour; and how many dresses; and just the color
+of your eyes, and hair; she told me all about the robbery, and a great
+many more things that were not quite to the point."
+
+"Of course," assents Miss Wardour, not at all abashed. "Mrs. Malloy is
+an oracle."
+
+"As soon as I could make my escape from her, I came nearer Wardour
+Place, and made a circuitous survey. Still later, I came upon your
+gardener, sitting, ruminating, upon a stone fence, in the rear of the
+premises. I found him inclined to be communicative, in fact, he seemed
+rather desirous to air his notions, and he has some peculiar ones,
+concerning this robbery. I gave him a drink out of my black bottle, and
+he grew quite eloquent."
+
+"Oh, dear," interrupts Constance once more. "Then, no doubt, he has
+pruned away half the garden shrubs. Old Jerry always _is_ seized with a
+desire to prune things, the moment he has taken a drink."
+
+"It was getting too dark for pruning, Miss Wardour, and he went to his
+supper. Then, I approached the kitchen cautiously, found a comfortable
+lurking place, close to an open window, and listened to the table talk
+of the servants. From them I learned the bearings of the library, and
+so, while you were at dinner, I entered, without difficulty, and have
+explored that room to my entire satisfaction."
+
+Amazement sits on the face of all three listeners.
+
+"Well!" ejaculates Dr. Heath, "You are a modest tramp! What did you do
+next?"
+
+"Next I prowled 'round and round the house,' examining all the windows,
+and drawing some conclusions; and then, having seen you, Doctor Heath,
+through the drawing-room windows, I established myself in yonder tree to
+wait until you should go home, and to waylay you."
+
+"Much obliged, I'm sure," says the Doctor, gratefully. "What demoniac
+design had you on my defenseless self?"
+
+"Several; to appeal to your hospitality; to renew an acquaintance, which
+in the beginning did me honor; and to quiz you unmercifully."
+
+"Then I forgive you," grandiloquently. "And my doors are open to you,
+and my hand is extended, and the secrets of my bosom are laid bare. But
+Miss Wardour has something to say; I see it trembling on her lips."
+
+"Right," smiles Constance. "I was about to ask if Mr. Bathurst, having
+effected his object thus far independently, will be satisfied to inspect
+my dressing room, the real scene of action, in the ordinary manner and
+without any obstacles in the way."
+
+"Perfectly," says the detective, dropping his tone of badinage and
+becoming alert and business like at once. "And the sooner the better. I
+am anxious to complete my deductions, for my time is limited, and I must
+wait for daylight to overlook the grounds more closely than I could
+venture to do to-day."
+
+"We are all anxious for your opinion, and so, will you take one of those
+lamps and my keys, or will you have an escort?"
+
+"I wish you to point out to me the exact position of everything this
+morning, Miss Wardour. I think we may all go up."
+
+So they all ascended to the disordered dressing room, and the detective
+seats himself, deliberately, upon the first unoccupied chair, and begins
+to look slowly about him. It is not a long survey, and then the safe is
+examined. Here he looks at Constance.
+
+"This has not been done without noise; not loud enough to be heard
+across the hall, perhaps, but enough to be heard by a light sleeper, or,
+indeed, any one who did not sleep too soundly and with muffled ears,
+say, in that room," pointing through the curtained arch which divided
+the dressing from the sleeping room.
+
+"Did you sleep there, Miss Wardour?"
+
+Constance nods, then goes through the arch and returns with a little
+phial of chloroform, and a fragment of cambric in her hand.
+
+She places them before him, telling him quietly how they were found
+before her that morning.
+
+The detective takes them, turns them over in his hand, and examines them
+closely.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaims, drawing out the fancifully carved stopper, "this
+phial is one of a set."
+
+[Illustration: "Ah! this phial is one of a set."]
+
+Doctor Heath nods. "So I thought," he says, glancing at Constance.
+
+Once more, and in silence, the detective examines the safe, then he goes
+quietly about the room not overturning or handling, simply observing
+closely; then he says:
+
+"Now, I think I am done here. We will go down, if you please, and I will
+give you the benefit of my conjectures." He puts the bottle and the
+piece of linen in his pocket, and turns from the room. Instinctively he
+takes the lead, instinctively they follow, naturally according him the
+leadership.
+
+When they are once more seated, he turns to Constance.
+
+"They gave you a very light dose of chloroform, Miss Wardour."
+
+"Very light," she replies; "and that was most fortunate for me."
+
+"How fortunate?"
+
+"Allow me to explain," interrupts Doctor Heath. "Miss Wardour possesses
+one of those peculiar constitutions upon which all opiates act with
+disastrous effect. It is fortunate that a cautious hand,--I was about to
+say a skilled hand,--administered the drug. I could swear that not the
+half of an ordinary dose was given her, for a full dose would have
+prostrated her for days; and the quantity it would require to make you
+or me sleep soundly for half the night, would kill her outright."
+
+"Ah!" says the detective, softly, to himself. "Ah-h-h!"
+
+"Now I wonder;" it is Mrs. Aliston who speaks. "I _wonder_ how in the
+world you knew that they had given my niece only a small dose."
+
+"Very easily, madame. The phial is very small, and it is now over
+two-thirds full."
+
+"That, indeed!" murmurs Mrs. Aliston, feeling somehow extinguished,
+while the others smile at his simple explanation.
+
+"And now," says the detective, "for my deductions. First, then, the
+robbers did not enter these grounds last night for the first time. They
+did not enter the library at random, or because that window could be
+easily forced. They, whoever they were, knew their grounds, not only
+from without, but from within. The disturbance in the library is only a
+ruse,--the robbers wanted nothing, knew they should find nothing, there.
+They were not amateurs; yet, somehow, in this case, they bungled
+somewhat in their work. Before they approached this house, every thing
+was planned, and all was done as planned. They were systematic,
+therefore successful; and yet--they bungled. They came by the
+river,--came in a boat, with oars muffled; they came by the footpath
+over the river slope, and entered your garden by leaping the fence just
+below the gate, which was locked. Then they followed the footpaths
+through the shrubbery, and straight to that library window. They came
+there because they knew it to be the library window, and they wished to
+cross the library because they knew that from the door of that room they
+stepped at once upon the stairs, thus having the nearest, easiest and
+safest route to Miss Wardour's rooms. Either they found her door
+unlocked, or they were prepared with skeleton keys. Was the door locked,
+Miss Wardour?"
+
+"It was locked."
+
+"It was locked. They then used a skeleton key, entered, and knowing just
+the proportion of chloroform Miss Wardour could bear, they administered
+it carefully, secured the booty without further trouble, and made their
+escape without detection."
+
+No remarks from his listeners. They sit amazed, incredulous, admiring,
+yet speechless.
+
+"Now, I see I had better prove my statements," goes on Mr. Bathurst,
+looking from one to another with a smile of easy superiority. "Miss
+Wardour is beginning to think that I _do_ belong to the godmother
+species, and yet, it's all very simple."
+
+"No doubt," retorts Doctor Heath, drily; "yet we are willing to endure
+your simple explanation."
+
+"I say the robbers came by the river," continues the detective. "Before
+sundown I sauntered along the river bank; to-morrow I can show you
+traces, indistinct but sufficient, to prove that a boat has been drawn
+out of the water, and overturned upon the grass; keel, prow and
+oar-locks have left their traces. There is also the print of a clubbed
+and muffled oar, above the water mark, where an impatient hand has
+pushed off the boat. Here is blunder number one. All these traces might
+have been avoided or obliterated."
+
+He pauses a moment, but his listeners sit, a very respectful audience,
+and are inclined neither to question or argue. So he continues:
+
+"I said that the robbers entered purposely at that particular window,
+and because they were familiar with the interior of the house. Now I
+have examined all of the windows of this floor, and I find that a person
+unfamiliar with the inside of the building, and not aware which of the
+upper rooms were occupied, would have chosen differently. The
+dining-room windows, from without, would seem much more inviting; still
+more, the drawing-room windows. Naturally, our burglars would select a
+window which was tolerably easy of access, and where they knew there was
+the least chance of being overheard and observed from above. Now, the
+dining-room windows are close to the ground, and the awnings cut off all
+chance for observation from above; but--they knew that Miss Wardour's
+coachman sleeps in a small room just in the rear of the dining-room."
+
+This was too much for Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"Now, how _did_ you find that out?" she asks, with staring eyes.
+
+"From my friend, the gardener," he replies. "Oh, I am quite familiar
+with things about here. The very best place for a burglar to operate
+would be these windows," motioning toward the front of the drawing room;
+"he could stand in comfort on the lower balcony, screened by the upper,
+and cut away at shutters and panes; but, our burglars knew that Miss
+Wardour's rooms were directly above, and that Miss Wardour is a light
+sleeper. Now, the very place that would be shunned by an unfamiliar
+robber, is this very library window; it is higher than the others, has a
+little thicket of shrubs just beneath it, and is overlooked from above,
+being near an angle, by six windows. But our burglars knew that not one
+of those rooms to which the six windows belong, are occupied; and that
+the servants all sleep on the opposite side of the house. Now, then, I
+say that the robbers knew Miss Wardour's sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform; how else can we account for the fact of their giving just
+enough to cause her to sleep, and not enough to cause any unpleasant
+after effects. We can call it a coincidence, but it is one not likely to
+happen; Doctor Heath knows that."
+
+"True," responds Doctor Heath; "in a matter of this sort one would
+hardly be likely to make so fortunate a blunder, or guess."
+
+The detective pauses a moment, and then concludes: "My reasons for
+saying that the robbers entered the garden by leaping the low fence just
+below the gate, are, first, that gate creaks loudly when opened or shut,
+and they knew this, and therefore avoided it; and, second, one of them,
+the heavier of the two, came over with sufficient force to leave the
+imprint of his right boot heel in the ground. It was the right heel,
+because the deepest side of the indentation is to the right, and he
+would naturally strike the ground with the weight resting on the outside
+of the foot; and here, my friends, as the lawyers have it, I rest my
+case."
+
+"And a very clear case it looks," says Doctor Heath.
+
+"How easily and naturally you come at these things," exclaims Constance,
+in admiration. "It is a, b, c, to you, but it's awful Greek to the rest
+of us. I begin to think detectives are born, not made."
+
+"You think right, Miss Wardour," replies Bathurst. "It is the made
+detectives who spoil and disgrace our profession."
+
+"But," says Constance, with a look of anxiety upon her face; "I am sorry
+to have it proved that this thing was done by some of our people. I am
+reluctant to institute a search that may implicate some poor man whose
+wife and children may live in our very town."
+
+The detective laughs softly.
+
+"There it is," he exclaims. "An amateur must always judge by what
+appears uppermost. We detectives, as a rule, always distrust the most
+plausible theory. Now look, a skilled burglar is a man of many
+resources; a burglar studies his business as I study mine. You have no
+idea how much misapplied talent goes roaming about of nights with a
+jimmy and a dark lantern. Now let us suppose this case. A professional
+burglar in the course of his wanderings, hears, as would be quite
+natural, of the immense value of the Wardour diamonds, and he desires to
+possess them. Now it's a great prize, and he goes to work with his
+utmost care. He has confederates; they come, one or all, and manage to
+gain the necessary information; they may come as tramps, pedlars, what
+not; a talkative servant, a gossiping neighbor, like Mrs. Malloy, or
+fragments of information picked up here and there may help them to get
+the 'lay of the land;' they may even have entered the house, probably
+have, and it may have been last month, or last year; our burglar
+nourishes his job and studies it carefully. Finally he is ready; he
+strikes; he succeeds. I do not say this is the case, understand; I
+simply put it as a thing possible; and quite as probable as that the
+thieves are here in W----."
+
+Constance muses; she is thinking of various other depredations committed
+in and about W----; and, as once before she recounted them to Doctor
+Heath, she enumerates them now, and closes by saying:
+
+"Your burglars keep a sharp eye on us, at all events, Mr. Bathurst."
+
+"Naturally," assents the detective; "W---- is a capital field for that
+sort of chap. It's a little mine of itself, and will always receive due
+attention from the law breakers. By the by, Miss Wardour, these facts
+you mention are worth noting; after considering, I think I will remain
+in W---- during to-morrow. I want to explore about the river, and about
+this place, a little more. If I may see you to-morrow I would like your
+version of these other older robberies. I keep a record of every crime
+reported, and, no doubt, have each of these upon my register, but not as
+I would receive them from you. I do not wish to be seen or known, as
+acting in this matter; your friend will be here to-morrow, or Monday,
+and the officer he has chosen should be on the ground before to-morrow
+morning. No doubt he will be all that you wish for, and my duties will
+call me elsewhere very soon."
+
+Then they all rise, and standing in a group begin talking. They so much
+regret that they can not retain his services, and they are very grateful
+to him for so much light as he has thrown upon the subject of the
+robbery.
+
+"But wait," he says, "you are to bear in mind that you _have_ no light;
+you are in total darkness and ignorance; to-morrow you will have a new
+officer, he may evolve a totally different theory. Then discard mine, or
+not, as you think fit; in any case, let it be kept exclusively to your
+three selves, for I am very likely to make a second appearance here. I
+think that these burglars of yours are the chaps I am wanting. And, Miss
+Wardour, this reminds me," drawing from his pocket the chloroform vial
+wrapped in its accompanying linen bit, "may I keep this until morning? I
+will return it to you by Doctor Heath, and, if your officer is not too
+much in the way, will try and see you in person, if you will kindly give
+me what facts you can recall concerning those robberies."
+
+Constance expresses a hope that the officer will not be in the way, and
+after they have talked a little more, the detective repeating his
+cautions, Constance repeating her regret that he is not to take the
+case, as _her_ case; and Mrs. Aliston repeating everything that comes
+into her head, they separate, and the two men, looking so oddly unlike,
+go out into the night.
+
+Mrs. Aliston is ready to talk, but Constance is in no mood to listen.
+She cuts short her aunt's elocution, and goes with listless weariness to
+her own apartments.
+
+Since the appearance of the detective, a shade of perplexity rested on
+her face, and over and again her thoughts have repeated the question
+which now falls from her lips.
+
+"What does it mean? I am not mistaken; he said, 'here, I am Doctor Heath
+from nowhere.' I begin to think that life is a mystery."
+
+For Miss Wardour, hesitating a moment as she passed in from the balcony,
+had caught the words uttered for the ears of the detective only.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+DOCTOR HEATH AT HOME.
+
+
+Doctor Heath and the detective went in silence down the wide
+shrub-bordered walk, to the spot where the doctor's horse awaited him.
+Here the detective paused suddenly and listened a moment.
+
+"We should not be seen together," he said in a low tone. "Do you mount
+your horse and ride on slowly, I will follow."
+
+"But----"
+
+"No buts; I can follow you, never fear; that's my business; do you go
+straight home and prepare to admit me on the quiet. Stay--have you any
+gelatine?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Any plaster of Paris?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Any wax?"
+
+"Only a small quantity."
+
+"Too bad; I must have some. There will be a drug store open?"
+
+"At this hour? oh, yes."
+
+"Then get me some, half a pound at least. Now move on, I hear a horse
+coming down the road."
+
+"Some farmer going home. Well, I'm off, then."
+
+"And so am I."
+
+Half an hour later Doctor Heath was standing in his open doorway,
+wondering what had become of the detective, when a light touch upon his
+shoulder caused him to start suddenly, and turning, he saw the man for
+whom he watched, standing behind him, and within the dimly-lighted hall.
+
+"Are we alone?" whispered the detective; "is the coast clear?"
+
+[Illustration: "Are we alone?"]
+
+"Quite clear; but how the mischief did you get in there, man?"
+
+"Through the door," replied Bathurst, as he followed his host into a
+cozy parlor, where a shaded lamp burned. "You are not a good sentinel;
+why, I all but brushed you; have you no sense of feeling, then; why,
+man, I can recognize a near presence in the darkest room."
+
+"Now that I think of it," retorts the doctor, maliciously, "I did feel a
+queer sensation in the ends of my thumbs. Make yourself at home now;
+take that chair," rolling a comfortable-looking monster close to the
+round table; "there are segars and--why--I say man, have you eaten any
+thing since you started on this chase?"
+
+"Now you mention it, I distinctly recollect, that I have not."
+
+"Of course not; I will wake up Mrs. Gray."
+
+"Pray don't; I couldn't think of eating Mrs. Gray."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughs his host; "Mrs. Gray is my housekeeper, and she is
+deaf as a post."
+
+"Well, that's a comfort, the deafness. Is she dumb, too?"
+
+"Unfortunately, no; but as I have not been home to dine, she will think
+she is preparing my supper, and I will tell her you are a patient come
+to be treated, and that I am going to give you a bed; here," tossing
+something which he finds upon a bookcase, across to his guest, "tie your
+face up in that rag, before she comes in. She will not give you a second
+glance; she never troubles her head about my patients."
+
+So saying, he goes out, and the detective proceeds to spread out the
+"rag," to prepare his bandage. Suddenly he starts; scrutinizes closer,
+turns it about, and looks again, then----
+
+"Ah!" says Mr. Bathurst; "Oh! really!"
+
+And he folds up his bandage, and puts it in one pocket, whips a clean
+pocket handkerchief from another, and substituting it for the "rag,"
+awaits the coming of his host.
+
+"Very comfortable quarters," he muttered, looking about him, "Luxurious
+too; quite so. Our doctor has not forgotten how people ought to live."
+
+The doctor's "quarters" were all that he described them. Luxurious,
+comfortable; and luxury and comfort do not always go hand in hand;
+tasteful, too. Nothing too much; nothing lacking--just the beau-ideal of
+a bachelor's parlor. Warm browns brightening here and there into bronze.
+Books, a great many and of the best. Pictures, a very few, and all rare
+and beautiful. Bronzes and statuettes in plenty. Bric-a-bric, not any,
+for no fair and foolish woman has trailed her skirts through these
+apartments, leaving traces of her presence in the shape of those small
+and costly abominations, yclept "ceramics."
+
+Presently Doctor Heath reappears, and not long after, Mrs. Gray bears in
+a heaped-up tray of edibles. Then Doctor Heath sets forth brandy and
+wine, and informs Mrs. Gray, through the medium of his ten fingers, that
+she is dismissed for the night.
+
+When she has retired the detective unties his face, and falls upon the
+food spread before him, as a hungry man will. While he eats he talks a
+little, just a random remark now and then, and his host sits opposite
+him, answering his infrequent questions and observations, and thinking.
+
+In past days, and under very different circumstances, these two men have
+met and known each other, and Doctor Clifford Heath is wondering how
+much of his story it will be necessary to tell, in order to explain his
+present position, which, he knows, must seem a most strange one to his
+former acquaintance; for Doctor Clifford Heath, like most of us who have
+not passed a vegetable existence, has a history, and a past.
+
+Of that fact, however, Mr. Bathurst seems quite oblivious, as he washes
+down his repast with a glass of brandy and water, and pushes back his
+chair from the table.
+
+"Now, then," he begins, with his usual brisk business manner, "I'm
+rested and refreshed, and all ready for that white wax, if you please,
+Doctor Heath."
+
+"I'm quite curious about that wax," says the doctor, rising. "Just let
+me draw away this table and bring up another, it's the easiest way of
+disposing of the dinner things, and will furnish Mrs. Gray with food for
+comfortable comment; she takes all such opportunities to disparage
+'men's ways,' and as she seems to enjoy them, I make it a point to
+afford her as many as possible," making the proposed change as he talks.
+"Now, then, there's a table and there's your wax."
+
+"Now something to melt it in and over; I'm going to take an impression."
+
+There is a little difficulty about getting the necessary articles
+together, but after a while they are all there, and the wax is simmering
+in the melting cup. Then the detective takes from his pocket the
+borrowed bottle of chloroform, and asks for an empty vial. This being
+given him he pours out the chloroform carefully, and wipes the emptied
+bottle.
+
+"It's a pity I can't keep this bottle just as it is," he says, eyeing
+the cut-glass stopper regretfully, "but it must be returned, of course;
+and I must do the next best. What's your notion of the original use of
+that little gimcrack?"
+
+He reaches out the bottle and the doctor takes it in his hand saying:
+"Why, it's from one of those dainty toilet cases used by ladies
+principally; there will be a set, uniform in size, that are filled with
+perfumes of various sorts, and larger bottles, of the same pattern, for
+goodness knows what use. I have seen the kind, but not the pattern."
+
+"Well," says the detective, slowly, "I _think_ that I have seen the
+pattern; but where? However," dipping a stick into the melting wax, "I
+shall find out, and before very long."
+
+"I wonder," says Doctor Heath, stretching out his hand for a fresh
+segar, "at the fellows leaving such a testimonial as that behind them.
+What's your theory?"
+
+"I have expected that question from both yourself and Miss Wardour. I am
+glad she did not ask me."
+
+"Why?"
+
+The detective takes a spoon and dips up his wax, letting it drip from
+the spoon, drop by drop. It is ready for use, and, without seeming aware
+of the doctor's presence, he busies himself with his impression
+taking--seeing which, Doctor Heath smokes on, and is silent.
+
+Finally, his mould is set to cool, and the detective resumes his seat;
+and, quite ignoring that long neglected monosyllable of inquiry, uttered
+by his host, begins:
+
+"When the burglars, for, no doubt, there were two of them, entered Miss
+Wardour's dressing room, they carried one dark lantern. This, one of
+them took, and crept with it into the sleeping room; here, he was, for a
+moment, troubled. He had prepared himself with the chloroform, but must
+use his own handkerchief, and that is marked."
+
+"Oh! a burglar with marked linen!"
+
+"Even so. It's nothing unusual. You reason like a reader of too many
+novels. Burglars are not all escaped convicts, blear eyed and hideous;
+nor do they all go about in fustian. It's the burglar in broadcloth
+that makes us the trouble. Fustian starves, and steals, and is soon
+found out; runs away with its booty, as a dog runs away with its bone.
+Broadcloth is wiser, just as a skilled workman is wiser than a hod
+carrier. It brings to its service tact, study,--who knows what, of
+scientific skill? It looks before it leaps; it plans before it executes;
+and it covers up all traces of its progress, or else leaves a network of
+false clues and misleading evidences. Bah! if we had only fustian to
+deal with, it would not be worth while to be a detective."
+
+"Granted," says the doctor, drumming impatiently upon the table, with
+the fingers of his strong, white, right hand. "We have to deal with a
+broadcloth burglar, who marks his linen, and, perhaps, perfumes it.
+_Was_ it perfumed? I forgot."
+
+"It was not perfumed. I wish it had been. Yes, ours is a broadcloth
+burglar. When he approached Miss Wardour's bedside, he produced from a
+convenient pocket, his stupefying drug; and then he looked about for
+something with which to apply it, and at the same time, no doubt, he
+berates himself for omitting to provide himself with a plain, small
+napkin, or piece of linen. There was nothing at hand that was not too
+large for his purpose, and too coarse, for he understood the delicacy of
+his undertaking. So, he produced his pocket handkerchief, which, as I
+said before, was marked; he tears off the half bearing the name, but, in
+his haste, does not observe that he has left evidence that the name was
+there. He then saturated the linen, and set the bottle upon the night
+stand, leaving his two hands free to apply his drug with utmost care.
+Then he pauses for a moment, to note the effect of his application, or
+to gaze upon the fair sleeper. And then comes a sound from the outer
+room, an impatient call, the click of steel implements, no matter
+what,--he snatches up the dark lantern and, forgetting the bottle, goes
+out to his comrade."
+
+"You believe there were two?"
+
+"Yes; there were two. These affairs are seldom operated by one man."
+
+"You said this evening that they had blundered. It seems to me that they
+made a very neat job of the affair."
+
+"They did blunder. It does look like a neat job to a non-professional,
+but they have left several flaws in their work. They felt very confident
+of future safety, I am sure, for they were shrewd fellows; that's
+established in my mind. There's a something about this case that puzzles
+me, and some queer ideas are drifting through my head, but for the
+present I shall keep them there. About those blunders now. That boat
+business was the first. There's plain proof; then look at the manner in
+which they stirred up the library. Why, man, didn't you reflect that
+those heavy chairs never could have been overturned by a hasty careless
+hand, without coming down with a loud bang? and there are three of them,
+all thrown down in different positions; every one of them was lowered
+slowly, carefully. Why, look at that pile of books upon the floor! do
+you imagine they were ever tossed down from their shelves, as they
+appear to have been, without striking upon the floor or each other, with
+a thud? I can see the whole operation; one man held the lantern while
+the other disarranged the room. But they did not do it well. That much
+of the business looks like the work of an amateur. Perhaps you wonder
+why I did not speak of this to Miss Wardour. I said enough to convince
+her that I had studied the matter; I did not wish to exhaust the
+subject, that is the business of the man who is to come. And now I think
+I will remove my cast, and then, my dear fellow, I am quite ready to
+retire, for I feel the need of all the sleep I can get between now and
+sunrise."
+
+"Shocking confession," laughs the doctor, lazily. "Let me tell you it's
+highly improper for a detective to get sleepy, or hungry, or tired; they
+never do it in print."
+
+"Which should convince you that they always do out of it. Detectives, my
+dear sir, are like doctors, their success depends upon the people's
+faith in them, not on their own merits. Now I know that you can't see
+through the anatomy of old Mrs. Grundy, and tell what she had for
+dinner, unless, to be sure, she had been eating onions; but if Mrs.
+Grundy doubted for a moment your ability to don your professional
+spectacles and peer into the innermost depths of her disordered old
+being, she would write another name than yours on her books, as favorite
+physician."
+
+"Guide, philosopher and friend," quotes the doctor, composedly. "Let
+Mrs. Grundy alone, will you, she is one of my best customers."
+
+"She is not one of my worst, but the world is not _quite_ filled up with
+Mrs. Grundys, else our fortunes were soon made; for instance, up at
+Wardour Place to-night, that seraphic old lady was prepared to receive
+all my statements, as Mrs. G---- takes your pills, on faith. But the
+young lady; oh, no! she has too much head for a woman."
+
+"Why, for a woman?"
+
+"Not got scope enough. 'Woman's kingdom' too small for her; too much top
+to her head; brow too broad; eyes too full; won't believe a thing is
+true, because you say it is true; got to convince her reason. Such
+people make chaps like you and me lots of bother; won't take us for
+granted."
+
+"Granted we wish them to."
+
+"Bah! Of course we wish them to! everybody wants to be taken on trust;
+but there, we can waive this discussion; Miss Wardour will find
+occupation for that head of hers for a time at least. My head must
+rest."
+
+"I should think so; you are as full of whimsies as ever, when off duty,
+and since to-night I accept you as a detective, _a la_ 'Mrs. Grundy,'
+just follow me now, Sir Tramp. By the way, how will you get out of here
+in the morning?"
+
+"Leave that to me. By the way, don't disturb my wax work. I will leave
+the bottle and linen; do you restore them to Miss Wardour to-morrow at
+the earliest hour possible to a caller. I shall present myself in my own
+time and way, governed, of course, by circumstances, and it is probable
+that you will not see me again for some time. Therefore let me say,
+thanks for your hospitality. Call on me when you want a service, and
+good night."
+
+So saying he vanishes into an inner room, the door of which the doctor
+has just now thrown invitingly open. As the door closes quickly, and in
+his very face, Clifford Heath stares blankly at it, and for a moment
+stands so, looking half bewildered.
+
+Finally a look of amusement crosses his face, and he returns slowly to
+his seat beside the table, slowly selects a segar, and slowly lights it.
+
+"There's a queer customer," muses he, as he settles himself for a
+comfortable meditation. "He can go to sleep in the very teeth of
+mystery, and wake up, clear headed, in a fog. Now I can't sleep, and
+I've been awake longer than my allotted time, too. Shades of my
+ancestors! What a day! And, oh, my prophetic soul, what will it bring
+forth? Well, Doctor Clifford Heath, _as_ Doctor Clifford Heath, what is
+it to you? You have been honored by the confidence of Constance Wardour,
+what then? There was no one else in whom she could confide; may she not
+honor your judgment without coveting your adoration. Bah! the very fact
+that she confides in you proves that she cares nothing for you. However,
+she has a heart for somebody; that is proved by her agitation upon
+hearing the story, and reading the letter telling of poor Sybil
+Lamotte's misery. For undoubtedly in some manner she has been made a
+victim; can it be that wretched Evan? His agitation to-day bore the look
+of remorse, and God knows where dissipation will not lead a man. I know
+something of that, too." Here he frowns darkly, and sits for a long time
+looking the incarnation of resentment and defiance.
+
+"Bah!" he mutters presently, "what a blot upon the record of a proud
+family! A father who is a philanthropist and public benefactor; a mother
+who is '_une dame sans reproche_;' a brother against whom I can bring no
+charge save that he is my rival; a sister, beautiful and good and
+accomplished, but that beauty, goodness, culture, are all shipwrecked;
+how could either live in the same atmosphere with John Burrill, as I
+have heard him described. Evan Lamotte is a black sheep; I should take
+it Burrill must be a black dog, or worse, and sheep and dog are owned by
+the same family. After all, what is race? a fig for pedigree. It's the
+deed that tells. Here in the next room I have a man who claims to be
+nobody. Nothing is said or known about his blood; a great deal is said
+and known about his brain, favorably said, too, and honorably known. He
+is a detective, and as such, dead to the blue book; it's his business to
+hunt men down, to pry into secret places, to unmask villainies, and drag
+to light shameful family secrets; and, for the second time, he has
+stumbled upon a secret of mine, and treated it most generously.
+
+"To-night I say to him, 'know me only as Doctor Heath, from nowhere.'
+Another man would have asked for an explanation, when the opportunity
+came; but not he. He sits with me, sups with me, sleeps under my roof,
+and makes no sign that he ever knew me save as I now am. He treats me as
+a man worthy his confidence, yet asks none of mine. That's what I call
+splendid behavior; that's a man worthy to be called a gentleman. I
+wonder;" here his countenance darkens, and his eyes look gloomy. "I
+wonder what this honorable officer would say if he knew what I did
+to-night? if he knew, say I! does he not know? how can I tell? he is
+sharp, a lynx; and heaven only knows what mad impulse prompted me to do
+a mean thing. Bah!" rising and stretching himself; "we are all fools or
+knaves, or both; when a beautiful woman has dethroned reason and common
+sense, and sways us body and soul. I wonder what Constance Wardour would
+say if she knew? A keen witted detective takes me on trust; will she do
+the same?"
+
+There is little of the look of a despairing swain on his face, as he
+concludes his soliloquy, and goes out to see that the outer door is
+secure, before retiring. A trifle pale, a trifle bored, a trifle
+cynical, and a trifle sleepy he looks. He also looks, for a man who has
+just been indulging in a fit of severe self-depreciation, exceedingly
+confident and full of faith in himself. And why not? Let that man
+despair who has lost confidence in his own ability to wrest favors from
+the fingers of Fate or Fortune. Despair is not for the brave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FALLING OUT.
+
+
+Constance Wardour arose early on Sunday morning. In spite of youth,
+health, and her splendid self-poise, she had slept but little; and such
+slumber as had visited her eyelids, had been haunted by hideous dreams,
+in which detectives and burglars mixed their identity in the most
+remarkable manner; and through all, more vivid than all, shone the face
+of Sybil Lamotte, always agonized, always appealing, always surrounded
+by dark shadows, and always seeming menaced, terrified, helpless. Such
+nights of tormented slumber, and uneasy wakefulness, were new to the
+mistress of Wardour; and now, while the dew was yet on the grass and
+flowers, she was promenading her pretty rose garden, where the sun shone
+full, looking a trifle paler than was usual to her, and somewhat
+dissatisfied.
+
+Mrs. Aliston was still snugly ensconced in her bed, for she never rose
+early, and always retired late, her motto being, "Mrs. Aliston first,
+the world afterward." That lady of portly dimensions had her peculiar
+theory of life. To eat the best food obtainable, and a great deal of it;
+to wear the heaviest silks, and the softest cashmeres; and to sleep in
+the downiest of beds; these were to her the necessities of life. That
+the food was provided from the larder of her niece; that the silks and
+cashmeres were gracious gifts, and that the downy couch cost her
+nothing, mattered little; her niece needed her, she needed her niece;
+_ergo_, her niece sought in every way possible to render her happy and
+comfortable; and she, in return for her comfort and happiness, was a
+model duenna; never questioning, never criticising, humoring all that
+young lady's whims, yet retaining that free, hearty out-spokenness, that
+made her seem not in the least a dependent, and which was, as Mrs.
+Aliston well knew, most pleasing to the heiress.
+
+Altogether, they were a pair of very sensible women. Mrs. Aliston ate
+when she liked, and slept when she liked; Miss Wardour did what _she_
+liked, and both were satisfied.
+
+While Miss Wardour was promenading her garden, and Mrs. Aliston was
+comfortably sleeping, two men were approaching each other on the sandy
+road that ran from the town past Wardour Place.
+
+The one coming from townward was our detective tramp, looking all that a
+tramp should be.
+
+The other, approaching from the opposite direction, was a sleek,
+respectable looking, middle aged man, who might have been some small
+farmer dressed in his Sunday clothes, which fitted him none too well.
+
+Almost opposite the gates of Wardour Place they met and passed each
+other, the tramp saluting respectfully, the other responding with a
+stolid stare.
+
+A little further on the tramp turned slowly and looked back. The
+farmer-looking individual had entered the grounds of Wardour Place, and
+was hurrying straight on toward the entrance, looking neither to the
+right nor left.
+
+[Illustration: "The tramp turned and looked back."]
+
+"So!" muttered the tramp, with the air of a man who would have been
+astonished then, but for the fact that he never allowed anything to
+astonish him. "So _he_ is mixing himself up in this affair! I wonder in
+what capacity? Can it be that by some means he has been selected to work
+up this case? Oh! oh! Bless my soul! What a coincidence that would be!"
+
+Evidently he had grasped at a new idea, and one that was somewhat
+startling. He quickened his pace until, unconsciously, it became almost
+a trot. The mask of studied vacancy dropped from his face, leaving it
+alert, keen, analytical. His mind had grasped at a problem, and he was
+studying it with knitted brow and compressed mouth, as he hurried on
+countryward, not heeding anything save the thought which possessed him.
+
+It was Sunday morning, too early for church goers, and too late for cow
+boys. So he met no one on his hurried march, and when at last he began
+to moderate his pace, he was a full mile from Wardour Place. As his walk
+grew slower his face relaxed, and gradually resumed its mask of careless
+stupidity.
+
+Finally he paused, looked about him, laughed a short half laugh, and
+crossing the road, vaulted a high-wired fence, with the ease of a
+harlequin, and took his way across a meadow toward the river.
+
+"Tra-la, tra-la-la-la-la," chirped he, softly and contentedly. "_What_ a
+pretty kettle of fish. How I should love to sit down right beside it and
+see it boil, stir it occasionally; instead, I must go far away, and
+meantime, who knows, the kettle may boil over. But I hope not,--I trust
+not. I will try and prevent it; and, to do that, I must drop a little
+shell before I go. I must bind Miss Wardour over to my aid. I must show
+her that it is wise to trust me. I must have a confidante here, and
+there are only two to choose from. Doctor Heath, 'from nowhere,' and
+this clear-eyed lady. I choose her; for, with all due regard for my
+friend, the doctor, and all due faith in the propriety of his motives, I
+must know _why_ he throws that bit of circumstantial evidence in my way,
+before I show him any part of my hand. Why Doctor Heath is here, is none
+of my business, strange as his presence and present occupation seem to
+me. Why he is mixing himself up in the affair of Miss Wardour's
+diamonds, however, _is_ my business, just now. But, first of all, to
+know how much or little Jerry Belknap knows of this affair, and of these
+people, and whether he is at his old crookedness once more. Now, here is
+the river; here the footpath. I must see the mistress of Wardour Place,
+and at once; so, _en avant_."
+
+And he struck into the river footpath, and strode rapidly along toward
+Wardour Place, whistling softly as he went. Meantime, Constance Wardour,
+pacing the walks of her garden, with her brows wrinkled into a frown,
+was interrupted by her housemaid.
+
+"If you please, miss, there's a man in the front hall, that's wanting
+to see you, and says I am to tell you it's important that his business
+is."
+
+Constance made a slight gesture of impatience; she had been thinking of
+Sybil Lamotte, to the exclusion of all other subjects, and this message
+brought her suddenly back to her own affairs.
+
+"Important!" she muttered to herself. "Then it must be--the other one.
+Nelly," raising her voice, "what is this man like?"
+
+"Like, miss?" inquiringly.
+
+"Yes. How does he look?"
+
+"Oh! Well, it's very ugly he looks, to my notion."
+
+"Does he look like a gentleman, Nelly?"
+
+"Oh, murther! no."
+
+"Like a tramp, then?"
+
+"No; his clothes is too new."
+
+"Well, Nelly, I will go and see him," said Constance, beginning to
+despair of finding out whether this visitor were the tramp of the night
+previous, or the new actor expected on the scene. "You know I never
+allow you to turn a tramp away hungry, and if one comes who seems worthy
+of help, I wish you always to let me know it."
+
+This she said, thinking of the manner in which it was probable the
+detective tramp would seek access to her presence.
+
+"By the way, Nelly," pausing with one foot on the steps of the
+dining-room terrace. "You may wake Mrs. Aliston and tell her that if I
+wish her to join me in the little parlor I will send you to her," then
+_sotto voce_, as she entered the house and went carelessly toward the
+drawing-room: "If this visitor proves a bore I will turn him over to
+Aunt Honor; I can't have two days of constant boredom."
+
+Coming forward from the lower entrance, Constance encountered the gaze
+of the strange man, whom, arriving at the front door, Nelly had not
+ventured to set down as a tramp, and whose clothes made her doubt the
+propriety of showing him the drawing-room. Being of Hibernian
+extraction, and not to be nonplussed, Nelly had adapted a happy medium,
+and seated the visitor in the largest hall chair, where he now awaited
+the approach of Constance.
+
+"I think you wished to see me," said Constance, in the unaffected kindly
+tone usual to her when addressing strangers or inferiors, "I am Miss
+Wardour."
+
+The stranger arose, making a stiff salute, and saying in a low, guarded
+tone:
+
+"Yes, Miss Wardour, I have a message for you;" at the same moment he
+presented her a card, and glanced in a suggestive manner toward Nelly,
+who was traveling up the stairs in a very leisurely manner, _en route_
+for Mrs. Aliston's rooms.
+
+Constance glanced at the card which bore the inscription,
+
+     "JERRY BELKNAP,
+     _Private Detective_."
+
+"Come this way," she said, throwing open the drawing-room door and
+preceding him into that apartment.
+
+Jerry Belknap, private detective, followed close behind her, and himself
+closed the door carefully. Constance crossed the room, drew back the
+curtains, and pushed open the shutters of the terrace windows, thus
+letting in a flood of light. Then turning, she seated herself upon a
+fauteuil, and, motioning the detective to a chair opposite, said:
+
+"Now, sir, I am ready to receive your message."
+
+"It's a verbal one," returned the detective, in a voice soft and smooth,
+not at all in keeping with his disguise, "and from Mr. Lamotte. I am the
+officer chosen by him to investigate for you, Miss Wardour, and as much
+time has been lost, I only wait your sanction and acceptance to begin
+the work."
+
+The soft voice and polished accent were in very marked contrast to his
+dress and facial appearance. His manner of boorish discomfort had been
+dropped when the door closed upon outside observation.
+
+Mentally contrasting the ease and suavity of this new comer with the
+cat-like movements and brusqueness of his predecessor, Constance, who
+began to realize the ludicrousness of the situation, in fact seemed to
+have some special private reason for finding it exceedingly absurd,
+replied that Mr. Lamotte's chosen officer must of course be acceptable
+to her, and that she only awaited his commands, if she could be of any
+service to him.
+
+"Then," said Detective Belknap, "I may as well look over the premises,
+unless," turning upon her a searching look, "there are particulars
+concerning the robbery which Mr. Lamotte was not in possession of."
+
+Constance lowered her eyes, in seeming effort to remember if Mr. Lamotte
+knew absolutely all; she thought of the chloroform, but the bottle had
+not yet been returned to her. What should she do? Before telling this
+part of the story she must have the bottle. Suddenly her woman's wit
+came to her aid. Looking up with sweetest candor into the detective's
+face, she said,
+
+"I am the only one who possesses any information that was not known to
+Mr. Lamotte. It is a mere trifle, but as it will take some time in the
+telling, I will, if you please, order breakfast. You can scarcely have
+breakfasted at this hour. I will show you the library now. Will you look
+over that and the other rooms, and kindly excuse me for a short time?
+Then join me at breakfast, and I will give you my version of the story."
+
+She arose as if considering the matter decided beyond question, and
+moved toward the door, and with a bow and a murmur of assent, Mr. Jerry
+Belknap fell into his assumed shamble, and followed her to the library.
+Leaving him there, Constance went out to order breakfast served in half
+an hour, and to send Nelly with the key to her dressing room.
+
+"Nelly must be taken into my confidence," mused she, as she went in
+search of that damsel. "I can trust Nelly in spite of her Irishries, and
+if Doctor Heath does not appear soon she must help me out in some way."
+
+Nelly was not at her post, having been dispatched kitchenward by Mrs.
+Aliston, and Constance went up to her own rooms, thinking, as she went,
+how best to defer a further interview with Mr. Belknap.
+
+"I must take him the key myself," she muttered, as she moved about the
+dressing room, and then a sudden thought came, and she moved quickly to
+an open wardrobe, pulled down the dress she had worn on the previous
+afternoon, and searched hurriedly in the pockets.
+
+All at once a look of dismay overspread her features; again and again
+she shook out the silken folds, again thrust her hands in the dainty
+pockets, and fluttered her fingers among the intricacies of the
+trimming. The thing she searched for was gone. Sybil Lamotte's strange
+letter, the letter that was a trust not to be violated, was not to be
+found.
+
+Thoroughly distressed now, Constance renewed her search--about the
+room--everywhere--in the most impossible places; but no letter.
+
+Down stairs she went; and hopeless as was the chance of finding it
+there, hunted in the drawing room and on the terrace.
+
+She distinctly remembered placing it in her pocket, after receiving it
+back from the hands of Doctor Heath; of bestowing it very carefully,
+too.
+
+Who had been in the drawing room since Doctor Heath? Mrs. Aliston; the
+two detectives; herself. Who had seen her put the letter in her pocket?
+Only Doctor Heath. Could it have dropped from her pocket? That seemed
+impossible. Could he have removed it? That seemed impossible, too, and
+very absurd. But what could she think, else? Then, she remembered what
+he had said to the detective the night before, and all the mystery
+surrounding his past. Hitherto, she had scoffed at the prying ones, and
+advocated his perfect right to his own past and future, too. Now, she
+felt her ignorance of aught concerning the life of Doctor Clifford
+Heath, to be a deep personal injury. Hitherto, she had reasoned that his
+past was something very simple, a commonplace of study, perhaps, and
+self-building; for she, being an admirer of self-made men, had chosen to
+believe him one of them. Now, she bounded straight to the conclusion
+that Doctor Heath had a past--to conceal; and then she found herself
+growing very angry, with him first, and herself afterward.
+
+Why had he not presented his passports before seeking her favor? How had
+he dared to make himself so much at home in her drawing room, with his
+impertinent _insouciance_ and his Sultan airs? How had he gone about,
+indifferent, independent, ignoring when he pleased, courting no one's
+favor, and yet, be--nobody knew who.
+
+And what a fool she had been, trusting him with her personal secrets;
+putting her private letters into his hands. How he must be laughing at
+her in his sleeve! Exasperating thought. Worse than all else, to be
+laughed at. What worse calamity can befall poor, arrogant human nature?
+
+Constance was now thoroughly angry, and, "by the same token," thoroughly
+unreasonable. It is highly objectionable in a heroine; but Constance, as
+we have said before, is a very human heroine. And, dear reader, however
+sensible you be, if you have ever been in just the state of mind in
+which Constance Wardour found herself that morning, and most of us have,
+I promise you, you were not one whit more reasonable; not one whit less
+capable of being aggressive, unreasonable, and generally disagreeable.
+
+And now, the perverse imp who goes about, concocting horrible practical
+jokes, and stirring up _contretemps_, seemed to take possession of the
+field; for, just at the moment when he should have been at least five
+miles away, Doctor Heath, unannounced, appeared at the drawing-room
+door,--smiling, too, looking provokingly sure of a welcome, and
+handsomer than usual.
+
+Miss Wardour's self-possession was as instant as her indignation.
+
+"Good morning, Doctor Heath," frigidly. "I am sorry you found it
+necessary to admit yourself in this manner. I suppose my servants _are_
+neglectful."
+
+"Not at all," replied he, discovering that she was out of humor, but not
+divining the cause. "Your housemaid admitted me, and thinking you in
+your own room, was about to usher me in here, and go to announce me,
+when I saved her the trouble, telling her that my time was limited, and
+admitting myself; had I known you were here, I should not have intruded
+without permission;" then perceiving that her face retained its
+frigidity, his voice took on a shade of haughtiness as he laid a packet
+upon the table, saying: "I have brought back your 'proofs;' Mr. Bathurst
+wished me to say, if I chanced to see you first, that is," hesitating.
+
+"I have not seen Mr. Bathurst."
+
+"No!" Doctor Heath seemed to be somewhat affected by the chill of the
+atmosphere. "Then I am to say that he has something for your private
+ear, and that when he comes, he begs that you will contrive in some way
+to see him, whether your other officer is here or no."
+
+A grave bow from Lapland. Then,
+
+"Officer Belknap is here, and in the library. I presume," consulting her
+watch, "he is waiting for me at this moment."
+
+Doctor Heath had been standing a few feet from her, hat in hand; now,
+and in spite of this implied dismissal, he coolly deposited his hat upon
+the table beside Miss Wardour's package, and advanced nearer to that
+young lady, speaking calmly, gently even, but without the slightest
+touch of entreaty, penitence, or humility of any sort in his manner or
+voice.
+
+"Miss Wardour, pardon me for alluding to it, but I would be blind indeed
+not to see that something has annoyed you exceedingly. Indeed, I could
+almost fancy that, in some way, I have become the cause of your
+displeasure; if this is so, tell me how I have been so unfortunate as to
+offend?"
+
+Now this was a very pacific and proper speech, and uttered in the right
+spirit. But had its effect been salutary, then Doctor Heath would stand
+alone, the first, last, and only man who ever yet attempted to argue
+with, reason with, or pacify an angry woman without blundering
+egregiously in the beginning, and coming out worsted at the end. There
+are a _few_ things in this world that mortal man can't compass, and to
+attempt to pour oil on the waves of a woman's wrath when they are just
+at the boiling point, and ready to overflow their confines, is like
+sitting down on a bunch of fire-crackers to prevent their going off. Let
+the water boil over, and there will still be enough left to brew you a
+cup of tea. Let the crackers explode, and you may sit down on them with
+impunity.
+
+Dear brethren, the moral is homely.
+
+How had he offended? That he should ask the question, was the acme of
+his offense. As if she could tell how he had offended. Was there ever so
+impertinent a question and questioner? "How had he been so _unfortunate_
+as to offend?" Any other man would have said "unhappy," whether he meant
+it or not, but this man, oh! he would not even _look_ a culprit.
+
+She raised her haughty head a trifle higher, as high as it could be; she
+drew back as many steps as he had advanced; the room had become a
+refrigerator.
+
+"Doctor Heath flatters himself; in what manner _could_ he offend me?"
+
+[Illustration: "Doctor Heath flatters himself."]
+
+Still he retains his composure, not guessing at the truth.
+
+"I have never presumed Miss Wardour, therefore can not have flattered
+myself. I _may_ have offended by coming one moment too late with this
+packet. Miss Wardour is accustomed to unqualified obedience. If I fail
+in that it is not from lack of inclination, but--because I am just
+learning submission." He uttered the last words in a lower, softer
+tone, and fell back as he uttered them, laying his hand upon his hat.
+
+Anger, self-shame, and a strange thrilling emotion, she could not, or
+would not recognize or define, urged her out of herself, beyond herself,
+and beyond the bounds of propriety or courtesy. Sweeping toward him with
+one swift movement, she extended one hand with downward turned palm, in
+a quick, meaning gesture, and said,
+
+"Doctor Heath, I have lost Sybil Lamotte's letter."
+
+"Lost it! How?"
+
+"That I should be glad to know; since I showed it to you last night and
+replaced it in my pocket, I have not seen it, and, Doctor Heath, as I do
+not wish without your knowledge, to be in possession of any secret of
+yours, I may as well tell you now that I overheard your warning to the
+detective last night."
+
+"My warning!" he repeated, parrot-like.
+
+"Your reminder that you must be to him, _Doctor Heath from nowhere_!"
+
+Doctor Heath from nowhere, gazed at her for a moment as if petrified,
+his mind seeming reluctant or unable to grasp at once her full meaning;
+then he came close to her, straight and tall, and paler than her own
+pale robe; the blood of all the Howards flashing from his eye, and
+speaking in his bearing. Thus, for a moment, they faced each other,
+pale, passionate, mute; then a voice, soft and suave, broke the spell.
+
+"I trust you will pardon me."
+
+They turned swiftly, neither had faced the door; both had been too
+preoccupied to observe or hear. How long he had been a listener he alone
+could tell; but there stood Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective, one
+hand resting on the handle of the closed door, the other holding an open
+note book.
+
+Doctor Heath vouchsafed him one dark glance, then bending above the
+uplifted hand of Constance Wardour, he looked straight down into her
+eyes, and said in a low, tense voice,
+
+"Miss Wardour, your words have been not an accusation, but an insult; as
+such, I can only accept them--in silence; good morning."
+
+Then he turned, waved the private detective haughtily from before the
+door, and strode out, his heels ringing firm upon the hall marble as he
+went.
+
+"I fear I intruded," said Mr. Belknap, innocently. "I have just finished
+making some notes in the library, and am ready to proceed to the upper
+floor."
+
+"Breakfast." It was Nelly who appeared with this announcement, which was
+welcome, at least to Mr. Belknap, and pale, silent, subdued, Constance
+motioned him to precede her to the dining room.
+
+"I'm sure to be in a situation," mused the girl with a rueful grimace.
+"If it's only a _tete-a-tete_ breakfast with a detective."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ONE DETECTIVE TOO MANY.
+
+
+"Aunt Honor," said Miss Wardour, sweeping unceremoniously into her
+aunt's dressing room, "you really must come to my relief."
+
+Mrs. Aliston seated in a big dressing chair, with a tempting breakfast
+tray drawn close beside her, looked up serene and comfortable, and said,
+after setting down her porcelain chocolate cup with great care.
+
+"Yes!" with the rising inflection.
+
+"I'm exhausted, bothered, bored," continued the young lady, flinging
+herself down upon the nearest ottoman. "I wish my old diamonds had never
+had an existence. I wish Grandmama Wardour had had better sense."
+
+"Have a cup of chocolate," suggested Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"I won't," snapped Constance, belligerently. "I have breakfasted if you
+please; auntie," lowering her voice to a tone of mock mystery, "we have
+got another detective in the house."
+
+"So Nelly tells me," reaching out for another roll.
+
+"And, he has breakfasted with me."
+
+Mrs. Aliston laid down the roll, turned for a moment to gaze at her
+niece; and, reading in that fair upturned face, the fact that its owner
+was in a state of mutiny against the proprieties and all things else
+that might come in opposition to her will, she took up her roll and
+buttered it carefully as she said:
+
+"Well! that's quite like you. What sort of a man is he?"
+
+"Splendid," with a shrug of the shoulders, "smooth as oil, polished as
+ivory; a Chesterfield in ill fitting clothes."
+
+"And, a detective?"
+
+"Well, why not? Somehow he has picked up all the arts and graces of a
+gentleman."
+
+"Really! Not much like the other one then."
+
+"Not in the least. The other is eccentric, explosive, amusing. This one
+is like a lawyer; very non-committal, not at all inclined to tell all he
+knows."
+
+"Oh! have you told him about the chloroform?"
+
+"Yes; he has the bottle."
+
+"Well, what did _he_ say?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"Goodness gracious! and you breakfasted with him?"
+
+"Yes; and he has spent half an hour or more in the drawing room. I have
+told him all I had to tell, and he is now prowling about my dressing
+room."
+
+"But what does he think about this affair?"
+
+"I don't know;" indifferently.
+
+"Why, it didn't take you all breakfast time to tell _your_ story?"
+
+"Oh, no; I told my story and Mr. Belknap listened very attentively; made
+some entries in his note book, remarked that he would have a report
+ready for me in the course of the day, and then turned his back upon the
+subject."
+
+"Mercy!"
+
+"He discussed the new opera, asked me if I had seen Neilson in Twelfth
+Night, gave a brilliant description of a young French drama by a young
+French author, gave me his opinion of Dickens, and looked his opinion of
+myself."
+
+"What a remarkable person."
+
+"Exceedingly so. His remarks have quite exhausted me."
+
+"Now, Con.;" reproachfully.
+
+"Now, auntie, don't plead, my heart is adamant. If you don't go and
+interview that man for the remainder of his stay I shall order William
+to throw him out of my dressing-room window; not that I have a rooted
+antipathy for him, he is certainly a clever man, and no doubt a good
+officer. But I am worn out, unfit for duty, and--I have another matter
+to attend to."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Mrs. Aliston arising, "then, my child, I am ready, or
+almost ready, to go and inspect your new detective."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Aliston goes to her mirror, touches up her
+dressing-cap, gives a pat here, a shake there, and then ruffling her
+plumage like some huge old bird, follows her niece.
+
+Across the hall they find the detective inspecting the little safe, and
+hurriedly introducing Mrs. Aliston, and making her own excuses,
+Constance hastens away and down stairs.
+
+Down the stairs and out of the house, first because she felt oppressed
+and needed the soothing effects of fresh air and exercise, and, second,
+because she expected the tramp detective to be somewhere in the
+vicinity, and, for some reason, she wanted to see him. In spite of the
+fact that she had just declared herself bored, and desperate, and
+anxious to be alone; in spite of the fact that she had fled from
+detective number two, she wanted to see number one for a woman's reason.
+Having quarrelled desperately with Clifford Heath, she was immediately
+possessed by an insane desire to hear some one speak of him, and speak
+well of him. This man had treated Doctor Heath from the first with the
+utmost respect. He was undoubtedly pleased at their chance meeting;
+after all might not this secret which lay between the two be a perfectly
+honorable one?
+
+In fact, Miss Wardour wanted to see Detective Bathurst, not as Detective
+Bathurst, but as the man who knew Doctor Clifford Heath better than she
+herself knew him. Of her diamonds, she never thought at all.
+
+She felt depressed, dissatisfied, yet not quite prepared to blame
+herself in any way. She was possessed by more uncomfortable feelings
+than she could have analyzed or described, yet was too consistent a
+woman to be so soon ready to admit, even to herself, that she had
+wronged Doctor Heath. Indeed, she was more angry than ever with that
+unfortunate man. Had he not capped the climax of his iniquities by
+flying off at a tangent, and leaving her in a most uncomfortable
+position?
+
+The grounds about Wardour Place were large, well shaded, and laid out
+with a network of walks. With a view to the avoiding of those paths
+overlooked by the windows of her dressing room, or other rooms where her
+aunt and the detective were likely to be, Constance kept to the north
+and east walks, thus coming near the river, which ran north and south,
+and toward which the eastern, or near, portion of the grounds sloped
+down.
+
+Walking thus, and gazing riverward, Constance saw a form approaching,
+which she soon recognized as that of the detective tramp.
+
+Glancing quickly about to see if any of the servants were in the
+grounds, and assuring herself that the way was clear, she went forward
+to where he could see her, before approaching too near.
+
+Gazing fixedly at him, a slight movement of his hand told her that he
+had seen, and was alert; and then she made a gesture northward, and,
+turning that way herself, disappeared from his sight among the
+shrubbery.
+
+On the north, the grounds were bounded by the orchard wall, over which
+drooped the branches of huge old apple trees, and down close to the
+eastern boundary of this same orchard, a small iron gate opened into it.
+Toward this gate Constance walked, avoiding any appearance of unseemly
+haste, and toward the eastern wall, hard by, went the tramp detective,
+looking innocent of any thought or purpose, save to intercept the lady,
+and beg for a dinner, a dollar, or a dime.
+
+Reaching the gate, Constance passed through it into the orchard, and,
+almost at the same moment, the tramp bounded over the wall, and stood
+bowing beside her.
+
+"Come into the grounds," said Constance, waiving all ceremony. "If we
+are seen talking there, it will look less suspicious. My servants are
+quite accustomed to see me interviewing tramps."
+
+She led the way back into the grounds, closed the wicket, and walked
+along the orchard wall to a rustic bench close under the bending boughs
+of a great tree. Here she seated herself, and the tramp, leaning against
+a tree a few paces from her, turned upon her a look of proper
+supplication, and said:
+
+"Now I think we are ready for observers."
+
+"Quite. None of my servants saw you last night, and they are not likely
+to come here in any case. We shall hardly be disturbed."
+
+"You think so? May I ask how long you have been absent from the house?"
+
+"About fifteen minutes, I should think."
+
+"Well, in fifteen minutes more Mr. Belknap will be out looking at the
+grounds, and for you."
+
+Constance uttered a low exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Ah!" said she, "you know that already. Pray tell me how? you are more
+puzzling than a Chinese juggler."
+
+"No jugglery about this, however," he replied, looking somewhat amused.
+"I met Mr. Belknap, face to face at your very gate; I have seen him wear
+that farmer disguise before, hence I recognized him."
+
+"And he?"
+
+"Did _not_ recognize me."
+
+"Yet you know each other."
+
+"Slightly, yes;" with a droll look in his eyes, of which Constance took
+note.
+
+"Now tell me, Mr. Bathurst, is Mr. Belknap a good detective?"
+
+"Mr. Belknap is a smart man, Miss Wardour; he understands his business
+thoroughly."
+
+"He equivocates," thought Constance; aloud she said,
+
+"And I need not fear to trust my business in his hands?"
+
+"You need not fear," he replied, with odd emphasis. "And now," he
+continued, "time presses; you received your package, Miss Wardour?"
+
+Constance felt uneasy, this man seemed to find out everything; did he
+know of what she had accused Doctor Heath?
+
+"I received it an hour ago," she replied.
+
+"Miss Wardour," asked he, fixing his eyes upon her face, "have you any
+suspicion as to who these robbers were?"
+
+For a moment Constance seemed half paralyzed with fright; then she
+answered firmly,
+
+"No, sir; not the shadow of a suspicion; but--you have."
+
+"If I have, it is not more than a shadow--at present. Now, may I ask you
+some questions, not just to the point but which, for my own reasons, I
+wish answered."
+
+She nodded assent.
+
+"Can you tell me how many medical men you have in W----?"
+
+Constance reflected; finally she said,
+
+"I think there are seven, in all."
+
+"Ah! all in practice?"
+
+"Not all; two are retired, one is an invalid, doing but little."
+
+"Thank you; and how many of them have assistants or students?"
+
+"Only two, to my knowledge, Doctor Benoit and--Doctor Heath."
+
+"And who are these young men--I suppose they _are_ young men? Can you
+give me any information concerning them?"
+
+"The young man with Doctor Benoit is a stranger to me, he comes, I
+believe, from one of the neighboring towns; the one with Doctor Heath,"
+here, in spite of herself, Constance colored slightly, "is the son of
+one of our wealthiest citizens. He had, I believe, been reading a little
+in the city during the winter before Doctor Heath established himself
+here; since when he has remained in W----, and read in Doctor Heath's
+office, when it has suited him to do so; he is like many young men of
+great expectations."
+
+"And his name?"
+
+"His name," hesitating a little, "is Francis Lamotte."
+
+"Thank you; and now, Miss Wardour, I want to ask at least three favors
+of you, in return for which you may command me to any extent."
+
+"Ask them," replied Constance, feeling inwardly that she was outgrowing
+surprise.
+
+"First, will you promise me--I know that you keep your promises--not to
+repeat one word of this conversation to Doctor Heath."
+
+"Doctor Heath is not my father confessor," she said coldly; and then
+remembering the sort of man she was addressing, she added as best she
+could. "Although from what you saw last night, you might almost have
+fancied him such. I promise in any case to keep secret this interview."
+
+"Will you promise, above all, to keep it from Mr. Belknap; to keep
+_everything_ concerning me from his knowledge?"
+
+Constance laughed.
+
+"So far as I can," she replied. "Mr. Belknap is a detective; let him
+find out things as you seem to do."
+
+"I don't find out everything, more's the pity," he replied; then
+hesitating slightly over the question. "May I rely on your aunt?"
+
+"I promise for my aunt," replied Constance, laughing again; "she is very
+loyal."
+
+"Thank you. Now there is one thing more I very much wish, for reasons
+which no doubt you will know in good time, to see or hear the report of
+Mr. Jerry Belknap, private detective. This I know, is asking much, but
+you will have no cause to regret it if you enable me to obtain this
+knowledge."
+
+Constance looked perplexed, and hesitated in her answer.
+
+"You distrust Mr. Belknap," she said finally. "I thought--"
+
+He throws up his hand somewhat impatiently.
+
+"You jump at conclusions," he interrupted; "a detective's motives must
+be taken for granted. It is not distrust that causes me to ask this
+favor; I could not tell you my reason without unraveling a long web, and
+it is not time to begin the process; I am still in the realm of
+conjecture. So you won't help me to the result of Mr. Belknap's
+investigation, Miss Wardour? I am sorry; it would save time for me, for
+I fully intend to find it out in some way."
+
+Constance smiled in spite of herself; she admired this man's cool way of
+mastering the situation; she felt that it would be policy to let him
+have his way, since he would take it whether she would or no. But the
+imp of caprice had not quite deserted her, and now he goaded her on to
+her own downfall. Looking up suddenly, she asked:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, why did you ask me if I suspected who stole my diamonds?"
+
+"I didn't," smiling oddly.
+
+Constance stared.
+
+"I asked if you guessed who the robbers were."
+
+"But--," began she; but the detective drawing a step nearer, and
+speaking in a guarded tone, interrupts her.
+
+"I am satisfied that you were _robbed_ on Saturday night, Miss Wardour;
+I am sure that you have no clue to the burglars; no suspicion as to
+their identity; but, I am not so sure that you do not know _precisely
+where to look for the Wardour diamonds at this moment_?"
+
+Constance flushed, and then turned pale. She had found her match; she
+was cornered, mastered, but she must give one last scratch.
+
+"Having divined so much," she said bitterly. "I suppose you intend to
+find them too?"
+
+He drew himself up haughtily. "I am a detective, madam, not a spy; so
+long as your diamonds give _you_ no uneasiness they have no interest for
+me. When you need my services they are yours. I do not investigate
+mysteries from mere curiosity."
+
+Constance felt a twinge of self-reproach. "I am behaving like a fool,"
+she thought, in severe condemnation. "I am losing my own identity; this
+man is a friend to rely on, an enemy to fear. He will not bow to my
+whims and caprices. What has come over me? Let me try and redeem
+myself."
+
+She had been musing with downcast eyes; now she looked up, straight into
+her companion's face. It had undergone a sudden change; the eyes, a
+moment since so full of fire and subtlety, were dull and expressionless.
+The face was vague to apathy, the mouth looked the incarnation of
+meekness or imbecility; even his hands had taken on a helpless
+feebleness in the clutch in which he held his worn-out hat. Before she
+could withdraw her gaze or open her lips in speech, he said in a low
+guarded tone:
+
+"Some one is approaching. Look behind me, Miss Wardour, and carefully,
+not to excite suspicion."
+
+She turned her gaze cautiously in the direction indicated, and saw
+coming slowly toward them, Mr. Belknap and Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"It is Mr. Belknap," she said, nodding easily at the new comers as she
+spoke, "and my aunt. Have no fears, sir tramp, everything shall be as
+you wish. I will engage you, I think."
+
+Constance was herself again.
+
+"Aunt Honor," she said, as the two came within hearing distance, "you
+find me at my old tricks."
+
+"Old tricks indeed!" replied her aunt, with more subtlety of meaning
+than she often employed.
+
+Constance arose and swept past the supposed tramp, without bestowing a
+glance upon him.
+
+"What would you do aunt?" she said, with an air of honest anxiety that
+would have done credit to an actress, "here is this man again. You know
+I promised to try and help him when he was here before. Simon needs an
+assistant, he tells me; would you try him as under gardener?"
+
+[Illustration: "Here is this man again."]
+
+Thoroughly drilled in the art of aiding and abetting her niece, Mrs.
+Aliston proved equal to the emergency.
+
+"It couldn't do any harm," she said surveying the gentleman tramp
+somewhat superciliously. "He looks quite respectable, for that sort of a
+person."
+
+Constance stifled an inclination to laugh as she said, briskly:
+
+"Then we will try him, and I'll just take him to the kitchen, and tell
+cook what to do with him until Simon comes."
+
+"Now just let me do that Con.," remonstrated Mrs. Aliston, "Mr. Belknap
+wishes to talk with you about the servants; remain here, and I will
+attend to this person."
+
+"Very well," responded Constance, indifferently, at the same time
+realizing the expediency of allowing the detective an instant
+opportunity for dropping a word of warning in the ear of her relative.
+"Tell the cook to give him something to eat, and now Mr. Belknap, you
+and I may walk on."
+
+"Just follow me, my man," called Mrs. Aliston, in a tone of loftiest
+patronage, and the newly appointed under gardener, beaming with
+gratitude, passed by Miss Wardour and Mr. Belknap, and followed the
+portly figure kitchenward with eager alacrity.
+
+Meantime, Constance, eager to engross Mr. Belknap's attention, turned
+toward him a smiling face, and said:
+
+"Now, Mr. Belknap, I am at your disposal for a short time; fate seems
+against my obtaining the rest I came out here to seek, but _your_
+business is in my interest, and I am not ungrateful; you wished to say
+something about my servants."
+
+"I wish to question your servants separately, Miss Wardour."
+
+Constance opened her eyes in quick surprise, then she answered quietly:
+
+"To question my servants! Oh, certainly, Mr. Belknap; when, and where?"
+
+"This evening would suit me; I am going to look about the surrounding
+country during the day."
+
+"This evening then, after dinner; will that suit you?"
+
+"Admirably, say at half past eight;" and having completed his
+arrangements in this business-like manner, Mr. Belknap asked permission
+to pass through the orchard, received it, and, bowing gravely, went
+through the wicket, and walked swiftly between the rows of apple trees
+straight northward.
+
+At six o'clock that evening, Miss Wardour sent for the gardener.
+
+"Simon," she said sweetly to the cross looking old man, "I engaged a new
+man to-day, perhaps you have seen him. I don't expect he can be very
+useful to you just at first, and I want you to give him very light
+tasks, and treat him kindly; he is a very unfortunate man. If we find
+that we can't make him useful after a few days' trial, we will pay him a
+month's wages and let him go. That will help him a little."
+
+Then she sent for the new man.
+
+"I thought you might wish to hear the latest report from Mr. Belknap,"
+she said graciously. "If I am to be your ally, I intend to keep nothing
+back; but I can't help fearing that he may suspect your identity."
+
+"You need not," he replied with confident ease. "He has every reason
+for supposing me in California at this moment; besides, he does not know
+me well enough to be able to recognize me under a good disguise; our
+acquaintance," he added dryly, "has been somewhat one sided, with the
+advantage so far on my side. When I told you that I knew Mr. Belknap
+well, I did not intend to imply that he knew me equally well."
+
+"Then I will trouble myself no more about the matter," said she lightly.
+"Mr. Belknap wishes to examine the servants, that is what I wished to
+tell you."
+
+"Very proper in Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Oh! is it? I thought it very absurd. My servants are honesty itself."
+
+"So much the better; Mr. Belknap knows how to go to work, Miss Wardour,
+pray feel no prejudice."
+
+"Oh, not at all," ironically. "Now about the report. Be within easy call
+to-morrow morning, please, I think we will have it then."
+
+"Thanks."
+
+"I suppose it will be best to have you present, that is, within hearing.
+I will arrange that the interview will take place in the dining room,
+and can easily get you into the butler's room adjoining, where William
+sleeps; this room was arranged with a view to the overlooking of the
+dining room, and plate closet, as you discovered for yourself; from
+there you can both hear and see."
+
+"So much the better." Then admiringly, he added, "Miss Wardour you are a
+splendid ally; you have thought of everything."
+
+She laughed; then answered with artful frankness: "I am trying to get
+back into my normal condition. I have been out of balance somehow, ever
+since this business commenced; have been as testy as an old woman of
+eighty. It is time I began to redeem myself. But I must not detain you.
+I see you begin to look uneasy. Until to-morrow, I commend you to the
+tender mercies of Simon and the cook."
+
+"I wonder how that man looks, devoid of all disguise," mused she, after
+he had withdrawn. "I don't believe he is tow-haired and freckled by
+nature. I wonder what has become of poor Sybil's letter; and if I had
+better ask his aid in finding it. But he is going away so soon. Now that
+I reflect, soberly, what motive could Doctor Heath possibly have for
+taking that letter? I think I must have been mad, or in hysteria. The
+man may be an imposter, a man of mystery, and all that; but why must I
+accuse him of taking a letter that could be of no possible use to him. I
+had worked myself into a rage. Well, it's done; I can't recall it.
+Doctor Heath will think me a vixen, and why not? What is Doctor Heath's
+opinion to me?"
+
+What, indeed!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEDUCTIONS OF DETECTIVE NUMBER TWO.
+
+
+The fates seemed propitious on Monday morning. The day dawned fair and
+balmy, and Constance arose, feeling refreshed and like her own serene
+self once more.
+
+The events of the two previous days no longer seemed to her imagination
+a chaotic disturbing mass of tribulations; they had arranged themselves
+in their proper order, been reviewed sensibly, and assigned their
+rightful places, as things to be overcome, or overlooked, as the case
+might be.
+
+Mrs. Aliston, too, at once discreet and talkative, was in fine spirits,
+and the two, having ascertained the precise time when Private Detective
+Belknap might be expected to make his report, had breakfasted
+comfortably, stowed away Mr. Bathurst, according to previous
+arrangement, and were now calmly awaiting the coming man.
+
+They had not long to wait. Mr. Belknap, ushered in by Nelly, found the
+ladies seated near the breakfast tray, as if just about completing a
+repast, which had in reality been finished some time before.
+
+"Good-morning, ladies," said he, laying down his hat, and at once
+drawing a chair to the table, with the air of a man whose time is
+money. "Having completed my investigations here,--that is, in this
+immediate neighborhood,--I am prepared with my written report, which I
+submit to you, Miss Wardour. Will you please read it, and then give me
+further instructions?" and he proffered her a neatly-folded paper, of
+goodly proportions.
+
+Constance glanced at it dubiously, but did not take it from his hand.
+
+"Please read it, Mr. Belknap," she said, appealingly. "I am sure I shall
+comprehend it better, and my aunt shares my anxiety to hear and
+understand its contents."
+
+"As you please," assented he, opening the manuscript. "I have made it as
+brief as possible; of course, it was necessary to be statistical."
+
+The report began with the usual form, day and date, circumstances under
+which his services were retained, etc., a statement of the case as it
+was made to him, then came the following:
+
+"Arrived in W---- early on Sunday morning, walking from the first
+station northward. Found Wardour Place easily from Mr. Lamotte's
+description. Gained admittance, and was at once permitted to inspect the
+room where the robbers found an entrance; found that it had been
+previously examined, and could not feel quite sure that some clue had
+not been effaced or something disturbed that might have evolved a clue.
+Miss Wardour assures me that nothing of value was taken from this room,
+and I am inclined to think that the robbers had hoped to find
+themselves in the dining room, and gain access to the plate closet.
+
+"Finding themselves instead in the library, a room where, there being no
+man of the house, it could hardly be supposed valuables were kept, or
+money or papers of worth locked away; they, after a vigorous search,
+opened the door of the hall; here they found themselves at once at the
+foot of the stairs and, naturally, one ascends to explore. The first
+door that he tries is the door of Miss Wardour's dressing room; and,
+having examined that door, I am compelled to think that Miss Wardour,
+for once, forgot to lock it. Had it been locked the explorer would
+naturally have passed on, trying the other doors and some of these other
+doors were certainly not locked.
+
+"The burglary was effected with the utmost quiet, and there are no
+indications that any thing was disturbed on the second floor, save in
+Miss Wardour's rooms, therefore (I cite this presumptive evidence), Miss
+Wardour's door was _not_ locked as she supposed it to be; finding this
+to be the case the man signaled to his confederate to come up, and then,
+having a dark lantern, they entered, and surveyed the room. The rest is
+evident; one of them, skilled in his profession, and in the exigencies
+that must arise in the practice of it, administered to Miss Wardour the
+chloroform. Now the operation must have been a delicate one, and the
+length of time necessary to open the safe and get possession of its
+contents covered some minutes; having heard Miss Wardour's statement in
+regard to the effect a powerful dose of chloroform has on her physical
+system, I incline to the opinion that the drug was administered to her
+in minute doses, not once, but two or three times at least; this
+accounts for the bottle and the linen being left in the sleeping room.
+Probably, just at the moment when they had stowed away the last of their
+booty, some slight sound alarmed them and they made a hurried escape,
+forgetting the bottle entirely.
+
+"The robbers left behind them no clues beyond the established fact that
+they were professional burglars. This is proved by the manner in which
+they did their work, and by the tools they must have carried.
+
+"I see plainly here the work of city-bred burglars, and the remainder of
+the work of finding them is to be done in the city, where they will
+eventually try to dispose of some of the jewels, no doubt.
+
+"In order to satisfy myself that there has been no accomplice here, who
+may have been acquainted with the premises, I have searched most
+thoroughly. I have examined the servants closely, and I find nothing to
+indicate that there has been any one concerned in this affair, who is an
+inhabitant, or habitual visitor in the town.
+
+"In a field to the northward, I have found what may be, I think is, a
+trace of the robbers. Two or more men have leaped a ditch, running
+across the field from east to west; and the footmarks in the first
+instance are coming southward, or toward Wardour. These footmarks are
+within a few rods of the road, as if the parties had suddenly abandoned
+that highway, fearing observation from travelers. My supposition is,
+that they approached Wardour Place, keeping to the field, after having
+leaped the ditch, until the northern boundary of the orchard was
+reached; here they must have kept close under the wall, until they came
+to the roadside fence, which they climbed. The fence bears freshly
+scraped marks, as if made by boot heels in climbing over, and some tall
+weeds, growing by the roadside, give evidence of having been hastily and
+heavily trampled. The thieves probably returned after the robbery, in
+the same way; for, one crossing of the fence would not have left so many
+marks visible, either on the boards or among the weeds; and in the
+darkness they fell a little eastward of their first course; for I find,
+at the ditch again, but nearer to the river, the same footprints where
+the ditch has been leaped, this time the footsteps going northward.
+
+"It is probable that the thieves tramped northward under cover of the
+darkness, until they struck the railroad at some previously selected
+point, and from thence took the first train cityward."
+
+The reading came thus abruptly to an end, and the reader looked up to
+note the effect upon his hearers. They both sat in most attentive
+attitudes, and each face wore an expression of puzzled astonishment. Not
+being able to reach their "inner consciousness," and read the mental
+comparisons there being drawn between this report and the very
+dissimilar summing up of the tramp detective, Mr. Belknap drew his
+inferences, as do we all, poor mortals that we are, seeing only the
+outside of the cup and platter. He saw the surprise, the puzzled look,
+that might denote a partial inability to grasp his thoughts and theories
+at once, and a feeling of satisfaction took possession of the breast of
+the astute detective.
+
+Pausing for a comment, and receiving none, he said, with dignified
+gravity:
+
+"I trust that I have made my report sufficiently plain to you, ladies,
+and that you find no flaw in it."
+
+Constance, who with her keen sense of the ridiculous, had been fancying
+the effect this report would have upon the detective in ambush, and
+struggling hard with her own risibilities, mastered herself finally, and
+preserving her gravity of expression, replied with a wicked undercurrent
+of meaning:
+
+"It is quite plain to me, sir; I am a poor critic of such matters, but I
+should think it a masterpiece for directness and comprehensiveness."
+
+"And you see nothing in the theory to object to? You think that working
+from these findings, there will be a hope of success?" he queried.
+
+Constance hesitated once more to consider her answer and collect herself
+generally.
+
+"Why, you know, Mr. Belknap," she said at last, and with charming
+ingenuousness, "this is not a matter for my judgment; I rely upon you
+entirely; pray do not hesitate, but continue your investigations in
+whatever direction your judgment leads you. I wish Mr. Lamotte was here
+to confer with you; but, if he were here," and her face became sad as
+she thought of his home coming; "he would hardly be in spirits for such
+a consultation. Mr. Lamotte has bad news awaiting him. We must venture
+this matter without his aid for the present."
+
+The detective's face showed grave concern.
+
+"Bad news for Mr. Lamotte," he murmurs; "I deeply deplore that. He seems
+such a genial, kindly gentleman, so much above the average business man.
+It is not too serious, I hope."
+
+"It is something you would have heard from the first gossip, if you had
+mingled with the town people at all," replied Constance sadly. "I may as
+well tell you what every one knows. Mr. Lamotte's only daughter has
+eloped during his absence, with a very worthless man."
+
+"His only daughter!" repeated the detective in a hushed sympathetic
+voice; "what a blow! what a bitter blow to a father's heart. Ah, madam,"
+turning to Mrs. Aliston, "these things are common, especially so to men
+in my profession, but we can never adjust ourselves to them for all
+that; each one comes to some one with the shock of a never before
+experienced horror. Death is common, the commonest thing of all, but, it
+is the 'king of terrors' still."
+
+His voice, low, splendidly modulated, sadly cadenced, seemed thrilling
+with sympathy, and he sighed as he lowered his eyes to the floor, and
+relapsed into meditation, seemingly forgetful of the business in hand.
+
+Suddenly he started, seeming to recover himself with an effort.
+
+"Pardon my abstraction," he said, a shade of pensiveness still lingering
+in his voice. "In contemplating another's sorrow, I am forgetting your
+business. I can only hope that this matter is not so bad as it might be,
+as such things sometimes are."
+
+"It's as bad as it can be," responded Constance, gloomily. "It won't
+bear discussion; I mentioned it to you, Mr. Belknap, in order to show
+you how entirely absorbed Mr. Lamotte will of necessity be in his own
+affairs when he reaches home, and that we will be obliged to move in
+this matter without him."
+
+"Perhaps there is some one else you may desire to consult, in Mr.
+Lamotte's absence?" hazarded the private detective.
+
+"No," replied Constance; "my lawyer is out of town, and there is no one
+else upon whom I can rely. You must act alone, Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Authorized by you I shall not hesitate to do so," he replied, bowing
+courteously. "The case looks very clear to me. It will be a matter of
+time of course, these old birds are sly; but eventually they will try to
+market their wares, and then we shall have them. You can give me an
+accurate description of all the stolen jewels, Miss Wardour?"
+
+"Oh, certainly."
+
+"Then the sooner that is done the better."
+
+At this moment a soft rap sounded on the door. Constance crossed the
+room and admitted Nelly, who said in a low tone:
+
+"Mr. Francis Lamotte wishes to see you, Miss. I told him you were
+particular engaged, just as you told me; but he said to tell you he had
+just come from his search, and would only detain you for a moment."
+
+Constance paled slightly, and after a moment's thought, said:
+
+"Wait a moment, Nelly." Then she went back and addressed the detective
+and her aunt.
+
+"It is Francis Lamotte," she said, adding, by way of explanation, to the
+detective, "the eldest son of Mr. Lamotte, and brother of the young lady
+who has brought trouble to herself and family. He, Francis, went on
+Saturday, on a self-imposed search through the surrounding country, in
+the hopes of finding some trace of these robbers. If he is but now
+returned he cannot yet have heard of his sister's flight. We cannot let
+him go away in ignorance, and yet," turning a look of swift appeal upon
+her aunt, "Aunt Honor, will _you_ lay aside old prejudices and tell him
+of this sad misfortune?"
+
+Mrs. Aliston looked doubtful for a moment, then a look of satisfied
+commiseration came into her face as she thought:
+
+"She can't be very much infatuated with him or she would herself
+undertake this delicate task, and I can afford to pity the poor fellow,
+since she does not pity him overmuch," hence the strange mingling of
+pleasure and pity in her face as she said aloud:
+
+"Certainly I will break the news to him, my dear, and as gently as is in
+my power."
+
+Constance was turning to give her answer to Nelly when the voice of the
+detective interposed.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, "you tell me this young man has been scouring the
+country in search of information. Would it not be well to hear what
+report he brings? To allow me to see him here in your presence, and then
+let Mrs. Aliston tell him her story. Ill news you know," smiling
+slightly, "come soon enough, at latest."
+
+"Your suggestion is good," replied Constance, whose face continued to
+look anxious and troubled. "We will receive him here, then, and after
+hearing his story, you and I can withdraw."
+
+In the hurry and embarrassment of the moment, and the situation,
+Constance had entirely forgotten the proximity of the concealed
+detective, as also had Mrs. Aliston; and that invisible gentleman began
+to scent the prospect of a long imprisonment.
+
+Obedient to a nod from Constance, Nelly vanished, and soon re-appeared,
+ushering in Francis Lamotte, looking somewhat jaded and travel-worn, but
+quite confident and smiling.
+
+In a few words, Constance made him acquainted with the detective, and
+gave him an outline of the doings at Wardour, including Mr. Belknap's
+discoveries, since he was last there; and the subdued kindness of her
+manner, caused him to wonder not a little and rejoice greatly, within
+himself.
+
+"And so you have been bringing things down to a fine point," said
+Francis, after the greetings were over, and he had listened to
+Constance's explanation of the present state of affairs.
+
+"It appears then that I come just in time; and perhaps you sir," bowing
+to Mr. Belknap, "may conclude that my amateur work has not been quite
+thrown away, or misapplied."
+
+"Pray give me details," said the detective, consulting his watch, which
+was a huge silver affair, quite in keeping with the disguise he still
+wore. "I must economize my time, as much as may be, and shall be glad to
+hear all you have to tell--at once. Miss Wardour instructs me to act in
+this matter, according to my best judgment, and that tells me to shorten
+my stay here, and commence a search in the city."
+
+"All I know is soon told," said young Lamotte, with a light laugh. "I
+rode a great many miles, and asked a great many useless questions.
+Yesterday, however, I learned that two men had boarded a freight train
+bound cityward, at daybreak, Sunday morning, at Blair, a little watering
+station, some fifteen miles from here. I could not get a very accurate
+description of them. They were below the medium size, I should judge,
+wearing loose-fitting dark gray garments, and soft hats, pulled well
+down over their faces. The man at the tank tells me, he noticed
+distinctly that one of them wore very large and heavy boots, and that
+they were daubed here and there with red clay. Acting upon this hint, I
+rode some four miles south-east from Blair, knowing that there is a
+piece of marsh field, which the highway crosses, that has a reddish,
+clayey soil. Here, after asking a good many wrong persons, I found at
+last the right one, in the person of a farmer who, hearing some unusual
+noise among his cattle, arose before daybreak, and, going toward his
+barn, noticed two shadowy forms crossing the field just beyond. They
+were coming from the south, he said, and he watched them until they
+climbed the fence and struck into the road leading toward Blair. It was
+too dark for him to see them distinctly, but as they were then crossing
+a red loam field, we are safe to conclude that they were the two who, a
+little later, took to the freight cars at the water station."
+
+Mr. Belknap had been for some moments writing rapidly in a small
+memorandum book, and as Francis ceased speaking, Constance, after a
+moment's silence, said, more to relieve the stillness than with a desire
+for any further intelligence:
+
+"And is that all, Frank?"
+
+"That is enough," interposed the detective, before the young man could
+reply. "Mr. Lamotte, let me congratulate you; you have done well. This
+confirms my theory, and gives me something to start from when I reach
+the city. I shall go now with a light heart, and a more than moderate
+hope of success."
+
+"Then your business here is about accomplished?" asked Francis.
+
+"It is accomplished, thanks to you. I would like," glancing as he spoke,
+into his note book, "to talk this matter over with you further. It is
+possible I might see you again before leaving for the city. At present,"
+he broke off abruptly, and glanced at Constance.
+
+"I understand," laughed she nervously; "at present you require my
+assistance about that list of jewels. Frank, you will remain here with
+Aunt Honor for a short time; she has, I think, something to say to you.
+We will go to the library, Mr. Belknap," and she turned toward the door.
+
+"Don't hurry matters so, please," expostulated Francis. "Let me say a
+little word to Mr. Belknap before you carry him off. His business here
+being so nearly done, the necessity for extra caution ceases, does it
+not? At least, it would not injure the cause if I carry him over to
+Mapleton to luncheon; will it, think you? You won't leave for the city
+before night, Mr. Belknap, I hope?"
+
+"You are very good," said the detective, with some hesitation. "But, if
+you please, we will renew this subject a little later; now, just excuse
+me," and before the bewildered young man could raise his voice to
+intercept them, Constance and Mr. Belknap had passed from the room, and
+he found himself alone with Mrs. Aliston. Turning toward that lady, he
+was surprised at the look of intent pity she was bending on him, and,
+remembering the words of Constance, he came close beside her, saying:
+
+"You had something to say to me, madam?"
+
+"Yes Frank," he almost started upon hearing his name falling so gently
+from her lips. She was not used to familiarity in addressing him.
+"Prepare yourself to receive a shock, a terrible shock." A look of
+uneasiness, but not of alarm, came over his countenance.
+
+"What is it?" he asked hastily. "Has Evan--done something worse than
+usual?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge. It is not Evan."
+
+"Not Evan, what then; tell me Mrs. Aliston," his face becoming paler and
+paler.
+
+"Frank, your sister has eloped!"
+
+He fell into the nearest chair, white and limp.
+
+"Go on," he whispered hoarsely, lifting a haggard face towards her;
+"tell me--the worst, Mrs. Aliston."
+
+"She has eloped with John Burrill," went on Mrs. Aliston, a shade of
+coldness in her voice. "They ran away on Saturday afternoon."
+
+His head dropped forward and fell upon the table before him. Thus for a
+moment he remained motionless, then his voice broke the stillness,
+sounding faint and hollow.
+
+"Is that--all--you can tell me?"
+
+"All! Yes!" exclaimed Mrs. Aliston in a burst of nervousness. "I wish I
+had not told you so much. Frank don't take it so hard."
+
+He lifted his head, showing her a ghastly face and pale trembling lips.
+
+"Did Constance see Sybil? Does she know--" he broke off abruptly and
+half rising from his chair, stretched out to her an imploring hand.
+
+"Mrs. Aliston," he said hoarsely. "I must see Constance. I _must_. For
+God's sake send her to me, just for one moment."
+
+"But--" began Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"I tell you I _must_ see her," he cried, with sudden fierceness. "I
+shall go to her if there is no other way."
+
+Great drops of sweat stood out on his forehead; once more he looked as
+he had two days before, when he stood alone under the trees of Wardour
+Place, after his parting with Constance.
+
+Seeing that look upon his face, Mrs. Aliston went slowly towards the
+door.
+
+"I will send Constance to you," she said gently and went out, closing
+the door softly.
+
+When he was alone the look upon Francis Lamotte's face became fierce and
+set. Springing to his feet he paced the floor like a mad man.
+
+"That letter," he hissed, "that accursed letter, what has it told? I
+must know! I must know the worst! blind fool that I was to let my own
+hand bring this about. Oh! this is horrible! Am I lost or--"
+
+Suddenly he seemed to recollect himself and dropping into a chair he
+buried his passion-distorted face in his arms and so awaited the coming
+of Constance.
+
+He had not long to wait; soon his listening ear caught the gentle
+opening and closing of the door, and then he felt a light hand upon his
+arm, and a sweet pitying voice said: "Poor Frank, poor boy, don't let
+this overcome you so."
+
+[Illustration: "Poor Frank, don't let this overcome you."]
+
+One hand reached up and clasped the soft hand that rested on his arm,
+but he did not lift his head, as he said brokenly:
+
+"Tell me the worst, Constance."
+
+"Why, Frank! the worst is told."
+
+"But," his hand tightened its clasp, "_you_ know more than she has told
+me."
+
+"No, Frank, nothing more."
+
+He lifted his pale face again.
+
+"Constance--that letter."
+
+She started and flushed.
+
+"What letter, Frank?"
+
+"You know," his eyes scanning her face hungrily. "Her letter. The one I
+brought you two days ago. What was it?"
+
+She drew away her hand.
+
+"It was a note of farewell, Frank. Nothing more."
+
+"Then she told you?" he gasped,--caught his lips between his teeth, and
+waited for her to finish the sentence.
+
+"She told me nothing, Frank. Oh, I wish she had."
+
+He sprang up, overturning his chair in his hasty excitement.
+
+"Nothing!" he cried "she told you _nothing_?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing. The letter was an enigma. How strangely you act,
+Frank. I can't understand you."
+
+Slowly the life color returned to his cheeks and lips, as he answered,
+or stammered:
+
+"Pardon me, Constance. I thought--I feared--I hoped there might be some
+explanation. I thought she must have given you some reason for so
+horrible a step. Are you sure there is no hint, no clue to help us?"
+
+"Frank, listen: Sybil's note explained nothing. It only implored me not
+to think harshly of her, when I should know what she had done, and bade
+me farewell. I could not comprehend its meaning until the news reached
+me that she had fled."
+
+"And you can not guess why she did this thing?"
+
+"No."
+
+He turned away, putting his hand up before his face, and uttering a
+groan. Then he moved toward one of the French windows, pushed it open,
+and leaned out.
+
+"I feel as if I were going mad," he muttered. "Constance, pardon me; I
+must have the air. I must be alone to think, and to face this--this
+disgrace that has come upon us."
+
+And he stepped through the open window, and reeled rather than walked
+down the steps, and out among the trees.
+
+Constance watched him until the shrubbery hid him from view, and then,
+with a quick, nervous glance about the room, and out at the windows, she
+went to the door which shut our tramp detective from view, but not from
+hearing.
+
+"Come out," she whispered, hurriedly. "Now is your time to escape."
+
+He came out, shaking himself like a water dog.
+
+"Ugh!" he exclaimed. "I have been in one position too long."
+
+"I am sorry," began Constance.
+
+"Not for me," he interrupted. "Like most listeners, I heard what I did
+not bargain for; but--I have not heard too much. Miss Wardour, don't
+reproach yourself, or Fate; that little extra hearing was a godsend.
+And now, let me out, quickly, before some one else claims your time."
+
+She looked cautiously out into the hall, then closed the door again.
+
+"I wish I could know your opinion regarding this business--all of it,"
+she said, wistfully. "I begin to feel helpless, like a rudderless
+mariner."
+
+"It's a hard knot," he said, going toward the door; "a very hard knot.
+But we will untie it, Miss Wardour, and then you will understand all
+these things. Now tell me, where is your detective going next?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"You must find out," imperatively.
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"And come to me in the garden."
+
+"Very well," looking out once more. "Your way is clear, sir; go straight
+to the kitchen entrance."
+
+He passed out, and went his way, swiftly, quietly, and unobserved; and
+Constance returned to Mr. Belknap, and the completion of her jewel list.
+
+"The combat deepens," mused the tramp detective, as he paced slowly down
+the garden walk. "The plot, thickens. I come for a catfish,--I may catch
+a whale. Oh, what a knot; what a beautiful, delightful, horribly hard
+knot; and how my fingers itch to begin at it. But soft--easy; there is
+more to be tied in. Let us pay out the rope, and wait."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+EVAN.
+
+
+Miss Wardour and the private detective had just completed their work of
+transferring to paper a minute description of the Wardour diamonds, when
+the door opened quietly, and Francis Lamotte, pale, heavy-eyed, but
+quite composed, appeared before them.
+
+"Have you finished your work?" he asked wearily. "If so, may I intrude?"
+
+"Come, by all means," replied Constance, gently. "You are not intruding,
+Frank."
+
+"Thank you." He came forward, and sank listlessly into a chair.
+"Constance, who brought you this news about--Sybil?"
+
+Constance glanced toward the detective, and Francis, interpreting the
+look, hastened to say:
+
+"It is known to Mr. Belknap, I presume--this shameful business. There is
+no use of secrecy, where all the world is already agape. My sister, you
+tell me, has eloped with a low brute. I am numbed with the horror of it.
+But I must hear it all; every word, every particular. Who brought you
+the news, Constance?"
+
+"Doctor Heath," replied the girl, icily.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+The interjection came through shut teeth, and just for a moment the
+dark shadow flitted across his features; then he said, with quiet
+composure:
+
+"Heath? ah, yes; and he gave you all the particulars,--all that he had
+gathered?"
+
+"Doctor Heath told me all that he had learned," she replied, still
+coldly.
+
+Frank Lamotte arose slowly, wearily.
+
+"I must see Heath," he said, taking up his hat. "It is small wonder that
+you speak so frostily to the brother of a girl who has disgraced
+herself, Constance. However, I realize my fall; henceforth, I know my
+place."
+
+The detective arose and moved uneasily to the window.
+
+"I am sorry to hear this absurdity, Frank," said Constance, with some
+severity. "You know my position always in these matters; only yourself
+can injure yourself in my eyes; and I am sorry to hear you speak thus of
+Sybil. I have yet to be convinced that in some manner, she is not more a
+victim than disloyal. _I_ have not condemned her; why should you, her
+brother?"
+
+A hot flush came over the young man's face, and his eyes glowed with a
+strange light. He shifted his position uneasily; then, abruptly, he
+turned to the detective.
+
+"If under the circumstances, and having seen my mood, you care to accept
+my hospitality, it is still extended, sir," he said, somewhat awkwardly;
+"will you accompany me to town, and afterwards lunch with me?"
+
+"I will accompany you to the town," replied the detective, coming back
+from the window; "but I fear I must decline your hospitality for to-day;
+another time, perhaps."
+
+Francis bowed stiffly, then turned to Constance.
+
+"Constance, good bye," he said, mournfully, and holding out his hand. "I
+will not displease you again; I will keep at a safe distance."
+
+"You will displease me by doing that," she replied, kindly, at the same
+time extending her hand. "I mean by staying away; I want you to come
+often, and to bring me any news that may come from Sybil. Remember, I
+intend to be her champion, and you must be mine."
+
+"Then I _may_ come as a bringer of news?" he asked.
+
+"You may come as usual," she retorted, a trifle sharply, "and come
+_especially_ when there is news."
+
+"Thank you;" he bowed over her hand, then turned to the private
+detective.
+
+"Good morning, Miss Wardour," said that individual, coming forward; "it
+is probable that I shall not see you again, as I will leave for the city
+this evening, but you will hear from me as the case progresses, or it is
+possible that I may find it expedient to pay this place another visit."
+
+"In which case, you will of course present yourself," smiled Constance.
+"May I ask where you intend to pass your time until you leave for the
+city, sir?"
+
+"I can hardly say; about the town, as it may happen."
+
+"Ah! Pardon the question; I was thinking of the business in hand; you
+can hardly hope to find anything new in the village."
+
+"One can never tell, Miss Wardour. If I do learn anything new, you shall
+hear from me. Present my adieus to Mrs. Aliston, and once more good
+day."
+
+Constance watched the two as they walked away together, the handsome
+lithe form of the younger man in such marked contrast with the shambling
+gait of the detective. Only for a moment, however, then she went swiftly
+through the halls, out at a rear entrance, and down the path toward the
+rear gardens.
+
+Here she found the tramp detective busy, or pretending to busy himself
+with a small pruning knife.
+
+"If you want to follow him, you must make haste," she said,
+breathlessly; "he is walking townward with Mr. Lamotte; intends to
+loiter about the town and take some evening train."
+
+"Pray don't appear so much excited," said the tramp detective, dropping
+his pruning knife, and picking it up again with great deliberation.
+"There is a man coming up from the river, he must be getting pretty near
+us. No, don't look now."
+
+"Dear me!" began Constance.
+
+"Listen," he went on, without regarding her ejaculation. "I am going to
+leave here in two minutes; you can say that you have discharged me. I
+may not see you again for months. I may return at any time. I may as
+well warn you here, not to _confide_ anything to Mr. Belknap; at another
+time you will learn why. Another thing, it is just possible that you
+may need my services at some future time. I was about to give you an
+address that will reach me at any time, but we may be observed by that
+fellow who is coming. I will send you by mail a card containing the
+address. Pray call upon me if you need my aid. I hope Belknap will find
+your robbers, but you were wise not to tell him that you had saved your
+diamonds. Keep your counsel on that subject always, Miss Wardour, it
+will save you trouble. And now you had better move on. I intend to
+follow and overtake your two departing guests."
+
+He turned carelessly away as he spoke, and Constance, after a pretense
+of examining the shrubbery, faced about and walked a few paces down the
+path, then lifting her eyes carelessly, they fell upon the intruder.
+Uttering a low ejaculation of surprise, she hastened toward him.
+
+"Evan! why Evan!" she cried, anxiously. "You look ghostly, and you must
+be in trouble."
+
+[Illustration: "Why, Evan, you look ghostly!"]
+
+"Or I would not be here," said Evan Lamotte, bitterly. "Evan, the
+ne'er-do-well, does not seek his friends when the sun shines. Eh, Conny?
+Don't go in," laying one hand upon her arm, as she was about to turn
+toward the house, "I--I came to talk with you."
+
+"But you will come in, Evan?"
+
+"No, I should fall out with your old cat--I beg pardon, Con., I mean
+your old aunt, directly."
+
+"Aunt Honor shut herself in her own room an hour ago, child; she has
+been worn out with too much excitement. We have had a detective here all
+the morning, not to mention Frank, who has made a wonderful discovery."
+
+"I dare say," muttered the young fellow, dryly, "Frank will make another
+wonderful discovery soon. Conny," clutching at her arm again, "_have you
+heard_?"
+
+"Have I heard what, Evan?"
+
+"About Sybil--my sister," his voice broke, ending in a sob.
+
+"Yes, Evan," she replied, very gently, "I have heard."
+
+It was noticeable, the difference between her treatment of this younger
+brother of Sybil Lamotte and the one who had just gone.
+
+With Francis she had preserved, even while her heart was full of
+sympathy and pity for his trouble, a certain dignity even in her
+kindness, an arm's length repellant stateliness, that galled and
+tormented the ardent, impulsive, and too eager young man. With Evan she
+was all pity, all sympathy, full of familiar sisterly kindness and
+patience.
+
+Women are strange creatures; we may be as handsome as the Apollo, and
+they will steel their hearts against us. If we would have the
+confidence, the caresses, the tenderest love of a pitying woman, we must
+be mentally, or morally, or physically maimed, or halt, or blind.
+
+Evan Lamotte was one of the world's unfortunates, and the pitying heart
+of the fair heiress had no scorn for such as he. A black sheep, so they
+called Evan Lamotte, not yet of age, with a slender physique, a pale,
+handsome face, handsome in spite of his dissipations. He seemed
+possessed of an evil spirit, that cried incessantly, "drink, drink,
+drink." Every means had been tried to win him from his dissipation;
+tears, entreaties, threats, bribes, were alike unavailing. In spite of
+himself, against himself, Evan Lamotte seemed driven downward by a
+relentless, unseen enemy.
+
+"Reckless, worthless, hopeless." These were the adjectives commonly
+coupled with his name, and yet his sister had deemed him worth her
+loving; his mother had deemed him worth her tears, and Constance Wardour
+had deemed him worth her pitying kindness.
+
+"Constance," he choked back the sobs that arose in his throat; "don't
+think that I have been drinking; when a fellow like me is grieved almost
+to madness, you call him maudlin, but I never cry in my cups, Con. And I
+have been perfectly sober since Saturday night, or if you like,
+yesterday morning. I drank hard all that day after they told me, Con.,
+but not one drop since; not one. Con., tell me what have you heard?"
+
+"About all that is known, I think, Evan. Oh! Evan, do you know, can you
+guess why she has done this--this terrible thing? Come down this walk,
+Evan; let us sit under that tree, on that bench."
+
+She moved toward the spot indicated, he following mechanically, and
+seating himself beside her, in obedience to her gesture.
+
+"Do I know the reason?" he repeated. "Do I guess it? Oh, if I could
+guess it; it has haunted me every moment; that strong desire to know
+what drove my sister to this fate? It is the question I came here to
+ask. Con., help me to think; she must have said something; must have
+given you some hint."
+
+"Alas. But she never did."
+
+"And you can not guess; you have no clue to help us unravel this
+mystery?"
+
+Constance shook her head.
+
+"Con., oh, Con., _you_ don't think--you can't think that she loved
+that--that beast?"
+
+"No, Evan, I can't think that."
+
+"Then," excitedly; "you must think as I do; that there is a mystery;
+that there has been foul play. Con., I don't care for anything on earth,
+except Sybil; I _must_ know what has driven her to this; I must help
+her; I can help her; I can take her from that brute."
+
+His face was livid, and his eyes glowed with the fierce light that we
+have seen in the eyes of his elder brother. Constance saw the growing
+excitement, and sought to soothe it.
+
+"Evan, let us not anticipate," she said, gently. "All that we can do for
+Sybil shall be done, but it must be with her consent. When does your
+father come?"
+
+"I don't know," sullenly; "I telegraphed him Saturday; he will come
+to-day, no doubt. But he will come too late."
+
+"Alas, yes; I regret so much that it was for my sake he was absent from
+home at such a time, and Frank, too."
+
+"Frank? bah! What could he do? What could any one do?"
+
+She turned, and scanned his face keenly.
+
+"Evan, you suspect, or you know something."
+
+"I have a thought," he replied. "I hardly dare call it a suspicion. If I
+could know it to be the truth," he hissed, between set, white teeth, "I
+should know what to do, then."
+
+"Don't look like that, Evan; you look wicked."
+
+"I feel wicked," he cried, fiercely. "You can never guess how wicked.
+When I think of that brute, that beast, that viper; of the power he must
+hold over _her_, I am mad, crazed. But he will come back, and then--then
+I will murder him, and set her free."
+
+With his gleaming eyes, his clenched hands, his white, uplifted face, he
+looked like a beautiful evil demon. Constance shuddered as she gazed,
+and then her hand closed firmly upon his arm, as she said:
+
+"Evan, listen: Do you think it would lighten Sybil's burden to hear you
+rave thus? Do you want to make her lot still harder to bear? Sybil loves
+you. Would it make her heart lighter to have you embroil yourself for
+her sake? You know your faults. If you let this hideous idea take place
+in your mind now, it will break out some day when the demon possesses
+you. If Sybil Lamotte returns, and hears you utter such threats, she
+will have an added torture to bear; she will have two curses instead of
+one. You can not help Sybil by committing an act that would cut you off
+from her forever. You have caused her heart-aches enough already. See,
+now, if you can not lighten her burden in some different, better way.
+But all this is superfluous, perhaps. I wonder if Sybil will come back,
+at all?"
+
+Lower and lower sank his head, as he listened, and then something that
+she had said seemed to chain and hold his thoughts.
+
+Slowly the evil light faded from his eyes, and into his face crept a
+strange, fixed look. Forgetful of time, or of his companion's presence,
+his thoughts followed this new course, his hands clenching and
+unclenching themselves, his teeth burying themselves from time to time
+in his thin under lip. So long he sat thus, that Constance herself, from
+watching and wondering at his strange mood, wandered off into a sad
+reverie, the subject of which she could hardly have told, it was such a
+vague mixture of Sybil's sorrows and her own unrest.
+
+After a time he stirred as if arousing himself with difficulty from a
+nightmare; and Constance, recalled to herself, in turn, looked up to
+encounter his gaze, and to be astonished at the new, purposeful
+self-restraint upon his face, and the inscrutable intentness of his eye.
+
+"Con.," he said slowly, even his voice seeming to have gained a new
+strange undertone, "Con., you are an angel. You have set me on my feet."
+
+"On your feet, Evan?"
+
+"Yes, on my feet, mentally at least. I don't suppose any one could set
+me permanently on my physical, corporeal pins. Beg pardon for the slang,
+Conny, I don't forget how you and Sybil used to lecture me for that, and
+my other vices. Poor sis, she had given up the drink talks latterly,
+given me over as hopeless, and so I am. Con., I have made a new
+resolve."
+
+Constance smiled faintly.
+
+"Oh, you smile. You think I am going to swear off again. No, Con.,
+that's of no use, I should know myself for a liar all the time. I shall
+never quit liquor; I _can't_ and I tell you," he whispered this
+fiercely, "they _know that I can't_, and they know _why_ I can't. Oh!
+you need not recoil; we are not the first family that has inherited a
+taint; and I am the one unfortunate in whom that taint has broken forth.
+Let me tell you a secret; since my first potation, my mother has never
+once remonstrated with me; never once upbraided; my proud, high tempered
+mother. She knows the folly of trying to reclaim the irreclaimable.
+But," lowering his voice, sadly, "my mother never loved me."
+
+She shuddered at the tone, knowing that this last statement, at least,
+was all too true, and, to direct his thoughts from so painful and
+delicate a subject, said:
+
+"And your resolve then, Evan?"
+
+"My resolve," his mouth settling into hard lines once more. "Oh, that!
+well, it is a resolve you put into my head, Con.; although I'll swear
+the thought was never in _your_ mind. I have resolved to act upon your
+advice; to curb my heathenish temper, and to _help Sybil_, when the
+_right time comes_, in the right way."
+
+She looked at him fixedly.
+
+"Evan, are you sure this last state of your mind is not worse than the
+first?"
+
+He laughed, ironically.
+
+"How hard it is to make you believe that any good exists in me."
+
+"Oh, not that, Evan, but you look so strange; not so wild as before,
+but--"
+
+"Just as wicked."
+
+"Well, yes!"
+
+"Well, Con., you can't expect a fellow to feel pious all in an instant;
+mine is a pious resolve, and the proper feeling must follow. Isn't that
+about how they preach it?"
+
+"That's about how they preach it, sir. Now listen, I don't intend to
+stir one step, or allow you to stir, until you have explained some of
+your dark sayings; you are going to tell me what this new resolve is."
+
+Evan glanced at her from under his long lashes, and seemed to hesitate.
+He knew that Constance, in what he had sometimes termed her "imperative
+mood," was a difficult element to contend with. But he was not quite
+prepared to divulge just the precise thoughts that were in his mind.
+
+"Con.," he said, slowly, "do you think, if my sister came back very
+penitent, or very miserable, that my father would take her home?"
+
+"I don't know, Evan."
+
+"Well, that's another of the things that brought me to you. I was
+overwhelmed with misery, and my head was chaos. I was wild to wreak
+vengeance upon that man, and filled with dread at the thought that Sybil
+might come back and meet with no welcome. I believe she will come. I
+know that man would not miss the triumph of bringing her back among us.
+Now, Con., my father thinks you infallible, and you can do anything with
+Frank. I want you to see them, and make them take Sybil home, when she
+comes. Yes, and John Burrill, too, if she _will_ have him."
+
+"Why, Evan!"
+
+"Then," he went on, breathlessly, "the world must have a reason for this
+marriage; for, not the greatest fool in W---- will believe that Sybil
+freely chose that villain. Do you pave the way for Sybil's return; I
+will find a reason for the marriage,--a bone to throw to the dogs. For,
+I tell you, Con., the true reason will never be told."
+
+Thinking of Sybil's letter, Constance could but agree with him in this;
+and that letter, too, had caused her to think that Sybil had expected,
+or hoped, or feared, a return to W----; which, she could only guess.
+
+"You will furnish a reason, Evan? You are mystifying me."
+
+"Never mind that. I, Evan Lamotte, worthless--black sheep--sot; _I_ will
+find a reason, I tell you; one that will not be questioned, and that
+will spare Sybil."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"Then, aided by you, Sybil can come back to us. Aided by my new strong
+resolve, I will receive that Burrill,--it nearly chokes me to speak his
+name,--just as Sybil shall dictate; and then, aided by the old man's
+money, we may be able to buy him off and get him out of the country."
+
+"Why, Evan Lamotte," cried Constance, with a burst of hopefulness, "you
+have actually evolved a practical scheme. I begin to feel less
+hopeless."
+
+"Oh, I have a brain or two left, when a firm hand, like yours, shakes me
+up, sets me straight, and gets me in running order. Will you help,
+Con.?"
+
+"Will I help! Sybil Lamotte, if she comes back, will be warmly welcomed
+by me, and by all W----, if I can bring it about."
+
+He sprang to his feet and seized her hands. "Thank you, Conny," he
+cried; "my heart is lightened now; I can 'bide my time,' as the novels
+say. Only do your part, Con."
+
+"Trust me for that. Now come to luncheon, Evan."
+
+He dropped her hands, and turned away abruptly.
+
+"I wont! I can't," he said, almost gruffly. "Go in, Con., and be
+prepared to welcome Sybil back; and I," he added, moving away, and
+turning a wicked look over his shoulder, "will be prepared to welcome
+Burrill;" a low, ironical laugh followed these words, and Evan Lamotte
+leaped the low garden palings, and went back as he had come, by the
+river way.
+
+"What can that strange boy mean," thought Constance, gazing after him;
+"he makes me nervous, and yet he was reasonable after his fashion. Poor
+Evan, he is indeed unfortunate; here he has been breaking his heart over
+Sybil, and before night he may be singing in some saloon, in a state of
+mad intoxication. Altogether, they are a very uncomfortable pair to
+entertain in one half day, Frank and Evan Lamotte."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
+
+
+Doctor Clifford Heath sat alone in his office at half-past eleven
+o'clock. His horse, "all saddled and bridled," stood below in the
+street, awaiting him. On a small stand, near the door, lay his hat,
+riding whip, gloves. On the desk beside him, lay a small pyramid of
+letters and papers, and these he was opening, and scanning in a
+careless, leisurely fashion, with his chair tilted back, his heels on
+high, his entire person very much at ease.
+
+Over one letter he seemed to ponder, blowing great clouds of smoke from
+the secret depths of a huge black Dutch pipe the while. Finally, he laid
+letter and pipe aside, lowered his feet, wheeled about in his chair,
+drew pen, ink, and paper before him on the desk, and began to write
+rapidly only a few lines, and the letter was done, and signed, and
+sealed, with grim satisfaction; then he gathered up his scattered
+missives, and locked them away carefully.
+
+"I won't go back," he muttered, picking up his pipe once more. "I
+wouldn't go now for a kingdom; I won't be put to rout by a woman, and
+that is just what it would amount to. I'll see the play played out, and
+I'll stay in W----."
+
+Again the smoke puffed out from the black pipe; again the heels were
+elevated, and, drawing some papers toward him, Dr. Heath began to absorb
+the latest news, looking as little like a jilted lover or a despairing
+swain, as possible.
+
+Presently the office door opened to admit a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed
+young man, of aristocratic bearing and handsome countenance, but looking
+extremely haggard and heavy eyed.
+
+Doctor Heath turned his head lazily at the sound of the opening door,
+but seeing who his visitor was, he laid his pipe aside and arose with
+kindly alacrity.
+
+"Come along, Ray, old fellow," he said cheerily, "why you look as if the
+witches had made your bed."
+
+"It's about the way I feel, too," said the new comer, dropping wearily
+into the easy chair pushed toward him. "Heath, you are a good fellow,
+and I can't blame you for thinking me a cad. Don't stop your smoke."
+
+"Why as to that," replied the doctor, easily, and taking a long pull at
+his pipe, "we are all cads, more or less, in certain emergencies, and
+yours was an unusually severe blow. We all have to take them in some
+shape or other, at one time, or another; these soft hands hit hard,
+but--it's the penalty we pay for being sons of Adam. Although now that I
+come to think of it, I can't recall that I ever insisted upon being a
+son of Adam."
+
+"Why!" said Raymond Vandyck, opening his eyes in languid surprise, "you
+talk as if _you_ had received one of those hard hits."
+
+"So I have, my boy; so I have," he replied _debonairly_. "If I were a
+woman I would get out a fresh handkerchief and tell you all about it.
+Being a man I--smoke."
+
+Young Vandyck sighed heavily, and picked up a newspaper, running his eye
+listlessly over the columns. Here was another upon whom the flight of
+Sybil Lamotte had fallen a heavy blow. He had loved Sybil since they
+were boy and girl, and lately for a few short months they had been
+betrothed, then Sybil had asked to be released, and in such a manner
+that it left him no room for remonstrance. The engagement had been
+broken, but the young man had not quite abandoned hope.
+
+Now, however, hope had deserted him. Sybil was lost to him utterly, and
+hearing the news of her flight he had rushed into Doctor Heath's
+presence a temporary madman. He could not have found a wiser or more
+sympathetic friend and adviser, and he fully realized this fact. The
+doctor's patience, delicacy and discretion had screened him from the
+prying eyes and prating tongues of the curious ones, who were anxious to
+probe his wounds, and see how "Vandyck would take it," and had made him
+his firm friend for always.
+
+Ever since the advent of Doctor Heath, Vandyck had been one of his
+warmest admirers, and this admiration had now ripened into a sincere and
+lasting friendship.
+
+"You are a good fellow, Heath," said Vandyck, suddenly, throwing down
+his paper. "I want to tell you that I appreciate such kindness as you
+did me. I don't suppose you would ever go off your head like that. I
+shan't again."
+
+"No, I don't think you will," responded the doctor soberly. "As for
+going off my head, Lord bless you, man, it's in the temperament. I might
+never lose my head in just that way. We're not made alike, you see. Now
+I should be struck with a dumb devil, and grow surly and cynical as time
+went on, and of all contemptible men a cynic is the worst. You will have
+your burst of passion, and carry a tender spot to your grave, but you
+can't squeeze all the sunshine out of your soul, any more than out of
+your Saxon face."
+
+Vandyck laughed dismally.
+
+"It's hard lines, however," he said. "But I'm bound to face the music.
+Only--I wish I could understand it."
+
+"So do all her friends. Ray, let me give you a little advice."
+
+"Well."
+
+"After a little, go call on Miss Wardour and talk with her about this
+affair. I think she knows as much as is known, and I am certain she has
+not lost her faith in her friend."
+
+"Thank you, Heath; I will."
+
+Just here the office door admitted another visitor in the form of
+Francis Lamotte.
+
+He, too, looked pale and worn, but he carried his head erect, if not
+with some defiance. "Do, Heath. Morning, Vandyck," he mumbled, flinging
+himself upon a settee with scant ceremony. "You will excuse me from
+asking 'what's the news?'"
+
+"I should ask what's the matter?" retorted Clifford Heath, eyeing him
+closely.
+
+"Fix me up one of your potions, Heath," replied Francis, drawing a hard
+deep breath. "I've had another of those cursed attacks."
+
+Dr. Heath arose and went slowly toward a cabinet, slowly unlocked it and
+then turned and surveyed his patient.
+
+"Another attack," he said somewhat severely, "the second one in three
+days, and not a light one, if I can judge. Let me tell you, Lamotte, you
+must not have a third of these attacks for some time to come."
+
+[Illustration: "You must not have a third attack."]
+
+"I won't," replied Lamotte, with a nervous laugh. "This one has done me
+up; I feel weak as a kitten, meek as a lamb."
+
+"Humph," this from Doctor Heath, who proceeded to drop into a druggist's
+glass, sundry globules of dark liquid, which he qualified with other
+globules from another bottle, and then half filling the glass with some
+pale brandy, handed it to Lamotte who drained it off eagerly.
+
+"Physician, heal thyself," quoted Raymond Vandyck, watching the patient
+with some interest. "Why don't you do your own dosing, Lamotte?"
+
+"I'm shaky," replied Lamotte, lifting an unsteady hand. "And then we are
+advised to have faith in our physician. I should swallow my own mixture
+with fear and trembling."
+
+"And pour it down your neighbor's throat with entire satisfaction,"
+interpolated Doctor Heath.
+
+"Precisely, just as you pour this stuff down mine. Thanks, Heath,"
+handing back the glass. "Now then, we are all friends here, and you two
+know what I wish to learn. Heath," shading his eyes with his hand as he
+reclined on the settee. "I came back, from a two day's tramp about the
+country in search of Miss Wardour's robbers, or of traces of them, this
+morning. Let that pass. I called at Wardour Place first of all, have
+just come from there in fact--and Constance tells me--"
+
+He paused as if struggling with some emotion, and Ray Vandyck stirred
+uneasily, flushed slightly, and partially turned away his face. Only
+Clifford Heath retained his stoical calm.
+
+"Well!" he said coolly, "Miss Wardour tells you--what?"
+
+"That my sister has run--away."
+
+"Oh! Well, Lamotte, I am glad you know it. It's a hard story to tell a
+friend."
+
+"So thought Constance, and she would give me no particulars, she told
+me," letting his hand fall from before his face, "to come to you."
+
+"And why to me?" coldly.
+
+"She said that you knew the particulars--that you brought her the news."
+
+"True; I did. Still it's a hard story to tell, Lamotte."
+
+"And no one will tell it more kindly, I know. Say on, Heath; don't
+spare me, or mind Vandyck's presence--I don't. I know that I must hear
+this thing, and I know that Ray is my friend. Go on, Heath; get it over
+soon."
+
+Raymond Vandyck arose and walked to the window, standing with his back
+toward them while Doctor Heath, in a plain, straightforward, kindly
+manner, told the story of Sybil's flight, just as he had told it to
+Constance Wardour.
+
+For a long time after the story was done, Lamotte lay with his face
+buried in his arms, silent and motionless, while young Vandyck stood
+like a graven image at his post by the window.
+
+Finally, Lamotte brought himself to a sitting posture, and, with the
+look and tone of a man utterly crushed, said:
+
+"Thank you, Heath. You have done me a kindness. This is the most
+terrible, most unheard of thing. My poor sister must be mad. She has
+_not_ been herself, now that I remember, for some weeks. Something has
+been preying upon her spirits. There has been--by heavens! Ray, Ray
+Vandyck, can you guess at the cause of this madness?"
+
+Raymond Vandyck wheeled suddenly, and came close to his interlocutor,
+the hot, angry blood surging to his face.
+
+"There was plenty of 'method in this madness,'" he sneered. "As to the
+_cause_, it may not be so hard to discover as you seem to imagine." And,
+before they could recover from their astonishment, he was out and away,
+banging the door fiercely as he went.
+
+For a moment the lurid light gleamed in Frank Lamotte's eye, and it
+seemed that another "attack" was about to seize him, but he calmed
+himself with a mighty effort, and turning toward Doctor Heath, said,
+plaintively:
+
+"Has all the world run mad, Heath? What the devil does that fellow
+mean?"
+
+"I know no more than you, Lamotte," said the doctor, upon whose face sat
+a look of genuine surprise. "I don't think he quite knows himself. He
+has been sadly worked up by this affair."
+
+"Humph! I suppose so. Well, for Sybil's sake, I forgive him, this once;
+but--I hope he will outgrow these hallucinations."
+
+"Doubtless he will," replied the doctor, somewhat drily. "I say,
+Lamotte, you had better run down to my house, and turn in for a couple
+of hours; you look done up,--and you can't stand much more of this sort
+of thing. I must go now, to see old Mrs. Grady, over at the mills."
+
+"Then I will just stretch myself here, Heath," replied Lamotte. "I don't
+feel equal to a start out just now; and, look here, old fellow," turning
+a shade paler, as he spoke, "deal gently with a fallen rival after
+this--disgrace. Of course, I quit the field; but--don't ride over me too
+hard."
+
+The doctor drew on his riding gloves with grave precision, put his hat
+on his head, and took up his riding whip; then he turned toward Lamotte.
+
+"I suppose you refer to Miss Wardour?" he said blandly.
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Then rest easy. I do not pretend in that quarter. Miss Wardour is yours
+for all me; and--you are not such a fool as to think that she will let
+your sister's affair alter her feelings for you--if she cares for you?"
+
+Lamotte sprang up, staring with surprise.
+
+"Why, but--Heath, you owned yourself my rival!"
+
+"True."
+
+"And--upon my word, I believe you were ahead of the field."
+
+"True again; but--_I have withdrawn_." And Doctor Heath went out, closed
+the door deliberately, and ran lightly down the stairs. He found Ray
+Vandyck loitering on the pavement.
+
+"I knew you would be down presently," said Vandyck, anxiously; "I want
+to say, Heath, don't notice what I said to that cad. He maddened me;
+above all, don't think that one word I uttered was intended to reflect
+upon _her_."
+
+"He has withdrawn," muttered Francis Lamotte, settling himself back as
+comfortably as possible, and clasping his hands behind his head.
+
+"And _he_ means what he says; something has happened in my absence; I
+can't understand it, but it's so much the better for me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
+
+
+Saturday, Sunday, Monday, three days; three nights. The events
+chronicled in the foregoing chapters, crowded themselves into the space
+of three days.
+
+But these were exceptional days; life does not move on thus, especially
+in the usually staid and well regulated town of W----. Men and women are
+not qualified to run a long, high pressure race. Action, and
+then--reaction. Reaction from every emotion, every sorrow, every joy.
+God help us.
+
+We weep for days, but not for years. We suffer, but here and there comes
+a respite from our pain. We live in a delirium of joy for a brief space,
+and vegetate in dullness, in apathy, in hardness of heart, in
+indifference, or in despair, according to our various natures, for the
+rest of our natural lives. So let it be, it is the lot common to all.
+
+    "No man can hide from it, but it will find him out,
+    Nor run from it, but it overtaketh him."
+
+After the robbery, after the flight, after the coming and departure of
+the two detectives, dullness settled down upon our friends in W----.
+
+It is needless to chronicle the effect of the news of their daughter's
+flight, upon Mr. and Mrs. Lamotte.
+
+That is a thing we can all understand; we can picture it for ourselves.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte shut herself up in her chamber, and refused to be comforted
+by family or friends. Mr. Lamotte, bitterly grieved, terribly shocked,
+did all that a father could do, which was in effect, nothing.
+
+One day, the mail brought them a copy of the marriage certificate of
+Sybil Lamotte and John Burrill; but that was all. Where the fugitives
+had gone, could not be discovered.
+
+Francis Lamotte went about as usual; with a little more of haughtiness,
+a little more reserve, and just a tinge of melancholy in his manner. He
+took Constance at her word, and came and went very much as of old, but
+was so watchful over himself, so subdued, and as she thought, improved
+in manner, that she declared confidentially to her aunt that he had
+become "really quite a comfortable person to have in one's parlor." She
+ceased snubbing him altogether, and received him with the frank
+graciousness that used to charm Doctor Heath; assuring herself, often,
+that "trouble was improving poor Frank."
+
+Evan Lamotte was Evan Lamotte still. Now drunk, now sober; a little more
+furious and ready to quarrel than usual, when in his cups; a little more
+taciturn and inclined to solitude in his sober moments.
+
+Doctor Heath went about among his patients, wearing his usual cheery
+smile, speaking the usual comforting word, smoking, philosophizing,
+rallying his friends, satirizing his enemies, genial, independent,
+inscrutable as ever. He never called at Wardour Place, of course. He
+never sought an opportunity for meeting or seeing Constance, and he
+never avoided her; altogether, his conduct, from a romantic standpoint,
+was very reprehensible.
+
+And Constance; perhaps of them all, these three days had effected the
+greatest change in her, as any chain of startling or strange events
+must, in a measure, change the current of thought and feeling in a life
+that has hitherto floated under a roseate cloud, on a sea without a
+ripple. She had been rocked by storm waves; had seen a bark shipwrecked
+close beside her; had even encountered mutiny in her own craft; when the
+lull came, and she drifted quietly, she found herself forever face to
+face with the facts that sorrow and trouble were abroad in the land,
+that crime existed outside of the newspapers; that heartache and self
+dissatisfaction were possibilities, and that even a queen absolute might
+come under the shadow of each and all. Not that Constance had never been
+aware of all these things, but we never can _realize_ what we have never
+experienced.
+
+We look sadly sympathetic, and murmur "poor things," when we see some
+mourner weeping over a dead loved one, but we never comprehend the
+sorrow until we bury our own dead.
+
+Constance had loved Sybil Lamotte as a sister; she thought and sorrowed
+not a little over the strange freak Fate had played with her friend's
+life, and she wondered often if Doctor Heath had really lost all regard
+for her; she knew, as what woman does not, that a warm regard had once
+existed; and she assured herself that whether he had or not, was a
+matter of no consequence to her. "She had not the slightest interest in
+Doctor Heath," so she told Mrs. Aliston, and, like him, she never sought
+nor avoided a meeting.
+
+It is singular, however, that a man who possessed for her "not the
+slightest interest" should so often present himself to her thoughts, and
+certain it is that at this period of our story her mind had a most
+provoking habit of running away from a variety of subjects straight to
+Clifford Heath, M. D. But women at best are strange creatures, and
+subject to singular phenomena.
+
+Mrs. Aliston just here experienced some dissatisfaction; Clifford Heath
+was with her a favorite; Francis Lamotte was her pet hatred. To see the
+favorite made conspicuous by his absence, and have his name, like that
+of a disinherited daughter, tabooed from the family converse, while the
+obnoxious Francis, because of his provokingly good behavior, made rapid
+strides into the good graces of the queen of the castle, would have
+exasperated most good, maneuvering old ladies, but Mrs. Aliston
+maneuvered principally for her own comfort, so she sighed a little,
+regretted the present state of affairs in a resigned and becoming
+manner, ceased to mention the name of Doctor Heath, and condescended to
+receive Francis graciously, after that young man had made a special
+call, during which he saw only Mrs. Aliston, and apologized amply and
+most humbly for his unceremonious ejectment of that lady in favor of
+Constance, on the day when the former undertook, "as gently as
+possible," to break to him the news of his sister's flight.
+
+To make an apology gracefully is in itself, an art; and this art Francis
+Lamotte was skilled in; indeed but for a certain physical weakness, he
+would have been an ornament to the diplomatic service. Alas, that there
+must always be a "but" in the way of our moral completeness, our
+physical perfection and our life's success.
+
+Days and weeks passed on, and the household of Wardour remained in
+utmost quiet; that at Mapleton, shrouded in gloom and sorrowful
+seclusion. Mrs. Lamotte saw no one. Mr. Lamotte went out only to look
+after his business interests.
+
+When the copy of Sybil's marriage certificate came, Frank, like a loyal
+knight, came to Constance with the news, told it with a sad countenance
+and in few words, and went away soon and sorrowfully.
+
+One day, not long after, Mrs. Aliston returned from the town where she
+had spent four long hours in calling upon the wives of the Episcopalian,
+the Unitarian and the Presbyterian ministers, for Mrs. Aliston was a
+liberal soul, and hurled herself into Constance's favorite sitting room,
+in a state of unusual excitement.
+
+"Well, Con.," she panted, pulling hard the while at her squeezed on
+gloves, "I've found it out;" and she dropped into the easiest chair, and
+pulled and panted afresh.
+
+Constance looked up from a rather uninteresting "Novel with a Moral,"
+and asked, as indifferently as possible:
+
+"What have you found out, auntie?"
+
+"About Sybil."
+
+Constance laid down her book, and her tone underwent a change.
+
+"If it's any thing more than gossip, auntie, tell me quick."
+
+"Oh, it isn't gossip; at least they all say it's true. And as for
+gossip, Con., I tell you, you have done something toward stopping that."
+
+Con. laughed like one who is conscious of her power.
+
+"Yes, indeed," rattled on Mrs. Aliston. "Mrs. Wooster says, and if she
+_is_ a Unitarian she is certainly a very good and truthful woman, that
+she has heard from various ones that you have openly declared against
+the handling of poor Sybil's name among the people who have called
+themselves her friends, and accepted so often her mother's hospitality.
+And she said--these are her very words, Con.--'I was delighted, dear
+Mrs. Aliston, for we all know that these gossip lovers, every one of
+them, will deny themselves the luxury of tearing Sybil to pieces,
+knowing that she has a champion in Miss Wardour.' So much for influence,
+Con."
+
+"Bah!" retorted Con., wise in her generation. "So much for money, and
+how do I know that I have not lost my prestige along with my diamonds.
+Auntie, you have lost the thread of your discourse; you always do."
+
+"So you always tell me," laughed the elderly chatterbox. "Well, Con.,
+they say that Sybil has sacrificed herself."
+
+"Do they?" said Con., sarcastically; "the wise heads. I hope that
+conclusion has not exhausted their keen intellects, whoever 'they' may
+be. As if the sacrifice were not patent on the face of the thing."
+
+"Con. you talk like a--a stump orator."
+
+"Do I? Well, I'm glad of it; it would not be so bad to be a 'stump
+orator,' or any other sort of male animal, for the older I grow the more
+I incline to the belief that women are fools. But go on, auntie; I
+believe I get 'riled' every time I hear Sybil's name. What else do
+'they' say?"
+
+"You don't deserve to be told, you are so impatient; but I will tell you
+this once. I was about to add that it seems to be an accepted fact that
+Sybil sacrificed herself to save Evan from some sort of exposure and
+disgrace. And they say that some of those rough men in a saloon threw
+the thing in Evan's teeth, and that he replied in his odd way:
+
+"'Yes, she did it for my sake, and now the first man of you that
+mentions my sister's name in my hearing will go under.' You know they
+are afraid of Evan in his rages."
+
+Constance opened her mouth impulsively, but she choked back the words
+that rushed forward for utterance, and closing her lips tightly, sat
+staring straight before her, a strange expression creeping into her
+face.
+
+She seemed to hear anew Evan's words: "Do your part, I will do mine. I,
+Evan Lamotte, worthless, black sheep, sot; I will find a reason that
+will not be questioned, and that will spare Sybil."
+
+And he had found a reason. The black sheep was offered up a sacrifice.
+Evan Lamotte had flung away his last rag of respectability for his
+sister's sake. Henceforth he would appear in the eyes of the people
+doubly blackened, doubly degraded, the destroyer of his sister's
+happiness, the blight upon her life, and yet, he was innocent of this;
+he was a martyr; he the ne'er-do-well, the inebriate.
+
+Constance was strangely moved by this self-sacrifice, coming from one
+who was so morally weak; if it had been Frank, but here her lip curled
+contemptuously; instinctively she knew that such self-sacrifice was not
+in Frank's nature, any more than was such self-abandonment to weakness.
+Constance began to wonder if Frank and his parents knew the truth. If
+they had permitted the weakest shoulders to bear the burden; or, if Evan
+had deceived them too, and then she murmured, almost in the language of
+the tramp detective:
+
+"It's a thing for time to unravel. It's a play just begun. It's a hard,
+hard knot."
+
+And, then and there, she took Sybil and Evan to her generous heart of
+hearts, and mentally resolved to be their champion and friend to the
+uttermost, while she would judge their parents and their brother
+according as these dealt by the unfortunates.
+
+It was many days before she saw Evan, for, although in true woman
+fashion, she longed to scold him first for so sacrificing himself, and
+praise him after for his generous true heartedness, she knew that he
+would only be distressed by such an interview, and would obey a summons
+from her reluctantly if at all.
+
+But one day, just as she was driving her ponies out through the gates of
+Wardour Place, she saw a horseman riding furiously up the road, and a
+nearer view revealed Frank Lamotte's fine horse and mounted by Evan.
+
+His eyes were flaming with excitement, and there was a burning spot of
+red on either cheek as he reined up his horse beside her, and Constance
+saw at a glance that, again, he was perfectly sober.
+
+"Conny," he cried breathlessly, "it has come."
+
+[Illustration: "Conny, it has come."]
+
+"What has come, Evan?"
+
+"The day we hoped for; we have heard from Sybil."
+
+"A letter! Oh Evan, tell me all about it."
+
+"I can't, there is no time; only, Con., it's your turn now. It's your
+time to strike for Sybil. They are holding council over the letter, and
+can't decide, whether the old gentleman shall go at once and see Sybil;
+whether they shall bring her back and swallow the Burrill; for, it seems
+he must be swallowed, and what society will think about it, are the
+questions that they are agitating. Mother says, that Sybil must and
+shall come back; father says he will go and see her; and Frank--" he
+broke off abruptly and bent down to look at his saddle girth.
+
+"And Frank; what does he say, Evan?"
+
+"Frank is a fool," snapped Evan irrelevantly. "What _he_ says is no
+matter; only, Conny, now is your time, if you will only have faith in
+what I say. You are out with your ponies; drive straight to Mapleton,
+and don't mention me. You will be admitted to mother. Father is there,
+and Frank; give them the least chance, and they will tell you about
+Sybil, and then you can manage the rest. Tell them to bring her back,
+even with that beastly incumbrance. They will listen to you; they won't
+to me. If you fail me here, then--"
+
+"Then your sacrifice goes for nothing. Oh, Evan, did you think I would
+not understand that? You have wronged yourself for Sybil's sake. But you
+shall have a tithe of your reward. And, dear boy, you should not have
+done this thing; we might have found another way."
+
+"Nonsense, Conny! It was the only way. And what is my life worth, or my
+reputation, either? It can't hurt a poor devil like me. Con., will you
+go?"
+
+"I will go straight to Mapleton, Evan. You shall see that I have faith
+in you. I will do just as you direct, and all will go well."
+
+"Then I'm off. I stole Frank's horse. I must get him back to avoid a
+row. Thank you, Conny; you are a true friend."
+
+"Good-bye, Evan. Come to me with all the news, or when you want help."
+
+"I won't forget," wheeling his horse about; then, in a choking voice,
+"God bless you, Conny," and a moment later, he was away down the road,
+galloping in a cloud of dust.
+
+Constance followed in his wake, keeping her ponies at a sober pace.
+
+"I wonder how he found out these things. Poor boy!" she murmured, half
+aloud, "he is not one at their family councils; of that I am sure. His
+father has lost all patience with him; and yet, he knows all that is
+going on. I wonder how."
+
+If Evan Lamotte had heard this query, and had chosen to answer it, he
+would have said: "_I watch and I listen._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CONSTANCE'S DIPLOMACY.
+
+
+Miss Wardour, being Miss Wardour, was apt to succeed in most things, and
+it is fair to suppose that her visit to Mapleton, in the character of
+intercessor for the erring Sybil, was not a fruitless one. Certainly, it
+was not barren of results.
+
+On the day following the call from Constance, Mrs. Lamotte came forth
+from her seclusion; her carriage bore her out from the gates of
+Mapleton, and straight to Wardour Place. Here she took up the heiress
+and Mrs. Aliston, and the three drove ostentatiously through the streets
+of W----, bowing smilingly here and there, as calm, serene, and elegant
+a trio, to all outward seeming, as ever passed before admiring eyes on
+velvet cushions.
+
+This act informed W---- that Mrs. Lamotte was once more visible, and "at
+home," and when a day or two later, Constance and her aunt, in splendid
+array, drove again into W----, calling here and there, and dropping upon
+each hearthstone a bit of manna for family digestion, the result was
+what they intended it should be.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" asks Mrs. Hopkins, fashionable busybody,
+running in for an informal call on Mrs. O'Meara, who is warm-hearted
+and sensible, and who listens to the babblings of Mrs. Hopkins, with a
+patience and benignity worthy of a Spartan mother.
+
+"No! Well, I am dying to tell it, then. Sybil Lamotte is coming
+back--actually coming back--and that man with her; and--won't it be
+queer? We shall have him in society, of course, for I am told, from the
+_best_ of sources, that the Lamottes will accept him as Sybil's choice,
+and make the best of him."
+
+"But _we_ need not accept him, my dear," comments the Spartan mother,
+whose lawyer husband is rich and independent, and does not count fees.
+"As for Sybil, she was always a favorite with us; we shall be glad to
+have her back."
+
+"Yes, that's very well for you and Mr. O'Meara, who are very exclusive,
+and go out little, but we poor society people will have to submit to the
+powers that be. Constance Wardour, the Lamottes, the Vandycks, have led
+us as they would, and queer as it may seem, the Lamottes are backed up
+in this business of forcing John Burrill upon us, by Constance, on one
+hand, and the Vandycks, mother and son, on the other."
+
+"And Mrs. Aliston?"
+
+"Mrs. Aliston, of course. When did she ever oppose Constance? It's
+making a great furore, I can tell you; but no one is going to step
+forward and openly oppose Constance and the Vandycks. I for one am
+Sybil's staunch friend, and--well, as Constance says, 'let us take it
+for granted that this bear of Sybil's has some good qualities, or he
+would never have won her,' and then, too, it's so romantic, about Evan
+you know, and how Sybil, in some way, saved him from something, by
+marrying this man. I never could get the right end, or any end of that
+story, nor have I found any one who knows the plain facts. Well, Mrs.
+O'Meara, I must go; I have seven more calls to make, and I really have
+talked too long."
+
+"_She'll_ take him up fast enough," mused Mrs. O'Meara, in solitude.
+"That's the way of society; they can't oppose wealth and prestige, even
+when prestige and wealth command them to fellowship with a grizzly bear;
+rather they will whitewash their bear, and call him a thing of beauty,
+and laugh in their silken sleeves to see him dance."
+
+It was quite true, that bombshell of Mrs. Hopkins'--Sybil Lamotte was
+coming back. Mr. Lamotte went somewhere, nobody could name just the
+place, and returned, having done, nobody knew precisely what; and as the
+result of that journey, so said W----, Sybil and John Burrill were
+coming soon, to breast the waves of public opinion, and take up their
+abode in Mapleton.
+
+When this fact became well established, tongues wagged briskly; some
+were sorry; some were glad; some eager for the advent of the ill
+assorted pair.
+
+The sorriest one of all was unhappy Ray Vandyck, who realized how hard a
+task would devolve upon him; and the gladdest of the glad was poor Evan,
+who celebrated his rejoicing with one of the wildest and most protracted
+of all his sprees.
+
+Constance had won Sybil's battle. In accordance with the hint given by
+Dr. Heath, Raymond Vandyck had called at Wardour Place, and the result
+of that call was patent to the eyes of all W----. Ray, the rejected, had
+gone over to the support of his lost love and taken his mother with him.
+
+At last they came, after the nine days' talk had subsided, after
+W---- had become accustomed to the idea, quietly, unostentatiously.
+Before their arrival had become known, they were established at Mapleton.
+
+Everybody admitted that they displayed good taste and judgment in the
+manner of their home coming, but when, except in the case of this
+horrible choice of Sybil's, did not the Lamottes display good taste.
+People said "The Lamottes," without so much as recognizing the existence
+of poor Evan.
+
+Meantime the days were numbering themselves. It was June when Sybil
+Lamotte fled away with her Bear. It is September before they return;
+during these three months Constance has heard from Detective Belknap. He
+is always afar off, always on the track of her robbers, and she reads
+his reports, honors his drafts for "expense money," and troubles her
+head no more about the "Wardour robbery" or the "Wardour diamonds."
+
+Of Detective Bathurst there came never a word or sign, either to the
+heiress or to Doctor Heath.
+
+But it is time to introduce our Bear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+JOHN BURRILL, ARISTOCRAT.
+
+
+Mapleton stands high on an eminence, which may have arisen expressly to
+hold, and to exhibit, the splendid edifice erected thereon by Mr. Jasper
+Lamotte. It is the only hill within sight on that side of the river, and
+renders Mapleton a most conspicuous as well as most beautiful abiding
+place.
+
+In front of the dwelling and its grounds flows the river, broad and
+glittering in the sunshine, on this day of which I write. In the rear
+stretches a grove, large enough to be termed "the grove" by the people
+of W----; and dense enough for Robin Hood and his merry men to find
+comfort in, for Jasper Lamotte has chosen to let it remain _en
+naturale_, since it first came into his possession.
+
+To reach Mapleton from Wardour Place one must drive directly to the
+center of W----, turn eastward, then cross a handsome new iron bridge,
+and go southward a short distance, coming finally to the broad curve
+which sweeps up to the mansion, and away from the river, along which the
+road winds.
+
+In the old days, when Sybil Lamotte and Constance Wardour found
+excellent reasons for meeting and chatting together, at least once in
+every twenty-four hours, this fair river was a source of alternate
+pleasure and annoyance to them. Of pleasure, when the days were fair,
+and Sybil and Frank could pull their boat up stream, and land at the
+grassy slope in the rear of Wardour Place, where, often, they found
+Constance and a gay party awaiting them. Or, when Constance could drift
+down stream with scarcely the stroke of an oar necessary, until she came
+opposite "the hill," as Mapleton was often called. Of annoyance, when
+winds blew cold and rough, and the waters of the river turned black and
+angry, and surged high between its banks. Then the two young ladies
+voted the iron bridge "the coldest place possible," and wished that no
+dark, wintry river flowed between them.
+
+The river is very calm to-day, however; it is flowing gently, murmuring
+softly, and gleaming silver and blue, beneath a soft September sun. Away
+down, where the factories stand, and the great wheels turn, it loses its
+blue and silver, flowing under that ever moving, never lifting curtain
+of smoke, that darkens and dims the skies themselves, and gives to the
+sun's face the look of a disreputable celestial tramp.
+
+It's always gray, "down at the factories," and why not? What need have
+the toilers there for sunlight? They have work and sleep.
+
+There is nothing gray or dreary about Mapleton, as we enter there and
+survey the inmates who, just now, are loitering about the lunch table.
+Nothing gray, if we except a few silver threads in the hair of Mrs.
+Lamotte; nothing dreary, unless it may be a look which, now and then,
+and only for an instant, creeps into the eyes of Mrs. John Burrill.
+
+They sit about the lunch table,--all but Sybil. She has arisen, and
+reseated herself in a great easy chair, which seems to swallow up her
+slight form, and renders her quite invisible to all at the table, save
+Evan, who, from time to time, glances furtively across at her.
+
+There may be dissension in this family, but they look the embodiment of
+high-bred ease and serene contentment.
+
+Jasper Lamotte turns his paper, sips his light wine, speaks suavely, and
+looks as placid as the sky overhead.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte speaks slow and seldom; smiles when she does speak; and
+looks as if nothing ever ruffled the placidity of her mind, or the even
+tenor of her pleasant existence. She looks all this, sitting directly
+opposite John Burrill, her reluctantly accepted son-in-law, for what
+Mrs. Lamotte cannot overcome, she ignores, and her proud calm is the
+result of a long and bitter schooling.
+
+Sybil looks paler than is usual for her, but no other expression than
+one of calmness and _ennui_ can be detected on that lovely, inscrutable
+face; and the dusky eyes keep well veiled, and tell no secrets.
+
+Evan Lamotte is sober, and good humored, for his sister's sake; and
+Frank is simply lazy.
+
+But John Burrill! there is no contentment equal to his; seated in the
+easiest of chairs, before a table laden with viands upon which he has
+just gorged himself, he contemplates his legs and his surroundings with
+extreme satisfaction; his legs first, because, being stretched directly
+before him, they come first under his eye; and he is delighted with
+their size, and shape; they are a fine pair, such as would do credit to
+a bull fighter, or a "champion pedestrian," and with the quality and cut
+of the pantaloons that adorn them. It has not always been his good
+fortune to sit at a rich man's table, and to wear fashionable clothing;
+and John Burrill appreciates his "marcies." He has feasted his stomach,
+and John Burrill's stomach comes in for a large share of his
+consideration; and now he is feasting his senses: this richly appointed
+room is his room; this splendid stately lady, how he delights to call
+her "mother," varied occasionally by "mother-in-law;" how he glories in
+the possession of a pair of aristocratic brothers-in-law; and how he
+swells with pride, when he steps into the carriage, and, sitting beside
+"the rich Mr. Lamotte," is driven through W---- and to the factories;
+and last, and best of all, there is his wife, a beauty, a belle, an
+heiress, possessing a score of lovers, yet won by him.
+
+Only one thing troubles John Burrill, he does not quite understand
+Sybil; he has "got the hang," so he thinks of the other members of the
+family, but sometimes Sybil's wordless glance operates upon him like a
+cold shower bath, and Mr. Burrill, like all the "gutter born," rather
+fears a shower bath.
+
+Coarse in sense and sentiment, plebeian in body and soul; whatever else
+Sybil Lamotte's husband may be, let our story develop.
+
+Quitting his place now, he crosses the room, and, taking up a position
+where his eyes can gloat upon Sybil's face, he rests one elbow upon a
+mantel, and so, in a comfortable after-dinner attitude, continues his
+pleasant meditations. Sybil stirs uneasily, but notices his proximity in
+no other way. Presently her eyes shoot straight past him, and she says
+to Evan who has also risen, and stands stretching himself, lazily, with
+his face to the window, and his back toward the assembly:
+
+"Evan, just hand me that book on the mantel. No, not _that_ one," as he
+lays his ready hand on the book nearest him, "the other."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Evan, at the same moment laying hand upon a volume
+directly underneath John Burrill's elbow. "Hoist up your arrum, Burrill.
+'My lady's up, and wants her wollum.'"
+
+John Burrill's face reddens slowly. He is an Englishman, and sometimes
+his H's and A's play him sorry tricks, although he has labored hard to
+Americanize himself, and likes to think that he has succeeded.
+
+"D--n it!" broke out the man, suddenly losing his after dinner calm.
+"You might have asked _me_ for the book, Sybil; it was near enough."
+
+Sybil received the book from Evan's hand, opened it, turned a page or
+two, and then lifting her eyes to his face, replied in a voice, low,
+clear, and cutting as the north wind:
+
+"Evan is my slave, Mr. Burrill, _you_--are my lord and master."
+Indescribable contempt shone upon him for a moment from her splendid
+eyes; then she lowered them, and became, apparently, wholly absorbed in
+her book.
+
+John Burrill muttered something very low, and probably very ugly, and
+dropped back into his former attitude; and the others, never by word or
+glance, noticed this little passage at arms. Only Evan returned to the
+window, and standing there with hands in pockets, glowered down upon the
+frost-touched rose trees and clustered geraniums, savagely, and long.
+
+Presently, Evan turns from the window, which commands a view of the
+drive.
+
+"Constance is coming," he says, addressing Sybil.
+
+She starts up, looking anxious and disturbed; Constance has visited her,
+and she has driven over once to see Constance; but it has so happened
+that John Burrill has always been absent; and Sybil has a shuddering
+horror of this meeting that must be.
+
+The announcement seems to galvanize them all into life. Mr. Lamotte
+looks up with a gleam of latent anticipation in his eyes; Frank smiles
+his pleasure; and John Burrill steals a deprecatory glance at a mirror,
+smoothes a wrinkle out of his waistcoat, and outsmiles Frank. Here is
+another triumph; he is about to be introduced to the richest girl in the
+country; to meet her on an equal footing, in the character of husband to
+her dearest friend.
+
+Sybil rises and goes to the window; her pale face flushing. There is a
+rolling of wheels, a sound of swift, firm footsteps without, and then
+the door opens, and Constance is announced.
+
+She follows her name in her usual free, at home fashion, and in a moment
+is kissing Sybil, shaking hands with Mrs. Lamotte, exchanging smiling
+salutations with Mr. Lamotte, and gay badinage with Francis. And then,
+while Sybil still hesitates, Evan comes to the rescue.
+
+With a face of preternatural gravity, he advances, seizes the arm of
+John Burrill, drags him toward Constance, and says, with elaborate
+politeness:
+
+"Constance, allow me to present my new brother-in-law, Mr. Burrill.
+Brother-in-law, this is Miss Wardour, of Wardour Place."
+
+In spite of themselves, they smile; all except Sybil. John Burrill feels
+that somehow, he is made ridiculous; that another man in his place would
+not have been thus introduced. But the eyes of the heiress are upon his
+face, her daintily gloved hand is proffered him, and she lies in her
+softest contralto, and unblushingly:
+
+"I am happy to know you, Mr. Burrill."
+
+[Illustration: "I am happy to know you."]
+
+Somehow, they all breathe freer after that pretty falsehood. John
+Burrill regains his composure, and relapses into his former state of
+comfortable gloating. Another face is added to the circle of high-bred
+people around him. He does not talk much, for he is not yet quite at his
+ease when in conversation with them. As they talk, he thinks what a fine
+nest this is which he has gained for himself; what a lovely woman is his
+wife; and how splendidly handsome is Miss Wardour. He thinks how, by and
+by, he will boast to some of his choice spirits, of his friendship for
+Miss Wardour, and of the value in which she holds his esteem. He thinks
+how good is the Lamotte cook, and how, presently, he will sample the
+Lamotte wines, and smoke a splendid segar; and then he pricks up his
+ears and listens, for the conversation has drifted away from the
+commonplace, and Miss Wardour is saying:
+
+"It really is a forlorn hope, I fear, Mr. Lamotte. I don't know what to
+reply to Mr. Belknap, but I think he is wasting his time, and I my
+money; and, if you will communicate with him, as he failed to name his
+address in his note to me, we will close up the case."
+
+"And say farewell to your diamonds?"
+
+"I have performed that ceremony some time since. I really am worn out
+with the subject. At some other time I may resume the search."
+
+"You are getting discouraged."
+
+"Call it that, if you like."
+
+"Excuse me, if I pursue so wearisome a subject, Constance; but--does not
+Mr. Belknap hint at a new clue in this note of his? You must know he has
+written me also."
+
+"He hints, and very vaguely."
+
+"Well, I am anxious to look into this matter a little further. As a
+special favor to me will you retain the services of Mr. Belknap a little
+longer?"
+
+"As you make such a point of it, yes, Mr. Lamotte; but--do you really
+hope to find anything new, at this late day?"
+
+"I really do, my child, but can not put my ideas in shape, as yet. I
+think we shall have Mr. Belknap among us soon."
+
+"Well, don't let him persecute me, that's all," stipulated Constance. "I
+have lost my faith in detectives."
+
+"All this talk reminds me, Constance," interrupted Sybil, "mamma has had
+her diamonds reset for me, and they are really beautiful; besides which,
+papa and Mr. Burrill have added to the collection, so that in the
+absence of yours, I may set myself up as diamond queen. Come to my room
+and be dazzled."
+
+"And leave us under a cloud," chimed in Frank. "Burrill, come, let's
+adjourn to the billiard room, and have a segar;" and intent upon keeping
+his brother-in-law in order during the time Constance should be under
+the roof, he slapped him cordially on his brawny shoulder, and they went
+out in most amiable and brotherly fashion, and entered the billiard
+room, where Frank permitted Burrill to cheat at the game, and eventually
+win it, much to the delight of that personage.
+
+When they had left the morning room, Evan Lamotte, too, sauntered out
+and down the hall, and, hearing their voices in amiable dialogue,
+interspersed by the click of the billiard balls, he muttered:
+
+"Ah, Constance, you are a witch indeed! you have made my magnificent
+brother adopt my _role_ for once; so long as you are here we may depend
+upon Frank to keep our bull out of the china shop. So, as one good turn
+deserves another, I will just give your mare a turn and look in at 'Old
+Forty Rods;' I'm safe to go off duty for the day."
+
+And ten minutes later the reckless youth was galloping Frank's blooded
+mare along the highway _en route_ for the saloon known to the initiated
+as "Old Forty Rods."
+
+Left alone together, Mr. Jasper Lamotte and his wife gazed at each other
+in silence for a moment, and then he said:
+
+"Do you think it safe to leave them alone together too long?"
+
+"Who, Frank and----"
+
+"Pshaw, no; the girls."
+
+"It is quite safe; nevertheless I will go up to them," and Mrs. Lamotte
+arose and went slowly up the stairs, and softly past the door where
+Sybil and Constance sat together, straight to her own room, which she
+entered, closed and locked the door carefully, and allowing the look of
+haughty calm to die out of her face, she threw herself into a dressing
+chair, and pressed two feverish hands against a face that was sad and
+bitter and full of weariness.
+
+Left to his own devices, Jasper Lamotte seated himself at a desk and
+dashed off a few hurried lines, which he directed to
+
+    "Mr. Jerry Belknap,
+    "No. --, Room 7, Blank St.,
+    "N. Y."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+DIAMONDS.
+
+
+Constance followed her friend up to the room where they had so often
+passed long hours together, wondering idly at Sybil's composure and
+seeming resignation, and shudderingly recalling the blank devouring
+stare of the man who was her husband.
+
+It was the first time since Sybil's return that they had been alone
+together, and Constance half dreaded the interview, as well as wondered
+not a little that the opportunity was of Sybil's own making; hitherto
+she seemed anxious to avoid a _tete-a-tete_.
+
+Sybil moved straight on in advance of her friend, and never turned her
+head nor spoke, until the door of her _boudoir_ had shut them in; then
+she turned and faced her companion, uttering as she did so a low
+mirthless laugh.
+
+"Well!" she asked abruptly, "how do you like him?"
+
+Constance bent a searching gaze upon her friend, and read her state of
+mind with a woman's keen intuition. The tensely strung nerves, the dread
+of this interview, the determination to have it over, and to bear her
+part bravely; a proud and stubborn nature, battling with despair, and
+unspeakable heartache. She understood it all, and her own heart bled
+for her friend. But, being a wise little woman, she held her pity in
+reserve, and replied, as if the question concerned a new dancing master:
+
+"I don't like him at all, child; let's talk about something more
+interesting," and she threw herself down upon a _fauteuil_, and tossed
+off her hat; just as she had tossed it aside a hundred times, in that
+same pretty room. The simple action, brought a thrill of tenderness, and
+sad recollection, to the heart of Sybil. She seated herself beside her
+friend, and her face lost a shade of its bitterness.
+
+"It's like a shadow of the old days, Con.," she said sadly, "and the
+substance I can never have any more. But, you must let me talk, I feel
+as if I must talk, and you will let me say what I will, and ask me
+nothing. Con., you saw that--that creature down stairs? You saw him, but
+you did not _hear_ him."
+
+She shuddered, and paused for an instant; but Constance did not speak,
+and so she continued:
+
+"I had made up my mind never to speak of him to you, but the very thing
+I had dreaded has happened; you have met, and, in the generosity of your
+soul, for my sake, you have extended to him your hand; have openly
+accepted his acquaintance. Oh, Con.! I could have struck him dead before
+he touched your hand. _He!_ Ah, there is a limit to my forbearance; he
+has forced himself into my life to blight it; he has forced himself into
+my family to be an added curse. But he shall not force himself upon my
+friends. Con., treat him with the disdain he deserves, else, he will
+force his way into your very drawing room. Never, never, never, extend
+to him the courtesies due to an equal. He is not an equal, he is not a
+man at all; he is a fat, sleek, leering, ruminating animal, at his best;
+he is a wolf, a vampire, a devil, at other times; ignorant, vain,
+avaricious, gross. Rather than see him force himself upon you, as he has
+forced himself upon us here, I will myself sever our friendship, I will
+never see, never speak with you again. John Burrill shall find a limit,
+which even his brute force cannot pass." She was growing more and more
+excited and a bright spot burned on each cheek.
+
+Constance was startled, but fully understanding the necessity for
+perfect coolness, now that Sybil's composure had almost given way, she
+never attempted to interrupt the words that were but the overflow of
+long pent up feelings; but sat quietly stroking one of Sybil's slender
+hands, and becoming more amazed and mystified as she listened.
+
+"Sometimes I find myself wondering at the tenacity of my life," went on
+Sybil, more hurriedly and with increasing excitement. "Sometimes I feel
+my strength leaving me, and think the battle is almost over; but somehow
+it is renewed, and I find myself growing strong instead of weak. For
+months I lived with my inevitable fate constantly before my eyes. I knew
+that there was no escape; that what has transpired, must happen. I have
+suffered tortures, passed nights without sleep, and days without food. I
+have grown a little paler, a little thinner, and a great deal wickeder,
+and that is all. I am strong, as strong as in the beginning, and yet,
+what am I but a galvanized corpse? I am dead to all that is worth living
+for. My one wish is to be free, and yet, Con., do you know I have never
+once been tempted to self-destruction."
+
+[Illustration: "I have never once been tempted to self-destruction."]
+
+Constance Wardour sprang impetuously to her feet, and paced the length
+of the _boudoir_ again and again in perfect silence. The terrible weight
+of torment that was crushing Sybil's heart, and maddening her brain,
+seemed to rest, too, upon her, and weigh down her spirits; she was
+tortured with the sight of Sybil's misery, and the thought of her own
+helplessness. Could nothing be done? Struggling for an appearance of
+composure, she paced to and fro, and at last, having mastered her
+feelings, and arranged her thoughts, she resumed her seat beside Sybil,
+whose eyes had followed her movements with curiosity.
+
+"Sybil, listen;" she began with that clear, concise energy of manner
+that, in itself, inspired confidence. "If you do not wish me to make any
+overtures of friendship, rest assured I shall make none. I at least am
+not under the spell which this man seems to have thrown about you all.
+There, don't draw back, child, I have no more to say on this part of the
+subject. I may ask a few questions, however, without treading on
+forbidden ground. You say John Burrill is avaricious; can he not be
+bought off?"
+
+Sybil shook her head.
+
+"Not with the Wardour estate," she replied, sadly. "Not with all our
+fortunes united?"
+
+"Cannot he be frightened then?"
+
+"Frightened! You don't know what you are saying."
+
+"Then, I can think of one other way. He is a bad man; he must have led a
+wicked life; can we not find something in his past, which will place him
+in our power? Can he not be driven into banishment, through fear of
+justice?"
+
+Sybil turned her eyes full upon her friend; eyes dark with the shadow of
+despair, but unwavering in their sad firmness.
+
+"If that could be done," she said, slowly. "The very day that witnessed
+his downfall, would bring about the catastrophe I have sacrificed myself
+to avert. Constance, say no more; we can do none of these things; there
+is no help for me on this side of the grave."
+
+Constance looked once more at her friend; looked long and earnestly
+then.
+
+"Sybil," she cried, with swift resolution. "Do you know what you are
+bringing upon yourself? Do you want to go mad, and so be at the mercy of
+John Burrill? It is what will come upon you if you don't throw off this
+torpor. Your eyes are as dry as if tears were not meant to relieve the
+overburdened heart. Let your tears flow; shake off this lethargy; battle
+royally for your life; it is worth more than his; do not let him put
+your reason to flight, and so conquer. Sybil! Sybil!"
+
+The words ended in a sobbing cry, but Sybil only gazed dumbly, and then
+looked helplessly about her.
+
+"There, there, Conny," she said at last, as if soothing a hurt child;
+"don't mind me. It's true my life is worth more than his, but--I can't
+cry, I don't _feel_ like crying."
+
+"Then laugh," cried Constance desperately; "laugh and defy your
+tormentor; harden your heart if you must, but don't let it break."
+
+"I won't," said Sybil, with quiet emphasis. "Now come and see my
+diamonds, Con."
+
+She crossed the room as she spoke, bent over a dressing case, and came
+back with a tray of sparkling newly set jewels.
+
+"Bah!" she said, as she dropped the glittering things one by one into
+her friend's lap. "How I loved their glitter once, and how I envied you
+your treasure of jewels; now you have lost your treasure, and I have no
+more love for mine."
+
+Constance laughed oddly, as she bent to recover her hat from the floor,
+where it had lain during their interview.
+
+"Secret for secret, Sybil," she said, with forced gaiety. "I have one
+little secret of mine own, and I am inclined to tell it you, because I
+know you can appreciate it, and can keep it; and I choose to have it
+kept. Bend down your head, dear, walls may have ears. Listen."
+
+Sybil bent her dark head, and Constance whispered a few short sentences
+that caused her to spring up erect and excited.
+
+"Constance! you are not jesting?"
+
+"Honestly no. I have told you the truth, plain and unvarnished."
+
+Sybil stood as if transfixed with surprise, or some sudden inspiration.
+
+"Why, how amazed you look, dear; after all it's an old, old trick, and
+easily played. Come, don't stare at me any longer; put away your
+diamonds and come below with me, my ponies must be dying with
+impatience, and I am anxious to avoid our mutual foe, for I make common
+cause with you, dear, and I have told you my secret, that we may be in
+very truth, fellow conspirators. Make my adieus to the family, and be
+sure and come to me just as you used; if your ogre insists upon coming,
+trust me to freeze him into an earnest desire to be in a warmer and more
+congenial place. Courage, _mon ami_, somehow we must win the battle."
+
+Sybil took the diamonds from her hands and put them away, with far more
+care than she had displayed in bringing them forth; then she followed
+her friend from the room, closing and carefully locking the door behind
+her.
+
+Constance observed the unusual caution, but made no comment. Only when
+many days after she remembered that day she wondered how she could have
+been so stupidly blind.
+
+She effected her departure without being seen by Frank or Burrill, and
+drove homeward, revolving in her mind various plots for the confusion of
+the latter, and plans for awakening Sybil from the dangerous melancholy
+that would surely unseat her reason.
+
+"If I could only move her to tears," she murmured, "only break that
+frozen calm once. How can I touch, move, melt her? It must be done." And
+pondering this difficult task, she drove slowly on.
+
+"I wonder if I blundered in telling her my secret," she mused. "I know
+she will keep it; and yet, somehow, I fear I was too hasty. One would
+think it had grown too big for me to keep. But, pshaw! it's not a life
+and death matter, and I wanted to give a new impulse to that poor
+child's thoughts. But I must try and cure myself of this impulsiveness,
+just as if it were not 'bred in the bone,' for it was an impulse that
+made me whisper my secret to Sybil; and once, it has got me into serious
+trouble." And her brow darkened, as she thought of the feud thus raised
+between herself and Doctor Heath.
+
+While she was thus pondering, Sybil Burrill had hurried back to her own
+room, locked herself in, and with hands clasped and working nervously,
+was pacing restlessly up and down, as Constance had done a little
+earlier.
+
+"It's the only way," she muttered between shut teeth, "the only possible
+way." And then she unlocked the dressing case, took out her jewels once
+more, handling them with greatest care. She spread them out before her,
+and resting her elbows on the dressing table, and her chin in the palm
+of one slender hand, gazed and thought with darkening brow and
+compressed lips; and with now and then a shudder, and a startled glance
+behind and about her.
+
+"It's the only way," she repeated. "They have left me but one weapon,
+and it's _for my life_;" and the lips set themselves in hard lines, and
+the dark eyes looked steely and resolute. What wild purpose was taking
+shape in the tortured brain of Sybil Burrill? planted there by the
+impulsive revelation of Constance Wardour.
+
+While the lurid light yet shone from her eyes, there came a tap upon the
+door, and then Mrs. Lamotte's voice called:
+
+"Sybil, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, mamma."
+
+Sybil gathered up the jewels once more, hastily and putting them under
+lock and key, admitted her mother. Mrs. Lamotte was never a
+demonstrative parent. She glanced anxiously at her daughter, and the
+look upon the pale face did not escape her eye; but she made no comment,
+only saying:
+
+"I heard Constance drive away, and thought I should find you alone. Do
+you feel equal to a drive, Sybil?"
+
+Sybil hesitated, and then answered: "I think so mamma, if you wish to go
+out."
+
+"I have some shopping to do, and--it's best for us to go out a little.
+Don't you think so?"
+
+"It's best that we keep up appearances, certainly mamma; for what else
+do we exist? Shall we take the honorable Mr. Burrill?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte shrugged her shoulders. "By no means," she replied. "Mr.
+Burrill, if his feelings are too much hurt, shall drive with me
+to-morrow. It's an honor he has been thirsting for."
+
+"He has indeed, mamma; the creature is insatiable."
+
+Mrs. Lamotte arose with one of her cold smiles.
+
+"For the present let us ignore him, Sybil," she said. "Make an elaborate
+driving toilet, we want the admiration of W----, not its pity." And
+having thus uttered one article of her creed, Mrs. Lamotte swept away to
+prepare for the ordeal, for such that drive would be to those two proud
+women.
+
+No one could have guessed it, however, when an hour later, the elegant
+barouche, drawn by two superb grays, rolled through the streets of
+W----. Two richly dressed, handsome, high-bred, smiling women; that is
+what W---- saw, and all it saw; and light-hearted poverty looked, and
+envied; little knowing the sorrow hidden underneath the silk and lace,
+and the misery that was masked in smiles.
+
+Meantime John Burrill, left to his own devices, found time drag heavily.
+Frank had abandoned him, as soon as it became known that Constance was
+gone; and had abandoned himself to a fit of rage, when he became aware
+that his black mare was also gone. Mr. Lamotte had driven to town with
+his own light buggy; Sybil was gone, Evan was gone; even his stately
+mother-in-law was beyond the reach of his obnoxious pleasantries.
+
+He ordered up a bottle of wine, and drank it in the spirit of an ill
+used man. Always, in his perfectly sober moments, John Burrill felt
+oppressed with a sense of the difference existing between himself and
+the people among whom he had chosen to cast his lot.
+
+Not that he recognized, or admitted, his inferiority; had he not
+demonstrated to the world, that he, John Burrill, sometime mill worker,
+and overseer, was a man of parts, a self-made man.
+
+When he had quaffed a bottle of wine, he began to feel oppressed in a
+different way. He was overburdened with a sense of his own genius, and
+in a very amiable frame of mind, altogether. In this mood, he joined the
+family at dinner; after which meal, a few glasses of brandy added fire
+to the smouldering element within him, and straightway he blazed forth:
+a gallant, a coxcomb. In this frame of mind, he always admired himself
+excessively, took stock of his burly legs and brawny shoulders, and
+smiled sentimentally before the mirror, at his reflected face.
+
+There were people who called John Burrill a handsome man; and if one had
+a fancy for a round head, with depressions where bumps are desirable,
+and _vice versa_, and an animal sort of attractiveness of feature,
+consisting of a low, flat forehead, straight nose, large, full red
+lipped mouth, fair florid complexion, set off by a pair of dark blue
+eyes, that were devoid of any kindly expression, and hair, full beard,
+and moustache, of a reddish brown hue, coarse in quality, but plentiful
+in quantity, and curling closely; then we will admit that John Burrill
+was handsome. Why not? We can see handsome bovines at any fat cattle
+show.
+
+After this elation, came the fourth stage; a mixture of liquors as the
+evening advanced, and then John Burrill became jealous of his rights,
+careful of his dignity, crafty, quarrelsome, and difficult to manage.
+Next he became uproarious, then maudlin; then blind, beastly drunk, and
+utterly regardless where he laid him down, or fell down, to finish the
+night, for his last stage usually dragged itself far into the small
+hours.
+
+Gluttonous and meditative in the morning; beginning to swell with a
+growing sense of importance about midday; amorous, obtrusive, and
+consequential later; hilarious after dinner; quarrelsome before tea; and
+down in the ditch before dawn. This was Burrill's notion of enjoying
+life in leisurely, gentlemanly fashion. And this was his daily routine,
+with variations to suit the occasion.
+
+But sober or drunk, morning, noon, or night, he never ceased to remind
+the Lamottes that he was one of them, their equal; never forgot his
+purpose, or allowed them to forget it, or him. He was their old man of
+the sea, their blight, their curse, and, they could never hope to shake
+him off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+IN OPEN MUTINY.
+
+
+Sybil sat alone in her boudoir. It was yet early in the evening, but,
+feeling little inclined to remain in the society of her family, who
+assembled, with all due formality, in the drawing room on "at home"
+evenings, and most of their evenings were spent at home now, she had
+withdrawn, pleading fatigue after their drive.
+
+The night outside was balmy enough, but Sybil had ordered a light fire
+in the grate, and she sat before it with all the rays from a fully
+illuminated chandelier falling directly over her.
+
+She still wore the rich dress she had put on for her drive; and
+excitement, exercise, _something_, had lent an unusual glow to her
+cheeks, and caused her dusky eyes to shine clear and steady, almost too
+clear, too steadfast, was their gaze as it was fixed upon the glowing
+coals; she had not looked so thoughtful, so self forgetful, yet self
+absorbed, since she came back to Mapleton, John Burrill's wife.
+
+Sitting thus, she heard a shambling step in the hall, and the heavy
+voice of her husband, trolling out a snatch of song, caught up most
+likely in some bar-room.
+
+He was approaching her door, and quick as thought, she sprang from her
+chair, and noiselessly examined the fastenings, to assure herself
+against him. Then, while her hand still rested on the door, his hand
+struck a huge blow upon the outside, and he called out gruffly:
+
+"Sybil."
+
+No answer; she dared not move, lest the rustle of her silks should
+betray her. "S-Sybil, I say, lemme in." Still no reply, and John Burrill
+shook the door violently, and ground out an oath.
+
+Just then came the sound of another door further up the hall, her
+mother's door. It opened easily, and closed softly, and then quick,
+cat-like steps approached, and the voice of Jasper Lamotte, low and
+serene as usual, arrested the noise of the baffled applicant for
+admittance.
+
+"Less noise, Burrill." Sybil had not heard her father address him in
+that tone of familiar command. "Sybil's not there."
+
+"Jes zif I didn't know better."
+
+"Nonsense, man; your wife is below with her mother at this moment. Now
+stop that fuss, and shake yourself out. I've some private words for your
+ear."
+
+"Oh;" the man's voice dropped a tone lower; "quite a time since we've
+'ad many private words. 'Bout Sybil?"
+
+"No, sir." The tone was lower than before, and so stern that it caused
+the listener to start. "It's about _your_ business and _mine_."
+
+"Oh! maybe you want to settle up and discharge me. Maybe you don't need
+me any more."
+
+"Curse you for a fool! You know your own value too well. Bully as you
+please, where the rest are concerned, but drop your airs with me. Settle
+with Sybil later, if you must; I want you now."
+
+Could it be Jasper Lamotte that uttered these words; rather, hissed
+them? Sybil almost betrayed herself in her surprise; but the gasp that
+she could not quite stifle, was drowned by the voice of Burrill, saying:
+
+"All right. I'll settle with Sybil later."
+
+And then she heard them enter her mother's room, and close the door
+softly.
+
+For a full moment, Sybil Burrill stood transfixed; then the silken folds
+that she had instinctively gathered about her at the first, slowly
+slipped from her hand; gradually the color that had fled from her cheeks
+came back, and burned brighter than before. She seemed to control
+herself by a strong effort, and stood thinking--thinking.
+
+Only for a few moments; then she lifted her head with a gesture of
+defiance. Swiftly and noiselessly she moved under the chandelier, drew
+it down, and extinguished every light. Then softly, cautiously, she
+opened her door and looked out, listened thus a moment, and then stepped
+boldly out, and, gliding to the head of the stairs, leaned down and
+listened.
+
+From the drawing room there came to her ear the sound of the piano,
+lightly touched, and Frank's tenor humming over the bars of a Neapolitan
+boat song.
+
+Then she understood her father's mistake. Some unwonted impulse had
+caused her mother to seat herself at the piano, and accompany Frank, who
+did not reckon piano playing among his accomplishments; and the thing
+was so unusual, that Sybil was not surprised at her parent's mistake.
+
+Evan being absent, Jasper Lamotte naturally supposed that floor
+deserted, and therefore had not observed too much caution.
+
+Only a moment did Sybil listen, and then, gathering up the silken train,
+and crushing it into a soft mass under her hand, she crept noiselessly
+as a cat to the door of her mother's room, bent down her head and
+listened there.
+
+[Illustration: Only a moment did Sybil listen.]
+
+Five minutes, ten, and still they talked, and still Sybil stood,
+moveless and intent. Then, drawing back suddenly, she ran hurriedly down
+the hall, and had gained the foot of the stairs before the sound of the
+opening door admonished her that she had escaped none too soon.
+
+In a moment she had entered the drawing room, and, with more of her
+olden gayety than they had seen in her manner for many long days,
+approached the loiterers at the piano.
+
+"Mother! mother! your hand is out of time!" and, in a moment, she had
+drawn her astonished mother from the stool, and seated herself in the
+vacant place.
+
+"Sing, Frank," she commanded, striking the keys with a crash that died
+away in discord. "We have been dull too long."
+
+When Jasper Lamotte and his model son-in-law entered the drawing room,
+they found Frank singing, Sybil accompanying him with dextrous fingers,
+and Mrs. Lamotte half resting near them, with veiled eyes, and her
+serenest cast of countenance.
+
+Casting one keen glance toward Burrill, which, being interpreted, meant,
+"I told you so, you fool," Mr. Lamotte seated himself beside his wife.
+
+John Burrill, during his interview with his father-in-law, had become a
+shade more reasonable, and less inclined to think that, in order to
+vindicate his wounded sensibilities, he must "have it out with Sybil."
+But his face still wore a surly look, and Frank, who was not over
+delicate in such matters, looked askance at him, and then whispered to
+Sybil, under cover of a softly played interlude that he "scented battle
+afar off."
+
+Sybil's only answer was a low, meaning laugh, and when he had finished
+his song, she played on and on and on. _Sonata, bravura, fantasia,
+rondo_; a crash and whirl--rapid, swift, sweet, brilliant, cold; no
+feeling, no pathos. A fanciful person might have traced something of
+exultation and defiance, in those dashing, rippling waves of music.
+
+Presently she stopped and turned to Frank.
+
+"What shall you do in the morning?" she asked, abruptly.
+
+Frank ran his fingers through his hair, after a fashion he much
+affected, and replied, slowly:
+
+"Well, really! Nothing important. Going to ride to the office--meaning
+Heath's office, not the mills. Can I do anything for you, sis?"
+
+"I was thinking," began Sybil, as unconcernedly as if she did not know
+that she was about to astonish, more than she had already done, every
+one of her listeners, "that it would be a fine morning for a canter;
+that is, if to-morrow should be a counterpart of to-day; and I am hungry
+to be in the saddle."
+
+Frank roused himself from his lazy position, and looked interested. He
+took a secret delight in annoying Burrill, when he could do it without
+too much openness or display of _malice prepense_; and here was one of
+his opportunities.
+
+"Well, Sybil, you shan't be hungering in vain," he replied, gallantly.
+"Name your hour, and your steed, and I will even sacrifice my last best
+morning nap, if need be."
+
+Sybil laughed lightly.
+
+"We will have a moderately seasonable breakfast, Frank, not to make your
+sacrifice too great; and I will ride Gretchen. Poor thing! she will have
+almost forgotten me now."
+
+"Then that is settled," replied Frank, tranquilly, and glancing
+furtively toward Burrill, who was beginning to wriggle uneasily in his
+chair. "Do you want to go anywhere in particular, sis?"
+
+"No, unless you leave me for awhile at Wardour Place; I want to see some
+of Con.'s new dresses. You can ride into town and call for me later."
+
+"Ah! very nice arrangement; then _I_ can't call with you?"
+
+"Decidedly not, sir. Who wants a man always about? They are
+conveniences, not blessings."
+
+"Oh, well, I'm extinguished. I promise to vanish from your gaze as soon
+as you are within the gates of the Princess of Wardour, and now I think,
+after so much vocal effort, and so much self-humiliation, I will go and
+smoke. Adieu, sister mine; adieu mamma. Will you smoke, Burrill?"
+
+"No, sir, thank you;" replied Burrill, with brief courtesy, and Frank,
+who knew beforehand what his answer would be, went toward his own room,
+smiling contentedly.
+
+"I wonder what's up with Sybil?" he said to himself. "She has waked up
+decidedly; but she has let herself in for a rumpus with Burrill."
+
+When he had gone Sybil arose, and seating herself near her mother, said:
+
+"Mamma, you were saying something about going to the city yesterday;
+have you decided about it?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte, who had had no thought of going to the city, and who was
+fully conscious that she had made no remarks on the subject, looked up
+without a ruffle upon her placid countenance and replied, like a wise
+and good mother.
+
+"No, my child, I have not decided."
+
+"Then, when you decide to go, inform me beforehand, mamma. I think I
+should like to accompany you and do some shopping for myself."
+
+Here Burrill showed such marked symptoms of outbreak that Mr. Lamotte
+who, throughout the hour they had passed in the drawing room, had been a
+quiet but close observer, thought it wise to interpose, and artfully
+attempted to avert the impending storm by saying:
+
+"Now that sounds natural. I'm glad that you feel like shopping, Sybil,
+and like getting out more. Very glad, aren't you, Burrill?"
+
+But Mr. Burrill had no notion of being thus appeased; instead of spiking
+a gun Jasper Lamotte had opened a battery.
+
+"I'm delighted to hear that Mrs. Burrill has stopped moping," he said
+gruffly; "but I'll be hanged if I'm glad to hear myself left out of all
+the programmes, and I'll be cussed if I'm going to put up with it,
+either," and Mr. Burrill, being full in more senses than one, arose and
+paced the room with more fierceness than regularity.
+
+Mr. Lamotte forgot himself so far as to utter an angry imprecation
+between his shut teeth, and to wrinkle his forehead into a dark frown.
+Mrs. Lamotte allowed a shade of contempt to creep about her lips as she
+turned her eyes upon her daughter, but Sybil looked not one whit
+disconcerted.
+
+"I've got something to say about my wife," went on Mr. Burrill, "and I'm
+blessed if I don't say it."
+
+What had come over Sybil? Heretofore she would in any way, in every way,
+have avoided an encounter with him; she would have quitted the field or
+have remained deaf as a post; but now, "Say it, then, Mr. Burrill, say
+it, by all means, here and now," she retorted in the coolest voice
+imaginable.
+
+And Mr. Burrill did say it.
+
+"I've had enough of being made a fool of, Mrs. Sybil Burrill; I've had
+enough of being a carpet under your feet, and nothing better. I'm your
+equal, and anybody's equal, that's what _I_ am, and I'm going to have
+_my_ rights. It's very well for you to announce that you're going here
+and going there, Mrs. Burrill; but let me tell you that you go _nowhere_
+except John Burrill goes with you, that's settled."
+
+Sybil laughed scornfully.
+
+"Not quite so fast, Mr. Burrill, just stand still one moment, if you
+_can_ stand still, which I doubt. You say you will accompany me wherever
+I go; I say you may accompany me wherever people will tolerate you,
+nowhere else. You are not the man to force into a gentleman's parlor;
+you would disgrace his kitchen, his stable. The streets are free to all,
+you can accompany me in my drives; the churches are open to the vilest,
+you can go with me there; but into the houses of my friends you _shall
+not_ go; I will not so abuse friendship. You have counted upon me to
+gain you _entree_ to Wardour and to a dozen houses, the thresholds of
+which you will never cross. If you are not satisfied with this, then you
+must be suited with less. I will not be seen with you at all."
+
+Again Jasper Lamotte, vexed and alarmed for the _denouement_,
+interposed; knowing she was striking at Burrill's chief weakness:
+
+"But Sybil, Miss Wardour, here in her meetings with Burrill, tacitly
+recognized his right to call."
+
+She turned upon him swiftly.
+
+"You know why she did it, sir; it is useless to discuss the question.
+You may calm Mr. Burrill in any way you please, or can. You know the
+terms on which he became my husband. He will continue my husband on my
+own terms. He shall not cross the threshold of Wardour, protected by my
+presence, and without it the door would close in his face. If Mr.
+Burrill does not like my terms, let him say so. _It is not in his power
+or yours to alter my decision._" And Sybil once more gathered together
+her silken skirts, lest in passing they should brush the now collapsed
+Mr. Burrill, and swept from the room.
+
+[Illustration: "It is not in his power or yours to alter my decision."]
+
+Mr. Lamotte turned to his wife.
+
+"You must talk with that girl," he said, savagely, "what the devil ails
+you all?"
+
+Mrs. Lamotte arose and faced him.
+
+"I should be wasting my breath," she replied, looking him straight in
+the eye. "You have tried that girl a little too far, Mr. Lamotte," and
+she followed after her daughter.
+
+A roar, not unlike the bellow of a bull, recalled Mr. Lamotte to the
+business of the moment. John Burrill, having recovered from his
+momentary stupor of astonishment, was dancing an improvised, and
+unsteady _can can_, among the chairs and tables, beating the air with
+his huge fists, and howling with rage.
+
+Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte did first, a very natural thing; he uttered a
+string of oaths, "not loud, but deep," and next, a very sensible thing;
+he rang for brandy and hot water.
+
+And now the battle is in Mr. Lamotte's hands, why need we linger. Brandy
+hot will always conquer a John Burrill.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE PLAY GOES ON.
+
+
+When Sybil Burrill, after uttering her defiance in the face of father
+and husband, had swept from the room, closely followed by her mother,
+another form moved away from the immediate vicinity of the most
+accessible drawing-room window,--the form of Evan Lamotte. Crouching,
+creeping, shivering, cursing, he made his way to the spot where he had
+left Frank's horse, and led it toward the stables.
+
+Anything but sober when he commenced his vigil underneath the
+drawing-room windows, he had been shocked into sobriety by his sister's
+violence, and his own rage against her tormentors. Growing more and more
+sober, and more and more sullen, he stabled the ill-used thoroughbred
+with his own hands, and then, avoiding alike both servants and family,
+he crept into the house, and up to his own room.
+
+In the morning he awoke betimes, and arose promptly; he had come to know
+the habits of his father and John Burrill, and he had good reason for
+knowing them, having of late made their movements his study.
+
+Burrill would sleep until nine o'clock; he always did after a debauch,
+and he, Evan, had recently formed a habit of appearing late at breakfast
+also. From his room he kept up a surveillance over all the household
+after a method invented by himself.
+
+He knew when his stately mother swept down to the breakfast room,
+followed soon after by his father.
+
+The family all aimed to breakfast before the obnoxious Burrill had come
+to his waking time, and so were rid of him for one meal, all but Evan.
+He and his brother-in-law breakfasted together later, and in the most
+amiable manner. After a time he heard Frank go down, and the ring of his
+heels assured Evan that he was equipped for the saddle.
+
+A little later, and, from his post at his front window, screened by the
+flowing curtains, Evan saw the horses led around, saw Sybil come down
+the steps in her trailing, dark cloth habit, saw her spring lightly to
+the saddle, and heard a mocking laugh ring out, in response to some
+sally from Frank, as they cantered away.
+
+[Illustration: Evan saw Sybil and Frank canter away.]
+
+"Act one in the insurrection," said Evan, as he turned away from the
+window. "Now let _me_ prepare for action." His preparations were few and
+simple; he removed his boots and coat, and crept out, and softly along
+the hall until he reached Burrill's door. Here he paused, to assure
+himself that he was not observed, and then softly tried the door; as he
+had expected, it opened without resistance, for Burrill had been
+escorted to bed, by his faithful father-in-law, in a state of
+mellowness, that precluded all thought for the night, or the dangers it
+might bring forth. Evan entered, cautiously closing the door as he had
+found it, and approached the bed. Its occupant was sleeping heavily, and
+breathing melodiously. Satisfied on this point, Evan opened a commodious
+wardrobe near the bed, threw down some clothing, spread it out smoothly,
+and then stepping within, he drew the doors together, fastening them by
+a hook of his own contrivance, on the inside; for Evan had made this
+wardrobe do service before. Then he laid himself down as comfortably as
+possible, and applied his eye to some small holes punctured in the dark
+wood, and quite invisible to casual outside observation.
+
+He had began to grow restless in his hiding-place, and fiercely
+disgusted with the sleeper's monotonously musical whistle, when his
+waiting was rewarded. The door once again opened cautiously, and this
+time, Jasper Lamotte entered. He looked carefully about him, then
+closing and locking the door, he approached the sleeper.
+
+"I knew it," thought Evan; "the fox will catch the wolf napping, and
+nail him before he can fortify himself with a morning dram."
+
+It took some time to arouse the sleeper, but Jasper Lamotte was equal to
+the occasion; this not being his first morning interview with his
+son-in-law; and, after a little, John Burrill was sufficiently awake to
+scramble through with a hasty toilet, talking as he dressed.
+
+"Business is getting urgent," he grumbled, thrusting a huge foot into a
+gorgeously decorated slipper. "I'd rather talk after breakfast."
+
+"Pshaw, you are always drunk enough to be unreasonable before noon. Turn
+some cold water upon your head and be ready to attend to what I have to
+say."
+
+What he had to say took a long time in the telling, for it was a long,
+long hour before the conference broke up, and the two men left the room
+together.
+
+Then the doors of the wardrobe opened slowly, and a pale, pinched face
+looked forth; following the face came the body of Evan Lamotte, shaken
+as if with an ague. Mechanically he closed the wardrobe, and staggered
+rather than walked from the room. Once more within his own room he
+locked the door with an unsteady hand, and then threw himself headlong
+upon the bed, uttering groan after groan, as if in pain.
+
+After a time he arose from the bed, still looking as if he had seen a
+ghost, and, going to a desk, opened it, and took therefrom a capacious
+drinking flask; raising it to his lips he drained half its contents, and
+the stimulant acting upon overstrained nerves, seemed to restore rather
+than to intoxicate.
+
+"At last," he muttered to himself, "I am at the bottom of the mystery,
+and--I am powerless." Then, like his sister on the previous day, he
+muttered, "There is but one way--only one--and _it must be done_!" Then
+throwing himself once more upon the bed, he moaned:
+
+"Oh, that I, the accursed of the family, heretofore, should live to
+be--but pshaw! it is for Sybil I care. But--for to-day let them all keep
+out of my sight--I could not see them and hold my peace."
+
+He pocketed the half empty flask, and made his way from the house to be
+seen by none at Mapleton for the next twenty-four hours.
+
+After that morning interview with his father-in-law, John Burrill
+blusters less for a few days, and makes himself less disagreeable to the
+ladies. He accepts the situation, or seems to; he rides out on one or
+two sunny afternoons with Mrs. Lamotte and Sybil, and on one of these
+occasions they meet Constance Wardour, driving with her aunt. The
+heiress of Wardour smiles gayly and kisses the tips of her fingers to
+the ladies, but there is no chance for him--he might be the footman for
+all Constance seems to see or know to the contrary. This happens in a
+thoroughfare where they are more than likely to have been observed, and
+John Burrill chafes inwardly, and begins to ponder how he can, in the
+face of all the Lamottes, gain a recognition from Constance Wardour. In
+his sober moments this becomes a haunting thought; in his tipsy ones it
+grows to be a mania.
+
+One day, during this lull in the family siege, Sybil and her mother
+visit the city, doing a mountain of shopping, and returning the next
+day. Sybil keeps on as she began, on the night when she listened to her
+father and husband, while they held council in her mother's room. She is
+full of energy and nervous excitement always, and the old stupor of
+dullness, and apathetic killing of time, never once returns. But Mrs.
+Lamotte likes this last state not much better than the first; neither
+does Constance; but they say nothing, for the reason that it would be
+useless, as they know too well. Sybil goes out oftener, sits with the
+family more, and seems like one waiting anxiously for a long expected
+event.
+
+John Burrill is a little disturbed at Sybil's visit to the city. He
+knows that she will go and come as she pleases there, unquestioned, and,
+if she choose, unattended by her mother. And, without knowing why, he
+feels inclined to rebel; but he is still under the spell of that morning
+interview, and so holds his peace.
+
+Evan, too, under the same uncanny spell, goes about more morose than
+usual, more silent than usual, more sarcastic than usual. More and more,
+too, he attaches himself to John Burrill; they drink together in the
+dining room, and then repair together to "Old Forty Rods," or some other
+favorite haunt. Together they seek for pleasure in the haunts of the
+vilest, Evan continually playing upon the vanity and credulity in
+Burrill's nature, to push him forward as the leader in all their
+debauches, the master spirit, the _bon vivant, par excellence_.
+
+And Burrill goes on and on, down and down. He begins to confide all his
+maudlin woes to Evan, and that young man is ever ready with sympathy and
+advice that is not calculated to make Jasper Lamotte's position, as bear
+trainer, a sinecure.
+
+But Evan contrives to leave Sybil tolerably free from this nuisance for
+a time; but only for a time. John Burrill has other advisers, other
+exhorters, other spurs that urge him on to his own downfall.
+
+Burrill begins to throw himself in the way of Constance Wardour; to meet
+her carriage here and there; to stand near by as she goes and comes on
+her shopping excursions; to drive past Wardour Place alone and often.
+
+At first, this only amuses Miss Wardour; then it annoys her; then, when
+she finds her walks in the grounds so often overlooked by the slowly
+passing Burrill, she begins to mark his maneuvers with a growing
+vexation.
+
+But Burrill perseveres, and the more nearly he approaches the fourth
+stage of his intoxication, the more open becomes his stare, the more
+patent his growing admiration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+JOHN BURRILL, PLEBEIAN.
+
+
+It is night, late and lowering; especially gloomy in that quarter of
+W---- where loom the great ugly rows of tenements that are inhabited by
+the factory toilers; for the gloom and smoke of the great engines brood
+over the roofs night and day, and the dust and cinders could only be
+made noticeable by their absence.
+
+In a small cottage, at the end of a row of larger houses, a woman is
+busy clearing away the fragments of a none too bountiful supper. A small
+woman, with a sour visage, and not one ounce of flesh on her person,
+that is not absolutely needed to screen from mortal gaze a bone. A woman
+with a long, sharp nose, two bright, ferret-like brown eyes, and a
+rasping voice, that seems to have worn itself thin asking hard questions
+of Providence, from sunrise till dark.
+
+The table has been spread for two, but the second party at the banquet,
+a gamin son aged seven, has swallowed his own and all he could get of
+his mother's share, and betakened himself to the streets, night though
+it be.
+
+The woman moves about, now and then muttering to herself as she works.
+The room is shabbily furnished, and not over neat, for its mistress
+spends her days in the great mill hard by, and housekeeping has become
+a secondary matter. Only the needs of life find their demands honored in
+this part of W----. Too often needs get choked and die of the smoke and
+the cinders.
+
+It is late, for the woman has been doing extra work; it is stormy, too,
+blustering and spattering rain. Yet she pauses occasionally and listens
+to a passing footfall, as though she expected a visitor.
+
+At last, when the final touch has made the room as tidy as it ever is,
+or as she thinks it need be, there comes a shuffling of feet outside,
+and a tremendous thump on the rickety door. After which, as if he was
+sufficiently heralded, in comes a man, a big man, muffled to the eyes in
+a huge coat, which he slowly draws down and draws off, disclosing to the
+half curious, half contemptuous gaze of the woman the auburn locks and
+highly tinted countenance of Mr. John Burrill.
+
+"So," she says, in her shrillest voice, "It's _you_, is it? It seems one
+is never to be rid of you at any price."
+
+"Yes, it's me--all of me," the man replies, as if confirming a doubtful
+statement. "Why, now; you act as if you didn't expect me."
+
+"And no more I did," says the woman sullenly and most untruthfully.
+"It's a wonder to me that you can't stay away from here, after all
+that's come and gone."
+
+"Well, I can't," he retorts, amiably rubbing his hands together.
+"Anyhow, I won't, which means about the same thing. Where's the little
+duffer?"
+
+"He's where you were at his age, I expect," she replies grimly.
+
+"Well, and if he only keeps on as I have, until he gets up to my present
+age, he won't be in a bad boat, eh, Mrs. Burrill the first."
+
+"He's got too much of his mother's grit to be where _you_ are, John
+Burrill, livin' a lackey among people that despise you because you have
+got a hand on 'em somewhere. I want to know if you don't think they will
+choke you off some day when they are done using you?"
+
+John Burrill seated himself astride a low wooden chair, and propelling
+it and himself forward by a movement of the feet and a "hitch" of the
+shoulders, he leaned across the chair back in his most facetious manner,
+and addressed her with severe eloquence.
+
+"Look here, Mrs. Burrill number one, don't you take advantage of your
+position, and ride the high horse too free. It's something to 'ave been
+Mrs. J. Burrill once, I'll admit; but don't let it elevate you too much.
+You ain't quite so handsome as the present Mrs. Burrill, neither are you
+so young, consequently you don't show off so well in a tantrum. Now the
+present Mrs. Burrill--"
+
+"Oh, then she does have tantrums, the present Mrs. Burrill," sneered the
+woman, fairly quivering with suppressed rage. "One would think she would
+be so proud of you that she could excuse all your little faults. Brooks
+says that they all talk French up there, so that you can't wring into
+their confabs, John."
+
+"Does he?" remarked Burrill, quietly, but with an ominous gleam in his
+ugly eyes. "Brooks must be careful of that tongue of his. You may
+reckon that they all stop their French when _I_ begin to talk. Now,
+don't be disagreeable, Nance; it ain't every man that can take a rise in
+the world like me, and _I_ don't put on airs, and hold myself above my
+old friends. Do you think that every man could step into such a family
+as _I_ belong to, Mrs. Burrill? No one can say that John Burrill's a
+common fellow after that feat."
+
+"No, but a great many can say that John Burrill's a mean fellow, too
+mean to walk over. Do you think the men as you worked along side of, and
+drank and supped with, don't know what you are, John Burrill! Do you
+think that they don't all know that your outrageous vanity has made a
+fool of you? Chance threw into your hands a secret of the Lamottes; you
+need not stare, we ain't fools down here at the factories. Maybe I know
+what that secret is, and maybe I don't. It's no matter. I know more of
+your doings than you give me credit for, John Burrill. Now, what must
+you do? Blackmail would have satisfied a sensible man; but straightway
+you are seized with the idea that you were born to be a gentleman. You!
+Then you form your plan; and you force, by means of the power in your
+hands, that beautiful young lady to marry you."
+
+"Seems to me," interrupts the man who has been listening quite
+contentedly, "that you are getting along too fast with your story."
+
+"Yes, I am too fast. When you first hatched out this plan, you came to
+me and put a pistol to my head, and swore that if I didn't apply for a
+divorce from you at once, you would blow my brains out. I had swore
+more than once to have a divorce; and Lord knows I had cause enough;
+what, with the drunkenness and the beatings, and the idleness, and the
+night prowlin', and all the rest; but I never expected that."
+
+The woman paused for a moment, and then resumed her tirade of mixed
+eloquence and bad grammar.
+
+"I didn't expect to be drove into the divorce court at the point of a
+pistol, but that's how it ended, and you was free to torment Miss
+Lamotte, poor young thing! Don't you let yourself think that I envied
+_her_! Lord knows I had had enough of you, and your meanness, but I
+pitied her; and if I had knocked out your brains, as I've been tempted
+to do a dozen times, when you have rolled in here blind drunk, I'd have
+done her a good turn, and myself too. The time was when Nance Fergus was
+your equal, and more too; but you left England with the notion that here
+you would be the equal of anybody, and you've never got clear of the
+idea. I've tried to make you understand that there's a coarse breed of
+folks, same's there is of dogs, and that you are of a mighty coarse
+breed. I've lived out with gentle folks over the water, and they were
+none of your sort. But, go on John Burrill, the low women you are so
+fond of, and the girls at the factory, have called you good lookin',
+until your head is turned with vanity. You have got yourself in among
+the upper class, no matter how, and I suppose you expect your good looks
+to do the rest for you. I mind once when I was at service in
+Herefordshire, the Squire had a fine young beast in his cattle yard,
+black an' sleek, an' handsome to look at, and the young ladies came down
+from the big house and looked at it through the fence, and called it a
+'beautiful creature,' but all the same they led it away to the slaughter
+house with a ring in its nose, and the young ladies dined off it with a
+relish."
+
+John Burrill stroked his nasal organ fondly, as if discerning some
+connection between that protuberance and the aforementioned ring; but he
+made no attempt to interrupt her.
+
+"You was bad enough in England, John Burrill; what with your poaching
+and your other misdeeds, and sorry was the day when I left a good place
+to come away from the country with you, because it was gettin' too hot
+for you to stay there. You couldn't get along without me then; and you
+can't get along now it seems, for all your fine feathers, without you
+come here sometimes to brag of your exploits, and pretend you are
+lookin' after the boy."
+
+"Nance," said Burrill, "you're a fine old bird! 'Ow I'd like to set you
+at my old father-in-law, blarst him, when he rides it too rough
+sometimes, and, what a sociable little discourse you could lay down for
+the ladies too, Nance; but, are you about done? You've been clean over
+the old ground, seems to me, tho' I may have dozed a little here and
+there. Have you been over the old business, and brought me over the
+water, by the nape of the neck; because, if you haven't--no, I see you
+have not, so here's to you, Nance, spin on;" and he took from his
+pocket a black bottle, and drank a mighty draught therefrom.
+
+"No, I'm _not_ done," screamed the woman. "You've come here to-night, as
+you have before, for a purpose; one would think that such a fine
+gentleman could find better society, but it seems you can't. You never
+come here for nothing; you never come for any good; you want something?
+What is it?"
+
+He laughed a low, hard laugh.
+
+"Yes," he said, taking another pull at the black bottle; "I want
+something."
+
+"Umph! I thought so."
+
+"I want to tell you," here he arose, and dropping his careless manner,
+laid a threatening hand upon her arm. "I want to tell you, Nance
+Burrill, that you have got to bridle that tongue of yours; d'ye
+understand?"
+
+She shook off his hand, and retired a few paces eyeing him closely as
+she said:
+
+"Oh! I thought so. Something has scared ye already."
+
+"No, I'm not scared; that thing can't be done by you, Nance; but you
+have been blowing too much among the factory people, and I won't have
+it."
+
+"Won't have what?"
+
+"Won't have any more of this talk about going to my wife with stories
+about me."
+
+"Who said I threatened?"
+
+"No matter, you don't do much that I don't hear of, so mind your eye,
+Nance. As for the women at the bend, you let them alone, and keep your
+tongue between your teeth."
+
+"Oh! I will; one can't blame you for seeking the society of your equals,
+after the snubbing you must get from your betters up there. But that
+don't satisfy you; you must drag that poor fellow, Evan Lamotte, into
+their den; as if he were not wild enough, before you came where you
+could reach him."
+
+John Burrill took another pull at the black bottle.
+
+"Evan's a good fellow," he said somewhat thickly. "He knows enough to
+appreciate a man like me, and we both have larks, now let me tell you."
+
+"Well, have your larks; but don't sit and drink yourself blind before my
+very eyes. Why don't you go?"
+
+"Cause I don't want'er--," growing more and more mellow, as the liquor
+went fuming to his head, already pretty heavily loaded with brandy and
+wine. "Where's the little rooster, I tell yer."
+
+"In the streets, and he's too much like his father to ever come home,
+'till he's gone after, and dragged in."
+
+"Well, go and drag him in then, I'm goin' ter see 'im."
+
+"I won't!" shrieked the woman, now fairly beside herself with rage; "go
+home to your lady wife, and take her my compliments; tell her that I
+turned you out."
+
+John Burrill staggered to his feet, uttering a brutal oath.
+
+"You'll turn me out, will you? You say _won't_ to me; you are forgetting
+my training, Mrs. Nance; I'll teach you that John Burrill's yer master
+yet; go for the boy."
+
+But the woman did not stir.
+
+"You won't, eh!" clutching her fiercely, and shaking her violently, "now
+will you?"
+
+"No, you brute."
+
+"Then, take that, and that, and that!"
+
+[Illustration: "Then take that, and that."]
+
+A rain of swift blows; a shriek ringing out on the stillness of the
+night; then a swift step, the door dashed in, and John Burrill is
+measuring his length upon the bare floor.
+
+The woman reels, as the clutch of the miscreant loosens from her arm,
+but recovers herself and turns a bruised face toward the timely
+intruder. It is Clifford Heath.
+
+"Are you badly hurt?" he asks, anxiously.
+
+She lifts a hand to her poor bruised face, and aching head, and then
+sinking into a chair says, wearily:
+
+"It's nothing--for me. Look out, sir!"
+
+This last was an exclamation of warning, John Burrill had staggered to
+his feet, and was aiming an unsteady blow at the averted head of Doctor
+Heath.
+
+The latter turned swiftly, comprehending the situation at a glance, and
+once more felled the brute to the floor.
+
+By this time others had appeared upon the scene,--neighbors, roused by
+the cry of the woman.
+
+Doctor Heath bent again to examine her face. He had scarcely observed
+the features of the man he had just knocked down; and he now asked:
+
+"Is--this man you husband, madam?"
+
+The woman reddened under her bruises.
+
+"He _was_ my husband," she said, bitterly. "He is--John Burrill."
+
+Clifford Heath started back, thinking, first of all, of Sybil, and
+realizing that there must be no scandal, that could be avoided, for her
+sake. He had never seen Burrill, save at a distance, but had heard, as
+had every one in W----, of his divorced wife.
+
+Turning to one of the neighbors, he said: "I was passing on my way home
+from Mrs. Brown's, when I heard this alarm. I think, good people, that
+we had better let this fellow go away quietly, and attend to this woman.
+Her face will be badly swollen by and by." Then he turned once more
+toward Burrill.
+
+Once more the miscreant was struggling to his feet, and at a command
+from Doctor Heath, he hastened his efforts. Hitherto, he had had only a
+vision of a pair of flashing dark eyes, and an arm that shot out
+swiftly, and straight home.
+
+Now, however, as he gained an erect posture, and turned a threatening
+look upon his assailant, the onlookers, who all knew him, and all hated
+and feared him, saw a sudden and surprising transformation. The red all
+died out of his face, the eyes seemed starting from their sockets, the
+lower jaw dropped abjectly and suddenly, and, with a yell of terror,
+John Burrill lowered his head and dashed from the house, as if pursued
+by a legion of spectres.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NANCE BURRILL'S WARNING.
+
+
+The sudden and surprising exit of Burrill caused, for a moment, a stay
+of proceedings, and left the group, so rapidly gathered in Nance
+Burrill's kitchen, standing _en tableaux_, for a full minute.
+
+Dr. Heath was the first to recover from his surprise, and as he took in
+the absurdity of the scene, he uttered a low laugh, and turned once more
+toward the woman, Nance, who seemed to have lost herself in a prolonged
+stare.
+
+"Your persecutor does not like my looks, apparently," he said, at the
+same time taking from his pocket a small medicine case. "Or was it some
+of these good friends that put him to flight?" And he glanced at the
+group gathered near the door.
+
+A woman with a child in her arms, and her husband with two more in
+charge, at her heels; a family group to the rescue; two or three old
+women, of course; and a man with a slouching gait, a shock of unruly red
+hair, and a face very much freckled across the cheek bones, and very red
+about the nose; the eyes, too, had an uncanny squint, as if nature had
+given up her task too soon and left him to survey the world through the
+narrow slits. This man had always an air of being profoundly interested
+in the smallest affairs of life, perhaps because the slits through which
+he gazed magnified the objects gazed upon, and he peered about him now
+with profoundest solicitude. This was Watt Brooks, a mechanic, and
+hanger-on about the mills, where he did an occasional bit of odd work,
+and employed the balance of his time in gossiping among the women, or
+lounging at the drinking saloons, talking a great deal about the wrongs
+of the working classes, and winning to himself some friends from a
+certain turbulent class who listened admiringly to his loud, communistic
+oratory.
+
+Brooks had not been long in W----, but he had made rapid headway among
+that class who, having little or nothing to love or to fear, are not
+slow to relieve the monotony of very bare existence by appropriating to
+themselves the friendship of every hail fellow whom chance throws in
+their way.
+
+Accordingly Brooks had become a sort of oracle among the dwellers in
+"Mill avenue," as the street was facetiously called, and he was ready
+for any dish of gossip, not infrequently making himself conspicuous as a
+teller of news; he was faithful in gathering up and retailing small
+items among such ladies of the "avenue" as, being exempted from mill
+work because of family cares, had time and inclination, and this latter
+was seldom lacking, to chatter with him about the latest mishap, or the
+one that was bound to occur soon.
+
+Prominent among the gossips of Mill avenue was that much abused matron
+Mrs. John Burrill number one, and she had not been slow to discover the
+advantages of possessing such an acquaintance as Mr. Brooks; accordingly
+they gravitated toward each other by mutual attraction, and it was quite
+a common thing for Brooks to drop in and pass an evening hour in the
+society of Mrs. Burrill, sometimes even taking a cup of tea at the table
+of the lone woman on a Sunday afternoon.
+
+As Doctor Heath laid his case upon the small pine table, and prepared to
+deal out a soothing lotion for the bruised Mrs. Burrill, Brooks advanced
+courageously, supported on either hand by an anxious old lady, and the
+chorus commenced.
+
+"It warn't _us_ as scared him out, sir," said Brooks, positively. "He's
+seen all o' us, first and last. Maybe as he's had cause for remembering
+_you_, sir?" and Brooks peered anxiously at the doctor, as if hoping for
+a prompt confirmation of this shrewd guess.
+
+"Sure, an' it was a guilty conscience, if ever I seen one, as made the
+brute beast run like that, from the sight of the doctor," chimed in
+first old lady, who quarreled with her "old man" on principle, and
+seldom came out second best. "Faith, an' the murtherin' wretch has half
+killed ye, Burrill, dear."
+
+"I was that scart with the screamin'," said the mother of three, "that I
+nearly let the baby fall a-runnin' here."
+
+And then they all gathered around Mrs. Burrill, and talked vigorously,
+and all together, while Brooks, hovering near the doctor, pursued his
+investigation.
+
+"A bad lot, that Burrill, sir. I've seen him, frequent; and so he's had
+occasion to know you, sir?"
+
+"No, my good fellow; I never had the honor of meeting Mr. John Burrill
+before," replied Doctor Heath, smiling at the man's pertinacity.
+
+"Now, I want to know," exclaimed Brooks, in accents of real distress,
+"then what _could_ have set him off like that?"
+
+"I suppose we were getting too many for him," replied the doctor,
+easily.
+
+"Not a bit of it, sir. Burrill ain't no coward, especially when he's in
+liquor; and he and me's on good enough terms, too; though, of course,"
+said Brooks, recollecting himself, and glancing anxiously at the
+reclining figure of the injured one, "of course, I would never stand by
+and see a lady struck down, sir."
+
+"Manifestly not," replied the doctor, drily. "Then, as he would not fear
+you, and could not fear me, he must have been in the first stages of
+'snake seeing.'"
+
+"It's my opinion, he took you for somebody else, as he has reasons to be
+afraid of," said one of the women, with an emphatic nod.
+
+But here the voice of the heroine of the occasion rose high above the
+rest.
+
+"John Burrill wasn't so drunk as to run away from a man he never saw, or
+to see crooked," she said, fiercely. "I saw the look on his face,
+blinded tho' I was, and he's afraid of _you_, Doctor Heath. I don't know
+why. There's some secrets in John Burrill's life that I don't know, and
+there's more that I wish I didn't know; but here, or somewhere else, he
+has known you, sir. Perhaps only by sight; but he's afraid of you,
+that's certain."
+
+There was no reply from Doctor Heath; he was busy over his medicine
+case. He prepared a lotion, to be applied to the bruises, and a
+sedative, to be applied to the nerves of the patient, who was beginning
+to recover herself in a measure, and launched out into a torrent of
+invective against the author of her trouble; after which she rushed into
+a wild recital of her wrongs, beginning at the time when she left a good
+place in England, to follow the fortunes of John Burrill, and running
+with glib tongue over the entire gamut of her trials since. And all of
+this, although it was far from new to the dwellers of Mill Avenue, was
+listened to, by them, with absorbed interest, and the proper
+accompaniment of ejaculations, at the proper places. During this
+discourse, to which Brooks listened with evidences of liveliest
+interest, Doctor Heath remained seemingly inattentive, waiting for a
+lull in the storm; when it came at last, he ascertained as briefly as
+possible, who among the women would remain, and pass the night with Mrs.
+Burrill; gave her direction, as to the use she was to make of the
+medicines he had prepared, and buttoned his coat about him, preparatory
+to departure.
+
+As his hand was upon the latch, the voice of his patient arrested him.
+
+"Doctor," she said, earnestly. "It wouldn't be gratitude in me to let
+you go away without a word of warning. I don't want to pry into your
+affairs, but let me tell you this: You are not done with John Burrill;
+you took him by surprise to-night; but, I'll wager he is over his scare
+by now, and he is plotting how he can get another sight at you,
+unbeknown to yourself; and, if he has reason to be afraid of you, then
+look out for him; _you_ have reasons for being afraid too."
+
+Doctor Heath hesitated a moment, and a shade of annoyance crossed his
+face, then he said in his usual careless tone:
+
+"Give yourself no uneasiness about this matter, madam; I never saw the
+scoundrel before, and he was simply afraid of my fist. However, if he
+ever should cross my path, be assured I shall know how to dispose of
+him;" and Clifford Heath bowed and went out into the night, little
+recking that he had left his life in the hands of five old women.
+
+In a short time, Brooks arose and shuffled out, and then the tongues
+were once more loosened, the husband attendant had been ordered home
+with his two charges, and the chief subject of their converse was Doctor
+Heath, and the strange influence he had exerted upon John Burrill; and a
+fruitful theme they found it.
+
+Meantime, John Burrill, who had fled straight on down the gloomy length
+of Mill avenue, found himself, and his senses, together, close under the
+shadow of one of the huge factories, and at the river's very edge.
+
+Here, breathless and bespattered, he sat down upon a flat stone to
+recover himself, and review the situation.
+
+"Curse the man," he muttered. "I would not have made such a fool of
+myself for a gold mine; but I couldn't have helped it for two," he
+added, after a moment's reflection, "if it's the man I supposed it to
+be! But it can't be! It is not."
+
+He was by this time, comparatively sober, and he arose to his feet,
+finally, feeling his courage returning, but still deep in thought.
+
+"Hang the luck," he muttered, kicking viciously at a loose stone. "If
+that's the man I fear, then Jasper Lamotte would be glad to know him.
+Why!" starting suddenly erect, "I can find out, and I will. I must, for
+my own safety," and John Burrill faced about and retraced his steps.
+
+Cautiously this time, he went over the ground, heeding where he set his
+foot, lest some misstep should betray his presence in Mill avenue still;
+more and more cautiously as he neared the house from which he had so
+lately fled.
+
+Closer and closer he crept, until at last he was under the window of the
+kitchen, and here he crouched, listening. He heard the mingled confusion
+of voices, then the firm tones of Clifford Heath, clear above the rest.
+Hearing this, he moved quickly away, for he was in instant danger of
+detection, should the door open suddenly, as it might at any moment.
+
+He crossed the street and standing under the shadow of a small tenement,
+waited.
+
+It was not long before the door opened, and the light from within showed
+him the tall form of Clifford Heath, clearly outlined against the
+darkness.
+
+Out strode Heath, walking so rapidly, that the not yet quite sober, John
+Burrill, found himself compelled to exercise care, and expend some
+breath, in keeping him within sight.
+
+On and on, went the pursued and the pursuer, and presently, out of the
+darkness, came a third form, gliding shadow-like; as if every step of
+the way were too familiar to render caution necessary; this third form,
+drew nearer and nearer to Burrill, who, all unconscious of its
+proximity, labored on after Doctor Heath.
+
+Straight to his own cottage went the doubly shadowed young physician; he
+opened the door with a latch key, and the followers lost him in the
+darkness of the unlighted vestibule. Presently, however, a light was
+seen to glimmer through the partially closed blinds, and then John
+Burrill crept cautiously nearer, and feeling his way carefully, lest
+some obstacle at his feet should cause him to stumble; he gained the
+window, pressed his face close to the shutters and peered through.
+
+Clifford Heath was pacing up and down his cosy sitting room, seemingly
+lost in perplexed thought, and, as again and again his face was turned
+to the light, the watcher studied it closely; finally he seemed
+satisfied with his scrutiny, for he turned away and groped back to the
+street once more.
+
+"It's the other one," he muttered, drawing a long breath of relief. "I
+might have known it from the first; so he is the young Doctor they tell
+of! Well, it's a rum game that brings him here, and it's certain he
+don't want to be known. He can't know me, and--Jove, I'd like to pay him
+for the hits he gave me," and he fell to pondering as he turned his
+steps, not the way he had come, nor yet toward Mapleton, but in the
+direction of "Old Forty Rods." But long before he reached his
+destination, the creeping, stealthy shadow, had ceased to follow, and
+had vanished down a side street.
+
+[Illustration: "It's the other one," he muttered.]
+
+A few lights were glimmering, here and there, as he turned down the, not
+very elegant, street on which was located the haven of "Forty Rods," and
+when he was within a block of the place, a man, coming suddenly around
+the corner, ran square against him.
+
+Burrill uttered an oath, as he with difficulty regained his balance, but
+the new-comer called out in a voice, a little unsteady from some cause:
+
+"Helloa! B--Burrill, that yer, ole feller? Didn't mean ter knock against
+yer, give-ye my word I didn'. Give us a tiss, ole man, an' come-long to
+Forty's!"
+
+"Brooks," said Burrill, taking him sociably by the arm, and facing
+toward the saloon in question. "Brooks, you're drunk; you're beastly
+drunk; drunk as a sailor by all that's sober." And together they entered
+"Old Forty Rods."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+CONSTANCE AT BAY.
+
+
+"It is impossible, sir! utterly impossible! and, pardon me for saying
+it, most absurd! This matter has been dragged on too long already. And
+on such evidence I utterly refuse to follow up the case. You have done
+well, undoubtedly, but it was only at the urgent request of Mr. Lamotte
+that I have allowed it to continue, and now I wash my hands of the whole
+affair."
+
+It is Constance Wardour who speaks, standing very straight and with head
+very firmly poised, and wearing upon her face what Mrs. Aliston would
+have called her "obstinate look." Her words were addressed to a well
+dressed, gentlemanly looking personage, who is neither young nor yet
+middle aged, and who might pass for a solicitor with a good run of
+clients, or a bank cashier out on special business. He is looking
+somewhat disconcerted just now, but recovers his composure almost as she
+ceases speaking.
+
+"But, madam," he expostulates mildly, "this is unheard of, really. You
+employ me upon a case which, just now, has reached a crisis, and when
+success seems almost certain you tell me to drop the case. I never like
+to drag forward my own personality, Miss Wardour, but really this is a
+blow aimed directly at my professional honor."
+
+There is an ominous flash in the eye of the heiress, but her voice is
+smooth and tranquil, as she replies:
+
+"I am sorry if this should injure _you_, Mr. Belknap, but, pardon me, I
+scarcely see how it can; you, as I understand, are a '_private
+detective_,' answerable to no one save yourself and the one employing
+you. I, as that one, pronounce myself satisfied to drop the case. I
+decline to use the circumstantial evidence you have brought against a
+man who is above suspicion, in my mind, at least. Let the Wardour
+diamonds rest in oblivion. Mr. Belknap, I am ready to honor your draft
+for any sum that you may deem sufficient to compensate you for the
+trouble you have taken, as well as for the _hurt_ done your professional
+pride."
+
+Private Detective Belknap stood for a moment, pondering, then he lifted
+his head and said, with an air of injured virtue beautiful to
+contemplate:
+
+"Miss Wardour, of course there is no appeal from your decision. In my
+profession it often happens that we are compelled to unmask fraud and
+deceit in high places, and to wound the feelings of some we profoundly
+respect. While in your employ, I was bound to work for your interest; I
+owed a duty to you. Being dismissed from your service, I owe a duty
+still to society. As an officer of the law, it becomes my duty, being no
+longer under your commands, to make known to the proper authorities the
+facts in my possession. I do not know this Doctor Heath, consequently
+can have no object in hunting him down; but, believing him guilty, and
+holding the proof that I do, I must make known the truth, otherwise I
+should be compromising myself, and compounding a felony." Here Mr.
+Belknap took up his hat. "I will send in my statement of expenses, etc.,
+to-morrow, Miss Wardour. This withdrawal of the case has been so sudden,
+so unexpected, that I am not prepared for a settlement of accounts." And
+Mr. Belknap turned slowly toward the door.
+
+But the heiress stopped him by a gesture.
+
+"Stay a moment, sir," she said, and the ominous gleam was intensified
+into a look of absolute hatred, for an instant. "I hope I do not quite
+understand your meaning. Did you intend to tell me that if I dismiss you
+from my service, you will still continue the search for my diamonds?"
+
+[Illustration: "Stay a moment, sir."]
+
+"No, madam: I will simply place the facts I have gathered before the
+town authorities, and leave them to use the knowledge as they see fit. I
+then withdraw from the field, unless called upon as a witness, when, of
+course, I must do my duty."
+
+Miss Wardour stood for some moments in silent thought, one small foot
+tapping nervously the while, a sure sign of irritation with her. At last
+she said, slowly, and with an undertone of sarcasm, that she made a
+futile effort to conceal:
+
+"I think I comprehend you Mr. Belknap, and I withdraw my dismissal. You
+are still retained on the Wardour robbery case; I suppose, therefore,
+you are subject to my orders."
+
+Mr. Belknap laid down his hat, and returned to his former position.
+Without a trace of triumph or satisfaction in his face or manner, he
+said:
+
+"I am subject to your commands, certainly, Miss Wardour; but I beg that
+you will not misapprehend me."
+
+"Be easy on that point," interrupted Miss Wardour, somewhat impatiently.
+"Now then, Mr. Belknap, I want a little time to consider this matter,
+and to consult with my aunt; also to see Mr. Lamotte. During this time I
+desire you to remain passive, to make no move in the matter; above all,
+to mention your suspicions to no one. You can, of course, keep as close
+a watch as you may please over Doctor Heath, but it must be done
+quietly, do you comprehend? You are to say nothing of this matter not
+even to Mr. Lamotte."
+
+Once more the detective took up his hat.
+
+"I comprehend," he said, gravely; "you shall be obeyed to the letter,
+Miss Wardour; for three days, then, my task will be an easy one. On
+Friday morning I will call on you again."
+
+"That is what I wish," she said; "I will have further instructions for
+you then."
+
+With the bow of a courtier, the private detective withdrew from her
+presence, and for a moment the heiress stood as he had left her, gazing
+at the door through which he had disappeared, as if she were seeking to
+transfix an enemy with the angry fire of her eyes. Then she struck her
+hands together fiercely, and began a rapid march to and fro across the
+room.
+
+"Ah!" she ejaculated; "the sleek, smooth, oily-tongued wretch! To dare
+to come here and make terms with _me_; to fairly compel me to keep him
+in my service! and to bring such a charge against _him_. If he had an
+enemy, I should call it a wretched plot. But I'll not be outwitted by
+you, Mr. Belknap; I have three day's grace."
+
+She continued to pace the room with much energy for a few moments, and
+then seating herself at a writing table, rapidly wrote as follows:
+
+     NEIL BATHURST, ESQ,
+     No.---- B---- street. N. Y.
+
+     _Dear Sir:_--If in your power, be in W---- in two days, without
+     fail. Danger menaces your friend, Dr. H----, and I only hold
+     detective B---- in my service to bridle his tongue. I fear a plot,
+     and can only stay proceedings against the innocent, by proclaiming
+     the truth concerning my diamonds; acting under your advice, I will
+     withhold my statement until you arrive.
+
+     Hastily, etc.,
+     CONSTANCE WARDOUR.
+
+There was yet an hour before the departure of the eastern mail, and
+Constance sealed her letter, and dispatched it by a faithful messenger;
+this done, she pondered again.
+
+The private detective had waited upon her that morning with a strange
+statement. For weeks he had been working out this strange case, guided
+by the fact that the chloroform administered to Constance was
+scientifically meted out. He had commenced a system of shadowing the
+various medical men in W----, without regard to their present or
+previous standing. Nothing could be found in the past or present of any
+to cause them to fall under suspicion, until he came to investigate
+Doctor Heath. Here what did he find? First, that his antecedents could
+be traced back only so far as his stay in W---- had extended. Nothing
+could be found to prove that his career had been above reproach,
+previous to his sojourn here; hence, according to the reasoning of Mr.
+Belknap, it was fair to suppose that it had not been. "For," argued the
+astute private detective, "where there is secresy, there is also room
+for suspicion." And Constance felt a momentary sinking of the heart,
+when she recalled the words she had overheard, as they fell from the
+lips of Clifford Heath: "Here, I am Clifford Heath, from nowhere."
+Starting with a suspicion, the private detective had made rapid headway.
+He had ascertained beyond a doubt that Doctor Heath's expenses, taken
+all in all, were in excess of his professional income. He might have a
+private income, true; but this was not proven, and then there _was_ a
+mystery that the accused had tried in vain to hide from the eyes of the
+hunters. There was a correspondence that was carried on with the utmost
+caution, letters received that had thrown him quite off his guard, and
+that were destroyed as soon as read. Finally and lastly, there was the
+bottle broken into fragments and thrown to the dust heap; but, without
+doubt, the counterpart of the one found at Miss Wardour's bedside on the
+morning of the robbery; while, among some cast-off garments, had been
+found the _half of a handkerchief_, that matched precisely the one found
+over the face of the heiress. All these facts Mr. Belknap had laid
+before her with elaborate explanations, and "notes by the way," but
+instead of drawing from her the expected indignant demand for the
+instant arrest of the accused one, Miss Wardour had listened coldly, and
+with marked impatience, and had finally declared her decision not to
+move in the affair, nor to allow any one to act in her behalf.
+
+As Constance reviewed the arguments of the detective, a new thought came
+to her. Doctor Heath, all unconscious of the danger menacing him, might
+in some way, do himself an injury, and add to the chain of
+circumstantial evidence that was lengthening for his overthrow. He must
+be warned.
+
+This was a delicate task, and she hesitated a little over the manner of
+accomplishing it.
+
+Finally, she seated herself once more at her desk and wrote another
+letter, or rather a note.
+
+It contained only a few lines, and was addressed to, "_Mr. Raymond
+Vandyck._"
+
+Meanwhile, private detective Belknap was driving slowly in the
+light buggy, that had brought him to Wardour Place, toward the
+residence of Jasper Lamotte. His features wore a look of complacent
+self-satisfaction, and he hummed softly to himself, as he drove easily
+over the red and brown leaves that were beginning to flutter downward
+and carpet the highway.
+
+Arriving at Mapleton; he drove leisurely up the avenue, and lifting his
+eyes toward the stately edifice crowning the hill, he saw, standing on
+the broad piazza, and gazing directly toward him, a beautiful woman,
+clad in trailing silk, and wearing a shawl of richest crimson cashmere,
+draped about her head and shoulders; as he drew nearer, he was startled
+at the strange mingling of pallor and flame in her face; the temples
+were like blue veined ivory, and the slender hands, clasping the folds
+of crimson, seemed scarcely strong enough to retain their hold; but the
+lips and cheeks were a glowing crimson, and the eyes burned and glowed
+with a steady intense light.
+
+"So," thought private detective Belknap, "I have not left all the beauty
+behind me, it seems. I suppose this is the daughter of mine host."
+
+And so thinking, he reined in his horse upon the graveled drive and,
+lifting up his hat, with elaborate courtesy, said:
+
+"I believe this is Mapleton."
+
+The lovely brunette allowed the crimson shawl to drop from about her
+head as she came slowly down the steps, never once removing her dark
+searching eyes from his face.
+
+"This is Mapleton, sir. May I ask if this is Mr. Belknap?"
+
+Somewhat surprised, he answered in the affirmative.
+
+"Mr. Belknap, the detective," she persisted, and then seeing that he
+hesitated over his answer, she added, "I am Jasper Lamotte's daughter,
+and know that he expects you."
+
+"I am the man Mr. Lamotte expects," he said, throwing down the reins
+and springing from the buggy. "Is Mr. Lamotte at home?"
+
+"My father is in the library," she replied, coming still nearer him,
+"follow me, Mr. Belknap, I will send a servant to take your horse."
+
+He followed her up the steps, and across the broad piazza; as they
+passed under the shadow of the arched doorway, she paused, looked about
+her, and then, drawing close to the detective and laying one hand
+lightly on his arm, she whispered:
+
+"Mr. Belknap, I have a word for your ear alone. Can you meet me to-night
+where we shall be secure from intrusion?"
+
+Her burning eyes searched his face, and accustomed as he was to strange
+situations, Mr. Belknap was startled for a moment out of his
+self-possession.
+
+"I have need of your professional services," she hurried on, "and they
+must be rendered very secretly. Will you hear what I have to say?"
+
+The beautiful face was full of wild eagerness, and Mr. Belknap was not
+insensible to the piquancy of the situation.
+
+"I am yours to command, madam. Name the place and hour," he replied
+gallantly.
+
+"Then meet me at the boat house, you can see it from here, to-night at
+nine. Be sure you are not followed, and--above all, do not mention to my
+father, or any one, this meeting of ours. You will be punctual?"
+
+"As the hour itself."
+
+"Thanks. Come in now, sir; I will send a servant to announce your
+arrival."
+
+She threw open the door of the drawing room, motioned him to enter,
+inclined her head in a graceful adieu, and swept down the hall.
+
+Two minutes later he stood in the library bowing before Jasper Lamotte
+and his son Frank.
+
+"Ah, it's you, Belknap," said the elder Lamotte. "And what news?"
+
+"Very little, sir."
+
+"But," interrupted Frank, "surely you have fired your train?"
+
+"Yes, and I have run against the worst impediment that ever comes in a
+detective's way."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"A woman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+APPOINTING A WATCH DOG.
+
+
+Doctor Heath stood at his office window looking out upon the street, and
+whistling softly. Below and directly under his gaze, stood a fine bay
+horse, harnessed to a new light road wagon; and horse and owner were
+somewhat impatiently waiting the arrival of Ray Vandyck, who was under
+engagement to drive with Doctor Heath, and pass his opinion on the
+"points" of the handsome bay, a recent purchase of the doctor's, who was
+a lover of a good horse and a fine dog, and was never without one or
+more specimens of each.
+
+A quick step behind him caused him to bring his tune to an abrupt close,
+and he turned to see Ray, who had entered hurriedly, leaving the door
+ajar, and was busy breaking the seal of a small cream tinted envelope.
+
+Clifford Heath favored him with a quizzical glance, and came away from
+the window.
+
+"That's a dangerous looking document, Ray," laughed the doctor, throwing
+himself down in his own favorite chair with the air of a man resigned to
+any thing.
+
+"I've a shuddering horror of any thing so small and delicately tinted.
+But read it, my boy; it's your fate to be persecuted, you are so
+amiable."
+
+Ray lost no time in opening and scanning the dainty note, and he now
+turned a perplexed face toward his friend.
+
+"I'll be hanged if I can understand it," he said, filiping the note
+between his thumb and fingers.
+
+[Illustration: "I'll be hanged if I can understand it."]
+
+"Of course you can't, 'it' having emanated from the brain of a woman. I
+only hope your inability to comprehend the incomprehensible is the worst
+feature in the case."
+
+"But it isn't," protested Ray. "I must renounce my drive, and your
+charming society."
+
+"Really! is she so imperative, and are you so much her bond slave?"
+
+Ray laughed. "Imperative," he cried. "You need not have asked, had you
+known the name affixed to this missive, and you would obey it with as
+much alacrity as I shall. Listen, Heath: I can trust you with a secret,
+if this be one." And, unfolding the note, he read:
+
+     RAYMOND VANDYCK, ETC.
+
+     _My Friend_: By coming to me, _at once_, on receipt of this note,
+     you will do me a great favor, and perhaps do one who is your
+     friend, an essential service. Come at once, to
+
+     Yours in waiting,
+     CONSTANCE WARDOUR.
+
+"There," said Ray, refolding the note; "now what say you?"
+
+"That Miss Wardour's commands are to be obeyed; and--as your horse is
+stabled, and mine is at the door, you had best take mine and lose no
+time. Perhaps you may be dismissed as speedily as you are summoned, and
+we may take our drive after all. Go, go, my son;" and he waved his hand
+theatrically.
+
+"Thank you, Heath. You are a generous fellow; but don't look for your
+red roan steed until you see it back. I shall place that and myself at
+Miss Wardour's disposal. She shall find that she has summoned no laggard
+knight."
+
+"Who talks of playing the knight to Miss Constance Wardour's 'fair
+ladye?' Let him have a care!" cried a gay voice from the doorway. And
+turning their eyes thither, they saw the dark, handsome face of Frank
+Lamotte.
+
+A shade of annoyance crossed the face of young Vandyck, but he retorted
+in the same strain:
+
+"I am that happy man. Stand aside, sir. I go to cast myself and all my
+fortune at her feet." Then, turning a wicked look back at his friend in
+the big chair, he cried, "Heath, adieu! look your last on the red roan
+steed. I may be going 'O'er the hills and far away,'--who knows?"
+
+"You may be gone--"
+
+"Deep into the dying day."
+
+"That's the thought that distresses me," retorted the doctor. "But go,
+go, egotist!"
+
+With a laugh, and another backward meaning glance at the doctor, young
+Vandyck pocketed his note, took up his hat, and murmuring a mocking
+adieu in the ear of young Lamotte, ran lightly down the steps, and, a
+moment later, the swift fall of hoofs told them he was off.
+
+"What the deuce ails the fellow?" said Lamotte, sourly, tossing his hat
+and himself down upon the office divan. "Prating like a school-boy about
+a summons from Miss Wardour."
+
+"He means to get to Wardour Place without loss of time, if one may judge
+from the manner of his going. You know," smiling behind his hand, "Ray
+is a prime favorite at Wardour."
+
+"I did not know it," returned Lamotte, sulkily. "Vandyck don't seem to
+realize that I have a prior claim, and that his twaddle, therefore, only
+serves to render him ridiculous."
+
+Clifford Heath dropped his hand from before his face, and turned two
+stern, searching eyes upon the young man.
+
+"_Have_ you a prior claim?" he asked, slowly.
+
+For a second the eyes of Frank Lamotte were hidden by their long lashes;
+then they were turned full upon the face of his interlocutor, as their
+owner replied firmly:
+
+"I have."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Raymond Vandyck lost no time on his drive to Wardour Place; and before
+he could frame any sort of reasonable guess as to the possible meaning
+of Constance's note, he found himself in her very presence.
+
+"Ah, Ray!" she exclaimed, extending a welcome hand, "you are promptness
+itself. I hardly dared hope to see you so soon."
+
+"I met your messenger on the road, as I was riding in to keep an
+appointment with Heath," exclaimed Ray, "but as I was in company with
+Bradley, our new neighbor, you know, I did not open the note until I got
+to Heath's office. Then, as your note was urgent, and Heath's horse at
+the door, I took it, and here I am, very much at your service, Conny."
+
+"And I don't know of another who _could_ be of service to me just now,
+Ray," she said, seriously; "neither do I know just how to make use of
+you. Ray," suddenly, "are you burdened with a large amount of
+curiosity?"
+
+"About the average amount, I think."
+
+"Well! I am about to give that curiosity a severe test."
+
+"Seriously, Conny, unless your secret concerns some one especially dear
+to me, I can survive being kept in the dark."
+
+"And being made to work in the dark?"
+
+"Yes, that too, under your orders, for I know I should risk nothing in
+obeying them."
+
+"I should set you no dangerous or dishonorable task, of course, Ray."
+
+"I am sure of that, Conny; command me; don't hesitate."
+
+But she did hesitate, not knowing just how to tell him that she was
+Doctor Heath's friend, in spite of appearances, without telling, or
+revealing otherwise too much. How could she set the matter before him,
+as she wished him to see it?
+
+Seeing her hesitate, Ray unwittingly came to the rescue, and Constance
+seized upon the idea he gave her, with hasty eagerness, little thinking
+of the results that were to follow her implied deceit.
+
+"I can't feel too grateful for your confidence at any price," he said,
+laughingly; "when I think how Lamotte glowered at me when he saw me
+coming here. But, then, if rumor speaks the truth, he has a right to be
+jealous, eh, Constance?"
+
+Here was a way out of her dilemma; let Ray imagine her engaged to Frank
+Lamotte, and he would not misconstrue her interest in Doctor Heath; as
+for Frank, he had been a suitor, and a most troublesome one, for so
+long, that she thought nothing of appropriating him to herself, as a
+matter of convenience, and only for the moment, and she never thought at
+all of the injury she might do herself by this deception.
+
+"Oh, yes!" she replied; "I have given Frank the right to be as jealous
+as he pleases." And the hot blood flamed into her cheek, as she saw how
+readily he had taken her words as she had meant them to be understood.
+
+"Lamotte's a lucky fellow," said Ray, "although I know a better man I
+would like to see in his shoes. But we won't quarrel over Frank. Is it
+him that I am to serve?"
+
+"No," she replied, coloring again. And once more he misapplied her
+confusion.
+
+Constance was silent and thoughtful for a few moments, and then she came
+directly to the point.
+
+"Some strange things have come to my knowledge concerning Doctor Heath,
+Ray. They have come in such a manner that I would be in a measure
+violating the confidence of another were I to make a statement in full,
+and yet--in some way Doctor Heath must know that danger menaces him."
+
+"Ah!" uttered Ray Vandyck, and Constance, lifting her eyes to his face,
+caught there a fleeting look that caused her to ask suddenly:
+
+"Ray, have you heard anything about Doctor Heath? anything strange, I
+mean, or unexpected?"
+
+"Why," replied Ray, slowly. "I have nothing very strange to relate,
+but--Heath's encounter with Burrill a short time since has made some
+talk."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+"Then is it not about this affair that you have sent for me?"
+
+"Ray, explain yourself. What of this 'affair,' as you call it?"
+
+"Why, you see," began Ray, plunging into his recital after a fashion
+peculiar to himself, "about a week ago, yes, it was quite a week ago, on
+that stormy blustering Monday night, when sensible people staid in
+doors, Heath, after the manner of doctors, was straggling about that
+lovely precinct known as Mill avenue, trying to find the shortest way
+out after paying a visit to some sick child, or woman, I won't swear
+which; as I was saying, he was on his way out of that blessed avenue,
+when he heard screams coming from the cottage he was passing. It was the
+voice of a woman, and Heath made for the house, and rushed in just in
+time to see that latest addition to society, Mr. John Burrill, in a
+state of partial intoxication, raining blows about the head and
+shoulders of the woman who was once his wife. Heath rained one blow upon
+him and he went down under it. Then he got up, not quite satisfied and
+thirsting for more fight, and Heath felled him once more.
+
+"It seems that the thing had been done so rapidly, that Burrill had not
+had time to get a fair look at the face of his assailant; but the second
+time he scrambled to his feet, Heath stood facing him full, braced and
+ready, when, behold, Burrill, after one look, turns as pale as a
+spectre, utters a yell of fear, and dashes out of the house like a
+madman. By this time, several people had come in, and the thing puzzled
+them not a little. Heath asserted that he had never, to his knowledge,
+seen Burrill before; and yet there stood the fact of Burrill's fright at
+sight of him. Some believed it a case of mistaken identity; others, that
+Heath was trying to mislead them, and that he did know Burrill. The
+affair became noised about as such things will be, and some were curious
+to see another meeting between Heath and Burrill. And here comes the
+queer part of the business. In his sober moments, Burrill avoids Heath,
+and can not be brought to mention his name. But when he gets a little
+too much on board--beg pardon, Conny--I mean, somewhat intoxicated, he
+becomes very loquacious; then he throws out strange hints, and gives
+mysterious winks; states that he could tell a tale about Heath that
+would open everybody's eyes. He talks of 'borrowed plumage,' and
+insinuates that Heath would like to buy him off. He says that he took to
+his heels because he knew that Heath did not mean fair play, etc.
+Finally, two or three evenings ago, when Burrill was remarkably tipsy,
+and therefore, unusually ripe for a combat with any one, Heath and I,
+crossing the street opposite Spring's Bank, encountered him coming
+toward us, surrounded by a party of roughs. As we approached them,
+Burrill making some uncouth gestures, came forward, in advance of the
+rest, and as he came opposite Heath, leaned toward him, and whispered a
+few words in his ear. I don't know what he said, but the effect on Heath
+was magical. For a moment, he seemed staggered, as if by a blow, and
+then he took the fellow by the throat, and shook him until his teeth
+rattled; then loosed his hold, so suddenly, that his man dropped to the
+ground. Heath by this time was a little cooler; he stooped over the
+prostrate man, took him by the collar, and fairly lifted him to his
+feet, then he said:
+
+"'Understand this, fellow, I allow no man to interfere with my business.
+This is only a sample of what will happen to you if you ever try this
+dodge again; keep my name off your tongue in public, and private, if you
+want whole bones in your body;' then he marched past the whole
+astonished crowd, minding them no more than if they were gnats. I
+followed, of course, and said as I came up with Heath:
+
+"'Quite an adventure, upon my word; you seem to possess a strange
+attraction for Burrill?'
+
+"'Burrill,' he exclaimed; 'who the mischief _is_ the fellow, Ray?'
+
+"'He is Mr. Lamotte's son-in-law,' I answered.
+
+"'Ah,' he mused; 'so Jasper Lamotte has married his daughter to a
+blackmailer;' and after that, he said never a word more on the subject.
+I had it in my mind to tell him of the hints and insinuations, Burrill,
+in his unguarded moments, was putting into circulation, but his
+reticence closed my lips."
+
+He paused, and looked to his auditor for some comment, but she sat with
+her eyes fixed upon the carpet, and a troubled look on her face.
+
+"Don't think, Conny, that I am one of those who construe this against
+Heath," said the loyal fellow. "He is the best fellow in the world. The
+whole thing, for me, lies in a nutshell. Heath is not a man to disturb
+himself about his neighbor's concerns, and he don't expect his neighbors
+to interest themselves in his. This Burrill has picked up, somehow, a
+little information; something concerning Heath, or his past life, that
+is not known to W----, and he is trying to make capital of it. The
+secret in itself may be a mere nothing, but Heath is the first man to
+resent impertinences, and the last man to make explanations. And he's
+right, too, especially under the present circumstances. I like him all
+the better for his pluck, and his reticence; let him keep his secrets,
+so long as he gives me his friendship, I am quite content."
+
+Constance felt a thrill of satisfaction, and a return of courage, as she
+listened. Here was a friend, loyal, enthusiastic, not to be alienated
+by slander or suspicion. She had known Ray from his childhood, and they
+had always been the best of friends, but she had never admired and
+honored him, never valued his friendship so much, as she did at this
+moment.
+
+His enthusiasm was contagious; she forgot all her fears, of a personal
+nature, and became in an instant the true woman and unselfish friend.
+
+"Ah, Ray," she exclaimed, lifting two admiring gray eyes to meet his,
+"you are a friend indeed! a friend to be proud of; but tell me, did you
+hear nothing more of Burrill after that second encounter?"
+
+"He made some pretty loud threats," replied Ray, "and a fellow named
+Brooks, a sort of crony of Burrill's, took it upon himself to call upon
+Heath the next day, and advise him to keep a pretty close lookout for
+Burrill, as he was quite likely, in one of his drunken rages, to make an
+assault upon him. Heath thanked the fellow, and assured him that he was
+quite capable of taking care of himself, and Burrill, too, if need be;
+and Brooks backed out, declaring that he 'meant no 'arm by intrudin'.'"
+
+"Ray," said Constance, earnestly, "John Burrill is not the only man
+Doctor Heath has to fear. I may have acted hastily in sending for you,
+but I was so troubled by certain facts that have just come to my
+knowledge, that I could not rest without doing something. It's almost an
+abuse of confidence to ask so much of you and tell you so little, but in
+a few days I hope to be mistress of my own tongue, and then you shall
+have all the particulars. For the present, Ray, promise to follow my
+instructions blindly."
+
+"I have promised that, Conny."
+
+"And, Ray, you will keep this all a secret; you will do your part
+without hinting to Doctor Heath your true motive, unless circumstances
+compel an explanation?"
+
+"I promise that, too."
+
+"When I sent for you, it was to ask you to warn Doctor Heath, in the
+most delicate way you could devise, that he was menaced by an enemy, and
+under hourly surveillance; but, since you have told me of this, Burrill,
+it occurs to me that in some way he may be mixed up in this matter,
+and--I have thought of a better plan."
+
+Ray nodded, and looked full of interest.
+
+"Your description of his manner of receiving Burrill's interference, and
+of his reticence throughout, makes me feel that it might be only
+precipitating a catastrophe if we warned him, and so, Ray, I want you,
+for three days, to be his constant shadow. Devise some excuse for
+remaining in town; thrust yourself upon his hospitality; observe any
+strangers who may approach him. If possible, do not let him get out of
+your sight, even for a short time; in three days you shall be relieved."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+She lifted her hand, warningly. "No questions, Ray. Can you manage all
+this?"
+
+He pondered a while, then said: "I think I can; I am a pretty good
+actor, Conny. What do you say to my feigning illness?"
+
+"He would find you out."
+
+"Not if I did it well, perhaps. I think I could manage for a few days."
+
+"It won't do, Ray. He would send you to bed and walk away and leave
+you."
+
+Ray groaned.
+
+"Tell him your room is undergoing repairs, and throw yourself on his
+mercy; then feign low spirits, and make him think it is his duty to
+entertain and cheer you up."
+
+"Capital, Conny! we can make that work I know; your wit is worth more
+than my wisdom. For three days then, I am your watch dog."
+
+"And your friend's guardian."
+
+"Precisely. I begin to swell with importance. But seriously, Conny, let
+me have your confidence at the earliest moment. For, whoever does battle
+with Heath, will find me arrayed against him, and--it's difficult
+fighting in the dark."
+
+"You shall know all, as soon as possible, Ray, and now--"
+
+"And now," repeated he, rising with alacrity. "Heath's horse stands
+outside, and Heath himself waits my return; so, lest he should grow
+impatient, and go where mischief awaits him, I will go now and begin my
+task."
+
+"Thank you, Ray, I know I can depend upon you. All this seems like a
+scene out of a melodrama, but it's wretchedly real for all that. Ray, I
+am just waking up to a knowledge of how much plotting and wickedness
+there is in this world; even in our little world of W----."
+
+"We all wake to that knowledge," he said, a spasm of pain crossing his
+face. "You know how the lesson came to me, Conny."
+
+"Yes, poor Ray! and I know that another suffers, even more than you,
+because of it."
+
+"And the cause of it all is another mystery. But no more of this; unless
+something noteworthy occurs, you will not see me again for three days."
+
+She gave him her hand, and a look of gratitude, and trust; and, in a few
+moments more, the red roan steed was speeding back townward.
+
+Francis Lamotte had found the doctor dull company; and, as he scarcely
+ever remained in the office to read now-a-days, he had taken himself and
+his dissatisfaction elsewhere, long before Ray returned to the office
+ready to begin his new _role_.
+
+He found the doctor sitting in a despondent attitude, almost where he
+had left him, holding in his hand a crumpled letter.
+
+Without appearing to notice his abstraction, Ray came at once to the
+point at issue.
+
+"Heath," he said, "your red roan is returned to you, and the loan of him
+encourages me to ask another favor."
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, without looking up or changing his attitude.
+
+"The fact is," said Ray, with splendid ingenuousness, "I am a sort of
+outcast. My quarters are undergoing that misery they call 'repairs,'
+and--the truth is, Heath, I want you to tender me your hospitality, for,
+say two or three days. I can't go to a public place; I don't feel like
+facing the music, for I am a little sore yet, and I find that I am still
+an object for commiseration, and I do get low spirited in spite of
+myself. It's cheeky, my asking it, I know, and you'll find my constant
+society a terrible bore; but my heart is set on quartering with you, so
+don't say no, Heath."
+
+Clifford Heath threw off his listlessness and looked up with his usual
+cheery smile.
+
+"Why, Ray, you young dog," he cried, "you beseech me like a veritable
+tramp, just as if you were not as welcome as the sunshine; come along,
+you shall share my bed, and board, and--I'll be hanged if you shan't
+share the daily dose of abuse I have to take from my old housekeeper.
+I'll make a special arrangement to that effect."
+
+"Thanks, Heath," replied Ray, and then he turned to the window to hide
+the fire that burned in his cheeks, because of the deceit he was
+practicing upon this open-hearted friend. "But it's all for his
+benefit," he thought; "at least I hope so."
+
+"Well!" said the doctor, moving uneasily in his chair; "I hope your
+mission prospered."
+
+"Oh, yes," carelessly.
+
+"You--found Miss Wardour well, I hope?"
+
+"Quite well; only wanting my valuable assistance in a little scheme she
+has on foot, a sort of benefit affair." And Ray congratulated himself on
+the adaptability of his answer.
+
+"Is it too late to drive, Heath?"
+
+But the doctor made no answer to this question, nor did he seem to hear
+it. Rising, he walked to the window, looked down thoughtfully into the
+street for a moment, then, without turning, he said:
+
+"Rumor says, that Miss Wardour will marry Lamotte."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Lamotte just now made the same statement."
+
+"Ah!" contemptuously, "it's like him to boast; but I'm afraid he tells
+the truth; Constance admitted as much to me to-day."
+
+A long time Clifford Heath stood motionless and silent at the window;
+then turning as if spurred by some sudden thought, he threw the crumpled
+note, which all the time had been clasped in his hand, upon the table
+between them, saying:
+
+"Here's a mystery, sir; read that and pass your opinion on it; as you
+are to become my guest, you should know what society you will find
+yourself in."
+
+Ray eyed the letter with his head on one side.
+
+"What is it?" he asked in a stage whisper.
+
+"A note, a _billet doux_, a solemn warning; came under the door a little
+while ago, while I was off in a reverie; came by a spirit hand, maybe,
+for I never heard a sound, but there lay the letter waiting to be
+observed and perused." And the doctor laughed contemptuously, and
+turned away to prepare for his drive. But Ray's face lengthened
+perceptibly, and he took up the note with sudden eagerness, and read:
+
+     DOCTOR HEATH:--Take the advice of a friend and leave W---- for
+     a time; a plot is ripening against you, and your only safety lies in
+     your absence, for your enemies are powerful and have woven a chain
+     about you that will render you helpless, perhaps ruin you utterly.
+     TRUTH.
+
+     Lose no time, for the blow will soon fall.
+
+The note was written in a cramped, reversed hand, and, after a hasty
+perusal, Ray bent his head and scanned the pen strokes closely, then he
+looked up with all the color gone from his face, and a strange gleam in
+his eyes.
+
+"How--how do you say this came, Heath?"
+
+"I didn't say, for I don't know, my lad. It made its first appearance
+lying just there," and the doctor pointed with his wisp broom, which he
+had been vigorously applying to a brown overcoat, at the spot just
+inside the door where he had first perceived the letter, and then
+resumed his occupation without observing the trouble in Ray's face.
+"Sensational, isn't it? but I can't think of quitting W---- just as it
+begins to grow interesting."
+
+"Then you take no stock in this warning?"
+
+"Bah! why should I?"
+
+"But if you should have secret foes?"
+
+"Let them come on," quoted the doctor, theatrically; "bring along that
+precious document, Ray, and come along yourself."
+
+Ray Vandyck, still looking troubled and anxious, arose, and, with
+lagging steps, followed his friend; as he noted with a new curiosity the
+tall, lithe, well knit figure striding on before him, the handsome,
+haughtily poised head, and the careless indifference of mien, he asked
+himself:
+
+"What can it be, this mystery and danger that surrounds him, that has
+caused Constance Wardour to take such unprecedented measures to insure
+his safety, and has wrung from Sybil Lamotte this strangely worded,
+oddly and ineffectually disguised warning," for Ray, seeing not as the
+world sees, but with the eyes of love, had recognized in the strange
+scrawl the hand of the woman he had loved and lost.
+
+"Heath _is_ in some peril," thought he, and then, with a rueful sigh,
+"Oh! I would risk dangers too to be watched over by two such women."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE WATCH DOG DISCHARGED.
+
+
+The three days that followed were days of unrest to Constance Wardour.
+The intangible, yet distinctly realized trouble, and fear, and dread,
+were new experiences in her bright life.
+
+The mystery round about her, her inability to cope with the unknown, the
+inaction, the waiting, was almost more than she could calmly endure; and
+all this distress of mind and unrest of body was for others. Personally,
+she had nothing to fear, nothing to annoy her; but the warm-hearted
+heiress made a friend's cause her own. From the first she had grieved
+over the sad fate of Sybil Lamotte; not lightly, not as society sorrows
+over the fall of its some _proteges_; but deeply, from her heart of
+hearts. And now there was added to this, her concern for Clifford Heath,
+and the danger that menaced him tormented her.
+
+If her own honor were threatened she could not have been more troubled
+and full of fear; for in rebellion, in self-contempt, in a fierce burst
+of rage against the heart she could not control, Constance Wardour,
+heiress and queen absolute, was forced to confess to that heart that
+Clifford Heath's happiness was her happiness too.
+
+Having been forced to recognize this fact, against her wish and will,
+Constance came to a better understanding with herself, and she confessed
+to herself, with cheeks aflame at the recollection, that her petulant
+outbreak, and shameful accusation against Doctor Heath, was but the
+mutinous struggle of the head against the heart's acknowledged master.
+Too late came this self confession. Sybil Lamotte's letter had never
+been found; the mystery surrounding its disappearance, remained a
+mystery; and, how could she recall her accusation, while the
+circumstances under which it was made remained unchanged? Realizing that
+she owed him reparation, she was yet powerless to make it.
+
+"It would be equivalent to a confession, that I could not be happy
+without his friendship," she said, hotly. "And he would not accept an
+apology while his innocence remained unproven. Let me suffer the
+consequences of my own folly; I deserve it; but," setting her white
+teeth resolutely, "no harm shall come to him that I can avert; and, I am
+not the weakest of women."
+
+Oh, the perversity of women. Who can comprehend it? Who analyze the
+mysterious creatures?
+
+When there was against Clifford Heath only a breath of suspicion, a few
+whispered words from his own lips, that might mean nothing of
+importance, when calmly reconsidered; a missing letter, with the
+contents of which he was familiar, and which, therefore, could be of
+little value to him, and it was enough. He stood before her accused, and
+went out from her presence wronged, insulted, splendid as King Arthur in
+his helpless indignation.
+
+Now the detective's strong chain of evidence, John Burrill's strange
+insinuations, and still stranger conduct, his words when he spoke, his
+reticence when he kept silence, all were arrayed against him, with
+telling effect, and in spite of them all, Constance Wardour angrily
+assured herself, and fully believed, that Clifford Heath was a wronged,
+and innocent man. She did not reason herself into this belief; and it
+was absurd, of course. She arrived at her conclusions, as all loving
+women do, through her feelings, and her instinct. A woman seldom
+reasons, but in many cases her ready intuition is worth more than all
+man's wisdom. Her delicate instinct strikes directly at the truth, when
+man's reason gropes in darkness.
+
+Constance went out very little during these troubled days, and for this
+there were several reasons. John Burrill's obtrusiveness was at its
+height, and he fairly haunted the vicinity of Wardour; and since the
+advent of Mr. Belknap, Constance had an uneasy feeling that she was in
+some way, under surveillance. Nelly, who was argus-eyed, and always in
+armor on behalf of her mistress, had, on one or two occasions, spied a
+lurker about the premises; and Constance was resolved to give Mr.
+Belknap as little trouble, on her account, as possible. She had not
+visited Sybil for some days, for, although she had informed the
+detective that she desired to consult Mr. Lamotte, she had no such
+intentions; and, since the day when she had promised Mr. Lamotte to
+retain the detective for another week, she had avoided meeting him, and
+being forced to resume the conversation.
+
+To know herself under the watchful eye of one detective, while anxiously
+expecting the advent of another, and to be aware that the presence of
+the one must not be made known to the other, afforded her a new and
+strange sensation; not altogether an unpleasant one either, for
+Constance was no coward, and had a decided taste for adventure.
+
+She realized, too, the absurdity of being thus shadowed in her own
+house, by her own hired agent.
+
+"I should go down to posterity as the first woman who ever hired a spy
+to watch herself," she mused with a little laugh. "I begin to think that
+I _am_ an absurd creature, throughout."
+
+Two days passed, and Constance endured them, although the hours crept
+slowly. On the third, her anxiety was almost beyond control.
+
+If Bathurst should fail her! If her letter had not found him! If he were
+absent from the city! Oh, what a chance was here for disaster. Mr.
+Belknap would soon be in the field, and Ray's time had almost expired.
+
+"Oh," she said, anxiously, "if he disappoints me, what _shall_ I do. I
+must trust Ray, and will he be strong enough to battle with this
+danger?"
+
+While she mused thus, growing wild with anxiety, a half grown boy,
+bearing on his head a small tray of delicate ivory carvings, was
+applying for admittance at the servants' entrance. He was shabbily
+dressed, but possessed a fine, intelligent face, and bore himself with
+cool confidence.
+
+"I have brought the carving for Miss Wardour," he said, briskly. "Can I
+see her, please?"
+
+Nelly hesitated.
+
+"She expects me," said the boy, quickly; "and, as I am a little late, I
+would like to show her the wares and be off, for I've more to sell in
+the village. Just tell her it's the chap she's looking for."
+
+Constance stared in surprise when Nelly delivered this message.
+
+"The chap I am looking for," she repeated slowly; then, with a sudden
+brightening of her whole face, she added: "Oh, to be sure? I had almost
+forgotten. Send him here, at once, Nelly."
+
+"I hope you will excuse me," began the boy, apologetically; then, as
+Nelly closed the door, he dropped his voice, and said, "I come from Mr.
+Bathurst;" and, taking off his cap, he produced from thence a letter,
+which he put in her hand.
+
+[Illustration: "I hope you'll excuse me."]
+
+"I'm to wait for the answer," he said, and took up his position beside
+his wares.
+
+Constance opened the letter, with a hand trembling with eagerness. It
+ran:
+
+     MISS WARDOUR:--By all means keep the secret of the diamonds, and
+     trust all to me. I think it best not to come to you, as Belknap
+     keeps a constant watch upon your movements; dismiss him as soon as
+     you like. Have no fears regarding Heath, I have his enemies well
+     roped; be assured that I shall be on hand when needed, and when you
+     see me expect to have the question of the diamond mystery forever
+     set at rest. If you have anything to say, send verbal instructions
+     by boy; he is to be trusted.
+
+     Yours sincerely,
+     NEIL J. BATHURST.
+
+Constance heaved a sigh of relief, as she finished the perusal of this
+note, and after a moment's reflection, she said:
+
+"Tell Mr. Bathurst that I will obey his instructions, and that Mr.
+Belknap will be dismissed from my service to-day."
+
+"Yes, madam. Now if you will please to select some of these things for
+the sake of appearance."
+
+"Of course. You are very thoughtful. Are you a young detective too?"
+
+The boy looked up with a gleam of pride in his eyes.
+
+"I have been in Mr. Bathurst's service two years, madam."
+
+"Oh, then I have no fears as to your discretion; so I will ask you a
+question, knowing that you are wise enough to refuse me an answer if I
+am asking too much."
+
+The boy smiled, and stood attentive.
+
+"May I ask if Mr. Bathurst is really now in W----, and when he arrived?"
+
+The boy laughed an odd laugh, and full of mischief.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst is here," he said. "I can't tell just _when_ he did
+arrive."
+
+"Then you did not come together?"
+
+"We! Oh, no, indeed!" laughing again. "Mr. Bathurst is too smart for
+that."
+
+Constance smiled with a returning feeling of ease and restfulness.
+
+"Ah, I see I can trust Mr. Bathurst--and you, and lest I ask the wrong
+question if I continue, I will not ask another one; tell Mr. Bathurst I
+rely on him to straighten all the tangles; and that I like his messenger
+almost as much as his message."
+
+"My, but ain't she a rum young lady," mused the boy, as he trudged away
+from Wardour Place with his lightened tray of ivories, "and handsome!
+jingo! if I was Mr. Bathurst I'd work for her, just to see her smile,
+and no pay; but Lord, _he_ don't care, he don't; he'll work just as hard
+for any old crone; he's another rum one."
+
+"Ah, what a relief," breathed Constance, reading for the third time
+Bathurst's reassuring note. "I begin to feel like myself once more. Now
+I am ready for you, Mr. private detective Belknap."
+
+And, truly, Constance _was_ herself once more. Poor Mrs. Aliston,
+sitting aloof, and almost abandoned during the days of her niece's
+perturbation of mind, was the first to receive the benefit of the
+returning sunshine. Constance, for reasons which any woman can guess,
+had kept her anxiety, concerning Doctor Heath, a profound secret from
+this good lady; and she, watching the signs of the times, made no
+comments, but speculated profoundly--and, wide of the mark.
+
+"You should have gone with me to drive, yesterday, Con.," said Mrs.
+Aliston to Constance, who, sitting in her aunt's room, half an hour
+after the departure of her small messenger, was endeavoring to atone for
+her neglect of the past few days by chatting cheerily upon every
+subject but the one which was of deepest interest to herself.
+
+"You should have been with me and seen Sybil Lamotte."
+
+"Sybil! Did you call there?"
+
+"Oh, no. I can't get on with Mrs. Lamotte well enough to brave such a
+call alone; she is too stately and non-committal for me."
+
+"You don't understand her, auntie; but Sybil, did you speak with her?"
+
+"Yes, we met just over the bridge, and Sybil stopped the carriage to ask
+after you; I think she is anxious to see you."
+
+"Poor Sybil," said Constance, contritely, "I _have_ neglected her of
+late; but we will drive there to-morrow; to-day I don't just feel like
+going out. Does Sybil look well, auntie?"
+
+Mrs. Aliston leaned forward and lifted a plump forefinger to give
+emphasis to her words.
+
+"Con., Sybil is dying or going mad, I can't tell which."
+
+"Auntie! why?"
+
+But Mrs. Aliston went on rapidly. "I never saw such a change; two weeks
+ago, one week ago, even the last time she came here, Sybil seemed nerved
+to bear her trouble, she carried herself well and seemed firm as a
+rock."
+
+"Outwardly."
+
+"Outwardly of course, one couldn't feel much secret pride, compelled to
+live under the same roof with that low man she has married; but Sybil
+is not calm _outwardly_ now, she has lost all that brilliant color."
+
+"So much the better, it was the outward token of a mental excitement
+that would soon drive her mad; Sybil should never have attempted to
+brave criticism, and bear her shame so publicly. Every time she has
+allowed that man to appear beside her in the streets of W----, has
+shortened her life as surely as slow poison could do it."
+
+"Well! mark my word, she won't undergo the ordeal much longer; her eyes
+have lost their steady light and luster, and have a wild, frightened,
+expectant look impossible to describe; when a horse came suddenly up
+behind us, she started and almost screamed with fright, and I could see
+her hands tremble and her lips quiver for minutes after; hands, they are
+mere claws! and she is growing more shadowy every day."
+
+"Auntie, hush! you have made me as nervous as you picture Sybil. I shall
+not rest until I see her."
+
+"There is a gentleman to see you, Miss Constance," said Nelly, from the
+doorway, which position she had gained unnoticed by the two ladies.
+
+Constance gave a nervous start, and then arose hastily.
+
+"Who is it, Nelly?" she asked, merely for appearance sake, for she fully
+expected to see Mr. Belkhap.
+
+"He didn't give his name, Miss, but said he come by appointment. It's
+the same gentleman as called a few days ago."
+
+"Oh! then he won't detain me long," said the young lady, a resolute
+look coming into her eyes. "Auntie, I'll be with you again in a very few
+moments."
+
+"He won't be very graciously received," was Mrs. Aliston's mental
+comment. "I know that gleam of the eye, and what it means."
+
+But Mrs. Aliston was mistaken for once.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Belknap," Constance said, sweeping into his presence with her
+proudest air, and smiling upon him her sweetest smile. "I am glad you
+have come."
+
+"Promptness is our first lesson in my profession," replied he, with an
+affable smile.
+
+"Yes! and have you learned anything new since Monday?"
+
+"Nothing of importance. The party under suspicion has been entertaining
+a friend, and has been out very little."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"One thing occurred on Monday last, not long after I had left you, which
+I can't help looking on with suspicion."
+
+"Indeed! and may I hear it?"
+
+"I think so. Without stopping to explain my modes of taking
+observations, I will give the bare fact. On Monday afternoon, while
+Doctor Heath was alone in his office, a boy, carrying on his head a tray
+of carvings, stopped at the foot of the stairs, set down his tray, ran
+up the flight like a young cat, and just as quietly, and slipped a note
+underneath the office door."
+
+"Really!" in real surprise, and some disturbance of mind. "And you know
+nothing more about the note?"
+
+"Nothing; but I shall soon I trust."
+
+"Then you intend following up this case, Mr. Belknap?"
+
+He looked up with a start of astonishment.
+
+"Is not that your intention?"
+
+"Decidedly not."
+
+"But--have you consulted with Mr. Lamotte?"
+
+"I have consulted with no one, sir. I thought over the matter once more,
+and decided to let my own mind guide my actions."
+
+"But Mr. Lamotte thinks the case should be pushed."
+
+"Mr. Lamotte is my neighbor, not my guardian. He is good enough to
+advise me sometimes; I think he would scarcely presume to dictate."
+
+"Ah! then I am to consider myself no longer in your service?"
+
+She bowed her head.
+
+"After I have cancelled my indebtedness to you," she said, serenely.
+
+With a look of vexation that he could not hide, the private detective
+drew from his pocket a memorandum book, and from thence a slip of paper,
+which he handed to Constance.
+
+"That is my statement," he said.
+
+She ran her eye over the itemized account, smiling a little as she did
+so. Then, rising swiftly, she said:
+
+"Excuse me for one moment."
+
+He bowed silently, and she went out, returning soon with a bank cheque,
+which she placed in his hands, saying:
+
+"So ends the case of the Wardour diamonds. I shall not take it up
+again."
+
+"What! do you really mean that?"
+
+"I really do."
+
+The detective opened his lips, as if about to remonstrate, then closed
+them suddenly, and moved toward the door.
+
+"Do you still cling to your intention of notifying the town authorities,
+and setting them upon Doctor Heath?" she asked.
+
+He turned toward her, with a peculiar smile upon his face.
+
+"You have offered a reward for your jewels, I believe?"
+
+"You mistake, I have offered a reward for the apprehension of the thief
+or thieves."
+
+"And--as you have withdrawn the case, shall you withdraw your reward
+also?"
+
+"By no means."
+
+"Then--if I bring you both the jewels and the thieves my reward should
+be doubled?"
+
+A queer gleam shot from her eyes, as she answered, without hesitation:
+
+"And so I shall. Place my robbers in the county jail, and put my
+diamonds in my hands, and you shall receive a double reward."
+
+"Then, for the present, I shall keep my clews in my own hands; Miss
+Wardour, I wish you good morning." And the private detective stalked
+from the room with the air of a man who was overflowing with desirable
+information.
+
+"That's a queer woman," mused Mr. Belknap, as he turned his face away
+from Wardour. "I can't make her out. If it were not altogether too
+fishy, I should say she had a suspicion concerning those diamonds. I
+intend to look a little closer into the doings of Miss Wardour; and,
+blow hot, or blow cold, I'm bound to have my reward, if not by this, why
+by that."
+
+With this enigmatical reflection, he looked up to behold, sitting by the
+roadside, a tramp of sinister aspect, who turned his head indolently as
+the detective approached, and then applied himself closer to a luncheon
+of broken victuals, eating like a man famished. Mr. Belknap, who, on
+this occasion, had visited Wardour on foot, came quite close upon the
+man, and then halted suddenly, putting his hand in his pocket, as if
+with charitable intent; instantly the tramp dropped his fragment of
+bread, and sprang to his feet, with outstretched hands, as if greedy for
+the expected bounty. He was a dirty, ragged fellow, undersized, but
+strong and sinewy, with an ugly scarred face, and a boorish gait and
+manner. As the private detective withdrew his hand from his pocket and
+tendered the tramp a small coin, a passer-by, had there been such, would
+have called the scene a tableaux of alms-giving; but what the detective
+said was:
+
+"Well, Roake, here you are; are you ready for business?"
+
+[Illustration: "Well, Roarke, are you ready for business?"]
+
+And the tramp replied: "You bet, if it's a solid racket."
+
+"Then follow me, at a distance, until we reach a place where we can talk
+things over." And Mr. Belknap moved on, never once glancing back.
+
+The tramp once more seated himself beside the fence, and resumed his
+occupation. When the last scrap of food was devoured, he arose, and,
+taking up a rough stick that served as a cane, he followed the receding
+form of the private detective.
+
+At sunset, Ray Vandyck presented himself punctually for further
+instructions, at Wardour.
+
+"You are released, Ray," said Constance, coming to meet him, with a
+bright face and a warm hand-clasp. "You are free to follow your own
+devices; Doctor Heath has a better guardian than either you or I."
+
+"Cool, upon my word," said Ray, with a grimace. "So I am discharged
+without references?"
+
+"Even so, and you must be content without an explanation, too, for the
+present. My tongue is still tied."
+
+"Worse and worse, Conny; can't I even know who has supplanted me?"
+
+"It's a great secret, and must be carefully guarded, but, I believe I
+will confide that much to you, as it does not conflict with any
+promises."
+
+"Well! I listen."
+
+"Doctor Heath is protected by an able detective. His name I must not
+communicate."
+
+Ray Vandyck opened wide his handsome eyes, and gave vent to a long, low
+whistle.
+
+"Conny, you are too deep for me," he said; "I am all at sea; I will drop
+the subject, as it is working severely upon my curiosity."
+
+For a few moments they sat in silence, Constance thinking how much she
+regretted not asking Mr. Bathurst to make himself known to this loyal
+friend, who must now be kept in ignorance, however worthy he might be of
+all confidence, and Ray thinking of something that caused his face to
+sadden, and his eyes to darken with inward pain. Presently he drew a
+little nearer his hostess, and asked, in a low, sorrowful tone:
+
+"Conny, have you seen her lately?"
+
+"Not for a week or more, Ray."
+
+"I saw her yesterday."
+
+"And she," anxiously; "did she see you, Ray?"
+
+"No, thank God! she was driving with her mother, and, Con.," his voice
+broke and he turned his face away; "I wish you would go to her."
+
+"Why, Ray?"
+
+"Because--oh, you should have seen her face. She is suffering horribly;
+she is dying by inches."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+FATHER AND SON.
+
+
+At early morn on the next day, Jasper Lamotte and his son, Frank, were
+seated together in the dining-room of Mapleton.
+
+Jasper Lamotte was hurriedly eating a bountiful and appetizing lunch,
+and washing it down with plenty of light claret; and Frank was seated
+near the table, smoking a strong segar, and giving an attentive ear to
+the words of his sire.
+
+"This is the first time that we have got the lead on Burrill," said the
+elder Lamotte, "and in some way it must be made to count. Drunk or
+sober, heretofore, he has looked after his interests too closely to
+serve ours."
+
+"The devil's got into Burrill," replied Frank, bending forward to knock
+the ashes from his black segar; "and into the rest of the family too, I
+should say; Evan has been bad enough any time within the memory of man,
+but look at him now. Why, he has not been sober for ten days."
+
+"Well, he is sober this morning."
+
+"Really, have you seen him?"
+
+"Yes. I went to his room to ask him some questions about Burrill. I
+found him white as a cloth, and quite as limp; he had overdone himself
+at his last carouse; is as sick as a dog, and on the verge of delirium
+tremens if a man ever was. He won't get out of his bed for a few days,
+if I am a judge; the room was full of medical perfumes, and his mother
+was trying to induce him to drink some hot coffee."
+
+"And Burrill?"
+
+"He knew nothing of him, and recommended me to look after my own
+vermin."
+
+"He's a sharp tongued cur," said Frank, with a short laugh.
+
+"Next, I went to Sybil's rooms; she was sitting over a roasting fire,
+wrapped in a shawl, and shivering from head to foot; she almost shrieked
+at the mention of Burrill's name; Sybil looks bad, very bad. When we get
+these other matters safely settled, we must do something for the girl."
+
+"And that means----"
+
+"That we must master Burrill. We will soon be in a position to do it, I
+hope."
+
+"I hope so," gloomily.
+
+"We must be, or be ruined. You will settle this business with Constance,
+at once, to-day?"
+
+"Yes--I suppose so."
+
+"You suppose! man, you talk as if you were leading a forlorn hope. Do
+you _expect_ a refusal?"
+
+"I don't know _what_ to expect," flinging away his segar, angrily, "I
+can't understand Constance; I wish that cursed Heath were safely out of
+my path."
+
+"Can't you trust him to Belknap?"
+
+"There we are again! what is that confounded detective doing? He has
+been here five days, or nearly that; four days ago, Constance asked
+three days to consider upon the case. What did that mean? Belknap should
+have been here with his report long ago. Why don't he come?"
+
+"That I can't tell you; he has his own way of doing things; his absence
+does not alter the fact, that I must use this opportunity for getting to
+the city; and you must press this business with Constance, and bring it
+to a settlement. I don't think there is much doubt as to her answer."
+
+"Well, I wish I could feel as sanguine, that's all."
+
+At this moment there came the sound of wheels on the gravel outside, and
+glancing toward the window, Frank sprang up exclaiming:
+
+"There's Belknap, and not a minute to lose. I'll go meet him," and he
+hurried out, wearing a look of relief, mingled with expectancy.
+
+In a moment he returned, closely followed by the smiling detective.
+
+"Quick, Belknap," said Frank, closing the door, carefully, "give us the
+important points. The carriage will be here in a short time, to take the
+old man to town, and he must be on time, for trains won't wait."
+
+"True," said Mr. Belknap, seating himself near the table. "I should have
+reported to you last evening, but thought it best to remain about town,
+and let myself be seen by the hotel loungers; people, in a place like
+this, are curious about a man who keeps too much to himself, and one
+must always conciliate suspicion."
+
+"True," from Mr. Lamotte.
+
+"I saw Miss Wardour yesterday, gentlemen; she entirely withdraws the
+case."
+
+"What! entirely?" asked Frank.
+
+"Entirely; she asked for my account, paid it, and dismissed me, saying,
+that she should not resume the search, but should double the reward."
+
+"Double the reward!" repeated Frank.
+
+"Yes, _provided_ both the diamonds and the thieves were found."
+
+A moment's silence and then the elder Lamotte emptied his glass and set
+it down, saying as he did so:
+
+"Well, but the point is not yet reached. Did you explain the necessity
+you were under if the case left your hands?"
+
+"I did. She was surprised, of course, and incredulous, but she made no
+remarks, and seemed not at all discomposed at the danger menacing Doctor
+Heath. After we had settled our business, she asked me if I should now
+drop the case and let the authorities work it out, or if I would
+continue to work independent of her."
+
+"And you said what?" asked Frank.
+
+"I said that circumstances must decide that."
+
+"And she was not disturbed about Heath?"
+
+"Evidently not; she was as cool as myself."
+
+Frank drew a long breath of relief.
+
+"And now, Mr. Lamotte," said the private detective, "what is the next
+move?"
+
+"Perfect quiet for the next two or three days; like Miss Wardour, we
+will take time to consider. I am going to the big city to-day, Mr.
+Belknap, if you need any funds before I return, call on Frank. I shall
+be back in two days, and then we will decide upon our next move. Is that
+the carriage, Frank?"
+
+It was the carriage, and almost before Mr. Belknap could realize it or
+gather together his scattered forces, Mr. Lamotte had shaken hands with
+him, nodded to Frank, donned his hat, gathered up his traveling coat,
+cane, and gloves, and was on his way to the carriage, followed by a
+servant, who carried his small traveling bag.
+
+As may be seen, Mr. Belknap had made his "reports" according to his own
+lights, as for instance, giving his first interview with Constance in
+brief, on the same day it took place, merely stating that Miss Wardour
+requested time to consider; and reserving all that portion concerning
+Doctor Heath, until to-day, when he gave that too, in brief, and with
+many "mental reservations."
+
+Mr. Belknap was a little bit nonplussed at this sudden journey of Jasper
+Lamotte's; he did not like to be so widely separated from his patron,
+even for a few days, and especially now; but it was too late to make an
+amendment to this state of affairs, so he contented himself with a segar
+and Frank's society. Not finding the latter of the best, and being able
+to enjoy the former anywhere, he soon took his leave, and drove back to
+his hotel, the best in W----, where he went straight to his room,
+ordered up a hot brandy, complained of a slight indisposition, and spent
+the remainder of the day and the entire evening in and about the hotel,
+lounging, smoking, reading, chatting and always visible.
+
+Meantime, Mr. Lamotte, arriving ten minutes early at the W---- depot,
+sauntered out among the people swarming about, and waiting the arrival
+of the fast express.
+
+There was always a bustle about the W---- depot at this hour of the day,
+and Mr. Lamotte nodded graciously here and there, and stopped to extend
+a patronizing hand to a chosen and honored few. Presently he came face
+to face with a man who, with hands in his pockets, was watching the
+unloading of a belated dray.
+
+"How do you do, Brooks," said he, glancing at the hands and face that
+were a little cleaner than usual, and at the pretence of a toilet that
+made the awkwardness of the fellow unusually apparent. "You seem taking
+a holiday. Are you bound to leave us?"
+
+"That's what I am, sir," said the man, touching his hat. "Work's too
+scarce for me, sir, and bad company's too plenty. I've said I would go a
+dozen times, sir; and now I'm off."
+
+"I am sorry we could not keep you on at the mills, Brooks; but--you know
+who was to blame."
+
+"Oh, it was me, sir; I don't deny _that_. It's hard for me to keep away
+from the liquor. But look here, Mr. Lamotte, sir: If you ever see me
+again, _you'll see me sober_."
+
+[Illustration: "If you ever see me again, you'll see me sober."]
+
+Mr. Lamotte uttered a skeptical laugh and turned away. The train was
+there, and it bore cityward the gentlemanly Mr. Lamotte, and the
+half-inebriated loafer, Brooks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A DAY OF GLOOM.
+
+
+All that day, or what remained of it after his father's departure, and
+the almost simultaneous withdrawal of the private detective, Frank
+Lamotte passed in an uneasy reverie. He had much at stake; and, now that
+the crisis of his fortunes was so near at hand, he began to review his
+ground, and every word, look, and tone of Constance Wardour, as he
+recalled them, one by one, was to him a fresh puzzle.
+
+Six months ago, Frank Lamotte would have scoffed at the suggestion of a
+refusal even from the proud Constance. Now, somehow, he had lost his
+self-confidence. Again and again he imagined the words that he would
+say, and the words he hoped, that she would answer. Then, as he forced
+himself to face the possibility of defeat, the veins upon his temples
+swelled out, his teeth clenched, and one of those "attacks," to which he
+was subject, and against which Doctor Heath had warned him, seemed
+imminent. Again and again he gazed, with proud satisfaction, upon his
+reflected image, in the full length drawing-room mirror, and turned
+away, vowing himself a fitting mate for any woman. Again and again, when
+the image of his own physical perfections had ceased to dazzle his
+vision, his heart sank within him, and a dismal foreboding put his
+courage to flight.
+
+"Confound it all," muttered he, as he wandered aimlessly from one
+deserted room to another: "the very house seems under a spell. Sybil,
+sitting like a recluse in her own rooms, growing pale, and wild-eyed,
+and spectre-like, every day. Evan, in _his_ room, sick with drink, and
+verging on the D. T. Mother, gliding like a stately ghost from the one
+to the other, or closeted in her own room; she has not been down stairs
+to-day. Burrill, the devil knows where _he_ is, and what took him out so
+unusually early this morning. He's been cutting it worse than ever for
+the past week; the fellow, seemingly, can't find company low enough for
+him, in one stage of his drunkenness, nor high enough for him in
+another. It's fortunate for us that liquor has at last relaxed his
+vigilance; the old man has taken a leading trick by the means. Curse the
+brute! Why won't he die in a drunken frenzy, or from overfeeding, but he
+won't!" Thus soliloquizing, he lighted a segar and went out into the
+grounds. "I'll try the effect of a little sunshine," he muttered; "for
+the house feels like a sarcophagus; one would think the family pride was
+about to receive its last blow, and the family doom about to fall."
+
+So, restless and self-tormented, Frank Lamotte passed the long
+afternoon, in the double solitude of a man deserted, alike by his
+friends and his peace of mind.
+
+"We make our own ghosts," said somebody once.
+
+Frank Lamotte's phantoms had begun to manifest themselves, having grown
+into things of strength, and become endowed with the power to torture;
+thanks to the atmosphere into which he had plunged himself and them.
+
+Late in the afternoon, John Burrill came home, but Frank avoided him,
+not caring to answer any questions at that time.
+
+Burrill seemed to care little for this, or for anything; he was in a
+wonderfully jubilant mood. He rambled through the tenantless rooms,
+whistling shrilly, and with his hands in his pockets. He commanded the
+servants like a Baron of old. He drank wine in the library, and smoked a
+segar in the drawing room, and when these pleasures palled upon him, he
+ascended the stairs, and went straight to the room occupied by Evan.
+
+For some time past, Jasper Lamotte had made an effort to break the bond
+of good fellowship, that, much to the surprise of all the family, had
+sprung up between the wild young fellow, and the coarser and equally or
+worse besotted elder one. How even reckless Evan Lamotte could find
+pleasure in such society, was a mystery to all who knew the two. But so
+it was, and Jasper Lamotte's interdict was not strong enough to sever
+the intimacy. John Burrill responded to his exhortations with a burst of
+defiance, or a volley of oaths; and, Evan received all comments upon his
+choice of a companion, with a sardonic smile, or a wild mocking laugh.
+
+They had not been much together for the past few days, owing to the
+indisposition which had kept Evan away from their favorite haunts, but
+had not kept him away from his favorite beverage.
+
+As Burrill entered his room, Evan received him with a shout of welcome,
+and for more than an hour they were closeted there, some times
+conversing in low, guarded tones, and sometimes bursting into roars of
+laughter, that penetrated even through the shut doors of Sybil's rooms,
+causing her to start nervously, and shiver as with a chill.
+
+A little before sunset the carriage from Wardour deposited Constance and
+Mrs. Aliston at the door of this home of little harmony, and even
+Constance noted the unusual stillness, and whispered to her aunt, as
+they waited in the drawing room the appearance of Mrs. Lamotte:
+
+"Bah! I sniff the ogre here, auntie. 'The trail of the serpent' is over
+the entire house."
+
+"I sniff the dead odor of a vile segar," retorted Mrs. Aliston. "As for
+the ogre--if he won't appear in person, I'll try and survive the rest."
+
+"I am very glad you have come, Constance," said Mrs. Lamotte, entering
+at this moment. "We are so dull here, and Sybil has wished much to see
+you." And then she extended a courteous but more stately greeting to
+Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"It grieves me to hear that Sybil is not so well, dear Mrs. Lamotte.
+Does she employ a physician?" asked Constance, presently.
+
+"She will not have a physician called, much to my regret. The very
+suggestion makes her wildly nervous."
+
+"And--she keeps her room too much. I think Frank told me."
+
+"Yes, recently. But, Constance, go up to her; Mrs. Aliston and I will
+entertain each other for awhile, and then we will join you. Sybil heard
+you announced, and will expect you."
+
+Thus commanded, Constance lost no time in making her way, unattended, to
+Sybil's room.
+
+In the upper hall she met Frank, who started, and flushed at sight of
+her, and then hurried forward, with extended hand.
+
+"Constance," he exclaimed, eagerly, "how glad I am to see you."
+
+"I'm such an uncommon sight!" she laughed, too much absorbed with
+thoughts of Sybil, to notice the extra warmth of his greeting, or a
+certain change of manner, that was a mingling of boldness, bashfulness,
+humility and coxcombery.
+
+"How do you do, Frank?"
+
+"Well in body, Constance--"
+
+"Oh! then we can easily regulate your mind. I'm going to see Sybil, and
+I don't want your company; so adieu, Frank."
+
+"One moment, please. I want to--I _must_ see you, this evening. Shall
+you remain with us?"
+
+"No. Aunt Honor below; we go home, soon."
+
+"Then--may I call, this evening, Constance?"
+
+"What a question! as if you did not call whenever the spirit moved you
+so to do; come, if you like, child; I shall have no better company, I am
+afraid," and on she swept, and had vanished within his sister's room,
+before Frank could decide whether to be chagrined, or delighted, at so
+readily given, carelessly worded, a consent.
+
+The start, the nervous tremor, the terrified ejaculations, with which
+Sybil greeted, even this expected and welcome guest, all told how some
+deadly foe was surely undermining her life and reason. And Constance
+noted, with a sinking heart, the dark circles around the eyes that were
+growing hollow, and heavy, and full of a strange, wild expectancy: the
+pale cheeks, thinner than ever, and the woful weariness of the entire
+face.
+
+Greeting her tenderly, and making no comments on her changed appearance,
+Constance chatted for a time on indifferent subjects, and noted closely,
+as a loving friend will, the face and manner of her listener. Sybil sat
+like one in a trance, rather a nightmare, her eyes roving from her
+visitor's face to the door, and back again, and this constantly
+repeated; her whole attitude and manner, that of one listening, rather
+for some sound, or alarm, from afar, than to the words of the friend
+beside her.
+
+At last, Constance finding commonplace about exhausted, said:
+
+"Congratulate me, child! I have thrown off a burden from my shoulders; I
+have brought my diamond investigations to a close."
+
+"Ah! diamonds!" Sybil almost started from her chair, and the exclamation
+came sharply from lips white and trembling.
+
+"Yes, my lost diamonds, you know; I have dismissed Mr. Belknap."
+
+"Belknap!" an unmistakable look of horror crossed her face. "Dismissed
+him; oh, I wish _I_ could!"
+
+Sorely at a loss, yet thinking it best not to seem surprised at what she
+believed to be the efforts of a wandering mind to grasp and master the
+subject under discussion, Constance talked on, answering questions and
+making observations, without allowing Sybil to see the surprise and
+sorrow that filled her heart; and, not until many days later did she
+recall her friend's wild words, to see how much of method there might be
+in this seeming madness.
+
+"Mr. Belknap was conducting the search for the diamonds, you know,
+Sybil?"
+
+Sybil seemed making an effort to collect her scattered senses.
+
+"Yes, yes, Conny, go on," she whispered.
+
+"I have paid him off and am done with him; that's about all, dear."
+
+"Conny," in a half whisper, "is he _gone_?"
+
+"I don't know about that; he said something about remaining here for a
+time."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Sybil, and then, under her breath, "My God!"
+
+Constance shuddered as she looked upon the shivering figure before her,
+the wavering eyes, the hands clenching and unclenching themselves; she
+found conversation difficult, and began to wonder how she could avoid
+subjects that brought painful thoughts or suggestions. But suddenly a
+change came over Sybil; sitting erect, she looked fixedly at her friend,
+and asked:
+
+"Conny, has _he_ tormented you of late?"
+
+"He! Sybil; you mean--"
+
+"I mean my curse! has he dared to annoy you? He has sworn that he will
+be accepted and recognized as your friend."
+
+Constance laughed a short, sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Be at rest, Sybil; he never will."
+
+"No;" with a strange dropping of the voice. "_He never will!_"
+
+Again she seemed struggling to recover herself, and to recall some
+thought; then she looked up and asked abruptly:
+
+"Conny, have you promised to marry my--Frank Lamotte?"
+
+"No, Sybil."
+
+"Then--promise, _promise_ me, Constance, as if I were on my dying bed,
+that you never will."
+
+"Why, Sybil, dear?"
+
+"Don't ask for reasons, don't; promise, _promise_, PROMISE!"
+
+She was growing excited, and Constance hastened to say:
+
+"You are laboring under some delusion, dear child; Frank has not offered
+himself to me."
+
+"But he will! he will! and I tell you, Constance, it would be giving
+yourself to a fate like mine, and worse. The Lamottes have not done with
+disgrace yet, and it shall not fall on you; promise me, Con."
+
+"I promise, Sybil."
+
+"You promise;" she arose from her chair and came close to Constance;
+"you promise," she said, slowly, "never, _never_ to marry Francis
+Lamotte?"
+
+[Illustration: "You promise never to marry Francis Lamotte?"]
+
+"I swear it."
+
+A coarse laugh, a smothered oath; they both turn swiftly, and there, in
+the doorway, smelling of tobacco and brandy, and shaking with coarse
+laughter, is John Burrill, and beside him, with clenched hands, swollen
+temples, drawn, white lips, stands Francis Lamotte. Stands! No. He
+reels, he clings to the door-frame for support; his _enemy_ is upon him.
+
+Sybil draws herself erect; the red blood flames to her face; the fire
+darts from her eyes; she lifts one slender arm and points at the reeling
+figure; then there rings out a burst of mad, mocking laughter.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! Frank Lamotte, I have settled my account with you."
+
+Then turning swiftly upon Burrill, and with even fiercer fury she
+shrieks:
+
+"Out, out, out of my sight! I am almost done with you, too. Go back to
+your wine and your wallowing in the gutter; your days are numbered."
+
+The awful look upon her face, the defiant hatred in her voice, the
+sudden strength and firmness of her whole bearing, Constance shuddered
+at and never forgot. Frank Lamotte, making a monstrous effort for
+self-control, gasped, let go his hold on the door frame, lifted his hand
+to his temples, and came a few steps into the room. Outside, on the
+stairway, was the rustle of woman's garments, the light fall of swift
+feet. In another moment Mrs. Lamotte, followed by Mrs. Aliston, enters
+the room, pushing past the gaping and astonished Burrill with scant
+ceremony. Then, Sybil's strength deserts her as John Burrill, recalled
+to a sense of his own importance, advances, and seems about to address
+her. She utters a cry of abhorrence and terror, and, throwing out her
+hands to ward off his approach, reels, falls, and is caught in the
+supporting arms of Constance and Mrs. Lamotte.
+
+While they are applying restoratives, Frank sees the propriety of
+withdrawing from the scene, but no such motives of delicacy or decency
+ever find lodgment in the brain of John Burrill, and leering with tipsy
+gravity, he presses close to the bedside and poisons the air with his
+reeking breath. Constance flushes with anger, and glances at Mrs.
+Lamotte. That lady looks up uneasily, and seems to hesitate, and then
+Mrs. Aliston rises to the occasion, and covers herself with glory.
+
+Looking blandly up into the man's face, she lays one fat, gloved hand
+upon his arm, and says, in a low, confidential tone:
+
+"Come this way one moment, sir, if you please," and she fairly leads the
+wondering and unsuspecting victim from the room. A second later he is
+standing in the passage, the chamber door is shut swiftly and locked
+securely. John Burrill has been led out like a lamb, and the fat and
+smiling strategist comes back to the bedside.
+
+"I suppose he thought I would tell him a secret when I got him outside,"
+she laughs, softly.
+
+Whatever he thought he kept to himself. After uttering a few curses he
+went below, "returned to his pipe and his bowl," and waited the dinner
+hour.
+
+"I shall send for Doctor Heath," said Mrs. Lamotte, as she bent above
+her daughter, who had slowly returned to consciousness, but lay passive,
+seeming not to see or know the friends who stood about her. "Sybil does
+not know us; I feel alarmed."
+
+Mrs. Aliston nodded sagaciously. "He can not come too soon," she said;
+then to Constance, with a mingling of womanly tact and genuine
+kindliness, "my child, you had better drive home soon. If Mrs. Lamotte
+wishes, or will permit, I will stay to-night. It will be better, believe
+me, Mrs. Lamotte, than to share a watch with any servant; and I am a
+good nurse."
+
+So it is arranged that she shall stay, and Constance proposes to return
+alone to Wardour.
+
+As she goes down stairs to her carriage, from out the shadow of the
+drawing room comes Frank Lamotte, still very haggard, and trembling with
+excitement suppressed.
+
+"Constance!" he whispers, hoarsely, "one moment, please."
+
+She pauses before him, very pale and still.
+
+"Constance," speaking with an effort, "I--went up there, hoping to keep
+Burrill from intruding; he was too quick for me, and--and I heard
+Sybil's last words--and yours."
+
+No answer from the pale listener.
+
+"My sister asked you to refuse me. Am I right?"
+
+"You heard."
+
+"And you promised?"
+
+"I promised."
+
+"Constance, Sybil is half mad. You surely were only humoring her whim in
+so replying."
+
+"Sybil _is_ half mad. I begin to think that you know why."
+
+"We all know why. She has sacrificed herself for an ingrate; she has
+saddled us all with a monster, to save a brother who is not worth
+saving."
+
+"Frank Lamotte, stop; I can not listen to this; for, let me tell you
+that I know this charge against Evan Lamotte to be false, and I know
+that you know it; and yet you have sanctioned the fraud. Who has
+blighted Sybil's life, you may know, but it is not Evan."
+
+"Constance do you mean--"
+
+"I mean all that I say. Let me pass, Frank."
+
+"Not yet. Constance, Constance! had you never any love for me? Is there
+no shadow of hope?"
+
+"At first," said Constance, coldly, "I liked you as Sybil's brother;
+later, I tolerated you; now you are teaching me to despise you. Long ago
+I told you that only yourself could injure yourself in my eyes. There
+might have been a reason, an excuse even, for allowing poor Evan, who
+has willingly assumed the position, to become the family scape-goat.
+There is none for your unbrotherly and false accusation. Whatever his
+faults may be, poor Evan is unselfish, and he truly loves his sister."
+
+"Is this your answer?"
+
+"What do you expect? do you want my assurance that my promise to Sybil
+was made in good faith, and that I intend to keep it? If so, you have
+it." She went swiftly past him, with the last words on her lips. And
+again Frank Lamotte was the prey of his enemy; like a drunken man, he
+reeled back into the parlor, gnashing his teeth, cursing his fate, half
+mad and wholly desperate.
+
+Meanwhile, above stairs, John Burrill was rehearsing to Evan, after his
+drunken fashion, the recent scene in Sybil's room, not even omitting his
+own expulsion by wily Mrs. Aliston. As he repeated, with wonderful
+accuracy, considering his condition, the wild words uttered by Sybil,
+his listener sat very erect, with wild staring eyes, and lips held
+tightly together, his teeth almost biting through them; with burning
+eyes, and quivering frame, and a strange fear at his heart.
+
+Having finished his narrative, Burrill arose:
+
+"I'm to meet some fellows at Forty's," he said, thickly. "I'll stop with
+them a couple of hours, or three, maybe; after that--" and he winked
+significantly.
+
+"After that," repeated Evan, and winked in return.
+
+An hour later Evan, pale and shivering, knocked softly at Sybil's door;
+Mrs. Lamotte appeared.
+
+"How is Sybil, mother?"
+
+"Quiet, but not rational. Doctor Heath has just gone. Evan, why! how
+badly you look!"
+
+"I feel badly. I'm going to bed; good night, mother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THAT NIGHT.
+
+
+At ten o'clock that night, business was running lively at the low
+ceiled, dingy, riverside saloon, that was most popular with the factory
+men, the colliers, the drovers, and the promiscuous roughs of W----, and
+that bears the dignified title of "Old Forty Rods."
+
+The saloon is well patronized to-night. At the upper end, nearest the
+door, "Old Forty," in person, is passing liquors across the bar, and
+bawling orders to a nimble assistant, while every now and then he
+addresses a coarse jest to some one of the numerous loafers about the
+bar, mingling them strangely with his orders, and his calling of the
+drinks, as he passes them across the rail.
+
+"Here's your beer, Lupin; Jack, half a dozen brandies for Mr. Burrill's
+party; Little, you are out on the brown horse--rum and water? Yes, sir,
+yes."
+
+"Burrill's beastly high to-night," said a factory hand, setting down his
+beer glass and wiping his mouth; "and the boys freeze to him since he
+handles old Lamotte's rocks."
+
+"Of course, of course. Burrill don't forget old friends; Jack, bring the
+rum flask; they've been here a plum hour, them chaps, sir; 'ere's your
+punch, mister, and they keep the stuff runnin' down their throats, now
+I can tell you. Burrill foots the bill, of course; and they can do
+anything with that big chap when the wines get the upper hands of him.
+I'll be sworn, they're up to mischief to-night, for I see Rooney and Bob
+Giles, they delight in getting Burrill into scrapes, are drinking light,
+and plying him heavy," and "Forty" turned about to draw a glass of beer
+for a low-browed, roughly-dressed man who had just entered, and who was
+in fact, none other than the tramp who had feasted by the roadside, on
+the day before, and whom Mr. Belknap had called Roake.
+
+Roake drank his beer, and lounged over the bar for a short time, then
+called for a second glass, and after drinking it, went quietly out.
+
+At the lower end of the long saloon, several tables are scattered, and
+gathered about one of these we see the party spoken of as "Mr.
+Burrill's."
+
+Five men are grouped about the small table, and among these, John
+Burrill is conspicuous for being much better dressed, much louder in his
+laughter, and viler in his jests, and much drunker than are the other
+four.
+
+Since his change of fortunes, these men have made capital of his
+weakness, and his purse has supplied their thirst, in return for which
+he has been fawned upon, and flattered, during the earlier stages of his
+intoxication, and made a tool and a jest later.
+
+"I mus' go home," articulated Burrill, drawing forth and consulting a
+showy gold repeater. "Folks's sick er home; mus' be good; take er
+nother drink, boys?"
+
+"Folks sick, eh?" queried Rooney, winking behind his hand at the others,
+"wife, I 'spose?"
+
+"Yes, wife I 'spose; wife 'n' brother-in-law, both sick; take er
+nother--"
+
+"All right, old pard; but don't let a little sickness call you off so
+early; just let Heath take care of them; you're fond of Heath, too."
+
+"Curse Heath!" roared out John Burrill; "what do you mean, I say,
+Roo-Roo-ney?"
+
+"Burrill," said Bob Giles, setting down his glass and speaking in a low,
+confidential tone; "what's this power you have over Heath? Don't you
+know he's afraid of you?"
+
+"He--he zer 'fraid er me! an' so he better be--him un--"
+
+"And yet there are two or three of the fellows that say you are the one
+that's afraid."
+
+"Me afraid! I--John Bur--ll, f-fraid. Boys, look, en I'll jus' tell you
+a s-secret. If I jus' opened my mouth, I could run that f-fellow out of
+the country; fact!" and he nodded sagaciously again and again.
+
+"Then there ain't no truth in that story that you are the one that's
+afraid, and that you wouldn't dare go to Heath's office, not even if you
+wanted a doctor?"
+
+"T-truth? By gad, sir, show me the man that says so; show 'im to me! By
+heavens, sir, I wouldn't be f-fraid to rout him up the d-darkest night
+that ever blew, sir."
+
+"Of course not, we don't doubt that, but--there's them do. I'll tell you
+what it is, Burrill, the thing would be settled if you would just walk
+up to the doctor's cottage, tell him you are sick somewhere, and bring
+away a prescription; that _would_ settle it."
+
+A murmur of approval went round the table. Not a man was there among
+them who would not rejoice inwardly at the discomfiture of the arrogant,
+would-be aristocrat, who, while he was less than their equal in many
+things, had risen above them in fortune. He had reached that period of
+drunkenness, and it took a vast quantity of stout liquor to bring him up
+to it, where his voice began to grow hoarse, his ready tongue to trip,
+his brain to be most completely muddled, and his legs to be most
+unreliable instruments of locomotion. The men about the table nodded and
+winked to each other, under his very nose.
+
+"Egg him on, Rooney," whispered Giles, "let's have the fun out." And
+they did.
+
+Ere long, John Burrill, staggering under the additional cargo of drinks
+imbibed as toasts to the undertaking, and again, as draughts of defiance
+to the enemy who would dare question his courage, buttoned his coat
+about him, and, boasting, cursing, and swaggering, reeled out into the
+night. Out into the night that swallowed him up forever.
+
+"Let's follow him," said one of the plotters, starting up as the door
+closed behind him.
+
+But this proposition met with no favor. The night was very dark, and the
+wind blowing in fierce gusts; the saloon was warm and inviting, and
+their victim had ordered their grog, until he should return.
+
+"Let's drink the good liquor he has paid for," said Rooney, with a wink,
+"then we will let some more of the boys into the secret, and start out
+in a gang and gather him up. Heath will kick him out sure enough, and if
+we follow too close we might be discovered. Not by Burrill but by the
+doctor. We will bring Burrill back here and two more drinks will make
+him tell the whole story."
+
+They did not agree with Rooney on all points of his argument; but they
+had played a coarse, practical joke upon a man who sometimes "took on
+airs" and vaunted himself as their patron; he who had been only their
+equal once. It was only a joke, a witless, mirthless, coarse saloon
+joke, and they drank on and grew hilarious, never dreaming that they had
+sent one man to his grave, and another to the foot of the scaffold.
+
+As John Burrill came forth from the saloon and turned his face toward
+Doctor Heath's cottage, a lithe form emerged from amidst the darkness
+and paused for a moment just outside the saloon door, seeming to
+hesitate.
+
+"He's goin' home, in course," muttered the man. "I'll jest light out and
+come in ahead." And he plunged down a by street and went swiftly over
+the bridge; but not alone.
+
+A second dark form had been lurking in the vicinity of "Old Forty's,"
+the form of a boy, who glided through the dark, at the heels of the
+other, like a spirit.
+
+"He is going wrong," thought this shadow, discontentedly. "Somehow I'm
+sure of it; I'm shadowing the wrong party; but--I'm obeying
+instructions." And pursued and pursuer crossed the bridge and turned
+their steps toward Mapleton.
+
+Meantime, John Burrill, reeling, singing snatches of low songs, and
+stopping sometimes to rest and assure himself that all the landmarks are
+there, pursues his way toward Doctor Heath's cottage.
+
+It is situated on the outskirts of the town; the way is long, the night
+dark, the wind boisterous, and the way lonely. It is after ten o'clock.
+
+Later--nearly two hours later, Frank Lamotte, driven by his demon of
+unrest, is pacing his room, feverish and fierce, when his door opens
+softly, a white, haggard face looks in, a hoarse voice articulates,
+"Frank, for God's sake, for your own sake, come with me quick!"
+
+Frank Lamotte turns swiftly, angrily. He is about to speak, when
+something catches his eye, fixes it in horror, and causes him to gasp
+out, pointing with one shaking finger.
+
+"Ah-h-h! _what_ is that?"
+
+"It is the _Family Honor_!" came the hissing answer. "_Come_, I tell
+you."
+
+And like a man in a nightmare, Frank Lamotte obeys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+PRINCE'S PREY.
+
+
+The morning of the following day breaks gray and dismal. The wind has
+been blowing all the night through, and wherever a tree stands, there
+the fallen leaves lie, thick and rain-soaked; for it is raining,
+drizzling weather, and above, below, and around, all is gray, and dull,
+and dreary.
+
+Dr. Heath's cottage stands aloof from all other dwellings, quite by
+itself, for the houses stand wide apart in this suburban portion of the
+town, and he has selected the pretty place because of its quiet beauty,
+and comparative isolation. He has neighbors within sight, within
+hearing, too, should he choose to be vociferous; but the houses about
+him all stand within their own pleasant grounds. His nearest neighbor,
+on the one hand, has placed a fine orchard between them, and on the
+other hand, he has no neighbor at all; there is a vacant lot, well
+planted and pleasantly ruinous to see. A fine dwelling had once occupied
+the site, but fire had destroyed it, and the gaping cellar, a pile of
+burnt bricks, and some charred debris, are all that remain. In summer
+the place is one tangled growth of roses and flowering shrubs, and
+Doctor Heath makes free with the flowers in their season, and even
+swings his hammock there among the old trees, that outnumber his own,
+and have outstripped them, too, in years and growth.
+
+[Illustration: The cottage stands quite by itself.]
+
+Opposite the doctor's cottage stands a handsome dwelling, far back among
+the trees. It is the home of Lawyer O'Meara and his wife; and the two
+are the doctor's firm friends.
+
+Beyond the O'Meara dwelling and on the same side of the street,
+stretches a row of cottages, built and owned by Mr. O'Meara. These are
+occupied by some thrifty mechanics, and one or two of the best of the
+mill workers. They are neat, new, tasteful, and well cared for by their
+tenants.
+
+Clifford Heath awakes a little later than usual, this dismal, gray
+morning; he had returned from his second visit to Sybil Burrill at a
+late hour, and after sitting beside his fire, pondering long over many
+things, had retired, to sleep soundly, and to wake late. What first
+rouses him is a knocking upon his door, a regular tattoo, beaten by his
+housekeeper, grown impatient over coffee too long brewed, and muffins
+too brown.
+
+He makes his toilet after a leisurely fashion, smiling a little at the
+vociferous barking of his dog, Prince.
+
+The dog is always confined in the stable at night, where he is a safe
+companion and sure protection to the doctor's fine horse; and now, it
+being past the time when he is usually liberated, he is making his
+wrongs heard, and there will be no more repose or quiet until Prince is
+set free.
+
+"Poor fellow," calls his master, as he swings open the stable door.
+"Poor Prince! Good, old boy! Come now, and you shall have a splendid
+breakfast, to compensate for my neglect."
+
+The dog bounds out, a splendid bull dog, strong, fierce, and white as
+milk. He fawns upon his master, leaps about him, barks joyfully, and
+then follows obediently to the kitchen. The dog provided for, Doctor
+Heath goes in out of the rain, shaking the water from his coat, and
+tossing it aside in favor of a dry one; and then he applies himself to
+his own breakfast.
+
+The warmth and comfort within are intensified by the dreariness without.
+Mrs. Gray has lighted a fire in the grate, and he turns toward it,
+sipping his coffee leisurely, enjoying the warmth all the more because
+of an occasional glance out of the window.
+
+Two men pass--two of the cottagers--his neighbors, who, dismayed by the
+storm, have turned back toward their homes.
+
+"Poor devils!" mutters the doctor, sympathetically; "they don't fancy
+laying brick and mixing mortar in weather like this; and one of them has
+no overcoat; I must keep that in mind, and supply him, if he will accept
+one, from out my store."
+
+He stirs the fire briskly, takes another sip from his half emptied cup,
+and goes off in a reverie. Presently there comes the sound of a dog's
+angry barking, and soon mingled with the canine cries, the voices of men
+calling to one another, crying for aid. But so pleasant is his
+meditation, and so deep, that their sounds do not rouse him; they reach
+his ears, 'tis true; he has a vague sense of disagreeable sounds, but
+they do not break his reverie.
+
+Something else does, however, a brisk hammering on the street door, and
+a loud, high pitched voice, calling:
+
+"Heath! Heath, I say!"
+
+He starts up, shakes himself and his ideas, together, and goes to face
+the intruder upon his meditations. It is his neighbor across the way.
+
+"Heath, have you lost your ears? or your senses?" he cries, impatiently;
+"what the devil has your dog found, that has set these fellows in such a
+panic? Something's wrong; they want you to come and control the dog."
+
+"Heath! Heath!" comes from the adjoining vacant lot; "come, for God's
+sake, quick!"
+
+In another moment, Clifford Heath has seized his hat, and, followed by
+his neighbor, is out in the yard.
+
+"Come this way, O'Meara," he says, quickly; "that is if you can leap the
+fence, it's not high," and he strides through his own grounds, scales
+the intervening palings, and in a few seconds is on the scene.
+
+On the scene! At the edge of the old cellar, one of the men recently
+denominated, "poor devils," by the musing doctor, is gesticulating
+violently, and urging him forward with lips that are pale with terror.
+
+Down in the old cellar, the second man, paler still than the first, is
+making futile efforts to draw the dog away from something, at which he
+is clawing and tearing, barking furiously all the time.
+
+Something lies under a heaped up mass of leaves, grass, and freshly
+turned earth; something from which the fierce beast is tearing away the
+covering with rapid movements. As he leaps down into the cellar,
+Clifford Heath sees what it is that has so terrified the two men. From
+under the leaves and earth, Prince has brought to light a human foot and
+leg!
+
+Instantly he springs forward, his hand upon the dog's collar, his face
+pale as ashes.
+
+"Prince!" he cries; "Prince! come away, sir."
+
+[Illustration: "Prince, come away, sir!"]
+
+The dog crouches, quails for a moment, then utters a low growl, and
+tries to shake himself free; for the first time, he refuses to obey his
+master.
+
+But it _is_ his master; there is a short, sharp struggle, and then the
+brute cowers, whining at his feet.
+
+"Wait!" he says, imperiously to the men, and then, speaking a stern word
+of command, he strides away, followed by the conquered and trembling
+brute.
+
+It is the work of a moment to chain him fast; and then Clifford Heath
+goes swiftly back to the men, who stand very much as he left them.
+
+"Can this be some trick?" Mr. O'Meara is saying, peering down from the
+edge of the cellar wall at the mound of earth and the protruding leg.
+
+"There is no trick here," replies Clifford Heath, once more springing
+down into the cellar. "My dog would not be deceived. Come down here,
+O'Meara; this thing must be unearthed."
+
+Mr. O'Meara lowers himself carefully down, and the man who has thus far
+stood sentinel follows suit. Then the four approach the mound once more.
+For a moment they regard each other silently; then one of the masons
+says:
+
+"If we had a spade."
+
+"Not yet," breaks in Lawyer O'Meara. "Let's make sure that we have found
+something before we cause any alarm to be given. Get some small boards;
+we do not want a spade."
+
+The boards are found easily, and they look to O'Meara again, all but
+Clifford Heath, who stands near the mound gazing downward as if
+fascinated. While O'Meara speaks, he stoops swiftly, and then carries
+his hand to his pocket.
+
+"Let's remove the--upper portion of whatever this is," says the lawyer
+nervously, "and work carefully. This looks like--"
+
+"It looks like _murder_," says Clifford Heath, quietly. "Pull away the
+dirt carefully, men."
+
+They are all strong-nerved, courageous men; yet they are all very pale,
+as they bend to their task.
+
+A few moments, and Mr. O'Meara utters a sharp exclamation, drops his
+board, and draws back. They have unearthed a shoulder, an arm, a
+clenched hand.
+
+A moment more, and Clifford Heath, too, withdraws from his task, the
+cold sweat standing thick upon his temples. They are uncovering a head,
+a head that is shrouded with something white.
+
+To Mr. O'Meara, to Clifford Heath, the moment is one of intense unmixed
+horror. To the men who still bend to their work, the horror has its
+mixture of curiosity. _Whose_ is the face they are about to look upon?
+
+Instinctively the two more refined men draw farther back, instinctively
+the others bend closer.
+
+Swiftly they work. The last bit of earth is removed from the face;
+carefully they draw away a large white handkerchief, then utter a cry of
+horror.
+
+"My God!" cries one, "it is _John Burrill_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A TURN IN THE GAME.
+
+
+It is John Burrill!
+
+Lying there, half buried still, with clenched hands and features
+distorted. It is John Burrill, dead.
+
+Clifford Heath utters a sharp exclamation. He starts forward suddenly,
+and looks, not upon the dead face, but straight at the white thing that
+is still held in the hand of one of the masons. Then he snatches it from
+the man fiercely, looks at it again and more closely, and lets it fall
+from his grasp. For a moment all is black to his vision, and over his
+face a ghastly pallor creeps. Slowly, slowly, he lifts his hand to his
+forehead, rests it there for a moment, and seems making an effort to
+think. Then he drops his hand; he lifts his head; he draws himself
+erect.
+
+"O'Meara," he says, in a voice strangely hollow and unfamiliar, and
+pointing to the fallen handkerchief. "Look at that. I am going home;
+when you want me you will find me there." And without having so much as
+glanced at the dead face so near him, he goes slowly towards his
+cottage, holding his head proudly erect still.
+
+Mr. O'Meara turns away from the corpse, and gazes for a moment after the
+retreating form of his friend; then he picks up the handkerchief; it is
+of softest linen, and across one corner he reads the embroidered name
+of _Clifford Heath_. For a moment he stands with the telltale thing held
+loosely in his hand, and then he bends down, spreads it once more over
+the dead face, and turns to the men.
+
+"This body must not be disturbed further," he says, authoritatively.
+"One of you go at once and notify Soames, and then Corliss. Fortunately,
+Soames lives quite near. Don't bring a gang here. Let's conduct this
+business decently and in order. Do you go, Bartlett," addressing the
+younger of the two men. "We will stay here until the mayor comes."
+
+And Lawyer O'Meara buttons his coat tightly about him and draws closer
+to the cellar wall, the better to protect himself from the drip, drip,
+of the rain.
+
+"It is a horrible thing, sir," ventured the mechanic, drawing further
+away from the ghastly thing outlined, and made more horrible, by the
+wet, white covering. "It's a fearful deed for somebody, and--it looks as
+if the right man wasn't far away; we all know how he and Burrill were--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, man," snapped O'Meara, testily, "keep 'what we all
+know' until you are called on to testify. _I_ have something to think
+about."
+
+And he does think, long and earnestly, regardless of the rain;
+regardless alike of the restless living companion and of the silent
+dead.
+
+By and by, they come, the mayor, the officers, the curious gazers; the
+rain is nothing to them, in a case like this; there is much running to
+and fro; there are all the scenes and incidents attendant upon a
+first-class horror. A messenger is dispatched, in haste, to Mapleton,
+and, in the wind and the rain, the drama moves on.
+
+The messenger to Mapleton rides in hot haste; he finds none but the
+servants astir in that stately house; to them he breaks the news, and
+then waits while they rouse Frank Lamotte; for Jasper Lamotte has not
+returned from the city.
+
+After a time he comes down, pale and troubled of countenance; he can
+scarcely credit the news he hears; he is terribly shocked, speechless
+with the horror of the story told him.
+
+By and by, he recovers his composure, in a measure; he goes to his
+mother's room, and tells her the horrible news; he orders the servants
+to be careful what they say in his sister's presence, and not to
+approach Evan's room; then he tells the coachman to meet Mr. Lamotte,
+who will come on the noon express, with the carriage. After which, he
+swallows a glass of brandy; and, without waiting for breakfast, mounts
+his horse and gallops madly townward.
+
+Meantime, the fast express is steaming toward W----, bearing among its
+human freight, Mr. Jasper Lamotte; and never has W---- seen upon his
+usually serene face such a look as it now wears. It is harassed,
+baffled, discontented, surly. He knows no one among the passengers, and
+he sits aloof from his fellow travelers, making no effort to while away
+the time, as travelers do.
+
+As they near W----, however, he shakes off his dullness, and lays aside
+his look of care; and when he steps upon the platform at W----, he is to
+all appearance, the same smiling suave man, who went away three days
+before.
+
+There are several other passengers for W----, among whom we may see a
+portly, dignified gentleman who looks to be somewhere in the forties,
+and who evidently has a capital opinion of himself, and knows what he is
+about. He is fashionably dressed, and wears a splendid diamond in his
+shirt front. He carries in his hand a small valise, and asks for a
+carriage to the best hotel.
+
+Close behind him is another man, of a different stripe. He is a rakish
+looking fellow, dressed in smart but cheap clothing. He carries in his
+hand a small, square package, neatly strapped, and this alone would
+betray his calling, were it not so obvious in his look and manner. The
+"book fiend" has descended upon W----. He looks about him carelessly,
+watches the portly gentleman as he is driven away in the carriage from
+the W---- Hotel, sees Mr. Jasper Lamotte enter his landau, and drive
+swiftly away, and then he trudges cheerily townward, swinging his packet
+of books as he goes.
+
+When they are out of sight of the gaping crowd about the depot, the
+coachman, acting under Frank's orders, brings his horses to a walk, and,
+turning upon his seat, addresses his master.
+
+"I've dreadful news to tell you, sir; and Mr. Frank said to let you know
+it quick, so as you could come there at once."
+
+Jasper Lamotte stares in angry astonishment, scarcely taking in the
+meaning of the none too lucid sentence.
+
+"Well, sir," he says, shortly, "what are you talking about?"
+
+This time the man came at once to the point.
+
+"Mr. Burrill has been murdered, sir. They found him this morning in an
+old cellar, close by Doctor Heath's; and they say, sir,--"
+
+"_What!_ what do you say? Burrill--"
+
+"Murdered, sir--killed dead--stabbed right through the heart, sir. They
+are anxious for you to come. They are going to have an inquest right
+there."
+
+"Drive there, at once," cried Mr. Lamotte, hoarsely. "I must see for
+myself," and he sinks back upon his seat, pale and trembling.
+
+Meantime the carriage containing the portly gentleman arrives at the
+hotel. The rain is still falling, and the gentleman steps hurriedly from
+the carriage and across the pavement--so hurriedly, indeed, that he
+jostles against a boy who is passing with a tray of ivory carvings and
+pretty scroll-work.
+
+Down comes the tray, and the gentleman, who is evidently kind-hearted,
+cries out:
+
+"Why, boy! Bless me, but I'm sorry! Didn't see you, upon my word. Pick
+your wares up, sonny, and take stock of the broken things, then come in
+and I'll make it all square. Just ask for Mr. Wedron, and don't be
+bashful," and he bustles into the office of the W---- House, where he
+calls for the best room they can give him, registers as "A. C. Wedron,
+att'y, N. Y.," and, asking that he might have dinner as early as
+possible, he goes at once to his room.
+
+[Illustration: "Why, boy! Bless me."]
+
+"I say," he calls to the porter who brings up his valise, "when that
+young image boy comes, just send him along to me; I owe him some
+damages."
+
+A few minutes later, the boy enters the office and deposits his
+disordered tray upon a chair.
+
+"Come along, you," calls the porter, gruffly. "The gentleman's looking
+for you."
+
+"Wait a minit, can't ye?" retorts the boy coolly. "I jest want to take
+account of stock."
+
+He drops on one knee and rearranges his tray with great care and no
+haste.
+
+"There!" he exclaims, rising at length with a chuckle of satisfaction.
+"I reckon that big bloke'll be about two fifty out after I call." And he
+takes up his tray and says to the porter: "Now, then, give us the
+address."
+
+"Twenty-one," he replies, and the boy ascends the stairs, and
+unceremoniously opens the door of twenty-one.
+
+The gentleman, who stands at the window, turns quickly at the sound of
+the opening door, and when it has closed behind the boy, he advances and
+asks in a low tone:
+
+"How lies the land, George? Is there any news?"
+
+"I'm sorry, sir," replies the boy. "I was faithful to orders--but things
+have gone wrong."
+
+"How, my boy?"
+
+"The man you call Burrill was murdered last night."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"Yes, sir, and I _might_ have known who did it. This is the way it went,
+sir: I kept an eye on all of your men as well as I could, during the
+day, and kept the widest eye on the short fellow with the tramp lay-out
+and the ugly face. That was easy, for he lay low all day; so I managed
+to get around here two or three times during the afternoon, and I found
+that Mr. Belknap was laying low, too. He staid in and about the hotel
+all day, and, I think, all the evening. At night the tramp fellow began
+to show signs of life, and I piped him close. Early in the evening, at
+dusk, in fact, he went over the river and out toward Mapleton; on the
+way he met Burrill coming to town, and he faced about and stalked him
+back. Burrill lounged about a good bit, and then he went to the saloon
+you pointed out to me; some fellows were waiting there for him, and they
+got about a table and carried things high, drinking every five minutes.
+My man kept a close look on the saloon, and seemed uneasy all the time;
+once he went in, and drank two beers, but he did not venture near
+Burrill and his party. By and by, I think it must have been ten o'clock
+or later, Burrill came out from the saloon alone; he was very drunk, and
+staggered as he walked away. He turned south, and my man came out, as I
+supposed, to follow. But, instead, he took a short cut to the bridge
+and crossed over, hiding himself in the low hedge on the other side. He
+staid there until almost morning, and then he seemed to be disgusted, or
+discouraged, or both. I staid close by, and tracked him back to his
+roost! Then I turned in to get a little rest myself. I was out early,
+and looked first after my man; he was out too, prowling about uneasily.
+He went to the saloon, and seemed inclined to loaf there a bit; so I
+went to look after Mr. Belknap. He was not visible, and so I lounged
+about, as it was too wet to get out my wares. Well, it was not long
+before my man came out from old 'Forty Rods,' and started out on the
+south road, and I kept on behind him, and before we had gone far we met
+a party of excited men, gathered about the mayor's house, and learned
+that a murder had been committed. We fell in with the crowd, and went
+out to the place where the body lay. It was in an empty lot, right next
+to Doctor Heath's cottage; the body was down in an old cellar, and had
+been hastily buried by the murderers. They say it was Doctor Heath's dog
+that first discovered the body."
+
+He pauses, and waits for a comment, but none comes; the gentleman stands
+with hands behind him, and head bent, as if still listening. For a long
+time, he stands thus, and then takes a turn or two about the room.
+
+"Why, George," he says, at last. "I don't see that you could have done
+better. It was no part of our plan to have this murder happen, and it
+bids fair to make us some trouble that we had not counted on. But we
+are used to that, George. So you think you might have known who did the
+deed?"
+
+"I might, sir, if I had followed Burrill; I felt all the time that he
+was the man to watch."
+
+"Oh!" with an odd smile; "your instincts are on the alert. However, you
+did right in disregarding instinct, and obeying orders. Now then, be off
+sir, and until you have further notice, keep both your eyes on Mr.
+Belknap. By the by, when do they hold an inquest?"
+
+"At three o'clock, sir; they want to have Mr. Lamotte there."
+
+"Well! that's all, George; you had better dispose of your traps for the
+day, and look sharp after Mr. Belknap."
+
+"All right, sir;" and taking up his tray, the little detective goes out,
+dropping back into his old impudent manner, as the door closes behind
+him.
+
+"So, Burrill has been killed," soliloquizes the portly gentleman seating
+himself before his cheery fire. "Well, that goes to show that we
+detectives don't find out all the tangles. We are lucky oftener than we
+are shrewd! Now look, I fancied I had the game in my hands, and stepped
+into town this morning to throw my trump and win, and now, my game is
+blocked, and a new one opens against me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+INTRODUCING MR. SMITH.
+
+
+All that long morning Clifford Heath sat alone in his cosy, parlor, and
+what his thoughts were no observer, had there been such, could have
+guessed. His features were grave, even stern, but there was no
+apprehension, no expectancy, no fear; nothing but calm gravity and
+inflexible haughtiness could be discerned in the face that was sometimes
+bent over a favorite book, sometimes submerged in clouds of smoke from
+his big German meerschaum; but that never once turned toward the window
+that overlooked the scene of the morning's discovery. All day the sounds
+from thence penetrated to his ear; all day men were coming and going,
+with much loud talk as they passed his doorway, and much bustle and
+excitement. But Clifford Heath might have been deaf and blind, so little
+interest did he manifest in the sights and sounds that were attendant
+upon the scene of John Burrill's low, rain-soaked bed of death.
+
+Crouched at his feet lay the great dog Prince, who had been comforted by
+his master for any harshness that he had suffered necessarily, and he
+now lay watchful but quiet, seeming to share, in a measure, the mood of
+his master and best friend.
+
+At one o'clock Mrs. Gray came in and spread his luncheon beside him in
+tempting array, and the doctor laid aside his pipe, and, favoring Mrs.
+Gray with one of those kindly smiles that she always melted under to the
+extent of admitting to herself that her master _was_ "a man who _meant
+well_, in spite of his horrid ways."
+
+Then he drew his chair up beside the lunch table, and immediately set
+Mrs. Gray's good humor awry by indulging in one of his "horrid ways,"
+namely, the tossing of dainty bits to Prince, who caught them in his
+mouth with much adroitness and without quitting his position upon the
+Turkish rug.
+
+Finally, when Prince had received his share of Mrs. Gray's dainties, the
+doctor fell upon the rest and made a hearty meal.
+
+As he was washing down a tart with a large tumbler of claret, there came
+a knock upon the street door, and without a moment's hesitation--indeed,
+with some alacrity--he arose to answer it in person.
+
+Once more it was his neighbor, O'Meara.
+
+"Come in O'Meara," said he, coolly. "I'm just finishing luncheon," and
+he led the way back to the parlor.
+
+"I just looked in for a moment in my capacity of friend and neighbor,
+Heath," said the little lawyer, briskly, at the same time seating
+himself near the table. "Later on I may give you a call in my
+professional capacity, but not now, not now, sir."
+
+"Don't do it at all, O'Meara," said the doctor, with a short laugh; "I
+have no earthly use for a lawyer."
+
+"No more have I for a medical adviser just this minute, sir; but I may
+need one before night."
+
+"And before night I may need a lawyer, O'Meara--is that it?"
+
+The little man shook his head.
+
+"I'm afraid of it, Heath; I'm afraid of it, as things look now."
+
+"And things look now very much as they did this morning, I suppose?"
+
+O'Meara nodded.
+
+"Then, this is the prospect ahead--a coroner's verdict thus: 'Deceased
+came to his death at the hands of Clifford Heath, M. D.;' and
+circumstantial evidence thus: 'Deceased has on several occasions been
+threatened by accused; he was found buried near the premises of accused,
+and upon his person was found a handkerchief bearing the name, Clifford
+Heath.' This, and how much more I can't tell. It's a beautiful case,
+O'Meara."
+
+The little lawyer stared, astonished at his coolness.
+
+"Don't underrate this business, Heath," he said, anxiously. "I'm glad to
+see that it has not had the opposite effect on you. I'm glad to see
+plenty of pluck, but--"
+
+"But, there's a strong case against me; that's what you would say,
+O'Meara. I don't doubt, and let me tell you that neither you nor I can
+guess _how_ strong the case is; not yet."
+
+"Such an affair is bad enough, at the best, Heath; I don't see anything
+in the case, thus far, that will hold up against an impartial
+investigation; as for other evidence, am I to understand--"
+
+Clifford Heath bent forward, and lifted one hand warningly.
+
+"Understand nothing for the present, O'Meara; after the verdict come to
+me, not as a lawyer, but as a friend, and I will explain my language
+and--attitude; for the present I have nothing to say."
+
+"Then I must be satisfied with what you _have_ said," replied the lawyer
+cheerfully. "Of course you will be at the inquest?"
+
+The doctor nodded.
+
+"Well, having seen--and heard you, it is not necessary to offer any
+suggestions, I see that," and the lawyer arose and took up his hat, "and
+it won't be policy for me to remain here too long. Count on me Heath, in
+any emergency. I'm your man."
+
+"Thank you, O'Meara; rest assured such friendship is fully appreciated."
+And he extended his hand to the friendly lawyer, who grasped it
+silently, seemed struggling, either to speak or to repress some thought,
+and then dropped it and went out silently, followed in equal silence by
+his host, who closed the door behind him, and then went thoughtfully
+back to his claret.
+
+"Zounds!" muttered Lawyer O'Meara, picking his way back across the muddy
+street, and entering his own dwelling. "To think of accusing a man of so
+much coolness, and presence of mind, of such a bungling piece of work as
+this. It's a queer suspicion, but I could almost swear that Heath smells
+a plot."
+
+At this moment a carriage drove hastily by, all mud bespattered, and
+lying open in defiance of the rain.
+
+"It's Lamotte's landau," said the lawyer, peeping out from the shelter
+of his verandah; "it's Lamotte's carriage, and it's Lamotte himself; I
+would like to see how he looks, just for one moment; but it's too wet,
+and I must go tell the old woman how her favorite doctor faces the
+situation."
+
+A few moments after the landau had deposited Jasper Lamotte at the gate
+of the vacant lot, a pedestrian, striding swiftly along, as if eager to
+be upon the scene and sate his curiosity, came in among the group of men
+that, all day long, had hovered about the cellar.
+
+"What's a going on here?" he demanded of the first man upon whom his
+glance fell, "an--accident?"
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed the man, who was one of Old Forty Rod's
+customers; "where have _you_ come from that you don't know a man has
+been killed!"
+
+"Killed!"
+
+"Yes, murdered! stabbed last night and buried in this old cellar."
+
+"Heavens, man! was--was he a citizen?"
+
+"Well, I should say! and a rum chap, too. Why, you are a stranger to
+these parts if you don't know John Burrill."
+
+"Never heard of him in my life, old Top," replied the stranger. "I
+_don't_ live in these parts."
+
+The man drew back a little, and seeing this, the stranger came closer
+and laid one hand familiarly upon his arm, at the same time leaning
+nearer, and saying in a loud whisper:
+
+"Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"
+
+[Illustration: "Any of the stiff's friends in this gang?"]
+
+The satellite of "Old Forty," who had at first seemed somewhat disposed
+to resent too much familiarity on the part of the stranger, turned
+toward him, drew closer, and allowed his features to relax into a grin
+of friendliness. He had not been so fortunate as to receive a morning
+dram, and the breath of the stranger had wafted to his nostrils the
+beloved, delicious odor of "whisky killers."
+
+"Hush!" he whispered confidentially, "that man over there the tall,
+good-looking one with the whiskers, d'ye mind--"
+
+"Yes, yes! high toned bloke?"
+
+"Exactly; that's the dead man's father-in-law."
+
+"Father-in-law, eh!"
+
+"Yes, and that young chap beside him, the pale, handsome one, that's his
+son."
+
+"Whose son?"
+
+"The tall man's son; Frank Lamotte's his name."
+
+"You don't say; good-looking duffer! Found the assassin?"
+
+"Not exactly, but they say--"
+
+"Look here, pard, this sniffs of romance; now I'm gone on romance in
+real life; just let's step back among these cedars, and out of the
+crowd, where I can give you a pull at my brandy flask, and you can tell
+me all the particulars."
+
+And the jaunty young man tapped his breast suggestively and winked
+knowingly down at his new found friend.
+
+"Agreed," said the man, eagerly, and turning at once toward the nearest
+clump of trees.
+
+"I may as well say that my name is Smith," said the stranger, as he
+passed over his brandy flask. "Now then, pard, fire ahead, and don't
+forget when you get thirsty to notify Smith, the book peddler."
+
+The man began his story, and the book peddler stood with ear attentive
+to the tale, and eye fixed upon Jasper Lamotte.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+OPENLY ACCUSED.
+
+
+It is three o'clock. The rain has ceased falling, but the sky is still
+gray and threatening. The wind howls dismally among the old trees that
+surround John Burrill's shallow grave, and its weird wail, combined with
+the rattle and creak of the branches, and the drip, drip of water,
+dropping from the many crevices into the old cellar, unite to form a
+fitting requiem for an occasion so strange, so uncanny.
+
+Down in the cellar, standing ankle deep in the mud and slime, are the
+"good men and true," who have been summoned by Justice, to decide upon
+the manner in which John Burrill met his death. There, too, is the
+mayor, dignified, grave, and important. The officers of the law are
+there, and close behind the coroner stand the Lamottes, father and son.
+A little farther back are grouped the witnesses. Those of the morning,
+the two masons, Mr. O'Meara, Dr. Heath,--they are all there except the
+first and surest one, Prince. There are the men who were Burrill's
+companions of the night before, reluctant witnesses, ferreted out
+through the officiousness of one of the saloon habitues, and fearing, a
+little, to relate their part in the evening's programme, each eager to
+lighten his own burden of the responsibility at the expense of his
+comrades in the plot. There are three women and one man, all
+eye-witnesses to the first meeting between John Burrill and Doctor Heath
+in Nance Burrill's cottage, and there is Nance Burrill herself. The
+women stand a little aloof, upon a few boards that have been thrown
+carelessly down for their comfort. And Nance Burrill talks loudly, and
+cries as bitterly as if the dead man had been her life's comfort, not
+its curse.
+
+And there, too, is Raymond Vandyck. He stands aloof from them all,
+stands near the ghastly thing that once, not long ago, came between him
+and all his happiness. There is a strange look in his blue eyes, as they
+rest upon the lifeless form, from which the coverings have been removed,
+but which still lies in the shallow place scooped out for it by the
+hands that struck it from among the living. Under the eyes of them all
+the dirt has been removed from the broad breast, and two gaping wounds
+are disclosed; cuts, deep and wide, are made with some broad, heavy
+weapon, of the dagger species.
+
+When they have all, in turn, examined the body, as it lies, it is lifted
+out carefully, and placed upon a litter, in the midst of the group, and
+then all turn their eyes from the shallow grave to the new resting place
+of its late occupant.
+
+Not all; Raymond Vandyck, still gazing as if fascinated by that
+hollowed-out bit of earth, starts forward suddenly, then draws
+shudderingly back, and points to something that lies almost imbedded in
+the soft soil. Somebody comes forward, examines, and then draws from
+out the grave, where it has lain, directly under the body, a knife--a
+knife of peculiar shape and workmanship--a long, keen, _surgeon's
+knife_! There are dark stains upon the blade and handle; and a murmur of
+horror runs through the crowd as it is held aloft to their view.
+
+Raymond Vandyck draws instinctively away from the grave now, and from
+the man who still holds the knife; and in so doing he comes nearer the
+group of women, and catches a sentence that falls from the lips of Nance
+Burrill.
+
+Suddenly his face flames into anger, and he strides across to where Mr.
+O'Meara stands.
+
+"O'Meara, what is this that I hear; have they dared accuse Heath?"
+
+"Don't you know, Vandyck?"
+
+"No; I have heard nothing, save the fact of the murder; the coroner's
+summons found me at home."
+
+"Heath will be accused, I think."
+
+Raymond Vandyck turns and goes over to Clifford Heath; without uttering
+a word, he links his arm within that of the suspected man, and standing
+thus, listens to the opening of the trial.
+
+The only sign of recognition he receives is a slight pressure of the arm
+upon which his hand rests; but before Clifford Heath's eyes, just for
+the moment, there swims a suspicious moisture.
+
+Above them, crowding close about the cellar walls, is a motley throng,
+curious, eager, expectant; among the faces peering down may be seen
+that of the portly gentleman; his diamond pin glistening as he turns
+this way and that; his great coat blown back by the gusts of wind, and a
+natty umbrella clutched firmly in his plump, gloved hand. Not far
+distant is private detective Belknap, looking as curious as any, and
+still nearer the cellar's edge is the rakish book-peddler, supported by
+his now admiring friend of the morning, who has warmed into a hearty
+interest in "that fine young fellow, Smith," under the exhilarating
+influence of the "fine young fellow's" brandy flask.
+
+Dodging about among the spectators, too, is the boy George, who has
+abandoned his tray of pretty wares, and is making his holiday a feast of
+horrors.
+
+And now all ears are strained to hear the statements of the various
+witnesses in this strange case.
+
+Frank Lamotte is the first. He is pale and nervous, and he avoids the
+eyes of all save the ones whom he addresses. Doctor Heath keeps two
+steady, searching orbs fixed upon his face, but can draw to himself no
+responsive glance. Frank testifies as follows:
+
+John Burrill had left Mapleton the evening before at an early hour, not
+later than eight o'clock. Witness had seen little of him during the day.
+Deceased was in a state of semi-intoxication when last he saw him. That
+was at six o'clock, or near that time. No, he did not know the
+destination of deceased. They seldom went out together. Did not know if
+Burrill had any enemies. Was not much in his confidence.
+
+Upon being questioned closer, he displays some unwillingness to answer,
+but finally admits that he _has_ heard Burrill speak in bitter terms of
+Doctor Heath, seeming to know something concerning the doctor's past
+life that he, Heath, wished to conceal.
+
+What was the nature of the knowledge?
+
+That he cannot tell.
+
+Jasper Lamotte is called. He has been absent from home, and can throw no
+light upon the subject.
+
+The two masons, one after the other, testify; their statements do not
+vary.
+
+They were returning home, having turned back from their day's labor,
+because of the rain. When they came near the old cellar, the barking of
+a dog attracted their attention. It came from the cellar, and one of
+them, curious to see what the dog had hunted down, went to look. The dog
+was tugging at what appeared to be a human foot. He called his
+companion, and then leaped down into the cellar, and tried to drive the
+dog from what he now feared was a half buried human being. The other man
+called for help, and, seeing O'Meara, shouted to him to tell Heath to
+come and call off his dog.
+
+They tell it all. How Doctor Heath came and mastered the dog, after a
+hard struggle; how the face of the dead was uncovered, and how Doctor
+Heath had snatched at the white thing they had taken from off it,
+scrutinized it for a moment, and then flung it from him. They repeat his
+words to Mr. O'Meara with telling effect; and then they stand aside.
+
+Doctor Heath is sworn. He has nothing to say that has not been said. He
+knows nothing of the murdered man, save that once he had knocked him
+down for beating a woman, and once for insulting himself.
+
+Had he ever threatened deceased? He believed that he had on the occasion
+last mentioned. What was the precise language used? That he could not
+recall.
+
+Then the handkerchief is produced; is presented to him.
+
+"Doctor Heath, is that yours?" Every man holds his breath; every man is
+visibly agitated; every man save the witness.
+
+Coolly lifting his hand to his breast pocket, he draws from thence a
+folded handkerchief; he shakes out the snowy square, and offers it to
+the coroner.
+
+"It is mine or an exact counterpart of mine. Your honor can compare
+them."
+
+Astonishment sits on every face. What matchless coolness! what a
+splendid display of conscious innocence! or of cool effrontery!
+
+The coroner examines the two pieces of linen long and closely, then he
+passes them to one of the jurymen; and then they go from hand to hand;
+and all the while Clifford Heath stands watching the scrutiny. Not
+eagerly, not even with interest, rather with a bored look, as if he must
+see something, and with every feature locked in impenetrable calm.
+
+Finally the coroner receives them back. They are precisely alike, and so
+says his honor:
+
+"Clifford Heath, do you believe this handkerchief, which I hold in my
+hand, and which was recently found upon the face of this dead man, to
+be, or to have been yours?"
+
+"I do," calmly.
+
+"Are you aware that you have recently lost such a handkerchief?"
+
+"I am not."
+
+"Has such a one been stolen from you?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge."
+
+"Then you have no idea how your property came where it was this morning
+found?"
+
+"You are seeking facts, sir, not ideas."
+
+A moment's silence; the coroner takes up the knife.
+
+"Doctor Heath, will you look at this knife?"
+
+The doctor steps promptly forward and receives it from his hand.
+
+"Did you ever see that knife before?"
+
+[Illustration: "Did you ever see that knife before?"]
+
+"I can't say, sir," turning it carelessly in his hands, and examining
+the spots upon the blade.
+
+"Did you ever see one like it?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you ever own one like it?"
+
+"I _do_ own one like it."
+
+"Are such knives common?"
+
+"They are--to the surgical profession."
+
+"Do you own more than one knife of this sort?"
+
+"I do not."
+
+"Did you ever own more than one like this?"
+
+"Not at the same time."
+
+"Then you have lost a knife like this?"
+
+"No; but I have broken two."
+
+"When did you last see deceased alive?"
+
+"Not since our encounter on the street; that was a week ago, I should
+think, perhaps longer."
+
+"Who witnessed that affair?"
+
+"Mr. Vandyck was with me; the others were strangers."
+
+"That is all, Doctor Heath."
+
+Lawyer O'Meara comes next; his testimony is brief, and impatiently
+given. He adds nothing new to the collected evidence.
+
+Next comes the man Rooney, and he rehearses the scene at "Old Forty
+Rods," sparing himself as much as possible.
+
+"We didn't really think he'd go to Doctor Heath's," he says in
+conclusion. "We all called it a capital joke, and agreed to go out and
+look him up after a little. He was reeling drunk when he went out, and
+we all expected to find him floored on the way. After a while, an hour
+perhaps, we started out, half a dozen of us, with a lantern, and went
+along the road he had taken; we went almost to Heath's cottage, looking
+all about the road as we went. When we did not find him, we concluded
+that he had gone straight home, and that if we staid out longer the
+laugh would be on us. So we went back, and agreed to say nothing about
+the matter to Burrill when we should see him."
+
+"How near did you come to Doctor Heath's house?"
+
+"Very near, sir; almost as near as we are now."
+
+"But you were in the opposite direction."
+
+"Just so, sir; we came from the town."
+
+"Did you hear any movements; any sounds of any sort?"
+
+"Nothing particular, sir; we were making some noise ourselves."
+
+"Did you meet any one, either going or coming?"
+
+"No, sir; but a man might easily have passed us in the dark on the other
+side of the road."
+
+Five men confirm Rooney's statement, and every word weighs like lead
+against Clifford Heath.
+
+John Burrill left the saloon to go to Doctor Heath's house; in drunken
+bravado, he would go at night to disturb and annoy the man who had,
+twice, in public, chastised him, and on both occasions uttered a threat
+and a warning; unheeding these, he had gone to brave the man who had
+warned him against an approach--and he has never been seen alive since;
+he has been found dead, murdered, hidden away near the house of the man
+who had said: "If he ever should cross my path, rest assured I shall
+know how to dispose of him."
+
+These words distinctly remembered by all three of the women who
+witnessed the rescue in Nance Burrill's house, are repeated by each one
+in turn, and the entire scene is rehearsed.
+
+Nance Burrill is called upon, and just as she comes forward, Mr. Lamotte
+beckons the coroner, and whispers a few words in his ear. The coroner
+nods, and returns to his place. Nance Burrill is sworn, and all listen
+eagerly, expecting to hear her rehearse the story of her life as
+connected with that of the dead man. But all are doomed to
+disappointment. She tells the story of the rescue in her cottage, much
+as did the others; she repeats the words of Clifford Heath, as did the
+others, and she turns back to her friends, leaving the case against the
+man who had been her champion, darker than before.
+
+Raymond Vandyck is called; he does not stir from his position beside his
+friend, and his face wears a look of defiant stubbornness.
+
+"Ray," says Clifford Heath, quietly, "your silence would be construed
+against me; go forward and tell the whole truth."
+
+Then he obeys the summons; but the truth has to be drawn from him by
+hard labor; he will not help them to a single fact. For example:
+
+"What do you know concerning this case?"
+
+"Nothing," he says, shortly.
+
+"Did you know that man," pointing to the body of Burrill; "in his life."
+
+"I had not that honor."
+
+"Ah--you have seen him."
+
+"I believe so," indifferently.
+
+"You can't swear to the fact, then?"
+
+"I knew him better by reputation, than by sight."
+
+The coroner wiggled, uneasily.
+
+"You are a friend to Doctor Heath?"
+
+"I am," promptly.
+
+"Please relate what you know of his--difference with Mr. Burrill?"
+
+"What I--_know_."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Why, I don't exactly _know_ anything"
+
+"Why, sir, did you not witness a meeting between the two?"
+
+"I--suppose so."
+
+"You suppose!"
+
+"Well, I can't _swear_ that the man I saw knocked down, if that is what
+you mean, was Burrill; it was night, and I did not see his face
+clearly."
+
+"You believed it to be Burrill?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Dr. Heath so believed?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+More uneasiness on the part of the coroner.
+
+"Please state what Doctor Heath said to the man he knocked down?"
+
+"Well, I can't repeat the exact words. He said what any one would have
+said under the circumstances."
+
+"Ah! what were the circumstances?"
+
+"The fellow was half drunk. He approached Dr. Heath in a coarse and
+offensive manner."
+
+"Was his language offensive?"
+
+"I didn't hear what he said."
+
+"Did you hear what Dr. Heath said?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"You heard it distinctly?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Ah!" smiling triumphantly. "Then you _can_ give us his words?"
+
+"Not _verbatim_."
+
+"Give us his meaning, then."
+
+"His meaning, as nearly as I could understand it, was this: He would
+allow no man to insult him or to meddle with his affairs, and he
+finished with something like this: 'Keep my name off your lips, wherever
+you are, if you want whole bones in your skin.'"
+
+"He said that?"
+
+"Well, something like that; I may have put it too strong."
+
+"Do you remember what Dr. Heath said by way of comment on the affair?"
+
+"One of the men picked the fellow by the sleeve, and said, 'Come out of
+that, Burrill!' and then Heath turned to me and asked, 'Who the deuce is
+Burrill?'"
+
+"And your reply?"
+
+"I said--" stopping a moment and turning his eyes upon the two
+Lamottes--"I said, 'He is Jasper Lamotte's son-in-law.'"
+
+"And then, sir?"
+
+"Then Dr. Heath made about the same sort of comment others have made
+before him--something to the effect that Mr. Lamotte had made a very
+remarkable choice."
+
+"Mr. Vandyck," says the coroner severely, "it seems to me that your
+memory is singularly lucid on some points, and deficient on others of
+more importance."
+
+"That's a fact, sir," with cheerful humility. "I'm always that way."
+
+"Ah!" with an excess of dignity. "Mr. Vandyck, I won't tax your memory
+further."
+
+Ray turns away, looking as if, having done his duty, he might even
+survive the coroner's frown, and as he moves again to the side of the
+suspected man, some one in the audience above, a portly gentleman, with
+a diamond shining on his immaculate breast, makes this mental comment:
+"There is a witness who has withheld more than he has told." And he
+registers the name of Raymond Vandyck upon his memory.
+
+This is the last witness.
+
+While the jurymen stand aside to deliberate, there is a buzz and murmur
+among the people up above, and profound quiet below. Attention is
+divided between the gentlemen of the jury and Clifford Heath. The former
+are very much agitated. They look troubled, uneasy and uncomfortable.
+They gesticulate rapidly and with a variety of movements that would be
+ludicrous were the occasion less solemn, the issue less than a man's
+life and honor.
+
+Finally the verdict is reached, and is pronounced:
+
+The coroner's jury "find, after due deliberation, that John Burrill came
+to his death by two dagger, or knife strokes from the hand of Dr.
+Clifford Heath."
+
+The accused, who, during the entire scene, has stood as immovable as the
+sphynx, and has not once been startled, disturbed, or surprised from his
+calm by anything that has been brought forward by the numerous
+witnesses, lifts his head proudly; lifts his hat, too, with a courtly
+gesture, to the gentlemen of the jury, that may mean total exoneration
+from blame, so far as they are concerned, or a haughty defiance, and
+then, after one sweeping glance around the assembly, a glance which
+turns for an instant upon the faces of the Lamottes, he beckons to the
+constable; beckons with a gesture that is obeyed as if it were a
+command.
+
+"Corliss," he says, just as he would say--"give the patient a hot drink
+and two powders." "Corliss, I suppose you won't want to lose sight of
+me, since I have suddenly become public property. Come with me, if you
+please; I am going home; then--I am at _your_ service."
+
+And without more words, without let or hindrance, without so much as a
+murmur of disapproval, he lifts himself out of the cellar, and walks, at
+a moderate pace, and with firm aspect, toward his cottage, closely
+followed by Corliss, who looks, for the first time, in his official
+career, as if he would gladly be a simple private citizen, at that
+moment.
+
+The coroner's inquest is over; there remains now nothing save to remove
+the body to a more suitable resting place, and to disperse.
+
+Jasper Lamotte moves about, giving short orders in a low tone. He is
+pallid and visibly nervous. If it were his own son who lay there in
+their midst, stiff and cold, and saturated with his own blood, he could
+scarcely appear more agitated, more shocked and sorrowful. He is really
+shocked; really sorry; he actually regrets the loss of this man, who
+must have been a constant crucifixion to his pride.
+
+This is what they whisper among themselves, as they gather in knots and
+furtively watch him, as he moves about the bier.
+
+It has been a shock to Frank Lamotte, too, although he never had seemed
+to crave the society of his brother-in-law, and always turned away from
+any mention of his name, with a sneer.
+
+Two men, who withdraw quickly from the crowd, are Lawyer O'Meara and Ray
+Vandyck. As they come up out of the cellar and go out from the hateful
+place, Ray breaks into bitter invective; but O'Meara lays a firm hand
+upon his arm.
+
+"Hold your impulsive tongue, you young scamp! Do you want to be
+impeached for a prejudiced witness? You want to help Heath, not to hurt
+him; and let me tell you, he will need strong friends and shrewd
+helpers, before we see him a free man again."
+
+Ray grinds out something profane, and then paces on in wrathful silence.
+
+"You are right, of course," he says, after a moment's pause, and in a
+calmer tone. "But, good God! to bring such a charge against Heath, of
+all men! O'Meara," suddenly, "you must defend him."
+
+"I intend to," grimly. "And in his interest I want to see you as soon as
+the vicinity is quiet; we must think the matter over and then see
+Heath."
+
+"Heath puzzles me; he's strangely apathetic."
+
+"He'll puzzle you more yet, I'm thinking. I half think he knows who did
+the deed, and don't intend to tell." He pauses, having come to the place
+where their ways diverge. "Come around by dark, Vandyck, we can't lose
+any time, that is if the buzzards are out of the way."
+
+"The buzzards will follow the carrion," scornfully. "I'll be on hand,
+Mr. O'Meara."
+
+He goes on, looking longingly at Clifford Heath's cottage, as he passes
+the gate, and the little lawyer begins to pick his way across the muddy
+street, not caring to go on to the proper crossing.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara."
+
+He turns nervously, to encounter the gaze of a large gentleman with a
+rosy face, curling, iron-gray hair, and beard, and a blazing diamond in
+his shirt front.
+
+"Eh! sir; you addressed me?"
+
+"I did," replies the gentleman, in a low, energetic tone, strangely at
+variance with his general appearance, at the same time coming close and
+grasping the lawyer's hand with great show of cordiality, and before the
+astounded little man can realize what he is about. "Call me Wedron, sir,
+Wedron, ahem, of the New York Bar. I must have an interview with you,
+sir, and at once."
+
+O'Meara draws back and replies rather frigidly:
+
+"I am glad to know you, sir; but if your business is not too urgent--if
+another time will do--"
+
+"Another time will _not_ do? my business concerns Clifford Heath."
+
+"Then, sir, I am at your service."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+AN OBSTINATE CLIENT.
+
+
+"There, sir; I think we understand each other, sir."
+
+"Humph! well, that's according to how you put it. My knowledge is
+sufficient unto the day, at any rate. I am to visit Heath at once,
+taking young Vandyck with me; I am to insist upon his making a strong
+defence, and to watch him closely. Vandyck is to add his voice, and
+he'll do it with a roar, and then we are to report to you. Is that it?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+The speakers are Lawyer O'Meara and "Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar;"
+for more than an hour they have been seated in the lawyer's study,
+conversing in low, earnest tones; and during this interval, O'Meara's
+valuation of his _vis-a-vis_ has evidently "taken a rise," and stands
+now at a high premium. His spirits have risen, too; he views the case of
+Clifford Heath through a new lens; evidently he recognizes, in the man
+before him, a strong ally.
+
+It is arranged that, for the present, Mr. Wedron shall retain his room
+at the hotel, but shall pass the most of his time with the O'Mearas, and
+the uninitiated are to fancy him an old friend, as well as a brother
+practitioner. Even Mrs. O'Meara is obliged to accept this version, while
+inwardly wondering that she has never heard her husband mention his
+friend, "Wedron, of the New York Bar."
+
+Evidently they trust each other, these two men, and, as O'Meara has just
+said, their mutual understanding is sufficient unto the hour. Therefore,
+it being already sunset, they go together to the parlor, and are soon
+seated, in company with Mrs. O'Meara, about a cosy tea table.
+
+"It is best that Vandyck should not see me here until after your
+interview with Heath," Mr. Wedron has said to the little lawyer;
+therefore when, a little later, Ray puts in an appearance, he sees only
+O'Meara, and is immediately hurried away toward the county jail.
+
+They find Corliss at the sheriff's desk, his superior officer having
+been for several days absent from the town. The constable looks relieved
+and fatigued. He believes that within the hour he, single handed, has
+conveyed into safe custody one of the most ferocious assassins of his
+time; and, having gained so signal a victory, he now feels inclined to
+take upon himself airs, and he hesitates, becomingly, over O'Meara's
+civilly worded request to be shown to the cell assigned Doctor Heath.
+
+[Illustration: They find Corliss at the Sheriff's desk.]
+
+But O'Meara, who possesses all the brusqueness of the average Yankee
+lawyer, has no mind to argue the case.
+
+"I don't know, sir," says Corliss, with some pomposity. "Really, I
+consider Heath a very unsafe prisoner, and--"
+
+"The deuce you do," breaks in the impatient lawyer. "Well, I'll promise
+that _Doctor_ Heath shan't damage you any, so just trot ahead with your
+keys, and don't parley. _My_ time is worth something."
+
+Corliss slips down from his stool and looks at Ray.
+
+"But Mr. Vandyck, sir?" he begins.
+
+"Mr. Vandyck will see Doctor Heath too, sir," interrupts Ray, with much
+decision. "And you won't find it to your interest, Corliss, to hunt up
+too many scruples."
+
+It filters into the head of the constable that the wealthiest and most
+popular of W----'s lawyers, and the bondsman and firm friend of the
+absent sheriff, are hardly the men to baffle, and so, for the safety of
+his own official head, he takes his keys and conducts them to Doctor
+Heath.
+
+The jail is new and clean and comfortable, more than can be said of many
+in our land, and the prisoner has a cell that is fairly lighted, and not
+constructed on the suffocation plan.
+
+They find him sitting by his small table, his head resting upon his
+hand, his eyes fixed upon the floor, seemingly lost in thought.
+Evidently he is glad to see his visitors, for a smile breaks over his
+face as he rises to greet them.
+
+It is not a time for commonplaces, and O'Meara, who sees that time is of
+value, is in no mood for a prologue to his task; so he begins at the
+right place.
+
+"Heath, I'm sorry enough that you, almost a stranger among us, should be
+singled out as a victim in this case. It don't speak well for the
+judgment of our citizens. However, we are bound to set you right, and
+I've come to say that I shall esteem it a privilege to defend you--that
+is, if you have not a more able friend to depend upon."
+
+The prisoner smiles as he replies:
+
+"You are very good, O'Meara, and you are the man I should choose to
+defend me; but--you will have to build your case; I can't make one for
+you, and--you heard the evidence."
+
+"Hang the evidence!" cries the lawyer, drawing from his pocket a small
+note book.
+
+"We'll settle their evidence; just you give me a few items of
+information, and then I will let Vandyck talk; he wants to, terribly."
+
+The prisoner turns slowly in his chair, and looks steadfastly first at
+one, then at the other, and then he says:
+
+"Do you really believe, O'Meara, that I had no hand in this murder?"
+
+"I do," emphatically.
+
+"And you, Ray?"
+
+"I! You deserve to be kicked for asking. I'll tell _just_ what I
+_think_, a little later; I know you didn't kill Burrill."
+
+Clifford Heath withdraws his gaze from the faces of his visitors, and
+seems to hesitate; then he says slowly:
+
+"I am deeply grateful for your confidence in me; but, I fear my actions
+must belie my words. My friends, the evidence is more than I can
+combat. I can't prove an _alibi_; and there's no other way to clear
+myself."
+
+"Bah!" retorts O'Meara; "there are several ways. Let us take the ground
+that you are innocent; there must then be some one upon whom to fasten
+the guilt. You have an enemy; some one has stolen your handkerchief and
+your knife. Who is that enemy? Whom do you suspect?"
+
+The prisoner shook his head. "I shall accuse no one," he said, briefly.
+
+"What!" burst out Ray Vandyck; "you will not hunt down your enemy? This
+is too much! Heath, I believe you could put your hand on the assassin."
+
+No reply from the prisoner; he sits with his head bowed upon his hand, a
+look of dogged resolution upon his face.
+
+"Vandyck," says the little lawyer, who has been gazing fixedly at his
+obstinate client, and who now turns two keen eyes upon the excited Ray;
+"keep cool! keep cool, my lad! Heath, look here, sir, I'm bound to
+defend your case--do you object to that?"
+
+"On the contrary, O'Meara, you are my only hope; but, your success must
+depend upon your own shrewdness. I can't give you any help."
+
+Down went something in the lawyer's note book.
+
+"That means you won't give me any help," writing briskly.
+
+"It's an ungracious way of putting it," smiling slightly; "but--that's
+about the way it stands."
+
+"Just so," writing still; "you believe the handkerchief to have been
+yours?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the knife?"
+
+"Yes. Stay, send Corliss with some one else, to my office; let them
+examine my case of instruments, and see if the knife is among them;
+this, for form's sake."
+
+"It shall be attended to--for form's sake. Heath, who beside yourself
+had access to your office?"
+
+"My office was insecurely locked; any one might easily force an
+entrance, and a common key would open my door."
+
+Scratch, scratch; the lawyer seems not to notice the doctor's evasion of
+the question.
+
+"Ahem! As your lawyer, Heath, is there any truth in these stories about
+a previous knowledge of Burrill?"
+
+"Do you mean _my_ previous knowledge of the man?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I never knew the fellow; never saw him until I knocked him down in his
+first wife's defence."
+
+"Yet, he claimed to know you."
+
+"So I am told."
+
+"And you don't know _where_ he may have seen you?"
+
+"All I know, you have heard in the evidence given to-day."
+
+"And--" hesitating slightly; "is there nothing in your past life that
+might weigh in your favor; nothing that will give the lie to these
+hints so industriously scattered by Burrill?"
+
+"O'Meara, let us understand each other; your question means this: Do I
+intend, now that this crisis has come, to make public, for the benefit
+of W----, the facts concerning my life previous to my coming here as a
+resident? My answer must be this, and again I must give you reason to
+think me ungracious, ungrateful. There is nothing in my past that could
+help me in this present emergency; there is no one who could come
+forward to my assistance. I have not in all America one friend who is so
+well known to me, or who knows me as well as Vandyck here, or yourself.
+I can not drag to light any of the events of my past life; on the
+contrary, I must redouble my efforts to keep that past a mystery."
+
+Utter silence in the cell. The lawyer's pencil travels on--scratch,
+scratch, scratch. Ray sits moody and troubled of aspect. Doctor Heath
+looks with some curiosity upon the movements of the little lawyer, and
+inwardly wonders at his coolness. He has expected expostulation,
+indignation; has even fancied that his obstinate refusal to lend his
+friends any assistance may alienate them from his case, leaving him to
+face his fate alone. He sees how Vandyck is chafing, but he is puzzled
+by the little lawyer's phlegmatic acceptance of the situation.
+
+Presently, the lawyer looks up, snaps his note book together with a
+quick movement, and then stows it away carefully in his breast pocket.
+
+"Umph!" he begins, raising the five fingers of his right hand and
+checking off his items with the pencil which he has transferred to the
+left. "Umph! Then your case stands like this, my friend: A man is found
+dead near your premises; a handkerchief bearing your name covers his
+face; a knife supposed to belong to you is with the body. You are known
+to have differed with this man; you have knocked him down; you have
+threatened him in the public streets. You are a stranger to W----. This
+murdered man claimed to know something to your disadvantage. He is known
+to have set out for your house; he is found soon after, as I have said,
+dead. You acknowledge the knife and handkerchief to be yours; you can
+offer no _alibi_, you can rebut none of the testimony. You refuse to
+tell aught concerning your past life. That's a fine case, now; don't you
+think so?"
+
+"It's a worthless case for you, O'Meara. You had better leave me to
+fight my own battles."
+
+"Umph! I'm going to leave you for the present; but this battle may turn
+out to be not entirely your property, my friend. Since you won't help
+me, I won't disturb you farther. Come along, Vandyck."
+
+Young Vandyck began at once to expostulate, to entreat, to argue; but
+the little lawyer cut short the tide of his eloquence.
+
+"Vandyck, be quiet! Can't you let a gentleman hang himself, if he sees
+fit? No, I see you can't; it's against your nature. Well, come along; we
+will see if we can't outwit this would-be suicide, and the hangman,
+too." And he fairly forces poor, bewildered Ray from the room. Then,
+turning again toward his uncommunicative client, he says:
+
+"Oh, I'll attend to that knife business at once, Heath, and let you hear
+the result."
+
+"Stop a moment, O'Meara. There is one thing I can say, and that
+is,--have the wounds in that body examined at once. As nearly as I could
+observe, without a closer scrutiny, the knife that killed was not the
+knife found with the body. It was a smaller, narrower bladed knife;
+and--if an expert examines that knife, the one found, he will be
+satisfied that it has never entered any body, animal or human. The
+_point_ has never been dipped in blood."
+
+"Oh! ho!" cries O'Meara, rubbing his hands together briskly. "So! we are
+waking up! why didn't you mention all this before? But there's time
+enough! time enough yet. I'll have the body examined; and by the best
+surgeons, sir; and I'll see you to-morrow, _early_; good evening,
+Heath."
+
+"I'm blessed if I understand all this," burst out Ray Vandyck, when they
+had gained the street. "Here you have kept me with my mouth stopped all
+through this queer confab. I want a little light on this subject. What
+the deuce ails Heath, that he won't lift his voice to defend himself?
+And what the mischief do you let him throw away his best chances for? I
+never heard of such foolhardiness."
+
+"Young man," retorts the little lawyer, with a queer smile upon his
+face, "just at present I have got no use for that tongue of yours. You
+may be all eyes and ears, the more the better; but, I'm going to include
+you in a very important private consultation; and, _don't you open your
+mouth_ until somebody asks you to; and then mind you get it open quick
+enough and wide enough."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+BEGINNING THE INVESTIGATION.
+
+
+"Well!"
+
+It is Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar, who utters this monosyllable. He
+sits at the library table in the little lawyer's sanctum; opposite him
+is his host, and a little farther away, stands Ray Vandyck; a living,
+breathing, gloomy faced but mute interrogation point. He has just been
+introduced to Mr. Wedron, and he is anxiously waiting to hear how these
+two men propose to save from the gallows, a man who will make no effort
+to save himself.
+
+"Well!" repeats Mr. Wedron, "you have seen the prisoner?"
+
+"We have seen him."
+
+"And the result?"
+
+"Was what you predicted. See, here in my note book, I have his very
+words; you can judge for yourself."
+
+O'Meara passes his note book across to his questioner, and the latter
+reads rapidly, the short sentences scrawled by his host.
+
+"So," he says, lifting his eyes from the note book. "Doctor Heath
+refuses to defend himself. Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "sit
+down, sir; draw your chair up here; I wish to look at you, sir."
+
+Not a little astonished, but obeying orders like a veteran, Ray complies
+mutely.
+
+"Now then," says Mr. Wedron, with brisk good nature, "let's get down to
+business. Mr. Vandyck, I am here to save Clifford Heath; I was at the
+inquest; I have had long experience in this sort of business, and I
+arrive at my conclusions rapidly, after a way of my own. O'Meara,
+prepare to write a synopsis of our reasonings."
+
+"Of _your_ reasonings," corrects the lawyer, drawing pen and paper
+toward himself.
+
+"Of my reasonings then. First; are you ready, O'Meara?"
+
+"All ready."
+
+"Well, then; and don't stop to be astonished at anything I may say.
+First, Clifford Heath knows who stole his handkerchief; and who stole
+his knife."
+
+A grunt of approbation from O'Meara; a stare of astonishment from Ray.
+
+"For some reason, Heath has resolved to screen the thief." Scratch,
+scratch. "But he does not feel at all sure that the one who stole his
+belongings is the one who struck the blow."
+
+Ray stares in astonishment.
+
+"Now then, there has been a plot on foot against Heath, and I believe
+him to have been aware of it." He is looking at Ray, and that young man
+starts guiltily.
+
+"Put down this, O'Meara," says Mr. Wedron, suddenly withdrawing his
+gaze. "Doctor Heath has nothing to blush for, in his past. He withholds
+his story through pride, not through fear; but it may be necessary to
+tell it in court, in order to prove that he _did not_ know John Burrill
+previous to the meeting in Nance Burrill's cottage; and if he refuses to
+tell his story, _I_ must tell it for him."
+
+It is O'Meara's turn to be surprised, and he writes on with eager eyes
+and bated breath.
+
+"And now, O'Meara," concludes Mr. Wedron, "there were two parties sworn
+to-day, who did not tell all they knew concerning this affair. One
+was--Mr. Francis Lamotte."
+
+Ray breathes again.
+
+"The other was--Mr. Raymond Vandyck."
+
+Ray colors hotly, and half starts up from his seat. O'Meara lays down
+his pen, and stares across at his contemporary, but that individual
+proceeds with unruffled serenity.
+
+"Mr. Vandyck did not tell all that he knows, because he feared that in
+some way his testimony might be turned against Clifford Heath. Here he
+can have no such scruples. Our first step in this case, must be to find
+out _who_ Clifford Heath suspects; and why he will not denounce him."
+
+"And that bids fair to be a tough undertaking," says O'Meara.
+
+"Not at all, Mr. O'Meara. I expect that this young man can give us all
+the help we need."
+
+"I," burst out Ray. "You mistake, sir; I can not help you."
+
+"Softly, sir; softly; reflect a little, this is no time for over-nice
+scruples; besides, I know too much already. We three are here to help
+Clifford Heath. Mr. Vandyck, can you not trust to our discretion; you
+may be able, unknown to yourself, to speak the word that will free your
+friend from the foulest charge that was ever preferred against a man.
+Will you answer my questions frankly, or--must we set detectives to hunt
+for the information you could so easily give?"
+
+[Illustration: "Softly, Sir; softly; reflect a little."]
+
+The calm, resolute tones of the stranger have their weight with the
+mystified Ray. Instinctively he feels the power of the man, and the
+weight of the argument.
+
+"What do you wish to know, sir?" he says, quietly. "I am ready to serve
+Clifford Heath."
+
+"Ah, very good;" signing to O'Meara. "First, sir, as a friend of Doctor
+Heath, do you know if he has recently had any trouble, any
+disappointment? He is a young man. Has he been jilted, or--"
+
+"Ah-h-h!" breaks in O'Meara; "why didn't you ask _me_ that, Wedron? Upon
+my soul, I have heard plenty about this same business."
+
+"Then take the witness stand, sir. What do you know? _You_ won't be over
+delicate in bringing facts to the surface."
+
+"Why," rubbing his hands serenely, "I can't see your drift, Wedron, any
+more than can Vandyck here; but I have heard Mrs. O'Meara discuss the
+probable future of Clifford Heath, until I have it by heart. Not long
+ago she was sure he, Heath, was in love with Miss Wardour, and we all
+thought she rather favored him, although it's hard to guess at a woman's
+real feelings. Later, quite lately, in fact, the thing seemed to be all
+off, and my wife has commented on it not a little."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron. "And--had Doctor Heath any rivals?"
+
+"Miss Wardour has always plenty of lovers; but I believe that Mr. Frank
+Lamotte was the only rival he ever had any reason to fear."
+
+"Ah! so Mr. Frank Lamotte has been Heath's rival? Handsome fellow, that
+Lamotte! Mr. Vandyck," turning suddenly upon Ray, "the ice is now
+broken. What do you know, or think, or believe, about this attachment to
+Miss Wardour?"
+
+"I think that Heath really hoped to win her at one time, and I believed
+his chances were good. Something, I don't know what, has come between
+them."
+
+"Do you think she has refused him?"
+
+"Honestly, I don't, sir. I think there is a misunderstanding."
+
+"And young Lamotte, what of him?"
+
+"I suppose he has come in ahead; in fact, have very good cause for
+thinking him engaged to Miss Wardour."
+
+"Bah!" cries O'Meara, contemptuously, "I don't believe it. There's
+nothing sly about Constance. She would have told me or my wife."
+
+"I'll tell you my reasons for saying this, gentlemen," says Ray, after a
+moment's hesitation. "I'll tell you all I can about the business. Some
+time ago, shortly after Heath's last encounter with Burrill, I came into
+town one day to keep an appointment with him."
+
+"Stay! Can you recall the date?"
+
+"It was on Monday, I believe, and early in the month."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"I met one of the Wardour servants, who gave me a note. It was a request
+that I wait upon Miss Wardour at once; she wished to consult me on some
+private matters. Miss Wardour and I, you must understand, are very old
+friends."
+
+"Yes, yes; go on."
+
+"I excused myself to Heath, and, just as I was leaving the office,
+Lamotte came in. He challenged me, in badinage, as though he had a right
+to say who should visit Wardour. He overheard me telling Heath where I
+was going."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"During my call, I made some allusion to Lamotte, speaking of him as her
+accepted lover. She did not deny the charge my language implied, and I
+came away believing her engaged to Lamotte. When I returned to Heath's
+office, Lamotte had gone, and Heath asked me, rather abruptly, if I
+believed Miss Wardour would marry Lamotte. I replied, that I did believe
+it then, for the first time."
+
+"Ah, yes! Mr. Vandyck, are you aware that on this same day, this Monday
+of which you speak, Clifford Heath received an anonymous note, in a
+feminine hand; warning him against danger, and begging him to leave
+town?"
+
+"What, sir?" starting and coloring, hotly.
+
+"Ah, you are aware of that fact. Did you see that note, Mr. Vandyck?"
+
+"I did," uneasily.
+
+"How did Heath treat it?"
+
+"With utter indifference."
+
+"So! And did he, to your knowledge, receive other warnings?"
+
+"I am quite sure he did not."
+
+"During your call at Wardour Place, did Miss Wardour mention Doctor
+Heath."
+
+"She--did," reluctantly.
+
+"She _did_. Can you recall what was said."
+
+"It was soon after that street encounter with Burrill. I related the
+circumstance; she had not heard of it."
+
+"And did she seem unfriendly toward Heath?"
+
+"On the contrary I think she was, and is, his friend."
+
+"You met Lamotte in Heath's office. Does Lamotte go there often?"
+
+"Why, he made a pretence of studying with Heath; but he never stuck very
+close to anything; he had read a little in the city, I believe."
+
+"Then he is quite at home in Heath's office?"
+
+"Quite at home."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Vandyck." Mr. Wedron draws back from the table and
+smiles blandly upon poor Ray. "Thank you, sir. You are an admirable
+witness; for the second time to-day you have evaded leading questions,
+and withheld more than you have told. But I won't bear malice. I see
+that you are resolved not to tell why Miss Wardour summoned you to her
+presence on that particular day; so, I won't insist upon it--I will find
+out in some other way."
+
+"Thank you," retorts Ray, rather stiffly. "It will be a relief to me, if
+you can do so. Can I answer any more questions, sir?"
+
+"Not to-night. And, Mr. Vandyck, as a friend of Clifford Heath's, we ask
+you to help us, and to share our confidence. Now, we must find out
+first, if Constance Wardour _is_ engaged to Lamotte; and second, the
+cause of the estrangement between herself and Doctor Heath. Can you
+suggest a plan?"
+
+"Yes," replies Ray, a smile breaking over his face. "Send for Mrs.
+Aliston, and question her as you have me."
+
+"Good!" cries Mr. Wedron. "_Excellent!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+AN APPEAL TO THE WARDOUR HONOR.
+
+
+During the night that saw Sybil Burrill's reason give way under the
+long, horrible strain, that had borne upon it; the night that witnessed
+the downfall of Frank Lamotte's cherished hopes, and closed the earthly
+career of John Burrill; Mrs. Lamotte and Mrs. Aliston hovered over the
+bed where lay Sybil, now tossing in delirium, now sinking into
+insensibility. Early in the evening, Dr. Heath had been summoned, and he
+had responded promptly to Mrs. Lamotte's eager call.
+
+They could do little, just then, save to administer opiates; he told
+them there was every symptom of brain fever; by to-morrow he would know
+what course of treatment to pursue; until then, keep the patient quiet,
+humor all her whims, so far as was possible; give her no stimulants,
+and, if there was any marked change, send for him at once.
+
+The two anxious women hung upon his words; afterward, they both
+remembered how cheerful, how brave and strong he had seemed that night;
+how gentle his voice was; how kindly his glance; how soothing and
+reassuring his manner.
+
+In the gray of the morning, Sybil dropped into one of her lethargies
+after hours of uneasy mutterings, that would have been mad ravings, but
+for the doctor's powerful opiate; and then, after a word combat with
+Mrs. Lamotte, just such an argument as has occurred by hundreds of sick
+beds, where two weary, anxious watchers vie with each other for the
+place beside the bed, and the right to watch in weariness, while the
+other rests; after such an argument, Mrs. Aliston yielded to the
+solicitations of her hostess, and withdrew, to refresh herself with a
+little sleep.
+
+The vigil had been an unusual one, and Mrs. Aliston was very weary. No
+sound disturbed the quiet of the elegant guest chamber where she lay;
+and so it happened that a brisk rapping at her door; at ten o'clock in
+the morning, awoke her from heavy, dreamless slumber, and set her
+wandering wits to wondering vaguely what all this strangeness meant.
+Then suddenly recalling the events of the previous night, she sat up in
+bed and called out:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+"It's ten o'clock, madam," replied the voice of Mrs. Lamotte's maid;
+"and will you have breakfast in your room, or in the dining room?"
+
+Slipping slowly out from the downy bed, Mrs. Aliston crossed to the
+door, and peering out at the servant, said:
+
+"I will breakfast here, Ellen. How is Sybil?"
+
+"She is worse, I think, madam, and Mrs. Lamotte is very uneasy; I think
+she wishes to speak with you, or she would not have had you wakened."
+
+"Tell her I will come to her at once;" and Mrs. Aliston closed the door
+and began a hurried toilet; before it was completed, Mrs. Lamotte
+herself appeared; she was pale and heavy eyed, and seemed much agitated.
+
+"Pardon my intrusion," she began, hurriedly; "I am uneasy about Sybil;
+she is growing very restless, and for more than an hour has called
+unceasingly for Constance. Do you think your niece would come to us this
+morning? Her strong, cool nerves might have some influence upon poor
+Sybil."
+
+"I am sure she will come," replied Mrs. Aliston, warmly "and without a
+moment's delay. I will drive home at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and send
+Constance back."
+
+"Not until you have had breakfast, Mrs. Aliston. And how can I thank you
+for your goodness, and your help, during the past horrible night?"
+
+"By saying nothing at all about it, my dear, and by ordering the
+carriage the moment I have swallowed a cup of coffee," replied the
+good-hearted soul, cheerily. "I hope and trust that Sybil will recover
+very soon; but if she grows worse, you must let me help you all I can."
+
+Half an hour later the Lamotte carriage rolled swiftly across the bridge
+and towards Wardour; and so Mrs. Aliston, for the time at least, was
+spared the shock that fell upon the house of Mapleton, scarce fifteen
+minutes later, the news of John Burrill's murder, and the finding of the
+body.
+
+Little more than an hour later, Constance Wardour sprang from the
+carriage at the door of Mapleton, and ran hurriedly up the broad steps.
+The outer door stood wide open, and a group of servants were huddled
+about the door of the drawing room, with pale, affrighted faces, and
+panic-stricken manner.
+
+Seeing them, Constance at once takes the alarm. Sybil must be worse;
+must be very ill indeed. Instantly the question rises to her lips:
+
+"Is Sybil--is Mrs. Burrill worse?" and then she hears the startling
+truth.
+
+"John Burrill is dead. John Burrill has been murdered." In bewilderment,
+in amazement, she hears all there is to tell, all that the servants
+know. A messenger came, telling only the bare facts. John Burrill's body
+has been found in an old cellar; Frank has just gone, riding like a
+madman, to see that the body is cared for, and to bring it home. Mrs.
+Lamotte has been told the horrible news; has received it like an icicle;
+has ordered them to prepare the drawing room for the reception of the
+body, and has gone back to her daughter.
+
+All this Constance hears, and then, strangely startled, and vaguely
+thankful that Frank is not in the house, she goes up to the sick room.
+Mrs. Lamotte rises to greet her, with a look upon her face that startles
+Constance, even more than did the news she has just heard below stairs.
+
+Intense feeling has been for so long frozen out of that high-bred,
+haughty face, that the look of the eyes, the compression of the lips,
+the fear and horror of the entire countenance, amount almost to a
+transfiguration.
+
+She draws Constance away from the bed, and into the dressing room
+beyond. Then, in a voice husky with suppressed emotion, she addresses
+her as follows:
+
+"Constance Wardour, I am about to place my honor, my daughter's life,
+the honor of all my family, in your hands. There is not another living
+being in whom to trust, and I must trust some one. I must, for my
+child's sake, have relief, or _my_ reason, too, will desert me.
+Constance, that sick room holds a terrible secret--Sybil's secret. If
+you can share it with me, for Sybil's sake, I will try to brave this
+tempest, as I have braved others; if you refuse"--she paused a moment,
+and then whispered fiercely:
+
+"If you refuse, I will lock that chamber door, and Sybil Lamotte shall
+die in her delirium before I will allow an ear that I can not trust,
+within those walls, or the hand of a possible enemy to administer one
+life-saving draught."
+
+[Illustration: "Sybil Lamotte shall die in her delirium."]
+
+Over the face of Constance Wardour crept a look of horror indescribable.
+In an instant her mind is illuminated, and all the fearful meaning of
+Mrs. Lamotte's strange words, is grasped and mastered. She reels as if
+struck by a heavy hand, and a low moan breaks from her lips. So long she
+stands thus, mute and awe-stricken, that Mrs. Lamotte can bear the
+strain of suspense no longer.
+
+"For God's sake, speak," she gasps; "there have been those of your race
+who could not abandon a fallen friend."
+
+Over the cheek, and neck, and brow, the hot, proud, loyal Wardour blood,
+comes surging. The gray eyes lift themselves with a proud flash; low and
+firm comes the answer:
+
+"The Wardours were never Summer friends. Sybil has been as a sister, in
+prosperity; I shall be no less than a sister now. You may trust me as
+you would yourself; and--I am very glad you sent for me, and trusted no
+other."
+
+"God bless you, Constance! No one else _can_ be trusted. With your help
+I must do this work alone."
+
+Then comes a cry from the sick room; they go back, and Constance enters
+at once upon her new, strange task. Her heart heavy; her hand firm; her
+ears smitten by the babbling recitation of that awful secret; and her
+lips sealed with the seal of the Wardour honor.
+
+All that day she is at her post. Mrs. Lamotte, who is resolved to retain
+her strength for Sybil's sake, lies down in the dressing room and sleeps
+from sheer exhaustion.
+
+As the day wears on there is movement and bustle down stairs, they are
+bringing in the body of the murdered man. The undertaker goes about his
+work with pompous air, and solemn visage; and when darkness falls, John
+Burrill's lifeless form lies in state in the drawing room of Mapleton,
+that room over the splendors of which his plebeian soul has gloated, his
+covetous eyes feasted and his ambitious bosom swelled with a sense of
+proprietorship. He is clothed in finest broadcloth, surrounded with
+costly trappings; but not one tear falls over him; not one heart grieves
+for him; not one tongue utters a word of sorrow or regret; he has
+schemed and sinned, to become a member of the aristocracy, to ally
+himself to the proud Lamottes; and to-night, one and all of the
+Lamottes, breathe the freer, because his breathing has forever ceased.
+Even Constance Wardour has no pitying thought for the dead man; she
+keeps aloof from the drawing room, shuddering when compelled to pass its
+closed doors; living, John Burrill was odious to her; dead, he is
+loathsome.
+
+The day passes, and Doctor Heath does not visit his patient. At
+intervals during the long afternoon, they have discussed the question,
+"What shall we do to keep the patient quiet when the doctor comes?"
+
+It is Constance who solves the problem.
+
+"We must send for Doctor Benoit, Mrs. Lamotte; Doctor Heath's tardiness
+will furnish sufficient excuse, and Doctor Benoit's partial deafness
+will render him our safest physician."
+
+It is a happy thought; Doctor Benoit is old, and partially deaf, but he
+is a thoroughly good and reliable physician.
+
+Late that night, Jasper Lamotte applies for admittance at the door of
+his daughter's sick room. Constance opens the door softly, and as his
+eyes fall upon her, she fancies that a look of fierce hatred gleams at
+her for a moment from those sunken orbs and darkens his haggard
+countenance. Of course it is only a fancy. In another moment he is
+asking after his daughter, with grave solicitude.
+
+"She is quiet; she must not be disturbed;" so Constance tells him. And
+he glides away softly, murmuring his gratitude to his daughter's friend,
+as he goes.
+
+It is midnight at Mapleton; in Sybil Lamotte's room the lights burn
+dimly, and Mrs. Lamotte and Constance sit near the bed, listening, with
+sad, set faces, to the ravings of the delirious girl.
+
+"Ha! ha!" she cries, tossing her bare arms aloft. "How well you planned
+that, Constance! the Wardour diamonds; ah, they are worth keeping, they
+are worth plotting to keep--and it's often done--it's easy to do. Hush!
+Mr. Belknap, I need your help--meet me, meet me to-night, at the boat
+house. If a man were to disappear, never to come back, mind--what would
+I give? One thousand dollars! two! three! It shall be done! I shall be
+free! free! _free!_ Ha! ha! Constance, your diamonds are safer than
+mine--but what are diamonds--I shall live a lie--let me adorn myself
+with lies. Why not? Why care? I will be free. You have been the tool of
+others, Mr. Belknap, why hesitate to serve me--you want money--here it
+is, half of it--when it is done, when I _know_ it is done, I will come
+here again--at night--and the rest is yours."
+
+With a stifled moan, Mrs. Lamotte leans forward, and lays a hand upon
+her companion's arm.
+
+"Constance--do you know what she means?"
+
+Slowly and shudderingly, the girl answers:
+
+"I fear--that I know too well."
+
+"And--that boat-house appointment?"
+
+"Must be kept, Mrs. Lamotte; for Sybil's sake, it must be kept, _by you
+or me_."
+
+It is midnight. In Evan Lamotte's room lamps are burning brightly, and
+the fumes of strong liquor fill the air. On the bed lies Evan, with
+flushed face, and mud bespattered clothing; he is in a sleep that is
+broken and feverish, that borders in fact, upon delirium; beside him,
+pale as a corpse, with nerves unstrung, and trembling, sits Frank
+Lamotte, fearing to leave him, and loath to stay. At intervals, the
+sleeper grows more restless, and then starts up with wild ejaculations,
+or bursts of demonaic laughter. At such times, Frank Lamotte pours, from
+a bottle at his side, a powerful draught of burning brandy, and holds it
+to the frenzied lips. They drain off the liquor, and presently relapse
+into quiet.
+
+It is midnight. In the library of Mapleton, Jasper Lamotte sits at his
+desk, poring over a pile of papers. The curtains are closely drawn, the
+door securely locked. Now and then he rises, and paces nervously up and
+down the room, gesticulating fiercely, and wearing such a look as has
+never been seen upon the countenance of the Jasper Lamotte of society.
+
+It is midnight. In the Mapleton drawing room, all that remains of John
+Burrill, lies in solemn solitary state; and, down in his cell, face
+downward upon his pallet, lies Clifford Heath, broad awake, and bitterly
+reviewing the wrongs heaped upon him by fate; realizing, to the full,
+his own helplessness, and the peril before him, and doggedly resolving
+to die, and make no sign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+I CAN SAVE HIM IF I WILL.
+
+
+Doctor Benoit was old and deaf; he was also very talkative. One of those
+physicians who invariably leave a titbit of news alongside of their
+powders and pellets. A constant talker is apt to be an indiscreet
+talker, and, very often, wanting in tact. Doctor Benoit was not so much
+deficient in tact, as in memory. In growing old, he had grown forgetful,
+and not being a society man, social gossip was less dear to his heart
+than the news of political outbreaks, business strivings, and about-town
+sensations. Doubtless he had heard, like all the world of W----, that
+Doctor Clifford Heath had, at one time, been an aspirant for the favor
+of the proud heiress of Wardour, and that suddenly he had fallen from
+grace, and was no more seen within the walls of Wardour, or at the side
+of its mistress on social occasions. If so, he had entirely forgotten
+these facts. Accordingly, during his second call, made on the morning
+after the inquest, he began to drop soft remarks concerning the recent
+horror.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte was lying down, and Constance had decided not to arouse her
+when the doctor arrived, inasmuch as the patient was in one of her
+stupors, and not likely to rouse from it.
+
+The arrest of a brother practitioner on such a charge as was preferred
+against Clifford Heath, had created no little commotion in the mind of
+Dr. Benoit, and he found it difficult to keep the subject off his
+tongue, so, after he had given Constance full instructions concerning
+the patient, he said, standing hat in hand near the dressing room door:
+
+"This is a terrible state of affairs for W----, Miss Wardour. Do you
+know," drawing a step nearer, and lowering his voice, "Do you know if
+Mr. Lamotte has been informed that O'Meara, as Heath's lawyer, demands a
+surgical examination?"
+
+"As Heath's lawyer!" The room seemed to swim about her. She turned
+instinctively toward the door of the chamber, closed it softly, and came
+very close to the old doctor, lifting her pale lips to his ear.
+
+"I don't understand you, doctor. What has Mr. O'Meara to do with the
+murder?"
+
+"Hey? What's that? What is O'Meara going to do? He's going to defend
+young Heath." Then, seeing the startled, perplexed look upon her face,
+"Is it possible you have not heard about Heath's arrest?"
+
+She shook her head, and again lifted her mouth to his ear.
+
+"I have heard nothing; tell me all."
+
+"It seems that there was an old feud between Heath and Burrill," began
+the doctor, beginning to feel that somehow he had made a blunder. "They
+have hunted up some pretty strong evidence against Heath, and the
+coroner's jury brought in a verdict against him. You know the body was
+found in an old cellar, close by Heath's cottage."
+
+At this moment there came a soft tap on the outer door, which Constance
+at once recognized. Mechanically she moved forward and opened the door.
+Mrs. Lamotte stood on the threshold.
+
+Seeing the doctor and Constance, she at once inferred that Sybil was the
+subject under discussion, and to insure the patient against being
+disturbed, beckoned the doctor to come outside.
+
+As he stepped out into the hall, Constance, hoping to get a little
+information from him, came forward, and standing in the doorway,
+partially closed the door behind her.
+
+"Doctor," said Mrs. Lamotte, anxiously, "do you see any change in
+Sybil?"
+
+He shook his head gravely.
+
+"There is no marked change, madam; but I see a possibility that she may
+return to consciousness within the next forty-eight hours, in which case
+I must warn you against letting her know or guess at the calamity that
+has befallen her."
+
+The two women exchanged glances of relief.
+
+"If she receives no shock until her mental balance is fully restored,
+her recovery may be hoped for; otherwise--"
+
+"Otherwise, doctor?"
+
+"Otherwise, if she retains her life, it will be at the cost of her
+reason."
+
+"Oh!" moaned the mother, "death would be better than that."
+
+There was the sound of a door opening softly down the hall. They all
+turned their eyes that way to see Frank Lamotte emerging from Evan's
+room. He came hurriedly toward them, and Constance noticed the nervous
+unsteadiness of his gait, the pinched and pallid look of his face, the
+feverish fire of his sunken eyes.
+
+"Mother," he said, in a constrained voice, and without once glancing
+toward Constance, "I think you had better have Doctor Benoit see Evan. I
+have been with him all night, and am thoroughly worn out."
+
+"What ails Evan, Frank?"
+
+"Too much liquor," with a shrug of the shoulders. "He is on the verge of
+the 'brandy madness,' he sometimes sings of. He must have powerful
+narcotics, and no cessation of his stimulants, or we will have him
+raving about the house like a veritable madman; and--I have not told him
+about Burrill."
+
+A look of contrition came into the mother's face. Evan had kept his room
+for days, but, in her anxiety for her dearest child, she had quite
+forgotten him.
+
+"Come, doctor," she said, quickly; "let us go to Evan at once."
+
+They passed on to the lower room, leaving Constance and Frank face to
+face.
+
+Constance moved back a pace as if to re-enter the dressing-room; burning
+with anxiety as she was, to hear more concerning Clifford Heath, her
+womanly instincts were too true to permit her to ask information of her
+discarded suitor. But Frank's voice stayed her movements.
+
+"Constance, only one moment," he said, appealingly. "Have a little
+patience with me _now_. Have a little pity for my misery."
+
+His misery! The words sounded hypocritical; he had never loved John
+Burrill over much, she knew.
+
+"I bestow my pity whenever it is truly needed, Frank," she said, coldly,
+her face whitening with the anguish of her inward thought. "Do you think
+_you_ are the only sufferer in this miserable affair?"
+
+"I am the only one who can not enlist your sympathies. I must live
+without your love; I must bear a name disgraced, yet those who brought
+about this family disgrace, even Clifford Heath, in a felon's cell, no
+doubt you will aid and pity; _he_ is a martyr perhaps, while I--"
+
+"While you--go on, sir;" fierce scorn shining from the gray eyes; bitter
+sarcasm in the voice.
+
+"While I," coming closer and fairly hissing the words, "am set aside for
+him, a felon, Oh! you are a proud woman, and you keep your secrets well,
+but you can not hide from me the fact that ever since the accursed day
+that brought you and Clifford Heath together, _he_ has been the man
+preferred by you. If I have lost you, you have none the less lost him;
+listen."
+
+Before she is aware of his purpose, he has her two wrists in a vice-like
+grip; and bending down, until his lips almost touch the glossy locks on
+her averted head, he is pouring out, in swift cutting sentences, the
+story of the inquest; all the damning evidence is swiftly rehearsed;
+nothing that can weigh against his rival, is omitted.
+
+Feeling instinctively that he utters the truth; paralyzed by the weight
+of his words; she stands with head drooping more and more, with cheeks
+growing paler, with hands that tremble and grow cold in his clasp.
+
+He sees her terror, a sudden thought possesses his brain; grasping her
+hands still tighter, he goes madly on:
+
+"Constance Wardour, in spite of the coldness between you, you love
+Clifford Heath. _What will you do to save him?_"
+
+[Illustration: "Constance Wardour, you love Clifford Heath."]
+
+"This is too much! This is horrible!" She makes a mad effort to free
+herself from his grasp.
+
+The question comes like a taunt, a declaration of her helplessness.
+Coming from him, it is maddening. It restores her courage; it makes her
+mistress of herself once more.
+
+"Don't repeat that question," she says, flashing upon him a look of
+defiance.
+
+"I _do_ repeat it!" he goes on wildly. "Go to O'Meara; to whom you
+please; satisfy yourself that Clifford Heath has a halter about his
+neck; then come to me, and tell me if you will give yourself as his
+ransom. _I can save him if I will._ I _will_ save him, only on one
+condition. You know what that is."
+
+With a sudden fierce effort she frees herself from his clasp, and stands
+erect before him, fairly panting with the fierceness of her anger.
+
+"Traitor! _monster!_ Cain! Not to save all the lives of my friends; not
+to save the world from perdition, would I be your wife! _You_ would
+denounce the destroyer of that worthless clay below us. _You!_ Before
+that should happen, to save the world the knowledge that such a monster
+exists, _I_ will tell the world where the guilt lies, _for I know_."
+
+Before he can realize the full meaning of her words, the dressing-room
+door is closed between them, and Frank Lamotte stands gnashing his
+teeth, beating the air with his hands in a frenzy of rage and despair.
+
+While he stands thus, a step comes slowly up the stairs; he turns to
+meet the gaze of his father.
+
+"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, in low, guarded accents, "Come down to the
+library at once. It is time you knew the truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+A LAST RESORT.
+
+
+Like a man in a dream, Frank Lamotte obeys his father's call, never once
+thinking that the summons is strangely worded. Over and over in his mind
+the question is repeating itself--What did she mean? Was he going mad?
+Was he dreaming? Had Constance Wardour really said a word that rendered
+himself and all that household unsafe? If she knew who should stand in
+Clifford Heath's stead, would she really spare the culprit? No; it was
+impossible. Was her talk bravado? was she seeking to deceive him?
+
+"Impossible," he reasons. "If she knew who struck that blow, then I am
+ruined utterly. But she does not know--she can not."
+
+Jasper Lamotte leads the way to the library. It seems natural that he
+should move softly, cautiously. A supernatural stillness pervades the
+lower floor. Frank Lamotte shudders and keeps his eyes turned away from
+the closed-up drawing room with its silent tenant.
+
+When they are seated face to face, with locked door and closely drawn
+curtains, Frank looks across at his father, and notes for the first time
+that day the lines of care settling about the sallow mouth, and
+underneath the dark, brooding eyes. A moment of silence rests between
+them, while each reads the signs of disaster in the face of the other.
+Finally the elder says, with something very like a sneer in his voice:
+
+"One would think you a model mourner, your visage is sufficiently
+woful." Then leaning across the table, and elevating one long
+forefinger; "Something more than the simple fact of Burrill's death has
+shaken you, Frank. _What is it?_"
+
+Frank Lamotte utters a low mirthless laugh.
+
+"I might say the same of you, sir; your present pallor can scarcely be
+attributed to grief."
+
+"True;" a darker shadow falling across his countenance. "Nor is it
+grief. It is bitter disappointment. Have you seen Miss Wardour?"
+
+"Yes;" averting his head.
+
+"And your case in that quarter?"
+
+"Hopeless."
+
+"What!" sharply.
+
+"Hopeless, I tell you, sir; do I look like a prosperous wooer? she will
+not look at me. She will not touch me. She will not have me at any
+price."
+
+Jasper Lamotte mutters a curse. "Then you have been playing the
+poltroon," he says savagely.
+
+The countenance of the younger man grows livid. He starts up from his
+chair, then sinks weakly back again.
+
+"Drop the subject," he says hoarsely. "That card is played, and lost. Is
+this all you have to say?"
+
+"All! I wish it were. What took me to the city?"
+
+"What took you, true enough. The need of a few thousands, ready cash."
+
+"Yes. Well! I have not got the cash."
+
+"But--good heavens! you had ample--securities."
+
+"Ample securities, yes," with a low grating laugh. "Look, I don't know
+who has interposed thus in our favor, but--if John Burrill were alive
+to-night you and I would be--beggars."
+
+"Impossible, while you hold the valuable--"
+
+"Bah! valuable indeed! you and I have been fooled, duped, deluded. Our
+treasured securities are--"
+
+"Well, are what?"
+
+"Shams."
+
+"Shams!" incredulously. "But that is impossible."
+
+"Is it?" cynically. "Then the impossible has come to pass. There's
+nothing genuine in the whole lot."
+
+A long silence falls between them. Frank Lamotte sits staring straight
+before him; sudden conviction seems to have overtaken his panic-stricken
+senses. Jasper Lamotte drums upon the table impatiently, looking moody
+and despondent.
+
+"A variety of queer things may seem plain to you now," he says, finally.
+"Perhaps you realize the necessity for instant action of some sort."
+
+Frank stirs restlessly, and passes his hand across his brows.
+
+"I can't realize anything fully," he says, slowly. "It's as well that
+Burrill did not live to know this."
+
+"Well! It's providential! We should not have a chance; as it is, we
+have one. Do you know where Burrill kept his papers?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Who removed his personal effects? Were you present?"
+
+"Assuredly. There were no papers of value to us upon the body."
+
+"Well, those papers must be found. Once in our hands, we are safe enough
+for the present; but until we find them, we are not so secure. However,
+I have no doubt but that they are secreted somewhere about his room.
+Have you seen Belknap to-day?"
+
+"Only at the inquest. Curse that fellow; I wish we were rid of him
+entirely."
+
+"I wish we were rid of his claim; but it must be paid somehow."
+
+"Somehow!" echoing the word, mockingly.
+
+"That is the word I used. I must borrow the money."
+
+"Indeed! Of whom?"
+
+"Of Constance Wardour."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Why not, pray? Am I to withdraw because you have been discarded? Why
+should I not borrow from this tricky young lady? Curse her!"
+
+"Well!" rising slowly, "she is under your roof at this moment. Strike
+while the iron is hot. Have you anything more to say to-night?"
+
+"No. You are too idiotic. Get some of the cobwebs out of your brain, and
+that scared look out of your face. One would think that _you_, and not
+Heath, were the murderer of Burrill."
+
+A strange look darts from the eyes of Frank Lamotte.
+
+"It won't be so decided by a jury," he says, between his shut teeth.
+"Curse Heath, he is the man who, all along, has stood in my way."
+
+"Well, there's a strong likelihood that he will be removed from your
+path. There, go, and don't look so abjectly hopeless. We have nothing to
+do at present, but to quiet Belknap. Good night."
+
+With lagging steps, Frank Lamotte ascends the stairs, and enters his own
+room. He locks the door with a nervous hand, and then hurriedly lowers
+the curtains. He goes to the mirror, and gazes at his reflected
+self,--hollow, burning eyes, haggard cheeks, blanched lips, that twitch
+convulsively, a mingled expression of desperation, horror, and
+despair,--that is what he sees, and the sight does not serve to steady
+his nerves. He turns away, with a curse upon the white lips.
+
+He flings himself down in a huge easy chair, and dropping his chin upon
+his breast, tries to think; but thought only deepens the despairing
+horror and fear upon his countenance. Where his father sees one foe,
+Francis Lamotte sees ten.
+
+He sees before him Jerry Belknap, private detective, angry, implacable,
+menacing, not to be quieted. He sees Clifford Heath, pale, stern,
+accusing. Constance Wardour, scornful, menacing, condemning and
+consigning him to dreadful punishment. The dead face of John Burrill
+rises before him, jeering, jibing, odious, seeming to share with him
+some ugly secret. He passes his hand across his brow, and starts up
+suddenly.
+
+"Bah!" he mutters, "this is no time to dally; on every side I see a
+pitfall. Let every man look to himself. If I must play in my last trump,
+let me be prepared."
+
+He takes from his pocket a bunch of keys, and, selecting one of the
+smallest, unlocks a drawer of his dressing case. He draws forth a pair
+of pistols and examines them carefully. Then he withdraws the charges
+from both weapons, and loads one anew. The latter he conceals about his
+person, and then takes up the other. He hesitates a moment, and then
+loads that also, replaces it in its hiding place, closes and locks the
+drawer. Then he breathes a long sigh of relief.
+
+"It's a deadly anchor to windward," he mutters, turning away. "It's a
+last resort. Now I have only to wait."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+A STRANGE INTERVIEW.
+
+
+While Frank Lamotte, in his own chamber, is preparing himself for
+emergencies, Constance Wardour stands by the bedside of her unconscious
+friend, struggling for self control; shutting her lips firmly together,
+clenching her teeth; mastering her outward self, by the force of her
+strong will; and striving to bring the chaos of her mind into like
+subjection. Three facts stare her in the face; three ideas dance through
+her brain and mingle themselves in a confused mass. Clifford Heath is in
+peril. She can save him by betraying a friend and a trust. She loves
+him.
+
+Yes, stronger than all, greater than all, this fact stands out; in this
+hour of peril the truth will not be frowned down. She loves this man who
+stands accused of murder; she loves him, and, great heavens! he is
+innocent, and yet, must suffer for the guilty.
+
+What can she do? What must she do? She can not go to him; she, by her
+own act, has cut off all friendly intercourse between them. But,
+something must be done, shall be done.
+
+Suddenly, she bends down, and looks long and earnestly into the face of
+the sleeper. The dark lashes rest upon cheeks that are pale as ivory;
+the face looks torture-stricken; the beautiful lips quiver with the pain
+of some dismal dream.
+
+Involuntarily, this cry escapes the lips of the watcher:
+
+"My God! To think that two noble lives must be blasted, because of that
+pitiful, worthless thing, that lies below."
+
+The moments drag on heavily, her thoughts gradually shaping themselves
+into a resolve, while she watches by the bedside and waits the return of
+Mrs. Lamotte. At last, she comes, and there is an added shade of sorrow
+in her dark eyes; Evan is very ill, she fears for his reason, too.
+
+"What has come upon my children, Constance?" she asks, brokenly; "even
+Frank has changed for the worse."
+
+"Poor Evan," sighs Constance, thinking of his loyal love for Sybil; and
+thus with her new resolve strong in her mind, she says, briefly:
+
+"I must go to town at once, Mrs. Lamotte, and will return as soon as
+possible. Can you spare me without too much weight upon yourself."
+
+Without a question, Mrs. Lamotte bids her go; and very soon she is
+driving swiftly toward W----, behind the splendid Lamotte horses.
+
+Straight to Lawyer O'Meara she is whirled, and by the time she reaches
+the gate, she is as calm as an iceberg.
+
+Coming down the steps is a familiar form, that of her aunt, Mrs.
+Aliston. Each lady seems a trifle disconcerted by this unexpected
+meeting; neither is inclined to explain her presence there.
+
+Mrs. Aliston appears the more disturbed and startled of the two; she
+starts and flushes, guiltily, at sight of her niece.
+
+But, Constance is intent upon her errand; she pauses long enough to
+inquire after her aunt's health, to report that Sybil is much the same,
+and Evan ill, and then she says:
+
+"Is Mr. O'Meara at home, Aunt Honor?"
+
+"Yes. That is, I believe so," stammers Mrs. Aliston.
+
+"Then I must not detain you, or delay myself; good morning, auntie;" and
+she enters the house, leaving Mrs. Aliston looking perplexed and
+troubled.
+
+Ushered into the presence of Mr. O'Meara, Constance wastes no words.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," she begins, in her most straightforward manner, "I have
+just come from Mapleton, where I have been with Sybil since last night.
+This morning, Doctor Benoit horrified me by telling me that Doctor Heath
+has been arrested for the murder of John Burrill."
+
+Just here the study door opens softly, and a portly, pleasant faced
+gentleman enters. He bows with easy self-possession, and turns
+expectantly toward O'Meara. That gentleman performed the ceremony of
+introduction.
+
+"Miss Wardour, permit me: Mr. a--Wedron, of the New York Bar. Mr.
+Wedron, my dear, is here in the interest of Doctor Heath."
+
+A pair of searching gray eyes are turned full upon the stranger, who
+bears the scrutiny with infinite composure. She bows gravely, and then
+seats herself opposite the two gentleman.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," she says, imperiously, "I want to hear the full
+particulars of this affair, from the very first, up to the present
+moment."
+
+The two professional men exchange glances. Then Mr. Wedron interposes:
+"Miss Wardour," he says, slowly, "we are acting for Clifford Heath, in
+this matter, therefore, I must ask, do you come as a friend of the
+accused, or--to offer testimony?"
+
+Again the gray eyes flash upon him. "I come as a friend of Doctor
+Heath," she says, haughtily; "and I ask only what is known to all W----,
+I suppose."
+
+Mr. Wedron conceals a smile of satisfaction behind a smooth white hand;
+then he draws a bundle of papers from his pocket.
+
+"O'Meara," he says, passing them to his colleague; "here are the items
+of the case, as we summed them up last evening; please read them to Miss
+Wardour." And he favors the little lawyer, with a swift, but significant
+glance.
+
+Drawing his chair a little nearer that of his visitor, O'Meara begins,
+while the portly gentleman sits in the background and notes, lynx-like,
+every expression that flits across the face of the listening girl.
+
+O'Meara reads on and on. The summing up is very comprehensive. From the
+first discovery of the body, to the last item of testimony before the
+coroner's jury; and after that, the strangeness, the apathy, the
+obstinacy of the accused, and his utter refusal to add his testimony, or
+to accuse any other. Utter silence falls upon them as the reading
+ceases.
+
+Constance sits mute and pale as a statue; Mr. Wedron seems quite
+self-absorbed, and Mr. O'Meara, glances around nervously, as if waiting
+for a cue.
+
+Constance turns her head slowly, and looks from one to the other.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara, Mr. Wedron, you are to defend Doctor Heath, you tell me?"
+They both nod assent.
+
+"And--have you, as his counsel, gathered no palliating proof? Nothing to
+set against this mass of blighting circumstantial evidence?"
+
+Mr. Wedron leans forward, fastens his eyes upon her face, and says
+gravely: "Miss Wardour, all that can be done for Clifford Heath will be
+done. But--the case as it stands is against him. For some reason he has
+lost courage. He seems to place small value upon his life I believe that
+he knows who is the guilty one, and that he is sacrificing himself.
+Furthermore, I believe that there are those who can tell, if they will,
+far more than has been told concerning this case; those who may withhold
+just the evidence that in a lawyer's hands will clear Clifford Heath."
+
+The pallid misery of her face is pitiful, but it does not move Mr.
+Wedron.
+
+"Last night," he goes on mercilessly, "Mr. Raymond Vandyck sat where you
+sit now, and I said to him what I now say to you. Miss Wardour, Raymond
+Vandyck knows more than he has told." His keen eyes search her face, her
+own orbs fall before his gaze. Then she lifts them suddenly, and asks
+abruptly:
+
+"Who are the other parties who are withholding their testimony?"
+
+Again Mr. Wedron suppresses a smile. "Another who knows more than he
+chooses to tell is Mr. Frank Lamotte."
+
+She starts perceptibly.
+
+"And--are there others?"
+
+"Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."
+
+[Illustration: "Another, Miss Wardour, is--yourself."]
+
+"Myself!"
+
+She bows her face upon her hands, and convulsive shudders shake her
+form. She sits thus so long that O'Meara becomes restless, but Mr.
+Wedron sits calm, serene, expectant.
+
+By and by she lifts her head, and her eyes shine with the glint of blue
+steel.
+
+"You are right, sir," she says in a low, steady voice. "I _can_ tell
+more than is known. It may not benefit Doctor Heath; I do not see how it
+can. Nevertheless, all that I can tell you shall hear, and I only ask
+that you will respect such portions of my story as are not needed in
+evidence. As for Mr. O'Meara, I know I can trust him. And I believe,
+sir, that I can rely upon you."
+
+Mr. Wedron bows gravely.
+
+"I will begin by saying that Mr. Vandyck, if he has withheld anything
+concerning Doctor Heath, has acted honorably in so doing. He was bound
+by a promise, from which I shall at once release him."
+
+In obedience to a sign from Mr. Wedron, O'Meara prepares to write.
+
+"You have said, sir," addressing Mr. Wedron, "that I may be able to say
+something which, if withheld, would complicate this case. What do you
+wish to hear?"
+
+"Every thing, Miss Wardour, every thing. All that you can tell
+concerning your acquaintance with Clifford Heath--all that you have seen
+and know concerning John Burrill; all that you can recall of the sayings
+and doings of the Lamottes. And remember, the things that may seem
+unimportant or irrelevant to you, may be the very items that we lack to
+complete what may be a chain of strong evidence in favor of the accused.
+Allow me to question you from time to time, and, if I seem possessed of
+too much information concerning your private affairs, do not be too
+greatly astonished, but rest assured that all my researches have been
+made to serve another, not to gratify myself."
+
+"Where shall I begin, sir?"
+
+"Begin where the first shadow of complication fell; begin at the first
+word or deed of Doctor Heath's that struck you as being in any way
+strange or peculiar."
+
+She flushes hotly and begins her story.
+
+She describes her first impression of Doctor Heath, touching lightly
+upon their acquaintance previous to the time of the robbery at Wardour.
+Then she describes, very minutely, the first call made by Doctor Heath,
+after that affair.
+
+"One moment, Miss Wardour, you told Doctor Heath all that you knew
+concerning the robbery."
+
+"I did, sir;" coloring rosily.
+
+"And you exhibited to him the vial of chloroform and the piece of
+cambric?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"At this point you were interrupted by callers, and Doctor Heath left
+rather abruptly?"
+
+"Precisely, sir."
+
+"Who were these callers?"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte and his son."
+
+"Had you any reason for thinking that Doctor Heath purposely avoided a
+meeting with these gentlemen?"
+
+"Not at that time;" flushing slightly.
+
+"Go on, Miss Wardour."
+
+She resumes her story, telling all that she can remember of the call, of
+Frank's return, and of Sybil's letter.
+
+"About this letter, I would rather not speak, Mr. Wedron; it can not
+affect the case."
+
+"It _does_ affect the case," he replies quickly. "Pray omit no details
+just here."
+
+She resumes: telling the story of that long day, of Clifford Heath's
+second visit, and of the news of Sybil Lamotte's flight.
+
+She tells how, at sunset, she opened the strange letter, and how,
+bewildered and startled out of herself, she put it into Clifford Heath's
+hands, and called upon him to advise her.
+
+Almost word for word she repeats his comments, and then she hesitates.
+
+"Go on," says Mr. Wedron, impatiently; "what happened next?"
+
+Next she tells of the sudden appearance of the strange detective; and
+here O'Meara seems very much interested, and Mr. Wedron very little.
+
+He does not interrupt her, nor display much interest, until she reaches
+the point in her narrative when she discovers the loss of Sybil's
+letter.
+
+"Well!" he cries, as she hesitates once more. "Go on! go on! about that
+letter."
+
+"Gentlemen," says Constance, contritely, "here, if I could, I would
+spare myself. When Doctor Heath came, to return the bottle borrowed by
+the detective, I accused him of taking the letter."
+
+"What!" starting violently; "you suspected him?"
+
+"I insulted him."
+
+"And he--"
+
+"He resented the insult in the only way possible to a gentleman. He
+accepted it in silence, and turned his back upon me."
+
+"Ah! and since that time?"
+
+"Since that time I have received no intimation that Doctor Heath is
+aware of my existence."
+
+"Ah-h-h!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "and you have not found the letter?"
+
+"No. Its fate remains a mystery."
+
+"Do you still believe that Doctor Heath could account for its
+disappearance, if he would?"
+
+"On sober second thought, I could see no motive for taking the letter.
+I was hasty in my accusation. I came to that decision long ago."
+
+"You were deeply grieved over the _mesalliance_ of Miss Lamotte?"
+
+"She was my dearest friend."
+
+"Was?" inquiringly.
+
+Constance pales slightly, but does not correct herself.
+
+"Miss Lamotte's strange marriage has been since explained, I believe?"
+
+"_No, sir!_ not to my satisfaction."
+
+"What! Was it not to save a scapegrace brother?"
+
+"Stop, sir! That scapegrace brother is the one of all that family most
+worthy your respect and mine. You wish me to tell you of the family; let
+me begin with Evan."
+
+Beginning where she had dropped her story, Constance goes on. She
+outlines the visits of the two detectives; she tells how Frank Lamotte
+received the news of his sister's flight.
+
+Then she paints in glowing, enthusiastic language, the interview with
+Evan in the garden. She pictures his grief, his rage, his plea that she
+will stand fast as his sister's friend and champion. She repeats his odd
+language; describes his sudden change of manner; his declaration that he
+will find a reason for Sybil's conduct, that shall shield Sybil, and be
+acceptable to all.
+
+Then she tells how the rumor that Sybil had sacrificed herself for
+Evan's sake grew and spread, and how the boy had sanctioned the report.
+How he had come to her the second time to claim her promise, and
+announce the time for its fulfillment.
+
+"To-day," she says, with moist eyes, "Evan Lamotte lies on a drunkard's
+bed; liquor has been his curse. Morally he is weaker than water; but he
+has, under all that weakness, the elements that go to make a hero. All
+that he had, he sacrificed for his sister. Degraded by drink as he was,
+he could still feel his superiority to the man Burrill; yet, for Sybil's
+sake, to relieve her of his brutal presence, Evan became his companion,
+and passed long hours in the society that he loathed."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculates Mr. Wedron; "ah-h-h!" then he closes his lips, and
+Constance resumes.
+
+She tells next how she became weary of the search for the Wardour
+diamonds; how she sought to withdraw private detective Belknap; and how
+that individual had endeavored to implicate Doctor Heath, and had
+finally accused him; how she had temporized, and sent for officer
+Bathurst; and how, during the three days of waiting, she had sent Ray
+Vandyck to watch over Clifford Heath. She finishes her story without
+interruption, carrying it up to the very day of the murder. Then she
+pauses, dreading further questioning.
+
+But Mr. Wedron asks no questions, and makes no comment. He fidgets in
+his chair, and seems anxious to end the interview.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Wardour," he says, rising briskly, "you have been an
+invaluable witness; and I feel like telling you, that--thanks to you, I
+hope soon to put my hand upon the guilty party, and open the prison
+doors for Heath."
+
+She utters a low cry.
+
+"My God! What have I said!" she cries wildly. "Listen, sir; Clifford
+Heath must, and shall, be free; but--you must never drag to justice the
+true culprit; you _never shall_!"
+
+She is on her feet facing Mr. Wedron, a look of startled defiance in her
+eyes.
+
+He is gazing at her with the look of a man who has discovered a secret.
+Suddenly he comes close beside her, and says, in low, significant tones:
+
+"Let us understand each other; one of two must suffer for this crime.
+Shall it be Clifford Heath, the innocent, or--_Frank Lamotte_?"
+
+She reels and clutches wildly at a chair for support.
+
+"Frank Lamotte!" she gasps, "_Frank_, Oh! No! No! It must not be him!
+Oh! You do not understand; you can not."
+
+She pauses, affrighted and gasping. Then her lips close suddenly, and
+she struggles fiercely to regain her composure. After a little she turns
+to Mr. O'Meara, saying:
+
+"You have heard me say that Mr. Bathurst, the detective, and friend of
+Doctor Heath, was, not long since, in W----; he may be here still; I do
+not know. But he must be found; he is the only man who can do what
+_must_ be done. For I repeat, Doctor Heath must be saved, and the true
+criminal must _not_ be punished. My entire fortune is at your command;
+find this detective, for my hands are tied; and he _must_, he MUST, find
+a way to save both guilty and innocent."
+
+"This is getting too deep for me, Wedron," says O'Meara, when the door
+has closed behind Constance. "What does it lead up to? For I take it
+your tactics mean something."
+
+Mr. Wedron laughs a low, mellow laugh.
+
+"Things are shaping themselves to my liking," he says, rubbing his hands
+briskly. "We are almost done floundering, O'Meara. Thanks to Miss
+Wardour, I know where to put my hand when the right time comes."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"You will very soon. Now hear a prophecy: Before to-morrow night,
+Clifford Heath will send for you, and lay before you a plan for his
+defence. He will manifest a sudden desire to live."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+TWO PASSENGERS WEST.
+
+
+Late that night a man is walking slowly up and down the little footpath
+that leads from the highway, just opposite Mapleton, down to the river
+and close past that pretty, white boat house belonging to the Lamotte
+domain.
+
+He is very patient, very tranquil in his movements, and quite
+unconscious that, crouched in the shadow, not far away, a small figure
+notes his every action.
+
+Presently a second form emerges from the gloom that hangs over the gates
+of Mapleton, and comes down toward the river. Just beside the boat house
+it pauses and waits the man's approach.
+
+The new comer is a woman. The night is not so dark but that her form is
+distinctly visible to the hidden watcher.
+
+"Well," says the man, coming close beside her, "I am here--madam."
+
+"Yes," whispers the woman. "Have you--" she hesitates.
+
+"Accomplished my task?" he finishes the sentence. "Have you not proof up
+yonder that the work is done?"
+
+The woman trembles from head to foot, and draws farther away.
+
+"I am only waiting to receive what is now due me," the man resumes. "You
+need have no fears as to the future; like Abraham, you have been
+provided with a lamb for the sacrifice."
+
+Again a shudder shakes the form of the woman, but she does not speak.
+
+"I must trouble you to do me a favor, Mrs. Burrill," the man goes on.
+"It is necessary that I should see the honorable Mr. Lamotte. So, if you
+will be so good as to admit me to Mapleton to-night, under cover of this
+darkness, and contrive an interview without disturbing the other
+inmates, you will greatly oblige me; but first, my two thousand dollars,
+if you please."
+
+With a sudden movement the woman flings back the cloak that has been
+drawn close about her face, and strikes with her hand upon the timbers
+of the boat house.
+
+There is a crackling sound, a flash of light, and then the slow blaze of
+a parlor match.
+
+By its light they gaze upon each other, and then the man mutters a
+curse.
+
+"Miss Wardour!"
+
+"Mr. Belknap, it is I."
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Belknap, it is I."]
+
+There is a moment's silence, and then she speaks again:
+
+"You are disappointed, Mr. Belknap; you expected to meet another, who
+would pay you your price for--you know what. You will not see that other
+one; she is hovering between life and death, and her delirious ravings
+have revealed you in your true character. You may wonder how I have
+dared thus to brave an assassin, a blackmailer. I am not reckless. If I
+do not return in ten minutes, safe and sound, the boat house will be
+speedily searched and you, Mr. Belknap, will be hunted as you may have
+hunted others. Not long since you made terms with me, you attempted
+coercion, I might say blackmail; to-night, it is in my power to bridle
+your tongue, and I tell you, that, unless you leave W---- at once, you
+will find yourself a resident here against your will. Consider your
+business in W---- at an end. This is not a safe place for you."
+
+With the last words on her lips, she turns and speeds swiftly back
+toward Mapleton, and Jerry Belknap, private detective, stands
+transfixed, gazing at the spot from which she has fled, and muttering
+curses not good to hear.
+
+He makes no attempt to follow her. He recognizes the fact that he is
+baffled, and, for the time at least, defeated. Grinding out curses as he
+goes, he turns his steps toward W----.
+
+Then, from out the shadows of the boat house, a small bundle uncoils
+itself, stands erect, and then moves forward as if in pursuit.
+
+But, something else rises up from the ground, directly in the path of
+this small shadow; a long, slender body displays itself, and a voice
+whispers close to the ears of the smaller watcher:
+
+"Remain here, George, and keep a close eye on the house. I will look
+after _him_."
+
+Then the shadows separate; the taller one follows in the wake of the
+disconsolate detective.
+
+The other, scaling the park palings like a cat, vanishes in the darkness
+that surrounds Mapleton.
+
+The reflections of Jerry Belknap, private detective, as he goes, with
+moody brow, and tightly compressed lips, across the pretty river bridge,
+and back toward his hotel, are far from pleasant.
+
+He is a shrewd man, and has engineered many a knotty case to a
+successful issue, thereby covering himself with glory. This was in the
+past, however; in the days when he had been regularly attached to a
+strong and reliable detective agency.
+
+For tact, energy, ambition, he had no peer; but one day his career had
+been nipped in the bud.
+
+A young man, equally talented, and far more honorable, had caused his
+overthrow; and yet had saved him from the worst that might have befallen
+him. And, Jerry Belknap, had stepped down from an honorable position,
+and, determined to make his power, experience, and acknowledged
+abilities, serve him as the means of supplying his somewhat extravagant
+needs, had resolved himself into a "private detective," and betaken
+himself to "ways that are dark."
+
+"There's something at the bottom of this business that I don't
+understand," mused he as he paced onward; little thinking how soon he is
+to be enlightened on this and sundry other subjects. "I never felt more
+sanguine of bringing a crooked operation to a successful termination,
+and I never yet made such an abject failure. I shall make it my business
+to find out, and at once, what is this power behind the throne. So,
+according to Miss Wardour, may Satan fly away with her, I am not to
+approach the Lamotte's, I am to lose my reward, I am to retire from the
+field like a whipped cur. Miss Wardour, we shall see about that."
+
+"Call me for the early train going west," he says to the night clerk, on
+reaching the hotel; "let me see, what is the hour?"
+
+"The western train leaves very early, sir--at four twenty. Then you
+won't be here to witness Burrill's funeral? It will call everybody out.
+The circumstances attending the man's life and death will make it an
+event for W----."
+
+"It's an 'event' that won't interest me. If I have been rightly
+informed, the man is better, placed in his coffin, than he ever was in
+his boots. I shall leave my baggage here--all but a small valise. I
+expect to return to W---- soon. If anything occurs to change my plans, I
+will telegraph you and have it forwarded."
+
+At this moment the door of the office opens and closes noisily, and a
+man comes rather unsteadily toward them. It is Smith, the book-peddler,
+and evidently much intoxicated.
+
+"Hallo, Smith," says the night clerk, jocosely, as Mr. Belknap turns
+away, "you seem to have rheumatism, and I suspect you find more fun than
+business in W----."
+
+"Town ain't much on literature," retorts Mr. Smith, amiably, "but it's
+the devil and all for draw poker. I've raked in a pot, and I'm going on
+to the next pious town, so
+
+    'If you are waking, call me early.'
+
+Old top, I'm going west."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+SOME EXCELLENT ADVICE.
+
+
+Early on the following morning, there was unusual stir about Mapleton.
+John Burrill was to be buried that day, and the sad funeral preparations
+were going on. People were moving about, making the bustle the more
+noticeable by their visible efforts to step softly, and by the low
+monotonous hum of their voices.
+
+Up stairs, the usual quiet reigned.
+
+Sybil was sleeping under the influence of powerful opiates, administered
+to insure her against the possibility of being overheard in her ravings,
+or of waking to a realization of the events taking place below stairs.
+
+Evan, too, had been quieted by the use of brandy and morphine, and Mrs.
+Lamotte kept watch at his bedside, while Constance, in Sybil's chamber,
+maintained a similar vigil. Neither of the two watchers manifested any
+interest in the funeral preparations, nor did they feel any.
+
+"I shall not be present at the burial," Mrs. Lamotte had said to her
+husband. "Sybil's illness and Evan's will furnish sufficient excuse,
+and--nothing constrains me to do honor to John Burrill _now_."
+
+Mr. Lamotte opened his lips to remonstrate, but catching a look upon the
+face of his wife that he had learned to its fullest meaning, he closed
+them again and went grimly below stairs, and, through all the day
+previous to the departure of the funeral cortege, Jasper Lamotte was the
+only member of that aristocratic family who was visible to the curious
+gaze of the strangers who attended upon the burial preparations.
+
+Early in the forenoon an unexpected delegation arrived at the entrance
+of Mapleton.
+
+First, came Doctor Benoit, driving alone in his time-honored gig, the
+only vehicle he had been seen to enter within the memory of W----.
+
+Close behind him, a carriage containing four gentlemen, all manifestly
+persons of more than ordinary importance, Mr. O'Meara, in fact, his
+colleague of the New York Bar, and two elderly, self-possessed
+strangers, evidently city men.
+
+They desired a few words with Mr. Lamotte, and that gentleman, after
+some hesitation and no little concern as to the nature of their business
+at such a time, presented himself before them, looking the
+personification of subdued sorrow and haughty reserve.
+
+Mr. O'Meara acted as spokesman for the party.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," he began, with profound politeness and marked coldness of
+manner and speech, "I should apologize for our intrusion at such a time,
+were it not that our errand is one of gravest importance and can not be
+put off. Allow me to introduce to you Mr. Wedron, Doctor Gaylor and
+Professor Harrington, all of New York."
+
+Mr. Lamotte recognized the strangers with haughty courtesy, and silently
+awaited disclosures.
+
+"Mr. Wedron and myself, as the representatives and counsel of Doctor
+Heath, have summoned from the city these two gentlemen, whom you must
+know by reputation, and we desire that they be allowed to examine the
+body of Mr. Burrill, in order to ascertain if the wounds upon the body
+were actually made by the knife found with it."
+
+The countenance of Mr. Lamotte darkened perceptibly.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "that
+this is an unwarrantable and useless proceeding--doubly so at this late
+hour."
+
+"Nevertheless, it is a necessary one," broke in Mr. Wedron, crisply. "It
+is presumable that you can have no personal enmity against Doctor Heath,
+sir; therefore you can have no reason for opposing measures instigated
+by justice. The examination will be a brief one."
+
+The resolute tone of his voice, no less than his words, brought Jasper
+Lamotte to his senses.
+
+"Certainly, I have no wish to oppose the ends of justice," he said, in a
+tone which, in spite of himself, was most ungracious. "Such an
+investigation is naturally distasteful to me. Nevertheless, you may
+proceed, gentlemen, but I should not like the ladies of my household to
+discover what is going on. They are sufficiently nervous already. If you
+will excuse me for a moment, I will go up and request them to remain in
+their rooms for the present. After that, you are at liberty to
+proceed."
+
+They all seat themselves gravely, and Mr. Lamotte, taking this as a
+quiet acquiescence, goes out, and softly but swiftly up the broad
+stairs; not to the rooms occupied by the ladies, however, but straight
+on to Frank's room, where that young man has remained in solitude, ever
+since his unusually early breakfast hour.
+
+"Frank," he says, entering quietly and closing the door with great care.
+"Frank, we have a delegation of doctors below stairs."
+
+"A delegation of doctors?" Frank repeats, parrot-like.
+
+"Precisely; they want to examine the body."
+
+Frank comes slowly to his feet.
+
+"To examine the body!" he repeats again. "In Heaven's name, _why_?"
+
+"To ascertain, by examining the wounds on the body, if the knife found
+with it, is the knife that killed."
+
+A sickly hue overspreads Frank Lamotte's face, and he sits weakly down
+in the chair, from which he has just risen, saying never a word.
+
+"Frank," says Jasper Lamotte, eyeing his son sharply. "Do you see any
+reason why this investigation should not take place; supposing that it
+were yet in our power to hinder it?"
+
+A silence that lasts many seconds, then:
+
+"It is _not_ in our power to hinder it," says Frank, in a hollow voice;
+"neither would it be policy. Let the play go on," and he turns his face
+away with a weary gesture.
+
+For a moment, Jasper Lamotte stands gazing at his son; a puzzled look on
+his face; then he turns and goes out as softly as he came.
+
+"Gentlemen," he says, re-entering the library, with the same subdued
+manner, "you are at liberty to proceed with your examination, and, if I
+may suggest, it is as well to lose no time. The funeral takes place at
+two o'clock."
+
+They arise simultaneously, and without more words, follow Jasper Lamotte
+to the room of death.
+
+At the door, Mr. Wedron halts.
+
+"I will remain on the balcony," he says to Mr. O'Meara, but sufficiently
+loud to be heard by all the rest, "I never could endure the sight of a
+corpse." And he turns abruptly, and goes out through the open doorway;
+taking up a position on the broad piazza, and turning his gaze toward
+the river.
+
+Jasper Lamotte is less sensitive, however; he enters with the others,
+and stands beside O'Meara, while the physicians do their work.
+
+"At least," he thinks, "I'll know what they are about, and what their
+verdict is."
+
+But in this he is disappointed. They have brought with them a surgeon's
+knife; the precise counterpart of the one now in possession of the
+prosecution, and of the same manufacture.
+
+One by one they examine, they compare, they probe, and all in silence.
+Then they turn toward O'Meara.
+
+"I believe we have finished," says Professor Harrington.
+
+"And the result?" asks Jasper Lamotte, eagerly, in spite of himself.
+
+"That," replies Mr. O'Meara, with elaborate _nonchalance_, "will be made
+known at the trial. Mr. Lamotte, we trust that you will pardon this most
+necessary intrusion, and we wish you a very good morning."
+
+The examination has been a very brief affair; it is just ten o'clock
+when the four unwelcome guests drive away.
+
+Doctor Benoit does not accompany them; he goes up-stairs to visit his
+patients.
+
+Jasper Lamotte asks him no questions. He knows that Doctor Benoit is a
+man of honor and that he will keep his professional secrets. So he goes
+sulkily back to his library.
+
+Two hours later a rough, uncouth looking man appears at the servants'
+entrance, and asks to see Mr. Lamotte.
+
+"I'm one of his workmen," he says, very gravely, "and I want to see him
+particular."
+
+Jasper Lamotte is in no mood for receiving visitors, but he is, just
+now, in a position where he can not, with safety, follow the dictates of
+his haughty nature.
+
+He is filled with suspicion; surrounded by a mystery he can not fathom;
+and, a man who begs for an audience at such an hour, must have an
+extraordinary errand. Reasoning thus, he says, crustily:
+
+"Show the fellow here."
+
+A moment later the man shuffles into the room. Mr. Lamotte glances up,
+and his brow darkens ominously.
+
+"Brooks!" he exclaims. "What the mischief--" he checks himself, then
+adds, ungraciously: "What do _you_ want?"
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, I beg your pardon, sir," says the man, a trifle thickly.
+"I came back to W---- last night, and heard of the awful things, as has
+happened here. Now, I always liked Burrill, in spite of his weakness,
+for _I_ ain't the man to criticise such failin's. I've been down among
+the factory people, and I've heard them talk; and, thinks I to myself,
+there's some things as Mr. Lamotte ought to know. You've always paid me
+my wages, sir; and treated me fair; and I believe you've treated all the
+hands the same; but--there's _some_ people as must always have their
+fling at every body, as the Lord has seen fit to set over their heads;
+and--there's some of them sort in Mill avenue."
+
+During this harangue the countenance of Jasper Lamotte has grown less
+supercilious, but not less curious.
+
+"Explain yourself, Brooks," he says, quite graciously, and with some
+inward uneasiness. "I do not comprehend your meaning."
+
+"If I had come to your servants and asked to see the body of my old
+chum," begins Brooks, with a knowing look, and drawing near Mr. Lamotte,
+"they would have ordered me off, and shut the door in my face; so I just
+asked to see _you_ on particular business. But if you was to ring your
+bell, by and by, and order one of your servants to take me in to look
+at the corpse, I could explain to them what an old friend I was, and
+that would settle the curiosity business."
+
+"Doesn't it strike you, Brooks, that you don't cut much of a figure, to
+appear as the friend of my son-in-law?" questions Mr. Lamotte, looking
+some disfavor at the _ensemble_ before him.
+
+Brooks buries his chin in his bosom, in order to survey his soiled
+linen; looks down at his dingy boots; runs his fingers through his shock
+of coarse red hair.
+
+"I ain't much of a feller to look at; but that's because I ain't been as
+lucky as Burrill was; though I ain't anxious to change places with him
+now. I'll fix the friendship business to suit you, sir, and be proper
+respectful about it. Say Burrill was my boss, or something of that sort.
+I shouldn't like to have certain parties know my _real_ business here,
+and I _should_ like to take a look at Burrill on my own account."
+
+There is a ring of sarcasm in the first words of this speech, and Mr.
+Lamotte reflects that he has not yet learned his errand.
+
+"Very good, Brooks, you shall see the body, and manage the rest as
+delicately as possible, please. You know we want no ill spoken of the
+dead. Now, then, your real business, for," consulting his watch, "time
+presses."
+
+"I know it does, sir, and I won't waste any words. You see, sir, beggin'
+your pardon for mentionin' of it, Burrill has got another wife, a
+divorced one, I mean, livin' down at the avenue. She works in Story's
+mill now, but she used to work in yours before--"
+
+"Yes, yes," impatiently. "Get on faster, Brooks."
+
+"Well, you see, sir, since her husband--I mean since _Mr. Burrill_ was
+killed, she has been cuttin' up rough, and lettin' out a many things as
+you wouldn't like to have get all over W----. She ain't afraid of him no
+more (he did beat her monstrous), and when she gets to takin' on, she
+lets out things that would sound bad about your son-in-law. If it was a
+common chap like me, it wouldn't matter; but I thinks to myself, now,
+Brooks, this 'ere woman who can't hold her tongue will be hauled up as a
+witness for Doctor Heath. I ain't got nothing against Doctor Heath, but
+I says, it will be awful humblin' to Mr. Lamotte's pride, and powerful
+hard on his pretty daughter; so I jest come to say that if Nance Burrill
+could be got to go away, quiet like, before the other parties could get
+their hands on her, why, it would be a good thing, Mr. Lamotte."
+
+Considering the tender solicitude he feels for "Mr. Lamotte's pride," he
+has given it some pretty hard knocks, but he looks quite innocent, and
+incapable of any sinister intent, and Mr. Lamotte, after gnawing his lip
+viciously for a moment and favoring his _vis-a-vis_ with a sharp glance
+of suspicion, says, with sudden condescension:
+
+"Brooks, I've always been inclined to believe you a pretty good sort of
+fellow, but really this singular disinterestedness almost makes me
+suspect your motive. Stop," as Brooks elevates his head and suddenly
+faces toward the door. "Hear me out. Brooks, don't be ashamed to
+confess it. Did the thought of a reward stimulate you to do me
+this--favor?"
+
+"If it's a favor, sir, you take it very uppish," retorts Brooks sulkily,
+and edging slowly toward the door. "I'm a poor man, sir, but I ain't bad
+enough to come to you with a trumped-up story, and if I happened to
+think that in case you found things as I tell you, you might reward me
+by and by with a ten-dollar note, why, I don't think there is much harm
+in that. I liked you and your ways, and wanted to do you a good turn,
+and if I wanted to do myself a good turn, too, why, there's nater in
+that."
+
+"There's nature in that, true enough. Brooks, I wish I had time to hear
+all the particulars of this affair."
+
+"I don't want to give them, sir," replies the man, hastily. "No more
+would it be fair for me to do so. I've got some fair friends among the
+Mill avenue folks. I've come back to W----, because I couldn't get on
+anywhere else; and I've come back broke. The factory folks will trust me
+to a night's lodging, when their betters wouldn't. I've told you enough
+to open your eyes, sir; and you can look into the thing for yourself."
+
+To "look into the thing" for himself, is precisely what Jasper Lamotte
+is not inclined to do; so he says, with growing convictions, and
+increasing friendliness of manner:
+
+"At least, Brooks, you can give me an idea of the nature of the stories
+this woman will tell, if brought into court?"
+
+"The Lord knows what she won't tell, sir; she blows hot, and blows cold.
+One minute she tells how he was a fairly good husband, until he got into
+the hands of some city gang, while they lived in New York; and next she
+raves over all his misdeeds, tells how he was compelled to quit England,
+or be jugged up; how he forced her into divorcing him; how he bragged
+over the strong influence he had over you and all your family; how he
+came to her house time and again, after he was married to your gal; and
+how he promised her 'pots of old Lamotte's money;' them's her words,
+sir, 'pots of old Lamotte's money, and heaps of diamonds, for the sake
+of old times,' when he was drunk enough to be good natured; and how he
+beat her, and I can testify to that, when he was a little drunker."
+
+"Brooks," says Mr. Lamotte, springing a last trap; "do you suppose _you_
+could manage this business of getting away the woman, if I paid you
+well, and gave you a bribe for her?"
+
+"No, sir. I couldn't do it. I am so well known about Mill avenue; it
+won't do for a poor broke up devil to turn up flush all at once. I don't
+want nothing to do with the affair. I've done all I can do."
+
+Mr. Lamotte slowly draws forth his wallet, and slowly opens it.
+
+"Brooks, here is twenty-five dollars; I've not much money by me; I'll
+look into this matter, and do more for you after we get quiet again.
+Meantime, you can have the first vacancy at the factory; I'll see to
+that at once."
+
+"And I'll try and be sober, sir, and ready for it. Now, then, I've been
+here a good many minutes; you'd better let me take a look at the corpse,
+and be off."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+BELKNAP OUTWITTED.
+
+
+"If you please, Mr. Lamotte," said that gentleman's coachman, appearing
+before his master, less than an hour before the time appointed for the
+moving of the funeral cortege, and looking much confused. "If you
+please, sir, I've had a misfortune with my hand, sir; at least, my
+wrist; it's sort of sprained, and I most fear I can't handle the reins
+proper, for the horses is mighty full of life, bein' so little used of
+late."
+
+"Well, well," broke in Mr. Lamotte. "I suppose you can get a man to fill
+your place?"
+
+The man's countenance brightened at once.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; I've the very man right on hand. A friend of mine, and a
+master one with horses."
+
+"Let him take your place then, and see that every thing is in proper
+order."
+
+"It's all right," said the coachman, returning to the stables, and
+addressing a man who leaned against the loose box, where two blooded
+carriage horses were undergoing the currying process. "It's all right;
+you can drive the horses."
+
+"Cap'n you're a good fellow," said the man, enthusiastically, "and
+here's your ten dollars. It's a favor I'll never forget, mind, for
+many's the day I've driven the beauties, before Squire McInnis went up,
+and we all had to go."
+
+[Illustration: "Cap'n, you're a good fellow."]
+
+"That was a big failure," replied the coachman, knowingly. "You just see
+that the horses are done off all right, won't you? I must look after the
+carriage."
+
+"It was lucky for me that I happened to know the history of these
+horses," mused Jerry Belknap, for he it was who leaned confidingly over
+to stroke the sleek sides of one of the splendid bays, and who had
+bribed Mr. Lamotte's coachman with a ten dollar bill. "If I drive the
+Lamottes, I'm sure of a hearing, and no audience; at the worst if they
+should take in a third party, but they won't, I can find a way to make
+myself and my wants known." And he sauntered across to the carriage
+house and critically inspected the splendid landau that was being rolled
+out upon the gravel.
+
+He had returned to W---- on foot, from a near railway station, reaching
+the town within five hours from the time he left it.
+
+During this time, however, his personal appearance had undergone a
+marked change. He was rubicund, and more youthful of countenance;
+shabbily smart in dress; excessively "horsey," and somewhat loud in
+manner.
+
+During his intercourse with the Lamottes he had learned, from Frank,
+that their blooded bays had once been the property of a wealthy and
+prominent citizen of New York, who having failed, after the modern
+fashion, had given Jasper Lamotte the first bid for the valuable span.
+Given thus much, the rest was easy. Representing himself as a former
+coachman of this bankrupt New Yorker, he had told his little story. He
+was looking about him for a place in which to open a "small, but neat"
+livery stable, had wandered into W---- that morning, and having
+considerable cash about him, all his savings in fact, he had not cared
+to tempt robbers, by appearing too "high toned."
+
+Of course he had heard at once of the murder, and then remembered that
+Lamotte was the name of the gentleman who had bought his favorite horses
+from his former master.
+
+"I never pulled reins over a span equal to 'em," he said, with much
+pathos. "I never had the same liking for any other pair of critters;
+they was the apple of my eye, and I'd give just ten dollars to draw
+reins over 'em once more--even to a funeral."
+
+His little ruse was successful; the bait was instantly swallowed, and
+Jerry Belknap glanced maliciously up at the closely curtained chamber
+windows, and muttered, as he began to saunter slowly up and down before
+the stable door:
+
+"Miss Wardour, you won't find it so easy to outwit an old detective,
+even with the odds in your favor."
+
+Just as the horses were being led out from the stable, a quiet-looking
+young man, with a somewhat rustic air, came into the yard, and
+approached the group near the carriage house.
+
+"Who comes here?" asked the disguised Belknap, in a low tone, addressing
+the coachman.
+
+"More than I know," replied that functionary. Then laying down a
+halter, just removed from the head of one of the pawing, restless
+horses, he turned toward the new comer, saying, patronizingly:
+
+"Well, my man, can we do anything for you?"
+
+The stranger appeared somewhat abashed.
+
+"I hope I ain't in the way, gentlemen," he said, respectfully; "I came
+from Wardour with a message for Miss Constance. It's from the old lady,
+and as I see the carriages are coming and the hearse, I just thought I'd
+wait till the funeral was gone before I intruded."
+
+"Oh!" said the coachman, more graciously. "Well, you won't have long to
+wait, then; the time's about up, and Mr. Lamotte is never behind time."
+Then he turned to Mr. Belknap.
+
+"You must keep a close eye over the off one," he said; "he's full of
+Cain; and I say, what a lucky thing it is that your clothes are dark,
+and that Mrs. Lamotte won't let us wear full liveries."
+
+"Why, yes, it's very lucky, that's so; just throw over those reins, will
+you. Don't be uneasy in your mind about that horse; I'll drive 'em safe
+enough; just you tell me when to start."
+
+Ten minutes later, all that remained of John Burrill was borne out in
+its costly casket and placed in the splendid hearse at the door.
+
+Just as he was about to cross his own threshold, Jasper Lamotte was
+confronted by a young man who pressed into his hand a slip of paper, and
+whispered in his ear:
+
+"Read it at once, sir; it's of vital importance _to you_."
+
+Stifling an exclamation, Jasper Lamotte unfolded and glanced at the slip
+of paper. It contained these words:
+
+     The man who will drive your carriage is a cursed New York
+     detective, who has bribed your coachman.
+
+     Don't give him the opportunity he hopes to gain for watching and
+     listening to yourself and son.
+
+     The bearer of this can be trusted. BELKNAP.
+
+By the time he had mastered the meaning of the note, the hearse had
+moved forward and the pall-bearers were taking their places.
+
+Then the Lamotte carriage came into view. Mr. Lamotte placed the note in
+the hand of his son, who stood close beside him, and descended the
+steps, a stern look on his face.
+
+"My friend, come down off that box," he said to the self-satisfied
+substitute procured him by his coachman.
+
+[Illustration: "My friend, come down off that."]
+
+The man on the box stared down at him in amazement.
+
+"But, sir," he began.
+
+"I want no words from you, sir; you can't drive my horses. Come down
+instantly."
+
+The discomfited Belknap writhed in his seat, and looked about him
+helplessly.
+
+Before were the pall-bearers, looking back from their open vehicle, and
+noting the scene; on the steps, and within easy hearing distance, were
+gathered the small knot of gentlemen, who, for courtesy's sake, or for
+policy's sake, had gathered to do honor to Mr. Lamotte, rather than to
+the poor rosewood shrouded thing that had never a mourner.
+
+He could not explain; he could not make himself known.
+
+"I will have you thrown off that box, sir; if you hesitate ten seconds
+longer," exclaimed Mr. Lamotte, impatiently, at the same time moving
+away and beckoning to the driver of the next carriage.
+
+Fate was against him, and muttering curses, "not loud but deep," Jerry
+Belknap began to clamber reluctantly down.
+
+Seeing this, Mr. Lamotte turned toward the bearer of the mischievous
+note, who had withdrawn a few paces from the group near the carriage,
+and beckoned him to approach.
+
+He came forward promptly.
+
+"Can you drive, my man?"
+
+"Yes, sir," respectfully.
+
+"Then do me the favor to mount that box and drive my horses this
+afternoon."
+
+"And you, sir," turning to poor Belknap, "get off my premises and keep
+off."
+
+And so it came about that Jerry Belknap, private detective, found
+himself once more outwitted, and "Mr. Smith, the book-peddler," drove
+the carriage containing John Burrill's chief mourners.
+
+"Pardon this little scene, gentlemen," said Mr. Lamotte, turning to his
+friends, "but I happen to know that the man I dismissed is drunk."
+
+Half an hour later a servant tapped softly at the door where Constance
+kept watch, and said:
+
+"There's a boy below, Miss Wardour, who says he has an important message
+for you, and must deliver it in person."
+
+Constance went immediately down to find our old friend George, the image
+boy, in the hall below.
+
+She smiled at sight of him, hoping to obtain some news of Bathurst. But
+he only bowed, as if to a queen, placed in her hand a small, sealed
+envelope; and before she could utter a word, she was standing alone in
+the crape-hung hall, while the boy's steps could be heard ringing on the
+stones outside.
+
+Standing there, Constance hastily opened the envelope. It contained a
+letter and a scrap of paper. Glancing first at the scrap, she read these
+words:
+
+     MISS WARDOUR--
+
+     Enclosed find a letter, which, for reasons which I shall explain
+     later, I pilfered from you on the night of our first meeting. It
+     has accomplished the purpose for which I took it, and I hasten to
+     restore it.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+Constance turned her eye once more upon the paper in her hand, looked
+closer and exclaimed: "It is; it is Sybil's lost letter!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+"WILL LOVE OUTWEIGH HONOR?"
+
+
+"Dr. Heath, here is another visitor."
+
+Clifford Heath turned slowly away from the small iron-barred window; he
+looked a trifle disturbed by this announcement, for he had just been
+interviewed by Mr. O'Meara, who for the first time had presented Mr.
+Wedron, and the two had left him much to think about.
+
+The look of annoyance left his face, however, and a stare of surprise
+took its place, when, following upon the footsteps of the janitor, came
+Constance Wardour, not closely veiled and drooping, after the manner of
+prison-visiting females in orthodox novels, but with her fair face
+unconcealed, and her graceful figure at its proudest poise.
+
+The haughtiness all departed from face and bearing, however, when the
+door closed behind her and she found herself alone with the man she had
+falsely accused.
+
+Misfortune had not humbled Clifford Heath. When the first momentary look
+of surprise had left his face, he stood before her as proudly erect, as
+icily courteous, as if he were receiving her in his own parlor.
+
+"Doctor Heath," began Constance, in low, contrite tones, "some months
+ago I brought a wrongful accusation against you. I wronged you deeply;
+let me do myself the justice to say that almost immediately I was
+convinced of the injustice I had done you, of the utter insanity of my
+own behavior, but--" blushing rosily, "I never found the letter, and how
+could I come to you and say, I have changed my mind, without a reason.
+Less than an hour ago, this note was put into my hands, and with it that
+unfortunate lost letter. This enables me to say,--Doctor Heath, I deeply
+regret the insult I offered you, and I ask you to be magnanimous, and to
+pardon me."
+
+She put the note in his hand, and he read it, without uttering a word;
+stood silent for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts, and then said:
+
+"Miss Wardour, I am glad that this affair has been cleared up; when a
+man has so many dark shadows hanging over him, he is thankful for the
+smallest glimpse of sunlight. It is like your generosity to come in
+person."
+
+"But you have not said that you forgive me, Doctor Heath; fully and
+freely, remember."
+
+"Fully and freely I forgive you, then, Miss Wardour," smilingly, he
+replied. "After all, the mistake was a natural one. Since I have been an
+inmate of this cell, I have learned to see myself as others see me. Why
+should I not come under suspicion, especially after hearing my words to
+Bathurst? By the by, this note from Bathurst, you tell me that you
+received it to-day?"
+
+"To-day; since noon."
+
+"And it is dated to-day; then," looking at her questioningly, "Bathurst
+must be in town."
+
+"Yes," dropping her eyes, confusedly. "That is, I think so;" and
+scarcely heeding her own movements, she seated herself in the doctor's
+chair, and, leaning one arm against the table, looked up into his face,
+saying with a spice of her old manner, so familiar to him in the past:
+
+"Having forgiven me so generously, Doctor Heath, don't you think it
+would be quite proper to shake hands?"
+
+He looked down upon her, a strange light leaping into his eyes. But he
+did not approach. He lifted a large, shapely hand, and surveyed it
+sorrowfully.
+
+"It _looks_ as clean as any hand, Miss Wardour, but there is a stain
+upon it."
+
+"A stain! No, sir. Do you think that _I_ believe in your guilt?"
+
+Again the quick light flamed in his eyes, and now he came a step nearer.
+
+"Do you believe in my innocence?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt."
+
+"When I said 'there is a stain upon my hand,' I did not mean the stain
+of guilt, but of suspicion, of accusation."
+
+"There is _no_ stain upon your hand! Doctor Heath. What is this I hear
+about you? They tell me you will make no defense."
+
+He smiled down at her.
+
+"I could make but one defense, and that--"
+
+"And that?"
+
+"And that, Miss Wardour, I would not make."
+
+"Why?"
+
+She was straining every nerve to preserve her composure; words came from
+her lips like frozen heartbeats.
+
+"Because--Miss Wardour, do not ask me why."
+
+"I do ask; I persist. Why? Why? _Why?_"
+
+"Because--I see you are as imperious as ever--because I can only save
+myself by giving the real murderer up to justice."
+
+She was on her feet in an instant, all her enforced calmness gone,
+unutterable misery in her face and voice.
+
+"You know!" she cried. "You! Oh! my God, what shall I do!"
+
+"Have no fear, Miss Wardour; have I not said I will keep my own
+counsel?"
+
+"But, you! _You!_ Oh, there is no reason why _you_ should not speak; you
+are not bound! You are not--oh, what am I saying!" She sank back into
+her seat, panting and wild-eyed.
+
+"Miss Wardour, calm yourself," he said, gently. "I _am_ bound. It is my
+pleasure to keep this secret. Listen. A short time ago I received a
+visit from my lawyers. They told me--among other things, they thought it
+best that I should know--that you knew who did the deed, and that you
+would have us both saved, innocent and guilty alike. Before that, I had
+determined to keep silence; now I am doubly resolved. For your sake, I
+will not accuse Frank Lamotte."
+
+"Frank--you will not accuse _Frank Lamotte_? And for my sake!" she
+almost shrieked. "For God's sake, explain. What is Frank Lamotte to me?
+Of what can you accuse him?"
+
+It was Clifford Heath's turn to lose his composure. How could he
+interpret her words? Was she trying to deceive him?
+
+"Miss Wardour," he said, almost sternly, "do you wish me to understand
+that Francis Lamotte is nothing to you?"
+
+"_Nothing to me!_ the vilest, the basest, the most treacherous, the most
+abject of all human creatures, _that_ is what Frank Lamotte is to me!"
+
+Uncontrollable scorn rang in her voice; rising anger, too. How dared
+_he_ couple her name with that of Frank Lamotte?
+
+From the chaos of meanings and mysteries revolving through his mind,
+Clifford Heath seized upon and clung to one idea, held it in silence for
+a moment, then let it burst forth in words.
+
+"Then--then you are not Frank Lamotte's promised wife?"
+
+"_I!_ great heavens! _no._"
+
+"And never have been?"
+
+"And never have been."
+
+Clifford Heath drew a long, deep breath. For a moment a look of gladness
+beamed in his eye, then it died out suddenly, as he said, almost
+gloomily:
+
+"And yet, you have said that he must be saved at all hazards. Knowing
+his guilt, I still am here in his place."
+
+"In his place, oh," she came toward him with a swift, eager movement, "I
+begin to see! Doctor Heath, you think Frank Lamotte the guilty one?"
+
+"I know it," grimly.
+
+A look of relief came over her face. She breathed freely.
+
+"You believe this," she said at last, "and yet you are here. If you have
+evidence against Frank Lamotte, why do you occupy a felon's cell? Why
+not put him in your place?"
+
+"I have told you why. It was for your sake."
+
+She lowered her eyes and drew back a little, but he followed her, and,
+standing before her, looked down into her face with a persistent,
+searching gaze. "You must understand me now," he said firmly, "when I
+believed that you loved Frank Lamotte, I said 'Then I will not stand
+forth and accuse the man she loves, for--I love her, and she must not be
+unhappy.'"
+
+A great sob rose in her throat. A wave of crimson swept over her brow.
+She stood before him with clasped hands and drooping head.
+
+"But for that meddlesome slip of paper," he went on, "I should not have
+been driven from the field, and this treachery of Lamotte's could never
+have been practiced upon me. Do you remember a certain day when you sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and he came to you from my office? Well, on that day
+Francis Lamotte told me that you were his promised wife, and when Ray
+came back, _he_ verified the statement, having received the information
+from your lips. Once I hoped to come to you and say, after lifting for
+your eyes the veil of mystery, which I have allowed to envelope my past:
+'Constance Wardour, I love you; I want you for my very own, my wife!'
+Now, mountains have arisen between us; I can not offer you a hand with
+the shadow of a stain upon it; nor a name that is tarnished by doubt and
+suspicion. However this affair may end for me, that hope is ended now."
+
+[Illustration: "That hope is ended now."]
+
+It had come; the decisive moment.
+
+She could go away now with sealed lips, and it would end indeed. She
+could turn away from him, leaving happiness behind her; taking with her
+his happiness, too; or, she could speak, and then--
+
+She looked about her; and the bare walls and grated windows gave her
+strength to dare much. Had they stood together out under the broad
+bright sunlight; he as free as herself, she could have turned away
+mutely, and let her life go on as it would.
+
+Now--now his present was overshadowed; his future difficult to read.
+
+"_Is_ it ended?" she said, softly. Then, looking up with sudden,
+charming imperiousness. "You end things very selfishly, very coolly,
+Doctor Heath. I do not choose to have it ended."
+
+"Miss Wardour!--Constance!"
+
+"Wait; you say that your lawyers told of my visit to them, and that I
+would not have the guilty punished. What more did they tell you--about
+my doings?"
+
+"Very little; I could hardly understand why they told thus much."
+
+"Did they tell you that I learned, through a scheming rascal in the
+guise of a detective, that a plot was growing against you; that I sent
+for Ray Vandyck, and set him over you as a temporary guardian? And that
+I sent next for Detective Bathurst, warning him that you were surrounded
+by enemies. Did they tell you that, when I learned of your arrest, I
+left my place by Sybil Lamotte, who is delirious and yet clings to me
+constantly, and came to them, offering them all my fortune if they would
+only save me you?"
+
+"Did you do this--Constance?"
+
+"I have done this. Have I not earned the right, openly, before all the
+world, to be your champion, your truest friend, your--"
+
+"My queen! my darling! my very own!"
+
+All his calm is gone, all his haughtiness of bearing; with one swift
+movement he snatches her to his heart, and she rests in his embrace,
+shocked at her own boldness, and unspeakably happy.
+
+Who dare intrude upon a lover's interview? Who dares to snatch the first
+coy love words from a maiden's lips, and give them to a world grown old
+in love making, and appraising each tender word by its own calloused old
+heart?
+
+For the time all is forgotten, save one fact, they love each other
+well.
+
+By and by, other thoughts come, forcing their way like unwelcome guests.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Constance," he says, after a long interval, "you have made me anything
+but indifferent to my fate. Now I shall begin to struggle for my
+freedom; but--do you realize what a network of false testimony they have
+woven about me?"
+
+"Do I realize it?" she cried. "Yes, far more than you do, or can,
+and--you said something about Frank Lamotte. Has he sought to injure
+you?"
+
+"Constance, I thought you knew," turning upon her a look of surprise. "I
+thought you knew his guilt. Who, but Frank Lamotte, could gain access to
+my office, to purloin my handkerchief and my knife? He had a duplicate
+key, and--_I found that key in the old cellar beside the body of John
+Burrill_."
+
+The look of perplexity on her face deepens into one of actual distress.
+
+Could it be, that after all, Frank had forestalled that other one?
+
+Back upon her memory came his words, "I can save him if I will." Where
+there is room for doubt there is room for hope. What if another hand had
+anticipated that of the paid assassin? She resolved to cling to this
+hope with desperation.
+
+If there was evidence so strong against Frank Lamotte, let him take her
+lover's place. Why not? She began to see many things in a new light; she
+peered forward, catching a view of the partial truth, "as in a glass,
+darkly." One thing was clear, however, they must act at once! No time
+must be lost!
+
+She sat before him thinking thus, yet seemingly powerless to act or
+speak!
+
+"Constance. Has the possibility of Frank Lamotte's guilt, overwhelmed
+you?"
+
+"The possibility!" she exclaimed, starting up suddenly. "No. I know him
+capable of baser things than murder."
+
+"Of baser things! My darling, what do you mean?"
+
+"Don't ask me now; there is no time to waste in talking of him; I am
+going straight to your lawyers this moment; I am going to send them to
+you, and you shall tell them every thing."
+
+"Despot!" His eyes devouring her.
+
+"Of course! I am always that. They will say it is time some one took you
+in charge. Are you going to be dumb any more?"
+
+"Never! My lips are unsealed from this hour; since you have dared to
+claim and take a share in my fate, and since I have not the courage to
+put so much happiness from me."
+
+"Supposing it in your power?"
+
+"Oh, I know better than to cope with you," smiling upon her fondly. "But
+my honor must be vindicated for your gracious sake, and--I must cease to
+be," with a sidelong glance, "'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Sit down,
+darling; our janitor is an accommodating fellow; he will not interrupt,
+nor shorten your stay, I am sure. I want to tell you my story. It is
+yours, together with all my other secrets."
+
+She put up her hand, quickly.
+
+"Not now," she said. "Not for a long time. I prefer you as I have known
+you; for me, you shall still be 'Doctor Heath, from nowhere.' Don't
+remonstrate; I will have it so; I will send Mr. O'Meara to you, and that
+odd Mr. Wedron; you shall tell _them_ all about yourself."
+
+"_You_ will go to them? Constance, no; for your own sake, let us keep
+our love a secret for a time; until this is ended, somehow. Think, my
+proud darling, how much it would spare you."
+
+She turned toward him, her mouth settling into very firm lines, a
+resolute look in her eyes.
+
+"Would it spare you anything?" she asked, quietly.
+
+"I? Oh, no. It is sacrifice for me; but, I wish to have it so. You
+must not visit me here. You must not let gossip say she has thrown
+herself away on an adventurer."
+
+"I won't," she replied, sententiously; "I'd like to hear of anybody
+saying that! I'd excommunicate them, I'm going to close the mouths of
+gossips, by setting my seal of proprietorship upon you. I'm coming here
+every day; but, after this, I'll bring Aunt Honor, or Mrs. O'Meara with
+me. I'm going to say to every soul who names you to me: 'Doctor Heath is
+my affianced husband, defame him if you dare.' And I'm going straight to
+tell Mr. O'Meara that he must take your testimony against Frank
+Lamotte."
+
+Constance kept her word. Before many days, the town rang with the news
+that Constance Wardour, in the face of the accusation against him, had
+announced her engagement to Doctor Clifford Heath.
+
+Then a hush fell upon the aristocratic gossipers of W----, and
+mischievous tongues were severely bridled. It was not wise to censure
+too freely a man whom the heiress of Wardour had marked with her favor.
+
+The lawyers found their client in a mood much more to their liking, and
+O'Meara scribbled down in his little book long sentences caught from the
+lips of Clifford Heath, who was now a strong helper, and apt in
+suggestions for the defense.
+
+He opened for them the sealed up pages of his past life.
+
+He told them in detail, all that he had briefly stated to Constance,
+concerning Frank Lamotte, and more.
+
+Every day now they were in close consultation, and every day the Wardour
+carriage drove at a stated hour, first to Mapleton, where it took up
+Constance, and then to the prison, where, accompanied by her aunt, or
+her guardian's wife, the heiress passed a half hour in the cell of her
+lover.
+
+She still clung to the hope that the accumulating evidence against Frank
+Lamotte might break the chain that bound him, and open his prison doors;
+but, one day, a week after her first visit to the prison, Mr. O'Meara
+dashed this hope to atoms.
+
+"We can bring no criminal accusation against Lamotte," he said. "The
+examination proved that John Burrill was killed as early as eleven
+o'clock that night, and investigation has proven that Lamotte remained
+at home all that evening, and was heard moving about in his room until
+after midnight. I'm terribly sorry, Constance, but the case stands just
+about as it did at first, and the odds are still against Heath. He will
+have to stand his trial."
+
+The girl's heart sank like lead, and as days passed on and no new
+developments could be evolved from a case which began to assume a most
+gloomy aspect, her position in the Lamotte household became unbearable.
+
+Sybil had changed a very little, but for the better. Her fits of raving
+were less frequent, and almost always to be anticipated. So, worn in
+body and tortured in mind, Constance went back to Wardour, and, save for
+her daily visits to the prison, was invisible to all her friends.
+
+And she did not suffer alone. Knowing her love for Clifford Heath and
+the terrible secret she carried in her bosom, Mrs. Lamotte lived in an
+anguish of suspense. Would love outweigh honor? If the worst should
+come, could she trust Constance Wardour? Could she trust herself?
+
+In those tortured hours, the same prayer went up from the heart of both
+mother and friend--that Sybil Lamotte would die!
+
+While these things were making the world a weariness to Constance, Jerry
+Belknap, in his character of prospecting horse jockey, took up his
+quarters in a third rate hotel near the river, and remained very quiet
+in fancied security, until he became suddenly enlightened as to the
+cause of his ill success, as follows:
+
+Lounging near the hotel one day, he was accosted by a stranger, who
+tapped him familiarly on the shoulder, saying:
+
+"My friend, I've got a word to say to you. Will you just step into the
+nearest saloon with me. We will talk over a glass of something."
+
+Wondering idly at his coolness, Belknap followed the stranger, and they
+entered "Old Forty Rods," that being the nearest saloon.
+
+Once seated face to face at a table, the stranger threw a letter across
+to Belknap, saying carelessly:
+
+"Read that, if you please."
+
+Opening the letter, these lines stared Belknap in the face:
+
+     You have broken your pledge, Jerry Belknap. I have had you under my
+     eye constantly. Fortunately for yourself, I can make use of you.
+     Follow the instructions of the bearer of this _to the letter_ now
+     and until further notice, if you hope for any mercy from
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+He stared at the open letter as if it possessed the eyes of a basilisk.
+
+Instantly he recognized the power behind the scenes, and was no longer
+surprised at his failures. And he turned upon his companion a look of
+sullen submission.
+
+"I know better than to kick against Bathurst," he said doggedly. "What
+does he want me to do?"
+
+"That's just what we are going to talk about," said the stranger,
+coolly. "Draw your chair up closer, Jerry."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+"TOO YOUNG TO DIE."
+
+
+Over days, filled with weary waiting and marked by few incidents and no
+discoveries, we pass with one glance.
+
+Clifford Heath's trial follows close upon his indictment. A month rolls
+away, and with the first days of winter comes the assembling of judge
+and jury, and his case is the first one called.
+
+During the weeks that have intervened between his arrest and this day of
+his trial, Constance has been his bravest champion and truest friend;
+she has stimulated him to hope, and incited him to courage, with loving,
+cheerful words, while clinging desperately to a last remnant of her own
+sinking hope.
+
+Day by day, during all this time, the ancient gig driven by Doctor
+Benoit, deposited that gentleman before the doors of Mapleton. Sybil's
+delirium had ended in a slow, wearisome fever, which left her, as the
+first frosts of winter touched the land, a white, emaciated shadow of
+her former self, her reason restored, but her memory sadly deficient.
+
+She had forgotten that dark phase of her life in which John Burrill had
+played so sinister a part, and fancied herself back in the old days when
+her heart was light and her life unfettered. She had dropped a year out
+of that life, but memory would come back with strength, the doctor said;
+and Mrs. Lamotte dreaded the days when that memory should bring to her
+daughter's brow, a shadow never to be lifted; into her life a ghost
+never to be laid.
+
+Evan, too, had narrowly escaped death at the hands of his rum demons;
+after four weeks filled with all the horrors attendant upon the
+drunkard's delirium, he came to his senses, hollow-cheeked, sunken eyed,
+emaciated, with his breath coming in quick, short gasps, and the days of
+his life numbered.
+
+Brandy had devoured his vitals; late hours and protracted orgies had
+sapped his strength; constant exposure in all weather and at all hours
+had done its work upon his lungs.
+
+"If he outlasts the Winter, he will die in the Spring." This was the
+doctor's _ultimatum_.
+
+News from the outside world was strictly shut out from those sick ones.
+The name of John Burrill never was breathed in their presence, and both
+were ignorant of the fact that Clifford Heath, an old time favorite with
+each, was on trial for his life.
+
+The morning that saw Clifford Heath quit his cell to take his place in
+the felon's dock and answer to the charge of murder, saw Sybil Lamotte
+lying upon a soft divan, before a merry Winter fire. It was the first
+time since her illness that she had quitted her bed. And Evan, too, for
+the first time in many weeks, came with feeble, halting steps to his
+sister's room, and sitting near her, scanned her wasted features with
+wistful intentness.
+
+"Poor sis!" he murmured, stroking her hand softly. "We've had a pretty
+hard pull, you and I, but we're coming out famously." And then he added
+to himself, "More's the pity, so far as I am concerned."
+
+"What made you ill, Evan?" she whispered feebly. "Was it worrying about
+me?"
+
+A bright flush leaped to his cheeks and burned there hotly.
+
+"Yes, it was about you, sis. But you will soon be as well and happy as
+ever, won't you?" anxiously.
+
+"To be sure, Evan; we will both get well very fast. We have got so much
+to live for, and we are too young to die."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+SIR CLIFFORD HEATHERCLIFFE.
+
+
+It is the opening hour of Clifford Heath's trial.
+
+The court room is crowded to its utmost capacity; never has there
+occurred a trial there so intensely interesting to all W----.
+
+The prisoner is a little paler, a little graver than his ordinary self.
+But is his ordinary self in every other respect; as proud of bearing, as
+self-possessed, as handsome, and _distingue_ as ever.
+
+Beside him sits Mr. O'Meara, alone. Mr. Wedron, after all his labor, and
+his seeming interest, is unaccountably absent; unaccountably, at least,
+so far as the opposition, the prisoner, the judge, jury, and all the
+spectators are concerned. Mr. O'Meara seems not at all disturbed by his
+absence, and evidently understands all about it.
+
+Near the prisoner sits a man who causes a buzz of inquiry to run through
+the entire audience.
+
+He is tall, fair haired, handsome; the carriage of his head, the
+haughtiness of his bearing, reminds more than one present of Clifford
+Heath, as they first knew him. He is a stranger to all W----, and "Who
+is he? Who is he?" runs from lip to lip.
+
+The stranger is seemingly oblivious of the attention lavished upon him;
+he bends forward at times, and whispers a word to the prisoner, or his
+counsel, and he turns occasionally to murmur something in the ear of
+Constance Wardour, who sits beside him, grave, stately, calm.
+
+She is accompanied by Mrs. Aliston and Mrs. O'Meara, and Ray Vandyck
+sits beside the latter lady, and completes the party.
+
+Mr. Lamotte is there, subdued, yet affable, and Frank, too, who is paler
+than usual, but quite self-possessed.
+
+Near the party above mentioned, may be seen the two city physicians,
+but, and here is another cause for wonderment, Doctor Benoit is not
+present; and, who ever knew the good doctor to miss an occasion like
+this?
+
+"Business must be urgent, when it keeps Benoit away from such a trial,"
+whispers one gossip to another, and the second endorses the opinion of
+the first.
+
+Sitting there, scanning that audience with a seemingly careless glance,
+Constance feels her heart sink like lead in her bosom.
+
+She feels, she knows, that already in the minds of most, her lover is a
+condemned man. She knows that the weight of evidence will be against
+him. They have a defense, it is true, but nothing will overthrow the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to the house of the prisoner, and
+was found dead hard by.
+
+All along she has hoped, she knew not what, from Bathurst. But since he
+returned Sybil's note in so strange and abrupt a manner, she has had no
+word or sign from him, and now she doubts him, she distrusts everything.
+
+But, little by little, day by day, she has been schooling her heart to
+face one last desperate alternative. Her lover _shall_ be saved! Let the
+trial go on. Let the worst come. Let the fatal verdict be pronounced, if
+it must; after that, perish the Wardour honor. What if she must trample
+the heart out of a mother's breast? What if she must fling into the
+breach the life of a blighted, wronged, helpless, perhaps dying sister
+woman?
+
+Hardening her heart, crushing down her pride, she muttered desperately
+on this last day of doubt and suspense.
+
+"Let them all go. Let the verdict be what it may, Clifford Heath shall
+not suffer a felon's doom!"
+
+Then she had nerved herself to calmness and gone to face the inevitable.
+
+"Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"
+
+[Illustration: "Prisoner at the bar, are you guilty or not guilty?"]
+
+The reading of the indictment has turned all eyes upon the prisoner's
+face.
+
+He stands erect, his head haughtily poised, his clear dark eyes fixed
+fully upon the judge.
+
+"I am not guilty, your honor."
+
+A murmur runs through the court room. The stranger bends to whisper to
+Constance. The trial proceeds.
+
+Once again all the evidence brought forward at the inquest is
+repeated--sworn to--dilated upon. Once again it presses the scales
+down, down, down, and the chances for the prisoner hang light in the
+balance.
+
+One thing puzzles the prosecuting attorney, and troubles the mind of
+Jasper Lamotte.
+
+O'Meara, the shrewd, the fox like--O'Meara, who never lets pass a flaw
+or a loophole for criticism; who never loses a chance to pick and
+torture and puzzle a witness, is strangely indifferent.
+
+One by one the witnesses for the prosecution pass before him; little by
+little they build a mountain of evidence against his client. He declines
+to examine them. He listens to their testimony with the air of a bored
+play-goer at a very poor farce.
+
+After the testimony of the two masons, comes that of the party who last
+saw John Burrill in life. They testify as they did at the
+inquest--neither more, nor less.
+
+Then come the dwellers in Mill avenue. They are all there but Brooks and
+Nance Burrill.
+
+"Your honor," says the prosecuting attorney, "two of our witnesses--two
+very important ones--are absent. Why they are absent, we do not know.
+Where they may be found, is a profound mystery.
+
+"One of these witnesses, a man called Brooks, we believe to have been
+especially intimate with the murdered man. We think that he could have
+revealed the secret which the prisoner took such deadly measures to
+cover up. This man can not be found. He disappeared shortly after the
+murder.
+
+"Our other witness vanished almost simultaneously. This other was the
+divorced wife of the murdered Burrill. She, too, knew too much. Now I do
+not insinuate--I do not cast any stones, but there are some, not far
+distant, who could explain these two mysterious disappearances, 'an they
+would.'"
+
+"An they _will_!" pops in the hitherto mute O'Meara. "They'll make
+several knotty points clear to your understanding, honorable sir."
+
+A retort rises to his opponent's lips, and a wordy war seems imminent,
+but the crier commands "Order in the Court," and the two antagonists
+glare at each other mutely, while the trial moves on.
+
+Frank Lamotte comes upon the witness stand. As before, he tells nothing
+new.
+
+He was aware that his brother-in-law possessed some secret of Doctor
+Heath's. Did not know the nature of it, but inferred from words Burrill
+had let drop, that it was of a damaging character.
+
+Upon being questioned as to his acquaintance with the prisoner, and what
+he knew of his disposition and temper, he replies that he has known the
+prisoner since he first came to W----; liked him very much; never had
+any personal misunderstanding, although of late the prisoner had chosen
+to treat him with marked coldness.
+
+As to his temper--well, he must admit that it was very fiery, very
+quickly roused, very difficult of control, he believed. Prisoner was by
+nature intolerant to a fault. He had shown this disposition in presence
+of witness on many occasions.
+
+Being shown the knife found in the cellar, he examines it carefully, and
+pronounces it to be the one he has often seen in Doctor Heath's
+instrument case, or its precise counterpart.
+
+This ends his testimony. O'Meara has no questions to ask, and Jasper
+Lamotte takes his son's place. He is the last witness for the
+prosecution.
+
+He has less to say than any of the others.
+
+He had heard of his son-in-law's encounter with Doctor Heath, of course;
+knew that a feud existed between them, could not so much as guess at the
+nature of it. The prosecuting attorney is about to dismiss him _sans
+ceremonie_, when Mr. O'Meara, springs into sudden activity and announces
+his desire to examine the witness.
+
+His opponent stares astonished, a murmur runs through the room; the
+Court bids him proceed.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, rising to his feet with provoking
+slowness, and then propounding his questions with a rapidity which
+leaves the witness no time for thought. "Mr. Lamotte, what can you tell
+us of this missing witness, Brooks?"
+
+Mr. Lamotte stares in mute astonishment, then instinctively scenting
+danger ahead, he makes an effort to rally his forces that have been
+scattered by the lawyer's unexpected bomb.
+
+"What do I know of the man Brooks?" he repeats slowly. "I don't
+comprehend you, sir."
+
+"I asked a plain question," retorts the lawyer, crisply.
+
+"I believe the man has been in my employ," ventures the witness, as if
+making an effort to recall some very insignificant personage.
+
+"When?"
+
+"That I do not remember, sir."
+
+"Ah! Perhaps you have forgotten when last you saw this fellow, Brooks?"
+
+"I think I saw him, for the last time, two days before my son-in-law was
+killed. I was at the depot, starting for the city. I think Brooks left
+town on the same train."
+
+"And you have not seen him since?"
+
+"Not to my knowledge."
+
+"Make an effort to think, sir. Brooks has been seen in W---- since. It
+is known that he has visited Mapleton. Try to recall that visit."
+
+Mr. Lamotte ponders and falls into the trap.
+
+"A man came to Mapleton on the day of Mr. Burrill's funeral," he says,
+slowly. "I believe, upon reflection, that it _was_ Brooks; he wished to
+see the body."
+
+"Did you see this man on that occasion?"
+
+"I did; for a moment only; he came to me with his request."
+
+"You are sure this man was Brooks?"
+
+"Not beyond a doubt. I was troubled, and busy. It was one of my factory
+hands; I _think_ it was the man Brooks."
+
+"Mr. Clerk," says O'Meara, turning suddenly to that functionary, "please
+take down Mr. Lamotte's statements. He is _not_ sure that it was the
+man Brooks."
+
+Mr. Lamotte looks disconcerted for a moment.
+
+But O'Meara goes vigorously on, leaving him no time to collect his
+thoughts.
+
+"Now, Mr. Lamotte, what do you know of this woman who calls herself
+Nance Burrill?"
+
+"Nothing," with a glance of offended dignity.
+
+"Nothing! I am told that she has worked in your mills."
+
+"It is possible; I am not my own overseer, however, and do not know
+_all_ my people."
+
+"Have you ever heard that this woman could tell things that would not
+reflect credit upon your dead son-in-law?"
+
+"No, sir," haughtily.
+
+"Were you aware that this woman is not to be found, before learning the
+same in court?"
+
+"No, sir! I consider your questions irrelevant."
+
+"Possibly," retorts O'Meara, drily. "I have no more to ask, sir." Then
+turning toward the jury, he says, rapidly:
+
+"May it please your honor and the gentlemen of the jury, just here I
+have a word to say:
+
+"You have heard the evidence against my client; you have heard the life
+and honor of a high-minded gentleman, against whom there was never
+before a breath of scandal or blame, sworn away by a handful of saloon
+loafers, and a pack of ignorant old women.
+
+"I mean no disrespect to the loafers or the old women in question. I
+suppose if the good Lord had not intended them for what they are, he
+would have made them otherwise--and then there would have been no
+evidence against my client. I name them what they are, because, when
+this honorable jury weighs the evidence, I want them to weigh the
+witnesses as well."
+
+"The gentleman wished to say one word," sneers the prosecution. "Has he
+said it, or is this the beginning of his plea?"
+
+"It would be better for your case if it were the beginning of my plea,"
+cuts in O'Meara; "my witnesses will be less to the gentleman's liking
+than are my words.
+
+"Your honor, first then, the gentleman for the prosecution, in making
+his preliminary remarks, has dwelt at length upon the fact that my
+client is comparatively a stranger to W----; a stranger with a mystery.
+Now, then, I wish to show that it is possible for a stranger to W---- to
+be an honorable man, with an unblemished past; and that it is equally
+possible for a dweller in this classic and hitherto unpolluted town, to
+be a liar and to perjure himself most foully.
+
+"Let the Honorable George Heathercliffe take the stand.
+
+"And mark you, this gentleman _is_ the Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+of Cliffe Towers, Hampshire, England, member of parliament, and honored
+of the Queen. His passports have been examined by our honorable judge,
+thereby saving the necessity for too much unpolished Yankee criticism."
+
+"It has failed to save us a dose of Irish pig-headedness, however,"
+interpolates the opposing barrister.
+
+During the burst of smothered laughter that follows, the stately
+fair-haired stranger quits his place beside Constance, and takes the
+stand.
+
+He is duly sworn, and then Mr. O'Meara begins, with much impressiveness:
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, turn your eyes upon the prisoner, my client. Have
+you ever seen him before entering this court room?"
+
+The Honorable George Heathercliffe turns toward the prisoner, and a
+smile deepens the blue of his eyes, and intensifies the kindly
+expression of his handsome mouth.
+
+"I have seen the prisoner before," he replies, still smiling.
+
+"Have you known him previous to his advent in W----?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"For long?"
+
+"For many years."
+
+"My honorable opponent has hinted that there is a mystery hanging about
+this man. He even hazards a guess that his name may not be Clifford
+Heath. Do you know aught of this mystery?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Does the prisoner bear a name not his own?"
+
+"He does not bear his own name entire."
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, who is this man who calls himself Doctor Clifford
+Heath?"
+
+"He is _Sir Clifford Heathercliffe_, and my elder brother."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+A TORTURED WITNESS.
+
+
+There is a profound sensation in the court room.
+
+Constance Wardour catches her breath, and bends forward to look at her
+lover, the color coming and going hotly in her cheeks. She had chosen to
+hear nothing of his past, and so Mr. O'Meara has introduced the
+Honorable George Heathercliffe, that morning, saying only: "A most
+important witness, Constance; a _strong_ witness."
+
+"He is Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, and my elder brother."
+
+Mr. Rand, the prosecuting attorney, moves uneasily in his seat, and
+begins to wonder what small shot O'Meara holds back of this big shell.
+
+Without seeming to notice the sensation created by his self-possessed
+witness, O'Meara goes on rapidly.
+
+"How long has your brother, Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, been in
+America?"
+
+"For more than three years."
+
+"Until you received the telegram calling you to his aid, did you know
+where to find your brother?"
+
+"I did not."
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe, have you that telegram in your possession?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"Will you permit his honor, the judge, to see that telegram?"
+
+"Assuredly." He draws forth a morocco letter case, and taking therefrom
+a slip of paper hands it to O'Meara. That astute gentleman passes it
+carelessly on to the clerk, saying: "Read it please."
+
+Rising to receive the paper, the clerk reads:
+
+     _Honorable George Heathercliffe,
+     Cliffe Towers, etc., etc.,_
+
+     Come at once to W----, R---- County.---- Sir Clifford is in deep
+     trouble.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+"Bathurst!" the name falls involuntarily from the lips of Mr. Rand; he
+knows the expert by reputation, and this is the first intimation he has
+received, that so shrewd a man is at work in the interest of Clifford
+Heath.
+
+"Is this the only message you received?"
+
+"No, later in the day this came."
+
+He produced and passed over a second dispatch, which is read like the
+first.
+
+     _Honorable George Heathercliffe, etc._
+
+     Before starting find out everything you can concerning one John, or
+     Jonathan Burrill, once in the employ of your father.
+
+     BATHURST.
+
+The two Lamottes glance uneasily at each other. Whither is this
+examination tending?
+
+"Did you follow the instructions in this last telegram?" asks O'Meara.
+
+"I did."
+
+A bland smile widens the mouth of the little Irish lawyer. He waves his
+hand magisterially.
+
+"That is all, for the present, Mr. Heathercliffe," he says, suavely, and
+amazement sits on every countenance.
+
+And now Mr. Rand bends forward and flings himself into the arena, while
+O'Meara leans back in his chair, his eyes twinkling maliciously.
+
+"Mr. Heathercliffe," begins the cross-examiner, "Your two dispatches are
+signed 'Bathurst.' Who is this Bathurst?"
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, sir, is a very able detective."
+
+"Ah! He is known to you, I presume?"
+
+"He is," bowing gravely.
+
+"Now, Mr. Heathercliffe, it strikes me as singular that an English
+gentleman should be on such familiar terms with a Yankee detective; and
+still more strange that an English nobleman should be masquerading in
+America, as a country physician. I should like an explanation of these
+things."
+
+"My brother came to America on account of family troubles, sir. Is it
+_necessary_ that I make a fuller statement?"
+
+He asks this hesitatingly, and Mr. Rand fancies that he sees a point to
+be gained. He does not see that O'Meara is struggling to conceal the
+smile of satisfaction that _will_ creep into his face.
+
+"_I_ consider it necessary, sir. It is high time that we knew why we
+have been honored by this _incognito_--nobleman."
+
+The witness turns an unruffled countenance towards the judge.
+
+"If the Court will permit me to tell my brother's story in my own way,
+(it will take some time,) I shall be glad to enlighten this legal
+gentleman."
+
+The Court gives its gracious permission; Attorney Rand resumes his seat;
+O'Meara fairly grins his delight; Constance leans forward, breathlessly;
+the prisoner casts one look about him, and then rests his head upon his
+hand; there is breathless silence in the court, as the Honorable George
+Heathercliffe begins:
+
+"I have said that the prisoner at the Bar, is my elder brother; three
+years ago he was not _Sir_ Clifford Heathercliffe, not my eldest
+brother.
+
+"The name of Sir Herbert Heathercliffe is, no doubt, unknown to all here
+present--except Mr. Bathurst, if that gentleman is here--but England has
+rung with that name, and the Heathercliffe pride has been lowered to the
+dust, because of it.
+
+"Sir Herbert was the pet and favorite of our father, and possessed over
+him a strong magnetic influence. He was less than two years older than
+Clifford, and the two closely resembled each other.
+
+"From their academic days, Herbert was an idler, a spendthrift, a squire
+of dames, _par excellence_. Clifford was devoted to study, and not
+enamored of society.
+
+"It is not my purpose to follow step by step the downward career of my
+brother Herbert, only such of his misdeeds as affected Clifford need be
+brought forward here.
+
+"I have said that Herbert was a spendthrift. He was perpetually
+borrowing of Clifford, and always in debt.
+
+"When Clifford, who had a monomania for the medical profession,
+announced his intention to go to Germany and pursue his studies there,
+the first trouble came.
+
+"Herbert, who for his own selfish ends, wished to keep Clifford and his
+purse nearer Cliffe Towers, incited my father to oppose the scheme. This
+was easy. Lord Heathercliffe did not believe in the dignity of labor,
+and the two voted this new departure a family disgrace. They said so
+much, and in such offensive language, that Clifford, in open defiance of
+his father's commands, turned his back upon us all, and went to
+Heidelberg.
+
+"But, Herbert's career had only began. In a little while, it was
+discovered that our father's name had been forged for a large amount,
+and suspicion pointed to my brother Clifford. He came in hot haste on
+receipt of a telegram, and he did not come alone. He brought with him,
+Detective Bathurst, whom he was so fortunate as to find at Scotland
+Yards.
+
+"I need not dwell on what followed; Bathurst is a keen detective; he
+vindicated my brother, Clifford, and placed the guilt where it belonged.
+It was Herbert who had forged my father's name.
+
+"There was a terrible scene at the Towers. Herbert swore eternal enmity
+toward Clifford, and Clifford predicted then and there the downfall of
+all our pride, through Herbert's follies. I remember his words
+distinctly:
+
+"'Let me tell you how this will end, Lord Heathercliffe,' he said; 'I
+have not grown up beside Herbert, not to know him. Our name has
+heretofore been stainless; we shall keep it so no longer; it will be
+dragged in the mud, smirched, hissed, disgraced utterly. But I will
+never permit myself to go down with the fall of the Heathercliffes; I
+renounce all claims upon you; I renounce my succession; I renounce a
+name already contaminated; the world is my heritage; I shall leave
+England; I shall leave Europe; I will make me a new name, and build my
+own fortune. When Herbert has broken your heart, and ruined your
+fortunes, as he surely will, and when his debaucheries have brought him
+to an early grave, as they must, then let the title fall to George; he
+is younger; he can not feel this shame so keenly; as for me, I will
+never wear the title; I will never be pointed out as the peer whose
+elder brother was a rake, a seducer, a forger, and Herbert is all
+these.'
+
+"Clifford went back to Heidelberg; Herbert remained at the Towers,
+whining, pleading, shamefully fawning upon a doting and half imbecile
+old man.
+
+"He feigned illness; he feigned penitence, and finally he held my father
+more than ever his adoring slave.
+
+"I can not prolong this recital. It is needless. Herbert ran his race of
+infamy. My father died broken hearted. Clifford searched all England to
+bring Herbert, then a fugitive, to his father's death bed; but the
+officers of justice were before him. They ran him down in an obscure
+provincial village, and, to escape the consequences of his misdeeds,
+Herbert Heathercliffe crowned his life of mad folly by dying a suicide's
+death.
+
+"And now I must turn a page in my own personal history:
+
+"Prior to my father's death, I had formed an attachment for the only
+daughter of a proud and wealthy country gentleman, our neighbor. But I
+was a younger son, and by my father's will, made upon his death-bed,
+Clifford was his heir. Herbert had squandered half our father's fortune,
+but a handsome sum still remained.
+
+"Realizing the hopelessness of my suit, I was preparing to quit England,
+taking with me my mother's legacy, which would amply suffice for a
+bachelor's wants, but was too meager a sum to lay at the feet of a
+beauty and an heiress. To make my departure more bitter, I had learned
+that the woman of my choice returned my affections.
+
+"Then Sir Clifford swooped down upon me. Before I could guess his
+intent, he had sought and gained the consent of my wife's father; had
+transferred to me all his fortune, reserving only his mother's legacy,
+which was the same as mine. He forced me to accept by the strength of
+his splendid will. He installed me as master of Cliffe Towers. He
+hastened the marriage preparations. He remained long enough to dance at
+our wedding, and then he left us--proud as a king, independent as a
+gypsy, blameless, fearless, high-souled.
+
+"He came to America, and never permitted us to know his whereabouts. At
+regular intervals, we received his letters--many whimsical descriptions
+of his new life and new pursuits, but we always addressed him in New
+York, and our letters, bearing the English seal, came to him under an
+American disguise. We did not so much as know the name he had assumed.
+
+"This, gentlemen, is the true reason why Sir Clifford Heathercliffe, the
+truest, the noblest of English gentlemen, came among you as one of
+yourselves.
+
+"I have one more word to say. Sir Clifford never saw the man, John
+Burrill; but our brother Herbert knew him well. Burrill was his tool and
+accomplice in many shameful escapades. They came to grief together;
+quarreled fearfully, and, when Herbert fled for his life, Burrill with
+his wife made his escape to America. All that I have said concerning
+this Burrill will be verified by Detective Bathurst."
+
+Then turning toward Mr. Rand: "Is my explanation sufficient, sir?"
+
+The lawyer only bows his head, and the handsome Englishman takes his
+seat while the house rings with applause. Evidently his tersely told
+story of brotherly sacrifice has touched the "humanness" of that
+strangely-mixed audience.
+
+During the moment of clamor and confusion, Doctor Benoit enters the
+court room, and almost unobserved seats himself beside the New York
+medical experts.
+
+A smile of gratification comes to O'Meara's face at sight of this late
+arrival, and when the court is restored to quiet, he says:
+
+"Let Doctor Benoit be sworn."
+
+The doctor testifies as follows:
+
+Being called to examine the wounds upon the person of John Burrill, he
+found that they could not have been made with the knife found with the
+body. The identical knife being put into his hands, he explains how a
+cut made by such a keen, heavy weapon, must appear, and describes the
+knife that must have been used upon the body.
+
+"It was a smaller weapon," he says, "thinner bladed and much lighter. It
+must have been shorter by two or three inches."
+
+Then he adds that the surgeon's knife has never been used upon a body;
+the blood has been smeared on by an inartistic hand.
+
+"It would be impossible," he says, "to withdraw this knife from a
+bleeding wound with no other blood marks than those it bears."
+
+Doctor Gaylor and Professor Harrington corroborate his every statement,
+and when their testimony is done there is another sensation in the court
+room.
+
+As Doctor Benoit passes by O'Meara, in returning from the witness stand,
+he tosses over a piece of paper, which the lawyer seizes, scans eagerly,
+and stows carefully away.
+
+He consults some papers for a moment, and then says:
+
+"I wish to recall Francis Lamotte."
+
+Frank comes again upon the stand; his eyes seem fixed on vacancy; his
+face is white and rigid; his answers come in a dry monotone.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte," begins O'Meara, briskly. "It is understood that you have
+been a student in Doctor Heath's office."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"During the time you studied there, had you free access to the office at
+all hours?"
+
+"I had."
+
+"I judge, then, that you must have possessed a pass key?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Is that key still in your possession?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How did you dispose of that key?"
+
+"I think it was lost; it has been out of my possession for some time."
+
+"Where did you lose this key?"
+
+"I do not remember; possibly at home, possibly at the office. It has
+been out of my possession for some time."
+
+"Since losing your key, how did you gain access to the office in the
+doctor's absence?"
+
+"I have visited the office very seldom of late, and not once since
+losing the key, in the absence of Doctor Heath."
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, was there any way to distinguish your lost key from that
+used by my client?"
+
+"Yes; my key was newer than his, and brighter."
+
+"It was my client's custom to keep an extra suit of clothes in his
+office closet, was it not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And it would be very natural that, in exchanging one garment for
+another, a glove or handkerchief should be sometimes left in the
+discarded garment?"
+
+"Quite natural."
+
+"Now let us suppose that, on the night of the murder, my client,
+returning from a visit to Mapleton, where he was called to attend upon
+the wife of the murdered man, halted at his office, hung up his outer
+coat, and sat for a little time, writing or reading, or perhaps
+meditating.
+
+"Let us suppose that on preparing to face the wind, that was rising
+rapidly, and blowing chill, he substituted a heavy overcoat for the one
+he had worn earlier in the evening; and that he discovered, when half
+way home, that he had left his much needed handkerchief with his
+discarded coat.
+
+"Would it not be quite an easy matter for some one who had obtained
+possession of your key, _and was sufficiently familiar with the bearings
+of the office to move about in the dark_, or by the dim fire-light, to
+enter that office, remove the surgeon's knife from its case, pilfer a
+handkerchief from the coat pocket, and escape unseen?"
+
+"It would--I should think."
+
+"If this person having the key, the knife, and the handkerchief, all in
+his possession, should go and fling them all into the old cellar on the
+Burns' place, you would call that singular?"
+
+"Yes," from lips white and parched.
+
+O'Meara turns suddenly and takes something from the table.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, take this key, examine it well. Does it at all resemble
+the one you--_lost_?"
+
+Frank takes the key, mechanically, turns it about with nerveless
+fingers, scarcely glances at it.
+
+"I think--it is--the same," he mutters, hoarsely.
+
+"You think it is your lost key. Mr. Lamotte, do you know where this key
+was found?"
+
+"No," stolidly.
+
+"I will tell you. It was found in the old cellar, embedded in the mud,
+_close beside the dead body of John Burrill_."
+
+[Illustration: "It was found beside the body of John Burrill."]
+
+Frank Lamotte's hands go up to his head, his pale face becomes livid,
+his eyes seem starting from their sockets; he gasps, staggers, falls
+heavily in a dead faint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+JUSTICE, SACRIFICE, DEATH.
+
+
+And there is confusion in the court room.
+
+Mr. Rand bounds angrily to his feet, then reseats himself suddenly, and
+without opening his lips.
+
+As they bear Frank Lamotte from the room, O'Meara's voice rises and
+rings clear above the buzz and bustle:
+
+"That witness must not be permitted to leave the court."
+
+Then he stands gazing about him like a small, rampant lion; his eyes
+flashing, his nostrils quivering, his whole manner betokening that he is
+warming to his work.
+
+Presently the room is quiet again, and O'Meara addresses the court:
+
+"Your honor, and gentlemen; I have been successful beyond my
+expectations. You see what a guilty conscience can do. I wished to
+convince this court that my client has enemies in W----; powerful,
+unsuspected, enemies. I wished also to demonstrate to Mr. Rand, how easy
+it is to obtain circumstantial evidence. The witness may recover at his
+leisure. I have nothing more to say to him."
+
+While he is speaking, Mr. Lamotte and Doctor Benoit, who had hastened
+out to attend upon Frank, re-enter, and resume their places, the former
+looking harassed and uneasy, the latter, bland as ever, and nodding an
+assurance that the patient is recovering safely.
+
+"My next witness," says O'Meara, "is private detective Jerry Belknap;
+but, before this gentleman is sworn, I desire the clerk to read aloud,
+_very_ loud, the testimony lately given by Mr. Jasper Lamotte. I want
+Mr. Lamotte's testimony to be fresh in the minds of the jury when they
+listen to Mr. Belknap."
+
+Strive as he will, Jasper Lamotte can not wear a look of entire
+unconcern, although his self-control is marvellous.
+
+What does Jerry Belknap know concerning this case? Why is _he_ here as a
+witness? Mr. Lamotte is speedily enlightened.
+
+While the clerk reads his recent testimony, Jerry Belknap takes his
+place upon the stand. Not the Belknap Jasper Lamotte has known; not the
+Belknap of Constance Wardour's recollection; but Jerry Belknap, in
+_propria persona_, shorn of all disguise.
+
+He is a man well up in his thirties, medium in height, slender in
+person, with a dark, smooth shaven face, keen, restless eyes, black,
+closely cropped hair.
+
+The clerk having finished the reading, Mr. O'Meara addresses the witness
+with marked courtesy.
+
+"Mr. Belknap, you have heard the reading of Mr. Lamotte's testimony. You
+have heard Mr. Rand say that two important witnesses are absent, namely,
+a certain Brooks, and Mrs. Nance Burrill. You have heard Mr. Lamotte say
+that he knows nothing of the whereabouts of Nance Burrill, that he knows
+nothing of Brooks.
+
+"Now, as Mr. Lamotte can not enlighten us, and as the attorney for the
+prosecution is very anxious about these two witnesses, will you just
+tell the court what you know of Mr. Brooks, and Nance Burrill, as
+connected with this case?"
+
+Jerry Belknap bows to O'Meara, bows to the Court, wipes his mouth with a
+white silk handkerchief, and begins:
+
+"I came to W---- on professional business, and, having obtained
+permission, through Mr. O'Meara, I may state here what that business
+was.
+
+"I came on behalf of Miss Wardour, to investigate the noted diamond
+robbery. I have been in and about W---- for some time, but always in
+disguise, this being the first time my real face has been visible.
+
+"Not long ago a stranger accosted me and put into my hands a letter. The
+letter bade me follow the instructions of the bearer of the same without
+fear, or question. Now Mr. Bathurst commands me at all times, and like a
+good soldier I obeyed my superior officer. I placed myself under the
+orders of Mr. Bathurst's deputy, who is himself a clever detective, and
+this is what he told me:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst had been operating in W---- for weeks, under my very nose,
+and, although I knew him, and am called a tolerable detective, I never
+found him out. He knew me, however, from the first, knew me all along,
+although I, several times, changed my disguise. _His_ disguise was too
+perfect, and he is too good an actor, ever to betray himself.
+
+"That disguise having served his purpose, and having been thrown aside
+for good, I can safely comply with Mr. O'Meara's request and oblige the
+gentleman for the prosecution.
+
+"The missing witness known as Brooks, the red-headed drunken mechanic,
+was officer Bathurst and none other."
+
+Again there is a buzz in the court room.
+
+The prisoner turns upon his counsel a look of profound wonder.
+
+Constance clasps her hands delightedly and begins to brighten with hope.
+
+Jasper Lamotte wears a look of consternation.
+
+"Mr. Bathurst's instructions were brief," resumes Mr. Belknap after a
+moment's pause. "I was to present myself to Mr. Lamotte under some
+pretext of business. I am slightly known to Mr. Lamotte through my
+connection with the Wardour case and could approach him without creating
+suspicion. I was to accept any commissions he might wish me to execute.
+
+"I presented myself to Jasper Lamotte; he had a piece of work for me. He
+told me that he had good reasons for wishing the woman Nance Burrill out
+of the town; he wished her no harm, but she was in his way. If I would
+get her away, on some pretext, he would pay me well. Acting under
+instructions, I approached the woman, making her acquaintance easily
+through her little boy. She is very ignorant and very foolish. I
+displayed a little money, offered her a profitable situation in New
+York, paid her a month's wages in advance and took her and her child to
+the city, where I hired a small furnished cottage, and installed her as
+housekeeper. Not being informed that her evidence was wanted on this
+occasion she is there still."
+
+When Jerry Belknap began his story, Jasper Lamotte had drawn nearer to
+the prosecuting attorney, and, before the story was done, a slip of
+paper had made its way into the hands of the latter gentleman, bearing
+these words:
+
+"For God's sake don't cross-examine that witness."
+
+Consequently, in response to O'Meara's unnecessarily polite query, "Will
+the attorney for the prosecution be pleased to cross-examine this
+witness?"--Mr. Rand only scowled over at his antagonist, and shook his
+head savagely.
+
+"This, I trust," begins O'Meara, before the last witness is fairly
+seated, "sufficiently explains the absence of these two _important_
+witnesses. It would seem that the absence of one at least was more
+important than her presence. Mr. Lamotte, at least, should be grateful.
+He desired Nance Burrill's absence; she is not here; and as no summons
+was issued for this woman--either by the prosecution or defense, no one
+can accuse me of hampering the progress of the law, and of this
+honorable court."
+
+Mr. Rand bounds up, fire in his eye.
+
+"It may not be rulable nor dignified," he begins hotly, "but I demand a
+moment's hearing. This whole trial has been irregular, from first to
+last.
+
+"The gentleman brings forward an honorable witness from over the water;
+a witness who brings out the accused in a new character; covers him with
+a blaze of glory; this is very good, and very theatrical. Let us grant
+that the accused _is_ Sir Clifford Heathercliffe. Does that alter the
+fact that John Burrill went straight to his door, straight to the door
+of his sworn enemy, and was never again seen alive. He seeks to
+implicate Frank Lamotte, and to impeach the integrity of Jasper Lamotte,
+an honorable gentleman, against whom there was never yet a breath of
+suspicion. It will not alter the facts in the case. Clifford Heath's
+enemy was found dead close by Clifford Heath's door! He has blackened
+the character of the dead; he has struck hard at the honorable living.
+He has flooded the court with the testimony of mysterious strangers; he
+has suppressed known witnesses; he has worked his will with us. But he
+has not disproved one item of evidence; he has not changed one fact or
+phase of the case. Let us grant all he has proven, what have we left?
+_The unalterable facts_, that the prisoner has repeatedly threatened his
+victim; that the murdered man set out to visit the prisoner, at night,
+through the darkness, and was found early the following morning, before
+the body could be removed to a safer hiding place, his face covered by
+the prisoner's own linen; his gaping wounds giving evidence of a
+practiced hand; the prisoner's knife buried with him; the _key_ of the
+prisoner's office or house lying beside the shallow grave. Facts tell,
+gentlemen; these _are facts_."
+
+These words rush from his lips torrent like.
+
+He has turned to face the jury and so does not see that O'Meara has
+lounged back to his seat, with an air of perfect unconcern, and that he
+is actually signaling the judge not to stay this whirlwind; a proceeding
+which so astounds that official, that for full five minutes the tide of
+speech flows on, lava like.
+
+On the audience, it has a startling effect. He is speaking the truth. He
+is reiterating facts, and facts are sure of instant recognition by our
+Yankee countrymen.
+
+A thrill runs through the assembly; there comes one of those sudden
+revulsions of feeling, common to scenes like this. Sir Clifford
+Heathercliffe disappears from before their dazzled vision; what they
+see, in the light of stern facts, is Clifford Heath, the murderer.
+
+"These are facts," reiterates Mr. Rand, excitedly. "Who has seen this
+wonderful Bathurst, with his bundle of testimony? Who knows the man? Why
+is he not here in court? _Where is he?_"
+
+"_Here!_"
+
+Clear and full the voice rings over the room, transfixing for one moment
+the entire court; then the gavel descends; order is commanded with
+double unction, because of the recent lapse. Mr. O'Meara is on his feet;
+Mr. Rand's impromptu speech is at an end.
+
+"More theatricals," snarls Mr. Rand, flinging himself violently down
+into his seat.
+
+But no one heeds him; all eyes are fixed upon the new comers.
+
+Near the door of the court room they stand grouped close together.
+
+Mr. Wedron, dignified and placid as usual.
+
+Mrs. Lamotte, with head proudly poised, and eyes that seem wells of
+pent-up anguish.
+
+Evan Lamotte, looking like a lost and almost disembodied spirit.
+
+Frank Lamotte, who during the time Mr. Belknap has occupied in giving
+his testimony, has quietly re-entered the room, seeming to have
+recovered, and looking almost composed, looks with the rest, and is once
+more, for a moment, startled out of all semblance of calmness; he starts
+up from his seat, then sinks back weakly, a desperate hunted look in his
+eyes, his hands clenched and working nervously.
+
+They came slowly forward--Evan Lamotte, supported on either side by his
+mother and the _soi-disant_ Mr. Wedron, of the New York Bar.
+
+[Illustration: They come slowly forward.]
+
+They pass so close that the lady's trailing silks brush against the feet
+of Jasper Lamotte, but she never vouchsafes a glance to husband or son,
+and Evan's eyes are set straight before him, fixed on vacancy--unseeing
+orbs of fire, set in a spectral face.
+
+Presently, they are seated near the group gathered about the prisoner,
+and then Mr. Wedron confers with Mr. O'Meara.
+
+As they talk, the little lawyer's face becomes grave, even to sadness,
+and when he rises to address the Court, his tone is subdued, his manner
+that of one performing a painful task.
+
+"May it please the Court," he says, slowly, "the witnesses for whom I
+waited have come. As one of them is just recovering from a serious
+illness, Mr. Bathurst has thought it best that a reliable physician
+should certify to his perfect ability to testify at this time. Let
+Doctor Benoit be sworn."
+
+It is done, and in the same grave and subdued manner Doctor Benoit bears
+witness, as follows:
+
+"I have been in attendance at Mapleton for some weeks past. Evan Lamotte
+has been one of my patients. He has been very ill, and delirious almost
+constantly. It is less than a week since he entirely recovered his
+reasoning faculties. To-day, at the request of Mr. Wedron, I subjected
+him to various tests, and I freely pronounce him perfectly sane--as sane
+as any here in this court room. If any one is inclined to question my
+statement, I shall desire Professor Harrington and Doctor Gaylor to
+examine the witness."
+
+There is profound silence for a moment, then O'Meara says, quietly:
+
+"Will Detective Bathurst take the stand?"
+
+The gentleman who has become known to many in W---- as Mr. Wedron, of
+the New York Bar, left his place near Evan Lamotte, and came quietly
+forward. Having been duly sworn, Mr. O'Meara said:
+
+"Mr. Bathurst, you have been connected with this case from the first.
+Tell us what you have discovered, in your own way."
+
+The detective bowed, took off a pair of gold-rimmed eye-glasses, and
+turned upon the court a pair of bright, piercing, handsome, dark blue
+eyes, that proved themselves capable of numberless expressions.
+
+"My name is Neil J. Bathurst," he began, "and I am a detective. I came
+to W---- for the first time early in the summer--in June, I believe. I
+came on professional business. To my surprise, and quite by accident, I
+found Sir Clifford Heathercliffe here in the character of Doctor Heath.
+My business in W---- was in no way connected with Sir Clifford, but
+before I left the town, which was on the third day after my arrival, I
+became aware that he had an enemy here. I left W---- to return in a
+short time, and I figured among the factory people as Brooks, the
+drunken mechanic. Mr. Lamotte employed me twice and twice discharged me
+because of my intemperance. I became quite intimate and friendly with
+John Burrill, and succeeded in gaining his confidence. I was also on
+good terms with Nance Burrill, John Burrill's divorced wife, and I
+learned a good many things from her.
+
+"Early in the autumn it came to my knowledge that Sir Clifford's enemies
+had begun to move, that a plan was on foot against him. About this time
+I discovered that several people needed looking after, and I sent for a
+boy shadower. He came, and did his work well. He is not here, because
+his testimony is not needed.
+
+"You will understand that I had now more than one operation on my hands.
+I was still engaged upon the case which first brought me to W----, and I
+was intent upon frustrating the designs of Sir Clifford's enemies. He,
+Sir Clifford, was not aware of my presence in W----, and he was likewise
+ignorant of the plot against him.
+
+"Early in November, I found it expedient to appear in W---- in a new
+character. Brooks had done his work. Accordingly, I, as Brooks, set out
+for the city one morning, leaving my shadower in charge of the field.
+Jasper Lamotte went to the city by the same train, and, singular
+coincidence, he came back on the train which brought me. I returned, as
+Mr. Wedron, an attorney, and I brought with me an assistant (for the
+plot was thickening fast), who assumed the character of a book peddler.
+I was absent only two days, but, during that time, the entire drama had
+undergone a transformation.
+
+"Before I had been half an hour in W----, I had received the report of
+my shadower; it was startling. John Burrill had been murdered. Here was
+a disappointment. I had fully intended that Burrill should do some
+honest work in the State penitentiary, and was almost prepared to make
+some arrests. I attended the inquest, and was again discomfited. The
+enemies of Sir Clifford had abandoned their first infamous scheme for
+his ruin, and had succeeded in fastening this miserable crime upon him.
+Standing there in the presence of all the actors in the tragedy, and
+listening to the witnesses before the coroner, I decided what course to
+pursue. I would make my other operations a secondary affair, and devote
+myself to the task of finding John Burrill's murderer. I presented
+myself to Mr. O'Meara, and made known my identity; we decided to act
+together, and at once set to work.
+
+"I knew that Francis Lamotte was Sir Clifford's secret enemy, and,
+naturally, I began to study him, and to watch him. You have heard his
+testimony to-day, and you know how easy it would have been for him,
+first to follow and to kill John Burrill, and next to cast suspicion
+upon an innocent man. I could prefer a charge against him, and bring
+some circumstantial evidence to back it; but this would not vindicate
+Sir Clifford, and would complicate affairs very much. What I wanted, was
+_proof_ positive, absolute. So I waited, and studied the case. Of one
+thing I was assured; Francis Lamotte, whether guilty or innocent, knew
+more of that murder than he chose to tell.
+
+"One day, while in conversation with Miss Wardour, I chanced to mention
+the name of Evan Lamotte, adding something not complimentary to that
+young gentleman. Miss Wardour took fire at once. She assured me that
+Evan Lamotte was _not_ what people sought to make him; that in spite of
+his weaknesses, he had many noble and lovable qualities. She told me how
+he came to her when the first shock of his sister's flight was upon him;
+she described, vividly, his passion, his sorrow, his love for his
+sister. He spoke of her as the only being on earth whom he truly loved,
+the only one who had been unvaryingly kind to him. He cursed the
+destroyers of his sister's happiness, and implored Miss Wardour not to
+abandon that unfortunate sister. He said that he believed she would
+return, and he implored her to visit his parents, and intercede in
+behalf of the fugitive.
+
+"Miss Wardour gave him the required promise, and then said that if the
+real reason for this strange elopement _must_ remain a secret, she
+wished they could hit upon some explanation that would spare the
+fugitive as much as possible, and satisfy the gossips. Instantly he
+sprang up, declaring that he would furnish a reason, a reason that no
+one would question, and that would spare his sister.
+
+"A few days later, the story was flying about W----, that to save her
+brother Evan from the consequences of some evil deed, Sybil Lamotte had
+sacrificed herself.
+
+"When Miss Wardour heard of this, she knew that Evan Lamotte had allowed
+himself to be defamed for his sister's sake. She knew that the true
+reasons for her friend's _mesalliance_ was hidden safely beneath a
+brother's sacrifice.
+
+"Miss Wardour told me this, and much more, in praise of Evan Lamotte;
+and here, for his sake, let me say, that in studying John Burrill and
+Francis Lamotte, I had discovered that Sybil Lamotte had been made to
+believe, that the honor and safety of her father and _elder_ brother,
+depended upon her sacrifice, when the truth is, that she was _sold_.
+Simply sold--for their convenience, and their gain.
+
+"You have looked upon Jasper Lamotte as an honorable citizen. On the day
+of John Burrill's funeral, I resumed my old disguise, that of Brooks,
+and went to Mapleton; I told Mr. Lamotte that I had come as a friend of
+his, and of Burrill's, to warn him, that if Nance Burrill was allowed to
+remain in W----, she would be brought forward at this trial, and give
+damaging evidence against his dead son-in-law.
+
+"I remained in the library with him some fifteen minutes. My errand was
+a trap, and he fell into it. What followed, Mr. Belknap has already
+told. In the presence of this court, Jasper Lamotte has perjured
+himself. Let the officers of the law keep this fact in mind.
+
+"Now, to return to my witness. When I heard Miss Wardour's glowing
+vindication of Evan Lamotte, I said to myself, 'Here is the right
+person. Evan Lamotte is the one who can clear up this mystery.' It was
+clear as day to my eyes.
+
+"It was necessary that I should see him, but I very soon learned that he
+was lying at his home dangerously ill, and quite out of his senses.
+There was nothing to do but to wait. I made the acquaintance of Doctor
+Benoit, and from him I obtained daily news of his patient.
+
+"At the eleventh hour, when I had begun to despair of his recovery, the
+doctor reported the patient restored to his senses. I then told him,
+Doctor Benoit, that the very moment Evan Lamotte was able to listen, and
+to talk rationally, I must see him. That the case was one of life and
+death.
+
+"This day, at the very hour when the trial was called, I set out for
+Mapleton; I saw Evan Lamotte; I told him that Clifford Heath was on
+trial for the murder of John Burrill; and that the chances were against
+him.
+
+"It is not necessary to repeat all that passed between us, the result
+is, that Evan Lamotte comes into this court of his own free will and
+accord, and it is his desire that he be allowed to tell his own story.
+
+"He comes here freely, willingly, asking nothing, hoping nothing, and
+when this audience has heard his testimony, they will join me in
+pronouncing him the noblest Lamotte of them all."
+
+There is a look so weird, so unearthly, in the eyes of Evan Lamotte, as
+he comes forward and turns his face slowly upon the audience, so that
+all can see its ghastly contrast with those burning orbs, that a
+startled hush falls upon them all, a funereal silence pervades the room.
+
+They seem to note for the first time, what a solemn thing is the oath,
+which Evan takes with voice, hollow and weak, but calm and fall of
+decision.
+
+His breath comes in short gasps, his sentences are broken, the fatigue
+caused by his effort to speak is evident. But he goes on to the end, and
+this is what he says:
+
+"When I learned that my sister's life had been ruined, I was a madman; I
+did not know for a time why she had thus thrown herself away, but I
+determined that I would know, and I set myself to spy upon my own
+family.
+
+"If the detective had not told you this truth I should withhold it now,
+for we all have a sufficient burden of shame upon us.
+
+"I watched and I listened and I learned why Sybil had been sacrificed.
+
+"At first I thought I would openly assault Burrill, would compel him to
+resist and would make his life as uncomfortable as possible; I was a
+madman.
+
+"Constance Wardour told me it was not the way to help Sybil; that such a
+course would only cause her added sorrow. When I grew calmer I saw that
+Conny was right. I promised her to do nothing that would add to my poor
+sister's unhappiness.
+
+"By and by they came home, and I saw the misery in my sister's face; day
+by day it deepened, her eyes growing hollow and wild, and full of
+unutterable horror and fear, her face growing paler and thinner, and
+sadder, her hands so weak and tremulous, all appealed to me, all
+maddened me afresh. I resolved that in some way I would free her. But
+how?
+
+"Day after day I brooded upon it. Burrill became more bestial, more
+besotted, more contemptible, every day. My sister's strength was almost
+gone, her reason was tottering.
+
+"I began to cultivate Burrill. I flattered him; I caroused with him. I
+had sunk so low myself that he could feel at ease with me. But drunk or
+sober I never once forgot a resolve I had taken. Matters were going from
+bad to worse. It must be Sybil's life or _his_. I resolved that it
+should _not_ be my sister who was sacrificed.
+
+"When I found that no more time could be wasted, I laid my plans. I
+feigned illness and kept my room for several days.
+
+"Burrill came daily to see me. I told him that I had some rare new fun
+in my head, and we planned that I should feign to be worse than usual.
+Burrill knew that our people had made efforts to stop our nocturnal
+expeditions, and he agreed with me that the thing should be kept secret.
+On that last night he left the house early, saying that he would spend a
+couple of hours at 'Old Forty's,' and then meet me at a place appointed.
+
+"At nine o'clock I stole out, and no one at Mapleton discovered my
+absence. I did not intend that they should. I waited at the place
+appointed for our meeting until I grew impatient. The time came for him
+to appear; he did not come. I knew where I should find him, and set out
+for 'Forty Rods.' I was determined to let that night end Sybil's
+troubles.
+
+"Half way between the saloon and Doctor Heath's I saw him. He passed
+close to me, as I came up from Mill avenue, and reeled across the road.
+He was not going toward our rendezvous, but away from it.
+
+"I followed stealthily. I did not make my nearness known. I think he was
+too drunk to know where he was going or where to stop. He reeled past
+Doctor Heath's house, and was nearly opposite the gate of the empty lot
+before he discovered that he had gone too far.
+
+"He turned, and while he leaned against the fence and seemed to ponder,
+I crept upon him, knife in hand; I struck him, once, again, a third
+time. He uttered one groan loud enough to have been heard some distance
+away, and then fell heavily. I had struck home. When I was sure that he
+was dead--I seemed to know just how to act--I ran to the gate of the
+Burns' lot and opened it wide. The body was twice my weight but I
+dragged it inside before my strength gave out.
+
+"Then, for a while, I seemed panic stricken. What should I do with that
+body? By and by, I thought of a way to get help. I waited until
+midnight, then I made my way to Mapleton, all blood stained, and
+carrying the knife with me. Unseen I entered and gained Frank's room. He
+was up and pacing the floor; I told him to follow me. He saw my
+blood-stained hands and garments; I opened my coat and displayed the
+knife, and he obeyed me. I told him what I had done, and that he must
+help me conceal the body. For a moment he seemed stunned, and then he
+assisted me with surprising readiness; he planned everything; in fact,
+took the lead from that moment. I thought he was working to save his
+brother. The detective has told me the truth, and abjured me to tell all
+I know.
+
+"Frank left me at the foot of the stairs leading to Heath's office. When
+he came down he seemed much excited, and hurried on very fast. We
+scooped out a grave in the cellar, as best we could in the dark, Frank
+working actively. He told me to take my knife and throw it into the old
+well--if you look you will find it there. While I was doing it, he must
+have put the other knife in the grave. When I came back he had covered
+the face with something white. I did not think about it at the time; now
+I know that it was Doctor Heath's handkerchief.
+
+"Doctor Heath is an innocent man. _I_ killed John Burrill; I am here to
+accept the consequences. I did the deed to save my sister. I do not
+regret it."
+
+Then, turning toward the place where Frank Lamotte sits, cowering and
+panic stricken, he stretches out one spectral hand and says:
+
+"Frank! Frank Lamotte, do the only thing left you to do; stand up and
+say that I have spoken the truth. Let us end this at once, Frank!"
+
+Like one roused from some strange stupor, Frank staggers to his feet.
+
+"It is all true!" he gasps. "Evan has told nothing but the truth." Then
+he falls back in his seat more dead than alive.
+
+To describe the triumph of O'Meara; the mingled pity and gladness that
+fills the heart of Constance; the rejoicings of Clifford Heath's
+friends, one and all; the misery and the shame that overwhelmed the
+Lamottes, would be useless.
+
+The excitement of the audience, judge and jury, can be imagined better
+than described.
+
+The tragic farce is at an end. The case is given to the jury. Without
+quitting their places, they return their verdict. Clifford Heath is not
+guilty; is honorably acquitted.
+
+Exhausted by his recent effort, Evan Lamotte is carried from the court
+room, closely attended by his mother; is carried to the cell where
+lately Clifford Heath has dwelt a prisoner, while the latter is escorted
+in triumph, to O'Meara's, by all his rejoicing friends.
+
+As the procession of conquerors moves away from the entrance, an officer
+approaches Jasper Lamotte.
+
+"Mr. Lamotte, I am very sorry, sir, but you must consider yourself my
+prisoner."
+
+Jasper Lamotte bows coldly, and signals the man that he will follow him.
+
+The officer turns to Frank, but before he can open his lips, the
+miserable young man steps back, makes one quick movement; there is a
+flash, a loud report, and Frank Lamotte falls forward, to be caught in
+the arms of a by-stander.
+
+[Illustration: There is a flash--a loud report.]
+
+They lay him gently down, and Jasper Lamotte bids them send for a
+physician; there must be one very near.
+
+But Frank beckons his father to come close, and when the others have
+drawn back, this is what the father hears, from the son's lips:
+
+"There is another--pistol in--my pocket--I meant it for Evan,--you--had
+better--use it."
+
+Horrible words from the lips of a dying son. They are his last. Before
+Doctor Benoit can turn back and reach his side, Frank Lamotte has
+finished his career of folly, and sin, and shame, dying as he had lived,
+selfishly, like a coward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+A SPARTAN MOTHER.
+
+
+"I never before in all my career, brought to justice a criminal whom I
+both pitied unreservedly, and justified fully. Viewing all things from
+his standpoint, Evan Lamotte is less a murderer than a martyr."
+
+It is the day after the trial with so strange an ending. They are seated
+in O'Meara's library; Constance, Mrs. Aliston, Mrs. O'Meara, Sir
+Clifford, his brother, the Honorable George Heathercliffe, Ray Vandyck,
+O'Meara, and Mr. Bathurst. Mr. Bathurst, who now appears what he _is_; a
+handsome gentleman, about thirty years of age, clever, vivacious,
+eminently agreeable. Mr. Wedron, like Brooks, has served out his day,
+and been set aside.
+
+They have assembled at the detective's request, and while fully
+expecting a revelation of some sort, they look a serene, and not an
+apprehensive party.
+
+"Poor Evan," sighs Constance; "I pity him most sincerely; I shall go and
+see him."
+
+"_We_ will go and see him," corrects Sir Clifford, and she smiles, and
+does not dispute the correction.
+
+"Before I begin my other story," says the detective, "I may as well tell
+you of my visit yesterday, and how my news was received.
+
+"From the moment when I heard Miss Wardour's description of Evan
+Lamotte, I knew he was our man. But I was determined to have no more
+mistakes. So I kept my opinion to myself. You can imagine how anxiously
+I hung upon the words of Doctor Benoit, knowing that upon this boy's
+chances for life hung Sir Clifford's life, liberty, and honor.
+
+"When I saw that poor, pale, wreck of humanity, my heart almost failed
+me. How could I drag his secret from him? But no time was to be lost,
+and, as best I could, I told him everything. First, that his sister
+believed herself the guilty one; guilty, at least, in that she had
+instigated the deed, and next, that Sir Clifford was now the victim of
+this crime. His mind at once seemed to grasp the issue. He had listened
+to me intently, breathlessly almost; he now lifted himself suddenly from
+the bed, and said quickly:
+
+"'Why, then, it seems I have not saved Sybil yet. Call my mother! let me
+see her alone.'
+
+"I obeyed him without a question; they were alone together for a long
+half hour, then Mrs. Lamotte came to me with the same look upon her face
+that you saw in court.
+
+"'Evan tells me that you know everything,' she said, her voice trembling
+in spite of herself. 'He tells me that you are a detective. Then you
+know that I have _one_ son of whom I may be proud. Evan Lamotte has
+saved his sister's honor. Saved it doubly. My weak, my ill-used Evan,
+has proven the only man a man's pride, who bears the name of Lamotte,
+because he could not see his sister and his mother contaminated by the
+presence of the monster his father and brother had been so base as to
+force upon us; he has taken justice into his own hands. He has freed his
+sister; he has saved her from crime, and now he stands ready to put
+himself in the place of a wronged and innocent man. I shall go with him
+into court; I shall not leave him again.'
+
+"She broke off with a dry sob and turned away to prepare for the drive.
+
+"How I pitied that proud woman. How tender she was of her lost boy, and
+how he clung to her.
+
+"Mr. O'Meara," turning suddenly toward the lawyer, "we must get that
+poor fellow out of that cell. Doctor Benoit says that he can live but a
+short time at best. He must not die there, and justice can not deal with
+a dying man."
+
+"I think it can be managed," replied the lawyer. "All W---- will favor
+the scheme. Not a man or woman will raise their voice against that dying
+boy. He will have plenty of friends _now_."
+
+"He shall find them strong friends, too," exclaimed Constance. "Mrs.
+O'Meara, we will stir up the whole town."
+
+"Then you'll get your way," put in Bathurst. "And now. Miss Wardour, are
+you ready to hear the end of the mystery surrounding the Wardour
+robbery, and the Wardour diamonds?"
+
+All eyes were turned at once upon the speaker.
+
+"Because I have asked you all to meet me here to-day that I might tell
+it," he went on. "It will contain much that is new to you all, and it
+will interest you all. I know Miss Wardour will wish you all to hear the
+end of her diamond case, and the fate of her robbers."
+
+"Of course! You are perfectly right, Mr. Bathurst," said Constance.
+"Doctor Heath cuts more of a figure than he knows in this business, and
+Ray has staid out in the cold long enough. Go on, Mr. Bathurst, expose
+me in all my iniquity. But have you _really_ found the robbers?"
+
+"Listen," said the detective, and while they all fixed upon him their
+gravest attention he began.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+TOLD BY A DETECTIVE.
+
+
+"For several years past," began Mr. Bathurst, "the city and many of the
+wealthier suburban towns have been undergoing a systematic overhauling.
+Through the network of big thefts, and little thefts, petit larcenies
+and bank robberies, there has run one clear-cut burglarious specialty--a
+style of depredations noticeably similar in case after case; alike in
+'design and execution,' and always baffling to the officers.
+
+[Illustration: Bathurst telling the story.]
+
+"I allude to a series of robberies of jewelry and plate, a succession of
+provoking thefts, monstrous, enough to be easily traced, but executed
+with such exceeding _finesse_ that, in no single instance, has the
+property been recovered, or the robbers run to earth.
+
+"These fastidious thieves never took money in large amounts, only took
+plate when it was of the purest metal and least cumbersome sort; and
+always aimed for the brightest, the purest, the costliest diamonds.
+Diamonds indeed seemed their specialty.
+
+"This gang has operated in such a gingerly, gentlemanly, mysterious
+manner, and has raided for diamonds so long and so successfully, that
+they have come to be called, among New York detectives, The Diamond
+Coterie, although no man knew whether they numbered two, or twenty.
+
+"They could always recognize their handiwork, however, and whenever the
+news came that some lady in the city, or suburbs, had lost her diamonds,
+and that the thieves had made a 'clean job' of it, the officers said,
+'that's the work of the Diamond Coterie.'
+
+"I have been much abroad of late, but every time I came back to New York
+the Coterie had gathered fresh jewels into its treasure box, and no man
+had found a clue to the sly fellows.
+
+"I began to feel interested in the clique and resolved to take a hand at
+them, at the first opportunity. That opportunity came, with the news of
+the great Wardour robbery, and I came down to W----.
+
+"I saw enough in this robbery to interest me, for various reasons.
+
+"I believed I could see distinctly the handiwork of the Diamond Coterie,
+and I saw another thing; it was the first piece of work I had known them
+to bungle. And they had bungled in this.
+
+"I made some of my conclusions known to Miss Wardour and her friends,
+but I kept to myself the most important ones.
+
+"The story of the chloroform, so carefully administered, was one of the
+things over which I pondered much; I borrowed the chloroform bottle and
+the piece of linen that had been used to apply the drug, and that night
+I accepted the hospitality proffered me by Sir Clifford. I took a wax
+impression of the vial, at his house, and I made an important discovery
+while there.
+
+"Sir Clifford found me half famished and ordered his housekeeper to
+bring in a lunch. Not wishing my identity known, I pretended to be a
+patient; and just as my host was leaving the room, he tossed me a
+handkerchief, which he took from a side table, bidding me make myself a
+bandage to partially conceal my face.
+
+"Now my eyes are trained to see much at a glance, and the moment they
+fell upon that bit of white linen they were riveted there.
+
+"The handkerchief was precisely like the mutilated one used with the
+chloroform. This might be a coincidence--plain white handkerchiefs with
+wide borders were not uncommon, but this handkerchief was _marked_!
+
+"I could scarcely wait until Sir Clifford should show me to my room, so
+anxious was I to compare the two pieces of linen.
+
+"The whole one bore the initials F. L., and on the raw, torn edge of the
+half square was a black dot that was undoubtedly the fragment of a
+letter, or name, that had been torn hastily off. It corresponded exactly
+with the lower end of the letter L. upon the whole handkerchief given me
+by Sir Clifford.
+
+"This might be a coincidence, but it is one of my rules to suspect two
+coincidences coming close together; and I had already discovered three
+remarkable ones in this case.
+
+"Sitting alone in my room, I reflected thus:
+
+"Take it for granted that this robbery was perpetrated by the Diamond
+Coterie, what are the facts?
+
+"The robbers knew where to enter, and where to look for plunder; _ergo_,
+they must have known the premises.
+
+"They administered the deadly chloroform with nicest calculation;
+_ergo_, they must have known Miss Wardour.
+
+"One of them was something of a dandy,--witness the superfine bit of
+cambric, and the print of jaunty boots where he leaped the garden fence.
+
+"The next morning I took unceremonious leave of my host, and set out on
+my explorations. As I approached Wardour Place I met a man, who
+immediately drew my interest to himself.
+
+"This man was Jerry Belknap. He wore a disguise quite familiar to me,
+and I recognized him easily. He entered at the Wardour gate, and I
+sauntered on, having found new food for thought.
+
+"Now, a word concerning this man Belknap.
+
+"At one time he was an honorable member of the best detective force in
+the city; but he had too much cupidity, and not enough moral firmness.
+Twice he allowed himself to be bribed into letting a case fall through,
+and finally I caught him in secret conclave with a gang of bank
+burglars, who were conspiring to raise a fortune for each, and escape
+with their booty through the connivance of our false detective.
+
+"I exploded this little scheme, and compelled Belknap to withdraw from
+the force. Imagine my surprise when, a little later, Miss Wardour told
+me that _Mr. Belknap_ was the detective sent down from the city by Mr.
+Lamotte!
+
+"Well, Mr. Belknap went to work upon the case, and Miss Wardour
+concealed me near her dining room so that I might have the pleasure of
+listening to his first report.
+
+"That was a fortunate ambush for me. Mr. Belknap's deductions were as
+diametrically opposite to mine as if he had purposely studied out the
+contrast; and I was shaking my sides with the thought of how all this
+plausibility must be puzzling Miss Wardour and her aunt, when a new
+element was introduced into the programme.
+
+"Mr. Frank Lamotte, fresh from an amateur robber hunt, came into the
+room. It had been arranged that Mrs. Aliston should break to this young
+man the news that his sister had that day eloped with John Burrill; but
+first, he was to relate his adventures, and this he did.
+
+"If I can hear a voice, before seeing the face, I can usually measure
+its truth or falsity. Now, I had not seen Mr. Frank Lamotte, but his
+voice told me that he was rehearsing a well studied part; and,
+furthermore, I was assured that Belknap knew this, and purposely helped
+him on.
+
+"By and by Miss Wardour withdrew, and Mrs. Aliston fulfilled her
+mission. Then I was more than ever convinced of the fellow's
+insincerity. I heard how he received the news of his sister's flight;
+and when Mrs. Aliston went, in a panic, to call her niece, I heard him,
+when he fancied himself alone.
+
+"It seems he had been the bearer of a note from his sister to Miss
+Wardour, and he was now intent upon learning if that note had contained
+any thing damaging to himself. This much I learned from his solitary
+mutterings, and then Miss Wardour re-entered the room. He was half wild,
+until she had assured him that the note contained nothing that could
+injure him; and then he became calmer, and went out into the air to
+recover his breath.
+
+"Miss Wardour made haste to release me, and I came out of my concealment
+congratulating myself that I had been so lucky.
+
+"And now I found myself compelled to leave W---- just as things were
+growing very interesting; I had made my flying visit in a moment of
+leisure, but my vacation had run out; duty, honor and interest, alike
+impelled me in another direction.
+
+"I left my address with Miss Wardour, and I promised myself that at the
+first opportunity I would return to W---- and take up my abode here for
+a time.
+
+"I had been in W---- not quite three days. I had not seen Jasper
+Lamotte, I had barely seen Frank, and I had added to my deductions made
+on the night of my arrival, until the case stood like this in my mind:
+
+"1st. The robbers were familiar with Wardour, outside and in.
+
+"2d. They knew Miss Wardour, and her sensitiveness to the effects of
+chloroform.
+
+"3d. One of them was a man of gentlemanly propensities, and probably
+young.
+
+"4th. They or a part of their number approached by the river, using a
+boat with muffled oars.
+
+"So much for my deductions. Now for some coincidences.
+
+"It was a coincidence that the handkerchief I got from Sir Clifford
+should bear Frank Lamotte's initials, and should be precisely like the
+one left behind by the robbers.
+
+"It was a coincidence that Frank Lamotte should be a student of
+medicine, who might have been quite as capable of administering
+chloroform as was the burglar himself.
+
+"It was a coincidence that Miss Sybil Lamotte should have eloped on the
+very day when her best friend was robbed, and that father, mother, and
+brother were all absent in behalf of the robbed friend, thus leaving the
+way open to the fugitives, and giving them plenty of time to escape.
+
+"Now for some _facts_ that looked strange.
+
+"It was strange that Sybil Lamotte should leave her home to marry a man
+like John Burrill, when she was known to have bestowed her heart
+elsewhere.
+
+"It was strange that Jasper Lamotte, going to the city to employ a
+detective, should so soon have stumbled upon Jerry Belknap, who was
+identified with no agency, and could only be reached through private
+means.
+
+"It was strange that Frank Lamotte should set himself up as an amateur
+detective, and should bring back a report that tallied so perfectly with
+the deductions of Jerry Belknap.
+
+"It was strange that Miss Wardour, having just been robbed of jewels to
+the amount of fifty thousand dollars, should be so little distressed, so
+little agitated by her loss.
+
+"From deductions, coincidences and strange facts, I evolved the
+following theory, which certainly looked well from my standpoint, but
+might not hold water. You will see, that from the first I connected the
+Wardour robbery and the Lamotte elopement.
+
+"Now, Sybil Lamotte's strange flight gave proof that there was a
+skeleton in the Lamotte closet. I said:
+
+"If this unseen Mr. Lamotte had planned this robbery, and if for some
+reason it seemed good that his daughter should elope, how well all was
+arranged.
+
+"His son assisting him, they could drop down from Mapleton in their row
+boat; come up from the river, and, with their plans all laid, and
+knowing their ground, could make quick headway. Frank Lamotte's boot
+heel would leave just such a print, as one of the robbers left in the
+loose dirt beside the garden fence. Frank Lamotte would know just how to
+administer the chloroform. Then, Mr. Lamotte, in going to the city,
+ostensibly to procure the services of a detective, could easily take the
+spoils along; and his wife also, that she might be well out of his
+daughter's way. Such a man would naturally select a fellow like Jerry
+Belknap, who would keep up a farce of investigation, and keep away all
+who might, perhaps, stumble upon the truth. Frank's eagerness to be
+absent on this day of his sister's flight, and to assist in the search
+for the robbers, would be thus explained; and his anxiety concerning the
+contents of his sister's letter might be easily traced to a guilty
+conscience.
+
+"But my theories were doomed to be laid aside for a time. Other duties
+claimed me and it was four weeks before I could turn so much as a
+thought toward W----.
+
+"Before leaving the city, however, I had placed my wax cast of the
+chloroform bottle in the hands of one of my best men, and had also given
+him a clue upon which to work.
+
+"My agent was wonderfully successful. He found the counterparts to the
+chloroform bottle, and then he began shadowing the owner of said vials.
+It proved to be a young woman who had formerly lived in W----, as a
+factory hand, but who had been transplanted to the city by Frank
+Lamotte.
+
+"It is not necessary to enlarge upon the story of this girl as connected
+with Lamotte; but this must be borne in mind. During the time that my
+agent had this girl under surveillance, Frank Lamotte visited her, and,
+it is supposed that he removed the remaining bottles of the set, for one
+was afterward exhumed, in fragments, from Doctor Heath's ash heap, by
+the industrious Jerry Belknap, and the others have disappeared."
+
+At the mention of this factory girl Mrs. Aliston turned her face toward
+Constance, its expression saying as plainly as any language could, "I
+told you so." But Mr. Bathurst took no notice of this, and hurried on
+with his story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+THE STORY OF LUCKY JIM.
+
+
+"From the moment when I appeared among you as Brooks, my work was
+double. I was bent upon posting myself thoroughly in regard to Jasper
+Lamotte, and day by day I became more interested in the career of this
+remarkable man.
+
+"Step by step, I trod backward the path of his history, since his advent
+in W----, gathering my information from many sources.
+
+"It would be tedious to enter into details; suffice it to say that while
+I worked here, two others, trained to such research, were beating up the
+past I was so anxious to become familiar with. And a third, across the
+water, was gathering up the history of John Burrill, another object of
+interest to me at that time.
+
+"And now I will reverse the order in which we made our search, and,
+beginning where my men left off, give you, in brief, the history of a
+remarkable man.
+
+"The man we know as Jasper Lamotte figured in various cities,
+twenty-five years ago, and still earlier, as _Lucky Jim_, a handsome,
+well educated, sharp witted, confidence man.
+
+"He seldom gambled, and made his swindling operations of various sorts
+reap him a rich harvest; and, by his unvarying good luck, in escaping
+the dragons of the law, as well as because of his lucky ventures, he
+became known to his intimates as Lucky Jim.
+
+"In these days, Miss Sybil Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy old
+Maryland aristocrat, came to the city to reside with an aunt, while she
+completed her musical education. Lucky Jim saw her, and fell in love
+with her beautiful, haughty face.
+
+"He contrived to make her acquaintance, and the rest was easy; it was a
+repetition of the old story; he was handsome and fascinating, she young
+and unsophisticated, with plenty of headstrong Southern blood and self
+will.
+
+"After a brief courtship, Lucky Jim married the Maryland heiress. Her
+father, as may be supposed, repudiated the marriage, but she clung to
+her scamp, and so the old Maryland aristocrat sent her a small fortune,
+which was hers, inherited from her mother's mother, and beyond his
+control; and bade her consider herself no more a Schuyler, of _the_
+Schuylers.
+
+"For a time, Lucky Jim rode smoothly on the top wave of prosperity; his
+wife easily duped, believed him a Wall street operator. Frank was born,
+and then Sybil, and the Maryland beauty queened it in an elegant and
+secluded little home.
+
+"But the crisis came. The silver cloud turned its dark side.
+
+"Lucky Jim played a losing game, one day, and his wife suddenly found
+herself face to face with the truth.
+
+"They lived through stormy times, but Jim had, in his palmy days, left
+his wife's fortune intact, and now it proved an anchor to windward.
+
+"They absented themselves from this country for more than two years;
+then they came back, and Lucky Jim brought his family, which now
+included Evan, to W----. The Maryland fortune enabled them to set up as
+aristocrats, and Lucky Jim seems to have aspired to become a power in
+the community.
+
+"I don't think he often attempted any of his old confidence and
+swindling games; but, during his absences from home, which were
+frequent, during his earlier residence here, he made a study of fine
+burglary.
+
+"I can fancy how carefully he put his new schemes in practice, and how
+he passed himself off upon W---- as a rising speculator.
+
+"He probably spent years in gathering together that select society,
+known as the Diamond Coterie.
+
+"At first, it consisted of four; himself, a city pawn-broker, known as
+Ezras, who received and negotiated the sale of the stolen goods, and who
+is as keen a rascal as ever escaped justice, and two noted cracksmen,
+who had headquarters in the city, and were famous in their day, but who
+were compelled to withdraw in the midst of their high career, one dying
+of a malignant fever, the other being killed by a woman.
+
+"To replace these departed worthies, Ezras, who was always on the alert
+for pals, and who had had various crooked dealings with Jerry Belknap,
+brought this gentleman and Mr. Lamotte, or Lucky Jim together.
+
+"Belknap proved the right man in the right place, and was soon admitted
+into the Coterie. Next to come under the favorable notice of Ezras, was
+John Burrill, who had come over from England, bringing with him some
+ill-gotten gains, and who set himself up in New York as a swell
+cracksman.
+
+"Now, Burrill, the English boor, had an ambition. In this easy-going
+America, he hoped in some way to build himself into an aristocrat, and
+to shine as one of the lords of the land. To this end he hoarded his
+share of all the spoils, and, adding it to the sum brought from England,
+he began to find himself a rich man.
+
+"Meantime, Mr. Lamotte had speculated a little too freely; he had built
+a mansion, and built his factories. He had been living like a prince,
+and some of his late ventures had failed. Something must be done. And
+then his eye fell upon Burrill; he coveted the Englishman's hoarded
+dollars.
+
+"He found it easy to persuade Burrill to come to W----, ostensibly to
+take the position of overseer at the factories; really to be more
+readily duped by Lucky Jim. Burrill came; he saw how his comrade was
+respected and bowed down to by all W----. He had always admired Lucky
+Jim for his gentlemanly polish and his aristocratic manners; and he now
+concocted a scheme for his own aggrandisement. The Lamottes had made
+themselves aristocrats, they should make an aristocrat of him.
+
+"You all know the result; John Burrill divorced his wife; Jasper Lamotte
+sold his daughter.
+
+"While Frank Lamotte felt tolerably sanguine of winning the heiress of
+Wardour, the Wardour jewels were left unmolested. But when a rival came
+into the field, they determined to have the jewels, even if they lost
+the heiress.
+
+"Accordingly they planned the robbery and the elopement, and you all
+know the afterpart.
+
+"Miss Wardour, you once offered a reward for the arrest of the robbers
+who invaded Wardour Place, _not_ to recover your diamonds, but for the
+sake of justice. It is for the sake of justice and for the future safety
+of peaceable citizens that I have run the Diamond Coterie to earth. For,
+be it known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that Miss Constance Wardour,
+like the wise young lady she is, took her jewels to an expert, one fine
+day, long ago, and had them all duplicated in paste; and while Jasper
+Lamotte and his clique were industriously carrying into safe hiding
+these paste diamonds, the real Wardour jewels were reposing safely in
+the vaults of a city bank, and they repose there safely still!
+
+"When Jasper Lamotte went to the city, two days before the killing of
+Burrill, he went to dispose of some of those paste jewels; and, not
+until then, did he learn how the heiress of Wardour had outwitted him.
+
+"Miss Wardour, the career of the Diamond Coterie is at an end.
+
+"Old Ezras has long been under our eye. Last night I sent a telegram,
+which will cause his instant arrest; and there are enough charges
+against him to insure him a life sentence, had he yet seventy years to
+live.
+
+"John Burrill has passed beyond our reach. The news of his murder
+frustrated my nicely laid plans for his arrest, and turned my mind for
+some time from the Diamond Coterie to the task of clearing Sir Clifford.
+
+"Frank Lamotte, too, with all his sin and selfishness, has passed before
+a higher tribunal.
+
+"There remains only Jerry Belknap and Jasper Lamotte.
+
+"To Jerry Belknap, I have promised protection--not because he deserves
+the same, but because in no other way could I avail myself of his
+services; and, to make my chain of evidence complete, I needed his
+testimony. He will go out to the frontier, and never appear again in New
+York.
+
+"And now, perhaps, you can comprehend why I brought that charge of
+perjury against Jasper Lamotte. For his wife's sake, for his unhappy
+daughter's sake, for the sake of Evan Lamotte, who implored me, while
+going to give himself up to save another, that I would not let further
+disgrace bow his mother's head to the dust. For the sake of these
+unfortunate victims, I would let Jasper Lamotte go free, so far as we
+are concerned. The charge of perjury is enough for W----. The officers
+have chosen not to place him in confinement, so, if Jasper Lamotte is
+suddenly missed from among us, who can be questioned or blamed?
+
+"I have acted in this matter solely on my own responsibility.
+
+"I have seen Jasper Lamotte, and I gave him two alternatives to choose
+from. He could remain and be arrested as the head and front of the
+Diamond Coterie, or he could take passage on board the first ship bound
+for Australia, to remain there the rest of his natural life. He chose
+the latter, and I have appointed my agent, 'Smith, the book peddler,' as
+his guardian, to see that he carries out his contract to the letter.
+
+"And now there is one thing more:
+
+"After Burrill's death, Jasper and Frank Lamotte made a search for
+certain papers supposed to have been upon the person of the dead man;
+they never found them, for the reason that I, as Brooks, had relieved
+Burrill of the care of these same papers, weeks before, substituting for
+them blanks, which no doubt, Burrill had hidden somewhere, in one of his
+fits of drunken caution.
+
+"These papers define distinctly such portions of the Lamotte property as
+in reality belonged to Burrill; and if I am not mistaken in Mrs. Lamotte
+and her daughter, they will wish no share in it. I will put these papers
+into your hands, Mr. O'Meara, to be held for future action."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+AFTER THE DRAMA ENDED.
+
+
+"Clifford," says the heiress of Wardour, standing beside her lover, one
+winter day, not long after the extinction of the Diamond Coterie,
+"Clifford I have been to Mapleton to-day, for the first time since--"
+
+She pauses abruptly, and her lover draws her closer to his side, with
+all his olden assurance shining in the eyes he bends down upon her.
+
+"Since the drama ended," he finishes. "You have been to Mapleton,
+beloved! tell me about it."
+
+"There's something I wish to tell you, Clifford; something that in full,
+Mr. Bathurst generously kept out of his story when he told us the rest;
+something that is known as it is only to Mrs. Lamotte, Sybil, Evan, Mr.
+Belknap, Mr. Bathurst, and myself, but which I think I had better tell
+you now."
+
+"I am listening Conny."
+
+"Well, you see when the robbers made off with my paste diamonds--think
+of its being the Lamottes, Clifford--when they robbed me of nothing, I
+felt quite relieved, for those diamonds _had_ been a burden. I made up
+my mind to make the most of the business, and let everybody think me a
+loser, hoping thus to possess myself and my diamonds in peace and
+safety. But your Mr. Bathurst--"
+
+"My Mr. Bathurst!"
+
+"Well, _my_ Mr. Bathurst, then; only you very well know that he has a
+wife. When _my_ Mr. Bathurst had talked to me a second time--I believe
+that man can see straight through people--he had my secret at his
+tongue's end; and he warned me to be very cautious and not to tell _any
+one_ the truth concerning the diamonds. In spite of this, one evening,
+when some imp possessed me, I told Sybil Lamotte; I shall never forget
+her strange manner, nor her wild words. Clifford, that awful mistake of
+mine almost made Sybil a murderess."
+
+"Constance!"
+
+"Listen, dear! Sybil had brooded over what I had told her. Trouble was
+unsettling her mind. She had some valuable jewels; she went with her
+mother to the city, and while there, had the real stones replaced by
+paste, as I had done, and received two thousand dollars for her
+diamonds.
+
+"In some way she had found out that Jerry Belknap was a man to be
+bought; she obtained an interview with him, and offered him two thousand
+dollars if he would _get John Burrill out of her way_!"
+
+"Good heavens!"
+
+"Don't interrupt me. Belknap agreed to remove Burrill, and received five
+hundred dollars in advance. He sent to the city for a ruffian, one of
+his tools. The man came, but Mr. Bathurst had his eye upon him. On the
+night of the murder, this ruffian was hidden outside of the saloon,
+waiting to follow and waylay John Burrill when he should go home. The
+boy detective, George, was hidden and watching the ruffian. Do you
+follow?"
+
+"Yes! yes!"
+
+"When Burrill came out of the saloon, the ruffian, supposing of course
+that he was going home, hurried on ahead, crossed the bridge, and
+secreted himself in the hedge. The boy, George, was far enough behind to
+see that Burrill was _not_ going home, but he was acting as directed by
+Mr. Bathurst, and so followed the ruffian. Think of it, Clifford! While
+Sybil's paid assassin lay in wait for his victim, Sybil's brother was
+saving her soul from guilt, by taking a crime upon his own. But for
+Evan's knife, poor half crazed Sybil would have been a murderess, and
+this I knew in part from the first, and that is why I said, that the
+true slayer must not be punished; until they brought Evan Lamotte into
+court, I believed that Sybil was the guilty one."
+
+"And you could not betray your unfortunate friend? My true hearted
+Constance!"
+
+"I had promised Mrs. Lamotte not to betray her, but was nerving myself
+to dare all and save you, when poor Evan threw himself into the breach,
+and saved us, all three. You must know, Clifford, that Mr. Belknap made
+a full confession to Mr. Bathurst, when he found he could do no better.
+And Mr. Bathurst, knowing that I was aware of Sybil's dealings with
+Belknap, told me everything."
+
+"And this is what Bathurst meant when he said that Sybil believed
+herself guilty. I thought he referred to some of her insane ravings."
+
+"So they all thought. But it is best as it is. There is no need to tell
+this sad story, unless--"
+
+"Unless what?"
+
+"Unless it seems best that Ray Vandyck should know it."
+
+"Poor Ray. Conny, if the time ever comes when Ray and Sybil meet again,
+_she_ will tell him her own story."
+
+Constance bent over the glowing coals a moment, and then lifting her
+face, she said in a hushed voice:
+
+"I saw Evan."
+
+"And he--"
+
+"He is just fading out of life. Oh! it was so fortunate that there was
+no resistance to the humane ones who sought to help him out of that
+gloomy prison. Sybil never leaves him for a moment. Oh, what must her
+feelings have been, when she learned that Evan had saved her from a life
+time of remorse. I could see by her face, oh, such a poor, pale, sad,
+utterly changed face! that she knew all; everything. She greeted me; so
+timidly, yet, with so much of thankfulness. But, she had eyes and ears
+for no one but Evan, although she is too weak to do more than sit beside
+him and hold his hand. But, Mrs. Lamotte's courage is wonderful. Old Mr.
+Schuyler, Sybil's grandfather, is dead; and he has left Mrs. Lamotte his
+property; but, so tied up that Mr. Lamotte could never touch a dollar.
+Mrs. Lamotte says that when it is over--Evan's life you know--she shall
+take Sybil and go to live in her old Maryland home. They will not touch
+a penny of John Burrill's money; it is all to be transferred to his
+first wife, to be held in trust for her little boy. The woman is going
+back to England as soon as the transfer is made. Mrs. Lamotte said to me
+to-day:
+
+"'After all these years, Constance, I am to have an old age of peace, I
+trust. Mr. Lamotte and I have parted forever. My love for him died long
+since, so this gives me no pain. My keenest sorrow is that I never gave
+my poor Evan his full share of my mother love. He came with my sorrow,
+and bears the impress of my despair and madness. If we could only save
+and keep him! But it is best as it is. Mind and body seem dying
+together, and it is better so. When all is over, I shall take Sybil
+away, where there will be nothing to recall her wretched past; and there
+I shall trust her to Time, the Healer.'
+
+"She never mentioned Frank's name, Clifford," bending forward to look in
+his face. "Do you know what I see in the future? I see poor Evan laid
+away under the snows; I see the memory of John Burrill sunk in oblivion.
+I see Sybil Lamotte coming slowly back to life and hope and happiness,
+under the kind blue Maryland skies. I see Mrs. Lamotte, her pride
+softened and chastened, and a look of serene content upon her face. And
+I see Ray Vandyck making his way southward some day, and standing before
+Sybil with his heart in his eyes. I see--"
+
+"You see enough. Leave Ray and Sybil face to face; you and I can guess
+the rest. Do you see Doctor Clifford Heathercliffe resuming his practice
+in W----, as if nothing had happened? For that's what his newly
+appointed tyrant has bidden him do. Do you see a certain fair lady,
+transformed into Lady Heathercliffe by and by, and sailing away over the
+seas to bewilder the dwellers of Heathercliffe Towers, with the
+brightness of her eyes and, in spite of the Diamond Coterie, to blaze
+forth upon the 'nobility and gentry' of Hampshire, in all the splendor
+of the Wardour diamonds? All this shall come to pass, beloved; and,
+since it has gained me the fairest, bravest, truest wife in Christendom,
+I can even rejoice in the persecutions and the hatred of the Diamond
+Coterie.
+
+"If John Burrill had not mistaken me for Herbert, on the night when the
+feud began, he might now be living, perhaps, and you and I be far apart;
+so, at the last, Herbert Heathercliffe, in his grave, has done me a
+service. I do look like him, Conny, and it's small wonder Burrill knew
+me for a Heathercliffe, and made capital out of my altered name. But all
+that is past. My darling, we have learned our hard lesson, now we have
+only to forgive the dead and the erring, to forget the shadows and
+sorrows of the past, and to say, 'God bless our friends in need; God
+bless Bathurst, king of his kind; God bless the O'Mearas--God bless the
+beautiful darling who outwitted the diamond Coterie, and who wears the
+Wardour diamonds, and the Wardour honor with regal grace.'"
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Diamond Coterie, by Lawrence L. Lynch
+
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