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THE INQUEST + +V. FLORENCE LLOYD + +VI. THE GOLD BAG + +VII. YELLOW ROSES + +VIII. FURTHER INQUIRY + +IX. THE TWELFTH ROSE + +X. THE WILL + +XI. LOUIS'S STORY + +XII. LOUIS'S CONFESSION + +XIII. MISS LLOYD'S CONFIDENCE + +XIV. MR. PORTER'S VIEWS. + +XV. THE PHOTOGRAPH EXPLAINED + +XVI. A CALL ON MRS. PURVIS + +XVII. THE OWNER OF THE GOLD BAG + +XVIII. IN MR. GOODRICH'S OFFICE + +XIX. THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN + +XX. FLEMING STONE + +XXI. THE DISCLOSURE + + + + + +THE GOLD BAG + + + +I + +THE CRIME IN WEST SEDGWICK + + +Though a young detective, I am not entirely an inexperienced one, +and I have several fairly successful investigations to my credit +on the records of the Central Office. + +The Chief said to me one day: "Burroughs, if there's a mystery to +be unravelled; I'd rather put it in your hands than to trust it +to any other man on the force. + +"Because," he went on, "you go about it scientifically, and you +never jump at conclusions, or accept them, until they're +indubitably warranted." + +I declared myself duly grateful for the Chief's kind words, but I +was secretly a bit chagrined. A detective's ambition is to be, +considered capable of jumping at conclusions, only the +conclusions must always prove to be correct ones. + +But though I am an earnest and painstaking worker, though my +habits are methodical and systematic, and though I am +indefatigably patient and persevering, I can never make those +brilliant deductions from seemingly unimportant clues that +Fleming Stone can. He holds that it is nothing but observation +and logical inference, but to me it is little short of +clairvoyance. + +The smallest detail in the way of evidence immediately connotes +in his mind some important fact that is indisputable, but which +would never have occurred to me. I suppose this is largely a +natural bent of his brain, for I have not yet been able to +achieve it, either by study or experience. + +Of course I can deduce some facts, and my colleagues often say I +am rather clever at it, but they don't know Fleming Stone as well +as I do, and don't realize that by comparison with his talent +mine is insignificant. + +And so, it is both by way of entertainment, and in hope of +learning from him, that I am with him whenever possible, and +often ask him to "deduce" for me, even at risk of boring him, as, +unless he is in the right mood, my requests sometimes do. + +I met him accidentally one morning when we both chanced to go +into a basement of the Metropolis Hotel in New York to have our +shoes shined. + +It was about half-past nine, and as I like to get to my office by +ten o'clock, I looked forward to a pleasant half-hour's chat with +him. While waiting our turn to get a chair, we stood talking, +and, seeing a pair of shoes standing on a table, evidently there +to be cleaned, I said banteringly: + +"Now, I suppose, Stone, from looking at those shoes, you can +deduce all there is to know about the owner of them." + +I remember that Sherlock Holmes wrote once, "From a drop of +water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a +Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other," but +when I heard Fleming Stone's reply to my half-laughing challenge, +I felt that he had outdone the mythical logician. With a mild +twinkle in his eye, but with a perfectly grave face, he said +slowly + +"Those shoes belong to a young man, five feet eight inches high. +He does not live in New York, but is here to visit his +sweetheart. She lives in Brooklyn, is five feet nine inches +tall, and is deaf in her left ear. They went to the theatre last +night, and neither was in evening dress." + +"Oh, pshaw!" said I, "as you are acquainted with this man, and +know how he spent last evening, your relation of the story +doesn't interest me." + +"I don't know him," Stone returned; "I've no idea what his name +is, I've never seen him, and except what I can read from these +shoes I know nothing about him." + +I stared at him incredulously, as I always did when confronted by +his astonishing "deductions," and simply said + +"Tell this little Missourian all about it." + +"It did sound well, reeled off like that, didn't it?" he +observed, chuckling more at my air of eager curiosity than at his +own achievement. "But it's absurdly easy, after all. He is a +young man because his shoes are in the very latest, extreme, not +exclusive style. He is five feet eight, because the size of his +foot goes with that height of man, which, by the way, is the +height of nine out of ten men, any way. He doesn't live in New +York or he wouldn't be stopping at a hotel. Besides, he would be +down-town at this hour, attending to business." + +"Unless he has freak business hours, as you and I do," I put in. + +"Yes, that might be. But I still hold that he doesn't live in +New York, or he couldn't be staying at this Broadway hotel +overnight, and sending his shoes down to be shined at half-past +nine in the morning. His sweetheart is five feet nine, for that +is the height of a tall girl. I know she is tall, for she wears +a long skirt. Short girls wear short skirts, which make them +look shorter still, and tall girls wear very long skirts, which +make them look taller." + +"Why do they do that?" I inquired, greatly interested. + +"I don't know. You'll have to ask that of some one wiser than I. +But I know it's a fact. A girl wouldn't be considered really +tall if less than five feet nine. So I know that's her height. +She is his sweetheart, for no man would go from New York to +Brooklyn and bring a lady over here to the theatre, and then take +her home, and return to New York in the early hours of the +morning, if he were not in love with her. I know she lives in +Brooklyn, for the paper says there was a heavy shower there last +night, while I know no rain fell in New York. I know that they +were out in that rain, for her long skirt became muddy, and in +turn muddied the whole upper of his left shoe. The fact that +only the left shoe is so soiled proves that he walked only at her +right side, showing that she must be deaf in her left ear, or he +would have walked part of the time on that side. I know that +they went to the theatre in New York, because he is still +sleeping at this hour, and has sent his boots down to be cleaned, +instead of coming down with them on his feet to be shined here. +If he had been merely calling on the girl in Brooklyn, he would +have been home early, for they do not sit up late in that +borough. I know they went to the theatre, instead of to the +opera or a ball, for they did not go in a cab, otherwise her +skirt would not have become muddied. This, too, shows that she +wore a cloth skirt, and as his shoes are not patent leathers, it +is clear that neither was in evening dress." + +I didn't try to get a verification of Fleming Stone's assertions; +I didn't want any. Scores of times I had known him to make +similar deductions and in cases where we afterward learned the +facts, he was invariably correct. So, though we didn't follow up +this matter, I was sure he was right, and, even if he hadn't +been, it would not have weighed heavily against his large +proportion of proved successes. + +We separated then, as we took chairs at some distance from each +other, and, with a sigh of regret that I could never hope to go +far along the line in which Stone showed such proficiency, I +began to read my morning paper. + +Fleming Stone left the place before I did, nodding a good-by as +he passed me, and a moment after, my own foot-gear being in +proper condition, I, too, went out, and went straight to my +office. + +As I walked the short distance, my mind dwelt on Stone's +quick-witted work. Again I wished that I possessed the kind of +intelligence that makes that sort of thing so easy. Although +unusual, it is, after all, a trait of many minds, though often, +perhaps, unrecognized and undeveloped by its owner. I dare say +it lies dormant in men who have never had occasion to realize its +value. Indeed, it is of no continuous value to anyone but a +detective, and nine detectives out of ten do not possess it. + +So I walked along, envying my friend Stone his gift, and reached +my office just at ten o'clock as was my almost invariable habit. + +"Hurry up, Mr. Burroughs!" cried my office-boy, as I opened the +door. "You're wanted on the telephone." + +Though a respectful and well-mannered boy, some excitement had +made him a trifle unceremonious, and I looked at him curiously as +I took up the receiver. + +But with the first words I heard, the office-boy was forgotten, +and my own nerves received a shock as I listened to the message. +It was from the Detective Bureau with which I was connected, and +the superintendent himself was directing me to go at once to West +Sedgwick, where a terrible crime had just been discovered. + +"Killed!" I exclaimed; "Joseph Crawford?" + +"Yes; murdered in his home in West Sedgwick. The coroner +telephoned to send a detective at once and we want you to go." + +"Of course I'll go. Do you know any more details?" + +"No; only that he was shot during the night and the body found +this morning. Mr. Crawford was a big man, you know. Go right +off, Mr. Burroughs; we want you to lose no time." + +Yes; I knew Joseph Crawford by name, though not personally, and I +knew he was a big man in the business world, and his sudden death +would mean excitement in Wall Street matters. Of his home, or +home-life, I knew nothing. + +"I'll go right off," I assured the Chief, and turned away from +the telephone to find Donovan, the office-boy, already looking up +trains in a timetable. + +"Good boy, Don," said I approvingly; "what's the next train to +West Sedgwick, and how long does it take to get there?" + +"You kin s'lect the ten-twenty, Mr. Burruz, if you whirl over in +a taxi an' shoot the tunnel," said Donovan, who was rather a +graphic conversationalist. "That'll spill you out at West +Sedgwick 'bout quarter of 'leven. Was he moidered, Mr. Burruz?" + +"So they tell me, Don. His death will mean something in +financial circles." + +"Yessir. He was a big plute. Here's your time-table, Mr. +Burruz. When'll you be back?" + +"Don't know, Don. You look after things." + +"Sure! everything'll be took care of. Lemme know your orders +when you have 'em." + +By means of the taxi Don had called and the tunnel route as he +had suggested, I caught the train, satisfied that I had obeyed +the Chief's orders to lose no time. + +Lose no time indeed! I was more anxious than any one else could +possibly be to reach the scene of the crime before significant +clues were obliterated or destroyed by bungling investigators. I +had had experience with the police of suburban towns, and I well +knew their two principal types. Either they were of a pompous, +dignified demeanor, which covered a bewildered ignorance, or else +they were overzealous and worked with a misdirected energy that +made serious trouble for an intelligent detective. Of course, of +the two kinds I preferred the former, but the danger was that I +should encounter both. + +On my way I diverted my mind, and so partly forgot my impatience, +by endeavoring to "deduce" the station or occupation of my fellow +passengers. + +Opposite me in the tunnel train sat a mild-faced gentleman, and +from the general, appearance of his head and hat I concluded he +was a clergyman. I studied him unostentatiously and tried to +find some indication of the denomination he might belong to, or +the character of his congregation, but as I watched, I saw him +draw a sporting paper from his pocket, and turning his hand, a +hitherto unseen diamond flashed brilliantly from his little +finger. I hastily, revised my judgment, and turning slightly +observed the man who sat next me. Determined to draw only +logical inferences, I scrutinized his coat, that garment being +usually highly suggestive to our best regulated detectives. I +noticed that while the left sleeve was unworn and in good +condition, the right sleeve was frayed at the inside edge, and +excessively smooth and shiny on the inner forearm. Also the top +button of the coat was very much worn, and the next one slightly. + +"A-ha!" said I to myself, "I've nailed you, my friend. You're a +desk-clerk, and you write all day long, standing at a desk. The +worn top button rubs against your desk as you stand, which it +would not do were you seated." + +With a pardonable curiosity to learn if I were right, I opened +conversation with the young man. He was not unwilling to +respond, and after a few questions I learned, to my chagrin, that +he was a photographer. Alas for my deductions! But surely, +Fleming Stone himself would not have guessed a photographer from +a worn and shiny coat-sleeve. At the risk of being rudely +personal, I made some reference to fashions in coats. The young +man smiled and remarked incidentally, that owing to certain +circumstances he was at the moment wearing his brother's coat. + +"And is your brother a desk clerk?" inquired I almost +involuntarily: + +He gave me a surprised glance, but answered courteously enough, +"Yes;" and the conversation flagged. + +Exultantly I thought that my deduction, though rather an obvious +one, was right; but after another furtive glance at the young +man, I realized that Stone would have known he was wearing +another's coat, for it was the most glaring misfit in every way. + +Once more I tried, and directed my attention to a middle-aged, +angular-looking woman, whose strong, sharp-featured face +betokened a prim spinster, probably at the head of a girls' +school, or engaged in some clerical work. However, as I passed +her on my way to leave the train I noticed a wedding-ring on her +hand, and heard her say to her companion, "No; I think a woman's +sphere is in her own kitchen and nursery. How could I think +otherwise, with my six children to bring up?" After these +lamentable failures, I determined not to trust much to deduction +in the case I was about to investigate, but to learn actual facts +from actual evidence. + +I reached West Sedgwick, as Donovan had said, at quarter before +eleven. Though I had never been there before, the place looked +quite as I had imagined it. The railway station was one of those +modern attractive structures of rough gray stone, with +picturesque projecting roof and broad, clean platforms. A flight +of stone steps led down to the roadway, and the landscape in +every direction showed the well-kept roads, the well-grown trees +and the carefully-tended estates of a town of suburban homes. +The citizens were doubtless mainly men whose business was in New +York, but who preferred not to live there. + +The superintendent must have apprised the coroner by telephone of +my immediate arrival, for a village cart from the Crawford +establishment was awaiting me, and a smart groom approached and +asked if I were Mr. Herbert Burroughs. + +A little disappointed at having no more desirable companion on my +way to the house, I climbed up beside the driver, and the groom +solemnly took his place behind. Not curiosity, but a justifiable +desire to learn the main facts of the case as soon as possible, +led me to question the man beside me. + +I glanced at him first and saw only the usual blank countenance +of the well-trained coachman. + +His face was intelligent, and his eyes alert, but his impassive +expression showed his habit of controlling any indication of +interest in people or things. + +I felt there would be difficulty in ingratiating myself at all, +but I felt sure that subterfuge would not help me, so I spoke +directly. + +"You are the coachman of the late Mr. Crawford?" + +"Yes, sir." + +I hadn't really expected more than this in words, but his tone +was so decidedly uninviting of further conversation that I almost +concluded to say nothing more. But the drive promised to be a +fairly long one, so I made another effort. + +"As the detective on this case, I wish to hear the story of it as +soon as I can. Perhaps you can give me a brief outline of what +happened." + +It was perhaps my straightforward manner, and my quite apparent +assumption of his intelligence, that made the man relax a little +and reply in a more conversational tone. + +"We're forbidden to chatter, sir," he said, "but, bein' as you're +the detective, I s'pose there's no harm. But it's little we +know, after all. The master was well and sound last evenin', and +this mornin' he was found dead in his own office-chair." + +"You mean a private office in his home?" + +"Yes, sir. Mr. Crawford went to his office in New York 'most +every day, but days when he didn't go, and evenin's and Sundays, +he was much in his office at home, sir." + +"Who discovered the tragedy?" + +"I don't rightly know, sir, if it was Louis, his valet, or +Lambert, the butler, but it was one or t'other, sir." + +"Or both together?" I suggested. + +"Yes, sir; or both together." + +"Is any one suspected of the crime?" + +The man hesitated a moment, and looked as if uncertain what to +reply, then, as he set his jaw squarely, he said: + +"Not as I knows on, sir." + +"Tell me something of the town," I observed next, feeling that it +was better to ask no more vital questions of a servant. + +We were driving along streets of great beauty. Large and +handsome dwellings, each set in the midst of extensive and +finely-kept grounds, met the view on either aide. Elaborate +entrances opened the way to wide sweeps of driveway circling +green velvety lawns adorned with occasional shrubs or +flower-beds. The avenues were wide, and bordered with trees +carefully set out and properly trimmed. The streets were in fine +condition, and everything betokened a community, not only +wealthy, but intelligent and public-spirited. Surely West +Sedgwick was a delightful location for the homes of wealthy New +York business men. + +"Well, sir," said the coachman, with unconcealed pride, "Mr. +Crawford was the head of everything in the place. His is the +handsomest house and the grandest grounds. Everybody respected +him and looked up to him. He hadn't an enemy in the world." + +This was an opening for further conjecture as to the murderer, +and I said: "But the man who killed him must have been his +enemy." + +"Yes, sir; but I mean no enemy that anybody knew of. It must +have been some burglar or intruder." + +Though I wanted to learn such facts as the coachman might know, +his opinions did not interest me, and I again turned my attention +to the beautiful residences we were passing. + +"That place over there," the man went on, pointing with his whip, +"is Mr. Philip Crawford's house--the brother of my master, sir. +Them red towers, sticking up through the trees, is the house of +Mr. Lemuel Porter, a great friend of both the Crawford brothers. +Next, on the left, is the home of Horace Hamilton, the great +electrician. Oh, Sedgwick is full of well-known men, sir, but +Joseph Crawford was king of this town. Nobody'll deny that." + +I knew of Mr. Crawford's high standing in the city, and now, +learning of his local preeminence, I began to think I was about +to engage in what would probably be a very important case. + + + + +II + +THE CRAWFORD HOUSE + + +"Here we are, sir," said the driver, as we turned in at a fine +stone gateway. "This is the Joseph Crawford place." + +He spoke with a sort of reverent pride, and I afterward learned +that his devotion to his late master was truly exceptional. + +This probably prejudiced him in favor of the Crawford place and +all its appurtenances, for, to me, the estate was not so +magnificent as some of the others we had passed. And yet, though +not so large, I soon realized that every detail of art or +architecture was perfect in its way, and that it was really a gem +of a country home to which I had been brought. + +We drove along a curving road to the house, passing well-arranged +flower beds, and many valuable trees and shrubs. Reaching the +porte cochere the driver stopped, and the groom sprang down to +hand me out. + +As might be expected, many people were about. Men stood talking +in groups on the veranda, while messengers were seen hastily +coming or going through the open front doors. + +A waiting servant in the hall at once ushered me into a large +room. + +The effect of the interior of the house impressed me pleasantly. +As I passed through the wide hall and into the drawing-room, I +was conscious of an atmosphere of wealth tempered by good taste +and judgment. + +The drawing-room was elaborate, though not ostentatious, and +seemed well adapted as a social setting for Joseph Crawford and +his family. It should have been inhabited by men and women in +gala dress and with smiling society manners. + +It was therefore a jarring note when I perceived its only +occupant to be a commonplace looking man, in an ill-cut and +ill-fitting business suit. He came forward to greet me, and his +manner was a trifle pompous as he announced, "My name is Monroe, +and I am the coroner. You, I think, are Mr. Burroughs, from New +York." + +It was probably not intentional, and may have been my +imagination, but his tone seemed to me amusingly patronizing. + +"Yes, I am Mr. Burroughs," I said, and I looked at Mr. Monroe +with what I hoped was an expression that would assure him that +our stations were at least equal. + +I fear I impressed him but slightly, for he went on to tell me +that he knew of my reputation as a clever detective, and had +especially desired my attendance on this case. This sentiment +was well enough, but he still kept up his air and tone of +patronage, which however amused more than irritated me. + +I knew the man by hearsay, though we had never met before; and I +knew that he was of a nature to be pleased with his own +prominence as coroner, especially in the case of so important a +man as Joseph Crawford. + +So I made allowance for this harmless conceit on his part, and +was even willing to cater to it a little by way of pleasing him. +He seemed to me a man, honest, but slow of thought; rather +practical and serious, and though overvaluing his own importance, +yet not opinionated or stubborn. + +"Mr. Burroughs," he said, "I'm very glad you could get here so +promptly; for the case seems to me a mysterious one, and the +value of immediate investigation cannot be overestimated." + +"I quite agree with you," I returned. "And now will you tell me +the principal facts, as you know them, or will you depute some +one else to do so?" + +"I am even now getting a jury together," he said, "and so you +will be able to hear all that the witnesses may say in their +presence. In the meantime, if you wish to visit the scene of the +crime, Mr. Parmalee will take you there." + +At the sound of his name, Mr. Parmalee stepped forward and was +introduced to me. He proved to be a local detective, a young man +who always attended Coroner Monroe on occasions like the present; +but who, owing to the rarity of such occasions in West Sedgwick, +had had little experience in criminal investigation. + +He was a young man of the type often seen among Americans. He +was very fair, with a pink complexion, thin, yellow hair and weak +eyes. His manner was nervously alert, and though he often began +to speak with an air of positiveness, he frequently seemed to +weaken, and wound up his sentences in a floundering uncertainty. + +He seemed to be in no way jealous of my presence there, and +indeed spoke to me with an air of comradeship. + +Doubtless I was unreasonable, but I secretly resented this. +However I did not show my resentment and endeavored to treat Mr. +Parmalee as a friend and co-worker. + +The coroner had left us together, and we stood in the +drawing-room, talking, or rather he talked and I listened. Upon +acquaintance he seemed to grow more attractive. He was impulsive +and jumped at conclusions, but he seemed to have ideas, though +they were rarely definitely expressed. + +He told me as much as he knew of the details of the affair and +proposed that we go directly to the scene of the crime. + +As this was what I was impatient to do, I consented. + +"You see, it's this way," he said, in a confidential whisper, as +we traversed the long hall: "there is no doubt in any one's mind +as to who committed the murder, but no name has been mentioned +yet, and nobody wants to be the first to say that name. It'll +come out at the inquest, of course, and then--" + +"But," I interrupted, "if the identity of the murderer is so +certain, why did they send for me in such haste?" + +"Oh, that was the coroner's doing. He's a bit inclined to the +spectacular, is Monroe, and he wants to make the whole affair as +important as possible." + +"But surely, Mr. Parmalee, if you are certain of the criminal it +is very absurd for me to take up the case at all." + +"Oh, well, Mr. Burroughs, as I say, no name has been spoken yet. +And, too, a big case like this ought to have a city detective on +it. Even if you only corroborate what we all feel sure of, it +will prove to the public mind that it must be so." + +"Tell me then, who is your suspect?" + +"Oh, no, since you are here you had better investigate with an +unprejudiced mind. Though you cannot help arriving at the +inevitable conclusion." + +We had now reached a closed door, and, at Mr. Parmalee's tap, +were admitted by the inspector who was in charge of the room. + +It was a beautiful apartment, far too rich and elaborate to be +designated by the name of "office," as it was called by every one +who spoke of it; though of course it was Mr. Crawford's office, +as was shown by the immense table-desk of dark mahogany, and all +the other paraphernalia of a banker's work-room, from ticker to +typewriter. + +But the decorations of walls and ceilings, the stained glass of +the windows, the pictures, rugs, and vases, all betokened +luxurious tastes that are rarely indulged in office furnishings. +The room was flooded with sunlight. Long French windows gave +access to a side veranda, which in turn led down to a beautiful +terrace and formal garden. But all these things were seen only +in a hurried glance, and then my eyes fell on the tragic figure +in the desk chair. + +The body had not been moved, and would not be until after the +jury had seen it, and though a ghastly sight, because of a +bullet-hole in the left temple, otherwise it looked much as Mr. +Crawford must have looked in life. + +A handsome man, of large physique and strong, stern face, he must +have been surprised, and killed instantly; for surely, given the +chance, he would have lacked neither courage nor strength to +grapple with an assailant. + +I felt a deep impulse of sympathy for that splendid specimen of +humanity, taken unawares, without having been given a moment in +which to fight for his life, and yet presumably seeing his +murderer, as he seemed to have been shot directly from the front. + +As I looked at that noble face, serene and dignified in its death +pallor, I felt glad that my profession was such as might lead to +the avenging of such a detestable crime. + +And suddenly I had a revulsion of feeling against such petty +methods as deductions from trifling clues. + +Moreover I remembered my totally mistaken deductions of that very +morning. Let other detectives learn the truth by such claptrap +means if they choose. This case was too large and too serious to +be allowed to depend on surmises so liable to be mistaken. No, I +would search for real evidence, human testimony, reliable +witnesses, and so thorough, systematic, and persevering should my +search be, that I would finally meet with success. + +"Here's the clue," said Parmelee's voice, as he grasped my arm +and turned me in another direction. + +He pointed to a glittering article on the large desk. + +It was a woman's purse, or bag, of the sort known as "gold-mesh." +Perhaps six inches square, it bulged as if overcrowded with some +feminine paraphernalia. + +"It's Miss Lloyd's," went on Parmalee. "She lives here, you know +--Mr. Crawford's niece. She's lived here for years and years." + +"And you suspect her?" I said, horrified. + +"Well, you see, she's engaged to Gregory Hall he's Mr. Crawford's +secretary--and Mr. Crawford didn't approve of the match; and so--" + +He shrugged his shoulders in a careless fashion, as if for a +woman to shoot her uncle were an everyday affair. + +But I was shocked and incredulous, and said so. + +"Where is Miss Lloyd?" I asked. "Does she claim ownership of +this gold bag?" + +"No; of course not," returned Parmalee. "She's no fool, Florence +Lloyd isn't! She's locked in her room and won't come out. Been +there all the morning. Her maid says this isn't Miss Lloyd's +bag, but of course she'd say that." + +"Well, that question ought to be easily settled. What's in the +bag?" + +"Look for yourself. Monroe and I ran through the stuff, but +there's nothing to say for sure whose bag it is." + +I opened the pretty bauble, and let the contents fall out on the +desk. + +A crumpled handkerchief, a pair of white kid gloves, a little +trinket known as a "vanity case," containing a tiny mirror and a +tinier powder puff; a couple of small hair-pins, a newspaper +clipping, and a few silver coins were all that rewarded my +trouble. + +Nothing definite, indeed, and yet I knew if Fleming Stone could +look at the little heap of feminine belongings, he would at once +tell the fair owner's age, height, and weight, if not her name +and address. + +I had only recently assured myself that such deductions were of +little or no use, and yet, I could not help minutely examining +the pretty trifles lying on the desk. I scrutinized the +handkerchief for a monogram or an initial, but it had none. It +was dainty, plain and fine, of sheer linen, with a narrow hem. +To me it indicated an owner of a refined, feminine type, and +absolutely nothing more. I couldn't help thinking that even +Fleming Stone could not infer any personal characteristics of the +lady from that blank square of linen. + +The vanity case I knew to be a fad of fashionable women, and had +that been monogrammed, it might have proved a clue. But, though +pretty, it was evidently not of any great value, and was merely +such a trifle as the average woman would carry about. + +And yet I felt exasperated that with so many articles to study, I +could learn nothing of the individual to whom they belonged. The +gloves were hopeless. Of a good quality and a medium size, they +seemed to tell me nothing. They were but slightly soiled, and +apparently might have been worn once or twice. They had never +been cleaned, as the inside showed no scrawled hieroglyphics. +But all of these conclusions pointed nowhere save to the average +well-groomed American woman. + +The hair-pins and the silver money were equally bare of +suggestion, but I hopefully picked up the bit of newspaper. + +"Surely this newspaper clipping must throw some light," I mused, +but it proved to be only the address of a dyeing and cleaning +establishment in New York City. + +"This is being taken care of?" I said, and the burly inspector, +who up to now had not spoken, said: + +"Yes, sir! Nobody touches a thing in this: room while I'm here. +You, sir, are of course an exception, but no one else is allowed +to meddle with anything." + +This reminded me that as the detective in charge of this case, it +was my privilege--indeed, my duty--to examine the papers and +personal effects that were all about, in an effort to gather +clues for future use. + +I was ignorant of many important details, and turned to Parmelee +for information. + +That young man however, though voluble, was, inclined to talk on +only one subject, the suspected criminal, Miss Florence Lloyd. + +"You see, it must be her bag. Because who else could have left +it here? Mrs. Pierce, the only other lady in the house, doesn't +carry a youngish bag like that. She'd have a black leather bag, +more likely, or a -- or a --" + +"Well, it really doesn't matter what kind of a bag Mrs. Pierce +would carry," said I, a little impatiently; "the thing is to +prove whether this is Miss Lloyd's bag or not. And as it is +certainly not a matter of conjecture, but a matter of fact, I +think we may leave it for the present, and turn our attention to +other matters." + +I could see that Parmalee was disappointed that I had made no +startling deductions from my study of the bag and its contents, +and, partly owing to my own chagrin at this state of affairs, I +pretended to consider the bag of little consequence, and turned +hopefully to an investigation of the room. + +The right-hand upper drawer of the double-pedestalled desk was +open. Seemingly, Mr. Crawford had been engaged with its contents +during the latter moments of his life. + +At a glance, I saw the drawer contained exceedingly valuable and +important papers. + +With an air of authority, intentionally exaggerated for the +purpose of impressing Parmalee, I closed the drawer, and locked +it with the key already in the keyhole. + +This key was one of several on a key-ring, and, taking it from +its place, I dropped the whole bunch in my pocket. This action +at once put me in my rightful place. The two men watching me +unconsciously assumed a more deferential air, and, though they +said nothing, I could see that their respect for my authority had +increased. + +Strangely enough, after this episode, a new confidence in my own +powers took possession of me, and, shaking off the apathy that +had come over me at sight of that dread figure in the chair, I +set methodically to work to examine the room. + +Of course I noted the position of the furniture, the state of the +window-fastenings, and such things in a few moments. The many +filing cabinets and indexed boxes, I glanced at, and locked those +that had keys or fastenings. + +The inspector sat with folded hands watching me with interest but +saying nothing. Parmalee, on the other hand, kept up a running +conversation, sometimes remarking lightly on my actions, and +again returning to the subject of Miss Lloyd. + +"I can see," he said, "that you naturally dislike to suspect a +woman, and a young woman too. But you don't know Miss Lloyd. +She is haughty and wilful. And as I told you, nobody has +mentioned her yet in this connection. But I am speaking to you +alone, and I have no reason to mince matters. And you know +Florence Lloyd is not of the Crawford stock. The Crawfords are a +fine old family, and not one of them could be capable of crime. +But Miss Lloyd is on the other side of the house, a niece of Mrs. +Crawford; and I've heard that the Lloyd stock is not all that +could be desired. There is a great deal in heredity, and she may +not be responsible . . ." + +I paid little attention to Parmalee's talk, which was thrown at +me in jerky, desultory sentences, and interested me not at all. +I went on with my work of investigation, and though I did not get +down on my knees and examine every square inch of the carpet with +a lens, yet I thoroughly examined all of the contents of the +room. I regret to say, however, that I found nothing that seemed +to be a clue to the murderer. + +Stepping out on the veranda, I looked for footprints. The "light +snow" usually so helpful to a detective had not fallen, as it was +April, and rather warm for the season. But I found many heel +marks, apparently of men's boots; yet they were not necessarily +of very recent date, and I don't think much of foot-print clues, +anyhow. + +Then I examined the carpet, or, rather, the several rugs which +ornamented the beautiful polished floor. + +I found nothing but two petals of a pale yellow rose. They were +crumpled, but not dry or withered, and could not have been long +detached from the blossom on which they grew. + +Parmalee chanced to have his back toward me as I spied them, and +I picked them up and put them away in my pocket-book without his +knowledge. If the stolid inspector saw me, he made no sign. +Indeed, I think he would have said nothing if I had carried off +the big desk itself. I looked round the room for a bouquet or +vase of flowers from which the petals might have fallen, but none +was there. + +This far I had progressed when I heard steps in the hall, and a +moment later the coroner ushered the six gentlemen of his jury +into the room. + + + + +III + +THE CORONER'S JURY + + +It was just as the men came in at the door, that I chanced to +notice a newspaper that lay on a small table. I picked it up +with an apparent air of carelessness, and, watching my chance, +unobserved by Parmalee, I put the paper away in a drawer, which I +locked. + +The six men, whom Coroner Monroe named over to me, by way of a +brief introduction, stepped silently as they filed past the body +of their late friend and neighbor. + +For the jurymen had been gathered hastily from among the citizens +of West Sedgwick who chanced to be passing; and as it was after +eleven o'clock, they were, for the most part, men of leisure, and +occupants of the handsome homes in the vicinity. + +Probably none of them had ever before been called to act on a +coroner's jury, and all seemed impressed with the awfulness of +the crime, as well as imbued with a personal sense of sorrow. + +Two of the jurors had been mentioned to me by name, by the +coachman who brought me from the station. Horace Hamilton and +Lemuel Porter were near-by neighbors of the murdered man, and; I +judged from their remarks, were rather better acquainted with him +than were the others. + +Mr. Hamilton was of the short, stout, bald-headed type, sometimes +called aldermanic. It was plainly to be seen that his was a +jocund nature, and the awe which he felt in this dreadful +presence of death, though clearly shown on his rubicund face, was +evidently a rare emotion with him. He glanced round the room as +if expecting to see everything there materially changed, and +though he looked toward the figure of Mr. Crawford now and then, +it was with difficulty, and he averted his eyes as quickly as +possible. He was distinctly nervous, and though he listened to +the remarks of Coroner Monroe and the other jurors, he seemed +impatient to get away. + +Mr. Porter, in appearance, was almost the exact reverse of Mr. +Hamilton. He was a middle-aged man with the iron gray hair and +piercing dark eyes that go to make up what is perhaps the +handsomest type of Americans. He was a tall man, strong, lean +and sinewy, with a bearing of dignity and decision. Both these +men were well-dressed to the point of affluence, and, as near +neighbor and intimate friends of the dead man, they seemed to +prefer to stand together and a little apart from the rest. + +Three more of the jurors seemed to me not especially noticeable +in any way. They looked as one would expect property owners in +West Sedgwick to look. They listened attentively to what Mr. +Monroe said, asked few or no questions, and seemed appalled at +the unusual task they had before them. + +Only one juror impressed me unpleasantly. That was Mr. Orville, +a youngish man, who seemed rather elated at the position in which +he found himself. He fingered nearly everything on the desk; he +peered carefully into the face of the victim of the crime, and he +somewhat ostentatiously made notes in a small Russia leather +memorandum book. + +He spoke often to the coroner, saying things which seemed to me +impertinent, such as, "Have you noticed the blotter, Mr. Coroner? +Very often, you know, much may be learned from the blotter on a +man's desk." + +As the large blotter in question was by no means fresh, indeed +was thickly covered with ink impressions, and as there was +nothing to indicate that Mr. Crawford had been engaged in writing +immediately before his death, Mr. Orville's suggestion was +somewhat irrelevant. And, too, the jurors were not detectives +seeking clues, but were now merely learning the known facts. + +However, Mr. Orville fussed around, even looking into the +wastebasket, and turning up a corner of a large rug as if +ferreting for evidence. + +The others exhibited no such minute curiosity, and, after a few +moments, they followed the coroner out of the room. + +Then the doctor and his assistants came to take the body away, +and I went in search of Coroner Monroe, eager for further +information concerning the case, of which I really, as yet, knew +but little. + +Parmalee went with me and we found Mr. Monroe in the library, +quite ready to talk with us. + +"Mr. Orville seems to possess the detective instinct himself," +observed Mr. Parmalee, with what seemed like a note of jealousy +in his tone. + +"The true detective mind," returned Mr. Monroe, with his slow +pomposity, "is not dependent on instinct or intuition." + +"Oh, I think it is largely dependent on that," I said, "or where +does it differ from the ordinary inquiring mind?" + +"I'm sure you will agree with me, Mr. Burroughs," the coroner +went on, almost as if I had not spoken, "that it depends upon a +nicely adjusted mentality that is quick to see the cause back of +an effect." + +To me this seemed a fair definition of intuition, but there was +something in the unctuous roll of Mr. Monroe's words that made me +positive he was quoting his somewhat erudite speech, and had not +himself a perfectly clear comprehension of its meaning. + +"It's guessing," declared Parmalee, "that's all it is, guessing. +If you guess right, you're a famous detective; if you guess +wrong, you're a dub. That's all there is about it." + +"No, no, Mr. Parmalee,"--and Mr. Monroe slowly shook his finger +at the rash youth--"what you call guessing is really divination. +Yes, my dear sir, it is actual divination." + +"To my mind," I put in, "detective divination is merely minute +observation. But why do we quibble over words and definitions +when there is much work to be done? When is the formal inquest +to be held, Mr. Monroe?" + +"This afternoon at two o'clock," he replied. + +"Then I'll go away now," I said, "for I must find an abiding +place for myself in West Sedgwick. There is an inn, I suppose." + +"They'll probably ask you to stay here," observed Coroner Monroe, +"but I advise you not to do so. I think you'll be freer and less +hampered in your work if you go to the inn." + +"I quite agree with you," I replied. "But I see little chance of +being invited to stay here. Where is the family? Who are in +it?" + +"Not many. There is Miss Florence Lloyd, a niece of Mr. +Crawford. That is, she is the niece of his wife. Mrs. Crawford +has been dead many years, and Miss Lloyd has kept house for her +uncle all that time. Then there is Mrs. Pierce, an elderly lady +and a distant relative of Mr. Crawford's. That is all, except +the secretary, Gregory Hall, who lives here much of the time. +That is, he has a room here, but often he is in New York or +elsewhere on Mr. Crawford's business." + +"Mr. Crawford had an office both here and in New York?" I asked. + +"Yes; and of late years he has stayed at home as much as +possible. He went to New York only about three or four days in +the week, and conducted his business from here the rest of the +time. Young Hall is a clever fellow, and has been Mr. Crawford's +righthand man for years." + +"Where is he now?" + +"We think he's in New York, but haven't yet been able to locate +him at Mr. Crawford's office there, or at his club. He is +engaged to Miss Lloyd, though I understand that the engagement is +contrary to Mr. Crawford's wishes." + +"And where is Miss Lloyd,--and Mrs. Pierce?" + +"They are both in their rooms. Mrs. Pierce is prostrated at the +tragedy, and Miss Lloyd simply refuses to make her appearance." + +"But she'll have to attend the inquest?" + +"Oh, yes, of course. She'll be with us then. I think I won't +say anything about her to you, as I'd rather you'd see her first +with entirely unprejudiced eyes." + +"So you, too, think Miss Lloyd is implicated?" + +"I don't think anything about it, Mr. Burroughs. As coroner it +is not my place to think along such lines." + +"Well, everybody else thinks so," broke in Parmalee. "And why? +Because there's no one else for suspicion to light on. No one +else who by any possibility could have done the deed." + +"Oh, come now, Mr. Parmalee," said I, "there must be others. +They may not yet have come to our notice, but surely you must +admit an intruder could have come into the room by way of those +long, open windows." + +"These speculations are useless, gentlemen," said Mr. Monroe, +with his usual air of settling the matter. "Cease then, I beg, +or at least postpone them. If you are walking down the avenue, +Mr. Parmalee, perhaps you'll be good enough to conduct Mr. +Burroughs to the Sedgwick Arms, where he doubtless can find +comfortable accommodations." + +I thanked Mr. Monroe for the suggestion, but said, +straightforwardly enough, that I was not yet quite ready to leave +the Crawford house, but that I would not detain Mr. Parmalee, for +I could myself find my way to the inn, having noticed it on my +drive from the train. + +So Parmalee went away, and I was about to return to Mr. +Crawford's office where I hoped to pursue a little uninterrupted +investigation. + +But Mr. Monroe detained me a moment, to present me to a tall, +fine-looking man who had just come in. + +He proved to be Philip Crawford, a brother of Joseph, and I at +once observed a strong resemblance between their two faces. + +"I am glad to meet you, Mr. Burroughs," he said. "Mr. Monroe +tells me you are a clever and experienced detective, and I trust +you can help us to avenge this dastardly crime. I am busy with +some important matters just now, but later I shall be glad to +confer with you, and be of any help I can in your investigation." + +I looked at Mr. Philip Crawford curiously. Of course I didn't +expect him to give way to emotional grief, but it jarred on me to +hear him refer to his brother's tragic death in such cold tones, +and with such a businesslike demeanor. + +However, I realized I did not know the man at all, and this +attitude might be due to his effort in concealing his real +feelings. + +He looked very like his brother Joseph, and I gathered from the +appearance of both men, and the manner of Philip, that the +Crawford nature was one of repression and self-control. +Moreover, I knew nothing of the sentiments of the two brothers, +and it might easily be that they were not entirely in sympathy. + +I thanked him for his offer of help, and then as he volunteered +no further observations, I excused myself and proceeded alone to +the library. + +As I entered the great room and closed the door behind me, I was +again impressed by the beauty and luxury of the appointments. +Surely Joseph Crawford must have been a man of fine calibre and +refined tastes to enjoy working in such an atmosphere. But I had +only two short hours before the inquest, and I had many things to +do, so for the moment I set myself assiduously to work examining +the room again. As in my first examination, I did no microscopic +scrutinizing; but I looked over the papers on and in the desk, I +noted conditions in the desk of Mr. Hall, the secretary, and I +paid special attention to the position of the furniture and +windows, my thoughts all directed to an intruder from outside on +Mr. Crawford's midnight solitude. + +I stepped through the long French window on to the veranda, and +after a thorough examination of the veranda, I went on down the +steps to the gravel walk. Against a small rosebush, just off the +walk, I saw a small slip of pink paper. I picked it up, hardly +daring to hope it might be a clue, and I saw it was a trolley +transfer, whose punched holes indicated that it had been issued +the evening before. It might or might not be important as +evidence, but I put it carefully away in my note-book for later +consideration. + +Returning to the library I took the newspaper which I had earlier +discovered from the drawer where I had hidden it, and after one +more swift but careful glance round the room, I went away, +confident that I had not done my work carelessly. + +I left the Crawford house and walked along the beautiful avenue +to the somewhat pretentious inn bearing the name of Sedgwick +Arms. + +Here, as I had been led to believe, I found pleasant, even +luxurious accommodations. The landlord of the inn was smiling +and pleasant, although landlord seems an old-fashioned term to +apply to the very modern and up-to-date man who received me. + +His name was Carstairs, and he had the genial, perceptive manner +of a man about town. + +"Dastardly shame!" he exclaimed, after he had assured himself of +my identity. "Joseph Crawford was one of our best citizens, one +of our finest men. He hadn't an enemy in the world, my dear Mr. +Burroughs--not an enemy! generous, kindly nature, affable and +friendly with all." + +"But I understand he frowned on his ward's love affair, Mr. +Carstairs." + +"Yes; yes, indeed. And who wouldn't? Young Hall is no fit mate +for Florence Lloyd. He's a fortune-hunter. I know the man, and +his only ambition is the aggrandizement of his own precious +self." + +"Then you don't consider Miss Lloyd concerned in this crime?" + +"Concerned in crime? Florence Lloyd! why, man, you must be +crazy! The idea is unthinkable!" + +I was sorry I had spoken, but I remembered too late that the +suspicions which pointed toward Miss Lloyd were probably known +only to those who had been in the Crawford house that morning. +As for the townspeople in general, though they knew of the +tragedy, they knew very little of its details. + +I hastened to assure Mr. Carstairs that I had never seen Miss +Lloyd, that I had formed no opinions whatever, and that I was +merely repeating what were probably vague and erroneous +suspicions of mistakenly-minded people. + +At last, behind my locked door, I took from my pocket the +newspaper I had brought from Mr. Crawford's office. + +It seemed to me important, from the fact that it was an extra, +published late the night before. + +An Atlantic liner had met with a serious accident, and an extra +had been hastily put forth by one of the most enterprising of our +evening papers. I, myself, had bought one of these extras, about +midnight; and the finding of a copy in the office of the murdered +man might prove a clue to the criminal. + +I then examined carefully the transfer slip I had picked up on +the Crawford lawn. It had been issued after nine o'clock the +evening before. This seemed to me to prove that the holder of +that transfer must have been on the Crawford property and near +the library veranda late last night, and it seemed to me that +this was plain common-sense reasoning, and not mere intuition or +divination. The transfer might have a simple and innocent +explanation, but until I could learn of that, I should hold it +carefully as a possible clue. + + + + +IV + +THE INQUEST + + +Shortly before two o'clock I was back at the Crawford house and +found the large library, where the inquest was to be held, +already well filled with people. I took an inconspicuous seat, +and turned my attention first to the group that comprised, +without a doubt, the members of Mr. Crawford's household. + +Miss Lloyd--for I knew at a glance the black-robed young woman +must be she--was of a striking personality. Tall, large, +handsome, she could have posed as a model for Judith, Zenobia, or +any of the great and powerful feminine characters in history. I +was impressed not so much by her beauty as by her effect of power +and ability. I had absolutely no reason, save Parmalee's +babblings, to suspect this woman of crime, but I could not rid +myself of a conviction that she had every appearance of being +capable of it. + +Yet her face was full of contradictions. The dark eyes were +haughty, even imperious; but the red, curved mouth had a tender +expression, and the chin, though firm and decided-looking, yet +gave an impression of gentleness. + +On the whole, she fascinated me by the very mystery of her charm, +and I found my eyes involuntarily returning again and again to +that beautiful face. + +She was dressed in a black, trailing gown of material which I +think is called China crepe. It fell around her in soft waving +folds and lay in little billows on the floor. Her dark hair was +dressed high on her head, and seemed to form a sort of crown +which well suited her regal type. She held her head high, and +the uplift of her chin seemed to be a natural characteristic. + +Good birth and breeding spoke in every phase of her personality, +and in her every movement and gesture. I remembered Parmalee's +hint of unworthy ancestors, and cast it aside as impossible of +belief. She spoke seldom, but occasionally turned to the lady at +her side with a few murmured words that were indubitably those of +comfort or encouragement. + +Her companion, a gray-haired, elderly lady, was, of course, Mrs. +Pierce. She was trembling with the excitement of the occasion, +and seemed to depend on Florence Lloyd's strong personality and +affectionate sympathy to keep her from utter collapse. + +Mrs. Pierce was of the old school of gentlewomen. Her quiet, +black gown with its crepe trimmings, gave, even to my masculine +eye an effect of correct and fashionable, yet quiet and +unostentatious mourning garb. + +She had what seemed to me a puzzling face. It did not suggest +strength of character, for the soft old cheeks and quivering lips +indicated no strong self-control, and yet from her sharp, dark +eyes she now and again darted glances that were unmistakably +those of a keen and positive personality. + +I concluded that hers was a strong nature, but shaken to its +foundation by the present tragedy. There was, without doubt, a +great affection existing between her and Miss Lloyd, and yet I +felt that they were not in each other's complete confidence. + +Though, for that matter, I felt intuitively that few people +possessed the complete confidence of Florence Lloyd. Surely she +was a wonderful creature, and as I again allowed myself to gaze +on her beautiful face I was equally convinced of the possibility +of her committing a crime and the improbability of her doing so. + +Near these two sat a young man who, I was told, was Gregory Hall, +the secretary. He had been reached by telephone, and had come +out from New York, arriving shortly after I had left the Crawford +house. + +Mr. Hall was what may be termed the average type of young +American citizens. He was fairly good-looking, fairly +well-groomed, and so far as I could judge from his demeanor, +fairly well-bred. His dark hair was commonplace, and parted on +the side, while his small, carefully arranged mustache was +commonplace also. He looked exactly what he was, the trusted +secretary of a financial magnate, and he seemed to me a man whose +dress, manner, and speech would always be made appropriate to the +occasion or situation. In fact, so thoroughly did he exhibit +just such a demeanor as suited a confidential secretary at the +inquest of his murdered employer, that I involuntarily thought +what a fine undertaker he would have made. For, in my +experience, no class of men so perfectly adapt themselves to +varying atmospheres as undertakers. + +Philip Crawford and his son, an athletic looking young chap, were +also in this group. Young Crawford inherited to a degree the +fine appearance of his father and uncle, and bade fair to become +the same kind of a first-class American citizen as they. + +Behind these people, the ones most nearly interested in the +procedure, were gathered the several servants of the house. + +Lambert, the butler, was first interviewed. + +The man was a somewhat pompous, middle-aged Englishman, and +though of stolid appearance, his face showed what might perhaps +be described as an intelligent stupidity. + +After a few formal questions as to his position in the household, +the coroner asked him to tell his own story of the early morning. + +In a more clear and concise way than I should have thought the +man capable of, he detailed his discovery of his master's body. + +"I came down-stairs at seven this morning," he said, "as I always +do. I opened the house, I saw the cook a few moments about +matters pertaining to breakfast, and I attended to my usual +duties. At about half-past seven I went to Mr. Crawford's +office, to set it in order for the day, and as I opened the door +I saw him sitting in his chair. At first I thought he'd dropped +asleep there, and been there all night, then in a moment I saw +what had happened." + +"Well, what did you do next?" asked the coroner, as the man +paused. + +"I went in search of Louis, Mr. Crawford's valet. He was just +coming down the stairs. He looked surprised, for he said Mr. +Crawford was not in his room, and his bed hadn't been slept in." + +"Did he seem alarmed?" + +"No, sir. Not knowing what I knew, he didn't seemed alarmed. +But he seemed agitated, for of course it was most unusual not +finding Mr. Crawford in his own room." + +"How did Louis show his agitation?" broke in Mr. Orville. + +"Well, sir, perhaps he wasn't to say agitated,--he looked more +blank, yes, as you might say, blank." + +"Was he trembling?" persisted Mr. Orville, "was he pale?" and the +coroner frowned slightly at this juror's repeated +inquisitiveness. + +"Louis is always pale," returned the butler, seeming to make an +effort to speak the exact truth. + +"Then of course you couldn't judge of his knowledge of the +matter," Mr. Orville said, with an air of one saying something of +importance. + +"He had no knowledge of the matter, if you mean Mr. Crawford's +death," said Lambert, looking disturbed and a little bewildered. + +"Tell your own story, Lambert," said Coroner Monroe, rather +crisply. "We'll hear what Louis has to say later." + +"Well, sir, then I took Louis to the office, and we both saw the +--the accident, and we wondered what to do. I was for +telephoning right off to Doctor Fairchild, but Louis said first +we'd better tell Miss Florence about it." + +"And did you?" + +"We went out in the hall, and just then Elsa, Miss Lloyd's maid, +was on the stairs. So we told her, and told her to tell Miss +Lloyd, and ask her for orders. Well, her orders was for us to +call up Doctor Fairchild, and so we did. He came as soon as he +could, and he's been in charge ever since, sir." + +"A straightforward story, clearly told," observed the coroner, +and then he called upon Louis, the valet. This witness, a young +Frenchman, was far more nervous and excited than the +calm-mannered butler, but the gist of his story corroborated +Lambert's. + +Asked if he was not called upon to attend his master at bedtime, +he replied + +"Non, M'sieu; when Monsieur Crawford sat late in his library, or +his office, he dismiss me and say I may go to bed, or whatever I +like. Almost alway he tell me that." + +"And he told you this last night?" + +"But yes. When I lay out his clothes for dinner, he then tell me +so." + +Although the man seemed sure enough of his statements he was +evidently troubled in his mind. It might have been merely that +his French nature was more excitable than the stolid indifference +of the English butler. But at the same time I couldn't help +feeling that the man had not told all he knew. This was merely +surmise on my part, and I could not persuade myself that there +was enough ground for it to call it even an intuition. So I +concluded it best to ask no questions of the valet at present, +but to look into his case later. + +Parmalee, however, seemed to have concluded differently. He +looked at Louis with an intent gaze as he said, "Had your master +said or done anything recently to make you think he was +despondent or troubled in any way?" + +"No, sir," said the man; but the answer was not spontaneous, and +Louis's eyes rolled around with an expression of fear. I was +watching him closely myself, and I could not help seeing that +against his will his glance sought always Florence Lloyd, and +though he quickly averted it, he was unable to refrain from +furtive, fleeting looks in her direction. + +"Do you know anything more of this matter than you have told us?" +inquired the coroner of the witness. + +"No, sir," replied Louis, and this time he spoke as with more +certainty. "After Lambert and I came out of Mr. Crawford's +office, we did just exactly as Lambert has tell you." + +"That's all, Louis . . . . But, Lambert, one other matter. Tell +us all you know of Mr. Joseph Crawford's movements last evening." + +"He was at dinner, as usual, sir," said the butler, in his +monotonous drawl. "There were no guests, only the family. After +dinner Mr. Crawford went out for a time. He returned about nine +o'clock. I saw him come in, with his own key, and I saw him go +to his office. Soon after Mr. Porter called." + +"Mr. Lemuel Porter?" asked the coroner. + +"Yes, sir," said the butler; and Mr. Porter, who was one of the +jurors, gravely nodded his head in acquiescence. + +"He stayed until about ten, I should say," went on the butler, +and again Mr. Porter gave an affirmative nod. "I let him out +myself," went on Lambert, "and soon after that I went to the +library to see if Mr. Crawford had any orders for me. He told me +of some household matters he wished me to attend to to-day, and +then he said he would sit up for some time longer, and I might go +to bed if I liked. A very kind and considerate man, sir, was Mr. +Crawford." + +"And did you then go to bed?" + +"Yes, sir. I locked up all the house, except the office. Mr. +Crawford always locks those windows himself, when he sits up +late. The ladies had already gone to their rooms; Mr. Hall was +away for the night, so I closed up the front of the house, and +went to bed. That's all I know about the matter, sir--until I +came down-stairs this morning." + +"You heard no sound in the night--no revolver shot?" + +"No, sir. But my room is on the third floor, and at the other +end of the house, sir. I couldn't hear a shot fired in the +office, I'm sure, sir." + +"And you found no weapon of any sort in the office this morning?" + +"No, sir; Louis and I both looked for that, but there was none in +the room. Of that I'm sure, sir." + +"That will do, Lambert." + +"Yes, sir; thank you, sir." + +"One moment," said I, wishing to know the exact condition of the +house at midnight. "You say, Lambert, you closed up the front of +the house. Does that mean there was a back door open?" + +"It means I locked the front door, sir, and put the chain on. +The library door opening on to the veranda I did not lock, for, +as I said, Mr. Crawford always locks that and the windows in +there when he is there late. The back door I left on the night +latch, as Louis was spending the evening out." + +"Oh, Louis was spending the evening out, was he?" exclaimed Mr. +Orville. "I think that should be looked into, Mr. Coroner. +Louis said nothing of this in his testimony." + +Coroner Monroe turned again to Louis and asked him where he was +the evening before. + +The man was now decidedly agitated, but by an effort he +controlled himself and answered steadily enough: + +"I have tell you that Mr. Crawford say I may go wherever I like. +And so, last evening I spend with a young lady." + +"At what time did you go out?" + +"At half after the eight, sir." + +"And what time did you return?" + +"I return about eleven." + +"And did you then see a light in Mr. Crawford's office?" + +Louis hesitated a moment. It could easily be seen that he was +pausing only to enable himself to speak naturally and clearly, +but it was only after one of those darting glances at Miss Lloyd +that he replied: + +"I could not see Mr. Crawford's office, because I go around the +other side of the house. I make my entree by the back door; I go +straight to my room, and I know nothing of my master until I go +to his room this morning and find him not there." + +"Then you didn't go to his room last night on your return?" + +"As I pass his door, I see it open, and his light low, so I know +he is still below stair." + +"And you did not pass by the library on your way round the +house?" + +Louis's face turned a shade whiter than usual, but he said +distinctly, though in a low voice, "No, sir." + +An involuntary gasp as of amazement was heard, and though I +looked quickly at Miss Lloyd, it was not she who had made the +sound. It was one of the maidservants, a pretty German girl, who +sat behind Miss Lloyd. No one else seemed to notice it, and I +realized it was not surprising that the strain of the occasion +should thus disturb the girl. + +"You heard Louis come in, Lambert?" asked Mr. Monroe, who was +conducting the whole inquiry in a conversational way, rather than +as a formal inquest. + +"Yes, sir; he came in about eleven, and went directly to his +room." + +The butler stood with folded hands, a sad expression in his eyes, +but with an air of importance that seemed to be inseparable from +him, in any circumstances. + +Doctor Fairchild was called as the next witness. + +He testified that he had been summoned that morning at about +quarter before eight o'clock. He had gone immediately to Mr. +Crawford's house, was admitted by the butler, and taken at once +to the office. He found Mr. Crawford dead in his chair, shot +through the left temple with a thirty-two calibre revolver. + +"Excuse me," said Mr. Lemuel Porter, who, with the other jurors, +was listening attentively to all the testimony. "If the weapon +was not found, how do you know its calibre?" + +"I extracted the bullet from the wound," returned Doctor +Fairchild, "and those who know have pronounced it to be a ball +fired from a small pistol of thirty-two calibre." + +"But if Mr. Crawford had committed suicide, the pistol would have +been there," said Mr. Porter; who seemed to be a more acute +thinker than the other jurymen. + +"Exactly," agreed the coroner. "That's why we must conclude that +Mr. Crawford did not take his own life." + +"Nor would he have done so," declared Doctor Fairchild. "I have +known the deceased for many years. He had no reason for wishing +to end his life, and, I am sure, no inclination to do so. He was +shot by an alien hand, and the deed was probably committed at or +near midnight." + +"Thus we assume," the coroner went on, as the doctor finished his +simple statement and resumed his seat, "that Mr. Crawford +remained in his office, occupied with his business matters, +until midnight or later, when some person or persons came into +his room, murdered him, and went away again, without making +sufficient noise or disturbance to arouse the sleeping +household." + +"Perhaps Mr. Crawford himself had fallen asleep in his chair," +suggested one of the jurors,--the Mr. Orville, who was +continually taking notes in his little book. + +"It is possible," said the doctor, as the remark was practically +addressed to him, "but not probable. The attitude in which the +body was found indicates that the victim was awake, and in full +possession of his faculties. Apparently he made no resistance of +any sort." + +"Which seems to show," said the coroner, "that his assailant was +not a burglar or tramp, for in that case he would surely have +risen and tried to put him out. The fact that Mr. Crawford was +evidently shot by a person standing in front of him, seems to +imply that that person's attitude was friendly, and that the +victim had no suspicion of the danger that threatened him." + +This was clear and logical reasoning, and I looked at the coroner +in admiration, until I suddenly remembered Parmalee's hateful +suspicion and wondered if Coroner Monroe was preparing for an +attack upon Miss Lloyd. + +Gregory Hall was summoned next. + +He was self-possessed and even cool in his demeanor. There was a +frank manner about him that pleased me, but there was also a +something which repelled me. + +I couldn't quite explain it to myself, but while he had an air of +extreme straightforwardness, there was also an indefinable effect +of reserve. I couldn't help feeling that if this man had +anything to conceal, he would be quite capable of doing so under +a mask of great outspokenness. + +But, as it turned out, he had nothing either to conceal or +reveal, for he had been away from West Sedgwick since six o'clock +the night before, and knew nothing of the tragedy until he heard +of it by telephone at Mr. Crawford's New York office that morning +about half-past ten. This made him of no importance as a +witness, but Mr. Monroe asked him a few questions. + +"You left here last evening, you say?" + +"On the six o'clock train to New York, yes." + +"For what purpose?" + +"On business for Mr. Crawford." + +"Did that business occupy you last evening?" + +Mr. Hall looked surprised at this question, but answered quietly + +"No; I was to attend to the business to-day. But I often go to +New York for several days at a time." + +"And where were you last evening?" pursued the coroner. + +This time Mr. Hall looked more surprised still, and said + +"As it has no bearing on the matter in hand, I prefer not to +answer that rather personal question." + +Mr. Monroe looked surprised in his turn, and said: "I think I +must insist upon an answer, Mr. Hall, for it is quite necessary +that we learn the whereabouts of every member of this household +last evening." + +"I cannot agree with you, sir," said Gregory Hall, coolly; "my +engagements for last evening were entirely personal matters, in +no way connected with Mr. Crawford's business. As I was not in +West Sedgwick at the time my late employer met his death, I +cannot see that my private affairs need be called into question." + +"Quite so, quite so," put in Mr. Orville; but Lemuel Porter +interrupted him. + +"Not at all so. I agree with Mr. Monroe, that Mr. Hall should +frankly tell us where he spent last evening." + +"And I refuse to do so," said Mr. Hall, speaking not angrily, but +with great decision. + +"Your refusal may tend to direct suspicion toward yourself, Mr. +Hall," said the coroner. + +Gregory Hall smiled slightly. "As I was out of town, your +suggestion sounds a little absurd. However, I take that risk, +and absolutely refuse to answer any questions save those which +relate to the matter in hand." + +Coroner Monroe looked rather helplessly at his jurors, but as +none of them said anything further, he turned again to Gregory +Hall. + +"The telephone message you received this morning, then, was the +first knowledge you had of Mr. Crawford's death?" + +"It was." + +"And you came out here at once?" + +"Yes; on the first train I could catch." + +"I am sorry you resent personal questions, Mr. Hall, for I must +ask you some. Are you engaged to Mr. Crawford's niece, Miss +Lloyd?" + +"I am." + +This answer was given in a low, quiet tone, apparently without +emotion of any kind, but Miss Lloyd showed, a different attitude. +At the words of Gregory Hall, she blushed, dropped her eyes, +fingered her handkerchief nervously, and evinced just such +embarrassment as might be expected from any young woman, in the +event of a public mention of her betrothal. And yet I had not +looked for such an exhibition from Florence Lloyd. Her very +evident strength of character would seem to preclude the actions +of an inexperienced debutante. + +"Did Mr. Crawford approve of your engagement to his niece?" +pursued Mr. Monroe. + +"With all due respect, Mr. Coroner," said Gregory Hall, in his +subdued but firm way, "I cannot think these questions are +relevant or pertinent. Unless you can assure me that they are, I +prefer not to reply." + +"They are both relevant and pertinent to the matter in hand, Mr. +Hall; but I am now of the opinion that they would better be asked +of another witness. You are excused. I now call Miss Florence +Lloyd." + + + + +V + +FLORENCE LLOYD + + +A stir was perceptible all through the room as Miss Lloyd +acknowledged by a bow of her beautiful head the summons of the +coroner. + +The jurors looked at her with evident sympathy and admiration, +and I remembered that as they were fellow-townsmen and neighbors +they probably knew the young woman well, and she was doubtless a +friend of their own daughters. + +It seemed as if such social acquaintance must prejudice them in +her favor, and perhaps render them incapable of unbiased +judgment, should her evidence be incriminating. But in my secret +heart, I confess, I felt glad of this. I was glad of anything +that would keep even a shadow of suspicion away from this girl to +whose fascinating charm I had already fallen a victim. + +Nor was I the only one in the room who dreaded the mere thought +of Miss Lloyd's connection with this horrible matter. + +Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Porter were, I could see, greatly concerned +lest some mistaken suspicion should indicate any doubt of the +girl. I could see by their kindly glances that she was a +favorite, and was absolutely free from suspicion in their minds. + +Mr. Orville had not quite the same attitude. Though he looked at +Miss Lloyd admiringly, I felt sure he was alertly ready to pounce +upon anything that might seem to connect her with a guilty +knowledge of this crime. + +Gregory Hall's attitude was inexplicable, and I concluded I had +yet much to learn about that young man. He looked at Miss Lloyd +critically, and though his glance could not be called quite +unsympathetic, yet it showed no definite sympathy. He seemed to +be coldly weighing her in his own mental balance, and he seemed +to await whatever she might be about to say with the impartial +air of a disinterested judge. Though a stranger myself, my heart +ached for the young woman who was placed so suddenly in such a +painful position, but Gregory Hall apparently lacked any personal +interest in the case. + +I felt sure this was not true, that he was not really so +unconcerned as he appeared; but I could not guess why he chose to +assume an impassive mask. + +Miss Lloyd had not risen as it was not required of her, and she +sat expectant, but with no sign of nervousness. Mrs. Pierce, her +companion, was simply quivering with agitation. Now and again +she would touch Miss Lloyd's shoulder or hand, or whisper a word +of encouragement, or perhaps wring her own hands in futile +despair. + +Of course these demonstrations were of little avail, nor did it +seem as if Florence Lloyd needed assistance or support. + +She gave the impression not only of general capability in +managing her own affairs, but of a special strength in an +emergency. + +And an emergency it was; for though the two before-mentioned +jurors, who had been intimate friends of her uncle, were +doubtless in sympathy with Miss Lloyd, and though the coroner was +kindly disposed toward her, yet the other jurors took little +pains to conceal their suspicious attitude, and as for Mr. +Parmalee, he was fairly eager with anticipation of the +revelations about to come. + +"Your name?" said the corner briefly, as if conquering his own +sympathy by an unnecessarily formal tone. + +"Florence Lloyd," was the answer. + +"Your position in this house?" + +"I am the niece of Mrs. Joseph Crawford, who died many years ago. +Since her death I have lived with Mr. Crawford, occupying in +every respect the position of his daughter, though not legally +adopted as such." + +"Mr. Crawford was always kind to you?" + +"More than kind. He was generous and indulgent, and, though not +of an affectionate nature, he was always courteous and gentle." + +"Will you tell us of the last time you saw him alive?" + +Miss Lloyd hesitated. She showed no embarrassment, no +trepidation; she merely seemed to be thinking. + +Her gaze slowly wandered over the faces of the servants, Mrs. +Pierce, Mr. Philip Crawford, the jurors, and, lastly, dwelt for a +moment on the now anxious, worried countenance of Gregory Hall. + +Then she said slowly, but in an even, unemotional voice: "It was +last night at dinner. After dinner was over, my uncle went out, +and before he returned I had gone to my room." + +"Was there anything unusual about his appearance or demeanor at +dinner-time?" + +"No; I noticed nothing of the sort." + +"Was he troubled or annoyed about any matter, that you know of?" + +"He was annoyed about one matter that has been annoying him for +some time: that is, my engagement to Mr. Hall." + +Apparently this was the answer the coroner had expected, for he +nodded his head in a satisfied way. + +The jurors, too, exchanged intelligent glances, and I realized +that the acquaintances of the Crawfords were well informed as to +Miss Lloyd's romance. + +"He did not approve of that engagement?" went on the coroner, +though he seemed to be stating a fact, rather than asking a +question. + +"He did not," returned Miss Lloyd, and her color rose as she +observed the intense interest manifest among her hearers. + +"And the subject was discussed at the dinner table?" + +"It was." + +"What was the tenor of the conversation?" + +"To the effect that I must break the engagement." + +"Which you refused to do?" + +"I did." + +Her cheeks were scarlet now, but a determined note had crept into +her voice, and she looked at her betrothed husband with an air of +affectionate pride that, it seemed to me, ought to lift any man +into the seventh heaven. But I noted Mr. Hall's expression with +surprise. Instead of gazing adoringly at this girl who was thus +publicly proving her devotion to him, he sat with eyes cast down, +and frowning--positively frowning--while his fingers played +nervously with his watch-chain. + +Surely this case required my closest attention, for I place far +more confidence in deductions from facial expression and tones of +the voice, than from the discovery of small, inanimate objects. + +And if I chose to deduce from facial expressions I had ample +scope in the countenances of these two people. + +I was particularly anxious not to jump at an unwarrantable +conclusion, but the conviction was forced upon me then and there +that these two people knew more about the crime than they +expected to tell. I certainly did not suspect either of them to +be touched with guilt, but I was equally sure that they were not +ingenuous in their testimony. + +While I knew that they were engaged, having heard it from both of +them, I could not think that the course of their love affair was +running smoothly. I found myself drifting into idle speculation +as to whether this engagement was more desired by one than the +other, and if so, by which. + +But though I could not quite understand these two, it gave me no +trouble to know which I admired more. At the moment, Miss Lloyd +seemed to me to represent all that was beautiful, noble and +charming in womanhood, while Gregory Hall gave me the impression +of a man crafty, selfish and undependable. However, I fully +realized that I was theorizing without sufficient data, and +determinedly I brought my attention back to the coroner's +catalogue of questions. + +"Who else heard this conversation, besides yourself, Miss Lloyd?" + +"Mrs. Pierce was at the table with us, and the butler was in the +room much of the time." + +The purport of the coroner's question was obvious. Plainly he +meant that she might as well tell the truth in the matter, as her +testimony could easily be overthrown or corroborated. + +Miss Lloyd deliberately looked at the two persons mentioned. +Mrs. Pierce was trembling as with nervous apprehension, but she +looked steadily at Miss Lloyd, with eyes full of loyalty and +devotion. + +And yet Mrs. Pierce was a bit mysterious also. If I could read +her face aright, it bore the expression of one who would stand by +her friend whatever might come. If she herself had had doubts of +Florence Lloyd's integrity, but was determined to suppress them +and swear to a belief in her, she would look just as she did now. + +On the other hand the butler, Lambert, who stood with folded +arms, gazed straight ahead with an inscrutable countenance, but +his set lips and square jaw betokened decision. + +As I read it, Miss Lloyd knew, as she looked, that should she +tell an untruth about that talk at the dinner-table, Mrs. Pierce +would repeat and corroborate her story; but Lambert would refute +her, and would state veraciously what his master had said. +Clearly, it was useless to attempt a false report, and, with a +little sigh, Miss Lloyd seemed to resign herself to her fate, and +calmly awaited the coroner's further questions. + +But though still calm, she had lost her poise to some degree. +The lack of responsive glances from Gregory Hall's eyes seemed to +perplex her. The eager interest of the six jurymen made her +restless and embarrassed. The coroner's abrupt questions +frightened her, and I feared her self-enforced calm must sooner +or later give way. + +And now I noticed that Louis, the valet, was again darting those +uncontrollable glances toward her. And as the agitated Frenchman +endeavored to control his own countenance, I chanced to observe +that the pretty-faced maid I had noticed before, was staring +fixedly at Louis. Surely there were wheels within wheels, and +the complications of this matter were not to be solved by the +simple questions of the coroner. But of course this preliminary +examination was necessary, and it was from this that I must learn +the main story, and endeavor to find out the secrets afterward. + +"What was your uncle's response when you refused to break your +engagement to Mr. Hall?" was the next inquiry. + +Again Miss Lloyd was silent for a moment, while she directed her +gaze successively at several individuals. This time she favored +Mr. Randolph, who was Mr. Crawford's lawyer, and Philip Crawford, +the dead man's brother. After looking in turn at these two, and +glancing for a moment at Philip Crawford's son, who sat by his +side, she said, in a lower voice than she had before used + +"He said he would change his will, and leave none of his fortune +to me." + +"His will, then, has been made in your favor?" + +"Yes; he has always told me I was to be sole heiress to his +estate, except for some comparatively small bequests." + +"Did he ever threaten this proceeding before?" + +"He had hinted it, but not so definitely." + +"Did Mr. Hall know of Mr. Crawford's objection to his suit?" + +"He did." + +"Did he know of your uncle's hints of disinheritance?" + +"He did." + +"What was his attitude in the matter?" + +Florence Lloyd looked proudly at her lover. + +"The same as mine," she said. "We both regretted my uncle's +protest, but we had no intention of letting it stand in the way +of our happiness." + +Still Gregory Hall did not look at his fiancee. He sat +motionless, preoccupied, and seemingly lost in deep thought, +oblivious to all that was going on. + +Whether his absence from Sedgwick at the time of the murder made +him feel that he was in no way implicated, and so the inquiry +held no interest for him; or whether he was looking ahead and +wondering whither these vital questions were leading Florence +Lloyd, I had no means of knowing. Certainly, he was a man of +most impassive demeanor and marvellous self-control. + +"Then, in effect, you defied your uncle?" + +"In effect, I suppose I did; but not in so many words. I always +tried to urge him to see the matter in a different light." + +"What was his objection to Mr. Hall as your husband?" + +"Must I answer that?" + +"Yes; I think so; as I must have a clear understanding of the +whole affair." + +"Well, then, he told me that he had no objection to Mr. Hall, +personally. But he wished me to make what he called a more +brilliant alliance. He wanted me to marry a man of greater +wealth and social position." + +The scorn in Miss Lloyd's voice for her uncle's ambitions was so +unmistakable that it made her whole answer seem a compliment to +Mr. Hall, rather than the reverse. It implied that the sterling +worth of the young secretary was far more to be desired than the +riches and rank advocated by her uncle. This time Gregory Hall +looked at the speaker with a faint smile, that showed +appreciation, if not adoration. + +But I did not gather from his attitude that he did not adore his +beautiful bride-to-be; I only concluded that he was not one to +show his feelings in public. + +However, I couldn't help feeling that I had learned which of the +two was more anxious for the engagement to continue. + +"In what way was your uncle more definite in his threat last +night, than he had been heretofore?" the coroner continued. + +Miss Lloyd gave a little gasp, as if the question she had been +dreading had come at last. She looked at the inexorable face of +the butler, she looked at Mr. Randolph, and then flashed a half- +timid glance at Hall, as she answered + +"He said that unless I promised to give up Mr. Hall, he would go +last night to Mr. Randolph's and have a new will drawn up." + +"Did he do so?" exclaimed Gregory Hall, an expression almost of +fear appearing on his commonplace face. + +Miss Lloyd looked at him, and seemed startled. Apparently his +sudden question had surprised her. + +Mr. Monroe paid no attention to Mr. Hall's remark, but said to +Miss Lloyd, "He had made such threats before, had he not?" + +"Yes, but not with the same determination. He told me in so many +words, I must choose between Mr. Hall or the inheritance of his +fortune." + +"And your answer to this?" + +"I made no direct answer. I had told him many times that I had +no intention of breaking my engagement, whatever course he might +choose to pursue." + +Mr. Orville was clearly delighted with the turn things were +taking. He already scented a sensation, and he scribbled +industriously in his rapidly filling note-book. + +This habit of his disgusted me, for surely the jurors on this +preliminary inquest could come to their conclusions without a +detailed account of all these conversations. + +I also resented the looks of admiration which Mr. Orville cast at +the beautiful girl. It seemed to me that with the exception of +Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Porter, who were family friends, the jurors +should have maintained a formal and impersonal attitude. + +Mr. Hamilton spoke directly to Miss Lloyd on the subject. + +"I am greatly surprised," he said, "that Mr. Crawford should take +such a stand. He has often spoken to me of you as his heiress, +and to my knowledge, your engagement to Mr. Hall is not of +immediately recent date." + +"No," said Miss Lloyd, "but it is only recently that my uncle +expressed his disapprobation so strongly; and last night at +dinner was the first time he positively stated his intention in +regard to his will." + +At this Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Porter conversed together in +indignant whispers, and it was quite evident that they did not +approve of Mr. Crawford's treatment of his niece. + +Mr. Philip Crawford looked astounded, and also dismayed, which +surprised me, as I had understood that had it not been for Miss +Lloyd, he himself would have been his brother's heir. + +Mr. Randolph showed only a lawyer-like, noncommittal expression, +and Gregory Hall, too, looked absolutely impassive. + +The coroner grew more alert, as if he had discovered something of +definite import, and asked eagerly, + +"Did he do so? Did he go to his lawyer's and make another will?" + +Miss Lloyd's cold calm had returned, and seemed to rebuke the +coroner's excited interest. + +"I do not know," she replied. "He went out after dinner, as I +have told you, but I retired to my bedroom before he came home." + +"And you did not come down-stairs again last night?" + +"I did not." + +The words were spoken in a clear, even tone; but something made +me doubt their truth. It was not the voice or inflection; there +was no hesitation or stammer, but a sudden and momentary droop of +Miss Lloyd's eyelids seemed to me to give the lie to her words. + +I wondered if Gregory Hall had the same thought, for he slowly +raised his own eyes and looked at her steadily for the first time +since her testimony began. + +She did not look at him. Instead, she was staring at the butler. +Either she had reason to fear his knowledge, or I was fanciful. +With an endeavor to shake off these shadows of suspicion, I +chanced to look at Parmalee. To my disgust, he was quite +evidently gloating over the disclosures being made by the +witness. I felt my anger rise, and I determined then and there +that if suspicion of guilt or complicity should by any chance +unjustly light on that brave and lovely girl, I would make the +effort of my life to clear her from it. + +"You did not come down again," the coroner went on pointedly, "to +ask your uncle if he had changed his will?" + +"No, I did not," she replied, with such a ring of truth in her +scornful voice, that my confidence returned, and I truly believed +her. + +"Then you were not in your uncle's office last evening at all?" + +"I was not." + +"Nor through the day?" + +She reflected a moment. "No, nor through the day. It chanced I +had no occasion to go in there yesterday at all." + +At these assertions of Miss Lloyd's, the Frenchman, Louis, looked +greatly disturbed. He tried very hard to conceal his agitation, +but it was not at all difficult to read on his face an endeavor +to look undisturbed at what he heard. + +I hadn't a doubt, myself, that the man either knew something that +would incriminate Miss Lloyd, or that they two had a mutual +knowledge of some fact as yet concealed. + +I was surprised that no one else seemed to notice this, but the +attention of every one in the room was concentrated on the +coroner and the witness, and so Louis's behavior passed +unnoticed. + +At this juncture, Mr. Lemuel Porter spoke with some dignity. + +"It would seem," he said, "that this concludes Miss Lloyd's +evidence in the matter. She has carried the narrative up to the +point where Mr. Joseph Crawford went out of his house after +dinner. As she herself retired to her room before his return, +and did not again leave her room until this morning, she can have +nothing further to tell us bearing on the tragedy. And as it is +doubtless a most painful experience for her, I trust, Mr. +Coroner, that you will excuse her from further questioning." + +"But wait a minute," Parmalee began, when Mr Hamilton interrupted +him--"Mr. Porter is quite right," he said; "there is no reason +why Miss Lloyd should be further troubled in this matter. I feel +free to advise her dismissal from the witness stand, because of +my acquaintance and friendship with this household. Our coroner +and most of our jurors are strangers to Miss Lloyd, and perhaps +cannot appreciate as I do the terrible strain this experience +means to her." + +"You're right Hamilton," said Mr. Philip Crawford; "I was remiss +not to think of it myself. Mr. Monroe, this is not a formal +inquest, and in the interest of kindness and humanity, I ask you +to excuse Miss Lloyd from further questioning for the present." + +I was surprised at the requests of these elderly gentlemen, for +though it seemed to me that Miss Lloyd's testimony was complete, +yet it also seemed as if Gregory Hall were the one to show +anxiety that she be spared further annoyance. + +However, Florence Lloyd spoke for herself. + +"I am quite willing to answer any further questions," she said; +"I have answered all you have asked, and I have told you frankly +the truth. Though it is far from pleasant to have my individual +affairs thus brought to notice, I am quite ready to do anything +to forward the cause of justice or to aid in any way the +discovery of my uncle's murderer." + +"Thank you," said Mr. Monroe; "I quite appreciate the extreme +unpleasantness of your position. But, Miss Lloyd, there are a +few more questions I must ask you. Pardon me if I repeat myself, +but I ask you once more if you did not come down to your uncle's +office last evening after he had returned from his call on Mr. +Randolph." + +As I watched Florence Lloyd I saw that her eyes did not turn +toward the coroner, or toward her fiance, or toward the jury, but +she looked straight at Louis, the valet, as she replied in clear +tones + +"I did not." + + + + +VI + +THE GOLD BAG + + +"Is this yours?" asked Mr. Monroe, suddenly whisking into sight +the gold-mesh bag. + +Probably his intent had been to startle her, and thus catch her +off her guard. If so, he succeeded, for the girl was certainly +startled, if only at the suddenness of the query. + +"N-no," she stammered; "it's--it's not mine." + +"Are you sure?" the coroner went on, a little more gently, +doubtless moved by her agitation. + +"I'm--I'm quite sure. Where did you find it?" + +"What size gloves do you wear, Miss Lloyd?" + +"Number six." She said this mechanically, as if thinking of +something else, and her face was white. + +"These are number six," said the coroner, as he took a pair of +gloves from the bag. "Think again, Miss Lloyd. Do you not own a +gold-chain bag, such as this?" + +"I have one something like that--or, rather, I did have one." + +"Ah! And what did you do with it?" + +"I gave it to my maid, Elsa, some days ago." + +"Why did you do that?" + +"Because I was tired of it, and as it was a trifle worn, I had +ceased to care to carry it." + +"Is it not a somewhat expensive trinket to turn over to your +maid?" + +"No; they are not real gold. At least, I mean mine was not. It +was gilt over silver, and cost only about twelve or fourteen +dollars when new." + +"What did you usually carry in it?" + +"What every woman carries in such a bag. Handkerchief, some +small change, perhaps a vanity-box, gloves, tickets--whatever +would be needed on an afternoon's calling or shopping tour." + +"Miss Lloyd, you have enumerated almost exactly the articles in +this bag." + +"Then that is a coincidence, for it is not my bag." + +The girl was entirely self-possessed again, and even a little +aggressive. + +I admit that I did not believe her statements. Of course I could +not be sure she was telling untruths, but her sudden +embarrassment at the first sight of the bag, and the way in which +she regained her self-possession, made me doubt her clear +conscience in the matter. + +Parmalee, who had come over and sat beside me, whispered: +"Striking coincidence, isn't it?" + +Although his sarcasm voiced my own thoughts, yet it irritated me +horribly to hear him say it. + +"But ninety-nine women out of a hundred would experience the same +coincidence," I returned. + +"But the other ninety-eight weren't in the house last night, and +she was." + +At this moment Mrs. Pierce, whom I had suspected of feeling far +deeper interest than she had so far shown, volunteered a remark. + +"Of course that isn't Florence's bag," she said; "if Florence had +gone to her uncle's office last evening, she would have been +wearing her dinner gown, and certainly would not carry a street +bag." + +"Is this a street bag?" inquired Mr. Monroe, looking with a +masculine helplessness at the gilt bauble. + +"Of course it is," said Mrs. Pierce, who now that she had found +her voice, seemed anxious to talk. "Nobody ever carries a bag +like that in the house,--in the evening." + +"But," began Parmalee, "such a thing might have occurred, if Miss +Lloyd had had occasion to go to her uncle's office with, we will +say, papers or notes." + +Personally I thought this an absurd suggestion, but Mr. Monroe +seemed to take it seriously. + +"That might be," he said, and I could see that momentarily the +suspicions against Florence Lloyd were growing in force and were +taking definite shape. + +As I noted the expressions, on the various faces, I observed that +only Mr. Philip Crawford and the jurors Hamilton and Porter +seemed entirely in sympathy with the girl. The coroner, +Parmalee, and even the lawyer, Randolph, seemed to be willing, +almost eager for her to incriminate herself. + +Gregory Hall, who should have been the most sympathetic of all, +seemed the most coldly indifferent, and as for Mrs. Pierce, her +actions were so erratic and uncertain, no one could tell what she +thought. + +"You are quite positive it is not your bag?" repeated the coroner +once more. + +"I'm positive it is not mine," returned Miss Lloyd, without undue +emphasis, but with an air of dismissing the subject. + +"Is your maid present?" asked the coroner. "Let her be +summoned." + +Elsa came forward, the pretty, timid young girl, of German +effects, whom I had already noticed. + +"Have you ever seen this bag before?" asked the coroner, holding +it up before her. + +"Yes, sir." + +"When?" + +"This morning, sir. Lambert showed it to me, sir. He said he +found it in Mr. Crawford's office." + +The girl was very pale, and trembled pitiably. She seemed afraid +of the coroner, of Lambert, of Miss Lloyd, and of the jury. It +might have been merely the unreasonable fear of an ignorant mind, +but it had the appearance of some more definite apprehension. + +Especially did she seem afraid of the man, Louis. Though perhaps +the distressed glances she cast at him were not so much those of +fear as of anxiety. + +The coroner spoke kindly to her, and really seemed to take more +notice of her embarrassment, and make more effort to put her at +her ease than he had done with Miss Lloyd. + +"Is it Miss Lloyd's bag?" + +"I don't think so, sir." + +"Don't you know? As her personal maid, you must be acquainted +with her belongings." + +"Yes, sir. No, it isn't hers, sir." + +But as this statement was made after a swift but noticeable +glance of inquiry at her mistress, a slight distrust of Elsa +formed in my own mind, and probably in the minds of others. + +"She has one like this, has she not?" + +"She--she did have, sir; but she--she gave it to me." + +"Yes? Then go and get it and let us see it." + +"I haven't it now, sir. I--I gave it away." + +"Oh, you gave it away! To whom? Can you get it back?" + +"No, sir; I gave it to my cousin, who sailed for Germany last +week." + +Miss Lloyd looked up in surprise, and that look of surprise told +against her. I could see Parmalee's eyes gleam as he concluded +in his own mind that the bag story was all false, was made up +between mistress and maid, and that the part about the departing +cousin was an artistic touch added by Elsa. + +The coroner, too, seemed inclined to disbelieve the present +witness, and he sat thoughtfully snapping the catch of the bag. + +He turned again to Miss Lloyd. "Having given away your own bag," +he said suavely, "you have perhaps provided yourself with +another, have you not?" + +"Why, no, I haven't," said Florence Lloyd. "I have been +intending to do so, and shall get one shortly, but I haven't yet +selected it." + +"And in the meantime you have been getting along without any?" + +"A gold-mesh bag is not an indispensable article; I have several +bags of other styles, and I'm in no especial haste to purchase a +new one." + +Miss Lloyd's manner had taken on several degrees of hauteur, and +her voice was incisive in its tone. Clearly she resented this +discussion of her personal belongings, and as she entirely +repudiated the ownership of the bag in the coroner's possession, +she was annoyed at his questions. + +Mr. Monroe looked at her steadily. + +"If this is not your bag, Miss Lloyd," he said, with some +asperity, "how did it get on Mr. Crawford's desk late last night? +The butler has assured me it was not there when he looked in at a +little after ten o'clock. Yet this morning it lay there, in +plain sight on the desk. Whose bag is it?" + +"I have not the slightest idea," said Miss Lloyd firmly; "but, I +repeat, it is not mine." + +"Easy enough to see the trend of Monroe's questions," said +Parmalee in my ear. "If he can prove this bag to be Miss +Lloyd's, it shows that she was in the office after ten o'clock +last night, and this she has denied." + +"Don't you believe her?" said I. + +"Indeed I don't. Of course she was there, and of course it's her +bag. She put that pretty maid of hers up to deny it, but any one +could see the maid was lying, also." + +"Oh, come now, Parmalee, that's too bad! You've no right to say +such things!" + +"Oh, pshaw! you think the same yourself, only you think it isn't +chivalrous to put it into words." + +Of course what annoyed me in Parmalee's speech was its inherent +truth. I didn't believe Florence Lloyd. Much as I wanted to, I +couldn't; for the appearance, manner and words of both women were +not such as to inspire belief in their hearers. + +If she and Elsa were in collusion to deny her ownership of the +bag, it would be hard to prove the contrary, for the men-servants +could not be supposed to know, and I had no doubt Mrs. Pierce +would testify as Miss Lloyd did on any matter. + +I was sorry not to put more confidence in the truth of the +testimony I was hearing, but I am, perhaps, sceptical by nature. +And, too, if Florence Lloyd were in any way implicated in the +death of her uncle, I felt pretty sure she would not hesitate at +untruth. + +Her marvellous magnetism attracted me strongly, but it did not +blind me to the strength of her nature. While I could not, as +yet, believe her in any way implicated in the death of her uncle, +I was fully convinced she knew more concerning it than she had +told and I knew, unless forced to, she would not tell what she +desired to keep secret. + +My sympathy, of course, was with her, but my duty was plain. As +a detective, I must investigate fairly, or give up the case. + +At this juncture, I knew the point at issue was the presence of +Miss Lloyd in the office last night, and the two yellow rose +petals I had picked up on the floor might prove a clue. + +At any rate it was my duty to investigate the point, so taking a +card from my pocket I wrote upon it: "Find out if Miss Lloyd wore +any flowers last evening, and what kind." + +I passed this over to Mr. Monroe, and rather enjoyed seeing his +mystification as he read it. + +To my surprise he did not question Florence Lloyd immediately, +but turned again to the maid. + +"At what time did your mistress go to her room last evening?" + +"At about ten o'clock, sir. I was waiting there for her, and so +I am sure." + +"Did she at once retire?" + +"No, sir. She changed her evening gown for a teagown, and then +said she would sit up for an hour or so and write letters, and I +needn't wait." + +"You left her then?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Did Miss Lloyd wear any flowers at dinner last evening?" + +"No, sir. There were no guests--only the family." + +"Ah, quite so. But did she, by chance, pin on any flowers after +she went to her room?" + +"Why, yes, sir; she did. A box of roses had come for her by a +messenger, and when she found them in her room, she pinned one on +the lace of her teagown." + +"Yes? And what time did the flowers arrive?" + +"While Miss Lloyd was at dinner, sir. I took them from the box +and put them in water, sir." + +"And what sort of flowers were they?" + +"Yellow roses, sir." + +"That will do, Elsa. You are excused." + +The girl looked bewildered, and a little embarrassed as she +returned to her place among the other servants, and Miss Lloyd +looked a little bewildered also. + +But then, for that matter, no body understood the reason for the +questions about the flowers, and though most of the jury merely +looked preternaturally wise on the subject, Mr. Orville scribbled +it all down in his little book. I was now glad to see the man +keep up his indefatigable note-taking. If the reporters or +stenographers missed any points, I could surely get them from +him. + +But from the industry with which he wrote, I began to think he +must be composing an elaborate thesis on yellow roses and their +habits. + +Mr. Porter, looking greatly puzzled, observed to the coroner, "I +have listened to your inquiries with interest; and I would like +to know what, if any, special importance is attached to this +subject of yellow roses." + +"I'm not able to tell you," replied Mr. Monroe. "I asked these +questions at the instigation of another, who doubtless has some +good reason for them, which he will explain in due time." + +Mr. Porter seemed satisfied with this, and I nodded my head at +the coroner, as if bidding him to proceed. + +But if I had been surprised before at the all but spoken +intelligence which passed between the two servants, Elsa and +Louis, I was more amazed now. They shot rapid glances at each +other, which were evidently full of meaning to themselves. Elsa +was deathly white, her lips trembled, and she looked at the +Frenchman as if in terror of her life. But though he glanced at +her meaningly, now and then, Louis's anxiety seemed to me to be +more for Florence Lloyd than for her maid. + +But now the coroner was talking very gravely to Miss Lloyd. + +"Do you corroborate," he was saying, "the statements of your maid +about the flowers that were sent you last evening?" + +"I do," she replied. + +"From whom did they come?" + +"From Mr. Hall." + +"Mr. Hall," said, the coroner, turning toward the young man, "how +could you send flowers to Miss Lloyd last evening if you were in +New York City?" + +"Easily," was the cool reply. "I left Sedgwick on the six +o'clock train. On my way to the station I stopped at a florist's +and ordered some roses sent to Miss Lloyd. If they did not +arrive until she was at dinner, they were not sent immediately, +as the florist promised." + +"When did you receive them, Miss Lloyd?" + +"They were in my room when I event up there at about ten o'clock +last evening," she replied, and her face showed her wonderment at +these explicit questions. + +The coroner's face showed almost as much wonderment, and I said: +"Perhaps, Mr. Monroe, I may ask a few questions right here." + +"Certainly," he replied. + +And thus it was, for the first time in my life, I directly +addressed Florence Lloyd. + +"When you went up to your room at ten o'clock, the flowers were +there?" I asked, and I felt a most uncomfortable pounding at my +heart because of the trap I was deliberately laying for her. But +it had to be done, and even as I spoke, I experienced a glad +realization, that if she were innocent, my questions could do her +no harm. + +"Yes," she repeated, and for the first time favored me with a +look of interest. I doubt if she knew my name or scarcely knew +why I was there. + +"And you pinned one on your gown?" + +"I tucked it in among the laces at my throat, yes." + +"Miss Lloyd, do you still persist in saying you did not go +down-stairs again, to your uncle's office?" + +"I did not," she repeated, but she turned white, and her voice +was scarce more than a whisper. + +"Then," said I, "how did two petals of a yellow rose happen to +be on the floor in the office this morning?" + + + + +VII + +YELLOW ROSES + + +If any one expected to see Miss Lloyd faint or collapse at this +crisis he must have been disappointed, and as I had confidently +expected such a scene, I was completely surprised at her quick +recovery of self-possession. + +For an instant she had seemed stunned by my question, and her +eyes had wandered vaguely round the room, as if in a vain search +for help. + +Her glance returned to me, and in that instant I gave her an +answering look, which, quite involuntarily on my part, meant a +grave and serious offer of my best and bravest efforts in her +behalf. Disingenuous she might be, untruthful she might be, yes, +even a criminal she might be, but in any case I was her sworn +ally forever. Not that I meant to defeat the ends of justice, +but I was ready to fight for her or with her, until justice +should defeat us. Of course she didn't know all this, though I +couldn't help hoping she read a little of it as my eyes looked +into hers. If so, she recognized it only by a swift withdrawal +of her own glance. Again she looked round at her various +friends. + +Then her eyes rested on Gregory Hall, and, though he gave her no +responsive glance, for some reason her poise returned like a +flash. It was as if she had been invigorated by a cold douche. + +Determination fairly shone in her dark eyes, and her mouth showed +a more decided line than I had yet seen in its red curves, as +with a cold, almost hard voice she replied + +"I have no idea. We have many flowers in the house, always." + +"But I have learned from the servants that there were no other +yellow roses in the house yesterday." + +Miss Lloyd was not hesitant now. She replied quickly, and it was +with an almost eager haste that she said + +"Then I can only imagine that my uncle had some lady visitor in +his office late last evening." + +The girl's mood had changed utterly; her tone was almost +flippant, and more than one of the jurors looked at her in +wonderment. + +Mr. Porter, especially, cast an her a glance of fatherly +solicitude, and I was sure that he felt, as I did, that the +strain was becoming too much for her. + +"I don't think you quite mean that, Florence," he said; "you and +I knew your uncle too well to say such things." + +But the girl made no reply, and her beautiful mouth took on a +hard line. + +"It is not an impossible conjecture," said Philip Crawford +thoughtfully. "If the bag does not belong to Florence, what more +probable than that it was left by its feminine owner? The same +lady might have worn or carried yellow roses." + +Perhaps it was because of my own desire to help her that these +other men had joined their efforts to mine to ease the way as +much as possible. + +The coroner looked a little uncomfortable, for he began to note +the tide of sympathy turning toward the troubled girl. + +"Yellow roses do not necessarily imply a lady visitor," he said, +rather more kindly. "A man in evening dress might have worn +one." + +To his evident surprise, as well as to my own, this remark, +intended to be soothing, had quite the opposite effect. + +"That is not at all probable," said Miss Lloyd quite angrily. +"Mr. Porter was in the office last evening; if he was wearing a +yellow rose at the time, let him say so." + +"I was not," said Mr. Porter quietly, but looking amazed at the +sudden outburst of the girl. + +"Of course you weren't!" Miss Lloyd went on, still in the same +excited way. "Men don't wear roses nowadays, except perhaps at a +ball; and, anyway, the gold bag surely implies that a woman was +there!" + +"It seems to," said Mr. Monroe; and then, unable longer to keep +up her brave resistance, Florence Lloyd fainted. + +Mrs. Pierce wrung her hands and moaned in a helpless fashion. +Elsa started forward to attend her young mistress, but it was the +two neighbors who were jurors, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Porter, who +carried the unconscious girl from the room. + +Gregory Hall looked concerned, but made no movement to aid, and I +marvelled afresh at such strange actions in a man betrothed to a +particularly beautiful woman. + +Several women in the audience hurried from the room, and in a few +moments the two jurors returned. + +"Miss Lloyd will soon be all right, I think," said Mr. Porter to +the coroner. "My wife is with her, and one or two other ladies. +I think we may proceed with our work here." + +There was something about Mr. Lemuel Porter that made men accept +his dictum, and without further remark Mr. Monroe called the next +witness, Mr. Roswell Randolph, and a tall man, with an +intellectual face, came forward. + +While the coroner was putting the formal and preliminary +questions to Mr. Randolph, Parmalee quietly drew my attention to +a whispered conversation going on between Elsa and Louis. + +If this girl had fainted instead of Miss Lloyd, I should not have +been surprised for she seemed on the very verge of nervous +collapse. She seemed, too, to be accusing the man of something, +which he vigorously denied. The girl interested me far more than +the Frenchman. Though of the simple, rosy-cheeked type of +German, she had an air of canniness and subtlety that was at +variance with her naive effect. I soon concluded she was far +more clever than most people thought, and Parmalee's whispered +words showed that he thought so too. + +"Something doing in the case of Dutch Elsa, eh?" he said; "she +and Johnny Frenchy have cooked up something between them." + +"Nothing of any importance, I fancy," I returned, for Miss +Lloyd's swoon seemed to me a surrender, and I had little hope now +of any other direction in which to look. + +But I resumed my attention to the coroner's inquiries of Mr. +Randolph. + +In answer to a few formal questions, he stated that he had been +Mr. Crawford's legal adviser for many years, and had entire +charge of all such matters as required legal attention. + +"Did you draw up the late Mr. Crawford's will?" asked the +coroner. + +"Yes; after the death of his wife--about twelve years ago." + +"And what were the terms of that will?" + +"Except for some minor bequests, the bulk of his fortune was +bequeathed to Miss Florence Lloyd." + +"Have you changed that will in any way, or drawn a later one?" + +"No." + +It was by the merest chance that I was looking at Gregory Hall, +as the lawyer gave this answer. + +It required no fine perception to understand the look of relief +and delight that fairly flooded his countenance. To be sure, it +was quickly suppressed, and his former mask of indifference and +preoccupation assumed, but I knew as well as if he had put it +into words, that he had trembled lest Miss Lloyd had been +disinherited before her uncle had met his death in the night. + +This gave me many new thoughts, but before I could formulate +them, I heard the coroner going an with his questions. + +"Did Mr. Crawford visit you last evening?" + +"Yes; he was at my house for perhaps half an hour or more between +eight and nine o'clock." + +"Did he refer to the subject of changing his will?" + +"He did. That was his errand. He distinctly stated his +intention of making a new will, and asked me to come to his +office this morning and draw up the instrument." + +"But as that cannot now be done, the will in favor of Miss Lloyd +still stands?" + +"It does," said Mr. Randolph, "and I am glad of it. Miss Lloyd +has been brought up to look upon this inheritance as her own, and +while I would have used no undue emphasis, I should have tried to +dissuade Mr. Crawford from changing his will." + +"But before we consider the fortune or the will, we must proceed +with our task of bringing to light the murderer, and avenging Mr. +Crawford's death." + +"I trust you will do so, Mr. Coroner, and that speedily. But I +may say, if allowable, that you are on the wrong track when you +allow your suspicions to tend towards Florence Lloyd." + +"As your opinion, Mr. Randolph, of course that sentiment has some +weight, but as a man of law, yourself, you must know that such an +opinion must be proved before it can be really conclusive." + +"Yes, of course," said Mr. Randolph, with a deep sigh. "But let +me beg of you to look further in search of other indications +before you press too hard upon Miss Lloyd with the seeming clues +you now have." + +I liked Mr. Randolph very much. Indeed it seemed to me that the +men of West Sedgwick were of a fine class as to both intellect +and judgment, and though Coroner Monroe was not a brilliant man, +I began to realize that he had some sterling qualities and was +distinctly just and fair in his decisions. + +As for Gregory Hall, he seemed like a man free from a great +anxiety. Though still calm and reserved in appearance, he was +less nervous, and quietly awaited further developments. His +attitude was not hard to understand. Mr. Crawford had objected +to his secretary's engagement to his niece, and now Mr. +Crawford's objections could no longer matter. Again, it was not +surprising that Mr. Hall should be glad to learn that his fiancee +was the heiress she had supposed herself to he. Even though he +were marrying the girl simply for love of her, a large fortune in +addition was by no means to be despised. At any rate, I +concluded that Gregory Hall thought so. + +As often happened, Parmalee read my thoughts. "A +fortune-hunter," he murmured, with a meaning glance at Hall. + +I remembered that Mr. Carstairs, at the inn had said the same +thing, and I thoroughly believed it myself. + +"Has he any means of his own?" + +"No," said Parmalee, "except his salary, which was a good one +from Mr. Crawford, but of course he's lost that now." + +"I don't feel drawn toward him. I suppose one would call him a +gentleman and yet he isn't manly." + +"He's a cad," declared Parmalee; "any fortune hunter is a cad, +and I despise him." + +Although I tried to hold my mind impartially open regarding Mr. +Hall, I was conscious of an inclination to despise him myself. +But I was also honest enough to realize that my principal reason +for despising him was because he had won the hand of Florence +Lloyd. + +I heard Coroner Monroe draw a long sigh. + +Clearly, the man was becoming more and more apprehensive, and +really dreaded to go on with the proceedings, because he was +fearful of what might be disclosed thereby. + +The gold bag still lay on the table before him; the yellow rose +petals were not yet satisfactorily accounted for; Miss Lloyd's +agitation and sudden loss of consciousness, though not surprising +in the circumstances, were a point in her disfavor. And now the +revelation that Mr. Crawford was actually on the point of +disinheriting his niece made it impossible to ignore the obvious +connection between that fact and the event of the night. + +But no one had put the thought into words, and none seemed +inclined to. + +Mechanically, Mr. Monroe called the next witness on his list, and +Mrs. Pierce answered. + +For some reason she chose to stand during her interview, and as +she rose, I realized that she was a prim little personage, but of +such a decided nature that she might have been stigmatized by the +term stubborn. I had seen such women before; of a certain soft, +outward effect, apparently pliable and amenable, but in reality, +deep, shrewd and clever. + +And yet she was not strong, for the situation in which she found +herself made her trembling and unstrung. + +When asked by the coroner to tell her own story of the events of +the evening before, she begged that he would question her +instead. + +Desirous of making it as easy for her as possible, Mr. Monroe +acceded to her wishes, and put his questions in a kindly and +conversational tone. + +"You were at dinner last night, with Miss Lloyd and Mr. Crawford?" + +"Yes," was the almost inaudible reply, and Mrs. Pierce seemed +about to break down at the sad recollection. + +"You heard the argument between Mr. Crawford and his niece at the +dinner table?" + +"Yes." + +"This resulted in high words on both sides?" + +"Well, I don't know exactly what you mean by high words. Mr. +Crawford rarely lost his temper and Florence never." + +"What then did Mr. Crawford say in regard to disinheriting Miss +Lloyd?" + +"Mr. Crawford said clearly, but without recourse to what may be +called high words, that unless Florence would consent to break +her engagement he would cut her off with a shilling." + +"Did he use that expression?" + +"He did at first, when he was speaking more lightly; then when +Florence refused to do as he wished he said he would go that very +evening to Mr. Randolph's and have a new will made which should +disinherit Florence, except for a small annuity." + +"And what did Miss Lloyd reply to this threat?" asked the +coroner. + +"She said," replied Mrs. Pierce, in her plaintive tones, "that +her uncle might do as he chose about that; but she would never +give up Mr. Hall." + +At this moment Gregory Hall looked more manly than I had yet seen +him. + +Though he modestly dropped his eyes at this tacit tribute to his +worthiness, yet he squared his shoulders, and showed a +justifiable pride in the love thus evinced for him. + +"Was the subject discussed further?" pursued the coroner. + +"No; nothing more was said about it after that." + +"Will the making of a new will by Mr. Crawfard affect yourself in +any way, Mrs. Pierce?" + +"No," she replied, "Mr. Crawford left me a small bequest in his +earlier will and I had reason to think he would do the same in a +later will, even though he changed his intentions regarding +Florence." + +"Miss Lloyd thoroughly believed that he intended to carry out his +threat last evening?" + +"She didn't say so to me, but Mr. Crawford spoke so decidedly on +the matter, that I think both she and I believed he was really +going to carry out his threat at last." + +"When Mr. Crawford left the house, did you and Miss Lloyd know +where he was going?" + +"We knew no more than he had said at the table. He said nothing +when he went away." + +"How did you and Miss Lloyd spend the remainder of the evening?" + +"It was but a short evening. We sat in the music-room for a +time, but at about ten o'clock we both went up to our rooms." + +"Had Mr. Crawford returned then?" + +"Yes, he came in perhaps an hour earlier. We heard him come in +at the front door, and go at once to his office." + +"You did not see him, or speak to him?" + +"We did not. He had a caller during the evening. It was Mr. +Porter, I have since learned." + +"Did Miss Lloyd express no interest as to whether he had changed +his will or not?" + +"Miss Lloyd didn't mention the will, or her engagement, to me at +all. We talked entirely of other matters." + +"Was Miss Lloyd in her usual mood or spirits?" + +"She seemed a little quiet, but not at all what you might call +worried." + +"Was not this strange when she was fully expecting to be deprived +of her entire fortune?" + +"It was not strange for Miss Lloyd. She rarely talks of her own +affairs. We spent an evening similar in all respects to our +usual evening when we do not have guests." + +"And you both went upstairs at ten. Was that unusually early for +you?" + +"Well, unless we have guests, we often go at ten or half-past +ten." + +"And did you see Miss Lloyd again that night?" + +"Yes; about half an hour later, I went to her room for a book I +wanted." + +"Miss Lloyd had not retired?" + +"No; she asked me to sit down for awhile and chat." + +"Did you do so?" + +"Only for a few moments. I was interested in the book I had come +for, and I wanted to take it away to my own room to read." + +"And Miss Lloyd, then, did not seem dispirited or in any way in +an unusual mood?" + +"Not that I noticed. I wasn't quizzing her or looking into her +eyes to see what her thoughts were, for it didn't occur to me to +do so. I knew her uncle had dealt her a severe blow, but as she +didn't open the subject, of course I couldn't discuss it with +her. But I did think perhaps she wanted to be by herself to +consider the matter, and that was one reason why I didn't stay +and chat as she had asked me to." + +"Perhaps she really wanted to discuss the matter with you." + +"Perhaps she did; but in that case she should have said so. +Florence knows well enough that I am always ready to discuss or +sympathize with her in any matter, but I never obtrude my +opinions. So as she said nothing to lead me to think she wanted +to talk to me especially, I said good-night to her." + + + + +VIII + +FURTHER INQUIRY + + +"Did you happen to notice, Mrs. Pierce, whether Miss Lloyd was +wearing a yellow rose when you saw her in her room?" + +Mrs. Pierce hesitated. She looked decidedly embarrassed, and +seemed disinclined to answer. But she might have known that to +hesitate and show embarrassment was almost equivalent to an +affirmative answer to the coroner's question. At last she +replied + +"I don't know; I didn't notice." + +This might have been a true statement, but I think no one in the +room believed it. The coroner tried again. + +"Try to think, Mrs. Pierce. It is important that we should know +if Miss Lloyd was wearing a yellow rose." + +"Yes," flared out Mrs. Pierce angrily, "so that you can prove she +went down to her uncle's office later and dropped a piece of her +rose there! But I tell you I don't remember whether she was +wearing a rose or not, and it wouldn't matter if she had on forty +roses! If Florence Lloyd says she didn't go down-stairs, she +didn't." + +"I think we all believe in Miss Lloyd's veracity," said Mr. +Monroe, "but it is necessary to discover where those rose petals +in the library came from. You saw the flowers in her room, Mrs. +Pierce?" + +"Yes, I believe I did. But I paid no attention to them, as +Florence nearly always has flowers in her room." + +"Would you have heard Miss Lloyd if she had gone down-stairs +after you left her?" + +"I don't know," said Mrs. Pierce, doubtfully. + +"Is your room next to hers?" + +"No, not next." + +"Is it on the same corridor?" + +"No." + +"Around a corner?" + +"Yes." + +"And at some distance?" + +"Yes." Mrs. Pierce's answers became more hesitating as she saw +the drift of Mr. Monroe's questions. Clearly, she was trying to +shield Florence, if necessary, at the expense of actual +truthfulness. + +"Then," went on Mr. Monroe, inexorably, "I understand you to say +that you think you would have heard Miss Lloyd, had she gone +down-stairs, although your room is at a distance and around a +corner and the hall and stairs are thickly carpeted. Unless you +were listening especially, Mrs. Pierce, I think you would +scarcely have heard her descend." + +"Well, as she didn't go down, of course I didn't hear her," +snapped Mrs. Pierce, with the feminine way of settling an +argument by an unprovable statement. + +Mr. Monroe began on another tack. + +"When you went to Miss Lloyd's room," he said, "was the maid, +Elsa, there?" + +"Miss Lloyd had just dismissed her for the night." + +"What was Miss Lloyd doing when you went to her room?" + +"She was looking over some gowns that she proposed sending to the +cleaner's." + +The coroner fairly jumped. He remembered the newspaper clipping +of a cleaner's advertisement, which was even now in the gold bag +before him. Though all the jurors had seen it, it had not been +referred to in the presence of the women. + +Recovering himself at once, he said quietly "Was not that rather +work for Miss Lloyd's maid?" + +"Oh, Elsa would pack and send them, of course," said Mrs. Pierce +carelessly. "Miss Lloyd was merely deciding which ones needed +cleaning." + +"Do you know where they were to be sent?" + +Mrs. Pierce looked a little surprised at this question. + +"Miss Lloyd always sends her things to Carter & Brown's," she +said. + +Now, Carter & Brown was the firm name on the advertisement, and +it was evident at once that the coroner considered this a +damaging admission. + +He sat looking greatly troubled, but before he spoke again, Mr. +Parmalee made an observation that decidedly raised that young man +in my estimation. + +"Well," he said, "that's pretty good proof that the gold bag +doesn't belong to Miss Lloyd." + +"How so?" asked the coroner, who had thought quite the contrary. + +"Why, if Miss Lloyd always sends her goods to be cleaned to +Carter & Brown, why would she need to cut their address from a +newspaper and save it?" + +At first I thought the young man's deduction distinctly clever, +but on second thought I wasn't so sure. Miss Lloyd might have +wanted that address for a dozen good reasons. To my mind, it +proved neither her ownership of the gold bag, nor the contrary. + +In fact, I thought the most important indication that the bag +might be hers lay in the story Elsa told about the cousin who +sailed to Germany. Somehow that sounded untrue to me, but I was +more than willing to believe it if I could. + +I longed for Fleming Stone, who, I felt sure, could learn from +the bag and its contents the whole truth about the crime and the +criminal. + +But I had been called to take charge of the case, and my pride +forbade me to call on any one for help. + +I had scorned deductions from inanimate objects, but I resolved +to study that bag again, and study it more minutely. Perhaps +there were some threads or shreds caught in its meshes that might +point to its owner. I remembered a detective story I read once, +in which the whole discovery of the criminal depended on +identifying a few dark blue woollen threads which were found in a +small pool of candle grease on a veranda roof. As it turned out, +they were from the trouser knee of a man who had knelt there to +open a window. The patent absurdity of leaving threads from +one's trouser knee, amused me very much, but the accommodating +criminals in fiction almost always leave threads or shreds behind +them. And surely a gold-mesh bag, with its thousands of links +would be a fine trap to catch some threads of evidence, however +minute they might be. + +Furthermore I decided to probe further into that yellow rose +business. I was not at all sure that those petals I found on the +floor had anything to do with Miss Lloyd's roses, but it must be +a question possible of settlement, if I went about it in the +right way. At any rate, though I had definite work ahead of me, +my duty just now was to listen to the forthcoming evidence, +though I could not help thinking I could have put questions more +to the point than Mr. Monroe did. + +Of course the coroner's inquest was not formally conducted as a +trial by jury would be, and so any one spoke, if he chose, and +the coroner seemed really glad when suggestions were offered him. + +At this point Philip Crawford rose. + +"It is impossible," he said, "not to see whither these questions +are tending. But you are on the wrong tack, Mr. Coroner. No +matter how evidence may seem to point toward Florence Lloyd's +association with this crime, it is only seeming. That gold bag +might have been hers and it might not. But if she says it isn't, +why, then it isn't! Notwithstanding the state of affairs between +my brother and his niece, there is not the shadow of a +possibility that the young woman is implicated in the slightest +degree, and the sooner you leave her name out of consideration, +and turn your search into other channels, the sooner you will +find the real criminal." + +It was not so much the words of Philip Crawford, as the sincere +way in which they were spoken, that impressed me. Surely he was +right; surely this beautiful girl was neither principal nor +accessory in the awful crime which, by a strange coincidence, +gave to her her fortune and her lover. + +"Mr. Crawford's right," said Lemuel Porter. "If this jury allows +itself to be misled by a gold purse and two petals of a yellow +rose, we are unworthy to sit on this case. Why, Mr. Coroner, the +long French windows in the office were open, or, at least, +unfastened all through the night. We have that from the butler's +testimony. He didn't lock them last night; they were found +unlocked this morning. Therefore, I hold that an intruder, +either man or woman, may have come in during the night, +accomplished the fatal deed, and departed without any one being +the wiser. That this intruder was a woman, is evidenced by the +bag she left behind her. For, as Mr. Crawford has said, if Miss +Lloyd denies the ownership of that bag, it is not hers." + +After all, these declarations were proof, of a sort. If Mr. +Porter and Mr. Philip Crawford, who had known Florence Lloyd for +years, spoke thus positively of her innocence, it could not be +doubted. + +And then the voice of Parmalee again sounded in my ears. + +"Of course Mr. Porter and Mr. Crawford would stand up for Miss +Lloyd; it would be strange if they didn't. And of course, Mrs. +Pierce will do all she can to divert suspicion. But the +evidences are against her." + +"They only seem to be," I corrected. "Until we prove the gold +bag and the yellow rose to be hers; there is no evidence against +her at all." + +"She also had motive and opportunity. Those two points are of +quite as much importance as evidence." + +"She had motive and opportunity," I agreed, "but they were not +exclusive. As Mr. Porter pointed out, the open windows gave +opportunity that was world wide; and as to motive, how are we to +know who had or who hadn't it." + +"You're right, I suppose. Perhaps I am too positive of Miss +Lloyd's implication in the matter, but I'm quite willing to be +convinced to the contrary." + +The remarks of Mr. Parmalee were of course not audible to any one +save myself. But the speeches which had been made by Mr. +Crawford and Mr. Porter, and which, strange to say, amounted to +an arraignment and a vindication almost in the same breath, had a +decided effect upon the assembly. + +Mrs. Pierce began to weep silently. Gregory Hall looked +startled, as if the mere idea of Miss Lloyd's implication was a +new thought to him. Lawyer Randolph looked considerably +disturbed, and I at once suspected that his legal mind would not +allow him to place too much dependence on the statements of the +girl's sympathetic friends. + +Mr. Hamilton, another of the jurors whom I liked, seemed to be +thoughtfully weighing the evidence. He was not so well +acquainted with Miss Lloyd as the two men who had just spoken in +her behalf, and he made a remark somewhat diffidently. + +"I agree," he said, "with the sentiments just expressed; but I +also think that we should endeavor to find some further clues or +evidence. Had Mr. Crawford any enemies who would come at night +to kill him? Or are there any valuables missing? Could robbery +have been the motive?" + +"It does not seem so," replied the coroner. "Nothing is known to +be missing. Mr. Crawford's watch and pocket money were not +disturbed." + +"The absence of the weapon is a strange factor in the case," put +in Mr. Orville, apparently desirous of having his voice heard as +well as those of the other jurors. + +"Yes," agreed Mr. Monroe; "and yet it is not strange that the +criminal carried away with him what might have been a proof of +his identity." + +"Does Miss Lloyd own a pistol?" blurted out Mr. Parmalee. + +Gregory Hall gave him an indignant look, but Coroner Monroe +seemed rather glad to have the question raised--probably so that +it could be settle at once in the negative. + +And it was. + +"No," replied Mrs. Pierce, when the query was put to her. "Both +Florence and I are desperately afraid of firearms. We wouldn't +dream of owning a pistol--either of us." + +Of course, this was significant, but in no way decisive. +Granting that Miss Lloyd could have been the criminal, it would +have been possible for her secretly to procure a revolver, and +secretly to dispose of it afterward. Then, too, a small revolver +had been used. To be sure, this did not necessarily imply that a +woman had used it, but, taken in connection with the bag and the +rose petals, it gave food for thought. + +But the coroner seemed to think Mrs. Pierce's assertions greatly +in Miss Lloyd's favor, and, being at the end of his list of +witnesses, he inquired if any one else in the room knew of +anything that could throw light on the matter. + +No one responded to this invitation, and the coroner then +directed the jury to retire to find a verdict. The six men +passed into another room, and I think no one who awaited their +return apprehended any other result than the somewhat +unsatisfactory one of "person or persons unknown." + +And this was what the foreman announced when the jury returned +after their short collocation. + +Then, as a jury, they were dismissed, but from that moment the +mystery of Joseph Crawford's death became the absorbing thought +of all West Sedgwick. + +"The murderer of my brother shall be found and brought to +justice!" declared Philip Crawford, and all present seemed to +echo his vow. + +Then and there, Mr. Crawford retained Lawyer Randolph to help him +in running down the villain, and, turning to me, asked to engage +my services also. + +To this, I readily agreed, for I greatly desired to go on with +the matter, and cared little whether I worked for an individual +or for the State. + +Of course Mr. Crawford's determination to find the murderer +proved anew his conviction that Florence Lloyd was above all +suspicion, but in the face of certain details of the evidence so +far, I could not feel so absolutely certain of this. + +However, it was my business to follow up every clue, or apparent +clue, and every bit of evidence, and this I made up my mind to +do, regardless of consequences. + +I confess it was difficult for me to feel regardless of +consequences, for I had a haunting fear that the future was going +to look dark for Florence Lloyd. And if it should be proved that +she was in any way responsible for or accessory to this crime, I +knew I should wish I had had nothing to do with discovering that +fact. But back of this was an undefined but insistent conviction +that the girl was innocent, and that I could prove it. This may +have been an inordinate faith in my own powers, or it may have +been a hope born of my admiration for the young woman herself. +For there is no doubt, that for the first time in my life I was +taking a serious interest in a woman's personality. Heretofore I +had been a general admirer of womankind, and I had naturally +treated them all with chivalry and respect. But now I had met +one whom I desired to treat in a far tenderer way, and to my +chagrin I realized that I had no right to entertain such thoughts +toward a girl already betrothed. + +So I concluded to try my best to leave Florence Lloyd's +personality out of the question, to leave my feelings toward her +out of the question, and to devote my energies to real work on +the case and prove by intelligent effort that I could learn facts +from evidence without resorting to the microscopic methods of +Fleming Stone. I purposely ignored the fact that I would have +been only too glad to use these methods had I the power to do so! + + + + +IX + +THE TWELFTH ROSE + + +For the next day or two the Crawford house presented the +appearance usual in any home during the days immediately +preceding a funeral. + +By tacit consent, all reference to the violence of Mr. Crawford's +death was avoided, and a rigorous formality was the keynote of +all the ceremonies. The servants were garbed in correct +mourning, the ladies of the house refused to see anybody, and all +personal callers were met by Philip Crawford or his wife, while +business acquaintances were received by Gregory Hall. + +As private secretary, of course Mr. Hall was in full charge of +Mr. Crawford's papers and personal effects. But, in addition to +this, as the prospective husband of the heiress, he was +practically the head of the house. + +He showed no elation or ostentation at this state of affairs, but +carried himself with an air of quiet dignity, tinged with a +suggestion of sadness, which, if merely conventional, seemed none +the less sincere. + +I soon learned that the whole social atmosphere of West Sedgwick +was one of extreme formality, and everything was done in +accordance with the most approved conventions. Therefore, I +found I could get no chance for a personal conversation with Miss +Lloyd until after the funeral. + +I had, however, more or less talk with Gregory Hall, and as I +became acquainted with him, I liked him less. + +He was of a cold and calculating disposition, and when we were +alone, he did not hesitate to gloat openly over his bright +prospects. + +"Terrible thing, to be put out of existence like that," he said, +as we sat in Mr. Crawford's office, looking over some papers; +"but it solved a big problem for Florence and me. However, we'll +be married as soon as we decently can, and then we'll go abroad, +and forget the tragic part of it all." + +"I suppose you haven't a glimmer of a suspicion as to who did +it," I ventured. + +"No, I haven't. Not the faintest notion. But I wish you could +find out. Of course, nobody holds up that bag business as +against Florence, but--it's uncomfortable all the same. I wish +I'd been here that night. I'm 'most sure I'd have heard a shot, +or something." + +"Where were you?" I said, in a careless tone. + +Hall drew himself up stiffly. "Excuse me," he said. "I declined +to answer that question before. Since I was not in West +Sedgwick, it can matter to no one where I was." + +"Oh, that's all right," I returned affably, for I had no desire +to get his ill will. "But of course we detectives have to ask +questions. By the way, where did you buy Miss Lloyd's yellow +roses?" + +"See here," said Gregory Hall, with a petulant expression, "I +don't want to be questioned. I'm not on the witness-stand, and, +as I've told you, I'm uncomfortable already about these so-called +`clues' that seem to implicate Miss Lloyd. So, if you please, +I'll say nothing." + +"All right," I responded, "just as you like." + +I went away from the house, thinking how foolish people could be. +I could easily discover where he bought the roses, as there were +only three florists' shops in West Sedgwick and I resolved to go +at once to hunt up the florist who sold them. + +Assuming he would naturally go to the shop nearest the railroad +station, and which was also on the way from the Crawford house, I +went there first, and found my assumption correct. + +The florist was more than willing to talk on the subject. + +"Yes, sir," he said; "I sold those roses to Mr. Hall--sold 'em +to him myself. He wanted something extra nice, and I had just a +dozen of those big yellow beauties. No, I don't raise my own +flowers. I get 'em from the city. And so I had just that dozen, +and I sent 'em right up. Well, there was some delay, for two of +my boys were out to supper, and I waited for one to get back." + +"And you had no other roses just like these in stock?" + +"No, sir. Hadn't had for a week or more. Haven't any now. May +not get any more at all. They're a scarce sort, at best, and +specially so this year." + +"And you sent Miss Lloyd the whole dozen?" + +"Yes, sir; twelve. I like to put in an extra one or two when I +can, but that time I couldn't. There wasn't another rose like +them short of New York City." + +I thanked the florist, and, guessing that he was not above it, I +gave him a more material token of my gratitude for his +information, and then walked slowly back to my room at the inn. + +Since there were no other roses of that sort in West Sedgwick +that evening, it seemed to me as if Florence Lloyd must have gone +down to her uncle's office after having pinned the blossom on her +bodice. The only other possibility was that some intruder had +entered by way of the French window wearing or carrying a similar +flower, and that this intruder had come from New York, or at +least from some place other than West Sedgwick. It was too +absurd. Murderers don't go about decked with flowers, and yet at +midnight a man in evening dress was not impossible, and evening +dress might easily imply a boutonniere. + +Well, this well-dressed man I had conjured up in my mind must +have come from out of town, or else whence the flower, after all? + +And then I bethought myself of that late newspaper. An extra, +printed probably as late as eleven o'clock at night, must have +been brought out to West Sedgwick by a traveller on some late +train. Why not Gregory Hall, himself? I let my imagination run +riot for a minute. Mr. Hall refused to say where he was on the +night of the murder. Why not assume that he had come out from +New York, in evening dress, at or about midnight? This would +account for the newspaper and the yellow rose petals, for, if he +bought a boutonniere in the city, how probable he would select +the same flower he had just sent his fiancee. + +I rather fancied the idea of Gregory Hall as the criminal. He +had the same motive as Miss Lloyd. He knew of her uncle's +objection to their union, and his threat of disinheritance. How +easy for him to come out late from New York, on a night when he +was not expected, and remove forever the obstacle to his future +happiness! + +I drew myself up with a start. This was not detective work. +This was mere idle speculation. I must shake it off, and set +about collecting some real evidence. + +But the thought still clung to me; mere speculation it might be, +but it was founded on the same facts that already threw suspicion +on Florence Lloyd. With the exception of the gold bag--and that +she disclaimed--such evidence as I knew of pointed toward Mr. +Hall as well as toward Miss Lloyd. + +However at present I was on the trail of those roses, and I +determined to follow that trail to a definite end. I went back +to the Crawford house and as I did not like to ask for Miss +Lloyd, I asked for Mrs. Pierce. + +She came down to the drawing room, and greeted me rather more +cordially than I had dared to hope. I had a feeling that both +ladies resented my presence there, for so many women have a +prejudice against detectives. + +But though nervous and agitated, Mrs. Pierce spoke to me kindly. + +"Did you want to see me for anything in particular, Mr. +Burroughs?" she asked. + +"Yes, I do, Mrs. Pierce," I replied; "I may as well tell you +frankly that I want to find out all I can about those yellow +roses." + +"Oh, those roses! Shall I never hear the last of them? I assure +you, Mr. Burroughs, they're of no importance whatever." + +"That is not for you to decide," I said quietly, and I began to +see that perhaps a dictatorial attitude might be the best way to +manage this lady. "Are the rest of those flowers still in Miss +Lloyd's room? If so I wish to see them." + +"I don't know whether they are or not; but I will find out, and +if so I'll bring them down." + +"No," I said, "I will go with you to see them." + +"But Florence may be in her room." + +"So much the better. She can tell me anything I wish to know." + +"Oh, please don't interview her! I'm sure she wouldn't want to +talk with you." + +"Very well, then ask her to vacate the room, and I will go there +with you now." + +Mrs. Pierce went away, and I began to wonder if I had gone too +far or had overstepped my authority. But it was surely my duty +to learn all I could about Florence Lloyd, and what so promising +of suggestions as her own room? + +Mrs. Pierce returned in a few moments, and affably enough she +asked me to accompany her to Miss Lloyd's room. + +I did so, and after entering devoted my whole attention to the +bunch of yellow roses, which in a glass vase stood on the window +seat. Although somewhat wilted, they were still beautiful, and +without the slightest doubt were the kind of rose from which the +two tell-tale petals had fallen. + +Acting upon a sudden thought, I counted them. There were nine, +each one seemingly with its full complement of petals, though of +this I could not be perfectly certain. + +"Now, Mrs.--Pierce," I said, turning to her with an air of +authority which was becoming difficult to maintain, "where are +the roses which Miss Lloyd admits having pinned to her gown?" + +"Mercy! I don't know," exclaimed Mrs. Pierce, looking bewildered. +"I suppose she threw them away." + +"I suppose she did," I returned; "would she not be likely to +throw them in the waste basket?" + +"She might," returned Mrs. Pierce, turning toward an ornate +affair of wicker-work and pink ribbons. + +Sure enough, in the basket, among a few scraps of paper, were two +exceedingly withered yellow roses. I picked them out and +examined them, but in their present state it was impossible to +tell whether they had lost any petals or not, so I threw them +back in the basket. + +Mrs. Pierce seemed to care nothing for evidence or deduction in +the matter, but began to lament the carelessness of the +chambermaid who had not emptied the waste basket the day before. + +But I secretly blessed the delinquent servant, and began +pondering on this new development of the rose question. The nine +roses in the vase and the two in the basket made but eleven, and +the florist had told me that he had sent a dozen. Where was the +twelfth? + +The thought occurred to me that Miss Lloyd might have put away +one as a sentimental souvenir, but to my mind she did not seem +the kind of a girl to do that. I knew my reasoning was absurd, +for what man can predicate what a woman will do? but at the same +time I could not seem to imagine the statuesque, imperial Miss +Lloyd tenderly preserving a rose that her lover had given her. + +But might not Gregory Hall have taken one of the dozen for +himself before sending the rest? This was merely surmise, but it +was a possibility, and at any rate the twelfth rose was not in +Miss Lloyd's room. + +Therefore the twelfth rose was a factor to be reckoned with, a +bit of evidence to be found; and I determined to find it. + +I asked Mrs. Pierce to arrange for me an interview with Miss +Lloyd, but the elder lady seemed doubtful. + +"I'm quite sure she won't see you," she said, "for she has +declared she will see no one until after the funeral. But if you +want me to ask her anything for you, I will do so." + +"Very well," I said, surprised at her willingness; "please ask +Miss Lloyd if she knows what became of the twelfth yellow rose; +and beg her to appreciate the fact that it is a vital point in +the case." + +Mrs. Pierce agreed to do this, and as I went down the stairs she +promised to join me in the library a few moments later. + +She kept her promise, and I waited eagerly her report. + +"Miss Lloyd bids me tell you," she said, "that she knows nothing +of what you call the twelfth rose. She did not count the roses, +she merely took two of them to pin on her dress, and when she +retired, she carelessly threw those two in the waste basket. She +thinks it probable there were only eleven in the box when it +arrived. But at any rate she knows nothing more of the matter." + +I thanked Mrs. Pierce for her courtesy and patience, and feeling +that I now had a real problem to consider, I started back to the +inn. + +It could not be that this rose matter was of no importance. For +the florist had assured me he had sold exactly twelve flowers to +Mr. Gregory Hall, and of these, I could account for only eleven. +The twelfth rose must have been separated from the others, either +by Mr. Hall, at the time of purchase, or by some one else later. +If the petals found on the floor fell from that twelfth rose, and +if Florence Lloyd spoke the truth when she declared she knew +nothing of it, then she was free from suspicion in that +direction. + +But until I could make some further effort to find out about the +missing rose I concluded to say nothing of it to anybody. I was +not bound to tell Parmalee any points I might discover, for +though colleagues, we were working independently of each other. + +But as I was anxious to gather any side lights possible, I +determined to go for a short conference with the district +attorney, in whose hands the case had been put after the +coroner's inquest. + +He was a man named Goodrich, a quiet mannered, untalkative +person, and as might be expected he had made little or no +progress as yet. + +He said nothing could be done until after the funeral and the +reading of the will, which ceremonies would occur the next +afternoon. + +I talked but little to Mr. Goodrich, yet I soon discovered that +he strongly suspected Miss Lloyd of the crime, either as +principal or accessory. + +"But I can't believe it," I objected. "A girl, delicately +brought up, in refined and luxurious surroundings, does not +deliberately commit an atrocious crime." + +"A woman thwarted in her love affair will do almost anything," +declared Mr. Goodrich. "I have had more experience than you, my +boy, and I advise you not to bank too much on the refined and +luxurious surroundings. Sometimes such things foster crime +instead of preventing it. But the truth will come out, and soon, +I think. The evidence that seems to point to Miss Lloyd can be +easily proved or disproved, once we get at the work in earnest. +That coroner's jury was made up of men who were friends and +neighbors of Mr. Crawford. They were so prejudiced by sympathy +for Miss Lloyd, and indignation at the unknown criminal, that +they couldn't give unbiased judgment. But we will yet see +justice done. If Miss Lloyd is innocent, we can prove it. But +remember the provocation she was under. Remember the opportunity +she had, to visit her uncle alone in his office, after every one +else in the house was asleep. Remember that she had a motive--a +strong motive--and no one else had." + +"Except Mr. Gregory Hall," I said meaningly. + +"Yes; I grant he had the same motive. But he is known to have +left town at six that evening, and did not return until nearly +noon the next day. That lets him out." + +"Yes, unless he came back at midnight, and then went back to the +city again." + +"Nonsense!" said Mr. Goodrich. "That's fanciful. Why, the +latest train--the theatre train, as we call it--gets in at one +o'clock, and it's always full of our society people returning +from gayeties in New York. He would have been seen had he come +on that train, and there is no later one." + +I didn't stay to discuss the matter further. Indeed, Mr. +Goodrich had made me feel that my theories were fanciful. + +But whatever my theories might be there were still facts to be +investigated. + +Remembering my determination to examine that gold bag more +thoroughly I asked Mr. Goodrich to let me see it, for of course, +as district attorney, it was now in his possession. + +He gave it to me with an approving nod. "That's the way to +work," he said. "That bag is your evidence. Now from that, you +detectives must go ahead and learn the truth." + +"Whose bag is it?" I said, with the intention of drawing him out. + +"It's Miss Lloyd's bag," he said gravely. "Any woman in the +world would deny its ownership, in the existing circumstances, +and I am not surprised that she did so. Nor do I blame her for +doing so. Self preservation is a mighty strong impulse in the +human heart, and we've all got a right to obey it." + +As I took the gold bag from his hand, I didn't in the least +believe that Florence Lloyd was the owner of it, and I resolved +anew to prove this to the satisfaction of everybody concerned. + +Mr. Goodrich turned away and busied himself about other matters, +and I devoted myself to deep study. + +The contents of the bag proved as blank and unsuggestive as ever. +The most exhaustive examination of its chain, its clasp and its +thousands of links gave me not the tiniest thread or shred of any +sort. + +But as I poked and pried around in its lining I found a card, +which had slipped between the main lining and an inside pocket. + +I drew it out as carefully as I could, and it proved to be a +small plain visiting card bearing the engraved name, "Mrs. +Egerton Purvis." + +I sat staring at it, and then furtively glanced at Mr. Goodrich. +He was not observing me, and I instinctively felt that I did not +wish him to know of the card until I myself had given the matter +further thought. + +I returned the card to its hiding place and returned the bag to +Mr. Goodrich, after which I went away. + +I had not copied the name, for it was indelibly photographed upon +my brain. As I walked along the street I tried to construct the +personality of Mrs. Egerton Purvis from her card. But I was able +to make no rational deductions, except that the name sounded +aristocratic, and was quite in keeping with the general effect of +the bag and its contents. + +To be sure I might have deduced that she was a lady of average +height and size, because she wore a number six glove; that she +was careful of her personal appearance, because she possessed a +vanity case; that she was of tidy habits, because she evidently +expected to send her gowns to be cleaned. But all these things +seemed to me puerile and even ridiculous, as such characteristics +would apply to thousands of woman all over the country. + +Instead of this, I went straight to the telegraph office and +wired to headquarters in a cipher code. I instructed them to +learn the identity and whereabouts of Mrs. Egerton Purvis, and +advise me as soon as possible. + +Then I returned to the Sedgwick Arms, feeling decidedly well +satisfied with my morning's work, and content to wait until after +Mr. Crawford's funeral to do any further real work in the matter. + + + + +X + +THE WILL + + +I went to the Crawford house on the day of the funeral; but as I +reached there somewhat earlier than the hour appointed, I went +into the office with the idea of looking about for further clues. + +In the office I found Gregory Hall; looking decidedly disturbed. + +"I can't find Mr. Crawford's will," he said, as he successively +looked through one drawer after another. + +"What!" I responded. "Hasn't that been located already?" + +"No; it's this way: I didn't see it here in this office, or in +the New York office, so I assumed Mr. Randolph had it in his +possession. But it seems he thought it was here, all the time. +Only this morning we discovered our mutual error, and Mr. +Randolph concluded it must be in Mr. Crawford's safety deposit +box at the bank in New York. So Mr. Philip Crawford hurried +through his administration papers--he is to be executor of the +estate--and went in to get it from the bank. But he has just +returned with the word that it wasn't there. So we've no idea +where it is." + +"Oh, well," said I, "since he hadn't yet made the new will he had +in mind, everything belongs to Miss Lloyd." + +"That's just the point," said Hall, his face taking on a +despairing look. "If we don't find that will, she gets nothing!" + +"How's that?" I said. + +"Why, she's really not related to the Crawfords. She's a niece +of Joseph Crawford's wife. So in the absence of a will his +property will all go to his brother Philip, who is his legal +heir." + +"Oho!" I exclaimed. "This is a new development. But the will +will turn up." + +"Oh, yes, I'm sure of it," returned Hall, but his anxious face +showed anything but confidence in his own words. + +"But," I went on, "didn't Philip Crawford object to his brother's +giving all his fortune to Miss Lloyd?" + +"It didn't matter if he did. Nobody could move Joseph Crawford's +determination. And I fancy Philip didn't make any great +disturbance about it. Of course, Mr. Joseph had a right to do as +he chose with his own, and the will gave Philip a nice little +sum, any way. Not much, compared to the whole fortune, but, +still, a generous bequest." + +"What does Mr. Randolph say?" + +"He's completely baffled. He doesn't know what to think." + +"Can it have been stolen?" + +"Why, no; who would steal it? I only fear he may have destroyed +it because he expected to make a different one. In that case, +Florence is penniless, save for such bounty as Philip Crawford +chooses to bestow on her." + +I didn't like the tone in which Hall said this. It was +distinctly aggrieved, and gave the impression that Florence +Lloyd, penniless, was of far less importance than Miss Lloyd, the +heiress of her uncle's millions. + +"But he would doubtless provide properly for her," I said. + +"Oh, yes, properly. But she would find herself in a very +different position, dependent on his generosity, from what she +would be as sole heir to her uncle's fortune." + +I looked steadily at the man. Although not well acquainted with +him, I couldn't resist giving expression to my thought. + +"But since you are to marry her," I said, "she need not long be +dependent upon her uncle's charity." + +"Philip Crawford isn't really her uncle, and no one can say what +he will do in the matter." + +Gregory Hall was evidently greatly disturbed at the new situation +brought about by the disappearance of Mr. Crawford's will. But +apparently the main reason for his disturbance was the impending +poverty of his fiancee. There was no doubt that Mr. Carstairs +and others who had called this man a fortune-hunter had judged +him rightly. + +However, without further words on the subject, I waited while +Hall locked the door of the office, and then we went together to +the great drawing-room, where the funeral services were about to +take place. + +I purposely selected a position from which I could see the faces +of the group of people most nearly connected with the dead man. +I had a strange feeling, as I looked at them, that one of them +might be the instrument of the crime which had brought about this +funeral occasion. + +During the services I looked closely and in turn at each face, +but beyond the natural emotions of grief which might be expected, +I could read nothing more. + +The brother, Philip Crawford, the near neighbors, Mr. Porter and +Mr. Hamilton, the lawyer, Mr. Randolph, all sat looking grave and +solemn as they heard the last words spoken above their dead +friend. The ladies of the household, quietly controlling their +emotions, sat near me, and next to Florence Lloyd Gregory Hall +had seated himself. + +All of these people I watched closely, half hoping that some +inadvertent sign might tell me of someone's knowledge of the +secret. But when the clergyman referred to the retribution that +would sooner or later overtake the criminal. I could see an +expression of fear or apprehension on no face save that of +Florence Lloyd. She turned even whiter than before, her pale +lips compressed in a straight line, and her small black gloved +hand softly crept into that of Gregory Hall. The movement was +not generally noticeable, but it seemed to me pathetic above all +things. Whatever her position in the matter, she was surely +appealing to him for help and protection. + +Without directly repulsing her, Hall was far from responsive. He +allowed her hand to rest in his own but gave her no answering +pressure, and looked distinctly relieved when, after a moment, +she withdrew it. + +I saw that Parmalee also had observed this, and I could see that +to him it was an indication of the girl's perturbed spirit. To +me it seemed that it might equally well mean many other things. +For instance it might mean her apprehension for Gregory Hall, +who, I couldn't help thinking was far more likely to be a +wrongdoer than the girl herself. + +With a little sigh I gave up trying to glean much information +from the present opportunity, and contented myself with the +melancholy pleasure it gave me simply to look at the sad sweet +face of the girl who was already enshrined in my heart. + +After the solemn and rather elaborate obsequies were over, a +little assembly gathered in the library to hear the reading of +the will. + +As, until then, no one had known of the disappearance of the +will, except the lawyer and the secretary, it came as a +thunderbolt. + +"I have no explanation to offer," said Mr. Randolph, looking +greatly concerned, but free of all personal responsibility. "Mr. +Crawford always kept the will in his own possession. When he +came to see me, the last evening he was alive, in regard to +making a new will, he did not bring the old one with him. We +arranged to meet in his office the next morning to draw up the +new instrument, when he doubtless expected to destroy the old +one. + +"He may have destroyed it on his return home that evening. I do +not know. But so far it has not been found among his papers in +either of his offices or in the bank. Of course it may appear, +as the search, though thorough, has not yet been exhaustive. We +will, therefore, hold the matter in abeyance a few days, hoping +to find the missing document." + +His hearers were variously affected by this news. Florence Lloyd +was simply dazed. She could not seem to grasp a situation which +so suddenly changed her prospects. For she well knew that in the +event of no will being found, Joseph Crawford's brother would be +his rightful heir, and she would be legally entitled to nothing +at all. + +Philip Crawford sat with an utterly expressionless face. Quite +able to control his emotion, if he felt any, he made no sign that +he welcomed this possibility of a great fortune unexpectedly +coming to him. + +Lemuel Porter, who, with his wife, had remained because of their +close friendship with the family, spoke out rather abruptly + +"Find it! Of course it must be found! It's absurd to think the +man destroyed one will before the other was drawn." + +"I agree with you," said Philip Crawford. + +"Joseph was very methodical in his habits, and, besides, I doubt +if he would really have changed his will. I think he merely +threatened it, to see if Florence persisted in keeping her +engagement." + +This was a generous speech on the part of Philip Crawford. To be +sure, generosity of speech couldn't affect the disposal of the +estate. If no will were found, it must by law go to the brother, +but none the less the hearty, whole-souled way in which he spoke +of Miss Lloyd was greatly to his credit as a man. + +"I think so, too," agreed Mr. Porter. "As you know, I called on +Mr. Joseph Crawford during the--the last evening of his life." + +The speaker paused, and indeed it must have been a sad +remembrance that pictured itself to his mind. + +"Did he then refer to the matter of the will?" asked Mr. +Randolph, in gentle tones. + +"He did. Little was said on the subject, but he told me that +unless Florence consented to his wishes in the matter of her +engagement to Mr. Hall, he would make a new will, leaving her +only a small bequest." + +"In what manner did you respond, Mr. Porter?" + +"I didn't presume to advise him definitely, but I urged him not +to be too hard on the girl, and, at any rate, not to make a new +will until he had thought it over more deliberately." + +"What did he then say?" + +"Nothing of any definite import. He began talking of other +matters, and the will was not again referred to. But I can't +help thinking he had not destroyed it." + +At this, Miss Lloyd seemed about to speak, but, glancing at +Gregory Hall, she gave a little sigh, and remained silent. + +"You know of nothing that can throw any light on the matter of +the will, Mr. Hall?" asked Mr. Randolph. + +"No, sir. Of course this whole situation is very embarrassing +for me. I can only say that I have known for a long time the +terms of Mr. Crawford's existing will; I have known of his +threats of changing it; I have known of his attitude toward my +engagement to his niece. But I never spoke to him on any of +these subjects, nor he to me, though several times I have thought +he was on the point of doing so. I have had access to most of +his private papers, but of two or three small boxes he always +retained the keys. I had no curiosity concerning the contents of +these boxes, but I naturally assumed his will was in one of them. +I have, however, opened these boxes since Mr. Crawford's death, +in company with Mr. Randolph, and we found no will. Nor could we +discover any in the New York office or in the bank. That is all +I know of the matter." + +Gregory Hall's demeanor was dignified and calm, his voice even +and, indeed, cold. He was like a bystander, with no vital +interest in the subject he talked about. + +Knowing, as I did, that his interest was vital, I came to the +conclusion that he was a man of unusual self-control, and an +ability to mask his real feelings completely. Feeling that +nothing more could be learned at present, I left the group in the +library discussing the loss of the will, and went down to the +district attorney's office. + +He was, of course, surprised at my news, and agreed with me that +it gave us new fields for conjecture. + +"Now, we see," he said eagerly, "that the motive for the murder +was the theft of the will." + +"Not necessarily," I replied. "Mr. Crawford may have destroyed +the will before he met his death." + +"But that would leave no motive. No, the will supplies the +motive. Now, you see, this frees Miss Lloyd from suspicion. She +would have no reason to kill her uncle and then destroy or +suppress a will in her own favor." + +"That reasoning also frees Mr. Hall from suspicion," said I, +reverting to my former theories. + +"Yes, it does. We must look for the one who has benefited by the +removal of the will. That, of course, would be the brother, Mr. +Philip Crawford." + +I looked at the attorney a moment, and then burst into laughter. + +"My dear Mr. Goodrich," I said, "don't be absurd! A man would +hardly shoot his own brother, but aside from that, why should +Philip Crawford kill Joseph just at the moment he is about to +make a new will in Philip's favor? Either the destruction of the +old will or the drawing of the new would result in Philip's +falling heir to the fortune. So he would hardly precipitate +matters by a criminal act. And, too, if he had been keen about +the money, he could have urged his brother to disinherit Florence +Lloyd, and Joseph would have willingly done so. He was on the +very point of doing so, any way." + +"That's true," said Mr. Goodrich, looking chagrined but +unconvinced. "However, it frees Miss Lloyd from all doubts, by +removing her motive. As you say, she wouldn't suppress a will in +her favor, and thereby turn the fortune over to Philip. And, as +you also said, this lets Gregory Hall out, too, though I never +suspected him for a moment. But, of course, his interests and +Miss Lloyd's are identical." + +"Wait a moment," I said, for new thoughts were rapidly following +one another through my brain. "Not so fast, Mr. District +Attorney. The disappearance of the will does not remove motive +from the possibility of Miss Lloyd's complicity in this crime-- +or Mr. Hall's either." + +"How so?" + +"Because, if Florence Lloyd thought her uncle was in possession +of that will, her motive was identically the same as if he had +possessed it. Now, she certainly thought he had it, for her +surprise at the news of its loss was as unfeigned as my own. And +of course Hall thought the will was among Mr. Crawford's effects, +for he has been searching constantly since the question was +raised." + +"But I thought that yesterday you were so sure of Miss Lloyd's +innocence," objected Mr. Goodrich. + +"I was," I said slowly, "and I think I am still. But in the +light of absolute evidence I am only declaring that the +non-appearance of that will in no way interferes with the motive +Miss Lloyd must have had if she is in any way guilty. She knew, +or thought she knew, that the will was there, in her favor. She +knew her uncle intended to revoke it and make another in her +disfavor. I do not accuse her--I'm not sure I suspect her--I +only say she had motive and opportunity." + +As I walked away from Mr. Goodrich's office, those words rang in +my mind, motive and opportunity. Truly they applied to Mr. Hall +as well as to Miss Lloyd, although of course it would mean Hall's +coming out from the city and returning during the night. And +though this might have been a difficult thing to do secretly, it +was by no means impossible. He might not have come all the way +to West Sedgwick Station, but might have dropped off the train +earlier and taken the trolley. The trolley! that thought +reminded me of the transfer I had picked up on the grass plot +near the office veranda. Was it possible that slip of paper was +a clue, and pointing toward Hall? + +Without definite hope of seeing Gregory Hall, but hopeful of +learning something about him, I strolled back to the Crawford +house. I went directly to the office, and by good luck found +Gregory Hall there alone. He was still searching among the +papers of Mr. Crawford's desk. + +"Ah, Mr. Burroughs," he said, as I entered, "I'm glad to see you. +If detectives detect, you have a fine chance here to do a bit of +good work. I wouldn't mind offering you an honorarium myself, if +you could unearth the will that has so mysteriously disappeared." + +Hall's whole manner had changed. He had laid aside entirely the +grave demeanor which he had shown at the funeral, and was again +the alert business man. He was more than this. He was eager,-- +offensively so,--in his search for the will. It needed no +detective instinct to see that the fortune of Joseph Crawford and +its bestowment were matters of vital interest to him. + +But though his personal feelings on the subject might be +distasteful to me, it was certainly part of my duty to aid in the +search, and so with him I looked through the various drawers and +filing cabinets. The papers representing or connected with the +financial interests of the late millionaire were neatly filed and +labelled; but in some parts of the desk we found the hodge-podge +of personal odds and ends which accumulates with nearly +everybody. + +Hall seemed little interested in those, but to my mind they +showed a possibility of casting some light on Mr. Crawford's +personal affairs. + +But among old letters, photographs, programs, newspaper +clippings, and such things, there was nothing that seemed of the +slightest interest, until at last I chanced upon a photograph +that arrested my attention. + +"Do you know who this is?" I inquired. + +"No," returned Hall, with a careless glance at it; "a friend of +Mr. Crawford's, I suppose." + +"More than a friend, I should judge," and I turned the back of +the picture toward him. Across it was written, "with loving +Christmas greetings, from M.S.P."; and it was dated as recently +as the Christmas previous. + +"Well," said Hall, "Mr. Crawford may have had a lady friend who +cared enough about him to send an affectionate greeting, but I +never heard of her before, and I doubt if she is in any way +responsible for the disappearance of this will." + +He went on searching through the desks, giving no serious heed to +the photograph. But to me it seemed important. I alone knew of +the visiting card in the gold bag. I alone knew that that bag +belonged to a lady named Purvis. And here was a photograph +initialed by a lady whose surname began with P, and who was +unmistakably on affectionate terms with Mr. Crawford. To my mind +the links began to form a chain; the lady who had sent her +photograph at Christmas, and who had left her gold bag in Mr. +Crawford's office the night he was killed, surely was a lady to +be questioned. + +But I had not yet had a reply to my telegram to headquarters, so +I said nothing to Hall on this subject, and putting the +photograph in my pocket continued to assist him to look for the +will, but without success. However, the discovery of the +photograph had in a measure diverted my suspicions from Gregory +Hall; and though I endeavored to draw him into general +conversation, I did not ask him any definite questions about +himself. + +But the more I talked with him, the more I disliked him: He not +only showed a mercenary, fortune-hunting spirit, but he showed +himself in many ways devoid of the finer feelings and chivalrous +nature that ought to belong to the man about to marry such a +perfect flower of womanhood as Florence Lloyd. + + + + +XI + +LOUIS'S STORY + + +After spending an evening in thinking over the situation and +piecing together my clues, I decided that the next thing to be +done was to trace up that transfer. If I could fasten that upon +Gregory Hall, it would indeed be a starting point to work from. +Although this seemed to eliminate Mrs. Purvis, who had already +become a living entity in my mind, I still had haunting +suspicions of Hall; and then, too, there was a possibility of +collusion between these two. It might be fanciful, but if Hall +and the Purvis woman were both implicated, Hall was quite enough +a clever villain to treat the photograph lightly as he had done. + +And so the next morning, I started for the office of the trolley +car company. + +I learned without difficulty that the transfer I had found, must +have been given to some passenger the night of Mr. Crawford's +death, but was not used. It had been issued after nine o'clock +in the evening, somewhere on the line between New York and West +Sedgwick. It was a transfer which entitled a passenger on that +line to a trip on the branch line running through West Sedgwick, +and the fact that it had not been used, implied either a +negligent conductor or a decision on the part of the passenger +not to take his intended ride. + +All this was plausible, though a far from definite indication +that Hall might have come out from New York by trolley, or part +way by trolley, and though accepting a transfer on the West +Sedgwick branch, had concluded not to use it. But the whole +theory pointed equally as well to Mrs. Purvis, or indeed to the +unknown intruder insisted upon by so many. I endeavored to learn +something from certain conductors who brought their cars into +West Sedgwick late at night, but it seemed they carried a great +many passengers and of course could not identify a transfer, of +which scores of duplicates had been issued. + +Without much hope I interviewed the conductors of the West +Sedgwick Branch Line. Though I could learn nothing definite, I +fell into conversation with one of them, a young Irishman, who +was interested because of my connection with the mystery. + +"No, sir," he said, "I can't tell you anythin' about a stray +transfer. But one thing I can tell you. That 'ere murder was +committed of a Toosday night, wasn't it?" + +"Yes," I returned. + +"Well, that 'ere parlyvoo vally of Mr. Crawford's, he's rid, on +my car 'most every Toosday night fer weeks and weeks. It's his +night off. And last Toosday night he didn't ride with me. Now I +don't know's that means anything, but agin it might." + +It didn't seem to me that it meant much, for certainly Louis was +not under the slightest suspicion. And yet as I came to think +about it, if that had been Louis's transfer and if he had dropped +it near the office veranda, he had lied when he said that he went +round the other side of the house to reach the back entrance. + +It was all very vague, but it narrowed itself down to the point +that if that were Louis's transfer it could be proved; and if not +it must be investigated further. For a trolley transfer, issued +at a definite hour, and dropped just outside the scene of the +crime was certainly a clue of importance. + +I proceeded to the Crawford house, and though I intended to have +a talk with Louis later, I asked first for Miss Lloyd. Surely, +if I were to carry on my investigation of the case, in her +interests, I must have a talk with her. I had not intruded +before, but now that the funeral was over, the real work of +tracking the criminal must be commenced, and as one of the +principal characters in the sad drama, Miss Lloyd must play her +part. + +Until I found myself in her presence I had not actually realized +how much I wanted this interview. + +I was sure that what she said, her manner and her facial +expression, must either blot out or strengthen whatever shreds of +suspicion I held against her. + +"Miss Lloyd," I began, "I am, as you know, a detective; and I am +here in Sedgwick for the purpose of discovering the cowardly +assassin of your uncle. I assume that you wish to aid me in any +way you can. Am I right in this?" + +Instead of the unhesitating affirmative I had expected, the girl +spoke irresolutely. "Yes," she said, "but I fear I cannot help +you, as I know nothing about it." + +The fact that this reply did not sound to me as a rebuff, for +which it was doubtless intended, I can only account for by my +growing appreciation of her wonderful beauty. + +Instead of funereal black, Miss Lloyd was clad all in white, and +her simple wool gown gave her a statuesque appearance; which, +however, was contradicted by the pathetic weariness in her face +and the sad droop of her lovely mouth. Her helplessness appealed +to me, and, though she assumed an air of composure, I well knew +it was only assumed, and that with some difficulty. + +Resolving to make it as easy as possible for her, I did not ask +her to repeat the main facts, which I already knew. + +"Then, Miss Lloyd," I said, in response to her disclaimer, "if +you cannot help me, perhaps I can help you. I have reason to +think that possibly Louis, your late uncle's valet, did not tell +the truth in his testimony at the coroner's inquest. I have +reason to think that instead of going around the house to the +back entrance as he described, he went around the other side, +thus passing your uncle's office." + +To my surprise this information affected Miss Lloyd much more +seriously than I supposed it would. + +"What?" she said, and her voice was a frightened whisper. "What +time did he come home?" + +"I don't know," I replied; "but you surely don't suspect Louis of +anything wrong. I was merely hoping, that if he did pass the +office he might have looked in, and so could tell us of your +uncle's well-being at that time." + +"At what time?" + +"At whatever time he returned home. Presumably rather late. But +since you are interested in the matter, will you not call Louis +and let us question him together?" + +The girl fairly shuddered at this suggestion. She hesitated, and +for a moment was unable to speak. Of course this behavior on her +part filled my soul with awful apprehension. Could it be +possible that she and Louis were in collusion, and that she +dreaded the Frenchman's disclosures? I remembered the strange +looks he had cast at her while being questioned by the coroner. +I remembered his vehement denial of having passed the office that +evening,--too vehement, it now seemed to me. However, if I were +to learn anything damaging to Florence Lloyd's integrity, I would +rather learn it now, in her presence, than elsewhere. So I again +asked her to send for the valet. + +With a despairing look, as of one forced to meet an impending +fate, she rose, crossed the room and rang a bell. Then she +returned to her seat and said quietly, "You may ask the man such +questions as you wish, Mr. Burroughs, but I beg you will not +include me in the conversation." + +"Not unless it should be necessary," I replied coldly, for I did +not at all like her making this stipulation. To me it savored of +a sort of cowardice, or at least a presumption on my own +chivalry. + +When the man appeared, I saw at a glance he was quite as much +agitated as Miss Lloyd. There was no longer a possibility of a +doubt that these two knew something, had some secret in common, +which bore directly on the case, and which must be exposed. A +sudden hope flashed into my mind that it might be only some +trifling secret, which seemed of importance to them, but which +was merely a side issue of the great question. + +I considered myself justified in taking advantage of the man's +perturbation, and without preliminary speech I drew the transfer +from my pocket and fairly flashed it in his face. + +"Louis," I said sternly, "you dropped this transfer when you came +home the night of Mr. Crawford's death." + +The suddenness of my remark had the effect I desired, and fairly +frightened the truth out of the man. + +"Y-yes, sir," he stammered, and then with a frightened glance at +Miss Lloyd, he stood nervously interlacing his fingers. + +I glanced at Miss Lloyd myself, but she had regained entire +self-possession, and sat looking straight before her with an air +that seemed to say, "Go on, I'm prepared for the worst." + +As I paused myself to contemplate the attitudes of the two, I +lost my ground of vantage, for when I again spoke to the man, he +too was more composed and ready to reply with caution. Doubtless +he was influenced by Miss Lloyd's demeanor, for he imitatively +assumed a receptive air. + +"Where did you get the transfer?" I went on. + +"On the trolley, sir; the main line." + +"To be used on the Branch Line through West Sedgwick?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Why did you not use it?" + +"As I tell you, sir, and as I tell monsieur, the coroner, I have +spend that evening with a young lady. We went for a trolley +ride, and as we returned I take a transfer for myself, but not +for her, as she live near where we alight." + +"Oh, you left the main line and took the young lady home, +intending then yourself to come by trolley through West +Sedgwick?" + +"Yes, sir; it was just that way." + +At this point Louis seemed to forget his embarrassment, his gaze +strayed away, and a happy expression came into his eyes. I felt +sure I was reading his volatile French nature aright, when I +assumed his mind had turned back to the pleasant evening he had +spent with his young lady acquaintance. Somehow this went far to +convince me of the fellow's innocence for it was quite evident +the murder and its mystery were not uppermost in his thoughts at +that moment. But my next question brought him beck to +realization of the present situation. + +"And why didn't you use your transfer?" + +"Only that the night, he was so pleasant, I desired to walk." + +"And so you walked through the village, holding, perhaps, the +transfer in your hand?" + +"I think, yes; but I do not remember the transfer in my hand, +though he may have been there." + +And now the man's unquiet had returned. His lips twitched and +his dark eyes rolled about, as he endeavored in vain to look +anywhere but at Miss Lloyd. She, too, was controlling herself by +a visible effort. + +Anxious to bring the matter to a crisis, I said at once, and +directly: + +"And then you entered the gates of this place, you walked to the +house, you walked around the house to the back by way of the path +which leads around by the library veranda, and you accidentally +dropped your transfer near the veranda step." + +I spoke quietly enough, but Louis immediately burst into voluble +denial. + +"No, no!" he exclaimed; "I do not go round by the office, I go +the other side of the house. I have tell you so many times." + +"But I myself picked up your transfer near the office veranda." + +"Then he blow there. The wind blow that night, oh, something +fearful! He blow the paper around the house, I think." + +"I don't think so," I retorted; "I think you went around the +house that way, I think you paused at the office window--" + +Just here I made a dramatic pause myself, hoping thus to appeal +to the emotional nature of my victim. And I succeeded. Louis +almost shrieked as he pressed his hands against his eyes, and +cried out: "No! no! I tell you I did not go round that way! I +go round the other way, and the wind--the wind, he blow my +transfer all about!" + +I tried a more quiet manner, I tried persuasive arguments, I +finally resorted to severity and even threats, but no admission +could I get from Louis, except that he had not gone round the +house by way of the office. I was positive the man was lying, +and I was equally positive that Miss Lloyd knew he was lying, and +that she knew why, but the matter seemed to me at a deadlock. I +could have questioned her, but I preferred to do that when Louis +was not present. If she must suffer ignominy it need not be +before a servant. So I dismissed Louis, perhaps rather curtly, +and turning to Miss Lloyd, I asked her if she believed his +assertion that he did not pass by the office that night. + +"I don't know what I believe," she answered, wearily drawing her +hand across her brow. "And I can't see that it matters anyway. +Supposing he did go by the office, you certainly don't suspect +him of my uncle's murder, do you?" + +"It is my duty, Miss Lloyd," I said gently, for the girl was +pitiably nervous, "to get the testimony of any one who was in or +near the office that night. But of course testimony is useless +unless it is true." + +I looked her straight in the eyes as I said this, for I was +thoroughly convinced that her own testimony at the inquest had +not been entirely true. + +I think she understood my glance, for she arose at once, and said +with extreme dignity: "I cannot see any necessity for prolonging +this interview, Mr. Burroughs. It is of course your work to +discover the truth or falsity of Louis's story, but I cannot see +that it in any way implicates or even interests me." + +The girl was superb. Her beauty was enhanced by the sudden +spirit she showed, and her flashing dark eyes suggested a baited +animal at bay. Apparently she had reached the limit of her +endurance, and was unwilling to be questioned further or drawn +into further admissions. And yet, some inexplicable idea came to +me that she was angry, not with me, but with the tangle in which +I had remorselessly enmeshed her. Of a high order of +intelligence, she knew perfectly well that I was conscious of the +fact that there was a secret of some sort between her and the +valet. Her haughty disdain, I felt sure, was to convey the +impression that though there might be a secret between them, it +was no collusion or working together, and that though her +understanding with the man was mysterious, it was in no way +beneath her dignity. Her imperious air as she quietly left the +room thrilled me anew, and I began to think that a woman who +could assume the haughty demeanor of an empress might have +chosen, as empresses had done before her, to commit crime. + +However, she went away, and the dark and stately library seemed +to have lost its only spot of light and charm. I sat for a few +minutes pondering over it all, when I saw passing through the +hall, the maid, Elsa. It suddenly occurred to me, that having +failed with the mistress of the house, I might succeed better +with her maid, so I called the girl in. + +She came willingly enough, and though she seemed timid, she was +not embarrassed or afraid. + +"I'm in authority here," I said, "and I'm going to ask you some +questions, which you must answer truthfully." + +"Yes, sir," she said, without any show of interest. + +"Have you been with Miss Lloyd long?" + +"Yes, sir; about four years, sir." + +"Is she a kind mistress?" + +"Indeed she is, sir. She is the loveliest lady I ever worked +for. I'd do anything for Miss Lloyd, that I would." + +"Well, perhaps you can best serve her by telling all you know +about the events of Tuesday night." + +"But I don't know anything, sir," and Elsa's eyes opened wide in +absolutely unfeigned wonderment. + +"Nothing about the actual murder; no, of course not. But I just +want you to tell me a few things about some minor matters. Did +you take the yellow flowers from the box that was sent to Miss +Lloyd?" + +"Yes, sir; I always untie her parcels. And as she was at dinner, +I arranged the flowers in a vase of water." + +"How many flowers were there?" + +For some reason this simple query disturbed the girl greatly. +She flushed scarlet, and then she turned pale. She twisted the +corner of her apron in her nervous fingers, and then said, only +half audibly, "I don't know, sir." + +"Oh, yes, you do, Elsa," I said in kindly tones, being anxious +not to frighten her; "tell me how many there were. Were there +not a dozen?" + +"I don't know, sir; truly I don't. I didn't count them at all." + +It was impossible to disbelieve her; she was plainly telling the +truth. And, too, why should she count the roses? The natural +thing would be not to count them, but merely to put them in the +vase as she had said. And yet, there was something about those +flowers that Elsa knew and wouldn't tell. Could it be that I was +on the track of that missing twelfth rose? I knew, though +perhaps Elsa did not, how many roses the florist had sent in that +box. And unless Gregory Hall had abstracted one at the time of +his purchase, the twelfth rose had been taken by some one else +after the flowers reached the Crawford House. Could it have been +Elsa, and was her perturbation only because of a guilty +conscience over a petty theft of a flower? But I realized I must +question her adroitly if I would find out these things. + +"Is Miss Lloyd fond of flowers?" I asked, casually. + +"Oh, yes, sir, she always has some by her." + +"And do you love flowers too, Elsa?" + +"Yes, sir." But the quietly spoken answer, accompanied by a +natural and straightforward look promised little for my new +theory. + +"Does Miss Lloyd sometimes give you some of her flowers?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, quite often." + +"That is, if she's there when they arrive. But if she isn't +there, and you open the box yourself, she wouldn't mind if you +took one or two blossoms, would she?" + +"Oh, no, sir, she wouldn't mind. Miss Lloyd's awful kind about +such things. But I wouldn't often do it, sir." + +"No; of course not. But you did happen to take one of those +yellow roses, didn't you, though?" + +I breathlessly awaited the answer, but to my surprise, instead of +embarrassment the girl's eyes flashed with anger, though she +answered quietly enough, "Well, yes, I did, sir." + +Ah, at last I was on the trail of that twelfth rose! But from +the frank way in which the girl admitted having taken the flower, +I greatly feared that the trail would lead to a commonplace +ending. + +"What did you do with it?" I said quietly, endeavoring to make +the question sound of little importance. + +"I don't want to tell you;" and the pout on her scarlet lips +seemed more like that of a wilful child than of one guarding a +guilty secret. + +"Oh, yes, tell me, Elsa;" and I even descended to a coaxing tone, +to win the girl's confidence. + +"Well, I gave it to that Louis." + +"To Louis? and why do you call him that Louis?" + +"Oh, because. I gave him the flower to wear because I thought he +was going to take me out that evening. He had promised he would, +at least he had sort of promised, and then,--and then--" + +"And then he took another young lady," I finished for her in +tones of such sympathy and indignation that she seemed to think +she had found a friend. + +"Yes," she said, "he went and took another girl riding on the +trolley, after he had said he would take me." + +"Elsa," I said suddenly, and I fear she thought I had lost +interest in her broken heart, "did Louis wear that rose you gave +him that night?" + +"Yes, the horrid man! I saw it in his coat when he went away." + +"And did he wear it home again?" + +"How should I know?" Elsa tossed her head with what was meant to +be a haughty air, but which was belied by the blush that mantled +her cheek at her own prevarication. + +"But you do know," I insisted, gently; "did he wear it when he +came home?" + +"Yes, he did." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I looked in his room the next day, and I saw it there +all withered. He had thrown it on the floor!" + +The tragedy in Elsa's eyes at this awful relation of the cruelty +of the sterner sex called for a spoken sympathy, and I said at +once, and heartily: "That was horrid of him! If I were you I'd +never give him another flower." + +In accordance with the natural impulses of her sex, Elsa seemed +pleased at my disapproval of Louis's behavior, but she by no +means looked as if she would never again bestow her favor upon +him. She smiled and tossed her head, and seemed willing enough +for further conversation, but for the moment I felt that I had +enough food for thought. So I dismissed Elsa, having first +admonished her not to repeat our conversation to any one. In +order to make sure that I should be obeyed in this matter, I +threatened her with some unknown terrors which the law would +bring upon her if she disobeyed me. When I felt sure she was +thoroughly frightened into secrecy concerning our interview, I +sent her away and began to cogitate on what she had told me. + +If Louis came to the house late that night, as by his own +admission he did; if he went around the house on the side of the +office, as the straying transfer seemed to me to prove; and if, +at the time, he was wearing in his coat a yellow rose with petals +similar to those found on the office floor the next morning, was +not one justified in looking more deeply into the record of Louis +the valet? + + + + +XII + +LOUIS'S CONFESSION + + +Elsa had been gone but a few moments when Florence Lloyd returned +to the library. I arose to greet her and marvelled at the change +which had come over her. Surely here was a girl of a thousand +moods. She had left me with an effect of hauteur and disdain; +she returned, gentle and charming, almost humble. I could not +understand it, and remained standing after she had seated +herself, awaiting developments. + +"Sit down, Mr. Burroughs," she said, and her low, sweet voice +seemed full of cordial invitation. "I'm afraid I was rude to +you, when I went away just now; and I want to say that if I can +tell you anything you wish to know, I should be glad to do so." + +I drew up a chair and seated myself near her. My heart was +pounding with excitement at this new phase of the girl's nature. +For an instant it seemed as if she must have a personal kindly +feeling toward me, and then my reason returned, and with a +suddenly falling heart and slowing pulses, I realized that I was +a fool, and that after thinking over the disclosures Louis had +made, Miss Lloyd had shrewdly concluded it was to her best +advantage to curry favor with the detective. This knowledge came +to me instinctively, and so I distrusted her gentle voice and +winning smile, and hardening my heart against her, I resolved to +turn this new mood of hers to my own advantage, and learn what I +could while she was willing to converse: + +"I'm glad of this opportunity, Miss Lloyd," I said, "for there +are some phases of this affair that I want to discuss with you +alone. Let us talk the matter over quietly. It is as well that +you should know that there are some doubts felt as to the entire +truth of the story you told at the inquest. I do not say this to +frighten you," I added, as the poor girl clasped her hands and +gave me a look of dumb alarm; "but, since it is so, I want to do +all I can to set the matter right. Do you remember exactly all +that took place, to your knowledge, on the night of your uncle's +death?" + +"Yes," she replied, looking more frightened still. It was +evident that she knew more than she had yet revealed, but I +almost forgot my inquiry, so absorbed was I in watching her +lovely face. It was even more exquisite in its terrified pallor +than when the fleeting pink showed in her cheeks. + +"Then," I said, "let us go over it. You heard your uncle go out +at about eight o'clock and return about nine?" + +"Yes, I heard the front door open and close both times." + +"You and Mrs. Pierce being in the music-room, of course. Then, +later, you heard a visitor enter, and again you heard him leave?" + +"Yes--Mr. Porter." + +"Did you know it was Mr. Porter, at the time he was here?" + +"No; I think not. I didn't think at all who it might be. Uncle +Joseph often had men to call in the evening." + +"About what time did Mr. Porter leave?" + +"A few minutes before ten. I heard Lambert say, `Good-night, +sir,' as he closed the door after him." + +"And soon after, you and Mrs. Pierce went upstairs?" + +"Yes; only a few minutes after." + +"And, later, Mrs. Pierce came to your room?" + +"Yes; about half-past ten, I should say; she came to get a book. +She didn't stay two minutes." + +"And after that, you went down-stairs again to speak to your +uncle?" For the merest instant Miss Lloyd's eyes closed and she +swayed as if about to faint, but she regained her composure at +once, and answered with some asperity + +"I did not. I have told you that I did not leave my room again +that night." + +Her dark eyes blazed, her cheeks flushed, and though her full +lower lip quivered it was with anger now, not fear. + +As I watched her, I wondered how I could have thought her more +beautiful when pale. Surely with this glowing color she was at +her glorious best. + +"Then when did you drop the two rose petals there?" I went on, +calmly enough, though my own heart was beating fast. + +"I did not drop them. They were left there by some intruder." + +"But, Miss Lloyd," and I observed her closely, "the petals were +from a rose such as those Mr. Hall sent you that evening. The +florist assures me there were no more such blossoms in West +Sedgwick at that time. The fallen petals, then, were from one of +your own roses, or--" + +"Or?" asked Miss Lloyd, her hands pressed against the laces at +her throbbing bosom. "Or?" + +"Or," I went on, "from a rose worn by some one who had come out +from New York on a late train." + +For the moment I chose to ignore Louis's rose for I wanted to +learn anything Miss Lloyd could tell me. And, too, the yellow +petals might have fallen from a flower in Hall's coat after all. +I thought it possible by suggesting this idea, to surprise from +her some hint as to whether she had any suspicion of him. + +She gave a gasp, and, leaning back in her chair, she closed her +eyes, as if spent with a useless struggle. + +"Wait a moment," she said, putting out her hand with an imploring +gesture. "Wait a moment. Let me think. I will tell you all, +but--wait--" + +With her eyes still closed, she lay back against the satin chair +cushion, and I gazed at her, fascinated. + +I knew it! Then and there the knowledge came to me! Not her +guilt, not her innocence. The crime seemed far away then, but I +knew like a flash not only that I loved this girl, this Florence +Lloyd, but that I should never love any one else. It mattered +not that she was betrothed to another man; the love that had +suddenly sprung to life in my heart was such pure devotion that +it asked no return. Guilty or innocent, I loved her. Guilty or +innocent, I would clear her; and if the desire of her heart were +toward another, she should ever know or suspect my adoration for +her. + +I gazed at her lovely face, knowing that when her eyes opened I +must discreetly turn my glance aside, but blessing every instant +of opportunity thus given me. + +Her countenance, though troubled and drawn with anxiety, was so +pure and sweet that I felt sure of her innocence. But it should +be my work to prove that to the world. + +Suddenly her eyes flashed open; again her mood had changed. + +"Mr. Burroughs," she said, and there was almost a challenge in +her tone, "why do you ask me these things? You are a detective, +you are here to find out for yourself, not to ask others to find +out. I am innocent of my uncle's death, of course, but when you +cast suspicion on the man to whom I am betrothed, you cannot +expect me to help you confirm that suspicion. You have made me +think by your remark about a man on a late train that you refer +to Mr. Hall. Do you?" + +This was a change of base, indeed. I was being questioned +instead of doing the catechising myself. Very well; if it were +my lady's will to challenge me, I would meet her on her own +ground. + +"You took the hint very quickly," I said. "Had you thought of +such a possibility before?" + +"No, nor do I now. I will not." Again she was the offended +queen. "But since you have breathed the suggestion, you may not +count on any help from me." + +"Could you have helped me otherwise?" I said, detaining her as +she swept by. + +To this she made no answer, but again her face wore a troubled +expression, and as she went slowly from the room, she left me +with a strong conviction that she knew far more about Gregory +Hall's connection with the matter than she had told me. + +I sat alone for a few moments wondering what I had better do +next. + +I had about decided to go in search of Parmalee, and talk things +over with him, but I thought it would be better to see Louis +first, and settle up the matter of his rose more definitely. +Accordingly I rang the bell, and when the parlor maid answered +it, I asked her to send both Louis and Elsa to me in the library. + +I could see at once that these two were not friendly toward each +other, and I hoped this fact would aid me in learning the truth +from them. + +"Now, Louis," I began, "you may as well tell me the truth about +your home coming last Tuesday night. In the first place, you +must admit that you were wearing in your coat one of the yellow +roses which had been sent to Miss Lloyd." + +"No, no, indeed!" declared Louis, giving Elsa a threatening +glance, as if forbidding her to contradict him. + +"Nonsense, man," I said; "don't stand there and tell useless +lies. It will not help you. The best thing you can do for +yourself and for all concerned is to tell the truth. And, +moreover, if you don't tell it to me now, you will have to tell +it to Mr. Goodrich, later. Elsa gave you a yellow rose and you +wore it away that evening when you went to see your young lady. +Now what became of that rose?" + +"I--I lost it, sir." + +"No, you didn't lose it. You wore it home again, and when you +retired, you threw it on the floor, in your own room." + +"No, sir. You make mistake. I look for him next day in my room, +but cannot find him." + +I almost laughed at the man's ingenuousness. He contradicted his +own story so unconsciously, that I began to think he was more of +a simpleton than a villain. + +"Of course you couldn't find it," I informed him, "for it was +taken from your room next day; and of course you didn't look for +it until after you had heard yellow roses discussed at the +inquest." + +Louis's easily read face proved my statement correct, but he +glowered at Elsa, as he said: "Who take him away? who take my +rose from my room." + +"But you denied having a rose, Louis. Now you're asking who took +it away. Once again, let me advise you to tell the truth. +You're not at all successful in telling falsehoods. Now answer +me this: When you came home Tuesday night, did you or did you not +walk around the house past the office window?" + +"No, sir. I walked around the other side. I--" + +"Stop, Louis! You're not telling the truth. You did walk around +by the office, and you dropped your transfer there. It never +blew all around the house, as you have said it did." + +A look of dogged obstinacy came into the man's eyes, but he did +not look at me. He shifted his gaze uneasily, as he repeated +almost in a singsong way, "go round the other side of the +house." + +It was a sort of deadlock. Without a witness to the fact, I +could not prove that he had gone by the office windows, though I +was sure he had. + +But help came from an unexpected quarter. + +Elsa had been very quiet during the foregoing conversation, but +now she spoke up suddenly, and said: "He did go round by the +office, Mr. Burroughs, and I saw him." + +I half expected to see Louis turn on the girl in a rage, but the +effect of her speech on him was quite the reverse. He almost +collapsed; he trembled and turned white, and though he tried to +speak, he made no sound. Surely this man was too cowardly for a +criminal; but I must learn the secret of his knowledge. + +"Tell me about it, Elsa," I said, quietly. + +"I was looking out at my window, sir, at the back of the house; +and I saw Louis come around the house, and he came around by the +office side." + +"You're positive of this, Elsa? you would swear to it? +Remember, you are making an important assertion." + +"I am telling the truth, sir. I saw him plainly as he came +around and entered at the back door." + +"You hear, Louis?" I said sternly. "I believe Elsa's statement +rather than yours, for she tells a straight story, while you are +rattled and agitated, and have all the appearance of concealing +something." + +Louis looked helpless. He didn't dare deny Elsa's story, but he +would not confirm it. At last he said, with a glance of hatred +at the girl, "Elsa, she tell that story to make the trouble for +me." + +There was something in this. Elsa, I knew, was jealous, and her +pride had been hurt because Louis had taken the rose she gave +him, and then had gone to call on another girl. But I had no +reason to doubt Elsa's statement, and I had every reason to doubt +Louis's. I tried to imagine what Louis's experience had really +been, and it suddenly occurred to me, that though innocent +himself of real wrong, he had seen something in the office, or +through the office windows that he wished to keep secret. I did +not for a moment believe that the man had killed his master, so I +concluded he was endeavoring to shield someone else. + +"Louis," I said, suddenly, "I'll tell you what you did. You went +around by the office, you saw a light there late at night, and +you naturally looked in. You saw Mr. Crawford there, and he was +perhaps already killed. You stepped inside and discovered this, +and then you came away, and said nothing about it, lest you +yourself be suspected of the crime. Incidentally you dropped two +petals from the rose Elsa had given you." + +Louis's answer to this accusation was a perfect storm of denials, +expressed in voluble French and broken English, but all to the +effect that it was not true, and that if he had seen his master +dead, he would have raised an alarm. + +I saw that I had not yet struck the right idea, so I tried again. +"Then, Louis, you must have passed the office before Mr. Crawford +was killed, which is really more probable. Then as you passed +the window, you saw something or someone in the office, and +you're not willing to tell about it. Is this it?" + +This again brought forth only incoherent denial, and I could see +that the man was becoming so rattled, it was difficult for him to +speak clearly, had he desired to do so. + +"Elsa," I said, suddenly, "you took that rose from Louis's room. +What did you do with it?" + +"I kept,--I mean, I don't know what I did with it," stammered +the girl, blushing rosy red, and looking shyly at Louis. + +I felt sorry to disclose the poor girl's little romance, for it +was easy enough to see that she was in love with the fickle +Frenchman, who evidently did not reciprocate her interest. He +looked at her disdainfully, and she presented a pathetic picture +of embarrassment. + +But the situation was too serious for me to consider Elsa's +sentiments, and I said, rather sternly: "You do know where it is. +You preserved that rose as a souvenir. Go at once and fetch it." + +It was a chance shot, for I was not at all certain that she had +kept the withered flower, but dominated by my superior will she +went away at once. She returned in a moment with the flower. + +Although withered, it was still in fairly good condition; quite +enough so for me to see at a glance that no petals had been +detached from it. The green calyx leaves clung around the bud in +such a manner as to prove positively that the unfolding flower +had lost no petal. This settled the twelfth rose. Wherever +those tell-tale petals had come from, they were not from Louis's +rose. I gave the flower back to Elsa, and I said, "take your +flower, my girl, and go away now. I don't want to question you +any more for the present." + +A little bewildered at her sudden dismissal, Elsa went away, and +I turned my attention to the Frenchman. + +"Louis," I began, "this must be settled here and now between us. +Either you must tell me what I want to know, or you must be taken +before the district attorney, and be made to tell him. I have +proved to my own satisfaction that the rose petals in the office +were not from the flower you wore. Therefore I conclude that you +did not go into the office that night, but as you passed the +window you did see someone in there with Mr. Crawford. The hour +was later than Mr. Porter's visit, for he had already gone home, +and Lambert had locked the front door and gone to bed. You came +in later, and what you saw, or whom you saw through the office +window so surprised you, or interested you, that you paused to +look in, and there you dropped your transfer." + +Though Louis didn't speak, I could see at once that I was on the +right track at last. The man was shielding somebody. He was +unwilling to tell what he had seen, lest it inculpate someone. +Could it be Gregory Hall? If Hall had come out on a late train, +and Louis had seen him there, he might, perhaps under Hall's +coercion, be keeping the fact secret. Again, if a strange woman +with the gold bag had been in the office, that also would have +attracted Louis's attention. Again, and here my heart almost +stopped beating, could he have seen Florence Lloyd in there? But +a second thought put me at ease again. Surely to have seen +Florence in there would have been so usual and natural a sight +that it could not have caused him anxiety. And yet, again, for +him to have seen Florence in her uncle's office, would have +proved to him that the story she told at the inquest was false. +I must get out of him the knowledge he possessed, if I had to +resort to a sort of third degree. But I might manage it by +adroit questioning. + +"I quite understand, Louis, that you are shielding some person. +But let me tell you that it is useless. It is much wiser for you +to tell me all you know, and then I can go to work intelligently +to find the man who murdered Mr. Crawford. You want me to find +him, do you not?" + +Louis seemed to have found his voice again. "Yes, sir, of course +he must be found. Of course I want him found,--the miscreant, +the villain! but, Mr. Burroughs, sir, what I have see in the +office makes nothing to your search. I simply see Mr. Crawford +alive and well. And I pass by. That fool girl Elsa, she tell +you that I pass by, so I may say so. But I see nothing in the +office to alarm me, and if I drop my transfer there, it is but +because I think of him as no consequence, and I let him go." + +"Louis," and I looked him straight in the eye, "all that sounds +straightforward and true. But, if you saw nothing in the office +to surprise or alarm you, why did you at first deny having passed +by the office at all?" + +The man had no answer for this. He was not ingenious in +inventing falsehood, and he stood looking helpless and +despairing. I perceived I should have to go on with my +questioning. + +"Was it a man or a woman you saw in there with Mr. Crawford?" + +"I see nobody, sir, nobody but my master." + +That wouldn't do, then. As long as I asked him direct questions +he could answer falsely. I must trip him up in some roundabout +way. + +"Yes," I said pleasantly, "I understand that. And what was Mr. +Crawford doing?" + +"He sat at his desk;" and Louis spoke slowly, and picked his +words with care. + +"Was he writing?" + +"No; that is, yes, sir, he was writing." + +I now knew he was not writing, for the truth had slipped out +before the man could frame up his lie. I believed I was going to +learn something at last, if I could make the man tell. Surely +the testimony of one who saw Joseph Crawford late that night was +of value, and though that testimony was difficult to obtain, it +was well worth the effort. + +"And was Mr. Hall at his desk also?" + +Louis stared at me. "Mr. Hall, he was in New York that night." +This was said so simply and unpremeditatedly, that I was +absolutely certain it was not Hall whom Louis had seen there. + +"Oh, yes, of course, so he was," I said lightly; "and Mr. +Crawford was writing, was he?" + +"Yes, sir," spoken with the dogged scowl which I was beginning to +learn always accompanied Louis's untruthful statements. + +And now I decided to put my worst fear to the test and have it +over with. It must be done, and I felt sure I could do it, but +oh, how I dreaded it! + +"Did Mr. Crawford look up or see you?" + +"No, sir." + +"And didn't Miss Florence see you, either?" + +"No, sir." + +It was out. The mere fact that Louis answered that question so +calmly and unconsciously proved he was telling the truth. But +what a truth! for it told me at the same time that Florence Lloyd +was in the office with her uncle, that Louis had seen her, but +that she had not seen him. I had learned the truth from my +reading of the man's expression and demeanor, and though it made +my heart sink, I didn't for a moment doubt that it was the truth. + +Of course Louis realized the next instant what he had done, and +again he began his stammering denials. "Of course, Miss Lloyd do +not see me for she is not there. How can she see me, then? I +tell you my master was alone!" + +Had I been the least uncertain, this would have convinced me that +I was right. For Louis's voice rose almost to a shriek, so angry +was he with himself for having made the slip. + +"Give it up, Louis," I said; "you have let out the truth, now be +quiet. You couldn't help it, man, you were bound to trip +yourself up sooner or later. You put up a good fight for Miss +Florence, and now that I understand why you told your falsehoods, +I can't help admiring your chivalry. You saw Miss Lloyd there +that evening, you heard her next day at the inquest deny having +been in the office in the evening. So, in a way, it was very +commendable on your part to avoid contradicting her testimonies, +with your own. But you are not clever enough, Louis, to carry +out that deceit to the end. And now that you have admitted that +you saw Miss Lloyd there, you can best help her cause, and best +help me to help her cause, by telling me all about it. For rest +assured, Louis, that I am quite as anxious to prove Miss Lloyd's +innocence as you can possibly be, and the only way to accomplish +that end, is to learn as much of the truth as I possibly can. +Now, tell me what she was doing." + +"Only talking to her uncle, sir." Louis had the air of a +defeated man. He had tried to shield Miss Lloyd's name and had +failed. Now he spoke sullenly, and as if his whole cause were +lost. + +"And Mr. Crawford was talking to her?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"He was not writing, then?" + +"No, sir." + +"Did they seem to be having an amicable conversation?" + +Louis hesitated, and his hesitation was sufficient answer. + +"Never mind," I said, "you need not tell me more. In fact, I +would prefer to get the rest of the story from Miss Lloyd, +herself." + +Louis looked startled. "Don't tell Miss Lloyd I told you this," +he begged; "I have try very hard not to tell you." + +"I know you tried hard, Louis, not to tell me, and it was not +your fault that I wrung the truth from you. I will not tell Miss +Lloyd that you told me, unless it should become necessary, and I +do not think it will. Go away now, Louis, and do not discuss +this matter with anybody at all. And, also, do not think for a +moment that you have been disloyal in telling me that you saw +Miss Lloyd. As I say, you couldn't help it. I should simply +have kept at you until I made you tell, so you need not blame +yourself in the matter at all." + +Louis went away, and though I could see that he believed what I +said, he had a dejected air, and I couldn't help feeling sorry +for the man who had so inadvertently given me the knowledge that +must be used against the beautiful girl who had herself given +untrue testimony. + + + + +XIII + +MISS LLOYD'S CONFIDENCE + + +After Louis left me, I felt as if a dead weight had fallen on my +heart. Florence Lloyd had gone down to her uncle's office late +that night, and yet at the inquest she had testified that she had +not done so. And even to me, when talking quietly and alone, she +had repeated her false assertion. This much I knew, but why she +had done if, I did not know. Not until I was forced to do so, +would I believe that even her falsehood in the matter meant that +she herself was guilty. There must be some other reason for her +mendacity. + +Well, I would find out this reason, and if it were not a +creditable one to her, I would still endeavor to do all I could +for her. I longed to see her, and try if perhaps kind and gentle +urging might not elicit the truth. But she had left me with such +an air of haughty disdain, I hesitated to send for her again just +now. And as it was nearly dinner time, I resolved to go back to +my hotel. + +On the way, I came to the conclusion that it would do no harm to +have a talk with Parmalee. + +I had not much confidence in his detective ability, but he knew +the people better than I did, and might be able to give me +information of some sort. + +After I reached the Sedgwick Arms I telephoned Parmalee to come +over and dine with me, and he readily consented. + +During dinner I told him all that I had learned from Elsa and +Louis. Of course I had no right to keep this knowledge to +myself, and, too, I wanted Parmalee's opinion on the situation as +it stood at present. + +"It doesn't really surprise me," he said, "for I thought all +along, Miss Lloyd was not telling the truth. I'm not yet ready +to say that I think she killed her uncle, although I must say it +seems extremely probable. But if she didn't commit the deed, she +knows perfectly well who did." + +"Meaning Hall?" + +"No, I don't mean Hall. In fact I don't mean any one in +particular. I think Miss Lloyd was the instigator of the crime, +and practically carried out its commission, but she may have had +an assisting agent for the actual deed." + +"Oh, how you talk! It quite gives me the shivers even to think +of a beautiful young woman being capable of such thoughts or +deeds." + +"But, you see, Burroughs, that's because you are prejudiced in +favor of Miss Lloyd. Women are capable of crime as well as men, +and sometimes they're even more clever in the perpetration of it. +And you must admit if ever a woman were capable of crime, Miss +Lloyd is of that type." + +"I have to agree to that, Parmalee," I admitted; "she certainly +shows great strength of character." + +"She shows more than that; she has indomitable will, unflinching +courage, and lots of pluck. If, for any reason, she made up her +mind to kill a man, she'd find a way to do it." + +This talk made me cringe all over, but I couldn't deny it, for so +far as I knew Florence Lloyd, Parmalee's words were quite true. + +"All right," I said, "I'll grant her capability, but that doesn't +prove a thing. I don't believe that girl is guilty, and I hope +to prove her innocence." + +"But look at the evidence, man! She denied her presence in the +room, yet we now know she was there. She denied the ownership of +the gold bag, yet probably she was also untruthful in that +matter. She is a woman of a complex nature, and though I admire +her in many ways, I shouldn't care to have much to do with her." + +"Let us leave out the personal note, Parmalee," I said, for I was +angry at his attitude toward Florence. + +"All right. Don't you think for a moment that I don't see where +you stand with regard to the haughty beauty, but that's neither +here nor there." + +"Indeed it isn't," I returned; "and whatever may be my personal +feeling toward Miss Lloyd, I can assure you it in no way +influences my work on this case." + +"I believe you, old man; and so I'm sure you will agree with me +that we must follow up the inquiry as to Miss Lloyd's presence in +the office that night. She must be made to talk, and perhaps it +would be best to tell Goodrich all about it, and let him push the +matter." + +"Oh, no," I cried involuntarily. "Don't set him on the track of +the poor girl. That is, Parmalee, let me talk to her again, +first. Now that I know she was down there that night, I think I +can question her in a little different manner, and persuade her +to own the truth. And, Parmalee, perhaps she was down there +because Hall was there." + +"Hall! He was in New York." + +"So he says, but why should he speak the truth any more than Miss +Lloyd?" + +"You, mean they may both be implicated?" + +"Yes; or he may have used her as a tool." + +"Not Florence Lloyd. She's nobody's tool." + +"Any woman might be a tool at the command of the man she loves. +But," I went on, with an air of conviction which was not entirely +genuine, "Miss Lloyd doesn't love Mr. Hall." + +"I don't know about that," returned Parmalee; "you can't tell +about a woman like Florence Lloyd. If she doesn't love him, +she's at least putting up a bluff of doing so." + +"I believe it is a bluff, though I'm sure I don't know why she +should do that." + +"On the other hand, why shouldn't she? For some reason she's +dead set on marrying him, ready to give up her fortune to do so, +if necessary. He must have some sort of a pretty strong hold on +her." + +"I admit all that, and yet I can't believe she loves him. He's +such a commonplace man." + +"Commonplace doesn't quite describe him. And yet Gregory Hall, +with all the money in the world, could never make himself +distinguished or worth while in any way." + +"No; and what would Miss Florence Lloyd see in a man like that, +to make her so determined to marry him?" + +"I don't think she is determined, except that Hall has some sort +of hold over her,--a promise or something,--that she can't +escape." + +My heart rejoiced at the idea that Florence was not in love with +Hall, but I did not allow myself to dwell on that point, for I +was determined to go on with the work, irrespective of my +feelings toward her. + +"You see," Parmalee went on, "you suspect Hall, only because +you're prejudiced against him." + +"Good gracious!" I exclaimed; "that's an awful thing to say, +Parmalee. The idea of a detective suspecting a man, merely +because he doesn't admire his personality! And besides, it isn't +true. If I suspect Hall, it's because I think he had a strong +motive, a possible opportunity, and more than all, because he +refuses to tell where he was Tuesday night." + +"But that's just the point, Burroughs. A man who'll commit +murder would fix up his alibi first of all. He would know that +his refusal to tell his whereabouts would be extremely +suspicious. No, to my mind it's Hall's refusal to tell that +stamps him as innocent." + +"Then, in that case, it's the cleverest kind of an alibi he could +invent, for it stamps him innocent at once." + +"Oh, come, now, that's going pretty far; but I will say, +Burroughs, that you haven't the least shred of proof against +Hall, and you know it. Prejudice and unfounded suspicion and +even a strong desire that he should be the villain, are all very +well. But they won't go far as evidence in a court of law." + +I was forced to admit that Parmalee was right, and that so far I +had no proof whatever that Gregory Hall was at all implicated in +Mr. Crawford's death. To be sure he might have worn a yellow +rose, and he might have brought the late newspaper, but there was +no evidence to connect him with those clues, and too, there was +the gold bag. It was highly improbable that that should have +been brought to the office and left there by a man. + +However, I persuaded Parmalee to agree not to carry the matter to +Mr. Goodrich until I had had one more interview with Miss Lloyd, +and I promised to undertake that the next morning. + +After Parmalee had gone, I indulged in some very gloomy +reflections. Everything seemed to point one way. Every proof, +every suspicion and every hint more or less implicated Miss +Lloyd. + +But the more I realized this, the more I determined to do all I +could for her, and as to do this, I must gain her confidence, and +even liking, I resolved to approach the subject the next day with +the utmost tactfulness and kindliness, hoping by this means to +induce the truth from her. + +The next morning I started on my mission with renewed +hopefulness. Reaching the Crawford house, I asked for Miss +Lloyd, and I was shown into a small parlor to wait for her. It +was a sort of morning room, a pretty little apartment that I had +not been in before; and it was so much more cheerful and pleasant +than the stately library, I couldn't help hoping that Miss Lloyd, +too, would prove more amenable than she had yet been. + +She soon came in, and though I was beginning to get accustomed to +the fact that she was a creature of variable moods, I was +unprepared for this one. Her hauteur had disappeared; she was +apparently in a sweet and gentle frame of mind. Her large dark +eyes were soft and gentle, and though her red lips quivered, it +was not with anger or disdain as they had done the day before. +She wore a plain white morning gown, and a long black necklace of +small beads. The simplicity of this costume suited her well, and +threw into relief her own rich coloring and striking beauty. + +She greeted me more pleasantly than she had ever done before, and +I couldn't help feeling that the cheerful sunny little room had a +better effect on her moods than the darker furnishings of the +library. + +"I wish," I began, "that we had not to talk of anything +unpleasant this morning. I wish there were no such thing as +untruth or crime in the world, and that I were calling on you, as +an acquaintance, as a friend might call." + +"I wish so, too," she responded, and as she flashed a glance at +me, I had a glimpse of what it might mean to be friends with +Florence Lloyd without the ugly shadow between us that now was +spoiling our tete-a-tete. + +Just that fleeting glance held in it the promise of all that was +attractive, charming and delightful in femininity. It was as if +the veil of the great, gloomy sorrow had been lifted for a +moment, and she was again an untroubled, merry girl. It seemed +too, as if she wished that we could be together under pleasanter +circumstances and could converse on subjects of less dreadful +import. However, all these thoughts that tumultuously raced +through my mind must be thrust aside in favor of the business in +hand. + +So though I hated to, I began at once. + +"I am sorry, Miss Lloyd, to doubt your word, but I want to tell +you myself rather than to have you learn it from others that I +have a witness who has testified to your presence in your uncle's +office that fateful Tuesday night, although you have said you +didn't go down there." + +As I had feared, the girl turned white and shivered as if with a +dreadful apprehension. + +"Who is the witness?" she said. + +I seemed to read her mind, and I felt at once that to her, the +importance of what I had said depended largely on my answer to +this question, and I paused a moment to think what this could +mean. And then it flashed across me that she was afraid I would +say the witness was Gregory Hall. I became more and more +convinced that she was shielding Hall, and I felt sure that when +she learned it was not he, she would feel relieved. However, I +had promised Louis not to let her know that he had told me of +seeing her, unless it should be necessary. + +"I think I won't tell you that; but since you were seen in the +office at about eleven o'clock, will you not tell me,--I assure +you it is for your own best interests,--what you were doing +there, and why you denied being there?" + +"First tell me the name of your informer;" and so great was her +agitation that she scarcely breathed the words. + +"I prefer not to do so, but I may say it is a reliable witness +and one who gave his evidence most unwillingly." + +"Well, if you will not tell me who he was, will you answer just +one question about him? Was it Mr. Hall?" + +"No; it was not Mr. Hall." + +As I had anticipated, she showed distinctly her relief at my +answer. Evidently she dreaded to hear Hall's name brought into +the conversation. + +"And now, Miss Lloyd, I ask you earnestly and with the best +intent, please to tell me the details of your visit to Mr. +Crawford that night in his office." + +She sat silent for a moment, her eyes cast down, the long dark +lashes lying on her pale cheeks. I waited patiently, for I knew +she was struggling with a strong emotion of some sort, and I +feared if I hurried her, her gentle mood would disappear, and she +might again become angry or haughty of demeanor. + +At last she spoke. The dark lashes slowly raised, and she seemed +even more gentle than at first. + +"I must tell you," she said. "I see I must. But don't repeat +it, unless it is necessary. Detectives have to know things, but +they don't have to tell them, do they?" + +"We never repeat confidences, Miss Lloyd," I replied, "except +when necessary to further the cause of right and justice." + +"Truly? Is that so?" + +She brightened up so much that I began to hope she had only some +trifling matter to tell of. + +"Well, then," she went on, "I will tell you, for I know it need +not be repeated in the furtherance of justice. I did go down to +my uncle's office that night, after Mrs. Pierce had been to my +room; and it was I--it must have been I--who dropped those rose +petals." + +"And left the bag," I suggested. + +"No," she said, and her face looked perplexed, but not confused. +"No, the bag is not mine, and I did not leave it there. I know +nothing of it, absolutely nothing. But I did go to the office at +about eleven o'clock. I had a talk with my uncle, and I left him +there a half-hour later--alive and well as when I went in." + +"Was your conversation about your engagement?" + +"Yes." + +"Was it amicable?" + +"No, it was not! Uncle Joseph was more angry than I had ever +before seen him. He declared he intended to make a new will the +next morning, which would provide only a small income for me. He +said this was not revenge or punishment for my loyalty to Mr. +Hall, but--but--" + +"But what?" I urged gently. + +"It scarcely seems loyal to Mr. Hall for me to say it," she +returned, and the tears were in her eyes. "But this is all +confidential. Well, Uncle Joseph said that Gregory only wanted +to marry me for my fortune, and that the new will would prove +this. Of course I denied that Mr. Hall was so mercenary, and +then we had a good deal of an altercation. But it was not very +different from many discussions we had had on the same subject, +only Uncle was more decided, and said he had asked Mr. Randolph +to come the next morning and draw up the new will. I left him +still angry--he wouldn't even say good-night to me--and now I +blame myself for not being more gentle, and trying harder to make +peace. But it annoyed me to have him call Gregory mercenary--" + +"Because you knew it was true," I said quietly. + +She turned white to the very lips. "You are unnecessarily +impertinent," she said. + +"I am," I agreed. "I beg your pardon." But I had discovered +that she did realize her lover's true nature. + +"And then you went to your room, and stayed there?" I went on, +with a meaning emphasis on the last clause. + +"Yes," she said; "and so, you see, what I have told you casts no +light on the mystery. I only told you so as to explain the bits +of the yellow rose. I feared, from what you said, that Mr. +Hall's name might possibly be brought into discussion." + +"Why, he was not in West Sedgwick that night," I said. + +"Where was he?" she countered quickly. + +"I don't know. He refuses to tell. Of course you must see that +his absolute refusal to tell where he was that night is, to say +the least, an unwise proceeding." + +"He won't even tell me where he was," she said, sighing. "But it +doesn't matter. He wasn't here." + +"That's just it," I rejoined. "If he was not here, it would be +far better for him to tell where he really was. For the refusal +to tell raises a question that will not be downed, except by an +alibi. I don't want to be cruel, Miss Lloyd, but I must make you +see that as the inquiry proceeds, the actions of both Mr. Hall +and yourself will be subjected to very close scrutiny, and though +perhaps undue attention will be paid to trifles, yet the trifles +must be explained." + +I was so sorry for the girl, that, in my effort not to divulge my +too great sympathy, I probably used a sterner tone than I +realized. + +At any rate, I had wakened her at last to a sense of the danger +that threatened her and her lover, and now, if she would let me, +I would do all in my power to save them both. But I must know +all she could tell me. + +"When did Mr. Hall leave you?" I asked. + +"You mean the day--last Tuesday?" + +"Yes?" + +"He left here about half-past five. He had been in the office +with Uncle Joseph all the afternoon, and at five o'clock he came +in here for a cup of tea with me. He almost always comes in at +tea-time. Then he left about half-past five, saying he was going +to New York on the six o'clock train." + +"For what purpose?" + +"I never ask him questions like that. I knew he was to attend to +some business for Uncle the next day, but I never ask him what he +does evenings when he is in the city, or at any time when he is +not with me." + +"But surely one might ask such questions of the man to whom she +is betrothed." + +Miss Lloyd again put on that little air of hauteur which always +effectually stopped my "impertinence." + +"It is not my habit," she said. "What Gregory wishes me to know +he tells me of his own accord." + + + + +XIV + +MR. PORTER'S VIEWS + + +I began on a new tack. + +"Miss Lloyd, why did you tell an untruth, and say you did not +come down-stairs again, after going up at ten o'clock?" + +Her hauteur disappeared. A frightened, appealing look came into +her eyes, and she looked to me like a lovely child afraid of +unseen dangers. + +"I was afraid," she confessed. "Yes, truly, I was afraid that +they would think I had something to do with the--with Uncle +Joseph's death. And as I didn't think it could do any good to +tell of my little visit to him, I just said I didn't come down. +Oh, I know it was a lie--I know it was wicked--but I was so +frightened, and it was such an easy way out of it, just to deny +it." + +"And why have you confessed it to me now?" + +Her eyes opened wide in astonishment. + +"I told you why," she said: "so you would know where the rose +leaves came from, and not suspect Gregory." + +"Do you suspect him?" + +"N-no, of course not. But others might." + +It is impossible to describe the dismay that smote my heart at +the hesitation of this answer. It was more than hesitation. It +was a conflict of unspoken impulses, and the words, when they +were uttered, seemed to carry hidden meanings, and to my mind +they carried the worst and most sinister meaning conceivable. + +To me, it seemed to point unmistakably to collusion between +Florence Lloyd, whom I already loved, and Gregory Hall, whom I +already distrusted and disliked. Guilty collusion between these +two would explain everything. Theirs the motive, theirs the +opportunity, theirs the denials and false witnessing. The gold +bag, as yet, remained unexplained, but the yellow rose petals and +the late newspaper could be accounted for if Hall had come out on +the midnight train, and Florence had helped him to enter and +leave the house unseen. + +Bah! it was impossible. And, any way, the gold bag remained as +proof against this horrid theory. I would pin my faith to the +gold bag, and through its presence in the room, I would defy +suspicions of the two people I had resolved to protect. + +"What do you think about the gold bag?" I asked. + +"I don't know what to think. I hate to accuse Uncle Joseph of +such a thing, but it seems as if some woman friend of his must +have come to the office after I left. The long French windows +were open--it was a warm night, you know--and any one could +have come and gone unseen." + +"The bag wasn't there when you were there?" + +"I'm sure it was not! That is, not in sight, and Uncle Joseph +was not the sort of man to have such a thing put away in his desk +as a souvenir, or for any other reason." + +"Forgive the insinuation, but of course you could not know +positively that Mr. Crawford would not have a feminine souvenir +in his desk." + +She looked up surprised. "Of course I could not be positive," +she said, "but it is difficult to imagine anything sentimental +connected with Uncle Joseph." + +She almost smiled as she said this, for apparently the mere idea +was amusing, and I had a flashing glimpse of what it must be to +see Florence Lloyd smile! Well it should not be my fault, or due +to my lack of exertion, if the day did not come when she should +smile again, and I promised myself I should be there to see it. +But stifling these thoughts, I brought my mind back to duty. +Drawing from my pocket the photograph I had found in Mr. +Crawford's desk, I showed it to her. + +"In Uncle's desk!" she exclaimed. "This does surprise me. I had +no idea Uncle Joseph had received a photograph from a lady with +an affectionate message, too. Are you quite sure it belonged to +him?" + +"I only know that we found it in his desk, hidden beneath some +old letters and papers." + +"Were the letters from this lady?" + +"No; in no case could we find a signature that agreed with these +initials." + +"Here's your chance, Mr. Burroughs," and again Florence Lloyd's +dimples nearly escaped the bondage which held them during these +sad days. "If you're a detective, you ought to gather at once +from this photograph and signature all the details about this +lady; who she is, and what she had to do with Uncle Joseph." + +"I wish I could do so," I replied, "but you see, I'm not that +kind of detective. I have a friend, Mr. Stone, who could do it, +and would tell you, as you say, everything about that lady, +merely by looking at her picture." + +As a case in point, I told her then and there the story of +Fleming Stone's wonderful deductions from the pair of muddy shoes +we had seen in a hotel one morning. + +"But you never proved that it was true?" she asked, her dark eyes +sparkling with interest, and her face alight with animation. + +"No, but it wasn't necessary. Stone's deductions are always +right, and if not, you know it is the exception that proves the +rule." + +"Well, let us try to deduce a little from this picture. I don't +believe for a moment, that Uncle Joseph had a romantic attachment +for any lady, though these words on the back of the picture do +seem to indicate it." + +"Well, go on," said I, so carried away by the fascination of the +girl, when she had for a moment seemed to forget her troubles, +that I wanted to prolong the moment. "Go ahead, and see what +inferences you can draw from the photograph." + +"I think she is about fifty years old," Florence began, "or +perhaps fifty-five. What do you think?" + +"I wouldn't presume to guess a lady's age," I returned, "and +beside, I want you to try your powers on this. You may be better +at deductions than I am. I have already confessed to you my +inability in that direction." + +"Well," she went on, "I think this lady is rather good-looking, +and I think she appreciates the fact." + +"The first is evident on the face of it, and the second is a +universal truth, so you haven't really deduced much as yet." + +"No, that's so," and she pouted a little. "But at any rate, I +can deduce more about her dress than you can. The picture was +taken, or at least that costume was made, about a year ago, for +that is the style that was worn then." + +"Marvellous, Holmes, marvellous!" + +She flashed me a glance of understanding and appreciation, but +undaunted, went on: "The gown also was not made by a competent +modiste, but was made by a dressmaker in the house, who came in +by the day. The lady is of an economical turn of mind, because +the lace yoke of the gown is an old one, and has even been darned +to make it presentable to use in the new gown." + +"Now that is deduction," I said admiringly; "the only trouble is, +that it doesn't do us much good. Somehow I can't seem to fancy +this good-looking, economical, middle-aged lady, who has her +dressmaking done at home, coming here in the middle of the night +and killing Mr. Crawford." + +"No, I can't, either," said Florence gravely; "but then, I can't +imagine any one else doing that, either. It seems like a +horrible dream, and I can't realize that it really happened to +Uncle Joseph." + +"But it did happen, and we must find the guilty person. I think +with you, that this photograph is of little value as a clue, and +yet it may turn out to be. And yet I do think the gold bag is a +clue. You are quite sure it isn't yours?" + +Perhaps it was a mean way to put the question, but the look of +indignation she gave me helped to convince me that the bag was +not hers. + +"I told you it was not," she said, "but," and her eyes fell, +"since I have confessed to one falsehood, of course you cannot +believe my statement." + +"But I do believe it," I said, and I did, thoroughly. + +"At any rate, it is a sort of proof," she said, smiling sadly, +"that any one who knows anything about women's fashions can tell +you that it is not customary to carry a bag of that sort when one +is in the house and in evening dress. Or rather, in a negligee +costume, for I had taken off my evening gown and wore a tea-gown. +I should not think of going anywhere in a tea-gown, and carrying +a gold bag." + +The girl had seemingly grown almost lighthearted. Her speech was +punctuated by little smiles, and her half sad, half gay demeanor +bewitched me. I felt sure that what little suggestion of +lightheartedness had come into her mood had come because she had +at last confessed the falsehood she had told, and her freed +conscience gave her a little buoyancy of heart. + +But there were still important questions to be asked, so, though +unwillingly, I returned to the old subject. + +"Did you see your uncle's will while you were there?" + +"No; he talked about it, but did not show it to me." + +"Did he talk about it as if it were still in his possession?" + +"Why, yes; I think so. That is, he said he would make a new one +unless I gave up Gregory. That implied that the old one was +still in existence, though he didn't exactly say so." + +"Miss Lloyd, this is important evidence. I must tell you that I +shall be obliged to repeat much of it to the district attorney. +It seems to me to prove that your uncle did not himself destroy +the will." + +"He might have done so after I left him." + +"I can't think it, for it is not in scraps in the waste-basket, +nor are there any paper-ashes in the grate." + +"Well, then," she rejoined, "if he didn't destroy it, it may yet +be found." + +"You wish that very much?" I said, almost involuntarily. + +"Oh, I do!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands. "Not so much for +myself as--" + +She paused, and I finished the sentence for her "For Mr. Hall." + +She looked angry again, but said nothing. + +"Well, Miss Lloyd," I said, as I rose to go, "I am going to do +everything in my power in your behalf and in behalf of Mr. Hall. +But I tell you frankly, unless you will both tell me the truth, +and the whole truth, you will only defeat my efforts, and work +your own undoing." + +I had to look away from her as I said this, for I could not look +on that sweet face and say anything even seemingly harsh or +dictatorial. + +Her lip quivered. "I will do my best," she said tremblingly. "I +will try to make Mr. Hall tell where he was that night. I will +see you again after I have talked with him." + +More collusion! I said good-by rather curtly, I fear, and went +quickly away from that perilous presence. + +Truly, a nice detective, I! Bowled over by a fair face, I was +unable to think clearly, to judge logically, or to work honestly! + +Well, I would go home and think it out by myself. Away from her +influence I surely would regain my cool-headed methods of +thought. + +When I reached the inn, I found Mr. Lemuel Porter there waiting +for me. + +"How do you do, Mr. Burroughs?" he said pleasantly. "Have you +time for a half-hour's chat?" + +It was just what I wanted. A talk with this clear-thinking man +would help me, indeed, and I determined to get his opinions, even +as I was ready to give him mine. + +"Well, what do you think about it all?" I inquired, after we were +comfortably settled at a small table on the shaded veranda, which +was a popular gathering-place at this hour. But in our corner we +were in no danger from listening ears, and I awaited his reply +with interest. + +His eyes smiled a little, as he said + +"You know the old story of the man who said he wouldn't hire a +dog and then do his own barking. Well, though I haven't 'hired' +you, I would be quite ready to pay your honorarium if you can +ferret out our West Sedgwick mystery. And so, as you are the +detective in charge of the case, I ask you, what do you think +about it all?" + +But I was pretty thoroughly on my guard now. + +"I think," I began, "that much hinges on the ownership of that +gold bag." + +"And you do not think it is Miss Lloyd's?" + +"I do not." + +"It need not incriminate her, if it were hers," said Mr. Porter, +meditatively knocking the ash from said his cigar. "She might +have left it in the office at any time previous to the day of the +crime. Women are always leaving such things about. I confess it +does not seem to me important." + +"Was it on Mr. Crawford's desk when you were there?" I asked +suddenly. + +He looked up at me quickly, and again that half-smile came into +his eyes. + +"Am I to be questioned?" he said. "Well, I've no objections, I'm +sure. No, I do not think it was there when I called on Mr. +Crawford that evening. But I couldn't swear to this, for I am +not an observant man, and the thing might have lain there in +front of me and never caught my eye. If I had noticed it, of +course I should have thought it was Florence's." + +"But you don't think so now, do you?" + +"No; I can't say I think so. And yet I can imagine a girl +untruthfully denying ownership under such circumstances." + +I started at this. For hadn't Miss Lloyd untruthfully denied +coming down-stairs to talk to her uncle? + +"But," went on Mr. Porter, "if the bag is not Florence's, then I +can think of but one explanation for its presence there." + +"A lady visitor, late at night," I said slowly. + +"Yes," was the grave reply; "and though such an occurrence might +have been an innocent one, yet, taken in connection with the +crime, there is a dreadful possibility." + +"Granting this," I suggested, "we ought to be able to trace the +owner of the bag." + +"Not likely. If the owner of that bag--a woman, presumably--is +the slayer of Joseph Crawford, and made her escape from the scene +undiscovered, she is not likely to stay around where she may be +found. And the bag itself, and its contents, are hopelessly +unindividual." + +"They are that," I agreed. "Not a thing in it that mightn't be +in any woman's bag in this country. To me, that cleaner's +advertisement means nothing in connection with Miss Lloyd." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Mr. Burroughs. I confess I have +had a half-fear that your suspicions had a trend in Florence's +direction, and I assure you, sir, that girl is incapable of the +slightest impulse toward crime." + +"I'm sure of that," I said heartily, my blood bounding in my +veins at an opportunity to speak in defense of the woman I loved. +"But how if her impulses were directed, or even coerced, by +another?" + +"Just what do you mean by that?" + +"Oh, nothing. But sometimes the best and sweetest women will act +against their own good impulses for those they love." + +"I cannot pretend to misunderstand you," said Mr. Porter. "But +you are wrong. If the one you have in mind--I will say no name +--was in any way guiltily implicated, it was without the +knowledge or connivance of Florence Lloyd. But, man, the idea is +absurd. The individual in question has a perfect alibi." + +"He refuses to give it." + +"Refuses the details, perhaps. And he has a right to, since they +concern no one but himself. No, my friend, you know the French +rule; well, follow that, and search for the lady with the gold- +mesh bag." + +"The lady without it, at present," I said, with an apologetic +smile for my rather grim jest. + +"Yes; and that's the difficulty. As she hasn't the bag, we can't +discover her. So as a clue it is worthless." + +"It seems to be," I agreed. + +I thought best not to tell Mr. Porter of the card I had found in +the bag, for I hoped soon to hear from headquarters concerning +the lady whose name it bore. But I told him about the photograph +I had found in Mr. Crawford's desk, and showed it to him. He did +not recognize it as being a portrait of any one he had ever seen. +Nor did he take it very seriously as a clue. + +"I'm quite sure," he said, "that Joseph Crawford has not been +interested in any woman since the death of his wife. He has +always seemed devoted to her memory, and as one of his nearest +friends, I think I would have known if he had formed any other +attachment. Of course, in a matter like this, a man may well +have a secret from his nearest friends, but I cannot think this +mild and gentle-looking lady is at all concerned in the tragedy." + +As a matter of fact, I agreed with Mr. Porter, for nothing I had +discovered among the late Mr. Crawford's effects led me to think +he had any secret romance. + +After Mr. Porter's departure I studied long over my puzzles, and +I came to the conclusion that I could do little more until I +should hear from headquarters. + + + + +XV + +THE PHOTOGRAPH EXPLAINED + + +That evening I went to see Philip Crawford. As one of the +executors of his late brother's estate, and as probable heir to +the same, he was an important personage just now. + +He seemed glad to see me, and glad to discuss ways and means of +running down the assassin. Like Mr. Porter, he attached little +importance to the gold bag. + +"I can't help thinking it belongs to Florence," he said. "I know +the girl so well, and I know that her horrified fear of being in +any way connected with the tragedy might easily lead her to, +disown her own property, thinking the occasion justified the +untruth. That girl has no more guilty knowledge of Joseph's +death than I have, and that is absolutely none. I tell you +frankly, Mr. Burroughs, I haven't even a glimmer of a suspicion +of any one. I can't think of an enemy my brother had; he was the +most easy-going of men. I never knew him to quarrel with +anybody. So I trust that you, with your detective talent, can at +least find a clue to lead us in the right direction." + +"You don't admit the gold bag as a clue, then?" I asked. + +"Nonsense! No! If that were a clue, it would point to some +woman who came secretly at night to visit Joseph. My brother was +not that sort of man, sir. He had no feminine acquaintances that +were unknown to his relatives." + +"That is, you suppose so." + +"I know it! We have been brothers for sixty years or more, and +whatever Joseph's faults, they did not lie in that direction. +No, sir; if that bag is not Florence's, then there is some other +rational and commonplace explanation of its presence there." + +"I'm glad to hear you speak so positively, Mr. Crawford, as to +your brother's feminine acquaintances. And in connection with +the subject, I would like to show you this photograph which I +found in his desk." + +I handed the card to Mr. Crawford, whose features broke into a +smile as he looked at it. + +"Oh, that," he said; "that is a picture, of Mrs. Patton." He +looked at the picture with a glance that seemed to be of admiring +reminiscence, and he studied the gentle face of the photograph a +moment without speaking. + +Then he said, "She was beautiful as a girl. She used to be a +school friend of both Joseph and myself." + +"She wrote rather an affectionate message on the back," I +observed. + +Mr. Crawford turned the picture over. + +"Oh, she didn't send this picture to Joseph. She sent it to my +wife last Christmas. I took it over to show it to Joseph some +months ago, and left it there without thinking much about it. He +probably laid it in his desk without thinking much about it, +either. No, no, Burroughs, there is no romance there, and you +can't connect Mrs. Patton with any of your detective +investigations." + +"I rather thought that, Mr. Crawford; for this is evidently a +sweet, simple-minded lady, and more over nothing has turned up to +indicate that Mr. Crawford had a romantic interest of any kind." + +"No, he didn't. I knew Joseph as I know myself. No; whoever +killed my brother, was a man; some villain who had a motive that +I know nothing about." + +"But you were intimately acquainted with your brother's affairs?" + +"Yes, that is what proves to me that whoever this assassin was, +it was some one of whose motive I know nothing. The fact that my +brother was murdered, proves to me that my brother had an enemy, +but I had never suspected it before." + +"Do you know a Mrs. Egerton Purvis?" + +I flung the question at him, suddenly, hoping to catch him +unawares. But he only looked at me with the blank expression of +one who hears a name for the first time. + +"No," he answered, "I never heard of her. Who is she?" + +"Well, when I was hunting through that gold-mesh bag, I +discovered a lady's visiting card with that name on it. It had +slipped between the linings, and so had not been noticed before." + +To my surprise, this piece of information seemed to annoy Mr. +Crawford greatly. + +"No!" he exclaimed. "In the bag? Then some one has put it +there! for I looked over all the bag's contents myself." + +"It was between the pocket and the lining," said I; "it is there +still, for as I felt sure no one else would discover it, I left +it there. Mr. Goodrich has the bag." + +"Oh, I don't want to see it," he exclaimed angrily. "And I tell +you anyway, Mr. Burroughs, that bag is worthless as a clue. Take +my advice, and pay no further attention to it." + +I couldn't understand Mr. Crawford's decided attitude against the +bag as a clue, but I dropped the subject, for I didn't wish to +tell him I had made plans to trace up that visiting card. + +"It is difficult to find anything that is a real clue," I said. + +"Yes, indeed. The whole affair is mysterious, and, for my part, +I cannot form even a conjecture as to who the villain might have +been. He certainly left no trace." + +"Where is the revolver?" I said, picturing the scene in +imagination. + +Philip Crawford started as if caught unawares. + +"How do I know?" he cried, almost angrily. "I tell you, I have +no suspicions. I wish I had! I desire, above all things, to +bring my brother's murderer to justice. But I don't know where +to look. If the weapon were not missing, I should think it a +suicide." + +"The doctor declares it could not have been suicide, even if the +weapon had been found near him. This they learned from the +position of his arms and head." + +"Yes, yes; I know it. It was, without doubt, murder. But who-- +who would have a motive?" + +"They say," I observed, "motives for murder are usually love, +revenge, or money." + +"There is no question of love or revenge in this instance. And +as for money, as I am the one who has profited financially, +suspicion should rest on me." + +"Absurd!" I said. + +"Yes, it is absurd," he went on, "for had I desired Joseph's +fortune, I need not have killed him to acquire it. He told me +the day before he died that he intended to disinherit Florence, +and make me his heir, unless she broke with that secretary of +his. I tried to dissuade him from this step, for we are not a +mercenary lot, we Crawfords, and I thought I had made him +reconsider his decision. Now, as it turns out, he persisted in +his resolve, and was only prevented from carrying it out by this +midnight assassin. We must find that villain, Mr. Burroughs! Do +not consider expense; do anything you can to track him down." + +"Then, Mr. Crawford," said I, "if you do not mind the outlay, I +advise that we send for Fleming Stone. He is a detective of +extraordinary powers, and I am quite willing to surrender the +case to him." + +Philip Crawford eyed me keenly. + +"You give up easily, young man," he said banteringly. + +"I know it seems so," I replied, "but I have my reasons. One is, +that Fleming Stone makes important deductions from seemingly +unimportant clues; and he holds that unless these clues are +followed immediately, they are lost sight of and great +opportunities are gone." + +"H'm," mused Philip Crawford, stroking his strong, square chin. +"I don't care much for these spectacular detectives. Your man, I +suppose, would glance at the gold bag, and at once announce the +age, sex, and previous condition of servitude of its owner." + +"Just what I have thought, Mr. Crawford. I'm sure he could do +just that." + +"And that's all the good it would do! That bag doesn't belong to +the criminal." + +"How do you know?" + +"By common-sense. No woman came to the house in the dead of +night and shot my brother, and then departed, taking her revolver +with her. And again, granting a woman did have nerve and +strength enough to do that, such a woman is not going off leaving +her gold bag behind her as evidence!" + +This speech didn't affect me much. It was pure conjecture. +Women are uncertain creatures, at best; and a woman capable of +murder would be equally capable of losing her head afterward, and +leaving circumstantial evidence behind her. + +I was sorry Mr. Crawford didn't seem to take to the notion of +sending for Stone. I wasn't weakening in the case so far as my +confidence in my own ability was concerned; but I could see no +direction to look except toward Florence Lloyd or Gregory Hall, +or both. And so I was ready to give up. + +"What do you think of Gregory Hall?" I said suddenly. + +"As a man or as a suspect?" inquired Mr. Crawford. + +"Both." + +"Well, as a man, I think he's about the average, ordinary young +American, of the secretary type. He has little real ambition, +but he has had a good berth with Joseph, and he has worked fairly +hard to keep it. As a suspect, the notion is absurd. He wasn't +even in West Sedgwick." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because he went away at six that evening, and was in New York +until nearly noon the next day." + +"How do you know?" + +Philip Crawford stared at me. + +"He says so," I went on; "but no one can prove his statement. He +refuses to say where he was in New York, or what he did. Now, +merely as a supposition, why couldn't he have come out here--say +on the midnight train--called on Mr. Joseph Crawford, and +returned to New York before daylight?" + +"Absurd! Why, he had no motive for killing Joseph." + +"He had the same motive Florence would have. He knew of Mr. +Crawford's objection to their union, and he knew of his threat to +change his will. Mr. Hall is not blind to the advantages of a +fortune." + +"Right you are, there! In fact, I always felt he was marrying +Florence for her money. I had no real reason to think this, but +somehow he gave me that impression." + +"Me, too. Moreover, I found a late extra of a New York paper in +Mr. Crawford's office. This wasn't on sale until about half past +eleven that night, so whoever left it there must have come out +from the city on that midnight train, or later." + +A change came over Philip Crawford's face. Apparently he was +brought to see the whole matter in a new light. + +"What? What's that?" he cried excitedly, grasping his chair-arms +and half rising. "A late newspaper! An extra!" + +"Yes; the liner accident, you know." + +"But--but--Gregory Hall! Why man, you're crazy! Hall is a +good fellow. Not remarkably clever, perhaps, and a +fortune-hunter, maybe, but not--surely not a murderer!" + +"Don't take it so hard, Mr. Crawford," I broke in. "Probably. +Mr. Hall is innocent. But the late paper must have been left +there by some one, after, say, one o'clock." + +"This is awful! This is terrible!" groaned the poor man, and I +couldn't help wondering if he had some other evidence against +Hall that this seemed to corroborate. + +Then, by an effort, he recovered himself, and began to talk in +more normal tones. + +"Now, don't let this new idea run away with you, Mr. Burroughs," +he said. "If Hall had an interview with my brother that night, +he would have learned from him that he intended to make a new +will, but hadn't yet done so." + +"Exactly; and that would constitute a motive for putting Mr. +Crawford out of the way before he could accomplish his purpose." + +"But Joseph had already destroyed the will that favored +Florence." + +"We don't know that," I responded gravely. "And, anyway, if he +had done so, Mr. Hall didn't know it. This leaves his motive +unchanged." + +"But the gold bag," said Mr. Crawford, apparently to get away-- +from the subject of Gregory Hall. + +"If, as you say," I began, "that is Florence's bag--" + +I couldn't go on. A strange sense of duty had forced those words +from me, but I could say no more. + +Fleming Stone might take the case if they wanted him to; or they +might get some one else. But I could not go on, when the only +clues discoverable pointed in a way I dared not look. + +Philip Crawford was ghastly now. His face was working and he +breathed quickly. + +"Nonsense, Dad!" cried a strong, young voice, and his son, +Philip, Jr., bounded into the room and grasped his father's +hands. "I overheard a few of your last words, and you two are on +the wrong track. Florrie's no more mixed up in that horrible +business than I am. Neither is Hall. He's a fool chap, but no +villain. I heard what you said about the late newspaper, but +lots of people come out on that midnight train. You may as well +suspect some peaceable citizen coming home from the theatre, as +to pick out poor Hall, without a scrap of evidence to point to +him." + +I was relieved beyond all words at the hearty assurance of the +boy, and I plucked up new courage. Apprehension had made me +faint-hearted, but if he could show such flawless confidence in +Florence and her betrothed, surely I could do as much. + +"Good for you, young man!" I cried, shaking his hand. "You've +cheered me up a lot. I'll take a fresh start, and surely we'll +find out something. But I'd like to send for Stone." + +"Wait a bit, wait a bit," said Mr. Crawford. "Phil's right; +there's no possibility of Florrie or Hall in the matter. Leave +the gold bag, the newspapers, and the yellow posies out of +consideration, and go to work in some sensible way." + +"How about Mr. Joseph's finances?" I asked. "Are they in +satisfactory shape?" + +"Never finer," said Philip Crawford. "Joseph was a very rich +man, and all due to his own clever and careful investments. A +bit of a speculator, but always on the right side of the market. +Why, he fairly had a corner in X.Y. stock. Just that deal--and +it will go through in a few days--means a fortune in itself. I +shall settle that on Florence." + +"Then you think the will will never be found?" I said. + +Mr. Crawford looked a little ashamed, as well he might, but he +only said + +"If it is, no one will be more glad than I to see Florrie +reinstated in her own right. If no will turns up, Joe's estate +is legally mine, but I shall see that Florence is amply provided +for." + +He spoke with a proud dignity, and I was rather sorry I had +caught him up so sharply. + +I went back to the inn, and, after vainly racking my brain over +it all for a time, I turned in, but to a miserably broken night's +rest. + + + + +A CALL ON Mrs. PURVIS + + +The next morning I received information from headquarters. It +was a long-code telegram, and I eagerly deciphered it, to learn +that Mrs. Egerton Purvis was an English lady who was spending a +few months in New York City. She was staying at the Albion +Hotel, and seemed to be in every way above suspicion of any sort. + +Of course I started off at once to see Mrs. Purvis. + +Parmalee came just as I was leaving the inn, and was of course +anxious and inquisitive to know where I was going, and what I was +going to do. + +At first I thought I would take him into my confidence, and I +even thought of taking him with me. But I felt sure I could do +better work alone. It might be that Mrs. Egerton Purvis should +turn out to be an important factor in the case, and I suppose it +was really an instinct of vanity that made me prefer to look her +up without Parmalee by my side. + +So I told him that I was going to New York on a matter in +connection with the case, but that I preferred to go alone, but I +would tell him the entire result of my mission as soon as I +returned. I think he was a little disappointed, but he was a +good-natured chap, and bade me a cheerful goodby, saying he would +meet me on my return. + +I went to New York and went straight to the Albion Hotel. + +Learning at the desk that the lady was really there, I sent my +card up to her with a request for an immediate audience, and very +soon I was summoned to her apartment. + +She greeted me with that air of frigid reserve typical of an +English woman. Though not unattractive to look at, she possessed +the high cheekbones and prominent teeth which are almost +universal in the women of her nation. She was perhaps between +thirty and forty years old, and had the air of a grande dame. + +"Mr. Burroughs?" she said, looking through her lorgnon at my +card, which she held in her hand. + +"Yes," I assented, and judging from her appearance that she was a +woman of a decided and straightforward nature I came at once to +the point. + +"I'm a detective, madam," I began, and the remark startled her +out of her calm. + +"A detective!" she cried out, with much the same tone as if I had +said a rattlesnake. + +"Do not be alarmed, I merely state my profession to explain my +errand." + +"Not be alarmed! when a detective comes to see me! How can I +help it? Why, I've never had such an experience before. It is +shocking! I've met many queer people in the States, but not a +detective! Reporters are bad enough!" + +"Don't let it disturb you so, Mrs. Purvis. I assure you there is +nothing to trouble you in the fact of my presence here, unless it +is trouble of your own making." + +"Trouble of my own making!" she almost shrieked. "Tell me at +once what you mean, or I shall ring the bell and have you +dismissed." + +Her fear and excitement made me think that perhaps I was on the +track of new developments, and lest she should carry out her +threat of ringing the bell, I plunged at once into the subject. + +"Mrs. Purvis, have you lost a gold-mesh bag?" I said bluntly. + +"No, I haven't," she snapped, "and if I had, I should take means +to recover it, and not wait for a detective to come and ask me +about it." + +I was terribly disappointed. To be sure she might be telling a +falsehood about the bag, but I didn't think so. She was angry, +annoyed, and a little frightened at my intrusion, but she was not +at all embarrassed at my question. + +"Are you quite sure you have not lost a gold-link bag?" I +insisted, as if in idiotic endeavor to persuade her to have done +so. + +"Of course I'm sure," she replied, half laughing now; "I suppose +I should know it if I had done so." + +"It's a rather valuable bag," I went on, "with a gold frame-work +and gold chain." + +"Well, if it's worth a whole fortune, it isn't my bag," she +declared; "for I never owned such a one." + +"Well," I said, in desperation, "your visiting card is in it." + +"My visiting card!" she said, with an expression of blank +wonderment. "Well, even if that is true, it doesn't make it my +bag. I frequently give my cards to other people." + +This seemed to promise light at last. Somehow I couldn't doubt +her assertion that it was not her bag, and yet the thought +suddenly occurred to me if she were clever enough to be +implicated in the Crawford tragedy, and if she had left her bag +there, she would be expecting this inquiry, and would probably be +clever enough to have a story prepared. + +"Mrs. Purvis, since you say it is not your bag, I'm going to ask +you, in the interests of justice, to help me all you can." + +"I'm quite willing to do so, sir. What is it you wish to know?" + +"A crime has been committed in a small town in New Jersey. A +gold-link bag was afterward discovered at the scene of the crime, +and though none of its other contents betokened its owner, a +visiting card with your name on it was in the bag." + +Becoming interested in the story, Mrs. Purvis seemed to get over +her fright, and was exceedingly sensible for a woman. + +"It certainly is not my bag, Mr. Burroughs, and if my card is in +it, I can only say that I must have given that card to the lady +who owns the bag." + +This seemed distinctly plausible, and also promised further +information. + +"Do you remember giving your card to any lady with such a bag?" + +Mrs. Purvis smiled. "So many of your American women carry those +bags," she said; "they seem to be almost universal this year. I +have probably given my card to a score of ladies, who immediately +put it into just such a bag." + +"Could you tell me who they are?" + +"No, indeed;" and Mrs. Purvis almost laughed outright, at what +was doubtless a foolish question. + +"But can't you help me in any way?" I pleaded. + +"I don't really see how I can," she replied. "You see I have so +many friends in New York, and they make little parties for me, or +afternoon teas. Then I meet a great many American ladies, and we +often exchange cards. But we do it so often that of course I +can't remember every particular instance. Have you the card you +speak of?" + +I thanked my stars that I had been thoughtful enough to obtain +the card before leaving West Sedgwick, and taking it from my +pocket-book, I gave it to her. + +"Oh, that one!" she said; "perhaps I can help you a little, Mr. +Burroughs. That is an old-fashioned card, one of a few left over +from an old lot. I have been using them only lately, because my +others gave out. I have really gone much more into society in +New York than I had anticipated, and my cards seemed fairly to +melt away. I ordered some new ones here, but before they were +sent to me I was obliged to use a few of these old-fashioned +ones. I don't know that this would help you, but I think I can +tell pretty nearly to whom I gave those cards." + +It seemed a precarious sort of a chance, but as I talked with +Mrs. Purvis, I felt more and more positive that she herself was +not implicated in the Crawford case. However, it was just as +well to make certain. She had gone to her writing-desk, and +seemed to be looking over a diary or engagement book. + +"Mrs. Purvis," I said, "will you tell me where you were on +Tuesday evening of last week?" + +"Certainly;" and she turned back the leaves of the book. "I went +to a theatre party with my friends, the Hepworths; and afterward, +we went to a little supper at a restaurant. I returned here +about midnight. Must I prove this?" she added, smiling; "for I +can probably do so, by the hotel clerk and by my maid. And, of +course, by my friends who gave the party." + +"No, you needn't prove it," I answered, certain now that she knew +nothing of the Crawford matter; "but I hope you can give me more +information about your card." + +"Why, I remember that very night, I gave my cards to two ladies +who were at the theatre with us; and I remember now that at that +time I had only these old-fashioned cards. I was rather ashamed +of them, for Americans are punctilious in such matters; and now +that I think of it, one of the ladies was carrying a gold-mesh +bag." + +"Who was she?" I asked, hardly daring to hope that I had really +struck the trail. + +"I can't seem to remember her name, but perhaps it will come to +me. It was rather an English type of name, something like +Coningsby." + +"Where did she live?" + +"I haven't the slightest idea. You see I meet these ladies so +casually, and I really never expect to see any of them again. +Our exchange of cards is a mere bit of formal courtesy. No, I +can't remember her name, or where she was from. But I don't +think she was a New Yorker." + +Truly it was hard to come so near getting what might be vital +information, and yet have it beyond my grasp! It was quite +evident that Mrs. Purvis was honestly trying to remember the +lady's name, but could not do so. + +And then I had what seemed to me an inspiration. "Didn't she +give you her card?" I asked. + +A light broke over Mrs. Purvis's face. "Why, yes, of course she +did! And I'm sure I can find it." + +She turned to a card-tray, and rapidly running over the bits of +pasteboard, she selected three or four. + +"Here they are," she exclaimed, "all here together. I mean all +the cards that were given me on that particular evening. And +here is the name I couldn't think of. It is Mrs. Cunningham. I +remember distinctly that she carried a gold bag, and no one else +in the party did, for we were admiring it. And here is her +address on the card; Marathon Park, New Jersey." + +I almost fainted, myself, with the suddenness of the discovery. +Had I really found the name and address of the owner of the gold +bag? Of course there might be a slip yet, but the evidence +seemed clear that Mrs. Cunningham, of Marathon Park, owned the +bag that had been the subject of so much speculation. + +I had no idea where Marathon Park might be, but that was a mere +detail. I thanked Mrs. Purvis sincerely for the help she had +given me, and I was glad I had not told her that her casual +acquaintance was perhaps implicated in a murder mystery. + +I made my adieux and returned at once to West Sedgwick. + +As he had promised, Parmalee met me at the station, and I told +him the whole story, for I thought him entitled to the +information at once. + +"Why, man alive!" he exclaimed, "Marathon Park is the very next +station to West Sedgwick!" + +"So it is!" I said; "I knew I had a hazy idea of having seen the +name, but the trains I have taken to and from New York have been +expresses, which didn't stop there, and I paid no attention to +it." + +"It's a small park," went on Parmalee, "of swagger residences; +very exclusive and reserved, you know. You've certainly +unearthed startling news, but I can't help thinking that it will +be a wild goose chase that leads us to look for our criminal in +Marathon Park!" + +"What do you think we'd better do?" said I. "Go to see Mrs. +Cunningham?" + +"No, I wouldn't do that," said Parmalee, who had a sort of +plebeian hesitancy at the thought of intruding upon aristocratic +strangers. "Suppose you write her a letter and just ask her if +she has lost her bag." + +"All right," I conceded, for truth to tell, I greatly preferred +to stay in West Sedgwick than to go out of it, for I had always +the undefined hope of seeing Florence Lloyd. + +So I wrote a letter, not exactly curt, but strictly formal, +asking Mrs. Cunningham if she had recently lost a gold-mesh bag, +containing her gloves and handkerchief. + +Then Parmalee and I agreed to keep the matter a secret until we +should get a reply to this, for we concluded there was no use in +stirring up public curiosity on the matter until we knew +ourselves that we were on the right trail. + + + + +XVII + +THE OWNER OF THE GOLD BAG + + +The next day I received a letter addressed in modish, angular +penmanship, which, before I opened it, I felt sure had come from +Mrs. Cunningham. It ran as follows + +Mr. HERBERT Burroughs + +Dear Sir: Yes, I have lost a gold bag, and I have known all along +that it is the one the newspapers are talking so much about in +connection with the Crawford case. I know, too, that you are the +detective on the case, and though I can't imagine how you did it, +I think it was awfully clever of you to trace the bag to me, for +I'm sure my name wasn't in it anywhere. As I say, the bag is +mine, but I didn't kill Mr. Crawford, and I don't know who did. +I would go straight to you, and tell you all about it, but I am +afraid of detectives and lawyers, and I don't want to be mixed up +in the affair anyway. But I am going to see Miss Lloyd, and +explain it all to her, and then she can tell you. Please don't +let my name get in the papers, as I hate that sort of prominence. + + Very truly yours, + ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM. + +I smiled a little over the femininity of the letter, but as +Parmalee had prophesied, Marathon Park was evidently no place to +look for our criminal. + +The foolish little woman who had written that letter, had no +guilty secret on her conscience, of that I was sure. + +I telephoned for Parmalee and showed him the letter. + +"It doesn't help us in one way," he said, "for of course, Mrs. +Cunningham is not implicated. But the bag is still a clue, for +how did it get into Mr. Crawford's office?" + +"We must find out who Mr. Cunningham is," I suggested. + +"He's not the criminal, either. If he had left his wife's bag +there, he never would have let her send this letter." + +"Perhaps he didn't know she wrote it." + +"Oh, perhaps lots of things! But I am anxious to learn what Mrs. +Cunningham tells Miss Lloyd." + +"Let us go over to the Crawford house, and tell Miss Lloyd about +it." + +"Not this morning; I've another engagement. And besides, the +little lady won't get around so soon." + +"Why a little lady?" I asked, smiling. + +"Oh, the whole tone of the letter seems to imply a little +yellow-haired butterfly of a woman." + +"Just the reverse of Florence Lloyd," I said musingly. + +"Yes; no one could imagine Miss Lloyd writing a letter like that. +There's lots of personality in a woman's letter. Much more than +in a man's." + +Parmalee went away, and prompted by his suggestions, I studied +the letter I had just received. It was merely an idle fancy, for +if Mrs. Cunningham was going to tell Miss Lloyd her story, it +made little difference to me what might be her stature or the +color of her hair. But, probably because of Parmalee's +suggestion, I pictured her to myself as a pretty young woman with +that air of half innocence and half ignorance which so well +becomes the plump blonde type. + +The broad veranda of the Sedgwick Arms was a pleasant place to +sit, and I had mused there for some time, when Mr. Carstairs came +out to tell me that I was asked for on the telephone. The call +proved to be from Florence Lloyd asking me to come to her at +once. + +Only too glad to obey this summons, I went directly to the +Crawford house, wondering if any new evidence had been brought to +light. + +Lambert opened the door for me, and ushered me into the library, +where Florence was receiving a lady caller. + +"Mrs. Cunningham," said Florence, as I entered, "may I present +Mr. Burroughs--Mr. Herbert Burroughs. I sent for you," she +added, turning to me, "because Mrs. Cunningham has an important +story to tell, and I thought you ought to hear it at once." + +I bowed politely to the stranger, and awaited her disclosures. + +Mrs. Cunningham was a pretty, frivolous-looking woman, with +appealing blue eyes, and a manner half-childish, half-apologetic. + +I smiled involuntarily to see how nearly her appearance coincided +with the picture in my mind, and I greeted her almost as if she +were a previous acquaintance. + +"I know I've done very wrong," she began, with a nervous little +flutter of her pretty hands; "but I'm ready now to 'fess up, as +the children say." + +She looked at me, so sure of an answering smile, that I gave it, +and said + +"Let us hear your confession, Mrs. Cunningham; I doubt if it's a +very dreadful one." + +"Well, you see," she went on, "that gold bag is mine." + +"Yes," I said; "how did it get here?" + +"I've no idea," she replied, and I could see that her shallow +nature fairly exulted in the sensation she was creating. "I went +to New York that night, to the theatre, and I carried my gold +bag, and I left it in the train when I got out at the station." + +"West Sedgwick?" I asked. + +"No; I live at Marathon Park, the next station to this." + +"Next on the way to New York?" + +"Yes. And when I got out of the train--I was with my husband +and some other people--we had been to a little theatre party--I +missed the bag. But I didn't tell Jack, because I knew he'd +scold me for being so careless. I thought I'd get it back from +the Lost and Found Department, and then, the very next day, I +read in the paper about the--the--awful accident, and it told +about a gold bag being found here." + +"You recognized it as yours?" + +"Of course; for the paper described everything in it--even to +the cleaner's advertisement that I'd just cut out that very day." + +"Why didn't you come and claim it at once?" + +"Oh, Mr. Burroughs, you must know why I didn't! Why, I was +scared 'most to death to read the accounts of the terrible +affair; and to mix in it, myself--ugh! I couldn't dream of +anything so horrible." + +It was absurd, but I had a desire to shake the silly little +bundle of femininity who told this really important story, with +the twitters and simpers of a silly school-girl. + +"And you would not have come, if I had not written you?" + +She hesitated. "I think I should have come soon, even without +your letter." + +"Why, Mrs. Cunningham?" + +"Well, I kept it secret as long as I could, but yesterday Jack +saw that I had something on my mind. I couldn't fool him any +longer." + +"As to your having a mind!" I said to myself, but I made no +comment aloud. + +"So I told him all about it, and he said I must come at once and +tell Miss Lloyd, because, you see, they thought it was her bag +all the time." + +"Yes," I said gravely; "it would have been better if you had come +at first, with your story. Have you any one to substantiate it, +or any proofs that it is the truth?" + +The blue eyes regarded me with an injured expression. Then she +brightened again. + +"Oh, yes, I can `prove property'; that's what you mean, isn't it? +I can tell you which glove finger is ripped, and just how much +money is in the bag, and--and here's a handkerchief exactly like +the one I carried that night. Jack said if I told you all these +things, you'd know it's my bag, and not Miss Lloyd's." + +"And then, there was a card in it." + +"A card? My card?" + +"No, not your card; a card with another name on it. Don't you +know whose?" + +Mrs. Cunningham thought for a moment. Then, "Oh, yes!" she +exclaimed. "Mrs. Purvis gave me her card, and I tucked it in the +pocket of the bag. Was that the way you discovered the bag was +mine? And how did that make you know it." + +"I'll tell you about that some other time if you wish, Mrs. +Cunningham; but just now I want to get at the important part of +your story. How did your gold bag get in Mr. Crawford's office?" + +"Ah, how did it?" The laughing face was sober now and she seemed +appalled at the question. "Jack says some one must have found it +in the car-seat where I left it, and he"--she lowered her voice +--"he must be the--" + +"The murderer," I supplied calmly. "It does look that way. You +have witnesses, I suppose, who saw you in that train?" + +"Mercy, yes! Lots of them. The train reaches Marathon Park at +12: 50, and is due here at one o'clock. Ever so many people got +out at our station. There were six in our own party, and others +besides. And the conductor knows me, and everybody knows Jack. +He's Mr. John Le Roy Cunningham." + +It was impossible to doubt all this. Further corroboration it +might be well to get, but there was not the slightest question in +my mind as to the little lady's truthfulness. + +"I thank you, Mrs. Cunningham," I said, "for coming to us with +your story. You may not be able to get your bag to-day, but I +assure you it will, be sent to you as soon as a few inquiries can +be made. These are merely for the sake of formalities, for, as +you say, your fellow townspeople can certify to your presence on +the train, and your leaving it at the Marathon Park station." + +"Yes," she replied; "and"--she handed me a paper--"there's my +husband's address, and his lawyer's address, and the addresses of +all the people that were in our party that night. Jack said you +might like to have the list. He would have come himself to-day, +only he's fearfully busy. And I said I didn't mind coming alone, +just to see Miss Lloyd. I wouldn't have gone to a jury meeting, +though. And I'm in no hurry for the bag. In fact, I don't care +much if I never get it. It wasn't the value of the thing that +made me come at all, but the fear that my bag might make trouble +for Miss Lloyd. Jack said it might. I don't see how, myself, +but I'm a foolish little thing, with no head for business +matters." She shook her head, and gurgled an absurd little +laugh, and then, after a loquacious leave-taking, she went away. + +"Well?" I said to Florence, and then, "Well?" Florence said to +me. + +It was astonishing how rapidly our acquaintance had progressed. +Already we had laid aside all formality of speech and manner, and +if the girl had not really discovered my mental attitude toward +her, at least I think she must have suspected it. + +"Of course," I began, "I knew it wasn't your bag, because you +said it wasn't. But I did incline a little to the `woman +visitor' theory, and now that is destroyed. I think we must +conclude that the bag was brought here by the person who found it +on that midnight train." + +"Why didn't that person turn it over to the conductor?" she said, +more as if thinking to herself than speaking to me. + +"Yes, why, indeed?" I echoed. "And if he brought it here, and +committed a criminal act, why go away and leave it here?" + +I think it was at the same moment that the minds of both of us +turned to Gregory Hall. Her eyes fell, and as for me, I was +nearly stunned with the thoughts that came rushing to my brain. + +If the late newspaper had seemed to point to Hall's coming out on +that late train, how much more so this bag, which had been left +on that very train + +We were silent for a time, and then, lifting her sweet eyes +bravely to mine, Florence said + +"I have something to tell you." + +"Yes," I replied, crushing down the longing to take her in my +arms and let her tell it there. + +"Mr. Hall had a talk with me this morning. He says that he and +the others have searched everywhere possible for the will, and it +cannot be found. He says Uncle Joseph must have destroyed it, +and that it is practically settled that Uncle Philip is the legal +heir. Of course, Mr. Philip Crawford isn't my uncle, but I have +always called him that, and Phil and I have been just like +cousins." + +"What else did Mr. Hall say?" I asked, for I divined that the +difficult part of her recital was yet to come. + +"He said," she went on, with a rising color, "that he wished me +to break our engagement." + +I will do myself the justice to say that although my first +uncontrollable thought was one of pure joy at this revelation, +yet it was instantly followed by sympathy and consideration for +her. + +"Why?" I asked in a voice that I tried to keep from being hard. + +"He says," she continued, with a note of weariness in her voice, +"that he is not a rich man, and cannot give me the comforts and +luxuries to which I have been accustomed, and that therefore it +is only right for him to release me." + +"Of course you didn't accept his generous sacrifice," I said; and +my own hopes ran riot as I listened for her answer. + +"I told him I was willing to share poverty with him," she said, +with a quiet dignity, as if telling an impersonal tale, "but he +insisted that the engagement should be broken." + +"And is it?" I asked eagerly, almost breathlessly. + +She gave me that look which always rebuked me--always put me +back in my place--but which, it seemed to me, was a little less +severe than ever before. "It's left undecided for a day or two," +she said. Then she added hurriedly + +"I must see if he needs me. Do you suppose this story of Mrs. +Cunningham's will in any way--well, affect him?" + +"It may," I replied truthfully. "At any rate, he must be made to +tell where he was and what he was doing Tuesday night. You have +no idea, have you?" + +Florence hesitated a moment, looked at me in a way I could not +fathom, and then, but only after a little choking sound in her +throat, she said + +"No, I have no idea." + +It was impossible to believe her. No one would show such +emotion, such difficulty of speech, if telling a simple truth. +Yet when I looked in her troubled eyes, and read there anxiety, +uncertainty, and misery, I only loved her more than ever. Truly +it was time for me to give up this case. Whatever turn it took, +I was no fit person to handle clues or evidence which filled me +with deadly fear lest they turn against the one I loved. + +And yet that one, already suspected by many, had been proved to +have both motive and opportunity. + +And I, I who loved her, knew that, in one instance, at least, she +had been untruthful. + +Yes, it was high time for me to give this case into other hands. + +I looked at her again, steadily but with a meaning in my glance +that I hoped she would understand. I wanted her to know, that +though of course justice was my end and aim, yet I was sure the +truth could not implicate her, and if it did implicate Mr. Hall, +the sooner we discovered it the better. + +I think she appreciated my meaning, for the troubled look in her +own eyes disappeared, and she seemed suddenly almost willing to +give me her full confidence. + +I resolved to make the most of my opportunity. + +"Of course you know," I said gently, "that I want to believe all +you say to me. But, Miss Lloyd, your naturally truthful nature +so rebels at your unveracity, that it is only too plain to be +seen when you are not telling the truth. Now, I do not urge you, +but I ask you to tell me, confidentially if you choose, what your +surmise is as to Mr. Hall's strange reticence." + +"It is only a surmise," she said, and though the troubled look +came back to her eyes, she looked steadily at me. "And I have no +real reason even to think it, but I can't help feeling that +Gregory is interested in some other woman beside myself." + +Again I felt that uncontrollable impulse of satisfaction at this +disclosure, and again I stifled it. I endeavored to treat the +matter lightly. "Is that all?" I asked; "do you mean that +perhaps Mr. Hall was calling on some other lady acquaintance that +evening?" + +"Yes, that is what I do mean. And, as I say, I have no real +reason to think it. But still, Mr. Burroughs, if it were true, I +cannot agree with you that it is unimportant. Surely a man is +not expected to call on one woman when he is betrothed to +another, or at least, not to make a secret of it." + +I thoroughly agreed with her, and my opinion that Hall was a cad +received decided confirmation. + +"My treating it as a light matter, Miss Lloyd, was not quite +sincere. Indeed, I may as well confess that it was partly to +cover the too serious interest I take in the matter." + +She looked up, startled at this, but as my eyes told her a +certain truth I made no effort to conceal, she looked down again, +and her lip quivered. + +I pulled myself together. "Don't think I am taking advantage of +your confidence," I said gently; "I want only to help you. +Please consider me an impersonal factor, and let me do all I can +for you. For the moment, let us suppose your surmise is correct. +This would, of course, free Mr. Hall from any implication of +crime." + +"Yes, and while I can't suspect him of anything like crime, I +hate, also, to suspect him of disloyalty to me." + +Her head went up with a proud gesture, and I suddenly knew that +the thought of Hall's interest in another woman, affected her +pride and her sense of what was due her, far more than it did her +heart. Her fear was not so much that Hall loved another woman, +as that his secrecy in the matter meant a slight to her own +dignified position. + +"I understand, Miss Lloyd, and I hope for the sake of all +concerned, your surmise is not correct. But, with your +permission, I feel it my duty to discover where Mr. Hall was that +evening, even if to do this it is necessary to have professional +assistance from headquarters." + +She shuddered at this. "It is so horrid," she said, "to spy upon +a gentleman's movements, if he is only engaged in his personal +affairs." + +"If we were sure of that, we need not spy upon him. But to the +eye of justice there is always the possibility that he was not +about his personal affairs that evening, but was here in West +Sedgwick." + +"You don't really suspect him, do you?" she said; and she looked +at me as if trying to read my very soul. + +"I'm afraid I do," I answered gravely; "but not so much from +evidence against him, as because I don't know where else to look. +Do you?" + +"No," said Florence Lloyd. + + + + +XVIII + +IN Mr. GOODRICH'S OFFICE + + +As was my duty I went next to the district attorney's office to +tell him about Mrs. Cunningham and the gold bag, and to find out +from him anything I could concerning Gregory Hall. I found Mr. +Porter calling there, and both he and Mr. Goodrich welcomed me as +a possible bringer of fresh news. When I said that I did know of +new developments, Mr. Porter half rose from his chair. + +"I dare say I've no business here," he said; "but you know the +deep interest I take in this whole matter. Joseph Crawford was +my lifelong friend and near neighbor, and if I can be in any way +instrumental in freeing Florence from this web of suspicion--" + +I turned on him angrily, and interrupted him by saying + +"Excuse me, Mr. Porter; no one has as yet voiced a suspicion +against Miss Lloyd. For you to put such a thought into words, is +starting a mine of trouble." + +The older man looked at me indulgently, and I think his shrewd +perceptions told him at once that I was more interested in Miss +Lloyd than a mere detective need be. + +"You are right," he said; "but I considered this a confidential +session." + +"It is," broke in Mr. Goodrich, "and if you will stay, Mr. +Porter, I shall be glad to have you listen to whatever Mr. +Burroughs has to tell us, and then give us the benefit of your +advice." + +I practically echoed the district attorney's words, for I knew +Lemuel Porter to be a clear-headed and well-balanced business +man, and his opinions well worth having. + +So it was to two very interested hearers that I related first the +story of Florence's coming downstairs at eleven o'clock on the +fatal night, for a final endeavor to gain her uncle's consent to +her betrothal. + +"Then it was her bag!" exclaimed Mr. Porter. "I thought so all +the time." + +I said nothing at the moment and listened for Mr. Goodrich's +comment. + +"To my mind," said the district attorney slowly, "this story, +told now by Miss Lloyd, is in her favor. If the girl were +guilty, or had any guilty knowledge of the crime, she would not +have told of this matter at all. It was not forced from her; she +told it voluntarily, and I, for one, believe it." + +"She told it," said I, "because she wished to take the +responsibility of the fallen rose petals upon herself. Since we +are speaking plainly, I may assure you, gentlemen, that she told +of her later visit to the office because I hinted to her that the +yellow leaves might implicate Gregory Hall." + +"Then," said Mr. Goodrich triumphantly, "she herself suspects Mr. +Hall, which proves that she is innocent." + +"It doesn't prove her innocent of collusion," observed Mr. +Porter. + +"Nor does it prove that she suspects Mr. Hall," I added. "It +merely shows that she fears others may suspect him." + +"It is very complicated," said the district attorney. + +"It is," I agreed, "and that is why I wish to send for the famous +detective, Fleming Stone." + +"Stone! Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Goodrich. "I have every +confidence in your skill, Mr. Burroughs; I would not insult you +by calling in another detective." + +"Surely not," agreed Mr. Porter. "If you need help, Mr. +Burroughs, confer with our local man, Mr. Parmalee. He's a +pretty clever chap, and I don't know why you two don't work more +together." + +"We do work together," said I. "Mr. Parmalee is both clever and +congenial, and we have done our best in the matter. But the days +are going by and little of real importance has been discovered. +However, I haven't told you as yet, the story of the gold bag. I +have found its owner." + +Of course there were exclamations of surprise at this, but +realizing its importance they quietly listened to my story. + +With scarcely a word of interruption from my hearers, I told them +how I had found the card in the bag, how I had learned about Mrs. +Purvis from headquarters, how I had gone to see her, and how it +had all resulted in Mrs. Cunningham's visit to Miss Lloyd that +morning. + +"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Porter, as I concluded the narrative. +"Well! Of all things! Well, I am amazed! Why, this gives a +wide scope of possibilities. Scores of our people come out on +that theatre train every night." + +"But not scores of people would have a motive for putting Joseph +Crawford out of the way," said Mr. Goodrich, who sat perplexedly +frowning. + +Then, by way of a trump card, I told them of the "extra" +edition of the evening paper I had found in the office. + +The district attorney stared at me, but still sat frowning and +silent. + +But Mr. Porter expressed his wonderment. + +"How it all fits in!" he cried. "The bag, known to be from that +late train; the paper, known to have been bought late in New +York! Burroughs, you're a wonder! Indeed, we don't want any +Fleming Stone, when you can do such clever sleuthing as this." + +I stared at him. Nothing I had done seemed to me "clever +sleuthing," nor did my simple discoveries seem to me of any great +significance. + +"I don't like it," said Mr. Goodrich, at last. "Everything so +far known, both early and late information, seems to me to point +to Gregory Hall and Florence Lloyd in collusion." + +"But you said," I interrupted, "that Miss Lloyd's confession that +she did go down-stairs late at night was in her favor." + +"I said that before I knew about this bag story. Now I think the +case is altered, and the two who had real motive are undoubtedly +the suspects." + +"But they had no motive," said Mr. Porter, "since Florence +doesn't inherit the fortune." + +"But they thought she did," explained the district attorney, "and +so the motive was just as strong. Mr. Burroughs, I wish you +would confer with Mr. Parmalee, and both of you set to work on +the suggestions I have advanced. It is a painful outlook, to be +sure, but justice is inexorable. You agree with me, Mr. Porter?" + +Mr. Porter started, as if he, too, had been in a brown study. + +"I do and I don't," he said. "Personally, I think both those +young people are innocent, but if I am correct, no harm will be +done by a further investigation of their movements on Tuesday +night. I think Mr. Hall ought to tell where he was that night, +if only in self-defense. If he proves he was in New York, and +did not come out here, it will not only clear him, but also +Florence. For I think no one suspects her of anything more than +collusion with him." + +Of course I had no mind to tell these men what Florence had told +me confidentially about Mr. Hall's possible occupation Tuesday +evening. They were determined to investigate that very question, +and so, if her surmise were correct, it would disclose itself. + +"Very well," I said, after listening to a little further +discussion, which was really nothing but repetition, "then I will +consult with Mr. Parmalee, and we will try to make further +investigation of Mr. Hall's doings. But I'm ready to admit that. +it does not look easy to me to discover anything of importance. +Mr. Hall is a secretive man, and unless we have a definite charge +against him it is difficult to make him talk." + +"Well, you can certainly learn something," said Mr. Goodrich. +"At any rate devote a few days to the effort. I have confidence +in you, Mr. Burroughs, and I don't think you need call in a man +whom you consider your superior. But if you'll excuse me for +making a suggestion, let me ask you to remember that a theory of +Hall's guilt also possibly implicates Miss Lloyd. You will +probably discover this for yourself, but don't let your natural +chivalry toward a woman, and perhaps a personal element in this +case, blind you to the facts." + +Although he put it delicately, I quite understood that he had +noticed my personal interest in Florence Lloyd, and so, as it was +my duty to disregard that interest in my work, I practically +promised to remember his injunction. + +It was then that I admitted to myself the true state of my mind. +I felt sure Florence was innocent, but I knew appearances were +strongly against her, and I feared I should bungle the case +because of the very intensity of my desire not to. And I thought +that Fleming Stone, in spite of evidence, would be able to prove +what I felt was the truth, that Florence was guiltless of all +knowledge of or complicity in her uncle's death. + +However, I had promised to go on with the quest, and I urged +myself on, with the hope that further developments might clear +Florence, even if they more deeply implicated Gregory Hall. + +I went back to the inn, and spent some time in thinking over the +matter, and methodically recording my conclusions. And, while I +thought, I became more and more convinced that, whether Florence +connived or not, Hall was the villain, and that he had actually +slain his employer because he had threatened to disinherit his +niece. + +Perhaps when Hall came to the office, late that night, Mr. +Crawford was already engaged in drawing up the new will, and in +order to purloin it Hall had killed him, not knowing that the +other will was already destroyed. And destroyed it must be, for +surely Hall had no reason to steal or suppress the will that +favored Florence. + +As a next move, I decided to interview Mr. Hall. + +Such talks as I had had with him so far, had been interrupted and +unsatisfactory. Now I would see him alone, and learn something +from his manner and appearance. + +I found him, as I had expected, in the office of his late +employer. He was surrounded with papers, and was evidently very +busy, but he greeted me with a fair show of cordiality, and +offered me a chair. + +"I want to talk to you plainly, Mr. Hall," I said, "and as I see +you're busy, I will be as brief as possible." + +"I've been expecting you," said he calmly. "In fact, I'm rather +surprised that you haven't been here before." + +"Why?" said I, eying him closely. + +"Only because the inquiries made at the inquest amounted to very +little, and I assumed you would question all the members of the +household again." + +"I'm not sure that's necessary," I responded, following his +example in adopting a light, casual tone. "I have no reason to +suspect that the servants told other than the exact truth. I +have talked to both the ladies, and now I've only a few questions +to put to you." + +He looked up, surprised at my self-satisfied air. + +"Have you nailed the criminal?" he asked, with a greater show of +interest than he had before evinced. + +"Not exactly nailed him, perhaps. But we fancy we are on the +scent." + +"Resent what?" he asked, looking blank. + +"I didn't say `resent.' I said, we are on the scent." + +"Oh, yes. And in what direction does it lead you?" + +"In your direction," I said, willing to try what effect bluntness +might have upon this composed young man. + +"I beg your pardon?" he said, as if he hadn't heard me. + +"Evidences are pointing toward you as the criminal," I said, +determined to disturb his composure if I could. + +Instead of showing surprise or anger, he gave a slight smile, as +one would at an idea too ridiculous to be entertained for an +instant. Somehow, that smile was more convincing to me than any +verbal protestation could have been. + +Then I realized that the man was doubtless a consummate actor, +and he had carefully weighed the value of that supercilious smile +against asseverations of innocence. So I went on: + +"When did you first learn of the accident to the Atlantic liner, +the North America?" + +"I suppose you mean that question for a trap," he said coolly; +"but I haven't the least objection to answering it. I bought a +late 'extra' in New York City the night of the disaster." + +"At what hour did you buy it?" + +"I don't know exactly. It was some time after midnight." + +Really, there was little use in questioning this man. If he had +bought his paper at half-past eleven, as I felt positive he did, +and if he had come out to Sedgwick on the twelve o'clock train, +he was quite capable of answering me in this casual way, to throw +me off the track. + +Well, I would try once again. + +"Excuse me, Mr. Hall, but I am obliged to ask you some personal +questions now. Are you engaged to Miss Lloyd?" + +"I beg your pardon?" + +His continued requests for me to repeat my questions irritated me +beyond endurance. Of course it was a bluff to gain time, but he +did it so politely, I couldn't rebuke him. + +"Are you engaged to Miss Lloyd?" I repeated. + +"No, I think not," he said slowly. "She wants to break it off, +and I, as a poor man, should not stand in the way of her making a +brilliant marriage. She has many opportunities for such, as her +uncle often told me, and I should be selfish indeed, now that she +herself is poor, to hold her to her promise to me." + +The hypocrite! To lay on Florence the responsibility for +breaking the engagement. Truly, she was well rid of him, and I +hoped I could convince her of the fact. + +"But she is not so poor," I said. "Mr. Philip Crawford told me +he intends to provide for her amply. And I'm sure that means a +fair-sized fortune, for the Crawfords are generous people." + +Gregory Hall's manner changed. + +"Did Philip Crawford say that?" he cried. "Are you sure?" + +"Of course I'm sure, as he said it to me." + +"Then Florence and I may be happy yet," he said; and as I looked +him straight in the eye, he had the grace to look ashamed of +himself, and, with a rising color, he continued: "I hope you +understand me, Mr. Burroughs. No man could ask a girl to marry +him if he knew that meant condemning her to comparative poverty." + +"No, of course not," said I sarcastically. "Then I assume that, +so far as you are concerned, your engagement with Miss Lloyd is +not broken?" + +"By no means. In fact, I could not desert her just now, when +there is a--well, a sort of a cloud over her." + +"What do you mean?" I thundered. "There is no cloud over her." + +"Well, you know, the gold bag and the yellow rose leaves . . . " + +"Be silent! The gold bag has been claimed by its owner. But you +are responsible for its presence in this room! You, who brought +it from the midnight train, and left it here! You, who also left +the late city newspaper here! You, who also dropped two yellow +petals from the rose in your buttonhole." + +Gregory Hall seemed to turn to stone as he listened to my words. +He became white, then ashen gray. His hands clinched his +chair-arms, and his eyes grew glassy and fixed. + +I pushed home my advantage. "And therefore, traced by these +undeniable evidences, I know that you are the slayer of Joseph +Crawford. You killed your friend, your benefactor, your +employer, in order that he might not disinherit the girl whose +fortune you wish to acquire by marrying her!" + +Though I had spoken in low tones, my own intense emotion made my +words emphatic, and as I finished I was perhaps the more excited +of the two. + +For Hall's composure had returned; his face resumed its natural +color; his eyes their normal expression--that of cold +indifference. + +"Mr. Burroughs," he said quietly, "you must be insane." + +"That is no answer to my accusations," I stormed. "I tell you of +the most conclusive evidence against yourself, and instead of any +attempt to refute it you mildly remark, `you are insane.' It is +you who are insane, Mr. Hall, if you think you can escape arrest +and trial for the murder of Joseph Crawford." + +"Oh, I think I can," was his only answer, with that maddening +little smile of his. + +"Then where were you on Tuesday night?" + +"Excuse me?" + +"Where were you on Tuesday night?" + +"That I refuse to tell--as I have refused before, and shall +always refuse." + +"Because you were here, and because you have too much wisdom to +try to prove a false alibi." + +He looked at me half admiringly. "You are right in that," he +said. "It is extremely foolish for any one to fake an alibi, and +I certainly never should try to do so." + +"That's how I know you were here," I replied triumphantly. + +"You do, do you? Well, Mr. Burroughs, I don't pretend to +misunderstand you--for Miss Lloyd has told me all about Mrs. +Cunningham and her bag that she left in the train. But I will +say this if you think I came out on that midnight train, go and +ask the conductor. He knows me, and as I often do come out on +that train, he may remember that I was not on it that night. And +while you're about it, and since you consider that late newspaper +a clue, also ask him who was on the train that might have come +here afterward." + +If this was bluffing, it was a very clever bluff, and +magnificently carried out. Probably his hope was that the +conductor could not say definitely as to Hall's presence on the +late train, and any other names he might mention would only +complicate matters. + +But before I left I made one more attempt to get at this man's +secret. + +"Mr. Hall," I began, "I am not unfriendly. In fact, for Miss +Lloyd's sake as well as your own, I should like to remove every +shadow of suspicion that hovers near either or both of you." + +"I know that," he said quickly. "Don't think I can't see through +your `friendliness' to Miss Lloyd! But be careful there, Mr. +Burroughs. A man does not allow too many `friendly' glances +toward the girl he is engaged to." + +So he had discovered my secret! Well, perhaps it was a good +thing. Now I could fight for Florence more openly if necessary. + +"You are right, Mr. Hall," I went on. "I hold Miss Lloyd in very +high esteem, and I assure you, as man to man, that so long as you +and she are betrothed, neither of you will have cause to look on +me as other than a detective earnest in his work in your behalf." + +"Thank you," said Hall, a little taken aback by my frankness. + +I went away soon after that, and without quizzing him any +further, for, though I still suspected him, I realized that he +would never say anything to incriminate himself. + +The theory that the criminal was some one who came in on that +midnight train was plausible indeed; but what a scope it offered! + +Why, a total stranger to Sedgwick might have come and gone, +entirely unobserved, in the crowd. + +It was with little hope, therefore, that I arranged for an +interview with the conductor of the train. + +He lived in Hunterton, a few stations from West Sedgwick, and, +after ascertaining by telephone that he could see me the next +day, I went to his house. + +"Well, no," he replied, after thinking over my query a bit; "I +don't think Mr. Hall came out from New York that night. I'm +'most sure he didn't, because he usually gives me his newspaper +as he steps off the train, and I didn't get any `extra' that +night." + +Of course this wasn't positive proof that Hall wasn't there, so I +asked him to tell me all the West Sedgwick people that he did +remember as being on his train that night. + +He mentioned a dozen or more, but they were nearly all names +unknown to me. + +"Do you remember the Cunninghams being on the train?" I asked. + +"Those Marathon Park people? Oh, yes. They were a gay party,-- +coming back from a theatre supper, I suppose. And that reminds +me: Philip Crawford sat right behind the Cunninghams. I forgot +him before. Well, I guess that's all the West Sedgwick people I +can remember." + +I went away not much the wiser, but with a growing thought that +buzzed in my brain. + +It was absurd, of course. But he had said Philip Crawford had +sat right behind Mrs. Cunningham. How, then, could he help +seeing the gold bag she left behind, when she got out at the +station just before West Sedgwick? Indeed, who else could have +seen it but the man in the seat directly behind? Even if some +one else had picked it up and carried it from the car, Mr. +Crawford must have seen it. + +Moreover, why hadn't he said he was on that train? Why conceal +such a simple matter? Again, who had profited by the whole +affair? And why had Gregory Hall said: "Ask the conductor who +did get off that train?" + +The rose petals were already explained by Florence. If, then, +Philip Crawford had, much later, come to his brother's with the +gold bag and the late newspaper, and had gone away and left them +there, and had never told of all this, was there not a new +direction in which to look? + +But Philip Crawford! The dead man's own brother! + + + + +XIX + +THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN + + +The enormity of suspecting Philip Crawford was so great, to my +mind, that I went at once to the district attorney's office for +consultation with him. + +Mr. Goodrich listened to what I had to say, and then, when I +waited for comment, said quietly: + +"Do you know, Mr. Burroughs, I have thought all along that Philip +Crawford was concealing something, but I didn't think, and don't +think now, that he has any guilty secret of his own. I rather +fancied he might know something that, if told, would be +detrimental to Miss Lloyd's cause." + +"It may be so," I returned, "but I can't see how that would make +him conceal the fact of his having been on that late train +Tuesday night. Why, I discussed with him the possibility of +Hall's coming out on it, and it would have been only natural to +say he was on it, and didn't see Hall." + +"Unless he did see him," remarked the district attorney. + +"Yes; there's that possibility. He may be shielding Hall for +Miss Lloyd's sake--and--" + +"Let's go to see him," suggested Mr. Goodrich. "I believe in the +immediate following up of any idea we may have." + +It was about five in the afternoon, an hour when we were likely +to find Mr. Crawford at home, so we started off at once, and on +reaching his house we were told that Mr. Randolph was with him in +the library, but that he would see us. So to the library we +went, and found Mr. Crawford and his lawyer hard at work on the +papers of the Joseph Crawford estate. + +Perhaps it was imagination, but I thought I detected a look of +apprehension on Philip Crawford's face, as we entered, but he +greeted us in his pleasant, simple way, and asked us to be +seated. + +"To come right to the point, Mr. Crawford," said the district +attorney, "Mr. Burroughs and I are still searching for new light +on the tragedy of your brother's death. And now Mr. Burroughs +wants to put a few questions to you, which may help him in his +quest." + +Philip Crawford looked straight at me with his piercing eyes, and +it seemed to me that he straightened himself, as for an expected +blow. + +"Yes, Mr. Burroughs," he said courteously. "What is it you want +to ask?" + +So plain and straightforward was his manner, that I decided to be +equally direct. + +"Did you come out in that midnight train from New York last +Tuesday night?" I began. + +"I did," he replied, in even tones. + +"While on the train did you sit behind a lady who left a gold bag +in the seat when she got out?" + +"I did." + +"Did you pick up that bag and take it away with you?" + +"I did." + +"Then, Mr. Crawford, as that is the gold bag that was found in +your brother's office, I think you owe a more detailed +explanation." + +To say that the lawyer and the district attorney, who heard these +questions and answers, were astounded, is putting it too mildly. +They were almost paralyzed with surprise and dismay. + +To hear these condemning assertions straight from the lips of the +man they incriminated was startling indeed. + +"You are right," said Philip Crawford. "I do owe an explanation, +and I shall give it here and now." + +Although what he was going to say was doubtless a confession, Mr. +Crawford's face showed an unmistakable expression of relief. He +seemed like a man who had borne a terrible secret around with him +for the past week, and was now glad that he was about to impart +it to some one else. + +He spoke very gravely, but with no faltering or hesitation. + +"This is a solemn confession," he said, turning to his lawyer, +"and is made to the district attorney, with yourself and Mr. +Burroughs as witnesses." + +Mr. Randolph bowed his head, in acknowledgment of this formal +statement. + +"I am a criminal in the eyes of the law," said Mr. Crawford, in +an impersonal tone, which I knew he adopted to hide any emotion +he might feel. "I have committed a dastardly crime. But I am +not the murderer of my brother Joseph." + +We all felt our hearts lightened of a great load, for it was +impossible to disbelieve that calm statement and the clear gaze +of those truthful, unafraid eyes. + +"The story I have to tell will sound as if I might have been my +brother's slayer, and this is why I assert the contrary at the +outset." + +Pausing here, Mr. Crawford unlocked the drawer of a desk and took +out a small pistol, which he laid on the table. + +"That," he said, "is my revolver, and it is the weapon with which +my brother was killed." + +I felt a choking sensation. Philip Crawford's manner was so far +removed from a sensational--or melodramatic effect, that it was +doubly impressive. I believed his statement that he did not kill +his brother, but what could these further revelations mean? +Hall? Florence? Young Philip? Whom would Philip Crawford thus +shield for a whole week, and then, when forced to do so, expose? + +"You are making strange declarations, Mr. Crawford," said Lawyer +Randolph, who was already white-faced and trembling. + +"I know it," went on Philip Crawford, "and I trust you three men +will hear my story through, and then take such measures as you +see fit. + +"This pistol, as I said, is my property. Perhaps about a month +ago, I took it over to my brother Joseph. He has always been +careless of danger, and as he was in the habit of sitting in his +office until very late, with the long windows open on a dark +veranda, I often told him he ought to keep a weapon in his desk, +by way of general protection. Then, after there had been a +number of burglaries in West Sedgwick, I took this pistol to him, +and begged him as a favor to me to let it stay in his desk drawer +as a precautionary measure. He laughed at my solicitude, but put +it away in a drawer, the upper right-hand one, among his business +papers. So much for the pistol. + +"Last Tuesday night I came out from New York on that midnight +train that reaches West Sedgwick station at one o'clock. In the +train I did not notice especially who sat near me, but when I +reached our station and started to leave the car, I noticed a +gold bag in the seat ahead. I picked it up, and, with a half- +formed intention of handing it to the conductor, I left the +train. But as I stepped off I did not see the conductor, and, +though I looked about for him, he did not appear, and the train +moved on. I looked in the station, but the ticket agent was not +visible, and as the hour was so late I slipped the bag into my +pocket, intending to hand it over to the railroad authorities +next morning. In fact, I thought little about it, for I was very +much perturbed over some financial considerations. I had been +reading my newspaper all the way out, from the city. It was an +`extra,' with the account of the steamship accident." + +Here Mr. Crawford looked at me, as much as to say, "There's your +precious newspaper clue," but his manner was indicative only of +sadness and grief; he had no cringing air as of a murderer. + +"However, I merely skimmed the news about the steamer, so +interested was I in they stock market reports. I needn't now +tell the details, but I knew that Joseph had a `corner' in X.Y. +stock. I was myself a heavy investor in it, and I began to +realize that I must see Joseph at once, and learn his intended +actions for the next day. If he threw his stock on the market, +there would be a drop of perhaps ten points and I should be a +large loser, if, indeed, I were not entirely wiped out. So I +went from the train straight to my brother's home. When I +reached the gate, I saw there was a low light in his office, so I +went round that way, instead of to the front door. As I neared +the veranda, and went up the steps, I drew from my overcoat +pocket the newspaper, and, feeling the gold bag there also, I +drew that out, thinking to show it to Joseph. As I look back +now, I think it occurred to me that the bag might be Florence's; +I had seen her carry one like it. But, as you can readily +understand, I gave no coherent thought to the bag, as my mind was +full of the business matter. The French window was open, and I +stepped inside." + +Mr. Crawford paused here, but he gave way to no visible emotion. +Ile was like a man with an inexorable duty to perform, and no +wish to stop until it was finished. + +But truth was stamped unmistakably in every word and every look. + +"Only the desk light was turned on, but that gave light enough +for me to see my brother sitting dead in his chair. I satisfied +myself that he was really dead, and then, in a sort of daze, I +looked about the room. Though I felt benumbed and half +unconscious, physically, my thoughts worked rapidly. On the desk +before him I saw his will." + +An irrepressible exclamation from Mr. Randolph was the only sound +that greeted this astonishing statement. + +"Yes," and Mr. Crawford took a document from the same drawer +whence he had taken the pistol; "there is Joseph Crawford's will, +leaving all his property to Florence Lloyd." + +Mechanically, Mr. Randolph took the paper his client passed to +him, and, after a glance at it, laid it on the table in front of +him. + +"That was my crime," said Philip Crawford solemnly, "and I thank +God that I can confess it and make restitution. I must have been +suddenly possessed of a devil of greed, for the moment I saw that +will, I knew that if I took it away the property would be mine, +and I would then run no danger of being ruined by my stock +speculations. I had a dim feeling that I should eventually give +all, or a large part, of the fortune to Florence, but at the +moment I was obsessed by evil, and I--I stole my brother's +will." + +It was an honest confession of an awful crime. But under the +spell of that strong, low voice, and the upright bearing of that +impressive figure, we could not, at the moment, condemn; we could +only listen and wait. + +"Then," the speaker proceeded, "I was seized with the terrific, +unreasoning fear that I dare say always besets a malefactor. I +had but one thought, to get away, and leave the murder to be +discovered by some one else. In a sort of subconscious effort at +caution, I took my pistol, lest it prove incriminating evidence +against me, but in my mad frenzy of fear, I gave no thought to +the gold bag or the newspaper. I came home, secreted the will +and the revolver, and ever since I have had no doubts as to the +existence of a hell. A thousand times I have been on the point +of making this confession, and even had it not been brought about +as it has, I must have given way soon. No mortal could stand out +long under the pressure of remorse and regret that has been on me +this past week. Now, gentlemen, I have told you all. The action +you may take in this matter must be of your own choosing. But, +except for the stigma of past sin, I stand again before the +world, with no unconfessed crime upon my conscience. I stole the +will; I have restored it. But my hands are clean of the blood of +my brother, and I am now free to add my efforts to yours to find +the criminal and avenge the crime." + +He had not raised his voice above those low, even tones in which +he had started his recital; he had made no bid for leniency of +judgment; but, to a man, his three hearers rose and held out +friendly hands to him as he finished his story. + +"Thank you," he said simply, as he accepted this mute token of +our belief in his word. "I am gratified at your kindly attitude, +but I realize, none the less, what this will all mean for me. +Not only myself but my innocent family must share my disgrace. +However, that is part of the wrongdoer's punishment--that +results fall not only on his own head, but on the heads and +hearts of his loved ones." + +"Mr. Goodrich," said Mr. Randolph, "I don't know how you look +upon this matter from your official viewpoint, but unless you +deem it necessary, I should think that this confidence of Mr. +Crawford's need never be given to the public. May we not simply +state that the missing will has been found, without any further +disclosures?" + +"I am not asking for any such consideration," said Philip +Crawford. "If you decide upon such a course, it will be entirely +of your own volition." + +The district attorney hesitated. + +"Speaking personally," he said, at last, "I may say that I place +full credence in Mr. Crawford's story. I am entirely convinced +of the absolute truth of all his statements. But, speaking +officially, I may say that in a court of justice witnesses would +be required, who could corroborate his words." + +"But such witnesses are manifestly impossible to procure," said +Mr. Randolph. + +"Certainly they are," I agreed, "and I should like to make this +suggestion: Believing, as we do, in Mr. Crawford's story, it +becomes important testimony in the case. Now, if it were made +public, it would lose its importance, for it would set ignorant +tongues wagging, and give rise to absurd and untrue theories, and +result in blocking our best-meant efforts. So I propose that we +keep the matter to ourselves for a time--say a week or a +fortnight--keeping Mr. Crawford under surveillance, if need be. +Then we can work on the case, with the benefit of the suggestions +offered by Mr. Crawford's revelations; and I, for one, think such +benefit of immense importance." + +"That will do," said Mr. Goodrich, whose troubled face had +cleared at my suggestion. "You are quite right, Mr. Burroughs. +And the `surveillance' will be a mere empty formality. For a man +who has confessed as Mr. Crawford has done, is not going to run +away from the consequences of his confession." + +"I am not," said Mr. Crawford. "And I am grateful for this +respite from unpleasant publicity. I will take my punishment +when it comes, but I feel with Mr. Burroughs that more progress +can be made if what I have told you is not at once generally +known." + +"Where now does suspicion point?" + +It was Mr. Randolph who spoke. His legal mind had already gone +ahead of the present occasion, and was applying the new facts to +the old theories. + +"To Gregory Hall," said the district attorney. + +"Wait," said I. "If Mr. Crawford left the bag and the newspaper +in the office, we have no evidence whatever that Mr. Hall came +out on that late train." + +"Nor did he need to," said Mr. Goodrich, who was thinking +rapidly. "He might have come on an earlier train, or, for that +matter, not by train at all. He may have come out from town in a +motor car." + +This was possible; but it did not seem to me probable. A motor +car was a conspicuous way for a man to come out from New York and +return, if he wished to keep his visit secret. Still, he could +have left the car at some distance from the house, and walked the +rest of the way. + +"Did Mr. Hall know that a revolver was kept in Mr. Crawford's +desk drawer?" I asked. + +"He did," replied Philip Crawford. "He was present when I took +my pistol over to Joseph." + +"Then," said Mr. Goodrich, "the case looks to me very serious +against Mr. Hall. We have proved his motive, his opportunity, +and his method, or, rather, means, of committing the crime. Add +to this his unwillingness to tell where he was on Tuesday night, +and I see sufficient justification for issuing a warrant for his +arrest." + +"I don't know," said Philip Crawford, "whether such immediate +measures are advisable. I don't want to influence you, Mr. +Goodrich, but suppose we see Mr. Hall, and question him a little. +Then, if it seems to you best, arrest him." + +"That is a good suggestion, Mr. Crawford," said the district +attorney. "We can have a sort of court of inquiry by ourselves, +and perhaps Mr. Hall will, by his own words, justify or relieve +our suspicions." + +I went away from Mr. Crawford's house, and went straight to +Florence Lloyd's. I did this almost involuntarily. Perhaps if I +had stopped to think, I might have realized that it did not +devolve upon me to tell her of Philip Crawford's confession. But +I wanted to tell her myself, because I hoped that from her manner +of hearing the story I could learn something. I still believed +that in trying to shield Hall, she had not yet been entirely +frank with me, and at any rate, I wanted to be the one to tell +her of the important recent discovery. + +When I arrived, I found Mr. Porter in the library talking with +Florence. At first I hesitated about telling my story before +him, and then I remembered that he was one of the best of +Florence's friends and advisers, and moreover a man of sound +judgment and great perspicacity. Needless to say, they were both +amazed and almost stunned by the recital, and it was some time +before they could take in the situation in all its bearings. We +had a long, grave conversation, for the three of us were not +influenced so much by the sensationalness of this new +development, as by the question of whither it led. Of course the +secret was as safe with these two, as with those of us who had +heard it directly from Philip Crawford's lips. + +"I understand Philip Crawford's action," said Mr. Porter, very +seriously. "In the first place he was not quite himself, owing +to the sudden shock of seeing his brother dead before his eyes. +Also the sight of his own pistol, with which the deed had +evidently been committed, unnerved him. It was an almost +unconscious nervous action which made him take the pistol, and it +was a sort of subconscious mental working that resulted in his +abstracting the will. Had he been in full possession of his +brain faculty, he could not have done either. He did wrong, of +course, but he has made full restitution, and his wrong-doing +should not only be forgiven but forgotten." + +I looked at Mr. Porter in unfeigned admiration. Truly he had +expressed noble sentiments, and his must be a broadly noble +nature that could show such a spirit toward his fellow man. + +Florence, too, gave him an appreciative glance, but her mind +seemed to be working on the possibilities of the new evidence. + +"Then it would seem," she said slowly, "that as I, myself, was in +Uncle's office at about eleven o'clock, and as Uncle Philip was +there a little after one o'clock, whoever killed Uncle Joseph +came and went away between those hours." + +"Yes," I said, and I knew that her thoughts had flown to Gregory +Hall. "But I think there are no trains in and out again of West +Sedgwick between those hours." + +"He need not have come in a train," said Florence slowly, as if +simply voicing her thoughts. + +"Don't attempt to solve the mystery, Florence," said Mr. Porter +in his decided way. "Leave that for those who make it their +business. Mr. Burroughs, I am sure, will do all he can, and it +is not for you to trouble your already sad heart with these +anxieties. Give it up, my girl, for it means only useless +exertion on your part." + +"And on my part too, I fear, Mr. Porter," I said. "Without +wishing to shirk my duty, I can't help feeling I'm up against a +problem that to me is insoluble. It is my desire, since the case +is baffling, to call in talent of a higher order. Fleming Stone, +for instance." + +Mr. Porter gave me a sudden glance, and it was a glance I could +not understand. For an instant it seemed to me that he showed +fear, and this thought was instantly followed by the impression +that he feared for Florence. And then I chid myself for my +foolish heart that made every thought that entered my brain lead +to Florence Lloyd. With my mind in this commotion I scarcely +heard Mr. Porter's words. + +"No, no," he was saying, "we need no other or cleverer detective +than you, Mr. Burroughs. If, as Florence says, the murderer was +clever enough to come between those two hours, and go away again, +leaving no sign, he is probably clever enough so to conceal his +coming and going that he may not be traced." + +"But, Mr. Porter," I observed, "they say murder will out." + +Again that strange look came into his eyes. Surely it was an +expression of fear. But he only said, "Then you're the man to +bring that result about, Mr. Burroughs. I have great confidence +in your powers as a detective." + +He took his leave, and I was not sorry, for I wanted an +opportunity to see Florence alone. + +"I am so sorry," she said, and for the first time I saw tears in +her dear, beautiful eyes, "to hear that about Uncle Philip. But +Mr. Porter was right, he was not himself, or he never could have +done it." + +"It was an awful thing for him to find his brother as he did, and +go away and leave him so." + +"Awful, indeed! But the Crawfords have always been strange in +their ways. I have never seen one of them show emotion or +sentiment upon any occasion." + +"Now you are again an heiress," I said, suddenly realizing the +fact. + +"Yes," she said, but her tone indicated that her fortune brought +in its train many perplexing troubles and many grave questions. + +"Forgive me," I began, "if I am unwarrantably intrusive, but I +must say this. Affairs are so changed now, that new dangers and +troubles may arise for you. If I can help you in any way, will +you let me do so? Will you confide in me and trust me, and will +you remember that in so doing you are not putting yourself under +the slightest obligation?" + +She looked at me very earnestly for a moment, and then without +replying directly to my questions, she said in a low tone, "You +are the very best friend I have ever had." + +"Florence!" I cried; but even as she had spoken, she had gone +softly out of the room, and with a quiet joy in my heart, I went +away. + +That afternoon I was summoned to Mr. Philip Crawford's house to +be present at the informal court of inquiry which was to +interrogate Gregory Hall. + +Hall was summoned by telephone, and not long after he arrived. +He was cool and collected, as usual, and I wondered if even his +arrest would disturb his calm. + +"We are pursuing the investigation of Mr. Joseph Crawford's +death, Mr. Hall," the district attorney began, "and we wish, in +the course of our inquiries, to ask some questions of you." + +"Certainly, sir," said Gregory Hall, with an air of polite +indifference. + +"And I may as well tell you at the outset," went on Mr. Goodrich, +a little irritated at the young man's attitude, "that you, Mr. +Hall, are under suspicion." + +"Yes?" said Hall interrogatively. "But I was not here that +night." + +"That's just the point, sir. You say you were not here, but you +refuse to say where you were. Now, wherever you may have been +that night, a frank admission of it will do you less harm than +this incriminating concealment of the truth." + +"In that case," said Hall easily, "I suppose I may as well tell +you. But first, since you practically accuse me, may I ask if +any new developments have been brought to light?" + +"One has," said Mr. Goodrich. "The missing will has been found." + +"What?" cried Hall, unable to conceal his satisfaction at this +information. + +"Yes," said Mr. Goodrich coldly, disgusted at the plainly +apparent mercenary spirit of the man; "yes, the will of Mr. +Joseph Crawford, which bequeaths the bulk of his estate to Miss +Lloyd, is safe in Mr. Randolph's possession. But that fact in no +way affects your connection with the case, or our desire to learn +where you were on Tuesday night." + +"Pardon me, Mr. Goodrich; I didn't hear all that you said." + +Bluffing again, thought I; and, truly, it seemed to me rather a +clever way to gain time for consideration, and yet let his +answers appear spontaneous. + +The district attorney repeated his question, and now Gregory Hall +answered deliberately + +"I still refuse to tell you where I was. It in no way affects +the case; it is a private matter of my own. I was in New York +City from the time I left West Sedgwick at six o'clock on Monday, +until I returned the next morning. Further than that I will give +no account of my doings." + +"Then we must assume you were engaged in some occupation of which +you are ashamed to tell." + +Hall shrugged his shoulders. "You may assume what you choose," +he said. "I was not here, I had no hand in Mr. Crawford's death, +and knew nothing of it until my return next day." + +"You knew Mr. Crawford kept a revolver in his desk. You must +know it is not there now." + +Hall looked troubled. + +"I know nothing about that revolver," he said. "I saw it the day +Mr. Philip Crawford brought it there, but I have never seen it +since." + +This sounded honest enough, but if he were the criminal, he +would, of course, make these same avowals. + +"Well, Mr. Hall," said the district attorney, with an air of +finality, "we suspect you. We hold that you had motive, +opportunity, and means for this crime. Therefore, unless you can +prove an alibi for Tuesday night, and bring witnesses to grove +where you, were, we must arrest you, on suspicion, for the murder +of Joseph Crawford." + +Gregory Hall deliberated silently for a few moments, then he +said: + +"I am innocent. But I persist in my refusal to allow intrusion +on my private and personal affairs. Arrest me if you will, but +you will yet learn your mistake." + +I can never explain it, even to myself, but something in the +man's tone and manner convinced me, even against my own will, +that he spoke the truth. + + + +XX + +FLEMING STONE + + +The news of Gregory Hall's arrest flew through the town like +wildfire. + +That evening I went to call on Florence Lloyd, though I had +little hope that she would see me. + +To my surprise, however, she welcomed me almost eagerly, and, +though I knew she wanted to see me only for what legal help I +might give her, I was glad even of this. + +And yet her manner was far from impersonal. Indeed, she showed a +slight embarrassment in my presence, which, if I had dared, I +should have been glad to think meant a growing interest in our +friendship. + +"You have heard all?" I asked, knowing from her manner that she +had. + +"Yes," she replied; "Mr. Hall was here for dinner, and then-- +then he went away to--" + +"To prison," I finished quietly. "Florence, I cannot think he is +the murderer of your uncle." + +If she noticed this, my first use of her Christian name, she +offered no remonstrance, and I went on + +"To be sure, they have proved that he had motive, means, +opportunity, and all that, but it is only indefinite evidence. +If he would but tell where he was on Tuesday night, he could so +easily free himself. Why will he not tell?" + +"I don't know," she said, looking thoughtful. "But I cannot +think he was here, either. When he said good-by to me to-night, +he did not seem at all apprehensive. He only said he was +arrested wrongfully, and that he would soon be set free again. +You know his way of taking everything casually." + +"Yes, I do. And now that you are your uncle's heiress, I suppose +he no longer wishes to break the engagement between you and him." + +I said this bitterly, for I loathed the nature that could thus +turn about in accordance with the wheel of fortune. + +To my surprise, she too spoke bitterly. + +"Yes," she said; "he insists now that we are engaged, and that he +never really wanted to break it. He has shown me positively that +it is my money that attracts him, and if it were not that I don't +want to seem to desert him now, when he is in trouble--" + +She paused, and my heart beat rapidly. Could it be that at last +she saw Gregory Hall as he really was, and that his mercenary +spirit had killed her love for him? At least, she had intimated +this, and, forcing myself to be content with that for the +present, I said: + +"Would you, then, if you could, get him out of this trouble?" + +"Gladly. I do not think he killed Uncle Joseph, but I'm sure I +do not know who did. Do you?" + +"I haven't the least idea," I answered honestly, for there, in +Florence Lloyd's presence, gazing into the depths of her clear +eyes, my last, faint suspicion of her wrong-doing faded away. +"And it is this total lack of suspicion that makes the case so +simple, and therefore so difficult. A more complicated case +offers some points on which to build a theory. I do not blame +Mr. Goodrich for suspecting Mr. Hall, for there seems to be no +one else to suspect." + +Just then Mr. Lemuel Porter dropped in for an evening call. Of +course, we talked over the events of the day, and Mr. Porter was +almost vehement in his denunciation of the sudden move of the +district attorney. + +"It's absurd," he said, "utterly absurd. Gregory Hall never did +the thing. I've known Hall for years, and he isn't that sort of +a man. I believe Philip Crawford's story, of course, but the +murderer, who came into the office after Florence's visit to her +uncle, and before Philip arrived, was some stranger from out of +town--some man whom none of us know; who had some grievance +against Joseph, and who deliberately came and went during that +midnight hour." + +I agreed with Mr. Porter. I had thought all along it was some +one unknown to the Sedgwick people, but some one well known to +Joseph Crawford. For, had it been an ordinary burglar, the +victim would at least have raised a protecting hand. + +"Of course Hall will be set free at once," continued Mr. Porter, +"but to arrest him was a foolish thing to do." + +"Still, he ought to prove his alibi," I said. + +"Very well, then; make him prove it. Give him the third degree, +if necessary, and find out where he was on Tuesday night." + +"I doubt if they could get it out of him," I observed, "if he +continues determined not to tell." + +"Then he deserves his fate," said Mr. Porter, a little +petulantly. "He can free himself by a word. If he refuses to do +so it's his own business." + +"But I'd like to help him," said Florence, almost timidly. "Is +there no way I can do so, Mr. Burroughs?" + +"Indeed there is," I said. "You are a rich woman now; use some +of your wealth to employ the services of Fleming Stone, and I can +assure you the truth will be discovered." + +"Indeed I will," said Florence. "Please send for him at once." + +"Nonsense!" said Mr. Porter. "It isn't necessary at all. Mr. +Burroughs here, and young Parmalee, are all the detectives we +need. Get Hall to free himself, as he can easily do, and then +set to work in earnest to run down the real villain." + +"No, Mr. Porter," said Florence, with firmness; "Gregory will not +tell his secret, whatever it is. I know his stubborn nature. +He'll stay in prison until he's freed, as he is sure he will be, +but he won't tell what he has determined not to divulge. No, I +am glad I can do something definite at last toward avenging Uncle +Joseph's death. Please send for Mr. Stone, Mr. Burroughs, and I +will gladly pay his fees and expenses." Mr. Porter expostulated +further, but to no avail. Florence insisted on sending for the +great detective. + +So I sent for him. + +He came two days later, and in the interval nothing further had +been learned from Gregory Hall. The man was an enigma to me. He +was calm and impassive as ever. Courteous, though never cordial, +and apparently without the least apprehension of ever being +convicted for the crime which had caused his arrest. + +Indeed, he acted just as an innocent man would act; innocent of +the murder, that is, but resolved to conceal his whereabouts of +Tuesday night, whatever that resolve might imply. + +To me, it did not imply crime. Something he wished to conceal, +certainly; but I could not think a criminal would act so. A +criminal is usually ready with an alibi, whether it can be proved +or not. + +When Fleming Stone arrived I met him at the station and took him +at once to the inn, where I had engaged rooms for him. + +We first had a long conversation alone, in which I told him, +everything I knew concerning the murder. + +"When did it happen?" he asked, for, though he had read some of +the newspaper accounts, the date had escaped him. + +I told him, and added, "Why, I was called here just after I left +you at the Metropolis Hotel that morning. Don't you remember, +you deduced a lot of information from a pair of shoes which were +waiting to be cleaned?" + +"Yes, I remember," said Stone, smiling a little at the +recollection. + +"And I tried to make similar deductions from the gold bag and the +newspaper, but I couldn't do it. I bungled matters every time. +My deductions are mostly from the witnesses' looks or tones when +giving evidence." + +"On the stand?" + +"Not necessarily on the stand. I've learned much from talking to +the principals informally." + +"And where do your suspicions point?" + +"Nowhere. I've suspected Florence Lloyd and Gregory Hall, in +turn, and in collusion; but now I suspect neither of them." + +"Why not Hall?" + +"His manner is too frank and unconcerned." + +"A good bluff for a criminal to use." + +"Then he won't tell where he was that night." + +"If he is the murderer, he can't tell. A false alibi is so +easily riddled. It's rather clever to keep doggedly silent; but +what does he say is his reason?" + +"He won't give any reason. He has determined to keep up that +calm, indifferent pose, and though it is aggravating, I must +admit it serves his purpose well." + +"How did they find him the morning after the murder?" + +"Let me see; I believe the coroner said he telephoned first to +Hall's club. But the steward said Hall didn't stay there, as +there was no vacant room, and that he had stayed all night at a +hotel." + +"What hotel?" + +"I don't know. The coroner asked the steward, but he didn't +know." + +"Didn't he find out from Hall, afterward?" + +"I don't know, Stone; perhaps the coroner asked him, but if he +did, I doubt if Hall told. It didn't seem to me important." + +"Burroughs, my son, you should have learned every detail of +Hall's doings that night." + +"But if he were not in West Sedgwick, what difference could it +possibly make where he was?" + +"One never knows what difference anything will make until the +difference is made. That's oracular, but it means more than it +sounds. However, go on." + +I went on, and I even told him what Florence had told me +concerning the possibility of Hall's interest in another woman. + +"At last we are getting to it," said Stone; "why in the name of +all good detectives, didn't you hunt up that other woman?" + +"But she is perhaps only a figment of Miss Lloyd's brain." + +"Figments of the brains of engaged young ladies are apt to have a +solid foundation of flesh and blood. I think much could be +learned concerning Mr. Hall's straying fancy. But tell me again +about his attitude toward Miss Lloyd, in the successive +developments of the will question." + +Fleming Stone was deeply interested as I rehearsed how, when +Florence was supposed to be penniless, he wished to break the +engagement. When Philip Crawford offered to provide for her, Mr. +Hall was uncertain; but when the will was found, and Florence was +known to inherit all her uncle's property, then Gregory Hall not +only held her to the engagement, but said he had never wished to +break it. + +"H'm," said Stone. "Pretty clear that the young man is a +fortune-hunter." + +"He is," I agreed. "I felt sure of that from the first." + +"And he is now under arrest, calmly waiting for some one to prove +his innocence, so he can marry the heiress." + +"That's about the size of it," I said. "But I don't think +Florence is quite as much in love with him as she was. She seems +to have realized his mercenary spirit." + +Perhaps an undue interest in my voice or manner disclosed to this +astute man the state of my own affections, for he gave me a +quizzical glance, and said, "O-ho! sits the wind in that +quarter?" + +"Yes," I said, determined to be frank with him. "It does. I +want you, to free Gregory Hall, if he's innocent. Then if, for +any reason, Miss Lloyd sees fit to dismiss him, I shall most +certainly try to win her affections. As I came to this +determination when she was supposed to be penniless, I can +scarcely be accused of fortune-hunting myself." + +"Indeed, you can't, old chap. You're not that sort. Well, let's +go to see your district attorney and his precious prisoner, and +see what's to be done." + +We went to the district attorney's office, and, later, +accompanied by him and by Mr. Randolph, we visited Gregory Hall. + +As I had expected, Mr. Hall wore the same unperturbed manner he +always showed, and when Fleming Stone was introduced, Hall +greeted him coldly, with absolutely no show of interest in the +man or his work. + +Fleming Stone's own kindly face took on a slight expression of +hauteur, as he noticed his reception, but he said, pleasantly +enough + +"I am here in an effort to aid in establishing your innocence, +Mr. Hall." + +"I beg your pardon?" said Hall listlessly. + +I wondered whether this asking to have a remark repeated was +merely a foolish habit of Hall's, or whether, as I had heretofore +guessed, it was a ruse to gain time. + +Fleming Stone looked at him a little more sharply as he repeated +his remark in clear, even tones. + +"Thank you," said Hall, pleasantly enough. "I shall be glad to +be free from this unjust suspicion." + +"And as a bit of friendly advice," went on Stone, "I strongly +urge that you, reveal to us, confidentially, where you were on +Tuesday night." + +Hall looked the speaker straight in the eye. + +"That," he said, "I must still refuse to do." + +Fleming Stone rose and walked toward the window. + +"I think," he said, "the proof of your innocence may depend upon +this point." + +Gregory Hall turned his head, and followed Stone with his eyes. + +"What did you say, Mr. Stone?" he asked quietly. + +The detective returned to his seat. + +"I said," he replied, "that the proof of your innocence might +depend on your telling this secret of yours. But I begin to +think now you will be freed from suspicion whether you tell it or +not." + +Instead of looking glad at this assurance, Gregory Hall gave a +start, and an expression of fear came into his eyes. + +"What do you mean?" he said + +"Have you any letters in your pocket, Mr. Hall?" went on Fleming +Stone in a suave voice. + +"Yes; several. Why?" + +"I do not ask to read them. Merely show me the lot." + +With what seemed to be an unwilling but enforced movement, Mr. +Hall drew four or five letters from his breast pocket and handed +them to Fleming Stone. + +"They've all been looked over, Mr. Stone," said the district +attorney; "and they have no bearing on the matter of the crime." + +"Oh, I don't want to read them," said the detective. + +He ran over the lot carelessly, not taking the sheets from the +envelopes, and returned them to their owner. + +Gregory Hall looked at him as if fascinated. What revelation was +this man about to make? + +"Mr. Hall," Fleming Stone began, "I've no intention of forcing +your secret from you. But I shall ask you some questions, and +you may do as you like about answering them. First, you refuse +to tell where you were during the night last Tuesday. I take it, +you mean you refuse to tell how or where you spent the evening. +Now, will you tell us where you lodged that night?" + +"I fail to see any reason for telling you," answered Hall, after +a moment's thought. "I have said I was in New York City, that is +enough." + +"The reason you may as well tell us," went on Mr. Stone, "is +because it is a very simple matter for us to find out. You +doubtless were at some hotel, and you went there because you +could not get a room at your club. In fact, this was stated when +the coroner telephoned for you, the morning after the murder. I +mean, it was stated that the club bed-rooms were all occupied. I +assume, therefore, that you lodged at some hotel, and, as a +canvass of the city hotels would be a simple matter, you may as +well save us that trouble." + +"Oh, very well," said Gregory Hall sullenly; "then I did spend +the night at a hotel. It was the Metropolis Hotel, and you will +find my name duly on the register." + +"I have no doubt of it," said Stone pleasantly. "Now that you +have told us this, have you any objection to telling us at what +time you returned to the hotel, after your evening's occupation, +whatever it may have been?" + +"Eh?" said Hall abstractedly. He turned his head as he spoke, +and Fleming Stone threw me a quizzical smile which I didn't in +the least understand. + +"You may as well tell us," said Stone, after he had repeated his +question, "for if you withhold it, the night clerk can give us +this information." + +"Well," said Hall, who now looked distinctly sulky, "I don't +remember exactly, but I think I turned in somewhere between +twelve and one o'clock." + +"And as it was a late hour, you slept rather late next morning," +suggested Stone. + +"Oh, I don't know. I was at Mr. Crawford's New York office by +half-past ten." + +"A strange coincidence, Burroughs," said Fleming Stone, turning +to me. + +"Eh? Beg pardon?" said Hall, turning his head also. + +"Mr. Hall," said Stone, suddenly facing him again, "are you deaf? +Why do you ask to have remarks repeated?" + +Hall looked slightly apologetic. "I am a little deaf," he said; +"but only in one ear. And only at times--or, rather, it's worse +at times. If I have a cold, for instance." + +"Or in damp weather?" said Stone. "Mr. Hall, I have questioned +you enough. I will now tell these gentlemen, since you refuse to +do so, where you were on the night of Mr. Crawford's murder. You +were not in West Sedgwick, or near it. You are absolutely +innocent of the crime or any part in it." + +Gregory Hall straightened up perceptibly, like a man exonerated +from all blame. But he quailed again, as Fleming Stone, looking +straight at him, continued: "You left West Sedgwick at six that +evening, as you have said. You registered at the Metropolis +Hotel, after learning that you could not get a room at your club. +And then--you went over to Brooklyn to meet, or to call on, a +young woman living in that borough. You took her back to New +York to the theatre or some such entertainment, and afterward +escorted her back to her home. The young woman wore a street +costume, by which I mean a cloth gown without a train. You did +not have a cab, but, after leaving the car, you walked for a +rather long distance in Brooklyn. It was raining, and you were +both under one umbrella. Am I correct, so far?" + +At last Gregory Hall's calm was disturbed. He looked at Fleming +Stone as at a supernatural being. And small wonder. For the +truth of Stone's statements was evident from Hall's amazement at +them. + +"You--you saw us!" he gasped. + +"No, I didn't see you; it is merely a matter of observation, +deduction, and memory. You recollect the muddy shoes?" he added, +turning to me. + +Did I recollect! Well, rather! And it certainly was a +coincidence that we had chanced to examine those shoes that +morning at the hotel. + +As for Mr. Randolph and the district attorney, they were quite as +much surprised as Hall. + +"Can you prove this astonishing story, Mr. Stone?" asked Mr. +Goodrich, with an incredulous look. + +"Oh, yes, in lots of ways," returned Stone. "For one thing, Mr. +Hall has in his pocket now a letter from the young lady. The +whole matter is of no great importance except as it proves Mr. +Hall was not in West Sedgwick that night, and so is not the +murderer." + +"But why conceal so simple a matter? Why refuse to tell of the +episode?" asked Mr. Randolph. + +"Because," and now Fleming Stone looked at Hall with accusation +in his glance--"because Mr. Hall is very anxious that his +fiancee shall not know of his attentions to the young lady in +Brooklyn." + +"O-ho!" said Mr. Goodrich, with sudden enlightenment. "I see it +all now. Is it the truth, Mr. Hall? Did you go to Brooklyn and +back that night, as Mr. Stone has described?" + +Gregory Hall fidgeted in an embarrassed way. But, unable to +escape the piercing gaze of Stone's eyes, he admitted grudgingly +that the detective had told the truth, adding, "But it's +wizardry, that's what it is! How could he know?" + +"I had reason for suspicion," said Stone; "and when I found you +were deaf in your right ear, and that you had in your pocket a +letter addressed in a feminine hand, and postmarked `Brooklyn,' I +was sure." + +"It's all true," said Hall slowly. "You have the facts all +right. But, unless you have had me shadowed, will you tell me +how you knew it all?" + +And then Fleming Stone told of his observations and deductions +when we noticed the muddied shoes at the Metropolis Hotel that +morning. + +"But," he said, as he concluded, "when I hastily adjudged the +young lady to be deaf in the left ear, I see now I was mistaken. +As soon as I realized Mr. Hall himself is deaf in the right ear, +especially so in damp or wet weather, I saw that it fitted the +case as well as if the lady had been deaf in her left ear. Then +a note in his pocket from a lady in Brooklyn made me quite sure I +was right." + +"But, Mr. Stone," said Lawyer Randolph, "it is very astonishing +that you should make those deductions from those shoes, and then +come out here and meet the owner of the shoes." + +"It seems more remarkable than it really is, Mr. Randolph," was +the response; "for I am continually observing whatever comes to +my notice. Hundreds of my deductions are never verified, or even +thought of again; so it is not so strange that now and then one +should prove of use in my work." + +"Well," said the district attorney, "it seems wonderful to me. +But now that Mr. Hall has proved his alibi, or, rather, Mr. Stone +has proved it for him, we must begin anew our search for the real +criminal." + +"One moment," said Gregory Hall. "As you know, gentlemen, I +endeavored to keep this little matter of my going to Brooklyn a +secret. As it has no possible bearing on the case of Mr. +Crawford, may I ask of you to respect my desire that you say +nothing about it?" + +"For my part," said the district attorney, "I am quite willing to +grant Mr. Hall's request. I have put him to unnecessary trouble +and embarrassment by having him arrested, and I shall be glad to +do him this favor that he asks, by way of amends." + +But Mr. Randolph seemed reluctant to make the required promise, +and Fleming Stone looked at Hall, and said nothing. + +Then I spoke out, and, perhaps with scant courtesy, I said: + +"I, for one, refuse to keep this revelation a secret. It was +discovered by the detective engaged by Miss Lloyd. Therefore, I +think Miss Lloyd is entitled to the knowledge we have thus +gained." + +Mr. Randolph looked at me with approval. He was a good friend of +Florence Lloyd, and he was of no mind to hide from her something +which it might be better for her to know. + +Gregory Hall set his lips together in a way which argued no +pleasant feelings toward me, but he said nothing then. He was +forthwith released from custody, and the rest of us separated; +having arranged to meet that evening at Miss Lloyd's home to +discuss matters. + + + + +XXI + +THE DISCLOSURE + + +Except the half-hour required for a hasty dinner, Fleming Stone +devoted the intervening time to looking over the reports of the +coroner's inquest, and in asking me questions about all the +people who were connected with the affair. + +"Burroughs," he said at last, "every one who is interested in +Joseph Crawford's death has suspected Gregory Hall, except one +person. Not everybody said they suspected him, but they did, all +the same. Even Miss Lloyd wasn't sure that Hall wasn't the +criminal. Now, there's just one person who declares that Hall +did not do it, and that he is not implicated. Why should this +person feel so sure of Hall's innocence? And, furthermore, my +boy, here are a few more important questions. In which drawer of +the desk was the revolver kept?" + +"The upper right-hand drawer," I replied. + +"I mean, what else was in that drawer?" + +"Oh, important, valuable memoranda of Mr. Crawford's stocks and +bonds." + +"Do you mean stock certificates and actual bonds?" + +"No; merely lists and certain data referring to them. The +certificates themselves were in the bank." + +"And the will--where had that been kept?" + +"In a drawer on the other side of the desk. I know all these +things, because with the lawyer and Mr. Philip Crawford, I have +been through all the papers of the estate." + +"Well, then, Burroughs, let us build up the scene. Mr. Joseph +Crawford, after returning from his lawyer's that night, goes to +his office. Naturally, he takes out his will, that he thinks of +changing, and--we'll say--it is lying on his desk when Mr. +Lemuel Porter calls. He talks of other matters, and the will +still lies there unheeded. It is there when Miss Lloyd comes +down later. She has said so. It remains there until much later +--when Philip Crawford comes, and, after discovering that his +brother is dead, sees the will still on the desk and takes it +away with him, and also sees the pistol on the desk, and takes +that, too. Now, granting that the murderer came between the time +Miss Lloyd left the office and the time Philip Crawford came +there, then it was while the murderer was present that the drawer +which held the pistol was opened, the pistol taken out, and the +murder committed, Since Mr. Joseph Crawford showed no sign of +fear of violence, the murderer must have been, not a burglar or +an unwelcome intruder, but a friend, or an acquaintance, at +least. His visit must have been the reason for opening that +drawer, and that not to get the pistol, but to look at or discuss +the papers contained in that drawer. The pistol, thus disclosed, +was temptingly near the hand of the visitor, and, for some reason +connected with the papers in that drawer, the pistol was used by +the visitor--suddenly, unpremeditatedly, but with deadly intent +at the moment." + +"But who--" I began. + +"Hush," he said, "I see it all now--or almost all. Let us go to +Philip Crawford's at once--before it is time to go to Miss +Lloyd's." + +We did so, and Fleming Stone, in a short business talk with Mr. +Crawford, learned all that he wanted to know. Then we three went +over to Florence Lloyd's home. + +Awaiting us were several people. The district attorney, of +course, and Lawyer Randolph. Also Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Porter, +who had been asked to be present. Gregory Hall was there, too, +and from his crestfallen expression, I couldn't help thinking +that he had had an unsatisfactory interview with Florence + +As we all sat round the library, Fleming Stone was the principal +speaker. + +He said: "I have come here at Miss Lloyd's request, to discover, +if possible, the murderer of her uncle, Mr. Joseph Crawford. I +have learned the identity of the assassin, and, if you all wish +me to, I will now divulge it." + +"We do wish you to, Mr. Stone," said Mr. Goodrich, and his voice +trembled a little, for he knew not where the blow might fall. +But after Fleming Stone's wonderful detective work in the case of +Gregory Hall, the district attorney felt full confidence in his +powers. + +Sitting quietly by the library table, with the eyes of all the +company upon him, Fleming Stone said, in effect, to them just +what he had said to me. He told of the revolver in the drawer +with the financial papers. He told how the midnight visitor must +have been some friend or neighbor, whose coming would in no way +startle or alarm Mr. Crawford, and whose interest in the question +of stocks was desperate. + +And then Fleming Stone turned suddenly to Lemuel Porter, and +said: "Shall I go on, Mr. Porter, or will you confess here and +now?" + +It was as if a thunderbolt had fallen. Hitherto unsuspected, the +guilt of Lemuel Porter was now apparent beyond all doubt. +White-faced and shaking, his burning eyes glared at Fleming +Stone. + +"What are you?" he whispered, in hoarse, hissing tones. "I +feared you, and I was right to fear you. I have heard of you +before. I tried to prevent your coming here, but I could not. +And I knew, when you came, that I was doomed--doomed! + +"Yes," he went on, looking around at the startled faces. "Yes, I +killed Joseph Crawford. If I had not, he would have ruined me +financially. Randolph knows that--and Philip Crawford, too. I +had no thought of murder in my heart. I came here late that +night to renew the request I had made in my earlier visit that +evening--that Joseph Crawford would unload his X.Y. stock +gradually, and in that way save me. I had overtraded; I had +pyramided my paper profits until my affairs were in such a state +that a sudden drop of ten points would wipe me out entirely. But +Joseph Crawford was adamant to my entreaties. He said he would +see to it that at the opening of the market the next morning X.Y. +stock should be hammered down out of sight. Details are +unnecessary. You lawyers and financial men understand. It was +in his power to ruin or to save me and he chose to ruin me. I +know, why, but that concerns no one here. Then, as by chance, he +moved a paper in the drawer, and I saw the pistol. In a moment +of blind rage I grasped it and shot him. Death was +instantaneous. Like one in a dream, I laid down the pistol, and +came away. I was saved, but at what a cost! No one, I think, +saw me come or go. I was afterward puzzled to know what became +of the pistol, and of the will which lay on the desk when I was +there. These matters have since been explained. Philip Crawford +is as much a criminal as I. I shot a man, but he robbed the +dead. He has confessed and made restitution, so he merits no +punishment. In the nature of things, I cannot do that, but I can +at least cheat the gallows." + +With these words, Mr. Porter put something into his mouth and +swallowed it. + +Several people started toward him in dismay, but he waved them +back, saying: + +"Too late. Good-by, all. If possible, do not let my wife know +the truth. Can't you tell her--I died of heart failure--or-- +something like that?" + +The poison he had taken was of quick effect. Though a doctor was +telephoned for at once, Mr. Porter was dead before he came. + +Everything was now made clear, and Fleming Stone's work in West +Sedgwick was done. + +I was chagrined, for I felt that all he had discovered, I ought +to have found out for myself. + +But as I glanced at Florence, and saw her lovely eyes fixed on +me, I knew that one reason I had failed in my work was because of +her distracting influence on it. + +"Take me away from here," she said, and I gently led her from the +library. + +We went into the small drawing-room, and, unable to restrain my +eagerness, I said + +"Tell me, dear, have you broken with Hall?" + +"Yes," she said, looking up shyly into my face. "I learned from +his own lips the story of the Brooklyn girl. Then I knew that he +really loves her, but wanted to marry me for my fortune. This +knowledge was enough for me. I realize now that I never loved +Gregory, and I have told him so." + +"And you do love somebody else?" I whispered ecstatically. "Oh, +Florence! I know this is not the time or the place, but just +tell me, dear, if you ever love any one, it will be--" + +"You" she murmured softly, and I was content. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Gold Bag, by Carolyn Wells + |